Idavic languages

In the AETHER timeline, the Idavic languages are a family of in-universe conlangs. The family is intended to blend IE, Uralic, Salish, and Semitic phonaesthetics seamlessly.

Family tree

• Idavic
  • Shalaic
    • Shalaian (Arabo-Salisho-RP)
  • Netagic
    • Pseudo-Finnish
    • Netagin (Sami + German)

Phonology

• Consonants: b d dł j g gʷ p t tł č k kʷ q s ł š h ʔ m n l r w y ʕ
• Vowels: a i u ā ī ū (ə allophonic)
• Pitch accent: modal (á), creaky (ã)
  • Creaky voice is the source of glottal reinforcement in Shalaian and vowel shifts in Netagin.

Shalaian diachronics

• b > v; ɓ > b; g > y, kh, or CL; j > ʒ; ng > ng3 > n3
• Grimm's law: p t č kʷ q > f θ ʃ x H
• q G q' > H ayin q
• further shifts: kʷ' > kʷ > xʷ
• Vowel shifts: ā > ō > /əʊ/, u > /ɒ/, iw > /ju:/
• final -ā -ī shorten to -a -i
• Loss of initial glottal stop, then loss of non-prevocalic /r/
• Historical long vowels (also /ɑː/ from historical /ar/) shorten before /ʕ/

Phonotactics

Allowed root clusters

Allowed clusters with no glottal stop:

• mC: mn ml mr my m3 mb md mj mg mp mt mtł ms mł mč mk mkw mq mh
• nC: nm nr n3 ny nw nd ndł nj ng nt ntł ns nš nč nk nkw nq nh
• lC: lm ln l3 ly lw lb ld lj lg lp lt ls lč lk lkw lq lh
• rC: rm rn r3 ry rw rb rd rdł rj rg rp rt rł rtł rs rč rk rkw rq rh
• 3C: 3m 3n 3l 3r 3y (never initial) 3w 3b 3d 3dł 3j 3g 3p 3t 3s 3ł 3tł 3č 3k 3kw 3q
• Cm: nm lm rm 3m dm jm gm tm sm šm čm łm tłm km kwm qm hm
• Cn: mn ln 3n bn dn jn gn pn tn sn šn čn łn tłn kn kwn qn hn
• Cl: ml nl 3l rl bl dl jl fl tl sl šl čl kl kwl ql hl
• Cr: mr nr għr vr br dr jr pr tr sr šr čr kr kwr qr hr
• Cy: my ny ly ry 3y (never initial) by py dy ty sy šy ły dły tły gy ky qy hy
• Cw: nw 3w dw dłw jw tw tłw sw łw čw qw
• C3: m3 n3 l3 r3 b3 d3 j3 p3 t3 tł3 ł3 s3 š3 č3 k3 kw3 q3
• XX: any cluster of 2 obstruents are allowed, as long as they agree in voicing and are not both dorsal (k, g, kw, gw, q); in addition, s + voiced stop and š + voiced stop

Morphology

Combine Old Irish, Semitic and PIE morphologies

Tone changes were part of the morphology of Proto-Idavic. Shalaic retained Proto-Idavic accent, while Netagic lost it with a shift to stem-initial stress and a vowel split conditioned by creaky voice.

The three genders, the three numbers and the possessive suffixes are Proto-Idavic features. Shalaian added a new alienable-inalienable possession distinction by creating alienable possessive prefixes from genitive pronouns.

Pronouns

• independent: lī, dā, xʷā, nī
• emphatic: *swi-lu, *swi-da, *swi-xʷa, *swi-níji
• absolutive/suffix: *-la, *-du, *-xʷa, *-níji

Root structure

Idavic roots were consonantal roots similar to PIE and Semitic languages: most roots were biconsonantals C-C or triconsonantals alternating between CVC(ə)C (also called the segolate form) and C(ə)CVC (also called the antisegolate form) by Schwebeablaut.

2-letter roots:

• √t-q 'to say' (a source of Shal. thaaH)
• √ʕ-d 'to shine, to show' (source of Shal. għeed 'bright'; għádmer 'happiness' comes from a root extension √ʕ-dm)
• √ʕ-n 'high, raised'

3-letter roots:

• √qdVb~qVdb 'true'

Schwebeablaut alternations work as follows:

• The default state is the CVCC form: qidb 'to be true'; qidbti 'loyalty'
• With closed syllable in the prefix the segolate form is used: hin·qídb 'to verify' → li·hinqadb 'I verify'
• With open syllable in the prefix the antisegolate form is used: ri·qádb 'to stay true' → li·ríqdab 'I stay true'

Ablaut

There were 8 ablaut grades:

• zero-grade (CC)
• a-grade (CaC ~ CCa or CaCC ~ CCaC)
• i-grade (CiC ~ CCi or CiCC ~ CCiC)
• u-grade (CuC ~ CCu or CuCC ~ CCuC)
• lengthened grades: ā, ī, ū-grades (intensive? transitive? plural? nominalization? pair up with short grades?)
• creaky voice: causative?

Many prefixes and suffixes require certain ablaut grades.

Examples

√ʕ-d 'to shine'

• Intransitive verbs: -ʕad- ~ -ʕid- ~ -ʕd- = to shine
• Adjectives: ʕīd = bright
• Noun:
  • ʕād = light
  • ʕā̃d = Sun, star? (singulativized collective)
  • creaky voice marked singulatives: ʕãd = ray
• Action or state noun: ʕud-ar = (state of) shining, brightness
• Deverbal nouns:
• Derived stems:
  • wa·ʕā́d = to polish
  • ʕãd-ī́r = to illuminate, to show (source of Shal. għa'téer 'to prove')
  • ʕád-m-ar = (root extension) happiness, joy
  • ʕíd-n-ar = (root extension) beauty, radiance

Nouns

Proto-Idavic had 3 genders: inanimate (i), animate (a), and abstract (h). The abstract gender evolved to serve honorific functions in Shalaian, hence the abbreviation "h".

Proto-Idavic nouns were marked for singular and dual and plural numbers.

Declension

Nouns declined for two cases (nominative, genitive) and three numbers (singular, dual, plural).

Idavic nouns could have plurals marked with -ā, -ī, ablaut and/or reduplication. Nouns pluralized with a suffix are weak nouns and nouns pluralized with stem changes are strong nouns. There were broken plurals marked by lengthening the stem vowel; these often developed into singular nouns in Shalaian.

Nouns were usually weak and take plurals marked with suffixes: 'star' is declined as ʕā́d, li-ʕā́d, ti-ʕā́d, ..., with plural ʕādā.

Inalienably possessed nouns were always pluralized with stem changes, like Arabic broken plurals: ʔəmmā́ "mother", ʔəmā́m "mothers".

Adjectives

As in IE and Semitic, adjectives agreed with nouns in number, gender and case.

Class 1

ʕīd- 'bright' animate/inanimate/abstract; singular, dual, plural

• nom: ʕīda/ʕīdi/ʕīdar, ʕīdand/ʕīdind/ʕīdarind, ʕīdān/ʕīdā/ʕīdarā
• gen: ʕīdak/ʕīdik/ʕīdarik, ???, ʕīdī/ʕīdāka/ʕīdarāka

Verbs

Paradigms

• Strong verbs: basic verbs, conjugated by ablaut
• Weak verbs: verbs formed with verb-forming affixes

Strong verbs

(1sg, 2sg, 3sg.a, 3sg.h, 3sg.i 1pl, 2pl, 3pl)

• Imperfect: li·taq, di·táq, ʔin·táq, ʔis·táq, ʔa·táq, li·tíqā, di·tíqā, ti·táq
• Preterite:
• Stative:

Finite verbs

Do the Old Irishy prefix thing but w/ personal prefixes?

• ʕáb 'see! look (at it)!'
• la·ʕáb-Ø → la·ʕáb 'I see it'
• la·ri-ʕáb > la·ráʕb 'I am seen'
• ja·la-ʕab → ja·láʕb 'I see you folks'

The verb forms

• The finite forms including the imperative
• The first infinitive: origin of Shalaian finite verbs; some conflation with imperative
• The second infinitive (more of a lexical deverbal noun): origin of the Shalaian infinitive

Derivation

Proto-Idavic had an extensive array of derivational affixes.

Root extensions: suffixes

• Creaky voice marked intensive or transitive verbs like the Semitic geminate binyan
• -ay (h): deverbal noun
• With prefixed verbs, the stress shift derives verbal nouns: *ri·kʷā́n 'to rest' → ·ríkʷan 'rest'. This is the source of some infinitives being marked with stress shifts in Shalaian (riwháin, ríwhain 'sleep').
• -gʷid (i): augmentative; derives nouns
• -t (i): verbal noun, resultative
• -āk (i): collective
  • developed to the -akh plural in Shalaian

Todo:

• agent nouns
• instrument nouns
• frequentative
• applicative
• telic
• "X a little, almost X"
• change of state
• graduative
• mis-X/over-X

Lexicon

Entries are listed in the following "Semitic abjad" order: ʔ b g gʷ d h w j dł q y k kʷ l m n s ʕ p č tł r š ł t

ʔ

• ʔappā́ 'father', pl. ʔapā́pā
• ʔəmmā́ 'mother', pl. ʔəmā́mā

g

• √gb 'to hit'
  • Shalaian kȯ́vid 'calamity' ← *gā́b-gʷid

d

• √db 'to live'
  • dāb, pl. ʔidāb 'person'

q

• √qdb 'true, to believe'
  • qidb-ar
    • Shal. ħídver 'truth'
  • qədāb-t
    • Shal. ħadóft 'trust'
  • qũdb-
    • Ntg. qoeıdb 'faithful, loyal'

k

• kū̃la = house
  • Shal. kul'
  • Ntg. c̦uall

ʕ

• √ʕd 'to shine'
  • -ʕad- ~ -ʕid- ~ -ʕd- = to shine
  • ʕīd = bright
  • ʕād = Sun, star
  • ʕud = (state of) shining, brightness
  • ʕōd = light
  • Derived stems:
    • wa·ʕā́d = to polish
    • ʕãd-īr = to illuminate, to show (source of Shal. għa'týr 'to prove')
    • ʕid-nar = (root extension) beauty, radiance
    • √ʕdm 'happiness, joy'
• √ʕn 'to be high'
  • √ʕnm 'to raise'
    • Shal. għánam 'to honor, to exalt'
  • √ʕnb 'to raise'
    • Shal. għánav 'to dedicate, to devote'
• √ʕr 'to be in, at'
  • ʕar
    • Shal. ʕar
    • Ntg. lo

t

• √tq 'to say'