User:Lilamkiat/sandbox

Sky
Sky
Xa
Created by	Li Lamkiat
Ethnicity	Children of the Light
Users	All children
Purpose	Constructed language a posteriori constructed language Sky; ;
Writing system	Sky script, Latin
Official status
Official language in	Sky
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–

Sky is a fictional constructed language for the game Sky: Children of the Light. Sky is a VOS language.

Source language[edit]

The bulk of vocabulary in Sky language are proportionally borrowed from the proportion of Sky's player demographics. Most words are modifications of Mandarin, English, Japanese, Malay and Korean words along with some a priori vocabulary. References are taken from Austronesian languages such as Toba Batak, Gilbertese and Seediq concerning morphology and syntax in drastic simplification. Certain syntactic particles are direct loanwords from Seediq.

Phonology[edit]

Consonant[edit]

	Labial	Coronal¹	Palatal²	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n
Plosive³	p b	t d	t͡ʃ d͡ʒ	k	(ʔ)⁴
Fricative	f v⁵	s z⁶	ʃ		h~ɦ
Approximant	w⁷	ɹ⁸	j
lateral approximant		l

Phonetic details:

Coronal consonants can be realized as dental or alveolar.
Palatal obstruents /t͡ʃ d͡ʒ ʃ/ could be palatalized to [t͡ɕ d͡ʑ ɕ] before /i/.
The contrast of plosives and affricates can be either based on voicedness [p t t͡ʃ k] [b d d͡ʒ g] or aspiration [pʰ tʰ t͡ʃʰ kʰ] [p t t͡ʃ k]. Voiced contrast is considered the standard.
Glottal stop is inserted before a vowel onset; not phonemic.
/f v/ are labiodental.
Coronal fricatives /s z/ could be palatalized to [ʃ ʒ] or [ɕ ʑ] before /i/.
/w/ is strictly distinct from /v/.
The rhotic phoneme /ɹ/ allows a plethora of rhotic allophones; [ɹ] is the standard.

Vowel[edit]

Stressed vowels
	Front	Back
Close	i	u
Mid¹	e	o
Open²	a

Phonetic details:

Middle vowels can range between [e o ~ ɛ ɔ] as free variations.
Open vowel /a/ can range between [a ~ ɑ].

Stress[edit]

Sky language is stress-timed: lengths of each syllable vary in accordance to whether they're stressed. Primary stress is on the first syllable of the word stem, with the secondary stress falling on the penultimate syllable. Semivowels /j w/ as coda are treated as consonants and therefore do not alter moras. Examples:

Stress on the first syllable: màda, "already"
Stress on the penultimate syllable: du-xà-haráko, "child who make use of light"

Sky language does not have phonemic distinction between vowel lengths. Their lengths, however, are realized differently according to stress. Stressed vowels last longer; unstressed vowels have corresponding optional allophones:

Unstressed vowels (optional)
	Front	Back
Close	i > [ɪ]	u > [ʊ]
Mid	e o a > [ə]
Open	e o a > [ə]

Examples shown as below.

(1)

du-xa-[h]ara-ko

do-light-AGT-child

[duˈʃaː.haˌɹaː.ko] ~ [dʊˈʃaː.həˌɹaː.kə]

'child who make use of light'

(2)

bi-[y]aka-[y]it

become-red-PFV

[biˈjaːˌkaː.jit] ~ [bɪˈjaːˌkaː.jɪt]

'to have become red'

Monosyllabic content word are obligatorily stressed while function words are left unstressed. That leads to an apparent suprasegmental pattern where content words are intended to be the emphasis in speech flow.

Phonotactics and syllable[edit]

The basic syllable structure of Sky language is (C₁)V(C₂ə).

Onset[edit]

Onset allows all consonants /m, n, p, b, t, d, k, g, t͡ʃ, d͡ʒ, f, v, s, z, ʃ, h, w, ɹ, j, l/ and zero consonant with an optionally inserted /ʔ/. While allowed,/ji/ and /wu/ are phonemically identical to /i/ and /u/.

Coda[edit]

Codas are allowed only at the end of a word and an optional schwa is to be inserted. By far, all consonants are allowed like onset, but there might be exceptions. Combinations /ij/ and /uw/ are prohibited.

Syllable Structure[edit]

Overall the syllable structure can be summarized by the simple notation (C₁)V(C₂ə). Names of the children of the light are exactly disyllabic, trisyllabic or tetrasyllabic with no exception.

Structure	Sample word	Pronunciation	Meaning
Monosyllabic
V	e	/e/	yes/no question marker
VC₂	ku	/ku/	me (1sg oblquie)
CV	xa	/ʃa/	light
CVC₂	nus	/nus/	them (3pl oblique)
Disyllabic
VCV	isu	/ˈi.su/	you (2sg nominative)
VCVC₂	Ixut	/iˈʃut/	(name)
CVCV	punu	/ˈpu.nu/	he/she/it (3sg nominative)
CVCVC₂	Koput	/ˈko.put/	(name)
Trisyllabic
VCVCV	Otilo	/oˈti.lo/	(name)
VCVCVC₂	Emoyod	/ˈeˌmo.jod/	(name)
CVCVCV	Romufo	/ɹoˈmu.fo/	(name)
CVCVCVC₂	Parutup	/ˈpaˌɹu.tup/	(name)
Tetrasyllabic
VCVCVCV	Icixupe	/iˈt͡ʃiˌʃu.pe/	(name)
VCVCVCVC₂	Akicapo	/ˈa.kiˌt͡ʃa.po/	(name)
CVCVCVCV	Fibefuzi	/ˈfi.beˌfu.zi/	(name)
CVCVCVCVC₂	Lutaxojor	/ˈlu.taˌʃo.d͡ʒoɹ/	(name)

Historical sound changes[edit]

There's very little known about the older forms of the Sky language except for the Elders' names: Tandi (Isle of Dawn), Ayin (Daily Prairie), Teth (Hidden Forest), Alef and Daleth (Valley of Triumph), Samekh (Golden Wasteland), Lamed (Vault of Knowledge). Apart from Tandi, the rest of the Elders were named after Hebrew letters, shown as the chart below. The etymology of Tandi remains a mystery, and it's the only name that violates (C)V(C) combination limit of modern Sky language.

Location	Names of Elder	Corresponding Hebrew Letter	IPA in modern Hebrew language	Order in Hebrew Alphabet
Isle of Dawn	Tandi	-	-	-
Daily Prairie	Ayin	ע‎	[ʕ] Colloquially [ʔ] or ∅	16th
Hidden Forest	Teth	ט‎	[t]	9th
Valley of Triumph	Alef	א‎	[ʔ], ∅	1st
Valley of Triumph	Daleth	ד‎	[d]	4th
Golden Wasteland	Samekh	ס‎	[s]	15th
Vault of Knowledge	Lamed	ל‎	[l]	12th

Several sounds implied in their names, supposedly the exact pronunciation of Hebrew, are absent in modern Sky language: [ʕ] for Ayin, [χ] for Samekh, phonetic [ʔ] for Alef, and from other Semitic languages [θ] from Teth and Daleth. There's not yet a clue how these sounds evolve to fit into the current inventory. The following tables display several plausible schemes for the sound change.

"Old Sky"	*ʔ	*ʕ	*χ?	*θ?
scheme 1: global fortition	k	g	k	t
scheme 1: global fortition	*ʔalef > kalef	*ʕajin > gajin	*sameχ > Samek	teθ > tet daleθ > dalet
scheme 2: global lenition	∅	∅	h	h
scheme 2: global lenition	*ʔalef > alef	*ʕajin > ajin	*sameχ > Sameh	teθ > teh daleθ > daleh
scheme 3: before high vowels	ʔ > {j w} / _{i u} ʔ > {k ∅} elsewhere	ʕ > {j w} / _{i u} ʕ > {g ∅} elsewhere	χ > ʃ / _i χ > {k h} elsewhere	θ > t͡s > t͡ʃ / _{i u} θ > {t h} elsewhere
scheme 3: before high vowels	*ʔilef > jilef	*ʕunu > wunu	*χisop > ʃisop	*θiθu > t͡ʃit͡ʃu
scheme 4: sibilantization	-	-	see scheme 3	s
scheme 4: sibilantization	-	-	see scheme 3	teθ > tes daleθ > dales

Tandi is a peculiar case as modern Sky language does not allow CVCCV within a word. Three possible syllabic analysis are shown below, and their plausible sound changes follow from the second column.

"Tandi"	CVC.CV /tan.di/	CV.CCV /ta.ndi/	CVCC.V /tand.i/	CV.C.CV /ta.n̩.di/
scheme 1: deletion	*an > a	-	*and > a	*n̩ > ∅
scheme 1: deletion	*tan.di > ta.di	-	tand.i > *ta.i > ta.ji	*ta.n̩.di > ta.di
scheme 2: coda deletion with vowel mutation	*an > o / _C	-	*and > o	-
scheme 2: coda deletion with vowel mutation	*tan.di > to.di	-	tand.i > *to.i > to.ji	-
scheme 3: vowel insertion	*an > anV / _C	*ndV > nVdV	*and.i > a.na.di (syllables reanalyzed)	n̩ > nV / V_ n̩ > Vn / C_
scheme 3: vowel insertion	tan.di > *tana.di > ta.na.di	ta.ndi > *ta.nadi > ta.na.di	tand.i > *tanad.i > ta.na.di	*ta.n̩.di > ta.na.di
scheme 4: fusion	-	ndi > di ndi > ni	Vnd.V > *Vn.V > V.nV (syllables reanalyzed)	-
scheme 4: fusion	-	ta.ndi > ta.di ta.ndi > ta.ni	tand.i > *tan.i > ta.ni	-

Orthography[edit]

The Sky language alphabet is transcribed to Latin script and consists of the 25 letters that exclude letter Q. The Romanization follows strict one-to-one sound correspondence aside from a limited number of allophones or free variations.

Sky Romanization
Upper case	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J	K	L	M	N	O	P	R	S	T	U	V	W	X	Y	Z
Lower case	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h	i	j	k	l	m	n	o	p	r	s	t	u	v	w	x	y	z
IPA	a	b	t͡ʃ	d	e	f	g	h~ɦ	i	d͡ʒ	k	l	m	n	o	p	ɹ	s	t	u	v	w	ʃ	j	z

Diacritics[edit]

There are two diacritics in Romanization of Sky language.

Grave accent: optional, to mark primary stress.
Acute accent: optional, to mark secondary stress.
- Example: duxàharáko 'child who make use of light'

Morphology[edit]

Auxiliaries[edit]

There are two sets of auxiliary verbs: aspect and modal.

Aspect auxiliary verbs cannot be inflected (i.e. -(y)it suffix is not applicable) and obligatorily precede modifying verb.

Aspect	Sky Language	Sample sentence
preterite	mow	Mow te xa ya punus.
preterite	mow	They have collected light.
counterperfective	mada	Mada te xa ya Romufo.
counterperfective	mada	Romufo hasn't collected light yet.
progressive	igi	Igi te xa ka Ixut.
progressive	igi	Ixut is collecting light now.

Pronouns[edit]

The pronominal system is relatively simplistic and systematic. Direct forms are the default form taking place when appropriate particles precede, and oblique for those without particles. There is no gender distinction.

Person				Number
Person				singular	plural
1			direct	yaku	[pronoun]-s
1			oblique	ku
2			direct	isu
2			oblique	su
3	General		direct	punu
	General		oblique	nu
	Demonstrative pronouns	Proximal	direct	disa
		Proximal	oblique	isa
		Distal	direct	dasa
		Distal	oblique	asa
Reflexive				zepu=[oblique]
Emphatic				isi=[direct] (from copula is)

Oblique pronouns functions as dative, genitive, locative, etc. when no particle precedes. When following the finite verb, it serves as a clitic to mark the subject of the whole verb phrase; similarly, it builds gerunds in sufficient contexts.

(1)

Te xa=nu ka isu.

take light=3sg.OBL NOM 2sg

'You collect their (sg.) light'

(2)

Te=ku xa.

take=1sg.OBL light

'I collect light'

(3)

Du te-xa=ku ka punu.

do take-light=1sg.OBL NOM 3sg

'They (sg.) collect light for me' (lit. They do my light-taking)

Determiner[edit]

Only demonstrators are used in Sky language and they follow a simple paradigm. They precede head word and do not inflect.

Degree	Direct
Proximal	dis
Distal	das

Syntax[edit]

Word order[edit]

The standard word order of Sky language is VOS (verb–object–subject).

Mada

not.yet

te

take

xa

light

ka

NOM

yaku.

1sg

'I haven't collected light'

Morphosyntactic alignment[edit]

Sky language is an accusative language; its agent and subject are both indicated with a particle ka, and object is left unmarked.

Copula[edit]

Is is the copula word that does not conjugate or make compound words. It expresses identity, subgroup, state, attributes, existence, and location. However, most of the time the copula is optional and its occurence semantically implies emphasis; i.e. Is ko ka Fihic is semantically identical to Ko ka Fihic but pragmatically the latter sentence puts emphasis on the state of "ko".

(1)

Is

COP

ka

NOM

Fihic.

Fihic

'It's Fihic'

(2)

Is

COP

ko

child

ka

NOM

Fihic.

Fihic

'Fihic is a child' (or 'Fihic belongs to the category "child"')

(3)

Is

COP

te

take

xa

light

ka

NOM

yaku.

1sg

'I'm taking light' (lit. I'm in the state of taking light)

(4)

Is

COP

aka

red

ka

NOM

xa.

light

'Light is red'

(5)

Is

COP

ti

LOC

pahi

prairie

ka

NOM

yaku.

1sg

'I'm at the prairie' ('the prairie' usually means 'Daily Prairie')

Negation[edit]

To negate a certain phrase, a negation particle na is placed directly before it. Negation marker displacement is possible when the negated phrase is apparent enough through context. This rule of order also applies to other semantically negating words to negate another phrase.

(1)

Na

NEG

te

take

xa

light

ka

NOM

yaku.

1sg

'I don't collect light'

(2)

Te

take

na

NEG

xa

light

ka

NOM

yaku.

1sg

'I collect no light'

(3)

Te

take

xa

light

na

NEG

ka

NOM

yaku.

1sg

'It is not me that collect light (Somebody else does it/No one does it)'

(4)

Te

take

xa

light

ka

NOM

na

NEG

yaku.

1sg

'It is not me that collect light (Someone else does it)'

Note that in (3) and (4) there is a slight semantic difference. In (4), the negation plainly states that the agent of this action is not carried out by yaku. In (3), the whole ka-phrase is negated, aside a duplicated meaning from (3), by extension meaning no one turns out carrying out the action.

Prohibitive is formed by inserting na before the finite verb and drops the ka-phrase. Na could be articulated extralong for emphasis.

(5)

Na

NEG

te

take

xa.

light

'Don't collect light!'

Direction[edit]

There are two sets of directions in the Sky language: body relative directions and Eden-based coordinates.

Body relative directions are a set of geometrical directions based on a speaker's perspective. All of them are derived from body parts of a child. The distinction between left and right is based on the two basic bodily expressions: the hand to hold a butterfly and the hand to wave hand (lv. 1~4).

English	Sky term	Source word	Original meaing
front			face
back			back
up			head
down			foot
left			to hold butterfly
right			to wave hand

Eden-based coordinates is a geography-based direction linked to the ultimate goal of all children: the Eden. It's a dichotomy that divides into "towards Eden" and "away from Eden". In the circumstances where Eden is not visible "towards Eden" explicitly means "towards the exist that's closer to Eden" and vice versa.

English	Sky term
towards Eden	kuweden
towards Eden	ku(w)-eden go.to-Eden ku(w)-eden go.to-Eden 'go to Eden'
away from Eden	liyeden
away from Eden	li(y)-eden leave-Eden li(y)-eden leave-Eden 'leave Eden'

Source language[edit]

Phonology[edit]

Consonant[edit]

Vowel[edit]

Stress[edit]

Phonotactics and syllable[edit]

Onset[edit]

Coda[edit]

Syllable Structure[edit]

Historical sound changes[edit]

Orthography[edit]

Diacritics[edit]

Morphology[edit]

Auxiliaries[edit]

Pronouns[edit]

Determiner[edit]

Syntax[edit]

Word order[edit]

Morphosyntactic alignment[edit]

Copula[edit]

Negation[edit]

Direction[edit]

See also[edit]