Skulinga

Skulinga /səkʷəlʲənəgˤə/ [sukʷyʎinɑgˤ] is a language with one phonemic vowel, though it has many phonetic vowels. Its speakers are called Takaka Skulingavu /tˤəkˤəkˤəsəkʷəlʲənəgˤəvʷə/ [tˤɑʡɑʡɑsukʷyʎinɑgˤɒvʷ] (singular Taka Skulingavu /tˤəkˤəsəkʷəlʲənəgˤəvʷə/ [tˤɑʡɑsukʷyʎinɑgˤɒvʷ]).

Phonology
The following chart is a more manageable size and shows only the tenuis sounds.

Phonotactics and Allophones
In situations where they are not palatal consonants, but are next to at least one palatal, postalveolar or palatalized consonant, the alveolar stops and approximant become postalveolar.

In the Ganrx dialect, the alveolar nasal becomes velar when next to at least one velar consonant.

There is only one phonemic vowel: /ə/. It can be omitted in fast speech, leading to long consonant clusters. Words could also be analyzed to have no phonemic vowels. This would explain why consonants tend to shift based on the characteristics of surrounding consonants.

The phonemic vowel appears between consonants, and the vowel depends on how many secondary articulations are around it.

All of the vowel sounds above are short, centralized, and can be omitted in most positions, especially in fast speech, without any loss of information.

Vowels are always omitted:
 * when appearing after the final consonant of certain words in a phrase
 * after the final consonant when someone has finished talking

Vowels are never omitted:
 * between sounds which have the same place of articulation, but different secondary articulations and manners of articulation, such as /k/ and /gʲ/
 * when appearing before a consonant after which the vowel is always omitted, such as at the end of a word
 * in careful speech, where all vowels are pronounced as [ä ~ ə] regardless of the surrounding sounds

The amount of spaces in the orthography does not represent what counts as a "word". Vowels often appear between:


 * the letters of what are counted as words in the word list, dictionary, etc.
 * nouns and adjectives or adjectival nouns
 * verbs and adverbs or adverbial nouns

Orthography
The orthography is based on the phonemes of each sound.

Non-tenuis letters are written according to this formula, from left to right:


 * tenuis letter primary articulation
 * pharyngealization ("a" is added if pharyngealization is present)
 * palatalization ("i" is added if palatalization is present)
 * labialization ("u" is added if labialization is present)
 * aspiration/breathy-voicing ("h" is added if aspiration or breathy voicing is present)

Pronouns/Nouns
Pronouns, and second-person pronouns especially, are tied to nouns. There are really no second-person pronouns, with people referring to others by saying "my X" where X denotes the relationship between the two people. Common phrases used include:


 * jifdu tuk /ʒʲəfədʷətʷəkə/ [ʑifudʷutʷuk] "my friend"
 * marsais tuk /mˤət͡sˤʲəsətʷəkə/ [mˤɛt͡sˤʲesutʷuk] "my listener", or other such phrases.

Similarly, instead of third-person pronouns, words such as "person" and "object" are used.

Plurals are indicated by reduplication of the last syllable.

Vocabulary
This is based off of the Swadesh list, because I just want to make a bunch of words.


 * 1) you (singular)
 * he
 * we
 * 1) you (plural)
 * 2) they
 * 3) this
 * 4) that
 * 5) here
 * 6) there
 * who
 * 1) what
 * 2) where
 * 3) when
 * how
 * 1) not
 * 2) 	all
 * 3) many
 * 4) some
 * few
 * 1) other
 * one
 * two
 * 1) three
 * 2) 	four
 * 3) five
 * big
 * 1) 	long
 * 2) wide
 * 3) thick
 * 4) heavy
 * 5) 	small
 * 6) short
 * 7) narrow
 * 8) 	thin
 * 9) woman
 * 10) man (adult male)
 * 11) 	man (human being)
 * 12) 	child
 * 13) wife
 * 14) husband
 * 15) mother
 * 16) father
 * 17) animal
 * 18) fish
 * 19) bird
 * 20) 	dog
 * 21) louse
 * 22) snake
 * 23) worm
 * 24) 	tree
 * 25) forest
 * 26) 	stick
 * 27) fruit
 * 28) seed
 * 29) leaf
 * 30) root
 * 31) bark (of a tree)
 * 32) 	flower
 * 33) 	grass
 * 34) rope
 * 35) skin
 * 36) meat
 * 37) blood
 * 38) bone
 * 39) fat (noun)
 * egg
 * 1) horn
 * 2) tail
 * 3) feather
 * 4) hair
 * 5) head
 * ear
 * 1) eye
 * 2) 	nose
 * 3) mouth
 * 4) tooth
 * 5) tongue (organ)
 * 6) fingernail
 * 7) foot
 * leg
 * 1) knee
 * 2) hand
 * 3) wing
 * 4) belly
 * 5) guts
 * 6) neck
 * 7) back
 * 8) breast
 * 9) 	heart
 * 10) liver
 * 11) to drink
 * 12) to eat
 * 13) to bite
 * 14) to suck
 * 15) to spit
 * 16) to vomit
 * 17) to blow
 * 18) to breathe
 * 19) 	to laugh
 * 20) to see
 * 21) to hear
 * 22) 	to know
 * 23) to think
 * 24) to smell
 * 25) to fear
 * 26) to sleep
 * 27) 	to live
 * 28) to die
 * 29) to kill
 * 30) 	to fight
 * 31) 	to hunt
 * 32) 	to hit
 * 33) to cut
 * 34) to split
 * 35) to stab
 * 36) to scratch
 * 37) 	to dig
 * 38) to swim
 * 39) 	to fly
 * 40) to walk
 * 41) to come
 * 42) 	to lie (as in a bed)
 * 43) to sit
 * 44) 	to stand
 * 45) to turn (intransitive)
 * 46) to fall
 * 47) to give
 * 48) to hold
 * 49) to squeeze
 * 50) to rub
 * 51) to wash
 * 52) to wipe
 * 53) to pull
 * 54) to push
 * 55) to throw
 * 56) to tie
 * 57) to sew
 * 58) 	to count
 * 59) to say
 * 60) to sing
 * 61) to play
 * 62) to float
 * 63) to flow
 * 64) to freeze
 * 65) to swell
 * sun
 * 1) moon
 * 2) 	star
 * 3) water
 * 4) 	rain
 * 5) river
 * 6) lake
 * 7) sea
 * 8) salt
 * 9) stone
 * 10) sand
 * 11) dust
 * 12) earth
 * 13) cloud
 * fog
 * sky
 * 1) wind
 * 2) snow
 * ice
 * 1) smoke
 * 2) fire
 * ash
 * 1) to burn
 * 2) road
 * 3) mountain
 * 4) red
 * 5) green
 * 6) yellow
 * 7) white
 * 8) black
 * 9) night
 * 10) day
 * 11) year
 * 12) warm
 * 13) cold
 * 14) full
 * new
 * old
 * 1) good
 * bad
 * 1) rotten
 * 2) dirty
 * 3) straight
 * 4) round
 * 5) sharp (as a knife)
 * 6) dull (as a knife)
 * 7) smooth
 * wet
 * 1) dry
 * 2) correct
 * 3) near
 * far
 * 1) right
 * 2) left
 * at
 * in
 * 1) with
 * and
 * if
 * 1) because
 * 2) name

Kixitaill
The Kixitaill /kʲəxʲətˤʲələlə/ [ciçetˤʲeləl] (singular kixitail /kʲəxʲətˤʲələ/ [ciçetˤʲel]) are like gods. They exist in a parallel reality and can affect the reality of the dimension of i.e. speakers of Skulinga. Like humans, they will eventually die and fade from their reality, and when they die, the people they represent will be assimilated into other people. They can also choose to kill cultures, and even individual people, at will.

Some notable Kixitaill in the mythology of the Takaka Skulingavu include:


 * Xaircaisaisixi /xˤʲət͡ʃˤʲəsˤʲəsʲəxʲə/ [ħʲet͡ɕˤɛsˤʲesʲiç] - creator of the entire universe and reality itself
 * Kixitail Skulinga /kʲəxʲətˤʲələsəkʷəlʲənəgˤə/ [ciçetˤʲeləsukʷylʲinɑgˤ] - direct creator of Skulinga and the Takaka Skulingavu, also known as Skiudmanaisakaipa
 * Kixitail Xaka /kʲəxʲətˤʲələxˤəkˤə/ [ciçetˤʲelɑħɑkˤ] - indirect creator of Skulinga
 * Blaubdumu /bəlˤʷəbədʷəmʷə/ [bɒlˤʷɒbudʷumʷ] - indirect creator of Skulinga

Mythology
The Takaka Skulingavu have a creation myth for their people. They were created when Kixitail Xaka created something similar to a creation by Blaubdumu. Xaircaisaisixi mistook Skiudmanaisakaipa, who had not yet created Skulinga, for the rather dissimilar-looking Blaubdumu. It was then that Xaiqcaisaisixi compared the creation of Kixitail Xaka to "Skulinga". Kixitail Skulinga was confused, then inspired, and created Skulinga and the Takaka Skulingavu in reference to Blaubdumu and Kixitail Xaka.