My primary problem is based on the templatic structure of the verb.
The structure is something like:
[II][III]{IIa}{IIIa}[R0][R1][VI][V][VI]
I: Modality & Evidential Prefixes
II: Deictics & Determiners
III: Pronomial Prefixes & Classificatory Distinctions
IIa: Deictic & Determiner Agreement Markers
IIIa: Pronomial & Class Agreement Markers
R0: Incorporated Noun
R1: Verb Root
IV: Lexical Suffixes
V: Adverbial Suffixes & Various Derivational Suffixes
VI: Aspect & Tense Suffixes
Most verbs don't contain all these dimensions, primarily the suffixes contain all the inflectional information while the suffixes contain derivational info (with the exception of the aspect and tense suffix.
The II and III slots are actually fusional, with class and pronouns conflated with deictic anaphora and determiners. Below is a chart listing the possible combinations.
Code: Select all
Class I
Class II
Class III
Class IV
Class V
Class VI
Class VII
Class VIII
Class IX
Class X
Class XI
1st Per
2nd Per
3rd Per
4th Per
Immediate Proximal Distal Restricted Imperceptive Existential Negative
Anaphora Anaphora Anaphora Anaphora Anaphora Anaphora Anaphora
Class I: Large Objects; buildings, boulders, landforms, toponyms et cetera.
Class II: Small Objects; pebbles, berries, buttons et cetera
Class III: Compact Objects; tools, weapons, clothing, any easily hand held object
Class IV: Long Objects; switch, branch, trail, sword, spear, arm et cetera
Class V: Animate (Beings); humans, other sentient beings, fire, wind, animals
Class VI: Inanimate (Beings); mussels, rope, marginally active beings, sleeping animals, dead beings et cetera
Class VII: Liquids/Resins; liquids, gels, resins, sap, anything that can range from thin fluids to viscous substance
Class VIII: Debris; ash, broken glass, sand, metal shavings, rubble, broken animal bones et cetera
Class IX: Containers; travel sacks, animal bladder containers, rigid containers (tins) et cetera
Class X: "Subjective Phenomena": thoughts, feelings, senses, properties of the mind and soul
Class XI: "Objective Phenomena": sunlight, air, the forces of the universe et cetera
(I use quotation marks because this is certainly not the terminology that Leþwini speakers would use)
1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th Persons is straightforward enough, there is no number or gender distinction made in personal pronouns. (In order to indicate things like "we" you can say 1st person and 2nd person, or 1st and 3rd or 1st and 4th, there is a more sophisticated method for indicating group relationships but that can be saved for the noun section of my morphology.
Immediate Anaphora: indicates that the anaphor is at hand, touching the speaker or within arms reach
Proximal Anaphora: this dimension is a bit more complicated as it scales with the surroundings, in an open field it would be within a few strides of a person, or easy talking at the beginning edge of shouting distance. In a room, it scales down relative to the size of the room, for instance the other side of a room would be considered the area of Distal Anaphora even in relatively small rooms. Which brings us to...
Distal Anaphora: this dimension also scales with it's surroundings, in an open environment such as a field the front edge of this dimension is at shouting distance with it's far edge being that of the end of visual range.
Restricted Anaphora: as things are not as always clear cut as "near" and "far" we come to a much used dimension which indicates that either the entirety of the object is obscured or only part of it is visible. This can be used in many contexts, in forests where things are obscured by trees, in crowded environments, in navigation, and so forth.
Imperceptive (Hypothetical) Anaphora: this indicates that the anaphor is so far away it's not apparent, either separated in time or space, or separated in reality (i.e. the hypothetical contexts).
Existential Anaphora: indicates simple existence without reference to it's position to the speaker.
Negative Anaphora: indicates absence of anaphora.
Are my gaps reasonable? (i.e. without a proper Disjunctive Determiners, Alternative Determiners, Degree Determiners or Elective Determiners)
I have planned for the gaps in certain instances except for those listed above.
Besides my issues with determiners I was also going to pose a question of redundancy. While Leþwin uses noun incorporation rather heavily it also uses lexical affixes. Suffixes which in other languages would be taken as nouns, verbs, adverbs or adjectives. I couldn't find a specific example of languages which use both. I did look through The Languages of Native North America, and it mentions noun incorporation separately from lexical affixes, so I'm not sure if I'm overdoing it. I'm just trying to lay the groundwork for a language which will be fluid, and highly expressive as well as being capable of highly specific utterances.
I'll post some more in regards to the specifics of grammar, and I ought to have the graph filled out with the actual fusional prefixes.