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Re: Universal Translation Language

From:From Http://Members.Aol.Com/Lassailly/Tunuframe.Html <lassailly@...>
Date:Wednesday, June 2, 1999, 20:29
Dans un courrier dat=E9 du 01/06/99 06:56:51  , Charles a =E9crit :

> > > In my experiments it seems impossible to have part-of-speech termina=
l
> > > vowels and SVO order without eventually gravitating to adjective-nou=
n.
> >=20 > > it's because you get short of vowels so you have to root-root bon- > fishoobedoo > > in the end. anyway i think PoS tags should be head like in svo pidgins. > =20 > Yeah, http://www.sil.org/silewp/1998/002/SILEWP1998-002.html
i meant "in my opinion", which is not jap or else's. pidgin is not God. no=20 auxlang will please 10 billion earthlings so keep your WO if it fits you.
> =20 > > switching adj-noun means that you link inversion and attribution (like =
in
> > Chinese and English). in the same time you make a hierarchy ranking > > attribution as secondary, derived word order and i feel it's not=20
accurate.
> > maybe you can systematize children's language : > > house its door hurt john his head. > =20 > That's genitive-noun, which I like, and often leads to adjective-noun > by a process of "grammaticalization", if I got it right. >
i think so. cf. Dutch "Jan z'n kop" and English "John's head". =20
> > dog ADJ it red TOP it nice =3D the red dog is nice > > friend my his sister she nice =3D my sister's friend is nice > > sister my friend she nice =3D (ditto) > > where integrative ADJ makes "it red" attributive like "his sister" is,=20
and
> > resumptive TOP closes substuff. > > it seems strange, but that how attributive really works in children's=20 > heads : > > actor comes first, then attribute. > =20 > That works well with adjective-noun, where there is almost a feeling > of pre-limitation and post-attribution of both nouns and verbs. > Attempted example: "My red dog biting your sister is just playing." >
dunno. maybe. just fits short sentences i guess.=20 =20
> > this has nothing to do with verb-noun > > difference. either verb is noun's attribute or noun is verb's attribute > > because it's unaspectivized (that's my favourite rabitting-on subject) =
:
> > "gone the car" =3D "the car gone" =3D the car is gone (as my little cou=
sin=20
> says : > > "partie, la voiture !"). > > that's why i think your "reversive" language is a good basis for childi=
sh
> > auxlang. > =20 > Well, it has to be easy enough for me, a much tougher task. > =20
i'm always amazed of english's lack of topicalisation. how do you manage tha= t=20 ?
> > > By using an inverse-transitive voice or doing French-like compoundin=
g,
> > > root+preposition+root as in salle-a-manger, it could work well maybe=
.
> > > > > that's basically what i did with "kases" (remember ? ;-) > > but you may try with real prepositions made from real verbs. > =20 > I may abandon compounds as unneeded anyway. I like the Tok Pisin > "haus xxx" construction better than what I was thinking about earlier, > letting little prepositions get in the middle of compounds.
these "prepositions" are usually reminiscent of either first or second=20 component of the compound as either item or function.
> As for cases/prepositions, I do like using a real verb instead of a > closed-class particle e.g. "... concerning xxx" vs. "... about xxx". > And it wouldn't be too horrible to try a more consistent VO style, > adjs follow nouns, adverbs follow verbs, etc.
you can manage same with OV, N-Adj, Adv-V, etc. and convert japs to your=20 auxlang. don't forget a "suspensive" relief verb form though. The main point for me
> is whether there can be a super-productive set of -r- type infixes: > =20 > > > > let's say : > > > > i : verb > > > > o : substantive > > > > a : adj =3D attributive to a substantive > > > > e : adv =3D attributive to a verb > > > > -r- : nomen agentis > > > > -k- : noun of action > > > > -s- : genitive > > > > -t- : and (resumptive) > > > > > > > > bone fishi =3D to fish well > > > > bona fishi-r-o =3D the good fisher > > > > > > Hey, I may have to steal this -r- and -k-, at least; > > > what would be the most productive set of these? > =20 > > mapping > > like indonesian : around 10. mapping like i would ("kases") : around 50 =
(
> all > > most frequent roles in their main aspects used in derived words). if yo=
u=20
> are > > willing to use long words and avoid ditransitives by means of serial=20
verbs=20
> : > > you need 4. > =20 > How?! I can see the 50, what are the 4 and the 10? Do you mean "case role=
s"
> as in http://www.uoregon.edu/~delancey/papers/bls91.html ?? >
come on, make it simple : (1) i give sthg > (2) sthg is-given by me (3) fact-of-giving sthg > (4) fact-of-being given (1) i receive sthg > (2) sthg is-received by me (3) fact-of-... > (4) fact-of... now if your verbs don't refer to words' function or result, then you may add = : (5) i use-function of sthg > (6) sthg's function is-used by (7) sthg's function aims at sthg > (8) sthg is aimed at by sthg's function (9) to make sthg > (10) to be made by (11) to apply on > (11) to be applied sthg etc. wait a minute ! i'm describing you Tunu, so i'd better stop here. conlanging=20 is not auxlanging. =20
> > funny that Marcos and you both like root+root+suffix pattern. > =20 > The lexical information naturally comes out faster than the grammatical, > sorted by topicality. Then the POS vowel is held as long as necessary > until the next word is ready, much prettier than "... uh ...". >
you may be right. i didn't think of "slow" grammatical utterance. i'll have=20 to ponder over it. Mathias =20