Unnamed WIP

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Davush
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Unnamed WIP

Post by Davush »

As so often happens, I've decided to scrap (or put on the shelf) my previous conlang, and started working on something new. I think I prefer this.

I have been working on the verbal system. I like systems where not every verb looks/sounds the same, but are also not ridiculously complex. I tried to avoid the usual Romance type conjugation system. This is slightly Semitic-inspired, but I hope it has its own aesthetic.

The Verb
The verb stem is the uninflected form of the verb from which other forms are constructed:
man- 'to come'
kaq- 'to go'
čǝr- 'to eat'

Verb stems can be constructed into 3 main parts, which then inflect for person and number:
Non-past
Past
Progressive

Person and number marking differs depending on which form is being used.

The Non-Past
The non-past has two stems. Singular and Plural.

Singular
If the stem is a single syllable ending in a single consonant, the non-past is of the form CvCCa:
man- > manna
kaq- > kaqqa
čǝr- > čǝrra


Person is marked thus:
1P: ni- (nimanna, nikaqqa, ničǝrra)
2P: ki- (kimanna, kikaqqa, kičǝrra)
3P: ǝ- (or šǝ-) (ǝmanna, ǝkaqqa ǝčǝrra)

Plural
The plural adds -ūC, where C represents a repetition of the final consonant of the stem.
man- > manūn
kaq- > kaqūq
čǝr- > čǝrūr

Person is marked thus:
1P: -un (manūnun, kaqūqun, čǝrūrun)
2P: -uk (manūnuk, kaqūquk, čǝrūruk)
3P: -/ (or -uš) (manūnuš, kaqūquš, čǝrūruš)

The Past
The past is characterised by the suffix -ta.
man- > manta
kaq- > kaqta
čǝr- > čǝrta


Person is marked thus:
1P: -n (mantan)
2P: -k (mantak)
3P: -/ (or -š) (manta, mantaš)

The plural is formed by adding a lengthened echo vowel to the beginning of the stem:
man- > āmanta
kaq- > ākaqta
čǝr- > āčǝrta


Person is marked thus:
1P: n- (nāmanta)
2P: k- (kāmanta)
3P: š- (šāmanta)

The Progressive
The progressive is characterised by the addition of several prefixes to the stem:
ǝr-
ǝs-
ǝp-


These are lexically and/or phonologically determined.
man-> ǝrman
kaq- > ǝskaq
čǝr- > ǝpčǝr


The resulting stem is then inflected as a normal non-past:
ǝrman > ǝrmanna, ǝrmanūn
ǝskaq > ǝskaqqa, ǝskaqūq
ǝpčǝr > ǝpčǝrra, ǝpčǝrūr


The progressive will appear will several particles/adverbs.
When used with xai (already), it gains a present-perfect meaning:

xai nǝpčǝrra 'I have (already) eaten'

There are still other things to do with the verb (such as disyllablic stems, or stems ending in a vowel). I'm not sure what to do with the nominal system. I'm not a big fan of cases, but I might use SOV word-order which tends to favour cases.
Davush
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Re: Unnamed WIP

Post by Davush »

Nominals

A rough sketch of how nouns might work.
They inflect for number and definiteness. No cases. There is a slight anomaly distinction.

The Indefinite Singular is the unmarked noun:
kaš 'a man'
maina 'a woman'
xǝmǝt 'cord, string'
šūya 'water'

All human nouns are animate. Some natural phenomena and other things closely associated with humans are also animate. This is lexicallly determined.
Nouns are either consonantal stem or vocal stem.

The Definite Singular
This is characterised by the suffixes -ǝ, -n, -r, -t depending on animacy and stem type. Monosyllablic animate nouns double the final consonant.

Animate: kaš > kaššǝ, maina > mainan
Inanimate: xǝmǝt > xǝmǝtǝr, šūya > šūyat

The Indefinite Plural
This is characterised by the suffixes -ū, -ī.

Animate: kaš > kašū, maina > mainū
Inanimate: xǝmǝt > xǝmǝtī, šūya > šūyai

The Definite Plural
This is characterised by the suffixes -ūn, -īl.

Animate: kaš > kašūn, maina > mainūn
Inanimate: xǝmǝt > xǝmǝtīl, šūya > šūyāl

The Vocative
The vocative is rare and is only used to address groups. It can only be used for animate nouns.
kaš > kašai 'O men!'
maina > mainai 'O women!'

Example Noun Declension:
kaš 'a man'
kaššǝ 'the man'
kašū 'men'
kašūn 'the men'
kašai! 'O men!'

xǝmǝt 'a piece of cord'
xǝmǝtǝr 'the cord'
xǝmǝtī 'cords'
xǝmǝtīl 'the cords'

Accented Nouns
There is a group of nouns which are accented on the final syllable. These behave slightly differently. The stress remains on the final syllable of the stem.

imú 'sister'
imúnu 'the sister'
imúúr 'sisters'
imúúnnu 'the sisters'

ajál 'elder'
ajálan 'the elder'
ajálār 'elders'
ajállān 'the elders'

At the minute, this seems rather plain to me. I'd like to add in an 'interesting' dimension to the noun system which isn't just the addition of case or complicated morphology.
Davush
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Re: Unnamed WIP

Post by Davush »

Adjectives

Adjective morphology is usually my least favourite part of languages. So far, I have kept it quite simple.

Monosyllabic adjectives come before the noun they modify. They are indeclinable.

sān 'good'
dǝl 'big'
myaŋ 'horrible, unpleasant'
gwil 'small, little'
xauš 'good, friendly, pleasant'
rāḥ 'well, in good health'

sān kaš 'a good man'
dǝl mandasna 'the big temple'
myaŋ ajálār 'horrible elders'

When used attributively, the appear in special copulaic forms. They do not change for person or number (unlike full verbs). So far I have:
Non-past: -aŋ
Interrogative: -allu


kaš-šǝ xauš-aŋ
man-DEF good-COP
'the man is friendly'

mandas-na dǝl-allu?
temple-DEF big-INTER
'Is the temple big?'

Negation is shown by the use of an inflected particle which comes before the adjective:

1P: nǝna-
2P: nǝka-
3P: nǝša-

These cause doubling of the initial consonant of the adjective. If the subject is present, then the prefix may optimally be reduced to na-

kaššǝ sānaŋ 'the man is good'
kaššǝ sānallu? 'is the man good?'
kaššǝ nassān 'the man is not good'

gwil mandasna myaŋaŋ 'the little temple is horrible'
gwil mandasna myaŋallu? 'is the little temple horrible?'
gwil mandasna nammyaŋ 'the little temple is not horrible'

(ḥāku) rāḥ-allu?
(2P) well-INTER
'are you well?'

(kānu) atra rāḥ-aŋ, lūm maina-n nar-rāḥ
(1P) very well-COP, beautiful woman-DEF NEG-well
'I am very well, the beautiful woman is not well'
Davush
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Re: Unnamed WIP

Post by Davush »

An interesting development for my adjectives.

'Emotive' adjectives. These are formed by reduplication of monosyllabic adjectives (with vowel shortening/cluster simplification if necessary). They add an emotional colouring to the adjective being used, which indicates the speaker has first-hand experience of what's being described.

kaššǝ sānaŋ 'the man is good'
kašše sānsanaŋ 'the man is really quite good' (indicates that the speaker knows the man, and the sentences takes more of an emotional tone)

mandasna gwilaŋ 'the temple is small'
mandasna gwigwilaŋ '(I have seen that) the temple is actually small'

These inherently infer that the judgement is made by the subject (speaker) so you couldn't use it in asking, e.g. 'Do you think think the man is good?'
Davush
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Re: Unnamed WIP

Post by Davush »

Negation

The non-past and past have separate forms for negation.

Non-past uses the following negation particles placed before the verb. They are not joined to the verb.

1s. nǝmu
2s. kǝmu
3s. šǝmu
1pl. nīmu
2pl. kīmu
3pl. šīmu

nǝkaqqa - 'I go'
nǝmu kaqqa - 'I don't go'

nǝčǝrūr - 'We eat'
nīmu čǝrūr - 'We don't eat'

The past adds -mu to the end of the verb, but this is obscured due to morphophonological alteration:

Using kaq- as an example:
kaqtan > kaqtammu
kaqtak > kaqtaŋgu
kaqta > kaqtāmu or kaqtašmu


In some dialects, the suffixed negative is falling out of favour, and the non-past negation is taking its place.

Disyllabic Verbs

Disyallbic verbs are usually in the form CvCvC (e.g. jaram- 'to throw'). They behave slightly differently from monosyllabic verbs.

-a is not added in the singular:
nǝjaram, kǝjaram, šǝjaram

In the plural, the final vowel is syncopated and the usual echo vowel + consonant is added:
jaram > harm > jarmūm (nǝjarmūm, kǝjarmūm, šǝjarmūm)

If vowel syncopation would make an illegal cluster, the final consonant is doubled, and -u is added:

mikin- 'to place, put' > /kn/ is an illegal cluster.
mikinnu- (non-past plural stem) nǝmikinnu, kǝmikinnu, šǝmikinnu
(**I'm actually not too happy with this solution and will try to think of something more elegant, otherwise the whole language is going to look like ammanna kummunnu šallallu)
Davush
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Re: Unnamed WIP

Post by Davush »

Nouns ending in a plosive

I have decided nouns ending in a plosive will undergo some morphophonological alterations before the definite suffix -na.

-p > -mba
-t > -nda
-k > -ŋga

Nouns ending in -n, -l, -r, -s, -š, -ḥ add -na directly. Nouns ending in -m add -mma:

xǝmǝt 'a piece of string'
xǝmǝnda 'the piece of string'

kaḥar 'a house'
kaḥarna 'the house'

yūm 'a herb'
yūmma 'the herb'

Pronouns
The two main dialects have slightly different pronouns. This is a main distinguishing feature between the dialects.

The following are the subject pronouns.

1 kānu / kāmu
2 ḥāku / kāku
3an āšu / šǝu
3inan āḥu / ḥǝu

1pl nīn / nūm
2pl kīn / kūm
3pl īš / ūš
3pl īḥ / ūḥ

The following are the object pronouns. These are formed by moving the accent to the final syllable, and reducing any previous long syllables. Only the first dialect is shown here:

1 kanú (nú)
2 ḥakú (kú)
3 ašú (šú)
3 aḥú (ḥú)

(The ones in brackets can be used in casual speech)

1pl yan / in
2pl yak / ik
3pl yaš / iš
3pl yaḥ / iḥ

The forms beginning with y- are preferred when the previous word ends in a vowel.


Example:
kānu ḥakú/ku gir-da-n
1SG 2SG.ACC see-PAST-1SG
I saw you

āšu yaḥ. ā-čǝr-da
3PL 3 PL.INAN.ACC PL-eat-PAST.3P
They eat them

I am debating whether to make an animacy distinction on the 3p verb conjugations. At the minute, they are the least marked verb form.

Combinations of subject + object pronoun can be pronounced as a single unit in casual speech, often with doubling of the initial consonant of the object form.

kānu + ḥakú > kānukku
kānu + ašú > kānuššu

ḥāku + yaḥ > ħākuyyaḥ
āšu + yaš > āšuyyaŝ

nīn + ik > nīnnik / nīnyak


'We can see you (pl.)'
nīn yak n-ǝrgir-ūr
1PL 2PL.ACC 1-see.CONT-PL

etc.
Davush
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Re: Unnamed WIP

Post by Davush »

The Copula

I would like the copula to attach to the predicate somehow.
With adjectives, there is already the ending -aŋ:

sān 'good'
sānaŋ 'it is good'

With nominal predicates, I was thinking of using a different suffix which differs for animacy.

Animate nouns have a copula ending which inflects for person and number:

-iyān, -iyāk, -iyā, -ūnin, -ūnik, -ūyu (with slight variations depending on noun stem)

kašš-iyān 'I am a man'
mainā-yak 'You are a woman'
ajáll-iyā 'He is the elder'

kašš-ūnin 'We are men'
main-ūnik 'You are women'
ajáll-ūyu 'They are the elders'

The definite forms are rarely used with these suffixes.

Inanimate nouns have the suffix -ǝi which does not inflect for person or number.

kaḥar - 'a house'
kaḥar-ǝi - 'to be a house'

āḥu kaḥar-ǝi
3INAN house-COP
It is a house

The interrogative suffix -allu can also be used on nouns but it does not change for person/number.

Ḥāku ajál-allu?
2P elder-INTERR
Are you a/the elder?

The past is formed by adding the particle 'xa' (already):

āḥu kaḥarǝi xa
3P house-COP already
It was a house

āšu ajáll-iyā xa
3P elder-COP already
He was an elder

In casual speech, this can join with the copula and become -īxa or similar.
Davush
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Re: Unnamed WIP

Post by Davush »

Prepositions

The language has both pre- and post-positions. All single syllable adpositions come before the noun. Multi syllable adpositions may come before or after.

ra - 'to'
- 'for'
di - 'in'
- 'from
pǝi - 'with, accompanying'
ča - 'by, using'

di kaḥar 'in a house'
kū kaššū 'from some men'

dīwa 'on (top of)'
dišta 'under'
jǝnai 'about, regarding'

dīwa čāggut 'on the table'
jargáat dišta 'under the rock'
mainūn jǝnai... 'about the women...'

The definite suffix attaches to the preposition instead of the noun when the preposition is a single syllable:

ran, jǝn, din, kūn (animate), rat, jǝt, dit, kūt (inanimate)

kūn kaš - 'from the man' instead of kū kaššǝ
dit kaḥar - 'in the house'

In casual speech, it has become more common to have the definite suffix on the noun so forms like kū kaššǝ may appear.
Davush
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Re: Unnamed WIP

Post by Davush »

Demonstratives

Demonstratives may come before or after the noun they modify. If they come before the noun, the noun must appear in the definite form.

kaš - 'a man'
kaššǝ - 'the man'

tyā - 'this, these'
nyā - 'that, those'
gwā - 'that/those over there'

tyā kaššǝ OR kaš tyā - 'this man'
nyā mainan OR maina nyā - 'that woman'
gwā kaḥarīl OR kaḥarī gwā - 'those houses (over there)'

The demonstratives do not mark for number. In some dialects, a set of plural demonstratives have evolved.

Those in -ū are for animates and those in -ī are for inanimates. Number is not marked on the noun when these are used, and they usually come after the noun.
tyā > tyū / tī
nyā > nyū / nī
gwā > gū / gwī

Nyā mainūn OR Maina nyū
Gwā kaḥaril OR Kaḥar gwī

Numbers
yak - 1
nīri - 2
xaŋ - 3
šwa - etc.
lǝuma
kuruŋ
sāḥa
pāḥa
gyači
šǝppǝ - 10


Numbers one and two appear before the noun they modify. All others follow the noun.

yak kaḥar - one house
nīri mainū - two women
mandasī xaŋ - three temples

Numbers 11-19 are formed by adding -š with some slight modifications:

yakaš
nīriš
xaŋaš
šwāša
lǝumaš
kuruŋuš
sāḥaš
pāḥaš
gyačaš


20, 30, 40, etc. add -yat with some modifications:
nīriyat
xaŋyat
šwāyat
lǝumāt
kuruŋyat
sāḥyat
pāḥyat
gyāčat


21, 22, are formed by changing the final -t to -ddi:
21: nīriyaddi yak
33: šwāyaddi šwa
99: gyāčaddi gyǎči
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