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Sceptrian: Difference between revisions
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'''Problems:''' As mentioned above, I'm still too lazy to create a proto-language... | '''Problems:''' As mentioned above, I'm still too lazy to create a proto-language... | ||
==Basic Grammar== | ==Basic Grammar== | ||
Sceptrian is a fusional language with large morpheme per word ratio, but the morphemes themselves convey more information. The primary word order of the language is verb-agent-object while antipassive constructions use subject-verb(-object). Sceptrian has two numbers, three persons, three grammatical genders, seven declensions and nine inflectional cases with an absolutive-ergative morphosyntactic alignment. Verbs are conjugated for three tenses, additional aspects and various moods. These all will be discussed below. | Sceptrian is a fusional language with large morpheme per word ratio, but the morphemes themselves convey more information. The primary word order of the language is verb-agent-object while antipassive constructions use subject-verb(-object). Sceptrian has two numbers, three persons, three grammatical genders, seven declensions and nine inflectional cases with an absolutive-ergative morphosyntactic alignment. Verbs are conjugated for three tenses, additional aspects and various moods. These all will be discussed below. | ||
==Phonology== | ==Phonology== | ||
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| '''ng | | '''ng'''<br />ŋ | ||
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|- | |- | ||
! style="" |Fricative | ! style="" |Fricative | ||
| ''' | | '''ph bh'''<br />ɸ β | ||
| '''f v'''<br />f v | | '''f v'''<br />f v | ||
| '''th | | '''th dh'''<br />θ ð | ||
| '''s z'''<br />s z | | '''s z'''<br />s z | ||
| '''sh | | '''sh zh'''<br />ʃ ʒ | ||
| '''h'''<br />ç | | '''h'''<br />ç | ||
| '''h'''<br />x | | '''h'''<br />x | ||
| '''qh | | '''qh'''<br />χ | ||
| '''h'''<br />h | | '''h'''<br />h | ||
|- | |- | ||
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| '''ts | | '''ts'''<br />t͡s | ||
| '''tsh | | '''tsh'''<br />t͡ʃ | ||
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|- | |- | ||
! style="" |Approximant | ! style="" |Approximant | ||
| | | '''w'''<br />w | ||
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| '''tl dl'''<br />tˡ dˡ | | '''tl dl'''<br />tˡ dˡ | ||
| '''l sl | | '''l sl'''<br />l ɬ | ||
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| '''kl | | '''kl gl'''<br />kˡ gˡ | ||
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|} | |} | ||
The liquids ''r'' and ''l'' can appear as '''syllabic consonants''': tlsl /tˡl̩ɬ/, prn /pr̩n/ and trk /tr̩k/ | |||
===Vowels=== | ===Vowels=== | ||
====Monothongs==== | |||
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="width: 390px; text-align:center;" | {| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="width: 390px; text-align:center;" | ||
! style="width: 100px; "| | ! style="width: 100px; "| | ||
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|- | |- | ||
! style="" |Open-mid | ! style="" |Open-mid | ||
| '''é oe | | '''é oe'''<br />ɛ œ | ||
| | | | ||
| '''ó'''<br />ɔ | | '''ó'''<br />ɔ | ||
|- | |- | ||
! style="" |Near-open | ! style="" |Near-open | ||
|'''ae | |'''ae'''<br />æ | ||
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|} | |} | ||
====Diphthongs==== | |||
In Sceptrian, there are only closing diphthongs which go up in the vowel chart: | |||
*Back: ou /ɔʊ̯/ | |||
*Front: ai /äɪ̯/, ei /ei̯/, oi /œi̯/ | |||
===Phonotactics=== | |||
*Basic syllabic structure is CV, where the '''onset''' (beginning) consonant can be of any type. | |||
**It is possible to use liquids and approximants as '''glides''' (CLV) between the onset and the rime (ending). | |||
**Up to two consonants may appear in the onset (CCV), especially fricative-plosive combinations, but never two plosives: ''stak'', ''fkos'', ''ksaru''. | |||
*'''Nucleus''' can be either a vowel or a liquid, thus CVC and CLC are also possible syllables. | |||
**Vowels (diphthongs included) may exist as a stand-alone nucleic syllable (V), mostly in the beginning or at the end of a word. | |||
*'''Coda''' (final) may consist of up to three consonants with only one plosive: ''kat'', ''kańt'', ''kańts''. Glides can appear in coda as well: ''tokl'' | |||
**Approximants ''j'', ''w'' and voiced plosives (voiced fricatives rarely) never appear as coda (final) even though they may be written that way: ''nad'' /nät/. | |||
*Closed syllables, i.e. those ending in coda, are not as common word-medially as open syllables (ending in nucleus) are. | |||
**Voicing status must be the same for consonants touching at syllable boundaries and the voiced one reduces into voiceless: ''katba'' /kätpä/ vs. ''kat ba'' /kät<sup>(h)</sup> bä/ | |||
==Orthography== | ==Orthography== | ||
Script from auman templar/jauhmö --> ligatures! | ===Script=== | ||
from auman templar/jauhmö --> ligatures! | |||
===Romanization=== | |||
====Modern==== | |||
Consonant variation: | |||
*Letter ''r'' is used with consonants for /r̩/ and between vowels for /r/, but after vowels in the end of syllables for rhoticization ''or'' /ɚ/. Letter ''ŕ'' is used to emphasize the use of /r/ after vowels ''oŕ'' /ər/. | |||
*Similarly letter ''n'' can appear with nasalization but ''ń'' always as /n/: ''an'' /ã/ vs. ''ań'' /an/. | |||
*With ''ng'' /ŋ/, the accent signals lengthening ''eńge'' /eŋ:e/ or ''eŋŋe''. | |||
*Letter ''h'' has three allophones: /x/ appears word-finally, /ç/ with front vowels and /h/ with back vowels ''tihtóhnah'' /tiçtɔhnäx/. | |||
*Labialization of plosives may be indicated by either PuV (V is any vowel except ''u'') or PwV (where V can be ''u'') | |||
There are five ways of sound altering which may be used for grammatical purposes (tense, aspect, mood; cases, possessive affixes...) | |||
*Lengthening: ''paata'' /pä:tä/, ''péete'' /pɛ:te/-/pɛe̯te/, ''póote'' /pɔ:te/. | |||
**Not used word-finally. | |||
*Lateral release: ''plo'' /pˡə/, ''tla'' /tˡä/ | |||
*Nasalization: ''on'' /ə̃-œ̃/, ''oń'' /ɔn/ | |||
**Back vowels are always nasalized between two nasals and all vowels after short ng: ''mónge'' /mɔ̃ŋẽ/, but nasalization does not occur with front vowels and long ńg: ''nińge'' /niŋ:e/. | |||
*Rhotacization: ''or'' /ɚ/, ''oŕ'' /ər/ or /r/, ''ar'' /ä˞/, ''aŕ'' /är/. | |||
*Aspiration/breathy voice: ''pho'' /pʰə/-/ɸə/, ''bho'' /bʱə/-/βə/, ''tha'' /tʰä/-/θä/, ''dha'' /dʱä/-/ðɑ/. | |||
**Aspirated plosives have mostly turned into the corresponding fricatives as shown above. | |||
====Old==== | |||
The old romanization system (or part of it) was used until western regions of Eastern Sceptre were joined with the Western Sceptre empire in 7th era 161, during the war against Empress Renula of Golden Islet. A revision was needed when both Sceptrian and Aoma were used in the same printing press and texts had to be distributed to westlang-using communities. | |||
Consonants: | |||
*Nasal: '''ŋ''' ''ng'' /ŋ/ | |||
**Texts from the first century of the seventh era use ''ǥ'' for word-initial /ŋ/. | |||
*Fricative: '''ŧ''' ''th'' /θ/, '''đ''' ''dh'' /ð/, '''ś''' ''sh'' /ʃ/, '''ź''' ''zh'' /ʒ/, '''ħ''' ''qh'' /χ/ | |||
*Affricate: '''c''' ''ts'' /t͡s/, '''č''' ''tsh'' /t͡ʃ/ | |||
*Lateral: '''š''' ''sl'' /ɬ/, '''ǩ''' ''kl'' /kˡ/, '''ǧ''' ''gl'' /gˡ/ | |||
Vowels: '''ø''' ''oe'' /œ/, '''æ''' ''ae'' /æ/ | |||
Compact equivalents of sound altering: | |||
*Lengthening with a bar: ''ṓ'' /ɔ:/ and ''ō'' /ə:/ | |||
*Lateral release with a breve diacritic: ''tŏ'' /tˡə/ | |||
*Nasalization with a tilde: ''õ'' /ə̃/, ''on'' /ən/ | |||
*Rhotacization with a diaeresis: ''ö'' /ɚ/, ''or'' /ər/ | |||
*Aspiration with a grave accent: ''pò'' /pʰə/, ''pô'' /pʰɔ/ | |||
Comparison between the systems: | |||
*Old: Ǧë śošēŧã | |||
*Modern: Gler shosleethan | |||
==Morphology== | ==Morphology== | ||
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Polite versions as well (which influenced Aoma) | Polite versions as well (which influenced Aoma) | ||
Third person only as demonstratives | Third person only as demonstratives | ||
===Nouns=== | ===Nouns=== | ||
====Gender==== | ====Gender==== | ||
There are three grammatical genders or classes, abstract, animate and inanimate, which can be fully recognized from their singular dative form endings, ''k'', ''i'' and '' | There are three grammatical genders or classes, abstract, animate and inanimate, which can be fully recognized from their singular dative form endings, ''k'', ''i'' and ''ei''. The seven declensional patterns or simply declensions, which are determined by their absolutive ending, are distributed among these classes. | ||
*Abstract (Ab) | *Abstract (Ab) class contains concepts, emotions, divine and magical subjects, verb forms etc., and they end in either vowel ''a'', ''ó'' or ''i''. | ||
*Animate (An) class is preserved for nouns related to living things, e.g. people, animals, body parts, plants and comestibles, whose ending is either a fricative (''f, th, s, sh, h''), nasal (''m, n, ng'') or vowel ''u''. Mass nouns, such as meat, milk and food, have nasal endings. | *Animate (An) class is preserved for nouns related to living things, e.g. people, animals, body parts, plants and comestibles, whose ending is either a fricative (''f, th, s, sh, h''), nasal (''m, n, ng'') or vowel ''u''. Mass nouns, such as meat, milk and food, have nasal endings. | ||
*Inanimate (In) class has nouns such as objects, places and natural formations whose endings are either plosives (''p, t, k'') or consonant ''l''. Inanimate mass nouns, e.g. sand, salt and water, appear in the ''l''-ending group | *Inanimate (In) class has nouns such as objects, places and natural formations whose endings are either plosives (''p, t, k'') or consonant ''l''. Inanimate mass nouns, e.g. sand, salt and water, appear in the ''l''-ending group. | ||
====Number==== | |||
There are two numbers, singular and plural, but abstract ''i''-nouns and inanimate ''l''-nouns are always singular. The declension according to number is complicated and fused with the class/case system explained and tabulated below. | |||
==== | ====Cases==== | ||
*Absolutive (ABS): Unmarked base form for subjects of intransitive and objects of transitive verbs | *Absolutive (ABS): Unmarked base form for subjects of intransitive and objects of transitive verbs | ||
*Ergative (ERG): Agents of transitive verbs | *Ergative (ERG): Agents of transitive verbs | ||
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{| class="wikitable" | {| class="wikitable" | ||
|+ | |+ Genders and desinences | ||
|- | |- | ||
!rowspan="3" style="width: 100px"| | !rowspan="3" style="width: 100px"| | ||
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|- | |- | ||
! style=""| Instrumantal-comitative | ! style=""| Instrumantal-comitative | ||
| Ah || Ash || ish || Fos || | | Ah || Ash || ish || Fos || Fosh || Nos || Nosh || uh || ush || Ph || Ps || -dh | ||
|- | |- | ||
! style=""| Lative | ! style=""| Lative | ||
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*- indicates that the original ending is replaced with the following | *- indicates that the original ending is replaced with the following | ||
====Possessive affixes==== | |||
mingle with the cases. Alienable vs. inalienable ''Dothee óntelon gat'''osh'''/vakuh'''ozho'''.'' (A man is watching his house/ his own hand.) | |||
====Emphasizing clitics==== | |||
Suffixes ''ma'' (for ABS) and ''noh'' (for ERG) are used to emphasize either the agent or the object: ''Ónzaitón dothee'''noh''' pof.'' (It is the man who's lifting the feather) vs. ''Ónzaitón dothee pof'''ma'''.'' (It is the feather that the man is lifting.). ''Ma'' is also used with verbs in antipassive constructions. | |||
===Adjectives=== | ===Adjectives=== | ||
agree | agree with their head | ||
rhoticization + vowel change | |||
===Verbs=== | ===Verbs=== | ||
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Multiple... --> adjectives? | Multiple... --> adjectives? | ||
===Adpositions=== | ===Adpositions=== | ||
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*"on" to emphasize the surface aspect | *"on" to emphasize the surface aspect | ||
*"under" for, well, movement under something | *"under" for, well, movement under something | ||
===Derivational Morphology=== | ===Derivational Morphology=== | ||
===Numerals=== | ===Numerals=== | ||
Decimal base was adopted due to commerce, but traces of the former octal base remain | Decimal base was adopted due to commerce, but traces of the former octal base remain | ||
==Syntax== | ==Syntax== | ||