Re: Gz^rod|in (Some grammar now)

Nik Taylor wrote, quoting myself:

> > I have defined four genders, called Feminine,
> > Masculine, Living and Inert. Alternatives for the
> > last two would be more than welcome. Here are the
> > definitions:
>
> My suggestion would be "animate" and
> "inanimate" for the last two.
Thankyou - I will adopt this suggestion. (Thanks
also to Padraic for suggesting it first.)

<snip Watakassi gender descriptions - suitably
interesting>

> > - nouns relating to _past_ are masculine, e.g.
> >   history, yesterday, ruin
> > - nouns relating to _future_ are feminine, e.g.
> >   hope, devastation, tomorrow;
> > - a masculine abstact noun derived from a verb
> >   indicates commencement, e.g. masculine
> >   _The go(ing)_ means, the leaving;
> > - a feminine abstract noun derived from a verb
> >   indicates completion, e.g. feminine _The
> >   go(ing)_ means, the arriving.
>
> Intriguing divisions!  What would nouns referring
> to _now_ (like "present" or "today"?) be?
Living/animate. I actually gave "present" as an
example of this category.

I devised the future/past gender distinction as a
way of trying to give the language the "feel" of
having been influenced by culture. It's not hard
to conceive how a mythology of some sort might
motivate such a distinction.

I added the completion/commencement part later
when I noticed an inconsistency that I had, until
that point, unthinkingly inherited from English.
In English, _When will you go?_ means, _When will
you leave?_, whereas, _Where will you go?_ means,
_Where will you arrive?_. It's the kind of subtle
thing most people not designing a conlang wouldn't
notice. But once I had noticed it, I needed to
correct the error, and it occured to me that an
extention of the gender scheme was as good a way
as any of going about it.

I have a further trick up my sleeve concerning
Time - the Gz^rod|in verb meaning, _to live_
literally means _time travel_.

zy (pron. zee)   = space
yy (pron. yee)   = time
zeq (pron. zair) = to go
yeq (pron. yair) = to live

Adrian.
--
http://www.netyp.com/member/dragon
http://www.flinders.edu.au