The advanced Glossotechnia deck

Glossotechnia is released under the least restrictive Creative Commons license, CC BY 4.0. That is, you can do anything with it (including manufacture decks and sell them for a profit) as long as you credit me as the inventor of Glossotechnia.

Complete detailed list of cards in advanced deck

Syntax cards

Syntax
V2
Verb second

The verb is the second constituent (not word) of each clause. Any of subject, object, adverb, prepositional phrase, etc. can precde it.

E.g.:
Ed cooks rice.
Rice cooks Ed.
Absendmindedly cooks Ed rice.
On the stove cooks Ed rice.

Syntax
SVO
subject-verb-object

E.g.:
Birds eat worms.
Authors write books.

Occurs twice in the deck

Syntax
SOV
subject-object-verb

E.g.:
Birds worms eat.
Authors books write.

Occurs twice in the deck

Syntax
VSO
verb-subject-object

Seeks Bilbo treasure.
Eats Trey mangoes.

Occurs twice in the deck

Syntax
OSV
object-subject-verb

E.g.:

Milk cats drink.
Rice Ed cooks.
Languages linguists study.

Syntax
OVS
object-verb-subject

E.g.:

Milk drink cats.
Rice cooks Ed.
Languages study linguists.

Syntax
VSO
verb-subject-object

E.g.:

Drink cats milk.
Cooks Ed rice.

Syntax
Topic-comment

What is talked about comes first in a sentence; what is said about it comes next.

Syntax
Comment-topic

What is talked about comes last in a sentence; what is said about it comes first.

Syntax
Wildcard

Specify a syntactic rule in force as long as this card is in play.

Occurs twice in the deck

Syntax
Head-Modifier

noun-adjective
verb-adverb

E.g.:
dragon scaly the
eats voraciously

Occurs twice in the deck

Syntax
Modifier-Head

adjective-noun
adverb-verb

E.g.:
scaly dragon
voraciously eats

Occurs twice in the deck

Syntax
postpositional

Postpositions follow their objects; postpositional phrases precede their heads.

E.g.:
shelf on books

[on my cards I have little arrows pointing back e.g. from "on" to "shelf" and forward from "shelf on" to "books". not sure how to do that in this format.]

Playable only if SVO, SOV, OVS, OSV or V2 is in play.

Syntax
prepositional

Prepositions precede their objects; prepositional phrases precede their heads.

E.g.:
dragon in cave

[on my cards I have little arrows pointing forward from "in" to "cave" and back from "in cave" to "dragon". not sure how to do that in this format.]

Playable only if VSO, SVO, SOV, VOS or V2 is in play.

Occurs twice in the deck

Phoneme cards

Phoneme
i

high front unrounded vowel

English "machine"

Occurs twice in the deck

Phoneme
y

high front rounded vowel

French "tu"
German "fü"

Phoneme
ɪ

open high front unrounded vowel

English "pick"

Phoneme
ɨ

high central unrounded vowel

Polish "mysz"
Approx. English "tip"

Phoneme
a

low front unrounded vowel

French "patte"
German "Rat"
Approx. English "cot"

Phoneme
u

high back rounded vowel

French "ou"
Approx. Eng. "shoe"

Occurs twice in the deck

Phoneme
ɯ

high back unrounded vowel

Turkish "ılık"
Hixkaryana "kàrà"
Approx. Eng. "shoebox"

Phoneme
e

close-mid front unrounded vowel

French "paté"
Approx. Eng. "may"

Occurs twice in the deck

Phoneme
o

close-mid back rounded vowel

Spanish "no"
French "côte"
Approx. Eng. "so"

Occurs twice in the deck

Phoneme
ɔ

open-mid back rounded vowel

English "ought", "law"

Phoneme
ʌ

open-mid back unrounded vowel

English "thus", "cup"

Phoneme
ə

mid central unrounded vowel (schwa)

English "ago"

Phoneme
ɛ

open-mid front unrounded vowel

English "met"

Phoneme
ʊ

high back open rounded vowel

Eng. "look"

Phoneme
æ

open low unrounded vowel

Eng. "tack"

Phoneme
ɑ

low back unrounded vowel

English "mop"

Occurs twice in the deck

Phoneme
ø

close-mid front rounded vowel

French "chanteuse"
German "böse"

Phoneme
ʈ

voiceless retroflex plosive

Norwegian "kort
Approx. English "lot"

Phoneme
ʔ

glottal plosive

Hawaiian "ʻeleʻele"
Indonesian "bakso"

Phoneme
k

voiceless velar plosive

English "ski"

Occurs twice in the deck

Phoneme
g

voiced velar plosive

English "agog"

Phoneme
p

voiceless bilabial plosive

English "spin"

Occurs twice in the deck

Phoneme
b

voiced bilabial plosive

English "bee"

Phoneme
t

voiceless alveolar plosive

English "stay"

Occurs twice in the deck

Phoneme
d

voiced alveolar plosive

English "do"

Phoneme
Φ

voiceless bilabial fricative

Japanese "fuji"

Phoneme
s

voiceless alveolar fricative

English "say"

Occurs twice in the deck

Phoneme
z

voiced alveolar fricative

English "zydeco"

Phoneme
ʃ

voiceless postalveolar fricative

English "she"

Phoneme
ʂ

voiceless retroflex fricative

Polish "szum"
Approx. English "show"

Phoneme
ç

voiceless palatal fricative

German "ich"
Approx. English "human"

Phoneme
ʒ

voiced postalveolar fricative

English "pleasure"

Phoneme
B

bilabial trill

Kele [mbBuen]

Phoneme
r

alveolar trill

Spanish "cerro"

Phoneme
f

voiceless labiodental fricative

English "fee"

Occurs twice in the deck

Phoneme
v

voiced labiodental fricative

English "valve"

Phoneme
θ

voiceless dental fricative

English "thin", "bath"

Phoneme
ð

voiced dental fricative

English "the", "bathe"

Phoneme
ɬ

voiceless lateral fricative

Nahuatl "chocolatl"

Phoneme
x

voiceless velar fricative

German "nach"

Phoneme
h

glottal fricative

English "he"

Phoneme
w

bilabial approximant

English "wow"

Phoneme
j

palatal approximant

English "yak"

Occurs twice in the deck

Phoneme
l

palatal approximant

English "lit"

Occurs twice in the deck

Phoneme
ɻ

retroflex approximant

English "row", "car"

Phoneme
m

bilabial nasal

English "me"

Occurs twice in the deck

Phoneme
n

alveolar nasal

English "nose"

Occurs twice in the deck

Phoneme
ɲ

palatal nasal

Spanish "cañon"
French "mignon"
Approx. English "canyon"

Phoneme
ŋ

velar nasal

English "thing"

Phoneme
N

uvular nasal

Japanese "nihon"

Phoneme
ʘ

bilabial click

[I have no natlang examples for this. Anybody?]

Phoneme
ǁ

alveolar lateral click

[I have no natlang examples for this. Anybody?]

Phoneme
Wildcard

This represents any phoneme, specified at the time it is played.

Phoneme
Fill Gap

Specify a phoneme that clearly fills a gap in the current phoneme inventory.

Phonemic contrast cards

These don't need layout diagrams like the Syntax and Phoneme cards. They all have the small caption "Phonemic contrast", then a large title, then smaller print detailing the effect of the card.

• Palatalization: Place above the consonant array. While in play, palatalized versions of all consonants are available.
• Labialization: Place above the consonant array. While in play, labialized versions of all consonants are available.
• Aspiration: Place above the consonant array. While in play, aspirated and non-aspirated versions of all consonants are available.
• Voicing: Place above the vowel or consonant array. While in play, both voiced and unvoiced versions of all [vowels or consonants] are available.
  Occurs twice in the deck
• Ejective: Place above the plosives. While in play, ejective versions of all plosives are available.
• Affricate: Place above the fricatives. While in play, affricate versions of all fricatives are available.
• Tone: Place above the vowel array. While in play, tone is phonemic. The player who plays this card specifies how many and what tones are used. Anyone may complicate or simplify the tone system with a Phoneme Merge or Phoneme Split card.
• Nasalization: Place above the vowel array. While in play, nasal and oral versions of all vowels are available.
• Length: Place above the vowel array. While in play, long and short versions of all vowels are available.
• Rounding: Place above the vowel array. While in play, both rounded and unrounded versions of all vowels are available.

Syllable onsets and rimes

Although I've played with simple C onset and V rime cards before, I'm leaving them out of this list; coining words with C onsets or V rimes is now allowed at any time whether any Syllable cards are in play at the moment or not.

Syllable onset
CA

any consonant
+ approximant

E.g.:
/tw-/
/kj-/
/sl-/

Syllable onset
(null)

A syllable need not begin with a consonant.

Occurs twice in the deck

Syllable onset
FPA

fricative consonant
+ plosive consonant
+ approximant

Eg.:
/spl-/
/zgw-/

Syllable onset
FP

fricative consonant
+ plosive consonant

Eg.:
/fp-/
/st-/

Syllable onset
PF

plosive consonant
+ fricative consonant

Eg.:
/bv-/
/ts-/

Syllable onset
NF

nasal consonant
+ fricative consonant

Eg.:
/mv-/
/nz-/

Syllable onset
NP

nasal consonant
+ plosive consonant

Eg.:
/mb-/
/nt-/

Syllable onset
FN

fricative consonant
+ nasal consonant

Eg.:
/zm-/
/fn-/

Syllable onset
NN

nasal consonant
+ nasal consonant

Eg.:
/mn-/

Syllable onset
PN

plosive consonant
+ nasal consonant

Eg.:
/bm-/
/kn-/

Syllable onset
FF

fricative consonant
+ fricative consonant

Eg.:
/sf-/
/vz-/

Syllable rime
VN

vowel
+ nasal consonant

E.g.:
/-an/
/-im/

Occurs twice in the deck

Syllable rime
VA

vowel
+ approximant

E.g.:
/-aw/
/-ej/

Occurs twice in the deck

Syllable rime
C

a syllabic consonant

E.g.:
/-mː/
/-lː/

Syllable rime
VC

vowel
+ any consonant

Eg.:
/-ef/
/-ut/
/-on/

Syllable rime
VNF

vowel
+ nasal consonant
+ fricative consonant

Eg.:
/-ens/
/-umv/

Syllable rime
VFP

vowel
+ fricative consonant
+ plosive consonant

Eg.:
/-ivb/
/-ust/

Syllable rime
VPF

vowel
+ plosive consonant
+ fricative consonant

Eg.:
/-igz/
/-ups/

Syllable rime
VPP

vowel
+ plosive consonant
+ plosive consonant

Eg.:
/-ikt/
/-upt/

Syllable onset/rime
Wildcard

Specify a syllable onset or rime structure available as long as this card is in play.

Occurs twice in the deck

Suprasegmental

• Initial stress: While in play, the first syllable of each word gets the primary stress. The player playing this card specifies whether the language uses stress or pitch accent.
• Final stress: While in play, the last syllable of each word gets the primary stress.
• Penultimate stress: While in play, the second-to-last syllable of each word gets the primary stress.
• Lexical stress: Any syllable of a word can be stressed; stress can distinguish otherwise identical words.
• Wildcard: Specify any stress or tone system for the language, in effect as long as this card is in play. Other players may complicate or simplify the system with Phoneme Split or Phoneme Merge cards.
  [Is this clear enough?]

Sound change, Grammar change, Meaning change, and Action cards

I'm not going to give layout diagrams for these cards, because they're all pretty straightforward: a small caption saying [Sound change / Grammar change / Meaning change / Action], a title in large print, and small-print text saying what the effect of the card is. In the list below I precede the card name with a number in brackets like [2] if there is more than one instance of it in the deck.

Sound change

• [3] Sound shift: Play a phoneme card that matches at least one feature with a phoneme already in play, discarding the old one and replacing the old phoneme with the new one in existing words.
  Draw another card at the end of your turn.
• [2] Phoneme Merge: Discard a phoneme card currently in play, specifying another phoneme in play with which it merges. (The two must match on at least one feature.)
• [2] Phoneme split: Play a phoneme card that matches at least one feature with a phoneme already in play. Specify the context(s) where the old phoneme changes to the new one in existing words.
  Draw another card at the end of your turn.
• Eliminate cluster: Discard a syllable onset or rime card currently in play which allows two or more consonants in a row. Specify how you want this to affect existing words with that kind of cluster. (E.g., insert a vowel; delete the first or second consonant; ...)
• [2] Eliminate contrast: Send a Phonemic Contrast card currently in play to the discard pile, eliminating this contrast also in existing words.
• Chain shift: Play a phoneme card from your hand, and send a phoneme card in play to the discard pile. Specify a chain of sound shifts affecting any number of phonemes.
  Draw another card at the end of your turn.
• Delete Phoneme: Specify a phoneme and a context in which it will disappear. (The current syllable patterns must allow the resulting clusters or diphthongs.) If the phoneme no longer occurs in any words, send its card to the discard pile.
• Metathesis: Specify a sequence of two phonemes, or two types of phoneme, and optionally a limiting context; these sounds swap positions in existing words.

Grammar change

• [2] Add inflection: Instead of coining a new word, think of an inflection (prefix, suffix, mutation, infix...). Then show what it means and how it's used with two or more previously coined words.
• [3] Add inflectional category: Specify a category (e.g., case, number, tense, aspect, etc.) for which the language will inflect, and the types of words to which it applies. [Not playable if Isolating.]
• Drop inflection: Pick an inflection (prefix, suffix, mutation, infix...) previously introduced and eliminate it from the language.
  Optionally, you may use your word-coining turn to show how the same meaning is expressed with stand-alone words.
• [3] Secondary word order: Play a syntax card from your hand without discarding a syntax card of the same type already in play. Specify the conditions when this alternate word order is used (e.g., questions, subordinate or relative clauses, superlatives, emphasis, etc.).
  Draw another card at the end of your turn.
• Back-formation: Specify a morpheme that occurs within one or more previously coined words, in place of coining a new word.

Meaning change

• [2] Extend meaning: Instead of coining a new word, take an existing word and give it a new sense or broader meaning (This may or may not be related to its original meaning.)
• Restrict meaning: Instead of coining a new word, take an existing word with a broad meaning or multiple meanings and give it a more restricted sense.

Action

• [2] Constraint: The player you designate must, on their next turn, coin a word of a specified part of speech or in a specified semantic domain — your choice.
  Place this card in front of the designated player, who will discard it after their next turn.
  [We may need to rename this card if the term "constraint" has another meaning in the revised rules...]
• Discard anything: Send any card in play to the discard pile, specifying how this loss affects the language and existing words.
  (This can cancel a Constraint that's been placed on you (or another player).)
• Loanword: Instead of coining a new a priori word, borrow a word from any other language. (Adapt its sound to the phonology of the game-language.)
• Swap challenge: Trade your translation challenge card for another player's.
• New challenge: Discard your translation challenge card and draw a new one.
• Rotate Challenges: Each player must pass their Subject card to the player on their right.
• Rotate Challenges: Each player must pass their Predicate card to the player on their left.
• Free pass: On this turn, you may use English (or any other language) to define a new word with no penalty.
• Lookahead: Look through the deck, find a card and immediately play it. Then reshuffle the deck.
• Replay: Look through the discard pile, pick a card, and immediately play it. Then reshuffle the discard pile into the deck.
• Draw 4: Draw four cards, then play one and discard three.
• Draw 3: Draw three cards, then play one and discard two.

Typology cards

• Isolating: While in play, no new inflections may be coined. The player who plays this card may optionally eliminate any number of existing inflectional and derivational morphemes without replacing them.
• [2] Fusional: While in play, any player may coin a fusional affix or mutation on any turn instead of a new root word.
• [2] Agglutinative: While in play, any player may optionally coin an agglutinative affix on any turn instead of a new root word.
• Polysynthetic: While in play, if the previous player coined a root word, you must coin an affix or mutation.

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Glossotechnia rules
Main Conlang page
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Last modified October 2023