Thropoi

Thropoi is the (temporary?) name for my new 'artlang' (artistic language). It is derived from the first word that sprang to mind when coming up with this lang, which was "thropos". It means 'bull', though I'm not quite sure what effects that has on the meaning of 'Thropoi'.

Anyhow, let's look at a couple of sentences I assembled:

Anthonos sín darëthi prádo. Tas mano vesem mannin akot shánide. Tasta të tamen të rapu etet nají Frankarërne, jatem ain rutarevt.

It's supposed to mean the following:

Anthony is my friend. He has a great house near the sea. His mother and father went to France, but have not returned.

 Let's disect that, shall we?

• Anthonos - "Anthony" [name, masc. nom. sg., o-base] from Anthonos
• sín - "is" [verb, 3rd sg. act., present simple, indi.] from sín
• darëthi - "my" [pronoun, general possessive sg., consonant-base] from dar
• prádo - "friend" [n., general predicative sg., o-base] from prádo
• tas - "he" [pn., masc. nom. sg., a-base] from tas
• mano - "have" [v., 3rd sg. act., present simple, indi.] from mano
• vesem - "house" [n., neuter acc. sg., c.-base] from ves
• mannin - "big" [adjective, neut. acc. sg., o-base] from manno
• akot - "near" [preposition]
• shánide - "sea" [n., neut. locative sg., o-base] from sháno
• tasta - "his" [pn., masc. poss. sg., a-base] from tas
• të - "and" [conjunction] (always appears in pairs or groups)
• tamen - "mother" [n., fem. nom. sg., e-base] from tamen
• të - "and" [conjunction]
• rapu - "father" [n., masc. nom. sg, u-base] from rapu
• etet - "went" [v., 3rd pl. monovalent, past simple, indi.] from eta
• nají - "to" [preposition]
• Frankarërne - "France" [nm., neut. lative sg., c.-base] from Frankar
• jatem - "but" [conjunction]
• ain - "not" [adverb]
• rutarevt - "have returned" [v., 3rd pl. mon., present perfect] from rutaro

Phew, that's quite a list.

As you might have noticed, Thropoi has a lot of different conjugations: there are 4 genders, 13 cases, 4 numbers and 5 bases (leaving you with 1040 noun-conjugations), 3 tenses, 3 aspects, 4 voices, 8 persons and 8 moods (resulting in 2304 verb-conjugations, although some are impossible).

This is of course on purpose. The aim of this particular lang is purely art; I want to have a language that one can only interpret and produce with a dictionary at hand. Where my other langs are often quite simple, this is a language that is ridiculously complex, just for the sake of it.

Hwong Zheng word order

As there are no affices in Hwong Zheng, word order is very specific. Basically, every sentence is divided as such:

[Subject] [Verb] [Object] [Additionals]

Where the additionals can be prepositional phrases and adverbs.

Adjectives always follow the noun they belong to. A noun and an adjective are often interchangeable.

Only articles can be placed in front of the noun.

When a segment consists of more than two elements, it is closed by repeating the first word.

If, for instance, a noun is followed by two adjectives, the noun is repeated afterwards to close the group. 

If a preposition is followed by a noun with an adjective, the preposition is repeated.

When repeating, the first half of the syllable, i.e. the consonant and semi-vowel, are omitted. In two-syllable words, only the last syllable-half remains.

E.g.:

Rwoung than dzheu 'oung -- Slave dead three (slave) -- Three dead slaves

Shoun ley syuung 'oun -- House near river (house) -- The house near the river

Wou reng zhing 'ou -- With child ten (with) -- With ten children

Ang wou dzyin hieng 'ou pwen myan 'ang -- Man with knife gold (with) clothed black (man) -- A man with a golden knife wearing black

Word Emphasis

I replied to a forum topic on the difference between defining and non-defining clauses; I thought it might be interesting to share.

Παнтιεc ιοᴧтυιн αδυнωнтec δec εκιειн.

All.ADJ dance.INF NEG-can.SUBST must leave.INF.

All who can't dance must leave.

Παнтec ιοᴧтυιн αδυнωнтιεc δec εκιειн.

All dance.INF NEG-can.ADJ must leave.INF.

All, who can't dance, must leave.

Here, the difference is made by switching noun/adjective, as adjectives can most often be omitted. In both sentences the inability to dance results in to the necessity to leave.

Φυαнтω мου ᴧυβрεc παнтιεc ειειᴧεтωнтιεc.

Sell.1SG my books all.ADJ read.PRF.PASS.ADJ.

I'm selling all my books which I've read.

Φυαнтω мου ᴧυβрεc παнтιεc, ἁтεc ειειᴧω.

Sell.1SG my books all.ADJ, which read.PRF.1SG.

I'm selling all my books, which I've read.

The emphasis is often on the last part of the sentence or word group, thus on ειειᴧεтωнтιεc in the third and on παнтιεc in the last sentence.

One could place the emphasis on many different words:
Φυαнтω ᴧυβрεc παнтιεc мου. - I sell all my books (not yours).
Φυαнтω παнтιεc мου ᴧυβрεc. - I sell all my books (but I'm keeping my films).
Παнтιεc мου ᴧυβрεc φυαнтω. - I sell all my books (I'm not just throwing them out).

As you might have noticed, participial constructions are an immense part of Lurion. They're what makes it unique, actually. Well, at least I haven't seen many other languages that use them so frequently.

Comparison and Diminutive

There are 5 degrees of comparison (as opposed to the 3 most languages have):

ὁрιтαтιι - highest
ὁрιтeрιι - higher
ὁрιι - high
ὁрιмeрιι - less high
ὁрιcαтιι - least high

The first ι is very weak, so root and infix might assimilate. E.g.: ευтαтιι ('best'; instead of ευтιтαтιι), ᴧυмeрιι ('less low'; instead of ᴧυмιмeрιι) or ὑδecαтιι ('least wet'; instead of ὑδeιcαтιι).
This will, however, only happen with roots that end with a vowel or with the same consonant. For instance, note the difference between φαcαтιι/φαcιтαтιι ('least hot' and 'hottest'; from φαcιι) and φαcтιι/φαcтαтιι ('thick' and 'thickest'; from φαcтιι).

Not only adjectives can be compared, also nouns, adverbs and verbs.
E.g.: εтαрιтαтιc ('the most/best friend') or ιω тεᴧxιтeрιωн ('I go faster').

To compare with something, the comparing dative is used: ι мεнω ευтeрιι cει - 'I am better than you'.

Finally, there is also a diminutive, used to indicate a smaller version of something. It has the infix -ιнт-. For instance: καтιнтιc - 'a little cat'.

The Dual

I said I'd explain about the dual some time ago, but I totally forgot. Therefore, here it is.

Form

- υc
- ουc
- ευ
- αc

Use

The dual is used for pairs, thus not just for any 2 items. A good example is οπυc (eyes / a pair of eyes), e.g. αнтрωπec οπευ ειδεc, "humans look with their eyes" (lit: humans with-pair-of-eyes look).
Other examples are other body (ακeυc, 'a pair of ears') or φeᴧυc, 'a pair of lovers/partners.
(It would be nonsense to say αмβрυc, 'a pair of apples', or δцοc οπυc, 'a pair of two eyes'.)

Participles

Forms

Any verb can be substantivised (is that a word?) very easily, i.e. by adding the affix -οнт and a noun/adjective suffix.
E.g.: ειδι ("he sees") > ειδοнтιc ("he who sees / the see-er"); гυнαc δεδαcεc ("women will (hopefully) have given") > δεδαcοнтιαc гυнαc ("the women who (hopefully) will have given").

Also, infinitives can be turned into nouns (and adjectives) simply by adding a neuter suffix. Here, the nominative and accusative are the same as the infinitive:
-ειн
-ειнου
-ειнει
-ειн

Use

Participles are used in many more cases that most modern natlangs. For instance, participles can be used as any wordgroup in a sentence, i.e. subject, object etc.
Also, participle adjectives can be used to give extra information about any wordgroup in a sentence.

Noun and Adjective Conjugations

The conjugations of nouns and adjectives are pretty much the same, with a couple of exeptions.

		g	m	f	n
sg	nom	ιc/ι	ο	α	-/ε
	acc	ιн	οн	αн	εн
	gen	ου	ου	α	ου
	dat	ει	oι	αι	ει
pl	nom	ec	oc	αc	εc
	acc	εc	oc	αc	εc
	gen	ωc	ωc	ωc	ωc
	dat	οιc	οιc	αιc	ειc

The general singular nominative nouns end in -ιc, adjectives in -ι, neuter sg. nom. nouns can end in a lot of ways, adj. in -ε.
The genitive is stressed, e.g. гυнα as in gúna is nominative, as in guná, it is genitive.

Also, all adjectives can be formed from nouns by adding the infix -ι-. E.g.: гυнα (woman) > гυнιι (female, feminine).
Where conjugations overlap, for instance in the plural genitive -ωc, and the gender must be specified, an infix can be added to nouns, being -ο- for masculine, -α- for feminine and -e- for neuter words. E.g.: гυнοωc, meaning 'male woman', i.e. a very feminine man, a 'queer' (as an insult to homosexuals, although my conpeople are most unlikely to make such an insult) or sometimes a transvestite.

Common neuter nom. sg. conjugations are -ε, -υ and -εр. The latter turns into -р in all cases except the nom. sg., e.g. ᴧυβεр, ᴧυβрεн (book).

There is also a dual, which has for all genders the same 4 suffices. More on the dual later, as it also involves some explanation.

Cases explained

Lurion has 4 different cases, all quite commonly known.

Nominative
Used to indicate the subject and all nouns and adjectives that are attributes to the subject.

Aᴧεκcαнδεр Meгιι нe ᴧeгι. - Alexander the Great said nothing.

Accusative
Used to indicate the object and its attributes. Also, it is used after verbs and prepositions to indicate direction and goal.

Δαн ειδι καтιн нιтιιн. - Daan sees the nice cat.

Παтрο ιι Γαᴧᴧιαн. - Father goes to France.

Genitive

Used to indicate possession and to indicate origin and reason.

Єιδιc καтιн мου? - Do you see my cat?

Zeнιc Aφрικαα ιι. - The foreigner comes from Afrika.

Dative

Used to indicate indirect objects and location, enviroment, method and tools.

Δω φοβυεн мεтαι. - I give fruit to mother.

Λeгεc ᴧαнгει zeнιει. - They speak in a foreign language.

Єιδεтι ὁπευ. - Look with your eyes.

Ofcourse, some words might feature exceptions etc, but these are the general rules.

Genders explained

There are 4 genders in Lurion, being General, Masculine, Feminine and Neuter.

Masculine and Feminine are quite simpel: they are used to indicate the physical gender of a creature. For instance παтрο (father) is masculine, and мεтα (mother) is feminine. Also, Feminine is used for geological names, e.g. Ἁрᴧεмα (Haarlem) or Βрιтαннια (Brittain, Lurion's common name for the UK).

General is used to indicate living creatures without specifying their physical gender, for instance jobs, animals and last names, e.g. δαмκιc (servant), κυнιc (dog) and Ιнт'Цεᴧδ (In 't Veld).

Neuter is used for everything else, for instance objects, languages or concepts. E.g.: ὁικe (house), ᴧυрιοнεcκι (Lurion) and εтεгκε (wire, but also metaphorically thread or blog).

Lurion's genders are very interchangeable, and this is way normally only the General or Neuter is shown in lists of words. For instance, βοc (cow), βοцο (bull), βοцα (cow (f)).