Ɯ

Ŭrbŭrŭx U
"the speech, U"
Pronunciation	[/ˈuɾ.bu.ɾux ˈɯ/]
Created by	Nicolás Straccia
Setting	Yrḳuti conworlding project
Language family	Ɯ languages Ŭrbŭrŭx U

The language known as Ɯ is a conlang being created and developed by Nicolás Straccia as part of the Yrḳuti conworlding project.

Background

[...]

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Grammar

PHONOLOGY

Vowels

Vowel inventory

	Front	Near-front	Central	Near-back	Back
Close	i y u ɯ e ø o a
Near‑close
Close‑mid
Mid
Open‑mid
Near‑open
Open

Stem-controlled roundness harmony. Both /a/ and /o/, a back and a front vowel, are neutral. In compounds each element retains it own harmony; affixes will harmonize with the stem with which they are directly in contact.

Consonants

Consonant inventory

	Bilabial	Labio-dental	Dental	Alveolar	Post-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	p b			t d		(ɟ)	k g	ʔ
Nasal	m			n		(ɲ)	(ŋ)
Trill				r
Tap or flap				ɾ
Fricative		f v		s	ʃ		x	h
Africate					ʧ
Approximant	w					j
Lateral app.				l		(ʎ)

Phonotaxis

Sandhi

[...]

Sandhi over morpheme boundaries
-VC·CV-
-n·
-n·t- → -n·d-, lenition of /t/ → /d/
-n·t- → -n·n-, assimilation of /t/ → /n/
-n·k- → -n·g-, lenition of /k/ → /g/
-n·h- → -n·k-, fortition of /h/ → /k/
-n·j- → -n̆-, fusion (palatalization of /n/ → /ɲ/)
-n·b- → -m·b-, fusion (labialization of /n/ → /m/)
-n·b- → -m·m-, fusion (labialization of /n/ → /m/), assimilation of /b/ → /m/)
-n·l- → -n·n-, assimilation of /l/ → /n/
-n·r- → -n·n-, assimilation of /ɾ/ → /n/
-n·m- → -n·n-, assimilation of /m/ → /n/
-n·v- → -p-, fusion to /p/
-m·
-m·b- → -p-, fusion to /p/
-m·l- → -m·m-, assimilation of /l/ → /m/
-m·v- → -p-, fusion to /p/ (labialization of /v/ → /β/, plosivization of /β/ → /p/)
-l
-l·t- → -l·d-, lenition of /t/ → /d/
-l·k- → -l·g-, lenition of /k/ → /g/
-l·g- → -l·l-, assimilation of /g/ → /l/
-l·r- → -l·l-, assimilation of /ɾ/ → /l/
-l·m- → -l·l-, assimilation of /m/ → /l/
-l·b- → -p·p- [+____]
-l·j- → -l̆-, fusion (palatalization of /l/ → /ʎ/)
-l·v- → -l·l-, assimilation of /v/ → /l/
-r·
-r·g- → -rr-, assimilation of /g/ → /ɾ/, fusion of /ɾɾ/ to /r/
-r·h- → -rr-, assimilation of /h/ → /ɾ/, fusion of /ɾɾ/ to /r/
-r·x- → -rr-, assimilation of /x/ → /ɾ/, fusion of /ɾɾ/ to /r/
-r·l- → -rr-, assimilation of /l/ → /ɾ/, fusion of /ɾɾ/ to /r/
-r·t- → -s·s- [+____]
-s·
-s·l- → -s·s-, assimilation of /l/ → /s/
-s·g- → -s·k-, fortition of /g/ → /k/
-s̆·
-s̆·h- → -s̆→s̆-, assimilation of /h/ → /ʃ/
-s̆·l- → -s̆·s̆-, assimilation of /l/ → /ʃ/
-t·
-t·b- → -s·s- [+____]
-t·g- → -t·t-, assimilation of /g/ → /t/
-t·l- → -t·t-, assimilation of /l/ → /t/
-t·n- → -t·t-, assimilation of /n/ → /t/
-x·
-x·k- → -n·k- [+nasalization]
Being all instances of -n·k- already lenited by sandhi to -n·g-, all remaining instances of -n·k- after the sandhi has been applied must then spawn from modified instances of -x·k-, thus avoiding ambiguity.
-VC·CCV-
-n·
-n·rk- → -n·ng- → -ngg-, assimilation of /ɾ/ → /n/, fusion of /n/ and /k/ (velatization of /n/ → /ŋ/)
-n·lt- → -n·t-, elision of /l/
-n·ln- → -n·n-, elision of /l/
-n·ll- → -n·n-, assimilation of first /l/, elision of second /l/
-n·hm- → -m·m-, elision of /l/, assimilation of /n/
-n·hr- → -n·kr-, fortition of /h/ → /k/
-n·hš- → -n·š-, elision of /h/
-n·tm- → -d·d-, lenition of /t/ → /d/, elision of /n/, assimilation of /m/ → /d/
-n·tx- → -n·x-, elision of /t/
-x·
-x·hr- → -x·r-, elision of /h/
-CV·CV-
-ta·
-ta·h- → -ta·g- [+____]
-ta·r- → -ta·l- [+____]
-ta·š- → -ta·s- [+____]
-ta·x- → -ta·g- [+____]
-ta·t- → -ta·d-, lenition of /t/ → /d/
-ta·k- → -ta·g-, lenition of /k/ → /g/
-ta·bVC- → -ta·fCV- [+____]
-CV·CCV-
-ta·
-ta·hš- > -ta·š- [+____]
-ta·tx- > -ta·x- [+____] tVtC > tVC elision of t? haplology?
-m·v- → -p-, fusion to /p/ (labialization of /v/ → /β/, plosivization of /β/ → /p/)
-l
-l·t- → -l·d-, lenition of /t/ → /d/
-l·k- → -l·g-, lenition of /k/ → /g/
-l·g- → -l·l-, assimilation of /g/ → /l/
-l·r- → -l·l-, assimilation of /ɾ/ → /l/
-l·m- → -l·l-, assimilation of /m/ → /l/
-l·b- → -p·p- [+____]
-l·j- → -l̆-, fusion (palatalization of /l/ → /ʎ/)
-l·v- → -l·l-, assimilation of /v/ → /l/
-r·
-r·g- → -rr-, assimilation of /g/ → /ɾ/, fusion of /ɾɾ/ to /r/
-r·h- → -rr-, assimilation of /h/ → /ɾ/, fusion of /ɾɾ/ to /r/
-r·x- → -rr-, assimilation of /x/ → /ɾ/, fusion of /ɾɾ/ to /r/
-r·l- → -rr-, assimilation of /l/ → /ɾ/, fusion of /ɾɾ/ to /r/
-r·t- → -s·s- [+____]
-s·
-s·l- → -s·s-, assimilation of /l/ → /s/
-s·g- → -s·k-, fortition of /g/ → /k/
-s̆·
-s̆·h- → -s̆→s̆-, assimilation of /h/ → /ʃ/
-s̆·l- → -s̆·s̆-, assimilation of /l/ → /ʃ/
-t·
-t·b- → -s·s- [+____]
-t·g- → -t·t-, assimilation of /g/ → /t/
-t·l- → -t·t-, assimilation of /l/ → /t/
-t·n- → -t·t-, assimilation of /n/ → /t/
-x·
-x·k- → -n·k- [+nasalization]
Being all instances of -n·k- already lenited by sandhi to -n·g-, all remaining instances of -n·k- after the sandhi has been applied must then spawn from modified instances of -x·k-, thus avoiding ambiguity.
-VC·CCV-
-n·
-n·rk- → -n·ng- → -ngg-, assimilation of /ɾ/ → /n/, fusion of /n/ and /k/ (velatization of /n/ → /ŋ/)
-n·lt- → -n·t-, elision of /l/
-n·ln- → -n·n-, elision of /l/
-n·ll- → -n·n-, assimilation of first /l/, elision of second /l/
-n·hm- → -m·m-, elision of /l/, assimilation of /n/
-n·hr- → -n·kr-, fortition of /h/ → /k/
-n·hš- → -n·š-, elision of /h/
-n·tm- → -d·d-, lenition of /t/ → /d/, elision of /n/, assimilation of /m/ → /d/
-n·tx- → -n·x-, elision of /t/
-x·
-x·hr- → -x·r-, elision of /h/
-CV·CV-
-ta·
-ta·h- → -ta·g- [+____]
-ta·r- → -ta·l- [+____]
-ta·š- → -ta·s- [+____]
-ta·x- → -ta·g- [+____]
-ta·t- → -ta·d-, lenition of /t/ → /d/
-ta·k- → -ta·g-, lenition of /k/ → /g/
-ta·bVC- → -ta·fCV- [+____]
-CV·CCV-
-ta·
-ta·hš- > -ta·š- [+____]
-ta·tx- > -ta·x- [+____] tVtC > tVC elision of t? haplology?

Sandhi over word boundaries
-C_b- → -C_p-, fortition of /b/ → /p/ (devoicing of /b/)

Composite sandhi: obligatory contour and other phenomena.
A case of composite sandhi occurs when the application of an external sandhi rule results in either i) the resetting of or ii) the innovation on an internal sandhi rule.
Examples:
i) Resetting of an internal sandhi rule: external sandhi triggers obligatory contour, resetting internal sandhi.
bengilir > penkilir
1) Internal sandhi: rule -n·k- → -n·g-, lenition of /k/ → /g/ (voicing of /k/)
bV·en·kil·Vr → bēnkilir* → bēngilir
2) External sandhi: rule -C b- → -C p-, fortition of /b/ → /p/ (devoicing of /b/)
(-V bēngilir → -V bēngilir)
-C bēngilir → -C pēngilir* >> -C pēnkilir
ii) Innovation on an internal sandhi rule: external sandhi triggers obligatory contour, leniting a cluster formed through assimilation
bepɯlɯr > pevɯlɯr
1) Internal sandhi: rule -n·v- → -p-, fusion to /p/
bV•en•vɯl•Vr > bepɯlɯr
2) External sandhi: rule -C b- > -C p-, fortition of /b/  /p/ (devoicing of /b/)
(-V bepɯlɯr > bepɯlɯr)
-C bepɯlɯr > pevɯlɯr

Syllable structure

Both verbal and nominal roots, as well as affixes, have a (C)(C)V(C) syllable structure.

MORPHOLOGY

Nominal morphology

Nominal roots are marked for grammatical case, deixis (relative locativity and lativity), definiteness and number or quantity.

Grammatical gender and animacy

There are two grammatical genders: animate and inanimate. The animate gender has two subdivisions: masculine and feminine. These are all generally listed as masculine, feminine and neuter gender.

(See also ‘Animacy and volition’ below)

Grammatical number and quantifier affixes

There are two systems of grammatical number: i) for nouns, Collective 1, Dual, Singulative, Collective 2; ii) for pronouns, the numbers Singular, Dual, Plural and Indefinite.

(See also “__*number*__” below)

Grammatical number markers for nouns

The determiners account for definiteness as well as for number:

Number	Definiteness	Marker
col Collective	Indefinite	-Ø
	Definite	-Vr
dual Dual	Indefinite	-Vt
	Definite	-VmVm
sg Singulative	Indefinite	-Vm
	Definite	-Vx
col2 Collective 2*	Indefinite	-lVt
	Definite	-lVm

* The number “Collective 2” reffers to collectives or complete sets of a noun; e.g. ne; trees; nelet, a.forest

Declension particles and affixes

Grammatical case

	Animate				Inanimate
	Singular	Dual	Plural	4th	Singular	Dual	Plural	4th
Nominative nom	Ø
Ergative erg	an-	vVl-	sVm-	tVm-	ɯl-	xan-	rVm-	tVl-
Dative dat	bVl-		mVl-		bVl-		mVl-
Absolutive abs	tVn-	wVn-	VtVn-	sVn-	okVn-	xVn-	VkVn-	šVn-
Accusative acc	VnV-		lVt-		VnV-		lVt-
Instrumental inst	or-		Vm-		or-		Vm-
Partitive* part	bV-	tV-			kV-	tV-
Genitive** gen	-(o)nnu(r)

* The partitive case (part) conveys the telicity of the verb (to.x/to.x.obj vs. to.fully/thoroughly.x/x.obj).

** The genitive case (gen) is marked with a conflation of the deictic markers -ho- (FROM) and -nur (APUD) and is thus the same for all nouns.

Deictics

.

Deictic markers

A. ESSIVITY
	‹›	//		Case
I	-vul	-vɯl		in	inessive
	-kil	-kil		sup	superessive
	-tiš	-tiʃ		sub	subessive
	-lur	-lɯɾ		ant	antessive
	-vet	-vet		poste	postessive	This case is now rarely used for its original meaning "behind" and is often used to mean "with" or "in exchange for"
	-nur	-nɯɾ		apud	apudessive	apudessive, adessive
B. LATIVITY
	‹›	//		Case
II	-kur	-kɯɾ		il	ilative
	-lir	-liɾ		el	elative
	-vox	-vox		perl	perlative
	-tum	-tɯm		prol	prolative	prolative, prosecutive, oblative/pertingent (against)
III.a	-te	-te				up.to, until
	-sul	-te·vɯl	-sɯl
	-xil	-te·kil	-xil
	-tiš	-te·tiʃ	-(t)tiʃ
	-nur	-te·lɯɾ	-nɯɾ
	-det	-te·vet	-det
	-dur	-te·nɯɾ	-dɯɾ
III.b	-ho	-ho				from
	-ful	-ho·vɯl	-fɯl	inel	inelatve
	-kil	-ho·kil	-(h)kil			/k/→/g/ sandhi doesn’t apply, anulated by underlying /h/
	-diš	-ho·tiʃ	-diʃ
	-hlur	-ho·lɯɾ	-hlɯɾ
	-hret	-ho·vet	-hɾet
	-šur	-ho·nɯɾ	-ʃɯɾ

Nominal declension themes

C-theme	VC-stems
	CVC-stems
V-theme	CV-stems
	CCV-stems

Personal pronouns

Personal pronouns can be dropped. They are marked as follows:

-1	0	1	2
grammatical.case	lam	deictic.marker	number.marker
	“person"

Propter names

Proper names are marked for grammatical case in the same way as animate singular common nouns. Regular sandhi over morpheme boundaries is not triggered (for instance, tanTavar instead of **tanDavar, see below).

In the Romanization, the capitalization of the proper name remains in place while prefixes and suffixes remain in minuscle, e.g.:

“Farŭl” {Ø-Farŭl} nom-Farŭl vs. “anFarŭl” {an-Farŭl} erg-Farŭl or

“Perit” {Ø-Perit} nom-Perit vs. “belPerit” {bVl-Perit} dat-Perit or

“Tavar” {Ø-Tavar} nom-Tavar vs. “tanTavar” {tVn-Tavar} abs-Tavar.

Other names, like given names, nicknames and pet names based on common nouns are marked with the proper name marker pnm –gV or –Vg.

The proper name vocative, derived from a reduplicated form of the pnm, fossilized in the forms -gagV and -agVg, with epenthesis of the harmonically neutral vowel a. In this latter form, the first g is subject to sandhi, while the second isn’t. E.g. Tavar → Tavarraga!, Perit → Perittagi!, Farŭl → Farŭllagŭ!.

Verbal morphology

Verbal roots are marked for tense, aspect and subject (animacy, gender, number and person). Mood is marked through postpositions.

Tenses

Tenses are: present, non-present. The equivalent to the future and past tense are conveyed as follows:

Marking					Conveyed tense
-2	-1	0	1	2
perfect	-	√root	obviative	subject.non-present	past
Ø				subject.present	present
prospective				subject.non-present	future

Whence:

Marking
Primary aspect (-2)	Tense (2)
Perfect	present	stative	resulting from past action
	non-present	past
Prospective	present	prospective
	non-present	future
Neutral (Ø marking)	present	present
	non-present	oblique

Tense-person marking suffixes

The most animate agent of the clause (see "Animacy, control, volition") agrees with the verb declined with the proximate suffix, the lesser animate with the verb marked with the obviate. This can also be used to mark a change of referent (see "referent anaphora").

Proximate suffixes

Animacy	Gender	Number	Person	Tense
				Present	Non-present
Animate	Masculine	S	1	-hɯɾ	-hɾam
			2	-ɾam	-ɾamat
			3	-lit	-liteʃ
		D		-Vl	-Vlɯt
		P	1	-ʃɯt	-ʃtɯɾ
			2	-ɾok	-ɾkol
			3	-litit	-lteʃ
		4		-bɯl	-batɯɾ
	Feminine	S	1	-hɯm	-hmɯɾ
			2	-xal	-xlat
			3	-lan	-lnaɾ
		D		-Vt	-Vtem
		P	1	-tam	-tmaʃ
			2	-xɯl	-tɯleɾ
			3	-hoʃ	-hʃol
		4		-bok	-bilɯɾ
Inanimate	Neuter	S	1	-tex	-txet
			2	-kol	-klot
			3	-leɾ	-lɾeʃ > -lleʃ
		D		-VtVl	-VtVʃ
		P	1	-tot	-tɯɾ
			2	-hem	-hmel
			3	-kim	-kmiliɾ > -biliɾ
		4		-bim	-bamal

Obviate suffixes

The obviative particle obv -i-/-ĭ- is placed between the root and the proximal tense marker. It applies to the second and third person.

This in turn shows the form of the tense suffix that is otherwise opaqued by the sandhi:

prox mẹnnᴉt, obv mẹnᴉlᴉt

-lit 3s.masc.pres, -ilit 3s.masc.pres.obv.

Verbal aspect markers

.

Aspect		Marker
Perfect	perf	C₂a-/C₂o-
Prospective	pros	C₂ora-/oC₂osa-
Continuous	cont	C₂ona-
Progressive	prog	C₂ara-
Gnomic	gnom	aC₂C₂a-
Imperfective	imper	oC₂a-
Iterative	iter	toC₂a-

The primary and the secondary aspect markers have historically fused through metaphony and syncope, yielding the following standarized forms:

For animate subjects

Aspect		Marker
Perfect	perf.anim	C₂a-
Per. gnomic	perf.gnom.anim	C₂a·aC₂C₂a-	C₂aC₂C₂a-
Per. imperfective	perf.imperf.anim	C₂a·oC₂a-	C₂aC₂o-
Per. continuous	perf.cont.anim	C₂a·C₂ona-	C₂ano-
Per. progressive	perf.prog.anim	C₂a·C₂ara-	aC₂ara-
Per. iterative	perf.iter.anim	C₂a·toC₂a-	toC₂aC₂a-
Prospective	pros.anim	C₂ora-
Pro. gnomic	pros.gnom.anim	C₂ora·aC₂C₂a-	C₂oC₂C₂ara-
Pro. imperfective	pros.imperf.anim	C₂ora·oC₂a-	oC₂C₂a-
Pro. continuous	pros.cont.anim	C₂ora·C₂ona-	C₂oC₂a-
Pro. progressive	pros.prog.anim	C₂ora·C₂ara-	aC₂oC₂ara-
Pro. iterative	pros.iter.anim	C₂ora·toC₂a-	noC₂ora-

For inanimate subjects

Aspect		Marker
Perfect	perf.inan	C₂o-
Per. gnomic	perf.gnom.inan	C₂a·aC₂C₂a-	C₂waC₂C₂a-
Per. imperfective	perf.imperf.inan	C₂a·oC₂a-	oC₂C₂a-
Per. continuous	perf.cont.inan	C₂a·C₂ona-	C₂ona-
Per. progressive	perf.prog.inan	C₂a·C₂ara-	oC₂wara-
Per. iterative	perf.iter.inan	C₂o·toC₂a-	otoC₂C₂a-
Prospective	pros.inan	oC₂osa-
Pro. gnomic	pros.gnom.inan	oC₂osa·aC₂C₂a-	oC₂oC₂wara-
Pro. imperfective	pros.imperf.inan	oC₂osa·oC₂a-	C₂wasa-
Pro. continuous	pros.cont.inan	oC₂osa·C₂ona-	oC₂ona-
Pro. progressive	pros.prog.inan	oC₂osa·C₂ara-	oC₂wasa-
Pro. iterative	pros.iter.inan	oC₂osa·toC₂a-	toC₂osa-

SYNTAX

Morphosyntactic allignment

i) transitive verbs (A) – (V) – (O)

ii) intransitive verbs (S) – (V)

iii) ditransitive verbs (A) – (V) – (T) – (O)

(S) NOM

(A) ERG

(T) DAT

(O) i) ABS, iii) ACC

Word order

(S)-V-(O/A)-V-(T)-(O)

A/N

Lexicon

Citation forms:

Leipzig-Jakarta list

Some terms which are listed as one entry in the Leipzig-Jakarta list but have more than one distinct term in [] have become as many entries as needed to accommodate the scope of its vocabulary.

Samples

Words:

A verb: anaramĕnkram /a.na.ɾa.ˈmøn.kɾam/ aC₂ara-møn-hram per.prog.anim-to.fly-1s.mas.n.pres "I was flying"

A noun: alāšax /ˈa.laː.ʃax/ ala-aš-Vx to.perceive-tool-def.singulative "the pair of glasses"

Something idiomatic: alahuš /ˈa.la.hɯʃ/ ala-huš to.perceive-to.burn "to glare"