Re: CHAT: I'm back

Hello again everyone,

I was subscribed to the conlang list a while ago (although I was usually a "lurker"), and now I've
come back, at least for a little while.  My main language project, OurTongue, has gone through
much revision and now has a form more pleasing to me.  However, it certainly may be subject to
further changes in the future.

Now for anyone who wishes to see it, here is the OurTongue grammar and phonology so far:

There are two stages, Old OT and Classical OT.  The language is derived from Patrick C. Ryan's
proposed Proto-Language Monosyllables (accessed at
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/2803/indexFILES.htm).

Old OT phonological inventory:

b, bh, p, ph
d, dh, t, th
g, gh, k, kh
s, x, l, r
m, n, w
h, j

a, e, i, o, u

Classical OT phonological inventory:

b, d, g, p, t, k
v, x, [theta], [s-hacek]
m, n, l, r, h, j

a, e, i, o, u

Verbal Inflections

The present stem is the most basic stem for the language. All verb
stems end in vowels -- either from reduction of un-stress-accented
*e, *o, or *a in final position (> -a) or from preservation of
(originally) stress-accented word-final vowel. To the present stem
the suffix -ja (> -i) can be added to form the preterite tense.
There are also the participial suffixes, -wa (> -va) for active and -
ta for passive. Past participles are formed with the preterite
stem. A masdar/gerund/infinitive takes the suffix -ma; it can also
be added to the preterite stem (hajama "going/to go" vs.
hajaima "having gone/to have gone"). Finally there is a verbal
adjective/noun which ends in -i; however, this form is different from
the bare preterite stem in origin and in form. The verbal
adjective/noun ending is the only word-final vowel except when the
verb stem ends in -u.

OT verbs also inflect for person and number. The personal endings
are: 1st sg -m (> -n), 2nd sg -s, 3rd sg -, 1st pl -men, 2nd pl -sen,
and 3rd pl -t. These endings are always last.

Verbs in OT have (so far) two moods, indicative and imperative. The
indicative mood takes a null morpheme, but the imperative adds the
suffix -ka.

Many intransitive verbs in OT end in -u from -wa, which was also used
as a reflexive/middle suffix. Others are similar to their
complementary transitive forms; these originated from an ancient
distinction between momentary and durative, based on stress accent
(see Patrick Ryan 2001). In time, the meanings of the respective
forms diverged, the momentary ones tending to be transitive and the
durative ones intransitive.

OT is also an active language with distinction based on control. In
verbs that represent actions under one's control, the subject takes
the nominative case (when explicitly expressed) and the verb inflects
for the subject; for verbs that delimit actions not under one's
control, the subject takes the accusative or a local case and the
verb takes no personal inflection. Non-control verbs are best
understood passively. For example: "I fall" would be translated
literally in OT, "falls me," but perhaps a better back-translation
would be "I am fallen."

Nominal Inflections

OT nouns inflect for case and number. There are many cases, most of
which are local. Nouns in OT originally followed an ergative-
absolutive system, but the language has since become a nominative-
accusative one. However, the noun declensions show the language's
earlier history. There are two numbers in OT, singular and plural.
In addition, there are two kinds of noun stems, consonant-stems
(which end in -i in the nominative) and vowel-stems. Here are the
noun declensions for the two stems:

Case: singular, plural

Nominative: -i/-, -(e)t-i
Accusative: -(e)m (> -(e)n), -(e)t-em
Genitive: -(i)s, -(e)t-is
Allative: -(e)le, -(e)t-ele
Ablative: -(e)da, -(e)t-eda *
Inessive/locative: -(e)na, -(e)t-ena
Illative: -(e)ni, -(e)t-eni
Elative: -(e)lta, -(e)t-elta *
Partitive: -(e)ba, -(e)t-eba *
Superessive: -(e)mu, -(e)t-emu *
Subessive: -(e)bhi (> -(e)vi), -(e)t-ebhi *
Prolative: -(e)ri, -(e)t-eri *
Instrumental: -e, -(e)t-e
Locative: -(e)mi, -(e)t-emi *
Adverbial: -(e)dan, -(e)t-edan *

* May be subject to change.

Nominal morphology is more complex than verbal morphology; further
specification of a verbal idea will be seen in the object taking a
local case (usually allative or ablative), rather than use of
preverbs or converbs.

Syntax, etc.

Generally, OT word-order is SOV, but the case structure allows rather
free word-order amoung subject, object, and verb. Adjectives precede
their nouns, and agree with them according to number and case. There
is no grammatical gender and no articles. Only one finite verb is
allowed in any given OT sentence; clauses are formed using
participles and masdars. There is no relative pronoun. Although OT
may seem similar to Uralic languages, there are a couple major
differences: no possessive suffixes and no negative verb. However,
that may be subject to change.

Feedback will be appreciated.

- Rob

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