Re: Alien conlang idea

Hallo!

On Mon, 19 Jul 2004 17:20:25 +0100,
Peter Bleackley <Peter.Bleackley@...> wrote:

> I had an a really unusual idea for a language the other day (how often do I
> say this) and it strikes me as being outside the range of what's plausible
> for humans, but possible plausible for aliens.
> Every word in the language is a noun-verb compound. The nominal part is
> expressed as a triconsonantal root, as in Semitic languages. The verbal
> part consists of the vowel pattern. The valid templates are
>
> [templates snipped]
>
> which, with a 5-vowel system gives a total of 2160 possible forms. There
> are no real sentences as such, just long strings of noun-verb compounds
> building up the meaning.
>
> Suppose we then have the nouns slf (I), kns (dog), skl (bone), tld (child)
> and the verbs e_a_ (have) _i__ (give) __uo (undergo) oa_e (receive), then
>
> eslaf otalde silf knuso tild skulo okanse
>
> I-have child-receive I-give dog-undergo child-give bone-undergo dog-receive
>
> means, "I give a dog to my child, who gives it a bone."
Funky!  As you have already said, a human language like this seems
extremely unlikely, but in an alien language, anything goes.

Keep it up!

Greetings,

Jörg.