Haššûl

A grammar sketch of the Haššûl, common language of the Yar-Beššel and The Riverlands.

INTRODUCTION

The language known as the Haššûl [ħɐ.'ʃ:u:l] is the common language of The Yar-Beššel (name given to the Kingdom of Yar-Beššel proper and its neighboring vassal counties), as well as of the nearby region known as The Riverlands (organized in a --comparatively-- looser adjunction of fiefdoms and acting as a federation, with a politically and economically friendly relationship with the Kingdom). There are many different languages being spoken in The Riverlands, some more related to each other than others, but all riverlanders speak the Haššûl as well. On the contrary, being it the principal language of the Kingdom, most of its inhabitants are native speakers of the Haššûl while they know little, if anything, of the indigenous languages of the neighboring Riverlands. For outsiders, there is a certain impression of linguistic and cultural homogeneity in the region, since the Haššûl is the language they would expect everyone to be able to speak anywhere near the Yar-Beššel and The Riverlands, and to which they would refer to as the "local tongue".

PHONOLOGY

Inventories

VOWEL INVENTORY

Front Mid Back High i î u û e ê Low o ô a â

CONSONANT INVENTORY

h [ħ] š [ʃ] l [l] b [b] r [r] y [j] n [n] x [X] m [m] p [p] k [k] z [z] w [w]

Phonotaxis

Syllable structure

(C1)V(C2) C1: plosive, continuant (nasal, lateral, rhotic, fricative) C2: continuant (nasal, lateral, rhotic, fricative)

Sandhi

%h > k/C_V [C=n,k]	e=k-happ= > ekkapp-	S>P/n_ ?
h > y/y_V	ey-happ- > eyyapp-
k > x/n_	mann-kên- > manxên-
lttu > ldu

Prosody and accent

Pitch accent

The accent is placed on the last syllable of disyllables and on the first syllable of a root. Monosyllables which are grammatical morphemes carry no accent and are, typically, attached prosodically to the following word.

Intonation

All sentences tend to have a rather monotone intonation by default, and emphasis can be used rhetorically. Questions are marked morphologically and can therefore be intonated for emphasis, just like any declarative sentence.

GRAMMAR

Morphology

An existential statement is assumed of all nominal roots. Verbal roots can be nominalized by marking them with nominal morphology; this nominalization can be further modified, for instance by adverbials. Some cases apply to a certain kind of noun or are related to a certain semantic field (e.g. the aversive case being linked to verbs of fear or of avoidance).

NOMINAL MORPHOLOGY

Number marking in variable slot distribution

Nouns are marked for number through different strategies, which makes it possible to group nouns in five number making strategy categories (i-v). Nevertheless, there are some irregularities.

	Indeterminate	Determinate
i) Number marking by prefix	Slot -n
Singular	Ø-	ak-
Paucal	bar-	šte-
Plural	l(e)-	har-
ii) Number marking by suffix	Slot n
Singular	-eš	-eš=ûr		Etymologicaly related to êš, "one".
Paucal	-n	-n=ûr
Plural		-n=zûr
iii) Number marking by infix: mainly collective nouns and pluralia tanta	Slot 0
Singular	-VyV-	V1CCV2 → V1CV1yV1CV2	Singulative form of a collective noun or plurale tantum; an individualisation or instance thereof.
Paucal	-az-	-(t)is(i)-
Plural		-VhtV-
iv) Number marking by combination of the above	{variable: S=PA: 0, n; PL: -n, n}
Singular	-VrV-...-em	Ø-...-s=ûr
Paucal	-VkkV-...-ar	ar-...-m=ûr
Plural	u'-...-kûr
v) Number marking by reduplication	Slot -n
Singular	Ø	itV1(t)-
Paucal	C1a-	C1... -> C1aC1...
Plural	VCVC-

Incorporation

Some nouns can be incorporated to some verbs, in which case they take on an incorporated form. For example, nouns for food items can be incorporated into verbs of cooking; for instance, bread (akku-, incorporated form -kkû-) can be incorporated into to.cook (haptu-) as follows: {haptu-kkû-} to.cook-bread[INC]- 'to.bread-cook' => to bake E.g. "wânkaptukkûš", I bake {wâ[N]-Ø-hanaptu-kkû-Ø-Ø-Ø-Ø-š-Ø} Other examples in this semantic field are meat & roasting and tea & brewing. Other examples in similar semantic fields are wall & to.erect and animal & to.track. For the rendering of more specific situations, noun incorporation into verbs is regularly employed combining an incorporated hyperonym with a non-incorporated hyponym marked as direct object. For example, "to meat-roast a lamb", "to tea-brew oolong", "to wall-erect an enclosure", "to animal-tame a horse", etc.

Stative forms

Some nouns need to be marked for a so called stative form, which allowes further nominal marking. Such nouns as water, wind or fire, for example, receive the nominal particle -na- (infixed after the first vowel if the word starts in a CV= syllable or after the first consonant in case of a VC= syllable). Nouns which don't usually receive a stative marker take it to make the noun a predicate in a nominal phrase (e.g. pešš-, tea plant, penašš- {pe<na>šš-eš} [tea.plant<STAT>-SG], "to be a teaplant"; {tea.plant<STAT>-SG DEM.SG.PROX.SP} 'penaššeš telêš', "this is a teaplant"; of which in turn the form {pe<na>šš-A-telê-eš} [tea.plant<STAT>-A-DEM.SG.PROX.SP-SG] 'penaššatelêš' is also valid).

Pronouns

Pronouns form two groups: "free" pronouns, which can be marked for case, and genitive pronouns, which are a supletive paradigm, etymologically related to the root *wēr, " to belong".

There are three forms for each pronoun: a long form, a short form and an enclitic form (prefixed). The long form is used when in standalone situations, were the pronoun is the sole representation of the argument in question. The short and enclitic forms look largely alike in isolation, but the enclitic forms are subject to sandhi phenomena the short forms are not, and the short forms elicit circumstantial mutations the enclitic forms do not trigger. The phonemes enclosed in square brackets in the tables below show which kind of underlying influence the prefixes carry on their boundaries.

Paucal forms are reportedly derived from the plural forms, which in turn seem to be related to the singular forms. The exclusive prefix is t=, etymologically related to the root *tə, "without".

Whenever a genitive pronoun in its long form is used in a clause, case marking is dropped from the arguments and the roles are marked by their syntactic relation with the pronoun (e.g. possessed-gen-possessor; see Possession below).

- Free pronouns:

	SINGULAR			PAUCAL			PLURAL
	Long	Short	Enclitic	Long	Short	Enclitic	Long	Short	Enclitic
1.incl	umâl	uma-	wâ[N]-	numîli	nul(i)-	nîl[D]-	numêš	nume-	nêm-
1.excl		t=numîli > dumîli	dul(i)-	dîl[D]-	t=numêš > dumêš	dume-	dêm-
2	ozûr	ozu-	ûz[z]-	nusîli	nus(i)-	nîsi-	nošûl	noš-	nûš-
3	mubâl	mub-	mû[B]-	namîli	nam(i)-	nîma-	namâl	mul-	mâb-

- Reflexive pronouns:

Reflexive pronouns are formed by prefixal and infixal reduplication of the long form of the free pronouns and have only a long form. The prefixal element V- applies to CV₁C- forms, which become V₁CV₁C-. The infixal element -CC- applies to both CVC- and VCV- forms, which geminate the first and second consonant, respectively, of the free form of the pronoun. This lengthening of the consonant compensatorily shortens any subsequent long vowels and drives the elision of final vowels. Regular phonological processes also apply.

	SINGULAR	DUAL	PLURAL
1.incl	ummal	unummil	unummeš
1.excl		udummil	udummeš
2	ozzur	unussil	onoššul
3	muppal	anammil	anammal

- Genitive pronouns:

These pronouns are etymologically related to the root *wēr, to belong", being reconstructed as an adpositional compound of *PREP+wer. E.g. :

	SINGULAR			PAUCAL/PLURAL
	Long	Short	Enclitic	Long	Short	Enclitic
1.incl	ekker	ek-	e=k-	akler	ak-	a=k-
1.excl		t=akler > talêr	tâl-	ta=l-
2	ener	en-	e=n-	aššer	aš(š)-	a=š-
3	eyer	ey-	e=y-	nammer	nâm-	na=m-

- Negative pronouns:

	SINGULAR			PAUCAL/PLURAL
	Long	Short	Enclitic	Long	Short	Enclitic
1.incl	erex	ex-	re=x-	šârek	šâr-	šâ=r-
1.excl		t=šârek > trašek	traš-	tra=š-
2	umât	tûm-	tû=m-	šêkru	šek-	še=k-
3	tammûr	tâm-	twâ-	šûrak	šûr-	šû=r-

VERBAL MORPHOLOGY

Slot population

Slot -2: Pronominal marking on the verb

Verbal roots are prefixed with the enclitical form of the personal pronouns (see Pronouns above). Not marking with a pronominal form lets the agent unspecified, which conveys a grammatical aspect of the gnomic and habitual types. E.g. if the actor is mentioned (be it through the use of a proper name or the use of a long pronominal form), then a verb without pronominal marking would convey the meaning of a certain gnomicity/habituality of that doing by said overtly stated actor. Slot -1: Referent anaphora

Same referent -Ø- Another (mentioned) -i- Another (not mentioned) -šku-

the same vs. anoher mentioned vs. anoter not mentioned (begs for introduction) Slot 0: Stem and infixes

. Compositional genitive -šnV- V=reduplication of the root vowel as short vowel regardless of original length; the verb receives a noun in genitive compound; akin to a construct state marking, but in the verb.

Slot 1: Tense/Aspect

Anterior tense -xtu- Past tense/perfectve aspect -kše- Relative present tense/gnomic aspect -Ø- Present-future/imperfective aspect -ra= Posterior tense -šar-

Slot 2: Inverse marking Animacy hierarchy: 1 > 2 > 3; S > PA > P; INCL > EXCL Direct -Ø- Inverse -n-

Slot 3: Object number marking

Transitive verbs can be marked to agree wirh the number of the object argument. The marking is for singular, dual, paucal and plural, using the words for one, two, some and many. Singular (one) -êš- Dual (two) -- Paucal (some) -- Plural (many) -- None -t(a)- Etymologically related to the root *tə, "without". Unspecified -Ø-

Slot 4: Aspect

-ô- -ta- -û- -î- -ne- Tense/aspect -Ø- Unmarked aspect in Slot 4 points towards the tense/aspect marking in Slot 1

Slot 5: Mood

Indicative -š- Interrogative -n- Negative -r- It is combined with the other mood markers to form their negative counterparts: -rš- NEG.IND, -rn- NEG.INT, -rl- NEG.COND/NEG.SUBJ, -rx- NEG.POT/NEG.OPT, -r(V)hh(V)- NEG.VOL Subj./Cond. -l- The conditional form is formed with the affix =tu-, "if", following this marker. For the different voices (marked in the next slot) regular sandhi rules yield the following forms: -l=tu-Ø > -ltu ; -l=tu-i > -ltwi ; -l=tu-u > -ltû ; -l=tu-k > -ltuk Potential/Optative -x- Volitive -hh(V)- +(V) before a consonant in the following slot; it repeats the preceding vowel, always short regardless of its original length.

Slot 6: Voice

Active -Ø Anticausative -i Middle -u Applicative -k ; also marking of unergative past participles as nominal modifiers with active meaning Unergative -t

-Syntactic argument marking- ~Unaccusative ~~Anticausative ~Unergative

Hortatives and imperativity

negative voice + hortative = abhortative

Noun incorporation

Some nouns can be incorporated to some verbs depending on certain established parameters based on certain semantic fields (see Nominal morphology:Incorporation).

DEICTICS

Demonstrative pronouns

Haššûl spatial deictics correlate in proximity with first exclusive (proximal), second (medial), and third person (distal) pronouns. The short form of the genitive pronouns is affixed wih the following locative markers (LOC) depending on relative positions: -le 'speaker', -nê 'addressee' and -la 'both'. This gives us the following combinations:

Singular: Personal pronoun and correlative proximity first exclusive (proximal) second (medial) third (distal) têk- en- ey-

LOC 'speaker' -le têk-le- > têkle- > telê- en-le- > elne- > êlle- ey-le > eyye > êye- 'addressee' -nê têk-nê- > têknê- > tekne- en-nê- > ennê- > êne- ey-nê > enyê > enye- 'both' -la têk-la- > têkla- > telâ- en-la- > elna- > êlla- ey-la > eyya > êya-

Paucal/Plural: Personal pronoun and correlative proximity first exclusive (proximal) second (medial) third (distal) tâl- aš(š)- nâm-

LOC 'speaker' -le tâl-le- > tâlle- > tale- aš(š)-le- > ašle- > ašše- nâm-le- > nâlme- > nâlle- 'addressee' -nê tâl-nê- > tânlê- > tanne- aš(š)-nê- > ašne- > ašnê- nâm-nê- > nâmne- > nâmme- 'both' -la tâl-la- > tâlla- > tala- aš(š)-la- > ašla- > ašša- nâm-la- > nâlma- > nâlla-

Deictics may occur either in place of nouns or postposed to nouns, as in ??hanô lene?? 'that house'. Verbal forms of the demonstrative pronouns can be derived with the verbalizer =š- for intransitive verbs, with the meaning to.be/stay/remain/be.present-LOC, e.g. {ašša=š-} 'aššaš' "they just stay there"

POSSESSION

Posession can be marked with the enclitic form of either a genitive or a negative pronoun, indicating respectively posession or non-posession by the marked-for person. Genitive possessive The possession of a noun is marked with the enclitic form of the genitive pronouns, bearing the same person and number (1S.GEN = 1S.POS, "my", etc). Whenever a genitive pronoun in its long form is used in a clause (e.g. when the posessor is explicitly mentioned), posession marking is dropped from the arguments and the roles are marked by their syntactic relation with the pronoun (e.g. possessed-gen-possessor). For instance, in the sentence "Manxên eyer Rûl" ("a man's she-dog"), the posessor is mentioned (Rûl, a.man), and therefore the long version of the third person singular genitive pronoun (eyer) is used; the form **eyManxên eyer Rûl would be incorrect. Negative possessive The enclitic form of the negative pronouns is used in the same way as that of the genitive pronouns, likewise bearing the same person and number (1S.NEG = 1S.NEG.POS, "not.my", etc, to indicate a non-belonging relationship. E.g. "rexlanneš", {re=x-lann-eš} 1S.NEG.POS-house-SG 'not.my.house'.

DERIVATIONAL MORPHOLOGY

Derivation of adjectives

Every lexical root, be it nominal or verbal, can be turned into an adjective with the adjectivizer suffix ADJZ -(t)ilir.

In the case of nominal roots, it takes on the role of a semblative case, with the general predicate form "x is [noun]-like".

In the case of verbal roots, it can be defined as a deverbal form, taking over adjectival functions, by which definition it could be called an adverb, with the general predicate form "(x-is) in the manner of [verb]-ing".

In the context of a restrictive relative clause, it takes on the role of a deverbal form about which can be predicated of as a noun, by which definition it can be called a participle, with the general predicate form "x, which is like [verb]-ing" (in English both forms woul be represented by the infinitive, and are thus rendered as such in the translation).

"[nominal root]-adjz [inflected noun]"

{hanap-(t)ilir hanaptupepšeš} > "hanaptilir hanaptupepšeš"

"firelike teabrew" (e.g. said of a spicy teabrew)

"[verbal root]-ADJZ [inflected noun]"

{happ=a-(t)ilir ha<na>p=tu-eš}

"happ(at)ilir hanaptweš"

"a X which is like burning" (e.g. "a burning-like cooking", <happatilir hanaptweš>)

Derivation from nouns

Noun to verb

Marker Notes vlz1 -Ca- Transitive verb associated wih the noun's nature E.g. happ- < *haff-, fire ; =Ca- vlz1 happ=a- > happa- to.burn (tr.) vlz2 -ttu- To transform the object through the verb In transitive verbs derived from a noun. For example, the verbal affix -ttu- marks that an action which is performed through the modified noun transforms the object in some way. E.g. happ-, fire ; -ttu-, vlz2 happ-ttu- > haptu- to.cook "to.transform.using.fire" vlz3 -š- Intransitive verb E.g. happ- < *haff-, fire ; =š- vlz3 happ=š- > happš- to.burn (int.)

Derivation from verbs

Verb to noun

Marker Notes

SYNTAX

Word order

DECLARATIVE Transitive Monotransitive Ditransitive Intransitive IMPERATIVE QUESTION [topic]=Q [encl.pron]=[NO.OBJECT]-to.ask{tr}

A/N possessed/gen/possessor

  enkapprazôr e=n-happ=a-ra=z-Ø-Ø-ô-r-Ø e=n- -happ=a- -ra=z- -Ø- -Ø- -ô- -r- -Ø 2S.GEN to.burn=TR PRES.FUT.IPF DIR UNSPEC NEG IND <>, ""

-2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Subj.Pron Ref.Anaph Root Tense Inverse Obj.Nr Aspect Mood Voice 1S.NOM SAME to.bread.cook PRES DIRECT UNSP UNSP ACT wâ[N]- -Ø- -hanaptu-kkû- -Ø- -Ø- -Ø- -Ø- -š- -Ø wâ[N]-Ø-hanaptu-kkû-Ø-Ø-Ø-Ø-š-Ø} wânkanaptukkûš "it is a common occurrence that I bake bread"

-2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 subject pronoun (free pr. short form) Referent anaphora Stem <infixes> Tense Inv Obj. Asp. Mo Voi. e=n- S>P/n_ (ej. h>k) -Ø- -happ=a- <šnV>1 -ra=z- =z/_V[-high] -n- -- -ô- -r- -i e=y- -a/_C [plosive] -i- -happ=š- -ra=x- =x/_t, d -Ø- -- -ta- -n- -u -šku- -haptu-* -ra=n- =n/_V[+high], n -- -û- -š- -Ø -Ø- -- -î- -l- -k -ša=r- =r/_n -Ø- -ne- -x- -t -ša=k- =k/_t -ša=s- =s/

• haptu- < happ=ttu-

1 the verb receives an incorporated noun in genitive compound; akin to a construct state marking in the verb. 1) eyyapparaxtani, e=y-happ=a-ra=x-ta-n-i 2) happarazôn, Ø-happ=a-ra=z-ô-n-Ø 3) {happ-}, happarazôr

Subject pronoun: free pronoun, short form Referent anaphora: the same vs. anoher mentioned vs. anoter not mentioned (begs for introduction) Stem - Infixes Tense: [anterior] vs. [past/perfective] vs. [relative present tense] vs. [present-future/imperfective] vs. [posterior] Inverse: I/O Object number (transitive verbs) Aspect: Mood: Voice: indicative vs. interrogative vs. negative vs. subjunctive/conditional vs. potential/optative

LEXICON

Nouns (n): animate (an), inanimate (in), derivated from verbs (dev). Verbs (v): transitive (tr), intransitive (int), incorporated (inc) Particles (p): verbal (ver), nominal (nom), suprasegmental (sup) Numerals (nu)

<> // Nr. hanapp- n an ii fire -na- (infix); stative (nominal form) happ=š- v int to.burn.(down) happ- < *haff-, fire ; =š- VLZ3 happ=a- v tr to.burn happ- < *haff-, fire ; =Ca- VLZ1 haptu- v tr "to.transform.using.fire": to.cook (a meal, clay, etc), to.evaporate (water, etc), some (al-)chemical reactions happ- < *haff-, fire ; =ttu- VLZ2 happ-ttu- to.transform.using.fire hanaptu- n dev (a) cooking hašnapturûl- n an ii a cook "a man of cooking", ha<šnV>ptu-rûl- hašnaptukkûrûl- n an ii a baker akkwaku- n in ii a meal reduplication of "bread", akku-akku- akku-, -kkû- n in ii bread haptukkû- v inc to.bread-cook, to.bake.bread manne n an ii animal similar to a dog rûl n an ii man kên n an ii female (of an animal) êrš- v int to.belong *wēr=š- (to.belong=VLZ3) ertu- v tr to.adhere, to.make.be.with *wêr=ttu- (to.belong=VLZ2) etna-, -(e)tn(a)- without *tə tə-na- > ət-na- > etna-/atna- -reš-, -raš- p nom noun modifier in respect of a verbal root an action is applied to a noun; being subject to that action characterizes the noun. happ=a-[] a-rûl-reš-[] to.burn- "the.burning.man" adjectivization through gerundives? pešš-, -pepš- n an ii tea plant, tea leaf: tea infusion haptupepš- v tr to.brew.tea hanaptupepš- n dev (a) teabrew(ing) -šnV- p ver (infix) -šnV- (V=reduplication of the root vowel as short vowel regardless of original length); the verb receives a noun in genitive compound; akin to a construct state marking in the verb. lann-, -lan- n in ii house, shelter -eš p nom singular indefinite; etymologically related to he word for "one" êš < *weš, form which resurfaces when after a vowel (e.g. -a-*weš > -aweš; -u-*weš > -ubeš) -Vkti p sup -Vkti (suffix); it marks the topic of a question xapr=aš- aqqe-, -qqe- n in ii clay êš nu one *weš haptuqqe- v inc to.cook.clay elaš-, -elš- n in ii place, room *welaš haptubelaš- n in ii oven < *haff-ettu-welaš- xakš-, -akš- n in ii milk -(a)lu(l)- p "with [an]", "containing [in]" commitative (an); subject demoting particle while incorporating hanaptupepšlulakš- n inc "a teabrewing with milk" bâl-, -bâl- n in ii knife bâldu- v tr "to.transform.using.a.knife", to.chop.up bâl=ttu- ošša n an ii woman hûr- v to.sing zâš-, -zaš- n an ii onion luh- bâltuzaš- v inc "to.onion-up.chop" The lenited -tt- (> -d-) of the VLZ2 resurfaces as -t- before the sibilant-vowel-sibilant sequence

SAMPLES

‹Manxên eye'Rûl›

/män.ˈχeːn e.je.ˈɾuːl/

mann-kên eyer rûl

dog-female.animal 3S.GEN man

"a.dogess of.him a.man", "a man's dog(~bitch)"

‹wânelššappš-›

/wäː.nel.ʃːä.pːʃ-/

wâ[N]-elš-happ=š- -lann-

1s-place-to.burn- -house-

"I-place-to.burn- -house-", "I place-burned.down a house" -> "I burned down a house"

‹aššašakti›

/ä.ʃːä.ˈʃäk.ti/

ašša=š-Vkti

LOC.MED.BOTH=VLZ3-Q

"to.be.there-?", "do they just stay there?"