#negric

[boredamateurconlanger-blog]

Phonology Update!

After a great deal of thought and working things out (and babbling to myself), I’ve decided to permanently change the phonology of Negric. 

What’s nice about it is the vowels are the same! Woohoo. (Any time I put a letter in <these brackets> it means the typed letter, not phoneme)

- any time the combination <rt> or <rd> is pronounced, they both become retroflex. - <c> is now an apical ‘s’, which sounds close to a voiceless ‘L’ (hence why it’s in the lateral fricative box) - <tl> the ‘L’ becomes a lateral fricative, and the phones become an affricate - <x> is now velar, instead of uvular - <w> can be bilabial or labiodental, depending on preference/dialect!

[boredamateurconlanger-blog]

Pluralizing!

Time for pluralization rules in Negric!

There plural suffix -ba changes depending on the surrounding sounds.

Basically: /ba/ -> <ma> / <l, tl, k, g> _____ /ba/ -> <wa> / <t, þ, ð, m, s> _____ /ba/ -> <ba> / elsewhere 

(-ba turns to -ma after L, TL, K, or G.         turns to -wa after T, M, s, Þ, or Ð.         stays -ba elsewhere. )

[boredamateurconlanger-blog]

A few notes on this post... Negric is a conlang that tends to not agree very often. In fact, agreement between adjective/noun is considered redundant! Which is why we see sentences like:  “xa énnom brátla so?” (What are those lights?)

 Here, we see “énnom”, the irregular plural form of “énna” (’this’), disagreeing with the singular “brátla” (light). It would be equally correct to say “énna brátlaba”, where ‘this’ is singular, but ‘lights’ is plural. As long as one of the objects is plural, the entire noun phrase becomes plural as well.

Another note on the phrase “Néro aðráce anp ke ánthic bea” (”travels faster than any natural beast ought to” in the text, but literally “go fast unlike all animal natural”). This is the most common way to compare things superlatively in Negric. This basic construction can say “this is more ____ than that”. In this case, the “iron horses” go faster than any natural beast. This construction is easier explained by example:

Wo aðráce so anp ne. I am faster than you. Literally: (I fast am unlike you).

There are many different ways to do superlative comparisons in Negric, but this is just one simple way. Basically, I’m hot and you’re not.

[boredamateurconlanger-blog]

New Translation!

Here is the latest translation I’ve done in Negric! I got the poem from this site. It has occurred to me that I really haven’t posted written Negric yet! This is what it looks like, and it’s more or less my take on the script used in the Voynich Manuscript. I’ve tweaked it from the original to fit the sound system of Negric, and I’ve tried out some punctuation marks and such.

Negric Dictionary

Here is the transcription and English gloss:

Takrán, xa      énnom brátla so? (Father, what  those   light    is?)

Ma’á, Góianim ac indáro so. (Well, Goyanim ‘s city       is.)

Mórba so sórga      malatlów. (They   is  strange  peoples.)

Mórba brátel ménoteic mórac indaróba, (They  light    (at) night  their    cities,)

ðéos itólma xémsa kenóg   em mórac sokbócke. (as if stars   not-is   enough for  their     neediness.)

Mórþa           ne’áxa ci anesár, ce    xem ewenóm iel      gesánk (themselves fight     and kill     , and not   realize    great danger)

noþá      pies magíþað. (beyond little sphere.)

Xem mórþa          ðéþkomron nok iamai  ci     gasþ. (not  themselves hunt              with bow   and arrow.)

Ai,    nes    sórga   maðróswa þi anesár ia     e’omón  xanok   gasþ. (no, have strange things        that kill      from distance without arrow)

Gesánk sórga kakrát pewerétwa   tlíto        mítla. (beware strange iron   horses    with-which travel)

Néro aðráce anp  ke  anþíc    bea,     ce   andót iamái ci gasþ ac perók. (go    fast     unlike all animal   natural and ignore bow and arrow’s strength)

Wo gaðnát   þi   ne   geséx  mórac indaróba, paþán. (I    suggest that you beware their     cities,         son)

Takrán, xa   indáro so? (Father, what city    is?)

[boredamateurconlanger-blog]

Basic Numerals [Negric]

Hey y'all, sorry I haven't posted anything in a while. Here's some basic numbers (still a work in progress) for counting.

it - 1

pála - 2

gan - 3

wor - 4

net - 5

set - 6

ésit - 7

tax - 8

can - 9

dóran - 10

Past 10:

doránnit - 11

doránpala - 12

dorángan - 13

doránwor - 14

doránnet - 15

doránset - 16

doránesit - 17

dorántax - 18

doráncan - 19

pálloran  - 20

gánnoran - 30

wórran - 40

néttoran - 50

séttoran - 60

éssoran - 70

tákkoran - 80

cánnoran - 90

ákcen - 100

So far, I've got up to 100, but more will come soon, along with how to form ordinal numbers (i.e. first, second, third, etc.)

Some bigger numbers:

283 - pállakcen tákkorangan

54 - néttoran wor

17 - doránesit

885 - tákkakcen tákkorannet

777 - éssakcen éssoranesit

[boredamateurconlanger-blog]

ámrath gesánk

So I recently changed the title (I guess that's what it's called?) of my blog to "Ámrath gesánk". Should probably explain that, huh...

The phrase means "beware of rogues" in Negric, literally translated as "rogues... beware of them". Gesánk is a sort of word to Negric people that feels dirty to utter. It's not exactly a curse word, but people's ears prick up when one says gesánk, because they know that someone is talking about something foul or unpleasant.

[boredamateurconlanger-blog]

I've been looking at Negric, and it's pretty cool so far. What were your inspirations for it?

I draw a lot of inspiration from the peoples who I think would fit the language first. I spend a lot of time walking around in the woods and babbling to myself to come up with new “feels” for conlangs. This summer, I was recently part of a production of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, and we perform in the middle of the woods. I played Autolycus the Rogue (who doesn’t appear until the second half of the play), and I had a lot of time in the beginning of the show to walk about the woods wearing a cloak and doing my usual babbling. This is where I came up with the beginnings of Negric; I had imagined these rough and roguish peoples who lived in treehouses in the forest. They don’t like outsiders very much, and a lot of their language towards others isn’t very friendly. The actual sounds of the language, I felt I drew inspiration from Tolkein’s Sindarin. I grew to really love the smoothness and simplicity of Sindarin, and took a lot of inspiration from that.So long story short, Elves! :)

[boredamateurconlanger-blog]

Some fun interrogatives and the like [Negric]

HEY I know it's been a few days since I posted anything, but life got ahead of me and I totally forgot and/or didn't feel like posting things.

So today for you I have how to make some thrilling interrogative sentences.

A basic question in Negric would be formed by switching the verb and the object in a sentence, and adding the interrogative, if necessary. The declarative SVO becomes an interrogative SOV. For example...

Wo ac máro so Dante - My name is Dante.

Ne ac máro Dante so? - Is your name Dante?

The particle "ac" denotes ownership of the following word to the previous word (quite similarly to the Japanese particle の). Wo ac máro signifies that wo (me) owns the máro (name). It can be literally translated as the genitive 's. Dante ac soréc means "Dante's apple". 

Here, by the way, are the personal pronouns in Negric:

wo (I, me)

ne  (you)

mor, mic, mak (gender neutral, she, and him)

To make any of these plural, simply add -ba to the end. -ba is a plural marker that attaches to the end of words. In Negric, there is no real plural form of a noun, unless you need to be very specific, in which case, -ba is added to the noun in question.

NOW... On to the interrogatives!

xi - who

xa - what

xathá - where

élan - when

éthe - why

xom - how

ettáris - how many / how much

And some example sentences with breakdowns:

Xathá si ne angé? - From where do you come? (where from you come)

(si means "from" and goes after the interrogative when asking a "from where" question. Likewise, any other question involving "where" and a preposition such as "to where" "in where" "at where", etc, require the speaker to flip them around, and thus, xathá si)

Xi ne so? - Who are you? (lit. who you are)

Xa ne ac máro so? - What is your name? (what you's name is)

Xathá ne ac maróthas so? - Where is your home? (where you's home is)

Éthe ne angé? - Why do you come? (why you come)

Xa ne kierá? - What do you want? (what you want)

Éthe ne anis so? - Why are you here? (why you here is)

Xa era indáro ac máro so?  - What is the name of this village? (what this village's name is)

Nerh seknáret ne athít? - Do you have any business? (any business you have)

Élan ikárte so? - What is the time? (when hour is) (When is the hour?)