Igassik Verbs

After weeks of stress and chaos, the term is finally over and I can get
back to conlanging. So this morning I worked on my newest conlang Igassik.
I'm trying out the world of non-concatinative morphology and verb classes.
I might even call the morphology non-linear.  This is really complex, so
I'm not sure I did a good job of explaining it below.

Quick phonological notes: lexical words have a 2 morae minimum (codas are
moraic), but a two syllable maximum. Vowels harmonize for front/back, and
rounding when separated by labials.

C' represents a dental consonant. ae=[{], oe=[9], io=[M], eo=[7]. Capital
letters in the tables do not represent "real" sounds.

Tense:
There are three tenses: past, present, future.

Syllables       1       2       2       2
Ending in       VC(C)   V       VC      VCC
Present --      --      --      --
Past            -At     -At     -At-    -A-
Future          -Iln    -Iln    -Il-    -I-

-X means suffix, -X- means infix, X- means prefix (we'll see those later).

The capital vowels means that the exact vowel that is used depends on the
vowel(s) found in the root. The front/back is determined by the root
vowel(s), as is round/unround with an intervening labial. In disyllabic
words, if the two root vowels are distinct, then the second one moves in
height toward the vowel of the suffix, eg, i > e in past (i+a=e), a > o in
future (a+i=o), etc. If the root vowels are non-distinct, then the second
vowel is completely replaced by the appropriate vowel of the "affix".

(Meaningless) examples:
Present Past            Future

kab             kabat           kabuln
naegy           naegaet         naegyln
nogo            nogat           noguln
Tad'ok          Tad'atk         Tad'ulk
Tonof           Tonatf          Tonulf
nysen't'        nysaen't'       nysin't'
zeopeons        zeopans         zeopions

Number:
Verbs inflect to agree in number with arguments on an ergative pattern.
That is, intransitives agree with the subject, but transitives agree with
the object.

Syllables       1       1       2       2
Begins with     V       C(C)V   V       C(C)V
Singular        --      --      --      --
Plural          Et-     E-      E-      -E-

The notation for 1:CV and 2:V is misleading, because 1:CV prefixes the
appropriate mid-vowel, but 2:V replaces the first vowel of the word with
the appropriate mid-vowel.

(Meaningless) examples:
Singular        Plural

at'             otat'
kym             oekym
klem            eklem
ilte            elte
buxa            boxa
ktaele          ktele

Derivation:
Verbs can be formed from Nouns, Adjectives, and Verbs. These are called
Active, Stative, and Causative, respectively.

Active: bread -> bake bread
Stative: green -> be green
Causative: bake bread -> make bake bread, be green -> make green

Begins with     (C)V    CCV
Active          k-      --

Syllables:      1       2       2
open/closed     either  open    closed
Stative An-     -An-    -A-
Causative       Is-     -Is-    -I-

(Meaningless) examples:
Bare            Active          Stative         Causative

og              kog             anog            isog
tawu            ktawu           tanwu           toswu
stod'o          stod'o          stand'o         stusd'o
t'egli          kt'egli         t'aengli        t'isgli
yjke            kyjke           oejke           yjke

Combinations:
When performing more than one of the above changes, you apply them
according to the following scale:
derivational > tense > number

So, if you've gotten this far, what do you think? I'm sure there is a
better way to describe it, but I'm not sure how to do this over email.


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Marcus Smith
AIM:  Anaakoot
"When you lose a language, it's like
dropping a bomb on a museum."
   -- Kenneth Hale
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