Sceptrian: Difference between revisions

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*Nasalization: ''on'' [ə̃]~[ɘ̃]~[<sup>N</sup>C] (compare ''oń'' /ən/) when ''n'' in [[Sceptrian#Phonotactics|coda]]
*Nasalization: ''on'' [ə̃]~[ɘ̃]~[<sup>N</sup>C] (compare ''oń'' /ən/) when ''n'' in [[Sceptrian#Phonotactics|coda]]
**Vernacularly, nasalized schwa appears as prenasalization
**Vernacularly, nasalized schwa appears as prenasalization
**Close vowels (u, i, e, o, and ó) are always nasalized between two nasals and all vowels after short ng: ''mónge'' /mɔ̃ŋẽ/ (indeed), but nasalization does not occur with open vowels and long ''ńg'': ''dothé naańgé'' /dəˈθɛˑ nä:ŋ:ɛˑ/ (O sweaty man!).
**Close-to-mid vowels (''e, i, u, o, ''and'' ó'') are always nasalized between two nasals, and all vowels are after short ''ng'': ''mónge'' /mɔ̃ŋẽ/ (indeed). Nasalization does not occur with open vowels (''a'' and ''é'') between nasals or with any vowel after a long ''ńg'': ''dothé naańgé'' /dəˈθɛˑ nä:ŋ:ɛˑ/ (O sweaty man!).
*Rhotacization: ''or'' /ɚ/, ''ar'' /ä˞/ (compare ''oŕ'' [ər]~[r̩] and ''aŕ'' /är/)  
*Rhotacization: ''or'' /ɚ/, ''ar'' /ä˞/ (compare ''oŕ'' [ər]~[r̩] and ''aŕ'' /är/)  
**Nasalization does not occur simultaneously with rhoticization, except in Fanish dialect (near the border of Negovia): ''karon'' → ''karn'' [kæ̃˞] (soup)
**Nasalization does not occur simultaneously with rhoticization, except in Fanish dialect (near the border of Negovia): ''karon'' → ''karn'' [kæ̃˞] (soup)

Revision as of 20:03, 2 February 2015

Sceptrian
Lushan.jpg
Batop Lushan
Pronunciation[[Help:IPA|ˈbäˑtəp luˈʃãˑ]]
Created byAhuelni
SettingAkekata
Native toSceptre
Native speakers12,203,650 (7th 641)
West-Herookuan
  • Lutian
    • Sceptrian branch
      • Sceptrian
Dialect
Yerzonian, Mulish, Fanish
Official status
Official language in
Empire of Sceptre
Recognised minority
language in
Coast of Temples, Negovia
Regulated byTsagadhet Keping Batom Lushan
(Bureau of the Purity of the Sceptrian Language)
Lusha regions.jpg
Speakers of Sceptrian and its dialects


Sceptrian
Batop Lushan
Progress: 92%
Type
Fusional
Alignment
Absolutive-ergative
Head direction
Initial Mixed Final
Primary word order
Verb-subject-object
Tonal
No
Declensions
Yes
Conjugations
Yes
Genders
3
Nouns decline according to...
Case Number
Definiteness Gender
Verbs conjugate according to...
Voice Mood
Person Number
Tense Aspect


Sceptrian (batop lushan /ˈbäˑtəp luˈʃãˑ/ or simply lusha) is an a priori artistic language created for the fantasy world Akekata by juhhmi. Sceptrian language, named after the Sceptre peninsula, derives from Lutian language used in the Empire of Western Sceptre. With 12 million native speakers, Sceptrians outnumber those speaking Khattish and Guddean, the other two main West-Herookuan languages.


Phonology

Scetprian features 32 consonants, some of them with interesting lateral features, twelve vowels with long versions and four diphthongs. Nasalization, rhotacization and breathy voice are used as well.

Consonants

If the romanization symbol is the same as in IPA, it is not duplicated. Not bolded romanization indicates that the sound appears as a vernacular version.

Bilabial Labio-dental Dental Alveolar Post-alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Nasal m [ɱ] n (ń) [n] ng [ŋ]
Plosive Voiceless p t k q
Voiced b d g
Breathy ph bh
[pʰ] [bʱ]
th dh
[tʰ] [dʱ]
kh gh
[kʰ] [gʱ]
qh
[qʰ]
Lateral pl bl
[pˡ] [bˡ]
tl dl
[tˡ] [dˡ]
kl gl
[kˡ] [gˡ]
ql
[qˡ]
Fricative Voiceless ph [ɸ] f th [θ] s sh [ʃ] h [ç] kh h [x] qh [χ] h
Voiced w bh [β] v dh [ð] z zh [ʒ] h [ɦ]
Lateral sl [ɬ]
Affricate Voiceless ts [t͡s] tsh [t͡ʃ]
Lateral tsl [t͡ɬ]
Approximant Simple j
Lateral l
Trill pr [ʙ] r (ŕ) [r] [r̥]

The liquids r and l can appear as syllabic consonants: tlsl /tˡl̩ɬ/ (shallow), prk /pr̩k/ (wagon) and trs /tr̩s/ (smith)

  • Vernacularly, both syllabic and obstruent-following alveolar trill r and lateral approximant l are pronounced as voiceless [r̩̊], [r̥], [l̩̊] and [l̥] when in contact with only voiceless consonants: trs [tr̩̊s] (smith) contrasting with trls [tr̩s] (while standard /trəls/) (smiths); gatl [gɑtl̥] (houses) whose pronunciation approaches [gɑtɬ]
    • Meslatu Hirke made his disputed suggestion in 7:693 that a similar process had led to the birth of sl as plural indicator, when original plural l turned first into voiceless and then into sl after a word-final glottal stop, which has disappeared entirely.
  • In eastern dialects, pr is realized as [ʙ]
  • Fricatives show properties of syllabic consonants word-initially and word-finally.

Nasal [ɱ] only appears as an allophone of nasals with labio-dental sounds /f/ and /v/. Before velar sounds (e.g. /k/) nasals turn similarly into [ŋ].

Letter h has four allophones: initial is always [h] despite frontness, [ç] appears elsewhere with front vowels, [x] appears word-finally and [h~ɦ] word-medially with back vowels tihtóhnah [tiçˈtɔɦ.näx] (assassinator). It's also used after consonants to indicate breathy voice.

Vowels

Monophthongs

Front Central Back
Close i u
Close-mid e o
[ɘ]
o
[ɤ]
Mid o
[ə]
Open-mid é ø
[ɛ] [œ]
ó
[ɔ]
Near-open æ
Open a
[ä]
a
[ɑ]

Schwa o is used as an epenthetic vowel (anaptyxis). When it is used to break consonant clusters (not indicated in native script) it is the simple schwa /ə/: *dŧ → doth /dəθ/ (man). When stressed, it is vernacularly realized as [ɘ], and in western dialects more clearly as [ɤ]: *dŧs → dothos [dəˈθɘˑs]

Vowel a is /ɑ/ after voiced consonants.

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/

If the syllable border (glottal stop) is between vowels and they don't form a diphthong, apostrophe is used: tai (for long) vs. ta'i (past)

  • In native script, separate graphemes for diphthongs exist and glottal stop is not marked.

If diphthongs are followed by vowels, they are separated by a glottal stop in formal register.

  • In casual speech, ouV becomes owV and ViV VjV: oua→ówa and aia→aja. If the following vowel is the same, a glottal stop breaks the former diphthong and the ending vowel is lengthened: ai'i→a'ii

Phonotactics

Onset

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 with same voicing may appear in the onset (CCV), especially fricative-plosive combinations, but never two plosives: stak (fence), fkot (nest), ksaru (guard). Affricate ts takes may be accompanied only by w, j, n or m: tsma (doubt). Combination /sl/ has turned into /ɬ/.
  • Lateralization and aspiration may never appear together, and nasalized rhoticization is only found in Fanish dialect.

Nucleus

The 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.
  • If nucleus is a liquid, plosives appear in codas only word-finally: dldlp /dˡl̩ˈdˡl̩p/ (bubble)

Coda

The coda (final) may consist of up to three consonants with possible structures: N, P, F, L; NP, FP, LP; NF, PF, LF; NPF, FPF, LFP, LPF (Nasal, Plosive, Fricative, Liquid).

  • Final liquids appear as syllabic consonants
  • Approximants j, w and plain voiced plosives never appear as coda (final) even though they may be written that way (no written schwa): nad /nä.də/ (stainy). Voiced fricatives may appear as coda.
  • In coda, plosives with lateral release, however, will reflect the voicing of the onset: gatl [gädˡl̩] (houses) vs. katl [kätˡl̩] (knobs)

Closed syllables, i.e. those ending in coda, are not as common word-medially as open syllables (ending in nucleus) are. When words are inflected, parts of codas tend to become onsets of the following syllable, if possible. Especially three-consonant clusters are rare word-medially and receive a schwa after a non-lateral stop: kamps /kämps/ (marsh) → *kampskukamposku /ˈkäm.pəs.ku/ (at marsh)

  • Voicing status must be the same for consonants touching at syllable boundaries and the voiced one reduces into voiceless: *katbaskatpas /kätˈpäs/ (fern) vs. oist baku /œi̯st(h) bä.ku/ (under a table)

Suprasegmentals

Primary stress in a word is most often on the second syllable, and when there are four or five syllables, secondary stress is placed onto the final syllable. When there are more syllables, stress is placed on even-numbered syllables.

  • If the to-be-stressed syllable contains the schwa o /ə/ or a syllabic consonant, the preceding syllable is stressed in two-syllable words and the following in words with more than three syllables.
    • In uninflected words, syllable with nuclear o is only stressed when it comes second and the preceding syllable has also o as nucleus. Then the stressed nucleus appears as [ɘ]. Contrast between stressed and non-stressed syllabic consonants may occur as voicing and devoicing respectively.
  • A non-final syllable with a long vowel or a diphthong is always stressed and steals the stress from its neighboring syllable. This also moves the secondary stress from final to penultimate syllable, if primary stress falls on first syllable.

Inflected and affixed word forms have almost always the same stress as the base word (even monosyllabic with schwa): doth (man) → dothku [ˈdɘθ.ku] (near the man).

  • Vocative and ergative cases as well as inflections with long vowels make an exception: dothee /dəˈθe:/ (by the man), dothé /dəˈθɛ/ (O man), gatóo /gɑˈtɔ:/ (to the house)

Interrogatives are formed by changing the primary stress onto the first syllable and adding a rising or dipping pitch. This is indicated with ¿: ¿Eikepoi? [ˈei̯˧˦ˈke˩.pœi̯˨˦] (Did you wash it?)

Morphophonology

Vowel form

There are five ways of sound altering which may be used for grammatical purposes (mainly number, genitive case and imperfective aspect). In the native script the following are marked on the vowel.

  • Lengthening: paata /pä:tä/ (separation), ée [ɛ:]~[ɛe̯], óo /ɔ:/
    • Not used word-finally.
  • Lateral (release): pló /pˡɔ/ (opposite to), tlaf /tˡäf/ (sprig)
    • Western dialects keep the tongue on the alveolar ridge during vowel pronunciation so that the vowels have a distinct l-sound. Historically, this may have lead to the syllabic l.
  • Aspiration/breathy voice: phó [pʰɔ]~[ɸɔ] (along), kébhar [kɛˈbʱɑ˞]~[kɛˈβɑ˞] (I will wash), tha [tʰä]~[θä] (abstract "it"), dhaka [dʱɑkä]~[ðɑkä] (abstract "that").
    • Aspirated plosives of unstressed, schwa-syllables turn into the corresponding fricatives. In casual register, this happens with all unstressed syllables. dhoku /ðəˈkuˑ/ (head)
  • Nasalization: on [ə̃]~[ɘ̃]~[NC] (compare /ən/) when n in coda
    • Vernacularly, nasalized schwa appears as prenasalization
    • Close-to-mid vowels (e, i, u, o, and ó) are always nasalized between two nasals, and all vowels are after short ng: mónge /mɔ̃ŋẽ/ (indeed). Nasalization does not occur with open vowels (a and é) between nasals or with any vowel after a long ńg: dothé naańgé /dəˈθɛˑ nä:ŋ:ɛˑ/ (O sweaty man!).
  • Rhotacization: or /ɚ/, ar /ä˞/ (compare [ər]~[r̩] and /är/)
    • Nasalization does not occur simultaneously with rhoticization, except in Fanish dialect (near the border of Negovia): karonkarn [kæ̃˞] (soup)

Consonant form

Combining sounds

  • Lateralization
    • s and z turn into sl and zh respectively
    • f & vfl & w
    • l & r are geminated
    • m & nng and ngńg
  • Aspiration
    • s and z turn into sh and zh
    • f & v are geminated
    • l & rlh and rh
  • Voicing and aspiration
    • rqh, lldh, vw

Apophony

Apophony in the stressed syllable is used for example to express adjective gender and to create different verb forms.

Apophony
Root 1st 2nd
e ee é
o ó ø
a aa æ
u uu i
ai ii ei
ou óo oi
  • When stressed root syllable has vowel ee, ó, aa, uu, ii or óo as nucleus, the apophony is only partial. joqódh>joqødh (disgusting)
  • With é, ø, æ, i, ei or oi as root vowels, all forms are the same, e.g. luwidh (beautiful). Only formal register uses ée as the second apophony of ee.

Orthography

Script

Toneka script from the early sixth era. Notice that the vowel form info-box romanization should have "o" instead of "a".
Tsrnet cursive script used for handwriting in modern Sceptre.

The Sceptrian alphabet script was derived from the ancient temple marks as were the Aoman and Northern (Latin) scripts. The modern alphabet is called Tsoklóp Lushan.

Diacritics on vowels mark different sounds. The diacritics may be used with consonants as well, especially in the plural forms of consonant-ending nouns: gat̆ (gatl "houses"), doŧ̆ (dolth "men"). With the diacritics, letter ts can be lateralized into tsl or aspirated into tsh.

Short and long letter names with explanations
aa
aat
ee
eet
ée
eet maatikipi
(opened e)
ii
iit
oo
oot
óo
oot guzbikipi
(deepened o)
uu
uut
ææ
aat evadh
(bright a)
øø
oot gudh
(dark o)
ai
aat zaithon
(rising a)
ei
eet zaithon
(rising e)
oi
oot zaithon
(rising o)
ou
óot bousoson
(falling o)
po
poot
bo
bóot
mo
mool
wo
wool
to
toot
do
dóot
tho
toot hifdo
(windy t)
dho
dóot hifdo
(windy d)
no
nool
so
siit
sho
siit hifdo
(windy s)
zo
ziit
zho
ziit gudh
(dark z)
ngo
góot slenguhpi
(g using nose)
tso
tsiit
lo
lool
slo
lool hifdo
(windy l)
fo
fiit
vo
fiit gudh
(dark f)
jo
jool
ko
koot
go
góot
ho
hiit
qho
hiit surmudh
(strong h)
qo
koot venongp
(k being
swallowed)
ro
rool
plo
looh tisk
(with l
mark)
pon
slenguhpi tisk
(using nose
mark)
por
tisk prung
(mark of
trill)
pho
tisk hifn
(mark of
wind)
poo
tisk spiing
(mark of
length)

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 /ər/.
  • Similarly letter n can appear syllable-finally with nasalization but ń always as /n/: an /ã/ vs. /an/.
  • With ng /ŋ/, the accent signals lengthening nańgo /näŋ:ə/ or naŋŋo (sweaty).
  • Labialization of plosives is indicated by PuV (V is any vowel except u) or with w.
  • Breathry voice is indicated with an h straight after a plosive. The h is also used for corresponding fricatives which occur word-finally. This risk of confuse is one of the downsides of the simplified modern system: nath /näθ/ "a beggar" or /nätʰ/ "with stains".

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. Peter Martyea suggested in 7:189 that the payment according to number of pages may have favoured quick adaptation as the non-diacritic system induced much longer texts (see the comparison example).

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/

Compact equivalents of sound altering:

  • Lengthening with a bar: /ɔ:/ and ō /ə:/
  • Lateral release with a breve diacritic: /tˡə/
  • Nasalization with a tilde: õ /ə̃/, on /ən/
  • Rhotacization with a diaeresis: ö /ɚ/, or /ər/
  • Aspiration with a grave accent: /pʰə/, /pʰɔ/

Comparison between the systems:

  • Old: Ǧëǩ śošēŧã
  • Modern: Glerkl shosleethan (maces of a knight)

Morphology

The most complete study of the structure of pre-modern Sceptrian words was done by Porutingatu of Jerzónó in year 362 of the seventh era. She collected, grouped and analyzed the fusional morphemes and listed the new rules to replace the outdated writings from the sixth era. By 370, her work had led to a new interest in linguistics and ultimately to the founding of Tsagadhet Keping Batom Lushan (Bureau of the Purity of the Sceptrian Language) which has been unifying and regulating the language along with its orthography since then.

Sceptrian utilizes fusional inflections and has an absolutive-ergative morphosyntactic alignment. The language is rather head-initial and its primary word order is verb-agent-object.

Pronouns

Pronouns are used to refer to e.g. people or things in sentences instead of using the original nouns. In Sceptrian, they exist in two numbers and are inflected according to six cases.

Personal

Second person includes polite versions as well which were adapted by Aoma-sperkers. Third person singular makes distinction between abstract (Ab), animate (An) and inanimate (In) pronouns while plural only between Ab-An and In.

Personal pronoun inflection
Case 1SG 1PL 2SG 2PL 2SG.POL 2PL.POL 3SG.Ab 3SG.An 3PL.A 3SG.In 3PL.In
ABS na mo fo po Nith With tha su slo hi klo
ERG moslo poslo Nithe Widhes thaa suu sloslo hii kloslo
DAT nai mokli foki pokli Nithki Withkli thai swi slokli hiki klokli
POS nar moŕ for poŕ Nithor Withoŕ thar sur sloŕ hir kloŕ
COM nas mosh fos posh Nithos Withosh  thas  sus  slosh his  klosh
CAU nape moplo fope poplo Nitti Witti thape supe sloplo hipi kloplo
  • Comitative case is used to indicate company: Mo slosh arakha. (We were with them yesterday.)
  • Causal describes the cause of an action or origin of something: Aitesosai næ su fope (I saw him because of (/thanks to) you), Hi supe foki. (It (is) from him to you.)

3rd person abstract pronoun is used in the formal register when introducing or referring to a person of higher status.

Reflexive

Self-pronoun ru for reflexive and reciprocal: tesosón ru (they are watching themself), ónlatepón ru (he is dancing by himself, alone) vs. ónlatepón su (he is dancing with him); sónkephón ru (they are washing each other) vs. sónkephón sloslo slo/soutu (they are washing them)

  • reflexive is easier with others: anlatepan (I'm dancing by myself); ankepan (I'm washing myself) vs. ankep ("I'm washing it"), kepan (I'm being washed)

Demonstrative

Simple words for "this/these" and "that/those". When demonstratives are used with nouns, they behave similarly to adjectives. In the following examples, note that Sceptrian lacks the verb "to be":

  • As a determiner, the demonstrative follows its head and other adjectives: Bouson qot ka. (This rock is falling.) Anzaitlon qoth rkildh kla. (I'm lifting these brown rocks.)
  • For inanimate class, the pronoun is the same as the demonstrative word: Qot ka. (This is a rock.) Rkidh qot ka. (This rock is brown.) Qoth rkildh klo. (Those are brown rocks.)
  • The determiner may precede its head and is then followed by a short pause. In this case, the "head" can rather be considered an attribute of the pronoun: Bouson ko qot. (That's falling, the rock, I mean.)

See also the table of correlatives.

Demonstrative pronoun inflection
Case Proximal Distal
SG PL SG PL
ABS ka kla ko klo
ERG kaa klaa kló
DAT kai klai koi kloi
POS kan klang kon klong
COM kas klash kos klosh
CAU kap klapa kop klopo

Table of correlatives

Determiners follow their heads and agree in number and with the cases mentioned above in the table, where DAT & LAT, COM & LOC, CAU & ABL and ABS & VOC are corresponding. Words follow the declension shown above or paradigms similar to noun cases.

Interrogative Demonstrative Quantifier
Proximal Distal Existential Elective Universal Negatory Alternative
Determiner sho ka (SG)
kla (PL)
ko
klo
jofa (some) ota (any) orka (every, all) ze (no) so (another)
solo
Pronoun Abstract ashu thaka dhaka jaafa thata thorka theso thaso
Animate ¿soutu saitu soutu jonfu onta ongka souso jonso
Inanimate ¿ko ka ko jofo oto orko ze so
Out of two ¿tso tsaka tsoko zho tsoto tsorko tseso tso
Out of many ¿tsolo tsalka tsolko zolo tsolto tsongko tsleso tsolo
Pro-adverb Locative sku khau khu jofku otku orkhu zengu sokhu
Temporal sko kha kho jofko otko orkho zeng sokho
Comitative shos  kas kos jofos otos orkos  zeos sos
Causal spe kap kop jov otop orkop zenep sonop
Manner shi khai khoi jofai otai orkai zei soi
What kind of shodh kadh kodh jodhi othi ordhi zodhi sothi
  • Negative determiner ze has no plural form. Neither have pronouns "Out of two".
  • Demonstratives are used when referring to listed items of equal animacy: proximal with the former and distal with the latter: Aitesoshóji math kuthos. Óomidh soutu. (I saw a cat and a dog. The latter was large.)
  • Locative pro-adverb can be conjugated with lative, locative and ablative.

Nouns

Nouns in Sceptrian form the basis of derivational morphology and even the cases are utilized when forming new words. They are declined according to two numbers and nine cases, and the seven declensions are grouped in three genders which affect the verb conjugation and adjective agreement.

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 ei. The seven declensional patterns or simply declensions, which are determined by their absolutive ending, are distributed among these classes.

  • 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.
  • 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.

In official language, animate gender doesn't draw a distinction between masculine and feminine so that ras (horse) can stand for both "stallion" and "mare". If one wishes to emphasize the gender on a binary scale, clitics -duus and -tu may be added: gutsduus (bull)

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
  • Ergative (ERG): Agents of transitive verbs
  • Dative (DAT): Indirect object; alienable possession gat dothi (a house of (lit. "for") the man); comparison (with ADJ comparative)
  • Possessive (POS): Inalienable possession dhoku dothor (the man's head)
  • Instrumental-comitative (INS): Using something; "with someone", replaces "and" as Latin -que; in antipassive constructions
  • Lative (LAT): Movement to; with adpositions
  • Locative-temporal (LOC-TEMP): Place; time; with adpositions
  • Ablative (ABL): Movement from (+delative); causal
  • Vocative (VOC): addressing (people, gods); interjections Alæ! (Hello! lit. "Day!")
Genders and desinences
Abstract Animate Inanimate
A i F N u P l
SG PL SG PL SG PL SG PL SG PL
Absolutive A Asl i F (o)lF N Ning u ush P Pl l
Ergative AA AslA ii Fee Fele Nee Neng uu uushu Pee Ple le
Dative Ak Akl ik Fi Fil Ni Nil (u)ji (u)wi Pei Plei lei
Possessive An Ang ing For Foŕ Nor Noŕ ur -N Pong lon
Instrumantal-comitative Ah Ash ish Fos Fosh Nos Nosh uh ush Ph Ps -dh
Lative AgA AglA iki Fko Fklo Nong Nongo ugu uglu Póo Plóo lo
Locative-temporal AkhA AlkhA ikhi Fku Fklu Nung Nungu ukhu ulkhu Pu Plu lu
Ablative ApA AplA ipi Fp(o) Fpl(o) Nop Nopl upu uplu PPo PPol lp
Vocative Ae Asl ii lFé Nin -wé -wésh Plé
  • A: vowels a, æ, o, ó and ø
    • Ae: ae = æ, æe = ææ, oe=é, óe = ø & øe = øø
  • F: fricatives f, th, s, sh and h; voiced counterparts and affricates ts and tsh are followed by o before plosive endings.
  • N: nasals n, m and ng
  • P: plosives p, t, k and q
    • POS qng
    • INS ending Ph marks breathy voice and may turn the plosive into corresponding fricative /ɸ, θ, x, χ/ if followed by a plosive.
  • - indicates that the original ending is replaced with the following: tup → tum (stick → stick's)

Possessive

Different possessive forms and interpretations:

  • Dativus possessivus (alienable): gat dothi "the house which the man has temporarily settled in, i.e. rented"
  • Comitative case with alienable possessive suffix: doth gathos "man with his house which he has purchased"
    • Inalienable possessive suffix alters the meaning: doth gathozh "man and his birthplace"
  • Possessive case (almost inalienable): gat dothor "the house which was inherited and is now owned by the man".

The noun in possessive case is not inflected further. With dative case, inflection may be utilized in order to distinguish the dativus possessivus from the indirect object or benefactive: Onzaiton pof tuph dothish slokli. "The feather is being lifted with a man's stick for them." (Related to the feather ceremony when welcoming upper class members to a household.)

Possessive affixes, as shown in examples above, draw a distinction between alienable and inalienable possession: Óntesoson dothee gats/vakuhoz. (A man is watching his house/ his own hand.) With the basic suffixes, the root is inflected first and then suffixed.

Possessional suffixes
Person Singular Plural
ALIEN INAL ALIEN INAL
1st (a)ń (a)nga (ó)m (ó)ngó
2nd (o)f (ø)fo (e)v (ø)vø
3rd (o)s (o)zh (o)sl (o)zhol
  • Irregular: Only VOC+possessive with 1SG: Posné! (My servant!), Polsmé! (Our servants!)

2nd person polite suffixes are added to absolutive base and the endings are then declined according to abstract gender:

  • Singular: (a)tha, (a)tazha
  • Plural: (a)dhó, (a)dózhó
  • Example: gatathapa (from Your house)

See adverbial clauses which utilize some possessive suffixes with non-finite verb forms.

Adpositions

Adpositions are used with inflected nouns to add information about its location or relation to other nouns. Some Sceptrian adpositions can be used as stand-alone adverbs which may be conjugated according to noun declensions.

Prepositions

Prepositions are used with lative (to, towards), locative (at, near) and ablative (from) cases to alter the meaning.

  • voi (in) forms illative, inessive, elative
  • loi (out) for "out of", "outside" and "from outside"
  • soi (on) to emphasize the surface aspect
  • oist(i) (under) for movement under something
  • roi (above) similarly to oist
  • boi (down) for "down (a surface / to)", "down in (somewhere)" and "from down"; as an adverb as well
  • zoi (up) used like boi
  • moi (touching, around) with lative for terminative, locative for pertingent and ablative for initiative
  • oil(i) (as) forms translative, essive, exessive
  • koi (per) distribution: "for each", "every" (temporal), "from each"
  • jon (... between)
  • poi (... the middle of, among)
  • tsoi (... front of; preceding)
    • with time nouns in locative = before
  • hoi (... behind; following)
    • with time nouns in locative = after
  • mots(i) (... on side)
    • combined with postpositional dei (right) or lai (left)
    • with time nouns in locative = ago

Postpositions

Postpositions appear with various cases and often come in groups.

  • pón (through) with lative
  • phó (along) with lative
  • pló (opposite to, across) with locative
  • sós (with) with comitative to express a greater degree of endowment (ornative); with ablative to indicate "without"; with lative for "in addition to"
  • óp (about, concerning) with genitive; with ablative for "according to"
  • ól (like) with genitive; as an adverb "similarly"
  • jak (away, despite) with ablative; as an adverb as well
  • mai (excluding) with ablative
  • mak (except) with ablative
  • mats (instead of) with ablative
  • sai (including) with comitative
  • sak (concerning, regarding) with comitative; with ablative to emphasize the causal aspect (due to, because of, thanks to)
  • phe (for the sake of) with lative

Pronominal

When used with pronouns, separate adpositions only come with dative forms to indicate lative. Otherwise adpositions take possessive suffixes, inalienable for locative and alienable for ablative: voi nai (into me), voinga (inside me), voiń (from inside me)

Of the polite possessive suffixes, alienable is added onto the adposition and then the entire compound is conjugated for lative, locative or ablative: voitha (in You; attributive), voithaga (into You), voithakha (inside You; predicative), voithapa (from inside You)

Derivational Morphology

Verbs and adjectives are derived from nouns by adding suffixes and in some cases prefixes as well.

Noun

Many nouns share same origins and these endings are the most common forms of derivation:

  • Suffixing verbs with once established ending vowels or consonant appropriate for the noun class.
  • place, region, nearby area: abstract with LOC with sk-ending; fricative and u-ending ABS.PL with final t; nasal ABS.PL with final ku; plosive ABS.PL and l-declension receive an s-suffix
  • collection, group: ABS.PL receives óf in animate, óp in inanimate class; mulfóf (school of fish)
  • being, person, creature: ABS with (o)s: trs (smith; compare trk "smithy")
    • doer, agent: ERG with tu: kepeetu (washer)
    • experiencer, patient: ABS with (k)ois or (k)oit depending on animacy: kepois (person being washed)
    • origin: ABL with (o)su: ukopposu (person from north)
    • characteristic (from abstract quality): INS with final duplicated vowel and tu: luwishitu (beauty)
  • material: ABS with (o)n (AN) or (o)l (INAN): koson (wood), qotol (stone)
  • diminutive: reduplication of final sound with t between vowels and i between consonants: kosis (small tree)
  • augmentative: reduplication of final sound with g between vowels and a between consonants: kosas (great tree)
    • apotheosis: augmentative with a-ending: kosonana (godwood)
  • abstract quality, feature: ABS suffixed with (k)oti: dothoti (manliness)
  • gerund (act of doing): via derivated verb suffixed with (o)pi: glerkurpi (mace-battering)

Adjective

Different cases and affixes are used for the derivation:

  • similarity, having something: dh suffix to abstract gender and animate u-ending; voicing of fricatives (h→qh, no change with affricates); nasals "lateralized" + o; voicing of plosives + o (q→g); l-declension as in INS-COM: evadh (bright), dodh (masculine)
    • full of, having something: previous suffixed with ol: mel muvol (waters full of fish)
  • material: ABS with (o)p: kosonop (wooden)
  • origin, relation: ABL form with a final ó added or replacing the original ending vowel: kusupó (friendly)
  • absence, without: ti suffixed to VOC form: evæti (lightless=dark)
  • doing: on added after INS case: kephon (washing)
  • who did: INS with ompu: kephompu (who washed = pessyt in Finnish)
  • done by: INS with empo and possibly inalienable possessive suffix: kephemponga (washed by me)
  • not done: LAT suffixed with tip: kepóotip (unwashed)
  • experiencing: LAT suffixed with p: kepóop (being washed)
  • result (wanted): LAT suffixed with pi: kepóopi (washed=clean)
    • if unwanted: LAT suffixed with pot: vangostóopot (drunk)
  • possible: POS with ta: kenta (washable)
  • requiring: LOC with rt: kepurt (needs to be washed)
  • opposite, negation: VOC with tot

Notice that plural forms of adjectives may be derived from plural nouns: dolth kepson (men who are washing)

Verb

A declined core noun receives an ending which describes how the verb reflects the noun:

  • In some cases, the vowel ending of nouns may simply be removed or the absolutive of a consonant-ending noun may also serve as a verb.
  • ABS = "happens, is": kep (is washed)
  • COM = "using": tuph (is poked with a stick), glerkh (is hit with a mace)
  • POS + k = "similarity": melonk (is wet)
  • DAT + k = "making/becoming" (no k with Abstract): zurmuzurmjik (strong person → is strengthened), zurpzurpeik (strong, durable object → hardens) & zurmazurmak (strength → intensifies)
  • LAT + t = "movement, quasi-inceptive": glerkóot (swings a mace, INTR), melot (flows), latepóot (is persuaded to dance, INTR; begins a dance with, TR), lehkot (runs)
  • LOC + r = "frequentative": glerkur (is battered with a mace), melur (rains; drips)
  • VOC + k = "momentane": glerkék (is hit once with a mace), melék (splashes once)
  • POS + (o)v = "consider, feel": vongv (is considered strange = oudoksutaan in Finnish)
  • Several endings can be stacked on verbs without turning it into a noun in between: melurék (shower of rain falls), tup(o)hkur (is often poked with a stick). When deriving, the r-ending are declined according to the l-paradigm.

Adjectives

Adjectives in Sceptrian agree with the gender, number and cases of their head. When an adjective is used as a predicative, it comes before its head, but when as an attributive, it comes after. Adjective declension follows approximately the same rules as noun declension. In the common dh-ending F-declension, o is added between dh and case-endings with consonants. Changes in both casual and poetic speech include mirroring onset into coda: dothklu jadaadhulk (near nice men)

DH-declension
ABS ERG DAT POS INS LAT LOC ABL VOC
SG dh dhee dhi dhor dhos dhok dhuk dhop dhé
PL ldh(o) dhele dhil dhoŕ dhosh dholk dhulk dholp ldhé


Apophony in the stressed syllable is used to indicate the gender: base for inanimate, first apophony with animate and second with abstract gender: eja jadædh, doth jadaadh, latep jadadh

Polite adjectives are formed from the abstract form with predicative prefix nga and attributive suffix æ: ngaluwidh Nith (You are beautiful), shosleetha luwidhæ (a beautiful knight)

Comparison

Positive of an adjective is the base form.

  • When two nouns are found equal in comparison, ii begins the clause, positive is placed before the primary noun (focus) in dative case and preposition oil (as) with final secondary noun in causative-ablative case (forming exessive): Ii luwidh foki oil supe. ("Same beautiful for you from the state of being her." You are as beautiful as she is.)
  • Negating happens with ze being joined to the ii particle.
  • When comparing amounts, fadh (many, much) and fidh (few, little) are used in place of the adjective and inflected according to their head, the primary noun is now in absolutive plural, no preposition is used and the secondary noun is in comitative: Ii fældh dolth lutush. (As many men as women.)

Comparative (more than) is identical to the vocative of positive adjective: luwidhé (more beautiful). Suffixed with ti, the comparative gains a meaning of "less": luwidhéti (less beautiful).

  • Manner quatifiers orkai, jofai and zei can be used to indicate the degree: luwidhé orkai (much more beautiful), luwidhé jofai (slightly more beautiful), luwidhé zei (not more beautiful)
  • When comparing two nouns adjective comes first (predicative comparative), the standard acquires the dative case, and comparative forms agree with their head in gender and number: luwildhé po swi (you all are more beautiful than he is)
  • Pronoun comparison is also possible to construct with alienable possessional suffixes: luwildhév swi (you all are more beautiful than he is)
  • When adjective comparative is not included, postpositional fadhé (more) or føødhi (less) can be used with noun plurals: dolth faldhé lutwi (more men than women)

Superlative is similar to noun apotheosis: the ending is reduplicated with é between consonants and j between vowels, and an a added to the end: luwidhédha (most beautiful). Similarly to comparative, ti gives the meaning of "least": luwidhédhati (least beautiful).

Adverbs

Adverbs are derived from adjectives through second apophony of the singular vocative form: zaivia jadædhé (I sing pleasantly)

Placed after adjectives and verbs: luwidh òomidhé (very beautiful < "largely")

Comparative adverb is formed by changing the vocative ending é into ei: zaivió jadædhei (she sings more pleasantly)

Superlative adverb is similar to adjective superlative in its reduplication but with an æ-ending: zaivie jadædhédhæ (you sing most pleasantly)

Verbs

Missing verbs:

  • "to be": apposition trs doth (a man is a smith) vs. doth trs (the smith-man, the smith (who) is a man) and Berats trs (Berats, the smith, ...) vs. trs Berats (Berats is a smith); predicative before luwidh doth (a man is beautiful) vs. attributive after doth luwidh (a beautiful man)
    • Emphasizing ma: trs dothma (it is the man who is a smith)
    • Showing tense:
      • temporal adverbs, such as ta'ikhi (in the past)
      • subject person and tense verb conjugation on adjective
      • momentane verb derived from an adjective in past or future tense
      • "become" verb derivation -> "will be"
  • "to have": various possessive forms, e.g. soput trsor dothi ("profession of a smith for the man")

Conjugation

In Sceptrian, primary conjugation of verbs indicates person, number and tense-aspect, and it includes affixation and apophony. Conjugation for different moods is slightly more complex.

Root

Verbs are given in their 3SG.INAN GNO form which is used to form all of the third person forms. With first and second person subjects, the first apophony is used in indicative inceptive and future. Polite second person forms use the second apophony

Affixes

Fusional conjugation affixes convey the person, number, tense and aspect (and honorific). Subject and object suffixes are almost always used with verbs, the antipassive being the only exception. Agent prefixes aren't often used in the casual register, mostly to form the reflexive, but they have to be used in the formal register.

Subject/object suffixes for tense and aspect
Tense Aspect 1SG 1PL 2SG 2PL 2SG.POL 2PL.POL 3SG.A 3PL.A 3SG.INAN 3PL.INAN
GNO-STAT a ha e he ahi aqhi ó (o) l
PRES PROG an han en hen ang aing ón hón on lon
INCEP ast last est lest æst hæst ós lós os osl
PST IPFV ajin hajin ejin hejin azing izing ójin hójin oin loin
PFV ai hai ei hei athi idhi óji hóji oi loi
FUT har +har her +her athar idhar hór +hór ho +ho
  • initial l in endings is for lateralization of the final plosive
  • initial h is for aspiration of the final plosive or simply h after a vowel
    • if the final plosive is already breathy, o is added after it
  • + indicates voicing of the final consonant together with aspiration
    • simple h becomes qh
  • Formal register draws a distinction between abstract and animate genders by adding wa directly after the ó of animate and removing the j from past perfective. Same can be done with agent prefixes. Glerkøtówajin shosleetha. (A knight was swinging a mace.)
Agent prefixes for tense and aspect
Tense Aspect 1SG 1PL 2SG 2PL 2SG.POL 2PL.POL 3SG.A 3PL.A 3SG.INAN 3PL.INAN
GNO-STAT a sa e se æ ó o lo
PRES PROG an san en sen nga ngai ón són on lon
INCEP tsa tsla tse tsle tsæ tshæ tsó tsló so slo
PST IPFV jan zhan jen zhen izæ izhæ jón zhón i li
PFV ai sai ei sei thæ dhæ zhó oi loi
FUT ar sar er ser thar dhar ór sór or lor
  • Affixes may be separated from border vowels of verbs with a glottal stop or reduplicated initial consonant (unless risk of confusion with subjunctive): Ai(v)eva(v)oi. (I illuminated it.)

Examples: Ónbouson dothee pof. (A man (ERG) is lifting a feather (ABS).), Bousón doth. (The man falls.) Bouson pof. (The feather (ABS) falls.).

Tense

In Sceptrian, verbs are conjugated for three tenses: past, present and future. These tenses describe when an action took place relative to current moment as their names indicate.

Aspect

Gnomic-static aspect is used to indicate general truths Zaitó Hala. (sun rises) and static situations Mépa lusha. (I can speak Sceptrian). It can be used with expressions of time to specify when something was static Petsipha kas arakha. (dress-STAT.1SG this.COM yesterday.TEMP "I was dressed in these clothes yesterday (as well).")

Present progressive describes dynamic actions Anbaplóph lusha kha. (I'm reading Sceptrian at the moment). Present inceptive is used when an action is about to begin or someone is starting to do something.

  • Inceptive is only used once: Subject inceptive with intransitive and mostly agent inceptive with translative verbs. Object ending is either PRES.PROG, when something was begun only a moment ago, or FUT, when something is about to begin.
    • Translative object inceptive if the object caused the initialization: Órlateepast. (He is about to take me to dancing through my initiative.)

Past imperfective is used with continuous activities which were happening before the present. The contrasting perfective aspect describes the event as a whole and having an endpoint in the past.

In future tense, no aspects are distinguished, but rather non-finite forms are used.

Endings with different tenses may be mixed:

  • PRES retrospective: PST.PFV+verb+STAT: ai-tesos-Ø næ ka (I've seen this), ai-latep-a næ (I've taken myself dancing)
  • PRES prospective: PRES.INCEP+verb(+FUT): tsa-lateep(-ar) (I'm starting to dance (and I'll be doing it for a while))

Mood

Moods express speaker's attitude towards the subject or their knowledge of it. They are divided into realis and irrealis moods: the former expresses factual statements while the latter indicates that an event hasn't taken place or the speaker is uncertain of a situation.

Realis

Gnomic-static verb form can be considered representing gnomic mood since it can't be used with other moods: Zaitó Hala urakha. (Sun rises tomorrow as well)

Indicative is the basic mood which is used for factual statements: Latepar urakha. (I'll dance tomorrow.)

Irrealis

Interrogative is not conjugated, but indicated through rising pitch and changing primary stress onto the first syllable. Formal register uses the particle shóo which is placed after the verb: ¿Rotlast shóo? (Shall we go?)

Imperative is the first apophony of base form (3SG.INAN GNO). It is used for commanding and may be accompanied by vocatives: Rót posné! (Go, O servant of mine!)

  • The softer imperative is derived from the base with an r being added before present inceptive conjugated for person and number: Rótrest fo. (You should leave.). It is used as a hortative as well: Rótrlast! (Let's go!)

Subjunctive is formed through initial left-to-right reduplication and with second apophony in the original second syllable: if consonant-initial, CV body is duplicated, but if vowel-initial, VC part of the first and second syllable is duplicated: lalatép (may dance), akaktæsos (may hear), rorøt (may go)

  • The first reduplicated syllable undergoes independent apophony depending on the subject.
  • The mood is used when something is uncertain, doubted or wished
Particles

Particles are placed after a verb to alter or to specify its meaning.

Realis

  • pai mirative (with soft imperative in present): Rótóji pai! (He went!?)
    • with adjectives or as an adverb: Luwi pai! (How beautiful!)

Evidentials (with causatives)

  • atasi hearsay: Rotóji tasi fope. (I heard from you that he went.)
  • tesei visual: Rótoutóji tesei nape. (I didn't see him go.)

Irrealis

  • norka dubitative (with subjunctive): Rorøtóji norka. (I doubt he went.)
  • gana volitive (with future subjunctive): Lalatépar gana. (I wish I could dance.)

Conditional (with subjunctive)

  • ta apodosis: Arziizeither ta (I will raise you...)
  • -ti- infixed between reduplicated form for protasis: boutiboisen (if you fall)

Hortatives (with soft imperative which itself works as an adhortative or dehortative with negation (unwillingness))

  • Cohortative: Latéprlast kha! (Let's dance now!), Rótrlastonget khugu. (Let's not go there.)
  • jokæ exhortative (inhortative through negation): Rótrest jokæ. (You really should go.)

Formal register differences:

  • aktasosai (hears) conjugated for hearsay: Røtathi aiaktasosóji. (I heard from her that you left.)
  • tesos (sees) conjugated for visual evidentiality: Rotóji tesosai. (I saw her go.)
  • tsmaadhoré (doubtfully) used for dubitative
  • tutaadhoré (wishfully) used for volitive
  • alké permissive with dative: Rótest alké foki. (You may leave.)
    • prohibitive with negated (inability) imperative infinitive: Rótrostodi alké foki. (You aren't allowed to leave.)
  • both conditional particles are used separately and they are prefixed with the subjunctive reduplication: Arziizeither zaita bouboisen bouti. (I will raise you if you fall.)

In literature to express the peaking pitch of ironical statements and lowered pitch of sarcastic expressions:

  • verbal irony: Jótesosoi melurpi, jóbatophoi "Luwidh jø hi loi khu". (He saw the rain and said: "Beautiful day out there")
  • sarcasm: Uu, eiluwikoi gæ pai. (Oh, how beautiful you made it.)

Negation

Negation affixes
Manner→ Inability Unwillingness
Form→ 2nd apophony +infix
(before patient-suffix)
Intranslative
suffix
Translative
infix (after agent-prefix)
Person→ All 1st 2nd 3rd 1st 2nd 3rd
PRES SG ost net fep set no fo so
PL osht nget vep slet ngo flo slo
PST out nait me
FUT oz nort mor

Examples: Ailatépoutóji. (I couldn't dance with him), ¿Tselateephar? (You don't want to begin dancing with me?)

Honoring negation for 2nd person polite forms consists of (second person) negation affixes with root second apophony and saal-particle placed after the verb: Képozathar saal. (You'll be unable to wash Yourself, unfortunately.)

Second apophony of negation affixes with subjunctive mood: Rorøthórnørt. (He may not be willing to go.)

Non-finite forms

Gerund
  • Base nouns or their abstract variants may serve as gerunds, which describe the action of doing, but otherwise they are created with the suffix (o)pi added to a verb root. The suffic also helps to distinguish the forms.
Infinitives
  • PRES -odi, PST -oudi, FUT ordi
  • used with modal verbs
  • subjunctive form created with duplication
Participles

Sceptrian participles work as adjectives. Following table shows which "case" and suffix the verb base (or gerund in formal register) takes.

Present participle suffixes
IPFV PFV
Patientive (LAT) p pi/pot
Negative (LAT) tip
Active (INS) on ompu
Agentive (INS) empo
  • Also the "requiring" (FUT) form LOC+rt and "possible" (GNO) POS+ta
  • Past forms are created by adding i to the end: kephoni (was being washed)
  • Future forms with or: kephonor (will be washed)
  • Examples shown already in derivations

Relative form with word-order and prefix? + formal register particle

Auxiliary verbs

In Sceptrian, auxiliary verbs are conjugated only for subject which may act as the agent of the clause. The verbs can either precede (dynamic, deontic) or come after (epistemic) different verb infinitives. Since regular object-patient conjugation can't be used, objects have to be written (no pro-drop) and they are declined into instrumental-comitative case.

  • tut "want" (from tuta "craving, wish"): Tutajin kepoudi his. (I wanted to wash it.)
    • infinitive in lative case for "want something to be done": Tutan kepordiki his. (I want it to be washed.)
    • "be going to" (FUT): Tuutar latepordi. (I'm going to dance.)
    • "wish" (SBJV) mostly as the subjunctive of the absent to be-verb: Tutitan khau fos. (I wish you were here)
  • mép "can, know how to" (dynamic) (from mépi "skill"): Mépa latepodi ("I can dance"; notice gnomic-static mood)
  • kuut "can, may" (deontic / epistemic) (from kuutó "possibility"): Kuutest rotordi. (You may leave.), Fendógópot kuutó pai. (He may unexpectedly be dead.)
    • particle nor added after the verb for lower possibility i.e. "could, might": Fendógópi kuut nor. (It might be dead.)
    • particle ga added for "should, must": Fendógópi kuut ga. (It should be dead, as we wanted.)
  • khet "must" (deontic) (from kheti "necessity"): Khetan rotodi. (I must go now), Kheetar rotordi. (I must go soon)
  • khurd "dare" (from khurdi "daring"): ¿Khurde glerkékodi nas? (Do you dare hit me with a mace?)

Mixing tenses:

  • Tutitai latepordi. SBJV.want-PST.PFV.1SG dance-INF.FUT "I would've wanted to dance"

Voice

Sceptrian distinguishes between two voices, active and antipassive. Passive is very similar to active since Sceptrian is absolutive-ergative, and thus isn't considered a true change in voice. Antipassive is used to reduce the valency of the verbs by removing the object of a transitive clause.

Active construction: verb-agent-object and verb-object-agent are used so that a comment (rheme) precedes the topic (theme). Emphasizing clitics are used to mark the topic.

Ónzaiton dothee pof.
/ɔ̃zaɪ̯tə̃ dəθe: pəf/
ón-zait-on doth-ee pof-Ø
3SG.AN.PRES.IPFV-lift-3SG.INAN.PRES.IPFV man-ERG feather-ABS

A man is lifting a feather.

Passive construction: To demote the agent (ERG), it's either removed or inflected into causal ablative (ABL). Verb circumfix remains untouched.

Zaiton pof (dothpo).
/zaɪ̯tə̃ pəf (dəθpə)/
zait-on pof-Ø (doth-po)
lift-3SG.INAN.PRES.IPFV feather-ABS (man-ABL)

A feather is being lifted (by a man).

Antipassive construction: Agent (ERG) transforms into subject (ABS) and object (ABS) takes the instrumental-comitative (INS) case. Word order becomes SV(O), and the verb is conjugated according to the agent only and the stressed syllable undergoes second apophony. The verb is also suffixed with the emphasizing clitic ma in the formal register.

Doth ónzeit(ma) (pofos).
/dəθ ɔ̃zei̯t(mä) (pəfəs)/
doth-Ø ón-zeit-Ø(or =ma) (pof-os)
man-ABS ANTIP\3SG.AN.PRES.IPFV-lift-ANTIP(or =ANTIP.FORM) (feather-INS)

The man is lifting (a feather).

Instrument and turning it into an agent:

  • Ónzaiton dothee pof vakuhosozh. (...with his own hand...)
    • Ónzaiton pof vakuhp dothir. (the feather is raised by the man's hand)
    • Onzaiton pof tuph dothish slokli. (The feather is being lifted with a man's stick for them.) Inanimate agent conjugation, and dative of possession is inflected to avoid misinterpretation!
  • Vakuh ónzeit pofos. (The hand lifts something, which happens to be a feather)/(someone intentionally lifts a feather with their hand) Notice animate conjugation!
    • Tup onzeit dothpo pofos. (The stick, which is being held by a man, lifts something, which happens to be a feather) ABL as causative since inanimate tup.

Numerals

Decimal base was adopted due to commerce, but traces of the former octal base remain.

Numerals are placed before their head. Last part of a cardinal determiner agrees with case through matching declension: opl tupl (two sticks)

Numeral system
Number Number Cardinal Ordinal Fractional Multiplicative adverb Multiplicative adjective Group Polygon
Zero ozi oz  ozhi   -   zeng (never)   -   ze (no)  -
One ipi ip iphi liku (whole) ohu (once) ipitse (onefold) ipisi (singular) ipirt (dot)
Two opi op ophi lopu (half) ophu (twice) opitse (twofold) opisi (pair) opart (line)
Three oki ok okhi loku okhu okitse okisi okart (triangle)
Four óppi  óp   óphi   lóppu   óphu   óphitse  óphisi ópart
Five ofi  of   offi  lofu   offu   ofitse  ofisi ofart
Six ókki  ók   ókhi   lókku  ókhu  ókhitse   ókhisi  ókart
Seven omi  om   ongi   lomu   ongu   omitse  omisi omart
Eight ngovi  ngov   ngovvi  longovu   ngovvu   ngovitse  ngovisi jart
Nine ngoipi  ngoip   ngoiphi   longoipu   ngoiphu   ngoipitse  ngoipisi ngoipart
Ten jopi  jop   jophi   lojopu   jophu   jopitse  jopisi jopart
Eleven Twelve Thirteen Fourteen Fifteen Sixteen Seventeen Eighteen Nineteen Twenty
 ngoki  ngópi  ngofi  ngóki  ngomi  ophungovi  jopomi  jopingovi  jopingoipi  ophujopi
Twenty-one Thirty Fourty Fifty Sixty Sixty-four Sixty-five Seventy Eighty Ninety
 ophujopipi  okhujopi  offungovi  offujopi ókhujopi  mouti moutipi ongujopi ngowopi ngoiphujopi
One hundred One hundred
and twenty-two
One hundred
and sixty-six
Two hundred Thousand Three thousand
four hundred
Ten thousand Hundred thousand Million Billion
 toti toti(s)
ophujopopi
toti(s)
moutókki
ophutoti mopi okhumopi(s)
óphutoti
tothutoti tothumopi hamisi mowisi
  • Multiplicative adverb form is used in front of the powers of ten (tens, hundreds, ...)
  • Digits are annexed into the tens by using the cardinal or determiner form depending whether the digit begins with a vowel or not.
  • Fractions are constructed by placing the l(o)-prefixed form after the multiplicative number: okhu lóppu ("thrice one quarter" = three quarters). The noun is in ablative case and only the fraction is inflected: lopuji tuppo (for one half of a stick)
  • Large numbers (from hundred) are written separately from smaller, but in formal register s-letter is added between each power of ten.

Syntax

Word order

  • VAO usually, VOA also very common, SV(O) in antipassive
  • possessives follow nouns
  • predicative adjectives precede and attributive ones come after nouns

Emphasizing clitics

Suffixes ma (for ABS) and noh (for ERG) are used to emphasize either the object or the agent: Ónzaiton dotheenoh pof. (It is the man who's lifting the feather) vs. Ónzaiton dothee pofma. (It is the feather that the man is lifting.). They are also used with verbs in antipassive constructions.

When both are used, information conveyed by the verb becomes veritable: Józaitoi dotheenoh pofma. (I can swear that the man lifted the feather.)

The suffixes are also used with alienable possessive forms to separate the possessor from indirect objects. Chosen depending on the ergativity of the possessum: Jóvakuhoi suu pof swima swi. (He gave her feather to him.)

Clauses

Independent

Conjunction

coordinating, correlative (and subordinate?)

Noun clauses

WIP ... to be redone

  • Infinitive.tense + ... + causatives: Tesosan kepó vakuhos supe. (I see that he washes his hands) vs. Onluvakan kepóo vakuhos supe. (The washing of his hands brings me pleasure.)

Relative clauses

Nominalizing relative clauses with participles is common.

Using an emphasizing clitic to mark the antecedent for the class-appropriate proximal demonstrative pronoun (thaka/saitu/ka declined for number) which works as a relative pronoun - case chosen according to the embedded clause:

  • Rotóji dothma saituh latepai. (leave-PST.PFV.3SG man.ABS-EMPH.ABS P.PROX.AN-COM dance-PST.PFV.1SG "The man, with whom I danced, left.")
  • Tsóvangosor sahul dothelenos saitush latepai. (AGENT.PRES.INCEP.3PL.AN-is_drunk-FUT.3SG.INAN beer.ABS man-PL.ERG-EMPH.ERG P.PROX.AN-PL.COM dance-PST.PFV.1SG "The men with whom I danced are starting to drink beer.")
  • Tsóvangosor sahulma dothele ka tutitai vangosordi. (AGENT.PRES.INCEP.3PL.AN-is_drunk-FUT.3SG.INAN beer.ABS-EMPH.ABS man-PL.ERG P.PROX.INAN SBJV-want-PST.PFV.1SG drink-INF.FUT "Men are starting to drink the beer which I would've wanted to drink."

Adverbial clauses

non-finite forms + possessive suffixes to indicate subject

Conditional clauses

subjunctive as explained in verb particle section

Indirect speech

Register

Different endings which reflect the conversation situation: speakers, familiarity, formality, location...

Intimate

Agent prefixes aren't used. No t in inceptive. Due to apophony, subject suffix can be dropped from FUT/INCEP if 1st or 2nd person distinction is clear.

Casual

In casual register, verb forms are chosen differently when the subject is agent-like (he dances) or patient-like (he fell): latepóji (he danced AN) vs. bousoi (he fell INAN)

Formal

Mandatory use of pronouns and agent prefixes.

One may use inanimate verb forms as anti-honorific? Ondakon næ ka Nithki. (I humbly offer this to You)

Apophony of basic prepositions with root oi: Oisti Hala, óosti vakuhanga, ousti qorel (under the Sun, under my hand, under the earth)

In formal register, it is preferred to use only animate nouns as agents while abstract and inanimate are as antipassive subjects: luwi... nas ("beauty-of.yours it-un-eye-ful-makes me-with", your beauty makes me blind) vs. en fø na (you are making me blind)

Distinction between abstract and animate in some categories, such as verb conjugation (wa)

Can people with higher status be abstract or do they occupy a special animate category? (æ inside?)

Lexicon

See the dictionary page.