Minecraftian
Minecraftian is a language developed by Minecraft Forum user redstone1337 (FrathWiki user:Lurker) starting in September of 2011. The language was originally conceived as being spoken by the recently introduced villager mobs, who at the time lacked audio. Redstone1337 eventually scrapped the language, but not before it was adopted by other users.
The grammar below is expanded from the original as conceived by redstone1337, with some tweaks to the phonetactics and grammar.
phonology
The phonology and phonetactics were carried over from an even earlier sketchlang designed to be written as a syllabary in braille.
Consonants
Only 10 consonants
/p t k f s x m n l r/
Vowels
And four vowels
/i e a o/
Phonetactics
Syllable structure is (C)V(C).
The original iteration changed stops to fricatives at the end of a syllable. This is no longer the case. I never fully respected this rule even in the original thread, so it makes sense to abandon it.
Non-geminated stops become voiced between vowels or between a vowel and a liquid or nasal.
There are no diphthongs. An epenthetic /k/ is placed between two morphemes if it would result in two adjacent vowels.
/i/ is also used as an epenthetic vowel.
Orthography
Phonemes are written as in the IPA, except for /x/, which is written <h>. Voiced allophones of stops are reflected in the orthography as <b d g>.
Grammer
The grammar overall follows my tendency to eschew noun cases in favor of word order and to minimize the amount of inflection that is present. Agreement and grammatical gender are also absent.
Syntax
Word order in transitive sentences is SVO.
Hasti kek tokko ghast eat wolf The ghast eats the wolf. sefe hak sah player build shelter The player builds the shelter.
In intransitive sentences, the word order is VS.
of sefe fall player the player falls
Many verbs have both a transitive and an intransitive meaning, which is indicated through word order.
pom sessan explode creeper The creeper explodes sessan pom sah creeper explode house The creeper blows up the house.
Single adjectives can act like enclitics on the nouns they modify.
mekap small tokko wolf tokko-mekap the small wolf tokko-mekap kek no~nor wolf-small eat PL~pig the small wolf eats the pigs. sah-nih house-big The big house
Adjectives can be inflected like verbs by appending an -i in the present tense and an -a in the past tense.
mekap-i nor small-is pig the pig is small. mekap-a tokko small-was wolf the wolf was small nih-i sah big-is house The house is big. nih-a sah big-is house The house is big.
Unqualified, past-tense adjectives usually indicate that the statement is no longer valid, i.e. the wolf was small but is now big. The house was big, but a creeper blew it up and it no longer exists.
plurals are indicated by reduplicating the first CV or VC of a root, making any necessary sound changes. In the original forum thread, I had two plurals, a normal plural formed by reduplicating the entire word, and another vaguely defined plural formed by reduplicating the first syllable minus the coda. I’m going to keep the form of the second plural but give it the meaning of the first.
tokko wolf to~dokko PL-wolf wolves nor pig no~nor PL~pig pigs
Verbs do not agree with their arguments.
tokko kek nor wolf eat pig the wolf eats the pig. to~dokko kek no~nor PL~wolf eat PL~pig The wolves eat the pigs.
Normal (non-adjectival) verbs are made past tense by adding the suffix -am.
tokko kek-am no~nor wolf eat-P PL~pig The wolf ate the pigs
Verbs also differentiate between simple and progressive aspects in both the present and past tenses. You form the progressive by reduplicating the first CV or VC of the verb, as you would to form plural nouns.
sefe ha~hak sah player PROG~build house The player is building the house
Adjectival verbs can also be inflected in the continuous aspect. The simple/continuous distinction in adjectives is similar to the ser/estar distinction in Spanish.
nih-i sefe big-is player The player is big. (the player is by nature physically large) ni~nih-i sefe PROG~big-is player. The player is being big. (The player is acting big/strong/dangerous/generous at this time)
Pronouns
I’m lazy now, so here’s a paradigm:
| Pronoun | Meaning |
|---|---|
| o | I/me |
| oko | We (exclusive) |
| i | you (singular) |
| iki | you (plural) |
| iko | we (inclusive) |
There are no third person pronouns, just use a broadly defined noun like sefe (player), mop (monster/animal) or tesifikat (villager).
Postpositions
Postpositions are used, and postpositional phrases precede the noun or verb phrase they modify.
sah at e to~dokko house in is PL~wolf The wolf is in the house. okit at of-am sefe hole in fall-P player The player fell into a hole.
Possession uses the postposition es.
sefe es sah player POS house The player's house
There are special elided forms with pronouns
os, is, ikos, ikis
sessan pom-am is todokko creeper explode-P your dogs A creeper blew up your dogs.
Relative Clauses
relative clauses use the pronoun ka and immediately precede their antecedent.
o rogam okit at of ka sefe. o rog-am okit at of ka sefe 1sg kill-P hole in fall REL player I killed the player that fell in a whole.
Word List
| word | meaning |
|---|---|
| sah | house |
| pak | all |
| ramam | and |
| mok | animal |
| nihis | ash |
| ta | at |
| elaf | back |
| esato | bad |
| kis | bark |
| hohho | because |
| reto | belly |
| keh | big |
| ake | bird |
| kase | bite |
| nemes | black |
| kon | blood |
| leho | blow |
| tok | bone |
| afom | breast |
| fape | breathe |
| tar | child |
| ikeho | cloud |
| faheh | cold |
| neto | come |
| silho | count |
| irin | cut |
| kasop | day |
| amak | die |
| apso | dig |
| sesef | dirty |
| ser | dog |
| emef | drink |
| hosoh | dry |
| ahoko | dull |
| aptel | dust |
| ekik | ear |
| nekem | earth |
| ipaf | eat |
| rah | egg |
| ipor | eye |
| ipok | fall |
| finro | far |
| kil | fat |
| paf | father |
| riro | fear |
| ikin | feather |
| afe | few |
| nemo | fight |
| tiso | fingernail |
| akine | fire |
| lik | fish |
| fes | five |
| hatlo | float |
| piheh | flow |
| rel | flower |
| atip | fly |
| fanol | fog |
| ikek | foot |
| far | forest |
| eto | four |
| fopop | freeze |
| rim | fruit |
| ifnon | full |
| imih | give |
| omhis | good |
| tef | grass |
| firok | green |
| mele | guts |
| tore | hair |
| arom | hand |
| felo | head |
| ares | hear |
| site | heart |
| omo | heavy |
| til | here |
| rike | hit |
| onem | hold |
| tim | horn |
| rep | how |
| kire | hunt |
| her | husband |
| pamal | ice |
| fi | if |
| ni | in |
| rok | kill |
| lore | knee |
| liko | know |
| tanel | lake |
| omro | laugh |
| mon | leaf |
| holne | left |
| osek | leg |
| poke | lie |
| nome | live |
| refo | liver |
| peh | long |
| oko | louse |
| oke | man |
| nat | man |
| mak | many |
| fen | meat |
| tekaf | moon |
| tos | mother |
| irtih | mountain |
| oros | mouth |
| timan | name |
| pet | narrow |
| tekit | near |
| kike | neck |
| rapho | new |
| salet | night |
| heke | nose |
| him | not |
| tislo | old |
| nit | one |
| lis | other |
| nahat | play |
| kile | pull |
| omos | push |
| takok | red |
| hikir | right |
| fakoh | right |
| misat | river |
| fipes | road |
| sik | root |
| ris | rope |
| linof | rotten |
| nehil | round |
| toke | rub |
| emmas | salt |
| mofno | sand |
| sikak | say |
| afat | scratch |
| affaf | sea |
| ofos | see |
| hik | seed |
| netp | sew |
| papol | sharp |
| pen | short |
| altoh | sing |
| sofo | sit |
| pel | skin |
| fenat | sky |
| lamo | sleep |
| fon | small |
| omep | smell |
| talat | smoke |
| simek | smooth |
| mih | snake |
| asfit | snow |
| hit | some |
| leko | spit |
| ekak | split |
| kiso | squeeze |
| oppe | stab |
| ahme | stand |
| kifef | star |
| hif | stick |
| osike | stone |
| kosan | straight |
| irih | suck |
| fenot | sun |
| nirol | swell |
| ekok | swim |
| oroh | tail |
| om | that |
| ape | there |
| ike | thick |
| rif | thin |
| osip | think |
| ih | this |
| mek | three |
| etpo | throw |
| mike | tie |
| sekik | to burn |
| sake | tongue |
| koto | tooth |
| hikof | to rain |
| mos | tree |
| ekon | turn |
| pis | two |
| kono | vomit |
| keko | walk |
| tetin | warm |
| oker | wash |
| osafe | water |
| rekan | wet |
| tas | what |
| mit | when |
| lak | where |
| okako | white |
| reh | who |
| mar | wide |
| sif | wife |
| lokik | wind |
| riko | wing |
| ikef | wipe |
| amelo | with |
| eko | woman |
| mor | worm |
| ofsal | year |
| irkan | yellow |
| mekapi | small, little |
| sesan | creeper (think “sssssss BOOM!”) |
| tokko | wolf (normally a tamed wolf. The resemblance to “doggo” is a coincidence, as this was made before the word came into vogue.) |
| nor | pig |
| mop | animal/monster |
| nelan | the nether |
| mohe | cow |
| kek | to eat |
| fahi fun, entertaining | |
| posak | wood |
| tete | this (it acts like and adjective so it is attached to the end of a noun) |
| sarra | meat or flesh |
| sefe | player |
| tip | pick up |
| of | to fall |
| pipik | chicken |
| e (past tense em) | be, can be transitive, having the sense “noun IS noun”, or intransitive, having the sense “there is a noun” or “noun is in/at/on/around other noun” |
| hak | build |
| nih | big |
| tesifikat | villager (This lang is so old, villagers were still called “testificates”) |
| pom | blow up |
| okit | hole, cave, unlit area |
