The CBB

Vaq arqayax arqayaseni.
[ʋɑq ˈɑrqɑjɑx ˌɑrqɑjɑseˈni]
be-PRS-1SG king-PL king-3PL.POSS



Ես արքաների արքան եմ։
Yes arkʿaneri arkʿan em.
1SG king-PL-DAT king-DEF be-1SG.PRS

Following my love of Caucasian (mostly Northeast) languages and a need for a grim proto-language, I've developed the following two potential proto-phonologies: Jheurłachi Nasals: /m n ŋ/ ⟨m n ṇ⟩ Voiceless plosives: /p pˤ t tˤ k kˤ q qˤ/ ⟨p ṗ t ṭ k ḳ q q̇⟩ Voiced plosives: /b bˤ d dˤ g gˤ ɢ ɢˤ/ ⟨b ḅ ...

So recently, I've picked up Armenian and had a problem with the pronunciation of ր - almost every single academic resource gives it as /ɾ/, yet that's not what I hear in many cases. I usually hear some strange variation on /ʒ/ or even /ɹ/ (and not from the speakers of different Armenian dialects, bu...

Next: ṣubbaqwáro [ˌsˤɯ̞bːaˈqʷáɾo] - noun an amazing, astonishing thing, a surprise subbaquar [ˈsubːɑquɑ̯r] "miracle, wonder, marvel; phenomenon" Next: dhewesteb [ˈðɛʋɛˌstɛb]/[ˈðɛwɛˌstɛb] adj. pushy, big-mouthed, overly candid zêstyu [ˈzɛːscu] "vain, conceited, arrogant, haughty"...

Shurian .ܣܪ ܘܚܫܝܕܝ ܘܚܫܝܕܝܚܢ Sar okhshêday okhshêdayakhan. [sɑr ɔχˈʃɛːdɑi̯ ɔχˌʃɛːdɑjɑˈχɑn] be-1SG.IMPERF king king-PL.GEN "I am the king of kings." Not too impressive, and all around boring. One could rephrase this as: .ܣܨܪ ܘܚܫܝܕܝܟܫܪ ܐܪܚܢܚܣܝܘܗ Satsur okhshêdayakshar arkhanakhsayûh. [ˈsɑtsu...

Now I'm not quite so sure how logical it is to include a reciprocal pronoun with a reciprocal verb, so I just drop it with the accusative, and decline it elsewhere, until I figure out what to do. Symiric Jatraširmata šormoh. [ˈjɑtrɑʃirmɑtɑ ˈʃo̞rmo̞x] meet-RECI-3PL.PRF child-PL The children met each ...

Can a nominative-accusative language derive from an absolutive-ergative proto-language?

Theoretically by making the passive tense into a regular present one, by some other eldritch means?

In that case, Wikipedia has failed me once again, as it clearly mentions that tenuis means unpal. and unphar. as well. As for your second point, I'm not sure I quite understand what you're saying, seeing as I'm not actually deriving the phar. set from anything, really; and if my proto-language has ...

Actually, I'm not planning on deriving pharyngealisation; rather, my proto-language would have a three-way contrast (between, pal., tenuis, and phar. consonants), and I would derive voiced and voiceless consonants from the tenuis and phar. contrast. [but if you derived your pharyngealisation like I...

Actually, I'm not planning on deriving pharyngealisation; rather, my proto-language would have a three-way contrast (between, pal., tenuis, and phar. consonants), and I would derive voiced and voiceless consonants from the tenuis and phar. contrast. [but if you derived your pharyngealisation like Ir...

Thank you for your answers, y'all. I've used pharyngealization > voicing for stops on the basis that a pharyngealized stop cannot also be aspirated, and that unaspirated stops tend to become voiced stops. I don't think it would help for fricatives though. I'm not quite so sure about that point, thou...

Does it make sense for a language to have a three-way contrast between plain, palatilised, and pharyngealised consonants?

And would a pharyngeal plosive/fricative have more chances of becoming voiced, compared to a plain plosive/fricative?

Tyiwṙathyajuna kyëhli

Askyarë arwyura jotūwēkṭinga ṇarrun hyuska koprusya.
[ˈasʲcar ˈarʲwura ˌjotuːˈweːqtˤiŋa ˈɴarːun ˈçuska ˈkoprusʲa]
walk-1SG.IMPERF forest-LOC what.time-ADV fall-3SG.PERF branch head-1SG.POSS-LAT
"I was walking in the forest when a branch fell on my head."

I've decided to use the following as my proto-conlang phonology: /m n ŋ/ /mʲ nʲ ŋʲ/ /ŋˤ/ (= [ɴ]) /p t k pʲ tʲ kʲ pˤ tˤ kˤ/ (/kʲ kˤ/ = [c q]) /θ s ʃ x θʲ sʲ ʃʲ xʲ θˤ sˤ ʃˤ xˤ/ (/ʃʲ ʃˤ xʲ xˤ/ = [ɕ ʂ ç X]) /w j/ /l r lʲ rʲ lˤ rˤ/ ([lʲ lˤ] = [ʎ ɫ]) Basic five vowel (/a e i o u/) system with an additiona...

Next: faivonai [ɸajβonaj] vi. involve, insert, introduce Oido pagibonagi /pagibonagi/ [paiβõɹai] 'bring in, reel in, draw in, mix in' Next: dangagodo /daŋagodo/ [dãwaoðo ~ dãwaolo] 'lute, stringed instrument with a neck' davõdh [ˈdɑʋɨθ] "(any) string instrument" davul [ˈdɑʋul] "to pl...

Corphishy wrote: ↑08 Mar 2018 12:28aizök [aizøk] n. yolk

eizö [ˈe̞i̯zø̞] n. - egg

Next: võrzambar [ˈʋɨrzɑmbɑr] n. - werewolf

Dormouse559 wrote: ↑08 Mar 2018 00:30

shimobaatar wrote: ↑07 Mar 2018 23:25¿Hua habeç uisane cuçane monstrunes?
Who's been kissing monsters?

Ah, jou vee. Tan de çerdre Team Edward ou Team Jacob.
Ah, I see. Time to pick Team Edward or Team Jacob.

Öndör dustur.
What heresy.

Yes, that makes sense. Thank you very much!

I've been using this weird system of harmony in my conlang, which I've called [the system] rhotic harmony , that means that /r/ can't (usually) follow another /r/, so the /r/ becomes /l/, and vice versa. For example: The stem of "rule" is vel- , but becomes verül in the infinitive form (be...

I always enjoy your anthropologically-loaded conlangs, Shemtov. A read excerpt would be great.