Máchôi (Based off Japanese... in a way)

[brnath]

My newest idea for a Conlang incorporated a couple of things that I had been wanting to include previously.
• A simple phonology with a decent amount of sounds and easy syllable structure.
• Distinguishing vowel length
• Simple way to derive words and connect vocabulary together. (have a basis for etymology)

PHONOLOGY
• Consonants (all pronounced as English except th, dh)
p t th (dental) k b d dh (dental) g
s sh z
ts ch dz j
l m n w y

• Vowels
a [a] e [e] o [ʌ] u [ɯ] i â [ɒ] ê [œ] ô [o] û

Syllable structure is CV or CV́ (long vowel)


I'm studying Japanese and I love how when Kanji are combined to make a word, the ON-YOMI is used, however when the character stands alone, the KUN-YOMI is used. The words are technically connected, although it can't be heard in speech. For example 植物 (shokubutsu) is the word for "plants", but SHOKU and BUTSU are on-yomi. The KUNs are completely different (植 is u(eru) and 物 is mono. But 植物 conveys the meaning of the KUN-yomi together in a word. I wanted to mirror this in my language.

Now, in Japanese there is no obvious connection between a characters ON and KUN readings. (高港行幸考 are all KOU but taka(i), minato, i(ku), shiawa(se), and kanga(eru).) However, in Máchôi there is a connection!

Normal words are simply CV in structure. All words have a "contracted form" which is used to form compound words. I realize this sounds a little confusing. Here's an example:

hôsi means "go" and numa is "house"

the contracted form of "hôsi" is formed with the first syllable and final vowel –––> hôi
the contracted form of "numa" is formed with the first syllable elongated ––––––> nú

hôinú therefore means "going home". The contracted form basically works like ON-YOMI in Japanese.

[Lao Kou]

高港行幸考 are all KOU

As is 彄! All KOU, all the time. WKOU, Springfield. KOU~~~!

Spoiler:

(but taka(i), minato, i(ku), shiawa(se), and kanga(eru))

and in the case of 彄, yugake/yuhazu

We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread.

[Thakowsaizmu]

• Consonants (all pronounced as English except th, dh)

Can you give the IPA anyway? Because even with consonants, there is a great variation between dialects insofar as English pronunciation.

That is to say, is your <t> [tʰ][t][ɾ][ʔ][t̚]?

[Runomso]

This sounds really interesting, especially the contracted form of the words. Also, I like its Japanese-like phonology, and that there are so many vowels and rather few consonants.
I have some questions: Is there a pitch accent like in Japanese? Why do you mark long vowels with an acute instead of a macron? Are there any allophones?
Hope you will post some more soon

[brnath]

This sounds really interesting, especially the contracted form of the words. Also, I like its Japanese-like phonology, and that there are so many vowels and rather few consonants.
I have some questions: Is there a pitch accent like in Japanese? Why do you mark long vowels with an acute instead of a macron? Are there any allophones?
Hope you will post some more soon

So far, I haven't decided on a strict pitch accent, but I was wondering if I should to eliminate homophones. What I had been thinking was depending on the consonant that comes after a vowel and whether it is voiced or unvoiced would affect the accent.
hôsi has an unvoiced 's' so it would have a LH rising sequence or LL at the end
numa has a voiced 'm' so it would have a HL falling sequence

therefore hôinú would be LHHL

if some other words (hômi and nuta, lets say) formed a compound that was also hôinú, then the accent could be different. With hômi and nuta it would be HLLL.


THE reason I use acute accents instead of macrons is to make typing long â ê ô and û easier and nicer looking, because â̄? ugly.
BUT... ấ ? nicer. therefore i have ấ ế ố and û́.

[clawgrip]

I have a question. In Japanese, the difference between on and kun is etymological, e.g. shoku is a Chinese loan, while ueru is native vocabulary. What is the source of you two differring compounding forms? Are the compounding forms of hôsi and numa formed differently due to differing verb class (e.g. verb vs. noun, or something else), or can both words be put into both forms depending on the specific grammatical function the word is being used for, or is it all irregular, or something else?

[brnath]

I have a question. In Japanese, the difference between on and kun is etymological, e.g. shoku is a Chinese loan, while ueru is native vocabulary. What is the source of you two differring compounding forms? Are the compounding forms of hôsi and numa formed differently due to differing verb class (e.g. verb vs. noun, or something else), or can both words be put into both forms depending on the specific grammatical function the word is being used for, or is it all irregular, or something else?

The contracted form of all words is formed depending on the vowel sounds that make up the first and last syllables. The coda of the contracted form is either a diphthong or an extended/long vowel sound.
1. DIPHTHONG- in order for the contracted form to be a diphthong, the vowel sounds in the first and last syllables must be able to "blend" into one of the following options: ia iâ ie iê io iô iu iû (i– prefixed) or ai âi ei êi oi ôi ui ûi (-i suffixed). This means if the first syllable has an 'i' sound, a prefixing form will be made, and if the last syllable has an 'i' sound, then an suffixing form will be made.
EXAMPLES
Prefixing i– dima –––> dia, bitu –––> biu, sike –––> sie
Suffixing –i hôsi –––> hôi, duni –––> dui, mâti –––> mâi

2. LONG VOWEL– if no diphthong can be formed, the first syllable is simply extended to a long vowel (marked with ´)
EXAMPLES:
numa (u + a, no diphthong) –––> nú
kôku (ô + u, no diphthong) –––> kố
masa (a + a, no diphthong) –––> má

Contracted forms are supposed to be a representation of the entire word in a single syllable. A diphthong captures the beginning and end, while a long vowel captures the beginning, but stretches the vowel sound to accompany the rest of the word. Diphthongs and long vowels are not seen in regular vocabulary, so whenever one is seen, you know you are looking at a contracted form.

Hope that explanation made sense to you! Thanks for the comment.