User:Chrysophylax/YaLU

Phonology

Consonants

	Bilabial		Alveolar			Palatal	Velar		Glottal
	Plain	Ejective	Plain	Ejective	Palatalised		Plain	Ejective
Stop	b [p] p [pʰ]	ḇ [p’]	d [t] t [tʰ]	ḏ [t’]	d́ [tʲ] t́ [tʲʰ]		g [k] k [kʰ]	ḡ [g’]
Affricate			z [t͡s]	ẕ [t͡s’]	ź [t͡sʲ]
Fricative	v [v]		s [s̠̻]		ś [s̠̻ʲ]				h [h]
Nasal	m [m]		n [n]		ń [nʲ]
Approximants			l [l]		ĺ [lʲ]	y [j]	w [w]
Trills			r [r]

Notes

1. The consonants s and n, have the following retroflex allophones after r: [ʂ], [ɳ]; e.g. prsaḏi ['pʰrʂət’ə]

Grammar

Morphology

Stems

Stems are usually predicate bases of the form CVC. These can never have the same consonant in the first and second position, thus forbidding forms such as **lul or **rer.

Similar to Semitic languages and European languages there is considerable vowel variation, something which has been grammaticalised. The basic vowel variation pattern is e – u – ø. These patterns have acquired specific names based on their predominant usage in the language. The e–pattern is called the nominal pattern, the u–pattern the verbal, and the ø–pattern is named the qualifying pattern. Certain stems do not have a verbal form and are termed deprived stems.

A general example: the consonant stem g–r “straight” we get the possible configurations ger–, gur–, gr– all used in words such as geraz, guruti, and grtaz.

As mentioned, not all stems have all the possible vowel patterns available, e.g., t–r “person” with the only forms being ter, tr–, lacking the verbal pattern **tur.

Roots

The roots of the language are further split into animate and inanimate. To the animate category certain animals, spirits, gods, creatures possessing a modicum of independent will (e.g., talking plants in a story), humans, certain natural phenomena such as lightning or hurricanes, and to the inanimate we find everything else.

Verbs

Active-stative, fluid-S. The verbal system is moderately complex inflecting for number, person, animacy, mood, epistemic modality, evidentiality, tense, and aspect. Furthermore, object, subject, and proximity is marked on the finite verb. The verbs can all be constructed from the appropriate verbal stem in combination with the relevant affixes. There are exceedingly few irregular verbs, somewhere around three to five depending on analyses.

//notes It is most prudent to begin with the temporal facet of verb construction for the verb is ever marked with a suitable tense, of which we are allowed to choose two: present and non-present.