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new modal classifiers
- From: MorphemeAddict@hidden.email
- Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2007 09:50:22 EST
- Subject: new modal classifiers
- To: saweli@yahoogroups.com
I've changed the classifiers for the modals, both epistemic and deontic, to forms with apostrophes. The order has also changed, to better reflect similarities between the various (epistemic) modalities. The first two letters for all the modalities are still the same.
Epistemic:
yo = probability
yo'a = evidentiality
yo'aw = hedge
yo'ay = reasonableness
yo'e = counterfactuality
yo'i = acceptability
yo'o = significance
yo'u = inevitability
yu = obligation
yu'e = necessity
yu'o = consequentiality
I don't like "yo'aw" or "yo'ay", but they're very rare, so not a big problem.
I'm looking at adding classifiers that start with consonant clusters, specifically bl, br, (maybe dl), dr, fl, fr, gl, gr, kl, kr, pl, pr, (maybe tl), tr, (maybe vl, vr). Also sk, sp, st, sl, sm, sn, (maybe sr), and maybe the voiced forms zg, zb, zd, zl, zm, zn, (maybe zr).
As I mentioned, the hedge and reasonableness modalities are rarely used, but I wonder how much they might be used by a fluent speaker who had full access to the inherent possibilities of the language. This curiosity also extends to many other aspects of the language, such as voice changes and all the rest of the suffixes.
stevo