Dnukta'u

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Dnukta'u

Post by spanick »

Dnukta'u is my attempt at proto language for a small language family.

Phonology

Consonants
/p b t d k g q Ɂ/ <p b t d k g q '>
/f s x x̣ h/ <f s kh qh h> (I used the Americanist symbol for the voiceless uvular fricative because the IPA symbol doesn't seem to work on the forum)
/m n ŋ ɴ/ <m n ń q́>
/l/ <l>

Monophthongs
/i u a/ <i u a>
/iː uː aː/ <í ú á>

Diphthongs
/ai au aːi aːu/ <ai au ái áu>
/ia iu iːa iːu/ <ia iu ía íu>
/ua ui uːa uːi/ <ua ui úa úi>

Prosody
Primary stress always fall on the root syllable and secondary stress is assigned subsequently.
Feet are trochaic from left to right. Feet are quantity sensitive for long vowels and diphthongs but not codas. Unfooted syllables lack stress.

Phonotactics
1. Nasals assimilate to place of following stops.
2. In a sequence of two dissimilar nasals, the first assimilates to the second and creates a geminate.
3. Voiced stops devoice preceding voiceless consonants.
(This is not an exhaustive list but generally, sounds will assimilate the those following)

Syllable Structure
Roots have a minimum structure of CVC and are maximally (s)(C)CVC(C)(s). (I haven't fully worked out the allowable consonant clusters.)
Other morphemes are minimally either C or V and have less strict structure.
Last edited by spanick on 20 Mar 2018 19:56, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Dnukta'u

Post by spanick »

Morphology

Word Formation
Underlyingly, roots have no vowels. Rather, the vowel which is inserted helps to determine the part of speech:
A-roots: Have <a á> as their nucleus and form most verbs.
U-roots: Have <u ú> as their nucleus and form nouns.
I-roots: Have <i í> as their nucleus and form stative verbs.

For example:
ptVsq
> ptasq "to fish:
> ptusq "fish"
> ptisq "to be a fish, fishy"

Derivational suffixes, while changing the part of speech of a verb, have no effect on its nucleus:
ptasq "to fish" + -m "agentive suffix" > ptasqm "fisherman"


Number
Plurals are formed by by infixing <-i-> following the nucleus. If the nucleus is an I-root, an epenthetic glottal stop is inserted between the nucleus and the plural infix. Both nouns and verbs can take this infix but it is optional for verbs in the present tense and not allowed in the future or past tenses.

Tense
Dnukta'u distinguishes between three tenses: present, past, and future. The present is unmarked. The past and future are formed similarly to the plural by an infix (<-u-> and <-a->, respectively).

Aspect-Mood
Four aspect/mood combinations are marked by siffixes:
Perfective realis -gi
Perfective irrealis -is
Imperfective realis -dau
Imperfective irrealis -u

Personal Pronouns
Personal pronouns are treated as a special class of nouns and when they stand alone decline like nouns. The entire pronoun can be prefixed onto a noun to denote possession or suffixed onto a verb to denote the person.

First: muk
Second: tun
Third: nus

Reduplication
Reduplication is formed by adding the onset and nucleus to the beginning of the root.

For verbs, reduplication generally intensifies the meaning of the original root.
la’d "to flow" > <lala’d> "to flood"
kilm "to be wide, vast > kikilm "to be infinite

For nouns, reduplication serves to create collective nouns or groups
ptusq "fish" > ptuptusq "school of fish".

For nouns of persons, it is also sometimes use to magnify the person in question:
bu'l "king" > bubu'l "great king, high king"
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Re: Dnukta'u

Post by spanick »

Daughter Languages
The Dnukta'u family is so named because that is the word for "language". The dialects are also named for their pronunciation of this word. There are eight dialects which can be grouped into four groups:
Group I
A. Dnuktá /dnuktaː/
B. Dnukká /dnukːaː/

Group II
A. Dũktá /dũktaː/
B. Dũkkạ /dũkːa̰/

Group III
A. Nukkạ-A /nukːa̰/
B. Nukkạ-B
C. Nukkạ-C

Group IV
A. Ndokta /ⁿdokta/
Last edited by spanick on 21 Mar 2018 17:58, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Dnukta'u

Post by Ælfwine »

Pretty cool, I like what you did to make each descendent unique.
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Re: Dnukta'u

Post by spanick »

Ælfwine wrote: 21 Mar 2018 07:35 Pretty cool, I like what you did to make each descendent unique.
Thanks!

* * * *

I haven't had much time to work on this but I wanted to post the dialect map. The Roman numeral and letter combinations refer to grouping in my last post. I also put the general locations of two neighboring languages (both conlangs of mine) in but I didn't break them down by dialect since this map is focused on the Dnukta' languages. Also, this is just a topo map of the Caucasus. I haven't put a lot of thought into the setting of this language yet, but I really like the way the Caucasus look so I decided to use them as the location.
Spoiler:
Image
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Re: Dnukta'u

Post by shimobaatar »

spanick wrote: 20 Mar 2018 18:47 /f s x x̣ h/ <f s kh qh h> (I used the Americanist symbol for the voiceless uvular fricative because the IPA symbol doesn't seem to work on the forum)
/m n ŋ ɴ/ <m n ń q́>
This is totally off-topic, so please feel free to ignore it, but I always find it interesting to hear that about the voiceless uvular fricative symbol, because it always shows up fine for me. I wonder if it has to do with the browser someone's using, or something like that? Anyway…

I like the way the uvular nasal is spelled! Very unique!
spanick wrote: 20 Mar 2018 18:47 /ai au aːi aːu/ <ai au ái áu>
/ia iu iːa iːu/ <ia iu ía íu>
/ua ui uːa uːi/ <ua ui úa úi>
Are these falling or rising diphthongs?
spanick wrote: 20 Mar 2018 18:47 Primary stress always fall on the root syllable and secondary stress is assigned subsequently.
Feet are trochaic from left to right. Feet are quantity sensitive for long vowels and diphthongs but not codas. Unfooted syllables lack stress.
I can't say I'm very well-versed in this kind of thing, so I'm not entirely sure what exactly this means, but I do want to compliment you for making this more complex than what I would usually have for descriptions of prosody.
spanick wrote: 20 Mar 2018 19:55 Morphology
I'm afraid I don't have much to say other than that this looks great so far!
Ælfwine wrote: 21 Mar 2018 07:35 Pretty cool, I like what you did to make each descendent unique.
[+1]
spanick wrote: 23 Mar 2018 17:08 I haven't had much time to work on this but I wanted to post the dialect map. The Roman numeral and letter combinations refer to grouping in my last post. I also put the general locations of two neighboring languages (both conlangs of mine) in but I didn't break them down by dialect since this map is focused on the Dnukta' languages.
Nice!
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Re: Dnukta'u

Post by spanick »

shimobaatar wrote: 30 Mar 2018 16:50
spanick wrote: 20 Mar 2018 18:47 /f s x x̣ h/ <f s kh qh h> (I used the Americanist symbol for the voiceless uvular fricative because the IPA symbol doesn't seem to work on the forum)
/m n ŋ ɴ/ <m n ń q́>
This is totally off-topic, so please feel free to ignore it, but I always find it interesting to hear that about the voiceless uvular fricative symbol, because it always shows up fine for me. I wonder if it has to do with the browser someone's using, or something like that? Anyway…
Could be! Come to think of it, I always use Chrome so maybe it's just a problem with Chrome? Who knows...

spanick wrote: 20 Mar 2018 18:47 /ai au aːi aːu/ <ai au ái áu>
/ia iu iːa iːu/ <ia iu ía íu>
/ua ui uːa uːi/ <ua ui úa úi>
Are these falling or rising diphthongs?
/iu iːu ui uːi/ are all height-harmonic diphthongs
/ai au aːi aːu/ are all closing diphthongs
/ia iːa ua uːa/ are opening diphthongs
spanick wrote: 20 Mar 2018 18:47 Primary stress always fall on the root syllable and secondary stress is assigned subsequently.
Feet are trochaic from left to right. Feet are quantity sensitive for long vowels and diphthongs but not codas. Unfooted syllables lack stress.
I can't say I'm very well-versed in this kind of thing, so I'm not entirely sure what exactly this means, but I do want to compliment you for making this more complex than what I would usually have for descriptions of prosody.
Prosody was one of my favorite parts of my phonology class...can you tell?
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Re: Dnukta'u

Post by shimobaatar »

spanick wrote: 03 Apr 2018 01:04 Could be! Come to think of it, I always use Chrome so maybe it's just a problem with Chrome? Who knows...
Well that's interesting, because I only use Chrome, too.
spanick wrote: 03 Apr 2018 01:04 /iu iːu ui uːi/ are all height-harmonic diphthongs
/ai au aːi aːu/ are all closing diphthongs
/ia iːa ua uːa/ are opening diphthongs
Well, that I can tell by looking at them. I was asking about this, actually.
spanick wrote: 03 Apr 2018 01:04 Prosody was one of my favorite parts of my phonology class...can you tell?
We never covered it in mine… what a shame.
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Re: Dnukta'u

Post by spanick »

shimobaatar wrote: 03 Apr 2018 03:14
spanick wrote: 03 Apr 2018 01:04 /iu iːu ui uːi/ are all height-harmonic diphthongs
/ai au aːi aːu/ are all closing diphthongs
/ia iːa ua uːa/ are opening diphthongs
Well, that I can tell by looking at them. I was asking about this, actually.
My bad!

/iu ia ui ua/ are rising [ju ja wi wa]
/ai au aːi aːu/ are falling [aj aw aːj aːw]
/iːa iːu uːa uːi/ surface as [ija iju uwa uwi] not sure how to classify those.
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Re: Dnukta'u

Post by spanick »

More on Word Formation
Previously, I explained roots and how they can derive different parts of speech. I also mentioned that derivational suffixes can and do changes the meanings and POS of words. Dnukta' is very generous in adding derivational suffixes to roots to create new words, for instance:
Take the noun form of the root hV́f "having to do with groups (of people)" and we get húf "assembly, group". Add to this the derivational suffix -la which indicates nouns of place and we get húfla "court, plaza, assembly area". This can be further expanded by the addition of the derivational suffix -hú which denotes a skill or ability to create húflahú "politics (Lit. the skill of the court/assembly)"

Another example of this would be khilq́qan "offering, sacrifice, that which is made holy" which again has a root and two derivational suffixes: khil- "to be holy" + "creates causative verbs" + -qan "forms resultative nouns from verbs".

So far, I haven't come across a word with more than two derivational suffixes which gives a maximal word shape of

(A)-R-(D1)-(D2)-I

Where A is reduplication; R is the root; D is a derivational suffix; and I is an inflectional suffix.

Noun Declension
Nouns are marked for 6 cases: Nominative, Accusative, Dative, Locative, Instrumental, and Genitive. Nothing terribly exciting here.

N -u
A -s
D -á
L -la
I -iq
G -ís

dum "house" (S/P)
N dumu/duimu
A dums/duims
D dumá/duimá
L dumla/duimla
I dumiq/duimiq
G dumís/duimís
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Re: Dnukta'u

Post by spanick »

Below is the list of all the derivational suffixes I have so far.

-'a' “makes collective nouns; makes iterative verbs”
-dun “creates abstract nouns from verbs”
-gda' “makes passive verbs” (EDIT: I guess this is more of an inflection)
-ń “makes causative verbs”
-hú “makes a noun of ability or skill”
-í “creates stative verbs from nouns”
-in “creates abstract nouns from verbs”
-íq “creates instrumental nouns from verbs”
-kin “creates diminutive nouns”
-kra “makes a noun denoting a property of state of being”
-l(a) “creates a noun of location”
-m “creates agentive nouns from verbs”
-nt “makes negative verbs”
-s “intensifies verbs”
-ta' “creates abstract nouns from nouns”
-qan “creates resultative nouns from verbs”
-qh “creates stative verbs”
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Re: Dnukta'u

Post by spanick »

Dnukta’ (or Proto-Dnukta’ or PD) was spoken c. 3000 BC but by c. 1200 BC PD has broken up into the language/dialect groups I mentioned before. At this time, the society began coalescing around eight major tribes (PD: *Mái’qanta’) which correspond roughly to the dialect groups. I wanted to quickly share the endonyms for these tribes. On the left is the PD form with its meaning and on right is the descended for for that language with its pronunciation in IPA.

Many of these names make reference to the religion of these tribes. “Father” is a reference to the god *Kulmbi’b, “Sky Father”. “Mother” is a reference to the goddess *Muldmí’, “Earth Mother.” The term “Holy Trees” is a reference to the *q́uq́u’qh khi’il “sacred groves” which feature prominently as places of worship. Finally, the “Serpent” refers to *Hulpnim, a serpent demon who acts as the main antagonist in most myths. I will wrote a separate post explaining more about the religion.

(IA) *Bú’bisfuikh “Father’s Children” > Vúbisfüh /ˈvuː.bis.fyh/
(IB) *Bí’bgnug “Eye of the Father” > Víbgnug /ˈviːb.gnug/
(IIA) *Khilq́ui’qh “Holy Trees”> Khilńuikh /xil.ŋwix/
(IIB) *Hulpisumain “Serpent’s Enemies” > Ulbisumain /ul.bi.su.men/
(IIIA) *Khuilis’uikh “Servants of the Gods” > Hülisʼüh /ˈhy.li.sʼyh/
(IIIB) *Blikhpuin “Copper Fists” > Vlikhpün /ˈvlix.pyn/
(IIIC) *Kilmpkui’ “Vast Fields” > Kimmbü /ˈkimː.by/
(IV) *Mú’isfuikh “Mother’s Children” > Mausfoeh /maus.fo.eh/

NB: From this post forward, all PD words will be preceded by an asterisk * to indicate its status as a proto-form and hence, reconstructed.
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Re: Dnukta'u

Post by spanick »

I’m revisiting this conlang and defining more coherent photactics. As I started in the OP, this is mean to be a proto-Lang and infer it should be more clearly laid out in order to have better, more consistent evolution. Some words or grammatical posts will be obsolete and require changes after this post.

The phonological inventory stays the same. The maximum allowed syllable is CCVNCs, where V can be short vowels, long vowels, and diphthongs.

Possible codas:
s + {p t k ʔ m n l}
{p t k x n} + ʔ
{p b t d k g} + {n l}

Possible codas:
N + {p b t d k g q f s x x̣} (N must be same POA as C)
l + {p b t d k g q m n f s x x̣}
h + [-cont]
{f s x x̣} + {p t k}
ʔ + {p b t d k g f s x m n l}
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Re: Dnukta'u

Post by spanick »

The first of the langauges mentioned above I want to develop a little bit more is the Nukkạ-C dialect of the Nukkan branch of the Dnukta’ family. Nukkạ-C is refered to as Nukkạ Bẹlís “Royal Language” and for our purposes called “Classical Nukkan”. It is the prestige dialect of the Nukkan branch.
Spoiler:
1. tl, dl > tɬ, dɮ
2. tn, dn > n
3. Short vowels drop at end of words
4. ui, uːi, ai, aːi > y, yː, e, eː
5. high vowels lower to mid vowels before or after uvulars and glottals
6. V > V̰ / _ʔ, h
7. ʔ > Ø
8. V̰ > V̰ː / _ h
9. h > Ø
10. x > h / _#
11. χ > x
12. V > Ṽ / _ŋ, ɴ
13. q > g / l, n_
14. q > k
15. ŋ, ɴ > Ø / Ṽ_
16. ŋ, ɴ > n
17. [-voi] > [+voi] / V_V
18. ʔ > Ø / C_V
19. lm, ln > lː
20. lf, ls, lx, lχ > ɬ
21. two heterogenous stops geminate with the first stop
22. dɮ > ɮ except word initially
A couple examples of Dnukta’ > Classical Nukkan shown in IPA.
faʔkiːqu > fạkeːk “tobacco pipe”
kulmu > kulː “sky”
xiliɴqanu > xilẽkan “offering”
xandlu > xandɮ “merchant”
haɴq > ãk “to hunt”
ʔuŋ > ũ “nature spirit”
quːns > koːns “family”
tnaːʔq > na̰ːk “to want, desire”
muːʔu > mo̰ː “mother”
buːʔbu > bo̰ːb “father”
ŋaʔ > na̰ “to grow”
biːʔs > bḛːs “spicy”
lalaʔtqunu > lala̰tton
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