Lījdju is a language isolate spoken between 3400 and 2250 BCE by the neolithic jade Liangzhu (良渚) culture in and around the Yangtze river delta in what is now modern day China. Though DNA analysis of Liangzhu remains indicate that inhabitants of the area were related to Tai-Kadai and Austronesian peoples, the language spoken here was unrelated to any spoken by those two groups. Five thousand years of further evolution has ultimately morphed it to the modern Hokau Language known today.
Current thinking supports an assimilated-conqueror theory, where foreigners conquered the Liangzhu area, and permanently left their genetic mark to the populations present, however absorbed the local language and cultures themselves. This has parallels in more recent history with the Yuan dynasty amongst others, showing that the remarkable regional phenomenon that is this assimilated-conqueror process extended back to even several hundred years prior to the foundation of the Xia dynasty.
Ultimately, a period of rapidly fluctuating sea levels, drastic shifts in weather patterns, as well as a change in the ecological landscape lead to the demise of the original Liangzhu culture. Coastal settlements drowned under the flooding while inland settlements saw their forests die out and become grasslands. All of this paired with the destruction of soil quality as a result of human habitation, caused food resources to become scarce, and populations to decline to the point that the old Liangzhu culture was no more.
Despite this, the remnants of the Liangzhu managed to flee and establish a new home in the Hokau Islands (Cn. 黑陶岛) in the East China Sea, so named for the distinctive black Liangzhu pottery that continues to be produced to this day. Though throughout the years they have fallen under Chinese, Japanese, and Western influence, amongst others, the distinct culture and language on the island forms a continuum that stretches back to the original neolithic people.
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palato-Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasals | /m/ [m] | /n/ [n] | /ɲ/ [nj] | ||||
| Stops | /b bʷ/ [b bʷ] | /t t’ d/ [t t’ d] | /k k’ g/ [k k’ g] | /ʔ ʔʷ/ [‘ ʷ] | |||
| Affricate | /ʈ͡ʂ ɖ͡ʐ/ [jtj jdj] | ||||||
| Fricatives | /s z/ [s z] | /ʃ ʒ/ [ʃ ʒ] | /x ɣ/ [x x] | /h/ [h] | |||
| Liquids | /ɾ l/ [r l] | /j/ [j] |
| Front | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| High | /i iː/ [i ī] | /u uː/ [u ū] | |
| Mid-Low | /ɛ ɛː/ [e ē] | /ʌ ʌː/ [a ā] | /ɔ ɔː/ [o ō] |
/oʊ̯ ʌɪ̯ oʊ̯ː ʌɪ̯ː ij iːj ɛj ɛːj ʌj ʌːj ʌɪ̯j ʌɪ̯ːj/ [ọ ị ọ̄ ị̄ ij īj ej ēj aj āj ịj ị̄j]
The phonotactics of Lījdju syllables fall under a (C1)V(C2)(C1) pattern, where C1 denotes any consonant or consonant cluster, C2 represents any nasal or fricative, and V is any vowel. Only vowels/diphthongs that are word final can take on /j/. While Lījdju words can be composed of any number of syllables, root words are typically exclusively disyllabic or monosyllabic.
Pronouns refer to nouns in speech. They function as substitutes to the nouns themselves. Similar to many Austronesian languages, Lījdju distinguishes between pronouns that are visible to the speaker and those that are not.
Personal pronouns present an interesting and sole case of honorifics in the language. There are different personal pronouns for both the number of individuals as well as the closeness of the individuals. These are the familiar pronouns and the foreign pronouns, respectively.
Generally, when a grouping of individuals contains both familiar and unfamiliar individuals, the foreign pronoun is used, however if the unfamiliar individuals are sufficiently outnumbered by familiar ones, depending on the speaker, the familiar pronoun may be used instead. They will be glossed FAM and FOR.
Another use for the familiar pronouns comes when referring to one’s own group of people. For instance, “we of this town” would utilize the first person familiar plural pronoun, even though the speaker may not know all inhabitants of their town.
| Familiar | Foreign | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 sing | nje [njɛ] | |
| 1 pauc | njịk [njʌɪ̯k] | |
| 1 plur | njēra [njɛ:ɾa] | |
| 2 sing | jo [jɔ] | |
| 2 pauc | jịli [jʌɪ̯li] | |
| 2 plur | jara [ja:ɾa] | |
| 3 sing vis. | ||
| 3 pauc vis. | ||
| 3 plur vis. | ||
| 3 invis. |
Unlike the majority of other nouns, where the possessive is formed through a special possessive case derived from the genitive, possessive pronouns take on the normal genitive case combined with the nominal copula. In essence, this creates the structure be-mine. Possessive pronouns function similarly to adjectival verbs, sans conjugation.
aʷa-li ʃexe nje-ja
nut-ERG.SG NOM-COP 1s-GEN.SG
my nut
Demonstrative pronouns in Lījdju can be considered proximal, medial, and distal, in addition to having visibility or invisibility distinguishments on distal demonstratives. The proximal demonstrative identifies something as close to the speaker (ie. ‘this’).
sik nịmsēk
this bird (that is next to me)jaʃ nịmsēk
that bird (that is next to you)teʃ nịmsēk
that bird (that is away from either of us, that we see)joʃ nịmsēk
that bird (that is away from either of us, that we do not see)
Nouns take on either one of two forms of inflection. The first and most widely used is affixation, the second is reduplication. These are typically all attached to the noun root, which also functions as the dictionary version of the noun.
Animacy, while typically determined semantically, has several exceptions. Under most circumstances, if the noun perceptually moves, it is animate, and if it is static it is inanimate. The most notable exception to this rule regards body parts, which tend to be inanimate. Abstract nouns are typically animate.
Affixation occurs when examining the case of the noun, which varies depending on the animacy of the noun as well as its number, of which also changes depending on the animacy. This makes Lījtju a fairly agglutinative language regarding nouns.
There are six primary cases in Lījtju. The subject of an intransitive verb and the object of a transitive verb are represented by the ergative case.
ēgsịj
dream.ROOT
dreamēgsị-ʃ
dream-ERG
dream
The subject of a transitive verb is represented by the absolutive case.
nje-k ʷenoʃ-eʃ rọ-zen
I-ABS wolf-ERG 1SG-hit
I hit the wolf
The genitive case denoted one object as pertaining to another. For example, ‘of’ something. The possessive case is slightly distinguished from the genitive. Informally, the linking morpheme is also used to construct a possessive noun phrase (see Linking Morpheme).
ojdju jtjo dịʃa-ʒọ
fire-DAT DEF gods-ERG.PL
fire of the gods
The dative case is often used for either the indirect object of ditransitive verbs.
The locative case functions similarly to the dative case, however it describes location. It often takes a particle denoting the specific location.
The instrumentative case represents the noun that is utilized to perform an action. The benefactor of an action also takes on the instrumentative case however is often explicitly denoted.
Nouns in Lījtju can take on different endings depending on number. They can be singular, paucal, or plural. Singular nouns imply that there are only one of the noun being referred to.
nịmsēk-eʃ
bird-ERG.SGnịmsēk-i
bird-ERG.PAUCALnịmsēk-ʒọ bird-ERG.PL
English as a language has the flexibility to directly associate prepositional phrases to nouns and noun phrases. For example, ‘the fruit from the gods’ has the noun phrase ‘the fruit’ and the prepositional phrase ‘from the gods’. In Lījdju, the noun phrase must take on a linking morpheme in order to associate with the prepositional phrase, essentially constructing a sentence more akin to ‘the fruit that is from the gods’. This morpheme is -la.
ʒaʷị-ʒọ-la nje jtjo dịʃa-jdja
fruit-ERG.PL-LINK from DEF god.LOC.PL
fruit (that is) from the gods
Often, in colloquial speech, it is simpler to use the linking morpheme -la to indicate possession instead of the proper possessive case. Chieftains and shamans, in addition to other high ranking individuals however, never do this. Whereas the proper possessive construction follows a possessor-possessed pattern, the -la construction instead is possessed-possessor. Compare:
jtjaxi-jọ kwat-li
deer-POS.SG antler-ERG.PL
deer’s antlers (formal)kwat-li-la jtjaxi-ʃ
antler-ERG.PL-LINK antler-ERG.SG
deer’s antlers (informal)
Oftentimes, the suffix -ʃa is attached onto the end of a kinship or Proper noun in order to express affection for the subject, indicating that the derived noun is thus dearly beloved. There are a select few number of non proper nouns onto which -ʃa can be attached, indicates as follows.
mother → mommy
grandpa → grandpops
When nouns are in their indefinite form, they do not receive any inflection/agglutination or particle. However, definite nouns take on a preceding particle jtjo. This applies to all non locative nouns. When referring to a definite locative, the location preposition converts to a definite version. This is with exception to the general locative that takes no preposition, which instead as per usual takes on jtjo.
Verbs in Lījdju do not conjugate for number or animacy.
The imperative is the only mood that is constructed using a conjugation. All other moods are constructed using modal verbs. It is typically used to issue orders or commands, however is also used for the equivalent of must.
Adjectival verbs, though used to describe nouns like adjectives, commonly conjugate/decline similarly to verbs. As such, they are regarded as verbs as opposed to their own separate word class. They are going to be glossed as be-[adjective] They conjugate the same as any other verb.
Verbs are not explicitly marked for transitivity. Instead, it is generally assumed from context by examining the subject(s) of a verb and its/their cases.
Verbs in Lījdju are negated with a negation verb. In general, the negation verb is conjugated and the verb to be negated remains in its unconjugated form, however there are a few exceptions.
The causative indicates that a certain verb was ‘made to be done.’ For example, ‘drink’ becomes ‘cause to drink’ or ‘make drink.’ The causative is typically constructed with a prefix li(ʃ)-.
nje-k bʷohe-ʃ eʃe
I-ABS water-ERG drink
I drink waternje-k jtjo nịmsēk-eʃ liʃ-eʃe bʷohe
I-ABS DEF bird-ERG CAUS-drink water.DAT
I made the bird drink water
When a negation verb is present, the causative can be placed on the negation verb to imply that the causing of the action did not occur as a result of the subject (ie. I caused her to not run), or it can be placed on the action verb itself to imply that the verb was not necessarily caused (ie. I did not cause her to run) by the subject.
Verbs can be past, present, or future tense. In addition, they can take on perfect or progressive aspect, denoting whether the action happened at a single point of time or over a period of time, respectively. Past and future tense verbs take on suffixes. -(j)uk for past tense and -(j)(e)re for future tense. Progressive verbs are preceded by the progressive particle i.
nje-ʃ vọʒje
I-ERG eat
I eatnjeʃ vọʒ-jere
I.ERG eat-FUT
I will eatnjeʃ i vọʒ-juk
I.ERG PROG eat-PAST
I was eating
The benefactive represents the object by which the action is done for. It usually takes on the instrumentative case, and is denoted with kinj ‘for,’ in the case of proper nouns, or este for non-proper nouns.
The English verb ‘to have’ has many definitions. Ultimately, the most common is to possess something (I have a ball), to have a relationship with something (she has a boyfriend), or to have a condition (I have a cold). All of these usage cases have different verbs in Lijdju.
Noun → verb: Suffix: -ʊ
Verb → noun: Suffix: -a
Verb → adjective: Suffix: -øː
Adjective → adverb: Suffix: -æ
One who X’s (e.g. paint → painter): Suffix: -œ
Place where (e.g. wine → winery): Suffix: -a
Diminutive: Suffix: -ɪ
Augmentative: Suffix: -kɛ
Nouns can be converted to an adjectival verb through the use of the -ge /gɛ/ suffix. It then conjugates like any normal verb.’
jehuị-ge
sheep-ADJ
be sheeplike
In the same manner, an adjectival verb can be converted to a noun by attaching the suffix -. This essentially creates a word “thing that is [adjective].”
Adjectival verbs can be converted into comparative and superlative forms syntactically by inserting the adverbs jtjo and jtjora, ‘more’ and ‘most,’ prior to the adjectival verb itself.
In the same manner, adjectival verbs can also be diminutized
In addition, they can be augmented or weakened (ie. hungry → starving/peckish) through the use of the suffix -jdje or through reduplication, to strengthen, or by the addition of the suffix -jaj, to weaken.
Reduplication involves the repetition of a whole word or syllable of a word. In general the meanings derived from reduplication are not easily derivable from rules, and as such should be learned on an individual basis.
There are two primary types of reduplications in Lījdju: final-consonant reduplication and whole-word reduplication. Generally, consonant final duplication falls on adverbs and adjectival verbs, and this acts to strengthen the descriptor.
ka~toka
fast~fast
rapid
Whole word reduplications typically occur on select nouns. Generally these change the semantic meaning of the root word to a greater degree than final-consonant reduplications.
ʷizu~izu
tree~tree
forestgeʒ~geʒ
time~time
when?
There are two copulas in Lījdju, the nominal copula and verbal copula. The nominal copula, ʃexe /ʃexe/ is typically utilized to indicate that one noun is another noun, while the verbal copula ʃoga /ʃɔgʌ/ is used to indicate that a noun is doing a particular verb, or is a certain adjectival-verb. The copula does not conjugate or inflect, and is thus not considered a verb.
The nominal copula is also used with possessive pronouns in order to indicate that something belongs to said pronoun.
Lījdju utilizes a base ten numbering system, however it exhibits features of an archaic vigesimal counting system. This may be a product of a merging of the original tongue the Liangzhu culture spoke and the language the conquerors spoke. This manifests itself when examining multiples of ten. Multiples of ten are commonly in the vigesimal number, but every other number follows the decimal system.
The basic clause structure in Lījdju is a Subject-Object-Verb-Oblique pattern (ie. She the door opened with a key).
Intransitive clauses consist of a intransitive verb preceded by a noun or noun phrase.
Transitive clauses consist of the subject noun phrase, followed by the object noun phrase, and then the verb.
Ditransitive clauses are similar to the normal transitive clauses, however are followed by the indirect object
Adjectival verbs follow the noun