Commonthroat: a language that only a dog could probably pronounce

[lurker]

Here's some less generic vocabulary. Nouns are given in their 3rd person proximal form, the ending -Jn (long low strong grunt, chuff). Compound nouns are head-initial, and adjectives have no agreement markers.

oEHmJn mBa
oEH = way, path
mBa = bright
The Bright Way. The name of the formerly dominant religion in yinrih culture. It can be traced back nearly to the beginning of the yinrih species.

obnnjHJn
obn = star
njH = hearth
The sun

meHmcmJn
meHm = yinrih (analogous to the word "man" or "human", applies specifically to the yinrih and does not include humans)
cm = forest
Tree-dweller. A nonsapient species closely related to the yinrih. the yinrih traditionally see themselves as literal sapient tree-dwellers, but the phylogenetic nitpickers will tell you that the two are technically different species. Out of universe, the word is a calque of orangutan, i.e. "forest man".

oBaoEFJn
oBa = ship, spacecraft
oEF = womb-nest
Womb ship. A small, single-use interstellar spacecraft used by missionaries of the Bright Way, so called because the interior--with its suspension capsules/amnions--resembles the complex egg sac that yinrih litters hatch from.

JknmdAmJn
Jkn = pelt, fur, coat
mdAm = red
A jinx, an unlucky person. There's an old wives' tale that yinrih with red fur are unlucky. There's a similar superstition of much newer vintage that says yinrih with black ears are stupid. Nobody knows where either of these associations comes from, but needless to say humans have a vary different set of associations regarding similar-looking critters.

odmGmJn
odm = ground, also the proper name for the yinrih homeworld, Yih.
-Gm = a suffix analogous to -ian or -ese, meaning a member or resident of a place or group
yinrih. finally, this is the origin of the word "yinrih" itself. Unlike the similar term meHmJn which more analogous to how English uses "man" or "human", The term odmGmJn is closer to "earthling" or "Terran". Much like how the word "Castilian" can sometimes apply to peninsular Spanish specifically or Spanish as a whole depending on speaker and sometimes ideology, there's debate over whether this word should be used for the whole species or just people from Yih and not other terraformed planets. But odmGmJn has that same Sci-Fi flare as the English "Terran", so the missionaries couldn't resist identifying themselves as "f odmGmi".

njHobnJn
njH = hearth
obn = star
Fusion reactor, especially when used liturgically. Houses of worship of the Bright Way have a ceremonial fusion reactor that's somewhere between altar and tabernacle. The logic goes that stars are icons of The Light (their concept of the Supreme Being), and a fusion reactor, as the yinrih build them, is a star in a bottle. (I'm kind of thinking like that thing from the original Spider Man 2 that Doctor Octopus needed those tentacles to operate, not exactly a scientifically accurate portrayal.) Part of a yinrih cleric's duties is to see to it that the reactor is always running, and they're even expected to be able to build one from scratch, meaning clerics are also engineers. The ceremonial reactor isn't as efficient as one built specifically for power generation, but it still kicks out enough juice to power the building and surrounding homes. Indeed, the lighthouse (or temple/fane/church) usually serves as the power source for the homes of the faithful.

[lurker]

I think I'm going to change indirect objects to use a preposition instead of have the indirect object come after the object. This should free up some syntax to be used for other grammatical rules down the line.

Imperatives use the modal <E> (long low weak growl). It can be used as a normal imperative where the second person is implied as the subject, or it can be used as a jussive and translated as "must" with the first or third person.

Code: Select all

E ni ABmmJKnoci mbCn FHoFHl
E              ni   ABm-mJKn-oc-i              mbCn FHoFH-l 
IMPERATIVE     to   shine-sun-FEMALE_NAME-1    give book-3.DIST
Give me the book.

<ABmmJKnocJn>, Sunshine, is the name of the healer on the missionary expedition that lands on Earth. Names in Commonthroat are very important because you can't utter a proper sentence referring to a specific person, including yourself, without knowing their name. Names will probably have clipped forms used for this purpose. The actual words that make up a name aren't gender-locked, so there could also be a guy named Sunshine, but he would use the male name suffix <-oh> instead of the female <-oc>.

You form negative commands by using the negative adverb <nkI>

Code: Select all

E nkI nBDm oLkml oCan
E    nkI    nBDm    oLkm-l      oCan
must not    eat     snow-3.DIST yellow
Don't eat yellow snow.

This has no in-world significance. I just think it's funny to give this as advice whenever people ask me for words of wisdom.

You form a more polite version of a command by using the nonauthoritative form of the verb.

Code: Select all

E nkI ojlna
E    nkI ojln-a
must not fall-NONAUTH
Please don't fall.

[lurker]

Still playing around with cleft constructions. I want to use clefts as a way to change the emphasis of a sentence. Right now I'm thinking to use the particle <D> (long high strong whine) to introduce a cleft, and have the place normally taken by a relative pronoun be left blank, as in Mandarin.

Code: Select all

odbmk mI, nABmJn D AB megje fE iKm!
odb-mk  mI nABm-Jn      D    AB  meg-j-e          fE   iKm
child-2 my peace-3.PROX COMP all fight-er-3.INDEF true seek
MAH BOI, this peace is what all true warriors strive for!

This also has no in-world significance. I just miss 2008-2009 era YouTube. This is another instance of using the second person deictic suffix as a vocative. Also note that adjectives of quantity precede the noun. I've also decided that the plural particle <f> is actually a quantitative adjective and is not necessary when context is clear.

[lurker]

Names are basically noun or verb phrases mashed together, with the male or female name suffix appended to the end. Here are the names of the six yinrih crewing The Dewfall, with English names in quotes if their Commonthroat names don't have an easy quick translation.

Code: Select all

Jmcoci
Jmc-oc-i
rainbow-F_NAME-1
Rainbow

"Iris", the leader of the mission. A cleric, and thus also an engineer. Her Commonthroat name happens to coincide etymologically with a common female name in English.

Code: Select all

oDoDJohi
oDoD-J-oh-i
friend-hard-M_NAME-1
Steadfast Friend

"Tod", A veteran of the Allied Worlds Peacekeepers. His real name doesn't have a snappy English equivalent, so he asks the human he lodges with to give him an English name. "Tod" alludes to his vulpine appearance.

Code: Select all

nEnobnohi
obn-nEn-oh-i
guide-star-M_NAME-1
Lodestar. 

The largest yinrih on the mission, tipping the scales at 80 pounds. He's a member of a military religious order akin to the Knights Hospitalars. He lodges with a blind human and serves as his guide.

Code: Select all

nILmoABohi
nILm-oAB-oh-i
light-storm-M_NAME-1
Stormlight (lightning)

The youngest missionary on the crew of the Dewfall. Also the "IT guy" of sorts, maintaining the ansible that allows the crew to communicate back home.

Code: Select all

ABmmJKnoci
ABm-mJKn-oc-i
shine-sun-F_NAME-1
Sunshine.

The healer. Fun fact: healers render themselves completely hairless to maintain medical hygiene. Healers are the only yinrih to regularly wear clothes, so as to protect their now furless skin from the sun.

Code: Select all

nILmoenohi
nILm-oem-oh-i
light-ring-F_NAME-1
ringlight (sunlight reflected off of a planetary ring on summer nights)

"Pascal". Not technically a missionary. He's actually a "wanderer" which is a polite way to say "apostate". His English name is an allusion to Pascal's Wager, which is the reason why he's on the mission. His status as a Doubting Thomas is no secret, and Iris has to twist quite a few ears to get him on board.

Code: Select all

mJmkmbohi
mJmkm-b-oh-i
pleasent_odor-y-M_NAME-1
A strong, pleasant odor evoking nostalgia. Smelly (in a good way)

Jim, the human Tod lodges with. Humans are also given names in Commonthroat just as yinrih are given English names. Yinrih have a ton of different words for odors, and it's common to compliment someone if they smell nice.

[lurker]

There are two particles that introduce relative clauses.

<DA> (long falling weakening whine) introduces a bound relative clause. A bound relative clause modifies a noun or noun phrase within the main clause.

<D> (long high strong whine) Introduces a free relative clause, which acts on its own as a noun in the main clause. This is often used in cleft constructions to front an emphasized noun.

In both cases the place within the clause where a relative pronoun would normally go is simply dropped. Alternatively, there is a relative pronoun but it's a null morpheme.

If the relativized noun phrase falls within a prepositional phrase, the preposition is shunted to the end of the relative clause.

Code: Select all

mILm D f mJmje mcAma nA mI
0    mILm D     f   mJmj-e          mcAm-a       nA mI
[I]  hear that  PL  human-3.INDEF   lap-NONAUTH  ink our
I heard that humans drink our ink.

Code: Select all

mab. meHml DA ni bamk nCA  mILmnCAl oge.
mab     meHm-l         DA     ni ba-mk           nCA    mILm-nCA-l       oge
false   yinrih-3.DIST  that   to CLIPPED_NAME-2  say    hear-say-3.DIST  lie
That's false. The person who told you that rumor is lying.

The <ba> (short low weakening whine) in <bamk> is a clipped form of the name of the yinrih who repeated this baseless accusation against our species. Although *sniffs a sticky note with some yinrih ink on it* it does... *sniff sniff* smell amazing.

<mILmnCA> means "rumor", and translates literally to "hearsay". And that's all this is, I swear.

Intrusive Thought: "still, I wonder what it does taste like..."

Voice of Reason: "No. Their ink is a bodily fluid. Who knows what weird alien disease I could catch."

Intrusive Thought: "Pffft! Pee is sterile. Bet you this stuff is, too."

Voice of Reason: "Do I look like Bear Grylls? I wouldn't drink pee, and I'm certainly not tasting this."

Intrusive Thought: "Do it, you coward! I bet it tastes better than Tide Pods."

Me: ... ... *raises sticky note to lips, tongue hanging out expectantly*

Yinrih: «uuuuh... what are you doing?»

Me: *quickly replaces sticky note* "Oh, just... uh... admiring your remarkable penmanship... er... pawmanship?"

Yinrih: «oooooookay...»

Ahem, like I said, spurious rumor.

[lurker]

Code: Select all

f obnl nkI nJI nkI nCA nkI nJL fem ogFl oABm g f ghmghi ncnb.
f  obn-l       nkI nJI   nKI nCA nkI nJL  fem      ogF-l        oABm  g   f ghmgh-i ncn-b
PL star-3.DIST not think not say not feel because  sky-3.DIST  empty and PL little_one-1 one-y
The stars think not, speak not, feel not, for the sky is empty and we are alone.

The word <fem> (short low weakening growl, huff) means "because" and is used in the same manner as in English.

This rather flowery rephrasing of the Fermi Paradox is coined by Cloudbarer the Heresiarch. As you can guess from his epithet, he isn't very highly regarded by followers of the Bright Way. It is a repudiation of the Great Commandment, and deliberately evokes language used therein, specifically using <ghmgh> (little ones), found mostly when The Light addresses its creatures, as the first person plural subject of the last phrase "We little ones are alone".

While it isn't necessarily a declaration of atheism, plenty of people on both sides of the argument claim it to be so. It's mostly a rejection of the Bright Way's belief in panspermia. The cosmos is a verdant garden tended by The Creator, replete with myriads of flowering souls, not a blind uncaring void.

Over the millennia, as missionaries trek further and further away from Focus in search of other rational souls only to come back empty handed, The Bright Way is forced to re-evaluate its stance on the ubiquity of extraterrestrial intelligence, but doggedly clings to the hope that there's someone else out there, with bone not of their bone and flesh not of their flesh, but with souls like unto their own.

[lurker]

Here's another whack at the print alphabet. I should probably clarify that "print" in this context means any writing meant to be perceived visually. The word is used in contrast with "braille" when discussing braille topics, as in "The software came with instructions written in print and in braille."

I've modified the look of the yip slightly. I think it looks nicer.

I also think that Navy Blue is going to be the "official" description of the color of yinrih ink.

Sidebar: I might make yinrih milk tinted blue as well to show that the musk/ink and the milk derive from a similar processes. While we're on the subject of biology, maybe yinrih can have a way of deliberately rupturing capillaries in their ink sacs to add blood to the ink. They might do this in situations analogous to signing a binding contract. Their blood is maroon rather than red, so it wouldn't change the color much, just make it darker.

The only other tweak I added was the titulus over the word "Light". Some possibilities for its use include:

• It's used over this specific word because it refers to the Supreme Being and not to light in general.
• It's used in a broader religious context and may be used over the names of saints or holy places etc.
• It's akin to capitalizing a proper noun.

[lurker]

Code: Select all

k f hgml DA oFEmlim oDoDJohi!
By the palms that nursed me!

Here's another few letters in the print alphabet. Not sure I'm happy with the <f> or the <E>...

[lurker]

I think I'm going to redo the "romanization" scheme to remove <a> <e> <i> and <o>. This is for two reasons: 1. I want to avoid a system that uses both uppercase I and lowercase L, second, I want to make it absolutely clear that this is not a human-pronounceable language, and removing the vowel letters does that pretty well.

[lurker]

OK, here's the first draft of the print version of the alphabet. I've already started converting the "romanization" scheme to get rid of the vowels, but this "chart" uses the romanization scheme from the OP.

[Khemehekis]

Wow! Your Commonthroat (and yinrih) are shaping up to be the next Rikchik! You could win a Smiley Award . . . if David J. Peterson ever resumes giving those out.

[Arayaz]

Wow! Your Commonthroat (and yinrih) are shaping up to be the next Rikchik! You could win a Smiley Award . . . if David J. Peterson ever resumes giving those out.

Yeah, I've been wondering about that... David hasn't given them since like 2021. I think if you want to win one, bring it up on the CONLANG LIstserv. I tried to join it once, but it was intimidating and not very user-friendly. I'll stay here for now.

(I actually met him in person at Kopikon, but didn't ask about the Smiley Awards.)

[lurker]

[lurker]

The yinrih use a dozenal numeral system. The highest place value is closest to the beginning of the line, which means the digits decrease in value going from right to left. The yinrih also use a set of symbols representing orders of magnitude similar to how we use K, M, G etc to represent thousands, millions etc. Instead of being based on powers of 1000 (or every third power of 10) they're based on powers of 1728, which is 1000 in base 12, or 1 great gross.

Not pictured is the negative sign, which is a small upper half circle placed before first digit on the midline. There is also a similar symbol to denote imaginary numbers (which the yinrih call perpendicular or orthogonal numbers) which is a small lower half circle. You can denote a negative imaginary number with a full circle.

[lurker]

So I made a very sloppy font for Commonthroat. It uses the code points corresponding to the new romanization scheme. Does anyone know how to force right-to-left text direction (not just paragraph alignment)? I know there's a Unicode character for it, but it doesn't seem to work in LibreOffice Writer. I had to cheat and write the text backwards.

[Glenn]

I do not have much of substance to add, but I just wanted to say that I am extremely impressed with what you have shown of Commonthroat, and your worldbuilding of the yinrih and their biology and culture more generally.

Wow! Your Commonthroat (and yinrih) are shaping up to be the next Rikchik! You could win a Smiley Award . . . if David J. Peterson ever resumes giving those out.

Yeah, I've been wondering about that... David hasn't given them since like 2021. I think if you want to win one, bring it up on the CONLANG LIstserv. I tried to join it once, but it was intimidating and not very user-friendly. I'll stay here for now.

(I actually met him in person at Kopikon, but didn't ask about the Smiley Awards.)

I was at Kopikon as well; it was my first opportunity to attend a live conlanging event, and I was very glad that I had the chance to be there.

[lurker]

Commonthroat makes extensive use of verb serialization. Verbs or verb phrases can be combined with no intervening conjunctions. The verbs have the same subject but my have different objects.

Sometimes the second verb or verb phrase indicates the purpose of the first verb, especially with verbs of motion.

Code: Select all

rGKq qJq
come swim
[I'm] coming to swim.

Code: Select all

lPr HJqMr rCFq qcDg
lPr      HJq-Mr        rCFq   qcD-g
climb    tree-3.PROX   eat    fruit-3.INDEF
[I'm] climbing this tree to eat some fruit.

Aspect is usually indicated with serial verb constructions. One of my favorites is the imminent aspect, which indicates that something is on the verge of occurring.

The verb <Lmq> means fix or repair. There was a period of time where the semantic space widened to mean PREpair as well as REpair. During this time a serial verb construction was coined using <Lmq> as the first verb, and had the meaning of preparing to X or about to X. The meaning of the normal verb has since narrowed back to just repair, but the construction has fossilized into a set phrase in most Commonthroat dialects.

Code: Select all

 Lmq rGKq qJq
 fix come swim
 [I'm] about to come over to swim

Code: Select all

Lmq lPr    HJqMr      rCFq qcDg
Lmq lPr    HJq-Mr      rCFq qcD-g
fix climb  tree-3.PROX eat  fruit-3.INDEF
[I'm] about to climb this tree to eat some fruit.

Code: Select all

qMqmqn Lmqk fCqK png qbf KC B rkH cdqml
qMqm-qn Lmq-K    fCq-K   pn-g          qbf  K-C          B   rkH cdq-m-l
human-2 fix-DOG lose-DOG digit-3.INDEF if   time-another try rub ask-CUSTOMARY-1 
I swear you're fixin' to lose a finger if you try and pet me again.

The last gloss highlights a feature of nouns that I admittedly haven't leveraged as much as I could. Since Commonthroat has no pronouns, you have to use a noun with an appropriate deictic suffix. This can be used to emphasize aspects of the speaker and listener that would be hidden by normal pronouns in a translation. In this case, the words I translate as you and me literally mean human and sophont, respectively. The human thinks the yinrih is a dog and goes in for a pet. The yinrih protests, using the word sophont (literally "one who asks") as the first person object of the if-clause. He's not an irrational animal but a person with personal space.

[lurker]

Here's an interesting use of the authoritative and nonauthoritative verb forms. If you have a main clause with a verb like "see", "hear", etc, where the object of the verb is another clause describing what is seen or heard, the verb in the object clause can be in the authoritative form if the speaker directly witnessed the event (not necessarily visually). If the speaker is inferring the event based on indirect evidence, the second verb is in the nonauthoritative form.

A dam is watching one of her pups play outside, and she sees him cut his tail against a thorny plant.

Code: Select all

qCq rdcqn rlnq slPqp qN
0  qCq-0    rdc-qn  rlnq-0   slPq-p      qN
I  see-AUTH poor-2  cut-AUTH tail-3.DIST your
I saw you cut your tail, poor dear.
(The speaker witnessed the event directly)

A similar situation, but the child comes inside after playing, and one of his dams notices that his tail is bleeding.

Code: Select all

qCq rdcqn rlnqb slpqp qN
0   qCq-0    rdc-qn rlnq-b    slpq-p      qN
[I] see-AUTH poor-2 cut-NAUTH tail-3.DIST your
I see that you cut your tail, poor dear.
(The speaker infers the event based on indirect visual evidence.)

I just noticed this while writing this, but English seems to have a marginal evidential distinction in similar situations. Notice the past tense and the lack of the "that" complimentizer for the direct evidential, and the present tense main verb and the presence of the "that" complimentizer for the indirect evidential. I'm hardly an expert but I find that interesting.

This is another example of the laconic use of deixis. Instead of having a second person pronoun subject and the vocative added at the end, the adjective <rdcqn> "poor"/"pitiable" is inflected with the second person deictic suffix and used as the subject of the object clause.

[lurker]

A bit ironic that it's taken me this long to get around to detailing questions, given that the Commonthroat word for a person/sophont is literally "one who asks".

Anyway, you ask a yes/no question by putting the question particle <mp> at the beginning of the sentence.

Code: Select all

mp qLPq sFq.
mp        0       qLPq sFq?
QUESTION  [you]   hear tidings
Did you hear the news?

Commonthroat does not have words for "yes" or "no". You answer a question by repeating the verb and inflecting it in the dogmatic mood, adding the negative adverb <rnL> if necessary to answer in the negative.

Code: Select all

rnL qLPqK. sFqBD?
rnL qLPq-K.    sFq-BD?
not hear-DOG.  tidings-INTERROGATIVE?
No I haven't heard. What news?

The above sentence also demonstrates use of the interrogative deictic suffix.

Here's a final gloss just to finish off this little nerrative:

Code: Select all

rHqPp fCqsfsf C cdqmg!
h  rHqP-g             fCq-sfsf C      h  cdq-m-g!
PL missionary-3.DIST  find-MIR other  PL ask-CUSTOMARY-3.INDEF
some missionaries have found other sophonts!

Here the verb is inflected in the mirative mood because the speaker finds the event surprising.

[lurker]

Since Commonthroat uses serial verbs, and Mandarin uses serial verbs, I decided to "borrow" Mandarin's method for forming passive phrases. The coverb <rj> [chuff, short high weak growl] indicates a passive clause. For now, at least, Commonthroat coverbs will inflect for the same mood as the main verb. The object of the coverb is the agent of the passive phrase, and the subject of the phrase as a whole is the patient of the main verb.

Unlike Mandarin, the passive voice doesn't necessarily indicate misfortune or adversity afflicting the subject. I like to translate the coverb as "is acted upon".

Code: Select all

rBFrrnqskMr kHr sPlqBdskp
rBFr-rnq-sk-Mr      kHr-0          sPlq-Bd-sk-p
four-paw-MN-3.PROX  strike-AUTH    rhinarium-wet-MN-3.DIST
Fourpaws struck Wetnose
(active voice)

Code: Select all

sPlqBdskp rj rBFrrnqskMr kHr          
sPlq-Bd-sk-p            rj-0      rBFr-rnq-sk-Mr     kHr-0          
rhinarium-wet-MN-3.DIST PASS-AUTH four-paw-MN-3.PROX strike-AUTH
Wetnose was struck by Fourpaws
(Passive voice with agent adjunct)

Code: Select all

sPlqBdskp rj kHr          
sPlq-Bd-sk-p            rj-0      kHr-0          
rhinarium-wet-MN-3.DIST PASS-AUTH strike-AUTH
Wetnose was struck.
(Passive voice omitting agent adjunct)

I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot more of Fourpaws and Wetnose. These names are the Common throat equivalent to John Doe or Average Joe. All healthy yinrih should have a wet nose and four paws.