Re: Some Random Questions

dunn patrick w <tb0pwd1@...> wrote:
>=20
> 1.  You know, I notice that my conlangs tend to peter out quickly -- no=
ne
> of them seem to grab my interest, although I have this idea of a perfec=
t
> conlang that perfectly expresses my artistic vision. . . okay, I guess
> that was more of a comment.
I do that all the time (the project switching, not the comment :)
I guess it's a matter of discipline, but who can have fun and
discipline at the same time? I certainly can't!

>=20
> 2.  How do you handle irregularity?  I know this has popped up before, =
but
> I'm still not sure.  For instance, do you always make the verbs of bein=
g
> irregular?  The personal pronouns?  Or do you just let irregularities
> evolve?
I tend to make things more or less regular (especially verbs)
and then I shorten the most common forms of common verbs (i.e.
the verbs "be (exist), be (stay), do, say", etc. I try to do this
shortening following my own rules, not at random.

As for pronouns, I usually try to make a pattern, but not a regular
one necessarily. It all depends on the kind of language. Agglutinating
langs, as has been pointed out sometimes, tend to be more regular
than inflecting ones.

>=20
> 3.  How unnatural is it to have only one class of noun declensions?
> (Well, now that I think of it, I guess English only has one real class =
of
> noun declensions -- of regular nouns, anyway)  Or only one of verb
> declensions?
I don't know if it's unnatural. I find it a bit limitating in
certain langs. For example, in my latest lang, Xkanxey, I wanted
to have a Latin-like inflection for nouns, so I had three genders,
each with four declension classes. It's a bit uncomfortable at
first, but it lets you have nouns ending in a lot of possible ways
(e. g. in -a, in -e, in -o, in -n).

On the other hand, Drasel=E9q has only (originally) one class of
noun declensions. The plurals are handled a bit differently, but
regularly (-th /T/ for most nouns, -st for nouns ending in -s,=20
stop > fricative for nouns ending in a stop, fricative > affricate
for nouns ending in a fricative). But the cases are marked the
same for all nouns in the Classical dialect, -n for accusative,
-es for genitive, etc. In the Central dialect the accusative -n
becomes an infix in "weak" nouns (-as, -ar, -at become -ans, -an,
-ant). In the Northern dialect, the -n is almost always an infix,
and the genitive of -as nouns is -=E4s /&s/, not -ases. But the
n-infixion and the a-fronting are phonological features, not
grammatical ones. (I know this is a theoretical matter, and I
can't assure it, but it's felt that way.)


--Pablo Flores

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