Caelian - a new Conlang by Iyionaku

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Iyionaku
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Re: Caelian - a new Conlang by Iyionaku

Post by Iyionaku »

Ok, let's start with demonstration.

Tä nakrely pyüdraf bui?
which.FEM window.NOM destroyed.FEM COP-SUB.3SG-INTR
Which window is broken?

Näkrely.
Window.DEM.NOM
This window.

In the first sentence, a person is asking for a nonspecific window, so the normal nominative form "nakrely", window, is used. In the second sentence, another person specifies which window has been defected, and demonstrates this by umlaut. "näkrely" is the form he uses.

Börrek noppunger Rabye sitükim!
Boy.DEM.NOM son.ACC 1SG.GEN PST-hit-SUB.3SG-OBJ.3SG

Here, a very angry parent tries to point at a boy ("borrek") who has apparently assaulted his son ("nopper", the accusative form is "noppunger"). So he or she demonstrates it: "Börrek!" Also, you can see that the possessed always precedes the possessor: "Rabye" means "my" and is behind the son.

Let's continue to the cases.

The Accusative Case is used for the direct object of sentences. It is marked with the infix -unge-, or with special forms for the personal pronouns.

Rar Zang kyaduwypyal!
I.Nominative You.Accusative inchoative-catch-SUB.1SG-OBJ.2SG
I have caught you!

Rer rognyungel turokkistyëd mattoses bürkas bargapiz ceiz.
1PLEX.NOM mountain.ACC ascend-SUB.1PLEX-OBJ.3PL start morning.SUB sunny.FEM
solstice.TERM after
On a Sunny morning after the solstice we started for the mountains.

The Dative Case is used for the indirect object of sentences. Marked with -afce- or special forms for the personal pronouns.

Zen sizerrai Raf.
2PL.NOM listen-SUB.2PL-OBJ.1SG 1SG.DAT
Listen.

The Instrumental Case is used for what is used to do the action. Marked with -obre-

Mo bordyek püttoz boznëmër tos sibyäisma tyatfobren.
INDEF.MASC man old.MASC fence.ADE next.to PST-COP.SUB-3SG-OBJ.SG INDEF.FEM stick.INST
An old man with a walking stick stood beside the fence.

The Abessive Case marks the absence of somehting ("without"). Marked with -englyu-

Rar ilycenglyuw Rabye kyahungdid.
1SG blanket.ABE 1SG.GEN INCH-lose-SUB.1SG-OBJ.3SG
I have lost my blanket. (literally: "I without my blanket just became to be")

The Ablative Case marks the movement away from something. Marked with -enkyo- or at personal pronouns with the suffix -ek.

Zan birnay rarek!
2SG go-SUB.2SG-OBJ.1SG 1SG.ABL
Go away! (literally: "You go away from me!")

The Adessive and the Locative Case are somewhat similar. Usually, you take the adessive when something is closer and the locative when something is only "nearby."

Borreg meguljë ës goznalyeb codhëmëm sipünkil, borreg pürnyë ëbol codhabyam.
boy.NOM one.ORD COMP row.INN entrance.ADE PST-stop-SUB.3SG-OBJ.3SG, boy two SUP entrance.LOC
The first boy in the line stopped at the entrance, the second one near the entrance. (Lit.: Boy first fromall in row at entrance stopped, boy two of all near entrance)

One could describe Elative, Perlative and Illative Case as one line of action.

Tot vportabyun oddyaged sakrubyaz dabürni.
3SG.MASC house.ELA city.PERL school.INN HAB-go-SUB.3SG-OBJ.3SG
He goes out of the house through the city to (into) the school. (lit.: He out of house through city into school frequental-goes.)

The other local cases are Innessive Case ("in"), Sublative Case ("onto") and Superessive Case ("on"), they work similar.

The vocative case is used as an address form to someone you respect in two steps: "ësë" (polite) "ëstyevë" (highly respectful, nearly humble)

Pospyësër, nos zordesep Zan siberje?
teacher.VOC, which area.DER 2PL PST-COP-SUB.2PL-OBJ.3SG
Teacher, where are you from? (lit.: Mr. Teacher, which from area you were?)

The Derivative case is used to describe the origin, mainly of persons. It was used in the question before. The teacher, if he is from the United Kingdom ("Anglen") could answer now:
Rer Anglesen berjäi.
2PL Britain.DER COP-SUB.1PLEX-OBJ.3SG
I am Briton.

One case might yet be interesting: The possessive. It opposes to the Genitive when you really want to emphazize that you are the owner of something. The mother from the second example sentence would never refer to her kid as "borrek Rarok" (son I-Possessive), but maybe to "kastyec Rarok" (letter I-Possessive), if she really wrote it. If it was a book, she would use the Genitive except she was the one who wrote it, where she would use the Possessive.
Wipe the glass. This is the usual way to start, even in the days, day and night, only a happy one.
shimobaatar
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Re: Caelian - a new Conlang by Iyionaku

Post by shimobaatar »

Iyionaku wrote: The Adessive and the Locative Case are somewhat similar. Usually, you take the adessive when something is closer and the locative when something is only "nearby."
Iyionaku wrote: One case might yet be interesting: The possessive. It opposes to the Genitive when you really want to emphazize that you are the owner of something. The mother from the second example sentence would never refer to her kid as "borrek Rarok" (son I-Possessive), but maybe to "kastyec Rarok" (letter I-Possessive), if she really wrote it. If it was a book, she would use the Genitive except she was the one who wrote it, where she would use the Possessive.
Cool, nice to see this has updated. [:D] I found these parts particularly interesting.
Iyionaku
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Re: Caelian - a new Conlang by Iyionaku

Post by Iyionaku »

Suffixaufnahme for the Genitive at personal pronouns

I just recently developed this. Normally, a possessive personal pronoun is always in Genitive case (never in the possessive case, as stated before) and doesn't agree with the possessed noun in gender, case or number. However, only the pronouns Rabye (1SG.GEN, "my") and Zabye (2SG.GEN, "your") are exceptional as they additionally bear some defective form of suffixaufnahme, where the case of the possessed noun is adopted as well. I call it "defective" because it cannot distinguish all 28 cases, some are syncretic. Generally one can say that the consonant from the adjectival ending is added. Examples:

Vporten Tobyet; vportocun Tobyet
house.NOM 3SG.MASC.GEN house.ALL 3SG.MASC.GEN
His house; to his house

The pronoun is solely in Genitive case. But:

Vporten Rabye, Vportocun Rabyec
house.NOM 1SG.GEN; house.ALL 1SG.GEN-ALL
My house, to my house

This doesn't exist for all cases. The used suffixes are:

-f: Dative
-ng: Accusative
-b: Instrumental, Elative, Illative, Locative
-c: Allative
-r: Equative, Comitative
-ly: Inessive
-k: Ablative, Perlative, Benefactive
-s: Sublative

-Ø: Nominative, Genitive, Delative, Derivative, Possessive, Essive, Prolative, Superessive, Terminative, Vocative (no suffixaufnahme for these cases)

Example sentence (Pronouns featuring suffixaufnahme in blue)

Zan viplin agruid lüdvasung Rabyeng! Bärnej kinnenkyos Rabyek, rapjager Rabyek, rognyosel Rabyes, padjocum Rabyec byäis.
2SG.NOM look.2SG>3SG land.ACC great.ACC 1SG.GEN-ACC | path.DEM.NOM castle.ABL 1SG.GEN-ABL forest.PERL 1SG.GEN-PERL mountain.SUBL 1SG.GEN-SUBL hut.ALL 1SG.GEN-ALL COP.3SG>3SG
Look at my great land! This path leads from my castle through my forest upon my mountain to my hut.
Wipe the glass. This is the usual way to start, even in the days, day and night, only a happy one.
Iyionaku
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Re: Caelian - a new Conlang by Iyionaku

Post by Iyionaku »

Ranking of objects for verbal inflection

As described before, Caelian inflects after subject and object of a noun. A speciality of the Caelian declension is that the object needn't necessarily be the direct object, but all other objects and adverbials can be used too. It is not arbitrary though, and if a sentence contains a direct object, it always has to precede the verb and the verb is inflected after it. This is called Ranking of objects. There are eight ranks, and if a sentence contains multiple nominal clauses that are not the subject, then the clause with the highest ranking is the one that is inflected after. The ranks are:

1) Direct object: accusative
2) Other primary cases: dative, instrumental
3) Possessive ("to have")
4) Relational cases: Benefactive case, Comitative case, Abessive case, Prolative case, Equative case, Essive case
5) Terminative case (a time, after a time, several other meanings with postpositions)
6) Dynamic local adverbials: Allative case, Ablative case, Illative case, Elative case, Sublative case, Delative case, Anteportive case, Perlative case
7) Static local adverbials: Adessive case, Inessive case, Superessive case, Antantive case, Derivative case
8) Locative case

If there two or more objects of the highest rank, all can be used arbitrarily.
Wipe the glass. This is the usual way to start, even in the days, day and night, only a happy one.
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