Guosa
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Guosa 2.0 is a Universal Language, serving non-Bantu West Africa.
| ߜ߳ߎߏߛߊ [gu.o.sa] | |
| Timeline/Universe | Universal Languages |
| Period | Future Utopia |
| Spoken in | West Africa |
| Total speakers | 340 million |
| Writing system | N'Ko |
| Classification | Proto-Niger–Congo |
| Typology | |
| Basic word order | SVO |
| Morphology | Analytic |
| Alignment | N-A |
| Credits | |
| Created by | Alex Igbineweka (1965) |
Anthropology
- CV, CVC
- no gender
- serial verbs
- no case
- aspect is more important than tense
- clusivity
- topicalization
- favoring words found in Yoruba, Igbo, Akan, Hausa (loanwords), Krio, and Wolof (no English)
- Proverbs & Call-Response Forms
- five vowels, tone
- Analytic typology: Guosa follows an isolating, word-order-dependent structure, avoiding excessive inflections.
- SVO word order: This is a good choice, as it aligns with many West African languages and English (which is widely spoken in Nigeria).
- No extensive verb conjugation: Instead of complex tense/aspect marking, Guosa relies on auxiliary particles.
Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Postalveolar/Palatal | Velar | Labiovelar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | /m/ ߡ | /n/ ߣ | /ɲ/ ߢ | /ŋ/ ߒ | |||
| Plosive | voiceless | /p/ ߔ | /t/ ߕ | /tʃ/ ߗ | /k/ ߞ | (/k͡p/ ߞߔ) | |
| prenasalized | ⁿtʃ ߢߗ | ||||||
| voiced | /b/ ߓ | /d/ ߘ | /dʒ/ ߖ | /ɡ~ɣ/ ߜ߳ | /ɡ͡b/ ߜ | ||
| prenasalized | ᵐb ߡߓ | ⁿd ߣߘ | ⁿdʒ ߢߖ | ᵑɡ ߒߜ߳ | ᵑ͡ᵐɡ͡b ߒߜ | ||
| Fricative | voiceless | /f/ ߝ | /s/ ߛ | /ʃ/ ߛߤ | /h~x/ ߤ | ||
| voiced | /v/ ߝ߳ | /z/ ߛ߳ | |||||
| Approximant | /l/ ߟ | /j/ ߦ | /w/ ߥ | ||||
| Rhotic | /ɹ/ ߙ | (/r/ ߚ) | |||||
Vowels
| High | /i~ɪ/ ߌ | /u~ʊ/ ߎ |
|---|---|---|
| Mid | /e~ɛ/ ߋ (ߍ) | /o~ɔ/ ߏ (ߐ) |
| Low | /a/ ߊ | |
Vowel length is not contrastive, but can be written to show etymology, by doubling. (However, see tone). Nasality is not contrastive, but can be written to show etymology of foreign words (with a mark resembling a tilde).
Tone
Tone is tricky, as even speakers of tonal languages struggle to learn new tones. Guosa 2.0 has two tones, low and high. However, two alike consonants in a row can occur and have different tone. This means, under a different analysis, Guosa 2.0 has long and short vowels and H, L, HH, LL, HL, and LH tones. Low is not marked. High tone is marked with something like a macron. Falling tone is mark ߮, while rising tone is marked ߭.
Grammar
- I = mó / ߡߏ߫
| Universal Languages | ||
|---|---|---|
| AFRICA | SEDES (Horn of Africa), Middle Semitic (Semitic languages), Kintu (Bantu languages), Guosa (West Africa) | 
|
| CENTRAL ASIA | Jalpi (Turkic languages), Zens (Iranian languages), Dravindian (Dravidian languages), Neo-Sanskrit (Indo-Aryan languages) | |
| EUROPE | Interlingua (Romance languages), Folksprak (Germanic languages), Interslavic Slavic languages, Balkan (Balkans) | |
| FAR EAST | Dan'a'yo (CJKV), MSEAL (Mainland Southeast Asia), Indo-Malay (Maritime Southeast Asia) | |
