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Alaia: Difference between revisions
→Outstanding features
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Some characteristics of the language that the reader might find interesting are: | Some characteristics of the language that the reader might find interesting are: | ||
* All '''content words''' (nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs) '''are at least two syllables long'''. | * All '''content words''' (nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs) '''are at least two syllables long'''.<sup>{Xhosa: it even adds a meaningless extra prefix to imperatives when the general rules say they should be only one syllable long}</sup> | ||
* It has quite a number of '''affixes''' that derive verbs from verbs '''based on body parts'''. For example: arms-do means “to do sth with one's arms, to do sth with effort’, finger-do means “to do something carefully”, back-do means “to do sth with one's back, to do sth under pressure”, etc. | * It has quite a number of '''affixes''' that derive verbs from verbs '''based on body parts'''. For example: arms-do means “to do sth with one's arms, to do sth with effort’, finger-do means “to do something carefully”, back-do means “to do sth with one's back, to do sth under pressure”, etc. | ||
* It has '''affixes meaning "man/woman/boy/girl with X trait"''' | * It has '''affixes meaning "man/woman/boy/girl with X trait"'''.<sup>{Japanese has a suffix meaning "girl with X trait": 眼鏡っ娘 ''meganekko'' ‘girl with glasses’, derived from 眼鏡 ''megane'' ‘glasses’)}</sup> | ||
* '''A few of its adverbs agree in gender with the subject or an object''' (in a similar way as in Levike's conlang above). Some of said adverbs are the Alaia equivalents of "well, badly, totally/completely, all, somewhat, not at all, also, even, not even, only". As the reader can tell from this list, It's mostly just the "core" adverbs that do it, place/manner/time/sentential adverbs generally don't do this. | * '''A few of its adverbs agree in gender with the subject or an object''' (in a similar way as in Levike's conlang above). Some of said adverbs are the Alaia equivalents of "well, badly, totally/completely, all, somewhat, not at all, also, even, not even, only". As the reader can tell from this list, It's mostly just the "core" adverbs that do it, place/manner/time/sentential adverbs generally don't do this. | ||
* A '''pseudo-duodecimal number system''', using base 10 for integers and decimals but base 12 for fractions | * A '''pseudo-duodecimal number system''', using base 10 for integers and decimals but base 12 for fractions.<sup>{Classical Latin, see [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_numerals this article]</sup> | ||
* '''There's an equivalent of sentential adverbs''' (like "frankly/honestly, surprisingly/curiously, sadly, (un)fortunately, hopefully, bafflingly, thankfully, ideally...", particularly when used at the beginning of the sentence followed by a little pause), but the equivalent is not adverbial in nature: '''it is verbs in the future tense''' referring to the rest of the sentence. For example, literally “it'll be sad” > sadly, “it'll be unusual” -> curiously, “it'll be god-given” -> fortunately, “it'll be god-resentful” > hopefully. Some are fully grammaticalized, e.g. the verb “to be sad” isn't actually used anymore, except in its future form as a sentential adverb. | * '''There's an equivalent of sentential adverbs''' (like "frankly/honestly, surprisingly/curiously, sadly, (un)fortunately, hopefully, bafflingly, thankfully, ideally...", particularly when used at the beginning of the sentence followed by a little pause), but the equivalent is not adverbial in nature: '''it is verbs in the future tense''' referring to the rest of the sentence. For example, literally “it'll be sad” > sadly, “it'll be unusual” -> curiously, “it'll be god-given” -> fortunately, “it'll be god-resentful” > hopefully. Some are fully grammaticalized, e.g. the verb “to be sad” isn't actually used anymore, except in its future form as a sentential adverb. | ||
* '''It uses an auxiliary verb to form the imperative plural''', while using a bare form of the verb for the singular. | * '''It uses an auxiliary verb to form the imperative plural''', while using a bare form of the verb for the singular.<sup>{Bumaa Fijian requires pronouns in plural imperatives, but not singular ones}</sup> | ||
* Practically '''every transitive verb can simply drop its direct object''' core argument and so become intransitive, if the direct object is obvious enough from context. Subjects can be dropped if they're obvious too. | * Practically '''every transitive verb can simply drop its direct object''' core argument and so become intransitive, if the direct object is obvious enough from context. Subjects can be dropped if they're obvious too.<sup>{Mandarin Chinese}</sup> | ||
* '''It only has four basic colours: white, black, red-orange, green-blue.''' ( | * '''It only has four basic colours: white, black, red-orange, green-blue.'''<sup>{(Post-)Classical Latin: ''albus, niger, ruber, viridis.'' Isidore (7th c.) describes the colour of the sea as sth between ''viridis'' and ''niger'', instead calling it ''caeruleus''}</sup> | ||
* '''It uses a lot parataxis,''' that is, it often uses clauses seemingly at the same level as the main clause where English and your typical European language would use a subordinate clause.<sup>{Classical Arabic, Classical Chinese}</sup> | |||
===Phonemic Inventory=== | ===Phonemic Inventory=== | ||