Morphology and related miscellanea

[Aondeug]

So one thing I really love in regards to languages is morphology, the way in which words are made. It's a pretty broad topic in terms of what it consists of, but things like "Can you compound two words to make a new word?" and "What are valid combinations of letters and sounds for a new word?" play into it. I've decided to spend some time looking at that aspect of Mando'a for fun, and to show what I've come up with or what I'm working on.

Right now I'm working on figuring out the canonically valid vowel-consonant strings. So the word "solus" is a string of a "cvcvc" pattern, for example. But "chaab" is a pattern of "cvvc" (or "cvc"). The first step in this is getting all the words into groups based on word length so when I start jotting down the strings I'll be able to sort through the things easier, so that cutting out repeats is easier for me. I'm about halfway through that. Then after that I'll take a look at the combinations in which sounds appear and jot down all the valid digraphs and trigraphs, be they diphthongs/triphongs or consonant clusters. The positions of the digraphs and trigraphs needs to be marked down too. Things like this provide the rules for which new roots can be made, or how words need to be shifted sound wise when combined or altered in some fashion. It's why you don't see a bunch of native English words starting with "vl", for example. Natively that isn't a valid initial cluster and we don't seem keen on making it one.

Some neat things I've found so far is that there's a LOT of five letter words. While I have plenty of four, six, and seven letter long words five seems to be the most common word length in terms of letters. I'll want to break these down into syllables too at some point, mostly just for fun. Along with being broken down by phoneme number, that is the distinct amount of sounds in a word. "Chaab" is five letters long, but it's only four phonemes long. That is "ch", "a", "a", and "b". And if you don't want to include short vs. long vowel distinction then it would only be three phonemes long.

I'm not really sure what could be done with any of this. But it is fun.

I'll also want to look at other bits of how words are formed in detail too. Specifically the ways in which new words are formed based off pre-existing roots. Though so far, without really digging into things and just based off my experience, one of the main ways in which they're constructed is to compound roots together. Adding on of prepositions and affixes is another way in which many words are formed. "Ba'gedet'ye" also provides an example of what may be a dative construction, as seen in languages like Finnish.


EDIT: The list of words by letter lengths is done. Words range from 1 to 12 letters long. 5, 6, and 7 letter long words appear to be the most common. 1, 2, 11, and 12 seem to be the least common lengths. I'll bother with numbers later. Next step is working through the vowel-consonant strings. The list contains the affixes so far, but those will be removed as they aren't free morphemes.

[Vlet Hansen]

exciting!

[Ruus]

Interesting! Can't wait to see more.

[Aondeug]

Yay others are intrigued. I'm sorry I haven't gotten the vowel-consonant strings up. School and then getting sick has kind of gotten in the way. Only two more sets of words to get through though and I can type the thing up.

[Vlet Hansen]

No worries, you're not the only one who has a lot on their plate

[Aondeug]

Alright. I have finally gone through the whole list. I've done my best to ensure that there are no repeats, but I'll have to go through this again to make sure because I know for a fact that there are still some there. Somewhere. But for now here is the list (which will probably need to be edited).

Key:

C=consonant
V=vowel
S=semi-vowel (y in certain positions)

V
C'
VC
CV
VCV
CVS
VCC
CVC
CVV
CSC
VVCVCV
VCVS
VCVV
VCCC
VVCV
VCSC
CVVV
CVVC
VCVC
CCVS
CVSV
VCSC
CVSC
VVCVC
VVCVS
VCVCC
VCVVC
VCVCV
CVCVC
CVCSC
CVCCV
CCVVC
CVSCV
CVSCV
CSVCV
CVCVV
VCCSV
CVVCV
CVCSC
CSCCS
CVVCC
CVVVC
CVCVS
CSCVC
CVVSC
CSCVC
VCVSV
VSVCV
VSVSC
CVVCC
CVCVV
CCVCV
CVCSC
CVVSC
CCVVC
VCVSC
VCCVC
CVCVCV
CVCCSV
CVCCSC
CVCCV
CVVCSC
CVVCVC
CVVCCV
CVCVCC
CCVCVV
CSVCVC
CSVCCV
CSCVSC
CSCSVC
CSCVVC
CVVCSC
CVCSCV
CVVCCV
CVCVVV
CVSCVC
CVVCSC
VCVCSC
CCVCVC
CCVCVV
CVCVSC
CVCSCV
CVCCSC
CCCVVC
CCVVCV
VCCVCV
CVVVCV
CVVCVS
CVVCVV
VCVVCVC
VCVVCVV
VCVCVCV
VCVCVVC
VCCVCCV
VCVVCCV
VCVVCSC
VCCVCVC
CVVCCVC
CVCVCVC
CVCSCVC
CVCCVVC
CVCVSC
CCVVCVC
CVVCCV
CVCCVC
CVSCVCV
CVCCVCV
CVCVCCV
CSVCVCV
CVCSCVC
VCVSCV
VCVCCVC
CVVCVCV
CVVCVCV
CVVCVSC
CSCCVC
CVVCCVC
CVCSCV
CVCCCV
CVCCSCV
CVCVVCV
CVCCVSC
CVCVCSC
CVCVCVV
CVCCVVC
VCCVCVV
VCVCSV
CCVCVVC
VCVCCVC
CVCVVSC
CVCVCSC
CVCVCVV
CVCVCSC
CVCCVSC
CSCVCCV
CSCVCVC
CVCVV
CVCCVVV
CVCSCV
CVSCVVV
CVCCVCC
CVCCVCV
CCVCVCV
CCVCVCCC
VCVVCVCV
VCVCVCVC
CVCCVCVC
CVCVCVVC
CVCCVCSC
CVCCVVC
CCVVCVCV
CVCVVCVC
CVVCSV
CVCCVCCV
CCVCVVCV
CCVCCSV
CCVCVCVC
CCVCVVC
CVCCSV
VCVSCVC
VCVCCVVC
CVVCVCVC
CVVCSCVC
CVCSCV
CVCVSCV
CVCSCCVC
CVCVVVCV
CVCVCCVC
CVVCVVC
CVCVVCSC
VCCVCCV
VCCVVCVC
VCVCVCSC
VCCCVCV
CVCVCVC
CVCVCCVS
CVCVVCVC
CCCVVCVC
CVCVSCVC
CVCVCCVC
CVVCCVC
CVCVCVSC
CVCVCCVC
CCVCCVVC
CCVCCVCVC
CCVCVCCV
VCCVVCVC
CVCVCCVC
CVCVCCVC
CVCCVCVS
CVVCVCCV
CVCCVVCV
CVVCVCCV
CVVCVVSC
CVCCVCVC
CVVCVCCV
CVVCVVCSC
CVCCVCVC
VCVCVCVC
VCVCVCVCVC
VCVCVVCCV
CVCVCVCCV
CVCCVCCVC
CVCVCVCVC
CCVVCCVVC
CCVVCVCVC
CVVCVCVVC
CVCVVCSC
CVCVVCVC
CVCCVCCVS
CVCCVVCVC
CVVCVSCVC
CVCVCCVC
CVCVCCVSC
CVSCVCCVV
CSCCVCVVC
CVCCVCVVC
CVCVCVVCV
CVCVVCVCV
CVCCVVCCV
CVCCVCVVV
CVVCCVCVC
CVCVCCVVC
VCVCVCVVC
VCVCCCVVC
VCVCVVCSC
VCCVCCVVC
CVCVCVCSC
CVSCVCVC
CVVCVVCSC
CVCVCVS
VCVCCVCVC
CVCVVCVCVC
CVCVVCVCVC
CVCVCCVCCV
CSVCCVCVCV
CVVCVCVCVC
CVCVSCVC
CVVCVCVCVC
CVCVVCCVC
CVCCVCVCCV
CVCCVCVVCV
CSCCCVCVCV
CVCCCVCVCV
CVVCVVCVC
VCVCVCVCVC
CVCVCCVVVC
CVCVCCSCVC
CVCVVCVCVC
CVCVCVCVCV
CCVVCVCVVC
CCVCCCVCVC
VCCVCCVCVC
CVCCVSCVC
CVCCVCCVSCV
CVCVCCVVCVC
CVCCVVCVVCVC
VCVCVCCVCSC
VCVCVCVVCVC
CCCVVCVCVCV
CVCVSCVCVC
CVCCVCVVCVC
CVCCVCVCCV
CVCCCSCVCVC
CVCCCVCVCCV
CVCVCVCVCVVC
CVVCVCVVCVCV
CVCVSCCVCVC

[Ruus]

The first thing that stands out to me is how many double vowels there are.