On 8/22/05, Chris Bates <chris.maths_student@...> wrote:
> Here are some examples from the grammar I'm currently writing of my
> long-stalled-very-slowly-developing conlang. These are examples I wrote
> today in the first big burst of work in a while.
> I'd like your opinion on: how it looks, and whether you think it sounds
> good....
Looks pretty neat. The phonetic transcriptions
could use stress indications, if your conlang
has phonemic stress. And you might want to
use standard morpheme gloss tags from the
Leipzig Glossing Rules where they are
relevant to your conlang, and anyway
gloss grammatical particles in all caps and
content morphemes in lowercase to make
it a little easier to follow the glosses.
http://www.eva.mpg.de/lingua/files/morpheme.html
> ic'a:makhina'a
> /itS_>a:mak_hina?a/
> ic'a:-ma-khi-na-'a
> house-plur-pos-3rd.fem-3rd.inanim
> (Those) houses of hers/theirs
So the first personal suffix is a possessive,
and the second is a demonstrative?
> Aŋmak 'inliba'i:qi
> /aNmak ?inliba?i:G\i/
> Aŋma-k 'in-liba-'i:qi
> Man-3rd.common 3rd.common.past-steal-comp.
> That damn man stole (it)!
Where does the pejorativation come in?
And what does "comp." stand for here?
Not comparative, I reckon...
> ninikhuŋumba
> /ninik_huNumba/
> nin-ikhu-ŋumba
> 1st.sing.past-see-cond
> I would see (it)
>
> ŋ'umalhu!
> /N_kumaKu/
> ŋ'u-c'u-lhu!
> Run-dual-imp
> You two, run!
So some verbs get person/number marking
as a prefix, some as a suffix? Or is it the
second person dual that is always a suffix?
> Aŋmamak ic'a:khida'a 'inlibamanimi'
> /aNmamak itS_>a:k_hida?a ?inlibamanimi?/
> Aŋma-ma-k ic'a:-khi-da-'a 'in-liba-ma-nimi'
> man-plur-3rd.common house-poss-1st.sing-3rd.inanim
> 3rd.common-take-plur-pit.
> Poor me, the men took my house (away from me)
Is [nimi] / "pit." a piteosity attitudinal affix?
> niŋ'u'a, aŋmamak ic'a:khida'a chirna'inlibama'a
> /niN_ku?a aNmamak itS_>a:k_hida?a tS_hirna?inlibama?a/
> nin-ŋ'u-'a, aŋma-ma-k ic'a:-khi-da-'a chirna-'in-liba-ma-'a
> 1st.sing.past-run-ind, man-plur-3rd.common house-pos-1st.sing-3rd.inanim
> because-3rd.common-steal-plur-ind
> I ran away because the men stole my house
Where does the "because" come in?
Or is it inferred from context?
--
Jim Henry
http://www.pobox.com/~jimhenry/review/log.htm
http://www.pobox.com/~jimhenry/conlang.htm
http://www.pobox.com/~jimhenry/esp.htm
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