Netagin

Pages with the prefix 'Netagin' in the and 'Talk' namespaces:

Netagin

• Netagin/Gzarot

Netagin/Lexicon

Netagin/Music

Netagin/Proto-Netagin

Netagin/Sketchbook

Netagin/he

Talk:

This article describes Classical Netagin. See subpages for the modern vernacular lects.

Netagin
ne Nătahin
Pronunciation	[nɛː nət̪ɐːˈɦiːːn]
Created by	User:IlL
Setting	Verse:Tricin, Verse:CF Tricin
Language family	Idavic Netagin

In Tricin, Netagin (English: net-ə-GHEEN; natively ne Nătahin [nɛː nət̪ɐːˈɦiːːn]; Nurian: xi Nŧeahem; Naeng: fi brits Inthăgin; Eevo: a łynǿñ Ynþyjín) is a major Bjeheondian language and an isolate within the Idavic language family. It is native to Tumhan (Netagin: Tumhan /tʉmˈɦan/). Classical Netagin has influenced Naeng, Nurian and Ksieh. Netagin is intended to be optimized for writing poems in Hebrew piyyut meters (without being a Hebrew giblang): like Hebrew, Netagin has triconsonantal morphology, final stress and stressed suffixes, so that it is natural to rhyme by having the last syllables the same like in Jewish piyyutim. It tends to be verb-initial and head-initial like Hebrew, and its morphosyntactic alignment is split-S and predicate-first with some Austronesian elements. Netagin is the most grammatically conservative extant branch of Idavic, because it has preserved Proto-Idavic triconsonantal morphology and morphosyntax. Despite being a head-initial language like most Talman languages including Naeng and Talmic languages, as well as Hebrew and Irish, Classical Netagin grammar is meant to have some alien features even to speakers of these languages. Hebrew is a heavy inspiration for the diachronics, however (except postvocalic lenition).

This article describes Classical Netagin which is used for special effect in modern times, e.g. in classical Netagin music and poetry. The standard variety today is Šinax Netagin, spoken in Bjeheond's capital Șinach (Šinax) and in Cualuav's Andaegor, though there are many other mutually unintelligible Netagin varieties.

This is the seventh version of Netagin. Its aesthetic is inspired by Hebrew, Maltese, Czech/Slovak, Middle Vietnamese and Naeng. Its morphology is inspired by Semitic, its morphosyntax by Lushootseed and Austronesian, and its motion verbs by Slavic.

Todo

• nC > CC like in Heb
• think absolute vs. construct plays more nicely in piyyutim than nominative vs. genitive
• not completely happy with the binyanim morphologically
  • double-check gzarot
• roots, vocab
• Steal "verb an adjective verb-ing" (= "verb adjective-ly") from Hebrew

WCONS 3SG.M-CAUS/walk/TELIC 3PL.INDEP DET.F ocean WCONS die-3SG.M "They made him go out into ocean and he died"

• A particle qy that works like Lushootseed 2ə
• Proto-Netagin had a marked absolute state in -i, construct removed the -i
  • Decl A: sg -i/-0 > stress patterns, pl -āli/-āl > pl -ůl/-ů
  • Decl B: sg -eki/-ek > PNtg -eč/-ek > CNtg -iš/-ek, pl -aka/-ak > -ā/-ak > CNtg -a/-ak

Phonology

The phonology of Classical Netagin is described by the grammarian and polymath Bůhiš Naťťem.

Consonants

Netagin has 22 consonants:

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m /m/	n /n̪~n~ɳ~ɲ/				l /ŋ/
Plosive	voiceless	p /p/	ť /t̪~c̟/	t /t~ʈ/			k /k/	q /ʔ/
	voiced	b /b/	ď /d̪~ɟ̟/	d /d~ɖ/
Fricative	voiceless			s /s̠/		š /ɕ/	x /x/
	voiced	v /v/		z /z̠/		ž /ʑ/		h /ɦ/
Affricate				c /ts̠/		č /t͡ɕ/
Resonant				r /r~ɾ~ʀ/		j /j/

Voiceless stops are unaspirated.

The dental stops ť ď are pronounced as laminal alveolar stops [c̟ ɟ̟] in front of i ie j.

The following classes of consonants are classified as 'weak letters' in Classical Netagin and cause irregular gzarot:

• Semivowels: j v
• Palatals: š ž č j
• Retroflexes: t d s z
• Ungeminables: q h r

Vowels

Proto-Netagin vowels

	Front		Back
	short	long	short	long
Close	i /ɪ/	ī /i:/	u /ʊ/	ū /u:/
Open	e /æ/	ē /æ:/	a /a/	ā /a:/, ō /o:/

Classical Netagin vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i /i/	y /ɨ/	u /u/
Diphthong	ie /iə/		ů /uə/
Mid	ė /e/	ă [ə]	o /o/
Open	e /æ/	a /a/

Vowel diachronics: Proto-Netagin had the vowels *a e i u ō ē ī ū.

• In stressed syllables (including segolates): PNtg a e i u > a e ė o
• In pretonic syllables (open): PNtg a u i e > a o y e
• In pretonic syllables (closed): a e i u > a e y y
• In propretonic syllables: a u i e > ă y y y
• PNtg long vowels (ō ē ī ū) don't reduce in any position and always become ů ie i u.

Stress

Usually final, some penultimately-stressed "segolates" CVCVC or CVCCV

Penult long vowels + every other stress gives the language a distinctive "Scotch snap" rhythm.

Phonotactics

no initial clusters, max cluster length 2

cluster consonants can be arbitrary as long as voice assimilated

Possible vowel final vowels: /ɪ, e, a, ea, o, u, i, y/ (cf TibH /ɔ, ɛ, e, o, i, u/)

Vowel reduction

Pretonic to propretonic: (Most commonly occuring type) a > a, e > y.

Other phonetic rules

• y > i, after C[+palatal]: šy žy čy jy > ši ži či ji
• In unstressed syllables, a > e after C[+palatal]: ša ža ča ja > še že če je
• unstresssed y > a adjacent before /l/

Script

Netagin script is an abugida developed from the Ancient Gwnax script. Before vowel markings were codified, some Netagin writings used the consonant letters as an abjad with letters for v j q h used as matres lectionis.

Vowel signs shouldn't rely on the number of dots. I dislike drawing dots lol, I'm looking at you, segol

Morphology

Like Semitic languages, Netagin is triconsonantal. The root m-c-l 'to do' is used for demonstrating stems formed from roots.

Pronominal markers

Netagin has many sets of personal markers:

• Independent personal pronouns, serving as subject pronouns in independent clauses (corresponding to Lushootseed čəd-words)
• Emphatic personal pronouns: used for emphasis, and for calling someone with a 2nd person pronoun (corresponding to Lushootseed ʔaca-words and Irish emphatic pronouns)
• The "me too, you too, etc." forms
• Alienable prefixes
• Inalienable/preposition/conjunction suffixes
• Verb object affixes

	1sg	2sg	3sg	1pl	2pl	3pl
Independent	viel	vieb	-	vieč	vyni	-
Emphatic	hanli	hanvů	(demonstratives such as kyne are used)	hančů	hanni	(demonstratives are used)
Alienable	l(e)-	b(e)-	qyn-/qym-	č(e)-	n(e)-	qie-
Inalienable	-al	-ab	-i	-čů	-bi	-us
"X too"	telaš	tebaš	(demonstratives are used)	tyčaš	tynnaš	(demonstratives are used)

An independent subject pronoun, when present, always comes in the second position in the sentence, as in Lushootseed.

In Netagin, emphatic subject pronouns are often part of Ancient-Greek style Wackernagel clitic complexes.

[So far this is not too different from Tigol or Anbirese. The weird part is the morphosyntax.]

Nouns and adjectives

NEW DECLENSION

Netagin has two numbers and absolute and construct states (but no gender). Like in Tiberian Hebrew, the construct state may have different shapes from having subtly different stress in older stages. Netagin nouns and adjectives fall into declension classes:

	liet = man (decl. A)		qăšteleš = sparrow (decl. B)		jůši = person (decl. C)		Nătahin = Netagin person (decl. D)
	singular	plural	singular	plural	singular	plural	singular	plural
Absolute state	liet	lietůl	qăšteleš	qăšteliš	jůši	lyjůši	Nătahin	Nătahie
Construct state	liet-	lietů-	qyštylek-	qyštylik-	jůšė-	lyjůšė-	-	-

The suffix -in (which is analogous to Semitic -i) is used on some nouns and adjectives. These don't have separate construct state forms.

"Qaj, laršip ne dáqer rysohe qalok." baruc ne qama.

/ʔaj lɐr'ʃip nɛ 'daʔɛr rɨso'ɦɛ ʔɐ'lok ba'ruts nɛə ʔɐma/

MIR me-exceed-he DET.SING son.SING big-ADV already speak-3SG.F DET mother.SING

("'Behold, the son exceeds me bigly already,' spoke the mother.")

"Oh my, my boy is bigger than me already!" said the mother.

Possessed forms

Unsuffixed nouns:

• abs: xozăn 'Netagin qanun'
• const: xozna (Netagin segolates take -a for the construct; the construct csn be unpredictable)
• 1sg: xoznal
• 2sg: xoznab
• 3sg: xozni
• 1pl: xoznėšů
• 2pl: xoznăbi
• 3pl: xoznus

The Class B construct affix -k assimilates with an inalienable suffix beginning with a consonant:

• bahieneš 'birth'
• bahienek 'birth of'
• bahienekal 'my birth'
• bahienekab 'thy birth'
• bahieneki 'his birth'
• bahienekėšů 'our birth'
• bahienebbi 'your (pl.) birth'
• bahienekus 'their birth'

ve-words

Ve-words, which are usually determiners, decline as follows:

Declension of ve-words (determiners)

sg.	pl.
ne (unstressed); nex	no

The following are ve-words:

• ne (Lushootseed ti; roughly 'that-which'.)
• ve (Lushootseed kʷi)
• de ("connegative" determiner, used on the absolutive argument of a negated clause)
• kyne 'this'
• kyve 'that'
• be (relativizer; roughly 'which VERBs' or 'which is a NOUN'. The head of a relative clause is only allowed to be its subject or direct object in Classical Netagin.)
• qe (vocative particle)

Verbs

Like Hebrew and Arabic, Netagin derives verbs by inflecting a consonantal verb root according to a binyan. The subject is a purely syntactic concept. Different verbs have different theta-roles for the subject, whether agent, patient, experiencer, instrument, location, or recipient; this is determined lexically by the individual verb and must be memorized (though verb voice can promote non-subject arguments to subjects).

Purely form-wise (rather than semantically), the primary axes by which verbs differ are:

• Binyan: derives verbs from a consonantal root; encodes variables such as transitivity, volition, aspect and manner of action.
• Voice: patient-oriented, agent-oriented and applicative.
  • Patient-oriented means that the subject (the unmarked argument, one immediately following it) is a patient (or experiencer of a state or a change of state), while the noun phrase marked with a preposed particle qy is a second argument, often an agent, an instrument, or a cause.
  • Agent-oriented means that the subject (the unmarked argument, one immediately following it) is an "agent", while the noun phrase marked with a preposed particle qy is a second argument, often the patient.
  • The patient oriented stem is from an older stative; the agent-oriented form is from an older tensed verb.
• Agreement: Person/number/gender of participants.
• Mood: Realis and irrealis. The irrealis is used for imperatives, wishes, purpose clauses, and possible future events.

Binyan and voice are realized with stem changes, and agreement inflection is realized by attaching affixes which change the stem in a regular manner. Notably, Netagin has no tense or aspect forms; aspect is more of a lexical feature, and tense is inferred through context or explicitly through time expressions such as "yesterday", "a moment ago", or "later".

• The nonfinite forms are:
  • the transgressive: The transgressive is uninflected and does not take person markers; it refers to the syntactic subject in subject-less subordinate clauses.
  • the verbal noun.

Verb stems

Netagin has 10 binyanim (piččetůl from p-č-t "time"). Diachronically, Netagin binyanim encoded various aspects, aktionsarten or manners of action (rather than mainly voice like Semitic binyanim):

• Binyan 1 (mėcal) verbs are primarily basic iterative, imperfective or habitual actions, including stative verbs ("be cold") and some monotransitives. It is often considered the most basic form.
  • For example, telal means 'to know'
  • dalum = to go by vehicle (uni), as opposed to Binyan 7 dollam = to go by vehicle (multi).
• Binyan 2 (qamcil) consists of verbs denote reflexive/reciprocal action ("get dressed", "kiss each other"), or change of state ("thicken"), or perfectives. It's marked by a q- preformative.
• Binyan 3 (qămacol) contains causatives of transitive verbs ("feed") (and of some Binyan c and Binyan g verbs), or a maintainance of state. It's marked by a q- preformative like Binyan 2 but has a different pattern.
• Binyan 4 (lamcol) is roughly equivalent to the German prefix be- (applicative). It's marked by a l- preformative.
• Binyan 5 (qymmacal) - telic, intensive, momentane or perfective. It's marked by gemination of the first root consonant.
• Binyan 6 (maccol) - atelic, iterative, many multidirectional motion verbs. It's marked by gemination of the second root consonant.
• Binyan 7 (qycmacol) - "X a little, almost X". It's marked by reduplicating the second root consonant.
• Binyan 8 (mescol) - "X in advance, X for oneself" (tends to be used for self-directed, intentional actions). It's marked by a ⟨s⟩ infix.
• Binyan 9 (măcalol) - frequentative, "-le"; "mis-X, over-X". It's marked by lengthening the stem with the last root consonant.
• Binyan 10 (măcacol) verbs express gradual processes and are used for atelic coming motion verbs. It's makred by lengthening with the second root consonant.
  • Ex. hadadex 'warm up (literally or romantically)'.

Here are the stems in the regular gizra, i.e. for most choices of root consonants (for other gzarot, see Netagin/Gzarot):

Binyan	Patient-oriented	Agent-oriented	Applicative	Transgressive	Patient-oriented verbal noun	Agent-oriented verbal noun
1	mėcal	-emcal	-ymyncal	macůl	macil, mycil	jemcel
2	qamcil	-omcėl	-ymyncėl	qamcůl	tamciel	jomcel
3	qămacol	-amcol	-ymyncol	qămacůl	qămcaleš	jamcol
4	lamcol	-ylmocėl	-ylmyncėl	lamcůl	lamculeš	lamcel
5	qymmacal	-ymmėcol	-ymmyncol	qymmacůl	qymmaciel	jimmėcel
6	maccol	-ymaccėl	-ymcyncėl	qymaccůl	tymacciel	jimaccel
7	qycmacol	-ycmacėl	-ycmyncol	qycmacůl	qucmacleš	jicmacel
8	mescol	-ymescėl	-ymsyncol	mescůl	tymesciel	jimescel
9	măcalol	-ymcėlal	-ymnyclol	măcalůl	tymcaliel	jimcėlel
10	măcacol	-ymcėcal	-ymnyccol	măcacůl	tymcaciel	jimcėcel

Person marking

The independent pronoun is used when using an agent-oriented stem.

	1sg	2sg	3sg	1pl		2pl	3pl
				exclusive	inclusive
Subject affixes: mur 'walk (to somewhere)'	murxil 'I walk'	murxib	mur	muršů	muršiem	murni	muro
Object affixes: tėlal 'to know'	lytlal-0 's/he knows me'	bytlal-0	qytlal-0	ťitlal-0	mytlal-0	dytlălo	qytlălo

Irrealis forms always use a regularly determined variant of the agent-oriented stem:

	sg	pl
Intransitives: mur 'walk (to somewhere)'	mur! 'walk thou (thither)!'	muro! 'walk ye!'
Transitives: tėlal 'to know (someone)'	tylal! 'know thou him!'	tylalo! 'know ye him!'

Gzarot

Main article: Netagin/Gzarot

Gzarot are better analyzed as phonetic rules, ig.

Prepositions

Netagin has only one true preposition: the generic oblique preposition my- (corresponding to Lushootseed ʔal). It has the following inflected forms: miel, mied, mi, miť, mynib, mynėď, mis.

Netagins has adverbs to indicate more specific meanings, where English uses prepositions:

• har = generic locative.
  • Qalam-ši har my-tar·al? (be_at.3SG.M=Q LOC OBL-house-1SG) = 'Is it in my house?'
• inside
• outside
• up
• down
• left
• right
• in
• out
• across, beyond
• north
• NE
• east
• SE
• south
• SW
• north
• NW

Derivation

Noun patterns in Netagin are called qehtůnůl 'builders'.

• Noun patterns: 1a23, 1ė23, 1o23, 1a22u3, 1a2a3, 1a2o3, la12u3, 1a2a3, 1a2e3, 1ů2a3, 1i2a3, 1i2i3, 1i2u3
• 1a22u3 = adjective relating to personal qualities
• be12ů3 = agent noun
• 1a2a3ė, 1a2i3ė, 1a2u3ė = nouns
• 1i22e3 = resultatives
• 1a22ė3 = tendency/quality of X
• 1y22a3 = degree/measure
• -in = adjective suffix
• -ům = augmentative (source of -om in Naeng and Eevo)
• -ůn (f) = abstract noun, collective
• 1a2i3 = quality adjective
• 2o2a3 = resultative adjective
• 2e2ů3 = event
• qi12u3 = event
• tu12a3 (< *tūCCaC < *tawuCCaC)
  • Tumhan is derived from m-h-n/tuCCaC
• qi12a3/qi12ė3 = instrument
• ba12ie3/ba12a3 = profession
• ty12a3ė/ty12e3ė = process
• vy12u3 = patient noun
• vy12ů3 = resultative noun
• vysa12ie3 = place noun

Syntax

Like Lushotoseed, Netagin has focus-first or predicate-first word order, which is often realized as VSO order.

Case marking

The particle qy marks the "most relevant" non-subject argument of the verb. For agent-oriented verbs this is the patient; for patient-oriented verbs this is the agent.

Conjunctions

todo: when, before, after, while (relative tense)

• qi = and, also, so
  • from qaj = indeed; yes, aye; mirative particle, like Biblical Hebrew הנה
• mal = or (both inclusive and exclusive or)
• ďem = or (can only be used for xor)
• ba = not
• bůr = because; lest (< *bār < *ba=qar not=EMPH 'is it not true that...')
• bůrbymiek = because (etym. not=EMPH 2SG.know)
• lynoj = although
• lynojačir = although
• vyzeal = but
• daja = but
• qatie = if
• vean = that (complementizer)
• he (ve-word) = that (relativizer)

Wackernagel clitics

These conjunctions are unstressed clitics that come in second position. They attach to the emphatic form of the pronoun if the subject is a pronoun.

• =me = waw-consecutive (used for each event in a narrative sequence of events; often implies past tense)
• =ča = or
• =qar = (poetic) for
• =hie = interrogative or "if"
• =miek = like German ja

Inflected conjunctions

These conjunctions may take pronominal inflections, taking the pronoun suffix for the subject.

Negation

In prose, a clause is negated by adding ba before the verb and using the particle duk. It combines with ve-series determiners to form de-series determiners; de is used before the absolutive constituent.

• Ba qylxar duk. = He is not growing.
• Ba qytarrea de pyžal. = The dog does not bark.
• Ba qylmea va vůš da myzuj. (NEG 3SG.N-eat-3SG.N VE.N child NEG.ABS-VE.N fruits) = The child does not eat fruit.

Ba also translates "no".

Questions

Yes-no questions are formed by changing the determiner ne of the noun being asked about to ve. The particle qu may optionally be added to the beginning.

Lečar ne qama. = Mother is at home.

(Qu) lečar ve qama? = Is Mother at home?

Answering yes-no questions in the positive may use the word qaj 'indeed' or repeat the focused constituent.

- (Qu) lečar vea qama? - Qaj/Lečar. = - Is Mother at home? - Yes.

Wh-questions are formed by putting the appropriate interrogative word at the beginning, and using the same determiner change.

Jos ve qama? = Where is Mother?

Jal ve miešda? = What (lit. Who) is your name?

Translating "to be"

Netagin translates the following seven senses of English "be" with distinct constructions:

• "is-a" (membership in a class): Y ne X = "X is a Y"
• "is-the" (equality): rieh ne X ne Y "X is Y" (implies that both X and Y are definite)
• "there exists": qaj ne X = "There exists X"
• "is + location": [lėčar] ne xib X = "X is [home]" (lit. "home is X's location")
• "is (going to) + destination": Lėčar ne abev X = 'X is going home' (lit. "home is X's thither")
• "is (coming from) + source": Tumhan ne rahov X = 'X is from Tumhan' (lit. "Tumhan is X's thence")
• "is + ADJ": [badej] X = "X [is big]"

Possession

The h-possessive ("X has a Y") is formed with the existence construction, applied to the genitive phrase "X's Y". So to say "I have a book" one literally says "There is a book of mine":

Qaj ne padudal. (MIR DET.M book-1SG)

The b-possessive ("X belongs to Y" etc.): The noun gáqem can be used in a possessive construction:

láqmal na žiri. = The sword is mine (lit. is my possession).

Alternatively, the possessive construction "X is Y's X[head noun in X]" can be used:

Žirjal na žiri. = The sword is mine. (lit. The sword is my sword)

Relative clauses

Balanced relative clauses

For balanced relative clauses, Netagin has the relativizer he. Netagin restricts relative clause syntax in that the head must be a direct object of the relative clause (if necessary, after taking the applicative form of the verb).

nea páles hea sadmurxil - the cake that I made

Only subjects and direct objects can be relativized directly. Relativizing oblique objects requires using the applicative voice:

ni rycům hi qypymlakvil - the fork that I eat with

Possessors also use the applicative strategy. However, if the verb already has an object, the verb's object affix agrees with the original object, not the relativized noun.

nea jove hea qytymlalxil (*sytymlalxil) ne qeb

DET girl REL appl-3SG.M-know.1SG DET father

the girl whose father I know

Comparative objects cannot be relativized in any way, at least in prose Netagin:

• Comparing verbs: the man that he(i) gave more to the poor than = "The man whose giving to the poor he(i) exceeded/did_better" or "the man who gave less to the poor than him(i)"
• Comparing NPs: the team that we ate more apples than = "The team whose eating of the apple we exceeded"
• For comparison of adjectives, Netagin can express the only student I am taller than, for example, as "the only student shorter than me", or "the only student whose tallness I exceed", using one of the above constructions.
• For comparison of adverbs, again the auxiliary verb corresponding to the adverb is used with either the transgressive or the verbal noun of the lexical verb. The auxiliary can take applicatives and direct objects: the only student I can jump higher than = "the only student REL him-APPL-do_better-1SG jump.TRGR"(pseudogloss)

The pyšme vean "such that" + resumptive pronoun construction is always available in late Classical Netagin. The applicative has been lost in Modern Netagin vernaculars, which instead use the gap strategy, like Southeast Asian languages. Internally headed relative clauses are restricted to poetry, even in Classical Netagin.

Deranked relative clauses

Netagin also has deranked relative clauses, which uses possessed verbal nouns and mirror similar constructions in Lushootseed (cf. English the weapon of your choosing). The possessor of such a verbal noun is always the patient. This construction must be used exactly when the subject is the head.

ni myzuj bi qylmie viel 'the fruit that I eat' has a deranked relative clause counterpart: ni myzuj lamjal (DET fruit-3SG eat/VN-1SG.POSS 'the fruit of my eating'); however this means 'the fruit that eats me'.

Complement clauses

Balanced complement clauses: nar/var + CLAUSE

Dymiek nar dyktie viel = You know that I love you; (Qu) dymiek var dyktie viel? = Do you know that I love you?

Deranked complement clauses: na/va + poss(subj)-VN + subject + my + secondary argument

Dymiek na lykotie mied = You know that I love you (lit. my love for you)

Time clauses

'when (conjunction)' = toj

'before' = hamet

'after' = lahed

'as soon as' = ŋrůb

Conditional clauses

• =hie = if (realis)
• =ŋo = if (counterfactual)

Reason clauses

• ŋahed = since
• bůr = because; lest (< *bār < *ba=qar not=EMPH 'is it not true that...')
• bůrbymiek = because (etym. not=EMPH 2SG.know)

Purpose clauses

'So that' can be expressed with qi 'and' + irrealis verb (Biblical Hebrew has a similar clause structure).

Circumstantial clauses

For example, the Latin phrase Quaerendo invenietis 'Seek and ye shall find' can be translated using the transgressive:

Hydůp qavvylono.

seek/TRGR 3SG.N-IRR/find-2PL

Look for it and find it. (More literally: [By] seeking, you will find it. or [By] seeking, find it.)

Information structure

A regular independent clause is of the form

[focus] [other constituents].

A topicalized clause is of the form

[regular clause referring to the topic] [topic].

Sometimes the particle miek (from bymiek 'you know') may be used in second position for extra emphasis, or to connote "I think you'll agree that..." (like German ja).

Vocabulary

Verbs of motion

Netagin does not have exact equivalents for the English verbs "go", "carry", or "bring". Netagin motion verbs vary along two dimensions: one dimension is the method or direction of transport and one dimension is the telicity of the verb. Unidirectional, or telic, motion verbs express one-time motion towards a destination, either away from or towards the speaker. Multidirectional, or atelic, verbs express undirected motion, repeated directed motion, or back-and-forth motion. The directionality is usually expressed by binyan change, but is sometimes expressed through suppletion. Note that some intransitive-transitive syncretism occurs, but this isn't an issue as verbs themselves have intransitive and transitive conjugations.

go vs. come in atelic?

Meaning	Telic, "go"	Telic, "come"	Atelic, "go"	Atelic, "come"
to go by foot, to walk	mir (Binyan 1)	mur (Binyan 2)	vaččol (Binyan 6)	văčačol (Binyan 10)
to go with a land vehicle	daluk (Binyan 1)	qadlok (Binyan 2)	qydalok (Binyan 3)	dălalok (Binyan 10)
to ride, to mount (trans.)	qapcea (Binyan 3)	qyppacea (Binyan 5)	pecea (Binyan 1)	păcacea (Binyan 10)
to go in	xapul (Binyan 1)	qaxpol (Binyan 2)	xappol (Binyan 6)	xăpapol (Binyan 10)
to go out; to rise (of heavenly bodies and other inanimate beings)	pakuš (Binyan 1)	qapkoš (Binyan 2)	pakkoš (Binyan 6)	păkakoš (Binyan 10)
to set (of heavenly bodies) to fall (of precipitation)	šabuď (Binyan 1)	qašboď (Binyan 2)	šabboď (Binyan 6)	šibaboď (Binyan 10)
to run	liž (Binyan 1)	luž (Binyan 2)	lavvož (Binyan 6)	lăvavož (Binyan 10)
to swim	nehab (Binyan 1)	qanhob (Binyan 2)	nahob (Binyan 6)	năhahob (Binyan 10)
to fly	kall (Binyan 1)	qakoll (Binyan 2)	kallol (Binyan 6)	kaslol (Binyan 8)
to float on water to go with a small boat, to row	qivvahat (Binyan 5)	qavhot (Binyan 2)	qyvahot (Binyan 3)	văhahot (Binyan 10)
to flow (of a fluid or current)	behal (Binyan 1)	qabhol (Binyan 2)	bahol (Binyan 6)	băhahot (Binyan 10)
to roll	mall (Binyan 1)	qamoll (Binyan 2)	mallol (Binyan 6)	maslol (Binyan 8)
to climb	ďaxep (Binyan 1)	qaďxop (Binyan 2)	ďaxxop (Binyan 6)	ďăxaxop (Binyan 10)
to jump	bacc (Binyan 1)	qabocc (Binyan 2)	baccoc (Binyan 6)	bascoc (Binyan 8)
to crawl	zir (Binyan 1)	zur (Binyan 2)	zarzor (Binyan 6)	zăvavor (Binyan 10)
to fall (of animates) to go down (of inanimates)	namea (Binyan 1)	qanmea (Binyan 2)	nammea (Binyan 6)	nămamea (Binyan 10)
to dive, go into water	sadea (Binyan 2)	qasdea (Binyan 2)	saddea (Binyan 6)	sădadea (Binyan 10)
to carry, bring (on foot)	lapsol (Binyan 4)	qapsol (Binyan 2)	passol (Binyan 6)	păsasol (Binyan 10)
to carry, bring (using a vehicle) (trans.)	qiddalok (Binyan 6)	qadlok (Binyan 2)	dallok (Binyan 6)	dălalok (Binyan 10)
to carry, bring in	laxpol (Binyan 5)	qyxxapol (Binyan 5)	xappol (Binyan 6)	xăpapol (Binyan 10)
to carry, bring out	lapdoš (Binyan 4)	qyppadoš (Binyan 5)	paddoš (Binyan 6)	pădadoš (Binyan 10)
to pull, drag (trans.)	kačol (Binyan 1)	qakčol (Binyan 2)	qykačol (Binyan 3)	kăčacol (Binyan 10)
to drive (an animal or a vehicle), lead	paďor (Binyan 1)	qapďor (Binyan 2)	paďďor (Binyan 6)	păďaďor (Binyan 10)

• Mir vyŋpielek Săvarxal 'He got into / will get into Săfarchal University'
• Vaččol vyŋpielek Săvarxal 'He used to attend / attends / will continue to attend Săfarchal University'

Poetic Classical Netagin

Classical Netagin poetry uses meters similar to Hebrew piyyut meters. For example, the marnin aka hazaj meter is SLLLSLLL, where S must be an open syllable with a reduced vowel (underlyingly either an ă /ə/ or an y /ɨ/) and L is any heavy syllable (i.e. having a non-reduced vowel). Poetry from the Classical Netagin era is replete with allusions to older Classical Netagin literature (much like how Hebrew piyyutim use Tanakh allusions and Classical Chinese literature allude to older Classical Chinese works); there are some poems that are entirely "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra".

Poetic Netagin was a separate register from prose Classical Netagin, and has the following characteristics:

• Vowel reductions that don't occur in prose Netagin may be used for metrical purposes. (think "ne3im shimkhem").
• Determiners omitted
• "Topic VO" and "VO topic" possible as word orders
• Negative ba used without duk

Gibberish

Hazaj meter:
Tyhům šetlej ry-čennevear,
Kadob pehlať qa-vahmavear,
Qale'ad tu pa-nojjannem,
Hypiere žůj vyto šotnem.

Shakhar Avakeshkha:
Takum pyčie takum | paruj pălen qakhoj,
Qeki šikov leťin | qabsan typien lahoj.

Yigdal meter:
Peslam myleptak ďah mynej ve'ůx,
Mireať čipa korin pa-ruze'ůx.
Dolper qyniv neliem tyja tožie,
Bon niem sy-daškavin lyma pežie.

Piyyut meter + luc bat:
Lavympălič kasvo,
Cymil ťoleŋ šivo tamlis,
Meri tyvůŋ qollis,
Qyher malšam xylis banhie!
Mi-ďpal, ny roxep hie,
Pyqiž baťům vyhie vocem.

Trivia

A common language game in Netagin, called ne bric Pălohin 'the marine demon language', consists of reversing the consonants of the consonantal root of every content word:

Rekăšo ne qalban šur my-talkieč lahůn. -> Šekăro ne qanbal ruš my-tačkiel nahůl.

bric Pălohin -> crib Hălopin

Consonant reversal is less trivial when weak consonants are present: talea 'a musical term' becomes jlt/1a2i3 = jelit. Certain patterns are only used for certain weaknesses (like Hebrew: qry -> taqrit, yry -> torah, yrš -> torešet), so it's always a challenge!

Sample texts

The Round Table

(The Shalaian was just a draft)

Modern Std. Netagin

Rekăšo ne qalban šur my-talkieč lahůn. Qysvăxo ne Saxier Băravied: Hadir vyni?

Original (Classical Wdm.)

Ngiiθ dur se taχ χaaθ mogor. Tăbiits φin Pĭda Brăwid: "Măra łĭnam?"

Mi-ăngnuung căχθaaθ năθa emrĭtsal sen doon: "Șrüχ te-stiiw: taχ mognas, θaφ te-müts θraaφ, liw stăliiw, θaφ te-müts mălsaaχ, taχ mălüüts, doon tălaχ."

Tăbits φin Pĭda Brăwid: "Ǎna mee ra, srü hĭdeen croθ năθa?"

Eφθooc φin χaaθ, "Op cănga, φin Pĭda: tsor pădiχ φnărtaang, te ămsaχ păχwădiχ năθa ya φin croθ φi!"

Esngim φin Pĭda Brăwid șa φin χaaθ șa-ngiil, "Ăruy șa-χaaθ ses tsărüng te sen θăpal φănaw φănaw."

English

Once, six children were in a round table. Master Brăwied asked them a question: "How many people are you?"

While five children were still counting, one child called out: "Sixty-three! Specifically: 6 individuals, 15 teams of two, 20 teams of 3, 15 teams of 4, 6 teams of 5, and one team of 6."

Then Master Brăwied asked: "Well then, how many people will be there if another person joins the group?"

The child replied: "Isn't that obvious, Master? We'll have all of the old teams, as well as another set of teams with the new person!"

The Master praised the child, saying, "This child has wisdom and understanding indeed."

Phrasebook

• Dyktie viel = I love you.
• Dyršid viel = I admire you.