Roshterian

Roshterian/Swadesh list

Roshterian/Lexicon

Funcuma di oṟbiroxṯer (This page in Roshterian)

Roshterian
oṟbiroxṯer
Pronunciation	[/ɔɻbɪɾɔʂˈʈɛɾ/]
Created by	IlL
Setting	Verse:Tricin
Native speakers	5.1 million (about as much as Finnish) (fT 11E0dd)
Language family	Quihum Talmic Roshterian
Official status
Official language in	Roshteria
Language codes
ISO 639-3	qrh

Roshterian /rɒʃˈtɛriən/ (native name: oṟbiroxṯer /ɔɻbɪɾɔʂˈʈɛɾ/ 'The Roshterian language') is a Talmic language inspired by P-Celtic (particularly Welsh). It is intended to be a polysynthetic language with a pseudo-European aesthetic. Roshterian is an official language of Roshteria (Qaaroxṯer) and is the native language of 5.1 million people, most of which live in Roshteria. Among Etalocians, it is famous for its grammar: it is a head-initial, polysynthetic language with a complex agglutinating verb morphology that uses polypersonal agreement, evidentials, applicative constructions and noun incorporation.

History

See also: Old Roshterian

The Roshterian tongue is not only matchless in beauty, but is surely among the most bountiful of troves for the student of languages. No Talman can but marvel at this language's great depth and uncanny familiarity to him ... While its words and forms display some affinity to our own language [‌Eevo], they are even more akin to the ancient Thensarian language, indeed to such a degree that its Talmic provenance cannot be doubted ... Curiously, the Roshterian speech in particular is pronounced with consonants with strong tongue-curling ... it has a proclivity towards using lengthy words for single utterances where a succession of smaller words and prefixes combine in a quite volatile manner, reminding one of the language of old Eevo texts ... I think it proper to further study this curious language, wherein is sure to lie solutions to great mysteries surrounding the common forebear of Talmic languages.

Aloð Bolltind, from the preface of A bintylisłáh lly łidút a jawþ Rosderib (An introduction to the grammar of the Roshterian tongue)

The ancestors of modern-day Roshterians are hypothesized to have been an autochthonous people who gradually adopted a Talmic superstrate language. Until relatively recent times little was known of the language to outsiders (save for a handful of legends of a race of "backwards-talking" people with bodies of reversed chirality).

The first written example of a complete Roshterian sentence is found in a Clofabian travel journal dating to ca. fT 830dd (in Clofabic script):

olbiroaxterem taicaxan habo metuperen

I would like to speak Roshterian; alas, I cannot.

(In modern Roshterian orthography: Bys oṟbiroxṯerimytaicyn, boorimituperen. 'gladly-language-Roshterian-speak-1SG but-EVID.DIR-NEG-do-can-1SG')

This sentence was likely written by a non-native speaker of Roshterian, seeing by the fact that he/she omitted evidentials, which would be required in the second clause.

The significance of Roshterian for Talmic linguistics was first noted by the Eevo linguist Aloð Bolltind. He proposed that it reflected all four dorsal series of Proto-Talmic differently, unlike the (in Talma) hitherto known Thensaric languages:

• *k, g > Roshterian c, g; Thensarian c, g
• *kʷ, gʷ > Rosh. p, b; Thn. c, g
• *q, ʁ > Rosh. q, ḡ; Thn. ȝ, ħ
• *qʷ, ʁʷ > Rosh. x, ṟ; Thn. c, g or -ȝ, -ħ

Todo

Affix fusion rules -- just say the morphemes fast and see what happens

• Tiixi = a female name
• Ḻuba = A male name
• In prefixes, ni- > i- (important!)
• How do I get "holophrastic" words [words with the meaning of whole sentences]
• Applicative prefixes should be older than prepositions
• Disallow initial /s/

Numbers

TODO: Combining forms, ordinals, distributives

• 1: peem, peemy-
• 2: ṯitu, ṯitu-
• 3: naṟg, naṟ-
• 4: loob, loo-
• 5: helit, lit-
• 6: ṯiam
• 7: ruad
• 8: loṟ
• 9: baṟ
• 10: ḡiṟ
• 11: huplai
• 12: plai

Phonology

Consonants

Roshterian uses the following consonants:

		Labial	Dental/Alveolar		Retroflex		Velar	Uvular	Glottal
			central	lateral	central	lateral
Nasal		m /m/	n /n̪/		ṉ /ɳ/		[ŋ]	[ɴ]
Stop	voiceless	p /p/	t /t̪/		ṯ /ʈ/		c /k/	q /q/
	voiced	b /b/	d /d̪/		ḏ /ɖ/		g /g/
Continuant	voiceless	f /f/	s /s̪/		x /ʂ/				h /h/
	voiced	w /w/	r /r/	l /l̪/	ṟ /ɻ/	ḻ /ɭ/		ḡ /ʁ/

j z /j z/ are used in loanwords.

Notes

• The voiceless stops /p t̪ ʈ k q/ are normally aspirated as much as Japanese voiceless stops; however, they are unaspirated after fricatives.
• /n̪ t̪ d̪ l̪/ are dental; /s̪/ is dentalized alveolar (transcribed /n t d s l/ for sake of convenience).
• [ŋ] and [ɴ] are allophones of /n̪/ before velar and uvular consonants, respectively.
• /r/ can be an alveolar flap [ɾ], an apical retroflex flap [ɽ], or trilled [r].
• /ɳ ʈ ɖ ɭ/ can be realized as apical-postalveolar (like Hindi retroflexes) or subapical-palatal (like Tamil retroflexes). The apical realization dominates in casual speech, while the subapical realization occurs more in careful speech. After /ʂ/, /ʈ/ is always apical.
  • Colloquial Roshterian often merges /ɖ/ and /ɭ/.
• /ʂ/ is laminal post-alveolar [s̠] or sometimes [ɧ].
• /ɻ/ can be post-alveolar [ɹ̠] or truly retroflex [ɻ].
• /ʁ/ is a voiced uvular fricative [ʁ] or a trill [ʀ].
• /w/ is [v] in some dialects.

Vowels

	Front		Central		Back
	short	long	short	long	short	long
Close	i /ɪ/	ii /iː/			u /ʊ/	uu /uː/
Mid	e /ɛ/	ee /eː/	y /ə/	yy /əː/	o /ɔ/	oo /oː/
Open			a /a/	aa /aː/

In addition, the following diphthongs are used: ⟨ai ei ia au ua oi iu⟩ /aɪ ɛɪ iə ɛʊ uə ɔɪ ɪʊ/

Notes

• /ɪ, iː/ are centralized after retroflex consonants to [ɪ̈, ɨː]; for example, ṉii 'big' is pronounced [ɳɨː]
• /eː, oː/ are lowered to [ɛː, ɔː] before retroflexes and uvulars.

Stress

There is no phonemic stress or tone; all words are pronounced with word-final stress.

Phonotactics

Roshterian allows fewer clusters than Proto-Talmic. Only two-consonant clusters are permitted and they are subject to the sonority hierarchy. However, final clusters are allowed.

Here are the allowed clusters:

• Not allowed finally: /pl bl pr br tr dr ʈr ɖr kl kr/ ⟨pl pr br dr tr dr ṯr ḏr cl cr⟩
  • Some dialects may have /ʈɻ ɖɻ/ for /ʈr ɖr/.
  • Some dialects always use [Cɭ] or [Cɻ] for /Cr/.
• Not allowed initially: /mp nt ɳʈ ŋk ɴq mb nd ɳɖ ŋg ɴʁ ns ɳʂ lp lt ɭʈ lk ɭq lb ld ɭɖ lg ɭʁ rp rt ɻʈ rk rq rb rd ɻɖ rg rʁ rm rn ɻb ɻg ɻm ɻɳ sp st ʂʈ sk ʂq/ ⟨mp nt ṉṯ nc nq mb nd ṉḏ ng nḡ ns ṉx lp lt ḻṯ lc ḻq lb ld ḻḏ lg ḻḡ rp rt ṟṯ rc rq rb rd ṟḏ rg rḡ rm rn ṟb ṟg ṟm ṟṉ sp st xṯ sc xq⟩

Orthography

Roshterian natively uses the Clofabic script; apart from Eevo it is the only Talmic language that uses the Clofabic script. A diacritic is used for retroflex and uvular consonants.

Roshterian alphabet

Grapheme	X	Xᑊ	Ⱶ	Ⱶᑊ	Ŧ	Ꙟ	ᖵ	ᖵᑊ	Π	Πᑊ	L	Lᑊ	Σ	Σᑊ	Ш	И	Иᑊ	Ⳙ	Ỻ	Ǝ	Ǝᑊ	Ꜭ	Ꝩ	Ʞ	₭	Λ	Δ	Ξ
Name	do	ḏo	re	ṟe	mi	fa	sol	xol	la	ḻa	ti	ṯi	go	ḡo	pe	nar	ṉar	wi	ba	ce	qe	ha	i	e	y	a	o	u
Transliteration	d	ḏ	r	ṟ	m	f	s	x	l	ḻ	t	ṯ	g	ḡ	p	n	ṉ	w	b	c	q	h	i	e	y	a	o	u

Punctuation

• | = period
• . = comma
• ₂ = strong comma
• ᑉ = question mark
• ᖾ = exclamation point
• - = dash
• ~ = ellipsis
• ⸗ = semicolon
• ᕑ = colon
• ⟨ ⟩ = parentheses

Numerals

Eevo uses a base-12 positional numeral system. The digits are as follows:

ɔ ı ʎ ɺ ħ ʕ ʑ ɛ ɴ κ ə ʋ = 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 X E

duodecimal point: :

1728's separator: · (optional)

Examples:

2017 = 1,201dd = ı·ʎɔı

π = 3.184809493b918...dd = ɺ:ıɴħ·ɴɔк·ħкɺ·кʋı·ɴ... or ɺ:ıɴħɴɔкħкɺкʋıɴ...

Sound changes

The most significant change characterizing Roshterian is the coalescing and altering of consonant clusters, often creating retroflex consonants.

• kw, gw > p, b
• gl-, gr- > l, r
• *ā > ia (*nā > nia 'I'); *ō > ua; *au > oo; *ou > uu; *ū > ii
• *qʷ > /χʷ/ > /ɧ/ > x; *ʁʷ > /ζ/ > ṟ
  • ʁʷelinə ("6 parts [of 12]") > ṟelin 'half'
  • gʷaθwā > bati 'neck, throat' ~ Thn. gaθvā 'throat (also language)'
• *sl-, sm-, sn- > ḻ-, f-, ṉ-
• *sɸ-, sr-, sw- > x-, ṟ-, x-
• *st, sk, skʷ, sq > ṯ-/sṯ, t-/st-, f, q-/xq
  • stuφs 'fire' > ṯuu
  • stas- > ṯetsil 'gathering' (~ Thn. Stasnyssōs > Tíogall Stánsa, Clofabosin stannsin 'a holiday')
  • skəttai > tyyta 'body' ~ Thn. scattae
  • *bastom > bast 'king' ~ Thn. bastom 'head'
• *sb, sd, sg > ṟb, ṟḏ, ṟg
  • *nasg- > naṟg '3'
• *φn, tn, φl, tl/dl > /ːn, t-/ts, ːt, ʈ/ɖ/
  • θnāgin > tiagin 'I believe' ~ Thn. θnāginis
  • oφlutsus > ootus 'wave'
• *kt, qt > /jt, ːʈ/
  • *tektə > teit /teit/ 'child'
  • *neqtə > neeṯ /neːʈ/ 'cloud'
• *ks, qs > /js, ːʂ/
• *kn, gn, kʷn, gʷn, qn, ql, qr > /jn, jn, m, m, :ɳ, :ɻ, :ɻ/ (with **/uj/ > /uː/ )
  • sφugnus > xuun 'root' ~ Thn. sφugnus
  • leqnos > leeṉ 'river' ~ Thn. leānos?
  • qrīdis > ṟiid 'knife' ~ Thn. ȝrīdis 'edge'
• Word-initially, kn, gn, kʷn, gʷn > /kl, gl, pl, bl/
  • gʷnūnum > bliin 'scar' ~ Thn. gnūnum 'scar', Tíogall gnúinte 'scar'
• *φj, tj, kj, qj > pt s s-/ts ḡ
• *j-, s- > h-
• *φ- > ∅-
• Initial short vowels drop
• *skj, stj > ṯ-/xṯ, s-/ːs
• final short vowels lost; final -m, -r, -s, -t lost; final long vowels shorten (ia, ua > i, u)
• i-affection: The following changes affect V1 in sequences of the form V1 + consonant cluster + ultimate (*i/*ī/*j) unless the consonant cluster after V1 contains a retroflex consonant.
  • a > e
  • e > i
• Stress shifts to final
• Some combining forms and combined forms are altered due to the stress shift - conjunct forms for verbs arise when there is an antepenultimate syllable
• penultimate ia > i
• remaining s- > t-

Morphology

Verbs

Each verb has 3 principal parts: the progressive stem, the habitual stem and the preterite stem.

Object incorporation

All verb stems have a combining form, also called the incorporating form, which is used in the presence of an object marker, negative prefix or an incorporandum (incorporated object). Any noun stem can be incorporated, including proper nouns.

hootiixyn 'eat fruit' < hooti 'fruit' + caasyn 'eat'

Verb template

The Roshterian verb has 9-10 slots which mark a variety of grammatical information. Slots that must obligatorily be filled are in bold.

• discourse - considered clitics by some
• evidentiality/interrogative
• negation/focus
• causative person marker
• object person marker/passive marker
• STEM:
  • incorporandum
  • applicative
  • ROOT
• one or more auxiliaries
• subject+aspect

Discourse markers

Discourse markers are often connecting words for clauses, or particles that display the speaker's emotional reaction to an event or state.

• bys- = 'gladly', 'great!'
• boo- = 'alas'
• yṟ/ṟy- = (softening marker)
• gora- = 'oh no!'
• [mirative]
• [antimirative: "unsurprisingly"]

Evidentiality affixes

Evidentials mark the source of the speaker's information; a lack of evidential marking signals that the verb is an imperative or a purpose clause. Some other discourse affixes (which are in complementary distribution with evidentials) also go into this slot.

• i- (before C), r- (before V) = I witnessed or otherwise directly experienced this
• pyn- = information I obtained from hearsay or am quoting
• dre- = a third-party source I consider credible
• me- = my own inference, assumption or subjective opinion
• hy- (< PTal *səni φī... 'tell me if...') = interrogative (used for both wh-questions and yes-no questions)
• eb- = if
• ṯus- = (optative)

Negative/focus affixes

Negation is marked with the negative affix mis- (before V), or mi-/N- (before C), which may alter the verb stem to its incorporating form.

There's also focused affirmative ("yes, X is true") and focused negative ("no, X isn't true") affixes, used e.g. when answering questions.

• Negative: mis-, mi-, N-
• Focused affirmative: fe-
• Focused negative: tir-

Causative person markers

The causative prefixes are used in causative verbs to index the agent causing the action of the object-ROOT-subject complex. The causative person marker comes from forms of the verb ooni 'to do/make' (*oonin sy 'I make it that' > oony- > ony-).

For example:

Ronipicaasym.

/ronipikaːˈsəm/

r-ony-pi-caasy-m

DIR-CAUS.1SG-OBJ.4-eat-PROG.SUBJ.3SG.M

I'm feeding it to him.

Causative affixes

	Singular	Plural
1	ony-	ome-
1 + 2	-	onty-
2	ory-	ofy-
3 (male)	omy-	oty-
3 (female)	osy-
3 (inanimate)	oo-
4 (obviative)	opy-
Who?	ote-
What?	ota-

Object person markers

Object affixes

	Singular	Plural
1	in-	mee-
1 + 2	-	bee-
2	ti-	hee-
3 (proximate)	bi-	nee-
4 (obviative)	pi-
Whom?/Someone	tei-
What?/Something	taa-

Applicatives

• di- = at, in, by
• hee- = about
• hu- = benefactive
• lengy- = malefactive

Subject+TAM markers

Progressive indicative

Person	Affix	-ḡaimian 'I fly'	-caasyn "I eat"
1SG	-n	-ḡaimian	-caasyn
2SG	-r	-ḡaimiar	-caasyr
3SG.M	-m	-ḡaimiam	-caasym
3SG.F	-s	-ḡaimias	-caasys
3SG.N	-0	-ḡaimi	-caas
1EX	-me	-ḡaimiame	-caasyme
1IN	-nt	-ḡaimiant	-caasynt
2PL	-f	-ḡaimiaf	-caasyf
3PL	-tu	-ḡaimiaw	-caasyw
4	-p	-ḡaimip	-caasyp
Who?	-te	-ḡaimite	-caasyte
What?	-ta	-ḡaimita	-caasyta

Habitual indicative:

Reduplicate the progressive indicative with Ce-. (the reduplicant can be irregular)

Perfective indicative

Person	-ḡaimian "I fly"	-caasyn "I eat"
1SG	-ḡaimidi	-ceesti
2SG	-ḡaimivi	-ceesyvi
3SG.M	-ḡaimimi	-ceesymi
3SG.F	-ḡaimiast	-ceesyst
3SG.N	-ḡaimias	-ceesys
1EX	-ḡaimimer	-ceesymer
1IN	-ḡaiminter	-ceesynter
2PL	-ḡaimifer	-ceesyfer
3PL	-ḡaimiaw	-ceesyw
4	-ḡaimiap	-ceesyyp
Who?	-ḡaimiate	-ceesyyte
What?	-ḡaimiata	-ceesyyta

Voice affixes

• ṯy- = mediopassive (< "body, self")
• ab/aa- = reciprocal

Auxiliaries

• -dunqan: 'I must/have to' (negated: 'I don't have to')
• -peren: 'I can/I'm able to'
• -ṯysin: 'I may/I have permission to' (negated: 'I must not')
• -xan: 'I intend to'

Copula

To express "is a [NOUN]" or "is [ADJ]", the copula -(l)uan is suffixed to the bare stem of X; X plus the copula then goes to the normal stem slot for purposes of verb inflection. The noun itself doesn't go into the plural even when the subject is plural.

Lameṯeituu.

la-me-ṯeit-uu

merely-INFERRED-child-COP.PRES.3PL

In my opinion, they are mere children.

Hyroṉḏuar, hywleituar?

hy-roṉḏ-uar, hy-bleit-uar

Q-man-COP.2SG, Q-woman-COP.PRES.2SG

Are you a man or a woman?

When the copula is added on nouns without an evidential, it emphasizes the noun or simply indicates the tense of an action (either past or non-past).

Metuumi bastaim.

me-tuu-mi bast-aim

INFERRED-do-3SG.M.PFV king-COP.PST.3SG.M

It was apparently the king who did it. / The king apparently did it.

Inflection

The copula is suppletive; it also has only non-past indicative and past indicative forms.

Non-past copula

Person	Affix
1SG	-(l)uan
2SG	-(l)uar
3SG.M	-(l)uam
3SG.F	-(l)uas
3SG.N	-(l)ua
1EX	-(l)umec
1IN	-(l)uant
2PL	-(l)uaf
3PL	-(l)uu
4	-(l)uap
Who?	-(l)ute
What?	-(l)uta

Past copula

Person	Affix
1SG	-(q)ain
2SG	-(q)air
3SG.M	-(q)aim
3SG.F	-(q)ais
3SG.N	-(q)ai
1EX	-(q)aimec
1IN	-(q)aint
2PL	-(q)aif
3PL	-(q)aitu
4	-(q)aip
Who?	-(q)aite
What?	-(q)aita

Nouns

Nouns are marked with a singular-plural distinction, and may also take possessive suffixes. However, the lemma form of a noun is typically its combining form, which is the incorporated form of a noun and is also used to form possessed forms and compounds. Unlike Thensarian, Roshterian lost the Proto-Talmic grammatical gender; gendered pronouns and verb affixes no longer mark grammatical gender, but natural gender (as in Naquian). There is no definite or indefinite article.

The plural form is inherited from the Proto-Talmic reduplicated collective, and is often formed by reduplication. Example: bleit /blɛit/ 'woman', bebleit /bɛˈblɛit/ 'women'. Some irregularities may be present due to the retention of the original single consonant in the reduplicant, as opposed to the stem-initial cluster where the consonants interacted to produce new consonants and clusters.

weiny- 'brother'

Combining	Singular	Plural
weiny-	wein	uwein

Possessed forms

Number→ Possessor↓	Singular	Plural
my	weinyn	uweinyn
thy	weinys	uweinys
his/her (3)	weinyti	uweinyti
its (3)	weinyt	uweinyt
our (exc)	weinym	uweinym
our (inc)	weinyx	uweinyx
your (pl)	weinyc	uweinyc
their (3)	weinytu	uweinytu
(4)	weinypi	uweinypi

doiro- 'bird'

Combining	Singular	Plural
doiro-	doir	ledoir

Possessed forms

Number→ Possessor↓	Singular	Plural
my	doiron	ledoiron
thy	doiros	ledoiros
his/her	doiroti	ledoiroti
its	doirot	ledoirot
our (exc)	doirom	ledoirom
our (inc)	doirox	ledoirox
your (pl)	doiroc	ledoiroc
their	doirotu	ledoirotu
(4)	doiropi	ledoiropi

ṟiidi- 'knife'

Combining	Singular	Plural
ṟiidi-	ṟiid	qeṟiid

Possessed forms

Number→ Possessor↓	Singular	Plural
my	ṟiidin	qeṟiidin
thy	ṟiidis	qeṟiidis
his/her	ṟiiditi	qeṟiiditi
its	ṟiidit	qeṟidit
our (exc)	ṟiidim	qeṟiidim
our (inc)	ṟiidix	qeṟiidix
your (pl)	ṟiidic	qeṟiidic
their	ṟiiditu	qeṟiiditu
(4)	ṟiidipi	qeṟiidipi

qutri- 'blood'

Combining	Singular	Plural
qutri-	qutri	qequtri

et sim.

bondi- 'person'

Combining	Singular	Plural
bondi-	bondi	bebondi

Demonstrative suffixes

Deixis or demonstratives (such as 'this' or 'that') are marked with a suffix added to the combining form of the noun.

• this: -ma
• that: -pa

Adjectives

Predicative adjectives work the same way as predicative nouns in that they must take the copula. The class of adjectives is actually a small, closed subclass of nouns, usually relating to shape, color, size, texture, and other concrete properties of objects and relatively permanent characteristics of people.

Attributive adjectives are compounded after the noun.

A more analytic construction can also be used: the 3rd person singular inanimate possessive suffix is added to the noun, and the adjective comes after.

• bryn 'red': Ibrynua hoget. 'The apple is red.'; hootibryn or hootit bryn 'red apple'
• pant 'big': Ipantua huaryn. 'My house is big.'; huarypant or huaryt pant 'big house'

Prepositions

Prepositions are inflected for person similarly to nouns. [Should they be cliticized? Probably]

• di- = 'in'
• bel- = 'from'
• en = for
• bar = towards
• nai = with (instrumental)

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

Independent pronouns are not used except for emphasis.

	Singular	Plural
1	nia	iam
1 + 2		pyd
2	weer	cyvi
3 (masculine)	hum	sia
3 (feminine)	hii
3 (inanimate)	ha
4 (obviative)	pii

Demonstrative pronouns

Independent demonstratives look like:

• this: amac
• that: apac

Derivational morphology

• bo- = associated person
  • bopenicili-, bopenicili /bɔpɛnɪkɪˈlɪ/ = penicillin player
  • blei- = -ess, feminine counterpart to bo- (not common in modern Roshterian)
• -ait (not productive) = forms adjectives
• [NOUN]-ṯobyn = to resemble a NOUN (the noun is incorporated)

Syntax

Roshterian is a verb-initial, head-marking polysynthetic language. Verbs take both subject and object affixes, and features complex morphophonemic alternations [much of which is inherited from Old Roshterian]. Where Roshterian deviates from typical Talman typology are features such as obviation, noun incorporation and evidential marking, making Roshterian resemble Native American languages such as Blackfoot or Ojibwe.

Itiraḏan.

I-ti-raḏa-n

EVID_DIR-2SG.OBJ-love-1SG.SUBJ

I love you.

Possession

"X of Y" = X-3SG Y or X-Y (e.g. weinyti boclofabim 'the Clofabian's brother' or ganut huar = 'the color of the house')

Applicatives

Applicative affixes make a verb's prepositional or oblique object into its direct object (cf. be- in English bemoan 'to complain about'). Applicatives are as much a stylistic or pragmatic choice as syntactic (see below) or lexical. Some verbs may use multiple applicative prefixes, when they do so is difficult to predict.

Examples:

Iheeditaicyn raḏi am ḡiaf.

I'm talking about love and hate. (lit. I bespeak love and hate)

Sometimes not using applicatives is preferred, sometimes vice versa:

Idixoorin Qaaroxṯerim.

'I live in Roshteria.' (lit. I inhabit Roshteria)

Ixoorin di ḡeeliaṉ.

'I live in a city.'

Applicatives are not only useful for emphasizing or topicalizing the oblique argument but in fact are necessary for certain syntactic constructions (and for just sounding natural). When an applicative is used, the original direct object (when used) takes the instrumental preposition nai.

For example:

Ṯimylt impubri pergofaaṟidi nai maaqex?

Where is the shelf where I put the spices? [lit. that I beput with the spices]

Apacua rymbi peteehoḏidi nai ṯas.

/apaˈkuə rəmˈbi pɛteːhoɖɪˈdɪ nai ˈʈas/

apac-ua rymbi ped-hee-hoḏia-di nai ṯas

that-COP.3SG.N forest NMLZ-APPL.about-draw-1SG.PERF INS picture

That is the forest I drew a picture of. [lit. the forest that I bedrew with a picture]

Clause types

Relative clauses

There are no relative pronouns or resumptive pronouns in Roshterian. Only the gap strategy is available, and only a subject or an object of the relative clause can be a head. This is where applicatives come in handy, as applicatives promote oblique arguments to direct objects, thus allow oblique arguments of a verb to used as relative clause heads.

The relative clause is marked by a nominalizing affix ped-.

Meiḻicort ḡeeliaṉ pedidixoorin.

me-eiḻi-cort-0 ḡeeliaṉ ped-i-di-xoor-in

EVID_SUBJ-heart-embrace-3SG.N city NMLZ-EV.DIR-APP.LOC-live-PRES.1SG

The city that I live in is cozy. (lit. The city that I inhabit embraces the heart.)

[Note that most English adjectives, like "cozy", "active", "incendiary", ..., correspond to an inflected verb in Roshterian.]

Sample texts

"I don't want to move on from/grow out of simple pleasures."

Snake Lemma

Professor Kate Gunzinger proves the Snake Lemma in the film It's My Turn (1980). I'm skipping the proof, which is less linguistically interesting. [Most Roshterians prefer to use Eevo terms when discussing higher mathematics anyway.]

Yṟonypinoofer haxupimyṯrut bimróþ s, biṉṯylaḡilcama peeṯypryṉifiaqalip, ḻe?

Yṟ-ony-pi-noo-fer haxu-pi-myṯru-t bimróþ s bin-ṯy-laḡ-ilcam-a ḻe

DISC_SOFTEN-CAUS.1SG-4-see-2PL.SUBJ.PERF way-4-build-CONST mathematical_function s, DISC_SHOULD_BE_OBVIOUS-PASS-APPL_TELIC-sow-3SG.N NOMZ-PASS-examine-show-at_first-4 TAG

Let me just show you how to construct the map s, which is the fun of the lemma anyhow, okay?