Adunî

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Lorik
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Adunî

Post by Lorik »

A note on the language's name (you can skip this if you want to):
Spoiler:
I'm now aware that this language's name looks a lot like Adûni, which means Westron in Westron. However, when I named this language months ago, I didn't know that Westron was called Adûni - the similarity in the names was just an unfortunate coincidence. My intention with the name was to make an hommage to Adûnaic (or rather Adûnâyê, which is Adûnaic in Adûnaic), my greatest inspiration for both of my main conlangs. So just to make this clear: this conlang is not Westron, nor is it related to it or based off of it.

After scrapping and remaking this conlang for the grand total of seven times, I believe I've finally arrived at something that pleases me. This means it's time to present it! (and to hope I don't scrap it all again)

Adunî is the native language of Adunê, a kingdom on the southwest of Tûdav. It is part of the same language family as Lohdan and it has not only been greatly influenced by Lohdan, but it has also influenced Lohdan. As such, you may notice many similarities between these two languages.

As always, I'm open to suggestions, comments and questions.

Phonology
Consonants
/p b t d k g/ <p b t d k g>
/m n/ <m n>
/f θ s z ʃ ʒ/ <ph th s~ss* z sh j>
/ʀ/ <h>
/ɾ/ <r>
/j/ <j>
/l/ <l>

*/s/ is written as <ss> between vowels in the romanization to make it easier to read. However, <s> and <ss> are represented by the same glyph in the native script.

Vowels
/i u ɛ ɔ ɑ/ <i u e o a>
/i: u: ɛ: ɔ: ɑ:/ <î û ê ô â>

Diphtongs
All Vj and jV diphtongs are allowed.

About /j/ <y>
When between two vowels, /j/ is considered a consonant. When it isn't between two vowels, it is considered a vowel forming a diphtong.
Examples:
The <y> in "Adûnîyi" /ɑ.du:.'ni:.ji/is treated as a consonant, while the <y> in "kabiryi" /kɑ.'bi.ɾji/ is treated as a vowel forming a diphtong with the following <i>.

Allophony
These are the allophones that occur in "standard" Adunî, which is the variety spoken in the capital of Adunê.
/ɾ/ is read as [r] word-initially and when it's the last phoneme of a consonantal cluster. Examples: roza ['rɔzɑ] ("sword"), azra ['ɑzrɑ] ("sea")
When /j/ comes immediately after a consonant, the consonant is palatalized instead. Example: kabiryi [kɑ'biɾʲi] ("foal")

Phonotactics
- Words cannot end nor begin with a consonantal cluster;
- Words cannot end in /u/ nor in Vj diphtongs;
- If a word ends in a consonant, it may only be one of these: /t d k m n ɾ l/;
- Other than the diphtongs stated above, no vowel clusters are allowed;
- The following consonantal clusters are allowed in the middle of a word:
sp, st, zd, sk, zg,
rp, rb, rt, rd, rk, rg,
pr, tr, dr, kr, gr, zr,
tph, tth.

Stress
Stress is based on syllable length, and follows the rules below:
- If the penultimate syllable is long, the word is a paroxytone. Example: atphârid /ɑt.'fɑ:.ɾid/ ("mane")
- If the above doesn't apply and the last syllable is long, the word is an oxytone. Example: Adunî /ɑ.du.'ni:/
- If the above doesn't apply and the antepenultimate syllable is long, the word is a proparoxytone. Example: atphâride /ɑt.'fɑ:.ɾi.dɛ/ (an inflected form of "atphârid")
- If the above doesn't apply, the word is a paroxytone. Example: lorik /'lɔ.ɾik/ ("horse rider")
Last edited by Lorik on 03 Jan 2022 12:05, edited 1 time in total.
Native: :bra: | Fluent: :eng: :fra: | Intermediate: :rus:
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WeepingElf
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Re: Adunî

Post by WeepingElf »

The name of your language is awfully close to Adûni, the native name of Westron (the lingua franca of Middle-earth).
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Re: Adunî

Post by Lorik »

WeepingElf wrote: 02 Jan 2022 21:21 The name of your language is awfully close to Adûni, the native name of Westron (the lingua franca of Middle-earth).
Oh my goodness [O.O] I didn't know that - which is quite embarrassing for someone who got into conlanging because of Tolkien! I'd chosen this name (after discarding a dozen other names) as an hommage to Adûnaic, which is my greatest inspiration for my two main conlangs, and I've grown quite fond of it.
Well, I don't know how many people would notice it, but I'll add a little note about it on my first post just in case.
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Re: Adunî

Post by Lorik »

Nouns
In Adunî, nouns have gender (feminine or masculine), number (singular, dual or plural) and case (nominative, oblique or genitive).

Gender
When a word can be inflected for gender, the lexical form is the feminine.
Usually, the feminine ends with -i or -iC, while the masculine usually ends with an -a. The feminine is generalised, so for example, lorik ("horse rider"), although a feminine noun, can either mean "female horse rider" or just "horse rider" in general, while the masculine lorika means exclusively "male horse rider".

Number
The lexical form of words is the singular, which is also the uninflected form.
The dual isn't used for two of literally anything. It is only used for:
- Pairs (ex: two hands, two eyes, two shoes, etc.)
- Emphasizing a strong relationship between two things (ex: the two monarchs of a kingdom [i.e. the queen and the king], etc.)
- Emphasizing the fact that there are exactly two of said thing. This usage is considered wrong by some people.

Case
The lexical form of words is the oblique, which is also the uninflected form. It is used for anything that isn't in the nominative (which is only used for the subject of a sentence) nor in the genitive.

Declension
Nouns in Adunî can be divided into four groups according to their form and how they are inflected:
- Group I: words with at least two syllables which end in short vowel + consonant (ex: kabir "horse")
- Group II: words with at least two syllables which end in a short vowel (ex: roza "sword")
- Group III: words that have only one syllable (with a short vowel), or which end in long vowel + consonant (ex: ron "daughter")
- Group IV: words that end in a long vowel (ex: lohê "animal")
Here are some examples of the declension of each of the groups:
Image
I've put the part of the word which is changed in bold. Letters in red mean that i/î is used for feminine nouns and a/â for masculine nouns.
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Re: Adunî

Post by WeepingElf »

Well, many Tolkien fans are not even aware that Westron is a conlang and not just English, and few know that its native name is Adûni. And the names Adûni and Adûnaïc are cognate - Westron is a descendant of Adûnaïc, and the word for 'west' apparently is adûn in both languages. See here.
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Lorik
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Re: Adunî

Post by Lorik »

Yeah, I know that adûn is west in Adûnaic - I've read parts two and three of Sauron Defeated (that's what inspired me to create Adunî) - and that Westron comes from Adûnaic, but I expected them to be a little more... different than that. I've never read the People of Middle-Earth though, so the only Westron words I knew were the ones on LotR. I suppose that's what I get for not researching things properly. Oh, and thanks for the link!
Native: :bra: | Fluent: :eng: :fra: | Intermediate: :rus:
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