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Message-ID: <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1999 01:26:48 -0400
From: Larry Schelin <[log in to unmask]>
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To: Nik Taylor <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: The Bitha overview
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Nik Taylor wrote:

>
> So, {g} is a uvular stop?  Why not use {q}?  That would free {g} up for
> /G/.

No, wow that got screwed up... I should have looked more carefully when I
pasted it. I'll try it again..

            Bilabal    |    Dental          |   Alvelor        |
Velar       |  Ulvular  |  Glottal
Stop         b        |         -             |       d
|        k g         |       -      |         ' (?)
Nasal       m        |         -             |        -            |
ng (N)    |      -       |       -
Frictive     v        | th (T) dh(D)    |     sh(S) zh(Z)|     H (x) h(G)
|               |
Affricate             |ts (t_s) dz(d_z) |      j(d_j)
|                      |               |
Trill                     |                       |     r
|                      |     gh(R) |
Approx.  w         |                       |
|                      |               |
Semivowels         |                       |     y(j)
|                      |               |

What I did (and should have explained earlier, sorry :) was put the IPA
character in parenthesis where my symbol was different, so g is a voiced
velar stop. Is it clearer now?

>
> > Nasal       m                 -               -                  ng
>
> No /n/?  That's rather unusual.

Yeah... it seems like I always use /m/ and /n/, I wanted something a little
diffrent, so I dropped the /n/.

>
>
> >         i uu(y)        EH(u") u
> >             e
> >               a OO(9)    ah(A)
>
> What {EH} exactly?  Is it an unrounded /u/?  Quite an unusual system.

Oops, more explanation here too... I did the same thing with the vowels,
yes, {EH} is an unrounded /u/ I had the same problem, I kept using the same
vowels, switched to something diffrent this time.. I ended up doing a lot
of that here.

>
>
> > vidh present tense
> >
> > vith past tense (basic past, can be any time in the past, no specific
> > moment)
> > bith         (one minute ago)
> > dith         (one hour ago)
> > ngith        (yesterday)
> > tsith         (one week ago)
> > jith           (one month ago)
> > gith          (one year ago)
>
> Hmm, I'd say that it was time-i-tense, that is b = one minute, d = one
> hour, etc., and -dh = present, -th = past, -sh = future.  How do you
> handle "ten minutes ago"?  Is that "dith"?
>

Yes, for now, but your comments make me wonder if perhaps I should create
some sort of modifier to be more specific. I'll have to think about it some
more.

>
> > Must                    -uh-
> > Absolutly have to -ugh-
>
> Interesting.

Thanks...

>
>
> > II v+(infix)+dh(th, sh, etc...)
> > Accidentally      -ija-
> > Purposfully        -ira-
> > Repeatly           -atsi-
> > Once                -itsa-
> > Definatly true    -edzi-
> > Probably true    -adzi-
> > Probably false   -eshi-
> > Definatly false   -ashi-
>
> Let me see if I've got this straight, "one minute ago, definitely true"
> would be "bedzith"?  Can these be combined?  Can you say "once,
> definitely true"?
>

Sure... why not, it would make the tense markers longer, but that's ok..

>
> > A little bit "trickle"   jia-
> > Some "flow"            za-
> > A lot "gush"             tse-
> > A whole lot "flood"  gu-
>
> I don't understand these at all.  Please explain.
>

Here are some examples...

radzi (verb- to rain)
gaghu (pronoun- somewhere/everywhere)

Gaghu _jia_mithi radzi vidh.
It's beginning to sprinkle.

Gaghu _za_mithi radzi vidh.
It's beginning to rain.

Gaghu _tse_mithi radzi vidh.
It's beginning to pour.

Gaghu _gu_mithi radzi vidh
It's beginning to rain cats and dogs.

Does that make it clearer? It's an intensity prefix

>
> > (Noun-subject) mi (Verb) (Noun- Indirect object) vidh (Noun- direct
> > object)
>
> Interesting.  "Mi" can, of course, be "ngi", etc. also, yes?

Absolutly, I just use mi as the general form.

>
>
> > I see you (pl.)
> > Ju mi eri vidh vithu.
>
> Would "I don't see y'all" be:
>
> Ju ngi eri vidh vithu?
>

Perfectly right...

>
> Pretty interesting language, over all.
>

Thanks... I've only been working on it for about a week, so there's some
big holes of missing grammar (like the pronouns, which I have worked out,
but didn't include), numbers, etc. I was working on relative clauses today
at work, I think I've almost got it worked out, I'll post it if you're
intrested...


Joe


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