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What do you do when you want to make a language without case marking? Or with very little case marking? That is what we attempt to explore in this episode. If you would like to take up George’s “homework” challenge, make up a sketch of a language and send an example of some sort of narrative that demonstrates how you handle various semantic roles, with varying animacy, etc. Here is an example story you can use (though you are fully free to make up one yourself).
There was once a man who beat his donkey every day. One day, a second man, who was a neighbor, came to the donkey-beater and asked, “Why do you beat your donkey?” The donkey-beater said, “Beating is all the donkey knows, I must beat him until he learns how to behave.”
The donkey-beater then went into his home and discovered his dinner wasn’t ready, so he beat his wife. His neighbor heard the screams of the donkey-beater’s wife and came to the door. “You should not beat your wife so much,” said the neighbor. “I beat her until she learns to have dinner ready on time.”
Some time later, the neighbor saw the donkey-beater beating his son in a field. This time, he did not say anything, but seized the donkey beater and began to beat him with a heavy cudgel. When the donkey-beater asked why his neighbor was beating him, his neighbor replied, “I will beat you until you learn not to beat others.”
Again, you don’t have to use my story, it’s just an example.
Anyway, on with the shownotes …
Top of Show Greeting: Maxédri
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Featured Conlang: Txtana
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