Round Robin Conlang
The round robin conlang is a collaborative conlanging game in progress, begun and overseen by Pete Bleackley (here). To quote the rules:
Each person in turn [...] creates one new rule and one new root, plus some examples to show the consequences, and passes it on to the next person on the list. When it gets back to me, we start another loop, and keep going for as long as we feel necessary.
The grammar presented here is from the end of round 1.
Game organisation
The current turn order is
- Pete Bleackley
- Matthew Turnbull
- Daniel Demski
- Gary Shannon
- John Vertical
- Alex Fink
- Patrick Dunn
- Vincent Pistelli
- Mechthild Czapp
- Brett Williams
- Alex Bicksler
and back to Pete Bleackley to complete the round.
Grammar
1) Roots are CVC and verbal in meaning
2) Verbal 1st person is indicated by derivational suffix [-af] which triggers spirant lenition. Ex. bivaf - I ask, tiɣaf - I speak, tsʼuð˜af - I die.
3a) Dual verbal number is indicated by the particle [i.ɔ] at the end of the clause.
b) Plural verbal number is indicated by reduplicating the VC of the verbal root, copying any lenition. When [iɔ] cooccurs with this it has distributive rather than dual force. Eg. kʼéχéχaf - we (all) come (together), kʼéχéχaf iɔ - we (all) come one at a time.
4) Simple past is marked by the particle "ha" before the verb. Ex. ha bivaf iɔ - We two asked.
5) A prefix [í-] derives agents (also, it seems, some experiencers/undergoers from intransitiv roots). Note this being mark'd for high tone - default tone is not indicated. This also does not trigger spirantization. Eg. [ítig] "speaker", [ítsʼun] "mortal", [íkʼeb] "man"
6) The intensive of the verbal root is formed by suffixing -aq, which triggers gemination of the previous consonant. Eg. [bib] "to ask" [bibbaq] "to interrogate"; [tig] "to speak" [tiggaq] "to give a speech."
7) Verbal 2nd person is marked by the suffix -es, which changes the stem analogue to the 1st person. Frex: ha bives: you asked, vijes: you create (if I understood rule 1 correctly)
8) I thought I'd gently dip our toes in some larger structure, with conjunctions that go between phrases, for instance "vigi" meaning "because", that is that the first clause is implied, caused or motivated by the second: "tiggaχes vigi ha bivaf" -- You give a speech because I asked. "ha boivaf iɔ vigi kʼeves" -- We two tried because you're a man. "tsʼununnaχes iɔ vigi ha kʼéχéχes" -- You each die a terrible death because you all came.
Vocab
offset entries are derivations from the root above them
Roots
- bib - ask
- bibbaq - to interrogate
- bimb - question
- boib - try
- boimb - an attempt
- betsʼ - be_a_grain (like sand)
- betsʼaq - be_a_powder (like flour)
- íbetsʼ - sand
- kat - shoot
- kant - arrow
- kʼéq - come
- tig - speak
- tiggaq - to give a speech
- tiŋg - word
- tsʼun - die
- tsʼunnaq - to die a terrible, torturous death
- vet – see
- vent - sight
- k'eb – be male
- vij - create
- viñj - artefact
- nuk - be female
Particles
- ha - simple past
- iɔ - two, dual; distributive
Conjunctions
- vigi - because
