Daùnare

Daùnare
Created by	Frederic Bayer

The Daùnare language (Daùnare: Daùnarenu /ˈdaʊ̯.nʌ.rɪ.nʊ/ or Daùnarekelnu /ˈdaʊ̯.nʌ.rɪˌkel.nʊ/) is a language spoken by the Daùna people (Daùnare: Daùnadistunu /ˈdaʊ̯.nʌˌdis.tʊ.nʊ/).

Phonology

Vowels

The chart below shows the phonemic and [reduced] vowels present in Daùnare. The reduced vowels also occur as part of diphthongs, but are not considered phonemes in their own right. There are six phonemic vowels which are additionally differentiated by length, and three reduced vowels.

Orthographically, the phonemic vowels (when not used in diphthongs) are all written as in IPA with the exception of /ɛ/, written ⟨æ⟩, and length is indicated using a macron rather than the IPA length symbol. For a more detailed overview, please see →Orthography.

	Front	Near-front	Central	Near-back	Back
Close	i, iː u, uː [ɪ] [ʊ] e, eː o, oː ɛ, ɛː [ʌ] a, aː
Near‑close
Close‑mid
Mid
Open‑mid
Near‑open
Open

NB: With the (partial) exception of this section (Phonology), this article generally uses orthographic representations rather than IPA when discussing phonemes.

Diphthongs

Daùnare features eleven diphthongs, not including the so-called iotified vowels and labialised vowels which are treated separately. Diphthongs can end in [ɪ̯], [ʊ̯], or [ʌ̯]; the latter also known as hiatus vowels. Diphthongs can be formed by any vowel that is not "too close" to the final vowel. Specifically:

• Diphthongs ending in [ɪ̯] can be formed by any vowel other than the close and close-mid front vowels.
• Diphthongs ending in [ʊ̯] can be formed by any vowel other than back vowels.
• Diphthongs ending in [ʌ̯] (hiatus vowels) can be formed by any vowel other than the open and open-mid vowels.

The only notable exception is that there is no diphthong /eʊ̯/; this is because diphthongs beginning with /ɛ/ are orthographically represented with ⟨e⟩ rather than ⟨æ⟩, which has resulted in what used to be the /eʊ̯/ diphthong merging into the (still-extant) /ɛʊ̯/ diphthong.

In summary, the following diphthongs exist:

final initial	ɪ	ʊ	ʌ
ɛ	ɛɪ̯	ɛʊ̯
a	aɪ̯	aʊ̯
o	oɪ̯		oʌ̯
u	uɪ̯		uʌ̯
e			eʌ̯
i		iʊ̯	iʌ̯

Iotified vowels

Any non-close(-mid) vowel can be iotified, i.e. the following iotified vowels exist: /ɪ̯ɛ ɪ̯a ɪ̯o ɪ̯u/. Iotation is orthographically represented through diacritics – specifically, the ogonek.

The use of ⟨ɪ̯⟩ to represent the onset of these vowels (or diphthongs) phonetically is by convention, as there nominally exists no independent **/j/ phoneme, but the realisation is functionally [j].

In the standard language, these vowels are pronounced as such, but in many dialects this has resulted either in the palatalisation of a preceding consonant or a wholesale shift to a palatal consonant, alveolo-palatal consonant, or an affricate. For more information, see →Sociolinguistics.

Labialised vowels

ʊ̯ɛ ʊ̯a ʊ̯e ʊ̯i

Vowel reduction

In unstressed syllables, short monophthongs:

• /e, i/ → [ɪ]
• /o, u/ → [ʊ]
• /a, ɛ/ → [ʌ]

Consonants

As with the →Vowel chart, phones occurring only as allophones are indicated with [square brackets].

Place Manner	Bilabial	Labio-dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m		n		[ŋ]
Plosive	p b		t d		k g
Fricative		f [v]	s [z]	[ç]	x	[h]
Tap			r
Lateral			l [ɬ]
Approximant				[j]

Onset clusters

In phonological notation, valid onset clusters fall into the following categories. The colour coding of categories is reflected in the reference tables.

Key:

F fricative / L liquid / N nasal / P stop
alv alveolar / lab labial / voi voiced

Category:	1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8			9			10
Consonants	F	L	F	/l/	F	N	F	/n/	P	L	P	/r/	P	/s/	F	P	(L)	F	P	(/r/)	/p, k, g/	/n/
Features	‑ALV		+ALV		‑LAB		+LAB		‑ALV		+ALV		‑VOI		+ALV	‑ALV ‑VOI		+ALV	+ALV ‑VOI

Broadly summarised Daùnare allows…

• fricatives to be followed by liquids and nasals (FL, FN),
• /s/ to be followed by voiceless stops and vice versa (/s/P, P/s/),
• Stops to be followed by liquids including after /s/ (PL, /s/PL),
• Voiceless stops to be followed by /s/ (P/s/), and
• /p/, /k/, and /g/ to be followed by /n/,

…with a few phonotactic exceptions: */fm/, */sr/, */(s)tl/, */dl/

Initial fricative

	/p/		/t/		/k/		/m/	/n/	/r/	/l/
	/r/	/l/	/r/	/l/	/r/	/l/
/f/								⟨fn⟩	⟨fr⟩	⟨fl⟩
/s/	⟨sp⟩		⟨st⟩		⟨sk⟩		⟨sm⟩	⟨sn⟩		⟨sl⟩
	⟨spr⟩	⟨spl⟩	⟨str⟩		⟨skr⟩	⟨skl⟩
/x/							⟨hm⟩	⟨hn⟩	⟨hr⟩	⟨hl⟩

Initial stop

	/s/	/n/	/r/	/l/
/p/	⟨ps⟩	⟨pn⟩	⟨pr⟩	⟨pl⟩
/b/			⟨br⟩	⟨bl⟩
/t/	⟨ts⟩		⟨tr⟩
/d/			⟨dr⟩
/k/	⟨ks⟩	⟨kn⟩	⟨kr⟩	⟨kl⟩
/g/		⟨gn⟩	⟨gr⟩	⟨gl⟩

Orthography

Historic alphabet

Aα Bb Γc Δd Ee Φϕ Hh Iı Kκ Λλ Mμ Nν Oo Pp Rꞃ Σſz Tt Υυ Ææ Ꙗꙗ Ѥѥ Юю ωω

As in the modern alphabet, labialised vowels were indicated using a breve, and long vowels using a macron.

Modern – Ū Ǫta! Distas kunen disnimi plasnel tugusat, bak kunenere dorāket.
Historic – Ῡ Юtα! Δıztαz κuνeν dızνıμı pλαzνeλ tucuzαt, bακ κuνeνeꞃe doꞃᾱκet.
(Translation: Oh Jota! A man gave the woman the child's dog, and dogs steal from each other.)

Morphophonology

Morphophonology of verbs

Voice apophony

Voice is indicated through apophony (gradation) of the theme vowel, which refers to the nucleus of the verb root's stressed syllable. Grade 1 forms the antipassive, and grade 2 the middle voice.

These theme vowels also correlate with the class of the verb, which indicates the vowel used in person-number-tense/aspect declension. Because the gradation by theme vowel is unique in each class (i.e. no theme vowel has grades which also occur as theme vowels within the same class), and the class vowel appears in declensional endings, base verbs are generally not ambiguous with gradations of other verbs except in the infinitive (i.e. the verb root on its own).

Below is a breakdown of gradations sorted according to class vowel and theme vowel:

Class vowel	Theme vowel ∅	Grade 1 anti	Grade 2 mid
a	a	e	o
	ā	ē	ō
	aı	eı	oı
	aù	eù	ū
	ą	ę	ǫ
	ă	ĕ	oȧ
	æ	o	a
	ǣ	ō	ā
o	o	e	u
	ō	ē	ū
	oȧ	eȧ	uȧ
	oı	eı	uı
	ǫ	ę	ų
e	e	u	a
	ē	ū	ā
	eȧ	uȧ	ō
	eù	ǫ	aù
	eı	uı	aı
	ĕ	oı	ă
	ę	ų	ą
u	u	i	e
	ū	ī	ē
	uȧ	iȧ	eȧ
	uı	ĭ	eı
	ų	iù	ę
i	i	a	u
	ī	ā	ū
	iȧ	ą	uȧ
	iù	aù	ų
	ĭ	ă	uı

Derivational morphology

Derivations are achieved in Daùnare either through one of three methods:

• Compounding – combining two lemmas to create a new lemma
• Class derivation – forming new nouns by altering the class of an existing noun
• Affixation – adding a bound morpheme to a lemma to create a new lemma. This latter can be further subdivided into:
  • Ciscategorical affixation, where the lexical category stays the same (e.g. deriving a new adjective from an existing adjective)
  • Transcategorical affixation, where the lexical category changes (e.g. deriving a noun from a verb)

Inflectional morphology

Nouns

Daùnare nouns decline according to noun class (also called gender), number, and case. There are four classes, each declining for either three or two numbers as shown below (an asterisk* indicates the default/undifferentiated form).

• Masculine (singular,* dual, plural)
• Feminine (singular,* dual, plural)
• Concrete (singular,* dual, plural)
• Abstract (collective,* singulative)

However, in many ways the abstract singulative can be regarded more as a derivational than inflectional process, as it isn't universally productive (there are many collective-only abstract nouns).

Masculine, feminine, and concrete nouns decline for six cases: absolutive, ergative, dative, genitive, ablative, and vocative. Abstract nouns feature the same cases except for the vocative, i.e. a total of five. Declension suffixes are shown in the table below – for an overview of what the parenthesised letters indicate, please see the above sections on →class-dependent anaptyxis and the →methelcystic t and the definite clitic.

Declension table (most nouns)

	masculine			feminine			concrete			abstract
	sg	dl	pl	sg	dl	pl	sg	dl	pl	col	sgv
abs	‑(t)an	‑(t)aın	‑(t)ana	‑(i)ni	‑(i)nis	‑(t)in	‑(t)en	‑(t)eın	‑(t)ene	‑(u)nu	‑(t)unu
erg	‑(t)as	‑(t)aıs	‑(t)ara	‑(t)i	‑(t)is	‑(t)ir	‑(t)es	‑(t)eıs	‑(t)ere	‑(t)u	‑(t)uru
dat	‑(t)am	‑(t)aım	‑(t)ama	‑(i)mi	‑(i)mis	‑(t)im	‑(t)em	‑(t)eım	‑(t)eme	‑(u)mu	‑(t)umu
gen	‑(t)ar	‑(t)ari	‑(t)ā	‑(i)ri	‑(i)ris	‑(t)ī	‑(t)er	‑(t)eri	‑(t)ē	‑(u)ru	‑(t)ū
abl	‑(t)al	‑(t)aıl		‑(i)li	‑(i)lis		‑(t)el	‑(t)eıl		‑(u)lu	‑(t)ul
voc	‑(t)a	‑(t)aı		‑(t)īs	‑(t)īr		‑(t)e	‑(t)eı

Some singulative abstract nouns have been reanalysed as concrete nouns (known as concretised nouns). These follow a special uncountable declension:

Concretised nouns

abs	‑(t)uın
erg	‑(t)uruıs
dat	‑(t)uım
gen	‑(t)uri
abl	‑(t)uli

Definiteness is expressed using the definite clitic, for which see above (→Morphophonology of nouns § Methelcystic t and the definite clitic).

Pronouns

Personal pronouns in Daùnare decline according to person, number, case, formality (second person only) and class (third person only). The vocative case only exists in the second person.

Personal pronouns

	first person					second person						third person
	sg	dl		pl		sg		dl		pl		masc			fem			conc			abst
		inc	exc	inc	exc	infor	for	infor	for	infor	for	sg	dl	pl	sg	dl	pl	sg	dl	pl	col	sgv
abs	kon	noın	moın	nin	min	hun	huvun	huın	huvin	hin	hivin	san	saın	sana	sini	sinis	sin	ten	teın	tene	tunu	tunur
erg	ko	noı	moı	ni	mi	hut	huv	huıt	huvi	hit	hiv	sas	saıs	sara	si	sis	sir	tes	teıs	tere	tu	turu
dat	kom	noım	moım	nim	mim	hum	huvum	huım	huvim	him	hivim	sam	saım	sama	simi	simis	sim	tem	teım	teme	tumu	tumur
gen	kor	nori	mori	nir	mir	hur	huvur	huri	huvir	hir	hivir	sar	sari	sā	siri	siris	sī	ter	teri	tē	tru	tū
abl	kol	noıl	moıl	nil	mil	hul	huvul	huıl	huvil	hil	hivil	sal	saıl	sā	sli	slis	sī	tel	teıl	tē	tulu	tū
voc						hutu	huvu	huti	huvi	hiti	hivi

Possessive pronouns decline the same way, except that there are no vocative possessive pronouns (in any person).

Possessive pronouns

	first person					second person						third person
	sg	dl		pl		sg		dl		pl		masc			fem			conc			abst
		inc	exc	inc	exc	infor	for	infor	for	infor	for	sg	dl	pl	sg	dl	pl	sg	dl	pl	col	sgv
abs	kron	norin	morin	nirin	mirin	hrun	hruvun	hrutin	hruvin	hrin	hrivin	saran	sarin	sāsan	sirni	sirnis	sisni	tren	trisen	tēsen	trunu	tutnu
erg	koros	noris	moris	niris	miris	hrut	hruv	hurit	huriv	hirit	hiriv	saras	saris	sās	siri	siris	sisi	tres	tris	tēs	tru	tut
dat	krom	norim	morim	nirim	mirim	hrum	hruvum	hrutim	hruvim	hrim	hrivim	saram	sarim	sāsam	sirmi	sirmis	sismi	trem	trisem	tēsem	trumu	tutmu
gen	krōs	norīs	morīs	nirīs	mirīs	hrūt	hrūv	hūrit	hūriv	hĭrit	hĭriv	săr	săris	săs	sĭri	sĭris	sĭsi	trēs	trīs	tĕs	trū	tūt
abl	krol	noril	moril	niril	miril	hrul	hruvul	hrutil	hruvil	hril	hrivil	saral	saril	sāsal	sirli	sirlis	sisli	trel	trisel	tēsel	trul	tutlu

Verbs

Tense and aspect

The "default" (unmarked) aspect of the present and future tenses is the gnomic or simple aspect (by convention, the nomenclature is gnomic present but future simple). A progressive aspect can be expressed through the regular suffix ⟨‑ta⟩ affixed to the base declension of both tenses, and a perfect aspect only in the future tense through the suffixes ⟨‑bi⟩ (first person), ⟨‑si⟩ (second person) and ⟨‑ni⟩ (third person).

The past tense, by contrast, has no unmarked aspect; each past aspect (preterite or simple past, imperfect or progressive past, and habitual [past]) has its own set of person‑number inflections.

Below is an inflection table, where V represents the thematic vowel of the verb (→Morphophonology of verbs § Thematic anaptyxis). The progressive and perfect aspects for the future and present are not shown, as they are perfectly regular, with the exception that the present progressive third person singular/collective (or second person singular formal) has another theme vowel inserted between the declensional suffix and the progressive suffix to prevent the two /t/s colliding, which is the only instance of double thematic anaptyxis.

Inflection table

	first person			second person						third person
	sg	dl	pl	sg		dl		pl		sg/col	dl	pl/sgv
				informal	formal	informal	formal	informal	formal
present	‑Vg	‑Vm	‑Vn	‑Vs	‑Vt	‑Vsi	‑Vti	‑Vsin	‑Vri	‑Vt	‑Vti	‑Vri
preterite	‑Vbo	‑Vbim	‑Vbin	‑Vtas	‑Vsat	‑Vtis	‑Vsti	‑Vtin	‑Vsri	‑Vsat	‑Vsti	‑Vsri
imperfect	‑Vbota	‑Vbita	‑Vbitan	‑Vtasta	‑Vtasat	‑Vtista	‑Vtasti	‑Vtinta	‑Vtasri	‑Vtasat	‑Vtasti	‑Vtasri
habitual	‑Vbotag	‑Vbitam	‑Vtabin	‑Vtastas	‑Vsata	‑Vtistas	‑Vstita	‑Vtintan	‑Vtasir	‑Vsata	‑Vstita	‑Vtasir
future	‑Vgi	‑Vmi	‑Vni	‑Vsti	‑Vti	‑Vstir	‑Vtir	‑Vstin	‑Vnir	‑Vti	‑Vtir	‑Vnir

Mood

Mood in Daùnare is best analysed as being composed through three modal dimensions, comprising factual‑intentional modality (indicative, imperative, subjunctive, conditional, or optative), syntactic modality (declarative, interrogative, relative, or subordinate) and negativity (positive or negative).

The default/unmarked mood is the positive declarative indicative; other moods are expressed through modal particles, for which see below (→Particles § Modal particles)

Particles

Modal particles

Modal particles, placed at the beginning of clauses, express grammatical mood. For an overview of mood, please see (→Verbs § Mood)

		Indicative	Imperative	Subjunctive	Conditional	Optative
Declarative	∅		lo	mu	da	ki
	Negative	ne	nel	nem	ned	nek
Interrogative	∅	um	mol	mum	maùd	um ki
	Negative	num	nemol	nemum	numda	num ki
Relative	∅	sa	slo	smu	sta	sa ki
	Negative	nes	neslo	nesmu	nesta	nes ki
Subordinate	∅	ge	glo	gem	ged	ge ki
	Negative	neg	neg lo	negem	neged	ne ki

Syntax

Lexicology

Semantics

The verb tug

The Daùnare verb ⟨tug⟩ nominally means "to bring", but is capable of expressing a whole host of things for which English uses different verbs. It is a so‑called defective verb, meaning it has no antipassive.

Intransitive

When used intransitively in primary voice, it can be used with non‑sentient/non‑volitional arguments to mean "there is":

S	V
Harnu	tugut.
har‑nu	tug‑u‑t
way‑abst.sg.abs	bring‑∅‑prs.3sg
A way is brought.
‘There is a way.’

The same meaning ("there is") can be expressed with the middle voice for sentient/volitional arguments:

S	V
Distan	tegut.
dis‑t‑an	teg‑u‑t
person‑∅‑masc.sg.abs	mid\bring‑∅‑prs.3sg
A man brings (himself).
‘There is a man.’

Of course, this also works in conjunction with other tenses and aspects (for, e.g., "There used to be a man", "There will have been a way") – with the exception of the progressive aspect (which exists in the present and future tense).

(Mono)transitive

In (mono)transitive usage in the primary voice, the verb usually does translate as "bring":

A	P	V
Distas	kunen	tugut.
dis‑t‑as	kun‑en	tug‑u‑t
person‑∅‑masc.sg.erg	dog‑conc.sg.abs	bring‑∅‑prs.3sg
A man brings a dog.
‘A man brings a dog.’

A peculiarity of this verb is that it is possible to use the middle voice form of the verb transitively, i.e. with an ergative argument (which middle voice verbs usually do not take) functioning as recipient:

A	P	V
Distas	kunen	tegut.
dis‑t‑as	kun‑en	teg‑u‑t
person‑∅‑masc.sg.erg	dog‑conc.sg.abs	mid\bring‑∅‑prs.3sg
(To) a man a dog brings (itself).
‘A man gets a dog.’

Ditransitive

In ditransitive usage the verb can either be translated as "give" or "take" depending on whether the indirect object is dative or ablative:

A	P	I(DAT)	V
Distas	kunen	disnimi	tugut.
dis‑t‑as	kun‑en	dis=n=i‑mi	tug‑u‑t
person‑∅‑masc.sg.erg	dog‑conc.sg.abs	person=def=∅‑fem.sg.dat	bring‑∅‑prs.3sg
A man brings a dog to the woman.
‘A man gives the woman a dog.’

A	P	I(ABL)	V
Distas	kunen	plastel	tugut.
dis‑t‑as	kun‑en	plas‑t‑el	tug‑u‑t
person‑∅‑masc.sg.erg	dog‑conc.sg.abs	child‑∅‑conc.sg.abl	bring‑∅‑prs.3sg
A man brings a dog from a child.
‘A man takes a child's dog.’ / ‘A man takes a dog from a child.’

Tritransitive

Both indirect objects can be present to express the idea of giving A to B having taken it from C:

A	P	I(DAT)	I(ABL)	V
Distas	kunen	disnimi	plastel	tugut.
dis‑t‑as	kun‑en	dis=n=i‑mi	plas‑t‑el	tug‑u‑t
person‑∅‑masc.sg.erg	dog‑conc.sg.abs	person=def=∅‑fem.sg.dat	child‑∅‑conc.sg.abl	bring‑∅‑prs.3sg
A man brings a dog to the woman from a child.
‘A man gives the woman a child's dog.’ / ‘A man gives the woman a dog taken from a child.’

Applicative

When used as a di‑ or tritransitive, the verb can be modified using the applicative prefix ⟨do‑⟩ which promotes the dative to patient (and the secondary indirect object to primary). Relatively unusually, ⟨tug⟩ does not function as an intransitive verb with the applicative. Also, unlike some verbs, the applicative prefix cannot be combined with the middle voice stem to produce a medioapplicative.

A	P	V
Distas	disnini	dotugut.
dis‑t‑as	dis=n=i‑ni	do‑tug‑u‑t
person‑∅‑masc.sg.erg	person=def=∅‑fem.sg.abs	appl‑bring‑∅‑prs.3sg
A man "bebrings" the woman.
‘A man gives [something] to the woman.’

A	P	I(DAT)	V
Distas	disnini	plastem	dotugut.
dis‑t‑as	dis=n=i‑ni	plas‑t‑em	do‑tug‑u‑t
person‑∅‑masc.sg.erg	person=def=∅‑fem.sg.abs	child‑∅‑conc.sg.dat	appl‑bring‑∅‑prs.3sg
A man "bebrings" the woman through the child.
‘A man gives [something] to the woman [taken] from the child.’

Diapplicative

As is the case with other tritransitive verbs, the diapplicative prefix ⟨ro‑⟩ can be used to promote the secondary indirect object to patient instead. Much like with the applicative, the diapplicative does not function intransitively (unlike in other verbs). Also, again like the applicative, the diapplicative prefix cannot be combined with the middle stem to produce a mediodiapplicative.

A	P	V
Distas	disnini	rotugut.
dis‑t‑as	dis=n=i‑ni	ro‑tug‑u‑t
person‑∅‑masc.sg.erg	person=def=∅‑fem.sg.abs	diappl‑bring‑∅‑prs.3sg
A man "disbrings" the woman.
‘A man takes [something] from the woman.’

A	P	I(DAT)	V
Distas	disnini	plastem	rotugut.
dis‑t‑as	dis=n=i‑ni	plas‑t‑em	ro‑tug‑u‑t
person‑∅‑masc.sg.erg	person=def=∅‑fem.sg.abs	child‑∅‑conc.sg.dat	diappl‑bring‑∅‑prs.3sg
A man "disbrings" the woman through the child.
‘A man takes [something] from the woman [and gives it] to the child.’

Sociolinguistics

Daùnare is subject to significant phonological, morphological, and lexical variation across regions and social classes, as well as age.

Unlike most languages that feature a strong social class distinction in speech, there are two identifiable acrolects: The plutolect, is the prestige dialect of urban elites, "media types", the nouveau riche, and (in a wide sense) liberals. The aristolect, meanwhile, is the prestige dialect of the clergy, "traditional" artists (painters, sculptors, classical musicians), old money (aristocracy and gentry), other well-heeled country-dwellers, and (in a wide sense) conservatives.

Both of these sociolects feature innovations (such as pitch accent in the aristolect, or the extensive coalescence of the plutolect), but on the whole the plutolect can be considered more "innovative" while the aristolect is more "conservative", relative to the historical development of the language. The latter's "conservatism" is particularly evident in lexical terms.

Of course, being multi-dimensional, sociolinguistic variation is multi-faceted, as at least both region and social class (as well as age) will impact on a speaker's idiolect. While regional features are strongest in non-acrolectal speakers, certain features are more or less strongly influential on each acrolect: Speakers of the plutolect are more likely to have regional morphological features, and less likely to use regional vocabulary, while the opposite is the case for acrolectal speakers.