Daas

[Kesshin]

Daas is an artlang for a world building project I've been working on for around 5 years now(at time of posting). I've been trying to make it as realistic as possible, by working on the writing system and conjugations.
For most of those years, I had never even heard of conlanging, so I hope you'll bear with me if I seem like a chaotic mess.

Consonants(IPA):
Nasal: m, n

Edit: Added missing plosives:

Plosive: p, t, k, ʔ, b, d
Fricative: s,  ʂ, x', h, v, z, ʒ
Approximant: L, ɹ, j, w
(debated)Tap: r

Vowels:
ɑ, ɛ, i, o, u:
(technically, that x' above is used as a vowel phonotactically, but linguistically it is a consonant)
Also, /x'/ has an allophone of [ɣ] when near /i/ or /j/.

---

The general word order of Daas is actually undecided.

Inner Workings:

Spoiler:

Like languages such as aUI, Daas is oligosynthetic and each sound has a meaning. However, some sounds, like "k" are used more as narrowers(?), as they narrow down the definition.
For example:
Kae = rock(s)
k = an element of
a = a mountain, a volcano
e = a collection, a group, common
The most common element of a mountain would be a rock.

However, it may get confusing with longer, more complex words, like:
Harati
h= sound, echo
a= warm (musical definition used due to context)
r= regal, fancy
a= good (good definition used due to context)
t= straight
i= leave (again, movement definition due to context)
As far as I know, aUI doesn't really consider this possibility of too many concepts mixing to be understood.

Since this would be really hard to parse without a kind of concept divider, I made one that lets characters combine into concepts before fully being a word.
Ha= a warm, good sound (of music)
ra= royal(good connotation)
ti= emit, create, form
Ha'ra'ti would be a type of instrument used in royal contexts. It sounds similar to a koto, but is slightly more resonant.

Conjugation

Spoiler:

The gender system has two genders, animate and inanimate. However, their separation is based more on movement than actually being alive. Conjugation is only necessary in sentences. Lists would not be conjugated.

Inanimate nouns are things that do not move or change without a person's interference.
Kae, mentioned earlier, means rock. Rocks usually do not move unless someone or something moves it, so it would become
Kae li

Animate nouns do move without people's interference, but do not necessarily imply being alive.
Uv'ti, meaning "fast river" or "rapids", would be animate. Because the river moves on it's own, it would become
Uv'ti la

Some things, however, seem between inanimate and animate.
Fire, for example, is lit by people, but after the fact moves and acts on its own. However, fire can also start on its own and move on its own.
In this case, the conjugation of the fire would be based on its origins.

Ka la, or fire that started on its own (brush fires, lightning fires)

Ka li, or fire that people made and control (campfires, fireplaces)

Fire can go between these, like in a fire that had started from people but got out of control. In this case, it could use either gender, based on the timeframe that the fire is being mentioned in, or the purpose of the people making the fire.

Ka li ka lau ti'fe
The fire burns/ed [the] forest.
fire [con] fire [con+denominaliz.] forest

The usage of “li” here implies that the fire was set on purpose, or that the fire is contained in the timeframe of the conversation.

Adjec-Verbs

Spoiler:

Adjectives and verbs have no linguistic separation in Daas. Nouns can be denominalized/adjectivized(dunno if that's the word for it) using
lu /lu:/
If a noun has a gender and it’s also adjec-verb-ivized, instead of “la lu” or “li lu”, it becomes “lau”, “liu”.

Certain adjec-verbs also have gender, and would be conjugated by removing the conjugation from the subject being defined, and using the correct gender flag on the adjec-verb.
Hti li Nde /hti li ndɛ/
[a] loud human
Hti(meaning loud or noisy) is an inanimate adjec-verb, and so it removes the conjugation from Nde(human) and uses its own.

Color:

Spoiler:

Colors are written after the noun they affect, unlike the other descriptive words, which come before.
Warm colors are animate, and cause the noun they affect to become animate, and cool colors are inanimate, and cause the noun they affect to become inanimate. Black and White are considered cool colors, and brown is a warm color.
Kae la kao
[conj] [adj]
Kao(meaning red) is a warm color, so the conjugation for Kae becomes la, animate.

---

NEW:
Tenses (GENERAL CONCEPT, WIP)

Spoiler:

-iz = present tense
EX:
root: Ka = (oft assumed to be:)fire, lava
Ka lu = [to] burn
Kaiz lu = burning

-uz = past tense
EX:
root: Fue = (not used on it's own)
Fue lu = [to] water(of a plant)
Feuz lu = watered(of a plant)

-oz = future tense
EX:
root: Koe = light
Koe lu = [to] brighten, usu. [to] light [a] torch[es]
Keoz lu = will brighten / will light [a] torch[es]

As you can see the noun declines by flipping the vowel order within the word, if there are two of them.

Edit: NEW:

Based on how the affix attaches, that determines the "type" of tense.
EX:
-iz
root: J'gi, to consume/eat
Di J'giz = I am eating/consuming.
/di ʒʔgiz/

Di J'giiz = I eat/consume(happening now, will continue)
/di ʒʔgi:z/

-uz
Di J'guz = I ate.
/di ʒʔgu:z/

Di J'guiz = I ate recently
/di ʒʔgu:iz/

Di J'guzu = I ate long ago.
/di ʒʔguzu:/

Di J'guuzu = I ate long ago(could happen again)
/di ʒʔgu:zu/

-oz
Di J'goiz = I will eat soon
/di ʒʔgoi:z/

Di J'gioz = I will eat eventually.
/di ʒʔgio:z/

There's probably going to be some stress differences to help listeners to be able to differentiate between them.

Letter Dictionary

Spoiler:

A Big Old Letter Dictionary

---

Syntax of List:
Romanization
/Pronunciation/
Meaning
Implications
Letter Context Meaning

---

Vowels:

Spoiler:

A
/ɑ/
A mountain, heat
Implies; good
After t: down
After v: fast

E
/ɛ/
collection, a group, growth

i
/i/
Cold, ice

After t: to come out of something
After p: inside
After e: small
After v: slow

O
/o/
Light, energy (these are the same concept to the people who speak Daas in the world)

U
/u:/
Liquid, water
Implies; wavy
After p: inside
After e: big

F
/x’/
Plants, green
Implies; bad, life
After t: up

Consonants:

Spoiler:

K
/k/
An element of/an Element of
Implies: the main body/most important part

N
/n/
A problem

J
/d͡ʒ/ or /ʒ/
An action

S
/s/
Language, words

Ṣ(no romanization yet, might just be Ṣ)
/ʂ/
Of the mouth

D
/d/
People, species

Z
/z/
time, a timeline

T
/t/
Straight, long, tall

P
/p/
To have/contain

Y
/j/
Wind, air

M
/m/
magic

V
/v/
Speed, movement

H
/h/
Sound, echo

R
/ɹ/ , /r/
With vowel after = r (ex: /ra/)
No vowel after = ɹ (ex: /aɹ/)
Regal, royal, fancy

G
/g/
To take in/to consume

[Arayaz]

Does a mean both "good" and "mountain," then? And what do you mean about consonants and vowels having different syntactic uses?

And you can post as much information as you want at a time, don't worry.

[Kesshin]

Does a mean both "good" and "mountain," then? And what do you mean about consonants and vowels having different syntactic uses?

And you can post as much information as you want at a time, don't worry.

"A" would mean both, yes, but would generally be assumed to mean "mountain" unless specified otherwise by the surrounding words/concepts.

The different syntactic uses aren't anything grammatical.
It's just that /xʼ/ would be used in the vowel slot of a general letter order. However this letter order shown is NOT uniform at ALL.
C V C V , Ka'fe
(xʼ is usually romanized as f, since the f in the fricative list has been retconned and I kind of forgot about that)

Conjugation

Spoiler:

The gender system has two genders, animate and inanimate. However, their separation is based more on movement than actually being alive. Conjugation is only necessary in sentences. Lists would not be conjugated.

Inanimate nouns are things that do not move or change without a person's interference.
Kae, mentioned earlier, means rock. Rocks usually do not move unless someone or something moves it, so it would become
Kae li

Animate nouns do move without people's interference, but do not necessarily imply being alive.
Uv'ti, meaning "fast river" or "rapids", would be animate. Because the river moves on it's own, it would become
Uv'ti la

Some things, however, seem between inanimate and animate.
Fire, for example, is lit by people, but after the fact moves and acts on its own. However, fire can also start on its own and move on its own.
In this case, the conjugation of the fire would be based on its origins.

Ka la, or fire that started on its own (brush fires, lightning fires)

Ka li, or fire that people made and control (campfires, fireplaces)

Fire can go between these, like in a fire that had started from people but got out of control. In this case, it could use either gender, based on the timeframe that the fire is being mentioned in, or the purpose of the people making the fire.

Ka li ka lau ti'fe
The fire burns/ed [the] forest.
fire [con] fire [con+denominaliz.] forest

The usage of “li” here implies that the fire was set on purpose, or that the fire is contained in the timeframe of the conversation.

[Arayaz]

Does a mean both "good" and "mountain," then? And what do you mean about consonants and vowels having different syntactic uses?

And you can post as much information as you want at a time, don't worry.

"A" would mean both, yes, but would generally be assumed to mean "mountain" unless specified otherwise by the surrounding words/concepts.

Are other segments polysemous like this?

The different syntactic uses aren't anything grammatical.
It's just that /xʼ/ would be used in the vowel slot of a general letter order. However this letter order shown is NOT uniform at ALL.
C V C V , S f k a
(xʼ is usually romanized as f, since the f in the fricative list has been retconned and I kind of forgot about that)

Ah, so you mean it's phonotactically a vowel? Is it syllabic when used as such? Also, is it an ejective, or are you signifying something else with that apostrophe?

Conjugation

Spoiler:

The gender system has two genders, animate and inanimate. However, their separation is based more on movement than actually being alive. Conjugation is only necessary in sentences. Lists would not be conjugated.

Inanimate nouns are things that do not move or change without a person's interference.
Kae, mentioned earlier, means rock. Rocks usually do not move unless someone or something moves it, so it would become
Kae li

Animate nouns do move without people's interference, but do not necessarily imply being alive.
Uv'ti, meaning "fast river" or "rapids", would be animate. Because the river moves on it's own, it would become
Uv'ti la

Some things, however, seem between inanimate and animate.
Fire, for example, is lit by people, but after the fact moves and acts on its own. However, fire can also start on its own and move on its own.
In this case, the conjugation of the fire would be based on its origins.

Ka la, or fire that started on its own (brush fires, lightning fires)

Ka li, or fire that people made and control (campfires, fireplaces)

Fire can go between these, like in a fire that had started from people but got out of control. In this case, it could use either gender, based on the timeframe that the fire is being mentioned in, or the purpose of the people making the fire.

Ka li ka lau ti'fe
The fire burns/ed [the] forest.
fire [con] fire [con+denominaliz.] forest

The usage of “li” here implies that the fire was set on purpose, or that the fire is contained in the timeframe of the conversation.

Creative animacy system ─ reminds me of a similar thing in Klallam (and some other Salish languages, I think). I don't remember the specifics; I think it involved the word for "canoe." I'll check that.

[Kesshin]

Ah, so you mean it's phonotactically a vowel? Is it syllabic when used as such? Also, is it an ejective, or are you signifying something else with that apostrophe?

That apostrophe does signify being ejective yes.
I'm kind of surprised you haven't mentioned the retroflex /ʂ/ yet.

Creative animacy system ─ reminds me of a similar thing in Klallam (and some other Salish languages, I think). I don't remember the specifics; I think it involved the word for "canoe." I'll check that.

Thank you! It just goes to show- writing at 4am doesn't always crash and burn!

Are other segments polysemous like this?

I didn't actually know the definition of polysemous(thanks for the new vocabulary!), but Google says it means having multiple meanings.
If that's true, then yes! All of the vowels(except o) have multiple meanings based on the "letter context"(that's what I'm calling it).

For example, i usually translates to "cold" or "ice", but can also mean a whole lot of things.
I tried to keep the shape of an icicle in mind when developing it, so I ended up with:

straight, narrow, close, present(time)
After t: to eject out of something or to appear? to form? hard to pin
After p: inside
After e: small
After o: slow

[Arayaz]

Ah, so you mean it's phonotactically a vowel? Is it syllabic when used as such? Also, is it an ejective, or are you signifying something else with that apostrophe?

That apostrophe does signify being ejective yes.
I'm kind of surprised you haven't mentioned the retroflex /ʂ/ yet.

What's weird about it? Plenty of languages have /ʂ/, including two of my conlangs (Rü’ravesh and Arskiilz). I like it.

Are you referring to having /ʂ/ but no other retroflexes (other than, potentially, your rhotic)? That's not that weird either; Techomonic, for example, a language I worked on with WeepingElf and some others here on the CBB, had that.

Are other segments polysemous like this?

I didn't actually know the definition of polysemous(thanks for the new vocabulary!), but Google says it means having multiple meanings.
If that's true, then yes! All of the vowels(except o) have multiple meanings based on the "letter context"(that's what I'm calling it).

For example, i usually translates to "cold" or "ice", but can also mean a whole lot of things.
I tried to keep the shape of an icicle in mind when developing it, so I ended up with:

straight, narrow, close, present(time)
After t: to eject out of something or to appear? to form? hard to pin
After p: inside
After e: small
After o: slow

Well, this is interesting ─ what do t, p, e, and o mean? What if one wanted to say "small," but not use the meaning of e?

[WeepingElf]

Are you referring to having /ʂ/ but no other retroflexes (other than, potentially, your rhotic)? That's not that weird either; Techomonic, for example, a language I worked on with WeepingElf and some others here on the CBB, had that.

There are natlangs filling that bill, such as Tocharian, and some varieties of German (I have definitely heard native German speakers who pronounce /ʃ/ as [ʂ] - without any other retroflexes).

[Kesshin]

What's weird about it? Plenty of languages have /ʂ/, including two of my conlangs (Rü’ravesh and Arskiilz). I like it.

Are you referring to having /ʂ/ but no other retroflexes (other than, potentially, your rhotic)? That's not that weird either; Techomonic, for example, a language I worked on with WeepingElf and some others here on the CBB, had that.

Actually I don't know if the rhotic would be retroflexed.
As of right now, the romanization of both /r/ and /ɹ/ is just (r)
But the pronunciation is based on the location of the nearest vowel, with a vowel after taking precedent.
ra = /rɑ/
ar = /ɑɹ/

Well, this is interesting ─ what do t, p, e, and o mean? What if one wanted to say "small," but not use the meaning of e?

t means "straight"
p means "to have, to contain"
e means "a collection of, a group"
and o means "energy", usually implying magic

If someone wanted to say "small" without using "e", they would probably say something along the lines of
ti'i
with the second i changing the previous definition of "ti" from "to come out of" to "close"
However, this is highly irregular and would be hard to understand, as it would be hard to narrow the meaning down without repeating the same vowel over and over.
But then as well, that "ti" is in a word, and would mean "tall" anyway.

[Kesshin]

ayaz
"freezing weather; cloudless; frosty" in Azerbaijani, Crimean Tatar
"clear, dry, cold weather" in Turkish

I was looking at Arayaz' thread and saw their post explaining their name's meaning, and though some subconscious hop, skip, and jump, I arrived at my first attempt at a tense system in Daas!

Basically, I saw "ayaz" and thought, I wonder what that would mean in Daas?, saw the ending "z" and thought, well Z would mean time, but consonants usually avoid ending words in Daas. Unless.....

-iz = present tense
-uz = past tense
-oz = future tense

However, I do want more tenses than just that, so some more work is clearly necessary. I've been thinking of having tenses that show whether something still happens/could happen.

[Arayaz]

ayaz
"freezing weather; cloudless; frosty" in Azerbaijani, Crimean Tatar
"clear, dry, cold weather" in Turkish

I was looking at Arayaz' thread and saw their post explaining their name's meaning, and though some subconscious hop, skip, and jump, I arrived at my first attempt at a tense system in Daas!

Basically, I saw "ayaz" and thought, I wonder what that would mean in Daas?, saw the ending "z" and thought, well Z would mean time, but consonants usually avoid ending words in Daas. Unless.....

-iz = present tense
-uz = past tense
-oz = future tense

However, I do want more tenses than just that, so some more work is clearly necessary. I've been thinking of having tenses that show whether something still happens/could happen.

Glad to have been indirectly responsible for this! What do i, u, and o mean in this context? You said above that o meant energy, but I assume it's not being used like that here.

By the way, I use she/her pronouns normally. They/them is fine, but since I haven't mentioned them anywhere I assume you only used "they" above since you were unsure about my pronouns. Mine are in my signature, just like yours.

[Kesshin]

Glad to have been indirectly responsible for this! What do i, u, and o mean in this context? You said above that o meant energy, but I assume it's not being used like that here.

By the way, I use she/her pronouns normally. They/them is fine, but since I haven't mentioned them anywhere I assume you only used "they" above since you were unsure about my pronouns. Mine are in my signature, just like yours.

Oh okay, thank you for telling me.

In this case, i, u, and o aren't important, and are just kind of flags for the tense.
I guess if absolutely necessary, i would mean "current", u would mean "far"(implying behind), and o would mean something like "ahead" or "in front". None of these definitions are used anywhere else though, (especially in o's case, as it shouldn't have any other meanings) so those definitions aren't really very useful.

[Arayaz]

Oh okay, thank you for telling me.

No problem!

In this case, i, u, and o aren't important, and are just kind of flags for the tense.
I guess if absolutely necessary, i would mean "current", u would mean "far"(implying behind), and o would mean something like "ahead" or "in front". None of these definitions are used anywhere else though, (especially in o's case, as it shouldn't have any other meanings) so those definitions aren't really very useful.

Ah, interesting. So rather than being fully oligosynthetic, Daas hovers on the edge of it, giving (almost) every segment a meaning ─ or more than one ─ but also making use of regular affixes. Interesting!

[Kesshin]

A Big Old Letter Dictionary But It's Not Words

---

Syntax of List:
Romanization
/Pronunciation/
Meaning
Implications
Letter Context Meaning

---

Vowels:

Spoiler:

A
/ɑ/
A mountain, heat
Implies; good
After t: down
After v: fast

E
/ɛ/
collection, a group, growth

i
/i/
Cold, ice

After t: to come out of something
After p: inside
After e: small
After v: slow

O
/o/
Light, energy (these are the same concept to the people who speak Daas in the world)

U
/u:/
Liquid, water
Implies; wavy
After p: inside
After e: big

F
/x’/
Plants, green
Implies; bad, life
After t: up

Consonants:

Spoiler:

K
/k/
An element of/an Element of
Implies: the main body/most important part

N
/n/
A problem

J
/d͡ʒ/ or /ʒ/
An action

S
/s/
Language, words

Ṣ(no romanization yet, might just be Ṣ)
/ʂ/
Of the mouth

D
/d/
People, species

Z
/z/
time, a timeline

T
/t/
Straight, long, tall

P
/p/
To have/contain

Y
/j/
Wind, air

M
/m/
magic

V
/v/
Speed, movement

H
/h/
Sound, echo

R
/ɹ/ , /r/
With vowel after = r (ex: /ra/)
No vowel after = ɹ (ex: /aɹ/)
Regal, royal, fancy

G
/g/
To take in/to consume

[Kesshin]

Ah, interesting. So rather than being fully oligosynthetic, Daas hovers on the edge of it, giving (almost) every segment a meaning ─ or more than one ─ but also making use of regular affixes. Interesting!

Thank you!

Daas is an artlang, but it's also ended up strangely loglangy?
EX:
warning proofs jumpscare

Spoiler:

ti'fe = a forest
/tiʔx'e/
Proof:
1. (t+i)+(f+e)
2. (straight + tall) + (plants + a collection of)
3. (elongated)+(a group of plants) = a forest

It's word math at this point.

[Arayaz]

Ah, interesting. So rather than being fully oligosynthetic, Daas hovers on the edge of it, giving (almost) every segment a meaning ─ or more than one ─ but also making use of regular affixes. Interesting!

Thank you!

Daas is an artlang, but it's also ended up strangely loglangy?

Those categories aren't mutually exclusive!

[Kesshin]

An Explanation for "Ti"
So, as previously stated, ti means "to come out of something".
But then also, above in the word "ti'fe", it means tall.

Basically, ti has two different meanings based on where it is.

Ti in a sentence or something, like:
Fe lela j'giiz ue, pu "CO2" ti.
/x'ɛ lɛlɑ ʒʔgi:z u:ɛ pu: si: o: tu: ti./
Plants consume water, and emit CO2.
Literally:
Plant(col.) [subjflag+conj] take in(present continuous) water(inf.), conjun. "CO2" comes out
(i know this is false btw)

It clearly means "to emit, to come out of".

But in the "forest" example, ti is in a word, where it is then broken down into it's letter definitions and combined into "tall, elongated upward".

However, ti has a deeper meaning than just "to come out of". It means for something to come out of a place where it was not visible or perceptible and enter a place where it is.

Music would "ti" out of speakers.
Water would "ti" out of geysers.
However, this would only be used to refer to things that are coming out "on their own".

If you're getting something out of a container, that object would not "ti".
But if you turn on a faucet, water would "ti" out of the faucet. You may have turned the knob, but the water continues to do so well after that action.

[Kesshin]

I worked a little more on tenses, fleshing out the past section.

Based on how the affix attaches, that determines the type of tense.

-uz
Di J'guz = I ate.
/di ʒʔgu:z/

Di J'guiz = I ate recently.
/di ʒʔgu:iz/

Di J'guzu = I ate long ago.
/di ʒʔguzu:/

Di J'guuzu = I ate long ago.(could happen again)

[Kesshin]

I remembered to add the base 6 number system.

Hya: 1 /hjhɑ/
Hye: 2 /hjhɛ/
Hyi: 3 /hjhi/
Hyo: 4 /hjho/
Hyu: 5 /hjhu:/
Hyf: 6 /hjhx'/

Hya tu Hyf: 7 (lit. one past six) /hjɑ tu: hjhx'/
Hye tu Hyf: 8
Hyi tu Hyf: 9
Hyo tu Hyf: 10
Hyu tu Hyf: 11
Hye'Hyf: 12 /hjɛ hjhx'/

[Kesshin]

Daas does have it's own orthography, but given the limitations on sending screenshots, the only bit of it you can see is my profile picture, which just reads "Daas(animate)".