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Middle Ru: Difference between revisions
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<th>Coronal, not labialiazed</th> | <th>Coronal, not labialiazed</th> | ||
<th rowspan="2">Alveolar</th> | <th rowspan="2">Alveolar</th> | ||
<td><b><em>nosʷ</em></b><br> | <td><b><em>nosʷ</em></b><br>thirst</em></b><br></td> | ||
<td><b><em>nes</em></b><br>thirst</em></b><br></td> | <td><b><em>nes</em></b><br>thirst</em></b><br></td> | ||
<td><b><em>tuɬ</em></b><br>husband</em></b><br></td> | <td><b><em>tuɬ</em></b><br>husband</em></b><br></td> | ||
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<p>Participles follow a drastically different structure than finite (or 'conjugated') Middle Ru verbs, being only marked by voice. The most basic form of participle, corresponding to the default unmarked voice, is constructed by a circumfix: <em>a-</em>(stem)<em>-a</em> for clear-harmony verbs (as in the previously mentioned example <em>azéva</em>, 'seen', from <em>zev</em>, 'to see') or <em>å-</em>(stem)<em>-o</em> (as in <em>åcẃño</em>, 'built', from <em>cuñ</em>, 'to build') for dark-harmony verbs. Unlike other verb forms, participles are stressed on the verb stem itself.</p> | <p>Participles follow a drastically different structure than finite (or 'conjugated') Middle Ru verbs, being only marked by voice. The most basic form of participle, corresponding to the default unmarked voice, is constructed by a circumfix: <em>a-</em>(stem)<em>-a</em> for clear-harmony verbs (as in the previously mentioned example <em>azéva</em>, 'seen', from <em>zev</em>, 'to see') or <em>å-</em>(stem)<em>-o</em> (as in <em>åcẃño</em>, 'built', from <em>cuñ</em>, 'to build') for dark-harmony verbs. Unlike other verb forms, participles are stressed on the verb stem itself.</p> | ||
<p>A basic Middle Ru participle corresponds to its O-role, the argument that would be put in absolutive case when following the verb: the subject for intransitive verbs (thus <em>ac'áza</em>, from <em>c'az</em>, 'to march', could be translated as 'marching'), the object for regular transitive verbs (<em>azéva</em> meaning 'seen' rather than 'seeing') and the indirect object for ditransitive verbs (<em>åʎúo</em> meaning 'having received', from <em>ʎu</em>, 'to give'). Participles for other roles can be constructed by replacing the initial <em>a-</em> or <em>å-</em> with a voice prefix. This allows for participles related to a transitive subject using the antipassive voice mark as in <em>rravzéva</em> ('seeing', 'that sees/saw'), reflexive participles such as <em>myzéva</em> ('that sees themself') , causative | <p>A basic Middle Ru participle corresponds to its O-role, the argument that would be put in absolutive case when following the verb: the subject for intransitive verbs (thus <em>ac'áza</em>, from <em>c'az</em>, 'to march', could be translated as 'marching'), the object for regular transitive verbs (<em>azéva</em> meaning 'seen' rather than 'seeing') and the indirect object for ditransitive verbs (<em>åʎúo</em> meaning 'having received', from <em>ʎu</em>, 'to give'). Participles for other roles can be constructed by replacing the initial <em>a-</em> or <em>å-</em> with a voice prefix. This allows for participles related to a transitive subject using the antipassive voice mark as in <em>rravzéva</em> ('seeing', 'that sees/saw'), reflexive participles such as <em>myzéva</em> ('that sees themself') , causative participles such as <em>ižyzéva</em> ('that makes/made someone to see', also used as a noun meaning "prophet, guru"), type-I aplicatives for benefactive participles such as <em>kezéva</em> ('that had someone see something for its benefit') and type-II applicatives for ditransitive direct objects: <em>ojʎúo</em> ('that was given [to someone]').</p> | ||
<p>Negative participles are preceded by the particle <em>žwm</em> which is also used a noun meaning 'nobody'. Thus <em>žwm azéva</em> transaltes as 'not seen'.</p> | <p>Negative participles are preceded by the particle <em>žwm</em> which is also used a noun meaning 'nobody'. Thus <em>žwm azéva</em> transaltes as 'not seen'.</p> | ||
<p>Participles are often used in place where a relative clause would be used in English. For instance, the phrase "the man who marched forward" is expressed in Middle Ru as <em>mimy ac'áza</em> | <p>Participles are often used in place where a relative clause would be used in English. For instance, the phrase "the man who marched forward" is expressed in Middle Ru as <em>mimy ac'áza</em>. The participle itself may be followed by arguments (other than it's O-role) as if it was a primary verb: <em>k'et åcẃño mimy</em> (house PTC-build-PTC man) for 'the house built by the man'.</p> | ||
<p>A different structure is required for relative clauses where the described noun phrase occupies a role other than the participle verb's O-role (and thus requires a voice mark like antipassive <em>rrav-/rråv-</em>) with the original O-role being included as part of the relative clause. This is the case in the phrase 'the man that saw the mountain', where the described noun ('the man', <em>mimy</em>) takes the A-role (ergative, subject of transitive <em>zev</em>, 'to see') and the relative predicate includes the original O-role (the object, <em>ħox</em>). This requires a structure where the described noun is followed by the particle <em>a</em> (regardless of the vowel harmony class of any neighbouring words), the original O-role and then the participle with the appropriate participles:</p> | <p>A different structure is required for relative clauses where the described noun phrase occupies a role other than the participle verb's O-role (and thus requires a voice mark like antipassive <em>rrav-/rråv-</em>) with the original O-role being included as part of the relative clause. This is the case in the phrase 'the man that saw the mountain', where the described noun ('the man', <em>mimy</em>) takes the A-role (ergative, subject of transitive <em>zev</em>, 'to see') and the relative predicate includes the original O-role (the object, <em>ħox</em>). This requires a structure where the described noun is followed by the particle <em>a</em> (regardless of the vowel harmony class of any neighbouring words), the original O-role and then the participle with the appropriate participles:</p> | ||
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<h3>The copula verbs</h4> | <h3>The copula verbs</h4> | ||
<p>In English, the copula verb <em>'to be'</em> fulfills a | <p>In English, the copula verb <em>'to be'</em> fulfills a number of functions, including noun-noun copula (describing one thing as being another, as in "John is a man"), adjective-noun copula (indicating that an adjective apples to a given noun or noun phrase as in "John is tall") and an existential usage (indicating that something exists, often in relation to a location as in "John is in the city"). In Middle Ru, those constructions are handled in different ways.</p> | ||
<p>Noun-noun copula, be it indicating identity ("John is my father", here the two arguments are identified as being the same individual) or membership to a given class ("John is a man"), may be expressed with the copula verb <em>mi</em>, which could be considered to be the closest Middle Ru counterpart to English 'to be'. This kind of expressions, however, are often handled <b>without any verbs</b> (what is known as zero-copula, a common tactic cross-linguistically), simply putting the two phrases one next to the other. The first element in this type of copula must be expressed in the absolutive case, while the second one is used in its base, suffix-less form, as shown in the following examples:</p> | <p>Noun-noun copula, be it indicating identity ("John is my father", here the two arguments are identified as being the same individual) or membership to a given class ("John is a man"), may be expressed with the copula verb <em>mi</em>, which could be considered to be the closest Middle Ru counterpart to English 'to be'. This kind of expressions, however, are often handled <b>without any verbs</b> (what is known as zero-copula, a common tactic cross-linguistically), simply putting the two phrases one next to the other. The first element in this type of copula must be expressed in the absolutive case, while the second one is used in its base, suffix-less form, as shown in the following examples:</p> | ||
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<p><em>I am your father.</em></p> | <p><em>I am your father.</em></p> | ||
<p>As it is often the case for copula verbs, Middle Ru <em>mi</em> is massively irregular. Fortunately, the number of forms to be memorized is somewhat limited as the verb may only be marked for a single person (instead of featuring polypersonal agreement). It's conjugation takes contrasts aspect (perfective or imperfective; <em>mi</em> cannot be marked for the inchoative/cessative aspect), tense, person for one of its arguments and polarity ( | <p>As it is often the case for copula verbs, Middle Ru <em>mi</em> is massively irregular. Fortunately, the number of forms to be memorized is somewhat limited as the verb may only be marked for a single person (instead of featuring polypersonal agreement). It's conjugation takes contrasts aspect (perfective or imperfective; <em>mi</em> cannot be marked for the inchoative/cessative aspect), tense, person for one of its arguments and polarity (affirmative vs negative; the interrogative prefix is also accepted), as shown in the following table:</p> | ||
<table> | <table> | ||
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<p><b>Adjectives</b> behave like verbs in Middle Ru and thus adjective-noun copula does not require an equivalent of the verb 'to be'. For instance, the equivalent to the English adjective 'tall' is <em>ğwn</em> which may also be translated as 'to be tall'. This subject will be covered in more depth in the following section.</p> | <p><b>Adjectives</b> behave like verbs in Middle Ru and thus adjective-noun copula does not require an equivalent of the verb 'to be'. For instance, the equivalent to the English adjective 'tall' is <em>ğwn</em> which may also be translated as 'to be tall'. This subject will be covered in more depth in the following section.</p> | ||
<p>Finally, Middle Ru uses the verb <em>se</em> (conjugated regularly in the Cadarmeni standard, although irregular forms such as <em>*sar-</em> for <em>sear-</em> are attested for other dialects) for existential copula. This often corresponds to English 'there is' or 'there are', indicating the presence of an | <p>Finally, Middle Ru uses the verb <em>se</em> (conjugated regularly in the Cadarmeni standard, although irregular forms such as <em>*sar-</em> for <em>sear-</em> are attested for other dialects) for existential copula. This often corresponds to English 'there is' or 'there are', indicating the presence of an object or person.</p> | ||
<p><em><b>Searmis emimýaħ ñy.</b></em></p> | <p><em><b>Searmis emimýaħ ñy.</b></em></p> | ||
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<p>Being functionally identical to verbs, Middle Ru adjectives can take any affix that could apply to verbs. For instance, the causative prefix <em>ižy-</em> may be used to form the verb <em>ižyaxan-</em>, meaning 'to cause [something or somebody] to grow old, to age'.</p> | <p>Being functionally identical to verbs, Middle Ru adjectives can take any affix that could apply to verbs. For instance, the causative prefix <em>ižy-</em> may be used to form the verb <em>ižyaxan-</em>, meaning 'to cause [something or somebody] to grow old, to age'.</p> | ||
<p>Comparatives (and superlatives) are expressed through the prefix <em>ñir-</em> or <em>ñwr-</em>, meaning 'to surpass', which may also be applied to any other verb in order to express than an action has been conducted to a higher degree than some reference level. This prefix is not to be confused with a voice mark as it does <b>not</b> modify the valency of the verb. Thus, <em>ñiraxan</em> is not to be understood as transitive 'to be older than [someone]' but as a still-intransitive 'to be older', without making | <p>Comparatives (and superlatives) are expressed through the prefix <em>ñir-</em> or <em>ñwr-</em>, meaning 'to surpass', which may also be applied to any other verb in order to express than an action has been conducted to a higher degree than some reference level. This prefix is not to be confused with a voice mark as it does <b>not</b> modify the valency of the verb. Thus, <em>ñiraxan</em> is not to be understood as transitive 'to be older than [someone]' but as a still-intransitive 'to be older', without making explicit who the person or object is older than, which is left out to context. Examples include:</p> | ||
<p><em><b>Ñiraxanarlys mimýaħ.</b></em></p> | <p><em><b>Ñiraxanarlys mimýaħ.</b></em></p> | ||
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<p><em><b>Axanarlys xek'aħ, ñiraxanarly mimýaħ.</b></em></p> | <p><em><b>Axanarlys xek'aħ, ñiraxanarly mimýaħ.</b></em></p> | ||
<p><em>The man was older | <p><em>The woman was old, the man was older ~ The man was older than the woman.</em></p> | ||
<p><em><b>Zeviħals mimýaħ añiraxána.</b></em></p> | <p><em><b>Zeviħals mimýaħ añiraxána.</b></em></p> | ||
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<p>The number 'one' is always expressed as <em>ýla</em>, although in combining forms it may also appear as <em>ylárra</em> (literally 'and one', although shifting the stress to the second syllable unlike the more general usage of the affix <em>-rra</em>). The form <em>ylárra</em> is most commonly found after 'round' numbers such as <em>jat</em> (twenty); in a sense <em>ylárra</em> indicates that the value is one more than a number that would be more likely to be expected. The forms <em>játel</em> and <em>c'étel</em> alternate with <em>jat</em> and <em>c'et</em> (respectively) when not followed by any further numerals.</p> | <p>The number 'one' is always expressed as <em>ýla</em>, although in combining forms it may also appear as <em>ylárra</em> (literally 'and one', although shifting the stress to the second syllable unlike the more general usage of the affix <em>-rra</em>). The form <em>ylárra</em> is most commonly found after 'round' numbers such as <em>jat</em> (twenty); in a sense <em>ylárra</em> indicates that the value is one more than a number that would be more likely to be expected. The forms <em>játel</em> and <em>c'étel</em> alternate with <em>jat</em> and <em>c'et</em> (respectively) when not followed by any further numerals.</p> | ||
<p>Unlike English, Middle Ru numerals | <p>Unlike English, Middle Ru numerals always follow the noun to which they apply: <em>emimy jat</em> for '20 men'.</p> | ||
<p>Ordinals are formed in a relatively unusual way. The first element is described as <em>ac'ála</em>, the participle of <em>c'al</em>, 'to come first'. Other ordinals are formed by using the particle <em>swr</em> and the number of elements that come <em>before</em>, followed by the suffix <em>-(a)rra / -(å)rrå</em>. Thus, 'the second man' becomes <em>mimy swr ýlarra</em> (~ man preceded by one other); 'the tenth mountain' becomes <em>ħóxol swr sótårrå</em> (~ mountain preceded by nine others) and so on.</p> | <p>Ordinals are formed in a relatively unusual way. The first element is described as <em>ac'ála</em>, the participle of <em>c'al</em>, 'to come first'. Other ordinals are formed by using the particle <em>swr</em> and the number of elements that come <em>before</em>, followed by the suffix <em>-(a)rra / -(å)rrå</em>. Thus, 'the second man' becomes <em>mimy swr ýlarra</em> (~ man preceded by one other); 'the tenth mountain' becomes <em>ħóxol swr sótårrå</em> (~ mountain preceded by nine others) and so on.</p> | ||
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<h1>The Middle Ru script</h1> | <h1>The Middle Ru script</h1> | ||
<p>The Middle Ru | <p>The Middle Ru script, the native writing system for the language, is an abugida where each consonant is represented by a letter while vowels other than /a/ are marked through diacritics above the consonant. Much as in the Brahmic scripts from India, a <em>virama</em> mark is used to supress the inherent /a/ in a consonant in order to mark codae. Thus, the word <em>xek'aħ</em> (absolutive singular form of <em>xek'a</em>, 'woman') would be written with the consonant letter for <em>X</em> plus the <em>E</em> diacritic, the consonant letter for <em>K'</em> (which, on its own is read as <em>k'a</em>), the consonant letter for <em>Ħ</em> with the <em>virama</em> diacritic to indicate that it is to be read as a word-final <em>-ħ</em> rather than as the sequence <em>ħa</em>. The abugida is supposed to be a descendant from the Ancient Hulamic script used for Proto Ru-Hulam.</p> | ||
<p>The glyphs used for Middle Ru consonants have a characteristic shape based on a slightly curved slanted lined over which further strokes are drawn (except for the glottal stop, marked by the slanted line alone). The characters are partially featural. For instance, the glyphs ejectives are clearly derived from the corresponding plain plosives.</p> | <p>The glyphs used for Middle Ru consonants have a characteristic shape based on a slightly curved slanted lined over which further strokes are drawn (except for the glottal stop, marked by the slanted line alone). The characters are partially featural. For instance, the glyphs ejectives are clearly derived from the corresponding plain plosives.</p> | ||