The ECL1 language

cþF5C (2024-01-18)

Experimental Conlang 1 (tentative name) is a conlang that strives to do away with verbs by following a ‘chemical reaction’ paradigm. It also seeks to be a testbed for a simplified form of oginiþe cfarðerþ deduplication.

Orthography and phonology

Letter	IPA
’	ɨ~ə
a	a
c	θ
e	e
h	h ([x] before a back vowel)
i	i
k	k
l	l
m	m
n	n
o	o ([ɔ] before /w/)
p	p ([f] before a back vowel)
r	ɹ
ŗ	ɹ̩
s	s
t	t
u	ɯ ([u] before /t/, /s/, /n/, or /ɬ/)
w	w
x	ɬ
y	j

Table 1: Alphabet of ECL1 with IPA values.

’aeioŗu are vowels; everything else is a consonant. w and y are considered glides.

Syllable structure is _s(C)(C)_oV_n(C)_s|ω, where:

The onset clusters allowed are any of kpst followed by l or r, any of kst followed by w, or any of hklmnpst followed by y.
y is deleted before i, w is deleted before u, and r is deleted before ŗ.
Both ’ and ŗ are forbidden after w and y and do not occur in suffixes originating in the o state.
The codas allowed are l, m, n, r, and additionally k and s word-finally. The nasal codas assimilate to m before m or p and to n before any other consonant.

Note that ŗ is distinct from r’.

ECL1 resolves two types of oginiþe cfarðerþ:

Type I oginiþe cfarðerþ consists of two identical consonants separated by an optional glide followed by a vowel other than ŗ.
Type II oginiþe cfarðerþ consists of two consecutive syllables with the same coda. (Note: m and n are considered different codas for this purpose.)

Resolution of type II oginiþe cfarðerþ occurs from end to start and always changes the earlier coda.

Repeated coda	First coda changed to
m or n	l
l	r
r	l

Table 2: Resolution of codas in type II oginiþe cfarðerþ.

Resolution of type I oginiþe cfarðerþ for consonants other than w or y occurs from end to start. If the first occurrence of the repeated consonant occurs word-initially, then the second consonant is changed; otherwise, the first consonant is changed.

Repeated consonant	First occurrence changed to
c	k if before i; t otherwise
h	k
k	h if before i or y; t otherwise
l	n if before y; r otherwise
m	n if before ’ or y; y if before u; w otherwise
n	l if before i or y; t otherwise
p	t
r	s if in a single-consonant onset before ’ or u; ∅ if in a multi-consonant onset before ’; y if in a multi-consonant onset before u or in the onset pr; w otherwise
s	n if before ’; t otherwise
t	s
x	s if preceded by a coda; l otherwise

Table 3: Resolution of type I oginiþe cfarðerþ in non-initial positions.

[NOTE: !s’s’ → s’x’]

Finally, for repeated consonants of w or y, then the second occurrence is always changed to ∅, or to the other consonant if doing so would result in a sequence of two identical vowels. This occurs from start to end.

Syntax

ECL1 has n types of clauses: reactive clauses, stative clauses, interrogative clauses, …

The words in a clause that mark its existence are considered operators.

Reactive clauses

Reactive clauses specify three (possibly empty) groups of noun phrases: reactants, catalysts, and products and have the meaning of “(catalyst) causes (reactant) to become (product)”.

(1)

samora mukato tleka.

samor-a
window-dir

mukat-o
hammer-cat

tlek-a.
smithereens-dir

The hammer breaks the window.

(2)

kahin maxa.

kah-in
sun-cat

maxa.
light-dir

The sun shines.

The reactants and products are separated by the catalysts. Therefore, if no catalyst is specified, then the particle te takes its place.

More generally, there might be multiple groups of catalysts, in which case the clause indicates multiple ‘reactions’ chained together: a b! c d! e is short for (a b! c) and (c d! e).

Stative clauses

Stative clauses specify two groups of noun phrases separated by a relational particle.

Form	Meaning
ma	`A` equals `B` (if `B` is unspecified, then `A` exists)
swe	`A` does not equal `B`
le	`A` is a `B`
twi	`A` is not a `B`
ce	`A` is in the same place as `B`
ya	`A` is not in the same place as `B`

Table 4: Relational particles in ECL1.

A special type of stative clause indicates that an action is ongoing. This consists of the particle syok followed by another clause.

Interrogative clauses

Interrogative clauses denote a question and consist of the particle kes followed by another clause.

(3)

kes kahin maxa?

kes
int

kah-in
sun-cat

maxa?
light-dir

Does the sun shine?

(4)

kes pene h’ yulo wara?

kes
int

pen-e
fox-cat

h’
.

yul-o
voice-cat

war-a?
what-dir

What does the fox say?

Nesting clauses

A clause appearing where a direct-case noun phrase is expected is interpreted as a content clause by default.

Operators have a defined precedence that determines how clauses are grouped by default, with juxtaposition of noun phrases being assigned to 0:

Precedence	Type of operator
0	Juxtaposition of noun phrases
−2	Catalyst of reactive clause
	Relational particle of stative clause
−3	The continuous particle syok
−4	The interrogative particle kes

Table 5: Operator precedence in ECL1.

Two occurrences of operators of the same precedence are considered to have indeterminate precedence with respect to each other; barring any rules allowing for chaining, their precedence relative to each other must be disambiguated via explicit grouping.

ECL1 groups subclauses using a technique similar to Principia Mathematica’s dot notation. Each delimiter has an integer order; the primitive delimiters are as follows:

Order	Form
2	p’
1	s’
0	h’
−1	tŗ
−2	sŗ
−3	kŗ

Table 6: Primitive grouping delimiters in ECL1.

Delimiters of further order are expressed by combining the primitive delimiters in balanced senary, with the least significant digit coming first: e.g. 7 → s’x’, 10 → sŗp’. A sequence of Cŗ + h’ is reduced to Cr’.

To parse a sentence, first find the highest order of the delimiters used. Convert each delimiter of that order to ( if immediately after an operator, ) if immediately before an operator, or )( if not adjacent to any operator. Add opening parentheses to the start of the sentence or closing parentheses to the end as needed. Perform this recursively on any subclauses.

Examples:

(5)

ako h’ samora mukato tleka.

ak-o
person-cat

h’
.

samor-a
window-dir

mukat-o
hammer-cat

tlek-a.
smithereens-dir

The person breaks the window with a hammer.

(6)

syok h’ orsu ya kalta h’ te h’ ce s’ te unu.

syok
cont

h’
.

ors-u
water-dir

ya
loc.neg

kalt-a
floor-dir

h’
.

te
cat

h’
.

ce
loc

s’
:

te
cat

un-u.
nothingness-dir

It has stopped raining.

Morphology

Nouns

Nouns have the following form: <stem> + [numeral] + [demonstrative] + <case>.

The stem spans from s to o.

The case marker distinguishes between non-catalysts and catalysts:

Case \ Paradigm	I	II	III
Direct	-a	-i	-u
Catalytic	-o	-e	-in
Possessive	-am	-im	-om

Table 7: Case markers in ECL1.

Lexicon

aka: n. person
hatyu: n. robin
kahu: n. sun
kalta: n. ground, floor
maxa: n. light
mukata: n. hammer
orsu: n. water
peni: n. fox
samora: n. window
tleka: n. smithereens
unu: n. nothingness
wara: n. what?
yula: n. voice, ability to speak