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Re: New Language

From:Garrett <3jones@...>
Date:Thursday, November 19, 1998, 1:30
Didier Willis wrote:

> Garrett wrote: > > > Hello everyone, I am creating a new language called Malat. It is > > intended to be the most logical language ever created. > > That's a rather presomptuous aim, don't you think? I have always > wondered what people meant by *logical* languages (are there any > *illogical* languages, by the way?), and as a matter of facts, > many so-called logical langs often show lots of illogicalities, > whereas artlangs are sometimes paradoxically much more regular > and logical...
Well, I aim to make the language as "Garrett-logical" that I can make it (where everything is regular and relates in a logical way). Could you tell me some examples of those so-called logical languages, and the artlangs with more regular/logical structures? I'd like to see their ideas on the subject.
> > This will be the first time that anyone else but me (and my family) > > has seen the language. Currently I only have a short grammar > > description and a pre/postfix list up. Check it out at > > http://www.metro.net/3jones/malat/ > > I'd greatly appreciate any comments or ideas that you have. > > You states: > > "The basic concept of Malat, which is completely original, is > that of Cause and Effect: every action causes another action, > which causes another action, and so on." > > I'll have to see a complex example of this feature to appreaciate > it, though I do no see the intended originality.
Well, it's prolly not "completely original", but the idea of it was thought up by me and I don't know of any other languages that work this way. I am writing up a new version of the cause and effect section that explains cause and effect more.
> In the grammar, > you give the following example: > > "The cause and effect philosophy can also be used for concepts > like the reason and the purpose of an action: > > oL gusrt uaL *connector word here* aL kik ioL > = Because he didn't like me, I kicked him. > > literally: He doesn't like me, *so*, I kick him." > > You mean that the connector word is implicit in Malat? ("so" is > supposed to be absent?).
Well actually, the basic connector idea that's implicit is direct causation. The rest of the relationships will require connector words that I have not created yet. In the one above, there would be a connector word in the place of "so".
> The 'absolute genitive' participial clauses > in ancient greek function a bit like this (they imply a causality > relationship: "Having been kicked, Socrate falled"). > > "Another unique concept is that most modifiers can be used > on both verbs, nouns, and adjectives. Because of the structure > of Malat, many unique concepts can be made by using simple > construction rules." > > Regarding uniqueness, I am afraid that many conlangs (and even > natlangs) work this way. Nova (Brad Coon's conlang) has a strong > oligosynthetic structure and has therefore reached a particular > status on this topic.
Do those languages use most of their modifiers interchangably between nouns/verbs/adjectives? I don't know much about the particular conlangs that there are, and I didn't really know if others used that concept... I guess I was being a little too optimistic (about malat's uniqueness).
> "Only 6 vowels are used in Malat: a, e, i, o, u, and r. They are > pronounced "ahh", "ehh", "eee", "ohh", "ooo", and "err" (like in > dot, set, meet, note, root, and her). The 'e' has a slight ey > sound (like in the word 'hey'), but the sound shouldn't be carried > off to the 'ee' sound like many speakers do (like 'hey-ee'). The > vowels are always pronounced the same way everywhere." > > The last sentence underlies that there is no allophones, but > is contradicted by the previous discussion of /e/ and also > by the examples: > > "English --> spelled 'ingLec' + 'e' --> ingLece > (pron. een-gleshey)" > > So /e/ is rendered as [Ej] at the end of this word, but as [E] > in the middle. That's a kind of allophone, isn't it?
Well actually you would pronounce both e's the same way, I put the 'y' at the end to remind people of the slight 'ay' sound the 'e' has...
> "gusoc = will like" > > How do you pronounce this word, [gusoc] or [gusOc]? (where [0] > is the reverse-c IPA character). Personally I would tend > toward [O].
Are you asking about pronunciation or stress here? I haven't really decided on stress yet, but I'm tending toward the last syllable of a word.
> Though I am not a native english speaker, I am also puzzled by > your /a/ ("ahh" vs. "dot"? It doesn't seem to be the same sound). > > Perhaps you should consider using a more precise phonetic > transcription. I am also pretty sure that you'll have to > allow some allophones when the language will be more > developed. It's difficult to get rid of them...
I pronounce the vowel in all of these words the same:- dot - caught - father (first syllable) - wrong - tall I guess it would be the highest occuring one in the above. What is the symbol for that sound?
> Regards. > > Didier > -- -
-- -Time is what keeps everything from happening at once. -Garrett Jones aka Alkaline Rising Sun - C&C2: Tiberian Sun - http://www.cnc2.com/ Malat - http://www.metro.net/3jones/malat/