Language Identification Puzzle

by Keith Slater and Jouni Maho
illustrated by Jouni Maho

Identify the language depicted somewhat rebusistically in the image below.

If you believe you have it figured out, send your answer to the editors of SpecGram by July 15th, 2010. You could win a SpecGram magnet. The correct answer, such as it is, and winners, if any, will be announced in the September 2010 issue of Speculative Grammarian.

Ple Nvæn-ila Fieldwork Puzzle Solution and Grammatical Sketch

Below are the correct translations for the two target sentences from the Ple Nvæn-ila Fieldwork Puzzle from the April issue:

• I heard that two big weird obnoxious rabbits will eat the yummy lucky green cheeses →
  rsitikʔaeiʔouyrətətufonuiwiuʃðo:ungujɪoajyirtixxixwoleletka:θvalarkaprassaskawygwe
  
  
• fɛrdɛrdɛʔubɪntomkoʔulkuʒybboiətoalyjyoaydwytfomgostelfesuiwi:aværqæmkæwygwe →
  rumor has it that the big red lucky cat fed two funny black small dogs

These clever folks gave good English translations for the Ple Nvæn-ila sentence, and made decent attempts at the Ple Nvæn-ila translation of the English sentence, and so each will receive a SpecGram magnet for their trouble.

Derivations for one of the sentences above will give a brief sketch of the language. Some idiosyncratic notations, following Claude Searsplainpockets’ original notes, include:

• ^ indicates reduplication to the left, which includes the last vowel in the previous syllable, and all following consonants.
• # indicates a “pac-man” phoneme, which eats one or two consecutive consonants to the left
• % indicates a “pac-man” phoneme, which eats one or two consecutive consonants to the right
• @ indicates a “blocker” phoneme, which blocks the action of pac-man phonemes and degemination

Let us now derive I heard that two big weird obnoxious rabbits will eat the yummy lucky green cheeses. Some relevant base forms:

rabbit		aaθv
obnoxious		#lark (begins with a left-eating pac-man phoneme)
weird		prszs
big		kwyg
cheese		ʔaeiʔouy
green		^ufon (reduplicates the previous syllable)
lucky		uiwii
yummy		uiʃðo% (ends with a right-eating pac-man phoneme)
eat		ungjɪ

The dual is indicated by reduplication, adjectives attach rightward, the indefinite is unmarked, and the subject NP in a transitive sentence is marked with the ergative final infix “-gwe” (inserted before any trailing vowels):

dual rabbit		aaθv^
obnoxious dual rabbit		aaθv^#lark
weird obnoxious dual rabbit		aaθv^#larkprszs
big weird obnoxious dual rabbit		aaθv^#larkprszskwyg
reduplicate		aaθvaθv#larkprszskwyg
indef big weird obnoxious dual rabbit		aaθvaθv#larkprszskwyg
indef big weird obnoxious dual rabbit abs		aaθvaθv#larkprszskwyggwe

The plural is marked by the circumfix “ik- -#ret”, the definite is marked by the initial infix “rst-” (inserted after any leading consonants), and the object NP in a transitive sentence is marked with the absolutive final infix “-po” (inserted before any trailing vowels).

plural cheese		ikʔaeiʔouy#rət
green plural cheese		ikʔaeiʔouy#rət^ufon
lucky green plural cheese		ikʔaeiʔouy#rət^ufonuiwii
yummy lucky green plural cheese		ikʔaeiʔouy#rət^ufonuiwiiuiʃðo%
reduplicate		ikʔaeiʔouy#rətətufonuiwiiuiʃðo%
def yummy lucky green plural cheese		rstikʔaeiʔouy#rətətufonuiwiiuiʃðo%
def yummy lucky green plural cheese erg		rstikʔaeiʔouy#rətətufonuiwiiuiʃðo%po

The verb is marked for the number and animacy of each of the subject and object: “oa” for animate, “x@x@x” for inanimate; “jy” for dual, “irt” for plural. Subject markers are animacy + number. Object markers are number + animacy. The main verb element is composed of the root + the subject marker + the object marker + the tense marker (“wol” for future).

subj dual animate		oajy
obj plural inanimate		irtx@x@x
eat future subj-dual-animate obj-plural-inanimate		ungjɪoajyirtx@x@xwol

The complete transitive sentence is composed of object NP + verb element + evidential marker + subject NP. The reported speech evidential is “e^tk”.

rstikʔaeiʔouy#rətətufonuiwiiuiʃðo%po + ungjɪoajyirtx@x@xwol + e^tk + aaθvaθv#larkprszskwyggwe

Now the phonological rules apply.

underlying		rstikʔaeiʔouy#rətətufonuiwiiuiʃðo%poungjɪoajyirtx@x@xwole^tkaaθvaθv#larkprszskwyggwe
reduplication		rstikʔaeiʔouy#rətətufonuiwiiuiʃðo%poungjɪoajyirtx@x@xwoleletkaaθvaθv#larkprszskwyggwe
degeminate		rstikʔaeiʔouy#rətətufonuiwiiuiʃðo%poungjɪoajyirtx@x@xwoleletkaaθvaθv#larkprszskwygwe
left-eating pac-man		rstikʔaeiʔouyrətətufonuiwiiuiʃðo%poungjɪoajyirtx@x@xwoleletkaaθvalarkprszskwygwe
right-eating pac-man		rstikʔaeiʔouyrətətufonuiwiiuiʃðooungjɪoajyirtx@x@xwoleletkaaθvalarkprszskwygwe
remove blockers		rstikʔaeiʔouyrətətufonuiwiiuiʃðooungjɪoajyirtxxxwoleletkaaθvalarkprszskwygwe
break up CCC clusters		rsitikʔaeiʔouyrətətufonuiwiiuiʃðooungujɪoajyirtixxixwoleletkaaθvalarkapraszaskawygwe
voicing assimilation		rsitikʔaeiʔouyrətətufonuiwiiuiʃðooungujɪoajyirtixxixwoleletkaaθvalarkaprassaskawygwe
Vowel simplification: V1+V2+V3+V2 simplifies to V1+V3		rsitikʔaeiʔouyrətətufonuiwiuʃðooungujɪoajyirtixxixwoleletkaaθvalarkaprassaskawygwe
lengthen vowels		rsitikʔaeiʔouyrətətufonuiwiuʃðo:ungujɪoajyirtixxixwoleletka:θvalarkaprassaskawygwe

Other phonological processes include nasal assimilation, liquid assimilation, reduction of triple vowels to double, and another vowel simplification rule (V₁+V₂+V₁+V₂ simplifies to V₁+V₂). Their specific ordering is left as an exercise for the reader.

Other useful and interesting morphemes include:

roll		r@r
singular marker		ly
hearsay evidential marker		wtfomg%
past tense marker		yd

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