Re: Xeta

On 11/4/06, Holger Ebermann <holger800@...> wrote:
> e) Nouns end always on: A in singular, plural on I
> f) verbs end in present on E, in past on O, in the future on U. Conjunctive is
> represented by –L.
Smells a bit like Esperanto :)

Do verbs have an infinitive form? If not, how does Xeta handle
situations where we'd use an infinitive in English? (For example, how
to express "I want to sing, I have to sing, I can sing, I need to
sing"?)

What is the citation form/dictionary form of a verb, if there is no
infinitive? The present?

What is the citation form for a noun? Singular?

Do nouns inflect for case?

Are there participles? (For example, along the lines of Esperanto
-int-, -ant-, -ont-, which allow you to say things such as "I am
singing", "I was singing", "I am about to sing", "I was about to
sing", "I will have been singing", etc.)

Are there passive constructions? If so, how are they formed?

> You have always to add personal pronouns and nouns: A = I, E = you, I = we, O =
> their, U = they. When you use he/ she/ it you leave out the pronoun and take
> just the verb.
Is there a distinction made between 2sg ("du") and 2pl ("ihr")? Or are
both the same, as in English ("you") or Esperanto ("vi")?

Is there a reason (concultural or not) why there is a 3pl possessive
suffix "their" but no possessive suffix for any other form (my, thy,
his/her/its, our, your)?

...wait, are those suffixes or separate words? For example, would "I
give" be "giveE A" or "giveEA"?

I'm not quite sure what you mean with "you have to always add personal
pronouns and nouns". Does that mean that each verb must be followed by
a personal pronoun and then by a noun? Or does it mean something like
"subjects must always be explicitly marked; the language is not
pro-drop"?

What happens with 3sg and 3pl constructions -- for example, "the boy
runs; the boys run". Is the first "runE boy"? Is the second "runE U
boys" or "runE boys" without the "U"?

> h) Adjectives can stand right before or after their related nouns.
Is there a copula? For example, is there a word representing "is" in
"The house is red", or do you simply say the equivalent of "The house
-- red"? If so, how do you distinguish between "The house is red" and
"The red house", if the adjective can be either before or after the
noun it modifies?

Do adverbs exist? Do they have a specific ending? Can they be derived
regularly (and productively) from adjectives?

> k) Questions are always PSO or POS.
Is there a difference in meaning between those two forms? In style? In
anything else? Or can either version be used in free variation?

If there are no case forms, how do you distinguish between "Did the
man eat the fish?" and "Did the fish eat the man?"? Wouldn't "eatO
manA fishA" be ambiguous?

> l) Numbers end on S (1-9), T (10-90), Q (100-900), V (1000-9000)
So, for example, if "BOS" were 7, then "BOT" would be 70, "BOQ" would
be 700, and "BOV" would be 7000? Or do the ones, the tens, the
hundreds, and the thousands bear no relationship in form except that
all ones end in -S, all tens in -T, etc.?

What about larger numbers? Would 65536 be something like "sixty-five
thousand, five hundred thirty-six", i.e. something like "sixT fiveV
fiveQ threeT sixS" or perhaps "sixT fiveS oneV fiveQ threeT sixS"?

Happy conlanging!
--
Philip Newton <philip.newton@...>

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