Theiling Online    Sitemap    Conlang Mailing List HQ   

Re: CHAT: query: where to start?

From:Marcus Smith <smithma@...>
Date:Thursday, August 10, 2000, 3:48
Tim Smith wrote:

>In other words, the point of articulation of the final segment is part of >the stem, but the manner of articulation is the affix (if it can still be >called an affix when it's not even one whole phoneme). This sort of came >to me in a flash of intuition, but I don't think I've ever heard of >anything like it in a natlang. Does it sound at all plausible?
The accusative case in Chickasaw is purely a nasalization feature. Whatever vowel happens to precede the case becomes nasalized. Ihoo 'woman', ihoo~ 'woman (acc)', ihoohma~ 'woman (indef. acc.)' The dative prefix (which also serves as in possession) is likewise nasalization without specification for place of articulation. Preceding a vowel it is realized as [m]. Preceding a stop it assimilates to the place of the stop (ie, -mp-, -nt-, -Nk-, etc). Preceding anything else (fricatives, laterals, glides, nasals, etc) it is realized as nasalization on the preceding vowel. imofi' "his dog" intaloowa' "his song" impaska "his bread" iNkowi' "his cat" i~fani' "his squirrel" Not quite the same as what you have, but similar in concept. Marcus