You see, I like that system having no word order rules, but it only really works if you have a relatively complex case system. Because I'm trying to keep the cases down to 3 at the most (fewer dull case charts to make ), I kinda have to make a semi-strict system. I've tried to make it structured while leaving room for variation and artistic style. Otherwise, you get "cookie-cutter" sentences that all sounds the same...*snoring*

Do you have any ideas about how do make it a little less strict while keeping the cases to 3 or under?

Esperanto has a very free word-order and only two cases - nominative and accusative.

Hm, well modern Greek has 4 cases, but you can reduce it to 3 if you throw out vocative so u only have nominative, genitive and accusative

Hmm, that should work. I'll have to revise my word order

You can even throw out all of the cases. Just use prepositions/markers instead

Even better I guess I was too steeped in cases (Latin... ) to consider anything without them... Thanks!

Sjal is an astonishingly very complete conlang its inventor has been working in since 2002. Sorry but I can't stop thinking about Sjal while reading your thread.

Maybe I should rename it? I guess you can't say yet whether or not conlang looks even remotely like Sjal...

I don't want there to be any strong associations (i.e. I want you to be able to read this thread without immediately and constantly thinking of another conlang )

Here's the noun system. Pretty basic, thanks to some much needed insight into the areas of simplicity .

Nouns

Gender:

There are two genders in Sjalsked: common and neuter. In general, people and words directly connected with people fall into the common gender, but otherwise there are no rules determining gender.

Indefinite vs. Definite:

There are two forms of the indefinite article: æn for the common gender and ed for the neuter gender. The definite formation varies depending on whether or not an adjective is modifying the noun. If there is no adjective -(æ)n or -(e)d is added to the end of the noun, depending on the grammatical gender. If an adjective modifies the noun in question, one of three definite particles is used. If the noun is common gender singular, þæn is used. If it is neuter gender singular, dæn is used. If the noun is plural, regardless of gender, de is used. The adjective in these cases is placed between the article and the noun.

Inflection:

There are no case markings in Sjalsked, unless one counts the possessive as a case marking. The plural marking is –r. If it is directly after a consonant (e.g. solr), it is pronounce as if it were –ær, though it is not written thus. The possessive (though more commonly written with a preposition phrase) is marked by the suffix –s. Orthography does not require any punctuation before the possessive s. An ‘inflectional’ chart is shown below:

Singular Subjective Sol/Sjalske
Singular Possessive Sols/ Sjalskes
Plural Subjective Solr/Sjalsker
Plural Possessive Solrs/Sjalskers

Simple and to the point