Tamaissa-lêk: my conlang!!!

Started by Irtaviš Ačankif, February 24, 2013, 08:26:07 PM

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Irtaviš Ačankif

So some of you may be wondering where my new screenname and signature come from. Well, they are in a conlang in development, called Tamaissa-lêk. Backstory:

Tamaissa is a fictional union of semi-autonomous states in the 22nd-24th century encompassing Asia, Eastern and Central Europe, and North America. Its government is structured around an open-source central control program which micro-manages vital economic parameters (such as interest rates, inflation rates, tax rates) and is programmed by a committee elected every 4 years, which also takes the job of maintaining and overseeing the program.

Tamaissa-lêk was created by the central control program when it was put in control in 2097 and has been adopted by the majority of the members of the Federation of Democratic Republics (former name) as an official language.

The Tamaissa-lêk in this post is of the late 24th century human standard dialect, during the Second Dümlyaghzh-Tamaissa Conflict which eventually brought down the nation of Tamaissa.

Tamaissa-lêk is designed to sound modern and have an agglutinative and extremely logical grammar, but also to have a beautiful phonology and look.



Phonology

Consonants:

Voiceless stops:   kpt
Voiced stops:   bd
Voiceless fricatives:   hfth
Voiced fricatives:   vdh
Voiceless sibilant:   s
Voiced sibilant:   z
Liquids:   lwry

Vowels:
Only three pure vowels: a, e, i and their long counterparts â, ê, î. The diphthongs are ei and ai. Thus, loanwords from English or Esperanto (the former FDR language) are generally calqued from their morphological roots rather than phonetically borrowed.



Phonotactics

The basic syllable structure is (/s/)(C)(/j/)V(C). There are several constraints though:

  • If the syllable begins with a cluster with y, then the vowel cannot be a diphthong.
  • At most two vowels go in a row, and they cannot be the same or /e/ and /i/. Example: faiêrath is syllabified fai.ê.rath.
  • y cannot end a syllable.
  • Consonants go with the following vowel during syllabification unless this violates phonotactical rules.



Grammar

Nouns

Noun declension is extremely straightforward and slightly Na'vi-ish. There are the following case endings (the first for words ending in consonants, the second for words ending in vowels):

Nominative: -el, -l
Genitive: -em, -m
Continuative: -(e)s(e)-, -s(e)-
Accusative: -es, -s

The continuative case is used to connect postpositions, which are the only adpositions in Tamaissa-lêk, and serve roles similar to the "other" cases (ablative, allative, dative, etc) and the prepositions of English. Note that in many dialects, especially of North America, the continuative  does not exist and postpositions are directly attached, often written with a hyphen.

The plural is formed by adding i- (with the hyphen) to the beginning, or a- if the word begins with i. This is always another syllable. Lenition occurs (and only in this case):

p -> f
k -> h
t -> th
s -> z

Example: i-zenêri "thoughts" from senêri "thought".

Verbs

Verb conjugation is a three-step process. To understand what this means study this verb paradigm:

Aspect
Gnomic: -(a)-
Progressive: -ath-
Perfective: -an-
Imminence: -ald(a)-
Began to...: -ild(a)-

Tense
Past: -ik-
Present: (nothing)
Future: -at-

Voice
Plain: (nothing)
Causative: -isr(a)-
Volitional: -akes-
Passive: -aser-
Potential: -asr-

Positive/Negative
Positive: (nothing)
Negative: (n)â
Question: (m)ê

Class
Terminative: (nothing)/-a
Attributive: -e
Substantive: -i
Adverbial: -(e)ya
Imperative: -(e)ka

Final "-ae" is sometimes shortened to "e", even in writing. Note that tense is not distinguished.

Examples:
kesal-: to leave
=>  Kesalanaserisr(a)e aifakirel kesalath.: the year which has been forced to leave leaves.
hae-: to live
=>  senisema haeai: to live/living in a place (verbal noun)

An important thing to note is that there is no such thing as an adjective in Tamaissa-lêk! Adjectives are translated as stative verbs such as arek- (to be far away) and swath- (to be fast). This also allows for slight nuances in "adjectives", such as in my name Arekathe Akêtheni, "currently-far writer", implying that I won't be far away forever. Obviously, the attributive class is used.

The attributive form is also used to form relative clauses. I'll post on that later, but basically it's the same as in Japanese.

Vocabulary

This is machine generated from my latest dictionary database. I will update this section regularly.

               
clm> (ddict eng)
[ID] ENGLISH                       TAMAISSAN                     DÜMLYAGHZHIC                  CLASS                        

0 "a"                           <DNE>                         mni                           article                      
1 "the"                         <DNE>                         sïy                           article                      
2 Earth (planet)                Ethis                         Khardzmni                     prop. noun                    
3 Moon (of Earth)               evêhe                         zdrïye                        noun                          
4 again                         mil                           mll                           adverb                        
5 and (bet. nouns)              a                             ï                             particle                      
6 and (conj.)                   esti                          stïy                          particle                      
7 beloved                       keleni                        kelïdzum                      noun                          
8 beneath                       -lda                          slïdo                         adposition                    
9 beyond                        -la                           slï                           adposition                    
10 boy                           kilwi                         seisei                        noun                          
11 bright star                   sîle                          <DNE>                         noun                          
12 computer                      kîn                           <DNE>                         noun                          
13 day                           ethiskir                      zhüq                          noun                          
14 edge                          teye                          dyïq                          noun                          
15 force (physics)               hyaer                         ghyär                         noun                          
16 gen. dative                   -ma                           ye                            adposition                    
17 girl                          kilwe                         säsï                          noun                          
18 gold                          eire                          üka                           noun                          
19 hall, auditorium              isazda                        lhüzsdï                       noun                          
20 leaf                          kesal                         dzhäkkü                       noun                          
21 light alc. beverage           tyewa                         tshhü                         noun                          
22 like, as                      -th                           äqïy                          adposition                    
23 marimo (plant)                thêskep                       dzkïp                         noun                          
24 or                            ize                           zïy                           particle                      
25 person                        kam                           kïm                           noun                          
26 pluralizing pfx               i-                            ish                           particle                      
27 rain                          aite                          qaitshhe                      noun                          
28 republic                      kamtên                        <DNE>                         noun                          
29 star                          pear                          kürbä                         noun                          
30 still                         nân                           yo                            adverb                        
31 storm                         temlama                       dumlam                        noun                          
32 sun                           aifa                          qaipa                         noun                          
33 time                          kir                           kïr                           noun                          
34 to be                         na                            dïy                           verb                          
35 to be blue                    ityel                         itshhell                      verb                          
36 to be bright                  hessa                         qhizï                         verb                          
37 to be far away                areka                         qorekï                        verb                          
38 to be free (as in freedom)    ihesa                         khattï                        verb                          
39 to be good                    keza                          ngör                          verb                          
40 to be great                   zarelda                       darq                          verb                          
41 to be happy                   teftia                        tepftï                        verb                          
42 to be large                   pelva                         dududu                        verb                          
43 to be near                    ireka                         ïlheq                         verb                          
44 to be new                     atta                          khattï                        verb                          
45 to be sad                     nyala                         ngalï                         verb                          
46 to be sweet                   awena                         khowünï                       verb                          
47 to be united                  issa                          shheqï                        verb                          
48 to become                     aseka                         qoshhekh                      verb                          
49 to bring                      iraka                         ïlhaq                         verb                          
50 to come                       kina                          kkhinï                        verb                          
51 to create                     tyaka                         tshhaq                        verb                          
52 to fall                       ayea                          adzhhe                        verb                          
53 to fly                        halma                         dnkhalm                       verb                          
54 to go                         pina                          pfin                          verb                          
55 to live                       haea                          qhaghï                        verb                          
56 to love (fpo)                 kela                          khäqï                         verb                          
57 to meet again                 mildêra                       mlldzrr                       verb                          
58 to pass (time)                asa                           qotsh                         verb                          
59 to recall                     milsenêra                     mllsdïner                     verb                          
60 to smell                      kisva                         qishvï                        verb                          
61 to split                      kazda                         kzodï                         verb                          
62 to taste                      mina                          lhokka                        verb                          
63 to travel                     tarira                        tsrïr                         verb                          
64 to tremble                    pilir                         kikïkikïzda                   verb                          
65 vault                         aizêth                        qaizhhekhetsh                 noun                          
66 water                         nal                           wawa                          noun                          
67 west (direction)              lafahe                        läshi                         noun                          
68 wing                          mayus                         khukhu dodo                   noun                          
69 world, universe               aise                          qaisï                         noun                          
70 year                          aifakir                       qaipakïr                      noun                          
Previously Ithisa Kīranem, Uniltìrantokx te Skxawng.

Name from my Sakaš conlang, from Sakasul Ältäbisäl Acarankïp

"First name" is Ačankif, not Eltabiš! In Na'vi, Atsankip.

Tirea Aean

Posts such as this about personal conlangs actually go in /linguistics traditionally.

/projects is actually where people post projects having to do with Learn Na'vi and the Na'vi conlang and its advancement or other creative thingies one can do with the language, etc.

Moving thread so it will get more attention from its intended audience..

Tirea Aean

#2
This is interesting. I like the lenition. Reminds me a little bit of Na'vi. I also like the idea of no adjectives, but instead having verbs. I've thought about such a thing myself, but decided not to implement it that way. :)

What are you using to maintain and generate a dictionary database?

EDIT: what does /ä/ sound like? "open front unrounded vowel, centralized"? Also, I thought this was epic (and kinda funny):

Quote-ma [afx]               ~に

Irtaviš Ačankif

lol that just means all the restricted senses of the dative that Japanese ~に can express...lol
Previously Ithisa Kīranem, Uniltìrantokx te Skxawng.

Name from my Sakaš conlang, from Sakasul Ältäbisäl Acarankïp

"First name" is Ačankif, not Eltabiš! In Na'vi, Atsankip.

Irtaviš Ačankif

Some random notes

Pronouns

Pronouns are simply nouns. The four pronouns are ne (I), ke (you), se (he/she), and si (it) and are regularly declined.

Normative word order

Usually the word order is SOV, subject-object-verb. SVO and VSO are also common. Other word orders are technically correct but are generally only used for stylistic effect. The first word in a sentence is perceived to be the most important, unlike the case in Na'vi. "Adjectives" (i.e. attributive verbs) strictly precede nouns. Examples:


Nelkeskelath.
I-NOMyou-ACClove-PROG
"I love you" (lit. "I am loving you")


Kesnelkelath.
you-ACCI-NOMlove-PROG
"I love you (not anybody else)."

Relative clauses

Relative clauses are formed with the attributive verb class or the suffix -e which turns any postpositional phrase into an attributive "adjective". Example:


Ethisselaehaei
Earth-beyond-ATTRlive-SUB
"life beyond Earth" (i.e. afterlife; not aliens (haei is the substantive form of hae-))


Ethisseldahaeanei-hilweai-hilwi
Earth-underlive-GNO-ATTRgirl-PLUR(and)boy-PLUR
"girls and boys who live underground"


Eiresirakanekilwe
Gold-ACCbring-PERF-ATTRgirl
"the girl who has brought gold"

As the last two examples show, Tamaissa-lêk constraints a verb to the end of a relative clause, conjugates it into attributive form, and the whole relative clause is treated as an "adjective" in the larger sentence. This is very similar to Na'vi, though there is no word corresponding to a; rather, the verb is moved to the end, conjugated, and takes on the role of attribution.
Previously Ithisa Kīranem, Uniltìrantokx te Skxawng.

Name from my Sakaš conlang, from Sakasul Ältäbisäl Acarankïp

"First name" is Ačankif, not Eltabiš! In Na'vi, Atsankip.

Irtaviš Ačankif

Quote from: Tirea Aean on February 25, 2013, 01:46:46 PM
What are you using to maintain and generate a dictionary database?
Racket ;)

More specifically, since I don't know any SQL and long text files are hard to scroll and edit, I simply use the filesystem as a persistent hashtable, with file names as keys and file contents as values  ;D
Previously Ithisa Kīranem, Uniltìrantokx te Skxawng.

Name from my Sakaš conlang, from Sakasul Ältäbisäl Acarankïp

"First name" is Ačankif, not Eltabiš! In Na'vi, Atsankip.

Tirea Aean

Quote from: Arekáthe Akêtheni on February 26, 2013, 03:42:21 PM
Quote from: Tirea Aean on February 25, 2013, 01:46:46 PM
What are you using to maintain and generate a dictionary database?
Racket ;)

More specifically, since I don't know any SQL and long text files are hard to scroll and edit, I simply use the filesystem as a persistent hashtable, with file names as keys and file contents as values  ;D

Racket is cool. 8D

you make a text file for EVERY word? O_O

Irtaviš Ačankif

Automatically, via a Racket CLI tool ;). I even wrote a hash->directory function ;D
Previously Ithisa Kīranem, Uniltìrantokx te Skxawng.

Name from my Sakaš conlang, from Sakasul Ältäbisäl Acarankïp

"First name" is Ačankif, not Eltabiš! In Na'vi, Atsankip.

Vawmataw

#8
Interesting conlang.

I also created one, but we write that language following its pronunciation. For example: My sister disagrees = Maj sister dizagriz ([maj sis.tɛr di.za.griz])

Also, for french: Ma sœur désapprouve = Ma sehr dezapruv ([ma sœʁ de.za.pruv])
Fmawn Ta 'Rrta - News IN NA'VI ONLY (Discord)
Traducteur francophone de Kelutral.org, dict-navi et Reykunyu

Irtaviš Ačankif

Quote from: Kameyu a Kepekmì on February 26, 2013, 04:20:18 PM
Interesting conlang.

I also created one, but we write that language following its pronunciation. For example: My sister disagrees = Maj sister dizagriz ([maj sis.tɛr di.za.griz])

Also, for french: Ma sœur désapprouve = Ma sehr dezapruv ([ma sœʁ de.za.pruv])
That would be an orthography, not a language, right?
Previously Ithisa Kīranem, Uniltìrantokx te Skxawng.

Name from my Sakaš conlang, from Sakasul Ältäbisäl Acarankïp

"First name" is Ačankif, not Eltabiš! In Na'vi, Atsankip.

Tirea Aean

Quote from: Arekáthe Akêtheni on February 26, 2013, 04:43:24 PM
Quote from: Kameyu a Kepekmì on February 26, 2013, 04:20:18 PM
Interesting conlang.

I also created one, but we write that language following its pronunciation. For example: My sister disagrees = Maj sister dizagriz ([maj sis.tɛr di.za.griz])

Also, for french: Ma sœur désapprouve = Ma sehr dezapruv ([ma sœʁ de.za.pruv])
That would be an orthography, not a language, right?

Or was he just saying that his constructed language has a sort of phonetic spelling?

Irtaviš Ačankif

#11
Taimassan anthem, sung in full by me + tons of audio processing.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/38454768/Tamaissa_anthem.ogg

Kazd'nasrâya isse ihese i-hamtên
nakirsema issan i-ham a i-hîn!
Haeka, Ethisem senêrim i-thyaki
issae, zarelde Tamaissa-seni!

Pelv'ka, i-nim kamtên, sarheme hilkitên,
i-zaram athkelim darke aizês!
Ethisem nardhas ma, i-zaram darkini,
kînkamem issi kirem lassemi!

Melody stolen from Soviet anthem.

If anybody can guess a translation out of ingenuity or luck, po gets 2 karmas in a row ;)
Previously Ithisa Kīranem, Uniltìrantokx te Skxawng.

Name from my Sakaš conlang, from Sakasul Ältäbisäl Acarankïp

"First name" is Ačankif, not Eltabiš! In Na'vi, Atsankip.

Irtaviš Ačankif

I added tense. Also check out my other conlang  ;D
Previously Ithisa Kīranem, Uniltìrantokx te Skxawng.

Name from my Sakaš conlang, from Sakasul Ältäbisäl Acarankïp

"First name" is Ačankif, not Eltabiš! In Na'vi, Atsankip.