Naeng/Classical

Classical Wiobian
wüöbem Mutz
Pronunciation	[/wyːøbəm muts/]
Created by	IlL
Extinct	Developed into Early Middle Wiobian in 400 v.C.
Language family	Gamedan Wiobic Classical Wiobian
Language codes
ISO 639-3	qwb

Modern Standard Wiobian
Wiob-Hien
Pronunciation	[/ʑù ɕèn/]
Created by	IlL
Native speakers	70 million (2200 v.C.)
Language family	Gamedan Wiobian Modern Standard Wiobian
Language codes
ISO 639-3	qwb

Sandbox
Lexicon
Wiobian verse
About Wiobian music
engunn&fiungs mieh Wäls tur Wiob-Hien! ("View this page in Wiobian!")
Diese Seite auf Deutsch ansehen

The term Wiobian language(s) collectively refers to a group of closely related but mutually unintelligible Gamedan languages, spoken in Wiobermin, that descend from Classical Wiobian. It is a subgroup of (and nearly synonymous with) the Wiobic languages.

In-universe, Wiobian phonology and grammar has been greatly influenced by the language's position in the Jengeric Sprachbund, including Naengic languages and other languages. Wiobian has been heavily influenced by unrelated neighboring mono- or sesquisyllabic languages and underwent an extensive creolization-like process (cf. this) since Gamedan speakers first arrived at the plains of the Ihumber River (Especially by immigrant speakers of these neighboring languages who arrived for reasons of trade, etc.), and eventually itself took part in tonogenesis. As a result, Modern Standard Wiobian has 5 tones and is much more phonotactically restricted than Classical Wiobian.

In the real world, Wiobian and the Jengeric Sprachbund are inspired by the German language and East Asian tonal languages, exploiting the similarities between them, for example minor syllables in both German and Old Chinese. (Note to self: also cf. Mizo.) Wiobian in particular was created out of the need to justify the peculiarities of the Trây script. Also, instead of compounds being written as one continuous word I'm trying hyphens and ampersands. Ampersands, you say?!? It's a full on Bad Conlanging Idea, "imagine a future where English sounds like Chinese."

Todo

• DEVELOP PRINCIPAL PARTS
• Pei-käh-kiob, in gerbänk-klers iete! (bi-ga-dźu, yn fạng-dlái ed!)
• Mäßtes riet! - Greetings!
• Wiob-Schriof-Ahm-Hölsch "Wiobian-style collection-piece" - Wiobian Suites

Notes on notation

• ⁱ - denotes i-umlaut of the root.
• ^u - denotes u-umlaut of the root.

Orthography

See also: Wiobian/Script.

The Wiobian alphabet

Wiobian is written in a native alphabet named Trabe&Galster after the first two letters Trabe and Galst, also used to write other languages such as Trây. The spelling rules reflect Classical Wiobian pronunciation; subsequent sound changes have made the relationship between orthography and pronunciation more opaque. (Think Tibetan, English or French spelling.)The transliteration of Wiobian used in this article attempts to reflect the Wiobian orthographical spelling standardized near the end of the Classical Wiobian period and re-standardized in the modern period in 1811 v.C. using classical texts and internal reconstruction from Wiobian topolects (especially utilizing Whetmerish, known for its conservatism in unstressed prefixes). Another factor in the orthography is that literacy was limited to the upper class. Thus often the elites spoke one language while writing in a fossilized form of the language, so that e.g. case endings were still written even after most of them dropped out in the spoken language. The Classical Wiobian they wrote was, however, written in the stricter syntax of the vernacular.

Modern Standard Wiobian employs consonant alternations triggered by originally unstressed prefixes. One difficulty is that originally unstressed prefixes often don't change a word's pronunciation anymore, because the particular initial consonant is immune to the mutation caused by the prefix:

• mezz - 'wait'
• bemezz - 'long for'

are both pronounced /məi̯k˥/. The homophony was solved by compounding nouns and verbs with other words to disambiguate them, creating a wealth of compounds, as in Chinese.

Letter names

Most letter names for consonants are derived from Proto-Netagin. Vowels, on the other hand, use the vowel itself as the name.

• T: Trabe < *tenābōˀ 'jaws'
• G: Galst < *gałṭon 'ground'
• K: Kohl < *kōllon 'bird'
• I
• W: Wier < *wiˀron 'head'
• N: Nark < *nāraqon 'cascade'
• U
• Ü
• Q: Krit < *qarītis 'coast'
• L: Lecken < *leqnon 'river'
• P: Put < *pūton 'ox'
• Þ: Þesch < *þełkon 'tongue'
• Ḥ: Ang < *ˀangon 'face'
• C: Engarms-Ang 'emphasizing Ang'
• E
• Z: Zeib < *ƛeybon 'harp'
• J: Jamm < *yanpon 'house' (Netagin ˀáb)
• F: Fitt 'worm'
• O
• Ö
• M: Mespul < *mezpūlos 'bridge'
• D: Dachel < *dakl 'tree'
• Ɉ: Ɉruke < *λirūkōs 'lips'
• R: Rift < *ripṭon 'throat'
• S: Schnade < *łinādōs 'gates'
• H: Hammel < *hamlon 'flower'
• Ƕ: Ƕieg < *huyegon 'wall'
• B: Bruog < *barōgon 'knot'
• ẞ: ẞicht < *siqdon 'road'
• A
• Ä
• Å
• Y: Jaḥ < *yaqqon 'arm'
• V: Weim < *waymon 'lightning'

dvandva = þesebaßt

Capitalization

Wiobian orthography has capital and lowercase letters. Wiobian capitalizes all nouns, but not necessarily words that are in the beginning of the sentence; this is reflected in the Romanization.

Punctuation

The Lusk-Frann ("binding mark") is a hyphen-like symbol used to link genitive nouns to their heads. It is transcribed with a hyphen (-).

The Je-Huy ("je-space"), also called the serializer in English, is used to link coordinated components in compounds and serial verbs. As its name suggests, it also indicates a missing je ('and') in poetry. The serializer is transcribed with an ampersand (&).

Historical phonology

Proto-Gamedan to Proto-Wiobian

• PGam *h-, *ʔ- > *0
• PGam *z > *h
• PGam *s > *ts
• Lateral obstruents become palatal obstruents
• "Grimm's law"
  • PGam plain stops become fricatives
  • PGam voiced stops become aspirated stops
  • PGam ejective stops become voiced stops

Proto-Wiobian to Classical Wiobian

• Uvulars debuccalize
  • Plain uvular stops /q ɢ/ become /ʔ/
  • Plain uvular fricative /χ/ merges with /x/ into /x~h/
  • Exception: *n + C[+uvular] yields Wiobian ng - This is why final -ng is common in Wiobian
• kʷ qʷ > kʷ, xʷ χʷ > xʷ, gʷ ɢʷ > w

Classical Wiobian

A major source for reconstructing the phonology of Classical Wiobian is borrowings from and into neighboring languages with stable and conservative phonologies, such as Trây. Modern Wiobic lects are also an important guide.

Phonotactics

(C)(C)V(C)(C)(C)

Consonants

Classical Wiobian features a greatly simplified system of 23 consonants (comparable to Themsarian, with 22 consonants).

Voiceless plosives could either be aspirated or not - the aspirated allophone was in free variation with the unaspirated one. (Und Achtung Deutschsprachige: Im Wiobischen kommt keine Auslautverhärtung vor! This is because I need more open syllables in Modern Wiobian)

Late Classical Wiobian consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	????	Velar	Labiovelar	Glottal
Nasal		m /m/	n /n/	[ɲ]		ng /ŋ/
Plosive	voiceless	p /p/	t, th /t/		ŧ /tɬ/	k /k/	qu /kʷ/	Ø, -ḥ /ʔ/
	voiced	b /b/	d /d/		đ /dɮ/	g /ɡ/
Fricative		f /f~v/	s /sʰ/, ß /s/		sch /ɧ/	ch /x~ɣ/		h /h/
Affricate		pf /pf/	z /ts/
Trill			r /r/
Approximant			l /l/	j, -y /j/			w, -v /w/

n assimilates before palatal plosives to [ɲ] and before velar plosives to /ŋ/.

A syllable cannot begin with a vowel in Wiobian. The "null" initial in the orthography is actually the glottal stop initial.

In early Classical Wiobian /h/ and /x/ were allophones in free variation.

The gemination sign, transcribed as c, is often used in early classical texts. It acts like the Japanese sokuon symbol: wecl /welː/ 'slide! (2nd person singular)'. By late Classical Wiobian most gemination signs fell into disuse and were replaced with double letters. c only survived as part of the graphemes -ck for long k, and ch [x], which must have been in complementary distribution with h [h] by that time, in view of the fact that Nuß-Duom&Eik lists [h] and [x] as distinct sounds.

All fricatives (namely f, þ, s, (c)h, ƕ) are voiced between voiced segments. The phonemes /θ/ and /ts/ merged into /s/ in late Classical Wiobian; however, only former /θ/ displays the voicing alternation [s~z].

Final geminated /ç/ is written sch.

Vowels

The vowel system is more complex, distinguishing about 9 vowel qualities with length in stressed syllables.

Vowel length was not directly marked on the vowel. In Early Classical Wiobian each vowel had an independent length. This changed in Late Classical Wiobian when vowels before single consonants were lengthened and vowels before two consonants were shortened, so that the orthographic final came to determine vowel length. Thus, Tumm 'bird' and trum 'flat' are respectively pronounced in Early Classical Wiobian /tuːmː/ and /trum/, which in Late Classical Wiobian became /tumː/ and /truːm/. Glottal stop finals were also deleted to trigger compensatory lengthening of the vowel, and final [-h] also disappeared, which is why open long vowels are written with an -h after the vowel.

Classical Wiobian vowels

	Front				Central		Back
	unrounded		rounded
	short	long	short	long	short	long	short	long
Close	i /i/	i /iː/	ü /y/	ü /yː/			u /u/	u /uː/
Close-mid	e /e/	e /eː/	ö /ø/	ö /øː/	e /ə/		o /o/	o /oː/
Open-mid	ä /ɛ/	ä /ɛː/					å /ɔ/	å /ɔː/
Open					a /a/	a /aː/

Diphthongs: au aü ei ia ie io iu uo üö, pronounced as expected.

Umlaut processes

Wiobian history and morphology are affected by umlaut processes. The precise conditions are yet to be determined.

i-umlaut:

• a + i > ä
• e + i > i
• o + i > ö
• u + i > ü
• au + i > aü
• io + i > üö
• ia + i > ie
• iu + i > ü

u-umlaut:

• a(:) + u > å(:)
• e + u > ö
• i + u > ü
• io + u > üö
• iu + u > ü

a-umlaut:

• u + a > o
• i + a > e

Stress

Syllables may have primary or secondary stress. The first syllable of the root is heavily stressed, at the expense of prefixes and endings. The first component of compounds receives primary stress while the subsequent parts receive secondary stress.

Classical Wiobian to Early Middle Wiobian

The development of Classical Wiobian to Middle Wiobian saw tonogenesis and increasing analyticity.

Initials

Classical Wiobian:
Preinitials/Prefixes: C-V-(n/s)-
Initials: s-C-R-

No mutation

C₁[+plosive]-C₂[+obstruent]- > C₂[+obstruent]-

With mutation

V-C > C[+lenition]
N-C > C[+nasalization]
s-C[+obstruent] > C[+obstruent, -voice]
C[+obstruent, -voice]-N > N[-voice]
C[+obstruent, +voice]-N > N[+voice]

Rimes

Stressed environments

Finals after a vowel:

• -b > [-w] + modal
• -f > [-w] + breathy
• -d, -g > + modal
• -þ, -ß, -h, -ch > [-ː] + breathy
• -ɟ > [-j] + modal
• -s > [-j] + breathy
• -l > [-w]/[-j] depending on the vowel + modal
• -r > [-ː] + modal
• -mp > [-m] + glottalized
• -nd > [-n] + glottalized
• -nz > [-ɳ] + glottalized
• -nk > [-ŋ] + glottalized

"Entering tone" finals:

• -p > [-p̚]
• -t > [-t̚]
• -z > [-c̚]
• -k > [-k̚]

Primary stress

This is the part of the Great Wiobian Vowel Shift to Early Middle Wiobian:

/o u/ > /ʊ/
/au ɔː oː/ > /oː/
/uo/ > /uː/
/ɔ/ > /o/
/a/ > /ɔ/
/aː/ > /æː/
/ɛ/ > /æ/ > /a/
/ay/ > /œ̠ː/
/ei/ > /ɪː/

2ndary stress

Not very common, analogized to primary stress due to increasing analyticity. Only occurs with some compound word components that have lost their meaning.

Early Middle Wiobian

The phonological inventory of Middle Wiobian is inferred from rhyme dictionaries, poetry and transcriptions to and from other languages.

Initials

Early Middle Wiobian initials

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	voiceless	/m̥/	/n̥/	/ɲ̊/	/ŋ̊/
	voiced	/m/	/n/	/ɲ/	/ŋ/
Plosive/Affricate	plain	/p/	/t/	/tɕ/	/k/	/ʔ/
	voiced	/b/	/d/	/dʑ/
	aspirated	/pʰ/	/tʰ/	/tɕʰ/	/kʰ/
Fricative	voiceless	/f/	/s/	/ɕ/	/x/
	voiced	/v/	/z/	/ʑ/	/ɣ/
Approximant		/w/	/r/, /r̥/, /l/, /l̥/	/j/

Nuclei

Early Middle Wiobian vowels

	Front				Central		Back
	unrounded		rounded
	short	long	short	long	short	long	short	long
Close		ī /iː/		ǖ /yː/				ū /uː/
Near-close	i /ɪ/	ei /ɪː/	ü /ʏ/				o, u /ʊ/	uo /ʊː/
Close-mid	e /e/	ē /eː/	ö /ø/	ȫ /øː/			å /o/	ō /oː/
Open-mid		ǟ /ɛː/		aü /œ̠ː/			a /ɔ/	å̄ /ɔː/
Open		ā /æː/			ä /a/

Coda consonants

The allowed coda consonants are /p t c k m n ɲ ŋ l r w j/, similar to written Khmer or Mường. Plosive finals are unreleased.

Initial alternations of Early Middle Wiobian

In Middle Wiobian, derivational prefixes have become silent but can trigger four types of initial alternations or mutations. (Stressed/non-silent prefixes are bolded.) Compounding causes mutation too at times.

The following tables show the usual outcomes of alternating environments; they are most valid for instances of initials that come from of simpler onsets. Alternations may be blocked for reflexes of certain complex onsets.

Lenition

This mutation is triggered by the prefixes be-, þe-, ger-, i- when the root begins in an aspirated plosive.

Phoneme	/pʰ/	/tʰ/	/tɬʰ/	/ʈʰ/	/tɕʰ/	/kʰ/
Lenited	/v/	/z/	/l/	/ʐ/	/ʑ/	/ɣ/

Nasalization

This mutation is triggered by the prefixes en- and wen-.

Phoneme	/p/	/pʰ/	/f/	/t/	/tʰ/	/s/	/tɬ/	/tɬʰ/	/ɬ//	/ʈ/	/ʈʰ/	/ʂ/	/tɕ/	/tɕʰ/	/ɕ/	/k/	/kʰ/	/w/	/x/	/ʔ/ < *h, *ʔ	/ʔ/ < *q
Nasalized	/b/	/m/	/v/	/d/	/n/	/z/	/dɮ/	/nˡ/	/l/	/ɖ/	/ɳ/	/ʐ/	/dʑ/	/ɲ/	/ʑ/	/ŋ/			/ɣ/, /ŋ/	/m/ or /n/	/ŋ/

Voicing

This mutation is triggered by the prefixes be-, ge-, ger-, i- when the root begins in certain fricatives.

Phoneme	/f/	/s/ <þ>	/ɫ/*	/ʂ/*	/ɕ/	/x/**
Voiced	/v/	/z/	/l/	/ʐ/	/ʑ/	/ɣ/

* Only consistently affected by productive prefixes and compounding (e.g. unstressed prefixes are not productive).
** Has exceptions, where the word takes the last consonant of the prefix as the initial.

Devoicing

This mutation is triggered by the prefixes deß in words beginning with nasals, resonants or aspirated plosives.

Phoneme	/m/	/pʰ/	/n/	/tʰ/	/nˡ/	/tɬʰ/	/l/	/ɳ/	/ʈʰ/	/ʐ/	/ɲ/	/tɕʰ/	/j/	/ŋ/	/kʰ/	/w/
Devoiced	/m̥/	/p/	/n̥/	/t/	/ɬ/	/tɬ/	/ɬ/	/ɳ̊/	/ʈ/	/ʂ/	/ɲ̊/	/tɕ/	/ɕ/	/ŋ̊/	/k/	/x/

Tones

Every stressed syllable has tone. There are three tones in syllables ending in a vowel or resonant:

• modal tone, counterpart to the Chinese level tone
• glottalized tone, counterpart to the Chinese rising tone
• breathy tone, counterpart to the Chinese departing tone

The breathy tone is used to inflect nouns for case:

Püll /pʰyw/ 'column (nominative)' > Pülls /pʰyjʰ/ 'column (dative)'

Fran 'mark (nominative)' /freːɐ̯n/ > Frans /freːɐ̯ʰn/ 'mark (dative)'

No tone change occurs:

• when a noun was originally a plural noun and thus takes the -ens ending for the dative

Þelort /loːt/ 'era, time (nominative)' > Þelortens /loːt/ 'era (dative)'

• when the noun already has breathy tone

Klisch /klijʰ/ 'prince (nominative)' > Klisches /klijʰ/ 'prince (dative)'

Early Middle Wiobian to Late Middle Wiobian

Initials

palatal > alveolar
Cr > retroflex
Cl > lateral
TONE SPLIT

Vowels

/oː/ > /o/
/uː/ > /ʉ/
/ʊ/ > /u/
/æː/ > /ja/ > /jɔ/
/œ̠ː/ > /ɛ/
/̠ɛː/ > /jæ/ > /ja/
/eː/ > /je/
/ø/ > /ə/
/øː/ > /ø/
/yː/ > /jy/
/iː/ > /ji/
/ie ia io iu yø/ > /jə jɛ jo ju jø/
/ɪː/ > /i/

Coda

/-c/ > /-jk/
/-ɲ/ > /-jŋ/
/-l/ > /-w/ resp. /-j/ depending on [conditions]
/-r/ > /-ː/ resp. /-j/

Late Middle Wiobian

Initials

Late Middle Wiobian initials

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Lateral	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		/m/		/n/	/nˡ/	/ɳ/	/ɲ/	/ŋ/
Plosive/Affricate	plain	/p/	/ts/	/t/	/tɬ/	/ʈʂ/	/tɕ/	/k/	/ʔ/
	aspirated	/pʰ/	/tsʰ/	/tʰ/	/tɬʰ/	/ʈʂʰ/	/tɕʰ/	/kʰ/
Fricative		/f/	/s/		/ɬ/	/ʂ/	/ɕ/	/χ/
Approximant		/w/			/l/	/ʐ/	/j/

Vowels

Late Middle Wiobian vowels

	Front				Central		Back
	unrounded		rounded
	plain	iotated	plain	iotated	plain	iotated	plain	iotated
Close	i, ei /ɪ/	ī /jɪ/	ü /ʏ/	ǖ /jʏ/	ū, uo /ʉ/		o, ō, u /u/	iu /ju/
Close-mid	e /e/	ē /je/	ȫ /ø/	üö /jø/	ö /ə/		au, å, å̄, ō /o/	io /jo/
Open-mid	aü /ɛ/	ǟ /jɛ/					a /ɔ/	ia /jɔ/
Open					ä /a/	ā /ja/

After a retroflex consonant iotated vowels lose their iotation, and /i/ resp. /y/ are realized as [ɨ] resp. [ʉ].

Modern Greater Wiobian

Phonotactics

(C)V(C)^T

Words are mainly monosyllabic, occasionally trochees.

Compounds are left-headed and trochaic.

Initials

The following 'Wiobian pinyin' could be used to represent Modern Greater Wiobian words phonetically:

Tones: Cantonese tones, numbered as in Cantonese

Initials:
labials: ƀ /ɓ/ b /p/ p /pʰ/ m /m/ f /f/ pf /pf/
dentals: đ /ɗ/ d /t/ t /tʰ/ n /n/ s /s/ z /z/
laterals: dź /tɬ/ ć /tɬʰ/ ś /ɬ/ l /l/ ł /ɫ/
retroflexes: dż /tʂ/ cz /tʂʰ/ sz /ʂ/ ż /ʐ/ nz /ɳ/
palatals: dzi /tɕ/ ci /tɕʰ/ si /ɕ/ zi /ʑ/ ni /ɲ/ j /j/
velars: g /k/ k /kʰ/ ch /x/ ng /ŋ/
laryngeals: (null) /ʔ/ h /h/

Vowels: a /a/ e /ɛ/ i /i/ o /ɔ/ u /u/ y /ɨ/ ơ /œ/ ư /y/

Finals: -p /p/ -t /t/ -k /k/ -m /m/ -n /n/ -ng /ŋ/ -i /j/ -u /w/

Modern Standard Wiobian initials

		Labial	Alveolar	Lateral	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		/m/	/n/		/ɳ/	/ɲ/	/ŋ/
Plosive	plain	/p/	/t/				/k/	/ʔ/
	aspirated	/pʰ/	/tʰ/				/kʰ/
	implosive	/ɓ/	/ɗ/
Affricate	plain	/pf/		/tɬ/	/ʈʂ/	/tɕ/
	aspirated			/tɬʰ/	/ʈʂʰ/	/tɕʰ/
Fricative	plain	/f/	/s/	/ɬ/	/ʂ/	/ɕ/	/x/	/h/
	voiced	/v/	/z/		/ʐ/	/ʑ/
Approximant				/l/, /ɫ/		/j/

Rimes

A whole rime dictionary would be necessary to describe all the rimes, since the rules are so complex/irregular. Sorry

Nucleus

Modern Standard Wiobian monophthongs

	Front		Central	Back
	unrounded	rounded
Close	/i/	/y/	[ɨ]1	/u/
Mid	/e/	/ø/		/o/
Open			/a/

¹ Allophone of /i/ and /y/ after dental and retroflex initials.
² Allophone of /æ/ after retroflex consonants.

Short vowels (which only occured in closed syllables) are fairly stably preserved.

Umlaut

• short u /u/ i-umlauts to short ü /y/
• io /y/? i-umlauts to ie /i/?
• ia /jæ/ i-umlauts to ie /i/?
• short o /o/ i-umlauts to short ö /e/
• short a /æ/ i-umlauts to short ä /e/
• short e /ə/ i-umlauts to short i /i/
• uo i-umlauts to üö
• short a /æ/ u-umlauts to short å /o/

Coda consonants

Only the following coda consonants may occur: [p t k m n ŋ j w].

Tones

Stressed syllables may have one of 6 tones.

1. high level/high falling tone (˥)
2. mid rising tone (˧˥) < LMW high breathy
3. mid level tone (˧) < LMW high glottalized,
4. low falling tone < LMW low modal
5. low rising tone (˩˧) < LMW low breathy
6. low level tone (˨˩) < LMW low glottalized

Example syllable: /maj/ File:Wiobian-tones.ogg

1. /maj˥/ (mai) Smörr: liver
2. /maj˧˥/ (mái) Kmas: border/edge
3. /maj˨/ (mài) enber: memorize
4. /maj˩˧/ (mải) Mels: lightning
5. /maj˨˩/ (mại) enbelt: provoke

Grammar

Parts of speech

Classical Wiobian inflected nouns with endings. Case/number and personal endings were eventually elided or turned into tone distinctions. Writers were nevertheless expected to write all case and personal endings, until the 1811 v.C. re-standardization of the orthography abolished personal endings as well as most number/case endings.

Nouns

Gender

Nouns have two genders, animate and inanimate. Nouns of each gender take their respective verb endings and pronouns in Classical Wiobian; pronoun agreement is preserved to some extent into Modern Wiobian.

Some Proto-Wiobic declensions

• stremja 'throng, crowd' (Wiobian Strimm, pl. Strimme)
  

Singular
NOM: *stremja
ACC: *stremjaz
GEN: *stremj
DAT: *stremjaç
PRED: *stremjaz
Plural
NOM: *stremjō
ACC: *stremjan
GEN: *stremjōh
DAT: *stremjanç
PRED: *stremjō

• katsi 'leaf' (Wiobian Käße, pl. Kaße)
  

Singular
NOM: *katsi
ACC: *katsiz
GEN: *katsiʔ
DAT: *katsiç
PRED: *katsjaz
Plural
NOM: *kats
ACC: *katsin
GEN: *katsēh
DAT: *katsinç
PRED: *kats

• hleʔk 'animal' (Wiobian Schleck, Schlöcke)
  

Singular:
NOM: *hleʔk
ACC: *hleʔkez
GEN: *hleʔk
DAT: *hleʔkeç
PRED: *hleʔkaz
Plural
NOM: *hleʔkū
ACC: *hleʔkūn
GEN: *hleʔkūh
DAT: *hleʔkūnç
PRED: *hleʔkū

Number

Classical Wiobian has many morphological ways of forming plurals, some of which may be combined.

• -e suffix
• -er collective suffix
• -(e)t suffix
• Þe- prefix
• ⁱ "de-umlauting" the singular stem (Þrömm 'wall' > Þromm 'walls')
• ^u-e u-umlaut

The plural form of a noun was unpredictable. Thus many speakers, especially non-Gamedan speaking foreigners, found this system chaotic and opted for the most common number used, usually singular for highly individualized nouns and plural for collective nouns. Thus Modern Wiobian has grammatical number only for some common nouns referring to people.

Case endings

In Classical Wiobian, nouns are also inflected in 5 cases:

• Nominative: subject
• Accusative: direct object, some adverbial expressions
• Dative: indirect object, some adverbial expressions, possessor after Classical Wiobian
• Genitive: it's your bog-standard genitive case.
  • The genitive is often "hyphenated" to the word it modifies because of its ambiguity. In particular, the genitive noun must be hyphenated to the head noun whenever the genitive noun is not modified by an adjective. Cf. similar rules for compounds in Trây.
• Predicative: predicate

In Modern Wiobian, there is no number and case inflection (the dative remains in fossilized expressions).

Wiobian declension
Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	[SINGULAR STEM]-Ø	[PLURAL STEM]-Ø
Accusative	[SINGULAR STEM]-e	[PLURAL STEM]-n
Genitive	[SINGULAR STEM]-Ø	[PLURAL STEM]-(e)
Dative	[SINGULAR STEM]-s	[PLURAL STEM]-ns
Predicative	[SINGULAR STEM]-e	[PLURAL STEM]-Ø

Wiobian uses the indefinite article ƕiem 'one' for indefinite singular nouns. This is one of the only ways number is still indicated in modern Wiobian.

Adjectives

Adjectives may take the same case endings as nouns or, more commonly, take no ending. Adjectives in the predicative position, however, must have the predicative ending.

Degree

Wiobian uses analytic constructions for degrees of adjectives.

In Classical Wiobian, to form the comparative one attaches the semi-serial verb &kloh ('cross') to the predicative form of the adjective. (The same applies to verbs.) The standard of comparison is in the accusative. The superlative is identical to the comparative.

in biule&klöhen mie Winke.

[ʔin ˌbiuləˈkløːən ˈmiə ˌwiŋkə]

1SG.NOM just-PRED=cross/PRES-1SG this-ACC.SG mortal-ACC.SG

I am more upright than this man.

Classical Wiobian forms the negative comparative by using the adverb quäs hioleng after the finite verb. The standard of comparison is in the dative.

ofel in dräzzzime quäs hioleng mis.

[ˈʔoːvəl ˈʔiːn ˈdrɛcːˌciːmə ˈkʷɛːç ˌhioˈleŋː ˈmiːç]

behold 1SG.NOM sinful-PRED less below this-DAT.SG

Indeed, I am less sinful than he.

Pronouns

The full case inflection is still upheld for personal pronouns in Modern Wiobian.

Personal pronouns

Person →	1		2
Number →	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Case ↓
Nominative	in	ƕind	i	lind
Accusative	inne	ƕien	ie	lien
Genitive	inno	ƕio	io	lio
Dative	ins	ƕiens	ies	liens
Predicative	inte	ƕinte	iete	linte

Wiobian lacks true third-person pronouns. The closest equivalents are the demonstratives mi 'this' and a 'that'.

In Modern Wiobian in 'I' is often used when referring to an object or place central to the deixis or discourse, "the way a camera would talk". It can also refer to an object or person with which the speaker identifies with intimately or closely. (Of course, the actual "me" is presumed to be outside of the domain of discourse.) Examples:

• for a trivial example, the player character in a video game
• when describing what happened to one's friend or pet
• as an empathy-signalling device.

'''''

Whoa, your professor was such a prick to you [lit. me]!

Verbs

Verbs have stem forms for present, past and verbal noun which are not always distinct. (A similar but more well preserved system is found in Themsarian). Verbs are often additionally marked by auxiliary words to disambiguate the tense, because most forms are identical or very similar.

The three principal parts are thus the present imperative, the past 2s form and the verbal noun.

The citation form is the present stem, which is also the short 2nd person singular imperative in Classical Wiobian.

Jussive endings are only found in Classical Wiobian.

Personal endings

In Classical Wiobian, the verb is also inflected for person.

Here the superscript ⁱ denotes umlaut of stems of "athematic" verbs.

Imperative endings
	Singular	Plural
1	-	[PRESENT]-n
2	[PRESENT]-(t)	[PRESENT]-l

Present tense endings
	Singular	Plural
1	[PRESENT]i-n	[PRESENT]-m(e)
2	[PRESENT]i-e	[PRESENT]-l
3.m	[PRESENT]-n	[PRESENT]i-e
3.f	[PRESENT]i-s

Jussive endings
	Singular	Plural
1	[PRESENT]i-n	[PRESENT]-m(e)
3.m	[PRESENT]-m(e)	[PRESENT]i-e
3.f	[PRESENT]i-se

Past tense endings
	Singular	Plural
1	[PAST]i-n	[PAST]-m(e)
2	[PAST]-e	[PAST]-l
3.m	[PAST]-n	[PAST]i-e
3.f	[PAST]-Ø

Formation of verbal principal parts

Quiet! I'm figuring out the morphology to produce the principal parts

A combination of redup, ablaut, infixing and prefixing... huh sounds a lot like PIE (also the whole idea of principal parts)!

• peh-~pie-, pie-, Pap 'give charitably'

On the other hand, many verbs (especially derived ones) have identical stems for all three principal parts:

• benuß, benuß-, Benuß 'judge'

Verbal nouns are formed by one of the following methods:

• -s
• ablaut
• ⁱ-el
• -en
• -te
• Prefix Ze-

TAM auxiliary constructions

Some tense constructions

Meaning	Naeng/Classical construction
perfect	duoɟ + [subject]-DAT + (zraf can go here for progressive) + [verb]-VERBAL_NOUN-ACC
preterite	[verb]-PRETERITE (no auxiliary)
present habitual	[verb]-PRESENT
present progressive	zraf + [verb]-PRESENT
future	terl + [subject]-DAT + (zraf can go here for progressive) + [verb]-VERBAL_NOUN-ACC

Syntax

Word order

Constituents are arranged in SVO order in both Classical Wiobian and most modern topolects (with more variation allowed in classical poetry). Noun modifiers (adjectives and possessors) almost always precede the modified noun, except in the Tergetian-influenced Kurmian.

Truth value

For negation, Classical Wiobian uses a negative verb mei (present), quek (preterite), Quah (verbal noun) + the verbal noun in the dative case:

in meien Borrs heite.
/ʔin ˈmeilən borç ˈheitə/
in meil-en Borr-s heit-e.
1SG.NOM NEG/PRES-1SG sing/VN-DAT well-ACC
I do not sing well.

Compare the affirmative sentence:

in borren heite.
/ʔin ˈborːən ˈheitə/
in borr-s heit-e.
1SG.NOM sing/PRES-1SG well-ACC
I sing well.

In copular sentences, though affirmative sentences do not require a copula, negative sentences do:

Template:Col-2

in Hauere.
/ʔin ˈhauərə/
in Hauer-e.
1SG.NOM king-PRED
I am the king.

Template:Col-2

in meien Luos Hauere.
/ʔin ˈmeien luoç ˈhauərə/
in meil-en luos Hauer-e.
1SG.NOM NEG/PRES-1SG COPULA.VN-DAT king-PRED
I am not the king.

For contrastive negation of a constituent other than the verb, the main verb need not be repeated:

ins priuden ƕiem Zall, meien ƕiem Zrüsch.
/ʔinç ˈpriuden xʷiem calː ˈmeiən xʷiem cryçː/
in-s priud-en ƕiem Zall mei-en ƕiem Zrüsch
1SG.DAT be_needed/PRES-3SG.AN INDEF.NOM man.NOM NEG/PRES-1SG INDEF.NOM child.NOM
I want a man, not a boy.

Polar questions utilize an interrogative auxiliary hüf, snöf, Hof (< 'swear'):

i hüfe Quarþes inne?
/ʔiː hyfə ˈkʷarsəç ʔinnə/
i hüf-e Quarþ-es inn-e
2SG.NOM Q/PRES-2SG love.VN-DAT 1SG-ACC
Do you love me?

An echo response is often used to interrogative questions. For "yes" the interrogative verb may be echoed instead.

Template:Col-2

quörþen.
/ˈkʷørsən/
quorþ-ⁱen
love/PRES-1SG
Yes. (to the question "Do you love me?")

Template:Col-2

meien [Quarþes].
/ˈmeiən (ˈkʷarsəç)/
mei-en [Quarþ-es].
NEG/PRES-1SG [love.VN-DAT]
No. (to the question "Do you love me?")

If a "yes" answer involves a predicate, the predicate noun is echoed:

Hauere.
/ˈhauərə/
Hauer-e
king-PRED
Yes. [to the question "Are you a/the king?"]

In Modern Wiobian the preterite form is lost and mei /mi˩/ has been generalized as the interjection for no or the adverb for not.

Relative clauses

Relative clauses are internally headed: The head is the first constituent of the relative clause, and an anaphoric "co-relative pronoun" nie occurs after the relative clause that refers back to the head.

Simpler relative clauses often use the gap construction and use the nie determiner as the relativizer.

Serial verbs

Wiobian loves serial verb constructions, unlike Germanic languages, but like East Asian languages.

Derivational morphology

Some suffixes are pronounced differently depending on the final consonant of the root.

• ^U(-n): nominalization, patient
  • Þiem 'deed' < þiom 'do'
• be-: intensive/applicative/denominal verb prefix; common like in German
  • berast 'make powerful, strengthen' < Rast 'power'
• deß-: detransitivizing/valency-decreasing
• em-/(w)en-: perfective; causative/valency-incrementing
• ^U-em: adjectival/attributive/place noun suffix
  • Jündemruoger 'tapestry of life'
• -er: collective, augmentative, place noun, resultative
  • Puoger 'throne' < Puog 'chair'
  • Ruoger 'statue' < ruog, rieg, Ruogs 'carve'
  • Jenger 'ocean, sea' < Jeng 'water'
• ger-: inceptive, dynamic
  • gerzißt: 'initiate' < zißt 'run' (intransitive)
• i- (< PWio *ī < PGam *hiz): negative
  • ibiul 'not straight, unjust' < biul 'straight, just'
• -li agent noun, someone associated with [NOUN]
  • Winkli 'mortal' < wink- 'die' + -li
• -mack: resultative, ability
• -null: prototypical member of a set, Ur-
• -ung: singulative/some singular nouns
• -s (< PGam *λ ~ Thm. supine -dh): verbal nouns, nominalization
• -zi: abstract noun, -ness/-hood
• uo- (< PWio *ā- < PGam *ʔāz-): augmentative
  • Uores, Uors 'wolf, predatory beast' < euphemistically derived from Rüös 'dog'
• wech-: perfective/telic
• -zim: characterized by [noun]

Phrasebook

• Woi2 szan6! - Hello.
• ta2 hung2 - thank you.

Related pages with more information

Naeng/Classical

Talk: