Verse:Hmøøh/Talma/Literature
Netagin (barīts Natāgīn) is a triconsonantal language inspired by Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic, spoken in Western Cuadhlabh. This page describes Ancient Netagin.
Todo
- final -ʔ to block initial seimhiu in descendants
- need more binyanim
Roots
- n-t-g: ???
- r-s-d: study
- z-ʔ-r: go
- k-d-d: fly
- w-r-š: love
- b-n-š: hide
Phonology
Ancient Netagin
Ancient Netagin had the following consonants (note no /l/!):
m n ŋ t tʼ k kʼ ʔ b d g f s ts ɬ tɬ ʃ ħ h z ʕ w r j
⟨m n ŋ t ṭ k q ʔ b d g f s ts x tx š ħ h z ȝ w r y⟩
The following vowels were used:
i iː u uː
a aː oː
aj aw
⟨i ī u ū a ā ō ay aw⟩
Stress is marked with an acute accent.
Old Netagin
Begadkefat: /t k b d g/ > /θ x v ð ɣ/ after a V
Vowels go through Tiberian Hebrew-ish changes
Modern Netagin
Morphology
Nouns and adjectives
Three numbers: sg, du/col, pl
Four genders: solar, lunar, terrestrial, aquatic (like Valyrian)
absolute, construct, possessed forms
Definite article: ha-(gemination)
| Singular | Dual-collective | Plural | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| absolute | construct | absolute | construct | absolute | construct | |
| Solar | -i | -∅ | -ūn | -ū | -ān | -ā |
| Lunar | -an | -āʔ | -ōnūn | -ōnū | -ōnān | -ōnā |
| Terrestrial | -in | -ay | -ayyūn | -ayyū | -ayyān | -ayyā |
| Aquatic | -ōt | -at | -tūn | -tū | -tān | -tā |
constructs: solar sg drops the i, lunar sg changes the -an to -áʔ, terrestrial changes -ín to -ay, du and pl change the -ú/-á to an -ó
Vowel-reducing paradigms
The largest class of vowel-reducing nouns have á or é between the first and second radicals that reduces to a/e (harmonizing with the frontness of following vowel; i after a y) when a suffix is added.
"Crawling-up" nouns
The "crawling-up" (Netagin: mittzúchábh) nouns underlyingly end in a consonant cluster. In the singular oblique cases the stem is turned into a CaCC (if the bare form is CeCaC, CiCC for CéCaC and CoCC for CóCaC) form, and the dual and plural turn the stem into (CaCáC, CeCáC and CoCáC).
Nouns ending in geminated consonants
These nouns may take sound case/number suffixes, or get the broken plural as a CVCC/CVnC stem.
-eh
In nouns ending in -eh, the -eh is deleted before a case ending.
Pronouns
| First person | Second person | Third person | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Dual | Plural | Singular | Dual | Plural | Singular | Dual | Plural | |
| Independent | ʔákti | ʔákkū | ʔákkā | ʔánni | ʔánnū | ʔánnā | hī, hin, han, hitt | hínnū | hínnā |
| Clitic | -ti | -kū | -kā | -ni | -nū | -nā | -hi | -hū | -hā |
Verbs
Netagin verbs, perhaps similarly to those of Biblical Hebrew, mark aspect and person, but not tense. (Netagin, rather unusually, renders tense as proclitics on NPs instead.) Non-concatenative morphology figures prominently in conjugation for valence and TAM, much like in Semitic and Proto-Indo-European. However, verbs can also be derived via derivational "mishqalim" patterns (with considerable overlap with nominal patterns).
Primary stems
- For inflectional paradigms, please see Netagin/Primary stem conjugation.
The primary stems inflect with heavy use of transfixes. Comprising about 500 verbs, this class is the counterpart to strong verbs in Germanic. There are up to 4 primary patterns or "binyanim" that a root may take in Netagin:
- In the Intransitive paradigm are verbs denoting intransitive actions ("come"), as well as stative verbs ("be cold"). It is often considered the most basic form. The difference between adjectives and stative verbs is roughly equivalent to the ser-estar distinction.
- The Transitive paradigm contains most monotransitive verbs, ("eat") including causativizations of Intransitive verbs ("make happy"). Can also have a telic (desired outcome was reached) meaning.
- The Reflexive pattern consists of verbs denote reflexive/reciprocal action ("get dressed", "kiss each other"), or change of state ("thicken").
- The Causative pattern contains causatives of transitive verbs ("feed") (and of some Intransitives and Reflexives). Causatives of statives in the imperfective aspect may denote active maintenance of a state (as opposed to changing a state in the perfective aspect).
Note that there is no passive in Netagin - this function is mainly served by zeroth person in transitive verbs or with Reflexive verbs, or simply topicalization of the patient.
| Perfective | Imperfective | Participle | Action noun | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | CaCaC | CiCːaC | CōCiC | CaCīC |
| Transitive | CuCuC | CaCːī1C | muCaCːīC | CaCːīCā |
| Reflexive | ˀiCCī1C | niCCiC | miCːūCāC | ˀaCCuCt |
| Causative | ˀaCCaC | ˀiCːiCaC | maCCāC | ˀaCCaCā |
1 Shortens to i when a suffix is added.
Suffixes beginning with a vowel cause the vowel between C and C to be elided.
The infinitive (inf) is formed by leniting the first letter of the bare stem of the verb, or if said first letter is a guttural or n, adding fa-.
The participle is an agent noun or an adjective. Adverbializing it yields manner of action "as if to X".
The action noun (axn) or gerund is used in action noun constructions, which are of the form SUBJECT-gen AXN OBJECT-acc. It is of importance in forming relative clauses, for Netagin does not have a relativizer.
Affixes
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