LONG: Another new lang
| From: | Paul Bennett <paul.bennett@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Monday, October 25, 1999, 16:09 |
|---|
Here's another one.
/*
A sister lang to s[aghwaad<zi, of a close branch, that hasn't
collapsed as much yet. This is potentially an "intermediary" lang
between Wewnetaak and S[aghwaad<zi
(wewnetaak =3D wenetaic, s[aghwaad<zi =3D thaghojian)
Provisional name is <mein=E1nuagh=E1> after the model of the other two,=
all three names mean "of the people".
The mein=E1n describe the s[aghwaad<zi (<thagojians>) as "grunting and
growling like animals", due to the size and nature of the s[aghwaad<zi
consonontal phonology.
Meanwhile, the s[aghwaad<zi describe the mein=E1nuagh=E1 as "mewling li=
ke
infants", due to the size and richness of the mein=E1nuagh=E1 vowel
phonology.
Set tabs at 8 and use a fixed font to read properly
Diacritics for quick reference are aeiou with acutes: =E1=E9=ED=F3=FA
Some of the examples are a bit shoddy.
All comments appreciated.
*/
Phonology and Orthography
Approximate IPA
Stops Nasals Fricat Affric Approxmants
p b m f w
T t[T
t d n s ts r
S tS l j
k g N x
Actual Romanisation
p b m ph w
th dth
t d n s z r
sh ch l gh
c g gn h
Vowels
Orthog English M-uagh=E1 IPA
a dart d=E1rt script-a
ae dad daed ash
ai died d=E1id a smallcap-i
ao doubt daot script-a turned-smallcap-omega
au daunt d=E1unt turned-c
e debt det e
ei date d=E9it e smallcap-i
i disk disc smallcap-i
ie deep d=EDep i
iu wood wiud turned-smallcap-omega
o dot dot turned-script-a
oa don't d=F3ant schwa turned-smallcap-omega
oi boy boi turned-c smallcap-i
ou north nouth turned-c schwa
u dug dug wedge
ua ago uag=F3a schwa
uo doom d=FAom u
Vowel (or first vowel) is acuted (<'> in ascii) to show length.
Nouns roots are usually CVC(VC), verb roots are usually CVCV.
There are three alphabetic orders;
The Anglicised order matches the English alphabetic order.
The Romanised order is: (each of the following are considered as single=
letters)
a b c ch d dth e g gh h i l m n gn o p ph r s sh t th u w z
Multi-vowel clusters are listed in "English" alphabetical order and
are not treated as seperate letters.
The Native order can be found by reading the table above in row-by-row
order, with vowels interleaved as follows: (each of the following are
considered as single letters)
p a b ua m ae ph uo w o th iu dth oa t d au n s oi z u r ai i sh ch ie
l gh e c ei g gn ao h
An apostrophe is used in romanisations to disambiguate words that
would otherwise be homographs. The native alphabet distinguishes each
phone with its own glyph.
Dictionaries, glossaries and lexicons exist in all three alphabetic
ordering.
Grammar
The grammar is a mixed ergative-absolute / dechticaetative system.
The system distiguishes the following cases (this also shows the usual
word order): /* It's an horrendous abuse of the term "volitive", any
better suggestions? */
>Intransitive Verb
Verb - Inflected for Subject
Subject - Absolute
>Passive (Di)Transitive Verb with Exophoric Subject (and Ind Obj)
Verb - Inflected with <-h>
Object - Absolute
>Transitive Verb
Subject - Ergative
Verb - Inflected for Subject
Object - Absolute
>Ditransitive Verb
Subject - Volitive
Indirect Object - Ergative
Verb - Inflected for Indirect Object
Direct Object - Absolute
>Ditransitive Verb with Exophoric Indirect Object
Subject - Volitive
Verb - Inflected with <-h>
Direct Object - Absolute
The above cases are marked by unbound prefixes, shown as below:
Def Indef
Abs. oa 0
Erg. an an
Vol. eiz eim
Further case categorisations are shown by postpositions, as below:
Illative. -eighi (moving into/towards)
Elative. -aughi (moving out of)
Adessive. -=E1ruo (placed at, near, outside of)
Inessive. -en (placed within)
Component Gen. -eich (x y-eich =3D x is part of y) /* should this be <y=
-eich x>
?*/
Habitual Gen. -uagh=E1 (associated with (see above))
Possessive. -eshau (owned by (see above))
Attributive. -ar=E1e (marks the object of a copula as being temporary=
)
Essive. -=E1th (marks the object of a copula as being permanent)=
Intensive. -(oi)gn (marks an intensification in degree of either
of the above; the forms used are -ar=E1egn and -=E1thoign)
/* same remarks and question as for <-eich, -uagh=E1, -eshau> apply to
these three */
Gender is shown by the following markers
Pronoun Verbs Copula Neg.Cp. Gender
mei -m em neim Me
sei -s esi nes You
t=ED -t etiu neit Common (Animate)
tuor -r eir ne Neuter (Inanimate)
seim -mius s=EDm nes=EDm Me & You (Inclusive 1st Dual)
teim -miut t=EDm net=EDm Me & Other (Exclusive 1st Plural)
=F3astiu -st=E1 aest nast You & Other (2nd Plural)
moast -staem maest nam=E9ist Me, You & Other (Inclusive 1st Plu=
ral)
t=EDun -n=E1t =E9int n=E9i Common Plural
r=FAon -n=E1r aert nai Neuter Plural
"Other" above is either Common or Neuter, and either singular or plural=
.
Pronouns take articles for Ergativity (and other grammatical devices)
like any other noun. Plurals (obviously) are handled solely as above
(and not be umlaut).
Copula and Negative Copula are treated in all other respects (except
for their irregularity) as verbs.
Verbs inflect for the Ergative noun, if present. In intransitive
sentences, copula inflects for the gender of the subject.
When they are inflected by case markings, pronouns that end in vowels
take an epithentic <-h> for euphony.
Verbal Noun Endings
-c Final result of verb
-w One who does the verb
-h That which has the verb done to it
Inflected case forms of nouns that end in vowels have an adjectival
nature in translation, and are grammatically verbs, therefore they may
take the above markers to "turn them back into nouns".
Plural marking
Plurals are marked by umlaut. A given vowel may occur in several
single/plural pairs, sometimes as the single and sometimes as the
plural, therefore the plural system can be thought of as irregular for
all intents and purposes. Certain small plurals (known as "counted
plurals") are shown by combining the following bound prefixes with the
singular form of the noun:
2 d=EDu-
3 th=EDe-
5 aegni-
10 dagi-
Aspect, mood and tense
Verbs take the following affixes to show various elements of aspect,
mood and tense.
Imperative replace inflection with <-z>
Jussive insert <-zoa-> before the inflection
Past Insert <-gniu-> before the inflection
Progressive Insert <-dtha-> before the inflection
Passive Insert <-cei-> before the inflection
Some examples:
Mortiuzoah oa maen=E1n!
die.JUSS.INTR ABS man
The man must die!
Mortiuzoaceih oa maen=E1n!
die.JUSS.PASS ABS man
The man must be killed!
Mortiudthah oa maen=E1n.
die.PROG.INTR ABS man
The man is dying. (In the process of dying)
(Contrast with:
Mortiudthat oa maen=E1n.
die.PROG.G3 ABS man
The man is killing.)
An maen=E1n etiu mortiuwar=E1e
ERG man COP.G3 die.ACT.TMP
The man is dying. (At the moment of death)
An maen=E1n etiu mortiuc=E1th.
ERG man COP.G3 die.RES.ESS
The man is dead. (Literally, "the man is a corpse")
Eiz maen=E1n phl=F3sieh oa plaith=EDen.
VOL man fill.INTR ABS bucket
The man fills the bucket (with something).
Contrast with the following two examples:
An catuor phl=F3sier oa plaith=EDen.
ERG water fill.G4 ABS bucket
The water flows into the bucket.
Eiz maen=E1n an catuor phl=F3sier oa plaith=EDen.
VOL man ERG water fill.G4 ABS bucket
The man fills the bucket with water.
An seim pheignomius oa weinaer.
ERG we fight.G1+G2 ABS wenetaic-plural
You & I fight the Wewnets.
An =F3astiu aest phaegnow=E1th.
ERG G2+G3 COP people-who-fight.PERM
You (Plural) are warriors (and always will be).
Eiz teim an l=FAocuaneighic ph=E1enuor oa lign=F3as sei=
heich.
VOL us-EXC ERG here.illative.RES want.g4 ABS language you.COMP
(Latest attempt at "your language goes here")
=
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