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| == Goals ==
| | #REDIRECT [[User:Aquatiki]] |
| # Endgoal - A truly verbless language I can use | |
| # Vague phrases
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| ## Glacial pace
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| ## Navajo-of-nouns
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| ## lazy but clever
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| ## carved in stone
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| ## complicated rituals
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| # Naturalism - 6/10
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| #* I want some naturalistic elements
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| #* Different setting (parallel Earth)
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| #* Different nature (immortal humans)
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| #* Irregularities but not many
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| #* Idioms within reason
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| # Complexity - insane. Navajo but with only nouns
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| # Derivation - clear. Agglutinative, basically
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| # Features
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| ## Phonology
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| ### Vowel harmony
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| ### A couple of clicks, and ejectives (un-earth-like)
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| ### CV, and CVC
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| ## Grammar
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| ### No verbs at all
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| ### assumed copular between topic and subject
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| ### 6 nouns classes (genders), like animacy
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| ### Many cases (12?)
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| ### Case-stacking
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| ### word glue, like German
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| ### mostly agglutinative, touch of fusional
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| ## Culture
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| ### things happen, not because someone does them, but because the world unfolds in prescribed patterns
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| ### discourse is formulaic, ceremonial, or sacred: more on set relational expressions and fixed semantic roles, rather than on active description of novel events
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| ### agency is less linguistically salient, so predicates assigning blame, initiative, or creativity are avoided
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| ### Tidally Locked Planet
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| #### The sun never moves in the sky.
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| #### The world is divided into zones of permanent day, eternal night, and a narrow habitable twilight ring.
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| #### People live in a stable band where temperature and light are forever the same.
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| ### Mountain life
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| #### Isolated communities → heavy internal consistency, less external pressure to simplify
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| #### Thin air → favoring sharp, closed articulation: ejectives, glottalization, voiceless stops
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| #### Cultural inwardness → deep philosophies of stasis and permanence
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| ### Time is measured in generations, epochs, weathering of stone, growth cycles of ultra-slow plants
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| | |
| == Go ==
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| {| class="wikitable"
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| ! Case !! Function !! Gloss !! Ending
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| |+ Existential cases
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| |-
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| ! Topical
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| | Frames the referent of the utterance || “As for…”
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| ! -Mp'a
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| |-
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| ! Identity
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| | Category, essence, nominal predicate || “is a…” / “equals…”
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| ! -
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| |-
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| ! Possessive
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| | ownership, authorship, kinship, part-whole || “X’s Y”
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| ! -rkI
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| |-
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| ! Genitive
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| | association, content, theme, objective, attribution || “Y of X”
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| ! -ł(Ɛ)
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| |}
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| | |
| {| class="wikitable"
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| |+ Where/When Cases
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| ! Case !! Function !! Typical gloss !! Ending
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| |-
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| ! Locative
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| | Place, state, context of being, time-within || “in,” “at,” “on”, "during"
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| ! -f'
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| |-
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| ! Dative
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| | Target, direction || “to,” “for,” “until", "as far as"
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| ! -Mk'O
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| |-
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| ! Ablative
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| | Source, cause, origin || “from,” “because of,” “due to”
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| ! -bdI
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| |-
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| ! Benefactive
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| | Advantage, interest, concern || “for the benefit of…”, "at the behest of"
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| ! -aI
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| |-
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| ! Abessive
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| | Absence, privation, “lacking” || “without,” “lacking,” “free from”, "exclude"
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| ! -st'Ɛ
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| |}
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| | |
| {| class="wikitable"
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| |+ How Cases
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| ! Case !! Function !! Typical gloss !! Ending
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| |-
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| ! Instrumental
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| | Means, medium, material || “by (means of)”, “through,” “with”, "using"
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| ! -fla
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| |-
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| ! Adverbial
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| | Role/state modifier, part of speech shift || “as (a) X,” “in a X way”, "like"
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| ! -Oad
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| |-
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| ! Translative
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| | Change of state, transform/manifestation || “becoming,” “into,” “turning into”
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| ! -k'(I)
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| |}
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| | |
| {| class="wikitable"
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| |+ Noun Classes
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| ! !! Not "Container" (mass: ?, ??) !! "Container" (count: ?, ??)
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| |-
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| ! Idea + Matter
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| | Animals (also temperaments) || Persons / Gods
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| |-
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| ! Matter only
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| | (Diffuse) Substances: air, fire || Tools , "rocks"
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| |-
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| ! Idea only
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| | Actions || Abstracts, Categories, Sets
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| |}
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| Number: Containers are unmarked for number, as in Chinese/Japanese/Korean. Non-containers default to a collective/mass-noun number, but can take a partitive (which can mean as few as one).
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| Polypersonal pronouns:
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| == Phonology ==
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| {| class="bluetable" style="text-align:center; float:left"
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| ! !! Labial !! Labiolingual !! Alveolar !! Palatal !! Velar !! Glottal
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| |-
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| ! Nasal
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| | /m/ '''m''' || /n̼/ '''n''' || /n/ '''n''' || /ŋ/ '''ŋ''' ||
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| |-
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| ! Click
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| | (/ᵐʘ/ '''mx''') || || (/ŋǃ/ '''nc''') || ||
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| |-
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| ! Voiced Stop
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| | '''b''' || || '''d''' || '''g''' ||
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| |-
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| ! Eject. Stop
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| | /pʼ/ '''pq''' || || /t’/ '''tq''' || /k’/ '''kq''' || /ʔ/ ''' ' '''
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| |-
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| ! Unvoiced Stop
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| | '''p''' || || '''t''' || /k~x/ '''k''' ||
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| |-
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| ! Plain Fricative
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| | /ɸ~β/ '''f''' || /θ̼~ð̼/ '''þ''' || /s~z/ '''s''' || (/ʒ/ '''ž''') || ||
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| |-
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| ! Eject. Fricative
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| | /fʼ/ '''fq''' || /θ̼ʼ/ '''þq''' || /s’~ts’/ '''sq''' || ||
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| |-
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| ! Approx./Trill
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| | '''w''' || || '''r''' || '''j''' || /h~ɦ/ '''h'''
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| |-
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| ! Laterals
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| | || /l̼/ '''l''' || /ɬ/ '''ł''' || ||
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| |}
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| {| class="bluetable" style="float:right; text-align:center;"
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| ! !! Front !! Back !! Underspecified
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| |-
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| ! High
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| | '''i''' || '''u''' || I
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| |-
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| ! High-Mid
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| | '''e''' || '''o''' || O
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| |-
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| ! Low-Mid
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| | /ɛ/ '''ë''' || /ɔ/ '''ö''' || Ö
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| |-
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| ! Low
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| | colspan="2" | /ä/ '''a'''
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| |}
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| <br clear="both">
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| Allophony:
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| * nasal + labial ejective -> [m͡ʘ]
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| * nasal + non-labial ejective -> [ŋ͡ǃ]
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| Phonotactics are (C)(G)V(C<sub>2</sub>):
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| * any consonant or none can a syllable
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| * Glides (/j/ or /w/) after anything
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| * hiatus allowed, diphthongs not
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| * any coda, except glides
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| | |
| === Sentences ===
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| # The storm scared people
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| #* k’ɛthu-Mp’a ʔusɛk närgo-f’
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| #* kqëthumxa ’usëk närgofq
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| #* As for the storm, (there is) fear in people.
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