Van
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Van (havan [ʔavãn]) is a small language designed for rapid private use. It is very sparse in its phonology and inflections.
Phonetics and phonology
Spelling
The alphabet consists of the letters: a e h i j k l m n ń o p r s t v .
- ⟨ń⟩ is a velar nasal [ŋ]
- ⟨h⟩ is a glottal stop [ʔ]
- ⟨v⟩ is a labiodental approximant [ʋ]
Consonants
| Labial | Dental | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||
| Stop | p | t | k | ʔ | ||
| Fricative | ʋ | s | ||||
| Trill | r | |||||
| Approximant | l | j | ||||
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Closed | i | ||
| Mid | e | o | |
| Open | a |
Vowels are nasalised before nasal consonants (/a/ → [ã], /i/ → [ɛ̃], /o/ → [ɔ̃]), backed and lowered before velar (/a/ → [ɑ̞], /o/ → [ɔ]), raised before j (/a/ → [æ], /o/ → [u]).
Phonotactics
Syllable
The typical syllable in Van is composed of a consonantal onset, a vocalic nucleus, and a consonantal coda (CVC). Occasionally, a syllable may be phonemically onset- or codaless; traditionally in Van terminology these are termed faulty. Syllables of this form are typically found as affixes. Phonetically, they have as their onset either a glottal stop [ʔ] or a copy of the preceding syllable's final consonant, e.g. vana [vãn.na] 'speak' (< van). Note: A coda is not required at the end of sentences.
Word
The word is composed out of syllables but has additional properties that set it apart. A word may only end with either a vowel or a nasal, sibilant, or a rhotic consonant.
Morphophonology
There are a few monovocalic affixes in Van that violate the normal syllable structure. For the onsetless syllables, they can be said to copy the preceding syllables final consonant, or in the case of there being none, using a glottal stop.
Some examples:
- The verbal markers -a, -e always copy the nearest preceding consonant, e.g., /vana/ -> [vãnna] ‘speak’, /tore/ -> [dor.re] ‘to be excited’. Note: No ʔ is appended as the vowel is word final.
- The definite and possessum marker a- conjures up a glottal stop, e.g. /avan/ -> [ʔaʋãn] ‘the speech’.
Morphology
Verbal morphology
Verbs are morphologically simple in Van and the few inflections which exist compound in an agglutinative fashion according to the following principle: stem + mode + voice.
Mode
Verbs in Van distinguish two modes: dynamic (dyn) and stative (stat)
All verbs expressing a dynamic meaning have a suffix -a while stative verbs have an -e.
| dynamic | stative |
| vana (speak) | kore (love) |
The distinction between dynamic and stative is most readily gleaned in the example opposition kore tan mir, pa-kon ‘I am in love with you, bacon’ (state) vs. kora tan mir, pa-kon ‘I am loving you, bacon’ (action).
Voice
Two voices are recognised in Van, the active (act) and the nonactive (nonact). Of these, the default voice is the active one which is unmarked whilst the nonactive has an -s suffix.
Derivational morphology
Nouns
There are several semantically-restricted options for creating a new noun from a verb. A very common way to create an agent noun is to prefix li- to the stem of the verb. Thus, love ‘alive, living’ whose stem is lov- becomes lilov ‘being’.
Verbs
It is quite easy to create new verbs: any noun or root can be turned into a verb by adding the appropriate mode suffix (-a for dynamic verbs or -e for stative verbs).
Nominal morphology
Nominal morphology is sparse in Van. Number is not marked, but definiteness and state of possession is (both with syncretic: ha-).
Syntax
Constituent order
The unmarked word order in Van is predominantly (87%) verb-subject-object or VSO. The remaining occurrences (13%) are subject-verb-object or SVO. There appears to be no particular identifiable reason for what makes a sentence SVO or not.
Phrase order
The noun phrase
Numerals and determiners precede their head nouns.
(1.)
- [ʔɛ̃ŋa tʰãm ʔadɔk̚ tʰãn]
hińa tam ha-tok tan prox.det five poss-chicken 1sg
- ‘Those five chicken (are) mine’
Possessive constructions
Possessors follow their possessum.
(2.)
ha-van mir poss-language 2sg
- ‘Your language’
Verb phrase
Non-active constructions
In non-active constructions (autostative, passive, mediopassive; all formed with [-s]) the word order remains the same as in the default word order.
(3.) autostative
nor-e-s tan joy-stat-nonact 1sg
- ‘I am happy with myself’
(4.) passive
not-a-s ras eat-dyn-nonact 3sg.m
- ‘He is being eaten’
(5.) reciprocal
pok-a-s sor ha strike-dyn-nonact 3sg.f pl
- ‘They (f.) strike each other’
Chain construction
When two verbs follow each other in a modifying-action relationship, the main verb (modifying verb) precedes the secondary verb (action).
(6.)
mań-a laj-a mir tan try-dyn sing-dyn 2sg 1sg
- ‘You are trying to sing to me’
Causative constructions
This relationship also holds true for causative constructions where the causative precedes the other verb.
(7.)
vań-a nor-e tan mir cause-dyn joy-stat 1sg 2sg
- ‘I make you happy’
Comparative constructions
Comparative constructions are created with the conjunction mar in the pattern VP mar VP. The second VP can be replaced with the common pro-verb vań- as in the second example.
(8.)
par-e johana mar par-e nansi red-stat Johanna than red-stat Nancy
- ‘Johanna is redder than Nancy’
(9.)
tanir-e tavi mar vań-e mak rise-stat David than proverb-stat Mark
- ‘David is taller than Mark’
Sample wordlist
- sa- ‘not’, prefix
- ta- ‘good’, prefix
- no- general intensifier, prefix
- vańa, -e, dummy verb, a pro-verb.
- ta ‘from’, adverb
- jin ‘here’
- laja ‘sing’
- los ‘end’
- love ‘alive’
- jan ‘like’
- jas ‘sight’
- kon ‘build’
- kor ‘love’
- tir ‘see’
- tore ‘excite’
- van ‘speech’
- nar ‘death’
- sak ‘field’
- mare ‘upright’
- lana ‘whisper’, -e ‘be quiet’