Framlish

Framlish is an artificial language, created as part of FJ's Lab. It was the first language in the Lab.

Classification and Dialects
There are no dialects.

Phonotactics
Consonant clusters are rare, a typical four-phone syllable structure is CVCV, or CVVC. Vowel clusters will have each sound pronounced separately so 'ia' is pronounced /ia/ or by assimilation, /ja/. Double vowels such as 'ee' indicate a long vowel, so 'ii' is pronounced /i:/

Tonality
The tonal system is the same as that of Mandarin: there are four tones (a flat tone, a high rising tone, a high tone, and a low tone.) This leads to homophones, that are distinguishable only by tone, such as:
 * we (IPA /wɛ̄/) meaning 'that'
 * wé (IPA /wɛ́/) meaning 'chicken'
 * wè (IPA /wɛ̀/) meaning 'slow'
 * wě (IPA /wɛ̌/) meaning 'creek or small river'

Grammar
Unlike the phonetics and tones, the grammar of Framlish is fairly simple.

Nouns
Nouns change form according to number, but there is no gender, so for instance:
 * melě (the fish), changes to meléte in the plural. A rising tone is typically assimilated into a high with the addition of '-te' in plural, but the '-te' suffix is tone-neutral.

Framlish has a number of idiosyncratic word systems, for instance, the noun used to describe a sober person is 'laam' but the noun used to describe a drunk person is 'kele'.

Verbs
Tense is easily formed in Framlish, with the use of the verbs, sáu (to have) and miě (to go).