Re: Uusisuom language (Online lesson)

At 6:53 pm +0100 28/3/01, Daniel44 wrote:
>Raymond,
>
>Thank you for your kind words of support for the Uusisuom language.
>
>I have used these three languages (Finnish, Lithuanian, Russian) as my main
>influences because they are languages I have some knowledge of.
That's a good reason if you're just constructing a language for your own
pleasure and/or the pleasures of others - what's commonly called an
"artlang" on this list.

>I also
>believe that they are good models for different reasons. Finnish is arguably
>the most beautiful natural language in the world,
I happen to agree - and so, apparently, did JRR Tolkien of Quenya &
Sindarin fame.

>Russian is spoken by
>hundreds of millions of people the world over, from Eastern Europe to the
>tip of Alaska
Yes - but why?  It was taken thither by the Tsarist armies and continued to
be used over this vast area in the old Soviet Union.  To many it is, alas,
too much identified with a language of imperialism.

If Uusisuom is to have any appeal for the international use that you would
like it to have, I would suggest forgetting the Russian influence (or at
least, minimizing it).

>and Lithuanian has wonderful grammatical forms. Lithuanian is
>also highly prized among language scholars for its link to Sanskrit in India
>dating back thousands of years.
Very true - and, again, a perfectly good reason to use it in the
construction of an artlang.

>Finnish and Lithuanian have to be among the
>oldest living languages still in modern use in Europe.
But young, maybe, compared with Basque  :)

Now a blend of Finnish, Lithuanian & Basque could really make an excellent
artlang!  And if you pushed it as an international medium it could
certainly claim neutrality.

[snip]
>
>Pronouns are distinct from verb endings, though related for ease of
>learning. Again, though perhaps not common in auxiliary languages, verb
>endings are common in many natural languages.
True.

>I understand your point about the numbers, though people DO distinguish
>between thirteen and thirty. It's a question of how well the speaker
>pronounces.
It is also effected by interference between speaker & listener, no matter
how clear the speaker is.  The fact that 13 & 30 not infrequently have to
be repeated to make communication clear is testimony to this.

>Again, my main priority is ease of learning.
Well, from that point of view, I would think the modern Welsh system (apart
from the occasional initial consonant mutation) is even easier:

1  un
2  dau
3  tri
4  pedwar
5  pump   [_pum_ before a noun]
6  chwech [_chwe_ before a noun]
7  saith
8  wyth
9  naw
10 deg

11  un deg un
12  un deg dau
13  un deg tri
14  un deg pedwar
etc

20  dau ddeg   ['soft mutation' after _dau_]
21  dau ddeg un
22  dau ddeg dau
23  dau ddeg tri
etc

30  tri deg
40  pedwar deg
50  pum deg
60  chwe deg
70  saith deg
80  wyth deg
90  naw deg
100 cant

Ray.

=========================================
A mind which thinks at its own expense
will always interfere with language.
                   [J.G. Hamann 1760]
=========================================

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