Re: Polysynth Question

On 4/3/07, David J. Peterson <dedalvs@...> wrote:
> Dirk wrote:
> <<
> The switch reference markers are
> the proclitics e= 'same subject' (no examples in these sentences) and
> a= 'different subject'.
>  >>
>
> Hey, those are identical to Kamakawi!
>
> K-a olomo ei ale ava k-e mata i alama.
> /past-diff.sbj. walk I "along" beach past-same.sbj. see OBJ. sand.crab/
> "I walked along the beach and saw a sand crab."
>
> I'm certain you came up with yours first, but I didn't know about
> them.  It's a natural mystic connection, man!  Either that or there's
> something about /e/ that sounds same-y, and something about
> /a/ that sounds different-y.
Well, I dunno about /e/ sounding "same-y". The phone in Miapimoquitch
is really <barred-i> (though the /a/ is really /a/). I used that
romanization because Jeffrey has said that he had trouble with my
phonetic transcription. So maybe not as nifty as you had thought ...

Dirk