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Rrjoce'n Grammatical Sketch.

From:Elliott Lash <al260@...>
Date:Thursday, October 18, 2001, 5:37
Rrjoce'n /r~jots@n/ vowels:

nothing really spectacular here:
 /a/   /e/  /i/  /u/  /o/  /@/

spelled as in IPA except for /@/ which is spelled as e with a dot over it: e'

Consonants:
/t/ /d/ /D/ /T/ /Dj/ /Tj/ /l/ /L/ /r/ /r~/ (trilled r) /n/ /n~/ (palatal n) /s/
/S/ /Sj/ /ts/
/c/ (palatal voiceless stop)  /tS/  /dZ/  /j/
/k/  /g/  /N/ (velar nasal)  /x/
/m/ /M/ (more tense than /m/) /b/ /v/ /p/

the sounds are spelled as you would expect from english:
/T/  th
/D/  dh
/S/  sh
/tS/ ch

the following differences are noted:
/dZ/ gz
/j/ j
/n~/ nj
/r~/ rr
/ts/ c
/c/  t'

-----------------------------
Verbal Morphology:

The morphology of the Rrjocin verb is a basically a matter of 4 main stems and the
1st person singular present which is the citation form. From these can be
formed any tense. Unfortunately, the majority of verbs in Rrjocin form their
stems in an irregular fashion. (This is a consequence of various sound changes
which caused the regular inflections of the Proto-Rrjocin verb to mutate
drastically)

1) Present  (Present Singular Stem and Present Plural Stem)

There are the following "classes"  of verbs in the present singular and present plural stems:

a) n-infixal presents:
These verbs were formed with an n-infix to a predominantly zero-grade form of the
root. (e-grade is found rarely). For the most part, the suffix is only seen in
the first or third person.

(pr.s. = present singular)
(pr.p. = present plural)
 examples:
   shrinj "I sleep"  *k'rins  lij "I die" *lenh
   pr.s.  shrix-              pr.s. len-
   pr.p.  she'rx-             pr.p. ll-

b) s-suffixal presents
These presents were formed by suffixing -s to the e-grade of the root. Depending on
whether or not the -s followed a vowel or a consonant several different forms
can occur.

examples:
   *dheil-s         *reuk'-s         *neu-s
   djej "I want"    resh "I seek"    nesh "I walk"
   pr.s. djell-     pr.s. rax-       pr.s. nat'-
   pr.p. de'll-     pr.p. e'rx-      pr.p. ne't'-

c) n-suffixal presents
These presents are formed by suffixing -n to an o-grade of the root. Occasionally
e-grade is found also. The suffixes only appear in the 3rd person singular and
the plural stem.

examples:
  *sleiw-n          *doh-n
  fljej "I speak"   dej "I come"
  pr.s. fljon-      pr.s. dan-
  pr.p. fle'n-      pr.p. de'n-

d) dental suffix presents
These are formed by adding a dental (th- or t-) onto an o-grade root.

examples:
   spor-th           g'oh-th
   shperc "I know"   gzec "I do"
   pr.s. shporth-    pr.s. gzath-
   pr.p. shpre'th-   pr.p. gze'th-

e) i/u-suffixal presents
These are formed by adding an i or u to the e-grade of the root.

examples:
   dreh-i         tem-u
   drej "I eat"   dov "I go"
   pr.s. draj-    pr.s. dom-
   pr.p. dri-     pr.p. dv-

f) vowel presents
Finally, there are roots that just add the personal endings in the present, without any
stem forming morpheme.

examples:
    *syeu-           *klei-
     shov "I am"      kje "I have"
     pr.s. sha-       pr.s. kje-
     pr.p. v-         pr.v. kli-

The plural stem, although it has the same stem forming morphemes attached to the
root, is only ever found with zero-vowels.


examples:

lij "I die"   *lenh-io
llesh "We die" *lnh-osie

fljej "I speak"   *sleiwn-io
fle'nesh "We speak" *sliwn-osie

shperc "I know"      *sporth-io
shpre'thesh "We know"  *sprth-osie

shov "I am"   *syeu-uo
vesh "we are"  *syu-osie
----------------------------------------
Past STEM
The past stem is formed by adding the morpheme -he to the zero-grade root.

djej    "I want"  *dheils-io
dla     "I wanted" *dhil-he

gruej   "I drink"  *groun-io
gra-va  "I drank" *gru-he (the -va is a later innovation)

dhimb   "I rule"   *sdunb-io
dh?pa   "I ruled"  *sdub-he

nesh    "I walk"   *neus-io
na      "I walked" *nu-he

-----------------------------------
The personal endings for the present:
1sts.  varies. This is used as the citation form
2nds.  -m(e')
3nds.  -t, -e', -e't (this last is more literary)
1stp.  -esh
2ndp.  -am
3rdp.  -ane'

The personal endings for the past:
1sts. this is the past stem itself
2nds. -enj
3rds. -ast
1stp. -ajt'
2stp. -ajm
3rdp.  -ajn

---------------------------
The last stem is the Participle form. There are four participle suffixes, the
reason for which one is used is not always apparent.

-teu   (attached to e-grade). Present participle
-dheh  (attached to zero-grade). Past participle
-meh   (attached to zero-grade) Present part.
-nou   (attached to zero-grade) Present part.

shrinj "I sleep"
 shrine' "sleeping"  (< k'ris-nou)

nesh "I walk"
 ne'da "having walked" (< nu-dheh)

fljej "I speak"
 fle'ma "speaking"  (< sliw-meh)

dej "I come"
dade' "coming"  (<dheh-teu)

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

Pronouns:

SINGULAR
1st person:                 2nd person
 nom. ane'                   mja
 acc. nam (< vna < *unm)     mim (< *mim)
 gen. enj ( Old gen. ej)     mi (<mei-io)
 dat. enj                    mi (OLD dat. mje)
 abl. ambe'                  mibe'

PLURAL
1st person:   2nd. person
 nom. ive'    shive' (OLD shja)
 acc. im      shim
 gen. ivj     shivj (OLD shjej)
 dat. ivj     shivj (OLD shje)
 abl. ibe'    shibe'


3rd COMMON
nom. dhi   (OLD dje < *tei)
acc. dhom  (*g'hem)
gen. dhe   (OLD dhje)
dat. dhe
abl. dheb?
---------------------------------------

NOMINAL MORPHOLOGY IS STILL IN IS INFANCY.

List of verbs:
1st.    Pr.S.   Pr.P.   Past
shrinj  shrix-  sh?rx-  sh?rt'a-    to sleep
djej    djell-  d?ll-   dla-        to want
gruej   gruan-  g?rn-   grava-      to drink
shperc  shporth- shpr?th- shpra-    to know
dhimb   dhumb-  dh?mb-  dh?pa-      to rule
kje kje-    kli-    klia-       to have
nesh    nat'-   n?t'-   na-     to walk
lij len-    ll- liava-      to die
vigz    vegzn-  v?gzn-  v?cha-      to take
drej    draj-   dri-    dria-       to eat
gueshc  guasht- g?sht-  g?t'a-      to sing
rinc    rin-    ?rn-    ?rda-       to cry
gzec    gzath-  gz?th-  gzia-       to do
rrij    rren-   rri-    rrava           to hear
fljej   fljon-  flj?n-  fl?va-      to speak
resh    rax-    ?rx-    ?rt'a (< ?rcha-) to seek
dhej    dher-   dhr-    dhra-       to bring
dej dan-    d?n-    diava-          to come
dov dom-    dv- dva-        to go
shov    sha-    v-  va-     to be
rruec   rruath- rr?th-  th?cha-     to flow


The following forms are interesting:
All the past tense forms ending in -va (excluding dov [dva] and shov [va]). They
appear to have spread by analogy from the past of "fljej" *sleiwnio which was
"fle'va" *sliwhe. But they only spread to verbs whose present singular ends in
-n. Thus a conjugation of sorts has arrisen, in which the present ends in -n
and the past in -va.

The form "e'rt'a" (past of resh "I seek"). This changed by anaology with the past
of shrinj "I sleep". Originally it was e'rcha.

Finally the form the'cha is the suppletive past of "rruec" which only exists in the
third person so really the forms are: Rruathe' and The'chast.


Elliott

(i appologize for the length)

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Yoon Ha Lee <yl112@...>