Onomatopoeias

Onomatopoeias (i.e. words imitating the sound they describe) are quite usual in Lurion, not only in words that represent sounds, but also in words that have some sort of representative ring to it.

Some examples:

αᴧαᴧειн - 'to sing' ("ahlalalaala")
κрαнxειн - 'to break' ("krrraaahnx") (with [x] mind you, not [ks])
цοφειн - 'to blow' ("vohff")
ᴧοрδιι - 'heavy' ("lohr lohr lohr")
ἱεнιι - 'thin' ("híëní")

Ofcourse the representations are pretty off (and silly), but it might give you a good impression.

Participles

Forms

Any verb can be substantivised (is that a word?) very easily, i.e. by adding the affix -οнт and a noun/adjective suffix.
E.g.: ειδι ("he sees") > ειδοнтιc ("he who sees / the see-er"); гυнαc δεδαcεc ("women will (hopefully) have given") > δεδαcοнтιαc гυнαc ("the women who (hopefully) will have given").

Also, infinitives can be turned into nouns (and adjectives) simply by adding a neuter suffix. Here, the nominative and accusative are the same as the infinitive:
-ειн
-ειнου
-ειнει
-ειн

Use

Participles are used in many more cases that most modern natlangs. For instance, participles can be used as any wordgroup in a sentence, i.e. subject, object etc.
Also, participle adjectives can be used to give extra information about any wordgroup in a sentence.

Ουрα

Today I would like to look at the word ουрα. It generally means "sky" or "air", but as air is vital (without breathing you'd die), it also has a touch of "life" in it.

Ουрιδεр, for instance, means "breath", but also "mind" and "soul".
More importantly, ουрειн - "to live" has derived directly from ουрα. From there, ουрυ - "life" is formed.

Both ουрα and ουрυ are neuter. The first shows the suffix -α (which is normally a feminine suffix), but is conjugated as any other neuter word, dropping the α in any other case or number. This special neuter form is used for astrological phenomena, e.g. ᴧυнα (moon) or ceцα (wind), but not all, e.g. ἑᴧecε (sun) or ἱcтεр (star).

Please note that geological names (e.g. Βрιтαннια (Britain), Mοcκцα (Moscow) or Mιccιccιππια (Mississippi)) are in fact feminine, and are declined as such (e.g. Mοcκцαα - "of/from Moscow").

Verb moods: Imperative, Infinitive and Coniunctive

Verb have a number of moods, including the indicative, imperative, infinitive and coniunctive. I will go through these four here.

Indicative

No specific affix.

Is used to state actions in the present, past or future. Also used to describe habits.

Imperative

-εтι for singular and dual;
-εтε for plural;
-υcтε for general advise

Is used to give orders or give advise. The plural form is used for all groups (thus more than one person/object), except when the subject is dual, e.g. (a pair of) eyes, legs, partners etc. The general form is used to advise people unknown to the speaker/writer, for instance in manuals or cooking books.

Infinitive

-ειн

Is used to describe the action on itself, e.g. Нιтω παнxοιн. - "I like to eat". The infinitive is actually a participle noun. (Also have a look at this post.)

Coniunctive

-e- or lengthening the root-vowel; e.g.: ἁπтω > ἁπтeω and cтω > cтαω (resp.)

Is used to state wishes, irrealities and possibilities.

Verb tenses

There are 9 tenses in Lurion, combining 2 elements, time and state.

Praesens, Aorist and Futurum (Present, Past and Future)
Simple, Imperfect and Perfect

The time-part is very easy; praesens is used for actions in the present, aorist in the past and futurum for actions that will (or might) happen in the future.

The state-part is a bit more complicated. Simple is used for describing (consecutive) actions, imperfect for continuous actions and perfect for completed actions.

Praesens and Simple have no affices.
Aorist adds the prefix e-, futurum the suffix -εc.
Imperfect adds the suffix -εн, perfect a reduplication of the first syllable (e.g. δω > δεδω).

E.g.:
eδεδω - "I had given" (past perfect)
οιοιcιc - "You (sg) will have thought" (future perfect)
eοιδαнιтε - "You (pl) were knowing" (past imperfect)
It must be noted that the latter is highly unusual, because it is quite odd to 'know continuously'. Something like "although you knew" would be translated as цαᴧтε eοιδιтε.

Lets look at the semantical differences between the tenses:

Λeгω, δω e φεᴧιω. - "I speak, I give and I (make) love."; these are all habits.
Eᴧeгω, eδω e eφεᴧιω. - "I spoke, I gave and I loved."; these are 3 actions in chronological order.
Λeгω e οιнω. - "I speak and I am thinking"; i.e. 'I speak while I am thinking'.
Δεδωмι ᴧυβрεн e ᴧeгω. - "I have been given a book and I speak"; i.e. 'I speak, (while) having/owning a book'.

Noun and Adjective Conjugations

The conjugations of nouns and adjectives are pretty much the same, with a couple of exeptions.

		g	m	f	n
sg	nom	ιc/ι	ο	α	-/ε
	acc	ιн	οн	αн	εн
	gen	ου	ου	α	ου
	dat	ει	oι	αι	ει
pl	nom	ec	oc	αc	εc
	acc	εc	oc	αc	εc
	gen	ωc	ωc	ωc	ωc
	dat	οιc	οιc	αιc	ειc

The general singular nominative nouns end in -ιc, adjectives in -ι, neuter sg. nom. nouns can end in a lot of ways, adj. in -ε.
The genitive is stressed, e.g. гυнα as in gúna is nominative, as in guná, it is genitive.

Also, all adjectives can be formed from nouns by adding the infix -ι-. E.g.: гυнα (woman) > гυнιι (female, feminine).
Where conjugations overlap, for instance in the plural genitive -ωc, and the gender must be specified, an infix can be added to nouns, being -ο- for masculine, -α- for feminine and -e- for neuter words. E.g.: гυнοωc, meaning 'male woman', i.e. a very feminine man, a 'queer' (as an insult to homosexuals, although my conpeople are most unlikely to make such an insult) or sometimes a transvestite.

Common neuter nom. sg. conjugations are -ε, -υ and -εр. The latter turns into -р in all cases except the nom. sg., e.g. ᴧυβεр, ᴧυβрεн (book).

There is also a dual, which has for all genders the same 4 suffices. More on the dual later, as it also involves some explanation.

Нιтιι, мαтιι, ευтιι and εтαрιι.

Although sometimes these words are interchangeable, there are differences in meaning between нιтιι, мαтιι, ευтιι and εтαрιι.

Нιтιι is very general, it can mean anything from good or nice to enjoyable or friendly. It can be said of people, animals, books, edibles etc.

Mαтιι, however, is more intimate and is said of things that are nice, cute, cudly, soft etc, e.g. cats, children, clouds and members of the other (or same, for that matter) sex.

Єυтιι is quite straight forward. It just means good or just. It could be said of people, for instance judges or kings, laws or actions.

Єтαрιι means 'friendly', also as in 'host-guest', 'comrade', 'brother in arms' etc. Saying your husband or wife and you are εтαрec to eachother shows a complete lack of intimacy.

Cases explained

Lurion has 4 different cases, all quite commonly known.

Nominative
Used to indicate the subject and all nouns and adjectives that are attributes to the subject.

Aᴧεκcαнδεр Meгιι нe ᴧeгι. - Alexander the Great said nothing.

Accusative
Used to indicate the object and its attributes. Also, it is used after verbs and prepositions to indicate direction and goal.

Δαн ειδι καтιн нιтιιн. - Daan sees the nice cat.

Παтрο ιι Γαᴧᴧιαн. - Father goes to France.

Genitive

Used to indicate possession and to indicate origin and reason.

Єιδιc καтιн мου? - Do you see my cat?

Zeнιc Aφрικαα ιι. - The foreigner comes from Afrika.

Dative

Used to indicate indirect objects and location, enviroment, method and tools.

Δω φοβυεн мεтαι. - I give fruit to mother.

Λeгεc ᴧαнгει zeнιει. - They speak in a foreign language.

Єιδεтι ὁπευ. - Look with your eyes.

Ofcourse, some words might feature exceptions etc, but these are the general rules.

E and -κε

I would like to explain the difference in meaning and use between the conjunction e and the conjunctional suffix -κε, both meaning "and".

First of all, let's look at the way the two words are used to connect two words:

Cαнδεр e Δαн.
Cαнδεр Δαнκε.

Here, both sentences mean the same (although they do not make any sense): "Sander and Daan". The only difference is that -κε is semantically closer.
Only when we put them in a sentence, can we see some significant differences.

Verbs

When used with verbs, both options mean practically the same. The difference between 'ειδω e ᴧeгω' and 'ειδω ᴧeгοκε' is minimal, although the first is translated "I see and I say", and the second could be translated as "I see and say", emphasising that it is done at the same time. Accordingly, Δαн ειδιc ᴧeгοκε ("Daan sees and-I-say") would make no sense.

Nouns

Between nouns, -κε is used to indicate some sort of bond between the two, for instance when describing a well-known or logical pair (e.g. παтрο мεтακε - "father and mother").

List

More clear is the difference when they are both used within a list of nouns or verbs. Here, -κε would indicate a subgroup. E.g.: παтрο мεтακε e δαмκιc - "father and mother, and the servant", thus (Father && Mother) && Servant.

Some example sentences:

Παтрο мεтακε ειδεc e ᴧeгεc. - Father and mother see and say.
Δαн e παтрο мεтακε ᴧeгεc αυтeεc. - Daan and (father and mother) say other things. Thus: Daan and his parents do not agree.

Genders explained

There are 4 genders in Lurion, being General, Masculine, Feminine and Neuter.

Masculine and Feminine are quite simpel: they are used to indicate the physical gender of a creature. For instance παтрο (father) is masculine, and мεтα (mother) is feminine. Also, Feminine is used for geological names, e.g. Ἁрᴧεмα (Haarlem) or Βрιтαннια (Brittain, Lurion's common name for the UK).

General is used to indicate living creatures without specifying their physical gender, for instance jobs, animals and last names, e.g. δαмκιc (servant), κυнιc (dog) and Ιнт'Цεᴧδ (In 't Veld).

Neuter is used for everything else, for instance objects, languages or concepts. E.g.: ὁικe (house), ᴧυрιοнεcκι (Lurion) and εтεгκε (wire, but also metaphorically thread or blog).

Lurion's genders are very interchangeable, and this is way normally only the General or Neuter is shown in lists of words. For instance, βοc (cow), βοцο (bull), βοцα (cow (f)).

Vowel Assimilation

Vowels may assimilate, depending on their length.
The following types can be distinguished:

α, α:, ο, ω, ε, e, ι, ι:, ι., υ, υ:, ει, οι, αι, υι, ου, αυ, ευ

Here the : marks longer vowels. The ι. is a special type, as it is short but strong; it is used e.g. in the verb suffices -ιc, -ι and -ιтε.

They can be categorised according to their length/strength:

ε
α, ι, υ
o
α:, ω, e, υ:, ει, οι, αι, υι, ου, αυ, ευ
ι:, ι.

The first two rows are weak, the last two are strong.

Assimilation occurs when a weak and a strong vowel meet.
(This is only a rule of thumb, though.)

E.g.:
αα - αα
α:ε - α:
α:ω - α:ω
αει - αι

The ο is medially strong, e.g.: αο - ω or eο - eο (both strong), but οω - ω (weak).
The ι: never assimilates (e.g.: ι:α - ι:α), and the ι. 'eats' all weak vowels, including the ο (e.g.: αι. - ι. or ωι. - ωι.).

Verb declensions

The verb declensions are the same for all tenses. Here are the active and passive declensions:

Active
-ω
-ιc
-ι
-οмα
-ιтε
-εc

Passive
-οмι
-εтαc
-εтα
-εтοн
-εтαтε
-εтοн

For instance, the 3rd person singular passive of ᴧεгειн ("to say"; root: ᴧεг-) is ᴧεгεтα ("he is said"), and the 2nd person plural active of мεнειн ("to be"; root: мεн-) is мεнιтε ("you are" (pl.)).

Alphabet and Phonology

Edited as of June the 26th.

Let us start with the alphabet and phonology of Lurion. As you might guess, it is ancient greek based, so a lot of graphemes might look the same. However, some are not, for instance the ε, which is a short E (e.g. as in 'let') in Lurion, but is a long E in ancient greek (e.g. as the 'a' in 'make').

The phonemes are shown in IPA.

Consonants

Π, π - [p]
Β, β - [b ]
Т, т - [t]
Δ, δ - [d]
Κ, κ - [k]
Γ, г - [g]
М, м - [m]
Н, н - [n]
Λ, ᴧ - [l]
Р, р - [r]
Φ, φ - [f]
Ц, ц - [v]
C, c - [s]
Z, z - [z/dz/tz]
X, x - [x]

῾ - [h]

Vowels


A, α - [a] [ɐ]
E, e - [e]
Є, ε - [ɛ] [ə]
Ι, ι - [i:] [ɪ]
Ο, ο - [o] [ɔ]
U, υ - [y] [ʏ]
W, ω - [o:]
Capital, small - [long/stressed] [short/unstressed]

When a vowel is followed by more than one consonant or when it is the last vowel, it is short, if it is followed by one consonant or none, it is long. The E and W are always stressed.

Diphthongs

οι, υι, αι - [oj], [uj], [aj]
ει [ɛi]
ου [u ]
αυ [ʌʋ]
ευ [ø]

Therefor, these are not diphthongs:
ωι [o.i], eι [e.i], ωυ [o.y], eυ [e.y]

Lurion

Here I will add information on my new conlang, Lurion, as I am working it out.

Lurion is inspired by (ancient) greek, but is also heavily a priori.

Please tell me if the letters below turn up as spaces or blocks or something different than they are supposed to.

δαφ'εрοр῾εмzцἑὁἱ῾UἹἉzπᴧᴧᴧ

Thank you for your interest.