I've been trying to figure out the best way to present Dwarven, but there's enough interactions between different parts so far that there's no way to desribe 1 topic without touching on the others. It's like describing the organization of spaghetti.
In the 1st 2 posts, I'm going to give quick intros to the noun & verb phrases that are just a list of inflections, particles, articles, etc., plus a very quick description of each. This is just to give an overview and context for the posts after that.
Dwarven: Noun Phrase Intro
The noun phrase has these parts in this order:
Preposition + Case particle + Determiner + Noun + Adjective
Adjectives
I haven't thought much yet about adjectives, other than they will follow the noun and might inflect for number.
Determiners
Dwarven has no indefinite articles, but does have a definite article that inflects for number:
Number | Definite Article |
Singular | (n)y |
Plural | (n)yr |
In both cases, the (n) is when following a word with a vowel.
There are 6 demonstrative determiners.
| Singular | Plural |
Proximal | vja | vy |
Media | dav | dyn |
Distal | kjo | kyn |
Case Particles
There are 14 case particles.
In addition, there is an unmarked "nominative" case.
| Path/Motion | Point/Location |
Control |
Method |
Manner |
Origin |
Position |
Destination |
Affect |
|
Genitive | hu |
Commitative | acho |
Essive | lüra |
Ablative | voi |
Prolative | sæf |
Lative | öch |
Partitive | ja |
|
Ergative | æq |
Instrumental | nyð |
Translative | åvu |
Initiative | an |
Locative | e |
Terminative | lah |
Absolutive | yñ |
|
Nominative: sentence subject (before verb), verbal complement (after verb)
Genitive: ownership, agent
Ergative: agent
Commitative: companions or instruments (maybe forces, natural causes, stimuli, causes), possession
Instrumental: companions or instruments (maybe forces, natural causes, stimuli, causes), possession
Essive: manners, states
Translative: manners, states
Ablative: source, origin, path away from object
Initiative: source, origin, location away from object
Prolative: path of motion
Locative: location
Lative: path to destination, goal, beneficiary
Terminative: destination, goal, beneficiary
Partitive: partially affected patient, experiencer
Absolutive: patient, experiencer
Prepositions
Prepositions all require a case particle to appear with them. Which case particle is used will determine the exact meaning of the preposition. Refer to the Google Doc I posted before for a complete list:
Dwarven Prepositions Google Doc
As an example for this post:
Preposition | Terminative | Locative | Initiative | Translative |
fældj | to beyond, past | beyond, past | from beyond, past | throughout, everywhere in |
I do think that list will see changes as I make more example sentences & see what works.
As of right now, I need to still go through and create the word for each preposition. Hopefully soon....
EDIT: I forgot to post the suffixes for noun number inflections last night!
Number
Singular | - |
Dual | -(n)oi |
Paucal | -(d)ava |
Plural | -ry |
I think the dual might be just for "natural pairs", such as eyes, etc., but not 100% on that. Paucal would be up to as many as 12, but again, not sure on the exact definition yet.