Usani Language and Scratchpad

[LinguoFranco]

Usani is my latest conlanging project so far, and one that I am content with the direction it is heading in.

Usani's phonology isn't super complicated. At most, a syllable can be either CVV or CVC. However, the coda is limited to a handful of consonants, although I might change that, later.

Here are its consonants:

/m n/
/p t t͡ɕ k/
/b d d͡ʑ g/
/s ɕ x~χ/
/l ɫ j w/

-/x~x/ is supposed to be free variation between the voiceless velar fricative and the voiceless uvular fricative, but it didn't show up that way, for some reason. The realization of this phoneme varies depending on the individual speaker.

-/k g/ are [kx gɣ] before back vowels

-Gemination is rare, only occurring under specific circumstances: as a form of reduplication, a fixation (e.g. /ka.nːo/ being the result of the stem /kan/ + the suffix -/no/), and when a consonant follows a stressed, open syllable with a short vowel.


And its vowels:

/a e i o u/
/aː eː iː oː uː/

- Short, unstressed /i u/ are devoiced (similar to Japanese) when they are followed by a stressed syllable.

Primary stress is always on the penultimate mora. That is, if the final syllable is heavy (CVV or CVC), it gets stressed. Otherwise, the penult is stressed. Secondary stress only occurs in compound words and foreign loans.


Grammar:

I'm still working on this part, so there isn't much in the way of grammar, yet, but I will note a few features I have or plan to implement into the language soon.


Usani relies on verb conjugation over case marking to express sentences. However, person isn't overtly marked on the verb, but it still must agree with the number and gender of the subject.

E.g. /o.ˈmaː/- "to speak," vs /o.maː.ˈkuː/ "He speaks." -/kuː/ is the conjugation for masculine singular, but doesn't specify person. It could mean "I speak," if the speaker is masculine.

Another feature of note is that demonstratives can also serve as pronouns for inanimate nominals, basically serving the same role as "it," does in English.

[Arayaz]

-/x~x/ is supposed to be free variation between the voiceless velar fricative and the voiceless uvular fricative, but it didn't show up that way, for some reason. The realization of this phoneme varies depending on the individual speaker.

The CBB ─ all PHPBBs, for that matter ─ display the voiceless uvular fricative as <x>. I use /X/ for the uvular one on here.

-/k g/ are [kx gɣ] before back vowels

-Gemination is rare, only occurring under specific circumstances: as a form of reduplication, a fixation (e.g. /ka.nːo/ being the result of the stem /kan/ + the suffix -/no/), and when a consonant follows a stressed, open syllable.


And its vowels:

/a e i o u/
/aː eː iː oː uː/

- Short, unstressed /i u/ are devoiced (similar to Japanese) following a stressed syllable.

Aha, I knew Japanese was an influence.

Usani relies on verb conjugation over case marking to express sentences. However, person isn't overtly marked on the verb, but it still must agree with the number and gender of the subject.

E.g. /o.ˈmaː/- "to speak," vs /o.maː.ˈkuː/ "He speaks." -/kuː/ is the conjugation for masculine singular, but doesn't specify person. It could mean "I speak," if the speaker is masculine.

Like the Russian past tense?

[LinguoFranco]

-/x~x/ is supposed to be free variation between the voiceless velar fricative and the voiceless uvular fricative, but it didn't show up that way, for some reason. The realization of this phoneme varies depending on the individual speaker.

The CBB ─ all PHPBBs, for that matter ─ display the voiceless uvular fricative as <x>. I use /X/ for the uvular one on here.

-/k g/ are [kx gɣ] before back vowels

-Gemination is rare, only occurring under specific circumstances: as a form of reduplication, a fixation (e.g. /ka.nːo/ being the result of the stem /kan/ + the suffix -/no/), and when a consonant follows a stressed, open syllable.


And its vowels:

/a e i o u/
/aː eː iː oː uː/

- Short, unstressed /i u/ are devoiced (similar to Japanese) following a stressed syllable.

Aha, I knew Japanese was an influence.

Usani relies on verb conjugation over case marking to express sentences. However, person isn't overtly marked on the verb, but it still must agree with the number and gender of the subject.

E.g. /o.ˈmaː/- "to speak," vs /o.maː.ˈkuː/ "He speaks." -/kuː/ is the conjugation for masculine singular, but doesn't specify person. It could mean "I speak," if the speaker is masculine.

Like the Russian past tense?

Yeah, Japanese was definitely an influence, though the comments I got about the audio recordings was that it sounded kinda like Nahuatl, at least before I added a voicing contrast in the stops.

I'm not familiar with the Russian past tense. Tell me more.

[Visions1]

I like it so far. I'm looking forwards to see how you deal with person.

[Omzinesý]

I'm not familiar with the Russian past tense. Tell me more.

It is an old Proto-Slavic participle 'having done'. It has gender and number inflection.
Different Slavic languages differ in where the copula is used with it. Russian is a zero-copula language and it's never used.

[Arayaz]

I'm not familiar with the Russian past tense. Tell me more.

It distinguishes gender rather than person (I think because it comes from a participle)