Re: How naturalistic is this? Colors & Composition in Sein'

Shreyas, I must say, you have the most awesome
signatures. Wherever are they from?

>
> on 9/21/05 11:44 AM, Shreyas Sampat at
> ssampat@GMAIL.COM wrote:
>
> > So, I've just discovered that Seinundjé has an
> unusual way of marking
> > the color and composition of objects. The usual
> word order in noun
> > phrases is modifier-head, but with color marking,
> it turns to head-modifier:
> >
> > dháta jzwul
> > dry earth
> >
> > jzwul lúyun
> > earth blue
> >
> > That's not all that interesting.
> >
> > But there's a closed set of materials that are
> marked in a special way;
> > the head takes an infix that denotes the category
> of material, and the
> > modifier indicates the specific material, like so:
> >
> > rómo
> > sword
> >
> > rómot lédh
> > sword-METAL black
> > "iron sword"
> >
> > rómot tháya
> > sword-METAL red
> > "copper sword"
> >
> > rómonh fála
> > sword-WOOD white
> > "ivory/bone sword"
> >
> > rómonh sádha
> > sword-WOOD yellow
> > "birchwood sword"
> >
> > Is this totally weird? Do natlangs do stuff like
> that?
>

-The Sock

"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look upon my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"


		
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