Himmaswa lian choo (Learn Himmaswa)

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clawgrip
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Himmaswa lian choo (Learn Himmaswa)

Post by clawgrip »

I'm not really sure at all if anyone wants to learn Himmaswa, but I figured I'd put up some lessons anyway, see if anyone's interested. If there are responses, I will continue. If not, it can slowly drift onto page 2.

Lesson 1: Consonants
Himmaswa consonants are relatively painless to learn. The full list is as follows:

voiceless stops: /p t k/ <p t k>
voiced stops: /b~ɓ d~ɗ, ɡ/ <b d g>
nasals: /m n ɲ ŋ/ <m n ñ ng>
fricatives: /f s ʧ ʤ h/ <f s ch j h>
lateral: /l~ɭ~ɾ/ <l/r>
approximants: /w j/ <w y>

Some notes on allophony are needed here. The most obvious consonant in need of explanation is l/r. Its default pronunciation, found in the majority of environments, is [l]. When /l/ appears in the rhyme after an open/mid- or back vowel, it is pronounced [ɭ]. The pronunciation [ɾ] occurs when /l/ follows /t d ʧ ʤ/. Note that this only occurs in initial consonant clusters; these stops/affricates cannot trigger the [ɾ] pronunciation between morpheme boundaries.

Next are the two voiced consonants with ingressive allophones. This varies geographically. In some places, there are no ingressives, in in some places, they are always ingressive. In regions with both pronunciations, /b/ and /d/ become ingressive when they are followed by back vowels.

Voiceless stops /p t k/ are aspirated ([pʰ tʰ kʰ]) in most environments, including before fricatives. /ʧ/, which phonologically is considered a stop, but it is not aspirated.

Coda stops are unaspirated, and very often unreleased. /ʧ/ is generally unchanged in coda position.

Coda stops sometimes form syllables with vowel-initial syllables. and sometimes remain unreleased. The difference is how lexicalized the sequence is; strongly lexicalized sequences are more likely to merge final consonants with initial vowels, while non-lexical sequences generally do not.

Onset clusters
Himmaswa syllables may begin with a wide variety of initial consonant clusters. There are a few rules that determine which clusters are disallowed, but anything beyond those rules is possible.

In onset clusters of C1C2:

• C1 and C2 are never both nasals or fricatives, or stops of the same articulation point (note that /ʧ/ and /ʤ/ are treated as stops for the purposes of this rule);
• If C1 and C2 are of the same articulation point, C2 is never a nasal or fricative (except in the cluster /ts/);
• C2 can never be /f/;
• /h/ never appears in clusters other than /hw/;
• C2 may only be /w/ when C1 is one of the following: /t k d ɡ s h/;
• C2 may only be /j/ when C1 is one of the following: /k ɡ s/.

Realization of onset clusters
All initial consonant clusters represent a historical collapse of what was once a minor initial syllable constituting the first half of a sesquisyllabic root, i.e. a root consisting of a phonologically restricted minor syllable followed by an unrestricted major syllable. While some of these roots remain in the modern language (e.g. kiteen, godol), the majority of minor syllables have been reduced to onset clusters. Certain clusters still retain remnants of the minor syllable vowel, in the form of a short schwa that forms a barrier to consonant assimilation. The rules for the appearance of this schwa are as follows:

No schwa exists in the following cluster types:
• voiceless stop + voiceless stop
• fricative + voiceless stop
• nasal + homorganic stop
• /ls/
• voiceless stop + heterorganic nasal
• any consonant + approximant

A schwa exists in the following cluster types:
• voiced stop + voiceless stop
• nasal + heterorganic stop
• voiced stop + /s/
• approximant + any consonant

A schwa may optionally occur in the following cluster types:
• voiced stop + voiced stop
• voiceless stop + voiced stop
• voiced stop + nasal

(remember that /ʧ/ and /ʤ/ are considered stops for these rules)

Coda consonants
The inventory of possible coda consonants is much more limited. The only possible coda consonants are /p m t n ʧ ɲ k ŋ l/.

Exercise:
See if you can pronounce these clusters, followed by the vowel /a/:

pda, dka, ñta, jba, gsa, wña, yba, chra, ngja, tma, fka, mla, nta, lsa

The next lesson will cover vowels, which are a lot more complex than the consonants.
Last edited by clawgrip on 09 Feb 2015 06:06, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Himmaswa lian choo (Learn Himmaswa)

Post by clawgrip »

Lesson 2: Vowels
The Himmaswa vowel system is extremely complex. Vowels are variously distinguished by quality, length, tenseness, various types of phonation (breathy, modal, creaky, rhotic), three types of diphthong (fronting, centering, backing) and two triphthongs. In total, Himmaswa distinguishes 38 distinct vowels that can serve as a syllable nucleus. The orthography is sometimes not uniform in places, but I've been using this orthography for over ten years and have grown quite attached to it. The Himmaswa vowel system is intuitive to me by now, but I think it poses a bit of a challenge to anyone trying to learn the language.

Short vowels
There are seven basic short vowels:
/ɪ ʊ ɛ œ ʌ ɔ a/ <i ou e eu u o a>

Long vowels
Each short vowel has a corresponding long vowel, but length on its own is never phonemic. Each long vowel is supplemented with changes in either tenseness, high offglide, and/or creakiness in one case. The long vowels are as follows:

/iː uː ej yœ̯ ʌu̯ ɔo̯ a̰ː/ <ee oo ey euu uoo oa aa>

You can see that:
+high offglide is characteristic of mid vowels;
+tense occurs on the long versions of all vowels except /ʌ/ and /a/;
+creaky occurs only on the most open vowel, /a/.

Fronting diphthongs
These diphthongs all end with the offglide /j/. Appropriately, only back and central vowels can serve as the core vowel for fronting diphthongs. Following is a list of all fronting diphthongs:

/ʊj əj ɔ̰j aj a̰j/ <ui ay oy aiy ai>

The Roman orthography uses <ui> rather than <uy> for no apparent reason that I can figure. I'm just used to it, so that's what I use. Oh well!

Backing diphthongs
These obviously only occur on front and central vowels. The offglide is variously /w/ or /ɔ̯/. Following is a list:

/iɔ̯ œɔ̯ a̰w/ <io euo ao>

Centering diphthongs
Centering diphthongs are those that end with the offglide /ə̯/. Naturally, only front and back vowels can serve as the base for centring diphthongs. There are four centering diphthongs in Himmaswa:

/iə̯ ɛə̯ /uə̯ i̤ə̯/ <ia ea ua iah>

<ia and iah> are distinguished only by breathiness. We will get to that later.

Triphthongs
There are only two triphthongs. Both take a high vowel (front and back) as their core. The triphthongs are front-to-back and back-to-front, and feature a central vowel.

/iə̯w uə̯j/ <iau ooay>

Rhoticity
Rhotic vowels are those vowels that feature r-colouring. There are four rhotic vowels in Himmaswa, and all of them are long.

/ɚː ɚ̰ː ɔ̰˞ː a̰˞ː/ <ur er or ar>

All rhotic vowels have non-rhotic counterparts, but only one pair of vowel phonemes are distinguished by [±rhotic] alone:

/a̰ː/ <aa> vs. /a̰˞ː/ <ar>

Creaky voice
Creaky voice, or laryngealization, is a compression of the vocal chords that adds a characteristic “creaky” phonation to vowels. In Himmaswa, creaky voice only appears in low or mid- central and back vowels. Following is a list of all eight creaky voice vowels and diphthongs:

/ɚ̰ː ɔ̰˞ː ɔ̰ ɔ̰j a̰˞ː a̰ː a̰w a̰j/ <er or au oy ar aa ao ai>

Creaky voice is a contrastive phonation type, but only for two of the eight creaky vowels:
/ɚː/ <ur> vs. /ɚ̰ː/ <er>
/ɔ/ <o> vs. /ɔ̰/ <au>

Breathy voice
Breathy voice is a type of voicing phonation in which the vocal chords are held apart. Breathy voice and creaky voice occupy opposite ends of the phonation spectrum in Himmaswa, with modal (normal) voice in the centre.

In Himmaswa, breathy voice originates from coda /h/, and in some dialects this /h/ remains, sometimes in place of breathy voice phonation. Even in standard Himmaswa, the mid- and high front breathy vowels are typically followed by [ç]. There are a total of six breathy vowels:

/a̤ ɛ̤([ɛ̤ç]) ɪ̤ ([ɪ̤ç]) ɔ̤ ṳ i̤ə̯/ <ah eh ih oh ooh iah>

All breathy vowels contrast with modal vowels <a, e, i, o, ou, ia>. Only one vowel contrasts between modal, creaky, and breathy: <o au oh> /ɔ ɔ̰ ɔ̤/.

Interaction between vowels and coda consonants
The vowels /ʌ/ and /ɛə̯/ require coda consonants.
Breathy vowels cannot be followed by coda consonants.

Vowel list
Here is a list of all vowels:
Short
Modal: /ɪ ʊ ɛ œ ʌ ɔ a/ <i ou e eu u o a>
Creaky: /ɔ̰/ <au>
Breathy: /a̤ ɛ̤([ɛ̤ç]) ɪ̤ ([ɪ̤ç]) ɔ̤ ṳ/ <ah eh ih oh ooh>

Rhotic
Modal: /ɚː/ <ur>
Creaky: /ɚ̰ː ɔ̰˞ː a̰˞ː/ <er or ar>

Long
Modal: /ej yœ̯ ɔo̯ iː uː/ <ey euu oa ee oo>
Creaky: /a̰ː/ <aa>

Fronting
Modal: /aj əj ʊj/ <aiy ay ui>
Creaky: /a̰j ɔ̰j/ <ai oy>

Centering
Modal: /ɛə̯ iə̯ uə̯/ <ea ia ua>
Breathy: /i̤ə̯/ <iah>

Backing
Modal: /œɔ̯ ʌu̯ iɔ̯/ <euo uoo io>
Creaky: /a̰w/ <ao>

Triphthong: /iə̯w uə̯j/ <iau ooay>

Sometimes, apostrophes appear in the orthography. These serve only to disambiguate digraphs/trigraphs, etc.

Exercise:
Here is a random selection of Himmaswa words. See if you can figure out how to pronounce them:
daot, wiaum, steak, wker,syoñjaa, sarkslooay, nchoych, lohmet, kmeung, hion’gniapeuum, Gloañsar, bteutom, biatkniokgsay
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Re: Himmaswa lian choo (Learn Himmaswa)

Post by Dezinaa »

Here are my answers for lesson 2:
Spoiler:
[da̰wtʰ, wiə̯wm, stʰɛə̯kʰ, wəkʰɚ̰ː, sjɔɲd͡ʒa̰ː, sa̰˞ːkʰsluə̯j, nət͡ʃɔ̰jt͡ʃ, lɔ̤mɛtʰ, kʰmœŋ, hiɔ̯ngəniə̯pʰyœ̯m, glɔo̯ɲsa̰˞ː, bətʰœtʰɔm, biə̯tʰkʰniɔ̯kʰgəsəj]
I'm looking forward to more lessons! [:)]

Also, is <euu> pronounced /yœ̯/ or /œy̯/?
clawgrip
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Re: Himmaswa lian choo (Learn Himmaswa)

Post by clawgrip »

It's pronounced /yœ̯/. I will get to your answers soon, but I've noticed a major oversight on my consonant page, namely that final stops are not aspirated and are frequently unreleased. I will update the first post to reflect this.
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Re: Himmaswa lian choo (Learn Himmaswa)

Post by shimobaatar »

clawgrip wrote:It's pronounced /yœ̯/. I will get to your answers soon, but I've noticed a major oversight on my consonant page, namely that final stops are not aspirated and are frequently unreleased. I will update the first post to reflect this.
Has the OP been fully updated? I'll try to find time tomorrow to give this a shot. [:)]
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Re: Himmaswa lian choo (Learn Himmaswa)

Post by clawgrip »

I'm juggling a few things right now, but I'll try to add some new stuff to this soon.
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Re: Himmaswa lian choo (Learn Himmaswa)

Post by DesEsseintes »

Just wanted to say that I am interested in learning (about) Himmaswa! I love conlang lessons, because they're.. errm.. like natlang lessons, I guess. [:P]
Spoiler:
I noticed, clawgrip, that you started this thread and the Yabushio Project at roughly the same time. I wonder if we have the same syndrome: whenever I want to really get stuck into a project I've had in my head for a while, a new idea magically appears out of nowhere and starts interfering with the project I originally set out to work on.
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Re: Himmaswa lian choo (Learn Himmaswa)

Post by clawgrip »

Okay, a new lesson.

Lesson 3: Nouns

Along with verbs, nouns are one of the two core parts of speech of Himmaswa. Himmaswa nouns do not inflect for gender, number, or case, and do not typically change form in any way, making them relatively painless to learn.

Here are a few examples:

Image teen - "seed"
Image kaak - "animal"
Image kwang - "royal fern"
Image leum - "home"
ImageImage gakwñe - "fish scale"
ImageImage wiauydoul - "price"

Plural
Nouns may be singular or plural without inflection. The number of a noun typically needs to be identified by context. However, there is a pluralizing morpheme, Image beym. This can be placed after a noun to indicate the meaning "many".

ImageImage teen beym - "many seeds"
ImageImage kaak beym - "many animals"
ImageImage kwang beym - "many royal ferns"
ImageImage leum beym - "many homes"
ImageImageImage gakwñe beym - "many fish scales"
ImageImageImage wiauydoul beym - "many prices"

Associative Plural
Himmaswa has an associative plural, which means a single instance of a noun and a group associated with that noun in some way. Most often, this refers to people rather than things. In many cases, the associative plural is formed identically to the regular plural:

ImageImage Gleh'auk - "Gleh'auk" (given name)
Image fion - "king"
Image chgay - "school"

ImageImageImage Gleh'auk beym - "Gleh'auk and his friends/associates/family"
ImageImage fion beym - "the king and his procession; the monarchy"
ImageImage chgay beym - "the people at the school"

In cases where it is desirable to differentiate the associative plural from the standard plural, the construction NImageImage N-tom beym can be used. This is not, however, used with proper nouns, which, when pluralized, are always interpreted as associative plurals.
ImageImageImage fion-tom beym - "the king and his procession; the monarchy"
ImageImageImage chgay-tom beym - "the people at the school"

Nonspecific indefiniteness
To indicate a general, prototypical, or hypothetical example, a noun can be compounded with the word ImageImage gaga, a nonspecific indefinite pronoun. This word comes before the noun it modifies:

ImageImageImage gaga-fion "a king; any king; all kings; kings"
ImageImageImage gaga-iok "a bee; any bee; all bees; bees"
ImageImageImage gaga-pkor "a harvest; any harvest; all harvests; harvests"

The nonspecific indefinite pronoun cannot be used with Image beym when it is used as a standard plural marker:

ImageImageImage gaga-mdaiy "a fern; any fern; all ferns; ferns"
*ImageImageImageImage *gaga-mdaiy beym *"any many ferns"

However, it can be used with the associative plural:

ImageImageImageImage gaga-heuubngoy "a farm; any farm; all farms; farms"
ImageImageImageImageImage gaga-heuubngoy beym "any farm and the people or things associated with it; farms, and the people/things associated with them"

The distinction between these two is made either by context, or with the word tom.

With proper nouns, this construction means "people named X":

ImageImageImageImage gaga-Gleh'auk - "people named 'Gleh'auk'"

Vocabulary
Word list from this lesson:
Image beym - plural, associative plural
Image chgay - "school"
Image fion - "king"
ImageImage gaga - nonspecific indefinite pronoun, also acts as prefix to make nonspecific indefinite nouns
ImageImage gakwñe - "fish scale"
ImageImage Gleh'auk - "Gleh'auk" (given name)
ImageImage heuubngoy "farm"
Image iok - "bee"
Image kaak - "animal"
Image kwang - "royal fern"
Image leum - "home"
Image mdaiy - "fern"
Image pkor - "harvest"
Image teen - "seed"
ImageImage -tom beym - associative plural
ImageImage wiauydoul - "price"

Exercise
Translate these to Himmaswa:

1. an animal
2. seeds
3. many farms
4. royal ferns (in general)
5. the people at home (i.e. associated with home)
6. fish scales (in general)

Translate these to English:
1. Image
2. ImageImageImage
3. ImageImage
4. ImageImageImageImage
Last edited by clawgrip on 23 Jan 2015 17:06, edited 4 times in total.
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Re: Himmaswa lian choo (Learn Himmaswa)

Post by shimobaatar »

Lesson 1:
Spoiler:
pda, dka, ñta, jba, gsa, wña, yba, chra, ngja, tma, fka, mla, nta, lsa
/pʰda~pʰəda dəkʰa ɲətʰa d͡ʒba~d͡ʒəba gəsa wəɲa jəba t͡ʃɾə ŋəd͡ʒa tʰma fkʰa mla ntʰa lsa/
Lesson 2:
Spoiler:
daot, wiaum, steak, wker, syoñjaa, sarkslooay, nchoych, lohmet, kmeung, hion’gniapeuum, Gloañsar, bteutom, biatkniokgsay
/da̰wtʰ wiə̯wm stʰɛə̯kʰ wkʰɚ̰ː sjɔɲd͡ʒa̰ː sa̰˞ːkʰsluə̯j nt͡ʃɔ̰jt͡ʃ lɔ̤mɛtʰ kʰmœŋ hiɔ̯ngniə̯pʰyœ̯m glɔo̯ɲsa̰˞ː btʰœtʰɔm biə̯tʰkʰniɔ̯kʰgsəj/
Lesson 3:
Spoiler:
Translate these to Himmaswa:

1. an animal gaga-kaak
2. seeds teen
3. many farms heuubngoy beym
4. royal ferns (in general) gaga-kwang
5. the people at home (i.e. associated with home) leum-tom beym
6. fish scales (in general) gaga-gakwñe

Translate these to English:
1. mdaiy fern
2. pkor-tom beym the things associated with the harvest (crops?)
3. fion beym many kings
4. gaga-wiauydoul any price in general
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Re: Himmaswa lian choo (Learn Himmaswa)

Post by clawgrip »

Dezinaa wrote:Here are my answers for lesson 2:
Spoiler:
[da̰wtʰ, wiə̯wm, stʰɛə̯kʰ, wəkʰɚ̰ː, sjɔɲd͡ʒa̰ː, sa̰˞ːkʰsluə̯j, nət͡ʃɔ̰jt͡ʃ, lɔ̤mɛtʰ, kʰmœŋ, hiɔ̯ngəniə̯pʰyœ̯m, glɔo̯ɲsa̰˞ː, bətʰœtʰɔm, biə̯tʰkʰniɔ̯kʰgəsəj]
I'm looking forward to more lessons! [:)]

Also, is <euu> pronounced /yœ̯/ or /œy̯/?
All your answers are right, except that final consonants are not aspirated. I had not included that information in the post when you replied though, so that's my fault, not yours.
DesEsseintes wrote:Just wanted to say that I am interested in learning (about) Himmaswa! I love conlang lessons, because they're.. errm.. like natlang lessons, I guess. [:P]
Spoiler:
I noticed, clawgrip, that you started this thread and the Yabushio Project at roughly the same time. I wonder if we have the same syndrome: whenever I want to really get stuck into a project I've had in my head for a while, a new idea magically appears out of nowhere and starts interfering with the project I originally set out to work on.
I really don't know what inspired me to do both at once. I have other things going on too, so it's kind of bad planning for me to do all of this at once. And I have that conlang relay coming up too. Oh well.
shimobaatar wrote:Lesson 1:
Spoiler:
pda, dka, ñta, jba, gsa, wña, yba, chra, ngja, tma, fka, mla, nta, lsa
/pʰda~pʰəda dəkʰa ɲətʰa d͡ʒba~d͡ʒəba gəsa wəɲa jəba t͡ʃɾə ŋəd͡ʒa tʰma fkʰa mla ntʰa lsa/
No problems here.

Lesson 2:
Spoiler:
daot, wiaum, steak, wker, syoñjaa, sarkslooay, nchoych, lohmet, kmeung, hion’gniapeuum, Gloañsar, bteutom, biatkniokgsay
/da̰wtʰ wiə̯wm stʰɛə̯kʰ wkʰɚ̰ː sjɔɲd͡ʒa̰ː sa̰˞ːkʰsluə̯j nt͡ʃɔ̰jt͡ʃ lɔ̤mɛtʰ kʰmœŋ hiɔ̯ngniə̯pʰyœ̯m glɔo̯ɲsa̰˞ː btʰœtʰɔm biə̯tʰkʰniɔ̯kʰgsəj/
Remember, syllable-final consonants are unaspirated.

Lesson 3:
Spoiler:
Translate these to Himmaswa:

1. an animal gaga-kaak just kaak is fine here, if we're talking about a specific animal.
2. seeds teen
3. many farms heuubngoy beym
4. royal ferns (in general) gaga-kwang
5. the people at home (i.e. associated with home) leum-tom beym
6. fish scales (in general) gaga-gakwñe

Translate these to English:
1. mdaiy fern
2. pkor-tom beym the things associated with the harvest (crops?) This one is really context dependent, but is most likely to refer to the people involved in the harvest. I should probably mention that associative plural most often refers to people.
3. fion beym many kings
4. gaga-wiauydoul any price in general
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Re: Himmaswa lian choo (Learn Himmaswa)

Post by shimobaatar »

Ah, OK. I thought the syllable-final unaspiration was just an allophonic thing, so I left it out. My bad, as they say.
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Re: Himmaswa lian choo (Learn Himmaswa)

Post by clawgrip »

Lesson 4: Verb Basics
Verbs are the other main word type in Himmaswa. All verbs belong to one of three aspectual classes: dynamic, perfect, and stative. The class of verb governs which auxiliaries may be used, and to some extent the meanings that they have.

Dynamic verbs carry no inherent aspect and may freely take perfect, imperfect, and other auxiliaries.

Examples of dynamic verbs:
Image keuong - "go"
Image diang - "speculate; consider"
Image kiadap - "burn"
Image ut - "write"
ImageImage wgornswech - "etch; engrave"
ImageImage tsuatsua - "wander around"

Perfect verbs carry an inherent perfect aspect.

Examples of perfect verbs:
Image chmui - "define; fix; settle"
Image beuon - "split; divide"
Image toy - "face; look at"
ImageImage mjurgen - "discover; find out"
ImageImage kakachknoak - "release; free"
ImageImage stomjmach - "marry; get married"

Stative verbs, as their name suggests, indicate states with no implied beginning or end. This verb class is the most limited in terms of what auxiliaries can be used with it.

Examples of stative verbs:
Image ket - "be red"
Image tgerng - "own; possess"
Image turn - "be against; be in opposition"
ImageImage panglor - "be in good health"
ImageImage ngeuojgout - "be out in the rain"
ImageImage yaoyooh - "be lazy"

Let's take a look at the basic imperfect to see how these verb classes differ. The imperfect is marked with the imperfect auxiliary Image bgaiy, (which also is a noun meaning "now"). This auxiliary, like most, comes after the verb.

Dynamic
ImageImageImage
Peen kpeun bgaiy.
child eat IMPERF
"The children are eating."

Here, the action is in progress.

Perfect
ImageImageImage
Chmeu cher bgaiy.
mugwort dry.up IMPERF
"The mugwort has died (dried up)."

Here, the action is completed, but its result is "in progress", so to speak.

Stative
Stative verbs cannot take the imperfect.
ImageImageImage
Ngaik plao'oyk.
moon be.visible
"The moon is visible."

Here, the state described by the is by nature imperfect. No beginning or end of the action is implied. However, there are times when reference to the beginning of a state is desirable. For these situations, stative verbs can be converted to perfect verbs with the addition of the dependent morpheme Image jung "become".

ImageImageImageImageImage
Ngaik jung-plao'oyk bgaiy.
moon become=be.visible IMPERF
"The moon is now visible/has become visible."

Sometimes, there are verbs that are semantically identical, but belong to different aspectual classes. In these cases, it is not necessary to use an auxiliary to change the aspect, as the base verb itself can be swapped out.

Image ptiah "have; hold" DYN
Image tgerng "own; possess" STA

Image gliañ "die" PERF
Image pjak "be dead" STA

Image kang "create; make" DYN
Image wau "create; make" PERF

Examples:
ImageImageImageImageImage
Nglooaykeuu teuk gloañjouk.
builder use.STA wood
"The builder uses wood."

ImageImageImageImageImage
Nglooaykeuu kyang gloañjouk.
builder use.DYN wood
"The builder is using wood (this time)."

(On a side note, it should be obvious at this point that the basic word order is SVO, though this is somewhat fluid, and will have to be explained later.)

Vocabulary from this lesson (sure is a lot) plus a couple more for the exercises:
Image beuon - "split; divide" PERF
Image bgaiy "now"; simple imperfect auxiliary
Image cher "dry out; dry up" PERF
Image chmeu "mugwort"
Image chmui - "define; fix; settle" PERF
Image diang - "speculate; consider" DYN
ImageImage gloañjouk "wood"
ImageImage heuukeuu - "farmer"
Image ia "man"
Image jung- "become"; perfect verb prefix
ImageImage kakachknoak - "release; free" PERF
Image ket - "be red" STA
Image keuong - "go" DYN
Image keuu - "person"
Image kiadap - "burn" DYN
Image kpun "eat" DYN
Image kyang "use" DYN
Image loum "dog"
ImageImage mjurgen - "discover; find out" PERF
Image naun "woman"
Image ngaik "moon"
ImageImage ngeuojgout - "be out in the rain" STA
ImageImage nglooaykeuu "builder"
ImageImage panglor - "be in good health" STA
Image peen "child"
Image piang "be big" STA
ImageImage plao'oyk "be visible" STA
ImageImage stomjmach - "marry; get married" PERF
Image teuk "use" STA
Image tgerng - "own; possess" STA
Image toy - "face; look at" PERF
ImageImage tsuatsua - "wander around" DYN
Image turn - "be against; be in opposition" STA
Image ut - "write" DYN
ImageImage wgornswech - "etch; engrave" DYN
ImageImage yaoyooh - "be lazy" STA

Exercise:
Translate to Himmaswa:
1. Gleh'auk is writing.
2. Many bees have died.
3. The woman is out in the rain.
4. The person is wandering around.

Translate to English:
1. ImageImageImage
2. ImageImageImageImageImage
3. ImageImageImageImage
4. ImageImageImageImageImageImage (there are several valid ways to translate this one; just go for the general idea)
Last edited by clawgrip on 24 Jan 2015 13:08, edited 2 times in total.
shimobaatar
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Re: Himmaswa lian choo (Learn Himmaswa)

Post by shimobaatar »

Lesson 4:
Spoiler:
Translate to Himmaswa:
1. Gleh'auk is writing. Gleh'auk ut bgaiy
2. Many bees have died. iok beym gliañ bgaiy
3. The woman is out in the rain. naun ngeuojgout
4. The person is wandering around. keuu tsuatsua bgaiy


Translate to English:
1. peen yaoyooh the child is lazy
2. ia kakachknoak bgaiy loum the man released the dog
3. gaga-kwang piang any royal fern is big
4. heuukeuu jung-panglor bgaiy the farmer is now in good health (there are several valid ways to translate this one; just go for the general idea)
In general, I just don't understand aspects very well at all, but I did what I could here.
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Re: Himmaswa lian choo (Learn Himmaswa)

Post by clawgrip »

shimobaatar wrote:Lesson 4:
Spoiler:
Translate to Himmaswa:
1. Gleh'auk is writing. Gleh'auk ut bgaiy
2. Many bees have died. iok beym gliañ bgaiy
3. The woman is out in the rain. naun ngeuojgout
4. The person is wandering around. keuu tsuatsua bgaiy


Translate to English:
1. peen yaoyooh the child is lazy
2. ia kakachknoak bgaiy loum the man released the dog
3. gaga-kwang piang any royal fern is big you could probably say something like "In general, royal ferns are big", but that's basically right
4. heuukeuu jung-panglor bgaiy the farmer is now in good health (there are several valid ways to translate this one; just go for the general idea)
In general, I just don't understand aspects very well at all, but I did what I could here.
Overall you did fine here. Do you mean you don't understand aspect in any language, or do you mean I did not explain Himmaswa aspect very well? If I didn't, I will add more detail.
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Re: Himmaswa lian choo (Learn Himmaswa)

Post by shimobaatar »

clawgrip wrote:
shimobaatar wrote:Lesson 4:
Spoiler:
Translate to Himmaswa:
1. Gleh'auk is writing. Gleh'auk ut bgaiy
2. Many bees have died. iok beym gliañ bgaiy
3. The woman is out in the rain. naun ngeuojgout
4. The person is wandering around. keuu tsuatsua bgaiy


Translate to English:
1. peen yaoyooh the child is lazy
2. ia kakachknoak bgaiy loum the man released the dog
3. gaga-kwang piang any royal fern is big you could probably say something like "In general, royal ferns are big", but that's basically right
4. heuukeuu jung-panglor bgaiy the farmer is now in good health (there are several valid ways to translate this one; just go for the general idea)
In general, I just don't understand aspects very well at all, but I did what I could here.
Overall you did fine here. Do you mean you don't understand aspect in any language, or do you mean I did not explain Himmaswa aspect very well? If I didn't, I will add more detail.
Oh, no, I meant in any language.
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Re: Himmaswa lian choo (Learn Himmaswa)

Post by clawgrip »

Lesson 5: Personal pronouns
Here's a quick lesson: personal pronouns. Modern, standard Himmaswa has many assorted pronouns, but a total of only four personal pronouns:

Image hwai - first person pronoun
Image duool - second person pronoun
Image tui - third person non-predicative pronoun
Image itui - third person predicative pronoun

There is no gender or animacy distinction, and all pronouns can represent singular or plural. Typically, context disambiguates, but pronouns can also take the plural marker Image beym which we saw in the first lesson.

Probably what I need to explain next is why there are two separate third person pronouns. The exact reason is too hard to explain right now because the relevant grammar has not yet been explained, but suffice to say that the standard third person pronoun has an additional grammatical role which is commonly occurring and could lead to ambiguity and confusion if it appeared after a verb. Therefore, the pronoun itui exists to eliminate this ambiguity. I will get to the alternate function of tui later on.

There are a few archaic/dialectal pronouns as well, but they are not necessary to learn right now.

Exercise:
Translate to Himmaswa:
It is red.
I am facing you.
You engraved it.

Translate to English:
1. ImageImageImage
2. ImageImageImageImageImage
3. ImageImageImage

I feel like my explanation of perfect verbs may not have been sufficient for you to do these exercises quite right. What I want to say is that it is normal enough for unmarked perfect verbs to be translated as past tense, or present perfect, or some such form in English, though again, how they should be translated is heavily based on context (but there is absolutely no context for these sentences, is there...).
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Re: Himmaswa lian choo (Learn Himmaswa)

Post by shimobaatar »

Lesson 5:
Spoiler:
Translate to Himmaswa:
It is red. tui ket
I am facing you. hwai toy bgaiy duool
You engraved it. duool wgornswech itui

Translate to English:
1. hwai stomjmach I got married
2. tui beym tgerng teen beym they own many seeds
3. duool beuon itui you divided it
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Re: Himmaswa lian choo (Learn Himmaswa)

Post by clawgrip »

Great! I may have only one follower here, but you're doing a good job of it. Thanks.
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Re: Himmaswa lian choo (Learn Himmaswa)

Post by shimobaatar »

clawgrip wrote:Great! I may have only one follower here, but you're doing a good job of it. Thanks.
Haha, my pleasure. [:)] Thanks for keeping the lessons relatively short; otherwise, I wouldn't have time to do them.
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Re: Himmaswa lian choo (Learn Himmaswa)

Post by avonthalonus »

You've gained another follower. Your script and grammar are beautiful. I've been looking for an East Asian-inspired logographic language to use in roleplaying. I might as well ask: do you plan on releasing the font? I can completely understand you not wanting to lose control over it considering the amount of work you put in, but I figure I will request your policy on that up front.
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