Re: Beek

"H. S. Teoh" <hsteoh@...> wrote:
>
>> In addition, the vowels a,u,e,i,o were often doubled, indicating
>> tenseness,
>> so
>> AA  /a/
>> UU  /u/
>> EE  /e/
>> II  /i/
>> OO  /o/
>
> Interesting. So /beek/ is [bek] whereas /bek/ is [bEk]?
    Yes, assuming you meant "beek", etc. (i.e. spelling, not phonemics).
To get a feel for the alphabet, "beek" in the old script is something like:

   #     #                       #  #  #
    #   #    #######   #######    # # #
     # #                           ###
###########################################
     # #        #         #         #
    #   #       #         #         #
   #     #      #         #         #

and in new script:

   #     #                           ##
    #   #    #######   #######   #  #  #
     # #         ##        ##    #  #  #
      #         #         #       #####
     # #       #         #          #
    #   #      #         #          #
   #     #      #         #         #

>
> [snip]
>>     Beek is partially inflecting and partially isolating.  There are four
>> noun genders, masculine, feminine, neuter1, and neuter2.  Epicene nouns are
>> included in neuter1.
>
> What's the difference between neuter1 and neuter2?
    The genders are something like Latin declensions; they have different
endings, and even though words which are naturally masculine of feminine
fall into the appropriate classes, there are a number of semantically neuter
words which are grammatically masc. of fem.  Masculine nouns end in "a" or
"aa", feminine in "uu", neuter1 in "au" or "oo", and neuter2 in "ii".
Looking at the dictionary, for instance, "gold" ("keshalla") is masculine,
while "silver" ("kuu") is feminine.  Body parts are neuter1.

 ===========================================================================

                 Dennis Paul Himes    <>    himes@cshore.com
                   http://home.cshore.com/himes/dennis.htm
        Gladilatian page: http://home.cshore.com/himes/glad/lang.htm

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