Re: my all-verb language

Merhaba!

I think an all-verb lang is a really cool idea... On another note, here's
the current sketch of my all-noun language. I hope the sound changes are
reasonable, and that it resembles Malagasy phonologically.

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Mayara

Brief History
Mayara was first brought to the mountains in which its speakers live today
by a tribe of Kosians about 2500 years ago. It underwent many sound changes
under the influence of Proto-Kosi (in X-Sampa):
Proto-Kosi -> Proto-Mayara -> Modern Mayara
*tylIZ -> *tyli -> tuli
*Jyk2ow -> *Jykow -> Juku
*tAvai -> *tave -> tavi
*Ablak_h -> *ablak -> alba
*tavos@fe -> *tavothe -> tavo
*bAx@Nt -> *bakaN -> bahaN

For about two hundred years, these sound changes continued. But over time,
PK and PM drifted apart so that their grammar and lexicon became very
different.

Phonology

All letters are pronounced as in X-Sampa; the exceptions are followed by
their X-Sampa transcription.

Consonants
plosives: p b t d k g
fricatives: v s sh z h
affricates: ts tS dz j
liquids: l r
nasals: m n ny
glides: w y

sh is /S/, ch is /tS/, j is /dZ/, r is /4/, ny is /J/, y is /j/

Vowels
front: i e
mid: a
back: u

i.e. /i e a u/

Syllable Structure
Phonological constraints are numerous in Mayara; Mayara, as seen in its
name, has many open syllables. The syllable structure is generally CV(N).

Stress
Stress falls on the first syllable of all words.

Morphology

There are no verbs in Mayara; English verbs are 'nominalized' in Mayara, but
the Mayara nouns are not derived from verbs - they are words in and of
themselves.

Nouns are divided into two main classes: animate and inanimate. Although the
Mayarans adopted Christianity over 1400 years ago, the nouns then classed as
'animate' (e.g. 'sun', 'moon', 'fire' etc.) continued to be classed as such
and are still as so today. Thus, all items in nature are classed as animate.
Inanimate nouns include abstract nouns ('time', 'walking', 'redness') and
man-made objects ('bread', 'chair', 'house'). Animate nouns end in -a or -e,
and inanimate nouns end in -i or -u, e.g. zanaha 'sun', renya 'moon', veha
'fire', sumi 'time', wenku 'walking', ngozi 'redness', bwanya 'bread', chere
'chair', nyavu 'house'.

Mayara has a number of cases; these are marked with suffixes on the noun, as
follows:
abessive: -ba
adessive: -de
agentive: -ko
allative: -tai
benefactive: -deo
causative: -ka
comitative: -dze
conformative: -sa
dative: -go
delative: -do
distributive: -ma
elative: -le
equative: -li
essive: -sen
genitive: -je
illative: -ra
inessive: -tin
instrumental: -zo
introessive: -ni
juxtapositive: -to
lative: -mbe
locative: -lo
multiplicative: -ha
mutative: -chi
partitive: -pa
perlative: -wi
prolative: -me
relative: -rei
stative: -nga
subessive: -bi
sublative: -ju
superessive: -nyu
translative: -tuwe
vocative: -yo

Number is formed by doubling the noun, but is only used when it is not
expressed by quantifiers: batera 'battery', batera-batera 'batteries'.

Imperative mood is marked with the particle chwe:
chwe al kitabu ru tone yakoba savi
the book must become gift from me to him
'Give him the book!'

The numerals are as follows: wada 'one', dawa 'two', tuhi 'three', apa
'four', lima 'five', ani 'six', kaja 'seven', pala 'eight', siyam 'nine',
tinza 'ten'.

The sentence 'I gave him the book' is translated as follows:
al kitabu-n la tone ya-ko-ba sa-tai
the gift book-PNT I-AGT-ELL he-ALL

--Trebor

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