Just For Fun / TV Tropes Con Lang

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

Thus for example, the root distaf _female_ forms:

• 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'

personal pronouns can be mixed to create plurals

• in 'me' + pun 'you' = ipun 'me and you, we'
• pun + fan 'him/her/them' = pufan 'you and them/you lot/y'all'
• etc.

-n is added to the end of a pronoun if followed by another pronoun or a vowel, so as to stop plural confusion.

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)

time correlatives can be suffixed with -mu, -ri, -we, as well as the time-travel tenses, however they are still considered adverbs. The only exceptions to this are the distal/proximal/impersonal, where distal is either we/ri, proximal is always mu, and impersonal is always time-travel.

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

time-travel tenses

• 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'

can also be used for place/time

• 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.

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