Islogian

A forum for all topics related to constructed languages
User avatar
All4Ɇn
mayan
mayan
Posts: 1765
Joined: 01 Mar 2014 07:19

Islogian

Post by All4Ɇn »

I've been working on this extensively the past month or so and though I'd share. Islogian was the first major conlang project I ever started. I abandoned it due to disappointment with its outcome. But since my conlanging skills have improved since I decided to go back to it and fix everything I had problems with about it.

Islogian (or Îçlo as its speakers call it) is a romance language spoken in many parts of the Balkans, Caucus and Middle East and has become a lingua franca for many places in those areas. The language was extensively influenced by Turkish and Arabic which can be most clearly seen in its vocabulary. The majority of the Islogians are Muslim and much of the Arab influence is due to this. Greek also had a more substantial influence than many other Romance languages but not the extent that Turkish and Arabic did.

Phonology
/m~ɱ n~n̪~ŋ ɲː/ <m n gn>
/p b t̪ d̪ k ɡ/ <p b t d c~ch g~gh>
/t̻͡s̪ d̻͡z̪ t͡ʃ d͡ʒ/ <ţ~ç z c~ci g~gi>
/s̪ z̪ ʃ ʒ/ <s~ss ḑ~s sc~sci~ş j>
/f v x ∅/ <f v ch h>
/j w r l̪~lˤ ʎː/ <i u r l gl~gli>
All consonants can be geminated with the exceptions of /ɲː j w ʎː/

/i ɨ u/ <i î~â~û~ô~ê u>
/e o/ <e o>
/ɛ ɔ/ <e o>
/ä ɑ/ <a a>
/ɛ ɔ ɑ/ only exist in stressed syllables and are replaced with /e o ä/ elsewhere

Vowel Length
When a vowel is stressed in a non-final open syllable, the vowel is pronounced long. In all other cases the syllable is pronounced short. There are only 2 exceptions to this:
1. In -re verbs which have only a single consonant before the -re and a vowel before that, the vowel before the consonant is always pronounced long.
2. Some single syllable morphemes

Contrastive Vowel Length
Vowel length is contrastive in a set number of single syllable morphemes. All other single syllable words are pronounced with short vowels
Spoiler:
Al [äl̪]- DEF.ART.MASC.SG
Ál [äːl̪]- to.DEF.ART.FEM.SG/to.DEF.ART.NEUT.SG (pre-vowel)

Àl [ɑl̪]- to.DEF.ART.MASC.SG / Hàl [ɑl̪]- state/condition/health.NOM.SG
Àl [ɑːl̪]- Common prefix in family names

Ca [kɑ]- house.NOM.SG
Cà [kɑː]- as/since/for

Cel [t͡ʃɛl̪]- DEM.MASC.SG
Cèl [t͡ʃɛːl̪]- DEM.FEM.SG (pre-vowel)

Chi [ki]- who.NOM/who.ACC
Chì [kiː]- that (conjunction)

De [d̪e]- about/from
Dé [d̪eː]- give.1S.SJV/give.3S.SJV

Del [d̪ɛl̪]- from/about.DEF.ART.MASC.SG
Dèl [d̪ɛːl̪]- from/about.DEF.ART.FEM.SG/from/about.DEF.ART.NEUT.SG (pre-vowel)

Dés [d̪es̪]- must.2S.PRES
Dés [d̪eːs̪]- give.2S.SJV

Ḑi [z̪i]- say.2S.IMP
Ḑii [z̪iː]- say.2S.IMP-3P.ACC.PRO

E [e]- and
É [eː]- eat.2S.IMP

È [ɛ]- be.3S.PRES
Èe [ɛː]- eat.3S.PRES

Es [ɛs̪]- be.2S.PRES
Ès [ɛːs̪]- eat.2S.PRES

Gli [ʎi]- DEF.ART.MASC.NOM.PL (pre-vowel)/3S.MASC.DAT.PRO
Glii [ʎiː]- 3S.MASC.DAT-3P.ACC.PRO

Î [ɨ]- in/inside
 [ɨː]- today

Îl [ɨl̪]- in.DEF.ART.MASC.SG
Îl [ɨːl̪]- 3S.MASC.NOM.PRO

I - DEF.ART.MASC.NOM.PL
Ii [iː]- go.1S.PRET/go.3S.PRET/3P.ACC.PRO

-i - Common masculine plural marker
-ii [iː]- 1S.POS.MASC.PL

Mi [mi]- 1S.DAT.PRO
Mii [miː]- 1S.DAT-3P.ACC.PRO

Nu [nu]- the letter N/in.ACC.REL.PRO
Nù [nuː]- Noah

Re [re]- king.NOM.SG
Ré [reː]- bad/evil.FEM.NOM.PL

Si [s̪i]- 3S.DAT.REFL.PRO/be.1S.SJV/be.3S.SJV / Sì [s̪i]- yes
Sii [s̪iː]- 3S.DAT.REFL-3P.ACC.PRO/be.2S.IMP

Su [s̪u]- on
Sù [s̪uː]- on.ACC.REL.PRO

Vér [ver]- true.MASC.SG (pre-vowel)
Ver' [veːr]- true.FEM.SG (pre-vowel)

Vren [vrɛn]- NEG.DEM.MASC.SG
Vrèn [vrɛːn]- NEG.DEM.FEM.SG (pre-vowel)



If you guys are interested in seeing more let me know what I should cover next [:)]
Last edited by All4Ɇn on 14 Aug 2017 02:39, edited 15 times in total.
User avatar
All4Ɇn
mayan
mayan
Posts: 1765
Joined: 01 Mar 2014 07:19

Re: Islogian

Post by All4Ɇn »

Regular Noun Declensions

First Declension
All nouns in this declension pattern are feminine and end in an unstressed -a
Mesa- Table
Spoiler:
Singular:
Nominative/Accusative: Mesa
Dative/Genitive: Mesa
Instrumental-Comitative: Mésaco

Plural:
Nominative/Accusative: Mese
Dative/Genitive: Mesas
Instrumental-Comitative: Méseco

Second Declension 1
All nouns in this declension pattern are masculine and end in an unstressed -o
Cosso- Worm
Spoiler:
Singular:
Nominative/Accusative: Cosso
Dative/Genitive: Cosso
Instrumental-Comitative: Còssoco

Plural:
Nominative/Accusative: Cossi
Dative/Genitive: Cossos
Instrumental-Comitative: Còssico
Second Declension 2
All regular neuter nouns have this declension pattern
Òro- Gold
Spoiler:
Singular:
Nominative/Accusative: Òro
Dative/Genitive: Òro
Instrumental-Comitative: Òroco

Plural:
Nominative/Accusative: Òra
Dative/Genitive: Òra
Instrumental-Comitative: Òraco

Third Declension 1
This declension pattern covers all regular nouns that end with -e
Cave (f)- Coffee
Spoiler:
Singular:
Nominative/Accusative: Cave
Dative/Genitive: Cave
Instrumental-Comitative: Càveco

Plural:
Nominative/Accusative: Cavi
Dative/Genitive: Caves
Instrumental-Comitative: Càvico
Third Declension 2
Masculine nouns ending in -a, feminine nouns ending -o and -à, feminine nouns derived from Arabic, and the majority of nouns ending other vowels and consonants have this pattern. For masculine/neuter nouns, an -n- is inserted before case endings starting with a vowel if the nominative form ends in a vowel, while feminine nouns instead opt for -t-. Nouns ending in voiced consonants turn the consonant voiceless in the instrumental-comitative singular form.
Uisa (f)- Goose
Spoiler:
Singular:
Nominative/Accusative: Uisa
Dative/Genitive: Uìsate
Instrumental-Comitative: Uìsaco

Plural:
Nominative/Accusative: Uìsati
Dative/Genitive: Uìsates
Instrumental-Comitative: Uìsatico
Third Declension 3
Similar to the declension above. Nouns in this declension have 2 or 3 different stems: a nominative/accusative singular stem, a stem for everything else, and sometimes an instrumental-comitative stem. There is no easy way to derive the stems from the noun and it's easiest to just memorize them.
Nox (f)- Night
Spoiler:
Singular:
Nominative/Accusative: Nox
Dative/Genitive: Notte
Instrumental-Comitative: Nosco

Plural:
Nominative/Accusative: Notti
Dative/Genitive: Nottes
Instrumental-Comitative: Nòttico
Fourth Declension 1
Consists of masculine nouns derived from fourth declension adjectives
Almani (m)- German
Spoiler:
Singular:
Nominative/Accusative: Almani
Dative/Genitive: Almani
Instrumental-Comitative: Almànico

Plural:
Nominative/Accusative: Almani
Dative/Genitive: Almanes
Instrumental-Comitative: Almànico
Fourth Declension 2
Consists of feminine nouns derived from fourth declension adjectives
Almània (f)- German
Spoiler:
Singular:
Nominative/Accusative: Almània
Dative/Genitive: Almània
Instrumental-Comitative: Almàniaco

Plural:
Nominative/Accusative: Almane
Dative/Genitive: Almanes
Instrumental-Comitative: Almàneco
Last edited by All4Ɇn on 20 May 2018 06:15, edited 5 times in total.
User avatar
Shemtov
runic
runic
Posts: 3283
Joined: 29 Apr 2013 04:06

Re: Islogian

Post by Shemtov »

Is it spoken in any particular country as an official or national language? How Far is its range? Is it its own brach of Romance?
Many children make up, or begin to make up, imaginary languages. I have been at it since I could write.
-JRR Tolkien
User avatar
qwed117
mongolian
mongolian
Posts: 4094
Joined: 20 Nov 2014 02:27

Re: Islogian

Post by qwed117 »

Well, if it hasn't changed since his last thread, then it would be this
Image
Spoiler:
My minicity is [http://zyphrazia.myminicity.com/xml]Zyphrazia and [http://novland.myminicity.com/xml]Novland.

Minicity has fallen :(
The SqwedgePad
User avatar
All4Ɇn
mayan
mayan
Posts: 1765
Joined: 01 Mar 2014 07:19

Re: Islogian

Post by All4Ɇn »

Thansk qwed [:)]. Was just about to post that. The tyrian purple area has the highest number of Islogian speakers.

Not entirely sure if I want to keep the map as it is but I suppose it'll stay that way for now
User avatar
All4Ɇn
mayan
mayan
Posts: 1765
Joined: 01 Mar 2014 07:19

Re: Islogian

Post by All4Ɇn »

Irregular Arabic Plurals
A select group of third declension nouns borrowed from Arabic have a separate stem in the plural and have no ending in the nominative/accusative forms
Chitab (m)- Book
Spoiler:
Singular:
Nominative/Accusative: Chitab
Dative/Genitive: Chitábe
Instrumental-Comitative: Chitapco

Plural:
Nominative/Accusative: Cutub
Dative/Genitive: Cutubes
Instrumental-Comitative: Cutupco
Some other nouns with this pattern include:
Tàlib/Tùlab- Student
Badan/Abdàn- Body
Jins/Ajnas- Kind/Sort/Type/Gender/Sex/Genre
Cabir/Cubùr- Grave/Tomb/Sepulcher
Duccan/Dacachin- Shop/Store
Issim/Asmà- Name/Noun
Assà/Ussì- Stick/Staff/Branch/Cane/Scepter/Blunt
Sadic/Asdicà- Friend
Imam/Aimmà- Leader/Imam
Amir/Umur- Matter/Affair/Concern/Minding
Assad/Ussud- Lion
Ilà/Àlia- God/Deity
Sabì/Sibà- Boy

Some nouns in this pattern maintain a different stem in the dative/genitive forms:
Tàlbe/Tulbes
Bàdne
Duccne
Ambre/Umbres
Cabre
Last edited by All4Ɇn on 14 Aug 2017 21:25, edited 4 times in total.
User avatar
Isfendil
greek
greek
Posts: 668
Joined: 19 Feb 2016 03:47

Re: Islogian

Post by Isfendil »

Well this is certainly a break from the norm!
And it's moving to head-final too!
I really like this. Tell me, has this language become agglutinative due to the turkish influence? Does it use prepositions or postpositions?
I was wondering how this language treated arabic plurals. Most languages that have arabic as a substrate just form regular internal plurals with arabic words. Do all arabic loanwords also have their broken plural?
User avatar
All4Ɇn
mayan
mayan
Posts: 1765
Joined: 01 Mar 2014 07:19

Re: Islogian

Post by All4Ɇn »

Isfendil wrote:Well this is certainly a break from the norm! And it's moving to head-final too! I really like this.
Thanks [:D] . Glad to hear it
Isfendil wrote:Tell me, has this language become agglutinative due to the turkish influence? Does it use prepositions or postpositions?
Not sure I'd call it agglutinative but it has a large number of suffixes to express things typically seen as separate words in other romance languages. It uses prepositions.
Isfendil wrote:I was wondering how this language treated arabic plurals. Most languages that have arabic as a substrate just form regular internal plurals with arabic words. Do all arabic loanwords also have their broken plural?
The majority of Arabic plurals have been regularized. Most of the broken plurals that have survived are words commonly used in academia, politics, and religion.
Zythros Jubi
sinic
sinic
Posts: 417
Joined: 24 Nov 2014 17:31

Re: Islogian

Post by Zythros Jubi »

How and why did a Romance language replace Greek in those areas?
Lostlang plans: Oghur Turkic, Gallaecian Celtic, Palaeo-Balkanic
User avatar
Shemtov
runic
runic
Posts: 3283
Joined: 29 Apr 2013 04:06

Re: Islogian

Post by Shemtov »

Zythros Jubi wrote:How and why did a Romance language replace Greek in those areas?
I was wondering that myself. If Greek hadn't been the dominant language in the Eastern Roman Empire, I probably would have made a romlang spoken as a minority language in the levant.
Many children make up, or begin to make up, imaginary languages. I have been at it since I could write.
-JRR Tolkien
User avatar
All4Ɇn
mayan
mayan
Posts: 1765
Joined: 01 Mar 2014 07:19

Re: Islogian

Post by All4Ɇn »

Zythros Jubi wrote:How and why did a Romance language replace Greek in those areas?
It hasn't replaced Greek. Greek's still the main language spoken in that area. Islogian is a common 2nd or 3rd language there
User avatar
Shemtov
runic
runic
Posts: 3283
Joined: 29 Apr 2013 04:06

Re: Islogian

Post by Shemtov »

All4Ɇn wrote:
Zythros Jubi wrote:How and why did a Romance language replace Greek in those areas?
It hasn't replaced Greek. Greek's still the main language spoken in that area. Islogian is a common 2nd or 3rd language there
Yes, but historically, Latin wasn't spoken in that part of the Roman Empire, Koine Greek was, hence why the New Testament was written in Greek, not Latin.
Many children make up, or begin to make up, imaginary languages. I have been at it since I could write.
-JRR Tolkien
Davush
greek
greek
Posts: 670
Joined: 10 Jan 2015 14:10

Re: Islogian

Post by Davush »

This looks very interesting! I can't add anything to the Romance side of things, but I was wondering if it would be more realistic for the Arabic words to come from a spoken dialect not Fuṣḥa? Of course you may prefer Fuṣḥa for other reasons.
User avatar
Isfendil
greek
greek
Posts: 668
Joined: 19 Feb 2016 03:47

Re: Islogian

Post by Isfendil »

Davush wrote:This looks very interesting! I can't add anything to the Romance side of things, but I was wondering if it would be more realistic for the Arabic words to come from a spoken dialect not Fuṣḥa? Of course you may prefer Fuṣḥa for other reasons.
Now wait just a moment, it is not at all more or less realistic where the arabic comes from because it is just as likely the loans come from the liturgy and scholarship as they would from a spoken substrate.
Davush
greek
greek
Posts: 670
Joined: 10 Jan 2015 14:10

Re: Islogian

Post by Davush »

Isfendil wrote:
Davush wrote:This looks very interesting! I can't add anything to the Romance side of things, but I was wondering if it would be more realistic for the Arabic words to come from a spoken dialect not Fuṣḥa? Of course you may prefer Fuṣḥa for other reasons.
Now wait just a moment, it is not at all more or less realistic where the arabic comes from because it is just as likely the loans come from the liturgy and scholarship as they would from a spoken substrate.
As I said, I was wondering and mentioned there may of course be various reasons for preferring fusha (such as those you mentioned). :)
User avatar
Shemtov
runic
runic
Posts: 3283
Joined: 29 Apr 2013 04:06

Re: Islogian

Post by Shemtov »

Davush wrote:
Isfendil wrote:
Davush wrote:This looks very interesting! I can't add anything to the Romance side of things, but I was wondering if it would be more realistic for the Arabic words to come from a spoken dialect not Fuṣḥa? Of course you may prefer Fuṣḥa for other reasons.
Now wait just a moment, it is not at all more or less realistic where the arabic comes from because it is just as likely the loans come from the liturgy and scholarship as they would from a spoken substrate.
As I said, I was wondering and mentioned there may of course be various reasons for preferring fusha (such as those you mentioned). :)
Also, a language spoken over such a wide region with no central government would probably have different dialects ie. Turkish loanwords for Turkish Islogians, Iraqi Arabic for Iraqi Islogians, Syrian Arabic for Syrian Islogians, Greek for Greek Islogians etc. The common Arabic borrowings across all Islogean dialects are probably FusHa, especially if we're talking about a Muslim population.
Many children make up, or begin to make up, imaginary languages. I have been at it since I could write.
-JRR Tolkien
User avatar
All4Ɇn
mayan
mayan
Posts: 1765
Joined: 01 Mar 2014 07:19

Re: Islogian

Post by All4Ɇn »

Shemtov wrote:Yes, but historically, Latin wasn't spoken in that part of the Roman Empire, Koine Greek was, hence why the New Testament was written in Greek, not Latin.
Ah that's what you were referring to. It comes from a combination of a minority of Latin speakers as well as immigration leading to the development of Islogian as the area's lingua franca instead of Koine Greek. That's the biggest piece of alt-history in the language's development
Davush wrote:This looks very interesting! I can't add anything to the Romance side of things, but I was wondering if it would be more realistic for the Arabic words to come from a spoken dialect not Fuṣḥa? Of course you may prefer Fuṣḥa for other reasons.
Thanks [:)]. Like Isfendil pointed out, because Arabic was the language of royalty and the clergy, loanwords from it are typically derived from Fuṣḥa.
Shemtov wrote:Also, a language spoken over such a wide region with no central government would probably have different dialects ie. Turkish loanwords for Turkish Islogians, Iraqi Arabic for Iraqi Islogians, Syrian Arabic for Syrian Islogians, Greek for Greek Islogians etc.
This is something I hope to get into more after having firmly established the standard language. Haven't started vocabulary differences yet but I have started some of the local phonological differences
Davush
greek
greek
Posts: 670
Joined: 10 Jan 2015 14:10

Re: Islogian

Post by Davush »

All4Ɇn wrote:
Davush wrote:This looks very interesting! I can't add anything to the Romance side of things, but I was wondering if it would be more realistic for the Arabic words to come from a spoken dialect not Fuṣḥa? Of course you may prefer Fuṣḥa for other reasons.
Thanks [:)]. Like Isfendil pointed out, because Arabic was the language of royalty and the clergy, loanwords from it are typically derived from Fuṣḥa.
That would make sense. I know you are probably still working things out but it might be good to consider which dialect area influenced the language mostly because even the realization of Fusha words can differ quite a lot between speakers which may impact how Islogian speakers hear and transcribe it, for example long /a:/ is often closer to /ɛ:/ in Egypt/the Levant when not near pharyngeals but is always /ɑ:/ in Gulf dialects regardless. I liked the idea about different borrowings depending on dialect area as well.
User avatar
All4Ɇn
mayan
mayan
Posts: 1765
Joined: 01 Mar 2014 07:19

Re: Islogian

Post by All4Ɇn »

Davush wrote:. I know you are probably still working things out but it might be good to consider which dialect area influenced the language mostly because even the realization of Fusha words can differ quite a lot between speakers which may impact how Islogian speakers hear and transcribe it, for example long /a:/ is often closer to /ɛ:/ in Egypt/the Levant when not near pharyngeals but is always /ɑ:/ in Gulf dialects regardless. I liked the idea about different borrowings depending on dialect area as well.
Considering how far back Islogian's relationship with Arabic is, would many of these dialectal differences still be around? I'm quite a fan of /ɑ:/ and am planning on using it as much as I can [:)]
Post Reply