Talk:A priori language

Todo

Ypyḷḷityyn = a place name?

njenjataaḷ = a vagrant

Iki njenjamainta kyy = the man is wandering

Introduction

A priori language ([tiŋkaʈkiramai] 'mother language') is a language inspired aesthetically by Finnish and Tamil. It is spoken by a tribe of dwarves in the Tolkienian fantasy world of Rotunu.

Numbers: 0: riemü 1: aintu 2: lüöntü 3: vaṭṭu 4: jäämü 5: kuovu 6: töḷḷü 7: naamu 8: ümpü 9: marru 10: iikü

Phonology

Consonants

A priori language consonants

		Labial	Dental	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar
Nasal		m /m/	n /n̪/	ṇ /ɳ/	nj /ɲ/	ng /ŋ/
Plosive		p /p~b/	t /t̪~d̪/	ṭ /ʈ~ɖ/	tj /c/	k /k~g~x/
Trill/Flap			r /ɾ~r/
Approximant		v /ʋ/	l /l̪/	ḷ /ɭ/	j /j/

/p t̪ ʈ c k/ are voiceless word-initially, as geminates and before consonants, and voiced otherwise. /k/ can be [x] intervocallically.

Vowels

/ɑ e i o u æ ø y/ ⟨a e i o u ä ö ü⟩

There is vowel harmony in roots and suffixes: e i are neutral, a o u are back vowels, and ä ö ü are the front counterparts of a o u. A word with only neutral vowels is considered to be a front-vowel word.

Prosody

Stress

A priori language has no phonemic stress.

Morphology

Nouns

• nom: tingka 'mother', äänü 'son'
• gen: tingkako, äänükö
• ade: tingkavuur, äänüjüür
• abl: tingkava, äänüvä
• all: tingkarru, äänürrü
• ine: tingkantu, äänüntü
• ela: tingkaḷpa, äänüḷpä
• ill: tingkatan, äänütän
• com: tingkanar, äänünär
• ins: tingkattu, äänüttü
• ess: tingkanal, äänünäl

The plural is formed with -ṇṭO: tingkaṇṭo, äänüṇṭö.

Pronouns

• tai, ümü, äḷä, taiṇṭo, ümüṇṭö, äḷäṇṭö = 1sg, 2sg, 3sg, 1pl, 2pl, 3pl
  • taijuur ain nyömäi = I have a dream

Verbs

• puu = does
• küü = is
• nüö = dreams
• ṭolu = eats

Adjectives

Adjectives conjugate like verbs.

• jäkä = good
• unja = bad
• äälä = big
• ingku = small

Derivational morphology

• -mAi: deverbal noun
  • kiramai "language"; nüömäi "dream"
• -tAAḷ, -tAAḷU-: agent noun
  • kirataaḷ: "speaker"

Syntax

Noun phrase

A priori language uses an indefinite article ain. There is no definite marker.