Speedlang IX (Jan 17-19)

[Creyeditor]

Sorry, I know I am pretty late. I was doing the CBB CR XI at those dates and then there is also the reconstruction relay. And then I also tried too much

Here is my speedlang. It is not finnished at all unfortunately, so sorry for lack of examples in the syntax and morphology section. I will post feedback on all your speedlangs a bit later.


Hours I worked on my speedlang.
23.01.2020, 00:00-00:30
24.01.2020, 13:30-14:30
25.01.2020, 02:00-02:30
25.01.2020, 14:00-14:15
26.01.2020, 15:10-15:30
26.01.2020, 16:50-17:30
26.01.2020, 21:30-22:00

Dangi

Phonology
Syllable structure
(C)V(V)(C)
There are word medial consonant clusters, but syllables are maximally trimoraic. The only possible coda consonants are /m/ and /n/.

Tone
There is a complex tone system. The tone bearing unit is the mora.

H /á/
M /a/
L /à/
HL /â/

Tonal processes (all of them also across word boudaries):
High tone Spreading: A sequence of a high tone and any number of mid tones is transformed into a sequence of high tones only.
M*->H*/H.

<Omáuu olun.>
/omáuu olun/
[omáúú ólún]
sleep.IV pig
`A pig sleeps'

Downstep: In a sequence of a low tone and a high tone, the general pitch register is lowered such that the high tone is lower than a high tone preceding the low tone.
L.H-> L.!H

<Dòúmbaàì námtaùu.>
/dòúmbaàì námtaùu/
[dò!úmbáàì !námtáùu]
fall.IV coin
`A coin falls.'

Absorption:
HL.L -> H.L
H.HL -> H.L

<Òkûm nàntòûù.>
/òkûm nàntòûù/
[òkúm nàntòúù]
fly.IV bird
`A bird flies.'

<Heemtsôuú bântsòò.>
/hɚɚmtsôuú bântsòò/
[hɚɚmtsôuú bàntsòò]
swim.IV fish
`A fish swims.'

Simplification of falls: In a sequence HL.HL the first falling tone is simplified to a high tone and the second falling tone is downstepped. This rule applies iteratively from left to right
HL.HL-> H.!HL

<Òkûm bântsòò.>
/òkûm bântsòò/
[òkúm !bântsòò]
fly.IV fish
`A fish flies.'

(v.intr.a) - to fly
(n.IV) - a fish

Vowel system
Monophthongs
/i iː u uː/
/ɚ ɚː o oː/
/a aː/
/ɚ/ is a very rare phoneme and /e/ is a gap.

There is also phonemic vowel length, and also all possible diphthongs, but remember a syllable is maximally trimoraic

Diphthongs
Sonority-Falling-Diphthongs
/oi oːi oiː ou oːu ouː/
/ai aːi aiː au aːu auː/

Sonority Rising Diphthongs
/io ioː iːo uo uoː uːo/
/ia iaː iːa ua uaː uːa/

Vocalic processes
Vowel Shortening: Long Diphthongs are shortened when a coda nasal is attached. If two nuclei come together, even across word boundaries, a long vowel is created with the lowest and backest quality of the two vowels.

Consonants:

/m n/
/b t d k/
/ ts dz/
/f s z h/
/ l/

Consonantal processes

Nasal assimilation: Coda nasals assimilate in place to a following consonant.

Post-nasal fortition: A fricative or a lateral that follows a nasal is changed. /s/ and /z/ become /ts/ and /dz/, whereas /f/ becomes /b/ and /h/ is deleted. /l/ turns into /d/.

Lenition: applies to intervocalic consonants
/b/ becomes [w]
/t/ and /d/ become [θ] and [r~j]
/k/ becomes [x]

Palatalization:
/k/ becomes tS before /i/ word initially
/k/ becomes S before /i/ medially

Morphology
Length, vowel quality and tone alternations to indicate morphology

Morphological processes
Final syllable shortening:
If the syllable has multiple moras, the final mora is deleted. Tones are kept if possible.
If the syllable contains short /a/,/o/, /i/ or /u/, the vowel mutates into /ɚ/.
If the syllable contains short /ɚ/, coda /n/ is attached.

Final syllable lengthening:
The final syllable vowel becomes long if short monophthong.
The final syllable final vowel becomes long if the final syllable is a short diphthong.
The final syllable final vowel becomes /VV:/ if the diphthong was /V:V/ before.
If the syllable is already trimoraic, nothing happens.

Initial consonant mutation N:
In this pattern, wordinitial
/s/ and /z/ become /ts/ and /dz/
/f/ becomes /b/
/h/ and /k/ is deleted.
/l/ turns into /d/.
/t/ becomes /d/
/b/ and /d/ become /m/ and /n/
/ts/ and /dz/ do not change

Initial consonant mutation L:
/m/ and /n/ do not change
/b/ and /h/ are deleted
/t/ and /d/ become /ts/ and /dz/
/ts/ and /dz/ become /s/ and /z/
/f/ and /s/ become /h/
/z/ becomes /l/

Final Tone mutation M:
Final syllable becomes high toned if a high tone is on the preceding syllable.
Final syllable becomes mid otherwise.

Final Tone mutation F:
Final syllable becomes HL. If the preceding syllable is also falling, its tone becomes H.

Final tone mutation H:
If the final syllable was low, it becomes !H. Otherwise it becomes H.

Final tone mutation L:
If the final syllable was H, it becomes HL. Otherwise it will become L.

Gender agreement:
There is poly-argument agreement for gender, also gender concord, also possessor marking that marks gender of the possessor. Verbs are marked for subject and object gender. Here are the glosses of the affixes.

Transitive Verbs have a complex marking of one of the arguments. Only combinations of class I and class II mark both arguments. In general, there is a preference for subject marking over object marking and of the animate classes over the inanimate classes.
Subject,I.O, II.O, III.O, IV.O
I.S: REFL,I.S>II.O,I.S,I.S
II.S: II.S>I.O,REFL,II.S,II.S
III.S:I.O,II.O,REFL,III.S
IV.S:I.O,II.O,III.O,REFL

Intransitive verbs have a split-S alignment, based on the thematic role of the subject.
Patient-like subjects: I.O, II.O, III.O, IV.S
Agent-like subjects: I.S, II.S, III.S, IV.S

The marking of gender on verbs and nouns is expressed by a combination of consonant mutation (0=no mutation, N, or L) and either tone mutation (floating tone) or vowel shortening/vowel lengthening.
REFL: 0-mutation + 0-tone mutation
IV.S: 0-mutation + 0-tone mutation
I.S>II.O: L-mutation + floating F-tone
II.S>I.O: N-mutation + floating M-tone
I.S: N-mutation + 0-tone mutation
II.S N-mutation + floating H-tone
III.S: 0-mutation + floating L-tone
I.O: 0-mutation + floating H-tone
II.O: N-mutation + floating F-tone
III.O: N-mutation + Lengthening

Nouns are marked for gender of inalienable possessors
I.POSS: N-mutation + Shortening
II.POSS: 0-mutation + floating M-tone
III.POSS: 0-mutation + floating H-tone
IV.POSS: L-mutation + Shortening
Unpossessed: 0-mutation + 0-tone mutation

The noun classes are based on gender and human vs. non-human.
Noun Classes
I. Female
II. Male
III. Priests, Nuns, Gods and abstract concepts
IV. Other

There is no tense marking at all

Derivational Morphology
Unproductive pattern where the nominal form is CV(V)Cɚ and a verbalized form is CVCV(V)C, due to CV reduplication as a verbalizer in earlier stages of the language.

Syntax
Verb-initial language, but prodrop

Lexicon
olun (n.IV) - a pig
omáuu (v.intr.p) - to sleep
dòúmbaàì (v.itr.p) - to fall
námtaùu (n.IV) - a coin
òkûm (v.intr.a) - to fly
nàntòûù (n.IV) - an eagle
bântsòò (n.IV) - a fish
heemtsôuú (v.intr) - to swim

Some other example forms.
odê
zontsî
saùntoin
kindzáùm
olàn
omáuu
bénbin
tsunkaá
bùnkaái
sunbáá
zántsó
líndzâ
osáàu
nàntân
dumté
komtàì
sánbun
tankóiì
kiimkoî
níimtsom
onoin
bànti
oni
onô
haàmdzôôì

[Omzinesý]

I have gone through some old speedlanging challenges, and I picked up this one for very late (re)participation

- Syntax inspired by Non-Pamangyungan
- Morphology inspired by Afroasiatic
- Phonology inspired by Ubykh and such langs

18:41 - 20.03, 21st dec 2021

1. Your language must not use the five vowel system of /i e a o u/. (NB: It may use any of those vowels, just not only those five)
2a. Your language's phonological inventory must include a gap.
2b. Your language's phonological inventory must include a typologically rare phoneme.
3. Your phonotactics must allow for consonant clusters and closed syllables.
4. Phonological changes (i.e. ablaut, consonant mutation, etc.) must be included and be grammatical.

1 Phonology
1.2 Vowels There is a linear system
ɨ, ə, ä

1.3 Consonants Most consonants repeat a distinction between palatalized, plain, and labio-velarized consonant.
tʲʰ tʰ tʷʰ kʲʰ kʰ kʷʰ
tʲ' t' tʷ' kʲ' k' kʷ'
p k͡p tʲ t tʷ kʲ k kʷ
m ŋ͡m nʲ n nʷ ŋʲ ŋ ŋʷ
β w ɹ ɹʷ j ɣ ɣʷ
f s χ (this is uvular)

1.4 Allophony

Vowels following a palatalized consonant, becomes front (unrounded).
/tʲäp/ [tʲæp] 'mother'

Vowels following a labio-velarized consonant, becomes back and rounded.
/ɹʷän/ [ɹʷɒn] 'old lower-class man'

Vowels following a (non-labial) consonant without a secondary articulation, are central unrounded.
/ŋäs/ [ŋäs] 'woman'

Vowels following labial (including labio-velar ones) consonants, are central rounded.
k͡pät [k͡päᵝt] 'boy'

1.5 Phototactics
Most words are (CV)CnVC

Aspirated and ejective consonants can appear in the onset of the main syllable only.

Consonant clusters are allowed only in the onset of the main/last syllable.
- Clusters must have the same secondary articulation, /f s χ/ are neutral.
- Patterns
(voiceless fricative) + plosive + (nasal)
(voiceless fricative) + plosive + (voiced fricative)
(voiceless fricative) + plosive + (voiceless fricative)

1.6 Stress
Stress appears on the main syllable.

5. Your language should avoid SVO and SOV word orders.
6. Your language should not be agglutinative.
7. Your language must incorporate some form of grammatical gender.
8. Your language must distinguish between alienable and inalienable possession.
9. Lexical verbs may not be directly marked for grammatical tense.
10. Reduplication should be an evident historical, but no longer productive, system.



2 Word classes

2.1 Nouns
- Nouns have two genders. Let's call them gender A and gender B. They have no clear semantic prototype.
- When used as a modifier of another noun, they take a prefix coding the gender of the head. I call the form Genitive case, although it is not the most prototypical genitive.
- - For gender A, the prefix is kə- 'alienable', tʷä- 'inalienable'
- - For gender B, the prefix is nɨ- 'alienable, mɨ- 'alienable'
- They cannot be predicates like verbs and statives

2.2 Verbs
- They can be predicates
- They cannot head an NP
- They cannot modify a noun

2.3 Statives
- Statives express states
- They can modify nouns like other nouns having Genitive.
- They can be predicates like verbs.
- They cannot head an NP like nouns.

3 Word derivation

3.1 Ablaut
The vowel (there are three of them) can be changed to derive words.
/ɹɨf/ 'to know' (verb)
/ɹäf/ 'wise' (stative)

/mäɹʷ/ 'money' (noun)
/məɹʷ/ 'to buy' (verb)

3.2 Prefixing
There are several derivational prefixes. They derive from the abstract C_V root without a vowel.
/fməɹʷ/ 'who can afford, rich' (stative)
/təmɨrʷ/ 'a trade' (noun)

3.3 Reduplication
/məməɹʷ/ 'a merchant'

4 Syntax
There is no strict word order (and to some degree no strict NPs either).
- Verb-initial orders are probably the most common.
- Because modifiers of nouns agree their gender, they may be dislocated.
- Subject drop is common, so there is rarely two arguments.

4.1 Clausal enclitics
Some clausal eclitics are however added to the first word in the clause.
-ɨf 'sg1'
-äp 'sg2'
-ək͡p 'sg1+sg2 (inclusive pl1) or 1<2 or 2>1'
-äs 'and then, (sequential aspect)'
-əm 'but (expression of disagreement)'
-ä 'focus (the focused element appears clause-initially before the clitic'
...

4.2 Case enclitics
Noun cases are not obligatory but they can be added as enclitics to the nouns, if the role of the noun is not evident.
The vowel of case clitics is always /ə/.
-ətʷ 'agent'
-əχ 'patient'
-ənʲ 'dative/benefactive'
-ənʷ 'purposive (in order to have N)'
-əs 'locative'
-əw 'ablative (from)'
...

5 Translation
'Once there was a king. He was childless. The king wanted a son.'
/tʷʰχəp-än kʲɨkʲɨf/
exist-OPENS.CONTEXT king

/pə mət mɨ-kʷɨs/
lack child CL2GEN-male

/skʷəf-ə/
want-indefO(one)

[Johnathan_4]

I have never done one of these but I'll give it try!

[spanick]

I have never done one of these but I'll give it try!

Hey! You’re welcome to do this Speedlang of course but this challenge is actually from 2020. I was planning on posting a new one this January after Lexember and major holidays are over :)

[Omzinesý]

I've also been planning to initiate a new speedlanging challenge but it's somewhat hard to both participate and find up the requirements.

[Johnathan_4]

I have never done one of these but I'll give it try!

Hey! You’re welcome to do this Speedlang of course but this challenge is actually from 2020. I was planning on posting a new one this January after Lexember and major holidays are over :)

oh I see! Yes for sure when the time comes I'll sign up for that one! haha

[spanick]

I've also been planning to initiate a new speedlanging challenge but it's somewhat hard to both participate and find up the requirements.

Would you like to initiate it or would you like me to? We can also coordinate and share ideas. I was planning on coming up with ideas to get easy to start in the next week or two.