Re: A use for "aizh" ...

 --- Peter Clark <peter-clark@...> wrote: > On
Tuesday 27 August 2002 07:20, bnathyuw wrote:
> > yeay ! i get to use noun tenses
> >
> > |bnac rhewls Pyenr Phwewr rhelsn|
> >
> > /matS r\EUls pjE~4 fwEU4 r\elz/
> > (the language) \(past beauty*) (is with reference
> to
> > past) became \(greater beauty)
> > the previously beautiful language has become more
> > beautiful
>
>         Your transcription is a little unclear, but
> it seems as though your
> translation is more like "the past beauty of the
> language has become more
> beautiful." Does your language consider adjectives
> nouns? Or have you
> invented adjective tense? :)
adjectives are indeed realised as nouns, but a noun is
defined by another following it. so |bnac rhewls|
comes out as 'the language of past beauty'. i've used
'\' to mark when a noun should be considered as
defining another.

so yes, it's only noun tense really, but as nouns do
the work of adjectives ( and are often marked as
adjectival nouns by an infixed |l|, you could also
consider it as adjective tense )

>         While you're at it, why don't you explain
> how noun tense works in your
> language? I think we had this discussion before, but
> you had not solidified a
> couple of things. What makes me curious is the dual
> instance of tense, both
> in the noun/adjective (rhewls) and the verb
> (Phwewr). Or did you simply make
> a mistake (it happens) in glossing "Phwewr" as
> "became"?

|bnac| is present tense : the language we're talking
about still exists
|rhewls| is past tense : the then-beauty of the
languge doesn't persist
|Pyenr| is present tense, continuous aspect
|Phwewr| is past tense, simple aspect, subjunctive
mood
the combination of these two expresses the english
perfect tense : 'is-retrospectively having-become'
perhaps glosses it better, but makes it look as if bac
has participles
|rhelsn| is again present tense : the language still
has this greater beauty

i'm considering compound noun tenses, but at the
moment they only refer to the time referred to

>         To get the discussion rolling, how do you
> distinguish aspect and mood (the
> other two things that languages often lump together
> with tense)? What
> distinguishes "has become," "became," "is becoming,"
> "becomes," "will be
> becoming," and "will become"?
>
have sort of answered that. they would be,
respectively

Pyenr Phwewr
Pwewr
Pwenr
Pwer
Pwenyr
Pweyr

( nasalisation of the vowel ( marked with |n| )
distinguishes continuous aspect, and the semivowels
give tense )

> > * the usual word for beauty is |galj|, formed from
> >
> > |gaj|, eye. |rels| is formed from |res|, ear, and
> is
> >
> > more appropriate for a langauge !
>
>         Would "earful" in a positive sense be a good
> gloss? I like it. :)
quite possibly ! again it's the adjectival infix . . .

bn

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