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Gz's recent changes.

From:Adrian Morgan <morg0072@...>
Date:Friday, July 13, 2001, 14:17
The reason I gave links instead of posting extracts/paraphrases for comment
is that some grammatical features (such as byverbial adjectives, tense being
marked on nominative article, articles and pronouns being identical, etc)
penetrate the grammar to the point that it is hard to describe new features,
such as the recently developed capacity for relative clauses, without
repeating certain basics every time.

* * * * *

I've just made a phonetic change in the last day or two. Over the last year,
I've phased out the use of Greek symbols in my alphabet, by using more
digraphs, improving consistency, and using {e} for both [e] and [&], thus
freeing up {a} for [a] (previously lambda-symbol). What I've /just/ done is
formalised the rules for the phoneme /e/:

 - It is normally [e], but always [&] in the diphthong ey [&i]
 - Second /e/ in consecutive syllables is same as first,
     e.g. _pregehs_ = [pregeT]
 - Otherwise [e] except after /y/, /kk/, /n/, /g/, /k/.

* * * * *

Now for the new grammar/relative clauses:

As many of you will remember, Gz. specially marks an adjective if the verb is
responsible for its association with the noun (e.g. "the sky IS BLUE", "i'll
SHOOT you DEAD", "i'm HAPPY CONLANGING", etc). Such an adjective is said to
be "byverbial".

The cases I identified for relative clauses were:

 (1) target noun is subject of subclause ("the man that shot me ...")
 (2) as above, but subclause is byverbial ("he is the man that shot me")
 (3) target noun is object of subclause ("the man that I shot ..."
 (4) as above, but subclause is byverbial ("he is the man that I shot")
 (5) subclause constitutes adverb or object of verb

My solutions are:

 (1) enclose subclause in commas and place after noun
 (2) attach byverbial suffix on nominative pronoun/article
 (3) precede subclause with particle _a_ and replace object with _hlem_
 (4) replace _hlem_ with _hlemll_
 (5) place after verb, do not enclose in commas, and precede with
     particle _ad_ (which is appended to verbs that ends with consonant)

Real examples:

(note: in transliterations, PR indicates that nominative article/pronoun is
marked for present tense. Affixes for gender/familiarity are not indicated)

Reqniu flyka, reqniu alhleraa man, mireynbral ykk
The.PR girl, she.PR sex.FREQ me, beautiful.VERY is
The girl that has sex with me is very beautiful

Reqniu, reqnol alhleraa man, ykk
She.PR, she.PR.BYV sex me, is
"She is [the one that] has sex with me"

Reqniu flyka, a maniu alhleraa hlem, mireynbral ykk
The.PR girl, (a) I.PR sex (hlem), beautiful is
The girl that I have sex with is very beautiful

Reqniu, a maniu alhleraa hlemll, ykk
She.PR, (a) I.PR sex (hlem).BYV, is
She is [the one that] I have sex with

Moniu synad maniu ya ryn
I.PR think.(ad) I.PR want it
I think I want it

Roniu gzarin, a toniu synad monohs ya hlem, klafll ykk
The.PR dragon, (a) you.PR think.(ad) I.PR.HYPOTHETICAL want (hlem), sick.BYV is
The dragon you think I want is sick

* * * * *

Any comments?

Adrian.