Omni-kan: Difference between revisions
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==== Personal pronouns | ==== Personal pronouns ==== | ||
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Revision as of 05:48, 21 April 2021
| Omni-kan | |
|---|---|
| Pronounced: | /omnikan/ |
| Timeline and Universe: | |
| Species: | Human |
| Spoken: | |
| Total speakers: | |
| Writing system: | |
| Genealogy: | |
| Typology | |
| Morphology: | |
| Morphosyntax: | |
| Word order: | |
| Credits | |
| Creator: | Qwynegold |
| Created: | 2009 |
Omni-kan is an international auxiliary language. Its earlier names include Pasetok, Pastok, Omnis-kan and Omenis-kan. Although Omni-kan is an auxlang, there is no serious ambition to make it an actually used international language. It was just created for the fun of the challenge of creating a conlang that could potentially be spoken by as many people as possible on Earth.
Since the language is supposed to be international the phonemic inventory is rather small, and several phonological constraints exist for ease of pronunciation. Yet homonyms are avoided. Omni-kan has borrowed all of its words from other languages. There are 49 languages that have been especially prioritized in word borrowing and phonology: Modern Standard Arabic, Mossi (Mòoré), Yoruba, Swahili, Armenian, Albanian, Tamil, Turkish, Kazakh, Uzbek, Mongolian, Hungarian, Finnish, Vietnamese, Indonesian/Malay, Mandarin, Burmese, Thai, Quiché (K'iche'), Quechua, (Paraguayan) Guaraní, Tok Pisin, Tashelhiyt, Hausa, Oromo, Fula, Akan (Twi dialect), Kanuri, Bambara, Telugu, (White) Hmong, Persian, Hindi/Urdu, Spanish, English, Russian, Ancient Greek, Portuguese, Bengali, French, Japanese, German, Punjabi, Javanese, Marathi, Korean, Italian, Wu (Shanghai dialect), Cantonese (Canton dialect). All major language families, and major branches of the largest families, are present among these 49 languages. At least 3,88 billion, and possibly as many 8 billion people (including second language speakers) speak these languages.
Phonology
Phoneme inventory
| Bilabial | Labiodental | Dental | Alveolar | Postalveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Pharyngeal | Epiglottal | Glottal | ||||||||||||||
| Nasal | /m/ <m> | /n/ <n> | /ŋ/[1] <g> | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Plosive | /p/ <p> | /t/ <t> | /k/ <k> | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Affricate | /tʃ/ <c> | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Fricative | /f/[2] <f> | /s/ <s> | /h/ <h> | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Approximant | /ʋ/ <w> | /j/ <j> | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Trill | /r/[3] <r> | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tap or flap | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lat. fricative | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lat. approximant | /l/ <l> | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lateral flap | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Labial-palatal | Labial-velar | Alveolo-palatal | Palatal-velar | |||||
| Fricative | ||||||||
| Approximant | ||||||||
| Front | Near-front | Central | Near-back | Back | |||||||
| Close | /i/ <i> | /u/ <u> | |||||||||
| Close | |||||||||||
| Close-mid | |||||||||||
| Mid | /e/ <e> | /o/ <o> | |||||||||
| Open-mid | |||||||||||
| Near-open | |||||||||||
| Open | /a/ <a> | ||||||||||
- ^ ^ ^ These are marginal phonemes. There are no minimal pairs involving these phonemes, except for possibly in proper nouns and interjections. [ŋ] is in complementary distribution with /n/, [f] with /p/, and [r] with /l/. The former ones can be replaced by the latter ones if the speaker cannot pronunce any of the alternatives marked with the same color in the above phoneme charts.
The sounds of Omni-kan can be pronunced in several ways depending on what the speaker is capable of, but the most desirable pronunciations have been marked in the above tables. The desirable realization may be substituted for any phoneme marked with the same color. For example /s/ should preferrably be an alveoral fricative, as "/s/ <s>" has been marked in column alveolar, row fricative, but postalveolar, retroflex and alveolo-palatal realizations are also acceptable.
There are also six diphthongs: /ui, oi, ei, ai, ou, au/. The final /i/ could optionally be [j], and final /u/ could be [w]. The diphthongs can also be split up into two syllables, with an optional [ʔ] between. /ei/, /au/ and /ou/ are marginal phonemes as mentioned above, and in complementary distribution with other phonemes.
Phonological constrains
The syllable structure of Omni-kan is (C)V(C). The onset can be any consonant except g, while the coda can be any of m, n, g, p, t, k, c, f, s, l. The allowed medial clusters are:
- mp mf
- nt nc ns ny nw nr nl
- gk
- pt ps pr pl
- ft fr fl
- tn tw tr tl
- kn kp kt kc ks kw kr kl
- sn sy sw sr sl
- lm lp lf lt lk lc ls ly lw
The sequences yi and wu are disallowed.
Complimentary distribution
In the following list $ stand for either syllable break or word boundary.
- V1n - V1
- au - o
- ei - e
- f - p
- g - n
- ou - o, u
- r - l
- s$ - t$
- ti - ci
Borrowing scheme
When borrowing words, the word might need to be changed to fit Omni-kan's phonological constrains. Generally, e is used to split up non-word final consonant clusters, while o is used at the end of words. If possible, the vowel is placed so that the consonants are still adjacent. Here some other rules, which take precedence over the above:
- #CiV > CijV
- #CuV > CuwV (but see wo and wu below)
- Cː > C
- CCiV > CCijV
- CCuV > CCuwV (but see wo and wu below)
- Vː > V
- Vst > Vt
- eu > e
- iV > jV
- ji > i
- m# > mo
- r· > l·
- wo > o
- wu > u
Morphology
Nominal morphology
Nouns are pluralized with the suffix -kal, e.g. palke (stick) → palkekal (sticks), mau (cat) → maukal (cats). Nouns can also be reduplicated to form collective nouns, e.g. manusiya (human) → manusiya manusiya (humanity).
There is no definiteness marking and no case in Omni-kan.
Pronouns
Personal pronouns
| Sg. | Pl. | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st p. | mi I |
mikal we |
| 2nd p. | tu you |
tukal you |
| 3rd p. | o s/he |
okal they |
Plural pronouns are formed the same way as plural nouns: with the suffix -kal. Unlike in some other languages, the second person plural pronoun is not used as a polite form of address for one person.
Demonstratives
The demonstratives are es (this), on (that) and pe (what). When used as pronouns, es and on can be pluralized with the plural suffix -kal, but when they are used attributively they are not pluralized. Since Omni-kan lacks definiteness marking, es is often used for referring back to things the speaker has brought up. On can be used for the same purpose, but also for things that the listener or some third person has brought up.
The demonstratives are combined with some other words to form meanings for which English uses completely separate words. Some examples include es/on/pe lokus (here/there/where), es/on/pe wakte (now/then/when).
Prepositions
- co ‒ to
- ni ‒ at, in, on
- te ‒ of, -'s
- Menten is used for telling what way something is going, like the words along, through and via in English.
See Location for examples of how locational relations are expressed.
Derivation
There are many derivational suffixes in Omni-kan, used for creating new words. All derivational suffixes are actually shorter forms of other words with independent meanings. An -s- is added between a root that ends with a vowel and a suffix that begins with a vowel. If the root ends with, and the suffix begins with a consonant, an -e- is inserted between them.
| Original word | Meaning | Suffix | Meaning/use | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| aprofa | child | -apro | Turns a word for an animal specie into a word meaning "the infant form of that animal". | hunto (dog) > huntosapro (puppy) |
| epitatai | know | -epi | Used for making words with the meaning "the teaching of X". | kanatlai (animal) > kanatlaisepi (zoology) |
| person | -ren | Turns a country name into an ethnicity, or a verb into the agent of that verb. | ||
| mama | mother | -mam | Turns a word for an animal specie into a word meaning "a mother of that specie". | *** (goose) > ***mam (mother Goose) |
| mekas | big | -meka | Adds a meaning of "largeness". | winakil (human) > winakilmeka (giant) |
| mikros | small | -mikro | A diminutive suffix. | winakil (human) > winakilmikro (dwarf) |
| ona | woman | -on | Makes a word feminine. | aprofa (child) > aprofason (girl) |
| otoko | man | -oto | Makes a word masculine. | aprofa (child) > aprofasoto (boy) |
| papa | father | -pap | Turns a word for an animal species into a word meaning "a father of that species". | awahahufokaho (bird) > awahahufokahopap (bird father) |
| sekop | stick | -seko | Used for deriving a word for the handle of a tool. | *** (broom) > ***seko (broomstick) |
| language | -kan | Used for deriving names of languages from names of countries or ethnic groups. When added to a country name, the suffix -(i)stan is replaced by -kan. | ||
| winakil | human | -wina | Used for deriving words of mythical beasts who are half human, half animal. | awahahufokaho (bird) > awahahufokahowina (birdman) |
Syntax
Location
Location is usually expressed by a locational preposition followed by a noun in genitive and a locational noun. The preposition tells the direction: to, from, along or not moving. The locational noun (LOC.NOUN) tells the actual place. The locational can be combined with the prefix ka-, which means that the subject has physical contact with the place. In the following list, the different ways of telling location has been likened to different noun cases.
- Adessive - tou NOUN GEN fukan.
- Apudessive - tou NOUN GEN wijeri.
- Inessive - tou NOUN GEN in.
- Intrative - tou NOUN and NOUN GEN aita.
- Pertingent - tou NOUN GEN ka-LOC.NOUN.
- Subessive - tou NOUN GEN alat.
- Superessive - tou NOUN GEN (ka)-soharu.
- Ablative - ta NOUN GEN fukan
- Delative - ta NOUN GEN (ka)-soharu.
- Egressive, initiative - ta NOUN (GEN LOC.NOUN).
- Elative - ta NOUN (GEN in).
- Allative - si NOUN GEN fukan.
- Illative - si NOUN GEN in.
- Terminative - si/tou NOUN (GEN LOC.NOUN).
- Perlative (penetrating) - menten NOUN GEN aita.
- Perlative (going through a space) - menten NOUN GEN in.
- Prosecutive - menten NOUN GEN soharu.
- Vialis - with NOUN GEN use.
- Temporal (at an exact point of time) - tou TIME.NOUN (GEN in).
- Temporal (around some time) - tou TIME.NOUN GEN fukan.
- Temporal (sometime during a time span) - tou TIME.NOUN GEN aita.
- Benefactive - si NOUN (GEN sake).
- Dative, orientative - si NOUN.
- Exessive - ta NOUN (GEN LOC.NOUN) (si NOUN (GEN LOC.NOUN))
| This article is part of a series on International Auxiliary Languages. Romance-based Auxlangs: Aercant * Atlango * Interlingua * Latin Nov * Novial * Occidental (Interlingue) * Panroman * Romanal |
| This article is part of a series on Engineered languages. Arithmographic languages: Characteristica universalis |
