Friscan (1)
From Worlds of Tomorrow
Friscan is a language native to the San Francisco region. It originated in the early to mid-21st century as a dialect of English highly affected by Cantonese grammar and vocabulary.
Contents |
[edit] Phonology
Friscan in relation to Cantonese has more complex consonental combinations; has lost its more unusual — from an English viewpoint — vowels; has obtained a distinction of voicing rather than aspiration between consonent pairs; and has lost most of its tones. Syllables are structured as: [C]+[l/r/j/w]+V+[C].
[edit] Consonents
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stops | p / b | t / d | k / g | ` | |
| Fricatives | f | s | h | ||
| Affricatives | ts / dz | ||||
| Nasals | m | n | ng | ||
| Approximants | w | l / r | j |
[edit] Pure vowels
| Front | Front-Mid | Central | Back-Mid | Back | ||||||
| Close | u | |||||||||
| Close-Close-Mid | i | |||||||||
| Close-Mid | ||||||||||
| Middle | y | |||||||||
| Open-Mid | e | o* | ||||||||
| Open-Open-Mid | ||||||||||
| Open | a | |||||||||
- Also, /ou/.
[edit] Diphthongs
The diphthongs are: ai, ei, au, eu, and oi.
[edit] Tones
Cantonese influence has produced a more tonal syllabic accent, based more on higher pitch than stronger stress. For the purposes of this document, stressed syllables are marked with diareses.
[edit] Nouns
Nouns are declined for number only. Use of the plural is generally optional; the singular is used for multiple things when this can be seen in context or is unimportant.
[edit] Pronouns
[edit] Personal pronouns
The personal pronoun set is notably different from both source languages'.
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | o / mi / ai | wi / ys |
| odei | ||
| 2nd | ju | jal |
| lei | leidei | |
| 3rd | hi / shi / it / kwi | dzei |
In the first person, 'o', 'mi', and 'ai' are interchangeable; 'wi' and 'ys' are inclusive ("you and I" or "you and we") and 'odei' is exclusive ("we, not including you"). In the second, 'ju' and 'jal' are informal, while 'lei' and 'leidei' are formal. Rules for usage of this basically correspond to those of European languages. 'Kwi' in the third, singular, is a pronoun of unstated gender.
Pronouns are not declined for case.
Unlike nouns, personal pronouns are generally always plural when that fits the situation.
[edit] Verbs
Verb root words are not conjugated for number or tense. The modals 'wil' and 'haf' are available for the future and aorist, respectively. The combinations 'wil haf' and 'haf haf' can be used for the future perfect and, by context, imperfect or past perfect.
[edit] Coverbs
Coverbs are verbs that, along with a direct object, are freely inserted into another clause to function as adjectives and adverbs; such predicates are often compared to prepositional phrases. For example: "O jus tsë tïngdei go Frësno go.", which is literally translated as "I use car tomorrow go Fresno go.", in which the coverbal clauses "use car" and "go Fresno" can be taken as "by car" and "to Fresno".
Verbs can be used freely as coverbs; there is no set canon.
