Vezhuan: Difference between revisions

From Linguifex
Jump to navigation Jump to search
 
(13 intermediate revisions by the same user not shown)
Line 31: Line 31:
-->
-->


The Vezhuan language, or ''Dzvada Vezhua Dlin'' "true humans speak this way", is a language isolate spoken in pockets of the Caucasus Mountains.
The Vezhuan language, referred to by its speakers as the ''Dzvada Vezhua Dlin'', "true humans speak this way", is a minority language spoken in Romania and parts of Hungary.  Throughout most of the language's history, it was confined chiefly to the Carpathian Mountains. The language is also known as ''Dezvadian'' given to it by the 18th century British explorer Sir Edward James Hampton; this name is actually the endonym of the Dzvada people, whereas the word ''vezhua'' from which Vezhuan comes, actually means "We speak."
 
Today there are approximately 24,000 speakers of the language total, a number that has remained fairly stable since the end of the Industrial Revolution.  A minority language in both Romania and Hungary, it has only recently acquired official status.  Some speakers have left their traditional homeland in search of a better standard of living amongst the general populace in both countries.  A small diaspora also exists, chiefly centered in parts of Greece and Macedonia, and an even smaller population in Lazio, Italy.
 
The language is classified as an isolate.  Theories of connections to a larger Rhaetian or Vasconic family had been proposed, but later were dismissed due to insufficient or even contradictory evidence. 


<!-- ***Phonology*** -->
<!-- ***Phonology*** -->
Line 64: Line 68:


===Determiners===
===Determiners===
There are three types of determiners in Peshpeg that occur either as suffixes, such as the definite and demonstrative suffixes, or as quantifiers, independent words that precede their noun heads to which they are joined with the linker ''mon'', e.g. ''Vadzini mon Golahách mon nodorzhi uzanio pepak'' "Many of the Ín Duári slaves revolted that day".
There are three types of determiners in Vezhuan that occur either as suffixes, such as the definite and demonstrative suffixes, or as quantifiers that precede their noun heads, e.g. ''Vadzini dulach nodorzhi uzanio pepak'' "Many of the barbarian slaves revolted that day".


The definite marker refers not only to specific or highly referential nouns, but may also refer to an abstract noun class that would normally be considered concrete e.g. ''gazhda'' < ''*gal-gda</u>'' "the (class of animals known as) horse".  The definite marker is also used to nominalize verbs, e.g. ''lozha'' < ''loz-<u>sha</u>'' "singing".  The definite marker, which occurs as a suffix, has different forms that agree in number and gender with their noun heads; however, it does not mark for case.  The forms for the definite marker are as follows:
The definite marker refers not only to specific or highly referential nouns, but may also refer to an abstract noun class that would normally be considered concrete e.g. ''gazhda'' < ''*gal-gda</u>'' "the (class of animals known as) horse".  The definite marker is also used to nominalize verbs, e.g. ''lozha'' < ''loz-<u>sha</u>'' "singing".  The definite marker, which occurs as a suffix, has different forms that agree in number and gender with their noun heads; however, it does not mark for case.  The forms for the definite marker are as follows:
Line 164: Line 168:
===Verbs===
===Verbs===


Peshpeg verbs mark for tense and aspect.  Verbs fall in three broad classes, based on how they mark the past vs. the non-past tenses: the ''zu-/vu-'' class, the etymologically related ''z-/v-'' class, and the ''u-/u-'' class.  Another feature of the verb is that plural verb stems get truncated, e.g.''zeganuadzh'' "I spoke", from the stem ''-egan-''; vs. ''zegzua'' "We spoke", from the stem ''-eg-''.
Vezhuan verbs mark for tense and aspect.  Verbs fall in three broad classes, based on how they mark the past vs. the non-past tenses: the ''zu-/vu-'' class, the etymologically related ''z-/v-'' class, and the ''u-/u-'' class.  Another feature of the verb is that plural verb stems get truncated, e.g.''zeganuadzh'' "I spoke", from the stem ''-egan-''; vs. ''zegzua'' "We spoke", from the stem ''-eg-''.




Line 180: Line 184:
==Syntax==
==Syntax==
===Constituent order===
===Constituent order===
Old and Middle Peshpeg exhibited VSO order, but the modern language is now an SOV language due to Minhast influence.  Because the nominative and accusative cases have merged into the direct case, word order is strict.


===Noun phrase===
===Noun phrase===
Line 205: Line 207:




[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Languages]]
<!-- Design goals, inspiration, ideas, who speaks it?, when was it created?, where does it come from?, any peculiarities? -->
<!-- Example categories/headings:
Goals
Setting
Inspiration
-->
<!-- ***Phonology*** -->
<!-- What sounds does your language use? -->
<!-- Here are some example sub-/other categories:
Vowel inventory
Consonant inventory
Syllable structure
Stress
Intonation
-->
==Phonology==
<!-- ***Phonology*** -->
<!-- What sounds does your language use? -->
<!-- Here are some example sub-/other categories:
Vowel inventory
Consonant inventory
Syllable structure
Stress
Intonation
-->
===Orthography===
===Consonants===
===Vowels===
===Prosody===
====Stress====
====Intonation====
===Phonotactics===
<!-- Explain the consonant clusters and vowel clusters that are permissible for use in the language. For example, "st" is an allowed consonant cluster in English while onset "ng" isn't. -->
===Morphophonology===
==Morphology==
<!-- How do the words in your language look? How do you derive words from others? Do you have cases? Are verbs inflected? Do nouns differ from adjectives? Do adjectives differ from verbs? Etc. -->
<!-- Here are some example subcategories:
Nouns
Adjectives
Verbs
Adverbs
Particles
Derivational morphology
-->
==Syntax==
===Constituent order===
===Noun phrase===
===Verb phrase===
===Sentence phrase===
===Dependent clauses===
<!-- etc. etc. -->
==Example texts==
<!-- An example of a translated or unique text written in your language. Again, it is recommended that you make sure that the phonology, constraints, phonotactics and grammar are more or less finished before writing. -->
==Other resources==
<!-- Example: Word order, qualifiers, determinatives, branching, etc. -->
<!-- Template area -->
[[Category:Dzvada Vezhua Dlin]]
[[Category:Languages]]
[[Category:Languages]]
[[Category:Conlangs]]
[[Category:Conlangs]]
[[Category:A priori]]

Latest revision as of 12:10, 13 March 2022


Introduction

The Vezhuan language, referred to by its speakers as the Dzvada Vezhua Dlin, "true humans speak this way", is a minority language spoken in Romania and parts of Hungary. Throughout most of the language's history, it was confined chiefly to the Carpathian Mountains. The language is also known as Dezvadian given to it by the 18th century British explorer Sir Edward James Hampton; this name is actually the endonym of the Dzvada people, whereas the word vezhua from which Vezhuan comes, actually means "We speak."

Today there are approximately 24,000 speakers of the language total, a number that has remained fairly stable since the end of the Industrial Revolution. A minority language in both Romania and Hungary, it has only recently acquired official status. Some speakers have left their traditional homeland in search of a better standard of living amongst the general populace in both countries. A small diaspora also exists, chiefly centered in parts of Greece and Macedonia, and an even smaller population in Lazio, Italy.

The language is classified as an isolate. Theories of connections to a larger Rhaetian or Vasconic family had been proposed, but later were dismissed due to insufficient or even contradictory evidence.


Phonology

Orthography

Consonants

Vowels

Prosody

Stress

Intonation

Phonotactics

Morphophonology

Morphology

Nouns

Determiners

There are three types of determiners in Vezhuan that occur either as suffixes, such as the definite and demonstrative suffixes, or as quantifiers that precede their noun heads, e.g. Vadzini dulach nodorzhi uzanio pepak "Many of the barbarian slaves revolted that day".

The definite marker refers not only to specific or highly referential nouns, but may also refer to an abstract noun class that would normally be considered concrete e.g. gazhda < *gal-gda "the (class of animals known as) horse". The definite marker is also used to nominalize verbs, e.g. lozha < loz-sha "singing". The definite marker, which occurs as a suffix, has different forms that agree in number and gender with their noun heads; however, it does not mark for case. The forms for the definite marker are as follows:

  Singular Plural
Masculine -g- -gda-
Neuter I -n- -vda-
Feminine
Neuter II
Collective
-sh-


The definite marker suffixes directly to the noun root before case markers are applied. In the following example, the masculine plural form of the definite marker -vda- is attached to the noun root gal ("horse") before the comitative case suffix is applied

galvdanda
/gav'dandʌ/
gal-vda-nda
horse-DEF.MP-COM

with the horses

Cases

  Masculine Neuter I Feminine
Neuter II
Collective
  Sg Pl Sg Pl Sg Pl
Nominative -∅ -za -da -nda ri
Accusative -ri -tari
Dative -ska -task -ka -nka
Ablative -vi -mva
Allative -rini -drina
Comitive -dan -nda
Locative -mi -ma
Genitive -za -zada
Oblique -∅ -za

Postpositions

Numbers

Verbs

Vezhuan verbs mark for tense and aspect. Verbs fall in three broad classes, based on how they mark the past vs. the non-past tenses: the zu-/vu- class, the etymologically related z-/v- class, and the u-/u- class. Another feature of the verb is that plural verb stems get truncated, e.g.zeganuadzh "I spoke", from the stem -egan-; vs. zegzua "We spoke", from the stem -eg-.


Syntax

Constituent order

Noun phrase

Verb phrase

Sentence phrase

Dependent clauses

Example texts

Vadzini dulach nodorzhi uzanio pepak
/va.'dzini 'dulatʃ nodoɚʒi u'zanjo 'pepak/
vadzini 'dulat-sh nodor-sh-ri u-zan-io pepak
many infestation-DENON-DEF.CL2.P slave-DEF.CL2.P PST-create.chaos-CL2.P that.day

Many of the barbarian slaves revolted that day.

Other resources