bloodyrosemccoy: (Triple Nerd Score)
bloodyrosemccoy ([personal profile] bloodyrosemccoy) wrote2011-11-20 12:21 pm
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My first conlang has prepostrophes. They're meant to indicate a mark from the language's own writing system, which is used to add inflections to some words. I have considered getting rid of them, but honestly I like them.

It doesn't take much to justify a prepostrophe to me. But then, the same is true of diacritics. It's all in whether they're functional.

[identity profile] fenmere.livejournal.com 2011-11-20 09:45 pm (UTC)(link)
It doesnboingt take much to justify a prepostrophe to me, either. ;)

[identity profile] cjtremlett.livejournal.com 2011-11-20 10:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Consistency is a biggie with me. If you've got a use or uses for the apostrophe, and use them for that purpose regularly, it works. Rather than the twits who randomly toss them in to look cool, or whatever they think they're doing.

[identity profile] stormteller.livejournal.com 2011-11-20 10:57 pm (UTC)(link)
One of my langs has apostrophes in transliterations to mark out prefixes; I've also used hyphens for this purpose, and I generally go back and forth with my preference. This use is less justified, because it doesn't reflect either the pronunciation or the lang's native writing system (which has a superstitious rule that *any* break or silence must be marked but doesn't use markings for word extention), but it helps me remember where the different word parts end and begin.

[identity profile] caprine.livejournal.com 2011-11-21 09:09 pm (UTC)(link)
...I thought a prepostrophe was a preposterously employed apostrophe. It means something else?

[identity profile] caprine.livejournal.com 2011-11-21 09:28 pm (UTC)(link)
Have now read the earlier post. Boing indeed.

[identity profile] padparadscha.livejournal.com 2011-11-21 09:29 pm (UTC)(link)
It does to me, anyway.

I tend to pronounce grocers' apostrophes as a long, drawn out sigh, myself.

[identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/_wastrel/ 2011-11-22 08:02 am (UTC)(link)
There are two things that prepostrophes reflexively bring to mind: the first is when Ursula used to write about B'ob, the second is that text about the purple dinosaur demonic entity Bh'arnee.