Dhannuá: Difference between revisions

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'''Dhannuá''' (''dhannuá bhlóar'' [[User:Chrysophylax/Sandbox/IPA_for_Dhannuá|[ˈdʱannuaː ˈbʱloaːr]]] or ''dhannuá aurónar'' [[User:Chrysophylax/Sandbox/IPA_for_Dhannuá|[ˈdʱannuaː ˈauroːnar]]]), also known as '''Aurónian''' is a [[Lúsanic languages| Lúsanic]] language, itself a branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in the archipelago of Aurónar. It is a continuation of [[Middle Dhannuá]], the official language used by courts during the [[Lúreian kingdom]], which in turn descends from the insular [[Old_Dhannuá#Dánair |Dánair]] dialect of [[Old Dhannuá]], spoken during the [[Lúsan Empire]].
'''Dhannuá''' (''dhannuá bhlóar'' [[User:Chrysophylax/Sandbox/IPA_for_Dhannuá|[ˈdʱannuaː ˈbʱloːar]]] or ''dhannuá aurónar'' [[User:Chrysophylax/Sandbox/IPA_for_Dhannuá|[ˈdʱannuaː ˈauroːnar]]]), also known as '''Aurónian''' is a [[Lúsanic languages| Lúsanic]] language, itself a branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in the archipelago of Aurónar. It is a continuation of [[Middle Dhannuá]], the official language used by courts during the [[Second Kingdom]], which in turn descends from the insular [[Old_Dhannuá#Dánair |Dānaiza]] dialect of [[Old Dhannuá]], spoken during the [[Sawelis Empire]].


{{Infobox language
{{Infobox language
|name = Dhannuá
|name = Dhannuá
|creator = User:Chrysophylax
|nativename = Dhannuá Aurónar
|nativename = Dhannuá Aurónar
|pronunciation = [[User:Chrysophylax/Sandbox/IPA_for_Dhannuá|[ˈdʱannuaː ˈauroːnar]]]
|pronunciation = ˈdʱannuaː ˈauroːnar
|pronunciation_key = User:Chrysophylax/Sandbox/IPA_for_Dhannuá
|region = Eurasia
|region = Eurasia
|states = The Island States of Aurónar
|states = The Island States of Aurónar
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|ancestor = Old Dhannuá (Insular)
|ancestor = Old Dhannuá (Insular)
|ancestor2 = Middle Dhannuá
|ancestor2 = Middle Dhannuá
|iso1 = dh
|clcr = qdh
|iso2 = dha
|script        = Latn
|iso3 = qdh
|agency        = [[Cósseneir Dhannuáor Aurónár]] (Council of The Language of Aurónar)
|script        = [[w:Latin script|Latin]] ([[Dhannuá alphabet]])
|agency        = [[Cósseneir Dhannuáor Aurónar]] (Council of The Language of Aurónar)
}}
}}


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==Background==
==Background==
Dhannuá was conceived in my mind when I decided to properly experiment with an Indo-European lexical and grammatical root stock. I draw inspiration from the Celtic family, the Italic and personal linguaesthetic preferences. It is an attempt to create a naturalistic, modern language of the Indo-European language family.
Dhannuá was conceived in my mind when I decided to mess around with Indo-European lexical and grammatical root stock. It is my first attempt at creating a modern Indo-European conlang and it shows, in many aspects!  
 
==Classification==
 
Descending from a central Proto-Indo-European dialect spoken thousands of years ago Dhannuá is the sole extant member of the Dhannic group in the [[Lúsanic languages|Lúsanic branch]] of Indo-European. Various attempts to classify it as Celtic, Italic or even as a variant of Scythian have proven unsuccessful. Having performed the merger of palatal/plain stops, Dhannuá is categorised as a centum language.
==History==
 
===Early History===
 
The oldest preserved text in a language that can be ascribed with certainty to an early form of Dhannuá is the Samarkand stele, 300 BCE. The somewhat damaged stele was "rediscovered" in museum inventory, after being donated in 1878 from a private collector and having collected dust for 133 years until its discovery 2011. The somewhat illegible text on the stele reads:
 
:'''DOMAN•SEVANT•EVEN•REIDA•DEPOT•SEPTA•KLUNIVAD•KAPTOD'''
:: ''doman sewant(i) ewen(s) reida(nti) depot(es) septa(n) klu(sa)ni(a)wad kaptod''
:: 'Home they seek, horses they ride, lords seven, Klusaniawa taken.'
 
The name Klusaniawa (tentatively traced to ''*ḱlewos-ni-akwa'') has been deemed most probable to correspond to the city Lúsania from Old Dhannic myths. If this is true, this would mean that at least one motif of Dhannic story-telling is over 2300 years old.
The actual place name might even be older and in fact it might even be a compound dating back to the Proto-Indo-European era, which would shift the time frame to ca 3700 BCE.
The name has been analysed as a compound word of *ḱlewos and *ni-akwa. Thus literally carrying the meaning 'Fame-place-of-water'.
 
One thing that is certain from analysing the sample of Early Dhannua given by the Samarkand stele is that already at this stage the accusative marker had become -n, PIE ''*septḿ̥'' has become ''septan'' and a coda-final voicing of the dative –ōt > -ōd. There is also a formation of a verbal adjective with ''-to'' as seen in ''kaptod''.
 
===Lúsan Empire===
 
The early form of Dhannuá, sometimes known as Old Dhannuá later gave way to its slightly more known descendant Classical Dhannuá (''dhānnwa lūsana'') during the Lúsan Empire. Several hundreds of fragments have been preserved from north-eastern Europe, mostly consisting of votive inscriptions, imperial records and various business contracts.
 
:'''LANASSO·TREIES·PORCOS·RO·PENVE·LAANOS·AN·STAUROVE
::''La(n)nassō treies porcos rō(d) penve lān(os) an stāuro(n)we''
::'I will exchange tree pigs for five ?hens or a bull'
 
The ''Golden age'' Classical stage appears to have diverged quite quickly (200-300 years) into a continental and an insular division. The continental dialects appear to have become the norm during the latter half of the Empire - ''the Silver age'' - during which the majority of recovered texts hail from. The Leidic and Sían languages/dialects are extinct descendants of this group. Little is known of the insular group as a whole, there appears to have been little writing activity in the isles during the Lúsan Empire. Interestingly enough,a small insular variety - Dánair - known from records in Classical Dhannuá as ''dānaizā dhānnwa'' was to become the ancestor of [[Middle Dhannuá]].
 
===Dánair===
 
In imperial records, this variety of Dhannuá, this “island-speak” was considered "another sister" (a way of describing what we today would call a dialect) to Classical Dhannuá as evidenced by this inscription dating to the reign of the scholar-king [[History of ISA#Monarchic_period|Lúthais]] concerning the composition of the Empire.
 
:''Bhōzōiōm Lūdhas peri sar sa dānaizā dhānnwa ta bhōzānd sann i āuzir nissīr sei ta izd sa aliūzella swēsor dhānnwar Lūsanar. Lannarīzānd sēseid R rōd Z ca aliūzella aljūza sei''
:'I Lúthais, say of that, that dánaizian tongue that they speak in the eastern isles, that it is another sister of the tongue of Lúsan. They have changed for themselves r for z and other strange things.'
 
In truth the Dánair dialect appears to have been highly conservative as many Middle Dhannuán forms appear to be closer to the reconstructed and encountered words of Early Classical Dhannuá/Old Dhannuá than mainland silver-age Dhannuá.
 
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Dhannuá (and its immediate relatives) belong to the [[wikipedia:Centum-satem isogloss|centum]] grouping of IE languages, that is, they have merged the palatal and the plain plosive series.
== Phonology ==
== Phonology ==
{{Main|Dhannuán phonology}}
{{Main|Dhannuán phonology}}
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i</div>
<div style="position:absolute; left:82%; width:3em; top:2%; height:1.33em; font-size:120%; background:white;">{{IPA|u}}</div>
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(ɪ)</div>
{{IPA|(ɪ)}}</div>
<div style="position:absolute; left:47.5%; width:2.66em; top:16%; height:1.33em; font-size:120%; background:white;">
<div style="position:absolute; left:47.5%; width:2.66em; top:16%; height:1.33em; font-size:120%; background:white;">
(ɪ̈)</div>
{{IPA|(ɪ̈)}}</div>


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<div style="position:absolute; left:16%; width:2.66em; top:30%; height:1.33em; font-size:120%; background:white;">
(e)</div>
{{IPA|(e)}}</div>


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<div style="position:absolute; left:24.4%; width:2.33em; top:44%; height:1.33em; font-size:120%; background:white;">
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e̞</div>
{{IPA|}}</div>


<div style="position:absolute; left:83%; width:2.66em; top:44%; height:1.33em; font-size:120%; background:white;">o̞</div>
<div style="position:absolute; left:83%; width:2.66em; top:44%; height:1.33em; font-size:120%; background:white;">{{IPA|}}</div>


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a</div>
{{IPA|a}}</div>
<div style="position:absolute; left:83.8%; width:2.66em; top:86%; height:1.33em; font-size:120%; background:white;">
<div style="position:absolute; left:83.8%; width:2.66em; top:86%; height:1.33em; font-size:120%; background:white;">
(ɑ)</div>
{{IPA|(ɑ)}}</div>
|}
|}
</div></div>
</div></div>
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== Grammar ==
== Grammar ==
{{Main|Dhannuán grammar}}
{{Main|Dhannuán grammar}}
<!-- How do the words in your language look? How do you derive words from others? Do you have cases? Are verbs inflected? Do nouns differ from adjectives? Do adjectives differ from verbs? Etc. -->
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Like many other Lúsanic languages Dhannúa has preserved an Indo-European synthetic-inflectional structure. Although there has been considerable change, certain words remain relatively unchanged from their theorised ancestor, such as the word for flower ''bhlór'' (reconstructed [[w:Proto-Indo-European language|'''PIE''':]]''*Bʰleh³-os'').
Dhannúa, or as it has been more recently called '''Aurónian''', has preserved an Indo-European synthetic-inflectional structure in both its nouns and in its verbs.  
 
Pronouns, nouns, adjectives, and certain numerals decline (for case, number and often gender), while verbs conjugate for person and tense. The majority of nouns can be regularly inflected for six cases, a scarce few for a seventh, and adjectives generally agree with their headwords.
 
As the grammar seems to be undergoing quite a marked change in the common vernacular, certain word forms may be exceedingly rare to encounter in spoken form. Gender agreement for adjectives appears to be simplifying to a simple animate-inanimate category.
 
===Morphology===
===Morphology===
====Noun====
====Noun====
Aurónian has six noun cases – [[w:Nominative_case|nominative]], [[w:Genitive_case|genitive]], [[w:Accusative_case|accusative]], [[w:Dative case|dative]], [[w:Essive_case|essive]], [[w:Comitative_case|comitative]] - of which the first four are inherited from Indo-European.  The remaining two, the essive and comitative are innovations common to the [[Lúsanic_languages|Finio-Dhannic languages]]. Certain words appear to preserve a seventh case - the instrumental - but it is extremely rare to encounter this form in modern literature.  
Aurónian has six noun cases – [[w:Nominative_case|nominative]], [[w:Genitive_case|genitive]], [[w:Accusative_case|accusative]], [[w:Dative case|dative]], [[w:Essive_case|essive]], [[w:Comitative_case|comitative]] - of which the first four are inherited from Indo-European.  The remaining two, the essive and comitative are innovations common to the [[Lúsanic_languages|Finio-Dhannic languages]]. Certain words appear to preserve a seventh case - the instrumental - but it is extremely rare to encounter this form in modern literature.  
There are two [[w:Grammatical number|numbers]] - singular and plural - although certain words are only encountered in one of these. [[w:Grammatical gender|Grammatical gender]] appears to be in process of disappearing from the language, Dhannuá originally having had three - masculine, feminine, neuter - but now tendencies to merge the first two are becoming increasingly prevalent in certain forms of the spoken language.
There are two [[w:Grammatical number|numbers]] - singular and plural - although certain words are only encountered in one of these. [[w:Grammatical gender|Grammatical gender]] appears to be in process of disappearing from the language, Dhannuá originally having had three - masculine, feminine, neuter - but now tendencies to merge the first two in adjectives and referents are becoming increasingly prevalent in certain forms of the spoken language, while morphologically the neuter has in many cases merged with the feminine, giving many "feminine" nouns for historical neuters, e.g. ''áranna'' 'a question'.
 
=====Nominative=====
As Dhannuá is a nominative-accusative language, the nominative ({{sc|nom}}) is used for the argument of intransitive verbs (subject) and for the agent in transitive verbs.
 
In an intransitive sentence:
:''Reidhadh aicuir '''riaros úiru'''.''
:: “''The red man'' rides quickly.


{| class="wikitable" style="background:#F0F0F0"
In a transitive sentence:
! style="background:#99CCFF" colspan="6" | '''Example declension'''
:''Reidhadh supermarcetann úennan '''úiru'''.''
:: “''The man'' rides the woman to the supermarket.”
 
=====Accusative=====
 
The accusative ({{sc|acc}}) is used for the object of a transitive verb and also in certain expressions of time. Finally, it is also used to indicate the goal of verbs of motion.
 
Marked on the object of a transitive verb:
:''Dhúmadh '''abhlonn''' so.''
:: “He is smoking ''an apple''.”
 
In a fix time expression:
:''Ísdh '''nósann''' so!''
:: “''Tonight'' it is!”
 
As the goal of a verb of motion:
:''Reidhadh '''supermarcetann''' úennan úiru.''
:: “The man rides the woman ''to the supermarket''.”
 
=====Genitive=====
The genitive ({{sc|gen}}) is used to indicate a relationship of sorts between nouns, for possession, after most prepositions, and yet again in certain time expressions.
 
Indicating a relationship:
:''Ísdh sa dhannuá '''Súalannu'''!''
:: “That is the language ''of Swedes''”
 
Indicating possession:
 
:''Ísdh sa penna sar '''úennor'''.''
:: “That's the woman's pen.”
 
After a preposition:
:''Bhúirann bhuanna palann í '''Sinaror'''.''
:: “They found a plain in Shinar.”
 
In a time expression:
:''Bhúi bhresso scolann ía '''Iathassiár'''.''
:: “I walked to school last Thursday.”
 
====Verb====
The Aurónian verb is conjugated for person, number, mood, and tense. In the prescribed standard, the verb is no longer inflected for moods beyond the imperative. All other moods are instead formed by using specific postverbal particles. There are few fully irregular verbs, but many minor irregularities resulting from a conflux of analogical levelling, sound changes, and prior prescriptivism.
 
One major dialectal difference in Aurónian is found in the construction of tenses (''didhánna úánnár''). There is a multitude of ways to form both the future and the past tense, depending on whether or not one is using the synthetic form of the verb.
 
=====Present tense=====
 
The present tense is formed simply for all regular thematic verbs by adding the relevant person suffixes.
 
{| class="wikitable
!person||suffix
|-
|I||-ann
|-
|-
! style="background:#99CCFF" colspan="1" | ''Gloss''  || style="background:#99CCFF" colspan ="5" |  <span style="color:#008000">flower</span>
|thou||-as
|-
|-
! style="background:#8691FF" colspan="0" | Number || style="background:#8691FF" colspan="2" | Singular || style="background:#8691FF" colspan="2" | Plural
|he||-adh
|-
|-
! style="background:#99CCFF" colspan="1" | Nominative (anómaniú)
|we||-an,-am
| colspan="2" | bhlór || colspan="2" | bhleir
|-
|-
! style="background:#99CCFF" colspan="1" | Genitive (niriú)
|you||-adh
| colspan="2" | bhlóar || colspan="2" | bhlóru
|-
|-
! style="background:#99CCFF" colspan="1" | Dative (datiú)
|they||-annad
| colspan="2" | bhlód || colspan="2" | bhléd
|-
|-
! style="background:#99CCFF" colspan="1" | Accusative (acusatiú)
|}
| colspan="2" | bhlónn || colspan="2" | bhlóranna
=====Past tense=====
There are several past tenses which differ in their aspect state.
 
'''Past I'''
 
The first past tense is used for events that occurred in the past without a specified end. It is formed morphologically by affixing ''-ir-'' to the naked consonantal stem and then the appropriate person endings.
 
{| class="wikitable
!person||suffix
|-
|-
! style="background:#99CCFF" colspan="1" | Essive (issóiú)
|I||-ira
| colspan="2" | bhlóta || colspan="2" | bhlóradh
|-
|-
! style="background:#99CCFF" colspan="1" | Comitative (ueiú)
|thou||-ira
| colspan="2" | bhlórúe || colspan="2" | bhleirúe
|-
|-
! style="background:#99CCFF" colspan="1" | Instrumental (aissiú)
|he||-iradh
| colspan="2" | bhlóri || colspan="2" | bhlórí
|-
|we||-irim, -irin
|-
|you||-iradh
|-
|they||-irann
|-
|-
|}
|}


==Verb==
The Aurónian verb is conjugated for person, number, and tense. The standard language is no longer inflected for moods besides the imperative but instead uses specific particles to fill this role.
There are dialectal differences regarding how the tenses are built, shfiting between synthetic and periphrastic constructions. In rural areas it is not uncommon to hear ''lúsann'' 'I shall light' for the future tense of the verb {{term|lúcadh}} 'to light, to illuminate' instead of the periphrastic ''bhú lúcadh''.


The present tense is formed simply for all regular thematic verbs by adding the relevant person suffixes.
If the verb stem ends in a vowel, it is lengthened before adding ''-r-''.


{| class="bluetable"
{| class="wikitable
!colspan="2"|lúcadh ''to illuminate''
!person||''sessedh'' “to sit”
|-
|-
!person||
|I||sesséra
|-
|-
|first||lúcann
|thou||sesséra
|-
|-
|second||lúcas
|he||sesséradh
|-
|-
|third||lúcadh
|we||sessérim, sessérin
|-
|-
|first pl.||lúcan
|you||sesséridh
|-
|-
|second pl.||lúcadh
|they||sessérann
|-
|-
|third pl.||lúcannad
|}
|}
For the future tense, in addition to using an inflected verb form, one can also use a construction using ''bhúi'' (past & future form of the verb ''ísan'' 'to be') and the infinitive.
 
{| class="bluetable"
=====Future tense=====
!colspan="10"|future tense
There are two main strategies for the formation of the future tense: '''future I''' ('synthetic') and '''future II''' ('bhúi-construction').
 
'''Future I'''
 
The basis of this tense is formed morphologically by affixing ''-s-'' (or ''-r-'' in some cases) to the naked stem and then the appropriate person endings.  
This future form is able to occupy the first position of a sentence and thus word-order-wise it behaves just the same as a fully inflected present tense verb. 
 
The relevant person suffixes for this future are
 
{| class="wikitable
!person||suffix
|-
|I||-ann
|-
|thou||-is, -ir<ref name="sigma"></ref>
|-
|he||-idh
|-
|we||-im
|-
|you||-idh
|-
|they||-annad
|-
|-
!colspan="2"|person||colspan="4"|synthetic||colspan="4"|periphrastic
|}
* <ref name="sigma">If the future stem has a 'weak s' then it will shift to ''-r-'' with the ending ''-is'',while if it is a 'strong s' then it will remain ''-s-'' while the ending becomes ''-ir''</ref>
<references/>
 
'''Future II'''
 
This tense is on the other hand formed by combining the future tense of ''ísan'' with the verbal noun.
 
{| class="wikitable
!colspan="4"|the verb ísan in the future tense
|-
|-
|colspan="2"|first||colspan="4"|lúsann||bhúi<ref name="bhui"></ref> lúcadh ía
|I||colspan="2"|bhúirinn
|-
|-
|colspan="2"|second||colspan="4"|lúsir||bhúiris lúcadh (dhú)
|thou||colspan="2"|bhúiris
|-
|-
|colspan="2"|third||colspan="4"|lúsidh||bhúiridh lúcadh (so)
|he ||colspan="2"|bhúiridh
|-
|-
|colspan="2"|first pl.||colspan="4"|lúsim||bhúirim lúcadh (úei)
|we||colspan="2"|bhúirim
|-
|-
|colspan="2"|second pl.||colspan="4"|lúsidh||bhúiridh lúcadh (íe)
|you||colspan="2"|bhúiridh
|-
|-
|colspan="2"|third pl.||colspan="4"|lúsannad||bhúiran lúcadh (sei)
|they||colspan="2"|bhúirinn
|-
|-
|}
|}
===Notes===
<ref name="bhui">All of these can be replaced with a single ''bhúi'' if the pronoun follows, which is more often the standard than the exception.</ref>
<references/>
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The inflected form is itself prone to reduction to ''bhúi'' in speech, whereupon the use of pronouns becomes obligatory,
 
:''Bhúi lúcadh tódh sa'' vs. ''bhúiridh lúcadh tódh'' "She's going to light it"


=== Syntax ===
===Syntax===
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==== Word order ====
Aurónian Dhannuá syntax is markedly different from Indo-European syntax, especially in its typologically rare [[w:Verb-object-subject|VOS]] word order
{{improvesection}}
====Default word order====
The default unmarked word order in Dhannuá is verb-initial with the object following and optionally the subject may come last (VOS). This is quite an interesting feature of the language considering the rarity of this word order in the world.
# Negation<sup>1</sup>
# Verb
# Various postverbal particles<sup>2</sup>
# Auxiliary verb part<sup>3</sup>
# Manner descriptor
# Indirect object
# Direct object
# Location descriptor
# Time descriptor
# Subject
'''Notes'''
* <small>1. Usually, if the verb begins with a vowel, the negation ''ne'' is procliticised onto the verb,  e.g. '''''an'''úidannad an tódh?'' 'Don't they know that?' and loses stress.</small>
* <small>2. e.g. ''ca'' 'and, also', ''an'' 'question particle'. </small>
* <small>3. e.g. past tense participle, future II participle, etc. </small>
The bare building block needed for an intransitive sentence is the verb with the subject as an optional component. Sentences with a transitive verb require a direct object.
 
In actual speech, word order may vary slightly, a bit freer than say English, as words are inflected for case and verbs may be marked for person thus permitting such variations such as verb-subject-object.
 
'''Example sentence'''
: ''Ne ísdh ca rédhan cun úaughod sann so nu.'' "And he isn't driving by car to her now"
 
====Questions====
Questions follow a slightly different word order from the default, depending on several factors (such as polarity, tense, particle) which makes them one of the more complex parts of the grammar.
 
In simple questions replace the direct object with the relevant wh-word.
: ''Ísdh úid?'' "What is that?"
: ''Náscas úid?'' "What do you doubt?"
 
For emphasis, it is possible to front the wh-word.
: ''Úid ísdh?'' "''What'' is that?"
: ''Úíd náscas?'' "''What'' is it that you doubt?"
 
In yes/no questions, the usual word order applies in the present tense.
: ''Ísdh an sád penna?'' "Is that her pen?"
:: ''Ísdh.'' "It is."
:: ''Anísdh.'' "It is not."


In actual speech, word order may vary slightly, a bit freer than say English, as words are inflected for case and verbs may be marked for person thus permitting such variations such as verb-subject-object.  
In the past tense, the position of the question element is variable. At the fundamental level it has to do with whether one is using the full (''bhúir-'') or the reduced form (''bhúi'') of ''ísan'' to form the past tense. This has some consequences for the negation and the postverbal particles.
: ''(Ne) bhúirann an dhann sod tódh?'' "Did I (not) give it to him?"


V Q NEG AUX ADV D A S
: ''An bhúi (ne) dhann sod tódh ía?'' "Did I (not) give it to him?"


Emphasis on the subject is common in transitive questions; this is accomplished syntactically by fronting the subject and verb, i.e. using a subject-verb-object word order.  
The pattern can be described formally as
:''Q V<sub>1</sub> {{sc|neg}} V<sub>2</sub> {{sc|particle}}… '', e.g. ''An bhúi ne ússo ca méd tódh so'' "And he didn't tell me?"


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Latest revision as of 20:47, 4 July 2021

Dhannuá (dhannuá bhlóar [ˈdʱannuaː ˈbʱloːar] or dhannuá aurónar [ˈdʱannuaː ˈauroːnar]), also known as Aurónian is a Lúsanic language, itself a branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in the archipelago of Aurónar. It is a continuation of Middle Dhannuá, the official language used by courts during the Second Kingdom, which in turn descends from the insular Dānaiza dialect of Old Dhannuá, spoken during the Sawelis Empire.

Dhannuá
Dhannuá Aurónar
Pronunciation[ˈdʱannuaː ˈauroːnar]
Created byChrysophylax
Native toThe Island States of Aurónar
Native speakers32 thousand (2011)
Indo-European
Early forms
Old Dhannuá (Insular)
  • Middle Dhannuá
Official status
Official language in
The Island States of Aurónar
Regulated byCósseneir Dhannuáor Aurónár (Council of The Language of Aurónar)
Language codes
CLCRqdh

Background

Dhannuá was conceived in my mind when I decided to mess around with Indo-European lexical and grammatical root stock. It is my first attempt at creating a modern Indo-European conlang and it shows, in many aspects!

Dhannuá (and its immediate relatives) belong to the centum grouping of IE languages, that is, they have merged the palatal and the plain plosive series.

Phonology

Dhannúa has 22-24 distinctive consonants.

Consonants

Bilabial Labiode. Dental Alveol. Postalve. Velar Glottal
Nasals m n
Plosives p pʰ b bʱ t tʰ d dʱ k kʰ g gʱ
Fricatives [f] [v] s z ʃ h
Trills r
Glides Approxim. w
Lateral Appr. l

The pronunciation of /f/ and its voiced counterpart /v/ is considered a dialectal variation on /pʰ/ and /bʱ/. Although they occur in a few standard words as borrowings from these dialects they are often not considered to belong in Dhannuá proper.

Vowels

Front Near-front Central Near-back Back
Close
Blank vowel trapezoid.svg
i
u
(ɪ)
(ɪ̈)
(e)


a
(ɑ)
Near‑close
Close‑mid
Mid
Open‑mid
Near‑open
Open

Grammar

Dhannúa, or as it has been more recently called Aurónian, has preserved an Indo-European synthetic-inflectional structure in both its nouns and in its verbs.

Pronouns, nouns, adjectives, and certain numerals decline (for case, number and often gender), while verbs conjugate for person and tense. The majority of nouns can be regularly inflected for six cases, a scarce few for a seventh, and adjectives generally agree with their headwords.

As the grammar seems to be undergoing quite a marked change in the common vernacular, certain word forms may be exceedingly rare to encounter in spoken form. Gender agreement for adjectives appears to be simplifying to a simple animate-inanimate category.

Morphology

Noun

Aurónian has six noun cases – nominative, genitive, accusative, dative, essive, comitative - of which the first four are inherited from Indo-European. The remaining two, the essive and comitative are innovations common to the Finio-Dhannic languages. Certain words appear to preserve a seventh case - the instrumental - but it is extremely rare to encounter this form in modern literature. There are two numbers - singular and plural - although certain words are only encountered in one of these. Grammatical gender appears to be in process of disappearing from the language, Dhannuá originally having had three - masculine, feminine, neuter - but now tendencies to merge the first two in adjectives and referents are becoming increasingly prevalent in certain forms of the spoken language, while morphologically the neuter has in many cases merged with the feminine, giving many "feminine" nouns for historical neuters, e.g. áranna 'a question'.

Nominative

As Dhannuá is a nominative-accusative language, the nominative (nom) is used for the argument of intransitive verbs (subject) and for the agent in transitive verbs.

In an intransitive sentence:

Reidhadh aicuir riaros úiru.
The red man rides quickly.”

In a transitive sentence:

Reidhadh supermarcetann úennan úiru.
The man rides the woman to the supermarket.”
Accusative

The accusative (acc) is used for the object of a transitive verb and also in certain expressions of time. Finally, it is also used to indicate the goal of verbs of motion.

Marked on the object of a transitive verb:

Dhúmadh abhlonn so.
“He is smoking an apple.”

In a fix time expression:

Ísdh nósann so!
Tonight it is!”

As the goal of a verb of motion:

Reidhadh supermarcetann úennan úiru.
“The man rides the woman to the supermarket.”
Genitive

The genitive (gen) is used to indicate a relationship of sorts between nouns, for possession, after most prepositions, and yet again in certain time expressions.

Indicating a relationship:

Ísdh sa dhannuá Súalannu!
 “That is the language of Swedes

Indicating possession:

Ísdh sa penna sar úennor.
“That's the woman's pen.”

After a preposition:

Bhúirann bhuanna palann í Sinaror.
“They found a plain in Shinar.”

In a time expression:

Bhúi bhresso scolann ía Iathassiár.
“I walked to school last Thursday.”

Verb

The Aurónian verb is conjugated for person, number, mood, and tense. In the prescribed standard, the verb is no longer inflected for moods beyond the imperative. All other moods are instead formed by using specific postverbal particles. There are few fully irregular verbs, but many minor irregularities resulting from a conflux of analogical levelling, sound changes, and prior prescriptivism.

One major dialectal difference in Aurónian is found in the construction of tenses (didhánna úánnár). There is a multitude of ways to form both the future and the past tense, depending on whether or not one is using the synthetic form of the verb.

Present tense

The present tense is formed simply for all regular thematic verbs by adding the relevant person suffixes.

person suffix
I -ann
thou -as
he -adh
we -an,-am
you -adh
they -annad
Past tense

There are several past tenses which differ in their aspect state.

Past I

The first past tense is used for events that occurred in the past without a specified end. It is formed morphologically by affixing -ir- to the naked consonantal stem and then the appropriate person endings.

person suffix
I -ira
thou -ira
he -iradh
we -irim, -irin
you -iradh
they -irann


If the verb stem ends in a vowel, it is lengthened before adding -r-.

person sessedh “to sit”
I sesséra
thou sesséra
he sesséradh
we sessérim, sessérin
you sesséridh
they sessérann
Future tense

There are two main strategies for the formation of the future tense: future I ('synthetic') and future II ('bhúi-construction').

Future I

The basis of this tense is formed morphologically by affixing -s- (or -r- in some cases) to the naked stem and then the appropriate person endings. This future form is able to occupy the first position of a sentence and thus word-order-wise it behaves just the same as a fully inflected present tense verb.

The relevant person suffixes for this future are

person suffix
I -ann
thou -is, -ir[1]
he -idh
we -im
you -idh
they -annad
  1. ^ a b If the future stem has a 'weak s' then it will shift to -r- with the ending -is,while if it is a 'strong s' then it will remain -s- while the ending becomes -ir

Future II

This tense is on the other hand formed by combining the future tense of ísan with the verbal noun.

the verb ísan in the future tense
I bhúirinn
thou bhúiris
he bhúiridh
we bhúirim
you bhúiridh
they bhúirinn

The inflected form is itself prone to reduction to bhúi in speech, whereupon the use of pronouns becomes obligatory,

Bhúi lúcadh tódh sa vs. bhúiridh lúcadh tódh "She's going to light it"

Syntax

Aurónian Dhannuá syntax is markedly different from Indo-European syntax, especially in its typologically rare VOS word order

Default word order

  1. Negation1
  2. Verb
  3. Various postverbal particles2
  4. Auxiliary verb part3
  5. Manner descriptor
  6. Indirect object
  7. Direct object
  8. Location descriptor
  9. Time descriptor
  10. Subject

Notes

  • 1. Usually, if the verb begins with a vowel, the negation ne is procliticised onto the verb, e.g. anúidannad an tódh? 'Don't they know that?' and loses stress.
  • 2. e.g. ca 'and, also', an 'question particle'.
  • 3. e.g. past tense participle, future II participle, etc.

The bare building block needed for an intransitive sentence is the verb with the subject as an optional component. Sentences with a transitive verb require a direct object.

In actual speech, word order may vary slightly, a bit freer than say English, as words are inflected for case and verbs may be marked for person thus permitting such variations such as verb-subject-object.

Example sentence

Ne ísdh ca rédhan cun úaughod sann so nu. "And he isn't driving by car to her now"

Questions

Questions follow a slightly different word order from the default, depending on several factors (such as polarity, tense, particle) which makes them one of the more complex parts of the grammar.

In simple questions replace the direct object with the relevant wh-word.

Ísdh úid? "What is that?"
Náscas úid? "What do you doubt?"

For emphasis, it is possible to front the wh-word.

Úid ísdh? "What is that?"
Úíd náscas? "What is it that you doubt?"

In yes/no questions, the usual word order applies in the present tense.

Ísdh an sád penna? "Is that her pen?"
Ísdh. "It is."
Anísdh. "It is not."

In the past tense, the position of the question element is variable. At the fundamental level it has to do with whether one is using the full (bhúir-) or the reduced form (bhúi) of ísan to form the past tense. This has some consequences for the negation and the postverbal particles.

(Ne) bhúirann an dhann sod tódh? "Did I (not) give it to him?"
An bhúi (ne) dhann sod tódh ía? "Did I (not) give it to him?"

The pattern can be described formally as

Q V1 neg V2 particle, e.g. An bhúi ne ússo ca méd tódh so "And he didn't tell me?"