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Re: Change and Sense Markers in rtemmu (was Re: Re: conlang greetings page)

From:Dan Sulani <dnsulani@...>
Date:Wednesday, December 5, 2001, 20:07
    I just noticed that a while ago I wrote the following:

> (Note: the following conjunctions can also join words and phrases > as well as infixes. In that event, they are written as separate > words.)
This is slightly misleading. Actually, the situation is more like: The compounding conjunction "o`g" is usually written between the words it joins, without spaces between them. In this case, the second process-word is expected to share the exact rate-of-change as the preceding word (and thus the marker can be dropped). The other conjunctions are usually prefixed with an Imperative prefix, such as "au-" and written as separate words. In this usage, rather than simply being stated, the connection between the preceding word and the following word is more forcefully asserted. For example: shikalo`g kayaigu = river-beauty (shikalo = river process kagu = process of being good -yai- = visual infix) but kehs shikalo auag kayaigu = (objective) river _is_ (objectively) beautiful! (kehs = objectively changing at a normal rate; the "kehs" of kayaigu can be dropped, since it is the same as the "kehs" of shikalo.) But one could also say something like: kehs shikalo auag no kayaigu (no = subjective slow change) Also "river _is_ beautiful", but more exactly: observe the (objective) river and add to that observation a slowly forming (subjective) appreciation of its beauty. Since the rate markers differ in speed (and in objectivity/subjectivity), the conjunction has to be preceded by an Imperative prefix and written separately. To summarize: if the rate-of-change/ob-sub-jectivity of both process-words are the same, the conjunction may be asserted or simply stated. In the event that there is a difference, the conjunction must be asserted. (But, conjunctions can be dropped altogether, even if there are differences between the process-words; and then, the second word simply modifies the first word: kehs shikal no kayaigu = (slowly appreciated) beautiful (objective) river or no kayaigu kehs shikal = (objective) riverly (slow appriciation of) beauty.) I'd better stop before I try to go chasing rtemmu grammar all the way down the old rabbit hole into Wonderland! My brain's all burned out as it is! (rtemmu will do that to you! ;-) ) Dan Sulani ---------------------------------------- likehsna rtem zuv tikuhnuh auag inuvuz vaka'a. A word is an awesome thing.