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Re: Interlect: YAIAL, a personal view

From:Christian Thalmann <cinga@...>
Date:Sunday, April 21, 2002, 22:38
--- In conlang@y..., Carlos Thompson <chlewey@C...> wrote:

> Phonology: > The language has the following set of phonemes (orthography at the > right) > consonants: > m p b f w | m p b f w > n t d s r l | n t d s r l > c J\ C j | c j x y > k g x | k g h
Using /x/ in an IAL might not be the best of ideas. It's missing in many of the world's most-spoken languages.
> <c> and <j> might alternatively be affricates and/or postalveolar. > <x> might be postalveolar.
I would strongly advise to permanently relocate these phonemes to the postalveolar PoA. Few languages distinguish palatal stops from velar and alveolar ones. It might be hard not to mix them up before front vowels. Also, your uses of the palatals seems somewhat unprovoked: Why write <compe> rather than <kompe>?
> ba: interrogative particle - used at the end of a sentence asks if the > sentence is true. > Si Carlos pire li domo ba? - Does Carlos burn the house?
Why is it placed at the end of the sentence? It might be less confusing if it came right at the beginning -- otherwise the sentence will be parsed as a statement until the very last word!
> xa: patientive preposition - marks that the following nominal group is > the patient. > Se pire xa li domo - It's burning, the house.
What's <se> in this context? A patientive preposition sounds like something that causes more international confusion than communication. =P
> Pronouns: > 1st: mi (sg), mimi (pl ex), nos (pl). > 2nd: wo > 3rd: lo/la
Why are there two plural forms for the first person, but none for the others? Wowo, lolo and lala might come in handy, and aren't hard to memorize. =) Anyway, the pidgin grammar is definitely a good idea for an IAL. Keep up the good work. -- Christian Thalmann

Replies

Danny Wier <dawier@...>
Christophe Grandsire <christophe.grandsire@...>
Raymond Brown <ray.brown@...>
Philip Newton <philip.newton@...>