Re: First post & three questions

En réponse à MGreenlee@AOL.COM:

> This is my first post to this list. My name is Michael Greenlee, and
> I've
> been working on contructed languages for a few years (I'm fifteen). I've
> been
> lurking on the list for a while now, and I have a few questions.
>
Welcome Michael!

> 1. What semivowels are there other than y and w?
>
Well, French has /H/ (rounded front semi-vowel, found in huit /Hit/: eight or
nuit /nHi/: night, the semi-vowel equivalent of French <u>: /y/) which is quite
stable. I guess all vowels can have either on-glide or off-glide equivalents,
but only the highest (or closest, as they are categorized in French) can have
really glides stable enough to be used as semi-vowels. I'm no linguist so I may
be wrong though.

> 2. Does anyone know of any good sources for information about different
> punctuation systems? All that I've been able to find so far is some
> scattered
> information about old English, Latin, and Greek punctuation.
>
Well, my Chasmäöcho has a very strange punctuation. Typically:
- comma is used for end of sentences (instead of the point),
- | is used to end paragraphs,
- : is used for exclamation sentences, both in front of and behind the sentence,
- ; is used for questions, in the same fashion as :,
- . is used like a hyphen -, often doubled as ..,
- _ is used instead of ...

> 3. Are there any good books about Proto-Indo-European in general
> (structure,
> phonology, etc.)? I've found plenty on the Indo-European languages, but
> few
> on PIE itself.
>
If you can read French, I advise you (like did Padraic) the booklet from the
collection "Que Sais-je?" intitled "L'Indo-Européen". Like I did with Padraic, I
can send you one if you send me the money for it :) .

Christophe.

http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr