For the past few days, I've been toying with the idea of a descendant of Spanish in which all words are monosyllabic. I posted about a similar concept a few years ago; this time, however, I am going for total monosyllabism, and I have some new ideas that have led to a fairly different result from before. I'm generally aiming for naturalism, so let me know if anything seems unnaturalistic apart from the extreme amount of vowel deletion. The name of the language, Spiú /spjuː/, is a direct reflex of Spanish español.
Phonology & orthography
/p t tʃ ʈ k/ <p t ch tr~rt c~qu>
/b d dʒ ɖ ɡ/ <b d dy dr~rd g>
/f s ʃ x~χ/ <f s sh j>
/v z ʒ ɣ~ʁ/ <v z y rr>
/m n ɳ/ <m n nr~rn>
/l ɾ j w/ <l r i u>
[x ɣ] are in free variation with [χ ʁ]. /ə/ is often realized closer to [ɜ~ɐ] when stressed. Voiced stop phonemes (which derive from Spanish voiceless stops) are always realized as stops.
/ʈ ɖ ɳ/ are written <tr dr nr> in the onset and <rt rd rn> in the coda.
Similar to Spanish, /k/ is written <c> before any of <a á o ó u ú> and <qu> before any of <e é i í> (<g>, however, always represents /ɡ/).
/ɛ ɔ/ are normally written <e o>, but they are written <ae ao> when they are synchronically the result of ablaut in adjective and verb forms (see below).
/wɛ/ and /jɔ/ are written <üe> and <ïo>, respectively, to avoid confusion with /ʏ/ <ue> and /ɯ̽/ <io>.
The cluster /ks/ is written <x>, as in Spanish, except in verb forms when the /k/ and /s/ are separated in other forms, as in csá "to marry", caos "I marry".
Sound changes
Spiú isn't based on a particular Spanish dialect, but I based the sound changes on common phonological features in Latin America, such as seseo and [dʒ] or [ʒ] for /ʝ/ (which in Spiú becomes /ʒ/ and /ʃ/).
Spoiler:
All Spanish word-final consonants are ultimately lost or vocalized:
Coda /d/ and /ɾ/ are deleted, with compensatory lengthening of a preceding stressed vowel: pared > pré "wall", amar > má "to love"
Coda /s/ originally becomes [h], and then is deleted with compensatory lengthening of a preceding stressed vowel: más > má "more"
Before this happens, word-initial vowels before sC clusters are deleted, so that /s/ is not lost in those cases: escuela > scuel "school"
Coda nasals are deleted, originally with nasalization and compensatory lengthening of a preceding stressed vowel. The nasalization was eventually lost, leaving only the lengthening: con > *cun > cú "with"
The loss of vowel nasalization occurs after the deletion of all unstressed vowels. When unstressed vowels are deleted, word-initial unstressed nasal vowels become nasal consonants with the same POA as the following consonant: andar > *ãdá > ndá "to go"
Coda /l/ is vocalized to /w/, which later coalesces with the preceding vowel, forming a long vowel: animal > mniáo "animal"
The word-final /x/ in Spanish reloj was already lost before the other coda consonants were deleted, and did not cause compensatory lengthening: reloj > jlo "clock"
/e o/ reduce to /i u/ and /a/ reduces to [ə] in unstressed positions, including in monosyllabic words that are normally unstressed: me > mi "me", no > nu "not".
/b/ becomes /v/ in the onset except after /m/ and before /w/; /bw/ becomes /w/, and coda /b/ is lost: boca > vog "mouth", cambio > cáeb "change (noun)", bueno > ueon "good", obtengo > déog "I obtain"
/d/ is deleted in all positions except after /n/ and /l/ (this occurs before the loss of coda /ɾ/, so -rd- reduces to -r-): duro > ur "hard", mirando > mbráod "looking (at)", cerdo > seor "pig"
/ɡ/ becomes /ɣ/ at the beginning of a word and in the onset of a stressed syllable and is deleted everywhere else except after /n/. /ɡw/ becomes /w/. Between a stressed vowel and a consonant, /ɡ/ causes compensatory lengthening: gato > rrod "cat", sangre > sáerg "blood", tigre > tír "tiger", guante > uát "glove"
A sequence of a stressed vowel followed by unstressed /a/ [ə] coalesces into a long vowel: metía > mdí "was putting", nada > *naa > ná "nothing"
/ʝ/ [dʒ] becomes /ʒ/. This /ʒ/ becomes [ʃ] word-initially, which will later become an independent phoneme when unstressed vowels are deleted.
Voiceless obstruents /p t tʃ k f s x/ voice to /b d dʒ ɡ v z ɣ/ between most voiced segments. /p t tʃ k/ do not voice after nasals (where voiced stops are retained): toco > tug "I touch", antes > áet "before"
Clusters of /ɾ/ and /t d n/ coalesce into /ʈ ɖ ɳ/; this occurs before deletion of coda /ɾ/. If /ɾ/ occurs after a stressed vowel, it causes compensatory lengthening: tres > tré /ʈeː/ "three", carne > cáern /kɛːɳ/ "meat", otro > urd /ʊɖ/ "other"
/r/ becomes /ʁ/. /ʁ/ devoices to [χ] word-initially, which later becomes a separate phoneme. /ʁ χ/ then merge with /ɣ x/: arriba > rrif "up", rey > jí "king"
/ɲ/ merges with /j/: año > *aiu > áe "year"
Stressed vowels assimilate to final unstressed /i/ and /u/, or to /j/ or /w/ if they occur first: Before /i/ or /j/, /a e o u/ become [ɛ i ø y]; before /u/ or /w/, /a e i o/ become [ɔ ɤ ɯ u]. Long vowels undergo the same changes. /ji/ becomes /i/: temo > *temu > teom "I fear", teme/temes/temen > *temi > tim "you/he/she/they fear(s)", apio > *abiu > eb "celery", visto > *vítu > víot "seen", siete > *siedi > sid "seven"
All unstressed vowels are deleted. When this creates unwieldy consonant clusters, various strategies are employed to make the word pronounceable, for example:
Due to the deletion of unstressed vowels, the new vowel phones are now independent phonemes.
Short /a e i o u ø y ɤ ɯ/ become [ə ɛ ɪ ɔ ʊ œ ʏ ʌ ɯ̽]. As a result, short /e o/ and /ɛ ɔ/ merge.
Final voiced fricatives are devoiced: casa > *caz > cas "house", miraba > *mbrav > mbraf "was looking (at)"
Grammar
Nouns
Due to the loss of Spanish final -s, nouns are not directly marked for number. Nouns that would have different singular and plural forms due to other sound changes are generally regularized so that the historical singular form is used for both (e.g. pared "wall" > pré "wall(s)", cf. paredes "walls" > *prí), though a few nouns that are more commonly used in the plural use the plural form (e.g. veces "times" > vis "time(s)", cf. vez "time" > *vé).
Number is still marked on definite articles and possessive determiners, however. Definite articles are also marked for gender. The definite articles are m. sg. io, f. sg. la, m. pl. lú, and f. pl. lá (io and lú derive from Spanish el and los via reduced forms *il and *lus; io is shortened from earlier *ío). The indefinite articles are marked for gender as well: m. ú, f. un. The possessive determiners are described under "Pronouns" below.
Pronouns
The subject pronouns are as follows:
1SG: sho
2SG: vó
3SG: éo (m.), esh (f.)
1PL: nzurd
2PL: tí
3PL: eosh (m.), esh (f.)
Nzurd once had a now-obsolete feminine form nzord. An alternative 2SG pronoun tu and a formal 2SG pronoun té are retained in some dialects but have generally fallen out of use.
The object pronouns are as follows:
1SG: mi
2SG: ti
3SG: lu (m. direct), la (f. direct), li (indirect), si (reflexive)
1PL: nó
2PL: tí
3PL: lú (m. direct), lá (f. direct), lí (indirect), si (reflexive)
Unlike in Spanish, these object pronouns are never cliticized, and always appear before the verb, even for non-finite verb forms and the imperative.
The possessive determiners, which as in Spanish go before the noun they modify, are as follows:
1SG: mi (sg.), mí (pl.)
2SG: tu (sg.), tú (pl.)
1PL: nueort (sg.), nuéort (pl.)
3SG, 2PL, and 3PL: su (sg.), sú (pl.)
Dialects that retain the formal 2SG pronoun té also use su/sú as a formal 2SG possessive determiner. The 1PL determiner was originally unique in that it agreed with the possessee not in number but in gender, with the form nuéort for masculine nouns and nuért for feminine nouns. This usage is now obsolete, and nuéort has been analogically remodeled as a plural form with nueort as the singular equivalent.
Adjectives
As with nouns, adjectives are no longer marked for number due to the loss of final -s (and those that would have a distinct plural form are regularized). Gender is still marked, but due to sound changes it is marked by ablaut. The masculine form of an adjective has one of /ɔ ʌ ɯ̽ ʊ ɔː ɤː ɯː uː/, while the feminine form has one of /ə ɛ ɪ ɔ ʊ aː eː iː oː uː/. The ablaut patterns are as follows:
ao-a: m. caor, f. car "dear" (note that /ɔ/ is written <ao> here)
eo-e: m. sheon, f. shen "full"
io-i: m. jiog, f. jig "delicious" (from Spa. rico/rica)
u-o: m. urd, f. ord "other"
u-u: m. pur, f. pur "pure" (no ablaut)
Adjectives with long vowels follow the same ablaut patterns: áo-á, éo-é, etc. All adjectives follow one of these ablaut patterns; even adjectives that were invariable for gender in Spanish (or would have been rendered invariable by sound changes) engage in ablaut by analogy. For example, Spanish verde "green" became Spiú m. vior and f. vir, and while Spanish alto and alta would normally both have yielded Spiú áod, the word áod has analogically taken on the feminine form ád. If a Spanish adjective develops a vowel in Spiú that is not part of one of the ablaut patterns above, then the vowel changes; for example, the regular reflex of the Spanish suffix -ante would be *-áet, but it instead becomes m. -éot and f. -ét.
The masculine form of an adjective can be used as a noun referring to the quality denoted by the adjective. This usage replaces many Spanish nouns derived from adjectives; for example, while Spanish has feliz "happy" and felicidad "happiness, in Spiú both are flío.
The word mít following the feminine form of an adjective converts it into an adverb, e.g. flí mít "happily. This derives from the Spanish suffix -mente reanalyzed as a separate word.
When it comes to where the adjective is placed in relation to the noun, Spiú has a stronger tendency for adjectives to go after the noun they modify. Whereas in Spanish certain adjectives are often placed before the noun, in Spiú this rarely happens except in literary contexts (with the exception of numbers, which still always go before the noun). Thus, "a good student" would almost always be ú stiáet ueon, rarely ú ueon stiáet.
Prepositions
Prepositions are mostly the same as in Spanish. Spanish a, en, and de get replaced with at, eort, and is, from hasta, dentro (de), and desde, respectively (at and eort are shortened from the regular reflexes *át and *éort). Prepositions take the direct object form of pronouns, rather than the subject form or a special prepositional form as in Spanish (this change took place after Spanish me and te were reduced to mi and ti, rendering them identical to the prepositional forms mí and ti).
Verbs
As in Spanish, there are three main verb conjugation classes: -á verbs, -é verbs, and -í verbs (named after the infinitive ending used in each class). The historical deletion of unstressed vowels introduces an additional complication, namely that each verb has a vowel inserted into the stem in some present tense and imperative forms that cannot be predicted from the infinitive form. In most verbs, this vowel is also subject to ablaut in certain forms. In regular verbs, the pre-ablaut stem vowel is either a, e, i, o, or u, and can be either short or long. Some verbs also have consonants in the full stem that are deleted in the reduced stem.
Unlike adjectives, a verb's stem vowel can undergo two kinds of ablaut: e-ablaut and o-ablaut (named after the final vowels in Spanish that they typically correspond to, and the orthographic vowel letters that are added to the resulting vowels). E-ablaut turns /ə ɛ ɔ ʊ aː eː oː uː/ into /ɛ ɪ œ ʏ ɛː iː øː yː/, and does not affect /ɪ iː/. O-ablaut turns /ə ɛ ɪ ɔ aː eː iː oː/ into /ɔ ʌ ɯ̽ ʊ ɔː ɤː ɯː uː/, and does not affect /ʊ uː/. O-ablaut is the type of ablaut that adjectives undergo, the feminine form being the form without ablaut. As noted under "Phonology & orthography", /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ that synchronically result from ablaut (i.e. alternate with /ə/ in another form of the same word) are written <ae> and <ao> rather than <e> and <o>.
Below is an overview of the verb forms:
Spoiler:
The "reduced stem" refers to the vowel-less stem form that the infinitive ending (-á, -é, or -í) is added to. The "full stem" refers to the stem with the stem vowel.
Note that the obsolete formal 2SG pronoun té agrees with 3SG verb forms.
Indicative mood
Present
1SG: Full stem with o-ablaut
2SG: Identical to the infinitive form (historically from the Spanish voseo endings -ás/-és/-ís)
3SG: Full stem without ablaut for -á verbs and with e-ablaut for -é and -í verbs
1PL: Reduced stem + -om for -á verbs, -eom for -é verbs, -iom for -í verbs
2/3PL: Same as 3SG
Sample conjugations:
tmá (to take, stem vowel o): (sho) tum, (vó) tmá, (éo/esh) tom, (nzurd) tmom, (tí/eosh/esh) tom
The imperfect uses the same ending for all persons and numbers: -af for -á verbs and -í for -é and -í verbs. For example, tmá becomes tmaf in the imperfect and mdé becomes mdí; sé becomes er.
While pro-drop is typical for most other verb forms, it is naturally much more common to state the subject pronoun in the imperfect indicative. For -í verbs, this also eliminates the ambiguity between -í as the infinitive ending and -í as an imperfect ending.
(Historically, there were distinct 1PL endings: -ám for -á verbs and -íom for -é and -í verbs. Since they were the only distinct endings, they eventually fell out of use as they were replaced by the endings used for all other persons and numbers. Note that the ending -ám underwent an irregular development; the expected reflex of Spanish -ábamos would be -avm or perhaps -af.)
Future
Spiú does not have synthetic future verb forms. Instead, the future tense is expressed through an analytic construction consisting of a present tense form of the irregular verb ndá "to go" followed by the infinitive form of the main verb. The present indicative forms of ndá are: (sho) vóe, (vó) ndá, (éo/esh) va, (nzurd) ndom, (tí/eosh/esh) vá.
Conditional mood
The conditional mood in all tenses is indicated by the particle rí following the infinitive. For example, "I would take" would be "sho tmá rí". This particle comes from part of the Spanish conditional suffix reanalyzed as a separate word (after the -r of the infinitive ending had been lost). As with the imperfect, it is common to state the subject in the conditional when it would be omitted in most other verb forms.
(Originally, rí had another form ríom used in the first-person plural. However, like with the imperfect, it was eventually displaced by the form used for all other persons and numbers.)
Subjunctive mood
Present
1SG, 3SG, and 2/3PL: Full stem with e-ablaut for -á verbs and without ablaut for -é and -í verbs.
2SG: Reduced stem + -é for -á verbs and -á for -é and -í verbs
1PL: Reduced stem + -eom for -á verbs and -om for -é and -í verbs
In everyday speech, the present subjunctive forms are used for all tenses in the subjunctive mood. In formal usage, they are used for the future subjunctive as well (the Spanish future subjunctive forms have become completely obsolete), but there are separate forms for the imperfect subjunctive listed below.
Imperfect
Like the imperfect indicative, the imperfect subjunctive uses one form for all persons and numbers: -ar for -á verbs or -ier for -é and -í verbs added to the reduced stem of the verb. Sé becomes füer. This form is now generally restricted to formal and literary contexts. It is used for talking about past events in the subjunctive mood; in colloquial speech, this usage is replaced by the present subjunctive. It is also used with si "if" to talk about hypothetical events (e.g. si sho füer... "if I were..."); in colloquial speech, this usage is replaced by the imperfect indicative.
Imperative mood
There are two imperative forms, a singular form and a plural form. In regular verbs, the singular imperative form is the infinitive form with a short vowel instead of a long vowel, and the plural imperative form is identical to the third-person present subjunctive form. For example, tmá has the imperative forms tma (sg.) and toem (pl.). As noted under "Pronouns" above, unlike in Spanish, object pronouns go before imperatives in Spiú and are not cliticized; for example, "take it!" would be "lu tma!".
Negation
The word nu before a verb negates it: nu tum "I do not take". As in Spanish, object pronouns go between nu and the verb: nu lu tme "I did not take it".
Negative imperatives use the present subjunctive form in both the singular and plural: nu lu tmé "don't take it (sg.)", nu lu toem "don't take it (pl.)".
Non-finite forms
Present participle
The present participle is usually formed by adding -áod to the reduced stem of an -á verb or -iéod to the reduced stem of an -é or -í verb.
As in Spanish, the present participle is used as an adverb, not as an adjective like the English present participle can be or as a noun like the English gerund. It can also be used with the verb stá (pres. ind. forms stóe/stá/sta/stom/stá) to express the progressive aspect: stóe tmáod "I'm taking".
Past participle
The past participle is an adjective, and therefore participates in ablaut. Regular verbs have the masculine ending -áo for -á verbs or -ío for -é and -í verbs and the feminine ending -á for -á verbs or -í for -é and -í verbs. Though the Spanish perfect construction with haber has fallen out of use, a new perfect construction with tné "to have" (pres. ind. forms téog/tné/tin/tneom/tin) and the past participle is sometimes used in colloquial speech. In this construction, the past participle agrees in gender with the direct object of the verb phrase (as was originally the case in Old Spanish). If there is no object, the masculine form is used.
Irregular verbs
Many verbs that were irregular in Spanish retain their irregularities in Spiú The strongest irregularities typically occur in the 1SG present indicative. Below are the present indicative forms of some common irregular verbs. The irregular forms are underlined.
vlá "to speak": aolv, vlá, alv, vlom, alv (though Spanish hablar was not irregular, this verb became irregular due to metathesis in the full stem forms)
Many verbs have additional elements besides the stem vowel that appear in the full stem but not the reduced stem. Often, verbs that were stem-changing in Spanish have -ie- or -üe- in the full stem. For example, the verb cré "to want" has forms like quieor "I want", quir "he/she/y'all/they want", and subjunctive quier "(that) I/he/she/y'all/they want". There are also cases where a consonant in the full stem is deleted in the reduced stem, e.g. vdrá "to raise", lváord "I raise" (from Spanish levantar, levanto).
There are cases where a consonant's voicing changes between the full and reduced stems. This can be because it assimilated to a neighboring consonant in the reduced stem, or because a voiced fricative became devoiced at the end of the full stem, or both; zvé "to know" above is an example of this.
There are also a small number of verbs that, due to sound changes, do not undergo ablaut. One example is zdá "to jump", from Spanish saltar, whose 1SG pres. ind. and 3SG/2PL/3PL pres. ind. forms are both sáod.
Example text
Below is the story of the Tortoise and the Hare in English, Spanish, and Spiú. The English version is my translation of the Spanish version.
English:
Spoiler:
One day a hare was making fun of a tortoise's short legs and how slow he was. But the tortoise, laughing, retorted:
"You may be fast as the wind, but I would beat you in a contest."
And the hare, totally sure that that was impossible, accepted the challenge, and the proposed to the fox that she set the course and the finish line.
When the day of the race arrived, they both started at the same time. The tortoise never stopped walking and at his slow but steady pace, he advanced calmly toward the finish line. Conversely, the hare, who from time to time lay down to rest on the path, fell asleep.
When he woke up, and moving as fast as he could, he saw how the tortoise had reached the end first(?) and had won.
With confidence, perseverance, and patience, even if at times we seem slow, we will always succeed.
Spanish:
Spoiler:
Cierto día una liebre se burlaba de las cortas patas y lentitud al caminar de una tortuga. Pero ésta, riéndose, le replicó:
—Puede que seas veloz como el viento, pero yo te ganaría en una competencia.
Y la liebre, totalmente segura de que aquello era imposible, aceptó el reto, y propusieron a la zorra que señalara el camino y la meta.
Llegado el día de la carrera, arrancaron ambas al mismo tiempo. La tortuga nunca dejó de caminar y a su lento paso pero constante, avanzaba tranquila hacia la meta. En cambio, la liebre, que a ratos se echaba a descansar en el camino, se quedó dormida.
Cuando despertó, y moviéndose lo más veloz que pudo, vio como la tortuga había llegado de primera al final y obtenido la victoria.
Con seguridad, constancia y paciencia, aunque a veces parezcamos lentos, obtendremos siempre el éxito.
Spiú:
Spoiler:
Siérd jnrá un lirv si jí is lá pad córd i léot at io cná is un drú. Peor ét, si jiéod, li rrgo:
—Csá siá vló cum io viéot, peor sho ti rrná rí eort un ctís.
I la lirv, dá mít zrrur is qui geosh er mziolv, spto io jeod, i pnrieor at la soj qui sliar io cmion i la med.
Yrriá la jnrá is la cjer, jcor lá ó at io míom tiéop. La drú núc rrïo is cná i at su paos léot peor cstéot, vzaf trgil es la med. Eort cáeb, la lirv, qui at jod si dyaf at scsá eort io cmion, si quïo mí.
Cuáod spdro, i si mviéod lu má vló qui pú, vïo cum la drú yrrïo is mbrer at io fniáo i duf la ftoer.
Cú zrrur, cstáes i psís, áoc at vis psom léot, ndom dné sírp io ixt.
Some notes:
The word for "day", jnrá, descends from jornada rather than día, whose reflex would just be *í.
Burlarse, which does not have a Spiú reflex, is translated with si jí, from Spanish reírse. The reflex of burlar would be *vlá, identical to vlá "to speak" from hablar.
"Puede que" is translated with csá, from Spanish quizás. The "siá" that follows is the 2SG present subjunctive form of sé (to be).
"Pnrieor" is the 2/3PL preterite form of the verb pnré "to propose", from Spanish proponer. Though proponer had irregular preterite forms such as 3PL "propusieron", its Spiú descendant has been regularized.
"Ambos" is translated with lá ó, from Spanish "las dos".
Rrïo is the 3SG preterite form of rriá, the regular reflex of dejar (dejar > *ijá > *irrá > rriá).
Paos "step, pace" is written with <ao> rather than <o> because of its association with the verb psá, whose stem vowel is a.
"Duf" is the irregular 3SG preterite form of dné "to obtain" (from Spanish obtener; duf is from the preterite form obtuvo).
"Psom" is the regular 1PL present subjunctive form of psé "to seem", from parecer. Unlike in Spanish, in Spiú the 1PL pres. subj. form is usually based on the infinitive stem, so it does not share irregularities with the 1SG pres. ind. form like in Spanish.
Last edited by GrandPiano on 13 May 2019 06:25, edited 14 times in total.
I really like this idea. It looks a bit like Ancient Greek and Celtic had a baby with some Bantu language. Words like 'mbrer' and 'nuéord' in the same language really give a unique feeling to it. I think we all need more time to really read through it
Creyeditor "Thoughts are free." Produce, Analyze, Manipulate 12344 Ook & Omlűt & Nautli languages & Sperenjas Papuan languages, Morphophonology, Lexical Semantics
Omzinesý wrote: ↑16 Apr 2019 18:03
Nice, a Romlang that has something new!
Thank you!
Omzinesý wrote: ↑16 Apr 2019 18:03
Paradigms of all verb forms could be listed for every conjugation to make the grammar easier to read and understand.
That’s a good idea. I’ll try to add that when I have time.
Creyeditor wrote: ↑16 Apr 2019 21:01
Words like 'mbrer' and 'nuéord' in the same language really give a unique feeling to it.
Thank you, but now that you mention it, I realize that second word is a mistake. It should be nuéort, since the /s/ in nuestro would block the /t/ from voicing. I’ve now fixed this.
Very intriguing. These words look kind of like the same type of words as we construct for Old Chinese. Seriously, not that it was a secret, but this COULD be the process BY which Chinese actually came about from longer words. For this, I could see tone evolving out of the deletion of coda consonants.
Bottom line, conceptualizing this was ground-breaking for me.
It's cool that you didn't just apply a bunch of sound changes and call it a day, although, if that was all you had done, and it had resulted in the current "look" of the language, then it might have been enough on its own, but that you also put in some nice, thoughtful morphological and lexical changes. So good job on that :)
I also like the Arabic/triconsonantal touch of the verbal morphology I was wondering if there is nominal derivational morphology. What happened to the diminutives?
Creyeditor "Thoughts are free." Produce, Analyze, Manipulate 12344 Ook & Omlűt & Nautli languages & Sperenjas Papuan languages, Morphophonology, Lexical Semantics
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Papuan languages, Morphophonology, Lexical Semantics 
