ASP

This is an attempt at decoding the conlang found in the webcomic A Skewed Paradise.

Corpus

Leon

(Catboy thing. Found in the woods. Has no memory of events before being found. Speaks normally English.)

• Whispering to a caught shoplifter:
  • "Mer valeem. Y'menyah."

• Fights with a suddendly appearing guy in exo-suit:
  • Mental Snap
  • "Eya yemma! Nem mera her eramen yah!"
  • Dodge
  • "Mer valeem."
  • Dodge
  • "Ner anim, rayanam er ha!"
  • "Hahaha! Ne anyah iram?"
  • Dodge
  • "Memma enya, emren eya."
  • Leap back
  • "Yem enin inyanema enya?"
  • "Nem veryem eramen valeem re-"

Reen

(Catgirl thing. Just introduced.)

• Arriving:
  • "Azerian!" = [AzErj@n] = /azerian/?
• To Leon:
  • "Y'enin ner amiyan nem enin meren. Nem'era heyyer?"
  • (Leon: "Nina and her frends helped me. We're safe, Reen.")
  • "Az, mrenye veya nem ayam yah?"
• After having her hair pulled by Nina:
  • "Vya! Nye ne?!"
• Nicholas arrives behind her:
  • (Nick: "So you're Reen.")
  • "Nahme..?"
  • ("Er, Jim told me about you.")
  • "Revyal!"
  • examines face
  • "Y'ayam'ver...'Revyal'."

Alphabetically

• amiyan
• anim
• anyah
• ayam
  • y'ayam'ver
• Azerian (proper name)
  • Az (nickname)
• emren
• enin (x2)
  • y'enin
• enya (x2)
• er
• eramen (x2)
• eya (x2)
• ha
• (hahaha) (laughter, obviously)
• her
• heyyer
• inyanema
• iram
• memma
• y'menyah
• mer
• mera
• meren
• mrenye
• nahme
• ne (x2)
• nem (x4)
  • nem'era
• ner (x2)
• nye
• rayanam
• re-
• revyal (proper name??)
• valeem (x2)
• veryem
• veya
• vya
• yah (x2)
• yem
• yemma

Phonology

Largely hypothetical, based on the orthography. Apostrophes are assumed to mark clitics, as in English.

Vowels

At least /i ɛ ɑ/. It remains unclear if a can also represent /æ/ or /ə/, if i can also represent /ɪ/ and what ee represents. Back rounded vowels (/u o/ etc.) do not seem to occur.

Consonants

 /v z     /
 / l r j h/
 /m n     /

• codas /m n r l h/
• initial clusters /mr nj vj/
• medial clusters /mm hm rj jj/
• morpheme-medial cluster /mv/

Grammar

"Azerian" is assumed to be (a vocative of) a proper name, more specifically Leon's name in this language. "Az" is furthermore assumed to be a nickname shortening.

"Mera her" can substitute for "veryem".

Prefixal y-.

Question phrases:

• "Ne anyah iram?"
• "Yem enin inyanema enya?"
• "Nem'era heyyer?"
• "Nye ne?"

These all appear to share the root ne-. This is however also found in most declarativ phrases, so most likely it is a basic grammatical root (pronominal? copula?) It's also not obvious if inyanema actually contains the root.