CCC Naming languages - Thru SUN 3/23 - VOTE!

[Hydroeccentricity]

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:

Code: Select all

i <i>         u <u>
       ə <ĕ>
ɛ <e>         ɒ <a>

Vowels follow front-back vowel harmony, with one neutral central vowel. The following diphthongs/mergers occur when vowels come together:

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

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>

Geminates are pronounced at the beginning of an utterance with slight prenasalization to differentiate them from regular consonants.

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.

[احمکي ارش-ھجن]

Have a go next round. You don't lose your culture if you miss a stage, it's just considered "stagnant". If I don't do a naming language for Gaak, it doesn't matter, I'll probably do something for them next time.

stagnant sounds like it's in danger of being dirty, corrupt and extinct, like stagnant water...
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I only have the Phonology so far:

Yaḻek Hašahkaṇ

/a e i ɤ ɯ ə/
<a e I o u ë>

Nasal: /n ɴ/<n ň>
Silibant Nasal: /n̩/<ṇ>
Plosive: /t d k g q/<t d k g q>
Pre-aspirated Plosives: /ʰt ʰk ʰq/<ht hk hq>
Fricative: /θ ð s z ɕ ʑ x ɣ χ/<ṯ ḏ s z š ž ḵ ḡ ḫ>
Approximant: /j ɰ/<y w>
Trill: /ʀ/ <ṟ>
Liquid: /ɹ~ɾ l/<r l>
Lateral Fricative: /ɬ/<ḻ>

Example phrase:

Qaḻan!
Greetings!

Hašahki ṇši ḏa sisyan yu.
Hashahki land of contrast-PL COP
Hašahki is a land of contrasts.

Ǧaḏkīl ihta ḵavīl taʾuqan niḏīd.
Golem-PL AFF human-PL eat-PRS-PL not
The Golems do not eat humans.

Common roots (Vṛḵaẕī / Hašahki / Tsāmin):
Golem - ǧdak / ǧaḏki / ǧduk /
Arm - lam / lem / lam /
Branch - zab / zab / azba /
Wind - ʾal / ila / ayul /
God - hīj / hayji / hij /
Snake - hīt / hit / het /
House - šīm / šiym / šem /
Land - ʾanšī / ṇši / īnšī /

[ol bofosh]

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.

Yours might be left alone, since yours have a mission. You don't build cities, but you do build walls (such pretty walls!)
Or the bo... I mean, Dragolm Slavers will just assimlate your mission to theirs.

Have a go next round. You don't lose your culture if you miss a stage, it's just considered "stagnant". If I don't do a naming language for Gaak, it doesn't matter, I'll probably do something for them next time.

stagnant sounds like it's in danger of being dirty, corrupt and extinct, like stagnant water...

Yeah, I don't think it was the word used originally.

[CatDoom]

Silibant Nasal: /n̩/<ṇ>

Read that as "sibilant nasal" at first; I think the term is usually "syllabic."

As for "stagnant" cultures, a more neutral term might be "stable" or "conservative." While cities and states tend to rise and fall over relatively short periods of time, I don't think it's unreasonable for a culture to neither expand nor collapse over 1,500 years. A good example might be Pharaonic Egypt; dynasties rose and fell with some regularity and various cultural changes both large and small took place over the 20 or so centuries between the Predynastic period and the end of the New Kingdom, but Egyptian culture remained recognizably the same and continued to occupy roughly the same core territory.

[clawgrip]

En Language
This outlines the main language of the Kingdom of En.

Phonology
Consonants:

Code: Select all

              bilabial    dental      palatal   velar / glottal
                                                plain      labialized  labio-velar
VL stop       p    <p>   t   <t>    ʧ   <ch>    k   <k>    kʷ <kw>     kp͡ <kp>
nasal/V stop  m~bb <m/b> n~d <n/d>  ɲ~ʤ <ny/j> ŋ~ɡ <ng/g> ŋʷ <ngw>    ɡb͡ <gb>
VL fricative  f    <f>   s   <s>    ʃ   <sh>    h   <h>
V fricative              z   <z>                γ  <gh>
trill                    r   <r>
lat. approx              l   <l>

• Stops and nasals can geminate;
• Geminated nasals become voiced stops;
• Of the nasals, only /n/ undergoes assimilation with heteroganic consonants;
• Fricatives disallowed word-finally.

Vowels

Code: Select all

plain             nasal
front    back     front  back
i   <i>  u   <u>  ĩ   <ĩ>  ũ <ũ>
ɪ   <ị>  ʊ   <ụ>   ɪ̃   <ị͂>  ʊ̃ <ụ͂>
e   <e>  o   <o>  ẽ   <ẽ>  õ <õ>
a   <a>  ɔ   <ọ>  ã   <ã>  ɔ̃  <ọ͂>
ai̯  <ai> ɔu̯  <ọu> ãĩ̯  <ãĩ> ɔ̃ũ̯ <ọ͂ũ>

Words follow primary long-distance front-back vowel harmony, and secondary short-distance plain-nasal harmony which affects only suffixes. This means of course that “Soki” is not permissible word (in fact they call themselves “En Saki”). I liked that name so I just left it. We’ll say it is some other culture’s interpretation of their name.

Nouns and pronouns

• the subject pronoun must always be present, even if its referent noun is also present, which its immediately follow;
• pronouns decline for subject, object, genitive and prepositional forms;
• pronouns indicate singular and plural, with mandatory inclusive vs. exclusive plural for first person, and visible vs. non-visible/obviate distinction for third person (mandatory when the referent is not physically present);
• three tenses: past, present future – tense obligatorily marked on pronouns;
• only inflection for regular nouns is the definiteness prefix s(ị)-/s(ụ)-.
• plural is indicated through reduplication of the entire word.

Verbs

• verbs are classified as telic, atelic, and stative;
• verbs conjugate for imperfect and perfect, the suffixes for which have separate telic and atelic forms. Telic verbs can take telic, atelic and stative suffixes depending on the intended meaning; atelic can take only atelic and stative suffixes: stative require the stative suffix and cannot take anything else. e.g.
  • telic: hã- ‘eat’
    • hãfọ͂ũ (is eating everything)
    • hãmãt (has eaten everything)
    • hãtõ (is eating some)
    • hãngwũ (has eaten some)
    • hãzãny (eats)
  • atelic: nye- (sleep)
    • nyete (is sleeping)
    • nyengwi (has slept)
    • nyezany (sleeps)
  • stative: pũ- ‘be; exist’
    • pũzãny (exists)
• the only moods are indicative and imperative. Indicative is unmarked, imperative is marked with -ak/-ọk on the verb after any aspect suffixes.

Syntax

• word order SVO
• subordinating conjunctions appear clause-initially;
• coordinating and temporal conjunctions can appear either before or after the subject of a clause to indicate its temporal relationship to other clauses.
• adjectives and copular sentences do not take any verb. All that is required is a pronoun and the complement.
• a few stative verbs (e.g. lo ‘know’, zung ‘have’) are act like adjectives in that they do not take verbal suffixes of any kind.

Place names
En – this is believed originally to mean “place” or “spot”, but is now became associated with the oldest settlement of the En Soki.
Ujjut – Meaning unclear. Possibly ‘wading people’ (< Hụnyọnyutu < hụnyọ ‘wade’ + nyutu ‘person who does’)
Ngahashe – ngaha ‘reed’ + -she ‘home’ due to the abundance of reeds that grow in the area. –she/-sho ‘home’ is common in place names but it is not a standard word (the standard word for home is paghĩ.

Example sentences
Kwang gbazany sịlishe le ụ nge ụng gbazany kụ͂mõ le kwa.
/kwaŋ ɡb͡azaɲ sɪliʃe le ʊ ŋe ʊŋ ɡb͡azaɲ kʊ̃mõ le kwa/

Kwa

1.SG

-ng

NOM.PRES

gba

get

-zany

STA

sị-

ART

lishe

love

le

for

ụ

3.SG.OBV

nge

but

ụ

3.SG.OBV

-ng

NOM.PRES

gba

have

-zany

STA

kụ͂mõ

NEG

le

for

kwa.

1.SG

En Ulubbọ̃ fọng mọbbọ̃ fị mũntukkosochọ mũntukkosochọ maike.
/en ulubbɔ̃ fɔŋ mɔbbɔ̃ fɪ mũntukkosoʧɔ mũntukkosoʧɔ/

En

En

Ulubbọ̃

great.land

fọ

3.SG.PROX

-ng

NOM.PRES

mọbbọ̃

large.region

fị

of

mũntukkosochọ

contrast

mũntukkosochọ

contrast

maike.

many

Sịmezik ụng hãzãny kụ͂mõ rụ rụ.
/sɪmezɪk ʊŋ hãzãɲ kʊ̃mõ rʊ rʊ/

Sị-

DEF

mezik

golem

ụ

3.SG.OBV

-ng

NOM.PRES

hã

eat

-zãny

STA

kụ͂mõ

NEG

rụ

human

rụ.

human

Native script (distantly derived from Mecokana):



If anyone's wondering about this, my thought is that writing spread across those islands in the middle of the map with some semi-mobile Polynesian-type people who travelled back and forth between islands, allowing for a relatively swift spread of writing, but still a lot of evolution along the way.

Years 2500-4000
Political map of the year 4000:


click here for huge and detailed map!

Era of City States
As the centuries progressed, the mercantile class took hold and became a fixture of En Soki culture. Sea-going vessels were improved, and trade networks were established among the various regions of the En Ulubbọ̃. With increasing trade came increasing wealth, and a large number of small city states developed, with an oligarchic upper class, which took hold in all the major settlements. Several of these city states, particularly in Ọddonyo, Pọmụ̃ and northern Họ̃n, developed cult worship of respected past bughuddọ̃sọlos. Many of these old bughuddọ̃sọlo became akin to local gods, but their identities and the particular rituals associated with them varied considerably from region to region. These cult religions along with various local trade items created solidarity among the populace and allowed for a group identity to take hold.

In the year 3191, the Lãzemian bughuddọ̃sọlo Sokosokoshọksọ̃ pili Taladdã spoke up publicly against the cult worship common in many of the regions, claiming it to be misguided to worship bughuddọ̃sọlos of the past. Instead, Sokosokoshọksọ̃ promoted the form of religion common in the En region, that exhalted living bughuddọ̃sọlos who could deliver the ideas and words of the Zo Pãlishima directly. As the leaders of Lãzem were close aligned with the leaders of En, Sokosokoshọksọ̃ considerable influence in Lãzem spread throughout southern Họ̃n, leading to the formation of the southern Họ̃n alliance, eventually known as the En Alliance, which was held together primarily by their common form of spirituality and worship.

Expansion and Colonization
In 3335, explorers from the alliance, travelled south to the remote island of Mụnyjju, where they encountered people they called Ãĩpang, who lived primarily on the nearby island of Kpịtịl. Initially, relations were amicable, and the explorers learned the art of writing from the Ãĩpang there. Until that time, the merchants and leaders of the En Ulubbọ̃ employed a primitive ledger system of writing that allowed them only to keep track of basic economic trade. The writing of the Ãĩpang allowed the spoken word to be written down. Writing quickly spread throughout the En Ulubbọ̃.

The Ujjut expanded northward to the shores of Lake Kọposọ in the north where they encountered and in some areas displaced ethnic groups they knew as the Mailengwe, Tukutuku and Haddịm. The Ujjut learned of gold, copper, and metalworking from these people, who did not have knowledge of metalworking themselves, but had acquired metal implements through trade with the Inzo Ďomün to the north. Over the centuries, the Ujjut learned the basics of metalworking, and their products eventually found their way through trade routes to the southern En states.

The Ghụfoso began settling along the northern coast of Họ̃n, along the Strait of Ọsul. In addition, Ngo and Ngahashe established colonies along the western reaches of Họ̃n. Eventually, Ngo and Ngahashe became a part of Ghụfoso.

The En Alliance began to develop increasingly sturdier seafaring vessels, and established colonies along the southern islands of to the Pache and Gbunũggọ, where they for some time traded with the local population on the southern island of Kwetịng, whom they also called the Ãĩpang, though it is not clear if they are related to the inhabitants of Kpịtịl.

Petẽ Ọuchọ gained clear prominence over the settlements of Ọddonyo and began establishing colonies of its own along the edges of Ọddonyo. As they expanded southeastward, they encountered a munkee population which they identified as the legendary Maihãĩ. First contact between these people did not go well, and the Petẽ Ọuchọ, recalling the legends of the Maihãĩ, chose for the time being to avoid them.

Meanwhile, an increasing number of traders with the funds necessary to build merchant vessels began to solidify the importance of the sea routes connecting the En settlements with those of Ujjut, Ọddonyo and Pọmụ̃. Several cities states began to increase in wealth, particularly En, Ngahashe, Ngo, Ghụfoso, Petẽ Ọuchọ, Ujjut, and Ngwirik.

In 3772, for unknown reasons the Ãĩpang invaded and attacked the colonists of Mụnyjju. The colony of Mụnyjju was wiped out, but when the survivors returned to En, an army was assembled and sent to Kpịtịl, where they outmatched and easily subjugated the Ãĩpang there. The colony of Mụnyjju was resettled, but no settlement was established on Kpịtịl. Eventually, the Ãĩpang population increased again.

In 3820, political instability among the elite of Petẽ Ọuchọ resulted in the rise of the radical King Faichesi. He enacted a policy of aggressive colonization, which led to the founding of Ngwai Pushulo on Sẽpet Maihãĩ, and an attempt to conquer the Maihãĩ as slaves. The Maihãĩ proved to be formidable opponents, but the Faichesi Kingdom nevertheless succeeded in capturing some Maihãĩ and creating a slave population to work in agriculture. Slavery was initially condemned by the religious leaders of the Kingdom of En, though the secular leaders did not always agree.

Meanwhile, the En alliance solidified into a kingdom ruled from the city of En, while the northern Họ̃n states aligned under the banner of Ghụfoso.

[clawgrip]

Ďomün Language
This outline describes the Inzo Ďomün language. I haven’t developed the Wai or Kilit dialects.

Phonology
Consonants

Code: Select all

           bilabial     dental      palatal  velar    glottal
nasal      m     <m>    n     <n>   ɲ  <ñ>
UV stop    p     <p>    t     <t>            k   <k>  ʔ <q>
V stop     b     <b>    d     <d>            ɡ   <g>
emph. stop bˠ~pˠ <b̌>     dˠ~tˠ <ď>             ɢ~q <ǧ>
UV fric    f~v   <f/v>  s     <s>   ʃ  <ś>
V fric                  z     <z>
affricate               ʣ    <dz>
trill                   r     <r>
approx.    w     <w>    l     <l>   j  <y>

Vowels

Code: Select all

front              back
i  <i>   y <ü>     ɨ <ï>   u <u>
e  <e>   o <o>     æ <ë>   ɑ <a>
ej <ai>

In some dialects, /o/ is becoming /œ/ through influence from /y/.

Ďomün vowels follow a somewhat defective front-back vowel harmony. Due to sound changes, the historic front-back distinction is violated by the front vowels /o/ and /æ/, which are classified as back vowels.

Vowel harmony is determined by the root morpheme, and affects the form of suffixes and prefixes.

Phonotactics

• syllable structure is (C)V(C)
• Emphatic consonants are generally voiced, but some speakers may devoice them;
• Emphatic consonants do not appear in word-final position;
• Only nasals consonants and the trill and approximant may be voiced word-finally;
• /ʣ/ is voiced word-initially and medially, but merges with /s/ word-finally.
• /f/ and is voiced word initially but is in free variation word-medially (the orthography treats it as voiceless in non-initial position);
• /ʃ/ may for some Ďomün groups follow the same rules as /f/, but the orthography ignores voicing entirely for this consonant.
• /r/ and /l/ become /n/ before /t d dˠ ʣ/
• V may also be a syllabic nasal /m/

Grammar

• word order: SVO in independent clauses, VSO in all dependent clauses and copular clauses
• copular sentences mark both the subject and complement as nominative;
• nouns are broadly classed into rational and irrational classes, with the rational class further subdivided into masculine and feminine genders and the irrational into tangible and intangible. Prefixes on nouns only indicates rational/irrational, but verb prefixes additionally mark masculine/feminine.
• nouns marked for singular/plural with prefixes (differing based on gender), and case with suffixes
• verbs obligatorily mark subject and object with prefixes, aspect and mood with suffixes, and tense with auxiliaries.
• negatives are formed using a special negative verb. The main verb then takes a nominal suffix:
  • gïlutaś - he is waiting
  • gidześ lutka – he isn’t waiting

Example Sentences
Iñ taqb̌aduś sondze b̌aduk.
/iɲ tɑʔbˠɑduʃ sonʣe bˠɑduk/

Iñ

though

ta-

1.SG.NOM

q-

3.FEM.SG.ACC

b̌adu

love

-ś

IMPERF

sa-

3.FEM.SG.NOM

l-

1.SG.ACC

dze

NEG

b̌adu

love

-k.

N

Muk Gïqub̌un zaim bunaswëlugbë azul.
/muk ɡɨʔubˠun zejm bunɑswæluɡbæ ɑzul/

Mu-

3.TAN.SG.NOM

k

be

Gïqub̌un

Giqubun

(-m)

NOM

zai

land

-m

NOM

b-

PL.INTAN

unaswëluk

contrast

-bë

GEN

azul.

many

Baidzükm mündzeǧë vïk yezi.
/bejʣykm̩ mynʣeɡæ vɨk jezi/

Baidzük

golem

-m

NOM

mu-

3.TAN.SG.NOM

l-

3.TAN.SG.ACC

dze

NEG

-ǧë

HAB

vï

eat

-k

N

ye

human

-zi.

ACC

History
In this period, the Ďomün faced a great many hardships. The first came around the turn of the 3rd century, when unusually cold and harsh weather struck the regions of the Kilit Ďomün repeatedly over the course of several years. Many died from the cold, and others from starvation from the deaths of their livestock and the destruction of their zon crops. The population of the Kilit decreased significantly, though they were not entirely wiped out. After these terrible years the Kilit population stabilized and slowly began to recover.

The Wai Ďomün continued their traditional lifestyle much as they always had. However, the increase in metals and useful tools acquired through trade from the south changed the day-to-day work life of the Wai.

The Inzo Ďomün, for better and for worse, experienced the most significant changes in lifestyle of all the Ďomün. The discovery of copper in the lands of the Inzo and the regions of the Ǧedim people to the south changed the way tools were made and paved the way for fruitful trade relations between the Inzo and those of the south, including Maileweq, Tukutuku, and Ujjut.

In 3210, disaster struck the Inzo when a plague, known to the Ďomün as nogüś, thought to have originated from the south, struck down a large number of Inzo in the Homonďes and Vïguz settlements. This plague was mostly limited to the Ďomün. During this time, the Ďomün entered an economic decline, as traders from the south avoided the Ďomün regions for fear of the plague. Eventually, this plague was overcome, and slowly, the Inzo began to recover. Around 3800, bronze was invented in the Ujjut regions to the south, and spread north to the Inzo. Bronze remained a rare commodity to the Wai Ďomün, and was virtually unknown to the Kilit.

Around the year 4000, writing was beginning to be introduced from the south and adapted to the Ďomün language.

[Dē Graut Bʉr]

Zörachok language

Kuzörachok /kuˈzøraxok/

Phonology
/p b t d tˠ dˠ k g ʔ/ <p b t d tg dg k g '>
/f v s z sˠ zˠ x/ <f v s z sg zg ch>
/r rˠ l lˠ/ <r rg l lg>
/m n ŋ/ <m n ng>

/i y u/ <i ü u>
/e ø o/ <e ö o>
/a ɒ/ <a å>

/ie/ <ie>


Grammatical features

• Zörachok morphology is both prefixing and suffixing.
• Nouns are marked for class, number and case. Unlike in the closely related Zwera language, marking nouns for their class is not obligatory, but class prefixes may change the meaning a bit.
• Verbs are obligatory marked for evidentiality and optionally for mood, aspect and class. Furthermore, pronouns can be attached to verbs.
• There are some other fine morphological distinctions as well. For example, there are two augmentatives, lgå-, which is a general augmentative, and pset-, which stresses that the thing in case expands in a particular direction.
• In words that would violate phonotactic rules otherwise, epenthetic vowels are inserted according to regular but somewhat complex rules.
• The basic word order is VSO, but SVO and OVS are also possible.

Examples

A few place names:

Dgü-lorch: land-everything
Chierr-ng(u): hill-red
Bzir-tul: many-cave
Minf-ark: river-crossing.place
Lgå-chl(u): AUG-lake

Sample sentences:

Nöfarkare, ngå chisaltreka.
nö-far-ka-re, ngå chi-salt-re-ka
EVID-love-1SG-3SG.PROX but EVID-hate-3SG.PROX-1SG
I love her, but she hates me.

Chizga Dgülorch dgüdellfirlgu.
chi-zga dgü-lorch dgü-dellfir-lg
EVID-be land-everything land-different-NMZ
Dgülorch is a land of contrasts.

Chi’aparkos mukar rapeltgan.
chi-'apar-kos mu-kr r-peltg-an
EVID-eat-NEG CL(golem)-stone PL-man-ACC
The golem does not eat humans.


History 2500-4000
See also this post.

As the Zörachok population grew, there was an increasing need for space. Initially the territory they already controlled was filled up, but eventually they made plans to recapture the western plain, which they had lost a long time ago during a rebellion of the Zwera golems. As the Zörachok heavily outnumbered the Zwera, they won the war without to much difficulty, and eventually the Zwera had been driven back to the coast and the coastal waters. From this point the situation didn't really change anymore, and after this situation had been accepted by both the Zörachok and the Zwera, the relations between them became better.

In the meantime, the various Zörachok towns had started trading with each other and by 3000 a writing system was developed for administrative purposes. Over time this script developed into a full writing system which was also used for other purposes than just the original administrative ones. This script also formed the basis for the Zwera script.

[Lyhoko Leaci]

Proto-Nggwoo
Cwēli [çʷø˥ʟi˩]

Proto-Nggwoo was the main language spoken by the Nggwoó around the year 4000 in Kwhukhu, based on the various descendents of this language. The language seems to have been known as Cwēli (the Tongue) to the Nggwoó, however this name in uncertain, and may have been a term chosen by their descendents to refer to the language. There are also several related languages that appear to be sister languages, however most of these have since been lost due to various reasons.

Consonants:
Proto-Nggwoo has 54 consonants, including ejectives, labialized consonants, and prenasalized consonants. Note that there are no basic alveolar consonants and there are instead postalveolar and retroflex consonants instead, this is due to the structure of the Batti mouth. Another thing of nore is the complete lack of any sort of rhotic consonant. The prenasalized and/or labialized consonants likely originated due to cluster reduction at some point.

Code: Select all

      	   Bil  Post Ret  Vel  Glottal
Nasals:     m 	̟ɲ	 ɳ 	ŋ
      		mʷ	̟ɲʷ	ɳʷ	ŋʷ
Plosives:	p	 ̟c	 ʈ 	k 	q
      		b	 ̟ɟ	 ɖ 	g
      		p'   ̟c'	ʈ'   k'
      		ᵐb	ᶮ̟ɟ	ᶯɖ   ᵑg
     		  	 ̟cʷ	ʈʷ   kʷ
     		  	 ̟ɟʷ	ɖʷ   gʷ
     		  	 ̟cʷ'  ʈʷ'  kʷ'
      		  	ᶮ̟ɟʷ  ᶯɖʷ  ᵑgʷ
Fricative:  ɸ 	ʃ 	ʂ 	x 	h
      		β 	ʒ 	ʐ 	ɣ
       		 	ʃʷ	ʂʷ   xʷ
       		 	ʒʷ	ʐʷ   ɣʷ
Approximant:       	j 	w
      		 		     	ʟ

The romanization is as follows:

Code: Select all

      	   Bil  Post Ret  Vel  Glottal
Nasals:     m	 n	 nr	ng
      		 	 nw	nrw  ngw
Plosives:	p	 t	 tr	k 	q
      		b	 d	 dr	g
      		ph	th	trh  kh
      		mb	nd	ndr  ngg
      		  	tw	trw  kw
      		  	dw	drw  gw
      		  	twh  trwh kwh
      		  	ndw  ndrw nggw
Fricative:  f 	s 	sr	c 	h
      		v 	z 	zr	j
       		 	sw	srw  cw
       		 	zw	zrw  jw
Approximant:       	y 	w
      		 		     	l

Vowels:
Compared to the consonant system, Proto-Nggwoo's vowels are relatively simple, with only a basic 5 vowel /a e i o u/ system, with a length distinction, which is romanized as a doubling of the vowel.

Tone:
Proto-Nggwoo additionally has a 4 tone system with the following tones: high level, low level, rising and falling. They are romanized by the following:
High: ā
Low: a
Rising: á
Falling: à

In the case of a long vowel, the tone marker is placed on the second vowel.

Allophones:
For the most part, there doesn't appear to be much in the way of allophones, the main ones of note being the palitalization of x and ɣ (and their labialized counterparts) to ç and ʝ when followed by /e i/, vowels are additionally nazialized preceeding a prenasalized consonant and rounded following labialized consonants.

For tones, a falling tone before another falling tone becomes a high tone, and a rising tone before another rising tone becomes a low tone.

Typology:
Proto-Nggwoo has a morphological tone system. (in addition to a restricted lexical tone system)

Plurals are distinguised by the following (other than length, the vowel stays the same):
short, low = singular
long, low = dual
long, high = plural
long, rising = collective

Verbs are relatively simple, but do mark tense (again, other than length, the vowel stays the same):
short, low = present
short, falling = recent past (earlier that day)
short, high = recent past (yesterday or several days ago)
long, rising = remote past
long, falling = close future (about to do it)
short, rising = future (anything that won't happen right away)

Basic word order is subject-verb-object (subject=ABS), noun-adjective, postposition, adverb-verb, particle-verb.

Adjectives are treated like intransitive verbs

For "X is Y" constructions, Y is treated as an intransitve verb and has the prefix juu- added.

Proto-Nggwoo is ergative-absolutive, and additionally has dative, genitive, instrumental and causative cases. Cases are marked with prefixes.

Personal pronouns:
1st inclusive: nri
1st exclusive: lo
2nd: fu
3rd: gwe

Cases:
Ergative: cwuū-
Absolutive: qò-
Dative: nweè-
Genitive: ngī-
Instrumental: luú-
Causative: ndru-

Place names:
Cwōsru = the name of their region, origin of term is unknown
Drikhu = end-water = the coastal region
Kwhukhu = land-water = the main state in Cwōsru
Khuyadri = water-NEG-end = unending water, the name of the ocean
Pūjweé = hills, the northern interior region

Qògwe zwa cwuūlo, qòlo ndru cwuūgwe.
ABS-3 love ERG-1.EX ABS-1.EX hate ERG-3
I love him/her, he/she hates me.

Qòcwōsru juukwhu ngībuùkwaā.
ABS-Cwosru be-land GEN-contrast.PLR
Cwosru is a land of contrasts.

Qòsaàrwií yambo cwuūgókwu.
ABS-human.COL NEG-eat ERG-golem
The golem doesn't eat humans.

History:
From the years 2500 to 3000, the Nggwoó initially expanded somewhat into the regions to the north, mainly along the coast to avoid the mountainous regions, however around the year 3000 the Nggwoó finally figured out how to truly smelt copper and later tin, allowing them to make much more effective tools and weapons for hunting, and this sudden need for metals resulted in an expansion into the mountainous regions in the north where the ores could be found.

By this point the coastal regions in the north became more of a trading area, as they began shipping supplies down the coast to the southern areas, or sometimes by air if the items were small enough. For the most part, the north produced metal products while the south produced decorative items and pottery, allowing the two groups to swap their various creations, with the people in the middle actually transporting the goods, and also taking a share of the goods as payment for the transport. As of the year 3700, the central region became mostly united and a true wide-reaching government was created, this new country became known as Kwhukhu, or "water land", due to the importance of the rivers and ocean for trade.

[Mornche Geddick]

Č'iramṳ - The Č'ira̤̤ language

Phonology
The ratio of consonants to vowels is quite high, due to the presence of an ejective series and palatals
IPA letters are shown in black, and romanised in blue.

Nasal: m m n n
Stop: p p p̓ p' b b t t t̓ t' d d ʧ č ʧ̓ č' ʣ j ɉ ɉ k k k̓ k' g g gʷ gw ? ?
Fricatives s s̓ s' z z ɫ lh ʃ š ʒ ž ç ç ʝ ʝ xʷ xw
Trill: r r
Approximant: ɾ r l l j y w w w̥ wh w̰ wr
Vowels: i i e e a a o o u u
Vowels, breathy voice: i̤̤ ih e̤̤ eh a̤̤ ah o̤̤ oh ṳ uh

Phonotactics
‣ Syllable structure is normally CV except word-finally. Exceptions nearly always mean the word is a derivation: e.g.

Code: Select all

gwizbo
(goat-AUG)
Great Goat.

‣ The dental trill and flap are homologous: r is realised as a trill word-initially and a flap elsewhere. The velars and palatals are not always as clear-cut as they look in the chart: in some dialects pairs like w̥ and xʷ or gʷ and w tend to merge.
‣ Vowels following an ejective are often pronounced with high tone. However this is not phonemic - yet.

Major features
‣ Designed to resemble a Bantu language. Predominantly agglutinating and prefixing. Unmarked word order is SOV.
‣ Breathy voice takes the place of tone, as a lexical and grammatical marker, e.g. breathy voice on the final vowel on a noun marks for definiteness.
‣ 10 noun classes, 7 of which have plural forms. Class III is specially for trees, ropes, bridges and roads - long tall objects and/or thoroughfares. Class V is for all magical objects and includes golems.
‣ Noun concord prefixes, including pronouns, adjectives, subject- and object- verbal prefixes.
These are a productive source of derivations. For example les, "rope" normally carries the Class III prefix: čeles, but with the Class V prefix boles it means "an enchanted rope" while giving the Class II prefix zoles changes the meaning to "rein" or "lasso". Using Class V bo of a person means they are bewitched, mad or strange.
‣ Interrogatives and negatives are indicated by the first prefix in the verb complex, before the subject concord.
‣ Pronouns are formed by fusing the concord prefix with a demonstrative or adjective, e.g.

Code: Select all

čelhak'e 
Class III-thick
the thick one.

‣ A large number of ideophones which can modify other parts of speech and even take concord prefixes. Two examples:

row̰uuu horn sound.
boaa largeness. Conveys the idea of an echoing cavern or mountainside.

(English actually has ideophones: "the swish of a skirt in the dew" is an example.)

‣ The "dummy" or "blank" verb sama. This pro-verb exists to carry tense, aspect and mood markers for a predicate. E.g.

Code: Select all

zoš'ahsama zojano
Class II-SUB-PAST-copula Class II-SUB-black
"It [an animal] was black"

Examples
Concords are colour-coded for clarity.

yesawe tesožuba susk'amigalho
Class I-singperson-FEM 1-sing-SUB-Class I-OBJ-love Class I-sing-SUB-1s-OBJ-hate-DISJUNCT
"I love her, but she hates me."

Rapeni rayese ralhohšbe lhimi
Class VIII-Raepʰɤn Class VIII-land Class VIII-DISJUNCT-other many
"Raephɤn is a land of contrasts."
‣ ra- is the class and adjective concord for noun class VIII, which includes nations. The initial syllable of "Raephɤn" has been reinterpreted as a prefix.
‣ The word for "contrast" was created by combining the disjunctive verbal suffix with the adjective "other".

bogarenko̤̤ na̤̤konasa ɉṳbo̤̤nadida
Class V-golem Class I pl-human NEG-Class V-SUB-Class I-OBJ-eat
"The golem does not eat humans."

[Hydroeccentricity]

Gwizbo would be a great name for a ruler.

[Mornche Geddick]

C'irah and Aphuren colony names.png (227.45 KiB) Viewed 7923 times

The map shows the major towns in Č'ira̤̤ territory in the year 4000.
Nablhi - wealthy
S'amro - oracle
Sṳɉa - (apple) orchard
K'olo - torrents
Murič - pine trees

[Mornche Geddick]

Gwizbo would be a great name for a ruler.

It probably is.

Čira̤̤ history 2500 - 3100

From their first base in the western highlands, the Čira̤̤ expanded east and north towards the central mountain range. They had already explored the coastlines further north and discovered that there was a dangerous nation further north whose people weren't to be trusted and where explorers and traders often disappeared, never to be heard of again. Rumour had it that the people were cannibals. This nation was expanding too, and the Čira̤̤ had to get used to fighting against human and munkee barbarian tribes who were fleeing from the Lulweon. Horrifying stories about the golem practice of "caging" began to emerge.

The Čira̤̤ didn't know at first what to make of the golem religion. They could only compare caging to their own harshest punishment, reserved for traitors and assassins - burying alive.

When the golems learnt that there was an inferior munkee civilisation to the south, they decided to extend the benefits of golem overlordship to these people too. They must have been shocked at the ingratitude of the Čira̤̤, who fled from any territory they marched on, and then counterattacked in force. They were impious too. They seemed to prefer killing golems to people. When they counterattacked, they carried mining hammers which they used to crack the golems' bodies at weak points.

After a few decades of this, the golems left these dangerous barbarians alone for a while. But they made preparations. Shortly after 3000 the golems launched a massive invasion. Hundred of golems poured over the two passes of the central mountain range, and thousands more landed by ship, seizing Sṳɉa, and Nabulhi. In a few years, the Čira̤̤ had lost a third of their territory.

But they still had nearly as many people, because no Čira would wait to be caged by the golems. They fled to the forests, and to the central mountain range - apart from the passes, it was the safest place to hide from golems who couldn't cope with hilly country.

[Salmoneus]

*sighs*

Sorry people, going to have to sit this one out. Just haven't had the time (well, the time management, at least) to do anything this round.
On the other hand, that probably does make sense for Lulweon: although expansionist, they're an inherently conservative culture, so it makes sense that, other than expanding massively, they stagnate for a while. I do hope to do something with them in future, though.

[Mornche Geddick]

Čira̤̤ history 3100 - 4000

The Čira̤̤ have always been distrustful of magic, which is ironic, because probably no other race on the planet uses it more than they do.

Most of their magic is defensive and forensic - aiming to detect and nullify. The big stadiums where they hold their festival games are enchanted to prevent magical cheating, for example. Now they built on their knowledge to discover magical weapons against that worked against magical walking statues.

(They had the active assistance of their own golem, the oracle of S'amro, who no more desired to fall into Lulweon hands than the Čira̤̤ did.)

The first spell any competent battlemage learns to cast is a spell that can immobilise a single golem for 15 minutes. This is usually quite enough. More advanced spells, requiring more skill, can put a golem permanently out of action, immobilise every golem within a specified radius of effect, disintegrate a golem's body or force it to open up and disgorge a prisoner. Enchanted warning beacons can detect approaching golems. Golem hammers were magically reinforced. Arrows can be primed with immobilisation spells.

The Čira̤̤ had already begun to fortify their remaining cities against golems. Walls alone only slowed the golems down, but used in combination with moats with sharp rocks at the bottom, they were an effective deterrent. Covered pits and traps designed to make a golem topple over and shatter, were also Čira̤̤ favourites.

Now the Čira̤̤ began to push back against the golems, and beginning in 3350 they began to recover their lost territory. It was their practice to spare the human and munkee subjects when they laid down their arms, but to slaughter all golems, and free all prisoners. It was often the first time the Lulweon humans and munkees had seen the actual effects of the fate that had awaited many of them.

Some of the poor creatures simply died when their cage was destroyed. Others were left permanently crippled or demented. The ones that had been caged only recently made the best recovery. The healing shrines at S'amro and Murič have developed a lot of expertise in rehabilitating the caged. Healing hymns and trance dances, steam baths, massages and herbs such as hellebore were well established practices at the shrines, and now they were brought into use.

As of 4000, the Čira̤̤ have driven the golems out of all their former lands, but the golems are not likely to let matters rest there. Many of their human subjects are fleeing to Čira̤̤ territory, to escape the golems and their own ruling castes. Some say they are already planning a massive invasion, with new magical weapons. The next few centuries are likely to be tumultuous.

[Mornche Geddick]

Raepʰano - the Apʰɯron language

Phonology

Stops: p t k
Aspirate stops: pʰ tʰ kʰ
Fricatives: s š h
Nasals: m n
Aspirate nasals: mʰ nʰ
Liquids: r l
Vowels: i e a o ɤ u ɯ

Phonotactics
‣ Raepʰano tolerates several dipthongs: ae, ao, uɯ and oɤ. Word- final consonants are rare, except for s and n.
‣ l is clear initially, thick finally. r is a flap.
‣ ps, ts and ks are common clusters. They could be described as a third stop series.
‣ Voiced consonants are not used.

Major features
‣ Raepʰano is a fusional SVO language derived from an agglutinating VSO ancestor.
‣ The verb endings derive from serial verbs and other syntactic constructions - for example mīs "have" (perfect, then aorist) γodž, "come" (future) seld, "want" (optative) kor, "that" (subjunctive) and ?īfa "egg" (nominaliser).
‣ Masculine - Feminine and neuter gender distinctions - with a twist. Grammatical gender depends partly on sex and partly on which species are present in discourse.
A table will illustrate this.

Raephen gender table.PNG (13.41 KiB) Viewed 7866 times

If you are a Munkee you will be referred to as masculine or feminine depending on whom you are with. There is no evidence that this causes anyone any embarrassment. It seems that the speakers of Raepʰano want to make proximate and obviate distinctions but have to do the best with the grammar they have got. It is also possible that the original Munkee language did mark proximate/obviate and this usage is a survival of that.
‣ Raepʰano is an active-stative language, with agentive and patientive voice. They derive respectively from the subject and object pronouns in the protolanguage.
‣ Certain instransitive verbs like misona "sit" are exclusively agentive, while others like herasuna "sleep" are patientive only. The fluid verbs are especially interesting. Tolfuna "see" can be either, but when it is agentive it means "look". The same is true of all the other sensory verbs, including touch and taste - distinctions English does not make.
Certain verbs of the emotions use the agentive - patientive distinction in a different way. Strong feelings are put in the agentive, milder in the patientive. Example 1 is a case in point.
‣ Without conjunctions, the subjunctive mood acts as a disjunctive. Example 1 shows this too.

Examples
emʰaeso šoko, raokʰoa emiko
love-1s-AG 2s-PAT hate-SUBJUNCT-3s 1s-PAT
"I love her (but) she hates me."

emʰaese šuno, raoptoɤ emuno
love-1s-PAT 2s-GEN hate-SUBJUNCT-3s 1s-GEN
"I like her (but) she dislikes me."

Širapo hesoa šalao pepsora
Čiramasabo be-3s ground-NOM mirror-reflection
"Čira̤̤bo is a land of contrasts."

kao tunakon kʰoɤ mantoa konsapa
DEF-neuter golem not eat-3s human-pl
"The golem does not eat humans."

[Hydroeccentricity]

Salmoneus: One thing that's been tossed around is to hand off cultures you can't or don't want to continue. If there's still time, you could offer for someone else to give a crack at Luweon's recent history.

[Mornche Geddick]

Raephen continent.png (199.13 KiB) Viewed 7905 times

The south half of Raepʰɤn is much better watered than the northen half. Many rivers in the desert are seasonal and are not shown. Only the principal cities are shown here.

Sotʰa - ancestor name.
Tɤmʰalon - haven, port.
Kukse - oak.
Naotʰe - cliff (Naotʰe is famous for its white cliffs).
Tɤsalaks - gold (gold was found in the river).
Tʰaši - tuna (from the town's first major export).
Sila - blue
Sɯpsore - whale (on the other map).

[Mornche Geddick]

Apʰɯron history 2500 - 4000

So far, being fairly isolated on their island, the Apʰɯron have been lucky enough to escape major wars. The Nespek are separated from them by the desert, and relations are usually friendly. By 2300 the Apʰɯron had built galleys, and two magical improvements - an enchanted weathervane that would point to your home port or the nearest land, and a stone that changed colour when there were concealed rocks - advanced navigation. Apʰɯron sailors have enountered the Č'ira̤̤, who warned them against going further north, and the Humanist golems of Dragolm, as well as the amphibimorphs and the Torcs on the Southern continent. Recently they have founded a colony east of the Č'ira̤̤ lands - Sɯpsore - which may prove a big mistake.

At home they learnt writing from the Nespek (and taught it to the Č'ira̤̤ in turn). Politically they are a patchwork of small states, a mixture of republics and monarchies. Neither the Č'ira̤̤ nor the Apʰɯron have stable caste systems, like Lulweon or the Tsargoki. Families and clans rise and fall. Rarely does a dynasty last more than a century. The republic of Kukse is noted for its new system of representative democracy. In most Apʰɯron city states power lies with a council of elders of the important families. In Kukse, anyone who can enter the grand hall during the festival of the old-and-new moon can vote - the problem for younger and less important humans and munkees is not being thrown out.

There is a new art form - the theatre. Performers fall into two types - dancers and speakers / singers. The dancers mime the action of the story, while the speakers recite the words. Fights and acrobatics are choreographed to be spectacular so that the audience feel they get their money's worth. The Apʰɯron have also learnt competitive sport from the Č'ira̤̤ and devised their own version of the ball game, in which humans can take part.

A new development: the gods are often now painted with the head of their totem animal.

[zompist]

Out of town visitors today, feeling wasted. So I won't set up the voting till tomorrow afternoon, in case you were trying to slip a language in under the wire.

[Sevly]

Zwera

Inventory





Typology

• Zwera has morphological pitch accent which is used in declension and conjugation. The accented syllable is the syllable preceding the downstep /◌ꜜ/, where the pitch falls from high [◌́] to low [◌̀]. This downstep determines the behaviour of processes like syncope and plays a key role in determining the surface forms of words.
• The Zwera orthography, which is derived from the Zörachok writing system, is a deep orthography which reflects the underlying morphological structure of words. Regular morphophonetic rules are applied to derive the surface forms.
• There are noun classes, and a lot of them. Noun classes are essentially an open category and are perhaps more like mandatory noun classifiers with agreement. Noun modifiers take class agreement for their head, and verbs agree with their arguments.
• Some nouns can take different class prefixes with different meanings, such as in womaka “mine” (location class) and mumaka “miner” (golem class).
• Most mass nouns, and many abstract nouns, take plural prefixes.
• There are six classes: nominative, accusative, dative, locative, lative, ablative. The locatives are used to mark both time and place while the dative and ablative are also used to mark beneficiaries and maleficiaries, respectively.
• Evidentiality is extremely important. The Zwera’s knowledge emphasis means every statement needs to be qualified. There are nine main evidentials: visual, auditory, other sensory, inferential, assumptive, quotative, hearsay, common knowledge, and internal. Evidentials mark only the source of the information, not the speaker’s confidence level.
• There are other evidentials, such as a mentor evidential, which are tied into referent honorifics.
• Tense, aspect, and mood are conflated. Verbs distinguish nonpast, past perfective and imperfective, nonpast and past subjunctive, and nonpast and past conditional. The irrealis moods select particular evidentials; for example, the conditional usually takes an inferential or assumptive evidential.
• As in Zörachok, there are distinctions such as lwa-, which is a general augmentative, and pétu-, which stresses that the thing in case expands in a particular direction.
• As in Zörachok, colors are expressed through suffixes.

Place Names

• Mihamáke
  /miɣamaꜜke/ [míɣmákè]
  mi-hamáke
  CL(water)-home
  “water home” (central city of Dwína)
  
  Dwína
  /dʷiꜜna/ [dʷínà]
  dwí-na
  CL(territory).PL-water
  “land of the waters” (Zwera territory on the western coasts and insular shelf)
  
  Dwizwera
  /dʷizʷeꜜra/ [dʷzʷérà]
  dwi-zwera
  CL(territory)-Zwera
  “land of the Zwera” (historical territory of the golems, used to refer to the western plain now occupied by the Zörachok)
  
  Dwilocha
  /dʷiloꜜxa/ [dʷlʷɤ́xà]
  dwi-locha
  CL(territory)-everything
  “land of everything” (the island on which the Zwera and Zörachok reside)

Translations

• Chumáfaramute, nwa muumasalakate.
  /xumaꜜfaramute nʷa muʔumasaꜜlakate/ [ɣmáfr̥àndè nʷá mˀúnzál̥kàtè]
  chu-má-fara-mu-te nwa mu-uma-sala-ka-te
  1s.SUBJ-EV(internal)-love-CL(golem)-NPST but CL(golem)-EV(inferential)-hate-1s.OBJ-NPST
  “I love her, but she hates me.”
  
  Dwilocha dwite dwidechíná.
  /dʷiloꜜxa dʷite dʷidexinaꜜ/ [dʷlʷɤ́xà tʷtʷé dʷdʷéɣná]
  Dwi-locha dwi-ø-ø-te dwi-dechí-ná
  CL(territory)-everything CL(territory)-EV(visual)-COP-NPST CL(territory)-different-NMZ
  “Dwilocha is a land of contrasts.”
  
  Muzwera mukwaapákosute péwapetwo.
  /muzʷeꜜra mukʷaʔapaꜜkosute peꜜwapetʷo/ [mʷzʷérà ŋʷgʷáppáksùtè péwpʷètɤ̀]
  mu-zwera mu-kwa-apá-kosu-te péwa-petwo
  CL(golem)-Zwera CL(golem)-EV(common)-eat-NEG-NPST CL(human).PL-man
  “The (Zwera) golem does not eat humans.”

See the Zwera thread for more information.

[ol bofosh]

It's so difficult to choose! There's so many good ones...

[finlay]

Dek'ame language
For the sake of simplicity, I'm assuming dragons' mouths and language processing ability are functionally the same as humans'. (same as I sort of did with the golems)

Phonology

Consonant inventory:

Code: Select all

p  t  ts  k  <p t c k>
b  d  dz  g  <b d z g>
pʼ tʼ tsʼ kʼ <p' t' c' k'>
ɓ  ɗ      ɠ  <b' d'    g'>
m  n      ŋ  <m n ng>
       s  h  <s h>
       r  j  <r j> (trilled r)

Quite heavy on the plosives and non-pulmonics. P' is uncommon.

Vowel inventory:

Code: Select all

i ɨ u <i y u> iː ɨː uː <í ý ú>
e ə o <e â o>
  a   <a>        aː    <á>

Defective long vowel set.

Stress is on the penultimate syllable.
Syllable structure is (C)(R)V(C): the R can only be a liquid, and the second C cannot be a liquid, implosive or fricative, but may be any pulmonic plosive, ejective or nasal.
The language is quite permissive with diphthongs or sequences of vowels, but generally the central vowels (including a) cannot be the second vowel in a sequence.

Grammar outline

• Very isolating language in terms of grammatical suffixes but not in terms of derivational morphology and compounding.
• SVO
• Adjectives follow nouns, but are not considered a distinct word class from nouns due to the fact that they can be used nominally.
• Uses prepositions. No case marking.
• Nouns are preceded by a article, which may be definite (known to the listener), specific (known to the speaker but not the listener), or indefinite (not known to either speaker). Most nouns take one of these. Nouns are further classified into animate and inanimate, which is reflected on the article. Many non-dragon species, particularly golems, are lumped into inanimate. There are a separate set of determiners for plural nouns. Plurality is not marked on the noun itself.
• Verbs do not inflect themselves, but there is a usually-sentence-initial particle, or string of particles, to indicate tense and aspect, along with moods like negative, interrogative, and so on. It can possibly be analyzed as a kind of auxiliary verb. This particle is frequently dropped with stative verbs.
• Pronouns do not inflect for case but there are different pronouns for plural referents as well as inclusive vs exclusive we. Animate and inanimate 3rd person are also distinguished.

Dek'ame means the country of dek'a, the dragons' name for themselves. The language can be known by the name Dek'ame, but it is more common to call the language dek'atáro (dragon-language).

Translations

Ke ri d'úne ten, kjú ke ten bárek ri.
PRS 1S love 3S.AN, but PRS 3S hate 1S
I love her, but she hates me.

Dek'ame mau câ me sa ngi rúpsang.
Dek'ame COP SPEC.INAN land of SPEC.PL.INAN contrast
Dek'ame is a land of contrasts.

Ke don ma corán kon si dek'a. (can also be written "kedon")
PRS NEG DEF.INAN golem eat INDEF.PL.AN dragon
The golem does not eat dragons.

[KathTheDragon]

For the sake of simplicity, I'm assuming dragons' mouths and language processing ability are functionally the same as humans'.

This is a fair assumption, although given the longer mouth, they can reasonably contrast more places of articulation. One idea I was toying with (but didn't go with) was contrasting coronal and dorsal palatals.