Ox-Yew

Adzaac (Ox-Yew)
Adzaac, Adɮāc
Pronunciation	[/ɑdˈɮɑːtɬʼ/]
Created by	BenJamin P. Johnson, additionally creator of: Adzaac Brooding Dlatci Grayis Maltcégj Northeadish Valthungian
Date	2019
Language family	language isolate Adzaac (Ox-Yew)

Adzaac (or Adɮāc) is an a priori, possibly non-terrestrial language whose phonology, morphology, grammar, and really whose entire weltanschauung is inextricably tied to sets of three. Their number system is nonal (3×3); there are three vowels; there are three of each type of consonant; there are three noun classes (or “genders,” but that word really isn’t useful here); there are even three finite grammatical moods.

Since [ɑdˈɮɑːtɬʼ] doesn't really roll off the tongue of the average native speaker of most European languages, the alternative name “Ox-Yew” (or the Language of the Ox-Yew People) is derived from all of the Latin letters which the orthography of Adzaac explicitly does not use.

Phonology

Vowels

Short: /i a u/

Diphthongs: /ia̯ iu̯ ai̯ au̯ ui̯ ua̯/

Long: /ī ā ū/

Long Diphthongs: /īa̯ īu̯ āi̯ āu̯ ūi̯ ūa̯/

Diphthongs are always falling, but if a non-long diphthong starting with /i/ or /u/ appears at the beginning of a word (i.e. with no onset), it is realized as a glide (/j/ or /w/, respectively).

Because of the limited range of vowels, a vowel chart is almost wasted for Adzaac, but here you go:

	Frontish	Middlin’	Backish
High:	⟨i⟩ /i/ ⟨ii⟩ /iː/		⟨u⟩ /u/ ⟨uu⟩ /uː/
Mid:
Low:			⟨a⟩ /ɑ/ ⟨aa⟩ /ɑː/

The diphthongs do not vary other than by length:

Stress

Stress is moraic. Stress falls on longest left-most syllable. Where morae are equal, long vowels have a higher priority than diphthongs, which have a higher priority than final consonants. There are eight possible syllable weights:

	Morae	Priority	Description	Examples
V	1	8	Short vowel, no coda.	bu, na, ki
VC	2	7	Short vowel, monomoraic coda.	uk, it, an
VV̯	2	6	Diphthong, no coda.	hau, niu, mai
Vː	2	5	Long vowel, no coda.	lii, kuu, aa
VV̯C	3	4	Diphthong, monomoraic coda.	kais, zaud, bzuim
VːC	3	3	Long vowel, monomoraic coda.	aat, kiic, dzuuq
VːV̯	3	2	Long diphthong, no coda.	giiu, maai, vuua
VːV̯C	4	1	Long diphthong, monomoraic coda.	fuuav, saaik, viiut

Non-stressed syllables are reduced. (See Phonotactics).

Consonants

	Frontish	Middlin’	Backish
Unvoiced Stop:	⟨p⟩ /p/	⟨t⟩ /t/	⟨k⟩ /k/
Voiced Stop:	⟨b⟩ /b/	⟨d⟩ /d/	⟨g⟩ /ɡ/
Affricate:	⟨c⟩ /t͡ɬ/	⟨q⟩ /t͡ʃ/	⟨j⟩ /d͡ʒ/
Fricative:	⟨s⟩ /s/	⟨f⟩ /ʃ/	⟨h⟩ /x/
Nasal:	⟨m⟩ /m/	⟨n⟩ /n/	⟨v⟩ /ŋ/
Liquid:	⟨z⟩ /ɮ/	⟨r⟩ /r/	⟨l⟩ /l/

Phonotactics

Syllable Structure

CLVC

• All syllables must have a nucleus, but onsets and codas are not required. Syllables in the same word must have either a coda or an onset dividing them (i.e. two syllable nuclei must be separated by at least one consonant.)
• Word-initial onsets may consist of a single consonant, or a stop consonant followed by a liquid.
  • p, t, k, b, d, g, q, j, c, m, n, v, l, z, r, s, f, h
  • pr, tr, kr, br, dr, gr, pl, tl, kl, bl, dl, gl, pz, tz, kz, bz, dz, gz
• Word-final codas may consist only of a single consonant; voiced stops, ‹j›, and ‹h› are not permitted as codas.
  • p, t, k, q, c, m, n, v, l, z, r, s, f
• Intersyllabic consonant clusters may be:
  • C (any single consonant)
    • p, t, k, b, d, g, q, j, c, m, n, v, l, z, r, s, f, h
  • C[-cnt]C[+liq] (any stop + liquid)
    • pr, pl, pz, tr, tl, tz, kr, kl, kz, br, bl, bz, dr, dl, dz, gr, gl, gz
  • C[-cnt]ː (any geminate stop)
    • pp, tt, kk, bb, dd, gg
  • C[+nas]ː (any geminate nasal)
    • mm, nn, vv
  • C[+nas]C[-cnt-vox] (any nasal + unvoiced stop of the same place of articulation; also ⟨vg⟩)
    • mp, nt, vk, vg
  • C[+nas]C[-cnt-vox]C[+liq] (any nasal + voiced or unvoiced stop of the same place of articulation + liquid)
    • mbr, mbl, ndr, ndl, vgr, vgl, vgz
  • nC[+liq] (⟨n⟩ + any affricate)
    • nq, nj, nc
  • C[+obs+cnt]C[-cnt-vox] (any fricative + any unvoiced stop)
    • sp, st, sk, fp, ft, fk, hp, ht, hk

Liquid Harmony

• (Still working this out...)

Vowel Reduction in Syllables with Non-Primary Stress

• Vowels with secondary stress are reduced by their right-most mora:

ia iu ii	→ i	ai au aa	→ a	ui ua uu	→ u
iia iiu	→ ii	aai aau	→ aa	uui uua	→ uu

1. • E.g. ááidlaacùùp → aaidlacuup

• Unstressed vowels are reduced to their left-most mora:

ia iu ii iia iiu

→ i

ai au aa aai aau

→ a

ui ua uu uui uua

→ u

Cluster Reduction between Syllables with Non-Primary Stress

The number of consonant clusters which can occur intervocalically between syllables with non-primary stress is dramatically reduced. Somehow. Probably. I think.

Orthography

Adzaac has three distinct orthographies. There is a native writing system (patent pending...); a “presentational” orthography, which uses some diacritics and some non-standard characters to present the language a little more compactly and with a few slightly more intuitive graphemes; and a “utility” orthography, which uses only 21 letters of the standard Latin alphabet. (The letters E, O, W, X, and Y are not used.)

Function	Form	IPA
⟨p⟩⟩		p
⟨t⟩⟩		t
⟨k⟩⟩		k
⟨b⟩⟩		b
⟨d⟩⟩		d
⟨g⟩⟩		g
⟨c⟩⟩		tɬ
⟨q⟩	⟨⟨č⟩⟩	tʃ
⟨j⟩⟩		dʒ
⟨s⟩⟩		s
⟨f⟩	⟨⟨š⟩⟩	ʃ
⟨h⟩⟩		x
⟨m⟩⟩		m
⟨n⟩⟩		n
⟨v⟩	⟨⟨ŋ⟩⟩	ŋ
⟨z⟩	⟨⟨ɮ⟩⟩	ɮ
⟨r⟩⟩		r
⟨l⟩⟩		l
⟨i⟩⟩		i
⟨ii⟩	⟨⟨ī⟩⟩	iː
⟨ia⟩⟩		iɑ̯
⟨iu⟩⟩		iu̯
⟨iia⟩	⟨⟨īa⟩⟩	iːɑ̯
⟨iiu⟩	⟨⟨īu⟩⟩	iːu̯
⟨a⟩⟩		ɑ
⟨ai⟩⟩		ɑi̯
⟨aa⟩	⟨⟨ā⟩⟩	ɑː
⟨au⟩⟩		ɑu̯
⟨aai⟩	⟨⟨āi⟩⟩	ɑːi̯
⟨aau⟩	⟨⟨āu⟩⟩	ɑːu̯
⟨u⟩⟩		u
⟨ui⟩⟩		ui̯
⟨ua⟩⟩		uɑ̯
⟨uu⟩	⟨⟨ū⟩⟩	uː
⟨uui⟩	⟨⟨ūi⟩⟩	uːi̯
⟨uua⟩	⟨⟨ūa⟩⟩	uːɑ̯

Morphology

Alignments

Typology

The typology of Adzaac is predominantly SOV or verb-final. Marked order is OSV. A morphological particle is inserted between the subject and the direct object which is ostensibly a case suffix combined with a case prefix; a different particle is used in marked order.

Morphosyntactic Alignment

Adzaac alignment is tripartite, so nouns and pronouns are differentiated for subject, object, and agentive roles by use of case affixes and/or particles.

Headedness

Adzaac is predominantly head-final, and this is reflected in many of its more granular alignments.

Noun Phrases

In noun phrases, nouns are always initial, followed (in order) by adpositions, demonstratives, numerals, adjectives or adjective phrases, genitive or genitive phrases, and finally relative clauses.

Adjective Phrases

In adjective phrases, (adverbial) measurements of degree (very, less, too, &c.) follow the adjective.

Verb Phrases

As mentioned in Typology, Adzaac is a verb-final language, and as such, adverbs always immediately precede the verb. Verbs inflect for person, number, polarity, voice, mood, tense, and aspect.

Nouns

Cases

Adzaac has several cases which regulate the roles various words play in a sentence.

Absolutive

The absolutive case is used for the subjects of intransitive verbs.

Ergative

Ergative is used with the subjects of transitive verbs when there is a direct object present.

Accusative

Accusative indicates a direct object.

Dative

The use of the dative in Adzaac is slightly more restrictive than it may be in other languages. It specifically invokes the meaning of ‘to’ or ‘towards’.

Ablative

Many languages have an “ablative” case, though it rarely means the same thing from one language to another. In Adzaac, the ablative is the exact inverse of the dative, invoking the meaning of ‘out of’ or ‘from’.

Genitive

The genitive deals with possession and relation. There is a bit of overlap with the ablative.

Oblique

The oblique isn't so much a case as an anti-case: This is the “Dictionary Form” of Adzaac nouns, and is not inflected at all. It is mainly used with adpositions, or for mentioning things in a list.

Classes

There are only three noun classes in Adzaac, so one might be tempted to call them “genders,” but that term really doesn't work well here, considering that all of the human genders which usually serve as examples of the various grammatical genders all fall into a single noun class. Adzaac nouns are divided into Animate, Inanimate, and Abstract classes.

Animate

Animate nouns are quite literally comprised of things which are alive. This includes, but is not limited to men, women, children, dogs, cows, grass, trees, moss, cauliflower, and caterpillars. Some dynamic nouns may be considered animate even if they are not alive in the traditional sense, such as fire, running water, wind, or weather.

Inanimate

Inanimate nouns are things which are not alive. They may be things which are no longer alive (such as wood or leather) or things which do not presently show signs of life, but which may become alive in the future (like seeds or eggs). Some inanimate nouns include wood, stone, metal, houses, rice, books, salt, and soil.

*Note to self: What about body parts and plant parts, like heart, arm, brain, trunk, and leaf?

Abstract

Abstract nouns are concepts, ideas, or non-substantives, like feelings, concepts, and symbolic thought. These include compassion, love, anger, war, kerfuffle, hope, tarnation, thought, and stubbornness.