Roshterian: Difference between revisions

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*''pyn-'': hearsay
*''pyn-'': hearsay
*''qil-'': a third-party source accepted as authoritative by the speaker
*''qil-'': a third-party source accepted as authoritative by the speaker
*''rei-'': the speaker's own inference or assumption
*''mei-'': the speaker's own inference or assumption


====Object incorporation====
====Object incorporation====

Revision as of 00:16, 7 March 2017

Roshterian /rɒʃˈtɛriən/ (native name: eṟbiros̱ṯerim /ɛɻbɪrɔʂʈɛˈrɪm/ 'The Roshterian language', ros̱ṯer from older *rosker- 'front, east') is a Talmic language spoken in Northeastern Cuadhlabh, inspired partly by Welsh. It is head-initial and polysynthetic; verbs use bipersonal conjugation, evidentials, applicative constructions and noun incorporation.

Todo

  • Suffixed copula for predicatives.
  • caanu 'wife'
  • ooxus /oːˈɬus/ 'wave'
  • roṉḏ, roṉḏo- /rɔɳɖ/ = man (male) (*rondwom?)
  • breit, breity- /brɛɪt/ (< bondi-teit 'AGT-child') = woman
  • bo- = profession
    • bopenicili-, bopenicili /bopɛnikiˈli/ = penicillin player
  • nys̱-, henys̱ /hɛˈnəʂ/ = water, liquid
    • nys̱ṉoq = sauce (noqa-, noq = 'top')
    • nys̱oox̱i = fruit juice
  • viip = eye
    • nys̱viip = tears
  • qeqeqeqeqe... = (laughter or snickering)
  • hox̱i-, hoox̱i = fruit
  • qaaṟan = laugh

Numbers

TODO: Combining forms, ordinals, distributives

  • 1: peem
  • 2: tixu
  • 3: naṟg
  • 4: loob
  • 5: helix, lix-
  • 6: ṯiam
  • 7: ruad
  • 8: lored
  • 9: baṟ
  • 10: ḡir
  • 11: hunais
  • 12: nais

Phonology

Among Talmic languages, Roshterian is notable for having retroflex consonants, uvular consonants and multiple liquids.

Consonants

Labial Dental/Alveolar Retroflex Velar Uvular Glottal
central lateral central lateral
Nasal m /m/ n /n̪/ /ɳ/ [ŋ] [ɴ]
Stop voiceless p /p/ t /t̪/ /ʈ/ c /k/ q /q/
voiced b /b/ d /d̪/ /ɖ/ g /g/
Continuant voiceless f /f/ s /s̪/ x /ɬ/ /ʂ/ /ɬʵ/ h /h/
voiced v /v/ r /r~ɽ/ l /l/ /ʐ~ɻ/ /ɭ/ /ʁ/

Northeastern dialects fail to distinguish /ɭ/ from /ɻ/.

Vowels

ɪ i: ʊ u: ɛ e: ə ə: ɔ o: a a: aɪ ɛɪ iə ɛʊ uə ɔɪ ɪʊ

i i u uu e ee y yy o oo a aa ai ei ia au ua oi iu

Stress

There is no phonemic stress; however, all words are pronounced with weak word-final stress.

Phonotactics

Roshterian allows relatively few clusters compared to e.g. Thensarian, but more clusters than Nurian.

Allowed clusters:

  • Not allowed initially: mp, mb, nt, nd, ṉṯ, ṉḏ, nc, ng, nq, nḡ, lp, lt, lc, lq, lb, ld, lg, lḡ, rp, rt, ṟṯ, rc, rq, rb, rd, rg, rgh, st, s̱ṯ, sv, s̱q, ṟb, ṟḏ, ṟg?
  • Allowed initially: pl, pr, bl, br, tr, ṯr, dr, (ḏr), ts, tx, tx̱, cl, cr, gl, gr

Sandhi

Sound changes

The most significant changes characterizing Roshterian are coalescing and altering of consonant clusters, often creating retroflex consonants.

  • *ā > ia (*nā > nia 'I'); *ō > ua; *au > ô; *ou > û; *ū > ii
  • *qʷ > /χʷ/ > /ɧ/ > ; *ʁʷ > /ζ/ >
    • ʁʷelinə ("6 parts [of 12]") > ṟelin 'half'
  • *nw, tw, dw, sw, łw, lw, rw > ṉ, ṯ, ḏ, s̱, x̱, ḻ, ṟ /ɳ, ʈ, ɖ, ʂ, ɬ̠, ʐ~ɻ~ɭ, ʐ~ɻ~ɭ/
    • gʷałwā > bax̱i 'neck, throat' ~ Thn. gaθuā 'throat (also language)'
  • *sl-, sm-, sn- > ḻ-, m-, ṉ-
  • *sɸ-, sr-, sw- > s̱-, ṟ-, s̱-
  • *st, sk, skʷ, sq > t-/st, ṯ-/s̱ṯ-, v-/sv-, q-/s̱q
    • stas- > tetsil 'gathering' (~ Thn. Stasnyssōs)
    • skəttā > ṯyyti 'body' ~ Thn. scyttā
    • *bastom > bast 'king' ~ Thn. bastom 'head'
  • *sb, sd, sg > ṟb, ṟdh, ṟg
    • *nasg- > naṟg '3'
  • *φn, tn, φl, tl > /ːn, ts, ːɬ, tɬ/
    • łnāgin > txiagin 'I believe' ~ Thn. θnāginis
    • oφlutsus > ooxus 'wave'
  • *kt, qt > /jt, ːʈ/
    • *tektə > teit /teit/ 'child'
    • *neqtə > neeṯ /neːʈ/ 'cloud'
  • *ks, qs > /js, ːʂ/
  • *kn, gn, qn, ql, qr > /jn, jn, :ɳ, :ɻ, :ɻ/ (with **/uj/ > /uː/ )
    • sφugnus > s̱uun 'root' ~ Thn. sφugnus
    • leqnos > leeṉ 'river' ~ Thn. leānos?
    • qrīdis > ṟiid 'knife' ~ Thn. ȝrīdis 'edge'
  • *φj, tj, kj, qj > pt s ts ḡ
  • *φ-, j-, s- > h-
  • *skj, stj > ṯ-/s̱ṯ, s-/ːs
  • final short vowels lost; final -m, -r, -s, -t lost; final long vowels shorten (ia, ua > i, u)
  • i-affection: The following changes affect V1 in sequences of the form V1 + consonant cluster + (*i/*ī/*j) unless the consonant cluster after V1 contains a retroflex consonant.
    • a > e
  • Stress shifts to final
  • Some combining forms and combined forms are altered due to the stress shift - conjunct forms for verbs arise when there is an antepenultimate syllable

Morphology

Nouns

Nouns are marked with a singular-plural distinction, and may also take possessive suffixes. However, the lemma form of a noun is typically its combining form, which is the incorporated form of a noun and is also used to form possessed forms and compounds. Unlike in Thensarian and its descendants, the Proto-Talmic grammatical gender was lost; gendered pronouns and verb affixes no longer mark grammatical gender, but natural gender (as in Naquian).

The plural form is inherited from the Proto-Talmic reduplicated collective; some irregularities may be present due to the retention of the original single consonant in the reduplicant, as opposed to the stem-initial cluster where the consonants interacted to produce new consonants and clusters.

veiny- 'brother'
Combining Singular Plural
veiny- vein vevein
Possessed forms
Number→
Possessor↓
Singular Plural
my veinyn veveinyn
thy veinys veveinys
his/her veinyti veveinyti
its veinyt veveinyt
our (exc) veinym veveinym
our (inc) veinys̱ veveinys̱
your (pl) veinyc veveinyc
their veinytu veveinytu

loiro- 'bird'
Combining Singular Plural
loiro- loir leloir
Possessed forms
Number→
Possessor↓
Singular Plural
my loiron leloiron
thy loiros leloiros
his/her loiroti leloiroti
its loirot leloirot
our (exc) loirom leloirom
our (inc) loiros̱ leloiros̱
your (pl) loiroc leloiroc
their loirotu leloirotu

ṟiidi- 'knife'
Combining Singular Plural
ṟiidi- ṟiid qeṟiid
Possessed forms
Number→
Possessor↓
Singular Plural
my ṟiidin qeṟiidin
thy ṟiidis qeṟiidis
his/her ṟiiditi qeṟiiditi
its ṟiidit qeṟidit
our (exc) ṟiidim qeṟiidim
our (inc) ṟiidis̱ qeṟiidis̱
your (pl) ṟiidic qeṟiidic
their ṟiiditu qeṟiiditu

qutri- 'blood'
Combining Singular Plural
qutri- qutri qequtri
et sim.

bondi- 'person'
Combining Singular Plural
bondi- bondi bebondi


Verbs

Evidentiality/Discourse affixes

Evidentials mark the source of the speaker's information.

  • to-: visual or other direct experience
  • pyn-: hearsay
  • qil-: a third-party source accepted as authoritative by the speaker
  • mei-: the speaker's own inference or assumption

Object incorporation

Verbs often change form when used with incorporated objects.

hoox̱iis̱yn 'eat fruit' < hoox̱i 'fruit' + caasyn 'eat'

Object affixes

Object affixes
Singular Plural
1 ni- mi-
1 + 2 - xi-
2 ti- hi-
3 bi- ne-

Subject+TAM affixes

Progressive tense
Person Affix ḡaiman 'I fly' txiagin "I believe"
1SG -n ḡaiman txiagin
2SG -r ḡaimar txiagir
3SG.M -m ḡaimam txiagim
3SG.F -s ḡaimas txiagis
3SG.N -0 ḡaima txiagi
1EX -me ḡaimame txiagime
1IN -nt ḡaimant txiagint
2PL -f ḡaimaf txiagif
3PL -tu ḡaimatu txiagitu

Habitual tense
Person Affix ḡaiman 'I fly' txiagin "I believe"
1SG RDP--n ḡeḡaiman tetxiagin
2SG RDP--r ḡeḡaimar tetxiagir
3SG.M RDP--m ḡeḡaimam tetxiagim
3SG.F RDP--s ḡeḡaimas tetxiagis
3SG.N RDP--0 ḡeḡaima tetxiagi
1EX RDP--me ḡeḡaimame tetxiagime
1IN RDP--nt ḡeḡaimant tetxiagint
2PL RDP--f ḡeḡaimaf tetxiagif
3PL RDP--tu ḡeḡaimatu tetxiagitu

Perfective tense
Person ḡaiman "I fly" caasyn "I eat"
1SG ḡaimaan ceesyyn
2SG ḡaimaar ceesyyr
3SG.M ḡaimaam ceesyym
3SG.F ḡaimaas ceesyys
3SG.N ḡaimaa ceesyy
1EX ḡaimamer ceesymer
1IN ḡaimanter ceesynter
2PL ḡaimafer ceesyfer
3PL ḡaimater ceesyter


Voice affixes

  • -ron = passive suffix
  • -stan = causative suffix

Syntax

Roshterian is a head-marking polysynthetic language. Verbs take both subject and object affixes (bipersonality occurs in Thensarian and other Quihum languages as well). Complex morphophonemic alternations are common, reminiscent of Old Tíogall or Old Irish. Where Roshterian deviates from the Cuadhlabh (or even Talmic) typology are features such as obviation, noun incorporation and evidential marking, making Roshterian resemble Native American languages such as Blackfoot or Ojibwe.

Tiraḏan.
/t̪ɪraˈɖan/
ti-radda-n
2SG.OBJ-love-1SG.SUBJ
I love you.

Sample texts