ParkeNYU Posted February 2, 2018 at 09:31 PM Report Share Posted February 2, 2018 at 09:31 PM Has anyone here attempted to construct their own topolect, incorporating some unique features not only phonologically, but also in vocabulary and grammar? I made a topic regarding my artificially constructed Chinese phonology over a year ago, but I have recently started to create a newly constructed topolect (conlect) out of it, called Wénhua (苑話). In addition to using the sound system described here, I took Literary Chinese as a base and integrated a few sparse features of Mandarin and other topolects, as well as some original (but related) usages, to make the Literary Chinese base less vague and more structured and consistent. It's just in the beginning stages, but here is what I have so far (assume anything not hereafter listed to be identical to Literary Chinese (漢文/淺文言) usage, rather than Classical Chinese (古文/深文言) or Written Vernacular Chinese (白話文) usage, at least for now): Immediate Family 祖父 zúfu paternal grandfather 祖母 zúméu paternal grandmother 祖爺 zúyē maternal grandfather 祖婆 zúpō maternal grandmother 爸父 bàfu father 媽母 māméu mother 夫婿 fûsèi husband 妻婦 cêifeu wife 兄哥 huêŋgô older brother 姊姐 zízié older sister 弟弟 deidei younger brother 妹妹 moimoi younger sister 息男 sìknām son 息女 sìkniú daughter 孫男 sûnnām grandson 孫女 sûnniú granddaughter Pronouns (plurals contract with 等) 我(⿰口昂) ŋó(ŋ) I/me (we/us) 吾(⿰口禺) ŋū(ŋ) my/mine (our/ours) 爾(⿰口仍) jí(ŋ) thou/thee (ye/you) 汝(⿰口宂) jú(ŋ) thy/thine (your/yours) 伊(⿰口應) yî(ŋ) he/him/she/her (they/them) 渠(⿰口窮) kiū(ŋ) his/her/hers (their/theirs) 茲(⿰口丞) zî(ŋ) it (they/them) 其(⿰口克) kī(ŋ) its (their/theirs) 此(⿰口曾) cí(ŋ) this (these) 斯(⿰口升) sî(ŋ) this (these) [with counter] 彼(⿰口凭) bí(ŋ) that (those) 夫(⿰口夆) fū(ŋ) that (those) [with counter] *plural characters are Unicode-compatible but are not allowed on this forum Interrogative 誰 shuī who(m)? 誰之 shuīzhî whose? 孰 shuk which one? 奈 nai which? [with counter] 何 hō what? 為何 wihō why (for what)? 如何 jūhō how (like what)? 何時 hōshī when? 何處 hōchù where? 何樣 hōyoŋ what kind? 幾個 gígò how many? 多少 dôshiáu how much? 幾時 gíshī what time? 久暫 giéuzam how long? [time] 長短 chōŋduán how long? [physical] 大小 daisiáu how large? 高低 gôudêi how tall? 重輕 zhuŋkiêŋ how heavy? 遠近 wéngin how far? Days of the Week 星期日 siêŋkījit Sunday 星期月 siêŋkīŋuet Monday 星期火 siêŋkīhuó Tuesday 星期水 siêŋkīshuí Wednesday 星期木 siêŋkīmuk Thursday 星期金 siêŋkīgîm Friday 星期土 siêŋkītú Saturday 1) 之(zhî) is restricted to serving as the (non-pronoun) possessive marker for nouns and modifier clauses. 2) 等(déŋ) is used as a (non-pronoun) plural marker for nouns alongside its other uses. 3) The variant form 伕(fû) can replace all instances of 夫(fû) so that 夫(fū) is reserved exclusively for its pronoun usage, although conflation would likely never occur anyway. So far everything else is as you'd expect in Literary Chinese, which means that you have access to all of its synonyms as well (like 爭焉豈胡曷庸奚 to complement 為何 and 如何). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anonymoose Posted February 2, 2018 at 09:57 PM Report Share Posted February 2, 2018 at 09:57 PM Why? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParkeNYU Posted February 2, 2018 at 10:03 PM Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2018 at 10:03 PM Just to have a conservative topolect that descends most directly and consistently from Literary Chinese vocabulary/syntax and Late Middle Chinese phonology. Natural languages have lots of exceptions, mixtures, corruptions, evolutions, and outside influence that are a handful to juggle when learning. Why not just revive Middle Chinese? While there are some good reconstructions, its many distinctions are cumbersome and we can't know for absolute certain what it sounded like (and that also depends on where and when it was spoken). The conlect I'm making reflects what I believe Modern Standard Chinese would have been today had Song never fallen to the Jurchens and Mongols, thus precluding future Manchu rule as well. Perhaps it could be used in a science fiction, fantasy, or alternate history book/film, or even those depicting the Tang-Song era, whether fictional or historical. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angelina Posted February 3, 2018 at 11:17 AM Report Share Posted February 3, 2018 at 11:17 AM Try 杭州话. Apparently, it is different from the surrounding Wu languages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomsima Posted February 3, 2018 at 03:44 PM Report Share Posted February 3, 2018 at 03:44 PM 17 hours ago, anonymoose said: Why? Because it's fun and interesting to some. I personally love it every time @ParkeNYUP posts these kinds of thing, it's great to see the differences and similarities between dialects coming together, highlighting things in this (these?) languages I would otherwise not have noticed. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParkeNYU Posted February 4, 2018 at 01:08 AM Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2018 at 01:08 AM 13 hours ago, Angelina said: Try 杭州话. Apparently, it is different from the surrounding Wu languages. I'm familiar with it, along with the similar Suzhou and Shanghai dialects of Northern Wu, and it doesn't make enough distinctions for my liking. It's fun to pronounce Northern Wu sounds, and the phonological distribution is nice and symmetrical, but I'm leaning towards the Mandarin/Cantonese/Hakka side, rather than the larger, more diverse, and more distantly related Wu and Min families. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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