Introduction
Creator: Turio Vunza
Mugo is an abbreviation of "mu govo" or "munen me govo," where "mu" denotes the Miao/Hmong people and "go" is short for "govo," meaning language.
note: mu govo = mu language, munen me govo = language of mu people.
Mugo is a constructed language based on the Hmong–Mien languages, specifically the Hmongic (Miao) languages. It is primarily based on the southern dialect of Hmu (Eastern Guizhou) language, and also a blend of Proto-Hmong–Mien language and modern Hmong language(s). In this context, "modern Hmong language(s)" mainly refers to the southern dialect of Hmu language, spoken primarily in the southern part of Qiandongnan of Guizhou province (黔东南) and nearby areas in Guangxi, including Rongshui (融水), which is also Turio's native language.
Mugo significantly differs from any existing Hmongic languages. Its phonology, grammar, and vocabulary have undergone substantial modifications. However, most of these modifications are based on the Hmongic languages (Hmu language), such as grammatical usage, vocabulary foundation, etc.
Mugo is set in the Old World of the 12th century, but Turio has also created some words from the 12th century to the modern era. For post-12th-century concepts, mostly Turio invents new words or adapts from other languages instead of directly borrowing from contemporary hmongic languages. For example:
Modern Hmu: yin (cigarette, from Chinese "烟 yan")
Mugo: ñwkon (cigarette, from the word root " ñw" - meaning smoke/smog in mugo)
Modern Hmu: zei malinxi (potato, from Chinese "马铃薯 malingshu")
Mugo: nàkei (nà - tuber + kei - egg)
Modern Hmu: souji (mobile phone, from Chinese "手机 shouji")
Mugo: baimet (bai - hand, met - machine, a calque of the Chinese term "手机shouji").
The reason for not directly using modern language vocabulary is that creating words itself is an enjoyment for Turio.
In Turio's perspective, Mugo is a language from another dimension, possibly reflecting his belief in the multiverse theory and the many-worlds interpretation.
Generally, Mugo is an analytic language with agglutinative features; SVO (Subject–Verb–Object); Topic-Prominent; and relatively free modifier placement—the basic rules being: adjectives precede nouns, adverbs follow verbs. Most of its vocabulary is directly borrowed or adapted from the Hmongic languages. Phonetically, it lacks some significant characteristics of Hmongic languages, for instance, Mugo does not have the prenasalizd consonants (such as [ᵐp], [ⁿt], [ᵑk]) found in many Hmongic languages (because prenasalizd consonants have disappeared in Turio's native language). Uvular stops [q]/[qʰ] and voiceless alveolar lateral fricative ɬ are deleted or replaced by the flap [ɾ] or [l].
Language characteristics: Analytic + Agglutinative + Topic-Prominent.
Analytic: no grammatical case/gender changes, fixed word order.
Agglutinative: uses prefixes and suffixes to express some grammatical functions (plural, tense, definite articles, etc.), and uses some bound morphemes (affixes) to derive vocabulary.
Creation Timeline of Mugo:
Sprouting Phase: 2010 - 2015
During Turio's middle and high school years, he started by using the Latin alphabet to record his mother tongue, Hmu (initially he didn't know the Hmu orthography of latin alphabet existed, but he later taught himself the spelling of Hmu). He found other alphabets or writing systems are very beautiful , such as Japanese kana, Korean Hangul, Greek alphabet, Cyrillic alphabet, Armenian alphabet, Georgian alphabet, Thai script, etc. Inspired by these scripts, he wanted to create his own unique letters. He initially created some letters by simplifying Chinese characters (though these early letters are not part of the current Mugo alphabet due to continuous modifications). However, his academic workload was intense during this time, leaving Turio with little time to pursue this interest.
Formative Phase: 2016 - 2020
During Turio's college years, he finally had more time to pursue his interest. Building on the 20+ letters he created in high school, he began developing Mugo vocabulary. At first, Mugo was a blend of Hmong and Chinese, with most words derived from Hmong and some from Chinese. The grammar was a mix of Hmong and Chinese structures. During this phase, most of the foundational vocabulary of Mugo was created—specifically, most of the words have only been fixed spelling and pronunciation by him, as they are mostly directly derived from modern Hmongic languages. However, the grammar was not yet stable, oscillating between Hmong and Chinese influences.
Mature Phase: 2020 - 2023
During Turio's working years, the vast majority of Mugo vocabulary was created and standardized, with most words being based on Hmong (even for words not present in modern Hmong, which were derived through various methods). The grammar was also reformed and fixed according to Hmu grammatical structures. By now, Mugo had developed into a fully functional language capable of expressing a wide range of ideas.
Development Phase: 2024 - Present
Turio is currently adding new vocabulary and writing grammar guides, dictionary and translations.
Reference languages:
Hmong–Mien Languages
Chinese, English, Portuguese, Greek, Latin, German
Other references include Finnish, Japanese, Korean, Turkish, etc.
Most of the grammar and vocabulary foundation:
Southern Dialect of Hmu language
There are also many words from other Hmongic languages and some words are referenced from Mienic languages.
The source languages of a large number of calque: Chinese (Mandarin), Latin, Portuguese, English, German, Greek, etc.
Some grammar references: Portuguese (tense grammar), Finnish + Japanese + Korean + Turkish (some agglutinative grammar references)