Silindion - Present Tense

 The present tense in Silindion is divided into an
Athematic and Thematic conjugation. The Thematic
conjugation is formed by adding a thematic present
tense vowel to the root, followed by the endings. The
thematic tese vowel is mostly determined by the root
vowel, although, there are some exceptions.


So, if the root vowel is "a" then the thematic vowel
will be "a". If it is "e", then the thematic vowel is
"e", etc. For the most part this rule is followed,
except for the following cases:

1) If the root is a long-e stem, meaning that it is of
the form <Ce:>, then the thematic vowel is just "e",
not long-e.
 examples:  le: "show" >  li-e-
            ve: "gossip" > vi-e-
            ne: "get married" > ni-e-
   (notice the vowel change, this is a regular
process)

2) In some roots, if the root vowel is "u", then the
thematic vowel is "o" (in High Silindion)
  example:  pur "speak" > pur-o-  (H.S)
            nun "smell" > nun-o-  (H.S)
 (this does not hold true for Low Silindion:
  pur >  pur-u-, nun > nun-u-)

3) Roots that have the vowel "ei", have the thematic
vowel "a"
  example:  leir- "praise" > leir-a-

Most roots ending in a consonant have thematic
presents. The only roots ending in a vowel that are
thematic are the long-e stem roots.

Finally, if a root is dysallibic (having two
syllables) then the 2nd vowel determines the thematic
vowel:   namben- "to get engaged" > namben-e-

The personal endings are:
1s   -si                  1p -na
2s   -lë                  2p -nta
3s   <described below>    3p -nto
                          3dual/(HS 3p) -ntë

Present Tense of <namben->
       nambenesi   nambenena
       nambenelë   nambenenta
       nambenén    nambenento/nambenentë

One further note is appropriate here. For certain
consonant roots, the thematic vowel does not appear to
be present, but is in fact there underlyingly. This
mostly is the case with the fricative K-stems:

laK- 'ride'     >   laK-a-
deK- 'survive'  >   deK-e-
reK- 'reach for' >  reK-e-

Since the fricative K has ceased to be pronounced, the

thematic and root vowel merge to be pronounced as one
vowel, even though the K is still written in the
Silindion alphabet (but not in the romanisation)

lan "he/she rides"  (written: laKan)
der "he/she survives" (written: deKer)
ren "he/she reaches for" (written: reKen)

-----------------------------------------------------

Athematic presents do not have a thematic vowel for 1
of 2 reasons.

1) The root is a vowel stem: -ya, -a, -e, -u, -i, -o
2) The root is a root accented consonant stem.

For these roots, the personal endings are added
directly to the root final vowel or consonant. In the
case of vowel stem roots, there's no problem, but in
the case of consonant stem roots, some changes must
take place.

Since there are a lot of changes, I'll just list the
conjugation of common athematic verbs from common stem
classes:

vur "weave" > vussi, vullë, vurna, vurna, vurta, vurto

sophar "rest" > sophassi, sophallë, sophár, sopharna,
sopharta, sopharto

mis "fall" > missi, millë, mir, mirna, mirta, mirto

siD "sit" > sissi, sildë, sindë, sinda, sinda, sindo

neK "suffer" > neksi, nelkë, nenkë, nenka, nenka,
nenko

nalpin "to play piano" > nalpissi, nalpillë, nalpir,
nalpinna, nalpinta, nalpinto

nal "to light" > nassi, nallë, nan, nalda, nanta,
nanto

fing "to swim" > finsi, finlë, fingë, finga, finta,
finto

etc.

Everything, except for the 3rd singular is easily
predictable.

-R stems: -ssi, -llë, X, -rna, -rta, -rto
-S stems: -ssi, -llë, X, -rna, -rta, -rto
-D stems: -ssi, -ldë, X, -nda, -nda, -ndo
-K stems: -ksi, -lkë, X, -nka, -nka, -nko
-N stems: -ssi, -llë, X, -nna, -nta, -nto
-L stems: -ssi, -llë, X, -lda, -nta, -nto
-NG stems: -nsi, -nlë, X, -nga, -nta, -nto
-P stems: -psi, -lpë, X, -mpa, -mpa, -mpo

-----------------------------------------------------

3rd Singular:

The ending for the 3rd singular is either -n, or -r.
Originally this must have distinguished certain types
of transitive verbs from certain types of intransitive
verbs, although the difference between the two is
largely lexical at the present stage of Silindion. The
-r ending is still largely reserved for many
intransitive verbs, although not all intransitives
will take the -r ending and some transitives will have
it.

For thematic verbs, the -n or -r is attached to the
thematic vowel which is stressed, and an accent is
written above it:

 namben- "to get engaged with"
 namben-e-  "present-thematic"
 namben-é-n     "he/she gets engaged with X"

 fingand- "to go fishing"
 fingand-a- "present-thematic"
 fingand-á-r "he/she goes fishing"

With athematic verbs, the endings are attached
directly to the root. Vowel stem athematics look
basically like thematic verbs:

 moni- "to hear"
 moni- "present-athematic"
 moní-r "he/she hears"

Consonant stem athematics suffer all sorts of changes
and may have vowel harmony with the root vowel.

           N-3rd Singular        R-3rd Singular
            Back   Front
-R stems:  -rna   -rnë                 -r
-S stems:  -rna   -rnë                 -r
-D stems:  -nda   -ndë           does not occur
-K stems:  -nka   -nkë           does not occur
-N stems:      -n                      -r
-L stems:      -n                      -r
-NG stems: -nga   -ngë           -ngra   -ngrë
-P stems:  -mpa   -mpë           does not occur

(as you can see, only n-3rd singulars are compatible
with consonant stems ending in an obstruent)


I appologize for the length of this, but I hope you
enjoyed it :)

~Elliott

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