Modern Lyran (NP: Slots +7 through +10:)

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Re: Modern Lyran (NP: Intro and Phonology)

Post by Osia »

DesEsseintes wrote:Minor nitpick: Tlingit is Na-Dene but not Athabaskan.
Sorry. I always get those confused.
DesEsseintes wrote: I'm enjoying this, because it has many parallels with my conlang TLFKAT, which is also heavily influenced by the Na-Dene verb template.
Thanks, I always loved the massive templatic verbs of Na-Dene as a conlanger, especially its use in Tlingit. A lot of inspiration for this language came from a large paper I found on the verb structure of Tlingit.
DesEsseintes wrote:I've struggled for a long time trying to overcome the desire to copy the classifier system (partly because I already did it in another conlang of mine), so seeing you use it here tickles me pink.
The classifier system is one of my favorite bits of Na-Dene, and I couldn't resist the urge to throw it in here.

Frislander wrote:I will second Des' sentiment; this language is overwhelming and beautiful. I too have a great fondness for the Na-Dené verb template and I kind of wish I had a language which handled things like that (though I probably wouldn't go with that phonology; glorious as it is, it's a bit unweildy for my taste).
Thank you so much! :mrgreen:
Frislander wrote: The presence of a dual in the third person only, particularly the inanimate, but also the presence of an inclusive 1st person strikes me as a little odd, but I guess I wouldn't be surprised if it is attested in a natlang.
I tried with the person markers to only add the dual in the more commonly used affixes, as I thought it would erode away in others, but I may have mishandled that.
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Re: Modern Lyran (NP: Intro and Phonology)

Post by Frislander »

Osia wrote:
Frislander wrote: The presence of a dual in the third person only, particularly the inanimate, but also the presence of an inclusive 1st person strikes me as a little odd, but I guess I wouldn't be surprised if it is attested in a natlang.
I tried with the person markers to only add the dual in the more commonly used affixes, as I thought it would erode away in others, but I may have mishandled that.
Possibly. Number marking, like quite a fair bit of syntax cross-linguistically, tend to follow the animacy hierarchy, of which speech-act-participants (first and second persons) are at the top. So you tend to expect more number distinctions to appear higher up the heirarchy, and if you're going to have fewer distinctions the inanimate nouns are the first place you'll see it. Now of course there are exceptions to the rule (English not distinguishing number in the second person being one) but having a dual in only third person, and it seems in nouns as a whole all the way down to the inanimates, but not in the first and second person stands is such a massive break from what we know of how language works that it strikes me as being a perhaps rather unnatural feature of the language.

That doesn't mean to say you can't do it (not at all!) but just that it does rather run counter to general principles that have already been established.

See also these chapters of WALS.
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Re: Modern Lyran (NP: Intro and Phonology)

Post by Osia »

Frislander wrote:
Osia wrote:
Frislander wrote: The presence of a dual in the third person only, particularly the inanimate, but also the presence of an inclusive 1st person strikes me as a little odd, but I guess I wouldn't be surprised if it is attested in a natlang.
I tried with the person markers to only add the dual in the more commonly used affixes, as I thought it would erode away in others, but I may have mishandled that.
Possibly. Number marking, like quite a fair bit of syntax cross-linguistically, tend to follow the animacy hierarchy, of which speech-act-participants (first and second persons) are at the top. So you tend to expect more number distinctions to appear higher up the heirarchy, and if you're going to have fewer distinctions the inanimate nouns are the first place you'll see it. Now of course there are exceptions to the rule (English not distinguishing number in the second person being one) but having a dual in only third person, and it seems in nouns as a whole all the way down to the inanimates, but not in the first and second person stands is such a massive break from what we know of how language works that it strikes me as being a perhaps rather unnatural feature of the language.

That doesn't mean to say you can't do it (not at all!) but just that it does rather run counter to general principles that have already been established.

See also these chapters of WALS.
Oh, that makes much more sense now. I'll go fix that.
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Re: Modern Lyran (NP: Slots +3 through +6:)

Post by Osia »

Editors Note: Aspect is definitely my weak point when it comes to TAM so if any of this doesn't make much sense, just tell me and I'll fix it.

Slots +3 through +6: Aspect, Tense, and Applicatives

The aspect system here was heavily inspired by Navajo, with some ASL thrown in, though is not particularly fusional or with any stem variation.

Aspect 1:

Aspect is divided into 2 slots, the first being a more basic aspect, and the second comprising more subtle aspectual distinctions, which vary depending on how they interact with the first aspect slot, which will be described in the second slot.

Imperfective: -0-

The imperfective is the most basic and simple of the aspects, and expresses a simple aspect where an action is seen as having interior composition with an ongoing role.

Perfective:
-k-

The perfective is used for most events conceptualized as a point, with no internal composition.

Progressive: –pWG~pW-

This affix repeats the previous vowel of the previous syllable, and may be derived from a form of reduplication. It indicates an action with no reference to beginning or ending and sometimes with a protracted or habitual sense. The G in the morpheme stands for glide, which is /j/ for /i/, /w/ for /u/, and /ʕ/ for /a/.

Perfect: –r`-

The perfect expresses any action that was completed, though does not focus on the end of the action. The grave in the morpheme indicates a lowering of the tone of the following vowel.

Habitual: –h~ha~ʰa-

The habitual expresses an action where it is done as a habit, but is not focused on the repetitive nature of the action, and is not used for an extended action, such as some kinds of stative verbs.

Frequentative: -qĭʔ~qĭ́-

The frequentative is used similarly to the habitual, as in it describes an action that takes place as a habit, but talks of the action as a series of discontinuous instances, and is not thought of as a single event.

Delimitative/Durative: –w’~ú-

The durative indicates that an action has taken place for a certain amount of time, and has an emphasis on the finite amount of time the event lasts for. It can be translated into English by the phrase “a while”.

Semelfactive: –zaa~zah-

The semelfactive aspect indicates an action done repetitively that is conceived of as a single act, like a single short act with multiple steps.

Conative: -nʰÚ~nʰUʔ-

The conative aspect indicates an attempted action that failed to take place, usually with a sense of frustration. It can be translated into English with the phrase "tried to".

Protractive: –sąą~saan-

The protractive indicates an action that takes place over a long period of time, but as a single act, unlike the habitual, which is a series of separate acts thought of as one unit. It can also be used for a series of separate acts that are thought of as one because they culminate in a large goal, or an action that becomes progressively more and more.

Intensive: -x'uu~xʷ'-

The intensive expresses an intense action, and can be translated into English with the word “very”. It can convey a sense of frustration or anger at the event described. It is also used for the gnomic aspect.

Approximative: –mii~mih-

In contrast to the intensive, the approximative expresses that an action is somewhat lesser, and can carry a sense of disappointment.

Now onto the second set of aspects.

Aspect 2:

The second set of aspects can be combined with the first set, each expressing a different meaning. This slot has much fewer morphemes than the first, as most aspects are expressed by the first.

Completive: -0-

This is simply a way to express a null morpheme, with no alteration of the first aspect.

Inchoative –l'-

The inchoative expresses an action beginning, but only for atelic verbs.

Inceptive: –ł’aa~ł’ah-

The inceptive expresses an action starting, for telic verbs. It is related to the inchoative, and may replace it in some dialects.

Cessative: –s’U~ s’Uw-

The cessative expresses the end of an action, and ignores the telicity of the verb.

Transitional: – číí~čiiʔ-

The transitional expresses a change between two different states or locations, but one does not have to be specified. It can be translated into english with the word “became”. The locational usage often co-occurs with the cis and trans locatives. It can also express an action that has been begun after being stopped, like the verb "continue" in English.

Reversative: -rʰą~rʰam-

The reversative indicates a change of direction, usually limited usage with the verbs “to turn left” and “to turn right”.

Distributive: -CV́-

The distributives reduplicates the onset and nucleus of the root of the verb, putting it in the aspect slot. The nasalization, tone, and length of the vowel are not preserved, instead forming an oral, short, high vowel. The aspect expresses an action done rather chaotically, all over the place, with diverse and random elements.

Tense:

Tense is much simpler than aspect, there are two morphemes, one expressing past –h~ʰ-, and one for distant past -pʷ-. The distant past morpheme was common in Classical Lyran, but now is only confined to highly poetic language. It was used for all discussions of history, and anything from almost a year ago to centuries ago. The non-past is rather simple and is used for all presents and futures. The future is grouped with the moves, and may be unmarked, especially when it is clear from context or a near future.

Applicatives:

The applicative morphemes are derived from the same markers that are used for the noun cases they correspond to, the case marker being detached and added to the verb. Nouns used to be incorporated at a suffix slot just after the applicatives, but this has since changed, and they are incorporated in a suffix slot, derived from an earlier SVO word order.

There are 7 applicative forms, the instrumental, comitative, benefactive, allative, ablative, perlative, and locative. The locative is used for all other locative cases.

Instrumental: -qa~qaʕ-
There is no ergative applicative, but the form is used for only the instrumental.

Comitative: -ní~niʔ-

Benefactive: q’aa~q’aʕ

Allative: -há~haʔ-

Ablative: kʷíí~kʷiiʔ-

Perlative: ʔaçi~ʔaç-

Locative: ti~tij-

Many of these forms have a glide inserted after the form, even if they don’t in the case form. Forms derived from other forms often do this, like the benefactive case in nouns.

The way applicatives work often ties in with noun incorporation, as is done in some other North American languages. When an applicative construction is made, the former object noun is mandatorily incorporated.

J’ącʰaf’úúλ xáá hákáč
j-ʔa-(~)-cʰa-f’úú-ł xáá há-ká-š
TRANS.LOC-3.INAN.SING-1.SING-blow-TRANS ash ALL-face-2.SING.POSS
“I blow the ash in your face.”

ʔixą́ą́cʰafúúł’há káč
j-xáá-a-(~)-cʰa-f’úú-ł-há ká-š
TRANS.LOC-ash-3.INAN.SING-1.SING-blow-TRANS-ALL.APPL face-2.SING.POSS
“I ash-blow your face.”

That’s it, next post will be about Moods, The Irrealis, and the Classifier system.
Last edited by Osia on 13 Oct 2017 23:49, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Modern Lyran (NP: Slots +3 through +6:)

Post by Osia »

Minor Edit: Many affixes have been reduced and reformed do to me finding the largely CVCVCV nature of this language unappealing and un-naturalistic. No grammar has been changed though, just the surface forms and morphophonological interactions.

Post on Mood will be coming up soon.
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Re: Modern Lyran (NP: Slots +3 through +6:)

Post by DesEsseintes »

I for one would be very interested in seeing your morfofo! [:D]

Morfofo can make or break a polylang, for the very reason you mentioned.
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Re: Modern Lyran (NP: Slots +3 through +6:)

Post by Iyionaku »

Osia wrote:Minor Edit: Many affixes have been reduced and reformed do to me finding the largely CVCVCV nature of this language unappealing and un-naturalistic. No grammar has been changed though, just the surface forms and morphophonological interactions.

Post on Mood will be coming up soon.
There is nothing unnaturalistic in a CV language structure. Many languages have it, for example Hawaiian, Samoan, Maori or Guaraní.
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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Re: Modern Lyran (NP: Slots +3 through +6:)

Post by Osia »

DesEsseintes wrote:I for one would be very interested in seeing your morfofo! [:D]

Morfofo can make or break a polylang, for the very reason you mentioned.
Most of the major morphophonogical rules are outlined in the first post, other than that they are specified in the forms of the affixes I have, where a colon or a tilde represents length or nasalization, and a floating accent or grave represents changing the tone to high or low. I've just been changing some of the forms of the affixes to allow more coda consonants.
Iyionaku wrote:
Osia wrote:Minor Edit: Many affixes have been reduced and reformed do to me finding the largely CVCVCV nature of this language unappealing and un-naturalistic. No grammar has been changed though, just the surface forms and morphophonological interactions.

Post on Mood will be coming up soon.
There is nothing unnaturalistic in a CV language structure. Many languages have it, for example Hawaiian, Samoan, Maori or Guaraní.
Oh, I didn't mean that a language with only a CV syllable structure would be unnaturalistic, I just meant that in the example sentences I've translated for this language, most of the consonant coda I have are solely in the verb root, which I found unappealing.
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Re: Modern Lyran (NP: Slots +3 through +6:)

Post by Osia »

Slots +7 through +10: Mood, Irrealis, and Classifiers

This post will probably be very short, because there are much fewer moods.

Irrealis:

The irrealis morpheme is /-c-/, and is very common, used with all moods and modalities in the following two slots. It is also used in all questions, negatives, conditionals, relative clauses, and some modal like preverbs such as "to be (un)able to" and "to try (and fail) to".

Mood:

There are five moods, Indicative, Content Interrogative, Polar Interrogative, Imperative, and Future.

Declarative: -0-

The indicative is the most common slot, and is used for all non future indicatives, and does not occur with the irrealis unless a non indicative modality is selected.

Content Interrogative:
-kʷ-

The content interrogative is used for all content questions, with optional fronting of the questioned word. There are two question words, kʷáá for animates, and kʷii for inanimates. The questioned word may also have a stressed intonation.

Polar Interrogative: -q-

The polar interrogative is used for all polar questions, with this affix and a rising final intonation usually being the only thing to distinguish them from indicative clauses. The suffix may also be realized as a clitic, /=q~qa/, which attaches to the questioned word in the clause, with stressed intonation on this as well.

Imperative/Propositive: -rʰ-

The imperative/propositive is used for all imperatives, and when used with non second persons, can express a suggestion. This is usually strict, but can be softened by some modals to express politeness.

Future: -l-

The future is used for all clauses set in the future, excluding some near futures and when it is clear from context. To express futures with other moods, an serial verb construction must be used, with the verb √i, to go. (Note that this is distinct from the trans-locative.)

Modality:

There are four modalities, Indicative, Optative, Relative, and Conditional.

Indicative: -0-

The indicative is the most common and the null for the mood slot. It is used in all main clauses without a preverb.

Optative: -z’-

This suffix is used to express a modal such as “to want to”. It is only used to mean that specific preverb in formal speech, in casual speech it has been extended to many other similar preverbs such as “to be able to” and “to try to”.

Relative: -ʕ-

This affix is used in relative clauses, though is also rare, having been replaced by a participle constructions in all rural areas. In some dialects, it may only be used for relative clauses where the head in the relative clause is not the subject.

Conditional: -š-

This affix is used in both clauses in a conditional statement. It originally was only used for conditionals, but now has been extended to counterfactuals as well.

Classifiers:


This was inspired by a distinction made in Navajo verb stems, but I’ve interpreted it slightly differently. Every verb with an inanimate third person object has a marker, which classifies it based on shape and formation. This system is also a new addition to the language, but nouns have been cliticized to verbs to create this even in Classical Lyran.

Solid Compact Object: -0-, no roots connected

Large Heavy Object: -c'u- derived from known root √c’uu, load or burden (physical or figurative)

Liquid: -tu-, derived from root √tuu, meaning water

Non Compact Matter: -q’ų-, derived from root √q’ų, meaning grain or rice

Dusty Matter: -xáá-, derived from root √xáá, meaning dust or ash

Wet Matter: -tų́ų́-, derived from root √tų́ų́, meaning wet thing

Small Round Object: -mą-, no known roots connected

Long Thin Object: -l’í-, from root √l’í, meaning stick

Abstract Concept: -č’a-, no known roots connected

Open Container: -ʔą́-, derived from √ʔą́, meaning cup

Closed Container: -ʔą́t-, from cup with an unknown suffix attached.

I will now discuss the semantics of these. Note that if the same noun as the origin of these suffixes is used as a patient, the suffix becomes null due to redundancy.

Solid Compact Object:


This is the form used least commonly and the one for all objects that don't fit into any of the above categories.

Large Heavy Object:


This is used for most heavy objects, depending on context. Most large boulders, planets and stars, anything one is carrying, etc.

Liquid:

This was originally used only for water, but has been generalized to all liquids.

Non Compact Matter:

This is for any matter that is made up of small individual parts, grains, rice, waves (made out of bubbles), substances made out of molecules in scientific contexts, etc.

Dusty Matter:


Similar to the previous, this one refers to any substance made out of or covered in dusty materials. Sand, silt, ash, some dirty things, etc.

Wet Matter:

This one may merge with the liquids category, but refers to any material that is wet, either with water or another liquid. It is also used for all objects submerged in a liquid.

Small Round Object:

A common affix, used for anything small enough to be held in somebody's hand, rocks, eggs, etc.

Long Thin Object:


Anything slender and long is used for this category, sticks, bows and arrows, spears, knives, etc.

Abstract Concept:


This is used for all non-tangible concepts, happiness, love, fear, numbers, etc.

Open Container:


For all containers or hollow materials with a hole, cups, mouths, popped bubbles, stomachs, etc.

Closed Container:

Anything hollow with no hole, bubbles, closed bottles or cups, etc.
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Re: Modern Lyran (NP: Slots +7 through +10:)

Post by Osia »

Small edit, the harmony system between velars and post velars is now being changed to a progressive system, where the first element in a word changes all after it.
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Re: Modern Lyran (NP: Slots +7 through +10:)

Post by Osia »

Morphohphonology: A Rewrite

I've been growing very dissatisfied with the morfofo I've made for this language, so I thought I would change it to make it more appealing, and also to lay out the rules since I've been applying them really inconsistently throughout my sample texts. I've also gutted the post velar harmony, since I really hated the sound of it.

Consonants:

Rule 1: Aspiration Ch > Cʰ

A simple common assimilation rule. Note that for fricatives this rule changes them to an aspirated stop, for sonorants it devoices them, turning them into a fricative if no voiceless sonorant exists, glottalization consonants ignore this rule, and for /p/, this rule changes it to /ɸ/, following a historical merger.

n-hįį > nʰįį
1.SIN.SUB-hear
"I hear (something)."

Rule 1a: CF > Cʰ

This rule applies to non-silibant fricatives and any consonant, but only occurs at word boundaries, and is rather rare. This rule also causes assimilation to the place of articulation of the fricative.

cʰ-ɬįį> λʰįį
1.SIN.SUB-swim
"I swim."

Rule 2: Glottalization Cʔ > C'

A simple assimilation rule, which applies to aspirated/voiceless consonants as well. Note that morphemes distinguish null initials with glottal initials.

n-ʔi > n'i
1.SING.SUB-break
"I break (something)."

Rule 3: Assimilation Cj > Cʲ, Cw > Cʷ, Cʕ > Cˤ

This is one of the more complex rules in this set, with many complex place of articuation shifts. For labialization it is rather simple, since almost all consonants have a labialized variant, but for palatalization, labials shift to /cʷ/, coronals to /tʃ/, and velars and post velars to /c/. For pharyngealization, labials shift to /qʷ/, velars and post velars to /q/, and coronals shift to /q/ as well, due to a merger of an earlier pharyngealized series of coronals.

cʰ-wáá-kĭ > cʷʰáák
1.SIN.SUB-be.clean-STAT
"I am clean."

Rule 4: Affricate Formation: T(s, ʃ, ɬ, θ) > Ts, Tʃ, Tɬ, Tθ

This one is also rather rare, but occurs occasionally.

q’aat-š-wáá-t > q’aač-wáát > q’aačúút
DIS.DEM-2.SG.OBJ-be.clean
"That thing over there washed you."

Rule 5: Coda Sonorant Reduction

This rule is also rather rare, but occurs occasionally. All coda sonorants are always forbidden, with coda nasals nasalizing the preceding vowel, and all others lengthening the vowel, excluding /j/, /w/, /ʁ/, /ʁʷ~ʕʷ/, which vocalize to /i/, /u/, /a/, /U/, which then merge according to vowel coalescence rules.

u-tsa-nʰŭ-c-ʕ > u-tsa-nʰŭ-c-a > utsancʰa > ʔutsącʰa
3.PLU-stand-CONAT-IRR-REL
"Who (they) fail to stand (physically disabled)."

Rule 5: Word Final Reduction

This rule is somewhat complex, but is very prevalent. This rule restricts all word final codas, to unaspirated unglottalized stops and affricates. All fricatives become their corresponding affricate/stop, with glottalization unpreserved.

cʰ-ɬi-kĭ-c-z’ > cʰ-ɬi-kĭ-c-tz > λʰi-kĭc-tz > λʰi-kctz > λikʰcatz
1.SIN.SUB-sleep-STAT-OPT
"I want to sleep."

Rule 6: Glottalization/Aspiration Metathesis

This rule is the most complicated rule of this set, and occurs on all syllables with coda consonants. Any glottalized or aspirated consonant in an onset with a neutral coda transfers tat to the coda unless word final, any glottalized or aspirated consonant in non final coda transfers it to the next consonant in the cluster, and if both are glottalized/aspirated, the coda consonant unaspirates/unglottalizes. If both are in play, glottalization dominates.

cʰ-ɬi-kĭ-c-z’ > cʰ-ɬi-kĭ-c-tz > λʰi-kĭc-tz > λʰi-kctz > λikʰcatz
1.SIN.SUB-sleep-STAT-OPT
"I want to sleep."

u-tsa-nʰŭ-c-ʕ > u-tsa-nʰŭ-c-a > utsancʰa > ʔutsącʰa
3.PLU-stand-CONAT-IRR-REL
"Who (they) fail to stand (physically disabled)."

Vowels:

Vowels are something I haven't played around with before in the morfofo for this language, but decided to flesh out after doing some historical work for this language to develop other languages in this family. There are 5 morphophonemic archiphonemes, which I will write as /U/, /I/, /W/, /ŭ/, /ĭ/.

Rule 1: U, I > a, U, I > /u/, /i/ else.

This rule only applies with a high vowel in surrounding syllables, or when bordered by /j/ or /w/. These vowels derive from former /e/, and /ø/ and /o/.

Rule 2: W > V

This archiphoneme simply becomes whatever vowel precedes it in the preceding syllable, but has its own tone, length, and nasality/orality.

Rule 3: ŭ, ĭ > 0

This rule takes place between two voiceless consonants or after a voiceless consonant word finally.

Rule 4: Vowel Merging

This rule is rather common, and is a system of vowel merging where vowels merge when they come into contact with each other. This is according to the hierarchy i > a > u > I > U > W > ĭ > ŭ.

Next post will be about Nominal Modifiers, that is adjectives, demonstratives, and relative clauses.
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Re: Modern Lyran (NP: Slots +7 through +10:)

Post by Osia »

Okay, so I have a post on nominal modifiers coming up, but it's been slow going since I lost some of the work I've been working on, but I've done some work on the ancestors of Lyran. I've finally figured out the phoneme inventory for Proto-Lyran, something I've been working on for a couple months, but I've had Classical Lyran for a while. I'm not sure if I should post about it here or in my Lyran thread. I think I went too far off the course of naturalism, but I like what I have. It is very vaguely inspired by the phonological history of Chinese, with some Proto-Na-Dene and Proto-Northwest-Caucasian thrown in.

Proto-Lyran:

/p t k s h ʔ/
/pʲ tʲ kʲ sʲ hʲ/
/pʷ tʷ kʷ sʷ hʷ/
/pˤ tˤ kˤ~q sˤ ħ/
/pʲʷ tʲʷ kʲʷ/
/kˤʲ~qʲ/
/kˤʷ~qʷ/
/bʙ dr ɢʀ/
/tɬ cʎ̥̝~tɬʲ kʟ̥̝/
/ts/
/pʰ~pɸ tʰ~tθ kʰ~kx/
/m n l r j (ɥ) w ʕ̞/

/(i~əj) (y~əɥ) ɛ~ə~œ~ɔ~ɐ (u~əw) (ɑ~əʕ) əm~m̩ ən~n̩ əl~l̩ ər~r̩/
/V V̤ Vˀ/
/ː/

(C)V(C)

The unique phonemes are all derived from consonant clusters, clusters with an coarticulation and some vowels in final syllables depending on stress, the trilled affricates from clusters with /r/, the lateral affricates from clusters with /l/, the affricate /ts/ from clusters with /s/, and the aspirated from /sC/ clusters. The only phonemic vowel was a schwa, but syllabic approximants surface as vowels often. Vowels could also occur in three "voices" derived from coda stops and fricatives, but codas were reintroduced by final vowel loss. The language was highly monosyllabic and isolating, but had a large amount of clitics which introduced by pronominals as a prerequisite to polysynthesis, also having a dynamic stress accent. This was turned into phonemic tone by some consonant loss.

Phonetics and Development:

Palatalized: The palatalized stops /pʲ tʲ kʲ/ became /cʷ tʃ c/, while the fricatives /sʲ hʲ/ became /ʃ ç/.

Labialized: The labialized stops remained surprisingly consistent, changing very little throughout their history, only now merging with /kʷ/ in non-standard dialects/languages. The fricatives became /ʃʷ xʷ/, the alveolars merging with a new labialized affricate series.

Pharyngealized: The pharyngealized consonants were also relatively stable, the labial pharyngealized became /qʷ/, while the alveolars largely merged with the plain alveolars with some shifts to the vowel system, and the pharyngeal fricative became /χ/.

Doubly Coarticulated: The doubly coarticulated consonants were very unstable, causing many vowel shifts while merging with other consonants. The /pʲʷ tʲʷ kʲʷ/ became /cʷ tʃʷ cʷ/, while /kˤʲ kˤʷ/ merged with /kˤ~q/ changing the following vowel.

Trilled Affricates: The trilled affricates were very unstable, but are reconstructed this way due to their reflexes in the daughter languages. They became /b d g/ in Lyran, then merging with plain and lowering the tone on the following vowel.

Lateral Affricates: The velar lateral affricate /kʟ̥̝/ merged with the plain alveolar and the palatal remained distinct in Classical Lyran, but merged with the plain, palatalizing the following vowel.

Extra Affricates: The alveolar affricate remained distinct, but the other aspirated/affricate series merged with plain, heightening the tone on the following vowel.

Sonorants: The sonorants remained relatively stable, a velar approximant was added late in Classical Lyran due to vowel breaking, but is now mostly gone. The pharyngeals also labialized in certain circumstances.

Vowels: The vowel "voices" created changes on the preceding consonants, the breathy voice aspirating/devoicing, while the glottalized glottalizing. When word initial, breathy added an initial epenthic /h/, while glottalized merged with low tone. The vowel qualities also shifted very much, with consonant distinctions being lost, which will be summarized in the following table.

Code: Select all

   Plain     Palatalized       Labialized        Pharyngealized
i  i         i                 y                 e
u  u         y                 u                 o
a  a         e                 o                 a
ə  ø         e                 o                 a
y  y         i                 u                 ø
Also high breathy voice vowels were lost between two voiceless consonants, and others similarly but only in unstressed syllables. From these vowels, a harmony system developed, between the vowels /i ɯ e a/, and /y u ø o/. This change also caused an assimilation rule where /h/ went to /x/ before /ɯ/, /ç/ before /i/, /çʷ/ before /y/, and /xʷ/ before /u/, with similar changes to other consonants.

After this, the inventory of Classical Lyran was this

Classical Lyran:

/p pʷ t tʷ tˤ ts tʃ tʃʷ tɬ c cʷ cʎ̥̝ k kʷ q qʷ/
/pʰ pʷʰ tʰ tʷʰ tˤʰ tsʰ tʃʰ tʃʷʰ tɬʰ cʰ cʷʰ cʎ̥̝ʰ kʰ kʷʰ qʰ qʷʰ h/
/pʼ pʷʼ tʼ tʷʼ tˤʼ tsʼ tʃʼ tʃʷʼ tɬʼ cʼ cʷʼ cʎ̥̝ʼ kʼ kʷʼ qʼ qʷʼ ʔ/
/s ʃ ʃʷ/
/sʼ ʃʼ ʃʷʼ/
/m n r l j ʎ ɥ ɰ w ʕ ʕʷ/
/m̥ n̥ r̥ ɬ ç ʎ̥̝ çʷ x xʷ χ χʷ/
/mʼ nʼ rʼ lʼ jʼ ʎ' ɥʼ ɰʼ wʼ ʕʼ ʕʷʼ/
/m̥ʼ n̥ʼ r̥ʼ ɬʼ çʼ ʎ̥̝' çʷʼ xʼ xʷʼ χʼ χʷʼ/

/i y e ø a o ɯ u/
/ː ̃ ́/

Some of these were only mildly phonemic at this stage, but came phonemic in Modern Lyran due to a large amount of vowel mergers. The glottalized devoiced sonorants were created by some inconsistent application of sound changes, sporadic glottal stop/glottal fricative loss, and the glottalized equivalents of former /hʲ hʷ ħ/.

Modern Lyran is actually rather conservative compared to other languages, though the vowel system was completely annihilated. Most consonant distinctions were preserved, but I’ll go through the changes.

Phonetics and Development:


Stops: The aspirated and glottalized labial stops lenited into bilabial fricatives, leaving two labial stops, which merge in non-standard dialects of Lyran. The pharyngealized merged with the uvulars, and the labialized labials and coronals merged with the plain labials and labio-palatals. The affricates went through a chain shift where Tʃʷ > Tʃ > Ts > Tθ, except before high front vowels, where the labialized rounded unrounded vowels. The labialized coronals also mostly merge with the labiovelars in non-standard dialects, but remain distinct currently. The palatal lateral affricates merged with the plain rather uneventfully.

Fricatives: The non-silibant fricatives are depicted as being part of the voiceless sonorants due to their patterning morphophonologically. They become part of the normal fricative series rather uneventfully, with the only ones being lost being the voiceless palatal lateral fricatives, which merged with the plain lateral fricatives.

Sonorants: The sonorants were also relatively stable, but the glottalized voiceless sonorants merged with the plain glottalized, being rare and unstable, but the "fricatives" were preserved.

Vowels: The vowels has an unusual and massive rearrangement, which is even more odd given the different vowel systems surrounding it. I don't really have a justification for this, mostly just the fact that I wanted a partially productive vowel harmony system in other languages, with a dash of handwavium in there also [;)]. The front rounded vowels /y/ and /ø/ merged uneventfully with /u/ and /o/, but the mid vowels /e/ and /o/ merged with /a, i/ and /a, u/, dissimilating if followed by a high vowel in the adjacent syllables. The /ɯ/ became a schwa which merged with any other vowel depending on which one preceded it, which is known by speakers as a characteristic of old speech. This vowel collapse would have produced an extremely complicated system, not even counting the vowel harmony, but massive analogy removed most irregularities. The syllabic resonants also had a late loss where the /m̩ n̩ r̩ l̩/ become /ũ ĩ ri li/ depending on length.
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Re: Modern Lyran (NP: Slots +7 through +10:)

Post by Osia »

Nominal Modifiers: Demonstratives, Adjectives, and and Nominal Syntax

This post is about all nominal modifiers, which there are fewer of, and about the syntax of nominal clauses and relative clauses.

Nominal Syntax:

Being a VSO highly right branching language, nominal clauses are highly head-initial. The syntax of nominal clauses is shown below.

Case-Root-(Derv)-Num-(Aug/Dim)-(Poss) Deter Adj R.C./P.P

Where Deter stands for determiner, Adj stands for a closed class of 20~ adjectives, and R.C./P.P stands for relative clauses and participial phrases, which are treated identically.

Determiners:

Determiners or demonstratives are a closed class of modifiers that indicate position of a noun or discourse placement, and occur as adjectival modifiers to a noun, or replace a root noun. Lyran distinguishes 32 forms in its deictics, based on 8 forms with a series of 4 suffixes attached. The demonstratives are based on those in Blackfoot and Tlingit specifically.

The 6 main forms of the affixes indicate 8 locations, Proximal, Medial, Distal, Medio-Proximal, Proximal Non-visible, and Distal Non-visible, with 2 others I've never seen terms for but I'll call Suprimal and Inferial. Proximal indicates close to the speaker and far from the listener and visible, Medial indicates close to the listener but not the speaker and visible, Distal indicates visible but distant from both, Medio-Proximal indicates close to both speaker and listener and visible, Proximal Non-visible indicates close to the speaker or listener but invisible, Distal Non-visible indicates far away from the speaker and listener and invisible, Suprimal indicates above the speaker, and Inferial indicates below the speaker. If you have better terms for these I'll be glad to hear them. The four suffixes indicate relation to motion, with one for stationary, one for moving away from the speaker, one for moving towards, and one for moving vertically up or down.

The presence of Suprimal and Inferial requires some geographical explanation. The region in which Lyran is spoken is a largely mountainous region, divided into many somewhat independent city states, but still with much variation in height within a city. The language then had a use to create demonstratives for these, as has happened in almost all other Lyran dialects and languages, excluding some spoken in foreign countries. These forms are derived in most languages from words for above and below. The presence of Visible and Non-Visible have important discourse functions when used, as the Visible are used for arguments referenced in the past in a discourse, while Non-Visible are used for later introduced arguments, with proximal and distal referencing distance to when that argument was last referenced.

Demonstratives can occur as nominal and adjectival forms, which do not vary depending on their usage, but do vary depending on whether they are incorporated into the verb or not. Slot -5 in the verb paradigm is an old slot that refers to deictics, but with fewer forms for their incorporates, having only forms for Proximal, Medial, Distal, and Medio-Distal. The forms used in that slot can be used as for when the S or A argument of a verb is the deictic, or when the deictic is modifying that argument, shown in the examples below.

Qíik'áák f’aa.
DEM.MED-3.SG.AN-be.red-STATE feather-3.SG.AN.POSS
qíí-a-k'áá-kĭ f'aa-a
That (medial) feather is red.

Qíif’aak k'áákqa.
DEM.MED-3.SG.AN-feather-STATE be.red-STATE-PTCP
qíí-a-f'aa-kĭ k'áá-kĭ-q
That is a red feather.

The forms for the deictic markers in the verb are as follows, /-la-/ for proximal, /-qíí-/ for medial, /-cʷąą-/ for proximal-medial, and /-q’aat-/ for distal. The independent forms are shown in the table below.

Code: Select all

                     Stationary  Moving Away     Moving Towards  Moving Vertically
Proximal             la          li              lu              laa
Proximal-Medial      cʷąą        cʷįį            cʷųų            cʷanʰ
Medial               qíí         qíi             qʷáá            qíç
Distal               q’aat       q'aač           q'aatʷ          q’aatʰ
Proximal Non-Visible łap         łacʷ            łapʷ            łaf
Distal Non-Visible   q’aap       q’aacʷ          q’aapʷ          q’aaf
Suprimal             laak        laac            laakʷ           laakʰ
Inferial             lúú         líí             láá            lúxʷ


The forms for all the forms that aren’t stationary are based on the basic roots with suffixes attached, but have been changed due to morphophonology and reductions. The Moving away set is based on the verb root √i, meaning to go, and the Moving towards set is based on the verb root √wa, but is often reduced to /-w/, and the moving vertically set is based on the verb root √hú to move vertically, reduced to /h~ʰ~(:)/. Note that the forms cliticize to the following word.

Adjectives:

Adjectives are a closed class, consisting of about 30~ members, and including words relating to dimension, age, value, colour, and physical property. These come after the noun, and are invariable to the (in)animacy, number, or possession of the noun.

Dimension:

ʔąą: big, extensive, wide
łii: massive, heavy,
júú: small, tiny, childlike, short (in height of a person)
lʼuu: deep, big (on inside)
c'á: shallow, small (on inside)
č'uts: tall, long
šįį: short (in length)
hąt: thin, (distinct from weight of person)
t'ųųt: thick, (not consistency)

The distinction between deep/shallow and big/small is that deep and shallow are used when the object is viewed from the inside, so that a room would be shallow and a rock would be small. The adjective júú can also be used as a common nickname for children, especially reduplicated.

Age:

júú: young, child-aged, pre-teen,
xą́: old, elder, senile, stupid
pąą: new, latter
ts’á: old, former,

Value:

s’ą: good
k'ų: bad
mʰa: morally-neutral
qʰúú: true, correct
nʰú: false
táá: strange, odd, unnecessary,
k'ii: necessary, important

Physical Property:

x’ii: hard, and rough
ʔik: hard, but smooth
ɬą́: soft
tų́ų́: wet
kųts: strong
ɬą: clean
tsʰą́ą́: sick, tired
núút: dead
kʷų: hot
c'įį: cold

Colour:

I saved this one for last, since this will require some xenobiological explanation. The language Lyran is spoken by a race of winged humanoid creatures called the Lyra, which are very similar and genetically related to humans, but are different in some aspects. They live primarily in the south of the main continent of my conworld, on a long Himalaya like mountain range in the central region. As such, they are adapted to life in this environment, being able to survive on much less oxygen than humans, but being able to survive in lower regions as well. They are primarily nomadic pastorals, but the Lyran confederation is a union of many city-states that exists, and is a major political, economic, and social force in the modern world. They have many physical differences as well, being on average taller than humans, with females at 6" 1', males at 7" 3', and, for the purposes of this description, having much better eyesight than humans. Their eyesight on average is about 10/20, and they are tetra-chromats, having a vision range from 250 nm to 750 nm, whereas humans have around 400 to 700. This means that they have color terms that are impossible to see accurately with the human eye, having three that fall outside of the normal human range. These are shown below.

infrared/bloody: q'ááł
red: k'ááł
orange: ʕʷá
yellow-green/dark yellow: rʰąq
green: qį̇́
blue: łi ́
indigo: mʰą ́
purple (UV): kʰi ́i ́
violet (UV): kʰi ́i ́mʰą ́

pink/magenta/light red: c'ááł
yellow/light orange/light green or yellow: rʰą
cyan/light blue: čuu

dark red/brown: ną́ą́ k'ááł
dark green/dark blue: ną́ą łi ́
dark UV: ną́ą́ kʰi ́i ́

black/dark: ną́ą́
white/light: hi ́i ́
grey: mʰa ́

Next post hopefully getting to the verb prefixes if I can not procrastinate on it [xP].
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Re: Modern Lyran (NP: Slots +7 through +10:)

Post by Osia »

I was originally going to do a post on some more verb stuff, but I was reading my posts so far and I realized I never fully explained the word class distinction and the subtleties of verb transitivity, so I’m going to do that in this post. This post will be somewhat random and unorganized, but I just want to lay this out simply.

Word Classes, Semantics, and Transitivity

Noun and Verb Classes:

Lyran has two main open word classes, nouns and verbs. Nouns and verbs are based on roots, which are always monosyllabic in native words. Aside from that, there are little to no restrictions on the phonology of the roots, which can be open or closed syllables, and with any vowel quality or initial/final consonant, within the restrictions of normal syllables. Semantically, nouns and verbs have many similarities to what we may find in other languages, nouns referring to concrete objects, and verbs referring to states and activities. There are many things that don't correspond however, like numbers and emotions, which are expressed by verbs.

Distinguishing Noun and Verb:

While noun and verb might appear on first glance to be obviously distinct, there are many ways in which the distinction can become more confusing. Noun roots and verb roots can be used as both nouns and verbs, with little distinction between the possibilities of the two. In the English translation, noun roots acting as verbs acquire a meaning "to be X", while verb roots used as nouns acquire a meaning of "the Xing one".

ak'ááłka kʰų
3.SING.AN-be.red-OBJ.INTRS fire
a-k'ááł-kĭ kʰų
“The fire is red.”

akʰųka k'ááλ

3.SING.AN-fire-OBJ.INTRS be.red
a-kʰų-ka k'ááł
“The red thing is a fire/is burning.”

(These constructions are one of the reasons why Lyran does not have a single copula construction, with the jobs of Identity and Attribution being carried by nouns used as verbs, with Attribution with a co-referential dummy noun. Other jobs like Location and Benefaction are expressed by juxtaposition with certain noun cases.)

This feature is found in some Native North American languages, such as some of the Salish and Wakashan family. It might seem like this is simply a zero derivation process or something else in disguise, but there are ways in which this differs. Firstly, there are other derivational processes to derive nouns from verbs, independent of these features. Secondly, zero derivation typically only applies to some verbs and may have a vague or unpredictable meaning, whereas with this the meaning is highly consistent. In traditional Lyran grammatical studies, the lack of the distinction between noun and verb was followed, and scholars simply divided Lyran into roots and affixes, but there are several reasons why this distinction needs to be made.

1. TAM restrictions

The use of a noun as a verb may seem simple, but there are many scenarios where native speakers reject certain usages of them, especially with certain aspects. Tense is rather free in this regard, as is mood, but aspect is highly restricted. Noun roots used as verbs can only appear in the imperfective aspect for the first aspect slot, as shown in the examples below. Note that it can freely appear with the second aspect slot, due to the first being older and derived from older verb markers.

akʰųka k'ááλ
3.SING.AN-fire-OBJ.INTRS be.red
a-kʰų-ka k'ááł
“The red thing is a fire/is burning.”

*akųkʰpu k'ááλ
3.SING.AN-fire-OBJ.INTRS-PROG be.red
a-kʰų-kĭ-pW k'ááł
“*The red thing is being a fire/is burning.”

To express copular constructions like these, the verb root √a, meaning "exist" and used in existential constructions.

2. Case restrictions

Verb roots behaving as nouns also have many restrictions of their own, and will be rejected by native speakers otherwise. Verb roots behaving as nouns can only take the so-called "core cases", that is absolutive and ergative marking.

Qakʷaa
qa-kʷaa
ERG-ask.question
"The one who asked a question."

*Nikʷaa
ni-kʷaa
COM-ask.question
"With the one who asked a question."

To express these, a participle construction must be used, with a referential noun conjugating for case, number, and possession if necessary.

3. Reduplication

Reduplicating a root fully has many different meanings depending on the word classes of the roots in question. With nouns, it expresses a distributive, while with verbs it expresses the sense "to do very much, to do too much". This property is retained even if the noun or verb is acting like the other. Note that this is distinct from forms like the distributive and progressive in verbs, which are partially reduplicated.

ʔąąʔaač’aačł'a
ʔą-a-ʔaač’~ʔaač’-ł
1.SING.OBJ-3.AN.SIN.SUB-bite~very.much-TRANS
"They (sin.) bit me hard."

*ʔaač’aač ʔaʔaač’a
ʔaač’~ʔaač’ a-ʔaač’-ha
3.AN.SING.SUB-bite-HAB bite~very.much
"*The hard biting one bites."

Qaat'mąą ʔa
q’aat-0-mąą ʔa
DEIC.DIST-3.INAN.SING.SUB-ant thing
"That thing is an ant."

*Qaat'mąąmąą ʔax'ąą
q'aat-0-mąą~mąą ʔa-x'ąą
DEIC.DIST-3.INAN.SING.SUB-ant~DISTRIB thing-PLU
"*Those things (scattered about) are ants."

If necessary, a participle or derived form will be used for the gaps.

The Adjective Class:

The adjective class in Lyran is a small closed class of about 30 members, expressing concepts like dimension, age, value, physical property, and colour. They do not agree with the animacy, number, or case of the noun, and are invariable regardless of the noun modified and phonological elements surrounding it. Other semantic concepts expressed by adjectives in other languages use a combination of verb roots, adverbs, and incorporated adverbial markers. Grammatically, adjectives are similar to nouns; they cannot be used as predicates, and can be used as nouns without a noun to modify, meaning "the X one".

Distinguishing Adjective and Noun:


Adjectives used as nouns are much freer that verbs used as nouns. Adjectives used as nouns cannot take diminutives and augmentatives, and cannot form distributives, but can take all case and plurality marking.

Xą́ amaa
xą́ a-maa
old 3.SING.AN.SUB-mother
"The old person is my mother."

*Xą́jaλ amaa
xą́-jaλ a-maa
old-AUG 3.SING.AN.SUB-mother
"*The very old person is my mother."

Noun Classes:


Nouns can be divided into 2 broad groups, animate and inanimate. The categorization of nouns into these two classes is largely semantic, with all nouns referring to humans or otherwise related being animate, and all others being inanimate. The animate nouns can be divided into 2 subcategories, alienable and inalienable, depending on whether they can be possessed or have to be mandatorily. All inanimate nouns are alienable. The alienable nouns can be divided into three subcategories, body parts, familial terms, and relational nouns. The first two are very obviously semantic, but the third deserves some explanation. The class of relational nouns is a closed class of inalienable nouns that are used in possessive constructions to specify or otherwise describe a noun. One example is the noun x'aa which is used to specify ethnic/cultural/religious/national groups. Most others are simply body part nouns however, that specify complex constructions that would otherwise need prepositions. Below is a graphic depiction of this system:

Code: Select all

Animate:
     Alienable:
     Inalienable:
          Body Parts
          Familial Terms
          Relational Nouns
Inanimate:
Verb Transitivity Classes:

(Editor's Note: This section and the noun case section were based on a grammar of a Northeast Caucasian language I was reading called Hinuq, with amazingly complicated case roles.)

Verbs can be divided into five classes based on transitivity: intransitive, transitive, extended intransitive, extended transitive, and experiencer. This correlates somewhat with noun case marking, but is not related to the voice/valency marking, which will be discussed later in this section.

Intransitive:

Intransitive verbs are rather simple, and consist of solely an S argument marked for absolutive case. This argument can be optionally incorporated, creating an impersonal verb.

Transitive:

Transitive verbs are also rather simple, having an A and O argument, which are marked for ergative case and absolutive typically, but exceptions exist for the O. The O argument can be incorporated, leaving an intransitive verb.

Extended Intransitive:

Extended intransitive verbs have two arguments, one S and one E. E can be any oblique argument, but this is distinguished from normal intransitives in that this argument is mandatory. It can be any case that is not a core case, and cannot be incorporated. The S argument cannot be incorporated as well, and the E argument can only be if first applicativized. One common source of these verbs is motion verbs, which have a mandatory argument in any one of the locative cases.

Extended Transitive:

Extended intransitive verbs are verbs which are marked for transitive and have three arguments, A marked with ergative, O with absolutive, and E with any other. This is very analogous to English ditransitive verbs, such as give, show, and tell, all of which are extended intransitive. The argument for E here is always marked with the oblique agreement slot in the verb, which can fill any role. The role filled by E depends on the verb, and can be very different from English usage. For example, verbs divide into 2 semantic classes, TELL verbs, and SPEAK verbs. TELL verbs have their E argument as the recipient of the message, while SPEAK have the mode or language of the message, marked with dative and instrumental case specifically.

Experiencer:

Experiencer verbs are a closed class of verbs referring to observing, such as verbs like “see”, “know”, “feel”, “hear”, etc. These verbs are unique in that they are grammatically transitive, but their O argument is marked with the dative case, as is done in some other languages. This is still the O argument grammatically, as it can be passivized and incorporated, both leaving an intransitive clause.

Valency Marking:

Voice and valency marking is a set of markers inspired by the Athabaskan classifier system, but I haven’t properly thought about its ramifications until now. The stative and middle were somewhat ambiguous in verb derivation, so I’m fleshing them out.

Intransitive:

This is the simplest category and the most common one for verbs. It is a null affix that indicates the verb is either intransitive or extended intransitive, with one S argument marked in the verb, and some having an E.

Stative:

This category is a bit more ambiguous and arbitrary. All verbs in this category are simple intransitives with one S argument. It is used for most verbs that have a lack of volition, or some that are atelic. There are many exceptions however, for example, the stem čʰii-0, to flow (like running water). There are also many verbs that very their meaning depending one whether they are marked with intransitive or stative, for example, č'u-0 means to cry, while č'u-kĭ means to sneeze.

Transitive:

The transitive is also rather simple, expressing verbs that are either transitive or extended transitive. It is the second most common, and is rather stable. It can be removed from typically transitive verbs, forming something like an antipassive, but this is somewhat random and ambiguous. Some intransitive verb stems can also be used as transitive, but this is very uncommon.

Middle:


The middle voice is used for a small closed class of verbs whose roots vary between transitive and middle. It expresses verbs where the action is done to oneself, but typically without a reflexive meaning, as there are other reflexive markers. One example is the stem wáá-kĭ, which means “wash or clean” and wáá-s, which means, “to wash (oneself)”.

Voice Marking:

There are four voices marked on verbs in this category, active, passive, causative, and self-benefactive. The last technically doesn’t change the valency of the verb, but patterns into the voice markers. There is also another marker in the verb that indicates applicatives, but is unrelated.

Active:

This is the simplest of the voices, and is unmarked and uses all valencies.

Passive:

This is a simple passive construction for only transitive verbs, and does what you might expect for a passive. The demoted subject is marked with the perlative case.

Causative:

The causative is one element that has changed from my original post. The causative can now be used for all valencies, with the demoted subject is marked with the causative case.

Self-Benefactive:


This marker was originally a separate marker, but is now incorporated into the voice category. It expresses an action that is done for the benefit of the subject, but is distinct from the middle voice or reflexive markers. It is more common than one might expect, occurring when the corresponding oblique wouldn’t be used in English.

Noun Case Reform:

This is a small edit I've added to the noun case system. Firstly I've added a dative case, marked by nʰa~nʰ, and the antative and tergative cases are now prepositions tzʰu and qʷʰįį. That's all for now, next post probably back to the verb complex.
she/her/hers
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[<3] Navajo, Tlingit, Polysynthesis, Semantics
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