Let's Nui

Learn to speak Nuim

[letsnui]

Kinship Again

With a new version of Nuim comes new kinship terms.  Don't worry, I think I can do a better job of explaining them this time.  I'll also explain how Nat (the speakers of Nuim) families actually work, which should help clarify some things.

First, Nat families.  Unlike many humans families, Nat families are matrilineal.  "Belonging" to a family is something that is passed down from mother to child.  Both men and women belong to their mother's family but, importantly, husbands do not belong to their wife's family.  Instead, a Nat husband continues to belong to their own mother's family.

This results in an interesting situation where husbands and wives live in totally different households.  Husbands live in their mother's household with all of their siblings, and wives live in their mother's household with all of their siblings.  While a father certainly can visit their children, and many do, they live in separate households.  A husband is expected to pay more attention to the children of their own household, their siblings children, than they are their own children and a wife is expected to pay more attention to her own children and those of her siblings than the children of her husband's siblings.

To make a long story short, Nat live with their moms, not their pops, and the Nuim kinship system reflects that.  The Nuim kinship system also reflects a certain lack of distinction between one's immediate family and one's extended family.

First, lets look at the terms used to describe people of one's own generation.

Matrilineal, Patrilineal, English

hosu, omyuna, sister

hepa, isyana, brother

Next, lets look at the terms for people of one's parent's generation.

Matrilineal, Patrilineal, English

tone, omruna, mother

seta, isruna, father

Now for one's parent's parent's generation.

Matrilineal, Patrilineal, English

cukkik, safomyu, grandmother

wakhus, safisya, grandfather

And finally for any generation below one's own.

Matrilineal, Patrilineal, English

omu, omkuyo, daughter

piso, iskayo, son

Not so bad when I put it like that, right?

[letsnui]

Determiner Changes

Two new determiners have been added to the demonstratives: wia and hau.  Wia is used for known things and hau for unknown things.  Unlike the other demonstratives, neither wia nor hau have singular or plural forms.  They can be used with any noun.

In general, wia and hau are only used when you can't see the things being determined.  If you can see a thing, use one of the other demonstratives.  Of course, if you can't see a thing, use wia or hau.  The other demonstratives should only be used for determine visible things.

In addition to the above, the quantifier determiners have been reworked.  They are now as follows: temomo "every," petoto "some," and hai "no."

Thus, the full system of Nuim determiners is as follows:

Determiner, English

eum pet, this

ini pet, that

eum tem, these

ini tem, those

wia, known

hau, unknown

temomo, every

petoto, some

hai, no

[letsnui]

Nuim Toaha

I finally wrote up my big Nuim grammar reference.  Its not nearly done yet, but it has more or less everything that I've posted so far.  You can find it here!

You can also find my current Nuim dictionary on the same site, here.  It's a very useful site; if you want to host your conlang somewhere, I'd fully recommend it.

By the way, can you guess what Nuim Toaha means?  Nuim should be obvious; its the name of the language!  Toa isn't a word I've used so far, so I'd be surprised if you knew what it meant.  Maybe try that dictionary out?  I'll wait for you.  Toa means "path."  Metaphorically, it can also mean the way or manner in which something is done.  Finally, the ~ha reduplication shows that toa is being possessed.  Thus, Nuim Toaha means "Nuim's Path/Way/Manner," or "How to Nuim."

[letsnui]

Conjunctions

The nominal conjunctions are the easiest, so I'll get them out of the way first.  There are only two (at least, right now there are only two): cewu "and" and cin "or."  These work more or less as you'd expect.  However, they can be doubled to to mean "both ... and" and "either ... or."  You'll see how in the following examples.

Nuim, English

awam cewu anoum, food and drink

awam cewu anoum cewu, both food and drink

awam cin anoum, food or drink

awam cin anoum cin, either food or drink

There are a lot more verbal conjunctions.  There's no time like the present, so... here they are.

Conjunction, English

ete, if

su, and

yuri ki, when

kuye ki, before

mua ki, after

yaho, because

wawe, but

Next up, su.  Su connects two verbs or clauses.  It usually implies some degree of sequence or causality.  X su Y means something like "X happened, then Y happened" or "X lead to Y."  It never means "X happened and, totally unrelated, Y also happened."

As mentioned above, yuri ki can have a conditional meaning.  It can also have a temporal meaning.  X yuri ki Y means something like "When X happened, Y happened."  It shouldn't be too hard to see how this was extended to "When X happens, Y will happen."

Kuye ki and mua ki are simple enough.  They're basically just like yuri ki.  X kuye ki Y means something like "After X happened, Y happened."  It can also mean "After X happens, Y will happen."  As such, it can also have a vaguely conditional meaning.  Mua ki is the same, but in the other temporal direction.  X mua ki Y is "before X happened, Y happened" or "before X happens, Y will happen."

Yaho is also simple enough.  X yaho Y means something like "because X, Y."  It can also mean "in order to X, Y."  You might expect this use would co-occur with "want" or similar words, like "because I wanted to X, Y", but it doesn't.

Finally, wawe is something like the opposite of yaho.  With yaho, the X leads to the Y.  With wawe Y happens in spite of X.  X wawe Y means something like "even though X, Y" or "although X, Y."

While I'm here, I'll mention some changes that have been made.

Original, Current, English

ras, ra, causative particle

husu, hup, be who

tatun, tat, be what (inanimate)

miwo, mi, do what

[letsnui]

Interrogative Verbs

I've spent the last couple of days being lazy about creating interrogative words for Nuim.  Well, today, I have stopped being so lazy (about this particular topic).  Nuim now has four proud interrogative verbs for all your question-asking needs.

The first of these verbs is husu "be who."  When combined with the generic noun nat "person," husu becomes husuna "who."  Husu can also be used on its own as an intransitive verb.  "Who are you?" in Nuim is simply namhusu, the second person singlar pronoun nam- combined with husu.

The next interrogative verb is pawe "be what (animate)."  Like husu, pawe can combine with me "thing" to become pawem "what (animate)."  Similarly, it can be used on its own.

After pawe comes tatun "be what (inanimate)."  Tatun is just like husu and pawe, but for inanimate things.  Tatun combines with me to become tatunme "what (inanimate)."

The last interrogative verb is miwo "do what."  Miwo is a bit different from husu, pawe, and tatun.  While it can become an interrogative pronoun with the generic noun ki "abstract thing", it has several more meanings than just "what (abstract)."  If miwo is used instead of a descriptive verb, it means something like "what kind of..."  If used as a bound verb, it means something like "why" or "how."

Hopefully the following examples will be able to explain all this better than I can.

Nuim, English

namhusu, who are you

ini pet nat husu, who is that person

yafonam cu nat husu, who do you like

ini pet me pawe, what animal is that

fiyotnam me pawe, what animal bit you

eum pet me tatun, what thing is that

tawa me tatun, what did I eat

"running" miwo, what is "running"

sonui ki miwo, what did he/she say

miwo nat sopet, what kind of person is he/she

ini pet me at miwo namkuye, why/how did you go there

[letsnui]

Something Silly

Tahutaminamkiponu

Ta-[hu-tami-nam-ki]-ponu

I-[you-strike-him/her-noun]-see

I see you strike him/her

[letsnui]

Ditransitive Verbs

Ditransitive verbs are those like "give" and "take" that require three arguments: a giver/taker, a person given to/taken from, and a thing given/taken.  In English, the giver is the subject, the thing given is the object, and the person given to is the indirect object.  In Nuim, the giver is the subject, the person given to is the object, and the thing given is an instrument.  This can be seen using the verbs hiko, to give, and sofu, to take, as well as the instrumental particle ek.

Nuim, English

X Y ek Z hiko, X gives Y to Z

X Y ek Z sofu, X takes Y from Z

Its important to remember what role goes in which position, particularly when speaking in voices other than the active.  Passive ditransitives in English look like "The present was given by me" but passive ditransitives in Nuim are more like "He was given a present by me."  For the following examples, remember the passive prefix a- and the instrumental applicative particle umi.

Nuim, English

Z Y ek ahiko, Z is given Y

Z X hiko Y ek ahiko, Z is given Y by X

X Y hiko umi, X gives Y

X Z ahiko Y hiko umi, X gives Y to Z

Y Z ahiko umi, Y was given to Z

Y X hiko Z ahiko umi, Y was given to Z by X

[letsnui]

Determiners

Nuim 1.0's determiner system was fairly arbitrary.  Honestly, Nuim 2.0's system is just as arbitrary, but its better somehow.  Nuim has the following demonstrative determiners.

Determiner, English

eum pet, this

ini pet, that

eum tem, these

ini tem, those

Nuim has the following universal, indefinite, and negative determiners.

Determiner, English

wata, every; all

nayu, some; any

hai, no

Unlike the demonstrative determiners, these determiners don't use pet or tem.  However, hai is derived from hayum, to not be.

Unlike English determiners, Nuim determiners can't be used as pronouns.  You can't say "I like this" or "some like it hot."  Similar meanings can be found by combining the determiners with the genereic nouns nat, me, and ki.

Nuim, English

eum pet nat, this person

eum pet me, this thing; this animal

eum pet ki, this thing (abstract)

ini tem nat, those people

ini tem me, those things; those animals

ini tem ki, those things (abstract)

wata nat, everyone

nayu me, something; some animal

hai ki, nothing (abstract)

[letsnui]

Augmentatives, Diminutives, and Comparisons

First off, Nuim doesn't have adjectives.  It just has verbs, many of which can function like adjectives.  So don't be alarmed when I call things like "red" or "happy" verbs.

With that out of the way, I will describe how Nuim forms augmentatives, diminutives, and comparisons.  Augmentatives are verbs that express high intensity, large sizes, or strength.  To make a verb augmentative, reduplicate the verb's last syllable and shift all the reduplicated vowels to back vowels.  "I" becomes "u", "a" becomes "o", and "e" becomes "o."

Verb, Augmentative, English

wima, wimamo, very yellow; bright yellow

cuti, cutitu, very jealous

wapi, wapipu, walk quickly, walk intensely

irsun, irsununu, very blue; deep blue

huyat, huyatoto, very aggressive

umyik, umyikuku, use a lot; use intensely

nuo, nuoho, very sad; depressed

nou, nouhu, drink deeply; drink a lot; drink quickly

Verb, Diminutive, English

wima, wimama, somewhat yellow; pale yellow

cuti, cutiti, somewhat jealous

wapi, wapipi, walk slowly; walk lazily; walk lightly

irsun, irsunini, somewhat blue; dull blue

huyat, huyatata, somewhat aggressive

umyik, umyikiki, use rarely; use gently

nuo, nuoha, somewhat sad

nou, nouhi, drink a little; drink slowly

Augmentatives and diminutives play a large role when comparing things.  In addition to its other meanings, an augmentative verb can mean "better" or "more."  Similarly, diminutive verbs can mean "worse" or "less."

There are several ways to compare things in Nuim; some that use the diminutive and some that don't.  The first way uses the topic marker petki/temki.

Nuim, English

X petki Y nuo, X is less sad than Y

X petki Y nuoho, X is less sad than Y

X petki Y nuoha, X is sadder than Y

The second way uses the verb ante, to exceed, as a particle.

Nuim, English

X Y ante nuo, X is sadder than Y

X Y ante nuoho, X is sadder than Y

X Y ante nuoha, X is less sad than Y

[letsnui]

Numbers - Types of Numbers

I swear Nuim's number system isn't that bad.  I don't know how it's consumed three whole posts.  This should be the last of them.

There are four types of number in Nuim: cardinal numbers, nominal numbers, ordinal numbers, and adverbial numbers.  The cardinal numbers, the numbers used to count, are the simplest.  The numbers described in the previous posts are all cardinal numbers.

Nuim, English

soka keo, one river

afru keo, two rivers

pefa keo, three rivers

fuas keo, four rivers

cukas keo, five rivers

himom keo, six rivers

nocam keo, seven rivers

umru keo, eight rivers

Nuim, English

sokan, one person

afrun, two people

pefan, three people

fuasnar, four people

sokam, one animal; one thing

afrum, two animals; two things

pefam, three animals; three things

fuasme, four animals; four things

sokak, the number one

afruk, the number two

pefak, the number three

fuaski, the number four

If the numeric part of a nominal number is two or more words long, follow the number with nar, me, or ki instead of using a suffix.

Nuim, English

umru soka nar, nine people

umru soka me, nine animals; nine things

umru soka ki, the number nine

Ordinal numbers are numbers like first, second, and such.  Nuim ordinal numbers are made from cardinal numbers and the verbs pet or tem, meaning "be."  Use pet if the thing being ordered is singular and tem if the thing being ordered is plural.  Pet and tem don't care about the number itself, just the thing being ordered.

Nuim, English

soka pet keo, first river

afru pet keo, second river

pefa pet keo, third river

fuas pet keo, fourth river

soka tem keo, first rivers

afru tem keo, second rivers

pefa tem keo, third rivers

fuas tem keo, fourth rivers

Adverbial numbers are numbers like once, twice, thrice, and such.  Nuim adverbial numbers are made from cardinal numbers and the bound verb siki, meaning "again."  The resulting number behaves like a bound verb.

Nuim, English

soka siki tami, strike once

afru siki tami, strike twice

pefa siki tami, strike thrice

fuas siki tami, strike four times

[letsnui]

Numbers - Positional Numbers

I'm bored, so here's part II of Nuim's number system.

While one can make large numbers in Nuim with umru and sotci, there is another, somewhat simpler system that can be used.  This system is based on how the numbers look when written out and effectively puts each number in a "place."  The places are as follows.

Place, Scientific Notation, Base-8 Representation

sokayu, 0x8^0, _

afruyu, 0x8^1, _0

pefayu, 0x8^2, _00

fuasi, 0x8^3, _ 000

cukasi, 0x8^4, _0 000

himomi, 0x8^5, _00 000

nocami, 0x8^6, _ 000 000

umruyu, 0x8^7, _0 000 000

umru sokayu, 0x8^8, _00 000 000

umru afruyu, 0x8^9, _ 000 000 000

umru pefayu, 0x8^10, _0 000 000 000

...

sotciyu, 0x8^15, _ 000 000 000 000 000

sotci sokayu, 0x8^16, _0 000 000 000 000 000

sotci afruyu, 0x8^17, _00 000 000 000 000 000

...

asotciyu, 0x8^31, _0 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000

...

Number, English, Base-8 Representation

soka sokayu, one, 1

soka afruyu, eight, 10

afru pefayu, one-hundred-twenty-eight, 200

afru fuasi, one-thousand-twenty-four, 2000

umru soka afruyu, seventy-two, 110

sotci afru sotciyu, a-big-number, 22 000 000 000 000 000

You can also use multiple places in a single number, like so.

Number, English, Base-8 Representation

soka afruyu soka sokayu, nine, 11

soka pefayu afru afruyu pefa sokayu, eighty-three, 123

fuas fuasi pefa pefayu afru afruyu soka sokayu, two-thousand-two-hundred-fifty-seven, 4321

It's best to use this positional system only when you have to.  As you can see, while it's very powerful, it can also be very wordy.

[letsnui]

What's the phonology and writing system of Nuim

Nuim's phonology is pretty simple.  There are only 12 consonants and 5 vowels.

Consonant, IPA

m, /m/

n, /n/

p, /p/

t, /t/

k, /k/

f, /f/

s, /s/

c, /ʃ/

h, /h/

y, /j/

w, /w/

r, /ɾ/

Vowel, IPA

i, /i/

a, /a/

e, /ə/

u, /u/

o, /o/

Nuim allows every consonant other than h, y, and w to appear in codas.  Neither onsets nor codas can be complex.

Writing system-wise, Nuim currently doesn't have one.  It used to have a syllabary, which can be seen in some of my older posts.  I plan on it ultimately using an abjad or an abugida or something, but I'm not really worrying about that yet.

Thanks for the ask!

[letsnui]

Numbers

So the locative applicative marker kind of jumped from pe, to yo, back to pe again, but lets not worry about that.  Lets worry about numbers instead.  Nuim is base-8, which means you count one, two, three, ..., seven, eight, eight-one, eight-two, eight-three, etc.  Its also base-16; so once you reach sixteen, you sort of stay there.  Lets start with just the numbers one through eight.

Number, English

soka, one

afru, two

pefa, three

fuas, four

cukas, five

himom, six

nocam, seven

umru, eight

Number, English

umru soka, nine

umru afru, ten

umru pefa, eleven

umru fuas, twelve

umru cukas, thirteen

umru himom, fourteen

umru nocam, fifteen

Like eight, sixteen has its own number: sotci.  The numbers seventeen through twenty-four are just like nine through fifteen; follow sotci, sixteen, with another number.

Number, English

sotci soka, seventeen

sotci afru, eighteen

sotci pefa, nineteen

sotci fuas, twenty

sotci cukas, twenty-one

sotci himom, twenty-two

sotci nocam, twenty-three

sotci umru, twenty-four

From twenty-five onwards, things get a bit stranger.  Follow sotci, sixteen, with one of the numbers nine through fifteen.

Number, English

sotci umru soka, twenty-five

sotci umru afru, twenty-six

sotci umru pefa, twenty-seven

sotci umru fuas, twenty-eight

sotci umru cukas, twenty-nine

sotci umru himom, thirty

sotci umru nocam, thirty-one

Thirty-two onward is even weirder.  Start with asotci, thirty-two, and follow it with one of the numbers one through fifteen.

Number, English

asotci, thirty-two

asotci soka, thirty-three

asotci afra, thirty-four

...

asotci umru, forty

asotci umru soka, forty-one

asotci umru afra, forty-two

...

asotci umru nocam, forty-seven

After forty-seven comes pesotci, forty-eight.  All the *sotci numbers are as follows.

Number, English

sotci, sixteen

asotci, thirty-two

pesotci, forty-eight

fusotci, sixty-four

cusotci, eighty

hisotci, ninety-six

nosotci, one-hundred-twelve

usotci, one-hundred-twenty-eight

umru asotci, one-hundred-forty-four

...

umru nosotci, two-hundred-forty

sotci sotci, two-hundred-fifty-six

You can keep on stacking up sotcis, but there's an easier way.  One that I'll tell you about later.

[letsnui]

Emotives & Evidentials

One of Nuim's special features is how it requires its speakers to overtly express their feelings and to state how they know what they're saying is true.  Nuim 1.0 handled this with two sets of particles.  Nuim now handles this with ten emotive verbs and four evidential suffixes.

The emotive verbs are intransitive and appear as follows:

Emotive, English

oye, happy

nuo, sad

oref, afraid

cekus, angry

yafo, loving

suhuf, hateful

wokki, surprised

cuti, jealous

huyat, aggressive

honi, submissive

Evidential, English

-po, visual evidence

-fi, non-visual evidence

-wi, inferred knowledge

-nu, hearsay

An emotive verb with an attached evidential suffix is known as an onset and every Nuim sentence must begin with one.  Of the emotive verbs, oye, to be happy, is the most neutral and the most comon.  Of the evidential suffixes, -wi, inferred knowledge, is the most neutral and -po, visual evidence, is the most common.

[letsnui]

Verbs & Voices

The active voice is unmarked.  If you see a verb chilling on its own without any voice markings, its active.

Nuim, English

X wapi, X walks

X Y tami, X strikes Y

The passive voice is marked with the prefix a-.  With a passive verb, what would normally be an object is instead a subject.  What would normally be a subject can be omitted or followed by the active form of the verb.  Intransitive verbs, like wapi, to walk, cannot be made passive.

Nuim, English

X Y tami, X strikes Y

Y atami, Y was struck

Y X tami atami, Y was struck by X

The first causative voice is marked with the postposition cu.  With a causative verb, the causer of the verb is a subject, what would normally be a subject is an object, and what would normally be an object can be omitted, incorporated into the verb, or followed by the passive form of the verb.

Nuim, English

X wapi, X walks

Z X wapi cu, Z made X walk

X Y tami, X strikes Y

Z X tami cu, Z made X strike someone

Z X Ytami cu, Z made X strike Y

Z X Y atami tami cu, Z made X strike Y

The second causative voice is marked with the postposition ras.  Other than using a different postposition, this voice is structured in the same way as the first causative voice.

Nuim, English

X wapi, X walks

Z X wapi ras, Z let X walk

X Y tami, X struck Y

Z X tami ras, Z let X strike someone

The first applicative voice, the locative applicative, is marked with the postposition pe.  With an applicative verb, what would normally be an oblique object is a regular object and what would normally be a regular object can be omitted, incorporated into the verb, or followed by the passive form of the verb.

Nuim, English

X Z yu wapi, X walks near Z

X Z wapi pe, X walks near Z

X Y Z yu tami, X struck Y near Z

X Z tami pe, X struck someone near Z

X Z Ytami pe, X struck Y near Z

X Z Y atami tami pe, X struck Y near Z

The second applicative voice, the allative applicative, is marked with the postposition ku.  Other than using a differnet postposition, this voice is structured in the same way as the first applicative voice.

Nuim, English

X Z at wapi, X walks to Z

X Z wapi ku, X walks to Z

The third applicative voice, the ablative applicative, is marked with the postposition mu.

Nuim, English

X Z kik wapi, X walks away from Z

X Z wapi mu, X walks away from Z

The fourth applicative voice, the instrumental applicative, is marked with the postposition umi.

Nuim, English

X Y Z ek tami, X struck Y using Z (friends make good bludgeons)

X Z tami umi, X struck someone using Z

X Z Ytami umi, X struck Y using Z

X Z Y atami tami umi, X struck Y using Z

The fifth applicative voice, the comitative applicative, is marked with the posposition po.

Nuim, English

X Y Z yur tami, X struck Y and Z helped

X Z tami po, X struck someone and Z helped

X Z Ytami po, X struck Y and Z helped

X Z Y atami tami po, X struck Y and Z helped

With the combined passive and causative voices, the causer of the verb can be omitted, followed by cua, to cause, or followed by rasi, to allow.

Nuim, English

X wapi, X walks

X awapi cu, X was made to walk

X Z cua awapi cu, X was made to walk by Z

X Y tami, X struck Y

X Y atami ras, X was allowed to strike Y

X Y Z rasi atami ras, X was allowed to strike Y by Z

With the combined passive and applicative voices, what would normally be an oblique object is a subject and what would normally be a subject can be omitted or followed by the active form of the verb.

Nuim, English

X Z at wapi, X walks to Z

Z awapi ku, Z was walked to

Z X wapi awapi ku, Z was walked to by X

X Y Z ek tami, X struck Y using Z

Z Y atami umi, Z was used to strike Y

Z Y X tami atami umi, Z was used to strike Y by X

[letsnui]

Nuim Pronouns

Nuim 1.0 had fairly simple pronouns.  A very modest four.  Nuim 2.0 has eight; ten if you count the reflexive and reciprocal.  In addition, each pronoun can occur on its own or joined to a verb.

Affix, Independent, English

ta-, tapetki, I; me

hu-, hupetki, you and me

nam-, nampetki, you (singular)

so-, sopetki, he/she

to-, totemki, we (exclusive)

ho-, hotemki, we (inclusive)

mam-, mamtemki, you (plural)

fe-, fetemki, they

mo-, mopetki, self

mat-, mattemki, each other

Nuim, English

tawapi, I walk

huwapi, you and me walk

namwapi, you walk

sowapi, he/she walks

towapi, we walk

howapi, we walk

mamwapi, you all walk

fewapi, they walk

Those same pronouns can also be joined to verbs as suffixes when they're the object.  The following examples use the verb tami, to strike; to hit.

Nuim, English

tatamiso, I strike him/her

namtamita, you strike me

totamife, we strike them

mamtamito, you all strike us

The reflexive and reciprocal pronouns mo- and mat- mean the same thing whether they are joined as prefixes or as suffixes.  They are always objects.  When these pronouns are joined as suffixes, they stand out a bit more than when joined as prefixes.

Nuim, English

tamotami, I strike myself

tatamimo, I strike myself

tomattami, we strike each other

totamimat, we strike each other

Unlike the affix pronouns, the independent pronouns are not joined to verbs.  However, they cannot occur without their assoicated affix pronoun.  Using an independent pronoun makes the pronoun stand out much more than using just an affix pronoun.

Nuim, English

tapetki tawapi, as for me - I walk

tapetki tatamiso, as for me - I strike him/her

sopetki tatamiso, as for him/her - I strike them

tapetki tamotami, as for me - I strike myself

totemki tomattami, as for us - we strike each other

mopetki tamotami, as for myself - I strike them

mattemki tomattami, as for each other - we strike them

[letsnui]

Revisions Revisions

I know I've just finished Lexember, but... I'm going to redo Nuim.  New words, a new grammar, and a somewhat new culture.

I'll try and post things as I work them out.  Feel free to ask me about anything; I'll respond as soon as I can.