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Re: French syntax (was: Italian Particles)

From:Sally Caves <scaves@...>
Date:Thursday, April 27, 2000, 15:37
Christophe Grandsire wrote:
> > At 12:59 22/04/00 -0700, you wrote: > >Christophe Grandsire scripsit: > >> > >> The more I see French through a linguist and/or a foreigner eye, the more > >> its structure seems original to me :) . > > > >Speaking of French lessons (I snipped John's fascinating but > >impenetrable > >question), can you say this to a conlanger in French? > > > > Qu'est-ce que tu me dis dans ta langue? > > > > Without the context, I cannot really judge, but it's correct French at > least.
That's all I wanted to know! Good! <G>
> Indeed, you say 'dans', not 'en', and the 'tu' and 'ta' are correct.
Fabulous... right the first time!!
> Yet without context this sentence sounds a little meaningless to me. Can > you tell me more about it? > > Christophe Grandsire > |Sela Jemufan Atlinan C.G.
Yes, Christophe... thank you! I'm almost done with a set of "macaronic" verses that I'm trying to set to song. I wanted a sad, sort of contemplative song in Teonaht, English, and French, about the fall of Babel, and human incommunicability. The final refrain is "what are saying to me in your language?" Of course, a lot of the phrases have to conform to the meter and melody line of the song, so that's why they all seem a little yanked out of focus and syntax (including the Teonaht). There was something moving to me about singing this mostly in Teonaht and having the singer break away to say intelligible things in English and French (I'm assuming that T. is unintelligible to most everybody else). The title of the piece, and I'll post it if I ever finish and record it, is "Ma langue." And that's the note the song ends on. Maybe I'll put some Welsh in. But the soundbyte has to be short if I'm going to RealProduce it. Oh sigh... if only I were Deirdre DuBois. Thanks for your help! ============================================================ SALLY CAVES scaves@frontiernet.net http://www.frontiernet.net/~scaves (bragpage) http://www.frontiernet.net/~scaves/teonaht.html (T. homepage) http://www.frontiernet.net/~scaves/contents.html (all else) ===================================================================== Niffodyr tweluenrem lis teuim an. "The gods have retractible claws." from _The Gospel of Bastet_ ============================================================