Search found 2981 matches

by Salmoneus
10 Feb 2024 18:31
Forum: Conlangs
Topic: How do your languages treat (in)definiteness?
Replies: 28
Views: 1177

Re: How do your languages treat (in)definiteness?

Faux-Phrygian, the conlang I’ve been working on lately, has a definite article, with some restrictions. It marks referents that have already been mentioned in the discourse or which are physically present. Other possible definite categories, like shared cultural concepts, take no article on first r...
by Salmoneus
10 Feb 2024 16:58
Forum: Conlangs
Topic: (Conlangs) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here
Replies: 1679
Views: 348000

Re: (Conlangs) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here

Just concerning the "obstruent influence tone without bearing it"-question. Depressor consonant is a good key word. Onset obstruents can synchronically and phonetically influence tone because they require a certain state of the glottis for their voicing value which restricts the possible ...
by Salmoneus
08 Feb 2024 17:06
Forum: Everything Else
Topic: What are you listening to/watching?
Replies: 322
Views: 88589

Re: What are you listening to/watching?

FWIW, the second season of "Reacher" is much, much better than the second. The first is carried by charismatic performances, but is almost laughably bad in its writing at times (it's basically a neoconservative's literal wet dream with most of the sex taken out - it makes 24 and Jack Bauer...
by Salmoneus
08 Feb 2024 16:39
Forum: Everything Else
Topic: What does “natlang” mean?
Replies: 13
Views: 635

Re: What does “natlang” mean?

I have never ever seen it used to mean "national language" or "native language". And I think eldin has a typo because presumably he's missing a "not" from his definition of "natural". Nor have I ever seen it used to mean "Nativity language", "Na...
by Salmoneus
08 Feb 2024 16:33
Forum: Conlangs
Topic: (Conlangs) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here
Replies: 1679
Views: 348000

Re: (Conlangs) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here

And the question is?

[you also haven't given much information, have you? Try writing out the tones for all three "kana" words, with and without the suffix - rather than insisting that we just guess!]
by Salmoneus
04 Feb 2024 21:16
Forum: Conlangs
Topic: (Conlangs) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here
Replies: 1679
Views: 348000

Re: (Conlangs) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here

The trouble is, I really like -g, especially how weird and cludgy it is after stops or consonant clusters. So I'm thinking of reintroducing it in these environments via analogy. Which option sounds best? 1. Have it be reintroduced by analogy, regardless of the new consonant cluster rules. 2. Have i...
by Salmoneus
04 Feb 2024 21:12
Forum: Conlangs
Topic: (Conlangs) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here
Replies: 1679
Views: 348000

Re: (Conlangs) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here

Are these really example of certain forms being exempt from phonotactic rules, or are they just examples of new clusters being formed through sound change after others were lost? In English at least, the problematic suffixes - -ed, -es - are formed by elision of schwa, subsequent to whatever process...
by Salmoneus
29 Jan 2024 19:19
Forum: Conlangs
Topic: (Conlangs) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here
Replies: 1679
Views: 348000

Re: (Conlangs) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here

I have a problem here, because by definition statives can't be transitive. [wikipedia does use the example '[be able to] play the piano', but I think that's something different, and it isn't covered by wikipedia's own lists of categories]. They can be bivalent in some languages (like "I hear t...
by Salmoneus
29 Jan 2024 14:42
Forum: Conlangs
Topic: (Conlangs) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here
Replies: 1679
Views: 348000

Re: (Conlangs) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here

Would it make sense for a subject/agent noun to take the nominative case if the verb is stative (transitive or intransitive) and the ergative case if the verb is dynamic (transitive or intransitive)? I have a problem here, because by definition statives can't be transitive. [wikipedia does use the ...
by Salmoneus
29 Jan 2024 01:12
Forum: Linguistics & Natlangs
Topic: (L&N) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here
Replies: 1111
Views: 282997

Re: (L&N) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here

Thanks very much for the explanations! No problem! I may not be teaching anyone anything, but at least I'm getting some practice at explaining ideas clearly... and finding myself illuminatingly worse than I'd assumed... So if in a language there is separate symbols for both consonants and vowels, b...
by Salmoneus
29 Jan 2024 00:32
Forum: Linguistics & Natlangs
Topic: (L&N) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here
Replies: 1111
Views: 282997

Re: (L&N) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here

I'm sorry if my last post sounded aggressive; I'm just frustrated with myself, because after writing hundreds and hundred of words to explain something that to me seems incredibly obvious and originates in about two sentences on wikipedia, evidently I'm still speaking gibberish that nobody can unde...
by Salmoneus
28 Jan 2024 15:44
Forum: Linguistics & Natlangs
Topic: (L&N) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here
Replies: 1111
Views: 282997

Re: (L&N) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here

I'm sorry if my last post sounded aggressive; I'm just frustrated with myself, because after writing hundreds and hundred of words to explain something that to me seems incredibly obvious and originates in about two sentences on wikipedia, evidently I'm still speaking gibberish that nobody can under...
by Salmoneus
27 Jan 2024 21:31
Forum: Linguistics & Natlangs
Topic: (L&N) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here
Replies: 1111
Views: 282997

Re: (L&N) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here

...perhaps, if that's serious and not trolling, you could be more specific!? Look, you see those letters, right? They form a line . I mean, no, not literally a single line, but the symbols, the letters, are arranged in a row, aren't they? There are two ends of that row, yes? Left, and right. Now ima...
by Salmoneus
27 Jan 2024 19:47
Forum: Linguistics & Natlangs
Topic: would rescuing an endangered language have a similar effect to israeli hebrew?
Replies: 28
Views: 1277

Re: would rescuing an endangered language have a similar effect to israeli hebrew?

I think that using paragraphs and relatively standard punctuation is a basic level of decency that should be expected from people asking a question, and will often result in more answers. As for the question: yes, any living language will change over time, and hence older texts in that language will...
by Salmoneus
27 Jan 2024 17:27
Forum: Linguistics & Natlangs
Topic: (L&N) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here
Replies: 1111
Views: 282997

Re: (L&N) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here

Systematic means having a coherent system. So, for instance, if you have the syllable-symbol BA and add a mark to make it BAN, and you have a syllable-symbol PA and add the same mark to make it PAN, that's a systematic relationship between symbols. I wasn't trying to be poetic. Take a word like &quo...
by Salmoneus
27 Jan 2024 00:23
Forum: Conlangs
Topic: Random ideas: Morphosyntax
Replies: 900
Views: 207341

Re: Random ideas: Morphosyntax

Don't languages often include info we in English find totally needless? Yes, absolutely. Within reason - although the edge of reason may be hard to determine. Iaai (iirc) has over thirty possessive classifiers, and (iirc) some argue that the class of classifiers is actually open. [however, as I say...
by Salmoneus
26 Jan 2024 21:20
Forum: Conlangs
Topic: Random ideas: Morphosyntax
Replies: 900
Views: 207341

Re: Random ideas: Morphosyntax

My point is that what I said about "bowl" also applies to all other nouns. To put simply, you say you have "classifiers" that specify the shape of an object, rather than nouns, but my point is that "nouns" are mostly just things that specify the shape of an object, so t...
by Salmoneus
26 Jan 2024 15:19
Forum: Conlangs
Topic: Random ideas: Morphosyntax
Replies: 900
Views: 207341

Re: Random ideas: Morphosyntax

Okay, I really like this idea that I had, but I'm not sure how naturalistic it is, or how I can make it more naturalistic, so I'd appreciate some advice. Basically, in this language, nouns don't exist as a cohesive group. Instead, there's three sets of...classifiers, I guess? One set of words for s...
by Salmoneus
26 Jan 2024 15:14
Forum: Conlangs
Topic: Random ideas: Morphosyntax
Replies: 900
Views: 207341

Re: Random ideas: Morphosyntax

I've been thinking about a generic-specific system like in some Australian languages lately, and also a collective/singulative number system, and just thought of a way to combine the two. I'm kind of confused by some of your terminology. Why rename nouns as "nomina", which is just a trans...
by Salmoneus
25 Jan 2024 19:47
Forum: Linguistics & Natlangs
Topic: (L&N) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here
Replies: 1111
Views: 282997

Re: (L&N) Q&A Thread - Quick questions go here

So an abugida is a specific kind of alphasyllabary, I guess? No, an alphabet could also be an abugida. Unless you define it as not an alphabet because it's an abugida. But certainly non-alphasyllabaries can be abugidas, as I've explained. For instance: Lorm£ Xip£sum£ dolor£ sit£ Xamt£, con£sc£ttur£...