Thakowsaizmus Unnamed ConLang

Thakowsaizmus Unnamed ConLang
Howdy! Here is a quick overview of one of my many ConLnags! A quick warning, my computer hates IPA so I have to use X-SAMPA, which I hate. A quick background on that language: It has no name yet, though it has in the past I just didn’t care for it. I have been working on it on and off for a few years now, and this is currently its third major revision, though I like what I have so I think it’ll not need to be revised again. Even though this is the third major revision, the verb system has been revised a total of four times now. The Culture itself is coming slowly, I have a good ammount mapped out in my head, though I have nothing commited to paper or word document yet. Once I get around to putting that into coherent written form I'll share that as well. So then, on to the language! The basic alphabet (In Roman order, not ConLang order) is as follows: Roman: a á b c ch d dh e é f g h i í l lh m n ng o ó p r s sh s/t t th u ú v w wh y yh z zh ä ë X-SAMPA: a a: b k x d D E e f g h i i: l_d K m n N O O: p r/4 s S s t t T u u: v w W y C z Z { E Some quick things about the Roman transliteration: 1) I don't actually have an Alphabet for the language yet! 2) ë is not an actual letter. It is just there so that non-ConLang friends know to pronounce it at the end of a word. 3) s and t are the same letter. The letter just changes depending on if it is followed by a vowel or not. Here is a brief overview of some Nouns: Female sing: Lana pl: län l_dana / l_d{n Girl sing: Esar pl: ítrë Esar / itrE Wing sing: Espa pl: ísp Espa / isp Lip sing: Pui pl: puir pwi / pwir Child sing: Bronda pl: brendi brOnda / brEndi Fortress sing: Tarsa pl: tärt tarsa / t{rt Name sing: Thuin pl: thuir Twin / Twir Path sing: Lhat pl: lhasar Kat / Kasar There is a bit of an Ablaut dealy going on in the strong nouns. Weak nouns generally make their plural by tacking -ar on to the end. Also, the plural of a strong noun is its root. A few nouns have an “irregular” -n -> -r plural. Truth be told they really are pretty predictable. A brief overview of adjectives: There are two types of adjectives, strong and weak. Strong adjectives change in the comparative and superlative as well as in the inverse of the two (less, least. Can't think of the word for those). Weak adjectives have a special helper adjective (sa)* that takes the endings as needed. Strong adjectives are the adjectives that end in -a, -ë, -i and about half of the ones that end in -ai. Weak adjectives are all of the other ones. A few examples: Cute Asta com: astanu sup: astevi Asta less: asteto least: astethon Lucky Vachtë com: vachtanu sup: vachtivi Vachtë less: vachteto least: vachtithon Nice Mazhi com: mazhinu sup: mazhivi Mazhi less: mazhito least: mazhithon Slow dlímai com: dlímen sup: dlímevi dlímai less: dlímet least: dlímethon Sad Cul (sa) com: cul sarnu sup: cul sarvi Cul (sa) less: cul sarto least: cul sarthon Examples with nouns: Cute girl: Asta esar Cuter girl: Astanu esar Cu-*test*-('") girl: Astevi esar Lucky child: Vachtë bronda Less lucky child: Vachteto bronda Least lucky child: Vachtithon bronda Nice kitten: Mazhi cältish Nicer kitten: Mazhinu cältish Nicest kitten: Mazhivi cältish Slow bear: dlímai tsengar Less slow bear: dlímet tsengar Least slow bear: dlímethon tsengar Sad cat: Cul sa cala Sadder cat: Cul sarnu cala Saddest cat: Cul sarvi cala * sa becomes sar before a word starting with a vowel, although technically sar is the correct form and sa is the clipped form. And one last overview for now, Making an adjective and adverb: Adverbs are realitively easy to make, basically you add -në to the end of the adjective. If the adjective ends in –ë, -ë becomes –a before the addition of –në, –ai becomes -á before –në. On to the examples: Nice - Mazhi Nicely - Mazhinë Swift - Gayhtë Swiftly - Gayhtanë Bright - Shai Brightly - Shánë So, if there is any interest then I will continue on with the nifty prefixes and and intro to the verbs.

Cool! Do you have a long example text? And as a suggestion for the name, if you have a word for 'speech', call it that or something similar.

How did you derive their plural forms? It looks very nice, lots of sound changes or is that mutations.

Cool! Do you have a long example text? Here is an example that is a tad longer than those above: Sovardë; sobavi. Ásúravi, dhaThuin yaVélen, et ódevi angistui. Áhavi haGóthai. Ásvavi dhóna vúrca cai vasa cai. Áhavar haGóthai. Ásvavar dhóna dlog cai shon cai. Summoned, I come. In Valen's name I take the place that has been prepared for me. I am Grey. I stand between the candle and the star. We are Grey. We stand between the darkness and the light. Nothing really long yet though. I am working on some longer texts, but I don't have then typed out yet. And as a suggestion for the name, if you have a word for 'speech', call it that or something similar. Actually I am working on the name right now. It'll be named after one of the origional Twelve Tribes of the land that the language is spoken in. How did you derive their plural forms? It looks very nice, lots of sound changes or is that mutations. Plurals are derived from the root of the word from the older tongue (is my in world excuse). Actually it is somewhat of an Ablaut I believe. For the most part there is an internal change in the strong nouns and the weak ones just take the ending -ar. Many words that end in -n that are not strong nouns lose the -n before the addition of the plural marking -r. If it is a weak noun ending in a vowel, -r is just tacked onto the end. The strong plurals work like so: “a--a” words such as Lana have the plural of “ä--”. Thus Lana becomes Län in plural. “e--a” becomes either “í--” such as in Espa becomes Ísp, or “í--ë” as in Esar becomes Ítrë. The second plural form there is purely for ease of pronunciation. “o--e” words like Bronda have the plural “e--i”, so we get Brendi. There are of course irregular plurals here and there, but for the most part that is how it works. Lana means “Woman”, Esar means “Girl”, Espa is “Wing”, and Bronda is “Child” Alright, I am off to lunch!

Re: Thakowsaizmus Unnamed ConLang
I like what you have so far, I just have some questions about this: r s sh s/t t ë X-SAMPA: r/4 s S s t t E Does <r> change between /r/ and /4/ only at specific instances, say, following a consonant or at the end of a word? Or is it arbitrarily determined for each word? If its the second, then it might be easier to read if split into two separate glyphs.. The differing s/t letter should be covered elsewhere in the grammar as a simple rule. Adding two extra glyphs with a built in rule is confusing. >>> t /t/ is pronounced /s/ if followed by a vowel... I like this concept though :) Is <ë> supposed to be read something like an aspirated breath instead of the vowel /E/ ? I understand writing it so others remember, but I'm not sure why you didn't use your perfectly good <e> with the same sound /E/. I really like the sound changing throughout and possibilities, over-all. Can't wait to see how it develops. :)

Re: Thakowsaizmus Unnamed ConLang
I like what you have so far, I just have some questions about this: r s sh s/t t ë X-SAMPA: r/4 s S s t t E Does <r> change between /r/ and /4/ only at specific instances, say, following a consonant or at the end of a word? Or is it arbitrarily determined for each word? If its the second, then it might be easier to read if split into two separate glyphs.. The differing s/t letter should be covered elsewhere in the grammar as a simple rule. Adding two extra glyphs with a built in rule is confusing. >>> t /t/ is pronounced /s/ if followed by a vowel... I like this concept though :) Is <ë> supposed to be read something like an aspirated breath instead of the vowel /E/ ? I understand writing it so others remember, but I'm not sure why you didn't use your perfectly good <e> with the same sound /E/. I really like the sound changing throughout and possibilities, over-all. Can't wait to see how it develops. :) Thanks! Good to see people like some of the stuff! Alright, I'll explain those a bit better. r is pronounced r when at the beginning or end of a word, or between two vowels. It is 4 before a consonant or at the end of a word where the next word starts in a consonant and it'’ be easier to pronounce it as such. To be honest, the speakers (me) don’t really see a difference between the two sounds, so they are considered the same sound in the language. As for s and t, they are in the script the same letter. (I have not made the script yet mind you.) In Roman transcripton I use the two to show the change in pronounciation. Sort of like how “t” becomes “c” in some words in English (I can’t think of any examples right now...). When a vowel follows the letter in the same word it is pronounced s. Anywhere else it is t. And that letter must always be underlined though to differentiate between the other ones that don’t change. Alright, as for ë, it is the same as e, only appears at the end of a word, and doesn’t exist in the conscript that I have yet to make. Mostly it is there as a reminder for any one who isn’t conlang savvy, and also for æsthetic reasons. Mostly the reason that I like Umlauts over an “e” but never seem to have a good reason to use them and the reason of helping others remember to pronouce the “e” at the end. It really is rather optional. So I hope that helps. I’ll post more soon! As it is this is the second time I’ve typed this out because explorer crashed for no good reason the first time!

Cool - from what I read, it sounds pretty cool. I find the same thing with little difference between and <4>, my conlang officially uses but it generally ends up being <4> when I speak it. The t/s thing is an interesting idea, I like it.

Cool - from what I read, it sounds pretty cool. I find the same thing with little difference between and <4>, my conlang officially uses but it generally ends up being <4> when I speak it. The t/s thing is an interesting idea, I like it. Yeah, to be honest there was never supposed to be a 4 pronounciation for the r, it just sort of naturally happened, heh. I like the t/s thing too. I don't know, actually the language itself came out of me wanting to play with Ablauts and have a letter that could be either "t" or "s". So, as promised, I'll intorduce a bit more in the realm of grammarlicious goodness. I’ll start with verbs! Basic grammar is going to go VSO. So far I have the infinitive / command form, as well as the basic past, present and future tenses and an absolute tense that I’ll explain when I understand what I mean better. Here are a few examples: Nercu - To see Írcu past Árcu present Úrcu future Írcuvi - I saw Árcuvi - I see Úrcuvi - I will see I saw the child near the blue river – Írcuvi bronda voan biWharda sa dówhai Nesi (et) - To have Ísi past Ási present Úsi future I have a kitten - Ásivi et cältish Here is where the infinitive becomes pointless beyond that of the command. If there are two verbs together, such as like to see, both of the verbs conjugate leaving no infinitie form: I enjoy seeing the girl, I like to see the girl – Áyhavi esar árcuvi Neyha - To like, enjoy Here is a look at the command form and it’s many uses: Nerculi! Look! (singular) Nercular! Look! (plural) Nercu! Look! (rude) Some of the interesting features: Nercuvi! I'll look! This will work something like an annoyed answere to someone or something somewhat annoyed/rhetoric. What I mean is say you ask someone to do something and they just stand there and look at you blankly until you get annoyed enough to just do it yourself. Something like that. Also great for sarcasm. The root of the verb is pretty much the verb without the infinitive / command form attached. The root of Nercu is -rcu-. If a verb is being turned into a noun, such as Nercu, a dumby a- is added to the front, and usually the verb turned noun also takes a final -t. So the verb Nercu to see can easily become Arcut Sight. If a verb root does not begin with an initial cluster, the a- is not needed. For example, the root of Nedhorna To carry a child is -dhorna-. So we attach that -t and we get the word Dhornat Birth There are a few irregular verb roots, They are generally cluster initial, though not always, and there is not a sure fire way to tell if a verb root is going to be irregular or not so they just have to be memorized. One such example is the verb Nertë to give (of ones own free will, of ones own desire). The root of the verb is -ortë-, so one gets the word Ortet Gift. Luckily there are very few irregular verb-roots. So there you have a small intro to the verbs! Hope it is enjoyed! Next time I'll get to the prefixes and prepositions!

You don't mention negatives in your verbal paradigm -- how do they work?

The negative (for a verb). Simply place the word Chan (xan) before the verb it is going to modify. Example: I see the cat - Árcuvi wesa I do not see the cat - Chan Árcuvi wesa Simple enough. Questions and question words: I'll start with the basic "who, what, where"'s Who - Dón What - Del Where - Desë Why - Deshë When - Dai Which - Decsë How - Den How many - Dirdë How far - Demë What time, place - Durgë These generally go after the verb, though if they are being stressed they work a bit different. Examples: Who is that girl? – Áha dón esar? Where is my cat? – Áha desë wesavi? Examples of emphasis on the question word: Who (emph) is that girl? – Dón áha dón esar? Where (emph) is my cat? – Desë áha desë wesavi? If you just want to ask a question without one of those pesky words, then add the word Ís before the verb. Examples: Are you going to the Seer tomorrow? – Ís úlali zógar wahArcut? Is the cat frolicing? - Ís ádhíma wesa? If you wish to make a negative question, then place Ís'an before the verb. Ís'an is a contraction of Ís and Chan. Examples: Are you not going to the smithy tomorrow? – Ís’an úlali zógar waCho yaDlor? Do you not like the boy? - Ís’an áyhali et codot? (áyhali is pronounced a:Cal_di)

the nagative - a fairly recent noun casing used mainly by women in an attempt to influence the actions of their husbands. Also used by parents. Sorry, typos make for great humor... It had to be done.

Heh, oops.... ::fixes::

How large is your lexicon? Do you have enough vocabulary to show us a longer sample?

Heh, not as long as I'd like it, but I have been working away at it. Currently I have what could be called a "conversational" level of the language. I will put up a longer example of text soon though once I get a few more words.

Well, I do have a longer example of the language. Here is the first chapter of the Tao: HaCéashó lhat, Chan soha so haLhat yaWhan. HaCéashó thuin, Chan soha so haThuin yaWhan. Soha dhevecheshó haVarchasa yaRes cai yaDhústa cai, So vecheshó haAmathen yaLät báyha. Néyhë zhárga iséDúyha, sorcuthé vielë. Néyhë zhárga sóDúyha, sorcuthé géleg. Soba whéta ér nan, ós solierë dhaThuin. Sofányesar whéta vielestë. Vielestë mo vielestanu, Soha’r mon yaVielë úlo.

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