This is the page for the TVTropes Conlang.
Phonology
Labial | Alveolar | Dorsal | Glottal | |
Nasal | m | n | ||
Plosive | p /p~p̪/ b /b~b̪/ | t d | k g | ʔ |
Affricate | c /ts~tʃ/ j /dz~dʒ/ | |||
Fricative | f /ɸ~f/ v /β~v/ | s /s~ʃ/ z /z~ʒ/ | h | |
Approximant | w | r /ɹ/ | y /j/ | |
Trill | bb /ʙ/ | rr /r/ | ||
Lateral Fricative | x /ɬ/ q /ɮ/ | |||
Lateral Approximant | l |
Pronunciation guide for people that speak English and not IPA: m, n, p, b, t, d, k, g, f, v, s, z, h, w, r, y, and l are all pronounced as in English. C and j are pronounced like the first sounds of "chip" and "job" respectively. P and b can be pronounced with your mouth in the position you normally use for f and v, and vice versa. S and z can also be pronounced like the first sound of "ship" and the middle sound of "treasure" respectively. ' (an apostrophe) is like k, but farther back where you normally pronounce h. Rr is a trilled r like in Spanish, and bb is a trill with your lips. X and q are pronounced with your mouth in the position you use for l, but making more noise with the air coming over the sides of your tongue; with x you don't use your voice (like s) and with q you do use your voice (like z.)
Note: In order to create a distinctive character for the language, k and g should be treated in a similar manner to the letter x in English. ie: Rarely and primarily for loan words from other languages or for making things sound alien/foreign/weird etc.
Vowels:
Front | Back | |
Close | i | u /ɯ~u/ |
Mid | e | o |
Open | a | o /ɒ/ |
Diphthongs: ai, ei, au
Phonotactics
Basic syllable structure: (C)(C)V(V)(C)(C)
—What can be where—
- Words may begin with a consonant, a consonant plus an approximant, or a vowel.
- Words may end with any single consonant other than an affricate or trill, or in a nasal plus a same-POA stop.
- Any pairs of consonants are allowed in the middle of words, and may be followed by an approximant. The following exceptions apply:
- Any nasal followed by a stop must share its POA.
- Two adjoining consonants must have different MOAs.
—Vowels—
- Any sequences of three or fewer vowels are allowed. They are pronounced separately except for the diphthongs and long vowels.
- There are two degrees of vowel length - the longer one indicated by doubling the written vowel.
- If two instances of the same vowel adjoin but are pronounced separately, they are separated by a glottal stop, written with an apostrophe.
—Stress—
- Words are stressed on the second-to-last syllable, and nonstandard stress is indicated by an acute accent over the stressed vowel.
- When a doubled vowel is accented thus, the accent comes on the first written vowel.
Example single-syllable word: Kwaunt
Word order
The basic sentence structure is subject-object-verb. Adjectives and adverbs follow what they modify, as do adjectival and adverbial phrases.Nouns
Noun classes
Nouns belong to one of five classes, indicated by adding a suffix to the root. The suffixes are:- deity -ya
- sentient -a
- animal -e
- object -o
- abstract and verbal nouns -u
- dístafya _goddess_
- dístafa _woman_
- dístafe _female animal_
- dístafo _female statue_
- dístafu _femininity / to be female_
Pronouns
Personal
- first : i(n)
- 'I, me, myself'
- second : pu(n)
- 'you, yourself'
- third : ta(n)/fa(n)/va(n)
- 'troper/non-troper/non-human'
- in 'me' + pun 'you' = ipun 'me and you, we'
- pun + fan 'him/her/them' = pufan 'you and them/you lot/y'all'
- etc.
Correlatives
definite | indefinite | |||||||
distal that (near you) | proximal this (near me/near both of us) | impersonal that (away from both of us) | interrogative/reflexive what | universal all/every | negative none | alterntive/reciprocal another/eachother | existential-elective some/any | |
thing/determiner | ze (that/those) | je (this/these) | (that over there) | (what/which/who/whom) | dev (all, every, everything, everyone, both) | hero (none/no/no one/nobody/nothing/neither)) | dif (another/one another/each other) | ol(some/any/something/anything/someone/anyone) |
time | zewe/zeri (then) | jemu (now) | (when) | dev-* (always) | hero-*(never) | dif-* | ol-* | |
place | zeset (there) | jeset (here) | (where) | devset (everywhere) | heroset (nowhere) | difset (somewhere else/each place) | olset(somewhere/anywhere) | |
reason | (therefore) | (thus) | (why) | (no reason) | (another reason/each reason) | (for some reason/any reason) | ||
manner | (thereby) | (this way) | (how) | (no way) | (another way/each way) | (somehow/any way) | ||
amount | (that much) | (this much) | (how much) | (no amount) | (another amount/each amount) | (some/any amount) |
place correlatives can be combined with any preposition.
pronouns can also be suffixed with the laudative '-sande' to indicate shown their work, or the pejorative '-dindo' for the opposite
- ta-sande (he who did his reasearch)
- pu-dindo (you, who have not shown your work)
- distaf-sande (good girl)
- sepir-dindo (silly boy)
Verbs
Tenses
There are three basic tenses, indicated by the following suffixes:- past -ri
- present -mu
- future -we
- future changed -yowe (eg.I ate tommorrow)
- past changed -yori (eg.i didn't eat yesterday (but i did in an alternate timeline))
- future-past changed -yomu (eg. I shall eat yesterday)
The suffix -yo is used to indicate that the tense suffix which follows is correct from the timeline of the speaker's experience. If a person does something, then travels to a time before that action, the person should say "I do-yo-ri it."
Imperative
The suffix -mio is used to form the imperative, in all grammatical persons - i.e. "let's go" and "may he go" as well as "go!"Copula ("to be")
There is no copula - the state of being something is expressed by attaching the proper tense suffix(es) to the root. Thus distaf, the female root, forms:- distaf-ri _was a woman_
- distaf-mu _is a woman_
- distaf-we _will be a woman_
- as well as the time travel tenses
Existence
to denote existence (ie. 'There is/are/was/were etc.') the sentence starts with the particles 'Ri', 'Mu', 'We' as well as the time-travel tenses.- Ri wordya 'There was a God/There was a Writer'
- Mu drahone jeset 'here there be dragons'
- Mu va jeset! 'Here it is!'
Adjectives and adverbs
These words are created from a root with the suffix -i. Thus distaf, the female root, forms distafi, meaning "feminine" or "femininely."
Numbers
The numberal system is base-twelve, so 24 would be duxo' or two-twelve, and 26 would be duxo'-duo, or two-twelve and two.
Tropese | English | Origin |
hero | 0 | My Hero, Zero |
stev | 1 | One-Steve Limit |
duo, du- | 2 | |
pawa, pa- | 3 | power trio |
des, de- | 4 | Four Is Death |
band, ba- | 5 | Five-Man Band |
xi', xi- | 6 | |
raimbo, re- | 7 | rainbow motif |
infy | 8 | the infinity symbol |
ix, i- | 9 | Latin numerals |
dotors, do- | 10 | Nine out of Ten Doctors Agree |
optu | 11 | up to eleven |
xo', xo- | 12 | clock |
Suggested Stuff
Suggested Morphology: Agglutinative; Agglutinative/Isolating split
Lexicon
Any root can be formed into any type of word, though not all derivations will be meaningful.
Roots | ||||||
Type | Tropese | English | Origin | |||
root | distaf | female | distaff counterpart | |||
root | fil | mean, petty "bad" | ||||
root | imbe | conquer | ||||
root | je | sight | ||||
root | kit | cute, kitten-ness | Cute Kitten | |||
root | nebu | motion | ||||
root | sapasu | money | Spice of Life | |||
root | sepir | male | spear counterpart | |||
root | skol | learn | ||||
root | hunchaf | hot drink | Uncoffee | |||
root | taishi | child, youth, young person | Time-Shifted Actor | |||
root | chali | music, sing | glee | |||
root | vil | evil | villain | |||
root | zan | plan | Xanatos Gambit | |||
root | audif | unique, different | our tropes are different | |||
root | charop | molestation | skinship grope | |||
root | mocxim | fate, doom | and I must scream | |||
root | fleb/flebb | magic | phlebotinum | |||
root | maqof | important | macguffin | |||
root | jumsar/jumsarr | die, death | Jump the Shark | |||
root | rulohul | interesting, popular, beautiful | Rule of Cool | |||
root | sipin | attraction, crush | shipping | |||
root | mamband | group | Five-Man Band | |||
root | bi'ai/bi'ay | strength | the big guy | |||
root | ci' | care, look after | the chick | |||
root | ber/berr | mother | mama bear | |||
root | wof | father | papa wolf | |||
root | smotai/smotay | intelligence | the smart guy | |||
root | mentor/mentorr | wisdom | mentor | |||
root | sicrei/sicrey | extra, another | sixth ranger | |||
root | taqon | youth | tagalong kid | |||
root | tohen | race, origin | token minority | |||
root | plot | story, history | plot | |||
root | polava | undecided, mysterious | Bolivian Army Ending | |||
root | daun | sadness, woe | downer ending | |||
root | harrat | person | characters | |||
root | frij | discover, realise | fridge logic | |||
root | naimafiu | fear, disgust | Nightmare Fuel | |||
root | duxodot | sex, porn, kink | rule 34 (duxo'-dotor (see Numbers)) | |||
root | unob/unobb | rare | unobtanium | |||
root | ninten | difficult, hard | nintendo hard | |||
root | ofmod | mistake, wrong, broken | Off-Model | |||
root | chalan | fall, drop, ballistics | colonydrop | |||
root | fansov | tease, flirt | fanservice | |||
root | smofet | except, discriminate | smurfette principle | |||
root | worf | defeat, win | worf effect | |||
borrowing | dakka | violence/ammo/fire | more dakka | |||
root | hifa | turn, rotate | Heel–Face Turn | |||
root | doros | foster, adopt | Doorstop Baby | |||
root | hidardo' | cruelty, selfishness | Kick the Dog | |||
root | larjham | act, pretend | large ham | |||
root | eldric | beast, monster | eldritch abomination | |||
root | mwe | adorable, beautiful, handsome | moe | |||
root | botol | cheap | bottle episode | |||
root | mamarri | chest | Non-Mammalian Mammaries | |||
root | sirrïus | unimportant, intersting | serious business | |||
root | foswol | awake, alert, self aware | fourth wall | |||
root | racho | marsupial, pouched animal | RockosModernLife | |||
root | gift | rude, shameless, troll | G.I.F.T | |||
borrowing | chekhov | intersting | Chekhov's Gun, borrowing | |||
root | katan | important, intersting | katanas are just better | |||
root | srowitin | mistake, a good mistake | Throw It In! | |||
root | ninjuc | easy | Conservation of Ninjutsu | |||
root | smirp | small mammal, rodentoid | Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp" | |||
root | nudol | unknown, mystery | noodle incident noodle implements | |||
root | hir | lawful good, heroic | the hero | |||
root | lol | fun, funny, exciting, silly | if you don't know, get out. | |||
root | mul | killing, murder | ||||
root | pon | weight, gravity | ||||
root | word | creation, art, write, deity | Word of God | |||
borrowing | snusnu | sex, porn, kink | ||||
root | set | place, time, area, era, land, year | settings, set | |||
root | id | chaotic good, freedom | ||||
root | drahon | lizard, reptile | our dragons are different | |||
root | ibad | vision, see, eye | The Eyes of Ibad, from Dune | |||
root | it | neutral good, freedom | ||||
root | adbot | commerce, business | The Advertisement Server | |||
root | devhel, devel | torture, punishment, hell | Development hell, play on 'Devil' | |||
root | blesid | loud, crazy | BRIAN BLESSED | |||
root | romans/romanc | love, romance | romance | |||
root | cihin | food, eat, culinary | tastes like chicken | |||
root | sodan | light, day | Showdown at High Noon | |||
root | tsach | disappear | ChuckCunninghamSyndrome | |||
root | pun | mount | pony | |||
root | ponat | finger | Finger Pointing | |||
root | vilu | biology, life science, natural philosophy | Evilutionary Biologist | |||
root | anub | pity, self-pity, misspellings | My Immortal | |||
root | esuf | lesson, moral, meaning | Aesop | |||
root | twelv | dark, night | When the Clock Strikes Twelve | |||
root | trope | playing, experimenting | playing with tropes / trope | |||
root | wolof | unreliable, riddling, trickster | Gene Wolfe | |||
root | skwark | huge, big, enormous | Square-Cube Law | |||
root | ateom | hate, snark, despise | Hatedom | |||
root | estraf | imposing, dangerous, negative | Names to Run Away from Really Fast | |||
root | olmar | elder, old | Old Master | |||
root | nuu | despair | Big "NO!" | |||
root | chator/chatar | trap, chains | Chained to a Railway | |||
root | moog | stupid, naive, unaware | Muggles | |||
root | apolot | sorry, accident | Apologises a Lot | |||
Derivation | ||||||
affix | from | to | meaning | example tropese | example english | Origin |
-(h)isto | root/any | noun object class | time | twelv > twelvisto | dark > night (ie.'dark-time') | history |
-(h)istu | root/any | noun abstract class | time | twelv > twelvistu | dark > night time (ie.'dark-time') | history |
-(l)ando | root/any | noun | place | cihin > cihinando | cook > kitchin | land |
-sande | noun | noun | laudative (someone/thing that has proven their work, intelligent or creative person) | shown their work | ||
-dindo | noun | noun | pejorative (lazy, unintelligent or uncreative person/useless thing) | |||
Words | ||||||
Type | Tropese | English | Origin | |||
noun | distafya | goddess, creator | ||||
noun | distafa | woman, female | ||||
noun | distafe | female animal, bitch, cow | ||||
noun | wolofya | Demiurge, Gnostic god, trickster god | Gene Wolfe | |||
noun | wolofa | lying person, unreliable person, trickster | Gene Wolfe | |||
noun | sapasu'a | monied person, owner, buyer | Spice of Life | |||
noun | sapasu'o | piece of money, credit, dollar, euro, yen | Spice of Life | |||
noun | sapasu'u | banker | Spice of Life | |||
noun | sapasindo | money-lender's, bank, ATM | Spice of Life | |||
verb | sapasamu | to earn cash, make money | Spice of Life | |||
noun | skwarkya | great god, sky god, the One God of All | Square-Cube Law | |||
noun | racho'o | pouched, pocketed object, purse, sack | Rocko's Modern Life | |||
noun | skwarka | giant women, Fifty-Foot Woman, huge female | Square-Cube Law | |||
noun | skwarke | huge animal, megafauna, dinosaur | Square-Cube Law | |||
noun | skwarko | mountain, asteroid, continent, World in the Sky | Square-Cube Law | |||
noun | skwarku | Ruler, lord, big man, master | Square-Cube Law | |||
noun | skwarkindo | Megacorp, Wal-Mart, supermarket, Big Business | Square-Cube Law | |||
noun | distafo | female statue | ||||
noun | distafu | femininity | ||||
noun | hunchaf | hot drink | Uncoffee | |||
noun | hunchafa | teawallah, barista, tea master, coffee girl | Uncoffee | |||
noun | hunchafindo | coffee shop, teahouse, Teahouse | Uncoffee | |||
noun | hunchafya | tea god, lord of coffee, Lu Yu | Uncoffee | |||
noun | hunchafo | Teapot, coffee percolator, espresso machine, etc. | Uncoffee | |||
noun | polava'u | Undecidedness, confusion | Bolivian Army Ending | |||
verb | distafmu | to be a woman, to be female | ||||
verb | hunchafmu | to make coffee, to make tea, the tea ceremony | Uncoffee | |||
verb | vilumu | to be a biologist, to study living things | Evilutionary Biologist | |||
verb | polavamu | to be confused, undecided | Bolivian Army Ending | |||
verb | charopmu | to molest someone, touching, fondling | Skinship Grope | |||
noun | wordya | god, creator | ||||
noun | papasi | preservation/preserved | Human Popsicle | |||
noun | papasia | Human or other sentient mummy | Human Popsicle | |||
noun | papasindo | smokehouse, freezer, cryonics facility, saltworks, cannery, embalming facility | Human Popsicle | |||
noun | papasiya | Osiris, mummy god, god of preserving food | Human Popsicle | |||
verb | papasimu | to preserve, mummify, make jam, jelly, smoke or salt foods for storage | Human Popsicle | |||
noun | papasidindo | rotten, decomposed | Human Popsicle | |||
noun | papasisande | Excellent preservation, immortal cryonics patients, good jam | Human Popsicle | |||
noun | viluya | God of life, of biology, Saint Charles Darwin, St Gregor Mendel | Evilutionary Biologist | |||
noun | taishiya | young god, new god, messiah, savior | Time-Shifted Actor | |||
noun | hifaya | turning god, transforming god, Janus | Heel–Face Turn | |||
noun | tsachya | deus absconditus, absent deity, Evil Stole My Faith | Chuck Cunningham Syndrome | |||
noun | punya | horse-lord, horse-god, Hengist, Horsa | pony | |||
noun | charopya | god of perversion, god of molestation, perverted god | Skinship Grope | |||
noun | puna | intelligent horse, unicorn, pegasus | pony | |||
noun | drahone | dragon, lizard | Our Dragons Are Different | |||
noun | pune | horse, camel, donkey | pony | |||
noun | taishie | baby animal, colt, pup, hatchling | Time-Shifted Actor | |||
noun | polavaya | unknown god, agnosticism | Bolivian Army Ending | |||
noun | distafi | feminine | ||||
adjective | rachoi | Pouched, marsupial | Rocko's Modern Life | |||
adjective | charopi | perverted, depraved, sick, nasty | Skinship Grope | |||
noun | rachya | pouched god, tree-kangaroo totem, pocket savior, Karora, Tadjeri, Turnong | Rocko's Modern Life | |||
verb | rachmu | to pocket something, put it away, reproduce as a marsupial | Rocko's Modern Life | |||
noun | chaliya | singing god, god of music, Apollo | Glee | |||
noun | chalio | musical instrument | glee | |||
noun | romansya | god of love, Eros, Venus | ||||
noun | hifao | turning device, lathe, potter's wheel | Heel–Face Turn | |||
verb | romansmu/romancmu | to love | ||||
verb | chalimu | to sing, to make music | Glee | |||
verb | anubmu | to pity oneself, to misspell words | My Immortal | |||
verb | taishimu | to be young, to become young, to youthen, Merlin Sickness | Time-Shifted Actor | |||
noun | chaliu | musician, singer | glee | |||
noun | hifau | craftsperson, potter, turner | Heel–Face Turn | |||
noun | charopu | pervert, molester, groper, sex maniac | Skinship Grope | |||
noun | chalie | songbird, canary | glee | |||
noun | chalisande | beautiful music, excellent music | glee | |||
noun | chalisto | music | glee | |||
noun | chalidindo | bad music | glee | |||
noun | esufu | teacher | Aesop, Broken Aesop, Space Whale Aesop, etc, etc | |||
noun | dorosando | place of adoption, orphanage, foundlings's wheel, baby box | Doorstop Baby | |||
verb | dorosmu | to adopt | Doorstop Baby | |||
noun | anubya | self-pitying god, Weeping Angels, Atoning One | My Immortal | |||
noun | anube | weeping beast, crocodile | My Immortal | |||
noun | anubu | man of constant sorrow, goth, emo, Enoby | My Immortal | |||
noun | anubando | place of self-pity, place of misspelling, nightclub | My Immortal | |||
verb | anubmu | to weep, pity oneself, cut oneself, worship "satan", go to nightclubs | My Immortal, Enoby | |||
noun | twelvisto | night | ||||
adverb | je twelvisto | tonight, this evening | ||||
noun | devhelando/develando | Hell, Hades, a torture chamber | ||||
verb | cihinmu | to eat, to dine | ||||
verb | punmu | to ride, to mount | pony | |||
verb | dorosmu | to adopt, foster | Doorstop Baby | |||
verb | esufmu | to teach, moralize, preach | Aesop, Broken Aesop, Space Whale Aesop, etc, etc | |||
verb | tsachmu | to disappear, to vanish | Chuck Cunningham Syndrome | |||
verb | srowitinmu | to be a (good) mistake, to be untrue, to lie in a way that helps people | ||||
verb | itmu | to be allowed, allowing an end regardless of means | ||||
noun | romansa/romanca | boyfriend/girlfriend, lover | ||||
noun | ponadev | injured finger, hand | Fingore | |||
noun | ibadev | injured eye, missing eye | Eye Scream | |||
noun | viltaishia | evil child, misbehaving child | Enfant Terrible | |||
noun | hirtaqon | strong youth, helpful child | Kid Hero | |||
verb | hirdakkmu | to (heroically) barrage your enemies with ammo until they surrender | More Dakka | |||
verb | ofmodnudolu | to accidentally create a (widely) popular incident that no one knows the details to | Noodle Incident | |||
noun | itya | neutral god, uncaring god | ||||
noun | vilya | evil god, angry god | villain | |||
noun | ateoma | hated person | Hatedom | |||
noun | ateome | hated creature | Hatedom | |||
noun | ateomu | hated object | Hatedom | |||
noun | aetomromans | exciting love, Tough Love | Hatedom | |||
noun | blesidbi'aya | loud fighter, excited hero, Boisterous Bruiser | BRIAN BLESSED | |||
noun | hidardo'berwofa | cruel gaurdian(s), Abusive Parents | Kick the Dog | |||
noun | ci'berwofa | loving care, Good Parents | The Heart | |||
noun | dakkaromansa | Battle Couple, lovers that fight together | More Dakka | |||
noun | vilesufo | bad lesson, despised teaching, horrible moral(s) | Villain | |||
noun | skwarkchator/skwarkchatar | Gilded Cage, comfortable trap | Chained to a Railway | |||
noun | lolmooga | happy idiot | Muggles | |||
verb | lolmoogmu | to make an idiot of one's self in a hilarious way | Muggles | |||
verb | vilesufmu | to be a bad example, to teach poorly | Villains | |||
verb | daunlarjhamu | to pretend to be sad, Crocodile Tears | Large Ham | |||
noun | hirsapasu'a | Self-Made Man, Uncle Pennybags | Spice of Life | |||
noun | hirsapasu'o | earned money | Spice of Life | |||
verb | apolotmu | to apologize, often frequently | Apologises a Lot |
Phrases/Poetry
Tropese | English | Origin | Notes |
In pu romansmu / Im pu romancmu | I love you | Common phrase | I just felt that 'Im pu' flows better, it isn't a definite rule. Assimilation of this sort is pretty common. |
Je twelvisto ipu cihinwe devhelando! | Tonight we dine in Hell! | 300 | Also pronounced 'develando'. The ancient greeks only had an 'Underword' - No hell. Take from that what you wish. |
Devu srowitinmu, Devu itmu | Nothing is True, Everything is Permitted | Assassin's Creed, ripping off Friedrich Nietzsche, who claimed it came from the Hashashin (Assassins) | Whether you take this to be a good translation or not, it literally means: Everything is a Mistake, Everything is Permitted ...There's a limited vocab and It's hard coming up with trope-related words! |
Mu drahone jeset | here there be dragons | TV Tropes | literally: "There are dragons here" |
Pu Flebmu, Harri/ Pu Flembu, Harri | You're a Wizard, Harry | Harry Potter | Only realised i'd written 'Flembu' instead of 'Flebmu' after I wrote it, felt is sounded nicer though, so left it in. Changed final character to an i, to more accurately mirror English and otherwise pronunciation and make it something a bit less [[Unpronounceable]] than [harj]. |
Paduxo'xi' polavaya berr caropmio! | May the 42 Gods of Mystery molest Your Mom! | I wanted to create a curse for my upcoming game/novel/anime/manga Rose The Cat. |
Things Still Needed
Research on TV Tropes culture in preparation for grammar is needed.