My First Conlang
This was the first language I invented, when I was about 10 or 11 (in about 1993). When I created it, I was very interested in Japanese, so there is some Japanese influence. I intended to use it for secret communication with a friend of mine, so that our siblings couldn't understand us, but it remained very limited, so I didn't use it that way much, if at all. All I really invented of it was a word-list. Here is that word-list, errors and all, with my recent additions and corrections in square brackets. (I recently began working on this language again, under the new name of Ikanirae Seru)
| WORD | PRONUNCIATION | ENGLISH |
| manikoso | ma-nee-ko-so | man |
| kosama | ko-sa-ma | woman |
| rao | ra-o | boy |
| kao | ka-o | girl |
| kaki | ka-ki [ka-kee] | baby |
| koku | ko-koo | child | siti-su | see-tee-soo | teenager |
| siti | see-tee | adult |
| yati | ya-tee | yes |
| kami | ka-mee | no |
| kasitu | ka-si-too [ka-see-too] | hammock |
| kasi | ka-si [ka-see] | house |
| kata | ka-ta | in |
| kana | ka-na | out |
| hira | hee-ra | up |
| kama | ka-ma | down |
| ti | tee | and |
| taka | ta-ka | pencil |
| takakukami | ta-ka-koo-ka-mee | pen [literally "pencil-erase-no"] |
| ku | koo | erase |
| kuma | koo-ma | eraser |
| ko | ko | or |
| noti | no-tee | please |
| moko | mo-ko | [ " ] |
| uki | oo-kee | thank-you |
| tu | too | is,am,are |
| ki | kee | have,has |
| moma | mo-ma | will(as in "i will...") |
| uti | oo-tee | i,me |
| otu | o-too | you |
| i | ee | ? [question marker] |
| teno | te-no | give |
| kimo | kee-mo | help [noun or verb???] |
| kaka | ka-ka | certainly no |
| tiki | tee-kee | certainly yes |
| takiku | ta-kee-koo | want(as in "i want...") |
| temeti | te-me-tee | food |
| toku | to-ku [to-koo] | silence,silent |
| seru | se-ru [se-roo] | speak, speaking, talk, talking |
| kaimo | ka-ee-mo | look |
| ketu | ke-too | meat |
| ketukami | ke-too-ka-mee | vegetable, fruit...[literally "meat-no"] |
| hiratikama | hee-ra-tee-ka-ma | jump [literally "up-and-down"] |
| sakito | sa-kee-to | liquid food that has pieces in it [e.g. noodle soup] |
| takaku | ta-ka-koo | liquid food that has no pieces in it [e.g. custard] |
| tee | te-e | solid food |
| tiuu | tee-oo-oo | friend |
| tiu | tee-oo | [translation lost] |
| mita | mee-ta | to |
| toma | to-ma | from |
| tomamita | to-ma-mee-ta | gift |
| nau | na-oo | write |
| nautiuu | na-oo-tee-oo-oo | letter |
| ukutuma | oo-koo-too-ma | clothing |
| rakatasauti | ra-ka-ta-sa-oo-tee | a piece of cloth worn by the people of this land |
Sentences: The closest I came to creating sentences was strings of words like "taka ko takakukami, noti" (pencil or pen, please). Complete sentences are possible, though, as in the dialogue below.
Sounds:
A very limited inventory of 13 sounds is used:
5 vowels: a, e, i, o, u
8 consonants: t, k, n, m, s, h, r, y
Because of my interest in Japanese, I intentionally chose sounds which are in Japanese, and only allowed them to be combined in open syllables, so that my language could be written using the Japanese syllabaries.
I also intentionally excluded voiced stops from the inventory, although I forget why.
As I was making this page, I thought it would be fun to see what sorts of sentences I can make. Here is a little dialogue. It's somewhat stilted because of lack of vocabulary.
H: Uti tu Hana. Otu tu Erika i. (I am Hannah. Are you Erika?)
K: Kami, uti tu Tania. (No, I am Tania.)
H: Otu ki kasi i. (Do you have a house?)
K: Kami, uti tu koku. Uti ki kasitu. Otu ki kasitu i.