Re: rotokas; practical syllabarology; et alia

Emily Zilch wrote:

> No one else I have says a *damn word* about Rotokas, so I can't say if
> there is any way to determine (through frequency, historical or
> comparative analyses) which is a better idea about what the six
> consonants are. Or anything about its grammar or word length or any
> sample words or anything else.
All the examples of Rotokas I have are from _Laboratory Manual for
Morphology and Syntax_ (one of the textbooks from a morphology class I
took back in the mid-80s, published by SIL). Here's a few examples
selected at random.

karerovoviroravere "I will begin to return all the way."

kakaeto uriopa kepa iava "The boy is coming from the house."

ikauvira raga pouviroaepa "They arrived only momentarily."

voropato aiteva uriopa "The hunter is coming with father."

ragai urioraverea rovopakekiraia "I will come in January (remote)."

rerapa opuruva kipuriva "You painted a canoe for him."

vi papapakepa voririva ipavira "You bought the airplane in the mountains."

vi wiliwili vorepieriva "You made the bicycle come back."

rera siraorovere voeaia oea oiraia siposipoavere "He will sorrow for
them who will teach her."

A lot of these seem like made up examples. It doesn't seem likely that
anyone ever said "you bought the airplane in the mountains." But you can
get some sort of idea what the language looks like.

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