Garrett Jones <[log in to unmask]> writes:

> I'm curious about the distribution of the types of conlangs on this list.
> So, a survey. Maybe it will generate some on-topic discussions. Answer it
> for your respective conlangs:
>
> multiple choices can be selected for any of these questions if that makes
> sense for your conlang.

I'll go through this twice, once for each of my chief conlang projects,
Germanech and Low Elvish.  Low Elvish (also known as Nur-ellen)
is in the midst of a major redesign now, and Germanech is currently dormant.

First run, for Germanech:

> 1. morphological type

b. fusional/inflecting

> 2. Word order

b. SVO

But SOV in subclauses, and infinite verb forms are placed at the end
of the clause.

> 3. adposition/noun order

a. noun - preposition

> 4. adjective/noun order

b. noun - adj is the normal order, but adj-noun is also possible,
wherein the adjective attains a more figurative meaning:

_un hom grand_ 'a big man' (e.g., a six-footer)
_un grand hom_ 'a great man' (an important personality)


> 5. genitive/noun order

b. noun - genitive

> 6. relative clause/noun order

b. noun - rel. clause

> 7. main verb/aux verb order

b. aux verb - main verb

The usual order is Subject - aux verb - object - main verb.

> 8. adverb/verb order

b. verb - adv

Adverbs are placed at the end of the clause.

> 9. compounding type

a. head-last compounding

> 10. case type

a. nominative/accusative

> 11. tense system

a. time (past/present/future)

> 12. script

a. latin

> and some free answer questions:
>
> 13. number of genders/noun classes

Two.  Masculine and feminine.

> 14. number of cases

There is no case marking in Germanech.  Subject and object are distinguished
by word order.

> 15. number of phonemes

20 consonants (if I don't have mis-counted) and 8 vowels.

> 16. lexicon size

A few hundred words.

And now the data for Low Elvish (a language currently under revision,
but most typological properties are fairly stable):

> 1. morphological type

b. fusional/inflecting

> 2. Word order

g. free

Underlyingly VSO, but the topic is usually placed first.

> 3. adposition/noun order

b. preposition - noun

> 4. adjective/noun order

b. noun - adj

> 5. genitive/noun order

b. noun - genitive

> 6. relative clause/noun order

b. noun - rel. clause

> 7. main verb/aux verb order

b. aux verb - main verb

> 8. adverb/verb order

b. verb - adv

> 9. compounding type

a. head-last compounding

> 10. case type

c. split ergative

Low Elvish has an "active" case-marking system distinguishing between agent and patient.

> 11. tense system

a. time (past/present/future)
b. aspect

> 12. script

a. latin
c. con-script

The con-script is not worked out yet.

> and some free answer questions:
>
> 13. number of genders/noun classes

Two: animate and inanimate.  3rd person animate pronouns also distinguish
masculine, feminine and common.

> 14. number of cases

Two: agentive and objective.

> 15. number of phonemes

18 consonants and 7 vowels; vowels can be short or long.

> 16. lexicon size

Only a few words yet, and currently under revision.

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