Alarine
Alarine | |
---|---|
Démfa Alaríne | |
Pronunciation | [ˈde̞ɱfä äläˈɾine̞] |
Created by | Ronnie Lovell |
Setting | Alaria |
Indo-European
| |
Early form |
Alarine(démfa alaríne, Alarine: [ˈde̞ɱfä äläˈɾine̞]) is a constructed language used in the fictional kingdom of Alaria, the setting of an ongoing book series.
It was developed as a semi-serious endeavor to create an Indo-European constructed language, and was retroactively placed in the fictional series as the primary language spoken in Alaria.
Phonology
Consonants
Bilabial | Dental | Alveolar | Post-Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | ɲ | |||
Plosive | p b | t d | k ɡ | |||
Affricate | t͡ʃ d͡ʒ | |||||
Fricative | f v | θ | s z | ʃ ʒ | x | |
Trill/Tap | r ɾ | |||||
Approximant | l | j ʎ | w |
The phonemes /d/ and /ɡ/ are pronounced as voiced stops only after a pause, or after a nasal consonant,
in all other contexts, they are realized as voiced fricatives /ð/, /ɣ/
Vowels
The Alarine phonemic inventory consists of the standard five vowel system, and their long counterparts.
Front | Center | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
Close | i iː | u uː | |
Mid | e̞ e̞ː | o̞ o̞ː | |
Open | ä äː |
Stress
Alarine features variable stress, marked with an acute accent on the vowel (á/é/í/ó/ú)
Phonotactics
Alarine features a (C)V(C)(C) syllable structure
Orthography
Alarine Orthography | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Alarine: | a | b | c | d | dj | e | f | g | h | i | j | l | lj | m | n | ñ | o | p | q | r | s | sj | t | tj | þ | u | v | w | z | zj | |||
IPA: | ä | b | k | d | d͡ʒ | e̞ | f | ɡ | x | i | j | l | ʎ | m | n | ɲ | o̞ | p | kʷ | r | s | ʃ | t | t͡ʃ | θ | u | v | w | z | ʒ |
Nouns
Nouns are declined for 3 genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and 2 numbers (singular, plural)
Masculine nouns are marked by the singular ending -o and the plural -ī
présto ‘'finger'’ (masc.) | ||
---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |
Base | présto | préstī |
Genitive | préstos | préstīs |
Feminine nouns are marked by the singular ending -ā and the plural -ē
ézā ‘'food'’ (fem.) | ||
---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |
Base | ézā | ézē |
Genitive | ézās | ézēs |
Neuter nouns are marked by the singular ending -e and the plural -ī
énde ‘'fire'’ (neut.) | ||
---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |
Base | énde | éndī |
Genitive | éndes | éndīs |
Humans and animals are declined for their respective gender, and inflecting them for neuter creates a "default" or "non-conforming" state for the noun:
Human
- anéro - man/male
- anérā - woman/female
- anére - person(in general)/non-gender-conforming individual
Animal
- múto - male cat
- mútā - female cat
- múte - cat(in general)/feline
Adjectives
Adjectives decline identically to nouns, and precede them.
Adjectives also feature an optional clitic derived from the copula (to be) to mark the subject of an adjective or interrogative:
Copula (to be)
Present | Past | Future | |
---|---|---|---|
1S | éru, 'ru | óram, 'ram | fuáo, 'fu |
2S | éres, 'res | óras, 'ras | fués, 'fes |
3S | ére, 're | óra, 'ra | fué, 'fe |
1P | erémo, 'rmo | eráma, 'rma | fuámo, 'fmo |
2P | eréto, 'rto | eráta, 'rta | fuáto, 'fto |
3P | éren, 'ren | óran, 'ran | fuén, 'fen |
Examples
- tóþi'ru - I am there
- tjúto'res - You are loud
- niódo're - he/she/it is stupid
- séti'rmo - we are quiet
- máto'rto - y'all are together
- sácro'ren - they are sacred
Adjectives possess a comparative and superlative form, attached to the end of the adjective stem.
- -iér- (more X)
- -ìst- (most X)
Adverbs
Adverbs are formed by the neuter ending -e on adjectives, and are placed after the verb.
- créto
Verbs
Verbs inflect for three persons (First, Second, Third) and three tenses (Present, Past, Future)
Currently there are two classes of verbs:
Class 1
The first class takes the pattern CéCe - CóCa
sérpe (present stem serp-, perfect stem sérft-, participle stem serpúd-); first class
Present | Past | Future | |
---|---|---|---|
1S | sérpu | sórpam | serpéru |
2S | sérpes | sórpas | serpéres |
3S | sérpe | sórpa | serpére |
1P | serpémo | sorpáma | serperémo |
2P | serpéto | sorpáta | serperéto |
3P | sérpen | sórpan | serpéren |
Class 2
The second class takes the pattern CáCe - CúCa
Present | Past | Future | |
---|---|---|---|
1S | evánu | evúnam | evanéru |
2S | evánes | evúnas | evanéres |
3S | eváne | evúna | evanére |
1P | evanémo | evunáma | evadrémo |
2P | evanéto | evunáta | evadréto |
3P | evánen | evúnan | evanéren |