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The Dailies. March 2
Did you work on your language today? Create any new rules of grammar or syntax? New progress on a script? New words in your lexicon?
On the other hand, do any excavating or reading or enjoying stuff you've already created? Do you have any favorites to share?
How did you conlang today?




Today I worked on my font. I finally finished the look of my alphabet and hope to send in a sample at some point. I have also worked on the conjugation for the verb, "to be."
Oh, and I've thought some more about what a script used by Nahul speakers might look like. I'm leaning towards an abugida, in which key characters in each consonant series would be originally based on logograms for words beginning with the syllable in question.
However, those words wouldn't be Nahul ones, but words belonging to one or more culturally innovative languages from back when the script was invented, likely a very long time ago. As I know nothing about such languages, the syllables in question, and the logograms derived from them, would just be guesswork on my part.
But just to give myself some structure, I'm thinking of using some common universal words from my two older conlangs as a base. Like, maybe the first syllable in the word for 'wind' in one of them, the word for 'river' in another (if I have them).
Oooh, fun! I love dreaming up new scripts.
That's a really interesting idea. Good luck developing it!
More Beldreeni etymology. Not grammatically complicated, I don't think, but with semantic changes on the way.
This gets a little long-winded. I'll be using bold instead of italics for some of the words here in case this makes things clearer.
So I wanted a word for 'history' that was built the same way as the word for 'long fictive story', kikujana, which I finally analysed the other day. And I found one! But also again a number of other words.
Leaving aside kiku, 'tell, recount; proclaim, declare' which has already been mentioned, I'll just focus on the second element.
The root verb is mo in present tense neutral style, (moya in formal style, mo'a in familiar style; monan in the infinitive, mos in the past perfective tense neutral style, etc). Its meaning is 'to happen, to take place'.
From this we get the noun imo through a common nominalising process. This means 'event, incident, something that happens'. It's unrelated to the nominal suffix -imo, I think, as the next noun otherwise gets hard to explain.
That next noun is momo. This used to also mean 'event, incident, something that happens'. It looks like a reduplication of the root verb, but reduplication alone normally doesn't produce a word class change in Beldreeni, so that's probably not what happened. Rather, it seems to be a contraction of moïmo, based on the nominal suffix -imo mentioned above.
This brings us to the word for 'historical account', 'history book', and 'history' in general:
kikumomo
But I'm not done yet! These days, momo has come to mean 'routine, habit' instead. There's several more words derived from this meaning:
kimomo (adj) 'used to something'. Requires the postposition lai.
momostu (vb) 'get used to something', as a passive process that just happens. Intransitive
momoira (vb) 'get someone else used to something', transitive. Used with the reflexive pronoun suke it refers to someone actively trying to familiarise themselves with something.
hemomo (adj) 'habitual, routine; ordinary'
momorio 'experienced person; regular patron; veteran' (no military connotation to the last one)
janamomorio 'someone who pretends to be more experienced at something than they really are'
Finally, kikuimo also exists. This noun has three basic meanings: 1) report; 2) something like a check list/to-do-list/agenda; 3) strategy.
Samples:
Guson a-tes moas? 'What just happened?' (Familiar style)
Baho zhu mimi lai momostuti. '(I) got used to my new coat.' (Neutral style, past imperfective tense)
Baho zhu mimi lai kimomo ru. '(I) am used to my new coat.' (Neutral style)
Mimio memiso lai kimomo sati wai. 'The young person was used to dancing.' (Formal)
Ooooh! I love this and looking at how everything got to where it is! Janamomorio is especially fun!
Thank you! I was delighted when I realised I could already use jana from the kikujana post in this manner!
Love 'em! Especially janamomorio like nonniemas said.
Akachenti person is the most complicated crazy thing, considering how important it is to every single utterance that exists just about. That said, person!
Here are the markers and how they behave in different environments, which is helpful but not explained.
Here is what they mean:
Okay, there's a lot of detail not shown there because I was attempting to concisely analyze the mess that is their first person in practice. In short, the generic first person is "we always do such and such", whereas the generic third person would be "one always does such and such." One marks association, the speaker belongs to the same group as the referent, and one doesn't.
a / á means an "agata" type verb where agent / topic / patient are marked the same but one is stressed as the patient, implying a difference between agent and patient. Consider this "you and I".
a / a means the same with no patient marking and thus it's the same plural referent. Consider this "we."
And I have to run or I'd explain more/better.
Ah, so if you were perhaps describing customs you don't share yourself, perhaps some peculiar to a particular town or trade, you'd use generic third person?
Does it matter if the adressee belongs to the same group as the referent or not?
Yes, 3rd person! 1st is only used if one wants to mark association.
I'd say there's a strong tendency to lump an addressee into 1st when they match the speaker's group, but no such tendency if addressee and referent are in one group exclusive of speaker. That would normally get simple 2nd and 3rd markers where appropriate.
At least I know why now it took me so long to figure out why 1st and 2nd didn't play nice! :)