Cokkel

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Cokkel ([ˈtʃok.kel], formerly Cokjazik) is an artistic language that uses false cognates to build its core vocabulary. Its grammar is mostly influenced by Uralic and Turkic - its flair might be best describes as "Central Asian".

Etymology

The name of this language derives from the words "cok", meaning "many, much" and "kel" meaning "language". This refers to the fact that this language derives its vocabulary and part of its grammar from many languages.

Orthography

The Cokkel alphabet contains all 26 letters of the Latin alphabet, each corresponding to one sound. Cokkel is analyzed as having 6 vowels and 20 consonants.

Letters in Cokkel
Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz

All of these are pronounced exactly like their IPA counterpart except for ⟨c⟩, ⟨q⟩ and ⟨x⟩.

  • ⟨c⟩ is pronounced as /tʃ/, that is, like the "ch" in "China"
  • ⟨q⟩ is pronounced as /ʔ/, that is like the pause of airflow in "uh-oh"
  • ⟨x⟩ is pronounced as /ks/, that is like the "x" in "taxi"

Phonology

Consonants

Consonant phonemes
Labial Coronal Dorsal Glottal
Nasal m n
Stop p b t d k ɡ ʔ
Affricate t͡ʃ ks*
Fricative f v s z h
Approximant w l j
Trill r

* "ks" is technically not widely deemed an affricate. However it is analyzed in this language as such to fit phonotactical rules.

Vowels

Vowel phonemes
Front Back
Close i y u
Close-mid e o
Open a

Prosody

Stress falls on the penultimate syllable for non-compound words. In compound words the primary stress is on the first syllable and the secondary stress on the first syllable of the compound.

Phonotactics

Cokkel uses a strict (C)V(C) rule. That is, that a syllable must have at least one vowel, and may have an onset and a coda consonant.

Grammar

Cokkel's sentence structure is SVO. It is an nominative-accusative aligned language. It has aritcles for nouns and uses seven cases and three tenses.

Verbs

Verbs conjugate to tense and person.

Conjugation of "gez"
(to go, to walk)
mi tu o mis tus os
Present gezem gezen gez gezemes gezenes gezes
Past gezdem gezden gezde gezdemes gezdenes gezdes
Future gezgem gezgen gezge gezgemes gezgenes gezges

There are two affixes to indicate tense and six to indicate person, with the tense affix coming before the personal affix. These regular affixes are listed below:

Tense affixes
Future Past
-g- -d-
Personal affixes
Singular Plural
1st -m -m-s
2nd -n -n-s
3rd -s

Nouns

Nouns decline to number, definitiveness and case. The possessive can be constructed via noun + personal pronoun ending but isn't deemed a case in itself.

Articles

Articles
Singular Plural
Definite al las
Indefinite yci ycis

Cases

Singular Plural
Nominative -s
Accusative -n -n-s
Genitive -s -s-s
Dative -t -t-s
Ablative -p -p-s
Locative d- d-s
Instrumental l- l-s

Swadesh list

English Cokkel Notes
I mi derived from English "me" and the Irish and Turkish -m ending.
you tu from Spanish "tú" and Hungarian "te".
we mis plural of "mi"
this kono from Japanese kono and Hmong no
that cono original
what ha onomatopoeic (huh?)
who hu from English "who"
not ne from Dutch "nee" and Hungarian "nem"
all ol from Greek "ola" and English "all"
many cok from English "chock-full", Hungarian "sok" and Turkish "çok"
one yci from Finnish "yksi" and Japanese "ichi"
two du from Korean "tul/dul" and Indonesian "dua"
big noi from Hawaiian "nui" and Hungarian "nagy"