ASP

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This is an attempt at decoding the conlang found in the webcomic A Skewed Paradise.

Corpus

Leon

(Catboy thing. Found in the woods. Has no memory of events before being found. Speaks normally English.)

  • Whispering to a caught shoplifter:
    • "Mer valeem. Y'menyah."
  • Fights with a suddendly appearing guy in exo-suit:
    • Mental Snap
    • "Eya yemma! Nem mera her eramen yah!"
    • Dodge
    • "Mer valeem."
    • Dodge
    • "Ner anim, rayanam er ha!"
    • "Hahaha! Ne anyah iram?"
    • Dodge
    • "Memma enya, emren eya."
    • Leap back
    • "Yem enin inyanema enya?"
    • "Nem veryem eramen valeem re-"

Reen

(Catgirl thing. Just introduced.)

  • Arriving:
    • "Azerian!" = [AzErj@n] = /azerian/?
  • To Leon:
    • "Y'enin ner amiyan nem enin meren. Nem'era heyyer?"
    • (Leon: "Nina and her frends helped me. We're safe, Reen.")
    • "Az, mrenye veya nem ayam yah?"
  • After having her hair pulled by Nina:
    • "Vya! Nye ne?!"
  • Nicholas arrives behind her:
    • (Nick: "So you're Reen.")
    • "Nahme..?"
    • ("Er, Jim told me about you.")
    • "Revyal!"
    • examines face
    • "Y'ayam'ver...'Revyal'."

Alphabetically

  • amiyan
  • anim
  • anyah
  • ayam
    • y'ayam'ver
  • Azerian (proper name)
    • Az (nickname)
  • emren
  • enin (x2)
    • y'enin
  • enya (x2)
  • er
  • eramen (x2)
  • eya (x2)
  • ha
  • (hahaha) (laughter, obviously)
  • her
  • heyyer
  • inyanema
  • iram
  • memma
  • y'menyah
  • mer
  • mera
  • meren
  • mrenye
  • nahme
  • ne (x2)
  • nem (x4)
    • nem'era
  • ner (x2)
  • nye
  • rayanam
  • re-
  • revyal (proper name??)
  • valeem (x2)
  • veryem
  • veya
  • vya
  • yah (x2)
  • yem
  • yemma

Phonology

Largely hypothetical, based on the orthography. Apostrophes are assumed to mark clitics, as in English.

Vowels

At least /i ɛ ɑ/. It remains unclear if a can also represent /æ/ or /ə/, if i can also represent /ɪ/ and what ee represents. Back rounded vowels (/u o/ etc.) do not seem to occur.

Consonants

 /v z     /
 / l r j h/
 /m n     /
  • codas /m n r l h/
  • initial clusters /mr nj vj/
  • medial clusters /mm hm rj jj/
  • morpheme-medial cluster /mv/

Grammar

"Azerian" is assumed to be (a vocative of) a proper name, more specifically Leon's name in this language. "Az" is furthermore assumed to be a nickname shortening.

"Mera her" can substitute for "veryem".

Prefixal y-.

Question phrases:

  • "Ne anyah iram?"
  • "Yem enin inyanema enya?"
  • "Nem'era heyyer?"
  • "Nye ne?"

These all appear to share the root ne-. This is however also found in most declarativ phrases, so most likely it is a basic grammatical root (pronominal? copula?) It's also not obvious if inyanema actually contains the root.