User:IlL/Spare pages 1/66
A-Arabic (al-għarefi; called Arabic in-universe) is a Semitic language inspired by Welsh and Estonian. A-Arabic has a lexicon similar to our Arabic and is the source of "Arabic" loans in English, but it uses Welsh-inspired mutations and syntax.
- Def. article is al- like in our Arabic
- Unconditional shifts: PSem p s z ts' tθ' ł tł' > ff s z ts th ŝ tŝ
- θ δ gh > t d g?
- initial or geminated l r > ll rh
- Emphatics and geminates spirantize: t'/tt, k'/kk > th ch
- soft mutation:
- m, b > v
- t > d, d > dd
- c > g, g > 0
- ts > z, tŝ > ẑ
- ll > l, rh > r
- More Estonian vowels?
Phonology
Morphology
Pronouns
indep. pronouns: naw, ant, hu/hi/hoddo, nan, antyf, hyf/hoddi
Nouns
Modern L-Arabic lost grammatical gender.
The definite article al turns to a before ll and rh.
- chaff = coffee
- al-chaff = the coffee
Animate plural nouns usually end in -i or display i-affection:
- waladd, welydd 'boy'
- mwddarhys, mydderhis 'teacher'
However, there are many broken plurals:
- cydof, pl. cwdwf 'book'
- ħarff, pl. ħyruff 'letter (character)'
- calf, pl. cylof 'dog'
Some plurals end in −ad, e.g. ai, ajad 'sign'.
Adjectives
Adjectives do not inflect.
Verbs and auxiliaries
A-Arabic lost productive triconsonantal morphology and thus inflected verbs. The combination of auxiliaries and prepositions are used to mark tense, as in Colloquial Welsh.