My first new conlang in 48 years!
No phonology yet, so of course no vocabulary yet.
It has 22 "open" word-classes and 80 "closed" word-classes.
The words "open" and "closed" are in quotes, because the real difference is that wherever an "open" word-class can be used, certain phrases can also be used there and be equally grammatical; but where a word from a "closed" class can be used, only another word from the same class can be substituted for it and still have a grammatical utterance.
It's completely isolating, and so it has no "morphology".
Its syntax can be written in Chomsky normal form.
It is entirely head-final.
Every phrase consists of two parts; the complement and the head.
The head determines both the word-class that the complement has to come from, and the word-class that the entire phrase can be substituted for.
OTOH if you know both the word-class of the complement and the word-class whose distribution the entire phrase's distribution matches, then you know the word-class the head must be from.
It is neither right-branching nor left-branching, since, when the head happens to come from one of the 22 "open" word-classes, it could be phrasal, even if the complement isn't phrasal. OTOH the head might be a single word (and, if it comes from one of the 80 "closed" classes, actually [u][i]must[/i][/u] be a single word), but the complement might be a phrase. In either case the head would still have to come after the complement.
I will publish a list of the word-classes, and the CFG grammar, when I get around to it, which I hope will be soon (but who knows?).
The purpose of this conlang is just to see whether or not I can actually make a conlang according to this formalism.
The capital letters are nonterminal symbols; they can be replaced by another non-terminal or by a string of non-terminals. The lowercase letters and numerics are "quasiterminal" or "metaterminal" symbols; they can be replaced by single words of the appropriate class, which are the terminal symbols. The lowercase letters represent "open" word-classes, and the numerics represent "closed" word-classes.
"A" represents sentences and/or clauses. "B" represents nouns and noun-phrases and phrases which can be used as if they were nouns.
A --> a
| A C | B D | C G | D H | E I | F J | G 17 | H 18 | I 19 | J 20 | K 21 | L 22 | M 23 | N 24 | O 25 | P 26 | Q 27 | R 28 | S 29 | T 30 | U 31 | V 32
B --> b
| A E | B F | C K | D L | E M | F N | G 33 | H 34 | I 35 | J 36 | K 37 | L 38 | M 39 | N 40 | O 41 | P 42 | Q 43 | R 44 | S 45 | T 46 | U 47 | V 48
C --> c
| A O | B P | C 1 | D 2 | E 3 | F 4
D --> d
| A Q | B R | C 5 | D 6 | E 7 | F 8
E --> e
| A S | B T | C 9 | D 10 | E 11 | F 12
F --> f
| A U | B V | C 13 | D 14 | E 15 | F 16
G --> g
| A 49 | B 50
H --> h
| A 51 | B 52
I --> i
| A 53 | B 54
J --> j
| A 55 | B 56
K --> k
| A 57 | B 58
L --> l
| A 59 | B 60
M --> m
| A 61 | B 62
N --> n
| A 63 | B 64
O --> o
| A 65 | B 66
P --> p
| A 67 | B 68
Q --> q
| A 69 | B 70
R --> r
| A 71 | B 72
S --> s
| A 73 | B 74
T --> t
| A 75 | B 76
U --> u
| A 77 | B 78
V --> v
| A 79 | B 80
I haven't decided on the exact correspondence between the usual terms for word-classes and the terms I'll use when talking about Arpien. But here's my first, partial, approximation.
A Sentence or Clause
B Noun or Noun Phrase
C Auxiliary or Sentential Adverb
D Monovalent Verb or Verb Phrase (including most intransitive verbs)
E Complementizer or Phrasal Complementizer
F Adjective or Adjective Phrase
G Makes a Clause out of an Auxiliary or Sentential Adverb
H Makes a Clause out of a Monovalent Verb
I Makes a Clause out of a Complementizer
J Makes a Clause out of an Adjective
K Makes a Nominal Phrase out of an Auxiliary or Sentential Adverb
L Infinitivizer; Makes a Noun out of a Monovalent Verb
M Makes a Noun out of a Complementizer
N Makes a Noun out of an Adjective
O Conjunction for Clauses, or, Subordinator for Adjunct Clauses (resulting phrase modifies a sentence or clause)
P Bivalent Verb Taking a Noun and a Complement Clause; or Postposition (resulting phrase acts as an auxiliary or as a sentential adverb)
Q Subordinator for Adjunct Clauses (resulting phrase modifies a monovalent verb or verb phrase)
R Bivalent Verb or Verb Phrase (including most monotransitive verbs)
S Makes a clause into a complementizer
T Postposition Resulting in Phrasal Complementizer
U Relativizer
V Postposition Resulting in Phrasal Adjective; e,g, Genitive Postposition; or, Conjunction for Nouns
1 Adverb that Modifies an Auxiliary or Sentential Adverb
2 Makes an Auxiliary or Sentential Adverb out of a Monovalent Verb
3 Makes an Auxiliary or Sentential Adverb out of a Complementizer
4 Makes a Complementizer out of an Adjective
5 Makes a Subordinator out of an Auxiliary or Sentential Adverb
6 Adverb that Modifies a Monovalent Verb
7 Makes a Monovalent Verb out of a Complementizer
8 Makes a Monovalent Verb out of an Adjective
9 Makes a Complementizer out of an Auxiliary or Sentential Adverb
10 Makes a Complementizer out of a Monovalent Verb
11 Adverb that Modifies a Complementizer
12 Makes a Complementizer out of an Adjective
13 Makes a Phrasal Adjective out of an Auxiliary or Sentential Adverb
14 Participlizer; Makes an Adjective of a Monovalent Verb
15 Makes an Adjective out of a Complementizer
16 Adverb that Modifies an Adjective
67 Trivalent Verb Requiring a Noun and Two Complement Clauses
68 Trivalent Verb Requiring Two Nouns and a Complement Clause
69 Trivalent Verb Requiring a Noun and Two Complement Clauses
70 Trivalent Verb Requiring Two Nouns and a Complement Clause
71 Trivalent Verb Requiring Two Nouns and a Complement Clause
72 Trivalent Verb (Including Most Ditransitive Verbs)