The Most Batshit Natlang Competition!

[Trebor]

The weirdist thing I remember about Somali is that there are no prepositions in noun phrases, they are prefixed to the sentence-final verb, often with stuff in between. Hasn't it been suggested that PIE prepositions were originally verb-modifying prefixes like this?

You're right that Somali doesn't have prepositions. Go here for more information on that and other aspects of the language.

[Hallow XIII]

The point is, Manx is basically Scots Gaelic spelt with english rules and and added treat from Welsh in that it writes schwa as <y>. This produces such wonderful cognate pairs as ScG ithidh and Manx eeee, "eating" (where ee is the verb root "eat" and ee is the VN marker).

Not quite, "eeee" is the 2pl imperative (SG ithibh), if the thing you're being instructed to eat is feminine, then "eat (ye) it!" becomes "eeee ee!", honest In SG, some dialects at least, replace the 'th' which would be realised as a weak [h] or simply hiatus by [ç] which makes things a bit clearer. Likewise in a few other words, _ruith_ 'run' can be something like [rœç].

Oh, it's eroded the 2PL imperative to just -ee? What is the VN form then?

Uh, also, I think that should be [47C]. No front rounded vowels in Gaelic.

[marconatrix]

The point is, Manx is basically Scots Gaelic spelt with english rules and and added treat from Welsh in that it writes schwa as <y>. This produces such wonderful cognate pairs as ScG ithidh and Manx eeee, "eating" (where ee is the verb root "eat" and ee is the VN marker).

Not quite, "eeee" is the 2pl imperative (SG ithibh), if the thing you're being instructed to eat is feminine, then "eat (ye) it!" becomes "eeee ee!", honest In SG, some dialects at least, replace the 'th' which would be realised as a weak [h] or simply hiatus by [ç] which makes things a bit clearer. Likewise in a few other words, _ruith_ 'run' can be something like [rœç].

Oh, it's eroded the 2PL imperative to just -ee? What is the VN form then?

In Manx "eeagh" (['i-əx] ?) in SG "ithe" ['içə] although "itheadh" equivalent to the Manx form wouldn't surprise me as "-(e)adh" is the commonest verbal noun formative.

Uh, also, I think that should be [47C]. No front rounded vowels in Gaelic.

Whatever the /u/ and /j/ sort of merge, probably mid to back, middle to close, unrounded. No idea how to type that or what it looks like in IPA, is it the ramshorn one? These IPA symbols seem to often be misused and to add to my confusion when I started learning SG the available textbooks didn't have IPA and said it was the vowel in French 'coer'. Even though I now know the sound (more of less) I must still imagine it as front-mid-rounded, weird.

[Hallow XIII]

Yes, it's ram's horns. Also that is understandable as they sound very much alike.