Names and Introductions

 Just copying a reddit post here to preserve it. I really need to do better about differentiating the dialects, though I guess these prompts didn't really give much room to showcase some of the more unique features.

For Toúījāb Kīkxot:

Ustū ūíick Kōzurīkkab ūmpa ūwiny līúan íāpī. Ustū pmīfuzō ocāk nphuvatū īn rxību. Ūtiúj toúījāb kīkxot

[ʊstu: ʔu:jɪts ko:tʃʊri:kǝ vu:mpǝ u:ɹɪn li:wǝn jɑ:fi: ʊstu:p mi:ħʊtʃ ōtsɑ:k ŋəp'ʊʕǝθu: wi:n rǝʃi:vʊ u:θi:dz dɔwi:dzɑ:b ki:kʃɔt]

Ustū ūíick     Kōzur-īkkab ūmpa   ūwiny     līúan  íāpī. Ustū pmīfu  -zō ocāk   nphuva-tū   īn  rxību.  Ūtiúj toúīj   -āb  kīkxo-t
1S.N have_name bird -shine and.SS have_year twenty four. 1S.N spearer-M  and.DS caste -1S.N DEF hunter. speak language-CMP god  -CMP.

"My name is Kōzurīkkab and I am 24. I am a spearman of the hunter clan. I speak Toúījāb Kīkxot"

Key thing that isn't clear from the translation is that being a spearman in the hunter clan is very low status (relative to other hunters and to other soldiers) because it's technically working out of caste. I used neutral pronouns here.

This is a fun little prompt, I might do more when I get home tonight (in other languages and in dialects).

e:

The above was the standard dialect, but let's meet someone from the coast [the next few are close enough grammatically that I'm not going to gloss unless asked].

Stū ūíezk Xōwokpot ūmp ūwen līúan rāv. Baberm xīpltū qal lōbop dagnatmā. Īw ūpegd ges xīpltū úethl nphavmā. Ūteúj túījāb kīkxat

[stu: ʔu:jɛtʃ kʃo:ɹɔkpɔt u:m pu:ɹɛn li:wǝn ra:ʕ bǝbɛrm ʃi:pl̩tu: ɢǝl lo:bop dǝgnǝtma: i: ɹu:pɛgd gɛs ʃi:pl̩tu: wɛtˤɫ nǝpˤǝʕma: u:tɛwdʒ dwi:dʒa:b ki:kʃǝt]

"My name is Xōwokpot and I am 35 years old. I help my husband in his shop. We are rich but my husband complains about his clan. I (we) speak Toúījāb Kīkxot"

---

Up near the mountains, we meet a young boy.

Yån uíeck Win umpa uwen xayu. Wawibuth kobuk gundåy dichhåhån. Saxo monak lepha usapåpúågad ages lepha usapåkúobuk. Yån utejetúåúijåb kikxåt tíåúijåb viggå kmurutxíub

[hɑn ujets kɹin umpǝ uɹen ʃǝhu ɹǝɹivut' kovu gundɑh dits'ɑʔɑn sǝʃo monǝk lep'ǝ usǝfɑpwɑɣǝ ðǝɣes lep'ǝ usǝfɑkwovuk hɑn uθedzetwɑwidzɑb kikʃɑ tjɑwidzɑb ʕigɑ kŋurutɕub]

"My name is Win and I am 11 years old. I watch sheep with my brothers. We don't have much money but we have lots of sheep. I speak Toúījāb Kīkxot and I speak the Mountain People's language (Toúījāb Vīggo Kmūrit) too"

Asking him to say the same thing but in Toúījāb Vīggo Kmūrit/ Towwu pũ saho

Rĩ ãnã hã pũ yiko. Hã pũ rãnã sahu. Hã võ hã pũ viukka e xa’u mõ feode ũppõ. Saho pũ paga issẽ age saho pũ xa’u reinõ. Hã go towisa kiso võ towwu pũ saho bilau towwu

[ɾĩ ʔɑ̃nɑ̃ hɑ̃ pũ jiko hɑ̃ pũ ɾɑ̃nɑ̃ sɑhu hɑ̃ xʷõ hɑ̃ pũ xʷiuk:ɑ ʔe xɑʔu mõ ɸeode ʔũp:õ sɑho pũ pɑgɑ ʔis:ẽ ʔɑge sɑho pũ xɑʔu ɾeinõ hɑ̃ go towisɑ kiso xʷõ tow:u pũ sɑho bilaw tow:u]

Rĩ  ãnã hã pũ  yiko. Hã pũ  rãnã sahu. Hã võ  hã pũ  viukka        e      xa’u  mõ  feode ũppõ. 
Win COP 1S GEN name. 1S GEN year 11.   1S and 1S GEN older_brother D.R/NR sheep HAB BENE  watch.
Saho pũ  paga  issẽ  age saho pũ  xa’u  reinõ. Hã go    towisa  kiso   võ  towwu pũ saho bilau towwu
1P   GEN money small but 1P   GEN sheep big.   1S D.R/R Toúījāb Kīkxot and Towwu pũ saho can   speak

"Rin is my name. My years are eleven. My brothers and I watch over sheep. We don't have much money but we have a lot of sheep. I can speak Toúījāb Kīkxot and Towwu pũ saho."

---

An old man sits on the docks in the Central Islands

Yān ūíesk Osīlīkī ages rīnkoān íeska yān Māyíūs. Ūren kas līúan teya. Sbīmuzō yān, uynasū sbīmuzō pīhmoān. Īn rōsus olsúīg makāyntah umkahū, osūmah sub. Tūtīs toúīsāb kīksot gundāy nesap ages ūserl ūtīs toúīsāb sbīmut het toúīs pīhmotān

[hä:n u:jesk ɔsi:li:ki: ǝges ri:nkɔä:n jeskǝ hä:n mä:hju:s u:ren kas li:wǝn tehǝ sbi:mʉco: yä:n ʉhnǝsu:s bi:mʉco: pi:ʔmɔä:n i:n ro:sʉs ɔlswi:g mǝkä:hn̩tǝʔ ʉmkǝʔu: ɔsu:mǝʔ sʉb Tu:ti:s tɔwi:sä:b ki:ksɔt gʉndä:h nesǝp ǝges u:ser lu:ti:s tɔwi:sä:b sbi:mʉt het tɔwi:s pi:ʔmɔtä:n]

Yān  ūíesk     Osīl  -ī  -kī  ages rīnko -ān íeska yān Māyíūs. Ūren       kas līúan  teya.   Sbīmu -zō  yān, uynasū  sbīmu -zō  pīhmo -ān.
1S.N have_name gather-BEN-God but  friend-1S call  1S thinker. have_years two twenty twelve. fisher-man 1S,  equally fisher-man father-1S.
Īn  rōsus ol<s>úīg   makāyntah umkahū, osūmah    sub. T~  ūtīs  toúīs   -āb  kīkso-t   gundāy nesap     ages ūserl ūtīs  toúīs   -āb  sbīmu -t   het toúīs    pīhmo -t  -ān
DEF frog  <DEF>treat locals    evilly, believers too. HAB~speak language-CMP god  -CMP with   travelers but  like  speak language-CMP fisher-CMP REL language father-CMP-1S

"My name is Osīlīkī but my friends call me Māyíūs. I am 52 years old. I am a fisherman, like my father. The soldiers don't treat locals well, even believers. I speak Toúījāb Kīkxot with travelers, but prefer to speak Toúījāb Sbīmut, which is my native language."

And now in his native tongue, Knǝnʔtǝǝʔ

Mã plɛ̃g Osiiliikii dǝd nköm mã splɛ̃g Mäyũs. Mã lɨlããp kǝs liiwǝn tehǝ lrããp. Mã mǝmusäyäw, mǝmusäyäw tdɔ̈b mã. Hrëëy jɛt hǝhcɨ̃t mkäntǝǝʔ, kikiiso ʔǝk. Mã kntəəʔ knənʔtəəʔ kiiso thiʔ mäwãy, dǝd mã mwɔɔt knənʔtəəʔ kbǝ tdɔ̈b

[ma̰plɛ̰ŋ̥ osi:li:ki: ɗǝd̥̚ n̩ko̤m̥ ma̰splɛ̰ŋ̥ ma̤jṵs ma̰lɨla̰ˀa̰p̚ kǝs li:wǝn̥ tehǝ l̩ɾa̰ˀa̰p̚ ma̰mǝmusa̤ja̤w ma̰mǝmusa̤ja̤w tɗɔ̤b̥̚ ma̰ʔ hɾe̤:j ɲɛt̚ hǝhcɨ̰t̚ m̩ka̤ntǝ:ʔ kiki:so ʔǝk̚ ma̰kn̩tǝ:ʔ knǝnʔtǝ:ʔ ki:so tʰiʔ ma̤wa̰y ɗǝd̥̚ ma̰mwɔ:t̚ knǝnʔtǝ:ʔ kɓǝ tɗɔ̤b̥̚]

Mã=plɛ̃g      Osiiliikii dǝd nköm   mã=s-   plɛ̃g      Mä-yũs.   Mã=lɨ- lããp     kǝs_liiwǝn_tehǝ l<r>ããp.
1S=have_name Osiiliikii but friend 1S=CAUS-have_name AG-think. 1S=PRG-grow_old fifty_two       <INST>year.
Mã=m- <mw> <ä> <y>   säw,  <mw> msäyäw tdɔ̈b   mã. Hrëëy jɛt hǝ~hcɨ̃t    m-<ä>kntǝǝʔ,  ki~ kiiso ʔǝk.
1S=AG-<RFL><AG><CAPT>fish, <RFL>fisher father 1S. Frog  NEG PL~respect AG-<AG>speak, DIM~Kikxo too.
Mã=kntəəʔ <nʔ> kntəəʔ kiiso thiʔ mä-wãy, dǝd mã mwɔɔt knənʔtəəʔ kbǝ tdɔ̈b
1S=speak  <NOM>speak  Kikxo for  AG-go,  but 1S like  language  GEN father

"My name is Osiiliikii, but my friends call me Mäyũs. I am 52 years old. I am a fisherman, like my father. The frogs don't respect us Mkäntǝǝʔ, even followers of Kīkxo. I speak Toúījāb Kīkxot with foreigners, but I like my father's tongue."

 

A children's fable in Knt

Link to a story I wrote here https://www.reddit.com/r/conlangs/comments/i1wnpk/create_a_short_story_or_tale_that_native_speakers/g00q585/

Also all the info pasted below for reference

Knǝnʔtǝǝʔ

Ksaad sʔcteʔ so jɨ̃dlɨ̃d. So hɛɛs schuu hrëëy phũl nköm so. ʔɨ̈ʔ swleew phũl dchɛs thɛ̃ɛ̃n giik nɔk hwyrëëy. Dǝd mjälɨ̃d jɛt sbããk hwɨ̈j so. Syhrëëy süw ʔic so hpuup scɔʔ. Hwɨ̈j so hrëëy clör so skĩ thɛ̃ɛ̃n sǝsklïïk mhäyrëëy.

[ksäːd̥̚ sᵊʔcteʔ soɲɨ̰ɗlɨ̰d̥̚ soɦɛːs scʰuː hɾe̤ːj pʰṵl̥ nko̤m̥ so ʔɨ̤ʔ suleːw pʰṵl̥ dcʰɛs tʰɛ̰ːn̥ ŋiːk̚ nɔk̚ hwiɾe̤ːj ɗǝd̥̚ mᵊɲä̤lɨ̰d̥̚ ɲɛt̚ sɓä̤ːk̚ hwɨ̤ɲ̥ so siɦɾe̤ːj sṳw ʔic̚ sohpuːp̚ scɔʔ hwɨ̤ɲ̥ so hɾe̤ːj clo̤r̥ so skḭʔ tʰɛ̰ːn̥ sǝskli̤ːk̚ mɦä̤jɾe̤ːj]

Ksaad sʔ-   cteʔ      so=j<ɨ̃d>lɨ̃d.    So hɛɛs s-   chuu   hrëëy  phũl nköm   so.
Exist COUNT-possum    3s=<REL>lazy.   3S want CAUS-afraid frog   COM  friend 3s
ʔɨ̈ʔ  sw-   leew  phũl dchɛs thɛ̃ɛ̃n giik nɔk h<w> <y>   rëëy. 
TEMP COUNT-night COM  fog   3p    wait LOC <LOC><CAPT>frog. 
Dǝd m-    j<ä> lɨ̃d  jɛt s-   bããk hwɨ̈j so.
But AGEN-<AGEN>lazy NEG CAUS-hide tail 3s
Sy-   hrëëy süw          ʔic  so=h<p>uup     scɔʔ. 
COUNT-frog  feel.watched thus 3s=<INCH>watch bush. 
Hwɨ̈j so hrëëy clör so skĩ thɛ̃ɛ̃n s~   s-   klïïk m-   h<ä>  <y>   rëëy.
tail 3s frog  see  3s and 3p    PLUR~CAUS-die   AGEN-<AGEN><CAPT>frog

"There was a lazy possum. He wanted to scare frogs together with his friends. One foggy night they waited by the road. But the lazy one didn't hide his tail. A frog felt like he was being followed so he started watching the bushes. The frogs saw him and killed all the frog-catchers."

This tale works on a couple levels. On the one hand, it's about being careful and says that if you aren't careful, your laziness will hurt you and your friends. But it is also a reminder of the wars of resistance they fought against the Kikxotians, hidden in animal language so that it is easier to pass off as just being an old story. There's a similar story, often told by the ktek ("tribespeople") in which a ryiid ("parakeet") sees the possum's tail and warns the frogs. This is used to further explain why the people of the interior don't like the coastal dwellers.

Scoped Derivation in Knǝnʔtəəʔ

Someone on reddit asked about having multiple infixes in a single word. I answered and then included some stuff on Knǝnʔtəəʔ, as copied below.

I have a conlang that works similarly. It has many infixes and they work sort of on a scope basis. Basically derivational affixes applied in order where each newly added one changes meaning based on the last one, and then if a verb, the aspectual inflection is added last. For example, take the root klbaa "to be clean". The prefix s- marks a causitive so sklbaa "to clean something". The infix <w> marks a location of a verb. kwlbaa "a clean place, a medicine man's house", skwlbaa "To turn into a clean place, to sanctify" swklbaa "a place of cleaning, a river bank". Now we have the prefix+infix combination m-ä- to derive agent nouns giving us mkälbaa "elder, a person who is clean". But there is also msäklbaa "launderer" and msäkwlbaa "one who sanctifies". So on and so forth. Point is that all the different things stack on top of each other, and that is how the order is determined.

Adding in the aspectual infixes (in this case the cessative as marked by infixation of the final vowel and consonant), we get things like kaalbaa "to stop being clean" vs saaklbaa "to stop cleaning" vs saakwlbaa "to stop sanctifying". With reflexive derivation based on some reduplication and infixation we get məmkälbaa "to be an elder", kǝkwlbaa "to be a clean place" səswklbaa "to be a river bank used for washing". Honestly, this root is a bad example since it doesn't have a final consonant. Anyway, with aspects we end up getting maamkälbaa "to stop being an elder", kaakwlbaa "to stop being a clean place", and saaswklbaa "to stop being a place for washing". Lots of stacked infixes, all based on how changes of the order matter.

Let's discuss this a little more. Knǝnʔtəəʔ is super fun since it straddles that fine line between Mandarin and Inuktitut, by which I mean it has minimal inflectional morphology but quite rich derivational morphology. This post really only went into a couple things. For example, you can have srkwlbaa "incense, an instrument used to sanctify something". Or swrkwlbaa "an incense holder, a pantry". Now the thing is, a lot of these would never be used outside of word games like this; instead compounds or other constructions would be used. But it is technically limitless, even if srswrkwlbaa "a tool used to make pantries" is pretty absurd (let alone swrswrkwlbaa "a place that holds the tools used to make pantries").

You might notice that the words are quite contextual. For example, you probably wouldn't guess that "one who is clean" means "elder". This points to the fact that while these derivations are productive, people seem to learn many of them as distinct lexical units than as derivations in and of themselves. Another example would be hwyrëëy "a paved (well stone paved) road, a place of catching frogs". Once again, the main meaning isn't obvious from the initial construction. It actually comes from the fact that roads (as built by the Kikxotians as they colonized the place) would often cut through areas that had lots of frogs. Since the roads were flat and not grassy/swampy, it became easier to catch frogs on the road than off. Of course, hwyrëëy can also mean "ambush point", since in anti-colonial conflicts, people would often attack convoys on the road. If asked why someone was hanging around a road, the excuse would be "catching frogs" to the point where hyrëëy came to mean "to ambush someone" and mhäyrëëy "rebel". And this of course led to the slur hrëëy "frog" for "Kikxotian soldier". All good clean fun.

And now for some sentences since those are fun. I'll supply the translations in another post!

Sɨ̈ mthäwäk thɛ̃ɛ̃n pcããʔ nɔk hwyrëëy löw cəclör thɛ̃ɛ̃n?
TOP AGENT<AGENT>-be.irritating 3P ride.wagon on <LOC><CAPT>frog 2S PLUR~see 3P?

Jɛt klbaa srjob kbə mã or Sɨ̈ srjob kbə mã jɛt so klbaa
NEG clean <INST>drink GEN 1S or TOP <INST>drink GEN 1S NEG 3S clean

Knənʔtəəʔ: Ergativity and Relative clauses

So last night I realized that Knənʔtəəʔ is sort of ergative and I decided to go with that. So I needed to redo its relative clauses. And uh, I ended up getting exactly what I started with. Anyway, since relative clauses are interesting, I'll post my final explanation, where I basically justify what I already have. It's not all of my internal and external dialogue trying to figure it out, but it is something

"So I think I've figured out what was going on. There's two competing rules that I did realize I had going on until some analysis...Or maybe none of this makes sense and more research is need

anguishes

Let's analyze sentences together and see what happens:
bmis [so kaalbaa] dɨwõ kwiis
bmis so=k<aa>lbaa d<ɨ>wõ kwiis
man 3S=<REL>be.clean <CONT>eat seaweed
"the clean man is eating seaweed"
So we have a head which is the absolutive argument of the relative clause (which if not relativized would be kɨlbaa bmis "the man is clean". Since the relative clause technically takes a pronoun as its head, it works on a nom-acc alignment and fills the slot that would be occupied by the ergative pronoun, resulting in the pronoun preceding the relativized verb and everything being dandy. Let's work up to the next level of relative clause: non-stative intransitive verbs.

bmis [so lutɨhut] dwõ kwiis
bmis so=l<ut><ɨ>hut d<Ø>wõ kwiis
man 3S=<REL><PROG>sleep <PERF>eat seaweed
"the sleeping man has eaten seaweed"
Once again, the head is the absolutive argument of the relative clause, which free would be lɨhut bmis "the man is sleeping". Since the relative clause takes the pronoun as the head, it once again converts to nom-acc and fills the ERG slot(edited)

So far, so good. I've been maintaining the alignment (more or less :p) that I discovered yesterday

But then things get rough

"the man who ate seaweed is sleeping"
The relative clause is headed by a pronoun, so it goes nom-acc and should look something like :
Lɨhut bmis [so dwõ kwiis] or (Sï̵) bmis [so dwõ kwiis] lɨhut so (topic marking way to do it)
l<ɨ>hut bmis so=dwõ kwiis and (sï̵) bmis so=dwõ kwiis l<ɨ>hut so
<CONT>sleep man 3S=eat seaweed or TOP man 3S=eat seaweed <CONT>sleep 3S

Anyway, the restrictions with the way pronouns work basically mean (since agent incorporation isn't allowed and there are no voices) that relativization like this is limited to subjects=agent, despite the ergativity in main clauses. I guess technically these transitive ones could be interpreted either way, but that is abnormal for the speakers. However, part of the ergativity means that the main interpretation of a possessed verbal noun is that the possessor is the patient which allowed for a nice work around of which there are many ways to do it, based on topicality:

Kɨlbaa kwiis dnwõ so räp bmis or Sï̵ kwiis dnwõ so räp bmis kɨlbaa so so on and so forth k<ɨ>lbaa kwiis d<nØ>wõ so räp bmis
<CONT>be.clean seaweed <NOM>eat from man
"the seaweed the man ate is clean"
Notice that the possessor has to be removed from the possessive phrase to make the argument of the main verb clear. Other wise it could be translated as "The man's eating of the seaweed was clean" or "the man cleanly ate the seaweed"

Well, there you have it, something I should turn into a blog post. And it was all for nothing since it ended up looking the same as what I had originally anyway"

As for other things with ergativity, I plan on having deleted arguments follow an ergative pivot (basically "I hit the man and died" would mean that the man died, not that I died).

Language Profile: Knənʔtəəʔ

Name:Knənʔtəəʔ
Alternative Names: Toúījāb Shbīmut, The fishermen's language
Family: Kntic (also known as Gulf Islands), in the Central Islands branch.  Probably distantly related to the now-extinct languages of the West Bay. This is in turn has been linked to the hypothetical Gulf family, which includes the Neaso family and sometimes Towwu Pũ Saho. Closely related to the inland languages on their island
Location: On the north coast of the largest island between TbKt land and Uxlots.
History: They have lived in villages on the island for thousands of years. Recently a large Kikxotian outpost was founded on their island. Knənʔtəəʔ has become the largest and most prominent of its family from this, and is now a common third language throughout the Gulf islands.
Writing System: Not a written language, they use TbKt for writing purposes
Typological information:

• Word order: SVO, with VSO (sort of) in some intransitive clauses
• Alignment: Split ergative
• Morphological:Analytic with some agglutinative features

Notable Features:

• Incopyfixation
• Reduplication in general
• Minor syllables
• Crazy vowels
• 2 lengths
• 3 phonations (modal, creaky, and breathy)
• 9 qualities
• Relatively analytic (so I get the best of both worlds)
• Many derivational patterns
• Overly specific lexical items
• Expressionals (maybe eventually)

Some morphological markings:

• Verbs
• Subject (sometimes)
• Aspect
• Voice-ish
• Pluractionality
• Nouns

Origins: June 2017. I had recently learned about Aslian languages and wanted to do something like that
History: I was gonna do it for a two hour (and did do it eventually, though I never posted it) but then a new one was posted, so I did a two hour challenge on my own after doing Akm. Then like I week later I posted the outcome
Status: In-development. I often do translates in it, including in a relay. It's a pretty fun one to work with
What I'm doing with it and why:
Other Notes: I like to look through my birding books and turn the bird calls into words. Another source of vocabulary is typos on the internet

9/7/17- Probably enough for now. One day I'll get a CALS page and other stuff on i
4/21/18- Remembered to update morphosyntactic alignment to "split-ergative" from nom-acc