Dundulanyä

Dundulanyä
dundulanyä ḫamfafa
Pronunciation	[dundulɐnjɛ ħɐmɸɐɸɐ]
Created by	Lili21
Date	Dec 2021
Setting	Eventoa
Ethnicity	Dundulanyä; Neo-Dundulanyä
Native speakers	1,946,000,000 (4140)
Language family	East Mandabudi (areal) Dundulanyä
Early form	Pre-Dundulanyä
Standard form	Modern Standard Dundulanyä
Official status
Official language in	Confederation of the United Dundulanyä Republics

Dundulanyä [dundulɐnjɛ], natively known as dundulanyä ḫamfafa [dundulɐnjɛ ħɐmɸɐɸɐ], is the most spoken language on the planet Eventoa (Dun.: Lelḫajāṃrya). It is the official language of the Confederation of the United Dundulanyä Republics, which makes it the main lingua franca across the two southern hemisphere continents, Lusaṃrīte - where it originated - and Jūhma.

Dundulanyä itself has a long history, being first attested about 2400 years before the present in the areas of Central Lusaṃrīte, where the Dundulanyä civilization first developed; through successive empires and religious proselytism, people and language spread across many areas of the continent - most notably Dundulanyä-ifying the north shore of the Inland Seas by the end of Classical Lusaṃrītene Antiquity. As the dominant civilization of Lusaṃrīte, the Dundulanyä spread their language to become the main lingua franca of trade and culture in most of the continent and in eastern Jūhma; the massive demographical changes brought by the epidemics that were the result of increased contact with the civilizations of the northern hemisphere effectively enabled the Dundulanyä culture to spread in areas where formerly other civilizations were dominant. By the modern and contemporary eras, a more standardized version of classical Dundulanyä remained the lingua franca among multiple peoples across Lusaṃrīte and Jūhma, and the situation remained more or less the same after the collapse of the Fifth Dundulanyä Empire and through the Three Leagues Period.

Today, Dundulanyä is the official language of the Confederation of the United Dundulanyä Republics (laḫlurayäh dundulanyäɂi lileṣkorukṣarte śūsmurdibeṣarān), the multicultural political entity that is dominant throughout Lusaṃrīte and Jūhma; the standard language is a heavily standardized version of the classical language, with many of the less regular forms having fallen out of use after one millennium of being essentially a L2 for the totality of its speakers; high style language and creative usage, however, still uses forms that have fallen out of use in the everyday language. Dundulanyä, along with any of the regional languages of the Confederation, is the main language for its 1,9 billion inhabitants, a number to which should be added a substantial amount of foreign users in virtually all other countries in Lusaṃrīte and Jūhma.

Both the language and the setting are still under construction: see the External history section on this page for more.

Internal history

The relationship of Dundulanyä to other languages is poorly understood, given the limited attestations of neighboring languages contemporary to archaic Dundulanyä. It is classified as an East Mandabudi language, an areal grouping that includes Dundulanyä and some ancient - and scarcely attested - languages of that area based on some criteria that have been found, such as Austronesian-type alignment, a possessive system like the one of Dundulanyä itself, a duodecimal number system, and heavily inflected nouns, that are not found in the most thoroughly attested languages of that era, the neighboring West Mandabudi and Dailishi languages.

Phonology (yāṃsaśodda)

Dundulanyä has a moderately large, but asymmetrical, vowel inventory with six short and four long vowels, along with two diphthongs and two consonants (short and long versions of the same one) that can fill the syllable nucleus.

Vowels - camiyāṃsai

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i iː		u uː
Close-mid	e eː		o~ɔ
Open-mid	ɛ
Open		ɐ äː
Diphthongs	aɪ̯		aʊ̯
Syllabic consonants	ʀ̩ ʀ̩ː

The consonant inventory is more complex, with a pattern of “soft” and “hard” consonants traditionally recognized by classical Dundulanyä grammarians, not on a phonetic basis but starting from their relationship inside Dundulanyä morphology. In most cases, the difference is based on aspiration.

Dundulanyä has, among many points of articulations, a series of linguolabial consonants, which are common in its geographical area (in most of northern and central Lūsaṃrīte) but are otherwise extremely rare on Eventoa.

Consonants - hīmbayāṃsai

→ PoA ↓ Manner		Labials		Linguolabials		Dentals		Retroflexes		Palatals		Velars		Laryngeals
		Soft	Hard	Soft	Hard	Soft	Hard	Soft	Hard	Soft	Hard	Soft	Hard	Soft	Hard
Nasals		m		n̼		n		ɳ		ɲ		ŋ1
Stops	Unvoiced	p	pʰ2	t̼	t̼ʰ	t̪	t̪ʰ	ʈ	ʈʰ	c͡ɕ	c͡ɕʰ	k	kʰ	ʔ
	Voiced	b	bʱ	d̼	d̼ʱ	d̪	d̪ʱ	ɖ3	ɖʱ3	ɟ͡ʑ	ɟ͡ʑʱ	ɡ~ɣ	ɡʱ	ɢ4
Fricatives		ɸ~f				s		ʂ		ɕ				ɦ	ħ
Approximants		ʋ		ɹ̼		l				j					ʀ

Table notes:

1. ṅ /ŋ/ is phonemic only in the name of the corresponding letter and, diachronically, through saṃdhi in simplifications of /N/ + velar stop clusters; such instances are, however, to be considered phonemic as the original form is only apparent either throughout the declension or in different styles, see e.g. ṣṭhīṭaṅ "yesterday", tataṅ "today" (← ṣṭhīṭaṅga, tataṅga, used in the declension of the nominal forms except for the direct singular).
2. The /pʰ/ phoneme is marginal; it has a separate letter in the script, but as a phoneme it is only found in the name of the letter itself, in a few words of onomatopoeic origin, and as the result of saṃdhi (from the clusters -p h- or -p ḫ-); the vast majority of contemporary speakers merge it with /ɸ~f/.
3. /ɖ/ and /ɖʱ/ are generally represented by the stop realizations, however, in the contemporary spoken language, except when adjacent to another consonant they are most commonly realized as any of [ɽ(ʱ) ɭ(ʱ) ɻ(ʱ)] depending on the geographical origin of the speaker, realizations which are influenced by the historical development of Classical Dundulanyä /ɖ ɖʱ/ in the modern vernaculars.
4. The q /ɢ/ phoneme is represented here by its most accepted contemporary pronunciation, as there is some debate about its prevailing quality in Classical Dundulanyä. It is also the phoneme which realization varies the most throughout the Dundulanyä-speaking world, often having different realizations depending on the position in the word, or often merging with other phonemes - generally with one of /g/, /k/ or /ʔ/.
   In the standard pronunciation (as well as in the entire North Shore, in and around the city of Līlah, and elsewhere in most of Northern and Western Lusaṃrīte), it is [ɢ] word-initially and syllable-initially, and a fricative (either uvular [χ]-[ʁ] or velar [x]-[ɣ]) in coda, voiceless before voiceless consonants and voiced otherwise.

With the partial exception of /ħ/, words may only end in soft consonants and/or clusters of an approximant followed by a single soft stop or fricative. In the romanization, some apparent exceptions may be seen due to saṃdhi in words followed by clitics, such as in logh va "I don't go" [lɔɡʱʋɐ].

Saṃdhi (mīraṃdīdda)

Saṃdhi (mīraṃdīdda "reaction") in Dundulanyä is mostly internal saṃdhi only.

Internal saṃdhi

Saṃdhi assimilations are fairly straightforward; in the vast majority of cases, the second consonant assimilates the preceding one(s).

The most basic rules are:

• Nasals assimilate to the PoA of any following consonant except for y (no assimilation occurs), l (all become ṃ, phonetically realized as vowel nasalization), and before d dh s ṣ c ch j jh ś, where there is a phonemic contrast between the homorganic nasal and ṃ; the latter is, in saṃdhi, the result of a preceding m.
• All plosives assimilate in voicing to a following stop; if the first one is aspirated, then aspiration shifts to the second one.
  • Dentals also assimilate to any adjacent (preceding or following) retroflexes, while labials assimilate to adjacent linguolabials.

In stop saṃdhi, a few further changes apart from basic voicing, retroflex and linguolabial assimilation occur. Note that any such combination also applies to aspirated stops.

-pc- → -ṃc-;
-p̃ṭ- → -p̃p̃-; -p̃c- → -p̃ś-;
-tp̃- → -p̃p̃-; -tc- → -cc-; -tk- → -kt-;
-ṭp̃- → -p̃p̃-; -ṭc- → -cc-; -ṭk- → -kṭ-;
-cp- → -śp-; -cp̃- → -hp̃-; -ct- → -kt-; -cṭ- → -ṣṭ-; -ck- → -śk-;
-kc- → -cc-.

All combinations involving glottal stops, q (lenited to a glottal stop), as well as -pṭ-, -pk-, -p̃t-, -p̃k-, -tp-, -ṭp-, -kp-, -kp̃-, -kt- and -kṭ- remain unchanged.

Saṃdhi involving voiced stops mostly mirrors the changes of voiceless ones with, however, a few differences:

-b̃ḍ- → -b̃l-; -b̃j- → -b̃l-;
-db- → -bd-; -db̃- → -r̃b̃-; -dj- → -ñj-; -dg- → -gd-; -dq- → -ɂd-;
-ḍb- → -bḍ-; -ḍb̃- → -r̃b̃-; -ḍj- → -ñj-; -ḍg- → -gḍ-; -ḍq- → -ɂḍ-;
-jb̃- → -r̃b̃-; -j + any other stop, including aspirated ones and ɂ → -jñ-;
-gj- → -ñj-; -gq- → -qq-.

All combinations with b as the first consonant, all other ones involving glottal stops and q (lenited to a glottal stop before other plosives), as well as -b̃d-, -b̃g-, -gb-, -gb̃-, -gd- and -gḍ- remain unchanged.

h and ḫ fortify preceding plosives (except ɂ), turning them into aspirated ones; -Ch- results in an aspirate, while -Cḫ- in a geminated and aspirated plosive (e.g. śud-ḫana → śuddhana "rule"; nisakh-ḫamfa → nisakkhamfa "conlang"). The sequences -ɂh- and -ɂḫ- both result in -ḫḫ-.

h changes to r̃ in front of linguolabials; the sequence -hh- changes to -hl-.

Sibilants trigger various different changes:

• Among themselves, -s s- remains ss (but simplified to s if the latter is followed by a consonant other than y), but any other combination becomes kṣ;
• ṣ, if followed by a dental stop, turns it into ṭ or ṭh according to aspiration;
• s or ś plus any voiced stop, or ṣ followed by any non-dental/retroflex voiced stop, disappear but synchronically lengthen the previous vowel;
• Coronal stops followed by ṣ or ś result in a palatal affricate;
• All sibilants become r in front of q.

In internal saṃdhi, doubled stops are degeminated (like -mpp- > -mp-).

Doubling saṃdhi

In a few cases of consonant doubling due to saṃdhi, there are irregular results:

• -yy- → -jñ-;
  • This also applies to instances of -aiy-, which become -ājñ-;
• -vv- → -bb-;
  • Similarly to the preceding change, -auv- becomes -ābb-;
• -rr- → -hr-.

Epenthetic vowels

Epenthetic vowels are usually discussed together with saṃdhi. They are often used in verbal conjugations, as no Dundulanyä word may end in two consonants. The epenthetic vowel used depends on the preceding consonant:

• u is inserted after labials and linguolabials;
• i is inserted after palatals;
• a is inserted after all other consonants.

Note that y, v, and r in these cases turn into the corresponding vowels i, u, and ṛ.

Saṃdhi in consonant stems

Consonant stem nouns ending in a sonorant (i.e. m-stem, n-stem and l-stem nouns) undergo special saṃdhi processes if the final -a- is preceded by a -CR- cluster, where R is any sonorant.

All such nouns are reconstructed as having a syllabic consonant in Pre-Dundulanyä (PreD), but such syllabic consonants - m̥, n̥ and l̥ - are no longer found in Dundulanyä:

• -Cna- and -Cma- nouns have their oblique stem in -Ca- (through intermediate *-Cn̥-, *-Cm̥-), e.g. yasmam "tooth" → oblique stem yasam- (PreD *yasm̥m-), whence e.g. ergative yasamē;
• -Cla- nouns have their oblique stem in -Cṛ- (through intermediate *-Cl̥-), e.g. sislam "door" → oblique stem sisṛm- (PreD *sisl̥m-), whence e.g. accusative sisṛmat.

Such stems are also used in derivational morphology, see e.g. prāsisṛmapa (backyard) for an example with the root sislam.

Morphology (hufāmvailaḫlana)

Dundulanyä is a highly inflected language with a synthetic morphology. Five parts of speech are traditionally distinguished: nouns, verbs, pronouns and correlatives, numerals, and particles.

Dundulanyä inflectional morphology is almost entirely suffixing, save for a system of apophony (ablaut) and a marginal number of inflectional prefixes, mostly in verbs. Derivational morphology, on the other hand, employs up to four different strategies: suffixes, prefixes, and to a lesser extent circumfixes and infixes, or the combination of more or them, as well as eventually ablaut on top of that.

Ablaut (camiyāṃsachiṣa)

Dundulanyä is characterized by a complex system of vowel alternations (apophony, in Dundulanyä camiyāṃsachiṣa, literally "vowel stairs") that was inherited from its proto-language. There are, depending on definition, either nine or twelve ablaut patterns, which Dundulanyä verbal roots may belong to, in addition to those that do not undergo ablaut. The overwhelming majority of Dundulanyä verbal roots are monosyllabic, and the few bi- or polysyllabic ones are all non-ablauting.

Each root has three different grades: the middle grade, citation form of roots, is called būcūya (from √būc- "flat"); the zero grade (or lower grade) is called ślūtya (literally "remnant", from √ślo- "to be left"), while the higher grade is called udhyukṣṇise (literally "grown within").

Nominal examples:

• class I root √bhaṭ- (zero abḍh-; higher bhāṭ-) bhaṭuṣa (bhaṭ-uṣ-) "expansion": ABS bhaṭuṣa, ERG bhaṭuṣē, DAT abḍhoṣak, LOC abḍhoṣā, LOC.PL abḍhauṣän
• class II root √deh- (zero dih-, higher daih-): dehuṣa (deh-uṣ-) "usage": ABS dehuṣa, ERG dehuṣē, DAT dihoṣak, LOC dihoṣā, LOC.PL dihauṣän
• class I root √haf-, synchronically irregular (zero iṣf-; higher hāf-): hāṅka (haf-n-ka- < *śǝ́f-ṇ-ko-) "socket": ABS hāṅka, ERG hāṅkē, DAT iṣfaṅkak, LOC iṣfaṅkā, LOC.PL iṣfāṅkän

A substantial part of nouns in Dundulanyä is derived from verbal roots, and these may have ablaut patterns throughout their declension as in the examples above, or the derivational suffix may require the root to be in a certain ablaut grade (which is then a fixed stem throughout the declension). However, as a general rule, the majority of nouns relating to flora, fauna, and many elements of the natural world are not formed from verbal roots and do not show ablaut.

Dundulanyä roots belong to one out of nine classes (eight ablaut classes or non-ablauting), called dhoptai (sg. dhopta):

Class dhopta	Zero grade ślūtya	Middle grade būcūya	Higher grade udhyukṣṇise
0	no ablaut
I	∅	a	ā
II	i ī (CV- roots)	e	ai
III	u ū (CV- roots)	o	au
IV	ṛ	ar	ār
V	i	ä	ē
VI	ya	i	ī
VII	va	u	ū
VIII	ra	ṛ	ṝ

The majority of roots belongs to either the 0 class, or to classes II to IV. Other classes are much rarer, with V and especially VIII being the least common overall. Many class I roots have a sonorant such as l, m or n (rarely other nasals), continuing formations parallel to class IV in reconstructed Pre-Dundulanyä. Class I roots may, due to their shape, be further simplified in the zero-grade; see haf-, zero-grade iṣf- "to insert, fill" or rañj-, zero-grade ṛj- "to name, identify"; some others have a short vowel in the zero-grade and a long vowel in the (identical) middle- and higher-grade forms, as with sākh- (zero-grade sakh-, higher-grade sākh-) "to prepare".

Some class VI and VII roots may have consonant changes caused by saṃdhi; furthermore, there are a few irregular class II and III roots which have a long vowel in the zero grade form even if they are not of CV shape; see e.g. lobh- "to write" with the long zero grade lūbh-. Class III roots with the -vo- sequence in the middle grade (citation form) reduce it to -ū- in any case in the zero grade, as in tvorg- "to fear" with the zero grade tūrg-.

Nouns (rāñjiḫi)

The Dundulanyä noun (rañjiḫe, pl. rāñjiḫi) is highly inflected - it declines for:

• Three numbers (smuḍai):

Singular (emibundīra smuḍa)

Dual (rirändīra smuḍa)

Plural (tailindīra smuḍa)

• Nine cases (dirūṃrūkṣāri):

Direct (drādhūṅga dirūṃrūkṣah)

Vocative (ṛjadīra dirūṃrūkṣah)

Ergative (drīyadīra dirūṃrūkṣah)

Accusative (darūltuṅga dirūṃrūkṣah)

Dative (mälindīra dirūṃrūkṣah)

Ablative (smrāṇuṅga dirūṃrūkṣah)

Locative (tadyapadīra dirūṃrūkṣah)

Essive (jalīndīra dirūṃrūkṣah)

Instrumental (dṛvundīra dirūṃrūkṣah)

There are a few nouns which lack number; a few are singularia tantum and lack a plural (e.g. tambīya "lips"), other ones are plural only - most notably including all ethnicities, whose singular form is analytical, made by using the bound form (see below) to the word lila (person), e.g. dundulanyä lilarān (a Dundulanyä).

The consensus among linguists is that Dundulanyä does not have grammatical gender or noun classes; however, it should be noted that natural gender is shown on some nouns referring to humans, and furthermore there are some verbs that have a complementary distribution - most notably the existential "to be" - where one verb can only be used for inanimate subjects and another only for animate ones; in a few cases, the animate "class" is also split between humans and non-humans. None of this, however, is reflected in morphology.

Dundulanyä nouns are complex, due to the existence of multiple declension patterns. They are primarily categorized by whether they refer to nouns that undergo ablaut or not; secondarily, they are categorized by their stem type.

Ablauting declensions are all unproductive (although some of the derivational suffixes that form ablauting nouns are still productive) and include the following ones:

• Root nouns
• -e declension
• -a declension
• Zero-ending nouns with vowel suffixes (-u, -i, -ṛ).

Except for root nouns, ablauting nouns are formed by a root and a suffix, and ablaut alternates between them. Many such suffixes are derivational and productive, but some are no longer productive and limited to a small number of terms (such as -in- forming certain male kinship terms). In a few cases, the suffix may actually be an infix, such as the (non-productive) one in the word lorbhe "stele", ultimately from the root lobh- "to write" (cf. direct singular lorbhe but locative singular lūrabhā, dative plural lūrābhumi).

Non-ablauting declensions are the following ones:

• -e declension (first consonant stem declension)
• Zero-ending nouns with stems ending in liquids (-l or -r), nasals (-m or -n) or the glottal stop (-h) (second consonant stem declension). Nouns belonging to this declension have a prop vowel -a- in their citation form; nouns with other vowels belong to the first consonant stem declension (and end in -e in their citation form), cf. second declension glūḫam (glūḫ-(a)m-) vs. first declension kämbune "berry" (kämbun-). This is because liquids and nasals could be syllabic in Dundulanyä's ancestor language, but among them only r/ṛ remains as a consonant/vowel pair in Dundulanyä itself.
• Nouns with vowel-final stems.
  • The extremely common -a declension is a particular case, as it behaves in some forms like a consonant stem declension, and like a vowel stem in others. Both for ablauting and non-ablauting declensions, -a and -e declensions most likely marked some kind of noun class distinction in the proto-language, which has been lost in the evolution of what became Dundulanyä.

Bound forms

Dundulanyä nouns have a further, non-case form, which is called the bound form (avraḍūrūkṣah, pl. avraḍūrūkṣāri) by native grammarians. For nouns whose stems end in vowels, it is usually identical to the direct case; for other nouns, it is usually the endingless stem (with some exceptions). It is used when the noun is the possessor (a form syntactically reminescent of the Afroasiatic construct state, albeit with the roles reversed); to mark the argument governed by a positional verb; and when governed by many adpositions.

In the name of the language, dundulanyä ḫamfafa, for example, dundulanyä is a bound form that however has the same form as the direct, due to the noun having a stem ending in a vowel. Some more examples of bound forms:

• imut naviṣyaɂe "the teacher's book", imut being the bound form of imute "teacher", and naviṣya "book" being marked with the 3SG possessive ɂe.
• nūrī dvārmaɂe "the child's room", nūrī being the bound form of nūrya "child".
• līv yude "3SG stands in the flat", where the positional verb yu-de- "to stand inside" requires its argument līve to be in the bound form līv.
• tūrgib sure "without fear", where the postposition sure "without" forces the noun tūrgibe to assume its bound form tūrgib.

Declension tables

The first and second ablauting declensions have the same ablaut patterns, but slightly different endings; the first ablauting declension has the same endings as the (non-ablauting) first consonant stem declension, while the second the same endings as non-ablauting -a nouns (with the exception of locative singular and the singular and plural bound forms).

Root ablaut nouns have the same ablaut pattern as -i, -u, -ṛ nouns, but the endings are directly added to the root, triggering the appropriate saṃdhi changes.

Root nouns

	śuṭ- (VIII) "wind"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Direct	śūṭ	śuṭve	śūṭi
Vocative
Ergative	śūṭē	śuṭyat	śvaṭām
Accusative	śūṭ	śuṭṭha	śvaṭaih
Dative	śuk	śuṭma	śvaṭmi
Ablative	śuṭū	śucu	śvaṭṇī
Locative	śuṭā	śuṭhe	śvaṭän
Essive	śuṭī		śvaṭoṭu
Instrumental		śuṭāl	śvaṭṇīka
Bound form	śūṭ	śuṭu	śūṭī

1st ablauting declension (-e)

	helk-iḫ- "hue, shade"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Direct	helkiḫe	helkiḫive	hailkiḫi
Vocative	hailkiḫ
Ergative	helkiḫē	helkiḫīyat	hilkeḫām
Accusative	helkiḫat	helkiḫītha	hilkeḫaih
Dative	hilkeḫak	helkiḫīma	hilkaiḫumi
Ablative	hilkeḫū	helkiḫeṣu	hilkaiḫenī
Locative	hilkeḫā	helkiḫehe	hilkaiḫän
Essive	hilkeḫī		hilkaiḫoṭu
Instrumental		hilkeḫāl	hilkaiḫenīka
Bound form	helkiḫ	helkiḫiv	hailkiḫ

2nd ablauting declension (-a)

	kor-uṣ- "vote"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Direct	koruṣa	koruṣeve	kauruṣai
Vocative	kauruṣ
Ergative	koruṣē	koruṣīyat	kuroṣām
Accusative	koruṣat	koruṣītha	kuroṣaih
Dative	kuroṣak	koruṣāma	kurauṣumi
Ablative	kuroṣū	koruṣeṣu	kurauṣenī
Locative	kuroṣā	koruṣehe	kurauṣän
Essive	kuroṣī		kurauṣoṭu
Instrumental		kuroṣāl	kurauṣenīka
Bound form	koruṣ	koruṣev	kauruṣa

Ablauting nouns ending in -i, -u, -ṛ are mainly distinguished by having different ablaut patterns from other ablauting nouns. -ṛ nouns are extremely rare, and only three such nouns figure among the general usage vocabulary: khaikṛ (II) "goose", gāṃsṛ "passage, ford" (I, with the synchronically irregular zero grade gas-), and mētṛ (V) "vessel, pot, cooking pot".

Ablauting nouns in -i

	mārj-i "needle"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Direct	mārji	marjeve	mārjī
Vocative
Ergative	mārjē	marjeyat	mṛjāyam
Accusative	mārjit	marjetha	mṛjāyaih
Dative	marjek	marjema	mṛjaimi
Ablative	marjayū	marjeṣu	mṛjainī
Locative	marjayā	marjehe	mṛjāyän
Essive	marjayī		mṛjāyoṭu
Instrumental		marjayāl	mṛjainīka
Bound form	mārji	marjev	mārjī

Ablauting nouns in -u

	p̃aiṣ-u "son"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Direct	p̃aiṣu	p̃eṣove	p̃aiṣū
Vocative
Ergative	p̃aiṣvē	p̃eṣoyat	p̃iṣāvam
Accusative	p̃aiṣut	p̃eṣotha	p̃iṣāvaih
Dative	p̃eṣok	p̃eṣoma	p̃iṣaumi
Ablative	p̃eṣavū	p̃eṣoṣu	p̃iṣaunī
Locative	p̃eṣavā	p̃eṣohe	p̃iṣāvän
Essive	p̃eṣavī		p̃iṣāvoṭu
Instrumental		p̃eṣavāl	p̃iṣaunīka
Bound form	p̃aiṣu	p̃eṣov	p̃aiṣū

Ablauting nouns in -ṛ

	khaik-ṛ "goose"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Direct	khaikṛ	khekarve	khaikāri
Vocative
Ergative	khaikrē	khekaryat	khikāram
Accusative	khaikṛt khaikaṭ1	khekartha	khikāraih
Dative	khekāk	khekarma	khikārmi
Ablative	khekarū	khekarṣu	khikārṇī
Locative	khekarā	khekarhe	khikārän
Essive	khekarī		khikāroṭu
Instrumental		khekarāl	khikārṇīka
Bound form	khaikṛ	khekaru	khaikāh2

1. The form in -ṛt is from Classical Dundulanyä and is preferred in formal usage, especially in writing; the form in -aṭ, taken from the corresponding non-ablauting paradigm, is however more commonly used.
2. The underlying form is -ār.

Non-ablauting consonant stem 1st declension

	imut- "teacher"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Direct	imute	imutive	imuti
Vocative	imut
Ergative	imutē	imutīyat	imutām
Accusative	imutat	imutītha	imutaih
Dative	imutak	imutīma	imutumi
Ablative	imutū	imuteṣu	imutenī
Locative	imutā	imutehe	imutän
Essive	imutī		imutoṭu
Instrumental		imutāl	imutenīka
Bound form	imut	imutiv	imutī

Non-ablauting consonant stem 2nd decl. (glottal)

	nād-(a)ɂ- "leg"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Direct	nādah	nādēve	nādai
Vocative
Ergative	nādē	nādeɂat	nādaɂām
Accusative	nādāt	nādētha	nādaih
Dative	nādā	nādaima	nādūmi
Ablative	nādū	nādēṣu	nādēnī
Locative	nādā	nādēhe	nādän
Essive	nādī		nādāṭu
Instrumental		nādāl	nādānīka
Bound form	nādah	nādēv	nādē

Non-ablauting -a stems

	buney-a "(female's) older sister"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Direct	buneya	buneyeve	buneyai
Vocative	bunī1
Ergative	buneyē	buneyīyat	buneyām
Accusative	buneyat	buneyītha	buneyaih
Dative	buneyak	buneyāma	buneyumi
Ablative	buneyū	buneyeṣu	buneyenī
Locative	buneyā	buneyehe	buneyän
Essive	buneyī		buneyoṭu
Instrumental		buneyāl	buneyanīka
Bound form	buneya	buneyev	buneye

1. Morphemically buney-, as the vocative of -a nouns is the stem without the final -a; as per regular saṃdhi, syllable-final ey becomes ī.

The following declensions - -i, -u, -o, -e, -ä have their final vowel as part of the stem, and it is regularly kept throughout the declension. -e stems are therefore different from the consonant stems (which end in -e in their citation form), but are a very small number of nouns, mainly proper nouns (as are, furthermore, nearly all -o stems; p̃op̃o "face" is the only o-stem noun in common vocabulary).

Non-ablauting -i stems

	ilūvi- "girl"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Direct	ilūvi	ilūvīve	ilūvī
Vocative
Ergative	ilūvyē	ilūvīyat	ilūvyām
Accusative	ilūvit	ilūvītha	ilūvyaih
Dative	ilūvik	ilūvīma	ilūvyumi
Ablative	ilūvyū	ilūviṣu	ilūvinī
Locative	ilūvyā	ilūvihe	ilūvyän
Essive	ilūvī		ilūvyoṭu
Instrumental		ilūvīl	ilūvinīka
Bound form	ilūvi	ilūvīv	ilūvī

Non-ablauting -u stems

	kulāru- "frog"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Direct	kulāru	kulārūve	kulārū
Vocative
Ergative	kulārvē	kulārūyat	kulārvām
Accusative	kulārut	kulārūtha	kulārvaih
Dative	kulāruk	kulārūma	kulārūmi
Ablative	kulārū	kulāruṣu	kulārunī
Locative	kulārvā	kulāruhe	kulārvän
Essive	kulāruvī		kulārvoṭu
Instrumental		kulārūl	kulārunīka
Bound form	kulāru	kulārūv	kulārū

Non-ablauting -o stems

	p̃op̃o- "face"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Direct	p̃op̃o	p̃op̃ove	p̃op̃avi
Vocative
Ergative	p̃op̃avē	p̃op̃oyat	p̃op̃avām
Accusative	p̃op̃ot	p̃op̃otha	p̃op̃avaih
Dative	p̃op̃ok	p̃op̃oma	p̃op̃avumi
Ablative	p̃op̃avū	p̃op̃oṣu	p̃op̃onī
Locative	p̃op̃avā	p̃op̃ohe	p̃op̃avän
Essive	p̃op̃avī		p̃op̃avoṭu
Instrumental		p̃op̃ol	p̃op̃onīka
Bound form	p̃op̃o	p̃op̃ov	p̃op̃avi

Non-ablauting -e stems

	eme- "star"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Direct	eme	emeve	emayi
Vocative
Ergative	emayē	emeyat	emayām
Accusative	emet	emetha	emayaih
Dative	emek	emema	emayumi
Ablative	emayū	emeṣu	emenī
Locative	emayā	emehe	emayän
Essive	emayī		emayoṭu
Instrumental		emēl	emenīka
Bound form	eme	emev	emayi

Non-ablauting -ä stems

	śośä- (hare- or rabbit-like animal)
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Direct	śośä	śośäve	śośä
Vocative
Ergative	śośäyē	śośäyat	śośām
Accusative	śośät	śośätha	śośaih
Dative	śośäk	śośäma	śośumi
Ablative	śośä	śośäṣu	śośänī
Locative		śośähe	śośän
Essive			śośäṭu
Instrumental		śośäl	śośänīka
Bound form		śośäv	śośä1

Dundulanyä nouns generally do not end in long vowels; the few exceptions that do (generally of onomatopoeic or baby talk origin) are treated as irregular nouns. The most common nouns ending in long vowels are certainly amamū "mother" and atabū (or batū) "father", which (due to regular saṃdhi) have ūv before vocalic endings (e.g. ergative plural amamūvām), but an irregular direct plural in -ūv-i, i.e. amamūvi, atabūvi, batūvi.

The -ṛ declension diverges from those ending in other vowels in various forms, such as the direct singular, where nouns end in -ah (-ar, reduced to the corresponding soft consonant) instead of the simple vowel -ṛ; their lemma form is in fact identical in shape to -ah nouns, although adding particles reveals the true nature of the final consonant (cf. ñältah, ñältahbu "sister, my sister"; śuthah, śutharbu "husband, my husband"; ñältahin śutharin "either [the] sister or [the] husband").

-ai nouns and the much rarer -au nouns are variants of the -i and -u declensions respectively: these nouns end in -ā-i and -ā-u and are otherwise regularly declined. Due to saṃdhi, there is, however, more case syncretism than in the normal declensions. While these nouns are somewhat rare in the general lexicon, quite a few of them are basic lexical items and therefore often used, such as mbai "bread", junai "foot", lunai "tea", lanai "island", havau "gold" or prānilau "tomorrow" (the latter an irregular derivation).

Non-ablauting -ṛ stems

	śuthṛ- "husband"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Direct	śuthah1	śuthṛve	śuthāri
Vocative	śuthāh1
Ergative	śuthrē	śuthrīyat	śuthrām
Accusative	śuthaṭ	śuthṝtha	śuthraih
Dative	śuthṛk	śuthṝma	śuthrūmi
Ablative	śuthrū	śuthṝṣu	śuthṝnī
Locative	śuthrā	śuthṝhe	śuthrän
Essive	śuthrī		śuthroṭu
Instrumental		śuthṝl	śuthṝnīka
Bound form	śuthah1	śuthru	śuthāh1

-ai stems

	lanai "island"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Direct	lanai	lanaive	lanai
Vocative
Ergative	lanāyē	lanājñat	lanāyām
Accusative	lanait	lanaitha	lanāyaih
Dative	lanaik	lanaima	lanāyumi
Ablative	lanāyū	lanaiṣu	lanainī
Locative	lanāyā	lanaihe	lanāyän
Essive	lanai		lanāyoṭu
Instrumental		lanail	lanainīka
Bound form		lanaiv	lanai

Table notes:

1. The underlying form of the final consonant of the direct and vocative singular, as well as singular and plural bound forms, is -r.

Singularia and pluralia tantum

Pluralia tantum in Dundulanyä include the following nouns or categories of words:

1. many collective nouns:

   sūmi "hair", kāraṇḍhai "guts", rälsi "limbs", padagṇyauṣi "sons and daughters", gauṃsiḫi "cutlery", lampai "dishes, dishware"

2. things that are heterogeneous in form but considered as a single entity:

   katanai "clutter", dūḍhvi "banquet, buffet"; frāṇagi (a type of sandals made from straw rope), kuntilatiri "streaming", läjñyai "magic", ucururai "savings", rudhmai "resin", ḍotvi "fat", prāvṛḍḍi "controller"

3. certain actions and processes that involve multiple people:

   vāb̃nīyai "elections", viṣlāviḫi "protest, riot", lipmūyai "traffic jam", kardātatalavibi "hide-and-seek" (sometimes also found as dual)

4. nouns denoting certain time spans, festivals, or holidays:

   saṃlallai "afternoon", Bhaitrāvāṣri (the most important Yunyalīlti festivity); Kūlḫanari (a winter festival of Kenengyry origin)

5. a few illnesses and health conditions or disorders:

   norganai "urticaria", udhilelnai "autism", percibrāḍai "influenza"

6. some locations, including large delimited areas, as well as many toponyms:

   ābābi "square", cadātāyi "tropics"

   Mūnnakṣalti, Anābāndirai

7. all ethnonyms:

   dundulanyä "Dundulanyä", ṣurṭāgi "Skyrdegan(s)", tayubeśī "Toyubeshians", laḫābī "Laḫobs"

A few nouns do not have a singular, but can have a dual and a plural form. Their citation form is usually the dual:

maihādhūve "parents", kardātatalavibive "hide-and-seek" (most commonly a plurale tantum)

Counted among pluralia tantum are certain words which are not defective in number, but whose plural forms have an additional meaning alongside the one of the singular form, like in the following examples:

hamvilti "nursery" (hamvilte "cradle"), īskāvidai "playground" (īskāvida "swing"), utofi "clothes" (utofe "cloth"), garaṇai "clock, watch" (garaṇa "hour"), anutū "universe" (anutu "space, invisible sky").

Unlike ethnonyms, nouns formed with the suffix -ulu, often identifying a person from a certain place (e.g. lailulu, naṅgaśaurulu) are not pluralia tantum and have regularly-formed plurals (in -ulū).

Some words are singularia tantum:

1. many collective nouns:

   śvaṅga "money", b̃amu "breasts [pair of]", sājābe "leafy greens" (and particular types, e.g. mädisa "spinach"), ṭēmba "legumes" (and particular types, e.g. dīlla "peas", āśah "lentils"), mugba "cereals", javata "free time"

2. feelings and sensations:

   lāca "romantic love", ṭärṇa "fun", välna "sadness"

3. nouns denoting certain uncountable things:

   paɂe "dust", iḫare "spices", ḍaṃla "ice", m̃āku "ash"

4. certain illnesses and health conditions:

   khuṃɂanūkare "blue plague", khoppuḍu "cough" (cf. pluralizable khoptya "a single instance of coughing"), loviśñīya "runny nose"

5. proper nouns referring to certain concepts:

   yunya, mulisidam "Dundulanyä-Skyrdagor 'Internet'";

   individual sports, such as teyakaitsu or yalkatūfa

   cardinal points (anūṭa "north", prādauna "south", nilāḍa "east", śusopa "west", as well as intercardinal directions, half and quarter-winds), including relative ones such as e.g. prābuñjña "upstream", sambuñjña "downstream";

   musical genres, such as nāsibe, ḍāfukulebe

   specialistic terminology made with suffixes (or compounds) related to science (-śodda, -yuhlä), diseases (-nūkare, -hūttlä), and political/philosophical currents (-kumāṣa)

6. most toponyms:

   Laḫduliśūse "the Confederation", Lusaṃrīte, Ṣurṭāgah "Skyrdagor", Lāltaṣveya, Naṅgaśūra, Dändämämine

Irregular vocatives

A few very common words (mostly kinship terms) have irregular vocative forms:

• ñältah "(male's) sister" — ñäli or ñäl
• glūḫam "(female's) brother" — galū or glū
• kālike "(female's) younger sister" — kāl or kālli or kalli
• praśke "(male's) older brother" — pāśi
• amamū "mother" — mā or māmu
• atabū or batū "father" — bā or bābu

Irregular nouns

A few Dundulanyä nouns are irregular (outside of the few vocatives in the section above). Most of them are suppletive in the plural, or have irregular stems:

• As mentioned above, a few irregular nouns end in long vowels; the most common ones are amamū "mother", atabū and batū (both "father"). These behave mostly as -u stem nouns and have, due to regular saṃdhi, ūv- before vocalic endings, except for having an irregular direct, vocative and bound form plural in -ūvi (amamūvi, atabūvi, batūvi).
• huline "woman" has the suppletive plural hulūni (regularly declined); its general combining stem is hulun- (although in some cases hulin- is also found).
• svo, the most common honorific, is most commonly used as an indeclinable adpositive title before the noun it refers to; however, it may used as a standalone noun, in which case it behaves as an -o stem noun except before vocalic endings, where it has the stem svom- instead of the expected *svav-; the irregular behaviour is due to it being a shortening of the original honorific svomardam, already found in both full and shortened forms in Classical Dundulanyä.
• irāḍe "animal (including humans)" is a consonant stem noun in the singular and dual, but declines as an -a stem noun in the plural, i.e. direct pl. irāḍai.

Use of the plural

Dundulanyä sometimes uses the singular in contexts where English uses the plural:

• Nouns are always singular after numerals (except, optionally, rirä (two), which they can also be dual after), sora (some), grāṇa (any), idu (no), idūṣam (no other), taili (many, much), didya (more), kaili (most), and ṣubha (few, little).
  • After yaiva, the difference in the noun's number expresses a distinction much like the one between English "every" and "all": yaiva täte "every house", yaiva täti "all houses".
• When referring to existence or availability of something, that something is always singular, e.g. the essive sg. of nikoṅka "chair" in dvārma nikūvaṅkī taisa "there are chairs in the room". It may be plural if topicalized, but the overall meaning of the sentence changes - e.g. nikauṅkai ba dvārma taisa "the chairs are in the room".
• When referring to a single person, häɂli (hand), meśiḫe (eye), and p̃agu (ear), and often also junai (foot) (more rarely for nādah (leg) and m̃ukar̃e (arm)) are typically singular and not dual - e.g. ānū miśeḫī meśah "I see it with my eyes" (lit. "with my eye"). In fact, they might be translated as "a person's hands/eyes/ears", given that dual forms are often used to mean e.g. "both hands of two people" and the plural ones for e.g. "many people's hands".
• junēlte (indoor slippers), rapūda ((thick) shoes), mähṣa (boots), and all types of shoes are also used in the singular to refer to a pair of them. The main exception is frāṇagi (straw rope sandals), which is a plurale tantum.

Duals and plurals of given names have the meaning of an associative plural, i.e. marking a group of two (dual) or more (plural) people contextually identified by some kind of relationship to the person the name refers to, such as e.g. "X and friends; X and family; X and partner..."; cf. Kālomīyayi "Kālomīye and people in/of her group".

Pronouns (śidrāñjiḫi)

The system of personal pronouns of both Classical and contemporary Dundulanyä is quite complex due to the honorific system. In modern Dundulanyä, the category of "pronouns" isn't actually syntactically differentiated from other nouns (except for being used anaphorically), to the point that, aside for a small number of "morphological" pronouns, which are usually neutral or informal, the pronominal system includes many possibilities of expressing referents in all persons. Dundulanyä pronouns are, in fact, an open class.

The main reason for the complexity of the pronominal system is that there are many possible variants for each person, depending on the formality of the context, the two-way rank difference between speaker and listener, or the three-way rank difference between the speaker, the listener, and the addressee. Some particular forms are also chosen depending on gender.

The fact that there is no syntactical difference between the morphological pronouns and those that are nouns also means that every word used pronominally, including given names, requires that person's verbal concord, i.e. a given name used as a second-person pronoun will be used in concordance with a second-person verb. In the following list, words not marked as being inflected according to pronominal declension are inflected as nouns. However, there are honorific adpositions (most notably svo) used together with pronouns which do not decline; the title or given name used with them declines instead.

Personal pronouns

First- and second-person pronouns have the same declension as nouns, although with the peculiarity of having neither a vocative nor a bound form and having the same form in the direct and ergative cases, as well as sporadic contractions in a few forms. In the traditional analysis, the singular is taken as the root and it is considered to be a nominal with suppletive stems in the dual and plural.

First person (√yuna)

	Singular	Dual	Plural
Direct-Ergative	yuna	amūve	yunai1
Accusative	yunat	amūtha2	yunaih
Dative	yunak	amūvāma	yunumi
Ablative	yunū	amūveṣu	yunenī
Locative	yunā	amūvehe	yunyän
Essive	yunī		yunoṭu
Instrumental		amūvāl	yunanīka
Fused copular form	yūga	amūga	yunai ga / īnega

Second person (√kata)

	Singular	Dual	Plural
Direct-Ergative	kata	kotve	cītai
Accusative	katat	kotūtha	cītaih
Dative	katak	kotvāma	cītumi
Ablative	katū	kotveṣu	cītenī
Locative	katā	kotvehe	cītyän
Essive	katī		cītoṭu
Instrumental		kotvāl	cītanīka
Fused copular form	kaṅga	kotūga	cītai ga / cīṅga

Table notes:

1. Also īnai, especially used in poetry; the same stem is therefore found for all other forms (īnaih, īnumi, īnenī, etc.).
2. In older Dundulanyä amūvītha.

Possessive suffixes

Each person has its respective possessive suffix, which are clitics mostly used to denote possession on nouns.

Personal markers

1SG	2SG	3SG	1DU	2DU	3DU	1PL	2PL	3PL
-bu	-ya	-ɂe	-bin	-sin	-hin	-fa	-yo	-rān

Possessive suffixes are added to the head of the noun phrase (Dundulanyä does not have Suffixaufnahme), after any case ending but before any conjunctional clitic:

ñältah; ñältahbu "sister; my sister"

nādaśrūṣeya cända itta nādaśrūṣeɂe śyūda. "Your (sg.) bike is orange, while his/her bike is black."

āyome ga tūfabu tūfayaś? "Is that my ball or your ball?"

naviṣyayäh hiyome ga padacyūsebu. "This is my favourite book." (lit.: "among books, this is my favourite")

An explicit possessor is marked used the bound form (typically together with third person clitics, but not exclusively):

imut nādaśrūṣeɂe "the teacher's bike"

buneyev pūnuḍuhin "the two older sisters' jobs"

dundulanyä ḫamfafa "the Dundulanyä language" (lit.: "the language of us, the Dundulanyä")

Bound forms can also be marked with possessive clitics on their own:

imutrān nādaśrūṣeɂe "their teacher's bike"

buneyevbu pūnuḍuhin "my two older sisters' jobs"

Correlatives

Dundulanyä has a fairly regular system of correlatives, distinguishing ten types (proximal, medial, distal, interrogative, negative, assertive existential, elective existential, universal, positive alternative, and negative alternative) in twelve categories (attributive, thing, person, [person or thing] owner of, time, place, destination, origin, way, reason, quality, quantity).

Category ↓ / Type →	Proximal	Medial	Distal	Interrogative	Negative	Ass. exist.	Elect. exist.	Universal	Positive altern.	Negative altern.
Attributive	hine this	hunu that (near you)	āna that (over there)	bena? which?	idu no	sora some	grāṇa any	yaiva every(thing)	viṣam another, other	idūṣam no other
Thing	hiyome this one	huyome that one (near you)	āyome that one (over there)	beyome? what?; which one?	idume nothing	sorame something	grāṇame anything		viṣāme something else	idūṣāme nothing else
Person	hikana this one	hukana that one (near you)	ākana that one (over there)	bekana? who?	idona no one	sorakna someone	grākṇa anyone	yāyukana everyone	viṣkaṇa someone else	idūṣkaṇa no one else
Owner of1	hirūm this one's	hurūm that one's (near you)	ārūm that one's (over there)	berūm? whose?	idurūm no one's	sohrūm someone's	grāṃrūm anyone's	yāyurūm everyone's	viṣrūm someone else's	idūṣrūm no one else's
Time	hivet now	huvet then	āvet then (remote)	bevet? when?	iduvet never	sorvet sometime, somewhen	grāmvet anytime, whenever	yāyuvet always, everytime	viṣvet sometime else	idūṣvet never else
Place	hiyo here	huyo there	āyo over there	beyo? where?	iduyo nowhere	sorayo somewhere	grāṇyo anywhere	yaivyo everywhere	viṣayo elsewhere	idūṣayo nowhere else
Destination	hiyāk hither	huyāk thither	āyāk thither (remote)	beyāk? whither?	idvāk nowhither	sorayāk somewhither	grāṇyāk anywhither	yaivyāk everywhither	viṣayāk elsewhither	idūṣayāk nowhither else
Source	hiyau hence	huyau thence	āyau thence (remote)	beyau? whence?	idvau nowhence	sorayau somewhence	grāṇyau anywhence	yaivyau everywhence	viṣayau elsewhence	idūṣayau nowhence else
Manner	hilīce thus, hereby	hulīce thereby	ālīce thereby; that other way	belīce? how?	idulīce no way	soralīce somehow	grāṃlīce anyhow	yāyulīce everyway	viṣlīce otherwise	idūṣlīce no other way
Reason	himena herefore	humena therefore	āmena therefore; for that other reason	bemena? why?	idumena for no reason	soramena somewhy	grāmena whyever, for any reason	yāyumena for every reason	viṣmena for another reason	idūṣmena for no other reason
Quality	hismā this kind	husmā that kind	āsmā that other kind	besmā? which kind?	idusmā no kind	sorasmā some kind	grāṃsmā any kind	yāyusmā every kind	viṣasmā another kind	idūṣasmā no other kind
Quantity	hiqna this much	huqna that much	āqna that much (remote)	beqna? how much?	iduqna none	soraqna some of it	grāqna any much	yāyuqna all of it	viṣaqna another quantity	idūṣaqna no other quantity

1. The "owner of" correlatives are bound forms that mark possession, e.g. hirūm naviṣyaɂe "this [person]'s book", idurūm naviṣyaɂe "no one's book", berūm naviṣyaɂe? "whose book is this?" (lit. "who is the owner of [the] book?"). As such, they are always used together with a third-person (generally singular) possessive suffix.

THING, PERSON, QUALITY and QUANTITY correlatives decline for case; the proximal, medial and distal members of the THING (hiyome, huyome, āyome) and PERSON series (hikana, hukana, ākana) also decline for number.
The QUALITY and QUANTITY correlatives are generally only declined when used together with the bound form of another noun (e.g. m̃uk huqna "that much milk", nṛta idūṣasmā "no other kind of dream").

Note that Dundulanyä does not have wh-fronting: hine täte māmūtrību lilīsa "in this house lives my maternal aunt" → hine täte bekanī lilīsa? "who lives in this house?"

Negatives, elective existentials, universals, and positive alternatives for thing and person correlatives may also take dual number:

idumive, idoneve "neither";

grāṇamive, grākṇeve "either";

yaiveve, yāyukaneve "both";

viṣāmive, viṣkaṇeve "the other one".

Verbs (darūmmai)

The verb (darūmma, pl. darūmmai) is the most inflected part of speech in Dundulanyä. Forms are quite complex and generally formed in an agglutinative manner - even if there are fusional elements for what concerns tense, aspect, and subject agreement.

The language has an Austronesian-type morphosyntactic alignment, and the argument the verb agrees with is controlled by a particular morpheme inside the verb complex. Due to the complex structure, a single verb form can often correspond to a more complex English sentence, as e.g. kujadumbhyaimyūsaɂed (I've been told that the two of you are bringing [it] again (on foot) from outside at my/our place for him/her), a form of the root dombh- (to bring on foot, with the hands), morphemically kuḍ-sa-dumbh-ya-emi-ū-sa-ɂe=d.

The morpheme order of Dundulanyä verbs is the following; elements in bold are required, even if some of them may be zero morphemes:

Dundulanyä verb structure

-3	-2	-1	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
Positional prefix	-sa- inverse deixis prefix	Incorporated verbal root	Stem	Tense markers	Ablative motion marker	Evidential marker	Irrealis marker (-g-)	Causative or applicative marker	Trigger/voice	Personal agreement	Dative agreement	Verb-final conjunctions
		Incorporated nominal root

Verbs have four stems: present, past, perfect and frequentative; the latter two are always distinct, while non-ablauting roots have the same stems for the present and the past. These stems are used with different sets of personal agreement endings; different combinations of stems and endings are used to form a variety of tense-aspect combinations.

A few irregular verbs have suppletive stems, and a smaller number of verbs is defective, lacking one or more stems. However, the vast majority of Dundulanyä verbs is regular, with apparent irregularities being explained by irregular or peculiar behavior of the verb roots themselves (especially class I ones), e.g. in verbs such as śadah "I am asked" - āḍan "I was asked" - āḍam "I have been asked", āḍ- being the regular zero grade of the class I root śad-.

Root incorporation

Some verb roots may be used with either a verbal or a nominal incorporated root which comes right before the stem in the verb complex. Incorporated verb roots are always in zero-grade ablaut, while incorporated nominal roots are actually a closed class of prefixes etymologically related to certain nouns that broadly identify the object (usually the patient) of the verb.

Incorporated verb roots form root+root complexes where the incorporated root adds a dimension of meaning to the main one, such as with the root jūpūn- "to work in a hurry" from pūn- "to work" with the incorporated root jo- "to hurry", or nililobh- "to write down through brainstorming" from lobh- "to write" with nily- "to think".
Incorporated nominal roots include for example morphemes such as tan- for a long object (cf. taṇḍa "stick, cane") resulting in forms such as taṃlobh- "to affix; carve (on a stick, a post)", or ghar- for "wood" with forms such as ghahräś- "to debark" (√räś- "to peel") or gharṇevy- "to carve wood" (nevy- "to shape").

The prefix yau- fills the incorporated nominal root slot, however it denotes repetition and patient plurality and is always used together with the agentive trigger, as shown in forms such as yaukṛsūn "I waited for all of them", yaucikhūn "I offered [them] a drink one by one".
Similarly, the prefixes sya- (exhaustive), tra- (iterative) and cū- (excessive) fill the slot of the incorporated root. sya- is uncommon in the modern language, as it is often used as a synonym of yau-; the original difference being that it does not apply to transitive verbs only, and it does not imply a repeated or prolonged action. Cf. forms such as syanīyūn "I said it all", tranīyūn "I said it again", cūnīyūn "I said too much".

A verb root can also be reduplicated using the zero-grade version of itself as the incorporated root. The resulting verbs can have different meanings but usually intensive (as a less formal alternative to the intensive TAM) or iterative-continuous, e.g. cyūcyavūh "I really want it" (√cyo- "to want"). Some reduplicated stems are effectively lexicalized, such as nīne- "to repeat" (√ne- "to say"), and can therefore form the base for further derived forms, e.g. imyamam "glutton" (√yam- "to eat").

Inverse deixis and ablative motion

While apparently similar, the inverse deixis marker or cislocative (the -s(a)- prefix) and the ablative motion marker (the -y(a)- suffix) are distinct and, in fact, not mutually exclusive. While the ablative motion marker cannot be used without the positional prefix (with the exception of positional-classificatory verbs), the cislocative can.

The cislocative prefix marks an action towards the deictic center (generally the speaker), marked as divergent from the default state which is action from the deictic center: see e.g. loni (lon-i) "you go (walk)" vs. cislocative saloni (sa-lon-i) "you come (on foot)" for an example without a positional prefix; however it can also be used together with such prefix as in e.g. gāloni (gā-lon-i) "you walk in" vs. gāsloni (gā-s(a)-lon-i) "you come in (on foot)".

The ablative motion marker (which forces zero-grade ablaut on the present stem), on the other hand, inverts the direction marked by the positional/directional prefix, which is allative by default (i.e. to a place), making it ablative (i.e. from a place): gāmeśūh (gā-meś-ū-h) "I look inside" vs. gāmiśyūh (gā-miś-y-ū-h) "I look from the inside". The ablative marker is, due to how positional and motion verbs work in Dundulanyä, most commonly used and useful with transitive verbs, e.g. kuṇḍombhūsa (kuḍ-dombh-ū-sa) "you two bring outside" vs. kuṇḍumbhyūsa (kuḍ-dumbh-y-ū-sa) "you two bring from outside".

The cislocative and the ablative marker can, in fact, be used together, in forms such as kujadumbhyūsa (kuḍ-sa-dumbh-y-ū-sa) "you two bring [us] from outside", gāslunyi "you come (on foot) from the inside". See also the following sentences, using the ablative motion marker, and the distinctions implied by the presence or absence of the cislocative prefix:

• bunūgoba kujamiśyū "The thief is looking [at me/us] from the outside";
• bunūgoba jṛṣṇat kujamiśyū "The thief is looking at my backpack [which is near me/in the same room as me] from the outside";
• bunūgoba jṛṣṇat kuḍmiśyū "The thief is looking at my backpack from the outside [and I am not in the same room as my backpack]".

Stem and TAM formation

The four basic stems are formed as follows:

• The present stem is the root with the middle grade vowel;
• The past stem is the root with the zero grade vowel;
  • For non-ablauting roots, the present and past stems are therefore identical.
• The perfect stem is the root with the zero grade vowel and an augment which is identical to the vowel of the root itself (shortened, if it is long) if the vowel is any of a, e, i, u; otherwise:
  • if the stem vowel is o, ä, ṛ or ṝ, the augment is a;
  • if the stem vowel is a diphthong, only the first element is taken as the augment.
• The frequentative stem is the root with the zero grade vowel plus the middle grade vowel as the augment, and adding -sā (with the appropriate saṃdhi changes). Again, there are some exceptions to the general augment rule:
  • if the stem vowel is ṛ or ṝ, the augment is ā;
  • otherwise, the same rules as the perfect augment apply.
• The intensive (or energetic) stem, which does not form tenses but a mood, is formed with a higher grade augment and a middle grade root vowel.

Some affixes may force the stem vowel to be in a certain ablaut grade, such as the ablative motion marker shown in the previous section, which forces a present stem to have a zero grade vowel regardless.

As an example, the stems of ne- (II) "to say" are: present ne-, past nī-, perfect inī-, frequentative enīsā-, intensive aine-. The non-ablauting root pūn- (to work) has present/past pūn-, perfect upūn-, frequentative upūṃsā-; dīd- (0) "to act, react, do, behave" has present/past dīd-, perfect idīd-, frequentative idījā-.

There are also tense markers which are added to the above stems to form the base for other TAM:

• the future formant is -iṣy- (or -ṣy- after vowels), added to the past stem (more precisely, to the zero grade root);
• the formant of the so-called future intentional is -āḍ-, added to the perfect stem;
• the situational is formed with the marker -āp-, added to either the zero grade root or the perfect stem.

The situational is a non-finite verb form which can express a contemporaneous (e.g. "while ...-ing") or anterior action (e.g. "after having ...-ed"), both as a circumstance or as a reason (e.g. "given that..."). Together with the irrealis marker, it forms concessive clauses.

The various tenses (more appropriately tense-aspect combinations) and moods are formed by the combination of the above stems and different terminations (which are listed in the dedicated section below):

• Present: present stem + present terminations
• Past: past stem + past terminations
• Perfect: perfect stem + perfect terminations
• Frequentative: frequentative stem + frequentative terminations
• Future: future "stem" + perfect terminations
• Future intentional: future intentional "stem" + perfect terminations
• Imperfective situational: zero grade root plus -āp- formant + present terminations
• Perfective situational: perfect stem with -āp- formant + perfect terminations

The intensive, which is a tense-aspect-mood combination, has only two aspects: imperfective and perfective (today both found in very formal styles, but otherwise considered too bookish for general use):

• Imperfective intensive: intensive stem + present terminations
• Perfective intensive: intensive stem + perfect terminations

The imperative is generally considered apart from the other stems, as it is only used in second person singular and plural and first person plural forms: its stem is the bare stem but with the higher grade vowel (i.e. maiś- for the root meś-), with the present terminations for the two plural forms but endingless for the singular.

The subjunctive does not have its own stem, but is formed as a sort of reverse intensive: it has specific endings which are used together with the zero-grade stem (for the imperfective subjunctive) and with the perfect stem (for the perfective subjunctive).

Junyai

The forms called, in traditional Dundulanyä grammar, junyai (sg. junya, literally "shade, hue") are special stems (hence filling only the "stem" portion of the verb complex) which denote particular meanings, often corresponding to moods. There are four junyai: desiderative, necessitative, potential and permissive, formed as follows, through reduplication (with different ablaut grades in the stem and in the reduplication) and suffixes:

• Desiderative: zero-grade reduplication + middle-grade root + -s;
• Necessitative: middle-grade reduplication + zero-grade root + -sū;
• Potential: zero-grade reduplication + middle-grade root + -nā;
• Permissive: reduplication with the vowel ī (ū after non-nasal labials) + zero-grade root + -ūd;

Examples with various roots:

• meś- (II) "to see": DES mi-meś-s- → mimekṣ-; NEC me-miś-sū- → memikṣū; POT mi-meś-nā- → mimeśñā-; PERM mī-miś-ūd → mīmiśūd-.
• śan- (I) "to breathe": DES ś-śan-s- → kṣaṃs- (rarely śaśaṃs-); NEC śa-śn-sū- → śaśñāsū-; POT ś-śan-nā- → kṣannā- (rarely śaśannā-); PERM śī-śn-ūd- → śīśñūd-.

Causative, applicative and trigger (voice) markers

There are six possible trigger (voice) markers:

• -∅- patient trigger;
• -ū- agent trigger;
• -ik- reflexive trigger;
  • -ik-ū- (or -ik-e-), combination of agent and reflexive triggers, for the reciprocal voice;
• -mi- circumstantial (benefactive or instrumental) trigger;
• -īs- locative trigger;
• -bai- reason trigger.

The causative (-on- or -n-) and applicative (-im- or -m-) markers fill the slot preceding the trigger marker, but unlike the latter those markers are not mandatory.

Evidential markers

There are six evidential markers:

• -∅- direct knowledge;
• -ɂä- "first" inferential (trusted);
• -eb(i)- "second" inferential (doubtful);
• -ukiɂ(a)- assumptive;
• -emi- "first" reportative/hearsay (trusted);
• -enab(u)- "second" reportative/hearsay (doubtful).

Personal agreement

The following ones are the personal agreement endings for Dundulanyä verbs.

Personal markers

	1SG	2SG	3SG	1DU	2DU	3DU	1PL	2PL	3PL
Present	-(a)h	-i	-a/-∅	-(a)ba	-(a)sa	-(a)ḍa	-evu	-(a)ḫo	-āhai
Frequentative	-u	-i
Perfect	-am	-ī	-a	-ra	-ri	-a	-ima	-iśa	-a
Past	-n	-īt	-(n)ī	-rap	-ro	-ra	-nān	-thā	-lī
Subjunctive	-ā	-āt	-ai	-oba	-osa	-ai	-ove	-aut	-ai

The forms with vowel in the present are used after a consonant; the 3SG form is therefore a zero-marker in many common forms such as after the agent trigger (cf. teṇa "3SG is fed" and teṇū "3SG feeds").

Note that the perfect 2PL termination -iśa becomes -iṣa when immediately after the future intentional marker -āḍ-, assimilating to the preceding retroflex, therefore resulting in -āḍ-iṣa.

Exclusively for the dative argument, there is a set of dative terminations that show indirect object concord in all voices except for dative-trigger. The terminations are the same as the possessive suffixes used with nouns, except for 1SG and 1DU having -m- instead of -b- as the thematic consonant:

Dative terminations

1SG	2SG	3SG	1DU	2DU	3DU	1PL	2PL	3PL
-mu	-ya	-ɂe	-min	-sin	-hin	-fa	-yo	-rān

Example basic conjugation showing stems and endings (but, for simplicity, zero morphemes wherever possible):

Example conjugation of the root √śro- (III) "to throw, propel, launch"

		1SG	2SG	3SG	1DU	2DU	3DU	1PL	2PL	3PL
Indicative	Present	śroh	śravi	śro	śroba	śrosa	śroḍa	śravevu	śroḫo	śravāhai
	Frequentative	ośrūsau	ośrūsai	ośrūsai	ośrūsāba	ośrūsāsa	ośrūsāḍa	ośrūsaivu	ośrūsāḫo	ośrūsāhai
	Perfect	uśrūm	uśrūvī	uśrū	uśrūra	uśrūri	uśrū	uśrūvima	uśrūviśa	uśrū
	Past	śrūn	śrūvīt	śrūnī	śrūrap	śrūro	śrūra	śrūnān	śrūthā	śrūlī
	Future	śrūṣyam	śrūṣyī	śrūṣya	śrūṣyara	śrūṣyari	śrūṣya	śrūṣyima	śrūṣyiśa	śrūṣya
	Future intentional	uśrūvāḍam	uśrūvāḍī	uśrūvāḍa	uśrūvāḍara	uśrūvāḍari	uśrūvāḍa	uśrūvāḍima	uśrūvāḍiṣa	uśrūvāḍa
Subjunctive	Imperfective	śrūvā	śrūvāt	śrūvai	śrūvoba	śrūvosa	śrūvai	śrūvove	śrūvaut	śrūvai
	Perfective	uśrūvā	uśrūvāt	uśrūvai	uśrūvoba	uśrūvosa	uśrūvai	uśrūvove	uśrūvaut	uśrūvai
Situational	Imperfective	śrūvāpah	śrūvāpi	śrūvāpa	śrūvābba	śrūvāpsa	śrūvābḍa	śrūvāpevu	śrūvāppho	śrūvāpāhai
	Perfective	uśrūvāpam	uśrūvāpī	uśrūvāpa	uśrūvāpra	uśrūvāpri	uśrūvāpa	uśrūvāpima	uśrūvāpiśa	uśrūvāpa
Intensive	Imperfective	auśroh	auśravi	auśro	auśroba	auśrosa	auśroḍa	auśravevu	auśroḫo	auśravāhai
	Perfective	auśrom	auśravī	auśrava	auśrora	auśrori	auśrava	auśravima	auśraviśa	auśrava
Imperative		-	śrau	-	-	-	-	śrāvevu	śrauḫo	-

Copula

The Dundulanyä copula is ga; however, it is not a verb, but an invariable particle which links two nouns:

hine saṃhāram ga ṣurlāke. "This boy is Ṣurlāke."

kālomīye ga ñältahbu. "Kālomīye is my sister."

lalāruṇai fanēyai kuka ga irāḍai. "Lalāruṇai and capybaras are animals."

In any role outside of the direct knowledge indicative present, the copula is replaced by the (regular) verb jall-:

kālomīye dariśah jallī. "Kālomīye was a dancer."

kālomīye dariśah jalliṣya. "Kālomīye will be a dancer."

However, whenever temporal adverbs that imply a non-present tense are found, ga is used instead:

prānilau kālomīye ga dariśah. "Tomorrow, Kālomīye will be a dancer."

The same particle ga doubles as an adpositive particle, joining nouns together in noun phrases:

līlasuṃghāṇa ga marta "city of Līlasuṃghāṇa"

mīhuṅga ga maita "Mīhuṅga river"

śaṃḫe ga hufāne ga śidrañjiḫe. "The word 'śaṃḫe' is a pronoun." (first ga adpositive; second ga copula)

The negative copula is simply idu (not), with the same usage and the same replacement verb:

hine saṃhāram idu ṣurlāke. "This boy is not Ṣurlāke."

kālomīye idu ñältahbu. "Kālomīye is not my sister."

prānilau kālomīye idu dariśah. "Tomorrow, Kālomīye will not be a dancer."

kālomīye dariśah jalliṣiga va. "Kālomīye will not be a dancer."

First- and second-person pronouns have synthetic (fused) copular forms:

yūga dūhṛṃlila. "I am an office worker."

kaṅga umūm lila. "You are a good person."

The undeclinable so-called "copular adjectives", such as cami "great, important", lalla "high, higher; next" or umūm "good", are not used with ga, but need idu in a negative sentence:

āna lila umūm. "That person is good."

hiyome idu cami. "This is not important."

Numerals (dhujāvāmi)

Dundulanyä is one of the few human Eventoan languages - together with the other ancient languages grouped as East Mandabudi languages, a few other languages scattered in southern Lusaṃrīte, and a handful of others around the world, as well as those which have had considerable influence by Dundulanyä itself - with a pure duodecimal numeral system.

Numbers (sg. dhujāvam, pl. dhujāvāmi) have six different forms: cardinal, ordinal, collective, distributive, adverbial/multiplicative, and fractionary. The numbers from 1 to 4 have separate adverbial multiplicative forms, while all other ones have an invariable form used both as adverbial and "adjectival" multiplicatives. Cardinals from 1 to Ɛ and their compounds decline for case (see below); collectives, multiplicatives, and fractionaries always decline, while ordinals are only declined if used as substantives, i.e. without an accompanying noun. Distributives do not decline.

All numeral roots in general usage are native, with the exception of zero, which is a learned borrowing from Lannä b̃atha "nothing".

Digit12	Base 10	Cardinal	Ordinal	Collective	Distributive	Adv./Multiplicative	Fractionary
0	0	b̃atha	(b̃athesi)	—	(b̃athakoma)	(b̃āb̃atha)	—
1	1	emibe emi	rählälu		emibukoma	b̃āɂemibe (adv.) emibūśila	rählälyāṭ
2	2	rirä	hälinaika	rirätām	riräkoma	b̃ārirä (adv.) riräśila	hälinaikyāṭ
3	3	kiṅka	kiṅkesi	kiṅkatām	kiṅkakoma	b̃ākiṅka (adv.) kiṅkośila	kiṅkesyāṭ
4	4	nälte	nältaisi	nältitām	nältakoma	b̃ānälte (adv.) nältauśila	nältaisyāṭ
5	5	śulka	śulkesi	śulkatām	śulkakoma	śulkośila	śulkesyāṭ
6	6	tuɂla	tuɂlesi	tuɂṛtām	tuɂṛkoma	tuɂlośila	tuɂlesyāṭ
7	7	chīka	chīcesi	chīcätām	chīkkoma	chīkośila	chīcesyāṭ
8	8	mbula	mbulesi	mbultām	mbulkoma	mbulośila	mbulesyāṭ
9	9	ḍor̃a	ḍor̃esi	ḍor̃atām	ḍor̃akoma	ḍor̃ośila	ḍor̃esyāṭ
ᘔ	10	tālda	tāldesi	tāldatām	tāldakoma	tāldośila	tāldesyāṭ
Ɛ	11	ṣūḍan	ṣūṇḍisi	ṣūṇḍām	ṣūṇḍakoma	ṣūṇḍuśila	ṣūṇḍisyāṭ
10	12	mūmai	mūmaisi	mūmetām	mūmekoma	mūmāyuśila	mūmaisyāṭ
11	13	emibumūmä	emibumūmäsi	emibumūmätām	emibumūmäkoma	emibumūmäśila	emibumūmäsyāṭ
12	14	rirämūmä	rirämūmäsi	rirämūmätām	rirämūmäkoma	rirämūmäśila	rirämūmäsyāṭ
13	15	kiṅkhälī	kiṅkhälīsi	kiṅkhälītām	kiṅkhälīkoma	kiṅkhälīvśila	kiṅkhälīsyāṭ
14	16	mūmainälte	mūmainältaisi	mūmainältitām	mūmainältakoma	mūmainältauśila	mūmainältaisyāṭ
15	17	mūmaiśulka	mūmaiśulkesi	mūmaiśulkatām	mūmaiśulkakoma	mūmaiśulkośila	mūmaiśulkesyāṭ
16	18	mūmaituɂla	mūmaituɂlesi	mūmaituɂṛtām	mūmaituɂṛkoma	mūmaituɂlośila	mūmaituɂlesyāṭ
17	19	mūmaichīka	mūmaichīcesi	mūmaichīcätām	mūmaichīkkoma	mūmaichīkośila	mūmaichīcesyāṭ
18	20	mūmaimbula	mūmaimbulesi	mūmaimbultām	mūmaimbulkoma	mūmaimbulośila	mūmaimbulesyāṭ
19	21	mūmaiḍor̃a	mūmaiḍor̃esi	mūmaiḍor̃atām	mūmaiḍor̃akoma	mūmaiḍor̃ośila	mūmaiḍor̃esyāṭ
1ᘔ	22	mūmaitālda	mūmaitāldesi	mūmaitāldatām	mūmaitāldakoma	mūmaitāldośila	mūmaitāldesyāṭ
1Ɛ	23	mūmaiṣūḍan	mūmaiṣūṇḍisi	mūmaiṣūṇḍām	mūmaiṣūṇḍakoma	mūmaiṣūṇḍuśila	mūmaiṣūṇḍisyāṭ
20	24	hälimūmai	hälimūmaisi	hälimūmetām	hälimūmekoma	hälimūmāyuśila	hälimūmaisyāṭ

As for the two forms for the numeral "one", emi is used in disjunctive counting (count-ins or countdowns), while emibe is used elsewhere. Compounds always have the full form, i.e. forms such as *hälimūmāyemi do not exist, only hälimūmāyemibe.

Numbers from 20₁₂ above are simply made by compounding teens and units with the appropriate saṃdhi changes, like 21₁₂ (25₁₀) hälimūmāyemibe, and then hälimūmairirä, hälimūmaikiṅka, and so on.
The other dozens are:

30 (36₁₀) kiṅkamūmai

40 (48₁₀) nältamūmai

50 (60₁₀) śulkmūmai

60 (72₁₀) tuɂṛmūmai

70 (84₁₀) chīcämūmai

80 (96₁₀) mbulmūmai

90 (108₁₀) ḍor̃mūmai

ᘔ0 (120₁₀) tāldamūmai

Ɛ0 (132₁₀) ṣūṇḍmūmai

and 100 (144₁₀) trāṣoḍa.

13₁₂ originally meant "one finger/three in the second [dozen]", where the -hälī part is a worn form of hälinaika.

Numbers from 100₁₂ to ƐƐƐ₁₂ are still compounds, e.g. trāṣoḍaimibe, trāṣoḍarirä, and so on.
The other dozenal hundreds are:

200 (288₁₀) rirätrāṣoḍa

300 (432₁₀) kiṅkatrāṣoḍa

400 (576₁₀) nältitrāṣoḍa

500 (720₁₀) śulkatrāṣoḍa

600 (864₁₀) tuɂlatrāṣoḍa

700 (1008₁₀) chīcätrāṣoḍa

800 (1152₁₀) mbultrāṣoḍa

900 (1296₁₀) ḍor̃atrāṣoḍa

ᘔ00 (1440₁₀) tāldatrāṣoḍa

Ɛ00 (1584₁₀) ṣūḍantrāṣoḍa.

1.000 (1728₁₀) is śāyāja and numbers above are separate words, without saṃdhi, e.g. 1.001 śāyāja emibe, 6.2ᘔ9 (10785₁₀) ūṃse śāyāja rirätrāṣoḍatāldamūmaiḍor̃a.
Note that 2.000₁₂ may be either one of śāyājeve, rirä śāyāja - the most common one -, or (only emphatically) rirä śāyājeve.

The other divisions - numbers over ƐƐ.ƐƐƐ₁₂ are based on groups of two digits: the two most commonly used ones in common speech are 1.00.000 (248.832₁₀) - a raice - and 1.00.00.000 (35.831.808₁₀) - a lallaraice.

The next two groups have their separate words, but are quantities rarely used in common speech: 1.00.00.00.000 (12⁹) (5.159.780.352₁₀) is a tūśvāna and 1.00.00.00.00.000 (12¹¹) (743.008.370.688₁₀) a lallatūśvāna.

Particles (riṇūmyobai)

Traditional Dundulanyä grammar only recognizes a single part of speech called "particles" (riṇūmyoba, pl. riṇūmyobai, literally "helper(s)") which includes conjunctions, postpositions, and interjections.

Clitic particles

The following particles are clitics added to the end of nouns; they are all conjunctive particles that do not require any particular case of a noun. They are exclusively used with nouns, pronouns or numerals, not verbs.
Most such clitic particles are added to all nouns they refer to.

• -cu ... -cu — and (in incomplete listings - cf. -t), e.g. nilāḍacu śusopacu "East and West [and the other cardinal points]"; yuṅgaccu śilomaccu cyavūh "I want a guava, a papaya[, and...]".
• -in ... -in — exclusive or; either ... or. Note that it undergoes irregular saṃdhi, combining with a preceding -a to the highest grade; e.g. yuṅgain śilomain "either the guava or the papaya".
• -ka ... -ka — inclusive or; e.g. yuṅgaka śilomaka "the guava or the papaya [or something else]".
• -t ... -t — and (in complete listings - cf. -cu), e.g. vyānat māhanat "left and right"; amamūt mamūtrat niyānit "mom, aunt, and grandma"; yuṅgatat śilomatat cyavūh "I want [only] a guava and a papaya".

Non-clitic conjunctions

• itta is a conjunctive particle, translatable as "and", "meanwhile" or "while": nādaśrūṣeya cända itta nādaśrūṣeɂe śyūda. "Your (sg.) bike is orange, while his/her bike is black."

When preceded by a negated statement, it means "but, instead": yuna idu emeni itta imāma. "I am not Emeni, [I am] Imāma"; lāltaṣveyak girgh va itta kiṣūrak "I didn't fly to Lāltaṣveya, [I flew to] Kiṣūra instead."

• kuka — and, amongst others; while similar to the clitic -cu, it is more emphatic and generally only used together with plural nouns (or singularia tantum, see the second example), and comes after the last of the nouns it refers to. It can be more accurately rendered with periphrases such as "[things] like ..."; e.g. lalāruṇai fanēyai kuka ga irāḍai "Lalāruṇai and capybaras, amongst others, are animals"; nāra maɂiḍa kuka idu dambū itta mugba. "[Foodstuffs] like sorghum or rice are not fruits, but cereals."

Postpositions

• araṇa (+ bound form (accusative in formal usage)) is an ornative particle, originally a perfect form of the class 0 root raṇ- (to equip, to confer), e.g. dvārmev araṇa līve (formal: dvārmeyītha araṇa līve) "two-room flat".

Derivational morphology (vāb̃lavona hufāmvailaḫlana)

Noun-forming morphemes

There are four morphemes that are used to form general derivatives from verbal roots: -a, -vu, -ib-e and -uḍu. The first two are generally unproductive nowadays (even though a terminal -a is often added to the end of loanwords, it is not considered to be this morpheme), while the latter two are still somewhat used in new coinings. All four morphemes are used with the zero-grade (ślūtya) root.

• lel- (to live) → lila (person; living thing)
• jo- (to hurry) → jūva (hurry) (with epenthetic -v- due to regular saṃdhi)
• tvorg- (to fear) → tūrgibe (fear)
• mord- (to promise) → murdibe (promise)
• ḫamf- (to express oneself) → ḫamfa (language)
• nyäɂ- (to laugh) → nyäɂvu (laugh) (also nyäɂa)
• dhā- (to let, permit) → dhauḍu (permission)
• ṣrop- (to honor, celebrate) → ṣropuḍu (praise)
• tamb- (to kiss) → tambuḍu (kiss)
• lav- (to go, walk) → lavibe (walk)

-(i)ḫ-e (first ablauting declension) sometimes marks a result of the action denoted by a verb root, but commonly has unpredictable meanings (even agents, particularly body parts).

• lel- (to live) → lelḫe (life)
• rañj- (to name, identify, mark) → rañjiḫe (name; noun)
• tuḫ- (to beat) → tuḫḫe (heart)
• bhel- (to eat) → bheliḫe (meal)

-ta has a similar meaning (or unpredictablity) as -(i)ḫ-e, but often implies a sense of collectiveness, or an abstract state. Used with the middle-grade (būcūya) root.

• ṣar- (to rule, govern) → ṣarta (government, rule; in compounds: -cracy)
• śod- (to know, understand) → śodda (knowledge; in compounds: -logy)
• ni-sākh- (to create, produce) → nisāktha (production, artifact; the works of an artist)

-uṣ-a (second ablauting declension) forms meaning related to qualities, but sometimes also something used for a determinate action.

• bhaṭ- (to expand, swell, bloat) → bhaṭuṣa (expansion, swelling)
• kṛs- (to wait) → kṛsuṣa (wait)
• meś- (to see) → meśuṣa (visibility)

-na (-ra after t or d; -iyāna after Cy; -uvāna after Cv; -ṝna with a preceding ṛ), with a middle-grade root, is the most common suffix denoting qualities.

• meś- (to see) → meśña (sight)
• ne- (to say, tell, speak) → nena (voice)
• śoc- (to clean) → śocña (cleanliness)
• dhomy- (to hope) → dhomiyāna (hope)
• prā-nart- (to imagine, foresee) → prānartra (imagination; clairvoyance)

-ūmma, with middle grade ablaut, is a rarer suffix with a meaning overlapping to -uṣ-a.

• pūn- (to work) → pūnūmma (work [a relationship between employer and employee])
• bhe- (to cure, care for) → bhayūmma (caring)
• dar- (to do) → darūmma (action; verb)
• rav- (to open) → ravūmma (width, breadth)

-anah, with middle grade ablaut, denotes an act or process, or its tangible manifestation (see third example).

• śoc- (to clean) → śocanah (cleaning, the act of cleaning)
• gont- (to buy) → gontanah (shopping)
• meś-on- (to see + causative marker) → meśonnah (exhibition)

-āmita, with higher grade ablaut (udhyukṣṇise) when used with verb roots, also forms quality, states, but often with more abstract meanings - cf. English -hood, -ship, -ism - or denoting a state in scientific terms. Unlike most previous suffixes, it is most commonly (but not exclusively) used to derive nouns from other nouns, instead of verb roots or stems.

• ñältah (sister; (male's) sister; sibling) → ñältāmita "siblinghood; sisterhood, brotherhood"
• lilāḍu (friend) → lilāḍvāmita (friendship) (bookish variant lilāḍūmita)
• lel- (to live) → lailāmita (the state of being alive)
• girḍ- (to be wet) → gīrḍāmita (humidity)

-āvam (m-stem non-ablauting), with zero grade ablaut, has various generic and sometimes unpredictable meanings, though typically instrumental.

• dhoj- (to keep together; assign, allocate) → dhujāvam (number, numeral)
• khor- (to sing) → khurāvam (choir)
• śod- (to know, understand) → śudāvam (explanation)

-ūlt-e, or -lt-e with lengthening of a stem-final vowel (more rarely simply -lt-e), with middle grade ablaut, forms nouns that generally denote tools, something used in doing an action; containers; more rarely places - cf. Latin -brum.

• nādah (leg) → nādālte (knee-length sock)
• tuḫ- (to beat) → tuḫūlte (drum)
• śoc- (to clean) → śocūlte (detergent; cleaning product)
• hamvy- (to cradle) → hamvyūlte (cradle)
• näly- (to think) (class V) → nälilte (brain)

-ṅ-ka (second ablauting declension) also denotes tools, or instruments that do a particular action - not always synonymous with the preceding one.

• haf- (to insert) → hāṅka (socket)
• ni-de- (to stand on, to stand over) → nideṅka (roof)
• ni-ko- (to sit on) → nikoṅka (chair)

-ura (but -y-ura → -ira), attached to a verb's perfect stem, denotes something that has undergone a certain action (i.e. the equivalent of a past participle).

• pad-miś- (to see beyond, to see further) → padimiśura (view, overlook)
• cor- (to save, keep for the future) → ucururai (savings) (pl. tantum)
• lūkr- (to fold) → ulūkrura (wardrobe [the elements composing it, and colloquially, by extension, the piece of furniture])

-s-e, with a zero grade root, is a synonym of -ura, but generally used in a compound where the first element denotes the agent, or with a verb prefix.
Note that ablauting roots ending in -ar-, no matter the class, lengthen the vowel to -ār- and do not add the -s-.

• nādah (leg) + śro- (to propel, launch) → nādaśrūṣe (bicycle, bike)
• pūnan (worker) + ṣar- (to rule) → pūnaṃṣāre (worker cooperative)
• pad- (forth, beyond) + gṇyau- (to give birth; to be born) → padagṇyausi (sons and daughters) (pl. tantum)
• udhi- (within) + ukṣṇy- (to grow) → udhyukṣṇise (higher grade ablaut, vṛddhi)

-ḫana, with zero grade ablaut, forms nouns meaning "that ought to be X-ed", i.e. a future passive participle.

• uc- (to believe) → vacchana (miracle)
• meś- (to see) → miśaḫana (video)
• śod- (to know, understand) → śuddhana (rule)

-tya (-dya after voiced stops; -ś-tya → -cya) is a singulative suffix, denoting either a single thing of a collective noun, or a single constituent of a broader act. In modern coinings, it is also used to denote a division of something.

• jo- (to hurry) → jūtya (run)
• meś- (to see) → micya (a look)
• tvorg- (to fear) → tūrgdya (fright, scare)
• ślo- (to be left) → ślūtya (remain, residue; zero grade ablaut)
• daśa (rain) → dacya (raindrop)

-aC(-e), where C is the last consonant of the root, is one of multiple suffixes forming (mostly human, but not exclusively) agent nouns:

• pūn- (to work) → pūnan (worker)
• meś- (to see) → miśaśe (guard, warden)
• brom- (to blow, wipe) → brūmam (wind; gale)

-ar (ṛ-stem non ablauting, with lemma form in -ah) with middle grade ablaut and -i- infixed before the last consonant forms agent (often occupational) nouns:

• helk- (to dye) → helikah (dyer)
• darś- (to dance) → dariśah (dancer)
• nart- (to dream) → naritah (dreamer)

-oba with zero grade ablaut and -nū- before the last consonant sequence of the root also forms agent nouns. It is never used with class I, VI, VII and VIII roots.

• bog- (to steal) → bunūgoba (thief)
• deh- (to use) → dinūhoba (user)
• remy- (to help) → riṇūmyoba (helper)

-īya, with zero grade ablaut, forms mostly non-human agent nouns. It is no longer productive.
In some older coinings, it surfaces simply as -ya.

• śan- (to breathe) → śñīya (nose)
• śmer- (to bake, roast) → śmirīya (oven)
• yon- (to create, beget) → yunya (nature; creator spirit; goddess)
• gläp- (to lick, lap) → glipya (tongue; blade; oar)

-eṣa forms collective nouns.

• lila (person) → lileṣa (people)
• ñältah (sister; (male's) sister; sibling) → ñältaɂeṣa "siblings; brothers and sisters"
• laire (sky; air) → laireṣa (galaxy)

-apa, with zero grade ablaut, forms nouns referring to places and locations:

• ij- (to teach) → yajapa (school)
• dhroṣ- (to plow) → dhruṣapa (farm)
• śusva (evening) → śusopa (west)
• rirä (two) + maila (water) / vāla (sea) → rirämailapa/rirävālapa (peninsula, spit; isthmus)

-īd-e (-d-e after a vowel or a sonorant, except in class I roots), with zero grade ablaut and zero grade reduplication, is another derivation forming place nouns.

• pūn- (to work) → pupūnde (workplace)
• ṣar- (to rule, govern) → ṣaṣrīde (headquarters; department; (hist.) seat of power; throne; capital city; sometimes used as a toponym)
• kṛs- (to wait) → kakrasīde (waiting room)

-ādhu means "having X".

• maiha (daughter) → maihādhūve (parents) (dual/plural only)
• b̃īla (terrain, soil) → b̃īlādhu (field)

-(m)ūya denotes something which has X as a distinctive trait; for some words, especially denominal formations, it can mean "made of X".

• girḍ- (to be wet) → girḍūya (tongue)
• jo- (to hurry) → jūmūya (deadline)
• būc- (to be flat) → būcūya (middle grade ablaut, guṇa)
• tāmira (rock, stone) → tāmirūya (stone tool)

-ic-e (1st ablauting declension) forms nouns, generally from verbal roots, with the meaning of "result, remain, product or byproduct of an action":

• gird- (to be wet) → girḍice (the mark left by something wet)
• meś- (to see) → meśice (liter., bookish: knowledge)
• goṃs- (to cut) → goṃsice (piece, part)

-äśah (-ɂäśah when added to -ah nouns) denotes a tree or a plant having a certain fruit.

• māra (mango) → māräśah (mango tree)
• dīlla (peas) → dīlläśah (pea plant)
• haisah (pineapple) → haisɂäśah (pineapple tree)

-īrä is a fossilized suffix used to form temporal units.

• jūlafe (market) → jūlafīrä (week)

-ida, with higher grade ablaut, is an older diminutive suffix, often now lexicalized and rarely used productively.

• īs-ko- (to sit hanging) → īskāvida (swing)
• b̃oṭa (finger) → b̃oṭida (little finger, pinky)

-ulu with higher grade vowel is a suffix that forms demonyms (cf. vṛddhi derivation). In some cases, there are more variants of a same word depending on the strengthened vowel, and the one that is preferred depends on usage (usually the last one, with the exception of lausaṃrītulu).

• Lusaṃrīte → lausaṃrītulu (preferred) or lusaṃraitulu
• Jūhma → jauhmulu
• Mūmäfumbe → mūmäfaumbulu
• Lāltaṣveya → lāltaṣvājñulu (with regular saṃdhi from the underlying form *lāltaṣvaiyulu)

In older stages of the language, vṛddhi derivations were also formed with the suffix -a; this remains as a fossilized suffix in certain words, cf. given names in -faula from fulah "hearth".

-(y)ek-e, fronting velars to palatals if possible, (or -ik-e after palatals themselves), -īcen-e, also palatalizing velars, and -iccha are productive diminutive suffixes. Of the three, -īcen-e often implies endearment, coziness, especially when contrasted to the other two or explicitely used after the same noun modified with one of the other two suffixes.

• saṃhāram (boy) → saṃhārmyeke (little boy)
• ābābi (town square) → ābābīceni (a nice and cozy little town square) (pl. tantum as the unmodified noun)
• cūlla (car) → cūlliccha (toy car)
• lilāḍu (friend) → lilāḍīcene (little friend - often used by parents referring to kids' friends)
• yalka (beach) → yalcīcene (small, often secluded beach)

Syntax

Word order

The Dundulanyä word order is usually described as topic-comment; the topic (tatsampra or caṃhūmuṭa), whether explicit or "unmarked" (as per native terminology) is always the first element of a sentence and everything else - the comment or padnīse - comes afterwards. The most commonly used terminology in native sources distinguishes two different kinds of topics as iḍiṭa tatsampra vs. idviḍiṭa tatsampra (the latter also tadgarḫē iḍiṭa tatsampra or darūmmē iḍiṭa tatsampra), translated here as "explicit topic" and "unmarked topic" (or "voice-marked topic" or "verb-marked topic") respectively. Explicit topic (iḍiṭa tatsampra) is understood as a topic marked by the particle ba.

The comment's structure could be described as OSV, but the definition of subject and object does not apply fully to Dundulanyä. S is whatever agrees with the verb, i.e. the triggered argument, called hūmmikṣe in Dundulanyä. O, in this broad scheme, stands for any other argument ("object" and oblique ones). Anyway, OSV is a rough but good approximation for that as (see the third, fourth and fifth example sentences below) the closest argument to the verb is the agent when non-triggered in a sentence with unmarked topic, or the direct argument in a sentence with explicit topic. The verb complex always comes in last position in a sentence, except for some particles.

śiloma epenē yama.
śiloma epen-ē yam-∅-∅-a
papaya.DIR.SG. child-ERG.SG. eat-EXP-PAT-PRES.3SG.IND.
The papaya is being eaten by a child.

epena śilomat yamū.
epena śiloma-t yam-∅-ū-(a)
child.DIR.SG. papaya-ACC.SG. eat-EXP-AG-PRES.3SG.IND.
The child is eating a papaya.

udra śilomat epenē yamīsa.
udra śiloma-t epen-ē yam-∅-īs-a
treetrunk.DIR.SG. papaya-ACC.SG. child-ERG.SG. eat-EXP-LOC-PRES.3SG.IND.
A child is eating a papaya [sitting] on the treetrunk. (or: *the treetrunk is being eaten a papaya on by a child.)

ṭuṇṭiccha śilomat epenē yammi.
ṭuṇṭiccha śiloma-t epen-ē yam-∅-mi-(a)
pair_of_chopsticks.DIR.SG. papaya-ACC.SG. child-ERG.SG. eat-EXP-CIRC-PRES.3SG.IND.
A child is eating [pieces of] papaya with chopsticks. (or: *the chopsticks are being eaten [pieces of] papaya with by a child.)

ñältahbu ba ṣṭhīṭaṅ lunaichir̃ā lilāḍu tadyemigī va.
ñältaɂ-bu ba ṣṭhīṭaṅ lunaichir̃-ā lilāḍu ta-di-emi-g-∅-ī=va
male's_sister.DIR.SG-POSS.1SG. TOPIC. yesterday. tea_house-LOC.SG. friend.DIR.SG. PLACE-stand.HUMAN-REP1-IRR-PAT-PAST.3SG=NEG.
[I was told that] My sister didn't meet her friend at the tea house yesterday.

Non-verb-final word orders are possible, but are practically only ever used in poetry in order to fit into particular metres.

Complement order

The typical organization of the sentence is, therefore:

Sentence with explicit topic:
explicit topic — temporal complement — (anti)benefactives — compl. of manner~essive case — locative complements — semantic patient — semantic agent — direct argument — verb — sentence-final particles

Sentence with unmarked topic:
unmarked topic — temporal complement — (anti)benefactives — compl. of manner~essive case — locative complements — semantic patient — semantic agent — verb — sentence-final particles

Note that temporal complements may, in certain circumstances, act as if they were explicit topics, but not marked with ba. In that case, the structure followed is, in fact, the same as for sentences with explicit topics, i.e. with the direct argument immediately preceding the verb.

buneya länta yuna ba lalla jūlafīrä maihādhūv räl himai kurūṣarthak udhiśūsililūva nindade nadajäthāḍūva.
buneya länta yuna ba lalla jūlafīrä maihādhu-:v räl himai kurūṣartha-k udhiśūs<ı>lil-∅-ū-a nindad-e nad-a-jäth-āḍ-∅-ū-a
female's_older_sister.BOUND.SG. together_with. 1SG.DIR. TOPIC. next. "week".LOC.SG. parents-BOUND.DU. BENEF. canoe.INSTR.SG. Kurūṣartha-DAT. experience.PERF-EXP-AG-3.IND. guide-DIR.SG.. lead-PERF_STEM_MARKER-float_on_water-FUTINT-EXP-AG-3.IND.
My older sister and I, next week, as for our parents' will, will be escorted by an experienced guide on our canoe trip to Kurūṣartha.

ṣṭhīṭaṅ śusvā lārvapak yuna lon.
ṣṭhīṭaṅ śusv-ā lārvapa-k yuna lav-∅-∅-n
yesterday. evening-LOC.SG. temple-DAT.SG. 1SG.DIR. walk-EXP-LOC-PAST.3SG.IND.
Yesterday [in the] evening I went/was walking to the temple on foot.

Epiphrasis

Epiphrasis (anumyūse) is the main syntactic change to the main constituent order.

yuna lādragilā pūnah, gluḫambut.
yuna lādragy0l-ā pūn-∅-∅-h gluḫ0m-bu=t
1SG.DIR. inn-LOC.SG. work-EXP-PAT-PRES.3SG.IND. female's_brother.DIR.SG-POSS.1SG=and.
I work at the inn, and so does my brother.

kiṅkū naviṣyū meśah, nyoṭa goldyūt.
kiṅk-ū naviṣy-ū meś-∅-∅-h ni-oṭ-∅-∅-a goldi-ū=t
three-ABL. book-ABL.SG. see-EXP-PAT-PRES.3SG.IND. lie_on-EXP-PAT-PRES.3SG.IND. cat-ABL.SG=and.
I see the three books, as well as the cat lying on them.

Verb phrase

Positional-classificatory verbs

Positional and classificatory verbs are the most lexically complex part of Dundulanyä verbs, together with the rich system of positional prefixes which is a distinguishing feature of the language. Such roots are used to describe states of people, animals and objects, as well as the ways in which they are carried, brought or pulled.

Positional-classificatory verbs are categorized for two dimensions: the nature of the patient and the nature of the action. According to the nature of the patient, positional-classificatory verbs are distinguished by their reference to the following categories:

• Spherical objects, or otherwise with approximately the same width, length and height;
• Long objects (much greater in one dimension than in the others), generally stiff;
• Ropes or other long, non-stiff objects (e.g. palm leaves);
• People, children, pets and farm animals; dolls and plush toys in the shape of humans or animals;
• Masses or generic/uncategorized objects, as well as figurative meanings;
• Non-contained liquids;
• Contained liquids;
• Contained masses of (homogeneous) solids, e.g. seeds, flour;
• Contained masses of heterogeneous solids, or mixed bundles;
• Sheets, paper sheets, slabs, also rocks;
• Large objects that cannot be carried by humans, as well as wild animals.

According to the nature of the action, positional-classificatory verbs are:

• Stative-existential:
  • Horizontal ("to be; to lie");
  • Seated ("to be; to sit");
  • Vertical ("to be; to stand");
• Verbs of placing:
  • Horizontal ("to put, lay");
  • Seated ("to put, seat");
  • Vertical ("to put, place");
• Verbs of carrying:
  • in the hands or arms;
  • on the head;
  • on the back;
  • by vehicle;
• Verbs of pulling, dragging;
• Verbs of throwing.

For most patient natures, the stative-existential meaning is the perfect of the corresponding verb of placing; however, the "people, children, pets and farm animals" category uses the bare root as the stative-existential and the causative as the corresponding verb of placing. All patient nature categories except for "spherical objects" and "contained heterogenous masses" are differentiated in the horizontal stative-existential/placing category, although the horizontal root for the "large objects/wild animals" category is the same one used for vertical position for the "people, children, pets and farm animals" category. In all other action nature categories there is at least one root used for two or more patient nature classes, or at least one such class which lacks a root.

Not all intersections of patient nature and action nature have a corresponding verb; for example, there are no verbs of carrying for the "large objects that cannot be carried by humans/wild animals", nor have most categories verbs for seated and vertical positions. As an extreme example, the "non-contained liquids" category only has the horizontal stative-existential/placing verb and the verb of throwing (which can be simply translated as "to splash").

The verbs of putting, placing and throwing furthermore correspond to verbs of giving when used together with a dative termination, e.g. mārat tyūhya "I give/hand you the mango"; tūfītha śravūbasin "We throw you the balls". The ablative marker, meanwhile, forms verbs of taking from verbs of putting, and verbs of catching from verbs of throwing, e.g. snīghidat hāsyūvi "you take the sheet", mārat dūṇū gātyuyūh "I take the mango out of the box"; tūfat śrūyūh "I catch the ball".

Some positional-classificatory verbs have acquired further meanings, for example the reflexive of "to put down a non-contained liquid" (or, simply, "to pour") means "to rain", which can then also be specified with the cislocative prefix: cf. ijmaika (id-s-me-ik-a) "it's raining [here]", līlā idemaika (id-eme-ik-a) "it has rained in Līlah [we are/were in another city]", līlā ijemaika (id-s-eme-ik-a) "it has rained in Līlah [we are/were there]".

The following table indicates all positional-classificatory verb roots with the respective ablaut classes:

Dundulanyä positional-classificatory verb roots

→ Action nature ↓ Patient nature	Stative-existential			Placing			Carrying				Pulling, dragging	Throwing
	To be, lie	To be, sit	To be, stand	To put, lay	To put, seat	To put, place (vertically)	In the hands/arms	On the head	On the back	By vehicle
Spherical/proportionate	(utyuva)	-	-	√tyu- (0)	-	-	√yup- (0)	-	-	√klem- (II)	-	√śro- (III)
Long, stiff objects	(akā)		(achāsa)	√kā- (0)		√chās- (0)	√dom- (III)	√lon- (III)	√yaṅk- (I)	√eñj- (II)	√khol- (III)	√kon- (III)
Ropes Long, non stiff objects	(apṣma)		-	√pṣam- (I)		-	ta-√pṣam- (I)	-	-	-
People, children Pets and farm animals Dolls, plush toys	-√oṭ- (III) (-uɂuṭa)	-√ko- (III) (-akava)	-√de- (II) (-edaya)	-√oṭ-on- (III)	-√ko-on (III) (-kavon-)	-√de-on- (II) (-dayon-)	-√tol- (III)		√yaṅk- (I)	√eñj- (II)	-	√yug- (0)
Masses, generic/uncategorized Contained, heterogeneous masses Figurative	(amyava)	-	-	√myo- (II)	-	-	ta-√myo- (II)		-	√ilm- (0)		√kon- (III)
Non-contained liquids	(emaya)			√me- (II)			-			-		√mañc- (0)
Contained liquids	(aśoma)			√śom- (III)			√pse- (II)	√lon- (III)	√so- (III)	√klem- (II)		-
Contained masses of homogeneous solids	(aiya)			√ī- (0)						√ilm- (0)
Contained masses of heterogeneous solids Mixed bundles	(utyuva)			√tyu- (0)			√yup- (0)	√ilm- (0)	√so- (III)	√klem- (II)		√śro- (III)
Sheets, paper sheets Slabs, rocks	(ahāsa)			√hās- (0)			ta-√hās- (0)	√ilm- (0)	√so- (III)	√khol- (III)		√yug- (0)
Large objects that cannot be carried Wild animals	(-edaya)	(utūṣa)	(achāsa)	-√de- (II)	√tvoṣ- (III)	√chās- (0)	-	-	-	√khol- (III)	√khol- (III)	-

Telicity in perception verbs

A subset of Dundulanyä verbs are known as "perception verbs" and, while generally grammatically regular, they deserve a specific subsection in an English-language grammar as, syntactically and semantically, they are inherently different from the corresponding English verbs.

In this subset of verbs, the semantic patient is the one who undergoes the experience of perceiving (seeing, knowing, lacking, etc.), due to the non-volitional nature of the action described.

Perception verbs are therefore inherently atelic and intransitive: the semantic patient is the perceiver, while the perceived thing is an ablative argument. In this respect, it could be said that Dundulanyä extends to physical perception the syntactic treatment of feelings. See for example the two following sentences, both using different perception verbs:

jñū meśah.
jñu-ū meś-∅-∅-h
tree-ABL.SG. see-EXP-PAT-1SG.IND.PRES.
I see the tree.

nenūya chläh.
nena-ū=ya chlä-∅-∅-h
voice-ABL.SG=2SG. be_happy-EXP-PAT-1SG.IND.PRES.
I'm happy to hear from you.

Perception verbs include many common roots in the language, such as √meś- (to see), √śod- (to know, understand), √nely- (to think), √chlä- (to be happy, glad), √śeñc- (to lack, miss), √vart- (to need), √hend- (to hear), √hälp̃- (to be moved, touched), √lom̃b̃- (to like), or √kol- (to forget).

From most atelic roots, telic transitive verbs can be derived by means of different prefixes (most commonly ta- (here), sam- (to the next one), mīram- (towards), pad- (beyond), sve- (full, all); where the action is conceptualized as negative also viṣ- (away), but more specific meanings can be formed through other prefixes). The results are lexicalized verbs, which are often better translated using different English verbs; cf. the following ones:

• meś- (to see) → ta-meś- (to watch);
• śod- (to know, understand) → saṃ-śod- (to learn) → causative saṃ-śod-on- (to teach);
• hend- (to hear) → ta-hend- (to listen);
• śeñc- (to lack, miss) → vikṣeñc- (viṣ-śeñc-) (to renounce);
• vart- (to need) → ta-vart- (to require, demand);
• kol- (to forget) → viṣ-kol- (to purposefully forget).

Vocabulary

Colours

Dundulanyä people traditionally distinguish 13 basic colours (hīmba), with the notable presence of two heavily culturally significant ones: golden yellow and lilac:

Colour	Noun	Verb to be …	Prototypical example
Black	śyūda	śyūdah
Blue, also dark green	kāmila	kāmilah
Brown	tūnya	tūnyah
Golden yellow	chlīm̃a	chlīm̃ah
Gray	nijam	nijmah
Green	bhāca	bhācah
Light yellow	khañja	khañjah
Lilac	kalya	kalyah
Orange	cände	cändah
Pink	kīlana	kīlanah
Red	ūnika	ūnikah
Violet, dark lilac	somye	somih
White	pāṇḍa	pāṇḍah

Time

The Eventoan day is about 34.8 Earth hours long, and there is no uniform standard to divide it among the various parts of the planet. The Dundulanyä divide the day into 48 (40₁₂) subdivisions called garaṇai (singular garaṇa), each one about 43.5 Earth minutes long. The day is, for timekeeping and time expressions, divided into eight periods, called TBD, of six garaṇai each.

Each garaṇa is divided into four timeframes called railai (singular raila) - about 10.8 Earth minutes - further divided into 30 (26₁₂) units known as nartī (singular narti) - a little less than 22 Earth seconds each.
Nartī are divided into eight nīmaṣi (sg. nīmaṣe) - 2.72 Earth seconds - which are further divided into twelve idimaṣi (sg. idimaṣe) - 0.227 Earth seconds.

"Thinking" in Dundulanyä

The English verb "to think" may be translated in different ways in Dundulanyä. Its meaning "to think" in the sense of imagining or communicating in one's own mind is translated by the root √nely-:

nad tho nelyah. — I'm thinking about you.

nelyāpah jallah. — I think, therefore I am.

When "to think" is used in order to state one's opinion, Dundulanyä makes the distinction of that thing being a personal opinion based on experience or trustable facts (root √sām-) or an uncertain opinion, often because of mere sensation (still √nely-) (much like the Danish distinction between at synes and at tro). Both verbs require the quotative particle tati:

duljive umūm tati sāmūh. — I think the movie is good. (for I have seen it)

duljive umūm tati nelyah. — I think the movie is good. (but I haven't seen it)

√sām- is used also to state one's opinion about a situation (still requiring tati) as well as in the construction (2SG) inyo, better translated as "if I were you" (needs a subjunctive verb):

taśive umūm tati sāmūh. — I think it's a good idea.

viṣam guntai nad inyo sāmūh. — if I were you, I'd buy the other one. (note imperfective subjunctive)

viṣam uguntai nad inyo sāmūh. — if I were you, I'd have bought the other one. (perfective subjunctive here)

√nely-, on the other hand, is used in the past to state something that was thought to be one way but turned out not to be. Also, it is used for future forecasts:

nälte nilavā tati nilin, lalla dāvan cāhin jallīyās. — I thought it was 4:00 in the morning, but it was already lalla dāvan (7:00 in the morning).

kaṅga naṅgaśaurulu tati inilyam hä ! — I thought you were from Naṅgaśūra! (the perfect here could also be translated as "until now, I had been thinking ...")

prānilau idmaiṣyika tati nelyah. — I think it's going to rain tomorrow.

Note that √nely- is a perception verb, as defined above, and therefore intransitive, unlike √sām-.

Still, it's better not to translate directly "to think" as √nely- as in many cases Dundulanyä simply uses an evidential marker:

ut drävūnī. — I think (s)he did it. (= apparently, (s)he did it)

ut drebūnī. — I think (s)he did it, but it's probably not so. (= apparently, (s)he did it, but probably not)

duljive umūm emi. — I've been told the movie is good.

Sensorial and emotional beauty

There are two Dundulanyä words that translate to "beautiful": lītanah (√lītan-) and ñäheyah (√ñähey-). While conceptually similar, they are often not interchangeable: ñäheyah refers to sensorial beauty, while lītanah to beauty in an emotional sense. Some examples:

naṅgaḍuk padimiśura ñäheya. — the view on the lake is beautiful. (note also how padimiśura (a view) requires dative case on its argument)

lelḫe hiyo lītana. — life here is beautiful.

huline ñäheya. — the woman is beautiful. (i.e. her appearance is beautiful)

huline lītana. — the woman is beautiful. (i.e. she has many good qualities)

The derived nouns ñähejña (with a rarer variant ñähīna) and lītanna may be translated as "outer beauty" and "inner beauty" respectively.

Personal names

Main article: Dundulanyä names

External history

Dundulanyä is a conlang project that I “officially” started in early December 2021 (coincidentally around the fifth anniversary since I started Chlouvānem), although it and its goals are, to a large extent, the conflation of multiple projects that I sporadically worked on for most of 2021:

• A long process of “refinement” of Chlouvānem – that happened offline, so it was never reflected in any edit on the wiki pages here – by eliminating or changing some quirks that had formed over time and that had brought me to a standstill in working on that conlang by late 2020. Ideas for the refinement started from nominal morphology but then they eventually snowballed to the point it was impossible to implement them without basically starting the conlang anew;
• A radical reboot of Tameï that was meant to give it an a priori language family in a slightly changed conworld setting (although still on an alternative Earth); this was the language I originally created the glottonym Dundulanyä for;
• Various unnamed sketchlangs, mostly attempts at Hurro-Urartian diachronic conlanging, that were the results of a general interest in Ancient Near Eastern languages as a side-effect of my work on Lifashian (my “conlang of choice” for most of 2021) - although some of those ideas eventually became the "successor" to Lifashian, that is, Elodian.

Nevertheless, Dundulanyä for years has mostly been a collection of ideas still not totally parted from Chlouvānem, and it gained steam on its own only in late 2023 (first half of November), two years after its official start.

Dundulanyä is meant to be the first conlang for a sort of reboot of Calémere – Eventoa – as, much like in Chlouvānem itself, there had come to be quite a few things in and about Calémere that I wasn’t that sure of keeping, but changing them would have meant to change so many things about the conworld that depended on them. Eventoa, as of now (November 14, 2023) is a WIP conworld about which I'm still adding and discarding ideas nearly every time I work on it, so there’s little to be written about it – but it eventually will incorporate a few elements of Calémere. Dundulanyä will play a role in Eventoa vaguely similar to the one Chlouvānem had in Calémere, although unlike earlier conworld reboots I have decided not to trash everything away (hence why I chose a different name for Eventoa), keeping eight years’ worth of documentation about Calémere and five years’ worth about Chlouvānem intact.

See Chlouvānem § External history and Calémere § External history for more.

Compared to Chlouvānem, Dundulanyä is going to tone down somewhat the Sanskrit and particularly the Lithuanian and Japanese influences, while being more influenced by PIE itself, Hurrian, Urartian, Elamite, Anatolian languages, Akkadian, languages of the Caucasus (particularly Adyghe), and more aesthetic influences from Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Tamil.

See also

• Eventoa
• Dundulanyä names