Suwáá/Unknown

Vy górov en socovíto

Suwáá/Unknown
socovíc/socovija lesán
Created by	IlL
Native to	Mostsev, Greece, Italy
Native speakers	393,000 (2013)
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic North Semitic Suwáá/Unknown

todo

• Socovíc/Lexicon
  • cedor, cedr- instead of *oroz, orz-
  • odom: high register word for 'human'/'mortal'
  • qobod 'servant'; qobdíc 'work, service'
  • túr instead of *fúr
  • ura 'time'
• Grammar
  • stative > present?

Background

Suwáá/Unknown (Suwáá/Unknown: socovíc /ˈsotsoviːts/ or socovija lesán /ˈsotsovija ˈlesaːn/), sometimes called Sotsovian in English, is a Semitic language in the Balkan Sprachbund, spoken in the nation of Mostsev (Moscév). It's actually alternate Slovenia, or a thin piece of land running straight down the west coast of Balkan Peninsula or something. A North Semitic language, it diverges in many ways from Central Semitic tongues such as Arabic, Aramaic and Hebrew - it preserves archaic features that have not survived in Central Semitic languages, as well as some innovations in its grammar. North Semitic is thought to have been quasi-Central Semitic dialect that separated very early from the rest of Central Semitic. The name of the language, socovíc, is the feminine singular definite form of the adjective socoví - which seems to have stemmed from *√s-t-w, a root meaning 'north' in Suwáá/Unknown (cf. Hebrew סְתָו săṯâw 'winter'). Like its Semitic and Afro-Asiatic relatives, Suwáá/Unknown is a fusional, templatic language with an accusative alignment. Over its history the language has absorbed influences from Slavic, Greek, Turkish, Arabic, more recently French, Italian, German and English.

Because of its obvious connection with the "sacred tongue" Hebrew, Suwáá/Unknown had caught some attention in historical Western scholarship before the era of modern linguistics.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal		m /m/		n /n/
Plosive	voiceless	p /p/		t /t/			k /k/	q /q/	(/ʔ/)
	voiced	b /b/		d /d/			g /g/
Fricative	voiceless	f /f/	þ /θ/	s /s/	š /ʂ/		ḫ /x/		h /h/
	voiced	v /v/		z /z/	ž /ʐ/
Affricate				c /ts/	č /ʈʂ/
Trill				r /r/
Approximant				l /l/		j /j/

Allophony

If a word begins with a vowel, a glottal stop is added before it.

Obstruents followed by an obstruent assimilate to the voicing of the following obstruent.

Vowels

Oral

	Front		Back
	short	long	short	long
Close	i /i/	í /iː/	u /u/	ú /uː/
Mid	e /e/	é /eː/	o /ɤ/	ó /o̞ː/
Open	ě /æ̝/	ě /æ̝ː/	a /a/	á /aː/

Nasal

	Front		Back
	short	long	short	long
Close
Mid		ę /ɛ̃ː/		ǫ /ɔ̃ː/
Open

Allophony

/i/ > [ɨ] / C[+retroflex]_

Stress and intonation

Stress always falls on the first syllable of a word.

Disyllabic words tend to have a high-low intonation. In words with more syllables, pitch starts high, declines until the last syllable, and the last syllable is higher in pitch than the lowest syllable.

Diachronics

STRESS

Initially Arabic-like, then stress shifts leftward (before "Proto-/Old Suwáá/Unknown" stage), resulting in the loss of the final nasal elements in dual and plural endings

• base cases: *kabī́ra; *kátaba; *nawlū́da (when > *náwlūda?)
• generalize the rule "start from the left to determine syllable weight":
  • only the first 2 syllables may be stressed
  • [H L; [L H; [H H; [L L

Vowels

PSem to PNSem

• Word-final -i dropped; this triggers the generalization of diptotes and the fronting of the overall consonant inventory.
• *āN *īN *ūN > overlong *â *î *û if N is not part of a root

PNSem to PSuwáá/Unknown

Proto-North Semitic	Proto-Suwáá/Unknown
i	ь
u	ъ
a > ə	o
ī	i
ū	y
ay	ě
aw	u
ā	a
an	ǫ
in	ę, ь
un	ǫ, ъ

PSuwáá/Unknown to Suwáá/Unknown

Havlík's law: strong *ъ > *o, strong *ь > *e, weak jers vanish without doing anything

*y > e

Consonants

Suwáá/Unknown distinguishes between around 23 of the original 29 consonants of Proto-Semitic. (cf. Arabic 28, Aramaic/Phoenician 22, Akkadian 20, Modern Hebrew <20).

PSem	*b	*d	*g	*p	*t	*k	*ṭ	*ḳ	*ð	*z	*þ	*š	*ś	*s	*þ̣	*ṣ	*ṣ́	*ɣ	*ʕ	*ʔ	*x	*ħ	*h	*m	*n	*l	*r	*w	*y
Suwáá/Unknown	b	d	ž	p	c	č	t	k	v	z	f	s	š	s	f	š	þ	g	aq, -a	ː, v, j	ḫ	ah	h	m	n	l	r	v	j

Declension

Early Proto-North Semitic

Diptotic declension. The parenthesized nasal elements in the dual and plural were unstable due to the shift to word-initial stress that had occurred in PNSem.

Case	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	yawmu(n)	yawmā(n)	yawmū
Accusative/Genitive	yawma(n)	yawmay(n)	yawmī

Nouns

Suwáá/Unknown nouns decline in definiteness, three numbers (singular, dual and plural), and three cases (nominative, accusative, genitive). Unusually for a modern Semitic language, case plays a very important and productive role. There is no counterpart to the construct state or possessed forms of other Semitic languages; however, the possessor always follows the head. This state of affairs presumably came about because absolute and construct forms merged very early in the language's history, thus allowing the speakers to analyze them as free case-declined forms instead of bound, "construct-locked" forms.

Morphological notes

The accusative is identical to the genitive for animate nouns, and identical to the nominative for inanimate nouns.

Suwáá/Unknown nouns are notable for generalizing the diptotic (two-case) system, with nominative singular -Ø < *-ъ < PNSem *-u and genitive/accusative singular -o < PNSem *-a, though it is uncertain whether diptotes or triptotes dominated the original Proto-Semitic paradigm. Feminine singular nominative *-atu was changed to *-ā (modern -a), presumably under Indo-European influence. The feminine plural genitive also has an unexpected form of -aci instead of the syncretic *-ác < *-āti - probably a result of analogy to the masculine genitive plural.

The definiteness suffixes arose from cliticized demonstratives: e.g. vódov 'the child' (nom.) < *voldъ-vy < PNSem *waldu ðū; porosili 'the horses' (acc./gen.) < *porosi-ъli < PNSem *parašī ʔulī.

Nouns fall into one of several declension paradigms. Diachronically, the declension paradigm a noun belongs to is a function of the declension class it was analyzed as, as well as the noun's gender.

Masculine nouns of type júm

Masculine noun: vód 'child, boy'
	Singular		Dual		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	vód	vódov	vóda	vódava	vóde	vódele
Genitive	vódo	vódovo	vódě	vóděvě	vódi	vódili

Masculine noun: júm 'day'
	Singular		Dual		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	júm	júmov	júma	júmava	júme	júmele
Genitive	júmo	júmovo	júmě	júměvě	júmi	júmili

Masculine *-ь-stems

Masculine noun: fob 'antelope'
	Singular		Dual		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	fob	fobjev	fobja	fobjava	fobje	fobjele
Genitive	fobje	fobjevo	fobjě	fobjěvě	fobji	fobjili

q-stems

*-q > a, *-aq, *-yq > á, *-eq, ěq > ě, *-uq > ó, *-iq > é

Masculine noun: vrá 'arm'
	Singular		Dual		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	vrá	vraqov	vraqa	vraqava	vraqe	vraqele
Genitive	vraqo	vraqovo	vraqě	vraqěvě	vraqi	vraqili

*ħ-stems

Similar alternations to q-stems.

Masculine noun: ráh 'wind'
	Singular		Dual		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	ráh	rehov	reha	rehava	rehe	rehele
Genitive	reho	rehovo	rehě	rehěvě	rehi	rehili

Feminine nouns of type molča

sira 'performance, ritual'
	Singular		Dual		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	sira	sirěc	sirota	sirěta	sirác	siralác
Genitive	siroto	sirěto	sirocě	sirěcě	siraci	siralaci

Feminine nouns of type lesán

This class includes many feminine body part nouns. Examples: qӗn 'eye'; ovon, ovn- 'ear'; beton, betn- 'stomach'; koron, korn- 'horn'; óm 'mother'; lӗl 'night'; oroþ, orþ- 'earth'.

lesán 'tongue, language'
	Singular		Dual		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	lesán	lesáněc	lesána	lesáněta	lesánác	lesánalác
Genitive	lesáno	lesáněto	lesáně	lesáněcě	lesánaci	lesánalaci

Feminine abstract -íc nouns

These nouns have no definiteness distinction.

Feminine noun: omeníc 'truth'
Case	Singular	Dual	Plural
direct	omeníc	omenita	omenijác
gen./acc.	omenito	omenicě	omenijaci

Irregular nouns

Nouns with "irregular" declension or broken plurals became nigh-extinct by the time of Proto-Socovíc; however, some still remain.

• ęs (pl. nom. indef. onase) 'person'
• sem (pl. nom. indef. osame) 'name'

Possessed nouns

Possessed nouns, or nouns that take possessive suffixes, are a closed class; this group covers only the nuclear family nouns ob 'father' (pl. obáje), óm 'mother' (pl. ómác), oḫ (pl. oḫove) 'brother', oḫoc, oḫc-/oḫt- 'sister' (pl. oḫovác), ben, bn- (pl. bnáje) 'son', bęc, bęc-/bęt- 'daughter' (pl. bnác). Only the singular has possessed forms: oḫi 'my brother', but oḫava li 'my two brothers'. The possessive suffixes make the noun definite. Note that the plurals are all irregular in order to disambiguate the plural case-marked forms from the singular possessed forms.

All nouns in this class follow the same declension w.r.t. possession. The oblique can be formed by adding -bi to the end of the accusative/genitive possessed forms.

'My sister' and 'my daughter' are oḫci and bęci in the nominative; all other posssessed forms take stems in oḫt- and bęt-.

Possessed forms of ob 'father'
Nominative
Case	Singular	Dual	Plural
1	obi	obena	obene
2.m	obeko	obekma	obekme
2.f	obeč		obekno
3.m	obe	obema	obeme
3.f	obá		obeno
Accusative/Genitive
Case	Singular	Dual	Plural
1	obajo	obana	obane
2.m	obako	obakma	obakme
2.f	obač		obakno
3.m	obav	obama	obame
3.f	obá		obano

Adjectives

Adjectives merge the genitive and oblique cases into the genitive case.

Adjectives precede nouns in the nominative and accusative cases: rób běc 'a big house', taba spara 'a good story', but follow the nouns in the genitive and oblique: docěc běcovo róbovo 'the door of the big house', and prepositional objects: en běcovo róbovo 'in the big house'. Adjectives do not agree in definiteness when they precede the noun, but do agree when they follow the noun.

Adjectives ending in a consonant

Adjective declension: tab 'good' (masculine)
	Singular		Dual		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
Nominative	tab	tabov	taba	tabava	tabe	tabele
Genitive	tabo	tabovo	tabě	taběvě	tabi	tabili

Adjective declension: tab 'good' (feminine)
	Singular		Dual		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
Nominative	taba	taběc	tabota	taběta	tabác	tabalác
Genitive	taboto	taběto	tabocě	taběcě	tabaci	tabalaci

Nisba adjectives

Adjective declension: bošorí 'bodily, physical' (masculine)
	Singular		Dual		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
Nominative	bošorí	bošorív	bošorija	bošoríva	bošorije	bošoríle
Genitive	bošorije	bošorívo	bošorijě	bošorívě	bošorí	bošoríli

Adjective declension: bošorí 'bodily, physical' (feminine)
	Singular		Dual		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
Nominative	bošorija	bošoríc	bošorijota	bošoríta	bošorijác	bošorílác
Genitive	bošorijoto	bošoríto	bošorijocě	bošorícě	bošorijaci	bošorílaci

Pronouns

Genitive and short accusative pronouns can be used as verbal clitics denoting a pronominal object; the clitic precedes the verb unless the verb is in the imperative. The genitive/dative clitic comes before the accusative clitic. A pronominal object may be "doubled" by a clitic for emphasis like in Balkan or Romance languages.

The original 1st person dual-plural pronoun, *naħnā/*naħnū was reinterpreted as two different pronouns, each with its respective number ending: hence 1st person dual nahna < *naħnā and 1st person plural nahne < *naħnū.

Personal pronouns
Case	First person
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	nák	nahna	nahne
Genitive	li	lona	lone
Accusative	níc, ni	nác, na	néc, ne

Personal pronouns, cont.
Case	Second person					Third person
	Singular		Dual	Plural		Singular		Dual	Plural
	masculine	feminine		masculine	feminine	masculine	feminine		masculine	feminine
Nominative	ǫto	ǫc	ǫtma	ǫtme*	ǫcna	he	hi	homa	home	hen
Genitive	loko	loč	lókma	lókme	lóčna	lú	lá	luma	lume	lěn
Accusative	kác, ka, k	číc, či, č	kmác, kma	kméc, kme	čnác, čna	hóc, ho	hác, ha	homác, homa	homéc, hom	henác, hen

* 2nd person masculine plural is also used as a polite pronoun.

Interrogative pronouns
Case	'who'	'what'
Nominative	mǫ	ma
Genitive	mǫlu	malu
Accusative	mǫc	ma

Demonstrative pronoun
	Singular		Dual		Plural
	masculine	feminine	masculine	feminine	masculine	feminine
Nominative	ve	věc	va	věta	ele	elác
Genitive	vu	věto	vě	věcě	eli	elaci
Dative	velu	větla	věluma	větluma	elilúm	elátlěn

Relative pronoun ove < *han-ðū

Relative pronoun
	Singular		Dual		Plural
	masculine	feminine	masculine	feminine	masculine	feminine
Nominative	ove	ověc	ova	ověta	óle	ólác
Genitive	ovu	ověto	ově	ověcě	óli	ólaci
Dative	ovelu	ovětla	ověluma	ovětluma	ólilúm	ólátlěn

Numerals

Cardinal numerals

Different cardinal numerals are declined differently, and have various effects on the modified noun depending on the final digits of the numeral:

• Cardinal numerals one and two, and those ending in "1" or "2", are declined as adjectives. The modified noun is singular (and agrees in case) for numbers ending in ahod, and the noun is dual for numbers ending in fla.
  • Nul is also an adjective that takes nominative singular.
• All other numerals are declined as nouns and require the noun they modify to be in the genitive plural.
  • Words šolaf (3) through cés (9) or in qošor (10-19) are declined like feminine singular nouns in adnominal position (Hén šolafa onasi 'There are three people') and like masculine singular nouns in nominal position (Hén šolaf 'There are three'). This derives from the original Semitic chiastic agreement.
  • Words qošore (20), šolafe (30), ..., cése (90) are declined as masculine plural nouns.
  • Units such as meja (100, f), olop (1000, m), milijon, milijarda, etc. are declined as ordinary nouns, taking the appropriate number and case.

Examples:

• qošore júmi '20 days', qošory sonáci '20 years'
• qošore v ahod júm '21 days', qošory v ahda sona '21 years'
• qošore vo fla júma '22 days', qošory vo flota sonota '22 years'
• qošore v šolafa júmi '23 days', qošory v šolafa sonaci '23 years'
• milijona dolari '2 million dollars'
• mejota milijoni dolari '200 million dollars'
• Olop lělaci v lěl 'One thousand and one nights' (Arabic ˀalf^u layla^tin wa-layla^tun).

Since Suwáá/Unknown has singular and dual forms, modifying numerals one and two are not needed; thus Li hén voda v bęc 'I have two sons and a daughter' is just as correct as (in fact preferred to) Li hén fla voda v ahda bęc.

The ordinal numerals okdom 'first' and okrob 'second' are suppletive; okdom is the elative of the root k-d-m (kodam) 'front, before', (cf. the etymology of first), and okrob is the elative of k-r-b (koreb) 'near' (cf. next).

Suwáá/Unknown numerals
	n	nth	1/n
0	nul	novel	-
1	ahod (m), ahda (f)	okdom	-
2	fla (m), flota (f)	okrob	žǫb
3	šolaf, šolafa	šolef	mǫšólef
4	roba, roboqa	robá	mǫróbě
5	ḫǫs, ḫǫsa	ḫones	mǫḫónes
6	séf, séfa	sodef	mǫsódef
7	sóp, sópa	sobá	mǫsóbě
8	fomán, fomána	fomen	mǫfómen
9	cés, césa	cosá	mǫcósě
10	qošor, qošora	qoser	mǫqóser
11	ahod v qošor	-	-
20	qošore	-	-
21	qošore v ahod	-	-
30	šolafe	-	-
40	roboqe	-	-
50	ḫǫse	-	-
60	séfe	-	-
70	sópe	-	-
80	fománe	-	-
90	cése	-	-
100	meja	mejocí	-
200	mejota	mejotají	-
300	šolafa mejác	šolafamejocí	-
1000	olop	olpí	-
2000	olpa	olpají	-
3000	šolafa olpe	šolafaolpí	-

Verbs

See also: Verbal subparadigms.

Voices

Passive voice is almost concatenative, it's often just a nasal vowel prefix (derived from the *n-preformative):

• imperative/present/past part. ę-
• personal prefixes nǫ-, tǫ-, ję-

With I-nasal verbs this changes to:

• imperative/present/past part. é-
• personal prefixes nó-, tó-, jé-

Overview of the verb forms

Present

The present tense stems from the Proto-Semitic stative, or the suffix conjugation.

Preterite

The preterite indicates an action that was completed in the past. It was inherited from the Proto-Semitic preterite.

Lu nohób vohób.

I gave him gold.

Morphologically, the preterite is one of two forms that inherit the Proto-Semitic prefix conjugation. The personal prefixes are usually 1st person no-, 2nd person to-, and 3rd person je-, though a "weak" 1st radical may change the prefix vowel. Note that unlike in other Semitic languages, the 1st person singular prefix is n- (not *ʔ-), and number/gender suffixes are added as in 2nd and 3rd person (cf. Maghrebi Arabic/Maltese). Also, 3fs form of jektól is jektóli, not toktól! This is often a shibboleth for Hebrew and Arabic speakers.

Subjunctive

The subjunctive form is similar to the preterite form, but has a short vowel in the stem (like the imperative) instead of a long vowel. The short vowel often elides when a suffix beginning with a vowel is added.

The non-2nd person imperatives may be formed with the hortative proclitic c (< ce! 'come!') plus the subjunctive.

Jěj roþěja no jeþej, po c jeþej.

jěj roþěj-a no=je-þe-i po c=je-þe-i

if want/PRES-3SG.F SUBJ=3-leave-SG.F, then HORT=SUBJ=3-leave-SG.F

If she wants to leave, let her leave.

In archaic language the bare subjunctive is used for hortatives and optatives:

Jéce memlóčov lók.

je-ʔce-Ø memlóč-ov=lók

3-come/SUBJ-SG.M kingdom-SG.DEF=2SG.M.GEN

Thy kingdom come.

Ječna f v g moftóbacota funkcijota...

je-čŭn-a f v g moftóbac-ota funkcij-ota

3-be/SUBJ-DU f and g continuous-DU.F-NOM function-DU.NOM

Let f and g be continuous functions...

The subjunctive (like the imperative) is negated with the negative particle la, instead of bo.

La li tošnej!

la li=to-šne-i

PROH 1SG.DAT=2-be_resentful/SUBJ-F.SG

Don't be mad at me!

La ho tačol!

la ho=to-ʔčol-Ø

PROH 3SG.M=2-eat/SUBJ-M.SG

Don't eat it!

Imperative

The imperative is formed by removing the personal prefix from the subjunctive. Often the subjunctive is used with imperative meaning instead. Any clitic pronouns must follow the imperative, not precede it like with other verb forms.

Imperative forms are often syncretic with present tense forms.

Verbal noun

Verbal nouns may be marked with a feminine suffix -c, a preformative t- or both. Its use mirrors that of the maṣdar in Arabic.

Participles

• Present participle: *qātilu
• Stative passive participle: *qatīlu
• Past participle: *qatālu

Future

The most frequently used compound tense, the future tense is formed with de + subjunctive.

Perfect

The perfect construction is similar to Slavic: the past (also called resultative) participle is used with the present tense copula, the pronoun (a so called esse-perfect).

G-stems: jektól

jektól 'he killed'
Infinitive/Verbal noun
kotlec
Present participle
katel
Stative passive participle
kotil
Past participle
kotal
Imperative
	Singular	Dual	Plural
2.m	ktol!	ktola!	ktole!
2.f	ktoli!		ktolno!
Present
	Singular	Dual	Plural
1	kotolok	kotolna	kotolne
2.m	kotolot	kotoltma	kotoltme
2.f	kotoloc		kotoltno
3.m	kotol	kotola	kotole
3.f	kotola	kotolota	kotolno
Subjunctive
	Singular	Dual	Plural
1	noktol	noktla	noktle
2.m	toktol	toktla	toktle
2.f	toktli		toktolno
3.m	jektol	jektla	jektle
3.f	jektli		jektolno
Imperfect
Add fo- to present tense forms.
Preterite
	Singular	Dual	Plural
1	noktól	noktóla	noktóle
2.m	toktól	toktóla	toktóle
2.f	toktóli		toktólno
3.m	jektól	jektóla	jektóle
3.f	jektóli		jektólno
Future I
	Singular	Dual	Plural
1	de noktol	de noktla	de noktle
2.m	de toktol	de toktla	de toktle
2.f	de toktli		de toktolno
3.m	de jektol	de jektla	de jektle
3.f	de jektli		de jektolno
Future II
	Singular	Dual	Plural
1.m	de nočon kotol	de nočna kotla	de nočne kotle
1.f	de nočon kotla	de nočna kotlota	de nočne kotlác
2.m	de točon kotol	de točna kotla	de točne kotle
2.f	de točni kotla	de točna kotlota	de točonno kotlác
3.m	de ječon kotol	de ječna kotla	de ječne kotle
3.f	de ječni kotla	de ječna kotlota	de ječonno kotlác
Perfect
	Singular	Dual	Plural
1.m	nák kotol	nahna kotla	nahne kotle
1.f	nák kotla	nahna kotlota	nahne kotlác
2.m	ǫto kotol	ǫtma kotla	ǫtme kotle
2.f	ǫc kotla	ǫtma kotlota	ǫtno kotlác
3.m	(he) kotol	(homa) kotla	(home) kotle
3.f	(hi) kotla	(homa) kotlota	(hen) kotlác
Pluperfect
	Singular	Dual	Plural
1.m	nočen kotol	nočena kotla	nočene kotle
1.f	nočen kotla	nočena kotlota	nočene kotlác
2.m	točen kotol	točena kotla	točene kotle
2.f	točeni kotla	točena kotlota	točenno kotlác
3.m	ječen kotol	ječena kotla	ječene kotle
3.f	ječeni kotla	ječena kotlota	ječenno kotlác

D-stems: jekótél, jękótél

Examples: jobóréč 'greet, celebrate', joþójém 'bring up in conversation, build upon a concept' (< þima 'topic, theme')

jopóléž 'split (something)'
Infinitive/Verbal noun
pólžíc
Present Participle
mopólež
Imperative
	Singular	Dual	Plural
2.m	pólež!	pólža!	pólže!
2.f	pólži!		póležno!
Subjunctive
	Singular	Dual	Plural
1	nopólež	nopólža	nopólže
2.m	topólež	topólža	topólže
2.f	topólži		topóležno
3.m	jepólež	jepólža	jepólže
3.f	jepólži		jepóležno
Preterite
	Singular	Dual	Plural
1	nopóléž	nopóléža	nopóléže
2.m	topóléž	topóléža	topóléže
2.f	topóléži		topóléžno
3.m	jepóléž	jepóléža	jepóléže
3.f	jepóléži	jepóléža	jepóléžno

Gt-stems: ektotel

The ⟨t⟩-infix adds a reciprocal or mediopassive meaning to the verb.

Metathesis of ⟨t⟩

Kinda like Hebrew but weirder.

The ⟨t⟩ metathesizes out of the stem and dissimilates when the first radical is:

• t: *tt > st
• c: *ct > sc
• d: *dt > zd
• þ: *þt > sþ

Metathesis also takes place when the first radical is m and n to better distinguish m from n:

• m: *mt > tm
• n: *nt > tn

čan 'be, exist'

The verb čan has no present tense indicative forms; the formal "present tense" forms are used for the future and subjunctive. It also has no imperfective-perfective distinction in the past or future. In the present indicative, pronouns are used as the copula, and the word jef is used to indicate existence.

čanec, čon, jočen, čan, čun 'be'
Infinitive/Verbal noun
čanec
Present Participle
čun
Past Participle
čan
Imperative
	Singular	Dual	Plural
2.m	čon!	čona!	čone!
2.f	čoni!		čonno!
Present
	Singular	Dual	Plural
1	(nák)	(nahna)	(nahne)
2.m	(ǫto)	(ǫtma)	(ǫtme)
2.f	(ǫc)		(ǫtno)
3.m	(ho)	(homa)	(home)
3.f	(hi)		(hen)
Past
	Singular	Dual	Plural
1	nočen	nočena	nočene
2.m	točen	točena	točene
2.f	točeni		jočenno
3.m	ječen	ječena	ječene
3.f	ječeni		ječenno
Future
	Singular	Dual	Plural
1	de nočon	de nočna	de nočne
2.m	de točon	de točna	de točne
2.f	de točni		de točonno
3.m	de ječon	de ječna	de ječne
3.f	de ječni		de ječonno
Subjunctive
	Singular	Dual	Plural
1	nočon	nočna	nočne
2.m	točon	točna	točne
2.f	točni		točonno
3.m	jočon	jočna	jočne
3.f	jočni		jočonno

Interrogatives

Interrogatives
Suwáá/Unknown	Gloss	Etymology
ma	what	*mā
mǫ	who	*man
mur	when	*mā + Ancient Greek hōra 'time'
vilma	why	vil 'for' + ma 'what'

Prepositions

Prepositions
Suwáá/Unknown	Gloss	Etymology
cat	under	*taħt
en	in, towards, into	*ʔin(a)
me	from, with	*min; Greek me
qę	between, among	*ʕimm-
qolě	on	*ʕalay
vil	for
smǫ	named, by the name of	*šman

Conjunctions

Conjunctions
Suwáá/Unknown	Gloss	Etymology
v(o)	and	*wa-
éla	or	*ʔim lā
u	xor	*ʔaw
vén	so, thus	*wa-hinna 'and lo'
ča	as
no	subjunctive	*ʔan(na), *-anna
jěj	if	*yahwī
lu	if (contrary-to-fact)	*law
po	then, so	*pa-
onur	when	*han-hōra or *ʔana hōra

Particles

Particles
Suwáá/Unknown	Gloss	Etymology
o	polar question	*ha-
bo	not (indicative)	*bal
la	not (irrealis)	*lā

Usage

Nominal sentences

As in most Semitic and many Slavic languages, present indicative does not require a copula:

Eláh ibošorí. (also: Eláh he ibošorí. Obviously, a Muslim might say Alláh (he) ibošorí.)

God is incorporeal.

Possession

The possessor follows the possessum.

Possession is emphasized with the adjective nopsí (the pronoun is optional):

me joděcě nopsícě

with hand-DU.DEF own-DU.DEF

with one's [the subject's] own hands

Emphasized possession of possessed nouns: e.g. bni nopsív 'my own son', c.f. běcov nopsív li 'my own house'.

Existentials

In positive clauses, hén is used as the word for "there is"; in interrogative and negative clauses jef is used.

Existential words are used in predicative possession.

Relative clauses

As is the case in most European languages, but unlike in e.g. Arabic, relative pronouns agree with the gender and number of the head, but are case-marked for their syntactic position within the relative clause.

The choice of the relative pronoun depends on the definiteness/specificity of the noun. Specific referents use ve as the relative pronoun, whereas indefinite or hypothetical nouns use mǫ (animate)/ma (inanimate).

Derivational morphology

Patterns

• CoCCán 'person characterized by X", also -án
  • rahmán 'merciful one' < *r-ħ-m
• meCCoC place noun
  • mevbáh 'altar' < *ð-b-ħ 'sacrifice' (altar, altarj- is more common though)
  • mesvój 'plain' < *š-w-y 'even, equal'

Guidelines to internationalisms

Heuristic: Transliterating from the Modern Hebrew form of the internationalism and adding any acute accents as necessary often gives a correct Socovíc form. lol

Affixes

• aft(o)- 'self-, auto-'
  • aftokotlec 'suicide'
  • aftorahom 'self-pity' < rahom, rahm- 'compassion, mercy'
  • aftoqosor 'self-worth; eigenvalue' < qosor, qosr- 'value, worth'.
• -cija '-tion'
  • funkcija '(mathematical) function'
• -eza '-esis'
  • fotosinþeza 'photosynthesis'
• i- 'un-', 'non-' (negative prefix for nouns and adjectives)
  • ibercí 'nonmetallic'
• -í adjective (nisba) suffix
  • májí 'aquatic, aqueous' < máj 'water'
  • qomí 'national' < qom 'people, nation'
  • -ikí '-ic'
    • logikí 'logical' < logika 'logic' vs. logí 'of or pertaining to throat' < log 'throat'
  • Some 'redundant' adjective suffixes may be omitted, more often than in English: mizoginí 'misogynistic' (cf. German misogyn)
• -íc abstract noun suffix from nouns and adjectives
  • nopsíc 'identity' < nopos, nops- 'self'
  • omeníc 'truth' < omen 'true'
  • onasíc 'humanity (human species)' < onase 'people (pl.)' (compare ęsíc 'humanity (being human)' < ęs 'person (sg.)'; cf. German Menschheit vs. Menschlichkeit)
  • polaríc 'polarity' < polarí 'polar'
• -ist '-ist'
  • Again, not always used: mizogin 'misogynist'
• -izom, -izm- '-ism'
  • šiqizom 'Shiˁism'
• -loja (< Demotic Greek -loya) '-logy'

Dialects

Standard Socovíc (socovíc standardíc) has the dual number and the feminine plural verb suffix -no. Other dialects tend to omit one or both of these features.

Greek-influenced

• c (in affixes) > s: socovis : socovíc
• f.pl. ending (all cases) is -as, def. -alas
• e and ě merge to /e/
• Netagin-esque mutation?

Adjective declension: tab 'good' (masculine)
	Singular		Dual		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
Nominative	tab	tabov	taba	tabava	tabe	tabele
Genitive	tabo	tabovo	tabe	tabeve	tabi	tabili

Adjective declension: tab 'good' (feminine)
	Singular		Dual		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
Nominative	taba	tabes	tabota	tabeta	tabas	tabalas
Genitive	taboto	tabeto	tabose	tabese	tabas	tabalas

Italian-influenced

• Geminates are preserved; *VCC did not turn into *VːC
• *ū > *y merges into i rather than e
  • Plural verb ending is still -e
• No gender distinction in plural

Phrasebook

• Solám! 'Hello!'
• Tabǫ ocěj! 'Welcome!' (to m.sg, conjugate as adjective)
• Tab mahár! 'Good morning!'
• Tab júm! 'Good day!'
• Taba mesa! 'Good evening!'
• Taba lěl! 'Good night!'
• Ma smov lók/lóč? 'What is your (m.sg./f.sg.) name?'
• Smov li [name]. 'My name is [name].'
• Staqpu/Staqpovi/Staqpova/Staqpove/Staqpuna li! (to one man/one woman/two people/m.pl./f.pl.) 'Excuse me!'
• Oj vil ma! 'No worries!'
• Čok. 'Yes.'
• Bo. 'No.'
• Bo mólúk socovíc. 'I don't speak Suwáá/Unknown.'
• O mólút/mólúc... 'Do you (m.sg./f.sg.) speak...'
  • ...anglíc? '...English?'
  • ...nemíc? '...German?'
  • ...francíc? '...French?'
  • ...rusíc? '...Russian?'
  • ...juníc? '...Greek?'
  • ...qebríc? '...Hebrew?'
  • ...qorobíc? '...Arabic?'

Texts

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1

Čóle onasele jǫvolade horare v savije en qosrovo v tahikili.

all-PL.M.NOM human.PL.DEF.NOM 3.PRES-beget/PASS-PL.M free-PL.M.NOM and equal-PL.M.NOM in worth-SG.DEF.INS and right-PL.DEF.INS

All humans are born free and equal in dignity and rights.

Mǫsečale me mosbáro v tostočíno, home mǫpokade no joptaqle okrobokroblu en ḫnumoto oḫovíto.

PART-empower/PASS-PL.M.NOM with reason-SG.GEN and conscience-SG.GEN 3.PL.M.NOM PART-obligate/PASS-PL.M.NOM SUBJ 3-behave/PRES-PL.M each_other-SG.M.DAT in spirit-SG.GEN brotherhood-SG.GEN

Empowered with reason and conscience, they ought to behave toward one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

(audio)

Pater noster

Obene, ove ǫto en somájili!
Jektódas smov lók.
Jéce memlóčov lók.
Jępoqele roþív lók, ěma en somájili ěvi v en orþěto.
Ḫlebov lone jumív cen lone ojúm.
V staqpu lone ḫotálác lone, ěvi v nahne nostaqpove ḫotálác nož lone.
V la ne sabej en tonésíne, éla žal ne leč rogovo.
Amen.

Schleicher's fable

Sověc v porosele

Sova větla bo foječon qobáj jerí porosi; okdomov foježórer čobid merčab, okrobov fojeshab rób homol, v solefov fojeshab ęso išǫ. Sověc jamári porosili: «Lébov li bemoraru, rájoto ęso mosožéro porosi.» Porosele jamáre: «Stosmeqi, sova, lébov lone bemoraru, rájili ve: ęs, baqlov, beqši noposlu qobájvobi sověto ham molbes. Vén sovětla bo jef qobáj.» Someqa ve, sověc jebráhi en mesvójovo.

(audio)

The Sheep and the Horses

A sheep that had no wool saw horses; one was pulling a heavy wagon, one was carrying a big load, and one was carrying a man quickly. The sheep said to the horses: "My heart pains me, having seen a man driving horses." The horses said: "Listen, sheep, our hearts pain us, having seen this: a man, the master, makes out of the wool of the sheep a warm garment for himself. So the sheep has no wool." Having heard this, the sheep fled into the plain.

A math joke (which probably already exists in quite a few languages)

Vilma matricěc jektórádi?

Why did the matrix crumple up?

Pove lá foječon nul aftoqosor.

Because it had a zero eigenvalue/zero self-worth.