Conlang L4: Viko, An Art Language
(Viktor Medrano, 2001)
viko 'akona
vo la va pipava ta.
si va yipa ta.
Viko language:
The lion is reading.
There's an eye.
voki 'iva va
kayi laloto'i ta.
'i va tima ta.
A little sponge
slowly floats like a boat.
A baby weeps.
yomavo'i vo
pa va polavasa ta.
'a likiti va.
A tree:
Muscles break it.
Ah! A noise.
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Viko (pronounced "VEE-koh") is an art language, created
as an expression of my personal philosophy of minimalism, simplicity, and xenophilia.
It is for serious fun only. One of my motivations for creating Viko is
to provide a beautiful platform for writing haiku poetry.
Inspiration for Viko arose from Japanese and Polynesian languages.
We could imagine people living on a tropical island speaking it.
Any comments are welcome.
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VIKO SOUNDS
a i k l m n o p s t v y '
This is the complete Viko alphabet: 13 letters. Viko has very simple sounds.
There are ten consonants and three vowels.
There is one-to-one correspondence between sound and symbol.
The three vowels are:
a as in father
i as in beef
o as in on
The ten consonants are:
k as in skin
l as in love
m as in moo
n as in night
p as in spin
s as in sun
t as in stick
v as in victory
y as in yes
' is a glottal stop, which is like the catch in the throat between the two o's in "co-ordinate."
The basic syllable in Viko is always a simple consonant+vowel
like in the words motosi and pa'opo.
The stress in a polysyllabic word is always
at the penultimate syllable (the second-to-the-last syllable): MIna, maNAya.
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VIKO BASIC SENTENCE
SUBJECT va OBJECT vo VERB [ta|ti|to|tata]
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VIKO VERBS
Vocabulary
komakiko to walk
koto to want
noki quick, fast
papatiya dog
ta present verb particle
tata command verb particle
ti past verb particle
to future verb particle
'atiyoyo can, to be able
'oyi no, not
Tense is easily indicated by the verb particles.
komakiko ta.
(I) am walking.
komakiko ti.
(I) walked.
komakiko to.
(I) will walk.
komakiko tata!
Walk!
Adverbs modify the verb with the modifier particle na.
noki na komakiko ta.
(I) am quickly walking.
Modals (like 'can' and 'want') are simply placed before the main verb.
koto komakiko ta.
(I) want to walk.
'atiyoyo komakiko ta.
(I) can walk.
Negation of the verb is indicated by placing 'oyi before the verb.
'oyi komakiko ta.
(I) am not walking.
'oyi komakiko tata!
Don't walk!
A verb can be transitive or intransitive.
papatiya vo komakiko ta.
(I) am walking the dog. (transitive)
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VIKO COMPOUNDS
Vocabulary
pi opposite
ko I, me
kokipapo person
kova many
pi opposite
posoyo sea
tasino big
'isa he, she, it
New terms can be created by simple compounding of roots.
tasino posoyo
ocean
posoyo kokipapo
mariner, sailor
The root kova can indicate the plural.
kova kokipapo
people
kova posoyo
seas
kova ko
we
kova 'isa
they
Alternatively, reduplication can show the plural.
posoyo posoyo
seas
'isa 'isa
they
The opposite of a word can be indicated by pi.
pi tasino.
small
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VIKO QUESTIONS
Vocabulary
ka you
yo yes
'o to go
'oyi no, not
A simple question is created by a rising intonation at the end of the phrase.
ka va 'o ta.
You are going.
ka va 'o ta?
Are you going?
'o ta?
Are (you) going?
The answer:
'oyi, 'oyi 'o ta.
No, (I) am not going.
yo, 'o ta.
Yes, (I) am going.
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VIKO CLAUSES
Vocabulary
pa because
papatiya dog
sapikoti if
soposi to see
tivina happy
vasa cat
yavo fish
'i to eat
Relative Clauses
The modifier particle na is used for relative clauses.
The clause comes before the word it modifies.
yavo vo 'i ti na vasa va tivina ta.
The cat that ate the fish is happy.
papatiya va soposi ti na vasa va 'i ti yavo vo.
The cat that the dog saw ate a fish.
vasa va 'i ti yavo vo na 'isa vo, papatiya va soposi ta.
The dog sees (it) that the cat ate the fish.
Dependent Clauses
The main or independent clause comes at the end of the sentence.
The dependent clause comes before the main clause.
Note the placement of the conjunction at the end of the dependent clause.
vasa va 'i ta yavo vo sapikoti, papatiya va 'i to vasa vo.
If the cat eats the fish, the dog will eat the cat.
vasa va 'i ti yavo vo pa, papatiya va 'i ti vasa vo.
Because the cat ate the fish, the dog ate the cat.
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VIKO NUMBERS
The basic numbers are:
one lapi
two ya
three nikapi'a
four sovitapi
five sotolipi
six vata
seven poyaloka
eight mokalina
nine ya'aso
ten tiyakalo
hundred pi'imomi
thousand pimi
million pokivi
tiyakalo lapi
11
tiyakalo ya'aso
19
ya tiyakalo sovitapi
24
poyaloka pimi ya'aso pi'imomi ya tiyakalo sovitapi
7,924
pimi poviki
1,000,000,000
When a number modifies a noun, the modifier particle is used.
ya tiyakalo lapi na kokipapo
21 people
An ordinal is created by preceding the number with ki.
ki ya
second
ki ya na kokipapo
second person
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VIKO RELATIONS
Vocabulary
komakiko to walk
siyomopo house
vo'iya outside of
yapako to
While English has prepositions, Viko has postpositions.
These relational words come after the word(s) they govern.
siyomopo vo'iya komakiko ta.
(He) is walking outside of the house.
siyomopo yapako komakiko ta.
(He) is walking to the house.
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