The Golden tongue is a secret language used by
The Lights of Golden Triumph to communicate about hunts, guild events, and other important things that would get them imprisoned if found out in public or when writing letters. Because of the complexity of everything that must be said when to it comes to hunts and dragon hunting in general the language is a fully fledged language rather than a cypher or code since mixing up even the words old and ancient could get many hunters killed.
Spelling & Phonology
Consonant inventory: /b g j k v z ɫ ɱ ɸ ɾ ʃ ʎ ʢ ʤ ʧ β/
↓Manner/Place→ |
Bilabial |
Labiodental |
Alveolar |
Palato-alveolar |
Palatal |
Velar |
Pharyngeal |
Nasal |
|
ɱ |
|
|
|
|
|
Stop |
b |
|
|
|
|
k g |
|
Affricate |
|
|
|
ʧ ʤ |
|
|
|
Fricative |
ɸ β |
v |
z |
ʃ |
|
|
|
Approximant |
|
|
|
|
j |
|
|
Tap |
|
|
ɾ |
|
|
|
|
Trill |
|
|
|
|
|
|
ʢ |
Lateral approximant |
|
|
|
|
ʎ |
|
|
Co-articulated phonemes
↓Manner/Place→ |
Velarized alveolar |
Lateral approximant |
ɫ |
Vowel inventory: /aʊ eɪ i æ ø ɐ ɔɪ ɞ ɤ ɵ ʉ ʊ ʌ/
Diphthongs: aʊ, eɪ, ɔɪ ?
|
Front |
Central |
Back |
High |
i |
ʉ |
|
Near-high |
|
|
ʊ |
High-mid |
ø |
ɵ |
ɤ |
Low-mid |
|
ɞ |
ʌ |
Near-low |
æ |
ɐ |
|
Syllable structure: (C)V(C) ?
Stress pattern: No fixed stress ?
Word initial consonants: g, j, k, v, z, ɫ, ɱ, ɸ, ɾ, ʎ, ʢ, ʤ, ʧ, β
Mid-word consonants: b, bj, bɾ, bʤ, g, gb, gj, gz, j, jk, jv, jz, k, kz, v, vɾ, z, zj, zɫ, ɫ, ɫv, ɫɫ, ɱ, ɸ, ɾ, ɾb, ɾj, ɾk, ɾv, ɾʃ, ɾʤ, ɾʧ, ʃ, ʃk, ʃv, ʎ, ʢ, ʤ, ʧ, β
Word final consonants: b, g, k, z, ɫ, ɱ, ɸ, ɾ, ʃ, ʎ, ʢ, ʧ, β
Phonological changes (in order of application): ?
- ʧ → i / C_
- g → k / #_
- C → Ø / C_#
- g → w / V_
- v → w / #_
- g → h / V_V
- j → s / #_
- j → ʤ / V_V
- N → w / S_S
- N → h / _S
Spelling rules:
Pronunciation |
Spelling |
aʊ |
ou |
eɪ |
ay |
j |
y |
æ |
e |
ɐ |
a |
ɔɪ |
oi |
ɞ |
ö |
ɤ |
ë |
ɫ |
l |
ɱ |
m |
ɵ |
ï |
ɸ |
p |
ɾ |
d |
ʃ |
sh |
ʉ |
ù |
ʊ |
o |
ʌ |
ü |
ʎ |
ÿ |
ʤ |
j |
ʧ |
ch |
|
|
β |
w |
Grammar
Main word order: Subject-Verb-Object-Oblique. "Mary opened the door with a key" turns into
Mary opened the door with a key.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun.
Adposition: prepositions ?
Nouns
Nouns form plural with separate plural word:
Plural |
byao /bjaʊ/
plural particle |
undefined
Articles
The Golden Tongue encodes definite article ‘the’, and indefinite article ‘a’ in noun affixes. See Noun section.
Pronouns
undefined
Possessive determiners
undefined
Verbs
The Golden Tongue uses a standalone particle word for past tense:undefined
The Golden Tongue uses a standalone particle word for future tense:undefined
Imperfective aspect
The ‘imperfective’ aspect refers to ongoing actions, such as
I am learning and habitual actions, such as
I learn (something new every day).
The Golden Tongue uses an affix for imperfective:undefined
Numbers
The Golden Tongue has a base-20 number system:
1 - chù
2 - zig
3 - weɪ
4 - yezlöz
5 - ʢë
6 - zø
7 - yö
8 - li
9 - wɔɪ
10 - weɪ
11 - ((eleven))
12 - ((twelve))
13 - ((thirteen))
14 - ((fourteen))
15 - ((fifteen))
16 - ((sixteen))
17 - ((seventeen))
18 - ((eighteen))
19 - ((nineteen))
20 - ((twenty))
21 - ((twenty))chù “twenty-one”
400 - vëb “fourhundred”
401 - vëb lig chù “fourhundred and one”
800 - zig vëb “two fourhundred”
8000 - och “eightthousand”
Derivational morphology
Adjective → adverb = If starts with vowel: Prefix ʃɾ-
Else: Prefix ʃɾɔɪ-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix ʊ-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix ɞ-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix ɞ-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix gɔɪ-
Noun → verb (to create [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix vj-
Else: Prefix vjeɪ-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix ʧɔɪ-
Verb → adjective (likely to do [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix β-
Else: Prefix βɞ-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ɾ-
Else: Prefix ɾʉ-
Verb → noun that verb physically produces (e.g. build → building) = If starts with vowel: Prefix gj-
Else: Prefix gjaʊ-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix aʊ-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix ɔɪ-
Diminutive = If starts with vowel: Prefix ʃɾ-
Else: Prefix ʃɾʉ-
Augmentative = If starts with vowel: Prefix b-
Else: Prefix bʊ-
Comments