Rangyayo

Rangyayo or Rangyan (琅野語

 /ɾaŋ.ja.jɔ/) is the native language of the Rangyan people and an official language of the Kingdom of Rangya, an island nation in East Asia. It is classified as a language isolate, with proposed ties to the hypothetical Altaic language family. Rangyayo is notable for its mixed-logographic and featural orthography, its agglutinative grammar, and its organic mixture of native and Sinitic vocabulary.

Phonology

Consonants

The following are phonemic transcriptions of Rangyan consonants.

		Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n		ŋ1
Plosive	plain	p b	t d		k g
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ		kʰ
Fricative			s z2			h3
Affricate	plain		ts dz4
	aspirated		tsʰ4
Liquid			ɾ~l5
Approximant		w		j

1. /ŋ/ appears only in the syllable coda.
2. /s, z/ are palatalised [ɕ, ʑ] before /i, j/
3. /h/ is palatalised [ç] before /i, j/; and is bi­la­bialised [ɸ] before /u, w/
4. /ts, dz, tsʰ/ are palatalised [tɕ, dʑ, tɕʰ] before /i, j/
5. /ɾ/ is an alveolar flap [ɾ] in the syllable onset; and is [l] in the syllable coda.

Vowels

Monophthongs

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i1	ʉ	u2
Open-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Open	a

1. /i/ is pronounced /ɪ/ before velar codas /ŋ, k̚/
2. /u/ is /ʊ/ before velar codas /ŋ, k̚/

Diphthongs

In the Rangyan language, because semivowels /j/ and /w/ may follow consonants in initial position in a word, which no other consonant can do, and perhaps due also to yenmun orthography, which transcribes them as vowels, they are sometimes considered to be elements of diphthongs and triphthongs rather than separate consonant phonemes.

j-	w-	-i
ja	wa	aɪ
jɛ	wɛ	eɪ
jɔ		ɔɪ
ju1		uɪ~wi2

1. /ju/ is pronounced /jʊ/ before velar codas /ŋ, k̚/
2. /uɪ/ is a falling diphthong [uɪ] after a consonant in an open syllable; and is a rising diphthong [wi] when it is a syllable of its own or in a closed syllable.

Triphthongs

j-	w-
jaɪ	waɪ
jeɪ	weɪ

Positional allophones

Rangyan consonants have two principal positional allophones: initial and final. The initial form is found at the beginning of a syllable and the final form is found at the end of a syllable.

Phoneme	p	t	k	ɾ
Initial allophone	p	t	k	ɾ
Final allophone	p̚	t̚	k̚	l

All plosives [p, t, k] are unreleased [p̚, t̚, k̚] at the end of a syllable. Final [ɾ] is a liquid [l].

Phonotactics

Rangyan syllable structure is maximally CgVC, where the first C is the initial consonant; g is a semivowel glide /j/ or /w/; V is a vowel; the second C is a coda. Any consonant but /ŋ/ may occur initially, whereas only /m, n, ŋ, p, t, k, s, l/ may occur finally.

Below is the table of all syllable finals (gVC) in Rangyan.

Finals		Codas
		(none)	m	n	ŋ	p	t	k	s	l
Monophthong nuclei	a	a	am	an	aŋ	ap	at	ak	as	al
	ɛ	ɛ	ɛm	ɛn	ɛŋ	ɛp	ɛt	ɛk	ɛs	ɛl
	ɔ	ɔ	ɔm	ɔn	ɔŋ	ɔp	ɔt	ɔk	ɔs	ɔl
	u	u	um	un	ʊŋ	up	ut	ʊk	us	ul
	ʉ	ʉ	ʉm	ʉn	əŋ	ʉp	ʉt	ək	ʉs	ʉl
	i	i	im	in	ɪŋ	ip	it	ɪk	is	il
Diphthong nuclei	ja	ja	jam	jan	jaŋ	jap	jat	jak	jas	jal
	jɛ	jɛ	jɛm	jɛn	jɛŋ	jɛp	jɛt	jɛk	jɛs	jɛl
	jɔ	jɔ	jɔm	jɔn	jɔŋ	jɔp	jɔt	jɔk	jɔs	jɔl
	ju	ju	jum	jun	jʊŋ	jup	jut	jʊk	jus	jul
	wa	wa		wan	waŋ		wat	wak	was	wal
	wɛ	wɛ		wɛn	wɛŋ		wɛt	wɛk	wɛs	wɛl
	wi	wi1	wim	win	wɪŋ	wip	wit	wɪk	wis	wil
	aɪ	aɪ
	eɪ	eɪ
	ɔɪ	ɔɪ
	uɪ	uɪ2
Triphthong nuclei	jaɪ	jaɪ
	jeɪ	jeɪ
	waɪ	waɪ
	weɪ	weɪ

1. pronounced [wi] when it is a syllable of its own or before codas /n, t̚, s, l/; and pronounced [wɪ] before codas /ŋ, k̚/
2. pronounced [uɪ] after an onset in an open syllable.

Additional finals /wam/, /wɛm/, /wap/, /wɛp/ can be found in foreign loanwords.

Vowel harmony

Traditionally, the Rangyan language has had strong vowel harmony; that is, in pre-modern Rangyan, not only did the inflectional and derivational affixes change in accordance to the main root vowel, but native words also adhered to vowel harmony. However, this rule is no longer observed strictly in modern Rangyan. In modern Rangyan, it is only applied in certain cases such as onomatopoeia and interjections.

There are three classes of vowels in Rangyan: positive, negative and neutral. The vowel classes loosely follow the vowel heights. Exchanging positive vowels with negative vowels usually creates different nuances of meaning, with positive vowels sounding fast, hot, dry, hard, solid, focused or aggressive, and negative vowels sounding slow, cold, wet, soft, insubstantial, diffuse or tranquil.

	Monophthongs	Diphthongs	Triphthongs
Positive	a, ɔ	ja, wa, aɪ, jɔ, ɔɪ	jaɪ, waɪ
Negative	ɛ, u	jɛ, wɛ, eɪ, ju, uɪ~wɪ	jeɪ, weɪ
Neutral	i, ʉ

Pitch accent

Rangyan pitch accent can be presented with a two-pitch-level model. In this representation, each syllable is either high (H) or low (L) in pitch.

1. If the accent is on the first syllable, then the first syllable is high-pitched and the others are low: HLL...
2. If the accent is on a syllable other than the first, then the first syllable is low, the following syllables up to and including the accented one are high, and the rest are low: LHLL..., LHHLL..., LHHHLL...
3. If the word does not have an accent, the first syllable is low and the others are high: LHH... This high pitch spreads to unaccented grammatical particles that attach to the end of the word, whereas these would have a low pitch when attached to an accented word.

Examples are given in the table below. The number before each pitch pattern tells you the syllable where the last high pitch is.

Pitch pattern	Sample word		Meaning
(0) LHH...	kigomi	기꼬미	I
(1) HLL...	khophi	코피	coffee
(2) LHLL...	jin'ai	찐애	dust
(3) LHHLL...	asobeda	아소뻐따	he/she/it
(4) LHHHLL...	aneruminun	아너루미눈	you

Grammar

Word classes and phrase classes

Nouns

Rangyan has no grammatical number, gender or articles. Thus, Rangyan nouns are non-inflecting. The noun iku (犬

 /i.ku/) can be translated as "dog", "dogs", "a dog", "the dog", "some dogs" and so forth, depending on context. However, as part of the extensive pair of grammatical systems that Rangyan possesses for honorification and politeness, nouns too can be modified. Nouns take politeness prefix ya- (야

 /ja/) to produce their respectful forms. A few examples are given in the following table.

Plain	Honorific	Meaning
kao (夫  /ka.ɔ/)	ya-kao (야夫  /ja.ka.ɔ/)	husband
nori (名  /nɔ.ɾi/)	ya-nori (야名  /ja.nɔ.ɾi/)	name
bu (目  /bu/)	ya-bu (야目  /ja.bu/)	eye
hiku (毛  /çi.ku/)	ya-hiku (야毛  /ja.çi.ku/)	hair (on body)

Rangyan does not differentiate between count and mass nouns. A small number of nouns have collectives formed by reduplication, for example, oro (人

 /ɔ.ɾɔ/) "person" and orooro (人々

 /ɔ.ɾɔ.ɔ.ɾɔ/) "people". However, reduplication is not productive. Words in Rangyan referring to more than one of something are collectives, not plurals. Orooro, for example, means "a lot of people" or "people in general". It is never used to mean "two people". A phrase like rangya tu orooro (琅野두人々

 /ɾaŋ.ja tu ɔ.ɾɔ.ɔ.ɾɔ/) would be taken to mean "the people of Rangya", or "the population of Rangya", not "two people from Rangya" or even "a few people from Rangya".

Lacking grammatical number, the noun haya (鳥

 /ha.ja/) may refer to a single bird or several birds. Where number is important, it can be indicated by providing a quantity (often with a counter word). For example, both pu ik tu haya (２翼두鳥

 /pu ɪk̚ tu ha.ja/) and haya i ik (鳥二翼

 /ha.ja i ɪk̚/), or simply pu haya (２鳥

 /pu ha.ja/), mean two birds.

Pronouns

First person	Speaker	Speech	Note
khi 我 키	both	plain	often written in yenmun by women
mora 吾	male	plain
kigo 기꼬	both	humble
kigomi 기꼬미	both	humble	the most formal polite version
otto 僕	male	humble
ube 婢 우뻐	female	humble	sometimes written in yenmun for a more feminine feel

Second person	Speaker	Speech	Note
one 尓	both	plain
ebi 汝 어삐	both	plain	female singular you
ane 아너	both	respectful
anemi 아너미	both	very respectful
anerumi 아너루미	both	very respectful	the most formal polite version
soka 君	both	respectful	male singular you
imme 임머 媛	both	respectful	female singular you; often written in yenmun

Third person	Speaker	Speech	Note
hoda 彼	both	plain
oda 오따	male	plain	slang version of hoda used by men; rarely used in written Rangyan
suki 伊 수기	both	plain	she; sometimes written in yenmun for a more feminine feel
aso 아소	both	respectful
asoda 아소따	both	very respectful
asobeda 아소뻐따	both	very respectful	the most formal polite version

Suffixes are added to pronouns to make them collective, for example, kigomi-te (기꼬미더

 /ki.gɔ.mi.tɛ/) "we" and asobeda-nun (아소뻐따눈

 /a.sɔ.bɛ.da.nun/) "they".

Suffix	Speaker	Speech	Note
te 더 等	both	plain humble	added to plain or humble forms of pronouns usually written in yenmun (khite 我더 ); sometimes in hanji if appended to pronouns written in hanji (morate 吾等 ); almost never in hanji for pronouns in yenmun (kigomite 기꼬미더 )
nun 눈 輩	both	respectful	added to respectful forms of pronouns usually in hanji (sokanun 君輩 ) unless appended to pronouns written in yenmun (aneruminun 아너루미눈 )

Reflexive pronouns

Rangyan has three reflexive pronouns jishin, jiki and osu, all meaning "self". However, there are subtle differences in usage among the three reflexive pronouns.

• jishin (自身

 /dʑi.ɕin/) tends to take a local antecedent and is used more often for first person antecedents;

• jiki (自己

 /dʑi.ki/) takes long-distance antecedents much more than local ones;

• osu (己

 /ɔ.su/) is less used than the other two and takes local and long-distance antecedents equally well. The antecedent to which it refers can be inferred by context, which is generally the subject of the sentence.

khi1 wi jishin2 ye kyoterü	我1위自身2여護르。	I1 protect myself2.
hoda1 wi jishin2 ye kyoterü	彼1위自身2여護르。	He1 protects himself2.

The examples below demonstrate the difference in usage between jishin and jiki.

khi1 wi hoda wa jiki tu2 chak ye kinuwei	我1위彼와自己두2冊여予누웨。	I1 gave him my own2 book.
khi wi hoda1 wa jishin tu2 chak ye kinuwei	我위彼1와自身두2冊여予누웨。	I gave him1 his own2 book.
hoda1 wi khi wa jiki tu2 chak ye kinuwei	彼1위我와自己두2冊여予누웨。	He1 gave me his own2 book.
hoda wi khi1 wa jishin tu2 chak ye kinuwei	彼위我1와自身두2冊여予누웨。	He gave me1 my own2 book.

Verbs

Verbs are the most complex lexical category in Rangyan. Their structure when used as the predicate of a clause is verb stem + up to six suffixes, and can be illustrated with this table.

Verb stem	Modality	Polarity	Voice	Aspect	Tense	Honorific
yab- eat	- indicative1	- affirmative	- active	- simple	-ü present	- plain
yon- drink	-iss- causative2	-om- negative	-em- passive	-an- progressive	-uwei past	-ya polite
yer- speak	-ams- deliberative3			-ot- perfective	-ioi future
hakk- laugh	-uk- hortative4
gub- depart	-es- imperative5
gok- go	-us- necessitative6
dott- come	-atts- obligative7
khitj- hunt	-oh- permissive8
khents- kill	-ag- desiderative9
og- sit	-eik- optative10
it- stand	-ich- assumptive11
tsur- buy	-air- dubitative12
tsog- sell	-ints- potential13
gar- arrive	-oir- subjunctive14
hont- fly	-eng- tentative15

1. indicative :
2. causative (-iss-):
3. deliberative (-ams-):
4. hortative (-uk-):
5. imperative (-es-): expresses commands or requests
6. necessitative (-us-):
7. obligative (-atts-):
8. permissive (-oh-):
9. desiderative (-ag-): expresses wishes and desires
10. optative (-eik-): expresses hopes
11. assumptive (-ich-):
12. dubitative (-air-): expresses doubt or uncertainty
13. potential (-ints-): indicates that, in the opinion of the speaker, the action or occurrence is considered likely
14. subjunctive (-oir-):
15. tentative (-eng-):

This is a conjugation table for the verb yabü (食쁘

 /ja.bʉ/) "eat". Honorific and modality are not included to keep the table shorter.

	Verb stem + Conjugation		Meaning
present	yabü	食 쁘	eat
past	yabuwei	食 뿌웨	ate
future	yabioi	食 삐외	will eat
present progressive	yabanü	食 빠느	is eating
past progressive	yabanuwei	食 빠누웨	was eating
future progressive	yabanioi	食 빠니외	will be eating
present perfect	yabotü	食 뽀드	have eaten
past perfect	yabotuwei	食 뽀두웨	had eaten
future perfect	yabotioi	食 뽀디외	will have eaten
passive present	yabemü	食 뻐므	is eaten
passive past	yabemuwei	食 뻐무웨	was eaten
passive future	yabemioi	食 뻐미외	will be eaten
passive present progressive	yabemanü	食 뻐마느	is being eaten
passive past progressive	yabemanuwei	食 뻐마누웨	was being eaten
passive future progressive	yabemanioi	食 뻐마니외	will be being eaten
passive present perfect	yabemotü	食 뻐모드	have been eaten
passive past perfect	yabemotuwei	食 뻐모두웨	had been eaten
passive future perfect	yabemotioi	食 뻐모디외	will have been eaten
negative present	yabomü	食 뽀므	do not eat
negative past	yabomuwei	食 뽀무웨	did not eat
negative future	yabomioi	食 뽀미외	will not eat
negative present progressive	yabomanü	食 뽀마느	is not eating
negative past progressive	yabomanuwei	食 뽀마누웨	was not eating
negative future progressive	yabomanioi	食 뽀마니외	will not be eating
negative present perfect	yabomotü	食 뽀모드	have not eaten
negative past perfect	yabomotuwei	食 뽀모두웨	had not eaten
negative future perfect	yabomotioi	食 뽀모디외	will not have eaten
negative passive present	yabomemü	食 뽀머므	is not eaten
negative passive past	yabomemuwei	食 뽀머무웨	was not eaten
negative passive future	yabomemioi	食 뽀머미외	will not be eaten
negative passive present progressive	yabomemanü	食 뽀머마느	is not being eaten
negative passive past progressive	yabomemanuwei	食 뽀머마누웨	was not being eaten
negative passive future progressive	yabomemanioi	食 뽀머마니외	will not be being eaten
negative passive present perfect	yabomemotü	食 뽀머모드	have not been eaten
negative passive past perfect	yabomemotuwei	食 뽀머모두웨	had not been eaten
negative passive future perfect	yabomemotioi	食 뽀머모디외	will have not been eaten

Compound verbs

Rangyan has many compound verbs, reflecting the agglutinative nature of the language. A Rangyan compound verb is a multi-word compound that acts as a single verb. The main component of the compound is a verb in its conjunctive participial form, which carries most of the semantics of the compound, and determines its arguments. The other component is a vector, which carries any conjugations, indicating tense, mood, or aspect, but provides only fine shades of meaning.

For example, in yuttsubirü (讀주始르

 /jut̚.tsu.bi.ɾʉ/) "start reading", the vector verb birü (始르

 /bi.ɾʉ/) "start" changes according to tense, mood, aspect, and the like, while the main verb yuttsü (讀즈

 /jut̚.tsʉ/) "read" stays in its conjunctive participial form yuttsu (讀주

 /jut̚.tsu/) "reading" and remains unchanged.

Attributive verbs

A Rangyan attributive verb is a verb which modifies (gives the attributes of) a noun as an attributive, rather than expressing an independent idea as a predicate. Unlike English, Rangyan allows regular verbs to be attributive. In Rangyan, predicative verbs come at the end of the clause, after the nouns, while attributive verbs come before the noun. These are equivalent to relative clauses in English as Rangyan does not have relative pronouns like "who", "which", or "when".

Example:

ne oro wi dottuwei (너人위来두웨

 /nɛ ɔ.ɾɔ wi dɔt̚.tu.weɪ/)
"That person came."

ne	oro-wi	dott-uwei
that	person-SBJ	come-PST

ne dottuweit oro wi (너来두웯人위

 /nɛ dɔt̚.tu.weɪt̚ ɔ.ɾɔ wi/)
"That person who came"

ne	dott-uwei-t	oro-wi
that	come-PST-ATTRIB	person-SBJ

Copula

The Rangyan copula rü (르

 /ɾʉ/) is a verb-like word used to link the subject of a sentence with a predicate (a subject complement). Rangyan sentences with rü most often equate one thing with another, that is, they are of the form "A is B".

Example:

khi wi ontso rü (我위兵르

 /kʰi wi ɔn.tsɔ ɾʉ/)
"I am a soldier."

Subject	Predicate
khi-wi	ontso	rü
I-SBJ	soldier	COP

Copula rü can also link predicative adjectives to the noun or pronoun they modify.

Example:

muse wi ha'i rü (雪위白이르

 /musɛ wi ha.i ɾʉ/)
"Snow is white."

Subject	Predicate
muse-wi	ha'i	rü
snow-SBJ	white	COP

Demonstratives

Demonstratives occur in the i-, ne-, and ko- series. The i- (proximal) series refers to things closer to the speaker than the hearer, the ne- (mesial) series for things closer to the hearer, and the ko- (distal) series for things distant to both the speaker and the hearer. With ma-, demonstratives turn into the corresponding interrogative form.

	Proximal (i-)	Mesial (ne-)	Distal (ko-)	Interrog. (ma-)
Adjective	i 이 this	ne 너 that	ko 고 that over there	ma 마 what
Thing (-ko)	iko 이고 this one	neko 너고 that one	koko 고고 that one over there	mako 마고 which one
Person (-we)	iwe 이워 this person	newe 너워 that person	kowe 고워 that person over there	mawe 마워 who
Place (-su)	isu 이수 here	nesu 너수 there	kosu 고수 over there	masu 마수 where
Time (-tsa)	itsa 이자 now	netsa 너자 then	kotsa 고자 at that other time	matsa 마자 when
Quantity (-do)	ido 이또 this many / much	nedo 너또 that many / much	kodo 고또 in that other quantity	mado 마또 how many / much
Manner (-ne)	ine 이너 in this manner	nene 너너 in that manner	kone 고너 in that other manner	mane 마너 how
Kind (-chi)	ichi 이치 like this	nechi 너치 like that	kochi 고치 like that other kind	machi 마치 what kind of
Reason (-ka)				maka 마가 why

Demonstratives limit, and therefore precede, nouns; thus i maro (이石

 /i ma.ɾɔ/) for "this stone", ne maro (너石

 /nɛ ma.ɾɔ/) for "that stone", and ko maro (고石

 /kɔ ma.ɾɔ/) for "that stone over there".

Adjectives

All Rangyan adjectives end in -i, for example, ko'i (大이

 /kɔ.i/) "big" and hyogi (重끼

 /çjɔ.gi/) "heavy". Their syntactic role is to modify a noun or pronoun, giving more information about the noun or referent of pronoun. In Rangyan, adjectives form an open class of words, that is, it is relatively common for new adjectives to be formed via such processes as derivation.

A given occurrence of a Rangyan adjective can generally be classified into one of the two major kinds of uses:

• Attributive adjectives are part of the noun phrase headed by the noun they modify, for example, ko'i is an attributive adjective in ko'i haku (大이牛

 /kɔ.i ha.ku/) "big cow". Since Rangyan is a head-final language, attributive adjectives always precede their nouns.

• Predicative adjectives are linked via a copula to the noun or pronoun they modify, for example, ko'i is a predicate adjective in haku wi ko'i rü (牛위大이르

 /ha.ku wi kɔ.i ɾʉ/) "cow is big".

Adjective order

In Rangyan language, attributive adjectives usually occur in this default order, with other orders being permissible:

1. demonstrative
2. intensifier (adverb of degree)
3. opinion
4. size
5. age
6. shape
7. colour
8. proper adjective (e.g. nationality, origin, material)
9. noun adjunct (noun used as adjective)
10. head noun

Example:

i wa'i nitsi gani haya (이良이小지赤니鳥

 /i wa.i ni.tsi ga.ni ha.ja/)
"this good small red bird"

Dem.	Intensifier	Opinion	Size	Age	Shape	Colour	Proper adj.	Noun adjunct	Head noun
i this		wa'i good	nitsi small			gani red			haya bird

Comparative

Rangyan adjectives, unlike their English counterparts, do not have a comparative form. To compare two things (NP1 and NP2), the noun phrase being compared (NP2), together with the postpositional comparative particle pe, are placed between the subject noun phrase (NP1) and the predicative adjective in a sentence ended with a copula.

Example:

ne iku wi i haya pe ko'i rü (너犬위이鳥버大이르

 /nɛ i.ku wi i ha.ja pɛ kɔ.i ɾʉ/)
"That dog is bigger than this bird."

NP1		NP2		Predicate
ne	iku-wi	i	haya-pe	ko'i	rü
that	dog-SBJ	this	bird-COMP	big	COP

Superlative

Rangyan adjectives also lack a superlative form. The adverb tsum (줌

 /tsum/) "most" is placed before adjectives for superlative degree of comparison.

Example:

ne iku wi tsum ko'i rü (너犬위줌大이르

 /nɛ i.ku wi tsum kɔ.i ɾʉ/)
"That dog is the biggest."

ne	iku-wi	tsum	ko'i	rü
that	dog-SBJ	most	big	COP

Adverbs

An adverb is any word that modifies verbs, adjectives, clauses, sentences and other adverbs. Not all but many Rangyan adverbs are formed by adding -m to adjectives. For example, nepi (怒비

 /nɛ.pi/; "angry") yields nepim (怒빔

 /ne.pim/; "angrily") and wa'i (良이

 /wa.i/; "good") yields wa'im (良임

 /wa.im/ "well"). This derivation is quite productive but there are a few adjectives from which adverbs may not be derived.

Particles

Particles in Rangyan are postpositional, as they immediately follow the modified component.

Case markers

Particle	Function
wi 위	nominative case; subject
wei 웨	additive case; inclusive subject
ye 여	accusative case; direct object
wa 와	dative case; indirect object
tu 두	genitive case; possession
yo 요	instrumental case; by means of
ti 디	locative case; location
hi 히	allative case; direction
yu 유	ablative case; from
to 도	up to; until; as far as; indicates a time or place as a limit
pe 버	comparative

Other particles

Particle	Function
ta 다	conjunction; and
tai 대	moreover; and
wai 왜	for
tsoi 죄	as
kwe 궈	concerning; about
ton 돈	when
ten 던	although
gwa 꽈	but; however
yai 얘	because
khui 퀴	thanks to
mo 모	interrogation; question
ho 호	tag question; asks agreement or confirmation
re 러	emphasis; certainty
yei 예	indirect speech; reported speech

Sound symbolic words

Sound symbolic words or mimetic words occur more often in Rangyan than in English. They are found in formal as well as vernacular language.

These words cannot all be considered onomatopoeia. Many mimetic words in Rangyan are for things that do not make any noise originally.

Mimetic words can be classified into three main categories:

• Phonomime or onomatopoeia (isengzhi 擬声詞

or iimzhi 擬音詞

): words that mimic actual sounds; isengzhi refers to sounds made by living things, while iimzhi refers to sounds made by inanimate objects;

• Phenomime (ithaizhi 擬態詞

): mimetic words to represent non-auditory senses;

• Psychomime (ijengzhi 擬情詞

): mimetic words that represent psychological states or bodily feelings.

In Rangyan grammar, sound symbolic words function as adverbs, and most of them can be applied to only a handful of verbs or adjectives (heads).

Examples:

Mimetic word	Head	Meaning
puppup 붑붑	nü 느 "do"	beat fast with a throbbing heart
khingringkhangrang 킹링캉랑	nü 느 "do"	make clinking sounds; cling-clang
tingringtongrong 딩링동롱	nü 느 "do"	make tinkling sounds; jingle-jangle
piripara 비리바라	yerü 言르 "talk"	chatter away; rattle on; talk endlessly
kirikuru 기리구루	yerü 言르 "talk"	talk in an indistinct manner

Numerals

The system of Rangyan numerals is the system of number names used in the Rangyan language. The Rangyan numerals in writing are entirely based on the Chinese numerals and the grouping of large numbers follow the Chinese tradition of grouping by myriads (10000) rather than thousands (1000). Two sets of pronunciations for the numerals exist in Rangyan: one is based on Sino-Rangyan readings of the Chinese characters and the other is based on the native Rangyan readings.

The distinction between the two sets of numerals is very important. Everything that can be counted will use one of the two sets, but seldom both. For example, the native Rangyan numerals are used for the hours while the Sino-Rangyan numerals are used to denote the minute of time, therefore, jopu-zhi uzhipruk-pun (１２時５６分 ) means "12:56". The native Rangyan numerals are also used for the five-minute interval of time khük (刻

 /kʰək̚/), therefore, he-zhi me-khük (８時１刻

) means "8:05" while he-zhi cho-khük (８時３刻 ) means "8:15".

When denoting the age of a person, one will use yumpi (歳

 /jum.pi/) for the native Rangyan numerals, and sei (歳

 /seɪ/) for Sino-Rangyan. For example, chojohe yumpi (３８歳

) and samzhippat sei (三十八歳 ) both mean "thirty-eight years old".

Basic numbering

There are two ways of writing the numbers in Rangyan, in Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3) or in Chinese numerals (一, 二, 三). The Arabic numerals are more often used in horizontal writing, and the Chinese numerals are more common in vertical writing.

Number	Character	Native Rangyan	Sino-Rangyan
0	零 / 〇	moi	reng
1	一	me	it
2	二	pu	i
3	三	cho	sam
4	四	ke	shi
5	五	tha	u
6	六	che	ruk
7	七	ju	chit
8	八	he	pat
9	九	kon	kyu
10	十	jo	zhip
100	百	sottso	pak
1000	千	hattso	chen
10000	万	mittso	men

The number 4 is considered unlucky in Rangyan, as 4, pronounced shi in Sino-Rangyan, is a homophone for death (死 ). The number 13 is sometimes considered unlucky, though this is a carryover from Western tradition.

In large numbers, elements are combined from largest to smallest, and zeros are implied.

Number	Writing	Native Rangyan	Sino-Rangyan
11	十一	jo me	zhip it
17	十七	jo ju	zhip chit
151	百五十一	sottso tha-jo me	pak u-zhip it
302	三百二	cho-sottso pu	sam-pak i
469	四百六十九	ke-sottso che-jo kon	shi-pak ruk-zhip kyu
2025	二千二十五	pu-hattso pu-jo tha	i-chen i-zhip u

Decimal fractions

Rangyan has a traditional system of numerals for decimal fractions.

Number	Character	Native Rangyan	Sino-Rangyan
10-1 (0.1)	分	hittsi	pun
10-2 (0.01)	厘	wi'tsi	ri

This system, however, is not often seen in modern usage except for representing decimal fractions of rate or discount. For example, cho-pun tha-ri heirün (三分五厘減른 ) "35% discount". Instead, decimal fractions are typically written with either Chinese numerals (in vertical writing) or Arabic numerals (in horizontal writing), preceded by a decimal point, and are read as successive digits, as in Western convention. Note that, in written form, they can be combined with either the traditional system of expressing numerals (42.195 四十二・一九五), in which powers of ten are written, or with the place value system, which uses zero (50.04 五〇・〇四). In both cases, however, the reading follows the traditional system (kejopu tem me kon tha for 42.195; thajo tem moi ke for 50.04).

Fractional values

To construct a fraction, the denominator is written first, followed by pun tu (分두 ) "parts of" and then the numerator. This is the opposite of how fractions are read in English, which is numerator first. Each half of the fraction is written the same as a whole number. Mixed numbers are written with the whole-number part first, followed by ta (다

 /ta/) "and", then the fractional part.

Fraction	Writing	Reading
2/3	三分두二	cho-pun tu pu
3 5/6	三다六分두五	cho ta che-pun tu tha

Ordinal numbers

Ordinal numbers are formed by adding tai (第

 /taɪ/) "sequence" before Sino-Rangyan numerals and by adding hin (힌

 /çin/) after native Rangyan numerals.

Ordinal	Native Rangyan		Sino-Rangyan
	Writing	Reading	Writing	Reading
1st	一힌	me-hin	第一	tai-it
2nd	二힌	pu-hin	第二	tai-i

Negative numbers

Negative numbers are formed by adding byu (負

 /bju/) "negative" before the number.

Formal numbers

As with Chinese numerals, there exists in Rangyan a separate set of hanji for numerals called daishyuji (大数字

 /daɪ.ɕju.dʑi/) used in legal and financial documents to prevent unscrupulous individuals from adding a stroke or two, turning a one into a two or a three. The formal numbers are identical to the Chinese formal numbers except for minor stroke variations. In some cases, the digit 1 is explicitly written like 壱佰壱拾

for 110, as opposed to 百十
in common writing.

Number	Common	Formal
		In use	Obsolete
1	一	壱	壹
2	二	弐	貳
3	三	叁	叄
4	四	䦉	肆
5	五	伍
6	六	陸
7	七	柒
8	八	捌
9	九	玖
10	十	拾
100	百	佰
1000	千	仟
10000	万	萬

Counter words

In Rangyan, counter words can be used along with numbers to count things, actions, and events.

Unlike Japanese, Korean and Chinese, Rangyan numerals, if possible, can quantify nouns without counter words. Therefore to express the idea "two birds" in Rangyan one can either say pu ik tu haya ２翼두鳥

(lit. "two wing's bird"), haya i ik 鳥二翼
(lit. "bird two wing") or simply pu haya ２鳥
("two bird"). Notice that native Rangyan number is used if the number comes before the head noun, while Sino-Rangyan number comes after the head noun. And here haya 鳥
means "bird", pu / i 二
is the number 2, and ik 翼
is the counter for birds. These counters are not independent words and always appear with a number (or question word) before them. If the number is unknown, a question word is used, most often ma 마

, as in mameng 마名

"how many guests?", or maya 마夜
"how many nights?".

This is a selective list of some of the more commonly used counter words.

Writing	Reading	Usage
个	ka	general measure word, used when there is no specific counter
人	in	people
名	meng	polite counter word for people (lit. means "name")
巻	kwen	books
面	men	mirrors, boards for board games
杯	pai	cups and glasses of drink

Sentence and clause patterns

Clause constructions

Relative clause

Rangyan does not employ relative pronouns to relate relative clauses to their antecedents. Instead, the relative clause directly modifies the noun phrase as an attributive verb, occupying the same syntactic space as an attributive adjective (before the noun phrase).

Example:

aso wi ne dottuweit oro ye bumuwei (아소위너来두웯人여見무웨

 /a.sɔ wi nɛ dɔt̚.tu.weɪt̚ ɔ.ɾɔ jɛ bu.mu.weɪ/)
"He saw that person who came."

aso-wi	ne	dott-uwei-t	oro-ye	bum-uwei
he-SBJ	that	come-PST-ATTRIB	person-OBJ	see-PST

Speech constructions

Direct speech

Direct speech is a sentence (or several sentences) that reports speech or thought in its original form, as phrased by the first speaker. In Rangyan, it is enclosed in quotation marks. The cited speaker is either mentioned or implied.

khi wi ajaboti ye yabanü aso wi yeruwei (「我위朝膳여食빠느。」아소위言루웨

 /kʰi wi a.dza.bɔ.ti jɛ ja.ba.nʉ a.sɔ wi jɛ.ɾu.weɪ/)
" 'I am eating breakfast,' he said."

Direct speech statement
khi-wi	ajaboti-ye	yab-an-ü	aso-wi	yer-uwei
I-SBJ	breakfast-OBJ	eat-PROG-PRS	he-SBJ	say-PST

Indirect speech

In Rangyan, indirect speech is not enclosed in quotation marks, and does not phrase the reported statement or question the way the original speaker did; instead, person is changed when the person speaking and the person quoting the speech are different.

aso wi ajaboti ye yabanü yei aso wi yeruwei (아소위朝膳여食빠느예아소위言루웨

 /a.sɔ wi a.dza.bɔ.ti jɛ ja.ba.nʉ jeɪ a.sɔ wi jɛ.ɾu.weɪ/)
"He said that he is* eating breakfast."

Indirect speech statement			Particle
aso-wi	ajaboti-ye	yab-an-ü	yei	aso-wi	yer-uwei
he-SBJ	breakfast-OBJ	eat-PROG-PRS		he-SBJ	say-PST

Writing system

The modern Rangyan writing system uses two main scripts:

• Hanji (漢字

 /han.dʑi/), ideographs from Chinese characters, and

• Yenmun (諺文

 연문

 /jɛn.mun/), a Korean phonemic alphabet organised into syllabic blocks that make up words.

To a lesser extent, modern written Rangyan also uses the Latin alphabet. Examples include abbreviations such as "CD" and "DVD".

Romanised Rangyan, called romaji (로마字

 /ɾɔ.ma.dʑi/), is frequently used by foreign students of Rangyan, who have not yet mastered the two main scripts, and by native speakers for computer input.

Yenmun

Yenmun is a phonemic alphabet organized into syllabic blocks. Each block consists of at least two of the 24 yenmun letters (jimu), with at least one each of the 14 consonants and 10 vowels. These syllabic blocks can be written horizontally from left to right as well as vertically from top to bottom in columns from right to left. Originally, the alphabet had several additional letters for pre-modern Korean, however, these letters have never been used in Rangyan.

Jimu

Jimu (字母

 찌무

 /dʑi.mu/) are the units that make up the yenmun alphabet. Ji means letter or character, and mo means mother, so the name suggests that the jimu are the building-blocks of the script.

There are 39 jimu, of which 24 are equivalent to letters of the Latin alphabet. The other 15 jimu are clusters of two or sometimes three of these letters. Of the 24 simple jimu, 14 are consonants (tsiim; 子音

 /tɕi.im/; "child sounds") and 10 are vowels (muim; 母音

 /mu.im/; "mother sounds"). 5 of the simple consonant letters are doubled to form the five voiced consonants (see below). The 10 basic vowel jimu can be combined to form 10 more complex ones. Here is a summary

• 14 simple consonant letters: ㄱ, ㅋ, ㅇ, ㄷ, ㅌ, ㄴ, ㅂ, ㅍ, ㅁ, ㅈ, ㅊ, ㅅ, ㅎ, ㄹ
• 5 double letters (voiced): ㄲ, ㄸ, ㅃ, ㅉ, ㅆ
• 6 simple vowel letters: ㅏ, ㅓ, ㅗ, ㅜ, ㅡ, ㅣ
• 4 simple iotized vowel letters (semi consonant-semi vowel): ㅑ, ㅕ, ㅛ, ㅠ
• 10 compound letters: ㅐ, ㅒ, ㅔ, ㅖ, ㅘ, ㅙ, ㅚ, ㅝ, ㅞ, ㅟ

Four of the simple vowel jimu are derived by means of a short stroke to signify iotation (a preceding i sound): ㅑ /ja/, ㅕ /jɛ/, ㅛ /jɔ/, and ㅠ /ju/. These four are counted as part of the 24 simple jimu because the iotating stroke taken out of context does not represent /j/. In fact, there is no separate jimu for /j/.

Of the simple consonants, ㅋ, ㅌ, ㅍ, and ㅊ are aspirated derivatives of ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ, and ㅈ, respectively, formed by combining the unaspirated letters with an extra stroke.

The doubled letters are ㄲ, ㄸ, ㅃ, ㅉ, ㅆ. Double jimu do not represent geminate consonants, but rather a voiced phonation.

Jimu order

The alphabetical order of yenmun does not mix consonants and vowels as Western alphabets do. Rather, the order is that of the Indic type, first velar consonants, then coronals, labials, sibilants, etc. However, the vowels come after the consonants rather than before them as in the Indic systems.

Historical order

The consonantal order of yenmun in 1446 in the document titled Funmintsengim (訓民正音

 /ɸun.min.tsɛŋ.im/) "The Proper Sounds for the Instruction of the People" was,

ㄱ ㅋ ㆁ ㄷ ㅌ ㄴ ㅂ ㅍ ㅁ ㅈ ㅊ ㅅ ㆆ ㅎ ㅇ ㄹ ㅿ

and the order of vowels was,

ㆍ ㅡ ㅣ ㅗ ㅏ ㅜ ㅓ ㅛ ㅑ ㅠ ㅕ

Modern Rangyan order

In the Rangyan order, double jimu are placed immediately after their single counterparts. No distinction is made between silent and nasal ㅇ:

ㄱ ㄲ ㅋ ㅇ ㄷ ㄸ ㅌ ㄴ ㅂ ㅃ ㅍ ㅁ ㅈ ㅉ ㅊ ㅅ ㅆ ㅎ ㄹ
ㅏ ㅐ ㅑ ㅒ ㅓ ㅔ ㅕ ㅖ ㅗ ㅘ ㅙ ㅚ ㅛ ㅜ ㅝ ㅞ ㅟ ㅠ ㅡ ㅣ

The modern monophthongal vowels come first, with the derived forms interspersed according to their form: first added i, then iotized, then iotized with added i. Diphthongs and triphthongs beginning with w are ordered according to their spelling, as ㅏ or ㅓ plus a second vowel, not as separate digraphs.

The order of the final jimu is,

(null) ㄱ ㅇ ㄷ ㄴ ㅂ ㅁ ㅅ ㄹ

"Null" stands for no final jimu.

Romanisation

There are a number of methods of rendering Rangyan in Roman letters. The Mackenzie method of romanisation makkhenzhi-sik romaji (막컨씨式로마字

 /mak̚.kʰɛn.ʑi.sɪk̚ ɾɔ.ma.dʑi/), designed for English speakers, is a de facto standard widely used inside and outside Rangya.

Onset	ㄱ	ㄲ	ㅋ	ㅇ	ㄷ	ㄸ	ㅌ	ㄴ	ㅂ	ㅃ	ㅍ	ㅁ	ㅈ	ㅉ	ㅊ	ㅅ	ㅆ	ㅎ	ㄹ
Mackenzie	k	g	kh	(null)	t	d	th	n	p	b	ph	m	ts	j	ch	s, sh	z, zh	h, f	r
IPA	k	g	kʰ	(null)	t	d	tʰ	n	p	b	pʰ	m	ts~tɕ	dz~dʑ	tsʰ~tɕʰ	s~ɕ	z~ʑ	h~ç~ɸ	ɾ

Nucleus	ㅏ	ㅐ	ㅑ	ㅒ	ㅓ	ㅔ	ㅕ	ㅖ	ㅗ	ㅘ	ㅙ	ㅚ	ㅛ	ㅜ	ㅝ	ㅞ	ㅟ	ㅠ	ㅡ	ㅣ
Mackenzie	a	ai	ya	yai	e	ei	ye	yei	o	wa	wai	oi	yo	u	we	wei	ui, wi	yu	ü	i
IPA	a	aɪ	ja	jaɪ	ɛ	eɪ	jɛ	jeɪ	ɔ	wa	waɪ	ɔɪ	jɔ	u~ʊ	wɛ	weɪ	uɪ~wi	ju~jʊ	ʉ	i~ɪ

Coda	ㄱ	ㅇ	ㄷ	ㄴ	ㅂ	ㅁ	ㅅ	ㄹ
Mackenzie	k	ng	t	n	p	m	s	l
IPA	k̚	ŋ	t̚	n	p̚	m	s	l

Other

Example texts

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 1)

"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights."
全끼人위生믄時유自由요스대尊厳다権利궈平等요스。
mogi oro wi bomün kotsan yu jiyu yo sü tai tsonyem ta gwenri kwe bengtüng yo sü.

mogi	oro-wi	bomü-n	kotsan-yu	jiyu-yo	sü	tai	tsonyem-ta	gwenri-kwe	bengtüng-yo	sü
all	mankind-SBJ	birth-NMLZ	time-from	freedom-INS	COP	CNJ	dignity-and	right-about	equality-INS	COP

"They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."
人위理性다良心여天賦임授뻐모드대同胞두精神요互삠行動누스。
oro wi riseng ta rangshim ye thenpyuim kibemotü tai dungpo tu tsengjin yo mobim hangdungnusü.

oro-wi	riseng-ta	rangshim-ye	thenpyu-im	kib-em-ot-ü	tai	dungpo-tu	tsengjin-yo	mobim	hangdung-n-us-ü
mankind-SBJ	rationality-and	conscience-OBJ	innately	confer-PASS-PFV-PRS	CNJ	compatriot-GEN	spirit-INS	mutually	act-do-NECESSITATIVE-PRS

Featured banner

"This language was once featured."
이語言위굼紹介너무웨야。
i yoyen wi kum zhyokainemuweiya

i	yoyen-wi	kum	zhyokai-n-em-uwei-ya
this	language-SBJ	once	introduction-do-PASS-PST-HON

"Thanks to its level of quality, plausibility and usage capabilities, it has been voted as featured."
品質다可信性다可用性두水平퀴、이고위特色죄選저모드야。
phimtsit ta khashinseng ta khayongseng tu suibeng khui, iko wi düksik tsoi ritsemotüya.

phimtsit	ta	khashinseng	ta	khayongseng	tu	suibeng	khui
quality	and	plausibility (lit. creditability)	and	usage capabilities (lit. usability)	of	level	thanks to

iko-wi	düksik	tsoi	rits-em-ot-ü-ya
this one-SBJ	feature	as	vote-PASS-PFV-PRS-HON

The Tower of Babel (Genesis 11: 1-9)

1. Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.
   고時、全끼人위同미語言여言라누웨야。

kokotsan, mogi oro wi bomi yoyen ye yeranuweiya.
"At that time, all mankind was speaking the same language."

1. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
   人々위東方유移누웨돈、시날두地디平野여覓뿌出두웨대고수디居루定무웨야

。
orooro wi tungpang yu thinnuwei ton, shinal tu gada ti bengya ye kabuuttuwei tai kosu ti jorujimuweiya.
"When people moved from the east, (they) found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there."

1. And they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly." And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar.
2. Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth."
3. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built.
4. And the Lord said, "Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.
5. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech."
6. So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.
7. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.

See also

• Rangyayo/Word_List
• Rangyayo/Sample/Quickchat

External links

• Rangyayo audio sample 01 on Youtube
• Rangyayo audio sample 02 on Youtube
• Rangyayo featured in Conlangery #05: Scripts and Writing on Conlangery Podcast
• Discussion of Rangyayo on Zompist bboard
• Discussion of Rangyayo on Polish Conlanger forum
• Online Rangyayo Input Method