Wistanian: Difference between revisions

963 bytes added ,  28 September 2018
m
Did a lot of tweaking
m (Updated location!)
m (Did a lot of tweaking)
Line 25: Line 25:
'''Wistanian''' (IPA: /wɪsˈteɪni.ən/), natively known as '''''anigalilaun''''' (IPA: /əˈniɡəˌlilɑn/), is the first [[w: Constructed_language|constructed language]] (conlang) by world-builder, writer, and professional amateur Paul A. Daly, written in 2017 and 2018. The language was created for a novel series. The first novel is near completion, but will likely remain unpublished until the author finishes his education.
'''Wistanian''' (IPA: /wɪsˈteɪni.ən/), natively known as '''''anigalilaun''''' (IPA: /əˈniɡəˌlilɑn/), is the first [[w: Constructed_language|constructed language]] (conlang) by world-builder, writer, and professional amateur Paul A. Daly, written in 2017 and 2018. The language was created for a novel series. The first novel is near completion, but will likely remain unpublished until the author finishes his education.


The language is spoken on the fictional planet Vale, on a large yet isolated island called Wistania. The language belongs to the Talivian sub-family, which evolved steadily throughout the Taliv's existence. After having been settled on by the Taliv for several hundred years, the island became the new home for the Bwolotil people, who had fled to the island to hide a large collection of magical and extremely dangerous ajmastones. The Bwolitil were originally apathetic toward the Taliv until they discovered that the Taliv held one such ajmastone as a central symbol of their culture. The Bwolotil, therefore, engaged in war with the Taliv to apprehend their ajmastone. Three separate people groups also inhabited the island during this war, one of which was the Nati people who allied with the Taliv to win the war. This alliance led to the formation of the Taliv-Nati [[w: Pidgin|pidgin]], which was later named ''anigalilaun'', which means "the language of peace". During the events of the novel series (about 300 years after the end of the war) Wistanian is the majority language of the island. The language also has a number of influences from the Katapu (sister peoples to the Nati and known for their religious traditionalism), the Uzin (a people distantly related to the Bwolotil who settled the island shortly after the beginning of the war), and the Bwolotil.
The language is spoken on the fictional planet Vale, on a large yet isolated island called Wistania. The language belongs to the Talivian sub-family, which evolved steadily throughout the Taliv's existence. After having been settled on by the Taliv for several hundred years, the island became the new home for the Bwolotil people, who had fled to the island to hide a large collection of magical and extremely dangerous ajmastones. The Bwolitil were originally apathetic toward the Taliv until they discovered that the Taliv held one such ajmastone as a central symbol of their culture. The Bwolotil, therefore, engaged in war with the Taliv to apprehend their ajmastone. Three separate people groups also inhabited the island during this war, one of which was the Nati people who allied with the Taliv to win the war. This alliance led to the formation of the Taliv-Nati [[w: Pidgin|pidgin]], which was later named ''anigalilaun'', meaning "the language of peace". During the events of the novel series (about 300 years after the end of the war) Wistanian is the majority language of the island. The language also has a number of influences from the Katapu (sister peoples to the Nati and known for their religious traditionalism), the Uzin (a people distantly related to the Bwolotil who settled the island shortly after the beginning of the war), and the Bwolotil.


Wistanian is typologically an [[w: Analytic_language|analytic language]] with elements of [[w: Agglutinative_language|agglutination]]. Its grammar is initially simple to grasp, lacking noun gender and case, and possessing few verbal conjugations, although most of its difficulty is syntactic and lexical. Despite having a rather regular morphology due to pidginization, there are several groups of words within the same lexical category which operate differently from each other. Wistanian is primarily written using the Talivian Alphabet, but some alternate scripts do exist, namely the Diwa Alphabet and Nati [[w: Abugida|Abugida]].
Wistanian is typologically an [[w: Analytic_language|analytic language]] with elements of [[w: Agglutinative_language|agglutination]]. Its grammar is initially simple to grasp, lacking noun gender and case, and possessing few verbal conjugations, although most of its difficulty is syntactic and lexical. Despite having a rather regular morphology due to pidginization, there are several groups of words within the same lexical category which operate differently from each other. Wistanian is primarily written using the Talivian Alphabet, but some alternate scripts do exist, namely the Diwa Alphabet and Nati [[w: Abugida|Abugida]].
Line 50: Line 50:
===Inspiration===
===Inspiration===


Like most first conlangs, Wistanian started as an English [[w: Relexification|relex]] (but without tense and articles). However, after nearly four mass revisions over a year, Wistanian has become its own unique language. It's influenced by several languages, especially [[w: Spanish_language|Spanish]] and [[w: Tamil_language|Tamil]], but their influence is mostly found in the lexicon while contributing only minimally to the grammar.  
Like most first conlangs, Wistanian started as an English [[w: Relexification|relex]] (but without tense and articles). However, after nearly six mass revisions over two years, Wistanian has become its own unique language. It's influenced by several languages, especially [[w: Spanish_language|Spanish]] and [[w: Tamil_language|Tamil]], but their influence is mostly found in the lexicon while contributing only minimally to the grammar.  


==Phonology==
==Phonology==
Line 149: Line 149:
* All vowels lengthen when stressed.
* All vowels lengthen when stressed.
* All vowels become breathy after /ɦ/.
* All vowels become breathy after /ɦ/.
* /ɯ/ > [ʊ] / #_
# /i/ and /a/ shift to [ɪ] and [ə] whenever unstressed. The only exception is when /i/ follows /j/, /w/, or /l/ or is at the end of a word.
# /i/ and /a/ shift to [ɪ] and [ə] whenever unstressed. The only exception is when /i/ follows /j/, /w/, or /l/ or is at the end of a word.
# /ɯ/ and /ɑ/ shift to [u] and [ɒ] after /w~βʷ/.
# /ɯ/ and /ɑ/ shift to [u] and [ɒ] after /w~βʷ/.
Line 172: Line 173:
====Stress====
====Stress====


Stress usually falls on the first non-lax vowel (/ai̯/, /i/, /e/, /a/, /ɯ/, or /ɑ/). But there are many exceptions, especially where the vowels /i/ and /a/ come into place since you must know whether or not those sounds are the stressed /i/ or /a/ or the lax [ɪ] or [ə]. A prime example is between the words '''''viman''''' and '''''viman''''', which are spelled identically. When stress is on the /i/ as in [ˈvimən], the word means “sugar”, but when stress is on the /a/ as in [vɪˈman], the word means “sky.” Stress is realized through vowel lengthening and sometimes a higher intonation.
Stress usually falls on the first non-lax vowel (/ai̯/, /i/, /e/, /a/, /ɯ/, or /ɑ/). But there are many exceptions, especially where the vowels /i/ and /a/ come into place since you must know whether or not those sounds are the stressed /i/ or /a/ or the lax [ɪ] or [ə]. A prime example is between the words '''''viman''''' and '''''viman''''', which are spelled identically. When stress is on the /i/ as in [ˈvimən], the word means “sugar”, but when stress is on the /a/ as in [vɪˈman], the word means “sky.” /ai̯/ and /e/ are always stressed. /ɯ/ is always stressed unless it's word-initial (in which case it will usually shift to [ʊ]). /ɑ/ is usually stressed unless non-lax /a/ or /i/ are present. Secondary stress is also lexical, but rare. Many particles and common monosyllabic words are not stressed unless the feature the /e/ or /ai̯/ vowels. (E.g.,'''va''' is normally [və], and '''zi''' is normally [zɪ]; but '''aa''' is normally [ˈe].)
 
Stress is realized through vowel lengthening and sometimes a higher intonation.


===Prosody===
===Prosody===
Line 207: Line 210:
''needs expansion''
''needs expansion''


Wistanian follows a rigid syntax and tight grammar due to its analytical tendencies. However, these strict standards, along with the simple phonology, help Wistanian people groups to remain understandable and intelligible among each other.  
Wistanian follows a fairly rigid syntax and tight grammar for a number of historical reasons. Firstly, due to its pidginization with the Nati language, Taliv lost most of its irregularities and exceptions. Secondly, as the Katapu began to teach Wistanian, they had spread false information to "make more sense" of the language, which resulted in further simplification that was later adopted as standard. In Wistanian's infancy, it was almost engineered to be as efficient as possible. However, learners were still able to incorporate features from their native language into Wistanian, providing it with several of its current syntactical quirks (e.g., imperative word order was introduced by the Taliv learners).  


===Word Order===
===Word Order===


Wistanian has predominant [[w: Verb–subject–object|Verb-Subject-Object]] word order, modifiers that follow their head (except for possessive pronouns, numbers, and colors), post-positional suffixes, and particles that come before their head. Modifier phrases will usually come at the beginning or end of the sentence.
Wistanian has predominant [[w: Verb–subject–object|Verb-Subject-Object]] word order, modifiers that follow their head, post-positional suffixes, and particles that come before their head. Modifier phrases will usually come at the beginning or end of the sentence.


  '''azavyi ravu miramwi daz ilam aa din naulam ggarauni ggaun zi maumu.'''
  '''azavyi ravu miram wi daz ilam aa naulam ggarauni va din ggaun maumu va zi.'''
  azavi-i  ravu miram-wi  daz ilam  aa  naulam ggarauni va  din  ggaun zi       maumu.
  azavi-i  ravu miram wi  daz ilam  aa  naulam ggarauni va  din  ggaun maumu  va  zi.
  carry-TEL fast store-LAT man young ACC melon  large    COP three BEN  3Sa.POSS mother.
  carry-TEL fast store ADE man young ACC melon  large    COP three BEN  mother COP 3Sa.POSS.
  "The young man quickly carried large melons that are three to the store for his mother."
  "The young man quickly carried large melons that are three to the store for his mother."
  *carried fast store to man young three melons large for his mother.
  *carried fast store to man young melons which.is three large for mother who.is his.


===Questions===
===Questions===


Questions will typically follow the same syntactic pattern as declarative sentences, except with rising intonation. All questions should end with the question particle '''''a''''' (<code>Q</code>). This is especially important in writing since the Talivian Alphabet does not have an equivalent to the question mark. However, some dialects and informal registers do not include it in speech.
Questions will typically follow the same syntactic pattern as declarative sentences, except with rising intonation. All questions should end with the question particle '''a''' (<code>Q</code>). This is especially important in writing since the Talivian Alphabet does not have an equivalent to the question mark. However, some dialects and informal registers do not include it in speech. In speech, the question particle is typically stressed.


====Polar====
====Polar====
185

edits