Note: This page has moved to http://www.furuba.net/~chichiri/conlang/fonki.html. The link http://www.furuba.net/~chichiri/fonki/ still works, though.
Fonki (literally, servant of communication), is made up of 15 consonant sounds and 5 vowel sounds:
B CH D F H G K L M N P S T W Y A E I O U
Like English and most other languages, Fonki communication is divided into sentences, which express one complete thought, and words, which express a distinct part of that thought.
There are three types of words in Fonkish -- the noun, which expresses an object or an idea; the verb, which expresses an action or state of being; and the descriptor, which modifies another word. These are easily identifiable by the word ending. Every unmodified noun ends in 'i' (eg, 'kaeli' tree), every unmodified verb ends in 'e' (eg, 'kudre' cause), and every unmodified descriptor ends in 'o' (eg, 'nomo' edible).
In English, sentences are usually formed in the order of subject - verb - direct object. In Fonkish, this distinction is not kept, and the sentence can be formed in any order. How, then, does one distinguish between, say, the subject and the direct object? This is done through adding suffixes.
kaosochi-uma hie si kichi-data.
The queen greets her servant.
'kaosochi' is the base word for 'queen' (It's derived from 'kao' leader, 'so' female, 'ch' person). To this two suffixes were added, 'u' and 'ma'. 'u' is the specificity suffix, and is basically the equivalent of the definite article 'the'. 'ma' is the subject suffix, and denotes that this sentence mainly involves the queen. The next word, 'hie', ends in an 'e', which is a clue that it is a verb, and in fact means 'to greet'. For simplicity's sake, Fonkish does not have any verb conjugation, apart from tenses. The present tense requires no suffix.
'si' is a special sort of noun; it is the third person singular pronoun. Fonkish has no concept of grammatical gender, so 'si' can represent 'he', 'she', or 'it', depending on context.
'kichi' means servant ('ki' servant, 'ch' person). It has two suffixes, 'da' and 'ta'. 'da' is the possessive suffix, and denotes that this word is owned by the preceding noun (in this case 'si'). 'ta' is similar to the subject suffix, and denotes the direct object of the sentence -- that is, the object that is affected by the verb. Finally, a period terminates the sentence.
sochi-u tomoyo chiboki-dama kaeliai-uta ono e.
The cute girl's home is in the forest.
In English, adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions are entirely separate ideas. In Fonkish, all these purposes are served through one word type -- the descriptor. In the example above, 'tomoyo' (cute) functions much as an adjective, while 'ono' (inside) functions as a preposition. Descriptors modify the word preceding it.
sochi-uma hie-ba tomoyo mi-ta. mi-ma hie-ba mali-ta.
The girl greeted me cutely. I greeted her.
Here, 'tomoyo' is used as a verb modifier.
nani chiboki-dama e kaeliai-uta ono. miaka-i.
Whose house is in the forest? Miaka's.
ti-ma nani-ta hie-ba. tehia-i kaosochi-data.
Who did you greet? The Queen of Tehia.
ti chiboki-dama nani-ta ono e.
Where is your house located?
sochi-usi si-maka suzaku-i mikisochi-udama e.
The girl... is _she_ the Priestess of Suzaku?
hai si-mayo e.
Yes, it's her.
sochi-usi si-ma suzaku-ika mikisochi-udama e.
The girl... is she the Priestess of _Suzaku_?
| mi | 1st person singular | mia, mita (*) | 1st person plural |
| ti | 2nd person singular | tia | 2nd person plural |
| si | 3rd person singular | sia | 3rd person plural |
| sin | Hypothetical 3rd person singular | sina | Hypothetical 3rd person plural |
| mali | The subject of the previous sentence. | ||
| tali | The object of the previous sentence. | ||
| sali | The indirect object of the previous sentence. | ||
| blai | The location of the previous sentence. | ||
| dlai | The destination of the previous sentence. |
(*) mia is used when the second person is not included, mita otherwise.
| a | Plural. |
| u | Specificity. Equivalent of a definite article. |
| to | Grouping with the previous word. (and) |
| da | Ownership by the preceding word. |
| ma | Denotes the subject of the sentence. |
| ta | Denotes the object of the sentence -- what the verb acts upon. |
| sa | Denotes the indirect object -- what the object is verbed to. |
| bli | Denotes the location that the action takes place. |
| dli | Denotes the destination location of the action (for movement verbs). |
| kli | Denotes the time that the action took place. |
| Any pronoun suffix. |
| Present tense instantaneous. | This happens. | |
| le | Present tense continuous. | This is happening. |
| ble | Present tense insta-continuous. | This just started happening. |
| ba | Past tense instantaneous. | This happened. |
| la | Past tense continuous. | This was happening. |
| bla | Past tense insta-continuous. | This had just started happening. |
| bi | Future tense instantaneous. | This will happen. |
| li | Future tense continuous. | This will be happening. |
| bli | Future tense insta-continuous. | This will have just started happening. |
| blai | Eternal tense. | This has always been happening, is happening, and always will be happening. |
| na | Negation. |
| yo | Emphatic. |
| ka | Question. |
A list of Fonki stems: a liking am appreciation al to go, movement bib four bl water bok container ch person chib seven da male dib eight er sky fib nine fon communication gak logic gib twelve ha affirmation hi greet hib ten ia (pluralising stem... eg, 'kael-i'=tree, 'kael-ia-i'=forest) ib one im giving ka romantic love kao leader kael tree kam power ken evil ki servant kib thirteen kim new kl time kudl causality ma mouth mi religion mia requirement, need mib six mich writing moy innocent mu absence, void na wrong, not nan what nib two nom food on interior, within pet small pib eleven le repeat lib five lul information sib three so female sugo big ta identity tel ground, land, solid tib fourteen to beauty wa nifty, nice, likeable wib fifteen A list of Fonki words: ai liking ami appreciation ali movement benbi 65,536 (16^4) bi number bibi 4 bli water bliboki water container; canteen blinomi drink bliteli beach boki container chenbi 268,435,456 (16^7) chi person chibi 7 chiboki home (lit. person container) chitai soul dachi boy, man dapetchi boy denbi 4,294,967,296 (16^8) dibi 8 eri sky fibi 9 foni communication fonbli sonar (lit. water communication) fonchi literate person fongaki debate fonkaeli tree-hugger, environmentalist (slang, lit. tree communication) fonkenmaichi politician fonki language (lit. servant of communication) fonkichi linguist fonkimami curiousity (lit. appreciation for learning) fonkimi learning fonmai spoken language fonmaichi orator, speaker fonmichi written language fontai name (lit. communicated identity) gaki logic gakibi mathematics gakinai illogic gakkeni school (lit. evil logic) gibi 12 hai affirmation, yes hi greeting hibi 10 hibibideki 11 (base 10-style) hibinibideki 12 (base 10-style) imi giving kaelami environmentalist kaeli tree kaelibli coral (lit. water tree) kaelichi stubborn, inflexible person (lit. tree-person) kaeliai forest kaeliaichi ranger kaelmai tree root kaelnomi fruit kaelnomiai fruit salad kaelnomiboki fruit basket kaelnomitomoyi mango (lit. cute fruit) kaelpeti shrub kamgakinai magic (lit. power of illogic) kami power kai romantic love kaochi king, president, ruler kaomai a royal proclamation, decision kaomamichi written code of laws kaosochi queen -kaplonki the act of falling keni evil kibi 13 kichi servant, slave kichimai lawyer, attourney kimi creation kimkaelnomi unripened fruit kimkaochi royal succession kimkaogeki succession debate kimkli beginning kimpetchi newborn, baby kimpetchiboki crib kli time kudri cause ibi 1 imi giving inbi 16 (16^1) mateli volcano matelmoyoi dormant volcano menbi 16,777,216 (16^6) mi religion miabli thirst mianomi hunger miari hyper mibi 6 michami bookworm, one who loves reading michi book michinomi cookbook mieri heavens migeki philosophy mikami deity, god mikaochi religious leader mikichi religious servant mikimi religious cult (lit. new religion) mikisochi temple priestess, miko mimachi preacher mimichi religious writing; Bible moyoi innocence mui vacuum musugoi space; the universe musugoichi astronaut musugoluli star chart muteli planet mutelpeti natural satellite nai mistake, falsity, no nani what nanomi an inedible nenbi 256 (16^2) nibi 2 nibisuki romantic couple nomami gourmet, one who enjoys food nomi food oni inside, interior petbli lake; pond petchi child petchimichi children's book pibi 11 lehi welcoming back legeki proof (as in philosophy or mathematics) lei repetition lenai bureaucracy (lit. repeating of mistakes) lenamichi regulations lenbi 1,048,576 (16^5) libi 5 luli information luligeki science lulikimi discovery lulimichi textbook senbi 4,096 (16^3) sibi 3 sochi girl, woman sopetchi girl sugobli ocean teli ground, land telpeti island telsugoi continent tibi 14 toi beauty tomoyinobi candy tomoyoi cuteness wai cheer, greatness, coolness watelpeti resort island watomoyoi huggable wibi 15
Hello.
mi'ma ti'ta hie. (lit. I greet you.)
Thank you.
mi'ma ti'sa ime mi ami'data. (lit. I give my appreciation to you.)
You're welcome.
mi'ma ame ti ami'data. (lit. I appreciate your appreciation.)
My name is ____.
mi fontai'dama ______'ita e.
Welcome back!
mi'ma ti'ta lehie'yo.
What is your name?
ti fontai'dama nani'ta e.
I love you.
mi'ma ti'ta kae'blaiyo.
This page last updated 11 October 2002