Conlang: Re: New language Noygwexaal (Wesley Parish, Mar 22 '05, 8:05)

> As usual, all comments & suggestions welcome. > > Partly in the interests of sheer perversity, I'm trying to create an orc- > language with a mostly "elvish" phonology. Noygwexaal is what I have come > up with, spoken by the Noygooras, or goblin peoples. > > Phonology > --------- > > Character CXS value > p /p/ > b /b/ > t /t/ > d /d/ > c /k/ > g /g/ > cw /kw/ > gw /gw/ > m /m/ > n /n/ > y /N/ > yw /Nw/ > f /f/ > v /v/ > x /T/ > q /D/ > s /s/ > z /z/ > š /S/ > r /r/ > l /l/ > w /w/ > j /j/ > > a /a/ > aa /a:/ > e /e, E/ > ee /e:, E:/ > i /i, I/ > ii /i:, I:/ > o /o, O/ > oo /o:, O:/ > u /u, U/ > uu /u:, U:/ > > Doubled vowels can be written as vowel-macron, but this font won't handle > macrons :P. I was thinking of transcribing /S/ as k, but that's just a > little too perverse. > > > Grammar > ------- > > OSV syntax, just to continue the perversity. Plurals and collectives[1] > are formed by ablaut of the final vowel in a regular pattern for each > vowel. There are 6 noun classes: warm/bright, hard, soft, liquid/wet, > abstract/immaterial, and magical. Most living things are in the > warm/bright category, but so are fire, hot rocks, the sun, the moon and so > on. Some animals are in the hard or soft categories, and most magical or > completely eldritch creatures fall into the magical category, as does any > complex machinery. > There are only 2 tenses: Present and Oblique. (When you spend almost all > of your existence underground, time is less of an issue.) However, there > are 4 levels of evidentiality: direct knowledge, direct report, tradition > and hearsay. > > Some example sentences > ---------------------- > > ga-reqan ec vuur-carwaanduu vuur-i-xanoor deriil. > /ga 'rED.an Ek vu:r` kar'wa:n.du: vu:r i Tan'O:r dEr'i:l/ > ga-reqan ec vuur-carwa.anduu vuur-i-xanoor der.iil > the(h)-pickaxe to the(w)-work_party.leader the-SUBJ-thanor give.3sgl(w)_obl > Thanor gave the pickaxe to the overseer. > > ga-reqen ec vuur-carwaanduu vuur-i-xanoor deriil. > /ga 'rED.En Ek vu:r` kar'wa:n.du: vu:r i Tan'O:r dEr'i:l/ > ga-reqen ec vuur-carwa.anduu vuur-i-xanoor der.iil > the(h)-pickaxes(pl) to the(w)-work_party.leader the-SUBJ-thanor > give.3sgl(w) _obl > Thanor gave the pickaxes to the overseer. > > tarl ga-nen i-gwiin biijeruqiin. > /tarl ga nEn I gwi:n bi:'jEr.UD.i:n/ > tarl ga-nen i-gwiin biijer.uqiin > in the(h)-cave SUBJ-bats fly.3pl(w)_prs_2ev > (I have been told that) Bats fly (around) in the cave. > > ga-nen i-lumaara telejwestuu. > /ga nEn i lu'ma:r.a tE'lej.wEs.tu:/ > ga-nen i-lumaara telej.westuu > the(h)-cave SUBJ-waters(c) tunnel.3c(l)_obl_3ev > (It is the tradition that) Water carved this cave. > > puu-heerulindwaara nejr iloornuu. > /pu: 'hE:.ru.lIn"dwa:.ra nejr I'lo:r.nu:/ > puu-heeru.lindwaara nejr iloor.nuu > the(m)-black.dragon[2] you(formal) slay.2sgl(f)_obl_2ev[3] > You will slay the black dragon. > > > [1] collective forms. eg the singular of "person" is "person", and the > plural is "people", which in Noywexaal has the sense of "some people" > or "these people" (of a limited number). The collective form has the sense > of "all the people", "the tribe", "the crowd" and so on. > [2] modifiers, especially adjectives, are usually conjoined to the front of > their head to create long compound words. The exception is in sentences > like "the dragon is black". > [3] future events are usually couched in less certain evidentiality, as > (prophecy notwithstanding) the future is uncertain. > > > What do you think? I'm currently vocabulary-generating as a prelude to > working on a Babel translation. > > Geoff

From:	Wesley Parish <wes.parish@...>
Date:	Tuesday, March 22, 2005, 8:05