The Leha thread

[Travis B.]

I have decided to create an alphabet-lang for my 48 hours of conlanging. The following is the set of consonant phonemes:

	Labial	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular
Nasals	m	n
Plosives	b~p ⟨b⟩	d~t ⟨d⟩	dʒ~tʃ ⟨j⟩		g~k ⟨g⟩
Ejectives	pʼ ⟨p⟩	tʼ ⟨t⟩	tʃʼ ⟨c⟩		kʼ ⟨k⟩	qʼ ⟨q⟩
Voiced fricatives	v	z
Voiceless fricatives	f	s	ʃ ⟨x⟩		x ⟨h⟩
Liquids		r l
Semivowels	w			j ⟨y⟩

Plosives are voiced when between any of vowels, semivowels, or nasals, and are otherwise voiceless.

The following is the set of vowel phonemes:

	Front	Back
Close	i	u
Mid-close		o
Mid-open	ɛ ⟨e⟩
Open		ɑ ⟨a⟩

Both consonants and vowels can be long or short, without any other change in quality; length is marked orthographically by doubling the letter signifying the consonant or vowel.

[Travis B.]

Leha is a nominative-accusative direct-inverse language with a 2 > 1 > 3, named > unnamed, human / god / force of nature > non-human animate > inanimate, and topical > non-topical person/animacy/topicality hierarchy.

Leha has a topic-comment word order, with the topic coming first followed by the comment, which may include either the subject or the direct object, along with the indirect object and any oblique arguments.

Within the comment the verb complex comes first, followed by the subject or direct object, followed by the indirect object, followed by any oblique objects.

The verb complex consists of:

1. The verb stem
2. The applicative voice marker (-(a)t)
3. The causative voice marker (-hi)
4. The reflexive voice marker (-le)
5. The passive voice marker (-da)
6. The negative marker (-(o)w)
7. Any modal marker (ability -law, possibility -(a)y, requirement -(i)k, obligation -ca)
8. The negative marker, for modals (-(o)w)
9. The prohibitive marker (-(i)lu)
10. Any tense/aspect marker (past perfective -na, past imperfective -(e)r, future -(a)w)
11. Number agreement (plural subject -(i)n, plural direct object -te, plural both -he)
12. Any evidential marker (egophoric -ye, direct knowledge -jo, reportative -hu, deductive -(i)m, dubitative -zi, assumption -(o)b)
13. 1st person agreement (-tu)
14. 2nd person agreement (-ya)
15. Duplicate person agreement (-re)
16. The inverse marker (-(w)i)
17. The attributive marker (-(n)e)

Note that a verb agrees simultaneously with its subject and its direct object, but does not distinguish which it is agreeing with; the plural marker is marked if either argument is plural, and both the 1st and the 2nd person markers may mark if either argument is 1st or 2nd person. The duplicate person marker marks if both the subject and direct object are either 1st or 2nd person; note that it is not used for 3rd person arguments.

Nouns have the following morphology:

1. The noun stem
2. The plural marker (-(r)i)
3. The plural possessor marker (-(a)d)
4. Any possessor person marker (1st -(u)h, 2nd -(a)ya, 3rd -(a)n)

There are the following independent pronouns:

	Singular	Plural
1st	naxa	lige
2nd	toovi	jeh
3rd	wa	muun

There are the following relational nouns:

Top	xoom
Bottom	yeh
Front	rab
Back	mika
Inside	paha
Outside	riin
Surface	lun
Above	fikka
Below	weet
In front	hewa
In back	pol

Possessors follow possessees, and attributive relative clauses follow the nouns they qualify.

[Xwtek]

I have decided to create an alphabet-lang for my 48 hours of conlanging. The following is the set of consonant phonemes:

	Labial	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular
Nasals	m	n
Plosives	b~p ⟨b⟩	d~t ⟨d⟩	dʒ~tʃ ⟨j⟩		g~k ⟨g⟩
Ejectives	pʼ ⟨p⟩	tʼ ⟨t⟩	tʃʼ ⟨c⟩		kʼ ⟨k⟩	qʼ ⟨q⟩
Voiced fricatives	v	z			ɣ ⟨x⟩
Voiceless fricatives	f	s			x ⟨h⟩
Liquids		r l
Semivowels	w			j ⟨y⟩

Plosives are voiced when between any of vowels, semivowels, or nasals, and are otherwise voiceless.

The following is the set of vowel phonemes:

	Front	Back
Close	i	u
Mid-close		o
Mid-open	ɛ ⟨e⟩
Open		ɑ ⟨a⟩

Both consonants and vowels can be long or short, without any other change in quality; length is marked orthographically by doubling the letter signifying the consonant or vowel.

Well the phoneme inventory is pretty standard. But Phonotactics?

Within the comment the verb complex comes first, followed by the subject or direct object, followed by the indirect object, then followed by an applicative object, followed by any adposition objects.

Applicative object? Isn't applicative voice turn an indirect object into a direct object?

The verb complex consists of:

1. The verb stem
2. The applicative marker (-(h)am)
3. Any voice marker other than applicative (passive -da, reflexive -le, causative -hi)
4. Any tense/aspect marker (past perfective -na, past imperfective -roh, future -(a)w)
5. Number agreement (plural -(i)n)
6. Any evidential marker (egophoric -ye, direct knowledge -jo, reportative -hu, deductive -(i)m, dubitative -zi, assumption -(o)b)
7. 1st person agreement (-tu)
8. 2nd person agreement (-ya)
9. Duplicate person agreement (-re)
10. The inverse marker (-(w)i)

Note that a verb agrees simultaneously with its subject and its direct object, but does not distinguish which it is agreeing with; the plural marker is marked if either argument is plural, and both the 1st and the 2nd person markers may mark if either argument is 1st or 2nd person. The duplicate person marker marks if both the subject and direct object are either 1st or 2nd person; note that it is not used for 3rd person arguments.

The "Duplicate person agreement" is just reflexive voice in any other language. Also in any other languages that contrast direct-inverse mark 1>2 by DIR and 2>1 by INV.
I'm also not a fan of a language where person and number affixes are separate. (Edit: yikes, I ended up speaking the exact opposite of what I thought)

Nouns have the following morphology:

1. The noun stem
2. The plural marker (-(r)i)
3. The plural possessor marker (-(a)d)
4. Any possessor person marker (1st -(u)h, 2nd -(a)ya, 3rd -(a)n)

Why is this nominative-accussative, then.

[Travis B.]

I have decided to create an alphabet-lang for my 48 hours of conlanging. The following is the set of consonant phonemes:

	Labial	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular
Nasals	m	n
Plosives	b~p ⟨b⟩	d~t ⟨d⟩	dʒ~tʃ ⟨j⟩		g~k ⟨g⟩
Ejectives	pʼ ⟨p⟩	tʼ ⟨t⟩	tʃʼ ⟨c⟩		kʼ ⟨k⟩	qʼ ⟨q⟩
Voiced fricatives	v	z			ɣ ⟨x⟩
Voiceless fricatives	f	s			x ⟨h⟩
Liquids		r l
Semivowels	w			j ⟨y⟩

Plosives are voiced when between any of vowels, semivowels, or nasals, and are otherwise voiceless.

The following is the set of vowel phonemes:

	Front	Back
Close	i	u
Mid-close		o
Mid-open	ɛ ⟨e⟩
Open		ɑ ⟨a⟩

Both consonants and vowels can be long or short, without any other change in quality; length is marked orthographically by doubling the letter signifying the consonant or vowel.

Well the phoneme inventory is pretty standard. But Phonotactics?

The phonotactics are basically that all syllables are CV(:)(C), with intervocalic consonant clusters being permitted rather freely (not initial and final consonant clusters being disallowed).

Within the comment the verb complex comes first, followed by the subject or direct object, followed by the indirect object, then followed by an applicative object, followed by any adposition objects.

Applicative object? Isn't applicative voice turn an indirect object into a direct object?

You are right; I am changing that.

The verb complex consists of:

1. The verb stem
2. The applicative marker (-(h)am)
3. Any voice marker other than applicative (passive -da, reflexive -le, causative -hi)
4. Any tense/aspect marker (past perfective -na, past imperfective -roh, future -(a)w)
5. Number agreement (plural -(i)n)
6. Any evidential marker (egophoric -ye, direct knowledge -jo, reportative -hu, deductive -(i)m, dubitative -zi, assumption -(o)b)
7. 1st person agreement (-tu)
8. 2nd person agreement (-ya)
9. Duplicate person agreement (-re)
10. The inverse marker (-(w)i)

Note that a verb agrees simultaneously with its subject and its direct object, but does not distinguish which it is agreeing with; the plural marker is marked if either argument is plural, and both the 1st and the 2nd person markers may mark if either argument is 1st or 2nd person. The duplicate person marker marks if both the subject and direct object are either 1st or 2nd person; note that it is not used for 3rd person arguments.

The "Duplicate person agreement" is just reflexive voice in any other language. Also in any other languages that contrast direct-inverse mark 1>2 by DIR and 2>1 by INV.
I'm also not a fan of a language where person and number affixes are not separate.

Duplicate person agreement is for when a singular 1st person subject or direct object is paired with a plural 1st person subject or direct object, or a singular 2nd person subject or direct object is paired with a plural 2nd person subject or direct object.

Nouns have the following morphology:

1. The noun stem
2. The plural marker (-(r)i)
3. The plural possessor marker (-(a)d)
4. Any possessor person marker (1st -(u)h, 2nd -(a)ya, 3rd -(a)n)

Why is this nominative-accussative, then.

This is nominative-accusative because there is a passive voice and no antipassive voice; a transitive verb can be turned into an intransitive verb taking just a subject by omitting the direct object.

[Travis B.]

Actually, applicatives can be applied to both intransitive and transitive verbs, and they may turn transitive verbs into ditransitive verbs, as I had previously thought.

[Travis B.]

Adjectives are not distinguishable from stative verbs, and follow what they qualify (which are their subjects, anyhow). In effect, all attributive "adjectives" form relative clauses.

Relative clauses mark relativized subjects and direct objects with gaps (and distinguishes the two with direct-inverse marking, because in transitive relative clauses the noun qualified is always higher on the hierarchy than the other argument) and with full personal pronouns for other arguments.

As could probably be gathered above, there is no grammatical gender and there are two numbers. However, there is an animacy distinction as applies to the person/animacy/topicality hierarchy.

There are three moods, indicative, imperative, and jussive. Imperative mood is expressed with the bare verb stem and no subject (it is only second person). Jussive mood is expressed by putting the verb first in the sentence, followed by the subject, either as a full pronoun or as a noun phrase.

Clauses are nominalized by preceding them with the particle se, and are often preceded by a noun which it qualifies (with it formally being a possessor). By this subordinating is expressed.

Interrogative sentences are expressed by placing noun phrases qualified by interrogative stative verbs in them, without changing the word order. There are two interrogative stative verbs:

any of an NP	ha
one of a set of an NP	hen

[Travis B.]

Here are some basic verbs:

existential be	mi
equational be	gaa
be required	nan
be supposed to be	lig
be possible	tuu
be able	hey
be for (dative, benefactive)	we
do with (instrumental)	bew
along with (comitative)	ver
go	le
go to (allative)	ni
come	nom
come from (ablative)	tor
be like	sal
sit (locative)	ja
stand	teen
lay/lie	soh
conditional	faw
at (time)	deey
walk	xuu
run	kaaw
jump	ro
dive	pixe
see, look	jaa
hear, listen	sey
live	fahi
die	riid
live somewhere, inhabit	bee
rise	vin
fall	nat
roll	doo
push	qun
pull	xolla
drag	qiiwa
throw	selda
dig	vixa
burrow	nolle
fly	tambi
cover	site
bury	wadde
plant	yoodu
give birth	laaxa
grow	wiya
find	gav
lead	bose
follow	new
hunt	lixe
ride	xaw
leave behind	jeeh
enter	baqa
exit, leave	dow
return	joo
know	neya
understand	rih
remember	yova
forget	binne
forgive	wigu
trespass	rehhu
tempt	fibba
rescue	celli
say	kam
speak	qaxe
start, begin	hal
stop	maa
end, finish	sewa
eat	zo
drink	sirre
bite	voxu
taste	rasba
smell	not
hold	niiva
give	linu
take	dur
get	wara
put	rimo
carry	xiqe
borrow	zehi
steal	laax
make, create, build	fiya
burn	rozu
cook	misu
extinguish	haafa
smoke, smolder	geta
scare	duul

[Travis B.]

The following are a number of stative verbs:

be good	nuh
be bad	jow
be new, be young	gaa
be old	ye
be big, be great	sak
be small, be little	ci
be close	xiye
be far	monne
be high	difa
be low	naaw
be in the middle	yon
be much/many	leey
be less/few	dila
be first	reen
be last	mot
be previous	rixa
be next	zooh
be cold	tegi
be cool	xalla
be warm	nipa
be bright	lesu
be dark	gab
be shiny	hirra
be dull	woxe
be thick	yeete
be thin	liive
be wide	nimma
be narrow	lawi
be soft	nifa
be hard	taara
be smooth	salle
be rough	xota
be sticky	vuuni
be flat	vaana
be hilly, be curvy	toom
be male	pefa
be female	nak
be holy	say
be red, be orange, be pink	fay
be yellow, be gold	wesde
be green	kiva
be light blue, be cyan	lopa
be dark blue, be purplish-blue	ruxi
be violet, be magenta	siine
be white	voona
be gray, be silver	sey
be black	dalle
be brown	howa

[Travis B.]

The following are some nouns:

thing	qa
place	suu
time	paa
piece	xaay
idea	hey
method	raw
reason	loog
will	nuza
person	jaar
man	yod
woman	re
child	noha
boy	fawe
girl	sab
baby	niqe
mother	maas
father	doh
son	diya
daughter	now
brother	varu
sister	lera
maternal grandmother	yallo
maternal grandfather	tuuna
paternal grandmother	xoru
paternal grandfather	reka
maternal aunt	nisda
maternal uncle	lohe
paternal aunt	miine
paternal uncle	ruti
house	yize
name	vora
word	laza
sentence	reqa
language, tongue	soq
24 hours	qus
daytime	laag
nighttime	nele
food	moot
water	veele
ice	ciba
steam, vapor	najo
soil	nuni
rock	dike
sand	may
clay	winna
wood	lixe
bone	gimma
straw	noba
mud	nadde
dust	taf
ash	rooza
fire	mahe
smoke	siga
air	lesi
earth, ground	kahha
sky	guse
land, country	rega
sun	hat
moon	bihe
cloud	neeva
rain	rulle
fog	banna
animal	fey
plant	riit
tree	kad
grass	honne
shrub	loon
flower	ruum
seed	zose
leaf	kaji
stem	callu
root	laxa
branch	wok
stick	giva
bud	voola
nut	fiwo
grain	haaw
fruit	nille
vegetable	depu
meat	xara
bread	ville
head of cattle	lirdu
horse	raare
goat	sola
sheep	juuni
mouse	coow
rat	lax
rabbit	roha
squirrel	qaam
dog	handa
cat	disse
wolf	sel
fox	hizu
bear	waalu
deer	siba
moose	nin
bird	fice
chicken	yindu
duck	laahe
goose	siq
sparrow	zava
crow, raven	riha
finch	kaxi
swan	meda
grouse	riige
pheasant	weeti
hawk	sefa
eagle	tiza
falcon	miigu
vulture	wenko
frog, toad	vaala
lizard	hofa
snake	risbe
turtle	luhda
salamander	bizu
fish	sooza
shovel	vezu
spade	naw
hoe	faadi
saw	met
hammer	giko
nail	talda
candle	qolle
mill	ves
wall	lanne
wheel	kab
wagon	vella
chariot	riita
saddle	somba
stirrup	ton
shoe	sera
shirt, blouse	piga
pants	lab
skirt	yek
socks	maya
dress	bille
cloth	goya
wool	habbe
leather	sotu
thread	viqa
string	runna
wax	ven
fat	lag
feather	lasde
fur	vaaw
skin, hide	lun
claw	low
beak	wox
power	conne
glory	qeba
color	visdu
red, orange, pink	fay
yellow, gold	wesde
green	kiva
light blue, cyan	lopa
dark blue, purplish-blue	ruxi
violet, magenta	siine
white	voona
gray, silver	sey
black	dal
brown	howa

[Xwtek]

Duplicate person agreement is for when a singular 1st person subject or direct object is paired with a plural 1st person subject or direct object, or a singular 2nd person subject or direct object is paired with a plural 2nd person subject or direct object.

I have never heard of such languages.

This is nominative-accusative because there is a passive voice and no antipassive voice; a transitive verb can be turned into an intransitive verb taking just a subject by omitting the direct object.

Nope. Burushaski is an ergative language with passive voice instead of antipassive.

[Travis B.]

Duplicate person agreement is for when a singular 1st person subject or direct object is paired with a plural 1st person subject or direct object, or a singular 2nd person subject or direct object is paired with a plural 2nd person subject or direct object.

I have never heard of such languages.

"I got us a new computer." (i.e. two 1st person core arguments without being reflexive)

If you know of a better way of expressing this unambiguously without using full personal pronouns, let me know.

This is nominative-accusative because there is a passive voice and no antipassive voice; a transitive verb can be turned into an intransitive verb taking just a subject by omitting the direct object.

Nope. Burushaski is an ergative language with passive voice instead of antipassive.

It must be ergative in terms of case usage or agreement then. However, a major feature of many ergative languages is that if one reduces the valence of a normally transitive verb by one without otherwise changing the verb one effectively passivizes the verb. Conversely, a major feature of many accusative languages is that if one reduces the valence of a normally transitive verb by one without otherwise changing the verb one effectively antipassivizes the verb.

[Travis B.]

Here are some determiners (these form a category in that they can function both as formally stative verbs and as pronouns):

proximal demonstrative	sa
distal demonstrative	vod
any	me
some	lah
all	yuu
every, each	naw

Here are some adverbs:

comparative	baan
superlative	gaw

[Travis B.]

Here are some basic coordinating conjunctions:

and	ta
or	so

[Travis B.]

Here are some example sentences:

Tiza zorohjo.
eagle eat-PST.IPFV-DIR
"(I saw that) the eagle was eating."

Tiza zorohjo risbe.
eagle eat-PST.IPFV-DIR snake
"(I saw that) the eagle was eating a snake."

Risbe zodanahu.
snake eat-PASS-PST.PFV-REP
"(I heard that) the snake was eaten."

Risbe zonahuwi tiza.
snake eat-PST.PFV-REP-INV eagle
"(I heard that) the snake was eaten by an eagle."

Tiza riidhinam risbe
eagle die-CAUS-PST.PFV-DED snake
"(I deduced that) the eagle had killed the snake."

Risbe riidhinami tiza.
snake die-CAUS-PST.PFV-DED-INV eagle
"(I deduced that) the eagle had killed the snake."

Risbe ci voxunajo tiza sak.
snake small bite-PST.PFV-DIR eagle big
"(I saw that) the little snake bit the big eagle."

Tiza jatjo kad.
eagle sit-APPL-DIR tree
"(I see that) the eagle is sitting in a tree."

Risbe niivahuwi tiza jat kad.
snake hold-REP-INV eagle sit-APPL tree
"(I hear that) the snake is being held by an eagle sitting in a tree."

[Travis B.]

There are formally no adpositions, rather verbs take up this role. The role of attributive adpositions is simply taken up by verbs such as ni "go to (allative)" and we "be for (benefactive)". The role of non-attributive adpositions is taken up by applicatives and serial verb constructions. Note that serial verbs are normally distinguished from relative clauses because serial verbs are placed directly after the main verb, before the non-topical core argument.

[Xwtek]

Duplicate person agreement is for when a singular 1st person subject or direct object is paired with a plural 1st person subject or direct object, or a singular 2nd person subject or direct object is paired with a plural 2nd person subject or direct object.

I have never heard of such languages.

"I got us a new computer." (i.e. two 1st person core arguments without being reflexive)

Doesn't sound grammatical to me.

If you know of a better way of expressing this unambiguously without using full personal pronouns, let me know.

You don't, unless you're going to make a logical language.

[Xwtek]

Also, isn't direct knowledge egophoric?

[Vijay]

I have never heard of such languages.

"I got us a new computer." (i.e. two 1st person core arguments without being reflexive)

Doesn't sound grammatical to me.

It is in English.

[Travis B.]

Also, isn't direct knowledge egophoric?

The difference is that direct knowledge here means that someone observed something external, whereas something being egophoric means one knows something due to one's direct personal participation in it. I could have worded it differently.

[Travis B.]

"I got us a new computer." (i.e. two 1st person core arguments without being reflexive)

Doesn't sound grammatical to me.

It is in English.

I just realized that isn't the best example because "us" here is an indirect object rather than a direct object.

A better example is "I drew us", where one is drawing a picture of a group including oneself.