Ris
- πρανάσση, ἄι ουαθά πανἂννη!
- pranássē, hai ouathá panā́nnē!
- Remember: You walk with your feet!
Ris | |
---|---|
Rhánzi ris | |
Pronunciation | [/ˈr̥ʰand͡z͎ɪ rɪs͎/] |
Created by | – |
Native to | Italy, Cyprus; Sicily |
Native speakers | 301,486 (2012) |
Menmer languages
| |
Early form | Proto-Men
|
Language codes | |
ISO 639-1 | ri |
ISO 639-2 | ri |
ISO 639-3 | qri |
Ris is my attempt to unite the sketchy constructed languages of mine; those lost forever in incomprehensible grammar, unsatisfying aesthetics and cumbersome phonologies. They stand united by the one shared feature - their relationship to the Greek language; my greatest influence no matter the language.
The Ris language, ῤάνζι ρις /r̥ʰand͡z͎ɪ rɪs͎/, is a language isolate, and is thus not known to be related to any extant language. Ris has a normal-sized inventory of consonants and a fair amount of allophony. It is a fusional language and is morphosyntactically active-stative and with a fluid subject. The morphology is evenly split between nominal and verbal inflections.
Background
The Ris language, ῤάνζι ρις /r̥ʰand͡z͎ɪ rɪs͎/, is a constructed language, but does have a fictional background set in the real world. It is spoken on Sicily and on Cyprus and has about 300,000 native speakers. Or 1. Depends on how you count.
Phonology
Consonants
The following is the inventory of consonants in the Ris language. There are 18 contrastive consonants.
Consonants | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bilabial | Denti-alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||||
plain | whispered | |||||||
Nasals | plain | m /m/ | n /n/ | [ŋ] | ||||
Plosives | aspirated | ph /pʰ/ | th /tʰ/ | kh /kʰ/ | [ʔ] | |||
unvoiced | p /p/ | t /t/ | k /k/ | |||||
voiced | b /b/ | d /d/ | g /g/ | |||||
Fricatives | unvoiced | s /s͎/ | h /ç ~ x ~ h/ | |||||
voiced | z /d͡z ~ d͡z͎ ~ z ~ z͎/ | [ʝ] | ||||||
Trills | aspirated | r /r̥ʰ/ | ||||||
voiced | r /r/ | |||||||
Approximants | ou /w/ | |||||||
Laterals | l /l ~ ʎ/ |
Consonant allophony
Allophony is common to many consonants, and sandhi forces them to be realised different in different environments.
The glottal fricative
The phoneme /h/, the so called glottal fricative, is in free variation with the unvoiced palatal fricative /ç/ as well as the unvoiced velar fricative /x/.
ἒτροι | ||||
hétroi | ||||
/ˈhɛtrɔɪ̯/ | = | /ˈxɛtrɔɪ̯/ | = | /ˈçɛtrɔɪ̯/ |
---|---|---|---|---|
normal, okay |
The velar fricative is the most common one, but the phones are all affected by palatalisation from front vowels, producing the palatal fricative [ç].
ὒο | ἢστιμι | |||||
hýo | hḗstimi | |||||
/ˈhʉ̩.ɔ/ | = | [ˈhʉ̩.ɔ] | /ˈheːs͎tɪmɪ/ | → | [ˈçeːs͎tɪmɪ] | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
to leave .ind.m. | pride .f |
Palatalisation
Palatalisation occurs due to two main factors:
- Internally: Front vowels tend to palatalise preceding consonants if the syllable is stressed.
- C[-pal, -rhotic, -appr] → C[+pal, -rhotic, -appr] /_V[+front, +stress]_
- Externally: A final near-close near-front vowel, /ɪ/, palatalises the initial consonant of the following word.
All consonants but the rhotic trills and the labio-velar semivowel are affected.
Plain | /m/ | /n/ | /p | /t/ | /k/ | /b/ | /d/ | /g/ | /pʰ/ | /tʰ/ | /kʰ/ | /s/ | /z/ | /h/ | /l/ |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Palatalised | [mɲ] | [ɲ] | [pj] | [t͡ʃ] | [c] | [bj] | [ɟ] | [ʝ] | [p] | [t] | [k] | [ʃ] | [ʒ] | [ç] | [ʎ] |
ρἂκι | τή | ἢστιμι | τί κατεράσχοι | |||||||||||
rā́ki | tḗ | hḗstimi? | tí kateráskhoi? | |||||||||||
/ˈrakɪ/ | → | [ˈracɪ] | /ˈteː/ | → | [ˈt͡ʃeː] | /ˈheːs͎tɪmɪ/ | → | [ˈçeːs͎tɪmɪ] | /ˈtɪ katɛˈraskʰɔɪ̯/ | → | [ˈt͡ʃɪ catɛˈraskʰɔɪ̯] | |||
root .in.gen | how | pride. .f.pat | Where did I write it? |
Phonological processes
Vowels
There are 7 vowel phonemes in the Ris language. In Ris, the system of vowels are known as ptḗgna i rháki - 'the hollow triangle', due to their symmetrical places of articulation.
All vowels may be long, but the phonemes /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ change their quality when long; they are then pronounced /eː/ and /oː/ respectively.
Front | Near-front | Central | Near-back | Back | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Close | short | y /ʉ/ | ||||
long | ȳ /ʉː/ | |||||
Near-close | short | i /ɪ/ | ou /ʊ/ | |||
long | ī /ɪː/ | ou /ʊː/ | ||||
Close-mid | ē /eː/ | ō /oː/ | ||||
Mid | ||||||
Open-mid | e /ɛ/ | o /ɔ/ | ||||
Near-open | ||||||
Open | short | a /ä/ | ||||
long | ā /äː/ |
Other than that, my vowels are rather simple. No mystics quirks at all. Well, that's if you choose to ignore the vowel harmony and umlaut process in the Nassi dialect. Makes it a tad more interesting, in my opinion.
Orthography
Ris is primarily written in the Latin alphabet, but the original alphabet was in fact Greek. In its classical and modern form, the alphabet has 24 letters, ordered from alpha to omega; or ai mḗ otḗma in Ris. The below table shows the two alphabets and the Ris names for the letters, as well as the pronunciation in Standard Ris and the colloquial Ouis dialect.
Orthography | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Greek | Latin | Pronunciation | |||
Ris | Ouis | ||||
Α α | άλπα | A a | ai | /a/ | |
Β β | βήτα | B b | bou | /b/ | /β/ |
Γ γ | γάμμα | G g | gou | /g/ | /ɣ/ |
Δ δ | δέλτα | D d | da | /d/ | /ð/ |
Ε ε | έψιλαν | E e | egnás | /ɛ/ | |
Ζ ζ | ζήτα | Z z | za | /d͡z ~ d͡z͎ ~ z ~ z͎/ | |
Η η | ήτα | Ē ē | etḗma | /eː/ | /eɪ̯/ |
Θ θ | θήτα | Th th | tha | /tʰ/ | /θ/ |
Ι ι | ιότα | I i | iou | /ɪ/ | |
Κ κ | κάππα | K k | kau | /k/ | |
Λ λ | λάπτα | L l | la | /l/ | |
Μ μ | μύα | M m | ḗma | /m/ | |
Ν ν | νύα | N n | ḗna | /n/ | |
Ξ ξ | ξία | X x | ḗxa | /ks͎ ~ gz͎/ | |
Ο ο | ομίκραν | O o | ognás | /ɔ/ | |
Π π | πία | P p | pau | /p/ | |
Ρ ρ | ρό | R r | ría | /r/ | /ɹ/ |
'Ρ ῤ | ῤαυ | Rh rh | rhau | /r̥ʰ/ | /r/ |
Σ σ ς | σίγμα | S s | sa | /s͎/ | |
Τ τ | τάυ | T t | tau | /t/ | |
Υ υ | ύψιλαν | Y y | hytḗma | /ʉ/ | /ʏ/ |
Φ φ | φία | Ph ph | pha | /pʰ/ | /f/ |
Χ χ | χία | Kh kh | kha | /kʰ/ | /x/ |
Ψ ψ | ψία | Ps ps | ḗpsa | /ps͎/ | |
Ω ω | ώμεγα | Ō ō | otḗma | /oː/ | /oɪ̯/ |
Diacritics
The Ris alphabets, both the Latin and Greek one, use a few different diacritics to modify the pronunciation. There are five diacritics that mark the following:
- A stressed vowel in a syllable.
- A long vowel in a syllable.
- An aspirated vowel; preceded by /h/. Can also mark the phoneme /r̥ʰ/.
- A stressed, aspirated vowel.
- A long, aspirated vowel.
The use of aspiration here does not refer to the co-articulating process, but rather that the vowel is preceded by an /h/, a "glottal fricative".
Stressed vowels
Stressed vowels are marked with an acute accent, <´>, in the Latin script. In the Greek alphabet, the diacritic is the acute accent as well, only slightly different; <΄>. These mark that the syllable with the vowel is to be stressed, and thus articulated stronger, than other syllables.
File:Greek acute.png | File:Greek grave.png | File:Latin eta.png |
Acute | Grave | Eta |
File:Greek asper.png | File:Greek asper acute.png | File:Latin eta acute.png |
Spiritus asper | Asper acute | Eta acute |
Long vowels
Long vowels are vowels pronounced vowels articulated for a longer period of time. These get a grave accent in the Greek alphabet, <`>, and a macron in the Latin script, <¯>. Long vowels grave accent in the Greek script when stressed. In the Latin alphabet, however, the stressed long vowels get a second acute accent above the macron, <' ̄́'>.
As previously mentioned, all vowels can be long vowels, but there are two vowels that change their quality when elongated; the /ɛ/ and /ɔ/. These are raised to /eː/ and /oː/ respectively. In the Latin script these are marked as expected, <ē> and <ō>. However, in the Greek script, they are replaced by the letters eta <η> and omega <ω> respectively.
Aspiration
Aspiration, when a vowel is preceded by /h/, is marked by a so-called dasia in the Greek script, <῾>. In the Latin manner of style though, the letter <h> precedes the vowel, as it does phonetically.
In the Greek script, the dasia can be combined with the acute and grave accent, producing <῞> and <῝>.
The dasia can also be placed on the Greek ro sign, <ρ>. The pronunciation of <ῤ> becomes /r̥ʰ/, an aspirated voiceless alveolo-dental trill.
Grammar
The grammar of Ris is split into nouns, verbs, adforms and syntax.
Nouns
Number
Ris has three numbers, all of which are equally common in the language. The Ris numbers are different to those of English, instead using a so-called collective-singulative distinction.
The distinction infers that the basic form of a noun is the collective, which is indifferent to the number and unmarked. However, in Ris, the collective form has an additional meaning, and can also signify duals. It is thus the singulative that most often goes unmarked.
Singulative
The singulative (sg) denotes one, single noun, and roughly corresponds to the English equivalent of singular. A singulative noun is a single item, either of a collective noun or even a mass noun.
thýo trḗma | mnío klī́ta mna | íntrai pákima ḗs? | ||||||||||||
/ˈtʰʉ̩ɔ ˈtreːma/ | /ˈmnɪ̩ːɔ ˈklɪːta mna/ | /ˈɪntraɪ̯ ˈpakɪma eːs/ | ||||||||||||
thý | -o | trḗ | -ma | mní | -o | klī́ta | mna | ín- | -trai | paki- | -ma | ḗs | ||
to want | -ind.prfv.1.sg.m | wheat.unm.inan | -pat.sg | to see | -ind.prfv.1.sg.m | wolf.ma.an.pat.sg | one | to be | -subj.prfv.1.sg.m | time.unm.inan | -pat.sg | you.2.dat.sg.an. | ||
I want a grain of wheat. | I see a wolf. | Do you have a minute? |
Dual-collective
The dual-collective number (dc) is a special number to the Hrasic language. The dual-collective primarily marks the collective sense, whereas English uses the plural. It does however also signify two nouns, a pair, in certain contexts.
Plurative
The plurative (pl) marks when there are multiple nouns, but more than two. It does not have the collective sense that the English equivalent does.
Gender
There are two genders in the Ris language, the animate (an) and inanimate (inan). The animate gender includes only living animals and insects, as well as supernaturals like spirits and deities. The inanimate gender mainly denotes non-living objects, abstractions as well as flowers and microorganisms.
In the 3 person singular personal pronouns as well as verbs, the animate splits into a feminine (f.an) and masculine (m.an) animate gender. These mark only natural gender.
Case
There are 7 grammatical cases in Ris. Most of these are rather common to the Indo-European languages.
Cases and usage | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Case | Usage | Example | |||
Nominative | The independent form of nouns; the lemma. | The dog | |||
Subject of high-control intransitive verbs; without a patient. | The dog bites. | ||||
Subject of high-control intransitive verbs; without a patient. | The man fell. | ||||
Subject of a transitive verb; with a patient. | The dog bit the man. | ||||
Accusative | Object or patient of a transitive verb. | The dog bit the man | |||
Indicates a duration of time. | I did it for many years | ||||
In indirect statements. | He said I was ugly. | ||||
To mark location. | I am at home. | ||||
After certain prepositions. | Between one and ten; near you. | ||||
Dative | Indirect object of a ditransitive verb. | He gave the man a pen | |||
Dativus finalis; dative of purpose. | I fight for the king! Call for help! | ||||
Dativus commodi; dative of benefit or malefic. | Open the door for him; this one is not for children. | ||||
Dativus lativus; dative of movement. | I'm going to Siberia; I come from home. | ||||
Dativus modi; dative of manner and cause. | He died from a disease. | ||||
Dativus possessivus; dative of possession. | There is a book to me; I have a book. | ||||
After certain prepositions. | Get away from me. | ||||
Instrumental | Instrumentalis instrumenti; the means of the action. | He writes with a pen. | |||
Instrumentalis auctoris; the performer of actions. | Opened by the mayor; caught by a net. | ||||
Instrumentalis modi; the manner of means of an action. | Go by the short cut. | ||||
Genitive | Symbolises ownership | The dog's bone | |||
Marks objects related to the subject in composition | The group member | ||||
Symbolises lacking | Go without me | ||||
Marks origin of nouns. | I moved from the house | ||||
Marks origin of nouns | It is from France | ||||
Marks concerned, associated nouns | On the Origin of Species. | ||||
Marks concerned, discussed nouns. | Talking about films. | ||||
Indicates cause | It's because of the snow. | ||||
Marks abstract cause | Thanks to/despite him. | ||||
Semblative | For comparations, and semblatives. | It is like a fish. | |||
For comparative adverbials. | I dance like a god; I dance godly. | ||||
Vocative | Direct address. | Hey, John! | |||
Disjoint address. | You are right, Mary. | ||||
Exclamation. | Poor me! Wretched life! |
Classes
There are a multitude of declensional classes in the Hrasic languages, below are the four most common ones. These decline with either a marked dual-collective or a marked singulative number.
Morphology
Nominal
Declension
Animate marked collective | |||
---|---|---|---|
ma.an | gýtē - fish | ||
singulative | dual-collective | plurative | |
Patientive | gýtē | gytḗn | gytḗr |
Agentive | gytḗr | gytḗrne | gytḗra |
Dative | gytḗs | gytḗnse | gytḗi |
Instrumental | gytḗn | gytḗnne | gytḗs |
Genitive | gýtēa | gýtēan | gytēái |
Locative | gýtēia | gýtēian | gýtēiar |
Vocative | gýta | gýtan | gytár |
Samples
- thýo hā́ katḗrrazas
- tḗ rhánzatha
- gytḗra ouārathí ērikí
- inḗ gýtē mna.
- Atḗ, inḗ gytḗn ~ Atḗ, inḗ gýtē ne!