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 German, 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 inflected for 3 numbers (singular, dual, plural) and 4 cases (nominative, accusative, dative, genitive).

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

Verbs had the following forms:

• imperfect tense
  • did double duty as imperative
• past participle
• infinitive or verbal noun
• zu-infinitive
• present participle
• zu-participle

Verbs were not inflected for person.

Paradigms

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

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

Syntax

Lifted from German: V2, SAuxOV, verb final in subordinate clauses

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'