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{{Language|
{{Language|
| English = Mekoshan
| English = Mekoshan
| native = Meexoŝ
| native = Maññòŝ
| country = USA
| country = USA
| universe = Future
| universe = Future
| speakers = 50 Million
| speakers = 50 Million
| family = Germanic
| family = Germanic
| branch = Anglic
| branch = Anglo-Frisian
| subbranch = American
| subbranch = American
| wordorder = VSO
| wordorder = VSO
| type = Agglutinative
| type = Fusional
| alignment = Accusative
| alignment = Accusative
| author = Taylor Selseth
| author = Taylor Selseth
| date = 2011 C.E.
| date = 2012 C.E.
| background = white
| background = white
| headingbg = #B5EAAA
| headingbg = #B5EAAA
Line 18: Line 18:
}}
}}


'''Mekoshan''' ('Mheexoŝ) is a descendant of English spoken in the American Midwest. It is notable among the Anglic languages for it's pharyngealization of consonants.
'''Mekoshan''' is a descendant of English spoken in the American Midwest.


=Phonology=
=Phonology=
'''IPA'''<br>
 
==IPA==
{|
{|
|| ||Labial||Alveolar||Palatal||Velar||Uvular||Pharyngeal||Glottal
|| ||Labial||Coronal||Dorsal||Glottal||
|-
|-
||Plosives, Plain||'''p'''||'''t tˤ'''|| ||'''k'''||'''q qʷ'''|| ||'''ʔ'''
||Plosives, Plain||'''p'''||'''t ʦ ʧ'''||'''k q qʷ'''|| ||
|-
|-
||Plosives, aspirated||'''pʰ'''||'''tʰ tˤʰ'''|| ||'''kʰ'''||'''qʰ qʷʰ'''|| ||
||Plosives, aspirated||'''pʰ'''||'''tʰ ʦʰ ʧʰ'''||'''kʰ qʰ qʷʰ'''|| ||
|-
|-
||Affricates, Plain|| ||'''ʦ''' '''ʦˤ'''||'''ʧ'''|| || || ||
||Nasals||'''m m̥'''||'''n n̥ ɲ ɲ̥'''|| || ||
|-
|-
||Affricates, aspirated|| ||'''ʦʰ''' '''ʦˤʰ'''||'''ʧʰ'''|| || || ||
||Fricatives, unvoiced||'''f'''||'''s ʃ'''||'''x χ χʷ'''||'''h'''||
|-
|-
||Nasals||'''m m̥'''||'''n n̥'''||'''ɲ ɲ̥'''|| || || ||
||Fricatives, voiced||'''v'''||'''z ʒ'''||'''ʁ'''|| ||
|-
||Other||'''w'''||'''l r j'''|| || ||
|-
|}
 
{|
|| ||Front||Central||Back||Diphthong
|-
|-
||Fricatives, unvoiced||'''f'''||'''s ɬ'''||'''ʃ'''||'''x'''||'''χʷ'''||'''ħ'''||'''h'''
||High||'''i iː ẽ'''||'''y yː'''||'''u uː õː'''||
|-
|-
||Fricatives, voiced||'''v'''||'''z'''||'''ʒ'''|| || ||'''ʕ'''||
||Mid||'''e eː ɛ̃'''||'''ø øː'''||'''o oː ɔ̃'''||'''ɛu ɔi'''
|-
|-
||Approximants||'''w'''||'''l'''||'''j'''|| || || ||
||Low||'''a'''||'''aː ã'''||'''ɑ'''||'''ai au'''
|-
|}
 
==Orthography==
{|
|| ||Labial||Coronal||Dorsal||Glottal||
|-
||Plosives, Plain||'''b'''||'''d dz j'''||'''g x br/rb'''|| ||
|-
||Plosives, aspirated||'''p'''||'''t ts c'''||'''k q pr/rp'''|| ||
|-
||Nasals||'''m mh'''||'''n nh ñ ñh'''|| || ||
|-
||Fricatives, unvoiced||'''f'''||'''s š'''||'''kh qh/hr fr/rf'''||'''h'''||
|-
||Fricatives, voiced||'''v'''||'''z ž'''||'''r'''|| ||
|-
||Other||'''w/rv'''||'''l ŕ y'''|| || ||
|-
|-
|}
|}
Line 46: Line 72:
|| ||Front||Central||Back||Diphthong
|| ||Front||Central||Back||Diphthong
|-
|-
||High||'''i iː'''||'''y yː'''||'''u uː'''||
||High||'''i í į'''||'''ü ű'''||'''u ú ų'''||
|-
||Mid||'''e é ę'''||'''ö ő'''||'''o ó ǫ'''||'''eu oi'''
|-
||Low||'''a'''||'''á'''||'''à/ra'''||'''ai au'''
|-
|}
 
 
==Allophony and Morphophonology==
 
Unaspirated plosives and affricates are voiced when in between vowels or adjacent to a voiced consonant.<br>
Coda /n n̥/ assimilate in POA to a following consonant.<br>
Nasal vowels are long.<br>
/ʁ/ devoices to /χ/ when adjacent to a aspirated plosive, a voiceless nasal, or a voiceless fricative.<br>
Vowels are backed and lowered when adjacent to uvular consonants<br>
<br>
 
=Grammar=
Like many Anglic languages, Mekoshan is a moderately synthetic, fusional language with a bias towards prefixes in it's verbs.
 
==The Noun Phrase==
The noun phrase has the following structure:<br>
<br>
1. Preposition<br>
2. Article<br>
3. Possessive Determiner<br>
4. Demonstrative, or numeral<br>
5. Adjective(s)<br>
6. Noun<br>
 
===Articles===
There are definite, indefinite, and generic article, all of which inflect for case and number. The generic article is derived from the reanalysis of prepositions, and is highly syncretic with the Indefinite. The article is simply omitted in the Generic and Indefinite Nominative<br>
<br>
In the following chart, some article forms differ depending on if the following word begins with a consonant or vowel, the vowel form follows the consonant form.<br>
 
{|
|| ||Generic||Indefinite||Definite
|-
|-
||Mid||'''e eː'''||'''ø øː'''||'''o oː'''||'''ɛi ɛu œy œu ɔy ɔu'''
||Absolutive||Ø||Ø||lé
|-
|-
||Low|| ||'''a aː'''|| ||'''ɑi au'''
||Ergative||l'||la||lél
|-
||Genitive||o/ov||ov||ol
|-
||Dative||ta/t'||ta||tal
|-
||Benifactive||fr'/fra||fra||fral
|-
||Locative||é||é||él
|-
|-
|}
|}
===Possessive Determiners===
Possessive determiners, also called possessive adjectives or adjectival genitive pronouns, indicate who or what possesses a noun: "my shirt", "her house"
{|
|| ||1st. Person||2nd. Person||3rd. Masculine||3rd. Feminine||3rd Neuter
|-
||Singular||me||ör||hez||hra||ois
|-
||Plural||ar||vör||lar||lar||lar
|-
|}
===Nouns and Adjectives===
Nouns inflect for number. For most nouns the plural is formed by a '''-s''', '''-z''', or '''-az''' suffix in voicing agreement with the preceding consonant, if any. Some nouns are formed by mutation of the final consonant with or without the normal plural suffix. 4 nouns retain the old Germanic Umlaut: '''Men''', '''Womn''', '''Mos''', and '''Gus'''; meaning man, woman, mouse, and goose.<br>
<br>
'''tö - töz''' = toy - toys<br>
'''braikh - braik''' = brick - bricks<br>
'''cref - crep''' = trap - traps<br>
'''men - man''' = man - men<br>
<br>
Adjectives only inflect for the comparative and superlative forms.<br>
<br>
Comparative: mor-<br>
Superlative" maus-<br>
==The Verb==
The morphological structure of the verb is thus:<br>
<br>
1. Personal Inflection<br>
2. Negation<br>
3. Tense-Aspect-Mood-Voice (TAMNV)*<br>
4. Adverbal prefixes<br>
5. Causative<br>
6. Verb root<br>
7. Secondary TAMV suffixes*<br>
<br>
* Many of the TAMV morphemes are circumfixes.
===Morphophonology of Verbs===
The 2 suffix elements found in the TAMV system, '''-t''' and '''-n''', merge with many preceding consonants and mutates them.<br>
===Personal Inflections===
There are 5 sets of personal inflections:<br>
<br>
'''Normal'''<br>
{|
|| ||1st. Person||2nd. Person||3rd. Masculine||3rd. Feminine||3rd Neuter
|-
||Singular||e-||ü-||hi-||ši-||oi-
|-
||Plural||vi-||že-||lai-||lai-||lai-
|-
|}
'''Subjunctive'''<br>
This conjugation is used for relative and subordinate clauses.<br>
{|
|| ||1st. Person||2nd. Person||3rd. Masculine||3rd. Feminine||3rd Neuter
|-
||Singular||loi-||lő-||leti-||leci-||lai-
|-
||Plural||lefi-||lèjè-||lete-||lete-||lete-
|-
|}
'''Polar Question'''
This conjugation is used for yes-no questions.<br>
{|
|| ||1st. Person||2nd. Person||3rd. Masculine||3rd. Feminine||3rd Neuter
|-
||Singular||de-||jü-||ti-||ci-||doi-
|-
||Plural||dvi-||je-||dle-||dle-||dle-
|-
|}
'''Optative'''<br>
This conjugation is used for wishing or hoping for something to happen.<br>
{|
|| ||1st. Person||2nd. Person||3rd. Masculine||3rd. Feminine||3rd Neuter
|-
||Singular||moi-||mő-||bši-||bši-||mai-
|-
||Plural||mí-||bže-||blai-||blai-||blai-
|-
|}
'''Hortative'''<br>
This conjugation is similar to the Imperative, except it has a less demanding and more encouraging meaning.<br>
{|
|| ||1st. Person||2nd. Person||3rd. Masculine||3rd. Feminine||3rd Neuter
|-
||Singular||ómi-||ócü-||wém-||óŕ-||woi-
|-
||Plural||wes-||óje-||ótai-||ótai-||ótai-
|-
|}
===Tense, Aspect, Mood, and Voice===
In Mekoshan the marking of tense, aspect, mood, and voice is highly fusional from a synchronic standpoint and the different elements of the morphemes can only be teased out of one has knowledge of their diachronic development.<br>
<br>
The '''Tense''' categories are Past and Non-Past.<br>
The '''Aspect''' categories are Perfective, Imperfective, and Perfect,<br>
The '''Mood''' categories are quite numerous and will be described below.<br>
====Tense and Aspect====
As is common in languages that have both tense and a perfective-imperfective distinction, the the Perfective does not have any tense distinctions and since the Perfective in Mekoshan is derived from a fusion of the English Preterite and Non-Past Perfect it usually has a past perfective meaning, and so it will be called the '''Aorist''' in this grammar to prevent confusion. The Past and Non-Past Imperfective will be called the Imperfect and Present, respectively, for brevity.<br>
<br>
'''The Stative Present''' is the simplest finite verb form, with only the verb root and the personal inflection. it is used with stative and experiential verbs. It has a habitual meaning when used with dynamic verbs, but this usage is somewhat archaic and is only found in formal writing and by older individuals.<br>
<br>
'''esi ü''' "I see you"<br>
e-si ü <br>
<br>
'''The Dynamic Present''' is formed by the suffix '''-n''', which, as mentioned above, is often realized as a mutation of the preceding consonant. It is only used with dynamic verbs.<br>
<br>
'''evañh''' "I am walking"<br>
e-vakh-n<br>
<br>
'''The Imperfect''' is formed with the prefix '''-vo-''' along with the suffix -n. it is used to refer to actions in the past with internal structure. It is often used when describing the background information of a past situation (he was sleeping when...), whereas foreground events would be spoken of in the Aorist(...then the door opened and...).<br>
<br>
'''evorain'''<br> "I was reading"
e-vo-raid-n<br>
<br>
The Aorist is formed by suppletion, ablaut of the verb root, or by the cicumfix '''-v- -t'''. As mentioned above, -t is often realized as consonant mutation. It it used for completed action, usually implying a past tense meaning.<br>
<br>
'''hifon oi''' "he found it"<br>
hi-fon oi<br>
<br>
'''evsdap''' "I stopped"<br>
e-v-sdaf-t<br>
<br>
'''The Perfect''' is formed by the circumfix '''-ven- -n''' is used to describe an event in the past spoken of as a whole from the perspective of the present.<br>
<br>
'''evenrain''' "I have read"<br>
e-ven-red-n<br>
<br>
The Pluperfect is formed by the circumfix '''-bben- -n''' and is like the Perfect except it refers to that past event from a past perspective that is still after the event itself.<br>
<br>
'''ebbenvañh''' "I had been walking<br>
e-bben-vakh-n<br>
<br>
[[Category: conlangs]]
[[Category: a posteriori conlangs]]

Latest revision as of 19:10, 27 June 2012

Mekoshan
Maññòŝ
Spoken in: USA
Conworld: Future
Total speakers: 50 Million
Genealogical classification: Germanic
Anglo-Frisian
American
Mekoshan
Basic word order: VSO
Morphological type: Fusional
Morphosyntactic alignment: Accusative
Writing system:
Created by:
Taylor Selseth 2012 C.E.

Mekoshan is a descendant of English spoken in the American Midwest.

Phonology

IPA

Labial Coronal Dorsal Glottal
Plosives, Plain p t ʦ ʧ k q qʷ
Plosives, aspirated pʰ tʰ ʦʰ ʧʰ kʰ qʰ qʷʰ
Nasals m m̥ n n̥ ɲ ɲ̥
Fricatives, unvoiced f s ʃ x χ χʷ h
Fricatives, voiced v z ʒ ʁ
Other w l r j
Front Central Back Diphthong
High i iː ẽ y yː u uː õː
Mid e eː ɛ̃ ø øː o oː ɔ̃ ɛu ɔi
Low a aː ã ɑ ai au

Orthography

Labial Coronal Dorsal Glottal
Plosives, Plain b d dz j g x br/rb
Plosives, aspirated p t ts c k q pr/rp
Nasals m mh n nh ñ ñh
Fricatives, unvoiced f s š kh qh/hr fr/rf h
Fricatives, voiced v z ž r
Other w/rv l ŕ y
Front Central Back Diphthong
High i í į ü ű u ú ų
Mid e é ę ö ő o ó ǫ eu oi
Low a á à/ra ai au


Allophony and Morphophonology

Unaspirated plosives and affricates are voiced when in between vowels or adjacent to a voiced consonant.
Coda /n n̥/ assimilate in POA to a following consonant.
Nasal vowels are long.
/ʁ/ devoices to /χ/ when adjacent to a aspirated plosive, a voiceless nasal, or a voiceless fricative.
Vowels are backed and lowered when adjacent to uvular consonants

Grammar

Like many Anglic languages, Mekoshan is a moderately synthetic, fusional language with a bias towards prefixes in it's verbs.

The Noun Phrase

The noun phrase has the following structure:

1. Preposition
2. Article
3. Possessive Determiner
4. Demonstrative, or numeral
5. Adjective(s)
6. Noun

Articles

There are definite, indefinite, and generic article, all of which inflect for case and number. The generic article is derived from the reanalysis of prepositions, and is highly syncretic with the Indefinite. The article is simply omitted in the Generic and Indefinite Nominative

In the following chart, some article forms differ depending on if the following word begins with a consonant or vowel, the vowel form follows the consonant form.

Generic Indefinite Definite
Absolutive Ø Ø lé
Ergative l' la lél
Genitive o/ov ov ol
Dative ta/t' ta tal
Benifactive fr'/fra fra fral
Locative é é él

Possessive Determiners

Possessive determiners, also called possessive adjectives or adjectival genitive pronouns, indicate who or what possesses a noun: "my shirt", "her house"

1st. Person 2nd. Person 3rd. Masculine 3rd. Feminine 3rd Neuter
Singular me ör hez hra ois
Plural ar vör lar lar lar

Nouns and Adjectives

Nouns inflect for number. For most nouns the plural is formed by a -s, -z, or -az suffix in voicing agreement with the preceding consonant, if any. Some nouns are formed by mutation of the final consonant with or without the normal plural suffix. 4 nouns retain the old Germanic Umlaut: Men, Womn, Mos, and Gus; meaning man, woman, mouse, and goose.

tö - töz = toy - toys
braikh - braik = brick - bricks
cref - crep = trap - traps
men - man = man - men

Adjectives only inflect for the comparative and superlative forms.

Comparative: mor-
Superlative" maus-

The Verb

The morphological structure of the verb is thus:

1. Personal Inflection
2. Negation
3. Tense-Aspect-Mood-Voice (TAMNV)*
4. Adverbal prefixes
5. Causative
6. Verb root
7. Secondary TAMV suffixes*

  • Many of the TAMV morphemes are circumfixes.

Morphophonology of Verbs

The 2 suffix elements found in the TAMV system, -t and -n, merge with many preceding consonants and mutates them.

Personal Inflections

There are 5 sets of personal inflections:

Normal

1st. Person 2nd. Person 3rd. Masculine 3rd. Feminine 3rd Neuter
Singular e- ü- hi- ši- oi-
Plural vi- že- lai- lai- lai-

Subjunctive
This conjugation is used for relative and subordinate clauses.

1st. Person 2nd. Person 3rd. Masculine 3rd. Feminine 3rd Neuter
Singular loi- lő- leti- leci- lai-
Plural lefi- lèjè- lete- lete- lete-

Polar Question This conjugation is used for yes-no questions.

1st. Person 2nd. Person 3rd. Masculine 3rd. Feminine 3rd Neuter
Singular de- jü- ti- ci- doi-
Plural dvi- je- dle- dle- dle-

Optative
This conjugation is used for wishing or hoping for something to happen.

1st. Person 2nd. Person 3rd. Masculine 3rd. Feminine 3rd Neuter
Singular moi- mő- bši- bši- mai-
Plural mí- bže- blai- blai- blai-

Hortative
This conjugation is similar to the Imperative, except it has a less demanding and more encouraging meaning.

1st. Person 2nd. Person 3rd. Masculine 3rd. Feminine 3rd Neuter
Singular ómi- ócü- wém- óŕ- woi-
Plural wes- óje- ótai- ótai- ótai-

Tense, Aspect, Mood, and Voice

In Mekoshan the marking of tense, aspect, mood, and voice is highly fusional from a synchronic standpoint and the different elements of the morphemes can only be teased out of one has knowledge of their diachronic development.

The Tense categories are Past and Non-Past.
The Aspect categories are Perfective, Imperfective, and Perfect,
The Mood categories are quite numerous and will be described below.

Tense and Aspect

As is common in languages that have both tense and a perfective-imperfective distinction, the the Perfective does not have any tense distinctions and since the Perfective in Mekoshan is derived from a fusion of the English Preterite and Non-Past Perfect it usually has a past perfective meaning, and so it will be called the Aorist in this grammar to prevent confusion. The Past and Non-Past Imperfective will be called the Imperfect and Present, respectively, for brevity.

The Stative Present is the simplest finite verb form, with only the verb root and the personal inflection. it is used with stative and experiential verbs. It has a habitual meaning when used with dynamic verbs, but this usage is somewhat archaic and is only found in formal writing and by older individuals.

esi ü "I see you"
e-si ü

The Dynamic Present is formed by the suffix -n, which, as mentioned above, is often realized as a mutation of the preceding consonant. It is only used with dynamic verbs.

evañh "I am walking"
e-vakh-n

The Imperfect is formed with the prefix -vo- along with the suffix -n. it is used to refer to actions in the past with internal structure. It is often used when describing the background information of a past situation (he was sleeping when...), whereas foreground events would be spoken of in the Aorist(...then the door opened and...).

evorain
"I was reading" e-vo-raid-n

The Aorist is formed by suppletion, ablaut of the verb root, or by the cicumfix -v- -t. As mentioned above, -t is often realized as consonant mutation. It it used for completed action, usually implying a past tense meaning.

hifon oi "he found it"
hi-fon oi

evsdap "I stopped"
e-v-sdaf-t

The Perfect is formed by the circumfix -ven- -n is used to describe an event in the past spoken of as a whole from the perspective of the present.

evenrain "I have read"
e-ven-red-n

The Pluperfect is formed by the circumfix -bben- -n and is like the Perfect except it refers to that past event from a past perspective that is still after the event itself.

ebbenvañh "I had been walking
e-bben-vakh-n

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