Baranxeï (now with causatives!)

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Bristel
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Re: Baranxeï

Post by Bristel »

I like it a lot, seems to be a bit like Hindi to me... Especially with the sandhi.
[bɹ̠ˤʷɪs.təɫ]
Nōn quālibet inīquā cupiditāte illectus hoc agō
Yo te pongo en tu lugar...
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Re: Baranxeï

Post by MisterBernie »

Bristel wrote:I like it a lot, seems to be a bit like Hindi to me... Especially with the sandhi.
:D
Also, bonus points for naming one of the influences :D
(In order, the influences basically went Latin (hello, 1st person sg -m) > Ancient Greek (hello, accusative -n) > Hindi (parts of the phonology and lexical inspiration) > Sanskrit (kś in particular) > Finnish (sporadic vowel harmony, some lexical stuff).)
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Re: Baranxeï

Post by Bristel »

MisterBernie wrote:
Bristel wrote:I like it a lot, seems to be a bit like Hindi to me... Especially with the sandhi.
:D
Also, bonus points for naming one of the influences :D
(In order, the influences basically went Latin (hello, 1st person sg -m) > Ancient Greek (hello, accusative -n) > Hindi (parts of the phonology and lexical inspiration) > Sanskrit (kś in particular) > Finnish (sporadic vowel harmony, some lexical stuff).)
Very cool. I have two conlangs which are morphologically and grammatically inspired by Latin, Greek and Finnish right now.
[bɹ̠ˤʷɪs.təɫ]
Nōn quālibet inīquā cupiditāte illectus hoc agō
Yo te pongo en tu lugar...
Taisc mach Daró

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Re: Baranxeï

Post by MisterBernie »

Interrogative Pronouns

Standard Baranxe'i has two families of interrogative pronouns, the r-stems and the iś-stems.

The r-stems are the older group, but dropped out of common use in the late Middle Baranxe'i stage. The change originated in the Central dialects and subsequently spread outwards. Today, the r-stems are only used in Religious Baranxe'i and in Baranxe'i legalese and have been completely supplanted by the iś-stems in all dialects and all colloquial forms of Standard Baranxe'i.

Image

While these do not have clitic forms, if they act as determiners, they follow regular stress rules, but as pro-forms, they carry stress on the ultimate sillable.
ikśin alē’in varānet? - Religious Baranxe’i: rēnin alēn varaunīt?
[↗ ˈiːkʃɪn ɑˈlɛːʔɪn ˈβɑːrɒnət] - [↗ ˈrɛːnɪn ˈɑːlɛ̆n βɑˈrɒʊ̆nʏt]
Which man did you see?

ikśīn varānet?
[↗ iˈkʃyːn ˈβɑːrɒnət]
Whom did you see?

ikśā iśvun iśma iśtru iśin atmanes? - Legalese rēnā rēnun reim reþã reins atmanes?
[↗ iˈkʃɒː iʃˈβuːn iʃˈmɑː iʃˈtɾuː iˈʃiːn ɑtˈmɑːnəs] - [↗ ɾɛˈnɒː rɛˈnuːn reɪm reˈθɑ̃ː reɪɲs atˈmɑːnəs]
Who does what when where how?

---

Relative Pronouns

A relative clause construction in Baranxe'i involves a two-pronoun system: þinā ha’inā
The proximal demonstrative þinā in this case follows the head as a regular adjective, whereas ha’inā introduces the actual relative clause. þinā thus completely agrees with the head in the main clause, whereas ha’inā only agrees in gender and number with the head in the main clause, but it takes the case needed in the relative clause.

If the head has the same case in both the main and the relative clause, þinā can be dropped.
alē’i [þini] ha’ini þaðú varānesdan hēðú varānesmat
man-M [PROX-M] REL-M DIST-day-ADV see-PST-ANIM-3.SG.ABSENT-you.ACC PROX-day-ADV see-PST-ANIM-3.SG.ABSENT-I.OBL
The man who saw you yesterday saw me today.

alē’in [þinin] ha’inin þaðú varānet hēðú varānem
man-M-ACC [PROX-M-ACC] REL-M-ACC DIST-day-ADV see-PST-ANIM-2.SG PROX-day-ADV see-PST-ANIM-1.SG
I saw the man whom you saw yesterday today.

alē’in þinin ha’ini þaðú varānesdan hēðú varānem
man-M-ACC PROX-M-ACC REL-M DIST-day-ADV see-PST-ANIM-3.SG.ABSENT-you.ACC PROX-day-ADV see-PST-ANIM-1.SG
I saw the man who saw you yesterday today.

(If I ever get around to do Future Baranxe'i, this will be one of the sources for a definite-indefinite distinction.)
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Re: Baranxeï

Post by TaylorS »

This lang is full of WIN! :D

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Re: Baranxeï

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Grammar - Verbs

Baranxe'i verbs are relatively straightforward. They are declined for:
  • tense (present, past, future)
  • voice (active or passive)
  • mood (indicative or subjunctive)
  • gender (animate or inanimate, in theory also feminine and masculine)
  • person (1st person, 2nd person, 3rd person present, 3rd person absent)
  • number (singular, dual, plural)
A fully declined verb in Baranxe'i can thus be formally described like this:
Image

However, the personal endings are also marked for mood and voice, so these two properties are thus double marked on the verb. The origin for this is that mood and voice used to be only marked in the personal endings (of which there are four sets), but the participle stems started to replace the older verbal stems:
Middle Baranxe’i śvāda
> śvadānem ‘I became’
> śvadānejh ‘that I became’
> śvad-ane PTCP PRES ACT IND
> śvað-ane PTCP PRES ACT SJV > Modern Baranxe’i śvaðēh ‘that I become’
> śvadān-ane PTCP PST ACT IND
> śvadāñ-ane PTCP PST ACT SJV > Modern Baranxe’i śvadāñēh ‘that I became’

Other less tidy than suspected forms are due to sandhi, replacement of purely agglutinating forms with inherited fused forms, and a person/number switch in some of the dual forms.


The Verbal Stem

The Verbal Root
The citation form for verbs is the infinitive, which universally ends in -a. For most verbs, the root is derived by removing the -a:
  • navēsa to surprise > navēs- > navēsem, navēset, navēse, navēses...
  • balba to break > balb- > balbem, balbet, balbe, balbes...
  • sahna to take > sahn- > sahnem, sahnet, sahne, sahnes...
However, a small number of verbs ending in -na (mostly those ending in -arna or -alna) remove the -na to form the root:
  • varna to see > var- > varem, varet, vare, vares...
  • valna to know > val- > valem, valet, vale, vales...
  • ŋalna to want > ŋal- > ŋalem, ŋalet, ŋale, ŋales...
The reason is historical: most of these verbs originally had a root ending in a syllabic liquid (for the examples here, *bʰr̩-, *bʰl̩-, *ŋl̩-) and took an epenthetic consonant (varying in dialects, but -n- in Central ones) to form the infinitive and when adding vocalic endings (so, *bʰr̩nā, *bʰl̩nā, *ŋl̩nā, 1.SG.ACT.IND *bʰr̩nem, *bʰl̩nem, *ŋl̩nem, bu 1.PL.ACT.IND bʰr̩mjā, bʰl̩mjā, ŋl̩mjā). When the syllabic liquids shifted from *r̩ l̩ > ar, al, the epenthetic consonant disappeared in most parts of the declension, but remained in the infinitive.
Most of these verbs are very common, however, and the phenomenon hence spread to other verbs ending in -na, although the form with -n- is the prescriptively preferred one (e.g., sepna to build, sepnem, sepem I build; ruxna to flow, ruxno, ruxo it flows). Conversely, the -na infinitive has also spread to some verbs which originally didn't have it (e.g., rura, rurna to run, rurem, *rurnem I run).

Tense
The use of tenses in Baranxe'i is relatively easy. Modern Standard Baranxe'i recognises three tenses:

The present, which is unmarked. It is essentially the non-past tense.
  • nikabunar draimo. - The window breaks.
  • nikabunarn balbem. - I break the window.
  • kiþantijamē, hpaizē̃n nimvem. - In the early morning, I need tea.
  • 1996-mē’āmur baranxiźu meidrem. - I've been living in Baranxiź since 1996.
The past, marked by -ān-, which is used for events and actions that took place in the past and have finished in the present.
  • þaðú ðumarīn varānem. - I saw you yesterday.
  • źvaðuþamē, rotānem ā minruham draimāno. - Last week, I fell and broke my leg (≈ my leg broke).
  • 1996-mē baranxiźu meidrānem. - In 1996, I was living in Baranxiź.
The future, marked by -is-, which is used for future events and actions. It is slowly being replaced by the present in spoken Baranxe'i for most futures and is reserved for the far future alone.
  • māmē asaġumē uði ġatlaf zurvisem. - I'll move to Ġatla in one year. - colloquial mamē asaġumē uði ġatlaf zurvem
  • amurxaśandmē aðu ðikśaniso. - The sun will die in the far future. - colloquial: the same
Aside for Religious Baranxe'i: it still uses the full set of tenses from Old Baranxe'i, which include a pluperfect āt, a mythological past akan, a future past isn, and a mythological future isar. Most of them died out in spoken Middle Baranxe'i; a modern Baranxe'i speaker will recognize the mythological past as a literary past from religious texts, but using it (not to mention the more obscure tenses) in everyday speech is regarded as incredibly pompous. Or creepily pious.


Voice
The Baranxe'i voices are not much more difficult, either.

The active is unmarked.
  • ðumarīn varem. - I see you.
  • ðumarīn varānem. - I saw you.
  • ðumarīn varisem. - I will see you.
The passive is marked by -k-.
Historical aside: This was originally a collective marker for nouns, which then acquired a passive meaning and ultimately was adapted to the verbal paradigm. The mixed collective/passive meaning can still be seen in some nouns, such as kakśu cooking things > cooked things > food, ŋalku wish things > wished for thing(s) > wish, valku 'knowledge stuff' > known things > fact.
Religious Baranxe'i, however, uses the older passive marker -ain-, which makes the passive almost incomprehensible to modern Baranxe'i speakers. One of the motivitations for adapting the -k- marker for verbs was that -ain- in an unstressed position led to confusion with the unstressed past marker -ān- and/or the participle marker -an-. The past passive participle ends in -ānainanā in Religious Baranxe'i, modern Baranxe'i has -āŋanā instead.
  • varna: ðumarīs varkempa / varāŋempa / varikśempa. - I am seen/was seen/will be seen by you.
  • nimva: hpaizen nimukokś / nimvāŋokś / nimvikśokś. - Tea is needed / was needed / will be needed.
  • navēsa: ðīni navēkśeġa / navēsāŋeġa / navēsikśeġa. - My brother is (being) surprised / was surprised / will be surprised.

Mood
The most common mood in Baranxe'i is the indicative. The subjunctive is mainly used to express wishes, hopes, or to mark reported speech.

The indicative is unmarked:
  • varem / varānem / varisem. - I see / saw / will see.
  • varkempa / varāŋempa / varikśempa. - I am (being) seen / was seen / will be seen.
  • navēset / navēsānet / navēsiset. - You surprise / surprised / will surprise.
  • navēkśetsa / navēsāŋetsa / navēsikśetsa. - You are (being) surprised / were (being) surprised / will be surprised.
  • nimvos / nimvānos / nimvisos. - It needs / needed / will need.
  • nimukokś / nimvāŋokś / nimvikśokś. - It is needed / was needed / will be needed.
The subjunctive is marked with -j-:
  • þilem ēþ varjēh / varāñēh / variśēh. - I hope that I see / saw / will see.
  • þilem ēþ varxēŋ / varāŋjēŋ / varikśēŋ. - I hope that I am (being) seen / was seen / will be seen.
  • ŋalem ēþ navēśēþ / navēsāñēþ / navēsiśēþ. - I want that you surprise / surprised / will surprise.
  • ŋalem ēþ navēkśēþk / navēsāŋjēþk / navēsikśēþk. - I want that you are (being) surprised / were (being) surprised / will be surprised.
  • hēves ēþ nimujus / nimvāñus / nimviśus. - S/he said that it needs / needed / will need.
  • hēves ēþ nimuxukś / nimvāŋjukś / nimvikśukś. - S/he said that it is needed / was needed / will be needed.
The imperative is not marked as a mood per se. Instead, it uses a verb-initial phrase, with the verb ending in -e/-eju/-eja.
  • vare! / vareju! / vareja! - See! sg, du, pl


The Personal Endings

Gender
Gender in verbs is most commonly marked as animate vs inanimate.

The animate in verbs is marked with -e-:
  • varem, varet, vare, vares - I see, you see, s/he sees, s/he sees present, absent
  • vareña, vareþa, vareja, vareśa - we see, you see, they see, they see present, absent
  • varjēh, varjēþ, varjēh, varjēs - (that) I see, you see, s/he sees, s/he sees
  • varkempa, varke'īmpa, varkenða - I am (being) seen, we two are (being) seen, we are (being) seen
The inanimate in verbs is marked with -o-. The long o demanded in the subjunctive is -u-:
  • varo, varos - it sees/they see present, absent
  • varkox, varko - it is (being) seen/they are (being) seen present, absent
  • varju, varjus - (that) it sees/they see present, absent
  • varxuk, varxu - (that) it is (being) seen/they are (being) seen present, absent
Finally, a masculine-feminine distinction for animates is possible, but not mandatory. In spoken Baranxe'i, it is only used in the third person and never in the first or second (written Baranxe'i knows it in all persons):
  • varim, varam - I (m) see, I (f) see
  • vari, vara, varis, varas - he sees, she sees present, absent
  • hēvis ēþ hēvjās - he says the she says

Number
The verb has to agree with its subject in number. However, a consistent singular/dual/plural distinction is only made for animates; all inanimates take verbs in the singular.

The singular is unmarked.
  • hãmī varem - I see
  • ðumara varat - you (f) see (f)
  • sāmi vari - he sees present
  • ān varos - it sees absent
The dual is marked by in the indicative by -ī- before the personal ending. This either leads to a hiatus between the gender marking vowel and the dual marker, or the gender marker is elided.
  • hãmīvi vare’īm/varīm - we two see
  • ðumaravu vara’īt/varīt - you two (f) see (f)
  • sāmi vari’ī / varī - he sees present
  • BUT ānu varos - they (inan) see
The dual in the subjunctive active, however, is identical with the subjunctive active singular:
  • hãmī/hãmīvi varjēh - (that) I/we two see
In the subjunctive passive, finally, the dual is marked by final -u:
  • hãmīvi varkēŋu - (that) we two are (being) seen
The plural is in general marked by -ja, although this ending in particular is prone to fusion:
  • vareña, varkenða, varjēja, varxēŋa - we see, we are (being) seen, (that) we see, (that) we are (being) seen
  • BUT āna varos/varkokś/varjus/varxukś - they see, they are (being) seen, (that) they see, (that) they are (being) seen

Person
Baranxe'i has four persons.

The 1st person, which is generally marked by a nasal of some form.

The 2nd person, which is marked by a dental consonant.

The 3rd person present, which is unmarked.

The 3rd person absent, which is marked by s.


Apart from that, here are the tables of the personal endings:
Image


Image


And that's pretty much it for the conjugation of verbs, which leaves the participles, periphrastic constructions, auxiliaries, and probably a slew of other verb-related stuff I can't think of right now.
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Re: Baranxeï (now with VERBS!)

Post by roninbodhisattva »

How did the passive vs. active distinction develop in the personal endings?

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Re: Baranxeï (now with VERBS!)

Post by MisterBernie »

It was the original way of marking active/passive; the double marking evolved the same way as that of the subjunctive (so older varempa > modern varkempa via participle varkane).

If you mean how the exact form of the endings evolved... well, to be honest, I'm still working on that. The subjunctive passive endings and the 3.SG.ABSENT in the indicative passive, however, are the result of a further 'k creep' from the stem passive marker k into the passive endings.
I have to work out if the current theory for the 1/2/3present-endings actual works, which is that they represent the original endings with that actual passive marker being -ā́H - the H got lost, the -ā́- shortened and lost its stress, but the secondary stress preserved the strong endings which were weakened in all other forms:
várempə > váremp > várem
váretcə > váret(c) > váret
várempjə > váremd(ə) > várend !> váremja > váreña (analogy drives out the inherited form varenda)
BUT
várempā̀H > várempa (> várkempa)
váretcā̀H > váretsa (> várketsa)
várempja’ā̀H > váremdā̀H > várenda > *várendja > várenða (> várkenða)

(ETA: The sound change in the 1.PL is *mpj > nd; other *pj > f)
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Re: Baranxeï (now with VERBS!)

Post by MisterBernie »

I should logically continue with verb stuff, but I feel uninspired, so let's jump to ADPOSITIONS!

Adpositions

Baranxe'i has both prepositions and postpositions, and even a handful of circumpositions. Some Baranxe'i regiolects and dialects make a much greater use of the latter.

Basic adpositions
The most basic type of adpositions are the movement prepositions and the location postpositions. The same adpositions functions as a movement indicator as a preposition and a location indicator as a postposition.
  • nikaub xõ - inside the house
    > nikaub xõ sereinem - I walk [up and down] inside the house.
  • xõ nikaub - into the house
    > xõ nikaub sereinem - I walk into the house.
With most of the basic adpositions, the meaning of each is easily determined by which role it takes (exceptions where semantic drift has taken place follow below):
- in
> Xõ źuf þajalem. - I travel to the city.
> Źuf xõ kśauxþa roja rata. - There's a big market in the city.

sen - out
> Sen medur sereinem. - I walk out of the room.
> Medurham sen vaurem. - I eat outside my room.

xan - above/on top of/onto
> Xan ēk xansem. - I climb onto the roof.
> Ēk xan jaŋem. - I'm sitting on the roof.

īl - below/underneath
> Īl gāf mevārēmat. - I hide under the table (= I move under the table in order to hide).
> Gāf īl kiþmajuja usñeja. - The kittens are playing under the table.

āmur - away
> Āmur īpalaf rurem. - I'm running away from the woods.
> Īpalaf āmur śnikab rato. - The temple is [far] away from the woods.

uði - at, towards
> Uði tuzif sereinem. - I'm walking towards the harbour.
> Tuzif uði faurānemzan. - I waited for her at the harbour.

ŋalþ - in(to) front of
> Ŋalþ mafþu rotānem. - I fell in front of your mother (= I fell into her path).
> Mafþu ŋalþ rotānem. - I fell down in front of your mother.


Two of these adpositions can also take on a temporal meaning. Standard Baranxe'i demands the temporal case, but many regiolects/dialects use the adpositional there, as well.
- behind, following; after
> Aś śaup haðēŋo. - It flew behind the building.
> Śaup aś ratem. - I'm standing behind the building.
+
> [Aś aśruz]/[Aś aśruzmē] valānemzan. - I met him after the end.

ñaś - in front of archaic; before
> Ñaś sīljuf zondānem. - I jumped in front of the car.
> Sīljuf ñaś zondānem. - I jumped [up and down] in front of the car.
+
> [Ñaś sauf]/[Ñaś saumē] tśamāneña. - We drank before the party.


A handful are more idiosyncratic in their analysis:
rēn - preceding; with
> Rēn hētanif xaśtānis. - He entered, preceding the king.
> Hētanif rēn xaśtānis. - He entered with the king.

hīr - about (rare); against
> Hīr ðumarif hēvāneña. - We talked about you.
> Ŋalfaþ hīr ratānem. - I stood/leant against the wall.

ðeir - about (only as preposition)
> Ðeir ðumarif hēvāneña. - We talked about you.

xaŋśe - across (only as preposition)
> Xaŋśe xanpritēf rurānem. - I ran across the bridge.


Historical perspective
The historic basis for all of the above are postpositions in pre-Old Baranxe'i:
níkabəpʲ kʰoŋ cerínm̩
house-ADPOS inside walk-1.SG
I walk inside the house.

These could be turned into movement indicators by using a postposition u at. <u> filled the postpositions slot, however, forcing the other adposition into the pre-noun slot:
kʰoŋ níkabəpʲ u cerínm̩
inside house-ADPOS at walk-1SG
'I walk to inside the house' = I walk into the house.

Subsequent developments led to <u> being dropped and the pre- v. postposition criterion being the only
> nikafb xõŋ sereinem > nikaub xõ sereinem
> xõŋ nikafb ə sereinem > xõ nikaub sereinem


Other uses
These adpositions are also used as prefixes for both verbs and nouns.
By far the most productive among them are xan and īl, and xõ(ŋ). has many verbal and nominal derivations, but many of them have experienced semantic drift and are not that transparent anymore.

xan and īl
Two basic motion verbs with broad semantic fields are directly derived from them:
xansa – to rise, to climb (up), to ascend
īlsa – to lower, to sink; to lie down, to sit down; to climb down, to descend

Some nouns derived with them:
īldau - xandaulower leg - upper leg < dau leg
īlðīrn - xanðīrnlower arm, hand - upper arm < ðīrn arm
īlpritē - xanpritētunnel - bridge < pritē way


The basic motion verb derived from was *ácʰca (~ [ˈɑtʰːa]) in pre-OB.
This should have rendered ācʰa [ˈɑːtsʰa] and modern *āśa [ɒːʃɐ], but in Old Central Baranxe'i, it was put into one word family with *ácʲNa [ˈɑtʲnʲa] to hunt > acʰña [ˈɑtsʰña] via a folk etymology which subsequently spread to other Baranxe'i varieties, leading to the modern-day variants
aśña (Standard/Central)
aśra (Northern/Eastern)
aśja (Southern/Western)
which all have the semantic field to hunt; to track; to follow.

With other verbs, the meaning 'behind' is only sometimes transparent:
āśereina - to walk behind, to follow
aśvarna - to research, to investigate (lit. 'to look behind')
āśeðna - to interview, to interrogate (lit. 'to ask behind')
aśvalna - to remember lit. 'to know behind')

Same goes for nouns:
akśīr - descendants (lit. 'after-family')

xõ(ŋ)
This one is most productive as part of a circumfix to refer to contents: xõ(ŋ)- X -ku
Variants (xo, xõŋ, xuŋ) occur in older, inherited forms; modern ones only have ŋ before a vowel:
xõġãmpku - fetus (lit. womb content)
xokarsiku - guts (lit. belly content)
xuŋedurku - volume (lit. room content)
xõŋunarku - vitreous humour (lit. eye content)
xõhaśafku - aqueous humour (lit. vault content)


Derived adpositions
Other adpositions are mostly derived from verbs. They are almost all postpositions, although a preposition slot is accepted for some of them if they clearly refer to movement.
Some of the more recent derivations often have parallel forms with both the adpositional, or their original case.

leimnú - around
< leima - to twist, to turn around
> Lēim aimif leimnú ha ēgu. - The thread around the finger is red.
> Śaup leimnú (leimnú śaup) sereinem. - I walk around the building.

varanú - concerning, regarding (adpositional / accusative)
< varna - to see
> Somajaun/Somajãn varanú a’i vaþigrānem mē. - I haven't yet come to a decision regarding my wife.


And that's all standard adpositions I have so far.

An example of regional variation
One huge regional difference is the treatment of the pre/postposition difference. Not all use solely the type of adposition to discern between movement and position.

But to close this off, one look at a southern postposition:

palanú - using
This postposition occurs in places where the instrumental has died out. This happens in part of the transition zone from Baranxe'i to Asuāneica:
Standard Baranxe'i:
Sādźus vatśarānemzan. - (Sādźun palanú vatśarānemzan.)
[ˈsɒːdʒɯs ˈβɑːtʃɑrɒnəmzɐn] - [ˈsɒːdʒɯn pɑlɑˈn(ː)uː ˈβɑːtʃɑrɒnəmzɐn]
dagger-INSTR kill-PST-ANIM-1.SG=3.ABS.ACC
I killed him with a dagger.

East Htaŋurvanese:
Sadźðun palāmmú vatśarāmmzin.
[ˈsɑːdʒðʉn pɑlɒˈmːuː ˈʋɑːtʃɑɹɒmːzɨn]
cut-tool-ACC use-PST-1.SG-PTCP-ADV kill-PST-1.SG=3.ABS-M-ACC

Frontier Baruŋese
Sātśun parmú vatśarānumtśen.
[ˈsɒːtɕʊn paɹˈmːuː ˈwɑːtɕaɹɒnʊm̥tɕən]
dagger-ACC use-1.SG-ADV kill-PST-1.SG-3.ABS.ACC

Northwestern Asuāneica
Sactun prṇú vacarānuci.
[ˈsɑcçːun pɻ̩ˈɳuː ˈvɑːcçɑɻɑːnucçi]
cut-tool-ACC use-PTCP-ADV kill-PST-1.SG-3.ABS.ACC

Standard Asuāneica
Sājun prṇ vacarānuci.
[ˈsɑːɟun pɻ̩ɳ ˈvɑːcɑ˞ɻɑːnuci]
dagger-ACC use kill-PST-1.SG.-3.ABS.ACC

And that's it for today.
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Re: Baranxeï (now with ADPOSITIONS! SOME MOTION VERBS!)

Post by MisterBernie »

Negation

Negation in Baranxe’i uses the construction a’i X mē.
Phonologically, a’i is a separate word [ˈɑ(ː)ʔɪ], whereas is usually a clitic [mɛ], unless the negation is stressed. This stress is not marked in writing, however.

A’i tāranemzan mē.
NEG hit-PST-C-1SG=3SG.ABSENT.ACC NEG

[ˈɑːʔɪ ˈtɒːɾanəmzanmɛ]
I didn’t hit her.

[ˈɑːʔɪ ˈtɒːɾanəmzanˈmɛː]
I did not hit her.

---

As a default, it is the verb that is negated:
Uði Baranxiźu a’i þajalānem mē.
[ˈuːðɪ ˈbɑːranxiʒɯ ˈɑːʔɪ ˈθɑːjalɒnəmːɛ]
I didn’t go to Baranxiź.

A’i āraþe mē mismaf xõ.
[ˈɑːʔɪ ˈɒːraθəmɛ ˈmiːsmɑɸ xõ]
Don’t dance in the rice field.

A’i taiþem mē ēþ somas-mautanzi śanihþus hīvarānīh.
[ˈɑːʔɪ ˈtɑɪ̯θəmːɛ ɛːθ ˈsoːmasˈmɑʊ̯tanzɪ ˈʃɑːnixθɯs ˈhyːβarɒnix]
I don’t think he killed his mother-in-law with a hatchet.

Taiþem ēþ somas-mautanzi śanihþus a’i hīvarānīh mē.
[ˈtɑɪ̯θəm ɛːθ ˈsoːmasˈmɑʊ̯tanzɪ ˈʃɑːnixθɯs ˈɑːʔɪ ˈhyːβarɒnixmɛ]
I think he didn't kill his mother-in-law with a hatchet (but maybe he was the one who chopped her body up).

---

Other parts of speech can be negated with the same structure. In this case, the whole NP has to be negated, not only the head noun:
A’i uði Baranxiźu mē þajalānem (rausa uði Kītīlē).
[ˈɑːʔɪ ˈuːðɪ ˈbɑːranxiʒumɛ ˈθɑːjalɒnəm]
I didn’t go to Baranxiź (but to Kītīlē).

Āraþē a’i mismaf xõ (rausa ilēkmaf xõ).
[ˈɒːraθə ˈɑːʔɪ ˈmiːsmɑɸ xõ mɛ]
Don’t dance in the rice field (but in the wheat field).

Taiþem ēþ somas-mautanzi a’i śanihþus mē hīvarānīh (rausa laipdīsar).
[ˈtɑɪ̯θəm ɛːθ ˈsoːmasˈmɑʊ̯tanzɪ ˈɑːʔɪ ˈʃɑːnixθɯsmɛ ˈhyːβarɒnix]
I think he didn't kill his mother-in-law with a hatchet (but by strangulation).

------

Negative derivation

also forms the basis of negative derivation in Baranxe'i; as a derivative affix it prefixes the negated part of speech; however, this is barely productive anymore most existing examples are inherited terms (such as, mevrēnā unseen, hidden from pre-Old Baranxe'i mē-bʰr̩̄́jāine being made unseen) or are educated formations (such as, mēda'inanā inanimate (in linguistics)).

mē also combines directly with bound morphemes to form negative determiners:
mē- + -ēn > mējēn nobody, mējun nothing
mē- + -ku > mēku nothing
mē- + -þu > mēþu nothing (no tool/instrument)
mē- + -īr > mēvīr nothing (no action)
also
mē- + -sau > mēsau never
mē- + þa + -x > mēþax nowhere (NEG-place-ADPOS.PL)

---

More productively, adjectives use -nim- to indicate lack or opposite quality. It is related to nimva lack, need sth. and nīma remove.
raŋnimā colour-lack-ADJ colourless
kānēnimā pretty-lack-ADJ plain-looking, homely, uncomely
maŋþnimā kind-lack-ADJ unkind

These can be subjected to further regular derivation processes:
raŋnimā > raŋnimul colourlessness, lack of colour
kānēnimi or kānēnimin unattractive man
maŋþnim(s/v)ajata > to make so. be/become unkind
The variation between s and v is due to the co-existance of the inherited verb nimva to lack and the productive verbaliser -s-. There's a similar co-existance of adjectives being zero-derived into nouns, or taking the agent suffix -ēn.
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Re: Baranxeï (now with negation and negative derivations!)

Post by Jadyndar »

Very cool conlang you have here. Just this second page has been an interesting read; I look forward to what awaits me on page 1. Good job.
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Re: Baranxeï (now with negation and negative derivations!)

Post by Dewrad »

Pretty rare that I say this, but: that's some pretty awesome conlanging going on there. I'm loving the vaguely-but-not-too Indo-Europeanish feel you've got going on there, and I particularly like the verbal system.
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Re: Baranxeï (now with negation and negative derivations!)

Post by Izambri »

So pretty and awesome that I don't have enough time for it. XD
Un llapis mai dibuixa sense una mà.

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Baranxeï (now with causatives!)

Post by MisterBernie »

<3<3<3 :D !
My soul feels petted now :)

And so it's on to
Causatives

This is an area where my descriptive talents fail me a bit, so tell me if it doesn't make any sense.

Baranxe'i technically has two causative systems; and older, inherited and unproductive one featuring vowel augmentation and a productive one with the suffix -Vjat- (that is, it's -ijat- if the last vowel in the stem is a front vowel, and -ajat- if it's a back vowel).
The causative increases the valency of a verb by 1, thus turning intransitive verbs into transitive ones and enabling the latter to take a double accusative. In its semantic function, it covers both direct action and coercion - the former is the fundamental meaning of causatives derived from adjectives.

--
rāta to stand up (itself originally a causative to rata stand which shifted to exclusively reflexive, that is, to make oneself stand)
> rātajata to make stand up; to erect, build

vrēna to wake up
> vrenējata to wake so. up

---

Adjectives can take the verbaliser -s- (Baranxe'i is in the middle of a shift away from using the copula at all), leaving a choice between deriving the causative directly from the adjective or from the verb.

źīlā pale
> źīlijata or źīlsijata
"to make pale" to bleach

iśñā long
> iśñijata or iśañsijata
to stretch, make long


With some, however, there is a semantic difference between the two forms. This differentiation is idiomatic and thus rather unpredictable, though:

śātrā healthy
> śātarsa to be/become healthy
>> śātarsajata to be healthy for so
> śatra to heal
>> śatrajata to heal sth/so

So:
Śātarset iś? (for Hat iś śātrī?)
healthy-VBLZ-C-2SG Q (be-2SG Q healthy-C)
Are you healthy (again)? (Are you healthy?)

Bastu śātarsajatoðan.
milk•N healthy-VBLZ-CAUS-N=2SG.ACC
Milk is healthy for you.

Śatro iś dauðu?
heal-N Q leg=2SG.GEN
Is your leg healing?

Aumanata daunzi śatrajatānas.
old-HON-F leg-ACC=3SG.C.ABS.GEN heal-CAUS-PST-F-ABS
The wise woman healed his leg.

---

For verbs which get a second direct object, word order becomes highly important to contain the correct meaning:
SO(CAUS)O(VERB.DIRECT)(O(VERB.INDIRECT))V
(if someone can give me a nicer notation for that, I'd be thankful)

To illustrate:
juŋa give (trivalent verb)
Ruvũr īnar juŋem.
money<ACC> woman-F-DAT give-C-1SG
I give money to the woman.

Alē’in ruvũr īnar juŋajatem.
man-M-ACC money<ACC> woman-F-DAT give-CAUS-C-1SG
I make the man give money to the woman.
--
kaŋra bite (divalent verb)
Vuli alē’in kaŋris.
dog-M man-M-ACC bite-M-ABS
The dog bites the man.

Alē’i vulin alē’in kaŋrajatis.
man-M dog-M-ACC man-M-ACC bite-CAUS-M-ABS
The man makes the dog bite the man.

Alē’i alē’in vulin kaŋgrajatis.
man-M man-M-ACC dog-M-ACC bite-CAUS-M-ABS
The man makes the man bite the dog.

---

Causatives can be stacked, as well:
Alē’in īnan ruvũr sundźir juŋajatajatānem.
man-m-ACC woman-F-ACC money<ACC> child-M-DAT give-CAUS-CAUS-PST-C-SG
I made the man make the woman give money to the boy.

Aumanatin daunðu śatrajatajatānem.
old-HON-M-ACC leg-ACC=2SG.GEN heal-CAUS-CAUS-PST-C-1SG
I made the wise man heal your leg.

In theory, there is no limit to this, but in practice, it loses its usefulness after two or three.
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