vocab convenience (from "Diminutives; Conversational Expressions")

[Taronyu]

Where is -tsyìng defined? I only see -tsyìp in the post.

I think that's a typo by Taronyu — appears already in his reply to the blog post. It's a strange phenomenon, really, because at the moment, -tsyìp won't come naturally to me either ... either it becomes *-tsìp or *-tsìng in my mouth

Ah, Man!. Darn it.

[Plumps]

Where is -tsyìng defined? I only see -tsyìp in the post.

I think that's a typo by Taronyu — appears already in his reply to the blog post. It's a strange phenomenon, really, because at the moment, -tsyìp won't come naturally to me either ... either it becomes *-tsìp or *-tsìng in my mouth

Ah, Man!. Darn it.

As long as it doesn't make its way into the dictionary... ... at least until it becomes a suffix in its own right — could be the suffix for super-endearment suggest it to Frommer

[Plumps]

Is it specifically said that -vi is only used for nouns?
I thought of the definition of "being a smaller part of something whole" ... and thought, well, if som is hot, then a smaller part of that would be warm/lukewarm, maybe *somvi
I know that we need to wait confirmation on the -vi forms but do you think that this would be possible theoretically?

[wm.annis]

I thought of the definition of "being a smaller part of something whole" ... and thought, well, if som is hot, then a smaller part of that would be warm/lukewarm, maybe *somvi
I know that we need to wait confirmation on the -vi forms but do you think that this would be possible theoretically?

That seems very unlikely.  "Warm" vs. "hot" is a matter of scale and degree.  "Part of the whole" is a pretty different concept.

[Plumps]

Was just an idea...
Thanks anyways

[`Eylan Ayfalulukanä]

Where is -tsyìng defined? I only see -tsyìp in the post.

I think that's a typo by Taronyu — appears already in his reply to the blog post. It's a strange phenomenon, really, because at the moment, -tsyìp won't come naturally to me either ... either it becomes *-tsìp or *-tsìng in my mouth

Yes, I see how that happened. I indeed did mean Neytiritsyìp. I guess this happens when you are reading things at lunch, and don't have a lot of time to reply! I went back to check this out, and found Taronyu had already fixed his post.

I had not read K. Pawl's latest blog entry until this evening. I really missed a lot, including a detailed description of 'productive'. Thanks, Muzer for explaining, anyway. Guess from now on, I should read these first before tìspusä nemfa tìpängkxo

[Lance R. Casey]

(Still catching up)

Ah, a diminutive suffix! I've been wondering whether we would see suchlike. And, as usual, I relate it to that other big alien conlang:

In Klingon, the diminutive suffix is -Hom. It is semi-productive in that it can be applied to any noun, but the resulting meaning is often subject to context and/or established notions -- and it can be both physical and conceptual in nature. TKD states that "it indicates that what the noun refers to is smaller, less important, or less powerful than it would be without the suffix" and goes on to list the examples SuSHom wisp of air (SuS wind) and rojHom truce, temporary peace (roj peace). Other canon forms are vengHom village (veng city), be'Hom girl (be' woman) and the fairly interesting HochHom most, greater part (Hoch everyone, all, everything). Such words are lexicalized, but context-specific terms can be created on the fly -- bIQtIqHom (bIQtIq river) could be interpreted as "stream", "rivulet" or "the smaller one of these two continental water courses" depending on the situation, and a QelHom (Qel doctor) might be either a "nurse", a "physician apprentice", a "field medic" etc.

Moreover, Klingon has a corresponding augmentative suffix: -'a', which "indicates that what the noun refers to is bigger, more important, or more powerful than it would be without the suffix". TKD gives the examples SuS'a' strong wind, Qagh'a' major blunder (Qagh mistake) and woQ'a' ultimate power (woQ power, authority). There's also, for example, bIQ'a' ocean (bIQ water; cf. txampay), and my favorite word for illustrating the abstract function is toy'wI''a' slave (toy'wI' servant, one who serves). I do wonder if Na'vi has an augmentative as well?

As for the endearment function, Klingon has a specific noun suffix for that: -oy. vavoy daddy (vav father), bangoywI' my darling (bang beloved one, -wI' my [for persons]) etc.

[Taronyu]

Huh. That - 'a' is really interesting...