In search of isolating conlangs

[masako]

...

[Aurora Rossa]

I've tried making isolating languages, but they just don't interest me enough to continue with the project. Most of the ones I've attempted have either fallen on the back burner or gotten inflections added here and there until they ended up no less synthetic than my other projects. I never really understood how to make isolation interesting, at least to me. Perhaps that just reflects my lack of skill, or maybe the familiar contempt that English has bred in me.

[Kilanie]

I'm with Eddy. I suppose it would involve alot more when it comes to syntax, but I like my affixes.

[brandrinn]

I'm sure somebody has mentioned it by now, but isn't Uytai mostly isolating?

[Yng]

Well, every attempt at reviving Hariiji I've made has had more and more and more affixes. I considered trying again briefly when I looked at it just now, but I'm thinking I'd rather start from scratch, otherwise I'll end up messing it up again.

[roninbodhisattva]

I'd like to bump this thread, because I'm trying to come up with some kind of isolating conlang and anybody else who wants to volunteer grammars of isolating conlangs would be muchly appreciated!

[Risla]

Ha, appropriate to bump this thread now. I've been fiddling around with Nalchast, which is reeeeally isolating, and should have a post about it up on my blog Very Soon.

[roninbodhisattva]

Ha, appropriate to bump this thread now. I've been fiddling around with Nalchast, which is reeeeally isolating, and should have a post about it up on my blog Very Soon.

I'd be really interested in seeing that! What's the language like generally?

[Risla]

Phonologically, it's very much inspired by Persian, with lateral affricates and labialized velars because I like those.

Syntactically, the idea is to have an extremely isolating language with a complex animacy hierarchy, which functionally allows the word order to be very free without too much ambiguity or including any sort of inflectional morphology, and it has obligatory topic fronting. I also made it V2 because I felt like it.

Should be up on my blog in ~a day, if I can find my notes...

[Nortaneous]

Arve is generally pretty isolating, though it's about at the beginning of a shift to agglutinativity.

[WeepingElf]

Zompist has made two isolating conlangs: Lé and Uyseʔ.

I also have some ideas for an isolating conlang, but as for now, it is just a collection of ideas and nothing presentable.

[con quesa]

Elviš is a rather an isolating conlang of mine. I'm actually aiming for something akin to the morphological complexity of English.

[WeepingElf]

Elviš is a rather an isolating conlang of mine. I'm actually aiming for something akin to the morphological complexity of English.

Is this name meant to sound just like Elvish, and if yes, why?

[Grimalkin]

Elvish as sung by Elvis?

[Bob Johnson]

It's not really Elvis. There's a haček.

...

It's an Elvis impersonator.

(Edit: My 500th post is a horrible pun. Figures.)

[TomHChappell]

I'm working on one, but there's not much to show right now.

Me, too.

[TaylorS]

I've never had an interest in making an isolating conlang, mainly because my own native language, English, is itself most isolating and thus seems boring compared to highly synthetic languages. All my conlangs I have done have been fairly synthetic.

[jayelinda]

Kardii is mostly isolating

[Ulrike Meinhof]

I've never had an interest in making an isolating conlang, mainly because my own native language, English, is itself most isolating and thus seems boring compared to highly synthetic languages. All my conlangs I have done have been fairly synthetic.

English isn't that isolating. And considering that most other European languages that any westerner is likely to learn (like French, Spanish, German, etc.) are definitely on the synthetic end, I find it more intriguing to make something completely isolating, like say, Chinese.

Kardii is mostly isolating

Looks less isolating than English, even.

[TaylorS]

I've never had an interest in making an isolating conlang, mainly because my own native language, English, is itself most isolating and thus seems boring compared to highly synthetic languages. All my conlangs I have done have been fairly synthetic.

English isn't that isolating. And considering that most other European languages that any westerner is likely to learn (like French, Spanish, German, etc.) are definitely on the synthetic end, I find it more intriguing to make something completely isolating, like say, Chinese.

Kardii is mostly isolating

Looks less isolating than English, even.

English only has 7 regular inflections:

Plural -s
3SG Verb -s
Present Particple/Gerund -ing
Preterite/Past Participle -ed
Auxiliary Negation -n't
Comparative -er
Superlative -est

[Risla]

Should be up on my blog in ~a day, if I can find my notes...

jesus christ i am terrible at doing things when i say i am going to do them.

[con quesa]

Elviš is a rather an isolating conlang of mine. I'm actually aiming for something akin to the morphological complexity of English.

Is this name meant to sound just like Elvish, and if yes, why?

/ɛlvɪʂ/ just seemed like the "right" name for my somewhat-west-african-influenced tonal largely isolating conlang, is all.

[Ulrike Meinhof]

English only has 7 regular inflections:

Plural -s
3SG Verb -s
Present Particple/Gerund -ing
Preterite/Past Participle -ed
Auxiliary Negation -n't
Comparative -er
Superlative -est

And a huge lot of derivational morphology.

[finlay]

Umpát ended up being quite isolating, although I've not done much with the language yet. There are a few inflections on verbs (negative, interrogative, passive and reflexive) but all the T/A/M information is a particle. Nouns only inflect for plural and inalienable possession. I was also planning on having fossilised plural agreement forms of some verbs but haven't introduced them yet.

Here's a few examples from a TC I did in May:
1.
The woman whose songs are very popular is also rich.
Pu ána tíktiup núsim pan tápu íca suprássi púíta.
PRES.HAB also rich woman [GEN REL=PRES.HAB very popular song-PL]
[pʊ ˈanə ˈtixtɪʊf ˈnuzɪm pan ˈtabɨ ˈiʔə sɨˈpɾasːɨ ˈpuidə]

2.
He who loves you now will love you forever.
Tui káppa kauspúín ki tanití can.
FUT.HAB love always 3S [REL=PRES.IMP=AUX] 2S.
[tʊɪ ˈkapːə kəɨsˈpuin ki tanɨˈdi ʔan]

3.
Those who we admire admire us.
Pu kiskrá iká, tápu kiskrán pi raa, raa.
PRES.HAB admire 3P [REL=PRES.HAB admire-PASS AGT 1P] 1P
[pʊ kɨsˈkɾa ɨˈga ˈtabɨ kɨsˈkɾan pɪ laː laː]

4.
She whose heart is pure will marry my brother.
Maa úkais ki, pan tápu crúna tmátnucut, mrískiur.
FUT.PRF marry 3S [GEN REL=PRES.HAB pure (heart)-3S.POSS] brother-1S.POSS
[maː ˈugaɪs ki pan ˈtabɨ ˈʔr̥unə ˈtmasnʊʔʊs ˈmriskɪʊɾ]

So, up to you whether it counts as isolating. You'll also maybe notice that the relative clauses are introduced by a clitic particle that fuses with the TAM particle.

[Ollock]

English only has 7 regular inflections:

Plural -s
3SG Verb -s
Present Particple/Gerund -ing
Preterite/Past Participle -ed
Auxiliary Negation -n't
Comparative -er
Superlative -est

And a huge lot of derivational morphology.

On the sliding scale between synthetic and isolating, English is closer to isolating than to synthetic, but not too far down the line, whereas Mandarin Chinese is all the way at the isolating end.