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CHAT: New Member With Questions

From:Brandon Denny <brandonjdenny@...>
Date:Thursday, March 15, 2001, 16:15
Hello!
What a wonderful resource this group is!
My name is Brandon, and I am in the process of creating a small language to
use in stories that I author (I only need a rudimentary vocabulary).  I am
totally amatuer, and would like to ask for help.  I would imagine that
group
members get sick of new members asking the same old questions repeatedly,
but
I'd like to ask some:

1)  Word Classes.  What the heck is this?  Obviously I am familiar with the
basics, i.e. Noun, Verb, Adverb, Adjective.  When searching on-line I found
repeated references to classes that exist in other languages that do not
fit
into those categories; unfortunatly those sites gave no explanations.  Does
anyone know anything about those other classes?

2)  Again With Word Classes.  Can a language make a distiction in class
between, say, a proper noun, and a abstract noun?  Does any know of any
languages that do?

3)  Does any one know of any on-line resources that might quantify N, V,
Adv., Adj. into different general subclasses?  My memory of grammer classes
is sketchy at best, and I was looking for a refresher.

4)  *Disclaimer-This is possibly a foolish question*  Let us say that there
is a language with noun cases (basic ones the system I'd like to use is
more
complex).  In this language noun declension is, basically, adding a suffix.

Example:  N+Non, N+Acc, N+Gen, where N is the noun.

Let us also say that we have a few other cases such as an Ablative, "from"
represented by N+Abl.
If I wanted to say, "The Man came from China," would the sentance be:
(In SOV format)
Man+Nom Come.Past China.Acc
Or
Man+Nom Come.Past China.Abl

Which case suffix has precedence?  I am only familiar with cases through
Latin, and I never paid much attention to this subject (assuming if ever
came
up).  Are there languages where this conflict occurs?  How do they resolve
it?

5)  Is there a FAQ for this list with common abbreviations, etiquette, and
style guides on it?  If so where are they located?

Thank you all,
Brandon DW

Replies

Padraic Brown <pbrown@...>
Christophe Grandsire <christophe.grandsire@...>
Henrik Theiling <theiling@...>
J Matthew Pearson <pearson@...>
Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...>
Tristan Alexander McLeay <zsau@...>
David Stokes <dstokes@...>