My attempt at writing Na'vi with my conscript Tarul

Started by Plusquamperfekt, September 14, 2011, 01:24:49 PM

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Plusquamperfekt

Hello there,
as I'm a very passionate conlanger for many years now that is also interested in other peoples' conlangs, I was very surprised to see that the phonology of Na'vi resembles much the phonology of my own conlang Miwonša which has these sounds:

p p't t'-c c'k k'-
mn-ɲ--
vs zʃ ʒɕ-h
wr l ɬ-j ʎ
-ts tɬtʃ tʃ'(tɕ tɕ')--

Vowels: a ã ɛ ɛ̃ i ĩ ɔ ɔ̃ u ũ aɪ aʊ ɛɪ ɛʊ iʊ ɔɪ ɔʊ uɪ

OK, but now enough about my conlang, as this forum was made for Na'vi, which has these sounds:

p p't t'-k k'ʔ
mn--ŋ-
f vs z---h
wr lj--
-ts----

Vowels: a æ ɛ ɪ i o u aj aw ej ew r̩ l̩

Now - what is the purpose of my thread?! For my own conlang I invented a conscript named Tarul that I would try to apply to Na'vi. In order to do so, I'd have to invent extra symbols that represent the sounds that Miwonša lacks, which are: ʔ ŋ v r̩ l̩ æ ɪ

So all in all this should be no problem to add z symbols to Tarul, which is no alphabet, but an alphasyllabary where a simple block (those with symmetrical lower halfs) represents an ((S)C(G))V(V)(C) syllable (S = s or š, G = l r j w) and where splitted blocks (those blocks have either asymmetrical lower halfs or diacritics) represent two ((S)C(G))V(V) syllables.


"Tahonti kišanwe pišoi ya milwa skunukoi ya piskwokak nanstwaran. Sjaku piro tunšwak ya thažansak kwan, yonženalwanti khonanswokai paiwašinjazak." ("All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood")

This is the first article of the declaration of human rights in Miwonša. If you want to read some more details about the script or even about the grammar of my language, you will find them here: http://conlang.wikia.com/wiki/Miwonsa

I think the most difficult aspect of using the script for Na'vi will be that Na'vi has some quite strange consonant clusters and a more flexible syllable structure. However, it would be nice if you provided me some sentences in Na'vi (they should contain all sounds), as I am an absolute beginner, and I'll try the best I can. Maybe you can also give me some advice how to create beautiful fonts, as the lines of which the blocks are composed look a bit "naked" ;)

edit:
The word "Na'vi" written in Tarul:

If there were no stupid glottal stop in the middle, there would be only one block consisting of the left half of the first and the right half of the second block... :)

edit2: OK, now the first complete sentence in Na'vi:



How do you like it? ;)

'Oma Tirea

Seysonìltsan :) How well does your conscript handle Na'vi consonant clusters, especially f+C and ts+C?  Na'vi has these consonant clusters: f, s, ts + p, px, t, tx, k, kx, l, m, n, ng, r, y, w for a total of 39 consonant clusters.  An example would be za-sya-'u (it's not zas-ya-'u BTW because Na'vi syllables never end on a fricative or affricate).  Also, how are ', Ä, Ì, LL, Ng, and RR alone written?

Something more to think about: Na'vi has infixes that can turn verbs such as into k<iv>ä.  Maybe you could devise a special way to keep those whole while keeping the conscript as a whole readable easily.  Keeping the infixes unsplit may actually improve readability :)

[img]http://swokaikran.skxawng.lu/sigbar/nwotd.php?p=2b[/img]

ÌTXTSTXRR!!

Srake serar le'Ìnglìsìa lì'fyayä aylì'ut?  Nari si älofoniru rutxe!!

Plusquamperfekt

Thank you for your very constructive feedback! Meanwhile I have already invented symbols for all remaining sounds but the consonant clusters are indeed a real challange, as Tarul block can only depict /(s)C(G)/ and /(š)C(G)/ clusters (G = /l r j w/).
So when you have other consonant clusters, you need to use placeholders, which are explained below.

BASICS
Tarul essentially resembles an alphasyllabary or abudiga, in that elements representing sounds are grouped together to complex symbols or blocks. The following example shows the words "Tarul" and "Miwonša" in Tarul and how the blocks are composed:



The classification of Tarul is difficult, though, as according to wikipedia vowels are "obligatory but secondary" in alphasyllabaries, which is not the case in Tarul. Another feature that militates against being an alphasyllabary is the complexity of blocks. A simple block can represent up to 6 phonemes, a splitted block (representing two syllables) can even contain 10 sounds. All in all, in Miwonša there is a 1 syllable :1 block ratio, if we consider splitted blocks to be ligatures of two simple blocks. The following figure shows how sounds in simple blocks are organized:



Basically all Tarul blocks are composed of two parts. The upper consonant half and the lower vowel half. The most complex syllable structure that Miwonša allows is [(S)C1(L)]V1(V2)(C2)]. "C" is a consonant, "V" is a vowel, "S" is either /s/ or /ʃ/ and "L" is /w/, /j/, /r/ or /l/.

Example 1:

    "muskja" (school) → Syllable structure: (C1.V1.C2)-(C1.L.V1) → Block 1 (2+5), Block 2 (3+5)

Explanation: As [mus] is a CVC syllable, the upper half has to look like #2 and the lower half like #5 in the table. As [kja] is a CLV syllable, the upper half has to look like #3 and the lower half like #5 in figure "2".

Example 2:

    "lušoi" (green) → Syllable structure: (C1.V1)-(C1.V1.V2) → Block 1 (1+5), Block 2 (1+6)

Explanation: As [lu] is a CV syllable, the upper half has to look like #1 and the lower half like #5 in the table. As [šoi] is a CVV syllable, the upper half has to look like #1 and the lower half like #6 in figure "2".

VOWELS
Miwonša has 5 oral vowels, 5 nasal vowels and 8 diphthongs: <a, e, i, o, u; an, en, in, on, un; ai, ei, oi, ui; au eu iw ou>. The next figure shows how to write them:



CONSONANTS
Apart from [ɕ] and [tɬ], which are represented by two elements (which could be described as "digraphs"), all phonemes have own graphemes in Tarul.

The following table shows all plosives, fricatives and affricates:



The next table shows the remaining consonant sounds and sound combinations with own graphemes:



PLACEHOLDERS

The sections above show how to write words with regular syllable structures that do not violate the phonotactics of Miwonša. Three problems, however, have not been mentioned yet:

    1. What if a syllable starts with a vowel?
    2. How do we write loanwords with complex onsets and codas that cannot be displayed in one block?
    3. What if there is an abbrevation (for example: containing only consonants)

The answer is that we need placeholders, which can be used to substitute vowels or consonants:

http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110419005022/conlang/images/6/65/Platzhalter.png

The first block shows the complete placemarker. To substitute a noun, the upper half of the placeholder has to be used. To substitute a vowel, the lower half has to be used. Block 2 and 3 show the isolated sounds "a" and "p".

SPLITTED CONSONANTS

In CVC syllables the upper half of the block gets splitted. This means that the upper half contains the left half of C1 (onset) and the right half of C2 (coda). Unfortunately two problems occur.

    1st problem: Some consonants look identical except for the vertical line in the middle (like "p" and "t")
    2nd problem: If C1=C2 (like "mam", "tat", "sas" etc.), then the CVC block looks exactly like the CV block

These difficulties can be removed by using diacritics which are explained in the following subsections:

What to do with the vertical line

Splitted consonants are always separated by vertical lines in the middle, whether the unsplitted consonants would have that line as well or not. Consonants that wouldn't have it in a CV syllable can be distinguished from consonants that would by adding a little dot which indicates that the line in the middle wouldn't be there in a CV syllable:



What to do if C1 is C2

Like in the first problem, we have consonants that would have a vertical line in the middle and consonants that would not. Therefore there are two diacritics to indicate that C1 is C2 - otherwise it would not be possible to distinguish [pap] from [tat]. Consonants which do not have this stroke in a simple syllable are indicated with two small horizontal lines. Consonants that always have that line get a little "fork".



As only few consonants can be C2 in Miwonša, only few symbols with forks or horizontal lines are common. Of course, in loanwords other combinations are possible as well (for example "f_f or "n_n")

Important comment about [m]: When [m] is splitted, it looks differently than the simple [m] (see tables above).

Plusquamperfekt

#3
COMPLEX ONSETS

As mentioned above, onsets can contain up to three consonants (SCL), if S is /s, š/ and L is /r, l, w, j/. If the onset has the structure (S)C, block type #1 or #2 is needed, if there is (S)CG, #3 ior #4 is needed.



To add "s" or "š" we have to add one ("s") or two ("š") two horizontal lines on each side in the lower half:



SPLITTED BLOCKS

Splitted blocks can be easily distinguished from simple blocks, as the lower half is either asymmetrical or containing the same diacritics as splitted consonants. The rules for splitting consonants are the same as in simple blocks. Blocks can be splitted whenever there are two simple blocks containing no coda consonants.

A good example is the word "Miwonša":



PUNCTUATION





OK, NOW THE EXTRA SYMBOLS FOR NA'VI



As Na'vi lacks /ɲ/, I thought I did not invent a new symbol for /ŋ/.



lines = s_, points = f_, lines + points ts_

Kamean

Tse'a ngal ke'ut a krr fra'uti kame.


'Oma Tirea

Quote from: Kamean on September 15, 2011, 10:47:44 AM
Very original. Seysonìltsan! :)

Mllte ngahu :D Nice job on the non-native Na'vi phonemes.  Now we can have another Na'vi writing system :D

[img]http://swokaikran.skxawng.lu/sigbar/nwotd.php?p=2b[/img]

ÌTXTSTXRR!!

Srake serar le'Ìnglìsìa lì'fyayä aylì'ut?  Nari si älofoniru rutxe!!

Plusquamperfekt

If you want to, I can provide a file which you can use to construct blocks, but this would take some time and work...

'Oma Tirea

I'm not really much of a font creator....

Also, just thought of something: how would numbers work in your conscript, and are there any other punctuation/special symbols still to come?

[img]http://swokaikran.skxawng.lu/sigbar/nwotd.php?p=2b[/img]

ÌTXTSTXRR!!

Srake serar le'Ìnglìsìa lì'fyayä aylì'ut?  Nari si älofoniru rutxe!!