To quote from the December 12th 2003 email to the Conlang list,
The whole thing started because of a bug I got in the brain months ago when reading on the list about where Slavic languages' phonotactics come from (so it's come full circle!). That conversation got me started thinking about consonant clusters formed by vowel deletion, and I thought of a word "Apaterakasuto -> Apatrakasto -> Aptraksto", which stuck in my brain.
The actual end result, as you will see, sounds quite different from this initial inspiration.
Written CXS* English approximation p p p b b b t t t d d d k k k g g g m m m r 4 flapped r f f f v v v s s s z z z S S sh c tS ch x x kh h h h j j y l l l L L dark l w w w i i ee y y French eu u u oo e e, E ay, eh ö 2 German ö o o, O oh, o a a, A a, ah
*CXS stands for Conlang X-Sampa.
The definite form evolved from a prefixed _ke_, which used to be a word meaning "this". The indefinite form evolved from a prefixed _ta_, which once meant "some". It was not necessary to mark definiteness when an object was possessed; having another noun in the genitive associated with it made the possessed noun definite by default. When the old genitive suffix _ha_ withered away and died, the possessed object was left in an unprefixed state, which became the construct form.
The exact method of forming a noun's definite, indefinite and construct forms is determined by its noun class (or its noun class was determined by its phonological evolution!)
Examples:
Indefinite Definite Construct (possessed) language tavjacgu kevjacgu vjacgu word toftikyli kiftikyli vitikyli speaker toftikwatsalo kiftikwatsalo vitikwatsalo giver teblisjatsalo kiblisjatsalo bolisjatsalo
In the example above, "language" would be in the simple ta/ke/0 noun class; "speaker" and "word" in the tof/kif/vi noun class; and "giver" in the teb/kib/bo noun class.
Demonstrative pronouns
The demonstrative pronouns evolved from a very regular system where the "this" form began with _ke_, "that" began with _wu_, the wh-form began with _hi_, the "some" form began with _ta_, etc. The oldest demonstrative pronouns were all accented on the prefix, but later a few third-form nouns became pronouns.
what? this that yonder some, any every no whatever a different what hja kja vy ljamhi ti ry sö pja pjathi which hjar kir vwar ljamre ter rwar sur pjar pjatre who hilir kelir mulir jalmulir talir rulir zolir pilir jaftalir when hjac kic vwac ljamti toc rwac suc pjac pjacti where hjad kid vwad ljamdo ted rwad sud pjad pjatdo how hy kö vwa lymi tu rwa su py pjatmi how much hity kety muty jalmuty taty ruty zoty pity jaftaty why hivo kevo muvo jalmuvo tavo ruvo zovo pivo pitavo (jaftavo) using what hymu kömu vwamu livwamu tumu rwamu sumu pymu pitumu whence jalerja ixlerja wamlerja ljamlerja otlerja warlerja uzlerja jaflerja pjatlerja whither jamovwa ixmovwa wamovwa lymovwa otmovwa warmovwa uzmovwa jafmovwa pjatmovwa along which way hjalri kilri vwalri livwalri telri rwalri sulri pjalri pitelri like what jatihwa ixtihwa wamtihwa ljamtihwa octihwa wartihwa uztihwa jaftihwa pjactihwa
Personal pronouns
Where sound changes did not wipe them away, personal pronouns retained the old genitive and accusative cases. Due to inherent definiteness of personal prounouns, they do not have a construct form; if a pronoun is possessed by a noun, neither is marked, and their juxtaposition alone shows the relationship. (If a noun is possessed by a pronoun which has a genitive case form, both are marked.)
Nominative Accusative Genitive sing. pl. sing. pl. sing. pl. 1st person vwal muli vwalmi mulö vwalha muli 2nd person tuf dovi tufmi dovö tufha dovi 3rd person female hö hemja hömi hemy höha hemja 3rd person male/mixed ru romja rumi romy ruha romja 3rd person inanimate sir serwa sirmi serwa sirha serwa
Verb forms
Originally, verb forms were related to noun forms by differences in the stressed syllable: verbs were stressed on the second syllable, and the resultative nominalization was stressed on the first syllable. Other nominalizations, as well as participles, come from the form stressed on the third syllable, if applicable.
Noun Verb Participle Derived nominal [ke/ta]vjacgu language vitjag speak jaftikwa spoken [kif/tof/vi]tikwatsalo speaker [ke/ta]sud thing zotu be udzotu being [kid/ted/zo]zoturla way of being [ke/ta]pösi gift boljaS give ublisja given [kib/teb/bo]lisjatsalo giver [ke/ta]loS deed lasja do ilasja done [kja/ti/la]lasjagru tool
Verbs themselves come in four basic stems plus two imperative forms: the past, non-past, habitual, and hypothetical stems, and the imperative and negative imperative.
The imperative is simply the most basic verb form; the negative imperative evolved from a suffixed "pu", which may be realized, depending on the verb, as "pwa", "bu", or just "b". Verbs whose negative imperative end in "b" also prefix "wab" for emphasis.
Imperative Negative imperative speak vitjag vitjagbu be zotu wabzotub give boljaS boljaSbu do lasja wablasjab
The regular negative particle for other verb forms is a standalone "pwa" which precedes the verb.
Examples
"Our language is a way of being."
"Muli vjacgu *zotu tedzoturla."
"A language is a tool!"
"Tavjacgu *zotu tilasjagru!"
"Don't speak so. The language is a gift."
"Vwa vitjagbu. Kevjacgu *zotu tapösi."
Stage 1: Begin with a simple Polynesian-esque phonology entirely of CV syllables.
Phonology: ptkmlrswh/aeiuo
Stage 2: Apply derivational use of fixed accents. For example, create 3-syllable roots giving an abstract noun concept when accented on the first syllable, a verb root when accented on the second syllable, and various other nominals based on the root created by accenting the third syllable.
Phonology: ptkmlrswh/aeiuoáéíúó
Stage 3: Apply selected prefixes and affixes which conform to the existing stress pattern - things that were once transparent but will be fossilized by the time the language is done evolving. For example, prefixes to nouns will denote definite, indefinite, or (with no prefix) possessed, with the end results that nouns have definite, indefinite, and possessed root forms, which differ from one noun class to another due to the effects of sound change. Similar use of affixes could create past and non-past, or perfective and imperfective, verb root pairs.
Phonology: still ptkmlrswh/aeiuoáéíúó
Stage 4: Voicing and lenition: voicing in front of back/rounded vowels, lenition in front of front vowels, but the two have different scope as far as whether accented or ultra-short vowels affect them. (See 4.sc in sound changes below)
Phonology: ptksfcxSbdgzmlrLwh/aeiuoáéíúó
Stage 5: Drop shortest vowels, or H. (See 5.sc in sound changes below)
Phonology: still ptkmlrswhfcxSbdgzL/aeiuoáéíúó
Stage 6: Combine double vowels. Maybe prevocalic i->l, u->r. Minimal umlauting occurs. (See 6.sc in sound changes below)
Phonology: ptkmlrswhfcxSbdgzLjv/aeiuoyöáéíúóÿô
Stage 7: Rotate just the stressed vowels, lose stress. (See 7.sc in sound changes below)
Phonology: ptkmlrswhfcxSbdgzLjv/aeiuoyö
Stage 8: Regularize some paradigms by analogy. Add new affixes and clitics using the new phonology. Apply considerable semantic drift to obscure origins of word pairs/triads created in Stage 2. Provide suppletive roots for extremely common words. Create a grammar.
Phonology: still ptkmlrswhfcxSbdgzLjv/aeiuoyö
For example, several forms related to "speak", one of which will be the name of the language, appear as follows in the old and new versions (alternative forms from the metathesizing dialect are shown where applicable):
Proto-witícku version Vjatjackwa version Muli Vjacgu version wítitekú vjactikwa vjactekwa witíteku vjatjackwa vitjacgu wititéku vjatjatig vititig (or jaftitig) wítiku vjackwa vjacgu witíku vjatjag vitjag witikú vjatjakwa vitikwa (or jaftikwa)
The sound change rules of Muli Vjacgu, as of February 6, 2006, are captured in the following files (designed for a modified version of Mark Rosenfelder's Sound Change Applier):
Emails to the Conlang list in 2003/2004:
Last updated: 2/6/2006