Introduction

salgnain is a conlang designed to meet the constraints of the r/conlangs Speedlang Challenge 9.

There are a few fun things about it: allophonic processes that lead to some diverse inflections, a weird blend of symmetrical voice with a closed verb class, and a topic-comment structure that sometimes falls apart.

This document is just intended as a sketch; enough to get an idea, but not a rigorous treatment. If you have any questions feel free to ask me on Reddit (u/kilenc) or Discord (kilenc#9363). It'll be fun to make up an answer!

Constraints

• Asymmetrical plosives
• Featural metathesis
• Minimum word size
• Symmetrical voice
• Marking by absence
• Causative constructions
• Five 5MOYDs

Phonology

Segments

Consonants

Vowels

Allophony

• Ejective metathesis: Coda ejectives and onset stops swap [+glottal]
  • Ejective metathesis occurs commonly because of the topic suffix -t, eg. //utat'// > [ut'at]
  • Because of their diachronic origins, j and x alternate with c and q (and s with c for many speakers by analogy)
• Prenasal voicing: Some stops and fricatives voice before a nasal
  • /t k/ > [d g] and /t' tʃ' k' q'/ > [ʔ]
  • /s ʃ/ > [r] and /f/ > [w]
• Initial stop lenition: /t k ʔ/ lenite in the onset
  • /t k/ > [j w]
  • /ʔ/ > [h]
  • blocked when the preceding coda is /l/ or /m n ŋ/
• Uvular backing: Uvular consonants back preceding front vowels
  • /i e/ > [ɨ ɘ] when before a uvular
• **l-neutralization: Alveolar occlusives neutralize before /l/
  • /t' t n/ > [l]
• Sibilant metathesis: word-final sibilant clusters metathesize
  • /sC ʃC/ > [Cs Cʃ]
  • doesn't occur with prenasal lenition, eg. /aʔask/ > [aʔaks] but /aʔaskme/ > [aʔargme]
• Ablaut: Certain verbal suffixes trigger raising of the root-final vowel
  • /a u/ **> **/i/ except ahead of uvulars where /a/ > /e/
  • /o/ > /e/

Quirks

• The palatals s j are [ʃ] and c is [tʃ']
• Both ejective gaps are attested in natural languages:
  • /q'/ without /q/: Mingrelian, Ts'amakko, Kabardian, Hamer, and Godoberi
  • /tʃ'/ without /tʃ/: Zulu, Twampa, and Opo
• The uvular resonant is typically trilled
• /a/ **is phonetically closer to [ɘ], with /e/ filling the space as [æ] and /o/ as [ɑ]

Phonotactics

<aside> 💡 The maximum syllable is CVCC

</aside>

• Ejectives avoid codas: either ejective metathesis occurs or an epenthetic [a] is inserted
• Consonants that share a manner of articulation can't cluster
• Clusters follow sonority sequencing principle

<aside> 💡 Words must be at least 2 syllables

</aside>

• When a word doesn't meet the minimum:
  • Nouns add the absolute suffix -i
  • Finite verbs add the present suffix -o
  • Nonfinite verbs add the passive ****participle ****suffix -i
• Only a few function words (eg. some particles and prepositions) don't meet requirements, but they often cliticize

Morphology

Typologically, salgnain prefers agglunative marking, but phonological processes can yield quasi-fusional forms.

• Nominal morphology is used for nouns and pronouns

• Finite verb morphology is exclusively used for the closed class of conjugable verbs

• Nonfinite verb morphology is used for all other verbs and most adjectives and adverbs

• Some noun stems are mass

  • Can't be plural
  • Don't draw voice agreement

• Some verb stems are weak

  • Don't ablaut
  • More productive (formed by the verbalizer -q)

Nominals

<aside> 💡 Template: root + (plural) + (topic) + state

</aside>

• -i = absolute
  • Can be null if word meets size constraints
  • Does not trigger ablaut
  • Can be replaced by a possession marker
• -em = cislocative possession ("here")
• -s = translocative possession ("there")
• -me = plural
• -t = topic

Finite verbs

<aside> 💡 Template: root + (caus.) + tense + (mood)

</aside>

• -cen = causative
  • Occassionally derivational, producing unpredictable meanings
• -le = imperfective past
• -je = perfective past
  • Also triggers ablaut
• -o = non-past
  • Can be null if word meets size constraints
• -ir = irrealis mood
• -haz = interrogative mood

Nonfinite verbs

<aside> 💡 Template: root + participle

</aside>

• -anz = active participle
• -i = passive participle
  • Can be null if word meets size constraints
• -isa = thematic participle
• -ima = locative participle
• Undergoer participles trigger ablaut for strong stems
• Undergoer participles are conflated to -e for weak stems (and can't topicalize adjuncts)

Syntax

Typologically, salgnain displays topics-comment structure, with a preference for head-initial constructions.

Topic structure

Role marking

<aside> 💡 Only a small subset of verbs can be finite, the rest appear in LVCs (phrasal verbs built from finite verbs + verb participles)

</aside>