Conlang
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Ëkopion (/ǂǂʷǀː/, cq:T) is a North Chelydian language spoken by Arthrowheels on the planet Chelys.

Ëkopion
cq:T
Type
Fusional-Analytic
Alignment
Nominative-Accusative
Head direction
Head-initial
Tonal
No
Declensions
Yes
Conjugations
Yes
Genders
No
Nouns decline according to...
Case Number
Definiteness Gender
Verbs conjugate according to...
Voice Mood
Person Number
Tense Aspect



Phonology and Romanization[]

Ëkopion is a language that is entirely comprised of click consonants. It lacks vowels as such, however it has a distinction between "strong" and "relaxed" clicks, where a strong click can only occur once per word, similar to a stressed syllable in a stress-based language. In the romanization, strong clicks are indicated with a capital letter. Ëkopion also has geminated clicks, that is, clicks articulated only following a short pause. When a click is geminated, a <:> will appear in the romanization before said click.

Bilabial Dental Lateral Palatal
plain labialized
Click ʘ <p> ǀ <t> ǁ <l> ǂ <c> ǂʷ <q>

Grammar[]

Ëkopion has a strict SVO word order and is predominantly head-initial.

Reduplication[]

Ëkopion makes abundant use of reduplication in its morphology. There are strict rules on how a given root reduplicates. Roots that are only one click long often make use of suppletion in instances where they should reduplicate grammatically.

Initial reduplication[]

Initial reduplication is applied to a verb to put it into a perfective aspect. When applied to a noun (whether a modifier or not) it indicates that a given noun is collective.

Final reduplication[]

Final reduplication can be applied to almost any participant of a phrase to indicate that it is a modifier to the preceeding word (except for adverbs, which are put at the beginning of a clause and applied to verbs).

Rules for applying reduplication[]

The "root" is strictly the part of the word that is either initial or final.

Root shape Sr rS S:r r:S r1r2 r1:r2
Initial reduplication srSr r:rS sS:r rs:S r1:r1r2 r1:r1:r2
Final reduplication Sr:r rSrs S:sr r:Ss r1r2:r2 r1:r2:r2

Syntax[]

Ëkopion has a fixed word order. A word's part of speech is largely determined by its position in the phrase.

The following sentence would be translated as "The unfriendly animal showed the old person [its] upper teeth".

Verb modifier* Secondary verb modifier* Subject Subject modifiers* Verb/Auxiliary Post-auxiliary verb† Indirect object* Indirect object modifiers* Direct object Direct object modifiers*
Lpt q:Lplpl l:C qLqpl clPlp cp:Cl:l Cl:t Tcpcp
animal unfriendly give (causative auxiliary) see person old teeth upper
  • * means that the word in this position must undergo final reduplication.
  • † means that the verb in this position takes the affix -pl (or -:pl if the final root click is stressed) to indicate its role relative to the auxiliary verb.

Pronouns and Determiners[]

Pronoun type Plain Modifying
1st person P pT
2nd person T tP
3rd person proximate Q:t Q:qt
3rd person obviate Q:l Q:ql
Impersonal L lT:t
Interrogative qP qPqp

Auxiliary verbs[]

There are multiple auxiliary verbs in Ëkopion. Auxiliary verbs can overlap, and two or more auxiliary verbs can be used.

Tense and Aspect[]

Auxiliary verb Plain Reduplicated
no auxiliary present past perfective
pL:t (to move forward) future future perfective
t:Ct (to move back) iterative past iterative
ct:T (to stay in) habitual past habitual

Mood, Voice and Negation[]

Auxiliary verb Plain
l:C (to give) Causatuive voice
L:tl (to take) Passive voice
t:T (not to do) Negation

Script[]

The script used for Ëkopion has 5 main glyphs (one for each click), a glyph indicating gemination of the following click, and a diacritic to indicate stress. Due to the absence of vowels in the language, the script can be simultaneously classified as an abjad, an alphabet, an abugida and a syllabary. The script is written right-to-left, top to bottom.

Ëkopion script

Vocabulary[]

Ëkopion has a fairly limited amount of roots and uses modifiers to give any word a new shade of meaning. In following reiterations, the modifiers can be left out, and sometimes the interpretation becomes up to context if any ambiguity arises.

See Ëkopion/Vocabulary.

Transcription of foreign words[]

Transcribing any word from a pulmonic language (with consonants and vowels) into Ëkopion is a huge challenge, as the limited phonological inventory may leave many ambiguities. Whenever possible, Ëkopion calques a foreign word instead. If it's impossible to calque something, the following system is used:

Type of sound Examples Click equivalent
Pure labials /m, b, p, f, ʋ/ p
Coronal obstruents and nasals /n, d, t, s, z, ʈ, θ, ts, tʃ, ʃ/ t
Liquids and other laterals and rhotics /l, r, ɬ, ʁ, ʎ/ l
Dorsals and unrounded vowels /j, k, g, x, a, e, i/ c
Labialized dorsals and rounded vowels /w, kʷ, o, u, y/ q
Consonant clusters and final element of diphthongs /st, mp, jk/ :
Laryngeals and final sonorants /h, ħ, ʔ, -ŋ, -r/ [unwritten]

Stress[]

If the language from which the word originates has one syllable that is more prominent than the others, Ëkopion transcribes that syllable with a stressed click.

Examples[]

Name Original language Native IPA Transcription
Julius Caesar Classical Latin /ju.li.us kae.sar/ Ql:t C:tl
Genghis Khan Mongolian /tʃʰiŋgisxaŋ/ C:ctc
Elizabeth Windsor British English /əlɪzəbɛθ wɪndsɔ:/ cLtp Q:tt
Austria German /'œstəʁaɪç/ Q:tl:c
Brazil Brazilian Portuguese /bʁɐ'ziw/ plTq
Lombardy Italian /lombar'dia/ l:p:Tc
Novosibirsk Russian /nəvəsi'birsk/ tptP:c

Example text[]

"The Prophecy" translated into Ëkopion
Transliterated text lCpl:l q:clTlt Q:t t:T lP:tpl ct:Tt lQ:qc

qT:c P:cl:l q:qT:tc L:tl t:pC

t:tLc l:C cP:tpl q:qT:c

Q:t lt:Tc t:pCpc q:tL:c lP:pt

Q:t ct:T pL:tpl tLc:c Q:qt:t

Q:t plP:t q:qT:c pL:lt lP:pt q:p:Cc Lpt:t qLq:q

Gloss light-MOD darkness-MOD 3P.PROX NEG exist-AUX in-MOD beginning-MOD

amount small_thing-MOD all-MOD take two

time CAUS follow-AUX everything-MOD

3P.PROX PRF-cut two-MOD creation-MOD 3P.POSS-MOD

3P.PROX HAB move_forward-AUX moment-MOD 3P.PROX-MOD

3P.PROX destroy everything front-MOD 3P.POSS-MOD with-MOD wild_animal-MOD looks-MOD

Translation In the beginning there was no dark or light,

The number of particles was only two

Then Time, the Master that controls

All that moves, split its creations

It still goes forward and destroys

What is before it, like a bull.

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