Banyo

The Banyo language and script were invented by Matt Youens for use in fantasy story he is writing. Originally he used the language to generate names for the story. He based the phoneme inventory on a simplified Proto-Indo-European reconstructed words, but as he wanted both a modern and ancient form of the language he applied some sound change processes, particularly to the velars. HE also wanted some more unusual features, such as the four way vowel contrast.

The vocabulary is loosely based on Lojban, with the necessary sound changes; the grammar system is more like natural languages to reflect the fact that this is a spoken tongue.

The name 'Banyo' comes from the Lojban word bangu ('language'). The names of the characters are made by attaching the character itself (plus 'a' after a consonant) to ler, which means 'letter'.

The script was not inspired by any particular alphabets, but many of the glyphs have coincidental similarities to their counterparts in other writing systems, and the cursive forms are reminiscent of Indic and other Asian characters .

Banyo alphabet

Notes

The Banyo alphabet is written from left to right.
There is very little punctuation, but // indicates the beginning of a paragraph and the end of a sentence while / marks a ‘pause’ (effectively a comma or bracket); quotations, questions etc. are shown by special function words.
m = [ɲ] before y, [ŋ] before k and qu; it is usually transliterated as n in these cases.
n is alveolar rather than dental before s or l.
s = [ʃ] before r and y.
r and l = [ɾ̥] and [ɬ] after p, t and k; this devoicing is a realisation of [ʰ].
l = [ɫ] before back vowels, k or qu.
k = [h] after a vowel and before a back vowel, [ç] after a vowel and before a front vowel; both are transliterated as h.
g = [j] before or after a vowel; in practice this means that [g] only appears at the beginning of a word before r or l, but it is taken as the default value as this was the original pronunciation in all positions.
qu is a neutralisation of the original phonemes [kʷʰ] and [gʷ]; it never appears before o, but may be followed by oy.
For i, e, a and o, the first pronunciation is the ‘strong’ form, found in stressed syllables, and the second is the ‘weak’ form, in unstressed syllables; i and o are always strong at the end of a word, but e never appears in this position in words of more than one syllable.
The two ligatures reflect the sound changes affecting vowels before y: ey comes from ig and eg, oy from ag and og. These original spellings are preserved in older texts.
The symbols for the four basic vowels are also used to represent 1 (pa), 2 (re), 3 (qui) and 4 (so); a quinary (base 5) number system is used, with a simple dash ( ̴) representing zero (no).
Words may end in i, a, o, m, n, s, r or l (or e in single-syllable words).
At the beginning of a word the permitted consonant pairs are pr, pl, br, bl, tr, tl, dr, dl, sm, sn, shr, sl, kr, kl, gr and gl; in the middle of a word these (except gr and gl) are allowed along with mp, mb, mn, ms, mr, ml, nt, nd, ns, nr, nl, nk, ny, nqu, sp, sb, st, sd, sk, shy, squ, rp, rb, rm, rt, rd, rn, rs, rl, rk, ry, rqu, lp, lb, lm, lt, ld, ln, ls, lk, ly and lqu.

Sample text

Sample text in Banyo alphabet

Transliteration

Ro remna queya baho yabanon sipra ye donli be seyaham ye sormi. Roti pos menli ye mardiham, ye bilya sohi sim tombatahi.

IPA transcription

[ɾo 'ɾɛmn̪ɐ 'ku̯eɪ̯ɐ 'bɑho jɐ'bɑn̪ʊn̪ 'sipɾ̥ɐ jɛ 'd̪onli bɛ seɪ̯'ɑhɐm jɛ 'soɾmi | 'ɾotʰ̪i 'pʰos 'mɛnli jɛ mɐɾ'd̪ihɐm | jɛ 'biʎjɐ 'soçi 'sim tʰ̪ʊmbɐ'tʰ̪ɑçi]

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

If you have any questions about Banyo, you can contact Matt at: myouens[at]ymail[dot]com>

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