Cvsoyseng

Cvsoyseng, (CVSOY - Cvsoy +SENG - language), pronounced [ʧʊ.sɔĭ.sǝ̀:ŋ] is an International Auxiliary Language. It is aimed at having a simple, straightforward grammar that will not give any one group of people an unfair advantage when learning. It was devised in 2010 by Robert Xun, former Esperantist and then Gurcajist.

The vocabulary is mainly based on Indo-European, Austronesian, and Sino-Tibetan languages, but there are many words from other languages and autochthonous words. The grammar is similar to that of Tagalog, but in reality they are not related. The phonology is essentially Manchu with slightly more flexibility.

The language can be written in three different ways: with the Latin orthography, with the Manchu orthography, and with the Cvsoyseng orthography, the latter two only used in artistic and formal context. Furthermore, it is possible to adapt Cyrillic to fit the language.

Phonology
/s/ can have several different pronunciations at the end of a word if used to mark the indirect case. After a vowel or consonant from the first row of the table below, it is pronounced normally, syllabically in the latter case. After a fourth-row, fifth-row, or sixth-row consonant, it is pronounced the same as the corresponding first-row consonant. When it occurs after y or nj, s is pronounced as [c].

/nn/ may be used at the end of a prefix, and may hold the value of any fourth-row consonant depending on the consonant that comes after it. Whatever column that consonant is in, the fourth-row consonant of nn is in the same column. For example, if a prefix "unn-" is attached to "foyel," nn becomes m because it is in the same column as f, so the combination is written and pronounced as umfoyel.

Phonotactics
Consonants can be arranged as such:


 * All consonants can appear at the beginning of a syllable.


 * Consonants in the first, third, and fifth columns can appear at the end of a syllable, except c. S may appear at the end of a word if used to mark the indirect case.


 * Consonants in the fifth row can appear between consonants in the first or second row and a vowel in a single syllable, but sixth-row consonants can only be after first-row consonants in a single syllable.


 * Affricates are allowed for labial, alveolar, and velar consonants, aspirated and non-aspirated.


 * When a first-row consonant and h appear together, they are written as p-h, t-h, c-h, and k-h. Second row consonants and fricatives are written as pfh, tsh, cxh, and khh.


 * Allowed diphthongs are in the form vowel+fifth-row consonant, not including uw and iy.

Basic Grammar
The grammar of Gurcaj, Cvoyseng's predecessor, was based off of Quechua, English, and Chinese. The grammar of Gurcaj remained largely the same, but it recieved influence from Filipino.

Sentence Structure
Cvsoyseng is a head-first language language.

Verbs and Nouns
Normally, a Cvsoy root is in the form VSO, Verb Subject Object, emphasizing the subject. One can remember easily because it is in the name of the language (Cvsoy). Since the subject and object are marked seperately, a VOS subject is equally fine, but it still emphasizes the subject.

The noun system is as follows:

There are three types of nouns: ergative, absolutive, and oblique.

Ergative: Similar to a subject of a sentence in English, the ergative is basically something that acts on another object.

Absolutive: Basically the direct object of a sentence, acted upon by a subject. Bear in mind that in Cvsoyseng, adjectives and nouns that do not involve both a subject and object. For example, in the sentence "I jump," I is an absolutive. This comes with practice, but eventually it can be accomplished.

Oblique: This covers anything that could be followed by a preposition in English and many western European languages, as well as serving as the indirect object. Without a preposition before it, a noun marked as oblique is translated as "for (noun)" if the noun is a proper name or other depiction of a person (e.g. teacher, woman). If the noun is not a person, then it can be translated as "inside (noun)."

While there are three types of nouns, a clause (in the VSO structure) technically can only hold two types of nouns of the three, without adding extra nouns before the verb. The subject is henceforth referred to as "the direct noun" and the object as "the indirect noun" to avoid confusion.

Kharan yow injaws.

Look-pres I bird-indefsing-indir.

I am looking at a bird.

This is a standard sentence in the form Verb, Ergative, Absolutive. The emphasis is placed on "yow," the ergative. Note the infix "-ar-" placed inside the root khan, "look," indicating this is a standard sentence.

Kharan            injaws              yow. Look-pres    bird-indefsing-indir      I. I am looking at a bird. This sentence means the exact same thing. It is perfectly fine to switch around a direct noun and an indirect noun as long as they are marked the same way. Emphasis is still on "yow"

Khinan     injaw         yows. Look-pres bird-indefsing I-indirect. A bird is being looked at by me.

This sentence is passivized per se with the infix "-in-." Yow becomes the indirect noun and injaw becomes the direct noun. The sentence conveys the same information as the first two sentences, but the emphasis is now on the fact that it is a bird that is being looked at.

Fipel     yow  vs. Happy-pres  I  him/her. I am being happy on behalf of him/her.

In this case, yow is the direct noun, and v is the indirect noun. The direct noun acts as the absolutive, and indirect as oblique. Note how the absolutive is in this case described by the verb, due to the absolutive-ergative alignment. The infix in this case is -ip-.

On a side note, it is possible to shorten this sentence:

Fipel yow vs. Fipel y ow vs. Fipel yvs.

This only works when there are two pronouns next to each other. Cut off everything from the vowel of the first pronoun to the consonant (if any) of the second pronoun.

Back to the main point, it is possible to create any permutation of two nouns from the three cases, based on the chart below, under inflections. However, there is still a further sentence construction.

Hoyvn       nan     fems. Marry-pres  man     woman-indir. The man is marrying the woman (now).

This is known as the reciprocal construction. Because marrying something inherently involves being married to, the infix -oy- is necessary.

Soreng           nan         fems. Speak-present    man         woman-indir. The man is speaking with the woman.

This describes a much different case, but it is still reciprocal. The method for creating this construction is if the direct noun acts as an ergative, while the indirect noun acts as an oblique. The difference is that the indirect noun acts upon the direct noun in the same way. Thus the man is speaking to the woman, and the woman is speaking to the man. This is not limited to nouns that hold indirect objects in English.

Tshoye   njaw   yows. Eat-pres bird  I-indir. The bird and I ate on behalf of each other.

The second and final use of the -or- infix is for intransitive verbs, verbs that cannot take an ergative noun, or an object. These include adjectives and verbs such as "to jump," "to go," and others.

Foyel      yow. Happy-pres  I. I am happy.

or

Soyonj        njaw. sleep-pres bird-indir. The bird is sleeping. If a noun needs to be in a sentence, but it doesn't follow the original patterns, e.g. it needs to contain absolutive, ergative, and oblique, there is a way to get around it, and that is using the particle ing.

Nanj     ing       kharan             injaw              yows. You     -       look             bird-indef         I-accus. For you the bird looks at me.

Nanj immediately takes the remaining applicable case, which is in this case the oblique. There should be nothing between the noun, ing, and the verb.

̣•S stands for ergative case, O for absolutive, and I for oblique.

Aspect
Verbs conjugate according to aspect rather than tense in Cvsoyeng. There are three aspects:
 * 1) PERFECT: the action is completed cleanly without any loose ends—This tense is marked with the trigger infix placed before the verb (oysonj).
 * 2) IMPERFECT: the action is under way, with loose ends—This tense is marked with the trigger infix placed before the first vowel in a verb (soyonj).
 * 3) CONTEMPLATED: the action is to take place and explicitly has not started—This tense is marked with the trigger infix placed after the verb (sonjoy).

Inflections
Below are inflections of a root seng.

SENG: to speak, say

ACT or STATE: sengaw ADJECTIVE: senghay

•OO signifies an intransitive verb or reciprocal action.

Approximate English translations of above

ACT or STATE: speaking ADJECTIVE: relating to speaking

Example text
(c) Robert Xun 2010