Riagi: Difference between revisions
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**'''sōto''' - Presents an explanation | **'''sōto''' - Presents an explanation | ||
==== ''Subordinating conjunctions'' ==== | ==== ''* Subordinating conjunctions'' ==== | ||
===Particles=== | ===Particles=== |
Revision as of 19:45, 1 August 2014
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Riagi | |
---|---|
Rīagi | |
Pronunciation | [/ɾiːaɰi/] |
Created by | Miguel Bartelsman |
Date | 2014 |
Setting | Aokae world |
Riagi
| |
Official status | |
Regulated by | Academy of spiritual and magical arts |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | qrr |
Introduction
Riagi is an a priori constructed language designed to be the mother-thong and language-of-the-gods in the constructed fantasy world of Aokae. The language is widely used throughout the world in rituals and scriptures and to communicate with powerful spirits and gods. Even though it has no native speakers, it is believed to have been the first language to be spoken and most languages in the world are derived either directly or indirectly from it.
Its phonology is inspired by the descriptions of the Eloi language given in the book of The Time Machine and by Polynesian languages such as Maori and Hawaiian, likewise, the script it uses is vaguely derived from the Rongorongo inscription found in Easter Island and by Javanese and its parent Old Kawi.
Its grammar is not directly derived from any one language, instead is a mix of grammatical features meant to give it a unique feel. It’s a language focused on the reasons behind actions and their context rather than in actions themselves.
Phonology
Even though Riagi does not have a large amount of different sounds, it compensates for it by distinguishing between long and short vowels and long and short stops changing the amount of phonemes from 13 consonants and 5 vowels to 16 consonants and 10 vowels.
Consonants
Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | /m/ | /n/ | - | /ŋ/ | - |
Stop | /p pː/ | /t tː/ | - | /k kː/ | /ʔ/ |
Fricative | /f/ ~ /ʃ/ | - | - | - | |
Approximant | /β/ ~ /ð/ | /j/ | /ɰ/ | /h/ | |
Flap | - | /ɾ/ | - | - | - |
Riagi has a wide range of free variation, the labio-alveolar voiceless fricative, being the only fricative in the inventory, has free variation between [ɸ], [f], [θ], [s] and [ʃ]. Similarly, the labio-alveolar voiced approximant has free variation between [β], [ʋ] and [ð]. And because Riagi has no voiced fricatives of any sort, all voiced approximants can be 'correctly' pronounced as their voiced fricatives equivalents.
Gemination
Phonemic gemination is only found in Riagi in the voiceless stops /p/, /t/ and /k/.
Vowels
Front | Back | |
---|---|---|
Close | /i iː/ | /u uː/ |
Close-mid | /e eː/ | /o oː/ |
Open | /a aː/ | - |
Long vowels
Unlike consonants, vowel elongation is found in all vowels
Diphthongs
Short diphthongs are formed by a central or back vowel followed by an equal or closer vowel: /ae/, /ao/, /ai/, /au/, /oe/, /oi/, /ou/, /ui/
Long diphthongs are formed by a long vowel followed by /a/: /eːa/, /oːa/, /iːa/, /uːa/
Phonotactics
The syllable structure in Riagi is quite simple, it consists of an optional onset consonant followed by a vowel or diphthong, or (C)V(V).
Stress
Riagi has a predictable stress that falls on the penultimate syllable, irregular words (often loanwords) have their stressed syllable marked by an acute diacritic on the last vowel.
Romanization
The following romanization is going to be used throughout the article
- /m/ → ⟨m⟩
- /n/ → ⟨n⟩
- /ŋ/ → ⟨ng⟩
- /p/ → ⟨p⟩
- /pː/ → ⟨pp⟩
- /t/ → ⟨t⟩
- /tː/ → ⟨tt⟩
- /k/ → ⟨k⟩
- /kː/ → ⟨kk⟩
- /ʔ/ → ⟨ ' ⟩
- /f/ ~ /ʃ/ → ⟨s⟩
- /β/ ~ /ð/ → ⟨v⟩
- /j/ → ⟨j⟩
- /ɰ/ → ⟨g⟩
- /h/ → ⟨h⟩
- /r/ → ⟨r⟩
- /a/ → ⟨a⟩
- /aː/ → ⟨ä, ā⟩
- /e/ → ⟨e⟩
- /eː/ → ⟨ë, ē⟩
- /i/ → ⟨i⟩
- /iː/ → ⟨ï, ī⟩
- /o/ → ⟨o⟩
- /oː/ → ⟨ö, ō⟩
- /u/ → ⟨u⟩
- /uː/ → ⟨ü, ū⟩
Morphology
Riagi is a predominantly agglutinative language with a fair share of fusion.
Glossing abbreviations are found next to their respective terms and within parenthesis. Morphemes not found in tables are in bold text.
Nouns
The affix positions are the following: NOUN.case.obviative.number
Cases
Riagi has a system of dual noun cases where one marks the syntactic role and the other the semantic role
Argument Cases
Argument cases are cases which mark the different arguments on a sentence.
- Nominative (nom)
- Marks the agent of a transitive verb and the active subject of an intransitive verb
- Absolutive (abs)
- Marks the object of a transitive verb and the passive subject of an intransitive verb
- Dative (dat)
- Marks the indirect objects of a verb
Thematic Cases
Thematic cases are cases which mark the thematic relations between each of the arguments on a sentence.
- Agentive ( - )
- Marks the entity which carries out the action, this theme is exclusive to the nominative case.
- Patientive (pat)
- Marks the patient or theme, that is the entity that undergoes the action
- Instrumental (ins)
- Marks the instrument or entity with which the action was carried out, this can be a tool or a person.
- Locative (loc)
- Marks the location or time at which the action was performed
- Benefactive (ben)
- Marks the entity for whose benefit the action occurs, this includes recipients with verbs that express change of possession
- Origative (ori)
- Marks the place, time, motive or cause from which the action originated
- Metative (met)
- Marks the direction, purpose or objective towards which the action aims
Declensions
Agentive | Patientive | Instrumental | Locative | Benefactive | Origative | Metative | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ø | o | oe | ae | a | i | ui | ||
Nominative | Ø | Ø | -o | -oe | -ae | -a | -i | -ui |
Absolutive | t | - | -to | -toe | -tae | -ta | -ti | -tui |
Dative | m | - | -mo | -moe | -mae | -ma | -mi | -mui |
Obviative
Riagi has three levels of obviative/proximate distinctions
- Proximate -Ø
- The most salient or proximate entity, unmarked
- Obviative (obv) -ge
- The obviative marks a less salient entity
- Further Obviative (fobv) -gē
- The further obviative mark is much less common, it marks an entity less salient than an obviative
Number
Riagi has number marking for both count and mass nouns. Number is marked after cases.
- Singular (sg) -Ø
- The singular form is the default number for count nouns, it indicates a single element (i.e. A pen. A book)
- Singulative (svg) -'e
- The singulative form marks a single unit of a mass noun, the unit is culturally and contextually determined (i.e. A drop of water. A grain of salt)
- Collective (col) -Ø
- The collective form is the default number for mass nouns (i.e. Water. Salt)
- Plural or Plurative (pl) -'o
- The plural or plurative form marks both a group of countable nouns and a group of mass nouns (i.e. Pens. Books. Waters. Salts)
Pronouns
First Person (1) | Dual Person (D) | Second Person (2) | Third Person (3) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural |
ē | ō | na | nao | sa | sano | rage | rago |
Fourth Person (4) | Fifth Person (5) | ||||||
Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | ||||
nae | nae'o | re | re'o | ||||
Zero Person (0) | |||||||
Singular | Plural | ||||||
anga | anga'o |
- The First person plural is exclusive
- The Dual person singular indicates both the Speaker and the Addressee
- The Dual person Plural is an inclusive version of the first person plural
- The Fourth person is an indefinite category that encompasses First and Dual persons. "These ones think so" (referring to themselves)
- The Fifth person is similar to the fourth but covers Second and Third persons.
- The Zero person is a completely generic category. "One could say so"
Verbs
The affix positions are the following: tense-aspect.VERB.mood.negation
Tense
Rjargi has four tenses:
- Past (pst)
- Sets the reference time of the action in the past
- Present (prs)
- Sets the reference time of the action in the present
- Future (fut)
- Sets the reference time of the action in the future
- Gnomic (gno)
- Does not limit the reference time of the action to a specific time
Aspect
Rjargi has five aspects:
- Perfective (pfv)
- Describes the action as a whole or without interior composition
- Retrospective (ret)
- Describes an action that took place before the frame of reference
- Continuous (cont)
- Describes an action taking place within the frame of reference
- Prospective (prosp)
- Describes an action expected or taking place in the future of the frame of reference
- Habitual (hab)
- Describes an action that takes place regularly within the reference time
Tense-Aspect Affixes
Perfective | Retrospective | Continuous | Prospective | Habitual | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
a | i | ao | ae | u | ||
Past | r | ra- | ri- | rao- | rae- | ru- |
Present | Ø | Ø | i- | ao- | ae- | u- |
Future | kk | kka- | kki- | kkao- | kkae- | kku- |
Gnomic | m | ma- | mi- | mao- | mae- | mu- |
Mood
Moods are divided in External, Internal and Evidential
External
- Permissive (prm) -tou
- Used to express permission
- Requisitive (req) -nēa
- Used to express requests or suggestions
- Compulsory (cls) -po
- Used to express orders and commands
- Impositive (ims) -se
- Used to express expectations or imposed actions
Internal
- Promissory (pms) -ga
- Used to express for promises oaths or threats
- Desiderative (des) -si
- Used to express willingness or intent
- Aspirative (asp) -joe
- Used to express hopes, fears or wishes
- Necessitative (nec) -no
- Used to express needs or obligations
Evidential
- Factual (fac) -ve'e
- Indicates the certainty of the action
- Probable (pbl) -va
- Indicates the likelihood of the action
- Improbable (ipb) -hā
- Indicates the unlikelihood of the action
- Potential (ptn) -tao
- Indicates the possibility of the action, regardless of it's likelihood
Negation
Negation is done through the affix -hīa placed at the end of a verb or coverb
Coverbs
Coverbs are words used in serial verb constructions, they are placed after the main verb and take inflections when the main verb can't or shouldn't because it's already fully inflected or it's meaning requires it that way. Two coverbs exist in Riagi
- Aono
- Used as a coverb of stative verbs
- Hare
- Used as coverb of dynamic verbs
Determiners
Pro-forms
Interrogative | Demonstrative | Quantifier | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Proximal | Distal | Universal | Existential | Elective | Alternate | Negative | ||
Personal | ta'e | ta (sg) tao (pl) |
tare (sg) taro (pl) |
tauma | ta'ota | ta'ina | hōvi | ho'i |
Impersonal | ho'e | ho (sg) ho'o (pl) |
hore (sg) horo (pl) |
houma | ho'ota | ho'ina | ||
Place | kko'e | kko | kkore | kkouma | kko'ota | kko'ina | ngōvi | ngo'i |
Time | ngo'e | ngo | ngore | |||||
Manner | moi'e | moi | - | moi'ota | - | - | - | |
Origin, Quality | gi'e | gi | - | gi'ota | - | - | - | |
Goal, Reason | gui'e | gui | - | gui'ota | - | - | - |
Genitives
Personal
Personal forms are used for human animates
First Person (1) | Dual Person (D) | Second Person (2) | Third Person (3) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural |
aee | aoo | naīa | najo | saīa | sajo | raje | rajo |
Fourth Person (4) | Fifth Person (5) | ||||||
Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | ||||
nāe | nāe'o | are | are'o | ||||
Zero Person (0) | |||||||
Singular | Plural | ||||||
angīa | angīa'o |
Impersonal
For inanimates places and abstract nouns the determiner āja is used
Conjunctions
Coordinating conjunctions
- Cumulative
- 'a - Presents a non-contrasting idea
- 'ai - Presents a non-contrasting negative idea
- Adversative
- seno - Presents a contrasting idea
- Alternative
- no - Presents an alternative
- Illative
- mani - Presents a cause
- pui - Presents a consequence
- Explanative
- sōto - Presents an explanation
* Subordinating conjunctions
Particles
Reference markers
Reference markers are verb-like copulas that can take an object and a referenced argument as their subject for the purpose of building subordinate clauses. But unlike verbs, their word structure is strictly VO with the subject implicit in the particle and cannot be conjugated, they are simple .
- Subject reference marker (srm) vātu
- References the subject of it's supraordinating clause as its subject
- Object reference marker (orm) vāma
- References the object of it's supraordinating clause as its subject
- Indirect object reference marker (iorm) viru
- References the indirect object of it's supraordinating clause as its subject
Numerals
Riagi uses a base-20 numeric system (similar to the mayan numerals)
* Derivational Morphology
* Compounds
* From Nouns
* From Verbs
* From Adforms
Syntax
Word order
The Subject goes before the object whenever possible, indefinite arguments are placed before the verb, definite arguments after, possible word orders are:
- VSO - Both arguments are definite
- SVO - Subject is indefinite and object is definite
- OVS - Object is indefinite and subject is definite
- SOV - Both arguments are indefinite
Indirect objects are placed after the subject and object whenever possible.
Adpositions
live next.to 1s.nom park.abs.pat
I live next to the park
is above toy.nom television.abs.pat objm.is on living.room
The toy is above the television on the living room