Re: Xeta

On 11/4/06, Holger Ebermann <holger800@...> wrote:
> X can be spoken like SH, CH etc..
Is KH also acceptable? (That is, CXS /x/ or /X/.)

> g) Adjectives end on –N, comparative on –X and superlative on –P
>From some of the examples on your site, it seems that what would be
noun-noun sequences in English turn into noun-adjective sequences in
Xeta, with the modified noun being turned into an adjective by adding
-N (e.g. site admin = admin siteN). Can any noun be turned into an
adjective by adding -N? Is this how general genitive relationships are
expressed?

On a similar note, can any noun be turned into a verb by replacing the
-A with an appropriate verbal ending? Can any verb be turned into a
noun by replacing the -E with -A/-I?

> i) QA is a prefix for no-
It's unfortunate, then, that there are several words starting with QA-.

1) How are such words negated? By adding another QA? (for example,
QAQATE A "I don't know"?) By removing the existing QA? (TE A "I don't
know"?)

2) It seems a bit unfortunate that many of those words, _sans_ QA-,
also exist as words. So QATE A could be either "I know" or "I don't
speak", correct?

(It seems that of the words in the wordlist at
http://xe4.phpbb.li/ftopic3.html, QA is negative only in QALE "to die"
(cf. LE "to be") and QALITE "to cry" (cf. LITE "to laugh").

I also find the names of the months interesting; apparently, they're
named alphabetically, according to the order of consonants in the
alphabet? (Does "vavova" mean anything?)

What kind of culture do speakers of Xeta have? (Or is it not a
language with a conculture attached, but rather, say, a proposed
auxlang?)

I ask because there seem to be several short, seemingly indivisible
words for concepts related to technology, such as TINE "to program",
TOQA "car", XALA "internet".

That's not unheard-of among conlangs -- for example, Klingon has
similar oddities, e.g. {ghun} "to program (a computer)". I just
thought it was remarkable. (Some of the words have been retconned to
make the current meaning a metaphorical extension of a previous
meaning, e.g. {pu'} phaser originally being the name for the spike at
the end of a Klingon boot, which is now called {DaSpu'} "boot {pu'}".)

Cheers,
--
Philip Newton <philip.newton@...>