My hatelang: Omlűt

Post by **Creyeditor** » 13 Jun 2013 23:08

1. Introduction
I started Omlűt months ago as a hatelang to include all the linguistic features I don't like. 1. The name is inspired by a certain speaker of American English saying the German loanword ⟨Umlaut⟩ as [uːm.laut].2 Afterwards the name is explained as a conjugated form of ⟨omlut⟩ which means "to conversate, to talk to each other". It is spoken in a small, militaristic state (called Bólks) bent on world domination. There is a lot of dialectal variation, the descriptions usually refer to the northern dialect.

2. Phonem inventory
2.1 Vowels
Omlűt uses three root vowels. These are "umlauted" in compounds and for inflection. The result are 9 vowels plus binary length distinction. The short "umlauted" vowels also occur in derivational prefixes. Inflectional suffixes never use a vowel other than the schwa. This makes 19 vowels in total.

Spoiler:

2.2 Consonants
The consonant inventory looks somewhat butchered3. It is not very symetric and there are a lot of consonants. There are 7 places of articulation and 10 manners of articulation, in total 24 consonants.

Spoiler:

3. Some allophonic rules
/s/ is [ʃ] before any other consonant
vocalic onsets start with [ʔ]

4. Syllable structure
The syllable structure is (C)(C)(C)V(C)(C). Roots often use large clusters4, function words tend to be simpler. Inflectional endings use syllabic consonants sometimes. There is only a limited number of permitted onset and coda clusters.

Spoiler:

5. Romanization
The romanization is based on the western dialect to a certain amount. These affects especially the mid-open vowels.

Spoiler:

I hope this is enough for the first post. I would love to see some comments and opinions about this

1It turns out that I did not succeed. I really like Omlűt now.
2I think that is funny

3Hatelang like I said
4e.g.: /splurf/

Testyal · Post by **Testyal** » 14 Jun 2013 00:02

This must be one of the best ideas ever.

Ambrisio · Post by **Ambrisio** » 14 Jun 2013 00:08

Here's a challenge for you: Try creating a descendant of German (or any other natlang you wish to use) with all the features you hate.

Post by **Creyeditor** » 15 Jun 2013 16:07

testyal1 wrote:This must be one of the best ideas ever.

Thanks

6. The "Umlauts"
Old Omlűt allowed full vowels5 in post-root suffixes. These vowels were reduced to schwa but affected the root vowel via Cheshirization. They are essential for the noun declensions and the verb conjugations.

Code: Select all

i  u  a   root vowels
i: y  ɛ   i-mutation
e  o  a:  a-mutation
y  u: ɔ   u-mutation
e: ø  ɛ:  i+a-mutation
ø: y: ø   i+u-mutation
ø  o: ɔ:  a+u-mutation

5Full vowel means /i/,/u/,/a/ in this context.

Post by **Creyeditor** » 26 Jun 2013 20:47

7. The cases
Omlűt has a nominative-accusative case alignment with a marked nominative and an unmarked accusative. It also has a dative used for recipients and a comitative, which is sometimes used as a genitve but never as an instrumental. The commitative is used instead of a conjunction "and" most of the times. Adpositions take the accusative. The dative can be used in many occasions where you would not expect it.

8. The grammatical numbers
Singular, dual and plural are the numbers of Omlűt. Dual is only used for pairs. Use of dual for two things that are not a pair is very rare.

9. The genders
The genders are labeled masculine, feminine and neuter. Masculine and feminime are used mostly for inanimate objects, which are thereby divided into two classes. Human nouns are mostly refered to as neuter. If you want to emphasize the sex of a human or an animal, you can also use them as masculine or feminine noun forms.

10. An overview to noun morphology

Spoiler:

shanoxilt · Post by **shanoxilt** » 30 May 2016 10:38

Does anyone else have a similar project that consists of only features they despise?

Post by **Creyeditor** » 17 Jun 2016 00:40

I don't know of any similar projects ...
(Epic necro ahead .... )

How about some verbal inflection:

11. Verbal agreement
Omlűt distinguishes 12 different person in its verbal inflection.6 How do these come about, you might ask. There are three different persons (1st,2nd,3rd) an inclusive vs. exclusive distinction in first person and three grammatical numbers (singular, dual, plural). Dual is used more frequently in verbal conjugation than it is in nominal declension, which sometimes leads to situations where a plural noun might trigger dual agreement. The third person singular is the most unmarked form for all aspects. Verbal agreement markers usually occur without an overt pronoun.
Examples:

Blun ultn.
/blun ultn/
blun ult-n
shine.3SG.IPFV sun-N.SG.NOM
The sun shines.

Qahëtë írdën ünkën ühën erdörmëm
/ˈqa.ə.tə ˈʔiːr.dən ˈʔyn.kən ˈʔy.ən ʔer.ˈdør.mən/
qa-ëtë ird\i-ën unk\i-ën u\i-ën er-darm\iu-ëm
3.SG-MASC.SG.DAT loudest\-FEM.SG.COM roar\-FEM.SG.COM INDEF\-FEM.SG.COM AUG-greet-1.SG.IPFV
I will greet him with a loud roar.

Skusp snrűs enst.
/ʃkuʃp ʃnryːs ʔenʃt/
skusp snru\iu-s ins\a-st
not enemy-N.PL.ACC eat_a_human\-3.PL.PFV
They did not eat up their enemies.

12. Aspects
There are two grammatical aspects in Omlűt: perfective and imperfective. The aspect conjugation is fused with person conjugation. Sometimes perfective aspect is also used with a more past-like meaning.7
Examples:

Szokolátsraigtvirs u enilbëmë.
/ʂo.ko.ˈlaːts.rɛgt.ˈvirs ʔu ʔe.ˈnil.bə.mə/
szokolats\a-ragt\i-virs u en-ilb-ëmë
chocolate-bake-part.ACC INDEF.ACC VLZ.TRANS-food-1.SG.PFV
I ate a chocolate cookie.

Szokolátsraigtvirs u enőlbëm.
/ʂo.ko.ˈlaːts.rɛgt.ˈvirs ʔu ʔe.ˈnøːl.bəm/
szokolats\a-ragt\i-virs u en-ilb\iu-ëm
chocolate-bake-part.ACC INDEF.ACC VLZ.TRANS-food-1.SG.IPFV
I'm eating a chocolate cookie.

13. Other (semi-)inflectional categories.
Verbs can also be nominalized by adding the suffix -<ërë> and are used as nouns. If they are subordinated (e.g. used with an auxiliary verb), they sometimes take a participle suffix -<ënë>.
Examples:

Plank Omlűt am lutërë u am sprűnkëm.
/plank ˈʔom.lyːt ʔam ˈlu.tə.rə ʔu ʔam ˈʃpryːn.kəm/
in_fact omlűt.ACC out_of speak-NMLZ INDEF.ACC out_of draw\-1SG.IPFV
In fact I write "out of" a language in Omlűt.

Skusp am mamambam qa ströst lutënë.8
/ʃkuʃp ʔam ma.ˈmam.bam qa ʃtrøʃt ˈlu.tə.nə/
skusp am mamambam qa strast\-iu lut-ënë
NEG out_of malambam.ACC 3.SG.ACC be_able\1SG.IPFV speak-PTCP
I cannot express this in Mamambam.

14. An Overview of verbal inflectional morphology

Spoiler:

Example paradigm

Spoiler:

6 This is a lie.
7 Mainly because at the time I did the transalation, I sometimes mixed the two up.
8 <strast> is an irregular verb.

Edit: Added phonological forms.

zyma · Post by **zyma** » 24 Jun 2016 02:45

Everything looks great here so far; hopefully we'll get to see more soon! I can't believe I hadn't seen this thread before now.

Creyeditor wrote: I started Omlűt months ago as a hatelang to include all the linguistic features I don't like. 1.

Creyeditor wrote:1It turns out that I did not succeed. I really like Omlűt now.

Fascinating idea! And heh.

Creyeditor wrote: The name is inspired by a certain speaker of American English saying the German loanword ⟨Umlaut⟩ as [uːm.laut].2

Out of curiosity, how would you like English speakers to say it?

Creyeditor wrote: Afterwards the name is explained as a conjugated form of ⟨omlut⟩ which means "to conversate, to talk to each other".

How is it conjugated? That is to say, what does the conjugated form mean?

Creyeditor wrote:The dative can be used in many occasions where you would not expect it.

Such as?

Creyeditor wrote: Masculine and feminime are used mostly for inanimate objects, which are thereby divided into two classes. Human nouns are mostly refered to as neuter.

Creyeditor wrote:Dual is used more frequently in verbal conjugation than it is in nominal declension, which sometimes leads to situations where a plural noun might trigger dual agreement.

Interesting!

GrandPiano · Post by **GrandPiano** » 24 Jun 2016 02:55

shimobaatar wrote:
Creyeditor wrote: The name is inspired by a certain speaker of American English saying the German loanword ⟨Umlaut⟩ as [uːm.laut].2
Out of curiosity, how would you like English speakers to say it?

I thought the same thing, since that's how I've always said it (substituting [æʊ̯] for [au̯]). According to Wiktionary, it can also be pronounced /ˈʊmlaʊ̯t/ or, in the UK, /ˈʌmlaʊ̯t/, and the pronunciation /ˈuːmlaʊ̯t/ is chiefly American.

qwed117 · Post by **qwed117** » 24 Jun 2016 03:04

I've always never said it. But if I had to say it, it would be [əmlɑʔ]

GrandPiano · Post by **GrandPiano** » 24 Jun 2016 03:52

qwed117 wrote:I've always never said it. But if I had to say it, it would be [əmlɑʔ]

wintiver · Post by **wintiver** » 24 Jun 2016 05:39

GrandPiano wrote:
qwed117 wrote:I've always never said it. But if I had to say it, it would be [əmlɑʔ]

That's approximately my pronunciation really. My final <t> sounds typically are realized as glottal stops.

HoskhMatriarch · Post by **HoskhMatriarch** » 24 Jun 2016 06:42

Umm, all the phonemes in the German word Umlaut are found in major dialects of English, and they're not in any weird order, so you should be able to get closer than that without spending hours practicing new sounds or sequences...

GrandPiano · Post by **GrandPiano** » 24 Jun 2016 06:55

wintiver wrote:
GrandPiano wrote:
qwed117 wrote:I've always never said it. But if I had to say it, it would be [əmlɑʔ]

That's approximately my pronunciation really. My final <t> sounds typically are realized as glottal stops.

I was just surprised by how radically different your pronunciation is from anything I've heard, especially the /ɑ/ for <au> (although in retrospect, that might not be so strange depending on what mergers your dialect has).

Sumelic · Post by **Sumelic** » 24 Jun 2016 08:00

HoskhMatriarch wrote:Umm, all the phonemes in the German word Umlaut are found in major dialects of English, and they're not in any weird order, so you should be able to get closer than that without spending hours practicing new sounds or sequences...

German /ʊ/ is often quite different in quality from English /ʊ/. My /ʊ/ is even more fronted than my /uː/; the nearest German vowel to it is probably /œ/. So I'd feel a bit odd using it for the first vowel in Umlaut. (The diphthong is also different, although it's not as noticeable since it's not in such a crowded region of the vowel chart, and the gliding direction is distinctive enough to avoid confusion. My /aʊ/ starts out with a fronter vowel than German /aʊ/).

Post by **Creyeditor** » 24 Jun 2016 12:41

shimobaatar wrote:Everything looks great here so far; hopefully we'll get to see more soon! I can't believe I hadn't seen this thread before now.

Thank you

shimobaatar wrote:
Creyeditor wrote: The name is inspired by a certain speaker of American English saying the German loanword ⟨Umlaut⟩ as [uːm.laut].2
Out of curiosity, how would you like English speakers to say it?

Well in German it's [ˈʔʊm.laʊ̯t] and I think I would be happy if all the u's would be lax. Having the first u a bit fronted is not that big of a deal, it was more the length and timing characteristics, that made the u's so much more prominent, I guess.

shimobaatar wrote:
Creyeditor wrote: Afterwards the name is explained as a conjugated form of ⟨omlut⟩ which means "to conversate, to talk to each other".
How is it conjugated? That is to say, what does the conjugated form mean?

Okay, so the verb stem is the root <lut> 'speak' with a prefix <om-> for reciprocal actions. The verb root shows i-umlaut and u-umlaut. This happens in the 1PL.INCL form of the imperfective, which in other circumstances would have a schwa suffix. This is deleted in the name of the language, because it is so frequently used.

shimobaatar wrote:
Creyeditor wrote:The dative can be used in many occasions where you would not expect it.
Such as?

It is used for objects of perception verbs.

Qahëtë spröpëm.
Qa-ëtë sprap\iu-ëm
3.SG-MASC.SG.DAT see\-1.SG.IPFV
I see him.

It is also used for a local adverbial adjunct to verbs, where it relatively clear, if it is referring to a direction, a goal or a stative location.

Stráundstë erblon ultn.
strand\au-stë er-blun\a ult-n
fleet\-FEM.SG.DAT AUG-shine\3.SG.PFV sun-N.SG.NOM
The sun shone at the float so much.

HoskhMatriarch · Post by **HoskhMatriarch** » 25 Jun 2016 04:06

GrandPiano wrote:
wintiver wrote:
GrandPiano wrote:
qwed117 wrote:I've always never said it. But if I had to say it, it would be [əmlɑʔ]

That's approximately my pronunciation really. My final <t> sounds typically are realized as glottal stops.
I was just surprised by how radically different your pronunciation is from anything I've heard, especially the /ɑ/ for <au> (although in retrospect, that might not be so strange depending on what mergers your dialect has).

Well, I'm pretty sure they were using spelling pronunciation, since <au> is usually /ɑ/ in American dialects, and unstressed <u> is usually /ə/.

Sumelic wrote:
HoskhMatriarch wrote:Umm, all the phonemes in the German word Umlaut are found in major dialects of English, and they're not in any weird order, so you should be able to get closer than that without spending hours practicing new sounds or sequences...
German /ʊ/ is often quite different in quality from English /ʊ/. My /ʊ/ is even more fronted than my /uː/; the nearest German vowel to it is probably /œ/. So I'd feel a bit odd using it for the first vowel in Umlaut. (The diphthong is also different, although it's not as noticeable since it's not in such a crowded region of the vowel chart, and the gliding direction is distinctive enough to avoid confusion. My /aʊ/ starts out with a fronter vowel than German /aʊ/).

I said that the phonemes were the same, not that they were precisely the same in phonetic detail.

zyma · Post by **zyma** » 25 Jun 2016 04:09

Creyeditor wrote: Well in German it's [ˈʔʊm.laʊ̯t] and I think I would be happy if all the u's would be lax. Having the first u a bit fronted is not that big of a deal, it was more the length and timing characteristics, that made the u's so much more prominent, I guess.

Ah, OK, that's about what I figured. Thanks for your responses!

GrandPiano · Post by **GrandPiano** » 25 Jun 2016 04:37

HoskhMatriarch wrote:
GrandPiano wrote:
wintiver wrote:
GrandPiano wrote:
qwed117 wrote:I've always never said it. But if I had to say it, it would be [əmlɑʔ]

That's approximately my pronunciation really. My final <t> sounds typically are realized as glottal stops.
I was just surprised by how radically different your pronunciation is from anything I've heard, especially the /ɑ/ for <au> (although in retrospect, that might not be so strange depending on what mergers your dialect has).
Well, I'm pretty sure they were using spelling pronunciation, since <au> is usually /ɑ/ in American dialects, and unstressed <u> is usually /ə/.

My dialect (I'm American) distinguishes between /ɒ/ for <au>, <aw>, and some short <o>, and /ɑ/ for broad <a> and most short <o>, which is why I found the /ɑ/ for <au> unusual at first.

Post by **Creyeditor** » 12 Jul 2016 00:32

15. Basic word order
The basic word order in Omlűt is XOVS9. Yes, the weirdest word order XOVS. At least that's what I intended. It turns out, that in combination with the marked nominative alignment and subject pro-drop it actually looks quite naturalistic. Most sentences transitive now look more like OV, XOV or XV, which is appears in a lot of prodrop language. Have some examples.

OV10
Qahëtë spröpëm.
qa-ëtë sprap\iu-ëm
3.SG-MASC.SG.DAT see\-1.SG.IPFV
I see him.

XOV
Skusp snrűs enst.
skusp snru\iu-s ins\a-st
not enemy-N.PL.ACC eat_a_human\-3.PL.PFV
They did not eat up their enemies.

XV
Yeksën írdën trem.
yaks\i-ën ird\i-ən trim\a
bang\-COM.SG.FEM loudest\-COM.SG.FEM disappear\3.SG.PFV
It vanished with a bang, louder than anything else around.

XOV
Zhürfmirz am qa fosprapëmë.
zhürfmirz-Ø am qa-Ø fo-sprap-ëmë
dictionary-ACC urban out_of 3.SG-ACC VOL-perceive-1.SG.PFV
I just looked it up in the dictionary.

Intransitive sentences have a XVS or VS order, which is not to bad, if you look at it from a typological perspective.

VS
Blun ultn.
blun ult-n
shine.3.SG.IPFV sun-NEU.SG.NOM
The sun shines.

XVS
Yeksën írdën trem knólfs.
yaks\i-ën ird\i-ən trim\a knulf\au-s
bang\-COM.SG.FEM loudest\-COM.SG.FEM disappear\3.SG.PFV courage\-NOM.SG.FEM
My courage vanished with a bang, louder than anything else around.

In transitive sentences with a full noun phrase subject, it almost feels as if one is just reintroducing the subject due to the marked nominative and the verbal agreement. Something like: "bread he-eats ... oh and he is a robot by the way." The basic orders are OVS and XOVS.

OVS
Krulm kvobs kváugs.
ilf krulm-Ø kvub-s\a kvags-s\au
ball-SG.ACC kick-\3.SG.PFV girl-\F.SG.NOM
The girl kicked the ball.

XOVS

Skups snrűs enst kváugsës.
skups snru\iu-s ins\a-st kvags\au-ës
not enemy-N.PL.ACC eat_a_human\-3.PL.PFV girl-\F.PL.NOM
The girls did not eat up their enemies.

Now you have seen almost the whole ugliness of the Omlűt syntax. I guess my next post will either be about noun phrases or verb phrases.

9 X means adverbial phrase/ prepositional phrase.
10 maybe also XV, since I don't know yet if I consider these real objects.

The CBB

My hatelang: Omlűt

My hatelang: Omlűt

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