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Schlaub
Pages with the prefix 'Schlaub' in the and 'Talk' namespaces:
Schlaub | |
---|---|
Wug Schlaub | |
Pronunciation | [/wṳ˧ ɬəʊ˥/] |
Created by | Praimhín |
Setting | Verse:Tricin |
Hlou-Shum
| |
Schlaub or Hlou (English: /(h)loʊ/ loh or homophonous with "hello"; natively: Wug Schlaub /wṳ˧ ɬəu˥/ 'Hlou speech' or 'Hlou thing') is a tonal language inspired by Hmong and German. It is the largest of the Hlou-Shum languages and the official language of the people of Mpfa Schlaub, a country in Mpfa Wieb.
Schlaub liberally uses Easter eggs.
Background
Todo
need polysyllabic words that are written as one word (Hmong has some)
Fill Mpfa Schlaub with Jabberwocky/Alice in Wonderland refs: Schleid Zeib, Wäb
On Beyond Zebra reference in forbidden syllables (syllables that do not correspond to any Schlaub word): Jus, Wub, Schwub, Mpfuh, Flud, Glig, Nuh, Schnie, Wön, Ntzad, Flub, Tzäs, Jog, Flön, Ieß, Jäg, Schnruß, Hie
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
Hlou had a vowel shift from the Proto-Hlouic ten vowel system: /a ɛ i ɔ u ã ɛ̃ ĩ ɔ̃ ũ/ by merging /ã ĩ ũ/ with their non-nasalized counterparts, and after that /ɛ̃/ shifted to /ã/
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 ɛ i ɨ ɔ u ã~ɛ̃ õ/
ei au äu = /əi əu əũ/
ah eh ih ieh oh uh äh öh eih = /aʔ ɛʔ .../ [only occurs with -Ø, -n tones]
Consonants
Standard Hlou has 70 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 | schml m̥ˡ | schn n̥ | schnr ɳ̊ | ||||||||
voiced | m m | ml mˡ | n n | nl nˡ | nr ɳ | nrl ɳˡ | |||||||
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 | ntrl ᶯʈˡʰ | 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 | Suggested approximation |
---|---|---|---|
∅ | mid level (33) / high checked (5) | lau /ləu˧/ 'to plant' | Vietnamese ngang / checked sắc |
-n | low falling (21) / low checked (1) | laun /ləu˨˩/ 'to smile' | Vietnamese huyền / checked nặng |
-b | high level / high falling (55~53) | Laub /ləu˥˥/ 'leaf' | Cantonese tone 1 |
-d | dipping / mid falling (313~311) | Laud /ləu˧˩˧/ 'shoe' | Hanoi Vietnamese hỏi |
-g | breathy mid level (33 + breathy) | laug /lə̤u˧/ 'to knit' | |
-s | rising (24) | laus /ləu˨˦/ 'to receive' | Hanoi Vietnamese non-checked sắc |
-ß | broken rising (3ˀ5) | Lauß /ləu˧ˀ˥/ 'wrinkle' | Hanoi Vietnamese ngã |
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 ie o u ä ö = /a ɛ ɪ i ɔ ʊ ɛ œ/
ei au äu = /ai aʊ ɔʏ/
ah eh ih ieh oh uh äh öh eih = /aʔ ɛʔ .../ [only occurs with -Ø, -n, -b tones (the latter written as -hl)]
Consonants
Labial | Lamino- dental |
Apico- alveolar |
Post- alveolar |
Palatal | Retroflex | Velar | Labio- velar |
Glottal | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
plain | lateral | plain | lateral | plain | lateral | ||||||||
Nasal | voiceless | schm m̥ | schml m̥ˡ | schn n̥ | schnr ɳ̊ | ||||||||
voiced | m m | ml mˡ | n n | 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, ł ɫ | 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
Traditional logography
Abugida
Hrảm Hlóu (Schräd La-Tin 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 | hml m̥ˡ | hn n̥ | hnr ɳ̊ | ||||||||
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 | sg 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/
Featural script

Grammar
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 schwei Ntxuhn bis Tu Mäb.
- /ʃa˨˩ ʍəi˧ ts̺ɨ˧˩ pi˨˦ tʰu˧mɛ̃˥/
- 1SG have home in Tumhan
- I live in Tumhan.
- Dahn dsaub weg zu Mpfein an zu Schrös.
- /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, mplei 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 | ||
Reflexive | schwe |
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
What | This | That | Yon | Any | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pronominal | nab | naus | nein | nin | nan |
Place | drab | draus | drein | drin | dran |
Manner/Extent | rab | raus | rein | rin | ran |
Other correlatives are formed by using these words with nouns.
Hlou is wh-in-situ:
- Naus dzah nab? (this COP what) = What is this?
- Ndob naus dzah nab? (person this COP what) = Who is this?
- Zied be drab sein? (lit. you to where PROG) = Where are you going?
- dla rab? 'Why?', dla rein 'that's why' (Calquing vì sao, vì vậy)
- dlä rab nahn schluß... 'how to...' (lit. Do how in order to)
- dlä rab? 'What to do?'
Prepositions
- be = to; to go
- bis = in, at
- nre = on
- gan = without
- sä = with; to have
- in = of
- je = from
- dla = for; because of
- ob = vocative
- weg = about
- wi = away from
- schon = ago
- jaud = between
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
- nreh = negative
- doh = prohibitive
- los = inchoative
- man = emphatic
- wein = (literary) alas!, woe is...
- tag = comparative
- nad = superlative
- zu = verb to noun
Conjunctions
- an = and
- tei = or
- vei = exclusive or
- leid = but
- von = relative clause
- tun = complement clause
- daß = if
- schluß = then, so, therefore
- nahn schluß = so that, in order to
- dsäus = because (lit. reason)
Nouns
ein = definite article (proper nouns such as Wug Schlaub do not take it)
wie = specific article
die = indefinite article
Words may be pluralized by reduplication: Ndob Ndob = people. Uncountable nouns have no plural form.
Polysyllabic words also have a null plural:
- Nkaub, 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
Numerals
1-10: die, beid, lähn, schred, kaß, traun, heid, ntzob, glaub, weiß
100: trleh
10000: 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 schlaun 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"
Schlaub 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.
Chengyu
Hlou, like Chinese, has chengyu or "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)
- Nleiß Beig Gluhn Schnoh 'opulent luxury' (lit. pure gold, gem, carmine, spice)
- Schwas kö Schwas sihn 'reap what you sow' (lit. [If] rice sprouts, rice results)
- riff on Quacumquasit Pond
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, -n are "flat" (mla) tones; -g, -d, -s, -ß and checked tones are "sharp" (dzäß) tones.
Virelai
The virelai (Hlou: Traun Ntzob) is a traditional Hlou poetic form. Although it is called the virelai in English, it borrows elements (like the rhyme scheme) from the Vietnamese lục bát.
Example [the poem is gibberish]:
Mpfein schwie ein Ntzäh an Tsun,
Leid wen Bläuß dran, maß Schlub von trlien.
Väd mleib weg die Gleiß Schmieb,
Raus ein Pfeg nun schraß Xien taub tlub.
Daß zu Mläus ein Zeig Pfaß,
blein Eib zu Mböd bis Dlag,
klaub wie raug Mlob weis schrah zied Glu.
Daß zu Ves ein Drläub flein,
Weg ndso ein Ndxäuß schred nreib,
Pfed zag tzau die Vaub dlei raus Schmub.
Daß zu Vein Nkaub ein Nlas,
An zu Nlöb pfeib je Schmag ven Wauß,
schniß, ob Dlau! dran flän Schaug,
klöh xan haud wie Trob, haus nun Tsun.
Mpfein schwie ein Ntzäh an Tsun,
Leid wen Bläuß dran, maß Schlub von trlien.
Väd mleib weg die Gleiß Schmieb,
Raus ein Pfeg nun schraß Xien taub tlub.
Burns stanza
A variant of the Burns stanza is another traditional Hlou meter. This excerpt is from a poem by Schweid Täu-Rein.
Tlad Hei drlah Mbauß,
Xan schnuh zied nraug,
Xob Ndzäu beis schraus –
Ihn 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.
Holorime
Two lines with the same syllables but with different tones
Phrasebook
- 'I love you': Xan lub zied. /ʃa˨˩ lu˥˥ s̪ɨ˧˩˧/
Sample texts
A poem
Au xäub xäub
Ihn taub taub
Zied an xan
Bluß Ndob Schlaub
1 John 3:15
Daß Ndob nan schrös ein Nleis schwe, schluß so dzah die Ndob schwad Ndob, an schlag sab tun die Ndob schwad Ndob eh schwei ein Jun mbug bis schwe.