Phonology

Consonants

Vowels

Sonority scale

The scale goes from most sonorous (top) to least sonorous (bottom).

Phonotactics

Syllables have the following structure:

C1 (C2) V (C3)

C2 and C3 are optional consonants. If C2 is present in the syllable, then it must have a higher sonority than C1, and must be of a different manner of articulation than C1. The C1+C2 sound /lɾ/ is illegal.

Examples of legal syllables:

• psun
• βe
• gɾiɾ
• klon
• nle
• mɾu
• sna

Examples of illegal syllables:

• pbun
• lne
• dga
• ɣziʂ

Lexical stress

Lexical stress of a word always falls on the penultimate syllable, or, in the case of a single-syllable word, that syllable. This rule is never broken, even with loanwords or morphological changes. A syllable being stressed means it can be pronounced with more emphasis — e.g. louder, with a longer vowel, etc. Single-syllable words may be pronounced as if it were unstressed if it would be easier to speak the sentence that way.

Unstressed syllables have their vowels reduced as such:

Orthography

Words and lettering

The legal syllables from the previous section, when written out in the above orthography, look like this:

• psun — psun
• βe — bьe
• gɾiɾ — grir
• klon — klon
• nle — nle
• mɾu — mru

Here is another example, a rough transliteration of the first part of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights from English (since syllables cannot start with vowels, any cases of this have been prepended with an l). Note that this is only meant to serve as a slightly longer example of the orthography and phonotactic rules at play, rather than provide an actual translation.

Lol kьuman binzi lar bor pьri lan likal lin digiti lan ras. Bьe lar lenda libь rizon lan konsьan lan sьu la tugьar lan lanabьar lin la siri lobь brabьakьu.

/lol 'xu.mən 'bin.zɪ laɾ boɾ ɸɾi lan 'li.kəl lin dɪ'gi.tɪ lan ɾas. βe laɾ 'len.də liβ 'ɾi.zən lan 'kon.ʂən lan ʂu la 'tu.ɣəɾ lan lə'na.βəɾ lin la 'si.ɾɪ loβ bɾə'βa.xʊ./

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Punctuation

The first letter of a sentence is punctuated. Inline quotations are indicated using quotes, "like this".

— As for dialog, well, it's done like this...

— Oh, I see, that's common across other languages, right?

— Yes, it is.

The other punctuation marks used are commas, full stops, semicolons, colons, ellipses, and parentheses. Their usages are the same as in English.

Alphabet

Morphology

The morphology is mixed concatenative-nonconcatenative. Roots are first taken, then transformed into verb, noun, adjectival, or adverbial forms. From there, those forms are inflected according to the desired morphology. Each root is defined by three consonants and one or two vowels. The consonants / vowels of a root are referred to by C1-C2-C3-V1 (in the case of single-vowel roots) or C1-C2-C3-V1-V2 (in the case of double-vowel roots). There are also special cases where a root has only two consonants and one vowel (C1-C2-V1).

If the inflection of a root creates a phonotactically invalid syllable, then you must logically follow this procedure to resolve it:

1. If swapping the illegal consonants in the syllable would resolve the conflict, then do so
2. If splitting the syllable at the illegal consonant line would resolve the conflict, then split the syllable into two by adding /o/ after the first consonant

Morphological changes are applied in this order:

1. Initial root is transformed to first root form
2. Ablaut is performed
3. Reduplication is performed
4. Word is inflected according to case / tense

First root forms

Example (1 vowel):

• Sьler — decay (noun)
• Sьelor — die (verb)
• Rolesь — dying (adjective)
• Relosь — dyingly (adverb)

Example (2 vowels):

• Kukьon — professional cooking (noun)
• Kkьuno — cook professionally (verb)
• Nokьuk — cooked professionally (adjective)
• Nokьuko — cooking professionally (abverb)

Example (special):

• Zьne — reality (noun)
• Zьen — be (verb)
• Nozьe — actual (adjective)
• Nezь — existing (adverb)

Noun morphology

Case marking

Plurality

Plurality is marked through reduplication of the first syllable, with the removal of the (if present) C3. For example:

• Zobuz — wild animal
• Zozobuz — wild animals
• Monizь — man
• Momonizь — men
• Pnir — woman
• Pnipnir — women

Agent nouns

Agent nouns are formed through reduplication of the last syllable, with the removal of the C1 and (if present) C2. For example:

• Kukьon — professional cooking
• Kukьonon — chef
• Lesьapь — professional driving
• Lesьapьapь — driver
• Kьobьet — romantic love
• Kьobьetet — lover

Verb morphology

Tense marking

Negation

Negation is achieved through reduplication of the first syllable, with the removal of the (if present) C3. For example:

• Rogod — murder
• Rorogod — not murder
• Zьen — be
• Zьezьen — not be
• Kkьuno — cook professionally
• Kkьukkьuno — not cook professionally

Reflexive verbs

Reflexive verbs are formed through reduplication of the last syllable, with the removal of the C1 and (if present) C2. For example:

• Rogod — murder
• Rogodod — kill oneself
• Kьebьot — love
• Kьebьotot — self-obsess

Adjective morphology

Case marking

Negation

Negation is achieved through reduplication of the first syllable, with the removal of the (if present) C3. For example:

• Rodo — big
• Rorodo — not big
• Nozьe — actual
• Nonozьe — not actual

Intensification

Intensification is achieved through reduplication of the last syllable, with the removal of the C1 and (if present) C2. For example:

• Rodo — big
• Rododo — stunningly massive
• Nokьuk — done with significant skill
• Nokьukuk — utterly prodigous
• Mopьuk — done with average skill
• Mopьukuk — profoundly mediocre

Pronouns

Personal

Possessive determiners

Conjunctions

Prepositions

TODO: write up.

Examples

UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1

Original:

All human beings are born free and equal and should be treated the same way.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Translation:

Lopa mamasьom sьegodan zokipьil de nozьel, de solun bьizьizь nezь.

TODO: finish writing up.

Pronunciation:

TODO: finish writing up.

Gloss:

TODO: finish writing up.

Translation back into English:

TODO: finish writing up.

Root dictionary

B-K-T-O

1. Artisanal
2. Craftsmanship

BЬ-ZЬ-I

1. Relationships, relate
2. Treat in some way
3. Interconnections, clues

D-R-O

1. Big or massive (size)
2. Highly important
3. Unexpectedness

ZЬ-N-E

1. Be, equal, connection
2. Existance, reality

Z-B-Z-U

1. Wild animal
2. Hostile wilderness
3. Animalistic danger

K-PЬ-M-U-O

1. Cook (for yourself)
2. Cooking generally at an amateur or average level
3. Performing any action at an average or unskilled level

K-KЬ-N-U-O

1. Cook (for someone else) with intensive care for the recipient
2. Cooking generally at a high level
3. Performing any action with skill and intentionality

L-SЬ-PЬ-E-A

1. Drive or conduct a vehicle professionally
2. Drive or conduct a vehicle as a learner / new driver
3. Drive or conduct a vehicle generally

M-N-ZЬ-I

1. Male
2. Masculinity

M-SЬ-M-A

1. Human
2. Personhood (legal or otherwise)

N-P-SЬ-I-E

1. Talking, conversation
2. Language
3. Linguistics or learning languages

P-L-A

1. Totality, everything, all

P-N-R-I

1. Female
2. Femininity

R-G-D-A

1. Murder, killing, destruction
2. Removal, causing something to stop existing

S-L-O

1. Necessity, should

PЬ-K-Z-I-O

1. Freedom and openness
2. Availability
3. Non-infringement

KЬ-BЬ-T-E

1. Love for something (romantic)
2. Lustful

GЬ-D-P-A-A

1. Love for something (non-romantic), appreciation
2. Passion or calling in life
3. Love for something (mockingly / fakely romantic)

SЬ-G-D-E

1. Birth (of a living creature)
2. Creation (of something artificial)
3. The natural life cycle

SЬ-L-R-E

1. Death from natural causes, passing away
2. Inevitable decay

Fixed dictionary

Zьen kьobьetetil zobuzipь

Lit. "to be a lover of the dangerous wilderness"

1. To frequently engage in reckless danger for fun

Nipekob

From Nipesь + Tokob, lit. "artisanal language"

1. (n.) Conlang

Nipozьe

From Nipesь + Nozьe, lit. "existing language"

1. (n.) Natural language