Conlang
Advertisement


Progress 30%
Gikamlig
Beris Zgorig
Type
Varies
Alignment
Nominative-Accusative
Head direction
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



General information[]

Gikamlig (Known by its native speakers as Beris Zgorig ['beˑɾis 'zgoˑɾiˑg], literally, "Main Speech") is the last living Salvaaic ([sæɫ'veɪ.ɪk]) language whose population equates to roughly 160 000 speakers. It's English rendering comes from the language's word for "friend" or "companion". Due to famine, disease, and a mass genocide of the Salvaaic peoples, its remaining speakers now only live on a remote island in complete isolation from the mainland. High amounts of distrust and overall hostility towards foreigners, combined with an advanced defence system as well as being the the only people familiar with the island's locations, makes any communication, and therefore learning the language, virtually impossible. Knowledge of the language comes from criminals exiled from the island and onto the mainland and then enslaved by nearby kingdoms.

Notice: Gikamlig is not going to be a very naturalistic language featuring aspects such as irregularities or what-not. That was the intentional idea, but I find that many of us do this far more than enough. The point of conlangs, I believe, is to be innovative first and complex second, and that this could be a rather exciting way of testing the possibilities of the human mind. So I am going to be inventing a number of inflections and syntax rules that I have yet to see in any real language and whether or not it is complicated will come later (I have no intention for it to be as infective as Xwarṣa. Seriously, whoever made that thing deserves a bloody medal for most elaborate stress trigger). As a result, Gikamlig will undergo very extensive alterations from time to time as I may get new ideas, but since this is my first language I am not sure if I will be too creative here or not. If that is the case, think of it as a prototype for future "creative-oriented" tongues if I ever start speculating new concepts after this one is completed. That is all.

Second Notice: I changed my mind. This page will be patched up, but not for a while. See the language "Ekoata" for more information.

Phonology[]

Gikamlig possesses a relatively simplistic vowel system, just five plus two allophones, balanced by a rich consonantal inventory, with a total of 36 consonants, 40 if allophones are included. Unique in its inventory for a Salvaaic language is the inclusion of ejectives.

Consonants[]

Bilabial Labio-dental Dental Alveolar Post-alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular
Nasal /m/ /n/ /ŋ/*
Plosive /p/ /b/ /t/ /d/ /k/ /g/
Labio-Plos. /tʷ/ /dʷ/ /kʷ/ /gʷ/
Ejective /p'/ /t'/ /k'/
Fricative /f/ /v/* /ð/* /s/ /z/ /ʃ/ /ʒ/ /ç/ /x/ /ɣ/* /χ/ /ʁ/
Labio-Fric. /sʷ/ /zʷ/ /ʃʷ/ /ʒʷ/ /çʷ/ /xʷ/ /χʷ/ /ʁʷ/
Approximant /l/
Labio-Appr. /lʷ/
Trill /r/
Flap or tap /ɾ/
  • */v/, /ð/, /ŋ/, and /ɣ/ are allophones of /b/, /d/, /n/, and /g/, respectively.
  • /r/ exists as a vowel only.
  • /m/, /n/, and /l/ may also be used as vowels.

Vowels[]

Front Central Back
Close /i/ /ɨ/* /u/
Close-mid /e/ /o/
Mid /ə/*
Open-mid /ʌ/

*/u/ and /ʌ/ become /ɨ/ and /ə/ after labialized consonants.

Alphabet[]

Phonotactics[]

Inflections[]

Gender Cases Numbers Tenses Persons Moods Voices Aspects
Verb Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
Nouns Yes Yes No No No No No No
Adjectives Yes No No No No No No No
Numbers No No No No No No No No
Participles Yes Yes Yes No No No No No
Adverb No No No No No No No No
Pronouns Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No
Adpositions Yes Yes No No No No No No
Article No Yes No No No No No No
Particle Yes Yes No No No No No No

Nouns[]

Adjectives[]

Verbs[]

Tense[]

Just as the nouns, Gikamlig verbs possess strong and weak variants, the latter of which occurs when nouns or adjectives are treated as verbs [For example: noun: Kalig (the hand) ----> Kariçe (Will hold/will be holding). Weak verbs stemming from adjectives are more predictable in there definitions. For example: ilefuš (better) ----> ilefiçe (Will improve/will be improving)]. Strong verbs are more fusional than their weak counterparts, which are primarily agglutinated.

Technically speaking, Gikamlig has no conjugation that strictly identifies any present tense. Discussing current events requires expressing one of three tenses of day: "morning tense", "noon tense", and "evening tense" (italicized with quotations because these are not their correct names. In fact, I have no idea if there even is one).

Using whichever "day tense", depending on the time of day it is used, could be referring to an action that occurred in the past, present, or future of the day the discussion occurs. For example, if one were to use the noon tense during noon or afternoon, it would be rendered as the present tense; however, if it is used and it is the evening, then it is rendered as an action in the past, specifically the afternoon. Likewise, if it is the afternoon or morning and the evening tense is used, it is rendered as an action that will occur during the evening.

Mood[]

The following conjugations regard mood, of which Gikamlig inflects for three: subjunctive, imperative, interrogative, the latter of which will be discussed firstly. The interrogative mood for weak verbs is naturally simple: just add the suffix "s" after the appropriate tense. Strong verbs are more colourful in conjugation, although just as straightforward; to conjugate for the interrogative, these verbs switch the positions of the last two vowels.

Following is the imperative mood, which has its own inflections, albeit of a much smaller variety. Just as in English, the imperative can be considered rude or offensive depending on circumstance, and as such a sort of "Interrogative-Imperative" merging occurs (again, I have no idea if there is an actual name for this). The interrogative-imperative turns the imperative into a question, and as a result it inflects exactly as the interrogative.

The subjunctive has by far the simplest conjugation. In fact, it removes any conjugation at all for either strong or weak verbs. For example: "Milwafkis tuķ su karrda" "It was necessary that he build." Literally: "He had necessary build." So the rule is to just drop the infinitive (Tuķes ---> Tuķ); however, if the verb has two consonants before the conjugation, such as "Lostes" (To cut), the infinitive is replaced with -il, turning the verb to "Lostil".

Syntax[]

Gikamlig's most basic word order is OVS, unless the subject is a pronoun, in which case it is OSV. Sentence structure can be rather flexible. For example, adjectives and adverbs can be found before or after their respective noun or verb, so that "Cute little dog" can be stated as either "Butis lilis zolig", "Zolig butis lilis", "Lilis zolig butis", and etc. 

Vocabulary[]


No. English Gikamlig
1IZeç
2you (singular)Bi
3heSu
4weZiçw (Exclusive), Beçe (Inclusive)
5you (plural)Bez
6they
7thisZi
8thatZiç
9here
10there
11who
12what
13where
14when
15how
16not
17all
18many
19some
20few
21other
22one
23two
24three
25four
26five
27big
28long
29wide
30thick
31heavy
32small
33short
34narrow
35thin
36woman
37man (adult male)
38man (human being)Kamlig
39child
40wife
41husband
42motherAmolig
43fatherOzig
44animal
45fishDuḳig
46birdSforig
47dogZolig
48louse
49snake
50worm
51treeEkolig
52forest
53stick
54fruitEbga (picked fruit)
55seed
56leaf
57root
58bark
59flower
60grass
61rope
62skin
63meat
64blood
65bone
66fat
67egg
68horn
69tail
70feather
71hair
72head
73ear
74eye
75nose
76mouth
77tooth
78tongue
79fingernail
80foot
81leg
82knee
83handKarig
84wing
85belly
86guts
87neck
88back
89breast
90heart
91liver
92drink
93eatBaḳes
94bite
95suck
96spit
97vomit
98blow
99breathe
100laugh
101see
102hear
103know
104think
105smell
106fear
107sleep
108live
109dieGweles
110killGweles
111fightTames
112hunt
113hit
114cut
115split
116stab
117scratch
118dig
119swim
120fly
121walk
122come
123lie
124sit
125stand
126turn
127fall
128give
129hold
130squeeze
131rub
132wash
133wipe
134pull
135push
136throw
137tie
138sew
139count
140say
141sing
142play
143float
144flow
145freeze
146swell
147sun
148moon
149star
150water
151rain
152river
153lake
154sea
155salt
156stone
157sand
158dust
159earth
160cloud
161fog
162sky
163wind
164snowKlata
165ice
166smoke
167fireIshafig
168ash
169burnIshafim
170road
171mountainGwosa
172red
173green
174yellow
175white
176black
177night
178day
179yearLera
180warm
181cold
182full
183new
184old
185good
186bad
187rotten
188dirty
189straight
190round
191sharp
192dull
193smooth
194wet
195dry
196correct
197near
198far
199right
200left
201at
202in
203with
204and
205if
206because
207name


Example text[]

Advertisement