Nomnom

This language is based off of the language created in this challenge.

I am trying to speak this language, but it's not working.

Phonology and Restrictions
We will never be using letters from the IPA after this section. However, the writing system has no digraphs, so it can function as a list of phonemes of which we can understand the allophones in this section.

Consonants

Vowels

Nomnom is written in the Latin alphabet. The letter order is equivalent to these charts from left to right and top to bottom.

Alphabetical Order

m f p n d y g q o e

Phonotactics
The language is (C)CVC(C), meaning that words must have between one and two consonants on either side of the vowel. CV is impossible, as is VC.

Almost all consonant clusters are possible, save for clusters consisting of the same consonant twice (nn, dd, etc.) and pd.

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)

pfemf - swarm/large group

pqon - north

pqen - south

pon - to not matter

poy - BACK>FRONT3

pep - riverbed

nmomn - negative number

nmof - stomach acid, blood, soul

nmoy (𠊛) - person

nmed - BE VERB/NUMBER

nmeynom - uncertainty

nmeq - modifies yen and is modified by other yen

npey - to feel hurt

ndomn - large tree

ndof - to be strange to

ndon - to orate to

ndoq - word

ndoqon - to argue about (to)

ndoqg - truth

ndoqnog - to be true according to

nden - to learn

ndeng - test of skill

ndeym - animal

nyonf - to make permanent

nyem - to signify (to)

nyef - to fear

nyon - size

nyen - to see

nyedf - phrase

nyedg - to turn (into)(from)

nyenp - necessity

nyeq - to eat

ngop - thought, mind

ngem - to defend (from)

ngeyn - be blue/white

nom - unreal thing

nomn - 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 - to want

dnefyed - covering of grass or cloth

dneyf (垌) - field

dneyg - to kill

dneq - wind

dyeq - to be more than

dqom - inanimate immobile object

dqep - to win against

doy - BACK>FRONT

dog - inanimate mobile object

dep - END

ynem - to be less/ fewer than

ypemq - to make happy

ydeq - stack size

yon - to say (to)

yen - creates adverbs

yend - to stay at

yoy - something, that thing

gpemn - to be black/purple

gnon - DELETE VERB/NUMBER IN SERIES OF NUMBERS

gyepn - to empty

gyend - sky, space

gyeg (投)- to send (to) (from)

gom - back, top area

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

gefden - flat surface

gedf - normal situation

qnonq - cave, space inside a hollow

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

qey - sound

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 nmoy nep nmoy2 ndoq yon dep - I/me (formal)

nmoy nep nmoy nyeq dep - villain

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

ndeym nep neyd qyon dep - fire (in a destructive/carnivorous sense)

nom nep nmoy nmoy nyem dep - imaginary friend

nenp nep nom qyon dep - virtual reality, dream

dnoq nep nep nenp1 nenp2 foy gyeg - the river which goes from place 1 to place 2

dnoq nep pep noq yend dep - oxbow lake
 * This is how rivers are generally named.

dog nep mnom qong dep - computer

dog nep nep gyend mom dep nenp1 nenp2 nmoy dep - airplane/space shuttle from place 1 to place 2

qnonq nep gyend mom dep - space shuttle (with the effect of not being able to control it)

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

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

X yoy nog (Y noq qong) dep. - X is meaningful (to Y).

ydeq ndoq # qyon dep. - The stack has # words on it.

X pfemf qyon. - There is a swarm of X.

X Y Z dyeq yen. - Y is better than Z in terms of X.

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
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 gnon - deletes a verb or number
 * X Y noq > Y X
 * NOUN noun noun foy > noun noun NOUN
 * noun noun NOUN poy > NOUN noun noun
 * NOUN noun noun ... noun noy > noun noun ... noun NOUN
 * noun noun ... noun NOUN doy > NOUN noun noun ... noun
 * 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.

Topic-Prominent
A notable difference to a scholar of Fith is that the Nomnom language assumes that, when a word is doubled by nep, that word is referring to the same instance of that thing. So "nmoy nep nep" cannot refer to three separate beings, only one. To refer to multiple beings, it is necessary to say "nmoy nmoy nmoy", perhaps with things in between.

This makes Fith and Nomnom different in a few ways.

How Fith is Better:
 * 1) Some of the more elegant sentences of Fith do not work in Nomnom.
 * 2) Fith is more difficult to understand, and thus presents more of a challenge.

How Nomnom is Better:
 * 1) Nomnom doesn't require personal pronouns, because pronouns are supposed to refer to specific people/things, and one can just use nep on the person/thing to use it in another clause.
 * 2) It also has no relative pronouns for the same reason, but I don't know if Fith has those pronouns either.
 * 3) Technically, you could argue that pointing at things constitutes a pronoun, but I see that as a demonstrative pronoun even though the way I've written it implies a first-second-third person distinction.
 * 4) In Nomnom, it is customary to leave the words you want to talk about outside of any sentences. For example, if you say "dnoq gpemn dep." or "(the) water is.dark", the hidden implication is that you don't want to talk. However, if you say "dnoq nep gpemn dep", it implies that you want to talk about the water. You can do this with multiple nouns as well.

In this sense, you could argue that Nomnom conversations are a bit like long sentences in Fith, where words said by one person are manipulated by a listener. In this vein, the Nomnom usually point at the person whom they want to respond once they have finished talking.

Verbs
Like many languages, this one has verbs.

Transitivity
All Nomnom 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.

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

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

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

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.

nmoy nep gpemn dep nep Nepmen mfeyn dep - (Let's talk about) 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.

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

The word nmeq after yen indicates that the thing modified by yen is being modified by the noun before nmeq.

nmoy qned nyeq nof yen ndoqg nmeq. - I truly don't eat qnedgrass. (I eat qnedgrass; this action is false; this modifier is true.)

The nmeq can be modified by another yen, and so on.

nmoy qned nyeq nof yen nof nmeq ndoqg yen. - It's true that I don't not eat qnedgrass. (I eat qnedgrass; this action is false; this modifier is false; this modifier of the modifier is true.)

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

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

This sentence compares the grass; if the sentence were "qned nep nep nmoy1 noq nyeq nmoy foy 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 ""

nmoy qned fom nyenp yen. - The person must have qnedgrass.

nmoy2 qned fom nyenp 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)".

nmoy qned fom fyenp 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 nep nmoy noq nyeq nof yen. - I do not eat qnedgrass.

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

Numbers
The number system is base 6, like a simplified form of the base 36 number system scattered around the page.

qon - 0

dfom - 1

dfof - 2

dfop - 3

dfon - 4

dfod - 5

The numbers function like so: nmoy qon - no beings nmoy dfon - four beings nmoy qon dfom - 0*1+4*6 beings = 24 beings nmoy qon dfon dfom - 0*1+4*6+1*36 = 60 beings

Negative numbers can be created by changed the d- at the beginning of the word to an n-. In practice, what this means is "number fewer beings".

nmoy nfon - negative four beings/four fewer beings

Positive and negative numbers can be used to cancel one another out to exaggerate the small size of a number.

nmoy qon nfon dfom - 0*1 + (-4)*6 + 1*36 = (only) 12 beings

These base 6 numbers were created at some point after the colonization. According to many Nomnom, the old numbers operated according to a mathematical formula, which can be approximated using this phoneme chart.


 * 1) Start with dmom, which is 1.
 * 2) The next prime number is 2, represented by dmof, which is created by going down the chart 1 space.
 * 3) Three is also prime (dmop), but four is not. "Four beings" would be "nmoy nep dmon dmom dep" or "The beings number three and one."
 * 4) Five is prime (dmon), and it goes like this until 15, which is dmoq. 17 is represented by dmomf. But why dmomf? It would have been *dmomm, but that breaks Nomnom phonotactics, so the word for 17 is the word created by going one down: dmomf.
 * 5) This system goes on, with the second-to-last letter going down one on the consonant chart every time the last letter of the prime before that is q. Then the prime after dmoqg (remember, *dmoqq is impossible due to phonotactic rules) is represented by dmem (notice it's dmEm and not dmOm).
 * 6) The cycle repeats anew. Then the prime after dmeqg is dnom. Now the second letter changes, skipping d.
 * 7) HOWEVER, the prime after dqeqg is domom. The d in the number operates like the d- in the current Nomnom numbers, with nmom being -1, etc. (The only exceptions are the numbers starting with dn- and nd-, which correspond to one another). So now the number is domom.
 * 8) The new vowel operates like the old vowel. Then after deqgeqg, the prime is dmomom.
 * 9) The primes continue like this.

The old numbers functioned similarly to verbs and constituted 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. Sadly, it's also very, very inefficient, so now there's a base six system.

Nomnom Analysis of Grammar
The Nomnom have created their own analysis of their grammar, which is based on the effect of the word on the stack.


 * 1) qey nep ndoq dfom nog dep - sounds which make one word
 * 2) *This includes all nouns and words like nep and gnon; it basically includes everything which raises the stack count by one.
 * 3) qey nep ndoq qon nog dep - sounds which make zero words
 * 4) *This includes stack conjugations which move words around, like noq and noy, numbers, and "intransitive" verbs.
 * 5) qey nep ndoq nfom nog dep - sounds which make negative one word
 * 6) *This includes what would be termed "transitive" verbs in the human-based grammar.
 * 7) qey nep ndoq nfof nog dep - sounds which make negative two words
 * 8) *This includes what would be termed "ditransitive" verbs.
 * 9) qey nep ndoq nfop nog dep - sounds which make negative three words
 * 10) *This includes what would be termed "multi-transitive" verbs.
 * 11) qey nep ngop nyonf - sounds which make thoughts permanent
 * 12) *This applies only to the word dep.

This usually goes unmentioned in scholarly texts because it doesn't matter in the long run; these distinctions aren't held important by the humans who create the grammars, and the two cannot be easily related.

Beings
The Nomnom have photosynthesizing cells on their back. These are very important, because the Nomnom were able to grow to an astounding density due to the ability to lie down and take in energy from the sun. As such, they are technically nocturnal.

They are shaped like large rocks with flat underbellies. They have small hairs on their backs, which contain photosynthetic cells, and this is the autotrophic way they get energy. They have arms near their mouth which they use to pick up and eat food, which is the autotrophic way they get energy. Thanks to experiments done in the past, we know that they can't subsist on only one or the other.

They are bigender (both male and female), and when they procreate, both parties can become pregnant and have children. However, this dual pregnancy is not a biological necessity, and older texts describe practices such as physical brawls in which the loser becomes pregnant (as in the snails of Earth) or "having seven other [rock-people who aren't Nomnom]" judge who is more worthy of pregnancy. Generally, the rock-people are less monogamous than humans.

Nomnom Specifically
The Nomnom were not the only inhabitants of their land. They are merely a single nation-state on what once was a continent filled with nation-states. 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 airlifted off of the ground and above the sphere of drones, so they were able to eat and photosynthesize while havoc reigned below.

Once this was over, they became an underclass and were forced to work. This became a point of contention, and there were many coups. Eventually, the Nomnom gained rights above those of pack animals.

The Nomnom seem to be able to hide from government surveillance and pop up on the other side of their land. They do not explain how they do this, and there is no obvious explanation. The closest thing to an explanation is the presence of large holes in the ground, but even when the holes were filled with cement, this continued to happen. At one point, the surveillance chief said, "the only possible thing that could be happening is the Nomnom are pretending to be one another," but that has since been disproven.

The Nomnom don't officially acknowledge that there are other extant nation-states, but they sometimes "die" in the sense of disappearing entirely, and they are not given funeral rites. Because the Nomnom aren't solitary, the only logical explanation for this "death" is that they ran away to live with another tribe.

Now, onto less charged subjects.

The Nomnom, unlike some other now-dead nation-states, do not seem to have any monogamous bonds. When they decide to become pregnant, both parties willingly become pregnant. Even though at one point this was seen as a lack of culture, it is now understood that it is a response to how the other nation-states are dead and there is ample food for them. This willing dual pregnancy is essentially a ploy to raise more children to fill the land.

Misconceptions
The stack-based language of the Nomnom led to a few misconceptions, which, regrettably, I splattered all over this page. I apologize profusely.


 * 1) Can the Nomnom understand patterns?
 * 2) Yes! Their language is actually rather pattern-based, like the languages of Earth. Perhaps some people felt threatened by what seemed to be superior mental abilities among the Nomnom, so they decided to say the Nomnom couldn't understand patterns.
 * 3) Can the Nomnom comprehend large numbers?
 * 4) In the same way humans can. The reason for this "visualization" claim is the fact that the Nomnom can count things very quickly in short term memory. Humans can do this with around seven things; the Nomnom can do this with thousands of things, as long as they can see all of them.
 * 5) Do the Nomnom have more than one language?
 * 6) No. There were more languages on the planet, but thanks to the Trial of the Eternal Night, all of the speakers are dead. These languages are not known.
 * 7) Is Nomnom a creole language, or did it exist before?
 * 8) Creoles generally arise from different groups coming together, and are grammatically simplified because of this. On the one hand Nomnom doesn't have much inflection and is rather "logical". On the other hand, the Nomnom have been a cohesive group for at least 13W of their years.

But couldn't you, dear reader, also create a stack language? Why don't you, just to show up the pretend humans who say the other tribes are dead? Stack language creation is a small world, and this world is gigantic. They are probably other nation-states surviving, perhaps pretending to be rocks. You can easily animate them with language.

Single Phrases
nmoy1 nep nmoy2 mfoyn dnen dep. - I want to love/deify you.

nmoy2 nmoy1 yoy yon nof yen dep. - You didn't speak to me.

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

nenp3 nenp2 nmoy1 nep doy gyeg dep. - I came to your place from somewhere else (I wasn't always with you.).

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

nmoy1 nep nmoy2 dog gyeg dep. - I throw something at you.

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).

ndeym nep qoqm3 yend dep nmoy mfeyn dep. The beast in that cave attacks people. (The dog next door is dangerous.)

ndoq nep nmoy2 nmoy1 foy yon dep nmoy1 noq ypemq. nmoy3 nep nmoy2 nenp2 nenp1 noy gyeg nep nyenp yen dep. - What you just said brings me joy. Now bring/send that person to where you are. (You can comment on my order to send the person or talk about the person specifically.)

Stories Translated into this Language
dneq nep nep pdon noq nmoy123 noy gyeg dep neyd nop - The North Wind and the Sun

nep gnon qod dep. - ...were having an argument.

nep gnon nep foy dyeq yoy nep doy yen yend dep. - The sun thought that it was stronger* than the wind.

nep gnon noq nep foy dyeq noy yen yend dep. - The wind thought that it was stronger* than the sun.

nep nmoy nep dnefyed noq yend nep doy dep nep doy nyen dep. - They saw a being wearing clothes.

nep gnon ndoq nep nof nep nmoy3 dnefyed yend noq yen dep dneq1 nog qyon dep yon dep. - The wind said to the sun, "I will make false that the covering is on the being."

nep gnon pon dep noy nep doy mfeyn dep noq nep dep noq. - The wind attacked the being; the covering was still on the being.

nep gnon noq pon dep noy mfeyn dep noq nof yen dep. -The sun attacked the being; the covering was no longer on the being.

nep gnon ynem qong dep. - The North Wind and the Sun both know that the sun is stronger* than the North Wind.

*The more accurate translation is actually "better than in some way". The entire story relies on the ambiguity inherent in "stronger"; the sun is not better at being the wind than the wind itself, it's just that their strengths are different, and making the being take off its clothes is something the sun is better equipped to do. The story doesn't really make sense in Nomnom because it can't simulate this ambiguity correctly.

Tongue Twisters
Congratulations! You read all the way down here!

Do you want to make a tongue twister? Most of the sounds are really similar to English-speaking ears, so anything goes.

dog nyon nyen dep - The throwable object sees size.