A new apriori project - working notes
Note: For clarity I divide morphemes in the samples with a full stop (.).
Things to do:
1) Phonology! ATR harmony: ы - и - у - э / ӹ - ӭ - о - а. In practice I would think about four vowel archiphonemes /i\/, /i/, /u/ and /a/ plus a high/low marker.
3) Phonology: description of some sounds; possible clusters.
The goal of the current project is to create a personal artlang that would:
(1) please my phonoesthetics (no "cellar doors"!);
(2) resemble certain natlang groups that I find attractive both in phonology and morphosyntax, such as Turkic, Tungusic, Chukchee-Kamchatkan, Algonkian, Permian etc.
Alphabet: not complete
| А | [a] | Б | [b] | В | [w] | Г | [ɡ] | Ҕ | [ɢ] | Ғ | [ɦ] |
| Д | [d] | Е | [jɛ] | Ё | [jo] | Ж | [ʒ] | З | [z] | И | [i] |
| Й | [j] | К | [k] | Ӄ | [q͡χ] | Л | [ɫ] | М | [m] | Н | [n] |
| Ӈ | [ŋ] | О | [o] | П | [p] | Р | [ɾ] | С | [s] | Т | [t] |
| У | [u] | Ф | [f] | Х | [χ] | Ц | [ʦ] | Ч | [ʨ] | Ш | [ʃ] |
| Щ | [ɕ] | Ы | [ɘ] | Э | [ɛ] | Ю | [ju] | Я | [ja] |
Characters Ъ and Ь are used as in Russian. Characters Ӹ and Ӭ are not a part of the standard spelling and are used only in dictionaries and teaching materials to denote low VHT roots.
Spelling of the "soft" consonants: to be explained.
Number
Objects constituing natural pairs, show traces of old dual form with suffix -(ы)т in Nom. case: пилу.т 'ears'. In other cases they decline according to the singular pattern. They also agree with singular verb forms. To denote one object of the pair, a special singulative form with suffix -(ы)лвэн/лван is used: лыӈг.ылвэн - 'one leg'.
Plural is formed by means of the suffix -рит/рэт.
Cases
The following cases are attested in P55: Nominative, Possessive, Relative, Dative, Locative, Ablative and Instrumental.
Possessive: -ин/-эн (after consonants), -нин/-нэн (after vowels), -лин/-лэн (in n-declension), -ғин/-ғэн (some nouns, usu. having -н- in the last syllable, e.g. ана - анағэн).
Relative: -кин/-кэн.
Dative: -э/-а (after consonants), -тэ/-та (after vowels).
Locative: -(ы)м.
Ablative: -(ы)мни/-(ы)мнэ.
Instrumental: -(ы)мчэ/-(ы)мча.
Examples of declension
| Nom. | # |
| Poss. | # |
| Rel. | # |
| Dat. | # |
| Loc. | # |
| Abl. | # |
| Instr. | # |
Usage of cases: to be explained.
Personal pronouns
Personal pronouns in Nom. are used for emphatic purposes.
| 1sn | 2sn | 3sn | 1pl.excl | |
| Nom. | ни | ги | ви | ти |
| Poss. | нэһин | гэнин | вэнин | тэнин |
| Rel. | нэкин | гэкин | вэкин | тэкин |
| Dat. | н? | г? | в? | т? |
| Loc. | н? | г? | в? | т? |
| Abl. | нимни | гимни | вимни | тимни |
| Ins. | нимчэ | гимчэ | вимчэ | тимчэ |
| 1pl.incl | 2pl | 3pl | ||
| Nom. | мэттэй | гэттэй | риттэй | |
| Poss. | мэттин | гэттин | риттин | |
| Rel. | мэттыкин | гэттыкин | риттыкин | |
| Dat. | мэттэ? | гэттэ? | риттэ? | |
| Loc. | мэттым | гэттым | риттым | |
| Abl. | мэттымни | гэттымни | риттымни | |
| Instr. | мэттымчэ | гэттымчэ | риттымчэ |
Interrogative pronouns
Who? - щи; what? - сӹр.
| Nom. | щи | сыр |
| Poss. | сэнин | сырэн |
| Rel. | сэкин | сыркэн |
| Dat. | # | # |
| Loc. | # | # |
| Abl. | # | # |
| Instr. | щимчэ | # |
Demonstrative pronouns
Used only attributively: идь - this; тӭдь - that; хадь - yonder.
To use independently, they should combine with the old stem -нэр/-нар "thing": инэр, тэнар, ханар.
n times: -суӈ/-соӈ
Infinitive - suffix -к.
Supine - suffix -ктэ/-кта: вилэ.ктэ 'in order to find'.
Copula
The copula (defective verb) са is used in a sentence with noun in Nom. and Rel. as a predicate: EXAMPLES!
Non-marked form
Usually denotes resultative aspect for terminative verbs, and progressive aspect for durative verbs: ны.вилэ - I have found, ны.нята - I am lying.
| 1pl.excl. | ты.вилэ | | | 1pl.excl. | ты.нята | |||
| 1sn | ны.вилэ | 1pl.incl. | ны.нтэ.вилэ | | 1sn | ны.нята | 1pl.incl. | ны.нта.нята |
| 2sn | гы.вилэ | 2pl | гы.нтэ.вилэ | | 2sn | гы.нята | 2pl | гы.нта.нята |
| 3sn.ref | и.вилэ | 3pl.ref | и.нтэ.вилэ | | 3sn.ref | э.нята | 3pl.ref | э.нта.нята |
| 3sn | вилэ | 3pl | вилэ.рит | | 3sn | нята | 3pl | нята.рэт |
Notes: 1. Verbs with the stem ending in -ы usually lose it in prefixed forms: чаты → ны.чат 'I am trading'.
2. Monosyllabic verbs add extension suffix -ю/-ё in prefixless forms: э.но 'he has gone' - но.ё 'has gone'.
Referential 3rd person means that the subject of the sentence is mentioned previously (rough equivalent to personal pronoun "he/she/it").
Progressive aspect
Terminative verbs may form progressive aspect by means of the suffix -тыӈ(и/э): ны.ӄана.тыӈ 'I am doing'.
Resultative aspect
Durative verbs may form resultative aspect by means of the suffix -псэ/-пса: и.гирщэ.псэ 'he has written'.
After stems ending in -пV the suffix becomes -мсэ/-мса.
Attributive form - suffix -н, may be added to any aspect: вилэ.н 'found'; precedes the noun: турэ.н хэсэ - 'a/the new language'.
Adverbial form - suffix -в, may be added to any aspect: вилэ.в 'having found', мэлэ.в 'well'. Plays the role of a converb.
Dative verbs
Dative verbs are characterized by the suffix -й, demand subject in Dat. case and agree in person and number both with the subject and the object: и.лытэ.й.гэ 'it is seen to you' (=you see it), э.нта.поӈа.й.на 'they are heard to me' (=I hear them).
Many modal verbs follow the same pattern: вэна.к фа.й.на 'I need to work'.
Conjugation of the dative verbs for 3.sn.ref
| 1pl.excl. | и.лытэ.й.тэ | | | 1pl.excl. | э.поӈа.й.та | |||
| 1sn | и.лытэ.й.нэ | 1pl.incl. | и.лытэ.й.мэт | | 1sn | э.поӈа.й.на | 1pl.incl. | э.поӈа.й.мат |
| 2sn | и.лытэ.й.гэ | 2pl | и.лытэ.й.гэт | | 2sn | э.поӈа.й.га | 2pl | э.поӈа.й.гат |
| 3sn.ref | и.лытэ.й.вэ | 3pl.ref | и.лытэ.й.рит | | 3sn.ref | э.поӈа.й.ва | 3pl.ref | э.поӈа.й.рэт |
| 3sn | и.лытэ.й | 3pl | и.лытэ.й.рит | | 3sn | э.поӈа.й | 3pl | э.поӈа.й.рэт |
Objective conjugation
Transitive verbs have special forms of "objective conjugation", usu. characterized with suffix -ть, that denote definiteness of the direct object: э.ӄана.ть 'he has done it'.
With Locative case:
-ски-/-скэ- - "to become": ны.ски.мэйгэ 'I became small', ны.скэ.вак (?) 'I became (to be)'.
-т - "V > abstr.N" (non-productive): юмэ.т - life
хоя.т - human being, person; ата - father; ана - mother; исквэ.н - woman; нэвк - girl; кӭл - young man; нэнэ - baby
топ - head; нэхэ.т - eyes; пилу.т - ears; хэсэ - tongue, language; палг.ыт - hands, arms (not palms); лыӈг.ыт - legs, feet (not soles); дин - heart
пэлла.н - the Sun; вэрхэ.н - the Moon
гилх - morning; лун - day; сон - evening; рат - night
сӭрт - light, radiance
мыс - water; гал - stone; товҕа.н - fire; цых - smoke
(?) - sea;
лэвт - mountain; вэлщ - forest, woods
хырки.н (?) - iron
таёл - fox; ӄайгы.н - bear; гытты.н - dog; мулх - fish
гара.н - house; кут - village; нёлх - road
дэрэ - table (furniture); вала - knife; пана - oar
хыч - bread, bakery; щил (?) - butter
кунэ - guest
вилэ - has found; ӄана - has done, has made; вэты - has come; но.ё - has gone; пэля - has left (=put+remmain behind); нюртэ - has helped
вакы - exist; юмэ - is alive
вэна - is working; чаты - is trading;
нята - is lying (horizontally); сылэ - is standing
гирщэ - is writing; талдя - is reading;
минэ - is walking (going to and fro); паҕны (?) - is shining
лытэ.й - is seen to him; поӈа.й - is heard to him
фа.й - he needs/must; ра.й - he may; русу.й - he wants
турэ - new;
тэҕны - young || хурпэ - old
гирэ - big || мэйгэ - small;
ваща - early
дэхэ - nice; мэлэ - good; хурэ - long (in space)
нитэ - white; пылхэ - red; сэвҕэ - black
игэр - today
сур - very
© 2006, Yitzik
Project initiated on February 13, 2006.
Last modified on September 01, 2006.