Glatta liixkosja

[Spetsnaz.Invidika]

I thought, since I figure /someone/ is probably interested, I'd start a post about the construct language I've been working on. Please note that it is an artistic construct language, ergo designed to somewhat mimic the natural illogical nature of languages, but at the same time isn't totally random (eg, English spelling). I'm not going to turn this into a grammar lesson, but I figured some people would be interested. x3

Why do I do this?  It's a hobby.  It's fun.  And I'm a freak.

Plus, maybe some people will have random input that might be useful, though I warn you, I'll probably shoot down a /lot/. XD

And of course none of this is final yet, this is totally a WIP... It changes constantly.

Glatta liixkosja (GL, for ease) technically uses the Roman alphabet, but lacks the following letters: H, M, J, C, Q, Y and W. However, it also has the additional letters Â, Ê, Ü, Ё and Ä. Also unique to it is the iâj. The iâj is not a letter, but a symbol: "j" (it is NOT like the English or German j). It has two functions: It modifies an s sound to become sh, and also links whichever two vowels are preceeding it into a dipthong ("au" would be "aa-oo", but "auj" is like "ow", a smooth glide rather than two syllables)

[[Adjacent vowels are pronounced as separate syllables without a iâj!]]

There are a few extra sounds and symbols not equivalent to the English ones:

~ j is a iâj, NOT a letter, as explained.

~ z is not 'zz', but rather 'ts'

~ sj is, as described, 'sh'.

~ zj is 'ch' (because ch = t+sh, and z = ts, so it's like tsj, ergo zj)

~ o is not 'oh', but rather 'ou', like the ou in 'could' or the u in 'put'

~ â is 'ai' (just like I or Eye), always a dipthong

~ ê is 'ei' (just like 'Bay' or the English letter A), always a dipthong [in speech, this usually gets blended to the European E, which sounds kind of halfway between e and i -- think the E in 'egg')

~ ü is 'uh', as in 'gun'

~ ä is 'ahh', a very long, drop-your-chin, round-lipped one, like a somewhat-exaggerated 'ah' in 'father' or 'tawny'

~ ё is 'ih', like 'shin' or 'fit

~ x is a paletal fricative -- in German it's 'ch'. Put your tongue as if to say 'sh', then drop the tip a bit. Similar to a cat hissing.

Two further notes:

~ R is trilled, unless it is used as a vowel (which it can be -- don't be so surprised, you've been using it as one for a long time. The word 'actor' is pronounced without the O, just 'actr', if you think about it). For example the word Matr (mother), it is pronounced as in English and is considered a vowel. Otherwise it is trilled.

It sounds like a lot, but it's all actually rather logical -- the ^ indicates an '-i' and the umlauts move the sound "back" in your mouth a little.

Stress on syllables is important, and there are only three rules: 1: if there is any number of â or ê in the word, stress will always fall on /one/ of them. 2: if there is a double-vowel, the stress will always fall on that (they are not pronounced differently, though often end up slightly 'lengthened'). 3: if there's a double-consonant somewhere, the stress will always fall on the syllable right before it.

There are two word genders and an undecided number of cases...

So, you can figure out how to pronounced "Glatta liixkosja' now ;3 Incidentally, the name literally translates to "Language of foxes" or "Foxish language", (long story). Glatta = (f) language; Liixka = fox, -zja or -sja is a suffix relating to genetive case (and which you use has to do with the class of the preceeding vowel, gnassa sjtie).

Have fun breaking your brains. ;3 questions, comments, complaints, etc?

(edit) Thought I'd give some examples of just a couple words. This language mostly uses a Latin base, but there are a lot of "native" words as well as a few loanwords or at least loaned roots (like lis- for foxes)

~ Dotauj (m) - death

~ Êluijt (f) - tree

~ Kovassa (f) - don't know yet, honestly

~ Liixka (f) - fox

~ Sjёntâkê (m) - (Okay, so that's a name...)

~ Glatta (f) - language

~ Vivie (m) - life

~ Sangauj (m) - blood

~ Azje (m) - pain

~ Matr (f) - mother

Pronouns later. ;3

[Mr. Krystal]

Post some audio clips of you speaking said language!