Lodeen

Lodeen is an a priori language – though some parts of the lexicon happen to be inspired by diverse natural languages – created with the aim to be rather simple and easy to apprehend. Its internal name is Lodin [lodin].

Phonology

Consonants inventory :

plosives : /p/ /t/ /k/

fricatives : /f/ /s/

nasals : /m/ /n/

liquid : /l/

approximants : /w/ /j/

In intervocalic position, plosives and fricatives get voiced ; thus, /b/ /d/ /g/ /v/ /z/ are allophones in complementary distribution. There are few and facultative exceptions : when after or before a /l/, the consonant may stay voiceless ; and after a /n/, a /t/ may stay voiceless too.

Also, /n/ before a /k/ (a cluster only allowed inside of a word, so the /k/ will be realized /g/) may be realized /ŋ/.

Vowels inventory :

/a/ /e/ /i/ /o/ /u/

/e/ and /o/ may be realized as /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ as well.

Syllable structure :

The syllable structure of Lodeen is: (C)(C)V(C)(C) where V can be a monophtongue or a diphtongue.

Any consonant can begin a syllable and any consonant excepted /w/ can end a syllable. Any sole consonant can appear intervocally.

Besides, the approximant /w/ can never appear in a consonants cluster.

Phonologic constraints on consonants clusters are:

An onset consonants cluster can be comprised of:

• a plosive followed by /s/, /l/ or /j/ except for /t/ which can't be followed by /l/;
• /s/ followed by any plosive;
• /f/ followed by /l/ or /j/;
• a nasal followed by /j/;
• a liquid followed by /j/.

Thus, all consonant clusters allowed at the beginning of a syllable are:

ps, pl, pj, ts, tj, ks, kl, kj, sp, st, sk, fl, fj, mj, nj, lj.

A word-ending coda consonants cluster can be:

kt, st, sk, lt, lk.

A cross-syllable consonants cluster can involve any of the onset and coda clusters plus some others, the whole set of rules being:

• a plosive /p/ or /k/ followed by any consonant excepted nasals and /w/;
• /t/ followed by /p/, fricatives or /j/;
• /f/ followed by /l/ or /j/;
• /s/ followed by any consonant except for /j/ or /w/;
• /m/ followed by any consonants excepted nasals and /w/;
• /n/ followed by a fricative, /t/, /k/ or /j/;
• /l/ followed by any consonant except for /w/;
• /j/ followed by any consonant except for /w/.

Note that, being intervocalic, those consonants clusters will get voiced, and will be written as such; thus, all consonants clusters allowed cross-syllabically are :

bd, bg, bv, bz, bl/pl, bj ; gb, gd, gv, gz, gl/kl, gj ; db, dv, dz, dj ; vl/fl, vj ; zb, zd, zg, zv, zm, zn, zl/sl ; mb, md, mg, mv, mz, ml, mj ; nd, ng, nv, nz, nj ; lb/lp, ld/lt, lg/lk, lv/lf, lz/ls, lm, ln, lj ; jb, jd, jg, jv, jz, jm, jn, jl.

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Note that, a word might be written with two same consonants or vowels, mostly for morphological consistency or for differentiating some homophones; the consonant might then be geminated or the vowel lengthened but such phenomena have no phonemic reality.

Stress :

There is no phonemic nor fixed stress whatsoever.

Morphology

Gender :

There is no gender in Lodeen. Only, sex-based gender can be indicated if thought relevant by the locutor, with vowels -a- (feminine) and -u- (masculine). In a word without prefixes, these vowels come attached as suffixes, unless the word begin with a e-, then they come in place of this e. In words with prefixes, they replace the "default" vowel -e-. This vowel marking system is actually the same than with coding of nominal plurality. See vowel marking system.

Coding of nominal plurality :

The coding of nominal plurality joins in the vowel marking system. The plural vowel is -i-, and when in conjunction with a -a- or a -u- they diphtong together : -aj, -uj, -ja-, -ju-. Once again, need for making plural explicit is left to the discretion of the speaker.

Vowel marking system :

/e/, /a/, /u/, /i/ are part of this system which may indicate number and sex-based gender. The vowel /e/ is actually consider the "default" vowel as it doesn't bear any numeric nor gender information ; the other ones represent feminine, masculine and plural respectively. The default vowel /e/ serves usually in the affixes where it may be replaced by a meaningful vowel if appropriate. When a word isn't comprised of any affix, the vowels a, i, u may be added at the end, themselves becoming suffixes. As said above, in this case a plural feminine will be -aj and a plural masculine will be -uj. When a word is comprised of one or several affixes, the vowel marker will be inserted in the first prefix. If there are only suffixes, it will be inserted in the last suffix.

An example of the use of vowel markers :

PAN, a person, somebody Pani : some people, Pana : a woman, Panu : a man, Panaj : some women, Panuj : some men

KEBAN, a child, some child ; ke- is actually a diminutive prefix Kiban : some children, Kaban : a little girl, Kuban : a little boy, Kjaban : some little girls, Kjuban : some little boys

LEBAN, the person, this person ; le- is actually a definite article prefix Liban : the people, Laban : the woman – and so on.

LEGEBAN, the child ; here are two prefixes Ligeban : the children, Lageban : the little girl, Lugeban : the little boy, etc.

Definite and indefinite articles :

They might be left implicite ; though, as seen above, the definite article is a prefix, le-, the indefinite one happens to be a word, placed before the noun, "ne". It is the same word than "one" and might be marked as seen above : na, nu, ni...

Verbs :

The conjugation itself is rather simple. Verbs end in -ol, which is the habitual, customary present ; they undergo morphological marking for aspect and tense :

Tense

When in the present tense, verbs end in -ol. The -o- is changed to a -e- to indicate the past tense, and to a -i- to indicate the future tense. Thus, "Stol", to be, am, are, is, will become "Stel", was, were, and "Stil", will be.

Aspect

There are three aspects : the action begins or will soon begin, the action is being done, the action is over. To these three aspects correspond three endings which are attached to the verb from which the final -l has dropped : -jen, -jol, and -jga respectively. Thus, "Stojol" would be, roughly, "now [subject] be...". No aspect marking indicates a usual action, or a neutral attitude towards the action.

Mood and Negation

There is no actual mood. Instead, "modal" adverbs are used, which are placed before both the subject and the verb. This same way is the negation : "Newin te stol", it is not, where "newin" is the adverb for the negation, "te" the inanimate third person pronoun and "stol" the verb to be.

Syntax

The canonical order of a Lodeen sentence is SVO.

Though it has been seen above that to indicate a "mood", an adverb is placed before the noun and the subject, the usual order of verb and adverb is Noun-Adverb. Similarly, the order of adjective and noun is Noun-Adjective, and the order of numeral and noun is Noun-Numeral.

When the predicate is an adjective, and the verb is "stol", the verb might be left implicite and, if expressed, is usually placed after the adjective. Ex. : "Kado klale stol" "cat pretty to be" or "kado klale" "cat pretty" The cat is pretty.

--Tètdeupö D'Yaoûrt Pérrimé 16:05, 23 May 2012 (PDT)