Re: CCC Naming languages - Thru SUN 3/23
Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2014 7:55 pm
Hydroeccentricity wrote:I'm not going to make a language for the island of Jwa, since the language of Ccuxu was never completed. I think we can just assume for now that Jwa is identical to Ccuxu so that if the latter is ever completed, it won't contradict the former. In lieu of a naming language, I give you a brief history of Jwa (not sure where else to put it, really), and phonology.
Around the year 1500 the golems of Ccuxu started building rafts and seal skin boats to try and reach Mucun. Unfortunately, the prevailing winds in the area are northeasterly, so most of these attempts ended in failure. Around the year 2000 there was one golem named Bbeli who found itself blown off course and into the open ocean to the southwest. After several weeks it reached land, in what is now occupied by the dragons and golems of Dragolm, but which was untamed land at the time. Believing that it may yet find Mucun, Bbeli hugged the coast until it saw a vision in the distance. It believed this to be Mucun, but in fact it was an island off the southeastern coast of the continent. Making landfall, Bbeli found no cities and concluded that the glorious towers and palaces it had expected to find must have vanished or hidden themselves. Perhaps if Bbeli tried to rebuild the city, would it not be brought back to the world of the living? Slowly it began to reproduce itself out of the plentiful rock, and clear the forest. Over the years it taught the younger ones about the city of Mucun, and about its wondrous architecture. They carried out the task of “rebuilding” the city, which continues to this day.
The island of Jwa lies at about 46 degrees latitude. It is 280 kilometers long and 185 kilometers at its widest, with a total area of about 26,000 square kilometers (about the size of Sicily). There is a low inland plateau on the western side of the island, but much of the east and the coast are at a low elevation. The hills and plateaus are primarily limestone, while lower areas can be limestone or a variety of sedimentary rocks. Throughout the island the soil is inceptisol, heavily leached with limited development of layers. At lower elevations and along rivers the soil is thicker and contains accumulated organic matter, but its fertility is still not impressive. Luckily to the golems this is not a problem. The calcium-rich limestone makes an acceptable staple for reproduction and repair. Soil ph is low in the hills and high in the forests thanks to the accumulation of pine mulch, giving a variety of local flavors.
The island is regularly buffeted by humid westerly winds (averaging 28kph with frequent winter gales), but overall it enjoys a mild temperate climate, Koppen Cfb or Cfc. In the summer, highs average 17 degrees, lows 7, and precipitation is about 2 millimeters a day. In the winter, highs average 5 degrees and lows 1, with 3 millimeters of precipitation a day. Temperatures below freezing are common on winter nights, and snowfall occasionally covers the island, though accumulation is rare. In the summer about ten hours of sunshine a day reaches the island, while the figure drops to about four and a half in the winter. Off the southeast coast is a wide, sandy continental shelf with a warm current, while the waters off the northwestern coast are slightly richer in fish and bird species but slightly cooler, especially in winter. About 20% of the island is exposed rock. Another 40% is grasslands. The remaining 40% is cool temperate or hemiboreal forest.
Most forests consist of a mixture of pine and birch, and some other deciduous trees. In some areas pine needle accumulation gives the soil an acidic taste, with contrasts with the more alkaline soils found under grasslands or exposed rock. The diverse habitats support a wide variety of mammals and birds, but very few reptiles. There are moose-like deer in the forests and various bovine grazers on the open prairies, and of course rodents and small carnivores everywhere. The golems mostly see these creatures as part of the scenery, and although they do not go out of their way to disturb the wildlife, they do not consider its preservation a priority if it interferes with wall construction.
In the early days of settlement, wall building was grueling, due to the small population and religious zeal of the inhabitants. The construction was so dangerous and the desire to populate the island so essential that one of the few golem populations in history with a high mortality rate and a high birth rate appeared. Though golems are theoretically immortal, no golems in 4000 belong to those first few generations of settlers. Over time the religious element of rebuilding Mucun cooled down, and the population settled around 1200. Wall building now proceeds at a slower pace, and has more to do with civic pride and creative impulse than spiritual fulfillment. Most golems live on the western plateau, in communities of five to twenty, though some temporary work groups can be twice that size.
Phonology of Ccuxu and Jwa:
Vowels follow front-back vowel harmony, with one neutral central vowel. The following diphthongs/mergers occur when vowels come together:Code: Select all
i <i> u <u> ə <ĕ> ɛ <e> ɒ <a>
Long vowels:
/i/ + /i/ = [iː] <ī>
/ɛ/ + /ɛ/ = [ɛː] <ē>
/u/ + /u/ = [uː] <ū>
/ɒ/ + /ɒ/ = [ɒː] <ā>
Diphthongs etc:
/i/ + /ɛ/ = [jɛ] <ye>
/ɛ/ + /i/ = [ej] <ei>
/u/ + /ɒ/ = [wɒ] <wa>
/ɒ/ + /u/ = [oː] <ō>
/ə/ is always elided when it appears next to another vowel, so it forms no diphthongs or anything else. This of course means that ĕ + ĕ results in just ĕ.
Vowel harmony is regressive, meaning that the suffix rather than the root determines the quality of the vowels for that word.
am (sky)
am + u = amu
am + im = emim
Geminates are pronounced at the beginning of an utterance with slight prenasalization to differentiate them from regular consonants.Code: Select all
bilabial alveolar palatal velar p <p> t <t> (c <c>) k <k> pː <pp> tː <tt> (cː <cc>) kː <kk> b <b> d <d> (ɟ <j>) ɡ <g> bː <bb> dː <dd> (ɟː <jj>) ɡː <gg> m <m> n <n> (ɲ <ñ>) ŋ <ṅ> s <s> (ʃ <š>) ʦ <ţ> (ʃ <š>) (ç <h>) x <x> l <l>
Ccuxu = [ɲc͡ːuxu]
The palatal series is non-phonemic. Alveolar consonants are realized as palatal when they appear before back vowels, while velar consonants are realized as palatal when they appear before front vowels. Bilabials are unaffected by vowel quality.
Example:
/ɡɒtɒ/ + /u/ = [ɡɒcoː] <gaca + -u = gacō>
/ɡɒtɒ/ + /im/ = [ɟɛtejm] <gaca + -im = jeteim>
Syllable structure is very simple:
(C)V(N) where N is any nasal, or in a very limited number of cases, l.
...
There you go. Now I notice the rest of the continent is peopled, to use the term loosely, by a couple of empires on the make. I look forward to being completely annihilated by them.