Kesmmi

From Linguifex
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Keˑs̠mmi (meaning "our language") is a divergent Finnic language, descended from Proto-Finnic. Its main source of aesthetic inspiration is Toda. It's spoken in Irta's Finland and Estonia.

It features a system of initial consonant mutations similar to Celtic languages and Biblical Hebrew.

üṣ, kaṣ, kwës̠m, neɬ, piˑθ, kuˑθ, sayt̠, kaθëṣ, üθëṣ, kümn, üṣtwis, kaṣtwis, kwës̠mtwis, neɬtwis, piˑtwis, kuˑtwis, sayt̠wis, kaθëṣtwis, üθëṣtwis, kaṣkümd

oyx - time

Sound changes from Proto-Finnic

  • Initial v becomes p, as in pïḍ "stream" <- virta
  • Medial l becomes alveolar retracted in native vocab, as in kas̠ "fish" <- kala
  • Vowel shifts and umlaut: swïx "kin" <- suku, ïpšn "I studied" <- Estonian õppisin, söwr "society" ~ seura
  • Begadkefat spirantization: t tt -> θ t etc.

Morphology

The Finnic consonant gradation isn't reflected in Kesmmi nominal morphology. Some nouns derive from Proto-Finnic nominatives while others derive from genitive or oblique cases (and there are sometimes doublets).

  • käsy /kæzʲ/ "hand" (nominative)
  • käsyn /kæzʲn/ (genitive)
  • käsyθ /kæzʲθ/ (partitive)
  • käsyṣ /kæzʲʂ/ (illative, from the Proto-Finnic translative)
  • käsynnë /kæzʲnnə/ (inessive, from the Proto-Finnic essive)
  • käsyd /kæzʲd/ (elative, from the Proto-Finnic exessive)
  • käsylë /kæzʲlə/ (dative)
  • käsyl /kæzʲl/ (adessive)
  • käsyr̠ /kæzʲr̠/ (ablative)
  • käsyt /kæzʲt/ (abessive)
  • käsygo /kæzʲɡo/ (comitative)