Re: "Vente Boral i Sul" n'Terkunan

Hi!

Joseph Fatula writes:
>...
> >    Vente Boral i Sul
> >
> >    Un di, vente boral i sul diskota sopre ki d'ilz do esa'l pru forte,
> >    kande n'kus momente, ambrator pasa r'esande nvulta n'kalde mantil.
> >    Ilz kuvena k'el kul ten'esa kusedra'l pru forte ki ariv' a fik'
> >    ambrator kita se mantil.  Si, vente boral kuminsa sufla ku tot se
> >    posat, ma pru'l sufla, pru l'ambrator stringa n'se mantil i n'fin,
> >    vente boral deva resingra.  Si, sul kumensa brela n'kel, i suptu
> >    ambrator kita se mantil.  Akur, vente boral deva rekungrosa ke sul
> >    esa'l pru forte d'ilz do.
>...
> Very nice!  It is easy to follow, which, at least for me, makes it
> easier to discern the character and flavor of this particular
> language.  Could you explain "ariv' a fik'" for me?  What do the
> apostrophes represent?
The apostrophes here denote dropped vowels from verbs:

   ariva + a + fika + ambrator ... > ariv' a fik' ambrator ...
   'manage to make (the) traveller ...'

There is actually something I was thinking about here: would this "a"
probably be dropped?  After every possible verb where "a" is used, the
verb's "-a" will be dropped:

   ariva + a  >  ariv' a

And "ariv' a" is pronounced just like "ariva".  The difference would
only become overt when another vowel follows, in which case the "a"
would not be dropped:

   ariv' a ambra   'manage to travel'

The question is whether this difference would be likely to be
eliminated due to the same pronunciation for all verbs that start
with consonants:

   ariv' a fika
  ?ariva   fika

So that we also get:

  ?ariv' ambra

Maybe there is some pressure of simplification also by the fact
that many auxiliaries, like "deva" ('must') do not have the "a":

   dev' ambra  'must travel'

A related question would be whether the main verb "ariva" 'to arrive'
would keep its prepositional argument:

   M'ariva r'a Tali  'I arrive in Italy.'

or whether it would become transitive:

  ?M'ariva Tali

As can be seen here, the full verbs do not drop "-a" before vowels,
only the auxiliaries do.  Instead, older infinitive "-r" is inserted
to resolve hiatus.  Maybe auxiliaries and full verbs should both drop
"-a" instead?  The, now obsolete, conjugated forms had no "-r", so
maybe it is more likely that "-r" drops forever?  Of course, whether
"-r" is dropped or not may influence the decision whether the full
verb becomes transitive.

Any ideas?

**Henrik

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