Noolang

Noolang (Nÿlang) is a conlang that is a combination of an artistic language and engineered language. It has no diphthongs and uses the Latin alphabet, and is inspired mostly by Indo-European languages such as English, French, Spanish, German, etc. However, it has many unique attributes to it. Most of the vocabulary is completely invented, except for a few words, including countries, oceans, the cardinal points and a few other similar cases.

= Writing =

Periods
Periods in Noolang are used to end sentences. They are followed by two spaces.

Commas
Commas are used to: Commas are followed by one space.
 * Isolate phrases that modify nouns, verbs or other words. Eg: The cat, which is very fat, is happy.
 * Seperate items in a list of of words, be it nouns, adjectives, verbs, etc. Eg: I want eggs, cheese, salad and milk.
 * Seperate clauses (which, in Noolang, include noun phrases) or other phrases, including quotes. Eg: I ate my cake, after which I watched a movie.
 * In numbers, as a decimal seperator. Eg: The value of pi is approximately 3,14.

Spaces
Spaces are used as a decimal seperator for numbers that equal to or are larger than 10,000. Eg: There are over 6 000 000 000 people on this planet. For numbers inferior to 10,000 there are no spaces (eg: 1000, 3599, 7290, 9999).

Semicolons
Semicolons are used solely to seperate items in a situation where commas can't be used. Eg: The numbers are 4,56; 3,9; 7 and 2,33. Semicolons aren't preceded by any spaces, but are followed by a space.

Colons
Colons are used to: Colons aren't preceded by any spaces and are followed by a single space (except when used to indicate time, in which case no spaces surround them).
 * Introduce an explanation or a cause. Eg: The cat is fat: it has been eating unhealthy food.
 * Introduce a consequence. Eg: The cat has been eating unhealthy food: it is fat.
 * Introduce a list of elements (nouns, adjectives, etc.) Eg: That man is many things: kind, generous, handsome and much more.
 * Introduce an explanation. Eg: There was only one possible explanation: the train had never arrived.
 * Indicate time. Eg: It is 9:37 AM.

Hyphens
Hyphens are, in general, used to join words which need to be tied but are seperate words (eg: The man-eating shark is dead). However, rules surrounding the hyphen are very loose, and they can be used for many things, such as telephone numbers or seperation of suffixes. The hyphen is not surrounded by any spaces.

Capitalization
The only words in noolang that can be capitalized are proper nouns and words at the beginning of a sentence which ends in a period.

= Grammar =

Pronouns and verbs
The following table shows personal pronouns in noolang.

Verbs in noolang follow 2 rules which are unlike many languages:


 * 1) They aren't conjugated with the subject, but instead with the tense.
 * 2) They are never irregular.

An example of how verbs are conjugated only with the tense is present in the following table.

In the previous example, the root Koc never changes. What does change however is the suffix, which changes not according to the subject, but according to the tense of the word (these suffixes are the same for all verbs). So, whenever the tense is present, it will be Kocäk, whether the subject is "cal" (singular "you") or "lak vijïda" (the dog). Listed below are all tenses, their suffix and their use.

Infinitive
"Hadava" in noolang. The suffix for this tense is ak. The infinitive is used like the infinitive form in most languages, that is as a way to turn the verb into a noun.

Present
"Nätiç" in noolang. The suffix for this tense is äk. The present is very general and is used to describe anything that is currently happening, that is done generally in the present (for example, "I eat eggs for breakfast"), to describe something, etc. Here are two example sentences that show the use of the present (note: the use of the word "kno", which appears in the second example sentence, will be explained later).


 * 1) I eat pancakes every sunday: Bal kocäk lokÿv panukakô da unskolo.
 * 2) I'm eating pancakes: Bal kno kocäk lokÿv panukakô.

Past
"Gevlï" in noolang. The suffix for this tense is ek. The past is like the present in the sense that it is very general. It is basically used for anything that began, happened and/or ended in the past. Here are two example sentences that show the use of the present (note: the use of the word "kno", which appears in the second example sentence, will be explained later).


 * 1) Yesterday, I ate pancakes: Banôs, bal kocek lokÿv panukakô.
 * 2) I was eating pancakes when my brother came in: Bal kno kocek lokÿv panukakô vatse balne rÿta oktôzek.

Future
"Petsu" in noolang. The suffix for this tense is "ëk". Just like with the past and present tenses, the future tense is very general, and is used for any action in the future. Here are two example sentences that show the use of the present (note: the use of the word "kno", which appears in the second example sentence, will be explained later).


 * 1) Wednesday, I'll eat a pancake: Katuokolo, bal kocëk lak panukakô.
 * 2) Wednesday, I'll be eating a pancake: Katuokolo, bal kno kocëk lak panukakô.

Present conditional
"Vlagas nätiçi" in noolang. The suffix for this tense is "êk". Just like in romance languages, the conditional actually acts like a mood (like indicative), and not a tense. The conditional expresses the hypothetical and the possible. In English it is expressed using would and sometimes should or could. Here is an example sentence that shows the use of the present conditional:

"I would be happy if I had pancakes": Bal krêk gaetani öba bal pojkazäk lokÿv panukakô. (Note how in noolang the verb that accompanies the present conditional in the same sentence is in the present tense).

Past conditional
"Vlagas gevlïi" in noolang. The suffix for this tense is "ik". The use of the past conditional is like the use of the present conditional, except that it's for something hypothetical/possible in the past. The following example sentence shows this:

"I would have been happy if I had pancakes": Mal krik gaetani öba mal pojkazek lokÿv panukakô.

Present imperative
"Ayecu nätiçi" in noolang. The suffix for this tense is "ïk". Just like the conditional, the imperative is actually a mood. The imperative mood (whether it's in present or future tense) can only be used with the "cal", "fal", "gal" and "hal" pronouns. This tense is used for orders/suggestions that are in the present or need to be done in the present. The following 2 example sentences help show this:


 * 1) Let's eat: Gal kocïk.
 * 2) Make some pancakes: Cal hiÿtïk lokÿv panukakô. (Notice how in noolang there is always a pronoun/subject, even in the imperative mood)

Future imperative
"Ayecu petsui" in noolang. The suffix for this tense is "ok". The imperative mood (whether it's in present or future tense) can only be used with the "tal", "cal", "malÿv" and "talÿv" pronouns. The future imperative is used like the present imperative, except that all orders/suggestions are for the future, as shown in the following example sentence:

"Have the pancakes ready by suppertime": Cal pojkazok lakÿv panukakô fidöji weqa ocinÿ lusbadi.

Adjectival form
The adjectival (Kanÿct in noolang) is used in a similar way to the past participle. Basically, as the name says, it’s an adjective form of the verb. That is why to write the adjectival the letter “I” is added to the infinitive (the reasoning behind this being that all adjectives in Noolang finish with the letter "I"). So, the adjectival form always ends with "aki".

Subjunctive
In noolang, verbs don't change because they are in subjunctive form and have a relative pronoun preceding them (like in romance languages). Instead, they follow the english model, where a relative pronoun (in the case of noolang, Fen) doesn't change the verb. The direct translation of "fen" is "that" (as in 'The boy that ate the cookie').

Kno
The word “kno” is always placed right before the verb when it is used. It is used to designate anything that is “in the process of happening”. Adding this word is like turning the verb into a progressive form. It can be used with all tenses except the infinitive and the present imperative. The following table shows how the word is used with different tenses.

Fuçu
The word “fuçu” is, like with the word kno, always placed right before the verb when it is used. It is used to turn a verb into the noolang equivalent of the perfect form, which basically means that the word designates anything that is finished, whether it’s in the past, present or future. It can only be used with the present, past and future tenses. The table below shows how it is used.

In a case where both "kno" and "fuçu" are used, the word fuçu goes first, followed by kno. For example, the sentence "Bal fuçu kno kocäk", which means "I have been eating".

Word order
The word order in noolang is SVO (Subject Verb Object). Adjectives go after the word that they modify, as do adverbs.

Word endings
In noolang, different parts of speech/grammatical cases have special endings (either single letters or syllables) reserved for them. Listed below are all of those reserved endings.

Adjectives
Adjectives in noolang HAVE TO finish with "i", and any other word cannot end with that letter. This is useful in the sense that it makes the creation of adjectives based on nouns very easy. For example, "circle" is dehet, and "circular" is deheti. Whenever there are proper nouns that normally would end with "i", the typical way to make them appropriate for Noolang is to add the letter "a" at the end (for example, the Noolang version of Māori is "Maoria"). If somebody wanted to create an adjective based on a proper noun (not a common noun) that ended with "ia", the "ia" would simply be replaced with "i" (therefore, "The maori clothing" in noolang is "Lak djets maori", and not "Lak djets maoriai"). Except for such cases, the rule is always to simply add the letter "i".

Verbs
Verbs are always regular, therefore are always conjugated normally, and therefore their endings are always the same (ak, äk, ek, etc.)

Adverbs
Adverbs in noolang can be used for verbs, adjectives, nouns or other adverbs. When an adjective is being turned into an adverb (for example, "happy" into "happily"), 'ask' is added to the end. For example, gaetani (happy) and gaetaniask (happily). Other adverbs which are not based on adjectives and have functions other than that of adverb have variable endings. However, words that are not based on adjectives but are always adverbs (like "çask", which means 'not') always end with 'ask', with the exception of "kno" and "fuçu".

Possessive form
To turn a word into the possive form (for example, "The mother" into "The mother's"), the letters "ne" are added to the end (so, in reference to the previous example, "Lak ukre" becomes "Lak ukrene"). If a word already finished with the letter n, then the letters 'ene' are added to the end. Words that are by definition possessive (like "Balne", which is composed of 'Bal', which means "I" or "me", and 'ne', so therefore means "my" or "mine") also always finish with "ne" or "ene".

Plural form
When a determiner or a pronoun is being made plural, the letters 'ÿv' are added to the end (for example, lakÿv). In a case where both the plural and possessive form are present, the ending of the word is 'ÿvne'. For example, "my cars" is "balÿvne nwico".

Negative
In noolang, when a noun, pronoun or verb is being made negative, the adverb "çask" (which means "not") is added before it (if there is presence of the words 'kno' or 'fuçu', 'çask' goes before them). For example, "Bal çask kno kocäk", which means I'm not eating. Another example with a pronoun would be "Çask dal!", which means Not him!.

= Dictionary =

Full dictionaries
Noolang to english

English to noolang

Numbers
The "roots" of the main numbers (0 to 9) are in bold, as those are important to the construction of all further numbers.

0 = Radna

1 = Tefna

2 = Lagna

3 = Tikna

4 = Vasna

5 = Lafna

6 = Jwÿna

7 = Bôqna

8 = Gecna

9 = Dêsna

10 = Tefonrad

11 = Tefontef

12 = Tefonlag

13 = Tefontik

14 = Tefonvas

15 = Tefonlaf

16 = Tefonjwÿ

17 = Tefonbôq

18 = Tefongec

19 = Tefondês

20 = Lagonrad

21 = Lagontef

100 = Lam

101 = Lam-tefna

142 = Lam-vasonlag

242 = Lagna-lam-vasonlag

1000 = Boc

2242 = Lagna-boc-lagna-lam-vasonlag

10,000 = Tefonrad-boc

1,000,000 = Reg

1,000,000,000 = Tin

1,000,000,000,000 = Vos

1,000,000,000,000,000 = Lep

Days
Sunday = Unskolo

Monday = Dokolo

Tuesday = Tqekolo

Wednesday = Katuokolo

Thursday = Kinkolo

Friday = Siksakolo

Saturday = Saptokolo

Months
January = Unspace

February = Dopace

Mars = Tqepace

April = Katuopace

May = Kinpace

June = Siksapace

July = Saptopace

August = Hoktopace

September = Nanpace

October = Desopace

November = Hundaspace

December = Dudaspace

Countries (denonyms)
Full list, which also includes cities: Toponymy and denonyms in Noolang

The first part of the parenthesis is the denonym as an adjective and the second part, as a noun.

Algeria = Aljazair (Aljazairi -- Aljazairta)

Argentina = Aqhentina (Aqhentinai -- Aqhentinata)

Australia = Ostqalia (Ostqali -- Ostqaliata)

Brasil = Bqazyÿ (Bqazyÿi -- Bqazyÿta)

Canada = Kanada (Kanadai -- Kanadata)

China = Tcungkuo (Tcungkuoi -- Tcungkuota)

France = Frans (Fransi -- Fransta)

Germany = Doitcland (Doitclandi -- Doitclandata)

Indonesia = Indonesia (Indonesi -- Indonesiata)

Italy = Italia (Itali -- Italiata)

Japan = Nihon (Nihoni -- Nihonta)

Mexico = Mëhiko (Mëhikoi -- Mëhikota)

Russia = Rosiya (Rosiyai -- Rosiyata)

Saudi Arabia = Arabia-Saÿdi (Arabi-Saÿdi -- Arabia-Saÿdita)

South Africa = Afrika-Sÿdi (Afrikai-Sÿdi -- Afrika-Sÿdita)

Sweden = Tsvaqiya (Tsvaqiyai -- Tsvaqiyata)

Tanzania = Tanzania (Tanzani -- Tanzaniata)

United Kingdom = Lvënozef-Yÿblandi (Lvënozefi-Yÿblandi, Lvënozefi, Britici -- Lvënizef-Yÿblandita, Britic)

United States of America = Defron-Amerikani-Yÿblandi (Defroni-Amerikani-Yÿblandi, Defroni, Amerikani -- Defron-Amerikani-Yÿblandita, Amerikan)

Languages
Arabic = Arabiya

Chinese = Hanyu

English = Englic

French = Franse

German = Doitc

Italian = Italiano

Russian = Rÿskia

Spanish = Espanyol

Swahili = Kiswahilia

= Example texts = Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean. It is the world's second largest country by total area and its common border with the United States to the south and northwest is the longest in the world.

'''Kanada kräk lok endoz fen holäk muma lak Nord-Amerika nordi, fen êtcäk kans lak dobra atlantiki tva lak esd jeknotc lak dobra pasifiki tva lak wesd oks jeknotc dobra aqtiki tva lak nord. Sël kräk lak ofnegerungne endoz lagnaeto dota hïkandi dovo vurmasa sumni oks sëlne jazefne uyanaki kaqap lak Defron-Yÿblandi tva lak sÿd oks nord-wesd kräk lak ofnegerungne dota häkindi.'''

I came, I saw, I conquered (Veni, vidi, vici)

Bal taolek, bal paklek, bal viçabenek

Come here, I want to show you something. My father gave me this when I was twelve years old, and I've always kept it by my side ever since.

Cal taolïk ganz, bal yalpäk monstrak koztaf cal. Balne okre batek lyis bal poê bal hÿqotäk tefonlag, oks ahui bal fuçu kno duvisäk dël tafen kaqap bal.

Music is an art that puts sounds together in a way that people like or find interesting. Most music includes people singing with their voices or playing musical instruments, such as the piano, guitar, or drums. The word music comes from the Greek word μουσική (mousike), which means "(art) of the Muses". In Ancient Greece the nine Muses were goddesses of music, poetry, art, and dance. Someone who makes music is called a musician.

'''Lak give kräk lok taksos fen lavnesäk lokÿv kultabô yÿblandiask ëkaqigask fen lak centa ovnadäk zej bakwetäk nêdzali. Muma lak give kandaqäk lok centa kno lestareäk kaqap jalne yarösla zej kno giveäk, teçia lak nutse, lak efebëna zej lak dumtÿm. Lak badho music delaestäk vanguqf lak badho elavai μουσική (mÿzik), fen jdavneäk "Taksos asam lakÿv Mÿz". Tva Elava konrÿni lakÿv dêsna Mÿz krek lokÿv diknata dwovi êkÿ lak mÿzik, lak haçetÿ, lak taksos oks lak teksal. Lok paqag fen hatzäk lok give tsekugäk giveta.'''