Introducing a new language project

 

Leson unu (1)

(First published November 2015)

Kajxo a xutus kaj bonidan!  (KYE-show ah SHOE-toose kye bone-ee-DAHN) Hello to all, and welcome!

Govores is a new language project, designed specifically to address certain problems of other constructed, so-called "international languages" a few of which are:

1.         The "clinical regularity" of most other projects.

2.         The preponderance of Romance root words in the basic vocabulary seen in other languages.

3.         Unnecessarily difficult phonotactics (overly complex consonant clusters, basically)

4.         Slavish imitation of many languages using plural you for "polite" discourse and singular you for            "familiar" or else English and Esperanto for using one word for both singular and plural

5.         Alleged sexism.

 

One intended use of Govores is as the official or bridge language for the European Union.  Not that that august body's government will ever approve such a proposal (it poo-poo's Esperanto, after all), but a language that will give a not-so-Romance option to Europe's non-Romance-speaking population who (rightly) berate Esperanto for being "A romance language with a germano-slavic accent".

Govores is unapologetically Indo-European in character and vocabulary (in other words, a so-called "Euroclone" in that it strongly resembles  "Standard Average European" in nature), that is, most of its features are found in one or more Indo-European languages, mainly Romance, Germanic, or Slavic,  although there are elements from other Indo-European languages (e.g. the verb aspects are more like the Greek system than the Slavic system) as well as non-Indo-European languages, and a priori elements that have been incorporated into it. 

For the purposes of this blog, I will be shamelessly imitating the format of Edmond Privat's "Esperanto in 50 Lessons".  Esperantists who read this blog will also note that I have shamelessly borrowed a few of Dr. Zamenhof's very good ideas e.g.  the correlative words (although I did make some tweaks for the Govores version) and his participle system, although in Govores, participles are ONLY adjectival or adverbial (none of the -anto, -into, or -onto complications, or worse yet, the "-intus" monstrosity).

 

The vowels of Govores are the usual 5 vowel set common to many languages: a, e, i, o, u.   These are given the usual pronunciation found in Spanish, Italian, Swahili, Hebrew, etc.  Of particular note, the "e" and "o" can be pronounced either close or open.  The two pronunciations are mere allophones of the one phoneme. 

 

The consonants are as follows:

 

B, D, F, K, L, M, N, P, T, V, W, and Z are basically as in English beet, dill, fennel, kale, lens, mango, nut, pepper, tomato, vanilla, wow (both times; see below), and zucchini.

 

C as the CH in church

G as in go

H silent at the end of a word.  This use is mainly after "a", "e", and "o" to shift the stress of the word to the last vowel.  It is pronounced as English "h" or German "ch" in "ach" and "ich" otherwise.

J as in German "ja", see below.  Before "i", it usually gets pronounced somewhere between English "zh" and "j".
Q is like the "ch" in the Scottish pronunciation of "loch"  Importantly, the friction point in the vocal tract is between the back of the tongue and the uvula.

R is trilled either with the tip of the tongue against the alveolar ridge or the back of the tongue against the uvula (or more precisely, the uvula is vibrated against the back of the tongue), i.e. the voiced version of Q.

S as in see

X as the "sh" in "shore".  

Y as the "ny" in "canyon"

 

"J" is used immediately after the vowels "a" and "o" to create the sound combinations that in other languages are termed "diphthongs", just a fancy word for two vowels, one strong and one weak, pronounced as one syllable. "aj" is pronounced as the English word "eye" and "oj" is pronounced as the "oy" in "boy."  The J is also used after "i" to shift the stress of the word to the last vowel.

"J" before "a", "e", "o", "u" is equivalent to the English "Y"; "ja" sounds like the "-ia" (with the proper "a" sound) in "Alleluia", etc.  Technically and in careful speech, this is the same sound before "i", however, in less careful speech, it is pronounced with marked friction to the point where it is pronounced more like the French "j."  Some speakers will even pronounce this as the English "j"

 

"W" is used after "a" for the diphthong found in "ouch" and before "a", "e", and "i" as in the English words, water, west and week.  At the end of a word after "u" it is used to merely shift stress;  however followed by a vowel, it has its consonantal value.

Voiced consonants at the end of a phrase or before another voiceless consonant, MAY be pronounced as their unvoiced counterparts, usually by speakers that devoice consonants at the end of a word (Germanic, Slavic). This will create homonyms.  In this case "tob" and "top" will sound the same in these forms.  However, within a breath group/phrase, a voiced consonant at the end of a word is usually pronounced voiced if it is followed by a word beginning with a vowel.

 

It will be seen on perusal of the vocabulary that consonant clusters are restricted to two consonants within words, which will always consist of a continuant, predominantly "s", "n", or "m" followed by a stop, creating "mp", "nk", "nt", "mb", "nk", "nt", "sk", "sp", and "st."  At the beginning of a word, the second consonant is always one of the semivowels, W or J.  

 

Finally, stress in the base form (the form found in dictionaries) of words is on the vowel before the last consonant of the word.  
In words beginning with a consonant followed by vowels only, the stress is on the second to last vowel: liu = LEE-oo.  Lui = LOO-ee.  
Stress in genitive singular is on the ending:  tab: tabUi, and in the plural is on the root tAbele.  In the accusative singular, it does not shift, and in the plural will shift to the -i:  tab:  tAben, tabIen. In all other cases, the stress will shift to the final pre-consonant vowel when a suffix is added.

 

 

 

Grammar overview

Words of more than one syllable are "grammar coded" to an extent.  Verb infinitives end in -a, adjectives end in -i, and nouns end in a consonant.  Adverbs end in either -e or else a consonant.

 

Nouns

Base nouns (those nouns not derived from another part of speech) in Govores end in a consonant as in den, day; ifan, child; covek, person; or in an -o after a consonant cluster as in tavlo, table (arch.  now tab). Most of these latter nouns are nowadays archaic. The few that are not archaic are always derived from verbs and adjectives.  

Nouns derive from other parts of speech by dropping the ending vowel of a verb or adjective (adding an -o if this results in a consonant cluster at the end of the word). Hence:  Govra (arch) - to speak; govro (arch) - speech, language.  Boni - good; bon - the good.  An -o CAN be added to a noun for euphony.  

 

There is no grammatical gender in Govores.  Even the third person subject pronoun is gender neutral, although should the need arise, a speaker can differentiate between "he" and "she" (usually "lici" for "he" and "lini" for "she").

 

 

There is only one article in Govores:  sa (turns to 'ta" after a word ending in an "s") - the.  This does not change for number or case.  The change in the article from s- to t- will be observed any time two S's come together during morphological processes, unless, of course, this creates a cluster of more than two consonants (in the same word), in which case the second "s" simply drops out.

 

 

"Ci"

The particle ci is used to create yes/no questions from statements by simply placing it before the sentence. 

It is also used to create "tag questions": Ti esar ispano, ci nu?  You are a Spaniard, aren't you? Ti nu movar dojces, ci?  You don't speak German, right?

 

Vocabulary  (Note that in the first 4 lessons of each 5-lesson group, only the new words in the sentences in bold print are to be memorized as active vocabulary.  Of course, the student can memorize the new words in the grammar explanations if s/he wishes, but it is not required; don't worry though; they'll be introduced as active vocabulary eventually.  In the 5th lesson of each 5-lesson group, all new words given are to be memorized.)

Kute esar sa velik?  Where is the brother?
En sa hus ku sa velin.   In the house with the sister.
Ci li esar tute?  Is he there?
Ci ti esar?    Are you?
Ci mi esar?   Am I?
Nanu   Yes (a more colloquial form is Anu)
Nu      No.

1.  Kute esar sa velik?  Li esar en sa hus.
2.  Kute esar sa velin?  Sa velin esar en sa hus.
3.  Kute esar sa hus?  Sa hus esar atute.
4.  Ci sa hus esar atute?  Nanu, sa hus esar atute.
5.  Ci sa velik esar en sa hus?  Nanu, sa velik esar en sa hus.
6.  Ci li esar atute?  Nanu, li esar atute.
7.  Ci li esar ku sa velin?  Nanu, sa velik esar ku sa velin en sa hus.
8.  Ci sa velik esar ku ti?  Nu, li esar ku sa velin.
9.  Ci li esar atute?  Nu, li esar en sa hus.
10. Ci sa velin esar en sa hus?  Nanu, sa velin esar en sa hus ku mi.
11. Ci ti esar ku mi?  Nu, mi esar ku sa velik.
12. Ci mi esar ku sa velin?  Nu, ti esar ku mi.
13. Kute ti esar?  Mi esar atute ku li.
14.  Ci sa velin esar ku sa velik?  Nanu, sa velin esar ku li.
15. Kute ti esar?  Mi esar atute ku li.
16. Kute esar sa velin?  Sa velin esar atute, kute sa veik esar.
17. Kute ti esar?  Mi esar atute ku sa velik.
18. Kute li esar?  Li esar en sa hus, kute mi esar.
19. Kute esar sa velik?  Sa velik esar atute, kute ti esar.
20.  Ci sa velin esar ku li?  Nanu, kute esar sa velik, tute esar sa velin.