Maghrebi Azalic

In the Verse:AETHER timeline, Maghrebi Azalic is a Riphic language, like English. It is inspired by Vietnamese and Welsh.

It is in the Ăn Yidiș-Cubrite sprachbund and its main post-proto-Riphic loan source is Greek.

Phonology

as in Vietnamese; note: r /ɹ/, d /z/, j /ʒ/, g is always /ɣ/, x /s/, s /ʃ/, đr = /ɖ~ɭ/

m n l can be syllabic

Orthography

Maghrebi Azalic is natively written in either the Hebrew alphabet or Latin orthography based on the in-universe Old English orthography.

Morphology

Pronouns

• conj. i, du/u, khê, si, it, gia, dul/ul, doi/oi
• disj. mi, du, khim, kher, it, eox, dul, dam
• poss. mơ, ur, khex, kher, itx, eor, dux, dar

inflected prepositions

Nouns

Two cases (nominative and genitive), no gender

• Genitive singular is always -x or -ơx
• Plural is almost always nom. -i, gen. -xi

The definite article is invariably dơ. There is no indefinite article.

Umlaut, known in-universe as affection, is used for some plurals: for example,

• mon 'man', mơn (gen. mơnxi) 'men'.

Verbs

Only the imperative/infinitive survives in lexical verbs. There is also a passive participle in -ơd (only used as an adjective).

VSO syntax with the verbal noun form is often used in narratives.

Auxiliaries

Maghrebi Azalic has an auxiliary verb system similar to Colloquial Welsh. In addition, there is a T-V distinction: the 2nd person plural is also used as a polite pronoun.

The choice of preposition before the lexical verb also controls the tense:

• Im ot het = I eat/I am eating (lit. I am at eating)
• Im pho het = I have eaten (lit. I am after eating)

Various auxiliaries in Maghrebi Azalic

→ Person	I	thou	he	she	it	we	blotp	they	Non-pronominal
Present (sêu is from *sekw 'see')	im	dur	khês	sis	its	giar	dulơr	dar	sêu
Pres. Interrogative	am i	ar du	is khê	is si	ist	ar gia	ar dul	ar doi	is
Pres. Negative or neg. interr.	nam i	nar du	nis khê	nis si	nist	nar gia	nar dul	nar doi	nis
Past (from aorist *dʰéh₁t of *dʰeh₁ 'to do')	ted i	ted u	ted khê	ted si	ted it	ted gia	ted ul	ted oi	ted
Future/Subjunctive	ter i	ter du	ter khê	ter si	ter it	ter gia	ter dul	ter doi	ter

Sample text

From "The Nightingale and the Rose" (Oscar Wilde)

Dơ Noitingươl đu dơ Vard

"Ted si gêu ter si pho khơrđi gim vưt ter i pho ơdvơr vardơx radơx đor," biêc dơ Mathit dưng; "ơlt nis vard rad in ol moi buxtn."

Phar kher nert on dơ đriêu kholm-uôc khar dơ Noitingươl khim, đu otơc si eot thơr dơ lavơx, đu pharơcs si.

"Nis vard rad in ol moi buxtn!" biêc khê, đu phêl khis êux phormuôs gi đơr. "Ơi, on khot thengơx lihtl tis dơ phơlíxơđê ot dơpénd! Im pho cri ol thengơx tis dơ sajơx pho scriv, đu sêu ol misriơx philóxophi moi dal, ơlt on devit vard rad tis moi loiv pho khoel bilihtơd."

The Nightingale and the Rose

'She said that she would dance with me if I brought her red roses,' cried the young Student; 'but in all my garden there is no red rose.'

From her nest in the holm-oak tree the Nightingale heard him, and she looked out through the leaves, and wondered.

'No red rose in all my garden!' he cried, and his beautiful eyes filled with tears. 'Ah, on what little things does happiness depend! I have read all that the wise men have written, and all the secrets of philosophy are mine, yet for want of a red rose is my life made wretched.'