Re: Origin of the word 'kivismi'

Hi Andreas,

Sorry to sound dumb, but what is 'assimilation' exactly?

The 'ti' ending is common to all verbs (hanti, kalti, suuti etc.) Words do
not change ever, not even when pluralised (mirko (cat) mirkotat (cats)).

As for soika/soike, the ending 'soika' is common and though it literally
translates as man, no sexist offence should be taken from it.

Daniel
daniel44@btinternet.com



----- Original Message -----
From: "Andreas Johansson" <and_yo@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2001 8:06 PM
Subject: Re: Origin of the word 'kivismi'


> Daniel44 wrote:
> >Andreas asked about the Uusisuom word 'kivismi' meaning 'communism'.
> >
> >Well, it comes from the verb 'kivti' to unite ( the word 'kivo' means
> >'together').
> >
> >'Kommunismi' is also possible.
>
> Thanks. Is, BTW, the cluster 'vt' supposed to assimilate in some way? Is
> assimilation "wrong"?
> >
> >As to denoting male/female in Uusisuom, the word 'soika' literally
> >translates as 'man' and 'soike' as 'woman'. Therefore, 'kivisoika'
> >(kommunisoika) means a male communist and 'kivisoike' (or kommunisoike)
> >means a female communist.
> >
> >The word 'kirsoika' (from the verb 'kirti' - to read) means 'reader'. If
> >you
> >don't know the specific gender of the reader you stick with this (male)
> >form. But if you want to specify that the person reading is female, you
use
> >the 'soike' ending.
>
> Well, I don't personally have anything against this system, but since some
> people I know have claimed that English is inherently sexist on the basis
of
> similar habits ('he' being the default animate 3rd sg pronoun for
instance),
> I thought I'd point out that a such system might upset some people. And
> upsetting people is, I assume, diametrically opposed to the objectives of
> any purpose-made IAL. Introducing a three way distinction (male vs female
vs
> neuter/unspecified) could perhaps add to Uusisuom's attractiveness to some
> people, and I can't imagining it scaring anyone away.
>
>                                                 Andreas
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