375
edits
Cân Gert: Difference between revisions
→Lexicology
| Line 193: | Line 193: | ||
==Lexicology== | ==Lexicology== | ||
Cân Gert fundamentally distinguishes three types of words: | |||
* '''Roots''', the most basic units of speech, i.e. morphemes. | |||
* '''Proper nouns''', representing names of specific people, places, or other entities. | |||
* '''Compounds''', consisting of several concatenated roots. | |||
===Roots, affixes and clitics=== | ===Roots, affixes and clitics=== | ||
All root words in Cân Gert are monosyllabic, and are generally inspired by Scottish Gaelic words related to the meaning of the root. Roots can be further subdivided into the following categories: | |||
* '''Substantive roots''' – The most common type of root, these are nouns referring to a thing, action, or idea. They can be turned into verbs and adjectives through affixation. | |||
** '''General roots''' – These are semantically broad and cover multiple meanings. They are highly productive in forming compounds. E.g. ''dîn'', "action, creation". | |||
** '''Common roots''' – These are semantically narrow, referring to commonly used concepts. They are less productive in forming compounds. E.g. ''corc'', "oats". | |||
* '''Functional roots''' – This includes grammatical function words like conjunctions, prepositions, demonstratives, and others. Some of these compound frequently (like prepositions), others never (like conjunctions). E.g. ''hiûn'', "of, from, since". | |||
* '''Bound roots''' – Affixes and clitics, which can only occur in compounds, not as independent words. E.g. ''-al'', the general-purpose adjective-forming suffix. | |||
===Proper nouns=== | ===Proper nouns=== | ||
As in English, proper nouns are distinguished through capitalisation. Proper nouns can be borrowed through a number of mechanisms: | |||
* '''Borrowed names''' are proper nouns that are not broken down into further meaning. These are usually borrowed from Gaelic or, failing that, English, without being reduced to monosyllables like roots are. E.g. ''Alabâ'', "Scotland", from Gaelic ''Alba'', and ''Colôn'', "Cologne", from the English. | |||
* '''Translated names''' are proper nouns that are translated into Cân Gert. E.g. ''Êndînta Tormuintîr'', "United Nations". | |||
Due to Cân Gert's nature, translated proper nouns can often be broken down into far lower-level morphemes than their English equivalents. For the above example: | |||
* ''Êndînta'' – "unified, united" | |||
** ''êndîn'' – "unification, unity" | |||
*** ''ên'' – "one" | |||
*** ''dîn'' – "action, creation" | |||
** ''-ta'' – perfective participle{{ref|pn1|note}} | |||
* ''Tormuintîr'' – "nations" | |||
** ''tor'' – "many, [plural]" | |||
** ''muintîr'' – "nation" | |||
*** ''muin'' – "(a) people, tribe, cohesive social group" | |||
*** ''tîr'' – "country, land" | |||
<small>{{note|pn1|Note}} The ''-ta'' suffix obviates the need for the general-purpose adjectival suffix ''-al''. That suffix tends to form adjectives with a more active meaning, somewhat like a gerundive; ''êndînal'' would mean "unifying, uniting" rather than "unified, united".</small> | |||
===Derivational morphology=== | ===Derivational morphology=== | ||