Showing posts with label adjective. Show all posts
Showing posts with label adjective. Show all posts

Wednesday, 15 December 2010

Hwong Zheng word order

As there are no affices in Hwong Zheng, word order is very specific. Basically, every sentence is divided as such:

[Subject] [Verb] [Object] [Additionals]

Where the additionals can be prepositional phrases and adverbs.

Adjectives always follow the noun they belong to. A noun and an adjective are often interchangeable.
Only articles can be placed in front of the noun.

When a segment consists of more than two elements, it is closed by repeating the first word.
If, for instance, a noun is followed by two adjectives, the noun is repeated afterwards to close the group. 
If a preposition is followed by a noun with an adjective, the preposition is repeated.

When repeating, the first half of the syllable, i.e. the consonant and semi-vowel, are omitted. In two-syllable words, only the last syllable-half remains.

E.g.:

Rwoung than dzheu 'oung -- Slave dead three (slave) -- Three dead slaves
Shoun ley syuung 'oun -- House near river (house) -- The house near the river
Wou reng zhing 'ou -- With child ten (with) -- With ten children
Ang wou dzyin hieng 'ou pwen myan 'ang -- Man with knife gold (with) clothed black (man) -- A man with a golden knife wearing black

Monday, 19 July 2010

Word Emphasis

I replied to a forum topic on the difference between defining and non-defining clauses; I thought it might be interesting to share.

Παнтιεc ιοᴧтυιн αδυнωнтec δec εκιειн.
All.ADJ dance.INF NEG-can.SUBST must leave.INF.
All who can't dance must leave.

Παнтec ιοᴧтυιн αδυнωнтιεc δec εκιειн.
All dance.INF NEG-can.ADJ must leave.INF.
All, who can't dance, must leave.

Here, the difference is made by switching noun/adjective, as adjectives can most often be omitted. In both sentences the inability to dance results in to the necessity to leave.

Φυαнтω мου ᴧυβрεc παнтιεc ειειᴧεтωнтιεc.
Sell.1SG my books all.ADJ read.PRF.PASS.ADJ.
I'm selling all my books which I've read.

Φυαнтω мου ᴧυβрεc παнтιεc, ἁтεc ειειᴧω.
Sell.1SG my books all.ADJ, which read.PRF.1SG.
I'm selling all my books, which I've read.

The emphasis is often on the last part of the sentence or word group, thus on ειειᴧεтωнтιεc in the third and on παнтιεc in the last sentence.

One could place the emphasis on many different words:
Φυαнтω ᴧυβрεc παнтιεc мου. - I sell all my books (not yours).
Φυαнтω παнтιεc мου ᴧυβрεc. - I sell all my books (but I'm keeping my films).
Παнтιεc мου ᴧυβрεc φυαнтω. - I sell all my books (I'm not just throwing them out).
As you might have noticed, participial constructions are an immense part of Lurion. They're what makes it unique, actually. Well, at least I haven't seen many other languages that use them so frequently.

Saturday, 29 May 2010

Comparison and Diminutive

There are 5 degrees of comparison (as opposed to the 3 most languages have):

ὁрιтαтιι - highest
ὁрιтeрιι - higher
ὁрιι - high
ὁрιмeрιι - less high
ὁрιcαтιι - least high

The first ι is very weak, so root and infix might assimilate. E.g.: ευтαтιι ('best'; instead of ευтιтαтιι), ᴧυмeрιι ('less low'; instead of ᴧυмιмeрιι) or ὑδecαтιι ('least wet'; instead of ὑδeιcαтιι).
This will, however, only happen with roots that end with a vowel or with the same consonant. For instance, note the difference between φαcαтιι/φαcιтαтιι ('least hot' and 'hottest'; from φαcιι) and φαcтιι/φαcтαтιι ('thick' and 'thickest'; from φαcтιι).

Not only adjectives can be compared, also nouns, adverbs and verbs.
E.g.: εтαрιтαтιc ('the most/best friend') or ιω тεᴧxιтeрιωн ('I go faster').

To compare with something, the comparing dative is used: ι мεнω ευтeрιι cει - 'I am better than you'.

Finally, there is also a diminutive, used to indicate a smaller version of something. It has the infix -ιнт-. For instance: καтιнтιc - 'a little cat'.

Tuesday, 27 April 2010

Participles

Forms

Any verb can be substantivised (is that a word?) very easily, i.e. by adding the affix -οнт and a noun/adjective suffix.
E.g.: ειδι ("he sees") > ειδοнтιc ("he who sees / the see-er"); гυнαc δεδαcεc ("women will (hopefully) have given") > δεδαcοнтιαc гυнαc ("the women who (hopefully) will have given").

Also, infinitives can be turned into nouns (and adjectives) simply by adding a neuter suffix. Here, the nominative and accusative are the same as the infinitive:
-ειн
-ειнου
-ειнει
-ειн

Use

Participles are used in many more cases that most modern natlangs. For instance, participles can be used as any wordgroup in a sentence, i.e. subject, object etc.
Also, participle adjectives can be used to give extra information about any wordgroup in a sentence.

Thursday, 22 April 2010

Noun and Adjective Conjugations

The conjugations of nouns and adjectives are pretty much the same, with a couple of exeptions.

gmfn
sgnomιc/ιοα-/ε
accιнοнαнεн
genουουαου
datειαιει
plnomecocαcεc
accεcocαcεc
genωcωcωcωc
datοιcοιcαιcειc

The general singular nominative nouns end in -ιc, adjectives in -ι, neuter sg. nom. nouns can end in a lot of ways, adj. in -ε.
The genitive is stressed, e.g. гυнα as in gúna is nominative, as in guná, it is genitive.

Also, all adjectives can be formed from nouns by adding the infix -ι-. E.g.: гυнα (woman) > гυнιι (female, feminine).
Where conjugations overlap, for instance in the plural genitive -ωc, and the gender must be specified, an infix can be added to nouns, being -ο- for masculine, -α- for feminine and -e- for neuter words. E.g.: гυнοωc, meaning 'male woman', i.e. a very feminine man, a 'queer' (as an insult to homosexuals, although my conpeople are most unlikely to make such an insult) or sometimes a transvestite.

Common neuter nom. sg. conjugations are -ε, -υ and -εр. The latter turns into -р in all cases except the nom. sg., e.g. ᴧυβεр, ᴧυβрεн (book).

There is also a dual, which has for all genders the same 4 suffices. More on the dual later, as it also involves some explanation.