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Attian

Revision as of 19:02, 29 December 2012 by Waahlis (talk | contribs) (→‎Phonology)
Attian
Ta Athnai
Ta Athnai.png
Pronunciation[/ta aθ'nai̩/]
Created by–
Native toArmenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia
Native speakers61,000 (2012)
Early form
Dialects
  • Standard Attian
  • Hayani
  • Sengani
Official status
Regulated byAkademia ta Athnai
Language codes
ISO 639-1at
ISO 639-2att
ISO 639-3att
Agartha.jpg
Map picturing the Agartha region in Transcaucasia, crossing the borders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Attian (Attian Hevriti: טַ אתנַי, Latin: Ta Athnai, /ta aθ'nai̩/) is a constructed, a priori and naturalistic language in the Attamian family of languages, descended from the hypothetical Proto-Attamian language. It has no other purpose than to be an excellent display of my personal debauchery and pleasures.

The language is being created by the user and administrator Waahlis of Linguifex. Obviously, and almost self-evidently, it has no native speakers and is not the official language anywhere else than in an office.

Background

 
The corresponding sphere and signature of the Attian language used on the wiki.

Naturalism nowadays implies the creation of fictional settings, to legitimate the choice of vocabulary, semantics and pragmatics. I will for once actually do such a thing, implementing the language into the modern world of Caucasus. Perhaps then I can justify a few loan words.

Attian (Attian Hevriti: טַ אתנַי, Latin: Ta Athnai, /aθˈnai̩/) is an Attamian language spoken in the Caucasus, across the borders of Georgia, Armenia and Turkey. It is not known to have any transparent genetic connections to any other language, despite a number of attempts of classification.

The language has been documented in the Caucasus since at least the 9th century AD, with the discovery of the Hayastani documents, (Attian: Egrava ta Hayaztan, חגרַוַ טַ חַיַזטַנ) a Greek transcript of the languages in an around the Transcaucasian settlements. The now fragile documents were written by the Byzantine Greek philosopher Antenor Erevanon, in an effort to investigate the ethnic diversity i the region:

I have seen many different men of various posture and pride passing these roads, none less awe-inspiring than the other: The Armenioi, an intelligent breed, clever and calculating merchants speaking a language not too dissimilar to our own. Then there are the Georgioi, quite similar to the Armenioi, but far moredivided and barbaric in their utterances, just like the warmonging Kurds and Turks. Then there are the Caphessonioi, peaceful, tranquil, with a timid stance towards strangers, speaking a language using the very letters of our own alphabet. The Attnicoi on the other hand, are interesting, a reclusive tribe of people, shy to speak with their proper, unintelligible speech; preferring to use that of their neighbours [...]

-Antenor Erevanon, 9th century Judaeo-Greek philospher and settler

The number of speakers of the language is unknown, but the numbers are estimated to be fairly low. Influence by neighboring languages, such as Armenian, Georgian and enclaves of Greek, Hebrew and Qafesona speakers threaten the language by the inclusion of loanwords, but the greatest threat is from the universal English language, as more and more Attians acquire internet and television, featuring the language.

Phonology

For more information, go to Attian/Phonology

This is the complete consonant and vowel phoneme inventories of the Attian language, they are the sounds with minimal pairing effect on lexemes. The language is notable for missing one of the conventional plosive series among consonants, missing a phonemic distinction of the complete bilabial place of articulation. It also differentiates four pairs of rounded and unrounded vowels.

Please note that the bolded letters are orthographic representations.

Template:Col-2
Consonant phonemes in Attian
Consonant phonemes
Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasals n [n] m [ŋ]
Plosive voiceless t [t] c [k]
voiced d [d] g [ɡ]
Fricative th [θ-ð] z [s-z] sh [ç] j [x-ɣ] h [h-ɦ]
Approximant y [j] v [w]
Trill r [r̥]
  • Consonant gemination is phonemic, and applies to all consonants but /h/, but never occurs initially. Gemination is marked by doubling the grapheme.

Template:Col-2

Vowel phonemes in Attian
Front Central Back
Close i /i/ u /u/
Near-close o /ɤ/ · ō /oː/
Close-Mid ā /ø/
Mid
Open-Mid e /ɛ/ · ē /œ/
Near-Open
Open a /a/

Consonants

The Attian consonants undergo a number of phonological processes, all of which are completely phonemic.

Labiovelar coarticulation

The labiovelar coarticulation, or simply labiovelarisation, is a process which only applies to the velar stops, that is /ŋ/, /k/ and /ɡ/. The velar stops are coarticulated with their labial analogue when followed by a rounded vowel. This causes the phonemes /ŋ͡m/, /k͡p/ and /ɡ͡b/.

Other situations producing the labiovelars, and especially the nasal one, are collisions of /ŋ/ and /n/, no matter the order. In addition, the combinations /n/ or /ŋ/ plus /w/ gives the labiovelar nasal /ŋ͡m/.

uggā amnva gva ugga egegi
/uɡˈɡø/ → /uˈɡ͡bø/ /aŋˈna/ → /aˈŋ͡ma/ /ɡwa uɡˈɡø ɛɡˈɛɡi/ → [ɡwa uˈɡ͡bø ɛɡˈɛɡi]
«fish» «you; thou» «I fish fish»

Fricativisation

The 4 plosives, /t/, /d/, /k/ and /ɡ/, are fricativisised into /θ/, /ð/, /x/ and /ɣ/ intervocalic positions. The fricativisation also occurs should any of the plosives precede other hetero-organic plosives.


Fricativisation only applies should the plosives occur as a coda, or onset in an unstressed syllable. This implies that any fricativisation due to external sandhi, i.e. if the preceeding word ends with a vowel, is impossible.

adan egta yecai
/ˈadan/ → /ˈaðan/ /ɛɡta/ → /ɛɣta/ /ˈjɛkai̩/ → /ˈjɛxai̩/
«meal» «door» «small eye; peeking Tom»

Other

The glottal fricative /h/, has an irregular effect if preceding or following hetero-organic plosives. The hetero-organic plosive is geminated, or doubled, and the glottal fricative is deleted from speech.

The only rhotic consonant in the Attian inventory is the alveolar approximant /r̥/, which is somewhat irregular in its pronounciation. The corresponding intervocalic allophone is pronounced voicedly.

Vowels

This is the vocalic phoneme inventory of the Attian language. All of the following phonemes are phonemic, however, due to severe allophony in most dialects, the inventory is somewhat larger. The Attian language has 10 basic vowels, whereof four rounded and six unrounded.

  Front Near- front Central Near- back Back
Close
 
i
u


ø
ɤ · o


ɛ · œ


a
  Near-close
Close-mid
Mid
Open-mid
Near-open
Open
Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel.
Diphthongs

There are 12 phonemic diphthongs in the Attian language. They non-syllabic elements [i̯] and [u̯] are heavily allophonic with /j/ and /w/ respectively, and most often simplified as such.

Rising Falling
ya [ɪ̯a] ay [aɪ̯]
ye [ɪ̯ɛ] ey [ɛɪ̯]
yo [ɪ̯o] oy [oɪ̯]
va [u̯a] av [au̯]
ve [u̯ɛ] ev [ɛu̯]
vo [u̯o] ov [ou̯]

Vowel allophony

For more information, go to Attian/Phonology

Dialectal or colloquial variances in the Attian language includes vowel allophony. When subjects to stress, vowels may change their quality:

  • Preceding palato-velar or glottal consonants. This retracts articulation of front vowels, and leaves back vowels unaffected.
  • Preceding rhotic consonants, i.e. /r̥/. Vowels preceding the rhotic become supradentalised if back, and unaffected if front vowels.
  • In a stressed syllable. The language has a moraic stress system, thus distinguishing the weight of syllables - the heavier the syllable, the greater chance of being stressed.

Phonotactics

C = Consonant
N = Nasal stop
V = Vowel or Diphthong

The Attian language's phonotactics, are quite restricted. The syllable structure is different whether in initial or medial position, and it has a great impact on the lexical stress.

Initial syllables does not require an onset of any kind, but does require a coda consisting of at least one consonant. Medial or final syllables, dubbed General, may however only have codae consisting of one consonant and one nasal, or two successive nasal stops.

Attian possesses a moraic stress system which similarly to Latin follows a dreimorengesetz, three-morae-rule, which in this case dictates that the third mora is always stressed. Since onsets are moraic in Attian, the initial syllable accounts for three morae quite often. Thus, the stress is always on the first or second syllable.


Initial Syllable Structure
(C) (C) V C (C)
General
(C) V (C)/(N) (N)


This construction gives a language quite restricted in the number of onsets possible, in comparison to for example English phonotactics and phonology. In addition to this, only some of the possible clusters are actually present as onsets in the language. One should remember however, that all diphthongs belong to the vowel category. They increase the weight, but can still be in both coda and nucleus.

The coda consonant may be any consonant but ⟨j⟩ - final ⟨j⟩ simply does not occur. All roots inherited from Proto-Attamian lost the ⟨j⟩ in coda position.

Since the language is a rather fusional one, speakers should be wary of agglutinating morphemes. Should an affix be agglutinated to a stem, the affix normally loses its epenthic vowel. This occurs if a diaresis arises, or if the affix' consonant(s) is in compliance with the phonotactics.

Combinatorics

Syllable codas

Consonant clusters

Vowel clusters

The Attian language allows 12 phonemic diphthongs. Any other clusters of vocalic phonemes form diaereses. Inserting an epenthic glottal stop between these vowels is a common occurrence, or in some dialects, the glottal fricative /h/.

Exceptions to this are the allophonic diphthongs [e̯a], [oʊ̯], [ɛi̯] and [a̯ɑː], which arises as a consequence of stressed monophthongs. For more information, see the following section on stress.

Suprasegmentals

Stress

Attian's system of lexical stress is different to that of for example English. Unlike English, it's completely regular, however moraic. This means that the heaviest syllables are stressed, and the if the lexeme contains several equivalent syllables, the one second is emphasised. The Attian stress affects and reinforces the vowel phonemes' articulation. Should the syllable nucleus consist of a diphthong, it remains unaffected.

The morae of Attian are determined out of three circumstances, each of which represent one mora:

  • The existence of a syllable coda is self-written only in native words.
  • A long vowel or diphthong.
  • The existence of a syllable onset.

The Attian phonotactics dictate that a syllable, and thus also a lexeme, may be realised minimally as VC, hence always receiving a syllable coda. The existence of a syllable onset substitutes over one mora and contrasts with null onsets:

First syllable stressed
  • am - «blood», /ˈaŋ/ (monomoraic)
  • yamina - «come», /ˈjaŋ.iːn.a/ (trimoraic-bimoraic-monomoraic)
Second syllable stressed
  • yamnann - «my coming», /jaŋ.ˈnanː/ (trimoraic-trimoraic)

The existence of a geminated vowel or diphthong also reinforces the syllable weight:

  • yamnay - «his coming», /ˈjaŋ.naj/ (trimoraic-trimoraic)

The following example details how geminate consonants actually are realised as double consonants in syllable boundaries.

  • yamnannayya - «it is my coming» /jaŋ.ˈnan.naj.ja/ (trimoraic-trimoraic-trimoraic-monomoraic)

With these points considered, the conclusion is that the Attian emphasis always lies on either the first syllable, should the word commence with a consonant or diphthong, or on the second syllable, if the first phoneme is a vowel, or if both the initial and second syllables are equally heavy. This only concerns non-prefixed stems however. Stress in the Attian language is absolute and shows no inclination towards moving, regardless of any prefixing, unless the consonant template ischanged:

  • gava - «to cut» /ˈgaw.a/ → magva - «knife», /ˈmag.wa/ → emagva - «knife» /ɛˈmag.wa/ not /ɛmˈag.wa/

Accent

The Attian language has an inherent pitch accent, simply called the accent. The accent is non-distinctive for minimal pairs, but is an essential part of the vowel articulation.

Stressed syllables differentiate two tones, often described as pitch accents, or simply accents. The actual realisations of these two accents would differ from dialect to dialect. In general, however, these accents are identified as high and low. These terms are avoided and most often replaced with sharp and matte, which is the general perception of the tones realisations, since the matte accent is characterised by a later timing of the intonational pitch rise as compared with the sharp accent.

The pitch accents are suprasegmental realisations of the front-back value. The system is quite simple. Back and central vowels are commonly associated with the matte accent, leading most often to a lower tone [˨, ◌̀], whilst front vowels inherit a sharp tone [˦, ◌́].

Sequences of vowels are influenced of the preceding or following, stressed vowel accent, rendering front-back vowels with a high-falling tone [˥˩, ◌̂]. Conversely, back to front sequences get low-rising accents [˩˥, ◌̌].

  • am - «blood», /ˈáŋ/
  • aznou - «heat», /ázˈnɤ̀/ → [ázˈnɤ̂]
  • oman - «oman», /ɤ̀ŋˈán/ → [ɤ̌mˈán]

In longer words, the distinctive pitch accent looses its strenght rendering most syllables with a normal, mid pitch [˧, ◌̄]. These vowels receive a vastly faster voiced onset time, and are pronounced very rapidly. An exception to this is should the final vowel be front valued, which gives a final rising tone.

  • mathunum - «speakers (pat.pl.)», [ŋâˈθùnùŋ͡m]
  • emathunum - «these speakers (prox.pat.pl.)», [ɛ̄ŋâˈθùnùŋ͡m]
  • emathunumann - «these speakers of mine (prox-pat.pl-1.encl.pat.)», [ɛ̄ŋâˈθùnùŋ͡mǎŋː]

Note that only the accent signature of the stressed vowel o ever transcribed, and that accent is ever distinguished in the most narrow transcriptions. This renders the final example like this:

  • emathunumann - «these speakers of mine (prox-pat.pl-1.encl.pat.)», /ɛŋaˈθunuŋanː/ - [ɛᶢŋaˈθoʊ̯ᵈnuŋ͡manː] - [ɛᶢŋaˈθòʊ̯ᵈnuŋ͡manː]

Prosody

Morphology

See main article: Attian morphology

Literals

See also: Attian morphology, nouns and verbs.

The roots of verbs and nouns in the Attian language, similarly to Arabic, Hebrew and other Semitic languages, are characterised as consonant sequences or "radicals", forming a "template" into which vowels or morphemes may be inserted without affecting the basic root.

 
A diagram of an autosegmental representation of the Attian word yemzin, "whisper"; an abstract nomalisation and diminutive of the root m-z-n, "call".

The radicals of the Attian lexicon and the corresponding paradigms are used to form verbal and nominal inflection, derivation and miscellaneous grammatical categories.

These vowels or morphemes, called transfixes, are used in the formation of actual words from the abstract consonantal roots, or literals. A large majority of these consonantal roots are triliterals, consisting of three radical consonants (although there are a number of uniliterals, a large amount of biliterals, and in some derivations also quadriliterals).

This Attian procedure is an unusual system of derivation. From any particular root various verb and noun stems may be formed, each with its own template (though there are few verbs where all stem patterns can be successfully applied). Roots are always presented in the following form: √C-C-C. Below are a few examples, of bi- and triliteral roots, in the first conjugational template.

Template:At-radicals

  1. The biliteral root √th-g, which approximates as "want", "desire".
  2. The triliteral √g-m-m with the meaning "arrival", causative of to "come".
  3. One of the rare uniliterals; √m, which means "second", "following".
√th-g + CaCa √g-m-m + aCCiC √m + aCa
'thaga' 'agmim' 'ama'
v.act.ind.gn.m.sg
«to want» «to arrive» «to follow»


This is the first introduction of the template glossing. Since the Attian language utilises transfixes, the glossing is made with a slash following the translated word, and the glossing thereafter. Circumfixes are marked with angle brackets. To clarify, here is a previous example:

thanainn an tajai gavann an garya theminen thanya gva
/ˈθanenː an taʝo/ → [ˈθanenː an ˈⁿtaɣe] /ˈɡawanː an ˈɡaɹja/ → [ˈɡawanː an ˈᵑɡaɹɣa] /θɛmɛnin θanja ɡwa/ → [ θɛmɛnin θanja ɡwa]
thanai -nn an tajai gava -nn an garya ⟨th⟩emeni⟨n⟩ thanya g -va
speech/ind.dyn.m.sg -pat.1.sg the.def.f badness/pat.f.sg coffee/pat.n.sg -pat.1.sg the.def.f sweetness/pat.f.sg ⟨rep⟩see/ind.dyn.m.sg⟨rep⟩ mouth/pat.n.sg I.1.sg.m -agt
«I speak poorly» «my sweet coffee» «It is said that I see your mouth»

Nouns

The language inflects according to four different cases, patientive (pat), agentive (agt), instrumental (ins) and locative (loc) through radical patterns. In addition, there are three different numbers, collective (col), singular sg and plural (plural), where the absolutive collective is the citation form. Number is presented differently to other languages with consonantal roots, i.e. Afro-Asiatic languages, and is formed through mainly regular vowel apophony.

Finally, there are three genders the masculine (m), feminine (f) and neuter (n). The masculine and feminine are not distinguished in the plural declension and in the plural verb conjugations, instead called the common (c) gender.

Gender

As previously stated, there are three genders, the masculine (m), feminine (f) and neuter (n), where the masculine and feminine may syncretise into the common (c or m/f) in complex inflections. Gender plays important roles in both nominal and verbal inflections, since verbs conjugate according to gender as well.

It is important to note that while verbs agree according to gender, valency decides what argument the verb agree with. Intransitive verbs agree with the subject, transitives with the object, and ditransitives get their direct object incorporated, and then agree with the gender of the direct object. Further information is found later on the page under "Verbs".

Case

Core cases

The Attian language is an active-stative language with fluid subjects, dependent upon semantic volition or control. This means that it marks the object of a transitive verb and the subject of a intransitive verb the same - with the patientive case - and mark the agent of the transitive separately, with the agentive case. The fluid subtype however, declares that the subject of an intransive verb, may be marked like the agent of the transitive, if the subject has sufficient control over the action.

The patientive, or undergoing case, (pat) is the case used to indicate both the subject of an intransitive verb and the object of a transitive verb, in addition to being used for the citation form of nouns.

The patientive is marked inflectionally on the noun, but the since Attian possesses no patientative personal pronouns, but rather enclitic pronouns, these are used to mark the object of a transitive verb, and subject of a low-control intransitive verb. In addition, the usage has been expanded, and the enclitic pronouns also serves as a possessive suffix, when agglutinated to nouns.

gānann amnva gānann enathva atna emine
/ˈɡønanː/ /a'ŋ͡ma ˈɡønanː/ /ɛnˈaθwa atˈna ɛŋˈinɛ/
gāna -nn āmn -va gauna -nn e- nath -va atn -a emine
trip/ind.dyn.1.f.sg -pat.1.sg you/1.m.sg -m.agt trip/ind.dyn.1.f.sg -pat.1.sg prox- man/m.sg. -m.agt dog/m.sg. -m.pat see/ind.dyn.1.m.sg
«I trip» «You trip me» «This man sees a dog»


Using just the patientive enclitic on mediopassive verbs gives a reflexive or passive meaning. With the mediopassive voice, the reflexive usage is normally implied when the subject is the patient. In colloquial speech however, the distinction between passive and reflexive is most often blurred.

thunenn gva thune ta myayō eduni ta myavō eduni
/ˈθunɛnː/ /ˈɡwa ˈθunɛ/ /ŋjajo ɛdˈuni/ /ˈŋjawo ɛdˈuni/
thune -nn g -va thune ta mya -yu eduni ta mya -vu eduni
speak/med.gn.m.sg -pat.1.sg I.1.sg.m -m.agt speak/med.gn.m.sg the.def.n cat/n.sg -pat.3.sg eat/med.dyn.n.sg the.def.n cat/n.sg -n.agt eat/med.dyn.n.sg
«I speak of myself or I am being spoken of» «I am being spoken of» «The cat is eating itself»


«The cat is being eaten»
 
A table of the Attian control and volition distinction in the core arguments, illustrating the two-way distinction in the subject of intransitive clauses.

The agentative (agt) case is used to mark the subject, or agent, of transitive verbs. However, intertwined with the Attian language's distinction on control and volition, there is a slight intentional distinction on intransitives, marking high control intransitives through the agentative argument. Confer the difference betweem the English intransitives "He tripped" and "He talked". In Attian, the former argument would be marked with the patientative case, since he is undergoing the verb, and the latter would be marked with the agentative, since he is in full control of his actions and the agent of the verb.

Being a fluid-S language, however, the simple "He tripped", might be marked with the agentative, should he intentionally have done so. Most often, this conveys a slight semantic shift, and "He tripped" might be interpreted as "He's faking a fall". Some verbs are are inherently high control, for example, the dynamic action "to cook", zama, can hardly be performed unintentionally, likewise is the word for "to talk", thana, somewhat difficult to perform involuntarily, except for sleep-talking.

The semantic shift is illustrated below with the word "to breathe", which may be interpreted differently, depending on whether marked with the patientive enclitic pronoun, or the agentive personal.

ehimemn amnva ehime ehimamn! amnva ehim!
/ɛhˈiŋɛŋ͡m/ /aŋ͡mˈa ɛhˈiŋɛ/ /ɛhˈiŋaŋ͡m/ /aˈŋ͡ma ɛhˈiŋ/
ehime -mn amn -va ehime ehim -amn amn -va ehim
breath/ind.dyn.m.sg -pat.2.sg you/.2.m.sg -m.agt breathe/ind.dyn.m.sg breathe/dir.pos.m.sg -pat.2.sg you/.2.m.sg -m.agt breathe/dir.pos.m.sg
«You are breathing. »
(involuntarily, subconciously) 		«You are breathing.»
(intentionally, "breathing heavily") 		«Breathe! »
(as in "to start breathing") 		«Breathe!»
(as in "calm down")

When high-control intransitives are marked with the agentive case - as in the case "to cook" - the direct object may be left unmentioned, granted that the gnomic aspect is used. This implies the cooking of something, instead of directly mentioning it. If there is doubt whether an action is performed intentionally or involuntarily, the agentive is generally used.

minim zamta minim ta mithra ezemi ta ramva aramia
/ˈŋiniŋ ˈzaŋta/ /ˈŋiniŋ ta ˈŋiθr̥a ɛzˈiŋi/ /ta ˈraŋ͡ma arˈaŋi̩a/
minim zamta minim va mithr -a ezimi va ram -va aramia
you/agt.1.c.pl cook/ind.gn.c.pl you/agt.1.c.pl the.def.n squirrel/n.sg -n.pat cook/ind.dyn.n.sg the.def.n bird/n.sg. -m.agt fly/ind.stat.n.sg
«You cook (something)» «You are cooking a squirrel» «The bird flies»

Instrumental

The instrumental (ins) case serves a number of purposes in the Attian language. Primarily, it is used to indicate that a noun is the instrument or means by or with which an action is conducted.

gva va grammua cvennan gērita
/ɡwa wa ˈɡr̥aŋ͡mu̩a ˈkwɛnːan ˈɡœrita/
g -va va grammu -a kvenn -an gērita
I.1.sg.m -m.agt the.def.n letter.n.sg -pat.n.sg pen.m.sg -m.ins write/ind.dyn.m.sg
«I write the letter with a pen»
atva utagāvun gāgta 29: dadayin eduytamni
/atˈwa utˈaɡøhun ˈɡøɣta/ /ˈdadajin ɛdˈujtaŋ͡mi/
at -va ⟨u⟩tagav⟨un⟩ gagta daday -in eduyta -mni
we/1.c.pl m.agt ⟨n.ins⟩boat/n.col⟨n.ins⟩ go/ind.gn.c.pl caus~happiness/f.sg -f.ins.sg gladden/med.dyn-stat.c.pl -2.pat.f.pl
«We go by boat» «Enjoy yourselves through entertainment»

On subject of control in the Attian verbs, inanimate agents of transitive verbs: subjects such as "the knife" in the sentence "The knife slices the bread" could impossibly be marked with the agentive case, since the subject has no control of its actions. Nor is it experiencing the slicing, and can as such not be marked with the patientive. Instead a construction with the mediopassive and instrumental used. If desired, the agent can be reintroduced.

gva urya amagvan agāvita uvanun ebutann
/ˈɡwa ur̥ˈja aˈŋaɡwan aˈɡøwita/ /uwˈana ɛbˈutanː/
g -va ury -a amagv -an agavita ⟨u⟩vaun⟨un⟩ ebuta -nn
I.1.sg.m -m.agt bread/col.n. -n.pat knife/col.m. -m.ins cut/ind.gn.n.pl ⟨n.ins⟩stone/n.col⟨n.ins⟩ hit/med.dyn-stat.m.sg --pat.1.sg
«I cut bread with knifes» «I am hit with stones»

Instead, the knife is marked with the instrumental case, and the agent must be introduced: "Someone slices the bread with a knife", or implied "With a knife the bread is sliced". Marking the inanimate noun with the agentive is incorrect. This is a distinction quite well known in natural languages, and even the Proto-Indo-European language is supposed to have made the distinction.

uvaney ebitann uvanun ebutann yatva uvanun ebitann
/uˈwanɛj ɛbˈitanː/ /uwˈana ɛbˈutanː/ /ˈjatwa uwˈana ɛbˈitanː/
⟨u⟩van⟨ey⟩ ebita -nn ⟨u⟩van⟨un⟩ ebuta -nn yat -va ⟨u⟩van⟨un⟩ ebita -nn
⟨n.agt⟩stone/n.col.⟨n.agt⟩ hit/ind.dyn.m.sg --m.pat.1.sg ⟨n.ins⟩stone/n.col⟨n.ins⟩ hit/med.dyn-stat.m.sg --m.pat.1.sg someone -m.agt ⟨n.ins⟩stone/n.col⟨n.ins⟩ hit/ind.dyn.m.sg --m.pat.1.sg
«*Stones hit me» «I am hit with stones» «Some guy hits me with stones»

The Attian instrumental also bears comitative and quantitative senses, indicating actions in company with other subjects, amounts, as well as lacking:

amnayya gān? gva amnan emigtayō gvayya yarmunum
/aˈŋ͡majːa ɡøn/ /ɡwa aˈŋ͡man ɛŋˈiɣtajo/ /ˈɡwajːa ˈjar̥ŋunuŋ/
amn -a -yya g -an g -va amn -an emigta -yu g -va -yya yarm -un -um
you/2.sg.c -c.pat.sg -cop.act.ind.stat I/1.sg.m -m.ins I/1.sg.m -m.agt.sg you/2.sg.c -m.ins make/act.ind.dyn.c.pl --pat.3.n.sg I/1.sg.m -m.agt.sg -cop.act.ind.stat hair/n.sg -n.ins -n.neg
«Are you with me?» «I make it with him.» Literary:«I am with no hair.» or «I have no hair.»

The last use of the instrumental, similarly to Russian and in part to English is to reintroduce a subject in a passive clause, very similarly to the adpositional phrase "by me" in English, as in "He was killed", and later; "He was killed by me". Using the instrumental with a reflexive mediopassive gives a reinforced statement, confer the Spanish disjunct prepositional pronouns:

  • Me lavo - «I wash myself»
  • A mí me lavo - «As for myself, I wash myself»
gva emuna minan? memuneza gān ethunann gān
/ɡwa ɛŋ͡mˈuna ˈŋinan/ /ˈmɛŋ͡munɛza ˈɡøn/ /ɛθˈunanː ɡøn/
g -va emuna min -an memuneza g -ān ethuna -nn g -ān
I/1.sg.m -m.agt.sg see/med.ind.dyn.c.sg you/2.pl.c -m.ins discover/medpcp I/1.sg.m -m.ins talk/med.ind.dyn.c.sg --m.pat.1.sg I/1.sg.m -m.ins
«I'm seen by you»

.

«Discovered by me» «Me, I speak of myself.»

Locative

See also: Attian possession

The locative case (loc) vaguely corresponds to the English spatial prepositions of "by", "at", "in", and "on"(ex. 41, 43) . However, the Attian locative also bears a temporal usage(ex. 43) , similarly to English "in an hour", "today", "after three o'clock". The Attian language does not have adpositions in the traditional sense, to control the exact location of the locative, but rather proclitics. These will be marked green.

41: amnayya ezmut? 42: regēyyō enzemut 43: amagzat
/aˈŋ͡majːa ɛzˈŋut/ /ˈr̥ɛɡœjːo ɛnˈzɛŋ͡mut/ /aŋaɡˈzat/
aumn -a -yya ezm -ut regey -yu en- zem -ut am- agz -at
you/2.sg.c -c.pat.sg -cop.act.ind.stat home/sg.n -n.loc lie/act.ind.stat.n.sg -it.n.pat.3.sg below.locp- house/2.sg.c -n.loc after.locp- hour/f.sg -f.loc
«Are you at home?» «It lies below the house» «In an hour»

Related to location is movement, and the locative can through a construction with the lative particle "a", transform the locative meaning to a lative or translative one. The particle and the proclitic adpositions will be marked green.

44: gām a ezmut! 45: reragiyō a enzemut 46: ann thimomenat
/ɡøŋ a ɛzˈŋut/ /ˈr̥ɛraɡijːu a ɛnˈzɛŋut/ /anː ˈθimomɛnat/
gām a ezm -ut regey -yu a en- zem -ut a- -nn thimomen -at
come/act.dir.pos.m latp home/sg.n -n.loc lie/act.ind.stat.n.sg -it.n.pat.3.sg latp below.locp- house/n.sg -n.loc latp -m.pat.1.sg anger/f.sg -f.loc
«come home!» «Put it below the house» «I am getting angry»

The secondary purpose of the locative case is that it is also the main tool to express possession, a construction very close to the Celtic and Finnish equivalents, confer:

  • Minulla on talo - «I have a house» (literally: «There is a house at me»)

This is the one of the ways of expressing alienable possession in Attian, and it is never used for inalienable constructions.

47: gāt zemayya 48: emin gāt zemayya
/ˈɡøt ˈzɛmajːa/ /ɛmˈin ˈɡa´øt ˈzɛmajːa/
g -āt zem -a -yya emin g -āt zem -a -yya
I/1.sg.m -c.loc home/sg.n -pat.n.sg -cop.act.ind.stat see/act.dir.pos.m.sg I/1.sg.m -c.loc home/sg.n -pat.n.sg -cop.act.ind.stat
«My house» or «I have a house» «See my house»
49: zemayya gāt va advayya 50: atnvayya gāt manimn
/ ˈzɛmajːa ˈɡøt wa adˈwajːa/ / atˈnwajːa ˈɡøt ˈmanimn/
zem -a -yya g -at va adv -a -yya


atn -va -yya g -at mani -mn
home/sg.n -pat.n.sg -cop.act.ind.stat I/1.sg.m -f.loc def.n green/n.sg -pat.n.sg -cop.act.ind.stat dog/sg.m -agt.n.sg -cop.act.ind.stat I/1.sg.m -f.loc see/act.ind.dyn.n.sg -you.m.pat.2.sg
«My green house» or «I have a green house» «My dog sees you»

Number

Singular

The singular (sg) number is the most basic form of most nouns, and marks individual nouns, counting "one". It is completely corresponding to the English equivalent. The singular patientive is the citation form of all nouns in the Attian language. The singular inflects according to three genders, masculine, feminine and neuter.

In the locative the vowel is dependent on gender, granting an ⟨a⟩ or a ⟨u⟩ if masculine/feminine or neuter respectively.

Patientive Agentive Instrumental Locative
Masculine -V -va -an -Vt
Feminine -V -vi -in -Vt
Neuter -V -vō -un -Vt


Collective

The collective (col) number of nouns indicates an unspecified, indefinite, general nominal amount. The introduction of this number into the language was meant to tie in with the genereic aspect of the verbs. In English, nouns of this kind most often receives a plural marking, such as "people say stupid things" or "birds can fly". Unlike other languages with the collective number, it is not the least marked and basic number, but it is still widely used. The collective inflects according to two genders, common and neuter.

Please note that collective nouns always agree with the third person plural of nouns, and that pronouns do not inflect to the number. The following table details the three vowel classes and their declension in the collective number.

  • The singular is primarily formed through an insertion of either an /a/ or /u/ initially, depending on vowel class. If the noun has a null-onset, the initial vowel is assimilated.
Patientive Agentive Instrumental Locative
Common a-V a-ia a-an a-Vt
Neuter u-V u-ey u-un u-Vt


Plural

The plural (pl) number refers to any objects counting more than "one", that is "several". It corresponds well to the English plurals. The plural formation is radically (...) different to the collective and singular:

  • Initial vowels are deleted.
  • The penultimate vowel of triliterals and quadriliterals are deleted.
  • Apophony grants either an /iː/ or /u/, depending on gender, after the first radical.

The plural inflects according to two genders, common and neuter.

Patientive Agentive Instrumental Locative
Common -im -ay -an -at
Neuter -um -ev -un -ut


Animacy

 
A table of the different Attian stages of animacy and salency.

Just as the Attian language makes a difference regarding gender, a fairly strong distinction in animacy[*] is made, mainly for semantical and grammatical reasons, since there is no morphological distinction.

The Attian animacy dictates that no inanimate objects may stand in the agentative case. Inanimate nouns are perceived as incapable of actually performing deliberate actions. Inanimates that are the subjects of an action are therefore most often marked with the instrumental case. This construction forces the speaker to directly name an animate agent, use a passive construction, or to use an indefinite pronoun. Inanimate, or less animate nouns also have a lesser probability to be compatible with verbs connected with higher degrees of animacy, like the words for "to talk", "to think" and "control".

There are several different degrees of animacy, which at times also intertwine with salency. The grading goes from Very high to Very low and spans 7 degrees. The top and most animate nouns are humans, and especially men and leaders. Women normally rank as at least as animate as men, but they can in certain circumstances be degraded to indicate inferiority. The least animate substantives are minerals, abstraction and in part; plants.

Below is an example of someone hit with stones. Here, the subject impossibly could be marked with the agentive, taking their inanimacy in regard. Instead, you may put the subject in the instrumental case, and mediopassivise the verb. Alternatively the subject is degraded to an oblique, and a new subject is introduced.

51: uvāney ebitann 52: uvānun ebutann 53: yatva uvānun ebitann
/uˈwønɛj ɛbˈitanː/ /uwˈøna ɛbˈutanː/ /ˈjatwa uwˈøna ɛbˈitanː/
⟨u⟩ān⟨ey⟩ ebita -nn ⟨u⟩vān⟨un⟩ ebuta -nn yat -va ⟨u⟩vān⟨un⟩ ebita -nn
⟨n.agt⟩stone/n.col.⟨n.agt⟩ hit/ind.dyn.m.sg --m.pat.1.sg ⟨n.ins⟩stone/n.col⟨n.ins⟩ hit/med.dyn-stat.m.sg --m.pat.1.sg someone -m.agt ⟨n.ins⟩stone/n.col⟨n.ins⟩ hit/ind.dyn.m.sg --m.pat.1.sg
«*Stones hit me» «I am hit with stones» «Some guy hits me with stones»

Both verbs and nouns have different inherent animacy. Both the type of noun and verb are thus essential to interpret whether it can be the in the agentative case. Some verbs are more inherently animate than others in the Attian language, determining whether inanimate subjects may perform them; the word "to speak", thana, is used unexclusively for humans. Less animate subjects cannot perform this verb and are therefore coupled with another, more appropriate, one. Please note that only because inanimate nouns are less likely to perform more animate actions, more animate nouns may act out inanimate verbs.

Below is table with example nouns and verbs with their respective animacy. Please note that the first two degrees most often intertwine. It is common for slightly sexistic or separatistic speakers to use work-arounds when speaking about women or children: Instead of saying that they are capable, they would say they can do (it). In other terms; stative or generic verbs describing characteristics are less likely to be used with women. They have to satisfy with the appropriate dynamic verb.

Degrees of Animacy
Very High High Medium high Medium Medium low Low Very low
man women, children infants, pets animals, weather plants minerals abstractions
to talk to communicate to bark, to be noisy to be green to be heavy to be complicated

Possession

Attian possession is quite complicated, and there are no less than five equally standard ways of expressing it. Which one to chose is highly dependent upon the alienablilty, and thus animacy, of the possessed object.

The alienability bears the meaning that objects or traits that can be removed from your possession are alienable, whilst objects that are inherent, traits, or if it's the origin of an object are inalienable, and always connected to you. A few English examples:

The distinction leads to two different types of possession, one which shows alienable possession, and one that indicates inalienable. Possession ties in with the animacy, as well as the active-stative morphosyntactic alignment. The inalienable possession is indicated through suffixing the patientative enclitic pronouns to the noun stem, if the possessor is personal. If not, the locative is used on the possessor, without any adpositions.

54: athyann 55: va anna mithrat 56: va maunin nathat
/aθˈjanː/ /wa ˈanːa ˈŋiθr̥at/ /wa ˈŋønin ˈnaθat/
athy -a -nn mi an -a mithr -at ta maunin ∅ nath -at
hand/sg.n -n.pat --m.pat.1.sg the.def.f mother/sg.f -f.pat girl/sg.f -f.loc the.def.f appearance/sg.n -n.pat man/sg.m -m.loc
«My hand» «The girl's mother» «The man's appearance»

Alienable possession on the other hand is marked quite differently, or rather not marked at all. Alienable possession is expressed throught the verb thama - own or control, through noun incorporation and a relativisation with the relativiser infix ⟨-i-⟩.

māzra gvithama māzra girvithame muzrum nithayithamta
/ˈŋøzr̥a gwiˈθaŋa/ /ˈŋøzr̥a ˈgir̥wiθaŋɛ/ /ˈŋuzɹuŋ ˈniθajiθaŋta/
mazr -a gv -i- thama mazr -a girv -i- thame muzr -um nith -ay -i- thamta
book/sg.n -n.pat 1.sg.m.agt -rel- control/ind.gn.m.sg book/sg.n -n.pat woman/sg.f -rel- control/ind.gn.f.sg book/pl.n -n.pat.pl man/pl.m -m.agt.pl -rel- control/ind.gn.c.pl
«The book which I own» «The book which the girl owns» «The books which the men own»

This ties in with animacy - alienable possession is not possible for inanimate nouns, since they are not perceived to be able to control or own anything. Instead, this is circumvented throughother expressions, most often with the instrumental and a copula:

atnan māthmayya māgāvin māthyayya
/atˈnan ˈŋøθŋajːa/ /ˈŋøgøwin ˈŋøθjajːa/
atn -an mathma -yya magav -in mathya -yya
dog/sg.n -n.ins leash/n.sg -cop.act.ind.stat knife/sg.n -n.ins handle/n.sg -cop.act.ind.stat
«The dog has a leash/A leash is with the dog» «The knife has a handle/A handle is with the knife»

Pronouns

The Attian pronouns are somewhat different to to other nouns but are still derived from radicals, most often biliterals. They decline to the singular and plural numbers only but the personal pronouns or third person demonstratives do not inflect to the patientive case, a function replaced by enclitic pronouns. The first and second person distinguish the masculine and feminine in the singular, whilst the plural ones only have the common gender. The third person has a three way distinction, with masculine, feminine and neuter.

There are no proper third person personal pronouns, this role is fulfilled by the demonstratives instead.

Personal pronouns

The personal pronouns are different to other nouns, in that they do not decline to the collective number, nor the patientative case, a role instead covered by the enclitic pronouns. The first and second person singular pronouns do however decline differently depending the masculine and feminine gender. The neuter gender is not semantically distinct in the first persons.

Personal pronouns
Number → Singular Plural
Person → 1st 2nd 1st 2nd
Case ↓ Masculine Feminine Masculine Feminine
Agentive gva egvi amnva emnvi atva minia
Instrumental gan egin amnan emnin atan minan
Locative gat egāt amnat emnat atat minat

Enclitic pronouns

The enclitic pronouns are a complement to the personal pronouns in that they are only declined in the patientive case. The enclitic patientive pronouns are, other than marking that the subject or object is the patient of an action, also used to mark inalienable possession.

  • The initial vowel is an epenthic one, and it is deleted when the clitic is added to a word ending in another vowel.

The etymology for the enclitics are divided; the second person clitics are derived from the second person personal pronouns, and the root √m-n, to see. The first person clitics are different in that they are believed to be derived from the lative uniradical √n, at something, whilst the third person enclitics come from the biradical √yy - like the the relative pronouns - which implies existence.

Enclitic pronouns
Person → 1st 2nd 3rd
Number ↓ Masculine Feminine Masculine Feminine Masculine Feminine Neuter
Case → Patientive
Singular -ann -enn -amn -emn -aya -eya -ayō
Plural -ana -eni -amna -emni -ayai -eyi -ayo

Demonstratives

The demonstrative pronouns function as demonstratives, determiners, definite articles and third person personal pronouns. There is no distinction made, what so ever.

The feminine demonstrative pronouns have been subjected to loaning, explaining the diverseness in roots. However, the remaining roots are derived from the root √t, which is translated as one, pertaining to unity.

Distal demonstratives

The distal demonstratives, sometimes dubbed the normal demonstratives imply a relatively far distance way from the speaker, similarly to the English deictic "that", but they are also the default definite articles, like English "the" and third person pronouns

Distal demonstrative pronouns
Person → 3rd
Number → Singular Plural
Case ↓ Masculine Feminine Neuter Masculine Feminine Neuter
Agentive tu an/va ta tim vim tev
Instrumental tan an tun itan in utun
Locative tut vat tat itat ivat utun

Proximal demonstratives

The proximal demonstratives signify a close distance of the deictic and the speaker, equivalent to the English demonstrative "this", and it is marked through prefixing an ⟨e-⟩ to the stems of the distal demonstratives. Any collisions with vowels conclude in the deletion of the preceeding, original vowel. This has led to a great deal of irregularity in the demonstratives.

Proximal demonstrative pronouns
Person → 3rd
Number → Singular Plural
Proclitic
e-
Case ↓ Masculine Feminine Neuter Masculine Feminine Neuter
Agentive etō en/eva eta etim evim etev
Instrumental etan en etun etan en etun
Locative etut evat etat etat evat etun


These demonstratives are however quite archaic, and are being replaced by the previously complementive proclitic ⟨e-⟩. They are still valid as pronouns, but rarely determine frases, instead replaced by the proclitic, which is added to the modified noun.

eta zemā ezemā
/ɛˈta ˈzɛŋø/ /ɛˈzɛŋø/
e- ta zem -a e- zem -a
prox- this/det.prox.pat.sg.n house/sg.n -pat.n.sg prox- house/sg.n -pat.n.sg
«this noun» «this noun»

Interrogative and relative pronouns

The Attian language interrogative and relative pronouns are invariable in a number respect, but do at least differ from each other, unlike in English. The interrogative pronoun is derived from the √t root similar to the first person plural and demonstratives. The relative pronouns come from the root √y-y (existence).

The masculine and feminine has conflated into the common gender, and the declension is essentially in the collective number template.

Pronoun→ Interrogative Relative
Case ↓ Common Neuter Common Neuter
Patientive ti te yi ye
Agentive atia1 utey ayia2 uyey3
Instrumental atan utun ayan uyun
Locative ati uti ayi uyi
  1. Usually abbreviated to tya.
  2. Usually abbreviated to aya.
  3. Usually abbreviated to uye

Relative pronouns

Disjunctive pronouns

Reciprocal pronouns

Verbs

Verbal components

Attian is an agglutinating and nonconcatenative language. Agglutination means that affixes each express a single meaning, and they usually do not merge with each other or affect each other phonologically, and nonconcatenative means that certain functions of the verb are expressed through changes in the stem. Each verb is formed by primarily changing the stems form, and secondarily by adding prefixes or suffixes to the verb stem. The components of an Attian verb occur in the following order:

Components template
negator evidentiality circumfix VERB STEM evidentiality circumfix (copula) patientive

Tense

The first thing you need to know about the Attian language and its verbs, is that there is no morphological distinction of tense. Whilst the language is rather agglutinative and very synthetic, temporal tense is marked through the addition of adverbs, which themselves in practice are nouns. There are a multitude of adverbs describing different tenses and points of occurrence, and many have several meanings. Below is a sample:

Word Primary meaning Temporal meaning Gender
anza אנזַ morning/early past f
agmā אגמַ evening/late future f
mēgā מֵגַ time/timely present f
-igāmā יגַמַ- that comes reiterative -
mēgigāme מֵגִגַמֵ time that comes/again reiterative present f
-idaya ידַיַ- that waits "relative" -
mēgidaye מֵגִדַיֵ time that waits/today hodiernal f
anzidaye אנזִדַיֵ morning that waits/yesterday hesternal f
agmidaye אגמִדַיֵ evening that waits/tomorrow crastinal f
  • Please note that as with all adverbs, the definite article is compulsory.

Gender and number

The Attian verbs conjugate per gender and the two numbers singular (sg) and plural (pl). Nouns in the collective number count as plural. There are three genders in the singular; the masculine (m) feminine (f) and neuter (n). In the plural conjugation, the masculine and feminine are conflated, into the common (c) gender.

Mood and Voice

There are 3 different moods in the Attian language, the indicative, interrogative and directive moods. The directive mood, equivalent to the English imperative, conjugates according to gender, number and polarity. That is, whether the statement is negative or positive.

Concerning voices, there are two of them, equally used, and with a slight semantic difference in both usage and meaning. These are the active, and the mediopassive.

Indicative

The indicative mood (ind) is used for factual statements and positive beliefs, for example, "Mikhail doesn't like apples." or "Dimitriy eats apples." All intentions that a particular the Attian language does not categorise as another mood are classified as indicative. It is the most commonly used mood and is found throughout all languages.

Interrogative
Directive

Active voice

In Attian, as well as in many nominative-accusative languages, the active voice is used in a clause whose subject expresses the agent of the main verb. That is, the subject does the action designated by the verb. This is the default voice of the language, but it is still far less commonly used than the English active.

Mediopassive voice

Attian has another voice than the active; the mediopassive. In contrast to the active, a sentence in which the subject has the role of patient or theme is called a passive sentence, is expressed in the passive voice. In addition, should the passive encompass reflexive meanings, it is called the mediopassive.

The mediopassive is a catch-all diathesis which describes a multiple of equivalent English functions. The mediopassive has passive, reflexive, ergative, stative and reciprocal meanings, and is certainly at least as commonly used as the simple active. In many cases, the mediopassive may implicate a complete semantic shift - a change in meaning.

To provoke a reflexive or passive meaning from a verb, one may use the patientive with the mediopassive without introducing the agent of the clause. With the mediopassive voice, the reflexive usage is normally implied when the subject is the patient, and when using the agentive pronoun or noun the verb is perceived as passive. In colloquial speech however, the distinction between passive and reflexive is most often blurred, and the patientive takes on both uses.

thunenn gva thune ta myayō eduni ta myavō eduni
/ˈθunɛnː/ /ˈɡwa ˈθunɛ/ /ŋjajo ɛdˈuni/ /ˈŋjawo ɛdˈuni/
thune -nn g -va thune ta mya -yu eduni ta mya -vu eduni
speak/med.gn.m.sg -pat.1.sg I.1.sg.m -m.agt speak/med.gn.m.sg the.def.n cat/n.sg -pat.3.sg eat/med.dyn.n.sg the.def.n cat/n.sg -n.agt eat/med.dyn.n.sg
«I speak of myself or I am being spoken of» «I am being spoken of» «The cat is eating itself»


«The cat is being eaten»

As a tie-in with the very prevalent animacy in the language, the mediopassive well may be used to form ergatives. Since the Attian agent must be animate, this circumvention eliminates the agent, leaving the inanimate in the patientive similar to a reflexive or passive. The ergative works with animates as well, but the application on inanimates is more common.

ta mōneta egōti eryaya evuzi
/ta ˈŋonɛta ɛgˈoti/ /ɛr̥ˈjaja ɛˈwuzi/
ta munet -a eguti ery -a -ya ewuzi
the.def.n window/n.sg -pat.sg break/med.dyn.n.sg head/n.sg -pat.sg -m.pat.3.sg turn/med.dyn.n.sg
«The window broke» «His head turns»


ta tatta zezumā ta gānna gēnuni
/ta ˈtatːa zɛˈzuŋø/ /ta ˈgønːa ˈgœnoni/
ta tatt -a zezuma ta gaunn -a genuni
the.def.n dad/m.sg -pat.sg move/med.dyn.c.sg the.def.n song/n.sg -pat.sg sung/med.dyn.n.sg
«The dad moves»


«*The song sung»

Somewhat interestingly, but foremost confusingly, perhaps amazingly, the mediopassive has an affect on semantics, most often through the forming of statives, or rather predicatives. Attian does have a stative aspect, which forms true statives - confer the dynamic "I hang my coat on the chair", versus the stative "I hang on the wall". Predicatives instead form expressions similar to "I am famous" or "It is wild". This is also the only slight adjectival distinction in the language, since the mediopassive can only confer a predicative meaning of traits, and not of objects. Thus, sentences like "I am hungry" are possible, but "It is hunger" is not viable to construct through the mediopassive.

  • Predicative arguments always use the agentive case.
emnvi mōne atnva etuni gva emōgā minia eruyta
/ɛˈŋ͡mi ˈŋ͡monɛ/ /atˈŋ͡ma ɛtˈuŋi/ /gwa ɛŋˈogø/ /ˈŋinia ɛr̥ˈujta/
emn -vi emuna atn -va etuni g -va emuga min -ia eruyta
You.2.sg.f -m.agt see/med.gn.c.sg dog/.sg.n -n.agt rage/med.dyn-stat.n.sg I.1.sg.m -m.agt do/med.dyn-stat.c.sg We.1.pl.c -c.agt lead/med.dyn-stat.c.pl
«You are famous» «The dog is wild» «I am done»


«We are first»

Aspect

The Attian verbal system is based mostly on the aspectual distinctions, of which there are 4. Depending on what verbal template is being used, the verbs aspects may be limited, extended or replaced. There are however still only four basic aspects.

Neutral

The neutral, or sometimes gnomic or generic, aspect (gen, neu) is an Attian aspect which expresses general truths, aphorisms and empiric facts. The neutral or gnomic aspect stands in opposition with the episodic aspects which are defined for a certain time. Whilst the Attian neutral aspect is applicable to all tenses, it is most often used without a tense marker. Thus, it differs to the imperfective aspect, which can be expressed when the neutral aspect is coupled with an adverb denoting tense.

Stative

The stative aspect (stat) is an Attian aspect used on verbs to express a stative perspective of a verb, if any. The aspect marks verb with an inherent sort of property, sometimes permanent, nevertheless marking a state. Confer the difference between stative and the opposing dynamic verbs:

The stative aspect is only distinguished in the active voice. In the mediopassive, it merges with the dynamic aspect.

Dynamic
Continuous

Conjugation

Evidentiality

Control and volition

Verbal patterns

Numerals

Syntax

Vocabulary

Pragmatics

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