Proto-Rathmosian

Phonology and Orthography

Consonants

Consonant Inventory

	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Nasal		m /m/		n /n/
Plosive	p /p/	b /b/	t /t/	d /d/			k /k/	g /g/
Fricative	f /ɸ/		s /s/				h /x/
Affricate			ts /ts/
Trill				r /r/
Approximant		w /w/				y /j/
Lateral app.				l /l/

Vowels

	Front	Near- front	Central	Near- back	Back
Close	i u e ə a
Near-close
Close-mid
Mid
Open-mid
Near-open
Open

Orthography

Proto-Rathmosian is written with the Roman alphabet using the following graphs.

a b d e f g h i k l m n p r s t ts u w y ə

The following table shows the sound to spelling correspondences:

graph	a	aa	b	d	e	ee	f	g	h	i	ii	k	l	m	n	p	r	s	t	ts	u	uu	w	y	ə
IPA	a	aː	b	d	e	eː	ɸ	g	x	i	iː	k	l	m	n	p	r	s	t	ts	u	uː	w	j	ə

Phonotactics

The basic building block of most Proto-Rathmosian words is the primary root, a simple morpheme which cannot be broken down further. Most primary roots are verbal stems though some nominal elements such as body parts, landscape and family terms are primary.

Primary roots may be formed into other words by (a) the direct addition of derivational and morphological affixes; (b) internal changes within the root to create a secondary or derived root; (c) a combination of both.

A number of grammatical words or particles are not considered roots and do not follow the rules set out below.

Primary Roots

Primary roots are monosyllabic and must have the minimal form VC, in which V represents a single primary vowel (a, e, i or u) and C any consonant. Most roots will also have an initial consonant (vowel-initial roots are relatively rare and may have developed from the loss of an initial /h/ or glottal stop /ʔ/, e.g. */had, ʔad/ > ad-).

Consonant clusters within roots are limited to CL in onset position, in which L represents a liquid (l or r). The initial consonant in these clusters cannot be l, r, w or y. In coda position the only consonant cluster permitted is GC, in which G represents a glide (w or y).

The vowels of primary roots are always short. Diphthongs are not considered to occur and in the combination of vowel + w or y the second element is analysed as a consonant.

Primary roots may take one of the following forms:

• CVC, e.g. ret- "go, move", ker- "rule"
• CLVC, in which L represents a liquid (l or r), e.g. glis- "live, stay", mlak- "be dead"
• CVGC , in which G represents a glide (w or y), e.g. tiyk- "touch, feel", reyk- "love"
• CLVGC, e.g. trayh- "strangle, choke", sluyn- "seep, ooze".
• VC, e.g.
• VGC, e.g.

Secondary Roots

Secondary roots are derived from primary ones by one of two clearly defined and mostly predictable phonological processes:

• Vowel Lengthening doubles the vowel of the primary root, e.g. ret- > reet-, tiyk- > tiiyk.
• Reduplication involves the addition of the first consonant plus the main vowel of the root to the beginning of a word and the deletion of the main vowel from the root itself, e.g. ret- > rert. Note that rules of phonotactics laid out below are also applied, so e.g. ker- > kegr- not *kekr-. There are a number of complications to reduplication:
  • Where the root is followed directly by a vowel:
    • Roots of the structure C₁VC₂ become C₁VC₁C₂, e.g. min- > mimn-.
    • Roots containing an internal glide lose the main vowel and convert the glide into a vowel (y > i or w > u, e.g. sluyn- > suslin-.
    • Roots containing an internal liquid lose their main vowel and then insert the reduced vowel ə before the liquid, e.g. mlak- > maməlk-.
  • Where the root is followed by a consonant:
    • Roots ending with a glide lose their main vowel and convert the glide to a vowel, e.g. biw-n- > bibu-n-
    • Roots ending in a liquid lose their main vowel and replace it with ə, e.g. ker-n > kekər-n-
    • All other roots retain their main vowel, e.g. mlak-n- > mamlagn-, ret- > reredn-

Affixes

Affixes may take any of the forms: V, VC, C, CV, CVC. They may also be combined into more complex structures. The addition of affixes sometimes requires the insertion of the reduced vowel ə between consonants, or of a linking glide w or y between vowels.

The following processes of assimilation occur when certain sounds come into contact across syllables:

• voiced plosives /b, d, g/ are devoiced before voiceless plosives or fricatives /p, t, k, ɸ, s, x/.
• voiceless plosives /p, t, k/ are voiced before voiced plosives and nasals /b, d, g, n, m/.
• /t/ and /d/ assimilate to any following plosive or /n/
• /n/ assimilates to a following liquid /l, r/.

Morphology

Verbs

Verb forms in Rathmosian are largely agglutinative and the verbal system could be described as active-stative, in which verbs are marked differently according to the degree of agency the subject has. Verbal stems are divided into five classes, according to agency, transitivity and activity. Verb roots may change internally to indicate certain aspects, and derivational prefixes and suffixes may be added to the root to alter its basic meaning. However, the conjugation of the verb is largely carried out with suffixes to indicate aspect, voice, subject and object. The order of elements is fixed in the following ways:

Elements of the Verb

Derivational Prefixes

ROOT

Derivational Suffixes

Aspect Marker

Voice Marker

Absolutive Marker

Ergative Marker

Verbal Classes

Rathmosian verb roots are divided into five classes (I-V) according to whether they are active or stative, and how much agency the subject has. These classes affect the way in which the aspect and voice markers are used.

• Class I verbs are intransitives in which the subject of the verb is not the agent, and which describe fixed or ongoing states, usually translated into English with 'be' and an adjective, e.g. dreh- "be red", rin- "be alive, live".
• Class II verbs are intransitives in which the subject is not the agent and which describe a change of state, e.g. mlak- "die", tum- "fall".
• Class III verbs are intransitives in which the subject is not the agent, and which describe a temporary state or an uncontrolled action, e.g. fal- "sleep", kled- "stand".
• Class IV verbs are intransitives in which the subject is the active agent of the verb, e.g. yur- "run", met- "speak".
• Class V verbs are transitives.

Some roots may belong to more than one class with a change of meaning, e.g. yur- "run" may be Class IV when the subject is an animate noun and the sense is "propel oneself quickly" but is Class III when the subject is inanimate and the sense is "flow, move quickly".

Aspect

Verbal aspect is marked by altering the form of the root itself or by adding suffixes to the primary root:

• The primary root is imperfective, describing ongoing actions, e.g. ker- "rules, ruling", fal- "sleeping, sleeps".
• The lengthened root is perfective, describing completed actions, e.g. keer- "ruled", faal- "slept".
• The reduplicated root is frequentative aspect, describing repetitive events or habitual states e.g. kekr- "rules (habitually)", fafl- "sleeps (often)".
• The addition of -t- to the root creates the generic or gnomic in aspect, describing states or actions without regard to their state of completeness, e.g. kert- "rule", falt- "sleep".
• The addition of -n- to the root creates the inchoative aspect, describing the beginning of actions or 'becoming' a state, e.g. kern- "begin to rule", faln- "fall asleep".
• The addition of -tsat- to the root creates the intensitive aspect, describing more severe forms of the action or state, e.g. kertsat- "tyrranise, subjugate", faltsat- "sleep deeply". After plosives, the affix is -sat-, e.g. kuksat- "gorges".

Voice

Voice markers function in different ways for different verbs. They are distinguished primarily for the ways in which they focus the subject or object of the verb.

• Patient focus is marked with -a- and is mainly used with intransitive verbs in which the subject is the patient of the verb (i.e. Classes I-III), e.g. dreha- "be red", tuma- "fall". Used with semantically transitive verbs of Class V, it is effectively a passive marker e.g. keyka- "is seen". The subject of patient focus verb is in the Abs. case and there can be no direct object.
• Dual focus is marked with -i- and is used only with Class V (transitive) verbs in which both the subject and direct object are stated, e.g. keri- "rule". The subject of the verb is in the ergative case and the direct object in the absolutive.
• Agent focus verbs are marked with -u- and are used with Class IV and V verbs, where the subject is the agent of the verb, but where no direct object is stated e.g. kuku- "eat", yuru- "run". The subject is in the ergative case for both transitive and intransitive verbs.
• Medial verbs are marked with -e- and are used with Class V transitive verbs when the agent and the patient refer to the same entity, creating a reciprocal or reflexive meaning, e.g. sape- "wash oneself". The subject here is in the ergative case.
• Causative verbs are marked with -im-, which is added to intransitive verbs (Class I-IV) to create a transitive, or to transitive (Class V) verbs to make a ditransitive, e.g. mlak- "die" > mlakim- "kill", keyk- "see" > keykim- "show, explain". The subject ('causer') of the verb is always in the ergative. The subject of an originally intransitive verb or the direct object of an originally transitive verb remains in the absolutive case. The subject of an originally transitive verb is demoted to the dative.
• Patient Causative verbs take -am- and are used to describe an action or state which is assumed to be caused, but without reference to the 'causer', creating a passive causative, e.g. keyk- "see" > keykam- "is made to see, understands", mlak- "die" > mlakam- "is killed"
• Autocausative verbs take -em and create a causative in which the agent causes the action to itself, e.g. mlakem- "kill oneself".

Subject and Object Markers

The absolutive markers agree with the subject of a intransitive verb or the direct object of an transitive verb. The 3rd person may be animate or inanimate.

Absolutive Markers

	Singular	Plural
1	-n	-l
2	-ts	-h
3an	-d	-w
3in	-b	-r

Where the previous element ends in a consonant, the epenthetic vowel ə may be inserted, e.g. mumubnaməd "he was saddened",

The ergative markers agree with the subject of a transitive verb. Since inanimate nouns cannot be the agent of a verb, by definintion, there are no inanimate ergative markers.

Ergative Markers

	Singular	Plural
1	-u	-an
2	-isk	-enk
3an	-et	-af

Examples:

• reeykinu "I love you"
• kekeykiran "we saw them"
• faalad "they are sleeping"
• yuyurut "he/she ran"

Verbals Nouns and Participles

Each verb has a verbal noun and most have one or two participles, one agent-focussed (active) and another patient-focussed (passive).

Verbal nouns are created from the root of the verb + either -a or -u:

• Class I verbs take -a to create an abstract noun of state, e.g. dreha "redness (the state of being red)", nuka "darkness".
• Class II & III verbs take -a to form a simple gerund, e.g. tuma "falling", fala "sleeping".
• Class IV & V verbs take -u to form a simple gerund, e.g. yuru "running", kuku "eating".
• Class V verbs can also take -a to create a passive verbal noun, e.g. kuka "being eaten".

Verbal nouns can be formed from extended stems, e.g. mlagna "dying", metsatu "speaking quickly, babbling".

Participles are formed by adding -t to the verbal noun.

Nouns

Nouns belong to one of three classes and are declined into eight cases and three numbers.

Noun Classes

Nouns are divided into two main classes: animate and inanimate. The fundamental distinction between these two classes is that animate nouns may be the agent of a verb, i.e. they may actively carry out the action of a verb, whilst inanimate nouns may not. Animate nouns therefore include all humans, deities and spirits, animals and certain celestial bodies such as belan "the sun". Inanimate nouns include all other common objects, plants and abstracts.

The class of animate nouns is further divided into masculine and common nouns. The distinction is based on natural gender, so that all male humans, deities and spirits are masculine, as are male animals where the sex is known. All other animate nouns are common. Masculine nouns are generally marked forms, with a base form usually ending in l or k. Thus, ker means "ruler; queen" and is common, but keril means "lord, king" and is masculine.

Summary of Noun Classes

Animate	Common	Female humans, deities and spirits; female animals and those with unspecified gender
Masculine	Male humans, deities and spirits; specifically male animals
Inanimate	All plants and non-living objects; abstracts

Case

Nouns are declined according to eight cases:

• Absolutive denotes the patient of a verb, either the direct object of a transitive verb or the subject of certain intransitive verbs.
• Ergative denotes the agent of the verb, either the subject of a transitive or certain intransitive verbs.
• Dative denotes the indirect object of a verb and describes motion towards.
• Genitive denotes the possessor of an object.
• Ablative denotes motion away from.
• Instrumental denotes use of.
• Locative denotes location in, at or on.
• Comitative denotes location with or beside.

Number

There are two numbers: singular and plural.

Inflexion

Animate Common: vocalic stem (negu "woman")

	Singular	Plural
Absolutive	-	nega	-wa	negawa
Ergative	-s	negas	-ns	negans
Dative	-yep	negayep	-nep	neganep
Genitive	-y	negay	-ni	negani
Ablative	-ta	negata	-nta	neganta
Instrumental	-ra	negara	-rra	negarra
Locative	-yen	negayen	-nen	neganen
Comitative	-kun	negakun	-nkun	negankun

Animate Common: consonantal stem (ker "ruler")

	Singular	Plural
Absolutive	-	ker	-wa	kerwa
Ergative	-s	kers	-əns	kerəns
Dative	-ep	kerep	-nep	kernep
Genitive	-i	keri	-ni	kerni
Ablative	-ta	kerta	-ənta	kerənta
Instrumental	-ra	kerra	-ərra	kerərra
Locative	-en	keren	-nen	kernen
Comitative	-kun	kerkun	-ənkun	kerənkun

Animate Masculine (keril "lord, king")

	Singular	Plural
Absolutive	-	keril	-wa	kerilwa
Ergative	-s	kerils	-əns	keriləns
Dative	-ep	kerilep	-nep	kerilnep
Genitive	-i	kerili	-ni	kerilni
Ablative	-ta	kerilta	-ənta	kerilənta
Instrumental	-ra	kerilra	-ərra	kerilərra
Locative	-en	kerilen	-nen	kerilnen
Comitative	-kun	kerilkun	-ənkun	kerilənkun

Inanimate: vocalic stem (hemaku "sky")

	Singular	Plural
Absolutive	-	hemaku	-r	hemakur
Dative	-m	hemakum	-rm	hemakurm
Genitive	-ya	hemakuya	-rya	hemakurya
Ablative	-ta	hemakuta	-rta	hemakurta
Instrumental	-ra	hemakura	-rra	hemakurra
Locative	-yen	hemakuyen	-ren	hemakuren
Comitative	-kun	hemakukun	-rkun	hemakurkun

Inanimate: consonantal stem (renadik "book")

	Singular	Plural
Absolutive	-	renadik	-ər	renadikər
Dative	-m	renadikəm	-ərm	renadikərm
Genitive	-ya	renadikya	-ərya	renadikərya
Ablative	-ta	renadikta	-ərta	renadikərta
Instrumental	-ra	renadikra	-ərra	renadikərra
Locative	-en	renadiken	-ren	renadikren
Comitative	-kun	renadikkun	-ərkun	renadikərkun

Note that inanimate nouns do not have ergative forms.