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Cân Gert: Difference between revisions
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→Roots, affixes and clitics
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===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: | 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 | * '''Substantive roots''' – The most common type of root, these refer 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". | ** '''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". | ** '''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. Whether or not these compound depends on the individual root; as a general rule, prepositions can compound while conjunctions, demonstratives, and other particles cannot. E.g. ''hiûn'', "of, from, since". | * '''Functional roots''' – This includes grammatical function words like conjunctions, prepositions, demonstratives, and others. Whether or not these compound depends on the individual root; as a general rule, prepositions can compound while conjunctions, demonstratives, and other particles cannot. 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 | * '''Bound roots''' – Affixes and clitics, which can only occur in compounds, not as independent words. E.g. ''-al'', the generic adjectival suffix. | ||
Some roots exist in two categories, for example the verbal clitic "ni" which can also appear as an independent particle under certain circumstances – | Some roots exist in two categories, for example the verbal clitic "ni" which can also appear as an independent particle under certain circumstances – see [[#Verbal morphology]]. | ||
Substantive roots are generally treated and used as nouns, and turned into adjectives or verbs using appropriate clitics or affixes. | |||
However, the generic adjectival suffix ''-al'' is generally omitted unless it is needed to disambiguate meaning, because adjectives follow nouns, and a noun following a noun is taken to modify that noun much as an adjective would. This is epitomised in the name of the language, which hypercorrectly would be *''Cân Gertal'', but is instead ''Cân Gert''. This could be variously analysed as "short language" or "language of brevity". | |||
Thus for example ''sen'' normally means "age, great age", and ''senal'' would mean "old, aged", but it is perfectly acceptable to use just ''sen'' for "old, aged" if the meaning is clear. For example, to say "I am twenty years old", you would normally say ''Mi fît blîn sen'' rather than ''Mi fît blîn senal''. | |||
===Proper nouns=== | ===Proper nouns=== | ||