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Unilang: some tentative words

From:Oskar Gudlaugsson <hr_oskar@...>
Date:Wednesday, April 25, 2001, 2:52
I don't recall ever starting a lang with anything other than the numerals
and the pronouns...

The first form is the emphatic/full form, the second a clitic/reduced form.
The clitic form is what appears in grammatical marking of various kinds
(see the grammar thread).

Pronouns:

1p  /'iamai/    /me/
2p  /'iatau/    /to/
3p  /'iakain/   /ken/

I stumbled on a thought for a minor morphophonetic relationship: /au/ -
 /o/, /ai/ - /e/, where the simple vowel would be the general equivalent in
clitic forms. I envisage /oi/ - /i/ and /eu/ - /u/ for the other two
diphthongs. Just tentative, of course; actually, this feature is quite
likely not to go through, in this present form.

Numerals 1-10:

1  /'ites/     /i/
2  /'toime/    /toi/
3  /'trisme/   /tris/
4  /'porata/   /por/
5  /'pimata/   /pim/
6  /'hiSpera/  /hiS/
7  /'Seuftera/ /Seuf/
8  /'hastoka/  /has/
9  /'nimena/   /nim/
10 /'dimena/   /dim/

Thus,

11 /dim 'ites/        /dim i/
12 /dim 'toime/       /dim toi/
20 /toi 'dimena/      /toi dim/
21 /toi dim 'ites/    /toi dim i/
99 /nim dim 'nimena/  /nim dim nim/

(Well, 99 is kind of silly in any language... ;)

I notice that I have some preference for the fortis plosives over the lenis
ones; don't know why. Indeed, I do not intend for phonemic distribution to
be even; /h f S/ shall be kept fairly scarce, as will /eu oi/, and /l r/
contrasts in commonly occurring items will be avoided as much as possible.

You probably notice that I tend to favor naturalistic systems over
schematic ones, even in this careful auxlang design. Perhaps an auxlang-
geared artlang is the ultimate solution, after all! :) :)

Óskar