Posts about Reisu every Monday and Thursday

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

How much is that doggie in the window?

Yes yes, I'm breaking my pattern, which is a very hard thing for me to do. But I haven't read a lot recently that I wanted to write about just yet. So instead I'm going to write about the number of syllables in words in Reisu.

The most basic words are one syllable: some pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, particles, questions words, etc. Most nouns, verbs and modifiers are two syllables structured as CVCV (Taza), CDCV (Buata) or CVCD (Sopua), where C is a consonant, V is a vowel and D is a diphthong. Words that start with vowels are either two syllables structured as VCV (Ili) or VCD; or they are three syllables structured as VCVCV (Akaxa), VCDCV or VCVCD. The most common constructs are CVCV and VCVCV.

There are a few basic words with different structure and more syllables. All basic words like this I created by the words simply coming to me. Larelai for pretty and limani for song are examples.

When I need to create more complex words I often try to make compounds from my existing words. What words are considered complex verses basic are completely my discretion, on how I want to divide up the world. So there's no scientific basis for this. It's all personal!

For example I have a word for dog, nebu. This word encompass all creatures of the canidae family. When it's by itself it's implied to mean a domestic dog, but it can also mean wolf, fox, coyote, jackal and dingo. Nebu can also describe hyenas even though they are not actually canidae. I use a compound word to describe these different types specifically.

Nebumuka - Domesticated dog - [Nebu][Muka] - [Dog][Domestic]
Nebuhoru - Wolf - [Nebu][Horu] - [Dog][Wild]
Nebupina - Fox - [Nebu][Pina] - [Dog][Clever]
Nebuhafu - Coyote/Jackal - [Nebu][Hafu] - [Dog][Dry]
Nebulave - Dingo - [Nebu][Lave] - [Dog][Distant past]
Nebuhaha - Hyena - [Nebu][Haha] - [Dog][Laugh]

I've done the same thing with cats to an extent. For example the word for cat is komo, and the word for lion is komonaxi. Naxi is referring to the male lion's mane.

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