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Alien conlang idea

From:Peter Bleackley <peter.bleackley@...>
Date:Monday, July 19, 2004, 16:20
I had an a really unusual idea for a language the other day (how often do I
say this) and it strikes me as being outside the range of what's plausible
for humans, but possible plausible for aliens.
Every word in the language is a noun-verb compound. The nominal part is
expressed as a triconsonantal root, as in Semitic languages. The verbal
part consists of the vowel pattern. The valid templates are
CVCC
VCVCC
CVCCV
VCVCCV
CCVC
VCCVC
CCVCV
VCCVCV
CVCVC
VCVCVC
CVCVCV
VCVCVCV
which, with a 5-vowel system gives a total of 2160 possible forms. There
are no real sentences as such, just long strings of noun-verb compounds
building up the meaning.

Suppose we then have the nouns slf (I), kns (dog), skl (bone), tld (child)
and the verbs e_a_ (have) _i__ (give) __uo (undergo) oa_e (receive), then

eslaf otalde silf knuso tild skulo okanse

I-have child-receive I-give dog-undergo child-give bone-undergo dog-receive

means, "I give a dog to my child, who gives it a bone."

Pete

Reply

John Cowan <jcowan@...>