Tazaric Scratchpad
Posted: 30 Dec 2014 16:02
Yeah I should be writing for my Mithara blog but I feel like writing this instead. I am the night!
Tazaric (formerly known as Project Steel) is my attempt at a (mostly) isolating conlang; What inflection exists is mostly done through non-concatenative morphology rather than affixes. It's the major lingua franca of the Ngazir desert region, though most who speak it as a second language actually speak a semi-pidginized version called Kodul Tazar, which (among other things) dumps all the non-concatenative morphology entirely. But here I'll only be discussing Maal Diak Wiin, the conservative prestige dialect spoken by the upper classes of Tazar, the language's home city-state.
Boring phonology crap
/p t̪ t c k/
/b d̪ d ɟ g/
/h/
/m n̪ n ɲ ŋ/
/ɾ l w j/
/ǀk ǁk ǃk ǂk/
/ǀg ǁg ǃg ǂg/
/ǀⁿ ǁⁿ ǃⁿ ǂⁿ/
/a e ɜ i ɪ o ɔ u ʊ/
/a̤ e̤ ɜ̤ i̤ ɪ̤ o̤ ɔ̤ ṳ ʊ̤/
All vowels come in two length variants (short and long), and two tones (high and low). Rising and falling contour tones exist on bimoraic syllables, but not on monomoraic ones. The maximum Tazaric syllable is C(i,u)V(:)(p,t̪,t,c,k,m,n̪,n,ɲ,ŋ); Most roots are monosyllabic, and the few that aren't are all monomorphemizations of previously bimorphemic words.
There's coronal consonant harmony between /t̪ d̪ n̪ ǀk ǀg ǀⁿ/ and /t d n !k !g ǃⁿ/, and vowel harmony between /e i o u/ and /ɛ ɪ ɔ ʊ/, where /a/ is neutral.
Nominal Morphology
Here's an important point: All number/case morphology in Tazaric is suppletive. There are common repeating patterns, but no truly regular processes. Loanwords are always number and case-neutral.
Number
About 50% of monosyllabic Tazaric nouns form plurals by shortening/lengthening the stem vowel, and inverting the tone.
bɜ̀r "good.SG", bɜ́ɜ́r "good.PL"
ŋá̤̤á̤r "ant", ŋà̤r "ants"
(Tazaric adjectives in attributive position inflect for number and case, agreeing with their head noun.)
Most of the rest keep the tone constant while changing the length, or keep length constant while inverting the tone. Other, minor patterns also exist. No forms exist where both the singular and the plural have a high tone; Either they both have a low tone (or a contour) or the plural involves a tone change.
Construct State
The construct state is used when a noun doesn't stand alone; Whenever it's accompanied by an adjective, possessor, or when it's the head of a relative clause. Unlike number and case, the construct state form is completely predictable: When the noun ends in a plosive, the construct state form changes the plosive to a corresponding nasal. Otherwise, the construct form is identical.
gùááŋ wé lò̤mè lṳ̀ò̤p áhɔ̀ɔ̀t̪
gùááŋ wé lò̤m=è lṳ̀ò̤p á=hɔ̀ɔ̀t̪
NST\swim 1sg LOC.CONST\pond=3f.3s.POSS SG.GEN\pond DECL.SG=dry
The pond I swim in dried up.
Case
Tazaric has 4 cases: Neutral, Topical, Genitive, and Locative. Neutral is the unmarked form, and is used for non-topical core clausal arguments. The topical case is used for sentential topics, as well as any nouns in the clause whose possessor is coreferent with the topic (the topical case overwriting their usual case):
wá ácí ǂgòò wɜ̤́ɜ̤̀ŋ ɲíúk
wá á=cí ǂgòò wɜ̤́ɜ̤̀ŋ ɲíúk
1sg.TOP DECL.SG=PST give TOP\weng medicine
I gave my Weng medicine. (wá ácí ǂgòò wɜ́ɜ́ŋ ɲíúk "I gave the weng (not mine) medicine")
The genitive is used for possessors. The possessum is marked with both the construct state, and a special clitic which agrees with the gender of the possessor and the number of the possessum:
mʊ́ cí ǂgòò wɜ́ɜ́ŋá ǁkòt ɲíúk?
mʊ́ cí ǂgòò wɜ́ɜ́ŋ=á ǁkòt ɲíúk
2sg.TOP PST give CONST\weng=3m.3s.POSS GEN\boy medicine
Did you give the boy's Weng medicine?
The locative marks, well, locations; It can be used alone or in conjunction with a spatial preposition.
wá ácí wááp ɲíúk cʊ̀ɔ̀
wá á=cí wááp ɲíúk cʊ̀ɔ̀
1sg.TOP DECL.SG=PST put medicine LOC\bowl
I put the medicine in the bowl.
Tazaric (formerly known as Project Steel) is my attempt at a (mostly) isolating conlang; What inflection exists is mostly done through non-concatenative morphology rather than affixes. It's the major lingua franca of the Ngazir desert region, though most who speak it as a second language actually speak a semi-pidginized version called Kodul Tazar, which (among other things) dumps all the non-concatenative morphology entirely. But here I'll only be discussing Maal Diak Wiin, the conservative prestige dialect spoken by the upper classes of Tazar, the language's home city-state.
Boring phonology crap
/p t̪ t c k/
/b d̪ d ɟ g/
/h/
/m n̪ n ɲ ŋ/
/ɾ l w j/
/ǀk ǁk ǃk ǂk/
/ǀg ǁg ǃg ǂg/
/ǀⁿ ǁⁿ ǃⁿ ǂⁿ/
/a e ɜ i ɪ o ɔ u ʊ/
/a̤ e̤ ɜ̤ i̤ ɪ̤ o̤ ɔ̤ ṳ ʊ̤/
All vowels come in two length variants (short and long), and two tones (high and low). Rising and falling contour tones exist on bimoraic syllables, but not on monomoraic ones. The maximum Tazaric syllable is C(i,u)V(:)(p,t̪,t,c,k,m,n̪,n,ɲ,ŋ); Most roots are monosyllabic, and the few that aren't are all monomorphemizations of previously bimorphemic words.
There's coronal consonant harmony between /t̪ d̪ n̪ ǀk ǀg ǀⁿ/ and /t d n !k !g ǃⁿ/, and vowel harmony between /e i o u/ and /ɛ ɪ ɔ ʊ/, where /a/ is neutral.
Nominal Morphology
Here's an important point: All number/case morphology in Tazaric is suppletive. There are common repeating patterns, but no truly regular processes. Loanwords are always number and case-neutral.
Number
About 50% of monosyllabic Tazaric nouns form plurals by shortening/lengthening the stem vowel, and inverting the tone.
bɜ̀r "good.SG", bɜ́ɜ́r "good.PL"
ŋá̤̤á̤r "ant", ŋà̤r "ants"
(Tazaric adjectives in attributive position inflect for number and case, agreeing with their head noun.)
Most of the rest keep the tone constant while changing the length, or keep length constant while inverting the tone. Other, minor patterns also exist. No forms exist where both the singular and the plural have a high tone; Either they both have a low tone (or a contour) or the plural involves a tone change.
Construct State
The construct state is used when a noun doesn't stand alone; Whenever it's accompanied by an adjective, possessor, or when it's the head of a relative clause. Unlike number and case, the construct state form is completely predictable: When the noun ends in a plosive, the construct state form changes the plosive to a corresponding nasal. Otherwise, the construct form is identical.
gùááŋ wé lò̤mè lṳ̀ò̤p áhɔ̀ɔ̀t̪
gùááŋ wé lò̤m=è lṳ̀ò̤p á=hɔ̀ɔ̀t̪
NST\swim 1sg LOC.CONST\pond=3f.3s.POSS SG.GEN\pond DECL.SG=dry
The pond I swim in dried up.
Case
Tazaric has 4 cases: Neutral, Topical, Genitive, and Locative. Neutral is the unmarked form, and is used for non-topical core clausal arguments. The topical case is used for sentential topics, as well as any nouns in the clause whose possessor is coreferent with the topic (the topical case overwriting their usual case):
wá ácí ǂgòò wɜ̤́ɜ̤̀ŋ ɲíúk
wá á=cí ǂgòò wɜ̤́ɜ̤̀ŋ ɲíúk
1sg.TOP DECL.SG=PST give TOP\weng medicine
I gave my Weng medicine. (wá ácí ǂgòò wɜ́ɜ́ŋ ɲíúk "I gave the weng (not mine) medicine")
The genitive is used for possessors. The possessum is marked with both the construct state, and a special clitic which agrees with the gender of the possessor and the number of the possessum:
mʊ́ cí ǂgòò wɜ́ɜ́ŋá ǁkòt ɲíúk?
mʊ́ cí ǂgòò wɜ́ɜ́ŋ=á ǁkòt ɲíúk
2sg.TOP PST give CONST\weng=3m.3s.POSS GEN\boy medicine
Did you give the boy's Weng medicine?
The locative marks, well, locations; It can be used alone or in conjunction with a spatial preposition.
wá ácí wááp ɲíúk cʊ̀ɔ̀
wá á=cí wááp ɲíúk cʊ̀ɔ̀
1sg.TOP DECL.SG=PST put medicine LOC\bowl
I put the medicine in the bowl.