Nicholas Hempshall | RE: [LinguaFrancaNova] Digest Number 93

• Autor: Nicholas Hempshall (“nick_hempshall”)
• Tema: RE: [LinguaFrancaNova] Digest Number 93
• Data: 2003-07-14 11:08
• Mesaje: 510 (a supra, presedente, seguente)

Hi Ray

A non-HTML version for you!

Regards
Nick

-------------------------------
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"
Additional (minor) changes:

    dona, fema (woman, female) > fem
    om, mas (man, male) > om
    in- (opposite of an adjective) > non-

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