User:Nicolasstraccia/afghanisketch


This language started as a prospective sketch for commission N°271 in the LCS's Jobs Board. After not having been submitted as a proposal, it freely departed from the original premise and stands now on its own particular terms without any pretence of affiliation to the aforementioned project whatsoever.


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 and coarticulation


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 nom
Accusative acc -NA dialect 1 -në, -ϑë, -të, -xwe, -ϑe, -te
dialect 2 -na, -ϑa, -da, -ṇwe, -ṣe, -se
Genitive gen -NEK dialect 1 -nëk, -ϑëk, -tëk, -nek, -ϑek, -tek
dialect 2 -niǵ, -ϑik, -diǵ -neǵ, -ϑeǵ, -teǵ
Dative dat -KA dialect 1 -ka, -ge, -ko, -kä
dialect 2 -xwa, -xwe, -xo, -xwä
Locative loc -TA dialect 1 -ta, -da, -to, -do
dialect 2 -te, -de, -tä, -dä
Ablative abl -TAn dialect 1 -tan, -dan, -ϑon, -tun
dialect 2 -ton, -don, -ϑän, -ϑun
Oblique obl -SuN dialect 1 -sū, -ṣun, -son
dialect 2 -zum, -ẓō, -zon

Verbs

Verbs are conjugated for singular and plural number and first, second, and third persons.

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

The direct.evidence marker -dir and the rumour marker -mëṣ appear to coalesce as part of the indirect.evidence marker -dirmë[ṣ]näm, but the etymological evidence is not yet conclusive.

Marker ‹ › // []
unmarked for evidentiality
direct.evidence dialect 1 -dir -dir -diʐ
dialect 2 -dir -dir -ɖiʒ
hearsay dialect 1 -ëpdir -əp.dir -əp.ɖiʐ
dialect 2 -etfir -əf.tir -ef.ʈiʒ
indirect.evidence dialect 1 -dirmënäm -dir.mə.næm -diɾ.mə.næm
dialect 2 -diṛënäm -di.rə.næm -di.rə.næm
rumour dialect 1 -mëṣ -məʃ -məʧ
dialect 2 -mëṣ -məʃ -məʧ

(the phonology of dialect 2 still needs revision)

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.