Zompist Bboard Again

Posted: **Tue May 14, 2024 3:29 pm**

I figured I would play around some with a conlang that is now named fad'ami, literally "our (exclusive) language", so here goes.

Provisional phonology

/m n/ <m n>
/b d dz/ <b d j>
/ɓ ɗ/ <b' d'>
/tʰ tsʰ kʰ qʰ/ <t c k q>
/tʼ tsʼ kʼ qʼ/ <t' c' k' q'>
/f s x χ/ <f s h x>
/z ɣ/ <z g>
/ɾ l/ <r l>
/w j/ <w y>

/i ɛ a ɔ u/ <i e a o u>
/iː eː aː oː uː/ <ii ee aa oo uu>

Syllables are one of CV, CVC, or CVː, except for initial syllables, which may also be V, VC, or Vː.

Stress falls regularly on the leftmost heaviest syllable of the last three syllables of a word.

Provisional syntax

The basic word order is VSO, noun-adjective, and noun-possessors. Note, however, that VOS is also common, and is distinguished from VSO by a combination of case-marking, agreement, and direct-inverse marking on the verb.

Provisional verbal morphology

Voice:

antipassive: if following a vowel, if long, then shorten it, then add -n, if following a consonant, add -an
passive: -ta
causative: -raa
reflexive: if following a short vowel, then lengthen it, and in any case add -fa

Applicatives:

dative applicative: if following a vowel, add -di, if following a consonant, add -i
instrumental applicative: if following a vowel, add -lee, if following a consonant, add -ee
comitative applicative: if following a vowel, add -xaa, if following a consonant, add -aa
locative applicative: if following a vowel, add -c'a, if following a consonant, add -ic'a
ablative applicative: if following a vowel, add -bi, if following a consonant, add -ebi
allative applicative: -yo

Agent agreement:

Note that the optional vowel is only present if the morpheme follows a consonant. Note that in intransitive clauses this is used for agentive arguments.

	sg.	du.	pl.
1	-(i)m	-(a)tam	-(a)mu
1+2	n/a	-(a)tah	-(a)hu
2	-(i)n	-(a)tan	-(a)nu
3 anim.	-	-(a)taka	-(a)ka
3 inam.	-(i)qa	-(a)tagu	-(a)gu

Tense/aspect:

past perfective, stative: no morpheme
past imperfective: if following a short vowel, lengthen vowel, if following a long vowel, add -la, if following a consonant, add -a
present: if following a vowel, add -ye, if following a consonant, add -e
habitual: if following a vowel, add -nu, if following a consonant, add -u
future: -ro

Patient agreement:

Note that the optional vowel is only present if the morpheme follows a consonant. Note that in intransitive clauses this is used for patientive arguments.

	sg.	du./pl.
1	-(e)ma	-(u)mi
1+2	n/a	-(u)hi
2	-(e)na	-(u)ni
3 anim.	-(u)fa / -*	-wi
3 inam.	- / -ya*	-ya

* These are for marked-inanimate-patient verbs, particular verbs for inanimates as patients.

Direct/inverse:

direct: no morpheme
inverse: if following a vowel, if long, then shorten it, then add -m, if following a consonant, add -um

Indirectivity:

not indirect: no morpheme
indirect: -ha

Negation:

negative: after a vowel, -t'a, after a consonant, -it'a
prohibitive: after a vowel, -fud, after a consonant, -ud

Interrogative:

yes/no question: after a vowel, -la, after a consonant, -ila

Provisional nominal morphology

Pronominal possession:

	sg.	du.	pl.
1	-ma	-mit	-mi
1+2	n/a	-hit	-hi
2	-na	-nit	-ni
3 anim.	-du	-kat	-ka
3 inan.	-qi	-gut	-gu

Demonstrative and interrogative marking:

Note that the optional vowels are only present after consonants.

	anim.	inan.
prox.	-(i)daa	-(i)zaa
dist.	-(i)dun	-(i)zun
interr.	-(u)faa	-(u)baa

Number:

singular: no morpheme
collective: no morpheme
singulative: add -de if preceding ending ends in a vowel, add e if preceding ending ends in a consonant
plural: add -m if preceding ending ends in a vowel (shorten the vowel if long), add -am if preceding ending ends in a consonant

Cases:

direct: no morpheme, used for animate agents, inanimate patients and applied arguments
ergative: lengthen final vowel if noun ends a short vowel, add -ta if noun ends in a long vowel, add -a if noun ends in a consonant, used for inanimate agents
accusative: add -n if noun ends in a vowel (shorten the vowel if long), add -in if noun ends in a consonant, used for animate patients and applied arguments
genitive: if following a vowel, shorten the vowel if long, then add -t, if following a consonant, add -it, used for possessors and compounding

Provisional adjective morphology.

Degree:

positive: no morpheme
comparative: -fa
superlative: after a short vowel, add -nta, after a long vowel, shorten the vowel and add -nta, after a consonant, add -inta
elative: after a short vowel, add -gwa, after a long vowel, shorten the vowel and add -gwa, after a consonant, add -igwa

Adjectives are marked for case and number as nouns are.

Posted: **Tue May 14, 2024 3:51 pm**

Was this by any chance inspired by the conversation with Ahzoh over on the Conlang Random Thread?

Posted: **Tue May 14, 2024 3:58 pm**

An example sentence

herder: xaala
goat (collective): nitku
tiger: saha
eat: yoori

Yooriwim nitkun xaalat saha
eat-PAT.3.P.ANIM-INV goat.COLL-ACC herder-GEN tiger
The herder's goats were eaten by the tiger.

Posted: **Tue May 14, 2024 3:58 pm**

bradrn wrote: ↑Tue May 14, 2024 3:51 pm Was this by any chance inspired by the conversation with Ahzoh over on the Conlang Random Thread?

Slightly, but I do like playing around with alignments a lot.

Posted: **Tue May 14, 2024 4:10 pm**

I should note that this language also exhibits fluid-intransitivity for a subset of verbs (i.e. those that are lexically intransitive, as opposed to lexically transitive verbs which must take antipassive or passive marking to reduce their valency).

Posted: **Tue May 14, 2024 5:08 pm**

This language makes heavy use of relational nouns, which are typically also body parts, combined with applicatives. Here are some examples:

above (lit hair): niiha
top (lit. head): qot
front (lit. breast): zet'a
middle (lit. stomach): goole
back (lit. back): yoxa
bottom (lit. buttocks): faka
below (lit. feet): b'in
around (lit. wheel): lalli
through (lit. heart): xub

One key note about these is that when used as relational nouns these are treated as inanimate while when used as body parts (or wheels) these are treated as animate.

Posted: **Tue May 14, 2024 5:49 pm**

Here is another example:

burn (intr.): ruuh
house: q'oma
lightning: tik'aa
complementizer: ha
when (lit. time): fera
hit (trans.): gich

Ruuhraatac'a q'omahi fera hat gich tik'aa.
burn-CAUS-PASS-LOC house-POSS.1+2.P time COMP.GEN hit lightning
Our house burned when it was hit by lightning.

Posted: **Tue May 14, 2024 8:08 pm**

Another example:

a moment ago: cola
pizza: ficca
a moderate amount: aqwa

Yooric'am aqwa ficcat cola.
eat-LOC-AGT.1.S some pizza-GEN moment.ago
I just ate some pizza

Posted: **Tue May 14, 2024 8:28 pm**

Here are some nominalizers:

action: -daa
agent, instrument: after a vowel, add -k and shorten the vowel if long, after a consonant, add -uk
patient: after a vowel, add -gyi and shorten the vowel if long, after a consonant, add -yi
place, after a vowel, add -hwa and shorten the vowel if long, after a consonant, add -wa
concrete noun from an adjective, add -wa after a vowel, add -ewa after a consonant

Here are some verbalizers:

do as agent, with instrument: -ra
do as patient: after a vowel, add -hu, after a consonant, add --ihu
do at a place: after a vowel, add -yu, after a consonant, add -oyu
do as a resultative: lengthen the final vowel if short, add ka otherwise

Here are some verbal adjectifiers:

agent, instrument: after a vowel, add -qa, after a consonant, add -iqa
patient: after a vowel, add -ja, after a consonant, add -aja
place: -yagi

Here are some nominal adjectifiers:

generic: after a short vowel lengthen the vowel, then add -se
similarity: after a vowel add -ku, after a consonant, add -aku

Posted: **Tue May 14, 2024 9:03 pm**

Demonstratives and interrogatives:

	sg.	du.	pl.
prox. anim.	da	kit	ki
prox. inan.	qo	gat	ga
dist. anim.	dan	katan	kan
dist. inan.	qon	gotan	gon
inter. anim.	fa	rot	ro
inter. inan.	be	nat	na

Note that there are no non-demonstrative independent 3rd person pronouns.

Independent 1, 1+2, and 3 pronouns

	sg.	du.	pl.
1	ma	mut	mu
1+2	n/a	hut	hu
2	na	nut	nu

Posted: **Wed May 15, 2024 3:50 am**

Interesting! If you're looking for things to provide more detail on, I'd like to see how the direct-inverse logic works.

Posted: **Wed May 15, 2024 10:35 am**

Direct-inverse is pretty simple. The personhood/animacy/topicality hierarchy is as follows:

The first most basic hierarchy is the personhood/nominal hierarchy:

1st person
1st+2nd person
2nd person
demonstratives
proper nouns
common nouns

The second hierarchy after that is the animacy hierarchy:

animate
inanimate

The third hierarchy after that is the topicality hierarchy:

topical
not topical

These are combined to provide an order by which the agent and patient of a noun can be established for transitive clauses. If the agent is lower in the hierarchy than the patient, then the clause is inverse, else it is direct.

Posted: **Wed May 15, 2024 1:48 pm**

I am changing how how equational copula ta works, such that, unlike other verbs, if both the "agent" and "patient" are animate or inanimate and singular, they are not marked on the verb (and both arguments are in direct case). However, inverse marking still applies.

Posted: **Wed May 15, 2024 2:09 pm**

Another note is that predicatively adjectives behave like inanimate singular nouns and are used with the equational copula ta.

Posted: **Wed May 15, 2024 3:36 pm**

One thing to note, is that in addition to being fluid-S, this language uses the ergative with inanimate subjects of antipassive verbs and the accusative with animate subjects of passive verbs.

Posted: **Wed May 15, 2024 7:53 pm**

Now, material for Janko...

one, ni*
two, ca*
three, sam*
four, dura*
five, lise
six, mik
seven, yola
eight, wat
nine, lahi
ten, tim
eleven, ni* ut tim
twelve, ca* ut tim
thirteen, sam* ut tim
fourteen, dura* ut tim
fifteen, lise ut tim
sixteen, mik ut tim
seventeen, yola ut tim
eighteen, wat ut tim
nineteen, lahi ut tim
twenty, yen
twenty-one, ni* ut yen
twenty-nine, lahi ut yen
thirty, tim ut yen
thirty-one, ni* ut tim ut yen
thirty-nine, lahi ut tim ut yen
forty, yen ca
forty-one, ni* ut yen ca
forty-nine, ahi ut yen ca
fifty, tim ut yen ca
fifty-one, ni* ut tim ut yen ca
fifty-nine, lahi ut tim ut yen ca
sixty, yen sam
sixty-one, ni* ut yen sam
sixty-nine, lahi ut yen sam
seventy, tim ut yen sam
seventy-one, ni* ut tim ut yen sam
seventy-nine, lahi ut tim ut yen sam
eighty, yen dura
eighty-one, ni* ut yen dura
eighty-nine, lahi ut yen dura
ninety, tim ut yen dura
ninety-one, ni* ut tim ut yen dura
ninety-nine, lahi ut tim ut yen dura
one hundred, lodde
one hundred and one, ni* ut lodde
one hundred and nine, lahi ut lodde
one hundred and ten, tim ut lodde
one hundred and eleven, ni* ut tim ut lodde
one hundred and nineteen, lahi ut time ut lodde
one hundred and twenty, yen ut lodde
one hundred and thirty, tim ut yen ut lodde
one hundred and forty, yen ca ut lodde
one hundred and fifty, tim ut yen ca ut lodde
one hundred and sixty, yen sam ut lodde
one hundred and seventy, tim ut yen sam ut lodde
one hundred and eighty, yen dura ut lodde
one hundred and ninety, tim ut yen dura ut lodde
two hundred, lodde ca
one thousand, haswa
nine thousand, nine hundred, and ninety nine, lahi ut tim ut yen dura ut lodde lahi ut haswa lahi
one myriad, yiseka

I am sick of defining number so this is as many as Janko will get.

* note that this is treated like an adjective when used attributively

Posted: **Wed May 15, 2024 9:21 pm**

Existential copula:

The existential copula is ga, which is an intransitive verb that is special because it is not marked for 3rd person singular arguments regardless of animacy.

Relative clauses:

Relative clauses are placed directly after the qualified NP, and for core arguments rely a gap strategy, while for non-core arguments resumptive pronouns are used.

Locative relative clauses:

Locative relative clauses are a subset of relative clauses used to provide a locative attributive meaning to an NP. These use the existential copula ga combined with an applicative and applied argument to provide a locative meaning to the NP.

An example of this is:

bee (coll.), ifa
nest, jat'a
tree (coll.), haane
see (trans.), leeca

Leecam jat'a ifat gac'a haanede.
see-AGT.1.S nest bees-GEN exist-LOC trees-SING
I saw the bees' nest in the tree.

Conjunctions:

and, ut
or, ay
but, waa
so, la

Posted: **Fri May 17, 2024 12:26 pm**

Modals:

Well, this language does not have conventional modals in the way that IE languages tend to. Rather, it has verbs that take a subordinate clause as an argument which it qualifies. Here are some such verbs:

want (trans.), sii
need (trans.), mag
would (intr.), yaa
is able to be (intr.), mad
is required to be (intr.), te
is supposed to be (intr.), aari

Note that yaa is often used similar to the subjunctive of other languages, and can be combined with these verbs in forms such as:

eat, qiina
taco, tako
satiated, fuuhi

Yaac'aye ha magime ha qiiname tako ha tamet'a fuuhi.
would-LOC-PRES COMP need-AGT.1.S-PRES COMP eat-AGT.1.2-PRES taco COMP COP-AGT.1.S-PRES-NEG satiated
I would need to eat the taco if I was not full.

Posted: **Sat May 25, 2024 8:02 pm**

equals, copula, ta
language variety, fad'a
to bore, qham
bad, yoh
to mean, wanni
just, merely, sun
new, gani
sky, siima
give, yaalu
things (coll.), d'at
myriad, yiseka
nurture, wohade
humankind, gaare
have, own, possess, enna
good, wot
return, eeta
die, t'aw
surprise (trans.), coxi
need (trans.), mag
explain (trans.), lehha
seven, yola
stele, monolith, siga
would (intr.), yaa
include (trans.), k'ay
obvious, alle
too, jo
please (trans.), ica
carry (trans.), q'in
thank (trans.), koma
exist, existential copula, ga
yogh, yoh
reason, nayad
any, le
real, mut'
use (trans.), bak
vocative particle, a
appear, naw
Latin, latin
write, scratch, xaca
tradition, rihta
read, wiita
is able to be, mad
only, faari
part, kham
come (intr.), xalaa
old, chii
English, ingalis
Yorkish, yorkis
emph. (adv.), k'a
German, jerman
north, haaka
mutate (lit. change) (intr.), wiib'a
people (coll.), nuuxa
all, aana
bear a child (trans.), d'awaa
free (as in liberty), agim
equal, qaala
dignity, ayet
right, denti
endow (with an ability) (trans.), loobe
think (trans.), ximaa
conscience, yuuri
act (intr.), tinna
each other, aq'at
spirit, eekan
brother, jalli
special, fooka
problem, teelat
speak (trans.), laxa
strange, oha
less, fewer, gak
high, caale
compress, squeeze, loohi
sounds (coll.), saxaa
all, fiza
crazy, gawa
suspicious, t'ake
know (trans.), lig
way, method, hanna
pretty, iste
type, key, kita
mark (trans.), toone
design (trans.), q'iika
small, little, c'enna
ask, ika
add, install, t'ommi
department, k'ulle
technology, yuuti
information, laga
board, waha
computer, machine, system, box, yeera
come up with, think up, yoqe
name, joot'a
collect (trans.), qarre
go (intr.), aagi
words (coll.), ibba
post, message, kab'a
difficult, rixaa
Japan, jafan
very, strongly, deeply, soole
alphabet, alfabet
letter, character, sign, symbol, kaafu
vary (intr.), caat'e
many (coll.), niina
agree with (trans.), q'atti
make, create, kayta
state, status, q'awwa
past, faabi
unitary, nire
merge, combine, kayah
important, lanni
thing, matter, factor, ayuuca
time, motti
good, nice, neat, c'ahhu
version, revision, release, kawku
zeptoforth, zeftoforta
live (intr.), waab'a
again, thiya
occasionally, aceeq'u
today, these days, hib'a
focus on (trans.), liddu
program, code (n., coll.), nammeq
place. tod'a

Posted: **Fri May 31, 2024 9:56 pm**

I have decided to combine the past perfective with a stative aspect, which are both unmarked. Henceforth the present tense is specifically imperfective, and where in many cases in my examples I have used the present I would instead use the unmarked merged past perfective/stative.

Zompist Bboard Again

Fad'ami Was: A scratchpad

Fad'ami Was: A scratchpad

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Re: Fad'ami Was: A scratchpad

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