YANC! Totally isolating language - Ilank
From: | Daniel Seriff <microtonal@...> |
Date: | Friday, June 16, 2000, 4:42 |
I started yet another new conlang on a whim tonight. I tried to minimize
the phonology, as Mungayod has such a big one. I started to think about
an isolating language not too long ago, and I thought it would be fun to
make one. I've called it Ilank (get it? YANC = Ilank! nyuk, nyuk, nyuk ;).
Consonants:
S: p t k
N: m n
L: 4 l
F: f s
The [l] can be a normally functioning consonant or a syllabic liquid.
[l] can never followed by a schwa (not even in clusters), so {l'}
signifies the syllabic version.
Vowels:
i u
E @ O
A
In Roman transcription, vowels are written {a, e, i, o, u}, and the
schwa is written as an apostrophe (so {f'ni} is [f@ni]).
no diphthongs at all, and the only clusters are (syllable-initial)
[F/S]L and (syllable-final) [L/N]S
I love complex gender systems, so I've made one even more
non-Indo-European than Mungayod. There are 7 genders: masculine human,
feminine human, child human, animal, vegetable, inanimate matter, and
conceptual. There is a singular, dual, and a plural.
So far, all I've come up with is a simple verbal system. I'd like to
expand it into a super-crazy-complex system, with all kinds of
postpositions to indicate lots of tenses, aspects, and moods, and all
other kinds of verbal nuances.
to be - "me" [mE] - so:
I am - "me l'"
we are - "me lo"
etc., see below
sg. du. pl.
1P l' - lo
2P ka kat slant
3P, masc. nu nut nant
3P, fem. ku kut kant
3P, child i it int
3P, a. kil kilit kilant
3P, veg. min mit mint
3P, matt. pos poslit pos'nt
3P, conc. f'ni f'nit f'tint
I haven't decided yet what I want the sentence order should be, but I
know it will be postpositional. I think I'd like an
ideo-/logo-/picto-graphic script (seems the easiest (and probably the
most likely, historically), doesn't it?).
All I've got time to do right now. Comments? Questions? :)
--
Daniel Seriff
microtonal@sericap.com
http://members.tripod.com/microtonal