Clorlimoan language
Clorlimoan (local name: Vuum Paabi, "the mouth of the people") is the national language of Clorlimoa. Due to the nation's remote geographic location, Clorlimoan is not related to any other known language in the world.
| Clorlimoan Vuum Paabi | |
|---|---|
| Pronunciation: | IPA: [ˈʋuːmˌpaːbi] or [ˈʋoʊ̭mˌpaɪ̭bi] |
| Spoken in: | Clorlimoa |
| Genetic classification: | Isolate |
Contents
Pronunciation
Consonants
| bilabial | labiod. | alveolar | retro./post. | palatal | velar | glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plosive | b (B) p (P) |
d (D) t (T) |
g (G) K (k) |
||||
| nasal | m (M) | n (N) | ŋ (N) | ||||
| trill | r (R) | ||||||
| fricative | f (F) | s (S) | ʃ/ʂ (LS/RS) | x (H) | h (H) | ||
| approximant | ʋ (V) | j (J) | |||||
| lat. approx. | l (L) |
N is pronounced [ŋ] before G or K.
H is pronounced [h] before a vowel, otherwise [x].
Both LS and RS are pronounced [ʃ] or [ʂ], depending on the dialect.
Vowels
Short vowels
| front | back | |
|---|---|---|
| close | i (I) | u (U) |
| open-mid | ɛ (E) | ɔ (O) |
| open | æ (A) |
Long vowels
| front | back | |
|---|---|---|
| close | i: (II) eɪ (EI) |
u: (UU) oʊ (OU) |
| close-mid | e: (EE) eɪ (EI) |
o: (OO) oʊ (OU) |
| open | a: (AA) aɪ (AI) |
The "long" vowels are pronounced long in some dialects, but diphthongal in others.
Spelling
Clorlimoan does not use the Latin alphabet. It is used here to make the language easier to learn for people who know the Latin alphabet.
Hyphens indicate morphological boundaries. They help you understand the grammar, but they do not represent pauses.
Grammar
Verbs
The Clorlimoan verb does not agree with the subject. That means it is not conjugated by the 6 persons. It does, however, indicate tense and mood.
Another difference between the Clorlimoan and the English verb is the fact that a Clorlimoan verb is always finite. There are no infinitives, participles or gerunds; every verb has a mood suffix.
Copula
There are two copulas in Clorlimoan: miv indicates an equality, od indicates a (temporary) attribute or a location. Examples:
Miv-fi Klor Limoo ur-klor.
equal-DECL island fire EQU-island
"Clorlimoa is an island."
Od-fi hluu-piiharv luugrih.
be-DECL ATTRIB-student I-me
"I am a student."
Od-fi hluu-minkrooh gir.
be-DECL ATTRIB-beautiful you(sg)-you(sg)
"You are beautiful."
Od-fi arde-poglig Mari.
be-DECL LOC-house Mari
"Mary is in the house."
Tense
Clorlimoan distinguishes three tenses: past, recent past and non-past. The recent past is used to describe events and states that have an influence on the present. The non-past is used for both present and future. Examples:
El-k-fi Suu tri-Mari.
kill-PAST-DECL Suu ACC-Mari
"Sue killed Mary."
El-fel-fi Suu tri-Mari.
kill-RECPAST-DECL Suu ACC-Mari
"Sue has killed Mary."
El-fi Suu tri-Mari.
kill-DECL Suu ACC-Mari
"Sue is killing Mary."
El-eelf Suu tri-Mari.
kill-POT Suu ACC-Mari
"Sue is going to kill Mary."
The future is usually not expressed with the declarative mood. That takes us to our next section: moods.
Mood
Clorlimoans always indicate how strongly they believe in what they are saying. They do so by adding mood suffixes to the verbs:
- Dubative: The speaker has strong doubts.
- Potential: The speaker is not sure, but s/he thinks it is possible.
- Declarative: The speaker thinks what s/he says is true.
- Energetic: The speaker emphasizes that it's definitely true.
Examples:
El-k-evuu Suu tri-Mari.
kill-PAST-DUB Suu ACC-Mari
"I doubt Sue killed Mary."
El-k-eelf Suu tri-Mari.
kill-PAST-POT Suu ACC-Mari
"Maybe Sue killed Mary."
El-k-fi Suu tri-Mari.
kill-PAST-DECL Suu ACC-Mari
" Sue killed Mary."
El-k-atoo Suu tri-Mari.
kill-PAST-ENERG Suu ACC-Mari
"Sue definitely killed Mary."
Beside these, Clorlimoan has an imperative mood, just like English:
Gloov-aa arde-poglig!
go-IMP LOC-house
"Go into the house!"
Conditions are expressed a little differently from English, using the hypothetical mood for the if-phrase, and the potential for the main phrase:
Gloov-o aarde-poglig Mari, el-eelf Suu erselk.
go-HYP LOC-house Mari, kill-POT Suu s/he-other
"If Mary went into the house, Sue would kill her."
