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<HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>The Language Construction Kit: Since you asked...</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY> <IMG Align=Top SRC="verddrop.gif"> <h3>Sidebar: The irregularities of Esperanto</H3> <P>Hey, you asked. <ul> <li>The <b>plural pronouns</b> are separate lexical entries. Compare Quechua, where for example 'they' <i>paykuna</i> is formed by adding the regular plural suffix <i>-kuna </i>to the singular pronoun <i>pay</i> 'he, she'.<br> <li>The <b>table of correlatives</b> is clever and fascinating, but embodies morphological processes used nowhere else in the language, e.g. the genitive suffix <i>-es</i>, or the distinction between <i>kiu </i>for persons and <i>kio</i> for things, not reflected in the personal pronouns or the nominal system.<br> <li>It's unpredictable whether a particular root will be <b>nominal or verbal</b>, even for items in the same semantic field: e.g. <i>martelo</i> 'hammer', <i>segi</i> 'to saw' > <i>segilo</i> 'saw'.<br> <li>It's unpredictable whether a verb will be inherently <b>intransitive</b> (<i>kreski</i> 'grow') or <b>transitive</b> (<i>rompi</i> 'break').<br> <li>It's not easy to predict what <b>preposition</b> to use with a particular verb. <br> <li>Etymons from the source languages may appear in <b>multiple forms</b>: <blockquote><table> <tr><td><i>kun</i> 'with' </td><td>vs. <i>kom-</i> in many words</td></tr> <tr><td><i>ĉambro</i> 'room'</td><td> <i>kamero</i> 'chamber'</td></tr> <tr><td><i>-segno</i> in 'design'</td><td><i>signo</i> 'sign'</td></tr> <tr><td><i>vidi</i> 'see' </td><td> <i>-vju-</i> in <i>intervjui</i></td></tr> <tr><td><i>kuri</i> 'run' </td><td> <i>kori-</i> in <i>koridoro</i> 'corridor'</td></tr> <tr><td><i>lakto</i> 'milk' </td><td><i>galaksio</i></td></tr> <tr><td> <i>legi</i> 'read' </td><td> <i>leci-</i> in <i>leciono</i> 'lesson'</td></tr> <tr><td> <i>lango</i> 'tongue' </td><td> <i>lingvo</i> 'language'</td></tr> <tr><td> <i>skribi</i> 'write'</td><td> <i>manuskripto</i></td></tr> <tr><td><i>okulo</i> 'eye' </td><td> <i>binoklo</i> 'binoculars'</td></tr> <tr><td> <i>paroli</i> 'speak' </td><td> <i>Parlamento</i></td></tr> <tr><td><i>meti</i> 'put' </td><td><i>permesi </i>'permit'</td></tr> <tr><td><i>-gnozi</i> in 'prognosis' </td><td> <i>-gnosti-</i> in 'agnostic'</td></tr> <tr><td> <i>regi</i> 'rule' </td><td> <i>reĝo</i> 'king'</td></tr> <tr><td> <i>bazo</i> 'basis' </td><td> <i>-bato</i> in <i>akrobato</i> 'acrobat'</td></tr></table></blockquote> <li>Some roots which could have been formed via regular derivation instead are taken from the <b>source languages</b>: <blockquote><table> <tr><td><i>fido</i> 'faith' </td><td>vs. <i>fidela</i> 'faithful'</td></tr> <tr><td><i>granda </i>'big' </td><td> <i>grandioza</i> 'superb'</td></tr> <tr><td><i>akto</i> 'act' </td><td> <i>aktiva</i> 'active'</td></tr> <tr><td><i>miri </i>'marvel at' </td><td> <i>miraklo</i></td></tr> <tr><td><i>signo</i> </td><td> <i>signalo</i></td></tr> <tr><td><i>studi</i> 'study' </td><td> <i>studento</i> </td></tr> </table></blockquote> </ul> <HR> <P><A HREF="kitlong.html#espreturn">[back]</A> </BODY> </HTML>