Rówok

Rówok
Rówok
Pronunciation	[[Help:IPA|ro:wok]]
Created by	Ioscius
Date	1200
Setting	Vaguely undefined pre-industrial period, thought to be around 1200 CE.
Native speakers	~10,000 ()
Language family	Proto-Ruk Ruk ? Rówok
Early form	Ruk
Official status
Regulated by	Intertribal agreement

Nota bene, care lector, this is a work in progress

Rówok is an artlang created by Ioscius.

It is the only known daughter language of the as yet presumed language isolate Ruk.

Introduction

Setting

A typical day for a Rówok speaker.

Spoken by a rather reclusive community that lived high in the preindustrial Ural range, Ruk was an extremely isolating language, with largely monosyllabic words and next to no inflection of any sort. Rówok on the other hand is morphologically complex. This is the result of the Ruk speakers, after centuries of living mostly on their own, having underwent a period of dispersion and travel through lands inhabited by Finnic and Slavic speakers. This resulted in both a cultural explosion and a rapid evolution of the language, as affected by analogy with speakers picking up the languages of the peoples they mingled with.

Armed with new knowledge and now speaking a radically altered language, the nation moved back up to the hills, and Rówok represents a stage of the language's evolution in about the 3rd generation of leveling after their return to the homeland. It is mostly stable, but there are some forms still competing for widespread acceptance (cf., e.g., copula, partitive).

Rówok speakers live in a mountainous, forest environment with snow-cover nearly year round, with just a tiny bit of summer of which to speak. They are intimately dependent and symbiotic with their dogs, and there are thus many, many semantic elements of or relating to canines and canine/human interaction, not to mention a huge amount of idioms containing references to dogs. Lastly they are extremely mathematically, if not technically, advanced and utterly areligious.

Design goals

The main motive behind creating Rówok was to explore patient and agent relationships, and to employ and self-indulgently tweak and torture a complex and fully productive middle voice system.

Other motivating (syntactical) considerations were:

• trying a set of uniform case endings (barring vowel harmony and allophony) instead of the typical IE several declension patterns, so that all the case endings are recognizable throughout all grammatical numbers
• a vague attempt at trying vowel harmony in a conlang
• blurring the lines between adjective/substantive/verb, so the same root can easily be used in any of those categories, and implicitly an extensive participial system
• having a strict and productive dual in all applicable grammatical categories

Inspiration

Rówok’s creator placed the speech community where he did, wanting to steal liberally from both Finnic and Slavic semantics and grammar without having to justify himself to anyone. You could say the natlangs that had the greatest impact on the author’s aesthetics and inspirations were Latin, Ancient Greek, Pan-Slavic, Finnic and Sami, just a tiny bit of Basque, and enormous inspiration from the author’s absolute favorite, simply darling language that he’s never learned: Guarani.

Phonology

Rówok's phonology is fairly conservative, a result primarily of the author's desire to be able to actually speak it.

All of the sounds are found in English, save for /r̝/.

Notable absences from the phonology are /f/ and /h/, especially noting that /p/, /b/, /v/, and /g/ and /k/ all exist.

Orthography

Rówok is written using largely the Latin alphabet as extended for South Slavic, with the addition of <ŧ> for the voiceless interdental fricative /θ/, and <đ> is used for the voiced interdental fricative /ð/, instead of for /dʑ/ in South Slavic.

There is also <ř> to indicate the same sound as in its inspiration in Czech, namely /r̝/.

That gives us in Latin order:

a b č d đ e g i k l m n o p r ř s š t ŧ u v w y z ž

See the alphabet grouped by feature in the tables below.

Consonants

	labial		interdental		alveolar		postalveolar		velar
	unvoiced	voiced	unvoiced	voiced	unvoiced	voiced	unvoiced	voiced	unvoiced	voiced
stops	p /p/	b /b/			t /t/	d /d/			k /k/	g /g/
nasals		m /m/				n /n/
affricates							č /tʃ/
fricatives		v /v/	ŧ /θ/	đ /ð/	s /s/	z /z/	š /ʃ/	ž /ʒ/
liquids		w /w/			l /l/	r /r/		y /j/
trills							ř /r̝/

Vowels

	front		central		back
	short	long	short	long	short	long
close	i /i/	í /iː/			u /u/	ú /uː/
mid	e /e/	é /eː/			o /o/	ó /oː/
open			a /a/	á /aː/

Word structure

Roots in Rówok are overwhelmingly triglyphs, with /a/ being the only vowel that can occur either initially in a root, or medially. All roots have an underlying "theme vowel" for lack of a better term in the author's attempt at vowel harmony, either /a/ or /o/, which shift to /e/ and /u/ in perfect verbal stems and many nouns derived from verbal stems. Additionally words with /w/ in any position have some stems where /w/ is reduced to [u]. The rules are simple for the majority of stems, and are as follows:

If /a/ appears in the root (by law only initially or medially), the theme vowel is automatically /a/. If the root is tri-consonantal and does not contain /w/, the theme vowel is also /a/. As a note, roots with medial /a/ are almost exclusively (specific) plants, and thus lack verbal roots, and thus have only two principal parts: nom/erg/voc, and oblique.

If /w/ appears medially or finally in a root, the theme vowel is /o/.

Exceptions:

• There are some rare, quad-consonantal roots. These are always of the the form C*XCC, where C* can only be /b/, /p/, /d/, /t/, /g/, /k/, /z/ and /s/, and X can be /w/, /l/, or /r/; ones with /w/ have /o/ as the theme vowel, and those with /l/ or /r/ have /a/.
• Roots with initial /w/ are very old stems and anything goes as far as theme vowels; this is the only word type whose vowel structure isn’t deducible from the form of the root and just need to be learned.

Vowel harmony

For more info cf. aspect.

Nominals and verbals in Rówok show very simple vowel harmony with predictable ablaut. Simply said all nominals and verbals have exclusively one possible vowel (plus /i/, as explained below).

The principle rules for determining the vowel structure of a given root are as follows:

• If /a/ appears in the root (by law only initially or medially), the theme vowel is automatically /a/. If the root is tri- or quad-consonantal and does not contain /w/, the theme vowel is also /a/.
• If /w/ appears medially or finally in a root, the theme vowel is /o/.

As explained in the section on aspect, words that have primary vowel structure based on /a/ show ablaut phenomena to /e/, while words based on /o/ ablaut to /u/.

Examples

Participles

• rokónok ("to speak", nominative, singular, passive, imperfect particple) => rukúnuk (nom, sing, pass, perfect participle)
• yáŧkay (nom, sing, middle, future participle) => yéŧkey (nom, sing, middle, future perfect participle)

Prosody

Prosody is not unlike something you'd hear in the South Slavic languages. It is not particularly singsongy, and a lot of consonant clusters perhaps give Rówok a a bit of a rough sound. Nonetheless, there is a lot of epenthesis, augment, and other interesting vocalic patterns that nonetheless give the language an aesthetic flow and lends itself to mellifluous constructions, even if they might not be a characteristic of common speech.

Stress

Every word has a primary stress accent, which tends toward the penult or antepenult, and the language is stabilizing to a system like the Latin one, just that the length of the syllable determining the penult or antepenult is based almost solely on position, as there are very few phonemic long vowels in Rówok, and the ones that do exist are either in adverbs or the nominal plural marker -ín-.

After the primary stress in tri- and more-syllabic words all successive vowels are reduced to schwa, but not in disyllabic words (cf. rówok /ro:wok/, but razánka /raza:nkə/).

Morphophonology

Several morphological elements in Rówok trigger sandhi effects both to the left and right or either.

The main triggers are:

• Case endings
• Diminutives
• The marker for the middle voice

Morphology

Roots and principal parts

Dictionary entries are listed with principal parts in the following order:

• lemma - definition; finite verbal stem-, participial stem (de facto the nom/erg singular imperfect active participle), vocative stem+, ergative form, oblique stem-, adverbial form

+The similative and partitive cases are also based on the vocative stem, as well as adjectives.

As explained above in the phonology section, verbal stems tend to group in (C)VCC and participial stems in (C)V(C)C; ergative stems tend to be CVCVC, and oblique nominal stems CCVC if allowed by phonotactics. Unstressed epenthetics are inserted where needed, giving possible ^VCC(C/V) instead of expected CC(C/V), or CVCVC instead of expected CCVC.

Examples, starting with theme vowel [a]:

medial /a/:

• pan - moss; pan, pna-

Triconsonantal roots with no /w/ and those with medial /w/ are the easiest. Both are very regular in their pattern.

With medial liquid:

• srn - claw; sarn-, srn, srna, sáran, srán-, sarná
• drb - fall/to fall/fallen; darb-, drb, drba, dárab, dráb-, darbá
• bls - snow; bals-, bls, blsa, bálas, blás-, balsá

non-liquid medial:

• bgs - bags-, bags, bágsa, bágas, bagás-+, bagsá
• zpt - zapt-, zapt, zápta, zápat, zpát-+, zaptá

+If the cluster is not allowed initially, like [bg], epenthetic /a/ is inserted. Further, /zp/ is definitely going to be realized as [zb]

• ddz - idle mischief/fiddling/to idle about; dadz-, dadz, dádza, dádaz, đaz-+, dadzá

+if a reduplicated letter can fricativize/affricatize, it will in the oblique nominal stem

• pps - imitation/to fake/artificial; paps-, paps, pápsa, pápas, pas-+, papsá

+if the reduplicated consonant cannot fricativize, it reduces so ppas=>pas (since /f/ is lacking in the inventory).

There are variations if the initial or medial consonant is /y/, where /y/=>/i/:

• dym - light/shine/bright; daym-, dim, díma, dáyam, dyamá-, dimá
• ryz - seed/to plant/incipient; rayz-, riz, ríza, ráyaz, ryazá-, rizá
• ygn - a cared for object/to rear/lovingly; yágn-, ígan, igána, yágan, igná-, yagná

Roots with initial /a/:

• azl - life; ázl-, zal, zála, azála, azalá-, zalá
• ayt - run; áyt-, yat, yáta, ayáta, ayatá-, yatá
• akb - count; ákb-, kab, kába, akába, akabá-, kabá

Now examples where /o/ is the theme vowel, starting with medial /w/:

• pwt - clearing/to clear/deobstructed; powt-, pot, put, pówot, pwót-, putú
• rwk - tongue/speak/of or relating to tongue or speech/language; rowk-, rok, ruk, rówok, orwók-, rukú+

+as a semantic tidbit, Rukú is how you would say "in Rowok", as opposed to rwógdo (tongue.inst) "(doing something) with your tongue", and Ruk is the name of Rowok's protolanguage.

final /w/:

• gdw - tool/to fashion/skillful; gódw-, gdo, gódu/gódw-+, gódow, gdów-, godú

+In roots with final /w/ the vocative is CóCu, while the similative and partitive are built off of CoCw

• lsw - running water/flow/fluent; lósw-, ólso, lósu/losw-, lósow, olswó-+, losú

+A similar variation as above when a final /w/ root begins with /y/:

• ybw - still water; yóbw-, íbow, íbu, yóbow, ibwó-, ibú

Cw/r/lCC:

• p(w)zn - non potable water, to flow destructively, to pollute; powzn-, pozn, pwózno, powózon, pzón-, puznú
• brds - to lie, fib, in the middle to bullshit; bards-, bards, brádsa, barádas-, brdás-, bradsá

The occasional initial /w/, some a-stems, some o-stems, lots of /u/ even in imperfect stems and even in words that otherwise have /a/ as their theme vowel:

• wst - sky; wásta-, wast, ústa, awásata, áwsat-, ustá
• wkd - kill; úkdo-, úkod, úkud, wókod, úkod-, kudú

Finite verbal stem

The finite verbal stem is characterized by vowel clusters grouped on the right side of the root's vowel structure.

It is used, well, to form finite verbs.

Participial stem

The participial stem is the de facto ergative singular imperfect active form of the participle.

Vocative stem

The vocative stem is perhaps a misnomer, as it is used to form not only the vocative case, but also the partitive and similative cases, as well as to form many compounds.

Ergative form

The ergative form is characterized by a fully extended CVCVC or VCVC(V) structure.

It is used to form the ergative case.

Oblique stem

The oblique stem is usually monosyllabic, characterized by the grouping of consonant clusters to the left of the word's vowel structure. When phonotactics do not allow for an initial consonant cluster, vowel's are added epenthetically either before the initiral vowel in the case of liquids and nasals, but between the first to consonants in the case of all other sounds.

The oblique stem is used for the following:

• as the stem of which all the oblique cases are formed, except the partitive and similative

Adverbial form

The adverbial form of a verb has a couple of meanings:

• as a simple adverb
• following an animate noun in the ergative or inanimate noun in the vocative it functions as an adjective
• following a noun in the instrumental it functions like a Latin ablative absolute

For more cf. copula.

Nouns

Nouns in Rówok are declined for the following:

• case
• number

The case system is powerful and in and of itself conveys a lot of meanings expressed by participial phrases in other languages, but nonetheless nouns can be followed by a number of postpositions, each governing a given case, or two cases in cases of split telicity.

For more cf. participles.

Nominal number

Nouns and participes are declined in three numbers:

• singular
• dual
• plural

The dual infix is -l-, -il-, or -li-.

The plural infix is -in-.

Ratio casuum

Cases in Rówok come from a phonetic reduction of marker words in Ruk's isolating grammar. Words were postpositively added after syntactic words to help the sense. It would appear that the earliest such formations were the similative and the partitive words wum from the root wwm, "match, harmony, one", and sab, from the root asb, "branch". It is thought that this is the case because these are the only two cases still built on the old, vocative stem, which in Ruk was the unmarked form.

It is probable, based on evidence from some archaisms, that the vocative stem was used in the phase of evolution in between Ruk and Rówok to form other cases as well, but the other cases that are in the language today are built off the oblique stem.

The total number of cases is 9 or 11, depending on how you look at it, as two of the cases are semantic allophones of other ones (see instrumental/comitative and locatives. The cases are grouped/listed in order to show the stems from which they are built. They are the following:

1. Vocative, a principal part
2. Ergative, a principal part
3. Similative, from wwm, "match, harmony, one"
4. Partitive, from asb, "branch"
5. Genitive, from ryz, "seed"
6. Benefactive, from ypr, "gift"
7. Telic, from nkw, "destination"
8. Inessive, from bwy, "place"
9. Superessive, from bwy, "place"
10. Instrumental/comitative, from gdw, "tool"
11. Caritive/acomitative, from gdw, "tool"

Vocative

The vocative case is one of the root's principle parts. The name vocative itself might be a misnomer, given that it can also serve as a nominative/absolutive for inanimate subjects of stative or low valency verbs.

It does not have an ending, but is realized as the minimum extension of the root's vowel structure.

It is used in the following way:

• as a pure vocative
• as a subject for inanimates intransitive, stative, or copular constructions

The vocative as a stem is also used in many nominal compounds, as well as for the base of the similative and partitive cases.

Ergative

The ergative case is one of the root's principle parts.

It does not have an ending (except for rare circumstances to mark gender); instead it is realized as the full extension of the root's vowel structure.

It is used in the following ways:

• as the subject of an active transitive or the animate subject of an intransitive verb
• as the animate subject of constructions construed as copular
• as the subject of a middle verb that in which the subject is not also the patient of the action (see agency)

Similative

The similative case has the ending -Xm, which comes from the root wwm, "match/unity".

Like the partitive it is constructed off of the vocative stem.

It is used in the following way:

• as a pure similative

Partitive

For more info cf. telicity

The partitive case has the ending -sxb, which comes from the root asb, "branch".

Like the similative it is constructed off of the vocative stem.

It is used in the following ways:

• as a pure partitive
• as the object of a remotely telic transitive verb

There is another form of the partitive emerging, through analogy with the innovations in the inessive and superessive and instrumental and caritive cases, in which the partitive is built off the oblique stem, and features an allophonic variation of the genitive ending, namely -lXs or -Xls.

So in literary Rówok the partitive of mówok is múksub, but the development in question would see mwóklos.

Cf. collquial Rówok.

Genitive

For more info cf. telicity

The genetive case has the ending -rXz or -Xrz, which comes from the root ryz, "seed".

It is used in the following ways:

• as a pure genitive, i.e. a possessive
• as an indication of familial relationships instead of possessive pronouns
• as the object of a non-telic transitive verb

Benefactive

The benefactive case has the ending -prX or -pXr, which comes from the root wpr, "gift".

It is used in the following ways:

• as the indirect object of a transitive verb, much like a normal Indo-European dative
• as a pure benefactive, "on whose behalf" or even "in whose honor"
• as the object of approprinquative motion, in the sense of "toward" or "in the general direction of"
• as the "object" of some otherwise intransitive verb, e.g. dáyma, "it shines", so whatever the light shines on

Telic

For more info see telicity and voice.

The telic case has the ending -nkX or -nXk, which comes from the root nkw, "destination".

It is used in the following ways:

• as the direct object of an active transitive verb used in the sense of completed action
• as the subject of a middle transitive verb in which the subject or subjects are the patient of the action, even if they are also the agent(s)
• as the subject of a passive verb
• as a reached destination with verbs of motion, or the intended goal of a verb of motion

Locatives

The locative case has the ending -bi or -pi, which comes from the root bwy, "place".

It is used in the following way:

• as a pure locative

Like the instrumental, the locative features a semantic allophonic variant. Namely the voiced variant -bi is used for inessive or intrative meanings, while the unvoiced version -pi is used for superessive or adessive senses. The meanings, when needed, are complemented by certain postpositions.

Examples:

- root bls, "snow":

1) balážbi álđawan

snow.INE play.3pl.imperf.mid

they are playing in the snow

2) balášpi áytawan

snow.SUPE run.3pl.imperf.act

they are running on/along the snow

With other phonemes at the end, for instance:

- root mwk, "dog", => plural: mowokín

3) mwokímbi korowín

dog.pl.INE worms

there are worms in dogs (idiomatically, dogs have worms)

4) mwokínpi sarabín

dog.pl.SUPE fleas

there are fleas on dogs (idiomatically the dogs have fleas)

Instrumental/(a)comitative

The instrumental case has the ending -gdX or -gXd, which comes from the root gdw, "tool".

It is used in the following ways:

• as a pure instrumental and comitative
• as a pure caritive and acomitative
• as what would seem logical as the direct object of some middle verbs, such as play
• along with the adverb in the sense of a Latin ablative absolute

Like the locative, the instrumental features a semantic allophonic variant. Namely the voiced variant -gdx/gXd has the meanings listed above, largely translated by with in English, while the unvoiced version -ktX/-kXt is used as a caritive or acomitative.

Case morphophonology

Case endings can affect the final consonant of a root, and the final consonant of a root can affect case endings, especially in the singular.

This happens in the following way:

• partitive: following /b/, /d/, /g/, or /z/ the ending -sXb => -zXb
• genitive: following /l/ the ending -rXz goes to -lXz
• benefactive: the ending -prX swallows final /b/ and /p/, and in the case of the former the ending turnss to -brX
• telic: the ending -nkX swallows final /k/ and /g/, and in the case of the latter the ending turns to -ngX
• inessive: without a vowel in between the ending -bi forces the final consonant to voice, if possible, and furthermore swallows final /b/ and /p/
• superessive: without a vowel in between the ending -pi forces the final consonant to devoice, if possible, and furthermore swallows final /b/ and /p/
• instrumental: without a vowel in between the ending -gdX forces the final consonant to voice, if possible, and furthermore swallows final /g/ and /k/
• caritive: without a vowel in between the ending -ktX forces the final consonant to devoice, if possible, and furthermore swallows final /g/ and /k/

This process is further complicated by the gradation effected by the diminutives.

Declension tables

Armed with all that knowledge here's a couple declensions:

declensions
		ending	mwk, "dog"	gdw, "gift"	bls, "snow"	azl, "life"
singular	vocative	'	muk	gódu	bĺs	zála
	ergative	'	mówok	gódow	bálas	ázala
	similative	-Xm	múkum	gódum	bĺsam	zálam
	partitive	-sXb	múksub	gódusub	bĺsab	zálasab
	genitive	-rXz / -rz	mwókroz	gdóworz	blásraz	ázalarz
	benefactive	-prX / -pXr	mwókpro	gdówopor	bláspra	azálapar
	telic	-nkX / -nXk	mwónko	gdowónko	blásnak	azálanak
	inessive	-bi	mwógbi	gdówobi	blázbi	azálabi
	superessive	-pi	mwókpi	gdówopi	bláspi	azálapi
	instr./comit.	-gdX / -gXd	mwógdo	gdówogod	blázgad	azálagad
	caritive	-ktX / -kXt	mwókto	gdówokot	bláskat	azálakat
dual	vocative	-li	múkli	góduli	bĺs	zálali
	ergative	-li	mowókli	godówli	balásli	azálali
	similative	-li- + -m	múklim	gódulim	bĺslim	zálalim
	partitive	-li- + -sXb	múklisub	godúlisub	bĺsab	zalálisab
	genitive	-li- + -rz	mwóklirz	gdówolirz	bláslirz	azálalirz
	benefactive	-lí- + -pXr	mwoklípor	gdowolípor	blaslípar	azalalípor
	telic	-lí- + -nXk	mwoklínok	gdowolínok	blaslínak	azalalínok
	inessive	-lí- + -bi	mwoklíbi	gdowolíbi	blaslíbi	azalalíbi
	superessive	-lí- + -pi	mwoklípi	gdowolípi	blaslípi	azalalípi
	instr./comit.	-lí- + -gXd	mwoklígod	gdowolígod	blaslígad	azalalígad
	caritive	-lí- + -kXt	mwoklíkot	gdowolíkot	blaslíkat	azalalíkat
plural	vocative	-ín	mukín	godúyn	blsín	zaláyn
	ergative	-ín	mowokín	godowín	balasín	azaláyn
	similative	-ín- + -Xm	mukínum	godúynum	blsínam	zaláynam
	partitive	-ín- / -yn- + -sXb	mukínsub	gudúynsub	blsínsab	zaláynsab
	genitive	-ín / -yn- + -rXz	mwokínroz	gdowóynraz	blasínraz	azaláynraz
	benefactive	-ín- / -yn- + -prX	mwokínpro	gdowóynpro	blasínpra	azaláynpra
	telic	-ín- / -yn- + -(n)kX	mwokínko	gdowóynko	blasínka	azaláynka
	inessive	-ím- / -ym- + -bi	mwokímbi	gdowóymbi	blasímbi	azaláymbi
	superessive	-ín- / -yn- + -pi	mwokínpi	gdowóynpi	blasínpi	azaláynpi
	instr./comit.	-ím- / -ym- + -(g)dX	mwokímdo	gdowóymdo	blasímda	azaláymda
	caritive	-ín- / -yn- + -(k)tX	mwokínto	gdowóynto	blasínta	azaláynta

Adjectives

Adjectives are not really a class in Rówok. The main ways of expressing adjectival thought are through:

1. with the noun in the vocative case and the adverb in apposition, with the meaning "X-ful"
2. the similative case, for the meaning "like X/X-ish"
3. with participles
4. with stative verbs

Examples:

1) kanarín zalá, tree.voc.pl life.adv, "the woods are teeming with life/alive/lively"

Verbs

Verbal number

Verbs are conjugated and participes are declined in three numbers:

• singular
• dual
• plural

Aspect

There are two primary aspects in Rówok, namely imperfective and perfective.

These aspects are shown by ablaut of the verb's (or participle's or even noun's) vowel structure as shown below.

From imperfective to perfective:

• a => e
• o => u

The sense of the primary aspects is complemented further mainly by derivational infixes and the like.

Voice

There are three possible voices in Rówok:

• active
• middle
• passive

Active voice

The active voice is used for the following:

• when the subject is the agent of a transitive action

Subjects of verbs in the active voice are in the ergative.

Middle voice

The middle voice is extremely widespread and productive. Its marker is -ŧ- with allophonic -đ- and accompanying morphophonological effects.

It is used for the following:

1. for the subject of stative verbs
2. when the subject is in a mutual relationship of non transitive action with someone (e.g. loving, talking on the phone, bonding)
3. for some verbs (otherwise active in meaning) done for the subject's own benefit
4. for inanimate subjects of several verbs that would otherwise be active (he/she runs = áyta; it (a stream, for instance) runs = áyŧa)
5. for several idiomatic verbs where it is unclear who the actor is and who the acted upon; this includes verbs like follow (not leading, not being led), hunt (conceived as following the animals movements as opposed to transitively killing it), play, etc.
6. to completely alter the overlying semantic of some roots, such as see => understand
7. when the subject or subjects of a transitive verb are also the patient, such as shaving, or looking oneself in the mirror

Subjects of verbs in the middle voice from examples 1-6 are in the ergative, while subjects in example 7 are in the telic.

Passive voice

The passive voice is used for the following:

• when the subject is the patient of a transitive action

Subjects of verbs in the passive voice are in the telic with agents in the instrumental.

Conjugation tables

Armed with that knowledge here are a few conjugations:

A-stems:

		ayt, "to run"		drb, "to fall"
		imperf	perf	imperf	perf
active	1 sg	áytat	éytet	dárbat	dérbet
	2 sg	áytap	éytep	dárbap	dérbep
	3 sg	áyta	éyte	dárba	dérbe
	1 du inc	láytat	léytet	ladárbat	ledérbet
	1 du noninc	láytal	léytel	ladárbal	ledérbel
	2 du	páytal	péytel	padárbal	pedérbel
	3 du	áytal	éytel	dárbal	dérbel
	1 pl inc	náytawat	néytewet	nadárbawat	nedérbewet
	1 pl noninc	náytawan	néytewen	nadárbawan	nedérbewen
	2 pl	páytawan	péytewen	padárbawan	pedérbewen
	3 pl	áytawan	éytewen	dárbawan	dérbewen
middle	1 sg	áyŧat	éyŧet	dárbđat	dérbđet
	2 sg	áyŧap	éyŧep	dárbđap	dérbđep
	3 sg	áyŧa	éyŧe	dárbđa	dérbđe
	1 du inc	láyŧat	léyŧet	ladárbđat	ledérbđet
	1 du noninc	láyŧal	léyŧel	ladárbđal	ledérbđel
	2 du	páyŧal	péyŧel	padárbđal	pedérbđel
	3 du	áyŧal	éyŧel	dárbđal	dérbđel
	1 pl inc	náyŧawat	néyŧewet	nadárbđawen	nedérbđewet
	1 pl noninc	náyŧawan	néyŧewen	nadárbđawen	nedérbđewen
	2 pl	páyŧawan	péyŧewen	padárbđawen	pedérbđewen
	3 pl	áyŧawan	éyŧewen	dárbđawen	dérbđewen
passive	1 sg	aytánkat	eyténket	darbánkat	derbénket
	2 sg	aytánkap	eyténkep	darbánkap	derbénke
	3 sg	aytánka	eyténke	darbánka	derbénke
	1 du inc	laytánkat	leyténket	ladarbánkat	lederbénket
	1 du noninc	laytánkal	leyténkel	ladarbánkal	lederbénkel
	2 du	paytánkal	peyténkel	padarbánkal	pederbénkel
	3 du	aytánkal	eyténkel	darbánkal	derbénkel
	1 pl inc	naytánkwat	neyténkwet	nadarbánkwat	nederbénkwet
	1 pl noninc	naytánkwan	neyténkwen	nadarbánkwan	nederbénkwen
	2 pl	paytánkwan	peyténkwen	padarbánkwan	ederbénkwen
	3 pl	aytánkwan	eyténkwen	darbánkwan	derbénkwen

O-stems:

		rwk, "to speak"		gdw, "to give"
		imperf	perf	imperf	perf
active	1 sg	rówkot	rúwkut	gódwot	gúdwut
	2 sg	rówkop	rúwkup	gódwop	gúdwup
	3 sg	rówko	rúwku	gódwo	gúdwu
	1 du inc	lorówkot	lurúwkut	logódwot	lugúdwut
	1 du noninc	lorówkol	lurúwkul	logódwol	lugúdwul
	2 du	porówkol	purúwkul	pogódwol	pugúdwul
	3 du	rówkol	rúwkul	gódwol	gúdwul
	1 pl inc	norówkowot	nurúwkuwut	nogódwot	nugúdwut
	1 pl noninc	norówkowon	nurúwkuwun	nogódwon	nugúdwun
	2 pl	porówkowon	purúwkuwun	pogódwon	pogúdwun
	3 pl	rówkowon	rúwkuwun	gódwon	gúdwun
middle	1 sg	rówkŧot	rúwkŧut	gođwot	guđwut
	2 sg	rówkŧop	rúwkŧup	gođwop	guđwup
	3 sg	rówkŧo	rúwkŧu	gođwo	guđwu
	1 du inc	lorówkŧot	lurúwkŧut	logođwot	luguđwut
	1 du noninc	lorówkŧol	lurúwkŧul	logođwol	luguđwul
	2 du	porówkŧol	purúwkŧul	pogođwol	puguđwul
	3 du	rówkŧol	rúwkŧul	gođwol	guđwul
	1 pl inc	norówkŧowot	norúwkŧuwut	nogođwot	nuguđwut
	1 pl noninc	norówkŧowon	norúwkŧuwun	nogođwon	nuguđwun
	2 pl	porówkŧowon	norúwkŧuwun	pogođwon	puguđwun
	3 pl	rówkŧowon	rúwkŧuwun	gođwon	guđwun
passive	1 sg	rowkónkot	rukúnkut	godwónkot	gudwúnkut
	2 sg	rowkonkop	rukúnkup	godw'ónkop	gudwúnkup
	3 sg	rowkónko	rukúnku	godwónko	gudwúnku
	1 du inc	lorowkónkot	lurukúnkut	logodwónkot	lugudwúnkut
	1 du noninc	lorowkónkol	lurukúnkul	logodwónkol	lugudwúnkul
	2 du	porowkónkol	purukúnkul	pogodwónkol	pugudwúnkul
	3 du	rowkónkol	rukúnkul	godwónkol	gudwúnkul
	1 pl inc	norowkónkwot	nurukúnkwut	nogodwónkwot	nugudwúnkwut
	1 pl noninc	norowkónkwon	nurukúnkwun	nogodwónkwon	nugudwúnkwun
	2 pl	porowkónkwon	purukúnkwun	pogodwónkwon	pugudwúnkwun
	3 pl	rowkónkwon	rukúnkwun	godwónkwon	gudwúnkwun

Participles

Participles in Rówok are a bloody mess, as they exist for every number, voice, and aspect.

In that order:

• singular, dual, plural
• active, middle, passive
• imperfect, perfect, future, future perfect

Here is an example of the possible participial forms a verb can have before various forms of pre- and infixation.

ayt, "to run"
		imperfective	perfective	future	future perfect
singular	act	yát	yét	yátkay	yétkey
	med	yáŧ	yéŧ	yáŧkay	yéŧkey
	pass	yatának	yetének	yatánkay	yeténkey
dual	act	yátli	yétli	yatkáyli	yetkéyli
	med	yáŧli	yéŧli	yaŧkáyli	yeŧkéyli
	pass	yatánkli	yeténkli	yatankáyli	yetenkéyli
plural	act	yatín	yetín	yatkayín	yetkeyín
	med	yaŧín	yeŧín	yaŧkayín	yeŧkeyín
	pass	yatnakín	yetnekín	yatnakayín	yetnekeyín

• The imperfect is used in the sense of the English imperfect: doing (actively or statively) and being done.
• The perfect is used in the sense of the English periphrastic perfect participle: having done or having been done.
• The future is used with the sense of the Latin future active participle: about to do or be done (or in the South we might say fixin'/fittin' to (be) do(ne) ;))
• The future perfect has two functions:
  • In the active and some middle voice constructions it is used as in English: having done.
  • In the passive and some middle voice constructions it is used as in the Latin gerundive: needing to do or be done (Karthago delenda est! = Kárŧag ukudúnkuy!).

Some of these forms are rare just due to situational circumstances (for instance how often would you need to talk about yetenkéyli or two things needing to have been run?), but theoretically all verbal roots can exist in all of these forms.

Derivational morphology

Rówok has quite a bit of derivational morphology.

Aspect and tense

Primary aspect (as covered in the section on verbal aspect) is shown through ablaut of the root's vowel structure in the following way:

From imperfective to perfective:

• a => e
• o => u

Further are 2 aspectual infixes and two tense infixes. In the following X represents a dummy vowel in infixes, determined by the vowel quality of the word.

• The aspectual infixes are frequentative -ts- and inchoative -sp-.
• The tense aspects are future -kXy-, and past -rX-.

All of these can theoretically all together be infixed onto a verb, or participle. Grouping the tense aspects gives a special meaning, depending on which comes

So an example with the imperfect active participle of the root ayt- (to run) "yát", meaning a running thing when used in apposition, or a runner when used alone:

• yát - a runner
• yáts - a frequent runner (yát+ts=>yáts)
• yátasp - a beginning runner (double entendre: could be a beginner to the sport, or someone taking off running: yataspín would be runners starting at their mark)
• yátkay - a future runner
• yátra - a former runner

now combining:

• yátsasp - a beginning frequent runner
• yatkáyra - a future ex runner (someone who will take it up and quit)
• yatrákay - an ex future runner (someone who showed talent, perhaps, but never lived up to potential)

most perverse:

• yatsaspakáyra - a person who will begin to frequently run but then stop
• yatsasparákay - a person who began to run frequently and then stopped

The case endings are added to the ends of these forms, just as the verb endings would be added to the end as well, cf:

• áytawan - they run, are running
• áytsawan - they frequently run
• aytáspawan - they begin running
• áytrawan - they were running in the past
• aytkáyawan - they will be running in the future

and of course the possible but ungodly:

• aytsasprakáyawan - they were beginning to be about to be running frequently but then didn't

Diminutives and augmentatives

Diminutives and augmentatives (one of which functions as the comparative as well) are formed through root mutation and suffixation, respectively. As with most all derivational morphology they can be applied to almost all lexical categories.

Diminutives

Diminutives are formed by changing the root’s rightmost possible consonant into its corresponding fricative or affricate according to the chart below. X indicates that the phoneme does not have a possible fricativized variant, e.g. p=>X, since /f/ is lacking in Rówok. In this event the next rightmost consonant is fricativized.

As roots themselves do not feature phonemic fricatives or affricates, the base letters/sounds in the chart below are missing some of the normal consonant inventory, including the entire row for trills and affricates, as the only trill in is found as a gradient of /r/ => /r̝/, and the only affricate as a gradient of /k/ => /tʃ/, as well as the entire column of interdentals.

Note also that /l/ grades to /r/, though this sensu stricto is not an (af)fricativizing process.

	labial		alveolar		postalveolar		velar
	unvoiced	voiced	unvoiced	voiced	unvoiced	voiced	unvoiced	voiced
stops	p => X	b => v	t => ŧ	d => đ			k => č	g => ž
nasals		m=> X		n=> X
fricatives			s => š	z => ž
liquids		w => v	l => r	r => ř		y => X

Shown a different way, as the mutations themselves, with the phonemes that can gradate to them:

	labial		interdental		alveolar		postalveolar
	unvoiced	voiced	unvoiced	voiced	unvoiced	voiced	unvoiced	voiced
affricates							č <= k
fricatives		v <= b, w	ŧ <= t	đ <= d			š <= s	ž <= z, g
liquids						r <= l
trills							ř <= r

Additionally more than one consonant can be fricativized, for a sort of double diminutive effect, which indicates either extreme smallness or lends a cutesy feel. Cf. root bls-, bálas (snow) => bálaš (snowflake) => varašín (the finest snowflakes you ever saw; powder); or root mwk-, mówok (dog) => mówoč (small dog, or young adult dog) => móvoč (cute little puppy dog).

Diminutive morphophonology

The gradation of the final consonant (and even in instances where the diminutive gradation is expressed by a non-final consonant as explained above) also affects

This happens in the following ways, starting with cases:

• partitive: the ending -sXb => -šXv
• genitive: the ending -r(X)z goes to -r(X)ž (the ending -ř(X)ž never took hold on account of its difficulty in pronunciation; for a while the diminutive genitive ending was -řXz, but over time has settled to -r(X)ž
• benefactive: the ending -p(X)r(X) => -p(X)ř(X)
• telic: the ending -n(X)k(X) => -n(X)č
• inessive: the ending -bi => -vi
• superessive: the ending -pi as an exception to all other endings stays the same
• instrumental: the ending -g(X)d(X) => -ž(X)đ(X)
• caritive: the ending -k(X)t(X) => č(X)ŧ(X)

diminutive declensions
		ending	mwk, "dog"	gdw, "gift"	bls, "snow"	azl, "life"
singular	vocative	'	muč	góđu	bĺš	zára
	ergative	'	mówoč	góđov	bálaš	ázara
	similative	-Xm	múčum	góđum	bĺšam	záram
	partitive	-šXv	múčšuv	gódušuv	bĺšav	zárašav
	genitive	-rXž / -rž	mwóčrož	gdóvorž	blášraž	ázararž
	benefactive	-přX / -pXř	mwóčpřo	gdóvopoř	blášpřa	azárapař
	telic	-nčX / -nXč	mwónčo	gdovónčo	blášnač	azáranač
	inessive	-vi	mwóžvi	gdóvovi	blážvi	azáravi
	superessive	-pi	mwóčpi	gdóvopi	blášpi	azárapi
	instr./comit.	-žđX / -žXđ	mwóžđo	gdóvožođ	blážgađ	azáražađ
	caritive	-čŧX / -čXŧ	mwóčŧo	gdóvočoŧ	bláščaŧ	azáračaŧ
dual	vocative	-ri	múčri	góđuri	bĺš	zárari
	ergative	-ri	mowóčri	godóvli	balášri	azárari
	similative	-ri- + -m	múčrim	góđurim	bĺšrim	zárarim
	partitive	-ri- + -šXv	múčrisub	gođúrišuv	bĺsab	zarárišav
	genitive	-ri- + -rž	mwóčrirž	gdóvolirž	blášrirž	azárarirž
	benefactive	-rí- + -pXř	mwočrípoř	gdovorípoř	blašrípoř	azararípoř
	telic	-rí- + -nXč	mwočrínoč	gdovorínoč	blašrínač	azararínač
	inessive	-rí- + -vi	mwočrívi	gdovorívi	blasríbi	azararívi
	superessive	-rí- + -pi	mwočrípi	gdovorípi	blasrípi	azararípi
	instr./comit.	-rí- + -žXđ	mwočrížođ	gdovorížođ	blasrígad	azararížađ
	caritive	-rí- + -čXŧ	mwočríčoŧ	gdovoríčoŧ	blasríkaŧ	azararíčaŧ
plural	vocative	-ín	mučín	gođúyn	blšín	zaráyn
	ergative	-ín	mowočín	godovín	balašín	azaráyn
	similative	-ín- + -Xm	mučínum	gođúynum	blšínam	zaráynam
	partitive	-ín- / -yn- + -šXv	mučínšuv	gođúynšuv	blšínšav	zaráynšav
	genitive	-ín / -yn- + -rXž	mwočínrož	gdovóynraž	blašínraž	azaráynraž
	benefactive	-ín- / -yn- + -přX	mwočínpřo	gdovóynpřo	blašínpra	azaráynpřa
	telic	-ín- / -yn- + -čX	mwočínčo	gdovóynčo	blašínča	azaráynča
	inessive	-ín- / -yn- + -vi	mwočímvi	gdovóynvi	blašínvi	azaráynvi
	superessive	-ín- / -yn- + -pi	mwočínpi	gdovóynpi	blašínpi	azaláynpi
	instr./comit.	-ím- / -ym- + -đX	mwočímđo	gdovóymđo	blašímđa	azaláymđa
	caritive	-ín- / -yn- + -ŧX	mwočínŧo	gdovóynŧo	blašínŧa	azaláynŧa

Verbs:

Augmentatives

Augmentatives are formed through infixes between the root and the case or conjugation endings. In the following /X/ is a dummy vowel determined by the quality of the verb.

The most common are:

• -yXš- = great, grand, noble, relatively large (also functions as a comparative)
• -nXč- = the biggest, greatest

Examples:

• -yXš-
  • root mwk, "dog" => mwókyoš, "a big dog"
  • root ayt, "run" => ayátyaš, "a long run"

• -nXč-
  • root mwk, "dog" => múknuč, "the greatest dog you ever had"
  • root ayt, "run" => áytnač, "a marathon"

Syntax

Basics

Number

There are three numbers in Rówok:

• singular
• dual
• plural

Verbs are conjugated for all three numbers, as are participles, nouns, and adjectives declined.

Gender

Gender in Rówok is complicated; there are indeed two types of vowel structure in a word (either -a/-e or -o/-u, but there is no semantic association to either category, and adjectives do not change to agree with their head nouns in any way but number and case.

The protolanguage Ruk did not have gender, and what little bits of gender there are in Rówok are new inventions picked up from contact with IE speakers. Even then, the language's internal vowel structure doesn't allow for the inherited endings to show in both vowel types. So -o can be added to an o-vowel word do emphasize a things masculinity, and -a can be added to an a-vowel word to emphasize its femininity, but there is no way to explicitly show the feminine in an o-vowel word and no way to show the masculine in an a-vowel word.

Person

There are the standard three persons in all numbers, as well as an inclusive 1st person dual and plural. For more see pronouns.

Alignment

Verbs show a partial tripartite alignment, partial fluid-s alignment.

Namely as shown below in the section on agency, inanimate subjects show tripartite alignment, with subjects expressed in the vocative, ergative, and cases, and animate subjects expressed in the ergative and telic.

Agency and Animacy

There are thus 7 levels of agency in Rówok:

1. active agent both animate and when inanimate agents cause an effect (i.e. movement, chemical change, destruction of an object, etc.) - subject in the ergative
2. inactive agent animate - subject in the ergative
3. middle agent animate - subject in the ergative
4. middle agent inanimate - subject in the vocative
5. middle patient/agent animate - subject in the telic
6. middle patient animate - the only subject not shown obliquely with the logical subject in the benefactive with an agentless causative verb in the middle (slip, trip, etc.)
7. passive patient both (in)animate - subject in the telic

If the subject of the middle verb is the agent but not (necessarily) the patient, it is marked ergatively/actively; if it is both the agent and patient it is marked in the telic. Also the subject of a passive verb is in the telic.

Examples:

The first of each set of the following 6 sentences shows the middle voice and how agency differs between the alignment of the verbal structure depending on the semantic of the verb. Then follow examples with the same grammatical subject and main verb provided in the active and passive for comparison.

- root krp, "to fight"

1) mowokín kárpŧawan

dog.pl.erg fight.3.pl.MID

the dogs are fighting (each other/amongst themselves)

+The key being that the dogs are the agents of fighting in a mutual exercise, but not patients, due to the semantics of 'fight'.

2) mowokín razánka kárpawan

dog.pl.erg bear.tel fight.3.sg.ACT

the dogs are fighting a bear

3) mwokíngod razánka kárpanak

dog.pl.inst bear.tel fight.3.sg.PAS

the bear is being fought by the dogs

- root wkd, "to kill"

4) mwokínok wokóđowon

dog.pl.tel kill.3.pl.MID

The dogs are killing each other

+Here the dogs are both agents and patients, doing the killing action, of which they are also patients*

5) mowokín saráynka wokódowon

dog.pl.erg rabbit.tel fight.3.pl.ACT

the dogs are killing a rabbit

6) mwokíngod saráynka wokódonok

dog.pl.inst rabbit.tel fight.3.sg.PAS

the rabbit is being killed by the dogs

Telicity

Rówok has a tripartite telicity system.

• Fully telic: for actions completed and followed through to the end; expressed with the telic case
• Non-telic: for uncompleted actions, for actions only done in part (shutting the door a little bit); expressed with the genitive case
• Remotely telic: for actions not even attempted or begun, or for actions given the bare minimum of effort, sometimes with a pejorative sense, i.e. when the speaker wouldn't deign or dare to do something; expressed with the partitive case

In the negative the telicity system is bipartitie, i.e. just non-telic and remotely telic. Furthermore, in colloquial Rówok some affirmative actions with negative senses (stopping as no longer doing, forgetting as no longer remembering, etc.) can show non-telic objects by analogy.

Constituent phrases

Word order in Rówok tends in normal circumstances toward SOV, but it's really whatevs.

postpositions and wh- words have the most rigid word order, and most other constituents have pretty free word order, not dissimilar to Latin. Convention has led to some other fixed word orders in some situations, the majority of which will be described below.

Copula

There is no copula in Rówok.

Instead the sense of the copula is expressed in one of the following ways:

1. with nouns in apposition; animate subjects are in the ergative case and inanimate ones in the vocative
2. a noun followed by an adverb to express the estar sense of the adjective
3. a noun followed by a middle voice stative verb to express the ser sense of the adjective

Examples:

1) kanarín zál

tree.voc.pl animal.voc.sing

the forest is a living thing (literally "an animal")

2) kanarín zalá

tree.voc.pl life.adv

the forest is alive right now (in context understood as "lively, teeming with life, very active maybe with animals scurrying too and fro and lush forest growth")

3) kanarín zálŧa

tree.voc.pl live.3s.mid.imperf

the forest is alive/lives (in a permanent sense, in context could be understood even as "is healthy")

Postpositions

Nouns can be followed and case can be governed by any number of postpositions, which act as unstressed clitics in normal discourse, but the ultimate syllable in disyllabic and the penult in tri- and more-syllabic postpositons can be stressed for emphasis.

Examples:

1) kanarínpra tošu

tree.ben.pl near

near the forest

2) kanarínpra tošú

tree.ben.pl right near

right by the (edge of the) forest

3) kanarínraz pašu

tree.gen.pl far

far from the woods

4) kanarínraz pašú

tree.gen.pl far

nowhere remotely near the woods

List of postpositions

The chart below shows postpositions by alphabetical order of their English equivalents and by the case that they govern.

Note 1) that some postpositions with similar semantics differ only by ablaut, and 2) many positions govern more than one case, sometimes between a locative or the telic, and sometimes with other less expected matches, e.g. kawta, which means "according to/via" when governing the instrumental and "throughout when governing the inessive.

As a further note all postpositions beginning with a vowel insert an initial y- if the noun it follows ends in a vowel.

The partitive only has one postposition, and therefore is not included in the chart, namely siyan, which roughly means "instead of" or "in the absence of".

postpositions
	genitive		benefactive		telic		inessive		superessive		instrumental
	eng	rów	eng	rów	eng	rów	eng	rów	eng	rów	eng	rów
	apud	kwutnu	adjacent to		across	čreze	along		above		according to	kewte
	far from	pašu	depending on	irpven	apud	kwotno	amid	kaylna	after		alongside	oweš
	from	iltu	near	tošu	onto		among	keylne	against		astride	uveš
	of	valnu	next to		over		between	tarku	around		because of
	off	velnu	opposite		through		through		before		regardless of
	out of	iza	prior to		until		throughout	kawta	behind	yalčni	thanks to	pwalžda
	outside of		pursuant to		up to		within		below		together, same side as	mukana
	past		subsequent to						over		via	kawta
	since		thanks to						under
	up to		versus						upon

Example texts

• kalwálŧa, a general state of lethargy and idleness, expressed as a stative in the middle voice

Idioms

• bálsŧa belsénkpre, "it is snowing upon fallen snow" = to beat a dead horse; to preach to the choir