Breian is the name I use, but not really a good name since it violates the language's own constraints. It's just a project name, I might change it later.
So I'm going to attempt to explain it here. Hope you are interested by it.
PHONOLOGY
Consonants
p' - /ɸ/
f - /f/
t' - θ
s - /s/
s' - ʃ
h - /h/
r - /ɹ/
l - /l/
w - /w/
y - /j/
m - /m/
n - /n/
p - /p/
t - /t/
k - /k/
All voiced and unaspirated forms of these phonemes are seen as allophones.
Vowels
a - /æ/
e - /ɛ/
i - /ɪ/
u - /ʌ/
á - /a(ː)/
é - /i(ː)/
ú - /u(ː)/
Diphthongs
è - /eɪ/
í - /aɪ/
o - /oʊ/
Phonotactical Constraints
(C1)V(V)(C2)
V = All vowels
C1 = All consonants, excluding /p/,/t/ and /k/.
C2 = All consonants
As you can see, pretty simple so far; It's not too complicated. Now you see why 'Breian' is very illfitting.
Sound Changes
There aren't many sound changes, but there is one:
Only when a suffix or prefix is added, this rule applies. The sounds on the left, if they appear in successive syllables in a word, the first will simplify to the sound on the right:
á, o --->> a
é, è --->> e
í ------->> i
ú ------>> u
Whilst 's'ás'á' (servant) is acceptable since it is a root, 'lúnsú' (one eats) would have to simplify to 'lunsú'.
Stress
The stress of a word lies on the root of the word. Any suffixes or prefixes are left as unstressed and not subjected to the following rules;
1 - One syllable words are not stressed if they are not a noun, verb, adverb or adjective.
2 - Multiple syllable words generally stress on the last syllable that contains 'á', 'é', 'è', 'í', 'o', 'ú'.
3 - When a word does not contain any syllables with these sounds, it stresses on the last syllable.
4 - If it can, it will avoid syllables with stops and instead stress on the prior syllable.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Breian works on a basic VSO word order and this is what is seen as 'normal'. However, if wanting to indicate the topic of the sentence, the topic can be moved to the beginning of the sentence.
Sentences are compacted because of Breian's attempt at being Fusional in relation to its verbs. But use of particles indicates subjects, objects and so on instead.
Adjectives are seen as nouns and are treated the same way. There aren't any cases dictated by suffixes; instead particles do.
I'm going to stop attempting to use the correct lexicon, as I'm failing profusely, so I'll get onto something actually IN the language.
ARTICLES AND PRONOUNS
I have a tradition, with every new conlang I make, that I always begin with the personal pronouns and articles. This time, partly, I have pronouns and yet I do not. But first, here are the articles.
Gender --- Definite --- Indefinite --- Plural --- Possessive*
Personal ----- le ----------- ún ---------- lè ----------- a
Natural ------ lu ----------- en --------- lúnu --------- nus
Material ----- il ------------ un --------- lés ----------- él
Neutral ------ la ----------- an ---------- lás ----------- lo
*The possessive refers to it being in possession, not it possessing.
Now, the genders are pretty regular; anything associated to people are 'personal', anything man-made or objects non-living are 'material', 'natural' is all nature and living objects and 'neutral' are the nouns that refer to non-physical things, like 'joy' or 'time' or 'hunger'.
Now, let's move on to pronouns. Or do we? Verbs conjugate to person very directly, leaving the space for subject empty unless it refers to a certain object. But then the place of object is left. So, I wondered how easy could I make it...
Person --- Singular --- Plural --- Possessive
1st ----------- a --------- lè ----------- a
2nd ---------- él -------- lés --------- nus
3rd ---------- nus ------ lúnu --------- él
Polite 3rd --- lo -------- lás ---------- lo
That's it.
You may think it might get complicated, but if a noun is always with an article or determiner, and not the other way round, it makes sense to give articles at least one other use.
So, whilst 'a' means 'me', 'a suunmet' means 'my watch', 'hem a suunmet' means 'boy's watch' and 'a hem a suunmet' means 'my boy's watch'.
t'úkse wun sa hem s'á a suunmet
That is the boy who stole my watch
VERBS
There are four types of verbs; essentially four endings a verb infinitive can have. The verb ending is an indicator to the verb's meaning as a whole.
[-o] verbs are seen as sensual verbs. Associated with the senses.
[-in] verbs are stative verbs, verbs that define a state and also the progressive forms of other verbs.
[-è] verbs are verbs that dictate movement or change in state.
[-sá] verbs are all other verbs that don't conform to the previous ones.
As mentioned previously, all verbs use suffixes to show their subject. These rules change for each ending.
Male/Female
PRESENT TENSE | ||||
Person | -o | -in | -è | -sá |
1st Singular | -úm/-úma | -i/-e | - | -mé/-mè |
2nd Singular | -ús/-úsa | -is' | - | -yé/-yè |
3rd Singular | -úes/-úa | -lé/-lè | -a/-ú | -sé/-sè |
1st Plural | -úp'/-úp'a | -iet' | -un | -mius/-míus |
2nd Plural | -úp/-úpa | -ít' | -o/-ol | -relé/-relè |
3rd Plural | -úés/úé | -t'ét | -lú/-lè | -t'è |
2nd Polite | -úf | -in | -è | -yú |
3rd Polite | -o | -in | -es | -sú |