153 lines
5.6 KiB
Markdown
153 lines
5.6 KiB
Markdown
|
---
|
|||
|
|
title: "ReConLangMo 3: Morphosyntactic Typology"
|
|||
|
|
date: 2020-05-11
|
|||
|
|
series: reconlangmo
|
|||
|
|
tags:
|
|||
|
|
- conlang
|
|||
|
|
- lewa
|
|||
|
|
---
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
# ReConLangMo 3: Morphosyntactic Typology
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
In the last post of [this series][reconlangmoseries], we covered the sounds and
|
|||
|
|
word patterns of L'ewa. This time we are covering morphosyntactic typology, or
|
|||
|
|
how words and sentences are formed out of root words, details about sentences,
|
|||
|
|
word order and those kinds of patterns. I'll split each of these into their own
|
|||
|
|
headings so it's a bit easier to grok. This is a response to [this
|
|||
|
|
prompt][rclm3].
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
[reconlangmoseries]: /blog/series/reconlangmo
|
|||
|
|
[rclm3]: thttps://www.reddit.com/r/conlangs/comments/ghvo48/reconlangmo_3_morphosyntactic_typology/
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
## Word Order
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
L'ewa is normally a Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) language like English. However,
|
|||
|
|
the word order of a sentence can be changed if it is important to specify some
|
|||
|
|
part of the sentence in particular.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
I haven't completely finalized the particles for this, but I'd like to use `ka` to
|
|||
|
|
denote the subject, `ke` to denote the verb and `ku` to denote the object. For
|
|||
|
|
example if the input sentence is something like:
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
```
|
|||
|
|
/mi/ /mad.sa/ /lo/ /spa.lo/
|
|||
|
|
mi madsa lo spalo
|
|||
|
|
I eat an apple
|
|||
|
|
```
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
You could emphasize the eating with:
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
```
|
|||
|
|
/kɛ/ /mad.sa/ /ka/ /mi/ /lo/ /spa.lo/
|
|||
|
|
[ke] madsa ka mi lo spalo
|
|||
|
|
V eat S I an apple
|
|||
|
|
```
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
(the `ke` is in square brackets here because it is technically not required, but
|
|||
|
|
it can make more sense to be explicit in some cases)
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
or the apple with:
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
```
|
|||
|
|
/ku/ /lo/ /spalo/ /kɛ/ /mad.sa/ /mi
|
|||
|
|
ku lo spalo ke madsa mi
|
|||
|
|
O an apple V eat I
|
|||
|
|
```
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
L'ewa doesn't really have adjectives or adverbs in the normal indo-european
|
|||
|
|
sense, but it does have a way to analytically combine meanings together. For
|
|||
|
|
example if `qa'te` is the word for `is fast/quick/rapid in rate`, then saying
|
|||
|
|
you are quickly eating (or wolfing food down) would be something like:
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
```
|
|||
|
|
/qaʔ.tɛ/ /mad.sa/
|
|||
|
|
qa'te madsa
|
|||
|
|
is fast [kind of] eat
|
|||
|
|
```
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
These are assumed to be metaphorical by default. It's not always clear what
|
|||
|
|
someone would mean by a fast kind of language (would they be referencing
|
|||
|
|
[Speedtalk][speedtalk]?)
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
[speedtalk]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speedtalk
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
L'ewa doesn't always require a subject or object if it can be figured out from
|
|||
|
|
context. You can just say "rain" instead of "it's raining". By default, the
|
|||
|
|
first word in a sentence without an article is the verb. The ka/ke/ku series
|
|||
|
|
needs to be used if the
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
## Morphological Typology
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
L'ewa is a analytic language. Every single word has only one form and particles
|
|||
|
|
are used to modify the meaning or significance of words. There are only two word
|
|||
|
|
classes: content and particles.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
### Alignment
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
L'ewa is a nominative-accusative language. Other particles may be introduced in
|
|||
|
|
the future to help denote the relations that exist in other alignments, but I
|
|||
|
|
don't need them yet.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
### Word Classes
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
As said before, L'ewa only has two word classes, content (or verbs) and
|
|||
|
|
particles to modify the significance or relations between content. There is also
|
|||
|
|
a hard limit of two arguments per verb, which should help avoid the problems
|
|||
|
|
that Lojban has with its inconsistent usage of the x3, x4 and x5 places.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
As the content words are all technically verbs, there is no real need for a
|
|||
|
|
copula. The ka/ke/ku series can also help to break out of other things that
|
|||
|
|
modify "noun-phrases" (when those things exist). There are also no nouns,
|
|||
|
|
adjectives or adverbs, because analytically combining words completely replaces
|
|||
|
|
the need for them.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Nouns and verbs do not inflect for numbers. If numbers are needed they can be
|
|||
|
|
provided, otherwise the default is to assume "one or more".
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
## Conscript
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
I am still working on the finer details of the conscript for L'ewa, but here is
|
|||
|
|
a sneak preview of the letter forms I am playing with (this image below might
|
|||
|
|
not render properly in light mode):
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
My inspirations for this script were [zbalermorna][zbalermorna], Hangul, Hanzi,
|
|||
|
|
Katakana, Greek, international computer symbols, traditional Japanese art and
|
|||
|
|
the [International Phonetic Alphabet][ipa].
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
[zbalermorna]: https://mw.lojban.org/images/b/b3/ZLM4_Writeup_v2.pdf
|
|||
|
|
[ipa]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
This script is very decorative, and is primarily intended to be used in
|
|||
|
|
spellcraft and other artistic uses. It will probably show up in my art from time
|
|||
|
|
to time, and will definitely show up in any experimental video production that I
|
|||
|
|
work on in the future. I will go into more detail about this in the future, but
|
|||
|
|
here is my prototype. Please do let me know what you think about it.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
---
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
As a side note, the words `madsa`, `spalo` and `qa'te` are now official L'ewa
|
|||
|
|
words, I guess. The entire vocabulary of the language can now be listed below:
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
**Content Words**
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
| L'ewa word | IPA | English |
|
|||
|
|
| ---------- | --- | ------- |
|
|||
|
|
| `l'ewa` | `/lʔ.ɛwa/` | is a language |
|
|||
|
|
| `madsa` | `/mad.sa/` | eats/is eating |
|
|||
|
|
| `qa'te` | `/qaʔ.tɛ/` | is fast/quick/rapid in rate |
|
|||
|
|
| `zasko` | `/ʒa.sko/` | is a plant/is vegetation |
|
|||
|
|
| `spalo` | `/spa.lo/` | is an apple |
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
**Particles**
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
| L'ewa word | IPA | English |
|
|||
|
|
| ---------- | --- | ------- |
|
|||
|
|
| lo | /lo/ | a, an, indefinite article |
|
|||
|
|
| ka | /ka/ | subject marker |
|
|||
|
|
| ke | /kɛ/ | verb marker |
|
|||
|
|
| ku | /ku/ | object marker |
|
|||
|
|
| mi | /mi/ | the current speaker |
|