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Re: New Language

From:dunn patrick w <tb0pwd1@...>
Date:Tuesday, December 15, 1998, 4:23
I'm working on a new language, and I thgought I'd seek some input.  It's
an inflected language, w.o. VSO.

I've established a system of particles I call "sentence determinates".
They determine the mood and tense of the verb, as well as the exact
meaning of various ambiguo8us words.

For instance, the sentence "kipe prk@t saskot ko" means "chased dog cat
neutral".  A statement of plain fact.  "kipe prk@t saskot e" means
"chased dog cat negative".  In other words, the damned dog chased the
damn cat, damn it.  ;)

Where the determinates get sticky is with the use of ambiguous words.
These are of two types, value judgements and gendered terms.  For
instance, the word "sena" means "good/bad" depending on the determinate used.

"kipe prk@t senat saskot e"  "The bad dog chased the cat."

"kipe prk@t senat saskot @k"  "The good dog chased the cat."

"kipe prk@t senat saskot te"  "The bad dog chases the cat."

"kipe prk@t senat saskot po*"  "The good dog chases the cat."

"kipe prk@t senat saskot teka"  "The good dog may have chased the cat."

etc.

My problem is this: (and if you've read this far, you must care)  How do
I compound these damned ambiguous terms?  For instance, what if the dog
is also "fast/slow" (sena)?  I considered having a separate determinate
for each word in the sentence, but that seems to defeat the purpose.  I
could also make a grammatical rule aganst using more than ambuiguous term
in a clause.  What think ye?

--Patrick