Isdolani: Conlang for RP

Okay. This is for a series of 4 characters (2 created by Kiara, and 2 by me) for another roleplay site we are on. These characters, when they were children, made up a language initially as a code to keep their mischievous antics from their parents. It expanded in their adolescence, when Nicholas Travers was facing frequent difference of opinion with his blood-elite parents. As such, he has become so fond of the language as to continue using it frequently amongst his siblings into adulthood. Dominic Travers, a Death Eater, has warped this language for his own... making dark spells and so forth in this tongue. Larissa, the youngest, also uses the standard form of the language frequently. Isaac, the second eldest... not so much.

What follows will be a Sound Inventory, Word List with a pronunciation key, and Grammar Guide for the most up-to-date version of the language Nicholas uses. I would have liked to have shown the evolution of the language, but that would be far too time consuming.

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Sound Inventory

Vowels -
A sounds like the a in father; 'ah'
E sounds like the e in bed; 'eh'
I sounds like the i in pizza; 'ee'
O typically sounds like the o in hot; 'au'
O may occasionally sound like the o in don't; 'oh'
U sounds like the u in dune; 'ooooh'
Y commonly sounds similar to I, but is elongated. Click the Spoiler below for more information.
Y also sounds like a French e+u sound, but only when placed after certain letters (thus far, only the letter h)

Spoiler:

Diphthongs and other special things/combos -
EA - these letters run together; ay-ah
' - marks a brief stop, often when two words (or a word and a particle) have been mushed together.
More to come!

Consonants -
B as in bubble
C as in cat, not the c in 'peace'
D as in door
F as in finger
G as in gift, not the g in 'George'
H as in home
J as in juice
L as in link
M as in music
N as in note; occasionally 'ng' in 'sing' (rule pending)
P as in pit, not the p in 'phone'
R as in rock... with a light trill or flap of the tongue
S as in sad, not the z-like sound of the s in 'is'
T as in tunic
V as in voice
W as in way

Word List
Here’s the vocabulary section! The words are arranged by category (e.g. Time, Food, Verbs, People) and set off in code. Any extra information will have an asterisk in its meaning section, which is meant to redirect you to the nearest spoiler. Also note that tone of voice alone may be enough to elicit a different sort of meaning, e.g. a single phrase, such as ‘be quiet’, may be conveyed as ‘be quiet, please’ or ‘be quiet! ‘ depending on how forcefully the words are uttered.

For a vocal pronunciation, one might try visiting Google Translate, entering the word in question, and selecting either the Italian or Finnish computer voice. The computer will not always be exact... Questions are always welcome.

Kiara: Let me know of any words/phrases you would like to add... either as part of the language or for me to translate. Your choice!


Entry Setup

Word; pro-nun-ci-a-tion; meanings, implied or otherwise

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Pronunciation Key

ALL CAPS ... stressed syllable
all lowercase ... unstressed syllable
~ ....... swift link – one word/syllable/sound which run into another, and it isn’t obvious
- ......... syllable linkage (for demonstrating whole words broken into parts)
* ....... word separator when a whole phrase is in explanatory text (e.g. Syl e na = SEEL~ay*nah)
‘ ....... an brief pause in a word, just like the actual “special letter” mentioned above

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Food & Drink

Code:

Vus; VOOOHS; juice, fruit or otherwise

Other Nouns

Code:

Felas; FEH-lahs; secret*

Spoiler:

Me, My, You, Yours... all that jazz

Code:

E; eh; You

People

Code:

Anan; ah-NAHN; Mother
Anos; ah-NOHS; Father
Balo; BAAH-loh; Boy
Baloj; baah-LOHJ; Man
Du’anan; DOO-ah~nahn; Grandmother
Dufila; doo-FEE-lah; Old Woman
Esil; eh-SEEL; Brother
Esila; eh-SEEL-ah; Sister
Fila; FEE-lah; Girl
Filane; fee-LAH-nay; Woman
Gefrea; geh-FREY~ah; Friend
Gu’anos; GOOH ‘ ah-nohs; Grandfather
Gubal; GOOH-baahl; Old Man
Ibalo; EE-baahl-oh; Nephew
Ifila; EE-FEE-lah; Niece
Isdolani; EES-doh~lah~nee; Family
Ubalu; OOH-baahl-ooh; Cousin, male
Ufilu; OOH-fee-loo; Cousin, female
Unan; OOH-nahn; Aunt
Unos; OOH-nohs; Uncle
Uwelu; OOH-wehl-ooh; Cousin, gender unspecified
Welu; wehl-ooh; Person

Place

Code:

Bado; BAH-doh; here (to this place; in this place; at this place)

Speech Markers

Code:

Na; NAH; marks a polite request. Not to be confused with a command.
Ne; NEH, or NAY; marks a question.
Sa; SAAH; marks a general statement; often optional, or used in reassurance.

States of Being

Code:

Tellyn; TEH-leen; Fine; can also apply in the sense of fine cut, fine hair, etc.

Time

Code:

Se; SEH or SAY; Now

Verbs

Code:

Adahi; ah-DAH-hee; to love/I love – in the familial sense
Ceni; KEH-nee; to see
Lin; LEEN; to go, or to do
Syl; SEEL; to be quiet, to relax, to rest, or to get some sleep*

Spoiler:

Who, What, How, When, Where

Code:

Hon; HOHN (similar in pronunciation to the English word ‘hone’); What

Grammar Guide
At the moment, all sentences have been fairly simplistic in nature. Further grammatical rules will be added as they crop up... but here are the currently-established ones.

Word Order: Verb, Subject, Object.

Verbs as they appear in the word list are already either the infinitive (“to __(something)__”) or the nominative (“I _(something)_”) cases. Therefore, a separate word for ‘I’ is often irrelevant to the phraseology. In a phrase like “I see you”, the word ‘see’ would come first. Since there is no need for the ‘I’, the word for ‘you’ (e), follows it. A basic sentence could literally just contain those two words – ‘see,’ and ‘you’.

Because the base verb in the word list has the connotation of “I _something_”, the word would need to be slightly modified to say “you see” or “he sees”, “she sees”, and so on. To do this, one would take the word for ‘see’, add an apostrophe (‘), and then add the appropriate pronoun.

Examples: adahi – I love; e – you
Adahi e. – I love you.
Adahi’e ____. – You love ___.

The difference, when it is spoken, is the length of space between the i, and the e. There is also a light inflection of a ‘y’ sound before the e. Below are the pronunciation key examples for the two sentences:

ah-DAH-hee*eh.
ah-DAH-hee~yay

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Another feature of this language is sentence markers. For the average statement, the marker ‘sa’ is entirely optional. In fact, ‘sa’ is most commonly used to mark reassurances. Speech markers are most commonly used for questions, requests, and commands... though sometimes just the proper intonation and tone of voice is enough to suffice.

The sentence ‘Syl e na’ has many potential meanings. The ‘na’ at the end marks it as a request, ‘e’ means ‘you’, and ‘syl’ is the verb. When the request marker is used, the ‘I blah-blah’ usage of the base verb is thrown out. Literally translated, it could mean “rest you, please”, “relax you, please”, or “get some sleep, you, please”. However, when shouted – Syl e na! – it is likely just shy of being a very grouchy command for quiet.