Creative
 

Culliwācatlīnitōtl

The city for conlangs

Culliwācatlīnitōtl
Culliwācatlīnitōtl, īn Tōtl 
Pronunciation: IPA: [kulliwaːkat͡ɬiːniˈtɔːt͡ɬ]
Spoken in: once Culliwācatlīnitl, now scattered
Total speakers: ~2 million
Language family: Cepētl languages
 Southern Cepētl
  Totlo-Mawatean
   Totlan languages
    Culliwācatlīnitōtl 
Official status
Official language of: once Culliwācatlīnitl, now none
Regulated by:
Language codes
ISO 639-1: cw
ISO 639-2: cwc
ISO 639-3: cwc
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-​based pronunciation key.


The Culliwācatlīnitōtl (literally "language of the Green Land", sometimes just īn Tōtl meaning "the language") is a polysynthetic agglutinative language created by Neonlights. The language is influenced by Nāhuatl (language of the Aztecs).

Contents

[edit] History

The following history is fictitious.

[edit] Proto-Cepētl

Before the Tōtl there were people called the Proto-Cepētlians. They lived in clay houses, ate fish, bread and various vegetables and spoke Proto-Cepētl.

[edit] Proto-Cepētl phonology

  Bilabial Alveolar Postalveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Labiovelar Glottal
Unaspirated plosive *p *t   *ṭ *ḱ *k *kʷ *h́
Aspirated plosive *pʰ *tʰ   *ṭʰ *ḱʰ *kʰ *kʷʰ  
Unaspirated affricate   *tz *č          
Aspirated affricate   *tzʰ *čʰ          
Fricative *f *s *š *ṣ   *ḫ *ḫʷ *h
Nasal *m *n     *ń *nʷ    
Approximant   *l   *ḷ *y *ĺ   *wʰ *w  
Lateral affricate   *tl   *ṭḷ        
Trill   *r            

[edit] Phonology

The phonology is mainly based on Nāhuatl.

[edit] Alphabet

The alphabet has 29 symbols (21 monographs and 8 digraphs).

p s a tl qu t u ū ng tz ā i ī c fh h ē hw w m ch e ō o l y n x ky

[edit] Consonants

Culliwācatlīnitōtl has 19 consonants.

  Bilabial Alveolar Postalveolar Palatal Velar Labiovelar Glottal
Plosive p t   c k kʷ  
Affricate   t͡s t͡ʃ        
Fricative ɸ s ʃ       h
Nasal m n     ŋ    
Approximant   l   j   ʍ w  
Lateral affricate   t͡ɬ          

The transliteration is similar to Nāhuatl. /c/ is written as <cy> or <ky>, /k/ is written as <c> (or <k> when preceding /e/ or /i/), /kʷ/ is witten as <qu>, /t͡s/ is written as <tz>, /t͡ʃ/ is written as <ch>, /ɸ/ is written as <fh> (or <f> in some texts), /ʃ/ is written as <x>, /ŋ/ is written as <ng>, /j/ is written as <y>, /ʍ/ is written as <wh> and /t͡ɬ/ is written as <tl>.

Double consonants are not ignored: mellētl [mɛllɛːt͡ɬ].

[edit] Vowels

Culliwācatlīnitōtl has ten vowels.

  Front Central Back
Close i iː   u uː
Mid-open ɛ ɛː   ɔ ɔː
Open   a aː  

The lenght is expressed with a macron in writing (ā, ē, ī, ō, ū). The stress falls on the final syllable if the word ends in a consonant and on the penult if it ends in a vowel. If the vowel has an acute accent (á, é, í, ó, ú) over it, the syllable is stressed and the vowel is long.

[edit] Morphology

[edit] Nouns

[edit] Gender

The Culliwācatlīnitōtl nouns differ in two genders: animate and inanimate. Animate nouns are living being, spirits and gods and inanimate nouns are the rest.

[edit] Number

Culliwācatlīnitōtl nouns have four numbers: singular, dual, paucal and plural. Dual expresses two objects and paucal expresses a few of them.

[edit] Case

Culliwācatlīnitōtl nouns have only one case: absolutive. It's expressed by a suffix -tli for animate nouns and -tl for inanimate nouns. The nouns always end in a vowel. The absolutive case suffix is removed when the noun is altered and differs from the noun as seen in the dictionary. For example:

  • culliwātl = green
  • catlīnitl = land
  • tōtl = language

To make a compound word, it's necessary to remove the absolutive suffixes. So:

  • culliwā―catlīni―tōtl = the Green-Land language

[edit] Declension

The absolutive suffix must be removed in order to add suffixes.

  Animate Inanimate Possessive animate Possessive inanimate
Singular -tli/-li* -tl/-l* -ci -c
Dual -tzoli -tzol -co -cos
Paucal -xechi -xech -cechi -cech
Plural -mi/-te* -ni/-ne* -mici -nic
  • *the alternative suffixes are for nouns ending in -u and -ū

Possesive suffixes are added to the word when it's combined with a possesive adjective or pronoun. For example:

  • catlīnitl "land", but rācatlīnic "my land"

[edit] Pronouns

[edit] Possessive pronouns

Possessive pronouns serve as prefixes when describing a word.

  1st pers. 2nd pers. 3rd pers. 4th pers.*
Singular rā- tzī- tlē- xēce-
Dual rō- tzō- tlō- xōce-
Paucal rēye- tzē- tlēye- xēye-
Plural mē- wē- tlū- fhēye-
  • *used for supernatural beings and gods

[edit] Personal pronouns

Personal pronouns are rarely used since they serve as a suffix in verbs. If they are really necessary, they are formed by adding the -quetl suffix to the possessive equivalents.

[edit] Reflexive and reflexive-possessive pronouns

They aren't used as a separate type of pronouns; their equivalents are personal and possessive pronouns.

[edit] Pronoun derivation

Interrogative, relative, demonstrative and indefinite pronouns (also called derivation pronouns) follow the same pattern:

  Animate Inanimate Possessive animate Possessive inanimate
Singular -úit -ē -úcitl -ēcetl
Dual -ō -ēle -ōcōtl ēlecetl
Paucal -úal -ēlet -úatl -ēletl
Plural -ōni -ēne -ōnitl -ēnetl

Possessive derivation pronouns (somebody's, anybody's etc.) are declined like adjectives.

The derivation pronouns can be derived from the suffixes by these prefixes:

  • interrogative and relative pronouns - -c-
  • 1st class demonstrative pronouns (for nearby objects) - tl-
  • 2nd class demonstrative pronouns (for a bit distant objects) - x-
  • 3rd class demonstrative pronouns (for remote objects) - l-
  • collective indefinite pronouns (everybody) - y-
  • general indefinite pronouns (somebody) - p-
  • indifferent indefinite pronouns (anybody) - m-
  • negative indefinite pronouns (nobody) - qu-

[edit] Verbs

[edit] Tense, mood and voice

Culliwācatlīnitōtl verbs have four tenses: the pluperfect, the perfect, the present and the future; six moods: indicative, generic, presumptive, conditional, optative and imperative; and two voices: active and passive.

[edit] Verb category agglutination

Infinitive ends in -ām, -ēm or -īm. The verb form can be made by agglutinating various suffixes to the verb stem (without the infinitive suffix). Scheme of agglutinating: stem―tense―mood (and voice)―number―person.

[edit] Number and person

  Suffix
Singular -a
Dual -o
Paucal -e
Plural -u
  Suffix
1st person -r
2nd person -tz
3rd person -tl
4th person -x

[edit] Tenses

  Infix
Pluperfect -ā-
Perfect -ē-
Present -o-
Future -ī-

[edit] Moods and voices

  • Indicative: normal mood (The boy is in the park.)
  • Generic: to express a general fact (Cheetahs are fast.)
  • Presumptive: to express a probable fact (They are probably in Spain.)
  • Conditional: mostly in dependent clauses (If I were you, I'd write it.)
  • Optative: to express wishes, wills, desires or fears (I want to travel the world.)
  • Imperative: to express commands (Do it!)
  Indicative Generic Presumptive Conditional Optative Imperative
Active -c- -r- -w- -fh- -ch- -x-
Passive -citl- -tz- -witl- -fhitl- -chitl- (none)

[edit] Example

The most common verb form is active indicative present, that is -o-c-. To make an active indicative present just add -oc- and number and person suffixes.

  • ochocatlīm = to eat
  • ochocatlocar = I'm eating.
  • ochocatlocetz = Few of you are eating
  • ochocatlēchitlotl = They two wish they were eaten etc.

[edit] Imperfective vs. perfective

Most of the verbs are imperfective. To make a perfective verb, just add the prefix ō- to the stem. Example:

  • meselēcitlutl = They moved (constantly, from time to time)
  • ōmeselēcitlutl = They moved (at once, instantly, no duration)

[edit] Adjectives

[edit] Adjective declension

  Animate Inanimate
Singular -tlā -tl
Dual -tzō -tzō
Paucal -xē -xētl
Plural -mē -nā

Adjectives are placed after the word they describe. They can also merge (agglutinate) with the noun and make a compound word. For example:

  • culliwā(tl) + kyēlō(tl) = kyēlōtl culliwātl, or
  • culliwā(tl) + kyēlō(tl) = culliwākyēlōtl (lit. green + stone = emerald)

[edit] Adverbs

Adverbs are simply formed by adding the -tlec suffix to the adjective. Most of them end in -ec, like tewārec "tomorrow" or tlīyec "here"

[edit] Numbers

[edit] Cardinal numbers

0 mīlicītl
1 ētl
2 ēlētl
3 amōtl
4 amētl
5 alātl
6 alētl
7 angātl
8 angētl
9 angōtl
10 cātzītl
100 cētzētl
1000 cāxītl
1000000 cēxētl
1000000000 angōmītl

Other cardinal numbers are made by agglutinating. If the vowel is next to a vowel, insert -t-. For example:

  • 17 (seventeen) - cātzītangātl
  • 69 (sixty-nine) - alēcātzītangōtl
  • 341 (three hundred and forty-one) - amōcētzētamēcātzītētl

Numbers are placed before the noun and after adjectives. They decline like adjectives.

[edit] Ordinal numbers

Ordinal numbers are formed by adding the -mōtl/-mōtlā suffix. They decline like adjectives.

[edit] Adverbial numbers

Just like in Latin, Culliwācatlīnitōtl has adverbial numbers (once, twice, thrice, four times etc.). They're formed by adding -wūtlec to the stem. (Wū means "times" and -tlec is the suffix for adverbs.)

[edit] Example texts

Here are some example texts.

[edit] Babel Text of Bible (Pāpeletl ā Pipliyātl)

Book of Genesis, 11:1-9

Culliwācatlīnitōtl

1 Xōlomistzētl pitlēratl ētōtl iy ēlelemātl.

2 Lē catolōmi meselēcitlutl ā wesatl, wengēyēcutl ēcatlīnitl nēmec Xinārātl; ōmeselēcitlutl līyec.

(to be continued)

English

1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.

2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.

3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar.

4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children built.

6 And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do; and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.

8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.

9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

[edit] See also

Retrieved from "http://conlang.wikia.com/wiki/Culliw%C4%81catl%C4%ABnit%C5%8Dtl"