Lortho: Difference between revisions

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{| class="bordertable" style="float:right; font-family:Arial;" width=40%
|-
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center; font-size:2em;" | '''Lortho'''<br />[[File:Lortho.JPG|100px|Lortho]]<br />['loɾ.tʰo]
|- style="background-color:#f9f9f9;"
| '''Spoken in:''' || Dhamashi
|- style="background-color:#f9f9f9;"
| '''Conworld:''' || A [[wikipedia:Circumbinary_planet|circumbinary planet]]
|- style="background-color:#f9f9f9;"
| '''Total Speakers:'''
| 6 million
|- style="background-color:#f9f9f9;"
| '''Genealogical classification:'''
| Proto-Lamona<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Old Lortho<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;'''''- Lortho'''''<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- ?
|- style="background-color:#f9f9f9;"
| '''Basic word order:''' || Verb-Subject-Object
|- style="background-color:#f9f9f9;"
| '''Morphological Type:''' || Agglutinating
|- style="background-color:#f9f9f9;"
| '''Morphosyntactic Alignment:''' || Nominative-Accusative
|-
| '''ISO 639-3 Code:''' || qlt
|-
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center; font-size:18px;" | '''Created by:'''
|- style="background-color:#f9f9f9;"
| Brian Bourque || Conceived in 2003, Manifested in 2017
|}
 
'''Lortho''' <!--([[Guide:IPA|IPA]]:[ˈloɾ·tʰo])-->is an [[A_priori_conlang|a priori]] constructed language created by [[user:bbbourq|Brian Bourque]] in the beginning of 2003. It originally started as a prop for a strategy board game where only the [[wp:writing system|script]] was created for aesthetics. It is an [[wp:agglutinative language|agglutinating]] language with some minor [[wp:fusional_language|fusional]] aspects.
 
<!--:{| style="padding:10px 5px 10px 5px; font-family:Arial; font-style:italic; border:solid 1px rgb(0,0,0); background-color:rgb(250,250,255);"
|-
| rowspan="2" style="background-color:rgb(200,100,100);" | &nbsp;&nbsp;
| style="font-size:1.5em; text-align:center;" | Section under development
|-
| style="padding:0 0 0 30px;" | Please do not edit this section while this banner is displayed
|}-->
The people ('''Kalanune''') who speak Lortho live on [http://conworlds.fun/cwbb/viewtopic.php?p=20726#20726 Dhamashi], a [[wp:Circumbinary_planet|circumbinary plant]] which has two [[wp:Natural_satellite|natural satellites]]<!-- in an alternate universe-->. The planet's surface has many similarities to Earth where it has oceans, mountains, deserts, and forests. The planet has three major continents: '''Mashonu''', '''Kashti''', and '''Lamona'''. The Kalanune live on Lamona.<BR />
 
<!--Even though there are two stars, neither one can be seen separate from one another during daylight hours. At dawn and dusk, however, both can bee seen due to light refraction through the world's atmosphere.-->
 
==Inspiration==


{|border=1 cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0 width=40% class="bordertable" style="margin: 0 0 1em 1em; background: #f9f9f9; font-size: 95%; float: right;"
A friend was creating a board game similar to [[wp:Risk_(game)|Risk]]; however, instead of taking place on Earth, this new game was to take place on an inter-planetary scale. The game creator wanted to develop an extraterrestrial theme and requested a fictional script<ref>http://www.omniglot.com/conscripts/fictional.htm</ref>. The name of the race on this game is "Lortho" (IPA: [ˈloɹ.θo]) and thus the seed was planted. I was unable to work on this piece for quite sometime until I joined the CONLANG mailing list<ref>https://listserv.brown.edu/?A0=conlang</ref> and observed both seasoned and novice conlangers discussing all aspects of [[wp:Linguistics|linguistics]]. Since then I decided to move forward and bring Lortho into fruition. The language itself was not invented until the spring of 2016.
|colspan="2" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" align="center" |{{#if: | '''''' | {{#if: | '''''' }} }} {{#if: | {{#if: | <br> | {{#if:  | <br> }} }} ''''''''''  }} {{#if: || {{#if:  || {{#if: || {{ #if:  | '''''' | {{ #if: | '''''' | {{ #if:  | | '''Lortho''' }} }} }} {{ #if: | {{ #if:  | <br>'''''''''' | {{ #if: | <br> ''''''''''| '''''''''' |}} }} |{{ #if: | | {{ #if: | | <br>'''''[loɾtʰo]'''''}} }} }} }} }} }}
 
Much of the language stems from the languages that I know, namely [[wp:Persian|Persian]], [[wp:French_language|French]], and [[wp:Korean|Korean]]. Although the language is a priori, much of its construction resembles that of an [[wp:Indo-European_languages|Indo-European]] flavor; albeit unintentionally. The phonology is largely inspired by Persian (Farsi) in that each letter is strictly pronounced regardless of their position in the the syllable/word. The agglutinating aspect of the language was largely influenced by Korean; however, the cases were inspired by both Hungarian and Finnish. The orthography was inspired by Central/East Asian orthographies which is further expounded here.
 
Another source of inspiration is my daughter. Through her development of learning how to make speech sounds leading to coherent speech and communication, she "created" words to communicate her wants and needs. Some of these words found their way into the Lortho lexicon.
 
===Why?===
 
Many people have asked me, "Why? What is the goal?" The answer is fairly straightforward: I am an artist and I love languages. So, I merged the two. I have an affinity towards non-Latin writing systems and I truly enjoy [[wp:Calligraphy|calligraphy]]. Therefore, aesthetics are very important in Lortho. If I am honest with myself, I would love to see this language in a movie or television series, but that isn't the main goal. The goal is to make a functional language and its associated world to where I can create works of art pertaining to this world/culture. I want to instill a sense of awe and wonder as if an old relic of eons past had been discovered and its beauty is unsurpassed by anything compared to [[wp:contemporary|contemporary]] times.
 
==Phonology==
 
===Consonants===
<br>
 
{| border=1 cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0 width=80% class="bordertable" style="background-color:#fdfdfd; font-size: 95%; text-align:center;"
|-
! style="background-color:#ffffff;" |
! style="background-color:#abcabc;" colspan="2" | Bilabial
! style="background-color:#abcabc;" colspan="2" | Labiodental
<!-- ! style="background-color:#abcabc;" | Dental -->
! style="background-color:#abcabc;" colspan="2" | Alveolar
! style="background-color:#abcabc;" colspan="2" | Postalveolar
<!-- style="background-color:#abcabc;" | Retroflex
! style="background-color:#abcabc;" | Palatal -->
! style="background-color:#abcabc;" colspan="2" | Velar
<!-- style="background-color:#abcabc;" | Uvular -->
<!-- style="background-color:#abcabc;" | Pharyngeal -->
! style="background-color:#abcabc;" colspan="2" | Glottal
|-
| style="background-color:#f0f0f0;" | '''Plosive'''
| style="background-color:#f0f0f0;" | &nbsp;p &nbsp; pʰ&nbsp;
| style="background-color:#f0f0f0;" | &nbsp; b &nbsp;
| colspan="2" |  
| style="background-color:#f0f0f0;" | &nbsp;t &nbsp; tʰ&nbsp;
| style="background-color:#f0f0f0;" | &nbsp;d &nbsp; dʰ&nbsp;  
| colspan="2" |  
| style="background-color:#f0f0f0;" | &nbsp;k &nbsp; kʰ&nbsp;
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;  
| colspan="2" |
|-
| style="background-color:#f0f0f0;" | '''Nasal'''  
|
| style="background-color:#f0f0f0;" | &nbsp; m &nbsp;
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" style="background-color:#f0f0f0;" | n
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
<!--|-
| '''Trill'''|| ||
|colspan="2" | ||  || -->
|-
| style="background-color:#f0f0f0;" | '''Tap or Flap'''  
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" style="background-color:#f0f0f0;" | ɾ
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |  
|-
| style="background-color:#f0f0f0;" | '''Fricative'''
| colspan="2" | 
| style="background-color:#f0f0f0;" | f || &nbsp;
| style="background-color:#f0f0f0;" | s ||
| style="background-color:#f0f0f0;" | ʃ ||
| colspan="2" |
| style="background-color:#f0f0f0;" | &nbsp; h &nbsp; || &nbsp;&nbsp;
<!--|- style="background-color:#f0f0f0;"
| '''Lateral Fricative'''|| || 
| colspan="2" |  ||  ||
|-
|-
|valign="top"|Spoken in:
| '''Approximant''' ||  || 
||Lortho {{ #if: | () | {{ #if: | () }} }}
| colspan="3" | ||  ||  -->
|- "
| style="background-color:#f0f0f0;" | '''Lateral Approximant'''
| colspan="2" |   
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" style="background-color:#f0f0f0;" | l lʰ
| colspan="2" |  
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
|-
|-
|valign="top"|[[Conworld]]:
|}
||A planet which orbits a binary star
 
===Vowels===
 
'''Monophthongs'''
 
There are five vowels in Lortho which are strictly pronounced regardless of placement or stress.
 
<br>
<!--{|border=1 cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0 width=50% class="bordertable" style="margin: 0 0 1em 1em; background: #ffffff; font-size: 95%; text-align:center; font-family:Arial;"
!
! bgcolor="#abcabc" | Front
! bgcolor="#abcabc" | Near-front
! bgcolor="#abcabc" | Central
! bgcolor="#abcabc" | Near-back
! bgcolor="#abcabc" | Back
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| '''Close''' || i || || || || u
|-
|-
|valign="top"|Total speakers:
| '''Near-close''' || || || || ||
||(insufficient data)
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| '''Close-mid''' || || || || || o
|-
|-
|valign="top"|Genealogical classification:
| '''Mid''' || || || || ||
||(Family)
|-bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
:(Branch)
| '''Open-mid''' || ɛ || || || ||
::(Subbranch)
:::{{#if:  ||{{#if: dialect english ||{{#if: dialect English ||'''}}}} }}(Language){{#if:  ||{{#if: dialect english ||{{#if: dialect English ||'''}}}} }}
{{#if:  |::::''' ('''')''' | {{#if:  | '''''' | {{#if:  | '''''' | }} }} }}
|-
|-
|valign="top"|[[Basic word order]]:
| '''Near-open''' || || || || ||
|| Verb Subject Object
|-bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| '''Open''' || || || || || ɑ
|}-->
 
{| class="IPA" cellspacing="0px" cellpadding="0" style="text-align:right; background:none;"
|- style="text-align:center; font-size:smaller;"
|style="padding-bottom:3px;"| &nbsp;
| style="width: 60px;" | '''Front'''
| style="width: 60px; word-spacing: -.3em;" | '''Near- front'''
| style="width: 60px;" | '''Central'''
| style="width: 60px;word-spacing: -.3em;" | '''Near- back'''
| style="width: 60px;" | '''Back'''
|-
|-
|valign="top"|[[Morphological type]]:
| style="height: 30px; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;" | '''Close'''
||
| style="height: 210px;" colspan=5 rowspan=7 | <div style="position: relative;">[[File:Blank vowel trapezoid.svg|300px|link=]]<div style="background:none; position:absolute; top:0; left:0;">
{| style="position:relative; width:300px; height:210px; text-align:center; background:none;"
|-
|-
|valign="top"|[[Morphosyntactic alignment]]:
| style="width:300px; height:210px; text-align:center; background:none; font-size:120%;"|
||  
 
<!-- CLOSE VOWELS -->
<div style="position: absolute; left: 5%; width: 2.3em; top: 2%; background: white;">i</div>
<div style="position: absolute; left: 43%; width: 3.1em; top: 2%; background: white;"></div>
<div style="position: absolute; left: 85%; width: 2.3em; top: 2%; background: white;">u&nbsp;&nbsp;</div>
 
<!-- NEAR-CLOSE VOWELS -->
<div style="position: absolute; left: 28%; width: 2.33em; top: 17%; background: white;"></div>
<div style="position: absolute; left: 44%; width: 4em; top: 17%; background: white;"></div>
<div style="position: absolute; left: 74%; width: 1.5em; top: 17%; background: white;"></div>
 
<!-- CLOSE-MID VOWELS -->
<div style="position: absolute; left: 16%; width: 2.7em; top: 30%; background: white;"></div>
<div style="position: absolute; left: 50%; width: 2.7em; top: 30%; background: white;"></div>
<div style="position: absolute; left: 84%; width: 2.7em; top: 30%; background: white;">o&nbsp;&nbsp;</div>
 
<!-- MID VOWELS -->
<div style="position: absolute; left: 24%; width: 2.7em; top: 44%; background: white;"></div>
<div style="position: absolute; left: 57%; width: 1em; top: 44%; background: white;"></div>
<div style="position: absolute; left: 83%; width: 2.7em; top: 44%; background: white;"></div>
 
<!-- OPEN-MID VOWELS -->
<div style="position: absolute; left: 30%; width: 3em; top: 58%; background: white;">ɛ</div>
<div style="position: absolute; left: 57%; width: 2.7em; top: 58%; background: white;"></div>
<div style="position: absolute; left: 83%; width: 2.7em; top: 58%; background: white;"></div>
 
<!-- NEAR-OPEN VOWELS -->
<div style="position: absolute; left: 37%; width: 1.3em; top: 73%;"></div>
<div style="position: absolute; left: 64%; width: 1em; top: 73%; background: white;"></div>
 
<!-- OPEN VOWELS -->
<div style="position: absolute; left: 44%; width: 3em; top: 86%; background: white;"></div>
<div style="position: absolute; left: 68%; width: 1em; top: 86%; background: white;"></div>
<div style="position: absolute; left: 85%; width: 2em; top: 86%; background: white;">ɑ&nbsp;</div>
|}
</div></div>
|-
| style="height: 30px; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;'''Near-close'''
|-
| style="height: 30px; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;" | '''Close-mid'''
|-
| style="height: 30px; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;" | '''Mid'''
|-
| style="height: 30px; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;" | '''Open-mid'''
|-
| style="height: 30px; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;" | '''Near-open'''
|-
| style="height: 30px; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;" | '''Open'''
|}
 
'''Diphthongs'''
 
[[File:Diphthongs_Lortho.png]]
 
===Syllable Structure===
 
The [[wp:syllable|syllable]] structure is (C)V(V)(C).
 
<!--===Phonotactics===
 
:{| style="padding:10px 5px 10px 5px; font-family:Arial; font-style:italic; border:solid 1px rgb(0,0,0); background-color:rgb(250,250,255);"
|-
| rowspan="2" style="background-color:rgb(200,100,100);" | &nbsp;&nbsp;
| style="font-size:1.5em; text-align:center;" | Section under development
|-
| style="padding:0 0 0 30px;" | Please do not edit this section while this banner is displayed
|}
-->
 
===Romanization System===
 
For ease of reading outside of its script, a system of [[wikipedia:romanization|Romanization]] has been developed as shown in the tables below.
 
{| class="mw-collapsed mw-collapsible bordertable" border=1 cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0 style="margin: 0 0 1em 1em; background: #ffffff; font-size: 95%; text-align:center; font-family:Arial;"
|- style="background-color:#abcabc; font-weight:bold;"
| colspan="21" | Consonants
|-
| IPA || dʰ || d || kʰ || k || lʰ || l || tʰ || t || pʰ || p || ʃ || s || n || nː || m || mː || h || b || f || ɾ
|- style="font-weight:bold; background-color:#f0f0f0;"
| Romanization || dh || d || kh || k || lh || l || th || t || ph || p || sh || s || n || nn || m || mm || h || b || f || r
|}
{| border=1 cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0 class="mw-collapsed mw-collapsible bordertable" style="margin: 0 0 1em 1em; background: #ffffff; font-size: 95%; text-align:center; font-family:Arial;"
|- style="background-color:#abcabc; font-weight:bold;"
| colspan="7" | Monophthongs
|-
| IPA || i || ɑ || ɛ || o || u
|- style="font-weight:bold; background-color:#f0f0f0;"
| Romanization || i || a || e || o || u
|}
{| border=1 cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0 class="mw-collapsed mw-collapsible bordertable" style="margin: 0 0 1em 1em; background: #ffffff; font-size: 95%; text-align:center; font-family:Arial;"
|- style="background-color:#abcabc; font-weight:bold;"
| colspan="5" | Diphthongs
|-
| IPA || aɪ || eɪ || aʊ || ɔɪ
|- style="font-weight:bold; background-color:#f0f0f0;"
| Romanization || ai || ei || au || oi
|}
 
<!--The Romanization system will be used from here on throughout the page.-->
 
==Orthography==
 
===Writing System===
 
The writing system of Lortho is called '''Dhadakha''', so named from the first three letters. It is an [[wp:alphabet|alphabet]] with some [[wp:Featural_writing_system|featural aspects]] in denoting [[wp:Aspirated_consonant|aspirated]] vs [[wp:Tenuis_consonant|tenuis consonants]]. Dhadakha is comprised of 21 letters, one of which is a vowel. The writing system has some qualities reminiscent of an [[wp:abugida|abugida]]; however, there are no conjunct consonants and vowels are given equal status as consonants. Ligatures are formed by consonant + vowel with the vowels [i] and [ɛ] being the exceptions. Lortho's script was inspired by the [[wp:Devanagari|Devanagari]], [[wp:Uchen_script|Uchen]], and [[wp:Tengwar|Tengwar]] writing systems.
 
{| class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="border: none;"
| '''''UPDATE:'''''
|-
| ''This script has been revised to include a "common" script. More to come.''
|}
 
 
 
{| style="border: 1px solid #ccc;"
|-
|-
|colspan="2" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" align="center" |'''Created by:'''
| [[file:Lortho_Alphabet_SVG.JPG|center|800px|Lortho Alphabet]]
|}
 
===Vowels===
 
The vowels are written as [[wp:Typographic_ligature|ligatures]]:
 
{| style="border: 1px solid #ccc;"
|-
|-
||Brian Bourque ||March 2017
| colspan="5" | [[file:LorthoVowels.JPG|center|300px|Lortho Vowels]]
|- style="text-align: center; border-collapse: collapsed;"
| [dʰi] || [dʰa] || [dʰɛ] || [dʰo] || [dʰu]
|- align="center"
| colspan= "5" | Lortho vowels (bookish)
|}
|}


==Overview==
 
Lortho ([[IPA]] : [loɾtʰo]) is a constructed language created by [[user:bbbourq|Brian Bourque]] in the beginning of 2003. It originally started as a prop for a strategy board game where only the script was created for aesthetics. Fast forward about 13 years and it has now evolved into a fusional/agglutinative language. The verbs are changed in conjugation; however, suffixes and prefixes are added to nouns to denote case.
{| style="border: 1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| colspan="5" | [[File:Vowels_Simple_LTH.JPG|center|400px|Lortho (Simplified)]]
|- style=border-collapse: collapsed;"
| style="text-align: left;" | [dʰa]  
| [dʰɛ]
| style="text-align: center;" | [dʰo]
| style="text-align: left; padding: 0;" | [dʰu]  
| style="text-align: left;" | [dʰi]  
| style="text-align: left;" | [dʰ]
|- align="center"
| colspan= "5" | Lortho vowels (simplified)
|}


==Grammar==
==Grammar==


===Noun Cases[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_Case]===


Lortho has nine cases:
===Nouns===
 
Lortho has ten [[wp:grammatical case|cases]]. The following word will be used for demonstration:
 
*'''kansaptha'''<br/>''(n. neut.)''
:#forest, woods




{|border=1 cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0 width=50% class="bordertable" style="margin: 0 0 1em 1em; background: #ffffff; font-size: 95%;;"
{|border=1 cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0 width=60% class="bordertable" style="margin: 0 0 1em 1em; background: #ffffff; font-size: 95%; font-family:Arial;"
! bgcolor="#abcabc" | Case  
! bgcolor="#abcabc" | Case  
! bgcolor="#abcabc" | Modifier  
! bgcolor="#abcabc" | Modifier  
Line 50: Line 334:
! bgcolor="#abcabc" | English
! bgcolor="#abcabc" | English
|-
|-
| Nominative || - || kɑnsɑptʰɑ || forest, woods
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | [[wiktionary:nominative case|Nominative]]
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | -  
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | kansaptha
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | forest, woods
|-
|-
| Accusative || -mɛ || kɑnsɑptʰɑ'''mɛ''' || forest ''(direct obj.)''
| [[wiktionary:accusative case|Accusative]] || -me || kansaptha'''me''' || forest ''(direct obj.)''
|-
|-
| Dative || -mɛlɑ || kɑnsɑptʰɑ'''mɛlɑ''' || forest ''(indirect obj.)''
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | [[wiktionary:dative case#English|Dative]]
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | -mela
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | kansaptha'''mela'''
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | forest ''(indirect obj.)''
|-
|-
| Genitive || Possessive Prefix¹ || '''nima'''kɑnsɑptʰɑ || our forest
| [[wiktionary:genitive case|Genitive]]<sup style="font-size:0.7em;">1</sup> || -na<!--lo-->u || kansaptha'''na<!--lo-->u''' || of the forest
|-
|-
| Sublative || -inɑ/ɛnɑ || kɑnsɑptʰɑ'''ɪnɑ''' || in/into the forest
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | [[wp:Lative case|Lative]]
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | -ina/ena
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | kansaptha'''ina'''
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | in/into the forest
|-
|-
| Ablative || -(ɛ)nat || kɑnsɑptʰɑ'''nɑt''' || out of (from) the forest
| [[wiktionary:ablative case|Ablative]] || -<!--(e)-->nat || kansaptha'''nat''' || out of (from) the forest
|-
|-
| rowspan="2" | Prolative
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | [[wiktionary:allative case|Allative]]
| -dɑn
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | -dan
| rowspan="2" | kɑnsɑptʰɑ'''dɑn'''
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | kansaptha'''dan'''
| rowspan="2" | to/towards the forest
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | to/towards the forest
|-
|-
| -dɑnɑɾ
| [[wiktionary:prolative case|Prolative]] || -da<!--na-->r || kansaptha'''da<!--na-->r''' || through the forest
|-
|-
| Instructive || -lɑn || tʰomidin kɑnsɑptʰɑ'''lɑn''' || I live off of the forest
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | [[wp:Instrumental_case|Instrumental]]
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | -len
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | thomidin kansaptha'''len'''  
| bgcolor="#f0f0f0" | I live off of the forest
|-
|-
| Vocative
| [[wiktionary:vocative case|Vocative]]<sup style="font-size:0.7em;">2</sup> || fa(l)- || '''fa'''kansaptha, lharid! || Run, forest!
| fa-
| colspan="2" align="center" | '''''still in development'''''
|-
|-
|}
|}
<p style="font-size:0.8em;"><sup>1</sup> -'''nau''' is the alienable genitive whereas -'''tho''' is the [[wp:Inalienable_possession|inalienable]] genitive.</p>
<p style="font-size:0.8em;"><sup>2</sup> the vocative case is the only case which forces the word order to change to SVO vs. the normal VSO.</p>


====¹Genitive Case====
'''Possessives'''


The genitive, or possessive, case is formed by using personal prefixes to the nouns:
The [[wp:Possessive|possessives]] are formed by using personal prefixes to the nouns. The same word '''kansaptha''' will be used in the table below.




{|border=1 cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0 width=50% class="bordertable" style="margin: 0 0 1em 1em; background: #ffffff; font-size: 95%;;"
{|border=1 cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0 width=50% class="bordertable" style="margin: 0 0 1em 1em; background: #ffffff; font-size: 95%; font-family:Arial;"
! bgcolor="#dedede" | Person
! bgcolor="#dedede" rowspan="2" | Person
! bgcolor="#abcabc" | Singular
! bgcolor="#abcabc" colspan="3" | Singular
! bgcolor="#abcabc" | Plural
! bgcolor="#abcabc" colspan="3" | Plural
|-
|- align="center" bgcolor="#dfedfe"
| ''masc'' || ''fem'' || ''neut'' || ''masc'' || ''fem'' || ''neut''
|- align="center"
| ''1st person''
| ''1st person''
| align="center" | ni-, nu-  
| '''ni'''kansaptha || '''nu'''kansaptha || - || '''nima'''kansaptha || '''numa'''kansaptha || -
| align="center" | nimɑ-, numɑ-
|- align="center" bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
|-
| ''2nd person''
| ''2nd person''
| align="center" | lin-, lun-
| '''lin'''kansaptha || '''lun'''kansaptha || - || '''nani'''kansaptha || '''nanu'''kansaptha || -
| align="center" | nɑni-, nɑnu-
|- align="center"
|-
| ''3rd person''
| ''3rd person''
| align="center" | li-, lu-, lɑ-
| '''li'''kansaptha || '''lu'''kansaptha || '''la'''kansaptha || '''limi'''kansaptha || '''limu'''kansaptha || '''lima'''kansaptha
| align="center" | limi-, limu-, limɑ-
|}
|}


Line 107: Line 402:
#Adjectives must match noun gender, but not number or grammatical case.
#Adjectives must match noun gender, but not number or grammatical case.
#When a specific noun is counted, the noun does not take the plural since the ordinal number denotes pluralization.
#When a specific noun is counted, the noun does not take the plural since the ordinal number denotes pluralization.
===Examples===
<br>
{| border=1 cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0 width=50% class="bordertable" style="margin: 0 0 1em 1em; background: #ffffff; font-size: 95%; font-family:Arial;"
! bgcolor="#abcabc" | English
! bgcolor="#abcabc" | Lortho
|-
| We walk through their forest
| malhirinan limakansapthada<!--na-->r
|-
| He sat on his chair
| shailanikhi lidhammoina
|}


==Verbs==
==Verbs==
Line 122: Line 431:
===-n verbs===
===-n verbs===


-'''n''' verbs do not change and personal endings are simply added to the verb. The exception to this rule is the verb '''<nowiki>[hɑɾlɑn]</nowiki>''' ''to be'', which will be discussed later.
-'''n''' verbs keep their infinitive form and personal endings are simply added to the verb. The exception to this rule is the verb '''<nowiki>[hɑɾlɑn]</nowiki>''' ''to be'', which will be discussed later.


{|border=1 cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0 width=100% class="bordertable" style="margin: 0 0 1em 1em; background: #ffffff; font-size: 95%;;"
===Conjugation Table===
! colspan="6" bgcolor="#FEE8C2" | Present Tense
<br />
{|border=1 cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0 width=100% class="bordertable" style="margin: 0 0 1em 1em; background: #ffffff; font-size: 95%; font-family:Arial;"
! colspan="6" bgcolor="#abcabc" | Present Tense
|-
|-
! colspan="2" bgcolor="#abcabc" | -o Verbs [konpʰɑɾo] ''to speak''
! colspan="2" bgcolor="#FEe8d0" | -o Verbs konpharo [kon.'pʰɑ.ɾo] ''to speak''<br />root: konphar-
! colspan="2" bgcolor="#BCC5E8" | -t Verbs [pʰɾɑmit] ''to push''
! colspan="2" bgcolor="#dfedfe" | -t Verbs phramit ['pʰɾɑ.mit] ''to push''<br />root: phramid-
! colspan="2" bgcolor="#FFC1C1" | -n Verbs [ʃɑɪlɑn] ''to sit''
! colspan="2" bgcolor="#Fad1d1" | -n Verbs shailan [ʃɑɪ.'lɑn] ''to sit''<br />root: shailan-
|-
|-
| bgcolor="#abcabc" | konpʰɑɾ'''in''', -'''un'''
| bgcolor="#FEe8d0" | konphar'''in''', konphar'''un'''
| bgcolor="#abcabc" | -'''inɑn''', -'''unɑn'''
| bgcolor="#FEe8d0" | konphar'''inan''', konphar'''unan'''
| bgcolor="#BCC5E8" | pʰɾɑmi'''din''', -'''un'''
| bgcolor="#dfedfe" | phrami'''din''', phrami'''dun'''
| bgcolor="#BCC5E8" | -pʰɾɑmi'''dinɑn''', -'''unan'''  
| bgcolor="#dfedfe" | phrami'''dinan''', phrami'''dunan'''  
| bgcolor="#FFC1C1" | ʃɑɪlɑn'''in''', -'''un'''
| bgcolor="#Fad1d1" | shailan'''in''', shailan'''un'''
| bgcolor="#FFC1C1" | -'''inɑn''', -'''unan'''
| bgcolor="#Fad1d1" | shailan'''inan''', shailan'''unan'''
|-
|-
| bgcolor="#abcabc" | -'''ɑnːi''', -'''ɑnːu'''
| bgcolor="#FEe8d0" | konphar'''anni''', konphar'''annu'''
| bgcolor="#abcabc" | -'''ɑmin''', -'''ɑmun'''
| bgcolor="#FEe8d0" | konphar'''amin''', konphar'''amun'''
| bgcolor="#BCC5E8" | -pʰɾɑmi'''dɑnːi''', -'''ɑnːu'''
| bgcolor="#dfedfe" | phrami'''danni''', phrami'''dannu'''
| bgcolor="#BCC5E8" | -pʰɾɑmi'''dɑmin''', -'''ɑmun'''
| bgcolor="#dfedfe" | phrami'''damin''', phrami'''damun'''
| bgcolor="#FFC1C1" | -'''ɑnːi''', -'''ɑnːu'''
| bgcolor="#Fad1d1" | shailan'''anni''', shailan'''annu'''
| bgcolor="#FFC1C1" | -'''ɑmin''', -'''ɑmun'''
| bgcolor="#Fad1d1" | shailan'''amin''', shailan'''amun'''
|-
|-
| bgcolor="#abcabc" | -'''i''', -'''u''', -'''ɑ'''
| bgcolor="#FEe8d0" | konphar'''i''', konphar'''u''', konphar'''a'''
| bgcolor="#abcabc" | -'''imi''', -'''imu''', -'''imɑ'''
| bgcolor="#FEe8d0" | konphar'''imi''', konphar'''imu''', konphar'''ima'''
| bgcolor="#BCC5E8" | -pʰɾɑmi'''di''', -'''u''', -'''ɑ'''
| bgcolor="#dfedfe" | phrami'''di''', phrami'''u''', phrami'''a'''
| bgcolor="#BCC5E8" | -pʰɾɑmi'''dimi''', -'''imu''', -'''imɑ'''
| bgcolor="#dfedfe" | phrami'''dimi''', phrami'''dimu''', phrami'''dima'''
| bgcolor="#FFC1C1" | -'''i''', -'''u''', -'''ɑ'''
| bgcolor="#Fad1d1" | shailan'''i''', shailan'''u''', shailan'''a'''
| bgcolor="#FFC1C1" | -'''imi''', -'''imu''', -'''imɑ'''
| bgcolor="#Fad1d1" | shailan'''imi''', shailan'''imu''', shailan'''ima'''
|-
|-
|}
|}


==Alphabet and Script==
===Irregular Verbs===


At present, there are very few irregular verbs in Lortho; however, the irregular verbs which do exist are somewhat regular in their own right. One such verb is '''harlan''' ''to be''.


'''''NOTE: This script only includes the letters of the alphabet. Diacritics will be used to denote vowels '''''(except [ i ] )''''' and these are still in development. If anyone has suggestions for these diacritics, please feel free to click on the "Talk" link in my signature.'''''
The verb '''harlan''' is conjugated slightly different from the regular '''-n''' verbs. The '''-an''' is dropped and then the personal endings are added to the root, '''harl-'''.


{|border=1 cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0 width=100% class="bordertable" style="margin: 0 0 1em 1em; background: #ffffff; font-size: 95%; font-family:Arial; text-align:center;"
!
! colspan="6" bgcolor="#abcabc" | harlan [hɑɾlɑn] ''to be''<br />root: harl-
|-
|
| colspan="3" bgcolor="#fad1d1" | Singular
| colspan="3" bgcolor="#fad1d1" | Plural
|-
|
|bgcolor="#ffdab9"| masc
|bgcolor="#ffdab9"| fem
|bgcolor="#ffdab9"| neut
|bgcolor="#ffdab9"| masc
|bgcolor="#ffdab9"| fem
|bgcolor="#ffdab9"| neut
|-
| 1st person
|bgcolor="fad1d1"| harl'''in'''
|bgcolor="#Fad1d1"| harl'''un'''
|bgcolor="#Fad1d1"| -
|bgcolor="fad1d1"| harl'''inan'''
|bgcolor="#Fad1d1"| harl'''unan'''
|bgcolor="#Fad1d1"| -
|-
| 2nd person
|bgcolor="#Fad1d1"| harl'''anni'''
|bgcolor="#Fad1d1"| harl'''annu'''
|bgcolor="#Fad1d1"| -
|bgcolor="#Fad1d1"| harl'''amin'''
|bgcolor="#Fad1d1"| harl'''amun'''
|bgcolor="#Fad1d1"| -
|-
| 3rd person
|bgcolor="#Fad1d1"| harl'''i'''
|bgcolor="#Fad1d1"| harl'''u'''
|bgcolor="#Fad1d1"| harl'''a'''
|bgcolor="#Fad1d1"| harl'''imi'''
|bgcolor="#Fad1d1"| harl'''imu'''
|bgcolor="#Fad1d1"| harl'''ima'''
|-
|}
===Passive Voice===
The [[wp:Passive_voice|passive voice]] is formed by adding the suffix -'''im''' after the root before any other additional suffixes. The passive voice does not apply to the present tense.
Example:
* '''madhit''' (madhid-) ''v.'' to give
*# <code>madhid-ikh-i &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;i &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;khanishu-me &nbsp;u&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; -mela</code><br/><code>give&nbsp;&nbsp;-PST-3MSG PN.3MSG book.F&nbsp;&nbsp;-ACC PN.3FSG-DAT</code><br/>''He gave the book to her''
*#* In this example, the verb agrees with the subject ''he'' (i).
*# <code>madhid-<u>'''im'''</u> &nbsp;-ikh-u &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;khanishu-me &nbsp;u &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;-mela</code> <br /><code>give&nbsp;&nbsp;-PASS-PST-3FSG book.F &nbsp;-ACC PN.3FSG-DAT</code><br/>''The book was given to her''
*#* In this example, the verb agrees with ''book'' since there is no subject initiating the action.
==Moods==
===Imperative===
The imperative form of the verb is simply the root with the vocative case (which can be either implied or explicit).
Examples:
# famannu, konphar!
#* Hey you, speak!
# fanamin, nathar namineme!
#* Hey you, be quiet! ''(lit. quiet yourselves)''
# fabrian, shailan!
#* Brian, sit!
Vocabulary:
# '''konpharo''' (konphar-) ''v.'' to speak
# '''natharo''' (nathar-) ''v.'' to quell, pacify
# '''mannu''' ''pronoun'' you (fem. sing.)
# '''namin''' ''pronoun'' you (masc. pl.)
# '''shailan''' (shailan-) ''v.'' to sit
==Sample Text==


{| border=1 class="bordertable"  
{| border=1 class="bordertable"  
| [[file:IMG_5164.JPG|center|800px|Lortho Alphabet]]
| colspan="2" | [[file:Lortho_Sample_SVG.JPG|center|400px|Lortho Vowels]]
|- align="center"
| Text
| Translation
|- align="center"
| '''konpharin lorthome''' || I speak Lortho
|}
 
 
{| border=1 class="bordertable"
| [[File:Relay_24_Text.jpg]]
|-
| style="text-align:center;" | Sample text in Lortho script. Text taken from [http://relaymuseum.cals.info/relay/24/ Relay 24 in CALS]
|-
|-
|}
|}


==Folklore==
{|
| style="font-size:2em;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The Unlucky Fox
|-
| [[File:TheUnluckyFox.png]]
|-
| '''Romanization:'''
shadar lharane dasat dharakhinat harlikhi nuphi.<br/>khabalikhi nuphi dalhotamekhon dhaharlikha halhadar a.<br/>kilikhikhi ikhi molha kansapume.<br/>harlikha dirdhalama lidalhota mokansapoina.<br/>khar khesikhi nuphi kansapume denalikhu kansapu lukhothume hana tushadikhu khashume nuphinalo.<br/>tharikhu bonhan monu saurammu thasame nuphinalo.
|-
| '''IPA:'''
ˈʃɑ.dɑɾ lhɑ.ˈɾɑ.nɛ ˈdɑ.sɑt dʰɑ.ˈɾɑ.kʰi.nɑt ˈhɑɾ.li.kʰi ˈnu.pʰi<br/>kʰɑ.ˈbɑl.ikʰ.i ˈnu.pʰi dɑl.ˈho.tɑ.mɛ.kʰon dʰɑ.ˈhɑɾ.li.kʰɑ ˈhɑl.hɑ.dɑɾ ɑ<br/>ki.ˈli.kʰi.kʰi ˈi.kʰi ˈmol.hɑ kɑn.ˈsɑ.pu.mɛ<br/>ˈhɑɾ.li.kʰɑ diɾ.dʰɑ.ˈlɑ.mɑ li.dɑl.ˈho.tɑ mo.kɑn.ˈsɑ.pɔɪ.nɑ. kʰɑɾ ˈkʰɛ.si.kʰi ˈnu.pʰi kɑn.ˈsɑ.pu.mɛ dɛ<br/>ˈnɑ.li.kʰu kɑn.ˈsɑ.pu lu.ˈkʰo.tʰu.mɛ ˈhɑ.nɑ tu.ˈʃɑ.di.kʰu ˈkʰɑ.ʃu.mɛ ˈnu.pʰi.nɑlo<br/>ˈtʰɑ.ɾi.kʰu ˈbon.hɑn ˈmo.nu saʊ.ˈɾɑm.mu ˈtʰɑ.sɑ.mɛ ˈnu.pʰi.nɑ.lo
|-
| '''Leipzid Gloss:'''
shadar  lhara-ne dasat      dharakhi  -nat harl-ikh-i    nuphi
'''ago.ADV year -PL beyond.ADV mountain.M-ABL be  -PST-3MSG fox.M'''
''Once upon a time, there was the fox''
khabal-ikh-i    nuphi dalhota-me -khon dha-harl-ikh-a    halhadar a
'''search-PST-3MSG fox.M food.N -ACC-but  NEG-be  -PST-3NSG much.ADJ PN.3NSG'''
''The fox searched for food, but there was not much of it''
kilikh-ikh-i    ikhi molha  kansapu-me
'''see  -PST-3MSG one  huge-N tree.N -ACC'''
''It saw a huge tree''
harl-ikh-a    dir    -dhalam-a li          -dalhota mo  -kansapo-ina
'''be  -PST-3NSG SUPERL  -good  -N PN.POSS.3MSG-food.N  that -tree.F -SUBL'''
''Its favorite food was in that tree''
khar khes  -ikh-i    nuphi kansapu-me  denal-ikh-u    kansapu lu          -khothu-me  hana tushad-ikh-u    khashu-me  nuphi-nalo
'''when scratch-PST-3MSG fox.M tree.F -ACC close-PST-3FSG tree.F  PN.POSS.3FSG-wall.F-ACC and  bury  -PST-3FSG head.F-ACC fox.M-GEN'''
''When the fox scratched the tree, the tree closed its wall (here it means bark) and buried (trapped) the fox's head''
thar-ikh-u    bonhan mon  -u saurammu thasa -me  nuphi-nalo
'''eat -PST-3FSG twenty other-F animal.F head.N-ACC fox.M-GEN'''
''Twenty other animals ate the fox's body''
|-
| I know this story is a little morbid; however, I was compelled to write a backstory as to why in Lorthoan culture calling someone a "fox" is considered derogatory, as in someone who is utterly unlucky. The story was partly inspired by the competition on the [https://www.reddit.com/r/conlangs Conlang subreddit] for reaching 20,000 followers and the theme was the numeral 20.
|}
==Resources==
===Lortho===
[http://cals.info/language/lortho Lortho on CALS]<br />
[http://relaymuseum.cals.info/relay/24 Lortho in the 24th Conlang Relay]<br />
[http://conworkshop.info/view_language.php?l=LTH Lortho on ConWorkShop]<br />
[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1CzVn9nh9F8sVaF74tK8xgeIEKHY4B9RdYC3svJqG_i0/edit?usp=sharing Lortho Lexicon]<br />
[https://www.linguifex.com/wiki/Lortho Lortho on Linguifex]<br />
[https://qlt.miraheze.org Lortho on Miraheze.org]<br/>
[http://conworlds.fun/cwbb/viewtopic.php?t=1490 The World of Damashi]<br />
[http://lortho.conlang.org Lortho] - Hosted by LCS (new)<br/>
===Conlangs===
[http://cals.info Conlang Atlas of Language Structures (CALS)]<br />
[http://www.aveneca.com/cbb Conlang Bulletin Board (CBB)]<br />
[https://www.youtube.com/user/HBMmaster8472 Conlang Critic] - a YouTube vlogger who offers insights on conlangs<br />
[http://listserv.brown.edu/archives/conlang.html Conlang Mailing List]<br />
[http://relaymuseum.cals.info Conlang Relay Museum on CALS]<br />
[http://conworkshop.info ConWorkShop] - an online one-stop-shop for cataloging your conlang<br />
[http://fiatlingua.org/about Fiat Lingua] - an online archive of conlang articles<br />
[http://conlang.org Language Creation Society]<br />
[https://www.youtube.com/user/fiatlingua LCS on YouTube]<br />
[https://www.reddit.com/r/conlangs Reddit: Conlangs]<br />
[https://www.reddit.com/r/neography Reddit: Neography (Constructed Scripts)]<br />
[http://specgram.com Speculative Grammarian] - A satirical periodical about linguistics and conlangery<br />
[http://www.incatena.org Zompist Bulletin Board (ZBB)]<br />
===Linguistics===
[https://www.youtube.com/user/timbrookesxi Endangered Alphabets] - a not-for-profit organization to catalog 14 alphabets threatened by extinction<br />
[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFuOFZ0wFoHK2deKFldaLGA Glossika Phonics] - a YouTube channel for IPA pronunciation<br />
[http://www.internationalphoneticalphabet.org International Phonetic Alphabet]<br />
[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMk_WSPy3EE16aK5HLzCJzw NativLang]<br />
[http://www.omniglot.com Omniglot]<br />
[http://www.etymonline.com Online Etymology Dictionary (English)]<br />
[https://www.reddit.com/r/linguistics Reddit:Linguistics]<br />
[https://www.youtube.com/user/WikiTongues Wikitongues]<br />
[http://wals.info World Atlas of Language Structures (WALS)]<br />


----
----


"A man is only as big as the dream he dares to live." - ''No Fear'' [[user:Bbbourq|Brian Bourque]] ([[User_talk:Bbbourq|talk]]) 17:15, 18 March 2017 (PDT)
"Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't." - ''Mark Twain'' [[user:Bbbourq|Brian Bourque]] ([[User_talk:Bbbourq|talk]]) 17:15, 18 March 2017 (PDT)
 
 
[[category:conscripts]]
[[category:conlangs]]
[[category:a priori conlangs]]
[[category:artlangs]]
[[category:nominative-accusative languages]]
[[category:agglutinative languages]]

Latest revision as of 09:36, 9 February 2019

Lortho
Lortho
['loɾ.tʰo]
Spoken in: Dhamashi
Conworld: A circumbinary planet
Total Speakers: 6 million
Genealogical classification: Proto-Lamona
   - Old Lortho
      - Lortho
         - ?
Basic word order: Verb-Subject-Object
Morphological Type: Agglutinating
Morphosyntactic Alignment: Nominative-Accusative
ISO 639-3 Code: qlt
Created by:
Brian Bourque Conceived in 2003, Manifested in 2017

Lortho is an a priori constructed language created by Brian Bourque in the beginning of 2003. It originally started as a prop for a strategy board game where only the script was created for aesthetics. It is an agglutinating language with some minor fusional aspects.

The people (Kalanune) who speak Lortho live on Dhamashi, a circumbinary plant which has two natural satellites. The planet's surface has many similarities to Earth where it has oceans, mountains, deserts, and forests. The planet has three major continents: Mashonu, Kashti, and Lamona. The Kalanune live on Lamona.


Inspiration

A friend was creating a board game similar to Risk; however, instead of taking place on Earth, this new game was to take place on an inter-planetary scale. The game creator wanted to develop an extraterrestrial theme and requested a fictional script[1]. The name of the race on this game is "Lortho" (IPA: [ˈloɹ.θo]) and thus the seed was planted. I was unable to work on this piece for quite sometime until I joined the CONLANG mailing list[2] and observed both seasoned and novice conlangers discussing all aspects of linguistics. Since then I decided to move forward and bring Lortho into fruition. The language itself was not invented until the spring of 2016.

Much of the language stems from the languages that I know, namely Persian, French, and Korean. Although the language is a priori, much of its construction resembles that of an Indo-European flavor; albeit unintentionally. The phonology is largely inspired by Persian (Farsi) in that each letter is strictly pronounced regardless of their position in the the syllable/word. The agglutinating aspect of the language was largely influenced by Korean; however, the cases were inspired by both Hungarian and Finnish. The orthography was inspired by Central/East Asian orthographies which is further expounded here.

Another source of inspiration is my daughter. Through her development of learning how to make speech sounds leading to coherent speech and communication, she "created" words to communicate her wants and needs. Some of these words found their way into the Lortho lexicon.

Why?

Many people have asked me, "Why? What is the goal?" The answer is fairly straightforward: I am an artist and I love languages. So, I merged the two. I have an affinity towards non-Latin writing systems and I truly enjoy calligraphy. Therefore, aesthetics are very important in Lortho. If I am honest with myself, I would love to see this language in a movie or television series, but that isn't the main goal. The goal is to make a functional language and its associated world to where I can create works of art pertaining to this world/culture. I want to instill a sense of awe and wonder as if an old relic of eons past had been discovered and its beauty is unsurpassed by anything compared to contemporary times.

Phonology

Consonants


Bilabial Labiodental Alveolar Postalveolar Velar Glottal
Plosive  p   pʰ    b    t   tʰ   d   dʰ   k   kʰ         
Nasal   m   n
Tap or Flap ɾ
Fricative f   s ʃ   h     
Lateral Approximant l lʰ

Vowels

Monophthongs

There are five vowels in Lortho which are strictly pronounced regardless of placement or stress.


  Front Near- front Central Near- back Back
Close
Blank vowel trapezoid.svg
i
u  
o  
ɛ
ɑ 
  Near-close
Close-mid
Mid
Open-mid
Near-open
Open

Diphthongs

Diphthongs Lortho.png

Syllable Structure

The syllable structure is (C)V(V)(C).


Romanization System

For ease of reading outside of its script, a system of Romanization has been developed as shown in the tables below.

Consonants
IPA dʰ d kʰ k lʰ l tʰ t pʰ p ʃ s n nː m mː h b f ɾ
Romanization dh d kh k lh l th t ph p sh s n nn m mm h b f r
Monophthongs
IPA i ɑ ɛ o u
Romanization i a e o u
Diphthongs
IPA aɪ eɪ aʊ ɔɪ
Romanization ai ei au oi


Orthography

Writing System

The writing system of Lortho is called Dhadakha, so named from the first three letters. It is an alphabet with some featural aspects in denoting aspirated vs tenuis consonants. Dhadakha is comprised of 21 letters, one of which is a vowel. The writing system has some qualities reminiscent of an abugida; however, there are no conjunct consonants and vowels are given equal status as consonants. Ligatures are formed by consonant + vowel with the vowels [i] and [ɛ] being the exceptions. Lortho's script was inspired by the Devanagari, Uchen, and Tengwar writing systems.

UPDATE:
This script has been revised to include a "common" script. More to come.


Lortho Alphabet

Vowels

The vowels are written as ligatures:

Lortho Vowels
[dʰi] [dʰa] [dʰɛ] [dʰo] [dʰu]
Lortho vowels (bookish)


Lortho (Simplified)
[dʰa] [dʰɛ] [dʰo] [dʰu] [dʰi] [dʰ]
Lortho vowels (simplified)

Grammar

Nouns

Lortho has ten cases. The following word will be used for demonstration:

  • kansaptha
    (n. neut.)
  1. forest, woods


Case Modifier Example English
Nominative - kansaptha forest, woods
Accusative -me kansapthame forest (direct obj.)
Dative -mela kansapthamela forest (indirect obj.)
Genitive1 -nau kansapthanau of the forest
Lative -ina/ena kansapthaina in/into the forest
Ablative -nat kansapthanat out of (from) the forest
Allative -dan kansapthadan to/towards the forest
Prolative -dar kansapthadar through the forest
Instrumental -len thomidin kansapthalen I live off of the forest
Vocative2 fa(l)- fakansaptha, lharid! Run, forest!

1 -nau is the alienable genitive whereas -tho is the inalienable genitive.

2 the vocative case is the only case which forces the word order to change to SVO vs. the normal VSO.

Possessives

The possessives are formed by using personal prefixes to the nouns. The same word kansaptha will be used in the table below.


Person Singular Plural
masc fem neut masc fem neut
1st person nikansaptha nukansaptha - nimakansaptha numakansaptha -
2nd person linkansaptha lunkansaptha - nanikansaptha nanukansaptha -
3rd person likansaptha lukansaptha lakansaptha limikansaptha limukansaptha limakansaptha

Gender and Number Agreement

There are three rules for noun-adjective-verb agreement:

  1. Verbs must match number and gender of the noun.
  2. Adjectives must match noun gender, but not number or grammatical case.
  3. When a specific noun is counted, the noun does not take the plural since the ordinal number denotes pluralization.

Examples


English Lortho
We walk through their forest malhirinan limakansapthadar
He sat on his chair shailanikhi lidhammoina

Verbs

There are three major verb types: -o verbs, -t verbs, and -n verbs. Each follow a general rule for conjugation.

-o verbs

-o verbs are conjugated by subtracting the -o and adding the personal endings.

-t verbs

-t verbs are conjugated by changing the -t to -d then adding the personal endings

-n verbs

-n verbs keep their infinitive form and personal endings are simply added to the verb. The exception to this rule is the verb [hɑɾlɑn] to be, which will be discussed later.

Conjugation Table


Present Tense
-o Verbs konpharo [kon.'pʰɑ.ɾo] to speak
root: konphar- 		-t Verbs phramit ['pʰɾɑ.mit] to push
root: phramid- 		-n Verbs shailan [ʃɑɪ.'lɑn] to sit
root: shailan-
konpharin, konpharun konpharinan, konpharunan phramidin, phramidun phramidinan, phramidunan shailanin, shailanun shailaninan, shailanunan
konpharanni, konpharannu konpharamin, konpharamun phramidanni, phramidannu phramidamin, phramidamun shailananni, shailanannu shailanamin, shailanamun
konphari, konpharu, konphara konpharimi, konpharimu, konpharima phramidi, phramiu, phramia phramidimi, phramidimu, phramidima shailani, shailanu, shailana shailanimi, shailanimu, shailanima

Irregular Verbs

At present, there are very few irregular verbs in Lortho; however, the irregular verbs which do exist are somewhat regular in their own right. One such verb is harlan to be.

The verb harlan is conjugated slightly different from the regular -n verbs. The -an is dropped and then the personal endings are added to the root, harl-.

harlan [hɑɾlɑn] to be
root: harl-
Singular Plural
masc fem neut masc fem neut
1st person harlin harlun - harlinan harlunan -
2nd person harlanni harlannu - harlamin harlamun -
3rd person harli harlu harla harlimi harlimu harlima

Passive Voice

The passive voice is formed by adding the suffix -im after the root before any other additional suffixes. The passive voice does not apply to the present tense.

Example:

  • madhit (madhid-) v. to give
    1. madhid-ikh-i    i       khanishu-me  u      -mela
      give  -PST-3MSG PN.3MSG book.F  -ACC PN.3FSG-DAT
      He gave the book to her
      • In this example, the verb agrees with the subject he (i).
    2. madhid-im  -ikh-u    khanishu-me  u      -mela
      give  -PASS-PST-3FSG book.F  -ACC PN.3FSG-DAT
      The book was given to her
      • In this example, the verb agrees with book since there is no subject initiating the action.

Moods

Imperative

The imperative form of the verb is simply the root with the vocative case (which can be either implied or explicit).

Examples:

  1. famannu, konphar!
    • Hey you, speak!
  2. fanamin, nathar namineme!
    • Hey you, be quiet! (lit. quiet yourselves)
  3. fabrian, shailan!
    • Brian, sit!

Vocabulary:

  1. konpharo (konphar-) v. to speak
  2. natharo (nathar-) v. to quell, pacify
  3. mannu pronoun you (fem. sing.)
  4. namin pronoun you (masc. pl.)
  5. shailan (shailan-) v. to sit

Sample Text

Lortho Vowels
Text Translation
konpharin lorthome I speak Lortho


Relay 24 Text.jpg
Sample text in Lortho script. Text taken from Relay 24 in CALS

Folklore

   The Unlucky Fox
TheUnluckyFox.png
Romanization:

shadar lharane dasat dharakhinat harlikhi nuphi.
khabalikhi nuphi dalhotamekhon dhaharlikha halhadar a.
kilikhikhi ikhi molha kansapume.
harlikha dirdhalama lidalhota mokansapoina.
khar khesikhi nuphi kansapume denalikhu kansapu lukhothume hana tushadikhu khashume nuphinalo.
tharikhu bonhan monu saurammu thasame nuphinalo.

IPA:

ˈʃɑ.dɑɾ lhɑ.ˈɾɑ.nɛ ˈdɑ.sɑt dʰɑ.ˈɾɑ.kʰi.nɑt ˈhɑɾ.li.kʰi ˈnu.pʰi
kʰɑ.ˈbɑl.ikʰ.i ˈnu.pʰi dɑl.ˈho.tɑ.mɛ.kʰon dʰɑ.ˈhɑɾ.li.kʰɑ ˈhɑl.hɑ.dɑɾ ɑ
ki.ˈli.kʰi.kʰi ˈi.kʰi ˈmol.hɑ kɑn.ˈsɑ.pu.mɛ
ˈhɑɾ.li.kʰɑ diɾ.dʰɑ.ˈlɑ.mɑ li.dɑl.ˈho.tɑ mo.kɑn.ˈsɑ.pɔɪ.nɑ. kʰɑɾ ˈkʰɛ.si.kʰi ˈnu.pʰi kɑn.ˈsɑ.pu.mɛ dɛ
ˈnɑ.li.kʰu kɑn.ˈsɑ.pu lu.ˈkʰo.tʰu.mɛ ˈhɑ.nɑ tu.ˈʃɑ.di.kʰu ˈkʰɑ.ʃu.mɛ ˈnu.pʰi.nɑlo
ˈtʰɑ.ɾi.kʰu ˈbon.hɑn ˈmo.nu saʊ.ˈɾɑm.mu ˈtʰɑ.sɑ.mɛ ˈnu.pʰi.nɑ.lo

Leipzid Gloss: 
shadar  lhara-ne dasat      dharakhi  -nat harl-ikh-i    nuphi
ago.ADV year -PL beyond.ADV mountain.M-ABL be  -PST-3MSG fox.M
Once upon a time, there was the fox

khabal-ikh-i    nuphi dalhota-me -khon dha-harl-ikh-a    halhadar a
search-PST-3MSG fox.M food.N -ACC-but  NEG-be  -PST-3NSG much.ADJ PN.3NSG
The fox searched for food, but there was not much of it

kilikh-ikh-i    ikhi molha  kansapu-me
see   -PST-3MSG one  huge-N tree.N -ACC
It saw a huge tree

harl-ikh-a    dir     -dhalam-a li          -dalhota mo   -kansapo-ina
be  -PST-3NSG SUPERL  -good  -N PN.POSS.3MSG-food.N  that -tree.F -SUBL
Its favorite food was in that tree

khar khes   -ikh-i    nuphi kansapu-me  denal-ikh-u    kansapu lu          -khothu-me  hana tushad-ikh-u    khashu-me  nuphi-nalo
when scratch-PST-3MSG fox.M tree.F -ACC close-PST-3FSG tree.F  PN.POSS.3FSG-wall.F-ACC and  bury  -PST-3FSG head.F-ACC fox.M-GEN
When the fox scratched the tree, the tree closed its wall (here it means bark) and buried (trapped) the fox's head

thar-ikh-u    bonhan mon  -u saurammu thasa -me  nuphi-nalo
eat -PST-3FSG twenty other-F animal.F head.N-ACC fox.M-GEN
Twenty other animals ate the fox's body
I know this story is a little morbid; however, I was compelled to write a backstory as to why in Lorthoan culture calling someone a "fox" is considered derogatory, as in someone who is utterly unlucky. The story was partly inspired by the competition on the Conlang subreddit for reaching 20,000 followers and the theme was the numeral 20.

Resources

Lortho

Lortho on CALS
Lortho in the 24th Conlang Relay
Lortho on ConWorkShop
Lortho Lexicon
Lortho on Linguifex
Lortho on Miraheze.org
The World of Damashi
Lortho - Hosted by LCS (new)

Conlangs

Conlang Atlas of Language Structures (CALS)
Conlang Bulletin Board (CBB)
Conlang Critic - a YouTube vlogger who offers insights on conlangs
Conlang Mailing List
Conlang Relay Museum on CALS
ConWorkShop - an online one-stop-shop for cataloging your conlang
Fiat Lingua - an online archive of conlang articles
Language Creation Society
LCS on YouTube
Reddit: Conlangs
Reddit: Neography (Constructed Scripts)
Speculative Grammarian - A satirical periodical about linguistics and conlangery
Zompist Bulletin Board (ZBB)

Linguistics

Endangered Alphabets - a not-for-profit organization to catalog 14 alphabets threatened by extinction
Glossika Phonics - a YouTube channel for IPA pronunciation
International Phonetic Alphabet
NativLang
Omniglot
Online Etymology Dictionary (English)
Reddit:Linguistics
Wikitongues
World Atlas of Language Structures (WALS)

"Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't." - Mark Twain Brian Bourque (talk) 17:15, 18 March 2017 (PDT)

  1. ↑ http://www.omniglot.com/conscripts/fictional.htm
  2. ↑ https://listserv.brown.edu/?A0=conlang
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