Afrogbe

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rospyiya
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Afrogbe

Post by rospyiya »

I thought of making a idea like this, a conlang inspired by African languages, but several letters using a dot to spell other phonemes. The orthography order is:
a b ḅ c d ḍ e ẹ f g h i ị j k ḳ l m n ṇ ñ o ọ p r s ṣ t u ụ v w y ỵ z ’

Named Afrogbe, here are the collected phonemes:

Vowels:
/i u/
<i u>
/ɪ ʊ/
<ị ụ>
/e o/
<e o>
/ɛ ɔ/
<ẹ ọ>
/a/
<a>

Consonants:
p b t d k ɡ kp ɡb
<p b t d k g kp gb>
ɓ ɗ kʼ ʔ ʔʲ
<ḅ ḍ ḳ ’ ỵ>
m n ɲ ŋ ŋm
<m n ñ ṇ ṇm>
f v s z ʃ h
<f v s z ṣ h>
tʃ dʒ
<c j>
ɹ l j w
<r l y w>

Tones:
high, medium, low
but they are not written

Syllable structure:
(C)(C)(G)V(C)

Word examples:
gbe = language
Afetọ = God
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Man in Space
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Re: Afrogbe

Post by Man in Space »

Thank you for providing us with the IPA!
rospyiya wrote: 11 Oct 2023 06:46 I thought of making an idea like this, a conlang inspired by African languages, but several letters using a dot to spell other phonemes.
Which ones in particular? Or are you just going for a generic sense?
rospyiya wrote: 11 Oct 2023 06:46Named Afrogbe
I don’t know if it’s an issue, but there is a Gbe family of languages in Africa. (Some of their members are notable for having more back vowels than front vowels, which is pretty unusual.)
rospyiya wrote: 11 Oct 2023 06:46Tones:
high, medium, low
but they are not written
What motivated this? (For those in the viewing audience, this is actually not all that unreasonable—Nyarafolo, a Senufo language of Côte d’Ivoire, works like this last I heard. [I knew the Boeses, the missionaries working with Nyarafolo, because they spoke at my school once. In college I got back in touch with Mrs. Boese and I actually did a final project one semester on the language—it was one that my professor hadn’t heard of, and he was more lax on languages with little documentation. {I still have that somewhere, if there be interest.}])
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CC = Common Caber
CK = Classical Khaya
CT = Classical Ĝare n Tim Ar
Kg = Kgáweq'
PB = Proto-Beheic
PO = Proto-O
PTa = Proto-Taltic
STK = Sisỏk Tlar Kyanà
Tm = Təmattwəspwaypksma
Visions1
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Re: Afrogbe

Post by Visions1 »

It's nice to see this. African languages need more love.

And I do have to echo the point. Which ones? There are different families with different grammars. (Although judging by this, I guess you're wont to be going off something from the east.)
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Re: Afrogbe

Post by Man in Space »

I forgot the best part—the Nyarafolo system usually doesn’t lead to ambiguity, but occasionally you end up with amusing confusion. The resources the Boeses sent me noted a specific example that, without explicit tone markings, readers with no prior knowledge would be unable to tell whether John the Baptist ate honey or sacrifices.
Twin Aster megathread

AVDIO · VIDEO · DISCO

CC = Common Caber
CK = Classical Khaya
CT = Classical Ĝare n Tim Ar
Kg = Kgáweq'
PB = Proto-Beheic
PO = Proto-O
PTa = Proto-Taltic
STK = Sisỏk Tlar Kyanà
Tm = Təmattwəspwaypksma
rospyiya
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Re: Afrogbe

Post by rospyiya »

The words that used in my conlang are partially loan words from English, French and Arabic; maybe this like pidgin language. The sentence structure is SVO.

The words from English those have the /θ ð ʒ ʍ ʌ æ ɒ/ phonemes becomes <t d z hw a ẹ ọ> /t d z hw a ɛ ɔ/ and /ə/ can be between <ẹ> and <a>, but /əɹ~ɚ/ is <ar> /aɹ/;
from French those have the /ʒ ʁ ɥ y ø œ ɛ̃ ɑ̃ ɔ̃/ phonemes becomes <y h w ụ o ọ ẹṇ aṇ ọṇ> /j h w ʊ o ɔ ɛŋ aŋ ɔŋ/, but in the case <ou> (both vowel and consonant position) is always <u>;
from Arabic, some letters are often pronounced same by this native conlang:
<ث ص> → <s> /s/
<ح> → <h> /h/
<خ> → <k> /k/
<ذ ظ> → <z> /z/
<ض> → <ḍ> /ɗ/
<ط> → <t> /t/
<ع> → <’> /ʔ/
<غ> → <g> /ɡ/
<ق> → <ḳ> /kʼ/

And the several words that derived from other languages that I have in my inventory:
bọl = ball
cẹrc = church
dọktar = doctor
huy = red
jamal = camel
ọto = car
saṇ = saint
skar = sugar
taṇ = time
vẹh = green
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Re: Afrogbe

Post by Corphishy »

rospyiya wrote: 13 Oct 2023 01:51The words that used in my conlang are partially loan words from English, French and Arabic; maybe this like pidgin language. The sentence structure is SVO.
So is this meant to actually be spoken in africa? If so all 3 of those languages make sense as sources. I would consider adding words from other surrounding African languages as well. The Asante people live in a region known for its rich gold deposits (aka the Gold Coast), so using their word for gold might make sense, just as an example.
rospyiya wrote: 13 Oct 2023 01:51The words from English those have the /θ ð ʒ ʍ ʌ æ ɒ/ phonemes becomes <t d z hw a ẹ ọ> /t d z hw a ɛ ɔ/ and /ə/ can be between <ẹ> and <a>, but /əɹ~ɚ/ is <ar> /aɹ/;
from French those have the /ʒ ʁ ɥ y ø œ ɛ̃ ɑ̃ ɔ̃/ phonemes becomes <y h w ụ o ọ ẹṇ aṇ ọṇ> /j h w ʊ o ɔ ɛŋ aŋ ɔŋ/, but in the case <ou> (both vowel and consonant position) is always <u>;
Why is /ʒ/ from English rendered as /z/ but /ʒ/ from French is /j/?

I can see a resemblance to Niger-Congo languages like Yoruba, Akan, Igbo etc. However, in those languages those underdotted vowels typically represent retracted tongue root and they have tongue root harmony. Of course, not all of them do, but its just something to consider.
Aszev wrote:A good conlang doesn't come from pursuing uniqueness. Uniqueness is usually an effect from creating a good conlang.
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rospyiya
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Re: Afrogbe

Post by rospyiya »

Corphishy wrote: 24 Oct 2023 06:03 Why is /ʒ/ from English rendered as /z/ but /ʒ/ from French is /j/?
Those are the differences when marginal Afrogbe consonant /ʒ/ changed to /z/ from English loanwords but changed to /j/ from French loanwords since French has no native affricates.
rospyiya
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Re: Afrogbe

Post by rospyiya »

This year I want to make a new conlang.

But I don’t know what the good name.
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Re: Afrogbe

Post by Arayaz »

rospyiya wrote: 26 Jan 2024 01:38 This year I want to make a new conlang.

But I don’t know what the good name.
A good conlang doesn't come from pursuing a good name. A good name is usually an effect from creating a good conlang.
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