Verse:Hmøøh/Talma/Literature

Netagin (barīts Natāgīn) is a triconsonantal language inspired by Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic, spoken in Western Cuadhlabh. This page describes Ancient Netagin.

Todo

• final -ʔ to block initial seimhiu in descendants
• need more binyanim (~ 10 like Arabic)
• passive binyanim?
• yarifi = wheel
• bīlan = woman
• mufgōrin = castle
• qabatxōt = alligator

Roots

• n-t-g: ???
• r-s-d: study
• z-ʔ-r: go
• k-d-d: fly
• w-r-š: love
• b-n-š: hide

Phonology

Ancient Netagin

Ancient Netagin had the following consonants (note no /l/!):

m n ŋ tʰ t kʰ k ʔ b d g f s ts ɬ tɬ ʃ ħ h z ʕ w r j

⟨m n ŋ t ṭ k q ʔ b d g f s ts x tx š ħ h z ȝ w r y⟩

The following vowels were used:

i iː u uː
a aː oː
aj aw

⟨i ī u ū a ā ō ay aw⟩

Stress is marked with an acute accent.

Old Netagin

Begadkefat: /t k b d g/ > /θ x v ð ɣ/ after a V

Vowels go through Tiberian Hebrew-ish changes

Morphology

Nouns and adjectives

Three numbers: sg, du/col, pl

Four genders: masculine, feminine, terrestrial, aquatic (inspired by Valyrian)

absolute, construct, possessed forms

Definite article: ha-(gemination)

Noun and adjective endings

	Singular		Dual-collective		Plural
	absolute	construct	absolute	construct	absolute	construct
Masculine	-i	-∅	-ūn	-ū	-ān	-ā
Feminine	-an	-āʔ	-ōnūn	-ōnū	-ōnān	-ōnā
Terrestrial	-in	-ay	-ayyūn	-ayyū	-ayyān	-ayyā
Aquatic	-ōti, -ti	-at	-(a)tūn	-(a)tū	-(a)tān	-(a)tā

For example, below are the declensions of yarifi (m.) = 'wheel'; bīlan (f.) = 'woman'; mufgōrin (t.) = 'castle'; qabatxōt (a.) = 'alligator':

Sample nouns

	Singular		Dual-collective		Plural
	absolute	construct	absolute	construct	absolute	construct
Masculine	yarifi	yarif	yarifūn	yarifū	yarifān	yarifā
Feminine	bīlan	bīlāʔ	bīlōnūn	bīlōnū	bīlōnān	bīlōnā
Terrestrial	mufgōrin	mufgōray	mufgōrayyūn	mufgōrayyū	mufgōrayyān	mufgōrayyā
Aquatic	qabatxōt	qabatxat	qabatxtūn	qabatxtū	qabatxtān	qabatxtā

Vowel-reducing paradigms

The largest class of vowel-reducing nouns have á or é between the first and second radicals that reduces to a/e (harmonizing with the frontness of following vowel; i after a y) when a suffix is added.

"Crawling-up" nouns

The "crawling-up" (Netagin: mittzúchábh) nouns underlyingly end in a consonant cluster. In the singular oblique cases the stem is turned into a CaCC (if the bare form is CeCaC, CiCC for CéCaC and CoCC for CóCaC) form, and the dual and plural turn the stem into (CaCáC, CeCáC and CoCáC).

Nouns ending in geminated consonants

These nouns may take sound case/number suffixes, or get the broken plural as a CVCC/CVnC stem.

-eh

In nouns ending in -eh, the -eh is deleted before a case ending.

Pronouns

	First person			Second person			Third person
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural
Independent	ʔákti	ʔákkū	ʔákkā	ʔánni	ʔánnū	ʔánnā	hini, hinan, hinn, hitt	hínnū	hínnā
Clitic	-ti	-kū	-kā	-ni	-nū	-nā	-hi	-hū	-hā

Verbs

Netagin verbs, perhaps similarly to those of Biblical Hebrew, mark aspect and person, but not tense. Non-concatenative morphology figures prominently in conjugation for valence and TAM, much like in Semitic and Proto-Indo-European. However, verbs can also be derived via derivational "mishqalim" patterns (with considerable overlap with nominal patterns).

Primary stems

• Binyan 1 verbs are verbs denoting intransitive actions ("come"), as well as stative verbs ("be cold"). It is often considered the most basic form. The difference between adjectives and stative verbs is roughly equivalent to the ser-estar distinction.
• Binyan 2 contains most monotransitive verbs, ("eat") including causativizations of Binyan 1 verbs ("make happy"). Can also have a telic (desired outcome was reached) meaning.
• Binyan 3 consists of verbs denote reflexive/reciprocal action ("get dressed", "kiss each other"), or change of state ("thicken").
• Binyan 4 contains causatives of transitive verbs ("feed") (and of some Binyan 2 and Binyan 3 verbs). Causatives of statives in the imperfective aspect may denote active maintenance of a state (as opposed to changing a state in the perfective aspect).

Binyan	Imperfective	Perfective	Participle	Action noun
1	1a2a3	-i12a3	1ō2i3	1a2ī3i
2	1u2u3	-u1a2ːō3	mu1a2ːī3	1a2ːī3āʔ
3	ˀa12ī13	-uni12i3	mi1ːū2ā3	ˀa12u3ti
4	ˀa12a3	-i1ːi2u3	ma12a3	ˀa12a3āʔ
5	ta12u3	-uta12i3	muta12i3	ta12ō3āʔ
6	ša12i3	-uši12i3	muši12i3	ša12a3ti

¹ Shortens to i when a suffix is added.

The participle is an agent noun or an adjective. Adverbializing it yields manner of action "as if to X".

The action noun (axn) or gerund is used in action noun constructions, which are of the form SUBJECT-gen AXN OBJECT-acc. It is of importance in forming relative clauses, for Netagin does not have a relativizer.

Affixes

Present tense affixes

	Singular	Dual-Coll.	Plural
1	-ti	-tū	-tā
2	-an	-nū	-nā
3	-∅	-ū	-ā

ʔabnaš 'steal'

	Singular	Dual-Coll.	Plural
1	ʔabnašti	ʔabnaštū	ʔabnaštā
2	ʔabnašan	ʔabnašnū	ʔabnašnā
3	ʔabnaš	ʔabnašū	ʔabnašā

Past tense affixes

	Singular	Dual-Coll.	Plural
1	t-	t-ū	t-ā
2	n-	n-ū	n-ā
3	h-	h--ū	h--ā

ʔabnaš 'steal'

	Singular	Dual-Coll.	Plural
1	tibbinuš	tibbinušū	tibbinušā
2	nibbinuš	nibbinušū	nibbinušā
3	hibbinuš	hibbinušū	hibbinušā

Syntax

Ancient Netagin is almost completely head-initial; the unmarked word order is VSO.

Waraštini.

I love you.