Re: Rejected posting to CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU

The last one -- it's a proposal for a language for "Eurasian Dwarves", based on
IE, Uralic (at least Finno-Ugric) and Kartvelian:

> Okay, on to the next one.
>
> Weighing the evidence, and the pro-and-con positions of various authorities,
> I
> came up with a theoretical proto-language that's a subset of Nostratic (if it
> ever existed) but a predecessor to Indo-European.  It's a narrower
> classification than Greenberg's Eurasian.
>
> This reconstruction (sorta) is a lot more likely than the above.  Or at least
> it would make a great experiment.
>
> The language, unnamed as of yet, is based on Indo-European, Uralic (or at
> least
> Finno-Ugric) and Kartvelian.  Yukaghir may or may not be included, as is
> Samoyedic, the "black sheep" of the Uralic family.  The language is, like my
> version of Latin, is suffixal agglutinative with strict SOV word order.
> Features include a large number of noun cases (since Hungarian has seventeen,
> I
> expect a similar number), a polypersonal verb system (found in Hungarian and
> Georgian; the number and person of the direct object is encoded in the verb
> along with the subject -- even infinitives can bear an object marker!),
> animate-inanimate gender, singular-plural numeration, no vowel harmony, and
> ergative construction for neuter (inanimate) subjects (probably just
> reversing
> the nominative and accusative, or ergative may be a distinct case).
> Inanimate
> plural is treated like animate singular, which does bear some resemblance to
> a
> feminine (but is still declined as animate nouns).
>
> The language is spoken by a dwarven race, whose homeland is probably the
> northern slopes of Caucasia, or the southern end of the Urals.  They are
> often
> called "Russian Dwarves".  They are unique in that they have close relations
> to
> the Quaelitz elves, who are otherwise reclusive and Neo-Sumerian speaking.
>
> Also, one of my concultures, the semi-reptilian humanoid mutats that dwell in
> the Gulf Coast of the southeastern United States, are now called Dragon
> People
> (or Reptoids).  They also can swim and dive in salt water, but even gilled
> and
> finned Dragons can only breathe in fresh water.  (And relatively few Dragons
> have gills and fins, which have to be surgically implanted.)  If they had a
> native language, it is long extinct today; they speak English and French now.
>
> Finally, living concentrically with the Orcs are another horrid mutant race,
> the giant, fearsome (and obtusely stupid) Trolls.  Their limited intellegence
> forces them to speak a very rudimentary language.  They more often
> communicate
> through gestures and "grunts", which their spoken language is mostly based
> on.
> (Their spoken language is linked to a sign language, so the meaning of a word
> changes according to a gesture.)
>
> The last project is something I (surprisingly) haven't seen proposed on the
> conlang list.  I expect a very simple phonology (close to my "Number Nine"
> idea
> that Nicole took up recently), with a few tones, and of course the "body
> language" part of the language.  Again, anybody who wants to elaborate on
> this
> has my blessing.
>
> DaW. ¶¦¬þ
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get Yahoo! Mail – Free email you can access from anywhere!
http://mail.yahoo.com/