A bunch of Verdurians off to colonize somewhere in the southern hemisphere- I dunno where, Kereminth maybe- get blown off course to Curym. They have food, and even after their disappearence, the Verdurians at home figure "Ah, if they've got blown across the Zone they'll just colonize wherever they land. It won't be that hard, what resistance up there could they possibly meet? They're not stupid enough to try and conquer a ktuvok empire."
And how! They establish an empire somewhere on the coast of Curym. Their standard Verdurian changes into what they call Sosfaikhrhim, or the Speech of Curym.
Here's the sound changes (again- Verdurian <h> doesn't exist phonetically. So <Rahela> is actually /ɾaɛla/):
i, u, y > e ,o, œ / (q, ʁ)_ or _(q, ʁ)
ʁ > ħ/ V_V, _#
ʁ > h
q > ħ
y > ɪ <î>
œ > ɔ <ô>
aɛ > ai
ao > au
p t tʃ k b d g m n f s ʃ ħ h v ð z ʒ ɾ l j/ f θ ʃ x v ð ɣ β z ɸ h ç h 0 β l 0 ʝ ɹ 0/ V_V.
p t tʃ k b d g m n f s ʃ ħ h v ð z ʒ ɾ l j/ b d dʒ g mb nd ŋ m n v z ʒ n_0 n_0 ɱ n n ɲ w ɾ ɲ/ N_ (note that the preceding nasal then drops out).
C/0/_# (As Verdurian words mostly end in a vowel, this isn't much of a problem. One place where it is: nouns like cuon, which have their final consonant re-introduced (but lenited!) by analogy.)
> It's at this point that we get the cliticization of object pronouns.
V/0/_# (except for monosyllables. Also, verbs get their endings back, borrowed from the forms of "to be". Note, too, that this makes nouns a hell of a lot more analytic.)
Syncope: EVERY even-numbered vowel drops out (but Cu, if the u syncopates, becomes Cw. And the final vowel can't drop out.)
h> 0/ _C, C_
Here's an orthographic table (in X-SAMPA). I know it's ugly, but I can only do ASCII right now. And, this is for our purposes; the Verdurians use something different:
Code: Select all
p t tS<ch> k
b d dZ<j> g
n_0<nh>
m F<mh> n J<ñ> N<ng>
p\<fh> f T<th> s S<sh> C<ç> x<kh> X\<x> h
B<vh> v D<dh> z Z<zh> j\<jh> G<gh>
w 4<r> j<y>
r\<rh>
l
i u
e I<î> o
O<ô>
a
OK. Let's move onto nouns. They are very uninteresting, because the loss of final vowels also meant the loss of case distinctions-which were generally represented by prepositions. Where standard Verdurian would have
Code: Select all
NOM katy katî
GEN katii katuë
ACC katim katom
DAT katin katuin
Code: Select all
NOM xath xath-xath
GEN de xath de xath-xath
ACC xath xath-xath
DAT a xath a xath-xath
The verb, on the other hand, is absolutely insane. Syncope and cliticization of object pronouns were not nice to it, AND it's developed a subjunctive, a perfective and a passive. (The past anterior's gone, though.)
Let's look at prath, to talk to.
A subjunctive was formed by the suffix -u-, of which we're not sure the derivation ; a passive by -uy- from the past participle; the perfective by ya-. The object pronouns that cliticised were se-, le-, iye-, ta(nasalizes)-, mî(lenites)-, ca(nasalizes)-.
Let's look at a synopsis of prath with a first-person subject. ŕ represents a vocalic r sometimes left by syncope. *-an- ALWAYS forms the imperative; *-ec- ALWAYS the past, and *-er- ALWAYS the future.
The personal endings are: -ai, -ei, -e, -a, -eo, -eu. Remember, the e of -eo and -eu can syncopate.
Code: Select all
INFINITIVE prath
Present Imperfective Active
IND. SUBJ. IMP.
sepŕthai tabŕthai sepŕthuai tabŕthuai sepŕthazai tabŕthazai
lepŕthai mîfŕthai lepŕthuai mîfŕthuai lepŕthazai mîfŕthazai
iprathai cabŕthai iprathwai cabŕthuai iprathzai cabŕthazai
Past Imperfective Active
sepŕthechai tabŕthechai sepŕthechwai tabŕthechwai NO PAST IMPERATIVE
lepŕthechai mîfŕthechai lepŕthechwai mîfŕthechwai
iprathchai cabŕthechai iprathchuai cabŕthechwai
Future Imperfective Active
sepŕtherhai tabŕtherhai sepŕtherhwai tabŕtherhwai NO FUTURE IMPERATIVE
lepŕtherhai mîfŕtherhai lepŕtherhwai mîfŕtherhwai
iprathrhai cabŕtherhai iprathrhuai cabŕtherhwai
Present Perfective Active
yaprathai yathbrathai yaprathwai yathbrathwai yaprathzai yathbrathzai
yaiprathai yamhfrathai yaiprathwai yamhfrathwai yaiprathzai yamhfrathzai
yayepŕthai yachbrathai yayepŕthuai yachbrathwai yayepŕthazai yachbrathzai
Past Perfective Active
yaprathchai yathbrathchai yaprathchuai yathbrathchuai NO PAST IMPERATIVE
yaiprathchai yamhfrathchai yaiprathchuai yamhfrathchuai
yayepŕthechai yachbrathchai yayepŕthechwai yachbrathchuai
Future Perfective Active
yaprathrhai yathbrathrhai yaprathrhuai yathbrathrhuai NO FUTURE IMPERATIVE
yaiprathrhai yamhfrathrhai yaiprathrhuai yamhfrathrhuai
yayepŕtherhai yachbrathrhai yayepŕtherhwai yachbrathrhuai
In the passive, there can be no objects! So, the passive will look
very small, compared to the passive.
Imperfective Passive
Present Past Future
Indicative prathyai prathchuyai prathrhuyai
Subjunctive prathyuai prathchuywai prathrhuywai
Imperative prathyazai N/A N/A
Perfective Passive
Present Past Future
Indicative yafŕthuyai yafŕthechyai yafŕtherhyai
Subjunctive yafŕthuywai yafŕthechyuai yafŕtherhyuai
Imperative yafŕthuyzai N/A N/A
I haven't fleshed out much syntax. But in not too long I'll post a short passage. Note that the old definite article has become a prefix and affects syncope.
Here are two sentences from Verdurian, with phonetic transcription:
Ne meršán, nrüsk, er řo vulu luomi, ac milka.
/nE mE4San nrysq Er Ro vulu luomi ak milqa/
>
Ne merš, nrîs, er xo camhyai luomh, a mil.
/nE mE4S nrIs Er X\o kaFjai luoF a mil/.
Agečir soi egleri e vulir cam delažec ďunî fuaî.
/agEtSir soi EglEri E vulir kam dElaZEk DunI fuaI/
>
Aghesh soglerh, e vuy candeyajh dhuz fua.
/aGES soglEr\ E vuj kandEyaj\ Duz fua/