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I Koda Yobi

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Nanoq

PostPosted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 3:15 pm


I Koda Yobi


This is my little conlang. It's called Koda in English and is quite simple, but yet strives for uniqueness and variation. It's inspired by a Swedish childrens' programme about the Middle Ages in Sweden. smile ...don't give me that look, okay? I know it might sound a bit odd, but it's true. Anyway, here's grammar and stuff:


Alphabet

Aa Bb Kk Dd Ee Gg Hh Ii Ll Ļļ Mm Nn Ņņ Oo Pp Rr Ss Tt Uu Ww Yy Zz

So this is the alphabet. smile

Pronounciation

Here's the pronounciation. I've written the letters and then their pronounciation in IPA, X-SAMPA and then there is, for those of you who don't know these languages, explanations of how they'd be pronounced in English. Note that some of the sounds are not found in English, but I tried to give an as close explanation of those as possible.

a ā e i ī o u ū - [a a: e i i: o u u:] - [a a: e i i: o u u:] - (a), (aa), hay, sit, see, for, foot, food

ea eo eu - [ɛ ɔ ɨ] - [E A M] - head, bought, (ew)

w y ļ/r h - [w j ɬ h] - [l w j ?/? h] - light, well, you, (tl)/butter, hat

m n ņ l - [m n ŋ l] - [m n N l] - moon, night, sing

p t k s - [p t k s] - [p t k s] - park, talk, cat, song

b d g z - [b d g z] - [b d g z] - bell, dog, gate, zoo


When a consonant is doubled, it's lengthened and the preceeding vowel becomes shorter. A diaresis (¨) is used to distinguish the diagraphs ea, eo and eu from ëa, ëo and ëu.


Phonology

Syllables

Syllables in Koda are made by an optional consonant (C) followed by a vowel (V) and an optinal l, m, n or ņ (m). Examples:

pa - CV
sam - CVm
yobi - CV.CV
salve - CVm.CV
narëo - CV.CV.V


Sound Changes

In Koda, consonants change in pronounciation under certain circumstances. All consonants are voiced inside words, except for h. The letter ļ turns into [ɾ] (r) when it appears between vowels. All sound changes are shown in ortography.
PostPosted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 3:17 pm


Grammar

The word order in Koda is very flexible, I think, but I prefer SV, since it makes sense to most people. There is no object in Koda, which is why I didn't put any O in the word order form. So far it's been working pretty good. Koda is quite dependent on context, since there are no verb tenses, but there are a few moods.


Articles And Prepositions

Koda uses articles in front of nouns and verbs. There is no difference between definite and indefinite articles. Articles sometimes become prefixes when directly preceeding a noun.

a
Used as the verb article.

a nalva - to be good
a nalvasso - let's be good


i
This is the most common article. Its properties are neutral and it can be used in front of any noun without problems.

ideokki - a dog/the dog
ikirobo - a ball/the ball


e
This article is mostly used for nouns which you want to be masculine, but also for neutral nouns. Compare to Spanish "el" or French "le". "E" is mostly used for animals.

edeokki - a male dog/the male dog
enea - he (a male 'it')


o
"O" is used in front of proper names, towns, river etc. "O" is never a prefix.

o Leonden - London
o Pirel - Peter
o Shinmoe Theam - the Thames


u
"U" is only used for feminine nouns.

udeokki - a female dog/the female dog
unea - she (a female 'it')



Verbs And Adjectives

Verbs are simple and regular in Koda, there is not much to learn. All adjectives are verbs in Koda, which means there are no use for the verb 'to be (adjective)'.

-a
This is the basic form of any verb. It stand for any tense in the indicative mood and is almost always a part of a sentence.

Erëo teada. - [masc-I know] - I know (said by a guy).
Unea yakkara. [fem-it go] - She goes.




This is the noun form of a verb, similar to 事 or the て in Japanese. It's used like the infinitive in English (to run, to be etc.) or the ending -ing.

Na thanzá yakkará hahana. - [to-art fish-ing go-ing pass-want] - I want to go fishing.

This is really hard to explain, but you'll probably get used to it. Tell me if you want more examples.


-asso
This form is used when you're nicely asking someone to do something. This is how you say "please" in Koda. It can also be used for saying "let's (verb)!".

Mimillasso! - [pass-kiss-!please] - Kiss me!
Sasa sarasso!* - [rec-love-!please] - We love each other!



-akko
This ending is used when you're giving orders to someone.

Teakko! - [run-!] - Run!


-


Voices

Since there is no object in Koda, the use of different grammatical voices is common. There are three voices; active, passive and reciprocal. The active voice is the one I've been explaining so far, you know, when someone does something. The passive voice is when someone gets something done to him/her. It's pretty much explained in the Wikipedia article. The passive voice is as easy to get right as anything else. Just take the first syllable (without the coda, if there is any) and put it as a prefix. Lookit:

sara - This is the active voice.
sa + sara > sasara - And this is the passive voice. biggrin

yinma
yi + yinma > yiyinma


Syllables containing the digraphs ea, eo and eu turns into e, o and u respectively when making the passive form. Example:

meuba > mumeuba

When you want the reciprocal voice, you do as with the passive voice; first syllable (without the coda), but instead of putting it as a prefix, you double it and put it in front of the verb.

Ireo sara. - [i love] - I love (generally).
Umide sasara. - [pass-love fem-you] - I love you.
Yeassi sasa sara. - [rec-love ] - We love each other.



Nouns And Pronouns

* This is actually used when saying goodbye to someone. It literally means "we love each other!" and can be used at any time.

Nanoq


Nanoq

PostPosted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 3:18 pm


Good To Know

Names

Names are often shortened in Koda and first and last names are morphed together. Thus a guy with the name Alexander O'Ryan would be called 'Eallai'. A girl called Sandra Jackson could pick the name 'Seadea', since it goes along with the first parts of both her first name and last name. More examples:

Anna Fisher - Anhu
Kevin Bacon - Keabea
Jean d'Arc - Shanda
Yukiko Hariyama - Yugha


You can pick whatever name you want as long as it consists of two syllable and fits into the phonology. There's not right or wrong. The idea is to make the name personal, but also to make it flow with the rest of the language. smile

PostPosted: Mon Apr 09, 2007 3:07 am


reserved.

Nanoq


Nanoq

PostPosted: Mon Apr 09, 2007 3:08 am


reserved.
PostPosted: Mon Apr 09, 2007 3:10 am


post away!

Nanoq


Serali88

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PostPosted: Sun May 06, 2007 2:08 pm


Are you going to post anything? I would like to see what you have.
PostPosted: Mon May 07, 2007 11:43 pm


Serali88
Are you going to post anything? I would like to see what you have.
yes, i will. i'm sorry, i've been so busy with this exchange project in our school, i haven't had time for anything else than my italian friends. sad

but as soon as i get all my school work done, i'll post. i'll start today or tomorrow, hopefully. smile

Nanoq


Serali88

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PostPosted: Thu May 24, 2007 7:22 pm


Great! I hate when school takes away your time to do something you enjoy doing. Ah but what ya gonna do?
PostPosted: Sat Jun 02, 2007 4:19 pm


yes, now i have posted some, hope you'll like it. smile

Nanoq


Serali88

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PostPosted: Sat Jun 02, 2007 7:23 pm


Love it! mrgreen "I Koda Yobi" sounds so cute.
PostPosted: Sat Jun 02, 2007 7:27 pm


XD You say that about every language you encounter, don't you? Erm... I'd like to see more, its good so far, but not a lot of stuff, you know. :/

Homurakitsune

Sparkly Gekko


Nanoq

PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2007 10:37 am


updates!
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Conlang Grammar and Lessons

 
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