Fumo Creole

Fumo Creole
Language family	Contact Language (Japonic)
Era	Current
Writing system	Hiragana, Kanji
Official status
Spoken in	Reimusia, Hertskomestat Ngegypt
Speaker
Demonym	Fumo
Number of speakers	?
Technical information
Usage	Government language Colloquial language
Language code	FMO

Fumo Creole (ふもくりおおる or ふも語) is a Japanese-Midelisk creole language spoken as a lingua franca in Reimusia and parts of the Hertskomestat Syndicate. It uses Japanese Vocabulary, with strong grammatical influence from Midelesk. It is the official government language of Reimusia.

Little is recorded the early history of Fumo Creole, but it emerged from the ethnic Hertskomestat minority living in Reimusia a short time after the Second coming. It eventually replaced Midelisk and Michami as the lingua franca for the region, and was then later adopted by the Fumo ruling class as an official Government language in Reimusia. Japanese was retained as a liturgical language.

Fumo Creole is a relatively isolating language with simple phonotactics, a 5 vowel system with a length distinction, and a subject-verb-object word order. Conjugation is heavily simplified from the original Japanese, as is much of the rest of the grammar. Fumo Creole uses Hiragana and Kanji, while Katakana has been lost.

Phonology

Fumo Creole phonology is very similar to Japanese, but simplified.

Consonants

	Labial	Alveolar	Post alveolar	Velar	Glotal
Plosive	p (p) b (b)	t (t) d (d)		k (k) g (g)
Nasal	m (m)	n (n)
Fricative	f (f)	s (s) z (z)	ʃ (sh) ʒ (j)		h (h)
Rhotic		r (r)
Approximant	w (w)			j (y)
Affricate		t͡s (ts)	t͡ʃ (ch)

Vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i (y)	u (u)
Mid	e (e)	o (o)
Open		a (a)

Orthography

Fumo Creole uses Hiragana for words traditionally spelled with Hiragana and Katakana in japanese. Katakana was lost, likely due to relative rarity in the adopted lexicon.

Kanji usage in Fumo Creole is somewhat inconsistent. Some Kanji are used ubiquitously, while others are sometimes replaced by Hiragana, depending on the speaker. A Reimusia government standard is in development.

Grammar

Fumo Creole Grammar is highly simplified, and doesn't particularly resemble Japanese.

Syntax

Unlike Japanese, Fumo Creole has a subject–verb–object (SVO) word order. Word order serves as the primary means of identifying grammatical roles, replacing the particles for case marking from Japanese. Like Japanese, however, Fumo Creole regularly omits the subject if it is understood from context.

Fumo Creole is generally head-initial. Verbs precede objects, prepositions precede noun phrases, and auxiliary verbs precede the verb. Modifiers (other than prepositional phrases) precede the noun/verb. Relative clauses, however, follow the noun/verb and are introduced by a dedicated relativizer.

Examples

Basic word order in Fumo Creole

English	The cat sees the dog
Romanji	Neko miru inu
Fumo Creole	猫 見る 犬
Literal	Cat see dog

Sentence with an adjective

English	The cat sees the big dog
Romanji	Neko miru oukii inu
Fumo Creole	猫 見る 大きい 犬
Literal	Cat see big dog

Sentence with an adverb

English	The cat probably sees the dog
Romanji	Neko osoraku miru inu
Fumo Creole	猫 恐らく 見る 犬
Literal	Cat probably see big dog

Sentence with a prepositional phrase

English	The cat sees the dog over the flower
Romanji	Neko miru inu ue hana
Fumo Creole	猫 見る 犬 上 花
Literal	Cat see dog over flower

Sentence with a subordinate clause

English	The cat sees the dog that wants the flower
Romanji	Neko miru inu no hoshii hana
Fumo Creole	猫 見る 犬 の 欲しい 花
Literal	Cat see dog that want flower

Nouns

Nouns in Fumo Creole do not change for number or case, and do not have definite or indefinite articles. As in Japanese, a noun such as “inu” (dog) can mean “dog”, “a dog”, “the dog”, or “dogs”, depending on context. Specification can be accomplished through the use of determiners, and plurality can be conveyed with numerals or quantifiers.

Possession is marked with the suffix “-no”, inherited from the Japanese particle “no”, but reinterpreted as a suffix. Otherwise, Nouns are isolating, though Fumo Creole does make extensive use of compounding.

Noun case is expressed through word order, with the subject before the verb, and the object after the verb. Clauses can also have an indirect/direct object distinction, also determined by word order, with direct objects following indirect objects.

Examples

Basic noun

English	Cat
Romanji	Neko
Fumo Creole	猫

Possessive noun

English	Cat's
Romanji	Nekono
Fumo Creole	猫の

Specific noun

English	This cat
Romanji	Kore neko
Fumo Creole	これ 猫

Plural noun

English	Two cats
Romanji	Ni neko
Fumo Creole	二 猫

Basic word order with a subject and object

English	The cat sees the dog
Romanji	Neko miru inu
Fumo Creole	猫 見る 犬
Literal	Cat see dog

Sentence with a subject, indirect object, and direct object

English	The cat gives the dog a flower
Romanji	Neko ageru inu hana
Fumo Creole	猫 上げる 犬 花
Literal	Cat give dog flower

Verbs

Verbs are highly isolating and consist of a single stem that does not change for person, number, tense, mood, or voice. These are, instead, mostly conveyed through auxiliary verbs, particles, adverbs, and context.

Fumo Creole does have three verb suffixes. The perfect Aspect is marked with a “-ta” suffix (from Japanese “-ta”), the negative mood is marked with a “-nai” suffix (from Japanese “-nai”), and the interrogative mood is marked with a “-ka” suffix (from the Japanese particle “ka”). These suffixes can stack, always in that order. The “-ta” suffix specifically is more complex than the others, as it replaces some part of the verb stem, though it is still predictable and regular.

Tense is not marked on the verb. Verbs are temporally neutral and are interpreted through context. Past, present, and future meanings are expressed through adverbs and prepositional phrases. The “-ta” suffix can imply past tense, but does not necessarily confirm it.

Modality is expressed through auxiliaries and adverbs. Meanings such as probability and obligation are conveyed through adverbs (likely, should), while others like necessity, permission, and desire (need to, can, want to) are indicated by auxiliary verbs. Some auxiliary verbs are dedicated in that role, while others are full verbs repurposed as an auxiliary. These modifiers can stack.

Examples

Basic verb

English	To see
Romanji	Miru
Fumo Creole	見る

Perfect verb

English	To have seen
Romanji	Mita
Fumo Creole	見た

Negated verb

English	To not see
Romanji	Mirunai
Fumo Creole	見るない

Question verb

English	To see?
Romanji	Miruka?
Fumo Creole	見るか?

Perfect negative question verb

English	To see
Romanji	Mitanaika?
Fumo Creole	見たないか?

Probable verb

English	To probably see
Romanji	Osoraku miru
Fumo Creole	恐らく 見る

Desired verb

English	To want to see
Romanji	Hoshii miru
Fumo Creole	欲しい 見る

Perfect desired verb

English	To have wanted to see
Romanji	Hoshite miru
Fumo Creole	欲しい 見る

Perfect desired perfect verb

English	To have wanted to have seen
Romanji	Hoshite mita
Fumo Creole	欲しい 見た

Probable desired verb

English	To probably want to see
Romanji	Osoraku hoshii miru
Fumo Creole	恐らく 欲しい 見る

Adjectives and Adverbs

Adjectives and adverbs are generally interchangeable, and have no distinct morphology. They are isolating and do not conjugate.

Numbers are straightforward unchanging roots, with no specific counting terminology or morphology. Numbers and colors appear the same as both nouns and adjectives.

Vocabulary

Fumo Creole vocabulary is currently being studied and documented. This list is temporary, and serves to express the grammar in the examples above.

これ	kore	(dem. )	this
上	ue	(pro.)	on, above, over
の	no	(relat.)	that, who, which
大きい	oukii	(adj.)	big
楽しい	tanoshii	(adj.)	fun
恐らく	osoraku	(adv.)	probably
時々	tokidoki	(adv.)	sometimes
できる	dekiru	(auxv.)	can
猫	neko	(noun)	cat
犬	inu	(noun)	dog
花	hana	(noun)	flower
二	ni	(noun)	two
上げる	ageru	(verb)	to give
見る	miru	(verb)	to see
欲しい	hoshii	(verb)	to want
わ	wa	(verb)	to be