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Vy gorov in socovito
דף זה בעברית

Socovic
socovic/socovija lesan
Created by	IlL
Native to	Mostsev, Greece, Italy
Native speakers	4 million (2015)
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic North Semitic Socovic

todo

• Socovic/Lexicon
  • cedor, cedr- instead of *oroz, orz-
  • odom: high register word for 'human'/'mortal'
  • qobod 'servant'; qobdic 'work, service'
  • tur instead of *fur
  • ura 'time'
  • zug 'pair'
    • sezeg 'husband'
  • mor 'man'
  • veb 'wolf'
  • jesbor 'know' (*yašburu 'break')
• Main Page/Socovic
• Grammar
  • stative > present defines North Semitic
  • Make verbs weak and strong in the Germanic sense?

Background

Socovic (Socovic: socovic /ˈsotsovits/ or socovija lesan /ˈsotsovija ˈlesan/), sometimes called Sotsovian in English, is a Semitic language in the Balkan Sprachbund, spoken in the nation of Mostsev (Moscev) which is actually a thin piece of land running straight down the west coast of the 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 defined by innovations such as the generalization of the diptote noun paradigm and present forms derived from the Proto-Semitic stative. North Semitic is thought to have been a quasi-Central Semitic dialect that separated very early from the rest of Central Semitic. The name of the language, socovic, is the feminine singular definite form of the adjective socovi - which seems to have stemmed from *√s-t-w, a root meaning 'north' in Socovic (cf. Hebrew סְתָו săṯâw 'winter'). Like its Semitic and Afro-Asiatic relatives, Socovic is a fusional, templatic language with an accusative alignment. Because of its obvious connection with the "sacred tongue" Hebrew, Socovic had caught some attention in historical Western scholarship before the era of modern linguistics. While Socovic is very conservative in some respects (e.g. inflectional cases, dual number, a prefix-conjugated preterite, feminine plural verb forms), over its history the language has absorbed influences from Slavic, Greek, Albanian, Turkish, Italian, Arabic, and more recently French, German and English.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Postalveolar	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 /ʃ/		x /x/		h /h/
	voiced	v /v/		z /z/	ž /ʒ/
Affricate				c /ts/	č /tʃ/
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: tosbara /tɤsbaːra/ 'science' is pronounced [ˈtɤzbaːra].

Vowels

Vowel length is phonemic.

Oral

	Front		Back
	oral	nasal	oral	nasal
Close	i /i/		u /u/
Mid	e /e/	ę /ɛ̃/	o /o/	ǫ /ɔ̃/
Open	ē /æ̝/		a /a/

Suprasegmentals

Pitch accent is phonemic in Socovic.

If stressed syllable in PSocovic is open: level intonation (á)

If stressed syllable in PSocovic is closed: checked intonation (â)

Diachronics

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 *ayN > overlong *â *î *û *ê if N is not part of a root

PNSem to PSocovic

Proto-North Semitic	Proto-Socovic
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

PSocovic to Socovic

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

*y > e

Consonants

Socovic distinguishes between around 23 of the original 29 consonants of Proto-Semitic. (cf. Arabic 28, Aramaic/Phoenician 22, Akkadian 20, Modern Hebrew <20). The following chart presents the predominant reflexes of the Proto-Semitic consonants in each stage:

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
Late PNSem	*b	*d	*ǵ	*p	*ť	*ḱ	*ṭ	*ḳ	*v	*z	*f	*s	*ś	*s	*f̣	*ṣ	*ṣ́	*ɣ	*ʕ	*ʔ	*x	*ħ	*h	*m	*n	*l	*r	*w	*y
Old Socovic	b	d	ž	p	ć	č	t	k	v	z	f	s	š	s	f	š	ś	g	aq, -a	*ʔ	x	ah	h	m	n	l	r	v	j
Modern Socovic	b	d	ž	p	c	č	t	k	v	z	f	s	š	s	f	š	þ	g	aq, -a	ː, v, j	x	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(ni)	yawmū
Accusative/Genitive	yawma(n)	yawmay(ni)	yawmī

Proto-/Old Socovic

Accusative implements DOM based on animacy of the noun: = genitive for animates, = nominative for inanimates

Case	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	jumъ	juma	jumy
Genitive	jumo	jumě	jumi

Nouns

Socovic 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, while there is no counterpart to the construct state or possessed forms (except for very few nouns) of other Semitic languages; however, the possessor always follows the head.

Morphological notes

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

Socovic 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 *-ac < *-āti - probably a result of analogy to the masculine genitive plural.

The definiteness suffixes arose from cliticized demonstratives: e.g. vodov 'the child' (nom.) < *voldъ-vy < PNSem *waldu ðū; porosili 'the horses' (acc./gen.) < *porosi-ъli < PNSem *parašī ʔulī. Proper names, already being definite, are unmarked for definiteness: (e.g. Junija 'Greece', Xrist or Xristos 'Christ', with a unique vocative form Xriste).

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 jum

Masculine noun: vod 'child, boy'
	Singular		Dual		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	vod	vodov	voda	vodava	vode	vodele
Genitive	vodo	vodovo	vodē	vodēvē	vodi	vodili

Masculine noun: jum 'day'
	Singular		Dual		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	jum	jumov	juma	jumava	jume	jumele
Genitive	jumo	jumovo	jumē	jumēvē	jumi	jumili

Masculine *-j-stems

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

q-stems

*-q > a, *-aq, *-yq > a, *-eq, ēq > ē, *-uq > o, *-iq > e

Masculine noun: vra 'arm'
	Singular		Dual		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	vra	vraqov	vraqa	vraqava	vraqe	vraqele
Genitive	vraqo	vraqovo	vraqē	vraqēvē	vraqi	vraqili

*ħ-stems

Similar alternations to q-stems.

Masculine noun: rah 'wind'
	Singular		Dual		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	rah	rehov	reha	rehava	rehe	rehele
Genitive	reho	rehovo	rehē	rehēvē	rehi	rehili

Feminine nouns of type molča

sira 'performance, ritual'
	Singular		Dual		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	sira	sirēc	sirota	sirēta	sirac	siralac
Genitive	siroto	sirēto	sirocē	sirēcē	siraci	siralaci

Feminine nouns of type lesan

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

lesan 'tongue, language'
	Singular		Dual		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	lesan	lesanēc	lesana	lesanēta	lesanac	lesanalac
Genitive	lesano	lesanēto	lesanē	lesanēcē	lesanaci	lesanalaci

Feminine abstract -ic nouns

These nouns have no definiteness distinction.

Feminine noun: omenic 'truth'
Case	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	omenic	omenita	omenijac
Genitive	omenito	omenicē	omenijaci

Irregular nouns

Nouns with "irregular" declension or broken plurals became nigh-extinct by the time of Proto-Socovic; 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. obaje), om 'mother' (pl. omac), ox (pl. oxove) 'brother', oxoc, oxc-/oxt- 'sister' (pl. oxovac), ben, bn- (pl. bnaje) 'son', bęc, bęc-/bęt- 'daughter' (pl. bnac), mor (pl. omraje) 'husband', nesa 'wife'. Only the singular has possessed forms: oxi 'my brother', but oxava 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 oxci and bęci in the nominative; all other posssessed forms take stems in oxt- and bęt-.

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

Adjectives

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

Adjectives precede nouns in the nominative and accusative cases: rob bḗc 'a big house', taba spara 'a good story', but follow the nouns in the genitive and oblique: docēc bḗcovo robovo 'the door of the big house', and prepositional objects: en bḗcovo robovo '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	tabē	tabēvē	tabi	tabili

Adjective declension: tab 'good' (feminine)
	Singular		Dual		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
Nominative	taba	tabēc	tabota	tabēta	tabac	tabalac
Genitive	taboto	tabēto	tabocē	tabēcē	tabaci	tabalaci

Nisba adjectives

Adjective declension: bošori 'bodily, physical' (masculine)
	Singular		Dual		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
Nominative	bošori	bošoriv	bošorija	bošoriva	bošorije	bošorile
Genitive	bošorije	bošorivo	bošorijē	bošorivē	bošori	bošorili

Adjective declension: bošori 'bodily, physical' (feminine)
	Singular		Dual		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
Nominative	bošorija	bošoric	bošorijota	bošorita	bošorijac	bošorilac
Genitive	bošorijoto	bošorito	bošorijocē	bošoricē	bošorijaci	bošorilaci

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.

Pronouns are found in all three persons and all three numbers. 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. There is, in addition, a 2nd person polite pronoun ǫtmes. The origin of the -s suffix is unknown, but is speculated to be a directive *-š (~ Hebrew -âh) added to the 2nd person plural. Ǫtmes takes plural agreement.

Personal pronouns
Case	First person
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	nak	nahna	nahne
Genitive	li	lona	lone
Accusative	nic, ni	nac, na	nec, ne

Personal pronouns, cont.
Case	Second person						Third person
	Singular		Dual	Plural		Polite	Singular		Dual	Plural
	masculine	feminine		masculine	feminine		masculine	feminine		masculine	feminine
Nominative	ǫto	ǫc	ǫtma	ǫtme	ǫcno	ǫtmes	e	i	oma	ome	en
Genitive	lok	loč	lokma	lokme	ločno	lokmes	lu	la	luma	lume	lēn
Accusative	kac, ka, k	čic, či, č	kmac, kma	kmec, kme	čnac, čna	kmec, kmes	oc, o	ac, a	omac, oma	omec, om	enac, en

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	vēc	va	vēta	ele	elac
Genitive	vu	vēto	vē	vēcē	eli	elaci
Dative	velu	vētla	vēluma	vētluma	elilum	elatlēn

Relative pronoun ove < *han-ðū

Relative pronoun
	Singular		Dual		Plural
	masculine	feminine	masculine	feminine	masculine	feminine
Nominative	ove	ovēc	ova	ovēta	ole	olac
Genitive	ovu	ovēto	ovē	ovēcē	oli	olaci
Dative	ovelu	ovētla	ovēluma	ovētluma	olilum	olatlēn

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.
• All other numerals are declined as nouns and require the noun they modify to be in the genitive plural.
  • Words šolaf (3) through ces (9) or in qošor (10-19) are declined like feminine singular nouns in adnominal position (Hen šolafa onasi 'There are three people') and like masculine singular nouns in nominal position (Hen šolaf 'There are three'). Colloquial Hebrew displays this behavior as well. This pattern of agreement derives from the original Semitic chiastic concord, seen in Biblical Hebrew and Classical Arabic, wherein masculine numerals had feminine endings and vice versa.
  • Words qošore (20), šolafe (30), ..., cese (90) are declined as masculine plural nouns.
  • Units such as nul (0, m), meja (100, f), olop (1000, m), milijon, milijarda, etc. are declined as ordinary nouns, taking the appropriate number and case.

Examples:

• qošore jumi '20 days', qošore sonaci '20 years'
• qošore v ahod jum '21 days', qošore v ahda sona '21 years'
• qošore vo fla juma '22 days', qošore vo flota sonota '22 years'
• qošore v šolafa jumi '23 days', qošore v šolafa sonaci '23 years'
• milijona dolari '2 million dollars'
• mejota milijoni dolari '200 million dollars'
• Olop lēlaci v lēl 'One thousand and one nights' (Arabic ˀalf^u layla^tin wa-layla^tun).

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

Socovic 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	mǫšolef
4	roba, roboqa	roba	mǫrobē
5	xǫs, xǫsa	xones	mǫxones
6	sef, sefa	sodef	mǫsodef
7	sop, sopa	soba	mǫsobē
8	foman, fomana	fomen	mǫfomen
9	ces, cesa	cosa	mǫcosē
10	qošor, qošora	qoser	mǫqoser
11	ahodvqošor	ahodvqoser	-
20	qošore	-	-
21	qošore v ahod	qošorevokdom	-
30	šolafe	-	-
40	roboqe	-	-
50	xǫse	-	-
60	sefe	-	-
70	sope	-	-
80	fomane	-	-
90	cese	-	-
100	meja	mejoci	-
200	mejota	mejotaji	-
300	šolafa mejac	šolafamejoci	-
1000	olop	olpi	-
2000	olpa	olpaji	-
3000	šolafa olpe	šolafaolpi	-

Verbs

See also: Verbal subparadigms.

Voices

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

• unprefixed ę-
• w/ personal prefixes nǫ-, tǫ-, ję-

With I-nasal verbs this changes to:

• unprefixed e-
• w/ personal prefixes no-, to-, je-

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 nohob vohob.

lu=no-hob-Ø vohob-Ø

3SG.M.DAT=1-give/PRET-SG gold-SG.ACC

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 jektol is jektoli, not toktol! 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.

Jēj roþēja no jeþej, po c jeþej.

jēj roþēj-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:

Jece memločov lok.

je-ʔce-Ø memloč-ov=lok

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

Thy kingdom come.

Ječna f v g moftobacota funkcijota...

je-čŭn-a f v g moftobac-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, *mu-
• Stative passive participle: *qatīlu (only G-stems)
• 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: jektol

jektol '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!
2.pol	ktoles!
Present
	Singular	Dual	Plural
1	kotolok	kotolna	kotolne
2.m	kotolto	kotoltma	kotoltme
2.f	kotoloc		kotoltno
2.pol	kotoltmes
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
2.pol	toktles
3.m	jektol	jektla	jektle
3.f	jektli		jektolno
Imperfect
Add fo- to present tense forms.
Preterite
	Singular	Dual	Plural
1	noktol	noktola	noktole
2.m	toktol	toktola	toktole
2.f	toktoli		toktolno
2.pol	toktoles
3.m	jektol	jektola	jektole
3.f	jektoli		jektolno
Future
	Singular	Dual	Plural
1	de noktol	de noktla	de noktle
2.m	de toktol	de toktla	de toktle
2.f	de toktli		de toktolno
2.pol	de toktles
3.m	de jektol	de jektla	de jektle
3.f	de jektli		de jektolno
Future perfect
	Singular	Dual	Plural
1.m	de nočon kotol	de nočna kotla	de nočne kotle
1.f	de nočon kotla	de nočna kotlota	de nočne kotlac
2.m	de točon kotol	de točna kotla	de točne kotle
2.f	de točni kotla	de točna kotlota	de točonno kotlac
2.pol	de točnes kotle
3.m	de ječon kotol	de ječna kotla	de ječne kotle
3.f	de ječni kotla	de ječna kotlota	de ječonno kotlac
Perfect
	Singular	Dual	Plural
1.m	nak kotol	nahna kotla	nahne kotle
1.f	nak kotla	nahna kotlota	nahne kotlac
2.m	ǫto kotol	ǫtma kotla	ǫtme kotle
2.f	ǫc kotla	ǫtma kotlota	ǫtno kotlac
2.pol	ǫtmes kotle
3.m	(he) kotol	(homa) kotla	(home) kotle
3.f	(hi) kotla	(homa) kotlota	(hen) kotlac
Pluperfect
	Singular	Dual	Plural
1.m	nočen kotol	nočena kotla	nočene kotle
1.f	nočen kotla	nočena kotlota	nočene kotlac
2.m	točen kotol	točena kotla	točene kotle
2.f	točeni kotla	točena kotlota	točenno kotlac
2.pol	točenes kotle
3.m	ječen kotol	ječena kotla	ječene kotle
3.f	ječeni kotla	ječena kotlota	ječenno kotlac

D-stems: jekotel, jękotel

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

jopolež 'split (something)'
Infinitive/Verbal noun
polžic
Present Participle
mopolež
Imperative
	Singular	Dual	Plural
2.m	polež!	polža!	polže!
2.f	polži!		poležno!
Subjunctive
	Singular	Dual	Plural
1	nopolež	nopolža	nopolže
2.m	topolež	topolža	topolže
2.f	topolži		topoležno
3.m	jepolež	jepolža	jepolže
3.f	jepolži		jepoležno
Preterite
	Singular	Dual	Plural
1	nopolež	nopoleža	nopoleže
2.m	topolež	topoleža	topoleže
2.f	topoleži		topoležno
3.m	jepolež	jepoleža	jepoleže
3.f	jepoleži	jepoleža	jepoležno

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

The infix voices after the following voiced obstruents:

• b: *bt > bd
• v: *vt > vd
• z: *zt > zd
• ž: *žt > žd
• g: *gt > gd

čan 'be, exist'

The verb čan has no present tense indicative forms. 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	(nak)	(nahna)	(nahne)
2.m	(ǫto)	(ǫtma)	(ǫtme)
2.f	(ǫc)		(ǫtno)
3.m	(e)	(oma)	(ome)
3.f	(i)		(en)
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
Socovic	Gloss	Etymology
ma	what	*mā
mǫ	who	*man
mur	when	*mā + Ancient Greek hōra 'time'
vilma	why	vil 'for' + ma 'what'

Prepositions

Prepositions overwhelmingly govern the genitive case; exceptions are marked.

Prepositions
Socovic	Gloss	Etymology
cat	under	*taħt
čun	(+ varies) as	present participle of ječen 'be'
in	in, towards, into	*ʔin(a)
me	from, with	*min; Greek me
qę	between, among	*ʕimm-
qolē	on	*ʕalay
vil	for
smǫ	named, by the name of	*šman

Conjunctions

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

Particles

Particles
Socovic	Gloss	Etymology
o	polar question	*ha-
bo	not (indicative)	*bal
la	not (irrealis, nominal negation)	*lā

Usage

Nominal sentences

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

Elah ibošori. (also: Elah e ibošori. Obviously, a Muslim might say Allah (e) ibošori.)

Elah-Ø i-bošori-Ø

God-SG.NOM non-bodily-SG.NOM

God is incorporeal.

Possession

The possessor follows the possessum.

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

me jodēcē nopsicē

me jod-ēcē nopsi-ēcē

with hand-DU.GEN.DEF own-DU.F.GEN.DEF

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

Emphasized possession of possessed nouns: e.g. bni nopsiv 'my own son', cf. bēcov nopsiv li 'my own house'.

Existentials

In positive clauses, hen 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.

When the head represents the 1st or 2nd person, the verb or copula in the relative clause may be conjugated to that person:

ole ǫtme la xotave rmeje obnov okdomov.

Ye who have not sinned, cast the first stone.

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).

Sequence of tenses in subordinate clauses

Type	Form of protasis	Form of apodosis
gnomic; general present	jēj + present	present
general past	jēj + imperfect	imperfect
future	jēj + subjunctive	future
counterfactual present/imperfect	lu + imperfect	imperfect conditional
counterfactual preterite	lu + preterite	preterite conditional

Derivational morphology

Patterns

• CoCCan 'person characterized by//associated with X", also -an
  • rahman 'merciful one' < *r-ħ-m
  • čovban 'liar, deceitful person' < *k-ð-b
• meCCoC place noun
  • mevbah 'altar' < *ð-b-ħ 'sacrifice' (altar, altarj- is more common though)
  • mesvoj 'plain' < *š-w-y 'even, equal'

Guidelines to internationalisms

A heuristic: Transliterating from the Modern Hebrew form of the internationalism and adding any acute accents as necessary often yields a correct Socovic 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)
  • iberci 'nonmetallic' < berci 'metallic'
• -i adjective (nisba) suffix
  • maji 'aquatic, aqueous' < maj 'water'
  • qomi 'national' < qom 'people, nation'
  • -iki '-ic'
    • logiki 'logical' < logika 'logic' vs. logi '(of or pertaining to) throat'
  • Some 'redundant' adjective suffixes may be omitted, more often than in English: mizogini 'misogynistic' (cf. German misogyn)
• -ic abstract noun suffix from nouns and adjectives
  • nopsic 'identity' < nopos, nops- 'self'
  • omenic 'truth' < omen 'true'
  • onasic 'humanity (human species)' < onase 'people (pl.)' (compare ęsic 'humanity (being human)' < ęs 'person (sg.)'; cf. German Menschheit vs. Menschlichkeit)
  • polaric 'polarity' < polari 'polar'
• -ist '-ist'
  • Again, not always used: mizogin 'misogynist'
• -izom, -izm- '-ism'
  • šiqizom 'Shiˁism'
• -loja (< Demotic Greek -loya) '-logy'
  • verbal prefixes borrowed/calqued from IE?

Dialects

Standard Socovic (standardija socovic) 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 : socovic
• f.pl. ending (all cases) is -as, def. -alas
• e and ē 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
• /q/ merges into /k/
• No gender distinction in plural

Phrasebook

• Solam! 'Hello!'
• Tabǫ ocaje! 'Welcome!' (polite, decline as adjective according to gender/number of audience)
• Tab mahar! 'Good morning!'
• Tab jum! 'Good day!'
• Taba mesa! 'Good evening!'
• Taba lēl! 'Good night!'
• Ma smov lokmes? 'What is your name?'
• Smov li [name]. 'My name is [name].'
• Motrok! 'Thank you!'
• Staqpoves li! 'Excuse me!'
• Oj vil ma! 'No worries!'
• Čok. 'Yes.'
• Bo. 'No.'
• Bo moluk socovic. 'I don't speak Socovic.'
• O molutmes... 'Do you speak...'
  • ...anglic? '...English?'
  • ...nēmcic? '...German?'
  • ...francic? '...French?'
  • ...rusic? '...Russian?'
  • ...junic? '...Greek?'
  • ...qebric? '...Hebrew?'
  • ...qorobic? '...Arabic?'
• Ēma doročok in... 'How do I go to...'

Texts

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1

Čole onasele jǫvolade horare v savije in 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 mobano v tostočinoto, ome mǫpokade no joptaqle okrobokroblu in xnumoto oxovito.

PART-empower/PASS-PL.M.NOM with rationality-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.

Pater noster

Obene, ov' ǫt' in somajili!
Jektodas smov loko.
Jece memločov loko.
Jępoqele roþiv loko, ēma in somajili ēvi v in orþēto.
Xlebov lone jumiv cen lone ojum.
V staqpu lone xotalac lone, ēvi v nahne nostaqpove xotalac nož lone.
V la ne sabej in tonesine, ela žal ne leč rogovo.
Amen.

Schleicher's fable

Sovēc v porosele

Sova vētla bo foječon qobaj jeri porosi; okdomov foježorer čobid merčab, okrobov fojeshab rob homol, v šolefov fojeshab ęso išǫ. Sovēc jamari porosili: «Lebov li marer onur rajok ęso mosožero porosi.» Porosele jamare: «Stosmeqi, sova, lebov lone marer onur rajne ve: ęs, baqlov, qošē noposlu qobajvobi sovēto ham molbes. Ven sovētla bo jef qobaj.» Somoqa ve, sovēc jebrahi in mesvojovo.

(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 [lit. my heart is bitter] when I see a man driving horses." The horses said: "Listen, sheep, our hearts pain us when we see 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.