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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/
 
 
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)<br>
bel (acc) parabel (pl) ambī (col)<br>
elbī (gen) il (pl) pasadarvā (col)<br>
vs
gog, gog-nagog<br>
gogash, gog-nagogash<br>
gogu, gog-nagogu<br>
 
*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"


4 vowels and 8 consonants.


===Sound Laws===




Laiberim
Ungrauzuru
Trizandir
Naevalla


*Voicing: consonants between vowels are voiced.
*Devoicing: initial and final consonants are voiceless.
*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 ''alp'' and ''elbë'' respectively in the Bright Tongue [''alp'' instead of ''*palp''].<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 + p -lb [extension of l]<br>
r/l + t -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
If without D-equilibrium:
*Language rich in consonants and no vowels
*Language rich in vowels and no consonants


C̥VC̬VC̥
*Language rich in intersegmentals and no metasegmentals


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




[the dorsal column was deleted and the distinction of voice lost] ...plus, m and n are added and f and s lost
/jɪee̞ɛæa īi̯/
m, l, p, b
n, r, t, d


alma > almi > ilmi
īy ay "the man", ī īnain "the mountain"
ilmi nae
ilmi tae
ilmi ae
alba "people" [alp, elbë]
arda "things" [art, erdë]
alma "high faculties" [al, elmë]
arna "emotions, sensations" [ar, ernë]
amba "time" [amp, embë]
anda "space" [ant, endë]
-
andar (anda + arda/alba) "land~kingdom", anderë "lands"
ambal (amba + arda/alba) "celestial body~god", ambelë...
endar
tirya
arni, ernyë


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".


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






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===


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.


===Vowels===
degrees of purity
===Prosody===
====Stress====
====Intonation====


===Phonotactics===
important remark: anathesis is not that the components don't have meaning, but that the composition has a novel meaning because of them
<!-- 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==
==Phonology==




===Sound Laws===


==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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