Luama

wait no go back
go all the way back

Luama is a conlang that I started working on in 2021. (A what?)

It was a lot of fun and took many moons to make. And it's still not done (because I don't know how to make one properly). Many things are still missing, but I want to show you what I've got so far.

Alphabet

*I prefer the version of Ŋ that exists in other fonts, such as Consolas or Comic Sans.

For ease of reading, the romanization of these letters will be used on this page.

Phonotactics

All possible consonant clusters:
nd, nk, ns, nt, nz
md, mt, mk, ml*, ms, mz
ŋk
fn*, fk, fl
kn, kl, ks, ksn* kt, kz*
ln, lm, ld, ls, lt, lsn*, lz*
sn, sm, sk, st
(The bolded consonant marks the place of articulation to which the other consonant assimilates)
*Only in affix combinations.

All possible diphthongs: ea [æ], ei [ɛj], ai [aj], au [au], ua [ua], ui [wi], əi [ʌj]

Other changes: /i/ → [ɪ] word-finally, /ʒ/ → [d͡ʒ] after a nasal or /l/.

Pronouns

Verb conjugation

Syntax

Verb-Subject Object!

Example sentences to showcase grammatical features:

Vezai zeks zuv jalisen, vən usnekai zeks zuv vulisen.
We'd sleep in the days, and we'd hunt in the nights. (Would-sleep we through days, and would-go-hunting we through nights.)

Mə əja jam əven.
The fruits were not clean. (Not clean were fruits.)

Ne fajai ni mu'ijal ze nisum tuks?
Can I see your worm? ([uncertain] will-let you see I your worm?)

Numbers

The wings of butterfliiii-iii-iiii-iiiiiiiiiiiies... Sorry. Anyway, speakers of Luama use a vigisemal (base-20) number system. This means that instead of putting a new number after 9 like we base-10 users do, they go all the way to 19 before adding a new number.

row 1: numbers 0-9, row 2: numbers A-K (10-19)

Worldbuilding? Eeeeew!

A lot of people make conlangs because they like worldbuilding and the conlang is like a side project and they're making a language for their cool alien characters to speak, but I found while I was making my conlang (without that intention) that language is deeply connected to the people who see it and the place where the people live. Thus, in true lame-ass isolate fashion, the people who speak Luama (the Lusek) live on a fictitious temperate island (Fansek) in the East China Sea.
The Lusek are shamanists who live in villages (teŋuku'en). Villages each have a telak, who's kind of like a mayor. Telaken answer to the fətelak, who looks over multiple villages (like a governor).
I can not say that any part of the Lusek culture is fleshed out even a little. I don't pay a lot of attention to it.

Glossary

∅ - a marker representing a lack of anything.

conlang - short for "constructed language". An artificial language that has syntax, grammar, and a lexicon, just like a real language.

dentalize - to move the place of articulation to the tips of the incisors (where you make the "th" sound).

ergative/absolutive - like nominative/accusative (the case system that English has) but instead of "He sees her. He smiles.", it would be "He sees her. Him smiles." because the absolutive (him) does intransitive verbs instead of the ergative (he).

isolate - a language that cannot be proven to be related to any other languages (e.g. Basque).

voicing - the difference between [f] (not voiced) and [v] (voiced).

Direct all inquiries to lbhf4u@gmail.com.