Re: Esperanto question (A different one! :)

Arek Bellagio wrote:

> Do you abbreviate/combine, as how Spanish, Italian, and French does?
>
> Like for example..
>
> de + la = da?
> en + la = aun?
My guess is that at least some Esperantists would tend to contract de la
--> del.

> Also, for words that begin in vowels, do you remove the vowel? Example:
>
> (I'm making up this word.. I don't really know Esperanto that well)
>
> la + akron
> l'akron
If I remember correctly, Zamenhof (sp?) specifically stated that la can
be abreviated as l' before a word beginning with a vowel, altho I don't
know if it would be written
l'akron or l' akron

Also, I think he allowed the final -o to be dropped in "poetry".  I
wonder, if Esperanto were to be used for a long enough period of time,
if that would become common, and the rules for stress would have to be
changed.

> Does anyone to anything similar in their respective languages?
Ooh, boy!  Do I!  Practically ever gramatical morpheme has at least two
forms depending on what surrounds it.  For example, the past tense is
qa-, however before a vowel, or after a vowel, it becomes q-, thus:

Qasaga'u = I spoke (qa-saga'-u)
Saqsaga'u = I spoke [to someone] (sa-q-saga'-u)

And some have three forms, for example the gender 6 singular marker is
l- before vowels, il- before a glide (l, w, y), and * (my convention for
gemination) before a consonant, thus:
luppa' = love (l-uppa')
ilyaunna' = death (il-yaunna')
nni^pa = water (*-ni^pa)

> "The pessimist stomps and curses the wind. The optimist whines, but keeps
> saying how everything can be better. The realist adjusts the sails and
> doesn't complain."
>         - Kyle Voiles
Great quote!

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