Weird linguistic crossover is weird.

[oloriel]

Dear self,

It's nice you finally got yourself arsed into preparing those stupid Tengwar karuta. It's nice you managed to make up sample sentences and are now slowly converting them into Quenya, even if they're really primitive sentences and you have to look all the word forms up. No, seriously, Quenya is good brainjogging and all that. At the end of this, you might even remember the cases. Or something.

However, please bear in mind that Quenya doesn't have a causative-passive verb form. (Or even a proper passive form, to the best of our material: All you can do is that "to be [enter participle here]" crap we do in the Germanic languages. There is not even a bloody pluperfect, come to think of it. FAIL.) No, there is no point in bringing Quenya verbs into the a-form (although there is an a-form) and then cheerfully adding -rareru or what have you. Sorry, but "Andoss' epë Angamandova Ŋolofinwë Moringottó mahtaseraremashita" just doesn't work. In fact, I doubt you should do all those subject/object clusters, leaving the verbs for the very end of sentences. Even though it feels like the natural thing to do. Why are you doing this to me?!

Similarly, there is no potential form. Nor can you link sentences and add a causal or antithetic flavour by adding things like "kedo", "kara", "no de", "no ni" or the like. Even if there were words, the probability that you put them somewhere you'd put them in English or German is WAY higher than the probability of them belonging in the Japanese position. And just because some words have a locative case in -de, that doesn't mean you can afterwards switch the language.

Sheesh.
6 years of being unable to absorb the Japanese language, and NOW suddenly it seems like the only natural and reasonable way of structuring sentences. (So this is what they mean by the assimilative nature of the Japanese language...)

One language at a time, 'k, brain?

Bemusedly amused,
Lyra

- - -

(Though seriously a Quenya causative, causative-passive or potential verb form would be awesome. I mean, it's exactly the kind of thing Quenya seems to have gone for, generally, what with fourty case options per noun*, and it's a bloody pity Tolkien didn't know any Japanese. Quenya/Japanese: A match made in heaven.

Or in the brain of a very, very, very insane linguist.)


*if you include the dual, partitive plural and plural forms