Re: conlang servey

Language Name: Karath
Creator's Name: Thomas Lawrie
Date of Creation: 2002!
Country: South Africa
First Language: Afrikaans
Purpose: "Experimental" Conlang (as opposed to fantasy lang). More grammatically
regular than a natlang, more idiom- and euphony-based than a Loglan.

Consonants: p,t,k, b,d,g, f,T,x, v, s, z, m, n, N, l, r, j, w, h (& others by assimilation
e.g. l+j)

Vowels: 7 Monophthong, 2 Diphthong, 1 Non-phonemic (@ - only to help difficult consonant clusters)

Nasalisation: Allophonic

Tone: None, but note fixed tendency to correlate certain tones/lengths to certain
vowels where context+redundancy is deficient.

Accent: Generally, first syllable

Allomorphs, mutation: no.

Assimilation: Some, more in dialects.

Prefixes, Suffixes : yes.

Infixes: Do vowels in triconsonantal roots count?

Suprafixation, dicontinuation, exclusion, total
fusion, subtraction: don't know what these mean.  But from guessing, I doubt it.

Reduplication: no.

Is the conlang agglutinating, isolating or fusional?: quite fusional.

subclasses of nouns (common/proper,
abstract, things that may not be expressed explicitly
in affixes): common, agent, instrument, abstract.

cases: nom., akk., dat., gen., instr., loc., partitive, relative, comitative,
"subjunctive" (?) i.e. "as if a". Note accusative can be dropped, except in
unusual word order/to express movement. Functions of cases are quite intricate
to explain here, and may need revision for practicality. Note one case per
vowel (not very naturalistic!).

kind of possession: no distinction in classical language, but note tendency to use
dative for inalienable in some dialects & partitive for alienable in others.

presence of gender: none

number/articles/demonstrative: prefixed for indefinite, definite, "this", "that"; each in singular & plural
forms

adjectives: adjectives marked by vowel pattern.

quantatives:  Are...?

comparatives expressed by affix : suffix.

Do pronouns express gender, number, declension: yes, gender by separate 3rd.p.
pronouns and number/case by regular inflection.

Are there indefinite pronouns, possessed pronouns: no.
Others: Yes, a number, including interrogatives.
Are prepositions bound, unbound: Unbound.
How many: A small number.  Envision fewer than 15 true prepositions.
Presence of clitics: no.
 Is derivational morphology mostly by compounding words or by affix or both?: both.

Verbs and such:
Are person, number, object expressed with the verb: No.
Are there static verbs (to be): Yes.
Is the object incorporated into the person marker: No.
Is transitivity marked for transitive, intransitive, bitransitive or other?: No.

        Is the person inclusive, exclusive, no distiction?  Kind of gender: No person or gender.

        Are past, present, future expressed: Yes, and perfect and continuous and pluperfect.
        Is mode express, what kind: Imperative, Subjunctive, Infinitive.

        Is voice expressed?: Active, Middle, Passive.

        Aspect?: Perfect/continuous marking sometimes has connotations of aspect...

 Can nouns, adjectives, adverbs be changed to verbs and vice versa: Yes, all
are marked by vowels.

 Presence of adjective, adverbial clauses and relative pronouns: No, but may be
thrown in later to make it practical.

        Does the conlang have an ergative or accusative system?: Accusative.

        Word order and is it free or strict? SVO, moderately free.

 Are adjectives, adverbs and prepositions before or after the modified word?
Adverbs variable, prepositions before, adjectives after.

        Is the word order changed in a question?: Often yes, to VSO.

        How many (approximately) conjugations are there?: 0 (or 1?) - no agreement with S/O.


        What is the number base for the numeral system?: 10

        Presence of idioms: extensive.

        ...Irregular forms of nouns and verbs.  Is the syntax very predictable: Very.
        How much literature has been produced: Little textbook sentences to test grammar.

        Is there a history and dictionary of the conlang : not yet

        Script invented: no

        Other conlangs produced by the creator of this one: Phoenixian, Tarskani, Tarsky, Revosi...

        If you could summarize your conlang in a sentence,
        what would you write?

 A product of ignorance, meant to be grammatically simple and "logical" to its
creator, with a few favourite features borrowed and regularized to taste, and
stuck together by ad hoc messing around.