Making sense of incoherent notes; the making of hBaṣvî

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Herr Dunkel
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Making sense of incoherent notes; the making of hBaṣvî

Post by Herr Dunkel »

After some time sketching out a language, writing a hundred thousand minor snippets and notes, I've decided it's about time I made some effort to make sense of it all.
The language's name is <hBaṣvî> which translates to "the words".

The language's name derives from an irregular formation of the noun <baṣvâ>. While its plural is regular (as it is a 5. declension noun) in <baṣvî>, it has a definite prefix <h-> that is otherwise exclusive to second-declension nouns.
The language is very much inflected, and most of its words inflect for some category.

For all the time I've spent on it, I do not have an actual phonology for it; I just went for a roughly Avestan feel.

The tentative consonant inventory is:

<p b t d ṭ ḍ k g q>
<s z θ ð ṣ ẓ x h>
<m n ṇ ŋ>
<v r (l) j w>
<mn* pt* bd*>

The co-articulated consonants, marked with an asterisk, haven't shown up (with the exception of one noun with <mn>) in the notes so far but I did write them out really early on and haven't disproven them since.
The lateral <l> is extremely rare. It occurs only in words where there already is a rhotic <r> and is dissimilative; it isn't a phoneme.

The vowel inventory is more definite:
<a â å e ê ə i î o ô u û>
<ą ą̂ ę ǫ ǫ̂ ų ų̂>

I assume that the circumflex denotes a long vowel.

The vowels come in sets; each short vowel has an equivalent long vowel, as seen here:

Code: Select all

a          >  â
e          >  ê
i          >  î
o          >  ô
u          >  û
ą          >  ą̂
ę          >  ą̂
ų          >  ų̂
ǫ          >  ǫ̂
å          >  ǫ̂
(Note: the vowels are supposed to have two diacritics, not a flying circumflex next to them. This is unexpected behavior: I inputted the circumflexed letters first, then the combining ogonek, but it seems the output is different.)

The schwa <ə> has a special set of equivalents:

Code: Select all

ə          >  â
jə         >  jê
və         >  vû
wə         >  wû
nə         >  ną̂
mə         >  mų̂
These pairs are important because hBaṣvî lengthens its final vowels; it takes the vowels in the left columns when they are in word-final position and then transforms them into their right-column equivalents. This is a persistent process and one of the extremely few fully regular ones (I actually can't find a single fully consistent and regular alternative process) found in hBaṣvî.

You might have noticed I've used only the angled brackets; that is intentional. I do not actually have a consistent phoneme correspondence (or an inconsistent one, really, just none at all) between the actual phonemes and the graphemes. I decided that there are as many phonemes as there are graphemes and that there is a perfect one-to-one correspondence between them, just not what each grapheme corresponds to.

I don't have phonotactics for the language since I went by feeling, but general observations:
  • There is no "voicing" assimilation (that is, <sb> is distinct from <zb>, but, surprisingly, there isn't any <zp> or its ilk)
  • The sonority hierarchy doesn't play much of a role (that is, <ṣv> is as frequent as <jr>, <mx> and <xm>)
  • Some clusters do not seem to appear very much, some such as homorganic plosive+fricative clusters do not appear at all
  • Vowels aren't frequently found together, though some such as <əu> and <əą> are found on occasions. These seem to form diphthongs; a hiatus seems to be indicated with an apostrophe (I have only one instance of an apostrophe here, and it's in <θwi'â>, the vocative dual of the fourth person pronoun)
  • Geminates are allowed in medial positions; they do not seem to occur in a cluster with other consonants often. I write them as doubled consonants for convenience.
  • While initial clusters do not appear to have more than two consonants (except probably in second declension nouns that add a plural <x-> and a definite <h-> prefix), they do not seem to have a limit as to what goes into them (<θm> is just slightly less common than <ṣp>)
  • Final clusters also seem to be limited to two consonants.
... and this concludes the first chunk. I apologise for the sheer incoherency with which I've worked. This thread is kinda an attempt to introduce sanity into what I've written and an attempt in making the most sense out of this.
Huh. This'll be an endeavour.
Last edited by Herr Dunkel on Sun May 11, 2014 11:41 am, edited 5 times in total.

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Re: Making sense of incoherent notes; the making of hBaṣvî

Post by Herr Dunkel »

:> Nouns

hBaṣvî marks nouns for animacy, number and case. Some nouns are marked for definiteness as well.
The language has ten declensions and a catch-all form for loanwords. Each of these declensions has its own special features and properties, and sometimes nouns borrow from a declension not their own (an example is in the language's name; the noun <baṣvâ> is a fifth declension noun, but it borrows definiteness from the second declension to make the plural definite <hbaṣvî>)

Nouns usually fit into declensions regularly in hBaṣvî, but this too has its exceptions.

The maximum amount of categories for any noun is:
  • Three numbers: Singular (SG), Dual (DU), Plural (PL)
  • Eight cases: Nominative (NOM), Genitive (GEN), Dative (DAT), Benefactive (BEN), Accusative (ACC), Commutative (COM), Ablative (ABL), Vocative (VOC)
  • Two animacies: Animate (ANI) and Inanimate (INA)
  • Two definiteness forms: Definite (DEF) and Indefinite (INDEF)
Out of all these, only animacy is lexical; the rest are marked with affixes and ablaut.

The language is pretty much nominative-accusative, with a few side-kinks (such as a promotion from the accusative to either the benefactive or genitive in passive sentences).

I haven't done much work on case functions, but here's a snippet I thought was fun:
It indicates possession with either the dative or genitive; while the genitive can be used for all things, the dative cannot be used for inalienable possessions. The dative is generally preferred with alienable possessions and with personality traits (<kârkəstų̂ ðawas> "his/her bad temperament"). The "personality" part also includes one's lifeforce and soul as well, for some reason.

[Number Intermission]

So, a bit on numbers before I go on.
Numbers in hBaṣvî are octal or base-8.
Numbers in general do not inflect except for relationship between each other. All nouns take a suffix that changes according to previous consonant:

Code: Select all

Before...               Suffix
  j                   -ma / -mak
  b                   -sa / -sak
  ṣ                   -va / -vak
  0                   -ra / -rak
Here are the number stems:

Code: Select all

      1          <ziḍ->
      2          <rąb->
      3          <ja->
      4          <nâṇa->
      5          <ḍik->
      6          <ṣub->
      7          <jâṣ->
     10          <ḍâk->
    100          <jar->
  1 000          <såṣ->
 10 000          <jǫ̂b->
100 000          <rej->
The above suffixes are interchangeable on stand-alone numbers, but once multiple numbers get involved, things get messy.
In a number chain, the first number takes the <-ak> suffix, after which all numbers save the last take <-i>; the last number takes the <-a> suffix.
Numbers go largest digit first.

If you didn't quite understand what I said (well, wrote), here's an example:

ḍâkvâ/ḍâkvâk = 10 (decimal "8")
ḍâkvak zidrâ = 11 (decimal "9")
ḍâkvak rąbsâ = 12 (decimal "10")
jarvak dâkvî zidrâ = 111

[End Number Intermission]

I'll start on declensions in the next post.
Last edited by Herr Dunkel on Mon Nov 25, 2013 5:44 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Making sense of incoherent notes; the making of hBaṣvî

Post by Herr Dunkel »

The first declension is a fairly simple one. It includes nouns that have a nominative in <->. They usually don't have duals or plurals, but they distinguish all cases.

An example noun of the first declension is <jåbbû> "wind, breath"

Code: Select all

Case            SG        DU/PL

 NOM           jåbbû      jådvû
 GEN           jåbrî      jådrî
 DAT           jåbjâ      jådjâ
 BEN           jåvims     jåvims
 ACC           jårjak     jårjak
 COM           jåbbûṣ     jådvûṣ
 ABL           jåbbûnṣ    jådvûnṣ
 VOC           jåbbês     jådvês
The suffixes for the first declension are:

Code: Select all

Case

 NOM           -vû
 GEN           -rî  
 DAT           -jâ 
 BEN           -ˤvims
 ACC           -ˤrjak  
 COM           -vûṣ
 ABL           -vûnṣ
 VOC           -vês
The superscript pharyngeal fricative <ˤ> is a character of convenience indicating the removal of the previous consonant.
The noun <jåbbû> has an irregular singular/dual form in <jådvû>, but this is far from the norm for first declension nouns.

Sidenote: all sequences of <*bv> become <bb>

[Number Intermission]
When omitting the things referred to by numbers, one must change the number into a noun.
This is done by attaching a different suffix.

The suffix for an animate number noun is <-vu>, while the suffix for an inanimate number is <-vas>. Animate number nouns are first-declension, while inanimate number nouns are sixth-declension nouns.

The animate form is used if what was referred to was animate; likewise applies to the inanimate form.

[End Number Intermission]

Next up is second and probably also third declension.
Last edited by Herr Dunkel on Wed Nov 27, 2013 4:10 pm, edited 5 times in total.

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Re: Making sense of incoherent notes; the making of hBaṣvî

Post by gach »

Herr Dunkel wrote:I haven't done much work on case functions
Asking some questions might be helpful then. First, what is the commutative used for? Second, what is the difference between the dative and benefactive? I presume that they are both used to code certain kinds of recipients. Lastly, your dative is a prime candidate for a case to encode movement to and the ablative presumably appears in phrases denoting movement from, but how about marking location at a place? Furthermore, to what extent can you build locational phrases just with cases or do you perhaps always need to use adpositions or some other extra elements to give more specific local information?

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Re: Making sense of incoherent notes; the making of hBaṣvî

Post by Herr Dunkel »

gach wrote:
Herr Dunkel wrote:I haven't done much work on case functions
Asking some questions might be helpful then. First, what is the commutative used for? Second, what is the difference between the dative and benefactive? I presume that they are both used to code certain kinds of recipients. Lastly, your dative is a prime candidate for a case to encode movement to and the ablative presumably appears in phrases denoting movement from, but how about marking location at a place? Furthermore, to what extent can you build locational phrases just with cases or do you perhaps always need to use adpositions or some other extra elements to give more specific local information?
I'm kinda avoiding doing it right now, at least until after I've decyphered all I've written and begun making new stuff, though you do raise quite a few significant questions, thanks :-D

For now, I'm making sense of what I've already done, then after that I'm going into syntax and, yes, case functions.
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Re: Making sense of incoherent notes; the making of hBaṣvî

Post by Herr Dunkel »

So, second declension.
It's a bit complicated as it distinguishes definiteness besides number and case.
Nouns of the second declension most commonly end in <-x> in the nominative singular indefinite.
An example noun of the second declension would be <ąṣθâx> "apple":

Code: Select all

                     Singular

 Case            INDEF        DEF

  NOM            ąṣθâx       ąṣθâs
  GEN            ąṣθą̂       ąṣθâp
  DAT            ąṣθârî      ąṣθâsî
  BEN            ąṣθâkû      ąṣθâkvâ
ACC/VOC          ąṣθâs       ąṣθâ
ABL/COM          ąṣθâsrî     ąṣθâṭî

                        Dual

  NOM            ąṣθâxmâ     ąṣθâsmâ
  GEN            ąṣθâmâ      ąṣθâbâ
  DAT            ąṣθârmâ     ąṣθâkmâ
  BEN            ąṣθâkrâ     ąṣθâkrâ
  ACC            ąṣθâkrâ     ąṣθâmâ
  COM            ąṣθâkrâ     ąṣθâṭmâ
  ABL            ąṣθâsmâ     ąṣθâṭrâ
  VOC            ąṣθâmsǫ̂    ąṣθâmsås

                       Plural

     NOM        xąṣθârâ      ą̂ṣθârkâ
   GEN/BEN      xąṣθârkâ     ą̂ṣθârsa
 ACC/DAT/VOC    xąṣθâqsak    ą̂ṣθâpsak
     COM        xąṣθâqrak    ą̂ṣθâprak
     ABL        xąṣθâsnas    ą̂ṣθâxpas
The affixes for the second declensions are:

Code: Select all

                     Singular

 Case            INDEF        DEF

  NOM             -x          -s
  GEN             -m          -p
  DAT             -ri         -si
  BEN             -ku         -kvâ
ACC/VOC           -s          -0
ABL/COM           -sri        -ṭi

                        Dual

  NOM             -xma       -sma
  GEN             -ma        -ba
  DAT             -rma       -kma
  BEN             -kra       -kra
  ACC             -kra       -ma
  COM             -kra       -ṭma
  ABL             -sma       -ṭrâ
  VOC             -mså       -msås

                       Plural

     NOM         x-S-râ      h-S-rkâ
   GEN/BEN       x-S-rkâ     h-S-rsa
 ACC/DAT/VOC     x-S-qsak    h-S-psak
     COM         x-S-qrak    h-S-prak
     ABL         x-S-snas    h-S-xpas
Sidenote: all sequences of <h> with a short vowel coalesce into the equivalent long vowel from that chart I gave above

The <S> above represents the stem.
Second declension nouns merge non-nasal vowels with the genitive singular indefinite suffix <-m> in the following way:

Code: Select all

a          >  ą
e          >  ę
i          >  ę
o          >  ǫ
u          >  ų
â          >  ą̂
ê          >  ą̂
î          >  î*
ô          >  ǫ̂
û          >  ų̂
å          >  ǫ̂
ə          >  ą̂
*The long vowel <î> does not acquire nasalisation.

...Yeah, that should be enough for now. I have to go, so the third declension must wait.
Last edited by Herr Dunkel on Thu Nov 28, 2013 3:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Making sense of incoherent notes; the making of hBaṣvî

Post by gach »

Herr Dunkel wrote:For now, I'm making sense of what I've already done, then after that I'm going into syntax and, yes, case functions.
Take your time. After all, it's only a hobby.

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Re: Making sense of incoherent notes; the making of hBaṣvî

Post by Herr Dunkel »

[Thread: Awaken]

So, third-declension. It's made up of nouns that are actually nominalisations of adjectives.
They characteristically end in either <-əṇ> or <-i>. The difference between these is that the first ending is characteristically an animate ending, while the second ending is characteristically inanimate. Third-declension nouns do not distinguish animacy in other cases or numbers.

Example noun of the third declension would be <akâṇ> "evil spirit", derived from the adjective <akəû> "evil, malevolent, bad":

Code: Select all

Case            SG           DU           PL

 NOM           akâṇ        akâmnâ       akâṣrâ
 GEN           akəm        akəmnâ       akətmâ
 DAT           akəṣmâ      akəṣmistâ    akəriṣtâ
 BEN           akəṣməs     akəsmistəs   akəṣriskəs
 ACC           akâs        akâmâ        akârnâ
 COM           akəṣmâ      akəṣmimâ     akâṣmirâ
 ABL           akəṣməs     akəṣmimnəs   akəṣrimâ
 VOC           akəû        akəṣməû      akəṣrimâ
The suffixes for the third declension are:

Code: Select all

Case            SG           DU           PL

 NOM           -əṇ/-î       -əmna       -əṣra
 GEN           -m           -mna        -tma
 DAT           -ṣmə         -ṣmistə     -riṣtə
 BEN           -ṣməs        -smistəs    -ṣriskəs
 ACC           -əs          -əma        -ərna
 COM           -ṣmə         -ṣmimə      -əṣmirə
 ABL           -ṣməs        -ṣmimnəs    -ṣrimə
 VOC           -û           -ṣməu       -ṣrimə
That's about that from the third declension. It's pretty sane, it seems. The slight delay was due to my keyboard layout malfunctioning, but everything's good now.
Fourth declension is a bit messier, so that may take a little time to piece together :s
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Re: Making sense of incoherent notes; the making of hBaṣvî

Post by Herr Dunkel »

The fourth declension in hBaṣvî behaves a bit oddly: it marks the distinction between animate and inanimate nouns actively in suffixes.
Animates of the fourth declension end in <-aṣ> and its inanimates end in <-ə(j)ṣ> in the nominative.
It merges the dual and plural numbers, but otherwise distinguishes cases very well.

An example animate noun of the fourth declension would be <âθwaṣ> "dog, canine":

Code: Select all

Case            SG          DU/PL

 NOM           âθwaṣ        âθwauṣ
 GEN           âθwam        âθwaṣkəm
 DAT           âθwastû      âθwaṣkistû
 BEN           âθwastəm     âθwaṣkəm
 ACC           âθwâtâ       âθwâṣtâ
 COM           âθwaṣməs     âθwâsvâ/âθwâṣvâ
 ABL           âθwamṣkəs    âθwâṣkəsməs
 VOC           âθwâ         âθwâṣwâ
An example inanimate noun of the fourth declension is <mâjnəjṣ> "blessing, good word":

Code: Select all

Case            SG          DU/PL

 NOM           mâjnəjṣ       mâjnəuṣ
 GEN           mâjnəm        mâjnəṣkam
 DAT           mâjnəstû      mâjnəṣkistû
 BEN           mâjnəstam     mâjnəjṣkâ
 ACC           mâjnəjtâ      mâjnəjṣkâ
 COM           mâjnəṣmas     mâjnəjsvâ/mâjnəjṣvâ
 ABL           mâjnəṣkas     mâjnəjṣkasmas
 VOC           mâjną̂        mâjnəṣwâ
The suffixes for both animates and inanimates of the fourth declension are:

Code: Select all

                    Animate
Case            SG          DU/PL

 NOM           -ṣ           -uṣ
 GEN           -m           -ṣkəm
 DAT           -stu         -ṣkistu
 BEN           -stəm        -ṣkəm
 ACC           -ta          -ṣta
 COM           -ṣməs        -sva/-ṣva
 ABL           -mṣkəs       -ṣkəsməs
 VOC           -0           -əṣwa

                   Inanimate
Case            SG          DU/PL

 NOM           -ṣ           -uṣ
 GEN           -m           -ṣkam
 DAT           -stu         -ṣkistu
 BEN           -stam        -ṣka
 BEN           -ta          -ṣka
 COM           -ṣmas        -sva/-ṣva
 ABL           -mṣkas       -ṣkasmas
 VOC           -0           -əṣwa
Now, the interesting bit in the fourth declension isn't in the distinction between animates and inanimates (although that distinction itself is interesting), it is in the fact that the declension possesses length ablaut. A noun can have either long or short grade; this refers to the length of the final vowel. Long and short vowels alternate as in the table in the first post, with one exception: if the inanimate nominative has <əj> as its schwa, the alternation is <ə ~ əj>, otherwise (if it is just plain <ə>) the alternation is <ə ~ əu>.
The grade-case correspondences are as such:

Code: Select all

                    Animate
Case            SG          DU/PL

 NOM           SHORT        SHORT
 GEN           SHORT        SHORT
 DAT           SHORT        SHORT
 BEN           SHORT        SHORT
 ACC           LONG         LONG
 COM           SHORT        LONG
 ABL           SHORT        SHORT
 VOC           SHORT        SHORT

                   Inanimate
Case            SG          DU/PL

 NOM           LONG         SHORT
 GEN           SHORT        SHORT
 DAT           SHORT        SHORT
 BEN           SHORT        LONG
 ACC           LONG         LONG
 COM           SHORT        LONG
 ABL           SHORT        SHORT
 VOC           SHORT        SHORT
This was why I said the declension would be a tad troublesome - most of this stuff was scattered, and some of it wasn't even written anywhere so I had to take the examples apart.
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Re: Making sense of incoherent notes; the making of hBaṣvî

Post by Herr Dunkel »

The fifth declension in hBaṣvî is pretty straightforward. It includes nouns whose stems end in <-rn> and have a zero nominative. It distinguishes all three numbers, but merges the accusative and commitative.
An example noun of the fifth declension would be <jûrn>:

Code: Select all

  Case            SG           DU          PL

  NOM            jûrn        jûrnix       jûrmî
  GEN            jûrməm      jûrmą̂       jûrmismâ
  DAT            jûrmaṣtû    jûrmaxṣtû    jûrmiṣkus
  BEN            jûrmaṣtus   jûrmaxṣtus   jûrmiṭrâ
ACC/COM          jûrnas      jûrnaṣ       jûrmiṣvû
  ABL            jûrnasməs   jûrmaxmâs    jûrnên
  VOC            jûrnê       jûrnixnê     jûrnawê
Fifth declension nouns have an alternation between <rn> and <rm> in some cases:

Code: Select all

  Case            SG           DU          PL

  NOM             RN           RN          RM
  GEN             RM           RM          RM
  DAT             RM           RM          RM
  BEN             RM           RM          RM
ACC/COM           RN           RN          RM
  ABL             RN           RM          RN
  VOC             RN           RN          RN
Fifth declension suffixes are:

Code: Select all

  Case            SG           DU          PL

  NOM             -0           -ix         -i
  GEN             -əm          -ą          -iṣma
  DAT             -aṣtu        -əxṣtu      -iṣkus
  BEN             -aṣtus       -əxṣtus     -iṭra
ACC/COM           -as          -aṣ         -iṣvu
  ABL             -asməs       -axmâs      -ên
  VOC             -ê           -ixnê       -awê
Edit: added the suffixes which I had forgotten
Last edited by Herr Dunkel on Wed Dec 04, 2013 6:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Making sense of incoherent notes; the making of hBaṣvî

Post by Herr Dunkel »

General bump to not let this die
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Re: Making sense of incoherent notes; the making of hBaṣvî

Post by Herr Dunkel »

So, sixth declension. The sixth declension is pretty straightforward as well. It merges the dual and plural and the nominative and accusative cases, but besides that features no oddities or quirks.
Nouns of the sixth declension end in <s> in the nominative. An example noun of the sixth declension is <raspôs> "artefact, hand craft"

Code: Select all

 Case              SG           DU/PL

NOM/ACC          raspôs        raspôxmî
  GEN            raspôm        raspôxməst
  DAT            raspôṣtəm     raspôxmų̂
  BEN            raspôṣməst    raspôxmų̂
  COM            raspôṣməm     raspôṣməx
  ABL            raspômų̂       raspôxmų̂
  VOC            raspômî       raspôxmî
There's nothing interesting going on behind the scenes of this declension, it merely adds suffixes to the stem without actually changing the stem itself.
The suffixes for the sixth declension are:

Code: Select all

 Case              SG           DU/PL

NOM/ACC           -s           -xmi
  GEN             -m           -xməst
  DAT             -ṣtəm        -xmə
  BEN             -ṣməst       -xmə
  COM             -ṣməm        -xməx
  ABL             -mə          -xmə
  VOC             -mi          -xmi
[Terminology Intermission]

A note on terminology previously used, namely the "schwa".
In hBaṣvî, the term "schwa" is, besides for the vowel <ə>, used for any combination of that same vowel and the phonemes <u å j> (but not <i>). The phonemes usually follow the vowel <ə>, although it isn't that uncommon for them to precede it.
This concept of schwa is pretty important when it comes to morphophonology of hBaṣvî as the various schwas undergo special alternations, metatheses and ablauts all over the place.

[End Terminology Intermission]
Last edited by Herr Dunkel on Sun May 11, 2014 3:58 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Making sense of incoherent notes; the making of hBaṣvî

Post by Herr Dunkel »

Seventh declension nouns merge the dual and plural, as well as the dative and benefactive cases.
Stems of nouns of the seventh declension end in a nasal followed by the vowels <ə/a/å>. An example noun of the seventh declension is <åxrîmų̂> "father":

Code: Select all

 Case              SG           DU/PL

  NOM            åxrîmų̂        åxrîməx
  GEN            åxrîməm       åxrîməxmų̂
DAT/BEN          åxrîməs       åxrîməks
  ACC            åxrîməxs      åxrîməxtê
  COM            åxrîməmô      åxrîməxtô
  ABL            åxrîməṣtəm    åxrîməṣpê
  VOC            åxrîməjê      åxrîməvî
The suffixes for the seventh declension are:

Code: Select all

 Case              SG           DU/PL

  NOM              -0            -x
  GEN              -m            -xmə
DAT/BEN            -s            -ks
  ACC              -xs           -xte
  COM              -mo           -xto
  ABL              -ṣtəm         -ṣpe
  VOC              -jə           -vi
Last edited by Herr Dunkel on Sun May 11, 2014 3:59 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Making sense of incoherent notes; the making of hBaṣvî

Post by Herr Dunkel »

Eight declension nouns in hBaṣvî end in <-xs> in the nominative. They keep all three numbers distinct, but merge the nominative and dative, and the accusative and vocative cases.
An example noun of the eight declension would be <råmnîxs> "bee":

Code: Select all

  Case            SG           DU          PL

NOM/DAT         råmnîxs     råmnîxsî     råmnîẓbî
  GEN           råmnîṣkî    råmnîṣmî     råmnîmų̂
  BEN           råmnîmî     råmnîkrą̂     råmnîsmų̂
ACC/VOC         råmnîzî     råmnîẓdą̂     råmnîḍrâ
  COM           råmnîjim    råmnîṣpî     råmnîkê
  ABL           råmnîsî     råmnîstî     råmnîkê
Endings for eight declension nouns are:

Code: Select all

  Case            SG           DU          PL

NOM/DAT          -xs          -xsî        -ẓbî
  GEN            -ṣki         -ṣmi        -mə
  BEN            -mi          -krą        -smə
ACC/VOC          -zi          -ẓdą        -ḍra
  COM            -jim         -ṣpi        -ke
  ABL            -si          -sti        -ke
Last edited by Herr Dunkel on Sun May 11, 2014 4:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Making sense of incoherent notes; the making of hBaṣvî

Post by Herr Dunkel »

So, ninth declension nouns. One more declension and they're fully covered. The ninth declension merges the genitive, dative and benefactive on one hand, and the accusative and vocative on the other; in addition to that, it merges the singular and plural numbers.
Ninth declension nouns in hBaṣvî have zero singular nominatives and stems that end in any one of <r l w v> followed by a vowel.
An example noun of the ninth declension is <rtulâ> "storm, strong wind":

Code: Select all

 Case              DU           SG/PL

    NOM          rtulax         rtulâ
  GEN/BEN        rtulâṣ         rtulam
ACC/DAT/VOC      rtulamiṣ       rtulaṣmî
    COM          rtulârû        rtulaṣ
    ABL          rtulasməs      rtularû
Suffixes for the ninth declension are:

Code: Select all

 Case              DU           SG/PL

    NOM            -x            -0
  GEN/BEN          -əṣ           -m
ACC/DAT/VOC        -miṣ          -ṣmî
    COM            -əru          -ṣ
    ABL            -sməs         -rû
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Re: Making sense of incoherent notes; the making of hBaṣvî

Post by Herr Dunkel »

This is it.
The tenth declension in hBaṣvî is the last declension. It merges the genitive, ablative and benefactive on one hand and the accusative, commitative and dative cases on the other, effectively giving a four-case system; it distinguishes all three numbers though.

Nouns of the tenth declension have zero nominatives and stems that end in short vowels (or the schwa <>) followed by a dental.
Tenth declension nouns feature ablaut applied on the last vowel that behaves as such:
  • {u ų å ə} ~ a
  • {e ę ą} ~ ų
  • {a ǫ o} ~ e
  • {i jə} ~ å
An example noun of the tenth declension is <krûlað> "murder":

Code: Select all

   Case            SG             DU             PL

    NOM          krûlað        krûlaðix       krûlaðim
GEN/ABL/BEN      krûluðen      krûluðiṣ       krûluðârkâ
ACC/DAT/COM      krûluðimî     krûlaði        krûlaðak
    VOC          krûluð        krûluðų̂       krûluðê
Suffixes for the tenth declension are:

Code: Select all

   Case            SG             DU             PL

    NOM            -0            -ix            -im      
GEN/ABL/BEN        -en           -iṣ            -ârka
ACC/DAT/COM        -imi          -i             -ak
    VOC            -0            -ų             -e
Cases that feature ablaut are:

Code: Select all

   Case            SG             DU             PL

    NOM             S             S              S
GEN/ABL/BEN         A             A              A 
ACC/DAT/COM         A             S              S 
    VOC             A             A              A
In the chart above, "A" shows that the vowel has ablauted, while "S" represents it staying the same.
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Re: Making sense of incoherent notes; the making of hBaṣvî

Post by Herr Dunkel »

:> Pronouns

Pronouns in hBaṣvî function more or less regularly; pronouns distinguish three numbers, four persons and eight cases.

Let's begin with the first person pronoun:

Code: Select all

 Case            SG           DU          PL

  NOM            åṣθâ        ṣmiθâ       ṣmîsmǫ̂
  GEN            åṣmam       ṣmismam     mîsmåm
  DAT            åṣmų̂        ṣmâθmų̂      mîsmåû
  BEN            åṣmismų̂     ṣmâθiṣθû    mîsmåṣû
  ACC            åṣmâ        ṣmimâ       ṣmîsmê
  COM            åṣθas       ṣmisθas     ṣmisθas
  ABL            åṣmas       ṣmimô       mîsmas
The first person pronoun predictably lacks a vocative case.
Last edited by Herr Dunkel on Sun May 11, 2014 4:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Making sense of incoherent notes; the making of hBaṣvî

Post by Herr Dunkel »

Second person pronoun:

Code: Select all

 Case            SG           DU           PL

  NOM            vaqqâ       vîrtê        niṣmǫ̂
  GEN            vaṣqêm      vîstêm       niktêm
  DAT            vaṣtų̂       vîṣkistâ     nismų̂
  BEN            vaqqriṣtâ   vînristâ     nistismų̂
  ACC            vaqrê       vîrṣê        nispistê
  COM            vaqmaṣ      vîrkôm       nispismê
  ABL            vaqṣiṣtâ    vîstistem    niṣkismâ
  VOC            vâṣqê       vîrtê        vispåm
Last edited by Herr Dunkel on Sun May 11, 2014 4:02 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Making sense of incoherent notes; the making of hBaṣvî

Post by Herr Dunkel »

Third person pronoun:

Code: Select all

Case            SG          DU/PL

 NOM         kârkəθtin     gârgab
 GEN         kârkəṣmų̂      gâzdaṣmų̂
 DAT         kârkəstų̂      gârgastų̂
 BEN         kâkərkâ       gâzgasbâ
 ACC         kârkətî       gârgebî
 COM         kârkəmom      gârboṭ
 ABL         kartəkmų̂      gaqsesbų̂
 VOC        (kârkəst)     (gêrbax)
Fourth person pronoun:

Code: Select all

 Case            SG           DU           PL

  NOM          ṇəbrû        θmiṣwâ       zriẓwâ
  GEN          ṇəbriṣt      θwiṣtâ       zriẓdâ
  DAT          ṇəbriṣt      θwiṣtâ       zriṣt
  BEN          ṇəbriṣt      θwiṣtiṣ      girziṣmų̂
  ACC          ṇəsbixû      θwispûx      zriẓwû
  COM          ṇəsbîhtû     θwispûx      zriṣmuṣ
  ABL          ṇəsbîhtû     θwixpûx      zrikṣâ
  VOC                      (θwi'â)      (zrikṣâ)
The difference between third and fourth person is one of a proximativity and obviativity. Vocative forms are fossilised and unused but otherwise still present in the language.
Each personal pronoun has a corresponding possessive pronoun save for the fourth person; more on this later.
Last edited by Herr Dunkel on Sun May 11, 2014 3:55 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Making sense of incoherent notes; the making of hBaṣvî

Post by Herr Dunkel »

Ah, possessive pronouns. They're like special, irregular adjectives, and syntactically behave as such. There are three different possessive pronoun sets for three different persons; fourth person possessives aren't attested and in their stead we find the genitive and dative forms of the fourth person pronoun.

Let's kick off with the first person possessive:

Code: Select all

Case            ANI           INA

 NOM           småṣθâ        srusθê
 GEN           småṣmų̂        sruṣmus
 DAT           småṣməmų̂      sruṣmikû
 BEN           småṣθəgą̂      srûmsû
 ACC           småṣməṣ       sruṣθəs
 COM           småṣmî        sruṣmes
 ABL           småṣməm       sruṣθən
 VOC           småṣmê        sruṣθimê
The first person possessive doesn't distinguish number, but rather distinguishes case and animacy.
Last edited by Herr Dunkel on Sun May 11, 2014 4:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Making sense of incoherent notes; the making of hBaṣvî

Post by Herr Dunkel »

So, second person possessive:

Code: Select all

  Case            SG           DU          PL

  NOM            virtên       vrisgâ      vikmî
  GEN            viṭṭâ        vriṣmê      əkistê
DAT/BEN          viḍritû      vrîktê      virkî
  ACC            virtê        vikrê       viṣtistî
COM/VOC          virpîṣtê     viṣpiṣtê    viṣtî
  ABL            viṣmiṣmê     vriṣnê      viṣkismê
The second person possessive doesn't distinguish animacy but distinguishes number.
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Re: Making sense of incoherent notes; the making of hBaṣvî

Post by Herr Dunkel »

[Thread: Awaken]
After a long hiatus, I've come back to this.
To complete the series, here is the third person possessive:

Code: Select all

Case             SG          DU/PL

 NOM           kârezî        kârkâbî
 GEN           kârəṣmų̂       kârtaṣmų̂
 DAT           kârkəstų̂      kârkəstų̂
 BEN           kâkraxmû      kârkezbî
 ACC           kârəzmî       kârəkbî
 COM           kârəspis      kârpəzbų̂
 ABL           kârpəntî      kâspəzbî
 VOC           kârəzməs      kârəzmų̂
That's it on the possessives.
All the possessives may be replaced by a catch-all genitive or dative form whose number aligns with the possessor. This is optional for all except the fourth person.
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Re: Making sense of incoherent notes; the making of hBaṣvî

Post by Herr Dunkel »

:> Verbs

Finally this part of the game.
Verbs in hBaṣvî are marked for person, tense, mood and number.
They are divided into just three conjugation classes: type one ablauting, type two ablauting and regular verbs. A few irregular verbs exist as well.

Verbs are consistent in their conjugation class. First and second ablauting classes are a closed class: almost no new verbs can be made into members of this class.

The maximum amount of categories for any verb is:
  • Four persons: First (1), Second (2), Third (3), Fourth (4)
  • Two tenses: Present (PRS), Past (PAS)
  • Three moods: Indicative (IND), Subjunctive (SUB) and Interrogative (INT)
  • Three numbers: Singular (SG), Dual (DU), Plural (PL)
(will finish later)
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