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Bright languages are constructed languages intended to be aesthetically pleasing, predictable, and stable in utterance.
{{Construction}}


Bright languages are constructed languages often intended to be aesthetically pleasing, predictable, and phonologically stable. Examples are the elvish languages from J R. R. Tolkien's [[w:Middle-earth|Middle-earth]].


==Introduction==
==Introduction==


Bright Tongue vs Dark Tongue<br>
*lack of gutturals vs lack of labials
*synthesis vs anathesis
*words don't repeat vs words repeat
*diphthongs allowed vs diphthongs forbidden
*only sonorants as free coda vs only stops as free coda
*constraints...




'''The catch is that no Bright or Dark Tongue is fully understood. The former is far too complicated (though steady) to be learned by Men, while the latter is easily taught in vain, as its dialects change rapidly compared to a human's life span.'''




==Phonology==
Dark tongues may access /ɥ/


4 vowels and 8 consonants.


===Sound Laws===
K [associated with choking


P [associated with kissing




*Voicing: consonants between vowels are voiced.
In Veno's Dark Tongue
*Devoicing: initial and final consonants are voiceless.
''gog yoguguluk'' "X speaks"
*Lenition: if two bordering syllables/syllable portions possess the same consonant, the consonant of the weakest syllable (portion) disappears.<br>
EX: The Adamic or Babelic forms ''vāl'' "person" and ''vār'' "people" become ''alf'' and ''elbë'' respectively in the Bright Tongue [''alp'' instead of ''*falf''].<br>
*Assimilation:
alba-alp > albabelë; silma-alp > silmemalë; ...
*Harmony: [a > e > i] or [i > e > a]<br>
*Mutation: consonants extend grade until there is only one.<br>
m/n + p -mb [extension of p]<br>
m/n + t -nd [extension of t]<br>
r/l + f -lb [extension of l]<br>
r/l + c -rd [extension of r]<br>
r/l + m = -lm [extension of m]<br>
r/l + n = -rn [extension of n]<br>
*/t/ can only happen before /a/ and/or /ə/.


Because final consonants are easily lost in Typology, /r/ /l/ /m/ and /n/ always mutate
''yo-'' "X" + ''-gu-'' [X] + ''-g-'' [X] +''-ul-'' [X] + ''-uk'' [X]


C̥VC̬VC̥


anë
sebeze paddaen adres nirdasbar vs zhogodosh kaktatona atrosh nurtaskara


''ídrā naiaris'' "I was bitten by a serpent", ''siverae aebidis'' "I was bitten by a mosquito" ...


[the dorsal column was deleted and the distinction of voice lost] ...plus, m and n are added and f and s lost
nazil "flower", naevalla "sword"
m, l, p, b
n, r, t, d


alma > almi > ilmi
belep (nom) bellī (pl) albā (col)<br>
ilmi nae
bel (acc) parabel (pl) ambī (col)<br>
ilmi tae
elbī (gen) il (pl) pasadarvā (col)<br>
ilmi ae
vs
alba "people" [alp, elbë]
gog, gog-nagog<br>
arda "things" [art, erdë]
gogash, gog-nagogash<br>
alma "high faculties" [al, elmë]
gogu, gog-nagogu<br>
arna "emotions, sensations" [ar, ernë]
amba "time" [amp, embë]
anda "space" [ant, endë]
-
endar "land", anderë "lands"
embal (amba + arda/alba) "celestial body~god", ambelë...
endar
tirya
arni, ernyë


*Belep vs gog
*Balardemea vs kalaradunga


NA > ni [0], nae [1]
alba enir
ni, pe, ae
MA
NA
PA
TA
LA
RA
-
ALBA
ARDA
AMBA
ANDA
ALMA
ARNA


nua vāl / nua valár = ni erec alf ... ni
Mixed Breed Dark Tongue:
*analytic
''gog yoguguluk dash'' /ɠɔɠ ɥoɠuɠuɠuluk daʃ/
*no articles
*no declension
*context and syntax play important role


iru > erdi
erda alf
avâla iku


Adamic verb
Pure Breed Dark Tongue:
arú > erec
''kꜣ̥k yꜣ̥kwkwlwk tsh'' /ƙħ̩ƙ ɥ̊ħ̩ƙʷƙʷlʷƙ tʃ/
ārú > irida


nua sit, askút
Vocabulary drawn from the Lovecraft Mythos, Tolkien's Legendarium  ...
ni ereden
-
ísit ārú
ni irida ederen


sikt > ciren
''rꜣlyẙh khlw̥hllw'' "city", ''kl̥ rꜣ̥k'' "demon", ''ns̥k kw̥l'' "ghost", ''shw̥k nw̥kwrth'' "goat"
hal > cilma




cilm


sikt niru
nae ciren


ciren
Laiberim
Ungrauzuru
Trizandir
Naevalla




nicae
If without D-equilibrium:
ec
*Language rich in consonants and no vowels
icae
*Language rich in vowels and no consonants


anu/nua > ni
*Language rich in intersegmentals and no metasegmentals
ani/nia > nae
ana/nā > na


''Elbë irida indili na''
''wl̥krꜣn'' /w̥l̩krħn̥/, ''kl̥x'' /kl̩ks/, ''wr̥l'' /w̥r̩l/, ''kr̥kt'' /kr̩kt/, ''tn̥c'' /tn̩ts/, ''tn̥k'' /tn̩k/ ''nẙx'' /n̥ĭks/, ''lw̥kwky'' /l̥ŭkʷkʲ/, ''sꜣ̥t'' /sʕ̩t/.
= ''Ara avâla ana ahalâ''




Ni irida ereden, ec cilma
/jɪee̞ɛæa īi̯/
Tua hícal, rī askút


hil > ciren
īy ay "the man", ī īnain "the mountain"
-h-c-l- > indili
hácal > andal


A pure anathetic language would rather focus on the combinations of words than the words themselves (meaningless individually in this case): In Veno's Dark Tongue, associations strike as grammatical in zodrak hu "dog" versus hu zodrak "cat".


ni irida andal
A pure magis-synthetic language focuses instead on words of a variety of meanings. In Veno's Bright Tongue, elbī is a genitive of "person".


erec & irida > -c-


ni, idae
fe, ec
ae, cae


fe erec >  ec
ae erec > icae


indili (v), andal (p)


bcr


Anathesis: In Portuguese, ''ca'' alone means nothing, as does ''sa'', yet ''casa'' means "house". Synthesis: In Latin, the particle ''-orum'' means not only [genitive], but also [plural] and [masculine]/[neuter]. Agglutination, on the other hand, is the neutral morphological nature.


Ni, nicae
degrees of purity


Feam, ec
important remark: anathesis is not that the components don't have meaning, but that the composition has a novel meaning because of them


Ae, icae
==Phonology==


Ci, ciae




ciren (n), ederen (v)
===Sound Laws===
cilma (n), indili (v)
 
-s-k-t- > ciren, cirendë
h/q > n
s/z > c
k/g > r
-
t/d > nd
 
 
h/q>
 
z >
g > l
d > mb
 
n r c
 
 
 
 
Velar stops such as /k/ are problematic, therefore removed. Palatalization /ku/ for example has the tendence to inevitably change to /kʷ/ and /b/, whereas /ki/ will lead to /t͡ʃi/ and /ʃi/.
 
Back vowels are totally erased, to contrast with dark tongues, plus to avoid the sound change /du/ > /dʷ/ > /b/
 
===Consonants===
 
 
===Vowels===
===Prosody===
====Stress====
====Intonation====
 
===Phonotactics===
<!-- Explain the consonant clusters and vowel clusters that are permissible for use in the language. For example, "st" is an allowed consonant cluster in English while onset "ng" isn't. -->
===Morphophonology===
 
==Morphology==
The Bright Tongue is composed of stems, which modify roots.
 
ALMA > ELEME
eldar (alba-endar)
erbal (arda-elbar)
arbelë
ilben, ilbini
eleben, af
lef, felin
ilmen, ilmini
elemen, am
lem, melin
 
irdem, irdimi
eredem, erc
rec, cerin


==Syntax==
==Syntax==

Latest revision as of 13:48, 30 December 2024


Bright languages are constructed languages often intended to be aesthetically pleasing, predictable, and phonologically stable. Examples are the elvish languages from J R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth.

Introduction

Bright Tongue vs Dark Tongue

  • lack of gutturals vs lack of labials
  • synthesis vs anathesis
  • words don't repeat vs words repeat
  • diphthongs allowed vs diphthongs forbidden
  • only sonorants as free coda vs only stops as free coda
  • constraints...


The catch is that no Bright or Dark Tongue is fully understood. The former is far too complicated (though steady) to be learned by Men, while the latter is easily taught in vain, as its dialects change rapidly compared to a human's life span.


Dark tongues may access /ɥ/


K [associated with choking

P [associated with kissing


In Veno's Dark Tongue gog yoguguluk "X speaks"

yo- "X" + -gu- [X] + -g- [X] +-ul- [X] + -uk [X]


sebeze paddaen adres nirdasbar vs zhogodosh kaktatona atrosh nurtaskara

ídrā naiaris "I was bitten by a serpent", siverae aebidis "I was bitten by a mosquito" ...

nazil "flower", naevalla "sword"

belep (nom) bellī (pl) albā (col)
bel (acc) parabel (pl) ambī (col)
elbī (gen) il (pl) pasadarvā (col)
vs gog, gog-nagog
gogash, gog-nagogash
gogu, gog-nagogu

  • Belep vs gog
  • Balardemea vs kalaradunga


Mixed Breed Dark Tongue: gog yoguguluk dash /ɠɔɠ ɥoɠuɠuɠuluk daʃ/


Pure Breed Dark Tongue: kꜣ̥k yꜣ̥kwkwlwk tsh /ƙħ̩ƙ ɥ̊ħ̩ƙʷƙʷlʷƙ tʃ/

Vocabulary drawn from the Lovecraft Mythos, Tolkien's Legendarium ...

rꜣlyẙh khlw̥hllw "city", kl̥ rꜣ̥k "demon", ns̥k kw̥l "ghost", shw̥k nw̥kwrth "goat"



Laiberim Ungrauzuru Trizandir Naevalla


If without D-equilibrium:

  • Language rich in consonants and no vowels
  • Language rich in vowels and no consonants
  • Language rich in intersegmentals and no metasegmentals

wl̥krꜣn /w̥l̩krħn̥/, kl̥x /kl̩ks/, wr̥l /w̥r̩l/, kr̥kt /kr̩kt/, tn̥c /tn̩ts/, tn̥k /tn̩k/ nẙx /n̥ĭks/, lw̥kwky /l̥ŭkʷkʲ/, sꜣ̥t /sʕ̩t/.


/jɪee̞ɛæa īi̯/

īy ay "the man", ī īnain "the mountain"

A pure anathetic language would rather focus on the combinations of words than the words themselves (meaningless individually in this case): In Veno's Dark Tongue, associations strike as grammatical in zodrak hu "dog" versus hu zodrak "cat".

A pure magis-synthetic language focuses instead on words of a variety of meanings. In Veno's Bright Tongue, elbī is a genitive of "person".




Anathesis: In Portuguese, ca alone means nothing, as does sa, yet casa means "house". Synthesis: In Latin, the particle -orum means not only [genitive], but also [plural] and [masculine]/[neuter]. Agglutination, on the other hand, is the neutral morphological nature.

degrees of purity

important remark: anathesis is not that the components don't have meaning, but that the composition has a novel meaning because of them

Phonology

Sound Laws

Syntax

Constituent order

Noun phrase

Verb phrase

Sentence phrase

Dependent clauses

Example texts

Other resources

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