So, before I get started, let me just say that I joined Pillowfort as kayeboesme. It is an interesting place, like if LiveJournal and Reddit had a technology child, but very similar to any other social media site out there. I wrote a conlang post to test how IPA performed there.
A thought occurred to me: If I introduced my conlang on Pillowfort, how would I refer to Pillowfort? The word fort doesn’t translate well because forts are generally where soldiers who kill other people are kept. They’re not associated with childhood pillow houses in a living room. Someone would first have to explain what that was.
For the sake of argument, though, it would be translated literally as ẖeaza jut ful e /ħɛ͡ɒ̈.ˈzɑ ʒyt̪ fyl ɛ/, indoor place composed of pillows. Maybe it would eventually become ẖeajuta /ħɛ͡ɒ̈.ˈʒyt̪.ˌɑ/ from ẖeaz + jut + a.
/z/ and /ʒ/ would merge into /ʒ/. The -a is an intensifying particle added to nouns, which is how words like kta (light) become ktaa (knowledge). There’s an example below of how ktaa is pronounced.
Day Eight.
Tat /t̪ɑt̪/. Pipe.
Tat ẖezn /t̪ɑt̪ ħɛz.ˈn̩/, plumbing system, usually of a residential home.
Tat ẖeazn /t̪ɑt̪ ħɛ͡ɒ̈z.ˈn̩/, plumbing, generic.
Tat ẖezn ktuto ba siub.
/t̪ɑt̪ ħɛz.ˈn̩ kty.ˈto bɑ si͡yb/
They broke the house’s plumbing.
I also did a lot of work on pronouns. I decided that there is a singular/dual/plural system with them. These are most of the pronouns; there are additional ones that are occasionally used because the pronoun system is semi-open.
Third person singular
S/O/IO: za /zɑ/
Refl: zaur /zɑ͡yɾ/
Emph. refl: zalva /zɒ̈l.ˈvɑ/
Third person dual
S/O/IO: zei /zɛ͡i/
Refl: zar /zɑɾ/
Emph. Refl: zeila /zɛ͡i.ˈlɑ/
Third person plural
S/O/IO: siub /si͡yb/
Refl: sar /sɑɾ/
Emph. Refl: sala /sɒ̈.ˈlɑ/
Day Nine.
Kte /ktɛ/, Warmth. Ktea /ktə.ˈɑ/, heat. Kten /ktɛn/, warm. Ktean /ktə.ˈɑn/, hot.
Teb /t̪ɛb/, Coolness. Teba /t̪ə.ˈbɑ/, cold. Tebn /t̪əb.ˈn̩/, cool. Teban /t̪ə.ˈbɑn/, cold.
/t̪ə.ˈbɑn t̪əl.t̪y ys ɛ͡i əβ.ˈɑɾ.ˌi ħɛz.ˈn̩/
Teban teltu us ei ebhari ẖezn.
The sun is cold in winter.
Day Ten.
Te /t̪ɛ/. Periphery. Ten /t̪ɛn/, peripheral. Idiomatically, indicates unimportance.
Te ei neð rum kteafh.
/t̪ɛ ɛ͡i nɛð ðym ktɛ͡ɒ̈ɸ/
Electricity is not unimportant.
Day Eleven.
Vuru /vy.ˈðy/. Eating utensil. Vuru ven /vy.ˈðy vɛn/, stick used for picking up food.
Vuru eḥ /vy.ˈðy ɛʔ/, spork, slang term, lit. one utensil. Spork is biuð /bi͡yð/.
Day Twelve.
Ktaru /ktɒ̈.ˈðy/. Window.
Ktaru lloktn /ktɒ̈.ˈðy ɬokt.ˈn̩/, a window that looks upon an inner temple’s icons where the public may pray.
Ktaru kten /ktɒ̈.ˈðy ktɛn/, transparent solar power windows.
Ktaðu /ktɒ̈.ˈðy/. Book. Ktaðu eneð /ktɒ̈.ˈðy ən.ˈɛð/, cookbook. Ktaðu lloktn /ktɒ̈.ˈðy ɬokt.ˈn̩/, sacred text.
Ifhea lloktn sak ei ktaðu eze.
i.ˈɸɛ͡ɒ̈ ɬokt.ˈn̩ sɑk ɛ͡i ktɒ̈.ˈðy ə.ˈzɛ
The books are located in the temple.
Incidentally, these words are not completely non-distinguishable. Plurals are formed with particles. Ktaru ful means the windows. Ktaðu eze means the knowable quantity of books. (If you visited the temple, you could count them.)
Eze is a human pluralizer, which books take for a variety of flowery cultural reasons. Vusn ei ktaðu me uses me, the generic human plural. It means, Books are important.
Animates receive other pluralizers. There are no cats on Ameisa, but for argument’s sake, let’s say someone brought cats there. Let’s say ket became the word for cat (pronounced /kæt/ in Standard American English/SAE) because /kɛt̪/ is close, and the vowel in SAE cat isn’t present in Eamaru. Bufhi sak ei ket ba, the cats are in the apartment. Jut ful maso ket meða, cats like pillows.
Day Thirteen.
Tiuðor /t̪i͡y.ˈðoɾ/. To explain, to describe.
Tiuðor ktaa-mi /t̪i͡y.ˈðoɾ ktɒ̈.ˈɑ-ˌmi/, to instruct, to teach.
Rim ktaðu lloktn fa tiuðo ktaa-mi kau zei.
ɾim ktɒ̈.ˈðy ɬokt.ˈn̩ fɑ t̪i͡y.ˈðo ktɒ̈.ˈɑ-ˌmi kɒ̈͡y zɛ͡i
Those two have been teaching me from sacred texts.
Day Fourteen.
Bhekor /βə.ˈkoɾ/, to give an account [of], describe.
Uta bheko bavo dei.
/y.ˈt̪ɑ βə.ˈko bɒ̈.ˈvo dɛ͡i/
You two described the novel thing.
The above is non-reflexive. To make something about your (the subject’s) account-giving and not the topic about which you are giving an account, the reflexive pronoun is used. In this case, that is sala, they themselves. It’s the version of the plural used for 3+ people.
Bheko ðaḥav sala.
/βə.ˈko ðɒ̈.ˈʔɑv sɒ̈.ˈlɑ/
I expect they’ll give an account.