A universal lingual Franca throughout the galaxy. On many worlds, not just in the Coalition, it’s become the native tongue, that is used in everyday life and the first language human babies learn.
Dialects have occurred, so pronunciation can differ between star systems, The Tantalusians have several idiomatic expressions that only they understand, and take perverse pleasure in using them in front of other Coalition Citizens, just to see the confusion on their faces.
Natively known as: Unsetoe Yengo /ˌunseˈtoe ˈjeŋgo/
...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
ri ye ton gunpan puko puwo ri kaku na ton kukeka noa kahon
Pronunciation: /ri je ton ˈgumpan ˈpuko ˈpuwo ri ˈkaku ma ton kuˈkeka ˈnoa ˈkahon/
Galactic Common word order: and he his hat holding stood and the wind to his wet face turned
Spelling & Phonology
Consonant inventory: /b d g h j k m n p r s t w z ŋ/
↓Manner/Place→ |
Bilabial |
Alveolar |
Palatal |
Velar |
Glottal |
Nasal |
m |
n |
|
ŋ |
|
Stop |
p b |
t d |
|
k g |
|
Fricative |
|
s z |
|
|
h |
Approximant |
|
|
j |
|
|
Trill |
|
r |
|
|
|
Co-articulated phonemes
↓Manner/Place→ |
Labio-velar |
Approximant |
w |
Vowel inventory: /a e i o u/
|
Front |
Back |
High |
i |
u |
High-mid |
e |
o |
Low |
a |
|
Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable
Word initial consonants: b, d, g, h, j, k, m, n, p, r, s, t, w, z
Mid-word consonants: b, d, g, h, j, k, m, mb, mp, n, ns, nt, p, r, s, t, w, z, ŋg
Word final consonants: n
Phonological changes (in order of application):
- d → Ø / _N
- S → F / _S
- S → Ø / #_F
- S → S[-voice] / _#
- ja → e / r_#
Spelling rules:
Pronunciation |
Spelling |
j |
y |
m |
n |
ŋ |
n |
Grammar
Main word order: Subject-Oblique-Object-Verb. "Mary opened the door with a key" turns into
Mary with a key the door opened.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun.
Adposition: postpositions
Nouns
Nouns have three cases:
- Nominative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man.
- Accusative is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog.
- Genitive is the possessor of something: dog’s tail hits man.
Nominative |
No affix
nipi /ˈmipi/
dog (doing the verb) |
Accusative |
Suffix -un
nipiun /miˈpiun/
(verb done to) dog |
Genitive |
Suffix -en
nipien /miˈpien/
dogʼs |
Singular |
No affix
nipi /ˈmipi/
dog |
Plural |
Suffix -en
nipien /miˈpien/
dogs |
Articles
Definite |
yen /jen/
the |
Indefinite |
u /u/
a, some |
Pronouns
|
Nominative |
Accusative |
Genitive |
1st singular |
sen /sen/
I |
sun /sun/
me |
gun /gun/
mine |
2nd singular |
hu /hu/
you |
ze /ze/
you |
na /ma/
yours |
3rd singular masc |
ye /je/
he |
ku /ku/
him |
pen /pen/
his |
3rd singular fem |
no /no/
she |
pun /pun/
her |
da /da/
hers |
1st plural |
a /a/
we |
rin /rin/
us |
su /su/
ours |
2nd plural |
kun /kun/
you (all) |
ti /ti/
you (all) |
hun /hun/
yours |
3rd plural |
ton /ton/
they |
ki /ki/
them |
an /an/
theirs |
Possessive determiners
1st singular |
sen /sen/
my |
2nd singular |
du /du/
your |
3rd singular masc |
ton /ton/
his |
3rd singular fem |
ba /ba/
her |
1st plural |
kon /kon/
our |
2nd plural |
ku /ku/
your |
3rd plural |
nan /man/
their |
Verbs
Present |
Suffix -in
nakunein /ˌmakuˈnein/
study |
Past |
No affix
nakune /maˈkune/
studied |
Future |
If ends with vowel: Suffix -n
Else: Suffix -un
nakunen /maˈkunen/
will study |
Perfect aspect
The perfect aspect in English is exemplified in ‘I have read this book’, which expresses an event that took place before the time spoken but which has an effect on or is in some way still relevant to the present.
Galactic Common uses an affix for the perfect aspect:
Perfect |
If ends with vowel: Suffix -mpi
Else: Suffix -ampi
nakunenpi /ˌmakuˈnempi/ |
Numbers
Galactic Common has a base-10 number system:
1 - yu
2 - hu
3 - ye
4 - dan
5 - ni
6 - zen
7 - su
8 - nin
9 - ku
10 - bansun
11 - bansun ri yu “ten and one”
100 - yu zekun “one hundred”
101 - yu zekun ri yu “one hundred and one”
200 - hu zekun
1000 - yu sadu “one thousand”
Derivational morphology
Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -so
Else: Suffix -uso
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n
Else: Suffix -un
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -mpo
Else: Suffix -ompo
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -en
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -e
Noun → verb (to create [noun]) = Suffix -on
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -tu
Else: Suffix -atu
Verb → adjective (likely to do [verb]) = Suffix -en
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -e
Verb → noun that verb physically produces (e.g. build → building) = Suffix -u
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -in
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n
Else: Suffix -an
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -he
Else: Suffix -ihe
Augmentative = Suffix -o
Galactic Common uses a syllabary based writing system.
I’m now using a language generated by VulgarLang, and have so far just added the dictionary. I will add more of the grammar and other stuff too and it may lead to some other changes in names of places and such.