Teilnehmer's engelang

No name yet. Engelang by Teilnehmer translated by Rgj40q. Originally published there.

Phonology and orthography

a, b, d, e, f, g, h, i, j [ʒ], k, l, m, n, o, p, r, s, t, u, v, x [ʃ], z.

Letters read as in IPA unless the sound is given in [brackets].

'i' and 'u' after a vowel form a descending diphthong.

Grammar

All words are equal and are considered binary predicates. It's not necesary for both arguments to be involved in semantics, but formally we count that everything is binary - each word can have a subject and an object.

A clause consists of a mandatory predicate word and from zero to two argument clauses. Text is a sequence of clauses.

The word consists of a root and three endings:

• ending of valence:
  • e - valency 0 (there are no argument clauses after the word)
  • a - valency 1 (there is one argument clause after the word)
  • o - valence 2 (there are two argument clauses after the word)
• ending of order:
  • Ø - arguments go in direct order (subject, object)
  • i - arguments go in reverse order (object, subject)
• ending of return value:
  • s - the predicate itself is returned
  • Ø - the first argument is returned
  • n - the second argument is returned
  • t - both arguments are returned

That's kinda all, folks.

Examples

The root 'grand' means 'subject is larger than object'.

The root 'hom' means 'subject is human'.

The root 'dom' means 'subject is house'.

The clause 'home' means 'human'. The ending '-eØØ' means that there are no explicit argument clauses, but the subject is returned. I.e. the clause meaning is the subject of 'hom', which is human. Same is true for the clause 'dome' meaning 'house'.

Grandos dome home
'House is larger than human.'

The ending '-oØs' means that two clauses are expected in the direct order (subject, object), and the clause itself is returned, not one of arguments. Then there is a subject clause ('dome') and an object clause ('home').

Grandois dome home
'House is smaller than human.'

Here the ending '-ois' contains '-i-', indicating the reverse order of the arguments.

Grandas dome
'House is large.'

The ending '-aØs' indicates that there is one argument clause expected and it will be a subject. The object is dropped. The literal meaning of the clause is something like 'House is larger than something implied, but unspecified.' Similarly,

Grandais dome
'House is small.'

Here the argument clause is an object, and a subject is implied.

Granda dome
'large house'

In contrast to the clause 'Grandas dome' the return value is not the clause itself but its argument, 'house'.

Grandai dome
'small house'

Grandos grandai dome granda home
'Small house is larger than a large human.'

Here the argument clauses contain more than one word. The clause borders are obvious from its valencies.

Grandan dome
'something smaller than house'

Here the subject is 'house', and the object is returned.

Laboran me
'my work'

literally 'something I work on'. The root 'labor' means 'subject works on object'

The root 'm' means the current act of speach. The subject is the talker, or I, and the object is the listener, or you.

The clause 'me' may be translated as 'I'.

The clause 'mei' may be translated as 'you'.

The endings '-ei' and '-en' match in semantics and are interchangeable. One may use 'men' instead of 'mei'.

The root 'd' means the motion of subject at/in/over object where object is a traectory or place.

Dos me drome
'I walk across the field.'

The root 't' means the direction from the subject to the object.

Tos table sofe
'from table to sofa'

Tas me
'from me'

Tais me
'towards me'

Tos me mei
'from me to you'

However the simpler way to say it is 'Tos met' ('-t' returns both arguments of predicate 'm' to predicate 't')

Tois met = tos meit
'from you to me'

Dos me tos dome teatre
'I walk from home to the theatre.'

Dos aple tos infane me
'A child gives me an apple.'

or literally, 'An apple is transferred from a child to me.' The same phrase may be expressed in many ways:

Dos aple tois me infane
Dois tos infane me aple
Dois tois me infane aple

I.e. the word order is pretty free. It allows you to move the complex clauses to the end of complex sentences. That way you don't have to keep a big stack of open predicates in memory.

The root 'h' means 'subject owns object'.

Hos me dome
'I have got a house.'

Dos hon me kate tais hon mei dome
'My cat walks into your house.'

The root 'l' means that subject is more certain than object.

Dos la aple tois me lai infane
'This apple is given to me by some child.'

Tempos lai termai inverne dos me tas aras dendre
'Once upon a time in a cold winter I walk from a forest.'

Multas termei
'The frost is severe.'

Vidos me rapidai dois tais monte transporto hipe ho kare aras branke
'I see the horse slowly rises uphill, carrying brushwood.'

Dos me kos drome tais teatre
'I walk across the field to the theatre.'

Literally, 'I go in field and towards theatre.'

Siblos ele me
'She is my sister.'

Fasilais statan siblei
'The one having a sister has hard time.'

Fasilais statan sible
'It's hard to be a sister.'

Jelosos me relatos siblain me hon me kate
'I'm jealous of my sister to my cat.'

Doloras statan jelose
'Being jealous hurts.'

Vidos me siblain me
'I see my sister.'

Alegras statan vido me siblain me
'I'm glad to see my sister.'

Alegras vidos me siblain me
'It's a joy when I see my sister.'

negra granda bonoi kate hon mei kane
'big black cat which is angrier than you dog'

negra grando bonoit kate hon mei kane
'black cat which is bigger and angrier than your dog'

negro grandot bonoit kate hon mei kane
'the cat which is blacker, bigger, and angrier than your dog'

Amos ele laboras me
'She likes when I work.' (the process)

Amos ele labora me
'She likes me working.'

Amos ele laboran me
'She likes my work.' (the result)

Dos me tais table
'I go towards the table.'

Dos me tais frontan table
'I go to the table'

Dos me tais altan table
'I climbed under the table.'

Word formation v1

The word formation is merely a syntax sugar for a clause wrapped up in a word.

The scheme is: R₁v₁o₁r₁ R₂er₂ ≕> R₁uo₁r₂-R₂v₃r₃, where

• R₁, R₂ are roots,
• v₁ is the valence suffix, '-a-' or '-o-',
• o₁ is the order suffix,
• r₁, r₂ — are the return value suffixes, r₁ ≠ ∅,
• v₃ = v₁ − 1 i.e. v₁ = '-a-' => v₃ = '-e-'; v₁ = '-o-' => v₃ = '-a-',
• r₃ = −r₁ i.e. r₁ = '-n' => r₃ = ∅; r₁ = '-s' => r₃ = '-s').

For example:

• hu-ma kate = hon me kate = my cat
• hun-ma kate = hon men kate = your cat
• hui-ma kate = hoin me kate = my master the cat
• huin-ma kate = hoin men kate = your master the cat
• duis-tu-ma kate = doin tu-mes kate = doin tas me kate = cat going out from me
• duis-tun-ma kate = doin tun-mes kate = doin tas men kate = cat going out from you
• duis-tui-ma kate = doin tui-mes kate = doin tais me kate = cat going towards me
• duis-tuin-ma kate = doin tuin-mes kate = doin tais men kate = cat going towards you

Word formation v2

The compositional suffix '-k-' means S = S₁ = S₂, O = O₁ = O₂.

Let us take 'vid-' meaning 'S sees O' and 'aud-' meaning 'S hears O'.

Then the predicate 'vidu-audu-k-' should mean 'S sees and hears O'.

Vidos negra kate grisa muse.
A black cat sees a gray mouse.

Audos negra kate grisa muse.
A black cat hears a gray mouse.

Vidu-audu-kos negra kate grisa muse.
A black cat sees and hears a gray mouse.

The suffix '-k-' formally is not related to the root 'k-' meaning 'S and O'. Suffixes may be omonyms to roots, because they do not merge due to grammar.

The same suffix may be used to express for example 'azuru-verdu-ka oke' - 'blue-green eye', 'andru-siblu-ke' - 'brother' etc.

The suffix '-n-' defines the identifications S = O₁, S₁ = S₂.

Let's take for example the predicates 'h-' meaning 'S owns O' and 'm-' meaning 'the current act of speech where S is talker and O is listener'.

Then the predicate 'hu-mu-n-' should mean 'S is mine'.

Hu-mu-na kate (= hon me kate) = my cat.

By the way you may insert the order suffix after 'u':

Hu-mui-na kate = your cat.
Hui-mu-na kate = my master the cat.
Hui-mui-na kate = your master the cat.

The suffix '-d-' defines the identifications S = S₁, O = S₂, O₁ = P₂.

Let's take the predicates 'f-' meaning 'S causes O' and 'mort-' meaning 'S is dead'.

Then the predicate 'fu-mortu-d' should mean 'S kills O'.

Fu-mortu-do le me. (= Fos le mortas me.) = He kills me.
Fu-dormu-do me le. (= Fos me dormas le.) = I put him to sleep.

'ket-' means 'S is a whale'.

Then:

fu-mortu-du-ketu-k- 'S is whale the killer'
fu-mortu-dui-ketu-n- 'S is a whale hunter'

The compositional suffix may use a single root too.

The suffix '-s-' defines the identification S = S₁ = O₁.

Vidu-sas me. 'I see myself.'
Fu-dormu-du-sas me. 'I put myself to sleep.'

Formal grammar

   ‹text› = ‹sentence›*
   ‹sentence› = ‹clause›
   ‹clause› = ‹word-n› ‹clause›n
   ‹word-n› = ‹predicate›‹ending-n›
   ‹predicate› =
       | ‹root›
       | [‹subword›-]‹subword›-‹compositional suffix›
       | ‹reference prefix›*‹reference suffix›* 
   ‹subword› = ‹predicate›‹subword ending›‹order ending›
   ‹ending-n› = ‹valence ending-n›‹order ending›‹meaning ending›
   ‹subword ending› = u
   ‹valence ending-0› = e
   ‹valence ending-1› = a
   ‹valence ending-2› = o
   ‹order ending› = ∅ | i
   ‹meaning ending› = s | ∅ | n | t | x
   ‹reference prefix› = iv | uv
   ‹reference suffix› = il | ul
   ‹compositional suffix› = { ... }
   ‹root› = { ... }

Known bugs

The second (more feature-rich) version is not finished, but both are written down here, so the grammar may be contradictory. There were several proposals for numerals with varying success.