Grammar
Word formation
Words not natively found in Uwulangii are created through agglutination. This may involve appending of class modifiers, chaining of different words, and so on. In orthography, the colon <:> comes after a noun whose next noun should be treated as part of it, but in spoken Uwulangii <:> does not mean anything. One may also substitute the colon for brackets surrounding both nouns.
So for example, there is no native word that just means "catgirl" (a girl with cat ears), but you can form it by putting "queen" (English for female cat) into the human or anthro class. That being said, there is no separate word for that in Uwulangii, so you form that word by the phrase "female cat", for the final construction:
<wɔ: UvU: >øn
/mɨɰ ɨʋɨ ɲɑn/
cat-female-G1
"catgirl"
Word order
Uwulangii uses an SOV word order.
Objects are marked by a preceding -u- /ʕuʕ/ for direct objects, or -u̱- /ʕuːʕ/ for indirect objects.
Adjectives and adverbs follow the noun they modify. Possessors are adjectives, and if the possessor is not a pronoun, the particle -u̬- /ʕuːːʕ/ precedes it.
Names and loanwords are supported, which are surrounded by <(e:> /ɹə/ and <)̂> /ɹː/. The ending parenthesis immediately follows the name or loanword, while the initiating parenthesis is treated as a separate word. In orthography, both names and loanwords are written in katakana. Examples follow:
Word or name |
Phonemes |
Uwulangii transcription |
Astaryuu |
/astəɾʲɨː/ |
(e: アスタリュウ)̂ |
Agma Schwa |
/ægmə ʃwa/ |
(e: アグマ シュワ)̂ |
schadenfreude |
/ʃadɛnfrɔʏdɛ/ |
(e: シャデンフロイデ)̂ |
Pronouns
Personal pronouns
|
Object |
Subject |
Possessive |
1sg |
uwu /uwu/ |
ùwú /uːwuː/ |
ú.ù /uːːʔuːː/ |
2sg |
owo /owo/ |
òwó /oːwoː/ |
ó.ò /oːːʔoːː/ |
3sg |
0w0 /ɑwɑ/ |
0̀w0́ /ɑːwɑː/ |
0́.0̀ /ɑːːʔɑːː/ |
1pl |
(uwu) /ɹuwuɹ/ |
(ùwú) /ɹuːwuːɹ/ |
(ú.ù) /ɹuːːʔuːːɹ/ |
2pl |
(owo) /ɹowoɹ/ |
(òwó) /ɹoːwoːɹ/ |
(ó.ò) /ɹoːːʔoːːɹ/ |
3pl |
(0w0) /ɹɑwɑɹ/ |
(0̀w0́) /ɹɑːwɑːɹ/ |
(0́.0̀) /ɹɑːːʔɑːːɹ/ |
Demonstrative pronouns
Uwulangii's demonstrative pronouns agree with the noun class of the object:
Noun class |
this, those |
that, these |
furry |
ɔ_v /ɰəʋ/ |
.wv /ʔɨʋ/ |
human |
v.@ /ʋəɹ/ |
n.n /non/ |
feral |
<wn /mɨn/ |
v.@ /ʋoɹ/ |
object |
vw. /ʋɨʔ/ |
.n. /ono/ |
abstract |
U.0 /ɨʔɑ/ |
eʌe /əʁ̞ə/ |
Noun classes
There are five noun classes that roughly follow an animacy distinction, which go as follows, with the preferred glossing abbreviations after them:
- G1 "furry" - used for furries, especially those who speak uwulangii
- G2 "human" - used for non-furry people
- G3 "feral" - used for animals and plants
- G4 "object" - used for non-living things
- G5 "abstract" - used for abstract concepts
Nouns can be moved up and down the animacy ladder using a different adjective-like article after them: >0n /ɲɑn/ for anthro class, e-e /əɹə/ for human class, ʌoʌ /ʁ̞ɔʁ̞/ for feral class, .3. /oɲo/ for object class, @v@ /ɹɨɹ/ for abstract class.
Verbs
Verbs do not technically conjugate for tense or aspect; these are accomplished using affix-like adverbs and linking verbs respectively. However, verbs do conjugate for the noun class of their agent and direct object, as follows:
ɰ w ʁ̞ ɹ ∅
Noun class |
Agent |
Direct object |
furry |
(- /ɹ/ |
-) /ɹ/ |
human |
{- /ʁ̞/ |
-} /ʁ̞/ |
feral |
\(- /w/ |
-)/ /w/ |
object |
<(- /ɰ/ |
-)> /ɰ/ |
abstract |
(;- /∅/ |
-;) /∅/ |
If a pronoun is to be used for the agent or direct object of the verb, then it may be replaced with /∅/. Null-phoneme endings are only written if one ending is non-null.
Numbers
Uwulangii uses a base 6 numeral system, whose naming scheme for large numbers is myriad-based (grouped into four digits rather than three) and uses a long scale. Numbers are usually written in word form, with the multiple of a power preceding the word(s) for that power. If a digit is zero it is not written in word form.
Numeral |
Word |
0 |
.-. /oɹo/ |
1 |
o-o /ɔɹɔ/ |
2 |
0-0 /ɑɹɑ/ |
3 |
e-e /əɹə/ |
4 |
u-u /uɹu/ |
5 |
U-U /ɨɹɨ/ |
10 |
nwn /nɨn/ |
100 |
əwə /wɨw/ |
1000 |
(written as 10 100) |
1 0000 |
>w< /ɲɨm/ |
10000^2 (myrmyriad) |
(written as myriad myriad) |
10000^3 (trillion) |
(0-0) /ɹɑɹɑɹ/ |
mymyriad trillion |
(0n0) /ɹɑnɑɹ/ |
myriad septillion |
(0̀-0́) /ɹɑ:ɹɑ:ɹ/ |
undecillion |
(0̀n0́) /ɹɑ:nɑ:ɹ/ |
mymyriad undecillion |
(0́-0̀) /ɹɑ::ɹɑ::ɹ/ |
myriad quindecillion |
(0́n0̀) /ɹɑ::nɑ::ɹ/ |
novendecillion |
<(@.@)> /ɰɹoɹɰ/ |
For myriads above novendecillion chain the words for numbers above from smallest power to largest power. Any chain can be used to get to the requisite power. For example a googol, 10^100, is 10^(4+36+60), or myriad undecillion novendecillion, translated as >w< (0̀n0́) <(@.@)>.
Also, the individual numbers 69 and 420 have their own words, which are respectively {əwə} /ʁ̞wɨwʁ̞/ and (@w@) /ɹɹwɹɹ/.