Re: Aelya and Cein Revisited

--- Daniel Andreasson <rymddaniel@...> wrote:
> Note the new rules on vowel length that I've added.
> A vowel is long when syllable final (except some
> short
> always unstressed words) or when followed by a
> voiced
> obstruent /b d g D v/. Examples _so_ [so:] 'he' and
> _llug_ [Ku:g] 'dragon'.
   Very simple! I like it. I suppose you've niticed
that I gave up on my beautiful length rule - I
couldn't make it work with what was coming out of my
sound changes.

> From the possessive suffix _-va_ > _-w_. I just
> added that
> to the old set of pronouns I had, _ne_ in the first
> person.
> Then I changed the pronouns, but the possessive
> pronouns
> remained.
   Very cool! Very ... diachronic! ;) I love these
sorts of irregularities in a conlang...

> Perhaps they should undergo nasal mutation because
> of the
> _an_?
   It's a possibility, and would make sense. You mean,
nasal instead of the limited soft mutation? I'd go for
it.
   In Aelya, soft mutation (maogad) is caused by old
nasal of vowel finals, and lenition (shulad) by
geminate consonants and long e, long i, and short i.


> Good lord! I have around 250 only. How do you find
> the time?
   Simple. Don't have a life! ;) Last night I finished
working through QQ, so now I'm going back through and
correcting errors, deleting duplicates, and so on. I'm
also sorting everything by nouns, verbs, etc. and
other characteristics in preparation for drawing some
standard conclusions. Once I add the irish words,
they're going to have to conform to grammatical
standards, so I'm doing this to be sure what they are.

> I liked the analytic nature of the _an_ particle
> as well, but it's cool the way the /n/ assimilates
> to the next cons. Perhaps it's a bit more European
> too.
   I liked it too, and it's becoming something else.
Haven't quite figured out yet - maybe the comparative
prefix, or an equative 'as'. I mean, for example:
   She is as beautiful as Maora.
   Bhean se an Maora.

  I really need to do a bunch of Irish grammar delving
- Irish has all sorts of weird constructions for these
things...

> Perhaps I should ditch the apostrophes in these
> short
> words like you have. I *have* to come up with dative
> forms of the pronouns too. I like having no
> distinction
> between the subject and the object forms tho.
   I'd ditch the apostrophes too. As to dative/object
forms of the pronouns - keep it as you have it! You
don't HAVE to have objective forms - Irish gets by
just fine without any (well, mostly without any).
Syntax would cover it all just fine. Of course, you do
have to come up with some personalized prepositions
(like dhoro, nean, and nas). At least, there common in
all the Celtic langs, Welsh included.

> >Na so ar ghyalad nean, a gcolad en nas.
> >ghyalad =len. + call (< Q. yal, enyalie) + VN
>
> Oh, so you mutate the verbs?
   Yes, ar causes shulad, and the imperative particle
causes maogad (lenition and soft mutation - I keep
wanting to only use the 'native' terms!).

I used Q. _yell-_
> for 'call, yell'.
   I thought about it, but it was just to
transparently similar. I didn't like it (of course, it
would become dhel in Aelya, but still...)

And again, where did you get
> the _-ad_ VN ending?
   I took it from Irish (VN in -ta, which on Aelya
verbs often started out as -ata > -ad) and Sindarin
(-ad). I mean, it _was borrowed_ from those languages!
;)
For example, the -ta verbs keep a final -a in the
present (tulta 'summon' > tolda, VN tultata > toldad).
And even though it should end up as -d in most of the
strong verbs (tul, cor, etc.) the -ad was analogized
across the board (> tulad 'coming', corad 'bringing')


I think the infinitive _-idd_
> I have is a bit odd. OTOH, _-idd_ isn't used for
> much else so I guess it doesn't really function
> as an infinitive in Cein.
  Well, the celtic langs don't really have infinitives
per se, just the lovely VN. And -idd isn't that far
from -ad, so I'd keep it all like it is and just call
them verbal nouns. Just me, of course.

> >  gcolad = soft mut. + col (bring, bear) + VN
> >  /na so @r Cal@d n&n @ gol@d en nas/
>
> Is /C/ the ich-laut (voiceless palatal fric) or the
> voiceless palatal affricate? Ich-laut, right?
  Ich-laut it is! I thought it might be easier to read
if I wrote /hyal@d/, but decided to go with accuracy
instead of ease.

> I feel I'm getting behind on working on Cein. You
> seem to have come so much farther with Aelya. Oh
> well, festina lente, as they say.
  Well, I've been futzing with Aelya for about 7 years
now, and I can finally see the light at the end of the
tunnel. I've just got that excited burst of energy due
to things finally getting somewhere.

 Aidan

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