Analysis Swap: Hiding Waters

[Kesshin]

Spoiler:

18b) Qulhsqọlwhisnquò

It IS an infix! Apparently after the second q in a word? Maybe?

18c) Qulhsqọlwhosnquò.

Interesting that the i shifts to o though.
Maybe lwhuxsn is some kind of external object marker? Or maybe some kind of gender form for subjects, or things adjacent to the subject?

Ṭȯ tlhulhlhxtọq

...huh.

We would've been talking about a lwhuxsn thing already, it would have been confusing.

...hhhhhhhhhuh. That makes me think it's not a gender system. It's almost like a subject marker, but for things that are related to the subject.

So....tlhulhlhxtọq means "net" without anything inside? Is there a word for if you were talking about something that has something inside?

[Trailsend]

So....tlhulhlhxtọq means "net" without anything inside? Is there a word for if you were talking about something that has something inside?

Mm, no, tlhulhlhxtọq just means it's a net, maybe there's something in it or maybe not. But if that's what you said, tlhulhlhxtọq, then the net is suxlhxt, so you could say

18d) Qulhsqọsolhxtquò

and I would know the rock was in the net.

But if you'd said tlhulhsnọq when you told me about the net, then the net is lwhuxsn, and you'd have to say qulhsqọlwhosnquò to tell me the rock was in it.

[Arayaz]

"You said ṭikixlọst was fixing a net. Is that word somehow connected to the word for just 'net' ─ tlhilhsnọq?" I ask. "And am I getting the ị́nixstẹ right?"

Spoiler:

I predict that in not too long Arayaz is going to catch on to what that k/j alternation is about and it's gonna be great

I'm thinking, but ... it might be something to do with the vowel after it, but that doesn't make much sense considering it was ki and ju, which does not look like palatalization.

[Trailsend]

"You said ṭikixlọst was fixing a net. Is that word somehow connected to the word for just 'net' ─ tlhilhsnọq?" I ask. "And am I getting the ị́nixstẹ right?"

I toss my head. That was perfect! That was really perfect, dang!!

It should be. If you said tlhilhsnọq when you told me about the net, you wouldn't say ṭijixlọst, I would think you were fixing something else. If you said ṭijixsnọst, I would know you were fixing the net.

If you'd said tlhilhlọq before, then you could say ṭijixlọst and I'd know what you were fixing.

[Arayaz]

"You said ṭikixlọst was fixing a net. Is that word somehow connected to the word for just 'net' ─ tlhilhsnọq?" I ask. "And am I getting the ị́nixstẹ right?"

I toss my head. That was perfect! That was really perfect, dang!!

Yessssssssss

It should be. If you said tlhilhsnọq when you told me about the net, you wouldn't say ṭijixlọst, I would think you were fixing something else. If you said ṭijixsnọst, I would know you were fixing the net.

If you'd said tlhilhlọq before, then you could say ṭijixlọst and I'd know what you were fixing.

"Ohhhhh," I say. "I see. And if I said qilhsqọlwhisnqiò (I'm not sure that's the right ị́nixstẹ ─ is it?) to mention a rock, and for whatever reason, I had to fix the rock, I would say ṭikixsnọst to mean I was fixing the rock?"

[Trailsend]

Spoiler:

Here we go!!!! :D :D :D

I would say ṭikixsnọst to mean I was fixing the rock?"

Ah, no, that (20a ṭikixsnọst) would mean I was fixing it. If you were fixing it, you'd say 20b) ṭijixsnọst.

And if I said qilhsqọlwhisnqiò (I'm not sure that's the right ị́nixstẹ ─ is it?)

Close! 21a) Qilhsqọlwhisnquò. The quò in qulhquò is always quò.

"And if I said qilhsqọlwhisnqiò (I'm not sure that's the right ị́nixstẹ ─ is it?) to mention a rock, and for whatever reason, I had to fix the rock, I would say ṭikixsnọst to mean I was fixing the rock?"

Mm, no...if you said qilhsqọlwhisnquò, then the rock is in some lwhuxsn thing that you probably told me about already, but the rock isn't lwhuxsn, it's duxsq. You'd say 20c) ṭijixsqọst.

If you said 20c) ṭijixsnịst, it would mean you were fixing the lwhuxsn thing the rock was in, not the rock.

You wouldn't say ṭijixsnọst if you said qilhsqọlwhisnquò before, because if you said qilhsqọlwhisnquò then you're ị́nuxstẹ to the lwhuxsn thing. If you said 21b) qilhsqọlwhosnquò, then you could say ṭijixsnọst.

[Kesshin]

Spoiler:

tlhulhlhxtọq, then the net is suxlhxt, so you could say

18d) Qulhsqọsolhxtquò

and I would know the rock was in the net.

But if you'd said tlhulhsnọq when you told me about the net, then the net is lwhuxsn, and you'd have to say qulhsqọlwhosnquò to tell me the rock was in it.

sqọ
snọ
another infix? Or just a sound pattern? Infixes?
There's also
suxlhxt/solhxt...
I'm thinking there are multiple infixes at work here. I haven't learned enough linguistics to go over the sound changes but I can try and figure out how the infixes are operating...
It seems like sqọ comes before lwhuxsn, and snọ comes after, though given 18d) it might be a more general thing. A pre-infix-fix.

I see my mistake then, when I tried to insert lwhuxsn in 18a). I had put it inside of the other infix.

18a*) qulhlhwhixnqọquò

The person gestures to a tree.
Nȯ hí?

[Trailsend]

Spoiler:

(Hiding Waters has enough shenanigans going on that I don't think giving you this hint will spoil anything: Phonology isn't as much of an area of interest for me as morphosyntax is, so at present, there are no sound changes, or any morphophonological processes really. There's some allophony, but nothing represented in the spelling of words, and therefore nothing you'd detect without hearing it spoken. There's never a "Ah, this phoneme became that phoneme purely because it was next to this other phoneme." If an <u> becomes an <o>, or an <x> disappears, it's always for morphosyntactic/inflection reasons.)

The person gestures to a tree.
Nȯ hí?

I jut my jaw at the tree, visible outside through the open entrance to the house.

22) Nȯ ḳulhtlhọtlh.

I get up, fetch the rock from the floor, and pick up a second one of similar size. I go to a shelf and retrieve a wooden box, then bring all of them back to the table where the net is and lay them out in a row: a net, box, a rock, and a second rock.


I touch the net.

19a) Ṭȯ tlhulhsnọq.


I touch the box.

23) Ṭȯ hulhtlhwhọts.


I touch the first rock.

24) Ṭȯ qulhsqọquò.


I touch the second rock.

25) Ṭȯ qulhlọquò.


I get up, collect the objects, and take them to different parts of the room. The net, I hang from a peg by the entrance behind you. The box, I set at the foot of the wall behind me. The first rock, I set on a shelf to your right, and the second I put on the floor to your left. I come back to the table.

Now ask me:

26a) Sixsnọkwh hí?

That means "where is it?"

[Kesshin]

26a) Sixsnọkwh hí?

The person says, tentatively...
Sixsnọkwh... tlhulhsnọq?

Spoiler:

Oh geez. I might be in over my head here.

[Trailsend]

(Don't tap out just yet! Just come along for the ride and see :D )

The person says, tentatively...
Sixsnọkwh... tlhulhsnọq?

I smile, and shake my head.

Just ask me, Sixsnọkwh hí? That's all.

[Kesshin]

(Don't tap out just yet! Just come along for the ride and see :D )

(alright)
Sixsnọkwh hí?