Lej Lwaʼaṉoʼ Scratchpad
Posted: Sun May 12, 2019 11:43 am
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Indeed. I'm still exploring what syllable shapes and consonant strings the sound changes from Georgian generate. When I have good generalizations I'll share more. The phonotactics definitely aren't just anything-goes; certain clusters will be broken up with epenthesis.Akangka wrote: ↑Mon May 20, 2019 4:21 am Even if your language is very permissive about consonant cluster, you still need to establish the phonotactics. For example, Nuxalk has C(V)(C) phonotactics. In fact, I bet that there is no languge with word consisting of single plosive without being cliticized. And all language with vowelless word that I know disallows disharmonious cluster in the same syllable.
Sorry, I use the wrong words, I mean those that violates sonority hierarchy,náʼoolkiłí wrote: ↑Mon May 20, 2019 8:17 amIndeed. I'm still exploring what syllable shapes and consonant strings the sound changes from Georgian generate. When I have good generalizations I'll share more. The phonotactics definitely aren't just anything-goes; certain clusters will be broken up with epenthesis.Akangka wrote: ↑Mon May 20, 2019 4:21 am Even if your language is very permissive about consonant cluster, you still need to establish the phonotactics. For example, Nuxalk has C(V)(C) phonotactics. In fact, I bet that there is no languge with word consisting of single plosive without being cliticized. And all language with vowelless word that I know disallows disharmonious cluster in the same syllable.
What is a disharmonious cluster?
Just guessing, but it can arise from a verb that can accept a subject from certain genders only. For example, it may be ungrammatical for the verb "to paint" to have a nonhuman subject, or "to eat (for predator animal)" to have a human subject, because there is another verb "to eat" that is specialized for human. Later, the language evolves a way to make an argument from different gender grammatical. For example, the second verb has shifted the meaning into "to eat without utensils".evmdbm wrote: ↑Wed May 22, 2019 4:46 am Are there any natural analogues for quirk? I understand the point of case, and to some extent of gender too. I can see how some verbs might require subjects in different cases to the usual nominative, but verbs and nouns are quite different animals so a category like quirk that affects both seems implausible. If it is implausible from a natlang perspective that's not a criticism. You can do what you like with a language you invent! I'm just wondering where you got the idea and how you see the category having arisen historically.
But we already have diminutive and tense, both are the domain of both noun and verb. (Yes really. In Khoekhoe, the diminutive for both noun and verb is identical. And Guarani has nominal tam)evmdbm wrote: ↑Wed May 22, 2019 4:46 am Are there any natural analogues for quirk? I understand the point of case, and to some extent of gender too. I can see how some verbs might require subjects in different cases to the usual nominative, but verbs and nouns are quite different animals so a category like quirk that affects both seems implausible. If it is implausible from a natlang perspective that's not a criticism. You can do what you like with a language you invent! I'm just wondering where you got the idea and how you see the category having arisen historically.
That is pretty much what I had in mindWhat do you have in mind by the point of case? Its function as a signal to a noun's syntactic/semantic role?
The sonority hierarchy is not the same for every language, so even within the bounds of naturalism there is a lot of leeway to play with. In Georgian, the term "harmonic clusters" refer to 'Clusters of [−dorsal] [+dorsal] obstruents are called harmonic in Georgian because they share a laryngeal specification' (Butskhrikidze, 2002, p.103). So it is a thing amongst Kartvelianists, but I am not enough of an expert to explain the nitty gritty.
In my language Sataw, there are several derivations that can be equally applied to verbs and nouns. As in Khoekhoe apparently, the Sataw diminutive is identical for noun and verb:Akangka wrote: ↑Mon May 27, 2019 9:27 amBut we already have diminutive and tense, both are the domain of both noun and verb. (Yes really. In Khoekhoe, the diminutive for both noun and verb is identical. And Guarani has nominal tam)evmdbm wrote: ↑Wed May 22, 2019 4:46 am Are there any natural analogues for quirk? I understand the point of case, and to some extent of gender too. I can see how some verbs might require subjects in different cases to the usual nominative, but verbs and nouns are quite different animals so a category like quirk that affects both seems implausible. If it is implausible from a natlang perspective that's not a criticism. You can do what you like with a language you invent! I'm just wondering where you got the idea and how you see the category having arisen historically.