Chlouvānem/Morphology
Chlouvānem is a highly inflected language with a synthetic morphology. Five parts of speech are traditionally distinguished: nouns, verbs, pronouns, numerals, and particles. Throughout the page there will be references to the topics treated in the pages on Chlouvānem syntax, positional and motion verbs, and exterior and interior verbs.
Nouns (halenī)
→ See Lahob languages § Morphology for diachronical tables and comparisons with sister languages.
The Chlouvānem noun (haloe, pl. halenī) is highly inflected - it declines for:
- Three numbers:
- Singular (emibausire smoḍūm)
- Dual (danyausire smoḍūm)
- Plural (tailyausire smoḍūm)
- Twelve cases:
- Direct (daradhūkire dirūnnevya)
- Vocative (halausire dirūnnevya)
- Accusative (dṛṣokire dirūnnevya)
- Ergative (darinūkire dirūnnevya)
- Genitive (cārūkire dirūnnevya)
- Translative (najamarcūkire dirūnnevya)
- Exessive (nenijamarcūkire dirūnnevya)
- Essive (jalausire dirūnnevya)
- Dative (męlyausire dirūnnevya)
- Ablative (tųlunūkire dirūnnevya)
- Locative (yuñcūkire dirūnnevya)
- Instrumental (drausire dirūnnevya)
There are a few nouns which lack number; a few are singularia tantum and lack a plural (e.g. hærūm lips), other ones are plural only - most notably these include all ethnicities (e.g. chlǣvānem, which is also an irregular plural). The singular is made by using the genitive form attributed to lila (person), e.g. chlǣvānumi lila (a Chlouvānem).
Chlouvānem does not have grammatical gender, and there are only a few natural gender terms. There are thirteen different noun declensions, but most of them only have few small differences. Chlouvānem declensions are predictable from the ending of the direct case noun, and they're categorized depending on their endings as s-, m-, or h-nouns[1].
S-nouns - Sasą lā halenī
There are some traits which are common to all nominal declensions: the vocative is only distinct in the singular; in the dual there is also no distinction between translative and dative, essive and locative, and between exessive, ablative, and instrumental. In the plural, the exessive and ablative also share the same form, as do the essive plural and the ergative dual.
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Table notes:
- The ending is -unīs/-unīka; the n → ṇ shift is a case of regular saṃdhi.
Also note that modern borrowings ending in [s] typically add a further case ending, e.g. Skyrdagor valtasz (nunatak) becomes Chlouvānem valtasas (same meaning), declining as valtasau, valtasu, valtasei...
M- and N-nouns - Mamą naną no lā halenī
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The n-paradigms follow the exact same rules as the corresponding m- ones, with the exception of having the direct plural identical to the singular. All other inflections (including the dual) are the same as the other nouns. Thus e.g. samin may be either child or children, and it is usually the verb that marks the number - compare samin mālchē "the kid runs" and samin mālchāhai "the kids run". They are de facto undistinguishable out of context in forms where singular and plural have the same verb form, e.g. in the perfect - samin amālcha can mean either "the kid has run" or "the kids have run" depending on context. The noun yaltan (the currency of the Chlouvānem Inquisition) has, outside of legal texts, an irregularity in the exessive singular, being yaltat instead of yaltanat (the latter, regular form is used in very formal styles). This shortening arose in one of its most common uses, the exessive case used to state an amount paid, as in e.g. māmei yalta(na)t ulgutaṃte "I bought it for twelve yaltan." |
Table notes:
- Such forms with -jñ- are underlyingly -y-y- (e.g. jāy-y-es → jājñes).
- This stem is the result of regular saṃdhi, i.e. *lilvn- → lilun-.
H-nouns - Hahą lā halenī
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The h-paradigm used by nouns in -ah and -āh is substantially identical to the regular 1-h one, except for the exessive, dative, ablative, locative, and instrumental plural which have -a- instead of -e- as a linking vowel and, for some nouns, the genitive singular (see table note 2). |
Table notes:
- -o nouns are mostly toponyms of Toyubeshian origins; they decline like -a nouns, with their ending being treated as *-a-u, with the -a part of the stem; e.g. Paramito, locative Paramitai (underlying form Paramit-a-e).
- -ya, and -yā nouns form the genitive singular in -ei (e.g. lalyā "night" → lalei). Nouns in -yah, and -yāh, however, have the regular ending (e.g. yamyah "fog" → yamyi).
- All -ǣh nouns are of Lällshag origin, and are mostly toponyms (like Laikunanǣh), with some exceptions like the two lunar days kælyaunænǣh and yeicapænǣh. Note that such nouns have their genitive singular in -ǣyi and not in -ī.
- In older texts -eiva (e.g. javileiva), today only used in literature for an archaïzing effect or to mark a character speaking with a Northern Plain pronunciation (where this form survives in the spoken language).
- Mostly regional Western words of Dabuke origin.
- Non-productive with borrowings, but common in native words.
Special declensions
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The ablaut declension is in the singular (except for the vocative and essive) and dual the same as the 1-h one, including the -ei rule for the genitive singular (e.g. rinya "ceiling", gen.sg. renei), except for the fact that the genitive singular has a middle-grade vowel. The plural has mostly the same endings as the singular but with middle-grade vowels in most forms (genitive, essive, and locative have a higher-grade one). -y- is inserted between the stem and the ending, but not for nouns ending in -ya (rinya → renyē).
The vowel that undergoes ablaut is usually the penultimate (e.g. plušamila "Office of the Inquisition", plural plušamelyē), but in some cases it's the first (e.g. kimeda (a type of panther), plural kemedyē).
Hypocoristic forms of male names, which end in -em and are only used in the singular, are declined following a mix of the 1-m and 1-h patterns. In fact, they follow the 1-m pattern (the -am paradigm) except for the ergative (in -emei instead of *-(e)mæ) and the essive (in -ęs instead of *-(e)mą). For example the hypocoristicon Kælem has ergative Kælemei and essive Kælęs.
Singularia and pluralia tantum
Pluralia tantum in Chlouvānem include the following words or categories of words:
- many collective nouns:
- pārāk "hair", kāraṇḍhai "guts", yūgure "limbs", agṇyaucai "sons and daughters", vailašaus "cutlery", šūlyakāše "dishes"
- things that are heterogeneous in form but considered as a single entity:
- katanai "clutter", dūḍhvai "banquet, buffet", vārṇaigīk (a type of sandals made from straw rope), ḍheṃlatiryai "streaming"[2], ltælime "magic", ṣrūḍhais "savings", dāyārṣe "resin", ḍåtvāk "fat", tadmāltsāk "controller"
- certain actions and processes that involve multiple people:
- vāgdilanai "elections", viṣlonai "protest, riot", jāṃrice "traffic jam", grembātatālunai "hide-and-seek" (sometimes also found as dual)
- nouns denoting certain time spans, festivals, or holidays:
- saṃlallai "afternoon", Bhaivyāvāṣaryai (the most important Yunyalīlti festivity), Kūlħanarai (a winter festival of Kenengyry origin)
- a few illnesses and health conditions or disorders:
- nirganai "urticaria", nañvai "autism", paṣadårbhai "influenza"
- some locations, including large delimited areas as well as many toponyms:
- aryai "square", cahåtaibāk "tropics"
- Rīkalīnai, Mūnnakṣalte
- all ethnonyms:
- chlǣvānem "Chlouvānem", ṣurṭāgyai "Skyrdegan(s)", bronyai "Bronic(s)", sairghīṭyai "Cerian(s)", nivrahīrai "Nivarese"
A few nouns do not have a singular, but can have a dual and a plural form. Their citation form is usually the dual:
- maihadhūt "parents", grembātatālunāt "hide-and-seek" (most commonly a plurale tantum)
Counted among pluralia tantums are certain words which are not defective in number, but whose plural forms have an additional meaning alongside the one of the singular form, like in the following examples:
- hamvyenī "nursery" (hamvyoe "cradle"), įsmirte "playground" (įsmirtas "swing"), nacai "clothes" (naca "cloth"), garaṇai "clock, watch" (garaṇa "hour), lairtvaha "galaxy" (lairē "sky, air"), ilēneyi "universe" (ilēni "space, invisible sky").
Unlike ethnonyms, nouns formed with the suffix -yūs, generally identifying a person from a certain city (e.g. līlasuṃghāṇyūs, ajāɂilbādhyūs) – but note yacvānyūs "Westerner" – are not pluralia tantum and have regularly-formed plurals (in -yaus).
Some words are singularia tantum:
- many collective nouns:
- nūlastān "money", maula "breasts [pair of]", mæchlišam "leafy greens" (and particular types, e.g. mæcichā "spinach), bågras "legumes" (and particular types, e.g. dīlla "peas", mahīra "lentils"), lāsīm "cereals", baltīs "free time"
- feelings and sensations:
- lācāh "romantic love", læchlyoe "fun", ǣlna "sadness"
- nouns denoting certain uncountable things:
- paɂeh "dust", kanai "spices", nāmvāvi "powder, dust made from crushing something", ḍolam "ice", narmis "ash"
- certain illnesses and health conditions:
- badarauga "blue plague", kloppa "cough" (cf. pluralizable kloppukāram "a single instance of coughing"), nadirṣas "runny nose"
- proper nouns referring to certain concepts:
- yunya, lillamurḍhyā, mulipenai "the Eastern Bloc's 'Internet'", tulbaiganin "the Eastern Bloc's 'Olympics'"
- individual sports, such as tēyakaitsūh, ḍaṣaras, lairhiṃħa, yalkhaitah
- cardinal points, pūrjayuñca "North", nalejñuñca "East"..., including relative ones such as smrāṇyuñca "upstream" or memājñuñca "downstream"
- musical genres, such as laneika, mūṃjas, kerachomā, tūnisus
- specialistic terminology made with suffixes and related to sciences (-tarlā, -nātra), diseases (-ræṣka, -yūtan, -ītsun, -gulas), and political/philosophical currents (-nātra, -lija)
- Most toponyms:
- Murkadhānāvi "the Inquisition", Kaiṣamā, Ṣurṭāgah "Skyrdagor", Sairghīṭa "Ceria", Kuyugvajitava "Kŭyŭgwažtov"
Irregular plurals
A few Chlouvānem nouns have irregular plurals:
- The word chlǣvānem itself is plural-only (like all ethnonyms) and irregular; direct and vocative are in -em, but all other cases decline as a standard plural 1h noun (e.g. accusative chlǣvānānu, ergative chlǣvānān, genitive chlǣvānumi);
- maila “water” does not have a dual form outside of colloquial use (where mailāt is used with the meaning of “two glasses of water”) and has the irregular plural mailtvaha, declined as a singular 1h noun. This plural form is actually common, used when talking about bodies of water in an area, water layers, glasses of water, and a few minor idiomatic uses (e.g. taili mailtvahe hilælulke, lit. “to arrive by crossing many waters”, meaning “to have had much experience”).
The -tvaha semantic plural is also used for the word damītah when used for "petals" (damītvaha; the meaning of "nails" has the regular plural damītai), and lairē (lairtvaha, which does not mean "skies" or "days" but "galaxy"). - Nouns with non-standard final endings (except chlǣvānem) are declined by unpacking the vowel through regular saṃdhi and applying the resulting declension to the newfound root, with regular saṃdhi. The most common such nouns are gos "ford, crossing of a small river" (ga-us; gen.sg. ge (ga-i), pl. gaus (ga-aus)) and khaim "goose" (khā-im; pl. khaik (khā-īk)).
- švas "animal (including humans)" pluralizes as švai, as if it were a h-noun; all cases except for direct and vocative are however regular.
Irregular vocatives
Five very common words have common, irregular, vocative forms:
- ñæltah "(male's) sister" — ñæli or ñæl
- glūkam "(female's) brother" — galū
- meinā "mother" — mā or mē
- bunā "father" — bā or vā
- udhyāras "Comrade" — udhyā (rarely udhyār)
Use of the plural
Chlouvānem sometimes uses the singular in contexts where English uses the plural:
- Nouns are always singular after numerals (except, optionally, dani (two), which they can also be dual after), sora (some), grāṇa (any), gu (no), guviṣam (no other), taili (many, much), nanū (more), kaili (most), and ṣubha (few, little).
- After yaiva, the difference in the noun's number expresses a distinction much like the one between English "every" and "all": yaiva kita "every house", yaiva kitai "all houses".
- When referring to existence or availability of something, that something is always singular, e.g. dvārma læjlęs virā "there are chairs in the room". It may be plural if topicalized, but the overall meaning of the sentence changes - e.g. læjlai mæn dvārma virā "the chairs are in the room".
- When referring to a single person, dhāna (hand), mešīn (eye), and minnūlya (ear), and often also junai (foot) (more rarely for pājya (leg) and molnya (arm)) are typically singular and not dual - e.g. nanau mešīp mešute "I see it with my eyes" (lit. "with my eye"). In fact, they might be translated as "a person's hands/eyes/ears", given that dual forms are often used to mean e.g. "both hands of two people" and the plural ones for e.g. "many people's hands".
- junyoe (indoor slippers), rapūda ((thick) shoes), mæska (boots), and all types of shoes are also used in the singular to refer to a pair of them. The main exception is varṇaigīk (straw rope sandals), which is a plurale tantum.
Duals and plurals of given names have the meaning of an associative plural, i.e. Kālomījñai "Kālomīyeh and people in/of her group".
Verbs (daradhaus)
- Main article: Chlouvānem verbs
The Chlouvānem verb (daradhūs, pl. daradhaus) is the most inflected part of speech; its most basic forms are fusional, but many more specific formations are more agglutinative due to their origin from old Proto-Lahob particles or participles.
Pronouns (hailihalenī)
The system of personal pronouns of modern Standard Chlouvānem is quite complex due to the honorific system. In modern Chlouvānem, the category of "pronouns" isn't actually syntactically differentiated from other nouns (except for being used anaphorically), and only some of them - the inherited pronouns from Proto-Lahob and Archaic Chlouvānem - follow a declension different from the one of nouns.
The main reason for the complexity of the pronominal system is that there are many possible variants for each person, depending on the formality of the context, the two-way rank difference between speaker and listener, or the three-way rank difference between the speaker, the listener, and the addressee. Some particular forms are also chosen depending on gender.
The fact that there is no syntactical difference between the morphological pronouns and those that are nouns also means that every word used pronominally, including given names, requires that person's verbal concord, i.e. a given name used as a second-person pronoun will be used in concordance with a second-person verb. In the following list, words not marked as being inflected according to pronominal declension are inflected as nouns. However, yamei and lāma are honorific adpositions which do not decline; the title or given name used with them declines instead.
List of personal pronouns and pronoun-equivalents
First person singular (I, me)
- lili (pronominal declension): the morphological inherited pronoun and the most neutral. It is overall the most used, especially in the non-direct cases, but there are alternatives for very informal, childish, slang, and humble speech.
- emmā: the humble speech word for "person", sometimes used in humble speech.
- demi (pronominal declension): literally "oneself", the reflexive pronoun; used in informal speech but conveying a sense of distance.
- Given name: used in childish speech and in certain slang forms, considered rude or uneducated otherwise.
- lilyā hulin: literally "my woman", informal or semi-formal, implies superiority.
- paralonį emmā: literally "the person [humble] who is a disciple" or "I, [your] disciple". Used almost exclusively in writing, by students or pupils when talking to their professors or teachers.
- lilyā jāyim (in Archaic Chlouvānem only); literally "my girl", implying humbleness. Notably used by the Chlamiṣvatrā to refer to herself throughout the Holy Books.
Second person singular (You)
- Given name plus lāma: the general polite form. lāma can be replaced by an appropriate title.
- yamei + given name + lāma: similar to the above, but more polite, typically used for people of much higher rank or public officials.
- yamei + title: very polite, alternative to the above two.
- Appropriate honorific formula: the most polite usage, usually progressively reduced to (yamei) given name + lāma or yamei + title during the course of a conversation[3].
- Given name + tanta: same politeness as lāma, used respectfully towards lower-ranked people, for example workers and colleague with less experience, soldiers of lower rank, employees, apprentices, and (from seventh class onwards) by teachers towards their students.
- Given name alone: used in semi-formal speech between (equal ranked) colleagues and friends with a moderate degree of acquaintance. Can be or is rude otherwise. Note that it is considered especially rude to use the given name (or any other form of the personal name) towards older family members, or family members of the same generation who are not siblings (e.g. brothers/sisters-in-law, unless they're close friends).
- Informal name: used in informal speech among friends, siblings (and possibly cousins[4]), partners, and all family members of a younger generation.
- Kinship term alone: used for older family members or non-siblings (excluding cousins) of the same generation.
- sāmi (pronominal declension): the morphological pronoun used in informal speech. Often replaced by the given name or by the hypocoristic form.
- nami (pronominal declension): the morphological pronoun of formal speech towards higher ranked people. Often used (and even more often in non-core forms such as the genitive namyā), but it is also common to use the given name + lāma formula instead.
- tami (pronominal declension): morphological pronoun of formal speech towards equal ranked people. Often used alternatively to the given name (with or without lāma), even in the same conversation.
- rami (pronominal declension): morphological formal pronoun for lower ranked people; same usage pattern as tami.
- udhyāras: translatable as "Comrade" and introduced during the Kaiṣamā era, it is a formal second-person pronoun used for people in situations transcending social rank. It is particularly used among political activists, volunteers in any organization, or in cooperative activities distinct from one's usual work. It is also the preferred option when one has no information about the addressed person, or as a general second person pronoun not referring to any particular person.
- ṣari: quite old-fashioned (but still actively used by older people), used by guests towards homeowners (or innkeepers) and by soldiers towards their superiors.
- ūttuka (mostly historical except for the Northeast): similar to ṣari but mostly used by servants towards their superiors or landowners; rapidly disappeared because of the Kaiṣamā era reforms except for the Northeast, where it was used in most contexts ṣari was elsewhere.
- blikā; an endearing term for "girl", used by sisters among themselves.
- lorkhās; male counterpart to blikā.
- Informal name + cuca: endearing form used in informal speech by parents towards their children.
- samin, literally "kid, child": used in formal instances by parents towards their children.
The following pronouns are mostly used for specific people, and only as reductions of other formulae:
- aveṣyotariri nami: literally "You excellent one"; extremely formal locution for non-religious superiors several ranks ahead.
- gopūrṭham: used for public/religious and military officials.
- gopūrṭhami brausa: used for the highest ranked Inquisitors, bishops, head monks, and the Baptist.
- yobrausa: same as gopūrṭhami brausa.
- lalla yobrausa: used for the Great Inquisitor.
With second-person pronouns, the possessives used are in nearly every case those of the corresponding morphological pronouns; however, in very informal speech, it is not uncommon to use the genitive of the informal name or of pronoun-equivalents such as blikā or lorkhās.
Third person singular
Chlouvānem does not have any morphological third person pronoun; the demonstratives are used instead for non-human referents. For human referents, however, it is considered extremely rude to address them using a demonstratives. The choice of pronoun in the third person is especially complex because not just the relative rank of speaker and listener should be kept in mind, but also the rank of the addressee relative to both the speaker and the listener.
All titles listed in the section "Honorific titles" may be freely used with and without names. Furthermore, it is common in not excessively formal speech to use nāḍima (honorific word for "mother") for all female older relatives - of previous generations, not older siblings - of the interlocutor and similarly tamvāram (honorific for "father") for male older relatives.
udhyāras, equivalent to "Comrade", is in contemporary Chlouvānem the least controversial third person pronoun, at least the only one that is never considered rude to use. However, depending on the situation, other pronouns may be more appropriate.
Reference table
The following table is meant as a non-exhaustive reference for the most common ways used to refer to third person human referents in different situations, excluding titles:
| If... | Speaker is higher than Listener | Speaker is equal to Listener | Speaker is lower than Listener | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3SG is higher than... | both Speaker and Listener | yamei (name) lāma yamei (name) suntam/sintam |
(yamei) (name) suntam/sintam(/lāma) | yamei (name) suntam/sintam |
| Listener, but lower than or equal to Speaker |
udhyāras yamei lātiṃṣin (name) lāma |
/ | / | |
| Speaker, but lower than or equal to Listener |
/ | / | yamei (name) lāma | |
| 3SG is equal to... | Listener | udhyāras yamei (name) tanta (name) lāma |
/ | / |
| both Speaker and Listener | / | udhyāras lātiṃṣin (name) lāma |
/ | |
| Speaker | / | / | yamei (name) lāma udhyāras lātiṃṣin | |
| 3SG is lower than... | Listener | udhyāras (name) tanta |
/ | / |
| both Speaker and Listener | / | udhyāras (name) tanta |
/ | |
| Speaker | / | / | (name) lāma udhyāras | |
Dual pronouns
Plural pronouns
Other personal pronouns
Pronominal declension
The pronominal declension has two variants: one used for the first person pronouns and another for the 2nd person ones. First person pronouns are the most archaic: they have a single-phoneme stem in all cases bar the direct, and a different stem in the direct case (lili, derived from the original pronoun *li, in the singular, and suppletive amūt and amūvi in the dual and plural respectively).
The second person pronouns are a Pre-Chlouvānem innovation, from the original short stem attached to the demonstrative ami, and therefore they follow that word's declension. However, the original short stems are kept as alternative, shorter forms, for the accusative, ergative, and dative cases. Second-person plural pronouns exist, but are virtually unused outside of Archaic Chlouvānem.
| Direct | Accusative | Ergative | Genitive | Translative | Exessive | Essive | Dative | Ablative | Locative | Instrumental | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | 1st person | lili | lū | lei | lyai lilyā |
lan | lat | lįs | lum | ląu | lēn | lāni | ||
| 2nd person | Informal | sāmi | sāmyū sū |
sāmī sei |
sāmī | sāmīn | sāmīt | sāmįs | sāmūm som |
sāmų | sāmǣ | sāmūni | ||
| Form. sup. | nami | namyū nū |
namī nei |
namī | namīn | namīt | namįs | namūm num |
namų | namǣ | namūni | |||
| Form. equal | tami | tamyū tū |
tamī tei |
tamī | tamīn | tamīt | tamįs | tamūm tum |
tamų | tamǣ | tamūni | |||
| Form. inf. | rami | ramyū nū |
ramī nei |
ramī | ramīn | ramīt | ramįs | ramūm rum |
ramų | ramǣ | ramūṇi | |||
| Reflexive pronoun | demi | jū | jei | jai demyā |
jen | jet | jįs | jum | jąu | jēn | jāni | |||
| Dual | 1st person | amūt | lūṣa | lūra | lūva | lūh | lūbhan | lūnne | lūh | lūbhan | lūnne | lūbhan | ||
| 2nd person | Informal | sāmīt | sāmīṣa seṣa |
sāmīra sera |
sāmīva | sāmirį | sāmibhan | sāminne | sāmirį seh |
sāmibhan | sāminne | sāmibhan | ||
| Form. sup. | namīt | namīṣa nīṣa |
namīra nira |
namīva | namirį | namibhan | naminne | namirį nih |
namibhan | naminne | namibhan | |||
| Form. equal | tamīt | tamīṣa tīṣa |
tamīra tira |
tamīva | tamirį | tamibhan | taminne | tamirį tih |
tamibhan | taminne | tamibhan | |||
| Form. inf. | ramīt | ramīṣa rīṣa |
ramīra rira |
ramīva | ramirį | ramibhan | raminne | ramirį rih |
ramibhan | raminne | ramibhan | |||
| Plural | 1st person | amūvi | laih | lān | lumi | lemān | lenīs | lāra | lisām | lenīs | lelīm | lenīka | ||
Honorific titles
→ See also: Chlouvānem names § Using names
Chlouvānem uses many honorific titles, which are always used in non-familiar speech. The "honorific" adjective yamei is often added to many of them - especially lāma - and is mandatory in other ones.
- lāma - used after the noun, it is the most common honorific title; almost every time someone is being addressed, lāma is used - the only exceptions being when it is already known another honorific should be used, or in familiar situations. It usually follows the given name alone (e.g. Namihūlša lāma); if the matronymic is added (sometimes done in order to disambiguate), then lāma comes between matronymic and noun (e.g. Līṭhaljāyimāvi lāma Namihūlša). All three names matronymic, surname, and given name together with lāma (e.g. Līṭhaljāyimāvi Kaleñchokah Namihūlša lāma) are only used in very formal addressing from a list of nouns; should matronymic+noun be not enough to distinguish two people, simply surname+noun is used.
- tanta - used for people in a lower position, e.g. used towards one's employees or (usually from seventh class onwards) by teachers and professors towards their students. Also used by militars towards lower-ranked soldiers.
- suntam (regionally also sintam) - used for people in a higher position in certain situations, most commonly towards older and more experienced colleagues (but not teachers or professors, nor work bosses if they're roughly the same age as the speaker).
- lallāmaha - an extremely formal honorific, used for public authorities and all Inquisitors. Most often used together with yamei. Inquisitors may also be referred to as lallāmaha + matronymic + yamei + given name + murkadhāna (lāma)
- jūlin - less formal than lāma, used for people who work in one's home but are not part of the family.
- telen - less formal than lāma, used by men for unmarried women whom they know somewhat well. Currently less frequently used than it was up to about 10 years ago.
- jāmilšīreh - used in military contexts towards higher-ranked people, or by common people towards military commanders in service.
- udhyā(ras) - neutral but respectful title of address, often used when generally speaking and without knowing who the listener is. Sometimes used, when in a plural sense, in the form yamei dāvudhyāre. In its neutralness relative to rank, it can be compared with the Soviet-era use of товарищ. It is also how high-ranked Inquisitors and most monks address the general public.
Note that udhyāras is the direct form, udhyā the irregular vocative. - pūrivāla - an impersonal term of address used in written language, towards unfamiliar people never met personally. Often used as yamei [name] pūrivāla.
- cuca is not strictly an honorific, as it pertains to more colloquial forms of speech, but it works the same way. It has a diminutive and endearing meaning, not unlike Japanese -chan. In formal speech, it is often used towards and when speaking about children.
Occupations commonly used as titles
- camitorai — head of a company (usually as [matronymic] yamei [name] camitorai lāma)
- kauchlærīn (voc.: kauchlærī) — professor (in universities, seminaries, institutions, and work schools)
- tatnāmęlīn (voc.: tatnāmęlī) — teacher (in first and basic schools)
Official titles
Where not noted, the formula is [matronymic] yamei [name] [title] lāma.
- brausamailenya — Baptist — rendered as aveṣyotārire lallāmaha [matronymic] yamei [surname + given name] brausamailenia lāma.
- camimurkadhāna — Great Inquisitor — rendered as nanū aveṣyotārire lallāmaha [matronymic] yamei [surname + given name] camimurkadhāna lāma.
- camitorai — president (of diocesan parliaments or executives or of foreign countries). Rendered as aveṣyotārire [matronymic (if Chlouvānem)] yamei [name] camitorai lāma.
- plušamelīs (voc.: plušamelī) — Prefect (head of an Office (plušamila) of the Inquisition). Rendered as aveṣyotārire [matronymic] yamei [name] plušamelī(s) lāma.
- gatvā — leader/head/president/mayor — preceded by the genitive of the respective administration (ṣramāṇa "province", lalka "circuit", hālgāra "district", marta "city"…).
- hurdagīn — Head Monk (head of a monastery) — rendered as kaili brausire yamei [name] hurdagīn lāma (+ monastery name-GEN)[5]
- juṃša — Bishop (head of a diocese) — rendered as aveṣyotārire [matronymic] yamei [(surname +) name] juṃša lāma (+ diocese name-GEN).
- lallaflušamelīs (voc.: lallaflušamelī) — High Prefect (head of the Table of Offices (flušamaili eṇāh, the executive branch of the Inquisition). Usually rendered as taili aveṣyotārire [matronymic] yamei [name] lallaflušamelī(s) lāma.
- lallamurkadhāna — High Inquisitor (one of the 612 members of the Inquisitorial Conclave (murkadhānumi lanedāmeh, the legislative branch of the Inquisition). Usually rendered as aveṣyotārire [matronymic] yamei [name] lallamurkadhāna lāma.
- ñæltryam — monk.
- ṭommīn (voc.: ṭommī) — Eparch (head of an Eparchy).
Note that the full titles are used generally at the first mention only. For example, Martayināvi yamei murkadhāna Læhimausa lāma becomes afterwards either yamei murkadhāna or yamei Læhimausa lāma. With the Great Inquisitor, this does not usually get shorter than nanū aveṣyotārire yamei lallāmaha ([Her] Respectable Most Excellent Highness) or nanū aveṣyotārire lallāmaha camimurkadhāna ([Her] Most Excellent Highness, the Great Inquisitor).
Correlatives
Chlouvānem has a fairly regular system of correlatives, distinguishing ten types (proximal, medial, distal, interrogative, negative, assertive existential, elective existential, universal, positive alternative, and negative alternative) in eleven categories (attributive, thing, person, time, place, destination, origin, way, reason, quality, quantity).
| Category ↓ / Type → | Proximal | Medial | Distal | Interrogative | Negative | Ass. exist. | Elect. exist. | Universal | Positive altern. | Negative altern. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attributive | nenē (and others; see below) this (one) |
nunū (and others; see below) that (one) (near you) |
nanā (and others; see below) that (one) (over there) |
yanū? what?, which (one) ? |
gu no |
sora some |
grāṇa any |
yaiva every(thing) |
viṣam another, other |
guviṣam no other |
| Thing | gomi nothing |
sorami something |
grāṇami anything |
viṣāmi something else |
guviṣāmi nothing else | |||||
| Person | ·evita this one |
·utvita that one (near you) |
·ātvita that one (over there) |
yavita? who? |
guvita no one |
soraita someone |
grāmvita anyone |
yaivita everyone |
viṣvita someone else |
guviṣvita no one else |
| Time | emiya now |
utiya then |
ātiya then (remote) |
yamiya? when? |
gumiya never |
soramiya sometime, somewhen |
grāmiya anytime, whenever |
yaivmiya always, everytime |
viṣmiya sometime else |
guviṣmiya never else |
| Place | ·ejulā here |
·uñjulā there |
·āñjulā over there |
yajulā? where? |
gujulā nowhere |
sorajulā somewhere |
grāñjulā anywhere |
yavijulā everywhere |
viñjulā elsewhere |
guviñjulā nowhere else |
| Destination | ·ejulyom hither |
·uñjulyom thither |
·āñjulyom thither (remote) |
yajulyom? whither? |
gujulyom nowhither |
sorajulyom somewhither |
grāñjulyom anywhither |
yavijulyom everywhither |
viñjulyom elsewhither |
guviñjulyom nowhither else |
| Source | ·ejulų hence |
·uñjulų thence |
·āñjulų thence (remote) |
yajulų? whence? |
gujulų nowhence |
sorajulų somewhence |
grāñjulų anywhence |
yavijulų everywhence |
viñjulų elsewhence |
guviñjulų nowhence else |
| Manner | elīce thus, hereby |
ūlīce thereby |
ālīce thereby; that other way |
yalīce? how? |
gulīce no way |
soralīce somehow |
grāṃlīce anyhow |
yaivlīce everyway |
viṣlīce otherwise |
guviṣlīce no other way |
| Reason | emena herefore |
utmena therefore |
ātmena therefore; for that other reason |
yamenat? why? |
gumena for no reason |
soramena somewhy |
grāmena whyever, for any reason |
yaivmena for every reason |
viṣmena for another reason |
guviṣmena for no other reason |
| Quality | esmā this kind |
utsmā that kind |
ātsmā that other kind |
yasmāt? which kind? |
gusmā no kind |
sorasmā some kind |
grāṇismā any kind |
yavismā every kind |
viṣasmā another kind |
guviṣasmā no other kind |
| Quantity | enūḍa this much |
utnūḍa that much |
ātnūḍa that much (remote) |
yanūḍat? how much? |
gunūḍa none |
soraṇūḍa some of it |
grāṇūḍa any much |
yaivnūḍa all of it |
viṣṇūḍa another quantity |
guviṣṇūḍa no other quantity |
Note that in common speach ālīce and ūlīce as well as ātmena and utmena are basically interchangeable. The QUALITY correlatives may take an essive argument, e.g. lajlęs grāṇismā "any kind of chair".
THING and PERSON correlatives decline for case and, in the case of evita, utvita, and ātvita, also for number (1h declension: evita, acc. sg. evitu, dir. pl. evitai, dat. pl. evitesām…). QUALITY and QUANTITY correlatives also decline for case.
Not to be confused with their literal English translations are yaivemibe (or yaiva emibe) "each, every" (literally "everyone") - which is most often attributive only in Chlouvānem - and especially sora emibe, literally "someone", which has a completely different meaning: sora emibe denotes "some single subjects, considered as single entities, hence inherently plural and taking plural verbs: sora emibe draikate "some single subjects did it" ≠ soraita dṛkte "someone did it".
Negatives, elective existentials, universals, and positive alternatives for thing and person correlatives may also take dual number:
- gomīt～guvitāt "neither";
- grāṇamīt～grāmvitāt "either";
- yaivāt～yaivitāt "both";
- viṣāmāt～viṣvitāt "the other one".
Further correlatives not included in the above table:
- yambā? (whose?)
- smāmi (such a...) (archaic, literary)
Positional demonstratives
Chlouvānem has a large number of demonstratives, as they are integrated with the system of positional verbs, combining a general proximal-medial-distal distinction with positional prefixes, further localizing them in space. Only a subset of 10 out of the 24 positional prefixes are used to build demonstratives; the ones with a ∅- prefix correspond to most of the unused ones, and may be translated as "this/that one in front/ahead/in the middle" when a disambiguation from another one is needed. The same ten prefixes (except for įs-) are also used together with the PERSON series (with the same logic), and with the PLACE, DESTINATION, and SOURCE correlatives, which act as adverbial anaphoras of positional and motion verbs. This results in forms like kamyejulā "here, around" or māhāñjulyom "thither (remote), rightwards".
| Prefix ↓ / Type → | Proximal | Medial | Distal |
|---|---|---|---|
| ∅- (ahead) | nenē this one ahead |
nunū that one (near you) ahead |
nanā that one ahead |
| ān- (above) | āninē this one above |
ānnū that one (near you) above |
ānnā that one above |
| šu- (below) | šunē this one below |
šūnū that one (near you) below |
šonā that one below |
| įs- (hanging) | įsinē this one hanging |
įsunū that one (near you) hanging |
įsanā that one hanging |
| na(ñ)- (inside) | najinē this one inside |
najunū that one (near you) inside |
najanā that one inside |
| kau- (outside) | kaunē this one outside |
kaunū that one (near you) outside |
kaunā that one outside |
| kami- (around) | kaminē this one around |
kamyunū that one (near you) around |
kamyanā that one around |
| pri- (behind) | prinē this one behind |
prinū that one (near you) behind |
prinā that one behind |
| vai- (beside; in the corner) (sāṭ- for the main meaning) |
vainē this one beside |
vayunū that one (near you) beside |
vayanā that one beside |
| vyā- (left) | vyāɂinē this one to the left |
vyāɂunū that one (near you) to the left |
vyāɂanā that one to the left |
| māha- (right) | māhenē this one to the right |
māhonū that one (near you) to the right |
māhānā that one to the right |
The įs- forms may also be used for things lying on people's hands.
The forms for the PERSON, PLACE, DESTINATION, and SOURCE series are mostly formed through regular saṃdhi (with the partial exception of the na(ñ)- and vyā- prefixes):
| Prefix ↓ / Base → | ·evita ·ejulā ·ejulyom ·ejulų |
·utvita ·uñjulā ·uñjulyom ·uñjulų |
·ātvita ·āñjulā ·āñjulyom ·āñjulų |
|---|---|---|---|
| ∅- (ahead) | evita | utvita | ātvita |
| ān- (above) | ānevita | ānutvita | ānātvita |
| šu- (below) | švevita | šūtvita | švātvita |
| na(ñ)- (inside) | naivita | notvita | nātvita |
| kau- (outside) | kāvevita | kāvutvita | kāvātvita |
| kami- (around) | kamyevitai | kamyutvitai | kamyātvitai |
| pri- (behind) | pryevita | pryutvita | pryātvita |
| vai- (beside, in the corner) | vāyevita | vāyutvita | vāyātvita |
| vyā- (left) | vyāɂevita | vyāɂutvita | vyāɂātvita |
| māha- (right) | māhaivita | māhotvita | māhātvita |
Note that, in the PERSON series, the kami- forms are only used with a plural meaning, as reflected in the table above.
Declensions of correlatives and possessives
| Case | ā-paradigm | ē-paradigm | ū-paradigm | t-paradigm |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All possessives, nanā and other distals, yambā?, ami, correlatives in -i[6] |
nenē and other proximals | nunū, and other medials, yanū? | yasmāt? and yanūḍat? | |
| Direct Vocative |
lilyā | nenē | nunū | yasmāt |
| Accusative | lilyau | nenyu | nunūyu | yasmau |
| Ergative | lilye | nenye | nunūye | yasmātei |
| Genitive | lilyai | neniai | nunūyai | yasmai |
| Translative | lilyān | nenēn | nunūn | yasmān |
| Exessive | lilyāt | nenēt | nunūt | yasmātat |
| Essive | lilyą | nenę | nunų | yasmātą |
| Dative | lilyåh | nenǣh | nunǣh | yasmātom |
| Ablative | lilyąu | nenēhu | nunūvu | yasmąu |
| Locative | lilǣ | neniǣ | nunūvǣ | yasmātǣ |
| Instrumental | lileni | nenēni | nunauni | yasmaini |
Numerals (māltsāk)
Chlouvānem is one of the few human Calemerian languages - together with all other Lahob languages and a few ones of the southern hemisphere, as well as others like Qualdomelic or vernaculars of the Inquisition which have had considerable Chlouvānem influence - with a pure duodecimal number system.
Numbers (sg māltsām, pl. māltsāk) have six different forms: cardinal, ordinal, collective, distributive, adverbial/multiplicative, and fractionary. 1-4 have separate adverbial multiplicative forms, while all other ones have an invariable form used both as adverbial and 'adjectival' multiplicatives. Cardinals from 1 to Ɛ and their compounds decline for case (see below); collectives, multiplicatives, and fractionaries always decline, while ordinals are only declined if used without an accompanying noun. Distributives do not decline.
| Digit12 | Base 10 | Cardinal | Ordinal | Collective | Distributive | Adv./Multiplicative | Fractionary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | ajrā | (ajrāyende) | — | (ajrehaicē) | (māgajrā) | — |
| 1 | 1 | emibe emi |
lahīla | emibhaicē | māgemibe (adv.) emibarvīm |
lahīlvāṭ | |
| 2 | 2 | dani | hælinaika | danyatām | danihaicē | māgdani (adv.) danirvīm |
hælinaivāṭ |
| 3 | 3 | pāmvi | pāmvende | pāmvyatām | pāmvihaicē | māmpāmvi (adv.) pāmvirvīm |
pāmvendvāṭ |
| 4 | 4 | nęlte | nęltende | nęltitām | nęltehaicē | māgnęlte (adv.) nęltarvīm |
nęltendvāṭ |
| 5 | 5 | šulka | šulkende | šulkatām | šulkhaicē | šulkarvīm | šulkendvāṭ |
| 6 | 6 | tulūɂa | tulūɂende | tulūɂatām | tulūɂihaicē | tulūrvīm | tulūɂendvāṭ |
| 7 | 7 | chīka | chīcænde | chīcætām | chīcihaicē | chīkarvīm | chīcændvāṭ |
| 8 | 8 | mbula | mbulende | mbulatām | mbulhaicē | mbularvīm | mbulendvāṭ |
| 9 | 9 | moja | mojende | mojatām | mojihaicē | mojarvīm | mojendvāṭ |
| ᘔ | 10 | tålda | tåldende | tåldatām | tåldihaicē | tåldarvīm | tåldendvāṭ |
| Ɛ | 11 | vælden | vældinde | vælditām | vældihaicē | vældirvīm | vældindvāṭ |
| 10 | 12 | māmei | māminde | māmintām | māmeihaicē | māmairvīm | māmindvāṭ |
| 11 | 13 | emibumaye | emibumayinde | emibumaintām | emibumaihaicē | emibumairvīm | emibumayindvāṭ |
| 12 | 14 | danimaye | danimayinde | danimaintām | danimaihaicē | danimairvim | danimayindvāṭ |
| 13 | 15 | pamihælī | pamihælīnde | pamihælītām | pamihælīhaicē | pamihælīrvīm | pamihælīndvāṭ |
| 14 | 16 | māminęlte | māminęltende | māminęltitām | māminęltehaicē | māminęltarvīm | māmiynęltendvāṭ |
| 15 | 17 | māmišulka | māmišulkende | māmišulkatām | māmišulkhaicē | māmišulkarvīm | māmišulkendvāṭ |
| 16 | 18 | māmivælka | māmivælkende | māmivælkatām | māmivælkihaicē | māmivælkarvīm | māmivælkendvāṭ |
| 17 | 19 | māmichīka | māmichīcænde | māmichīcætām | māmichīcihaicē | māmichīkarvīm | māmichīcændvāṭ |
| 18 | 20 | māmimbula | māmimbulende | māmimbulyatām | māmimbulhaicē | māmimbularvīm | māmimbulendvāṭ |
| 19 | 21 | māmimoja | māmimojende | māmimojatām | māmimojihaicē | māmimojarvīm | māmimojendvāṭ |
| 1ᘔ | 22 | māmitålda | māmitåldende | māmitåldatām | māmitåldihaicē | māmitåldarvīm | māmitåldendvāṭ |
| 1Ɛ | 23 | māmivælden | māmivældinde | māmivælditām | māmivældihaicē | māmivældirvīm | māmivældindvāṭ |
| 20 | 24 | hælmāmei | hælmāminde | hælmāmintām | hælmāmeihaicē | hælmāmairvīm | hælmāmindvāṭ |
As for the two forms for one, emi is used in disjunctive counting (e.g. count-ins or countdowns) while emibe is used elsewhere. Compounds always have the full form, i.e. forms such as *hælmāmyemi do not exist.
Some compound words, especially technical and scientific ones, use Lällshag morphemes for the quantities from 1 to ᘔ (though from 5 onwards they're rarer): mån- 1, yūn- 2, lyāš- 3, alan- 4, tamb- 5, jiruṇ- or ciruṇ- 6, tulyæn- 7, neim- 8, šid- 9, abar- ᘔ.
Numbers from 2012 above are simply made by compounding teens and units with the appropriate saṃdhi changes, like 2112 (2510) hælmāmyemibe, and then hælmāmidani, hælmāmipāmvi, and so on. Note that other compounds with 6 use -tulūɂa and not -vælka as in 1612.
The other dozens are:
- 30 (3610) pāmvimāmei
- 40 (4810) nęltemāmei
- 50 (6010) šulkmāmei
- 60 (7210) vælknihæla
- 70 (8410) māmyāvælka (regionally chīcæmāmei, particularly in the East)
- 80 (9610) mbulmāmei
- 90 (10810) mojemāmei
- ᘔ0 (12010) tåldimāmei
- Ɛ0 (13210) māmimīram
- and 100 (14410) nihæla.
The apparent irregularities in the words for 6012, 7012, and Ɛ012 are explained by etymology: vælka is the reflex of PLB *wewənko, which meant “half”, thus vælknihæla is “half hundred” and māmyāvælka is “twelve on half”; māmimīram is literally “twelve [less] from ahead”. 1312 originally meant "one finger/three (pāmvi, the word for three, also meant "finger" in PLB (*pāmwəj) - whence also the Chlouvānem word for "finger", pamuvis (< PLB *pamwəjis)) in the second [dozen]", where the -hælī part is a worn form of hælinaika.
Numbers from 10012 to ƐƐƐ12 are still compounds, e.g. nihælaimibe, nihæladani, and so on. Note that 16012 is most commonly nihæltulūɂa, but the more literary form nihælvælka may still be heard.
The other dozenal hundreds are:
- 200 (28810) daninihæla
- 300 (43210) pāmvinihæla
- 400 (57610) nęltenihæla
- 500 (72010) šulknihæla
- 600 (86410) tulūnihæla
- 700 (100810) chīcænihæla
- 800 (115210) mbulnihæla
- 900 (129610) mojanihæla
- ᘔ00 (144010) tåldanihæla
- Ɛ00 (158410) vældenihæla.
1.000 (172810) is tildhā and numbers above are separate words, without saṃdhi, e.g. 1.001 tildhā emibe, 6.2ᘔ9 (1078510) tulūɂa tildhā daninihælatåldimāmimoja.
Note that 2.00012 may be either one of tildhāt, dani tildhā, or (only emphatically) dani tildhāt.
The other divisions - numbers over ƐƐ.ƐƐƐ12 are based on groups of two digits: the two most commonly used ones in common speech are 1.00.000 (248.83210) - a raicē - and 1.00.00.000 (35.831.80810) - a lallaraicē.
The next two groups have their separate words, but are quantities rarely used in common speech: 1.00.00.00.000 (129) (5.159.780.35210) is a taiskaucis and 1.00.00.00.00.000 (1211) (743.008.370.68810) a lallataiskaucis. The words khorādi (127, i.e. synonym of lallaraicē), yaṣmūn (1211, i.e. lallataiskaucis), iriakas (1213), mairān or lalleriakas (1215), nirāvah (1217), and sṝva or lallanirāvah (1219) were introduced in Classical-era texts, but are almost never used today. However, they form the base for the scientific measurement system's prefixes.
Their non-cardinal forms are all regular, with -ende (-inde after -m or for Ɛ12) for ordinals, -tām for collectives, -haicē for distributives, -rvīm for adverbials/multiplicatives (prefixed māg- for the separate adverbial forms), and -endvāṭ/-indvāṭ for the fractionaries. Compounds of 1-2 retain all irregular suppletive forms, e.g. hælmāmilahīla 2112st (2510th); hælmāmihælinaika 2212nd (2610th).
Finally, there are few other cardinals commonly used in speech: vālhælya 1½, vālpāmvya 2½, vālnęlca 3½, vālšulca 4½, and vāltulūya 5½. The forms vālchīca, vālambulya (or vālumbulya), and vālmojya are used in telling the time only and obsolete otherwise, while other similar forms are sparingly attested in older mathematical texts, but periphrastical constructions such as tulūɂa hælinaivāṭ no (or, sometimes, - vælka no) are more commonly heard and used nowadays. A form that, however, is sometimes found up to the present day is vālhælnihæla, meaning 16012 (21610), i.e. one dozenal hundred and a half.
Use of fractionary numbers
Fractionary numbers (except vāl- ones) are used to express non-integers just like any other quantity. Simple ones such as 0,6 (½) are the basic fractionary number - in this case hælinaivāṭ (note that, outside mathematics, danyāmita is the preferred term for "half", both in metaphorical (lilyā viṣam danyāmita "my other half") and non-metaphorical uses (alāvi danyāmita "half of the bottle")); other examples are 0,3 (¼) nęltendvāṭ and 0,4 (⅓) pāmvendvāṭ.
With more complex fractions, the smallest part (negative power of twelve) is stated - the three commonly found are 1/12 (māmindvāṭ), 1/144 (nihælendvāṭ), and 1/1728 (tildhaindvāṭ). For example, 0,82 is mbulmāmidani nihælendvāṭ and 0,7ᘔ6 is chīcænihælamāmimīraṃtulūɂa tildhaindvāṭ; sometimes, "0, then" (mīram) may be added: ajrā mīram mbulmāmidani nihælendvāṭ.
With a non-fractionary portion that is not zero, instead of mīram, smurā (full, integer) is used - e.g. 2,307 is usually said as dani smurā pāmvinihælchīka tildhaindvāṭ.
Declensions of cardinal numbers
Some cardinal numbers are declined for case, but this is usually only done in formal Chlouvānem. In informal Chlouvānem, either only emibe is declined, or are all numerals up to vælden, plus nihæla. Compounds of these are usually not declined. The words tildhā, (lalla)raicē, and (lalla)taiskaucis are always declined, but they are fully nouns.
| Case | emibe | Dual paradigm | i-paradigm | a-paradigm | en-paradigm |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| dani | pāmvi, nęlte[7] | 5 to 10[8] | vælden only | ||
| Direct Vocative |
emibe | dani | pāmvi | šulka | vælden |
| Accusative | emiyu | daneṣa | pāmvyu | šulku | vældu |
| Ergative | emeis | daneya | pāmvyes | šulkes | vældes |
| Genitive | emibī | dañva | pāmvi[9] | šulki | vældi |
| Translative | emiban | danaus | pāmvin | šulkan | vældanna |
| Exessive | emibat | danebhan | pāmvit | šulkat | vældanta |
| Essive | emibą | danīgin | pāmvyą | šulką | vældąs |
| Dative | emibå | danaus | pāmvyå | šulkå | vældå |
| Ablative | emiyų | danebhan | pāmvyų | šulkų | vældų |
| Locative | emiye | danīgin | pāmvye | šulke | vælde |
| Instrumental | emīp | danebhan | pāmvip | šulkip | vældampa |
Use of numerals
Cardinal numerals may be used in two ways, depending on whether emphasis is given to the number or to the thing counted.
- In the most common use, the counted thing is emphasized: the numeral is put before the noun and the noun is always singular (except for "two", see below) plus the appropriate case: e.g. emibe yujam (one lotus flower); dani māra (two mango fruits); pāmvi haloe (three names), vælden ñaiṭa (eleven stars), and so on.
- If emphasis is given to the number, then the counted thing comes first, and, if it should be in direct, ergative, or accusative case, it is in genitive singular instead; the semantic direct, ergative, or accusative case is taken by the numeral itself if it is one, two, three, or compounds. Examples: yujami emibe (one lotus flower), māri dani (two mango fruits), haleni pāmvi (three names), ñaiṭi vælden (eleven stars). In other cases, the noun follows the semantic case (but is always singular anyway), e.g. marti pāmvi (three cities) but marte pāmvye (in the three cities).
This form is increasingly less common in everyday use. - "Two" may be used with either singular or dual number: dani māra or māri dani are both as correct as dani mārāt and māreva dani - note that the dual number alone, without the numeral, has the same meaning; the dual form alone does not give particular emphasis to the number, while using the numeral, at least in formal styles, already gives more emphasis (intermediate to the two abovementioned forms). Outside of literary texts, it is however more common to specify "two" with the numeral.
Note, though, the structure "nihæle + genitive of a noun + a cardinal numeral", used for expressing percentage (dozenally), e.g. nihæle laili hælmāmei "20% of people".
Ordinal numerals are regular attributive adjective-like words that precede nouns - e.g. hælinaika kita "second house". They do not decline if are used together with a noun, but they can also be used alone (e.g. hælinaika "the second one"), in which case they decline for case and number, as if they were -eh nouns (-a for 1st and 2nd), e.g. mojendesām ukulate "it has been told to those in ninth position".
Collective numerals (which decline as regular -ām nouns) are most commonly found with the meaning of "a group consisting of X ...", therefore implying greater cohesiveness than using the cardinal number implies. A common example of the subtle meaning change is between the sentences chīka lalāruṇa togāhaite (with a cardinal) and chīcætām lalāruṇa togāhaite (with a collective): both mean "seven lalāruṇai hit", but in the latter sentence the action is implied to be a coordinate act of all seven animals, while in the former they either hit randomly or the coordination of the action is not specified (or not specification-worthy). This is also the most common meaning with pluralia tantum, as commonly heard with ethnonyms (which are all plural only in Chlouvānem), e.g. šulkatām chlǣvānem "[a group of] five Chlouvānem people".
They can also be found, context-dependent, used with the meaning of "all X of..." - in a sentence such as e.g. mbulatām lejīn dilu liju lilejlaikate "all eight singers wanted to sing the same song" - or with the meaning of "X sets of" with singularia tantum - e.g. pāmvyatām hærṣūs "three pairs of lips" (but note that colloquial Chlouvānem increasingly often uses the cardinals here, e.g. pāmvi hærṣūs).
The collective numerals for 0 and 1 (ajrāṇṭām and emibutām respectively) are not included in the table above because they do not exist in practical use; however, they are sporadically found in poetry and literature, referring to people and with the meaning of "a group where only one/no one is ...", e.g. ajrāṇṭām tadhusmausīn "a group where no one is honest". Similarly, collectives for vāl- numbers (e.g. vālpāmvyantām "a group consisting of 2½ ...") exist, but are virtually unused. danyatām, like dani, may be use together with either a singular or a dual noun.
In some cases, the choice between a collective and a cardinal is stylistic. While for example concepts such as "we are..." or "I have ... children" do normally use the collective (e.g. tulūɂatām ñæltah jalim "we are six sisters/a group of six reciprocal brothers and sisters"; lili mæn nęltitām samin "I have four children"), even if using a cardinal isn't wrong, in a sentence such as "there are X people" both versions are found, with the collective-using sentence (e.g. dvārma vælditāmą lilęs virā "in the room there are eleven people") being perceived as more formal than the more colloquially heard cardinal-using version (i.e. dvārma vældąs lilęs virā).
Distributive numerals are indeclinable adjective-like words, and have the meaning of "X each": pāmvihaicē titē męlyāhai "three pens each are given"; lili lilyā ñæltah no tulūɂihaicē kolecañi alau ulgutarate "my sister and I have bought six bottles of kvas each" — note in both sentences the use of singular number in titē (pencil) and alūs (acc. alau) "bottle", just like after cardinal and collective numerals.
Adverbial numerals are adverbs with the meaning of "X times" and multiplicative numbers are adjective-like words (that can also be used alone) with the meaning of "X times as large"; numbers from 1 to 4 have both forms, while all other ones (except 0) have only the multiplicative one, which is used for both meanings. Examples: pāmvirvīm yąloe "triple meal/a meal three times as large"; āsena māgdani "twice a month"; āsena mbularvīm "eight times a month".
Zero only has an adverbial form (māgajrā), which is however only used in reading multiplications and powers, e.g. 3 * 0 māgajrā pāmvi, 90 māgajrā demǣ moja.
Fractionary numerals are always used in the noun.GEN numeral construction, and they are invariable in direct, vocative, accusative, and ergative case but decline with -vaḍa in all of the others (in fact, etymologically they derive from worn down forms of ordinal + vaḍa, meaning Xth part, e.g. hælinaika vaḍa (the second part) → hælinaivāṭ). Unlike ordinals, the noun is always in the genitive case. Examples: marti hælinaivāṭ "half of the city" ; alāvi nęltendvāṭ "one fourth of the bottle" ; babhrāmi tulūɂendvaḍe "in one sixth of the country".
Basic maths
- 1 + 2 = 3
- emibe nanū dani pāmvyå lunade (1.DIR. more. 2.DIR. 3-DAT. go.MONODIR-IND.PRES-3DU.EXTERIOR-AGENTIVE) — rule: ADIR nanū BDIR (nanū ...) CDAT lunade (two addends) / lunāhai (3+ addends)
- 3 - 2 = 1
- pāmvi isan dani emibå lunade (3.DIR. minus. 2.DIR. 1-DAT go.MONODIR-IND.PRES-3DU.EXTERIOR-AGENTIVE) — rule: ADIR isan BDIR (isan ...) CDAT lunade (two addends) / lunāhai (3+ addends)
- 3 * 2 = 6
- māgdani pāmvi tulūɂå liven (2.ADV.MULTIP. 3.DIR. 6-DAT. go.MONODIR-IND.PRES-3SG.EXTERIOR-AGENTIVE) — rule: MULTIPLICATIVE.(ADV)-B ADIR CDAT liven
- 6 : 2 = 3
- hælinaivadęs tulūɂa pāmvyå liven (2.FRACTION-ESS. 6.DIR 3-DAT. go.MONODIR-IND.PRES-3SG.EXTERIOR-AGENTIVE) — rule: FRACTIONARY-BESS ADIR CDAT liven
- 62 = 30 (3610)
- māgdani demǣ tulūɂa pāmvimāmei liven (2.ADV.MULTIP. REFL.GEN-LOC. 6.DIR. 3012. go.MONODIR-IND.PRES-3SG.EXTERIOR-AGENTIVE) — rule: MULTIPLICATIVE.(ADV)-B demǣ ADIR CDAT liven
Reified numerals
Reified numerals, or numerals used as nouns, have a special form, which is actually the numeral with the common noun-forming suffix -as added (with regular saṃdhi). These numerals are used most notably for:
- In order to refer to the digits themselves (danyas "the digit 2");
- Things named with numbers (tulūɂās "[tram/bus/etc] number 6");
- (in the plural) Year dozens (vælknihælē "the 6012s = the 386012s);
- (in the plural) Age ranges by the dozen (hælmāmeyē "2012ies" = the age range from the start of one's 2012th year to the end of one's 2Ɛth);
- School marks - note that there's no uniform system in the Inquisition (nęltayas "a grade 4" (passing grade in the most widespread system for non-higher education in the Inquisition, ranging from 1 (emibayas), worst, to 7 (chīkās), best));
- A group of X people - a reification of collective numerals (pāmvyas "a trio").
Note that there are some terms which use numerals as roots but aren't considered reified numbers (also because of their rather inconsistent meanings); the most common examples include danyāmita (half) and māmyāmita (dozen).
Units of Measurement
Chlouvānem units of measurement (lęlgīs, pl. lęlgais) are divided in popular units (leilausirena lęlgais) and scientific units (tarlausirena lęlgais). Scientific units, while understood, are rarely found outside of scientific contexts if corresponding popular units exist, while popular units are found in daily usage. Popular units follow however a measurement standard introduced in the year 36Ɛ7 (618710) and updated several times in the following two centuries, in order to give a single understood measure for all units whose names and definitions varied across the many countries of the Chlouvānem cultural space.
It is also to be noted that Calemerian scientific units have internationally unified definitions for their base units but are substantially different between the Western and the Eastern world as Western countries use them with a decimal system, while the Eastern countries (the Inquisition, most of the former Kaiṣamā, and Greater Skyrdagor) use them with a duodecimal system.
Length
Units in italics are popular divisions used in speech and not usually written. The nīnas has its own abbreviation but it is nowadays rarely used, and most often written as 2 vā even if spoken as nīnas.
| Short | Name | Meaning/name origin | Equivalent to | Metric system (approx.) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| lūj | lūjla (ABL) | Point, tip | 1/12 liv | ~1.20255 mm |
| liv | livuka | Short (dialectal) | ⅙ de | ~1.44305 cm |
| de | dera | Finger (in A.Kūṣṛmāṭhi) | ⅓ vā | ~8.65833 cm |
| vā | vāriṇa | Span | ¼ pā | 25.975 cm |
| nī | nīnas | Knee | ½ pā | 51.95 cm |
| pā | pājya | Leg | (base unit) | 103.9 cm |
| bru | brujñya | Fathom | 2+½ pā | 2.5975 m |
| vyaṣojrī nęltendvāṭ | Quarter of vyaṣojrā | ¼ vya — 90 (10810) bru | 280.53 m | |
| vyaṣojrī pāmvendvāṭ | Third of vyaṣojrā | ⅓ vya — 100 (14410) bru | 374.04 m | |
| vyaṣojrī hælinaivāṭ | Half vyaṣojrā | ½ vya — 160 (21610) bru | 561.06 m | |
| vya | vyaṣojrā | Plough | 300 (43210) bru | 1122.12 m — 1.11212 km |
| gar | garaṇa | Hour | 6+⅓ vya | 7106.76 m — 7.10676 km |
Area
The våṇṭa may or may not be written as a separate measure. A measure of 1 jāṇa and 700 dvāmāryai may be written as 1 jā.700 (dvā) (most commonly) or as 1 jā.1.100 (dvā).
| Short | Name | Meaning/name origin | Equivalent to | Metric system (approx.) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| sǣ | sǣca | Small, Piece (in A.Namaikehi) | 1 nī * 1 nī | 51.95 cm2 |
| dar | daryā | unknown; name first used in the Near East | 60 (7210) sǣ | 3,740.4 cm2 |
| re | relya | Carpet | 3 dar | ~1.12212 m2 |
| dvā | dvāmārya | ultimately from dvārma (room) | 4 re | ~4.48848 m2 |
| vå | våṇṭa | probably from a Tamukāyi word meaning "fence(d)" | 600 (86410) dvā — ½ jā | ~3,878.0467 m2 |
| jā | jāṇa | Field | 1,000 (1,72810) do — 2 vå | ~7,756.0934 m2 |
| e | ekram | Expanse (in A.Namaikehi) | 100 (14410) jā | ~1.1168 km2 |
Weight (and mass)
| Short | Name | Meaning/name origin | Equivalent to | Metric system (approx.) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| vaj | vaji | dimin. from vaḍa (part) | 1/100 (1/14410) dū | ~51.79398 mg |
| dū | dūdha | Seed | ⅙ lit | ~7.45833 g |
| lit | litveh | Cut (in A.Namaikehi) | ¼ aut | 44.75 g |
| aut | auṭikā | probably an augmentative from PLB *wutərus[10] | (base unit) | 179 g |
| tū | tulūɂendā | ultimately from tulūɂendes (sixth) | 6 aut | 1,074 g |
| pau | paurā | Rock (dialectal) | 70 (8410) aut | 12.53 kg |
| māp | māmipaurā | māmei (twelve) + paurā | 10 (1210) pau | 150.36 kg |
| lap | lallapaurā | lalla (high, further) + paurā | 10 (1210) māp | 1,804.32 kg |
Volume
| Short | Name | Meaning/name origin | Equivalent to | Metric system (approx.) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| src | ṣærcañīh | dimin. from ṣarus (spoon) | ½ ṣar | ~5.78704 mL |
| ṣar | ṣarus | Spoon | ⅓ cel | ~11.57407 mL |
| cel | celya | Small glass | ⅙ lun | ~34.72222 mL |
| lun | luneyāvi | from lunai (tea) | ⅓ val | ~0.20833 L |
| val | valdhēna | Flagon | (base unit) | 0.625 L |
| al | alūs | Bottle | 2+ ⅓ val | ~1.45833 L |
| då | dåṣṭis | Bucket | 8 al | ~11.66666 L |
| raš | rašah | Barrel | 16 (1810) då | ~210 L |
There are also two further units for dry measures only:
- the purṣa ("pot", pur), equivalent to 1+½ val (~0.9375 L);
- the ręnah ("jar, urn", rę), equivalent to 6 pur (~5.625 L).
The egimbladuldāvi (egd) is a unit used for measuring engine displacement: 1 egd equals ⅙ val, that is ~0.10416667 L (~104.16667 cc).
Temperature
Temperature measuring in the Chlouvānem world uses the Jahārāṭha scale (shortened ºj; named after scientist Ṣastirāvi Jahārāṭha Nukthalin), which is fixed with a zero degree at water freezing temperature at sea level. 100 ºj is the rough boiling temperature of water, but, being a duodecimal scale, it is 10012 (14410), thus 1 ºj equals 25/36 of a degree Celsius, or 1 ºC = 1.44 ºj.
The median body temperature of a Calemerian human (which is slightly lower than for terrestrial humans) is of 41 ºj (4910), thus ~34.0278 ºC.
Time
→ See also: Chlouvānem Calendar and time § the Chlouvānem calendar
| English | Chlouvānem | Equivalent to | rough Earthly approximation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | heirah | 418 Calemerian days | 609.6 Earth days |
| Day | lairē | 2812 (3210) hours | ~35 hours |
| Hour | garaṇa | 3 hælmāmyai 6012 (7210) railai |
~65 min ~37 sec |
| group of "minutes" | hælmāmya | 2012 (2410) railai | ~21 min ~52 sec |
| "Minute" | raila | (base unit) | ~54.6805 sec |
| "Second" | namišoe | 1/4012 (1/4810) raila | ~1.8986 sec |
| 1/12 of a "second" | (namišeni) māmendvāṭ | 1/1012 (1/1210) namišoe | ~0.1582 sec |
| 1/144 of a "second" | (namišeni) nihælendvāṭ | 1/10012 (1/14410) namišoe | ~0.0131 sec |
| 1/1728 of a "second" | (namišeni) tildhaindvāṭ | 1/100012 (1/172810) namišoe | ~1.0987 ms |
Other units
| Chlouvānem | Symbol | rough Earthly approximation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| frequency | lūnaji | lnj | ~0.526704 Hz |
| voltage | chulgān | chg | 1 V |
Particles (remīn)
Traditional Chlouvānem grammar only recognizes a single part of speech called "particles" (remīn, literally "helper(s)") which includes conjunctions, postpositions, and interjections. However, these three are recognized as subsets of particles - here translated as "conjunctive particles" (natemālāhai remīn), "accompanying particles", i.e. postpositions (ūtimāhai remīn), and "exclamatory particles" (pigdilanah nali remīn).
Conjunctive particles
Conjunctive particles may not stand syntactically alone and, with a few exceptions, don't require any particular case of a noun. Most of them function, or are also used, as conjunctions between sentences.
- āk — on the other hand, whereas
- barai – instead (requires exessive case when used with a noun)
- jahān — anyway (conjunction or second position adverb)
- lai — inclusive or
- las — and (in incomplete listings, cf. no and sama); it follows the noun it refers to, and in listings with more than two nouns it follows every noun except for the first. Not used to conjoin sentences.
- lenta — "together (with)", adverbial or postpositive, requiring genitive case in the latter usage. When pospositive, it is more emphatic than lā. Adverbially, gimmālsiṭ is more common.
- mailiven — so, thus, therefore (grammaticalized use of go_forward.UNIDIR.PRES.IND.EXP.3SG.PATIENT.EXTERIOR.)
- mbu — exclusive or
- mešē — given that (grammaticalized use of see.PRES.IND-EXP-3SG.PATIENT.EXTERIOR.)
- najelai — maybe. Originally the archaic potential form of najalle (to happen). Sentence-final, requires a verb in the subjunctive mood, e.g. yahatite najelai "maybe I'll read it".
- nānim — almost; if used with nouns, requires essive case.
- nanū — also, too (only between sentences, cf. tora). A different use of the adverb meaning "more".
- ni — but (in second position)
- no — and (in complete listings, cf. las); same placement as las. Also used to conjoin sentences, but sama is preferred, especially when there are different subjects (triggered arguments).
- nyąu — because, for, as (cf. tī); amyąu in the Classical era, i.e. the ablative of the former demonstrative ami.
- Used sentence-finally: aganą lā įstyāk nyąu yųlake pañcekte "as (s)he was hungry, (s)he started eating." In lone sentences, e.g. answers, tī is preferred: aganą lā tī įstyāk "because (s)he was hungry."
- paṣe — furthermore
- pū — if (and pūmbu "whether") - see Chlouvānem syntax § Conditional sentences
- sama (sam before vowels) — and (between sentences only, cf. las and no)
- tadye — despite that (between sentences), cf. tatta.
- tatta — despite, even though; requires a noun in the essive case or a subjunctive verb (e.g. gu talunīs ša tatta dadrā "even though you didn't come, it has been done."). Colloquially, it is also used anaphorically, instead of tadye; however, it is considered bad style in formal language.
- tora — also, too; used adverbially and between sentences (where, however, nanū is more common).
- vivāmi — "too much", adverbial or postpositive, requiring genitive case in the latter usage.
- væse — while, in the meantime; "during (the)" with nouns. Requires a verb in the subjunctive mood or a noun in the essive (or, meaning-dependant, exessive or translative) case.
Accompanying particles (i.e. postpositions)
These particles can never stand alone, do not conjoin sentences, and nearly always require a particular noun case.
- bīs — between; from ... until, in expressions of time. Comes after both nouns in essive case: šurājęs nyūramyęs bīs "between Šurājah and Nyūramyah
- dam — interrogative particle in polar questions, put after the verb (e.g. daltah vi dam? "is it a fish?")
- e — like. Requires essive case with nouns and subjunctive mood with verbs.
- ga — adpositive particle, used to join nouns in noun phrases (usually titles or proper names, but not honorifics), e.g. Līlasuṃghāṇa ga marta "Līlasuṃghāṇa city" or Tāllahārya ga maita "Tāllahārya river".
- gu(n) ~ ša — negative circumposition used around verbs, e.g. gu yuyųlsegde ša "(s)he does not want to eat". The first element is gun before vowels; the ša element is omitted if the verb is attributive.
- lā — with (comitative); requires essive case (e.g. lilyą ñæltęs lā "with my sister"). The Archaic Chlouvānem form was lapi.
- lut — used with expressions of time: means "ago" if used with ablative case (nęlcų heirų lut "four years ago"), "for/since" if with essive case (nęlcą heiręs lut "for four years").
- mboda — except for; requires subjunctive mood or essive case (e.g. nītedarāhai lailąs mboda nalunya upulsma "entrance is forbidden, except for involved people" → "authorized personnel only")
- mei and go — "yes" and "no", used according to the polarity of the question; i.e. mei denotes the statement is true ("yes" to affirmative questions, "no" to negative questions), while go denotes the statement is false ("no" to affirmative questions, "yes" to negative questions).
- mæn — marks a topic which otherwise has no role in the sentence.
- nali — benefactive marker, used with a noun in direct case; marks the benefited argument when the verb is not in benefactive-trigger voice. If used with a subjunctive verb, means "in order to", with a nuance of hope (the bare subjunctive already carries the "in order to" meaning).
- nin — after, with ablative or subjunctive (nęlcų heirų nin "after four years")
- pa — on, of, concerning, on the subject of, about. Requires a direct case noun (e.g. vāṇatarlā pa naviṣya "book about botany") or a subjunctive mood verb (e.g. šūñjulā drētte pa nīdhāḍirdya "the two of us are talking about what (s)he did down there").
- ras — antibenefactive marker, used with a noun in direct case; marks the anti-benefited argument when the verb is not in antibenefactive-trigger voice. If used with a subjunctive verb, means "to avoid X".
- sām — different meanings depending on case:
- ablative, in expressions of time: "in ... time" (at the end of a certain period), or "by": nęlcų heirų sām "in four years' time, four years for now"; šurājų sām "by Šurājah";
- translative (rarely essive), in expressions of time: "in/for/until" (within, during a certain period): nęltin heiran sām "for the coming four years" (or nęlcą heiręs sām); ājvan sām "until dawn";
- dative case, with places: "until, as far as": līlasuṃghāṇa ṣrāvamaila ga keikom sām "as far as Līlasuṃghāṇa Ṣrāvamaila Station")
- subjunctive verb: "until": primęlirī sām "until he/she/it comes back".
- šut — before, with ablative or subjunctive (nęlcų heirų šut "four years before").
- vādį — without, with essive or subjunctive. Unlike English, it cannot be used anaphorically.
"Paired" particles
Chlouvānem does not have "paired" particles as English does, because they are translated in different ways:
- "both... and..." is translated by the adverb peiṃsiṭ (the same), either in the form "X Y no peiṃsiṭ" or in "X ..., Y peiṃsiṭ":
- jādāh lañekaica no peiṃsiṭ nanau draikate – both Jādāh and Lañekaica did that.
- nānyu uyųlaṃte : māru peiṃsiṭ – I have eaten both the bread and the mango.
- "neither... nor..." requires the sentence to be built in a different way, namely "not X, and also not Y", where "also not" is translated in two different ways: 1) by the particle gūta (more formal); or 2) with the adverb peiṃsiṭ - therefore building a sentence that is exactly like the "both X and Y" but negative.
- jādāh nanau gu dṛkte ša : lañekaica gūta – neither Jādah nor Lañekaica did that. Literal translation: Jādāh didn't do it, and Lañekaica also [didn't].
- nāniu gu uyųlaṃte ša : māru peiṃsiṭ – I have eaten neither the bread nor the mango. Literally: I haven't eaten the bread, and the same for the mango.
- "either... or..." is easily translated by the exclusive or (mbu). It is commonly only used after the second term, but it can be put after every term for emphasis:
- jādāh (mbu) lañekaica mbu nanau dṛkte – either Jādah or Lañekaica did it. (note the singular verb)
Emphatic particles
A few particles are used (usually sentence-finally) in order to convey particular feelings of the speaker about the statement:
- anā is an introductory particle (e.g. "so")
- å expresses either surprise (at the beginning of a sentence) or that the fact is considered annoying (at the end), e.g. å vikṣiṭ dadrāte "wow, (s)he's done it again!" / vikṣiṭ dadrā å "oh no, (s)he's done it again!"
- dā gives the sentence, especially a command or a proposition, an informal tone - cf. German "mal" or Italian "un po'", e.g. najire nanau mešute dā "I'll just see what happens"; peithos dā "just calm down and take a walk around here."
- e is a basic declarative particle when used word-finally, and is often used as an introduction (much like "you know, ...") or as a generic filler.
- eri means "even", marking a positive emphasis (e.g. hūnakumi dhāḍan eri dhāḍire "(s)he even speaks Hūnakumi[11]")
- gāri means "not even", being the opposite of eri, marking a negative emphasis (e.g. hulābdān chlǣvānumi dhāḍan gāri dhāḍire "(s)he doesn't even speak correct Chlouvānem")
- nā, a generic filler (cf. "I mean"), often combined with e. e.g. nā (e) nenēt nāṭ tarliru! "I mean, I already know this!"
- nane is a tag question, e.g. camiyūs vi dam nane? "you're from Cami, aren't you?"
- nimā is an introductory particle, same as anā.
- naihā is a tag question much like nane, but is used when the speaker is in doubt and/or expects a contradictory answer, e.g. lære draute dam naihā? "did I do it yesterday, or...?"
- pos is a filler with a meaning similar to tau, but it is more properly translated as emphasizing that the speaker considers the statement as a general truth or a widely accepted thing, e.g. ālīce jeldegde pos "yeah, everybody knows (s)he acts that way/does that kind of things."
- sāṭ expresses the speaker's doubt about the honesty of the expressed action, e.g. tamye tamyu draukæ sāṭ "(s)he did it for me, but I don't believe that's what (s)he really wanted" or "as if (s)he really did it for me!"
- tau emphasizes that the fact expressed is considered obvious, and is fairly colloquial, e.g. lārvājuṣe ēk tau "huh, I was at the temple, nothing else"; kitui vasau tau "I drove home [what else could I do?]"
- tva puts strong emphasis on a declarative sentence; it is fairly colloquial and not polite, and thus avoided in formal speech, e.g. nenēyu daudyute tati ukulaṃte tva! "damn, I said I want that, shut up!"
Derivational morphology (vāmbeithausire maivāndarāmita)
Chlouvānem has an extensive system of derivational morphology, with many possibilities of deriving words from verbal roots and even from other nouns.
Compounds
Chlouvānem, like Sanskrit, has four main types of compound words (tadmaiva, pl. tadmaivai), called in Chlouvānem grammar emibądanīs (dvandva), khladaradhausire tadmaiva (avyayībhāva), nīdhvakādhūs (tatpuruṣa), and kaudhvakādhūs (bahuvrīhi).
Dvandva (emibądanīs)
The first type of compounds is emibądanīs type (also called no ga tadmaiva), corresponding to dvandva compounds. In emibądanais, all words in the compound are taken with the concrete idea they represent. As hinted to by the alternative name, these compounds effectively substitute an "X Y no" (X and Y), compressing it into a single word.
- tēneh ukyā no "a branch and a trunk" → tēnayukyāt "branch and trunk"
Dvandva compounds are formed by removing the direct case -s or -h marker from the word, lengthening all resulting final vowels (i.e. for all words not ending in -oe, -ai, -m, or -n), and joining with saṃdhi the second word; the second word is then inflected in the dual (if the word semantically refers to two things) or in the plural (if it refers to three or more things - see the next example).
- tēneh nūlyai no "a branch and leaves" → tēnēnūlyai "branch(es) and leaves"
Note that, if the dvandva is plural, there is no indication of how many elements of each component are present:
- lalāruṇāt voltām no "two lalāruṇai (DU) and a sheep (SG)" → lalāruṇāvoltāk "lalāruṇai and sheep" (PL)
- lalāruṇai voltām no "lalāruṇai (PL) and a sheep (SG)" → lalāruṇāvoltāk "lalāruṇai and sheep" (PL)
- lalāruṇa voltāk no "a lalāruṇa (SG) and sheep (PL)" → lalāruṇāvoltāk "lalāruṇai and sheep" (PL)
The identification of how many individual lalāruṇai and sheep is lost in the compound, however, we know from the plural number that there must be at least three animals; otherwise, the dvandva would be dual:
- lalāruṇa voltām no "a lalāruṇa (SG) and a sheep (SG)" → lalāruṇāvoltīvā "lalāruṇai and sheep" (DU)
Dvandva made of three or more elements can, obviously, only be plural:
- lalāruṇa voltām no jorai no "a lalāruṇa, a sheep, and a goat" → lalāruṇāvoltāñjorāye "lalārunai, sheep, and goats"
In the most formal registers of Chlouvānem, it is not uncommon to find dvandva compounds made of several elements:
- lācāh kraṣṭāmita no lillāmita no demigretas no lelyēmita no "love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family" → lācākraṣṭāmitālillāmitādemigretālelyēmitai "love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family"
Avyayībhāva (khladaradhausire tadmaiva)
Avyayībhāva compounds, in Chlouvānem khladaradhausirāhe tadmaivai ("adverbial compounds"), are not as productive as the other types and, in fact, except for a few words they're mostly limited to Archaic and Classical Chlouvānem; despite being based on the latter, modern Chlouvānem does not use them productively (but see nīpenai below).
These compounds generally have a first element which is a particle (or a verbal prefix), and the second element is a noun which is either left uninflected in the direct singular or, more commonly, in the two Archaic Chlouvānem adverbializing cases: the instrumental plural or the locative singular.
- sam + jildas "after + act" → *sañjildas → sañjilde "consequently"
- naš(e) + sṝva "full, complete + extent" → *nakṣṝva → nakṣṝve "as much as possible"
- væse + vāyam "while + image, form" → væsvāyam or væsvāyaṃrīka "thus, therefore"
- paṣ(e) + vāyam "beyond + image, form" → paṣvāyam "in addition, furthermore"
- maibu + jallas "enough + condition" → *maibujallas → maibujalle "as needed"
- nī + penai "within + net" → nīpenai "online" (generally considered the only modern Chlouvānem avyayībhāva)
A particular kind of avyayībhāva is the -ṣati class, whose particularity derives from having a first element which is a declinable word (a possessive determiner); however, they're still adverbs and therefore uninflected:
- lilyā ṣati "my way" → lilyāṣati "from my point of view; in my opinion; my way"
- sāmyā ṣati "your way" → sāmyāṣati "from your point of view; in your opinion; your way"
Tatpuruṣa (nīdhvakādhūs)
Tatpuruṣa compounds (nīdhvakādhūs "with meaning inside", pl. nīdhvakādhaus) are likely the most common overall in Chlouvānem, and are the preferred way of crafting new words. These are endocentric compounds, the last element, the head of the compound, is modified by the previous element(s), which can be of any part of speech. Usually, the tatpuruṣa replaces genitive "X of Y", agentive "X which does Y", benefactive "X for Y", locative "X in Y", instrumental "X with Y", or sometimes copular structures "X which is (also) Y" (corresponding to Sanskrit karmadhāraya compounds) or "X made of Y".
The determining elements are generally uninflected.
- vāṇumi tarlā "study of plants" → vāṇatarlā "botany"
- vāṇatarlom kaminairīveyē lila "a person studying botany" (semantic agent) → vāṇatarlālila "botanist"
- mordhē cūlla "carriage that flies" → mordhacūlla "airplane"
- aṣṭre nali hatsunā "brush for teeth" → aṣṭṛhatsunā "toothbrush"
- nanāye līlta "path in the jungle" → nanailīlta "jungle path"
- nijogāp konanah "shooting with bow" → nijogākonanah "archery"
- munnęs ḍūṇā "a telephone which is a computer" → munnaḍūṇā "smartphone"
- javilenīs mayābi "wine made from apples" → javilmayābi "cider"
Bahuvrīhi (kaudhvakādhūs)
Bahuvrīhi compounds (kaudhvakādhūs "with meaning outside", pl. kaudhvakādhaus) are also quite common Chlouvānem words; they are exocentric compounds where none of the elements is the head of the compound, or, all elements are qualifiers. They replace structures like "[someone/something] with X which is/are Y" or "[sm/st] whose X is/are Y"; it could even be generalized to "[sm/st] whose [tatpuruṣa compound]":
- murkire dhānęs lā lila "person with black hands" → murkadhāna "Inquisitor"
- yųlgis nali javyęs lā dvārma "room with fire for food" → yųljavyāh "kitchen"[12]
Noun-forming morphemes
-a (unstressed) or -ā (stressed) is a common derivative to make basic words from verbal roots. It does not have any fixed meaning, though it's always pretty close to the root. Nouns with the unstressed suffix and an ablautable vowel usually belong to the ablauting declension. ṛ in a root is always strengthened to middle-grade.
- dṛ (to do, to make) → dara (activity)
- lil (to live) → lila (person; living thing)
- tṛl (to know) → tarlā (science)
-as is another common derivative, without fixed meaning, but usually denoting objects or things done by acting. It is used to derive positions from positional verbs.
- tug (to beat) → tugas (beat)
- jlityā (jlitim-) (be to the right of) → jlitimas (right)
- āntyā (āntim-) (be above, be on) → āntimas (part above)
-ūm is another derivative without fixed meaning, overlapping with -as.
- lgut (to buy) → lgutūm (something bought)
- peith (to go, walk (multidirectional)) → peithūm (walk)
- yālv (to be sweet (taste)) → yālvūm (sweet taste)
-(u)kāram is a singulative suffix, denoting either a single thing of a collective noun, or a single constituent of a broader act. Unlike the previous ones, it is most commonly applied to other nouns.
- lun (to go, walk (monodirectional)) → lulkāram (step)
- lil (to live) (or liloe (life)) → lilukāram (moment, instant)
- daša (rain) → dašukāram (raindrop)
-anah, with middle-grade ablaut if possible, denotes an act or process, or something closely related to that.
- dig (to pour) → deganah ((act of) pouring)
- miš (to see) → mešanah (sight)
- lgut (to buy) → lgotanah (shopping)
-na (-ra after t or d; -iyāna after Cy, -uvāna after Cv) with lengthening denotes a quality.
- māl (to keep together) → mālna (union)
- hælvē (fruit) → šaulviyāna (fertility) (morphemically //hyaulviyāna//)
- åbdv (to swell, blow up) → åbduvāna (swollenness, bloatiness)
- blut (to clean) → blūtra (cleanliness)
- Lengthening is absent if the word is derived from an -aus- adjectival verb (e.g. chlæraus- ((to be) easy) → chlærausna (easiness)) and in a few exceptions.
- Inverse-ablaut roots have the reduced vowel as a prefix (e.g. vald (to (be) open) → uvaldra (opening, state of being open)).
-išam has the same meaning as -na, but it's rarer.
- yųlniltas (edible) → yųlniltešam (edibility)
- yālv (to be sweet (taste)) → yālvišam (sweetness)
- ñailūh (ice) → ñailūvišam (coldness)
- nevy (to model, to give a form) → nevīšam (plastic) (This word underwent a meaning shift from "modellability" to a common material with that quality, replacing the derived form nevīšandhūs previously used. "Modellability" is nyaviyāna in contemporary Chlouvānem.)
-āmita (-yāmita when used with nouns with thematic e or i), often with high-grade ablaut, is another suffix forming quality nouns, but it is often more abstract, being translatable with suffixes like English -ism.
- lalteh (friend (female)) → laltyāmita (friendship)
- ēmīla (tiger) → ēmīlāmita (nobility (quality); most important people in society[13])
- ñæltah (sister (male's)) → ñæltāmita (brotherhood)
-tsām (-utsām after ñ, š, and voiced stops except d(h)), with middle-grade ablaut, has various generic and sometimes unpredictable meanings, though typically instrumental.
- māl (to keep together) → māltsām (number)
- lij (to sing) → lejutsām (choir)
- dhāḍ (to speak) → dhāḍutsām (voice)
- kul (to say) → kultsām (word) (irregular lack of middle-grade ablaut)
-rṣūs (-ṛṣūs after a consonant) denotes a tool, namely something used in doing an action.
- yaud- (to catch) → yaudṛṣūs (trap)
- miš- (to see) → meširṣūs (eye (literary, rare))[14]
- nail- (to kiss) → nailṛṣūs (lips (pair of))
-gis denotes something used for doing an action, not always synonymous with -rṣūs. -t-gis becomes -ñjis.
- mešīn (eye) → mešīlgis (glasses (pair of))
- tug- (to beat) → tulgis (drumstick)
- lgut- (to buy) → lguñjis (money, currency)
-oe (with middle-grade ablaut) often denotes a result, but has lots of various meanings.
- hal- (to call) → haloe (name, noun)
- peith- (to go, walk (multidirectional)) → peithoe (development; the way something is carried out)
- yųl- (to eat) → yąloe (meal)
-īn plus middle grade-ablaut denotes a doer (roughly equivalent to English -er); usually it is a person, but not always.
- bhi- (to take care of; to care for) → bhayīn (someone who takes care; guardian)
- tug- (to beat) → togīn (heart)
- lgut- (to buy) → lgotīn (buyer)
-āršis is a mostly non-productive agentive suffix like -īn, surviving in a few ancient forms as well as some colloquial pejoratives:
- lęk- (to measure) → lękāršis (surveyor, inspector)
- dhīl- (to be idle) → dhīlāršis (lazy ass (pejor.))
- ēreša (teardrop) → ērešāršis (crybaby (pejor.))
-āvi denotes something derived from X. It is also used in forming matronymics.
- lameṣa (coconut palm) → laṃṣāvi (coconut)
- mešanah (sight) → mešanąvi (knowledge)
- yųl- (to eat) → yųlāvi (strength (literary, rare))
- It is also used with surnames of writers, usually as a plurale tantum, in order to derive words meaning "the works of...", e.g. yukahināryāvi "the works of Lileikhurāvi Yukahināri Mæmihūmya".
-āmis, with lengthening, means "made of X".
- tāmira (rock, stone) → tāmirāmis (stone tool)
- tarlā (knowledge, science) → tārlāmis (wisdom)
- lil- (to live) → līlāmis (a blissful place)
- Words ending in a final long vowel (plus either h, s, or m) do not lengthen any vowel in a previous syllable (e.g. ñaryāh (mountain) → ñaryāmis (mountainous area)).
-ikā has various meanings, often somewhat abstract, intensive, or related to highly valued things/roles.
- daša (rain) → dāšikā (monsoon) (irregular lengthening)
- nail- (to kiss) → nailikā (love (literary, rare))
- lalāruṇa (giant domestic lizard) → lalārauṇikā (knight mounting a lalāruṇa)
-dhūs means "having X".
- dara (activity) → daradhūs (verb)
- šaṇṭrās (field, soil) → šaṇṭrādhūs (countryside)
- hælvē (fruit) → hælvidhūs (fruiting tree; literary: pregnant woman)
-bān and -ūrah are two roughly equivalent suffixes used for locations. The first one is generally used after vowels, the second after consonants, but it's no strict rule.
- hælvē (fruit) → hælvēbān (orchard)
- lil (to live) → lilūrah (world)
- peith (to go, to walk (multidirectional)) → peithūrah (passage)
-(l)āṇa forms a true collective noun:
- lalteh (friend (female)) → laltelāṇa (group of friends)
- jīma (character, symbol, letter) → jīmalāṇa (writing system)
- maiva (word) → maivalāṇa (lexicon)
-(l)ænah denotes a tree or a plant having a certain fruit[15].
- haisah (pineapple) → haisænah (pineapple tree)
- maɂika (uncooked rice) → maɂikænah (rice plant)
- šikālas (prickly pear) → šikālænah (prickly pear cactus)
-yūs is used with toponyms and is one of the most common ways to form demonyms. As many of the nouns these words are derived from are proper nouns and of non-Chlouvānem origin, there are often irregular formations, e.g. using only a part of the original word.
- Līlasuṃghāṇa → līlasuṃghāṇyūs
- Cami → camiyūs
- Ajāɂilbādhi → ajāɂilbādhyūs
-(g)arim is often found with the meaning of "that has to be X"; usually, a synonymous word may be formed by -s derivation from a necessitative stem, but some -(g)arim words have their own specialized meaning:
- vvlur- (to believe) → vvlurgarim (miracle)
- miš- (to see) → mišarim (attraction) (also memikṣūs)
- tṛl- (to know, understand) → tṛlgarim (rule) (not synonymous with tartṛlsūs, meaning "needed knowledge, prerequisite")
-yai (often with lengthening) forms nouns with the meaning of "pertaining to", generally applied to nouns denoting inanimate (but usually concrete) concepts. Such nouns are found in literature with an anaphorical use.
It is commonly found in Chlouvānem surnames. In chemistry, it denotes binary compounds, usually with a dvandva stem.
- vīhatam (farm) → vīhātyai (farmer; farm's)
- svāṣṭa (armor) → svāṣṭyai (armored knight)
- bilumbida (sodium) + talyelīm (chlorine) → bilumbītalyelīyai (sodium chloride)
-ceh, -cænah, and -cañīh (all often with palatalization of the last consonant) are three different (but with roughly the same meaning) diminutive-forming suffixes; some of them have developed distinct meanings. They can also be compounded, as in -cæñ-cañīh:
- samin (child) → samiñcænah (little child)
- ēmīla (tiger) → ēmīlcañīh (cat)
- pǣka (taste) → pǣcicænah (hors d'œuvre, entrée)
Similarly, -rarā (a likely Laiputaši borrowing) is used as an augmentative, but is only found in informal styles.
- dårṣa (cool, nice) → dårṣararā (fantastic)
- jāmṝṣa (dam) → jāmṝṣararā (a huge dam)
- alūs (bottle) → alūrarā (a big bottle)
Verb-forming morphemes
Denominal verbs, in Chlouvānem, are not formed with derivational suffixes; a "light verb" is attached to the semantic root instead; the semantic root remains invariable but the light verb is conjugated (as a prefixed one). The light verb used are especially dṛke (to do, make), but also jilde (to do an action), jānake (to feel (physical)), and gyake (to be). Some examples:
- āmaya (collection) → āmayadṛke (to collect)
- språma (glue) → språñjilde (to glue)
- jålkha (cold (sensation)) → jålkhajānake (to be/feel cold)
- ñailūh (ice) → tæñailūgyake (to freeze) (note the tæ- dynamic prefix).
The other basic derived formation is the frequentative verb, formed with reduplication (with a long vowel) and -ve(y)- (-vi(y)- in the past tense[16]). -ṛ reduplicates as ṝ, but becomes a in the root.
Due to the common use of this form in modern Chlouvānem, some grammarians consider it as an inflectional category instead of a derivation. Note though that for motion verbs only multidirectional ones have a frequentative form (with iterative meaning); the multidirectionals already act as frequentative forms of the monodirectionals.
- dṛ- (to do) → dṝdave- (to repetitively do)
- na-jaly- (to happen) → najājlive- (to keep happening; to regularly happen, to occur)[17] (jaly- reduplicates as jā-jli-, with the i from the root y).
- -jaly- (to be) + various prefixes → bījājlive- (to cease to be); galajājlive- (to remain in one place; to visit; to keep being)
- tvorg- (to fear) → totvargve- (to fear over and over again) (tvo- reduplicates as to- instead of tva-).
- låvy- (to slip) → laulavive- (to slip around here and there) (-å- reduplicates as -au- and becomes a in the root).
Note that nairīveke conjugates as a frequentative verb, but is not frequentative and does not have frequentative forms.
Frequentative perfect stems have the ablauted vowel in the reduplication and a long one in the root (cf. miš-, bare frequentative mīmišve-, perfect frequentative memīšve-); both vowels are long for non-ablauted stems (cf. nāmv-, nānamve-, nānāmve-).
Inverse ablauting roots have similar rules: the bare frequentative uses the reduplication of the nonreduced root and the reduced vowel in the root itself (vald- → va-uld-ve- → voldve-); the frequentative perfect is like the normal frequentative of other verbs, with the long vowel in the reduplication only (vald- → vāvaldve-).
In many cases, frequentatives are used with an iterative meaning; the latter, if needed for disambiguation, may be specified by the particle dīdān.
Adjectival verbs
Adjectival verbs, however, do have some ways to be derived from other parts of speech.
-ūk-ke is the most common adjectival verb-forming suffix, denoting something strictly related to an object or a verb. Note that they are all thematic verbs, even if their infinitive is contracted (Archaic Chl. -ūkake → Classical and Modern -ūkke). Often they are interchangeable with the genitive form of the noun they derived from:
- avyāṣa (time) → avyāṣūkke ([to be] temporal)
- chlærūm (light) → chlærūkke (of the light)
- daša (rain) → dašūkke (rainy, concerning rain)
-uy-a-ke is a rarer variant of -ūk-ke, most commonly found for qualities related to people, but not exclusively (see third example):
- jāyim (girl) → jāyimuyake (girly, girlish)
- saṃhāram (boy) → saṃhāruyake (boyish)
- irūtākalam (atom) → irūtāruyake (atomic) (the -r is etymological from Ancient Kūṣṛmāṭhi)
-aus-a-ke (rarely -us-a-ke) forms adjectival verbs related to a quality that is applied to some object, but more abstractly related than those formed with -ūkke; sometimes they are only figurative:
- chlærūm (light) → chlærausake (easy)
- pāṇi (side) → pāṇyausake (peripheral, less important)
- namęlь (to make an effort, to apply oneself, to work harder) → namęliausake (Stakhanovite)
- Nouns ending in -ā typically only add -sь- (-si-ke):
- laikā (innocence) → laikāsike (innocent)
-nilt-a-ke translates English -able, and the circumfix uṣ- -niltake translates to "un- -able" or, sometimes, "difficult to X". The rare ñǣ- -niltake translates as "easy to X".
The uṣ- prefix has the allomorphs ū- (before voiced stops), uš- (before c and ch), and u- (before l+consonant); uṣ- plus any sibilant becomes ukṣ-.
- tṛl (to know, understand) → tṛlniltake (understandable) → uṣṭṛlniltake (uncomprehensible; difficult to understand) / ñǣtṛlniltake (easy to understand)
- yųl (to eat) → yųlniltake (edible) → uṣyųlniltake (unedible)
- lgut (to buy) → lgutniltake (buyable) → ulgutniltake (not buyable)
-ṣeni-ke (morph. seny-ke, all root verbs) translates "having X as a quality", usually added to nouns, or "X-like" in some cases; it may be synonymous with the -dhūs derivative. u- and i- stems (thus -uh, -ih, -us...) lengthen that vowel before the suffix.
- rahēlah (health) → rahēlṣenike (healthy)
- nakṣuma (music) → nakṣuṃṣenike (having a musical talent)
- meimairuh (emerald) → meimairūṣenike (emeraldine, emerald-like)
Compound verbs
Chlouvānem uses compound verbs as its main method of deriving verbs from nouns. Such "verbs" are actually a nominal root which does not decline followed by a conjugating verb. The verb used influences the meaning that the compound will have:
- dṛke (to do) is probably the most commonly used, and may have a meaning of using something (denoted by the nominal root) to treat something else (cf. bikṣurdṛke "to deodorize" < bikṣurga "deodorant"), of moving or acting like the nominal root (yināṃdṛke "to protect" < yinām "protection"), or of simply having or creating something (āmayadṛke "to collect" < āmaya "collection").
- kitte (to put) is used for a meaning of addition of the nominal root or its characteristics to something (cf. nanūkkitte "to add salt" < nanūkah "salt).
- męlike (to give) is sometimes used with the same meaning as kitte (cf. junyāmęlike "to plant flowers" < junyā "flower").
- jilde (to act) is used for subjects "emitting" or "giving off" something (cf. lāhajilde "to judge" < lāham "judgement"), also for subjects possessing (dhokajilde "to mean" < dhokam "meaning") or undergoing something (lañšijilde "to marry" < lañši (arch.) braid, wedding), and also for weather phenomena[18] (dašajilde "to rain" < daša "rain").
- gyake (to be) is used, like in one meaning of dṛke, for moving or acting like the nominal root. Typically, it is more for states than actions (the prototypical and most common example is pṛšcāṃgyake "to be pleasing" < pṛšcām "something pleasing"[19]).
- jānake (to feel) has a meaning partially overlapping with gyake (and dṛke), particularly marking the "feeling" of a (usually uncontrollable) condition (jålkhajānake "to be cold" < jålkha "cold").
- milke (to take) has a varied range of meaning: getting or gathering something (vīrādhmilke "to adopt" < vīrādhen "orphan"; mailьlut(a)milke "to take advantage" < mailьluta "advantage"), also the opposite, taking something away (cf. rantamilke "to peel (fruits)" < rantas "peel"), and also overlapping partially with kitte and męlike in marking the addition of something or, more, properly, the act of bringing something (prātamilke "to get windy; (figur.) to accelerate" < prātas "wind" - cf. prātajilde "to be windy").
- bismilke (to take away) and bīdṛke (to destroy) are used, more commonly than milke, for the meaning of removing or taking something away: (ssūbismilke "to calm down" < ssūgis "something that worries"; lilembīdṛke "(euphem.) to kill" < liloe "life").
Sometimes, the most meaningful element of a compound verb is not otherwise found as a standalone word in Chlouvānem, as in pṛšcāṃjalle (to like), or hārlājmęlike (to prefer).
Prefixes
Prefixes are a major part of Chlouvānem derivational morphology. Most of them are the same as for positional and motion verbs — for their formation and use, see the related section. Most prefixes are used with verbs, and are found with nouns only in derived forms; some of them, however, can be used also or exclusively with nouns and adjectives. Prefixes derive usually from Proto-Lahob, but a few chiefly nominal ones are from Ancient Kūṣṛmāthi words.
Here follows a complete list of all prefixes used in Chlouvānem and their meaning. When two prefixes are divided by a wave dash, the first is lative and the second is ablative; NOM marks meanings of nouns derived with that prefix.
Positional and motional prefixes
- ta- 〜 tų- - generic direction
- ān- 〜 yana- - on, above
- šu- 〜 šer- - under, below
- khl- 〜 kel- - between
- gin- 〜 ją- - among
- nī- 〜 ani- - within/from within inside
- ū(b)- 〜 yom- - close to
- bis- 〜 bara- - far, away
- tad- (tata- before l) 〜 tasi- - attached to; against
- įs- 〜 hos- - hanging
- na(ñ)- 〜 neni- - inside
- kau- 〜 kuvi- - outside
- viṣ- 〜 vyeṣa- - opposite; somewhere else
- kami- 〜 kįla- - around
- pri- 〜 paro- - behind
- mai- 〜 mīram- - in front of
- vai- 〜 vǣ- - in a corner; bordering; at the limit
- sāṭ- 〜 ṣlū- - next to; along; on the side of
- lā(d)- 〜 lo(d)- - in the center of
- vyā- 〜 veši- - left
- māha- 〜 mege- - right
- pid- - facing (positional only)
- nal- - towards the center; inwards; convergent movement
- vād- - away from the center; outwards; divergent movement
Motional prefixes
- be- 〜 ter- - along the surface
- gala- 〜 hali- - through, across
- naš- - completely, until the end; NOM: omni-, pan-, entirely
- vod- - avoiding
- paṣ- - ahead, beyond; also NOM: further, again, re-
- sam- - movement to the following place/person/object in a set; NOM: after, post-
Verbal-only prefixes
- tæ(m)- - inceptive/inchoative
- raš- - to do something a bit more than needed (ral- or rar- before voiced consonants)
- yā- - too much
- iva- - completely, also intensive
- nare- - applicative (nar- before another prefix, cf. the common form narta- for "to reach"-verbs)
- min- - transitivizer of intransitive verbs
Other prefixes
- o- - before, pre-, proto-, preceding (os- before vowels)
- tail- - multi-, pluri-
- emib(u)- or tūt(u)- - one, mono-, uni-, homo-
- lani- - same, fellow
- vre- - bad
- demi- - self-
Specific terms
Derivational terms considered "specific" are those mostly found in certain jargons. Some of these are applied directly to a Lällshag root instead of a Chlouvānem one:
Used in politics and/or the arts:
- -nātra has two main meanings: -ism (as in a doctrine) in a political sense, and -esque in the arts, cf. yaivcārṇātra "communism" (< yaiva "all", cār- "to have"), or lānūṣurṇātra "in the style of writer Naryejūramāvi Lānūṣurah Mæmihomah".
- -nātryūs (← -nātra-yūs) is the term for a person that follows such a doctrine or style, cf. yaivcārṇātryūs "communist"; lānūṣurṇātryūs "someone whose writing is Lānūṣuraësque".
- Note that lija and lejīn (lit. "song" and "singer") were formerly alternatives to these. They notably remain in nāɂahilūṃlija "politico-religious doctrine inspired by Great Inquisitor Kælahīmāvi Nāɂahilūma Martayinām; Yunyalīlti religious extremism" and nāɂahilūṃlejīn, as well as in arāmilija "pacifism".
Used for medical terminology:
- -gulas usually translates "-philia" or "-mania", particularly in medical contexts, e.g. ryukagulas "masochism" from ryuka "pain".
- -gulašålyē is the related term for someone who has that (thus "-philiac" or "-maniac"), e.g. ryukagulašålyē "masochist".
- -rauga is a generic term used in medicine for names of illnesses or conditions affecting health, e.g. gåtnirauga "obesity" from gåtnake "to vomit"; skañcrauga "insomnia" from skañcake (to be awake at night).
- -raugotis is the term for someone affected by a -rauga, e.g. skañcraugotis "insomniac".
- -ītsun is a rarer alternative to -ræṣka, e.g. vrayobulītsun "asplenia" (vre- (bad) + obula (spleen)), or lagukītsun "paralysis" (the latter with the root of Lällshag gahoke (still)).
- -ītsunis is the corresponding term for affected organisms, e.g. vrayobulītsunis "aspleniac", lagukītsunis "paralyzed".
- -måkṣan is used for inflammatory diseases, cf. "-itis", like ṇīṭmåkṣan (dermatitis) or āḍhyāsnūlimåkṣan (meningitis).
Compounding
- tarlā (knowledge) is used as the head element of compounds, with a meaning like -logy in English. Sometimes the meaning is only abstracted (see second example) or has changed with time (see third example):
- babhrām (land) → babhrātarlā (geography)
- smoḍ- (to count, to enumerate) → smoṇḍarlā (mathematics)
- ladragyalah (inn) → ladragyaltarlā (economics)
See also
Notes
- ^ These are the remnants of a former gender system present in Proto-Lahob, still evident in other Lahob languages; unlike others in the family, Chlouvānem did not become genderless because of losing gender marking on nouns, but because it lost concordance anywhere else.
- ^ The word latiryai is the plural of latirē (wave, ray), but this compound does not have a singular form.
- ^ This is due to many honorific formulae being quite long - for example, the standard honorific formula when talking to an Inquisitor is (lallāmaha) [matronymic] yamei murkadhāna [given name] lāma.
- ^ With cousins, whether the informal or the given name is used depends on how close they are; with first cousins using the informal name is nearly universal, while with farther cousins the given name may be more common.
- ^ Many head monks have their own unique titles based on their monastery. For example the head monk of the Vādhaṃšvāti Lake Monastery is not referred as […] hurdagīn lāma vādhaṃšvāti ga gūltayi but as […] laliājuniāmiti jāṇi camilālta lāma, literally "Great Guardian of the Field of the Night Bloom".
- ^ e.g. sorami, grāṇami…
- ^ nęlte has the stem nęlc- wherever pāmvi has -vy-, i.e. accusatives pāmvyu, nęlcu.
- ^ chīka has the stem chīcæ- before consonants.
- ^ nęlte has the form nęlci.
- ^ cf. ūtarṇ- "heavy" and ūṭrus "load"
- ^ Language of an ethnic minority (but titular ethnicity) in the diocese of Hūnakañjaiṭa.
- ^ Synchronically, this analysis is correct; however, this word was likely first crafted as a tatpuruṣa, i.e. "a fire for food" (yųlgis nali javyāh), before kitchens were rooms.
- ^ Chlouvānem society lacked a true noble class; this term applies to the most influential people in society. Tigers are considered among the noblest animals.
- ^ Middle-grade ablaut is specific to this root.
- ^ As for all living things, being Calémere a different planet, the given translation is the one of the closest equivalent on Earth.
- ^ Ex.: dṝdaveyute "I repetitively do" vs. dṝdaviyaute "I repetitively did"
- ^ The verb "to happen" does not exist as an iterative.
- ^ Rain, specifically, is more commonly used as the subject of the verb buñjñake, meaning "to run" for water (in Chl. rain runs just like a river does).
- ^ The word pṛšcām alone is almost never used in contemporary Chlouvānem.