Mirage Index

Day 74: March 14, 2024: Update your dictionary with demonstrative forms Added a section to my dictionary document to keep track of derived words. Even though the language has no inflections there are still some grammaticalized derivations.

Derivational Forms: A Running List necu, -ncu Necu, meaning “esteemed, noble, respectable”, shows up as the suffix -ncu in a bunch of odd places. It originates in common daily prayers to find game animals or ward off harm. One might says a quick prayer to Lord Cut not to slice one’s hand before preparing dinner, or to Lord Shut to keep the house safe at night. Before the animacy distinctions were lost -ncu nouns were referred to as animate, in deference to their small deities. crab = Lord Pinch: cipa necu > cipanecu > cipancu knife = Lord Cut: wesi necu > vesinecu > vesincu gate, exterior door = Lord Shut: rama necu > lamanecu > lamancu hearth = Lord Bright: mori necu > molinecu > molincu wave = Lord Pull: toso necu > tosonecu > tosoncu predator, beast, monster = Lord Teeth > nikapa necu > nikapanecu > naipancu > nepancu

DAY 73: Write a section on demonstrative modifiers Demonstratives immediately follow the nouns they modify and do not inflect. There is a two-way distinction between proximal (“co”, this) and distal (“ma”, that) demonstratives. Cipancu ma: that crab 🦀 👈 Cipancu ma iya: those nine crabs 🦀🦀🦀 🦀🦀🦀 🦀🦀🦀 👈 Lani co: this house 👇 🏠 Lani co veli: all these houses 👇 🏠🏠🏠

Demonstratives are also the source for the words “here” and “there”, from “this or that place”, though the connection has been obscured by sound changes. place: paŋi > pani here: paŋi ko > paŋko > panco there: paŋi ma > paŋme > pa:ma > pæma > pema

DAY 65: Consider different types of possession DAY 66: Identify any possessive markers you need DAY 67: Create forms for possessive constructions DAY 68: Write an overview for possession The language (I really need to settle on a name for it, I’ve tried out a bunch but nothing's stuck) distinguishes between alienable and inalienable possession. For inalienable the possessor is used like an adjective, while for alienable the word “lao” (of, from) precedes the possessor. So: mema poya: the squid’s mother but cipancu lao poya: the squid’s crab This also goes for anything to do with a noun’s intrinsic qualities, such as size, color, texture, etc. lavo esa: the stream’s edge inta lao esa: the stream’s rocks (which can be easily removed)

Conlang Year Days 60-64: Adpositions!

DAY 60: Explore ideas for more adpositions DAY 61: Create sources for new adpositions nose: *jesa

ye preposition “pointing at, to, toward”

limb, edge, border: *lafo

lavo noun (1) “limb” noun (2) “edge, border” lao preposition “out, away from” yelo verb “leave, go out” noun “exit”

spine: *coxu

cu preposition: “center, in, at” cuma noun (1) "spine, backbone" noun (2) “center” adjective: “important, central” with demonstrative ma to make the noun feel more specific. yecu preposition: “into” verb: “enter, go in” noun: “entrance”

DAY 62: Consider how adpositions and case will interact No cases no worries.

DAY 63: Write an introduction to adposition phrases The language has prepositions mostly derived from verbs. The language makes extensive use of the names for body parts as the origin of common verbs, and these too are the oldest forms of the prepositions. Some example sentences: The bird flies toward the crab. Cuvi saica ye cipancu. The crab runs from the bird. Cipancu nene lao cuvi. The crab runs on the shore (water edge). Cipancu nene cu milavo. The crab runs into the water. Cipancu nene yecu meli.

Conlang Year: dictionary tidying

DAY 52: Update your template with forms you created I wasn't happy with the pronouns so I change the plural marker and added exclusive "we".

Each pronoun can be pluralizied by adding “li”, meaning “group, set, bunch”. “Vali” is the inclusive we, meaning both the speaker and the spoken to, while “vali ma”, roughly “those of us”, excludes the person spoken to.

1st: va, vali, vali ma 2nd: ni, nili 3rd: to, toli

DAY 53: Write an introduction to noun class (if any) No noun classes, so here are some more verbs instead. to have: tima > tima to give: ropi > lopi to know: faso > aso to need: tefo > tevo to want: jona > yona

DAY 54: Write an introduction to number The language doesn’t distinguish between singular and plural on the noun itself, e.g. cipancu ma pa “that one crab”, cipancu ma omi “those eight crabs”, cipancu naite “a few crabs”, cipancu ma vuli “all of those crabs”.

DAY 55: Write an introduction to definiteness There’s no obligatory distinction between definite and indefinite nouns. If you really want to show that you’re talking about something you’ve already referred to you can use the demonstratives co/me (this/these/that/those) with some number, as in the examples above.

DAY 56: Write an introduction to function Since there are no noun inflections the language relies on strict word order to show each noun’s function in a sentence. So “Cipancu co laili cuvi pa” is “This crab throws two birds” while “Cuvi pa laili cipancu co.” is “Two birds throw this crab.”

DAY 48: Create class markers or new nouns fire: loke > loce smoke: mifa > miva water: meli > meli rock: xinasa > inta soil, earth, dirt: pisolu > pailu foam: sesu > sesu

DAY 49: Create number markers or more words none: rinewi > limpi all: woluri > vuli some, group, set: ki > ci many: keŋu > cenu few, rare: nikete > naite

one: pa > pa two: sa > sa three: finiko > inco four: nuki > nuci five: wete > vete six: maxe > mai seven: tikaka > taica eight: xome > omi nine: fija > iya ten: lo > lo

DAY 50: Create definiteness markers or more nouns this: ko > co that: me > me place: paŋi > pani here: paŋi ko > paŋiiko > panco there: paŋi me > paŋime > peme everywhere: paŋi woluri > panivuli what: ta > ta

DAY 51: Create function markers or more nouns to: ye (from yesa, nose originally “point your nose toward”) from: ruxu > lao with (both comitative and instrumental, maybe possessive too?): paji > pai

DAY 52: Update your template with forms you created No affixes for my conlang, but this seems like a good place to come up with the pronouns and how they work. Each pronoun can be pluralizied by adding “ci”, much like Mandarin pronouns.

DAY 41: Decide on a more synthetic or analytic approach Very analytic.

DAY 42: Start a basic introduction to your conlang’s grammar Note: This may just be a sentence or two for now! My language has SVO word order with nominative-accusative alignment and is very head-initial and analytic in its structures.

Maybe add more nouns and verbs?

NOUNS sun: mako > maco moon: keju > ceyu star: tora > tola house: laŋi > lani fruit: tasi > tasi nose: jesa > yesa

VERBS! say, talk: japa > yapa hear: rumito > lunto fly, wing: sixaka > saica hit: pama > pama taste: ŋami > nami

DAY 43-46: Explore options for nouns. the modern form of the language won’t use any of these, but it could be fun to have a few “fossil” words that preserve inflexions from earlier stages in the language.

DAY 39: Explore options for word order and syntactic alignment -nominative-accusative alignment -SVO -Strongly head-initial

DAY 40: Select word order and syntactic alignment, add examples and templates.

transitive verb with an animate subject/agent The crab pinches the fish: Cipancu cipa liyu.

transitive verb with an inanimate subject/agent The wind throws the tree: Suvi laili coime.

intransitive verb with an animate subject The bird sleeps: Cuvi ula.

ˈDAY 35: Solidify your list of ordered sound changes The Lexurgy code for this turned out to be much longer and more involved than I thought it would be. Got there in the end though!

DAY 36: Write a section on phonotactics for modern forms ((C)V) ˈ (C)V ((N)CV) where the stressed vowel can have the diphthongs ai, ao, or oi, but unstressed vowels cannot. Nasal codas only occur after a monophthong in the stressed syllable (always penultimate).

The modern form has the same five vowels but with the fun new diphthongs.

DAY 37: Explore Romanization strategies Just use “y” for /j/ and “c” for what was /k/ in the proto form. I'm going with "ao" throughout for the merged au/ao diphthong because it's most intuitive for somebody who speaks English as a first language. Anglophones always want to read "au" as in "auto"!

Here the term for snail formed most recently, while the other words are much older. snail = hat worm: sikifi puxu > sikvi puu > siivi puu > saivi pao spider = little weaver: xere fepi > xerefepi > erevpi > ereepi > elipi crab = Lord Pinch: cipa necu > cipanecu > cipancu

Necu, meaning “esteemed, noble, respectable”, shows up as the suffix -ncu in a bunch of odd places. It originates in common daily prayers to find game animals or ward off harm. One might says a quick prayer to Lord Knife not to cut one’s hand before preparing dinner, or to Lord Door to keep the house safe at night. Before the animacy distinctions were lost -ncu nouns were referred to as living, in deference to their small deities.