CONLANG Digest - 12 Sep 2004 to 13 Sep 2004 (#2004-256)

I'm working on my first conlang.  I write sci-fi as a hobby, and I
decided that my xeno civilizations simply must have languages to go
with the cultures.  So this will be the first of a few languages for
my own use.  But I want to do it right, not just the occassional
word or two like you usually find in sci-fi.  I want a "real"
language.

In roman ornthology (is this the right word?), the consonants are
symbolized as h, k, l, m, n, p, w, v, and a stop symbolized as `
that acts as a consonant in syllable formation.  These are
pronounced as they would sound in American English.  The vowels
represented as a (Alone), e (bEt), i (bEE), o (Obey), u (cOOl), â
(AH), ê (hoorAY), î (more stretched out than the short form), ô,
(just more stretched out than the short form) and û (also just more
stretched out than the short form).  And then dipthongs ae (EYE), ai
(Ice), ao (hOW), au (hOUse), ei (EIght), eu (eh-oo but run together
as a single sound), iu (fEW), oi (vOIce), ou (bOWl), ui (oogOOEY but
pronounced as a single sound).  The short forms are more common than
the long forms of the vowels, and single vowels are about evenly
distrubuted with dipthongs.

The stop and v can never start a word, but can start a syllable.
Basic syllable formation is (C)V.

Root words are two syllables.  Other words are compounds of the
roots.

What I need to learn to create is the rest of the grammar structure.
Would it make sense to have verbs to be also simply compounds of the
roots?  Is it necessary to have pronouns or indicators for
adjective/adverb, tense, etc.  How would a langauge that is context
driven (without these written indicators) evolve to be used by a
high-tech society, with a rich written history?  I'm familiar only
with English.  My 3 years of Latin Studies in high school were
merely to have a nice afternoon nap.  And my Spanish consists of
ordering beer when I go to Juarez for the occassional weekend.

-Tamara

Reply