User:Nicolasstraccia/afghanisketch


This is Sketch C, based on the premises stated in the description of commission N°271 in the LCS's Jobs Board. This should probably furthermore be seen primarily as a sketching exercise, since I'm not very likely to be able to meet the stated deadline.
Premise as stated in the job description:
"Vaguely Afghan — mountain primitives and coastal dwellers (depending) — we only meet the mountain primitives — with a territory-raiding and cross-breeding relationship to (A)."


Phonology and orthography


Phonology

Vowels

Front Near-front Central Near-back Back
Close
 
i(ː)
u(ː)
e(ː)
o(ː)
ə
æ
äː
ɒ
Near‑close
Close‑mid
Mid
Open‑mid
Near‑open
Open

Consonants

Labial Coronal Dorsal Labiovelar Laryngeal
Bilabial Labiodental Dental Alveolar Palatoalveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Plosive p b t d [ʈ] [ɖ] k g [q] [ɢ] ʔ
Nasal m n [ɳ] ɲ ŋ ŋʷ
Trill r
Tap/flap ɾ
Fricative ɸ β [f] [v] θ [ð] s z ʃ ʒ [ʂ] [ʐ] [ç] [ʝ] x ɣ h
Africate ʦ ʣ ʧ ʤ
Approximant ɹ j w
Lateral Appr. l

Phonotaxis

Syllable structure

Syllables may be structured as (C)(S)V(S)(C(C)), consisting of an optional syllable onset, one consonant; an obligatory syllable nucleus, a vowel optionally preceded by and/or followed by a semivowel; and an optional syllable coda, one or two consonants. The following restrictions apply:

  • Onset
    • Consonant (C): can be any consonant. (composed only of one consonant; consonant clusters are only found in loanwords, sometimes an epenthetic /ə/ is inserted between consonants.)
  • Nucleus
    • Semivowel (S)
    • Vowel (V)
    • Semivowel (S)
  • Coda
    • First consonant (C): can be any consonant.
    • Second consonant (C): can also be any consonant (mostly /d/, /k/, /s/, /t/, & /z/).

Allophony


Orthography

Latin transcription
Vowels
IPA i e o u ɒ äː æ ə
Romanization i ī e ē o ō u ū a ā ä ë
Alternative romanization i î e ê o ô u û a â á é
Consonants
IPA p b t d k g ʔ m n ɲ ŋ ŋʷ r ɹ l j w
Romanization p b t d k g ' m n ń ṇw ŕ r l y w
Alternative romanization p b t d k g ' m n ny ng ngw r rh l y w
ɸ β θ s z ʃ ʒ x ɣ h ʦ ʣ ʧ ʤ
f v ϑ s z x ǵ xw h ts dz ĉ ĵ
f v th s z sh zh x gh xw h ts dz ch dj

Morphology and syntax

Morphology

Split ergativity. In the present tense or future tense, the subject is marked as nominative, and the object is marked as accusative. In the past tense, however, the subject of a transitive verb is marked as oblique, and the verb agrees with the object.

Nouns

Case Marker
Nominative
Accusative -NA -në, -na, -ϑë, -ϑa, -të, -da, -xwe, -ṇwe, -ϑe-, -ṣe-, -te-, -se
Genitive -NEK -nëk, -niǵ, -ϑëk, -ϑik, -tëk, -diǵ, -nek, -neǵ, -ϑek, -ϑeǵ, -tek, -teǵ
Dative -KA -ka, -xwa, -ge, -xwe, -ko, -xo, -kä, -xwä
Locative -TA -ta, -te, -da, -de, -to, -tä, -do, -dä
Ablative -TAn -tan, -ton, -dan, -don, -ϑон, -ϑän, -tun, -ϑun
Oblique -SuN -sū, -ṣun, -zum, -ẓō, -son

Verbs

Verbs are conjugated for singular and plural number and first, second, and third persons. There are 11 verb tenses: present comprehensive (long and short form), present perfect (regular and negative), future certain, future indefinite, conditional, past definite, obligatory, imperative, and intentional.

There are two types of verbs distinguished by their infinitive forms: those ending in the suffix -lam /lɒm/ and those ending in -rom /ɹom/.

Evidentiality
‹ › // []
Unmarked
-dir -dir -diʐ direct evidence
-ëp-dir -əp-dir -əp-ɖiʐ hearsay
-dir-më-näm -dir-mə-næm -diɾ-mə-næm indirect evidence
-mëṣ -məʃ -məʧ rumour

Negation

Negative verb: ‹ϑīwṣ› /ˈθiːwʃ/ [ˈθiːwç]. It doesn’t inflect for person or number.

Negative suffix: ‹-yūṣ› /jūʃ/ [juːç]. It comes after the stem and before the tense suffix. In addition to -yūṣ there is another suffix ‹-kyem› /kjem/ or ‹-kuom› /ku.om/ [kʷom]. It appears ‹-kyem› is used when dealing with one event, ‹-yūṣ› for more habitual or lasting states.

Syntax

The normal word order is subject–object–verb.