Ahāmatya: Difference between revisions
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| colspan="2" style="text-align:center; background-color:#ffffff; font-size:1.2em;" | '''Vasa Ahāmatya | | colspan="2" style="text-align:center; background-color:#ffffff; font-size:1.2em;" | '''Vasa Ahāmatya Manan Etjelletyandaljan'''<br />[ˈva.sa a.haːˈmat.ja ˈma.nan ɛˌt<sup>j</sup>ɛl.lɛt.janˈda.l<sup>j</sup>an] | ||
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| '''Creator:''' || Daniel Quigley | | '''Creator:''' || Daniel Quigley | ||
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'''Vasa Ahāmatya | '''Vasa Ahāmatya Manan Etjelletyandaljan''' is an ''a priori'' artistic constructed language in development by Daniel Quigley, providing the framework for which the author’s creative works and worldbuilding are guided. '''Vasa Ahāmatya Manan Etjelletyandaljan''' or just '''Ahāmatya''' is the standardized, formal, and literary register of language of Mana Etjelletyandalja, in contrast to the variable dialects collectively referred to as '''Vasa Vrjāmatya Manan Etjelletyandaljan''' or just '''Vrjāmatya'''. | ||
'''Ahāmatya''' is a relatively conservative language. Loan words have found their way into '''Vrjāmatya''', but are mostly deliberately avoided in '''Ahāmatya'''. If one were to use a non-native word, then one would do so either indirectly via some periphrastic construction, or by simply employing the nearest approximation available in the language. | '''Ahāmatya''' is a relatively conservative language. Loan words have found their way into '''Vrjāmatya''', but are mostly deliberately avoided in '''Ahāmatya'''. If one were to use a non-native word, then one would do so either indirectly via some periphrastic construction, or by simply employing the nearest approximation available in the language. | ||
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The people of Mana Etjelletyandalja are rather homogeneous in language, culture, and identity, though there exists a gradient of such things in a north-south direction, running along the length of the land. '''Ahāmatya''' is the formal language, used in official capacities and as the literary language. The spoken languages of Mana Etjelletyandalja are collectively referred to as '''Vrjāmatya'''. | The people of Mana Etjelletyandalja are rather homogeneous in language, culture, and identity, though there exists a gradient of such things in a north-south direction, running along the length of the land. '''Ahāmatya''' is the formal language, used in official capacities and as the literary language. The spoken languages of Mana Etjelletyandalja are collectively referred to as '''Vrjāmatya'''. | ||
'''Ahāmatya''' and '''Vrjāmatya''' are related, both having descended from a parent language, often referred to as '''Vasa Ururya | '''Ahāmatya''' and '''Vrjāmatya''' are related, both having descended from a parent language, often referred to as '''Vasa Ururya Manan Etjelletyandaljan'''. This is a little misleading, however, in that '''Vasa Ururya Manan Etjelletyandaljan''' was actually a loose collection of highly related dialects, which over time enveloped Mana Etjelletyandalja, displacing the various native languages and dialects. There is little differentiation between '''Ahāmatya''' and '''Vasa Ururya Manan Etjelletyandaljan'''. Most speakers of '''Vrjāmatya''' do not readily distinguish the one from the other, and consider them to be a continuous entity. | ||
===Etymology=== | ===Etymology=== | ||
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The perfective participle '''ahāmatya''' is a compound consisting of '''aha-''' “together deliberately, bring together with intent, an indication of a union of things thought as one” and '''amatya''' “made, built”. The former is a prefix that may be appended to verbs or nouns, and the latter is the perfective participle of the verb '''mat-''' “do, make, form”. Therefore, the meaning may be interpreted as “well prepared, refined, put together”. Since participle forms may act either as nominals or as modifiers, it is common to see '''ahāmatya''' stand alone, in which case it is thought of as a nominal, with the implication of “(that which is) well prepared, refined, put together”, where the items in parentheses are understood. | The perfective participle '''ahāmatya''' is a compound consisting of '''aha-''' “together deliberately, bring together with intent, an indication of a union of things thought as one” and '''amatya''' “made, built”. The former is a prefix that may be appended to verbs or nouns, and the latter is the perfective participle of the verb '''mat-''' “do, make, form”. Therefore, the meaning may be interpreted as “well prepared, refined, put together”. Since participle forms may act either as nominals or as modifiers, it is common to see '''ahāmatya''' stand alone, in which case it is thought of as a nominal, with the implication of “(that which is) well prepared, refined, put together”, where the items in parentheses are understood. | ||
The full form, '''Vasa Ahāmatya | The full form, '''Vasa Ahāmatya Manan Etjelletyandaljan''' is built from '''vasa''' “language, speech”, '''manan''' is the genitive form of '''mana''' "land". '''Etjelletyandaljan''' is a more difficult word to analyze. It is composed of '''etjellet-''' which is the perfective form of the transitive | ||
verb '''tjellet-''', itself derived from the noun '''tjelle''' “sky, heaven”. '''tjellet-''', then, has the meaning “to sky someone, to adore someone or something, to put someone or something on high”. '''etjelletya''', then, is the participle form “(that which is) adored, put on high”. The '''-nda-''' element is the augmentive, and the '''-lja-''' is a morpheme used to convert nouns into adjectives. '''Mana Etjelletyandalja''' is the full, poetic name for the land, meaning “the most adored or most favored land”. The final '''-n''', with the lengthened vowel, is the genitive case marker. Besides being a poetic form, the notion of putting something or someone up on high, with connotations of putting them to the sky, works in a literal sense and refers to the magnificent mountains that dominate the skies and run the length of the land. These mountains are an important cultural and historical agent. | verb '''tjellet-''', itself derived from the noun '''tjelle''' “sky, heaven”. '''tjellet-''', then, has the meaning “to sky someone, to adore someone or something, to put someone or something on high”. '''etjelletya''', then, is the participle form “(that which is) adored, put on high”. The '''-nda-''' element is the augmentive, and the '''-lja-''' is a morpheme used to convert nouns into adjectives. '''Mana Etjelletyandalja''' is the full, poetic name for the land, meaning “the most adored or most favored land”. The final '''-n''', with the lengthened vowel, is the genitive case marker. Besides being a poetic form, the notion of putting something or someone up on high, with connotations of putting them to the sky, works in a literal sense and refers to the magnificent mountains that dominate the skies and run the length of the land. These mountains are an important cultural and historical agent. | ||
Taken altogether, '''Vasa Ahāmatya | Taken altogether, '''Vasa Ahāmatya Manan Etjelletyandaljan''' translates to “the refined language of the most revered land”. | ||
===Goals=== | ===Goals=== |
Revision as of 04:48, 23 March 2020
Vasa Ahāmatya Manan Etjelletyandaljan [ˈva.sa a.haːˈmat.ja ˈma.nan ɛˌtjɛl.lɛt.janˈda.ljan] | |
Creator: | Daniel Quigley |
Spoken in: | Mana Etjelletyandalja |
World: | Leaves Stories |
Total Speakers: | ~ 10,000,000 |
Basic word order: | Subject-Object-Verb |
Morphological Type: | Synthetic |
Morphosyntactic Alignment: | Nominative-Accusative |
Inspirations: | Sanskrit, Finnish, Russian, Latin, English, Quenya, Ancient Greek, Classical Persian |
Status: | In Progress |
Link to full documentation: | *forthcoming* |
Vasa Ahāmatya Manan Etjelletyandaljan is an a priori artistic constructed language in development by Daniel Quigley, providing the framework for which the author’s creative works and worldbuilding are guided. Vasa Ahāmatya Manan Etjelletyandaljan or just Ahāmatya is the standardized, formal, and literary register of language of Mana Etjelletyandalja, in contrast to the variable dialects collectively referred to as Vasa Vrjāmatya Manan Etjelletyandaljan or just Vrjāmatya.
Ahāmatya is a relatively conservative language. Loan words have found their way into Vrjāmatya, but are mostly deliberately avoided in Ahāmatya. If one were to use a non-native word, then one would do so either indirectly via some periphrastic construction, or by simply employing the nearest approximation available in the language.
Ahāmatya is typologically a synthetic, fusional language. Nouns and modifiers are inflected for number and case. Other modifiers, such as adverbs, are not inflected in the same way, though similarities may be found in certain contexts. Nouns exhibit a class distinction, of which may be determined either by the phonology or the morphology. Verbs are inflected for aspect, time, valency, and mood. Some particles are inflected for number and case. Ahāmatya is a Nominative-Accusative aligned language, and has relatively free word order because of its case-marking, though word order tends towards S-O-V.
Introduction
Setting
The people of Mana Etjelletyandalja are rather homogeneous in language, culture, and identity, though there exists a gradient of such things in a north-south direction, running along the length of the land. Ahāmatya is the formal language, used in official capacities and as the literary language. The spoken languages of Mana Etjelletyandalja are collectively referred to as Vrjāmatya.
Ahāmatya and Vrjāmatya are related, both having descended from a parent language, often referred to as Vasa Ururya Manan Etjelletyandaljan. This is a little misleading, however, in that Vasa Ururya Manan Etjelletyandaljan was actually a loose collection of highly related dialects, which over time enveloped Mana Etjelletyandalja, displacing the various native languages and dialects. There is little differentiation between Ahāmatya and Vasa Ururya Manan Etjelletyandaljan. Most speakers of Vrjāmatya do not readily distinguish the one from the other, and consider them to be a continuous entity.
Etymology
The perfective participle ahāmatya is a compound consisting of aha- “together deliberately, bring together with intent, an indication of a union of things thought as one” and amatya “made, built”. The former is a prefix that may be appended to verbs or nouns, and the latter is the perfective participle of the verb mat- “do, make, form”. Therefore, the meaning may be interpreted as “well prepared, refined, put together”. Since participle forms may act either as nominals or as modifiers, it is common to see ahāmatya stand alone, in which case it is thought of as a nominal, with the implication of “(that which is) well prepared, refined, put together”, where the items in parentheses are understood.
The full form, Vasa Ahāmatya Manan Etjelletyandaljan is built from vasa “language, speech”, manan is the genitive form of mana "land". Etjelletyandaljan is a more difficult word to analyze. It is composed of etjellet- which is the perfective form of the transitive verb tjellet-, itself derived from the noun tjelle “sky, heaven”. tjellet-, then, has the meaning “to sky someone, to adore someone or something, to put someone or something on high”. etjelletya, then, is the participle form “(that which is) adored, put on high”. The -nda- element is the augmentive, and the -lja- is a morpheme used to convert nouns into adjectives. Mana Etjelletyandalja is the full, poetic name for the land, meaning “the most adored or most favored land”. The final -n, with the lengthened vowel, is the genitive case marker. Besides being a poetic form, the notion of putting something or someone up on high, with connotations of putting them to the sky, works in a literal sense and refers to the magnificent mountains that dominate the skies and run the length of the land. These mountains are an important cultural and historical agent.
Taken altogether, Vasa Ahāmatya Manan Etjelletyandaljan translates to “the refined language of the most revered land”.
Goals
The driving goal of Ahāmatya is to provide a framework for the author’s creative works and worldbuilding. To that end, Ahāmatya ought to be a naturalistic constructed language, and ought to be pleasant to look at and to hear (admittedly, this is wholly subjective, and others may disagree with to the extent to which this was fulfilled).
Development, Inspiration, Forthcoming
The history of Ahāmatya as a constructed language is traceable to its earliest incarnations some ten or so years, the oldest, unchanged words being ive "bird", mana "land", and tura "strong". Since the development of the language has been a continuous evolution, with starts and stops, it is difficult to put an exact timeline of evolution. It is an on-going process, and will likely remain so.
Because much of the creative works and worldbuilding for which Ahāmatya guides concern themselves with cultural contact, exchange, and conflict, the two dominant languages of the world, Ahāmatya and Eḥeiθymme, are deliberately designed to be dissimilar, with regards to the make-up and feel of the language. The inspirations of the language include, but are not limited to, Sanskrit, Finnish, Russian, Latin, English, Quenya, Ancient Greek, and Classical Persian. While some overlap exists in the inspirations for Ahāmatya and Eḥeiθymme, any overt similarities are deliberately avoided.
A more in-depth and detailed documentation is forthcoming, which includes in-universe terminology for grammatical categories and descriptions. The author hopes to someday have the creative works published.
Phonology
Consonants
Ahāmatya has five major places of articulation and six manners of articulation. Furthermore, there exists a distinction between palatalized consonants and non-palatalized consonants, and in the context of labial nasals and stops, aspirated consonants and non-aspirated consonants. Ahāmatya, then, has thirty-three consonants in total, seven of which exist as allophones. Consonants in parentheses are allophones of their unvoiced counterparts.
Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
hard | soft | hard | soft | soft | hard | soft | hard | soft | ||
Nasal | m = [m] | mh = [mh] | n = [n] | nj = [nj] | ŋ = [ŋ] | ŋj = [ŋj] | ||||
Stop | unvoiced | p = [p] | ph = [ph] | t = [t] | tj = [tj] | k = [k] | kj = [kj] | |||
voiced | (b) = [b] | (bh) = [bh] | (d) = [d] | (dj) = [dj] | (g) = [g] | (gj) = [gj] | ||||
Fricative | unvoiced | f = [f] | s = [s] | sj = [sj] | x = [x] | h = [h] | hj = [hj] | |||
voiced | v = [v] | vj = [vj] | (ɣ) = [ɣ] | |||||||
Trill | r = [r] | rj = [rj] | ||||||||
Semi-Vowel | w = [w] | y = [j] | ||||||||
Liquid | l = [l] | lj = [lj] |
Vowels and Diphthongs
Ahāmatya has four short vowels and four long vowels, a distinction manifested as the long vowels' sound being held twice as long as short vowels' sound.
The short vowels are following: i, e, a, u. The long vowels are following: ī, ē, ā, ū. Note that, when spoken, there is some variation in the actual pronunciation of /ɛ:/, and may be more accurately pronounced as [e:].
Ahāmatya has six diphthongs, all of which have length equivalent to long vowels. The diphthongs are the following: ei, ai, ui, iu, eu, au.
Template:Col-2Short | Long | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Front | Back | Front | Back | |
High | i = [i] | u = [u] | ī = [i:] | ū = [u:] |
Mid | e = [ɛ] ~ [e] | ē = [ɛ:] ~ [e:] | ||
Low | a = [a] | ā = [a:] | ||
Diphthongs | ei = [ej], ai = [aj], ui = [uj], iu = [ju] , eu = [ew], au = [aw] |
There are some contexts in which a vowel sequence is not a diphthong. This usually occurs when a long vowel is then appended to by a short vowel. This is represented by an acute diacritic replacing the macron over the long vowel. This has an effect of reducing the length of the long vowel to a short vowel, and both vowels in the sequence carry their own distinct syllabification. This may be seen in the following:
- āi → ái = a-i
- āu → áu = a-u
Prosody and Stress
There are as many syllables in an Ahāmatya word as there are separate vowels and diphthongs. Additionally, a cliticized [m, n, v, l, s] may carry its own syllable weight.
Stress is predictable, and manifests as primary and secondary stress. Secondary stress is placed upon the first syllable of a word, provided that that syllable is not a prefix, clitic, a reduplicated element, or augment. In that case, the secondary stress finds where the first syllable of the word is that is not one of those items, i.e., the root, and then provides the stress at that location. Primary stress falls upon the penultimate syllable.
Syllable structure generally follows two explicit rules, which themselves are detailed on various levels.
1. A consonant before a vowel, or a consonant cluster at the beginning of a word, forms the syllable onset.
- A singular consonant forms the onset of the syllable.
tjelle [ˈtjɛl.lɛ] CVC.CV "sky" tala [ˈta.la] CV.CV "high" ive [ˈi.vɛ] V.CV "bird"
- A consonant cluster of arbitrary length (maximum four) at the beginning of a word forms the onset of the syllable.
vrjāmatya [vrja:ˈmat.ja] CCVV.CVC.CV "original, natural" mrja [ˈmrja] CCV "spirit"
- A word affixed with an arbitrary number of prefixes retains its syllabic structure independent of those syllables appended to it, and the affix retains its own syllabic structure.
epprja [ɛpˈprja] VC.CCV "in front of a cat" phelarya [phɛlˈar.ja] CVC.VC.CV "beside the friend"
- Word initial clusters formed via the cliticization of [m, n, v, l, s] may either meld into that consonant cluster, forming the coda of the word initial syllable, or may carry syllabic weight themselves.
v-mrja [ˈvmrja] CCCV "in the spirit" v-mrja [vˈmrja] C.CCV "in the spirit" s-vlja [ˈsvlja] CCCV "as the wolf" s-vlja [sˈvlja] C.CCV "as the wolf"
2. Consonant clusters tend to be broken word internally.
- Lengthened consonants are always separated, with the first consonant joined with the preceding vowel forming the coda of that syllable, and the second consonant joined to the following vowel, forming the onset of that syllable.
tjelle [ˈtjɛl.lɛ] CVC.CV "sky" anna [ˈan.na] VC.CV "beneficial" emmatta [ˌɛmˈmat.ta] VC.CVC.CV "dear flower"
- Word internal clusters are regularly separated, and the first consonant of the combination is joined with the preceding vowel, forming the coda of that syllable.
mandrya [ˈman.drja] CVC.CCV "power"
- Cluster onsets in syllables of the form CrV, CrjV, ClV, CljV are considered a single unit, and are not separated, and are thus exempt from the above rule.
atamrjamma [a.taˈmrjam.ma] V.CV.CCVC.CV "in the company of a (dear) spirit" epprja [ɛpˈprja] VC.CCV "in front of a cat" yavendra [ˌjaˈvɛn.dra] VC.CCV "and of vowels"
Finally, of note, is that there exist two diphthongs that, if they were to exist in a non-stressed syllable, they will then collapse into a long vowel (or short vowel, in the context of plurality, see below). Which diphthong collapses into which vowel is shown here:
- ei → ī
- ai → ē
Morphology
Nouns
Ahāmatya nouns can be declined into six cases, three numbers, and four classes.
Class
Ahāmatya nouns exhibit a kind of noun class system. Nouns have four classes: Class I nouns, called "a-theme" nouns; Class II nouns, called "e-theme" nouns; Class III nouns, called "u-theme" nouns; Class IV nouns, called "other" nouns. "a-theme", "e-theme", and "u-theme" are so-named because the vowels "a", "e", and "u" that appear as the final sound in their respective nouns in the singular root. "other" is so-named as a catch-all for words that are not "a-theme", "e-theme", or "u-theme". The phonological environment determines whether a noun is Class I or Class II, and is readily predictable. Class III nouns tend to be derived. Class IV nouns are almost always derived, and feature variable endings.
The thematic vowel in the ultimate syllable is determined by the vowel in the penultimate syllable and the consonants in the coda of that syllable and/or the onset of the ultimate syllable. Barring a few exceptions, this is a predictable machination. The consonants at the boundary of the penultimate and the ultimate vowel can be divided into four categories: continuative short, continuative long, terminative short, and terminative long.
- Continuative short consonants are: m, f, n, s, ŋ, x, l, h
- Continuative long consonants are: mm, v, nn, ss, ɤ, ll
- Terminative short consonants are: p, t, k, y, w, r
- Terminative long consonants are: pp, b, t, tt, d, k, kk, g, rr, palatalized consonants, aspirated consonants, non-geminate consonant clusters.
The penultimate vowel, followed by one of the above mentioned boundary consonants, will determine the ultimate vowel, and thus, its class. This is illustrated in the table below. Vowels listed along the leftmost column are penultimate vowels. If one of these is followed by one of the four consonant boundary types, then the ultimate vowel, i.e., the theme vowel, is given.
Penultimate Vowel | Continuative Short | Continuative Long | Terminative Short | Terminative Long | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
i | a | e | a | e | |
e | a | a | a | a | |
a | a | a | a | a | |
u | a | a | a | a | |
ī | e | e | e | e | |
ē | a | a | a | a | |
ā | a | a | a | a | |
ū | a | a | a | a | |
ei | e | e | e | a | |
ai | e | e | e | a | |
ui | e | e | e | a | |
iu | e | a | a | a | |
eu | e | a | a | a | |
au | e | a | a | a |
Number
Number in Ahāmatya nouns is represented by the noun root existing as a singular stem, a comprehensive plural stem, or a paucal plural stem. These are appended to by the case marker.
The singular is the unmarked form of the noun.
- ive- "bird"
- mana- "land"
- vrunnu- "robin"
The comprehensive plural is marked by -i. If the stem ends in a diphthong which would collapse into a long vowel in non-stressed syllables, then it does so, but into a short vowel. The comprehensive plural has an intrinsic meaning of "all of that about which I am speaking in this context".
- ivei- → ivi- "birds"
- manai- → mane- "lands"
- vrunnui- "robins"
The paucal plural is marked by -u. The paucal plural has an intrinsic meaning of "some or a few of that about which I am speaking in this context".
- iveu- "some birds"
- manau- "some lands"
- vrunnuu- → vrunnū- "some robins"
There are some nouns in Ahāmatya which are lexically plural. To form the singular, the suffix -ela is used.
- emma → emmela "flower"
- ahhra → ahhrela "star"
- epha → ephela "eye"
- ŋrā → ŋrela "frog"
Case
There are six cases in Ahāmatya. Many cases are also used as objects of the preposition, most of which are predictable.
Nominative Case
The nominative case indicates the subject of a transitive and intransitive verb, the predicate (this is variably marked also by an additional morpheme), and the object of some prepositions The nominative case is marked by -a.
- Ivea nenna. "The bird is sleeping."
- Ivea henelān vuhra. "The bird is eating the pig."
The nominative case indicates a number of objects of the preposition, usually in some relationship independent of motion or physical location.
- aphra-ljā "against the water"
- aha-lavraidea "with, together with, the rings"
- an-atalaiyea "as the king"
- hai-vamelā "via the shore"
- san-mwā "like the butterfly"
- v-eimea "in (a state of) love"
- vrja-mettā "with, together with the trees"
Accusative1 Case
The accusative1 case is one of two accusative cases in Ahāmatya, and indicates the object of an imperfective aspect verb, and the object of some prepositions. The accusative1 case is marked by -i. This may cause additional vowel sound change in the usual way where applicable.
- Iven henele vuhra. "The bird is eating the pig."
- Ljumruran vrunnui eta. "The cormorant was speaking to the robin."
The accusative1 case indicates objects of the preposition involving motion with respect to some region.
- i-mette "into the forest"
- ehda-sridde "toward, prior to the summer"
- phel-kjele "after, beside the mountain"
- le-ljái "out of, from the water"
Accusative2 Case
The accusative2 case is one of two accusative cases in Ahāmatya, and indicates the object of a perfect aspect verb, and the object of some prepositions. The accusative2 case is marked by -s.
- Iven henelas uvuhna. "The bird had eaten the pig."
- Ljumruran vrunnus ēta. "The cormorant had eaten the robin."
The accusative2 case indicates objects of the preposition involving motion or location with respect to some boundary of a region.
- ehda-luimes "until first spring"
- ui-embas "upon the face"
- lu-ljās "under the water"
- ar-manas "around, surrounding the land"
- nai-manas "over the land"
Dative Case
The dative case indicates the indirect object of a verb, and the object of some prepositions. The dative case is marked by -ya.
- Vrunnua ljumruraya eveya. "The robin had mourned for the cormorant."
- Atalairdā lavraides iveya avra. "The emperor is giving the ring to the bird."
The dative case indicates objects of the preposition involving motion or location with respect to the surrounding of some boundary of a region.
- nur-sriddaya "through/during the summer"
- mal-Elyaya "on behalf of Elya"
Genitive Case
The genitive case indicates ownership irrespective of time, origin of/from a location, partitive, topic of/about, some predicativity, composition or substance, and the object of some prepositions. The genitive case is by-n or -r.
When describing that something is composed of a substance, the Genitive is used in concert with the suffix -uda.
- lavraide kaludan "stone ring; ring of stone"
- kavra memudan "wool cloth; cloth made of wool"
The genitive case indicates objects of the preposition involving relationships between nouns.
- ehba-idur "without light"
- amha-aryen "with/having friends"
Vocative Case
The vocative case indicates that which is directly addressed. A noun in the vocative case is the citation form of the word in a reference. The vocative case is unmarked, or, to be more precise, is marked with -∅.
Summary Table
Class I, Class II, and Class III nouns have a fairly regular and predictable declination.
ive- "bird" | mana- "land" | vrunnu- "robin" | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Comprehensive Plural | Paucal Plural | Singular | Comprehensive Plural | Paucal Plural | Singular | Comprehensive Plural | Paucal Plural | |
Nominative | ivea | ivia | iveva | manā | manea | manava | vrunnua | vrunnuya | vrunnúa |
Accusative1 | ivi | ivī | ivevi | mane | mani | manavi | vrunnui | vrunnuí | vrunnúi |
Accusative2 | ives | ivis | iveus | manas | manes | manaus | vrunnus | vrunnuis | vrunnūs |
Dative | iveya | iviye | ivevya | manaya | maneya | manavya | vrunnuya | vrunnuiye | vrunnūya |
Genitive | iven | ivir | iveur | manan | manen | manaur | vrunnur | vrunnuir | vrunnūr |
Vocative | ive | ivi | iveu | mana | mane | manau | vrunnu | vrunnui | vrunnū |
Class IV nouns are variable in their form, but nouns ending in -ā or in -i are the most represented of this class.
ljā- "water" | aili- "jay" | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Comprehensive Plural | Paucal Plural | Singular | Comprehensive Plural | Paucal Plural | |
Nominative | ljā | ljaya | ljava | ailie | ailīe | ailive |
Accusative1 | ljái | ljái | ljavi | ailī | ailī | ailivi |
Accusative2 | ljās | ljáis | ljáus | ailis | ailīs | ailius |
Dative | ljāya | ljaiye | ljavya | ailiye | ailīye | ailivye |
Genitive | ljān | ljáir | ljáur | ailir | ailīr | ailiur |
Vocative | ljā | ljái | ljáu | aili | ailī | ailiu |
Prepositions
Prepositions in Ahāmatya are enclitics with respect to nouns, of which are their objects of the preposition. Such enclitics are syntactic words, but are dependent entirely on their host word and the host word's case.
Case | Nominative | Accusative1 | Accusative2 | Dative | Genitive | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Preposition | aphra- | against | i- | into | ehda- | until | nur- | through, during | ehba- | without |
aha- | with, together with | ehda- | toward, prior to | ui- | upon | mal- | on behalf of | amha- | with, having | |
n- | as | phel- | beside, by | lu- | under | |||||
hai- | via, by way of | le- | out of, after | ar- | around | |||||
san- | like, as | nai- | over | |||||||
v- | in (a state of) | |||||||||
vrja- | with, together with |
Verbs
Verbs in Ahāmatya are inflected for aspect, time, mood, person, direction of transitivity, and assertor's involvement. Aspect and time combine to yield eight tenses. Verbs may be derived from nouns and adjectives into either transitive or intransitive verbs.
The general template of a verb in Ahāmatya is the following:
Stem | Tense | Deixis | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Preverbs | Root | Derivation | Aspect | Derivation | Time | Mood | Derivation | Voice | Person |
Note that, although presented here concatenatively, components of tense may be nonconcatenative.
Tense
Ahāmatya distinguishes between two aspects: the Imperfective aspect indicates a continuous action, and is unmarked, or marked by -∅-; the Perfect aspect indicates a completed action prior to some event in context, and is marked by augmenting the root vowel of the verb.
Time is distinguished between Past time, marked by -n- indicating actions in the past, and Non-Past time, marked by -t-, indicating actions not in the past. Within Non-Past time are present and future times, where the future is identical to the present with the addition of an explicit prefix le-, itself a cliticized form of an independent word. Aspect and time combine to yield tense. Additionally, there exists a Gnomic, or "timeless", time, which is used in concert with aspect to indicate general truths or aphorisms independent of a contextual time. Verbs in the gnomic are marked by lengthening the root vowel.
- The Imperfective Gnomic Tense indicates an ongoing or incomplete action independent of time. It is the composition of imperfective aspect and gnomic time.
- The Imperfective Past Tense indicates an ongoing or incomplete action in the past time. It is the composition of imperfective aspect and past time.
- The Imperfective Non-Past Present Tense indicates an ongoing action in the non-past present time. It is the composition of imperfective aspect and non-past time.
- The Imperfective Non-Past Future Tense indicates an ongoing action in the non-past future time. It is the composition of imperfective aspect and non-past time.
- The Perfect Gnomic Tense indicates an action which was completed prior to another completed action independent of time. It is the composition of perfect aspect and gnomic time.
- The Perfect Past Tense indicates an action which was completed prior to another completed action. It is the composition of perfect aspect and past time.
- The Perfect Non-Past Present Tense indicates an action which was completed prior to another action in the present time. It is the composition of perfect aspect and non-past time.
- The Perfect Non-Past Future Tense indicates an action which was completed prior to another action in the future time. It is the composition of perfect aspect and non-past time.
Gnomic Time | Past Time | Non-Past Time | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Present Time | Future Time | |||
Imperfective Aspect | māt- | matn- → mand- | matt- | le-matt- |
Perfect Aspect | amāt- | amatn- → amand- | amatt- | le-amatt- |
Mood
Ahāmatya has two distinctly marked moods:
- The Indicative mood indicates factual statements, inquiry of simple questions, and the statement of beliefs, and is marked by -a-
- The Subjunctive mood indicates imaginary or hypothetical actions, conveys opinions or emotions, or conveys requests, and is marked by -(u)ra-
In both the indicative and subjunctive moods for the gnomic tenses, the final -a is replaced with -i.
Gnomic Time | Past Time | Non-Past Time | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Present Time | Future Time | ||||
Imperfective Aspect | indicative | māti- | manda- | matta- | le-matta- |
subjunctive | mātri- | mandra- | mattura- | le-mattura- | |
Perfect Aspect | indicative | amāti- | amanda- | amatta- | le-amatta- |
subjunctive | amātri- | amandra- | amattura- | le-amattura- |
Voice
Ahāmatya has two voices:
- The active voice indicates that the subject is performing the action denoted by the verb, and is unmarked, or marked by -∅-
- The passive voice indicates that the subject is acted upon by the verb, and is marked by -(h)ehba-, and displaces the final vowel from the mood
Gnomic Time | Past Time | Non-Past Time | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Present Time | Future Time | |||||
Imperfective Aspect | indicative | active | māti∅- | manda∅- | matta∅- | le-matta∅- |
passive | māthehba- | mandhehba- | mattehehba- | le-mattehehba- | ||
subjunctive | active | mātri∅- | mandra∅- | mattura∅- | le-mattura∅- | |
passive | mātrehba- | mandrehba- | matturhehba- | le-matturhehba- | ||
Perfect Aspect | indicative | active | amāti∅- | amanda∅- | amatta∅- | le-amatta∅- |
passive | amāthehba- | amandhehba- | amattehba- | le-amattehba- | ||
subjunctive | active | amātri∅- | amandra∅- | amattura∅- | le-amattura∅- | |
passive | amātrehba- | amandrehba- | amatturhehba- | le-amatturhehba- |
Conjugation
Verbs in Ahāmatya are inflected for three grammatical persons. The forms of the person marking are dependent on the aspect and transitivity of the verb, the rules governing sound change notwithstanding. Person conjugation for the gnomic tenses are unique, and are thus presented separately.
Imperfective and Imperative Endings
The person endings for imperfective transitive and intransitive verbs take the following form:
Singular | Comprehensive Plural | Paucal Plural | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1st | transitive | -n | -s | - |
intransitive | -nen | -nes | - | |
2nd | transitive | -va | -vna | - |
intransitive | -neva | -nevna | - | |
3rd | transitive | -a | -a | - |
intransitive | -na | - | - |
The imperative is not a true mood in Ahāmatya, as it is only an extension of person marking, and only exists for imperfective non-past verbs. Such person endings take the following form:
Singular | Comprehensive Plural | Paucal Plural | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1st | transitive | -nni | - | - |
intransitive | -nni | - | - | |
2nd | transitive | -vani | - | - |
intransitive | -nevani | - | - | |
3rd | transitive | -ani | - | - |
intransitive | -nani | - | - |
Perfect Endings
The person endings for perfect transitive and intransitive verbs take the following form:
Singular | Comprehensive Plural | Paucal Plural | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1st | transitive | -ra | -rra | - |
intransitive | -nera | -nerra | - | |
2nd | transitive | -m | -mma | - |
intransitive | -nem | -nemma | - | |
3rd | transitive | -ya | -ya | - |
intransitive | -neya | -neya | - |
Gnomic Endings
The person endings for gnomic verbs take the following form:
Singular | Comprehensive Plural | Paucal Plural | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1st | transitive | - | - | - |
intransitive | - | - | - | |
2nd | transitive | - | - | - |
intransitive | - | - | - | |
3rd | transitive | - | - | - |
intransitive | - | - | - |
Reflexive Endings
To account for reflexivity, Ahāmatya has person endings which have the the following forms:
Singular | Comprehensive Plural | Paucal Plural | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1st | transitive | - | - | - |
intransitive | - | - | - | |
2nd | transitive | - | - | - |
intransitive | - | - | - | |
3rd | transitive | - | - | - |
intransitive | - | - | - |