Fith Redux

Thanks to all for the kind comments and kinder criticisms of Fith.  I'm not
sure what inspired this discussion, because I find its timing ironic.  Three
months ago I decided to do the next translation relay using Fith, since I
hadn't touched the language in nine years and wanted to expand on it:
http://www.langmaker.com/fith.htm

This week I received the relay text and translated it.  I'm happy to report
that Jan says he was able to successfully translate from Fith.  You'll have
to wait until the end of the relay though to see my text.

In the process of working on the relay, I dramatically expanded the language
and updated the web site.  Highlights:
- 10,000 word vocabulary
- Online Fith-English translator
- Expanded and revised stack operators
- Expanded pronoun system
- Plurality and tense markers
- No more hand signals.

The hand signals weren't in my first draft of Fith but were added in a
second draft.  Ray correctly indicates they were a superfluity, and I
removed them.

I added new "placeholder conjunctions".  This type of operator searches the
stack down for the first occurrence of the placeholder word 'nyun'. Every
subsequent element of the stack is then put in a series representing the
relationship glossed (e.g., "and", "or", "nor"):
drumh (A nyun X Y Z -- A "X, Y and Z") marks a simple series of nouns.
tuumnh (A nyun X Y Z -- A "either X, Y or Z") marks an either...or series of
nouns
dwoumnh (A nyun X Y Z - A "neither X, Y nor Z") marks a neither...nor series
of nouns.

As a result of this new construction, I revised 'dzhi' to now copy the stack
item above 'nyun' to the top of the stack. ( A B nyun X Y Z  - A B nyun X Y
Z X)  Before, 'dzhi' required a numeric argument.

You can play with these and other conjunctions using the new online
translator. I tested it under FireFox and hope it works in IE.  It handles
all the stack operators.  I've written and tested 14 sentences using it.

It's one thing to talk about stack-based conlangs -- quite another to get to
play with one.  I hope a few of you will experiment with the online translator.

Thanks again,

Jeffrey