Soulla: an introduction

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CarsonDaConlanger
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Soulla: an introduction

Post by CarsonDaConlanger »

Soulla Main Page
Part One: Phonology
Consonants
/m n ɲ/ <m n ny>
/ph b th d tʃh dʒ kjh gj kh g/ <p b t d ch j ky gy k g>
/f s ʃ ç h/ <f s sh hy h>
/ʋ l r ʎ j/ <v l r ly y>

Vowels
/i u/ <i u>
/e o/ <e o>
/a/ <a>

/ai au/ <ai au>
Both consonants and vowels can be gemminated: v́=v: CC=C:.
Gemmination is phonemic.
Velar consonants are allophonically palatalized when before /i/ or /j/ and this is not reflected in writing.
Voiced plosives are unreleased word finally, but aspirated plosives retain their aspiration.
h/h/i_
Plosives are unreleased before nasals.
Voiceless fricatives are allophonically voiced when next to voiced plosives, nasals, or liquids.

Stress is always word initial, then secondary stress is placed on every odd numbered syllable.
Phonotactics
The maximum syllable size allowed in Soulla is (C)(C)V(C), but clusters are very restricted. All consonants may appear in the onset. All consonants may be in the coda save for /ɲ kjh gj ç ʎ j h/
Categories:
B=b,d,g
P=p,t,k
F=f,s,ʃ
L=ʋ l r
N=m,n
Legal word initial clusters:
sP
PL*
*/tr/ and /tl/ are not legal clusters word initially
Legal intervocalic clusters:
BL
LB
PL
LP
FL
LF
PF
FP
NS*
SN*
NP*
PN*
FPL
LPL
NPL*
*Only legal if heteroorganic
Last edited by CarsonDaConlanger on 06 Dec 2018 16:12, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Soulla: an introduction

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Part Two: Grammar Basics
General info/typology
  • SOVX word order and generally right branching grammar
  • Agglutinative with some fusion on verb TAM suffixes
  • Animate nouns behave as nominative/accusative and inanimate nouns behave as ergative/absolutive
  • 7 cases on nouns
  • Adjective-numeral-noun-determiner-adposition
  • Verbs have four valencies/voices: transitive, intransitive, passive, and reflexive; these are marked on the verb itself
  • Transitive verbs agree to both subject and direct object
  • Verbs conjugate to 4 moods, 3 tenses, and 2 aspects
I'll give you some more specific info tomorrow, but for now these are the basics.
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Re: Soulla: an introduction

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Part Three: Nouns
Nouns in Soullas decline to case and number. They come in two classes: animate and inanimate, and the declension relies on the classes. There are also definite and (optional) indefinite articles. Articles agree to number and class:

Definite
Animate: Sg ra Pl ran
Inanimate: Sg ru Pl run

Indefinite
Animate: Sg ga Pl gan
Inanimate: Sg gu Pl gun

Animate Nouns
Animate nouns decline to 7 cases, and operate on a nominative/accusative paradigm:
NOM: Sg -a Pl -an
ACC: Sg -á Pl -án
GEN: Sg -va Pl-van
DAT: -as
LOC: -ap
INS: Sg -ja Pl -jan
VOC: Sg -am Pl -man

Example noun:
Oska Woman

Oska ga
Oskan gan
Oská ga
Oskán gan
Oskva ga
Oskvan gan
Oskas ga
Oskas gan
Oskap ga
Oskap gan
Oskaja ga
Oskaga gan
Oskam ga
Oskaman gan

As you can see, the dative and locative cases rely on articles to show number.

Inanimate Nouns
Inanimate nouns decline to 4 cases, and operate on an ergative/absolutive paradigm:
ABS: Sg -u Pl -un
ERG: Sg -uv Pl -uv
GEN: Sg -ttu Pl-ttun
DAT: Sg -o Pl -on

Example noun:
Tuyu Story

Tuyu gu
Tuyun gun
Tuyuv gu
Tuyav gun
Tuyuttu gu
Tuyuttun gun
Tuyo gu
Tuyon gun

As you can see, the ergative case doesn't show number.
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Re: Soulla: an introduction

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Part Four: Verbs
Verbs in Soullas have an extensive conjugation system where verbs are marked for voice(transitive, intransitive, passive, and reflexive), tense(past, present, future), mood (declarative, hypothetical, optative, and imperative), and aspect(perfective and imperfective), as well as an infinitive (-i) and participle (-b). They also agree with subject and (in transitive verbs) direct object. The order of affixes on a verb is stem-voice-TAM-person.

Voices
Example stem: pa-i (build/make)
Intransitive
-r-
Pari

Transitive
-v-
Pavi

Passive
-mm-
Pammi

Reflexive
-p-
Papi

Tense/Aspect/Mood
TAM suffixes are lightly fusional, so each combination can be listed as it's own affix.
Example: Pari (in intransitive voice)
Declarative

PST.IPFV -as-
Paras-

PST.PFV -és-
Parés-

PRE.IPFV -Ø-
Par-

PRE.PFV -ok
Parok-

FUT.IPFV -all-
Parall-

FUT.PFV -ar-
Parar-

Hypothetical

PST.IPFV -ad-
Parad-

PST.PFV -éd-
Paréd-

PRE.IPFV -oh-
Paroh-

PRE.PFV -ok
Parón-

FUT.IPFV -am-
Param-

FUT.PFV -arr-
Pararr-

Optative

PST.IPFV -et-
Paret-

PST.PFV -ét-
Parét-

PRE.IPFV -ot-
Parot-

PRE.PFV -osh-
Parosh-

FUT.IPFV -agy-
Paragy-

FUT.PFV -any-
Parany-

Imperative
The imperative mood only exists in the present imperfect and doesn't conjugate to person.
-aj
Paraj

Person (intransitive/passive/reflexive)

1: Sg -o Pl -on
2: Sg -e Pl -en
3A: -a
3I: -u
3P -an

Person (transitive)
Brace yourself for a long list!

Subject object object object object etc

1s: 1p -ón 2s -oye 2p -oyen 3sa -oka 3si -oku 3p -okun
1p: 1s -ono 2s -one 2p -onen 3sa -onna 3si -onnu -3p -onnun
2s: 1s -esso 1p -esson 2p -én 3sa -eka 3si -eku 3p -ekun
2p: 1s -eno 1p -enon 2s -ene 3sa -enna 3si -ennu 3p -ennun
3sa: 1s -asso 1p -asson 2s -aye 2p -ayen 3sa -ák 3si -aku 3p -akun
3si: 1s -usso 1p -usson 2s -uye 2p -uyen 3sa -uka 3si -úk 3p -ú
3p: 1s -uno 1p -unon 2s -une 2p -unen 3sa -ukka 3si -ukku 3p -ún
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Re: Soulla: an introduction

Post by idov »

I do like that there are some extra limitations lied out like this on intervocalic sequences of consonants. I haven't seen that often. The voice and TAM system as well as split ergativity are all nice to see too. Right now, it all appears a bit bare-boned without much going on, but I think I will keep an eye on this.
The accusative of <emo> is <eminem>. :lat:
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Re: Soulla: an introduction

Post by CarsonDaConlanger »

idov wrote: 06 Dec 2018 23:02 I do like that there are some extra limitations lied out like this on intervocalic sequences of consonants. I haven't seen that often. The voice and TAM system as well as split ergativity are all nice to see too. Right now, it all appears a bit bare-boned without much going on, but I think I will keep an eye on this.
Thanks! I'm kinda new to conlanging so any pointers for how to expand the system would be appreciated!
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Re: Soulla: an introduction

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Is split Erg based on gender of Agent attested? Still, I like the stop series. I was going to ask why the aspiration was specified, but the idea of say /g/ becoming [k̚] and /kʰ/ staying [kʰ] word finally is interesting. I don't think I've seen that before.
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Re: Soulla: an introduction

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Shemtov wrote: 07 Dec 2018 21:40 Is split Erg based on gender of Agent attested?
So far I haven't found much, but there is this. The split is based on the presence of a 1st or 2nd person pronoun.
Shemtov wrote: 07 Dec 2018 21:40 Still, I like the stop series. I was going to ask why the aspiration was specified, but the idea of say /g/ becoming [k̚] and /kʰ/ staying [kʰ] word finally is interesting. I don't think I've seen that before.
I believe so, at least the first part. In a lot of languages with a voiced/voiceless split the voiceless are at least lightly aspirated. (With the exception of a few Romance languages which have true tenuis stops) The final aspiration thing I don't know of any examples but the wikipeadia article on it says "Word-final voiceless stops are sometimes aspirated."
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Re: Soulla: an introduction

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Interlude: Lexicon 1
I'm going to take a short break from grammar and post some lexicon.
Basic people/family terms
Here are some basic nouns for people and family:
(Stress is always word initial so it isn't marked.
palya [pʰaʎa] N.a Person (no gender)
kína [kʰi:na] N.a Man
aukína [aʊkʰi:na] N.a woman
vekka [ʋek:ʰa] N.a parent
víma [ʋi:ma] N.a father
daima [daɪma] N.a mother
kélya [kʰe:ʎa] N.a child (specifically someone's offspring, not used to simply refer to a child)
jetva [d͡ʒetʋa] N.a son
aukélya [aʊkʰe:ʎa] N.a daughter
kyota [kʰʲotʰa] N.a child (any child)
otiva [otʰiʋa] N.a boy
tauva [tʰaʊʋa] N.a girl
kvoskélya [kʋoskʰe:ʎa] N.a firstborn
písa [pʰi:sa] N.a blood, relation
písalya [pʰi:saʎa] N.a ancestor, relative
favekka [faʋek:ʰa] N.a grandparent
dovekka [doʋek:ʰa] N.a aunt/uncle (genderless)
kla [kl̥a] N.a uncle
aukla [aʊkl̥a] N.a aunt
kletva [kl̥etʋ̥a] N.a Nephew
aukletva [aʊkl̥etʋ̥a] Niece
oska [oskʰa] N.a friend

Basic household items
shagu [ʃagu] N.i house/residence
plu [pl̥u] N.i land (actual ground, not property)
tvummiplu [tʋ̥um:ipl̥u] N.i land (property, literally owned land)
kellu [kʰel:u] N.i room without a door, public room
kláu [kl̥a:.u] N.i room with a door, private space
tanya [tʰaɲa] N.a pet (generic, any domestic animal not used for food/work, working dogs don't fall under this category)
henya [heɲa] N.a work animal, (derogatory): slave/servant
lúsba [lu:zba] N.a dog (working or pet)
tekta [tʰektʰa] N.a cat
lyanu [ʎanu] N.i food, nourishment, (poetically): necessity
tvesha [tʋ̥eʃa] N.a water (generic)
soshka [soʃkʰa] N.a drinkable water, beverage
stara [stʰara] N.a undrinkable water, impurity, tainted object
suggu [sug:u] N.i meal
shalpru [ʃal̥pr̥u] N.i table
yehu [jehu] N.i chair
furu [fuɾu] N.i bed
furukláu [fuɾukl̥a:.u] N.i bedroom
spu [spu] N.i meat
nakkyu [nak:ʰʲu] N.i bread
taija [tʰaɪd͡ʒa] N.a fire
vinu [ʋinu] N.i book
faspu [faspu] N.i shelf
vinufaspu [ʋinufaspu] N.i bookshelf
sekku [sek:ʰu] N.i door, entrance

That's all for now folks! next post will be Adjectives, adverbs, and adpositions!
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Re: Soulla: an introduction

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Part Five: Modifiers (Adjectives, Adverbs & Adpositions)
Adjectives
Adjectives come before the nouns they modify. Adjectives agree to number and class, with the following endings:

Animate: Sg. -ag Pl. -á
Inanimate: Sg. -us Pl. -os

EG: skus "black"

skag lúsba "black dog"
ská lúsban "black dogs"
skus vinu "black book"
skos vinun "black books"

Adverbs
Adverbs don't agree or conjugate to anything. They come before the verb they modify.

Adpositions
Adpositions are always postpositions, with the exception of two circumpositions: ba- -pí (throughout) and ba- -yo (around, enclosing). Both of which take the locative case on animate nouns and the dative on inanimate nouns.

Some basic examples:
The word in parentheses is the case it governs.
pí (locative/dative) in, inside
nu (dative/dative) about, related to
ví (locative/dative) towards
ó (dative/dative) with(comitative)
yo (locative/dative) on, on top of
saví (locative/dative) away from
feví (locative/dative) out of (Ablative)
chom (dative/dative) for, for the benefit of, to please
lap (locative/dative) between
(this list will be expanded as more are added)

Examples:

lúsba "dog"

lúsbap ga pí "inside the dog"
lúsbas ga nu "about the dog"
lúsbap ga ví "towards the dog"
lúsbas ga ó "(together) with the dog)
lúsbap ga yo "on top of the dog"
lúsbap ga saví "away from the dog"
lúsbap ga feví "out of the dog"
lúsbas ga chom "for the dog"
lúsbap gan lap "between the dogs"
ba lúsbap ga pí "throughout the dog, filling the dog up"
ba lúsbap ga yo "coating the outside of the dog"

shagu "house"

shago gu pí "inside the house"
shago gu nu "about the dog"
shago gu ví "towards the dog"
shago gu ó "(together) with the dog)
shago gu yo "on top of the dog"
shago gu saví "away from the dog"
shago gu feví "out of the dog"
shago gu chom "for the dog"
shagon gun lap "between the dogs"
ba shago gu pí "throughout the dog, filling the dog up"
ba shago gu yo "coating the outside of the dog"
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Re: Soulla: an introduction

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Part Six: Pronouns
There are four personal pronouns, 2 demonstrative pronouns, and a relative pronoun in Soulla. Pronouns decline to 4 cases: nominative, accusative, genitive, and dative.
1:
Sg. ya yav yal yas
Pl. áyan yavan yava yansa
2:
Sg. mi vim mal misa
Pl. min mivan mil mis
3A:
Sg. ja avij jál jas
Pl. nij javan jalan jasan
3I:
Sg. ju ju jul suj
Pl. jun jú jen jai
Distal Demonstrative pronoun ("that" when used to replace a noun, but not when used to make a relative clause)
Sg. gye gyet gyo gyos
Pl. eg egat gyon gyoson
Proximal Demonstrative pronoun ("This" when used to replace a noun)
Sg. yósa yósá yósas yós
Pl. yósan yón yossa yos
Relative pronoun
Sg. vé venne vés vév
Pl. vén vénen ves velle

1-3 person subject and object pronouns are often dropped, but the relative and demonstrative pronouns don't ever drop. Dropped pronouns can be re-added to add emphasis. Adpositions apply to pronouns the same as they do to nouns, but always use the dative case.
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Re: Soulla: an introduction

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Part 7: Negation, Interrogatives, and Causatives
Negation
Verbs in Soullas can be negated using the auxiliary verb vaki, which is also used as a negative copula. It conjugates like a regular intransitive verb; and blocks conjugation on the negated verb, leaving it in the infinitive.

E.X:
Pari vako.
"I do not build."
When a transitive verb is negated, the object pronoun cannot be dropped because vaki doesn't conjugate to object:
Ju pavi vako
"I do not build it."
The only time that vako doesn't block conjugation is in the imperative, where it still takes the 2nd person conjugation:
Paraj vake.
"Do not build"

Causatives
Like negation, causatives are formed with an auxiliary verb: etti. Etti conjugates to the causer, not the one caused, but still blocks conjugation on the modified verb. Because of this, subject and object pronouns are obligatory:
Mi ju pavi etto.
"I cause you to build it."

Etti can be negated using veki. Veki blocks conjugation and conjugates to the thing that causes, not the subject of the verb:
Mi ju pavi etti veko.
"I don't cause you to build it."

When a verb is both in the causative voice and negated, then both auxiliary verbs are used, in the order Main verb - veki - etti. Only etti conjugates in such sentences:
Mi ju pavi veki etto.
"I cause you not to build it."

Interrogatives
Yes no questions are made using the particle lyo. Lyo follows the verb it modifies as well as any auxiliary verbs.
E.X:
Parése lyo?
"Had you built?"
Asking the negative is considered more formal:
Hédari vaka lyo?
"Does he/she not hunt?"

More complex questions can be formed using an interrogative pronoun or interrogative adverbs:
Who/what:
(Acts as a pronoun and declines to Absolutive, ergative, genitive and dative)
SG. valyo valyo velyom velyó
PL. valyon valyon vellyo vellyon

The rest are adverbs:
Where: elyo
When: ílyas
How: aulyo
Why: nolyo
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Re: Soulla: an introduction

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Interlude: Lexicon Two
I'm taking another break from grammar today so I'm posting some more lexicon:
Basic Verbs
All verbs are listed in their reference form (intransitive infinitive).
pri [pri] be, copula
íri [i:ɾi] do
pari [pʰari] build, put together, create, write
hari [hari] clean
rari [rari] move, go
véri [ʋe:ri] write, compose
vegri [ʋegri] read
kviri [kʋ̥iɾi] own, hold
taijari [tʰaɪd͡ʒari] burn
sommari [som:ari] hear
yori [jori] see
hyuri [çuɾi] feel (physically)
úchuri [u:t͡ʃʰuɾi] think
allari [al:ari] speak
tviri [tʋ̥iɾi] search
teri [tʰeri] plan, prepare
tvepri [tʋ̥epr̥i] run
góburi [go:buɾi] lie
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Re: Soulla: an introduction

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Interlude: Example Sentences One

Here are some simple sentences to give you a feel for how Soulla looks and sounds, and provide in the wild examples of some of the grammar rules I have explained so far. (And maybe introduce some that haven't been listed already.)

This is just a basic sentence.
Kína ra esklá ra hédvák.
[kʰi:na ra eskl̥a: ra he:dʋa:kʰ]
kín-a ra eskl-á ra hed-v-ák
man-NOM.SG DEF deer-ACC.SG def hunt-TRANS.PRE.IPFV.DECL-3SA.3SA

"The man hunts the deer."

This is just another basic sentence but with inanimate nouns.
Sedvuv gyu yal búdu tvuvi vaku.
[sedʋuʋ gʲu jal bu:du tʋ̥uʋi ʋakʰu]
sedv-uv gyu val búd-u tvu-v-i vak-u
cup-ERG.SG that 1S.GEN beverage-ABS.SG hold-TRANS-INF not.PRE.IPFV.DEC-3SI

"My drink is not in that cup (LIT. 'That cup does not hold my drink')"

In sentences where there is only a copula and not an actual verb, both nouns take NOM/ABS.
Eskla ga gebba ga pra.
[eskl̥a ga geb:a ga pr̥a]
eskl-a ga gebb-a ga pr-a
deer-NOM.SG INDEF animal-NOM.SG INDEF copula.PRE.IPFV.DEC-3SA

"A deer is an animal."

Relative clauses precede the noun they modify and take an SVO word order.
Pavaseku vé lyanu ru hevekai pru.
[pʰaʋasekʰu ʋe: ʎanu ru heʋekʰaɪ pr̥u]
pa-v-as-eku vé lyan-u ru hevek-ai pru
make-TRANS-PST.IPFV.DEC-2S.3SI relative.ABS.SG food-ABS.SG DEF tasty-PRED copula.PRE.IPFV.DEC-3SI

"The food you made is tasty."

Adpositions follow the noun they modify and genitive pronouns remove articles.
Tauva ra vinu gu yeho gu yo jul furukláo pí vegvaku.
[tʰaʊʋa ra ʋinu gu jeho gu jo d͡ʒul fuɾukl̥a:o pʰi: ʋegʋakʰu]
tauv-a ra vin-u gu yeh-o gu yo jul furuklá-o pí veg-v-aku
girl-NOM.SG DEF book-ABS.SG INDEF chair-DAT.SG INDEF on 3SA.GEN bedroom-DAT.SG in read-TRANS.PRE.IPFV.DEC-3SA.3SI

"The girl reads a book on a chair in her room."
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Re: Soulla: an introduction

Post by CarsonDaConlanger »

I've been kinda busy the past month or so (senior year is rough), so I haven't posted a lot. I've updated a few things about the language so I'll change that. After that what would you peeps like to see next? If anyone's interested that is.
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