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Re: Pronouns revised and word generation

From:Kala Tunu <kalatunu@...>
Date:Saturday, January 5, 2002, 7:34
Clint Jackson Baker <litrex1@...> wrote:
The language is somewhat logical.  I've moved somewhat away from some plans,
like using the five vowels and two consonants to produce monosyllabic numerals,
and also using a similar plan to describe what I consider to be the ten basic
colors.  That was *too* artificial.
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i used to think like that --but look:
you think CVCV root is artificial? then what about semitic triconroots and
chinese monosyllabics?
you think a special morph for affixes and glottalized vowels to tell PoS only
are artificial? then what about CV(C) arabic affixes and prepositions? what
about indonesian prefixes being the only words to feature the vowel @?
build the most artificial conlang you can and just read or speak it aloud and
i'm sure you'll be surprised to hear how natural your *artificial* language
sounds.
my conlang is very much like yours: few consonants, only CVCV roots, glottalized
vowel prefixed to tell PoS. i even have y, w and one diphtong reserved for
prefixes only. but it doesn't sound more *artificial* to me than japanese and
tahitian do (that's my personal and highly biased opinion :-).

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--Well, believe it or not, the deriviation of
"kehinekakwili" is primarily Cherokee!
The result does have an African
feel, though, doesn't it?
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i was saying those words aloud and thinking: "this sounds like swahili....no
wait, that's japanese....nah, native american....oh well".

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I cut out the t and g; that's more a prejudice as a Midwesterner, for whom d/t
and k/g are often a lot alike. My consonants are a e i o u, pronounced like
Spanish (and all the linguists cringe...) [...] That's right, all roots are
c(s)vcv.  Monosyllabic words are conjunctions and suchlike. [...] I stand by my
desire to keep this a bit more "user-friendly". Pronoun prefixes are the only
words beginning with a vowel. This also helps in more complex sentences in
identifying the verb, eg Si amesoka miha (If I need it) The glottal stop break
(existing grammatically only, notice) between "si" and "amesoka" helps to
identify the beginning of the verb "amesoka."
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so i guess it's an artlang designed to be at the same easy to pronounce and to
parse while keeping some exotic sounds. i really like it.
it makes me realize that my own conlang needs more fun phonostuff like your dl
and kw. btw, why would linguists cringe?

Mathias
www.geocities.com/kalatunu/index.htm