Enello

[DesEsseintes]

Hi! I'm DesEsseintes. I've been lurking on this forum for a few months but have never posted anything. I want to post some stuff I already posted on the CBB to see if I can get some feedback.

So without further ado:

0. Welcome to the Esseintial Enello Thread!

In this thread I will be presenting my toylang Enello. I term it a toylang like my first conlang Nınuıntı, because I don't see myself working on either of the two for years to come, but see them rather as conlanging experiments.

This introductory post is mostly fluff and can safely be skipped.

Design Objectives

Enello was born in early December 2013 when the phonology occurred to me while on the metro.

My initial conception was to make a Japanesey language but with a somewhat more restricted phonetic inventory, the most salient feature of the phonology being the absence of dental stops, as will be outlined in the phonology.

However, I soon decided that the grammar should rather be modelled on Kalaallisut. Therefore, Enello is highly agglutinative, and lightly polysynthetic. Kalaallisut has also somewhat influenced the phonology, best seen in the presence of geminate /lː/ and /ŋː/ in a phonology otherwise largely restricted to phonemes occurring in Japanese.

Another point I feel like sharing, even though it only really concerns me, is that I'm using Enello as an experimental laboratory for many features I'd eventually like to incorporate into my no. 1 conlang Sōkoan.

In-World Background

Enello is spoken be the Ene, a sophisticated race of clannish warrior-botanists that inhabit the easternmost part of the Sōkoa archipelago. Like the Nınuıtuıc, they have been ruled by the imperialistic Sōkoans for several centuries. Enello may well turn out to be distantly related to the Sōkoan language.

Phonology coming up...

[DesEsseintes]

1. Phonology

Enello phonology is relatively simple, with a small phoneme inventory and limited allophony.

Phoneme Inventory

/p b s z k g h m n ŋ ɾ j/ p b s z k g h m n ng r y
/a e i o u ɯ/ a e ı o u ů

Consonant Gemination and Allophony

All consonants except /h j/ can be geminated word-medially. In the orthography, this is indicated by writing said consonant twice.

/s/ geminates to [tt͡s] written tts
/z/ geminates to [dd͡z] written ddz
/ɾ/ geminates to [lː] written ll

/s z ss zz h/ palatalise to [ɕ ʑ tt͡ɕ dd͡ʑ ç] before /i/ and are written sh ȷ cch ddȷ h
Word-initial /h/ becomes [ɸ] before /u ɯ/ and is written f
/h/ becomes [w~ɰ[super]β[/super]] between vowels and is written v
/ŋŋ/ is written nng

The Absence of Dental Stops

This is probably the most salient anomaly in the phonology of the language. Although I do not intend to spend much time on diachronics for Enello, the idea is that the dental stops in Proto-Enello evolved into the sibilant fricatives, while geminate dental stops became affricates. This is probably highly unlikely to occur, but, ehm... I like it. Parallels can be found in natlangs such as Abau, which has /s/ but no /t/, albeit as part of a smaller inventory.

Vowel Sequences and Vowel Allophony

Vowel sequences are common in Enello, but are normally restricted to two consecutive non-identical vowels.

/i u ɯ/ before another vowel are optionally realised [ɪ̯ ʊ̯ ɯ̯̽] in unstressed position, especially in rapid speech.

Some (perhaps most or all) monosyllabic words ending in a single vowel have the vowel lengthened and written double.

maa - what
koo - no
zůů - like that, so

Note that Enello distinguishes between sequences such as ıo and ıyo, etc.

Syllable Structure

Syllable structure is (C)V with due note given to the possibility of word-medial geminates.

Basic word roots tend to be mono- or disyllabic, and can be any of the following:

(C1)V1(C2)
(C1)V1C2(C2)V2(C3)

Longer roots also occur, but follow the same pattern.

In disyllabic roots, it is quite common for V1 and V2 to be the same, especially in adjectival stems.

/h/ is only ever found at the beginning of a root
/ŋ/ is never found at the beginning of a root

Sample Vocabulary

allara ['alːaɾa] n river
bıebbere [bi'ebbeɾe] n nonsense
ettsero ['ett͡seɾo] n lizard
gıgonoddzo [gigo'nodd͡zo] n necklace, pendant
meȷıa ['meʑia~'meʑɪ̯a] n older sister
nůo ['nɯo] n city
onngo ['oŋːo] adj big
sogocchı [so'gott͡ɕi] n heel

And two little sentences for good measure:

Enéllove. - This is Enello.
Ongoggúzavo. - It's the height of winter.

Comments are welcome even though there may not be that much to comment on yet.

[DesEsseintes]

2. Sun Vowels and Moon Vowels

The six vowels of Enello are split into two "series", referred to as Sun Vowels and Moon Vowels.

The Sun Vowels are a, ı, u.

The Moon Vowels are o, e, ů.

The vowels can also be split into three pairs, with each pair consisting of one Sun Vowel and Moon Vowel, and corresponding to a place of articulation (and its stops and nasal).

Let's make a table:

Code: Select all

PoA     Sun   Moon  Stops   Nasal
labial   u     ů     p b     m
dental   ı     e     s z     n
velar    a     o     k g     ng

These correspondences will become pertinent when we look at stem gradation patterns in Enello.

[cromulant]

As you note, no alveolar or dental plosives is "extremely unlikely," though it has happened in inventories not much smaller than yours. However, it seems weird that with such a gaping gap, you still have a /s z/ contrast. You say these are what /t d/ evolved into, but one of /s z/'s major allophonic processes is fortition. I'd expect /t d/ to sneak back into the inventory via further fortition before sundown.

But you seem well aware of this issue, and you are going the /t d/-less route anyway because you like it despite that issue, so there was probably no need for me to mention it.

Why do you use <ı> when there is no <i>? I'd advise against that, as it represents /i/; using a letter other than <i> implies that it is something other than /i/.

[DesEsseintes]

Thank you for your feedback, Cromulant.

Why do you use <ı> when there is no <i>? I'd advise against that, as it represents /i/; using a letter other than <i> implies that it is something other than /i/.

As with the dental fricatives, I can unfortunately only say that it is a matter of taste. I find the jots/tittles over <i j> unpleasant aesthetically and try not to use them in my conlangs, opting for <ı ȷ> instead. Indeed, my first conlang Nınuıntı was conceived almost entirely around this aesthetic. I received very mixed reactions to that - some highly disapproving - but many found the look of the language pleasant. I find it extremely important to work with an orthography I like, for the written look of my languages is the main pleasure I get out of conlanging, I guess.