simon.franova | Re: La letera H / The letter H

• Autor: simon.franova
• Tema: Re: La letera H / The letter H
• Data: 2008-12-14 09:40
• Mesaje: 2985 (a supra, presedente, seguente)

> So the idea that LFN has no inflections other than a noun
> plural is simply false. Period. End of argument.

I never said that LFN has no inflections other than -s.
I said that it doesn't have -va and -ra any more, and then
I listed -nte and -da and the semi-extant -r as other
inflections.

> infinitives and participles are considered inflections of
> verbs, even if in some contexts they change the part of
> speech.

All I meant was that -r, -nte and -da, because they change
the part of speech, are in a different category of
inflection from -va and -ra, which don't. Some would call
-r, -nte and -da derivational morphemes, although I grant
you traditional IE grammar doesn't.

> I also note that some users of LFN almost persistently
> mimic the English progressive tenses (and almost
> obsessively and unnecessarily mark tense at all), which
> are hardly universal, as if LFN is little other than
> relexified English. Hardly a language universal also.

Two points: firstly, LFN is a heavily Romance-based creole.
George will correct me if I'm wrong here, but I don't think
it's ever regarded language universals as its raison d'être.

Secondly, the community of LFN speakers is small, and most
people in it can devote very little time to practising it.
So errors are inevitable. Indeed, some of the older texts
in the wiki are excruciatingly relexified. Recent texts
are better.

It would be very rude of me to point out all the errors in
what people have written, much though the perfectionist
pedant in me wants to.

Personally, I would love to spend time rewriting the grammar
and learning materials to make them as clear and helpful as
possible, signposting the traps so that people fall into
them less often. But there aren't enough hours in the day.

Simon