La Chakhi Sodemeresh
Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2023 11:20 pm
A showcase of my first ever & also current main conlang (I only got into this October), Sodemeresh, spoken by the people of Soduar on the southernmost part of the continent Silandriel (the world is called Lyros). The Sodemeresh people are highly influential on neighboring countries via trade and naval dominance, and their language is the lingua franca of the region. It is also related to the word 'sodemire', which means 'to flow', and 'chakhi' (derived from 'chokha', mouth) which means 'language'. Sorry, don't exactly know how to explain this.
Vowels: The basic [a], [/i], [o̞], [/u], and [e]. Yeah, I know it's basic. But -io, -ia, -ie, and -iu are typically pronounced more as 'yo', 'ya', 'ye', and 'yu' in everyday speech (this usually doesn't happen in the more formal variant, Sodemeresh Kimaro, Imperial Sodemeresh). Diphthongs starting with -u often end up making a sort of [w] sound, despite the lack of a [w] monophthong ('way' would become 'uey', for example).
Consonants: [/b], [d] (both alveolor and dental, look at me talking/writing like I'm not using the IPA audio chart as a crutch), [f], [g] (always 'hard'), [h], [ħ], [d͡ʒ], [k], [k'] (adapted from a neighboring neighboring trade partner's language, which has [k!]), [l] (varies), [m], [n], [n̥], [p], [p̪], [ɽ], [ɾ], [s] (variable), [t], [t̪], [v], [ⱱ], [j], [z], [ʑ] (which I like to romanize as 'zh'), [ʃ], [θ], [tʃ], and almost certainly others I've forgotten to account for.
Phonotactics: Strictly speaking, there aren't any. I haven't actually written them down before (I know, I'm dumb). Mostly it's just that there cannot be any consonant cluster consisting of any more than three consonants ('str' is allowed, 'nshr' is not) in the onset, nucleus, or coda. Vowels can be in clusters of up to four, thus is rather uncommon.
Grammar: Sodemeresh marks for person, plurals, and gender. How original. However, they also have forms for both animate non-people and 'inanimate non-people'. To use non-people pronouns to describe people is incredibly insulting in Sodemeresh culture, since it's seen as very dehumanizing. In terms of syntax, adjectives (changed for noun agreement) come after nouns, it's primarily a prepositional language, and the primary word order is OSV (it was meant to be SOV originally, but I got mixed up and it just sort of wound up as OSV). In more complex sentences like 'she (S) thought (V) he (O) said (V)', you would end up with something like 'He (O) said (V) she (S) thought (V)'. Somewhat bizarre from my native English-speaking perspective, but c'est la vie.
Grammar (Gender): Sodemeresh has three genders: Feminine, Masculine, and Neutral/Neuter (that one's mainly for people). Plurals can also have a special mixed group pronoun. -a, -o, and -e are typical endings for words in those categories (feminine, masculine, neutral), respectively. But if add an -i- before the ending, it flips, so fano (paint) is masculine, but so is umasalia (candle). -ol (feminine) and -el (masculine) are also a set of endings which show the gender. Another interesting thing if you have a feminine word ending in -o, then the masculine equivalent (if applicable, which it usually is) becomes -i. Adjectives must agree in gender and number with their nouns.
Grammar (Pluralization): For nouns, -on (if it ends in a consonant) and -n (for a vowel ending) are masculine, -at (for a consonant ending) and -t (for a vowel ending), and 'ent' or 'nt' for neutral/mixed. Adjectives have a different rule; for the feminine, -ur and -r are typical, -ki and -i are masculine (if the word has a vowel ending and the vowel is i, then -ki is used), 'e' is the usual neutral ending.
Grammar (Adverbs): They don't exist. Just kidding; they do. As adjectives.
Grammar (Conjugation): Ah, conjugation, my love. The conjugation of a typical Sodemeresh verb (for example, 'fomaze', 'to walk') looks something like this:
To walk: Fomaze
[/I] walk: Fomazu
[You Singular] walk: Fomazes
[You Plural] walk: Fomazal
[He/she/it] walks: Fomazem
[They] walk: Fomazi
[It Inanimate] walks: Fomazil
[They Inanimate Plural] Walk: Fomazole
[We] walk: Fomazent
The conjugation for 'to be', however, is rather....unique:
To Be: Tande
[/I] Am- Tandu
[You] Are (Singular Informal)- Tal
[You] Are (Plural Informal)- Taldin
[You] Are (Singular Formal)- Talzand
[You] Are (Plural Formal)- Talzandun
[He/She/It] Is: Talzin
They] Are- Talzevu
[It, Inanimate] Is- Taldi
[They, Inanimate] Are- Talzedole
We] Are- Taldent
'To be' usually goes last in a sentence, when it isn't dropped altogether (as it commonly is in more informal speech). What about, say, the 3PL of a word like 'ebasevi' (to use), though? My solution is this: Ebasevi'i. A bit lazy perhaps, but it works well enough.
Tenses: Undoubtedly the least cookie-cutter part of this whole thing, is the tense system. It pretty much uses tense particles. Specifically, these:
Al- Past tense marker
Li- Present tense marker (this is usually considered the default tense and thus used less often)
Pe- Future tense marker
A tense marker goes directly after a verb, but unless the tense actually changes, there's no need to mark the other verbs. E.g: La lorosu soia taldi al, hursal fas voilta li (the sky was blue, but now it is purple). They can be strung together, too, relative to the speaker's current timeframe (e.g. I will have bathed = Sulidu peal. Or: I was going to dance = Amayadu alpe. Or: I was singing = Resparu ali)
Other: There's also two corresponding affixes, the prefix san- (a kind of 'generic intensifier' seen in words like 'sanbreya', city, which is made of 'breya', town, and the san- prefix) and the diminutive 'vel' (which conveys smallness or a lesser degree of something, e.g. 'breyvela', village. The -vel- infix always goes after the last consonant [y] in this case).
And now, several sample sentences to show you Sodemeresh in action:
Montir la androsia sukh eam chirsetat b’stashai al– My dogs didn’t follow me down the road.
Gatat bodama ilshim chirsetat amochu. – I prefer cats over dogs.
Esperanto taldastvelio michartil. – Esperanto looks ugly. (please don't @ me, just my subjective opinion)
La maikel zeja pizhukes pe? - Will you open the door?
Sodemeresh zejonuso linves? – Do you speak Sodemeresh?
Zejamata lent komunule lunkhi’i al, eam Karzalio. – The gods have blessed you, my Empress.
Komunule lunkhi’i! – Gods bless!
Vidas eam viragio zechale chirseta talzin. - Your dog is in my house.
Estreri Poflionso – Old Estreri (old version of one of Sodemeresh's sister languages)
Mihozhes! Kin medun tremintes? - Stop! Who goes there?
Eam blajene b’kuada talzin. – My teacher isn’t gifted.
Sodemeresh Kirimo – Imperial Sodemeresh
Sodemeresh Kipro – Common Sodemeresh
Ju lut hajolat azia tremintem pe kau lut sansulat stargriyem.
To (a place) the (FPL) fields (PL) he [will] go (3SG) pe (Future marker) and (no marker) the (FPL) crops (PL) harvest (3SG).
He will go to the fields and harvest the crops.
Logrela lan nolzun olag va kerio va tumio vo karsentros siyem al.
On top of the (MPL) grass (PL) to (NonPl) a (FS) girl a (FS) book a (MS) man gave (3SG) al (Past tense marker)
A man gave a girl a book on the grass [I took this example from David Peterson's page about Megdevi]
Zeja sani melsaftvela miyu’u tal – I think you’re very pretty.
La lorosu vailto taldi li azia azio montiyuem al linvem.
TheMSG sky purpleMSG isO3SG liPrTM (present tense marker) he she thought3SG alPTM (Past tense marker) said3SG
She thought he said the sky is purple.
Obviously, this is not nearly all of Sodemeresh (the lexicon is growing steadily), just the main parts of it. The skeleton, if you will. Helpful & constructive advice appreciated (this is my first real venture into conlanging). Also, sorry for any formatting issues.
Vowels: The basic [a], [/i], [o̞], [/u], and [e]. Yeah, I know it's basic. But -io, -ia, -ie, and -iu are typically pronounced more as 'yo', 'ya', 'ye', and 'yu' in everyday speech (this usually doesn't happen in the more formal variant, Sodemeresh Kimaro, Imperial Sodemeresh). Diphthongs starting with -u often end up making a sort of [w] sound, despite the lack of a [w] monophthong ('way' would become 'uey', for example).
Consonants: [/b], [d] (both alveolor and dental, look at me talking/writing like I'm not using the IPA audio chart as a crutch), [f], [g] (always 'hard'), [h], [ħ], [d͡ʒ], [k], [k'] (adapted from a neighboring neighboring trade partner's language, which has [k!]), [l] (varies), [m], [n], [n̥], [p], [p̪], [ɽ], [ɾ], [s] (variable), [t], [t̪], [v], [ⱱ], [j], [z], [ʑ] (which I like to romanize as 'zh'), [ʃ], [θ], [tʃ], and almost certainly others I've forgotten to account for.
Phonotactics: Strictly speaking, there aren't any. I haven't actually written them down before (I know, I'm dumb). Mostly it's just that there cannot be any consonant cluster consisting of any more than three consonants ('str' is allowed, 'nshr' is not) in the onset, nucleus, or coda. Vowels can be in clusters of up to four, thus is rather uncommon.
Grammar: Sodemeresh marks for person, plurals, and gender. How original. However, they also have forms for both animate non-people and 'inanimate non-people'. To use non-people pronouns to describe people is incredibly insulting in Sodemeresh culture, since it's seen as very dehumanizing. In terms of syntax, adjectives (changed for noun agreement) come after nouns, it's primarily a prepositional language, and the primary word order is OSV (it was meant to be SOV originally, but I got mixed up and it just sort of wound up as OSV). In more complex sentences like 'she (S) thought (V) he (O) said (V)', you would end up with something like 'He (O) said (V) she (S) thought (V)'. Somewhat bizarre from my native English-speaking perspective, but c'est la vie.
Grammar (Gender): Sodemeresh has three genders: Feminine, Masculine, and Neutral/Neuter (that one's mainly for people). Plurals can also have a special mixed group pronoun. -a, -o, and -e are typical endings for words in those categories (feminine, masculine, neutral), respectively. But if add an -i- before the ending, it flips, so fano (paint) is masculine, but so is umasalia (candle). -ol (feminine) and -el (masculine) are also a set of endings which show the gender. Another interesting thing if you have a feminine word ending in -o, then the masculine equivalent (if applicable, which it usually is) becomes -i. Adjectives must agree in gender and number with their nouns.
Grammar (Pluralization): For nouns, -on (if it ends in a consonant) and -n (for a vowel ending) are masculine, -at (for a consonant ending) and -t (for a vowel ending), and 'ent' or 'nt' for neutral/mixed. Adjectives have a different rule; for the feminine, -ur and -r are typical, -ki and -i are masculine (if the word has a vowel ending and the vowel is i, then -ki is used), 'e' is the usual neutral ending.
Grammar (Adverbs): They don't exist. Just kidding; they do. As adjectives.
Grammar (Conjugation): Ah, conjugation, my love. The conjugation of a typical Sodemeresh verb (for example, 'fomaze', 'to walk') looks something like this:
To walk: Fomaze
[/I] walk: Fomazu
[You Singular] walk: Fomazes
[You Plural] walk: Fomazal
[He/she/it] walks: Fomazem
[They] walk: Fomazi
[It Inanimate] walks: Fomazil
[They Inanimate Plural] Walk: Fomazole
[We] walk: Fomazent
The conjugation for 'to be', however, is rather....unique:
To Be: Tande
[/I] Am- Tandu
[You] Are (Singular Informal)- Tal
[You] Are (Plural Informal)- Taldin
[You] Are (Singular Formal)- Talzand
[You] Are (Plural Formal)- Talzandun
[He/She/It] Is: Talzin
They] Are- Talzevu
[It, Inanimate] Is- Taldi
[They, Inanimate] Are- Talzedole
We] Are- Taldent
'To be' usually goes last in a sentence, when it isn't dropped altogether (as it commonly is in more informal speech). What about, say, the 3PL of a word like 'ebasevi' (to use), though? My solution is this: Ebasevi'i. A bit lazy perhaps, but it works well enough.
Tenses: Undoubtedly the least cookie-cutter part of this whole thing, is the tense system. It pretty much uses tense particles. Specifically, these:
Al- Past tense marker
Li- Present tense marker (this is usually considered the default tense and thus used less often)
Pe- Future tense marker
A tense marker goes directly after a verb, but unless the tense actually changes, there's no need to mark the other verbs. E.g: La lorosu soia taldi al, hursal fas voilta li (the sky was blue, but now it is purple). They can be strung together, too, relative to the speaker's current timeframe (e.g. I will have bathed = Sulidu peal. Or: I was going to dance = Amayadu alpe. Or: I was singing = Resparu ali)
Other: There's also two corresponding affixes, the prefix san- (a kind of 'generic intensifier' seen in words like 'sanbreya', city, which is made of 'breya', town, and the san- prefix) and the diminutive 'vel' (which conveys smallness or a lesser degree of something, e.g. 'breyvela', village. The -vel- infix always goes after the last consonant [y] in this case).
And now, several sample sentences to show you Sodemeresh in action:
Montir la androsia sukh eam chirsetat b’stashai al– My dogs didn’t follow me down the road.
Gatat bodama ilshim chirsetat amochu. – I prefer cats over dogs.
Esperanto taldastvelio michartil. – Esperanto looks ugly. (please don't @ me, just my subjective opinion)
La maikel zeja pizhukes pe? - Will you open the door?
Sodemeresh zejonuso linves? – Do you speak Sodemeresh?
Zejamata lent komunule lunkhi’i al, eam Karzalio. – The gods have blessed you, my Empress.
Komunule lunkhi’i! – Gods bless!
Vidas eam viragio zechale chirseta talzin. - Your dog is in my house.
Estreri Poflionso – Old Estreri (old version of one of Sodemeresh's sister languages)
Mihozhes! Kin medun tremintes? - Stop! Who goes there?
Eam blajene b’kuada talzin. – My teacher isn’t gifted.
Sodemeresh Kirimo – Imperial Sodemeresh
Sodemeresh Kipro – Common Sodemeresh
Ju lut hajolat azia tremintem pe kau lut sansulat stargriyem.
To (a place) the (FPL) fields (PL) he [will] go (3SG) pe (Future marker) and (no marker) the (FPL) crops (PL) harvest (3SG).
He will go to the fields and harvest the crops.
Logrela lan nolzun olag va kerio va tumio vo karsentros siyem al.
On top of the (MPL) grass (PL) to (NonPl) a (FS) girl a (FS) book a (MS) man gave (3SG) al (Past tense marker)
A man gave a girl a book on the grass [I took this example from David Peterson's page about Megdevi]
Zeja sani melsaftvela miyu’u tal – I think you’re very pretty.
La lorosu vailto taldi li azia azio montiyuem al linvem.
TheMSG sky purpleMSG isO3SG liPrTM (present tense marker) he she thought3SG alPTM (Past tense marker) said3SG
She thought he said the sky is purple.
Obviously, this is not nearly all of Sodemeresh (the lexicon is growing steadily), just the main parts of it. The skeleton, if you will. Helpful & constructive advice appreciated (this is my first real venture into conlanging). Also, sorry for any formatting issues.
