Mynda is not a verbless conlang, in the sense that there are no verbless conlangs. In the sense that if a language can translate sentences that have verbs, something in there must be doing the verb-ing, and there's no real reason not to call that a verb.
As far as "verbless conlangs" go, however, I think it's pretty damn close.
No natlangs are zero-verb, but some are zero-copula. Hebrew and Russian only use their "to be" verbs in certain contexts, Nahuatl can be analyzed as having no copula if you really want to, and American Sign Language gets by with no copula whatsoever. Mynda also does this; there is no word that means "to be." The existence of a copulative connection, however, is implied between all adjacent words in a Mynda sentence. Essentially, the only verb that can be used to describe the relationship between two words in a sentence is "to be," which just happens to be unpronounced and written with a space character.
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
| Nasal | m | n | |||
| Stop | p, b | t, d | k <c>, g | ||
| Fricative | f | s | ʃ <x> | h | |
| Liquid | (w) | r, l | j | (w) |
| Front | Back | |
| High | i | y~u <u> |
| Mid | e~ɛ <e> | o~ɔ <o> |
| Low | a | |
Mynda also has 6 syllabic consonants—m, n, l, r, s, and x—which are indicated with a <y> before the consonant.
Mynda's syllable structure is (C)(C)V(R), where R refers to the set of potential syllabic consonants, and V includes R. The optional (R) in the coda cannot follow a syllabic consonant.
Allowed initial clusters:
Any two vowels (incluing syllabic resonants and sibilants) can occur adjacently, but are always pronounced as separate syllables, never as diphthongs.
The first syllable of the root in a word is stressed; affixes (see below) are never stressed.
The primary morphological feature that makes this whole only-copula thing functional is a set of adpositional prefixes that modify nouns.
Nu re-bren.
1p in.PREP-water
'You are in the water.'
Atre syn-faxtyr.
present.moment against.PREP-logic
'The current state of things goes against reason.'
Aside from the prepositions, there are a few other notable affixes. Words and affixes can be negated by attaching the prefix u:
Jalo u-par-fia; ri u-isin.
body NEG-with.PREP-air; DEM NEG-person
'A body without breath is not a person.'
The word do, which normally serves as a standalone word that turns indicative sentences into Wh-questions, can also be used as a prefix to create yes/no questions, with focus or emphasis placed on the affixed word:
Do mja-cur syn-damyx?
INT using.PREP-tooth against.PREP-fruit?
'Who bit the fruit?'
Nu mja-cur syn-do?
2p using.PREP-tooth against.PREP-INT?
'What did you bite into?'
Do-nu mja-cur syn-damyx?
INT-2p using.PREP-tooth against.PREP-fruit?
'Did you bite into the fruit?'
Nu mja-cur syn-do-damyx?
2p using.PREP-tooth against.PREP-INT-fruit?
'Did you bite into the fruit?'
Nu mja-cur do-syn-damyx?
2p using.PREP-tooth INT-against.PREP-fruit?
'Did you bite into the fruit?' (As opposed to using one's teeth for something else)
Nu mja-do-cur syn-damyx?
2p using.PREP-INT-tooth against.PREP-fruit?
'Did you bite into the fruit?' (As opposed to eating the fruit some other way)
The suffixes sin and te indicate a person or thing, respectively, that is characterized by the affixed word:
Sem buta-sin.
3p hole-AGNZ
'They're a bore.'
Any two words have an implied copula between them, and this connection chains throughout the sentence; a sentence "A B C D" means that "A is B, and B is C, and C is D." Importantly, the copula applies to the noun (including any non-prepositional affixes) before and the noun+preposition combination after; "A reB reC" means "A is in B, and B (not the state of being in B) is in C."
Mje tro-gwaris gwo-omir li-drajax.
1p under.PREP-light causing.PREP-perception like.PREP-fire.
'I'm under a fire-colored light.'
('I am under a light, and the light is causing a perceptual experience, and that experience is like fire.')
Commas can be used to rebracket these connections. A string of words with commas between them each independently refer to the word before the string. The sentence "A B, C D" means "A is B and C, and C is D." "A B C, D" means "A is B, which is both C and D." "A B, C, D" means "A is B, C, and D."
Mje tro-gwaris, gwo-omir li-drajax.
1p under.PREP-light causing.PREP-perception like.PREP-fire.
'I'm under a light, and am fire-colored.'
Mje tro-gwaris gwo-omir, li-drajax.
1p under.PREP-light causing.PREP-perception like.PREP-fire.
'I'm under a visible, firelike light.' (in this case, firelike perhaps in some way other than color)
Mje tro-gwaris, gwo-omir, li-drajax.
1p under.PREP-light causing.PREP-perception like.PREP-fire.
'I'm under a light, can be perceived, and am firelike.'
For more complex sentences, semicolons can be used to denote a new first word. To convey that "A is B and C, the former of which is D and E," one could say "A B, C; B D, E." "A is B and C, the latter of which is D" is rendered as "A B; A C D."
(come back to)