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Eyalian: Difference between revisions
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This degree of inflection is considerably less than found in Meinqələr Kvetain - the oldest known language of Keta, but it likely similar to the inflectional morphology of Proto-Ketan, from which Eyalian descends. Like in most Ketan languages, Eyalian forms noun compounds in which the second noun modifies the category given by the first, for example: ''elja-oh'' “tree of life” (in nominative case, though ''eljoh'' can also be found as a simple word), ''koaz-kȯnui'' “door of a house” (in genitive case). The second noun is in the conjunct form (''aujo lohulti''), which is also used with prepostional clitics (but not with possessive clitics): ''i-kȯn'' “in the house”, but ''zėkono'' “my house” (where the independent form is used instead). | This degree of inflection is considerably less than found in Meinqələr Kvetain - the oldest known language of Keta, but it likely similar to the inflectional morphology of Proto-Ketan, from which Eyalian descends. Like in most Ketan languages, Eyalian forms noun compounds in which the second noun modifies the category given by the first, for example: ''elja-oh'' “tree of life” (in nominative case, though ''eljoh'' can also be found as a simple word), ''koaz-kȯnui'' “door of a house” (in genitive case). The second noun is in the conjunct form (''aujo lohulti''), which is also used with prepostional clitics (but not with possessive clitics): ''i-kȯn'' “in the house”, but ''zėkono'' “my house” (where the independent form is used instead). | ||
Eyalian nouns can be topicalized with the [[w:Topic and comment|topic]] marker. A topic is the main theme of a sentence, what is being talked about. Tarnan has two topic markers (''ah'' and ''al''), which are variants of a single word (''*as''), but the first one was analysed as separate (hence the final ''*s>h''), while the second was not (and the change was ''*s>l''). ''Al'' is now used less and less, though it is much more common in western dialects. There is no rule which tells which variant is correct with a certain word, ''al'' is always used when a word begins with a ''"j"'' and originally had no initial consonants (though this is not transparent anymore and varies greatly among dialects). The topic marker is a prefix which requires the conjunct form of a noun to be used with it: ''a'i-kȯn ola lofin'' "as for the house, I live in it" (the prefix ''ah-i-'' is contracted to ''a'i-''). | |||
===Verbs=== | ===Verbs=== | ||
The verb is one of the most complex parts of Eyalian grammar. Not a full list of verb forms is given here; the purpose is to explain the nature and structure of the verbal system. One of the remarkable characteristics of the Eyalian verb is the fact that verbs can be conjugated both '''synthetically''' (i.e. have morphological finite forms); and '''analytically''' with some only having non-finite forms, which can enter into a wide variety of compound tense structures (consisting of a non-finite verb form combined with a finite auxiliary). For example, "I eat" is ''ohane'' (synthetic), but ''on fearin'' "I feel" (periphrastic, lit. "on me is feeling"). These two groups are further divided into two categories: transitive and intransitive, althouth most transitive verbs have synthetic forms. Old roots have three '''grades''', ''kuole'' ("long"), ''kieke'' ("short") and ''ekikke'' ("reduced"), though usually only the "long" and "short" grades show in conjugation. | The verb is one of the most complex parts of Eyalian grammar. Not a full list of verb forms is given here; the purpose is to explain the nature and structure of the verbal system. One of the remarkable characteristics of the Eyalian verb is the fact that verbs can be conjugated both '''synthetically''' (i.e. have morphological finite forms); and '''analytically''' with some only having non-finite forms, which can enter into a wide variety of compound tense structures (consisting of a non-finite verb form combined with a finite auxiliary). For example, "I eat" is ''ohane'' (synthetic), but ''on fearin'' "I feel" (periphrastic, lit. "on me is feeling"). These two groups are further divided into two categories: transitive and intransitive, althouth most transitive verbs have synthetic forms. Old roots have three '''grades''', ''kuole'' ("long"), ''kieke'' ("short") and ''ekikke'' ("reduced"), though usually only the "long" and "short" grades show in conjugation. | ||