Buru-Matala
Posted: Wed Nov 20, 2019 2:40 am
My first attempted conlanging project what is presented here constitutes a rough draft.
In universe Buru-Matala is a minor but old, diverse and geographically widespread language family spoken on the periphery of Africa's other major language families. (Africa here doesn't refer to the real world place but rather a fictional continent which i have deemed to be like Africa because it has a big desert and semi desert region seperating the far north from other parts of the continent). Buru-Matala broke up long ago in prehistory so i imagine it would be rather difficult to reconstruct if i wasn't constructing it right now.
Phonology
Buru-Matala has a rather basic phonology consisting of 9 consonants and 9 vowels (the symmetry is nice but i didn't notice it at first). It had a CV syllable structure in the past but 2 processes changed this before the language broke up into daughters.
Consonants
Nasals: *m, *n
Stops: *p, *t, *k, *ʔ
Fricatives: *b, *s
Liquids: *l
The only phoneme of note here is *b which has a variety of reflexes in the daughter branches including *m, *p, *f, *v, *z, *w and *ʙ. *b is also quite rare as a phoneme occuring in only a few usually ominous roots *bubu "cry" and *bʊnla "sickness/bad omen" and no affixes. *ʔ follows a similar distribution.
Note that roots must begin with consonants however the same does not apply to words which may begin with a vowel. Word internal 2 vowel sequences may exist to the most common of which being *ua and *ia
In terms of allophony it can be speculated that the alveolars were palatised before high-front vowels. However by far the most significant case of allophony caused intervocalic sequences of *nl to become *r in most daughters.
Vowels
Buru-Matala has 3 sets of 3 vowels each grouped as lax, tense (short) and long. Alternative analysis would hold them to be short, long and overlong. They are transcribed as.
High-Front: *ɪ, *i, *ī
High-Back: *ʊ, *u, *ū
Low: *ɐ, *a, *ā
Phonetic Processes
A few proccesses underly the morphology of Buru-Matala.
Coda *n
The most important change in Buru-Matala is the deletion of the *ɐ in sequences of *nɐ. This occurs in all positions except for at the beginning of words (compare *nɐtāli "cat" vs *mintāli "the cat") and after another coda nasal (see *kannɐ "cut"). A similar process occurs with sequences of *mɐ (as well as *mʊ) which lose their vowels but only at the end of words or before another nasal or liquid (see *kamna “balance”, *lamlū “water”). These changes lead to a surface level (C)V(N) language which can still be analysed as (C)V at an underlying level.
Phantom *m, *n and *s
Certain instances of *m, *n and *s (marked *(m), *(n) and *(s)) disappear when you add a suffix to a root. Since these are always present in the last syllable of a root they are hypothesised to originate from previously distinct sounds which merged with *m, *n and *s when in a last syllable and were lenited otherwise.
Nasal *k
Certain instances of *k (marked *(k)) become *n when you add a suffix with another nasal or *l to a root. These suffixes must be directly next to or a syllable away from *(k) to cause this alteration. Similar to the Phantom sounds Nasal *k is thought to result from a previously distinct sound which has since merged with other sounds.
Vowel Sequences
-In sequences of lax vowels + tense vowels the lax vowel is changed to a tense vowel
-In sequences of tense or long vowels + lax vowels the lax vowel is deleted
-In sequences of any vowel + a long vowel the first vowel becomes long and the second becomes tense
Ablaut
When high-front tense or long vowels are suffixed to a word they cause the last vowel to become more high and front. Similarly when high-back tense and long vowels are suffixed to a word they cause the last vowel to become more high and back. I also plan to add other methods of vowel alteration but just haven't worked out the details.
Roots
Buru-Matala has many roots which consist of reduplicated syllables these include *mīmī “young woman/river”, *titi “cute”, *kiki “sad”, *muamua “grass”, *bubu “cry/moan” sīsī “wind”, sisi “place” and kɐnlakɐnla “mountain”. Other roots still may be seen as resulting from the reduplication of other roots.
*nāi “moon” vs *nāināi “night, moon, ocean”
*lāsā “huge” vs *lāsālāsā “giant bird/roc”
Roots are usually 2-3 syllables in length with 4 syllable roots being uncommon and 5 syllable roots such as *katɐpʊlaka “chaos” being attested.
Numbers
Only the numbers 1-3 can be reliably constructed in Buru-Matala with numbers 4 and 5 in its daughter branches being derived from a variety of sources. Most Buru-Matala languages are base 5 and the vocabulary above that undergoes frequent overhauls
*sasasa “dust/nothing/zero”
*ʔʊbi “1”
*tʊtʊ “2”
*īnlu “3”
*māni “many”
*kʊpɪsi “hand”
Grammar
Buru-Matala is an synthetic language with most of its grammar being accomplished through suffixes except for determiners (and articles) which are accomplished through prefixes.
Prefixes
Buru-Matala has several prefixes most of which have quite obvious origins.
Suffixes
Buru-Matala has 5 basic suffixes which allow speakers to derive new words from roots. Compare the following words all deriving from *mīmī "river".
mīmīka “river bed” from the place suffix *-(k)a
*mīmūlu “river fish” from the animal suffix -lu
*mīmīkɪsɐ “river grass” from the plant suffix *-(k)ɪsɐ
*mīmūsua (i actually have no idea what this would be) from the tool suffix *-sua
*mīmīkɐki “river person” (its slang for maiden) from the person suffix *-kɐki or *-tɐki
Note the place and the plant suffixes have the nasal *k which can be seen in their accusative forms *mīmīnali and *mīmīnɪsɪli (note the ablaut also occuring here).
Class/Gender
Animate vs Inanimate
Nouns divide into 2 categories which determine the type of plural marking they take *-n for animate nouns and *-sa for inanimate nouns, they also have different Cases. Several concepts such as spears have words that only differ in class only (*takana for animate and *lamam(ɐ) for inanimate respectively).
Note when adding suffixes or prefixes words still retain their class. You can see this in the above example involving the word *mīmī "river" which is an animate noun.
Cases
Not only do animate and inanimate nouns have different suffixes for the same case ending they also don't share all case endings. The most notable of these is the lack of a nominative case for inanimate nouns as they may not be the subject of a sentence.
Articles
Articles are prefixes added to a word that occupy the first part of the word.
Definite Article “the rabbit” *mi-
Definite Plural Article “the rabbits” *nimi-
Proper Article “the named rabbit” *kʊ- (rarely used)
"All" Article “all rabbits” *ū- (as in ūsīan “all spirits” and ūkasin “all men”)
Negative
*āni- is the negative determiner present before any other component of the word.
*ānikasi “no man”
*ānīusīan “no spirits at all” (Note it can be broken down into *āni- "negative article" + *ū- "all article" + *sīa "spirit" + *-n "plural" and is quite an extreme way of saying "no spirits").
*ānisɪlānsū “no cobras near me” (Note as above it can be broken down into *āni- "negative article" + *sɪlā "cobra + *-n "plural" + sū "locative".
I chose the last one because it becomes a word meaning "fear" in many daughters
.
The grammars not done this is just the basic stuff also the planned structure of a word would go something like this.
Negative + Article + Prefix + Root + Suffix + Number + Case + Word
In universe Buru-Matala is a minor but old, diverse and geographically widespread language family spoken on the periphery of Africa's other major language families. (Africa here doesn't refer to the real world place but rather a fictional continent which i have deemed to be like Africa because it has a big desert and semi desert region seperating the far north from other parts of the continent). Buru-Matala broke up long ago in prehistory so i imagine it would be rather difficult to reconstruct if i wasn't constructing it right now.
Phonology
Buru-Matala has a rather basic phonology consisting of 9 consonants and 9 vowels (the symmetry is nice but i didn't notice it at first). It had a CV syllable structure in the past but 2 processes changed this before the language broke up into daughters.
Consonants
Nasals: *m, *n
Stops: *p, *t, *k, *ʔ
Fricatives: *b, *s
Liquids: *l
The only phoneme of note here is *b which has a variety of reflexes in the daughter branches including *m, *p, *f, *v, *z, *w and *ʙ. *b is also quite rare as a phoneme occuring in only a few usually ominous roots *bubu "cry" and *bʊnla "sickness/bad omen" and no affixes. *ʔ follows a similar distribution.
Note that roots must begin with consonants however the same does not apply to words which may begin with a vowel. Word internal 2 vowel sequences may exist to the most common of which being *ua and *ia
In terms of allophony it can be speculated that the alveolars were palatised before high-front vowels. However by far the most significant case of allophony caused intervocalic sequences of *nl to become *r in most daughters.
Vowels
Buru-Matala has 3 sets of 3 vowels each grouped as lax, tense (short) and long. Alternative analysis would hold them to be short, long and overlong. They are transcribed as.
High-Front: *ɪ, *i, *ī
High-Back: *ʊ, *u, *ū
Low: *ɐ, *a, *ā
Phonetic Processes
A few proccesses underly the morphology of Buru-Matala.
Coda *n
The most important change in Buru-Matala is the deletion of the *ɐ in sequences of *nɐ. This occurs in all positions except for at the beginning of words (compare *nɐtāli "cat" vs *mintāli "the cat") and after another coda nasal (see *kannɐ "cut"). A similar process occurs with sequences of *mɐ (as well as *mʊ) which lose their vowels but only at the end of words or before another nasal or liquid (see *kamna “balance”, *lamlū “water”). These changes lead to a surface level (C)V(N) language which can still be analysed as (C)V at an underlying level.
Phantom *m, *n and *s
Certain instances of *m, *n and *s (marked *(m), *(n) and *(s)) disappear when you add a suffix to a root. Since these are always present in the last syllable of a root they are hypothesised to originate from previously distinct sounds which merged with *m, *n and *s when in a last syllable and were lenited otherwise.
Nasal *k
Certain instances of *k (marked *(k)) become *n when you add a suffix with another nasal or *l to a root. These suffixes must be directly next to or a syllable away from *(k) to cause this alteration. Similar to the Phantom sounds Nasal *k is thought to result from a previously distinct sound which has since merged with other sounds.
Vowel Sequences
-In sequences of lax vowels + tense vowels the lax vowel is changed to a tense vowel
-In sequences of tense or long vowels + lax vowels the lax vowel is deleted
-In sequences of any vowel + a long vowel the first vowel becomes long and the second becomes tense
Ablaut
When high-front tense or long vowels are suffixed to a word they cause the last vowel to become more high and front. Similarly when high-back tense and long vowels are suffixed to a word they cause the last vowel to become more high and back. I also plan to add other methods of vowel alteration but just haven't worked out the details.
Roots
Buru-Matala has many roots which consist of reduplicated syllables these include *mīmī “young woman/river”, *titi “cute”, *kiki “sad”, *muamua “grass”, *bubu “cry/moan” sīsī “wind”, sisi “place” and kɐnlakɐnla “mountain”. Other roots still may be seen as resulting from the reduplication of other roots.
*nāi “moon” vs *nāināi “night, moon, ocean”
*lāsā “huge” vs *lāsālāsā “giant bird/roc”
Roots are usually 2-3 syllables in length with 4 syllable roots being uncommon and 5 syllable roots such as *katɐpʊlaka “chaos” being attested.
Numbers
Only the numbers 1-3 can be reliably constructed in Buru-Matala with numbers 4 and 5 in its daughter branches being derived from a variety of sources. Most Buru-Matala languages are base 5 and the vocabulary above that undergoes frequent overhauls
*sasasa “dust/nothing/zero”
*ʔʊbi “1”
*tʊtʊ “2”
*īnlu “3”
*māni “many”
*kʊpɪsi “hand”
Grammar
Buru-Matala is an synthetic language with most of its grammar being accomplished through suffixes except for determiners (and articles) which are accomplished through prefixes.
Prefixes
Buru-Matala has several prefixes most of which have quite obvious origins.
Suffixes
Buru-Matala has 5 basic suffixes which allow speakers to derive new words from roots. Compare the following words all deriving from *mīmī "river".
mīmīka “river bed” from the place suffix *-(k)a
*mīmūlu “river fish” from the animal suffix -lu
*mīmīkɪsɐ “river grass” from the plant suffix *-(k)ɪsɐ
*mīmūsua (i actually have no idea what this would be) from the tool suffix *-sua
*mīmīkɐki “river person” (its slang for maiden) from the person suffix *-kɐki or *-tɐki
Note the place and the plant suffixes have the nasal *k which can be seen in their accusative forms *mīmīnali and *mīmīnɪsɪli (note the ablaut also occuring here).
Class/Gender
Animate vs Inanimate
Nouns divide into 2 categories which determine the type of plural marking they take *-n for animate nouns and *-sa for inanimate nouns, they also have different Cases. Several concepts such as spears have words that only differ in class only (*takana for animate and *lamam(ɐ) for inanimate respectively).
Note when adding suffixes or prefixes words still retain their class. You can see this in the above example involving the word *mīmī "river" which is an animate noun.
Cases
Not only do animate and inanimate nouns have different suffixes for the same case ending they also don't share all case endings. The most notable of these is the lack of a nominative case for inanimate nouns as they may not be the subject of a sentence.
Articles
Articles are prefixes added to a word that occupy the first part of the word.
Definite Article “the rabbit” *mi-
Definite Plural Article “the rabbits” *nimi-
Proper Article “the named rabbit” *kʊ- (rarely used)
"All" Article “all rabbits” *ū- (as in ūsīan “all spirits” and ūkasin “all men”)
Negative
*āni- is the negative determiner present before any other component of the word.
*ānikasi “no man”
*ānīusīan “no spirits at all” (Note it can be broken down into *āni- "negative article" + *ū- "all article" + *sīa "spirit" + *-n "plural" and is quite an extreme way of saying "no spirits").
*ānisɪlānsū “no cobras near me” (Note as above it can be broken down into *āni- "negative article" + *sɪlā "cobra + *-n "plural" + sū "locative".
I chose the last one because it becomes a word meaning "fear" in many daughters
.The grammars not done this is just the basic stuff also the planned structure of a word would go something like this.
Negative + Article + Prefix + Root + Suffix + Number + Case + Word