Irǧeret (triliteral conlang)

[Ashucky]

So, as per the laws of conlanging, I'm finally attempting a triliteral conlang. My inspiration was Ancient Egyptian and I'm also looking at Akkadian and Ugaritic (Arabic and Hebrew also help since these two are more extensively written about). I also modelled the conlang's phonology based on Ancient Egyptian but with several changes to make the language nicely pronounceable for me, and since AE is the main source of my vocabulary, the conlang has a lot of biliteral roots as well.

Phonology and orthography:
Consonants:
/m n ŋ p b t d k g s z ʃ f ç x ɣ h j w r l tʃ dʒ/
<m n ŋ p b t d k g s z š f c ḫ ǧ h j w r l č đ>

Most consonants can be geminated as well.

Vowels:
/a e i o u/
<a e i o u>

Nouns:
I've decided to have four cases: nominative, genitive, dative, and accusative; and three numbers: singular, dual, and plural; and as Semitic languages typically go, there's two genders: masculine and feminine.

Declension:

Code: Select all

Case: SINGULAR    DUAL        PLURAL
NOM:  -Ø/-et      -uj/-etuj   -ut/-ettu
GEN:  -in/-enti   -un/-entu   -nut/-entut
DAT:  -es/-eče    -si/-eči    -sut/-ečut
ACC:  -or/-etro   -ow/-eto    -ot/-etto

States:

Code: Select all

Governed:  -Ø/-et        -uj/-etuj   -ut/-ettu
Absolute:  -um/wet       -umu/-wetu  -untu/-umut
Construct: -i(l)/-e(l)   -ej/-oj     -u(n)/-a(n)

The governed state is the default form of nouns (ie. dictionary entries), the absolute state replaces the copula (subject complement), and the construct state is used in constructions with genitive.There are no definite or indefinite markers.

Example: P-R par 'house':

Code: Select all

NOM: par     paruj    parut
GEN: parin   parnu    parnut
DAT: pares   paši     pašut
ACC: paror   parow    parot
ABS: parum   parumu   paruntu
CON: pari    paroj    paru

Adjectives will probably follow the same or a similar inflection as nouns.

Verbs:
Verbs conjugate for three persons, two genders and three numbers (same as nouns), and I haven't really decided on the tenses and moods the language is going to have; and two voices, active and passive. Fow now I only have the pattern for the present tense in active and passive voices.

Indicative present suffixes:

Code: Select all

1SG: -ij (-it)
2SG: -ek/-ot
3SG: -aj/-us
1DU: -nit(/-tit)
2DU: -nek/-not
3DU: -naj/-nus
1PL: -in(/-nin)
2PL: -ten/-tan
3PL: -san/-sin

Present active pattern: CaCaC- (bilateral: CaC-)
Present passive pattern: CiCuC- (bilateral: iCuC-)

Example: Đ-D 'to say':

Code: Select all

1SG: đadij             |  iđudij    (iđudit)
2SG: đadek    đadat    |  iđudek    iđudek
3SG: đadaj    đadus    |  iđudaj    iđudus
1DU: đadnit   (đaddit) |  iđudnit   (iđuddit)
2DU: đadnek   đadnot   |  iđudnek   iđudnot
3DU: đadnaj   đadnus   |  iđudnaj   iđudnaj
1PL: đadin    (đadnin) |  iđudin    (iđudnin)
2PL: đadden   đaddan   |  iđudden   iđuddan
3PL: đačan    đačin    |  iđučan    iđučin

That's pretty much all I have for now ... Will post more once I get it figured out.

[Ahzoh]

There is a law of conlanging regarding 3con languages?
Here I thought I was being original...

[Ashucky]

There is a law of conlanging regarding 3con languages?
Here I thought I was being original...

The law is that (almost) every conlanger will, at some point, attempt to create a triliteral language.

[Irkan]

There is a law of conlanging regarding 3con languages?
Here I thought I was being original...

The law is that (almost) every conlanger will, at some point, attempt to create a triliteral language.

I have recently gone through that stage, too. It didn't work out well, though.

[Ahzoh]

There is a law of conlanging regarding 3con languages?
Here I thought I was being original...

The law is that (almost) every conlanger will, at some point, attempt to create a triliteral language.

*attempt is the keyword here

Yes, I like the look of AE, I've been thinking of taking their prepositions.

[Ashucky]

Alrighty, I've added a few things to the nominal and the verbal systems. Still haven't come to the adjectives, pronouns and whatnot.

So, here's the new updates:

NOUNS
New ways of forming plurals. Apart from regular suffixing, there are now also broken plurals and a combination of suffixes and broken plurals. I have just two patterns for broken plurals for now but new patterns will come eventually.

Suffixation:
par 'house' - paruj 'two houses' - parut 'houses'

Broken plural:
1) madat 'word' - madatuj 'two words' - medut 'words'
2) mejew 'cat' - mejewi ' two cats' - mojaw 'cats'

Suffixation + broken plural:
jibi 'heart' - jibuj 'two hearts' - jubut 'hearts'

VERBS
I've decided to have three tenses, present, past and future; and also several moods: indicative, conditional, imperative, and causative. There are also a few aspects: perfective, imperfective, semelfactive, iterative, intensive, and prospective. Verbs can also be inflected for vetitive and determinative. There are also three voices, active, passive and reflexive.

A few notes regarding aspects:
- perfective: denotes a whole action
- imperfective: denotes an ongoing action
- semelfactive: denotes a momentary action
- iterative: denotes a repetitive action
- intensive: denotes a more intense action (semantically it may overlap with iterative sometimes)
- prospective: denotes an action that is about to happen

I haven't fully decided on all of them yet, so I may change something. I'm thinking of adding a habitual aspect as a subset of the imperfective.

Vetitive indicates motion towards or away from the speaker, and determinative denotes whether the action is aimed as a certain goal or if it's random/without a proper goal.

Time to look at some of the inflections now (for triliteral roots only, biliteral and quadriliteral roots follow different patterns)!

Indicative:
present active: CaCaC-
present passive: CiCuC-
present reflexive: CioCC(o)-

past active: CaCCen-
past passive: CuCCen-
past reflexive: CioCCen-

future active: CaCCik(l)-
future passive: CuCCik(l)-
future reflexive: CioCCik(l)-

Conditional: wa-STEM (this ones may change, though)

Causative: ši-C₁C₁V- (gemination of the first consonant)

Iterative: C₁VC₂-lu(n)-C₃-

Intensive: C₁V₁C₁(C₁)V₁C₂- (reduplication of the first root consonant and the first vowel with optional gemination of the second root consonant)

Imperative: CoC(y)C-


That's what I have for now, the other patterns are yet to come. Any feedback or questions are welcome.

[Ashucky]

The language now has a name, yay!

It's called Irǧeret /iɾɣeˈɾet/ or Tirǧeret /tiɾɣeˈɾet/. It's an abstract feminine noun from the root R 'mouth' and the suffix -ǧeret, which contains the root ǦR 'face'.

Declension:
nominative: irǧeret (rectus), irǧerwet (absolutus), irǧere (constructus)
genitive: irǧerenti
dative: irǧereče
accusative: irǧeretro

[Ahzoh]

I like what I see so far.

[Ashucky]

I like what I see so far.

Thanks!

And I've finally moved on to pronouns and numerals. So here they come

PRONOUNS

Personal pronouns have three forms: independent, dependent, and (en)clitic. The independent form is the full form and is used when emphasised, the dependent form is the short form and is used instead of the independent forms when not emphasised. The (en)clitic form is also known as the possessive form and will be disscussed separately.

Singular:

Code: Select all

     NOM    GEN     DAT     ACC
1M:  janak  jankin  jankes  jankor
     wi     win     wes     ur
2M:  antek  tekin   tekes   tekor
     te     tin     tes     tor
2F:  antot  entin   entes   entur
     tu     nin     nes     nur
3M:  anta   kanin   kanes   kanor
     ki     kin     kes     kor
3F:  antus  santin  santes  santur
     ši     šin     šes     šur
3N:  ansit
     ast

Dual and plural:

Code: Select all

     NOM    GEN     DAT     ACC     |  NOM     GEN     DAT     ACC
1M:  janat  jantin  jantus  jantut  |  janan   jannin  jannus  jannut
     nat    jin     jus     jut     |  ni      nun     nus     nut
1F:  antit                          |  annu
     tit                            |  nu
2M:  annek  nakin   nakus   nakut   |  nittan  nittin  nittus  nittut
     nek    kin     kus     kut     |  tan     tun     tus     tut
2F:  annot                          |  nitten
     not                            |  ten
3M:  anna   kilin   kilus   kilut   |  nissen  kissin  kissus  kissut
     na     lin     lus     lut     |  se     sun     sus     sut
3F:  annus                          |  nissin
     nus                            |  sin
3N:  ansu                           |  usut
     as                             |  us

Note: 3rd person pronouns also have a 'neuter' gender referring to "it" in all three numbers.

Demonstrative pronouns likewise decline according to gender, number and case. I won't list the entire declension paradigm, even though it has various irregularities.

Code: Select all

       SG M   SG F   PL M   PL F
THIS:  peni   teni   neni   šeni
THAT:  pifu   tifu   nifu   šifu
       puwu   tuwu   nuwu   šuwu

The secondary forms for the distal pronoun are more colloqual forms and their pronunciation varies. The pronoun puwu, for example, can be pronounced as ['puwu], ['pu.u], ['puw], or ['pu(:)]. The same goes for the other pronouns.

Interrogative pronouns also decline, but there are no dual or plural forms. Like personal pronouns, interrogatives have two forms, independent and dependent. Dependent forms don't decline.

WHO: pitru and mi
WHAT: išast and iḫ
WHICH: zej and zi


That's what I have for now about pronouns. Possessive pronouns are yet to come and I need to figure out what to do with relative pronouns. Numerals are comming in the next post!

[Ashucky]

Things are progressing well This post will be about numbers, but first I have to mention an adjective.

RELATIVE ADJECTIVE - the Irǧeret equivalent to the English relative pronoun. There are two relative adjectives, actually, a positive and a negative one, both declining like regular adjectives (save the feminine plural forms in nominative). They carry the basic meaning of who, which or that, but can independently also stand for who/which/that is (or who/which/that is not for the negative forms).

Code: Select all

           SG M   SG F    DU M    DU F     PL M    PL F
POSITIVE:  unti   untet   untuj   unteti   untut   untat
NEGATIVE:  juti   jutet   jutuj   juteti   jutut   jutat

NUMBERS
As expected, Irǧeret has both ordinal and cardinal numerals, and both are inflected for gender, although the gender distinction gets lost at some point. Cardinal numerals do not decline, apart from the numerals for 1, 2 (always in dual), and 3 (always in plural). Ordinal numerals decline regularly (stems shown in brackets).

Code: Select all

    CARDINAL        -  ORDINAL
1:  udi,    udet    –  tepij,  tepit  (tep-, tept-)
2:  sinuj,  sineti  –  sunuw,  sunut  (sun(u)-, sunt-)
3:  ḫentu,  ḫentet  –  ḫuntuw, ḫuntut (ḫunt(u)-, ḫunt-)
4:  jefdaw, jefdet  –  fidduw, fiddut (fidd(u)-, fidd-)
5:  dojaw,  dojet   –  dinuw,  dinut  (din(u)-, dint-)
6:  sujsu,  sujset  –  šusnuw, šusnut (šusn(u)-, šust-)
7:  sefḫaw, sefḫet  –  feḫnuw, feḫnut (feḫn(u)-, feḫt-)
8:  ḫamnu,  ḫamnet  –  ḫammuw, ḫammut (ḫamm(u)-, ḫamt-)
9:  paseđu, paseđet –  pađđuw, pađđut (pađđ(u)-, pađđ-)
10: muđuw,  muđut   –  unđuw,  unđut  (unđ(u)-, unđ-)

11: muđudi,    muđudet
12: muččinuj,  muččineti
13: muččentu,  muččentet
14: muđiddaw,  muđiddet
15: muđđojaw,  muđđojet
16: muččujsu,  muččujset
17: muččefḫaw, muččefḫet
18: muččamnu,  muččamnet
19: muččaseđu, muččaseđet

20: muđuj, muđettu
30: mabal, mablet
40: ḫomuw, ḫomet
50: dijju, dijjet
60: šusjuw
70: sifḫiju
80: ḫemniju
90: ipsiđuw

100: ašet
200: ašeti

1000: ḫal
10,000: đibadi
100,000: ǧafna
1,000,000: ǧeiǧi

Ordinal numerals above 10 are formed periphrastically by means of a particle maǧ (or maḫ when followed by a voiceless consonant) plus cardinal numerals, which now decline regularly. So, for example, eleventh would be maǧ muđudi and maǧ muđudet, fortieth would be maḫ ḫomuw and maḫ ḫomet, and hundredth would be maǧ ašet.

As seen in the above table, cardinal numerals higher than 60 have no gender distinction anymore. Compound numbers follow the same pattern as English, so twenty-one would be muđuj-udi. In compound numbers, only the final one is inflected for gender (others remain in the masculine form).

Irǧeret also has separate words for ten thousand and a hundred thousand. Therefore, twenty thousand is sinuj đibadi "two ten-thousand", and one-hundred-twenty thousand is muččinuj đibadi "twelve ten-thousand". However, despite having a word million, two million is actually muđuj ǧafna "tweny hundred-thousand". Other millions are formed in a similar way.

That's it regarding numbers. I'm also close to finishing the rest of the verbs and adjectives as well. The language will soon be ready for testing - translations!

[Koko]

There is a law of conlanging regarding 3con languages?
Here I thought I was being original...

The law is that (almost) every conlanger will, at some point, attempt to create a triliteral language.

I will never go through this stage : I need my vowels.

I do find it fascinating how one can master such a language, though. So, great job !

[Ashucky]

Well, you can still put as many vowels as you want inbetween the root consonants, though It's just the bare root that's vowelless.

[Koko]

But most often, you can just write the root because the vowels aren't particularly useful; at least not as much as English or Italian.

[Ashucky]

Well, vowels can also be quite important, differentiating between verbal forms or number in nouns. But you can insert them from the context. You can do something similar with English too (you can omit most vowels and still be able to read it correctly).

I've also done the basics about adjectives, so here it is.

ADJECTIVES
There are several types of adjectives, and each types come with a different pattern. Many of the patterns have broken plurals, some have regular plurals, and some have mixed plurals.

The adjectival ending is -i in nom. sg. masc. and nom. pl. masc. for broken plurals. Adjectives otherwise use the same case endings as nouns (this is something I might soon change, though). A characterisic of adjectives is that most of the types begin in a vowel. As such, feminine forms also require the prefix t- alongisde the suffix -te. However, some adjectives still retain the prefix, even though the word begins in a vowel.

Below are the types, with patterns in singular/plural for both genders:

Code: Select all

1. COLOUR:   aCeCCi  - weCuCCi   | taCeCCet    - teCuCCet
2. SHAPE:    iCiCCi  - eC₁C₁eiCCi | tiCiCCet    - eC₁C₁eiCCet
3. MATERIAL: uCCeiCi - jaCCuCi   | tuCCeiCet   - taCCuCet
4. SIZE:     aCCaCi  - CaCCut    | taCCaCet    - (t)CaCCettu
5. QUALITY:  CuCoCi  - CuCCut    | (t)CuCoCet  - (t)CuCCettu
6. WEATHER:  eCCaCi  - CeC₂C₂eCi  | teCCaCet    - (t)CeC₂C₂eCet
7. STATE:    iCCuCki - iCCuCkut  | tiCCuCket   - tiCCuCkettu
8. RELATION: CoCaCji - CoCaCjut  | (t)CoCaCjet - (t)CoCaCjettu

Adjectives also have both a comparative and a superlative degree, which are formed by suffixing:
- comparative: -er (derived from the Ancient Egyptian preposition r used in comparative constructions)
- superlative: -im (similarly dervied from the AE preposition jm often used in superlative constructions)

And here are some examples:
1. Colour:
root: DŠR red; adjective: adešri red
inflection: adešri, wedušri - tadešret, tedušret
comparative: adešrer, wedušrer - tadešreret, tedušreret
superlative: adešrim, wedušrim - tadešrimet, tedušrimet

2. Shape:
root: FNĐ nose, adjective: ifinđi nose-shaped
inflection: ifinđi, effeinđi - tifinđet, teffeinđet

3. Material:
root: ḪT* wood, tree; adjective: uḫteiti wooden
inflection: uḫteiti, jaḫtuti - tuḫteitet, taḫtutet

4. Size:
root: NĐS small; adjective: anđasi small
inflection: anđasi, naččut - tanđaset, tnaččettu

5. Quality:
root: LDF greed; adjective: ludofi greedy
inflection: ludofi, lutfut - tludofet, tlutfettu

6. Weather:
root: ŠM* rain; adjective: ešmami rainy
inflection: ešmami, šeššemi - tešmamet, češšemet

7. State:
root: BDR health; adjective: ibdurki healthy
infection: ibdurki, ibdurkut - tibdurket, tibdurkettu

8. Relation:
root: RǦR Irǧeret; adjective: roǧarji Irǧeret(ian)
inflection: roǧarji, roǧarjut - troǧarjet, troǧarjettu


*Note: Biliteral roots reduplicate one of the consonants to form a triliteral root. Generally it's the second one, except for type 6 adjectives where the first one gets reduplicated in the plural forms.

Any questions, comments, suggestions are welcome. Next up: derivation.