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--- In romconlang@yahoogroups.com, Benct Philip Jonsson <bpj@...> wrote: > > On 11.3.2007 jsjonesmiami wrote: > > Hi! I'm working on a new language, currently called > > Lethino, which branches off fairly early. One problem I > > have is that, because s > x, which > 0 > > > > when word final, the 3rd person plural object pronouns > > become identical to the corresponding singular pronouns. > > Any ideas? > > > > Thanks, Jeff > > My immediate thought is that the reflexes of ILLORUM and > ILLARUM would take over the function as plural object > pronouns. Something similar happens in Russian where > nominative and accusative became identical in all > declensions except the feminine singular, but speakers > apparently felt that it would be a good idea to keep > distinguishing the subject and object for animates, so > they started to use the genitive for animate objects in > the masculine singular and the plural. This goes not only > for pronouns but also for nouns and adjectives. If you go > for this option you should perhaps have the singular > objective come from the dative ILLUI/*ILLÎ and *ILLAEI as > well, unless Lethino branched off so early that *ILLAEI > hadn't developed yet. Also cf. how the dative singular > pronouns are used as emphatic forms for all cases in many > 'real' Romlangs. Lethino branched so early I don't think even ILLUI had developed. I've considered using the genitive forms for the dative as well, but am concerned about syntactical ambiguity. > Another possibility comes from Andalusian Spanish where > syllable final s > h. In some dialects -- notably Granadeño > -- h goes on to zero, but before that it causes a lowering > in the preceding vowel, so that -as -es -os > /-& -E -O/ > contrasting with /-a_" -e -o/ in the singular. If you don't > want an eight vowel system you can have rising of [-e -o] so > that you end up with /-a -i -u/ in the singular and /-e -e > -o/ in the plural, which is gratifyingly wacky compared to > 'real' Romlangs like Italian and Rumanian. Perhaps also an > u > y > i sound change to make the wackiness complete? So far the pronouns (before dropping x) are: Acc.MS lu, Acc.FS la, Acc.MP lux, Acc.FP lax Dat.S li, Dat.P lix I already have a [y] from original u. > How does Lethino form the plural of nouns and adjectives? > From the nominative? I'm having a similar problem with nouns, adjectives, and articles. I'd like to preserve four cases there, but am having a problem with the accusative and dative there as well. Jeff > -- > > /BP 8^) > -- > Benct Philip Jonsson > mailto:melrochX@... (delete X!) > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > "If a language is a dialect with an army and a navy, > of what language, pray, is Basque a dialect?" (R.A.B.) >