Re: Lahabic Syntax

> From: H. S. Teoh
>
> On Sat, Sep 30, 2000 at 08:26:26AM -0400, The Gray Wizard wrote:
> [snip]
> > <mount-soapbox>
> > Nothing beats translations to prove out the syntax of your
> conlang.  Even
> > the simple Aesopean Morals that I have been doing can reveal
> subtle holes.
>
> Are they on a website somewhere? I've finally been convinced that I need
> to participate in the daily translations, even though my conlang's lexis
> is pitifully small (only 35 entries!)

No, not currently.  They should all be available in the archive, however.
Hmmm, perhaps I should collect them all and put them up on my site.  Yes,
just what I need, another project that I don't have time for.

> > While lexis is tedious and time consuming (although requiring a creative
> > mind), syntax is the real difficult part of conlanging, IMNSHO.
>  Coming up
> > with a theoretically sound syntactic system is one thing, but
> making it work
> > can be a lot harder than most people imagine.  I can remember
> struggling for
> > nearly a year trying to get a satisfactory relative clause
> system to work
> > for me.  Nothing proves whether your syntactic systems work better than
> > exercising them through translation.
>
> Yeah... maybe I should start translating the description of my conlang
> into the conlang itself :-P
I have often thought of doing something like this.  Actually, I have thought
of doing an amman iar grammar from a nardhost's (people who speak amman iar)
perspective.  Huge effort however.

> >  Try expressing predicate adjectives and nominals,
>
> What's a predicate adjective? :-P
An adjective that occurs in a post-verbal or predicative position. 'The
wizard is gray' as opposed to within a NP or attributive position. 'The gray
wizard'

> > various genitive/possessive constructions, subordinate clause
> > including subject and object complements as well as relative clauses,
>
> Hmm. What's the difference between a subordinate clause and a relative
> clause?
A relative clause is a type of subordinate clause.  The latter being a
catch-all for any dependent clause embedded in a matrix clause.

> > attributive clauses, locative clauses, possessive clauses, existential
> > clauses, et.al.  There's more to syntax than simple sentences.
> Translate,
> > translate, translate and when you're done, translate some more.  Your
> > conlang will improve with every translation.
> > </dismount-soapbox>
> [snip]
>
> Currently I'm having trouble doing more than single-sentence translations,
> because my conlang requires a "syntax" (if you may call it that) at a
> level higher than sentences, and right now, it's still very preliminary.
> I hope to get enough of it working soon, so that I can "exercise" the
> language by doing translations, or perhaps even writing native text.

Good luck.  I look forward to seeing your work as it progresses.

David