Vingdagese
Please note that, contrary to the name of this page, the language's name is more correctly stated as Vưng-Ḍác Tǫ. The above title was used in order to make use of only the most readily available characters in the ASCII range to make finding this page easier.
Vưng-Ḍác Tǫ is a language whose script is inspired by the real-world design of Tangut. This language is spoken by peoples living on the world of Carnassus. It too is believed to be an isolate, like the majority of the languages spoken on Carnassus.
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|---|---|
| Vingdagese Vưng-Ḍác Tǫ | |
| Pronounced: | Native: /vɪŋ.ɗaːg tõ/ Anglicized: /vɪŋ.dəg.iːz/ |
| Timeline and Universe: | Alternate Earth |
| Species: | Human |
| Spoken: | Carnassus |
| Writing system: | "Logography" |
| Genealogy: | Language Isolate |
| Typology | |
| Morphological type: | Isolating |
| Morphosyntactic alignment: | Direct Inverse |
| Basic word order: | SVO; Head-Initial |
| Credits | |
| Creator: | Thrice Xandvii | ✎ |
| Created: | September 2017 |
Phonology
Vưng-Ḍác Tǫ (File:VDT-vu'ng.png
File:VDT-tox.png) has 14 distinct consonants in its inventory (with a bit of allophony) and has 14 vowels as well. The vowel space is divided into 4 groups, namely: the a-group, i-group, o-group and the pair of diphthongs. This gives Vưng Ḍác Tǫ a rather large range of possible syllables despite the fact that clusters are limited and most words are only one syllable in length with a smattering of two syllable compounds.
Consonants
| Labial | Coronal | Dorsal | Laryngeal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m [m] | n [n] | ng [ŋ] | |
| Plosive | p [p ~ b] | t [t ~ d] | c / q [k ~ g ~ q] | Ø / ʼ [ʔ] |
| Implosive | ḅ [ɓ] | ḍ [ɗ] | ġ [ɠ] | |
| Fricative | v [β ~ v] | d(h) / z [ð ~ z] | j [ʝ] | |
| Rhotic | r [ɾ ~ r] |
Vowels
| Plain | Lax | Long | Nasal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A-Group | a [a] | e [ɛ] | á [aː] | ą [ã] |
| I-Group | i [i] | ư [ɪ] | é [eː] | į [ĩ] |
| O-Group | o [o] | ơ [ɔ] | ú [uː] | ǫ [õ] |
| Diphthong | ay [ɑɪ̯] | oy [ɔɪ̯ ~ oɪ̯] |
|---|
Phonotactics
The general description of the syllable unit in Vưng-Ḍác Tǫ is the following: (C)(F,R)V(P,N). There are, of course, some provisos that go along with that generic description. One of which is that a nasal or implosive consonant cannot form a cluster.
Allophony
Some general allophonic rules:
- If /k/ appears in a syllable before a vowel belonging to the o-group, it becomes /q/ (and is written as such).
- If /z/ is the initial consonant in a cluster it becomes /ð/.
- The o-group's diphthong's two realizations are in free variation and depend on the speaker.
- Whenever an implosive appears second in a two-syllable compound, it laxes the vowel in the first position of the compound (i.e. the language name), if it is plain.
- When initial, the rhotic is trilled, when it appears in consonant clusters it is tapped.
- If a vowel would begin a syllable, it instead begins with /ʔ/, which is unwritten.
- If a glottal stop begins the second syllable in a two syllable compound, the consonant is written as an apostrophe.
- If a glottal stop ends a word, it becomes /q/.
- Stops that appear in the coda of a syllable are voiced, however the spelling isn't changed.
Grammar
Insert a description of the language and its grammar as it develops in this space.
Examples Here.
Script & Characters
A description of the written language will go here.
| Primary Consonant | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Radical | ʼ | m | n | ng | p | t | c/q | ḅ | ḍ | ġ | v | dh | j | r |
| File:VDT-R1-0.png | ving |
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| File:VDT-R1-1.png | tzí |
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| File:VDT-R1-2.png |  áng |
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| File:VDT-R1-3.png |  moyc |
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| File:VDT-R2-0.png |  qú |
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| File:VDT-R2-1.png |  pac |
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| File:VDT-R2-2.png |  ayng |
tǫ |
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| File:VDT-R2-3.png |  cem |
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| File:VDT-R3-0.png |  ḍác |
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| File:VDT-R3-1.png |  rét | |||||||||||||
| File:VDT-R4-0.png | cvơc |
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- This chart may still need some significant revisions in order to be an effective display of the logography as a whole. It's very likely that some type of Radical + Stroke Count system will be the next step.
Lexicon
- —For a partial list of words in Vưng-Ḍác Tǫ, see: Lexicon.
Commentary and discussion of words in the language will go here
Creator Comments
This language began life with working with the Tangut script. Obviously, as this type of thing so often does, it inspired me to want to make a language to match. The obstacle, however, was how does one use such a complex stroke-heavy written script like Tangut in such a way that it begins to look unique, yet keeps the aesthetic? This is still a problem as the script and language develop, however it is not an insurmountable one. At present, I have ripped apart many Tangut characters into some base parts and components and have begun to stitch them back together again. Generally, this consists of the creation of two parts that are composed of chunks of the 3-part Tangut characters and then placed back together in such a way as to create a 2-part character. As is clear in the above chart, each character has a pretty distinct left- and right-half. As to what those will mean or how the script will ultimately function is still somewhat debatable. I am beginning to think that one aspect will have to do with the meaning in some way, while the other the sound, but this would take a great deal of coordination and logical organization of the constituent pieces. Maybe this will begin to develop as characters are chosen for disparate meanings and then later I can glue things together logically to make this system look more cohesive as it goes. Another key feature was the addition of some pieced together elements to make it look just a bit more "Chinese." One of the aspects of that aim is the "square" as well as the "hat" which both appear on the right-half of ḍác.
