Re: A New Language

So, after a conlanging hiatus, I begin a new Conlang.  A small
comprehensive summary:

Phonology
-----------

If it's not the same as the CXS representation, I'll cite CXS.

Stops:
<?>
<q>/q/
<gq>/G\/
<k>
<g>
<t`>
<d`>
<c>
<j>
<t>
<d>
<t,>/t_d/
<d,>/d_d/
<fp>/p/(Labiodental)
<vb>/b/(Labiodental)
<p>
<b>

For each of these stops, there is an affricate, a fricative, and a
nasal.  If there is a standard character for this, it is used.
Otherwise, fricatives are marked by stop+<h>, nasals by <n>+stop, and
affricate by stop+fricative.

Also -

<l>
<r>
<w>
<y>/j/
<l\>/K/
<l\z>/K\/
<tl\>
<dl\z>

Clicks:

<wlp!> - Curious sound.  One could call it a linguolabial click.  It is
a click, articulated by placing the tip of the tongue in front of the
bottom teeth, behind the lower lip, and clicking.  The spelling is how a
hear it.
<p!>/O\/
<l!>/|\|\>
<c!>/=\/
<f!> - Labiodental click

Vowels:

a, u, o, O, r=, l=, i, u

All can be doubled.

Morphology:

Voice is inflected on the noun  There are four 'vocal' cases.
Transitive Actor, Transitive Patient, Intransitive Patient, and
Intransitive Actor.  There is a fifth case, which, unqualified, is a
verbal locative(describing where something is done).

So:

qOtan - The man (which does something to someone/thing)
qOta - The man (which someone/thing does something to)
qOto - The man (which does something)
qOtap - The man(to which something is done)
qOtat  - Inside the man

If these verb forms are left on their own,  they do what you'd expect.

pedl\z qOtan ?o?a
cook man-TR.ACT small.dog-TR.PAT
The man cooks a small dog

pedl\z qOto
cook man-ITR.ACT
The man cooks

pedl\z ?op
cook small.dog-ITR.PAT
The small dog is being cooked

However, sometimes the actor is the grammatical object.  For instance,
in the sentence "The small dog is being cooked by the man".  In this
case, more cases are neccesary.   These cases are different, according
to tense.

na- Ergative
pa-  Absolutive
(In present)
i(?)-  Nominative
l=/l- Accusative
(In past)

pedl\z paqOtan na?o?a
cook ABS-man-TRN.ACT ERG-small.dog-TRN.PAT
The small dog is being cooked by the man

The future tense, incidentally, is expressed by "motat" - "In the
future", in the present tense.

Adjectives agree with the nouns.  Though 'agree' is a stretched term.
For instance - 'pin', good, turns to 'pon' next to masculine nouns,
'piñi" next to feminine, remains 'pin' next to undefined, 'pongo' next
to neuter.  On the other hand, 'kan', good, turns to "qOng" next to
masculine nouns, "n`i" next to feminine, the same next to undefined,
and "qOngo" next to neuter.

Orthography:

The true orthography, is, of course, insane.

"pedl\z qOtan ?o?a" is, in the original orthography, "pelan katun hake-a"

Adjectives decline completely regularly: 'qOng' is 'kanu', 'n`i' is
'kani' or 'kane', and 'qOngo' is 'kano'.  Sensible, no?  Better than
Maggel, of course, but worse than Irish.

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