Author: losophyp

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Language

Balancing a Conlang

“Fast, Cheap, Good : pick any two”.
I am often reminded of this when considering constructed languages. Unfortunately the wishlist is not that simple!
One thing that might be desired is for the new language to be easy to use and quick to learn. This suggests that the language should have a logical and consistent construction. Verbs should all be regular and there should be very few “exceptions to the rule”.
Easy to use implies that the reader/speaker is not required to have a particularly in-depth knowledge of grammatical theory.
Esperanto and several other constructed languages have distinct endings for adjectives, adverbs and/or other word types. It is quite possible to be fluent in a natural language without being particularly conscious of such distinctions. I managed several decades of speaking English without even knowing the distinction between transitive and intransitive verbs.
Familiarity might seem an attractive feature in making a conlang user friendly.
Many conlangs have drawn on existing natural languages for their vocabulary.
Typically the romance languages are used. Examples include Novial and Lingua Franca Nova.
An English based example is Inlis.
Some of these conlangs have the advantage that it is often relatively easy to work out the gist of the meaning.
Easy, that is, if you have some grounding in the languages on which the conlang is based.
Knowledge of the romance languages is not as widespread as one might assume from the number of speakers.
I once overhead a long, drawn out conversation between a French speaker with limited English and an English-speaking Chinese girl.
The stumbling block was the question “Quel age as-tu?”
Another stumbling block is that the same or similar words have different meanings in some natural languages.
English has so many homophones and irregular verbs that attempting to make it into something more consistent and logical rapidly transforms it to something that is not that recognizable.
Using existing words and words that are logical or easily learnt meshes somewhat uneasily.
The word for plumber in many European languages is based on a word for lead, but it is not necessarily based on the word “plumbum”.
Plumbers seldom use lead for modern plumbing so the name is not obvious for those that do not know its historical origins.
“Water pipe worker” seems more obvious but that could also describe a urologist!
We could replace the word for “worker” with “doctor” or “healer”, but a urologist may be an academic rather than a medical man.
“Water pipe studier” could mean someone who designs drainage systems!
Brevity is another desirable characteristic.
Obviously it would be desirable if the most commonly used words are the shortest and/or easiest to say.
This may clash with using existing or familiar words.
It may also clash with more logical construction of words.
Even if we assign only a syllable to “water pipe worker” we have a word of three syllables, four if “worker” is formed as an agent noun of “work”.
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Language

Ving, Vang, Vong

Before I decided to place my thoughts on Diinlang on this blog, I was using the word sequence “ving”, “vang”, “vong” for the words “here”, “there” and “yonder”. The acoustics of ving, vang, vong made them easy to remember that they were related.
I expected to use the same system for other sequences of related words.
The start of the blog coincided with an interest in Dutton Speedwords, so I considered a shorter series of words and proposed “sa”, “si” and “so”.
Despite the brevity, I have not been particularly satisfied with this change. “Si” and “sa” also had the meaning of “this” or “that” and by implication “so” could mean “that which is very distant”.
If the use of ving, vang and vong is reinstituted, it may be more logical to place them in alphabetical order so the sequence becomes “vang”, “ving”, “vong”.
The concept of “near” could also be added to the sequence, giving us “vang”, “veng”, “ving” and “vong” for “here”, “near”, “there/ far” and “yonder/ very far”.
If used as demonstrative pronouns (this, that, these, those) the definitive article or another determiner is used to indicated noun/ pronoun status. Compare to "det här" in Swedish. Hence “de vang, de ving, de vangz/ dez vang, de vingz/ dez ving”. These may mutate to “dang” and “ding” so keep these words free for this potential use.
This also makes it more practical to resume use of “se” as a reflexive pronoun, as it is used in Portuguese and some Scandinavian languages. Pronunciation would most likely be “she” in Diinlang.
Whether to use “ving” also as a relative pronoun needs to be considered. Interglossa uses “su” from “subject” as a relative pronoun, which I quite like. It is possible Diinlang could use both “ving” and “su” but have them fully interchangeable.
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Language

Agent Nouns in Diinlang

In English agent nouns are created by adding “-er” to a verb. English being English this is sometimes done with “-ir” or “-or”. “-er” is also used for comparatives. Some agent nouns, such as “artist” use “-ist”, although “-ist” is more commonly used for someone who holds a belief or follows a philosophy rather than someone who performs an action.
For Diinlang it is obviously desirable that there is only one way to create an agent noun, and that this be of a form that is distinct from other word types.
An option I considered was to use the suffix “-or”. This could be gendered as “-oro” for males and “-ora” for females. Inanimate objects that perform an action would be designated by “-it”. Thus if we used the work “kuk” for the action of cooking a cooker or stove would be a “kukit”and the person using it a “kukor”, “kukoro” or “kukora”. (This is just for illustrative purposes. The final world for “cook” may be quite different)
It occurs to me that things can be made simpler for the learner. The word “du” is used for the verb “to do”. We also have the pronouns “zo”, “za” and “ze” to indicate male, female and neuter/unknown. This might give us “kukdu/ kukduze”, “kukduzo” and “kukduza”. Unfortunately if the verb we are modifying is “du” this gives us “dudu” or “duduze”. The syllable “du” is probably redundant which suggest that agent nouns be created by the simple expedient of using “-ze”, “-z0” and “-za” as suffixes.
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Language

Phonetic Consonants in English

Following the post on phonetic representation of vowels in English it is only logical that I make some comments on consonants.
The good news is that the majority of consonants in English only have one phoneme. The bad news is that consonants are sometimes silent.
Three consonants are unnecessary and are not used in phonetic spelling. These are C, Q and X.
C in English either represents an “S” sound or a “K”.
Q represents a “kw” sound that is more usefully represented by these letters. The “u” that customarily follows a Q is usually silent.
X in English is generally pronounced as a “Z”. When it is preceded by an “e” the sound is often “eks”. “Taxi” can be rendered phonetically as either “taksi” or “takzi”, depending on dialect.
G is a consonant that has two phonemes, being either a “g” sound or a “j”. It is also a silent letter in some words. Phonetically G is used for a hard “g” and “j” is used for “j” sounds.
J is a relatively young letter, dating back to the middle ages. In other words it was necessary to create a letter to represent a phoneme that was in common use. It is therefore a little surprising that “j” was a letter that Benjamin Franklin did not include in his phonetic alphabet. Instead he represented the sound with his letters representing “dsh”.
Another letter Franklin eliminated was “W”. While some nationalities have trouble with pronouncing “w” it is a distinct phoneme in English. Like “j” it is a relatively new letter that came into common use in the early middle ages. Franklin represented “hw”/ “wh” and “w” with letter combinations such as “hu” and “uu”.
Y is a distinct phoneme when at the start of a word or syllable. In English pronunciation “yog” is phonetically distinct from “jog”, for example.
When H is placed after another consonant it generally has a softening effect. Some of the exceptions to this constitute some of the most widely used consonant digraphs.
SH is used in words such as “shush”.
CH is often rendered as TSH in many phonetic systems. An argument can be made that in the initial position “ch” may have a softer sound, closer to “jh”. This gives us the words “jhurtsh” and “jhiyna” for “church” and “china”.
TH in English has two phonemes. It has an “f” sound in words such as “three” or “thigh”. This is rendered as “th” in many phonetic systems although “fh” may be closer in actual sound. TH words with a “d” or “v” like sound may be phonetically spelt with a “dh”. Many of the “dh” words are determiners or pronouns and include dhe, dhey, dhem, dhis, dhat, dhez, dhouz, dhayr and widh
PH is inherited from Greek and is phonetically represented by “f”.
Categories
Language

Superlatives and Comparatives

English has two ways to form comparatives and superlatives. The first is by preceding the item being described by the adverb “more” or “most”. This is the system used in many European languages and also in Mandarin. Some languages, such as Portuguese use one word, “mais” meaning “more” and “ o mais” meaning “the most”. The word “most” in English is somewhat ambivalent. “most red” means nothing discussed is more red. “Most people” means the majority, not the entirety.
The second commonly used system uses the suffixes -er and -est. “-er” is also used to create agent nouns in English. It is also used for words that are neither comparatives nor agent nouns. Its actual pronunciation in RP English is “-ə”.
Both systems are widely used in English, the choice being determined by the syllable number of the word being modified. The system used in Diinlang needs to be simpler to learn but remain versatile.
The first draft of Diinlang used the suffixes “-ha” and “-ho” for the comparative and superlative. Observing that the “h” sound could sometimes be problematic for my Portuguese-speaking friends I then changed this to “-tah” and “-toh”. Latest idea is to instead convert these to prefixes. This is easier to learn for speakers of the many languages that form comparatives and superlatives with a word before the word of interest. It also maintains a convenient single word form for when the comparative or superlative word is uses as an adjective.
Many quantities in English are described by a number of words. Temperature, for example is described by “hot”, “cold”, “warm”, “cool”, “tepid” etc. For Diinlang we want a logical system that is easier to learn. It should be easy and logical to deduce the word for a smaller or larger quantity of a property. The system I propose for Diinlang uses the prefixes “et/mes/tai”. “tai” comes from Chinese and is used in terms such as “tai chi” which means “great ultimate”. It also means “the highest part of a roof”. “et” is a diminutive used in some English words such as “bomblet”. “et” therefore means a small amount of something, “tai” a large amount.
To illustrate how this works, let us assume that the word for temperature is “hii”. This is adapted from the Dutton speedword for heat, “he”. Cold is “he-x”, meaning “opposite of heat” and temperature is actually “gre-he” where “gre” means “grade, degree or stage.
“taihii” would mean hot or high temperature.
“ethii” would mean cold.
“meshii” would mean medium heat. This can be taken as a temperature comfortable for human beings.
“etmeshii” and “mestaihii” represent cool and warm temperatures.
With the comparative prefix added “tataihii” means hotter and thus “totaihii” is “hottest”.
With this basic system you only need to know the core word for weight, number, mass, height etc to form the derived words for large or small quantities, comparatives or superlatives.
A superlative or comparative usually needs to be compared with something. In English this is often introduced by the word “than”. “Your porridge is hotter than mine!” One option in Diinlang is to use “di” as the comparative conjunction. In many languages the equivalent to di (of/from) is used in this way.
In English comparisons are also made using the word “as”, particularly when the two things are regarded as similar. “You are nearly as tall as me!” Note the “as…as…” format, although the first “as” is sometimes omitted. “as” is a nice, compact word but with a definition that is hard to pin down. Possibly in Diinlang “as” can be used as a more general purpose conjunction and used instead of “than” even when there is a considerable difference between the items.
“Ti bi tataihii as mi” = “You are hotter than me”
Categories
Language

Verb System Part One

       Version 2.2
 [Page updated to use new definite article and third person pronouns]
        As might be expected from a conlang, the verbs in Diinlang are regular. Some conlangs use totally uninflected verbs, others are highly inflected. Diinlang generally uses a bare infinitive but also uses regularly derived perfect and progressive forms.
        A word used as a verb in Diinlang may have three possible forms. These are the bare infinitive form, the continuous/progressive form and the perfect form. The two latter forms are regularly constructed by the addition of the prefixes "is-" and "dun-". This replaces the older version which used bi-" and "av-". Some later pages may still use these prefixes. The use of a prefix allows these forms to be used as nouns or adjectives/adverbs when required. This gives us greater potential for information and flexibility. Consider the English phrases:

The open door.

The opened door.

The opening door.

For convenience the continuous/progressive form in English is hereafter called the "-ing form".
Verb tense is indicated with the markers "gon" and "pre" for future or past.
If a full infinitive is needed "du" prefixes the verb. Therefore "to go" is "du go".
The Diinlang verbs for "to be", "to have" and "to do" are "bi", "av" and "du".
This section details how the verb forms are constructed. How they are actually used will probably evolve over time. For example, the simple present is seldom used for dynamic verbs in English, the continuous form being used instead. In Dutch, the simple present sees more use and is often used in meanings that might not be regarded as present tense in other languages.

Simple Present, Past and Future
        These are formed with the bare infinitive and a tense marker if necessary. When a verb in future or past tense is being used as a copula the infinitive may be dropped if the meaning remains clear.

Mi du I do
Zo du He does
Zo pre du He did
Zo gon du He will do/ He is going to do.
Za zou du She would do


Transitive and Intransitive Verbs
        Transitivity is flexible. If an object is added after an intransitive verb, the verb becomes transitive. This may alter the meaning of the verb so that it has a meaning similar to "causes (the object) to ~"
        Compare the English "I burn". with "I burn it"."

Progressive/Continuous Aspect
        The progressive/continuous aspect is formed using the "is-" prefix. In English this verb aspect is accompanied by some form of the auxiliary/copular verb "to be". In Diinlang the addition of the auxiliary is not necessary.

Mi isdu I am doing
Zo isdu He is doing
Zo pre isdu He was doing
Zo gon isdu He will be doing/ He is going to be doing.
Za zou isdu She would be doing


Perfect Aspect.
        The perfect aspect is formed using the "av-" prefix. (This has been updated to "dun") In English this verb aspect is accompanied by some form of the auxiliary verb "to have". In Diinlang the addition of the auxiliary is not necessary. Perfect aspect in regular English verbs takes an -ed ending. Many irregular verbs take -en as an ending (eaten, riden, beaten etc).

Mi dundu I have done
Zo dundu He has done
Zo pre dundu He had done
Zo gon dundu He will have done/ He going to have done.
Za zou dundu She would have done


Perfect Progressive.
        The perfect and progressive (continuous) aspects can be combined, usually in referring to the completed portion of a continuing action or temporary state: "I have been doing…" it" is formed in Diinlang by combination of the verb "to have" ("av") before a continuous form of the main verb.

Mi av isdu I have been doing
Zo av isdu He has been doing
Zo pre av isdu He had been doing
Zo gon av isdu He will have been doing/ He going to have been doing
Za zou av isdu She would have been doing.


Passive Voice.
        To form the passive voice (where the subject denotes the undergoer, or patient, of the action) the auxiliary verb "ge" is used, often with the perfect form. In English passive voice is formed either with the verb "to be" or "to get" and a past participle verb form. "get" is used in the meaning of "becoming" or "becomes". (Remember perfect tense uses "have" with the past participle form in English) If "to be" can be replaced with "to get" or "to become" without a loss of meaning the sentence is passive voice and requires the "ge" verb in Diinlang. Note that the auxillary can be modified for tense and aspect. Some perfect construction clauses are inherently passive. "It ge du" and "It dundu" have the same meaning.
In many languages the passive voice is formed by a combination of the perfect form of the verb used with the verb for "to be". This construction can also be used in Diinlang. Often in Diinlang there will be more than one correct way to do something!

Tense Subject Auxiliary Past Participle/ Infinitive.
Present passive It

It

 is/ gets/becomes

ge

 done

du
Past passive It

It

 were/ got/ became

pre ge

 done

du
Future passive It

It

 will be/ get/ become

gon ge

 done

du
Present perfect passive It

It

 has been/ has got/ has become

dunge

 done

du
Past perfect passive It

It

 had been/ had got/ had became

pre dunge

 done

du
Future perfect passive It

It

 will have been/ will have got/ will have became

gon dunge

 done

du.
Present progressive passive It

It

 is being/ is getting/ is becoming

isge

 done

du
Past progressive passive It

It

 was being/ was getting/ was becoming

pre isge

 done

du

        Alternately, the prefixes is- and dun- might be added to the main verb, so "It was being done" would be written as "it pre ge isdu", literally "it was get doing".

Categories
Language

Diinlang Introduction

This blog will be about Diinlang.
The original idea of a constructed language (conlang) came from my friend Dean, hence the name.
Language is something that interests me. I have a number of friends who speak English as a second language and this has often provided insight into how byzantine my native tongue can be. Sometimes they use English in ingenious ways. While these improvisations may not be “proper” English they are often fully comprehensible and logical.
One of Dean’s concepts was that Diinlang would have a phonology that most nationalities could cope with. His idea was that most words or syllables would have the format “CVN” where C is a consonant, V is a vowel and N is “m”, “n” or “ng”.
My personal contribution has been in trying to create a structure within which these words are used. I have been designing a regular and easily learnt verb structure. I have also been designing pronouns, determiners, comparatives, superlatives and, less successfully, an adjective and adverb system. For brevity most of these “structure” words are CV or VC in format. Recent influence of the Dutton Speedwords systemhas caused many of these words to be redesigned so they can be written as single characters.
I have decided to put some of my experiments on a blog so that others interested in this field may benefit from them.