Oxman

From Linguifex
Jump to navigation Jump to search



Oxman
Oxmansc
Progress: 91%
Type
Mixed
Alignment
Nominative-Accusative
Head direction
Initial Mixed Final
Primary word order
Subject-verb-object
Tonal
Yes
Declensions
No
Conjugations
Yes
Genders
2
Verbs conjugate according to...
Voice Mood
Person Number
Tense Aspect


General informations

Oxmansc-sprekend raum - Oxman speaking area

Oxman is a Germanic language spoken in the Duché du Héron (= Shire of Le Héron), a shire that corresponds to the eastern region of Seine-Marirtime in France. This language has evolved from Old Oxman which evolved from Old Auregan which is the first recorded form of Auregan language. Auregan language area corresponds to the "Vexin Normand" (a region situated just south to "Duché du héron"). A Oxman speaking colony also exists near the city of Coventry, Warwickshire, Midlands, England. Oxman is a West-Germanic language that is strongly linked to Dutch, Modern English, Low German and Modern German.

Here is a table which sums up the main characteristics of this language:

Gender Cases Numbers Tenses Persons Moods Voices Aspects
Verb No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Nouns Yes No Yes No No No No No
Adjectives No No Yes No No No No No
Numbers No No No No No No No No
Participles No No Yes No No No Yes No
Adverb No No No No No No No No
Pronouns Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No
Adpositions Yes No Yes No No No No No
Article Yes Yes Yes No No No No No
Particle No No No No No No No No


Phonology

Alphabet

Oxman alphabet uses letters from Latin alphabet and contains 25 characters:

Letters Pronunciation Further information
a [a] short 'a'
b [b] like in English
c [tʃ] like the English 'ch' in 'church'
d [d] like in English
e [ɛ] / [e:] in plural cluster -es it is not pronounced
f [f] like in English
g [g] it is always pronunced as in the English word "get"
h [h] like in English
i [ɪ] short 'i'
j [j] like English 'y'
k [k] like in English
l [l] like in English
m [m] like in English
n [n] like in English
o [ɔ] / [oʊ:] like in English
p [p] like in English
q [k] often followed by 'u', in latin words beginning with 'qu'
r [r] trilled just as in Dutch or in Italian
s [s] can be either voiced or voiceless
t [t] like in English
u [œ] short 'u' in 'but'
v [v] like in English
w [ʋ] between 'v' and 'w', just as in Dutch
y [j] between French letter 'j' in 'jouer' and English 'y' in 'year', as a vowel like a French 'u' or as English 'y' in 'why' when at the end of a word followed by a 'e' (cf. Oxman 'wye?' meaning 'why?' pronounced as in English);
æ [ɑ:] long 'a'
œ [u] as 'oo' in 'boot'

Consonantic phonemes

Oxman language has the following consonantic phonemes:

Bilabial Labio-dental Dental Alveolar Post-alveolar Palatal Labio-Velar Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ŋ
Plosive p b t d k g
Fricative f v θ ð s z ʃ ç χ h
Affricate ts dz tʃ dʒ
Approximant r ɹ j w
Lateral l

Vocalic phonemes

Oxman shows the following vowels:

Phonemes Short Long
Front Back Front Back
Closed ɪ ʊ i: y: u:
Mid-closed e: o:
Mid-open ɛ ɔ
Open a ɑ:

Diphthongs and digraphs

Oxman has also twenty diphthongs, that is clusters of two vowels pronounced with a single emission of air. These diphthongs are:

Diphthongs Pronunciation
ai [ɑ:ɪ]
au [ɑ:ʊ]
ea [e:ɪ]
eo [e:ʊ]
ei [ɛɪ]
uo, ue [y:ə]
ou [o:ʊ]

Stress

The position of stress in this language is quite regular, because it falls on the root and thus there are few rules to observe:

  • In substantives (and in adjectives and adverbs) the stress generally falls on the first syllable, but if they are compound nouns / adjectives, formed by prefix + noun / adjective, the stress falls on the root syllable of the noun / adjective. In compounds which are formed by noun / adjective + noun / adjective, the various words are read as if they were written separately;
  • In verbs the stress falls always on the root, even if they are compounds, ex.: yemæke, "to make up", is read as [jə'ma:kə].

Grammar

Nouns, gender and number

Oxman language has got only two genders: common gender and neuter gender. The previously masculine and feminine words have merged into the common gender, whereas neuter words have remained neuter, even if in some cases there has been a gender switch.

Nouns can be both singular (denoting just one object) and plural (denoting more than one object). The formation of plural is simple, because there is only one ways to form it:

  • All nouns take -es suffix (-s if the nouns ends with 'r' or 'l'), the <e> in this suffix is generally not pronounced;

However a few nouns show irregular endings.


Articles

Two kinds of article exist in Oxman: indefinite and definite article.

The indefinite article has got no plural form and the singular one is the same for all the genders: ean. This article is used to talk about things, facts, beings that are introduces for the first time into the conversation, that is we use the indefinite article to talk about new and not known informations, to talk about undetermined informations.

The definite article is thie for common nouns and for all genders at plural forms, but for singular neuter it is that. The definite article is used to talk about well known things, facts, beings instead.

Adjectives

The adjectives always precede the noun to whom they refer. Adjectives take a single -e ending when the noun it refers to is common, or at plural form. Singular neuter nouns don't cause endings on the adjectives.

Strong singular Strong plural / Weak Meaning
gœd gœde good
ald alde old
yung yunge young
road rode* red
long longe long
heat hete* hot
  • long vowels 'ea' and 'oa' shrink when an ending is added into 'e' and 'o'. Example: 'leve' (to live) but 'ic leaf' (I live).

Comparative

The higher degree comparative is formed with the suffix '-or, -rX'. The second term of comparation is introduced by thon and is in the same case of the first, ex.:

  • Ean yebow hoyor thon ean trie - A building higher than a tree.

Just like in English and somtimes in Dutch, long adjectives form their comparative by adding the word 'mear' before the adjective. It corresponds to the 'more' formation in English.


Adjectives with an irregular higher degree comparative

Some adjectives have got an irregular form of higher degree comparative:

Positive Strong comparative Weak comparative
gœd betor betre
uvol (bad) wierse wierse
uvol (inferior) sambor (rare) sambre (rare)
luttol smallor smallre
weney mindor mindre
ald eldor eldre
yung yongor yongre
strong (strict) strengor strengre
long lengor lengre
foar (fore) furmor furmre
fer (far) ferthor ferthre
mæney/micol (many, much) mear mere

Superlative

The superlative degree is formed with the suffix '-ost, -stX' (some irregular adjectives form it with '-st').

  • Thie sconste blœm thiere werold - The most beautiful flower in the world.


Adjectives with an irregular superlative

The same adjectives that have an irregular higher degree comparative have got also an irregular superlative form:

Positive Strong superlative Weak superlative
gœd best beste
uvol (bad) wierst wierste
uvol (inferior) sambost (rare) sambste (rare)
luttol smallost smalste
weney minst minste
ald eldost eldste
yung yongost yongste
fer ferthost ferthste
strong strengost stengste
long lengost lengste
foar furmost furmste
mæney/micol (many, much) meast measte

Numerals

Numerals don't inflect. Here are the numerals from 0 to 100:

Number Cardinal Ordinal
0 nieght -
1 ene earst (time), furst (place)
2 twea tweathe
3 thrie therde
4 fier fierthe
5 faif fifthe
6 sex sexthe
7 sevon sevonthe
8 aght aghtthe
9 neyon neyonthe
10 tien tenthe
11 elvon elfthe
12 twelf twelfthe
13 thertien thertenthe
14 fiertien fiertenthe
15 fiftien fiftenthe
16 sextien sextenthe
17 sevontien sevontenthe
18 aghttien aghttenthe
19 neyontien neyontenthe
20 twintey twinteythe
21 ean-ond-twintey ean-ond-twinteythe
22 twea-ond-twintey twea-ond-twinteythe
30 thertey therteythe
40 fiertey fierteythe
50 fiftey fifteythe
60 sextey sexteythe
70 sevontey sevonteythe
80 aghttey aghtteythe
90 neyontey neyonteythe
100 hundrod hundrodthe

Personal pronouns

Case 1st person
Singular Plural
Subject ick wie
Object 1 my us
Object 2 my us
Possessive main ure
Case 2nd person
Singular Plural
Subject thu yie
Object 1 thy yow, yiew*
Object 2 thy yow*
Possessive thain yore*
Case 3rd person
Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural
Subject hie sie hit hea
Object 1 hine, him** sie, hir** him, hit** hea, heam**
Object 2 him hir hit heam
Genitive his hir his hiere
  • Dialectal or archaic forms.
    • Common errors, often found in vulgar language

Verbs

Inflections

Here are some very important verbs, their auxiliary verb for compound tenses and their meaning:

Infinitive 1st person 2nd person 3rd person plural persons singular preterit plural preterit past participle Auxiliary Meaning
hebbe heb hæst hæth hebbeth hadde hadden ehad hebbe to have
wese bie bist is sind was waren ewesen wese to be
dost doth dœth dead deden edæn hebbe to do
gast gath gæth iede ieden egæn, egongen wese to go
fære fær farst farth færeth fœr fœren efæren wese to go
flieye fliey flieyst flieyth flieyeth floay floyen efloyen wese to fly
sie sie siest sieth sieth say sayen esien hebbe to see
leye ley leyst leyth leyeth leide leiden eleid hebbe to lay
mœte mœt mœst mœt mœteth mœste mœsten hebbe to may, must
kume kum komst komth kumeth quam quamen ekumen wese to come
kunne kan kanst kan kunneth kuthe kuthen ekuth hebbe can
seye sey seyst seyth seyeth seide seiden eseid hebbe to say
fortelle fortell fortelst fortelth fortelleth fortelde fortelden forteld hebbe to tell
wite weat weast weat witeth wiste wisten ewiten hebbe to know
knæwe knæw knawst knawth knæweth kniew kniewen eknowen hebbe to recognise
wille will wilt will willeth wolde wolden ewild hebbe to want to
sculle scall scalt scall sculleth scolde scolden hebbe to shall, must
sterve sterf stirfst stirfth sterveth storf storven estorven wese to die
mæke mæk mækst mækth mæketh mækte mækten emækod hebbe to make
ete eat eatst (older itst) eatth (older itth) eteth at aten eëten hebbe to eat
muye may maist may muyeth moghte moghten — (emoght) hebbe to may
halde hald heldst heldth haldeth hield, heald hielden, healden ehalden hebbe to hold
wirce wirc wircest wirceth wirceth wroghte wroghten ewroght hebbe to work

Indefinites

Indefinites give us incomplete informations, because they don't define the precise quantity or the identity:

Indefinite Meaning
evenman somebody
evenean someone
evending something/anything
evenwær somewhere
neaman nobody
newær nowhere
nene (also neëne) none
neding nothing
enyman anybody
enyene anyone
enyding anything
enywær anywhere
theyene the one (who)
thatean that one (which)
elc each
all all
othor other