Ahāmatya

Vasa Ahāmatya Manan Etjelletyandaljan [ˈva.sa a.haːˈmat.ja ˈma.nan ɛˌtjɛl.lɛt.janˈda.ljan]
Creator:	Daniel Quigley
Spoken in:	Mana Etjelletyandalja
World:	Leaves Stories
Total Speakers:	~ 10,000,000
Basic word order:	Subject-Object-Verb
Morphological Type:	Synthetic
Morphosyntactic Alignment:	Nominative-Accusative
Inspirations:	Sanskrit, Finnish, Russian, Latin, English, Quenya, Ancient Greek, Classical Persian
Status:	In Progress
Link to full documentation:	*forthcoming*

Vasa Ahāmatya Manan Etjelletyandaljan is an a priori artistic constructed language in development by Daniel Quigley, providing the framework for which the author’s creative works and worldbuilding are guided. Vasa Ahāmatya Manan Etjelletyandaljan or just Ahāmatya is the standardized, formal, and literary register of language of Mana Etjelletyandalja, in contrast to the variable dialects collectively referred to as Vasa Vrjāmatya Manan Etjelletyandaljan or just Vrjāmatya.

Ahāmatya is a relatively conservative language. Loan words have found their way into Vrjāmatya, but are mostly deliberately avoided in Ahāmatya. If one were to use a non-native word, then one would do so either indirectly via some periphrastic construction, or by simply employing the nearest approximation available in the language

Ahāmatya is typologically a synthetic, fusional language. Nouns and modifiers are inflected for number and case. Other modifiers, such as adverbs, are not inflected in the same way, though similarities may be found in certain contexts. Nouns exhibit a class distinction determined by the phonology. Verbs are inflected for aspect, time, valency, and mood. Some particles are inflected for number and case. Ahāmatya is a Nominative-Accusative aligned language, and has relatively free word order because of its case-marking, though word order tends towards S-O-V.

The chief inspirations of Ahāmatya are the following: Sanskrit, Finnish, Russian, Latin, English, Quenya, Ancient Greek, Classical Persian.

Phonology

Consonants

Ahāmatya has five major places of articulation and six manners of articulation. Furthermore, there exists a distinction between palatalized consonants and non-palatalized consonants, and in the context of labials, aspirated consonants and non-aspirated consonants. Ahāmatya, then, has thirty-three consonants in total, seven of which exist as allophones. Consonants in parentheses are allophones of their unvoiced counterparts.

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m = [m] mh = [mh]	n = [n] nj = [nj]		ŋ = [ŋ] ŋj = [ŋj]
Stop	unvoiced	p = [p] ph = [ph]	t = [t] tj = [tj]		k = [k] kj = [kj]
	voiced	(b) = [b] (bh) = [bh]	(d) = [d] (dj) = [dj]		(g) = [g] (gj) = [gj]
Fricative	unvoiced	f = [f]	s = [s] sj = [sj]		x = [x]	h = [h] hj = [hj]
	voiced	v = [v] vj = [vj]			(ɣ) = [ɣ]
Trill			r = [r] rj = [rj]
Semi-Vowel		w = [w]		y = [j]
Liquid			l = [l] lj = [lj]

Vowels

Ahāmatya has four short vowels and four long vowels, a distinction manifested as the long vowels' sound being held twice as long as short vowels' sound.

The short vowels are following: i, e, a, u. These have the following values:

• a = [a]
  

• e = [ɛ]
  

• i = [i]
  

• u = [u]

The long vowels are following: ī, ē, ā, ū. These have the following values:

• ī = [i:]
  

• ē = [ɛ:] ~ [e]
  

• ā = [a:]
  

• ū = [u:]

Note that, when spoken, there is some variation in the actual pronunciation of /ɛ:/, and may be more accurately pronounced as [e:].

Diphthongs

Ahāmatya has six diphthongs, all of which have length equivalent to long vowels. The diphthongs are the following: ei, ai, ui, iu, eu, au. These have the following values:

• ei = [ej]
  

• ai = [aj]
  

• ui = [uj]
  

• iu = [ju]
  

• eu = [ew]
  

• au = [aw]

There are some contexts in which a vowel sequence is not a diphthong. This usually occurs when a long vowel is then appended to by a short vowel. This is represented by an acute diacritic replacing the macron over the long vowel. This has an effect of reducing the length of the long vowel to a short vowel, and both vowels in the sequence carry their own distinct syllabification. This may be seen in the following:

• āi → ái = a-i

• áu → áu = a-u

Prosody and Stress

There are as many syllables in an Ahāmatya word as there are separate vowels and diphthongs. Additionally, a cliticized [m, n, v, l, s] may carry its own syllable weight.

Stress is predictable, and manifests as primary and secondary stress. Secondary stress is placed upon the first syllable of a word, provided that that syllable is not a prefix, clitic, a reduplicated element, or augment. In that case, the secondary stress finds where the first syllable of the word is that is not one of those items, i.e., the root, and then provides the stress at that location. Primary stress falls upon the penultimate syllable.

Syllable structure generally follows two explicit rules, which themselves are detailed on various levels.

1. A consonant before a vowel, or a consonant cluster at the beginning of a word, forms the syllable onset.

• A singular consonant forms the onset of the syllable.

   tjelle [ˈtjɛl.lɛ] CVC.CV "sky"
   tala [ˈta.la] CV.CV "high"
   ive [ˈi.vɛ] V.CV "bird"

• A consonant cluster of arbitrary length (maximum four) at the beginning of a word forms the onset of the syllable.

   vrjāmatya [vrja:ˈmat.ja] CCVV.CVC.CV "original, natural"
   mrja [ˈmrja] CCV "spirit"

• A word affixed with an arbitrary number of prefixes retains its syllabic structure independent of those syllables appended to it, and the affix retains its own syllabic structure.

   atamrjamma [a.taˈmrjam.ma] V.CV.CCVC.CV "in the company of a (dear) spirit"
   epprja [ɛpˈprja] VC.CCV "in front of a cat"
   phelarya [phɛlˈar.ja] CVC.VC.CV "beside the friend"

• Word initial clusters formed via the cliticization of [m, n, v, l, s] may either meld into that consonant cluster, forming the coda of the word initial syllable, or may carry syllabic weight themselves.

   v-mrja [ˈvmrja] CCCV "in the spirit"
   v-mrja [vˈmrja] C.CCV "in the spirit"
   s-vlja [ˈsvlja] CCCV "as the wolf"
   s-vlja [sˈvlja] C.CCV "as the wolf"

2. Consonant clusters tend to be broken word internally.

• Lengthened consonants are always separated, with the first consonant joined with the preceding vowel forming the coda of that syllable, and the second consonant joined to the following vowel, forming the onset of that syllable.

   tjelle [ˈtjɛl.lɛ] CVC.CV "sky"
   anna [ˈan.na] VC.CV "beneficial"
   Essatta [ˌɛsˈsat.ta] VC.CVC.CV "from Essa"

• Word internal clusters are regularly separated, and the first consonant of the combination is joined with the preceding vowel, forming the coda of that syllable.

   mandrya [ˈman.drja] CVC.CCV "power"

• Cluster onsets in syllables of the form CrV, CrjV, ClV, CljV are considered a single unit, and are not separated, and are thus exempt from the above rule.

   atamrjamma [a.taˈmrjam.ma] V.CV.CCVC.CV "in the company of a (dear) spirit"
   epprja [ɛpˈprja] VC.CCV "in front of a cat"
   yavendra [ˌjaˈvɛn.dra] VC.CCV "and of vowels"

Finally, of note, is that there exist two diphthongs that, if they were to exist in a non-stressed syllable, they will then collapse into a short vowel. Which diphthong collapses into which vowel is shown here:

• ei → i

• ai → e

Morphology

Nouns

Ahāmatya nouns can be declined into eight cases and three numbers, yielding twenty-four forms.

Class

Ahāmatya nouns exhibit a kind of noun class system. Nouns have three classes: Class I nouns, called "a-theme" nouns; Class II nouns, called "e-theme" nouns; Class III nouns, called "other". "a-theme" and "e-theme" are so-named because the vowels "a" and "e" appear as the final sound in their respective nouns in the singular. "other" is so-named as a catch-all for words that are neither "a-theme" nor "e-theme". The phonological environment determines whether a noun is Class I or Class II. Class III nouns tend to be derived.

The thematic vowel in the ultimate syllable is determined by the vowel in the penultimate syllable and the consonants in the coda of that syllable and/or the onset of the ultimate syllable. Barring a few exceptions, this is a predictable machination. The consonants at the boundary of the penultimate and the ultimate vowel can be divided into four categories: continuative short, continuative long, terminative short, and terminative long.

• Continuative short consonants are: m, f, n, s, ŋ, x, l, h
• Continuative long consonants are: mm, v, nn, ss, ɤ, ll
• Terminative short consonants are: p, t, k, y, w, r
• Terminative long consonants are: pp, b, t, tt, d, k, kk, g, rr, palatalized consonants, aspirated consonants, non-geminate consonant clusters.

The penultimate vowel, followed by one of the above mentioned boundary consonants, will determine the ultimate vowel, and thus, its class. This is illustrated in the table below. Vowels listed along the leftmost column are penultimate vowels. If one of these is followed by one of the four consonant boundary types, then the ultimate vowel, i.e., the theme vowel, is given.

		Continuative Short	Continuative Long	Terminative Short	Terminative Long
i		a	e	a	e
e		a	a	a	a
a		a	a	a	a
u		a	a	a	a
ī		e	e	e	e
ē		a	a	a	a
ā		a	a	a	a
ū		a	a	a	a
ei		e	e	e	a
ai		e	e	e	a
ui		e	e	e	a
iu		e	a	a	a
eu		e	a	a	a
au		e	a	a	a

Number

Number in Ahāmatya nouns is represented in a redundant fashion. The noun root may be a singular stem, a comprehensive plural stem, or a partitive plural stem. These are appended to by either the singular or the plural case marker. The singular case marker suffixes to the singular stem, while the plural case marker suffixes to either the comprehensive plural stem or the partitive plural stem.

The singular is the unmarked form of the noun, and accepts singular case marking.

• ive- "bird"

• mana- "land"

• vrunnu- "robin"

The comprehensive plural is marked by -i, and accepts plural case marking. If the stem ends in a diphthong which would collapse into a vowel in non-stressed syllables, then it does. The comprehensive plural has an intrinsic meaning of "all of that about which I am speaking in this context".

• ivei- → ivi- "birds"

• manai- → mane- "lands"

• vrunnui- "robins"

The partitive plural is marked by -u, and accepts plural case marking. The partitive plural has an intrinsic meaning of "some or a few of that about which I am speaking in this context".

• iveu- "some birds"

• manau- "some lands"

• vrunnuu- → vrunnū- "some robins"

Case

There are eight cases in Ahāmatya. Each case has a singular or plural form that suffixes to a singular, comprehensive plural, or partitive plural stem. Many cases are also used as objects of the preposition, many of which are predictable.

Nominative Case

The nominative case indicates the subject of a verb. A noun declined in the nominative singular case is the citation form of a noun found in the dictionary.

Usage

• the subject of a verb
• the predicate
• the object of most prepositions

Formation

The nominative case is unmarked, or, more accurately, is marked with -∅, suffixed to the singular stem.

Examples

   Ive nena.
   The bird is sleeping.

   Mrja anna.
   The spirit is good.

Accusative₁ Case

The accusative₁ case is one of two cases in Ahāmatya which indicates the object of a verb.

Usage

• the object of an imperfective aspect verb
• the object of some prepositions

Accusative₂ Case

The accusative₂ case is one of two cases in Ahāmatya which indicates the object of a verb.

Usage

• the object of a perfect aspect verb
• the object of some prepositions

Dative Case

The dative case indicates the indirect object of a verb.

Usage

• the indirect object of a verb
• the object of some prepositions

Genitive Case

The genitive case indicates ownership and origin.

Usage

• ownership irrespective of time
• origin of/from a location
• partitive
• topic of/about
• some predicativity
• composition or substance
• the object of some prepositions

Ablative Case

The ablative case indicates origins that involve motion.

Usage

• origins that involve motion
• an originator of something given
• the object of some prepositions

Allative Case

The allative case indicates destinations that involve motion.

Usage

• destinations that involve motion
• direction at which an action is directed
• the object of some prepositions

Locative Case

The locative case indicates residence at a location in space or time.

Usage

• location at a place in space
• location at a place or period in time