Proper Determiners
Capitalization is a problem for many in English. Hopefully a simpler set of conventions can be formulated for Diinlang.
A related idea that I had was s specific article or articles for proper nouns and phrases. In English one might write “Meet me at the hole.” or “Meet me at The Hole”. It is clear that in the second case the reference is to an establishment or place called “The Hole”. If spoken, there is no obvious distinction.
Possibly Diinlang could have distinct definite and indefinite articles for use with proper nouns.
Demonstrative Adjectives
I have been reluctant to introduce demonstrative adjective/pronouns for Diinlang. Instead I investigated the idea that the words for “here” and “there” (“vang” and “ving”), could be used instead. Where greater specificity was needed these were combined with the definite article (“ve”): ve vang (this), ve ving (that), vez vang (these) and vez ving (those).
Afrikaans seems for the most part to manage with just a single demonstrative: “dit”. This means “this” or “that” but also serves as a third person neuter pronoun with the meaning “it”. The definite article “die” may be used as a pronoun meaning “this one”, “these”; “that one”, “those”; “he”, “she”, “it”, “they”
Possibly “vit” could be used, with the shorthand “vt”. This would be pluralized as vitz/vtz when necessary. It could be combined with vang or ving when more specificity is needed.
Simple Grammar Rules for Diinlang Verbs
Verbs use the same word for the bare infinitive form and all tenses.
○ Use the Simple Present Tense for Habitual Actions: A marker for habitual actions may be used, however.
○ Use the Present Progressive Tense for Current Action: Formed by combining the bare infinitive with the auxiliary “bi”: eg. “Em bi go” = “I am going.”
○ Simple Past is made with the marker te and bare infinitive: “Em te go” = “I went.”
○ Use Present Perfect for the Unfinished Past: Perfect uses the auxilary verb “he” : “Em he go” = “I have gone.”
○ Use Present Perfect Progressive for Unfinished Action and Past: “Em he bi go” = “I have been going.”
○ Past Perfect for the First of Two Past Actions: “Em te he nyam un e em te go on.” = “I had chewed one and I went on.”
○ Passive Voice: Passive voice is rendered using the auxiliary verb “ge” with the bare infinitive. Passive statements in English often use the word “by”. In Diinlang equivalent words include po (from), de (nonspecific preposition) and kom (with).