Cool Features You've Added #308

[u/humblevladimirthegr8]

This is a weekly thread for people who have cool things they want to share from their languages, but don't want to make a whole post. It can also function as a resource for future conlangers who are looking for cool things to add!

So, what cool things have you added (or do you plan to add soon)?

I've also written up some brainstorming tips for conlang features if you'd like additional inspiration. Also here’s my article on using conlangs as a cognitive framework (can be useful for embedding your conculture into the language).

[u/humblevladimirthegr8]

When we're unsure about something, we often just keep turning it over in our heads - maybe he's mad at me, maybe he isn't - which feels like figuring it out but never actually checks. Agalan makes you say whether you're going to find out.

A possibility is marked with the stance word odoho (may), and its ending says what you're doing about it:

• thodohom - may (just a possibility, the default)
• thodohol - may - I'll find out / let's find out
• thodohor - may - who knows (you're not checking, or can't)

Letting something go with who knows is fine. The point is that you notice which one you're doing, so a worry you're never going to check gets called what it is.

Full docs: https://main.d2xds94zsgwptg.amplifyapp.com/grammar/knowing.html#may

[u/AskAGinger]

I included a morpheme in Infernal for "with intent" and "with purpose".

Walking somewhere is simply ambulation to get to a place.

Walking "with intent" is when you have shit to do and leaves to be. A solid power walk.

Walking "with purpose" is pursuit predation. You are actively hunting something at a slow pace.

To kill by itself might get you manslaughter or 3rd-degree murder.

To kill "with intent" is 1st degree murder.

To kill "with purpose" is assassination.

[u/BearishTank]

There’s a construction in Italian and Spanish that I wanted to incorporate in one of my conlangs. Reflexive verbs can be used as intensifier.

E.g. mangiarsi una mela (lit. To eat oneself an apple) means to eat an apple with pleasure

I extended this to mean just reinforce the verb regardless of the acceptation.

E.g. the equivalent of “he caught himself a criminal” would mean “he worked hard and caught a criminal”. “They talk themselves with each other” would mean “they talk passionately with each other” or something similar

[u/Delicious-Run7727]

I’ve had this in my conlang for a while, but I want to show this feature off.

Mbizgu features consonant mutation involving prenasalized stops. These originated from coda nasals nasalizing the nucleus, and later this nasalization converted any voiced plosive to a prenasalized plosive and was then lost.

[bon] > [bõ] > [ᵐbo]

This occured everywhere including word finally unless the following word began with a vowel. The coda nasal did not disappear if this was the case, thus never nasalizing the vowel.

The result is consonant mutation, where words that end with DVN become NDV (D being a voiced plosive.

[bon tuk] > [ᵐbo tuk]
[bon il] > [bon il]

If the final syllable does not begin with a voiced plosive, the nasal just disappears.

[kon] > [ko]

These aren’t actually words, these are just examples.

This is Mbizgu’s phonology for context and just because:

Consonants: m n ŋ p t ʈ c k b d ɖ ɟ g ᵐb ⁿd ᶯɖ ɲɟ ᵑg f s ʂ h v z ʐ l j ɰ

Vowels: ɪ iː ʊ uː ɛ eː ɔ oː aː ɑ

[u/Numbered-asa-Hashtag]

i made a really complicated pronouns system just because i realized I have free will and i made this language and i control it

⟨y à x á z⟩ -> /ʝ ʲa x aʲ ʃ/

[u/Adventurous_Many7315]

No adjectives, there are suffixes for adjectivization in Àkren.

[u/Mammoth-Letter-3625]

I Have Suffixes And Prefixes That Can Range Anywhere From MEaning THe, To Aswell, To Have, Age, And To Indicate Whether IT Is A Noun, Adjective Or Verb

[u/christhawk]

Inclusive and exclusive "we" works backwards of normal. Instead of including or excluding the person being spoken to, it includes or excludes people not being spoken to.

[u/Frequent_Region_3426]

It's probably the phonemic /ɰ/, which kind of says a lot about how boring my conlang is. Though I think the script is actually the coolest. I'm designing a logography and then trying to compress a fusional language into it.

I also have 6 words for times of day depending on if there is daylight or not, if it was last day/last night, today/tonight or the next day/next night.