The CBB

Okay, so here goes. I’ve had a few different ideas for conlangs over the years, but haven’t had the motivation to actually flesh them out.

Project Sandstone: An a posteriori Indo-European language family somewhere along the Germanic–Balto-Slavic dialect continuum in terms of vocabulary. Phonologically, it’s characterized by having distinct reflexes of the three dorsal series (*ḱḗrd > *serdis ‘heart’, *kelh₁-yéti > *kelliti ‘he shouts’, *kʷékʷlos > *kukras ‘wheel’), debuccalizing initial and preconsonantal *s (*sédeti > *hediti ‘he sits‘, *h₂stēr > *þeris ‘star’, but *sh₂uwén- > *svanis ‘sun’ before *u/*w) and having a distinct reflex of PIE *ih₂ in final syllables (*h₁s-n̥t-ih₂ > *hindē₂ ‘being’ (fem.) ?). In terms of nominal morphology, the u-stems and consonant stems merged with the i-stems, but the devi-type is still productive. Most notably, the dual is still fully productive in the modern Sandstone languages; the oblique cases generalized the -h₁ of the nominative onto the *-bis/*-bas (< PIE *-bhís, *-bhos) of the plural, yielding *-bī in the instrumental and *-bā in the dative.

I like this idea. I will be watching this.

a-stem declension: *vulkas ‘wolf’
I have no idea how many of these cases I’m going to retain, but here they are... (Also, both Germanic and Balto-Slavic have *m in the plural oblique cases, so I changed that. The ablative is probably the first to go; it’s only distinctive here in the singular of the thematic stems. I’ll assume it merged with the dative sometime around 2500 BC.)

Ooh, looks like the whole rock theme is coming back.


ROX FTW

An attempt at the indicative conjugation of the verb ‘to eat’:

Isfendil wrote:I like this idea. I will be watching this.

Same here, definitely.

I hadn’t posted much because I thought this was being ignored.

The thematic 1.sg. suffix *oh₂ > -ā spreads to athematic verbs.
Nasal infix verbs ending in an obstruent like *linékʷmi and *yunégti generalize the zero grade of the infix. eza linkā, tsū līhsi, is līhti; eza yungā, tsū yūhsi, is yūhti
Nasal infix verbs ending with a laryngeal like *tl̥néh₂mi merge with denominative verbs from eh₂-stems like *priHeh₂yéti. eza tranā, tsū tranāsi, is tranāti; eza priyā, tsū priyāsi, is priyāti

Sound changes to dorsal stops and sibilants:

s > h / #_, _[obstruent]
P T Ḱ K Kʷ > f θ s x xʷ / h_
h > ː / [V, R̥]_
h > Ø
ḱ ǵ > s z
e o > u / Kʷ_ (later undone by analogy almost everywhere, but there is still a distinction between the three dorsal series)
Cʷ > C

Sound changes in obstruent clusters:

p t k > f s x / _[obstruent]
n > ː / _x, _z (dīzvān ‘tongue’, remodelled as an on-stem)

Sound changes with resonants:

m̥ n̥ r̥ l̥ > um in ra la (ma na ra la in final syllables?)
m̥̄ n̥̄ r̥̄ l̥̄ > umi ini rā lā
l n > r / [obstruent]_ (vrakas ‘wolf’, zrāti ‘he knows how to’)

I have also decided to represent the reflex of *ih₂/*ih₃ as <ie>: *pl̥th₂éwih₂ → *pĺ̥th₂wih₂ > pratsvie ‘flat’ (fem.). Phonetically, it’s somewhere around [iə̯ ~ ɪː].
Because u-stems take the suffix -ih₂ in the feminine, they merge into i-stems, so the masculine and neuter forms of ‘flat’ are pratsvis and pratsvi, respectively. Similarly, the present participle ‘living’ is masc. gieventis, fem. gieventie, neut. gieventi. Thematic adjectives take eh₂-stem feminines, like ‘new’: masc. nevyas, fem, nevyā, neut. nevyan.

Numbers:
1 ainas, ainā, ainan
2 dvā, dvāi, dvai
3 treyis, treyies, trie
4 kutsvaris, kutsvaries, kutsvār (maybe?)
5 pinka
6 sesa
7 hēdma
8 asta
9 nevra
10 desma
Teens ainālika, dvālika, triyālika, kutsvrālika, pinkudesma, sēþesma, hēdundesma, astadesma, nevindesma
Decades vīsunti, trīsan, kutsvrāsan, pinkāsan, sesāsan, hēdmāsan, astāsan, nevrāsan
100 suntan
1000 tūsentis

Update: I decided to drop the ablative, since neither Germanic nor Balto-Slavic preserved it. Except for a few endings in *-d that would be eroded anyway in Proto-Sandstone, its forms were usually identical to the dative in the dual and plural, and to the genitive in the singular. It will merge with the genitive.

Update: changed ts to ț

Phoneme inventory of Proto-Sandstone

/p t ts k/ p t ț k
/f θ s x~h/ f þ s h
/b d dz g/ b d z g
/m β n l r j/ m v n l r y

The voiced obstruents /b d dz g/ are realized as stops [b d̪ dz g] word-initially, after nasals and after other voiced obstruents. /d dz/ are stops after /l r/ as well. Elsewhere, they are fricatives [β ð z ɣ], that is, the contrast between /b/ and /β/ in these contexts is neutralized.

/ɪ ɛ ɑ ʊ/ i e a u
/iː ɛː ɑː uː/ ī ē ā ū
/ɪə̯ ɑi̯ ɑu̯ ɛi̯/ ie ai au ei
/ɑːi̯ ɑːu̯/ āi āu

Is sandstone a working name?

GamerGeek wrote:Is sandstone a working name?

Yes, since I don’t have an actual name yet.

Updated a- and i- stem declension:

‘snow’, masculine
NOM naigas, naigā, naigās
VOC naige, naigā, naigās
ACC naigan, naigā, naigās
INS naigā, naigamīn, naigamis
DAT naigāi, naigamān, naigamas
LOC naigai, naigayaus, naigaisu
GEN naigaha, naigayaus, naigān

‘word’, neuter
N/V/A vradan, vradāi, vradā
INS vradā, vradamīn, vradamis
DAT vradāi, vradamān, vradamas
LOC vradai, vradayaus, vradaisu
GEN vradaha, vradayaus, vradān

‘woman’, feminine
N/V gunā, gunāi, gunās
ACC gunān, gunāi, gunās
INS gunān, gunāmīn, gunāmis
DAT gunāi, gunāmān, gunāmas
LOC gunāi, gunāyaus, gunāsu
GEN gunās, gunāyaus, gunāyān

‘village’, masculine
NOM veisis, veisī, veisiyes
VOC veisi, veisī, veisiyes
ACC veisin, veisī, veisiyes
INS veisimi, veisimīn, veisimis
DAT veisī, veisimān, veisimas
LOC veisī, veisiyaus, veisisu
GEN veisīs, veisiyaus, veisiyān

‘heart’, neuter
N/V/A sradi, sradī, sradie
INS sradimi, sradimīn, sradimis
DAT sradī, sradimān, sradimas
LOC sradī, sradiyaus, sradisu
GEN sradīs, sradiyaus, sradiyān

‘goddess’, feminine
N/V deivie, deivī, deivies
ACC deivien, deivī, deivies
INS deivien, deiviemīn, deiviemis
DAT deivī, deiviemān, deiviemas
LOC deivī, deivīyaus, deiviesu
GEN deivies, deivīyaus, deivīyān

I do like this. The phonology is interesting and a bit different and certainly stands out. I have my own ideas for a more radical Indo-European language (basically I presume the glotallic theory is correct and work from there) but that'll have to wait until my exams are finished.

Just a small ask: have you worked out the full list of sound changes yet, because I'd love to see those!

Frislander wrote:I do like this. The phonology is interesting and a bit different and certainly stands out. I have my own ideas for a more radical Indo-European language (basically I presume the glotallic theory is correct and work from there) but that'll have to wait until my exams are finished.

So, your stop system is going to look something like Armenian, I presume?

Just a small ask: have you worked out the full list of sound changes yet, because I'd love to see those!

Not really. I’ve just been applying sound changes mentally to IE forms, and checking out what forms can be levelled. I’ll post them when I have them in order.

Ashtâr Balînestyâr wrote:

Frislander wrote:I do like this. The phonology is interesting and a bit different and certainly stands out. I have my own ideas for a more radical Indo-European language (basically I presume the glotallic theory is correct and work from there) but that'll have to wait until my exams are finished.

So, your stop system is going to look something like Armenian, I presume?

Actually the proto-lang will be something like this:

/p t t͡s k/
/t’ t͡s’ k’/
/ɬ s x/
/v ð z ɣ/
/m n j/

This number may grow or shrink as I get more info about PIE into my head, but that's pretty much the basic outline.

Ashtâr Balînestyâr wrote:I hadn’t posted much because I thought this was being ignored.

If people aren't commenting on what you've already posted, not posting anything else likely won't get their attention.

I look forward to seeing more of this language and other languages you might show us in the future!

Ashtâr Balînestyâr wrote: I have also decided to represent the reflex of *ih₂/*ih₃ as <ie>: *pl̥th₂éwih₂ → *pĺ̥th₂wih₂ > pratsvie ‘flat’ (fem.). Phonetically, it’s somewhere around [iə̯ ~ ɪː].

I like your sound changes in general, but this one stands out to me in particular.

Frislander wrote:I do like this. The phonology is interesting and a bit different and certainly stands out.

I haven't posted lately because my computer died about two weeks ago. I'll make a large and detailed update post concerning the full list of sound changes and the semantics of the verbal forms soon.

Ashtâr Balînestyâr wrote:I haven't posted lately because my computer died about two weeks ago. I'll make a large and detailed update post concerning the full list of sound changes and the semantics of the verbal forms soon.

No worries. Take however much time you need!

Sketch for the main protolang in my still undeveloped conworld:

/m n ɳ nʲ ŋ ŋʷ/ m n ṇ nj ŋ ŋw
/p t ʈ tʲ ts tʂ tɕ k kʷ q qʷ ʔ ʔʷ/ p t ṭ tj ts tš tś k kw q qw ’ ’w
/pʰ tʰ ʈʰ tʲʰ tsʰ tʂʰ tɕʰ kʰ kʷʰ qʰ qʷʰ/ ph th ṭh thj tsh tšh tśh kh khw qh qhw
/tʼ ʈʼ tʲʼ tsʼ tʂʼ tɕʼ kʼ kʷʼ qʼ qʷʼ/ t’ ṭ’ tj’ ts’ tš’ tś’ k’ kw’ q’ qw’
/b̰ d̰ ɖ̰ d̰ʲ dz̰ dʐ̰ dʑ̰/ b d ḍ dj dz dž dź
/ᵐb ⁿd ⁿɖ ⁿdʲ ⁿdz ⁿdʐ ⁿdʑ ᵑɡ ᵑɡʷ/ mb nd ṇḍ ndj nz nž nź ŋg ŋgw
/θ ç s ʂ ɕ x xʷ χ χʷ h hʷ/ þ c s š ś x xw ẋ ẋw h hw
/ð ʝ z ʐ ʑ ɣ ɣʷ ʁ ʁʷ/ ð y z ž ź g gw ġ ġw
/l r ɻ lʲ rʲ ɫ ɫʷ/ l r ṛ lj rj ł łw

/a e i u/ a e i u
After most consonants: [ɑ ɛ i ɯᵝ]
After retroflex and uvular consonants: [ɑ ɜ ɨ ɯᵝ]
After palatalized and alveolopalatal consonants: [a e i ɯᵝ]
After labiovelar and labialized glottal consonants: [ɔ œ y u]
After labiouvular consonants: [ɔ ɞ ʉ u]

(C)V syllable structure

Almost completely analytic.
Active-stative MSA, fluid-S, determined by volition.
Default word order is AVPX.
Nouns are classified into 4 genders, which I’ll call animate 1-3 and inanimate for now. This affects two things: the 3rd person pronoun/definite article and the collective particle, whose forms are fully suppletive.
A large variety of aspectual and modal particles that still aren’t grammaticalized. They must be adjacent to the verb, but can stand on either side of it.

I’ll call it Project Feldspar for the time being.
I’ll start with the personal pronouns.

1.SG ’andzu
1.PL.INCL šikhe
1.PL.EXCL ndjała
2 bitś’i
3.ANIM1 te
3.ANIM2 ġa
3.ANIM3 hedźa
3.INAN ṛu

When referring to mixed-gender groups, if all animate referents have the same gender, the noun phrase defaults to it. If there are multiple animate genders in the group, it takes the animate 1.

Animate nouns include humans, animals, plants, weather phenomena, supernatural beings and social conventions. The assignment of their three genders is purely lexical, however. Inanimate nouns include landforms, materials and most body parts and tools.