Scellan: Difference between revisions

From Linguifex
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Line 103: Line 103:
==Morphology==
==Morphology==
===Nouns===
===Nouns===
The definite article is a suffix ''-me'' for nouns ending in a V and ''-ime'' for nouns ending in a C: ''duuvooŋ'' 'a teacher', ''duuvooŋime'', 'the teacher'.
The definite article is a suffix ''-me'' for nouns ending in a V or a resonant and ''-ime'' otherwise: ''duuvooŋ'' 'a teacher', ''duuvooŋme'', 'the teacher'.


Feminine nouns must undergo lenition in the singular: ''k:xuuþ'' 'an animal', ''k:xuuþime'' 'the animal'.
Feminine nouns must undergo lenition in the singular: ''k:xuuþ'' 'an animal', ''k:xuuþime'' 'the animal'.
Line 110: Line 110:
*''-a/-ä'' for masculine nouns ending in a consonant
*''-a/-ä'' for masculine nouns ending in a consonant
*''-ar/-är'' for feminine nouns
*''-ar/-är'' for feminine nouns
===Adjectives===
===Adjectives===
Adjectives must also inflect for definiteness, in addition to number and gender.
Adjectives must also inflect for definiteness, in addition to number and gender.

Revision as of 13:29, 16 May 2017

Äivö (g:ghaaþime äivöme) is a close relative of Tíogall with mutations and vowel harmony.

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Coronal Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m /m/ n /n/ ŋ /ŋ/
Stop voiceless p /p/ t /t/ k /k/
voiced b /b/ d /d/ g /g/
Spirant voiceless f /f/ þ /θ/ x /x/
voiced v /v/ ð /ð/
Sibilant s /s/ h /h/
Liquid r /r/
Approximant l /l/ j /j/

Vowels

Front Back
unrounded rounded
short long short long short long
Close i /i/ ii /iː/ y /y/ yy /yː/ u /ʊ/ uu /uː/
Close-mid e /e/ ee /eː/ ö /ø/ öö /øː/ o /o/ oo /oː/
Open ä /æ/ ää /æː/ a /ɑ/ aa /ɑː/

There are also many diphthongs, among them ie yö uo.

Morphology

Nouns

The definite article is a suffix -me for nouns ending in a V or a resonant and -ime otherwise: duuvooŋ 'a teacher', duuvooŋme, 'the teacher'.

Feminine nouns must undergo lenition in the singular: k:xuuþ 'an animal', k:xuuþime 'the animal'.

The plural suffix marked as follows:

  • -a/-ä for masculine nouns ending in a consonant
  • -ar/-är for feminine nouns

Adjectives

Adjectives must also inflect for definiteness, in addition to number and gender.

Copula

Äivö has a copula lä- which inflects regularly in the present tense.

As in Welsh, the copula is also used with progressive verbs: Lää duuvooŋime de ientäx. "The teacher (male) is sleeping."

Verbs

The Äivö verbal system is very different from Tíogall, and much closer to Bhadhagha.

For one thing, Äivö analogized the analytic forms of verbs to all persons, and fused the personal pronoun with the verb:

molaigh ná -> molanna "I thank"
molaigh fiar -> molar "thou thankest"
molaigh hú -> molu "he thanks"
molaigh hí -> moli "she thanks"
molaigh -> mola "... thanks" (with nonpronominal subjects)
molaigh gámh -> molo "we thank" (both exc. and inc.!)
molaigh séid -> molad "ye thank"
molaigh hár -> molar "they thank"
Impersonal: molov "one thanks"

The past tense is marked by a séimhiú on the verb as in Irish, except that the suffixes are the same as in the present tense. If the initial consonant of the verb is not lenitable, then the particle go or g' is used before it. This comes from a construction that translates to "it was the case that ...", which also survives in Bhadhagha.

The future tense however has a special set of suffixes, derived from the Old Tíogall future tense:

moltanna, moltar, moltu, molti, molto, moltad, moltar, moltov

The verbal noun is much more regular than in Tíogall, and is consistently marked with -ax/-äx.

Äivö is not split-ergative, unlike Tíogall.

Perfect tenses use the construction tänn followed by the verbal noun.

Vocabulary

Äivö vocabulary is much more purely Talmic than that of either Tíogall or Bhadhagha; however, a handful of words are from an unknown substrate language, such as ysvä 'knot'.