Progress with the Ákat language

Just a quick delurk to let people see the progress I've made with my
second conlang, Ákat. I've done most of the basic groundwork and am now
in the process of testing the language against a series of sentences -
discovering the quirks and workarounds the language uses to cope with
various grammar and syntax challenges.

Below, a brief list of the key features of the language, followed by the
first test sentences, and rounded off to some links to explanatory
website pages and pdf documents:


Key features of the language
----------------------------
# Ákat is a reconstructed language within my conworld, Kalieda - its
developers, the Nakap philosophers, were searching for the "perfect
language", the language that they believed was spoken by all people at
the beginning of time

# The grammar of the language is more metaphorical than analytical

# The language has 10 vowels (with no dipthongs), 2 semivowels and 27
consonants

# The language has 3 native scripts, including a logographic script

# Consonant voicing is a grammatical as well as a phonological feature
of the language

# Ákat is an active-dative language, with a fairly strict SVO word order

# It is also highly polysynthetic, with agent incorporation into the verb

# Almost all words are derived from core concept roots - the derivation
models were an intrinsic part of the Nakap philosophers' work for
developing the language

# There are five object classes, and five object numbers

# Counting is base-8, and small numbers cliticise onto their object

# The language only has two formal tenses, but compensates with a rich
array of aspects and moods


Test translation sentences
--------------------------

#1: We are sitting in the night, and like the night, we are silent.
óvudùehm xylnasetfùx evz neike!titutakxik cirsynasetfùx

#2: I thought this darned thread was dead
fixnuduzohxnaul xynihmàhqizùdat àtasentaptisatyf

#3.1: The clouds floated over [eg across] the sea.
hmneisoxxosapòibadêbábdoul e!sacic

#3.2: The clouds floated over [eg above] the sea
hmneisoxxosapòihqogdoul sinsisacic

#4.1: John is taller than he (John) thinks.
nilỳkaphrinasap dazohxàul xylivz àke!fiétap fynykos

#4.2: John is taller than he (someone else) thinks.
àke!dazohxàul xylivz ỳkaphrinasapfiétap fynykos

#5.1: They named their child (Richard)
ázuvèdal ákisêfuskiófosminoikasan

#5.2: What is your name? My name is (Richard)
cuáke!hrinakis nake!kiófosminoikasan

#6: They swept the floor (such that the floor was) clean
hmágohcêbàdỳat ápapciékocxiet

#7: I am standing between a cat and a rabbit
óhqognabahmoks sinsoàxuqeàkoc

#8.1: I swim across the river
ábadhcrihcnaul sinsisapaphmtap

#8.2: I prefer to swim across the river
ábadhcrihcnaul sinsisapaphmtap cirtynatyxninake!

#9.1: The man died (just now)
hmàhqizùdaleqs áxes xylnuset

#9.2: The man died (without apparent reason)
hmàhqizùdaleqs áxes mylácup

#10: the woman ran off long ago
hmácatàbadàuloks tinyset tioáqokfinoike!

#11.1: John saw Peter and he (John) ran off
nilỳkaphrinasapan hmábazzaal satexan kihmágivzaul tioáqokfiòike!

#11.2: John saw Peter and he (Peter) ran off
nilỳkaphrinasapan hmábazzaal satexan tihmágivzaul tioáqokfiòike!

#12: The hunter shot at the pig as he fell out of the tree
hmàtyfdavyzzaut nilàcof sinhmòibadêdabùas tiiàxip

#13.1: Simon lives at that place
ỳfakkátandyhnhqogà!hqat áqok

#13.2: That place is Simon's home
taqok xiỳfakkátan áqokxik fiòike!


Links and stuff
---------------

A .pdf file (just under 800kb) explaining how I pulled together each of
the above test sentences can be found at
http://www.rikweb.co.uk/photos/akat/sentences080322.pdf
The document also includes ipa transcriptions for pronunciation,
together with commonscript and logographic script renderings for each of
them

The Ákat website, detailing the basic phonology, grammar and syntax of
the language can be found at:
http://www.rikweb.co.uk/kalieda/wakat/index.php

And there's a lexicon at:
http://www.rikweb.co.uk/kalieda/wakat/index.php?page=lexicon
... I'm quite proud at how the logographic script is developing!


Hope people find this interesting,

Rik