Re: A new langauge model?

On Thu, 21 Oct 1999, Walter Mack wrote:

>Hi all,
>
>At the moment I'm attempting to create my first conlang (actually it's
>more an artlang, I'm making it for a book I'm writing). So far I've
>got a few ideas written down, and I thought I'd share them with you, so I
>can hear your comments & thoughts on how to change it, improve it, etc.
>
>Anywho, here's the language model so far:
>[please bear with me, I'm new to this]
>
>Vowels: a, e, i, o and u (as pronounced in German) as well as
>        ae, oe and ue (German vowels with umlauts)
Umlaut is fun!

Do umlaut vowels in this language operate under similar or different
conditions as they do in Germanic languages?  In other words, do an i
or y in a word cause a change in a previous a, o or u?

Does this language have anything other than i-umlaut?

>
>Consonants: d, k, s, p, pf, j, sh, ch, zh, f, t, m, n, r.
>
>Grammar:
>
>Consonants can generally be grouped together without vowels separating
>them (?) however only "s", "sh" and "zh" can be placed after "pf".
>No more than 3 consecutive vowels are allowed.
>
>I was planning to use a grammatical system similar to Latin,
>(with its numerous conjugations and declensions), so that subject, verb
>and object could be placed in any order.
A good way to use umlaut.  Rather than slavishly have an ending for
each case, some could operate under umlauted conditions.  Same goes
for verb forms.

For example, the declension of the Old Norse adj. langr (long) has "a"
in the root syllable of every masc. case except those that have a "u"
in the ending.  The u umlauts the a, leaving a kind of o: langr is
nominative sing., longum is dative sing.

Padraic.

>As in Latin, pronouns are used only for emphasis, or when necessary for
>the meaning of the sentence to be parsed correctly.
>
>Vocabulary: I haven't developed many words so far. Anyone know of any
>            software that could help me out here?
>
>...
>
>OK, that's as far as I've gotten. I'm kind of stuck at the moment :)
>
>I'd really appreciate positive criticism here?
>Any ideas, people?
>
>Thanks,
>Walter Mack
>mack@uq.net.au
>