Scellan/Middle

< Scellan
Revision as of 13:16, 28 September 2018 by IlL (talk | contribs) (→‎Phonology)

Middle Skellan is the direct descendant of Tigol that was spoken in Skella. It had become Early Modern Skellan around fT 1150.

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Dental/Alveolar Lateral Velar Glottal
Nasal fortis mm /M/ nn /N/ ŋŋ /Ŋ/
lenis m /m/ n /n/ ŋ /ŋ/
Plosive fortis p /p/ t /t/ c /k/
lenis b /b/ d /d/ g /g/
Non-sibilant unvoiced f, ph /f/ th /θ/ ch /x/ sh, h /h/
voiced bh /v/ dh /ð/ gh /ɣ/
Sibilant s /s̻/, z /s̺/ x /ɬ/
Affricate ts /ts/ tx /tɬ/
Resonant fortis rr /R/ ll /L/
lenis r /r/ l /l/

Vowels

a á e é i í y o ó ö ő u ú ü ai ei eu iu oi ui ia ua

Morphology

Nouns

Verbs

Syntax

Predicate-first syntax

Predicates

Eevo has no copula. Instead, the "predicate" or the focused constituent is fronted:

e.g. Dy eell naw ee. = I love her; Ee a (fa) dy eell ren. = It's her that I love

When fronting of a noun occurs, the remaining verb phrase becomes a noun phrase, thus a determiner must be used.

Twm øráð syrŋ bo [toxrorégin] a go þarcǿma að smøøh bo sbenopats.
NEG only new COL evolve-PASS.PART DET PST.IPFV inhabit SG world COL dinosaur
The world of the dinosaurs was not solely occupied by the newly-evolved.

In some tenses (progressive, perfect) the particle fa can be used after the a when fronting.

Dy iant a duvwŋ.
The teacher is sleeping.
Duvwŋ a (fa) dy iant.
It's the teacher who is sleeping.

Contrasting

Contrastive "partial clauses" borrow the syntax used in focused clauses.

Dy ell Sani Maið, ah twm a ry Hmorill.
Sani loves Maið, but Hmorill does not [love him].
Dy ell Sani Maið, ah twm Gelli.
Sani loves Maið, but she does not love Gelli.