User:IlL/A Danified analytic Neo-Arabic

IlL/A Danified analytic Neo-Arabic/Lexicon

IlL/A Danified analytic Neo-Arabic/Swadesh list

Knench
Hróni
Created by	Inthar
Setting	Verse:Irta
Native to	Irta Libya
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic Central Semitic Canaanite Ancient Knench Middle Knench Knench

Knench (/nɛntʃ/, from Old Knench χnānī via Old Azalic ngoinisχ; natively Hnóni /xnaonɪ/ or núm Hnón /nɨːm xnaon/) is a Semitic language spoken in the Irta timeline. Small Knench-speaking communities exist in Israel as well. The name of the language comes from Ancient Knench kanaȝnî 'Canaanite'. Knench has received strong Azalic influence throughout its history since Ancient Knench times, and genetic studies have shown that the Knench are descendants of Azalic speakers who adopted a Canaanite language. The language descends from a close relative of Biblical Hebrew which was spoken in North Africa (which was spoken instead of our Punic in Irta), but its grammar is far more analytic than its ancestor: it was completely restructured to use constructions with auxiliaries and infinitives instead of the older prefix and suffix conjugations, and it is the only Irtan Semitic language that has lost grammatical gender outside of Far East Semitic. Knench is sometimes considered a peripheral member of a medieval sprachbund containing Irish and Corsican Arabic. It has many Greek, Azalic, Arabic, Togarmite, Romance, and English loanwords.

Most modern Knench people are Remonitionists; some (particularly in North America and Cualand) are Muslim, Jewish or neopagan.

It's inspired grammatically by Welsh, and aesthetically by Cockney English, Icelandic and Khmer.

Names

Native Knench names

• Parm (f.) is from baśam
• Hugin, Munin (m) from the mythical ravens Hūgin and Mūnin

TODO

• Early Modern Knench has vav consecutive forms of auxiliaries
• hjugə < hügə 'coziness' from *hugyō gets borrowed into English as hygge
• Should be more of an Icelandic gib but spirantization of aspirated stops happens recently
• vi = "and then" (used for consecutive events; ~ BH wayhi)
• -x > -rh
• A sentence consisting entirely of replacements and compounds?
  • I dal bø gøpén pnarər. = I don't see any wolves. (Heb: Ani lo ro'e ze'evim.)
• Hard mode: a sentence where every content word has a Semitic cranberry morpheme
• how do I isolate Ancient Knench from Phoenician?
• Icelandic style loss of phonemic vowel length?
• Swadesh list
• bel-, ble- is a common prefix (conflation of ben- and ba3al-)
• Many adverbs from infinitive absolute
• simern = week
• mədbar = conference
• Philippi should be weaker: i > e, instead of the TibH i > a (*bint > peþ 'daughter'; TibH baṫ)
• Mén fows ta xett kori? = Why did you have to die?
• Ri nunəs invuž bə štəxuð u pə méməs 'The living fish swims in the water' (Modern Hebrew: הדג החי שוחה במיים hadag haxaj soxe bamajim)

Some sound changes

• -ə (mainly from ACub -ō) becomes silent and lengthens the vowel before it
• non-rhoticity (nonrhoticity has to happen after fem sg ending loss)
• ħ > x; *gt, kt, ᴋt, ħt > ht
• ś > usually x, sometimes f or fl
• d-t, t-t (morpheme boundary) > st
• xr > x

Phonology

American accent of Knench should be diff but still nonrhotic.

Consonants

• /m n ʁ̃ʷ l w j ɹʷˁ~ʋʷˁ/ ⟨m n ł h l w j r⟩
• /p b f v t d θ ð k g/ ⟨p b f v t d þ ð k g⟩
• /s z ts ʃ ʒ tʃ fʷˁ~ɹ̝̊ʷˁ x/ ⟨s z ts š ž č rh h⟩

Ancient Knench /l/ became /w/ in some places, especially before C or pausa.

Stops are unaspirated.

x is a retroflex sibilant in American Knench.

Vowels

IlL/A Danified analytic Neo-Arabic has one of the largest vowel inventories of any Semitic language in Lõis (Maltese also has 18 vowels):

/a e ɪ ɔ ʊ äe iː äo ɨː ɑ̃ː ɛ̃ː ɪɤ̃ ɔ̃ː ɑː(ɹ) ɛː(ɹ) eː(ɹ) oː(ɹ) ə(ɹ)/ = ⟨a e i o u é í ó ú ą ę į ų ar er ir ur ə/r⟩

/ə ɪ ʊ ɑ̃ː/ are the most common vowels in unstressed syllables.

Word-final /ə/ is transcribed as a syllabic r (ər after r), unless it's in a short clitic such as pə/p' where it can be dropped.

In European Knench, R-intrusion similar to that in Southern British English occurs after /ɑː(ɹ) ɛː(ɹ) eː(ɹ) oː(ɹ) ə(ɹ)/ and before a vowel. R-intrusion does not occur in American and Israeli Knench: xebr úb 'dear colleague' is pronounced [ɹ̝̊ʷˁebə ɨːb], not [ɹ̝̊ʷˁebəɹ ɨːb] as in European Knench.

The following is Hrafn Leifsson's classification of Knench vowels:

• Schwa: ə/r
• Short vowels: a e i o u
• Lengthened vowels: é í ó ú
• Nasal vowels: ą ę į ų
• R-colored vowels: ar er ir ur

Prosody

Stress

Stress tends penultimate or final.

Intonation

A lot like Modern Standard Arabic

Orthography

Modern Knench has a shallow orthography using a script descended from the Paleo-Hebrew script.

Morphology

IlL/A Danified analytic Neo-Arabic has lost the verbal inflections and triconsonantal morphology of Ancient Knench.

Nouns and adjectives

Nouns inflect for number and definiteness. Like in English, proper nouns don't take the definite article. Attributive adjectives agree with nouns in number, but predicate adjectives do not. Knench has lost grammatical gender and the construct state, although animates still have natural gender.

Number and definiteness

IlL/A Danified analytic Neo-Arabic has regularized all plurals to -r (from a merger of Ancient Knench -īn > *-ī and -ūδ). -u nouns become -lr in the plural: þebu, þeblr 'a world, worlds'.

Nouns inflect for definiteness, as follows:

• Singular: -əs (after C) or -sr (after V), (from haz-ze and haz-zūdh)
  • -u nouns become -wəs: abu, abwəs 'an apple, the apple'
• Plural: -il, replacing the plural suffix -r if any (from ha-hili), -u + -il > -ul
  • ablr, abul 'apples, the apples'

Words ending in a nasal or R-colored vowel add an intrusive R between the final vowel and the plural suffix. Words ending in a long vowel add -ər.

• pdą 'a tree', pdąrər 'trees'
• lú 'a god', lúwr 'gods'

Some irregular plurals: penš, plenš = human

Examples:

• xadr /ɹ̝̊adə/ = an apartment/flat
• xadrəs /ɹ̝̊adrəs/ = the flat
• xadrər /ɹ̝̊adrə/ = flats
• xadril /ɹ̝̊adrɪl/ = the flats
• xadr kruw = a big flat
• xadras kruw = the big flat
• botr krulr = big flats
• botil krulr = the big flats

-ma nouns from Greek become -mat nouns: þemat, þematas, þematr, þematil 'topic, theme'.

Predicative adjectives

The predicative/adverbial marker bə + bare form is used for predicative adjectives: Re xadras bə kruw 'The room is big'.

Degree

• Equative: de = as X as; equally X (~ BH day 'enough')
• Comparative/Superlative: -ur = more X or most X (from *3abūr, infinitive absolute of 'to exceed'); comparandum takes prí 'than' (from Ancient Knench pirūðī 'when I see')

Example: kruw 'big', de kruw 'as big as'; ro kruw 'so big; very big indeed', kruwðr 'bigger/biggest'

Pronouns

Knench has a pronoun system similar to European languages, except that there is no grammatical gender and se "that" is used as an inanimate or gender-neutral pronoun. There is a T-V distinction: the 2nd person plural tim is also used as a polite pronoun.

I (/i:/ or /ɪ/) is the default form for the 1sg subject pronoun; ni is used after a vowel or for disambiguation.

For gender-neutral usage, tu has been proposed as a 2nd person singular neopronoun (inspired by Indo-European languages). This isn't as common as using the 2nd person plural tim as singular, however.

Pronouns in IlL/A Danified analytic Neo-Arabic, basic forms

→ Person	I	thou (m)	thou (f)	he	she	we	ye	they
Basic forms	i, ni	tr	ti	u	oj	nu	tim	im
Emphatic forms	(n)inr	tanr	tenr	unr	ojnr, hinr	nunr	temnr	emnr

Interrogative pronouns

• dar = what? (nominal)
  • archaic idar (*hajj dabar 'what thing')
• ew = who? (*hajj hū)
  • poetic mi
• ajšr = which?
• énr = where?
• məðé = when?
• łəmar = why? (*3lē ma 'on what')
  • archaic/poetic maləh (*ma lak 'what's the matter')
• ham = how many?
• hélt = how?

Verbs

Almost all verbs use only one form, the infinitive (usually etymologically the infinitive construct with a prefixed l-, which may sometimes be conflated with the etymological imperative). The infinitive form may or may not have a prefixed l-, depending on the verb; however, even verbs without l- display a voicing mutation (e.g. žbuð 'to be idle, to lie fallow'). Some verbs instead are derived from other nouns derived from the relevant triconsonantal root rather than the infinitive of a particular verb (e.g. benin 'to build', cognate to the Hebrew noun binyan; from the root b-n-y)

The infinitive is also used as an imperative: ðeht ló oj! = 'Give it to her!' Imperatives are negated by placing bal or bawði before the verb.

Inflected lexical verbs

There are only six inflected lexical verbs (i.e. verbs with inflected past and future forms):

• juð 'to be' (the past form han is cognate to Arabic kāna)
• fluð 'to do' (from *ʕaśō, with contamination from *paȝal)
• buð 'to come' (with suppletion of *hatō and *bô); bu is still used as a directional
• laht 'to go' (from *halak)
• kaht 'to take' (from *laqaħ)
• ðeht 'to give' (from *natan, with contamination from *hinīħ 'to leave' and naħħil 'to bequeath')

The finite forms have become more similar to each other due to analogy.

Even verbs with finite forms are defective verbs, since finite forms are always perfective (except forms of juð). To express the imperfective with these verbs, you still have to use the copula + bə + VN construction. The negator lu only negates finite verbs.

Inflected verbs in IlL/A Danified analytic Neo-Arabic

→ Person		I	thou (m)	thou (f)	he	she	we	you (plural)	they
juð	future	é ni	þé tr	þí ti	jé u	þé oj	né nu	þú tim	jú'm
	past	han i	han tr	han ti	han u	han oj	han nu	han tim	hanu'm, han im
fluð	future pfv.	ąf i	þąf tr	þąf ti	jąf u	þąf oj	nąf nu	þąflu tim	jąflu'm
	past pfv.	fowð i	fows tr	fows ti	fow u	fól oj	fown nu	fowðu tim	flu'm
buð	future pfv.	eð i	þes tr	þes ti	jeð u	þeð oj	neð nu	þeðu tim	jeðu'm
	past pfv.	powð i	pows tr	pows ti	pow u	pól oj	pown nu	powðu tim	pu'm
laht	future pfv.	lej i	tlej tr	tlej ti	len u	tlen oj	lej nu	tlew tim	lew'm
	past pfv.	lawð i	laws tr	laws ti	law u	lęl oj	lawn nu	lawðu tim	lalu'm
kaht	future pfv.	kej i	tkej tr	tkej ti	ken u	tken oj	kej nu	tkew tim	kew'm
	past pfv.	kawð i	kaws tr	kaws ti	kaw u	kęl oj	kawn nu	kawðu tim	kalu'm
ðeht	future pfv.	nej i	tnej tr	tnej ti	nen u	tnen oj	nej nu	tnew tim	new'm
	past pfv.	nawð i	naws tr	naws ti	naw u	nęl oj	nawn nu	nawðu tim	nalu'm

Most non-pronominal forms come in non-feminine and feminine, and agree in gender only with a singular subject; the feminine is only used with women and female animals. With plural nominal subjects the non-feminine form is used.

Regular pa3al verbs

The regular pattern is *(li)CCuC.

When C1 is a guttural, the l- usually resurfaces:

• C1 = ayin: ląbur 'to go past'
• C1 = aleph/he: lévuð 'to bake, to fire', lézuð 'to be crazy, to be cool' (or vuð, zuð)
• C1 = heth: lętul 'to cease/stop'

-t verbs

• laht = to go by foot
• kaht = to take
• žaht = to go back
• žoft = to sit
• lost = to be born
• rost = to go down
• rašt = to acquire; to get
• ðeht = to give
• xeht = to carry, to owe, should
• tseht = to go out, to start X-ing
• žąt = to go by vehicle
• gąt = to hit; also a (pseudo-)auxiliary for "to do X correctly"
• dąt = to know
• tąt = to farm, to grow (plants)

Regular nif3al

The regular pattern is *(li)CoCiC where the first C is not voiced. The l- appears when the first consonant is a guttural or a semivowel.

Regular pi3el

The regular pattern is *ləCaCiC or *ləCiCuC where the middle C is not voiced.

Regular hif3il

The regular pattern is *laCCiC, *leCCeC, or *laCCóC.

Other verbs

Other verbs come from noun derivation patterns, or from earlier verb + noun collocations.

Auxiliaries

Various auxiliaries in IlL/A Danified analytic Neo-Arabic

→ Person	I	thou (m)	thou (f)	he	she	we	ye	they	Non-pronominal
Present	i, ni	tr	ti	r'u	r'oj	nu	tim	r'im	ri, r' before V
Passive future perf.	ur i	þur tr	þri ti	jur u	þur oj	nur nu	þru tim	juru'm	jur/þur
Passive past perf.	barð i	bart tr	bart ti	bar u	bro oj	barn nu	bart tim	bru'm	bar/bro
Cautionary (from imperfect of זָמַם 'to scheme')	zum i	zum tr	zmi ti	zum u	zum oj	zum nu	zmu tim	zmu'm	zum

The auxiliary ri comes from ruhi, the imperative of rahō 'to see'. Ri is not used in subordinate clauses:

• Ri Đavíð þax žin. = David is about to sleep.
• Pið Đavíð þax žin, u dal bə hapuð uras. = When David goes to sleep, he doesn't turn off the lights.

Yes-no questions are marked by a rising intonation, using the focus particle =nr (cognate to Hebrew נא) after the word/phrase whose truth value is asked about, and dropping ri in sentences with a nominal subject. In sentences without a specific focused constituent, nr appears sentence-finally in sentences with no finite verb, and after the finite verb if there is one.

• Đavíð þax žin nr? = Is David going to bed? (neutral)
• Đavíð nr þax žin? = Is it David who's going to bed?
• Fows nr tr [nexú] jax Marijr amž? = Did you marry Maria yesterday?
• Fows tanr [nexú] jax Marijr amž? = Is it you who married Maria yesterday?

Finite forms of kaht 'to take' can be used as an auxiliary meaning 'to go ahead and VERB/to take the liberty to VERB/take the initiative to VERB'. Knench-influenced English dialects use take in a similar way: I took to buy spare parts myself, because my department wouldn't give me any.

To express the passive in the non-perfective tenses, the VN form (lə)bur of the passive auxiliary is used: Ri tawðas bə ləbur vðųx 'The door is opened (by someone)'.

The auxiliary zum for the cautionary future comes from the Ancient Knench verb *zāmam 'to scheme'. It's used to:

• warn the listener of a future event or contingency:
  • Zum sąrəs ðə luð fu hol łeð. = 'The storm might come here any moment.'
  • Zum þəfkestəs dal juð kəbų hetteb! = 'The map might not be well-defined! [in a hypothetical math lecture, cautioning against a tacit assumption the audience might make]'
• often used in a threatening manner, for example: Lah tr dal jedą dar zum i fluð lah tr! = 'You have no idea what I'm gonna do to you!'

Prepositions

Prepositions inflect like in Welsh: for pronominal prepositional objects, usually the preposition is inflected and is followed by the independent pronoun. The inflected preposition is stressed unless the emphatic pronoun is used: lah tr /'lax tə/ 'to you' vs. lah tanr /lax 'tanə/ 'to you, specifically'.

example of a IlL/A Danified analytic Neo-Arabic inflected preposition: el "for"; pə/p' 'in, at' is inflected similarly

• 1sg: l'i, li ni
• 2sg.m: lah tr
• 2sg.f: lah ti
• 3sg.m: lom u
• 3sg.f: l'oj, ló oj
• 3sg.n: ləze
• 1pl. lon nu
• 2pl. lam tim
• 3pl. low'm

Other prepositions:

• men = from
• túb el = for
• jern = because of (also "reason")
• łaj = on, above
• jax, jaxəm = with (both inst. and com.)
• pəłé = inside, within
  • sim. ləłé, məłé 'into, out of'
• pəlip = amidst
• wen = without
• məné = before, in front of
• kodm = before (temporally)
• xni = after (Hitsi šeni 'second half')
• məłęl = above
• məþęl = below
• þaht = instead of
• til = like, as
• xakr = until

Numbers

Danish system?

0-10: sifr, rhóð, šném/šné (attributive), šluž, arvą, rhomi, šeš, šebą, šmún, þeš, łarh

11-20: štąh, šnająh, šlužąh, arvąh, rhomižąh, šežąh, šebąh, šmúnąh, þežąh, łerhi

21-30: łerhi rhóð, łerhi šném, ... łerhi łarh

31-40: łerhi łarh štąh, ..., šné łerhi

41, 42, ...: šné łerhi rhóð, šné łerhi šném, ...

60: šluž łerhi

...

100: mír

1000: awv

Syntax

Constituent order

The order is tense-subject-verb-object.

R'ižəs ław hél u abwəs.

The man is eating the apple.

Ri péð u bə de kruw til stadi.

His house is as big as a stadium.

Fól oj ðə fluð xawgpéð oj bə ro-múxr.

She did her homework too late.

The negative particle dal (from tabar lū 'not anything') comes after the subject pronoun and before the verb.

Faulty accusative

IlL/A Danified analytic Neo-Arabic has the faulty accusative (glossed as FA) particle ðə or ð' , from Ancient Knench jūδ ha-. It is actually not used for direct objects, but only for constituents that are separated from their heads. It also replaces a (TAM-marking) "preposition" in front of a lexical verb, when no preposition is used.

Noun phrase

Y's X = X Y-DEF: šem vaziləs = the king's name

To say "this X" or "that X", X-DEF fu and X-DEF feni (lit. "the X here" and "the X there") are used. To say "this" and "that", you say se fu and se feni (where the se becomes ilə in the plural).

havu, haveni = like this, like that

The abstract demonstrative (referring to sentences or facts) is suð.

Words for yes and no

• ent (from *amitt "true") = 'yes' in reply to a present-copula sentence
• lu = 'no' in reply to a present-copula sentence
• ríð (from rahīδī "I saw") = past 'yes'
• lu fow (from lū 3aśō inflected) = past 'no'
• jąf (from ja3śē, inflected) = future 'yes'
• lu jąf (inflected) = future 'no'
• bal = imperative 'no'

xé may be added before any of these words to strengthen these: "Ti bø xehpin te?" "Xé ent." = "Do you like tea?" "Of course."

Verb phrase

Knench allows arbitrarily long chains of pseudo-auxiliaries:

R'oj bə dafkrəl* oj gąt latsęg.

3SG.F.PRES IPFV never_fail to_do_correctly to_joke

Her jokes never fail to land.

(*) Ăn Yidiș loan

VN constructions

Knench has a rich tense-aspect system which expresses imperfective/perfective as well as progressive and perfect.

• ri Parm bə laht oj = Parm goes
• ri Parm ław laht oj = Parm is going
• ri Parm þax laht oj = Parm is about to go
• ri Parm xni laht oj = Parm has gone
• ri Parm xni juð oj bə laht = Parm has been going
• ri Parm dəž laht oj = Parm just went
• ri Parm wen laht oj = Parm hasn't went
• fól Parm ðə laht = Parm went (perfective; cf. AAVE She done went)
• þąf Parm ðə laht = Parm will go (perfective)
• han Parm bə laht oj = Parm went (imperfective)
• þé Parm bə laht oj = Parm will go (imperfective)
• Laht! = Go! (number neutral)
• gwenu laht! (3uqbinu lekt "follow us to go") = Let's go!

In clauses with a copula and a verbal noun, Knench requires the pronoun corresponding to the subject to come right after the verbal noun: R'ižəs bø hél u ð'abwəs. This is etymologically "See the man when he's eating the apple", cf. Biblical and literary Modern Hebrew באכלו את התפוח "when he eats the apple (but tense- and aspect-neutral)".

The clause-initial subject pronoun + bə colloquially tends to be omitted in the present tense when the subject is 1st or 2nd person: Ðób tr ð'i nr? 'Do you love me?'

Passive and causative

Ðett 'to give' is used as an auxiliary for the causative:

Nawð i ðə pinxadəs el kapwəs el ąnuj.

I made the horse bore the farmer to death.

(lit. I gave the horse the farmer to inflict boredom)

In a ðett-causative construction, the more animate object takes the dative preposition el. This connects ditransitives which are causatives of transitives to the basic ditransitive verb 'give'.

Kaht 'to take' is used as an auxiliary to raise the animate object of a ditransitive verb, unlike bur (~ ląbur 'to suffer') which is used to raise the inanimate object of both monotransitive and ditransitive verbs (as well as the object of the original verb which is causativized).

Kawđ u đə ląbur đə mitəs rup məšólə.

'He was made to suffer so many things.'

Bar łerhbəs đə hél men kapwəs.

'The grass was fed to the horse.'

Balancing vs deranking conjunctions

Balancing conjunctions take full finite clauses (clauses with a finite verb or an auxiliary):

• ej "and"
• ow "or"
• mur (complementizer)
• łeþr "when"
• wí "if" (< *wa-kī)
• jern "because"

Deranking conjunctions replace finite forms of the copula juð and thus are also called copula-replacing conjunctions (e.g. by Hrafn). Some CRCs are:

• prí "than"
• jið (complementizer)
• pið "when"

Time clauses

pið-clauses

A pið-clause is in the same tense as the clause it's embedded in. Pið-clauses denote states, things that can be marked with re + tense markers in the present tense), rather than completed actions.

łeþr-clauses

łeþr are used for clauses with auxiliaries other than the present tense copula.

Complementizer

There is a complementizer mur (from lēmūr) or jið (from conflation of hajūδ 'to be' and jūδ accusative marker) depending on dialect.

Relativizer

In most cases, relative clauses use the relativizer haž (from *χa-ʔašir 'like that which'). nr may appear after the resumptive pronoun if one is used.

Subject of a copula auxiliary:

pahnas haž han __ bə gri u "pnar"

the boy who cried (would cry) wolf

Subject with a non-copula auxiliary:

pahnas haž fow __ gri "pnar"

the boy who cried wolf (once)

Direct object:

levras haž fown nu ðə gru (se (nr))

the book that we read

Oblique object:

péðas haž han oj bə xun oj pəze (nr)

the house she used to live in

To relativise the subject of a present copula, łom (from hā-3ūmid 'that is standing') is used:

abwas łom pə xadr i

the apple in my flat

plenšil łom xni laht im

the people who have gone

Serial verb construction

Serial verbs are also very common in Knench:

Pow Móšé ðə kaht vðųx maþən u. / Fow Móšé ðə buð kaht vðųx maþən u.

come.PST.3SG.M Moshe FA take.INF open.INF gift / PST.3SG.M Moshe FA come.INF take.INF open.INF gift 3SG.M

Moshe came, took, and opened his gift.

Directionals derived from verbs, such as laht '(t)hence', bu '(t)hither' and kub 'movement together with another person' are also common and may replace pronouns.

Wh-questions

No special treatment is observed unless the wh-word is the subject, in which case łom is used after the wh-word. However, łom is not used in a question in the form of a nominal sentence. (As always, ri is dropped in questions.)

Dar Petr bə fluð?

What's Peter doing?

Dar łom bə gruð?

What's happening?

Dar se fu? (*Dar łom se fu?)

What's this?

Énr ti?

Where are you?

Énr fows tr ðə laht? / Énr laws tr?

Where have you been?

Vocabulary

Knench has the following vocabulary layers:

1. Most of the common words are inherited from the Semitic common ancestor of Ancient Knench and Biblical Hebrew, however they often show drastic semantic drift or compounding. Example: šłúd 'a lot' comes from saȝudō 'feast'. Cranberry morphemes are not uncommon in Semito-Knench.
2. Azalic substrate
3. Ancient Greek, Aramaic
4. Latin, Romance, Arabic, Turkic and Modern Greek

Although it is attested in Ancient Knench, the *CaCīCō verbal noun pattern is not as productive as the corresponding pattern in Mishnaic and Modern Hebrew.

Many words are formed from earlier construct state or verb + object combinations, and are sometimes unrecognizable as such:

• əmbín 'brick' from *habanē binjan 'building stones'
• səvgom 'massacre; (slang) debacle, fiasco; a mess' from *šafx dam 'spilling of blood'
• łénəm 'source' from ʕēn mayim 'spring of water'
• xifin 'to like' from *śe'θ fin lit. 'lift the face of' meaning 'to favor'
• xihném (el) 'to look at' from *śe'θ 3ēnajim 'lift eyes'
• krəleb 'conscience' from *qūl hal-lēbb lit. 'voice of the heart'

Some productive affixes are:

• pen-/ple- = agentive, -ling
  • pnar 'wolf' comes from older *ben harr 'mountainling'; a euphemism replacing Ancient Knench zēb, which had become taboo by Old Knench
• peδ- = place noun
• pəd-/pl- = associated inanimate, esp. singulative of a collective noun (from peθθ 'daughter')
  • pdą = tree (*pett ja3r)
  • pdam = wave (*pett jamm)
  • pderm = word (irreg. metathesis from *pett himrō)
  • pdeš = flame
  • pled = echo
  • pədner = stream
  • pəmattr = drop of water (from mattr 'rain')
  • pədgašəm = (poetic) petrichor
• -l = transitivizer or causative of verbs (from a -w ~ -l alternation in some intransitive-transitive verb pairs)
• -is: -ess (from Celtic)
  • vazilis 'queen' < vazil 'king'
  • męšivis 'witch' < męšiv 'mage, wizard'
• lið- = mediopassive
• məð- is more productive and is used to form verbal adjectives, serving the role of passive participles
  • luri 'to amaze'; muri 'amazing'; məðuri 'amazed'
• rə- = intensive of verbs

Example texts

UDHR, Article 1

Bar hol plenšil ðə lost im bə xurar ej bə šaw łaj šogwəs ej šertil. Bru'm ðə fkud jax rižún ej krəleb, ej r'im bə xeht im liðalih jaxəm šúv pə nəžóm axr.

[bɑː hɔl ˈplɛnʃɪl ðə ˌlɔzd bə fʷˁʊˈɹɑːɹ ej bə ˈʃaw ʁ̃ʷˁaj hɔbdəs ə ʃɛ:tɪl ‖ bɹʊm ðə ˌfkʊd jafʷˁ ɹɪˈʒɨːn ej kɹaˈlɛb, ej ɹɪm bə fʷˁɛxt lɪˈðalɪx ˌjafʷˁəm ˈʃɨːf pə nəˈʒaom ˈafʷˁə]

PASS.PST.3SG.NF all human/PL-DEF.PL be_born 3PL PRED free and PRED equal on dignity-DEF.SG and right-DEF.PL. PASS.PRES-3PL endow with reason and conscience, and PRES.3PL PRES carry 3PL behave with one_another LOC spirit brotherhood.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act toward one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Tower of Babel

1. Han pə þó law þebwəs ðə súðu ləžunəs ej núməs bə lųl im.
2. Wini pið im bə laht im men óstr, flu'm ðə find meštəxəs Šinłar vi ližešib feni.
3. Flu'm el šúv mur: "Pulé, gwenu fluð əmbínr vi ladeb vuð im." vi han əmbínil bə lųl im low'm til əbonr, vi əgíləs til mawd.
4. Mur: "Pulé, gwenu benin krir lon nu ej tur pəze, jąf ruž se ðə łali laht šméməs, vi nąf nu ðə nawž nu bə dųžim! Oz nąf nu dal ðə liðvasr łaj þó law þebwəs."
5. Wini fow Mənęləs ðə rost bu, hę jąf u ðə xihném el krirəs ej turəs haž han plenšil ław benin im ð'im.
6. Fow Mənęlas mur: "Łeþr kalu'm ðə tseht fluð suð til xóð pobu łom bə dapr xóð núm, jé dal rustr el mędəbr haž jú'm bə zúm im fluð!
7. "Pulé, gwenu rost laht vi bawbil núm im, oz jú'm dal bə lębin im ðə núm šúv."
8. Vi men feni fow Mənęləs ðə vasr im łaj þó law þebwəs, vi flu'm ðə znurh men benin krirəs.
9. Me jernas fu kaw krirəs ðə šeməs Babel -- fow Mənęləs ðə bawbil feni núm þó law þebwəs. Men feni fow Mənęləs ðə vasr im łaj þó law þebwəs.

Phrasebook

When three forms are given, the forms are respectively for addressing one man (informally), one woman (informally), and politely/gender-neutrally respectively.

• Šaləm! = Hello! / Goodbye!
• Maþin tub! = Good morning!
• Xnitsur tub! = Good afternoon!
• Łarb tub! = Good evening!
• Lél tub! = Good night!
• Xakr! = See you!
• Bu dr/di/dim! = Welcome!
• Praw lah tr/ti [lam tim]! = Thank you!
• Imtsəxém tr/ti/tim = Please (etym. himm jimtsā Hinn ba3ēnēxa 'if it finds favor in your eyes')
  • also plíz (from English)
• łeþ tub = have fun
• Ajšr šeməs kaws tr/ti [kawðu tim]? = What's your name?
• Kawð i ðə šeməs [NAME]. = My name is [NAME].
• Powð i men... = I'm from...
• Barð i lost pə... = I was born in...
• I bə fu. = I'm here.
• (I bə) ðób i ðah tr/ti [ðam tim]. = I love you.