Schlaub

Schlaub/Lexicon
Schlaub/Swadesh list
Schlaub/Old

Schlaub
Ntzog Schlaub
Pronunciation	[/ⁿz̪o̤˧ ɬəʊ˥/]
Created by	Praimhín, IlL
Setting	Verse:Tricin
Language family	Hlou-Shum Schlaub

Schlaub (English: /(h)loʊ/ loh; natively: Ntzog Schlaub /ⁿtsʰo̤˧ ɬəu˥/; Windermere: brits Ław) is a Bjeheondian tonal language, inspired by Hmong and German. It is the largest of the Hlou-Shum languages.

Hlou liberally uses Easter eggs.

Diachronics

Hlou merged Proto-Hlou-Shum ai au with ei ou into ei au /əɨ əʊ/. Even i u in some open syllables turned into ei au.

Glottal stop finals (-h in Schngellstein's spelling) come from Proto-Hlou-Shum final stops.

*ã > äu; *ãʔ > oh

*ẽ > ä; *ẽj > ei; *ẽʔ > äh

Phonology

Standard (Schlaub Bahn)

Vowels

Hlou has 6 basic vowel qualities, but also has a number of diphthongs and nasal vowels.

a e i ie o u ä ö = /a e i ɨ o u ã~ɛ̃ õ/

ah eh ih oh uh äh öh = /aʔ eʔ .../ [only occurs with -Ø, -n tones]

ei au äu = /əi əu əũ/

Consonants

Standard Hlou has about 65 initials.

Hlou initials

		Labial		Lamino- dental	Apico- alveolar		Post- alveolar	Retroflex		Velar		Labio- velar	Glottal
		plain	lateral		plain	lateral		plain	lateral	plain	lateral
Nasal	voiceless	schm m̥			schn n̥
	voiced	m m	ml mˡ		n n	nl nˡ		nr ɳ
Plosive	tenuis	b p	bl pˡ		d t	dl tˡ		dr ʈ	drl ʈˡ	g k	gl kˡ		ʔ
	aspirated	p pʰ	pl pˡʰ		t tʰ	tl tˡʰ		tr ʈʰ	trl ʈˡʰ	k kʰ	kl kˡʰ
	prenasalized	mb ᵐb	mbl ᵐbˡ		nd ⁿd			ndr ᶯɖ		ng ᵑɡ	ngl ᵑɡˡ
		mp ᵐpʰ	mpl ᵐpˡʰ		nt ⁿtʰ	ntl ⁿtˡʰ		ntr ᶯʈʰ		nk ᵑkʰ	nkl ᵑkˡʰ
Affricate	tenuis			dz ts̪	ds ts̺		dx tʃ
	aspirated	pf pɸ		tz ts̪ʰ	ts ts̺ʰ		tx tʃʰ
	prenasalized			ndz ⁿdz̪	nds ⁿdz̺		ndx ⁿdʒ
		mpf ᵐpɸ		ntz ⁿts̪ʰ	nts ⁿts̺ʰ		ntx ⁿtʃʰ
Continuant	voiceless	f f	fl fˡ	z s̪	s s̺	schl ɬ	x ʃ	schr ʂ		sch ɧ~x		schw ʍ	h h
	voiced	v v				l l	j ʒ	r ʐ~ɻ				w w

Tone

Schlaub has 7 tones, indicated by final letters in Schngellstein's orthography.

Orthography	Tone	Example
∅	mid level / high checked (33~32)	lau /ləu˧/ 'to plant'
-n	low level / low checked (21~11)	laun /ləu˨˩/ 'to smile'
-b	high level / high falling (55~53)	Laub /ləu˥˧/ 'leaf'
-d	dipping / low falling (313~31)	Laud /ləu˧˩˧/ 'shoe'
-g	breathy mid level (33 + breathy)	laug /lə̤u˧/ 'to knit'
-s	rising (24)	laus /ləu˨˦/ 'to receive'
-ß	broken rising (3ˀ5)	Lauß /ləu˧ˀ˥/ 'wrinkle'

Approximate tone frequencies (among non-entering tone syllables): b > s ~ 0 > n > ß ~ g > d

Tone split from breathy voice < voiced stops

Schlaub Glaß

The Schlaub Glaß dialect is a non-standard dialect of Hlou.

Vowels

a e i o u ä ë ö = /a ɛ i ɔ u ã ɛ̃ ɔ̃/

ah eh ih oh uh äh ëh öh = /aʔ eʔ .../ [only occurs with -Ø, -n tones]

ei ëi au äu = /əi ə̃i əu əũ/

Consonants

Schlaub Glaß initials

		Labial		Lamino- dental	Apico- alveolar		Post- alveolar	Palatal	Retroflex	Velar		Labio- velar	Glottal
		plain	lateral		plain	lateral				plain	lateral
Nasal	voiceless	schm m̥			schn n̥				schnr ɳ̊
	voiced	m m	ml mˡ		n n	nl nˡ			nr ɳ
Plosive	tenuis	b p	bl pˡ		d t	dl cˡ			dr ʈ	g k	gl kˡ		ʔ
	aspirated	p pʰ	pl pˡʰ		t tʰ	tl cˡʰ			tr ʈʰ	k kʰ	kl kˡʰ
	prenasalized	mb ᵐb	mbl ᵐbˡ		nd ⁿd	ndl ᶮɟˡ			ndr ᶯɖ	ng ᵑɡ	ngl ᵑɡˡ
		mp ᵐpʰ	mpl ᵐpˡʰ		nt ⁿtʰ	ntl ᶮcˡʰ			ntr ᶯʈʰ	nk ᵑkʰ	nkl ᵑkˡʰ
Affricate	tenuis	bv pv		dz ts̪	ds ts̺		dx tʃ
	aspirated	pf pf		tz ts̪ʰ	ts ts̺ʰ		tx tʃʰ
	prenasalized	mbv ᵐbv		ndz ⁿdz̪	nds ⁿdz̺		ndx ⁿdʒ
		mpf ᵐpf		ntz ⁿts̪ʰ	nts ⁿts̺ʰ		ntx ⁿtʃʰ
Continuant	voiceless	f f		z s̪	s s̺	schl ɬ	x ʃ	schj ç	schr ʂ	sch ɧ ch x		schw ʍ	h h
	voiced	v v				l l		j j	r ʐ~ɻ			w w

Tone

Tones are the same as in Schlaub Bahn, except that the d and g tones are merged into g.

Orthography

Schngellstein's alphabet

The key feature of Schngellstein's orthography (used in this article) is using final consonant letters for tones, making words easier to learn by using photographic memory.

Hrảm Hlóu (Schräd Schlaub)

This transliteration was created by Praimhín as an alternative to the German-inspired orthography.

Initials

		Labial		Lamino- dental	Apico- alveolar		Post- alveolar	Retroflex		Velar		Labio- velar	Glottal
		plain	lateral		plain	lateral		plain	lateral	plain	lateral
Nasal	voiceless	hm m̥			hn n̥
	voiced	m m	ml mˡ		n n	nl nˡ		nr ɳ
Plosive	tenuis	b p	bl pˡ		d t	dl tˡ		dr ʈ	drl ʈˡ	g k	gl kˡ		ʔ
	aspirated	p pʰ	pl pˡʰ		t tʰ	tl tˡʰ		tr ʈʰ	trl ʈˡʰ	c kʰ	cl kˡʰ
	prenasalized	nb ᵐb	nbl ᵐbˡ		nd ⁿd			ndr ᶯɖ		ng ᵑɡ	ngl ᵑɡˡ
		np ᵐpʰ	npl ᵐpˡʰ		nt ⁿtʰ	ntl ⁿtˡʰ		ntr ᶯʈʰ		nc ᵑkʰ	ncl ᵑkˡʰ
Affricate	tenuis			ds ts̪	dσ ts̺		dx tʃ
	aspirated	φ pɸ		ts ts̪ʰ	tσ ts̺ʰ		tx tʃʰ
	prenasalized			nds ⁿdz̪	ndσ ⁿdz̺		ndx ⁿdʒ
		nφ ᵐpɸ		nts ⁿts̪ʰ	ntσ ⁿts̺ʰ		ntx ⁿtʃʰ
Continuant	voiceless	f f	fl fˡ	s s̪	σ s̺	hl ɬ	x ʃ	hr ʂ		sw ɧ		hw ʍ	h h
	voiced	v v				l l	j ʒ	r ʐ~ɻ				w w

Vowels

a e i o u ei ou /a e i o u əi əu/

am om oum /ã~ɛ̃ õ ə̃u/

ac ec ic oc uc anc onc /aʔ eʔ iʔ oʔ uʔ/

Tones

Orthography	Tone	Example
a	mid level / mid checked (33~32)	lou /ləu˧/ 'to plant'
à	low level / low checked (21~11)	lòu /ləu˨˩/ 'to smile'
á	high level / high falling (53~55)	lóu /ləu˥˩/ 'spring (season)'
ả	dipping / low falling (313~31)	lỏu /ləu˧˩˧/ 'shoe'
ah	breathy mid level (33 + breathy)	louh /lə̤u˧/ 'to knit'
ä	rising (24)	löu /ləu˨˦/ 'to receive'
ã	broken rising (3ˀ5)	lõu /ləu˧ˀ˥/ 'wrinkle'

Grammar

Hlou is a member of the Bjeheondian sprachbund with Modern Windermere, Gwnax and other languages, so these languages share many grammatical similarities.

Hlou is analytic and SVO, and is head-initial:

Die Wug mpes Nän sein.

/tɨ˧ wṳ˧ ᵐpʰe˨˦ nɛ̃˨˩ s̺əi˨˩/

INDEF bird_species drink water PROG

A wug is drinking water.

Xan flog Dsied bis Tu Mäb.

/ʃa˨˩ flo̤˧ ts̺ɨ˧˩ pi˨˦ tʰu˧mɛ̃˥˩/

1SG have home in Tumhan

I live in Tumhan.

Dahn dsaub weg zu Mpfein an zu Schnos.

/taʔ˩ ts̺əu˦˥ we̤˧ s̪u˧ ᵐpɸəi˨˩ a˩ s̪u˧ n̥o˨˥/

1PL speak about VN love and VN hate

We speak about love and hate.

Dahn mpfein so, ab dahn nkeiß Mbob so sein.

1PL love 3SG.A thus 1PL receive face 3SG.A PRES.PROG

We love him so we are welcoming him.

Pronouns

Personal

Person	Singular	Dual	Plural
1	xan	bluß	dahn
2	zied	jen	schlag
3	so (animate) ja (inanimate)	nleib	zug
2, 3 (respectful)	Sie
Impersonal	es

Hlou has no passive voice; the impersonal es is used instead. For example, Es nlaß Ngu hin. (IMPERS fire_ceramic brick PST) means 'A brick was baked.' or 'Bricks were baked.'

Demonstrative

Correlatives

	What	This	That	Any
Pronominal	nab	naus	nein, nin	nan
Place	drab	draus	drein, drin	dran
Manner/Extent	rab	raus	rein, rin	ran

Hlou is wh-in-situ:

• Naus dzah nab? = What is this?
• Ndob naus dzah nab? = Who is this?
• Zied be drab sein? (lit. you to where PROG) = Where are you going?

Prepositions

• be = to
• bis = in, at
• gan = without
• gen = with
• in = of
• je = from
• nun = for
• ob = vocative
• weg = about
• wi = away from
• schon = ago

Auxiliaries

• hab = causative
• bleib = deliberately
• vein = accidentally

Xan bleib schäd Nduß hin.

I deliberately dropped the glass.

Xan vein schäd Nduß hin.

I accidentally dropped the glass.

Particles

• sein = present progressive
  • Present progressive can also be formed by reduplicating the verb
• hin = past
• bei = future
• aus = cohortative
• es = question
• eh = tag question
• da = exclamatory
• eh = negative
• doh = prohibitive
• los = inchoative
• man = emphatic
• wein = (literary) alas!, woe is...

Conjunctions

• an = and
• schaub = or (Finnish tai)
• schweis = or (Finnish vai)
• leid = but
• von = relative clause
• tun = complement clause
• daß = if
• ab = then, so, therefore
• schluß = so that, in order to
• dsäus = because (lit. reason)

Nouns

ein = definite article

wie = specific article

die = indefinite article

Words may be pluralized by reduplication: Ndob Ndob = people. Only animates are pluralized consistently.

Polysyllabic words have a null plural:

Schniß, ob Blieb-Blas!

fly VOC butterfly

Fly, butterflies!

Verbs and adjectives

Adverbs can be formed from verbs via reduplication.

ntsien = slow; ntsien ntsien 'slowly'

Classifiers

Schlaub does not use classifiers, unlike other languages in the region.

Numerals

1-10: die, beid, lähn, schred, kaß, traun, heid, ntzob, glaub, weiß

100: trleh

1000: schöd

Numerals come before nouns:

So ploß beid weiß Sen.

3SG.AN son two ten year_of_age

He is 20 years old.

"The more... the more..."

X X SUBJ1, Y Y SUBJ2

"The more SUBJ X's, the more SUBJ2 Y's."

Xan eh zaun Wiß j'ein zu Treig Treig. Lös lös xan, wäud wäud xan läß.

1SG NEG receive understanding from DEF INF happen happen. run run 1SG, become become 1SG fat.

I don't understand what's going on. The more I run, the fatter I get.

"Schm-reduplication"

Hloh uses a form of schm-reduplication, which works just like schm-reduplication in English, except that the schm-reduplicant is repeated.

"Leid xan dzah heb die Nöb da!" = but I COP just a noob EXCL

"Nöb schmöb schmöb, zied mbuh ngäs man!" = noob schmoob schmoob you can make_it EMPH

Fossilized morphology

• PHS s-
  • Schlähn 'tribe' < lähn 'three'
  • Schlaub 'year' < Laub 'leaf'
  • Schwiß 'plain' < biß 'flat'
• PHS -ʔ (reflected by tone change)
  • -g > -d: Lied 'art song' < lieg 'to tell a lie; (obsolete) to express'

Vocabulary

Hlou vocabulary is mostly native. Many words can't be related to words in other Hlou-Shum languages, however.

Four-character phrases

Hlou, like Chinese, has "4-character phrases". They sometimes extend to 6-character phrases by using the Burns stanza.

• Ntzuh Vöhn Schrau Ndob (schnäub hös) 'the best laid schemes of mice and men (aft gang agley)' (lit. schemes of mouse and plans of man often fail)
• Ndleiß Beig Gluhn Schnoh 'opulent luxury' (lit. pure gold, gem, carmine, spice)

Poetry

[Under construction. The poems are gibberish and are meant to illustrate the rhyme scheme.]

Rhyme

In addition to having the same rime, two words must rhyme in tone class in order to be considered to rhyme. -Ø, -b, -d are "flat" (mla) tones; -g, -d, -s, -ß and checked tones are "sharp" (dzäß) tones.

Virelai

The virelai (Hlou: ???) is a traditional Hlou poetic form.

Example [the poem is gibberish]:

Mpfein schwie ein Ntzäh an Tsub,
Leid wen Bläuß dran, maß Schlub von trlin.
Väd mleib weg die Gleiß Schmin,
Raus ein Pfeg nun schraß Xin taub tlub.

Daß zu Mläus ein Zeig Pfaß,
blein Eib zu Mböd bis Dlaß,
klaub wie raug Mlob weis schraß zied Glub.

Daß zu Ves ein Drläub flein,
Weg ndso ein Ndxäuß schred nrein,
Pfed zag tzau die Vaub dlein raus Schmub.

Daß zu Vein Nkaub ein Nlag,
An zu Nlöb pfeib je Schmag ven Waud,
schniß, ob Dlau! dran flän Schaud,
klöh xan haud wie Trob, haud nun Tsub.

Mpfein schwie ein Ntzäh an Tsub,
Leid wen Bläuß dran, maß Schlub von trlin.
Väd mleib weg die Gleiß Schmin,
Raus ein Pfeg nun schraß Xin taub tlub.

Burns stanza

A variant of the Burns stanza is another traditional Hlou meter.

Tlad Hei drlah Mbauß,
Xan schnuh zied nraug,
Xob Ndzäu beis schraus –
Jed Vug –
Ngiß Tsahn we jaud
schrieb mbug.

Though [your] body must [become] soil,
I touch you up close,
The warm embrace nurturing
[The] leaf [of] learning;
A garden growing between [us],
[which will] last forever.

Sample text

Tower of Babel

Bis Ndreib nin dzeb ein Xab flog die Ntzog an die zu Wes meib hin.

LOC time that whole DEF world have INDEF language CONJ INDEF VN speak common PAST

Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.

Leid [bis Glied] zu Ndxub in ein Ndob Ndob be Schnähn zug raug die Schwiß bis Xi-Na an [nlub man] drein hin.

but [as] VN move GEN DEF human human PREP east 3PL find INDEF plain PREP Shinar CONJ [settle] there PAST

As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.

An ein Ndob Ndob tlau be veß hin, "Ob bus aus dahn Ngu an nlaß zug [schlög schlög]."

CONJ DEF human human say PREP one_another PST, VOC make SUBJ 1SG brick CONJ fire_ceramic 3PL [throughly]

They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly."

Zug [raug Mlob] Ngu [bis rohn] Pfaub an Schräh [bis rohn] [Kis Mbeh] hin.

3PL use brick instead_of stone and tar instead_of mortar PAST

They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.

An zug tlau hin, "Ob ntsaus aus dahn die Mbih nun dahn an bis ja die Nkloh von Schmauß [raug man] Ntse.

and 3PL say PST, VOC build SUBJ 1SG INDEF city for 1PL and in it a tower REL top reach DEF sky

And they said: "Come, let's build a city for ourselves and a tower in it, whose top would reach the sky.

Rein dahn xau Ntrob nun dahn bei. Schaub dzas es hab mpeib dahn [dsei dsei] bis dzeb ein Xab bei."

that_way 1SG grow name for 1SG bei. or fall IMPERS cause scatter 1PL all_over whole LOC DEF world FUT.

That way we will make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the whole world."

Leid ein Schwed mpfau ba hin, schluß bleb ein Mbih an ein Nkloh von ein Ndob-Ndob ntsaus sein.

but DEF god descend come PST, PURP see DEF city and DEF tower REL DEF human human build PROG

But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building.

Ein Schwed tlau hin, "Daß die Lad wes Ntzog meib tei dlä nin, ab dxah nan zug schlab txoh hau eh gan Tzuß bei.

DEF god say PST, if one people speak language common have start do this, then thing whatever they plan accomplish NEG without possibility FUT

The Lord said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.

"Ob mpfau nros aus dahn an hab schmeiß ndäu ein Ntzog zug, schluß zug drlin eh tug veß bei."

VOC descend go SBJ 1SG and cause confuse hit DEF language 3PL COHORT, in_order_that 3PL hear not understand each_other FUT

"Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

An ein Schwed mpeib zug je drein [dsei dsei] bis dzeb ein Xab hin, an zug vus ntsaus ein Mbih hin.

and DEF god scatter 3PL from there all_over LOC whole DEF world PST, and 3PL stop build DEF city PST

So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.

An nun nein ja flog Ntrob Mba-Mbä — dsäus drein ein Schwed hab schmeiß ndäu ein Ntzog in dzeb ein Xab hin.

and for that 3SG.I have name Babel — reason DEF god cause confuse hit DEF language of whole DEF world PST

That is why it was called Babel — because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world.

Je drein ein Schwed hab mpeib zug [dsei dsei] bis dzeb ein Xab hin.

from there DEF god cause scatter 3PL all_over LOC whole DEF world PST

From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.