Introduction

This is my third conlang and the first I've actually begun to develope. It, like all my other conlangs, is inspired by my native language Finnish and Native American languages, especially those of Pacific Northwest.

General information

Hano language is a language isolate spoken by the Hano people of Hano archipelago.

Phonology

Consonants

Bilabial Labio-dental Dental Alveolar Post-alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyngeal Epiglottal Glottal
Nasal
Plosive
Fricative
Affricate
Approximant
Trill
Flap or tap
Lateral fric.
Lateral app.
Lateral flap

Vowels

Front Near-front Central Near-back Back
Close
Near-close
Close-mid
Mid
Open-mid
Near-open
Open

Phonotactics

Basic grammar

Hano can be very agglutinating in its verbs, but less so of adjectives and nouns. It's possible for a sentence to consist of either words with high degree of inflection or words that haven't been inflectled at all, depending on the number, tense etc..

Noun classes

Hano includes three grammatical numbers: singular, dual and plural, of which dual exists only in personal pronouns. It has three noun classes: concrete animate, concrete inanimate and abstract. All nouns are plural by default and the singular is marked by adding a suffix to the end of the noun. They are -is for concrete animate, -ic for concrete inanimate and -ip for abstract (for example kiál means "birds" and kiális means "a bird"). Words, such as "water", "time" and other material and uncountable nouns of the concrete inanimate and abstract noun classes can be given the singular suffix to denote a small amount. For example "some water" would be Gashéic in Hano and "a moment" Mí'cip (could be expressed as "a piece of time")

Verbs

In the Hano language verb stems form the core of the verb and suffixes are added to the verb to denote different grammatical functions. Their place within the verb depends on the tense and other suffixes and there is much variation.

There are five tenses, which are future, present, preterite, aorist and perfect. Aorist is used when talking about some already occured event, that's either unique or otherwise special. For example T'aétáska, which uses aorist, means "I swam" (only time doing so or for the first time), while Yentás'ka means "I swam" (several times before and/or after), as it's preterite. Present isn't marked with an affix while others are.

Future Me'í
Present -
Preterite Yen
Aorist T'aé
Perfect Qo

There are four grammatical persons: 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th, all of which have got singular, dual and plural forms. 4th person is used when referring to the target of 3rd person's actions: compare Yenmálka sán, which means "I saw her/him" and Yenmálksá seik, which means "she/he saw her/him".

They are as follows:

sg. dl. pl
1st A/Aś At/As Át/Áś
2nd E/Ell Et/Éll Ét/Ét
3rd Sá/Sáŋ Sat/Saw Sát/Sall
4th Sé/Seik Set/Si'ek Sét/Se'ek

There are two forms of each pronoun. The first ones are used to indicate the agent of the sentence and the latter ones to indicate the patient and, furthermore, when only a pronoun is needed to convey the meaning. The agent pronouns are added to the verb and cannot be on their own. The place of the pronoun depends on the other affixes of the word. In the present tense it's always initial: Atás'k = "I swim". But in other tenses it's usually the final one and the tense marker is the first: Yentás'ka = "I swam". It's optional to omit the agent pronoun if the subject of the sentence is something other than a personal pronoun, ie. one can say either Tás'k kiál or Sáttás'k kiál for "The birds swim".

Negation is formed by adding the suffix -yé before the verb stem. The tense and question markers and the person are placed after the verb stem in the order tense marker-question-person. Compare Kweyentáska "Did I swim?" and Yétáskyenkwea "Didn't I swim?"

Vocabulary

Kinship
Grandmother Grandfather Grandmother Grandfather
 
 
 
Uncles Wife Uncle Uncles Wife Uncle Uncles Wife Uncle Aunts husband Aunt Aunts husband Aunt Aunts husband Aunt Father Mother Uncles Wife Uncle Uncles Wife Uncle Uncles Wife Uncle Aunts husband Aunt Aunts husband Aunt Aunts husband Aunt
 
 
 
Male Cousin Female Cousin Male Cousin Female Cousin Male Cousin Female Cousin Male Cousin Female Cousin Male Cousin Female Cousin Male Cousin Female Cousin Male Cousin Female Cousin Male Cousin Female Cousin Male Cousin Female Cousin Male Cousin Female Cousin Male Cousin Female Cousin Male Cousin Female Cousin
 
 
Twin Sisters Husband Twin Sister Little Sisters Husband Little Sister Big Sisters Huband Big Sister Wife Self Husband Big Brother  Big Brothers Wife Little Brother Little Brothers Wife Twin Brother Twin Brothers Wife
 
 
 
Niece Nephew Niece Nephew Niece Nephew Son Daughter Son Daughter Niece Nephew Niece Nephew Niece Nephew

Swadesh list



No. English Hano
0HanoHánokacip
1IA
2you (singular)E
3he
4weÁt
5you (plural)Ét
6theySát
7this
8that
9here
10there
11who
12what
13where
14when
15how
16not
17all
18many
19some
20few
21other
22one
23two
24three
25four
26five
27big
28long
29wide
30thick
31heavy
32small
33short
34narrow
35thin
36woman
37man (adult male)
38human being
39child
40wife
41husband
42mother
43father
44animal
45fish
46bird
47dog
48louse
49snake
50worm
51tree
52forest
53stick
54fruit
55seed
56leaf
57root
58bark
59flower
60grass
61rope
62skin
63meat
64blood
65bone
66fat
67egg
68horn
69tail
70feather
71hair
72head
73ear
74eye
75nose
76mouth
77tooth
78tongue
79fingernail
80foot
81leg
82knee
83hand
84wing
85belly
86guts
87neck
88back
89breast
90heart
91liver
92drink
93eat
94bite
95suck
96spit
97vomit
98blow
99breathe
100laugh
101see
102hear
103know
104think
105smell
106fear
107sleep
108live
109die
110kill
111fight
112hunt
113hit
114cut
115split
116stab
117scratch
118dig
119swim
120fly
121walk
122come
123lie
124sit
125stand
126turn
127fall
128give
129hold
130squeeze
131rub
132wash
133wipe
134pull
135push
136throw
137tie
138sew
139count
140say
141sing
142play
143float
144flow
145freeze
146swell
147sun
148moon
149star
150water
151rain
152river
153lake
154sea
155salt
156stone
157sand
158dust
159earth
160cloud
161fog
162sky
163wind
164snow
165ice
166smoke
167fire
168ash
169burn
170road
171mountain
172red
173green
174yellow
175white
176black
177night
178day
179year
180warm
181cold
182full
183new
184old
185good
186bad
187rotten
188dirty
189straight
190round
191sharp
192dull
193smooth
194wet
195dry
196correct
197near
198far
199right
200left
201at
202in
203with
204and
205if
206because
207name


Example texts

Kweyenká'hc'aet sascha'm ké'énic ám?

Didn't you two give it to me yesterday?