The Magula Language
Basic Overview
Magula is the language spoken by the Magula race (shocking!).
It takes most of its inspiration from English, Tok Pisin, Toki Pona, and Hawaiian Creole English, but also has bits of Latin, Greek, Japanese, Samoan, Spanish, etc.
Phonology
Consonants
| labial | alveolar | post-alveolar | palatal | velar | uvular | glottal | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plosive | p | b | - | t | d | - | - | - | k | g | - | - | - | ʔ |
| nasal | - | m | - | n | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| trill | - | - | - | r | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ʀ | - | - |
| fricative | - | - | s | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | h | - |
| approximant | - | - | - | ɹ | - | - | - | j | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| lateral approximant | w | - | - | l | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Vowels
| Front | Back | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| close | i | - | - | u |
| close-mid | e | - | - | o |
| open-mid | ɛ | - | - | - |
| open | a | - | ɑ | - |
Phonotactics
Syllable Structure
- Magula is a CVC language.
- Onset - everything
- Coda - vowels, plosives, nasals, and /s/
- Nucleus - all vowels, all diphthongs
- Glottal stop (') must be between two vowels.
Consonant Clustering
- Onset and nucleus can have up to two consonants, but coda can only have one. Sissau is permitted, bulakk is not.
- Only certain consonants can cluster. Consonants can always pair up with themselves (e.g. /ss/, etc.).
Other Features
Note: Examples are English words.
[th]-Stopping
/θ/ and /ð/ are pronounced as [t] or [d] respectively. Think becomes tink, that becomes dat.
Letter Omission
Word-final [l] is often omitted. Mental becomes mento or mentol, people becomes pipo. Word-final [r] is often omitted as well. Car becomes cah, letter becomes letta. Intrusive [r] may occur sometimes (think "champagne supernovar in the sky").
Grammar
Vocabulary
Dictionary
- n noun
- adj adjective
- adv adverb
- vt verb, transitive
- vi verb, intransitive
- int interjection
- prep preposition
- conj conjunction
- oth special, other word
| Word | Meaning | Source |
|---|---|---|
| baba | n parent, typically used to address the carrier parent. | English "mama" and "papa" |
| hetsik | adj mentally ill | English, "head" and "sick" |
| kako | adj bad, evil. | Greek "kakó" |
| karta (or carta) | n 1. heart (organ) 2. soul, heart (emotional) | English "cardio-"; Greek "kardiá" |
| sapil | adj rotten, spoiled | Greek "sapíla" |
| sissau | n sibling | n/a |
| nana | n parent, typically used to address the donor parent. | English "mama" and "papa" |
| oalin | n love
v to love (someone) |
Toki Pona "olin" |
| taga | person | Samoan "tagata" |
| placeholder | placeholder | placeholder |
Phrases
| Phrase | Meaning | Literal |
|---|---|---|
| karta sapil | evil person. | heart rotten |
| taga oaline | Romantic partner; the person that you love. | person love-(descriptor) |
| placeholder | placeholder | placeholder |
Colours
| Word | Meaning | Source |
|---|---|---|
| ilo | colour | Japanese "iro" |
| ret | red | English "red"; Tok Pisin "ret" |
| san'ilo | orange | English "sun" plus ilo, "colour" |
| bulak | black | English "black"; Tok Pisin "blak" |
| bulu | blue | English "blue"; Tok Pisin "blu" |
| kin'ilo | purple | English "king" plus ilo, "colour" |
| placeholder | placeholder | placeholder |
Counting
Magula count using octal (base eight), because they have four fingers on each hand.
Numbers
| Number | Disjunctive | Number | Disjunctive | Number | Disjunctive |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | set | 10 | ha'o | 20 | hua |
| 1 | desa | 11 | desa ha'o | 30 | luke |
| 2 | rafa | 12 | rafa ha'o | 40 | bopa |
| 3 | kuo | 13 | kuo ha'o | 50 | nae |
| 4 | si | 14 | si ha'o | 60 | ma'ua |
| 5 | nara | 15 | nara ha'o | 70 | peli |
| 6 | soli | 16 | soli ha'o | 100 | malo |
| 7 | sulon | 17 | sulon ha'o | 1000 | ha'o malo |