Maltcégj

Introduction

Maltcégj is an a priori, agglutinative, semi-analytic head-initial language created by BenJamin P. Johnson in 2001. It has a strict VSO sentence structure that is modified with large numbers of verbal and nominal particles.

Alphabet and Pronunciation

a b c d ð e f g ǧ h i
/ɑ/ /b/ /ʃ/ /d/ /ð/ /ɛ/ /f/ /g/ /γ/ /h/ /i/
j k l ɮ ʌ m n o ǫ p r
/ʒ/ /k/ /l/ /ɮ/ /ɫ̩/ /m/ /n/ /o/ /ɔ/ /p/ /ɾ/
ʀ s t þ u v w x y z
/ɹ̩/ /s/ /t/ /θ/ /u/ /v/ /w/ /x/ /ɪ/ /j/ /z/

Orthography

Primary stress is indicated in words of more than one syllable with an acute accent over the primary vowel. In diphthongs, the accent is placed on the first vowel.

Where two vowels appear together but are not a diphthong, the second vowel is marked with a diæresis if it is a front vowel; with a single dot if a back vowel (i.e. ï, ÿ, ë, ȧ, ǫ̇, ȯ, u̇), e.g. oï. Even if this would not result in a standard diphthong, this convention is still followed any time there are two disyllabic pertingent vowels, e.g. kúluï 'all', itáliȧ 'Italy'.

If the second vowel is stressed, however, the first vowel is marked instead, e.g. italiáno → italïáno 'Italian'.

No capital letters are used.

Native Writing System

Maltcégj is also written using a featural alphabet which treats the vowels as diacritics, and also uses diacritics to describe manner of articulation and consonant clusters. In all there are only seven “letters”; all other phonetic functions are filled by diacritics or modifications of these seven characters. (Actually, there are really only four: the labial, dental, palatal, and glottal forms are just directional variations of the same character, and the rhotic is just a turned lambdic.)

Phonology

Stops

Unvoiced Voiced
p /p/ as in put
pul [pʰul] 'he'
b /b/ as in bat
badj [bʰad͡ʒ] 'to have'
t /t/ as in top
talp [tʰɑlp] 'head'
d /d/ as in dog
d [dʰið] 'beautiful'
k /k/ as in keep
kat [kʰɑt] 'dry'
g /g/ as in get
gelk [gʰɛlk] 'to give'

Initial stops have a tendency to be aspirated.

Affricates

Unvoiced Voiced
pf /p͡f / as in German Pferd
pfatɮ [p͡fɑt͡ɬ] 'spit'
bv /b͡v / as in obvious
bvrac [bvɾɑʃ] 'sparrow'
ts /ʦ/ as in gets
frants [fɾɑnʦ] 'France'
dz /ʣ/ as in adze
xandz [xɑnʣ] 'Chinese character'
tc /ʧ/ as in church
tcitsíc [ʧi'ʦiʃ] 'to sneeze'
dj /ʤ/ as in judge
djáska ['ʤɑskɑ] 'cinnamon'
/ƛ (t͡ɬ)/ as <ll> in Icelandic alla
pfa [p͡fɑt͡ɬ] 'spit'
/λ (d͡ɮ)/ as in Xhosa indlovu
óo ['o.d͡ɮo] 'mouth'

There are eight "pure" affricates in Maltcégj, though none are represented by their own unique character. For more information, see Consonant Clusters, below.

Fricatives

Unvoiced Voiced
f /f/ as in foot
faurx [fau̯ɾx] 'heat'
v /v/ as in very
víktro ['vik.tɾo] 'tree'
þ /θ/ as in thing
þad [θɑd] 'man'
ð /ð/ as in then
ðak [ðɑk] 'to say'
s /s/ as in sing
salméilo [sɑl'mɛi̯.lo] 'apple'
z /z/ as in zoo
zendj [zɛnʤ] 'paint'
c /ʃ/ as <sh> in shoe
cul [ʃul] 'prophesy'
j /ʒ/ as in French jamais
jadíȯ [ʒɑ'di.o] 'sun'
x /x/ as <ch> in German Bach
xac [xɑc] 'difficult'
ǧ /γ/ as <g> in Spanish amigo
ǧénba ['γɛn.bɑ] 'apricot'
h /h/ as in hello
hanák [hɑ'nɑk] 'person, human'

Nasals

m /m/ as in man
márga ['mɑɾ.ga] 'house'
n /n/ as in nose
nyj [nɪʒ] 'grain'

NB: There is no realization of /ŋ/, even before a velar obstruent. In many cases, an epenthetic <e> may intervene between <n> and a velar, but even when it does not, the letters are pronounced independently. E.g. gýnko /'gɪn.ko/ 'ginko', not **/'gɪŋ.ko/.

Liquids

l /l/ as in lamb
lexét [lɛ'xɛt] 'much, many'
r /ɾ/ as in Spanish pero
ráta ['ɾɑ.tɑ] 'child'
ɮ /ɮ,ɬ/* as in Zulu indlala
ɮat [ɮɑt] 'tooth'
ʌ /ɫ̩/**
ʀ /ɹ̩/**

* <ɮ> becomes devoiced to /ɬ/ when it occurs adjacent to an unvoiced obstruent (most frequently in the clusters <pɮ>, <tɮ>, and <kɮ>), e.g. txa [txɑt͡ɬ] 'slap'.

** While technically liquids, <ʌ> and <ʀ> never occur non-syllabically, and are better treated as vowels.

Glides

w /w/ as in wood
wʌf [wɫ̩f] 'bone'
/j/ as <y> in you
ála ['jɑ.lɑ] 'bird'

Vowels

Front Back
i /i/ as <ee> in beet
ílǫx ['i.lɔx] 'knee'
u /u/ as <oo> in boot
ucát [u'ʃɑt] 'mustard'
y /ɪ/ as <i> in bit
ylk [ɪlk] 'louse, nit'
o /o/ as <oa> in boat
tcok [ʧok] 'to go'
e /ɛ/ as in bet
éjva ['ɛʒ.vɑ] 'mouse'
ǫ /ɔ/ as <ou> in bought
ǫ́bri ['ɔ.bɾi] 'niece'
a /ɑ/ as in father
adína [ɑ'di.nɑ] 'sister'

Syllabic Liquids

ʌ /ɫ̩/ as <le> in middle
ʌ́nax ['ɫ̩.nɑx] 'shopping'
ʀ /ɹ̩/ as <er> in better
wʀn [wɹ̩n] '(maternal) grandparent'

<ʌ> and <ʀ> are considered vowels in Maltcégj and never occur non-syllabically. However, they are not subject to the same diacritic rules for other non-diphthongs as other vowels (though they are still marked when stressed).

Diphthongs

Front Back
ai /ɑi̯/ as in high
skwai [skwɑi̯] 'lemon'
au /au̯/ as in German Haus
mlau [mlau̯] 'what'
ei /ei̯/ as in weigh
eict [ei̯ʃt] 'game'
eu /ɛu̯/ as <ew> in Welsh ewro
ðeup [ðɛu̯p] 'foot'
oi /ɔi̯/ as in oil
moin [mɔi̯n] 'warmth'

Pronouns

Person Notes Reflexive Reciprocal
1sg jǫg I jagj --
2sg mélem you madj --
2sg mélminei you formal madj --
3sg.f. pel she feminine peibj --
3sg.m pul he masculine peibj --
3sg.n paj it inanimate peibj --
3sg “they” general or non-specific peibj --
1pl jǫ́lmin we inclusive jeltc játci
1pl jalk we general or exclusive jeltc játci
2pl mélem you madj mládji
2pl mélminei you formal madj mládji
3pl parþ they general pyldj píkci

Some of the most basic elements of language, pronouns will take the place of the subject in most sentences. Maltcégj pronoun structure does not differentiate much from that of English with the exception of a formal and informal second person, and the formal is very infrequently used, but there are “optional” pronouns which may offer more clarity. Just remember to use mélminei you’re speaking to someone with whom you would use a title in English (e.g. faculty members, judges, business associates, &c). Otherwise, the pronouns above will get you through most situations.

Person Notes Reflexive Reciprocal
2pl akmélem you (all) madj mládji
2pl akmélminei you (all) formal madj mládji
3pl akpél they feminine (=parth) pyldj píkci
3pl akpúl they masculine (=parth) pyldj píkci
3pl akpáj they inanimate (=parth) pyldj píkci
3pl akpʌ́ they (=parth, incorrect) pyldj píkci

If you want to be more specific, however, you can use the plural particle ak with the singular pronouns (with the exception of jǫg) to make them plural. You can optionally add ak to mélem and mélminei to further explain that you are referring to more than one person. You can also use ak with the third person pronouns if you explicitly want to annotate gender. Note, however, that saying akpʌ́ is technically incorrect: This should more accurately be parþ, but akpʌ́ is common in speech, just as saying they in English is common to refer to a singular person whose gender is unknown or unclear (as in “Someone left their notebook here.”)

In case you are unfamiliar with the idea of inclusive and exclusive we, only use jǫ́lmin when the person you are addressing is part of the “we” in question, i.e. if you can replace it with “you and I”, or “you and the rest of us”; otherwise, always use jalk.

In fact, pronouns in Maltcégj are even a little simpler than those in English, because there are no cases to decline. Possessives (my, your, his, our, &c.) are formed by adding the preposition u- to the word being possessed, and the accusative case (me, him, her, them, &c.) by adding the postposition -a to the pronoun.

Numbers

0 zo zero
1 am one
2 dai two
3 tran three
4 jamp four
5 frem five
6 cei six
7 dan seven
8 relk eight
9 nein nine
10 seþ ten
20 daiséþ twenty
30 transéþ thirty
40 jampséþ forty
50 fremséþ fifty
60 ceiséþ sixty
70 danséþ seventy
80 relkséþ eighty
90 neinséþ ninety
100 sam hundred
1,000 seþ sam thousand (=ten hundreds)
10,000 cep ten thousand
100,000 seþ cep hundred thousand (=ten ten-thousands)
1,000,000 sam cep million (=hundred ten-thousands)
10,000,000 seþ sam cep ten million (=ten hundred ten-thousands)
100,000,000 jak hundred million
1,000,000,000 seþ jak milliard/billion (=ten hundred-millions)
10,000,000,000 sam jak ten milliard/billion (=hundred hundred-millions)
100,000,000,000 seþ sam jak hundred milliard/billion (=ten hundred hundred-millions)
1,000,000,000,000 cep jak billion/trillion (=ten thousand hundred-millions)
10,000,000,000,000 seþ cep jak ten billion/trillion (=ten ten-thousand hundred-millions)
100,000,000,000,000 sam cep jak hundred billion/trillion (=hundred ten-thousand hundred-millions)
1,000,000,000,000,000 seþ sam cep jak billiard/quadrillion (=ten hundred ten-thousand hundred-millions)
10,000,000,000,000,000 gwil ten billiard/quadrillion

Maltcégj numbers are base-10 (decimal), but they increase incrementally instead of in the more regular groups of three or six. Therefore, numbers through 999 are enumerated just as they are in English, but the number 1,000 is considered “ten hundred,” or seþ sam. Thereafter, 10,000 is cep, 100,000 seþ cep ‘ten ten-thousands’, 1,000,000 is sam cep ‘one hundred ten-thousands’, 10,000,000 is seþ sam cep ‘ten hundred ten-thousands’, and 100,000,000 is jak. The next increment after jak is gwil, which has a value of ten quadrillion (or ten billiard if you’re from some parts of Europe), followed by ǧan, which is a number large enough that you shouldn’t ever need it unless you’re counting individual atoms, but it’s something like one hundred nonillion (10³²).

Compound numbers are spoken as they are written in English, from left to right, (optionally) inserting indicators for tens, hundreds, thousands, &c., so “twenty-nine” is daiséþ nein ‘two tens nine’, while 3,587 is transéþ fremsám relkséþ dan ‘three tens five hundreds eight tens seven, or thirty-five hundred eighty-seven’. Easier still, and less subject to misinterpretation, the numbers can simply be read from right to left, as in tran frem relk dan ‘three five eight seven’. These are all correct, just as it’s correct in English to say “three thousand five hundred eighty-seven,” “thirty-five hundred and eighty-seven,” “thirty-five eighty-seven,” or even (somewhat less correctly) “three five eight seven.”

The number “zero” should always be read as zo, not bleg, though the two words are interchangeable in some circumstances. When the last digit is zero, however, it should be read as “seþ,” or “sam” if two zeros… It may sound a little strange, but we do the same thing in English. For example, 780 should be read dan relk seþ ‘seven eighty’; 7,800, dan relk sam ‘seventy-eight hundred’; 78,000, dan relk seþ sam, ‘seventy-eight thousand, &c.

With the exception of the number ‘one’, the particle gji indicates ordinality, much like the suffix -th for numbers 4 – 10 in English. Any number ending in ‘one’ takes the ordinal adám, just as we say first and second in English rather than **oneth or **twoth.

Maltcégj uses the particle ak before a noun to indicate that it is plural, but this particle is not used when a number is present. For example, ‘book’ is klag, ‘books’ is aklág, but ‘two books’ is klag dai (no ak). (See Maltcégj#Nouns for more on the use of the plural.)

If using decimals in numbers, the word dat is used to mean ‘point’ or ‘dot’, though it literally means ‘seed’ or ‘egg’.