Mondilange

Overview

= Origin =

In the year of Our Lord 2012, many disasters happened around the globe, and mystical people acquired great respect because they had long advised about the Mayan prophecies. On the other hand, since Barack Obama's election, African culture became very popular, and advances in medicine practically cured AIDS in 2020. By that year, Africa was in its best development level and popularity. Esperanto movement spread over the whole Europe, so that Esperanto disputed influence with English as an international language.

However, not everything was fine... USA, Europe and the Islamic League disputed influence in Africa, and a West-African Federation, mainly leadered by Angola, Nigeria and Congo, was emerging as a new nuclear power. USA, England and Spain leadered a league to avoid West-African nuclear power, while Germany, Poland, France and Italy signed a treat with the West-African Federation which permitted European Union to interfere in African countries in Civil War, such as Kenya and Ethiopia. Esperantists were creating an artificial island called "Nova Atlanto" in the Mediterranean Sea, in order to be world's capital city.

Then, by 2045, all the countries were preparing armies for a World War III, when a mixed-race Brazilian, Leo Lucas, declared himself a medium and told everybody that he went to Spiritual World and talked with Karl Marx, Adam Smith and L. L. Zamenhoff, creator of Esperanto. Zamenhoff told him that Esperanto was not suitable as a international language anymore, and that he must look for the Scottish linguist Justin B. Rye and listen his criticisms to Esperanto, but Lucas should not tell Justin B. Rye he would present another conlang because he would be against it as well. He should also learn Lojban and Tokipona, and a language from each linguistic family. So, he would be able to create a new world language. Karl Marx and Adam Smith traced a polytical and economic plan to avoid World War III.

Leo Lucas asked them: - How will they believe me? - If God is with us, who will be against us? - How can I make a language? I can't even speak English well. - Start it under the GFPL license and many people will help you and correct you. Then Leo Lucas waked up and saw three boxes beside his bed. After searching for archeologists, he discovered that they were no less than a lost treasure of Jerusalem, a lost rock of Islamism and a lost Azteca Sculpture robed by pirates. Leo Lucas became very famous, so that the leaders of all countries accept to talk to him and listen to his message.

And this is how MONDILANGE begins...

=Basic Grammar=

Vowels
a, e, i, o, u: basic vowels, pronounced approximately as in Spanish, Japanese, etc.

ai, ei, oi, au, ou, eu: each one pronounced as diphtong or hiatus, whatever you want;

iu, ui: idem;

ia, ie, io, ua, uo, ue: idem;

Consonants
l: as in long;

m: as in mother;

n: as in no;

t/d: as in table or dice; you can pronounce t as d and vice-versa, but preferably without the common aspiration of table;

p/b: as in pig or big; you can pronounce p as b and vice-versa, but preferably without the common aspiration of pig;

k/g: as in kart or girl; you can pronounce k as g and vice-versa, but preferably without the common aspiration of kart;

f/v: as in five or vanilla; you can pronounce f as v and vice-versa; those who speak Spanish (and others language which doesn't have sound /v/) should never pronounce v as b or w: you'd better use /f/;

x/j: as ch in chicago or s in measure; it is used to abbreviate or omit sounds; that is to say: it corresponds to the English apostrophe;

Note: These five pairs above are "unvoiced/voiced consonant pairs". Each two consonants of a pair have exactly the same articulation, with the only difference that the first one is pronounced without vibration of the vocal folds. To realize it, pronounce "tah" and "dah" with your finger in your throat and note that your throat vibrate before you pronounce the vowel only in "dah". In mondilange, you should preferably use unvoiced words (t, p, k, f, x) in the word begining and the voiced ones in the middle.

'ng, nd, mb: only these three consonantal encounters are possible;

nid, nig, mib, nud, nug, mub: these strings are not possible.

Words
Every word in mondilange ends only if its end have one of the four following forms (1), (2), (3) or (4), where "C" is for consonant, "V" is for the vowels a, e and o, "v" is for vowels i and u, and "X" is either for x or for j, with the only exception described in the sections Compound Words and How to put consonant or vowel encounters in the middle:

(1) CCV: memba, tongo, penimba, etc.; (2) vVCV: nuovo, lievo, tiedo; (3) vVX: miex, tuox, honioj, etc.; (4) CVu: holai, sai, kalei.

The consonant in (2) is never "n" nor "m", where they have to be substituted by "nd" and "mb", representing so case (1).

Compound Words
Compound words may be created linking two single words of types (1-2) by means of the diphtong "ui" instead of the first word final vowel. For instance, suade means "water", while lande means "land". So, suaduilande is a word created from them. It should have its meaning defined by its creator, but it might mean "land of water". If words of type (3-4) are used, "hui" must be used instead of "ui".

How to put consonant or vowel encounters in the middle
If you want to create a word with forms "CC" or "vVC" in its middle, you should use "iu" after these forms, and so find a consonant to keep writing the word. For example, someone could want to write "guaraná" as kualiuniale.

If you want to create a word with forms (1-4) entirely contained in the word middle, you have no option but to add hiu, or hui in case of a compound word, immediately after the ocurrence of the form, and then continue your word with a consonant.

=Dictionary=

Greeting
halohai: hi!

Hawaiian "aloha" (love, peace, etc.) - English "hello" - Spanish "hola"

tigabai: bye!

Portuguese "tchau" - Italian "ciao" - Yorùbá "ogabo"

Pronouns
mieme: I/me; mueme: we

Proto-indo-european "-mi", European "me", "mi", "mia", etc.

tiode: you/thou; tuode: you (all)/thee

Proto-indo-european "-te", Old Tupy "nde", English "thou", "thee", Thai "than" (polite) and "thoe" (informal), Spanish/Portuguese "tu" and "ti", Spanish "usted", Portuguese "você", etc.

liale: he/she/it; luale: them

Verbs
Swahili "a-", "wa-", Spanish "él" (m) and "ella" (f), Portuguese "ele" (m) and "ela" (f), etc.

haliova: to love

Hawaiian "aloha", English "love".

monka: to eat/to drink

Nouns
Latin manducare, Old French mangier, Tokipona "moku", Esperanto "mangxi",

tiehe: soil, ground, earth

Spanish "tierra".

suade: water

English "water", sound simbolism.

hiahe: air

Greek-European "aer", sound simbolism.

fuege: fire

Spanish "fuego", sound simbolism.

kuoke: rock

English, sound simbolism.

miade: wood

Spanish "madera", Portuguese "madeira".

lande: place, region, territory, earth

English.

lohiane: flower

Japanese "ohana", Latin "florum", Proto-indo-european "bhlo-".

=Example text=

mieme luova tiodo: I love you; miex luova tiox: I love you; miex monka suade: I drink water;