Re: Question: Verb Paradigms

>     Has anyone every invented a language that has internal vowel change for
> any type of tense/aspect marking on the verb?  I did so once in Megdevi where
> changing the short vowels from schwas to [I]'s you got the perfective,
> regardless of tense, thus:
>
> ?oj dZarabi: I'm eating.
> ?oj dZIrIbi: I've eaten.
>
>     However, what I'm really interested in is stuff like German and English
> with "sing/sang" and "sehe/sah".  I always try to come up with some sort of
> language that does things like this, but I'm always disappointed with the
> result because it ends looking too regular and/or too artificial.  Are there
> any out there?
>
> -Dave
>
Gevey has evolved a system of internal vowel changes, which are
triggered by the conjunction introducing the verbs clause: Most
clauses use the primary conjugation (a or e type conjugation), but
subjective (tethered) clauses use the secondary (o type) conjugation
and predicate clauses use the tertiary (i type) conjugation.

Thus, a type to i type (pajan, to pay):

   Mary will pay the man
   Marhe pagane ye loif

   How will Mary pay the man?
   Keeb Marhe pajine ye loif?

And a type to o type (caeban, to prepare):

   Mary saw the dog
   Marhe gluefate ye tuusehrh

   Mary prepared the potatoes
   Marhe caebate yuush prhipef

   Mary saw the dog while preparing the potatoes
   Marhe gluefate ye tuusehrh edezde caebote yuush prhipef

Of course, this is nowhere near as stunning as the vowel changes
associated with English strong verbs, but it does help to add a little
extra complexity to the language, which I like.

Rik

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