Verse:Hmøøh/Talma/Literature

Netagin (barits Natāgīn) is a (largely reconstructed) triconsonantal language inspired by Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic, spoken in Western Etalocin. This page describes Ancient Netagin, the oldest attested stage of Netagin.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Lateral	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Pharyngeal	Glottal
Nasal		m /m/	n /n/			ŋ /ŋ/
Plosive	plain		t /t/			k /k/			ʔ /ʔ/
	tense		ṭ /t˭/			ḳ /k˭/
	voiced	b /b/	d /d/			g /g/
Affricate			c /ts/	q /tɬ/
Fricative	voiceless	f /f/	s /s/	x /ɬ/				ħ /ħ/	h /h/
	voiced		z /z/				ȝ /ʁ~ʕ/
Approximant		w /w/	r /ɾ/		j /j/

Vowels

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.

Morphology

Nouns and adjectives

The definite article was ʔis-.

Number

Three numbers: sg, du/col, pl

Two genders: plain, honorific

Honorific marked with -ō

absolute, construct, possessed forms

For example, below are the declensions of yarifi (plain) = 'wheel'; ʔiȝsō (honorific) = 'eagle'

Sample nouns

	Singulative		Dual-collective		Plurative
	absolute	construct	absolute	construct	absolute	construct
Plain	yarifi	yarif	yarifūʔ	yarifū	yarifāʔ	yarifā
Honorific	ʔiȝsō	ʔiȝsōn	ʔiȝsōnūʔ	ʔiȝsōnū	ʔiȝsōbi	ʔiȝsōb

Possessive suffixes

Air singulative nouns

	Singular	Dual	Plural
1	yarififi	yarififū	yarififā
2	yarifini	yarifinū	yarifinā
3	yarifihi	yarifihū	yarifihā

Earth singulative nouns

	Singular	Dual	Plural
1	bilāfi	bilāfū	bilāfā
2	bilāni	bilānū	bilānā
3	bilāhi	bilāhū	bilāhā

Fire singulative nouns

	Singular	Dual	Plural
1	mufgōrayfi	mufgōrayfū	mufgōrayfā
2	mufgōrayni	mufgōraynū	mufgōraynā
3	mufgōrayhi	mufgōrayhū	mufgōrayhā

Water singulative nouns

	Singular	Dual	Plural
1	qabatxtifi	qabatxtifū	qabatxtifā
2	qabatxtini	qabatxtinū	qabatxtinā
3	qabatxtihi	qabatxtihū	qabatxtihā

Dual-collective nouns

	Singular	Dual	Plural
1	yarifūki	yarifūtū	yarifūtā
2	yarifūni	yarifūnū	yarifūnā
3	yarifūhi	yarifūhū	yarifūhā

Plurative nouns

	Singular	Dual	Plural
1	yarifāki	yarifātū	yarifātā
2	yarifāni	yarifānū	yarifānā
3	yarifāhi	yarifāhū	yarifāhā

Pronouns

	First person			Second person			Third person
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural
Independent	ʔafti	ʔaffū	ʔaffā	ʔanni	ʔannū	ʔannā	hini (a) hinan (hon.)	hinnū	hinnā
Clitic	-ti	-fū	-fā	-ni	-nū	-nā	-hi	-hū	-hā

Verbs

Ancient Netagin has at least 12 binyanim:

• Binyan 1 verbs are verbs denoting intransitive actions ("come"), as well as stative verbs ("be cold") and some monotransitives. It is often considered the most basic form.
• Binyan 2 contains many monotransitive verbs, ("eat") including causativizations of Binyan 1 verbs ("make happy").
• Binyan 3 consists of verbs denote reflexive/reciprocal action ("get dressed", "kiss each other"), or change of state ("thicken").
• Binyan 4 contains causatives of transitive verbs ("feed") (and of some Binyan 2 and Binyan 3 verbs). Causatives of statives in the imperfective aspect may denote active maintenance of a state (as opposed to changing a state in the perfective aspect).
• Binyan 5 is roughly equivalent to the German prefix be- (applicative).
• Binyan 6 - telic, intensive
• Binyan 7 - telic
• Binyan 8 - "X a little, almost X"
• Binyan 9 - "X in advance, X for oneself" (from the middle voice)
• Binyan 10 - "-le"
• Binyan 11 verbs tend to express gradual processes.
• Binyan 12 - "mis-X, over-X"

Binyan	Imperfective	Perfective	Antipassive Participle	Passive Participle	Action noun
1	1a2a3	-i12a3	1ō2i3	1i2u3	1i2i3i
2	1a2ō3	-a12ū3	1a2ī3	1a2ū3	1u2ā3
3	ʔa12ī13	-uni12i3	bi1ːū2ā3	ti1ːū2ā3	ʔa12u3ti
4	ʔa12i3	-i1ːi2u3	ba12a3	ta12a3	ʔa12a3ō
5	ta12u3	-ut1a2i3	but1a2u3	tut1a2u3	ta12ō3ō
6	ʔir1a2a3	-ur1i2u3	bur1i2u3	tur1i2u3	ʔur1a2i3i
7	ʔirta1a2u3	-urta1a2i3	burta1a2u3	turta1a2u3	tirta1a2ī3i
8	ʔi21a2i3	-i21i2u3	bu21ā2u3	tu21ā2u3	ʔu21a2i3i
9	1as2u3	-u1is2u3	bu1as2u3	tu1as2u3	tu1as2i3i
10	1i2a2i3	-i12i2u3	bu12i2u3	tu12i2u3	ti12a2i3i
11	1a2ā2u3	-i12ī2u3	bu12ā2u3	tu12ā2u3	tu12ā2i3i
12	1i31a2u3	-i1a31i2u3	bu1i31ā2u3	tu1i31ā2u3	1i31a2i3i

¹ Shortens to i when a suffix is added.

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

Present tense affixes

	Singular	Dual-Coll.	Plural
1	-fi	-fū	-fā
2	-an -at (hon.)	-nū -tū (hon.)	-nā -tōb (hon.)
3	-∅ -ō (hon.)	-ū	-ā -ōb (hon.)

ʔabnis 'steal'

	Singular	Dual-Coll.	Plural
1	ʔabnisfi	ʔabnisfū	ʔabnisfā
2	ʔabnisan	ʔabnisnū	ʔabnisnā
3	ʔabnis ʔabnisō (hon.)	ʔabnisū	ʔabnisā ʔabnisōb

Past tense affixes

	Singular	Dual-Coll.	Plural
1	f-	f-ū	f-ā
2	n- n-ō (hon.)	n-ū	n-ā n-ōb (hon.)
3	h- h-ō (hon.)	h-ū	h-ā h-ōb (hon.)

ʔabnis 'steal'

	Singular	Dual-Coll.	Plural
1	fibbinus	fibbinusū	fibbinusā
2	nibbinus	nibbinusū	nibbinusā
3	hibbinus hibbinusō (hon.)	hibbinusū	hibbinusā hibbinusōb (hon.)

Syntax

Ancient Netagin is almost completely head-initial; it is also syntactically ergative.