Pronunciation is key. The meaning of a word depends entirely on its sound, so it must be pronounced in a very, very precise way. Take distance from the English pronunciation, and learn the following:
Vowels
The vowel sounds are recorded together with the consonants, from 0 to 4 and from -0 to -4.
PPK
Letter
IPA
Ã
i
i
Å
e
e
Á
a
a
Î
o
o
Ë
u
u
È
ü
ɨ
The pronunciation of the vowels is slightly different from those in Dutch, and definitely from those in English.
The word emphasis is on the main concept (often the second syllable, immediately after the WTI), and secondary on an attribute of choice.
Consecutive vowels like "*e'e" and "*üo" must be well differentiated but not separated with a glottal stop. In these cases, the emphasis is on the second vowel ("*e'é"), except in combinations with "ü" where it is on the "ü". The apostrophe is only in the transcription to indicate that there are two distinct vowel sounds, and not one diphtong. Over time, the apostrophe will be discarded. For now it is present.
Although there are only five written vowel grades, in speech you can vary with the vowels to fine-tune the intensity of your message. First get used to and comfortable with five.
Consonants
soundfile
PPK
Letter
IPA
a
m
m
o
t
t
O
d
d
i
k
k
I
g
g
k
h
h
f
s
s
F
z
z
g
ʃ
ʃ
G
ʒ
ʒ
n
p
p
N
b
b
q
n
n
à
ñ
ɲ
Q
ŋ
ŋ
å
c
t̠ʃ
æ
j
d̠ʒ
t
x
x
T
q
ɣ
b
r
r
j
f
f
J
v
v
x
w
ʋ
u
y
j
e
l
l
It is important to pronounce the sound of the consonants precisely, as the meaning of a word could change radically if a voiced consonant were pronounced voicelessly or vice versa. Put serious effort in the pronunciation and always speak well-articulatedly. Listen carefully to the soundfiles, and practice until your pronunciation of the letters distinguishes them clearly.
The "h" may be silent, but consistently if you choose, in order not to confuse the listener. It is always written.
Examples of how to translate English into Hucoji.
There is the word or the sentence to be translated, followed by its essential intention if that is different, in normal English. Then there is a "code block" that shows how the Hucoji words and sentences are composed. There is no computer program (yet), but it should be easy enough to write one that does the same. Please volunteer. Finally, there is the wordy translation of the composed word or sentence in English words, the official spelling of the Hucoji result in Peperklips and the transcription in Latin Alphabet and in IPA.
The agglutinated attributes always point back to the previous concept. This causes that sometimes words must be split into multiple parts.
Words
Words are formed by placing a scaling vowel after a consonant that represents a universal concept, after the Word Type Indicator (WTI). Available word types are "adverb/label": ky, "personal pronoun": ks, "verb": kr, "adjective": kv and "noun": kX. Word components "agglutinate", they join together to form a longer word containing multiple related concepts. The longer the word, the further you deviate from the essence. Aim for the shortest way to make your point.
ky: Adverb/Label
now
WTI:Adverb( # # hi
Time0( # now # qi
) ) # #
kyTy
hiqi [hiɣi:]
The WTI "hi" is omitted if the attribute is attached to the word it applies to. See below.
ks: Personal pronoun
we
WTI:Person1( # I # he'e
Scaling2( # group # pa
) ) # #
ksÅnr
he'epa [hee:pa]
The personal pronoun is immediately followed by its count ("I" is first person, "you" is second person, etc.), and can be concatenated to a group (to form "we"). You can even add a number to the group, if that is relevant ("we, group of three": he'epabo [hee:pabo] ksÅnrNv).
A verb often needs a "direction", if the subject IS not the verb, but DOES or performs the verb. A "direction" does not need to actually "point in a direction" ("1") but can also be "0" ("si"). There is no verb "to be".
kv: Adjective
(visually) ugly
WTI:Adjective( # # ho
Registration2( # see # ca
Opinion-3( # very bad # tüo
) ) ) # #
kvårohÎ
hocatüo [hot̠ʃa:tɨo]
Adjectives are often transformed into attributes, as they generally concatenate with nouns. As a rule of thumb you should hold a limit of five concepts for every word. If more, you could split it in two, one of which is the adjective. Take care which concept you assign to which word and in what order! Sometimes you need to form a longer word.
kX: Noun
water
WTI:Noun( # # hu
Phase2( # fluid # va
) ) # #
kXJr
huva [huva:]
Nouns are mostly extended with other concepts, like "big", "beautiful", etc. The more extensions you use, the further you deviate from the essence of your noun. Try to limit the total number of concepts to five per word.
Sentences
Sentences start with one of the Sentence Type Indicators (STI) "Question", "Choice", "Phrase", "Conditional" or "Causal", followed by words like those above.
As the sample sentences, as any sentence in a natural language like English, can be interpreted in different ways, for the Hucoji translation there is one possible interpretation written out.
ay: Unlike in English, in a Question the word order is not changed, and it is not closed with a question mark.
What is your name?
intended: What label is associated with you?
STI:Question( # Question: # mi
WTI:Noun( # # hu
WTI:Adverb( # Adverb/Label # hi
) ) # #
WTI:Adverb( # # hi
Connection1( # associated # ŋe
) ) # #
WTI:Person2( # you # hea
) ) # #
Question: Label associated with you?
ay kXky kyQs ksÁ. or ay kXkyQsksÁ.
mi huhi hiŋe hea. [mi huhi hiŋe hea] o mi huhiŋehea. [mi huhi:ŋehea]
as: A Choice is a phrase (often clause) with multiple options that the respondent is expected to pick one or more from. There is no equivalent in the English language for this type of phrase, though it is very useful if you get familiar with it.
I would like to see you tomorrow at 13:00 or 14:00.
intended: I propose to meet you tomorrow at 13:00 or 14:00 (please pick one).
STI:Zin( # Phrase: # ma
WTI:Person1( # I # he'e
) # #
WTI:Verb( # # ha
Desire3( # propose # ko
) ) # #
WTI:Verb( # # ha
WTI:Person1( # I # he'e
Connection2( # together # ŋa
WTI:Person2( # you # he'a
) ) ) ) # #
STI:Choice( # Choice: # me
WTI:Adverb( # # hi
Time3( # later # qo
Counting1( # 1 # be
Counting13/24( # 13/24 # peabo büipeubu
) ) ) ) # #
STI:Separator( # # m
) # #
WTI:Adverb( # # hi
Time3( # later # qo
Counting1( # 1 # be
Counting14/24( # 14/24 # peabu büipeubu
) ) ) ) ) ) # #
Phrase: I propose: I (to be) together with you Choice: later one (day) 13/24 (or) later one (day) 14/24.
ar ksÅ kriv krksÅQrksÁ as kyTv Ns nsÁNv NhÃnsËNX a kyTv Ns nsÁNX NhÃnsËNX.
ma he'e hako hahe'eŋahea me hiqo be peabo büipeubu hiqo be peabu büipeubu. [ma hee: hako: hahee:ŋahea me hiɣo: be pea:bo bɨ:ipeubu hiɣo: be pea:bu bɨ:ipeubu]
The standard unit of time is a day, an hour is 1/24 of a day. We will come back to counting and numbers later.
ar: The Phrase is the basic form of a sentence.
My mother lives far away.
intended: My mother (or father) is always far away.
STI:Phrase( # Phrase: # ma
WTI:Noun( # # hu
Nature4( # person # fu
Connection1( # associated # ŋe
WTI:Person1( # me # he'e
Scaling1( # level # pe
Count1( # 1 # be
Time-3( # in the past # qüo
) ) ) ) ) ) ) # #
WTI:Verb( # (is) # ha
Distance3( # far # ʒo
Frequency4( # always # ru
) ) ) ) # #
Phrase: Person related to me one level older is far always.
ar kXjXQsksÅnsNsThÎ krGvbX.
ma hufuŋehe'epebeqüo haʒoru. [ma hufu:ŋehee:pebeɣüo haʒo:ru]
There are no sexes. In essence, we are all human beings.
av: The Conditional is in many languages formed by a verb conjugation, but in Hucoji it is a STI.
If you really want to, you can do anything.
intended: If you really want something, you will achieve that.
STI:Conditional( # Conditional: # mo
WTI:Person4( # anyone # heu
) # #
WTI:Verb( # # ha
Desire2( # wish # ka
Truth2( # true # la
) ) ) # #
STI:Separator( # Separator # m
) # #
WTI:Person( # anyone # heu
) # #
WTI:Verb( # # ha
Progression4( # end # zu
Truth2( # true # la
) ) ) ) # #
Conditional: If one wants really then one reaches really.
av ksË krirer a ksË krFXer.
mo heu hakala m heu hazula. [mo heu: haka:la m heu: hazu:la]
aX: The Causal is used if there is a causal link between two sentence parts. In English "because", "as", "for", etc. The latter explains the former. The latter can be implicit.
Welcome.
intended: I am happy because you are here.
STI:Causal( # Causal: # mu
WTI:Person1( # I # he'e
Feelings2( # happy # ga
) ) # #
STI:Separator( # because # m
) # #
WTI:Person2( # you # hea
Distance0( # here # ʒi
) ) ) # #
Causal: I (am) happy because you (are) here.
aX ksÅIr a ksÁGy.
mu he'ega m heaʒi. [mu hee:ga m hea:ʒi]
Observe that the element order of the Causal may seem opposite to that of the Conditional. In a Causal, the state is absolute by a specified cause, where in a Conditional the condition is absolute, followed by a possible state.