Uskra
Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2013 8:11 pm
Uskra is my most recent conlang. I suggest reading up about it on the website but here is a forum rendering of the language. (But the website is prettier! And has more info on the conpeople.)
Any comments, questions or corrections are appreciated. :D
Phonology
I originally created Uskra as a sketch for a minimal phonology challenge. It still keeps to that idea with a relatively small phoneme inventory including three vowels / ɑ i u / and eight consonants / p t k ʔ s m n ɾ /.
The orthography is straightforward. You might notice some sounds not listed above. They come from rules listed later.
< p t k ' s ś h hr m n r a i u >
[ p t k ʔ s ʃ h xɾ m n ɾ ɑ i u ]
Syllables are fairly simple as well. Consonant clusters are only permitted on the onset. Codas are only permitted word finally.
Permissible CC's:
sp spɾ pɾ
st stɾ tɾ
sk skɾ kɾ
sm smɾ mɾ
sn
sɾ
Permissible codas: / t k m n ɾ /
Allophones
- Before the front high vowel / i /, / s / is realized as [ ʃ ].
s → ʃ / _i
- Before the tap / ɾ /, / s / is realized as [ x ].
s → x / _ɾ
- As the onset of a syllable plosives / p t k / become aspirated.
{ p t k } → {pʰ tʰ kʰ } / _V
- At the beginning of a word / ʔ / is realized as [ h ].
ʔ → h / #_
- The sequence / tɾ / is pronounced as / ʧ / if not preceded by / s /.
Nouns
Noun morphology is fairly limited in Uskra but can contain quite a bit of information. Below is a table describing the few suffixes and particles.
One thing not marked on nouns is number. If it is important number can be specified with measure words.
The measure word is placed before the noun which is then followed by a numeral. That numeral must take locative marking. Using the definite locative suffix will indicate a precise quantity whereas using the indefinite locative will indicate an approximate amount.
Iska hur inaur.
iska hur ina-ur
drop water 2-DEF.LOC
"Exactly two drops of water."
Iska hur ina.
iska hur ina-∅
drop water 2-IDF.LOC
"About two drops of water."
Pronouns
Uskra has no formal set of pronouns. Instead names and certain common nouns are used if the need arises. Nouns typically used in this way are familial terms (brother, sister), occupations (fisher, farmer) or titles (leader, storyteller). Several factors go into choosing what to call a person. These include familiarity, age, gender and the audience.
Possession
Showing possession in Uskra can be somewhat counterintuitive to an English speaker but is fairly simple.
Niraki.
niɾ-aki
cat-1PSS
"My cat."
Niri pusiani.
niɾ-i pusi-ani
cat-DEF.A tail-OPSS
"The cat's tail."
In a sentence where the verb conjugates in for the obviate person the possessive suffixes will strictly refer to the objects specified. However, if this is not the case then the third person possessive is used for human possessors whereas the obviate person possessive is used for non-human possessors.
Hitimi hu'a.
hitim-i hu-ʔa
head-DEF.A small.creature-3PSS
"The child's head."
Hitimi huani.
hitim-i hu-ani
head-DEF.A small.creature-OPSS
"The small animal's head."
Hu is a word used to refer to small creatures including human children.
Verbs
Unlike the nouns there is fair amount of marking on verbs. The conjugation will also depend on if a verb is transitive or intransitive.
Following the table above we can take a verb from its infinitive and conjugate it. For example the verb u'ama "to walk." The verb root is -'am- which can be used to create some basic sentences.
Śi'ama
ʃi-ʔam-a
1A-walk-NPST
"I am walking."
Ni'amuk.
ni-ʔam-uk
3A-walk-PST
"He was walking."
Inversion and Negation
Looking at the tables above it might seem that there is no way to create a sentence with a third-person agent and a first-person patient. It is true that there is no verb conjugation for such a sentence. Instead one would use an inverse particle to achieve that meaning.
Verb particles are always placed directly before the verb and only one may used in a sentence.
Itikuma ta'i.
i-tik-∅-uma taʔi
1A-give-3P-PST hit
"I hit him."
Mik itikuma ta'i.
mik i-tik-∅-uma taʔi
INV 1A-give-3P-PST hit
"He hit me."
Mri itikuma ta'i.
mɾi i-tik-∅-uma taʔi
NEG 1A-give-3P-PST hit
"I didn't hit him."
Mrika itikuma ta'i.
mɾika i-tik-∅-uma taʔi
NINV 1A-give-3P-PST hit
"He didn't hit me."
Light Verbs
There are relatively few fully functional verb roots. As such certain verbs are used to carry the conjugation while a defective verb root will carry the meaning.
For intransitive sentences the light verb is always uma "to be." For transitive sentences the verbs uka "to have," utika "to give," or uhra "to take" can be used.
Nima ski.
ni-m-a ski
3A-be-NPST jump
"He jumps."
Nikas hu'i.
ni-k-as huʔi
3A.OP-have-NPST hunt
"He hunts it."
Choosing which light verb to use is generally straight forward but there are occasions when it can be less so. In the first example above "jump" is an intransitive verb. But it can be used reflexively with either "to give" or "to take" to add different shades of meaning.
Atikas ski.
a-tik-as ski
3A.3P-give-NPST jump
"He jumps forward."
Ahras ski.
a-xɾ-as ski
3A.3P-take-NPST jump
"He jumps backward."
--------
There's more to come but I'm tired of typing now.
Any comments, questions or corrections are appreciated. :D
Any comments, questions or corrections are appreciated. :D
Phonology
I originally created Uskra as a sketch for a minimal phonology challenge. It still keeps to that idea with a relatively small phoneme inventory including three vowels / ɑ i u / and eight consonants / p t k ʔ s m n ɾ /.
The orthography is straightforward. You might notice some sounds not listed above. They come from rules listed later.
< p t k ' s ś h hr m n r a i u >
[ p t k ʔ s ʃ h xɾ m n ɾ ɑ i u ]
Syllables are fairly simple as well. Consonant clusters are only permitted on the onset. Codas are only permitted word finally.
Permissible CC's:
sp spɾ pɾ
st stɾ tɾ
sk skɾ kɾ
sm smɾ mɾ
sn
sɾ
Permissible codas: / t k m n ɾ /
Allophones
- Before the front high vowel / i /, / s / is realized as [ ʃ ].
s → ʃ / _i
- Before the tap / ɾ /, / s / is realized as [ x ].
s → x / _ɾ
- As the onset of a syllable plosives / p t k / become aspirated.
{ p t k } → {pʰ tʰ kʰ } / _V
- At the beginning of a word / ʔ / is realized as [ h ].
ʔ → h / #_
- The sequence / tɾ / is pronounced as / ʧ / if not preceded by / s /.
Nouns
Noun morphology is fairly limited in Uskra but can contain quite a bit of information. Below is a table describing the few suffixes and particles.
One thing not marked on nouns is number. If it is important number can be specified with measure words.
The measure word is placed before the noun which is then followed by a numeral. That numeral must take locative marking. Using the definite locative suffix will indicate a precise quantity whereas using the indefinite locative will indicate an approximate amount.
Iska hur inaur.
iska hur ina-ur
drop water 2-DEF.LOC
"Exactly two drops of water."
Iska hur ina.
iska hur ina-∅
drop water 2-IDF.LOC
"About two drops of water."
Pronouns
Uskra has no formal set of pronouns. Instead names and certain common nouns are used if the need arises. Nouns typically used in this way are familial terms (brother, sister), occupations (fisher, farmer) or titles (leader, storyteller). Several factors go into choosing what to call a person. These include familiarity, age, gender and the audience.
Possession
Showing possession in Uskra can be somewhat counterintuitive to an English speaker but is fairly simple.
Niraki.
niɾ-aki
cat-1PSS
"My cat."
Niri pusiani.
niɾ-i pusi-ani
cat-DEF.A tail-OPSS
"The cat's tail."
In a sentence where the verb conjugates in for the obviate person the possessive suffixes will strictly refer to the objects specified. However, if this is not the case then the third person possessive is used for human possessors whereas the obviate person possessive is used for non-human possessors.
Hitimi hu'a.
hitim-i hu-ʔa
head-DEF.A small.creature-3PSS
"The child's head."
Hitimi huani.
hitim-i hu-ani
head-DEF.A small.creature-OPSS
"The small animal's head."
Hu is a word used to refer to small creatures including human children.
Verbs
Unlike the nouns there is fair amount of marking on verbs. The conjugation will also depend on if a verb is transitive or intransitive.
Following the table above we can take a verb from its infinitive and conjugate it. For example the verb u'ama "to walk." The verb root is -'am- which can be used to create some basic sentences.
Śi'ama
ʃi-ʔam-a
1A-walk-NPST
"I am walking."
Ni'amuk.
ni-ʔam-uk
3A-walk-PST
"He was walking."
Inversion and Negation
Looking at the tables above it might seem that there is no way to create a sentence with a third-person agent and a first-person patient. It is true that there is no verb conjugation for such a sentence. Instead one would use an inverse particle to achieve that meaning.
Verb particles are always placed directly before the verb and only one may used in a sentence.
Itikuma ta'i.
i-tik-∅-uma taʔi
1A-give-3P-PST hit
"I hit him."
Mik itikuma ta'i.
mik i-tik-∅-uma taʔi
INV 1A-give-3P-PST hit
"He hit me."
Mri itikuma ta'i.
mɾi i-tik-∅-uma taʔi
NEG 1A-give-3P-PST hit
"I didn't hit him."
Mrika itikuma ta'i.
mɾika i-tik-∅-uma taʔi
NINV 1A-give-3P-PST hit
"He didn't hit me."
Light Verbs
There are relatively few fully functional verb roots. As such certain verbs are used to carry the conjugation while a defective verb root will carry the meaning.
For intransitive sentences the light verb is always uma "to be." For transitive sentences the verbs uka "to have," utika "to give," or uhra "to take" can be used.
Nima ski.
ni-m-a ski
3A-be-NPST jump
"He jumps."
Nikas hu'i.
ni-k-as huʔi
3A.OP-have-NPST hunt
"He hunts it."
Choosing which light verb to use is generally straight forward but there are occasions when it can be less so. In the first example above "jump" is an intransitive verb. But it can be used reflexively with either "to give" or "to take" to add different shades of meaning.
Atikas ski.
a-tik-as ski
3A.3P-give-NPST jump
"He jumps forward."
Ahras ski.
a-xɾ-as ski
3A.3P-take-NPST jump
"He jumps backward."
--------
There's more to come but I'm tired of typing now.
Any comments, questions or corrections are appreciated. :D