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"Sisiwön" is the provisional name of a collaborative Conlang, started in early 2004, by a small group of members of the Conlang list.
"Sisiwön" is the provisional name of a collaborative Conlang, started in June 2004, by a small group of members of the Conlang list: Paul Bennett, Alex Fink, Rob Haden, Joe, and Robert "Trebor" Jung.


The name itself, while phonologically compatible with the language, doesn't actually ''mean'' anything (yet).
The name itself, while phonologically compatible with the language, doesn't actually ''mean'' anything (yet).


This page is essentially a public repository of information on Sisiwön.  Work on the language is conducted in a Yahoo group at [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/conlangcollaboration]. If you'd like to participate, feel free to join the group (as opposed to changing this page directly).
This page is essentially a public repository of information on Sisiwön.  Work on the language is conducted in the Yahoo group [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/conlangcollaboration ConlangCollaboration]. If you'd like to participate, feel free to join the group (as opposed to changing this page directly).


''I know nothing about editing this Wiki, and the help page is blank. Help!'' (PaulBennett)
== Phonology ==


Vowels:
=== Consonants ===
{|
! !! Labial !! Labiodental !! Alveolar !! Lateral !! Postalveolar !! Velar !! Uvular !! Glottal
|-
! Plosives
| p, p_h, p_> || - || t, t_h, t_> || - || - || k, k_h, k_>, k_w, k_w_h, k_w_> || q, q_w || -
|-
! Affricates
| - || - || ts), ts)_>, ts)_w, ts)_j || tK), tK)_> || tS), tS)_> tS)_w || - || - || - || -
|-
! Fricatives
| - || f || s, s_w, s_j || K || S [Why not S_w too? --Trebor] || x, x_w || - || - || h
|-
! Nasals
| m || - || n, n_j || - || - || N, N_w || - || - || -
|-
! Liquids
| - || - || r, r_j || l, l_j || - || - || - || - || - || -
|-
! Semivowels
| - || - || - || - || j || w || - || -
|}


There are a total of twenty phonetic vowels:
There may be a restriction preventing labialized and palatalized consonants from occurring before [u] and [i], respectively.


i ii ü üü ï ïï u uu e ee ö öö ë ëë o oo ä ää a aa
=== Vowels ===
ɪ i: ʏ y: ɯ ɯ: ʊ u:
There are a total of twenty phonetic vowels: i [I], ii [i:], ü [Y], üü [y:], ï [U_c], ïï [M:], u [U], uu [u:], e [E], ee [e:], ö [9], öö [2:], ë [V], ëë [7:], o [O], oo [o:], ä [a], ää [a:], a [A], aa [A:]. However, due to vowel harmony, any given word will only contain a subset of these, either the front series (i, ii, ü, üü, e, ee, ö, öö, ä, ää) or the back series (ï, ïï, u, uu, ë, ëë, o, oo, a, aa). It makes sense to think of Sisiwön as having five basic vowel phonemes (i, ü, e, ö, ä), plus two suprasegmental phonemes, [+long] and [+back], the latter occuring zero or one times in each word, affecting all the vowels in it.


However, due to vowel harmony, any given word will only contain a subset of these, either
=== Syllable Structure ===
It seems the consensus is CV(N) with N being any non-stop, non-affricate, or alternatively the aforementioned vowel-lengthening suprasegmental [+long]. The symbol C may also stand for a word-initial 0-, allowing vowel-initial words.


i ii ü üü e ee ö öö ä ää
=== Word Structure ===
Any number of syllables, as defined above, with no other constraints known at this time.


or
== Grammar ==


ï ïï u uu ë ëë o oo a aa
=== Verbal Morphology ===
Verbs are marked agglutinatively for person and number of subject and objects (both direct and indirect), tense (past vs non-past), mood (indicative vs irrealis vs imperative), aspect (imperfect vs perfect) and evidentiality (probably as clitics, meanings as yet undecided).


Thus, it could be said that the language has 10 vowel phonemes, plus a +-back suprasegmental phoneme.
Inchoative and completive will probably be derivational and independent of the aspectual system.  


Also, given the syllable structure, it makes sense to think of vowel length as provided by a single /:/ phoneme, reducing the inventory even further to just five basic vowels: ï u ë o a, plus two vowel-modifying phonemes, /:/ and [+front], the last of which occurs zero or one times in each word, affecting all the vowels in it.
There are a small class of valence-increasing derivational operations that take f(x,y) -> g(z,f(x,y)), where g is "want", "cause", "allow", "prevent", or "fear", and maybe a small number of others.


Consonants:
=== Syntax ===


From the group's phonology file, still in X-Sampa:
Syntax is overwhelmingly, perhaps exclusively, head-final. 


                  lab  alv  lat  alvpa pal  vel  uvu  glo
== Lexicon ==
Stops plain      p    t                      k    q
      aspirated  p_h  t_h                    k_h
      ejective    p_>  t_>                    k_>
Affricates              ts)  tK)  tS)
Fricatives        f    s    K    S          x          h
Nasals            m    n                      N
Liquids                r    l
Semivowels
Labialized        lab  alv  lat  alvpa pal  vel  uvu  glo
Stops plain                                    k_w  q_w
      aspirated                                k_w_h
      ejective                                  k_w_>
Affricates              ts)_w      tS)_w
Fricatives              s_w                    x_w
Nasals                                          N_w
Liquids         
Semivowels                                      w
Palatalized      lab  alv  lat  alvpa pal  vel  uvu  glo
Stops plain     
      aspirated 
      ejective   
Affricates              ts)_j
Fricatives              s_j
Nasals                  n_j
Liquids                r_j  l_j
Semivowels                                j


There may be a restriction preventing labialized and palatalized consonants from occurring before [i(:)] and [u(:)], respectively. 
=== Swadesh List ===


Paul (?) had written:  
#hand /p_hi:kE/
#left (hand) -/K9/ (/p_hi:kEK9/)
#right (hand) -/rE/ (/p_hi:kErE/)
#leg /N_wAtS)U/
##left leg /N_wAtS)UKO/
#foot /x_wi:pa/
#to walk /x_wIxpE/
#tooth          /mAtAn/


Some of the consonants seem to be in a bit of a state of flux, particularly the labialised and palatalised series. There are definitely the following ...
[[Category: Swadesh lists]]


      p    t          k    q
=== Other ===
      pʼ  tʼ          kʼ
      pʰ  tʰ          kʰ
      m    n          ŋ
f        s    ʃ    x          h
          ts    tʃ   
          ɾ
          l   
          ɬ   
          tɬ   
      w          j


... plus labialised and palatalised variants of some of them.
#baby          /pElE/
#carry          /k_wAnV/
#snail          /q9lm9s/


Syllable structure:
[[Category:Collaborations]]
 
[[Category: Colllangs]]
It seems the consensus is CV(N) with N being any non-stop, non-affricate, or alternatively the aforementioned vowel-lengthening phoneme /:/. The symbol C may also stand for a word-initial ∅, allowing vowel-initial words.
 
Word structure:  
 
Any number of syllables, as defined above, with no other constraints known at this time.

Latest revision as of 16:25, 3 November 2012

"Sisiwön" is the provisional name of a collaborative Conlang, started in June 2004, by a small group of members of the Conlang list: Paul Bennett, Alex Fink, Rob Haden, Joe, and Robert "Trebor" Jung.

The name itself, while phonologically compatible with the language, doesn't actually mean anything (yet).

This page is essentially a public repository of information on Sisiwön. Work on the language is conducted in the Yahoo group ConlangCollaboration. If you'd like to participate, feel free to join the group (as opposed to changing this page directly).

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Labiodental Alveolar Lateral Postalveolar Velar Uvular Glottal
Plosives p, p_h, p_> - t, t_h, t_> - - k, k_h, k_>, k_w, k_w_h, k_w_> q, q_w -
Affricates - - ts), ts)_>, ts)_w, ts)_j tK), tK)_> tS), tS)_> tS)_w - - - -
Fricatives - f s, s_w, s_j K S [Why not S_w too? --Trebor] x, x_w - - h
Nasals m - n, n_j - - N, N_w - - -
Liquids - - r, r_j l, l_j - - - - - -
Semivowels - - - - j w - -

There may be a restriction preventing labialized and palatalized consonants from occurring before [u] and [i], respectively.

Vowels

There are a total of twenty phonetic vowels: i [I], ii [i:], ü [Y], üü [y:], ï [U_c], ïï [M:], u [U], uu [u:], e [E], ee [e:], ö [9], öö [2:], ë [V], ëë [7:], o [O], oo [o:], ä [a], ää [a:], a [A], aa [A:]. However, due to vowel harmony, any given word will only contain a subset of these, either the front series (i, ii, ü, üü, e, ee, ö, öö, ä, ää) or the back series (ï, ïï, u, uu, ë, ëë, o, oo, a, aa). It makes sense to think of Sisiwön as having five basic vowel phonemes (i, ü, e, ö, ä), plus two suprasegmental phonemes, [+long] and [+back], the latter occuring zero or one times in each word, affecting all the vowels in it.

Syllable Structure

It seems the consensus is CV(N) with N being any non-stop, non-affricate, or alternatively the aforementioned vowel-lengthening suprasegmental [+long]. The symbol C may also stand for a word-initial 0-, allowing vowel-initial words.

Word Structure

Any number of syllables, as defined above, with no other constraints known at this time.

Grammar

Verbal Morphology

Verbs are marked agglutinatively for person and number of subject and objects (both direct and indirect), tense (past vs non-past), mood (indicative vs irrealis vs imperative), aspect (imperfect vs perfect) and evidentiality (probably as clitics, meanings as yet undecided).

Inchoative and completive will probably be derivational and independent of the aspectual system.

There are a small class of valence-increasing derivational operations that take f(x,y) -> g(z,f(x,y)), where g is "want", "cause", "allow", "prevent", or "fear", and maybe a small number of others.

Syntax

Syntax is overwhelmingly, perhaps exclusively, head-final.

Lexicon

Swadesh List

  1. hand /p_hi:kE/
  2. left (hand) -/K9/ (/p_hi:kEK9/)
  3. right (hand) -/rE/ (/p_hi:kErE/)
  4. leg /N_wAtS)U/
    1. left leg /N_wAtS)UKO/
  5. foot /x_wi:pa/
  6. to walk /x_wIxpE/
  7. tooth /mAtAn/

Other

  1. baby /pElE/
  2. carry /k_wAnV/
  3. snail /q9lm9s/
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