NOUN1hits NOUN2
NOUN2hits subj.prep. NOUN1
NOUN1has NOUN2
NOUN2has at NOUN1
NOUN1sees NOUN2
NOUN2sees for NOUN1
Archive for July, 2015
Detail #187: Onwards with #182
Friday, July 31st, 2015Detail #187: Onwards with #182
Friday, July 31st, 2015NOUN1hits NOUN2
NOUN2hits subj.prep. NOUN1
NOUN1has NOUN2
NOUN2has at NOUN1
NOUN1sees NOUN2
NOUN2sees for NOUN1
#415
Friday, July 31st, 2015Indicate the magnitude of things by hitting the listener with a stick of corresponding size. Because letting yourself be understood should be a different kind of workout!
Examples:
“I feel -WHAM-attracted to you and I would be -BONK-happy if you could go out with me sometime in -thwack- days after you, uh, regain consciousness.â€
“Look, you don’t need to make -thwip- matters so -WHUMP- just because that -whack- fool of a man got on your nerves a -whap- times.
#415
Friday, July 31st, 2015Indicate the magnitude of things by hitting the listener with a stick of corresponding size. Because letting yourself be understood should be a different kind of workout!
Examples:
“I feel -WHAM-attracted to you and I would be -BONK-happy if you could go out with me sometime in -thwack- days after you, uh, regain consciousness.â€
“Look, you don’t need to make -thwip- matters so -WHUMP- just because that -whack- fool of a man got on your nerves a -whap- times.
raven is roipi (revisited)
Friday, July 31st, 2015Word derivation for "raven" :
Basque = erroi, Finnish = korppi
Miresua = roipi
My previous Miresua word for raven was porri. I think the new word is a better mix, plus it starts with R, which is rare in Miresua.
The words raven occurs twice (one of those times as ravens) in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
"You should learn not to make personal remarks," Alice said with some severity; "it's very rude."
The Hatter opened his eyes very wide on hearing this; but all he SAID was, "Why is a raven like a writing-desk?"
"Come, we shall have some fun now!" thought Alice. "I'm glad they've begun asking riddles...."
raven is roipi (revisited)
Friday, July 31st, 2015Word derivation for "raven" :
Basque = erroi, Finnish = korppi
Miresua = roipi
Ny previous Miresua word for raven was porri. I think the new word is a better mix, plus it starts with R, which is rare in Miresua.
The words raven occurs twice (one of those times as ravens) in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
"You should learn not to make personal remarks," Alice said with some severity; "it's very rude."
The Hatter opened his eyes very wide on hearing this; but all he SAID was, "Why is a raven like a writing-desk?"
"Come, we shall have some fun now!" thought Alice. "I'm glad they've begun asking riddles...."
#414 – First Report on Rabsdnuom
Thursday, July 30th, 2015Since my research grant contains a clause that requires me also to try and accost the popular press with updates of my research into the language of the hitherto enigmatic Rabsdnuom language, I turn to this blog with an installment of descriptions of this language isolate.
The language of Rabsdnuom only recently has acquired a written form based on the latin alphabet. The names of the letters have not been decided on any phonological basis. Instead names were bestowed impressionistically by a tribal elders. The names sometimes seem to be based on the shape of the capital letters, sometimes on the minuscule letters. In consequence many of the letter names do not contain the sound they represent.
In translation, the letters of the alphabets are as follows:
plow, tits, belt, penis with balls seen from the left, tiny spiral, rake, thing athletes jump over in olympic games, stick, bent stick, a gay man dancing, a stick and another stick, Madonna’s bra, Madonna’s left bra cup, a circle, a hanging dick, some fat tadpole, the tiny hook, an eel, a lesser rake, illegal turn on the highway, point of a spear, Madonna’s bra*, buried treasure, upside down lambda, an eel who ate three sticks. In addition, Rabsdnuom has borrowed the letter Φ from the Greek alphabet. Male informants just titter when asked about its name or sound. Two female informants slapped me when I asked them.
Research continues.
* apparently, two votes were cast for “two points of spearsâ€; “Madonna’s bra (current orientation)†also had two votes, which is curious given that the tribal elders number six in total. Notably, some of the elders were young and virile in the early 80s.
Tatediem: The Noun Classes
Wednesday, July 29th, 20151 is primarily masculine, 2 primarily feminine. 28 denotes groups of humans - i.e. tribes, occupations, nationalities, degrees of holiness or status, etc. This may also create abstract nouns such as "kingship" or even "political power".
28A - 1 - 11 - 16
28B - 2 - 12 - 17
Neuter 1 has many animals (from classes 3, 4 and 5), some religious festivities, possessions of status, clothing, body parts
Neuter 2 has some animals (from classes 5 and 6), many tools, many plants, spans of time, rocks and minerals, cuts of meat, vessels for seafaring or for travel on land
Neuter 3 has things of geographical extent, abstractions based on geographical concepts, weather-related nouns specific to the drier part of the year, some tools (mainly of wooden type),metals, fruits
Neuter 4 has things of of geographical extent, weather-related nouns specific to the wetter part of the year, many house-related nouns, metallic tools, wooden materials, diseases, containers
The subclasses of 1 and 2 that are formed with ŋwu- and ku- prefixes seem to be a development that has happened after proto-Tatediem, but the isogloss for it does not cut neatly with any branch division in the larger family, and is thus probably a regional feature.
#413
Wednesday, July 29th, 2015A conlang where aspect is indicated by the repetition of the first or last syllable, relative to the current time. Repetition of the first syllable indicates past events, last indicates future events. This property is cumulative for infinite repetition.
1: He’s at the store.
2: But I already went totoday. He was supposed to go tomorrowow.
#412
Tuesday, July 28th, 2015A language where simple words are carefully designed not to rhyme with each other, so that Dr. Seuss can never be faithfully translated into it.