Volapük-inspired language (JFF)

[Xing]

Just for fun...

/p t t͡ʃ k/ <p t c k>
/b d d͡ʒ g/ <b d j g>
/f s ʃ h/ <f s x h>
/v~ʋ ʝ~j/ <v y>
/l/ <l>

/i e ɑ o u æ ø y/ <i e a o u ä ö ü>

Each root has the form CVC. /v j h/ cannot occur in coda; this gives us 15*8*12 = 1440 possible roots, which stands for basic concepts. More complex words may be formed through compounding or derivation.

Stress always falls on the last syllable.

Prefixes have the form CV- or just V-.
Suffixes have the form -VC or possibly just -V.

Some roots:

gon – to go
bin – to be
tek - to take
gib – to give
pik – to speak
sed – to say
lid – to read
lät – to write
sün – to see
höl – to hear
köp – to buy
söm – to sleep

fol - flower
don – house
göl – girl
pok – boy
buk – book
xop – shop
näm – name
kat – cat
tab – table

dan – and

Verb endings indicate the subject:

-em – 1s
-ed – 2s
-ek – 3s
-om - 1p
-od - 2p
-ok - 3p

The independent personal pronouns are:

nem – "I"
ned - "yoy" (sg)
nek – "he, she, it"
nom – "we"
nod – "you" (pl)
nok – "they"

Verbs also take prefixes, indicating tense/aspect and voice:

na- non-past active
sa- non-past passive
no- past active
so- past passive
nä- non-past perfect active
sä- non-past perfect passive
nö- past perfect active
sö- past perfect passive

Nouns take case prefixes:

u- to, towards
o- at, on
a- from
ü- into
ö- inside
ä- out of

Note that the "umlauted" forms indicate "inner" local cases, while the non-unlauted ones indicare "outer" cases, similar to what's found in Finnic languages. There's also:

i- accusative
e- genitive

The plural -le- goes between the case and the noun stem.

The predix ka- forms causative forms of verbs. It goes between the tense/voice marker and the verb root.

bön – to burn (intr.)
kabön – to burn (something; tr.)
döl – to die
kadöl – to kill

Some examples:

Dom nabönek. – "The house is burning."
dom n-a-bön-ek
house ACT-NPST-burn-3s

Pok näkabönek idom. – "The boy has burnt down the house."
pok n-ä-ka-bön-ek i-dom
boy ACT-NPST.PRF-CAUS-burn-3p ACC-house

Näm enem nabinek ... – "My name is ..."
näm e-nem n-a-bin-ek
name GEN-1p ACT-NPST-be-3s

Pok noköpek ifol ugöl axopfol. – "The boy bought the girl a flower from the florist."
pok n-o-köp-ek i-fol u-göl a-xop-fol
boy ACT-PST-buy-3p ACC-flower DAT-girl ABL-shop-flower

Lekat nasömok ödom. – "The cats are sleeping in the house."
le-kat n-a-söm-ok ö-dom
PL-cat ACT-NPST-sleep-3p INE-house

Näkadöled lekat. – "You have killed the cats."
n-ä-ka-döl-ed le-kat
ACT-NPST.PRF-CAUS-die-3p PL-cat

Lekat säkadölok. – "The cats have been killed."
le-kat s-ä-ka-döl-ok
PL-cat PASS-NPST.PRF-CAUS-die-3p

[Creyeditor]

I have to say, I really like this. A bit more Uralic (IMHO) than Volapük, but definitely in the spirit.

[zyma]

/p t t͡ʃ k/ <p t c k>
/b d d͡ʒ g/ <b d j g>
/f s ʃ h/ <f s x h>
/v~ʋ ʝ~j/ <v y>
/l/ <l>

/i e ɑ o u æ ø y/ <i e a o u ä ö ü>

This does look like a fun project! Are /v~ʋ ʝ~j/ in free variation?

Based on the examples below, it seems like /m n/ <m n> may have been left out here?

Each root has the form CVC. /v j h/ cannot occur in coda; this gives us 15*8*12 = 1440 possible roots, which stands for basic concepts. More complex words may be formed through compounding or derivation.

Are clusters allowed to arise through compounding, for example?

Nouns take case prefixes:

Can pronouns also take these prefixes?

Never mind, the answer is below in the examples!

Note that the "umlauted" forms indicate "inner" local cases, while the non-unlauted ones indicare "outer" cases, similar to what's found in Finnic languages.

Interesting!

The predix ka- forms causative forms of verbs. It goes between the tense/voice marker and the verb root.

I assume that there are some verbs that cannot take this prefix?

Pok näkabönek idom. – "The boy has burnt down the house."
pok n-ä-ka-bön-ek i-dom
boy ACT-NPST.PRF-CAUS-burn-3p ACC-house

Näm enem nabinek ... – "My name is ..."
näm e-nem n-a-bin-ek
name GEN-1p ACT-NPST-be-3s

Pok noköpek ifol ugöl axopfol. – "The boy bought the girl a flower from the florist."
pok n-o-köp-ek i-fol u-göl a-xop-fol
boy ACT-PST-buy-3p ACC-flower DAT-girl ABL-shop-flower

Näkadöled lekat. – "You have killed the cats."
n-ä-ka-döl-ed le-kat
ACT-NPST.PRF-CAUS-die-3p PL-cat

(Emphasis mine.)

Based on the morphemes used and the English translations, shouldn't these glosses be 3s, 1s, 3s, and 2s?