Nanyse

Nanyse is my first and only conlang. Although this is far from its first incarnation, I'm hoping to use this version of my project in a science-fiction novel I'm working on. The language, and the culture of those humans who speak it, was created gradually over time as native speakers from different points in Earth's history were kidnapped and forced to work with speakers from other cultures and languages. I'd call the end result - this current incarnation of my conlang - a macro-pidgin, but in the story there are over 14 million native speakers. I hope you enjoy watching me struggle with creating this language. Please, don't hesitate to send any questions my way - especially if I've slipped up and forgotten my own rules or spellings. Thank you for your attentions!

Nanyse
Иφчψѣɔ
Pronunciation	[/nʌ.nɪ.sɛ/]
Created by	–
Native to	Dumun Territories
Native speakers	14,854,447 (2013)
Language family	Multiple Nanyse
Early form	Proto-Nanyse
Dialects	Ohi Kote Jara Yrem
Official status
Regulated by	The Academy of Unu

Introduction

Nanyse is the native language of the Ubaneb Dumun and the official language of trade in the known nabdetam. It is an a posteriori language, with reported origins in ancient Sumerian, Hittite, and Chinese, and employs alphabetic orthography, as well as agglutinative grammar. Nanyse is a consonantic and accusative language. There are four recognized dialects of Nanyse and, of them, the Ohi dialect is considered to be the official pronunciation.

Phonology

The Nanyse alphabet is composed of 52 symbols, with separate symbols denoting either the upper or lower case forms of 26 different sounds. Due to the difficulties of learning the native alphabet, and the relatively wise-spread use of the Roman alphabet on Kisar, it is the Roman alphabet that is used to teach new comers the written form of Nanyse. The native alphabet will be described in another article.

Alphabet

Names

Am

Æp

El

Yc

Is

Ot

Um

Har

Bat

Din

Fæ

Gan

Jen

Ci

Kap

Lun

Mos

Nem

Pan

Rom

Xo

Sel

Vas

Tro

Was

Zap

Upper Case

A

Æ

E

Y

I

O

U

H

B

D

F

G

J

C

K

L

M

N

P

R

X

S

V

T

W

Z

Lower Case

a

æ

e

y

i

o

u

h

b

d

f

g

j

c

k

l

m

n

p

r

x

s

v

t

w

z

Vowels

Vowels
	Front	Near-front	Central	Near-back	Back
Close	i		ʉ		u
Near-close	ɪ				ʊ
Close-mid			ɵ		o
Mid			ə
Open-mid	ɛ				ʌ
Near-open
Open	a

Monophthongs

Monophthongs are pure vowel sounds. Nanyse has four of these: A[ʌ], E[ɛ], Y[ɪ], and U[ʉ]

Diphthongs

Diphtongs are two vowel sounds occurring in the same syllable. Nanyse has three of these: Æ[ɛɪ], I[aɪ], and O[oʊ]

Consonants

Consonants
	Bilabial	Labio-dental	Dental	Palato-Alveolar	Alveolar	Alveolol-Palatal	Post-alveolar	Retroflex	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m				n				ŋ
Plosive	p / b				t / d				k / g
Affricate				tʃ / dʒ	dz	ʥ
Fricative		f / v	θ / ð		s / z		ʃ / ʒ		x	h
Approximant					ɹ				w
Lateral app.					l			ɭ

Pronunciation

In Nanyse, consonants are pronounced as follows:

H[h] - B[b] - D[d] - F[f] - G[g] - J[dʒ] - C[tʃ] - K[k] - L[l] - M[m] - N[n] - P[p] - R[ɹ] - X[ʃ] - S[s] - V[θ] - T[t] - W[w] - Z[z]

Dialects

As mentioned before, the Ohi dialect is considered to be the proper pronunciation of Nanyse, but, standing at 14% of the population, the Ohi are far from the most numerous speakers of the language. Below is how Nanyse is pronounced among the Kote, Jara, and Yrem.

Kote

Vowels: A[a] - Æ[ʌɪ] - E[ɛ] - Y[ə] - I[ɛɪ] - O[u] - U[ɵ]

Consonants: H[silent] - B[b] - D[d] - F[v] - G[g] - J[ʥ] - C[sk] - K[x] - L[ɹ] - M[m] - N[n] - P[t] - R[h] - X[ʃ] - S[s] - V[f] - T[ð] - W[w] - Z[ʒ]

Jara

Vowels: A[ʌ] - Æ[ɛɪ] - E[ɛ] - Y[ɪ] - I[aɪ] - O[a] - U[ʉ]

Consonants: H[h] - B[p] - D[t] - F[f] - G[dʒ] - J[g] - C[ʃ] - K[k] - L[l] - M[m] - N[n] - P[b] - R[ɹ] - X[tʃ] - S[s] - V[θ] - T[d] - W[w] - Z[z]

Yrem

Vowels: A[ʌ] - Æ[aɪ] - E[ɛ] - Y[ɪ] - I[oʊi] - O[o] - U[u]

Consonants: H[h] - B[b] - D[p] - F[ð] - G[g] - J[dz] - C[dʒ] - K[x] - L[ɹ] - M[m] - N[n] - P[d] - R[ɭ] - X[ʃ] - S[s] - V[v] - T[tʃ] - W[w] - Z[ʒ]

Phonotactics

The syllable structure in Nanyse (meaning the number of consonant sounds that may precede or follow a vowel sound) is CCCVCCC (C = consonant, V = vowel), as long as the consonant clusters are an allowed combination. As happens with many languages that are formed over a long period of time from many different sources, there is the occasional word that doesn't fit this format. These words are the exception to the rule and are few in number.

Every syllable has a vowel as its nucleus

A nucleus may stand on its own, or may have one or more consonants before it (onsets) or following it (coda)

If a single consonant is between two vowels, the consonant belongs to the second syllable.

No geminates

Allowed Onsets
Any single consonant
Voiceless plosive + approximant
Voiceless affricate + approximant
Voiceless fricative + approximant
's' + nasal, other than 'ŋ'
's' + voiceless plosive
's' + voiceless fricative
's' + voiceless plosive + approximant
's' + voiceless fricative + approximant

Allowed Coda
Any single consonant
Two voiceless plosives
Two voiceless fricatives
'r' + fricative
'r' + nasal or lateral
'r' + plosive or affricate
Nasal + fricative
Approximant + nasal
Approximant + fricative
Approximant + plosive or affricate
Nasal + plosive or affricate
Plosive + voiceless fricative
Voiceless fricative + voiceless plosive
Three obstruents
'r' + two consonants
Approximant + two consonants
Nasal + plosive + plosive or fricative

Morphology

As the Ubaneb Dumun were forced to adapt to life in new and alien environments, so was their language. Only the aspects that best lent themselves to clear and concise communication survived as the language evolved alongside its people.

Prosody

Nanyse is atonal, tone does not affect the meaning of the words. Syllable stress is light and penult, meaning that the next-to-last syllable is the one stressed, except in single syllable words, where it is omitted.

Gender

Nanyse uses three genders: personal, animate, and inanimate. Gender affects nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.

The personal gender is reserved for living things that are intelligent or sacred. Sentient species, stars and gods are all referred to using the personal gender. Some natural genders still exist in vocabulary (ie: man, woman, bull, cow, etc.), but are not present in grammar.

The animate gender is used for things that are living or life-like. Non-sentient species, plants, planets, and transportation are all referred to using the animate gender. To refer to something that qualifies for a personal gender with an animate gender is considered insulting.

The inanimate gender is used for things that cannot move or are non-living. Buildings, weapons, land marks, and anything dead are all referred to using the inanimate gender. Although land marks are a part of the planet they’re on, they’re considered separate aspects of the planet (in the same way that your hair is part of you, but not actually you).

Favored things are frequently referred to by a gender higher than they should (a weapon might be referred to by a fighter as an animate thing, instead of an inanimate, or a bit of transportation might be by it’s pilot/driver as a personal thing instead of an animate).

Plurality

Nanyse uses four plural forms:

Plural Forms
	# of Subjects	Suffix	Example
Singular	1	(none)	jæ (I or me)
Dual	2	‘-z’ (‘-ez’ for words ending in ‘s’)	jæz (we, meaning of me and one other)
Paucal	3 - 5	‘-za’ (‘-eza’ for words ending in ‘s’)	jæza (we, meaning of me and two to four others)
Plural	6+	reduplication (the word is repeated)	jæjæ (we, meaning of me and five or more others)