zompist bboard

The premise behind this is simple: I start off by posting a phonemic inventory, notes on syllable structure, and a couple of short grammatical notes. Then, somebody takes up the challenge and turns this, within 24 hours, into a language with at least 50 words, a somewhat fleshed-out grammar, and a couple of sample sentences. Then they post a similar description of a different language, and we keep going.

Here's the first one, with a minimalist, Polynesian-like phonology:

Consonants: /p t ʔ m n ɸ h ɾ/
Vowels: /i e ɛ a u o ɔ/. No length or tone distinction. Stress is up to you.

Syllable structure is (C)V(h): tiʻo, ʻênaʻeh. /hh/ and /hʔ/ are realized as [h].

Grammatically, it should have a small number of inflections, a simple pronoun system, and split-ergativity. Have fun!

Oh, come on...nobody wants to do this? You could knock it out pretty easily.

I don't have enough time in a 24 hour period to devote to it Maybe sometime though.

Dhokarena, my man, I might give it a shot, but might violate that "simple inflections" rule

The way to do these is to give a reasonable-sized TC (a substantial paragraph) and about 3-4 hours; you've placed too many restrictions for it to be of interest to me, and you can produce quite a lot more in 24 hours.

Not that I really have 3 consecutive hours to spare at the moment, anyway, what with working until 7-9pm most days, even if I do usually start at around 12-1pm to make up for it...

I had intended to do it, but have been otherwise occupied with school-type things.
I have an chunk of free time starting in about 3 hours, so perhaps I'll take a look then.

I'll bite. Notes on this shall be forthcoming.

I may be next.

Okay, I gave it a go, check there.

I put most of it in this html page. But this is long and tedious so there are tidbits missing, like the fact that the alignment becomes ergabs when the sentence in the past tense, put it shows in the examples.

I haven't fulfilled most conditions (word number, strict phonology, time alloted) but I liked the exercice.

So what's the next challenge, then?

I figured I'd let someone else who adhered more to the rules give the next challenge.

Take as many hours as you want between 1 and 5 (or whatever; the idea is to do it in one try), sit down and get working on a dialogue. Content and size up to you.
Constraints: between 3-5 vowels without suprasegmental features

Some stuff I made for the original challenge:

Phonology
Stress on the first closed syllable, when none in a word, then initial.

Allophony and orthography

/i e ɛ/ have epenthetic [j] syllable initially, written <y>
/u o ɔ/ have epenthetic [w] syllable initially, written <w>
/ʔa/ is written <à>
/ʔ/ is written <·> after /h/, unwritten elsewhere

/t/ has an allophone [s] before front consonants, written <s>

Nouns

Singular

Singular for double nouns: i (after /h/), yih (after V).

feròh /ɸeˈɾɔh/ "(two) eyes" -> feròh'i /ɸeˈɾɔhʔi/ "an eye"
yipi /ˈipi/ "(two) legs" -> yipiyih /ipiˈih/ "a leg"

Singular for mass nouns: àh (after /h/), ah (after V).

woròi /ˈoɾɔʔi/ "hair" -> woròiah /oɾɔʔiˈah/ "a hair"
enah /ʔeˈnah/ "people" -> enah'àh /ʔeˈnahʔah/ "a person"

Dual

Dual is marked with the ending hama:

sèhhu /ˈtɛhhu/ "stone" -> sèhhuhama /ˈtɛhhuhama/ "two stones"
enah -> enahhama /ʔeˈnahhama/ "two people"

Plural

Plural is not marked on mass nouns. For the rest, there are two endings: èpè (after /h/), yepè (after V)

sèhhu -> sèhhuyepè /ˈsɛhhuepɛ/ "stones"
feròh -> feròh'èpè /ɸeɾɔhʔɛpɛ/ "(many) eyes"

Pronouns
The pronouns incorporate prepositions, e.g. nè raà -> raànè, ye peh -> pehe.

Verbs

Present tense

The present tense uses accusative syntax. It takes suffix u (only after /h/).

raà nawò /ˈɾaʔa ˈnaɔ/ "I go"
1SG go

The accusative marker is ta.

raà afoh'u ta sèhhu /ˈɾaʔa aˈɸohʔu ta ˈtɛhhu/ "I grasp a stone"
1SG grasp.PRE ACC stone

Past tense

The past tense is used with ergative syntax. It takes suffix misi.

raà nawòmisi /ˈɾaʔa ˈnaɔmiti/ "I went"
1SG go.PAST

sèhhu afohmisi /ˈtɛhhu aˈɸohmiti/ "someone grasped a stone"/ "a stone was grasped"
stone grasp.PAST

The ergative marker is nè.

sèhhu raànè afohmisi /ˈtɛhhu ˈɾaʔanɛ aˈɸohmiti/ "I grasped a stone"
stone 1SG.ERG grasp.PAST

Irrealis construction

The irrealis mood is constructed with the past of mòhhòh "to wish", "to conceive":

nawò raànè mòhhòhmisi /ˈnaɔ ˈɾaʔanɛ ˈmɔhhɔhmiti/ "I would go" (lit. "I conveived to go"/ "to go was conceived by me")
go 1SG.ERG conceive.PAST

raànè mòhhòhmisi afoh ta sèhhu /ˈɾaʔanɛ ˈmɔhhɔhmiti aˈɸoh ta ˈtɛhhu/ "I would grasp a stone" (lit. "I conceived to grasp a stone")
1SG.ERG conceive.PAST grasp ACC stone

nawò mòhhòhmisi nè enah /ˈnaɔ mɔhhɔhmiti nɛ ʔeˈnah/ "people would go"
go conceive.PAST ERG people

mòhhòhmisi afoh ta sèhhuyepè nè enah /ˈmɔhhɔhmiti aˈɸoh ta ˈsɛhhuepɛ nɛ eˈnah/ "people would grasp stones"
conceive.PAST grasp ACC stone.PL ERG people

Lexicon

afoh - to grasp
à (locative marker)
eh (instrumental marker)
enah - people (m.)
fahyih - fire
fehfe - to see
feròh - eyes (d.)
fòrih - grass (m.)
fose - big
hòh - good
humèh - ground
mòhhòh - to conceive
monòh - head
nawò - to go
nè (ergative marker)
nòhpah - to smell
nu - you
òhòh - bad
paè - arm, hand (d.)
peh - he, she, it
pepa - body
pohru - to fly
raà - I
rèh - small
rehneh - language
riwuh - water
seeh - nose
sèhhu - stone
siah - to hear
sifò - ears (d.)
ta (accusative marker)
tah'òh - tree
tuhpèh - to feel
wòhroh - foreigner
woròi - hair (m.)
wuhmò - sky
ye (genitive marker)
yèhwu - country
yèpo - river
yime - bird
yipi - legs (d.)
yitoh - words (m.)

Opera wrote:Take as many hours as you want between 1 and 5 (or whatever; the idea is to do it in one try), sit down and get working on a dialogue. Content and size up to you.
Constraints: between 3-5 vowels without suprasegmental features

I might give this a try today.

and Feles, very nice conlang there.

I'd do it if the constraints were more interesting; as it is, I have several conlangs that qualif--wait, no, no I don't, the only one I have that doesn't have either tone, a register system, or a stress accent is Kannow, which has six vowels. (Let's see... all Kett langs have tone besides Insular, which has stress; Proto-Hathic has a register system; Hathic langs all have contrastive nasality except Hathic, which has pharyngealization; Hoanu sort of has stress; and everything else I haven't started work on. Welp.)

But still, more interesting constraints.

I also prepared a conlang for dhokarena's challenge. I wanted it to have a little more stuff, but I guess that now that two conlangs have been posted already I'll post what I have:

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=39898

This is the first conlang I've worked on that I've ever put on the internet, by the way.

And yeah, the new challenge definitely needs more interesting constraints (or just more constraints), see the original challenge by dhokarena. A 5-vowel /a e i o u/ system with no prosodic features is just... nowhere near enough.

Opera wrote:I figured I'd let someone else who adhered more to the rules give the next challenge.

Take as many hours as you want between 1 and 5 (or whatever; the idea is to do it in one try), sit down and get working on a dialogue. Content and size up to you.
Constraints: between 3-5 vowels without suprasegmental features

that was fun. posted it for my flist to see as well...http://rodlox.livejournal.com/499928.html

(I seem to have ended up with two Definates)

Serafín wrote:I also prepared a conlang for dhokarena's challenge.
And yeah, the new challenge definitely needs more interesting constraints (or just more constraints), see the original challenge by dhokarena. A 5-vowel /a e i o u/ system with no prosodic features is just... nowhere near enough.

well, as you finished and posted your response conlang first, that means the new challenge is in your hands.

Rodlox wrote:that was fun. posted it for my flist to see as well...http://rodlox.livejournal.com/499928.html

(I seem to have ended up with two Definates)

Rodlox wrote:well, as you finished and posted your response conlang first, that means the new challenge is in your hands.

None of that^ makes sense, so I'm just gonna assume you're trolling us or you're too high to post on the forum.

Serafín wrote:

Rodlox wrote:that was fun. posted it for my flist to see as well...http://rodlox.livejournal.com/499928.html

(I seem to have ended up with two Definates)

Rodlox wrote:well, as you finished and posted your response conlang first, that means the new challenge is in your hands.

None of that^ makes sense, so I'm just gonna assume you're trolling us or you're too high to post on the forum.

in my speedconlang entry, I have two prefixes which the Leipzig Rules gloss as DEF (ergo, Definates)

also, since you posted your speedconlang before I did, that means that, according to the rules in the OP, it is your turn to give parameters or restrictions for the next round.

It's spelled definite and it's not a proper noun... And no I didn't, my conlang was for dhokarena56's post ("I also prepared a conlang for dhokarena's challenge..."), not Opera's. You do the next one.

Opera wrote:I figured I'd let someone else who adhered more to the rules give the next challenge.

as did I. my bad.
next Challenge:
* no mid-vowels
* no bilabials
* no prefixes or infixes
* have fun!

fneh. i suppose it would be asking too much to say there should be constraints that i don't already have a phonology for?

oh well, i might take this opportunity to start on the grammar of ketas

Maybe it should just be a race- the first to present a sketch of the outlined language outlines the next one...

I might revamp this sometime over the summer, seems like it was a fun idea.