tommus wrote:Rodiniye wrote:Tommen maybe it was not clear in the grammar book, but ALL verbs end in -t, -s, -z. Aspect is an interfix.
My name is Tommus, not Tommen. You might also want to correct it on your web site.
Yes, I think that part could be a bit clearer, by saying that aspect is an interfix and that time is a suffix. I now see from the examples in the Grammar how aspect and time work together.
You even have determinant correlatives (see grammar) ending in -ar, or connectors ending in -ex
But you also have correlatives ending in k, d, g, i, t, p. It probably is too difficult but if all correlatives ended in the same letter, say "k", and then add -ar or -an as an interfix, that would be great. Same with conjunctions. Perhaps ending in "q". Most attitude particles are all 3-letters long (except 2), most ending in i. Could they all be 3-letters, all ending in i? For computers and for people, consistent patterns are next to godliness.
I know these suggestions are probably difficult to impossible, and I have no real idea just how complex any changes would be. I am simply thinking in terms of people and computers learning and processing.
New question: Given the flexible prefixes, suffixes and interfixes, as far as you know, is there any possibility of building an Atlas word that is the same as another existing word that is unrelated?
In the Grammar on page 9, you state:
"Examples of basic roots are: vale (speech), noce (night), xere (legality), baitu (house), heze (power), wane (end)…"
"Basic roots are the essential part of derived words..."
But are the basic roots not "val", "noc", etc., and the derived words "vale" and "noce"?
Should your numbers example in the Grammar (166: ekkel-sittdas-sitt) be (166: ekhen-sittdas-sitt)?
One of your prepositions for quantity is (o, bai (approximately)). That is the only example I have noticed that gives two possibilities. Why two? Is that correct?
Well, as I said before, this is interesting and fun. I still find it incredulous that you could put all this together so quickly. It is a remarkable achievement!
First of all,
appologies for changing your name! I would have bet my money that it was ending in -en. omg, I will correct that now on the website!
FIrst of all, the two examples you gave in grammar are mistakes. So I will correct that. Thank you very much. Yes, roots are the words without the final letter, so a basic root would be "val".
Changes in attitude particles... the good thing about them is that except for "nai" and "ie" (no/yes) the rest of them come at the end of the sentence, so they are easy to locate. As they are use as interjections, probably people would find difficult to express all their feelings always ending in -i?
if you know what I mean.
As for the rest, I can certainly have a look and see what I can do. Prepositions have for instance a rule that are maximum 3 letters long, so there you have the difference from most substantives and adjectives (except probably "be" and "es"). I will have a look and see what could be done! Correlatives are the easier ones, as they already take substantive endings when they act as a pronoun, and -ar when they modify a noun. So I could find another ending for when they are adverbs. However, in these case they are always preceded by a preposition, so they are to locate too.
About building a word with two meanings... there are three prepositions that are the same as basic roots. "van" (activity prep) - "van" (root for rice), "dur" preposition for "while/during", "dur" basic root for "hard", "var" (prep. for "far") and "var" basic root for "wait".
Now the first two are not a problem, because they would never be used to create words. Maybe the second one "dur" you could argue that it is useful when we want to modify a basic root with a meaning of "time", but in that case the basic root "zait" (time) is used (and there are many examples in the dictionary).
The last one yes, it could be a bit of a problem and I will change it probably. "varbaxu" could be both a "far away place" or "place for waiting", and both could be alright. I had already though about this one and you will probably see that the preposition changes.
About "o" and "bai"... I don't understand 100% your question, but I will give you one example of each:
"Ze surdaukas o 40kg" - "he-she is carrying 40kg" (exactly)
"Ze surdaukas bai 40kg" - "he-she is carrying approximately/more or less 40kg".
Can't see any other meanings myself would open my eyes if I am wrong please
So a few minor changes coming today probably. And I will take your advice and have decided that:
- conjunctions will all be 2 letters ending in -a: "ta", "ma", etc.
- attitude particles will end in either -q or -i, and be 3 letters long.
- probably correlatives will have their own endings for all cases.
so the only ones remaining with no fixed ending will be prepositions.