George Boeree | “reformed” LFN?
- Autor: George Boeree (“cgboeree”)
- Tema: “reformed” LFN?
- Data: 2003-07-03 17:01
- Mesaje: 493 (presedente, seguente)
Hello, all!
Alo, tota!
I have been giving a great deal of thought lately about the qualites and
short-comings of LFN. What makes LFN outstanding, I believe, is the completely
phonetic spelling and the simple and completely regular grammar. Yet it
is still not __that__ different to the casual observer from, e.g. interlingua.
LFN is the most creole/pidgin-like IAL on the net, and that originally drew
a lot of interest. I think that it might be worthwhile to take the risk
of taking this tendency to the limit, and using the creole model completely.
So, for your comments and consideration, here are...
Io eseva pensante multe ora resente de la cualias e la mancas de LFN. La
plu bon parte, io crede, es la spele tota fonetica, e la gramatica simple
e regula complete. Ma LFN es no si diferente ce alga otra IALes per personas
ci no sabe LFN bon. El aperi plu como Interlingua, per esemplo. En la rede,
LFN es la IAL ce plu sembla un criol o pijin, e esta intereseva multe personas
a prima. Io crede si nos riscara estende la sembla completa, esta potera
eser valuada. E esta ora, per te comentas e considera, asi es...
**
Ideas for a reformed LFN, bringing it closer to Creole standards**
Word order:
• basic sentence: subject -- verb -- [object]
• **la fem ama la casa** "the woman loves the house"
• noun phrase: [preposition] -- [particles] -- noun -- [adjectives]
• **en la casa grande** "in the big house"
• verb phrase: [tense] -- [auxiliaries] -- verb -- [adverbs]
• **vai debe pasea silenta** "will have to walk silently"
The only real change here is the addition of tense (see below), and the
fact that word order in reformed LFN has no exceptions (e.g. no object pronouns
before the verb, no reversal of subject and verb for questions, etc.)
As in LFN, so-called zero-place verbs take no subject at all: **pluve**
-- "it rains, it is raining, there is rain"
Questions are formed by rising intonation, indicated in writing with **?**,
or by using question words such as **ci, quando**, etc. This is the norm
for pidgins and creoles, and is already part of LFN now.
The grammar:
• The plural of nouns is indicated by **le** (the-plural, these/those),
numbers, or other quantity words such as **multe** (many), **alga**
(some), and **poca** (a few)
• **la om e le fem** "the man and the women"
Indicating plural with particles rather than endings, and making the indication
optional, is common among creoles and pidgins. In spoken French, the plural
is only heard in the article, and it is "les" that is the model for **le**
here. Note also that the use of articles at all is already optional in LFN
now. [original LFN plural: -s/-es]
• Abstract nouns based on nouns or adjectives, and the infinitive used
as an abstract noun are indicated by **lo**
• **lo madre** "motherhood," **lo vana** "vanity," **lo dona**
"to give, giving"
The use of **lo** as a means of indicating abstracts is found in Spanish.
[original LFN: -ia, -r]
• The past tense of verbs is indicated by **ai** or by adverbs of
time
• **tu ai labora** "you worked," **el veni ier** "he/she came
yesterday"
• the future tense of verbs is indicated by **vai** or by adverbs
of time
• **tu vai labora** "you will work," **el veni doman** "he/she
will come tomorrow"
**Ai** and **vai** are modeled after the use of "to have" and "to
go" as synthetic past and future in many dialects of romance languages, especially
in French. Making it optional is the norm in creoles and pidgins. [original
LFN: -va, -ra]
The verb "to be" takes on a different use in creoles, often being eliminated
entirely. Here, it is retained as the present/historical copulative, but
is dropped when the past or future particles are used:
• **es** -- am, is, are
• **ai** -- past tense, and also "was, were"
• **vai** -- future tense, and also "will be"
• **el ai blu; el vai verde** "it was blue; it will be green"
• the perfect mood of verbs is indicated by the adverb **ja** (already)
• **tu ai labora ja** "you had worked, you worked already"
This construction is common in pidgins and creoles.
• subjunctive and conditional forms of verbs are indicated by the
conjunction **si** (if)
• **si tu labora...** "if you work..."
• intransitive verbs can be made causative by simply adding an object,
or more explicitly by using the auxiliary **fa **(to make or cause)
• **me humidi la sala, me fa humidi la sala** "I humidify the room"
• transitive verbs can be made reflexive by adding the corresponding
pronoun as object
• **el**** lave se** "he/she washes himself/herself"
• a verb can be used as a noun just as it is
• **nos dansa** "we dance" and **la dansa** "the dance"
• an adjective can be used as a noun the same way
• **un om saja** "a wise man" and **le saja** "the wise"
• adverbs are identical to adjectives
• **un om felis** "a happy man" and **el dansa felis** "he/she
dances happily"
These last six points are a part of original LFN, and already follow the
creole model. All of these are common constructions in many languages. English
uses all of them, at least in dialect.
Pronouns:
• ** me** -- I, me, my
• **tu** -- you, your (singular)
• **el** -- he, she, it, him, her, it, his, her, its
• **nos** -- we, us, our
• **vos** -- you, your (plural)
• **los** -- they, them, their
• **se** -- himself, herself, itself, themselves, his own, her own,
its own, their own
The use of **me** as a subject is unusual, but not unheard of: The
Milan dialect uses it, for example. As for the other pronouns, there has
been an overall tendency in this direction in many languages. The elimination
of gender in the third person is common in many languages (e.g. Farsi, Chinese,
many creoles and pidgins), and eliminates the modern western problem of "pronoun
discrimination," which I for one take seriously. Note the convenience of
**el**: it is masculine in Spanish and feminine in French! [present LFN:
io/me, tu/te, el/le, nos, vos, los, se; original LFN included possessives
ma, ta, sa, nosa, vosa]
• **asi** -- here
• **ala** -- there
"This man, these men, that man, those men" become **la om asi, le om
asi, la om ala, le om ala.** This is common in casual speech in many languages,
and especially pidgins and creoles. [original LFN: esta, estas, acel, aceles,
in addition to asi and ala]
Derivational suffixes:
Even highly isolating languages such as Chinese and Indonesian use derivational
affixes, and reformed LFN makes use of this convenience as well, e.g.:
• **-or** -- nouns from adjectives, nouns, or verbs: a person who,
as part of his or her role or job, makes or renders (adj.), does... (verb),
or works with... (noun)
• **dirijor**, director, **carnor**, butcher
• **-ador** -- nouns from adjectives, nouns, or verbs: a tool, instrument,
device, or machine which renders or makes things (adj.), does... (verb),
or works with... (noun)
• **lavador**, washing machine, **umidador**, humidifier,
**frescador**, air conditioner
• **-eria** -- nouns from adjectives, nouns, or verbs: the place
of work, a shop, or office...
• **carneria**, butcher shop
Also very useful are what were formerly considered grammatical suffixes,
but are now "reduced" to derivational ones:
• **-nte** adjectives or nouns from verbs: performing the act, or
one who so acts
• **donante** "giving" or "giver"
• **-da** -- adjectives or nouns from verbs: being acted upon, or
one so acted upon
• **donada** "given" or "gift"
Possible further development: use **-ente** and **-ada**, regardless
of final vowel of root word, following the pattern of all other derivational
suffixes.
Additional (minor) changes:
** dona, fema** (woman, female)** > fem
om, mas** (man, male) **> om
in- **(opposite of an adjective)** > non-**