User:Neuekatze/Shodi

Šodī is a constructed language (conlang) I came up with a while ago. It's not meant to be taken too seriously

Phonology

the letters are:

bčdḑfghjklļmnňñprsštţvwxzž

aeıouäëïöü

ḑ [ð] ļ [ɬ] ň [ŋ] ñ [ɲ] ţ [θ] ı [i] ä [æ] ë [ə] ï [ɯ] ü [y]

Tones

Initially, I wanted to minimize the number of tones, but then I thought: "fuck it, it's not like anyone's actually going to speak this language, whether it has 1 tone or 16 tones." So, I decided to add 16 distinct tones to Šodī.

• or – predicates a˦˥
• – 1st argument of predicate a˥˦˧
• – 2nd argument of predicate a˥˦˥
• or – 3rd argument of predicate a˧˧˧
• – adverb (start) a˦˥˦
• – adjective a˩˥
• – relative clause start a˥˩˥
• – content clause start a˧˦˧
• – relative clause end ã˥˩˥
• – content clause end ã˧˦˧
• – adverb end ã˦˥˦
• – part of the root that isnt the first syllable a˥
• – compounded root a˩
• – context start a˧˨˧
• – context end ã˧˨˧
• – interjection a˨˩˥
• – particle a˥˩

To combine multiple tones in a syllable, a glottal stop (ʔ) is used as a separator. For instance, if the syllable "a" requires both the and tones, you would split it like this: [aʔa], with each part carrying its respective tone. ([a˥˦˥ʔã˦˥˦])

Grammar

Šodī sentences follow this structure:
predicate (arguments) (illocutionary markers)
Adverbs and interjections can be placed almost anywhere in a sentence, except after the illocutionary markers.
Predicates in Šodī can have anywhere from 0 to 4 arguments. Here's an example predicate:
ža: x₁ is talking to x₂ about x₃.
In many other languages, like Toaq or Lojban, the sentence "I talk to you about food" would typically follow a strict word order, like this:
ža me you food
Because the argument numbers are determined by word order, you're limited to this fixed structure.

However, in Šodī, the argument roles are marked by tone, which means the word order can be flexible. All of the following are valid ways to express "I talk to you about food": (assume the english words are šodian words)

ža mé yǒu fo̊od
ža fo̊od mé yǒu
fo̊od mé žayǒu
fo̊od mé yǒu ža

In each case, the tone marks which argument is which, so you're free to rearrange the words without losing meaning.