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*''O molutmes...'' 'Do you speak...'
*''O molutmes...'' 'Do you speak...'
**''...anglic?'' '...English?'
**''...anglic?'' '...English?'
**''...nēmcic?'' '...German?'
**''...germanic?'' '...German?'
**''...francic?'' '...French?'
**''...francic?'' '...French?'
**''...rusic?'' '...Russian?'
**''...rusic?'' '...Russian?'

Revision as of 21:14, 12 May 2015


Vy gorov in socovito
דף זה בעברית

Socovic
socovic/socovija lesan
Created byIlL
Native toMostsev, Greece, Italy
Native speakers4 million (2015)
Afro-Asiatic

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 *z *s *þ̣ *ṣ *ṣ́ *x *h *m *n *l *r *w *y
Late PNSem *b *d *p *ḱ *ṭ *ḳ *v *z *f *s *s *f̣ *ṣ *ṣ́ *x *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 < * < 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 * (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 fob 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

-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 ci 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 * (~ 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 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 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 ˀalfu laylatin wa-laylatun).

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.

Imperfect

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).

Pluperfect

Future perfect

Imperfect conditional

Preterite conditional

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

N-stems: jękotal

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

Š-stems: soktel, ęsoktel

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 >

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

Št-stems: stoktol, ęstoktal

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 *
who *man
mur when * + 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
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) *

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 (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?'
    • ...germanic? '...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.