Faeke

Faeke is a constructed language inspired by Polynesian languages.

It is a work in progress.

Phonology

The syllable structure is (C)V(V(V)).

Vowels

Consonants

Compared to Proto-Polynesian, the velar nasal /ŋ/ that became a glottal stop /ʔ/ in Tahitian is a velar fricative /x/ in Faeke, and the labial approximant /w/ that became a labiodental fricative /v/ in Samoan and Tahitian is an alveolar fricative /s/ in Faeke.

Morphology

In this language, words are formed by compounding root words.

Syntax

I wanted to have a VSO (verb-subject-object) word order for this language given its strong Polynesian influence but I'm starting with a more common SVO (subject-verb-object) for simplicity given my background in French, English, and Spanish. The Celtic language of my ancestors, Breton, is also a VSO so I might revisit this decision later, although recent generations of Polynesians are also influenced by English and French SVO word order.

I also decided that noun-phrases and verb-phrases would always have a modifiers-noun and modifier-verb order.

Examples

Some expressions:

• ola (alive / hello)
• pai-kai (good-eat / enjoy your meal)
• malie-moe (calm-sleep / good night)
• ua tenei-sahi ma tenei-tami (be this-place and this-time)
• tenei-taime ua etalefo ao-huli ma emu mahina-huli ma elekehifofo la-huli muli eno . (this-time be 124 years, 5 months, 27.44 days after 0)

A longer example:

• koe mata-kite tela lakau me mano kula hua ?
• au fia saha-kite kula hua .
• au tahito-tane ma koe le-tahito-tane .
• koe haele luxa tela lakau .
• koe lase lua kula hua .
• koe kai tahi kula hua .
• koe foaki au tahi kula hua .
• koe pai !

Which directly translates to:

• you eye-feel that tree with many red fruit ?
• me like mouth-feel red fruit .
• me old-person and you not-old-person .
• you go up that tree .
• you take two red fruit .
• you eat one red fruit .
• you give me one red fruit .
• you good !

Lexicon

The lexicon is small and roughly based on the Swadesh list translated with the help of Samoan, Maori, Tahitian, Hawaiian dictionaries.

The velar nasal /ŋ/ is represented by "g" in Samoan and "ng" in Maori in the following tables.

Pronouns

Verbs

Modifiers

The words for "old" above should not be used for people due to their negative connotations in their respective languages.

Particles

Logical Operators

Quantifiers

Numbers

The numbers have a strong influence from the Lojban language and zero was already loaned from English or French in post-contact Polynesia.

Numbers are prefixed with "e", for example 42 is "efole" and 1337 is "etatitike".

Cardinal numbers are converted to ordinal numbers by adding "te" (the) in front of them.

Fractional numbers use "i" (on) between the numerator and the denominator as in "eta i efo" (one on four).

Colors

Directions

WIP

The words for "person" above mean "man" or "male" and not a genderless person. There is a specific word for that, but those are shorter and they also mean the name of a god which is interesting.

Compound Words

• sixteen: one-six
• forty: four-zero
• few: not-many
• every: each-and-all
• always: each-and-all-time
• never: not-some-time
• now: this-time
• here: this-place
• there: that-place
• orange: red-yellow
• aircraft: air-boat
• spacecraft: heaven-boat
• learn: take-know
• teach: give-know
• see: eye-feel
• hear: ear-feel
• smell: nose-feel
• taste: mouth-feel
• touch: skin-feel
• balance: in-ear-feel
• awareness: brain-feel
• day: sun-turn (Maori and Hawaiian uses "ra" and "la" for "day" whereas Samoan and Tahitian uses "ao")
• month: moon-turn
• year: world-turn
• dream: sleep-sleep ("moemoea" is "dream" in Tahitian, Hawaiian, and Maori)