Re: Devoid

Charlie wrote:
> I happened upon the word "devoid" today.  It seems to be an
> interesting adjective.  While synonyms are "empty, vacant, etc." it
> must be used with "of" and cannot be used attributively or
> predicatively.....
> How do you conlangers handle it in your conlangs?
>
> In Senjecas I am going to use the word for "empty...."
That would be one alternative in Kash. Just as londo + noun means 'full
of....', yumbu + noun could mean 'empty of....' But those are rather neutral
expressions; 'devoid' has pretty strong connotations IME. So in that case we
might want to preface it with "very" or "totally", etc.

One might better do something with the verb inga 'to lack, be without', as
prep. 'without' (in both cases, the obj. is in the genitive case):
(yuno-yuno) yayinga añiñayi
all-all    he-lacks Noml-intelligent-gen.
'he completely/totally lacks intelligence' = he is devoid of...

kaçut iya (ukat) inga añiñayi
man that (quite, very) without intell.
'That man is (quite) devoid of ....'

And also, this is where the caka- 'accidental' prefix comes in handy--much
stronger than a plain verb. But not with yumbu-- that form already means
'suddenty drained of...'.  So (new form!!) cakinga 'overcome by/suffering
from (in a generally bad/extreme way) a lack of...'

ne cakinga añiñayi
3s-dat .......
'he is devoid of intelligence' (the dative "subj." implies an inherent
quality). In the right tone of voice, that would really be a sneering
comment ;-) (you could insert one of the adverbs before the verb for even
greater force)

With a nominative subj. "iya cakinga..." it would mean that he had/showed a
total lack of (whatever) in a given situation -- 'that was a really stupid
thing to do...'

Both frequently said of politicians all over the Universe, eh? :-)

It could also be used e.g. "cakinga toyeyi" 'lacking money' = utterly broke,
ruined, bankrupt

(Sorry, no word yet for 'charm'-- but probably a compd. based on hañu-
'soul; mind; character')