On Feb 3, 2012, at 4:27 PM, Patrick Dunn wrote:

> The case system is pretty consistent, even a little easier than Latin's.
> But then prepositions can govern any of the three oblique cases -- and
> when they do, they change their meaning.  Supposedly there's a reason
> involved, but it's at best sketchy (meta + DAT "among", but meta + ACC "in
> pursuit of").  Then each verb has not two, not three, not even four, but
> six principle parts, all of which must be learned separately.  Again,
> patterns are of little use; they exist, but there are as many exceptions as
> there are verbs that adhere to the patterns, and enough suppletion to fill
> a tanker-truck.  Add to all this a complex participial system, multiple
> infinitives, about 350 different possible verb conjugations for each verb,
> English borrowings that seem to all be false friends by decree of law, and
> an idiosyncratic accent system that must be learned separately for every
> word, and you've got one hell of an inconsistent and fiendishly difficult
> language.

Right, but all of that is consistent. Remember: I said *consistent*, not *predictable*. This is consistent:

goose~geese
ox~oxen
mouse~mice

This is inconsistent:

goose~geese, cats, I don't want any of that, fffffffffff, parker parks cars

And with absolutely no rule for when to use any of those plural forms. Comparatively speaking, "meta + DAT = among/meta + ACC = in pursuit of" looks like an auxlang.

David Peterson
LCS President
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