Verse:Tdūrzů/Knench

Ngiwrith/Lexicon

Ngiwrith/Swadesh list

Tdūrzů/Knench
Knánith
Pronunciation	[/knaːniθ/]
Created by	IlL
Setting	Lõis
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic Central Semitic North Semitic Canaanite Hebrew Tdūrzů/Knench

Knánith is the sole surviving descendant of Biblical Hebrew. It preserves many forms and words of Biblical Hebrew not found in our Modern Hebrew, but its grammar has been completely restructured to use auxiliaries instead of the older Hebrew tenses. (todo: less Rabbinical Hebrew)

Numbers: 0-10: afs, ódh (m)/áth (f), hnay, hlusz, arbą, homisz, szesz, szew, hmun, teszą, ngaxør

11-20: ódh/áth ngaxør, hnay ngaxør, hlusz ngaxør, arbą ngaxør, homisz ngaxør, szesz ngaxør, szew ngaxør, hmun ngaxør, teszą ngaxør, ngaxre

40: stay ngaxre

60: hlusz ngaxre

...

120: merkø

14400: rúø

before: kkorm

Introduction

• Swadesh list
• bel-, ble- is a common prefix (conflation of ben- and ba3al-)
• tiwdith = Thedish
• Am yagį li... = May I...
• szą sze... = when...
• Many adverbs are from infinitive absolute
• liˀkori = to die (lit. be called)
• midhborø = conference
• נא becomes a focus particle no

Phonology

Consonants

/m pʰ b f v w n tʰ d θ ð ts s z ʂ j ŋ kʰ g x h l r/ ⟨m p b f v w n t d th dh ts s/x z sz y ng k g kh h l r⟩

Allophonic palatalization occurs before /ɛ/, /i/ or /j/. /ŋ kʰ k˭ g x/ palatalize to alveolopalatals /ɲ tɕʰ tɕ˭ dʑ ɕ/.

Glottal reinforcement (transcribed by the doubling of tt kk) occurs before historical Biblical Hebrew emphatics /tʼ kʼ tsʼ/, and also analogically in some other cases (cf. Glottalic PIE > RP English).

Mutations

Words can undergo initial lenition, as in Irish and Tiberian Hebrew:

p- b- t- d- k- g- > f- w- th- dh- kh- Ø-

"Already lenited" consonants lenite as follows: f w th dh kh Ø > nf, nw, nth, ndh, nkh, n

Vowels

/a ɛ i ɔ u ə a: ɛ: i: ɔ: u: ə: ã/ = ⟨a e i o u ø á é í ó ú ǿ ą⟩

Word-final /i/ is silent and palatalizes the preceding consonant.

Prosody

Stress

Stress is always penultimate.

Morphology

Knánith has lost the verbal inflections and triconsonantal morphology of Biblical Hebrew.

Nouns and adjectives

Nouns inflect for number and definiteness. Adjectives agree with nouns in number.

Cretan has lost grammatical gender.

• The regular "feminine" singular suffix is -ø or -th.
• The regular "masculine" plural suffix is -in or -e.
• The regular "feminine" plural is -uth.
• However, there are many irregular plurals, especially nouns derived from construct state constructions. e.g. benusz, blenusz = human

køfor, køforin = village, villages

bakkbøkk, bakkbøkkin = bottle, bottles

i, iin = island, islands

kiszø, kiszuth = squash, squashes

gøfø, gøfuth = corpse, corpses

tagrith, tagriyuth = incident, incidents

Cretan has lost grammatical gender and the construct state. The only remnant of the construct state is the -th- interfix used in possessive constructions between two nouns that end and begin with a vowel, respectively: e.g.

• hadhør-mittø 'bedroom'
• ngønove-th-anf 'the grapes of wrath'
• nøszomø-th-ahwø 'spirit of brotherhood'

Degree markers:

• Suffective: de- = as X as; equally X
• Excessive: ro- = too (from Celtic)
• Comparative: ther- = more X; comparandum takes broth 'than' (from Biblical Hebrew *birʔōṫī ʔeṫ 'when I see ACC')
• Superlative: khi- = most X

Verbs

Verbs only use the infinitive, marked with l-

-tt verbs

• lalakht = to go
• lakkakht = to take
• lathett = to give
• larett = to go down
• lalett = to be born
• lasett = to carry
• latsett = to go out
• lasheft = to sit
• lasątt = to travel
• ladhątt = to know
• lasekht = to retreat

Pronouns

Knánith has an auxiliary verb system similar to Colloquial Welsh. In addition, there is a T-V distinction: the 2nd person plural tem is also used as a polite pronoun.

Auxiliaries

Various auxiliaries in Knánith

→ Person ↓ Truth value	1sg	2sg.m	2sg.f	3sg.m	3sg.f	1pl.in	2pl	3pl	Non-pronominal
Affirmative	ni, i	to	te	u	hi	nanu, nu	tem	em	re, r'
Interrogative	am ni, am i	am to	am te	am u	am hi	am nu	am tem	am em	am
Negative	en ni, en i	en to	en te	en u	en hi	en nu	en tem	en em	en
Past	si ni, sit i, sit ni	sit to	sit te	so u	sto hi	sin nu	sit tem	su'm	so/sto/su
Passive present	ur ni, ur i	tur to	tri te	yur u	tur hi	nur nu	tru tem	ru'm	yur/tur/ru
Passive past	var ni, var i, vart i	vart to	vart te	var u	vro hi	var nu	vart tem	vru'm	var/vro/vru
Subjunctive	ąs i	tąs to	tąs te	yąs u	tąs hi	nąs nu	tąsu tem	yąsu'm	yąs/tąs/yąsu
Future	lekh i	tlekh to	tlekh te	lekh u	tlekh hi	lekh nu	tlekhu tem	lekhu'm	lekh/tlekh/lekhu
"May"	kekh i	tkekh to	tkekh te	kekh u	tkekh hi	kekh nu	tkekhu tem	kekhu'm	kekh/tkekh/kekhu

Prepositions

Prepositions inflect like in Welsh: for pronominal prepositional objects, usually the preposition is inflected and is followed by the independent pronoun.

example of a knánith inflected preposition: lø "for"

• 1sg: li, li ni
• 2sg.m: lakh to
• 2sg.f: lakh te
• 3sg.m: lu hu, lú hu
• 3sg.f: lo hi, loy hi
• 1pl. lon nu, lonu
• 2pl. lém tem
• 3pl. lam em

Syntax

Constituent order

The order is tense-subject-verb-object.

R'iszaz bø lékhul tapuhaz.

The man is eating the apple.

Re beth-u bø dhe-rul kø liyothøn.

His house is as big as a whale.

Sto hi lásuth halkkbeth-i bø muødh múhør.

She did her homework very late.

Noun phrase

The definite article is a clitic:

• Singular: -az (after C) or -zu (after V)
• Plural: -il

Examples:

• hadhør = a room
• hadhraz = the room
• hadhri = rooms
• hadhril = the rooms
• hadhør grul = a big room
• hadhør grulaz = the big room (< hah-hadhər hag-gâdhol haz-ze)
• botin grulin = big houses
• botin grulil = the big houses

• tøpuaz r' iszaz bø lékhul u = The apple, the man eats it

There is no construct state, unlike in Biblical Hebrew. Genitives are expressed with concatenation: szem-malkaz = the king's name.

To say "this X" or "that X", X-az fu and X-az szom (lit. "the X here" and "the X there") are used. To say "this" and "that", you say ze fu and ze szom (where the ze becomes ilø in the plural).

The abstract demonstrative is zuth.

Verb phrase

Isz li rangu "I'm hungry"

Vocabulary

Construct state combinations grammaticalize

• bel, ble- = agentive
• beth- = place noun

Example texts

UDHR, Article 1

Kol blenuszil, vru'm ledhø kø vlehuri; hem szowi ngal kúdhaz ke skhøyuthil. Vru'm lehąnikk bø thvønø ke matspøn, ke re ngalem lithnágh ódh lø hni bø nøszomø-th-ahwø.

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. Bø khol ngulømaz sto áth sofø bø vur lødhabir ke su uthøm miluthil bø vur lisztamisz.
2. Wini ksze su'm bø losangøth me mizroh, su'm litakkil bø miszuraz Szinngor ke lithyaszew szom.
3. Ke su'm lemur: "Enø, butonu ląsuth lwenuth ke léfuth em ettew." Ke su lwenuthil løszamisz lom em kø awnevniyø, ke hemør kø maltt.
4. Ke su'm lemur: "Enø, butonu lewnuth kiriø ke mídøl bo hi, yąs ruszu u lagią le szomayim, ki nąs nu ląsuth lonu szem, ke klu nąs nu lithpazir pli kol ngulømaz!"
5. Wini Eluim so u lowu mattø, ki yąs u láwiˀt bø kiriøzu ke mídølaz sze yu blenuszil bø lewnuth.
6. Ke Eluim so u lemur: "Szą sze su'm hátholø ląsuth zuth kø ódh ngom sze bø lødhabir áth sofø, lu yiye szum mikhszul lø múmø sze yąsu'm lithkawin ląsuth!
7. "Enø, bu tonu lalakht mattø ke løwalbil sofø-th-em, klu yąsu'm láwin szuthif."
8. Kokh Eluim so u løfazir em, ke su'm ládul lewnuth kiriøzu.
9. Ke me sibøzu fu sze kiriøzu bø laˀko szemaz "Bovil" -- szom so Eluim løwalbil sofø kol ngulømaz. Me szom so Eluim løfazir em pli kol ngulømaz.