[YG Conlang Archives] > [Latejami group] > messages [Date Index] [Thread Index] >
--- In Ladekwa@yahoogroups.com, Rick Morneau <ram@e...> wrote: ... > If there is a correspondence between the meaning of a modifier and a > classifier, then the semi-vowel can be removed from the classifier > to produce the modifier; eg. classifier "faw" could becomes modifier > "fa". Modifiers that are not based on classifiers can have the form > CVn; eg. "ban" will have no relationship to "baw", "bya", "bay", > etc. > > Any comments or suggestions? Yes: Deriving a modifier from "baw", "bya", "bay" (and "bwa"), in each case the result is "ba". So, the worst case is that classifier-modifier derivation works only in one fourth of all cases. So I'd prefer the voiced-unvoiced method. I haven't noticed any difficulty in pronouncing Ladekwa sentences (I even thought that it must be easy to pronounce to Chinese / Japanese people, as sillables like "baw", "bwa", "bay", "bya" are very common there). The modifier derivation helped me a lot to memorize classifiers and modifiers, so I wouldn't benefit from changing the system. Another problem for me is that I have become tired of learning entire morpheme systems. The grammar is what counts to me. I don't know how long it would take for me to learn a new system over. Regards, Stephan Schneider