Netagin/Tumhanian

Modern Netagin (nıtagin [nəˈtʰɔgin]) is the modern descendant of Classical Netagin and the official language of the island nation of Bunätägü /punæˈtʰæky/ in Verse:Tricin. Modern Netagin pop culture is very well-known worldwide; outside of Bunätägü, the language is often learned by Netaginophile otakus.

Similarly to Modern Hebrew, Modern Netagin is morphologically similar to Classical Netagin but exhibits a kind of diglossia: the classically-based "correct" vocalization (such as observing initial consonant mutations) is used only by the upper classes, in newscasts and in some public speech, or in poetry and classical singing, much like the RP accent in British English.

This article will give both the "Received Vocalization" (RV; RV: äs-ʔUbalü Þhisukamü) and the common vocalization of the capital Xbiʔü (XV; RV: äs-ʔUbalü Xhbiʔäyü), where the two differ.

Orthography

Modern Netagin is written in an abjad.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Lateral	Palatal	Velar	Pharyngeal	Glottal
Nasal		m /m/	n /n/		nj /ɲ/	ng /ŋ/
Plosive		p /p~b/	t /t~d/		tj /c~ɟ/	k /k~g/		ʔ /ʔ/
Affricate			c /ts/	q /tɬ/
Fricative	spirant	f /f~v/	þ /θ~ð/			g /x~ɣ/
	nonspirant		s /s/	x /ɬ/	sj /ʃ/		ħ /ħ/	h /h/
Approximant		w /w/	r /ɾ/		y /j/

Vowels

Same as Dodellian: a w o e i u /a ı u æ i y/

Morphology

Nouns

Much of Classical Netagin noun morphology is preserved: nouns inflect for number and absolute and construct states, and may take possessive suffixes. Nouns have three principal parts: absolute singular, absolute plural and construct singular.

Adjectives

Adjectives in -in decline as follows:

nðoḡin 'Netagin'

	Singulative	Plurative
Masculine	nðoḡin	nðoḡino
Feminine	nðoḡiye	nðoḡiḇ

Verbs

Colloquial Modern Netagin is similar to Scottish Gaelic and colloquial Welsh, in using analytic constructions with auxiliaries and verbal nouns instead of conjugated verbs - but they're syntactically ergative. High-register Modern Netagin uses conjugated verbs like Classical Netagin.

Present

Se ʔaḏnaʔex es rȝun.

in cook.VN-1SG DEF vegetables

I am cooking the vegetables. (lit. "The vegetables are in my cooking" i.e. in the process of being cooked by me)

Compare an intransitive clause:

Se mir es sam.

in walk.VN DEF dog

The dog is walking.

Past

Vat ʔaḏnaʔex es rȝun.

after cook.VN-1SG DEF vegetables

I cooked the vegetables. (lit. The vegetables are after my cooking.)

Pluractionality

Verbal nouns may be pluralized to mark pluractionality (an action occuring multiple times or affecting a plural number of patients). Pluractional verbal nouns are also used as an antipassive, to some extent.

Syntax

Unlike Classical Netagin, Modern Netagin is a VOS, split-ergative language.