Aoma

Aoma (Bavom Bor Speaking of Ours) is a priori language created for the fantasy world of Grundet. Aoma and Rinap form the main languages of South-West-Herookuan family deriving from the ancestral Rinapri. Though Aoma is spoken in Eastern Sceptre it has not much to do with the languages of Western Sceptre.

Basics

Aoma is a Verb-Subject-Object, agglutinative-fusional language with strong head-initiality (right-branching). The language has two numbers, three persons, four genders and five cases with nominative-accusative alignment. Very important to the speakers and the society is the formal register with polite forms of second person pronouns, honorifics and anti-honorifics.

Phonology

Very similar to Rinapian ones

Consonants

	Bilabial	Labio-dental	Dental	Alveolar	Post-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	m			n			ŋ
Plosive	p b			t d			k g		ʔ
Fricative		f v	θ ð	z s	ʃ ʒ		x		h
Approximant				ɹ		j
Trill				r
Lateral app.				l

Consonants k, l, m, n, p, ɹ, r, s and t all have a geminated version which are mostly found in two-syllable verb infinite forms. The double-consonants have special marks in written Mihkanor so glottal stop is indicated by writing the consonants separately. Notice: pp [p:ʰ], tt [tθ]

Vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i y	u
Near-Close	ɪ	ʊ
Close-Mid	e ø	o
Open-mid	ɛ œ	ʌ ɔ
Near-open	æ
Open	a	ɑ

Similarly to consonants, vowels have geminated forms marked with special graphemes so that glottal stop is indicated by writing the short graphemes separately. Since i, æ and œ are often written over preceding consonants, there is a special glottal stop grapheme for them. There are also graphemes for vowel combinations occurring at the end of words but their pronounciation varies: aee [aɛ:]/[æeˑ], oee [oe:]/[œɛˑ] and uee [wɛ:]/[ʊe:].

Orthography

Aoma uses quite phonemic script where graphemes correlate with phonemes. The system is more consistent with consonants since vowels can undergo various changes depending on the neighbouring vowels and consonants. Here are their graphemes:

• i: [i] [ɪ]
• y: [y]
• u: [u] [ʊ]
• e: [e] [ɛ]
• ö: [ø] [œ]
• ä: [æ] [ʌ]
• a: [a] [ɑ]
• o: [o] [ɔ]

Hand-written Mihkanor script was developed in Eastern Sceptre from the Eastern Temple Marks of third era. Shinesharers, spreaders of the religion of Light, took the original marks to north where they were developed into Northern script (our Latin). Highly decorational Jauhmø script originates to fifth era, but is still in use mainly for formal documentation.

Romanization of some symbols: š/sh [ʃ], ng [ŋ] and ' [ʔ]. Notice that in the beginning of words C is [kh] while in the middle c is [sk], and beginning Z is [ʒ] while z is [z].

Morphology

As and agglutinative language Aoma can have lots of morphemes per word and its inflections are quite regular.

Pronouns

Personal

	1.SG	2.SG	3.SG.F	3.SG.M	3.SG.N	1.PL	2.PL	3.PL	2.POL.SG	2.POL.PL
NOM	waa	foo	zu	shy	xi	boo	vot	sot	Nite	Wyte
ACC	nas	fos	zus	sysh	sish	bos	vösh	sösh	Netes	Wetes
DAT	naee	foee	zuee	shye	see	boee	votei	sotei	Neteki	Weteki
GEN	när	for	zur	shyr	sor	bor	votyr	sotyr	Nityr	Wytyr

Prepositional is ACC + e, except that Netyse and Wetyse.

Nouns

Noun declension according to two numbers and five cases correlates with the four noun classes which are indicated by the last vowel of nominative singular:

• divine a
• masculine y
• feminine u
• neuter i

Declension

The declension is shown with suffixes added to the stem gotten by removing the nominative vowel ending. Prepositional case is formed by adding e to the accsative.

Example words in all classes: eharr|a god, tym|y man, hen|u woman, dok|i object

	Nominative	Accusative	Dative	Genitive
Div SG	a	ax	aee	ar
Div PL	ol	ox	oee	or
M SG	y	ys	yee	yr
M PL	uvo	ösh	uhee	ör
F SG	u	us	uee	ur
F PL	ivo	osh	ihee	oir
N SG	i	ik	ee	ir
N PL	esh	ek	ei	er

Special cases: divine time noun group with temporal cases; some locative forms

Adjectives

Many adjectives are formed from nouns simply by adding e to the genitive case. This is sometimes called the adjective case or adjective form of a noun.

Adjective Declension

Always the same.?

Prepositions

In Aoma, fusional prepositions also convey the word gender and definiteness through vowel change. Same prepositional stems have different ending consonants which give new meanings together with the case of the following word. k- a/u/y - /k/s + prep/gen/prep = at/into/from

Verbs

Verbs are conjugated according to person, number, tense, aspect, mood which are indicated by suffixes, prefixes and reduplication.

Conjugation Tables

There are three conjugation classes based on the infinite forms:

• vowel-ending
• consonant-ending
• irregular which do show characteristics of either first or second conjugation

The conjugation stem is received by removing the last syllable, and then endings are added to its place.

Ia) last vowel a/o: tol|la see

	1st Singular	2nd Singular	3rd Singular	1st Plural	2nd Plural	3rd Plural	2nd SG Polite	2nd PL Polite
Present simple	tolan	tolu	tola	tolom	tolus	tolos	toltu	toltus
Past simple	tolin	tolui	tolai	tolimo	toluis	tolosi	tolti	toltis
Future	tolaran	tolrau	tolas	tolramo	tolrus	tolaros	toltaru	toltarus

Ib) last vowel e, often intransitive: rok|ke run

	1st Singular	2nd Singular	3rd Singular	1st Plural	2nd Plural	3rd Plural	2nd SG Polite	2nd PL Polite
Present simple	eng	e		em	es	ös	ite	ites
Past simple	ing	ei	i	im	is	ösi	eti	etis
Future	eran	raa	ase	rom	res	rös	tare	tare

IIa) last consonant m: sum speak

	1st Singular	2nd Singular	3rd Singular	1st Plural	2nd Plural	3rd Plural	2nd SG Polite	2nd PL Polite
Present simple	sun	s(a)mu	su	sumo(o)	s(a)mus	sus	sutu	s(a)mutu
Past simple	suin	s(a)mui	sui	suim	s(a)muis	suis	sutti	s(a)mutti
Future	suran	sura	suas	surom	surus	suros	surta	surasa

IIb) last syllable tes/kes/hes (→ z, x, sh): ty|tes get

	1st Singular	2nd Singular	3rd Singular	1st Plural	2nd Plural	3rd Plural	2nd SG Polite	2nd PL Polite
Present simple	ten	tse=ze	te	töm	zes	tös	zite	zites
Past simple	t(e)in	zei	tei	töim	zeis	töis	zeti	zetis
Future	teran	zera	tas	terom	zerus	teros	zare	zares

Irregular

Class III has verbs with multiple irregular forms often deriving from use of other words or through phonemic changes during long history. This also includes a group of verbs whose infinite ends in u.

Aspects

Imperfective is formed by adding prefixes bo for Ia & IIa or be for Ib & IIb to the conjugated form and often also lengthening the last vowel: Pekin→Bopekiin, I gave → I was giving

Perfect prefixes: ju for Ia, ma for IIa and je for Ib & IIb: Roke → Jeroke, You run → You have run

Ancestral past in the third person is used when discussing ancient historical events and it is formed by adding the prefix ne to pluperfect (past perfect) form: Komai sish. → Jukomai sish. → Nejukomai sish., He did it. → He had done it. → He had done it a long time ago. (or: It was done eons ago.)

Moods

Indicative is shown in the tables above and other moods are derived from it:

• Plain imperative is formed simply by using the indicative present singular third person verb form together with a pronoun: Peko foo sish naee! You give it to me!
• Optative is used for requests and as a polite imperative. It is formed by joining imperative and conjugated komma meaning to do: Pekokomu sish naee. Could you give it to me.
• Permissive is used by those with higher social status for giving permissions to members of lower social classes. It is formed by using optative 3rd singular with personal pronoun datives: Rokkoma votei. You all are allowed to run.
• Conditional of conditional sentence apodoses is formed through final right-to-left reduplication and then conjugated normally: pekkokko, vomvom, tytestes so that Pekkokom means We would give
• Subjunctive, which is used in some dependent clauses, is formed through initial left-to-right reduplication, but always with vowel-ending part of the first syllable: pepekko, vovom, tytytes
• Double reduplication gives a mood similar to eventive and it is used in conditional sentence protasis and speculatives: Pekkokaran tetellulun. I would give if I had. (notice also the future tense of apodosis)

Negation

Aoma has a conjugated negative verb söm which is otherwise conjugation II, but has special forms for future and polite 2nd person (present, past, future):

• Future: sörön, sörö, sör, söröm, sörys, sörös
• SG: suvannoo, suvennoi, suvannaa
• PL: suvummoo, suvimmoi, suvummaa

Notice how suva also means I'm sorry.

Söm is used as an auxiliary together with the infinite form of a verb: Soleran. I will come. and Sörön solle. I won't come.

Interrogative

Question form of a verb is created by adding interrogative prefix so: Vo. He speaks. → Sovo? Does he speak?

Stress remains on the verb and pitch rises towards the end.

Passive Voice

Aoma hasn't got a proper passive verb system, but there are ways for creating passive situations:

• Imperfective/Gerund-like conjugated construct with genitive pronoun: Tolla → Butollam → Butollan när. I am seen. and Sum → Busumum → Busumu sor. It is eaten.

Non-finite forms

• Gerund which describes the act of doing: ba + INF (+m)
• Present active participle as an attribute: INF + bo
• Past passive participle: INF + na or ma for IIa

Derivational Morphology

Aoma uses suffixes, gemination and apophony to create new words from existing ones. Same noun stems often occur in all four classes. Most important are the eight elemental nouns:

• (divine noun, verb, (secondary verb,) masculine, feminine, neuter, adjective form, colour form)
• gesha [gɛʃa] (life), gesse (live), geshy (brain), geshu (heart), geshi (nature), geshare (lively, active), geshari (yellow)
• tösha (death), tösse (die), töshy (soldier), töshu (disease), töshi (war), töshare (still, silent), töshari (purple)

Numerals

Numbers use nowadays decimal system, but were originally of base twelve also known as dozenal even though there was a special mark for twelve. Some numerologists have proposed that six was the ancient base just like in Rinap, while others say it was eight, the number of all elements when they separated light and darkness from life and death in favour of Lightlisteners' beliefs. To my mind, six is the true base of our universe and must have been the original. Use of eight came later from coastal peoples of Sceptre.

Syntax

Clauses

Independent

Simple sentences with Verb-Subject-Object order. Since the verbs are conjugated, pronoun dropping is common unless required by the verb structure.

Using Cases

NOM-ACC

NOM-DAT

Registers

Polite

Honorific clitics: haa + verb-2nd.SG.POL and hää + verb-2nd.PL.POL