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 Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 6:32 pm
IntroductionSo, this is my conlang, Nazēiyo. :3 It's my first ever, and it's still in its young n00b stages but I'm fleshing it out and working on the grammar and such. Right now I have a phonology system set out and a couple o' hundred words for vocabulary, mostly nouns.
I hope to watch this conlang grow. 8DSummaryNazēiyo is a conlang based on the languages I know most about and am most interested in. It's still my first, so there are still a lot of things that need to be covered, but I am trying my best! Nazēiyo is primarily an SOV language, although word order can be changed. Questions can be in VSO. Events are usually told using TMP order (Time, Manner, Place).UpdatesI'm thinking of changing the order from SOV to SVO as it'll seem to work better. I'll see what I plan on doing.
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Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 6:51 pm
BASICS - Phonology and Orthography (sans script)
First of all, Nazēiyo is a language that is meant to draw influences from the languages I know or am interested in. I'd say this primarily means: English, French, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Icelandic (minimally). Thus, the sounds used are primarily those you'd find in these languages, and I'd say there are only a handful which are completely unheard of in the English language.
Vowels - Wakayin
vowel - IPA - explanation/example
a - /a/ - father, but shorter
á - /æ/ - bat
i - /i/ - tea, key
y - /ɪ/ - bit
e - /ɛ/ - wet
é - /ə/ - mention (schwa)
u - /u/ - goo, but shorter OR toot (as in a train "toot-toot")
o - /o/ - tote
Consonants - Chelyin
consonant - IPA - explanation/example
b - - bite
p - - poke
h - - home
g - - goal
k - - king
d - - date
t - - team
n - - nine
m - - mute
l - - lemon
r - - ramen (Japanese "r") at the beginning of syllables, bar at the end of syllables
th, þ - - think (unvoiced)
sh - - xiang or shigoto (Chinese "x", Japanese "sh")
ts - - goats
ch - - qiang or chotto (Chinese "q", Japanese "ch")
s - - soul
z - - gonads
j - - jiao or jibun (Chinese/Japanese "j")
w - - wad
f - - feed (slightly softer)
y - - yank
Two-Vowel Combinations Diphthongs! :O
ai - /ai/ - bye
ei - /e/ - bay, but not as harsh. More like regardé in French.
oi - /oj/ - boy
ui - /wi/ - sweep
au - /aʊ/ - mouse
uei - /we/ - sway but less harsh
I think that's all for now. :] "uei" is the only three-vowel combination you'll ever encounter in Nazēiyo, and the most common two-vowel combinations are "ai" and "ei". Simple, nen?
... except there are ... macrons. In the Nazēiyo script and in Roman letters, macrons are used to indicate that the vowels are to be pronounced distinctly rather than in a diphthong. For example:
Nazēiyo is not pronounced "Nah - zay - yo", but rather "Nah - zeh - i - yo".
The macron is always over the first vowel in the grouping. In the case of "uei", only "ūei" (oo - ay) is ever encountered, never "ūēi". When you can't used macrons, use a hyphen after the letter the macron would usually be over. This is why Nazēiyo is sometimes typed "Naze-iyo" when I'm too lazy to type a macron. razz
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Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 6:45 pm
BASICS - Simple Words and SentencesPronouns - ShilzaNi is the basic word for "I" and is the word that the majority of us would use regularly. (First-person singular subjective.)
Nisa is the basic word for "we". "-sa" is a common pluralising suffix. (First person plural subjective.)
Nimisa is a more emphatic "I", implying superiority, dominance, or arrogance. Would be used by world leaders when addressing the public, gang leaders, a boss when making a speech, or by a regular person for emphasis or defiance ("I bet Jane won the beauty contest!" "No! Actually, I did.") Should only be used by people in power speaking formally to their inferiors or for occassional emphasis, otherwise it is seen as rude and arrogant; speech only used by gangsters. (First-person singular emphatic subjective.)
Me - "me" or "myself". (First-person singular objective.)
Mesa - "us" or "ourselves". (First-person plural objective.)
Memisa - "me" or "myself. (First-person singular emphatic objective.)
Tīa - "you" (Second-person singular subjective.)
Tīasa - "you" (Second-person plural subjective.)
Tīamasa - "you" (Second-person polite singular and plural.)
To - "you" or "yourself". (Second-person singular objective.)
Tosa - "you" or "you guys". (Second-person plural objective.)
Tomasa - "you" (Second-person polite singular and plural objective.)
Lu - "he" or "him" (Third-person singular subjective and objective. Masculine.)
Lusa - "they" or "them" when referring to an all-male group. (Third-person plural subjective and objective. Masculine.)
La - "she" or "her" (Third-person singular subjective and objective. Feminine.)
Lasa - "they" or "them" when referring to an all-female group. (Third-person plural subjective and objective. Feminine.)
Lo - "he/she" or "him/her" (Third-person singular subjective and objective. Neutral.)
Losa - "they" or "them" when referring to an mixed or unknown group. (Third-person plural subjective and objective. Neutral.)
The following are only used for inanimate objects with no lifeform. For instance, "gi" can be used to refer to a person's arm or a teacup or a bear skin rug, but not for a person or a bear. Difficult to explain. smile
Gi - "it" (Third-person singular subjective and objective. Inanimate)
Gisa - "they" or "them" when referring to an all-male group. (Third-person plural subjective and objective. Inanimate.)Indicating the PossessiveNazēiyo uses a possessive suffix word "do" to indicate the possessive. "Do" is the analagous to "de" (的) in Chinese, "no" (の) in Japanese, and "eui" (의) in Korean. It is a separate word from the pronoun except when joined to form a "posessive pronoun". In other words:
"This is my car." is
"Záke ni do otocha deshin."
BUT
"This car is mine." is
"Zádo otocha nido deshin."Verbs - IkezaThere are 4 main verb endings:
-e: especially -re
-i: especially -ri
-nin
-o
-e, and -i are by far the most common, although -nin is also fairly common. -o is the least common, but common and regular enough to constitute a regular verb ending. There are also plenty of irregular verbs, the most common of which are "to be" (deshi), "to have" (ayo), and "to exist" (ariyosu).
USEFUL: I will have actual conjugation rules up soon, but for now here is a handy automatic conjugator for regular verbs. Of course, it's not very useful to most of you yet, until you learn some of the language vocabulary, but perhaps you can play around with it. Try the following words:
chibere (to eat)
chuwenin (to kiss)
aimare (to love)
kaido (to drive)
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Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 10:38 am
RANDOM VOCABULARYCommon VocabularyVocabulary SpreadsheetPeriodic Table of ElementsAh, so I was bored one day and came up with the Naze-iyo version of the entire periodic table. It's very Icelandic-influenced, so it'll be easy if you know Icelandic.
It is available for viewing here: Periodic Table
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Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 3:28 pm
HONORIFICS
The honorifics system is fairly complex. They are nearly always suffixes, and may indicate a variety of information: gender, age, superiority, occupation, and more. Honorifics are nearly always used, even among close friends. The only common exceptions are between siblings, lovers, spouses, and angry people (although there are honorifics for all those relationships as well). The honorifics can be attached to first names, last names, or even positions and occupations!*
-sen
The -sen suffix is the most common, catch-all honorific, analogous to -san in Japanese. It applies to any gender, and virtually any ranking and age. If speaking to a stranger you just met on the street, the -se suffix is appropriate.
The words "mom" and "dad" have the -sen suffix. (Amasen and apasen respectively.)
"Mommy" and "daddy" would be "mama(-sen)" and "papa(-sen)". "Mother" and "father", used in sentences such as "Three mothers arrived." or "Your father." (i.e. not forms of address but the words themselves), are "amamu" and "apafu".
-yan
The -yan suffix is analagous to -sama in Japanese. It is a more formal -sen, and can be applicable to anyone who can be considered superior to yourself when there isn't a better honorific to use. It can also be affixed to those you admire or respect, such as celebrities. ("Joni Dep yan ha kul!!" - Johnny Depp-yan is so cool.)
-yan is also used when referring to deities.
God - Shemiyan
-- the Christian God can also be referred to as Yehowayan
Jesus - Jisuyan
Allah - Alayan
-jun
The -jun suffix is the neutral honorific used when referring to males, usually from student-age to adulthood. It is analagous to -kun in Japanese.
-ko
The -ko suffix has no Japanese equivalent, although it can be described as a more mature -chan. It is almost the female version of -jun, usually used by young women. More mature women usually stop using this honorific around the age of 30, and a woman who continues to use -ko past this time could be seen as either very childish and immature or simply carefree.
-chi
The -chi suffix is nearly analagous to the Japanese -chan. It refers to children both male and female, although some silly girls may continue to insist on being called -chi up to high school. Childhood nicknames often develop from this honorific affixed to name contractions. (e.g. Imarter-chi -> Imachi/Ichi)
-sensha
An occupational honorific used to address people in certain "respected" job fields, usually doctors, teachers, scientists and alchemists. Analagous to Japanese -sensei.
-kia
An occupational honorific reserved for artists, artisans, and some other experts. Somewhat similar to Japanese -ka, although it is not considered immodest to refer to yourself as such.
-ku
An occupational honorific reserved for chefs and expert cooks.
*Note: Repeated titles are common. For instance, if you are tended to by an anonymous doctor after a terrible road riot, you may thank him/her as "ishen-sensha". In English this would literally be something like "Dr. Doctor", but it's not strange in Naze-iyo. smile
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