- Triconsonental roots, vowels express grammatical meanings
- compuound words have six radicals and their own vowel pattern different from that of any of the parts
- poly-synthetic
- two genders, masculine and feminine, differentiated by the stress, on the final syllable in feminines and on the penultimate one in masculines
- four noun cases, but only one core case
- verbs inflect in evidentiality/mood: ego-phoric, true, opinion
- adjectives are verbs in the relative inflection
- Underlyingly simple phonotax CV(C), but unstressed vowels can have elision
Most complex syntax:
[topic phrase][incorp.obj verb argument][adverb]
Omzinesý wrote:My new language project:
The verb allowes only ONE nominal argument, but the subject can be made an external topic "noun, it-verbs noun". One extra argument can be incorporated in the verb "noun, it-noun-verbs noun". So there can be quite many semantic nouns, however.
The whole "verb noun" verb phrase has only one stress on the last syllable like French.
This is a tri-consonental language and the incorporated noun is takes as the consonental radicals only, so a verb with an incorporated noun is NaNNaVVaV (where N is a radical of the noun and V is a radical of the verb)
Xing wrote:Can the only nominal argument be both subject and object? What about indirect and/or secondary object? Can only subjects be topicalised?Omzinesý wrote:My new language project:
The verb allowes only ONE nominal argument, but the subject can be made an external topic "noun, it-verbs noun". One extra argument can be incorporated in the verb "noun, it-noun-verbs noun".
This reminds me of how things work in some polysynthetic languages - in which, according to one analysis, verbs never take overt arguments, but all "arguments" are actually dislocated. (So that "Peter likes that girl" would be rendered as "That girl, he-likes-her, Peter", or something like that.)
How do you distinguish verb arguments from topicalised phrases? How do you handle, for example, reflexive contructions? ("Mary hit herself"; "John sent a letter to himself"?)
Omzinesý wrote:These are just preliminary thoughts but...
The one argument can be what we call subject in European languages. The language uses a kind of 'balanced passive strategy' i.e. the function of the argument is defined by verb form. Subject and object are not the best terms for the language but both the actor and undergoer arguments can be either external topics or arguments in the verb phrase. Pronominal affixes mark their roles. Focus can also appear in a cleft structure "It's bread I'm eating." Topic comes before the verb and is separated by a pause/comma.
Ditransitive stractures must either be incorporated "Boyfriend gift-gave Mary." or two clauses are used "Boyfriend, he-gave gift. It-got Mary." I think reflexive will be morphological.
A new polysynthetic lang.
Omzinesý wrote:My newest (still unnamed) canlang has the following noun cases.
It has only one core case.
Direct (maybe still called nominative in grammars) - subject, objec, and normally a clause-external topic
Locative - any adverbial; place, time, manner... that is not an argument of the verb
Vocative
Exclamative (Systemzwang called it so) - attracts rearers attention to an object or person "Hey, look, a bird", can be an external object too