Overview
Introduction
What's Mondilange?
Mondilange is an engineered language.
Mondilange is made of words from all linguistic groups of the Earth.
Mondilange is aimed to be politically correct.
Mondilange learning must be instructive on world cultures.
Mondilange is as easily pronounceable as Tokipona.
Mondilange can be as logical as Lojban.
Mondilange has most of its words' functions identified by its ending, like '''Esperanto.
Mondilange is not designed to be untouchable. People are encouraged to contribute, to make variations or to use its concepts in their own conlangs. If Mondilange got widely used someday, the speakers will have to create an organization to state official rules.
Building rules
(1) Take into account words from as many languages as possible.
As European international languages, we already have Interlingua, Esperanto, and, naturally, English. Naturally, many words will have their form much modified in order to fit Mondilange patterns.
(2) Equilibrate analogy and differentiation.
For instance, "I" should have in its form some similarity to "you", but the differences must make them clearly distinguishable.
(3) Try to make more common phonetic errors not much important to comprehension.
Some people can't distinguish /f/ from /v/, /l/ from /r/, /ua/ from /wa/, /old/ from /owd/, etc.
Frequently asked questions
Is Mondilange intended to be a Science Fiction Language?
Not primarily, but feel free to use it in your book. And let me be aware of it by sending me an e-mail: leolucas1980@yahoo.com.br.
Is Mondilange intended to be an International Auxiliary Language?
English is already the IAL de facto. Anyway, if someday humanity decides to use an engineered language, I am not against Mondilange being one of the candidates.
Why do you think choosing roots from all these obscure languages make your language easier?
No. It's a way of celebrating language diversity. Mondilange has a simple phonetic structure, so difficult latin words as stricto or even non-widespread consonantal encounter as lf in wolf are not possible, then it's a natural step to get the most suitable words from each language. Learning Mondilange should always be a virtual cultural tour.
Sounds
Mondilange has relatively few sounds, and there are five pairs of interchangeable consonants, so that many alphabets (Latin, Greek, Cyrilic, etc.) or syllabaries (Japanese, Amharic, etc.) can be used to represent its sounds.
Vowels
a, e, i, o, u: basic vowels, pronounced approximately as in Spanish, Japanese, etc.
Diphtongs
ai, ei, oi, au, ou, eu: each one pronounced as diphtong or hiatus, whichever you want;
iu, ui: idem;
ia, ie, io, ua, uo, ue: idem;
Consonants
h: as in house (but it can be similarly pronounced as the Spanish "j" as well);
l: as in long (if some Japanese can't pronounce it, they can use Japanese "r");
m: as in mother;
n: as in no, but before "g" it is a velar nasal stop;
t/d: as in table or dice; you can pronounce t as d and vice-versa, but preferably without the common aspiration of table;
p/b: as in pig or big; you can pronounce p as b and vice-versa, but preferably without the common aspiration of pig;
k/g: as in kart or girl; you can pronounce k as g and vice-versa, but preferably without the common aspiration of kart;
f/v: as in five or vanilla; you can pronounce f as v and vice-versa; those who speak Spanish (and others language which doesn't have sound /v/) should never pronounce v as b or w: you'd better use /f/;
x/j: as sh in share or s in measure; it is used to abbreviate or omit sounds; that is to say: it corresponds to the English apostrophe;
Note: These five pairs above are "unvoiced/voiced consonant pairs". Each two consonants of a pair have exactly the same articulation, with the only difference that the first one is pronounced without vibration of the vocal folds. To realize it, pronounce "tah" and "dah" with your finger in your throat and note that your throat vibrate before you pronounce the vowel only in "dah". In mondilange, you should preferably use unvoiced consonants (t, p, k, f, x) in the word begining and the voiced ones in the middle.
'ng, nd, mb: only these three consonantal encounters are possible;
Making words
Rules for making words
In general, every word in mondilange ends in one of the forms (1), (2), (3) or (4) below, where
"C" is for consonant,
"V" is for the vowels a, e and o,
"v" is for vowels i and u,
"w" is for any vowel, and
"X" is either for x or for j:
(1) CCw: memba, tongo, penimbu, etc.;
(2) vVCw*: nuova, lievo, tiede, toliedi;
(3) vVX: miex, tuox, honioj, etc.;
(4) CVv: holai, sai, kalei, nau, etc.
*: The consonant in (2) is never "n" nor "m", where they have to be substituted by "nd" and "mb", representing so case (1).
Making compound words
Compound words may be created linking two single words of types (1-2) by means of choosing "i" as the final vowel of the first one. For instance, suade means "water", while lande means "land". So, suadilande is a word created from them. Its meaning depends on context and should be defined by its creator, but it might mean "land of water".
If the first used single word is in form 3 or 4, an additional "i" is used after it. For example, if you join the words sai and suade, you would have saiisuade. That's the only possible way of putting two equal vowels together, so you should pronounce each one separately: "sai-i-suade" (hyphen is always optional anywhere).
Stress, tone and rhythm
Mondilange has no defined stress, tone nor rhythm. This means that you can choose which syllable you want to stress, which you want to speak treble or bass, and the speed you want to speak.
Exercise
Try to form some words following these rules.
Making sentences
Verbs
Mondilange sentences are based on the verbs.
liova: to love
Who loves?
mieme tai: "I do" = "I love."
Who do you love?
tiode hoi: "You are" = "It's you I love."
liova mieme tai tiode hoi
I love you.
Well, tai is a particle that follows the agent and hoi follows the direct object (the "patient"). Anyway, If you don't like particles, feel free to omit them, but keep in mind that the subject must always be before the direct object:
mieme liova tiode
OR
mieme tiode liova
OR
liova mieme tiode
OR
miex liova tiox (abbreviations)
Choose which looks more romantic for you.
Some vocabulary
Greeting
halohai: hi!
Hawaiian "aloha" (love, peace, etc.) - English "hello" - Spanish "hola"
tigabai: bye!
Yorùbá "ogábò" - Italian "ciao" - Portuguese "tchau"
Pronouns
mieme: I/me;
Proto-indo-european "-mi", European "me", "mi", "mia", etc.
tiode: you/thou;
Proto-indo-european "-te", South-American Tupi "nde", English "thou", "thee", Thai "than" (polite) and "thoe" (informal), Spanish/Portuguese "tu" and "ti", Spanish "usted", Portuguese "você", etc.
liale: he/she/it;
Swahili "a-", "wa-", Spanish "él" (m) and "ella" (f), Portuguese "ele" (m) and "ela" (f), etc.
Sex
Few words in Mondilange are exclusive for males or females. If you want to make clear the sex, use the following words:
hiane: female/woman
Japanese "onna".
Hebraic "hannah", meaning something like "grace".
Also Japanese "hana/ohana" for flower.
tuoge: male/man
Japanese "otoko".
Nordic "Thor", English "thunder + rock".
liale hiana
It's a female. = She's a female.
mieme tuoga liova liale hiana
I-man love her-woman. (In case you want to be clear.)*
or, for women,
mieme hiana liova liale tuoga (Idem.)
Alternatively, you can use tuogimieme instead of mieme tuoga:
tuokimieme liova hianiliale
- mieme tuoka liova liale tuoga and mieme hiana liova liale hiana are also possible, but, for non-sexual love (son/dad, daughter/mom) you'd better not specify the sex.
Verbs
liova: to love
Hawaiian "aloha", English "love".
monka: to eat/to drink
Latin "manducare", Old French "mangier", Tokipona "moku", Esperanto "mangxi",
nenda: to go
Swahili "nen.da": to go.
Nouns
tiehe: soil, ground, earth
Spanish "tierra". Besides, sound of "t" reminds me earth. Please confirm it! :-D
suade: water
Arabic "sawāhil", English "water", onomatopoeia "shwah...".
huahe: air
Greek-European "aer", onomatopoeia (aspiration ~ wind).
fuege: fire
Spanish "fuego", onomatopoeia "fffff...".
kuoge: rock
English, onomatopoeia ("k" reminds rock breaking, don't you think?).
miade: wood
Spanish "madera", Portuguese "madeira".
lande: place, region, territory, earth
English.
lohiane: flower
Japanese "ohana", Latin "florum", Proto-indo-european "bhlo-".
kelonge: person
Proto-khoisan "khwe", "Australian Aborigine" Gupapuyŋu "yolŋu".
Regency
As Lojban, Mondilange is centered in the verbs (in Lojban, they don't really say "verbs"). Each verb has a structure of "slots" that may be filled with words. For instance, the verb liova ("to love") has two slots: the subject and the object. Other verbs may have more slots: when you say the verb "to give", you have to specify a subject, a direct object and an indirect object.
mieme tiala suade tou tiode
I give water to you.
This could be written more completely as
tiala tai mieme hoi suade tou tiode
So, the verb tiala (to give; Latin "dare") has three slots identified by three particles (technally they are adpositions [prepositions or postpositions]) that must be followed by their "arguments" (words). You can always omit the particles tai and hoi by putting the subject always before the direct object. If you want to use Mondilange as a logical language, the other particles can be omitted only if
(1) the order of the "arguments" must be left unchanged;
(2) the "arguments" of distinct verbs must be separated by conjunctions or appropriate particles.
An "argument" of a verb can be another verb. For instance, the verb sanga means "to be on [some surface]"
Chinese mandarim postposition "shàng": on.
lohiane sanga tuabe
The flower is on the table.
Latin "tabula": table
The verb kieda, from spanish "queda", means to stay, to lie,
lohiane kieda sanga tuabe
[The] flower lies on the table.
piage piena suade
[The] fish is in [the] water.
piage: Tupi pira, Latin piscis.
piena: Guarani postposition "pe". Latin and many european languages "in", "en", "em", etc.
Family
miame: mom, mother
"Mama" in so many languages around the world.
puabe: dad, father
"Baba" or "bapu" in many African and Indian languages. "Padre" in Spanish, "pai" in Portuguese, etc.
membe: child (son/daughter)
South-american Guarani word "memby" for son or daughter. In Guarani, the mother says "memby" (y=vocal gutural), but the father says "rajy" for daughter and "ra'y" for son.
nonge: brother/sister
Thai "nong" for younger brother or sister.
Conjunctions
Conjunctions are used to connect phrases. By default, conjunctions end in "o".
kondo: on the contrary, however, but
kuazo: because
Modifiers, Specifiers, Negation and Tenses
Modifiers and specifiers are similar to adverbs: they change or restrict the sense of a verb.
Negation
mieme handa
I'm handsome/beautiful.
handa is the "verb" to be beautiful.
mieme nionau handa
I'm not handsome.
Negation is made by the modifier nionau (it means "no", naturally) before the verb.
handa looks both like handsome and like hannah (hebraic "female" grace).
Tenses
mieme sai handa
I'm handsome now.
I'm beautiful in the present.
The specifier sai indicates the time: present.
mieme nau-sai handa
I'm beautiful right now.
The specifier nau means "precisely", "just a point in time"...
tiode piehi-sai handa
You were beautiful.
liale pondi-sai handa
She will be beautiful.
tiode hei handa
You have been beautiful. [from an undetermined past moment to an undetermined future moment]
tiode piehi-hei handa
You had been beautiful. [from an undetermined past moment to some past moment]
tiode pondi-hei handa
You will have been beautiful. [from an undetermined past moment to some future moment]
tiode fou handa
You starts being beautiful.
tiode piehi-fou handa
You have started being beautiful.
tiode pondi-fou handa
You are going to start being beautiful.
Articles
Definite article: lai
Indefinite article: neu
Plurality
Plural can be formed by the modifier hoi before the noun.
lohiane: flower
hoi lohiane: flowers
Other similar useful words for countable things are sohoi (some), lehoi (a little of), nihoi (few, "not enough") pahoi ("enough") and tahoi (a lot of).
Intensity
There are particles to specify intensity of the words:
lai hiane handa
The woman is beautiful.
lai hiane tadau handa
The woman is very beautiful.
lai hiane ledau handa
The woman is a little beautiful.
lai hiane nidau handa
The woman is not beautiful enough.
lai hiane padau handa
The woman is beautiful enough.
lai hiane nionau handa
The woman is not beautiful.
lai hiane kondau handa
The woman is the opposite of beautiful.'
OR
The woman is ugly. (You'd better never use this sentence.)
It's an evolution in relation to the Esperanto prefix "mal-". In Esperanto, "bela" is "beautiful" and "malbela" is "ugly". "Varma" is "hot" and "malvarma" is "cold". "Alta" is "tall" and "malalta" is "short". However, some physicist can argue that "cold" is not really the opposite of "hot", but it's only "few hot". "Short" could be "few tall" as well. To avoid all these discussions, Mondilange has precise modifiers to be more specific if you want to.
Comparatives
hokieu ... kieu
as ... as
lenieu ... kieu
less ... than
tadieu ... kieu
more ... than
Examples:
lai lohiane hokieu handa kieu lai piege
The flower is as beautiful as the fish.
lai lohiane lenieu handa kieu lai piege
The flower is less beautiful than the fish.
lai lohiane tadieu handa kieu lai piege
The flower is more beautiful than the fish.
Usage of comparatives are quite general for verbs:
tiode hokieu kieda kieu mieme
You stay like I do.
Superlative
tiode handa
You're beautiful.
tiode makuama handa
You're the most beautiful.
Also:
tiode meniema handa
You're the less beautiful.
Numbers
1: hionu
Proto-indo-european /*Hoi(H)nos/, English "one", Latin "unnus"; Dravidian languages: Tamil /onru/, Tulu /onji/, Kannada /ondu/, Malayalam /onnu/, Kurukh /oṇṭa/.
2: tuobu
Proto-altaic /tybu/. Proto-indo-european /*duoh₁/.
3: tiezu
PIE (Proto-indo-european) /*treies/.
4: kuadu
PIE /*kʷetuōr/.
5: kiegu
PIE /*penkʷe/. Japanese "go".
6: suazu
PIE /*s(w)eḱs/. Sound "a" is in 7 in most Dravidian languages.
7: siebu
PIE /*séptm/.
8: huogu
PIE /*oḱtou/.
9: niobu
Latin "novem", Italian and Portuguese "nove", Spanish "nueve", PIE /*(h₁)néun/.
10: pandu
Telugu "padi".
11: pandu hionu
12: pandu tuobu
(...)
20: tuobu pandu
21: tuobu pandu hionu
22: tuobu pandu tuobu
(...)
30: tiezu pandu
40: kuadu pandu
(...)
100: kendu
Latin "centum".
200: tuobu kendu
300: tiezu kendu
(...)
1,000: pandu kendu (ten hundreds, naturally 10,00)
2,000: tuobu pandu kendu
(...)
10,000: mombu (1,0000)
Japanese "man". It could be "mandu", but it would be too similar to "pandu" (10).
100,000: pandu mombu (10,0000)
1,000,000: kendu mombu (100,0000)
(...)
This system is much more beautiful than the West's scheme, but, OK!, I'm going to give you some options anyway:
1,000: milielu
2,000: tuobu milielu
(...)
1,000,000: milionu = hionu milionu
2,000,000: tuobu milionu
3,000,000: tiezu milionu
(...)
1,000,000,000: bilionu
1,000,000,000,000: tilionu
1,000,000,000,000,000: kalionu
1,000,000,000,000,000,000: kilionu
It's enough! If you want more, use scientific notation.
Colors
tokange: white
Inuit "kak..." ("kakortok" in fact, but all colors end in "tok" there).
Spanish "blanco".
tonuege: black
Swahili "nyeusi", spanish "negro".
tofiage: yellow
Tuareg "awragh", Esperanto "flava".
tokuobe: green
German "grün", Tupi "obi".
toluoze: blue
tokiade: red
toliaze: purple
tobione: brown
togiehe: gray