Little isolating thing
Posted: 20 Apr 2021 03:52
Vague idea:
Mostly isolating a priori engelang with a small vocabulary (possibly expandable later on). Attempting to optimise not so much for quantity of grammar rules, but rather quantity of grammatical "things" required to construct different kinds of sentences, which I know sounds like utter nonsense but it makes sense to me at least... kind of.
Starting simple with a phonology and a romanisation (writing system may come later on):
/p t d k/ <p t d k>
/m n/ <m n>
/f ʃ h/ <f s h>
/w ɹ l j/ <w r l j>
/a e i o u/ <a e i o u>
I know from past experience that if I make it much bigger than this then I can and will forget half of the consonants.
Some phonotactics:
(C)V(C)
Onset is optional only at the start of a word.
Coda can only be one of <m n f s h>.
When a coda is present, /i/ -> /ɪ/ and /u/ -> /ʊ/.
In the coda, /ʃ/ -> /s/.
<wo wu ji> are not permitted.
Stress is always on the first syllable of a word.
And some pronouns cause why not?:
i - n 1SG, adj mine
is - n 1PL.EXCL, adj ours
iso - n 1PL.INCL, adj ours
jo - n 2SG, adj yours
jos - n 2PL, adj yours
de - n 3SG, adj theirs
des - n 3PL, adj theirs
And while I'm on a roll I'll make some words up. It is only now that I'm discovering the power of referencing people in these which is fun.
nuri - n food, v eat
sapi - n person
kuti - n friend, adj friendly/nice
awe - int hello, v greet/introduce
mama - n speech/talking, v speak/say
aki - n cat
mili - n a little, adj small/short
salo - n a lot, adj big/tall
Some grammar:
SVO because I'm feeling uninteresting.
"X is Y" kinda statements omit the verb, or "to be" would be the "default" verb if none is provided.
Tense marker comes after the verb (even if it is not explicitly provided). This is to prevent confusion where the object might also work as an adjective on the subject or an adverb on the verb. For intransitive verbs, the tense marker can be dropped and defaults to past simple for actions and present simple for states, except where context implies something else e.g. if I'm sat next to you eating a sandwich and I say i nuri then I probably don't mean "I ate".
Tense markers:
o - PRE
a - PST
ri - FUT
Append -n for progressive forms where applicable.
Adjectives come after what they are describing.
Sentences:
aki i o mili - my cat is small
des nuri - they ate
Stay tuned for when I realise I've conlanged myself into a corner or something and don't know what to do /s
Mostly isolating a priori engelang with a small vocabulary (possibly expandable later on). Attempting to optimise not so much for quantity of grammar rules, but rather quantity of grammatical "things" required to construct different kinds of sentences, which I know sounds like utter nonsense but it makes sense to me at least... kind of.
Starting simple with a phonology and a romanisation (writing system may come later on):
/p t d k/ <p t d k>
/m n/ <m n>
/f ʃ h/ <f s h>
/w ɹ l j/ <w r l j>
/a e i o u/ <a e i o u>
I know from past experience that if I make it much bigger than this then I can and will forget half of the consonants.
Some phonotactics:
(C)V(C)
Onset is optional only at the start of a word.
Coda can only be one of <m n f s h>.
When a coda is present, /i/ -> /ɪ/ and /u/ -> /ʊ/.
In the coda, /ʃ/ -> /s/.
<wo wu ji> are not permitted.
Stress is always on the first syllable of a word.
And some pronouns cause why not?:
i - n 1SG, adj mine
is - n 1PL.EXCL, adj ours
iso - n 1PL.INCL, adj ours
jo - n 2SG, adj yours
jos - n 2PL, adj yours
de - n 3SG, adj theirs
des - n 3PL, adj theirs
And while I'm on a roll I'll make some words up. It is only now that I'm discovering the power of referencing people in these which is fun.
nuri - n food, v eat
sapi - n person
kuti - n friend, adj friendly/nice
awe - int hello, v greet/introduce
mama - n speech/talking, v speak/say
aki - n cat
mili - n a little, adj small/short
salo - n a lot, adj big/tall
Some grammar:
SVO because I'm feeling uninteresting.
"X is Y" kinda statements omit the verb, or "to be" would be the "default" verb if none is provided.
Tense marker comes after the verb (even if it is not explicitly provided). This is to prevent confusion where the object might also work as an adjective on the subject or an adverb on the verb. For intransitive verbs, the tense marker can be dropped and defaults to past simple for actions and present simple for states, except where context implies something else e.g. if I'm sat next to you eating a sandwich and I say i nuri then I probably don't mean "I ate".
Tense markers:
o - PRE
a - PST
ri - FUT
Append -n for progressive forms where applicable.
Adjectives come after what they are describing.
Sentences:
aki i o mili - my cat is small
des nuri - they ate
Stay tuned for when I realise I've conlanged myself into a corner or something and don't know what to do /s