Qulmian

Qulmian (native name: Qulm usíhipa) is a language constructed by Yuv yuv for the constructed world of Taercnim.

Please note: a large part of this language has already been completed but is currently undergoing heavy revision and rewriting before being published.

Qulmian Qulm usíhipa
Progress: 44%
Type
Fusional
Alignment
Nominative-accusative
Head direction
Initial	Mixed		Final
Primary word order
Subject-verb-object
Tonal
No
Declensions
Yes
Conjugations
Yes
Genders
Masculine, feminine
Nouns decline according to...
Case		Number
Definiteness		Gender
Verbs conjugate according to...
Voice		Mood
Person		Number
Tense		Aspect

Background

The Qulmian language started, like many of my languages, as an experiment in grammar and writing. I put to use some rather unusual grammatical ideas that I had been collecting for a period of several months before starting work on it, combining them with a script that I developed during a boring 11th-grade class.

In the world of Taercnim, Qulmian is spoken by about 55 million people in the southeastern region of Qulma on the continent Lerta. It is also used throughout Lerta as a liturgical language for religious purposes.

Phonology

Consonants

Qulmian has sixteen consonants.

	Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Postalv.	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	m /m/		n /n/		ng /ɴ/
Plosive	p /p/ b /b/	t /t/ d /d/			q /q/	‘ /ʔ/
Fricative	v /v/		s /s/ z /z/	c /ʃ/ j /ʒ/		h /h/
Approximant			l /l/

/ʃ ʒ/ were originally velar stops /k g/ respectively. They were lenited to /x ɣ/ early on and shifted forward to their current values at a later stage. Modern Qulmian has no velar consonant phonemes, though some dialects may occasionally shift /q/ forward to a post-velar or velar position. When following a vowel and preceding another consonant, /q/ may be lenited to [χ] or [qχ].

Unlike most other languages of Taercnim, Qulmian has no rhotic phonemes. Loanwords containing rhotic sounds have them transcribed as either /ʒ/ or /l/.

Word-final /ɪt/ is often realized as [ɪə̯t̚], with an unreleased [t].

Vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i /ɪ/	y /ɯ/ u /u/
Open	a /æ/	o /ɒ/

The phoneme /æ/ is usually realized as [æ] or [a]. In the diphthong ai, it is realized as [ä].

/ɯ/ may be realized as [i] in the diphthong oy.

Vowel length is phonemic. Long vowels are marked in the script with an additional vowel symbol, and in romanization with an acute accent.

Stress

By default, stress in Qulmian is placed on the antepenultimate syllable. If a long vowel is present in the word, it receives the stress. If there are two or more long vowels in the word, the last one of them receives the stress.

Script

Under construction ...

Grammar

Morphology

Qulmian morphology is fusional and nonconcatenative, using a system of triconsonantal roots placed into patterns to form words.

Verb morphology

Verbs morphologically encode tense and aspect along with the person, gender and number of the subject. Perfective and imperfective aspect are distinguished in the past tense.

There are four different types of conjugation patterns for verbs. Many roots can be placed into more than one pattern, forming verbs with different meanings.

• Form 1 – XoXXa (using example root hml – to give)

Person/Number/Gender	Perf. past	Impf. past	Present	Future
1st person singular	homil	húmil	ahmyl	ahmil
2nd person singular	homal	húmal	ahmol	ahmal
3rd person masculine singular	homla	húmla	ahmola	ahmala
3rd person feminine singular	homli	húmli	ahmoli	ahmali
1st person plural	homilu	húmilu	ahmylu	ahmilu
2nd person plural	homila	húmila	ahmól	ahmila
3rd person masculine plural	homlá	húmlá	ahmólá	ahmalá
3rd person feminine plural	homlí	húmlí	ahmólí	ahmalí

• Form 2 – XaiXoXa (using example root hml – to hold someone dear)

Person/Number/Gender	Perf. past	Impf. past	Present	Future
1st person singular	hómil	huimil	himyl	himil
2nd person singular	hómal	huimal	himol	himal
3rd person masculine singular	hómla	huimla	himola	himala
3rd person feminine singular	hómli	huimli	himoli	himali
1st person plural	hómilu	huimilu	himylu	himilu
2nd person plural	hómila	huimila	himól	himila
3rd person masculine plural	hómlá	huimlá	himólá	himalá
3rd person feminine plural	hómlí	huimlí	himólí	himalí

• Form 3 – XtoXXa (using example root sqt – to have the right to do something)

Person/Number/Gender	Perf. past	Impf. past	Present	Future
1st person singular	stoqit	stúqit	stuqyt	stuqit
2nd person singular	stoqat	stúqat	stuqot	stuqat
3rd person masculine singular	stoqta	stúqta	stuqota	stuqata
3rd person feminine singular	stoqti	stúqti	stuqoti	stuqati
1st person plural	stoqitu	stúqitu	stuqytu	stuqitu
2nd person plural	stoqita	stúqita	stuqót	stuqita
3rd person masculine plural	stoqtá	stúqtá	stuqótá	stuqatá
3rd person feminine plural	stoqtí	stúqtí	stuqótí	stuqatí

• Form 4 – XtaXoXa (using example root sqt)

Person/Number/Gender	Perf. past	Impf. past	Present	Future
1st person singular	sitoiqit	situiqit	sitiqyt	sitiqit
2nd person singular	sitoiqat	situiqat	sitiqot	sitiqat
3rd person masculine singular	sitoiqata	situiqata	sitiqota	sitiqata
3rd person feminine singular	sitoiqati	situiqati	sitiqoti	sitiqati
1st person plural	sitoiqiti	situiqiti	sitiqyti	sitiqiti
2nd person plural	sitoiqita	situiqita	sitiqót	sitiqita
3rd person masculine plural	sitoiqitá	situiqitá	sitiqótá	sitiqatá
3rd person feminine plural	sitoiqití	situiqití	sitiqótí	sitiqatí

T-mutation

Verbs in forms 3 and 4 may undergo a phonological process called T-mutation. All verbs in these forms have a T sound after the first radical, and when the two consonants are not separated by a vowel, the T may either change its phonetic value or switch places with the first radical.

There are two kinds of T-mutation rules. Some rules apply in all positions, others apply only word-initially.

Mutation	Position	Example	Notes
No mutation	–	stoqta
mt – mp	Anywhere	*mtosqa – mposqa	Some dialects may realize the mutated consonant as [b] word-initially, but it is always written and transliterated as p.
nt – ng	Word-initially	*ntamoda – ngamoda	The two sounds fuse into a single uvular nasal /ɴ/ represented by ng. (/g/ as a phoneme does not exist in Qulmian.)
ngt – ngq	Anywhere	...
tt – ts, qt – qs	Word-initially	*ttonqa – tsonqa *qtaqta – qsaqta
dt – dz	Word-initially	...
bt – bd, dt – dd, jt – jd	Anywhere	*idtaloma – iddaloma *jtovda – jdovda
ht – th, ‘t – t‘	Anywhere	*htosta – thosta *‘tanona – t‘anona

Noun morphology

Like verb morphology, Qulmian noun morphology is highly fusional and only partially concatenative. Qulmian nouns are mostly formed by placing verb roots into nominalization patterns. Different patterns indicate different meanings, and each verb form has its own set of patterns.

Structure of a noun

A Qulmian noun has the following fixed structure:

1. Prefix indicating class and (in some cases) definiteness. This prefix takes the form of a single short vowel.

Class: There are two separately functioning sets of noun classes.

• Gender: Nouns can be either masculine or feminine. Often, gender acts as a way to create a subtle variation on a word, differentiating pairs of otherwise identical words describing similar or related concepts.
• Weight: Nouns can be either “light” or “heavy”. Places and people are usually heavy nouns, while other nouns are light, but this is not a hard rule and many exceptions exist.

	Light	Heavy
Masculine	u–	o–
Feminine	i–	a–

Definiteness: Light masculine nouns only receive the prefix if they are definite. If not, the prefix is dropped entirely: compare umísipa 'the day', mispa 'a day'.

2. Verb root placed into a nominalization pattern. Each verb form has its own set of patterns. Some patterns may only form light nouns, some only form heavy nouns, and some change their meaning depending on the weight of the noun.

The patterns change slightly depending on the definiteness of the noun. One vowel is always lengthened, causing some diphthongs to mutate into monophthongs. Epenthetic vowels are added in some cases to avoid two consecutive consonants after a long vowel.

Indefinite				Definite				Meaning
Form 1	Form 2	Form 3	Form 4	Form 1	Form 2	Form 3	Form 4	Light	Heavy
XoXX	XaiXoX	XtoXX	XtaXoX	XóXyX	XáXoX	XtóXyX	XtáXoX	The act of <verb>ing	–
XaXX	XoXaX	XtaXX	XtoXaX	XáXiX	XóXaX	XtáXiX	XtóXaX	Something that <verb>s	A person who <verb>s
XuXX	XuXoX	XtuXX	XtuXoX	XúXyX	XúXoX	XtúXyX	XtúXoX	The act of being <verb>ed	–
XiXX	XoiXoX	XtiXX	XtoXaX	XíXiX	XóXoX	XtíXiX	XtóXaX	Something that is <verb>ed	A person who is <verb>ed
nXaXX, nXiXX	XoXnaX, XuXnoX	naXtaXX, naXtiXX	XatoXnaX, XatiXnaX	nXáXiX, nXíXiX	XóXynaX, XúXynoX	naXtáXiX, naXtíXiX	XatóXynaX, XatíXinaX	–	A place where the act of <verb>ing is done
–	XoXnaX, XuXnoX	–	XatoXnaX, XatiXnaX	–	XóXynaX, XúXynoX	–	XatóXynaX, XatíXinaX	A place where the act of <verb>ing is done (forms 2, 4 only)	–

3. Case ending, usually consisting of a single short vowel. See Cases below.

4. Plural suffix: –m for masculine nouns, –q for feminine nouns.

Cases

While most languages use a system of cases with more or less fixed meanings and roles, Qulmian uses a system of five “numbered cases”, where the role of each case is determined by the verb in the sentence. In other words, each verb can be described as having its own set of multiple “parameters”.

A sixth case, called “case T”, exists and functions alongside the numbered cases. This case is the only one with an inherent meaning, and is usually equivalent to the inessive or temporal cases. It is used mostly for adverbials.

Case	Ending
1	–a
2	–i
3	–o
4	–y
5	–u
T	–it

• Note: in plural nouns in case T, the ending –it fuses with the plural suffix: –imp for masculine nouns, –iqs for feminine ones.

In most verbs with only two parameters, case 1 is the nominative case and case 2 is the accusative case. The verb monqa (to hold) is an example of this:

ca	amnyq	malni
1s-1	hold.1s.PRES	pen-2
“I am holding a pen.”

Some verbs with more parameters may differ. For example, the verb homla (to give) defines case 2 as the dative (the person to whom the object is given), and case 3 as the accusative (the object that is given):

ca	ahmil	di	malno
1s-1	give.1s.FUT	2s-2	pen-3
“I will give you a pen.”

The citation form of a noun is its case 1 form.

Secondary case endings

In rare cases the case ending may take on a completely different form. This is usually found in nouns where a phonological process causes the ending to become long (see T‘ín imilna below). Some words always decline this way, such as vá “whether”.

Case	Secondary ending
1	–á
2	–ai
3	–ó
4	–oy
5	–ú
T	–ait
T + masculine plural	–amp
T + feminine plural	–aqs

Adjectives

Qulmian adjectives are derived from nouns by removing their case ending. They precede nouns and do not agree with them in either number or gender. (An exception to this is in vocatives, where adjectives may either precede or follow nouns.)

Adverbs

Adverbs can be derived in different ways, varying in degrees of formality.

Formal: The formal way of deriving an adverb is placing the word anhastit after an adjective. The word literally means “in a ___ way/manner”. Example: mosaq anhastit “badly”, literally “in a bad way”.

Neutral: In less formal situations, adverbs are usually derived from the nominalization of the corresponding stative verb. Example: the stative verb maisoqa, referring to the state of being bad, has the adverb form maisoqit, meaning “badly” (or literally “in badness”).

Informal: The least formal way to derive an adverb is similar to the most formal one, but instead of the additional word anhastit, the adjective receives the suffix –has. Example: mosaqhas “badly”.

T‘ín imilna

The consonant-based nature of Qulmian morphology occasionally leads to problems when the second and third radicals of a root are the same. This grammatical feature is known as the double-radical rule, or t‘ín imilna.

One purpose of this rule is to avoid word-final geminates. When the last two radicals form a word-final geminate consonant, they merge into a single non-geminate consonant. As a result, a “degemination compromise” occurs: the vowel preceding the degeminated consonant is lengthened.

The feature’s name itself demonstrates this: the noun t‘inna refers to “something that is doubled”. When acting as an adjective, the case vowel is removed, which would give *t‘inn. Applying the rule gives the correct form t‘ín.

A similar form of this rule also serves to avoid geminates following long vowels. In nouns containing double radicals, such as icotta “darkness”, definiteness works differently. According to the rules of noun derivation, its definite counterpart should be *icótyta, where an epenthetic /ɯ/ separates the two consonants, seemingly rendering the double-radical rule irrelevant. The reason for applying it is historical: the epenthetic vowel separating the consonants is a relatively recent development in the language. Before its appearance, the definite counterpart of icotta would have been *icótta, which requires applying the double-radical rule.

Definite nouns are formed by lengthening one vowel in the word – generally the one immediately following the first radical: icotta → *icótta. As with adjectives, the two consonants are merged: *icótta → *icóta. This is where the degemination compromise takes place. In this case, the following vowel becomes long instead of the preceding one. However, the following vowel also happens to be the case marking. A case marking does not simply become long; instead, it mutates into a secondary case ending:

Case	Indefinite noun Short ending	Definite noun Long ending
1	icotta	icótá
2	icotti	icótai
3	icotto	icótó
4	icotty	icótoy
5	icottu	icótú
T (singular)	icottit [ɪʃɒtːɪə̯t̚]	icótait [ɪʃɒːtæɪə̯t̚]
T (plural)	icottiqs	icótaqs

Syntax

Word order

As explained earlier in the Cases section, Qulmian cases do not have truly fixed meanings. Prepositions are almost nonexistent, and as a result, word order is highly flexible and can be used to emphasize certain words in a sentence. For example, the sentences

• Apahna mpuloni milni (Apahna-1 read.3sf.PRES book-2)
• Apahna milni mpuloni (Apahna-1 book-2 read.3sf.PRES)
• Milni Apahna mpuloni (book-2 Apahna-1 read.3sf.PRES)
• Milni mpuloni Apahna (book-2 read.3sf.PRES Apahna-1)
• Mpuloni milni Apahna (read.3sf.PRES book-2 Apahna-1)
• Mpuloni Apahna milni (read.3sf.PRES Apahna-1 book-2)

all have the exact same meaning: “Apahna is reading a book”, only with slightly different emphasis. Some orders are more common than others – the most common order is the one shown in the first example, used when no certain word is to be given special attention.

Negation

The negative form of a verb is expressed by inserting the word so “no” before it.

Additional words expressing negation, such as soqtaqt “never” follow the verb, and may come in addition to or instead of the word “so”. A double negative usually emphasizes the negative.

Example:

- A: So mpolin qody milni. “I haven't read that book.” (no read.1s.PAST that book-2)

- B: Da milnim so mpulon soqtaqt! “You never read books at all!” (you-1 book-2-PL no read.2s.PRES never)

The negated word does not have to be a verb. Nouns can be negated in the same way:

• So umísipi colib adnyqu yn icítai. “It is not the day that we must respect, but the night.” (no day.DEF-2 must respect.1p.PRES but night.DEF-2)

Questions

Under construction

Possessive constructions

Qulmian does not directly mark the genitive case. Instead, possession is implied through syntax: the possessor is placed directly after the possessed object, without any linking morphemes that explicitly indicate a connection.

The object of possession is definite when the speaker and the receiver both have a certain object in mind.

ca	ahmil	di	umálino	co
1s-1	give.1s.FUT	2s-2	pen.DEF-3	1s-3
“I will give you my pen.” (assuming the speaker refers to a certain pen)

When the receiver does not know what object is being referred to, the indefinite form is used. (Compare “a friend of mine” vs. “my friend”.) In less formal registers, the indefinite form may be used in both cases.

ca	ahmil	di	malno	co
1s-1	give.1s.FUT	2s-2	pen-3	1s-3
“I will give you one of my pens.”