Laceyiam: Difference between revisions

Anyway, while being a priori, there are definitely many noticeable influences from natlangs. ''Sanskrit, Lithuanian,'' and ''Icelandic'' are the most obvious ones, and also ''Danish, PIE, Old Tupi,'' and ''Japanese'' had a moderate influence. However, I tried to do something that while having much in common with all of these languages, is also strikingly different (the Austronesian morphosyntactic alignment, morphological expression of evidentiality and more broadly the particular emphasis on moods probably being the most noticeable things). Laceyiam is mainly thought for my conworld, but more than any other conlang of mine it is quite on the border between an art- and a heartlang.

While Laceyiam does not have local dialects, there are speech varieties; Laceyiam terminology just calls them '''ńäytharaṃsai '''(singular: ''ńäytharam''), “pronunciations”, but differences are also lexical and, in some cases, even grammatical; the written form is based on Classical Laceyiam (''Chløyęe Laceyiam''), but no modern pronunciation follows it. Standard Laceyiam - the Laltīmāhei hėnna - is based on a typical Southeastern pronunciation, formally the one of ''Kaylamārśikha'', capital of Laltīmāhia, around year 60 of the Fourth Era; today the pronunciation of Kaylamārśikha has diverged somewhat and the closest “natural” pronunciation to Standard Laceyiam is the one of ''Līlta'', in the South, the third largest city in the country. 

Through reconstructed vocabulary we can also hypothesize which kind of society the Proto-Cis-Tahianshima people had. They were primitive but due to their insular location were skilled navigators; their atolline and insular habitat is confirmed by the huge number of words relating to it, like ''*tuŋa₁'' (atoll), ''*ħō₁nə'' (lagoon), ''*ta₂fā'' (islet), three terms distinguishing different depths of lagoon water (''*dotepō₁kə, *ve₁mpeg, *ną₂gnos''); they also had the word ''*ja₁ŋwī'' for large boats (probably used for travelling through different islands) and ''*na₂sət'' for smaller ones; ''*ŋotirō₁'' is a wave (and possibly also “solar ray”), ''*kurū₂m'' (guano), and no word at all for “mountain” or “hill”. They had rudimentary weapons like the ''*gʷūm₂poxim'' (harpoon) and the ''*kōɣəndsą₁(s)'' (knife). They lived in villages called ''*ɟō₂n-bʱeg'' with leaders called ''*ɟun-bʱi-spā₁r''. Military leaders were called ''*šimvā₂tə'' (reconstructible from Mid-Oceanic languages and Laceyiam) or ''*spār-dū₂s'' (from the other branches), and also extremely important were ''*šjā₂mejə'', guardians of boats - this latter root even became the verb “to save” in Pakpatic and Taruebic languages and the standard honorific ''yāmei'' in Laceyiam. The primitiveness of their society is stressed by the fact that they didn’t wear any clothes - there is no reconstructible word for any type of clothes, and also some oceanic islanders didn’t use clothes by the time - 200 years ago - they first had contact with Western civilizations. Still there are three reconstructible body ornament words (none of these survived into Laceyiam, though): ''*dū₁stes'' (necklace — only in Mid- and Upper Oceanic), ''*pōnā₁bə'' (branch or stick inserted into an ear), and ''*fode₁g'' (penis sheath). This latter object probably was a status symbol, as Pakpatic and Taruebic languages reflect it as “family leader”.

Laceyiam, anyway, extensively modified its vowel system through regressive umlaut and assimilation of *j and *w glides, and also the loss of *ə created lots of consonant clusters and consonant-final words, which were all later simplified in some way. Another notable change is the loss of the various [o]-phonemes into another, mostly into /a/. Syncope and the loss of phonemic stress led to different derivations of a same PCT root being often obscured in Laceyiam.

As for consonants, Laceyiam is the only Cis-Tahianshima language (excluding its own descendants) that kept the four-way contrast in stops (unvoiced and voiced, plain and aspirate) and four out of five PCT points of articulation: labials, dentals, palatals and velars were kept, but labiovelars merged into different phonemes depending on nearby vowels. However Laceyiam gained a new fifth point of articulation for stops, the ''retroflex'' one, mostly from sequences of a dental consonant plus *r. Laceyiam is also the only language in its family that reflects directly the PCT phoneme *ħ, whose realization is still unclear but was most probably [ħ], [ʜ], or [ʕ]: in the vast majority of cases, PCT *ħ corresponds to Laceyiam <l>, the peculiar nasal (post-)uvular flap /ɴ̆/. This latter phoneme, the most common consonant in Laceyiam, is a reflection of four PCT phonemes: *ħ, *l, *ŋ, and *ŋʷ, as well as other sources like *r word-initially and in dissimilation, or changes like *kr *kʰr > kl. The common cluster /c͡ɕʰɴ̆/ <chl>, as in the word ''Chlegdarim'', arose both from *cr, *cʰr and also from various simplifications after schwa syncope. The three common PCT phonemes *x, *ɣ, and *h were most often deleted but left their trace in the breathy-voiced phonation of the preceding vowel.

Proto-Mǎng Tì itself had two main influences on Laceyiam grammar. The first is the addition of the abessive and substitutive cases - the most regular ones in Laceyiam - by attaching the PMNg postpositions ''*tyak'' “without” and ''*myaŋ'' “instead of” to the accusative case forms. The second, and by far most important one, is the origin of the exterior and interior verb forms. This feature wasn’t borrowed directly, but made from inherited PCT elements as a kind of “calque” of some PMNg structures, particularly the pairing of static or “uncontrolled” meanings with the reflexive voice. Laceyiam interior endings are in fact derived by the “normal” exterior verb endings with added ''*nəs'', a clitic form of PCT ''*nō₁ns'', a reflexive pronoun.

The Chlegdarims quickly spread across southern Leitāvaja, making contact with a new habitat, mostly made of rainforests and swamps (even more than on Tahianshima) and other civilizations: first of all the so-called '''Nanaklāri''' peoples, whose languages have never been directly attested. Their name derives from ''Nanaklāra'', a borough in ''Kaylamārśikha'' (Laltīmāhia's capital city and the largest city on the planet) whose name is a toponym linked to a "Nanaklāri" origin. '''Old Hjøtūchilāmi''' isn't usually set apart from Nanaklāri languages, but unlike "proper Nanaklāri" it is attested in sparse inscriptions and texts both in ''Laceyiam'' and ''Dzams-bltyod''; it was however spoken further west (in present-day ''Hjøtūchilām'') but was another major source language for many loans into Laceyiam, including a huge number of proper personal names. Apropos personal names, the fact almost no common Laceyiam given name is PCT-derived and a good majority is of either Old Hjøtūchilāmi or Nanaklāri origin, most anthropologist think that the Chlegdarims absorbed Nanaklāri and Old Hjøtūchilāmi cultures easily by intermarriage so that ethnic identity “borders” between them became blurred and vanished. The other main influence was '''Ancient Lelīmuyāńi''', the language of ''Lelīmuyāńa'' (a historical distinct region, today in northern and northeastern ''Leitāvaja'' and extreme southern ''Lanturlīṭa'' dioceses), which at the time was the most advanced civilization of the area. Ancient Lelīmuyāńi already had written texts, and in fact the first attestation of the Chlegdarims’ presence is found in an Ancient Lelīmuyāńi text, probably aimed at travelling merchants, which talks about “people of the west” living in the “forested low coastal areas”, which call themselves ''Cuḷeketazhi'' (approximation of ''Chlegdarim'') in the language ''we'' (the Ancient Lelīmuyāńi people) call “''laccaiyam''”. The word '''Laceyiam''' is in fact an Ancient Lelīmuyāńi borrowing, meaning “voice (''iyam'') of the sunset (''lacca'')”, where “sunset” means “west”.

Despite the prehistory of Laceyiam and its descendance from Proto-Cis-Tahianshima being now certified and accepted scientifically, Laceyiam’s date and place of birth are considered respectively the time of the Chlegdarims’ arrival on Isungatsuaq and southern Leitāvaja. This area is in fact the homeland of Chlegdarim civilization, and it is only here that Chlegdarim culture and traditions shaped themselves - including language. The most obvious and most important trace of this in Laceyiam is the huge number of words that entered the Chlegdarims’ daily life: obviously they had the need to describe the nature they found themselves in, a jungle- and swamp-centric environment, most features of which were completely unknown in their previous, sea-based habitat. In fact, most words for equatorial plants, animals, and geographical features are of either Nanaklāri, Old Hjøtūchilāmi, or Ancient Lelīmuyāńi origin (e.g. ''jaja'' “igarapé”, ''māra'' “mango”, ''kāmbava'' “water lily”, ''ėmīla'' “tiger”, ''kėmbe'' “toucan”, ''naʔikė'' “flooded clearwater forest”, ''heita'' “durian”, ''kalńi'' “sound of a tree branch falling into water”); only few of them have Proto-Mǎng Tì origin (e.g. ''kami'' “rose”, ''dalakām'' “bamboo”, ''humba'' “spice”, ''tiuʔa'' “palm”), and only those most related to coastal areas are inherited from PCT (e.g. ''tėti'' “island”, ''jhāva'' “reef”). Also borrowed are lots of wordsrelated to activities and products (e.g. ''mānska'' “glass”) and, most importantly, cultural (e.g. ''buldhām'', the typical Chlegdarim burial and the relative ceremony; ''talengim'', ritual tattoo) and religious terms, most of which have probable Nanaklāri origins. In fact, the Leitāvaji society of the First Era was extremely multicultural, and Nanaklāri languages in the west and Ancient Lelīmuyāńi in the east (the latter being the only written language) were the lingua francas; Laceyiam became more important and ultimately drove the others to extinction mainly for two reasons: the cultural intermixing mentioned before and also because '''Lėliðaṇīṭa''', the Great Prophet of the '''Yūnialtia''', was a Chlegdarim and her language began to be considered holier; the amount of Nanaklāri instead of Ancient Lelīmuyāńi words in Yūnialtei terminology points to her native village, and the areas of her first teachings, being located west of the ''Kaicedhīma'' mountains.

Laceyiam up until this point in time is normally defined as '''Pre-classical Laceyiam''': its limit is the late First Era, around the lifetime of ''Lėliðaṇīṭa'', with Nanaklāri and a few Old Hjøtūchilāmi loans being already established, but without substantial Ancient Lelīmuyāńi influence; in the earliest Laceyiam texts (''Archaic Laceyiam'') we can for example already find the root numbers of Nanaklāri origins (''tulūʔa'' “six” and ''jaibha'' “fifteen”) but the number system itself is still hexadecimal (the Classical decimal one was borrowed from Ancient Lelīmuyāńi). Anyway, except for the hexadecimal numeral system, Laceyiam had grammatically already reached its classical and present state.

Standard Laceyiam has a slightly above average consonant inventory with, in the most common analysis, 39 phonemes. The consonant analysis followed here does not follow the exact points of articulation, but is the traditional analysis done by native grammarians, grouping consonant phonemes in mostly regular groups. The Laceyiam word for consonant, ''hīmbeyālia'', is a compound of ''hīmba ''"colour" and ''yālia ''"sound".

| f v

|ɦ ʁ

Some analyses differ slightly from the one above: the laryngeal flap /<span>ʕ̯/ is sometimes included among the non-sibilant fricatives (''susatiak pańjńybessai''), and nasal flaps, approximants and semivowels are all grouped as approximants (''mūgyālieniai''). These analyses focus more on the actual behaviour of consonants in different environments rather than on their actual articulation.</span>

==Grammar==

* '''Instrumental''' (''khabdemin''): case used for instrumental complements (e.g. "by means of X", "using X").

* '''Comitative''' (''mahiegdemin''): case used for complements of company (e.g. "with X", "together with X").

* '''Locative '''(''hlūðademin''): used for locations (in any voice except locative) and punctual time.

* '''Abessive '''(''śądemin''): used to express the lack of something (e.g. "without X").

Nominal morphology is fusional, but there are some regular patterns that reflect the mostly agglutinative nature of Proto-Cis-Tahianshima noun morphology. There are nine declensions (''paiktairathādai''), each of them having a particular citation form ending, plus a few irregular nouns. Some declensions include regular sub-patterns for certain nouns in some forms.

|Instrumental

|ėmīl'''arið'''

* Nouns ending in '''-au''' change this into '''-āva''' before any ending beginning with a vowel, so for example ''hīmuyau'' "husband of father's sister" has dir.pl. ''hīmuyāvai, ''erg.sg. ''hīmuyauss, ''acc.sg. ''hīmuyāvau'' ... com.sg. ''hīmuyaunam, ''and so on. ''Chlou'', the only word with /ɔ<span>u̯/, may informally follow this pattern, but the official recommendation is to use compounds such as ''Chlou-marta ''"Chlou city" or ''Chlou-lila ''"Chlou person" in order to decline it or derive forms.</span>

* Nouns ending in '''-ia, -iā, -ie, '''or '''-iė '''all have accusative singular in '''-vau''' (e.g. ''nahia ''"mountain" > ''nahiavau'') genitive singular in '''-ei''' (''nahia ''> ''nahei''), ablative singular in '''-vų''' (''nahia ''> ''nahiavų''), locative singular in '''-ye '''(''nahia ''> ''nahiaye''); ergative plural in '''-lss '''(''nahia ''> ''nahialss''), genitive plural in '''-riė''' (''nahia ''> ''nahiariė''), and locative plural in '''-rilym '''(''nahia ''> ''nahiarilym'').

* Nouns ending in '''-ie '''and '''-iė '''also have substitutive singular in '''-imian '''(e.g. ''hulunamie ''"pregnancy" > ''hulunamimian'') and abessive singular in '''-itiak '''(''hulunamie ''> ''hulunamitiak'').

''heilenu ''"wind" is an irregular noun which, for the most part, follows the first declension, alternating between ''heilenu- ''stem and umlauted ''høylen- ''stem, the latter used in singular accusative, genitive, instrumental, locative, substitutive, and abessive, and in every plural form except instrumental, ablative and locative. Non-umlauted forms have /u/ replacing any /a/ in the "normal" first declension pattern, becoming breathy-voiced in ablative plural. Ablative singular is ''heilenų'' with a single, breathy-voiced /<span class="">ṳ</span>/; locative plural is ''heilenuilym'', with the /<span class="">ui̯/ diphthong.</span>

|kair'''ėrið'''

* Nouns ending in '''-y '''and '''-ȳ '''have genitive singular in '''-yvi '''(e.g. ''tammy ''"train" > ''tammyvi''); direct plural in '''-r '''(''tammy > tammyr''), ergative plural in '''-ylss '''(> ''tammylss''), genitive plural in '''-yvė '''(> ''tammyvė''), ablative plural in '''-įnie '''(> ''tammįnie''), and locative plural in '''-īlym '''(> ''tammīlym'').

* Nouns ending in '''-iū''' (uncommon, but most notably ''jeniū'' "flower") have ablative singular in '''-ųu '''(''jeniū ''> ''jeniųu'') and various extended plural stems: direct in '''-ūyai '''(> ''jeniūyai''), ergative '''-ūyilss '''(> ''jeniūyilss''), accusative '''-ūyiau '''(> ''jeniūyiau''), comitative '''-ūyinam '''(> ''jeniūyinam''), dative '''-ūyið '''(> ''jeniūyið''), and locative in '''-ūlym '''(> ''jeniūlym''). In addition to these, they also keep the long vowel in genitive singular and plural (e.g. > ''jeniūyi, jeniūyė'').

The third declension (''chīkende paiktairathāda'') includes nouns ending in '''-i'''; they are however divided in two different sub-declensions depending on whether they take ''i-umlaut ''or not. Nouns taking ''i-umlaut ''have their root vowel in either '''a, ā''', (both ''a1'' or ''a2'' types) '''u''', or '''ū; '''umlaut is present in every form <u>except</u> direct, ergative, comitative and dative singular and ablative and locative plural.

|Instrumental

|tėt'''iu'''

|tėt'''iarið'''

|<span>gind</span>'''ä'''<span>m'''arið'''</span>

The fourth declension (''bäliende paiktairathāda'') is the least regular and the least common of all. It includes nouns which are a relic of the ablauting nouns, already somewhat archaic and unproductive in Proto-Cis-Tahianshima. Some linguists, however, argue that ablauting and non-ablauting nouns originally had a gender distinction on the basis that Laceyiam has some ablauting nouns which are words for animals native to Isungatsuaq - and thus unknown in PCT times - like ''kīva ''(a kind of capybara), ''linda ''(giant river otter), or ''gunta ''(marsh deer). These nouns are often either common words (like ''niyū'' "mother" or ''klut''''' '''"father") or compounds with ''lila''''' '''"person". Some of these also have irregularities (including ''niyū'' and ''lila'', probably the two most common nouns of this declension) or some cases with more possible forms. Nouns with /j/-stems are the most complicated in the whole Laceyiam language due to extensive umlaut on top of ablauting vowels.  

* The '''Short non-tonic stem''' is used in direct, instrumental, and ablative plural;

* The '''Long stem '''is used in the genitive singular and in accusative, comitative, substitutive, and abessive plural;

|'''klut'''

|kl'''a'''t'''iė'''

|klut'''ass'''

|kl'''iu'''t'''iss'''

|klut'''au'''

|kl'''ā'''t'''au'''

|kl'''ā'''t'''i'''

|kl'''au'''t'''ė'''

|Instrumental

|klut'''ū'''

|kl'''a'''t'''ū'''

|kl'''ā'''t'''nam'''

|klut'''að'''

|kl'''iu'''t'''ið'''

|klut'''ų'''

|kl'''a'''t'''nie'''

|klut'''ie'''

|kl'''au'''t'''ilym'''

|kl'''ā'''t'''utiak'''

!niyū, nih- (mother) (4.4)

|'''niyū'''

|'''niyė'''

|n'''įss'''

|n'''ęiss'''

|nih'''au'''

|n'''ie'''h'''au'''

|'''nęi *'''

|n'''ai'''h'''ė'''

|Instrumental

|nih'''ū'''

|n'''e'''h'''ū'''

|n'''ięnam'''

|nih'''að'''

|n'''ei'''h'''ið'''

|nih'''ų'''

|n'''ęenie'''

|nih'''ie'''

|n'''ai'''h'''ilym'''

|n'''ie'''h'''utiak'''

|}As mentioned before, both '''lila''' and '''niyū''' are irregular nouns, but, being both extremely common nouns, both alone and in compounds, the inclusion of their paradigm as being representative of 4.3 and 4.4 nouns is this way justified. They differ from regular nouns in:

* 4.3 nouns have ablative singular with '''-ų''' and the singular stem, like ''aʔīma ''(a freshwater crustacean of the flooded rainforest in Southern Laltīmāhia) > ''aʔīmų; ''accusative plural with '''ei-au '''(> ''aʔeimau''), dative plural '''e-ið''' (> ''aʔemið'') and substitutive and abessive plural with '''ei-umian/ei-utiak '''(> ''aʔeimumian; aʔeimutiak'' - note that these two cases' forms are based on the accusative plural). The regular ablative singular ''lilų''''' '''and the plural accusative ''leilau'' (and substitutive ''leilumian'' and abessive ''leilutiak'') are however attested as variant forms of the declension of '''lila''' in some literary texts, particularly those composed until the 1st century of the Third Era in modern-day Hjøtūchilām diocese.

* '''lila''' has a peculiar, but predictable, behaviour in ergative singular and plural, that is the lack of any vowel between the '''l '''and the '''ss, '''and '''-iū''' in the instrumental plural. This happens for every fourth- and seventh-declension noun ending in '''-l''' or '''-la'''.

* '''niyū''' has an irregular direct case for both numbers, otherwise it's regular but with the stem '''nih-''' (alternations between '''-h''' and a breathy-voiced vowel are all regular). Genitive '''nęi '''is the only other irregular form, by simplification of earlier (attested in the early Classical Age) ''nięi''. A regular 4.4 noun, ''dlīsa''''' '''"rift, breaking point, limit, abrupt end, edge of a cliff" has direct plural ''dleśiė'' and genitive singular ''dlieśi''''' '''(with a regular '''s > ś '''before '''i '''saṃdhi change).

|Instrumental

|Dative

|ńūńeya'''ð'''

|ń'''o'''ń'''eið'''

|Instrumental

<span>We can thus describe that '''4.1 /j/-stem nouns''' have umlaut in instrumental, comitative, locative, substitutive, and abessive singular, and direct, genitive, and ablative plural; as for '''4.2 /j/-stem nouns''', they have umlaut in genitive, instrumental, comitative, locative, substitutive, and abessive singular, and in direct, genitive, comitative, and ablative plural.</span>

==== The fifth declension (one-stem nasals) ====

The fifth declension (''gembliende paiktairathāda'')'' ''includes all nasal nouns (those ending in '''-n '''or '''-m''') with a single stem, that is, the majority of them - two-stem nasal nouns are those of the sixth declension.

!hjøðam (hand)

|'''hjøðam'''

|hjøðam'''ai'''

|hjøða'''ṃss'''

|hjøðam'''ulss'''

|hjøðam'''au'''

|hjøða'''ṃrau'''

|hjøðam'''i'''

|hjøðam'''ė'''

|Instrumental

|hjøðam'''u'''

|hjøðam'''ariu'''

|Comitative

|hjøða'''ṃnam'''

|hjøðam'''arṇam'''

|hjøðam'''að'''

|hjøða'''ṃrið'''

|hjøðam'''ų'''

|hjøðam'''ęnie'''

|hjøðam'''ie'''

|hjøðam'''ilym'''

|hjøða'''ṃrutiak'''

There are two differences between nouns ending in '''-m''' and those in '''-n: '''the first one is saṃdhi, that is, '''-n''' nouns have '''-nnam''' in comitative singular and '''-ṃmian''' in substitutive singular (e.g. ''mėngerten ''"morning" > ''mėngertennam; mėngerteṃmian''). The other difference is that '''-n''' noun have ergative plural in '''-alss''' (> ''mėngertenalss'')

==== The sixth declension (two-stem nasals) ====

The sixth declension (''tulūʔende'' ''paiktairathāda''), as mentioned before, includes two-stem nasals: this declension is similar to the fifth one, but these nouns have a '''-s''' between the '''-m''' and the ending in all forms except ergative plural and direct, ergative, comitative, substitutive, and abessive singular.

The noun ''sūgnulum ''"blind", while etymologically a sixth declension one (< PCT ''*tsu₁ɣ-ŋʷoħūm-s'' "without eye(s)"), is often declined as a fifth declension one. 

|Instrumental

|lilla'''ṃṣrið'''

==== The seventh declension (consonant-stem nouns) ====

The seventh declension (''hauþtinde paiktairathāda'') is a common one including basically all ''consonant-stem'' nouns, that is, one of those ending in non-nasal consonants except ''-h''. Possible endings are '''-ð, -t, -ṭ '''and '''-r''', and there are also only five nouns (and their compounds) ending in '''-l: '''''līṭhal ''"seafoam", ''khāngertėl ''(a typical Chlegdarim tandoori oven), ''nūrtāl ''"lake", ''ladragyal ''"inn, restaurant", and ''kambāl ''"thousand". This is also one of the two declensions with a distinct vocative singular form, made by adding '''-e''' to the direct singular.

|Instrumental

|bhārmat'''arið'''

* ''l-stems'' have '''-lss '''instead of *-lass in ergative singular (e.g. ''nūrtāl ''"lake" > ''nūrtālss'').

There is a subset of seventh declension nouns which do not fit into the above pattern because they have two different stems, one for the direct singular (and vocative) and one (the ''oblique stem'') for all other forms. These nouns are relics of PCT nouns with hysterokinetic stress:

* ''khial ''"finger; small tree branch", oblique stem ''kheld-''

* ''läyh ''"arm", oblique ''lahʲ- ''(before vowels) / ''lahi- ''(before consonants)

''śvað ''"thread, path, theme, idea, direction" is an irregular noun mostly following the seventh declension. It has a contracted stem ''śvað'' found in singular direct (with vocative ''śvaþe''), accusative, genitive, instrumental, dative (''śvaþið'') and substitutive, and ablative plural. All other forms use an extended stem ''śvatoð'', but abessive singular and genitive plural are synchronically irregular ''śvateþiak, śvateðė ''respectively; substitutive and abessive plural are ''śvatoðarmian ''and ''śvatoðartiak ''respectively, and dative plural is attested both in the regular form ''śvatoðarið'' and the irregular ''śvatoþrið''.

Finally, there are a few nouns ending in '''-k'''; these are all Calémerian toponyms borrowed from Kalurilut, like ''Inūkutlāk'' "Ceria", ''Inūlulīk ''"Nivaren", ''Itanāk ''"Nordúlik", ''Inūkṣvāk ''"Evandor", or ''Ittukavik ''"Gathuráni" - these are all declined following the ''t-stem ''rules (without the special rule for plural accusative/substitutive/abessive). Also, some non-assimilated toponyms for cities, rivers, or other features outside Laltīmāhia may end in '''-k''', but they are usually not declined, instead adpositional constructions like ''[name] ga marta ''"city of [name]" is used, with ''marta ''being the declined word.

The eighth declension (''teitende paiktairathāda'') includes nouns ending in '''-h'''. Word-final ''-h'' is a result of many sound changes, but mostly from PCT *s, so either '''-s''', or /hj/ (the intervocalic reflex of PCT *s) alternate in most forms. Like the seventh declension, eighth-declension nouns have a distinct vocative singular form.

!ńältah ((male's) sister)

|'''ńältah'''

|ńälta'''hiai'''

|ńälta'''hie !'''

|ńälta'''hiai !'''

|-

|ńälta'''ss'''

|ńälta'''hialss'''

|ńälta'''sau'''

|ńälta'''hiarau'''

|ńälta'''hi'''

|ńälta'''hiė'''

|Instrumental

|ńälta'''hiu'''

|ńälta'''ṣriu'''

|Comitative

|ńälta'''sanam'''

|ńälta'''hiarṇam'''

|ńälta'''śve'''

|ńälta'''hiarið'''

|ńälta'''sų'''

|ńälta'''sęnie'''

|ńälta'''hiye'''

|ńälta'''śilym'''

|ńälta'''hiartiak'''

There are some eighth declension nouns which have obsolete forms, declining as if they were seventh declension with a stem ending in '''-k'''; this is visible in ''nanūh'' "salt" which has a relic form ''nanūkanam ''(from the comitative singular) used attributively to mean "salted" when speaking of foods (this is etymological: ''nanūh ''is actually a borrowing from Ancient Lelīmuyāńi ''nanūkko'' and is attested in some early-Classical Age Laceyiam texts as ''nanūk ''- '''-k '''was actually a possible noun ending until approximately the late First Era).

Note that the noun ''lilėmaiṭah'', the most important concept in the Yūnialtei religion (and, due to this, in the whole Chlegdarim worldview), is an irregular, singular-only noun and declines as eighth-declension in direct, genitive, instrumental and locative cases, and as a first-declension noun (with stem ''lilėmaiṭą-'') elsewhere; it also lacks a vocative form.

==== The ninth declension (-ai) ====

The ninth declension (''kissende paiktairathāda'') includes those nouns ending in '''-ai'''; they come from various sources but only a minority of them is inherited from PCT: most are Nanaklāri or Ancient Lelīmuyāńi borrowings.

!nanai (rainforest, jungle)

|'''nanai'''

|nan'''ayar'''

|nanai'''ss'''

|nan'''ayalss'''

|nan'''ayau'''

|nanai'''rau'''

|nan'''ayi'''

|nan'''ayė'''

|Instrumental

|nan'''ayu'''

|nan'''aiyu'''

|Comitative

|nan'''ayanam'''

|nan'''ayarṇam'''

|nan'''aið'''

|nanai'''rað'''

|nan'''ąu'''

|nan'''ąinie'''

|nan'''ayie'''

|nanai'''lym'''

|nan'''ayartiak'''

The Laceyiami verb (''smārjām ''or ''pantäyra'', pl. ''smārjāmai ''or ''pantäyrai'') is the most inflected part of speech; its most basic forms are fusional, but many more specific formations are more agglutinative due to their origin from old Proto-Cis-Tahianshima particles or participles.

The first and most important division we can find in Laceyiami verbs is the distinction between '''exterior '''(''bhėmabessa'') and '''interior '''(''niėmabessa'') verbs. This may at first seem a voice system, but it must be distinguished from the true voices in Laceyiam conjugation. The difference between them is mostly lexical: native grammarians distinguish exterior verbs as describing "activities or states that involve interactions with outside the self", and interior verbs as affecting principally the self. Exterior verbs are those we could most easily compare to active verbs in English, while interior verbs are a somewhat "catch-all" category including many distinct meanings, most notably middle-voice, reflexive and reciprocal ones but also all adjectival verbs as well as peculiar and somewhat independent meanings for some verbs. As many verbs can be conjugated both as exterior and as interior; they often have differences in meaning - e.g. ''gṇyauke ''means “to give birth” as exterior and “to be born” as interior.

 

Laceyiam verbs also conjugate for five '''voices''', each one putting one of five different core elements as the ''direct-case argument'', usually for means of topicalization or definiteness; they reflect the Austronesian-type morphosyntactical alignment of Laceyiam. The five voices are, for exterior verbs:

* '''patient-trigger '''or ''patientive ''(unmarked);

* '''agent-trigger '''or ''agentive'';

* '''benefactive-trigger '''or simply ''benefactive'';

* '''antibenefactive-trigger '''or simply ''antibenefactive'';

* '''locative-trigger '''or simply ''locative''.

Interior verbs only have four voices, as they do not have an agentive voice; the patientive, unmarked voice, is here called '''common voice'''.

 

Laceyiami verbs also conjugate for five different '''tense-aspect combinations''', representing two different aspects (perfective and imperfective) and three tenses proper (past, present, future). The imperfective tenses are the '''present''', the '''imperfect''', and the '''future'''; the perfective tenses are the '''past '''and the '''pluperfect'''. Tenses are the “basic unit” verbs conjugate in: all tenses conjugate for six persons (1st-2nd-3rd in singular and plural).

 

However, the most complex part of Laceyiami verbs is the '''mood'''. Laceyiam is particularly mood-heavy and its concept of mood is quite broad, conjugating verbs in what are called '''primary moods '''and '''secondary moods'''; a single verb form may have a single primary mood but up to two secondary moods. 

 

* '''indicative''' - the realis mood;

* '''imperative''' - used for giving orders or commands;

* '''desiderative''' - used to express a desire or will (e.g. I want to X);

* '''necessitative''' - used to express need or obligation (e.g. I have to X);

* '''potential''' - used to express the ability to do something (e.g. I can [= am able to] X)

* '''permissive''' - used to express the permission to do something (e.g. I can [= I’m allowed to] X)

* '''propositive '''- used to express proposals (e.g. let’s X; why don’t you X);

* '''hypothetical '''- used to express things that may happen or might have happened;

* '''subjunctive '''- used to express general advices (jussive use), purpose (supine use), and also syntactically conditioned by some particles.

* '''interrogative''', used for questions;

* two '''consequential moods''': one expressing ''cause'' (e.g. “because X”), the other ''opposition'' (e.g. “although X”).

Finally, Laceyiam has a large number of ''attributive'' and ''adverbial participles'', with forms for most voices and tenses and a distinction into ''modal adverbs'', ''homofocal gerundives'' and ''heterofocal gerundives''.

Verbs, in Laceyiam, are divided in four conjugations. They are easily distinguished by their infinitive ending, which is the citation form of the verb. The main difference between them is the thematic vowel added to the stem.

* The '''first '''conjugation uses /a/ as the thematic vowel and includes infinitives ending in '''-ake''' or '''-aike; '''this latter class is identified as '''1ai '''and has a different behaviour in the past tense. This is probably the most common conjugation, also because that's the one most denominal suffixes use.

* The '''second '''conjugation uses /e/ as the thematic vowel, and its infinitives end in '''-eke'''.

* The '''third '''conjugation uses /i/ (Classical /y/) as the thematic vowel, and its infinitives end in '''-yke'''.

* The '''fourth '''conjugation has no thematic vowel and as such it includes two categories of verbs: those with consonant-final roots, which have an infinitive ending in a consonant plus '''-ke '''(or, rarely, because of saṃdhi, '''-ge'''), and those with vowel-final roots, whose infinitive end in a vowel plus '''-ke'''. Note that there are some verbs - like ''nake ''"to think" - where a final /a e i/ is part of the root and not a thematic vowel, and may be mistaken at first for verbs belonging to other conjugations. A few fourth conjugation verbs also have allomorphic roots depending on whether the added ending begins with a vowel or with a consonant, like ''gṇyauke ''"to give birth/to be born" (root ''gṇyāv-/gṇyau-'').

Apart from these four conjugations, there are some completely irregular verbs (e.g. ''haiske ''"to be", ''milke ''"to take") and also six regular sub-patterns in some tenses, three of which are independent from the four regular conjugation patterns (that is, those verbs may be of any of them in the other tenses). They are all relics of independent aspect formations from PCT:

* '''-ah verbs''', which add '''-ah '''or '''-ą '''to the root while forming their present tense - most notably ''lilke ''"to live".

* '''-st- verbs''', which add '''-st '''in the present tense - the most common is ''męlyke ''"to give".

* '''-ėyi- verbs''', which add '''-ėyi- '''(stressed) to the root in the present - like ''hūrtake ''"to shake, tremble, vibrate".

* '''-au-/-ei- verbs, '''counted as first conjugation (with infinitives in '''-auke'''), have an '''-au-''' stem-ending suffix in the present which becomes '''-ei-''' in the past - they are relics of a regular PCT derivation forming dynamic verbs. Examples are ''meinauke ''"to watch" or ''blinauke ''"to remember".

* '''-āti-/-it- verbs''' are all counted as fourth conjugation (infinitives in '''-ātike''') and have an '''-āti-''' stem-ending suffix in the present which becomes '''-it- '''in the past - like ''yihātike ''"to understand".

* '''-ėra- verbs''' are first conjugation verbs, which are extremely common as '''-ėra- '''is the main verb-forming denominal suffix in Laceyiam. They use slightly different endings from other verbs of the same conjugations - compare for example ''keipavið ''"you go" and ''paiktāṃliėryð'' "you climb a tree".

===== Bulṭāṇama verbs =====

''Bulṭāṇama'' (pl. ''bulṭāṇamai'', meaning "with mutation") is a class of thirty base verbs which have a vowel mutation in their present stem. These are actually the relics of the Proto-Cis-Tahianshima ablaut system, particularly the middle-grade presents and the high-grade presents.<br />

In a Laceyiam perspective, they are divided in ''middle bulṭāṇamai'', where the modified vowel is a monophthong, and ''strong bulṭāṇamai'', where the modified vowel is a diphthong (note that '''i → ei''' verbs count as strong in this classification, but were actually middle-grade in PCT).

The twenty-three middle bulṭāṇamai have these changes:

* '''i → e''': ''liśvake'' (to wipe), ''priśvake'' (to erase, to turn off, to shut down), ''hįlsake'' (to make a sound), ''ṭilbake'' (to carry (multidirectional)), ''limbake'' (to refresh, to quench thirst, to nourish), ''mįldake'' (to hope, to wish (interior only)), ''mįṃke'' (to catch — also an '''-ėyi-''' verb), ''minge'' (to hear — the root is ''mind-''), ''dinge'' (to pour — root ''dig-''), ''skilgake'' (to cross rough terrain), and ''giske'' (to take away, to seize, to capture, to kidnap).

* '''u → i''': ''murjake'' (to keep inside, to contain), ''bulṭake'' (to change, to modify), ''ṣurgake'' (to feel indifference for something you barely know because you haven't thought about it enough (interior only)), ''kurṣṭake'' (to rot, to make rot), ''bųlake'' (to plow), ''nurgake'' (to itch), and ''nurbake'' (to shake).

* '''u → y''': ''pultake'' (to lean), ''kulke'' (to talk, to chat), ''ḍurke'' (to crumble, to collapse), ''kusake'' (to peck), and ''prudhake'' (to tear apart).

The seven strong bulṭāṇamai are:

* '''i → ai''': ''kirake'' (to love), ''lįnake'' (to stay, to remain), and ''bringe'' (to hinder, to obstruct — root ''brind-'').

* '''u → au''': ''gurvyake'' (to sleep), ''bhuvake'' (to care for someone), and ''spunake'' (to poison).

These verbs conjugate regularly except for this vowel change in the present indicative stem only, for example ''leśvar'' (it is wept) and ''liśvat'' (it was wept), or ''kairu'' (I am loved) and ''kiram'' (I was loved) — note the regular saṃdhi change in ''ṣurgake'': ''śirgāmiss'' (pres. 1sg) vs ''ṣurgamin'' (past 1sg).

==== Indicative present and imperative ====

The indicative present and the imperative use, for most verbs, the same stem. In the indicative present, apart from the four regular patterns, '''-ah-, -st-, -ėyi-, '''and '''-ėra- '''verbs are distinguished. The following table is the conjugation for regular verbs in the indicative present, exterior, patient-trigger voice:

{| class="article-table"

!pūnake (to work)

!hväldeke (to choose)

!läðlyke (to help)

!ūtiraṃke (to write)

!lilke (to live)

!męlyke (to give)

!humbėrake (to spice)

!hūrtake (to shake)

|-

|pūn'''u'''

|hväld'''ėyu'''

|läðl'''ȳ'''

|ūtiram'''iu'''

|lil'''ah'''

|męl'''ściu'''

|humbėr'''iu'''

|hūrt'''ėyiu'''

|pūn'''avið'''

|hväld'''evið'''

|läðl'''yvið'''

|ūtiram'''við'''

|lil'''ąvið'''

|męl'''ścið'''

|humbėr'''yð'''

|hūrt'''ėyið'''

|pūn'''ar'''

|hväld'''er'''

|läðl'''yr'''

|ūtiram'''ar'''

|lil'''ah'''

|męl'''star'''

|humbėr'''ar'''

|<span>hūrt</span>'''ėyir'''

|1PL

|pūn'''asām'''

|hväld'''esām'''