Novbasa
Ardlang (/aɾd.laŋg/) is a constructed worldlang created by Elia Ansaloni in 2013. Its main features are a regular phonetic inventory, a strict Subject-Verb-Object sentence order and a vocabulary that aims to defy Eurocentrism without renouncing to widely known translations. While its main inspiration is Lingwa de Planeta, Ardlang has some traits in common with Sambahsa, like the use of proto-languages and a rather wide vocabulary base.
The main linguistic influences of Ardlang are Indo-European languages, Mandarin Chinese (from which most of the isolating grammar is derived) and Arabic, but its a posteriori vocabulary is built considering many other languages, including Austronesian languages, Altaic languages, Swahili, Basque and Nahuatl. This approach is remarked by Ardlang's motto Ab hol dunya, pro hol dunya (From the whole world, for the whole world).
As of 2014, no dictionary of Ardlang has been released, but some translations and lexicon are available on the Unilang forum and on Tumblr.
Phonology and Orthography
Alphabet
| Latin | a | b | c | ch | d | e | f | g | h | i | j | k | kh | l | m | n | o | p | qu | r | s | sh | t | u | v | w | x | y | z |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IPA | a | b | ʦ/ʣ | ʧ | d | е/ɛ | f | g | h | i | ʒ/ʤ | k | x | l | m | n/ŋ | о/ɔ | p | kw | ɾ/r | s | ʃ | t | u | v | w | ks | j | z |
Pronunciation
Some letters can be pronounced in two different ways in order to make the pronunciation easier to the majority of speakers. For example, a Russian or a French speaker would find more natural to pronunce j as /ʒ/, while an English or an Hindi one would rather choose /ʤ/. Both are equally valid and mutually interchangeable. It should be noticed that ng is always pronounced as /ŋg/ and not as /ŋ/ (as it would be in English or Indonesian). N is pronunced as /ŋ/ before velar plosives.
The stress is always on the penultimate syllable.
In the diphtongs ao and eo, "o" is considered a semivowel and the accent never falls on it.
Diphtongs au and eu are always pronounced as /aw/ and /ew/ respectively, while ia, ie, io and iu are pronounced as /ja/, /je/, /jo/ and /ju/ only when they are not part of the first syllable.
There cannot be three wovels together. So, for example, awal ("soon"), could not be written as aual. This also mean that a verb like baw ("to build") cannot be written as bau because it would eventually lead to bauer instead of the correct term bawer ("builder").
Morphology
Generally, the only way to identify a word as a noun, adjective or verb is the context and the position in the phrase. For example, tuk may stand for "poison", "poisonous" or "to poison". However, a name can be identified by the presence of an article.
Articles
There are two determinative articles: al (singular) and li (plural). There is only one indeterminative article: un, which is only singular. Articles are required when it's necessary to clear the status of a noun as singular or plural, or when the noun can't be immediately identified in the phrase.
Nouns
Nouns in Ardlang do not change for number or case. Some nouns have a masculine and a feminine form that can be obtained by adding o or a to the root.
- bin - son or daughter (gender not specified)
- bino - son
- bina - daughter
However, a noun ending in o or a doesn't necessarily have a specified gender.
- kiba - fang
- feno - appearance
Few nouns have two different versions.
- patro/matra - father/mother
- bratro/sestra - brother/sister
Adjectives
Adjectives always precede the noun they're related to.
- un hwan dom - a yellow house
- al shao kal kat - the small black cat
Adverbs
Adverbs may be identified by adding -di to an adjective.
- garm (warm) → garm-di (warmly)
The particle is pronunced separately from the root, whose pronunciation is left unchanged.
Personal pronouns
| Ardlang | English |
|---|---|
| me | I |
| tu | you |
| hu/ta/he | he/she/it |
| na | we |
| vo | you |
| ze | they |
Possessive adjectives and pronouns are formed by adding y to the personal pronouns.
| Ardlang | English |
|---|---|
| mey | I, mine |
| tuy | your, yours |
| huy/tay/hey | his/her, hers/its |
| nay | our, ours |
| voy | your, yours |
| zey | their, theirs |
Verbs
Much like in English, verbs in Ardlang change only for mood and tense but not for number and person. Apart from es ("to be"), all verbs are regular. The subject must always be expressed. If the verb ends with a consonant, "a", "o", or "u", the suffixes are simply attached to it. If the verbs ends in "e" or "i", the last vowel must be taken off before adding the suffixes.
| Tense | Ardlang | English |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | baw | to build |
| Present | me baw | I build |
| Past | me bawed | I built |
| Future | me sa baw | I will build |
| Near future | me va baw | I am going to build |
| Conditional | me bi baw | I would build |
| Past conditional | me bi bawed | I would have built |
| Imperative | (ba) baw | build! |
| Present Participle | bawint | building |
| Past Participle | bawit | built |
The particle le can be used to mark the perfective aspect of the past tense. The reflexive is formed by adding se- before the verb and after eventual particles. The passive is formed by coupling the verb es with the past participle of the verb.
Es ("be")
Es ("to be") is the only irregular verb.
| Tense | Ardlang | English |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | es | to be |
| Present | me es | I am |
| Past | me fu | I was |
| Future | me bu | I will be |
| Near future | me va es | I am going to be |
| Conditional | me bi es | I would be |
| Past conditional | me bi fu | I would have been |
| Imperative | (ba) es | be! |
| Present Participle | esint | being |
| Past Participle | bi | been |
