Zompist Bboard Again

Created for dewrad's 48-hour conlang challenge!

EDIT: now with a Table of Contents:
1. Geography
2. Seasons and Safety
3. Nominal Declension
4. Verbs and Pronouns
5. The Nine Arts

Ankoseiwas /anko‘sewas/ "our language" is the literary dialect of the archipelago of Akotvyah, the Spice Islands (native Onkĩlemowas), somewhat south of Salvi.
Geography and culture are as follows:

• The climate is tropical, with over 2 metres of rainfall a year and a great deal of sunshine whenever it isn't pouring cats and dogs. There is much in the way of jungle cover on the islands; each community is relatively isolated from one another except by sea trade, or jungle tracks across the individual islands.
• Technology is fairly low-level, with florin pigs being the only real livestock in constant use and rice paddies taking up much of the land. There is brass and bronze made on the islands, and jade is traded with empires to the south (Hercua and Malehi) while the Salvians to the north are more interested in the cultural knickknacks (better value for magic).
• Clothes are unsurprisingly minimal in these lands.
• The natives (internationally the Keepers, locally Onkẽye) make some of the best traders on this side of the globe. This is not only due to a long history of spice cultivation (and an equally long tradition of haggling), but because the Keeper's Gift is the ability to store objects in the spirit world around one's person and carry them there in stasis for a time.
• Rulers on the islands are all "clones" (atene) of individual "clone-masters" (hasoya, singular ahoya), who are taught the necessary spell in a ritual that binds their collective intelligence together with any copy they pull out of the Deep.
• There is currently a four-way cultural split in the archipelago. One group wishes to remain "untouched" (hidolo) by the outside world and keep to tradition, a second wants to ally the lands with the Dragon Emperor in Malehi as a unified if subservient client state, a third wants to see about introducing Salvian government to the area (the Speaking Soul is strong among the Yehawandi, enough to guarantee even a full-fledged Keeper a chance to power up the amulets the Salvians trade), and a fourth wants to turn the whole island into a diocese of Hercua.
• The current language is based on the dialect spoken on the island of Aheiwa (from Hermaphroditic Ahewa "river-land"), whose ahoya, Kiponda XVI, holds a record number of forty-seven different postings on eleven islands, and is of the hidolo faction. This may change, however. (It's in your best interest to learn at least two other dialects, plus the dialect of the current ahoya and possibly a Salvian language.)
• The local language is written in a number of different scripts, depending on who's in charge at the moment; there are thus variations on the dialects in the Hercuan alphabet, the Malehinese Commoner Syllabary, and Salvian hieroglyphs, each of which has its own importance in society.

Phonology is as follows:

• Consonants: p b m w t d s n l j <y> k h
• Vowels: i ĩ e <ei> ẽ <ẽi> Ɛɛ <e> ɛ̃ <ẽ> o∼u <o> õ∼ũ <o> a ã
• Phonotactics: CV(s,n) (n shifts to m before p/b/m); nasal vowels occur where older Vs/Vn occurred next to a consonant that it couldn't occur alongside (next to anything except a stop or a nasal); word length is 1-4 syllables, with 2-3 being the default

Basic grammatical features are as follows:

• Tripartite alignment, comment-topic/verb-experiencer-subject-object sentence structure, non-topical/topical person/animate/inanimate topicality hierarchy
• Nouns can be masculine, feminine, animate, or inanimate, and can have a default of singular (alternative form plural) or mass (alternative form count); generally these additional features are marked by
• Verbs have only perfective and imperfective forms, with particles added to signify time periods, but also conjugate for transitive, intransitive, causative, reflexive, and passive
• Adjectives are formed as verbs

A note on GEOGRAPHY:

Akotvyah, the general international name for the archipelago, lies along the convergent boundary of the Pelian and Akotvian Plates, and was formed around thirty million years ago as the Salvian plate moved west to collide with the Pelian plate, subducting the (originally much larger) Akotvian Plate. Because of this, there is a great deal of volcanic activity on the islands, each of the major ones boasting at least one volcano apiece. (This is not unlike the Jhagjama Archipelago to the northeast, which however is a) firmly on the Salvian plate and b) has much smaller--albeit still volcanic--islands.) There are in total 6,587 islands, although they are normally grouped together into thirteen "island regions" (okeyom). The highest point in the archipelago is Mount Abeto on Yekeinos, at around 1,490m above sea level.
The northernmost regions (Yekeinos, the Windcatcher Islands, and the northern parts of Tõlene and Aheiwa) have an equatorial climate, and Yein, Kimaleyos, and the southern half of the Okesa Region have a tropical savanna climate; the rest have a tropical monsoon climate, although it should be noted that every island sees an average rainfall of 6cm per month. Jungles abound on the islands, matched only by the colourful sands of the beaches and a few paltry grasslands. Annual rainfall ranges from 1m (in some of the valleys) to 6.5m (on the mountains).
Akotvyah's precarious position makes it prone to earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, and tsunamis. Construction work is accordingly either very cheap (in other words, easy to repair) or very expensive (in other words, very, very sturdy). There has been a trend towards the latter in later years, as amulets from Salvi provide protection against the elements.
Alongside the spices (of which there are a number), Akotvyah is also famed for its timber (from the jungles), cobalt, gold, silver, copper, nickel, tin, and (in recent years) iron. Various tropical fruits are also exported. Rice is the main crop of the archipelago (much like in Jhagjama and Salvi proper), and there is much land given over to rice paddies.
There are five ethnic groups present over the islands, roughly corresponding to different castes. The Keepers are the most populous, with the ability to store inanimate objects near them in the Dream; this has allowed them to collect a lot of property as well, and to keep it safe. The Speakers, a sister ethnicity to the Recollectors of Malehi, have the ability to make anything true simply by saying it; unfortunately, this ability is very rare, and leaves the Gifted only capable of speaking the truth. (On the other hand, this makes them fantastic messengers.) The Finders, related to those of Jhagjama, can tell how far away people they have interacted with are across the planet. The Divers, found all over the Southern Ocean, have the ability to breathe underwater for limited periods of time (say, a few hours). And the smallest and oldest group of all, the Tiresians, also known as the Clownfish People (the original inhabitants of the islands), produce fertile individuals who can both impregnate and gestate depending on circumstance. From these four come the 167 languages spoken over the islands, some quite isolated; the main language of rule, however, is almost certain to be from the Keeper family. In this thread, unless stated otherwise, terms are from Toyonese, one of the languages spoken in the highlands of Aheiwa and the mother tongue of ahoya Kiponda XVI.

Please don't call intersex people hermaphrodites. It's a very rude term when applied to humans.

mèþru wrote: ↑Thu May 16, 2019 8:09 am Please don't call intersex people hermaphrodites. It's a very rude term when applied to humans.

My apologies. I haven't used the terms much before, and I only learned the word "hermaphrodite" in the traditional sense of "person who has both male and female reproductive organs." (Thank you Isaac Asimov and Greek Mythology...) So what would be the correct terminology to use for individuals with male and female genitalia capable of reproduction? Just intersex? Or is there a more specific word to use?

I mean, I’m loathe to use the word hijra because that has definite cultural connotations, and “androgyni” might work but it’s a bit obscure...what do you think, Mèþru? Anyone?

I'm, uh, not aware of any documented cases of humans who could both impregnate and gestate, so I don't think there's any constituency to offend here, and "androgyne" has a distinct and well-defined meaning that at least these days is not about being able to both impregnate and gestate

Nortaneous wrote: ↑Fri May 17, 2019 1:59 am I'm, uh, not aware of any documented cases of humans who could both impregnate and gestate, so I don't think there's any constituency to offend here, and "androgyne" has a distinct and well-defined meaning that at least these days is not about being able to both impregnate and gestate

This...is far more frustrating than I thought it was going to be. “Hermaphrodite” is apparently derogatory now (although thanks, Nortaneous, for pointing out that it’s not been used in humans to refer to actual biological fertile hermaphrodites before), “androgyne” is a gender, “Hijra” is a cultural thing that I will not use...
Tell you what, guys, how about if I use “Clownfish People” instead?

Please also do not use "Clownfish" to refer to those people, it is dehumanizing.
/s

Raholeun wrote: ↑Fri May 17, 2019 6:01 am Please also do not use "Clownfish" to refer to those people, it is dehumanizing.
/s

...in turn, please tell me whether you’re joking or not, I honestly can’t tell anymore.

I believe that's what the /s is included for - an abbreviation for /sarcasm.

KathTheDragon wrote: ↑Fri May 17, 2019 6:30 am I believe that's what the /s is included for - an abbreviation for /sarcasm.

This...would make a bit more sense. Okay, Clownfish People it is!

The PC term for intersex people are intersex. Gestation and impregnation in the same person is biologically impossible in real life humans.

mèþru wrote: ↑Fri May 17, 2019 7:07 am The PC term for intersex people are intersex. Gestation and impregnation in the same person is biologically impossible in real life humans.

So...fair enough, I’ll just remove the term “intersex” completely then.

Its very tiresome to see people adapt their conworlding to the "PC" needs of others. This is not a political discussion board and if you feel the native speakers of your conlang are "hermaphrodites" or "clownpeople" that is totally fine. Asking for censorship in that regard is beyond silly.

I think it's just part of not being a dick. Doesn't seem like a huge favor to ask.

As per usual, I agree with Vijay.

I personally don’t mind, so long as the messages are less “don’t do” and more “instead do”; that way, I learn to be more cautious, and the whole thing gets more creative.

Vijay wrote: ↑Fri May 17, 2019 10:49 am I think it's just part of not being a dick. Doesn't seem like a huge favor to ask.

By identifying a fictional group of persons as "hermaphrodites" someone becomes a dick? It sure must be quite a tough life policing the fantasy world.

But back on topic, this is interesting stuff, Pedant.

Raholeun wrote: ↑Sat May 18, 2019 7:52 am But back on topic, this is interesting stuff, Pedant.

Many thanks, Raholeun! Anything in particular you’d like to see more of? (An honest question here; otherwise it’s rather difficult for me to focus long enough to write, embarrassingly enough...)

Raholeun wrote: ↑Sat May 18, 2019 7:52 am

Vijay wrote: ↑Fri May 17, 2019 10:49 am I think it's just part of not being a dick. Doesn't seem like a huge favor to ask.

By identifying a fictional group of persons as "hermaphrodites" someone becomes a dick? It sure must be quite a tough life policing the fantasy world.

It's not "policing the fantasy world," it's just asking someone in the real world to please not be a dick, that's all.