Re: GomiLego (was/still is Re: evolving languages)

Emaelivpaer Hanuman Zhang egik kunúth imaeli alunsa selothik:
That is, Hanuman Zhang, 3-Toed-Sloth-Style Gungfu Typist, wrote:

>'n gomiilego  /@n go.mi:lego/=
>
>    lego bii 'umnii-tem mjuuta...
>    /lego  bi:  @Um.ni:.tem  mju:ta:/
>    language be all-time change
>
>    lego-mjuuta no bii raat...
>    /lego.mju:ta:  no  bi:  r\A:t/
>    language-change no be rot
>
>    plij lego fin taak bijn - tadaa - dem bijn 'ntem mjuuta-mjuuta...
>    /plaI  lego  fin  tA:k  baIn  tadA:  dem  baIn  @n.tem  mju:ta:mju:ta:/
>    PLU language PAST talk together then them together FUT change-change
Gomiilego is a fun language for English speakers to read out loud.  :)  I
like how it's semi-intelligible even before reading the glosses.  If I were
stranded on in a trading city that only spoke Gomiilego, I think I'd pick
it up fairly quickly.  Good job with the pidgin!  :)


>in English:
Another embedded translation exercise!  Yahoo!  <grin>

>    Language is always changing.
>    Language change is not decay.
>    Languages spoken together change one another.
Asha'ille:

     Es dotrev dasharídim'da eg daluna.
     /Es do"trEv dASAr"Idm=dA eg dA"lunA/
     PRG change languages_all V: always

     Jhor'dasharíd dotrevon kret'kishalédhivon.
     /Zor dASAr"Id do"trEvon krEt kiSAl"EDIvon/
     language{ADJ} change{N} IS_NOT decay{N}

     Dotrevad shavadonith dasharídim.
     /do"trEvAd "SAvad,onIT dASAr"Idm=/
     change_each_other speak_together{N}{ADJ} languages

Note: I use /r/ for /r\/ because I'm lazy and r\ looks ugly.  (No comments
from the non-rhotics on how r\ sounds ugly, too!  :P )

In Asha'ille, you can't refer to "all languages" the way English can by
saying "language" in general.  Neither does the "language" > "languages"
change of singular to plural work -- |dasharíd| > |dasharídim| -- because
you're still talking about concrete languages, just a number of them.  If
you want to discuss the idea or the general of something, you add the
suffix |'da| (from "all" |das|) to the plural form.  Therefore |dasharídim'da|.

speak_together{N}{ADJ} might seem strange at first.  |shavadonith| is built
up of productive suffixes.  The component parts are:

|shav|   "to speak"
|-ad|    reciprocal or reflexive
|-on|    casts a verb as a noun
|-ith|   casts a noun as an adjective

Since there's no productive suffix to change a verb directly into an
adjective, it must intermediately be cast as a noun.


--
AA