Lortho
Lortho ['loɾ.tʰo] | |
Spoken in: | Lamona Continent |
Conworld: | Dhamashi, a circumbinary planet |
Total Speakers: | ~ 60,000,000 |
Genealogical classification: | Proto-Lamona - Old Lortho - Lortho - ? |
Basic word order: | Verb-Subject-Object |
Morphological Type: | Agglutinating |
Morphosyntactic Alignment: | Nominative-Accusative |
Created by: | |
Brian Bourque | March 2017 |
Lortho is an a priori constructed language created by Brian Bourque in the beginning of 2003. It originally started as a prop for a strategy board game where only the script was created for aesthetics. It is an agglutinating language with some minor fusional aspects.
The people (Kalanune) who speak Lortho live on Dhamashi, a circumbinary planet which has two natural satellites. The planet's surface has many similarities to Earth where it has oceans, mountains, deserts, and forests. The planet has three major continents: Mashonu, Kashti, and Lamona. The Kalanune live on Lamona.
Inspiration
A friend was creating a board game similar to Risk; however, instead of taking place on Earth, this new game was to take place on an inter-planetary scale. The game creator wanted to develop an extraterrestrial theme and requested a fictional script. The name of the race on this game is "Lortho" and thus the seed was planted. Brian was unable to work on this piece for quite sometime until he joined the CONLANG mailing list and observed both seasoned and novice conlangers discussing all aspects of linguistics. Since then he decided to move forward and bring Lortho into fruition.
Another inspirational source is Brian's daughter. Through her development of learning how to make speech sounds leading to coherent speech, Brian found certain "words" to use in Lortho which he used to develop its phonology.
Kashti | Lamona | Mashonu |
Dhamashi |
Etymology of Lortho
Lortho is a combination of Lor, the god from which their story of life stems, and -tho, the archaic form for the genitive case. It has since become a noun and can take other case endings (e.g. konpharin lorthome - I speak Lortho-ACC).
The mountain whence Lor is said to originate is called Malhi Dharakhi, "Great Mountain," and is located in the coastal mountain range on the west coast of Lamona.
Goals
The goal is to create the gradual progression of Lortho which will lead to the development of daughter languages and, eventually, create sister languages which have developed on different parts of the planet.
Phonology
Consonants
There are 18 consonants in Lortho and all are strictly pronounced the same regardless of placement.
Bilabial | Labiodental | Alveolar | Postalveolar | Velar | Glottal | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | ||||||||||
Plosive | p pʰ | b | t tʰ | d dʰ | k kʰ | |||||||
Fricative | f | s | ʃ | h | ||||||||
Lateral Approximant | l lʰ | |||||||||||
Tap or Flap | ɾ |
Vowels
Monophthongs
Front | Near- front | Central | Near- back | Back | ||
Close |
| |||||
Near-close | ||||||
Close-mid | ||||||
Mid | ||||||
Open-mid | ||||||
Near-open | ||||||
Open |
Diphthongs
There are only four diphthongs in Lortho: [aɪ], [eɪ], [aʊ], and [ɔɪ].
Phonotactics
Syllable Structure
The syllable structure is (C)V(V)(C).
- The syllables can be constructed as:
- V (at this time only used in 3 person singular)
- CV
- CVV
- VC
- CVC
- CVVC
Consonant Clusters
There are no consonant clusters allowed in onsets or codas; however, clusters formed from adjacent syllables (i.e. coda + onset) are allowed. These clusters are:
- /nd/
- /nk/ (normally pronounced [ŋk])
- /np/ (colloquially it is sometimes pronounced [mp] e.g. the verb konpharo to speak)
- /ns/
- /pt/
- /rt/
- /sk/
Prosody
Stress
Stress in Lortho is handled as follows:
- Stress is always on the penultimatae syllable of the root or infinitive except:
- -n verbs will always receive stress on the final syllable of the infinitive or root.
- Pluralized nouns will shift the stress to the penultimate syllable.
- If the word is two syllables long, then the stress is on the first syllable.
- Stress is neither given to prefixes nor suffixes.
Intonation
Section under Development Please do not edit this section while this banner is displayed For general information on intonation (linguistics), please click here
Orthography
Writing System
The Lortho alphabet contains 21 letters, one of which is a vowel. The writing system behaves in a similar manner to an abugida; however, there are no conjunct consonants. Ligatures are formed by the combination of consonants and vowels (other than the vowel [i]). Lortho's script was inspired by the Devanagari, Uchen, and Tengwar writing systems.
Lortho Alphabet |
Vowels and Vowel Constructs
Monophthongs
Vowels (except [i]) are attached to the preceding consonant forming ligatures.
Lortho Vowels |
Diphthongs
The diphthongs are written as seen below.
Lortho diphthongs |
Word-Initial Vowels and Diphthongs
For word-initial vowels, the letter [i] will be used as the place holder (unless the [i] is the vowel) and the additional vowel will be added as one would on a consonant-vowel ligature.
Romanized Text
Since Lortho has its own script, a romanized version has been set up to make it easy to read and pronounce as shown in the tables below.
Consonants | ||||||||||||||||||||
IPA | dʰ | d | kʰ | k | lʰ | l | tʰ | t | pʰ | p | ʃ | s | n | nː | m | mː | h | b | f | ɾ |
Romanization | dh | d | kh | k | lh | l | th | t | ph | p | sh | s | n | nn | m | mm | h | b | f | r |
Monophthongs | |||||
IPA | i | ɑ | ɛ | u | o |
Romanization | i | a | e | u | o |
Diphthongs | ||||
IPA | aɪ | aʊ | ɔɪ | eɪ |
Romanization | ai | au | oi | ei |
Morphology
Nouns
Introduction
Nouns in Lortho have three distinct features:
- They are one of three genders: masculine, feminine, or neuter
- All nouns are modified to denote case
- All nouns end in a vowel
Gender
Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
---|---|---|
-i dharakhi mountain |
-u dhammu chair |
-a hadikha country, land |
Exceptions:
There there are a couple nouns that do not follow the above rules for gender (this will increase as Lortho's lexicon grows):
Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
---|---|---|
tapas pasta |
dhi water |
Grammatical Case
Lortho has ten cases. The vowels in parentheses are added if the word ends in a consonant. The following word will be used for demonstration:
kansaptha (n. neut.) woods, forest
Case | Affix | Example | Translation |
---|---|---|---|
Nominative | - | kansaptha | woods, forest |
Accusative | -(i)me | kansapthame | forest (direct obj.) |
Dative | -(i)mela | kansapthamela | forest (indirect obj.) |
Genitive | -(i)nalo | kansapthanalo | of the forest |
Sublative | -ina/ena | kansaptaina | in/into the forest |
Ablative | -(e)nat | kansapthanat | out of/from the forest |
Allative | -(e)dan | kansapthadan | to/towards the forest |
Prolative | -(e)danar | kansapthadanar | through/via/by way of the forest |
Instructive | -(i)len | kansapthalen | using the forest |
Vocative | fa(l)- | fakansaptha | Hey, Forest! |
Possessive
The personal possessive is formed using a prefix which is gender and number specific. We will use the following word:
dhammu (n. fem.) chair
Person | Singular | Plural | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
masculine | feminine | neuter | masculine | feminine | neuter | |
1st person | nidhammu | nudhammu | - | nimadhammu | numadhammu | - |
2nd person | lindhammu | lundhammu | - | nanidhammu | nanudhammu | - |
3rd person | lidhammu | ludhammu | ladhammu | limidhammu | limudhammu | limadhammu |
Pluralization
Each noun is pluralized by adding a suffix:
- Feminine (-u) and Neuter (-a) nouns add the plural suffix -ne:
- Examples:
- Feminine: kansaphu (n. fem) tree; pl kansaphune
- Neuter: hadikha (n. neut) land, country; pl hadikhane
- Masculine nouns (-i):
- Regular masculine nouns will add the infix -en- before -i:
- Masculine nouns that end in -ni will add the infix -em-.
- Examples:
- olakhi (n. masc) boat; pl olakheni
- phorenni (n. masc) peak, summit; pl phoɾennemi
- If the noun ends in a consonant, the suffix -eni will be added:
- Example: tapas (n. masc) pasta; pl tapaseni
Personal Pronouns
1SG | 2SG | 3SG | 1PL | 2PL | 3PL | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Masculine | hin | manni | i | minan | namin | nimi |
Feminine | hun | mannu | u | munan | namun | nimu |
Neuter | a | naman | nima |
Verbs
Introduction
Verbs are conjugated in gender and in number which are governed by the subject (written or implied). For the most part the conjugations are simple and are formed through agglutination; however, there are slight fusional changes that occur when denoting aspect.
Conjugation
Regular Verbs
There are three main verbs in Lortho: -o verbs, -t verbs, and -n verbs. The conjugation tables below show a preview of how the regular verbs conjugate in each category. Conjugation in other tenses includes more fusional aspects.
-o verbs
The root is formed by subtracting the final "o."
Present Tense | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
konpharo [kon.'pʰɑ.ɾo] to speak root: konphar- | ||||||
Singular | Plural | |||||
masc | fem | neut | masc | fem | neut | |
1st pers | konpharin | konpharun | - | konpharinan | konpharunan | - |
2nd pers | konpharanni | konpharannu | - | konpharamin | konpharamun | - |
3rd pers | konphari | konpharu | konphara | konpharimi | konpharimu | konpharima |
-t verbs
The root is formed by changing the final "t" to a "d."
Present Tense | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
phramit ['pʰɾɑ.mit] to push root: phramid- | ||||||
Singular | Plural | |||||
masc | fem | neut | masc | fem | neut | |
1st pers | phramidin | phramidun | - | phramidinan | phramidunan | - |
2nd pers | phramidanni | phramidannu | - | phramidamin | phramidamun | - |
3rd pers | phramidi | phramidu | phramida | phramidimi | phramidimu | phramidima |
-n verbs
The root is the same as the infinitive.
Present Tense | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
shailan [ʃaɪ.'lɑn] to sit root: shailan- | ||||||
Singular | Plural | |||||
masc | fem | neut | masc | fem | neut | |
1st pers | shailanin | shailanun | - | shailaninan | shailanunan | - |
2nd pers | shailananni | shailanannu | - | shailanamin | shailanamun | - |
3rd pers | shailani | shailanu | shailana | shailanimi | shailanimu | shailanima |
Irregular Verbs
Although labelled irregular, the verbs still have a regular feel in that they still use the same personal endings; however, the root is derived slightly differently. One example is the verb harlan.
Present Tense | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
harlan [hɑɾ.'lɑn] to be root: harl- | ||||||
Singular | Plural | |||||
masc | fem | neut | masc | fem | neut | |
1st pers | harlin | harlun | - | harlinan | harlunan | - |
2nd pers | harlanni | harlannu | - | harlamin | harlamun | - |
3rd pers | harli | harlu | harla | harlimi | harlimu | harlima |
Moods
Imperative
The imperative form of the verb is simply the root with the vocative case (which can be either implied or explicit).
Examples:
- famannu, konphar!
- Hey you, speak!
- fanamin, nathar namineme!
- Hey you, be quiet! (lit. quiet yourselves)
- fabrian, shailan!
- Brian, sit!
Vocabulary:
- konpharo (konphar-) v. to speak
- natharo (nathar-) v. to quell, pacify
- mannu pronoun you (fem. sing.)
- namin pronoun you (masc. pl.)
- shailan (shailan-) v. to sit
Passive Voice
The passive voice is formed by adding the suffix -im after the root before any other additional suffixes. The passive voice does not apply to the present tense at this moment.
Example:
- madhit (madhid-) v. to give
madhid-ikh-i i khanishu-me u-mela
He gave the book to hergive-PST-3MSG PN.3MSG book.F-ACC PN.3FSG-DAT
- In this example, the verb agrees with the subject he (i).
madhid-im-ikh-u khanishu-me u-mela
The book was given to hergive-PASS-PST-3FSG book.F-ACC PN.3FSG-DAT
- In this example, the verb agrees with book since there is no subject initiating the action; however, book is still affected by the action, hence the accusative case.
Adjectives
Adjectives behave a little differently. All adjectives are roots since they must agree in gender with the noun which they modify. For placement, adjectives must be placed in front of the noun which they modify.
Syntax
Morphosyntactic Alignment
The morphosyntactic alignment of Lortho is Nominative - Accusative.
Word Order
Verb-Subject-Object (VSO). Lortho contains a lot of information in the verb and the noun or noun phrase. The verb is conjugated by person and gender and thus pronouns are largely unnecessary except for emphasis or clarification. The nouns are altered to denote case, removing almost entirely the need for prepositions.
Word Agreement
There are four basic rules which govern agreement between words:
- Verbs must agree in gender and number with the subject (explicit or implied)
- Cardinal numbers do not take case nor gender
- Nouns are not pluralized when counted
kilikh-in kansaphu-ne-me
see -1MSG.PRS tree.F -PL-ACC
I see treeskilikh-in bon kansaphu-me
see -1MSG.PRS two tree.F -ACC
I see two trees (lit: I see two tree)
- Adjectives must agree with the noun which they modify in gender, but not in grammatical case nor number
Example texts
Text | Translation |
konpharin lorthome | I speak Lortho |
Text | Translation |
kalanune denimanimu kalanune khonaminalo hana tomidikhimu ma kansapthaina |
The people are known as people of the lanterns and they lived in that forest. |
Text | Translation |
lharidikhin kansapthanat hana tharnidikhin dharakhime. konpharinin toshanimela hana semanikhin, "hankhanin malhiro danadanar." remedikhi toshani, "dhamalhirianni danadanar." |
I ran out of the forest and climbed the mountain. I was speaking to the dragon and said, "I want to walk through here." The dragon replied, "You will not walk through here." |
Source: Brian's Instagram post |
Resources
Linguistics
Endangered Alphabets - YouTube channel about 14 of the world's writing systems threatened with extinction
International Phonetic Alphabet
Glossika Phonics - YouTube channel for IPA pronunciation
NativLang - YouTube channel about the history of written and spoken language
Omniglot
Online Etymology Dictionary (English)
Reddit: Linguistics
Wikitongues - A not for profit YouTube project to help preserve the world's living languages
World Atlas of Language Structures (WALS)
Constructed Languages
Conlang Atlas of Language Structures (CALS)
Conlang Bulletin Board (CBB)
Conlang Critic - A YouTube vlogger who offers insight on conlangs
Conlang Mailing List
Conlang Relay Museum on CALS
Conlanging on Wikibooks
ConWorkShop - an online one-stop-shop for cataloging your conlang
Fiat Lingua - an online archive of conlang articles
Guide: Writing System - A guide on how to develop your own writing system
Language Creation Society (LCS)
LCS on YouTube
Reddit: Conlangs
Reddit: Neography (Constructed Scripts)
Speculative Grammarian - A satirical periodical on linguistics and conlangery
Zompist Bulletin Board (ZBB)
Lortho
Lortho on CALS
Lortho in the 24th Conlang Relay (8th Position)
Lortho on ConWorkShop
Lortho on FrathWiki
Lortho Lexicon
The World of Dhamashi (Continually updated)
Miscellaneous
Sajem Tan (Common Honey) Collaborative Conlang Discord Server