Verse:Hmøøh/Talma/Literature

Netagin (barīts Natāgīn) is a triconsonantal language inspired by Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic, spoken in Western Cuadhlabh. This page describes Ancient Netagin.

Todo

• final -ʔ to block initial seimhiu in descendants
• need more binyanim (~ 10 like Arabic)
• passive binyanim?
• yarifi = wheel
• bīlan = woman
• mufgōrin = castle
• qabatxōt = alligator
• Imperatives? Moods/seq of tenses?

Roots

• n-t-g: ???
• r-s-d: study
• z-ʔ-r: go
• k-d-d: fly
• w-r-š: love
• b-n-š: hide

Phonology

Ancient Netagin had the following consonants (note no /l/!):

m n ŋ tʰ t kʰ k ʔ b d g f s ts ɬ tɬ ʃ ħ h z ʕ w r j

⟨m n ŋ t ṭ k q ʔ b d g f s ts x tx š ħ h z ȝ w r y⟩

The following vowels were used:

i iː u uː
a aː oː
aj aw

⟨i ī u ū a ā ō ay aw⟩

Stress is marked with an acute accent.

Morphology

Nouns and adjectives

Gender and number

Three numbers: sg, du/col, pl

Four genders: masculine (air), feminine (earth), fire, water (inspired by Valyrian)

absolute, construct, possessed forms

Definite article: ha-(gemination)

Noun and adjective endings

	Singulative		Dual-collective		Plurative
	absolute	construct	absolute	construct	absolute	construct
Air	-i	-∅	-ūʔ	-ū	-āʔ	-ā
Earth	-an	-ā	-ōnūʔ	-ōnū	-ōnāʔ	-ōnā
Fire	-in	-ay	-ayyūʔ	-ayyū	-ayyāʔ	-ayyā
Water	-ōti, -ti	-at, -t	-(a)tūʔ	-(a)tū	-(a)tāʔ	-(a)tā

For example, below are the declensions of yarifi (m.) = 'wheel'; bīlan (f.) = 'woman, wife'; mufgōrin (t.) = 'castle'; qabatxōt (a.) = 'alligator':

Sample nouns

	Singulative		Dual-collective		Plurative
	absolute	construct	absolute	construct	absolute	construct
Air	yarifi	yarif	yarifūʔ	yarifū	yarifāʔ	yarifā
Earth	bīlan	bīlā	bīlōnūʔ	bīlōnū	bīlōnāʔ	bīlōnā
Fire	mufgōrin	mufgōray	mufgōrayyūʔ	mufgōrayyū	mufgōrayyāʔ	mufgōrayyā
Water	qabatxōti	qabatxat	qabatxtūʔ	qabatxtū	qabatxtāʔ	qabatxtā

Possessive suffixes

Air singulative nouns

	Singular	Dual	Plural
1	yarifiki	yarifikū	yarifikā
2	yarifini	yarifinū	yarifinā
3	yarifihi	yarifihū	yarifihā

Earth singulative nouns

	Singular	Dual	Plural
1	bilāki	bilākū	bilākā
2	bilāni	bilānū	bilānā
3	bilāhi	bilāhū	bilāhā

Fire singulative nouns

	Singular	Dual	Plural
1	mufgōrayki	mufgōraykū	mufgōraykā
2	mufgōrayni	mufgōraynū	mufgōraynā
3	mufgōrayhi	mufgōrayhū	mufgōrayhā

Water singulative nouns

	Singular	Dual	Plural
1	qabatxtiki	qabatxtikū	qabatxtikā
2	qabatxtini	qabatxtinū	qabatxtinā
3	qabatxtihi	qabatxtihū	qabatxtihā

Dual-collective nouns

	Singular	Dual	Plural
1	yarifūki	yarifūkū	yarifūkā
2	yarifūni	yarifūnū	yarifūnā
3	yarifūhi	yarifūhū	yarifūhā

Plurative nouns

	Singular	Dual	Plural
1	yarifāki	yarifākū	yarifākā
2	yarifāni	yarifānū	yarifānā
3	yarifāhi	yarifāhū	yarifāhā

Pronouns

	First person			Second person			Third person
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural
Independent	ʔakti	ʔakkū	ʔakkā	ʔanni	ʔannū	ʔannā	hini (m) hinan (f) hinn (t) hitti (a)	hinnū	hinnā
Clitic	-ki	-kū	-kā	-ni	-nū	-nā	-hi	-hū	-hā

Verbs

• Binyan 1 verbs are verbs denoting intransitive actions ("come"), as well as stative verbs ("be cold") and some monotransitives. It is often considered the most basic form.
• Binyan 2 contains many monotransitive verbs, ("eat") including causativizations of Binyan 1 verbs ("make happy").
• Binyan 3 consists of verbs denote reflexive/reciprocal action ("get dressed", "kiss each other"), or change of state ("thicken").
• Binyan 4 contains causatives of transitive verbs ("feed") (and of some Binyan 2 and Binyan 3 verbs). Causatives of statives in the imperfective aspect may denote active maintenance of a state (as opposed to changing a state in the perfective aspect).
• Binyan 5 is roughly equivalent to the German prefix be- (applicative).
• Binyan 6 - telic, intensive
• Binyan 7 - telic
• Binyan 8 - "X a little, almost X"
• Binyan 9 - "X in advance, X for oneself" (from the middle voice)
• Binyan 10 verbs tend to express gradual processes. Ex. ħădhádhekh 'warm up (literally or romantically)'.
• Binyan 11 - "mis-X, over-X"

Binyan	Imperfective	Perfective	Participle	Action noun
1	1a2a3	-i12a3	1ō2i3	1i2i3i
2	1a2ō3	-a12ū3	1a2ī3	1a2ō3ā
3	ʔa12ī13	-uni12i3	mi1ːū2ā3	ʔa12u3ti
4	ʔa12i3	-i1ːi2u3	ma12a3	ʔa12a3āʔ
5	ta12u3	-ut1a2i3	mut1a2u3	ta12ō3āʔ
6	ʔir1a2a3	-ur1i2u3	mur1i2u3	ʔur1a2i3i
7	ʔirta1a2u3	-urta1a2i3	murta1a2u3	tirta1a2ī3i
8	ʔi21a2i3	-i21i2u3	mu21ā2u3	ʔu21a2i3i
9	1aš2u3	-u1iš2u3	mu1aš2u3	tu1aš2i3i
10	1a2ā2i3	-i12i2u3	mu12ā2u3	tu12a2u3i
11	1i31a2u3	-i1a31i2u3	mu1i31ā2u3	tu1i31a2i3i

¹ Shortens to i when a suffix is added.

The participle is an agent noun or an adjective. Adverbializing it yields manner of action "as if to X".

The action noun (axn) or gerund is used in action noun constructions, which are of the form SUBJECT-gen AXN OBJECT-acc. It is of importance in forming relative clauses, for Netagin does not have a relativizer.

Affixes

Present tense affixes

	Singular	Dual-Coll.	Plural
1	-ti	-tū	-tā
2	-an	-nū	-nā
3	-∅	-ū	-ā

ʔabnaš 'steal'

	Singular	Dual-Coll.	Plural
1	ʔabnašti	ʔabnaštū	ʔabnaštā
2	ʔabnašan	ʔabnašnū	ʔabnašnā
3	ʔabnaš	ʔabnašū	ʔabnašā

Past tense affixes

	Singular	Dual-Coll.	Plural
1	t-	t-ū	t-ā
2	n-	n-ū	n-ā
3	h-	h-ū	h-ā

ʔabnaš 'steal'

	Singular	Dual-Coll.	Plural
1	tibbinuš	tibbinušū	tibbinušā
2	nibbinuš	nibbinušū	nibbinušā
3	hibbinuš	hibbinušū	hibbinušā

Syntax

Ancient Netagin is almost completely head-initial; the unmarked word order is VSO.

Waraštini.

I love you.