Wihu~

Hello I'm Suqi! I like to make conlangs and I post them here :3 (Main blog is @kaosuqi)

[jinkaosgengo]

Iskel Post #1: Phonology

Iskel is my first conlang, but one that has gone through a great deal of development and revision over the years. It is still going through many changes, but these posts are intended to hopefully give it some form of consistency.

To introduce the language, it began in 2018 as an a posteriori heavily based on English and Spanish called “Lanesil”. Some days later, I decided to include some influences from Italian, Korean, and Latin as I discovered the world of linguistics. Iskel started trending more toward a unique language with decreasing lexical and gramamtical influences from other languages.

Eventually, I began to design it to easily express concepts I had no simple way of speaking about in English as well as reducing ambiguity as much as I possibly could. Iskel would go on to become a personal language that I spoke better than any other language I had attempted to learn before and since.

Unfortunately, I fell out of favor with Iskel for a few years while I tried to focus on naturalism in my conlangs. In doing so, I lost most of my intuitive knowledge of the language. Recently though, I return to complete the language I had lost sight for and regain my passion for it.

Phoneme Inventory

Consonants

Nasals: /ɱ n ɲ ŋ/ ⟨m n ñ ŋ⟩

Stops: /p b t t͡ʃ d͡ʒ k ɡ ʔ/ ⟨p b t č j k g q⟩

Fricatives: /f v θ ð s z ʃ ʒ 𝼆 x h/ ⟨f v þ ð s z š ž ç x h⟩

Approximants: /w w̃ l l̃ j j̃/ ⟨w ṽ l ł y ỹ⟩

Vibrants: /ɾ ʀ/ ⟨r ř⟩

Clicks: /ᵏʇ ᵑʇ ᵏǃ¡ ᵑǃ¡ ᵏǂ ᵑǂ/ ⟨ct cn cl cł cj cñ⟩

Vowels

Extra-High Tone: /i̋ ɪ̋ e̋ a̋ ə̋ ʌ̋ ű ʊ̋ ő ɑ̋ C̩̋/ ⟨ī î ē ā ê ô ū û ō â ȳC⟩

High Tone: /í ɪ́ é á ə́ ʌ́ ú ʊ́ ó ɑ́ Ć̩/ ⟨í ì é á è ò ú ù ó à ýC⟩

Atonal: /i ɪ e a ə ʌ u ʊ o ɑ C̩/ ⟨i ï e a ë ö u ü o ä ẏC⟩

Strong: /i͈ ɪ͈ e͈ a͈ ə͈ ʌ͈ u͈ ʊ͈ o͈ ɑ͈ C͈̍/ ⟨!i !ï !e !a !ë !ö !u !ü !o !ä !C⟩

Non-Syllabic: /i̯ ɪ̯ e̯ a̯ ə̯ ʌ̯ u̯ ʊ̯ o̯ ɑ̯/ ⟨ĭ ĩ ĕ ă ẽ õ ŭ ũ ŏ ã⟩

Extra-high tone for /i e a u o C̩/ is not marked on initial syllables.

Syllabic consonants include only /ɱ̩ n̩ ɲ̩ ŋ̩ v̩ ð̩ z̩ ʒ̩ w̩ w̩̃ l̩ l̩̃ j̩ j̩̃ ɾ̩ ʀ̩/.

Suprasegmentals

Length: /ː/ (romanized by doubling the letter, but omitting tone diacritics, ⟨!⟩, and syllabicity letters)

Phonotactics

No more than three consonants can appear in a row.

No more than three vowels (whether a triphthong, a diphthong and monophthong, or three monophthongs) can appear in a row.

A short or long phoneme cannot occur more than once in a row.

Long vowels count as one vowel in nucleus clusters, but as two vowels in polypthongs.

A polyphthong may contain at most one long vowel.

Non-syllabic vowels and /ɾ ɾ̩/ cannot be lengthened.

Syllabic consonants cannot be adjacent to any other nucleus.

Morphemes with strong vowels may not contain tonal vowels.

Allophony

Tones and lack of tones are phonemic.

Strong articulation involves a lower tone than tonelessness, length, more forceful airflow, and the scrunching of the nose throughout the entire syllable.

Vowels are never preceded with an allophonic glottal stop.

Syllabic /j̩ j̩̃ w̩ w̩̃/ are phonemically [[jˑ𐞎 j̃ˑ𐞎 wˑᶱ w̃ˑᶱ]].

Length is less than twice as long as a consonant's articulation.

Lengthened clicks repeated instead of delayed.

Allomorphy

When a stem boundary produces an illegal cluster, the phonemes are broken up with an epenthetic -ï- for consonant clusters, -f- for vowel clusters, or -p- for syllabic consonant-nucleus clusters.

When a stem boundary would produce a geminate, one of the sounds is deleted.

When /i u/ are adjacent to a vowel due to a stem boundary, they become /j w/ unless that violates the consonant cluster limit.

[jinkaosgengo]

Òtpoetti̖ Post #6: Phonology

This post will detail the phonology and function as an update to my first post about Òtpoetti̖, which contained some information about the phonology. The Òtpoetti̖ phonology is continuously evolving as I add new words, so this may not be the final phonology update I do.

Phonemes & Romanization

/m mː n nː ɲ ŋ p pː pːʷ b t tː d t͡s t͡ʃ t͡ʃː k kː kʲ kʼ kʲʼ ɡ ʔ ɸ v vː s ʃ h j l r ɾ/

⟨m mm n nn nj ng p pp pw b t tt d z c cc k kk q k’ q’ g x f v vv s sj h y l rr r⟩

/i iː e eː ɛ ɛː u uː o oː a aː/

⟨i ii e ee æ ææ u uu o oo a aa⟩

/a̤ a̰ a³ a² a¹ a³¹ a³² a²³ a²¹ a¹²/

⟨ah a’ ā a a̱ à a̖ â á a̗⟩

Tone 3: high tone, tone 2: mid tone, tone 1: low tone, and combinations of those are contour tones.

All vowels have some tone. Length can combine with phonation, but phonations cannot combine with each other.

A vowel marked with a diaerisis is a tone-2 vowel in a separate syllable from the previous vowel or previous ⟨h⟩.

Allophony

Long creaky vowels /V̰ː/ have a brief glottal stop in the middle [V̰ˀV̰].

A tone-2 vowel becomes voiceless between two voiceless consonants.

Open central vowels /a/ become open back vowels [ɑ] after velar consonants /ŋ k kʼ ɡ/.

/h/ becomes [x] before back vowels /u o/.

/t͡ʃ t͡ʃː ʃ h/ become [t͡ɕ t͡ɕː ɕ ç] before the close front vowels /i/.

Coda /n/ assimilates to the place of articulation of a following plosive or affricate.

Coda /n ɲ ŋ/ become [ɹ̃ j̃ ɰ̃] except when preceding an occlusive of their place of articulation.

Phonotactics

(C)V(V)(C)

The only word-final coda consonants allowed are nasals.

Vowels with different tones cannot make up a diphthong together.

[jinkaosgengo]

Òtpoetti̖ Post #5: Vocabulary of Worlds

The word “world” in English can mean a variety of different things, but in Òtpoetti̖ there are several words that can be used in its stead, depending on particular contexts.

Types of Worlds

Ah’i̖tta̖ [a̤²i²¹tːa²¹] - the collection of everything concievable and inconcievable

Examples: everything

Ao̖bu̱u [a²o²¹buː¹] - an isolated region or system in outer space

Examples: large asteroid, asteroid belt, planetary ring, moon, planet, star, nebula, solar system, star cluster, galaxy, void, etc.

Ho̖ttxi̱rrān [ho²¹t͡ʃːi¹raɹ̃³] - a singular spacetime, i.e. modern usage of “universe”

Examples: our universe

I̖nna̱màing [i²¹nːa¹mai̯ɰ̃²¹] - the collection of everything inconcievable

Examples: (none)

I̖ssu̗ [i²¹sːu¹²] - a local setting (such as the setting of a story or situation spoken of)

Examples: The Pride Lands in The Lion King, Earth-616 in the Marvel universe, the region(s) with player activity in a Minecraft server, New York City in someone's recount of their vacation there, etc.

Kèngbu̱u [keɰ̃³²buː¹] - an isolated region

Examples: an island, a planet, a star, the top of a mountain, aboard the International Space Station, a Euclidian space, etc.

Mi’kkatā [mḭ²kːḁ.ta³] - an environment or ecosystem

Examples: a desert, a jungle, an ocean, a planet, a civilization, a multicellular organism (in the context of microbes), etc.

O̖esāahcī [oe̯²¹sa̤ː³kʲi³] - the collection of what directly, or indirectly is conceptually connected to a particular object in question

Examples: a word web, a domain of discourse, a theme-centered multiverse such as the Spider-Verse of the Spider-Verse comic and derivative works, etc.

Sa̗a’íto̱h [sa̰ː¹²i²³to̤¹] - the collection of everything concievable

Examples: everything concievable

Untúnku̱ [un²tuŋ²³ku¹] - the collection of what directly, or indirectly is part of a causal tree to a particular object in question (typically implied to be the speaker)

Examples: our universe, a fictional universe to the characters within it, etc.

U̱usaaìkoe [uː¹saː²i³²koe̯²] - a global setting, i.e. a larger setting that a local setting is part of. This word is not used if there is no local setting to compare it to.

Examples: Earth in The Lion King, the Marvel Multiverse in the Marvel universe, the entire world of a Minecraft server, the universe in someone's recount of their vacation in New York City, etc.

[jinkaosgengo]

Òtpoetti̖ Post #4: Adjectives Extended

I've realized upon translating some sentences that Òtpoetti̖ has a few major gaps regarding the behavior of adjectives, verbs, and adverbs, which I will be clearing up in the coming posts starting with this one.

Adjective Markers

Attributive Adjectives

Attributive adjectives are marked with a suffix placed on the head lexical word, or on an adjective particle if the head is multiple words. These suffixes mark the Manner of Modification, that is what property of the adjective the modifiee is intended to be modified by.

Manners of Modification:

-(m)ái - internal property: a property of the AdjP head that originates from the actual referent. Examples include “living” for an organism, “hot” for fire, “cold” for ice, “wooden” for a door, “juicy” for a fruit, “red” for a naturally red rock, etc. The m is only included if the previous word ends in a vowel.

ttapfu̗ (“water”) ttapfu̗ái (“watery”­)

-(s)o̖u - external property: a property of the AdjP head that originates from a source other than the referent. Examples include “wet” for a towel, “broken” for a window, “hot” for a pizza, “smooth” for a countertop, “red” for a car, etc. The s is only included if the previous word ends in a vowel.

ttapfu̗o̖u (“wet”­)

-te - personal property: a property of the AdjP head that stems from an experience regarding the referent. Examples include “fast” for restaurant service, “lucky” for a person, “delicious” for food, “boring” for a theme park, “fluent” for a person speaking a language, “desired” for a toy, “too spicy” for food, etc.

ttapfu̗te (“gets wet”­)

-tsūu - behavioral property: a property of the AdjP head that is exhibited by the referent but not an actual part of it. Examples include “friendly” for a person, “fast” for a dog, “drunk” for a drunkard, “wavy” for water, “often” for rain, etc.

ttapfu̗tsūu (“fluid”­)

Predicative Adjectives

Predicative adjectives (as well as predicative nominals) are marked in the same locations as attributive adjectives, but instead with suffixes marking the personhood, number, proximity, and animacy of the topic.

First Person Non-Paucal (Singular, Dual, and Plural) • Proximal: -e̖h (animate), -me̖h (inanimate) • Distal: -nje̖h (animate), -njme̖h (inanimate) Paucal • Proximal: -te̖h (animate), -tte̖h (inanimate) • Distal: -ce̖h (animate), -itte̖h (inanimate)

Second Person Minimal (Singular and Dual) • Proximal: -qa’ (animate), -txa’ (inanimate) • Distal: -qa’-tà (animate), -txa’-te̱h (inanimate) Paucal • Proximal: -k’a’ (animate), -xa’ (inanimate) • Distal: -k’a’-tà (animate), -xa’-te̱h (inanimate) Plural • Proximal: -qa’ (animate), -lya’ (inanimate) • Distal: -qa’-tà (animate), -lya’-te̱h (inanimate)

Third Person Singular • Proximal: -ko (animate), -po̱ (inanimate) • Distal: -kola̱ (animate), -konnæ̱ (inanimate) Dual • Proximal: -ko̱lo̱ (animate), -po̱lo̱ (inanimate) • Distal: -ko̱ræ̱ (animate), -po̱lo̱u (inanimate) Paucal • Proximal: -kong (animate), -po̱ng (inanimate) • Distal: -konnæ̱ (animate), -pwæ̱ (inanimate) Plural • Proximal: -kǽ (animate), -pá (inanimate) • Distal: -kæ̂ (animate), -páu (inanimate)

Adjective Particles

A lexical word of any part of speech may be an adjective head. Clauses used as heads are preceded by a particle denoting their part of speech. The particles include:

Noun: ngo̱

Adjective: a̗i

Verb: en

Adverb: see the TAME post.

[jinkaosgengo]

Òtpoetti̖ Post #3: TAME

Tense, aspect, mood, and evidentiality in Òtpoetti̖ are spread throughout affixes and adverb phrases. TAM cannot be marked with a single particle. If there is no adverb to include in a TAM-marking adverb phrase, TAM is mostly (that is, with the exception of affixes) left up to context.

Derivational Aspect Affixes

These affixes are obligatory for a verb and take on a more lexical meaning than adverb particles do. They moreso express the degree of relevance of parts of the action. As such, these affixed are termed as denoting aspect-focus, rather than aspect. A verb may be marked as "stative-focused" with an affix, it can be grammatically non-stative due to a TAM adverb phrase.

n- marks stative-focused verbs (initial consonants of verbalized roots are deleted)

Verb root: napta̗’ (“to stay”) Noun root: ubì (“eye”) >> nubì (“to see”)

(ō-) marks progressive-focused verbs (the affix is included if attached to a verbalized root; on verb roots there is no affix, but the initial vowel always has a high tone)

Verb root: āpta̗’ (“to stick around”) Noun root: ubì (“eye”) >> ōübì (“to watch”)

v- marks inchoative-focused verbs (initial conosnants of verbalized roots are deleted)

Verb root: vapta̗’ (“to resist leaving”) Noun root: ubì (“eye”) >> vubì (“to start to see”)

kk(à)- marks habitual-focused, gnomic-focused, or "propertative-focused" verbs, propertative meaning the action occuring is some property of the topic (the affix ends in a vowel if the following stem starts with a consonant)

Verb root: kkapta̗’ (“to hang around”) Noun root: ubì (“eye”) >> kkubì (“to be that which sees”)

Grammatical Aspect Affixes

These affixes are obligatory as well, but are not derivational. They may only be unmarked when a verb is non-momentane and ambitelic. Ambitelicity can be marked with an evidential adverb phrase headed by the qo̱ particle.

-ì marks telic verbs

-è marks atelic verbs

-a̱ marks momentane verbs

Adverb Particles

TAME is expressed primarily through adverb phrases combining an adverb particle and word or clause that functions as an adverb in this position. The adverb particles mark the relationship that word or clause has to the main verb.

Tense is marked with specific times or relations to specific events.

The main verb and adverb will be shortened to MV and Adv, respectively).

Individual Particles

Simultaneous particle: ngō (“while”; marks the MV and Adv as happening at the same time)

k’omo̖ (“today”; noun) ngō k’omo̖ (“today”; adverb)

Previous particle: kâi (“before”; marks the MV as happening before the Adv)

kâi k’omo̖ (“yesterday”; adverb)

Subsequent particle: e̗ (“after”; marks the MV as happening after the Adv)

e̗ k’omo̖ (“tomorrow”; adverb)

Preparative particle: āno̖ (“for”; marks the MV as happening in order to prepare for the Adv)

āno̖ k’omo̖ (“for today”)

Causative particle: lite̱’ (“because”; marks the MV as the cause of the Adv)

lite̱’ k’omo̖ (“because of today”)

Productive particle: mu̗h (“from”; marks the MV as happening according to or created from the Adv; this can be used to form evidentials if the adverb is a source of information; usually the root is a noun for formation and a verb for evidentials)

mu̗h k’omo̖ (“from today”)

ōubì (“to watch”) mu̗h ōubìi (“from observation”)

Cooperative particle: txo (“along with”; marks the MV as happening in cooperation or mutual contribution with the Adv)

txo k’omo̖ (“along with today”)

Partitive particle: mæ̖n (“including”; marks the MV as a whole that the Adv is a part of)

mæ̂n k’omo̖ (“including today”)

Brevitic particle: qo̱ (“during”; marks the MV as happening simultaneously, but only briefly relative to a longer lasting event denoted by the Adv)

qo̱ k’omo̖ (“during today”)

Contrastive particle: fui̱ (“or”; marks the Adv as an alternative to the MV; can be used for various epistemic moods)

fui̱ k’omo̖ (“or today”)

otkèh (“there is not”) fui̱ otkèh (“or not”) - used for potentials or speculatives

ttè (shortened version of òtpoettè (“to say”) for this usage) fui̱ ttè (“or say”) - used for requesting verification of the statement (interrogative-dubitative)

maahyè (“there is”) fui̱ maahyè (“or there is”) - used for hypotheticals

Compound Particles

Some adverb particles can be combined with each other producing a compound phrase head, sometimes with a unique meaning compared to the component particles.

Some examples:

kâi ngō, the previous and simultenous particles together form a true inchoative aspect, distinct from the inchoative-focus of the derivational affixes.

āno̖ mu̗h, the preparative and productive particles together form a imperative or necessitative mood with the adverb being the reason (which one it is depends on context).

lite̱’ mu̗h, the causative and productive particles together form a deductive mood with the adverb being the reasoning.

kâi fui̱ otkèh, the previous and contrastive particles with the “there is not” adverb form a hortative or propositive mood (which one it is depends on context).

Adverb Phrase Stacking

If an adverb phrase modifies an adverb rather than a verb, it is placed after it and initiated with the particle ge̱h.

[jinkaosgengo]

Òtpoetti̖ Post #2: Syntax

Òtpoetti̖ syntax is very strict, but quite variable. This post explains everything necessary to know about how to form sentences in Òtpoetti̖ that I have made so far.

Units

The main units necessary to understand a word's position in syntax are as follows:

Topic - Top

Agent - Ag

Patient - Pat

Noun - N

Predicative - Pv

Adjective - Adj

Verb - V

Preposition - P

Adverb particle - AdvPtcl

Complementizer - C

Clause - Cl

Tense/Aspect/Mood - TAM

Converb - Cnv

Sentence Order

The topic phrase (TopP) is always first phrase in a sentence, but it is often optional.

TopP - V

The agent noun phrase (AgNP) precedes the main verb or its pre-adverb phrases, and can only be headed by an animate noun. If the agent is the topic, its NP is syntactically treated as the TopP. The AgNP is optional.

TopP - AgNP (- AdvP) - V TopAgNP (- AdvP) - V

The patient noun phrase (PatNP) is the first NP to follow a main verb or its post-adverb phrases. If the patient is the topic, its NP is syntactically treated as the TopP. The PatNP is optional.

TopP - AgNP - V (- AdvP) - PatNPTopPatNP - AgNP - V (- AdvP)

The predicative phrase (PvP) can exist in two types of sentences: a verbless sentence or a verbal sentence. In a verbless sentence, the PvP always directly follows the predicand phrase. In a verbal sentence, the PvP is the first NP to follow a main verb or its post-adverbs. The PvP is obligatory in verbless sentences, but optional in verbal sentences.

TopPatNP - PvP TopPatNP - AgNP - V (- AdvP) - PvP

Adjective phrases (AdjP) precede a noun when they are stated as a matter of fact or objective truth, and follow a noun when they are stated as a matter of opinion or subjective perception. AdjPs are optional.

AdjP - N N - AdjP

Verb phrases (VP) are obligatory except in verbless sentences.

Preposition phrases (PP) can modify a head of any part of speech. PPs are optional.

When PPs modify anything other than a verb, they precede the head when they are stated as a matter of fact or objective truth, and follow the head when they are stated as a matter of opinion or subjective perception.

PP - N/Adj/Adv N/Adj/Adv - PP

When PPs modify verbs according to the what the speaker believes is fact or objective truth, the verb is marked with a case suffix and the head of the PP is placed directly after the verb, before any other word. When multiple PPs modify one verb in this way, the verb is repeated with the pro-verb nji̖.

TopP - AgNP - V.P NP/Cl (- AdvP) - PatNP TopP - AgNP - V.P NP/Cl nji̖.P NP/Cl (- AdvP) - PatNP

When PPs modify verbs according to the speaker's opinion or subjective perception, PPs are the last phrases in a sentence and typically have no obligatory order in relation to each other. However, in formal writing, a writer will select a particular order and maintain it across a work, sometimes across all their works.

TopP - AgNP - V - PatNP - PP

Regardless of style, if the head of one of the verb-modifying PPs is the topic, the PP is syntactically treated as the TopP.

TopPP - AgNP - V

Adverb phrases (AdvP) directly precede a verb when they are stated as a matter of fact or objective truth, and directly follow a verb when they are stated as a matter of opinion or subjective perception. AdvPs are optional.

AdvP - V V - AdvP

Complementizer phrases (CP) directly follow the phrase they modify. They can modify any phrase and are optional.

XP - CP

Topic Phrase

Only tier-0 and tier-1 lexical phrases (of any part of speech) can be a topic phrase.

A tier-0 phrase is a main argument NP or the main VP. A tier-1 phrase is an adjunct phrase that modifies either a main argument NP or the main VP (e.g. adjuncts that modify adjuncts cannot be topics).

A topic phrase is structured slightly differently depending on the part of speech of its head. All topic phrases begin with the topic particle. NPs, AdjPs, AdvPs, PPs, CPs are structured the same as they would be elsewhere in a sentence.

Blue represents components of a TopP.

TopPtcl - NP/AdjP/AdvP/PP/CP - AgNP - V TopPtcl - NP/AdjP/CP - PvP

VPs, however, only carry over the head and lexical adverb phrases to the topic position. Its argument phrases, TAM adverb phrases, and relative clauses all remain in their original place.

Blue represents components of a TopP.

TopPtcl (- AdvP) - V (- AdvP) - AgNP (- TAMP) (- CnvP) - PatNP (- PP) TopPtcl (- AdvP) - V (- AdvP) (- TAMP) (- CnvP) - PvP (- PP)

VPs do take suffixed prespositions and their complements with them to the topic position, retaining the same order between them, the verb, and adverbs.

Blue represents components of a TopP.

TopPtcl (- AdvP) - V(.PP) (- AdvP) - AgNP (- TAMP) (- CnvP) - PatNP TopPtcl (- AdvP) - V(.PP) (- AdvP) (- TAMP) (- CnvP) - PvP

The topic phrase is included if any one of the following is applicable:

the speaker wants to bring attention to the topic

the topic is something being asked about, such as an interrogative word or an object of inquiry (required topicality in this case)

the topic is important, unique, specific, and being mentioned for the first time in a conversation

there is no agent or patient being referred to (required topicality in this case)

Noun Phrase

Noun phrases (NP) includes a noun and optionally AdjP, PP, or CP. AdjPs and PPs can both follow or precede the noun, but CPs can only follow it.

Blue represents the head of a NP.

AdjP/PP - N N - AdjP/PP N - CP

Nouns are marked for case by an affix denoting argument roles, of which there are three:

Nominative - marked on the noun with the particle njī placed before the noun phrase, unmarked for pronouns

Agentive - marked on the noun or pronoun with the suffix -tâi

Prepositional - unmarked on the noun, but pronouns are converted to their declension form and encliticized onto the preposition

Predicative Phrase

A predicative phrase can be a NP, AdjP, or CP. A verb can only head it if the predicand is also a verb.

Blue represents the PvP.

TopP - NP TopP - Adj TopP - CP TopVP - VP

Whenever there is a predicative phrase, it is marked as a topic patient.

Blue represents the PvP.

TopPatP - PvP

Adjective Phrase

Adjectives phrases can include a particle ah that marks the adjective as an inherent property of a noun rather than a conditional one. This particle is always placed at the end of an adjective phrase.

Blue represents the head of an AdjP; pink represents native Òtpoetti̖ words.

N - (AdvP/PP -) Adj (- AdvP/PP) (AdvP/PP -) Adj (- AdvP/PP) - N N - (AdvP/PP -) Adj (- AdvP/PP) ah (AdvP/PP -) Adj (- AdvP/PP) ah - N

Adjective phrase heads can be a whole clause. This is used differently from complementizer phrases. The latter incorporate a main-clause word into another clause, while the former use a clause to describe some property of a word.

Preposition Phrase

A preposition phrase always begins with a preposition and is followed by a noun phrase or whole clause.

Blue represents the head of an PP.

P - NP/Cl

Adverb Phrase

An adverb phrase can only be complemented by a NP, VP, PP, or clause. The AdvP must always begin with an adverb particle, which is its head. AdvP modify verbs and adjectives, but require an adverb to be the topic in order to modify it.

There are different adverb particles that show different relationships between the main verb and the word(s) modifying it. Some of these specifically serve as converbs between the main verb and the adverb phrase's complement verb. Others are used to denote TAM with a complement of any part of speech. Converbs have their own phrase but they themselves cannot be modified by non-lexical adverb phrases.

The use of adverb phrase heads as a full clause is different from complementizer phrases. The latter incorporate a main-clause word into another clause, while the former use a clause to describe some property of a word.

Blue represents the head of an AdvP.

AdvPtcl - NP/VP/PP/Cl

Complementizer Phrase

Complementizer phrases always begin with a complementizer marking the role in its clause the modified word takes part in. Complementizers are obligatorily marked for personhood agreement when modifying a noun phrase.

Blue represents components of a CP.

XP - C - Cl

[jinkaosgengo]

Òtpoetti̖ Post #1

Hello, this is my first time conlanging on Tumblr. I wanted to make a post about what I've made for my newest conlang Òtpoetti̖.

Phonology

/m mː n nː ɲ ŋ p pː pːʷ b t tː t͡ʃ k kː kʲ kʼ kʲʼ ɡ ʔ ɸ v vː s ʃ h j l r ɾ/

⟨m mm n nn nj ng p pp pw b t tt tx k kk c k’ c’ g q f v vv s x h y l rr r⟩

/i iː e eː ɛ ɛː u uː o oː a aː/

⟨i ii e ee æ ææ u uu o oo a aa⟩

/a̤ a̰ a³ a² a¹ a³¹ a³² a²³ a²¹ a¹²/

⟨ah a’ ā a a̱ à a̖ â á a̗⟩

All vowels have some tone. Length can combine with phonation, but phonations cannot combine with each other.

A vowel marked with a diaerisis is a tone-2 vowel in a separate syllable from the previous vowel or previous ⟨h⟩. Vowels marked with a tone are always a separate syllable from the preceding vowel.

A tone-2 vowel becomes voiceless between two voiceless consonants, and long creaky vowels have a brief glottal stop between them.

Grammar

I will expand more on the grammar in later posts, but some of it is the following.

Animacy

Animate agent topics in a sentence are placed before a verb, while inanimate patient topics are placed after a verb.

If the topic is an animate patient, it is placed after the verb and the verb is marked with the prefix ō-.

Inanimate agents do not exist grammatically in Otpoetti. They are expressed with particular verb choice or converting the noun into a verb.

Personal Agreement

Verbs can agree with the topic by prefixing su̱- for the first person or i̖- for second person. Third person is unmarked.

Personal pronouns in the topic position can be omitted if there is no loss of information by replacing them with the personal agreement marker. If omission results in ambiguity for their animacy or thematic role, for instance, then they cannot be omitted.

Personal agreement and omission can also occur for nouns and adjectives with the suffixes -e̖h (first person), -qa’ (second person), or -ko (third person). Words modified by these suffixes function as shortenings for predicate nominatives and predicate adjectives, with the person represented by the suffixes as the subject (the subject is grammatically a patient). Words with these suffixes can function as arguments of a verb, not only a full sentence.

When marking a noun or adjective as predicative, the suffix is attached directly to that word. If a predicative noun is modified by an adjective, the suffix is instead placed on all of its adjectives.

Indefiniteness

Indefiniteness is marked by replacing a word-final vowel with -i and keeping the tone. It is this that the language name comes from: òtpoette̖ + i = òtpoetti̖ "a communication".

Lexicon (Nouns)

animal (cultural): a̖öupwe̖ [a²¹ou²pːʷe²¹] — This definition includes primarily motile organisms, both unicellular and multicellular.

animal (scientific): oumu̗umu̗u [ou²muː¹²muː¹²]

bread: bæhvu̖’ [bɛ̤²vṵ²¹]

choice₁: enku̖uh [eŋ²kṳː²¹] — This definition involves only choices made between a specific set of options.

choice₂: pārri [pa³ri²] — This definition includes only choices made without regard for any set of options.

communication / conversation / talk: òtpoette̖ [ot̚³²poe²tːe²¹]

desire: haho̖’ [ha²ho̰²¹]

face: bàkkota [ba³²kːo̥.ta²]

flower: hàxifo̖ [ha³²ʃi̥.ɸo²¹]

hair: nàgu̖ [na³²gu²¹]

human, person: èhle̖h [e̤³²le̤²¹]

milk: kipāao̱ng [ki̥.paː³oŋ¹]

sky: mùi̖ [mu³²i²¹]

water: ttapfu̗ [tːḁ.pɸu¹²]