Re: French syntax (was: Italian Particles)

At 14:32 21/04/00 -0400, you wrote:
>Christophe Grandsire wrote:
>> >ZdetEst mari (VO)
>> ZladetEst mari (VO)
>
>[other examples snipped]
>
>Are there any patterns to when _la_ is used and when it's not?  Also,
>how are these spelled in written French?
>
Well, looking at the examples I gave, I can think of this pattern:
- the object prefix ("pronoun") is mandatory except if the object directly
follows the verb (so you can say [ZdetEst mari] instead of [ZladetEst mari]
because [mari] directly follows the verb [detEst]. On the other hand, [mari
ZladetEst] is the only possibility, because the object preceeds the verb).

As for written French, here it goes (I hope you have no problems with
accents):
ZdetEst mari: je déteste Marie.
ZdetEst mari mwa: je déteste Marie, moi.
mwa ZdetEst mari: Moi, je déteste Marie.
mari ZladetEst: Marie, je la déteste.
mari ZladetEst mwa: Marie, je la déteste moi.
ZladetEst mari: je la déteste Marie.
mwa ZladetEst mari: moi, je la déteste Marie.
ZladetEst mari mwa: je la déteste Marie, moi.
ZladetEst mwa mari: je la déteste moi, Marie.
mwa mari ZladetEst: moi, Marie, je la déteste.
mari mwa ZladetEst: Marie, moi, je la déteste.

The use of the comma is only tentative. It looks all right and doesn't have
any effect on pronunciation (no additional pauses). <je> can also be
written <j'> (it reflects better its pronunciation), but only in written
dialogues or to give an "informal" feeling.

>> (I said in an earlier post that French could be considered as a
>> polysynthetic language, here is an example :) ), and as you see, with
>> slight differences of intonation and sense, absolutely all orders between
>> S, O and V are possible in French.
>
>If only I knew French, I'd make a future-dialect conlang of French.
>Interesting things could be done to it, like sound-changes making the
>prefixes fused.  Perhaps something like /Zl/ --> /L/ (lateral
>fricative), making the prefix /La/, 1st.sing.subj.3rd.sing.fem.obj
>
Hey! That would be funny :) . Maybe I could help you on that one...

                                                Christophe Grandsire
                                                |Sela Jemufan Atlinan C.G.

"Reality is just another point of view."

homepage : http://rainbow.conlang.org
(ou : http://www.bde.espci.fr/homepages/Christophe.Grandsire/index.html)