This is pö’ li’ [ˈpø̂ʏ̯ʔ lè̝̰ʔ] ‘the speech’. I plan on making it one of the protolanguages of my embryonic conworld.
Here are some of my ideas motivating the language:
- Weird phonology and complex syllable structure
- Very isolating, except for the noun class markers
- Noun classes with elaborate noun class markers (incl. >4 levels of definiteness, deixis, possession, tense)
- Verbs are just nouns with special noun class markers
Phonology
Consonants
/m n ŋ/ ⟨m n ŋ⟩
/p t tɬ tʃ ʔ/ ⟨p t ƛ c ’⟩
/ᵐb ⁿd ⁿdˡ ⁿdʒ/ ⟨b d λ j⟩
/f r̝̊ ɬ ʃ h/ ⟨f ɍ ł s h⟩
/v ɾ l ʒ ɣ/ ⟨v r l z g⟩
For the purposes of describing this phonology, there are four POAs: labial, coronal, dorsal, and glottal. So, e.g., /ʃ/ and /n/ are homorganic. Notice that the coronals are never dental; the alveolar–postalveolar contrast is probably as much an apical–laminal contrast as it is a plain–palatalized contrast (if not more).
Here are some allophonic processes:
- Syllable-finally, /ᵐb ⁿd ⁿdˡ ⁿdʒ/ become [m n nˡ nʲ]; unless preceding a word boundary, [nˡ nʲ] are realized both as [n].
- Plosives turn into glottal stops when syllable-final and preceding homorganic fricatives or nasals (excluding affricates in the latter case).
- /ⁿdˡ l/ can be strengthened to [ⁿdɮ ɮ] when preceding a consonant in the same syllable. (Probably, this will be to a large degree dialectal).
- /r̝̊/ probably becomes /ɹ̝̊/ after /i/.
- /v ɣ/ can be weakened to [ʋ ɰ], especially syllable-finally or following a consonant, or in unstressed syllables (i.e., usually)
/i ʉ/ ⟨i u⟩
/ø ɘ/ ⟨ö ë⟩
/ɛ ɔ/ ⟨e o⟩
/æ ɑ/ ⟨ä a⟩
There are also the diphthongs /ʉɪ̯ ɔɪ̯ ɑɪ̯/ ⟨ui oi ai⟩; moreover, /ɪ̯-/ ⟨i⟩ can be added to any of the preceding phthongs, with the exception of /i/, to produce more diphthongs and even triphthongs.
Vowels also have unstressed ~ stressed forms:
- /i/: [e̝] ~ [i]
- /ʉ/: [ʉ] ~ [ʊʉ̯]
- /ø/: [ø] ~ [øʏ̯]
- /ɘ/: [ɘ] ~ [ɘɪ̯]
- /ɛ/: [ɛ] ~ [ɛe̯]
- /ɔ/: [ɔ] ~ [ɔo̯]
- /æ/: [æ] ~ [æɛ̯]
- /ɑ/: [ʌ] ~ [ɑ]
- /ʉɪ̯/: [ʉɪ̯] ~ [ʊɪ̯]
- /ɔɪ̯/: [ɔɪ̯] ~ [ɔɪ̯]
- /ɑɪ̯/: [ʌɪ̯] ~ [ɑɪ̯]
Maximal syllable structure is (C₁)(C₂)(C₃)(C₄)(C₅)(V)(C₆). For the purposes of describing syllable structure constraints, in addition to the previously-defined POAs, we have the three MOAs plosive (including affricates), fricative (including approximants and the tap), and nasal. Each MOA has a sonority value, in which plosive < fricative < nasal.
Any consonant may occur in the coda. If no vowel is present, then no consonant can occupy the C₆ slot. (All vowelless words are monosyllabic.)
The following rules describe restrictions on which sequences of consonants can occur as a syllable onset. Notably, the syllable onset can never be empty.
- C₁ can only be glottal; no other onset consonant may be glottal.
- A syllable must have, in terms of sonority, C₂ ≤ C₃ ≤ C₄ ≤ C₅.
- The only sequences of two adjacent plosives are one of {/tɬ/, /tʃ/} followed by one of {/p/, /ᵐb/}.
- The only sequences of two adjacent nasals are one of {/m/, /n/} followed by /ŋ/.
- Three adjacent consonants cannot have the same MOA.
- Non-affricate plosives cannot precede a nasal consonant.
- Except for the onsets /$fm-/ and /$vm-/, adjacent consonants cannot have the same POA.
Prosody
A syllable has a mora for each component of its nuclear phthong excluding /ɪ̯-/ (i.e., pure vowels are 1 mora, /ʉɪ̯/, /ɔɪ̯/, and /ɑɪ̯/ 2), plus one more if a coda consonant is present (even one assimilated from the following syllable or word). In each stressed word (i.e., nonmonosyllabic (p)articles and the like), the ultimate syllable is stressed, unless the penultimate syllable has a strictly greater number of morae, in which case the penultimate syllable is stressed.
Stressed vowels are pronounced markedly longer than unstressed vowels and have a rising tone, unless they contain an unvoiced consonant as the coda, in which case they take a falling tone. Unstressed vowels followed by a /ʔ/ in the same syllable become creaky and pronounced with a low tone. Strings of unstressed, non-low tone vowels obtain a high tone when following a rising tone syllable. In other words, tone and creaky voice are completely non-phonemic.
Finally, vowels are nasalized preceding a nasal coda consonant. This doesn't really interact with everything else, as far as I'm aware.
Let's put it all together
Here are two sentences (bonus points if people know where I found them). I won't gloss them since I'm saving grammar for later, but hopefully it will give a feeling for the (weird) aesthetic this conlang has been developing.
’äc’äc tav ƛmëŋ biev
[ʔætʃˈʔæ̂ɛ̯tʃ tʌʋ ˈtɬmɘ̃̌ɪ̯̃ŋ ᵐbɪ̯ɛ́ʋ]
'dogs bark'
ŋäf ’o ŋasmi di’
[ˈŋæ̂ɛ̯f ʔɔ ŋʌˈʃmǐ ⁿdè̝̰ʔ]
'the baby laughed'
Thanks for reading! In the next post, I'll start describing the noun classes and their markers. It should, I think, be pretty interesting.