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Vlürch
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Phenglộl, Jinqaṣyavri & Nemin-uguu

Post by Vlürch »

This is just some kind of an attempt at making a tonal conlang mainly inspired by South- and Southeast Asian languages.

PHENGLỘL /pʰɛ̄ŋl̪ôːʊ̯l̪/ - bird language (reason for why it's called that, and more, in this post)

Phonology

/m n̪ ɳ ɲ ŋ/ <m n ṇ ny ng>
/p b t̪ d̪ ʈ ɖ k g/ <p b t d ṭ ḍ k g>
/pʰ bʱ t̪ʰ d̪ʱ ʈʰ ɖʱ kʰ gʱ/ <ph bh th dh ṭh ḍh kh gh>
/t͡s d͡ʒ k͡s k͡ʃ/ <c j x ẋ>
/t͡ʂʰ/ <ch>
/s̪ ʂ/ <s ṣ>
/ʋ ɻ j h/ <v ẓ y h>
/r ɽ/ <r ṛ>
/d͡r/ <dr>
/l̪ ɭ/ <l ḷ>

/ā ɛ̄ ī ɔ̄ ū/ <a e i o u>
/ə̀ ə́ ɯ̀/ <à è ì>
/ə̄ː/ <ê>
/áː éː íː/ <á é í>
/ɒ̀ː òː ùː/ <â ô û>
/ěɪ̯ ǒʊ̯/ <ẹ ọ>
/ɑ̌ːə̯/ <ậ>
/âə̯ îɘ̯/ <ạ î>
/êːɪ̯ ôːʊ̯/ <ệ ộ>


/ěɪ̯ ǒʊ̯ ɑ̌ːə̯ âə̯ îɘ̯ êːɪ̯ ôːʊ̯/ are [ɚ̌ː ǒɚ̯ ɑ̌ːɚ̯ æ̂ɚ̯ îɚ̯ êːɚ̯ ôːɚ̯] before retroflex consonants
As a general rule, back vowel have low tones and front vowels have high tones. There are some exceptions to this, however, such as the schwa and the nasalised vowels detailed below.

/t͡ʂʰ/ is not treated as a retroflex consonant
/ɽ/ can be trilled [ɽ͡r], especially word-initially
/pʰ t̪ʰ kʰ/ can be [ɸ θ x] before the unaspirated stops /p b t̪ d̪ ʈ ɖ k g/

~

There are special nasalised syllables, the vowels of which have no tone independently but take the tone opposite of the preceding syllable except when the preceding syllable has a mid tone; in that case the front vowels within the nasalised syllable take a high tone and the back vowels take a low tone. When they are the first syllable of a word, the same rule applies.

The structure of these syllables is always CṼÑ
C = any consonant
Ṽ = any of the nasalisable vowels (shown below)
Ñ = any of the special consonants (shown below)

/◌̃m(◌ʷ/◌̃) ◌̃ŋ(◌ˠ/◌̃)/ <◌̃m ◌̃g>
/◌̃ʴːɻ̃(◌ʴ/◌̃) ◌̃ːh̃(◌ʰ/◌̃)/ <◌̃r ◌̃h>

/ɑ ɛ i ɔ u/ <a e i o u>

They can only be followed by syllables beginning with vowels or these consonants, considered "weak consonants" that take on the characteristics defining the nasal endings. The vowels following them also nasalise if the syllable begins with a vowel or nasal consonant. These processes are considered phonemic. (Compounds where a word ends in one of these syllables and the following word begins with a regular syllable are an exception; in them there is no change in the initial syllable.)

/m n/ <m n>
/t d/ <t d>
/t͡s/ <c>
/s/ <s>
/r/ <r>
/l/ <l>

When aspirated, /m/ becomes devoiced /m̥ʰ/
When aspirated, /n/ becomes devoiced /n̥ʰ/
When aspirated, /r/ becomes devoiced /r̥/
When aspirated, /l/ becomes voiceless fricative /ɬ/
When aspirated, /ʋ/ becomes voiceless bilabial /ɸ/

For example,
chághãrtè /t͡ʂʰáːgʱɑ̃ʴːɻ̃tə́/ > /t͡ʂʰáːgʱɑ̃̀ʴːɻ̃ʈə́/ - /t/ becomes retroflex
khẽmej /kʰɛ̃mɛ̃̄d͡ʒ/ > /kʰɛ̃́mɛ̃̄d͡ʒ/ - initial syllable's /ɛ̃/ has high tone
nãhra /n̪ɑ̃ːh̃rʰā/ > /n̪ɑ̃̀ːh̃r̥ā/ - /r/ is devoiced, /ɑ̃ː/ has low tone
àrẽhlà /ə̀rɛ̃h̃lʰə̀/ > /ə̀rɛ̃́h̃ɬə̀/ - /l/ is devoiced and fricated, /ɛ̃/ has high tone
ḍũglâ /ɖũŋl̪ˠɒ̀ː/ > /ɖũ̀ŋɫ̪ɒ̀ː/ - /l/ is velarised

Nouns

SINGULAR - DUAL - PLURAL
indefinite: -Ø, -Ø, -à/-yà (after consonant/vowel)
definite: -èto/-to, -èta/-ta, -á/-yá (after consonant/vowel)

nominative: -Ø, -ka, -ko
accusative: -Ø, -Ø, -m
agentive: -kè, -kâba, -kabôl
genitive: -l, -la, -kal
dative: -s, -kas, -kus
instrumental: -ya, -ki, -kiya
comitative: -yãg, -kĩg, -kiyãg
vague locative: -rô, -kora, -krol
benefactive: -rî, -kirá, -kirô
vocative: -Ø, -kâ, -kô
temporal: -xê, -kèsâ, -kesô

The agentive is only used when the object of a verb is directly affected by the action. For example, it is used with verbs like "punch" or "give", but not with verbs like "look" or "listen".

The vague locative can be used instead of any of the other locative cases. It may be used to imply that whatever being referred to is only temporarily in the location it is currently in or that it is constantly moving, but this isn't necessarily always true; it can be used for intentionally vague statements, or expressing uncertainty over the exact location or relationship the noun it modifies has with wherever it is located.

LOCATIVE CASES

adessive (near): -rãh, -ràng, -kèrâng
inessive (inside): -yé, -yạẓ, -kàyíṛê
superessive (on top): -bhô, -bhâl, -kèbhôl
subessive (below): -khu, -khũr, kíghũr
antessive (in front): -thô, -thoṇ, -kèthôṇ
postessive (behind): -vâ, -vậm, -kàvậm

allative (to near): -rãhèm, -ràngẹm, -kèrângẹm
illative (to inside): -yém, -yẹm, -kíyệm
superlative (to top): -bhôm, -bhâlẹm, -kèbhôlẹm
sublative (to below): -khûm, -khũrtẹm, kíghũrtẹm
antelative (to front): -thôm, -thõrèm, -kèthõrèm
postlative (to behind): -vâm, -vãrèm, -kàvãrèm

ablative (from near): -rãhèl, -ràngọl, -kèrângộl
elative (from inside): -yél, -yộl, -kàyíṛộl
superelative (from top): -bhôl, -bhâlọl, -kèbhọlộl
subelative (from below): -khûl, -khũrtọl, kíghũrtộl
anteelative (from front): -thôl, -thõrtọl, -kèthõrtộl
postelative (from behind): -vâl, -vãrọl, -kàvãrộl

POSSESSED CASES
These are optional. They can be used either with or without pronouns, but more commonly without them; they're much more commonly dropped if a pronoun is used.

1st person possessed nominative: -m, -mak, -mô
2nd person possessed nominative: -t, -tak, -tô
3rd person possessed nominative: -v, -vak, -vô

1st person possessed accusative: -m, -mák, -môm
2nd person possessed accusative: -t, -ták, -tôm
3rd person possessed accusative: -v, -vák, -vôm

1st person possessed agentive: -mìkè, -mìbâ, -mabô
2nd person possessed agentive: -tìkè, -tìbâ, -tabô
3rd person possessed agentive: -vìkè, -vìbâ, -vabô

1st person possessed genitive: -mìl, -mìkâl, -mûl
2nd person possessed genitive: -tìl, -tìkâl, -tûl
3rd person possessed genitive: -vìl, -vìkâl, -vûl

1st person possessed dative: -mìs, -mìkâs, -mûs
2nd person possessed dative: -tìs, -tìkâs, -tûs
3rd person possessed dative: -vìs, -vìkâs, -vûs

1st person possessed instrumental: -mìya, -mî, -míya
2nd person possessed instrumental: -tìya, -tî, -tíya
3rd person possessed instrumental: -vìya, -vî, -víya

1st person possessed comitative: -mìyãg, -mĩg, -míyãg
2nd person possessed comitative: -tìyãg, -tĩg, -tíyãg
3rd person possessed comitative: -vìyãg, -vĩg, -víyãg

1st person possessed vague locative: -marô, -morâ, -mìrol
2nd person possessed vague locative: -tarô, -torâ, -tìrol
3rd person possessed vague locative: -varô, -vorâ, -vìrol

1st person possessed benefactive: -mî, -mrá, -mirô
2nd person possessed benefactive: -tî, -trá, -tirô
3rd person possessed benefactive: -vî, -vrá, -virô

1st person possessed vocative: -m, -mâ, -mô
2nd person possessed vocative: -t, -tâ, -tô
3rd person possessed vocative: -v, -vâ, -vô

1st person possessed temporal: -màxè, -mèxâ, -mesô
2nd person possessed temporal: -tàxè, -tèxâ, -tesô
3rd person possessed temporal: -vàxè, -vèxâ, -vesô

For the specific locative cases, the regular forms are used after these simple possessive suffixes:
1st person: -m-
2nd person: -t-
3rd person: -v-

ADJECTIVES
comparative: -obìr/-bìr (after consonant/vowel)
superlative: -omir/-mir (after consonant/vowel)

Verbs

plain: Ø-
polite: ve-

imperative: hì-/hày- (before consonant/vowel)
hortative: hí-/hèy- (before consonant/vowel)
hypothetical/potential: sà-/sày- (before consonant/vowel)
dubitative: bà-/bày- (before consonant/vowel)
admirative: bî-/bîr- (before consonant/vowel)

past: -nè
present: -Ø
future: -né

affirmative: -lâ
interrogative: -Ø

positive: -Ø
negative: -gì

Vocabulary

ngèkoṣ - cat
pheng - bird
lộl - language, speech
jaḷmàh - face, appearance, being
ḍhẹḍhà - insect, bug
ḍhêdh - beetle, scarab, etc.
chághãrtè - betrayal
khẽmej - trust, friendship
khẽm - friend
nãhra - truth
àrẽhlà - lie, untruth
lãg - person, human, individual
aṛâ - people, tribe, culture, nation
lèṇà - woman, girl
làṇè - man, boy
lèṇáḷà - girl, child
làṇéḍà - boy, child
ḍhộm - world
ṭhộdhộḷ - earth, ground, soil
ḷámḷích - ocean, sea
mâḷá - water
mâḷáẋãh - river
tộngkhûṇẋãhàchộdrà - large-scale human migration
tộngkhûṇẋãh - small-scale human migration
lãgẋãh - immigration of an individual
ẋãh - movement, motion, flow
chộdrà - distribution, network
lãgẋãho - immigrant
ḍhẽrḍột - profession, job, occupation, work, skill
mêṇḷìm - meat, flesh
yémmêṇḷìm - fat, soft tissue
iḍhengà - memory loss, dementia
iḍhengè - oblivion, state of being forgotten
abhộṇ - flower
abhộṇhôḍh - garden
hôḍh - place of leisure
lộlhôḍh - lounge
sordrhôḍh - restaurant
lèṇàhôḍh - brothel (used by men), salon (used by women)
mêṇḷìmhôḍh - vagina (sexually euphemistic), womb (childish)
mâḷáhôḍh - bathhouse, hot spring, etc.
híbh - neighbour
híbhhôḍh - neighbourhood
phãrâ - head
koṇ - eye
rậng - limb
nyạrậng - arm
mạrậng - leg
nyèṛê - tongue
jậkhtâ - penis
ôjaghí - vagina
drâng - origin
cháng - birth
ṣõm - death
ḍhũm - will, determination, desire, courage
thãmḷâ - understanding, knowledge
athãmḷâ - ignorance, stupidity
gẹbh - texture, surface, quality, appearance
ḍôj - hole
bôkh - detail
koṇbôkh - iris
koṇḍôj - pupil
koṇḷámḷích - sclera
gẹbhbôkh - visual detail, a tiny part of a whole
põmbhâ - obesity, being fat
põmbhô - obese person, fat person
tìṛâ - thinness, being skinny
tìṛô - thin person, skinny person
ghọ - food, meal
bhộth - pleasure, enjoyment
pộph - liquid, slime, goo
chãr - vein, artery
xệch - country, nation, state
bhèṇ - effect, result
khệyãh - festival, celebration
ḍhuṭh - island
tãhvêṣ - whale
chèp - any small fish
dhuv - any large fish
ṇulâ - deity, god
ṇulá - deity, goddess
bhám - baby
bhámpộphbộr - abortion
bhámcĩgjâkh - baby-snatcher, child abductor
cĩgjâkh - abductor, kidnapper
nyộch - question
nyõg - answer
droc - power, strength, force
drocẋaṭh - royalness, monarchial power
ôruẋaṭh - king
âviẋaṭh - queen
ẋaṭh - monarch
ṇulẋaṭh - emperor, empress, divine ruler
ẋaṭhrậng - royal, relative of a monarch
vêṇṇádh - city
ngìdr - damage, wound, tear, crack
nyãmṭôb - performance
drocṭàbh - abdication, resignation
ẋevê - light
khãm - sun
dãh - moon
khãmẋevê - sunlight
dãhẋevê - moonlight
Ẋevêtol Ôruẋaṭh - the sun as a deity
Ẋevêtol Âviẋaṭh - the moon as a deity
phi - wind
saḷ - passage, way, path, road
ẓĩm - mound, hill
yábãh - terrace, balcony
mâḷáẋãh - voyage (on a ship by sea)
phiẋãh - voyage (on a ship by air)
mekâṛ - glory, triumph
gãh - west
mãg - east
phân - feeling, perception, experience

pìrèng - beautiful, pretty, cute
sordrâ - delicious, appetising
sordrô - fragrant
ḍũglâ - ugly, hideous, nasty
vẽhel - happy
phãhcâ - sick, ill, diseased
tộngkhûṇ - people's, human
yém - soft, flabby, weak
iḍhengâ - forgotten, lost, doomed
iḍhengô - forgetful, demented, senile
híbhâ - neighbourly
híbhô - neighbouring
koṇâ - having good eyesight
koṇô - visible, obvious
akoṇâ - blind
akoṇô - invisible, hidden
nyèṛêyâ - eloquent
nyèṛêyô - famous, much talked about
anyèṛêyâ - mute, reserved, speechless
anyèṛêyô - unknown, unspoken
nyạ - upper, above
mạ - lower, below
bèthậchâ - flexible, open-minded (of a person)
bèthậchô - flexible (of a material)
abèthậchâ - stiff, close-minded (of a person)
abèthậchô - stiff, hard (of a material)
drâng - original, primordial
drângè - original, innovative
ṣõm - dead
ḍhũma - strong-willed, determined
ḍhũmo - weak-willed, submissive
aḍhũma - overindulgent, indecisive, pathetic (derogatory)
aḍhũmo - overindulgent, dictatorial, dominant (derogatory)
ngêlãhèth - stealthy, careful, cautious
põmbhî - obese, fat, overweight
tìṛî - skinny, thin, underweight
ẋaṭha - royal, monarchial
ngìdra - wounded, hurt, torn, cracked
ngìdro - fragile, breakable
khãmô - jubilant, optimistic
dãhô - melancholic, pessimistic
khãmẋevô - sunlit
dãhẋevô - moonlit
vêṇṇádho - urban
droca - strong, powerful
anyõgô - mysterious, unanswered
mekâṛu - glorious, triumphant
gãhu - western
mãgu - eastern
phâna - felt, perceived, experienced

bộrâ - to make, do, cause
xáṭha - to look
xáṭho - to be looked at
lộlì - to speak
ẋãhà - to move, flow
ṣíḍa - to hit, punch, strike
rákhà - to get dressed
arákhà - to get undressed
thộve - to sit, land, stop
ṭhâḷpha - to love
ṭhâḷpho - to be loved
xègháṭà - to wake up
xègháṭò - to be woken up
axègháṭà - to go to sleep
axègháṭò - to be knocked out
iḍhengé - to forget
koṇâ - to see, notice
koṇô - to be seen, noticed
akoṇâ - to be blind
akoṇô - to be blinded
akoṇu - to blind (transitive)
drângâ - to invent, create
drângô - to originate (intransitive)
chángâ - to give birth
chángô - to be born
bunchángâ - to give birth to someone's reincarnation
bunchángô - to be reborn
ṣõmâ - to die
nèhu - to come, move closer, arrive
ṭàbhu - to go, move farther, leave
drocṭàbhu - to abdicate, resign
drocṭàbhô - to be overthrown
drocṭàbhâ - to overthrow
ngìdrâ - to damage, wound, hurt
ngìdrô - to be damaged, wounded, hurt
nyộchu - to ask
nyõgu - to answer
phâ - to feel, perceive, experience

dâ - when
dâdâ - when (interrogative)
ngé - where
ngèngé - where (interrogative)
ním - why
nìnním - why (interrogative)
bun - again
cîm - so, thus
xim - as, in the form/shape/role of, being, etc. (used with genitive)

sê - before, preceding
jê - during, at present
cà - after, following, because

AFFIXES
-àrí/-rí - forms adverbs from nouns and adjectives
-ikhí/-khí - forms nouns denoting an action, "-(is)ation"
-ikho/-kho - forms verbs denoting a process resulting in the noun or adjective, "-ise"
-u/-hu - forms verbs from nouns meaning "to act like" the noun

~

Pronouns only have singular and plural.

mo, mô - I, we (nominative)
mì, mộ - me, us (accusative)
mè, môl - I, we (agentive)
mô, mâl - my, our (genitive)
mès, môs - to me, to us (dative)
mèrô, màrô - on/in me, on/in us (locative)
mèya, màkí - with me, with us (comitative)

to, tô - you, you (nominative)
tì, tộ - you, you (accusative)
tè, tôl - you, you (agentive)
tô, tâl - your, your (genitive)
tès, tôs - to you, to you (dative)
tèrô, tàrô - on/in you, on/in you (locative)
tèya, tàkí - with you, with you (comitative)

vo, vô - it, they (nominative)
vì, vộ - it, them (accusative)
vè, vôl - it, they (agentive)
vô, vâl - its, their (genitive)
vès, vôs - to it, to them (dative)
vèrô, vàrô - on/in it, on/in them (locative)
vèya, vàkí - with it, with them (comitative)

àvo, àvô - he, they (nominative)
àvì, àvộ - him, them (accusative)
àvè, àvôl - he, they (agentive)
àvô, àvâl - his, their (genitive)
àvès, àvôs - to him, to them (dative)
àvèrô, àvàrô - on/in him, on/in them (locative)
àvèya, àvàkí - with him, with them (comitative)

evo, evô - she, they (nominative)
evì, evộ - her, them (accusative)
evè, evôl - she, they (agentive)
evô, evâl - her, their (genitive)
evès, evôs - to her, to them (dative)
evèrô, evàrô - on/in her, on/in them (locative)
evèya, evàkí - with her, with them (comitative)

DUAL, PLURAL
vâṇâ, vânî - each other (nominative/accusative)
vâṇâl, vânêl - each other's (genitive)
vâṇôn, vânîn - to/on/in/with each other (dative/locative/comitative)

Numerals
xâṇ - one
àrèṣ - two
khâr - three
phán - four
tãhàn - five
bhâṇ - six
ághát - seven
ḍhák - eight
bôṣ - nine
ngâṣ - ten

~

Word order is fairly free, the only requirement being that the subject comes before the object in sentences where neither is marked, but even that isn't always necessarily required if context makes it clear which is which.

Adjectives usually follow the noun they modify, but again, there is no rule prohibiting them from coming first.

A handful of random sentences:

Ngèkoṣ xáṭhanèlâ pheng.
/ŋə́kɔ̄ʂ k͡sáːʈʰān̪ə́l̪ɒ̀ː pʰɛ̄ŋ/
ngèkoṣ-Ø-Ø xáṭha-nè-lâ-Ø pheng-Ø-Ø.
cat-indef.sg-nom.sg look-pst-aff-pos bird-indef.sg-acc.sg
A cat looked at a bird.

Ngèkoṣáko xáṭhanèlâ pheng sordrâ.
/ŋə́kɔ̄ʂáːkɔ̄ k͡sáːʈʰān̪ə́l̪ɒ̀ː pʰɛ̄ŋ s̪ɔ̄rd͡rɒ̀ː/
ngèkoṣ-á-ko xáṭha-nè-lâ-Ø pheng-Ø-Ø sordrâ.
cat-def-nom.pl look-pst-aff-pos bird-indef-acc.sg appetising
The cats looked at an appetising bird.

Ḍhẹḍhàyàko thộvenèlâ jaḷmàhtorô pìrèng evô.
/ɖʱɚ̌ːɖʱə̀jə̀ t̪ʰôːʊ̯ʋɛ̄n̪ə́l̪ɒ̀ː d͡ʒāɭmə̀ht̪ɔ̄ròː pɯ̀rə́ŋ ɛ̄ʋòː/
ḍhẹḍhà-yà-ko thộve-nè-lâ-Ø jaḷmàh-to-rô pìrèng evô
bug-indef.pl-nom.pl land-pst-aff-pos face-def.sg-loc.sg pretty her
Some bugs landed on her pretty face.

Hìṣíḍanèlâgì jaḷmàhto mè!
/hɯ̀ʂíːɖān̪ə́l̪ɒ̀ːgɯ̀ d͡ʒāɭmə̀ht̪ɔ̄ mə́/
hì-ṣíḍa-nè-lâ-gì jaḷmàh-to-Ø mè
imp-punch-pst-aff-neg face-def.sg-acc.sg my
Don't punch my face!

Lèṇàka sàṭhâḷphalâ vâṇâ.
/l̪ə́ɳə̀kā sə̀ʈʰɒ̀ːɭpʰāl̪ɒ̀ː ʋɒ̀ːɳɒ̀ː/
lèṇà-Ø-ka sà-ṭhâḷpha-Ø-lâ-Ø vâṇâ
woman-indef.du-nom hyp-love-pres-aff-pos each other-nom/acc
Two women can love each other.

Làṇèka sàṭhâḷphalâ vâṇâ.
/l̪ə̀ɳə́kā sə̀ʈʰɒ̀ːɭpʰāl̪ɒ̀ː ʋɒ̀ːɳɒ̀ː/
làṇè-Ø-ka sà-ṭhâḷpha-Ø-lâ-Ø vâṇâ
man-indef.du-nom hyp-love-pres-aff-pos each other-nom/acc
Two men can love each other.

Dâ arákhànélâ mo, vehìxáṭhanégì?
/d̪ɒ̀ː āráːkʰə̀n̪éːl̪ɒ̀ː mɔ̄ ʋɛ̄hɯ̀k͡sáːʈʰān̪éːgɯ̀/
dâ arákhà-né-lâ-Ø mo, ve-hì-xáṭha-né-gì
when undress-fut-aff-pos I, pol-imp-look-fut-int-neg
When I get undressed, could you please not look?

Dâdâ mo sàyaxègháṭàné?
/d̪ɒ̀ːd̪ɒ̀ː mɔ̄ sə̀jāk͡sə́gʱáːʈə̀n̪éː/
dâdâ sày-axègháṭà-né-Ø-Ø
when I hyp-go to sleep-fut-int-pos
When can I go to sleep?

To vẽhel?
/t̪ɔ̄ ʋɛ̃́ːh̃ɛ̃̄l̪/
to vẽhel
you happy
Are you happy?

Tè mì phãhcâ bộrâlâ.
/t̪ə́ mɯ̀ pʰɑ̃̀h̃t͡sʰɒ̀ː bôːʊ̯rɒ̀ːl̪ɒ̀ː/
tè mì phãhcâ bộrâ-Ø-lâ-Ø
you-agt.sg I-acc.sg sick make-pres-aff-pos
You make me sick.

Phãrâyákomkàvãrộl bînèhunè?
/pʰɑ̃̀rɒ̃̀ːjáːkɔ̄mkə̀ʋɑ̃́rôːʊ̯l̪ bîɘ̯n̪ə́hūn̪ə́/
phãrâ-yá-ko-m-kàvãrộl bî-nèhu-nè-Ø
head-def.pl-1st.poss-1st.pl.postel mir-come-pst-int
Wow, did they come from behind our heads?

Mô ṣõm cà abhộṇkal xim sàbunchángônélâ.
/mòː ʂɔ̃̀m t͡sə̀ ābʱôːʊ̯ɳkāl̪ k͡sīm sə̀būn̪t͡ʂʰáːŋòːn̪éːl̪ɒ̀ː/
mô ṣõm-Ø-Ø cà abhộṇ-kal xim sà-bunchángô-né-lâ
we death-indef.sg-nom flower-gen.pl as after hyp-reborn-fut-aff
We could be reborn as flowers after death.

Khẽmtavabô akoṇunèlâ bhámcĩgjâkhto ẋevêyàkiya.
/kʰɛ̃́mt̪ʷāʋābòː ākōɳūn̪ə́l̪ɒ̀ː bʱáːmt͡sĩ̀ŋd͡ʒˠɒ̀ːkʰt̪ō k͡ʂɛ̄ʋə̄ːjə̀kījā/
khẽm-ta-vabô akoṇu-nè-lâ-Ø bhámcĩgjâkh-to ẋevê-yà-kiya
friend-indef.du-3rd.poss.agt.pl blind-pst-aff-pos baby-snatcher-def.sg light-indef.pl.instr
Their two friends blinded the baby-snatcher with lights.

EDIT: Added the new consonant phonemes /ɲ ɻ ɽ/ <ny ẓ ṛ> and new vowel phonemes /ɑ̌ːə̯ âə̯/ <ậ ạ>. Also updated with more phonological details.
EDIT2: Added a new locative case system, more vocabulary and two new sentences.
EDIT3: Added possessive suffixes, new vocabulary, more sentences, a few phonological details.
EDIT4: Added a couple of new words and the comparative and superlative suffixes for adjectives.
Last edited by Vlürch on 11 Jun 2019 19:58, edited 13 times in total.
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Re: Phenglộl

Post by Creyeditor »

Are tones dependent on vowel quality? If so, which language in particular was the inspiration?
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Re: Phenglộl

Post by Vlürch »

Creyeditor wrote: 05 Feb 2018 23:31Are tones dependent on vowel quality? If so, which language in particular was the inspiration?
Yeah, I guess, except for the schwa. That wasn't inspired by any language, at least consciously (I don't even know if any real language does that), but rather my inability to easily pronounce back vowels with a high tone or front vowels with a low tone. [:P] At least in speech. In singing, that's not a problem... so, I guess it's just that I'm not used to tones and as such suck at tonal languages. Why I even want to mess with them in conlanging, I don't know.

EDIT: Fixed a major brain fart.
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Re: Phenglộl

Post by Creyeditor »

Just struck me as something unusual. You should probably describe the regularities somewhere, if it is really dependent on vowel backness, which I find fascinating.
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Re: Phenglộl

Post by Vlürch »

Creyeditor wrote: 06 Feb 2018 00:28Just struck me as something unusual. You should probably describe the regularities somewhere, if it is really dependent on vowel backness, which I find fascinating.
I updated the first post with that and some other phonological details, as well as expanding the phonemic inventory a little bit.

One thing I'm kinda unsure about is whether or not there should be a very limited amount of derivational affixes. Right now, the only thought-out ones are the prefix <a-> à la various Indo-European languages, the suffixes <-â>, <-ô>, <-a> and <-o> for deriving adjectives and verbs, the meanings of which aren't really set in stone and just make whatever noun into an adjective and/or verb in whatever way I feel like makes sense. I guess something like <-A> being active and <-O> being passive could be a thing (A and O being any vowels that are "A-ish" and "O-ish" respectively, regardless of tone or length, etc.) but I don't really want to restrict my options by assigning overly specific meanings to affixes that are bound morphemes.

On the other hand, having vague "adjectival and/or verbal suffixes" is inevitably going to lead to a lot of irregularities. I'm not a fan of irregularities since they make languages harder to learn, but it wouldn't matter since this is a random ass conlang (and a kinda weird one at that), and as long as there's some logic behind them that could be handwaved as being the result of historical mergers or splits or whatever, it could even make it more naturalistic...

I'm also considering the addition of an extensive locative case system I came up with for another conlang that I've pretty much scrapped. The reason I'd kind of want to implement it in this language is that it would be really easy given the tones and nasal syllables, allowing me to keep the actual case endings relatively short. If I did, that would leave the non-locative cases feeling pretty boring, though.
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Re: Phenglộl

Post by Vlürch »

The first post is now updated with the larger locative case system and possessive suffixes, more vocabulary and a few example sentences. I kept the old locative case as a "vague locative" because I like the idea of having a specific case for intentional ambiguity or uncertainty over the exact location of something, and it's something I'm not sure many (if any) real languages have explicitly.

Some conculture/conworld stuff... [:P]

For thousands of years the people who speak Phenglộl, calling themselves Phengaṛâ (Bird People), have lived on Akoṇḍhuṭh (Invisible Island), a mountainous island covered in thick forests and waterfalls, largely cut off from the rest of the world. Their only contact with outsiders for a long time was with a people they called Ḍhêdhaṛâ (Beetle People) living on an island to the north. About three centuries ago, however, the island was discovered by sailors who spoke Standard Average European and introduced things like money, junk food, prostitution, etc. to the natives. There was a war against the invading settlers, resulting in victory thanks to intervention by a mysterious skyfaring race of giants who were fed up with the SAE expansion. As soon as the sailors left, intending to return with proper battleships and state-of-the-art weaponry of the time, the island was pulled out from the sea by the sky giants. Ever since then, the Phengaṛâ have lived in the clouds and only descended to the surface once every fifty years to hunt a whale for their most important religious feast, called Tãhvêṣkhệyãh (Whale Festival).

The purpose of Tãhvêṣkhệyãh is to celebrate life, as in the Phengaṛâ creation myth Tãhvêṣṇulá (Whale Goddess) gave birth to the world after swallowing an egg dropped by Phengṇulá (Bird Goddess). In it, the entire island's population come together and each village sends their strongest man to the surface to work together to kill a whale with their bare hands (whether they actually use only their bare hands is a matter of debate among the rest of the population), which is then lifted up to the island by ropes and eaten amidst the grandest festivities of the half-century. Some believe that the dropping of Phengṇulá was in fact not an egg but excrement, but that's a minority view.

Even though they haven't had any contact with Standard Average Europeans for over three centuries, some of their influence still remains: the limited number of coins the sailors left behind still circulate among the Phengaṛâ, being used on brothels, hair salons and fast food restaurants. Since there are no sexually transmitted diseases, there is no taboo on promiscuity and prostitution is considered a legitimate job with no stigma; however, extramarital sex without payment is viewed negatively if the woman is married and/or has children. Male prostitutes do exist, but as they are expected to get paid much less due to women not having as much money as men to spend and most men being heterosexual, it is not common for it to be a man's sole profession.

Fast food restaurants are widespread. Most of the food is literal junk food, stolen leftovers from surface restaurants brought up to Akoṇḍhuṭh by the only truly distinguished social class besides royalty: the Phãhchâpõmbhôyáko (Sick Fat People). They're heavily discriminated against and regularly face violence at the hands of everyone else, not due to them being overweight but because they're perceived as continuing in the footsteps of the western invaders; on the other hand, they form an important part of society due to the fact that they're the only concrete reminder of the horrors of the past. So, killing them is considered an even greater crime than killing a person belonging to the majority. The regular punishment for murder is being pushed down into the sea, but for killing a Phãhchâpõmbhô it is being cannibalised by the remaining Phãhchâpõmbhôyáko.

An important rite of passage held at every person's fiftieth birthday is Híbhxãhkhệyãh (Neighbour Flow Festival), where the vast majority of one's material wealth is distributed evently among the rest of the villagers. If the person is not married and has no children, they are sent down to the surface at whichever location they choose so that they can find a suitable partner. If they find one and get married within ten years, both them and their spouse are allowed ascent to Akoṇḍhuṭh from the same place the now-sixty-year-old was left off a decade earlier. The spouse is introduced to Phengaṛâ culture and if they assimilate (and acclimate) well enough, a celebration called Lãgẋãhkhệyãh (Immigration Festival) is held. It's a small but important celebration of acceptance, reminding all of the Phengaṛâ that they could not survive forever if they were completely isolated.

Because the people who have to descend from Akoṇḍhuṭh to find a partner are so old and as such usually don't have kids, all children born in the next ten years are allowed to go down to the surface to find their own partner if they don't find one on the island by the time they're twenty. They are then allowed ascent ten years later with their spouse if they found one, as well as their children if they've had any.

Beauty is important to the Phengaṛâ. Both men and women emulate the feathers of birds in their hairstyles and clothing. Although surface fashion has recently started spreading among the youth in Phivêṇṇádh (Wind City), the largest city on the island located on the shore that's easiest to dock in with an airship, it remains common for everyone to wear traditional clothing at festivals and formal gatherings. The capital city, Mekâṛvêṇṇádh (Glory City), is still very old-fashioned and not only do people dress in ways that imitate the appearance of birds but the streets are lined with bird statues. This respect for birds is why the people call themselves Phengaṛâ and their language Phenglộl.

Although they generally stick to their island, the Phengaṛâ have become master craftsmen when it comes to building functional airships that can be steered just like ships in the oceans below. They owe this technology to the giants since one of their ships was shot down by the Europeans in the war and left behind on the island for the people to reverse engineer, although their own seafaring knowledge made it much easier for them, basing their new airships on the old ships they used to explore the ocean and voyage to faraway islands once upon a time, long before their isolation; for many centuries, they only sailed just far enough to satisfy their fishing needs and to hunt small animals from small uninhabited islands nearby. The reason they stopped sailing farther than that was out of fear of the increasingly warlike Ḍhêdhaṛâ. Now, they sail the skies without anyone knowing...

~

I'll probably also make the languages of the sky giants and Ḍhêdhaṛâ sooner or later. If I do, I'll post about them in this same thread.
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Re: Phenglộl

Post by Vlürch »

COLOURS

Colour terms are identical regardless of whether they're used as nouns or adjectives. However, to say that something is a certain colour (ie. predicative adjectives), the following special copulas are used. They come before the colour and after the noun:

a (dark colours; all those marked (D) below)
i (light colours; all those marked (L) below)
e (neutral colours; all those marked (N) below)

màl - white (L)
gâv - black (D)
dhìr - dark grey (D)
dhír - light grey (L)
bâḷ - dark red (D)
bál - bright red (L)
khâv - orange (N)
ṇâv - gold (N)
náv - yellow (L)
nîvâl - lime, chatreuse (N)
vâḷ - dark green (D)
vál - bright green (L)
mìv - dark blue (D)
mív - bright blue (L)
mìḷ - dark purple (D)
míl - bright purple (L)
sîv - pink (L)
mîvâḷ - turquoise (N)
dhân - dark brown (D)
dhán - bright brown (L)
nãhpál - beige (N)
yìldhir - any unspecified shade of grey (N)
yìl - colour, any unspecified colour (N)
dhir dhir - various shades of grey, monochrome (N)
yìl yìl - various colours, multicolour (N)

For example:
Koṇḍôj a gâv, koṇḷámḷích i màl, koṇbôkh e yìl.
/kɔ̄ɳɖòːd͡ʒ ā gɒ̀ːʋ kɔ̄ɳɭáːmɭíːt͡ʂʰ ī mə̀l̪ kɔ̄ɳbòːkʰ ɛ̄ jɯ̀l̪/
koṇḍôj-Ø a gâv, koṇḷámḷích-Ø i màl, koṇbôkh-Ø e yìl
pupil-indef.du cop black, sclera-indef.du cop white, iris-indef.du cop colour
Pupils are black, scleras are white, irises can be any of a variety of different colours.

So, in case it isn't clear enough, the general term for colour is the same as the term for "any unspecified colour", yìl.

~

I also added a few things to the first post, mostly a couple of suffixes and a handful of new words, and fixed a couple of typos.

~

Two random sentences...

Ṇulâyákal ṇulẋaṭhètokè ngìdrânèlâ khẽmètov cà ḍhẹḍhàhunèlâ.
/ɳūl̪ɒ̀ːjáːkāl̪ ɳūl̪k͡ʂāʈʰə́t̪ɔ̄kə́ ŋɯ̀d͡rɒ̀ːn̪ə́l̪ɒ̀ː kʰɛ̃́mə̃́t̪ɔ̄ʋ t͡sə̀ ɖʱěɪ̯ɖʱə̀hūn̪ə́l̪ɒ̀ː/
ṇulâ-yá-kal ṇulẋaṭh-èto-kè ngìdrâ-nè-lâ khẽm-èto-v cà ḍhẹḍhà-hu-nè-lâ-Ø
god-def.pl-gen.pl emperor-def.sg-agt wound-pst-aff friend-def.sg-3.poss.acc because insect-act-past-aff-pos
The emperor of the gods wounded his friend for acting like an insect.

Làṇèto nyèṛêyô anyõgôrí ṣõmânèlâ
/l̪ə̀ɳə́t̪ɔ̄ ɲə́ɽə̄ːjòː āɲɔ̃̀ŋõ̀ːríː ʂɔ̃̀mɒ̃̀ːn̪ə́l̪ɒ̀ː/
làṇè-to-Ø nyèṛêyô anyõgô-rí ṣõmâ-nè-lâ-Ø
man-def.sg-nom famous mysterious-adv die-pst-aff-pos
The famous man died mysteriously.

~

Then a few questions: is there any point in glossing the unmarked stuff at all? I mean, considering the nominative and accusative are identical in the singular, it feels kinda weird typing all those glosses with them anyway and having all those Øs everywhere... also, I'm reconsidering the marking of definiteness; would it be weird for it to be entirely optional or something? Like, I don't want to get rid of it completely and I like how it makes words longer and stuff, but at the same time it causes the problem that everything definite gets really repetitive and messy. Having it be context-dependent is a valid option, right?
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Re: Phenglộl & Jinqaṣyavri

Post by Vlürch »

Жинқаҫьаври
The language of the Жинқаҫьас (Jinqaṣyas), a people who inhabit a cavernous island floating in the sky. Said island used to not be an island, having been firmly located somewhere in Russia, but as the Soviet Union dissolved, it was suddenly yanked up by sky giants; this was to keep the Jinqaṣyas from being genocided, but within two days the giants realised that the Jinqaṣyas were staunch communists who were absolutely overjoyed when they could continue to practise communism amidst the clouds and begin to preach the message of esoteric Stalinism to the populations of neighbouring sky-islands. Because the locals didn't find the Stalin-demigod-story appealing, they asked the sky giants to change the Jinqaṣyas' island's orbit so that it never intersected with theirs. At the start of the third week, they did just that, isolating the Jinqaṣyas from everyone else. During the first president's reign, their form of communism diverged so much from communism that it's not exactly communism anymore... kinda like what happened in Turkmenistan and North Korea, except, you know, in the sky.

(Yeah, that's just a weird excuse for why it uses Cyrillic other than "it's cool" and "it's practical". [xP] )

/m n ɲ/ <м н ҥ> (m n ñ)
/p t c q ʔ/ <п т к қ ъ> (p t k q ʻ)
/t͡ʪ d͡ʫ/ <ц ж> (c j)
/t͡ʪʲ d͡ʫʲ/ <ць жь> (cy jy)
/t͡ʪʶ d͡ʫʶ/ <цъ жъ> (cʻ jʻ)
/ʪ ʫ/ <ҫ ҙ> (ṣ ẓ)
/ʪʲ ʫʲ/ <ҫь ҙь> (ṣy ẓy)
/ʪʶ ʫʶ/ <ҫъ ҙъ> (ṣʻ ẓʻ)
/s/ <с> (s)
/(f) v ð j (χ) ʁ h/ <ф в з й х г һ> (f v z y x g h)
/r/ <р> (r)
/(l)/ <л> (l)

/a e i u/ <а э и у> (a e i u)
/ja je ji ju/ <я е ӥ ю> (ya ye yi yu)

/f χ l/ occur only in loanwords.

/t͡ʪ d͡ʫ/ are [t͡ʪ~t͡ɬ d͡ʫ~d͡ɮ] in free variation
/t͡ʪʲ d͡ʫʲ/ are [t̠͡ʪ̠ʲ~t͡ɕ d̠͡ʫ̠ʲ~d͡ʑ] in free variation
/t͡ʪʶ d͡ʫʶ/ are [t̪͡ʪ̪ʶ~t̪͡s̪ʶ d̪͡ʫ̪ʶ~d̪͡z̪ʶ] in free variation
/ʪ ʫ/ are [ʪ~ɬ ʫ~ɮ] in free variation
/ʪʲ ʫʲ/ are [ʪ̠ʲ~ɕ ʫ̠ʲ~ʑ] in free variation
/ʪʶ ʫʶ/ are [ʪ̪ʶ~s̪ʶ ʫ̪ʶ~z̪ʶ] in free variation

/ɲ c/ are [ɲ~ŋʲ c~kʲ] in free variation
/s/ is [s̪~s~s̻] in free variation, except [ʃ] in coda

/a e i u/ are [ɐ ə ɨ u] after /n t t͡ʪ d͡ʫ ʪ ʫ ð/
/a e i u/ are [æ e i ʉ] after /ɲ c t͡ʪʲ d͡ʫʲ ʪʲ ʫʲ j/
/a e i u/ are [ɑ ɤ ɘ o] after /q t͡ʪʶ d͡ʫʶ ʪʶ ʫʶ χ ʁ/
/a e i u/ are [a̠ e̞ i u] after /m n p ʔ s f v h r l/

In closed syllables, vowels have different allophones:
/a e i u/ are [ɐ ə̟ ɪ ʊ̞] before coda /n t s/
/a e i u/ are [ɐ ɛ ɪ ʊ] before coda /m p v/
/a e i u/ are [æ e i ʉ̞] before coda /ɲ c j/
/a e i u/ are [ɑ ə ɪ̞ ʊ̞] before coda /q ʁ/
/a e i u/ are [ɐ̠ æ ɪ ʊ] before coda /r/
...but [æ ɘ̟ i ʉ̞] after palatal(ised) consonants
...but [ɑ ɤ ɘ o] after uvular(ised) consonants

The glottal stop is inserted between vowels so that no two vowels can ever come in contact with one another.

CASE PREFIXES
Nominative/accusative: Ø-
Genitive: ка-
Locative: цъэ-
Lative: юцъэ-
Ablative: ецъэ-

SUFFIXES
-ври - language
-с - people; nation
-ҙуй - -less; without
-зи - -ed; with

VOCABULARY

уҥэ - I; we
эһэ - you
игэ - he/she; they
рим - this
рам - that

ту - and
ку - but
узу - because (of)
һай - more; more than

цъае - face; expression
пиӥм - eye
гаҙъуҥ - mouth
паяк - ear
жьиюк - nose
жъэқэ - body
сталӥн - leader; hero (genericisation of Stalin)
пурҫъас - friend
иҙьэҥ - cat
уӥргақ - dog
аҙаруес - home; house
қугус - fire
туварис - friend; comrade (from Russian товарищ)
цъункэ - man
жъункэ - woman

мили - cute (from Russian милый)

цьик - in; inside; into
ҫьэк - out; outside; from

ис - one
сэс - two
рэс - three
мис - four
кис - five
қэс - six
ус - seven
кус - eight
қус - nine
ай - ten
ай ту ис - eleven
сес ай - twenty
сес ай тй ис - twenty one

цъаев - to meet; encounter
пиӥъэв - to see; notice
гаҙъуҥэв - to breathe; speak, say
паякэв - to hear; learn
люпэв - to love (from Russian любить)
туварисэв - to make friends (from Russian товарищ)
в - to be
вэв - to be able to (must be followed by another, unprefixed verb)

VERBS
Verbs are not conjugated per se, but there are prefixes for past and future:
кэ- - past (certain)
ки- - past (uncertain)
пэ- - future (certain)
пи- - future (uncertain)

Because of the esoteric Stalinism that the Jinqaṣyas are so passionate about, they consider nothing in the present to be 100% certain; only historical facts and future facts can be certain. It's necessary to end sentences in the present (and uncertain past and future) with a question mark.

These prefixes can be stacked, eg. кэпэ- for "became", etc.

EXAMPLE SENTENCES
Overall, grammar is so simple that... well, everything above was basically it. Word order is SVO. No exceptions.

Уҥэ пилюпэв эһэ?
I think I'll love you forever.

Каъиҙьэҥ цъае в мили рам цъаези?
The cat's face is cute with that expression.

Сталӥн кэвэв гаҙъуҥэв ҫьэк қугус, ту узу рим игэ кэпэв сталӥн.
Stalin was able to breathe fire, and because of this he became a leader.

Гаҙъуҥҙуй цъункэ ту ис пиӥм пипиӥэв һай гаҙъуҥзи цъункэ ту сэс пиӥм?
A man with no mouth and one eye may see more than a man with a mouth and two eyes.
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Re: Phenglộl & Jinqaṣyavri

Post by rgj40q »

The examples are hilarious. Is imperative expressed as a certain future tense?
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Vlürch
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Re: Phenglộl & Jinqaṣyavri

Post by Vlürch »

rgj40q wrote: 31 Oct 2018 13:20The examples are hilarious. Is imperative expressed as a certain future tense?
That's actually a good idea, so yeah. I was considering some kind of complicated rules for forming imperatives because it'd be kinda funny to have that as the only complex part of the grammar (especially when the conculture is supposed to be one with a strict hierarcy and whatnot), but using the certain future is a much better idea and actually fits the "aesthetic", especially with the ambiguity it can create. [:)]

A little bit more vocabulary and another weird sentence:

пуъус - feeling; thought; idea
цъузупуъус - hope; optimism; comfort; good feeling
жьэмпуъус - despair; pessimism; fear; bad feeling
иҥаҫьэ - food; commodity
ҙъаъэк - the universe; space
эсэъи - the sun
мӥр - Earth (from Russian мир)
висю - everything (from Russian всё)
ҙьэнҙьэн - everyone (from Mandarin 人人)

цъузу - good; happy
жьэм - bad; sad

цъузув - to improve (objects/ideas); console (living things)
жьэмэв - to worsen (objects/ideas); frighten (living things)
эсэъив - to burn (both intransitive and transitive); illuminate
иҥаҫьэв - to eat; feed

Каъуҥэ туварис ецъэъэсэъи, Эсэъис, пэъэсэъив висю ту ҙьэнҙьэн цъэмӥр қугусзи, ту рам пицъузув ҙъаъэк.
Our comrades from the sun, the Sun People, will burn everything and everyone on Earth with fire, and that will make the universe better.

PS: The reason there's no difference between eating and feeding someone/something else, burning something and getting burnt, etc. is that the Jinqaṣyas aspire to become a hivemind. Or something.
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Re: Phenglộl, Jinqaṣyavri & Nemin-uguu

Post by Vlürch »

Немин-угуу
The language of the Nemin-bıyrıy (summer people), called so because of the fact that the interdimensional barrier leading to the parallel universe where they live only opens in the summer. It's a vaguely "Ural-Altaic" language with heavy influences from Chinese, particularly Old Chinese lexicon and Mandarin phonology, due to its location somewhere west of China and partially within IRL China. Basically, its speakers have a powerful empire with a long history of contact with China in the east, Turkic and Mongolic peoples in the north and Iranians in the west, but it's in a "bubble" overlapping with real-world borders. Or something like that.

They also have/had trade with Sumerians, leading to some Sumerian loanwords (maybe Sumerians still exist in the parallel universe they live in, or maybe all the words are ancient, doesn't really matter). I just wanted to include some Sumerian influence tbh, even if it's just a couple of words and it doesn't really make sense historically or geographically... but mostly I just wanted the language to have borrowed both Dingir and Tengri, and the Sumerian word for shepherd is so cute that I had to include that too, and it at least could kind of make sense if the conpeople didn't herd sheep before they interacted with Sumerians or whatever, and a couple of Sumerian honorifics (or just one, the other one isn't really a honorific I guess).

Because it's the main language of a powerful empire, it has a lot of vocabulary to do with the royal court and stuff (or maybe I'm just too lazy with vocabulary and haven't come up with nearly enough other stuff yet), including different categories of servants/slaves and whatnot. You know, it'd be a kind of dystopian society; the divisions between classes may not be strict in the sense that people could move from one class to another, but they're specific and everyone belongs to at least one class that the rest look down on. They never abolished slavery because the royals rely on slaves so much that abolishing it would abolish the monarchy, and the monarchy has too firm a grip on the people for that to happen.

Their level of technology is pretty much medieval, I guess, but they might have computers and whatnot as well. I'm not really sure, it doesn't really matter, the conlang stuff is infinitely more important than the conculture/conworld stuff imho. [:P]

Anyway, the language uses Cyrillic because it's cool and practical one of their emperors decided that it was time for modernisation, and a committee developed the most practical and aesthetically pleasing orthography, which turned out to be Cyrillic; maybe they liked the Soviet Union or something, too, or maybe some Jinqaṣyas ambassadors brought Cyrillic with them. So yeah, another conlang that uses Cyrillic just because I like Cyrillic and any excuse is fine.

PHONOLOGY & ORTHOGRAPHY

/m n ŋ/ <м н ң>
/p b t d k g q ʔ/ <п б т д к г қ ъ>
/t͡s t͡ɕ t͡ʂ/ <ц ч ҷ>
/d͡z~t͡s d͡z/ <цз дз>
/s ɕ ʂ ʑ~d͡ʑ ʐ~d͡ʐ/ <с ш щ ж җ>
/ɸ ð j w ʁ h/ <ф з й в-ў ӷ х>
/r/ <р>
/l/ <л>

/ɑ e i ɨ o u/ <а э-е и ы о у>
/ɑː eː iː ɨː oː uː/ <аа ээ ий ый оо уў>
/iː ɨː uː/ <ии ыы уу> {see notes below}

/ɑi̯ ei̯ oi̯ ui̯/ <ай эй-ей ой уй>
/ɑu̯ eu̯ iu̯ ɨu̯ ou̯/ <аў эў-еў иў ыў оў>
/i̯ɑ i̯e i̯ɨ i̯o i̯u/ <я е йы ё ю>
/u̯ɑ u̯e u̯i u̯ɨ u̯o/ <уа уэ уи уы уо>
/i̯ɑi̯ i̯ei̯ i̯oi̯ i̯ui̯/ <яй ей ёй юй>
/u̯ɑi̯ u̯ei̯ u̯oi̯/ <уай уэй уой>

The exact pronunciation of /ɨ/ varies between [ɯ] and [ə], especially in diphthongs, which are most commonly [əu̯~əw i̯ə~jə u̯ə~wə].

The difference between the long vowels /iː ɨː uː/ <ий ый уў> and /iː ɨː uː/ <ии ыы уу> is that when inflected, the former become /ij ɨj uw/ in certain environments while the latter remain /iː ɨː uː/. For example, быйрый /bɨːrɨː/ ("nation") -> быйрыяр /bɨːrɨjɑr/ ("nations") and нуў /nuː/ ("girl") -> нуваң /nuwɑŋ/ ("girl's"), but быйзыы /bɨːðɨː/ ("tortoise") -> быйзыыр /bɨːðɨːr/ ("tortoises") and тарщуу /tɑrʂuː/ ("vertebra") -> тарщуудал /tɑrʂuːdɑl/ ("vertebral").

Vowel harmony and consonant harmony is relevant when it comes to inflection, but roots themselves have no restrictions in theory, but in practice almost all roots follow harmonic rules: /t͡ɕ ɕ ʑ k g/ occur with /i iː/ and /t͡ʂ ʂ ʐ q ʁ/ occur with /ɨ ɨː/. Also note that while /ɑ/ and /e/ are harmonic variants in inflections, roots containing both are very common and the last vowel is the one that dictates which is used when inflected.

/g/ may be pronounced [g̚ɰ~ɰ~ɣ] intervocalically, especially between back vowels

Although /t͡ʂ ʂ ʐ/ <ҷ щ җ> are the only phonemic retroflex consonants, it is possible for adjacent consonants to be allophonically retroflex. Most notably, /n t d l/ <н т д л> are commonly pronounced [ɳ ʈ ɖ ɭ] when followed by retroflex consonants particularly in southeastern dialects; in other dialect groups, this is not as common and is often a marker of low class. Also, vowels following retroflex consonants tend to be R-coloured, more commonly in eastern dialects but increasingly in western ones as well.

In eastern dialects, /r/ may be pronounced [ɻ] due to Mandarin influence.

There's no simple way to phonemically transcribe the difference between <ц цз дз>, although /t͡s d͡z~t͡s d͡z/ is probably the most logical. Even the phonetic differences are somewhat complicated since conically the exact distinction varies by dialect, sociolect and even individual, but it can be summarised as follows:
<ц> is [t̪͡s̪~t̻͡s̪~t̻͡s̻~t͡s] or [t̪͡s̪ʰ~t̻͡s̪ʰ~t̻͡s̻ʰ~t͡sʰ]
<цз> is [d̪͡z̪~d̻͡z̪~d̻͡z̻~d͡z] or [t̪͡s̪~t̻͡s̪~t̻͡s̻~t͡s]
<дз> is [d̪͡z̪ð~d̻͡z̪ð~d̻͡z̻ð~d͡zð] or [d̪͡z̪~d̻͡z̪~d̻͡z̻~d͡z]
The first one is always voiceless, commonly aspirated and sometimes followed by frication of some kind, eg. [t̪͡s̪ʰθ~t̪͡s̪ʰx]; on the other hand, some speakers reduce the sound to [θ]. Aspiration is most common in word-initial position, where it's almost universal. Following vowels can be voiceless word-finally or when followed by a voiceless consonant, which will induce allophonic lengthening; however, this is uncommon in instances where it is pronounced aspirated and/or with extra frication.
The second one is never aspirated and is often "stiffer" than the other two; what this means in practice varies, but it's commonly voiced intervocalically and much more likely to be heavily velarised and/or cause vowels to be somewhat centralised than the other two, as well as , eg. <цзицзу> [t̪͡s̪ˠɪd̪͡z̪ˠʊ] ("raindrop") in contrast to <цицу> [t̪͡s̪ʰit̪͡s̪u̥ˑ] ("gift") and <дзидзу> [d̪͡z̪id̪͡z̪u] ("leather").
The third one's frication varies between [d̪͡z̪r̪̝] and [d̪͡ɹ̪], i.e. so strong that the sibilant segues into a fricative trill and so weak that it's reduced to an approximant. [d̪͡r̪̝] and [d̪͡ɹ̪̝], etc. are among other possible realisations. However, most commonly it's just [d̪͡z̪].

Historically, there may have been phonemic /æ/. Conically, this assumption is based on speculation owing to the occurrence of <э> after consonants in a number of words; although it was already pronounced identically to /e/ before Cyrillisation, the old orthography had such a distinction and the committee that devised the Cyrillic orthography chose to retain it. What makes it conically uncertain is that among loanwords, correspondences from [æ] in the source languages can't be clearly established; while it became <э> /*æ/ in some cases, it also became <е> /e/ and in yet other cases it became <а> /ɑ/.

DECLENSION
Object nouns can be undeclined (i.e. identical to the nominative case) in sentences where it is obvious that they are the object of a verb, but that's down to preference.

The vowels in parentheses are added if the root ends in a consonant. The back variants are used even with front vowels if the root contains retroflex sibilants.
nominative: -Ø, -(а)р/(е)р {animate}
nominative: -Ø, -(ы)р/(и)р {inanimate}
accusative: -(а)җы/(е)жи, -(а)рыщ/(е)риш {animate}
accusative: -(ы)й/(и)й, -(а)рый/(е)рий {inanimate; informally used for animate as well}
accusative: -ы/у/и/у, -ары/ару/ери/еру {interchangeable alternative after consonants}
dative: -(ы)ӷа/(и)ге, -(ы)рӷа/(и)рге
partitive: -(а)қ/(е)к, -(а)рақ/(е)рек
ablative: -(ы)за/(и)зе, -(ы)рас/(и)рес
genitive: -(а)ң/(е)н, -(а)рың/(е)рин
comitative/instrumental: -(а)дал/(е)дел, -(а)рдал/(е)рдел
temporal: -(а)дый/(е)дий, -(а)рдый/(е)рдий

apudessive (near): -(а)хына/(е)хине, -(а)рахына/(е)рехине
inessive (inside): -(а)зына/(е)зине, -(а)разына/(е)резине
superessive (on top): -(а)дарба/(е)дербе, -(а)рдарба/(е)рдербе
subessive (below): -(а)дарла/(е)дерле, -(а)рдарла/(е)рдерле
antessive (in front): -(а)лха/(е)лхе, -(а)ралха/(е)релхе
postessive (behind): -(а)рқуа/(е)ркуэ, -(а)раақуа/(е)рээкуэ
intrative (among): -(а)ңкуа/(е)ңкуэ, -(а)раңкуа/(е)реңкуэ

apudlative (to near): -(а)хыйра/(е)хийре, -(а)рахыйра/(е)рехийре
illative (to inside): -(а)зыйра/(е)зийре, -(а)разыйра/(е)резийре
superlative (to top): -(а)дарбуўра/(е)дербийре, -(а)рдарбуўра/(е)рдербийре
sublative (to below): -(а)дарлуўра/(е)дерлийре, -(а)рдарлуўра/(е)рдерлийре
antlative (to front): -(а)лхуўра/(е)лхийре, -(а)ралхуўра/(е)релхийре
postlative (to behind): -(а)рқуўра/(е)ркуэйре, -(а)рақуўра/(е)рекуэйре
interlative (to among): -(а)ңкуўра/(е)ңкуэйре, -(а)раңкуўра/(е)реңкуэйре

apudelative (from near): -(а)хыйза/(е)хийзе, -(а)рахыйза/(е)рехийзе
elative (from inside): -(а)зыйза/(е)зийзе, -(а)разыйза/(е)резийзе
superelative (from top): -(а)дарбыза/(е)дербизе, -(а)рдарбыза/(е)рдербизе
subelative (from below): -(а)дарлыза/(е)дерлизе, -(а)рдарлыза/(е)рдерлизе
anteelative (from front): -(а)лхыза/(е)лхизе, -(а)ралхыза/(е)релхизе
postelative (from behind): -(а)рқуаза/(е)ркуэзе, -(а)раақуаза/(е)рээкуэзе
interelative (from among): -(а)ңкуаза/(е)ңкуэзе, -(а)раңкуаза/(е)реңкуэзе

Additionally, there are locative cases for compass points. They consist of a directional term borrowed from Old Chinese, and for the latives and ablatives a native suffix is added. The secondary compass points and the lative and ablative forms demonstrate irregular reductions; conically the reason for this is a mystery.

septentrional (north of): -пык
oriental (east of): -тоң
meridional (south of): -нум
occidental (west of): -сыл
septentrio-oriental (northeast of): -пыхтаң
septentrio-occidental (northwest of): -пыксыл
meridio-oriental (southeast of): -нунтоң
meridio-occidental (southwest of): -нумсул

septentrional lative (to north of): -пыйра
oriental lative (to east of): -тоора
meridional lative (to south of): -нуўма
occidental lative (to west of): -сыйла
septentrio-oriental lative (to northeast of): -пыхтаўра
septentrio-occidental lative (to northwest of): -пыксыйла
meridio-oriental lative (to southeast of): -нунтоора
meridio-occidental lative (to southwest of): -нумсуўла

septentrional ablative (from north of): -пыйза
oriental ablative (from east of): -тооза
meridional ablative (from south of): -нуўза
occidental ablative (from west of): -сыйза
septentrio-oriental ablative (from northeast of): -пыхтаўза
septentrio-occidental ablative (from northwest of): -пыксыйза
meridio-oriental ablative (from southeast of): -нунтооза
meridio-occidental ablative (from southwest of): -нумсуўза

Possessive declensions:
poss. sg.1p nom: -(ы)м/(и)м, -(а)рым/(е)рим
poss. sg.2p nom: -(ы)с/(и)с, -(а)рыс/(е)рис
poss. sg.3p nom: -(ы)л/(и)л, -(а)рыл/(е)рил
poss. sg.1p acc: -(ы)мҗы/(и)мжи, -(а)рымыщ/(е)римиш {animate}
poss. sg.2p acc: -(ы)сҷы/(и)счи, -(а)рысҷы/(е)рисчи {animate}
poss. sg.3p acc: -(ы)лҗы/(и)лжи, -(а)рылҗы/(е)рилжи {animate}
poss. sg.1p acc: -(ы)мый/(и)мий, -(а)рымый/(е)римий {inanimate}
poss. sg.2p acc: -(ы)зый/(и)зий, -(а)рызый/(е)ризий {inanimate}
poss. sg.3p acc: -(ы)лый/(и)лий, -(а)рылый/(е)рилий {inanimate}
poss. sg.1p acc: -амы/аму/еми/ему, -армы/арму/ерми/ерму {alternative}
poss. sg.2p acc: -азы/азу/ези/езу, -арзы/арзу/ерзи/ерзу {alternative}
poss. sg.3p acc: -алы/алу/ели/елу, -арлы/арлу/ерли/ерлу {alternative}
poss. sg.1p dat: -(ы)мӷа/(и)мге, -(а)рымӷа/(е)римге
poss. sg.2p dat: -(ы)сқа/(и)ске, -(а)рысқа/(е)риске
poss. sg.3p dat: -(ы)лӷа/(и)лге, -(а)рылӷа/(е)рилге
poss. sg.1p par: -(ы)мық/(и)мик, -(а)рымақ/(е)римек
poss. sg.2p par: -(ы)зық/(и)зик, -(а)рызық/(е)ризик
poss. sg.3p par: -(ы)лық/(и)лик, -(а)рылық/(е)рилик
poss. sg.1p abl: -(ы)мза/(и)мзе, -(а)рымыс/(е)римис
poss. sg.2p abl: -(ы)сса/(и)ссе, -(а)рызыс/(е)ризис
poss. sg.3p abl: -(ы)лза/(и)лзе, -(а)рылыс/(е)рилис
poss. sg.1p gen: -(ы)мың/(и)мин, -(а)рымың/(е)римин
poss. sg.2p gen: -(ы)зың/(и)зин, -(а)рызың/(е)ризин
poss. sg.3p gen: -(ы)лың/(и)лин, -(а)рылың/(е)рилин
poss. sg.1p com/ins: -(ы)мдал/(и)мдал, -(а)рымдал/(е)римдел
poss. sg.2p com/ins: -(ы)стал/(и)стел, -(а)рыстал/(е)ристел
poss. sg.3p com/ins: -(ы)лдал/(и)лдел, -(а)рылдал/(е)рилдел

The first- and second-person forms of nouns with multiple possessors generally differ from those with single possessors, but the third-person forms are generally the same:
poss. pl.1p nom: -(ы)п/(и)п, -(а)рып/(е)рип
poss. pl.2p nom: -(ы)т/(и)т, -(а)рыт/(е)рит
poss. pl.3p nom: -(ы)л/(и)л, -(а)рыл/(е)рил
poss. pl.1p acc: -(ы)бҗы/(и)бжи, -(а)рыбыщ/(е)рибиш {animate}
poss. pl.2p acc: -(ы)тҷы/(и)тчи, -(а)рытҷы/(е)ритчи {animate}
poss. pl.3p acc: -(ы)лҗы/(и)лжи, -(а)рылҗы/(е)рилжи {animate}
poss. pl.1p acc: -(ы)бый/(и)бий, -(а)рыбый/(е)рибий {inanimate}
poss. pl.2p acc: -(ы)дый/(и)дий, -(а)рыдый/(е)ридий {inanimate}
poss. pl.3p acc: -(ы)лый/(и)лий, -(а)рылый/(е)рилий {inanimate}
poss. pl.1p acc: -абы/абу/еби/ебу, -арбы/арбу/ерби/ербу {alternative}
poss. pl.2p acc: -ады/аду/еди/еду, -арды/арду/ерди/ерду {alternative}
poss. pl.3p acc: -алы/алу/ели/елу, -арлы/арлу/ерли/ерлу {alternative}
poss. pl.1p dat: -(ы)быӷа/(и)биге, -(а)рыбыӷа/(е)рибиге
poss. pl.2p dat: -(ы)дыӷа/(и)диге, -(а)рыдыӷа/(е)ридиге
poss. pl.3p dat: -(ы)лӷа/(и)лге, -(а)рылӷа/(е)рилге
poss. pl.1p par: -(ы)бық/(и)бик, -(а)рыбақ/(е)рибек
poss. pl.2p par: -(ы)дық/(и)дик, -(а)рыдық/(е)ридик
poss. pl.3p par: -(ы)лық/(и)лик, -(а)рылық/(е)рилик
poss. pl.1p abl: -(ы)быза/(и)бизе, -(а)рыбыс/(е)рибис
poss. pl.2p abl: -(ы)тта/(и)тте, -(а)рыдыс/(е)ридис
poss. pl.3p abl: -(ы)лза/(и)лзе, -(а)рылыс/(е)рилис
poss. pl.1p gen: -(ы)бың/(и)бин, -(а)рыбың/(е)рибин
poss. pl.2p gen: -(ы)дың/(и)дин, -(а)рыдың/(е)ридин
poss. pl.3p gen: -(ы)лың/(и)лин, -(а)рылың/(е)рилин
poss. pl.1p com/ins: -(ы)бдал/(и)бдал, -(а)рыбдал/(е)рибдел
poss. pl.2p com/ins: -(ы)ттал/(и)ттел, -(а)рыттал/(е)риттел
poss. pl.3p com/ins: -(ы)лдал/(и)лдел, -(а)рылдал/(е)рилдел

The possessed locative case suffixes are the same as unpossessed ones; the forms with vowels are used to break up clusters of more than two consonants.

~

Assimilations in case endings:
қ+ӷ /*qʁ/ -> ққ /qq/
к+г /*kg/ -> кк /kk/
к+қ /*kʁ/ -> кк /kk/
с+ӷ /*sʁ/ -> сқ /sq/
с+г /*sg/ -> ск /sk/
щ+ӷ /*ʂʁ/ -> щқ /ʂq/
ш+г /*ɕg/ -> шк /ɕk/
ш+ӷ /*ɕʁ/ -> шк /ɕk/
қ+җ /*qd͡ʐ/ -> қщ /qʂ/
к+ж /*kd͡ʑ/ -> кш /kɕ/
к+җ /*kd͡ʐ/ -> кщ /kʂ/
с+җ /*sd͡ʐ/ -> сҷ /st͡ʂ/
с+ж /*sd͡ʑ/ -> сч /st͡ɕ/
щ+җ /*ʂd͡ʐ/ -> щҷ /ʂt͡ʂ/
ш+ж /*ɕd͡ʑ/ -> шч /ɕt͡ɕ/
ш+җ /*ɕd͡ʐ/ -> шч /ɕt͡ɕ/
қ+з /*qð/ -> қс /qs/
к+з /*kð/ -> кс /ks/
с+з /*sð/ -> сс /ss/
с+д /*sd/ -> ст /st/

Also, some consonants change when followed by vowels. This happens when they are inflected, but not in (new) compounds:
п /p/ -> б /b/
т /t/ -> д /d/
к /k/ -> г /g/
қ /q/ -> ӷ /ʁ/
ц /t͡s/ -> цз [d͡z~t͡s]
цз /d͡z~t͡s/ -> дз [d͡z]
ч /t͡ɕ/ -> ж [d͡ʑ]
ҷ /t͡ʂ/ -> җ [d͡ʐ]
с /s/ -> з /ð/
ш /ɕ/ -> ж [ʑ]
щ /ʂ/ -> җ [ʐ]
ў [w~ʊ̯] -> в [w~ʋ]

Nouns ending in <м ң> /m ŋ/ use the vowelless declensions, except for the ones that begin with more than one consonant or that would result in final clusters.
eg. самың /sɑmɨŋ/ + (а)ры /ɑrɨ/ -> самыңры /sɑmɨŋrɨ/
eg. самың /sɑmɨŋ/ + (ы)рӷа /ɨrʁɑ/ -> самыңырӷа /sɑmɨŋɨrʁɑ/

Nouns ending in /p t k q/ may use the vowelless declensions, except for the ones that begin with more than one consonant or that would result in final clusters.
eg. кебап /kebɑp/ + (а)зына /ðɨnɑ/ -> кебапсына /kebɑpsɨnɑ/
eg. кебап /kebɑp/ + (ы)м /ɨm/ -> кебабым /kebɑbɨm/
However, this isn't universal; the forms with vowels can be used, and it's a matter of preference. Conically, the forms without vowels used to be considered informal, but already decades ago they became accepted in formal use as well.

Nouns ending in /r l/ may use the vowelless declensions, except for the ones that begin with more than one consonant or that would result in final clusters.
eg. ваҷар /wɑt͡ʂɑr/ + (а)хына /hɨnɑ/ -> ваҷархына /wɑt͡ʂɑrhɨnɑ/
eg. ваҷар /wɑt͡ʂɑr/ + (а)рқуа /ɑrqu̯ɑ/ -> ваҷарарқуа /wɑt͡ʂɑrɑrqu̯ɑ/
However, this isn't universal; the forms with vowels can be used, and it's a matter of preference even if the standard in both formal and informal contexts is to drop the vowels.

In polysyllabic words, partitives can result in long vowels:
Vқ + (а)қ /*Vqq/ -> VVқ /Vːq/
Vк + (а)қ /*Vkq/ -> VVк /Vːk/
Vқ + (е)к /*Vqk/ -> VVқ /Vːq/
Vк + (е)к /*Vkk/ -> VVк /Vːk/
eg. орақ /orɑq/ + (а)қ /ɑq/ -> ораақ /orɑːq/
However, in monosyllabic words, the regular process occurs:
eg. поқ /poq/ + (а)қ /ɑq/ -> поӷақ /poʁɑq/
Also, it is not necessary to use the forms with long vowels. Conically, they used to be considered informal, but already decades ago they became accepted in formal use as well.

The noun ал/эл and its compounds have unique declensions:
nominative: ал/эл, ар/эр
accusative: алҗы/элжи, арыщ/эриш
dative: аӷа/эге, арӷа/эрге
partitive: алақ/элек, арақ/эрек
ablative: аза/эзе, арас/эрес
genitive: аң/эн, арың/эрин

ADJECTIVES
comparative: -(а)бы/(о)бу/(е)би
superlative: -(а)бың/(о)буң/(е)бин
intensive: -(а)я/(о)я/(е)я

дээ - than
хуэ - as

VERBS
The following are irrealis infixes, which can't be used with the gnomic/generic realis for obvious reasons:
conditional (if): -ақс/ақс/екс/окс-
desiderative (want): -ав/ав/ев/ов-
admirative (surprise): -аўн/аўн/еўн/еўн-
polite imperative: -ыхт/ухт/ихт/ухт-

passive infixes:
-ыд/уд/ид/уд-
-ды/ду/ди/ду- (variant used after diphthongs and triphthongs)

simple present
1p: -ам/ом/ем/ом, -арым/орум/ерим/ерум
2p: -ас/ос/ес/ос, -арыс/орус/ерис/ерус
3p: -а/о/е/о, -ары/ору/ери/еру

progressive
1p: -амы/ому/еми/ому, -арамы/орому/ереми/ерому
2p: -азы/озу/ези/озу, -аразы/орозу/ерези/ерози
3p: -ай/ой/ей/ой, -арый/оруў/ерий/еруў

habitual, frequentative
1p: -амма/омма/емме/омме, -арымма/орумма/еримме/ерумме
2p: -асса/осса/ессе/оссе, -арысса/орусса/ериссе/еруссе
3p: -алла/олла/елле/олле, -арылла/орулла/ерилле/ерулле

gnomic, generic realis
1p: -ым/ум/им/ум, -ырым/урум/ирим/ирум
2p: -ыс/ус/ис/ус, -ырыс/урус/ирис/ирус
3p: -ыл/ул/ил/ул, -ырыл/урул/ирил/ирул

simple past, perfective
1p: -аӷым/оӷум/егим/егум, -арыӷым/оруӷум/еригим/еругум
2p: -аӷыс/оӷус/егис/егус, -арыӷыс/оруӷус/еригис/еругус
3p: -аӷыл/оӷул/егил/егул, -арыӷыл/оруӷул/еригил/еругул

past habitual, frequentative
1p: -аӷымма/оӷумма/егимме/егумме, -арыӷымма/оруӷумма/еригимме/еругумме
2p: -аӷысса/оӷусса/егиссе/егуссе, -арыӷысса/оруӷусса/еригиссе/еругуссе
3p: -аӷылла/оӷулла/егилле/егулле, -арыӷылла/оруӷулла/еригилле/еругулле

gerund:
-ал/ел

VOCABULARY

NOUNS
киби - person, human, individual
орақ - man, husband
ору - boy, young man
нээр - woman, wife
нуў - girl, young woman
быйрый - people, nation
угуў - language, tongue
шам - day
там - night
камын - spring
немин - summer
керис - autumn
дахыс - winter
топ - hand
шоми - river
щомы - flesh, meat
цыйрый - hair (on a human head)
цуўруў - body hair, fur
суоңге - lion (OC 狻猊 /sloːn ŋeː/) maybe irregular
ҷап - flower
цзуэй - fire, flame
куэйнеш - sunshine, sunlight (OT 𐰛𐰈𐰤𐰾 küneš)
кайс - star
поқ - hole
самың - tower
гумус - mountain
мын - mountain pass (OC 亹 /mɯːn/)
ярдаң - yardang (Uyghur يارداڭ yardañ)
эң - colour (PT öŋ)
ал/эл - action, performance, function
қаӷан - khagan, king (OT 𐰴𐰍𐰣 qaɣan)
хаан - khan, king (Mongolian хаан)
тегис - emperor, king, god, deity (OC 帝 /teːɡs/ or /tˤek-s/)
тиңир - deity, god, sky deity (Sum. 𒀭 diĝir)
қуаң - king (OC 王 /ɢʷaŋ/)
луққуаң - dead king (OC 昱 /luɡ/ + 王 /ɢʷaŋ/)
қуаңкуык - kingdom (OC 王國 /ɢʷaŋ kʷɯːɡ/)
куыккыра - imperial court, capital city (OC 國家 /kʷɯːɡ kraː/ or [C.q]ʷˤək kˤra)
даруӷа - region ruled by a non-royal chief (Mongolian ᠳᠠᠷᠤᠭ᠎ᠠ daruɣ-a)
шимат - empire, kingdom, country
гырын - silver (OC 銀 /ŋrɯn/ or /ŋrə[n]/)
хираня - gold (Sanskrit हिरण्य híraṇya) formal
хирай - gold (Sanskrit हिरण्य híraṇya) informal
гуаң - moat (OC 隍 /ɡʷaːŋ/ or /[ɢ]ʷˤaŋ/)
кан - pleasure, happiness (OC 衎 /kʰaːnʔ/ or /kʰaːns/)
кос - marriage of convenience, sexual intercourse (OC 媾 /koːs/ or /kˤ(r)o-s/)
на - slave, servant (OC 奴 /naː/ or /nˤa/) mainly used in compounds
канна - servant who brings non-sexual pleasure (OC 衎 /kʰaːnʔ/ + 奴 /naː/)
пылыс - imperial concubine (OC 妃 /pʰɯːls/ or /pʰɯl/)
косына - sex slave in a royal court or in general for nobles (OC 媾 /koːs/ + 奴 /naː/)
лымна - sex slave in general or for non-nobles (OC 婬 /lɯm/ + 奴 /naː/)
маъал - dance (OC 舞 /maʔ/ + ал)
маъай - dancer (OC 舞 /maʔ/ + ай)
доң - young male servant in a royal court (OC 童 /doːŋ/)
маддоң - young male dancer in a royal court (OC 舞 /maʔ/ + 童 /doːŋ/)
кубыцасун - clothing, clothes (PM kubcasun) formal
куп - clothing, clothes (clipping of PM kubcasun) informal
куў - clothing, clothes (irregular shortening of PM kubcasun) informal
хуўцыс - clothing, clothes (Mongolian хувцас /xʊwt͡sʰəs/)
бык - clothing, clothes (OC 服 /bɯɡ/, /[b​]ək/ or /[b​]əʔ/)
фу - clothing, clothes (Mandarin 服 /fu/)
цзуэйбык - fireproof clothing
дзидзу - leather (used in clothing, drums, etc.)
куа - orphan (OC 孤 /kʷaː/) mainly used in compounds
куаъаслы - orphan (OC 孤 /kʷaː/ + OC 子 /ʔslɯʔ/)
аслы - child (OC 子 /ʔslɯʔ/)
миреъэл - buying, purchase (OC 買 /mreːʔ/ + эл)
миреъэй - buyer, shopper, customer (OC 買 /mreːʔ/ + эй)
мирезел - selling (OC 賣 /mreːs/ + эл)
мирезей - seller, vendor, shopkeeper (OC 賣 /mreːs/ + эй)
ваҷар - bazaar, market (MP 𐭥𐭠𐭰𐭠𐭫 wāčār)
ваҷарал - trade, commerce, salesmanship (MP 𐭥𐭠𐭰𐭠𐭫 wāčār + ал)
хум - shrine (OC 龕 /kʰuːm/)
Будда - Buddha (MC 佛陀 /bɨut̚ dɑ/)
тен - sky, heaven (MC 天 /tʰen/)
хин - sky, heaven (OC 天 /qʰl'iːn/ or /l̥ˤi[n]/)
Хинтук - India (OC 天竺 /qʰl'iːn tuɡ/)
удут - demon, evil spirit (vg. Tibetan བདུད <bdud>)
азан - call to prayer (Arabic أذان aḏān)
аҗал - fate, destiny, deadline (Arabic أجل ʾajal)
аамыгаў - religious education by heart (MC 諳 /ʔʌm/ + 教 (kˠau/)
Қоръаан - the Quran (Dari قرآن /qoɾʔɒːn/) formal
Қораан - the Quran (Dari قرآن /qoɾʔɒːn/) informal
Наўруўс - Nowruz (Dari نوروز /næu̯ɾoːz/)
сифа - shepherd (Sum. 𒉺𒇻 sipa)
быйзыы - tortoise, turtle
тарщуу - vertebra
тарщуудал - vertebrate
пицза - pizza (English pizza)
кэбап - kebab (Arabic كباب kabāb)
кебап - kebab (Turkish kebap)
салат - salad (Russian салат)
талақ - divorce (Arabic طلاق ṭalāq)
леп - sheet of paper, page (OC 頁 /leb/)
гум - rock, cliff
ран - blade, sharp edge
куайран - sword, blade
кяйран - knife, dagger
гумран - precipice, steep cliff
цицу - raindrop, droplet
цзицзу - gift, present
уўд - cave, cavern
пыра - scar (OC 疤 /praː/)
тан - flat, smooth (OC 坦 /tʰaːnʔ/)
кал - song, music with singing (OC 歌~哥 /kaːl/)
танккал - monotonous music/chant, eg. for meditation (OC 坦 /tʰaːnʔ/ + 歌~哥 /kaːl/)
куэн - dog (OC 犬 /kʰʷeːnʔ/ or /[k]ʷʰˤ[e][n]ʔ/)
куўк - swan (OC 鵠 /kuːɡ/)
корло - wheel (Old Tibetan འཁོར་ལོ /ᵑkʰor.lo/)
пыраг - jade (OC 碧 /praɡ/, /preg/ or /prak/)
быраңыс - disease, illness (OC 病 /braŋs/ or /[b​]raŋ-s/) independently
быраң - disease, illness (OC 病 /braŋs/ or /[b​]raŋ-s/) in compounds

NOUN SUFFIXES
-ал/эл - action, performance, function
-ай/эй - person, -er, performer, user, etc. (forms agent nouns)
-нин - person, -er (forms demonyms, occupations, qualities, etc.) (MC 人 /ȵiɪn/)
-ты - possessive (OC 之 /tjɯ/ or /tə/); alternative possessive suffix, mainly used in very formal contexts like court documents
-чы - possessive (MC 之 /t͡ɕɨ/); alternative possessive suffix, mainly used in formal and legal contexts; not as formal as ты, but still rare in common use

HONORIFICS, ETC.
These are added to the name with a hyphen. Certain names and titles have built-in honorifics, which are written without a hyphen (but can still be followed by honorifics, including the same one). Honorifics can be stacked in free order, sometimes the same honorific repeated twice or even thrice.
-гаў/геў - great, big, large (Sum. 𒃲 gal); used for leaders, etc.
-лаў/леў - small, insignificant (Sum. 𒇲/𒇳 lal); used for servants, etc.
-қаӷан - khagan, king (OT 𐰴𐰍𐰣 qaɣan); used for old kings and emperors
-хаан - khan, king (Mongolian хаан); used for new kings and emperors
-қатун - khatun, queen (Mon. ᠬᠠᠲᠤᠨ qatun OT 𐰴𐱃𐰆𐰣‎ qatun); used for old queens and empresses
-хадын - khatun, queen (Mongolian хатан); used for new queens and empresses
-тегис - emperor, king, god (OC 帝 /teːɡs/ or /tˤek-s/); used for emperors and deities
-гие - née (OC 氏 /ɡjeʔ/ or /k.deʔ/); follows a married woman's maiden name, mostly used in official documents

ADJECTIVES
хээбин - nude, naked, bare
щааный - wide, widespread
щаанаа - large, big, huge, fat
шээний - narrow, limited
шээнээ - little, small, tiny, skinny
гэтмий - hollow
пыл - red, scarlet, crimson, etc. any kind of red (OC 緋 /pɯl/)
гоң - red, crimson, (dark) pinkish red (OC 紅 /ɡoːŋ/ or /ɡˤoŋ/)
тээ - orange red, reddish/dark orange, brown (OC 緹 /tʰeːʔ/ or /deː/)
тоо - yellow, light orange, light brown (OC 黈 /tʰoːʔ/)
хуаң - yellow, lewd (Mandarin 黃 /xu̯ɑŋ/)
хиран - golden (Sanskrit हिरण्य híraṇya)
куўк - white (OC 鵠 /kuːɡ/)
пыраг - blue-green, jade (OC 碧 /praɡ/, /preg/ or /prak/)
суўлуў - beautiful, cute (conically native, but Finnish suloinen + Kazakh сұлу + Kyrgyz сулуу)
лым - lewd, obscene (OC 婬 /lɯm/ or /N.r[ə]m/)
лымлаан - seductive, prostitutional (OC 婬 /lɯm/)
баазаңлаан - skilled, learned, proficient, competent
қаӷанлаан - self-empowered (of a king or emperor; i.e. gained power by a coup)
аамыгаўдылаан - well-versed in religious matters (neol. MC 諳教 /ʔʌm kˠau/)
тарщуудал - vertebrate
хуаңхуаң - shining, bright (MC 晃晃 /ɦwɑŋ ɦwɑŋ/)
гаңъаң - noble, dignified, virtuous (MC 昂昂 /ŋɑŋ ŋɑŋ/)
пуреў - plenty, copious (of rain, snow, etc.) (OC 瀌 /prew/)

ADJECTIVE SUFFIXES
Certain adjectives, mainly ones that also function as nouns, are sometimes used with suffixes; in such cases, the implication is usually that the thing in question has been made the way it is or that it is not a permanent unchangeable state. For example, the suffix -эңдээл ("coloured") can be added to a colour to indicate that the thing in question has been dyed that colour or that it can change colour, eg. пылэңдээл цыйрый meaning hair that has been dyed red rather than being naturally red.
-(е)дээл - -ed, -ened
-эңдээл - -coloured (PT öŋ + (е)дээл)
-лаан - indicates a quality one has acquired; suffixed to nouns in either genitive or nominative case (generally, the nominative is used for states of being, etc. while the genitive is used for skills acquired, etc. but the distinction is blurry and sometimes arbitrary)

VERBS
лат - to give
ал - to do, perform; used with nouns in the accusative case
хуал/хуэл - to be able to; not conjugated, must be followed by a conjugated verb
вайл/вейл - may, might; not conjugated, must be followed by a conjugated verb
даап - to want; used with nouns in the accusative case (or nominalised verbs)
баас - to learn
сийм - to consider, think about
цяс - to eat (conically native, but Finnish syödä + PU sewe + PST dz(j)a-k/n/t/s)
гир - to kill, beat, conquer, subdue, overpower
хаўн - to wear; used with nouns in the inessive case
цзуэр - to burn, set on fire
маъ - to dance (OC 舞 /maʔ/)
миреъ - to buy (OC 買 /mreːʔ/)
мирес - to sell (OC 賣 /mreːs/)
аамыгаў - to teach religious matters by heart (neol. MC 諳教 /ʔʌm kˠau/)
хаас - to say
қуат - to say (OC 曰 /ɢʷad/ or [ɢ]ʷat) used mainly in formal contexts and literature
лыйк - to hold, clutch, clench
лыйгыл - to continue, proceed, keep doing
эп - to kiss (PT öp)
селен(н) - to cut (paper, etc.), prune, trim (flowers, etc.) (OC 剪 /ʔslenʔ/)
аслон - to diminish, reduce, wane (OC 剪 /ʔslon/)
қуаңлуқ - to give birth to a king (OC 王 /ɢʷaŋ/ + 毓 /luɡ/)

PRONOUNS, DETERMINERS, ETC.
1st person
nominative: ба, бара/бере {exclusive/inclusive}
accusative: мы, бары/бери {exclusive/inclusive}
dative: ма, баара/бээре {exclusive/inclusive}
ablative: база, баарыс/бээрис {exclusive/inclusive}
genitive: мың, баарың/бээрин {exclusive/inclusive}
comitative: бадал, баарал/бээрел {exclusive/inclusive}

2nd person
nominative: си, сири
accusative: ты, тери
dative: та, тээре
ablative: саза, сээрис
genitive: сың, сээрин
comitative: садал, сээрел

3rd person
nominative: эн, эре
accusative: аны, ары
dative: ана, ара
ablative: аза, эрис
genitive: энин, эрин
comitative: эдел, ээрел

proximal (near speaker)
nominative: эри, эрий
accusative: эри, эрий
dative: эрге, эрий
ablative: эрцзе, эрийзи
genitive: эрен, эрээен
comitative: эрел, эрээел
Note that the above forms are only relevant when used as an independent pronoun; when used together with another pronoun or noun, only эри is used.

medial (near addressee)
nominative: эра, эраа
accusative: эра, эраа
dative: эрӷа, эраа
ablative: эрцза, эрааза
genitive: эран, эрааяң
comitative: эрал, эрааял
Note that the above forms are only relevant when used as an independent pronoun; when used together with another pronoun or noun, only эра is used.

distal (far from both)
nominative: эру, эруў
accusative: эру, эруў
dative: эрӷо, эруў
ablative: эрцзо, эруўзу
genitive: эрун, эруўюң
comitative: эрул, эруўюл
Note that the above forms are only relevant when used as an independent pronoun; when used together with another pronoun or noun, only эру is used.

interrogative/relative (OC 疇 /du/ or /[d]ru/)
nominative: ду, дуру
accusative: ду, дуру
dative: ду, дуру
ablative: дузу, дурус
genitive: дуң, дуруң
comitative: дул, дурул
Note that the above forms are only relevant when used as an independent pronoun; when used together with another pronoun or noun, only ду is used.

everyone, everybody (OC 皆 /kriːl/ or /kˤrij/)
nominative: кирил
accusative: кирий
dative: кириге
ablative: киризе
genitive: кирин
comitative: кириле

someone, somebody (OC 或 /ɡʷɯːɡ/ or /[ɢ]ʷˤək/)
nominative: гуык
accusative: гуыгы
dative: гуыга
ablative: гуыкса
genitive: гуыгаң
comitative: гуыкла

no one, nobody (OC 莫 /maːɡ/ or /mˤak/)
nominative: мак
accusative: магы
dative: мага
ablative: макса
genitive: магаң
comitative: макла

эрий - this
эруў - that
эрлий - these
эрлуў - those
басы - more

PARTICLES, ADVERBS, ETC.
ма - no, not, there is not, there are no, to not have, do not, without...
ың - a kind of topic particle: used to "tag" something as the point of reference or such, and it's technically always optional but sometimes required to avoid ambiguity
мабасың - only, merely, just, alone, with no more than
басың - with more than
быйл/бийл - there is, there are (animate); harmonises with subject
бал/бел - there is, there are (inanimate); harmonises with subject
шамдый - every day, daily, on a regular basis

Several negation particles have been borrowed from Chinese. Whether the native /mɑ/ originally had all of these meanings already or if they were adopted from Chinese is a mystery even conically:
ма - there is not, to not have (OC 無 /ma/)
ма - do not, not (OC 毋 /ma/ or /mo/)
мыл - without, not have (OC 微 /mɯl/)
мырал - there is not, there are no (OC 靡 /mralʔ/) formal
мы - there is not, there are no (MC 靡 /mˠiᴇ/) informal

CONJUNCTIONS
да - and
си - but
осы - although, even though

EXAMPLE SENTENCES
Кебап да салат цязавам.
I want to eat kebab and salad.

Цзуэрексидериссе, цзуэйбыгазына вайл хаўнавасса.
If you're frequently set on fire, you may want to wear fireproof clothing.

Чумшу-қаӷан-гевен нээрилге доңрыл ҷабарақ ладарыӷыл.
Their servants gave flowers to king Chumshu's wife.

Эру пылэңдээл цыйрыйдал маъай баазаңлаан!
That dancer with red-dyed hair is really skilled!

Буўра ың Чиелин дээ суўлуўбу, си Даазан хуэ суўлуў.
Buura is more beautiful than Chiyel, but Daazan is as beautiful (as Buura).

Осы қуадарылла, «мырал киби ду суоңгериш мабасың хээбин тобарылдал хуэ гирил», гумузараңкуа орақ ду шамдый гирелле быйл.
Even though they tend to say "there is no one who can kill lions with just his bare hands", there is a man among the mountains who kills (them) on a daily basis.

Ҷабры селеннел лыйгылыхтарый.
Please keep trimming the flowers.

So that's it for now, at least. I might lose interest in this conlang entirely, or I might keep working on it. I should probably at least come up with more vocabulary, even if the grammar is more or less finished. What do you think?

PS: Yeah, one of the first adjectives (and the first Mandarin-derived adjective) I had to include was "lewd"... but maybe it's conically a common word because the nobility are all perverts or something? [xP]

EDIT: Added a few more words.
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Vlürch
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Re: Phenglộl, Jinqaṣyavri & Nemin-uguu

Post by Vlürch »

Although this post is mostly about conculture stuff, I'm posting it in this thread because I think it's better to have everything in one place, and it has some conlang stuff as well, so yeah.

~

Some stuff about the politics, religion and history of the Nemin Empire

The Nemin Empire is divided into multiple kingdoms with shifting borders. Because each kingdom is encouraged by the emperor to expand its territory outwards, there are often competing land claims between the kingdoms that lead to skirmishes along their already settled borders, and as a result Empire-internal borders are commonly left undelineated on maps and the national borders are shown in gradient and widely overlapping with neighbouring countries. The disputed areas between the internal kingdoms are partially under the administration of the central government, and at times kingdoms are merged or split by imperial degree with one monarchy being abolished or absorbed into another, or a new one being (re)instated.

This turbulence has led to a high degree of militarisation in all parts of the Empire, in particular the areas surrounding the three central kingdoms to ensure that their borders remain stable. Because all kingdoms are largely autonomous, some argue that the Nemin Empire is not really an empire at all but a federation. An argument against this is that the three central kingdoms share particularly close ties with one another and dominate the rest economically and militarily, and that their royal families have intermarried for centuries, rendering their division all but obsolete.

Throughout the Empire, there are (generally small) areas that do not belong to any kingdom and are truly autonomous. They tend to be less culturally homogenous and are known to attract people fleeing the grip of monarchy, as many of them are outright democratic; in spite of this, the kingdoms and the central government usually let them be unless they as a whole are perceived to hold anti-monarchy sentiments. If they're considered to cross the line into revolutionaries, the military "quarantines" the region, completely cutting it off from the rest of the world.

The Nemin people have their own religion that has (mainly superficial) influences from Buddhism, Islam, Chinese folk religion, Tengrism and Christianity while also retaining numerous indigenous beliefs that are sometimes conflated with concepts in other religions. In the western kingdoms, Islam and Christianity have had a much more notable impact than in the eastern ones, but overall the influence is limited to mystic concepts and things that were considered liberative (or even just "fun", like festivals; for example, most Nemin celebrate the end of Ramadan and Lent with feasts but don't actually fast beforehand, etc.) which annoys the minority of full converts into Abrahamic religions.

One important concept in the Nemin religion is a form of pseudo-reincarnation for kings, demonstrated in the terms қуаңлуқ (qwangluq) meaning "to give birth to a king" and луққуаң (luqqwang) meaning "dead king". Both were originally dervied from Old Chinese compounds, the etymology of the луқ part being 毓 and 昱 respectively. The belief is that when a king dies, his spirit ascends to the heavens and imparts his wisdom to his successors via the rays of the sun. In line with the belief in literal reincarnation, it is also believed that past kings can be reincarnated outside the royal family; this is possibly due to etymological conflation, influence from the concept of Tulku in Tibetan Buddhism, or to ensure the continuity of the monarchy (or all three).

Following a king's death, this belief is used by royalty to justify mass abductions of children, who are then raised as servants while being observed for signs of a "natural leader" among them; if a boy demonstrates both extraordinary intellect and significant resistance to a life of servitude, he undertakes a test to determine which past king he is the reincarnation of, and once the results are "conclusive", he is declared next in the line of succession; if a girl demonstrates the same, she undertakes a test to determine which past queen she is the reincarnation of, and once the results are "conclusive", she is wedded to the male next in line to the throne.

Many criticise the practice, calling it a violation of children's rights (and basic human rights), but not a single king or queen has ever publicly objected to it so it remains an ever-looming aspect of life in the Nemin Empire. Its defenders argue that because it is impossible to know how long a king's reign will last, it ensures continuity even if a king dies young, and maintains harmony between the multiple kingdoms within the empire through intermarriage determined by "fate".

It's also worth noting that even those belived to be reincarnations of past emperors can only become kings, not emperors, because the imperial bloodline is considered to descend from a group of deities called the Ibi-Kutu that came to Earth to bring humans civilisation; the imperial bloodline is divided into the royal families of the three central kingdoms, and as such the emperor always comes from one of them.

The identity of the Ibi-Kutu has become a controversial issue among the people since the first contact with Christians (who first entered the interdimensional bubble in the 6th century) due to the suggestion that they were fallen angels, which some adherents of Abrahamic religions continue to argue means that the imperial bloodline is in fact Satanic in nature. Before the first Christian missionaries, most had simply thought the imperial family mythologised their past to establish legitimacy, and in the most ancient texts the Ibi-Kutu are referred to simply as a people who predated the Nemin migration to the region; their extraordinary abilities (such as control over fire and water) are mentioned, as is their translucent dark blue skin with golden veins underneath, but nothing explicitly supernatural is claimed, and many modern scholars consider "control over fire and water" to refer to metallurgy and irrigation and their unusual skin to have been merely body paint. However, the government maintains that they were deities and that promoting alternative theories is blasphemous and constitutes lèse majesté, and point to an early trilingual text where Ibi-Kutu is translated into both Nemin and Chinese as "star people" (respectively кайс быйрый and 星人) as proof that its speakers had an otherworldly origin.

The origin of the Nemin people themselves has also been lost to time, but there is proof that they arrived in at least two waves to their current homeland: the first wave mixed with the Ibi-Kutu, and another wave followed some centuries later but was enslaved by their predecessors. With time the lines between the waves blurred, leading to the establishment of the kingdoms and much of the still extant culture, but a group of some thousands isolated themselves in the mountains and later returned to unite the kingdoms under one emperor. The imperial family maintains that they already ruled over all of the others since the very beginning and that there was only one wave, during which they mixed with the Ibi-Kutu but others did not; both claims have been proven untrue with scientific research, but they just don't care.

~

I'll definitely make the Ibi-Kutu language, too, but it's one of those conlangs I keep starting to work on but then go "meh, this sucks" and scrap it. The only thing I'm mostly satisfied with is the basics of its phonology and a couple of words. It's literally the only conlang where I've thought more about the conculture stuff than the language, lol.
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