Aethêllan
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| Ancient Galern Aethêllan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nouns decline according to... | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Case | Number | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Definiteness | Gender | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Verbs conjugate according to... | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Voice | Mood | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Person | Number | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tense | Aspect | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Aethêllan is one of my main conlangs and was created out of joy, as linguistic experiment, and also to be the main classical language for my series of Fantasy novels. Aethêllan is spoken by the dominant species of Anmarla who are known as the Galern. The language has approximately 15 million speakers. At the time of my main novel series, the language and its native speakers are extinct, however Aethêllan is used as the language of academics, state and religious ceremonies, and record/document keeping. However only the upper class can read and speak it and even then only a minority of the upper classes. The seven languages of the nine different Kingdoms during this time are all descended from Aethêllan. Aethêllan is in turn descended from Vamynouynem.
This is a work of love and I ask any readers that, outside of any accidental grammatical mistakes, that they do not make any edits, however minor, without my permission and that this work is protected by copyright. Your understanding is greatly appreciated.
Background
Aethêllan is an SVO fusional-agglutinative language. The majority of information is placed on the nouns and verbs, and though it is an SVO language technically speaking it does allow for free word order.
Phonology
| Bilabial | Dental | Alveol. | Postalve. | Retrofl. | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosives | p (p) pʷ (pw) |
b (b) bʷ (bw) |
t (t) tʷ (tw) |
d (d) dʷ (dw) |
k (k) kʷ (kw) |
g (g) gʷ (gw) | |||||||||||
| Fricatives | f (f) fʷ (fw) |
v (v) vʷ (vw) |
θ (th) | ð (dh) | s (s) sʷ (sw) |
x (h) | h (h) | ||||||||||
| Nasals | m (m) | n (n) nʷ (nw) |
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| Trill | r (r) | ||||||||||||||||
| Glides | Approxim. | ʍ (hw) | w (w) | ɹ (r) | j (y) | ||||||||||||
| Lateral Appr. | l (l) | ɭ (l) | |||||||||||||||
Mutations
- Both Approximants and Lateral Approximants are de-voiced before nasals.
- /l/ becomes /ɭ/ after vowels.
- /ɹ/ becomes /r/ before plosives.
- /h/ becomes /x/ at the end of a word.
Diphthongs
| Diphthong | IPA |
|---|---|
| ao | ɐʊ |
| ey | eɪ |
| ôe | ɔː |
| ŷe | ɪəː |
| ae | aɪ |
Vowels
| Vowels | IPA Symbols | Vowel | IPA Symbols |
|---|---|---|---|
| a | ɑ | o | ɒ |
| â | aː | ô | ɵː |
| á | æ | ó | əʊː |
| e | e | i | ɪ |
| ê | eːə | î | iː |
| u | u | ÿ | ɐɪː |
Grammar and syntax
Syntax
Independent Clauses are SVO, whilst Dependent and Relative Clauses are SOV.
Stress
Aethêllan differs from languages such as English in that every vowel is pronounced fully and with clear distinction. The language does however place stress on the last syllable of a word, however this is not as important as stress is considered to be in English and other such similar languages. Any long vowels; those with diacritics or diphthongs, are stressed as well as the last syllable.
- E.g donsênanwê where the stress is on both sên and wê.
Structure
All derivational affixes are prefixes, and all other affixes are suffixes excluding the adverbial marker which is an infix for historical linguistic reasons. In regards to the order of the attaching of suffixes, case takes highest priority, followed by voice, aspect, then agreement, finally followed by any remaining suffixes.
- NB: Adjectives cannot be inflected with comparative and the Gradable suffix at the same time.
Verbs
Aspect & Tense
Paradigm 1 Example Word - Aedar - to Rule, to Lead
|
Aspect
|
Aorist | Imperfective | Conative | Habitual | Perfect | Inceptive | Continuative | Terminative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Past | Aedarh | Aedarnd | Aedarâl | Aedaró | Aedarnen | Aedartey | Aedarelon | Aedarmen |
| Present | Aedar | Aedarn | Aedarmâl | Aedaró | Aedarlen | Aedark | Aedarion | Aedarmen |
| Future | Aedardh | Aedarin | Aedarimâl | Aedarv | Aedarwolen | Aedarketh | Aedarsan | Aedarwimen |
Paradigm 2
Example Word - Vallak - to Betray
|
Aspect
|
Aorist | Imperfective | Conative | Habitual | Perfect | Inceptive | Continuative | Terminative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Past | Vallakir | Vallakond | Vallakâl | Vallakó | Vallaken | Vallakey | Vallakerân | Vallakemen |
| Present | Vallak | Vallakân | Vallakae | Vallakó | Vallaket | Vallakek | Vallakarion | Vallakamir |
| Future | Vallakum | Vallakár | Vallakimâl | Vallakîv | Vallakelen | Vallaketh | Vallakasan | Vallakimen |
Nouns
Cases
| Cases | |
|---|---|
| ERG | Ergative Agent |
| ABS | Absolutive Patient & Experiencer |
| DAT | Dative Indirect Object, Direction to |
| GEN | Genitive Description/Relation/Alienable Poss. e.g. Men of Rome |
| PART | Partitive Pertaining to a Group/Thing |
| POSS | Possessive Static Possessive |
| VOC | Vocative |
| ABES | Abessive Lack of Noun |
| INS | Instrumental |
| EQU | Equative Comparison |
Case and Class Patradigms
In Aethêllan over time Case and Class/Gender have merged into one suffix. When Nouns take their Case and Class marker they now have a far more fusional method unlike its ancestor language Vamynouynem.
Strong Nouns are those which end in either a vowel, an approximant, or lateral approximant. Weak nouns are the remainder.
I The Human Noun Class
| Strong | Weak | |
|---|---|---|
| Erg. | Gâla | Theyn |
| Abs. | Gâlam | Thêam |
| Dat. | Gâlal | Thêas |
| Gen. | Gâlÿ | Thênîs |
| Poss. | Gâlâ | Thênâ |
| Part. | Gâláth | Thênas |
| Abes. | Gâlthârum | Thênârum |
| Ins. | Gâlfen | Thênen |
| Equ. | Gâlanwen | Thênetwem |
| Voc. | Gâlô | Theyô |
- NB Theyn is a weak verb due it to have a short diphthong, thus the first vowel of the diphthong is lengthened. This happens for all nouns with short diphthongs.
- NB The very slight difference here between the Dat. and Part. forms of Theyn are due to Theyn itself. I.E Theyn dropping its n in the Dat. form - this is irregular and only occurs only with Feminine Noun Stems ending in n
- NB The difference between the strong nouns of Class I and those of Class III is that in I the suffixes attaches to the root, rather than the lexical stem.
- Gâla translates roughly to Man though can also be used for both sexes.
- Theyn is often used for Woman though its literal meaning is One who gives birth.
II Non-Human Noun Class
| Strong | Weak | |
|---|---|---|
| Erg. | Kallâr | Mârith |
| Abs. | Kallâl | Mârth |
| Dat. | Kallâs | Mâros |
| Gen. | Kallâsî | Mârîm |
| Poss. | Kallârem | Mârâ |
| Part. | Kallâmen | Mârismen |
| Abes. | Kallâvenîm | Mârisârem |
| Ins. | Kallâkal | Mârigir |
| Equ. | Kallâkthîl | Mârinvith |
| Voc. | Kallô | Mârô |
- Kallâr translates to Sea-Bird.
- Mârith translates to Snake.
III Flora Noun Class
| Strong | Weak | |
|---|---|---|
| Erg. | Tiwâr | Fwin |
| Abs. | Tiwârn | Fwinelth |
| Dat. | Tiwâras | Fwines |
| Gen. | Tiwârîs | Fwinîs |
| Poss. | Tiwârâ | Fwinân |
| Part. | Tiwâráth | Fwinenne |
| Abes. | Tiwârthârum | Fwinârum |
| Ins. | Tiwârfen | Fwinestes |
| Equ. | Tiwâranwen | Fwinemwen |
| Voc. | Tiwârô | Fwinô |
- Tiwâr is a very tall hard tree similar in appearance to that of our Oak.
- Fwin is a little vine that lives on larger trees and has tiny white flowers.
Personal Pronouns
| First Person | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exclusive | Inclusive | |||
| Erg. | Ne (I) | Be (We) | Ma (We) | |
| Abs. | Nwa (Me) | Bá (Us) | Mwa (Us) | |
| Poss. | Nedh (My/Mine) | Bedh (Ours) | Medh (Ours) | |
| Dat. | Nin (to Me) | Bân (to Us) | Mân (to Us) | |
| Inst | Nâ (by Me) | Bâ (by Us) | Mâ (by Us) | |
| Second Person | ||||
| Living | Non-Living | |||
| Singular (Exclusive) | Plural (Inclusive) | Singular | ||
| Erg. | Lâ (Thou) | Eoâ (Thou) | Se (It) | |
| Abs. | Lîn (Thee) | Eoŷe (Thee) | So (It) | |
| Poss. | Lan (Thy) | Eoin (Thine) | Só (Its) | |
| Dat. | Of (to Thee) | Eois (to Thee) | Sem (to It) | |
| Inst. | Fen (by Thou) | Eoân (by Thou) | Sân (by It) | |
| Third Person Singular | ||||
| Living & Non-Gendered | Non-Living & Neutral | |||
| Erg. | De (He/She) | Dha (It) | ||
| Abs. | Den (Him/Her) | Dhan (It) | ||
| Poss. | Des (His/Hers) | Dhas (Its) | ||
| Dat. | Del (to Him/Her) | Dhal (to It) | ||
| Inst. | Ten (by Him/Her) | Than (by It) | ||
| Third Person Plural | ||||
| Living & Non-Gendered | Non-Living & Neutral | |||
| Erg. | Mer (They) | Thâ (Its) | ||
| Abs. | Mon (Them) | The (Its) | ||
| Poss. | Mir (Theirs) | Theth (Its) | ||
| Dat. | Men (to Them) | Than (To Its) | ||
| Inst. | Meth (by Them) | Thâ (by Its) | ||
Derivation
All the following are Prefixes which remove the first vowel (if applicable, i.e is simply added if the word begins with a consonant).
| Derivation Pattern | Affix & Example |
|---|---|
| Adjective --> Adverb | - Quick > Quickly |
| Adjective --> Noun | - Happy > Happiness |
| Noun --> Verb | - Glory > Glorify |
| Noun --> Adjective | - Recreation > Recreational |
| Adjectives --> Transitive Verbs | - Rich > Enrich |
| Nouns --> Transitive Verbs | - Rapture > Enrapture |
| Transitive Verbs --> Intransitive Verbs (Antipassive Voice) Agent/Experience and Patient/Focus swap places |
Ablaut E.g.to hit > to be hit by to like > to be pleasing to |
| Intransitive Verbs --> Transitive Verbs Increase transitivity, turn impersonal verb into agent-intransitive, Intransitive verb into transitive, transitive into ditransitive |
Ablaut to rain > to water (plants, etc.) to have > to give |
| Inchoative/Inceptive Verb | See Inceptive Aspect |
| Catenative Verb | - |
| Opposite (Quality) | - Happy > sad, clear > vague |
| opposite (reverse action) Agent and patient remain the same, action of the verb changes |
- Earn <==> spend, borrow <==> repay |
| Motion Purpose Go somewhere in order to do VERB |
- to buy > to go shopping |
| Nominal Participle Person who is doing VERB at the current moment (Also inflects for tense) |
- Run > runner |
| Person who does verb habitually | - Write > writer |
| Place where VERB is typically done | - to cook > kitchen, to sleep > bedroom |
| Place with lots of NOUN | - Book > library, tree > forest |
| Tool or substance used for doing VERB | - to write > writing implement, to wash > soap |
| ADJ = made of NOUN | - Gold > golden, wood > wooden |
| ADJ = having lot of/ some of NOUN | - Money > rich, trash > messy |
| ADJ = lacking/sparsity of NOUN | - Tooth > toothless, money > poor |
| Augmentation | - House > mansion, cat > lion |
| Pejoration | - Man > scoundrel, child > brat |
| ADJ = tending to often do VERB/be ADJ | - think > thoughtful, forget > forgetful |
| VERB = to use NOUN in a typical way | - Lips > kiss, Hammer > to hammer |