Moten Language

Welcome to the static page devoted to the Moten language! I use this page to list all posts I made about Moten, in order of publication. Seasoned readers can use it as a reference, and it's the perfect place for new readers to start learning about the beautiful, if wacky, language that is Moten.

First, let me get this out of the way: Moten is a conlang, i.e. a constructed language. It is not a natural language spoken natively by a group of people anywhere on Earth. Instead, it's a creation I made from scratch. To be more precise, Moten is an artistic language, i.e. one created purely for aesthetic pleasure, my own first, and hopefully yours as well. It's just a hobby: I don't have any grand scheme for it. My only goal when creating Moten was to exercise my creative muscles in a way that I find interesting, challenging and rewarding. It's not even a true fictional language: although there is a (sketchy) background story that describes where Moten comes from, it's basically just an excuse for me to develop the language as I see fit. Still, it's a true language, in the sense that it's much more than a haphazard collection of words. Moten has a developed phonology, grammar and vocabulary, which I painstakingly describe in the blog posts listed in this page.

The rest of this page is a list of links to the posts I've written so far about the Moten language. The posts are ordered from the oldest to the newest, so that a new reader can simply learn about the language from scratch by taking each post in turn. I've also added next to each link a short abstract of the contents of the post, so that people using this page as a reference can find what they are looking for more easily, as well as a word count, so that people have an idea of the size of each post (some posts are pretty long!).

I will update this page regularly as I publish more posts about Moten. So don't hesitate to come back regularly! Also, don't hesitate to comment or ask questions. I strive to make future posts accessible and easy to read, so reader feedback is very welcome.

List of Posts

Moten, Part I: Background and Phonology (3570 words)

This post introduces the reader to the Moten language. After a short description of the background of the language (both real and fictional), I describe its phonology (which sounds it uses), its phonotactics (its syllable structure, and how the sounds of the language interact) and its writing system.

Moten, Part II: Nouns and Pronouns (6762 words)

This post focusses on nominal morphology. I first define the types of nominals present in Moten. Then I focus on the noun declension and the functional prefixes (both form and meaning). Afterwards, I list various pronouns present in the language. Finally, I describe the syntax of the noun phrase.

Moten, Part III: Counting (5615 words)

As its title indicates, this post focusses on counting. First, I describe how to form cardinal and ordinal numbers, as well as multiplicative and distributive numbers. Then I introduce the counters, a category of nouns that combine with numbers. I carry on with the expression of date and time, and finish by describing the degrees of comparison.

Moten, Part IV: Verbs and Main Clauses (7026 words)

In this post, I describe the Moten verb, as well as the structure of independent sentences. I start by defining the various verb classes present in Moten. Then I describe the verbs' non-finite forms, followed by a list of all possible conjugations (describing both form and meaning). Finally, I describe the syntax of simple sentences.

Moten, Part V: Verbs and Subordinate Clauses (5002 words)

This post deals further with verbs. I start by discussing the use of the auxiliary verbs as fully-fledged verbs. Then I carry on by describing how to form relative and completive subordinate clauses. I finish with a discussion about how to handle reported speech in both direct and indirect forms.

Moten, Part VI: Negation and Polar Questions (6248 words)

In this post, I describe the different types of negation used in Moten, and how they are formed. I also discuss how to form yes-no questions and how to answer them.

Moten, Part VII: Particles (3778 words)

This post deals with the two types of particles: interjections and clitics. In it I describe how interjections look like and how they work. Then I focus on clitics, describe how they are used, list a few useful ones, and finish by describing how they are pronounced.

Moten Part VIII: Surdéclinaison, Definition and Main Nominal Use (2809 words)

In this first of two posts on the same subject, I define the linguistic feature that is called surdéclinaison, the ability to inflect already inflected words. I then describe how it is used with nouns and nominal phrases.