Liubishuhulandianese

Introduction
Liubishuhulandianese is a language spoken in the UCN (Unofficial Confederate Nations), an international organization of nations located in Texas, Svalbard, Kerguelen, and other places around the world. The UCN actually exists, and considers the United Nations as unofficial. It is only called the Unofficial Confederate Nations so it won't get in trouble with the UN. With a culture so unique, the UCN needs a language to unite its Nations. Therefore, Liubishuhulandianese was created. Liubishuhulandianese is named after the UCN's first nation, Liubishuhuland. People of the UCN, especially of Liubishuhuland, use this language on a daily basis mainly for communication.

The script is written in a vertical cursive script. However, due to the diffusion of the Latin alphabet and the necessity to type Liubishuhulandianese, the language is also written with Latin letters without diacritics.

Pronunciation is rather difficult, as there are many phonemes, most of which are consonants. There are pulmonic consonants, affricates, co-articulated consonants, clicks, implosives, and ejectives, but pulmonic consonants are the most frequent. Some consonants are not found on the IPA chart.

Vocabulary is derivational, and since Liubishuhulandianese is a analytic language, there are a variety of grammatical particles. Each word in Liubishuhulandianese has a root form, which is usually a noun, verb, or adjective. By adding affixes, the part of speech and meaning of a word can change. Therefore, Liubishuhulandianese is not an isolating language. Liubishuhulandianese affixes are applied to most words, even to loan words, the majority of which originate in Mandarin Chinese. Greek, Latin, English, Arabic, and other languages also contribute to Liubishuhulandianese vocabulary.

Liubishuhulandian grammar is very straightforward and intuitive. Particles can be used to define subjects and predicates, show possession, and modify the sentence structure or tone. Inflection is nearly nonexistent in Liubishuhulandianese. Sentence structure is rather fluid and is based on context.

Liubishuhulandianese idea expression is vocabulary-based, meaning that sentences are to be interpreted literally and word-for-word. Prepositional idioms are not confusing because each preposition is only used in a specific set of situations. Lexical units are generally short, although there are a few idioms.

The name "Liubishuhulandianese" consists of two English demonymic suffixes, "-ian" and "-ese". This gives the impression of a place named "Liubishuhulandian", but the double suffix serves a purpose—to distinguish the language from the people. Hence, a Liubishuhulandian lives in Liubishuhuland and speaks Liubishuhulandianese. In Liubishuhulandianese, the word "Liubishuhu" is an adjective, and can modify the words "ren" and "vo", which mean "person/persons" and "language", respectively.

Consonants
The IPA system is used here. Refer to the Alphabet section for Liubishuhulandianese graphology. Other consonants:

ǀ - tenuis dental click

ǁ - lateral coronal click

' - follows a consonant to make it an ejective

ɓ - bilabial implosive

ɗ - alveolar implosive

ʄ - palatal implosive

ɠ - velar implosive

ʛ - uvular implosive

d͡b - co-articulated /d/ and /b/

t͡p - co-articulated /t/ and /p/, aspirated

ɰʷ - labialized velar approximant ("w" sound in English)

Notes:

Most affricates are written with two separate, consecutive letters. See the Alphabet section for the exceptions "ch" and "j".

Unvoiced plosive consonants are aspirated to help distinguish them from their voiced (and unaspirated) counterparts.

Vowels
Notes:

The vowels /ɛ/ and /ə/ are represented by the same letter: "e" in the Latin alphabet. Generally, it is pronounced /ɛ/ when stressed and /ə/ when unstressed. It is very important that the letter "e" is pronounced correctly in each instance.

The vowels /a/, /ä/, and /ɑ/ are represented by the same letter: "a" in the Latin alphabet. These phonemes can be used interchangeably. Most Liubishuhulandians use a mixture of all three vowels in speech and can hardly tell the difference between them.

Some Liubishuhulandianese words have tones, but they are not necessary in common speech and are not written. In educated speech, the use of tones for certain words is more common. Tones are mostly borrowed from Mandarin Chinese.

Alphabet
Notes:

* The symbol "~" is placed between two consonants that are not meant to be pronounced as one sound. For example, "mv" would be pronounced as /ɱ/, but "m~v" would be pronounced as /mv/. Although some texts may still use the symbol "~", most have replaced it with"-".

** The symbol "'" (an apostrophe) makes the consonant before it an implosive consonant, but only if the consonant is repeated (i.e. written twice before the apostrophe).

*** The letters "nh" nasalize the preceding vowel.

Liubishuhulandianese has its own scripts, the Liubishuhulandianese script, which is written in vertical cursive, and a New Liubishuhulandian script. However, both scripts are not available digitally.

The letters "rh" rhotacizes the vowel it follows and is pronounced if a vowel immediately follows it.

Phonotactics
There are few, if any, phonotactic constraints in Liubishuhulandianese. There is theoretically no limit on the number of consonants in the onset and coda of a word, and it is possible for a word to have no nucleus.

A Liubishuhulandianese word generator program is available for Windows, and can be requested at www.liubishuhuland.co.nr on the Contact page. The phonotactics of the generated words sometimes violate Liubishuhulandian pronunciation rules, for instance, when an implosive consonant is written as a simultaneous ejective consonant. Newer versions of the program will be released in the future as bugs are fixed.

Word Order
Word order can appear in the following forms in the indicative and interrogative moods:

(S = subject/agent; V = verb; O = (direct) object; IO = indirect object; P = predicative modifier) The particles "bie" and "suu" must be succeeded by a object, which can take attributive modifiers. Modifiers will be explained later.
 * 1) S P ("bie" IO) ("ne"?)
 * 2) S "us" (O) V ("bie" IO) ("ne"?)
 * 3) S V ("ne"?)
 * 4) S V O ("bie" IO) ("ne"?)
 * 5) S "suu" O V ("bie" IO) ("ne"?)
 * 6) V S O ("bie" IO) ("ne"?)

"Bie" is the indirect object marker for ditransitive verbs, while "suu" is the direct object marker for ditransitive or monotransitive verbs. An indirect object must always carry "bie", but "suu" must only be used before a object that appears before a subject.

The particle "ne" changes an otherwise indicative sentence into a question. The answer is either "leth" (yes) or "fo" (no). Questions ending with "ne" are asked out of inquiry—the asker does not expect any particular answer. The word "ne" can be replaced by the word "be", which is used in situations of confirmation. This means that the asker believes that the answer to the question will be "leth", and is only asking to make sure.

In the first listed sentence structure, the predicative modifier can be a predicative adjective or a present participle. No verb is needed.

The second listed sentence structure is a passive construction. It required a subject, the particle "us", which makes a verb passive, and a transitive verb. The object is the agent in this case, and can be omitted if desired. If the transitive verb is ditransitive, then "bie", followed by an indirect object, can be used.

Dependent Clauses
Dependent clauses provide additional information to independent clauses, and there are several variations.

The Relative Clause
Relative clauses are modifiers of nouns and pronouns. Relative clauses are formed by adding the pronoun "yim", which is the only relative pronoun in Liubishuhulandianese, to the beginning of an indicative clause of sentence structure 1-5. This indicative clause must not take interrogative particles and must also be free of the antecedent:

Ha ashfi su xiaodenz yim ha yo muq suu uu s ananas nieg denz bie.

Gloss: I like the child who/that/which I ('s) mother (O marker) a/one (unit) pineapple give (past tense marker) (IO marker).

Translation: I like the child whom my mother gave a pineapple to.

Notice that the particle "bie" comes with no indirect object. The IO is actually the pronoun "yim", whose antecedent is the direct object, "su xiaodenz", in the independent clause. The antecedent and the pronoun "yim" can be subjects, direct objects, and indirect objects, and no declension is necessary at all.

The particle "yo" shows possession, so the relative possessive pronoun, "whose", is "yim yo", which can be used for any antecedent, not just a person or personified object:

Nat ya su tesu yim yo tesuqi klori.

Gloss: That be the country who/that/which ('s) country-flag green.

Translation: That is the country whose national flag is green.

Some relatives adverbs such as "narhdenz" (where) and "sherhdenz" (when) can be used in place of yim. "Nardenz" can follow prepositions to form two-word relative adverbs such as "fha narhdenz" (whither) and "afh narhdenz" (whence). "Ge yim" translates to "for which", and means "why" when used as a relative adverb:

Ha fo fhiddhallae su nyathic' ge yim ta fo ashfi ananas.

Gloss: I not know the reason for which he/she not like pineapple.

Translation: I do not know the reason why he/she does not like pineapple.

The Noun Clause
Noun clauses are embedded in a sentence and can follow the word "yim", although "yim" is not required. The noun clause can follow the following types of words: The noun clause does not have to immediately follow a word of the aforementioned types:
 * Verbs of thinking: zhen (think), fhiddhallae (know), etc.
 * Verbs of saying: pehe (say), oeqqha (lie), zufanh (sing), etc.
 * Certain nouns: ishc'e (idea), oeqqhai (lie), keneshi (possibility), etc.
 * Adjectives of feeling: sfuuxden (happy), fosfuuxden (unhappy), etc.

Fhiddhallae sisuu yim su xiaodenz fo wak su s ananas denz ne?

Gloss: Know you-plural that the child not eat the (unit) pineapple (past tense marker) (interrogative particle)?

Translation: Do you know that the child did not eat the pineapple?

The Adverbial Clause
Adverbial clauses will be discussed in the Conjunctions section.

Conjugation
Verbs in Liubishuhulandianese do not inflect, but they conjugate based on tenses and aspects with grammatical particles. The habitual aspect is used more commonly in writing and in educated speech. In colloquial speech, the simple aspect can be used in place of the habitual aspect:

Habitual: Ha wdhuu goen alas vhan dethbi.

Gloss: I (habitual aspect marker) go-to school each/every day.

Translation: I go to school every day.

Simple: Ha goen alas vhan dethbi.

Gloss: I go-to school each/every day.

Translation: I go to school each day.

In this case, "vhan" is interpreted as "every" when used to modify a habitual verb, but is interpreted as "each" when used to modify a simple verb. This is due to the fact that each instance of the verb's action is viewed as separate in the simple aspect. In the habitual aspect, though, each instance of the verb's action is viewed as a member of a set of repeated actions. In colloquial speech, the difference between "every" and "each" is almost nonexistent.

Modal Verbs
Modal verbs are the following: Modal verbs also fully conjugate, making Liubishuhulandianese unlike many other languages:
 * Ken - can, could, to have ability
 * Var - would, to have willingness or desire
 * In-ge - should, to have obligation or duty
 * Zh`en - may, to have permission
 * Bix - must, to have necessity
 * Dda - might, to have possibility
 * Sjaeth - dare, to have courage or defiance
 * Le - will, to have future inevitability

Ha le dda zh`en wak su s ananas.

Gloss: I will might may eat the (unit) pineapple.

Translation: In the future, I might have permission to eat the pineapple.

Nouns, Pronouns, and Determiners
Nouns do not decline in Liubishuhulandianese.

Pronouns and Determiners
Pronouns take the place of nouns, and come in several types: personal, demonstrative, relative, interrogative, indefinite, and quantifier pronouns.

Many pronouns can also be used as determiners to provide contextual information about the nouns they precede. Determiners always precede nouns.

Personal Pronouns
Personal pronouns are pluralized by adding the suffix "-suu". The third person pronouns are not gender-specific.

The 1st personal plural pronoun "hasuu" can be either exclusive or inclusive, depending on context.

There is no "formal you" in Liubishuhulandianese.

Demonstrative Pronouns and Determiners
Demonstrative pronouns are pluralized in the same way as personal pronouns are. All demonstrative pronouns can be used as determiners.

Relative Pronoun
The relative pronoun in Liubishuhulandian is "yim", which can mean "who", "that", or "which".

Interrogative Pronouns
Liubishuhulandianese interrogative pronouns do not decline and do not have to be fronted.

Each of these three pronouns has a possessive form, which is used only as a pronoun. Ta ya gis? OR Gis ya ta?

Gloss: He/she be who? OR Who be he/she?

Translation: Who is he/she?

In this case, "gis" is used as a pronoun. "Shendenz" and "wthe" can be used as determiners. For example:

Wthe ren la uu giao?

Gloss: Which person(s) have a/one cat?

Translation: Which persons(s) has/have a cat?

Notice that interrogative pronouns have no plurality.

Indefinite Pronouns
Indefinite pronouns can also be used as determiners. They can be used for people and objects and have singular, dual, and plural forms. "Bing" ("both") is the only dual indefinite pronoun that is treated as a plural pronoun. The other two dual indefinite pronouns are treated as singular pronouns. Each of these words can function as a pronoun when by itself and when part of a possessive construction.

Ofvhan ashfi ananas.

Gloss: Nobody/nothing like pineapple.

Translation: Nobody* likes pineapple.

This instance of "ofvhan" is not used in a possessive construction. Compare this to the following:

Ofvhan oyo hasuu ashfi ananas.

Gloss: Nobody/nothing of we like pineapple.

Translation: Out of us, nobody likes pineapple.

* "Ofvhan" should technically translate to "nobody OR nothing", but the meaning is usually implied from context. In this case, "ofvhan" is "nobody" because things cannot like pineapple. If the sentence were part of a text where certain things could like pineapple, then "ofvhan" could mean "nothing".

Each of these indefinite pronouns can also be used as a determiner. The top row's words would change slightly: The possessive forms are formed be adding "yo" to the end of the individual pronouns.
 * Ofvhan becomes "no"
 * Vhan becomes "every" or "each"
 * Ex becomes "some"
 * Dhen becomes "any"

Quantifier Pronouns
Quantifier pronouns can be used as pronouns in the same two ways as indefinite pronouns can, and they can also be used as determiners.

All quantifier pronouns are singular. "Ak" and "ka" are also adjectives and mean "little/few" and "much/many", respectively. "C'im" and "canh" are adverbs by themselves and form the comparative and superlative forms of adjectives.

Canh'ak oyo hasuu pfiern li sui c'ic'i.

Gloss: Least/fewest of we live in the-plural city.

Translation: The minority of us live in the cities.

This sentence can also do without the prepositional phrase "oyo hasuu" ("of us").

"Canh ak" (as two separate words) can be used as a predicative adjective:

Sui ren li nat c'ic'i canh ak.

Gloss: The-plural person in that city most-adv little/few.

Translation: The persons in that city are the fewest.

Quantifier pronouns can take "yo" to become possessive:

Hasuu yo ka yo s ananas da.

Gloss: We ('s) much/many ('s) (unit) pineapple big.

Translation: The pineapples of many of us are big.

Here, the plurality of "ananas" ("pineapple") is inferred.

Reflexive Pronouns
To make a pronoun reflexive, add the suffix "-meecy".

Si fo in-ge wak simeecy.

Gloss: You not should eat yourself.

Translation: You should not eat yourself.

Nouns
Liubishuhulandianese nouns do not decline; hence, a noun by itself cannot reveal its plurality. To understand this, one must first understand countability and articles.

Countability
Countable nouns, as the name suggests, can be counted. To assign a number to a noun is easy—one needs only to modify the noun by placing a number (which is an adjective) before the noun:

qke giao

Gloss: two cat

Translation: two cats

The number one, "uu", is also the indefinite article and makes the noun singular. Zero, "yu", makes the noun plural:

Yu giao wdhuu wak uu ananas vhan dethbi.

Gloss: Zero cat (habitual aspect marker) eat a/one pineapple each/every day.

Translation: Zero cats eat a pineapple every day.

This is the same as the following:

Ofvhan giao wdhuu wak uu ananas vhan dethbi.

Gloss: No cat (habitual aspect marker) eat a/one pineapple each/every day.

Translation: No cat eats a pineapple every day.

Uncountable nouns are nouns that cannot be modified by numbers. For example, it would not be correct to say "one milk". In Liubishuhulandianese, concepts, substances, etc. are uncountable unless they take measure words. Measure words are used with numbers to indicate the amount or quantity of something:

Ha eeim uu bb'as-f'i dzhrhaex'a.

Gloss: I drink a/one cup milk.

Translation: I drink a cup of milk.

Here, the word "bb'as-f'i" ("cup") is the measure word for "dzhrhaex'a" ("milk"). "Bb'as-f'i" and other measure words can also be used with countable nouns. For example:

bb'as-f'i nimunimu

Gloss: cup grape

Translation: cup of grapes

"Nimunimu" is plural because it is a countable noun that follows a measure word. This is true for all countable nouns:

Zheh ya uu muav ren yim fo ashfi tasuumeecy.

Gloss: This is a/one group person who/that/which not like themselves.

Translation: This is a group of people who do not like themselves.

Usually, though, the plurality of the countable noun after a measure word in unimportant in the context.

Articles
There are three articles in Liubishuhulandianese, as shown below. To make a definite noun plural, simply change the "su" to "sui". To make an indefinite noun plural, change "uu" to a number, the dual indefinite pronoun "bing" ("both"), or a plural indefinite pronoun. When uncountable nouns are used in the four forms, the meanings change slightly.

A uncountable noun in its default form takes no article, number, or pronoun. Measure words accompany uncountable nouns in the default form. However, articles, numbers, and pronouns can be used with uncountable nouns. The table below explains. In all four cases, the meaning implies that the uncountable noun exists in one or more forms. For instance, milk can exist in cup-form or jar-form. However, when used in these four cases, the measure word's meaning is not important:

Ha le eeim natsuu dzhrhaex'a.

Gloss: I will drink those milk.

Translation: I will drink those (cups/jars/puddles/bowls/pails, etc. of) milk.

Which measure word should be used, then? It is either unimportant of context-based.

Some words in Liubishuhulandianese can be countable and uncountable. For example, "ananas", or "pineapple", can be both a fruit or the material that makes up the edible fruit. If this word is used without an article, pronoun, or number, it is implied that it is uncountable, but if it is used with them, for example, in the words "sui ananas", this can either mean "the (e.g. cups of) pineapple (material)" or "the pineapples". To distinguish between the two, the measure word "s" can be used with the countable noun if necessary. Therefore, the better way to say "the pineapples" would be "sui s ananas", or "the continuous thing composed of pineapple material". The word "s" roughly translates to "thing composed of the material of", or more preferably, "unit of". Essentially, this form uses a countable noun like an uncountable noun.

Some singular definite nouns can be used without an article or demonstrative pronoun. These nouns are said to carry the "zero article". The zero article is used with proper nouns or other nouns that are clearly singular indefinite. The following is a list of a few zero article nouns: Ha bix goen irrghai.
 * Alas - school
 * Maill - church
 * Irrghai - hospital
 * Rhidda - bed

Gloss: I must go hospital.

Translation: I must go to the hospital.

Noun Modifiers
Adjectives and yo-clauses can modify nouns.

Adjectives do not inflect and always come before nouns. There is no distinction between coordinate and cumulative adjectives, but it is a general truth that adjectives closer to the noun are considered more important to the noun:

su xiao dhrub`ac'i nimunimu

Gloss: the small round grape

Translation: the small round grape OR the small, round grape.

The first translation involves cumulative adjectives, while the second involves coordinate adjectives. In Liubishuhulandianese, the meaning is like both translations. The grape is both a grape that is red and round and a round grape that is red. In fact, it is a grape that is more importantly round than it is red.

Yo-clauses use the word "yo" before a noun and after a clause that does not include the noun it modifies:

soshi wak yo ren

Gloss: (progressive aspect marker) eat ('s) person

Translation: the eating person(s) OR the person(s) who is/are eating

Other clause structures can also be used:

Ha ashfi su ha yo muq suu uu s ananas nieg denz bie yo xiaodenz.

Gloss: I like the I ('s) mother (direct object marker) a/one (unit) pineapple give (past tense marker) (indirect object marker) ('s) child.

Translation: I like the child whom my mother gave a pineapple to.

Compare this sentence to the following earlier example:

Ha ashfi su xiaodenz yim ha yo muq suu uu s ananas nieg denz bie.

The only difference is that the first sentence uses a yo-clause while the second uses a relative clause. Generally, yo-clauses are more restrictive than relative clauses. This means that yo-clauses are more essential to sentences than are relative clauses.

Adpositions
Adpositions come before their objects (and therefore are prepositions), and the adpositional phrase can be placed anywhere in the sentence, preferably closer to the verb the phrase modifies than to another verb.

Adpositions are used only in the specific contexts given in the Clarification column. Prepositional idioms are relatively few and are usually expressed by one verb. For example, "succeed in" is "tsjeeddab", and "go to" is "goen".