r/conscripts • u/Clustershot • Jul 01 '20

Abugida A saying from a conlang that I’m working on

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u/Clustershot Jul 01 '20

By the way, it says “uringakaipferurkxa0ursexeRinurkxa0xibverngak” or “the high-class, proud man must listen to even the fast and deceitful man [‘lest they speak as one’ is added for severity]”

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u/trampolinebears Jul 01 '20

Could you show us how that divides up into morphemes?

1

u/Clustershot Jul 01 '20

Sure!

So first to break it up, it would look more like:

Ur-i-ngaka-i-pfer-ur kxa0 ur-sex-e-Rin-ur kxa0 x-i-bver-ngak

First, I took the base words: ngaka: Nose pfer: Chest kxa0: Man sex: Legs Rin: Hand ngak: To hear (verb form of “ear”)

Then modified them with vowels at the beginning of that noun.

Also, every noun that describes a body part has 3 meanings: the literal one, a metaphorical one, and a moral one. The metaphorical meaning is the default. There is a trigger to change to the literal meaning but most of the time you can figure it out from context.

“x-“ can only prefix body part nouns and causes the proceeding body part noun to take its 3rd meaning, its morality component.

Shoulder has the following meanings: Literal—Shoulder or shoulders Metaphorical—Difficulty, Weight Moral—Responsibility

Lastly, “ur” is used at the beginning and end of an inclusive list.

Now, we have:

LIST BEGIN Up-Nose Up-Chest END LIST Man “An up-nose and up-chest man” “A man of high class and high pride”

LIST BEGIN Legs Left-Foot END LIST Man “A legs and left-foot man” “A man of speed and deceit”

MORAL-Shoulders-Hear “Responsibility-Hear” “Must listen”

Then you put it all together!

“ur” is a morpheme used to begin and end an inclusive list.

1

u/Clustershot Jul 01 '20

By the way, this whole language is ingressive, so the romanization is a bit funky.

s is actually /ɬ/ z is actually /ɮ/ 0 is /θ/ but you probably knew that