Conlangs:

[[Tsani]]

[['ižiitsigh]]

Zãi

2008-07-04T00:19:04Z

Tvk: /* Internal History */

==Overview==

Zãi is a conlang created by tvk. It is a sister language to [[Tsani]].

==Internal History==

The most notable features of Zãi include vowel mutations and nasalization of vowels accompanying loss of the ''-n'' coda found in the protolanguage. Unlike Tsani, Zãi retains the glottalization distinction and introduces phonemic aspirated stops, but does not distinguish between voiced and unvoiced stops. However, it does distinguish between voiced and unvoiced fricatives. It also has phonemic vowel length and pitch-accent.

Fricatives undergo the following mutations:

What would develop into [l] in Tsani becomes /r\/. What would develop into [4] becomes /4_0/.
/ts/ becomes /z/.

The vowels /i/ and /U/ cause mutation of the preceding vowel:

'''I-mutation'''

/a/ -> /aI/
/E/ -> /i/
/o/ -> /eI/
/U/ -> /y/

'''U-mutation'''

/a/ -> /A/
/i/ -> /y/

It should be noted that /U/ before or after a labial consonant is realized as [u] and instead causes the following mutation:

/a/ -> /o/

The ''-n'' coda to any syllable causes nasalization of the preceding vowel and is then lost. The following replacements also occur:

/a.na/ -> /a~:/
/a.nE/ -> /a~jE/
/aI.ni/ -> /a~.i/
/a.no/ -> /a~o/
/A.nu/ -> /a~o/
/i.ni/ -> /i~:/
/eI.ni/ -> /i~:/
/y.ni/ -> /i~:/

A non-glottalized stop that is between two like vowels is aspirated. Initial /ki/ becomes /k_hi/ and initial /pu/ becomes /p_hu/. /a/ and /A/ are considered "alike", and /y/ is "alike" to both /U/ and /i/. However, /U/ and /i/ are not "alike" to each other. Palatalized stops also become aspirated. Other palatalized consonants decay into C + /i/. After this change, /iE/ becomes /E:/ and /iy/ becomes /y:/.

The main drop in pitch occurs on the stressed syllable; i.e. there is high tone before the stressed syllable, and low tone on the stressed syllable and every syllable after. The two moras of a long vowel also contrast in pitch, the first being high, and the second being low. If a long vowel occurs immediately before a stressed syllable, the stress moves to the long vowel. The first and second moras always contrast in pitch.

Examples:

'''poni''' "good"

#poni -> peini
#peini -> pĩĩ.
#pitch is high-low.

'''kiyu''' "listen"

#kiju -> kyju
#pitch is high-low.

'''chiru''' "look"

#chiru -> chihru
#chihru -> chyhru
#chyhru -> tyyhru
#pitch is high-low-low

'''tlerun''' "not need"

#tlerun -> lehrun
#lehrun -> lehrũ
#pitch is high-low

'''sekyanuwani''' "was a friend"

#sekyanuwani -> sekyonuwaini
#sekyonuwaini -> sekyonuwãi
#sekyonuwãi -> sekhionuwãi

Zãi

2008-07-03T21:00:07Z

Tvk: /* Internal History */

==Overview==

Zãi is a conlang created by tvk. It is a sister language to [[Tsani]].

==Internal History==

The most notable features of Zãi include vowel mutations and nasalization of vowels accompanying loss of the ''-n'' coda found in the protolanguage. Unlike Tsani, Zãi retains the glottalization distinction and introduces phonemic aspirated stops, but does not distinguish between voiced and unvoiced stops. However, it does distinguish between voiced and unvoiced fricatives. It also has phonemic vowel length and pitch-accent.

Fricatives undergo the following mutations:

What would develop into [l] in Tsani becomes /r\/. What would develop into [4] becomes /4_0/.
/ts/ becomes /z/.

The vowels /i/ and /U/ cause mutation of the preceding vowel:

'''I-mutation'''

/a/ -> /aI/
/E/ -> /i/
/o/ -> /eI/
/U/ -> /y/

'''U-mutation'''

/a/ -> /A/
/i/ -> /y/

It should be noted that /U/ before or after a labial consonant is realized as [u] and instead causes the following mutation:

/a/ -> /o/

The ''-n'' coda to any syllable causes nasalization of the preceding vowel and is then lost. The following replacements also occur:

/a.na/ -> /a~:/
/a.nE/ -> /a~jE/
/aI.ni/ -> /a~.i/
/a.no/ -> /a~o/
/A.nu/ -> /a~o/
/i.ni/ -> /i~:/
/eI.ni/ -> /i~:/
/y.ni/ -> /i~:/

A non-glottalized stop that is between two like vowels is aspirated. Initial /ki/ becomes /k_hi/ and initial /pu/ becomes /p_hu/. /a/ and /A/ are considered "alike", and /y/ is "alike" to both /U/ and /i/. However, /U/ and /i/ are not "alike" to each other. Palatalized stops also become aspirated. Other palatalized consonants decay into C + /i/.

The main drop in pitch occurs on the stressed syllable; i.e. there is high tone before the stressed syllable, and low tone on the stressed syllable and every syllable after. The two moras of a long vowel also contrast in pitch, the first being high, and the second being low. If a long vowel occurs immediately before a stressed syllable, the stress moves to the long vowel. The first and second moras always contrast in pitch.

Examples:

'''poni''' "good"

#poni -> peini
#peini -> pĩĩ.
#pitch is high-low.

'''kiyu''' "listen"

#kiju -> kyju
#pitch is high-low.

'''chiru''' ->

2008-06-28T07:34:37Z

Tvk: /* Other Constructions */

==Overview==

Tsani is a conlang project that tvk has been working on since May 2007. It is the daughter of an unnamed proto-language. The vocabulary is a priori.

Tsani is designed to be strongly head-first. The normal word order is VSO. Role-marking particles and prepositions make the structure of a sentence clear, and free up word order for such things as passive constructions (which, in effect, simply switch word order to verb-patient-agent.)

Tvk designed Tsani as a personal language for journaling. It is designed to reflect his personal aesthetic taste in languages and worldview. It is also designed to be easy to learn and use, and to be easy to understand even out of context. Methods of achieving the former criteria were inspired largely by [[Toki Pona]] and some natural creoles; the methods used to achieve the latter criterion were inspired by everything other than Toki Pona. [[Japanese]] is also a major source of inspiration, and the creator has described his language as Japanese with backward syntax.

==Phonology==

===Phoneme Inventory===

*Vowels: <a e i o u> /a E i o u/
*Stops: /p t k d b g t_j k_j k_w/
*Nasals: <m n ng ny nw> /m n N n_j n_w/
*Laterals/Flap: <l ly lw> /l l_j l_w/
*Sibilants: <s sh> /s S/
*Affricates: <ts ks ksh> /ts ks kS/
*Approximants: <h w y> /h w j/

===Allophony===

*/E/ = [e] word-finally or before [4].
*/t p k d b g/ may be [t_h p_h k_h d_h b_h g_h] word-initially if not part of a cluster.
*/t_j/ = [tS] before /i/ or in the cluster <chw> = /tSw/
*/m n N/ = [m= n= N=] between consonants or word-initially if followed by a consonant.
*/l/ = [4] before /u/ or /i/
*/tl/ = [tK]

For ease of reading by speakers of English and other European languages, the Romanization spells the realization [tS] as <ch> and [4] as <r>, even though these spelling changes are not reflected in the native script.

===Phonotactics===

Syllable structure is (C)(C)(s, l)V(n).

The -n coda may assimilate to the point of articulation of the following consonant, if there is one. Otherwise, it remains [n]. If the coda is followed by a vowel within the same word, an apostrophe is inserted between the -n and the vowel to indicate that they belong to separate syllables.

For the purposes of syllable structure, syllabic nasals may be considered vowels. The only constraint is that such a syllable cannot have a coda or have a nasal as its onset.

Legal diphthongs are /ai au ei oi ui/. Of these, only ai is common. The others occur mostly as a result of derivation or in loanwords. In cases where morphology would result in a sequence of vowels that does not form a diphthong, a glide /w/ or /j/ is inserted between them. In cases where the first vowel is /a/, /e/, or /i/, the preferred glide is /j/; if the first vowel is /o/ or /u/, the glide is /w/.

Legal consonant clusters are <tk kt kp tl nt nk np ngk ngt ngp mp mt mk kts ktl chw>. These can all occur initially.

ky, ly, y, ts, ks and s cannot occur before i.
kw, lw, chw and w cannot occur before u.

===Stress===

Stress is on the syllable containing the penultimate mora. CV and V syllables are one mora, CVn syllables and diphthongs are two.

==Syntax and Grammar==

Word order is [[VSO]].

===Nominal Morphology===

All words that have nominal syntactical function end in -a. (The converse is not true, however.) This makes nouns easy to identify.

In a noun phrase, the order is head, adjectives, genitive(or relative clause).

A noun cannot usually be modified by a [[genitive]] and a [[relative clause]] simultaneously, as this would cause ambiguity as to whether the relative clause modified the genitive or the head noun. In some contexts where the speaker's intention is clear, it is considered acceptable in informal speech, though never in formal speech or writing. For example,

{|
! Ne || niya || tsaru || Amerikai || kiporu || ka || ko || mukowan || nai.
|-
| ''at'' || ''this'' || ''person-exist'' || ''America-GEN'' || ''that-protect'' || ''REL'' || ''ACC'' || ''cow-PL'' || ''1P-GEN''
|} This is the American man who takes care of my cows.

It's clear that "takes care of my cows" can only modify "the man", not "America."

Modifiers can precede or follow the verb, or they can be placed at the end of the sentence and separated from it by the particle ''wa''.

The [[direct object]] of a sentence is preceded by the particle ''ko''.

The [[genitive]] is formed with the ending ''-i''.
The [[plural]] is formed with the ending ''-n''.
The genitive plural is formed with the ending ''-ni''.

The plural is not marked on the noun when the noun is modified by a numeral or ''adogi'', which means "many, much."

The genitive has a wider range of uses than does the [[possessive]] in [[English]]. In general, its function is to allow a noun to function as an adjective and thus modify another noun. Whereas the English possessive ''-'s'' can typically only be paraphrased using the preposition "of", the genitive in Tsani can paraphrase constructions with almost any preposition. The exact relationship between the head noun and the genitive noun is determined by context.

===Verbal Morphology===

All verb roots end in ''-u''. Conjugated verbs do not, since the tense suffixes are derived from adjectives in the proto-language and hence end in ''-i''.

Tsani has three verb tenses: Imperfect, Perfect, and Potential. The Imperfect is unmarked; the Perfect is marked with the suffix ''-wani'' and the Potential is marked with the suffix ''-wachi''

The imperfect tense is used for actions which are happening in the present, occur habitually, are generally true, or have not been completed. The perfect tense is used for completed actions or events in the past. The potential is used for actions and events that have not yet occurred.

Verbs are negated by adding the suffix ''-n''. This can be affixed before or after the tense ending, depending on where the speaker wants to put the emphasis. Contrast:

'''marunwani'''

maru-n-wani

''go-NEG-PERF''

He didn't go

'''maruwanin'''

maru-wani-n

''go-PERF-NEG''

He didn't go

The first example implies that the subject is not likely to complete the action in the future, while the second is "he didn't go, but still might later."

Tsani makes use of serial verb constructions such as niru maru na for "I want to go"

The imperative is formed by preceding the sentence with ''ai''. This is equivalent to "please". In informal situations, or if the second person is of lower status, the Imperfect may be used. In formal situations, or when talking to superiors, the Potential must be used with imperatives.

To ask for an object, ''ai'' can be used before a noun.

Yes/no questions are formed by placing the particle ''mo'' directly after the part of the sentence in question. The words for "yes" and "no", ''aya'' and ''lo'', are used to express the speaker's agreement or disagreement with the statement in question, similar to ''hai'' and ''iie'' in Japanese.

Other questions are formed using the noun/adjective/verb triplet ''ma, mi, mu''. These words act as a "filler" that is to be replaced by the person answering the question. Word order is not altered for interrogatives. Compare the following questions and answering statements:

'''Sobuwani mo la ko tyala nai?''' "Did you drink my milk?"

'''Aya, sobuwani''' "Yes, (I) drank (it)."

OR '''Lo, sobuwanin''' "No, (I) didn't drink (it)."

'''Sobuwani la mo ko tyala nai?''' "Did ''you'' drink my milk?"

'''Aya, na''' "Yes, I (drank it)."

OR '''Lo, nanun''' "No, (it) wasn't I."

'''Sobuwani la ko tyala nai mo?''' "Did you drink ''my'' milk?"

'''Aya, lai''' "Yes, yours."

OR '''Lo, lain''' "No, not yours."

'''Sobuwani ma ko tyala nai?''' "Who drank my milk?"

'''Sobuwani na ko tyala lai.''' "I drank your milk."

'''Sobuwani la ko ma?''' "What did you drink?"

'''Sobuwani na ko tyala.''' "I drank milk."

'''Sobuwani la ko tyala mai?''' "Whose milk did you drink?"

'''Sobuwani na ko tyala lai.''' "I drank your milk."

'''Sobuwani la ko tyala mi?''' "What kind of milk did you drink?"

'''Sobuwani na ko tyala poni mukowai.''' "I drank good milk from a cow."

'''Sobuwani la ko tyala adogi mi?''' "How much milk did you drink?"

'''Sobuwani na ko tyala adogin.''' "I drank a little bit of milk."

'''Sobuwani mi la ko tyala?''' "How (in what manner) did you drink the milk?"

'''Sobuwani hapi na ko tyala.''' "I drank the milk quickly."

'''Muwani la ko tyala?''' "What did you do with the milk?"

'''Sobuwani na ko sa, la tsa kuki.''' "I drank it, you silly person."

==Pronouns==

The pronouns are:
{|
| '''na''' || (1p)
|-
| '''la''' || (2p)
|-
| '''sa''' || (3p)
|-
| '''owa''' || (topic)
|-
| '''ka''' || (relative)
|-
| '''ma''' || (interrogative)
|}
These are entirely regular in their inflection. Forms of "we" can be created by compounding the pronouns: ''nala'' for dual "we", ''nasa'' for exclusive, etc.

The common masculine and feminine endings ''ga'' and ''la'' can also be added to the third-person pronouns: ''saga'' "he" and ''sala'' "she". However, this isn't normally used, since the Tsan people consider it rude to rely on someone's gender to make it clear whom you're talking about.

Tsani is pro-drop. Often one or more arguments of the verb are completely inferred. The default is usually 3PS (or 2PS for interrogatives in the perfect tense, or 1P dual for interrogatives in the imperfect) unless context suggests otherwise.

The topic pronoun is used to refer to a topic which was previously marked with the particle ''o''. This particle precedes the noun as well as any preposition or other particle that may be associated with it.

The relative pronoun is used inside relative clauses. The antecedent of this pronoun is always the noun being modified by the relative clause.

==Other Constructions==

Relative clauses are formed by prefixing ''ki-'' to the verb and using the relative pronoun ''ka. ''Word order is not altered within the subclause. ''Ka'' can be left out of the subclause if the verb is intransitive or the relative pronoun is the agent of the sentence with all other arguments explicit. The relative clause must also modify the last argument of the independent clause in order for omission of the relative pronoun to be possible.

'''Pemu na wa ne kalata.''' "I sit in a tree."

'''kalata kipemu na wa ne ka.''' "the tree that I sit in"

'''Maru ne nomuwena i tsa.''' "The man goes to the market."

'''tsa kimaru ne nomuwena i ka.''' "the man who goes to the market."

'''tsa kimaru ne nomuwena.''' "the man who goes to the market."

In passive constructions, the "object" (really the semantic agent) is preceded by the particle ''i'', whereas the "subject" (semantic patient) is optionally marked with ''ko''.

'''Maktaruwani Peteri ko niya.''' "Peter sent this."

'''Maktaruwani niya i Peteri''' "This was sent by Peter."

==Derivational Affixes==

===Verb Roots===

'''(''mtu'' "eat")'''

*mtuwa "eating (gerund)"
*mtuwi "eating (active participle)"
*mtukshi "eaten (passive participle)"
*mtupi "able to be eaten, edible"
*mtuwabi “able to eat”
*mtusoi “liking/wanting to eat, hungry”
*mtuwena “place for food”
*mtusha “eating utensil”
*mtudu “start to eat”
*mtoiksa “bone-eater” from mmtu + o + iksa "bone"
*imtu “re-eat, eat again”

===Noun Roots===

'''(''saba'' "house")'''

*sabai “of a house”
*sabachi “house-like”
*sabanu “to be a house”
*sabaru “there is a house”
*sabayu “to make a house”
*sabantu “to become a house”
*sabaheyu “to give a house”
*sabena “place for a house”
*sabala “great house”
*sabachwa “little house”
*sabakwa “town”
*sabakwi “which is the house”

'''(''egoya'' "wood")'''

*egoyadi “made of wood”

===Adjective roots===

'''(''kawi'' "big")'''

*kawiya “big thing”
*kawinu “to be big”
*kawiyu “to make big”
*kawintu “to become big”
*kawika “bigness”
*kawiksa “size”
*kawiri “bigger”
*kawimi “biggest”
*kawishi “too big”

==Markers==

*Topic: o
*Agent: ko
*Patient (when normal word order is broken): i
*Instrument: chi

==Example Sentences==

{|
! Chiruwani || tyo || saba || tsa.
|-
| ''watch-PERF'' || ''from'' || ''house'' || ''man.''
|}
"The man watched from the house."

{|
! saba || kichiruwani || tyo || ka || tsa.
|-
| ''house'' || ''that-watch-PERF'' || ''from'' || ''REL'' || ''man.''
|}
"The house that the man watched from."

{|
! Tleru || na || ko || yabiya || ele || deguwa || ko || kwaila.
|-
| ''need'' || ''1P'' || ''ACC'' || ''yellow-thing'' || ''for'' || ''draw'' || ''ACC'' || ''sun''
|}
"I need something yellow to draw the sun."

{|
! Niru || na || ko || ktana || egoyadi || ele || ktakuwa || shalatsan || nai.
|-
| ''want'' || ''1P'' || ''ACC'' || ''spear'' || ''wood-made_of'' || ''for'' || ''kill-GER'' || ''enemy-PL'' || ''1P-GEN''
|}
"I want a wooden spear to kill my enemies."

{|
! Kiyu || mo || la || ko || tyela?
|-
| ''hear'' || ''?'' || ''2P'' || ''ACC'' || ''water''
|}
"Do you hear water?"

{|
! Higu || na || ko || menwa || kshi. || Agoguwachi || keshi || runwachwan.
|-
| ''have'' || ''1P'' || ''ACC'' || ''egg'' || ''three'' || ''hatch-POT'' || ''maybe'' || ''duck-DIMIN-PL''
|}
"I have three eggs. Maybe ducklings will hatch."