Negatives (Trentish, with adjective notes too) (was: Re: narethanaal)

From: "Kala Tunu" <kalatunu@...>
> same in Tunu:
>
> kela = no, not
> duplication of the first syllable = opposite or reverse
>
> tiki = high
> kela tiki = not high
> titiki = low
>
> culo = open
> kela culo = not open
> cuculo = closed
> (baicuculo = to close oneself--to be closed ; taicuculo = to
> close something up)
>
> tumu = eat
> kela tumu = not eat
> tutumu = throw up
> bano kela tumu = fast ("keep not eat")
>
> but this looks very standard to many conlangs.
> even Esperanto has that.
Hmm....

I have three negative markers so far in Trentish (although I'm pretty sure
there's probably more, especially counting negative comparatives--"not as big"
or the like).

One is -go- and means "to not X" (attaches to verbs)

    ñythapan     "I walk"
    ñythapanggo  "I don't walk"

One is -ixli'- and means "to un-X" (also attaches to verbs)

    ñymali       "I say"
    ñymalixli    "I unsay"

One is -lo- and means "non-X" or "without a quality of X" (attaches to
adjectives)

    ?oyslikwVkV    "this is red"
    loyslikwVkV    "this is non-red"

you might also say:

    ?oyslikwVgokV  "this isn't red"

["red' is probably a bad example.  Pretend it's something like "fat" -- it's
non-fat vs. he's not fat -- and it might be clearer.  Or not.  It might merely
be a matter of emphasis in most cases... I haven't got too many adjectives to
check with.]

You couldn't say:

    ñylothapan     "I non-walk"

because -lo- can't go on a verb, only an adjective.

....

The ?o- in {?o-ysli-kwV-kV} "?o-red-be-this" is a morpheme that has to attach to
most adjectives, as most adjectives are on a scale and require comparison.  So
{?o-} is a positive marker; {?oysli-} means something like "some red".

    ?o-xlo?-    POS-clean
    ?o-ysli-    POS-red

However some adjectives *don't* take comparison markers, and don't take ?o-
either:

    Oxaly-      dead
    mina-       two

You can say this is because it doesn't mean anything to say things are more or
less dead than each other, or more or less two--although the class of
non-comparable adjectives doesn't necessarily correspond to the semantics:

    twena-      forked
      (not *?o-twena-)

--even though it might be sensible to say this forks in more than one place or
into more branches, but you'd have to just use a different word for this in
Trentish, such as {-aphel-}, a verb meaning "to fringe, fork, or otherwise
divide into branches on one end", which might be able to use special forms of
the verb or circumlocutions to carry out comparisons--a more accurate but
awkward translation of {twena-} would be something like "forked at all"
(similarly for others in its class).

    *Muke!

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