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| Gender | Cases | Numbers | Tenses | Persons | Moods | Voices | Aspects | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Verb | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Nouns | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Adjectives | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Numbers | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Participles | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| Adverb | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Pronouns | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| Adpositions | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Article | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Particle | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Morlagoan Mórlagost | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Type | |||
| Fusional | |||
| Alignment | |||
| Nominative-accusative | |||
| Head direction | |||
| Initial | |||
| Tonal | |||
| No | |||
| Declensions | |||
| Yes | |||
| Conjugations | |||
| Yes | |||
| Genders | |||
| No | |||
| Nouns decline according to... | |||
| Case | Number | ||
| Definiteness | Gender | ||
| Verbs conjugate according to... | |||
| Voice | Mood | ||
| Person | Number | ||
| Tense | Aspect | ||
Setting
Morlagoan is one of the four official languages of the United Islands of Morlago. It is an a priori conlang, with influences from Chinese, English and Spanish in its lexicon.
Phonology
Consonants
| Bilabial | Labio- dental |
Alveolar | Post- alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | Labio- velar |
Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | p b | t d | k g | ||||||
| Affricate | t͡s | t͡ʃ d͡ʒ | |||||||
| Fricative | f v | s z | ʃ ʒ | x | h | ||||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ||||||
| Tap / flap | ɾ | ||||||||
| Approximant | l | j | w | ||||||
Note:
- ʃ ʒ may be palatalized to ɕ ʑ before front vowels, especially before i and u
- n becomes ŋ before k g
- some dialects contrast ɾ (tap) with r (trill)
- word-initial voiceless plosives are aspirated
Voiced vs. unvoiced
Morlagoan consonants are divided into two groups: voiced and unvoiced. This distinction is not the same as the voiced-voiceless distinction in linguistics, and so they are also called dark and light, or hard and soft. This distinction plays a role in Morlagoan grammar, most importantly in determining case and definiteness of nouns (explaned below).
| Voiced | b | d | g | j | jh | l | m | n | ny | q | v | w | y | z | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unvoiced | p | t | k | x | ch | - | - | - | - | h | f | Ø | s | c | |
As you can see, there are a few voiced consonants that have no unvoiced counterparts, and both s and c voice to z. W is the voiced counterpart of the null initial, i.e. syllable beginning with a
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | y | u | |
| Mid | e | ø | ə | o |
| Open | a | |||
The exact pronunciation of the mid vowels can vary from close-mid to open-mid. For most speakers, they change according to the phonological context of the vowel as this variety does not constitute ambiguity or confusion with the other vowels.
Pronunciation and Orthography
Morlagoan uses the Latin alphabet, with the addition of three digraphs ch, ny and jh.
Vowels
| Letter | Name | IPA of Name | IPA of Pronunciation | Example | IPA | English approximation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A a | aye | /'aje/ | /a/ | atún many | /a'tun/ | father |
| E e | eke | /'eke/ | /e/ | etöj star | /'etøʒ/ | bed |
| Ë ë | ëná | /ə'na/ | /ə/ | payë days | /'pajə/ | ago |
| I i | isa | /'isa/ | /i/ | hizok to drink | /'hizok/ | be |
| O o | o | /o/ | /o/ | mottal sun | /'mot:al/ | hot |
| U u | u | /u/ | /u/ normally | uga evening | /'uga/ | moo |
| /w/ in a vowel cluster | puas wood | /'pwas/ | wine | |||
| Ü ü | ü | /y/ | /y/ | eftükru year | /ef'tykru/ | none; French tu |
Consonants
| Letter | Name | IPA of Name | IPA of Pronunciation | Example | IPA | English approximation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B b | /b/ | |||||
| C c | /t͡s/ | cot book | /'t͡sot/ | cats; Japanese tsuki | ||
| Ch ch | /t͡ʃ/ | choga to leave | /'t͡ʃoga/ | chin | ||
| D d | /d/ | dehak to know | /'dehak/ | dear | ||
| F f | /f/ | friana moon | /'fɾi'ana/ | fire | ||
| G g | /g/ | gosa beautiful | /'gosa/ | good | ||
| H h | /h/ normally | hizuk to drink | /'hizuk/ | home | ||
| silent word-finally | muah hot | /'mwa/ | - | |||
| J j | /ʒ/ | jamare to call | /ʒa'maɾe/ | vision | ||
| Jh jh | /d͡ʒ/ | |||||
| K k | /k/ | |||||
| L l | /l/ | luç light | /luʃ/ | lake | ||
| M m | /m/ | mel water | /'mel/ | mat | ||
| N n | /n/ | noche night | /not͡ʃe/ | no | ||
| Ny ny | /ɲ/ | nyagrë although | /'ɲagɾə/ | canyon; Spanish uña | ||
| P p | /p/ | pórec pig | /'poɾek/ | spin | ||
| Q q | /x/ |
qabanuk to sacrifice |
/xa'banuk/ | loch | ||
| R r | /ɾ/ | rúa road | /'ɾu.a/ | mirror (Scottish English) | ||
| S s | /s/ normally | sayém four | /sa'jem/ | sin | ||
| /ʃ/ in a cluster | shin | |||||
| T t | /t/ | teisin kingdom | /'teisin/ | stick | ||
| V v | /v/ | vúltëma knife | /'vultəma/ | vain | ||
| W w | /w/ | woho owl | /'woʔo/ | went | ||
| X x | /ʃ/ | xauti last | /'ʃauti/ | shin | ||
| Y y | /j/ | yais only | /'jais/ | yes | ||
| Z z | /z/ | beza beast | /'beza/ | zoo |
Grammar
Nouns
Morlagoan nouns decline according to case, number and definiteness, but not gender. There are five cases in Morlagoan: nominative, accusative, dative, genitive and instrumental.
Declensions
All regular Morlagoan nouns follow the same declension pattern. Using friana (moon) and genchak (meeting) as examples:
| Case | Change | Friana | Genchak |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | none | friana | genchak |
| Accusative | +(ë)n | frianan | genchakën |
| Dative | initial unvoiced | friana | kgenchak |
| Genitive | +(ë)r | frianar | genchakër |
| Instrumental | +(ë)s | frianas |
genchakës |