Ámman îar

ámman îar, or Amman-Iar, is an a priori diachronic artistic language. It was begun in the late 1970s by the late David Bell.  

The language is part of a conworld, and its setting is on a new fictional continent in Middle-Earth (the one of Tolkienian fame). The language thus has influences from several of Tolkien's own languages, but due to diachronics and new roots having been added, amman iar is very unique. This language predated the ergative trend in the conlanging community, and its introduction may have even started the trend. It remains recognized for its well-constructed and well-planned ergative system, which features a balanced split ergative system.

Bell was posthumously awarded a Smiley Award for ámman îar in 2010.

Grammar

No natural language is purely ergative, and conlangs that appear naturalistic often have ergative systems more pristine than those found in natural languages. ámman îar avoids this artificiality with its balanced split ergative system.

Split Ergativity in ámman îar

	1st/2nd Person Pronouns		3rd Person Pronouns/Demonstratives		Other Nouns
Semantic Role	Inflection	Case	Inflection	Case	Inflection	Case
Agent	-	NOM	-e	ERG	-e	ERG
Subject	-	NOM	-	NOM/ABS	-	ABS
Patient	-in	ACC	-in	ACC	-	ABS

The system derives from an animacy hierarchy inherent in the language, breaking arguments into three categories: first and second person pronouns, third person pronouns and demonstratives, and other nouns including proper nouns. Markers, as suffixes, denote the unexpected role in these categories.

Grammatical Roles

• **Nominative (NOM)**: Marks the subject of a transitive verb.
• **Ergative (ERG)**: Marks the agent of a transitive verb.
• **Accusative (ACC)**: Marks the direct object of a verb.
• **Absolutive (ABS)**: Marks the subject of an intransitive verb or the object of a transitive verb.

Example Sentences

The following examples illustrate the system of split ergativity in ámman îar:

• életh eni dais orgöirar. "The tiger died." (Intransitive verb, patient-like subject)
• i dais ergabdhel életh. "The tiger pounced." (Intransitive verb, agent-like subject)
• i daisse életh an thoren erechöiron. "The tiger killed an eagle." (Transitive verb, agent and patient)
• (életh) eni dais thorenen henîarth. "The tiger saw an eagle." (Transitive verb, patient and theme)
• i daisse életh in thoren erhenîel. "The tiger looked at an eagle." (Transitive verb, agent and theme)

The placement of the auxiliary verb marks the most patient-like argument of the sentence. Case markings denote the grammatical roles of nominal arguments. Verbal prefixes and suffixes indicate semantic roles, with the ergative suffix in specific contexts. Word order is not free; subjects precede objects, and agents and themes precede patients.

Adjectives

ámman îar features an adjective class system, where adjectives are preceded by prefixes describing the type of adjective.

Adjectival System

Class	Prefix	Semantics	Example
Descriptive	ve-	Describes what the noun is like	riel vemarlis "beautiful woman"
Purposive	pa-	Describes what the noun is used for	tornil pamurmlir "sleeping bag"
Material	ge-	Describes what the noun is made from	teleg galdar "wooden leg"
Size	ma-	Describes how big or small the noun is	caras mabeleg "large house"
Color	de-	Describes the color of the noun	curunar demith "gray wizard"
Shape	ta-	Describes the shape of the noun	palag tacom "round table"
Count	be-	Describes how many of the noun there is	lhibai becaer "ten fingers"
Age	la-	Describes how old the noun is	cair lorseinnon "ancient ship"
Origin	ha-	Describes where the noun comes from	sinair harhun "eastern manners"

Genitival System

The genitival system in ámman îar focuses on the role the possessor plays in the relationship.

Genitival System

Type	Semantics	Example
Alienable Possessive	Describes an alienable possession relationship	vir'authnar megil "warrior's sword"
Inalienable Possessive	Describes a permanent possession relationship	cem i vardilan "Mardil's hands"
Subject Genitive	Describes a subject-like relationship	narn ir ægnorannîon "Ægnor's story"
Object Genitive	Describes an object-like relationship	ordagar i garasso "the city's destruction"
Partitive	Describes a part/whole relationship	tilig i balagûo "the table's legs"
Measure Genitive	Describes a measurement relationship	andar i rathîo "the road's length"

External Links

• Amman-Iar at LangMaker (archived)
• Amman-Iar's home page - mirrored by conlang.org