Guosa

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Guosa 2.0 is a Universal Language, serving non-Bantu West Africa.

ߜ߳ߎߏߛߊ
[gu.o.sa]
Timeline/Universe Universal Languages
Period Future Utopia
Spoken in West Africa
Total speakers 340 million
Writing system N'Ko
Classification Proto-Niger–Congo
Typology
Basic word order SVO
Morphology Analytic
Alignment N-A
Credits
Created by Alex Igbineweka (1965)
[ edit ]

Anthropology

  • CV, CVC
  • no gender
  • serial verbs
  • no case
  • aspect is more important than tense
  • clusivity
  • topicalization
  • favoring words found in Yoruba, Igbo, Akan, Hausa (loanwords), Krio, and Wolof (no English)
  • Proverbs & Call-Response Forms
  • five vowels :-(

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Alveolar Postalveolar/Palatal Velar Labiovelar Glottal
Nasal /m/ ߡ /n/ ߣ /ɲ/ ߢ /ŋ/ ߒ
Plosive voiceless /p/ ߔ /t/ ߕ‎ /tʃ/ ߗ /k/ ߞ (/k͡p/ ߞߔ)
prenasalized ⁿtʃ ߢߗ
voiced /b/ ߓ /d/ ߘ /dʒ/ ߖ /ɡ~ɣ/ ߜ߳ /ɡ͡b/ ߜ
prenasalized ᵐb ߡߓ ⁿd ߣߘ ⁿdʒ ߢߖ ᵑɡ ߒߜ߳ ᵑ͡ᵐɡ͡b ߒߜ
Fricative voiceless /f/ ߝ /s/ ߛ‎ /ʃ/ ߛߤ /h~x/ ߤ
voiced /v/ ߝ߳ /z/ ߛ߳
Approximant /l/ ߟ /j/ ߦ /w/ ߥ
Rhotic /ɹ/ ߙ (/r/ ߚ)

Vowels

High /i~ɪ/ ߌ /u~ʊ/ ߎ‎
Mid /e~ɛ/ ߋ (ߍ) /o~ɔ/ ߏ (ߐ)
Low /a/ ߊ

Vowel length is not contrastive, but can be written to show etymology, by doubling. (However, see tone). Nasality is not contrastive, but can be written to show etymology of foreign words (with a mark resembling a tilde).

Tone

Tone is tricky, as even speakers of tonal languages struggle to learn new tones. Guosa 2.0 has two tones, low and high. However, two alike consonants in a row can occur and have different tone. This means, under a different analysis, Guosa 2.0 has long and short vowels and H, L, HH, LL, HL, and LH tones. Low is not marked. High tone is marked with something like a macron. Falling tone is mark ߮, while rising tone is marked ߭.

Grammar

Universal Languages
AFRICA SEDES (Horn of Africa), Middle Semitic (Semitic languages), Kintu (Bantu languages), Guosa (West Africa) Universal Language.png
CENTRAL ASIA Jalpi (Turkic languages), Zens (Iranian languages), Dravindian (Dravidian languages), Neo-Sanskrit (Indo-Aryan languages)
EUROPE Interlingua (Romance languages), Folksprak (Germanic languages), Interslavic Slavic languages, Balkan (Balkans)
FAR EAST Dan'a'yo (CJKV), MSEAL (Mainland Southeast Asia), Indo-Malay (Maritime Southeast Asia)