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ser



How about this?   A new word for 'do', zer.

go zer tun.   I do cartoons
go tunzer.  I'm a cartoonist
go zer starsai.  I do astronomy
go starsaizer.   I'm an astronomer

That eliminates the need for the -jin suffix in cases like that.

go sel hon.  I sell books.
go honsel.  I'm a bookseller.

We don't need zer in this case, because 'sel' means sell, or be a seller, whereas 'tun' means 'is a cartoon'.

I pick zer over kar because it's easier to pronounce as a suffix in a compound. I mean, the k in kar tends to mutate a final n or k into a q.

I think I'll go wit 'zer' unless anybody can think of a better form. 'Ser' is available. Anybody prefer that?

One problem with zer or ser is that I tend to pronounce it with a schwa. I think we all decided some time ago that we really don't want r to ever be a full vowel — otherwise I'd consider 'zr' for it.

Oh, another possibility is 'fe', from maybe French 'fait'. What about that? Now 'fei' means to be able, and in my speech I have no trouble making the distinction between 'fe' and 'fei.' Fe would certainly be that much more terse.

With that, we'd have

go fe tun.   I do cartoons
go tunfe.  I'm a cartoonist
go fe starsai.  I do astronomy
go starsaife.   I'm an astronomer

Now, 'fe' doesn't mean person at all, so, other than context, there's no indication that a starsaife is a person. But in English, a 'hunter' can be either a dog or a human, so I see no problem. If there ever is, then we can add 'jin.'

vorfzo starsaife. kyu v jin? bu. v kliqon. v starsaifekliqon, bu starsaifejin.


Rex May
rmay@hidden.email
See some of my cartoons at:
http://homepage.mac.com/rmay/
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