User:Nicolasstraccia/afghanisketch

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This language started as a prospective sketch for commission N°271 in the LCS's Jobs Board. After not having been submitted as a proposal, it freely departed from the original premise and stands now on its own particular terms without any pretence of affiliation to the aforementioned project whatsoever.

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Phonology and orthography

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Near-front	Central	Near-back	Back
Close	i(ː) u(ː) e(ː) o(ː) ə æ äː ɒ
Near‑close
Close‑mid
Mid
Open‑mid
Near‑open
Open

Consonants

	Labial				Coronal								Dorsal						Labiovelar		Laryngeal
	Bilabial		Labiodental		Dental		Alveolar		Palatoalveolar		Retroflex		Palatal		Velar		Uvular				Glottal
Plosive	p	b			t	d					[ʈ]	[ɖ]			k	g	[q]	[ɢ]			ʔ
Nasal		m						n				[ɳ]		ɲ		ŋ				ŋʷ
Trill								r
Tap/flap								[ɾ]
Fricative	ɸ	β	[f]	[v]	θ	[ð]	s	z	ʃ	ʒ	[ʂ]	[ʐ]	[ç]	[ʝ]	x	[ɣ]			xʷ		h
Africate							ʦ	ʣ	ʧ	ʤ
Approximant								ɹ						j						w
Lateral Appr.								l

Phonotaxis

Syllable structure

Syllables may be structured as (C)(C)V(S)(C(C)), consisting of an optional syllable onset, one consonant; an obligatory syllable nucleus, consisting of a vowel optionally followed by a semivowel; and an optional syllable coda, one or two consonants.

• Onset
  • Consonant (C): can be any consonant. Composed of either one consonant or a C+continuant cluster (other clusters, which are only found in loanwords, are broke with an epenthetic /ə/ between the consonants.)
• Nucleus
  • Vowel or diphthong V
  • Semivowel (S)
• Coda
  • First consonant (C): can be any consonant.
  • Second consonant (C): can also be any consonant (mostly /d/, /k/, /s/, /t/, & /z/).

Allophony and coarticulation

Phoneme	Allophone/Coarticulation	Rule	Description
Consonants
/t/ /k/ /p/ /ʦ/	/tʰ/ /kʰ/ /pʰ/ /ʦʰ/	P→Pʰ /%_	word initial
/t/ /d/ /n/ /s/ /z/	/ʈ/ /ɖ/ /ɳ/ /ʂ/ /ʐ/	/_%	word final
/t/ /d/	[ʈ] [ɖ]	/C_ C=[+nasal], [+labial]	after nasals and labials
/k/ /g/	/q/ /ɢ/	/_%	word final
/ɸ/ /β/	/f/ /v/	/_%, /Z_	word final, after sibilants
/b/	[w]	b→w /V_V	intervocalic, word medial
/g/	[ɣ]	g→ɣ /V_V	intervocalic, word medial
/θ/	/ð/	θ→ð /F_	after continuants
/r/	/ɾ/	r→ɾ /Z_	after sibilants
/r/	/ɹ/	r→ɹ /V_N	after vowels and before nasals
/r/	/ʐ/	r→ʐ /_%	word final
/tu/ /nu/ /ku/ /gu/ /xu/ /ŋu/	/tʷ/ /nʷ/ /kʷ/ /gʷ/ /xʷ/ /ŋʷ/	u.V→ʷV. /C_.V C=[+velar]{ɣ}, [t, n]	when a vowel after /u/ is brought into the same syllable /u/ turns into a labialization of the preceding consonant
/l/	[lʲ] [lˠ]	l→lˠ /_V[+back], l→lʲ /_V[+front]	before front and back vowels respectively
/ɹ/	[ɹʲ] [ɹˠ]	ɹ→ɹˠ /_V[+back], ɹ→ɹʲ /_V[+front]	before front and back vowels respectively
/ʃ/ /ʒ/	[ʧ] [ʤ]	ʃ,ʒ→ʧ,ʤ /C_% []	word final
/ʃ/ /ʒ/	[ç] [ʝ]	ʃ,ʒ→ç,ʝ /V_% [w,u(ː),o(ː)]	word final
Vowels
/ɒ/	[ä]	ɒ→ä /C_V̯, _j	diphthongs -which happen after a consonant- and before /j/

Orthography

Latin transcription
Vowels
IPA i iː e eː o oː u uː ɒ äː æ ə Romanization i ī e ē o ō u ū a ā ä ë Alternative romanization i î e ê o ô u û a â á é
Consonants
IPA p b t d k g ʔ m n ɲ ŋ ŋʷ r ɹ l j w Romanization p b t d k g ' m n ń ṇ ṇw ŕ r l y w Alternative romanization p b t d k g ' m n ny ng ngw r rh l y w ɸ β θ s z ʃ ʒ x ɣ xʷ h ʦ ʣ ʧ ʤ f v ϑ s z ṣ ẓ x ǵ xw h ts dz ĉ ĵ f v th s z sh zh x gh xw h ts dz ch dj

Morphology and syntax

Morphology

Split ergativity. In the present tense or future tense, the subject is marked as nominative, and the object is marked as accusative. In the past tense, however, the subject of a transitive verb is marked as oblique, and the verb agrees with the object.

Nouns

Case	Marker
Nominative nom	∅
Accusative acc	-NA	dialect 1	-në, -ϑë, -të, -xwe, -ϑe, -te
		dialect 2	-na, -ϑa, -da, -ṇwe, -ṣe, -se
Genitive gen	-NEK	dialect 1	-nëk, -ϑëk, -tëk, -nek, -ϑek, -tek
		dialect 2	-niǵ, -ϑik, -diǵ -neǵ, -ϑeǵ, -teǵ
Dative dat	-KA	dialect 1	-ka, -ge, -ko, -kä
		dialect 2	-xwa, -xwe, -xo, -xwä
Locative loc	-TA	dialect 1	-ta, -da, -to, -do
		dialect 2	-te, -de, -tä, -dä
Ablative abl	-TAn	dialect 1	-tan, -dan, -ϑon, -tun
		dialect 2	-ton, -don, -ϑän, -ϑun
Oblique obl	-SuN	dialect 1	-sū, -ṣun, -son
		dialect 2	-zum, -ẓō, -zon

Verbs

Verbs are conjugated for singular and plural number and first, second, and third persons.

There are two types of verbs distinguished by their infinitive forms: those ending in the suffix -lam /lɒm/ and those ending in -rom /ɹom/.

Evidentiality

The direct.evidence marker -dir and the rumour marker -mëṣ appear to coalesce as part of the indirect.evidence marker -dirmë[ṣ]näm, but the etymological evidence is not yet conclusive.

Marker		‹ ›	//	[]
unmarked for evidentiality		∅
direct.evidence	dialect 1	-dir	-dir	-diʐ
	dialect 2	-dir	-dir	-ɖiʒ
hearsay	dialect 1	-ëpdir	-əp.dir	-əp.ɖiʐ
	dialect 2	-etfir	-əf.tir	-ef.ʈiʒ
indirect.evidence	dialect 1	-dirmënäm	-dir.mə.næm	-diɾ.mə.næm
	dialect 2	-diṛënäm	-di.rə.næm	-di.rə.næm
rumour	dialect 1	-mëṣ	-məʃ	-məʧ
	dialect 2	-mëṣ	-məʃ	-məʧ

(the phonology of dialect 2 still needs revision)

Negation

Negative verb: ‹ϑīwṣ› /ˈθiːwʃ/ [ˈθiːwç]. It doesn’t inflect for person or number.

Negative suffix: ‹-yūṣ› /jūʃ/ [juːç]. It comes after the stem and before the tense suffix. In addition to -yūṣ there is another suffix ‹-kyem› /kjem/ or ‹-kuom› /ku.om/ [kʷom]. It appears ‹-kyem› is used when dealing with one event, ‹-yūṣ› for more habitual or lasting states.

Syntax

The normal word order is subject–object–verb.