Corrádi

Introduction

It has long been assumed that Minhay had been settled during nomadic tribes during the Ice Ages, part of the general migrations that eventually peopled Siberia, the Americas, and Ainushir. Traditional accounts claim that three ethnic groups, the Golahats, the Peshpegs, and the Minhast came to Minhay at around the same time, but eventually the Minhast eventually dominated the island. During the mid 1950's, foreign archaeologists from the West were finally allowed to enter Minhay, and their preliminary excavations came up with puzzling results. The closest relatives of the Minhast are believed to be the Ainu of neighboring Kar-put-ya-Moshir (Sakhalin), Hokkay and Honesh-Pet (formerly known as Honshu before the partition of the Japanese Empire by the Kingdom of Koguryeo and the Ainu Federation). But the Ainu, or their putative ancestors, the Jōmon, are known to have occupied the region as early 14,500 BCE. The earliest artifacts found in Minhay that could be definitively attributed to the Minhast are flint arrows and iron swords dated as recent as 300 CE. Golahat and Peshpeg artifacts are far rarer, but the earliest of those artifacts date to circa 130 CE. This indicates that the Minhast, Golahats, and Peshpegs came much later, several millenia after the great Paleosiberian migrations that led to the peopling of northeast Siberia and the Americas.

So it was a groundbreaking discovery, and shock to many, when in the late 70's the Kūtan excavations in south-central Minhay uncovered artifacts from an unknown civilization that dated around 1500 BCE. These artifacts included bronze tools and weapons, glazed pottery, lifelike statues and figurines, and the remnants of large stone buildings suggestive of palaces or temples. Moreover, the remnants of several parchment scrolls written in an unknown script and language were found. Less than a decade later, in March 12, 1985, several scrolls, in the same script as the ones found in Kūtan, were discovered in an inconspicuous cave in Mt. Irraħma. Unlike the scrolls discovered in Kūtan, the ones found in Mt. Irraħma were dated as late as the 1700's. These scrolls were written in the same language as Kūtan , but also included transcripts in the Minhast script, along with a dictionary and grammar, providing the Rosetta Stone to the Corrádi language.

The texts mentioned a city called Vórina which lay 50km south of the capital, Aškuan. In fact, the author had written precise directions where to find the lost city. Archaeologists went to where the purported Vórina was located, in an extensive hardwood forest that reached the edge of Minhay's southern coast. A few days before the archaeologists arrived, lidar imagery was taken of the area and revealed several large mounds underneath the canopy. Excavations began, and soon a treasure trove of artifacts were unearthed. Pillars and the remnants of buildings were found bearing a script very similar to the Irraħma scrolls engraved into the stone. Another surprise: in the lower strata were sedimentary deposits clearly indicating the city at one time was on the coastline. It was in this same strata that there were indications that a major earthquake had struck the area, and a thin layer of what could only be marine sediment - which could have been deposited there by a tsunami. And one more disturbing discovery. Flint arrowheads and signs of fire damage abound in this layer. The flint arrowheads were the hattīya, bearing the same design used by the Horse Speakers of the Central Plateau.

The scrolls reveal that the Corrádi language is unrelated to any northeastern Asian language. Possible relationships with Austronesian and other southeast Asian languages have been conclusively ruled out. Other hypotheses have been presented, but none have succeeded in establishing a relationship with other language families. Therefore, Corrádi has been classified as a language isolate.

Toponyms

Even before the discovery of the Irraħma Manuscripts, various Corrádi words survived as toponyms in Ín Duári and Peshpeg. In certain cases, it is unknown whether some of the names were originally Corradi, or if they were adopted from Ín Duári or Peshpeg into the Corradi language. After the Wolf Speaker invasions, these toponyms were absorbed into their dialect , with some alteration to fit the dialect's phonology, replaced with a calque or translation of the Ín Duári or Peshpeg variant, or an outright replacement based on the topographical features of the location.

Corrádi Place Names

Corradi	Meaning	Ín Duári	Peshpeg	Minhast (Wolf Speaker Dialect)
Kanzorél	Fresh Water	Gaenðyl	Kenzor	Kuznur
Azator	Orchard	Azdor	Ezdür	Kaykarayumbāt ("A Great Stand of Trees")
Aeredon	Overlook	Aerðyn	Erdün	Siħy ("Advantageous view from a higher elevation for the purpose of attack")
Nemkil	Corner	Naengileð	Kotash ("Meeting Place")	Xunnaš ("Rough Ground")
Ketra	Split	Girédra	Ketra	Kirāt
Karhō	Crossroads	Karhon	Oyür ("Ridgeline")	Qarħaq ("Sinew, thread")
Nargoi	Rivers Bend	Nergoïs	Nargoy	Narrūy
Verhális	West Wind	Verhális	Okyur ("Windy")	Ukkūr
Anthō/Aenthō	Fortress	Aeyaţin	Ansha	Nināha
Kalrō	Skull	Gaelron	Kolrün	Qarrū
Íkava	Narrow River	Íkava	Yikve	Zeydek ("Little River")

Morphology

Articles

Corrádi nouns are preceded by articles that indicate definiteness, topicality and number. Indefinite and non-topic nouns are null marked.

Number	Definite Non-Topical	Definite Topical
Singular	rer	ken
Plural	ras	kevás

Demonstratives

Corrádi shows a three-way distinction in its demonstrative pronouns, namely a proximal, medio-distal, and distal opposition.

	Proximal		Medio-distal		Distal
	Sg	Pl	Sg	Pl	Sg	Pl
Direct	don	doien	zari		vana
Construct	doni	donim	zara		vani	virati
Oblique	donis		zosa			van

Nouns

Nouns are for the most part divided into two categories, based on whether the stem ends in a consonant or vowel. This affects the form of their case endings, as well as adjectives, which must agree with the case and number of their noun head.

Case and Number

Three basic noun cases and two numbers are observed in the writings of the Irraħma author. Number manifests a singular-plural distinction, although there is also a separate system for singulative forms for collective nouns marked with the suffixes -ina (for consonant-final nouns), and -iena (for vowel-final nouns), take plural marking. Irregular paradigms, which appear to derive from a gender-based system, do appear; nouns that follow these paradigms are unpredictable and their forms must be memorized.

The following table illustrates the regular case-number paradigm:

	Consonant-Final Stems		Vowel-Final Stems
	Sg	Pl	Sg	Pl
Direct	-∅	-ien	-∅	-n
Construct	-ion		-n
Oblique	-ios	-ies	-s

The direct case is used for nouns in both agent and patient roles. The construct case principally marks the possessum of a possessive noun phrase, although certain prepositions that can be etymologically traced to body part and location nouns also require the construct case. The oblique case appears in nouns preceded by prepositions, although the oblique case also marks subjects of a closed set of verbs indicating cognition, emotion, and perception.

Verbs

Types

Motion Verbs

Corrádi indicates directionality via satellite verbs; Corradi uses neither nominal morphology, such as case markers, nor verbal inflections, such as applicative affixes. Instead, directionality is embedded within the semantics of the verb. For example the verb narin means "to go to/towards", whereas andrin means "to go away".

Depending on the semantics of a motion verb, the argument structure of its clause may manifest either as transitive, or intransitive:

1) Transitive Marking

Maza ron dorati!
maz-a ron dora-ti
come-TRS-PRS 2S 1P.EXC
You come to us!

2) Intransitive Marking

Maia tirena ron!
mai-a tiren-a ron
come-PRS be.fast-PRS 2S
Come quickly!

Many satellite verbs demonstrate a shared etymology, such as maza and maia in the previous examples. However, arguments that the -z- and -i- segments denote the transitivity of the verb is not supported by the data, as several counterexamples occur, and segments other than a z/i opposition are also found in the Irraħma author's writings.

Syntax

Constituent order

Corradi is a VSO language, although the position of the verb can vary, yielding SVO and SOV orders. The relative position of the subject to the object is stricter: the object may precede the subject only if topicalized by the particle na. Possessums precede their possessor, and whilst adjectives follow their noun heads.

Example texts

Doranz Amzig Miyoren danta konzi Regumon Perda nami
dor-nz-a amzig miyoren danta ko-nz-i regum-on perda mos.
flee-PST-1P place.name place.name after destroy-PST-3PL people-CNSTR spear
We fled to Amzig from Miyoren after the People of the Spear sacked the city.

"Yel nevratavi intuora, cintra ae”. Nothing is forever, all things end.