Re: Apostrophes

On Sat, 17 Aug 2002 21:10:41 -0700 Arthaey Angosii <arthaey@...>
writes:
> Type 2: The most common use of an apostrophe is to join a word to
> something modifying it. For example,
> jhelle   /ZEl/    good
> geir     /gi:r/   more
> There also exists the particle "geir'" which must be attached to
> another
> word -- for instance, "geir'jhelle", which would mean "more good"
> or "better". There can only be one apostrophe per word, so
> t'       /tE/     and
> *t'geir'jhelle ==> t'geir jhelle
> even though "geir jhelle" is still considered a single unit.
> Arthaey
-

Wow, that's sort of similar to what i do in Rokbeigalmki.
Rokbeigalmki 'prepositions' are actually detachable case-prefixes, that
detach and change when they get doubled up on eachother.
For example:

LA' = on
NGA' = from

LA'WAJU = on a house
NGA'WAJU = from a house

in order to say "from on top of a house", you have to double-up the
prefixes NGA' and LA', which detaches them from the word WAJU and
lengthens LA', turning it from /la(?)/ to /lOr/:

NGA'LAUR WAJU = from on top of a house

The -AUR forms are also the noun equivalents of the prefixes, for
instance LAUR-A /lOr?a/ with the definite article means "the surface".

But, since the combination NGA'LAUR can also mean "above" (LA' "on" and
its opposite NA' "under" necessitate being in contact), to say "from
above" you need a third prefix:

NGA'NGAUR LA'WAJU = from above the house

NGA' + NGA' + LA' = NGA'NGAUR LA'

However, since the 'long forms' can also be used as nouns, unlike the
attached prefixes they can be used by themselves.  So you don't have to
specify:

NGA'NGAUR LA'WAJU = from (NGA') above (NGA'+LA') the house

you can also just say:

NGA'NGAUR LAUR = from (NGA') above (NGA'+LAUR)


-Stephen (Steg)
 "there is darkness all around us;
  but if darkness *is*, and the darkness is of the forest,
  then the darkness must be good."
     ~ song of the BaMbuti in troubled times