Nearly a month after the fact, I realise the classic sentence is in fact "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog", alas:

ɾʓɣɞ ɜʑ̀m pʑȷ ɔɰʓ иɻ̃ ʑ́ɂ ɢɒ̀ʑ
Sjún hwang thwò bój khlí wop draw
fox brown quick jump move.over dog lazy
‘The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog’

A screenshot showing the Python code used

Ever procrastinating doing actual conlanging, I made a basic transliterator with Python to convert texts in Gee For's Latin script into the 'in-universe' script

It's not much, but at least it handles digraphs and the null consonant letter (used for vowels that do not follow a consonant)

'Kham eng kòk ngo eng wél' written in Gee For's fictional script

I've been slacking on my cloŋ lately, so here's a quick example sentence, this time with topic dropping with the direct object as the topic:

Kham eng kòk ngo eng wél
crops 1s farm and 1s like
‘It’s crops that I farm, and I like crops’

Also, my attempt at writing this in script on a moving train:

This sentence is a classic, not just because it displays Gee For's word order and verb serialisation:

ʑ́ɂ ɜʑ̀m pʑȷ ʍ̀ ɔɰʓ иɻ̃ ɾʓɣɞ ɢɒ̀ʑ
Wop hwang thwò ta bój khlí sjún draw
[woʔ hwaŋ tʰwɔ ta boːj kʰliː sjuːn draw]
dog brown quick PFV jump move.over fox lazy
‘The quick brown dog jumped over the lazy fox’

I finally set some time aside to work on Gee For

One unusual feature I've come up with so far is O(Aux)SV word order when the object is the sentence topic, e.g.:

ѝɷ vȷ ʌ̌m ʞȷʞ
Kham phò eng kòk
[kʰam pʰɔ eŋ kɔʔ]
crops must(deontic) 1s farm
‘It’s crops that I must farm’ (lit. crops must I farm)

I'm very gradually starting to fire my other conlanging project, Gee For, back up

I've already made a few changes to the phonology and orthography (this one actually has its own writing system!), building on the work I started a couple of years ago, but there's a long way to go

In a team meeting at work today, each of us was asked to give a fun fact about themselves

Thinking on the spot, I blurted out that I spent 2025 making an artificial language with a 12,000-word reference grammar

Anyway, I may now have to give a Zaouanaw language lesson in an upcoming social

Have a happy New Year, everyone!

#Lexember

And to cap off 2025...

Jelan bnas'uθ zaanjampa jelan gjasafek šimwaf
jelan bn(e)-as'-uθ za-an-ja-m-pa jelan gjas-a-fek šim-o-u-a-f
next build-PASS-PTCP.PFV speak-PTCP.IMP-SGV-1s.POSS-SUPE next year-ADE-INSTR work-IND-CONT-PRS-1s.SUBJ
'I'll work on my next conlang next year'

#Lexember

Was watching The Mighty Boosh last night

Naboo lirbeas'anaθbunanaθojoh'at
Naboo-Ø lir-be-as'-an-θ-bun-an-θ-oj-o-h'-a-t
Naboo-NOM hard•to-see-PASS-PTCP.IMP-GEN-provide•healing-PTCP.IMP-GEN-man-IND-HAB-PRS-3s.SUBJ
'Naboo is a shaman' (lit. healer of the hard-to-see, i.e. mystic)

#Lexember

Bo pa febseduataš'
bo p(a)-Ø feb-sed-u-a-t-š'
good day-NOM spend(time)-OPT-CONT-PRS-3s.OBJ-2s.SUBJ
'Good day' (lit. I hope you have a good day)

Note the use of the nominative on the indefinite object; Zaouanaw only uses the accusative when the object is definite

Also, optative go brrr

#Lexember

Now I'm watching Spaceballs

Ank'uθohan Kjanaθksil!
an-k'(u)-θ-o-h'(a)-an kjan-θ-ksil-Ø
un-light-GEN-ANTIP-have-PTCP.IMP head-GEN-shield-NOM
'Dark Helmet!'

(Definitely not as catchy in Zaouanaw)

#Lexember

Currently playing Helldivers, so here's a quick one

Miš difan, mesem!
miš dif-an-Ø mes-m-Ø
sweet free-PTCP.IMP-NOM arm-1s.POSS-NOM
'Sweet liberty, my arm!'

(Casually slapping a participial suffix onto an adjective to turn it into a noun)

Ulwe psiθnil jelanaθraθafek h’watat [ˈul.we ˈpʰsʰiθ.nil ˈje.la.na.θr̊a.θa.fekʰ ˈxʼwa.tʰatʰ] ul-we-Ø psi-θ-nil-Ø jel-an-θ-raθ-a-fek h’(a)-o-u-a-t-t place-that-NOM full-GEN-moon-NOM follow-PTCP.IMP-GEN-night-ADE-INSTR have-IND-CONT-PRS-3s.OBJ-3s.SUBJ ‘There will be a full moon tomorrow night’ (lit. There has a full moon during the following night)

#Lexember

>tfw no future tense

(Happy Boxing Day)

Snow being translated as 'mountaintop foam' may be one of my proudest achievements

Merry Christmas, everyone! 🎄🎄🎄

#Lexember

nu ulwe glereθtifiθpusuθ'p's'alan pas'afek h'watat
nu ul-we-Ø gler-θ-tif-θ-pus-θ-p's'al-an-Ø p(a)-s'(e)-a-fek h'(a)-o-u-a-t-t
NEG place-that mountain-GEN-summit-GEN-foam-GEN-fall-PTCP.IMP-NOM day-this-ADE-INSTR have-IND-CONT-PRS-3s.OBJ-3s.SUBJ
'There isn't any snow today'

Wohanaθoj kordjaranaθojok kordjaras’uθuquk ingnuθuqte šužaqopohotot, s’iriqigge qam korsegopohotot. Wohanaθoj f’awaqašo ksil seguθuquk jelana pojoθwupuquθ otworanaθθiθge kordjaranaθojoθge lihuθjaθ uluqaante raθafek seš’š’onamopohot. Neceθbsojan onecmjuk'anaθbsojapa josoθbeanaθuluθohan flezeθjeropohot, kordjaranaθojogge ulwea bsono segopohotot.

wohanaθoj-Ø kordjaranaθoj-k kordjar-as’-uθ-q-k in-gn(e)-uθ-q-te šu-žaq-o-p-h-t-t s’ir-q-k-ge qam korseg-o-p-h-t-t wohanaθoj-Ø f’aw-q-aš-o ksil-Ø seg-uθ-q-k jelana pojoθwup-q-θ otworanaθθi-θ-ge kordjaranaθoj-θ-ge lihuθja-θ ul-q-a-an-te raθ-a-fek seθ-š’o-n-am-o-p-h-t neceθbsoja-n onecmjuk’anaθbsoja-pa josoθbeanaθul-θ-o(k)-h’(a)-an flezeθjer-o-p-h-t kordjaranaθoj-k-ge ul-we-a bso-n-o seg-o-p-h-t-t traveller-NOM swindler-ACC swindle-PASS-PTCP.PFV-3s.POSS-ACC come.to-know-PTCP.PFV-3s.POSS-ADV completely-stab-IND-PFV-PST-3s.OBJ-3s.SUBJ ring-3s.POSS-ACC-and 3s.ABL take.back-IND-PFV-PST-3s.OBJ-3s.SUBJ traveller-NOM wound-3s.POSS-PL-DAT cover-NOM put-PTCP.PFV-3s.POSS-ACC after pet.dog-3s.POSS-GEN spade-GEN-and swindler-GEN-and corpse-GEN position-3s.POSS-ADE-PTCP.IMP-ADV night-ADE-INSTR DIM-town-INE-ABL-IND-PFV-PST-3s.SUBJ desert-INE endorheic.basin-SUPE overlook-GEN-ANTIP-have-PTCP.IMP cliff.edge-IND-PFV-PST-3s.SUBJ swindler-ACC-and position-that-ADE ground-INE-DAT put-IND-PFV-PST-3s.OBJ-3s.SUBJ ‘Having realised he had been conned, the traveller stabbed the swindler to death, and he took back his ring. After having covered his wounds, the traveller left the village during the night with his pet dog, a spade and the swindler’s dead body. He went to the edge of the cliff overlooking the endorheic basin in the desert, and he buried the swindler there.’

I haven’t provided a full morpheme-by-morpheme breakdown of this one, a) because that would make it even more confusing; and b) because I’ve already spent 2 hours on this. A few potential words of interest here are kordjaranaθoj ‘swindler’ (lit. reversing-being-trusted man), šužaqopohotot ‘he stabbed him to death’ (lit. he completely stabbed him) and onecmjuk'anaθbsoja ‘endorheic basin’ (lit. drying place). Some syntactic curiosities are: ge ‘and’, which appears as a suffix on the first word of the phrase it introduces, e.g. s’iriqigge qam korsegopohotot ‘and he took back his ring (from him)’; the entire subordinate clause pojoθwupuquθ otworanaθθiθge kordjaranaθojoθge lihuθjaθ uluqaante ‘with his pet dog, a spade and the swindler’s dead body’ (lit. with his pet dog, a spade and the swindler’s dead body being at his position); and Zaouanaw’s wholly un-English word order being on full show here. Have a merry Christmas! And think twice before you try to swindle a traveller out of a ring!

#Lexember

Alas, for my sins (of missing several days), I've spent about 2 hours making this absolute monstrosity

Excuse the somewhat gruesome story I came up with, but I had to fit all these words in somehow!

I've been slacking on Lexember for a few days, since I've been busy settling into a new job

However, I've been cooking up some cool and unusual lexemes for Zaouanaw, e.g. the word for 'scorpion', which translates as 'desert lobster'

I'm on holiday soon, so I'll get back to it then

#Lexember

Been watching The War Between the Land and the Sea, so I feel this fits

Č'eseθ ulo aqwaf
č'es-θ ul-o aq-o-u-a-f
woman-GEN location-DAT swim-IND-CONT-PRS-1s
'I am swimming to her'

Zaouanaw doesn't allow cases to be interpreted as lative on animate nouns, so you have to say 'her location'

'The spider weaves its web'

Next time, I'll actually make a new morpheme lol

2/2

#Lexember

Another quick one – I came up with tog 'weave' when deriving otoganaθmit 'spider' (lit. weaving bug) yesterday, alas:

Otoganaθmit togas'uθjaqak togwatat
otoganaθmit-Ø tog-as'-uθ-ja-q-k tog-o-u-a-t-t
spider-NOM weave-PASS-PTCP.PFV-SGV-3s.POSS-ACC weave-IND-CONT-PRS-3s.OBJ-3s.SUBJ

1/

Otoganaθmit sessiranaθtasanak h’watat [ˈo.tʰo.ka.naθ.mitʰ ˈses.si.ra.naθʰ.tʰa.sa.nakʰ ˈxʼwa.tʰatʰ] o(k)-tog-an-θ-mit-Ø s(e)-θ-sir-an-θ-tas-an-k h’(a)-o-u-a-t-t ANTIP-weave-PTCP.IMP-GEN-arthropod-NOM small-GEN-shake-PTCP.IMP-GEN-feel-PTCP.IMP-ACC have-IND-CONT-PRS-3s.OBJ-3s.SUBJ ‘Spiders have a sense of vibrations’

#Lexember

I'm off for a curry in 5 minutes, so this is a quick one

Erescim psakjaθ okantroran wupuθklizjak kjanaθgeweqašfek wit’iθjalaθohan bsiuθusswapanaθkopjaθ (rot’ok ljamante) ulutpa rjašanafek regšudrepopohotot [ˈe.resʰ.cʰim ˈpʰsʰa.kʰjaθ ˈo.kʰan.tʰro.ran ˈwu.pʰuθ.kʰli.t͡sjakʰ ˈkʰja.naθ.ke.we.q͡χʰaʃ.fekʰ ˈwi.tʼi.θja.la.θo.xan ˈpsi.u.θus.swa.pʰa.naθʰ.kʰo.pʰjaθ (ˈro.tʼokʰ ˈlja.man.tʰe) ˈu.lutʰ.pʰa ˈrja.ʃa.na.fekʰ ˈrek.ʃu.tre.pʰo.pʰo.ho.tʰotʰ] er-θ-cim-Ø psak-ja-k o(k)-an-tror-an wup-θ-kliz-ja-k kjan-θ-gew-q-aš-fek wit’-θ-jal-θohan bsi-uθ-θ-swap-an-θ-kop-ja-θ (rot’-k ljam-an-te) ul-d-pa rjaš-an-a-fek reg-drep-o-p-h-t-t herd-GEN-male-NOM pack.of.wolves-SGV-GEN ANTIP-un-command-PTCP.IMP dog-GEN-teeth-SGV-ACC head-GEN-weapon-3s.POSS-PL-INSTR wide-GEN-wings-having be.left.behind-PTCP.PFV-GEN-steal-PTCP.IMP-GEN-flock-SGV-GEN (threat-ACC be.like-PTCP.IMP-ADV) position-3p.POSS-SUPE fly-PTCP.IMP-ADE-INSTR forcefully-completely-push-IND-PFV-PST-3s.OBJ.3s.SUBJ “The bull knocked out the wolf’s left canine with its horns as a wide-winged vulture circled overhead.”

This is easily the longest sentence I’ve written in Zaouanaw so far, and it’s got some interesting (to me, at least) quirks. Firstly, we have several examples of coda obstruents assimilating with the onset obstruent of the next syllable – they will always assimilate in phonation (e.g. ulutpa ‘over their position’ from ul-d-pa), and if the two obstruents are either both coronal or both dorsal, then they will assimilate in place of articulation as well (e.g. erescim ‘bull’ from er-θ-cim). Secondly, there’s a bunch of unusual and needlessly complicated renderings of English words, e.g. okantroran ‘left’ (lit. non-dominant), kjanaθgew ‘horn’ (lit. head weapon) and bsiuθusswapanaθkopja ‘vulture’ (lit. leftover stealing flock member). Thirdly, we have the section in brackets, rot’ok ljamante meaning ‘threateningly’ (lit. like a threat). Whether or not you want to include this depends on the emphasis you place on the word ‘circled’; if we’re talking about the vulture merely flying overhead, then this isn’t required, but if you take ‘circled’ to mean something more ominous, then you may want to include rot’ok ljamante to hammer that point home. Lastly (but certainly not least-ly), there is the totally un-English word order. You really start to see the effects of head-final syntax when you have long subordinate clauses – the entirety of wit’iθjalaθohan bsiuθusswapanaθkopjaθ (rot’ok ljamante) ulutpa rjašanafek is a subordinate clause, with the adessive and instrumental suffixes at the very end meaning ‘while’.

#Lexember

I missed a few days, so yous're getting a big'ne

Č’es tasanaθθik ljamante mwakat [ˈt͡ʃʼes ˈtʰa.sa.naθ.θikʰ ˈlja.man.tʰe ˈmwa.kʰatʰ] č’es-Ø tas-an-θ-θi-k ljam-an-te m(e)-o-u-a-k-t woman-NOM feel-PTCP.IMP-GEN-tool-ACC be.like-PTCP.IMP-ADV do-IND-CONT-PRS-1s.OBJ-3s.SUBJ ‘She treats me like an antenna’ The noun č’es ‘woman’ is used to specify the gender of the subject in this example, since Zaouanaw lacks gendered pronouns or gendered grammatical person markings. We also have the participle ljaman ‘being like’ (a transitive verb in Zaouanaw) in the adverbial case acting as a postposition with tasanaθθik ‘antenna (accusative)’ (lit. feeling tool) as the complement. Lastly, there is an example of the indicative mood marker o and continuous aspect marker u merging into w, which occurs wherever phonotactically possible.

#Lexember

Today's example translates to 'She treats me like an antenna', or perhaps I should say 'She dey do me like antenna'...
(youtu.be/6LCoksSQMzs?...)

Šucenas’uθjaašak kranjas’afek sabaθjunjaam junjaoge segopohot’of [ˈʃu.t͡sʰe.na.sʼu.θja.a.ʃakʰ ˈkʰra.nja.sʼa.fekʰ ˈsa.pa.θju.nja.am ˈju.nja.o.ke ˈse.ko.pʰo.ho.tʼof] šu-cen-as’-uθ-ja-aš-k kr(e)-an-ja-s’(e)-a-fek sab-θ-jun-ja-am jun-ja-o-ge seg-o-p-h-t’-f completely-stretch-PASS-PTCP.PFV-SGV-PL-ACC happen-PTCP.IMP-SGV-this-ADE-INSTR heat-GEN-flat-SGV-ABL flat-SGV-DAT-and put-IND-PFV-PST-3p.OBJ-1s.SUBJ ‘I moved the noodles from the pan to a plate this time’

Firstly, kranjas’afek ‘this time’ is literally ‘during this occurrence’. Zaouanaw has a strict distinction between spans of time (imperfective) and points in time (perfective), and because the word for ‘occurrence’ is a singulative form of the imperfective participle of kr(e) ‘happen’, it is necessarily treated as a span of time. Zaouanaw uses a ‘compound lative case’ to link actions to spans of time, namely an adessive (‘at’) suffix plus an instrumental (‘through’) suffix, denoted ADE-INSTR. (The corresponding construction for a point in time is just an adessive case suffix.) Secondly, this example is a good demonstration of Zaouanaw phonotactics. The usual method for resolving illegal clusters in Zaouanaw is to copy the vowel from the previous syllable and insert it as far to the left as possible, e.g. the last three o’s in segopohot’of are just copies of the vowel from the indicative (IND) marker o, because *segopht’f would be illegal (*segopht’f → *segopoht’f → *segopohot’f → segopohot’of). However, some morphemes (that is, some of the most common morphemes) have an ‘underlying vowel’, a sort of hidden vowel that only surfaces when the phonotactics are broken. Both examples here have underlying e’s, but any vowel is possible. Underlying vowels are denoted in brackets in glosses. However, in the above example, the phonotactics are not broken around these morphemes, so the underlying vowels do not surface. We also see the use of -ge ‘and’ to link the origin (the pan) to the destination (a plate), which Zaouanaw requires.

#Lexember

I already came up with a word for 'plate' while deriving 'pan' the other day, so I thought I'd come up with an example that shows off more of Zaouanaw's grammar:

#Lexember

I've not got access to my computer today, so here's a quick one

The prompt is 'something to drink out of'

mwanamašam dlucopohof
mwan-m-aš-am dluc-o-p-h-f
hand-1s.POSS-PL-ABL drink(intran)-IND-PFV-PST-1s.SUBJ
'I drank from my hands'

Yes, that'll do

Šucenas’uθjaašak groθθifek sabaθjunjapaam manzinufek c’uopohot’oš’ [ˈʃu.t͡sʰe.na.sʼu.θja.a.ʃakʰ ˈkroθ.θi.fekʰ ˈsa.pa.θju.nja.pʰa.am ˈman.t͡si.nu.fekʰ ˈt͡sʼu.o.pʰo.ho.tʼoʃʼ] šu-cen-as’-uθ-ja-aš-ak gro-θ-θi-fek sab-θ-jun-ja-pa-am m(e)-an-z(i)-nu-fek c’u-o-p-h-t’-š’ completely-stretch-PASS-PTCP.PFV-SGV-PL-ACC prong-GEN-tool-INSTR heat-GEN-flat-SGV-SUPE-ABL do-PTCP.IMP-other-none-INSTR eat-IND-PFV-PST-3p.OBJ-2s.SUBJ ‘You (singular) ate the noodles straight out of the pan with a fork’ (lit. You ate the completely stretched-out things with a prong tool from the surface of the hotplate without any other action)

#Lexember

I missed yesterday's (à cause de my work's Christmas do), so here's a double-whammy

Wasamak isa ploc'oθsubuθšuknuras'uθage romc’uwataf [ˈwa.sa.makʰ ˈi.sa ˈpʰlo.t͡sʼoθ.su.puθ.ʃu.kʰnu.ra.sʼu.θa.ke ˈrom.t͡sʼu.wa.tʰaf] was-m-k is-a ploc’-θ-sub-θ-šu-knur-as’-uθ-a-ge rom-c’u-o-u-a-t-f fish-1s.POSS-ACC salt-ADE vine-GEN-fruit-GEN-completely-crush-PASS-PTCP.PFV-ADE-and want.to-eat-IND-CONT-PRS-3s.OBJ-1s.SUBJ ‘I want to eat my fish with salt and pepper’ (lit. I want to eat my fish at salt and at vine fruit powder)

#Lexember

In order to make today's absurdly long word, I had to look up how black pepper is made

Der žemge c’uas’uθjap’uaot! [ˈter ˈt͡ʃem.ke ˈt͡sʼu.a.sʼu.θja.pʼu.a.otʰ] der-Ø žem-Ø-ge c’u-as’-uθ-ja-p’-u-a-ot bread-NOM cheese-NOM-and eat-PASS-PTCP.PFV-SGV-POT-CONT-PRS-3p.SUBJ ‘Bread and cheese can be a meal!’ (Explainer: Zaouanaw translates ‘and’ as a suffix on the second (plus any further) elements of a list. We also see c’uas’uθja ‘a meal’ (lit. That which is eaten + the singulative (SGV) suffix ja to make it countable) being used as a verb root in a copulative construction, conjugated in the potential (POT) mood, i.e. ‘can be’.)

#Lexember

I should really pick one way of formatting these and stick with it

sabak bokoθfjašo lagaθnesfek šusegopatas’ [ˈsa.pakʰ ˈpo.kʰoθ.fja.ʃo ˈla.kaθ.nes.fekʰ ˈʃu.se.ko.pʰa.tʰasʼ] sab-k bok-θ-fjaš-o lag-θ-nes’-fek šu-seg-o-p-a-t-s’ heat-ACC chicken-GEN-meat-DAT olive-GEN-oil-INSTR completely-put-IND-PFV-PRS-3s.OBJ-1p.SUBJ ‘We cooked the chicken with olive oil’ (lit. We completely gave the heat to the chicken meat with olive oil)

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I managed to kill two birds with one stone with this one (or rather, a chicken and some olives):