Vreleksá

Tolkien_Freak · Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 11:09 pm Post subject: Raitoliste

My conlang, which I've been working on for a little over a year (it has changed MASSIVELY since I started):

Phonology

Consonants
Nasals: m n ŋ[N]
Stops: p* t d k g
Fricatives: v th[T] s z sj[S] zj[Z] h
Trill: r
Lateral: l
*This sound appears only once in the entire language.
'd' alone is usually changed to 'ð' for faster speaking, though the spelling is unchanged.

Vowels
High: i.y w[M].u
Mid: e[E].ø[9] o
Low: a
Diphthongs: ai au ao ei eu eo øi oi ia ie iø io ii iy iw iu iù wi ua ue uø uo ui uy uw uu uì
Diphthongs beginning in ‘i’ or ‘u’ have the final vowel take mora unless it has a grave accent. (Essentially, they are [j]-initial and [M]-initial.)

Constraints
Syllable roots are (C)V. The only consonant clusters allowed are ts and st, while
nt, nd, nth, ŋk, and ŋg are allowed for use in translating foreign names.
Diaereses are used to make an approximant a vowel or to remove a vowel from a diphthong. Thus, 'ïi' would be pronounced 'i-i' and 'äi' would be 'a-i'. Something like 'iäi' would be 'i-a-i'.
No letter has its assigned value changed by another unless it is part of a diphthong.
Circumflexes are used for letters that would require both a grave and acute accent. (î û)

Stress
Stress is little more than an increase in pitch on one syllable of a word. It occurs on the middlemost syllable. In words with an even number of syllables, it occurs on the middle syllable that is closest to the end. Thus, a six-syllable word would be 'sssSss' where the capitalized S is the stressed syllable. Stress never occurs on the final syllable of a word. Irregular stress is indicated by an acute accent mark. Stress never moves, so it is always marked in inflected words (even if the inflection doesn’t change the position of the stress anyway).
Tildes are used for letters that would require both a diaeresis and an acute accent. (ã e˜ ø˜ õ i˜ y˜ w˜ u˜ - darn incomplete character sets)

Morphology

Nominal Morphology
All nominal morphology is for use with pronouns also.
All improper singular nouns end in 'e', while all plurals end in 'ø'. All proper nouns end in either 'a' (female) or 'o' (male), and are never pluralized.

Tenses
Tenses are all noun suffixes, and continuous aspect is part of tense modification.
Present: none
Present continuous: -no
Past: -nw
Past continuous: -nu
Future: -ni
Future continuous: -ny
Aorist: -na

Moods
Moods and aspects I need to get working on (FIXME). They go as a prefix to a noun.

Adpositions
Adpositions are indicated by postpositions, which are particles immediately following the noun.
Again, FIXME.

Personal Pronouns
Personal pronouns are as such (singular plural):
1st: w u
2nd: i y
3rd: e ø / a / o
'A' and 'o' are used as 'she' and 'he', respectively. They cannot be inflected for plurality.

Impersonal Pronouns
Code:
Query This/that Some No Every Any Clausal
_a Rei_e Re_e Ru_e Rø_e Ro_e Ria_e

Raitoliste only distinguishes between this and that in the reason pronouns vai and raiva. Vai means both 'because', while raiva means 'so' or 'thus'.
For clausal pronouns, see below.

Verbal Morphology
All verbs end in either 'w' or 'u'. Verbs must agree with the subject noun in plurality (w is singular, u is plural).
'-re' is used as to create an infinitive verb, which effectively turns the verb into a noun. Using infinitives is the only case where the object (in this case the infinitive) is not part of the same word as the verb. It comes after the verb, to avoid unmanageably long words.
The one mood that is inflected on the verb is the imperative. It is formed by replacing the final vowel of the verb with its corresponding -i diphthong. It is inflected for plurality, so the two possible endings are '-wi' and '-uì'.
There generally is no being verb in Raitoliste. To say 'X is Y', you just say 'X Y'. This is the reason all tenses and aspects are conducted on the noun. However, the infinitive 'to be' is created by having the verbal infinitive ending as a word, 're'. To add imperative mood, add '-uì' or '-wi' to the end of the predicate noun/adjective. (There is a verb meaning ‘to be ___’, ‘twre’, but it’s rarely used.)

Adjectival and Adverbial Morphology
All adjectives and adverbs end in 'i' or 'y', and must agree with their noun in plurality (i is singular, y is plural).
Numbers used in an adjectival way also count as adjectives, though the '-e' ending is changed to '-i' or '-y' (generally '-y').
Nouns with postpositional endings that are used to describe verbs or other nouns also count as adverbs or adjectives, though they end irregularly.
Adjectives are incorporated as prefixes to the nouns they describe, adverbs are incorporated as suffixes on their verbs.

Derivational Morphology
Any word can be changed to another part of speech by changing the ending to the ending for the part of speech the word is being changed to.
Nouns, pronouns and verbs can be emphasized by making their ending an '-i' diphthong. This is normally used for addressing people or (see above) imperative mood.

Conjunctions
Conjunctions are merely particle words, inserted where necessary.
And: à
But: eo
Inclusive or: iai
Exclusive or (either/or): iei
Neither/nor: iuì
For either/or and neither/nor you simply use the word once, i.e. 'either X or Y' would be 'X iei Y'.
À is written with a grave accent to differentiate it from 'a', which means 'she'. It is also normally pronounced as if it is not stressed.

Syntax

Voice
Active: SOV
Passive: OV, tenses are particles before the object.
I need to put some more voices in soon.

To indicate a question, place a rising tone on the final two syllables of the sentence (as you do in English, without English's word order change).

Subordinate Clauses

Adverbial Clauses and Adjectival Clauses
Adjectival and adverbial clauses are formed by adding the word 'ui/uy' before the clause. Adverbial clauses go at the end of the sentence, and adjectival clauses follow the word they describe. The word 'ue' then becomes the noun of the clause.
'Ue' can also be used when creating a clause which has no direct reference to the main sentence other than being (as one unit) the object of the verb. It is used to represent the entire clausal unit, which is created later.

Comparative Clauses
Comparative clauses begin with 'ii'/'iy'. Again, the particles act like adjectives/adverbs.

Clause pronouns
Clause pronouns are used this way:
Ua w riase evw ø ezu sa - I don't know how they did it.
'Ria-' is used where the entire clause is being a single part of speech, while the plain stem is used where the pronoun would come in the clause. Word-for-word, this would be:
'Not I how-know they it-did way' (sort of)

Numbers
Raitoliste uses a base-10 system of numbering, in which multi-digit numbers are spoken by simply saying the name of each digit.
0.uathe
1.athe
2.ithe
3.wthe
4.ythe
5.ethe
6.uthe
7.othe
8.iithe
9.uuthe

Word Construction Roots

A lot of these I don't have much on, I haven't put in much effort here yet.

M –place
Em-
Øm- the world/universe/existence (lit. 'every place')
Im-
Ym-
Wm-
Um-
Om-

V –thought
Ev- knowledge
Øv-
Iv-
Yv-
Wv-
Uv-
Ov

Th –numbering
1.athe
2.ithe
3.wthe
4.ythe
5.ethe
6.uthe
7.othe
8.iithe
9.uuthe
0.uathe

T –attributes
Et- good
Øt-
It- small
Yt- big
Wt-
Ut- bad
Ot-

D –life
Ed- body part
Ød- ecosystem
Id-
Yd-
Wd-
Ud- death
Od-

N –time
En-
Øn-
In- future
Yn-
Wn- past
Un-
On-

S –motion
Es- walk/slow motion
Øs- run/fast motion
Is- motion away from implied object
Ys- motion towards implied object
Ws-
Us- stopping, lack of motion (úswre – to stop)
Os-

Z –action
Ez- create
Øz-
Iz-
Yz-
Wz-
Uz-
Oz-

R –no value. Used to denote names, or for morphemes that can’t use a different root.

L –people
El- love/loved person
Øl- group, collection of people
Il- parent
Yl-
Wl-
Ul-
Ol- ruler

Ts –violence
Ets-
Øts-
Its-
Yts-
Wts-
Uts-
Ots-

St –speech
Est- truth
Øst- language
Ist- reply
Yst- ask, question
Wst-
Ust- falsity
Ost-

K –matter
Ek- liquid (generally water)
Øk-
Ik- solid (used only when specification necessary - a thing is 'ke')
Yk-
Wk- gas (generally air)
Uk- nothingness, vacuum
Ok-

G –
Eg-
Øg-
Ig-
Yg-
Wg-
Ug-
Og-

Ŋ -direction
eŋ- forward
øŋ- backward
iŋ- right
yŋ- up
wŋ- left
uŋ- down
oŋ-

H –feeling
Eh- hearing
Øh-
Ih- sight
Yh-
Wh-
Uh-
Oh-

If anyone has a good vocab list (the smaller the better), I'll post some constructs as examples.

StrangeMagic · Admin Joined: 18 Apr 2007 Posts: 640

Wow! I can see a lot of time and effort has been put into this conlang. I haven't read through it all but it looks amazing. I can't really comment on it due to my lack of knowledge of the more complex aspects of conlanging.

Tolkien_Freak · Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2007 3:59 pm Post subject:

StrangeMagic · Admin Joined: 18 Apr 2007 Posts: 640

Well, the most interesting part is probably the Word Construction Roots, most of my lexicon have very little root except from other similar, ie, hair with hair brush, hair dresser, horse hair, fur. ETC

With yours, I think it will be a lot more regular and maybe easier to learn. Do you have any more words in Raitoliste?

Tolkien_Freak · Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2007 8:32 pm Post subject:

I designed the root system to get out of having to come up with thousands of individual words. Vocab is not my strong point.
If you have a word list, I could fill it out with some words.

StrangeMagic · Admin Joined: 18 Apr 2007 Posts: 640

There is the word list I have on this forum: http://www.conscripts.s4.bizhat.com/viewtopic.php?t=154

Tolkien_Freak · Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2007 7:39 pm Post subject:

I would use that, except it's a bit too big. It has a lot of animals haven't figured out how to name yet. (That's why I asked for a condensed version in the thread!)

StrangeMagic · Admin Joined: 18 Apr 2007 Posts: 640

I see! Sorry about that.

Well, maybe you could begin with basic phrases, such as greetings, colours, natural things (eg, sun, moon, stars, hill, mountain, river) ETC.

Tolkien_Freak · Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 9:50 pm Post subject:

Well, here's the greetings thing I did for David's forum-

GREETINGS (no word for greetings)

Hello- Erai

Good Morning- Erai Inasjihane
Good Day/Good Afternoon- Erai Ihane / Erai Enasjihane
Good Evening- Erai Wnasjihane
Good Night- [as hello] Erai Ehane / [as goodbye] Urai Ehane

Goodbye- Urai

How are you?- I ta?

I am good- W eti
I am okay- Ei
I am bad- W uti

Thank you- Risjai
You’re Welcome- Risjai (both are used - such as 'Risjai!' 'Risjai!')

Tolkien_Freak · Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 3:37 pm Post subject:

More words! Thanks, David, for the list.

Basic words

Yes-- Ia
No-- Ua
What?-- Ka?
Which (one)?-- Ka ke?
Where?-- Ma?
When?-- Na? (also used for asking the time)
How much?-- Tha?
Who?-- La?
Why?-- Va?
How?-- Za?
Please-- Rizjai
And-- à

Nouns

Book-- Ihastøke
Pen-- Ihastake
Table-- Ihastame
Man-- Osjalo
Woman-- Asjala
Child-- Iinale
Boy-- Osjiinalo
Girl-- Asjiinala
Student-- Evazale
Language-- Øste
City-- Ølame
Money-- Thake
Family-- Iløle
Mother-- Ila
Father-- Ilo
Water-- Eke
Day-- Ihane
Evening-- Ihuune
Night-- Ehane
Morning-- Ihiine
Food-- Dake
Sea-- Ekame

Verbs

ask-- Istw
speak-- Stw
know-- Evw
see-- Ihw
do-- Zw
create-- Ezw
eat-- Dakazw
drink-- Dekazw
want-- Ovw
learn-- Evazw
need-- Izw
go-- Sw
live-- Dw
come-- Ysw
look for-- Ihazw
love-- Elw
hear-- Ehw

Adjectives

beautiful/pretty-- Etihi
Big-- Oti
Small-- Iti
Good-- Eti
Sick-- Utali
New-- Iini
old (thing)-- Uuni

Tolkien_Freak · Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 1:53 am Post subject:

Common phrases (thx again David):

Do you speak Raitoliste? = I Raitoliste østw?
hello = Erai
How are you? = I ta?
How do you say...? = I ___ stw za?
How old are you? = I tha? (lit. 'how many are you')
I am called… = Ẃri laste... (lit. 'my name is...')
I am fine = W eti
I am from… = W ___ su
I am happy = W etavahi
I am hungry = W
I am…years old = W [#]
I don't know = Ua w evw
I don't like it = Ua w e etavw
I don't understand = Ua w e vevw
I love you = W i elw
see you later = Ni'ihw (contraction of 'ẃni i ihw', pronounced [njihM])
what is your name? = Íri laste ka?