Re: Ebisedian tutorial

 --- "H. S. Teoh" <hsteoh@...> wrote: > Hi
all.
>
> Spurred by recent reactions to Ebisedian (by
> unfortunate victims of
> translation relays :-P), I've come to realize that
> pointing people at a
> reference grammar, or even attaching a crash-course
> grammar, is
> insufficient to explain how Ebisedian works, even at
> the most basic level.
>
> So, I've decided that I need to write a tutorial,
> that will cover the
> basics in the simplest, most understandable manner
> possible, using many
> concrete examples instead of just giving general
> principles and leaving it
> up to the reader to fill in the blanks. But in order
> for this to be of any
> help, I (badly) need feedback. So I'd really
> appreciate it if people would
> please take a look at the initial draft of the
> tutorial here:
>
> (PostScript)
>
http://quickfur.yi.org:8080/~hsteoh/conlang/tutorial.ps
> (PDF)
>
http://quickfur.yi.org:8080/~hsteoh/conlang/tutorial.pdf
>
> And tell me if it's clear, or still as obtuse as
> ever. Especially
> section 2, which talks about noun cases. (Noun cases
> appear to be the most
> confusing part of Ebisedian to people, it seems.
> That's why I'm covering
> that first.)
>
> Comments? suggestions? flames? fan-mail? ;-)
>
well, i like it. a lot. and it's great to see the
transcription in the proper fonts ! makes a HUGE
difference . . . ! ( and looks rather pretty )

as to the noun cases, they make perfect sense to me.
as i haven't studied your verbs yet i'm going to have
to guess on this, but would i be right in thinking
they wouodn't be marked for person. or is this pure
presumption ?

just a couple of comments : is ommission of breathings
standard, or did they all have the abrupt ? i couldn't
work it out with `yma1' / yma1'. also i find the
smooth confusing, but that's cuz i'm used to greek
where it goes the other way round . . . !

finally, you have a rogue 1 in the english word t1me
in the discussion of the locative, but now i'm just
picking nits !

anyway, can't wait for chapter 2.

bn

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