User:Neuekatze/Shodi

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Revision as of 13:56, 18 January 2025 by Neuekatze (talk | contribs) (im gonna complete it later)
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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.

  • no diac. or grave – predicates a˦˥
  • acute – 1st argument of predicate a˥˦˧
  • caron – 2nd argument of predicate a˥˦˥
  • dot or ring – 3rd argument of predicate a˧˧˧
  • circumflex – adverb (start) a˦˥˦
  • double acute – adjective a˩˥
  • umlaut – relative clause start a˥˩˥
  • underdot – content clause start a˧˦˧
  • breve – relative clause end ã˥˩˥
  • hook – content clause end ã˧˦˧
  • ogonek – adverb end ã˦˥˦
  • macron – part of the root that isnt the first syllable a˥
  • ho – compounded root a˩
  • double circumflex – context start a˧˨˧
  • triple dot – context end ã˧˨˧
  • umlaut ring – interjection a˨˩˥
  • tilde – 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 caron and ogonek 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.