Nomnom

Alternate Names:

Nom Nom

Nomnom

Phonology and Restrictions
Consonants

These are all pronounced labialized. This isn't necessary, but it is necessary to sounding like a natural speaker or understanding natural speakers.

Vowels

Technically, this is a horizontal vowel system, but both vowels are always pronounced nasalized and rounded.

The syllable structure is (C)CVC(C), so the word has to be surrounded by consonants.

The alphabet goes top to bottom, consonants before vowels.

Nomnom /nomnom/ is the name of the people and tribe, and is sometimes used to refer to the language by outsiders.

Word List
mfon (悔) - to repent

mfoyn - to deify, to put on a pedestal

mfeyn - to attack

mnom (㗂) - language

mqop - art form comparable to poetry; person inserts as many words as possible without repetition

mom - to float on/ to fly in

men - name

menp - to thank

med - refuse to follow the outcome of, refuse to cooperate with (one does this when they don't follow the sentence hints other people set out)

fney - possible outcome

fom (固) - to have

foy - FRONT3>BACK

fenm - environment, world

pmod - be stupid regarding (according to)

pdon - north

pqen - south

pon - DELETE NOUN

poy - BACK>FRONT3

pep - riverbed

nmomn - negative number

nmof - stomach acid, blood, soul

nmoy (𠊛) - person

nmed - BE VERB/NUMBER

nmeynom - uncertainty

ndomn - name

ndof - to be strange to

ndon - to orate to

ndoq - word

ndoqon - to argue about (to)

ndoqg - be true according to

nden - to learn

ndeng - test of skill

ndeym - animal

nyem - to signify (to)

nyef - to fear

nyen - to see

nyedf - phrase

nyedg - to turn (into)(from)

nyenp - necessity

nyeq - to eat

ngem - defend (from)

ngeyn - be blue/white

nom - unreal thing

nomn - be look deeply at

nomnom - these people and language

nop - and

nof - false thing

nond (金)- metal (usually iron)

nong (事) - action

noy - FRONT>BACK

nog - to cause

noq - SWITCH

nep (添) - DUP

nenp (坭) - place

neyd - sun, plasma (state of matter)

neqg - to hate

dmomn - positive number

dmen - to celebrate

dnoy - be red/green

dnogn - the inside of a solid/liquid

dnoq - water

dnen - want

dneyf (垌) - field

dneyg - kill

dneq - wind

dyep - be more than

doy - BACK>FRONT

dog - inanimate mobile object

dep - END

ynem - be fewer/less than

ypemq - to make happy

ydeq - struunh

yon - to say (to)

yen - creates adverbs

yend - to stay at

yoy - something, that thing

gpemn - be black/purple

gnon - DELETE VERB/NUMBER IN SERIES OF NUMBERS

gyepn - to empty

gyend - sky, space

gyeg (投)- to send (to) (from)

gondey - instance of genocide (etymology: English word "colony")

gefden - flat surface

gedf - normal situation

qnonq - cave, space inside a hollow

qnerp - power

qned - kind of grass

qdem - kind of grass

qyon (羅) - to be equal to

qong - to know

qod - to argue with

qoqm - mouth of the space inside a hollow

When a number ends a word, this is how it pans out.

1 - The being points to itself.

2 - The being points to the person it speaks to.

3 and over - The being points at the being it means to talk about.

Compound Words nenp nep nom qyon dep - Dreamland

nmoy nep nond fom dep (𠊛添金固)- rich man, powerful man ndoq yoy nog - words with meanings (as opposed to sounds)
 * nmoy nep mom nond noy fyeg dep - boss; ruler (formal)

nmoy nep ndoq yoy2 yon dep - I/me (formal)

nmoy nep nmoy nyeq dep - victim

nmoy nep nmoy noq nyeq dep - villain

nmoy nep nep yoy poy yon dep - society ) ndeym nep nmoy nyeq dep - raw-meat-eater, carnivore

ndeym nep neyd qyon dep - fire

nom nep nmoy nmoy nyem dep - imaginary friend

nenp nep nom qyon dep - virtual reality, dream

dog nep mnom qong dep - computer

qnonq nep gyend mom dep - spaceship

dog nep nmoy nep gyend yoy gyeg nog dep - airplane

Idioms X Y mom dep - Y's prowess in X is unsure.

SENTENCE X yend dep - X thinks that this is true.

yoy nep ydeq nmoy2 dnen dep. - How far back is the stack?

What is a Stack-Based Language?
There is a cerebral way to explain this and a less cerebral way. For the cerebral way, go here.

Please note as well that I'm not an expert. If you know more about this than me, you have every right to correct this article, though not the grammar of the language proper.

As a whole, stack-based languages have the quirk that you can build sentences around other sentences. Let's pretend English is a SOV strictly head-final language (which basically means all the words are like in the dictionary and the verb/adjective/article/adverb/conjunction comes after what it modifies) and an SOV LIFO stack language with no inflections or sentence conjunctions (the stack equivalent of that without any weird cop-outs, so I can show how it works differently more easily). In fact, just to make it less confusing, I'll eliminate the articles (a and the). You'll thank me later.

At first, they seem similar in word order, even though the LIFO language has a particle specifically stating when the sentence is over. In fact, because English already puts the adverb behind the verb, some sentences are exactly the same the entire way through.

But let's see how multiple sentences work.

How come you can say "I I yard clean END fridge wash END"? The reason is that this basically constitutes two different sentences, "I yard clean" and "I fridge wash", but put in such a way that the final result is "I (I yard clean) fridge wash". The assumption made is that all verbs have a fixed number of slots which cannot be changed.

The verb "clean" will only be used like "x y clean END" to mean "x cleans y". This may seem obvious, but that's because it's the wrong kind of verb. Consider the verb "read". It can be used in the sentences "I read", "I read it", and "I read them it" (meaning "I read it to them."). Assuming the verb "read" in our stack language is defined "X Y Z read" to mean "X reads Y to Z", those would have to be "I something myself read END", "I it myself read END" and "I it them read END".

Now, I need to point out at this point that not all stack languages are the same. Another way this could work is if each word was assigned a particle x, y, or z and then that particle was included between the verb and END. Then the verb would be described as "read (x, y, z): (1 argument) x reads something to itself; (2 arguments) x reads y to itself; (3 arguments) x reads y to z" sentences would be "I x read x END", "I x it y read x y END" and "I x it y them z read x y z END".

The flexibility of this approach is that you can say "them z it y I x read x y z END" and it means the exact same thing. To do that in a stack language without the particles, such as this one, Nalnuàntir, or Fith, you need separate words which indicate the arguments have switched places. The word used for this is DUP. So in our LIFO stack language, assuming DUP works this way, we could say "it I DUP read END". These are called "stack conjugations".

Now I can't talk anymore, because even though I mentioned Fith and Nalnuàntir, those languages aren't like one another or like this language.

Also, the "top" of a stack is the "back" of a sentence or string of words and the "bottom" of a stack is the "front" of a sentence or string of words.

More Stack Conjunctions (Only Fith-Compatible Ones)
noq - switches the places of two nouns foy - moves a noun which is 3 spaces before the back to the back poy - opposite of foy; turns last noun into third-from-last noun noy - moves a word from the front to the back doy - moves a word from the back to the front pon - deletes a noun in a series gnon - deletes a verb or number
 * X Y noq > Y X
 * X Y Z foy > Y Z X
 * X Y Z poy > Z Y X
 * W X Y Z noy > X Y Z W
 * W X Y Z doy > Z W X Y
 * X Y Z pon > X Y
 * NOUN NOUN VERB gnon > NOUN NOUN

Nouns
Almost all of the stack conjunctions above have to do with nouns, but other than that, nouns are basically the same as in any other isolating language. Nouns cannot become verbs. This language also is not copula-drop at all.

Verbs
Like many languages, this one has verbs.

Transitivity
All verbs have at least one argument. The most arguments a verb can have are four: nominative, accusative, dative/lative, and exessive/initiative. If a verb has an argument, it must be filled, and if the argument doesn't matter, the slot is filled with yoy. In the language of the Nomnom, the arguments start nearer to the verb and go farther from the verb as more exist.

(Note: I use V for Verb, S for Subject, DO for Direct Object, and IO for Indirect Object, which are all common terms. However, when I use OO for Other Object, that isn't a common term. If you know the correct term for the fourth argument of a multitransitive verb, please tell me.)

ndeym gpemn dep. - The beast is dark in color.

ndeym nmoy1 fom dep. - I have a beast. (DO-S-V)

yoy ndeym nmoy1 yon dep. - I say something to the beast/ I talk to the beast. (DO-IO-S-V)

ndeym3 qned nenp2 nmoy1 gyeg dep. - I send qnedgrass from that beast to your place. (OO-DO-IO-S-V)

The verb qyon (to be) treats both of its arguments the same way; if I say "ndeym yoy1 qyon dep." and "yoy1 ndeym qyon dep.", there is no grammatical difference. However, when saying "X is Y", it is customary to say "Y X qyon" rather than the other way around, like with yen in Adverbs.

Verbs As Nouns
If (and only if) a verb has all of its arguments fulfilled, it can be treated like a noun. Stack conjugations will apply to it. The way to make this stop is by using the word gnon, which deletes the verb and leaves the nouns behind. Without the verb, the nouns function as separate words.

What About Adjectives
You may think that some verbs like gpemn, which means "be dark-colored" are actually adjectives. This, however, is not true grammatically. Let's use gpemn in a sentence.

nom gpemn dep. - The unreal is dark.

Here, gpemn acts as a verb. Let's use it to modify a noun in a sentence.

yoy nmoy nep gpemn dep nep Nepmen noq mfeyn dep qyon dep? - Who is the being, dark in color, who attacked Nepmen?

Note how instead of gpemn taking a role separate from the subordinate clause "who attacked Nepmen", it takes a role similar to it, but as an intransitive verb or, at best, a predicate adjective. In languages with adjectives, the adjective is never required to take this role to modify the noun. As such, it can be easily argued that gpemn and verbs like it are simply intransitive verbs, and this language has no adjectives.

Adverbs
The word yen indicates that the noun before the sentence applies to the verb and that the sentence has ended.

nof qned nmoy nyeq yen. - I do not eat qnedgrass. (I eat qnedgrass; this action is false.)

Even though this could be flipped (i.e. qned nmoy nyeq nof yen), this sounds odd and should be avoided.

Comparatives
When the person of a comparative is unspecified, it is thought to mean "average person" or "average people".

qned nep nmoy1 nyeq dep qned nep nmoy nyeq dep ynem dep. - The average person eats less qnedgrass than I do.

This sentence compares the grass; if the sentence were "qned nep nmoy1 nyeq nep nmoy nyeq ynem dep," it would mean, "The average person eats qnedgrass less often than I do."

Imperative
The imperative mood is created by the phrase "nyenp (sentence) yen". It literally means ""

nyenp nmoy nyeq fom yen. - The person must have food.

nyenp yoy nyeq fom yen. - Have food! (This doesn't mean "eat food"; it means "obtain food". The literal translation is more like "You must have food in your possession.")

Interrogative
To ask a question, use the phrase "fney (sentence) yen dep". It literally means "Possibly (sentence)".

fyen nmoy qned fom yen dep. - The person might have qnedgrass.

Negation
Negation comes from "nof" or, more extremely, from "nom". The difference is like that between "not" and "never".

qned nmoy nyeq nof yen. - I do not eat qnedgrass.

qned nmoy nyeq nom yen. - I have never eaten qnedgrass (and don't plan to).

Possessive Structures
The possessive structure for X's Y when X is going to be used later is "X nep Y nep noy noq fom dep". When X will not be used later, there is no "nep" after X.

Numbers
The number system operates on prime numbers. To turn any number into a negative number, take off d- and substitute n-. Ordinal numbers are where someone stays, so the best way to translate them is "NUMBER yend" or some permutation of it.

qon - 0

dmom - 1

dmof - 2

dmop - 3

dmon - 4

dmod - 5

These numbers can only actually function as adjectives, which means they constitute an open class in the language. I cannot think of many other languages where actual numerals constitute an open class, so I will go out on a limb and assume that this is unique or at the very least strange.

Language
Now, to be clear, this is no walk in the park. Though it is nontonal and barely cheremic, if you attempt to learn this language within a week, you will be discouraged to find that it is harder than such obvious contenders as Spanish or Chinese, and apparently also more difficult than Zapotec and Mixtec as well.

Their resonant nasal cavity causes their words to have a nasal sound. Words are completely and utterly nasalized for this very reason, like a parodic rendition of a Caucasusian giant. Its syllable structures are jarring, but they also make the language easier to parse on the go. The beings also have some repair strategies, such as saying how many arguments are left, even though these are only used frequently when talking to humans, in a way reminiscent of Fith and Shallow Fith. To truly comprehend the language takes a bit more time and spatial reasoning, and I assume that you're ready for this. As such, I will hide the repair strategy and how to ask for it so you won't cheat until you figure it out.

Beings
The photosynthetic/herbivorous Nomnom are capable of comprehending extremely large numbers. They also have the ability to consciously remember every second of their existence. This doesn't give them any ability to better understand the world, but it does make their language rather difficult to understand in the case of, say, one of their monologues. However, when humans speak, it is not in monologue, and much of the time, humans can understand other humans after practicing this language for protracted amounts of time (funnily enough, in less time than some other human languages, due to how isolating this language is).

Their bodies are large and not easily breakable, and because of this, they did not advance beyond the stone age by themselves. Their lack of pattern recognition appears not to be a disadvantage because their predators/scavengers are more or less clouds of bacteria, so any pattern recognition would be useless or nearly useless in contending with them. Instead, they have extremely strong immune systems.

History
The humans came to their planet in 6D (1022). At that time, it was filled with many different languages, perhaps millions. The Nomnom were among the most receptive to their efforts to colonize, and even though this earned their nation-state scorn, during the Trial of the Eternal Night in 6Y (1054), they were the only tribe left standing.

But couldn't you, dear reader, also create a stack language? Why don't you, just to show them up? Stack language creation is a small world, and this world is gigantic. They are definitely other tribes living.

Single Phrases
nmoy1 nep ndon nep nong dnen dep - I want to dance.

nmoy1 ndoq nep nom qyon dep yoy2 yon dep. - You didn't speak to me. (You spoke nonexistent words to me.)

nmoy2 ndoq nep nmoy1 fom nyef dep. - You fear the words I have.

nmoy2 nep nmoy1 neqg noy nog dep. - You're the reason why I hate you.

nmoy1 nenp2 nenp4 yoy foy noy foy gyeg dep. - I came to your place from somewhere else (I wasn't always with you.).

nmoy2 ndoqg nmoy1 nden noy nog dep. - You teach me the truth.

ndoq nep nep nomnom qyon dep nmoy1 fom nmoy fom dyep ndoqg yen dep. - It is true that the average person knows more words in Nomnom than I do.

nmoy1 nep nmoy2 dog noq noy gyeg dep. - I throw something at you. (See "Actual or Not?" if you are confused.)

nmoy nmoy nep nmoy2 fom dep noq nep nmoy1 fom dep ynem dep. - Your people (as in an impersonal army) number fewer than mine.

nmoy2 nmoy1 ynem dep. - You number fewer than us (as in people within a family).

nmoy qoqm2 ndeym yend nep dep mfeyn dep. The beast in that cave attacks people. (The dog next door is dangerous.)

ndoq nep nmoy2 nep nmoy1 doy foy yon

Stories Translated into this Language
dneq nep pdon nmoy123 foy nep gyeg dep neyd nop - The Wind Which Comes to Us from the North and the Sun...

nep qnerp noq gnon poy qod dep. - were having an argument about strength. nep gnon nep foy ynem noq yend dep. - The sun thought that the wind was less strong than it was. nep gnon noq nep foy ynem noq yend dep. - The wind thought that the sun was less strong than it was.

Tongue Twisters
HEY, YOU READING THIS. WHY DON'T YOU TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF THIS LANGUAGE AND ATTEMPT TO MAKE ONE? BASICALLY ALL OF THE WORDS SOUND THE SAME TO ANY EARS, SO YOU CAN'T GO WRONG.