Antarctican: Difference between revisions
(Polar Questions) |
(Other interrogatives) |
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===Negation=== | ===Negation=== | ||
Negation in Antarctican is achieved by using one of two particles, no /nɔ/ and nay /nai/. | Negation in Antarctican is achieved by using one of two particles, no /nɔ/ (known as general negation) and nay /nai/ (known as specific negation). | ||
====The Particle no /nɔ/==== | ====The Particle no /nɔ/ (General Negation)==== | ||
The normal way to negate a sentence is to put this immediately before the verb e.g. | The normal way to negate a sentence is to put this immediately before the verb e.g. | ||
| Line 3,204: | Line 3,204: | ||
| sɔudɮaɴ || nɔ || ʔamelaikɨɦ || wɨɦʁuɦ | | sɔudɮaɴ || nɔ || ʔamelaikɨɦ || wɨɦʁuɦ | ||
|- | |- | ||
| soldier-ERG || NEG || hunt.NFCS || frog.ABS | | soldier-ERG || NEG.GEN || hunt.NFCS || frog.ABS | ||
|} | |} | ||
Soldiers aren't hunting frogs. | Soldiers aren't hunting frogs. | ||
| Line 3,218: | Line 3,218: | ||
| sɔudɮaɴ || nɔ || ʔamelɛicu || wɨɦʁuɦ | | sɔudɮaɴ || nɔ || ʔamelɛicu || wɨɦʁuɦ | ||
|- | |- | ||
| soldier-ERG || NEG || hunt.VFCS || frog.ABS | | soldier-ERG || NEG.GEN || hunt.VFCS || frog.ABS | ||
|} | |} | ||
Soldiers aren't hunting frogs. | Soldiers aren't hunting frogs. | ||
| Line 3,232: | Line 3,232: | ||
| nɔ || sɔudɮaɴ || ʔamelaikɨɦ || wɨɦʁuɦ | | nɔ || sɔudɮaɴ || ʔamelaikɨɦ || wɨɦʁuɦ | ||
|- | |- | ||
| NEG || soldier-ERG || hunt.NFCS || frog.ABS | | NEG.GEN || soldier-ERG || hunt.NFCS || frog.ABS | ||
|} | |} | ||
''Soldiers'' aren't hunting frogs (but someone else is). | ''Soldiers'' aren't hunting frogs (but someone else is). | ||
| Line 3,243: | Line 3,243: | ||
| sɔudɮaɴ || ʔamelaikɨɦ || nɔ || wɨɦʁuɦ | | sɔudɮaɴ || ʔamelaikɨɦ || nɔ || wɨɦʁuɦ | ||
|- | |- | ||
| soldier-ERG || hunt.NFCS || NEG || frog.ABS | | soldier-ERG || hunt.NFCS || NEG.GEN || frog.ABS | ||
|} | |} | ||
Soldiers aren't hunting ''frogs'' (but they are hunting something else). | Soldiers aren't hunting ''frogs'' (but they are hunting something else). | ||
| Line 3,256: | Line 3,256: | ||
{| class="wikitable" | {| class="wikitable" | ||
|- | |- | ||
| no || sowdla || amielaykùe || wùerù | | no.GEN || sowdla || amielaykùe || wùerù | ||
|- | |- | ||
| nɔ || sɔudɮa || ʔamelaikɨɦ || wɨɦʁuɦ | | nɔ || sɔudɮa || ʔamelaikɨɦ || wɨɦʁuɦ | ||
|- | |- | ||
| NEG || soldier.ABS || hunt.NFCS || frog.ABS | | NEG.GEN || soldier.ABS || hunt.NFCS || frog.ABS | ||
|} | |} | ||
====The Particle nay /nai/==== | ====The Particle nay /nai/ (Specific Negation)==== | ||
This is always placed after a verb, which must be in the verb-focus form. It is used for negation with emphasis on the verb e.g. | This is always placed after a verb, which must be in the verb-focus form. It is used for negation with emphasis on the verb e.g. | ||
| Line 3,275: | Line 3,275: | ||
| sɔudɮa || ʔamelɛicu || nai || wɨɦʁuɦ | | sɔudɮa || ʔamelɛicu || nai || wɨɦʁuɦ | ||
|- | |- | ||
| soldier.ABS || hunt.VFCS || NEG || frog.ABS | | soldier.ABS || hunt.VFCS || NEG.SPFC|| frog.ABS | ||
|} | |} | ||
Soldiers aren't ''hunting'' frogs (but they are doing something else to them). | Soldiers aren't ''hunting'' frogs (but they are doing something else to them). | ||
| Line 3,300: | Line 3,300: | ||
| wɨɦʁuɦ || kiɥeliʔeuɴ || nai || ʁɘɦdɮa | | wɨɦʁuɦ || kiɥeliʔeuɴ || nai || ʁɘɦdɮa | ||
|- | |- | ||
| frog.ABS || die.VFCS || NEG || red.VFCS | | frog.ABS || die.VFCS || NEG.SPFC || red.VFCS | ||
|} | |} | ||
The frog, which didn't die, was red. | The frog, which didn't die, was red. | ||
| Line 3,325: | Line 3,325: | ||
| sɔudɮaɴ || ʔamelaikɨɦ || wɨɦʁuɦ || ʁɘɦdɮa || nai | | sɔudɮaɴ || ʔamelaikɨɦ || wɨɦʁuɦ || ʁɘɦdɮa || nai | ||
|- | |- | ||
| soldier-ERG || hunt.NFCS || frog.ABS || red.VFCS || NEG | | soldier-ERG || hunt.NFCS || frog.ABS || red.VFCS || NEG.SPFC | ||
|} | |} | ||
Soldiers aren't hunting ''red'' frogs (maybe they're hunting another colour). | Soldiers aren't hunting ''red'' frogs (maybe they're hunting another colour). | ||
| Line 3,332: | Line 3,332: | ||
===Polar Questions=== | ===Polar Questions=== | ||
A Yes/No question is formed by using either the particle du /du/, or /ka/ /ka/. | A Yes/No question is formed by using either the particle du /du/, or /ka/ /ka/. These are known as the general and specific interrogatives respectively, and the usage of them very closely parallels the /no/ and /nai/ negative particles. | ||
====The Particle du==== | ====The Particle du (General Interrogative)==== | ||
The normal way to ask a polar question is to put this immediately before the verb e.g. | The normal way to ask a polar question is to put this immediately before the verb e.g. | ||
| Line 3,357: | Line 3,357: | ||
| sɔudɮaɴ || du || ʔamelaikɨɦ || wɨɦʁuɦ | | sɔudɮaɴ || du || ʔamelaikɨɦ || wɨɦʁuɦ | ||
|- | |- | ||
| soldier-ERG || INT || hunt.NFCS || frog.ABS | | soldier-ERG || INT.GEN || hunt.NFCS || frog.ABS | ||
|} | |} | ||
Are soldiers hunting frogs? | Are soldiers hunting frogs? | ||
| Line 3,371: | Line 3,371: | ||
| sɔudɮaɴ || du || ʔamelɛicu || wɨɦʁuɦ | | sɔudɮaɴ || du || ʔamelɛicu || wɨɦʁuɦ | ||
|- | |- | ||
| soldier-ERG || INT || hunt.VFCS || frog.ABS | | soldier-ERG || INT.GEN || hunt.VFCS || frog.ABS | ||
|} | |} | ||
Are soldiers hunting frogs? | Are soldiers hunting frogs? | ||
| Line 3,385: | Line 3,385: | ||
| du || sɔudɮaɴ || ʔamelaikɨɦ || wɨɦʁuɦ | | du || sɔudɮaɴ || ʔamelaikɨɦ || wɨɦʁuɦ | ||
|- | |- | ||
| INT || soldier-ERG || hunt.NFCS || frog.ABS | | INT.GEN || soldier-ERG || hunt.NFCS || frog.ABS | ||
|} | |} | ||
Are ''soldiers'' hunting frogs (or is it someone else)? | Are ''soldiers'' hunting frogs (or is it someone else)? | ||
| Line 3,396: | Line 3,396: | ||
| sɔudɮaɴ || ʔamelaikɨɦ || du || wɨɦʁuɦ | | sɔudɮaɴ || ʔamelaikɨɦ || du || wɨɦʁuɦ | ||
|- | |- | ||
| soldier-ERG || hunt.NFCS || INT || frog.ABS | | soldier-ERG || hunt.NFCS || INT.GEN || frog.ABS | ||
|} | |} | ||
Are soldiers hunting ''frogs'' (or something else)? | Are soldiers hunting ''frogs'' (or something else)? | ||
| Line 3,413: | Line 3,413: | ||
| du || sɔudɮa || ʔamelaikɨɦ || wɨɦʁuɦ | | du || sɔudɮa || ʔamelaikɨɦ || wɨɦʁuɦ | ||
|- | |- | ||
| INT || soldier.ABS || hunt.NFCS || frog.ABS | | INT.GEN || soldier.ABS || hunt.NFCS || frog.ABS | ||
|} | |} | ||
| Line 3,428: | Line 3,428: | ||
| sɔudɮa || ʔamelɛicu || ka || wɨɦʁuɦ | | sɔudɮa || ʔamelɛicu || ka || wɨɦʁuɦ | ||
|- | |- | ||
| soldier.ABS || hunt.VFCS || INT || frog.ABS | | soldier.ABS || hunt.VFCS || INT.SPFC || frog.ABS | ||
|} | |} | ||
Are soldiers ''hunting'' frogs (or doing something else to them)? | Are soldiers ''hunting'' frogs (or doing something else to them)? | ||
| Line 3,453: | Line 3,453: | ||
| wɨɦʁuɦ || kiɥeliʔeuɴ || ka || ʁɘɦdɮa | | wɨɦʁuɦ || kiɥeliʔeuɴ || ka || ʁɘɦdɮa | ||
|- | |- | ||
| frog.ABS || die.VFCS || INT || red.VFCS | | frog.ABS || die.VFCS || INT.SPFC || red.VFCS | ||
|} | |} | ||
Was it the frog that died that was red? | Was it the frog that died that was red? | ||
| Line 3,478: | Line 3,478: | ||
| sɔudɮaɴ || ʔamelaikɨɦ || wɨɦʁuɦ || ʁɘɦdɮa || ka | | sɔudɮaɴ || ʔamelaikɨɦ || wɨɦʁuɦ || ʁɘɦdɮa || ka | ||
|- | |- | ||
| soldier-ERG || hunt.NFCS || frog.ABS || red.VFCS || INT | | soldier-ERG || hunt.NFCS || frog.ABS || red.VFCS || INT.SPFC | ||
|} | |} | ||
Are soldiers hunting ''red'' frogs (or another colour)? | Are soldiers hunting ''red'' frogs (or another colour)? | ||
===Other Questions=== | |||
There are a whole host of other question particles in Antarctican, all of which have general and specific forms which follow the same syntactic rules as above. | |||
{| class="wikitable" | |||
|- | |||
! Interrogative !! General !! Specific | |||
|- | |||
| Where / Which || duku || tuovi | |||
|- | |||
| When || tùownká || taensi | |||
|- | |||
| How (asking for a description) || duonna || chuowan | |||
|- | |||
| How much / How many / To what extent || kùey || chetnay | |||
|- | |||
| Why || tówta || tanmay | |||
|} | |||
Below are some example questions using the words for "where": | |||
{| class="wikitable" | |||
|- | |||
| sowdlan || duku || amielaykùe || wùerù | |||
|- | |||
| sɔudɮaɴ || duku || ʔamelaikɨɦ || wɨɦʁuɦ | |||
|- | |||
| soldier-ERG || where.GEN || hunt.NFCS || frog.ABS | |||
|} | |||
Where are soldiers are hunting frogs? | |||
{| class="wikitable" | |||
|- | |||
| duku || sowdlan || amielaykùe || wùerù | |||
|- | |||
| duku || sɔudɮaɴ || ʔamelaikɨɦ || wɨɦʁuɦ | |||
|- | |||
| where.GEN || soldier-ERG || hunt.NFCS || frog.ABS | |||
|} | |||
Soldiers from where are hunting frogs? | |||
{| class="wikitable" | |||
|- | |||
| sowdlan || amielaykùe || duku || wùerù | |||
|- | |||
| sɔudɮaɴ|| ʔamelaikɨɦ || duku || wɨɦʁuɦ | |||
|- | |||
| soldier-ERG || hunt.NFCS || where.GEN || frog.ABS | |||
|} | |||
Soldiers are hunting frogs from where? | |||
As a specific interrogative particle, tuovi puts emphasis on a particular part of the question e.g. | |||
{| class="wikitable" | |||
|- | |||
| sowdla || amielaeychu || tuovi || wùerù | |||
|- | |||
| sɔudɮa || ʔamelɛicu || tuɥi || wɨɦʁuɦ | |||
|- | |||
| soldier.ABS || hunt.VFCS || where.SPFC || frog.ABS | |||
|} | |||
Where are the soldiers ''hunting'' frogs (not doing anything else to them)? | |||
{| class="wikitable" | |||
|- | |||
| wùerù || kivieli-iewn || tuovi || `rèdla | |||
|- | |||
| wɨɦʁuɦ || kiɥeliʔeuɴ || tuɥi || ʁɘɦdɮa | |||
|- | |||
| frog.ABS || die.VFCS || where.SPFC || red.VFCS | |||
|} | |||
The frog that died where was red? | |||
{| class="wikitable" | |||
|- | |||
| sowdlan || amielaykùe || wùerù || `rèdla || tuovi | |||
|- | |||
| sɔudɮaɴ || ʔamelaikɨɦ || wɨɦʁuɦ || ʁɘɦdɮa || tuɥi | |||
|- | |||
| soldier-ERG || hunt.NFCS || frog.ABS || red.VFCS || where.SPFC | |||
|} | |||
Where are soldiers hunting ''red'' frogs (as opposed to some other colour)? | |||
Revision as of 06:56, 1 March 2013
Antarctican is the most widely spoken language on the continent of Antarctica in the far future, at a time when runaway global warming has melted the icecaps and rendered most of the rest of the word uninhabitable. It has been influenced by a variety of modern-day languages, among them English, Spanish, Japanese and many East Asian languages.
It has a complex phonology and morphophonology, especially in the vowel system. There are a lot of features not found in English e.g. a pitch-register system, phonemic vowel length, prestopped nasals, and ejective consonants. However in other ways the phonology is quite simple compared to English, with a very limited range of syllable shapes.
The morphosyntactic alignment is split ergative (as is the syntax), with noun suffixes following an ergative-absolutive system, but person marking on verbs following a nominative-accusative system. Nouns also inflect for alienable and inalienable possession, and they can undergo some quite complex stem changes. There is no real marking of plurality of nouns.
In the verbal morphology, focus and transitivity are clearly marked. Verbs also inflect for person and voice. Tense and aspect are much less important.
The syntax is head-initial, and adjectives are not distinguished from verbs.
Phonology
Vowels
The pronunciation of each phoneme is listed in the tables below, followed by its romanisation in brackets.
There are 11 monophthongs:
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i /i/ | ue /ɨ/ | u /u/ |
| Close-mid | ie /e/ | e /ɘ/ | uo /o/ |
| Open-mid | ae /ɛ/ | oe /ɜ/ | o /ɔ/ |
| Open | a /a/ | ao /ɒ/ |
And there are 17 diphthongs. 8 of these end in [j], and another 9 end in [w]:
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | uey /ɨj/ | uy /uj/ | |
| Close-mid | iey /ej/ | ey /ɘj/ | uoy /oj/ |
| Open-mid | aey /ɛj/ | oey /ɜj/ | |
| Open | ay /aj/ |
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | uew /ɨw/ | ||
| Close-mid | iew /ew/ | ew /ɘw/ | uow /ow/ |
| Open-mid | aew /&#ɛw/ | oew /ɜw/ | ow /ɔw/ |
| Open | aw /aw/ |
Vowel length
Vowel length is phonemic, on both monophthongs and diphthongs e.g.
- kuow /kou/ - something absorbed in something else, absolutive
- kuuow /koːu/ - a frozen object, absolutive
Vowel phonation
Vowels in Antarctican also have phonemic phonation. Modal, tense or breathy voice can occur on either short or long vowels. Vowels with tense voice (marked with a glottal stop after the syllable e.g. /aʔ/) are pronounced with a high or rising pitch, and vowels with breathy voice (marked with a voiced /h/ after the syllable e.g. /aɦ/) are pronounced with a low or falling pitch. This distinction is phonemic e.g.
- kuow /kou/ - something absorbed in something else, absolutive
- kúow /kouʔ/ - bigot, absolutive
Tense voice cannot occur on high vowels /i/, /ɨ/, /u/, nor on diphthongs beginning with these vowels. Breathy voice cannot occur on low vowels /a/, /ɒ/, nor on diphthongs beginning with these vowels.
Floating Phonation
Similar to floating tones in Bantu languages (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floating_tone), the beginnings of words in Antarctican can have floating phonation (unmarked for modal phonation, written with ' before the word for tense phonation, and ` before the word for breathy phonation). As an example, the following words are pronounced identically when not inflected:
ká /kaʔ/ - coconut milk, absolutive
'ká /kaʔ/ - fence, absolutive
However, when they take the prefix wa- (3rd person topicalised possessive), they are different:
waká /wakaʔ/ - his / her coconut milk, absolutive
'wáká /waʔkaʔ/ - his / her fence, absolutive
Words beginning with a glottal stop only ever have modal floating phonation e.g.
ámáelái /ʔaʔmɛʔlaiʔ/ - prey, absolutive
wa-ámáelái /waʔaʔmɛʔlaiʔ/ - his / her prey, absolutive (never wá-ámáelái)
Vowel Mutation
When a process such as the above changes the phonation of a vowel, often its quality changes as well. E.g. the possessive prefix for inclusive "we" is yiew- /jeu/, however, when it acquires tense voice, it becomes 'yáew- /jɛuʔ/ e.g.
yiewká /jeukaʔ/ - our (including you) coconut milk, absolutive
'yáewká /jɛuʔkaʔ/ - our (including you) fence, absolutive
Also, the quality of a modally voiced vowel sometimes changes if the next vowel also has modal voice (this also depends on whether the intervening consonant is voice or voiceless). In the case of the prefix yiew- /jeu/, this changes to yew- /jɘu/ if the intervening consonant is voiceless (other than a glottal stop) e.g.
ton /tɔɴ/ - change (as in coins, money), absolutive
yewton /jɘutɔɴ/ - our (including you) change, absolutive
These changes are given in the table below:
| Tense voice | Breathy voice | Modal, normal | Modal, before a voiced consonant followed by another modal vowel | Modal, before a voiceless consonant followed by another modal vowel | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| íey | ùe | i | i | ue | |
| éy | ùey | ii | ii | uue | |
| áe / áae | è / èe | ie / iie | ie / iie | e / ee | |
| á / áa | òe / òoe | a / aa | a / aa | ae / aae | |
| úow | ù | u | uo | u | |
| éw | ùew | uu | uow | uu | |
| óe | ùo | o | ao | o | |
| áey / áaey | èy / èey | iey / iiey | iey / iiey | ey / eey | |
| áy / áay | òey / òoey | ay / aay | ay / aay | aey / aaey | |
| úoy / úuoy | ùy / ùuy | uy / uuy | uoy / uuoy | uy / uuy | |
| áew / áaew | èw / èew | iew / iiew | iew / iiew | ew / eew | |
| áw / áaw | òew / òoew | aw / aaw | aw / aaw | aew / aaew | |
| ów / óow | ùow / ùuow | uow / uuow | ow/ oow | uow / uuow |
Phonation restrictions
However, not every vowel can have every kind of phonation e.g. tense voice cannot occur on high vowels /i/, /ɨ/, /u/, nor on diphthongs beginning with these vowels. Similarly, breathy voice cannot occur on low vowels /a/, /ɒ/, nor on front vowels, nor on diphthongs beginning with these vowels. The permissible combinations of vowel quality and phonation are listed below:
| Voice | Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | Modal | i /i/ | ue /ɨ/ from /i/ | u /u/ |
| Breathy | ùe /ɨɦ/ | ù /uɦ/ | ||
| Close-mid | Modal | ie /e/ | e /ɘ/ from /e/ | uo /o/ from /u/ |
| Tense | íe /eʔ/ | é /ɘʔ/ | úo /oʔ/ | |
| Breathy | è /ɘɦ/ | ùo /oɦ/ | ||
| Open-mid | Modal | ae /ɛ/ from /a/ | o /ɔ/ | |
| Tense | áe /ɛʔ/ | óe /ɜʔ/ | ó /ɔʔ/ | |
| Breathy | òe /ɜɦ/ | |||
| Open | Modal | a /a/ | ao /ɒ/ from /ɔ/ | |
| Tense | á /aʔ/ |
- Vowels in green are found everywhere.
- Vowels in pink are phonemic at the end of words, where they mark ergative case, and are allophones elsewhere. They occur before another syllable beginning with a voiced consonant followed by a modally voiced vowel. The vowel that they are an allophone of is indicated afterwards.
- Vowels in blue are phonemic at the end of words, where they mark comitative case, and are allophones elsewhere. They occur before another syllable beginning with a voiceless consonant followed by a modally voiced vowel. The vowel that they are an allophone of is indicated afterwards.
- Vowels in orange are only found in reduplications.
Antarctican uses reduplication in its morphology, however it only partially reduplicates diphthongs, reducing them to monophthongs in the reduplicated syllable e.g.
- 'kúowntátu /kouɴʔtaʔtu/ – acquaintance, absolutive
- 'kúokúowntátu /koʔkouɴʔtaʔtu/ – acquaintances (of each other), absolutive
When such diphthongs are truncated, it is always only the first part of it that is preserved e.g. /eiʔ/ and /euʔ/ both shorten to /eiʔ/. /oiʔ/ and /ouʔ/ both shorten to /oʔ/ etc.
Vowels marked with an asterisk do not contrast for length.
There are similar restrictions on diphthongs:
| Voice | Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | Modal | uy /ui/ | ||
| Breathy | ùey /ɨiɦ/ | ùy /uiɦ/ | ||
| Close-mid | Modal | iey /ei/ | ey /ɘi/ | uoy /oi/ |
| Tense | íey /eiʔ/ | éy /ɘiʔ/ | úoy /oiʔ/ | |
| Breathy | èy /ɘiɦ/ | |||
| Open-mid | Modal | aey /ɛi/ | ||
| Tense | áey /ɛiʔ/ | |||
| Breathy | òey /ɜiɦ/ | |||
| Open | Modal | ay /ai/ | ||
| Tense | áy /aiʔ/ |
Same applies to the remaining diphthongs:
| Voice | Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | Modal | |||
| Breathy | ùew /ɨuɦ/ | |||
| Close-mid | Modal | iew /ew/ | ew /ɘu/ | uow /ou/ |
| Tense | úow /ouʔ/ | |||
| Breathy | èw /ɘuɦ/ | ùow /ouɦ/ | ||
| Open-mid | Modal | aew /ɛu/ | ow /ɔu/ | |
| Tense | áew /ɛuʔ/ | ów /ɔuʔ/ | ||
| Breathy | òew /ɜuɦ/ | |||
| Open | Modal | aw /au/ | ||
| Tense | áw /auʔ/ |
Consonants
The pronunciation of each phoneme is listed in the table below, followed by its romanisation in brackets.
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar / Uvular | Glottal / Placeless | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | palatalised | central | lateral | |||||
| Nasals | plain | m /m/ | my /mʲ/ | n /n/ | ny /ɲ/ | ng /ŋ/ | n /ɴ/ | |
| pre-stopped | pm /pm/ | pmy /pmʲ/ | tn /tn/ | cn /cɲ/ | kn /kŋ/
|
|||
| Stops/Affricate | ejective | pq /p'/ | pqy /p'ʲ/ | tq /t'/ | tql /tɬ'/ | cqh /c' ~ tɕ'/ | kq /k'/ | |
| voiceless | p /p/ | py /pʲ/ | t /t/ | tl /tɬ/ | ch /c ~ tɕ/ | k /k/ | - /ʔ/ | |
| voiced | b /b/ | by /bʲ/ | d /d/ | dl /dɮ/ | j /ɟ ~ dʑ/ | g /g/ | ||
| Fricatives/Affricates | ejective | tqs /ts' ~ s'/ | ||||||
| voiceless | f /f/ | fy /fʲ/ | s /s ~ ts/ | hl /ɬ/ | sh /ç ~ ɕ/ | h /χ ~ x/ | ||
| voiced | z /z ~ dz/ | |||||||
| Approximant | w /w/ | v /ɥ/ | l /l ~ ɹ ~ ʎ/ | y /j/ | r /ʁ ~ ʀ/ | |||
- Consonants separated with a tilde (~) are not separate phonemes but are either allophones or in free variation e.g. /s ~ ts/ indicates that there is a single phoneme that can either be pronounced [s] or [ts]. The most common pronunciation is always listed first.
- The glottal stop is unmarked word initially (since all words must begin with consonants), and is marked by a hyphen elsewhere.
- Prestopped nasals e.g. /tn/, /pm/ etc., pattern as voiceless and as nasals (and thus sonorants) in terms of the phonology. They are only found between syllables with modal vowel phonation (or modal voice floating phonation if at the beginning of a word).
- The placeless nasal /ɴ/ is only found at the end of syllables. Before a glottal stop or at the end of a phrase, it nasalises the preceding vowel. Otherwise it assimilates to the same place of articulation as the following consonant e.g. it becomes [n] before /d/, [m] before /b/ etc.
- Voiced obstruents (stops, fricatives and affricates) are only found in three cases.
- Separating two syllables with modal voice (or a modal voice floating phonation if at the start of a word).
- After a syllable containing breathy phonation (or a breathy voice floating phonation if at the start of a word) and before a syllable containing modal phonation.
- Separating two syllables with breathy voice (or a breathy voice floating phonation if at the start of a word). In this case they are pronounced with breathy voice, like the murmured/voiced aspirated consonants of many Indian languages.
- Non-alveolar fricatives are only found separating two syllables with modal voice (or modal voice floating phonation if at the beginning of a word), or separating two syllables with tense voice (or tense voice floating phonation if at the beginning of a word).
- Ejectives are only ever found separating two syllables with tense voice (or tense voice floating phonation if at the beginning of a word).
- The velar nasals /kŋ/ and /ŋ/ never occur at the beginning of words.
- The alveolar stops /t/ and /d/, and the velar fricative /χ/ are never found before /i/ and /ɨ/ (with any phonation), nor before tense voice /eʔ/ and /ɘʔ/, nor before diphthongs starting with these.
- The phoneme /l/ is pronounced as a palatal lateral [ʎ] before a high vowel, [ɹ] before a vowel with tense voice (high vowels cannot have tense voice), and [l] elsewhere.
Consonant Harmony
Consonants in Antarctican can be grouped into two sets, soft and hard. Many affixes have two alternate forms, one with a soft consonant and one with a hard. When they attach to a word that begins with a soft consonant, the form of the affix with the soft consonant is used. If the word begins with a hard consonant, the form of the affix with the hard consonant is used. The soft consonants are the palatal consonants, the palatalized labial consonants, and the lateral consonants. All the other consonants are hard.
For example, the antipassive voice is formed by an infix that comes after the first consonant of a word. For words that begin with a hard consonant, the infix is am /am/ (which contains a hard consonant) e.g.
- ziitlòeji /ziːtɬɜɦɟi/ - to know (a person), verb-focus
- zamiitlòeji /zamiːtɬɜɦɟi/ - to know (a person), verb-focus, antipassive
However, if the word begins with a soft consonant, the infix is iemy /emʲ/ e.g.
- pyiquu /pʲiʔuː/ - to purify, verb-focus
- pyiemyiquu /pʲemʲiʔuː/ - to purify, verb-focus, antipassive
- hli-o /ɬiʔɔ/ - to perform, verb-focus
- hliemyi-o /ɬemʲiʔɔ/ - to perform, verb-focus, antipassive (not *(hliemi-o) /ɬmiʔɔ/)
Phonotactics
Syllable structures are extremely limited, with only shapes being CV and CVɴ.
Distribution and Dialects
Antarctican is spoken across a large continent, by a diversity of cultures. As would be expected, there is significant dialectical variation within the language. The differences are most pronounced in the vocabulary, less in the morphology, and even less in the syntax and phonology.
Most speakers of Antarctican will also be bilingual in a second language that is only spoken in their local region. Typically, Antarctican will be used in more formal situations, and the local language used with family and friends. However, it is very common for regional varieties of Antarctican to borrow words from other local languages.
The Antarctican Sprachbund
As mentioned before, it is much less common for regional varieties of Antarctican to differ in their syntax and phonology. This is because the local languages of Antarctica form a very strong Sprachbund (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprachbund), which have converged to have very similar phonologies and syntactic systems. Some examples of these areal features are:
Phonology
- A pitch register system (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Register_(phonology)).
- Consonant voicing only being phonemic under certain specific conditions. In particular, a total lack of phonemic voicing of non-coronal fricatives.
- Some kind of fortis / lenis contrast in obstruents, which often interacts with the pitch register system in some way. This contrast may be glottalisation (ejective or implosive), gemination or aspiration.
- Two sets of nasal consonants (this can be plain vs. prestopped, or involve a voicing contrast).
- A very restricted range of syllable shapes.
Morphology
- Ergative-absolutive cas marking on nouns (if any is present at all).
- A complete lack of number agreement on verbs, and no comprehensive marking of plurality on nouns (only ever specific categories of nouns).
- Tense and aspect are not consistently marked on verbs, if they are marked at all.
- A lack of infinitive verb forms. Antarctican languages use a variety of ways to compensate for this.
- Transitivity marked on verbs.
Syntax
- Syntactic ergativity.
- Topic-comment structure to sentences.
- Inclusive and exclusive 'we', with no distinction made between exclusive 'we' and 'I'.
- Head initial syntax.
Noun Morphology
Case
Nouns decline into three cases, Absolutive, Ergative and Comitative. Absolutive case is unmarked while the other two use vowel changes on the final vowel and/or suffixes. Nouns can also take demonstrative and possessive prefixes.
Ergative case
How this case is formed depends on the phonation and frontness of the final vowel in the word.
Modally voiced final vowel
Final vowel is a back vowel
In this case, lower the back vowel e.g.
- ton /tɔɴ/ - change (as in coins, money), absolutive
- taon /tɒɴ/ - change, ergative
- duoliiengun /doleːŋuɴ/ - dragon, absolutive
- duoliienguon /doleːŋoɴ/ - dragon, ergative
If the final vowel is a diphthong that begins with a back vowel, then the start of the diphthong is lowered e.g.
- paehuown /pɛχouɴ/ - dust, absolutive
- paehown /pɛχɔuɴ/ - dust, ergative
- yuenpiluoy - /jɨɴpiloi/ - employee, absolutive
- yuenpiloy /jɨɴpilɔi/ - employee, ergative
Final vowel is not a back vowel
In this case the ergative suffix is –n /ɴ/, or –ga /ga/ if the noun already ended in –n e.g.*zivie /ziɥe/ - boat, absolutive
- zivien /ziɥeɴ/ - boat, ergative
- myaewntayn /mʲɛuɴtaiɴ/ - mountain, absolutive
- myaewntayn-ga / mʲɛuɴtaiɴga/ - mountain, ergative
Final vowel has breathy or tense voice
For nouns where the vowel of the last syllable has breathy or tense voice, the situation is more complicated. They all take ergative suffixes of the form C V ɴ, where C is a consonant and V is a vowel. V is almost always /i/, except after /t/ or /d/, when it is /u/. However it is not possible to predict C, as shown by the examples below:
- tieyláae /teilɛʔː/ - shirt, absolutive
- tieyláaesin /teilɛʔːsiɴ / - shirt, ergative
- píey /peiʔ/ - book, absolutive
- píeykin /peiʔkiɴ/ - book, ergative
- `kùe /kɨɦ/ - goods, absolutive
- `kùezin /kɨɦziɴ/ - goods, ergative
- `rè /ʁɘɦ/ - red object, absolutive
- `rèdun /ʁɘɦduɴ/ – red object, ergative
- 'kúow /kouʔ/ - cup, absolutive
- 'kúowpin */kouʔpiɴ/ - cup, ergative
- píeylánkáe /peiʔlaɴʔkɛʔ/ - blanket, absolutive
- píeylánkáetun /peiʔlaɴʔkɛʔtuɴ/ - blanket, ergative
- wùerù /wɨɦʁuɦ/- frog, absolutive
- wùerùgin /wɨɦʁuɦgiɴ/ - frog, ergative
While it may seem that the consonant inserted before the –in (or –un) suffix is random, there are some patterns. Firstly, the inserted consonant is always an obstruent (oral stop, affricate or fricative), and never a sonorant (nasal or approximant). Secondly, observe that, when the final vowel of the absolutive stem has tense voice, the inserted consonant is always voiceless, while if the final vowel of the absolutive stem has breathy voice, the inserted consonant is always voiced. These two rules hold across the language.
Also, for readers with knowledge of whatever language Antarctican borrowed the particular noun stem from, note that the “inserted” consonant almost perfectly corresponds with the consonant at the end of the word e.g. the word for “frog”, (wùerù /wɨɦʁuɦ/ in the absolutive case), is in fact descended from the English word “frog”. However, Antarctican does not like final consonants, so the final “g” was lost in the absolutive form. However in the ergative form, there is another vowel following the “g”, so it “reappears”, and the ergative form of the word is wùerùgin /wɨɦʁuɦgiɴ/. A similar story happens with the “t” in the word for “blanket”, which is also derived from English.
Stem changes
However, for some of the nouns with breathy or tense voice on the final vowel of the absolutive stem, there are changes in the stem when they take the ergative suffix. These involve a change in vowel phonation to modal voice, and often a change in vowel quality (as given by the table in the phonology section). e.g.
'tùen /tɨɴɦ/- wound caused by a sting (e.g. a bee or a jellyfish), absolutive
'tin-gin /tiɴgiɴ/ - wound caused by a sting (e.g. a bee or a jellyfish), ergative (not *tùen-gin)
As a rule,
if the final vowel undergoes a change, and the second last vowel has the same
voicing as the final vowel, then they both change e.g.
ùylèn /ʔuiɦlɘɴɦ/ - island, absolutive
uoyliendun /ʔoileɴduɴ/ - island, ergative (not *qùilèndun)
tùrèen
/tuɦʁɘːɴɦ/ - fashionable items, absolutive
tuoriiendun /toʁeːɴduɴ/ - fashionable items, ergative
If there are even more consecutive syllables with the same voicing on the vowel, then this rule applies to every single one of them e.g.
ámáeláy /ʔaʔmɛʔlaiʔ/ - prey, absolutive
amielaeykin /ʔamelɛikiɴ/ - prey, ergative
There are many, many other nouns that decline according to this pattern. Almost all of the nouns that end in /ɴ/ or contain a long vowel in the final syllable undergo vowel changes in the stem e.g.
'táen /tɛɴʔ/ - weather, absolutive
'tenchin /tɘɴciɴ/ - weather, ergative
kòoe /kɜɦː/ - membership card, absolutive
kaadun /kaːduɴ/ - membership card, ergative
However, the converse is not true. For nouns
with non-modally voiced final vowels, but that do not end in /ɴ/ or a long
vowel, some undergo vowel changes e.g.
ùenòe /ʔɨɦnɜɦ/ - eel, absolutive
inajin /ʔinaɟiɴ/ - eel, ergative
While others do not e.g.
`kùe /kɨɦ/ - goods, absolutive
`kùezin /kɨɦziɴ/ - goods, ergative
There are some nouns that have identical absolutive forms, but are distinguished in the ergative e.g.
'ká /kaʔ/ - fence, absolutive
kaechin /kɛciɴ/ - fence, ergative
ká /kaʔ/ - coconut milk, absolutive
kátlin /katɬiɴ/ coconut milk, ergative
Obstruent Voicing
If the absolutive form has a voiceless obstruent (oral stop, affricate or fricative), that separates two syllables with breathy voice (or a breathy voice floating phonation if word initial), when the breathy voiced vowels acquire modal voice in the ergative form, the voiceless obstruent does too, becoming modally voiced e.g.
`pùelùe /pɨɦlɨɦ/ - bridge, absolutive
bilidlin /bilidɮiɴ/ - bridge, ergative
`pòey /pɜiɦ/ - baby, absolutive
baybyin /baibʲiɴ/ - baby, ergative
`nyùewsùeylèn /ɲɨuɦsɨɦiɦlɘɴɦ/ - New Zealand, absolutive
nyuuziiliendun /ɲuːziːleɴduɴ/ - New Zealand, ergative
If the absolutive form of a noun has a voiceless obstruent (oral stop, affricate or fricative), that is preceded by a syllable with a modally voiced vowel, and is followed by a vowel with tense voice, if this tense voiced vowel becomes modally voiced in the ergative form, then the voiceless obstruent before it acquires modal voice too e.g.
yíeysitlíeynyíey /jeiʔsitɬeiʔɲeiʔ/ - mutton, absolutive
yíeysidlinyuekin /jeiʔsidɮiɲɨkiɴ/ - mutton, ergative
Here we can
see that the /tɬ/ in the absolutive form has changed to /dɮ/ in the
ergative form.
For word initial voiceless obstruents followed by tense voiced vowels in the absolutive
form, which change to modal voice vowels in the ergative form, sometimes this change
also occurs e.g.
támá /taʔmaʔ/- victim of a scam / swindle, absolutive
damaesin /damɛsiɴ/ - victim of a scam / swindle, ergative
Sonorant Devoicing
Another similar pattern occurs in sonorants. If, in the absolutive form, they are preceded by a syllable with a modally voiced vowel (or modal voice floating phonation if word initial), and followed by a breathy or tense voiced vowel that changes in the ergative (to have modal voice), then the sonorant becomes devoiced. /w/ becomes /f/, /l/ becomes /ɬ/, /j/ becomes /ç/, and /ʁ/ becomes /χ/, voiced nasals become prestopped e.g.
yuuwíey /juːweiʔ/ - clothes, absolutive
yuufekin /juːfɘkiɴ/ - clothes, ergative
aetienòelùn /ʔɛtenɜɦluɴɦ/ - heart, absolutive
aetetnaluonzin /ʔɛtɘtnaloɴziɴ/ - heart, ergative
De-Ejectivisation
There are some Antarctican nouns that have ejectives in the absolutive form. As required by the phonotactics, they have tense voiced vowels both before and after (possibly with /ɴ/ intervening). However, sometimes in the ergative form, the tense voiced vowel after the ejective becomes modally voiced. In this case, the airstream mechanism changes from glottalic egressive (ejective) to pulmonic egressive (normal) e.g.
'kqúow
/kʼouʔ/ - a small amount, absolutive
'kuhli /\kuɬi/ - a small amount, ergative
ráetqúowlíeykuetu /ʁɛʔtʼoleiʔkɨtu/ - something self-limiting, absolutive
ráetuoluekuetu /ʁɛʔtolɨkɨtu/ something self-limiting, ergative
'kíeychqíey /keiʔcʼeiʔ/ - a female name, absolutive
'kíeychuekin /keiʔcɨkiɴ/ - a female name, ergative
Comitative Case
How this is formed also depends on the frontness and phonation of the final vowel:
Last Vowel of Abs. Form has Modal Voice
Last Vowel of Abs. Form is not a Back Vowel
In this case, take the absolutive form, raise /a/ to /ɛ/ and centralise any other front vowels e.g.
zivie /ziɥe/
- boat, absolutive
zive /ziɥɘ/ - boat, comitative
myaewntayn
/mʲɛuɴtaiɴ/ - mountain, absolutive
myaewntaeyn /mʲɛuɴtɛiɴ/ - mountain, comitative
agiriey /ʔagiʁei/ - agreement, absolutive
agirey /ʔagiʁɘi/ - agreement, comitative
Last Vowel of Abs. Form is a Back Vowel
In this case, take the absolutive form, and suffix /pmu/ e.g.
ton /tɔɴ/- change (as in coins, money), absolutive
tonpmu /tɔɴpmu/ - change (as in coins, money), comitative
duoliiengun /doleːŋuɴ/ - dragon, absolutive
duoliiengunpmu /doleːŋuɴpmu/ - dragon, comitative
paehuown /pɛχouɴ/ - dust, absolutive
paehuownpmu /pɛχouɴpmu/ - dust, comitative
yuenpiluoy - /jɨɴpiloipmu/ - employee, absolutive
yuenpiluoypmu - /jɨɴpiloipmu/ - employee, comitative
Other Cases
If the last vowel of the absolutive form has tense or breathy voice, the comitative is formed differently. Here, it is formed by taking the ergative, deleting any final /ɴ/ or /ga/ that had been inserted as a suffix, and then suffixing /ʔu/ e.g.
'tùen /sitɨɴɦ/ - wound caused by a sting (e.g. a bee or a jellyfish), absolutive
'tin-gin /sɨtiɴgiɴ/ - wound caused by a sting (e.g. a bee or a jellyfish), ergative
'tin-gi-u /sɨtiɴgiʔu/ - wound caused by a sting, comitative
tieyláae
/teilɛʔː/ - shirt, absolutive
tieyláaesin /teilɛʔːsiɴ / - shirt, ergative
tieyláaesi-u /teilɛʔːsiʔu/ - shirt, comitative
píey /peiʔ/ - book, absolutive
píeykin /peiʔkiɴ/ - book, ergative
píeyki-u /peiʔkiʔu/ - book, comitative
`kùe /kɨɦ/ - goods, absolutive
`kùezin /kɨɦziɴ/ - goods, ergative
`kùezi-u /kɨɦziʔu/ - goods, comitative
`rè /ʁɘɦ/ - red object, absolutive
`rèdun /ʁɘɦduɴ/ – red object, ergative
`rèdu-u /ʁɘɦduʔu/ – red object, comitative
'kúow /kouʔ/ - cup, absolutive
'kúowpin /kouʔpiɴ/ - cup, ergative
'kúowpi-u /kouʔpiʔu/ - cup, comitative
píeylánkáe /peiʔlaɴʔkɛʔ/ - blanket, absolutive
píeylánkáetun /peiʔlaɴʔkɛʔtuɴ/ - blanket, comitative
píeylánkáetu-u /peiʔlaɴʔkɛʔtuʔu/ - blanket, ergative
wùerù /wɨɦʁuɦ/ - frog, absolutive
wùerùgin /wɨɦʁuɦgiʔu/ - frog, ergative
wùerùgiqu /wɨɦʁuɦgiɴ/ - frog, comitative
Pronominal Possession
Where English would use possessive pronouns (“my”, “your”), Antarctican uses possessive prefixes. The base forms of each are listed in the table below:
| Prefix | Usage |
|---|---|
| myi- /mʲi/ | 1st person singular, 1st person exclusive plural |
| yiew- /jeu/ | 1st person inclusive plural |
| ti- /ti/ | 2nd person |
| wa- /wa/ | 3rd person, topicalised |
| si- /si/ | 3rd person, non-topicalised |
So, in the absolutive
case, “my clothes” or “our clothes” (not including you) would be myiyuuwíey /mʲijuːweiʔ/, “your clothes” would be tiyuuwíey /tijuːweiʔ/ etc.
Phonation Spreading
However, if the noun has a floating phonation, this will spread onto the prefix, and often cause a vowel change in it as well (see the table in the phonology section for a list of changes) e.g.
'kánkúow /kaɴʔkouʔ/ - prisoner, absolutive
'myíeykán-kúow /mʲeiʔkaɴʔkouʔ/ - my prisoner, absolutive (not *myikán-kúow)
'tíeykán-kúow /teiʔkaɴʔkouʔ/ - your prisoner, absolutive (not *tikán-kúow)
`pùelùe /pɨɦlɨɦ/ - bridge, absolutive
`myùepùelùe /mʲɨɦpɨɦlɨɦ/ - my bridge, absolutive (not *myipùelùe)
tùepùelùe /tɨɦpɨɦlɨɦ/ - your bridge, absolutive (not *tipùelùe)
Loss of Floating Phonation
However, if, in the ergative form, the first vowel changes to no longer have breathy or tense voice (i.e. it now has modal voice), then, if the floating phonation was the same as the what used to be on the vowel, then it is lost too e.g.
'kánkúow /kaɴʔkouʔ/ - prisoner, absolutive
kaen-gukin /kɛɴgukiɴ/ - prisoner, ergative
'myíeykán-kúow /mʲeiʔkaɴʔkouʔ/ - my prisoner, absolutive
myuekaen-gukin /mʲɨkɛɴgukiɴ/ - my prisoner, ergative
`pùelùe /pɨɦlɨɦ/- bridge, absolutive
bilidlin /bilidɮiɴ/ - bridge, ergative
`myùepùelùe /mʲɨɦpɨɦlɨɦ/ - my bridge, absolutive
myibilidlin /mʲibilidɮiɴ/ - my bridge, ergative
There are two exceptions to the above rule. The first is if the word begins with an ejective, in which case the ejectiveness is lost, but the floating phonation remains e.g.
'kqúow
/kʼouʔ/ - a small amount, absolutive
'kuhli /kuɬi/ - a small amount, ergative
myíeykuhli /mʲeiʔkuɬi/ - my small amount, ergative
The second is for words that begin with consonant pronounced with breathy voice (voiced consonant before a breathy voiced vowel) e.g.
`byùe /bʲɨɦ/ - mouth, absolutive
`byijin /bʲiɟiɴ/ - mouth, ergative
myùebyùe /mʲɨɦbʲɨɦ/ - my mouth, absolutive
`myùebyijin /mʲɨɦbʲiɟiɴ/ - my mouth, ergative
Prediction of Floating Tone
As a rule, whether or not a noun has floating tone cannot be predicted. The only time when it is possible to do so is for absolutive nouns, if, in the ergative form, the first vowel loses its breathy or tense phonation and becomes modally voiced. In this case, the rules are given below:
Sonorant Initial Stem
If the absolutive stem begins with a sonorant (nasal or approximant), and that sonorant becomes devoiced when the vowel after it acquires modal voice in the ergative form, then there is only ever modal floating phonation before it in both cases e.g.
mòoe /mɜɦː/ - betel nut, absolutive
pmaagin /pmaːgiɴ/ - betel nut, ergative
myimòoe /mʲimɜɦː/ - my betel nut, absolutive
Otherwise,
if a word begins with a sonorant, then it always has floating phonation that is the same as that on the first vowel e.g.
'máláeyáa /maʔlɛʔjaʔː/ - manners, absolutive
malieyaaetun /malejɛːtuɴ/ - manners, ergative
'myíeymáláeyáa /mʲeiʔmaʔlɛʔjaʔː/ - my manners, absolutive
Stem starts with /s/
If the absolutive stem begins with /s/, it can never have tense floating phonation e.g.
sásaechin /saʔsɛciɴ/ - stab wound, absolutive
myisásaechin /mʲisaʔsaɛciɴ/ - my stab wound, absolutive
In the case of absolutive nouns with breathy voice on the first vowel, if, in the ergative form, the initial /s/ becomes voiced /z/, then the word has breathy floating phonation e.g.
`sòemùe /sɜɦmɨɦ/ - (major) wife, absolutive
zamibyin /zamibʲiɴ/ - (major) wife, ergative
`myùesòemùe /mʲɨɦsɜɦmɨɦ/ - my (major) wife, absolutive (not *myisòemùe)
But if, in
the ergative form, the first vowel acquires modal voice but the initial
consonant stays as voiceless /s/, then in both the absolutive form and the ergative, there is floating modal phonation e.g.
sòepyùe /sɜɦpʲɨɦ/ - speech (as in words, not a formal speech), absolutive
sabyishin /sabʲiçiɴ/ - speech (as in words, not a formal speech), ergative
myisòepyùe /mʲisɜɦpʲɨɦ/ - my speech (as in words, not a formal speech), absolutive
Other stems
If the absolutive stem begins with another obstruent (oral stop, affricate or fricative) followed by a vowel with tense voice, and that obstruent stays voiceless even when followed by a modally voiced vowel (in the ergative form), then the absolutive form has tense floating phonation e.g.
'kánkúow /kaɴʔkouʔ/ - prisoner, absolutive
kan-gukin /kaɴgukiɴ/ - prisoner, ergative
'myíeykán-kúow /mʲeiʔkaɴʔkouʔ/ - my prisoner, absolutive
'táen /tɛɴʔ/ - weather, absolutive
tenchin /tɘɴciɴ/ - weather, ergative
'myíeytáen /mʲeiʔtɛɴʔ/ - my weather, absolutive
But if the obstruent becomes voiced, then there is only ever floating modal phonation e.g.
támá /taʔmaʔ/ - victim of a scam / swindle, absolutive
damaesin /damaɛsiɴ/ - victim of a scam / swindle, ergative
myitámá /mʲitaʔmaʔ/ - my victim of a scam / swindle, absolutive
And vice versa, if the absolutive form of a noun begins with a voicless obstruent followed by a breathy voiced vowel, and that vowel becomes voiced in the ergative form, then the absolutive form has floating breathy phonation e.g.
`pùelùe /pɨɦlɨɦ/ - bridge, absolutive
bilidlin /bilidɮiɴ/ - bridge, ergative
`myùepùelùe /mʲɨɦpɨɦlɨɦ/ - my bridge, absolutive
`pòey /pɜiɦ/- baby, absolutive
baybyin /baibʲiɴ/ - baby, ergative
`myùepòey /mʲɨɦpɜiɦ/ - my baby, absolutive
And if the obstruent stays voiceless in the ergative form, then there is only ever floating modal phonation e.g.
pòey /pɜiɦ/ - page, absolutive
paydlin /paidɮiɴ/ - page, ergative
myipòey /mʲipɜiɦ/ - my page, absolutive
Nasalisation of Velar Initials
For some nouns that begin with /k/ or /g/, often it changes to /ŋ/ when the noun takes a prefix. e.g.
gali /gali/ - hole, absolutive
myingali /mʲiŋali/ - my hole, absolutive
In such a case, if the first vowel has tense or breathy voice, then it also has a floating phonation that is the same e.g.
`kùe /kɨɦ/ - goods, absolutive
`myùengùe /mʲɨɦŋɨɦ/ - my goods, absolutive
'kíeyváy /keiʔɥaiʔ/ - tongue, absolutive
'myíeyngíeyváy /mʲeiʔŋeiʔɥaiʔ/ - my tongue, absolutive
Possession by a Noun
Antarctican distinguishes alienable and inalienable possession. Both are marked with prefixes on the possessed noun. These are wiey- for alienable possession and nu- for inalienable possession (the possessor always takes the absolutive case). Note that floating phonation affects these prefixes in the same way as any other:
`kùeròetùu /kɨɦʁɜɦtuɦː/ - bone, absolutive
yini /jini/ - dog, absolutive
`weykùeròetùu yini /wɘiɦkɨɦʁɜɦtuɦː jini/ - the dog’s bone, absolutive, alienable (i.e. the one that it eats, buries etc.)
`nùkùeròetùu yini /nuɦkɨɦʁɜɦtuɦː jini/ - the dog’s bone, absolutive, inalienable (i.e. the one that is a part of it)
Where English would compound nouns together, or use one to modify another. Antarctican uses the alienable possessive construction e.g.
aaehaan
/ʔɛːχaːɴ/ - food, absolutive
wiey-aaehaan yini /weiʔɛːχaːɴ jini/ - dog food, absolutive
Reciprocal Possession
In Antarctican, there is no singular vs. plural marking. However, some nouns that imply a relationship (e.g. friend, brother, enemy, coworker), have special forms to indicate a pair or group of people / things where that relationship is reciprocal e.g. where English would say “They are friends / brothers / enemies / coworkers (of each other)”.
These forms are generally constructed by reduplicating the first syllable of the noun, in the same “slot” where possession would be marked e.g.
biraza /biʁaza/ - brother, absolutive
bibiraza /bibiʁaza/ - brothers (of each other), absolutive
yieruoy /jeʁoi/ - ally, absolutive
yieyieruoy /jeʁoi/ - allies (of each other), absolutive
However, the inserted syllable cannot have a long vowel, a diphthong, or end in /ɴ/. If it would do so then it is truncated e.g.
duuolaa /doːlaː/ - coworker, absolutive
duoduuolaa /dodoːlaː/ - coworkers (of each other), absolutive
nayba /naiba/ - neighbour, absolutive
nanayba /nanaiba/ - neighbours (of each other), absolutive
'kúowntátu /kouɴʔtaʔtu/ – acquaintance, absolutive
'kúokúowntátu /koʔkouɴʔtaʔtu/– acquaintances (of each other), absolutive
The voicing of the vowel of the reduplication is determined by what floating phonation the noun has e.g.
sátuozii /saʔtoziː/ – enemy, absolutive
myisátuozii /mʲisaʔtoziː/ – my enemy, absolutive
sasátuozii /sasaʔtoziː/ - enemies (of each other), absolutive
`rùy /ʁuiɦ/- rival, absolutive
`myùerùy /mʲɨɦʁuiɦ/ - my rival, absolutive
`rùrùy /ʁuɦʁuiɦ/ - rivals (of each other), absolutive
firiendun /fiʁeɴduɴ/ – friend, ergative
myuefiriendun /mʲɨfiʁeɴduɴ/ – my friend, ergative
fuefiriendun /fɨfiʁeɴduɴ/ – friends (of each other), ergative
A few nouns have irregular reciprocal possessive forms e.g.
wùerèn /wɨɦʀɘɴɦ/ - friend, absolutive
fiwùerèn /fiwɨɦʀɘɴɦ/ - friends (of each other), absolutive
These arise from when the first vowel has breathy or tense voice, but the first consonant is underlyingly a voiced obstruent or a prestopped nasal. These can only occur before modally voiced vowels, and are thus modified before the vowel with breathy or tense voice. But if word has floating modal phonation, then the vowel there will have modal voice and the underlying consonant will surface there.
Verb / Adjective Morphology
There is no distinction between adjectives and verbs in Antarctican. Instead of adjectives like “good”, “bad”, “strong”, “weak”, there are verbs meaning “to be good”, “to be bad” etc.
Focus
Verbs have a root form, from which various other base forms are derived. The two most important of these base forms are the verb-focus base and the noun-focus base. Below is a list of verb roots with their corresponding verb-focus and noun-focus bases:
duolieegi /doleːgi/ - to drag, intransitive, root
duoliieju /doleːɟu/ - to drag, intransitive, verb-focus
`tùlèezi /tuɦlɘɦːzi/ – to drag, intransitive, noun-focus
`rèdu /ʁɘdu/ - red, root
`rèdla /ʁɘɦdɮa/ - red, verb-focus
`rèdù /ʁɘɦduɦ/ - red, noun-focus
'kiraeypyi /kiʁɛipʲi/ - to become scraped, root
'kiraeypyu /kiʁɛipʲu/ - to become scraped, verb-focus
'kiraypùe /kiʁa;ipɨɦ/ - to become scraped, noun-focus
Verb-Focus Base
This is used to put focus on the verb ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focus_(linguistics) ) i.e. when the most important "new" information that is being communicated to the listener is the action being done in the verb, rather than the nouns that are doing it or it is being done to. How it is formed from the root is regular, but the rules are somewhat complex and depend on whether the last syllable of the base begins with a soft or hard consonant:
Final Consonant is Soft
If the final consonant (not including any placeless nasal /ɴ/) is soft, infix -iq-/iʔ/ immediately after it e.g.
hlo /ɬɔ/ - to perform, root
hli-o /ɬiʔɔ/ - to perform, verb-focus
However, many vowels shift when this happens e.g.
íeypyii /ʔeiʔpʲiː/ - to spit out, root
íeypyi-iiey /ʔeiʔpʲiʔeːi/ - to spit out, verb-focus
inyieliie /ʔiɲeleː/ - to pierce, root
inyieli-aa /ʔiɲeliʔaː/ - to pierce, verb-focus
kivieluun /kiɥeluːɴ/ - to die, root
kivieli-iewn /kiɥeliʔeuɴ/ - to die, verb-focus
These vowel shifts are all in a roughly anti-clockwise directions around the vowel space. The shifts are listed below:
i /i/ -> ie /e/
ii /iː/ -> iey /ei/
ie /e/ -> a /a/
iie /eː/ -> aa /aː/
a /a/ -> u /u/
aa /aː/ -> uu /uː/
u /u/ -> i /i/
uu /uː/ -> iew /eu/
iey /ei/ -> ay /ai/
iiey /eːi/ -> aay /aːi/
ay /ai/ -> uy /ui/
aay /aːi/ -> uuy /uːi/
uy /ui/ -> ii /iː/
iew /eu/ -> aw /au/
iiew /eːu/ -> aaw /aːu/
aw /au/ -> uow /ou/
aaw /aːu/ -> uuow /oːu/
Final Consonant is Hard
If the final consonant (not including any placeless nasal /ɴ/) is hard, change it to be soft e.g.
yuentuoro /jɨɴtoʁɔ/ - to introduce oneself, root
yuentuolo /jɨɴtolɔ/ - to introduce oneself, verb-focus
However, many vowels shift when this happens e.g.
nangariew /naŋaʁeu/ - to flow, root
nangaluu /naŋaluː/ - to flow, verb-focus
'kirami /kiʁami/ - to swell up, root
'kiramyu /kiʁamʲu/ - to swell up, verb-focus
imuepu /ʔimɨpu/ - to sit down, root
imuepya /ʔimɨpʲa/ - to sit down, verb-focus
These vowel changes are often the reverse of what happens if the final vowel of the stem is a soft consonant. The vowel shifts are all roughly clockwise around the vowel space, and are listed below:
i /i/ -> u /u/
u /u/ -> a /a/
uu /uː/ -> aa /aː/
a /a/ -> ie /e/
aa /aː/ -> iie /eː/
ie /e/ -> i /i/ * For some words only, see below.
iie /eː/ -> ii /iː/
ii /iː/ -> uy /ui/
uy /ui/ -> ay /ai/
uuy /uːi/ -> aay /aːi/
ay /ai/ -> iey /ei/
aay /aːi/ -> iiey /eːi/
iey /ei/ -> ii /iː/
iiey /eːi/ -> ii /iː/
uow /ou/ -> aw /au/
uuow /oːu/ -> aaw /aːu/
aw /au/ -> iew /eu/
aaw /aːu/ -> iiew /eːu/
iew /eu/ -> uu /uː/
iiew /eːu/ -> uu /uː/
Vowel Phonation Changes
A few verb stems that end in a hard consonant and ie /e/ behave differently. If the consonant is an obstruent and the vowel is short, has modal voice and not followed by -n /ɴ/, then the syllable is deleted and voice put onto the preceding syllable(s). This voice is breathy if the deleted obstruent was voiced, and tense if it was voiceless e.g.
nuetuozie /nɨtoze/ - to be fed on, root
nitù /nituɦ/ - to be fed on, verb-focus
sibetie /sibɘte/ - to all be present, root
sipáe /sipɛʔ/ - to all be present, verb-focus (remember that Antarctican does not like voiced obstruents before vowels with breathy voice).
The breathy voice “spreads” backwards through the word, changing vowel phonation with it, until it hits a voiceless obstruent or prestopped nasal e.g.
maduozie /madoze/ - to give birth, intransitive, root
`mòetù /mɜɦtuɦ/ - to give birth, intransitive, verb-focus
nyiibie /ɲiːbe/ - to snow, root
`nyùue /ɲɨːɦ/ - to snow, verb-focus
san-gizie /saɴgize/ - to bleed, root
sòen-gùe /sɜɦɴgɨɦ/ - to bleed, verb-focus
Tense voice "spreads" backwards in a similar way, except that it passes through voiceless stops and not through voiced stops, fricatives, or prestopped nasals e.g.
daraekie /daʁɛke/ - to cover, root
tárá /taʔʁaʔ/ - to cover, verb-focus
Noun-Focus Base
This is used to put focus on the (non-topicalised) noun(s) in the sentence.
Regular Formation
The default way of forming it is by putting breathy voice on the final vowel of the base, and changing the vowel quality in the same way as normal e.g.
íeypyii /ʔeiʔpʲiː/ - to spit out, root
íeypyùey /ʔeiʔpʲɨiɦ/ - to spit out, noun-focus
This breathy voice “spreads” to the left until it hits a voiceless obstruent or a prestopped nasal e.g.
guowpieyiie /goupejeː/ - to suffer a setback, root
guowpèyèe /goupɘɦjɘːɦ/ - to suffer a setback, noun-focus
inyieliie /ʔiɲeleː/ - to pierce, root
ùenyèlèe /ʔɨɦɲɘɦleː/ - to pierce, noun-focus
kivieluun /kiɥeluːɴ/ - to die, root
kùevèlùun /kɨɦɥɘɦluːɴɦ/ - to die, noun-focus
Remember that Antarctican only permits voiced obstruents, prestopped nasals, and fricatives other than /s/, before vowels with modal voice. So if this vowel phonation change would produce such a forbidden sequence, then the consonant changes e.g.
hlo /ɬɔ/ - to perform, root
lò /lɔɦ/ - to perform, noun-focus
These changes do not affect phonation spreading though, as we can see from:
maduozie /madoze/ - to give birth, intransitive, root
`mòetùsè /mɜɦtuɦsɘɦ/ - to give birth, intransitive, noun-focus
nyiibie /ɲiːbe/ - to snow, root
`nyùeypè /ɲɨipɘɦ/ - to snow, noun-focus
san-gizie /saɴgize/ - to bleed, root
sòenkùesè /sɜɴɦkɨɦsɜɦ/ - to bleed, noun-focus
When a consonant such as a voiceless obstruent or prestopped nasal blocks the phonation spreading, if the vowel preceding it is /ɨ/ or /ɘ/ with modal voice (or a diphthong beginning with one), then fronts to /i/ or /e/ respectively e.g.
yuentuoro /jɨɴtoʁɔ/ - to introduce oneself, root
yintùrò /jiɴtuɦʁɔɦ/ - to introduce oneself, noun-focus
imuepu /ʔimɨpu/ - to sit down, root
imipù /ʔimipuɦ/ - to sit down, noun-focus
nuetuozie /nitoze/ - to be fed on, root
nitùsè /nituɦsɘɦ/ - to be fed on, noun-focus
pensaa /pɘɴsaː/ - to be lost in deep thought, root
piensòoe /peɴsɜːɦ/ - to be lost in deep thought, noun-focus
If the vowel is /ɛ/, or a diphthong starting with /ɛ/, before the blocking consonant, then it lowers to /a/ e.g.
'kiraeypi /kiʁɛipi/ - to become scraped, root
'kiraypùe /kiʁaipɨɦ/ - to become scraped, noun-focus
Final Syllable Replacement
In addition to this, some verbs lose their final syllable, which is replaced with –zi e.g.
duolieegi /doleːgi/ - to drag, intransitive, root
tùlèezi /tuɦlɘːɦzi/ – to drag, intransitive, noun-focus (-gùe has been replaced with -zi).
bilidli /bilidɮi/ - to make it across, root
pùelùezi /pɨɦlɨɦzi/ - to make it across, noun-focus
This process happens under well defined conditions. Both of the last two syllables of the verb root must have modal voice. Also the final vowel must be a short /i/ and not followed by a nasal vowel. The consonant immediately before this must be a voiced obstruent. And, in the proto-language, the verb root must have had pitch-accent on any syllable other than the final one.
Restrictive / Non-Restrictive Modifiers
When verbs / adjectives are used as modifiers, the verb-focus form is used when the modifier is non restrictive ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restrictiveness ), and the noun-focus form is used when the modifier is restrictive e.g. from the work tieyláae /teilɛʔː/ - shirt, we can say:
tieyláae `rèdla /teilɛːʔ ʁɘɦdɮa/ – a red shirt (non-restrictive)
tieyláae `rèdù /teilɛːʔ ʁɘɦduɦ/ – the red shirt (restrictive)
Verbalisation
Antarctican has a very productive process for to convert a noun N into an intransitive verb root meaning “to become N” / “to be N / to do what N does”. How this is done depends on the voicing of the last vowel of the absolutive form of the noun
Last Vowel of Abs. Form has Modal Voice
In this case, the verb root is identical to the absolutive form e.g.
zivie /ziɥe/ - boat, absolutive
zivie /ziɥe/ - to be a boat, verb root
buraza /buʁaza/ - brother, absolutive
buraza /buʁaza/ - to be a brother, verb root
yuenpiluy - /jɨɴpilui/ - employee, absolutive
yuenpiluy - /jɨɴpilui/ - employee, verb root
Other Cases
However, if the final vowel of the absolutive form has tense or breathy voice, the verb stem is formed from the ergative form of the noun, minus any final –n e.g.
ùylèn /ʔuiɦlɜɴɦ/ - island, absolutive
uoyliendun /ʔoileɴdun/ - island, ergative
uoyliendu /ʔoileɴdu/ - to be an island, verb root
píey /peiʔ/ - book, absolutive
píeykin /peiʔkiɴ/ - book, ergative
píeyki /peiʔki/ - to be a book, verb root
támá /taʔmaʔ/ - victim of a scam / swindle, absolutive
damaesin /damɛsiɴ/ - victim of a scam / swindle, ergative
damaesi /damɛsi/ - to be a victim of a scam / swindle, verb root
mòoe /mɜɦː/ - betel nut, absolutive
pmaagin /pmaːgiɴ/ - betel nut, ergative
pmaagi /pmaːgi/ - to be a betel nut, verb stem
`pùelùe /pɨɦlɨɦ/ - bridge, absolutive
bilidlin /bilidɮiɴ/ - bridge, ergative
bilidli /bilidɮi/ - to be bridge / to make it across, verb stem
`pòey /pɜiɦ/ - baby, absolutive
baybyin /baibʲiɴ/ - baby, ergative
baybyi /baibʲi/ - to be a baby, verb stem
pòey /pɜiɦ/ - page, absolutive
paydlin /paidɮiɴ/ - page, ergative
paydli /paidɮi/ - to be a page, verb stem
Transitivity
Whether a verb is transitive or intransitive (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transitivity_(grammar)) is very important in Antarctican syntax. Unlike English, where a verb such as "drag" can either be used transitively (as in the sentence "He was dragging his pants along the ground"), or intransitively (as in the sentence "His pants were dragging along the ground"), Antarctican uses distinct verb roots for each case e.g.
duoliieju /doleːɟu/ - to drag, intransitive, verb-focus (as in "his pants were dragging along the ground")
dliieju /dɮeːɟu/ - to drag, transitive, verb-focus (as in "he was dragging his pants along the ground")
`tùlèezi /tuɦlɘɦːzi/ – to drag, intransitive, noun-focus
`tlèezi /tɬɘɦːzi/– to drag, transitive, noun-focus
Very commonly, transitive roots are formed from intransitive roots by deletion of the first vowel and the second consonant. And if, out of the first and second consonants, one was soft and the other hard, the first consonant is changed to agree in hardness / softness with the second (deleted) consonant e.g.
duolieegi /doleːgi/ - to drag, intransitive, root
dlieegi /dɮeːgi/ - to drag, intransitive, root
shinari /çinaʁi/ - to twist, intransitive, root
hari /χaʁi/ - to twist, transitive, root
The transitive roots are then inflected for focus e.g.
shinari /çinaʁi/ - to twist, intransitive, root
shinali /çinali/ - to twist, intransitive, verb-focus
yùenòerùe /jɨɦnɜɦʁɨɦ/ - to twist, intransitive, noun-focus
hari /χaʁi/ - to twist, transitive, root
hali /χali/ - to twist, transitive, verb-focus
ròerùe /ʁɜɦʁɨɦ/ - to twist, transitive, noun-focus
Voice and Object Marking
Grammatical voice is very important in Antarctican. It is conflated with pronominal object marking, both only affecting transitive verbs and usually using infixes that come immediately after the first consonant of the verb base. As with elsewhere in the language, these are not differentiated for number, although there is an inclusive and exclusive “us”.
Infixation
This is the default way of marking pronominal objects and grammatical voice. In each case there are two forms of the infix, one that contains a hard consonant that is used with verbs beginning with hard consonants, and another that contains a soft consonant that is used with verbs beginning with soft consonants. Note that there is no infix to mark 3rd person objects. Instead the antipassive voice is used. The infixes are listed below in pairs, with the hard version coming first and then the soft version.
| Hard Form | Soft Form | |
| 1PS Exclusive | iem | imy |
| 1PS Inclusive | as | iehl |
| 2PS | os | ohl |
| who | ar | iel |
| what | ab | ieby |
| Reflexive | ier | il |
| Perfective Antipassive | ut / úow(tq)s (see below) | atl |
| Imperfective Antipassive | am | iemy |
| Superordinate | át(q) | áet(q)l |
These come immediately after the first
consonant of the verb base e.g.
damaehlu /damɛɬu/ - to scam / swindle, verb-focus
dosamaehlu /dɔsamɛɬu/ - to scam / swindle you, verb-focus
damaehlu /damɛɬu/ - to scam, verb-focus
diemamaehlu /demɛɬu/ - to scam me / us (not including you), verb-focus
All of the usual rules about phonation
spreading apply e.g.
pyùu /pʲuːɦ/ - to purify, noun-focus
pyùemyùu /pʲɨɦmpʲuːɦ/ - to purify me / us (not including you, noun-focus
pyèlùu /pʲɘɦluːɦ/ - to purify who, noun-focus
The infixes with non-back vowels and
voiceless consonants also undergo vowel mutation if the following vowel has
modal voice. This is the exact same as has been described before for noun and verb prefixes e.g.
damaehlu /damɛɬu/ - to scam / swindle, verb-focus
daesamaehlu /dɛsamɛɬu/ - to scam / swindle us (including you), verb-focus
dieramaehlu /deʁamɛɬu/ - to scam / swindle oneself, verb-focus
If the first vowel of the verb base has
breathy or tense voice, and the infix inserted would contain /ɬ/ (which
can only occur before modal voice vowels), then it becomes /l/ and /tɬ/ respectively. However it
still blocks the spread of the voicing e.g.
pyùu /pʲuːɦ/ - to purify,
noun-focus
pyolùu /pʲɔluːɦ/ - to purify you, noun-focus
pyielùu /pʲeluːɦ/ - to purify ourselves (including you), noun-focus
The last example this is distinct
from pyèlùu /pʲɘɦluːɦ/ - to purify who,
noun-focus, which has breathy voice spreading onto the infix.
Note that, for the purposes of the syntax, using any of these infixes turns a transitive verb into an intransitive verb. This means that the subject of such an infixed verb can no longer take ergative case e.g.
- yuenpiluoy - /jɨɴpiloi/ - employee, absolutive
- yuenpiloy /jɨɴpilɔi/ - employee, ergative
- sowdla - /sɨudɮ/ - soldier, absolutive
- damasùe - /damas#616;ɦ/ - to scam / swindle, noun-focus
yuenpiloy damasùe sowdla
employee-ERG scam-NFCS soldier-ABS
An employee scammed a soldier
Above, we can see that the word for "employee" is in the ergative case, and must come before the verb. However, when the object is a pronoun, the word for "employee" must take the absolutive case e.g.
yuenpiluoy daesamasùe
employee-ABS <1PS.INC.OBJ>scam-NFCS
An employee scammed us (including you)
Antarctican also permits the subjects of intransitive verbs to come after the verb, so the following sentence is also grammatical (and perhaps more common):
daesamasùe yuenpiluoy
<1PS.INC.OBJ>scam-NFCS employee-ABS
An employee scammed us (including you)
Antipassive Voice
Antarctican has extremely productive antipassivisation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antipassive_voice). There are two infixes, which depend on whether the verb has perfective or imperfective aspect.
Perfective Antipassive
This is used for when the action described by the verb is not viewed as having any internal structure (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfective_aspect). It can be used for past, present or future actions e.g.
duetamasùe yuenpiluoy
<PFV.AP>scam-NFCS employee-ABS
An employee scammed / will scam (someone who does not need to be mentioned here).
However, remember that alveolar stops (e.g. /t/) can never occur before /i/ and /ʎ/ (with any phonation), nor before tense voice /eʔ/ and /ɘʔ/, nor before diphthongs starting with these. If a verb begins with a hard consonant followed by one of these vowels, a different infix is used, normally -úows- e.g.
inyieli-aa /ʔiɲeliʔaː/ - to pierce, verb-focus
úowsinyieli-aa /ʔouʔsiɲeliʔaː/ - to pierce, verb-focus, perfective antipassive
kivieliqiewn /kiɥeliʔeuɴ/ - to die, verb-focus
kúowsivieli-iewn /kouʔsiɥeliʔeuɴ/ - to die, verb-focus, perfective antipassive
sisíeychu /siseiʔcu/ - to stab, verb focus
súowsisíeychu /souʔsiseiʔcu/ - to stab, verb focus, perfective antipassive
However, if the first vowel of the verb root had tense voice, the ejective -tqs- is used instead e.g.
'kátla /kaʔtɬa/ - to make someone's acquaintance, verb focus
'kúowtqsátla /kouʔtsʼaʔtɬa/ - to make someone's acquaintance, verb-focus, perfective antipassive
íeypyi-iiey /ʔeiʔpʲiʔeːi/ - to spit out, verb-focus
úowtqsíeypyi-iiey /ʔouʔtsʼeiʔpʲiʔeːi/ - to spit out, verb-focus, perfective antipassive
Imperfective Antipassive
This is used for ongoing, habitual and repeated action (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperfective_aspect).
damamasùe yuenpiluoy
<IMPV.AP>scam-NFCS employee-ABS
An employee is / was / will be scamming (someone who does not need to be mentioned here).
Superordinate Voice
Like the antipassive, this also reduces a transitive verb's valency (the number of arguments it has, see here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valency_(linguistics)) by one, and requires that its subject take the absolutive case. However, it requires some other verb to come afterwards to be subordinate to it e.g.
- wuonnyie /woɴɲe/ - to want (something), verb-focus
- wátuonnyie /waʔtoɴɲe/ - to want (to do something / something to happen), verb-focus
- chiqiin /ciʔiːɴ/ - to fear (something), verb-focus
- cháetliqiin /cɛtɬiʔiːɴ/ - to fear (that something will happen), verb-focus
So using the nouns below:
- yuenpiluoy - /jɨɴpiloi/ - employee, absolutive
- yuenpiloy /jɨɴpilɔi/ - employee, ergative
- sowdla - /sɨudɮ/ - soldier, absolutive
- sowdlan - /sɨudɮɴ/ - soldier, ergative
- nayba /naiba/ - neighbour, absolutive
- nayban /naibaɴ/ - neighbour, ergative
- ton /tɔɴ/ - change (as in coins, money), absolutive
- taon /tɒɴ/ - change, ergative
We can say:
yuenpiloy wuonnyie ton
employee-ERG want-VFCS change-ABS
An employee wants change
yuenpiluoy wátuonnyie sowdla damasùe
employee-ABS <SPR>want-VFCS soldier-ABS scam-NFCS
An employee wants to scam a soldier.
Note that in the second sentence, the case for the word "employee" has changed from ergative to absolutive. And since Antarctican allows nouns in the absolutive case to also come after the verb, the following sentences would also be grammatical, and all mean roughly the same thing:
wátuonnyie yuenpiluoy sowdla damasùe
yuenpiluoy wátuonnyie damasùe sowdla
wátuonnyie yuenpiluoy damasùe sowdla
Similarly, using the verb meaning "to fear", we can say:
yuenpiluoy chiqiin sowdla
employee-ERG fear-VFCS soldier-ABS
The employee fears the soldier
yuenpiluoy 'cháetliqiin sowdla damasùe
employee-ERG <SPR>fear-VFCS soldier-ABS scam-NFCS
The employee fears he will scam / has scammed the soldier.
The words in this sentence can be ordered in the same fashion as before.
yuenpiluoy 'cháetliqiin sowdlan damasùe
employee-ERG <SPR>fear-VFCS soldier-ERG scam-NFCS
The employee fears the soldier will scam / has scammed him.
Here, while the word for "employee" can come after the verb meaning "to fear", the word for "soldier", cannot, since it takes the ergative case (as it is the subject of the transitive verb damasù meaning "to scam").
Vowel Replacement
All Antarctican verbs use infixation to mark 1st person exclusive objects, whom, what (as a direct object), reflexive objects, the imperfective antipassive, and the superordinate voice. However, there is a subset of verbs that use vowel replacement to mark 1st person inclusive objects, 2nd person objects, and the perfective antipassive.
These are verbs where either a) the first vowel is short, modally voiced /i/, the second vowel has breathy voice, and there is no nasal intervening (plain nasals, prestopped nasals, and the placeless nasal /ɴ/ all count) or b) the first vowel is short, modally voiced /ʎ/, which is immediately followed by a voiceless obstruent, without /ɴ/ intervening or c) the first vowel is short, modally voiced /ʎ/, which is immediately followed by an approximant and then a vowel with breathy voice, without /ɴ/ intervening
The vowel replacements depend on whether the verb begins with a hard or soft consonant, but are regular (and have tense voice) and given in the table below:
| Hard Form | Soft Form | |
| 1PS Inclusive | á | áe |
| 2PS | óe | óe |
| Perfective Antipassive | N/A use the -íeys- infix instead | úow |
For example:
sisíeychu /siseiʔcu/ - to stab, verb focus
sásíeychu /saʔseiʔcu/ - to stab us (including you), verb focus
sóesíeychu /sɜʔseiʔcu/ - to stab you, verb focus
Note that the perfective antipassive form is created using the infix -iéys- i.e. síeysisíeychu /seiʔsiseiʔcu/ - to stab, verb focus, perfective antipassive. It is only with verbs starting with soft consonants that vowel replacement is used.
Also note that, for the other persons and voices, infixation is used e.g.
siemisíeychu /semiseiʔcu/ - to stab me / us (not including you), verb focus
sierisíeychu /seʁiseiʔcu/ - to stab oneself, verb focus
sarisíeychu /saʁiseiʔcu/ - to stab who, verb focus
sabisíeychu /sabiseiʔcu/ - to stab what, verb focus
samisíeychu /samiseiʔcu/ - to stab, verb focus, imperfective antipassive
More examples:
kiròemùe /kiʁɜɦmɨɦ/ - to bite, verb focus
kimyiròemùe /kimʲiʁɜɦmɨɦ/ - to bite me / us (not including you), verb focus
'káròemùe /kaʔʁɜɦmɨɦ/ - to bite us (including you), verb focus
'kóeròemùe /kɜʔʁɜɦmɨɦ/ - to bite you, verb focus
kieriròemùe /keʁiʁɜɦmɨɦ/ - to bite oneself, verb focus
kariròemùe /kaʁiʁɜɦmɨɦ/ - to bite who, verb focus
kabiròemùe /kabiʁɜɦmɨɦ/ - to bite what, verb focus
'kúowròemùe /kouʔʁɜɦmɨɦ/ - to bite, verb focus, perfective antipassive
kamiròemùe /kamiʁɜɦmɨɦ/ - to bite, verb focus, imperfective antipassive
shuetinju /çɨtiɴɟu/ - to count, verb focus
shimyuetinju /çimʲɨtiɴɟu/ - to count me / us (not including you), verb focus
yáetinju /jɛʔtiɴɟu/ - to count us (including you), verb focus
yóetinju /jɜʔtiɴɟu/ - to count you, verb focus
shiluetinju /çilɨtiɴɟu/ - to count oneself, verb focus
shieluetinju /çelɨtiɴɟu/ - to count who, verb focus
shiebyuetinju /çebʲɨtiɴɟu/ - to count what, verb focus
yúowtinju /jouʔtiɴɟu/ - to count, verb focus, perfective antipassive
shiemyuetinju /çemʲɨtiɴɟu/ - to count, verb focus, imperfective antipassive
(The /ç/ is lenited to /j/ when the vowel is replaced, since Antarctican does not like words starting with fricatives other than /s/ if the next vowel has tense voice.
Reciprocal Voice
One other voice that needs to be mentioned here is the reciprocal voice. This carries to meaning of "to do to each other / one another". It is formed by reduplicating the first syllable of the verb base e.g.
wuonnyie /woɴɲe/ - to want, verb focus
wuowuonnyie /wowoɴɲe/ - to want each other, verb focus
darakè /daʁakɘɦ/ - to cover, noun-focus
dadarakè /dadaʁakɘɦ/ - to cover each other, noun-focus
shuetinju /çɨtiɴɟu/ - to count, verb focus
shueshuetinju /çɨçɨtiɴɟu/ - to count each other, verb focus
However, the reduplicated syllable cannot contain a long vowel, a diphthong, or the placeless nasal /ɴ/. If the first syllable of the verb base contains any of these, then it is truncated e.g.
ziitlòeji /ziːtɬɜɦɟi/ - to know (a person), verb-focus
ziziitlòeji /ziziːtɬɜɦɟi/ - to know each other, verb-focus
yinwùumùe /jiɴwuːɦmɨ/ - to turn in, noun-focus
yiyinwùumùe /jijiɴwuːɦmɨ/ - to turn each other in, noun-focus
kaaeykyu /kɛːi&k#690;u/ - to sell, verb-focus
kaekaaeykyu /kɛkɛːikʲu/ - to sell each other, verb-focus
The reduplicated syllable has whatever floating phonation is at the start of the word e.g.
'kátla /kaʔtɬa/ - to make someone's acquaintance, verb focus
'kákátla /kaʔkaʔtɬa/ - to make each other's acquaintance, verb focus
This may not be the same phonation as is on the first syllable of the word e.g.
'kamyu /kamʲu/ - to inflate (someone's ego), verb-focus
'kákamyu /kaʔkamʲu/ - to inflate each other('s ego), verb-focus
'kaypùe /kaipɨɦ/ - to scrape, noun-focus
'kákaypùe /kaʔkaipɨɦ/ - to scrape each other, noun-focus
Any changes to vowel quality that happen because of vowel phonation changes, also happen here e.g.
'puytlù /puitɬuɦ/ - to pick a fight, noun-focus
'púoyputlu /poiʔpuitɬuɦ/ - to pick a fight with each other, noun-focus
As well as all the other regular vowel quality changes that happen when a noun takes a prefix e.g.
hali /χali/ - to twist, transitive, verb-focus
haehali /χɛχali/ - to twist, transitive, verb-focus
As with reciprocal possession, a few verbs have irregular forms in the reciprocal voice e.g.
ròerùe /ʁɜɦʁɨɦ/ - to twist, transitive, noun-focus
haròerùe /χaʁɜɦʁɨɦ/ - to twist each other, transitive, noun-focus
Generally, if a noun has an irregular reciprocal possessive form, then any verbs derived from it will also have irregular reciprocal voice forms e.g.
wùerèn /wɨɦʀɘɴɦ/ - friend, absolutive
fiwùerèn /fiwɨɦʀɘɴɦ/ - friends (of each other), absolutive
wènzi /wɘɴɦ/ - to befriend, noun-focus
fiwènzi /fiwɘɴɦ/ - to befriend each other, noun-focus
These irregularities happen for the same reason in reciprocal verbs as they do in reciprocal nouns, namely because there is an underlying initial consonant that changes form to something else because it is before a vowel with breathy voice or tense voice (which prohibit some consonants from coming before it). However, if there is modal floating phonation, then the underlying forms can resurface in the reduplication.
Pronominal Subject Prefixes
Instead of using pronouns to indicate subject, Antarctican uses prefixes on verbs. Which prefix is used depends on the tense of the verb (normally unmarked). They do not inflect for number. They are listed in the table below:
| Past | Present | Future | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1PS Exclusive | uy | uomyi | uow |
| 1PS Inclusive | chi | wie | wi |
| 2PS | nyin | ya | yu |
| 3PS | day | die | daw |
| Who / What | wu | hiew | ri |
Note that, for habitual actions in the present, the past tense is used. Also the present tense is used for imminent actions in the future (where English might use "about to").
Emphatic Forms
All of the pronomnial affixes have emphatic forms that are generated by lengthening the vowel e.g.
chisòen-gùe /cisɜɦɴgɨɦ/ you bleed, verb-focus
chiisòen-gùe /ciːsɜɦɴgɨɦ/ you (emphatic) bleed, verb-focus
However, the emphatic forms cannot be used with noun-focus forms, so while chisòenkùesè /cisɜɴɦkɨɦsɜɦ/ - to bleed, noun-focus is grammatical, chiisòenkùesè /ciːsɜɴɦkɨɦsɜɦ/ would not be.
This lengthening can also be used on infixes marking objects e.g.
pyoli-uu /pʲɔliʔuː/ - purify you, verb focus
pyooli-uu /pʲɔːliʔuː/ - purify you (emphatic), verb focus
If an object would be formed by vowel replacement (instead of an infix), then the emphatic form is created by lengthening the first vowel e.g.
sisíeychu /siseiʔcu/ - to stab, verb focus
sóesíeychu /sɜʔseiʔcu/ - to stab you, verb focus
sóoesíeychu /sɜːʔseiʔcu/ - to stab you (emphatic), verb focus
Syntax
Basic Word Order
Antarctican is a syntactically ergative (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergative%E2%80%93absolutive_language#Syntactic_ergativity), topic-prominent language (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topic-prominent_language). The basic word order is (Topic) (Ergative Noun) Verb (Absolutive Noun). So in intransitive sentences the word order is either V-S or S-V (if the subject is topicalised) e.g.
| sowdla | kivieli-iewn |
| sɔudɮa | kiɥeliʔeuɴ |
| soldier.ABS | die.VFCS |
The soldier died.
| kivieli-iewn | sowdla |
| kiɥeliʔeuɴ | sɔudɮa |
| die.VFCS | soldier.ABS |
A soldier died.
In transitive sentences, the possible word orders are S-V-O and O-S-V e.g.
| sowdlan | amielaykùe | wùerù |
| sɔudɮaɴ | ʔamelaikɨɦ | wɨɦʁuɦ |
| soldier-ERG | hunt.NFCS | frog.ABS |
A soldier is hunting frogs.
If we topicalise the object, the sentence becomes:
| wùerù | sowdlan | amielaykùe |
| wɨɦʁuɦ | sɔudɮaɴ | ʔamelaikɨɦ |
| frog.ABS | soldier-ERG | hunt.NFCS |
The frogs are being hunted by a soldier.
In SVO sentences, it is also possible to topicalise the subject. This does not create any "visible" effect in the word order, however it does mean that the subject takes the absolutive case e.g.
| sowdla | amielaykùe | wùerù |
| sɔudɮaɴ | ʔamelaikɨɦ | wɨɦʁuɦ |
| soldier.ABS | hunt.NFCS | frog.ABS |
The soldier is hunting frogs.
Note that sentence can only have one topic, so if the object of a transitive sentence is topicalised, then the subject cannot be (and must therefore stay in the ergative case). Hence utterances like "wùeru sowdla amielaykùe" are ungrammatical.
Topicalisation and Possession
Antarctican has two 3rd person possessive prefixes that nouns can take, wa- and si-. They are not interchangable. When the possessor is the noun that has been taken up as the topic, wa- is used. If not, si- is used instead. Compare the following two sentences:
| sowdla | amielaeychu | wawùerù |
| sɔudɮaɴ | ʔamelɛicu | wawɨɦʁuɦ |
| soldier.ABS | hunt.NFCS | TPCPOSS-frog.ABS |
The soldier is hunting his frogs (i.e. the ones that the soldier owns).
| sowdla | amielaeychu | siwùerù |
| sɔudɮaɴ | ʔamelɛicu | siwɨɦʁuɦ |
| soldier.ABS | hunt.NFCS | 3POSS-frog.ABS |
The soldier is hunting his / her frogs (that someone else other than the soldier owns).
In both cases above, the soldier has been taken up as the topic, indicated by putting it immediately before a transitive verb (indicating that it is the subject of that verb), while keeping it in the absolutive case. Hence, whenever wa- is used, it indicates something belonging to the topic (i.e. the soldier). However, when si- is used, it indicates something belonging to someone or something other than the topic.
Now look at sentences where the soldier has not been topicalised (indicated by keeping it in the ergative case):
| sowdlan | amielaykùe | wawùerù |
| sɔudɮaɴ | ʔamelaikɨɦ | wawɨɦʁuɦ |
| soldier-ERG | hunt.NFCS | TPCPOSS-frog.ABS |
A soldier is hunting his / her frogs (not belonging to the soldier, but to whoever / whatever has been taken up as a topic previously).
| sowdlan | amielaykùe | siwùerù |
| sɔudɮaɴ | ʔamelaikɨɦ | siwɨɦʁuɦ |
| soldier-ERG | hunt.NFCS | 3POSS-frog.ABS |
A soldier is hunting his / her frogs (This sentence is ambiguous, but most likely the frogs belong to the soldier, and definitely not to whoever / whatever has been taken up as a topic previously).
Similar differences in meaning apply in OVS sentences (i.e. where the object of a transitive verb has been topicalised) e.g.
| sáaeynátqéy | waesowdlan | amielaeychu |
| sɛːiʔnaʔtʼɘiʔ | wɛsɔudɮaɴ | ʔamelɛicu |
| general.ABS | TPCPOSS-soldier-ERG | hunt.VFCS |
The general is being hunted by his (own) soldiers.
| sáaeynátqéy | suesowdlan | amielaeychu |
| sɛːiʔnaʔtʼɘiʔ | sɨsɔudɮaɴ | ʔamelɛicu |
| general.ABS | 3POSS-soldier-ERG | hunt.VFCS |
The general is being hunted by his / her soldiers (not his own).
Implicit Topicalisation
Whenever a noun is the object of a transitive verb or the subject of an intransitive verb, it is, by default, taken up as the topic for any verbs following it e.g.
| byaenka | damaehlu | sowdla | wáetuow | kaen-guchi | wabiraza |
| bʲɛɴka | damɛɬu | sɨudɮ | wɛʔtou | kɛɴguci | wabiʁaza |
| banker.ABS | swindle.VFCS | soldier.ABS | occur during.NFCS | be a prisoner.VFCS | TPCPOSS-brother |
The banker swindled the soldier while his brother was in prison (the soldier's brother).
While the phrase "his brother" in English translation is ambiguous (since both the banker and the soldier can be male), in Antarctican is not. It can only mean "the soldier's brother" because, by being the object of a transitive verb, the soldier has been implicitly taken up as the topic for the next utterance, which uses the topic possessive prefix wa-. However, if we replace wa- with si- the non-topicalised possessive prefix, then the meaning changes:
| byaenka | damaehlu | sowdla | wáetuow | kaen-guchi | sibiraza |
| bʲɛɴka | damɛɬu | sɨudɮ | wɛʔtou | kɛɴguci | sibiʁaza |
| banker.ABS | swindle.VFCS | soldier.ABS | occur during.NFCS | be a prisoner.VFCS | 3POSS-brother |
The banker swindled the soldier while his brother was in prison.
In this case, it is not the soldier's brother that is in prison (most likely the banker's brother).
Serial Verbs
Antarctican often uses serial verb constructions.
Intransitive Verbs
If a verb is intransitive, it is simple to serialise it by placing another verb after it e.g.
| sowdla | byuowchi-i | kivieli-iewn |
| sɔudɮa | bʲouciʔi | kiɥeliʔeuɴ |
| soldier.ABS | sick.VFCS | die.VFCS |
The soldier got sick and died.
The subject comes either immediately before the first verb (as above), or immediately after it e.g.
| byuowchi-i | sowdla | kivieli-iewn |
| bʲouciʔi | sɔudɮa | kiɥeliʔeuɴ |
| sick.VFCS | soldier.ABS | die.VFCS |
The soldier got sick and died.
Of course, it is perfectly possible to string together three or more verbs e.g.
| sowdla | byuowchi-i | sòen-gùe | kivieli-iewn |
| sɔudɮa | bʲouciʔi | sɜɦɴgɨɦ | kiɥeliʔeuɴ |
| soldier.ABS | sick.VFCS | bleed.VFCS | die.VFCS |
The soldier got sick, bled, and died.
Transitive Verbs
It is also perfectly possible to use transitive verbs in serial verb constructions, subject to the constraint that all of the verbs share the same noun absolutive argument (i.e. object for transitive verbs, subject for intransitive verbs). Take the following sentence:
| sowdlan | kiròemùesè | wùerù | kivieli-iewn |
| sɔudɮaɴ | kiʁɜɦmɨɦsɘɦ | wɨɦʁuɦ | kiɥeliʔeuɴ |
| soldier-ERG | bite.NFCS | frog.ABS | die.VFCS |
A soldier bit a frog and it died.
This sentence can only ever mean that it was the frog that died. Topicalising the subject of the transitive verb (by putting it into the absolutive case) makes no difference to the meaning:
| sowdla | kiròemùesè | wùerù | kivieli-iewn |
| sɔudɮa | kiʁɜɦmɨɦsɘɦ | wɨɦʁuɦ | kiɥeliʔeuɴ |
| soldier.ABS | bite.NFCS | frog.ABS | die.VFCS |
The soldier bit a frog and it died.
Topicalising the object of the verb by putting it at the front of the sentence makes no difference either:
| wùerù | sowdlan | kiròemùesè | kivieli-iewn |
| wɨɦʁuɦ | sɔudɮaɴ | kiʁɜɦmɨɦsɘɦ | kiɥeliʔeuɴ |
| frog.ABS | soldier-ERG | bite.NFCS | die.VFCS |
The frog was bitten by a soldier and (it) died.
Antipassivisation
To say things like "The soldier bit a frog and died" (as in it was the soldier that died), then the verb meaning "to bite" must be converted into an intransitive verb by putting it in the antipassive voice e.g.
| sowdla | 'kúowròemùe | kivieli-iewn |
| sɔudɮa | kouʔʁɜɦmɨɦ | kiɥeliʔeuɴ |
| soldier.ABS | <PFV.AP>bite.VFCS | die.VFCS |
The soldier bit it and died.
Patient Re-introduction
If we want to re-introduce the frog into the sentence, it needs to come after both the antipassivised verb and the subject, take the ergative case, and be followed by the oblique marker nyùe e.g.
| 'kúowròemùe | sowdla | wùerùgin | `nyùe | kivieli-iewn |
| kouʔʁɜɦmɨɦ | sɔudɮa | wɨɦʁuɦgiɴ | ɲɨɦ | kiɥeliʔeuɴ |
| <PFV.AP>bite.NFCS | soldier.ABS | frog-ERG | OBL | die.VFCS |
A soldier bit a frog and died.
The (now absolutive) argument of the verb can be topicalised by putting it at the front of the sentence e.g.
| sowdla | 'kúowròemùesè | wùerùgin | `nyùe | kivieli-iewn |
| sɔudɮa | kouʔʁɜɦmɨɦsɘɦ | wɨɦʁuɦgiɴ | ɲɨɦ | kiɥeliʔeuɴ |
| soldier.ABS | <PFV.AP>bite.VFCS | frog-ERG | OBL | die.VFCS |
The soldier bit a frog and died.
However, the noun that was re-introduced with `nyùe cannot be topicalised, so the following sentence is ungrammatical:
| wùerùgin | `nyùe | sowdla | 'kúowròemùesè | kivieli-iewn |
| wɨɦʁuɦgiɴ | ɲɨɦ | sɔudɮa | kouʔʁɜɦmɨɦsɘɦ | kiɥeliʔeuɴ |
| frog-ERG | OBL | soldier.ABS | <PFV.AP>bite.VFCS | die.VFCS |
The soldier bit a frog and died. (ungrammatical)
Subject Pronominal Affixes
Pronouns must be marked by prefixes on every single verb that they are the subject of in a serial verb construction e.g.
| wuebyuowchi-i | wuekivieli-iewn |
| wɨbʲouciʔi | wɨkiɥeliʔeuɴ |
| 1PS.INC.SUBJ.FUT-sick.VFCS | 1PS.INC.SUBJ.FUT-die.VFCS |
We (including you) will get sick and die.
With transitive verbs, there is no need for antipassivisation if the subject is a pronoun e.g.
| wuekiròemùe | wùerù | wuekivieli-iewn |
| wɨkiʁɜɦmɨɦ | wɨɦʁuɦ | wɨkiɥeliʔeuɴ |
| 1PS.INC.SUBJ.FUT- bite.VFCS | frog.ABS | 1PS.INC.SUBJ.FUT-die.VFCS |
We (including you) will bite a frog and die.
Leaving the pronominal prefix off a verb in a serial verb construction means that that pronoun is no longer the subject of that verb. This changes the meaning entirely e.g.
| wuekiròemùe | wùerù | kivieli-iewn |
| wɨkiʁɜɦmɨɦ | wɨɦʁuɦ | kiɥeliʔeuɴ |
| 1PS.INC.SUBJ.FUT- bite.VFCS | frog.ABS | 1PS.INC.SUBJ.FUT-die.VFCS |
We (including you) will bite a frog and it will die.
Note that, if a transitive verb takes a subject pronominal affix, then it can never take antipassive voice.
Relative Clauses
These follow the noun they modify. There are no relative pronouns or relativising particles. However, the accessibility hierarchy is very important in Antarctican (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relative_clause#Accessibility_hierarchy). Only absolutive arguments (objects of transitive verbs and subjects of intransitive verbs) can be relativised. So the following two phrases are grammatical:
| wùerù | kivieli-iewn |
| wɨɦʁuɦ | kiɥeliʔeuɴ |
| frog.ABS | die.VFCS |
The frog, which died.
| wùerù | sowdlan | amielaykùe |
| wɨɦʁuɦ | sɔudɮaɴ | ʔamelaikɨɦ |
| frog.ABS | soldier-ERG | hunt.NFCS |
The frogs the soldier hunted.
However, to say "the soldier that hunted frogs", the verb must be put into the antipassive voice e.g.
| sowdla | utamielaykùe | wùerù | `nyùe |
| sɔudɮaɴ | ʔutamelaikɨɦ | wɨɦʁuɦ | ɲɨɦ |
| soldier.ABS | <PFV.AP>hunt.NFCS | frog.ABS | OBL |
The soldier that hunted frogs.
Once a transitive verb takes the antipassive voice, the oblique argument (i.e. what used to be its object) can be freely left out e.g.
| sowdla | utamielaykùe |
| sɔudɮaɴ | ʔutamelaikɨɦ |
| soldier.ABS | <PFV.AP>hunt.NFCS |
The soldier that hunted.
Negation
Negation in Antarctican is achieved by using one of two particles, no /nɔ/ (known as general negation) and nay /nai/ (known as specific negation).
The Particle no /nɔ/ (General Negation)
The normal way to negate a sentence is to put this immediately before the verb e.g.
| sowdlan | amielaykùe | wùerù |
| sɔudɮaɴ | ʔamelaikɨɦ | wɨɦʁuɦ |
| soldier-ERG | hunt.NFCS | frog.ABS |
Soldiers are hunting frogs.
| sowdlan | no | amielaykùe | wùerù |
| sɔudɮaɴ | nɔ | ʔamelaikɨɦ | wɨɦʁuɦ |
| soldier-ERG | NEG.GEN | hunt.NFCS | frog.ABS |
Soldiers aren't hunting frogs.
Either the noun-focus form of the verb (as above), or the verb-focus form can be used e.g.
| sowdlan | no | amielaeychu | wùerù |
| sɔudɮaɴ | nɔ | ʔamelɛicu | wɨɦʁuɦ |
| soldier-ERG | NEG.GEN | hunt.VFCS | frog.ABS |
Soldiers aren't hunting frogs.
The default position for the particle is immediately before the verb, however it can be moved to in front of a noun as well. Doing so puts emphasis on negating that noun e.g.
| no | sowdlan | amielaykùe | wùerù |
| nɔ | sɔudɮaɴ | ʔamelaikɨɦ | wɨɦʁuɦ |
| NEG.GEN | soldier-ERG | hunt.NFCS | frog.ABS |
Soldiers aren't hunting frogs (but someone else is).
| sowdlan | amielaykùe | no | wùerù |
| sɔudɮaɴ | ʔamelaikɨɦ | nɔ | wɨɦʁuɦ |
| soldier-ERG | hunt.NFCS | NEG.GEN | frog.ABS |
Soldiers aren't hunting frogs (but they are hunting something else).
Note that in both of the above cases, the noun-focus form is used. Using the verb focus form "amielaykùe" here would be ungrammatical.
Also note that, if a noun is topicalised, then the particle cannot occur before it. So the following sentence is ungrammatical:
| no.GEN | sowdla | amielaykùe | wùerù |
| nɔ | sɔudɮa | ʔamelaikɨɦ | wɨɦʁuɦ |
| NEG.GEN | soldier.ABS | hunt.NFCS | frog.ABS |
The Particle nay /nai/ (Specific Negation)
This is always placed after a verb, which must be in the verb-focus form. It is used for negation with emphasis on the verb e.g.
| sowdla | amielaeychu | nay | wùerù |
| sɔudɮa | ʔamelɛicu | nai | wɨɦʁuɦ |
| soldier.ABS | hunt.VFCS | NEG.SPFC | frog.ABS |
Soldiers aren't hunting frogs (but they are doing something else to them).
It is also used for negating a verb in a relative clause e.g.
| wùerù | kivieli-iewn | `rèdla |
| wɨɦʁuɦ | kiɥeliʔeuɴ | ʁɘɦdɮa |
| frog.ABS | die.VFCS | red.VFCS |
The frog, which died, was red.
| wùerù | kivieli-iewn | nay | `rèdla |
| wɨɦʁuɦ | kiɥeliʔeuɴ | nai | ʁɘɦdɮa |
| frog.ABS | die.VFCS | NEG.SPFC | red.VFCS |
The frog, which didn't die, was red.
And since Antarctican makes no distinction between adjectives and verbs, and hence no distinction between an attributive adjective (one describing a noun), and a verb in a relative clause, this particle is also used to negate adjectives when they are describing nouns e.g.
| sowdlan | amielaykùe | wùerù | `rèdla |
| sɔudɮaɴ | ʔamelaikɨɦ | wɨɦʁuɦ | ʁɘɦdɮa |
| soldier-ERG | hunt.NFCS | frog.ABS | red.VFCS |
Soldiers are hunting red frogs.
| sowdlan | amielaykùe | wùerù | `rèdla | nay |
| sɔudɮaɴ | ʔamelaikɨɦ | wɨɦʁuɦ | ʁɘɦdɮa | nai |
| soldier-ERG | hunt.NFCS | frog.ABS | red.VFCS | NEG.SPFC |
Soldiers aren't hunting red frogs (maybe they're hunting another colour).
Polar Questions
A Yes/No question is formed by using either the particle du /du/, or /ka/ /ka/. These are known as the general and specific interrogatives respectively, and the usage of them very closely parallels the /no/ and /nai/ negative particles.
The Particle du (General Interrogative)
The normal way to ask a polar question is to put this immediately before the verb e.g.
| sowdlan | amielaykùe | wùerù |
| sɔudɮaɴ | ʔamelaikɨɦ | wɨɦʁuɦ |
| soldier-ERG | hunt.NFCS | frog.ABS |
Soldiers are hunting frogs.
| sowdlan | du | amielaykùe | wùerù |
| sɔudɮaɴ | du | ʔamelaikɨɦ | wɨɦʁuɦ |
| soldier-ERG | INT.GEN | hunt.NFCS | frog.ABS |
Are soldiers hunting frogs?
Either the noun-focus form of the verb (as above), or the verb-focus form can be used e.g.
| sowdlan | du | amielaeychu | wùerù |
| sɔudɮaɴ | du | ʔamelɛicu | wɨɦʁuɦ |
| soldier-ERG | INT.GEN | hunt.VFCS | frog.ABS |
Are soldiers hunting frogs?
The default position for the particle is immediately before the verb, however it can be moved to in front of a noun as well. Doing so puts emphasis on questioning that noun;s involvement in the event being described, rather than whether or not the event actually happened e.g.
| du | sowdlan | amielaykùe | wùerù |
| du | sɔudɮaɴ | ʔamelaikɨɦ | wɨɦʁuɦ |
| INT.GEN | soldier-ERG | hunt.NFCS | frog.ABS |
Are soldiers hunting frogs (or is it someone else)?
| sowdlan | amielaykùe | du | wùerù |
| sɔudɮaɴ | ʔamelaikɨɦ | du | wɨɦʁuɦ |
| soldier-ERG | hunt.NFCS | INT.GEN | frog.ABS |
Are soldiers hunting frogs (or something else)?
Note that in both of the above cases, the noun-focus form is used. Using the verb focus form "amielaykùe" here would be ungrammatical.
Also note that, if a noun is topicalised, then the particle cannot occur before it. So the following sentence is ungrammatical:
| du | sowdla | amielaykùe | wùerù |
| du | sɔudɮa | ʔamelaikɨɦ | wɨɦʁuɦ |
| INT.GEN | soldier.ABS | hunt.NFCS | frog.ABS |
The Particle ka
This is always placed after a verb, which must be in the verb-focus form. It is used when the noun's involvement in the event is not in question, rather the question is about what the action was e.g.
| sowdla | amielaeychu | ka | wùerù |
| sɔudɮa | ʔamelɛicu | ka | wɨɦʁuɦ |
| soldier.ABS | hunt.VFCS | INT.SPFC | frog.ABS |
Are soldiers hunting frogs (or doing something else to them)?
It is also used for questioning a verb in a relative clause e.g.
| wùerù | kivieli-iewn | `rèdla |
| wɨɦʁuɦ | kiɥeliʔeuɴ | ʁɘɦdɮa |
| frog.ABS | die.VFCS | red.VFCS |
The frog, which died, was red.
| wùerù | kivieli-iewn | ka | `rèdla |
| wɨɦʁuɦ | kiɥeliʔeuɴ | ka | ʁɘɦdɮa |
| frog.ABS | die.VFCS | INT.SPFC | red.VFCS |
Was it the frog that died that was red?
And since Antarctican makes no distinction between adjectives and verbs, and hence no distinction between an attributive adjective (one describing a noun), and a verb in a relative clause, this particle is also used to question adjectives when they are describing nouns e.g.
| sowdlan | amielaykùe | wùerù | `rèdla |
| sɔudɮaɴ | ʔamelaikɨɦ | wɨɦʁuɦ | ʁɘɦdɮa |
| soldier-ERG | hunt.NFCS | frog.ABS | red.VFCS |
Soldiers are hunting red frogs.
| sowdlan | amielaykùe | wùerù | `rèdla | ka |
| sɔudɮaɴ | ʔamelaikɨɦ | wɨɦʁuɦ | ʁɘɦdɮa | ka |
| soldier-ERG | hunt.NFCS | frog.ABS | red.VFCS | INT.SPFC |
Are soldiers hunting red frogs (or another colour)?
Other Questions
There are a whole host of other question particles in Antarctican, all of which have general and specific forms which follow the same syntactic rules as above.
| Interrogative | General | Specific |
|---|---|---|
| Where / Which | duku | tuovi |
| When | tùownká | taensi |
| How (asking for a description) | duonna | chuowan |
| How much / How many / To what extent | kùey | chetnay |
| Why | tówta | tanmay |
Below are some example questions using the words for "where":
| sowdlan | duku | amielaykùe | wùerù |
| sɔudɮaɴ | duku | ʔamelaikɨɦ | wɨɦʁuɦ |
| soldier-ERG | where.GEN | hunt.NFCS | frog.ABS |
Where are soldiers are hunting frogs?
| duku | sowdlan | amielaykùe | wùerù |
| duku | sɔudɮaɴ | ʔamelaikɨɦ | wɨɦʁuɦ |
| where.GEN | soldier-ERG | hunt.NFCS | frog.ABS |
Soldiers from where are hunting frogs?
| sowdlan | amielaykùe | duku | wùerù |
| sɔudɮaɴ | ʔamelaikɨɦ | duku | wɨɦʁuɦ |
| soldier-ERG | hunt.NFCS | where.GEN | frog.ABS |
Soldiers are hunting frogs from where?
As a specific interrogative particle, tuovi puts emphasis on a particular part of the question e.g.
| sowdla | amielaeychu | tuovi | wùerù |
| sɔudɮa | ʔamelɛicu | tuɥi | wɨɦʁuɦ |
| soldier.ABS | hunt.VFCS | where.SPFC | frog.ABS |
Where are the soldiers hunting frogs (not doing anything else to them)?
| wùerù | kivieli-iewn | tuovi | `rèdla |
| wɨɦʁuɦ | kiɥeliʔeuɴ | tuɥi | ʁɘɦdɮa |
| frog.ABS | die.VFCS | where.SPFC | red.VFCS |
The frog that died where was red?
| sowdlan | amielaykùe | wùerù | `rèdla | tuovi |
| sɔudɮaɴ | ʔamelaikɨɦ | wɨɦʁuɦ | ʁɘɦdɮa | tuɥi |
| soldier-ERG | hunt.NFCS | frog.ABS | red.VFCS | where.SPFC |
Where are soldiers hunting red frogs (as opposed to some other colour)?
Ditransitives
Antarctican differs from English in that it has secundative alignment (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secundative_language). Take, for example, the following sentence:
| sowdlan | òey | yini |
| sɔudɮaɴ | ʔɜiɦ | jini |
| soldier-ERG | give.NFCS | dog.ABS |
A soldier is giving (something to) a dog.
This can only ever mean that the soldier is giving something to a dog, never that the soldier is giving the dog to someone.
A similar situation is found when an object pronominal infix (which makes a verb intransitive for the purposes of case marking on and positioning of the subject) is used on the verb e.g.
| asòey | sowdla |
| ʔasɜiɦ | sɔudɮ |
| <1PS.INC.OBJ>give.NFCS | soldier.ABS |
A soldier is giving (something to) us (including you).
If we want to introduce the Theme (whatever is being given), the default construction places it in the ergative case, followed by `wù /wuɦ/ and after the recipient e.g.
| sowdlan | òey | yini | aaehaan-ga | `wù |
| sɔudɮaɴ | ʔɜiɦ | jini | ʔɛːχaːɴga | wuɦ |
| soldier-ERG | give.NFCS | dog.ABS | food-ERG | THEME |
A soldier is giving food to a dog.
| asòey | sowdla | aaehaan-ga | `wù |
| ʔasɜiɦ | sɔudɮ | ʔɛːχaːɴga | wuɦ |
| <1PS.INC.OBJ>give.NFCS | soldier.ABS | food-ERG | THEME |
A soldier is giving us food.
If we want to remove the Recipient from the sentence, then the verb must take the antipassive voice e.g.
| òemòey | sowdla | aaehaan-ga | `wù |
| ʔɜmɜiɦ | sɔudɮ | ʔɛːχaːɴga | wuɦ |
| <IMPV.AP>give.NFCS | soldier.ABS | food-ERG | THEME |
A soldier is giving food.
Pronominal Themes
If the Theme is a pronoun, then instead of `wu taking a noun before it, it is prefixed with the same prefixes that mark subject on verbs (with breathy voice spread onto them) e.g.
| sowdlan | òey | yini | `wèwù |
| sɔudɮaɴ | ʔɜiɦ | jini | wɘɦwuɦ |
| soldier-ERG | give.NFCS | dog.ABS | <1PS.INCL.PRES>THEME |
A soldier is giving us (including you) to a dog.
If the Recipient is omitted, then the verb takes the antipassive voice as before e.g.
| òemòey | sowdla | `wèwù |
| ʔɜmɜiɦ | sɔudɮa | wɘɦwuɦ; |
| <IMPV.AP>give.NFCS | soldier.ABS | <1PS.INCL.PRES>THEME |
A soldier is giving us (to something / someone).
Like the prefixes on verbs, these prefixes inflect for tense e.g.
| òemòey | sowdla | chùewù |
| ʔɜmɜiɦ | sɔudɮa | cɨɦwuɦ; |
| <IMPV.AP>give.NFCS | soldier.ABS | <1PS.INCL.PAST>THEME |
A soldier was giving us (to something / someone).
| òemòey | sowdla | `wùewù |
| ʔɜmɜiɦ | sɔudɮa | wɨɦwuɦ; |
| <IMPV.AP>give.NFCS | soldier.ABS | <1PS.INCL.FUT>THEME |
A soldier will be giving us (to something / someone).