Siųa

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MONOBA
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Re: What do you imagine this language to be like?

Post by MONOBA »

Oh well. I started but I'm nowhere done with fixing the phonology.
Maybe in the following days then!
Bristel
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Re: What do you imagine this language to be like?

Post by Bristel »

I'm looking to do gradation in my Athanic conlang... along with vowel harmony and initial consonant mutation... but it might be way too much for one poor language to handle...
[bɹ̠ˤʷɪs.təɫ]
Nōn quālibet inīqua cupiditāte illectus hōc agō.
[tiː.mɔ.tʉɥs god.lɐf hɑwk]
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MONOBA
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Re: What do you imagine this language to be like?

Post by MONOBA »

I'm working with various stages of the language at once, so not all changes are productive in the outcome language. It does have productive consonant gradation (mostly affects voiced stops and certain homo-organic consonant clusters). The umlaut is semi-productive in word derivation (there are three processes; vowel lengthening, raising and a third nearly entirely unproductive vowel shortening).

I don't think it's too much to handle.
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MONOBA
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Re: Siųa

Post by MONOBA »

So here is a preview of the phonology.
A lot of stuff is missing, but as I'm trying to work on verbal morphology, I'll leave it missing for the time being. If you have any questions or comments (especially about the quality of the English, mistakes, formatting, whatever), do speak up!

Siųa Phonology
roninbodhisattva
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Re: Siųa

Post by roninbodhisattva »

I've just doing a cursory reading of this, because I don't have time to go into it in detail right now, but I'd really like to later. One quick question though:

Why is /ŋ:/ found only long? It seems strange to me to have one long nasal phoneme and then have the others short.
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MONOBA
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Re: Siųa

Post by MONOBA »

Intervocal /h/ /ð/ /ŋ/ and in certain dialects /ɲ/ are all pronounced long; [h:] [ð:] [ŋ:] [ɲ:].

The gemination stems from the fact that the consonants have no short or long distinction, unlike most other consonants.
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Re: Siųa

Post by roninbodhisattva »

MONOBA wrote:Intervocal /h/ /ð/ /ŋ/ and in certain dialects /ɲ/ are all pronounced long; [h:] [ð:] [ŋ:] [ɲ:].

The gemination stems from the fact that the consonants have no short or long distinction, unlike most other consonants.
That second sentence doesn't really make sense to me.
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MONOBA
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Re: Siųa

Post by MONOBA »

Let me rephrase it:

Because they have no phonological length (there is no such thing in Siwa as /h:/), they are pronounced as geminates. All consonants without phonemic length are pronounced as geminates intervocally, except /ɲ/ (or rather; it is not geminated by all speakers because it DOES have a phonemic /ɲ:/, but it is so rare that [ɲ:] has become the general pronunciation for most).
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Re: Siųa

Post by roninbodhisattva »

Ahhhhh ok. I just misread the sentence. Yes, I understood why/how the consonants became geminates. I just wondered why you had gone with an analysis where the velar nasal phoneme was a geminate, and none of the other nasals were. It would make more sense to have it just be simple /ŋ/ underlyingly, and not /ŋ:/
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MONOBA
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Re: Siųa

Post by MONOBA »

Hm, now I'm not sure.
But /ŋ/ is the only one of those who is always long even in consonant clusters, e.g.; sanka [saŋ:ka], where as the other ones have short versions, e.g.; aihmi [aɪhmi], not *[aɪh:mi].
I have to look at it better, and write these things down.
But gah, verbs verbs verbs!
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Re: Siųa

Post by roninbodhisattva »

Hmm. I would expect some kind of leveling in that situation, where the /ŋ/ just ends up falling in with the rest of the pattern, but that might just be me.
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Omzinesý
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Re: Siųa

Post by Omzinesý »

It doesn't resemble Sami much anymore. I consider your phonology even too complicated to master. Maybe it gets clearer if I'll look it longer.

Why are geminates written vC? Are they?
My meta-thread: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5760
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MONOBA
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Re: Siųa

Post by MONOBA »

/m n l s v/ are written <vm vn vl vs vv> when long.
The reason for the <v> is not really relevant anymore. Consider it a quirk, I guess.
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MONOBA
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Re: Siųa

Post by MONOBA »

Here is a preview, a little text.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/48761410/Forest-Praise
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Re: Siųa

Post by roninbodhisattva »

This is a cool text. I have a question though. Do the Siwa have writing?
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MONOBA
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Re: Siųa

Post by MONOBA »

Yes!
They don't use the latin alphabet in the setting, because that would make no sense.
They have an extensive system of pictographs, common to all of Alopian people. I only have very few examples available right now.
They were used to mark territory, convey messages, for names (often tattooed) and generally just markings.

I have a full conscript that I use very often, but I'm still hesitating to give it to the Alopian people, because it doesn't really fit the context. I was actually writing the text above in the script yesterday and took a vague picture.
Image

This is from a diary I keep in the alphabet.
Image
teh_Foxx0rz
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Re: Siųa

Post by teh_Foxx0rz »

It looks like Tamil!
roninbodhisattva
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Re: Siųa

Post by roninbodhisattva »

Alopians are in North America, right? Or is it just a setting somewhat like North America? What's the level of technology? What do they right the pictographs on?
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Ceresz
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Re: Siųa

Post by Ceresz »

Oh, that conscript looks great!

I will comment on the other stuff when I've looked it all over.
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MONOBA
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Re: Siųa

Post by MONOBA »

roninbodhisattva wrote:Alopians are in North America, right? Or is it just a setting somewhat like North America? What's the level of technology? What do they right the pictographs on?
Yep. Alopians are in Quebec, more precisely.

Here is a preview of the intro to the Alopians and Siwa.
This should answer questions. Although if you have more, DO do ask.
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