Liu
| Liu Liu | |
| Spoken in: | |
| Conworld: | |
| Total speakers: | |
| Genealogical classification: |
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| Basic word order: | |
| Morphological type: | |
| Morphosyntactic alignment: | nominative-accusative |
| Writing system: | |
| Created by: | |
| Qwynegold | |
Phonology and phonotactics
| Consonants | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilabial | Labiod. | Dental | Alveolar | Post-alv. | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||||||||
| Nasals | m | n | ||||||||||||||
| Plosives | p | b | t | d | k | g | ||||||||||
| Affricates, clusters and other | ts | ks | kʷ | |||||||||||||
| Fricatives | f | v | s | h | ||||||||||||
| Approximants | ɹ | |||||||||||||||
| Lateral Approximant | l | |||||||||||||||
| Vowels | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Front | Near-front | Central | Near-back | Back | ||||||
| High | i | u | ||||||||
| High-mid | e | o | ||||||||
| Mid | ||||||||||
| Low-mid | ||||||||||
| Low | a | |||||||||
The syllable structure is (C)(C)(C)V(V/ː)(C)(C). Liu has phonemic vowel and consonant length constrast. Stress is random.
Grammars
Nouns
Liu has three genders: masculine, feminine and neuter. Masculine nouns usually end with -e or -o, and feminines with -a. Neuter nouns have no particular ending.
There are four kinds of number: singular, plural, pair and uncountable. The pair, which is not the same as dual, is used about things that consists of two parts (like scissors, pants) or usually appear in pairs (such as gloves, eyes, twins). The singular number has zero marking, while the others are formed by adding suffixes as shown below.
In the following tables, the column "Replace with..." shows which suffix is added, depending on what letter(s) the word ends with, as indicated on the column "If word ends with..." If the suffix is preceded by a -, it means that it completely replaces the end of the word specified under "If word ends with..." If it is precided by a + on the other hand, it means that the suffix does not replace the end of the word, but is just added on after it. V stands for any vowel and C for any consonant. The symbols 0, ♂ and ♀ specify words that have the neuter, masculine resp. feminine gender.
| If word ends with... | Replace with... |
|---|---|
| -a | -i |
| -e | -i |
| -á,é,i,ó,ú | -í |
| -í | 0 -íu ♂ -ío ♀ -ía |
| -o | -oi |
| -u | -ui |
| -C | 0 +i ♂ +o ♀ +a |
| -(V)VV | -aia |
Cases
Liu has five cases, of which only the accusative is inflectional.
Nominative
The nominative has zero marking, and it is used for the agent and causer semantic roles.
Accusative
The accusative stands for the semantic roles of patient, range and result. When it comes to range and result, if the noun is derived from the verb (or vice versa), the sentence is more preferrably expressed intransitively, instead of having to repeat the same word root, as in the English sentence "They sang a song". The accusative case is expressed with different suffixes, depending on the gender and number of the noun.
| If word ends with... | Replace with... |
|---|---|
| 0 sg. -u,ui* | -ú |
| 0 sg. -(V)(V)V | -u |
| 0 sg. -C | +u |
| 0 pl. -i,oi | -ui |
| 0 pl. -íu | -iu |
| 0 pl. -aia | -uai |
| ♂ sg. -(V)(V)o | -uo |
| ♂ sg. -(V)(V)V | -ue |
| ♂ sg. -C | +ue |
| ♂ pl. -i | -iu |
| ♂ pl. -ío | -iou |
| ♂ pl. -oi | -ou |
| ♂ pl. -ui | -ue |
| ♂ pl. -aia | -uie |
| ♀ sg. -(V)(V)V | -ua |
| ♀ sg. -C | +ua |
| ♀ pl. -a | -au |
| ♀ pl. -ía | -iau |
| ♀ pl. -oi | -ou |
| ♀ pl. -ui | -ua |
| ♀ pl. -aia | -uia |
Pair and uncountable missing!!! Also, examples needed!!!
*On this table, long vowels are treated the same as short ones. For example, neuter singular nouns ending with -ú will get the same suffix as neuter singular nouns ending with -u.
Dative
The dative is used for the dative and beneficiary semantic roles. It is usually expressed with the preposition des (meaning "for"), but it can also be expressed by the preposition pseu (approximately meaning "instead of"). Two examples missing!!!
Genitive
The genitive is expressed as "possessed thing PREP possessor". Proper terms needed!!! There are three different preposition that are used depending on the gender of the possessor. For masculines do is used, The rest of the genitive prepositions needs to be filled in!!! Also, examples needed!!!
Instrumental
The instrumental, obviously, stands for the sematic role of instrument. It is expressed with the preposition con. Example missing!!!
Pronouns
Amongst the personal pronouns, the neuter gender is used about people of unknown gender, or in the case plural personal pronouns, about mixed groups.
| Type of pronoun | 1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | Interrogative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal pronouns, singular | ♂ í (I) ♀ il (I) |
♂ deu (you) ♀ lú (you) |
0 Pronoun missing!!! (he/she) ♂ ene (he) ♀ sá (she) |
quo (who) |
| Personal pronouns, plural | 0 inesse (we) ♂ íne (we) ♀ íla (we) |
0 vesse (you) ♂ deute (you) ♀ lúla (you) |
0 ènèsse (they) ♂ enê (they) ♀ sála (they) |
qio (who) |
| Personal pronouns, reflexive | ♂ íni (myself/ourselves) ♀ ílas (myself/ourselves) |
♂ dima (yourself/yourselves) ♀ líma (yourself/yourselves) |
0 ènèssas (himself/herself/themselves) ♂ enês (himself/herself/themselves) ♀ sálas (himself/herself/themselves) |
quos (who ... himself/herself/themselves) |
| Location | aqa (here) | líme (there) | same as 2nd person | qed (where) |
| Temporal | an (now/then)1 | en (then)2 | same as 2nd person | qin (when) |
| Impersonal pronouns, singular | 0 anda (this) ♂ aro (this) ♀ ilma (this) |
0 esses (that) ♂ deule (that) ♀ liqo (that) |
same as 2nd person | qava (what) |
| Impersonal pronouns, plural | 0 andi (these) ♂ aroli (these) ♀ ilmi (these) |
0 esse (those) ♂ deuli (those) ♀ liqoli (those) |
same as 2nd person | qavi (which) |
| Impersonal pronouns, pair | 0 andi (these) ♂ ari (these) ♀ ilmi (these) |
0 essesi (those) ♂ deuli (those) ♀ liqi (those) |
same as 2nd person | same as plural |
| Impersonal pronouns, uncountable | adassa (this) | issi (this) | same as 2nd person | qissi (which) |
| Determiner, singular | 0 anor (this) ♂ ahon (this) ♀ ihon (this) |
0 esnor (that) ♂ deuson (that) ♀ lison (that) |
same as 2nd person | qesnor (which) |
| Determiner, plural | 0 anori (these) ♂ ahoni (these) ♀ ihoni (these) |
0 esnori (those) ♂ deusoni (those) ♀ lisoni (those) |
same as 2nd person | qesnori (which) |
| Determiner, pair | 0 anori (these) ♂ ahi (these) ♀ ihoni (these) |
0 esnori (those) ♂ deusoni (those) ♀ lini (those) |
same as 2nd person | qesnori (which) |
| Determiner, uncountable | anossa (this) | inissi (that) | same as 2nd person | qenissi (which) |
| Manner | inissivi (this way) | visili (that way) | same as 2nd person | dimi (which way) |
| Reason | asto (this is why) | esto (that is why) | same as 2nd person | qo (why) |
1This word is used about an event mentioned by the speaker.
2This word is used about an event mentioned by the 2nd or 3rd person.
| Type of quantifier | Inclusive | Exclusive | Universal | Negative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal pronoun, singular | cuoiduin (anyone) |
parduin (someone) |
- | induin (no one) |
| Personal pronoun, plural | cuoiduini (anyone) |
parduini (some people) |
panduin (everyone) |
induini (no one) |
| Determiner, singular | cuoi (any) |
para (some) |
omnos (every) |
inno (no) |
| Determiner, plural | cuoi (any) |
pari (some) |
omnosi (all) |
inni (no) |
| Determiner, pair | ci (any pair of) |
pri (some pair of) |
omi (every/all) |
inni (no) |
| Determiner, uncountable | cuoisi (any) |
parasi (some) |
omnosi (all) |
insi (no) |
| Inanimate, singular | cuoicuail (anything) |
parcuail (something) |
- | incuail (nothing) |
| Inanimate, plural | cuoicuaili (any things) |
parcuaili (some things) |
omnicuail (everything) |
incuaili (nothing) |
| Inanimate, pair | cuoici (any) |
parci (some) |
ambo (each pair) |
inci (none) |
| Inanimate, uncountable | cuoisi (any) |
parsi (some) |
omnisi (everything) |
insi (nothing) |
| Location | cuoiloca (anywhere) |
parloca (somewhere) |
omniloca (everywhere) |
inloca (nowhere) |
| Temporal | cuoimentè (anytime) |
parmentè (sometime) |
panmentè (every time) |
inmentè (never) |
| Manner | cuoili (anyway/anyhow) |
parali (someway/somehow) |
omnili (every way) |
inili (no way) |
| Reason | cuoisto (anywhy/by any reason) |
parsto (somewhy/for some reason) |
- | insto (for no reason) |
Articles
Liu has definite articles, but no indefinite ones.
| Number | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | da | la | ia |
| Plural | de | le | ie |
| Pair | dei | lei | ei |
| Uncountable | ud | ul | ui |
Adverbs
Adverbs of manner usually end with –i, -li or –vi. Comparison is done by adding a suffix as below.
| Add... | |
|---|---|
| Positive | - |
| Comparative | -er |
| Superlative | -st |
