Angos

Angos is an a posteriori international auxiliary language. It started out as an auxiliary for English, Chinese, and Spanish; it had a balance between each language's complexity and expressive features. Now, the language draws its influence from a number of different languages, including Arabic, Hindi, Japanese, and even Basque. This language was co-developed by users Detectivekenny, Panglossa, and Razlem, with some others.

"Angos" ['aŋ.gos] simply means "Artificial Language". This page is a comprehensive grammar. For a basic introduction, including learning resources, visit the site below.

Visit the official Angos site @ http://angoslanguage.wikispaces.com/

Phonology
Vowels: [a], [e], [i], [o], [u]

Consonants: [p], [t], [k], [b], [d], [g], [m], [n], [w], [j] (y), [h], [f], [s], [r~l] (rhotic is allowable), [v]

The digraph ng may be pronounced [ŋɡ]

Diphthongs: aw, ew, iw, ow, ay, ey, oy, uy

Stress: Penultimate

Syllable Structure (C = consonant; V = vowel; S = semivowel) A liquid (unless at the beginning or end of a root) must be preceded and succeeded by a vowel or semivowel. The combinations sk, st, and sp are preceded by a vowel if they appear at the beginning of a word.
 * V
 * VC
 * CV
 * SV
 * CVS
 * SVC
 * CVC
 * SVS
 * CCV
 * CSV
 * CSVS
 * CSVC

Language Characteristics
Angos is a language which is lightly inflected and has a tendency to isolate. A few unique innovations are also present in the language:

Medial Vowel System
Drawing from similar IALs, this language features a classification system where the last vowel indicates the part of speech.

Nouns: 'o'

Verbs: 'a'

Adjectives: 'i'

Adverbs: 'u'

Other (conjunctions, prepositions, particles): e

Natural and Artificial Noun Distinction
In this language, parts of speech are distinguished as either naturi (natural) or omsanati (artificial, i.e man-made). Natural words take a vowel, and to denote an artificial quality, an "s" can be added.

Word Derivation and Morphology
Angos is a noun-based language, meaning every non-particle has a noun root.

For example, the full inflection of the word ot meaning "fire":

Now for a usual verb, "to have". The noun for this is a "grip" or "hold", b-

A word of caution: words in this language are meant to be ambiguous as to facilitate conversation. The reasoning behind this system is (noun [action]), where the action is whatever the context allows. The first example ota "to fire", can be taken as "go to a fire" or "to start a fire". The second example verb is "to have a grip of something" or "to get a grip of something", as in to make something in your grip or hold, to have it in your grip or on your person.
 * ba - to get, have, know, understand, take

The verb "to be" is omitted completely.


 * I am a [noun] = Wo [noun]


 * I am [adjective] = Wo [adjective]

Other Derivatives

Person who is doing VERB = endocentric compound (giomo = runner)

Person who does VERB habitually = semu (semu giomo = runner)

Person who does VERB professionally = purofus (purofus giomo = professional runner)

Place with lots of NOUN, Place where VERB is done = -oy- (pohonojo = forest) (aroyos = kitchen)

Determining Gender
All nouns are inherently a neutral gender.

Person - omo

Male - na-

Female - ni-

The gender is placed at the beginning of the compound (for more info on compounding, see the Compounding section below):

Man = na-omo


 * Example: male runner = na-gi-omo (the gender precedes all other parts of the compound)

Woman = ni-omo


 * Example: female runner = ni-gi-omo

No Plural Inflections
This language does not include inflections for plurals normally found in other IALs, nor does it include traditional articles. The particle "re" functions as a plural marker. Demonstrative correlatives are used in place of definite articles.


 * I see a cow - Wo via sapio [lit. I see cow]
 * I see cows - Wo via re sapio [lit. I see (more than one) cow]
 * I see the cow - Wo via fome sapio [lit. I see this cow]
 * I see the cows - Wo via fome re sapio [lit. I see this (more than one) cow}

Particles
Angos employs heavy use of particles to determine aspect, tense, mood, etc. The polar particles se and ne can be attached to other particles to emphasize or negate respectively.

Tense:


 * {| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="width: 500px; "


 * style="text-align: center; "|Tense
 * style="text-align: center; "|Angos
 * style="text-align: center; "|English Translation
 * style="text-align: center; "|Present Tense
 * style="text-align: center; "|ara
 * style="text-align: center; "|cook
 * style="text-align: center; "|Past Tense
 * style="text-align: center; "|me ara
 * style="text-align: center; "|cooked
 * style="text-align: center; "|Future Tense
 * style="text-align: center; "|ke ara
 * style="text-align: center; "|will cook
 * }
 * style="text-align: center; "|ke ara
 * style="text-align: center; "|will cook
 * }

Moods:


 * Interrogative - tse (must always begin the question): Tse to ara? - Do you cook? (this is only used if there is no interrogative correlative)
 * {| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="width: 500px; "


 * style="text-align: center; "|Modal Particles
 * style="text-align: center; "|Positive
 * style="text-align: center; "|Translation
 * style="text-align: center; "|Negative
 * style="text-align: center; "|Translation
 * style="text-align: center; "|Ability
 * style="text-align: center; "|seare
 * style="text-align: center; "|can
 * style="text-align: center; "|neare
 * style="text-align: center; "|can not
 * style="text-align: center; "|Permission
 * style="text-align: center; "|seste
 * style="text-align: center; "|may
 * style="text-align: center; "|neste
 * style="text-align: center; "|may not
 * style="text-align: center; "|Necessity
 * style="text-align: center; "|semye
 * style="text-align: center; "|must, have to
 * style="text-align: center; "|nemye
 * style="text-align: center; "|must not
 * style="text-align: center; "|Desire
 * style="text-align: center; "|seve
 * style="text-align: center; "|want, would like
 * style="text-align: center; "|neve
 * style="text-align: center; "|do not want, would not like
 * }
 * style="text-align: center; "|want, would like
 * style="text-align: center; "|neve
 * style="text-align: center; "|do not want, would not like
 * }


 * The negative necessity modal nemye means explicitly "must not" as in "You must not cook": To nemye ara. To say something like "You do not have to cook", you would place a negative marker in front of the positive modal: To ne semye ara (You no must cook)
 * Directive commands can be expressed with just the verb:

Ara! (Eat) Ne ara! (Don't eat)


 * Volitive commands are expressed with -vame:

Sevame gia! (Let's go!) Nevame gia (let's not go)

Evidentiality and Epistemic Modality:

Comparison:

Polarity:

Particle Placement
Particles go before whatever they modify.

Syntax
Basic sentence structure (unmodified) is SVO: Wo kerea goro (I throw the ball).

Passive voice is formed with the particle te preceding the verb: Goro te kerea swe wo (The ball is thrown by me).

Modifiers
Place the modifier before whatever it modifies.

[Wo] [miru] [ne ba mao]

In the case above, the negative polar particle ne can only go before ba (it will only negate the succeeding word). Mao is an object and must directly succeed the verb unless it is being modified (e.g: ...ba bari mao)

Prepositional Phrases
A prepositional phrase is constructed:


 * ([prepositional particle] + [object modifiers] + [object])

Prepositional phrases precede the verb.

[Dyon] '[hie re ayntsios] '[ara] . (John eats on Sundays)

Verb Transitivity
Transitive and intransitive verbs are unmarked.

Transitive: Wo mabada [object] = I change [an object]

Intransitive: Wo raksa = I dance

Compounding
Angos uses endocentric compounding, in which A+B denotes a special kind of B. In Angos, compounding is generally used for artificial words with no natural counterparts. Stress is placed on the penultimate syllable of each root in the compound.

Store
 * tovar = merchandise
 * oy = place
 * tovar + oy + Part of Speech Marker = tovaroyos = store [lit. merchandise place]

Windmill

mag = grain
 * oy = place
 * mag + oy + POS marker = magoyos = granary/mill [lit. seed place]
 * baver = wind
 * baver + magoyos = bavermagoyos = windmill [lit. wind seed place]

Television


 * vi = eye


 * mek = machine, mechanism


 * vimekos = TV [lit. eye machine]

Telephone


 * ans = conversation


 * mek = machine, mechanism


 * ansmekos = telephone [lit. conversation machine]

Computer


 * no = brain


 * mek = machine, mechanism


 * nomekos = computer [lit. brain machine]

Nouns
The noun inventory in Angos is relatively low, only a little more than 500 lexical roots (as of June 2011). But when inflected, there are more than 4000 distinct words.



The pie chart above shows the percentage of the language groups whose vocabulary was used in creating Angos.

Pronouns
The pronouns follow the same inflection rules as other nouns. However, when used as adjectives, they become possessive pronouns (my, your, their, our)

Particles
(prepositions, conjunctions, other) *Swe is a possessive marker, not a genitive. The only exceptions to its usage are the pronouns, which use the adjective ending to denote possession.

**Ine and daje are strictly spatial particles (e.g. I am in the house - Wo ine reisos). The particle hie is strictly temporal and would be used for phrases like "on Sunday" (hie ajntsios) or "in three hours" (hie tin tjaso).

Using the Table of Correlatives
Questions are always in the format: Particle-Subject-Verb-Object

The interrogative correlatives (as well as the particle 'tse') act as clause enhancers; they will always begin the question.


 * Koe to gia? - Where are you going?


 * Tse to kafeoya? - Are you going to the coffee shop?


 * Tse ro paniiko? - Is it blue?

Relative interrogatives are formed with the addition of the particle "tu":


 * Wo ba te kome mu feywa - I know who did it

Estukos Ayn swe Om-Pirav-Ipos
Article One of the Declaration of Human Rights