zompist bboard

So here's the start of a new conlang I'm making.

Phonology:

Consonants:
/m n ɲ/ <m n ny>
/t c k kʷ ʔ/ <t c k ku '>
/ɸ s ç χ χʷ/ <f s h q qu>
/β z ʝ ʀ ʀʷ/ <v z j g gu>
/c͡ʎ̥˔ k͡ʟ̝̊ k͡ʟ̝̊ʷ/ <cl kl klu>
/ʟ ʟʷ/ <l lu>

In terms of phoneme frequency, I'm going for lots of /m/ and dorsals/glottals, so it might probably sound vaguely Semitic - but I will not be attempting to copy the triconsonantal root system.

The phonological constraints are probably gonna be really simple, like (C)V(C).

Monophthongs:
Phonemic: Orthographic: Not sure if I will add any quality distinctions to this. I don't think I want nasality. Maybe, maybe on the open vowels. Nasality on close vowels sounds ugly to me. Breathy and creaky voice are rather stereotypical for conlangs, and I don't really like how creaky voice sounds anyways. Breathy voice is a little difficult - like, whispering only part of a word? wat. Faucalized is just silly. Come on, yawning? Seriously? And then I just don't get all this tongue root stuff.

Diphthongs:
/aɪ̯̈ ɒɪ̯̈/ <ay oy>

Syntax:

The word order is (S/A)OVI, where S is subject, A is agent, O is direct object, V is verb, and I is indirect object.
Yes, this is a tripartite language. A is ergative, which is unmarked. O is marked accusative. S is weird and will be marked with some kind of indirect object morphology. The fact that there is indirect object morphology going on before the verb, when it normally hangs out after the verb, is what is marking intransitivity. I'm thinking that the three different kinds of intransitivity - passive, antipassive, and simple intransitive - will each require a different indirect object morphology.

So, yeah. Passive and antipassive. Boy, tripartite languages sure are weird! The function of the passive will be for the emphasis of transitive objects, while the function of the antipassive will be for the construction of subordinate clauses. So, pretty standard stuff.

Morphology:

Nominal:
As stated before:
- Unmarked ergative.
- Marked accusative.
Otherwise, I'll need some other case markings. Since there are three kinds of intransitivity that need to be marked, I think I'll want more cases than that.
Probably throw in a plural marking.
Might do noun classes. That's not a thing I've done before. I loathe European (especially French) grammatical gender, but something more sub-Saharan-style might be nice.

Verbal:
?????

Might want to reconsider everything with ʷ - for example:
[ʟua] vs [ʟʷa]
I think a <w> could function as a good labial indicator.
A better transliteration for /x ʀ/ (in my opinion at least) is <x r>
/kʷ χ χʷ ʀ ʀʷ k͡ʟ̝̊ʷ/ could be <kw x xw r rw klw>.
/i ɪ̈ u a ɒ/ <i ì u a o>
/aɪ̯̈ ɒɪ̯̈/ <aì oì>
If /ɪ̈/ stays <y>, then at least change /ɲ/ to <nj> or <ň> or similar

mèþru wrote:Might want to reconsider everything with ʷ - for example:
[ʟua] vs [ʟʷa]

<lua> is always [ʟʷa]. The only valid diphthongs have already been said, and there is no vowel hiatus - any such instance will gain an epenthetic glottal stop.

A better transliteration for /x ʀ/ (in my opinion at least) is <x r>

I don't want to use <r> for [ʀ] because that would imply that it is to be interpreted as a rhotic, when in fact it patterns as a velar fricative.

Anyways...

Nominal Morphology:

The basic structure of a noun is as follows: root-case-number-misc-class

There are eleven cases, eight classes, and two number categories. The miscellaneous affix is there for any non-case non-class affixes I may add in the future. Like maybe a negative.

The cases are:
Ergative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -∅-
Accusative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -m-
Ablative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -fa-
Lative/Intransitive S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -qo-
Perlative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -ta-
Adessive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -guo-
Superessive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -(')u-
Subessive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -wa-
Benefactive/Passive S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -(')y-
Comitative-Instrumental . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -c-
Causal/Antipassive S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -lu-

The Lative, Benefactive, and Causal, in addition to their regular functions, also serve to mark the Intransitive case in different situations. The Lative marks the Simple Intransitive Subject, which is just the single direct argument of a regular-ass intransitive verb. The Benefactive marks the Passive Subject - when passivizing a verb, the direct object is promoted to the status of subject, while the agent is demoted to an indirect object. So, the Benefactive marks this promoted object. This is not confused with a normal usage of the Benefactive because indirect objects always appear after the verb, while subjects, agents, and direct objects always appear before the verb. Similarly, the Antipassive Subject - an agent turned into a subject while the object gets demoted to indirect - is marked by the Causal. Another thing to note here is that the agents and objects that get demoted to indirect objects in passive and antipassive constructions are marked by the Comitative-Instrumental. Furthermore, that same case defaults, in its normal usage, to Comitative - Instrumental usages require the preposition na. EDIT: Oh, right. Almost forgot. The motion cases (Ablative, Lative, Perlative) can be combined with the location cases (Adessive, Superessive, Subessive) in that order to gain more granular meaning. So, 'from on top of the table' would be:
(table)fa'unu

(table)

table

-fa

-ABL

-'u

-SUP

-nu

-CLASS7

The classes are as follows:
Class 1 (Humans) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .-an
Class 2 (Animals, minus birds and insects) . . . . .-(y)h
Class 3 (Plants) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .-ut
Class 4 (Mass Nouns) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -(a)k
Class 5 (Dangerous Things) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -(y)jim
Class 6 (Flying Things) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -qa
Class 7 (Harmless Inanimate Objects) . . . . . . . . -nu
Class 8 ("Powers") . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -is

Class 1 contains most nouns that signify people, though there are certain exceptions that are in Class 5 instead. Class 2 contains most animals, with the primary exceptions being birds and insects. Class 3 contains the vast majority of plants. Class 4 contains mass nouns, so things like liquids, gases, and other substances that are considered in bunches rather than individual units, like grains and raw textiles. Also, most insects are in Class 4. Class 5 contains things to be avoided. It's a hodgepodge of things that would otherwise be in many other classes. For example, the words for 'witch', 'bandit', and 'warlord' are contained here instead of Class 1. Class 6 is where the birds lie, along with some winged insects. Some objects that are made to fly, like javelins and arrows, are part of Class 6 as well. Class 7 contains the vast majority of inanimate objects. I suppose it'll probably end up being the largest class. Class 8 is kind of difficult to define. Anything "powerful" or "mystical" goes there. Of course, some powerful things may be dangerous, and thus might be in Class 5 instead. Or maybe they're in Class 8 anyway, even though they're dangerous. It's not like this needs to be terribly logical.

Number is simple:
Singular . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -∅-
Plural . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .-w-

<r> is still more useful for writing and gives a better clue to how it is pronounced.

How about <kh> and <gh> for /x/ and /ʀ/?

<r> is misleading, though, as it implies that it patterns like a rhotic as in Indo-European languages and Modern Hebrew. <g> is better; it makes me think of [ɣ] (think Dutch, Spanish, or Greek), and when used with [ʁ] it implies that it patterns with it.

I might replace <q> with <x>, as <q> implies a stop, but otherwise I like the transcription here.

If one needs to emphasize <g> is a fricative, then go with <ġ>, even though that should be unnecessary here as there is no /g/ to contrast with.

I do not like <kh> for <gh> for fricatives, partially because I generally do not like digraphs for fricatives, and because <kh> and <gh> to me imply aspirated stops.

If vowels never occur in hiatus, then using <u> as part of a consonant is perfectly fine. I still stick to my other suggestions.

I think <q> for /x/ looks good. I absolutely abhor the ex being used for the velar fricative and I myself have used <q> for the voiceless pharyngeal fricative in previous connects of mine. I've also seen many conlangs use it for affricates (based off of pinyin q(i)). (the latter I find disgusting, but for dorsal-radical fricatives, I say yes)

So, I finally gave this language a proper name, Tavmashanese. I've decided to set it in my conworld Maikros. Tavmashan is one of the largest islands in the southwestern Dotted Ocean, currently under the control of the Trade Union of Toletska and Valimaa. Tavmashanese is a language isolate, a relic from a time before the Salenzo-Toletskan migrations across the Dotted Ocean thousands of years ago.

The Tavmashanese formally call their island Oqamis Vokymis Tawamis Maha'is [ɒˈχamis ˈβɒkɪ̈mis ˈtawamis maˈçaʔis], meaning "Land under the House of the Crystal Mind". That's a mouthfull, so it usually gets called Tawamnu Mahanu [ˈtawamnu maˈçanu], "Land under the House". It can get further elided into Tawamahanu [tawamaˈçanu] in quick speech, which I guess could be translated something like "Underhouseland".

In Anchelnian, the primary language of the Trade Union, the island used to be called Kamkmishch, based on what the nearby speakers of Insular Toletskan languages call it, Akambakmistaa, which is itself based on the above formal name. These days, however, the Anchelnian name for the island is Tavmashan, based on the above elided short version, which is thus the source of the name of the island in many languages across the world.

Oqamis Vokymis Ta'is [ɒˈχamis ˈβɒkɪ̈mis ˈtaʔis], "House of the Crystal Mind", for reference, is the largest mountain on the island. Inside of the mountain is a crystal cave similar to the one in Mexico. Over centuries - milennia, even - the ambient mana in the earth and stone has weaved its way through the gigantic crystals and formed a highly intelligent and powerful, but slow, sessile, and irrational intelligent entity - Oqamis Vokis [ɒˈχamis ˈβɒkis], the Crystal Mind. The Tavmashanese have taken to worshipping it as a god. Due to the high heat and humidity of the cave, entrance is only allowed with an escort of a powerful pyromancer and a powerful hydromancer, who can redirect the heat and humidity, respectively, long enough for any kind of communication. Few have learned how to actually communicate with the Crystal Mind, and these few are invariably highly placed in the local priesthood.

Verbal Morphology

The structure of a verb is: root-mood-case-aspect-tense.

The case category is for case agreement with the subject, which can be one of four things: the Ergative -∅-, the Simple Intransitive -qo-, the Passive -y-, or the Antipassive -lu-.

There are five moods: the Indicative, the Imperative, the Jussive, the Conditional, and the Hypothetical.
Indicative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -∅-
Imperative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -'o-
Jussive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -ja-
Conditional . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -ma-
Hypothetical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -vi-

There are two morphological aspects, the Perfective and the Imperfective:
Perfective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -∅-
Imperfective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -N-

There are seven tenses, the Anterior, Far Past, Past, Present, Future, Far Future, and Posterior:
Anterior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .-(')u
Far Past . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -li
Past . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -wo
Present . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -∅
Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -ka
Far Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -cly
Posterior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -tu

There is also a periphrastic perfect aspect that can be formed by using the copula as an auxiliary in the primary clause, in the main referent tense, and then the actual verb of action in a subordinate clause in the anterior tense.

Waqo'an qaqoka nutqo'u julnacak.

wa

1

-qo

-LAT

-an

-C1

qa

COP

-qo

-LAT

-ka

-FUT

nut

eat

-qo

-LAT

-u

-ANT

juln

rice

-c

-COM

-ak

-C4

[ˈwaχɒʔan ˈχaχɒka ˈnutχɒʔu ˈʝulnacak]
I will have eaten the rice.