Re: New Language

Well, I think I've decided on the basic form of Traderslang, a language
I've been trying to create for a while now.  Here's a description of
what I have so far:

Phonology:
Vowels
i (/i/)
i` (/-i/)
u (/u/)
e (/e/)
e` (/@\/ - close-mid central unrounded)
o (/o/)
a (/a/)

Tones
High (i', i^)
Low (i, i`)

No diphthongs, an epenthetic glottal stop is automatically inserted
between vowels

Consonants
Stops
b   d   g
p   t   k
ph  th  kh
Glottalics
    dd
    tt  kk
Nasals
m   n   n~
Fricatives
v   z   gh
f   s   x
Laterals
    l   ll (ll =3D velarized l)

Syllables
C =3D Consonant
S =3D Stops
G =3D Glottalic
N =3D Nasal
F =3D Fricative
L =3D Lateral

CV
(S/G/F)LV
F(S/N/F/G)V
F(S/F/G)LV
N(S/F/N2/G)V; N2 cannot be m
N(S/F/G)LV
(S/G/N)FV
(S/G/N)FLV

Grammar
Nouns
There are three genders, human, animate, inanimate
Three numbers, singular, dual, plural
9 cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, instrumental,
locative, ablative, allative, benefactive) - inanimate nouns do not
inflect benefactive and instrumental
Case, gender, and number are combined into one suffix
Obligatory possessive prefixes are added whenever a noun is possessed,
even when the possessor is stated (John's his-house)
1st person pronouns differentiate between inclusive and exclusive

Verbs
Subject and object clitics are obligatory
Verbs inflect for aspect, tense, and voice, like so:
verb-aspect-tense/voice
Aspects
Perfect: slli^/slle`v (slli^ used with asterisked forms, below)
Progressive: n~ni`, n~ne`p (n~ni` used with asterisked forms, below)
Preparative: vde (vdi` in present passive)

Tense/voice
Tense     Active  Passive  Reflexive
Past      ze      zi`      zekke^
Past Hab  zni^*   ze`nve`  zne`cge^
Im. Past  ta      ti`      tokke^
Present   *       e`, **   ke^
Pres. Hab ni^     nve`*    ne`vgi^
Im. Fut   kle`n~a kle`n~i  kle`n~e^
Future    kli^    kle`n~e` kle`ge^
** certain sound changes

Subject/object Clitics
1st S: tllo, tll'               tll=E1
1st d. excl: spe`, sp', s'      spi`, zbi`
1st p. excl: ne`, n'            ngu
1st d. incl: po, p'             pa, 'a
1st p. incl: mne`, mn'          mn~u
2nd s.: fke, fk'                fk=ED, vg=ED
2nd d.: ki`, ke`                kfe`, gve`
2nd p.: nn~o, nn~'              nn~u
3rd h. s.: e`, -                i^, e^
3rd h. d.: i`, e`f              i`, e`
3rd h. p.: i^, e`gh             i`gu, e`gu
3rd a. s.: pe`, p'              p=ED
3rd a. d.: pi, pe`f             pi
3rd a. p.: p=ED, pe`gh          'gu, pegu
3rd i. s.: se`, s'              si^
3rd i. d.: si`, se`f            si`
3rd i. p.: si^, se`gh           sku, zgu

The morphophonemic rules are too involved to go into here

They are written as seperate words, for instance:
hit =3D vde^
tll' =EE vd=EAsll=E8vze
tll' i^      vde^-slle`v-ze
I    him/her hit-perfect-past.active

Word order
subject and object clitics occur together.  That compound may occur
immediately before inflected verb or at the beginning of teh verb phrase
(i.e., either SO ADV VERB or ADV SO VERB)
Auxillaries may occur immediately after or immediately before verb, thus
all possible orders are:
SO V - unmarked order
SO adv V - unmarked order
adv SO V
(adv) SO AUX V
SO adv AUX V
(adv) V SO AUX - unmarked order

Verbs occur at the end of the clause
Postpositions are used
Modifiers follow their head

--=20
"[H]e axed after eggys: And the goode wyf answerde, that she coude not
speke no Frenshe ... And then at last a nother sayd that he woulde haue
hadde eyren: then the goode wyf sayd that she vnderstood hym wel." --
William Caxton
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