I'm all, then he's all (Was Re: English diglossia (was Re: retroflex cons...

In a message dated 2/2/2003 2:15:02 PM Pacific Standard Time, romilly@EGL.NET 
writes:


> James Landau wrote:
> 
> >> >Kankonian actually has a word for this. The word is "sen", and the entry 
>> for it in the dictionary is "said -- informal word used in reënacting a 
>> conversation". The dictionary goes on to give this example sentence:
>> 
>> >Mui wan sen, "Ar kardasas hiel?", yau is sen, "Dani".
>> And he's all, "What do you think?, then I'm all, "Cool".
>> 
>> 
> >> (snip very interesting exs. & discussion) 
>> >Did anyone else include slang words in your conlangs that would be able 
>> to translate English terms like these? 
>>  
>> Well, thanks for a very stimulating post. 
 You're welcome.


 It got me thinking, at last, about colloquialisms/slang in Kash.  Here's a 
relevant 
> >> one:
>>  
>> "to say" is _kota_ (also means 'word')
>> Correct: makota 'I say..." makotasa "I said..." makotato 'I will say..."; 
>> hakota 'you say...'  yakota 'he/she says...' etc.
>> Usual:  makota, hakota...etc.  for all tenses
>> Common, permissible (vb plus possessive): kotami 'I say/said...' kotati 
>> 'you say/said...kotani 'he/she/they say/said... etc. (lit. my saying ~my 
>> word etc.) 
>>  
>> Slangy, considered substandard (along with tendency to drop some initial 
>> syllables):
>> tani roughly equiv. to 'says..., goes... is like...' etc with new 
>> conjugated forms
>> matani, katani (ha- > ka-, more slang), tani  or
>> tanimi, taniti, sometimes tanini but more often just tani
>>  
>> Just one goody from a 3-page outline.
 So people DO have that slang expression in their conlangs! (Well, at least 
some people.) The -tani forms came off as elegantly formed, too (with a 
smooth, naturalistic creation. All languages that are spoken conversationally 
are going to end up with their shortened forms, a few pauses and "erms", and 
some way, slangy or not, of recounting conversation.