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Rex May - Baloo wrote: > > So far, then, we've nailed down the following: > > 1. /tS/ is represented by c, never by tx. > > 2. Vowels never become semivowels. Y and W are used instead. > > 3. Stress is always on the first syllable. > > 4. Compounds are always head-last. Xipam, dadom, blufawl, etc. Looks good. > Now I want to go into grammar big time. I was thinking last night about the neatness of the Japanese and Hokkien systems of demonstrative pronouns and such, and I have a proposal. I'll just use made up sounds, without worrying too much about whether they are available or not. The basic idea is to have four categories of compounds. Each compound would start with one of four modifiers: ci - near the speaker so - near the person being spoken to tu - distant from both (not always applicable) kwa - interrogative I picked these sounds for maximum distinctiveness. Then, there would be a variety of heads: jai - place tor - manner, way vo - one(s) faq - direction fwa - point in time hu - (connector) These would combine to give: cijai - here sojai - there tujai - yonder kwajai - where? citor - like this, in this way sotor - like that, in that way (tutor) kwator - how? in what way? civo - this one sovo - that one tuvo - that one over yonder kwavo - which one? cifaq - hither, hence sofaq - thither,thence tufaq - yon kwafaq - whither? whence? cifwa - now sofwa - then (tufwa - way back then) kwafwa - when? cihu kan - this dog sohu kan - that dog tuhu kan - that dog over yonder kwahu kan - which dog? Does this seem like a useful approach? -- Mike Wright http://www.CoastalFog.net _____________________________________________________ "China is a big country, inhabited by many Chinese." -- Charles de Gaulle