Theiling Online    Sitemap    Conlang Mailing List HQ   

Tunu not dead + Common lexicon for analytical conlangs

From:Taka Tunu <takatunu@...>
Date:Sunday, October 2, 2005, 16:50
Rémi Villatel wrote:

<<<
I surprise myself sometimes. ;-) I just opened the grammar and the
lexicon in tabs. With the help of the examples, it took me no time to
build new sentences.
>>>
Conlangers interested in analytical languages could make a common, fixed lexicon of plain words ("concepts") and make their own personal grammar to use it. If they need a grammar tag then they use a plain word from the fixed lexicon for it (Khmer works fine this way.) We would end up with one root lexicon for many languages ("bird black" and "blackbird" languages.) <<< Probably. I don't know Indonesian. As for "yo", I totally disregarded it as adjectival tag. Don't ask why.
>>>
Most langs I know that have adjective+noun also make compounds/constructs as tail+head. The only exception I heard of is Tibetan, of which I have no command at all. So if you use adjective+noun with "texa xuka" then you may want to use tail+head as well with "rari xaro." Another topic is tagging construct case vs tagging object case. I browse most analytical conlang pages and I can see that those that tag the object (with a transitive verbal suffix or a preposition or a case suffix--which is not very analytical anyway) don't tag the construct, and vice versa. <<< Err... What about imperative?
>>>
It's made with an "imperative" pronoun which is like "you", but with the hint that you must do or be. I did not pick it yet because I don't ask for anything in Tunu and I did not expect anybody asking. If you want to attach "in the future"-"wi pawame" to the previous word "hunt"-"poxe" then you use "yo": "poxe yo wi pawame" = "hunt that (is) in future." That's what "yo" is made for. "To wish" is expressed with "tai ronu taxa" "to hope-happen". "I wish you something" = "Kiki ya tai ronu taxa we pine patu yu (xeri*) we noko." (*xeri means "benefit", "favour.) µ.