Simpyl Inglysh (artlang)

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Tsugar
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Simpyl Inglysh (artlang)

Post by Tsugar »

Simple English

Simple English is an attempt to imagine what a simplified English designed for easier learning would actually look like.

Basic English, which claims to do so, only focuses on reducing the vocabulary (and increasing circumlocutions) without targeting phonology or morphology.

Phonology

The sounds likely to be excluded due to their rareness crosslinguistically, even in a Standard Average European (SAE) context are:

/θ ð ʒ ɪ ʊ æ ʌ/.
Also, phonemic distinctions between /v/ and /w/ are rare, even in SAE context.
Subtracting these leaves us the following consonants:
/p b t d t̠ʃ d̠ʒ k g/ <p b t d ch j k g>
/ f s z ʃ h m n ŋ/ <f s z sh h m n ng>
/w ɹ l j/ <w r l y>
And vowels:
/α ɛ ei i ɔ ou u ə/ <a e ei i o ou u y*>
/aj aw oj/ <ai au oi>
*y is a vowel after a consonant
To convert the rare sounds to their more common counterparts, the following table is provided:

Code: Select all

English 	Simple English		Context
θ		t			#_
θ		f			_#
θ		t			V_V
θ		t			_r
ð		d			All
ʒ		dʒ			All
ɪ		i			stressed
ɪ		ə			unstressed
ʊ		u			all
ʌ		ə			unstressed
ʌ		ɔ			stressed
v		w			#_, V_V
v		f			_#
æ		a			stressed
æ		ɛ			unstressed
All other vowels are invariant in their stressed/unstressed forms.

Phonotactics
Since the maximal phonotactic structure of CCCVCCC in English is more complex than the global average of CCVC, several steps will be taken:
1. Epenthesis of the schwa on syllable-final voiced obstruents
e.g <astyroidy> from "asteroid"
2. Epenthesis of the schwa on final consonant clusters
e.g <handy> from "hand"
3. i- Prothesis before sC- clusters
e.g <iskul> from "school"
4. Reduction of final consonant clusters before another syllable beginning a consonant
e.g <wyrbuk> from "wordbook" for "dictionary" or <hanyus> for "manual(ly) operated"
5. Dropping before the "s"
This occurs in cross-syllable clusters like "install" becoming <istal> (cf. Spanish dialectal /'is.ta.lar/)
or <pyspektif> fr. "perspective"
The resulting structure is:

Code: Select all

(C1 (C2))  V (C3))
where C1 is any consonant except <ng>
where C2 is <r>,<l>,<w>or <y>
and where C3 is any voiceless obstruent, liquid or nasal
Last edited by Tsugar on 25 Sep 2021 14:10, edited 17 times in total.
Tsugar
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Re: Simple English (artlang)

Post by Tsugar »

Maybe this is way too disorganized of a presentation- I can edit later.
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Omzinesý
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Re: Simple English (artlang)

Post by Omzinesý »

Tsugar wrote: 23 Sep 2021 03:39
Consonants
/p b t d tS ts dZ k g/ <p b t d ch ts j k g>
/m n/ <m n>
/f v s z h/ <f v s z h>
/r l j/ <r l y>
Vowels
/a e i o u ai au oi/ <a e i o u ai au oi>
Why does it have /ts/ but not /S/? Does not sound very English.
If things are however changed so much, merging /ts/ and /tS/ would delete POA contrasts between sibilants altogether and make to lang easier.

Is /r/ a trill?

Do you have a consistent rule for forcing English words into the phonology?

How are words with more than one syllable treated? Are all unstressed vowels schwa?
My meta-thread: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5760
Tsugar
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Re: Simple English (artlang)

Post by Tsugar »

Omzinesý wrote: 24 Sep 2021 12:57
Tsugar wrote: 23 Sep 2021 03:39
Consonants
/p b t d tS ts dZ k g/ <p b t d ch ts j k g>
/m n/ <m n>
/f v s z h/ <f v s z h>
/r l j/ <r l y>
Vowels
/a e i o u ai au oi/ <a e i o u ai au oi>
Why does it have /ts/ but not /S/? Does not sound very English.
If things are however changed so much, merging /ts/ and /tS/ would delete POA contrasts between sibilants altogether and make to lang easier.

Is /r/ a trill?

Do you have a consistent rule for forcing English words into the phonology?

How are words with more than one syllable treated? Are all unstressed vowels schwa?
See above for revisions. Feel free to make more comments. Added section on phonotactics and addressed your questions
Tsugar
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Re: Simpyl Inglysh (artlang)

Post by Tsugar »

Morphology
English has the following inflectional affixes

Code: Select all

-ing-s -ed-er-est -‘s 
Simpyl eliminates all of them and uses optional periphrastic constructions instead.

Nouns

Nouns are pluralized using the optional marker <dem>

The genitive case is indicated through zero derivation. E.g “the dog’s bone” is translated as <dogy boun>

There are no articles.

Pronouns

Personal pronouns do not decline for case.
They are: <mi> 1sg., <yu> 2. , <em> 3. and <wi> 1pl.
Plurality is indicated through <meni> for “many”

Demonstrative pronouns are <dis> PROX. and <dat> DIST.
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