Post by plaustrumimperialist on Jul 14, 2016 14:42:53 GMT -5
I figured that the culture tab needed something more than religions, and I have that itch that happens when someone (particularly the Confederacy of Upper Mliza) wrote something better than yours, so please forgive me. I figured I'd put that linguistics course to good use for once...
Also, this language did not come off the top of my head. It's a language I've been passively developing for a very long time. I'll explain later. For now, enjoy.
Quuzj'mit Writing
The Quuzj'mit (pronounced "Koodge-mitt") language has existed for millennia, but until the formation of the Zjau-yl Sovereignty, it was never given a written form. The tribes of Lower Mliza had mastered the art of mining, craftsmanship, even semi-advanced mathematics and physics before ever bothering. Merchant factions who used to speak Quuzj'mit soon left the language for others, both because the sea-fearing tribes weren't the best for trade and because other languages could actually store accounts. Regardless, Quuzj'mit became the official language of the Zjau-yl Sovereignty, and the first public works project was the establishment of written Quuzj'mit.
The first part will discuss written Quuzj'mit, while an update may discuss spoken Quuzj'mit and its grammar.
Quuzj'mit characters are syllabic, but the characters themselves are based off of the phonetic components that comprise them. This is a fully-"stocked" Quuzj'mit character:
____
/ \
/\____/\
| |_|_| |
| |_|_| |
\/ \/
The red code is the primary character. Each diagonal, horizontal, and vertical line represents a different sound (The diagonals go all the way through the red character, so there are only two). The upper curve represents a shift in consonants, the left curve represents a shift in vowels, and the right curve represents a character. Thus, there are fifteen sounds in common Quuzj'mit, as shown in the diagram below:
____
/ \
/\____/\ "djz/s"
| |_|_| | "m/n"
| |_|_| | "p/b"
\/ \/ "t"
y o i a k
u e au
For anyone curious, this could mean a total of 32,768 possible syllables. For anyone curious yet as to the official linguistics behind it, here it is:
Constant Consonants:
k: Top left to bottom right diagonal, the velar plosive. Can be replaced with g, depending on the dialect.
y: Top right to bottom left diagonal, the palatal approximant. Technically "j" on the IPA, could also be used as "i," depending on dialect.
t: right curve. Plosive dental, could also also be used as "d," depending on dialect.
Vowels (vertical lines):
o: Left, close-mid back; shifts to "u," close back.
i: Center, close front; shifts to "ɪ" in the IPA.
a: Right, open front, technically "ɶ" in the IPA; shifts to "ʌ" in the IPA, open-mid back.
Changeable Consonants (horizontal lines):
Djz: Top. While there are a variety of fricatives in most other languages, this (and its shift) is (are) the only one (two) fricatives in the changeable consonants. Technically "ʐ" in the IPA (retroflex fricative), it shifts to a sharp s (alveolar fricative).
m: Middle, bilabial nasal. Shifts to "ɲ" in the IPA, palatal nasal, or "n," alveolar nasal, depending on the dialect. Officially, "ɲ" is used, but commonly, "n" is used.
p: Bottom, the bilabial plosive. Shifts to "b," also bilabial plosive.
So, in application, "K'shim-poia," while multiple English syllables is actually a single Quuzj'mit syllable: the entire red character. K+y [the " ' " abbreviated the y]+ʐ+m+p+o+i+a is the entirety of the main syllabic base. In fact, this is a perfect guide for pronouncing Quuzj'mit: diagonals, then horizontals, then verticals. The only exception is when there is a consonant at the end of a word, in which case the order would be diagonal, vertical, horizontal. Diagonals are NEVER used at the end of a word, so that matter is irrelevant.
For anyone curious, "K'shim-poia" means a great shout, a large calamity, or any sort of explosion. For example, if I drop a bunch of metal pans on the cold ground, they would make a "K'shim-poia." If an audience applauds a concerto, they would also make a "K'shim-poia." Metaphorically, if a political faction is an complete disarray, it is a "K'shim-poia." The bustle of a crowd is a "K'shim-poia."
Whew, that was a lot. I'll get to chapter 2 later. If you have any questions, please ask.
Quuzj'mit Grammar
I must preface with this short analysis of languages. There is a reason why Spanish speakers talk faster than English speakers. This is because the human mind can take in information at a set, constant rate. For example, the concept of high velocity is interpreted by most minds at the same speed. However, "fast" takes fewer syllables to say than "rapido," in Spanish. Therefore, in order to keep the same amount of information efficiency, "rapido" must be said as quickly as "fast" in English. The same applies for a great many words.
The reason why I say this is because Quuzj'mit, generally, uses much shorter sentences to emphasize the same points as English-speakers, so Quuzj'mit speakers will talk much more slowly. Outsiders often mistake this slow speed with laziness; on the contrary, it is efficiency that makes the Zjau-yl speak so slowly.
Quuzj'mit sentence structure is VSO. There are neither articles, nor adverbs, nor prepositions, nor conjunctions. In their place are set identifiers (Setis, for simplicity's sake).
Setis identify a set and are usually in pairs. They occur both before and after nouns or verbs to indicate lists. For example, "ma/am" is the "and" set. Whereas in English, one would say, "lock, stock, and barrel," that phrase in Quuzj'mit is "ma- lock stock barrel -am." (Since the lexicon hasn't been established, and also for simplicity's sake, I have left the English words be for now.) These setis take the place of a variety of words, as will eventually be shown.
Nouns are constant; they can neither be turned into possessives, nor given a gender, nor made plural. Possessives are identified by the possessive seti "ko/ya." The owner goes first, and the object goes last. For example, "the symbol of the army of the king" in Quuzj'mit would be "ko- king army symbol -ya." Multiple instances of a noun are given as follows: "Solitary" is "i," "some" is "oi," and "many" is "oiya" (corresponding to the vertical lines of the primary character). So, "i-potato" would be a single potato, "oi-potato" would be a bowl of potatoes, and "oiya-potato" would be a wagonload or more of potatoes.
Verbs are slightly less constant but still rather constant. There are three verbs of being: "Tan'" or "Tana," "Ton'" or "Tona," and "Tin'" or "Tina." These mean "is," "was" and "will be," respectively. They also modify any verbs to change their tense: "ton'-run" means "ran," while "tin'-cook" means "will cook." There are no other declensions for verbs, so "will cook" could refer to anyone, singular or plural. In place of adverbs, verbs simply borrow from the lexicon of nouns or adjectives for description. For example, "to run swiftly" in English would become "swiftness-run," or "swift-run." "To run like a hawk" (replaced preposition) would be "hawk-run."
Also, this language did not come off the top of my head. It's a language I've been passively developing for a very long time. I'll explain later. For now, enjoy.
Quuzj'mit Writing
The Quuzj'mit (pronounced "Koodge-mitt") language has existed for millennia, but until the formation of the Zjau-yl Sovereignty, it was never given a written form. The tribes of Lower Mliza had mastered the art of mining, craftsmanship, even semi-advanced mathematics and physics before ever bothering. Merchant factions who used to speak Quuzj'mit soon left the language for others, both because the sea-fearing tribes weren't the best for trade and because other languages could actually store accounts. Regardless, Quuzj'mit became the official language of the Zjau-yl Sovereignty, and the first public works project was the establishment of written Quuzj'mit.
The first part will discuss written Quuzj'mit, while an update may discuss spoken Quuzj'mit and its grammar.
Quuzj'mit characters are syllabic, but the characters themselves are based off of the phonetic components that comprise them. This is a fully-"stocked" Quuzj'mit character:
____
/ \
/\____/\
| |_|_| |
| |_|_| |
\/ \/
The red code is the primary character. Each diagonal, horizontal, and vertical line represents a different sound (The diagonals go all the way through the red character, so there are only two). The upper curve represents a shift in consonants, the left curve represents a shift in vowels, and the right curve represents a character. Thus, there are fifteen sounds in common Quuzj'mit, as shown in the diagram below:
____
/ \
/\____/\ "djz/s"
| |_|_| | "m/n"
| |_|_| | "p/b"
\/ \/ "t"
y o i a k
u e au
For anyone curious, this could mean a total of 32,768 possible syllables. For anyone curious yet as to the official linguistics behind it, here it is:
Constant Consonants:
k: Top left to bottom right diagonal, the velar plosive. Can be replaced with g, depending on the dialect.
y: Top right to bottom left diagonal, the palatal approximant. Technically "j" on the IPA, could also be used as "i," depending on dialect.
t: right curve. Plosive dental, could also also be used as "d," depending on dialect.
Vowels (vertical lines):
o: Left, close-mid back; shifts to "u," close back.
i: Center, close front; shifts to "ɪ" in the IPA.
a: Right, open front, technically "ɶ" in the IPA; shifts to "ʌ" in the IPA, open-mid back.
Changeable Consonants (horizontal lines):
Djz: Top. While there are a variety of fricatives in most other languages, this (and its shift) is (are) the only one (two) fricatives in the changeable consonants. Technically "ʐ" in the IPA (retroflex fricative), it shifts to a sharp s (alveolar fricative).
m: Middle, bilabial nasal. Shifts to "ɲ" in the IPA, palatal nasal, or "n," alveolar nasal, depending on the dialect. Officially, "ɲ" is used, but commonly, "n" is used.
p: Bottom, the bilabial plosive. Shifts to "b," also bilabial plosive.
So, in application, "K'shim-poia," while multiple English syllables is actually a single Quuzj'mit syllable: the entire red character. K+y [the " ' " abbreviated the y]+ʐ+m+p+o+i+a is the entirety of the main syllabic base. In fact, this is a perfect guide for pronouncing Quuzj'mit: diagonals, then horizontals, then verticals. The only exception is when there is a consonant at the end of a word, in which case the order would be diagonal, vertical, horizontal. Diagonals are NEVER used at the end of a word, so that matter is irrelevant.
For anyone curious, "K'shim-poia" means a great shout, a large calamity, or any sort of explosion. For example, if I drop a bunch of metal pans on the cold ground, they would make a "K'shim-poia." If an audience applauds a concerto, they would also make a "K'shim-poia." Metaphorically, if a political faction is an complete disarray, it is a "K'shim-poia." The bustle of a crowd is a "K'shim-poia."
Whew, that was a lot. I'll get to chapter 2 later. If you have any questions, please ask.
Quuzj'mit Grammar
I must preface with this short analysis of languages. There is a reason why Spanish speakers talk faster than English speakers. This is because the human mind can take in information at a set, constant rate. For example, the concept of high velocity is interpreted by most minds at the same speed. However, "fast" takes fewer syllables to say than "rapido," in Spanish. Therefore, in order to keep the same amount of information efficiency, "rapido" must be said as quickly as "fast" in English. The same applies for a great many words.
The reason why I say this is because Quuzj'mit, generally, uses much shorter sentences to emphasize the same points as English-speakers, so Quuzj'mit speakers will talk much more slowly. Outsiders often mistake this slow speed with laziness; on the contrary, it is efficiency that makes the Zjau-yl speak so slowly.
Quuzj'mit sentence structure is VSO. There are neither articles, nor adverbs, nor prepositions, nor conjunctions. In their place are set identifiers (Setis, for simplicity's sake).
Setis identify a set and are usually in pairs. They occur both before and after nouns or verbs to indicate lists. For example, "ma/am" is the "and" set. Whereas in English, one would say, "lock, stock, and barrel," that phrase in Quuzj'mit is "ma- lock stock barrel -am." (Since the lexicon hasn't been established, and also for simplicity's sake, I have left the English words be for now.) These setis take the place of a variety of words, as will eventually be shown.
Nouns are constant; they can neither be turned into possessives, nor given a gender, nor made plural. Possessives are identified by the possessive seti "ko/ya." The owner goes first, and the object goes last. For example, "the symbol of the army of the king" in Quuzj'mit would be "ko- king army symbol -ya." Multiple instances of a noun are given as follows: "Solitary" is "i," "some" is "oi," and "many" is "oiya" (corresponding to the vertical lines of the primary character). So, "i-potato" would be a single potato, "oi-potato" would be a bowl of potatoes, and "oiya-potato" would be a wagonload or more of potatoes.
Verbs are slightly less constant but still rather constant. There are three verbs of being: "Tan'" or "Tana," "Ton'" or "Tona," and "Tin'" or "Tina." These mean "is," "was" and "will be," respectively. They also modify any verbs to change their tense: "ton'-run" means "ran," while "tin'-cook" means "will cook." There are no other declensions for verbs, so "will cook" could refer to anyone, singular or plural. In place of adverbs, verbs simply borrow from the lexicon of nouns or adjectives for description. For example, "to run swiftly" in English would become "swiftness-run," or "swift-run." "To run like a hawk" (replaced preposition) would be "hawk-run."
