Lunielu

Sample Text

Γedo zû iņeba ki oña ča þaæþesie, iš þæ şobibu. Γedo zûo ibagoa ča xôiþesiû, iš zûagoa ibo þæ kaomibu. Izegou ki ťoa ča þôvee,

A man travelling across a field encountered a bear. He fled, the bear chasing him. Coming to a precipice,

γedo zû iņeba ki oña ča þaæþesie, iš þæ şobibu.

γedo

zû

iņeba

oña

ča

þaæ

-þesi

-e

iš

þæ

şob(e)

-ibu

man

AGT

field

GEN

across

OBL

walk

-IMPF.PART

-SS

bear

PAT

meet

-PAST

A man walking across a field met a bear.

γedo zûo ibagoa ča xôiþesiû, iš zûagoa ibo þæ kaomibu.

γedo

zû

-o

ib-agoa

ča

xôi

-þesi

-û

iš

zû

-agoa

ib-o

þæ

kao

-ibu

man

AGT

-HUMAN

SG-WILD.ANIM

OBL

run

-IMPF.PART

-DS

bear

AGT

-WILD.ANIM

SG-HUMAN

PAT

chase

-PAST

The man running from it, the bear chased him .

izegou ki ťoa ča þôvee,

izegou

ťoa

ča

þô

-ve

-e

precipice

GEN

up.to

OBL

-PERF.PART

-SS

Having come up to a precipice,

I. Phonology

I.1 Vowels

Practical Orthography

X-Sampa

	Front	Central	Back
High	i	û	u
Mid	e	ô	o
Low	æ		a

	Front	Central	Back
High	i	}	u
Mid	e	8	o
Low	{		A

I.2 Consonants

Practical Orthography

X-Sampa

	Labiodental	Dental	Apico-alv.	Lamino-alv.	Palatal	Retroflex	Velar
Vcd Plosive	b			d			g
Vcless Plosive			ť		č	ţ	k
Vcd Fricative	v			z			γ
Vcless Fricative	f	þ	ś	s	š	ş	x
(Vcd) Nasal	(m)			n	ñ	ņ	ŋ

	Labiodental	Dental	Apico-alv.	Lamino-alv.	Palatal	Retroflex	Velar
Vcd Plosive	b_d			d			g
Vcless Plosive			t_m		tS or c	t`	k
Vcd Fricative	v			z_a			G
Vcless Fricative	f	T	s_m	s_a	C or S	s`	x
(Vcd) Nasal	F			n	J	n`	N

I.3 Remarks

The segment "m" is non-phonemic; that is, it never occurs underlyingly, it is only inserted to break up long sequences of vowels.
Syllable canon is (C)V. If three vowels come together, "m" is inserted after the initial pair. Symbolically: VVV -> VVmV. If necessary this will occur cyclically, (applying left-to-right.) Hence, underlying "æiûæe" would become "æimûæme".
There is a pitch accent, phrase-initially.

II. Nominal Morphology

There is no morphology, per se, on nouns. Rather, role is indicated by a role particle and number is indicated by an optional classifier occuring after the role particle.

Role Particles

Role	Particle
Agent	zû
Patient	þæ
Theme	do
Beneficiary	ñe
Comitative	ve
Oblique	ča
Genitive	ki
	şava

Other Markers

Meaning	Marker
honorific	=γea

Pronouns


First-person	neutral	iče
	humilitive	ţexi
	honorific	baguzea

Second-person	neutral	ano
	humilitive	ņosi
	honorific	þevišea

Plurality is (optionally) marked on pronouns with the enclitic "=ŋa". There are no third-person pronouns as such in Lunielu. The number classifiers are used for this purpose.

Nominal Classifiers

Number Markers

Classifiers

Sing	=ib-
Dual	=ñeû
Pauc	=oba-
Plur	=odaŋ-

human	-o
human, honorific	-ošea
domestic. animals	-oa
wild animals/natural phenomena	-agoa
white (spirit) animals	-ui
plants	-alia
unit of measure	-exona
time/distance/measure	-eči
round	-agoe
long	-agilo
flat	-iebo
liquid	-ôņô
powder	-ôþæ

These nominal classifiers are of the form "number-classifier". They are placed immediately after the role particle. In general, they are optional.

III. Verbal Morphology

Verbs are marked by: Verb - (Verbal#) - TAM - (Person)

Verbal Number Markers


Repetitive	-aiśo
Continuative	-iede
En Masse	-oæbu

Verb Person

Participle Person


First	-u
Second	-aņi


Same	-e
Different	-û

Tense/Aspect/Mood (TAM) Markers

Positive

Negative

Past	-ibu
Nonpast	-aņa
Imperative	-o
Infinitive	-bô
Perfective Participle	-ve
Imperfective Participle	-þesi

Past	-ibušo
Nonpast	-aņašo
Imperative	-ofo
Infinitive	-šobô
Perfective Participle	-šove
Imperfective Participle	-šôþi

IV. Syntax

Basic SOV word order, with a Modifier-Head order.
A typical declarative sentence would have the form: "SUBJECT_NP OBJECT_NP VERB."
A sample NP is: "MODIF N (#) ROLE_PART". The modifier might be a genitive NP, in which case we'd get "GEN_NP ki N (#) ROLE_PART".

V. Examples

iče (=ŋa) ki odôšo zû (ñeumoa) nige þæ iefu ča kaomibu. My (our) (two) dog(s) chased a cat into a tree.
iče ki odôšo zû nigeþæ iefuča kaomaiśoibu. My dog kept chasing a cat into a tree.
ibo=ŋa ki odôšo zû nigeþæ iefuča kaomaiśoibušo. Their dog never chased cats into trees.

VI. Sample Lexicon

Nouns

γedo: man
xelo: woman
iņeba: field
izegou: cliff/precipice
odôšo: dog
nige: cat
iš: bear
ţæle: squirrel
dozo: rat
þe: mouse
uimelo: spirit/milk
iexani: spirit/white cat
iedô: spirit/white dog
ieleš: spirit/white bear
iexalæ: spirit/white squirrel
iexado: spirit/white rat
ilexaþe: spirit/white mouse
iefu: tree
šaečo: coffee

"Prepositional" Nominals

oña: across, over/atop
ťoa: up to/at the edge of
čea: into/inside

Verbs are given in infinitival form (remove -bô to get verb stem.) Evenescent vowels are underlined

Verbs

kaobô: chase
şobebô: meet/encounter
xôibô: run
þaæbô: walk
þôbô: go/do/be

Main Conlang Page

Apollo Hogan, Berkeley, California, USA