Guimin

Guimin
гӯймин
Pronunciation	[gʉːjˈmin]
Created by	Dillon Hartwig
Date	2022
Setting	Dagestan, Russian Federation
Language family	Indo-European Guimin
Early form	Proto-Indo-European

Guimin /ˈgoɪmɪn/ (Guimin: гӯймин [gʉːjˈmin]) is an Indo-European language spoken in eastern Dagestan.

Etymology

Guimin is from the autonym and ethnonym гӯймин, which is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *gʷr̥H-h₁en-mén-s.

Orthography

Guimin has historically been written with the Arabic, Mkhedruli, and Latin scripts, but is now largely written with the Cyrillic script.

Guimin alphabet

А а	А̄ а̄	Ав ав	А̄в а̄в	Авъ авъ	А̄въ а̄въ	Ай ай	А̄й а̄й	Айъ айъ	А̄йъ а̄йъ
/ɑ/	/ɑː/	/ɑu/	/ɑuː/	/ɑuˤ/	/ɑuˤː/	/ɑi/	/ɑiː/	/ɑiˤ/	/ɑiˤː/
Б б	В в	Г г	Гъ гъ	Гь гь	Д д	Дж дж	Дз дз	Е е	Е̄ е̄
/b/	/w/	/g/	/ʁ/	/h/	/d/	/d͡ʒ/	/d͡z/	/je/	/jeː/
Ё ё	Ё̄ ё̄	Ж ж	З з	И и	Ӣ ӣ	Иъ иъ	Ӣъ ӣъ	Й й	К к
/jo/	/joː/	/ʒ/	/z/	/i/	/iː/	/iˤ/	/iˤː/	/j/	/k/
Кк кк	Къ къ	Кь кь	Ккь ккь	Кӏ кӏ	Ккӏ ккӏ	Къӏ къӏ	Кьӏ кьӏ	Ккьӏ ккьӏ	Л л
/kː/	/qː/	/t͡ɬ/	/t͡ɬː/	/kʼ/	/kʼː/	/qʼː/	/t͡ɬʼ/	/t͡ɬʼː/	/l/
Лл лл	Лъ лъ	М м	Н н	О о	О̄ о̄	П п	Пп пп	Пӏ пӏ	Ппӏ ппӏ
/ɬː/	/ɬ/	/m/	/n/	/o/	/oː/	/p/	/pː/	/pʼ/	/pʼː/
Р р	Рр рр	Ръ ръ	С с	Сс сс	Т т	Тт тт	Тӏ тӏ	Ттӏ ттӏ	У у
/r/	/r̥ː/	/r̥/	/s/	/sː/	/t/	/tː/	/tʼ/	/tʼː/	/u/
Ӯ ӯ	Уъ уъ	Ӯъ ӯъ	Ф ф	Фф фф	Х х	Хх хх	Хъ хъ	Ц ц	Цц цц
/uː/	/uˤ/	/uˤː/	/f/	/fː/	/x/	/xː/	/χː/	/t͡s/	/t͡sː/
Цӏ цӏ	Ццӏ ццӏ	Ч ч	Чч чч	Чӏ чӏ	Ччӏ ччӏ	Ш ш	Шш шш	Щ щ	Ы ы
/t͡sʼ/	/t͡sʼː/	/t͡ʃ/	/t͡ʃː/	/t͡ʃʼ/	/t͡ʃʼː/	/ʃ/	/ʃː/	/ʃː/	/ɨ/
Ы̄ ы̄	Ыъ ыъ	Ы̄ъ ы̄ъ	Э э	Э̄ э̄	Ю ю	Ю̄ ю̄	Юъ юъ	Ю̄ъ ю̄ъ	Я я
/ɨː/	/ɨˤ/	/ɨˤː/	/e/	/eː/	/ju/	/juː/	/juˤ/	/juˤː/	/jɑ/
Я̄ я̄	Ӏ ӏ	Ә ә	Ә̄ ә̄	Әъ әъ	Ә̄ъ ә̄ъ	Әв әв	Ә̄в ә̄в	Әвъ әвъ	Ә̄въ ә̄въ
/jɑː/	/ʔ/	/æ/	/æː/	/æˤ/	/æˤː/	/æu/	/æuː/	/æuˤ/	/æuˤː/
Әй әй	Ә̄й ә̄й	Әйъ әйъ	Ә̄йъ ә̄йъ
/æi/	/æiː/	/æiˤ/	/æiˤː/

• ⟨щ⟩ only occurs in Russian loanwords.

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants

		Labial		Alveolar		Postalveolar		Lateral		Palatal	Velar		Uvular	Glottal
Nasal		m		n
Stop	Voiceless	p	pː	t	tː						k	kː	qː	ʔ
	Ejective	pʼ	pʼː	tʼ	tʼː						kʼ	kʼː	qʼː
	Voiced	b		d							g
Affricate	Voiceless			t͡s	t͡sː	t͡ʃ	t͡ʃː	t͡ɬ	t͡ɬː
	Ejective			t͡sʼ	t͡sʼː	t͡ʃʼ	t͡ʃʼː	t͡ɬʼ	t͡ɬʼː
	Voiced			d͡z		d͡ʒ
Fricative	Voiceless	f	fː	s	sː	ʃ	ʃː	ɬ	ɬː		x	xː	χː	h
	Voiced	w		z		ʒ							ʁ
Approximant								l		j
Trill	Voiceless			r̥	r̥ː
	Voiced			r

• /ʔ, d͡z, f, fː/ only occur in loanwords.
• Consonants except /f, fː, j/ are pharyngealized adjacent to pharyngealized vowels and other pharyngealized consonants.
  • Pharyngealization of trills is optional and varies by speaker.
  • Pharyngealized alveolar consonants (except lateral consonants and trills) are realized as dental.
  • Pharyngealized /ʔ/ is realized as [ʡ~ʕ].
  • Pharyngealized /h/ is realized as [ħ~ʜ].
• Voiceless and non-geminated ejective stops may be lightly aspirated and ejected.
• Word-initial geminated consonants may be realized as strongly aspirated or ejected.
• /l/ is in free variation with [ɫ], especially for younger speakers.
• /w/ is in free variation with [v] except before rounded vowels.
  • /w/ and [wˤ] before rounded vowels are realized as [v].

Vowels

Vowels

	Front		Central		Back
High	i	iː	ɨ	ɨː	u	uː
High pharyngealized	iˤ	iˤː	ɨˤ	ɨˤː	uˤ	uˤː
Close-mid	e	eː			o	oː
Low	æ	æː			ɑ	ɑː
Low pharyngealized	æˤ	æˤː

Diphthongs

æi	æiː	æiˤ	æiˤː
æu	æuː	æuˤ	æuˤː
ɑi	ɑiː	ɑiˤ	ɑiˤː
ɑu	ɑuː	ɑuˤ	ɑuˤː

• /æˤ/ only occurs in loanwords.
• /u, uː, o, oː, ɑ, ɑː/ are realized as /ʉ, ʉː, ɵ, ɵː, ɐ, ɑː/ if the following syllable contains /i, iː, iˤ, iˤː, e, eː/.
  • /u/ in diphthongs is realized as /ɵ/.
• /iˤ, iˤː, ɨˤ, ɨˤː, uˤ, uˤː, æˤ, æˤː/ are realized as /e, eː, ɘ, ɘː, o, oː, ɘ, ɘː/ word-finally after pharyngealized consonants.
• /e, o/ are in free variation with [ɛ, ɔ].
• Epenthetic [ɘ] is optionally inserted between morphemes, most often between obstruents of different voicing/fortition.

Prosody

Stress is phonemic, most often either stem-initial or directly after the stem (which shifts to stem-final with zero-suffixes).

Phonotactics

Guimin has a maximum syllable structure of CCVCC. consonant-/m, n, l, r/ clusters cannot occur word-initially.

Morphology

Alignment

Guimin has ergative-absolutive morphosyntactic alignment.

Nouns

Nouns inflect for case and number, and are gendered masculine, feminine, or neuter.

Cases are split into absolutive (including genitive 1) and oblique. Genitive 1 and 2 are used with absolutive and absolutive (not including genitive 1) head nouns respectively. Some nouns also have suppletive oblique stems.

First declension SG PL ABS -∅ -әм ERG -әс -эс GEN1 -итиъ -әмтиъ GEN2 -әш -ә̄м DAT -э -әмәс INSTR -ә̄ -э̄с COM -әми EQ -әсы

Second declension SG PL ABS -∅ -ә̄с ERG -әс GEN1 -әтиъ -әгьиъ GEN2 -исәс -исә̄м DAT -исӣ -исмәс INSTR -исс -иппиъ COM -ими EQ -исы

Third declension SG PL ABS -∅ -ыс, -м ERG -с -ис GEN1 -тиъ -ытиъ, -мтиъ GEN2 -ис -ә̄м DAT -ӣ -мәс INSTR -биъ COM -ми EQ -сы

Fourth declension SG PL ABS -∅ -иъм, -йм ERG -иъс, -йс -ӣс GEN1 -иътиъ, -йтиъ -ӣтиъ GEN2 -ӣс -ё̄м DAT -ӣъ -иъмәс, -ймәс INSTR -иъбиъ, -йбиъ COM -иъми, -йми EQ -иъсы, -йсы

Fifth declension SG PL ABS -∅ -вис ERG -уъс, -вс GEN1 -уътиъ, -втиъ -отиъ GEN2 -ос -вә̄м DAT -вӣ -уъмәс, -вмәс INSTR -ӯъ, -в -уъбиъ, -вбиъ COM -уъми, -вми EQ -уъсы, -всы

Sixth declension SG PL ABS -∅ -э̄с ERG -э̄ GEN1 -э̄тиъ -э̄мтиъ GEN2 -э̄с -э̄м DAT -ӣъ -э̄мәс INSTR -эхъ -э̄биъ COM -э̄ми EQ -э̄сы

Seventh declension SG PL ABS -∅ -иныс ERG -ин -инис GEN1 -интиъ -инытиъ GEN2 -нис -нә̄м DAT -нӣ -ымәс INSTR -ыбиъ COM -ыми EQ -ысы

Eighth declension SG PL ABS -∅ -ә̄ ERG -ы, -н GEN1 -ытиъ, -нтиъ -ә̄тиъ GEN2 -инс DAT -инӣ -нӣ INSTR -ӣн COM -инми EQ -инсы

Ninth declension SG PL ABS -сәр -сәрыс ERG -сәрис GEN1 -сәртиъ -сәрытиъ GEN2 -ръис -ръә̄м DAT -ръӣ -сымәс INSTR -сыбиъ COM -сыми EQ -сысы

Demonstratives and pronouns

Pronouns inflect for the same categories as nouns. First-person plural pronouns also mark clusivity, and third-person pronouns mark gender.

Guimin third-person masculine singular pronouns also function as demonstratives, and when used as such often absolutive сә is treated as the stem inflected as a first-declension noun.

First-person pronouns SG INCL EXCL ABS ми ым ы̄в ERG ик вӣ нә̄ъ GEN1 митиъ ы̄витиъ GEN2 мәс сәм нә̄ъм DAT мэ̄ нә̄с нә̄ъс INSTR митӏ нә̄ъбиъ COM икми вӣми нә̄ъми EQ иккы вӣсы нә̄ъсы

Second-person pronouns SG PL ABS тӏви уъм ERG тӏӯъ, тӏуъ ю̄ъс GEN1 тӏвитиъ GEN2 тӏо уъсәм DAT тӏэ̄ вә̄с INSTR тӏвитӏ COM тӏӯъми, тӏуъми ю̄ъсми EQ тӏӯъсы, тӏуъсы ю̄ъссы

Third-person pronouns M F N REFL SG PL SG PL SG PL ABS сә тӏэ̄ сэ̄ тӏэ̄с тӏәд тӏэ̄ би ERG тӏәм тӏәмс тӏә̄м тӏэ̄мс GEN1 тӏәш тӏәшә̄м тӏәшэ̄с тӏэ̄сә̄м тӏәш тӏәшә̄м сив GEN2 сәтиъ тӏэ̄тиъ сэ̄тиъ тӏэ̄ттиъ тӏәттиъ тӏэ̄тиъ DAT тӏәмӣ тӏэ̄мәс тӏәшӣъ тӏэ̄мәс тӏәмӣ тӏэ̄мәс сӣ INSTR тӏәнә̄ тӏэ̄с тӏӣъ тӏэ̄миъс тӏәнә̄ тӏэ̄с битӏ COM тӏәми тӏә̄ми тӏэ̄ми тӏәми EQ тӏәсы тӏәссы тӏә̄сы тӏэ̄ссы тӏәсы тӏәссы

Locative cases

A number of locative cases can be applied to nouns (including demonstratives and pronouns).

Locative case suffixes

	LOC	LAT	ABL	TRANS	TERM
	-э	-дэ	-әд	-игъ	-быд
in-	-инэ	-индэ	-инәд	-инигъ	-имбыд
super-	-ыънэ	-ыъндэ	-ыънәд	-ыънигъ	-ыъмбыд
sub-	-уъпӏэ	-уъпӏтӏэ	-уъпӏәд	-уъпӏигъ	-уъппыд
pre-	-рэ̄	-рэ̄дэ	-рэ̄д	-рэ̄игъ	-рэ̄быд
post-	-ппӏэ	-ппӏтӏэ	-ппӏәд	-ппӏигъ	-ппӏыд

Locative suffixes are applied to the ergative stem of the noun, and in plural nouns follows ergative plural marking.

Verbs

Guimin has 22 light verbs from which all others are derived. They inflect for tense, aspect, mood, voice, patient number and gender, and other optional categories.

"to do"

			M		F		N
			SG	PL	SG	PL	SG	PL
INF			тӣ
PFV	IND	PRES	тӣтӏ	тӣнтӏ	тә̄тӏ	тэнтӏ	тыътӏ	ттинтӏ
		PST	тӣнтӏ	тӣнинтӏ	тә̄нтӏ	тә̄нинтӏ	ттытӏ	тыънинтӏ
		PRF	тита̄тӏ	титнэнтӏ	тита̄тӏ	титнэнтӏ	тита̄тӏ	титнэнтӏ
		FUT	тӣтӏиъ	тӣнтӏиъ	тэтӏиъ	тә̄нтӏиъ	ттитӏиъ	ттәнтӏиъ
		PASS	тӣтӏә	тӣрә	тә̄тӏә	тә̄рә	тыътӏә	тыърә
	IMP		тӣтӏуъ	тӣнтӏуъ	тә̄тӏуъ	тэнтӏуъ	тыътӏуъ	ттинтӏуъ
	PTCP	NPST	ттәнцӏ
		PST	тыънәнцӏ
		PASS	тты̄нәс
IPFV	IND	NPST	тэ̄нтӏ	тинэнтӏ	та̄нтӏ	тәнэнтӏ	та̄тӏ	тынэнтӏ
		PST	итэ̄нтӏ	итинэнтӏ	ита̄нтӏ	итәнэнтӏ	ита̄тӏ	итнэнтӏ
		PASS	тэ̄нтӏә	тэ̄нрә	та̄нтӏә	та̄нрә	та̄тӏә	та̄рә
	PTCP	NPST	тынанцӏ
		PST	та̄нәнцӏ
		PASS	та̄мынәс

Verbs are most often derived by pairing a light verb with either a following adjective or a preceding absolutive noun. When an absolutive noun is part of a complex verb, the clause's patient is instead marked as dative.

Other verb markers

Tense, aspect, and mood

A number of tense-aspect combinations are formed by compounding verbs.

imperfective infinitive	verb.IPFV	+	be.INF
pluperfect	verb.PRF		be.IPFV.PST/NPST
discontinuous	verb.PRF		become.PFV
habitual	verb.IPFV		do.IPFV
iterative	verb.IPFV		verb.IPFV

Four mood suffixes can be applied to indicative verbs: subjunctive -кьи, conditional -ссә, counterfactual -(й)ә̄й, and abilitative -ыъ.

Converbs

There are two converbs: relative/attributive -ды which puts no restriction on its verb's inflection, and simultaneous -цы which can only be applied to imperfective verbs.

Valency modifiers

Verb valency can be increased and decreased with suffixes -гьэ and -ухъ respectively. These suffixes are also mostly used to derive new verbs, for example диркӏ, диркӏгьэ "to see, to look" and вӣд, вӣдухъ "to know, to think."

Causatives

Causative verbs are marked with particles preceding the causee. These particles agree with the causer's gender: masculine вит, feminine вәт, neuter уът.

If present in the clause, the causer is marked as the agent of the verb, and the causee is put in the absolutive.

Reflexives and reciprocals

For reflexives see Demonstratives and pronouns. Reciprocals are marked with a verb suffix -зәм.

Questions

Questions are marked either with interrogative proforms or an interrogative verb suffix: -ма for polar questions, and -май for mediative questions.

Verb affix order

negation	пӏә- "un-"/ двиъ- "re-"	verb stem	valency modifier	reciprocal	mood	converb	question	gerund/ agentivizer

Adjectives

Adjectives agree with their head noun in case, number, and gender.

(inflection tables here)

Absolutive singular adjectives optionally mark gender with prefixes тӏ(ә)-, ццӏ(а)-, с(ә)- for masculine, feminine, and neuter respectively.

Comparative and superlative adjectives are preceded by particles е and бәч respectively, and compared nouns use the equative case.

Evidentiality

Witness and nonwitness evidence are marked with clause-initial particles ыг and гӯ respectively. Gnomic clauses use neither particle.

Reportative clauses use a separate particle that agrees in gender with the reportee: masculine кӏу, feminine кӏо, neuter ккӏа. If the reportee is included in or near the clause the reportative particle follows the reportee, otherwise it is clause-initial.

Negation and prohibitives

Clauses are negated with a verb clitic ни-, or an emphatic equivalent вэ̄-. These clitics can also function as preceding particles to negate individual words, and as negative interjections.

Prohibitive verbs are marked with a preceding particle мӣ plus imperative inflection.

Numerals

Guimin uses base-20 numerals, except past 1000 where base-10 is used.

Numerals

1	2	3	4	5
эв	двә̄	тӏырӣ	кӏтӏӯр	пӏукӏ
6	7	8	9	10
биккӏ	сипӏтӏы	әкӏтӏә̄	нон	дикӏы
11	12	13	14	15
дикӏмэв	дикӏыдвә̄	дикӏытӏырӣ	дикӏыкӏтӏӯр	дикӏыпӏукӏ
16	17	18	19	20
дикӏмиккӏ	дикӏысипӏтӏы	дикӏмәкӏтӏә̄	дикӏынон	виъгьы
400	1,000	10,000	100,000	1,000,000
кӏытӏ	гьәзә̄р	бә̄вр	дикӏы бә̄вр	милён

• Numeral places above 1,000,000 are Russian loans.

Numerals 1-4 have irregular ordinal forms пӏӯв, двиъчӏ, тӏыриътӏ, кӏтӏвытӏ, other ordinals are marked by -(ы)тӏ. Distributive and collective numerals are marked by -ар and -ла respectively.

Derivational morphology

Adverbs are formed with -э̄.

Syntax

Constituent order

The predominant word order is SOV, but word order is very flexible.

Dependent clauses

Dependent clauses follow the head they modify after any other modifiers, and are generally marked with the attributive.

Example texts

Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 1

Гӯ мәнвис виъсәм муъкӏтӏмими гьу вэ̄кьӏмими карә̄мэ̄с гьу гьуъкъӯкъә̄м упӏрә. Гӯ әъкь гьу виджд дӯрә гьу тӣнтӏзәм такэ̄ бырэ̄тӏ гӯъдэчэ̄.

Гӯ

NWIT

мәнвис

human.ABS-PL.ABS

виъсәм

all-M.PL.ABS

муъкӏтӏмими

free-ADJ.NZ-COM

гьу

and

вэ̄кьӏмими

equal-ADJ.NZ-COM

карә̄мэ̄с

dignity-SG.GEN2

гьу

and

гьуъкъӯкъә̄м

right.PL-PL.GEN2

упӏрә.

make.PFV.PASS.M.PL

Гӯ мәнвис виъсәм муъкӏтӏмими гьу вэ̄кьӏмими карә̄мэ̄с гьу гьуъкъӯкъә̄м упӏрә.

NWIT human.ABS-PL.ABS all-M.PL.ABS free-ADJ.NZ-COM and equal-ADJ.NZ-COM dignity-SG.GEN2 and right.PL-PL.GEN2 make.PFV.PASS.M.PL

Гӯ

NWIT

әъкь

reason

гьу

and

виджд

conscience

дӯрә

give.PFV.PASS.M.PL

гьу

and

тӣнтӏзәм

do.PFV.PRES.M.PL

такэ̄

should

бырэ̄тӏ

brother

гӯъдэчэ̄.

be.INF-LAT-GER-ADV

Гӯ әъкь гьу виджд дӯрә гьу тӣнтӏзәм такэ̄ бырэ̄тӏ гӯъдэчэ̄.

NWIT reason and conscience give.PFV.PASS.M.PL and do.PFV.PRES.M.PL should brother be.INF-LAT-GER-ADV

Linguifex-hosted translations

• Translated works in Guimin
• Guimin/Test Case Sentences
• Guimin/Corpus

Conlang Atlas of Language Structures-hosted translations

• CALS translations

Other resources

CALS