The ECL0 language

Experimental Conlang 0 (tentative name).

Orthography and phonology

Syllable structure is (C)(C)V(V)(N), where

• the onset clusters allowed are dl, dr, gl, gr, kl, kr, sk, sl, sm, sn, st, tl, tr, zd, zg, zl, zm, and zn, plus bl, br, fl, fr, pl, pr, vl, vr in loanwords
• the codas allowed are k, l, n, r, s, t, and z
• the diphthongs allowed are ai, ei, oi, ui, ia, ie, and iu. An i as the first vowel in a diphthong palatalizes the preceding consonant. An i as the second vowel in a closed syllable palatalizes the coda and is not pronounced: kia → [kʲa], kai → [kai̯], kain → [kaɲ], kair → [kai̯].
• Hiatus between two vowels is allowed but rare. It occurs mostly in “made of” adjectives. In the romanization, a sequence of two vowels that would otherwise be ambiguous with a diphthong is written with a diaeresis on the second vowel.

Nouns

ECL0 nouns have eight cases as outlined by Table 2.

Across all paradigms, most nouns are pluralized by prepending the vowel of the initial syllable if the root is consonant-initial or prepending x if vowel-initial. A few nouns, however, have suppletive forms.

Declension class I (vowel-final nouns)

For class Ia nouns, the vocative form has a null affix if phonotactics permit; otherwise, it has the same affix as the direct case.

Declension class II (non-vowel-final nouns)

The final consonant of the stem has two variants: one used for the direct and vocative forms and the other used for the rest.

Existential forms

To express that a referent expressed by a noun phrase exists, a suffix is added to a direct or partitive form of a noun, which then acts like a finite verb. Unlike verbs, existential noun forms distinguish between past, present, and future tenses; the indicative and subjunctive moods are available, but the imperative is not.

Existential affixes from multiple tenses can be stacked:

Personal pronouns

The proximal and distal pronouns are also used as demonstrative determiners, even when the head refers to an animate referent.

Indefinite determiners and pronouns

Adjectives

Adjectives are declined for case and number identically to nouns. Some adjectives are transitive and act as a sort of adposition; such adjectives are distinct from true prepositions. The complement of a transitive adjective is adjacent to the adjective and is declined in the partitive case. Unlike verbs, adjectives can be ambitransitive, in which case omission of a complement implies an unspecified referent in its place.

Verbs

Verbs are conjugated for person, number, alignment, tense, polarity, and evidentiality. Direct evidentiality is unmarked, while indirect evidentiality is marked with the affix -og- after the verb stem. There is a binary tense distinction between nonpast (‘present’) and past. Imperatives require specifying the purported beneficiary of the desired action: A for the speaker, B for the listener, or C for a third party.

The citation form of the verb is the ergative singular present indicative.

Irregular verbs

en ‘be’

This verb takes a complement in the direct case and has no ergative forms. Only the present-tense forms are distinguished for evidentiality. In this case, the indirect-evidentiality forms are formed regularly as if the stem were el-.

oren ‘become’ is inflected the same way, but with the or- prefix.

ira ‘have, possess’

In this and the subsequent cases, the indirect-evidentiality forms are formed regularly.

tenka ‘give’

kira ‘do’

Relative clauses

A relative clause starts with a relativizer and uses the same form of the verb as a finite clause would.

Content clauses

A declarative content clause consists of a particle before or after its remainder. There is a special form of the particle used for complements of a preposition.

Prepositions

True prepositions (as opposed to transitive adjectives) are uninflected and take a direct-case complement. Complements that are personal pronouns are put in a special form.

Conjunctions

• zi: and

Numerals

The numeral for 1 has separate adjectival and nominal forms: enu for the adjectival and rena for the nominal. All other numerals are solely nouns. The noun phrase referring to the thing being quantified is put in the partitive case:

Derivations and compounding

Nouns derived from verbs

• Agent: class I, -aza, -aze on the verb stem (also adj.)

Adjectives derived from nouns

• “made of”: class I, -ea, -ei on the direct form
• “full of”: class II, -tek, -teha on the direct form

Adverbs derived from adjectives

stem + -en

Lexicon

ala, ale

n. child, offspring

arais, araista

adji. new

araisten

adv. again

doma, dome

n. meal

dil, dila

n. tooth

dlara

vt. (S) chooses (O) in preference to (non)

dreika

vt. (S) touches (O)

duga

vt. (S) knocks (O) out of its original position

dun, duna

adja. below, under

ek

pp. away from, out of

en, …

vc. (S) is (S′)

enu, enon

adj. one

enuiz, enuira

adj. alone, isolated, sole, only

elka

vt. (S) eats (O)

gina

vt. (S) notifies, informs (I) of (O)

gul

adv. in response, back

ira, …

vt. (S) has, possesses (O)

kalka

vt. (S) bites or chews (O)

kien, kiena

adji. small

kil

adv. want to

kira, …

vt. (S) completes a task (O); (S) does, carries out (O); (S) compels (O) to be done; (S) makes (O)

klanzia, klanzie

n. sword

klei, kleiha

n. book

krosa, krose

n. home, shelter, domicile

kuil, kuila

n. stone, rock

laine

adv. (with subjunctive) destined to, fated to

liaxa, liaxe

n. marketplace, collection of stores

loz, lora

n. person

mama, mame

n. mother

meil

adv. capable of, able to

mona

vt. (S) says (O) to (I)

montoka, montoke

n. messenger

montu, monton

n. message

munu, munon

n. speech; something said by (poss)

non

pp. than, over, beyond, in preference to

nukka

vt. (S) builds (a stationary structure) (O)

oin, oima

n. mouth

oren, …

vc. (S) becomes (S′)

rena, rene

n. one

rukka, rukke

n. ruler, leader, king, queen, chief

runu, runon

n. hair, fur

runutek, runuteha

adji. hairy, furry

skela

vt. (S) makes (O) orderly or tidy

sken, skena

n. brick

skenea, skenei

adji. made of brick

slatta, slatte

n. forest

sliden

adv. today

slit, slida

adji. today

stok, stoga

n. fox

suilu, suilon

n. river, stream, creek

suka

vt. (S) pulls (O) away from (ek)

tai, taiha

n. ear

taiza

vt. (S) hears, listens to (O)

talha, talhe

n. room

tana, tane

n. two

tanma

vt. (S) sells (O) to (I)

teik, teiha

n. feast, party, festival, banquet

tenka, …

vt. (S) gives (O) to (I)

tonra

vt. (S) causes (O) to begin

tonsa

vi. (S) begins; (of a celestial body) (S) rises

tuina, tuine

n. island

tulka, tulke

n. fruit

uilka

vi. (S) attends, partakes in, goes to (loc)

zdol, zdola

n. container for cooking, pot, pan

zmena, zmene

n. small house

znaha, znahe

n. sun

zneva

vi. (S) sleeps

znoga, znoge

n. controlled outdoors fire, campfire

zora, zore

adja. absent from