New CBB

Yeah, it would be cool to extend it to a common way of doing a comitative construction, as I want to rely on verbs only and getting rid of cases.

I will get back to you with translations later.

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‹› · Ḿḿ Ńń Ĺĺ Śś Źź Ąą Ǫǫ Ųų Æ̨æ̨ Ǽǽ Œ̨œ̨ Œ́œ́ Ɣɣ Y̋y̋ Įį Şş Z̧z̧ θ
Āā Ēē Īī Ōō Ūū ↗ Ṭṭ C̣c̣ Łł Ḍḍ Ṣṣ Ẓẓ Ṇṇ Ŋŋ e˞ o˞ ʷ ʲ ʰ ə

sounds interesting; aye.



I vote Aye!

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For marking questions, should I keep sentance-final u, or replace it with a particle/suffix?

O falota u.
* pangolin Q.
A pangolin?

U falota u.
* pangolin Q.
Mr. Pangolin?

vs

U falota tzi.
* pangolin Q.
Mr. Pangolin?

vs

U falota-lalu.
* pangolin-Q.
Mr. Pangolin?


* = the start of a clause; clause-initial U is used for people.

Which of the two options for forming desideratives is nicer? 1) Adding a complementizer after a clause and then treating that as the object of a "want" verb OR 2) compounding a verb with a "want" verb?

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Up in blue sky silly blimp goes by
Where it come from where it go
Ziggy-Zaggy it fly high

No.1 is, imho. and neater.

What do you think about expressing negation by reduplication of the verb?
Examples:
Hwi laka.
I want.
Hwi laka laka.
I do not want.

BTW,how to gloss reduplication?

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Ikasmu ati'uki nai uraiur.
Hinai nimuśim naimi nai sasamiur urukani. Śi'ama nai huhumiur na ni'amuśim nai sasamiur.
Pumaki nimuśim śima'a na ami nimuśim ara'a. Hini nihrasum i'aku tumra urukani na nihrasum sanik hraspir.

Ah,thanks.
So it'll be like this.
Hwi laka laka.
hwi laka~laka
1SG want~NEG
I do not want.

Should the Arasamean word for "bear" be ta /tæ/, or ca /ˈhæ/ ?


(a borrowing from the Hawaiian pea)

ca!

I'm afraid I didn't understand your previous question.

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‹› · Ḿḿ Ńń Ĺĺ Śś Źź Ąą Ǫǫ Ųų Æ̨æ̨ Ǽǽ Œ̨œ̨ Œ́œ́ Ɣɣ Y̋y̋ Įį Şş Z̧z̧ θ
Āā Ēē Īī Ōō Ūū ↗ Ṭṭ C̣c̣ Łł Ḍḍ Ṣṣ Ẓẓ Ṇṇ Ŋŋ e˞ o˞ ʷ ʲ ʰ ə

thank you.



summed up, how should I mark questions? with <_u>, with <_tzi>, or with <-lalu>

Can I have /s z ʃ t͡s t͡ʃ/ without /ʒ d͡ʒ/?
What is the better word for 2SG pronoun:<txín> or <co>

<txín>, definately.

Sure, why not? A phonology doesn't have to be perfectly symmetrical.

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UNUS•ET•UNICUS

I've been wondering recently whether the current version of Kantaranyan is a bit too conservative for something that's supposed to be an international trading language in the continent it's from. Consequently I've been thinking of:

-Changing the phonological history a bit so it's a little less conservative (it's currently probably the most phonologically conservative language within its family)

and/or

-Modify the grammar a bit so that the verb system has less infixes and consonant alternations, which would probably be difficult for learners of Kantaranyan as a second language to pick up.

An alternative to the second one would perhaps be to add the option to use an auxiliary verb instead of inflecting the main verb, I suppose.

Should I do either of these things?

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Languages!
Native: Proficient: Decent: Have dabbled in:

I think you should make Kantaranyan more phonologically innovative.
It'll be good to regularize position of infixes and simplify the consonant alterations.

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In Catlalicút all verbs are ditransitive per default and are made monotransitive or intransitive by affixes.To keep that or not?

seconding this. maybe some back formation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back-formation



keep

Should I shift the words for 'elements' (water, air, fire, earth, life, perhaps some more) semantically, to mean instead water-bearer, fire-bearer, earth-bearer/farmer, etc.; and from there have a more person-focused etymology, while forming retronyms for the 'elements'?

Should I get rid of tone in Keoriki? It's fairly marginal anyway; high tone occurs about 75% of the time, but I fear Keoriki will lose much of its uniqueness if I kill it.

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"Wait for the starvation of glaciers, chicken hamburger Noel Weber Arthur."

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Yes. There are natlangs like that.



Sure.
OTOH why four elements (but I see you have "life" as a quintessence), and why those four?
Why not water, air, fire, metal, wood?
Maybe add "flesh"; maybe add "space" or "distance"?
And would a farmer be an earth-bearer, or an earth-worker?
What's a life-bearer? Would that be "female entity"?



Have you tried to expand the role of low tone? If low tone happens say 43% of the time instead of 25%, it would be a lot more balanced --- right?

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I am not responsible for the accuracy of my sources; they're responsible for their own mistakes, if any, and also responsible for defending their own statements if you disagree with them.

The idea of the elements does not correspond directly to those terms, and include many things elsewise. Water is really "liquid", and is closely related to the sweeping motions used in the proto-lang, which was completely gestural; it is often used as a reference for direction (e.g. "toward this lake/river"). The "liquid" concept continues to cover coldness, darkness, evils and 'anti-civilization' in general; it is- although this is not a reason for it being a 'basic' element- seen as symbolic that humans must 'darken' or 'uncleanse' their souls by drinking water, and much theology is devoted to how to work toward purity, despite consumption of evil.
Air and 'earth' are essentially up and down, air is seen as containing all that exists, while earth is seen as forming all that exists; wood, and some plants, are considered to be "extensions" of the earth, much like mountains which are shaped differently, however 'earth' or 'ground' is seen actually as the living remains of one of the pantheon of gods, and as such things like "soil", "wood", and "metal" are all seen as features of the body. (On a side note, 'metal', being generally cold and dark after forging, can be described as "watery earth-stuff", and the con-people see it as a service to their god to take the 'evil' out of his body; as an additional result of this practice, leaching and other forms of bloodletting by other animals is considered a way to cleanse oneself of evil.) Meanwhile, air is seen as a sort of multi-looped, multi-layered screen, on which the earth/god "rolls", causing the sun and moon to pass, stars to pass, clouds to pass, and wind to pass. Things moving at different speeds have their own 'layer', and the whole system is thought to repeat at different intervals, hence the 'loops'. Earth is roughly likened to gestures used in ordering people in the proto-lang, while air is related to many of the more subtle gestures.
Fire is thought of as a loose opposite to water, as fire is seen as a a 'divine gift', and is used frequently in religious ceremonies (cremation is pretty much the only way to bury the dead, as it 'obliterates' all 'evil' left in an individual by water consumption). It encompasses the concepts of civilization, home, warmth, some emotions and other abstract concepts, war, and technology. In the proto-lang, "fire" encompasses nearly all abstract gestures, including acting and dance.
Life is the only one which is pretty self explanatory; it's mostly made up of words for people and things people do. Basically any concept, including abstract concepts, which don't fit in with other categories are dumped here.

As for the semantic shift, it would be mostly toward any occupation associated closely with the element, e.g. water-bearer is any low-class "untouchable" type who creates trenches, aqueducts, cisterns, wells, etc., as well as merchants; air-bearer is any "generic worker", such as a manufacturer; fire-bearer is a priest or warrior; earth-bearer is actually earth-worker, as was said, in that they farm, or mine; life-bearer or life-worker might be more along the lines of a hunter or animal farmer (although the language has no problem allowing multiple meanings the same word, so a female or, more specifically, a pregnant female may easily be referenced by the same word).

That said, things that are elementary, like wood, metal, food, and possibly any other combination of those listed would probably be "secondary" elements, and as s uch could have a similar semantic shift.