Re: Saying "Thank you."

Sally Caves wrote:

>How do you say "thank you" in your conlangs?
>How do you analyze it grammatically, and how
>do you pronounce it?
Well, I'm a little behind on this, but I just finished catching up on
the 1200+ messages left in my mailbox here at school (could've gone
"no mail", but thought I'd be in enough times over the summer to keep
the volume at bay -- wrong!). Anyhoo, in Géarthnuns:

To one person, the full expression is:

Sí la öçkek síuthta.
[si la 'YCkEk 'sjuTta]
I-nominative present.tense you-dative thank-hortative.mood
That I may thank you. Would I could thank you. etc....

To two people:

Sí la skomaz síuthta.
[si la 'skomaz 'sjuTta]
Ditto, but with the dual form for "you".

To three or more:

Sí la kfazhal síuthta.
[si la 'kfaZal 'sjuTta]
You get the idea.

Less formally, there are: Öçkek síuthta.; Skomaz síuthta.; Kfazhal síuthta.

Least formally, it's the rather brusque "Síuthta". Best to use only
with immediate family members and *very* good friends as you're
running out the door to catch a bus. Certainly not a good first
choice if one harbored any delusions of getting some nooky that night.

Kou