Proto-Binan

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Shemtov
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Proto-Binan

Post by Shemtov »

So I tried to give the Bina, the aliens that implanted the humans on my conplanet a protolang. I will be devolving various daughter languages eventually.This language is the protolang for the entire Bina species. They were made in 3761 BCE. by an entity they call the "Creator" who gave them language and a script and technology.
So while it'll be a while before I develop the descendants, here's a sketch of how the family evolved:
Split into:
High-Central, which split into High Binan* and South Central Binan
South-West, which split into South and West.
North-East, which became East and Central North the latter of which diverged into the North-Central and North branches.
*Actually should be called "Hill Binan" but I wanted an Old High Binan.

Here's the phonology:
/m n ɲ ŋ/ <m n ń ǹ>
/p pʰ t tʰ c cʰ k kʰ q qʰ/ <b p t d j c g k ǧ q>
/f f: v ṽ θ θ: ð ð̃ ɬ ɬ: ɮ ɮ̃ ʃ ʃ: ʒ ʒ̃ ç ç: ʝ ʝ̃ x x: ɣ ɣ̃/ < f ff v mv ŧ ŧŧ đ nđ ƚ ƚƚ ł nł s ss z nz ś śś ź nź h hh ġ ng>
/r ʀ/ <r ř>
/l ʎ ʟ/ <l ļ ĺ>
/j w ʍ/ <y w ẉ>

/i i: ɯ ɯ: ə ə: ɵ ɵ: a a:/ <i ii u uu e ee o oo a aa>


Phonotactics:
A is any nasal stop, trill or voiced aproximant.
(C)V(A)

Nominative morphology:
Nouns are the focus of the Proto-Binan language. In fact, tense technically doesn't exist in the language because the nouns carry that information. In other words, a noun is marked as existing in the past or future, depending on when the act took place, as Binans see objects as constantly "updating" so the "infodisk" from now is not the exact same as the "infodisk" from a minute ago, thus that infodisk can be called "The-Infodisk-that-no-longer-exists" if an action occurred with it in the past. It goes without saying the verb is uninfected.
The past prefix is <iń> the future prefix is <soy>.

The Cases:
The language is Tripartite. The absolutive case is unmarked. All cases are suffixes.
The Ergative Case marker is <śśuul>, and the accusative marker is <ii>
The following cases also exist:
Dative: ooĺ
Genetive: řum
Locative: puu
Apudessive (next to): rooļi
pertingent (touching): ngaa
proximative:qohhun
Distantitive: keeku
Ablative (also expresses ultimate origin): oy
Lative: yuu
Perlative: ŧŧuqu
Abessive (without): ffooku
Comitative (Together with): mal
Comparative: ƚƚiir
Identical: ẉaga
Instrumental : nłuśir
causative: Wake



Number: There are 3 numbers: Singular, dual, and plural. They are marked before the case:
Dual: ffii
Plural: cu

Example sentence:
Ińƚuninffiiśśuul ińciļcumal ińbořii ińtuzurooļi toobooy
Iń-ƚunin-ffii-śśuul iń-ciļ-cu-mal iń-boř-ii iń-tuzu-rooļi toobooy
PST-human-DUAL-ERG PST-dog-PLR-COM PST-carcass-ACC PST-riverbank-APD eat
" 2 humans, along with dogs, ate a carcass by a riverbank"

Personal pronouns in Proto-Binan are simple; There are only 4 bases, for each person, plus zero person (as in Finnish). They are modified by the same "Tense", number and case marking as regular nouns.

1p: ńiǹ
2p:an
3p:uu
0p:đa

However, there is one catch: the 1p dual and plural are exclusive, as a rule, and thus a new form is needed for inclusive, that does not take number, as it refers to as many listeners as there are: ńiǹan

Demonstratives:
Demonstratives are distinguished by whether the object can be seen, and the deictic center. They are inflected for number and case by regular noun inflection, and for distal realentionship by adjectives: Aa "here" em "there" ono "yonder".
The Demonstratives are:
The object can be seen by me but not by you and the distal adjective applies to me: Zaa
The object can be seen by me but not by you and the distal adjective applies to you: Huu
The object can be seen by me but not by you and the distal adjective applies to both of us:zi
The object can be seen by you and not by me and the distal adjective applies to you: nđee
The object can be seen by you and not by me and the distal adjective applies to me:nđoo
The object can be seen by you and not by me and the distal adjective applies to both of us: Day
The object can be seen by both of us and the distal adjective applies to me: nzo
The object can be seen by both of us and the distal adjective applies to you: Nzi
The object can be seen by both of us and the distal adjective applies to both of us: źe
The object cannot be seen by either of us the distal adjective applies to me: hi
The object cannot be seen by either of us the distal adjective applies to you: Hiiwa
The object cannot be seen by either of us the distal adjective applies to both of us: źii


Adjectives are treated as verbs and thus are uninfected. However, they are connected to the noun they describe by the particle <řuu>
Thus:
Ińƚuninffiiśśuul řuu maƚu ińciļcumal ińbořii ińtuzurooļi toobooy
Iń-ƚunin-ffii-śśuul řuu maƚu iń-ciļ-cu-mal iń-boř-ii iń-tuzu-rooļi toobooy
PST-human-DUAL-ERG PARTICLE tall PST-dog-PLR-COM PST-carcass-ACC PST-riverbank-APD eat
" 2 tall humans, along with dogs, ate a carcass by a riverbank"


It can also be incorporated into the noun for the same reasons that a verb would be:
Ińƚuninmaƚuffiiśśuul ińciļcumal ińbořii ińtuzurooļi toobooy
Iń-ƚunin-maƚu-ffii-śśuul iń-ciļ-cu-mal iń-boř-ii iń-tuzu-rooļi toobooy
PST-human-tall-DUAL-ERG PST-dog-PLR-COM PST-carcass-ACC PST-riverbank-APD eat
" 2 tall humans, along with dogs, ate a carcass by a riverbank"

However, if the verb is incorporated into the agent, the adjective cannot be, and thus the noun- řuu-ADJ construction must be used.

Modality:
Given the uninflection of verbs, moods do not exist. However, modality, or a modality like idea is expressed by particles put before an utterance or part of an utterance.
Unmarked utterances are in the Indicative modality.
The following modalities exist, with their particles:
Energetic- a kind of emphatic indicative meaning that the utterance's veracity is beyond suspicion: đi
Imperative- a command to the listener to make the utterance's veracity be true: nłuuń
Prohibitive- a command to the listener to make the utterance's veracity be false: ƚƚow
Negative- The statement is untrue: miqii
Optative- expresses a hope that the utterance's veracity be true: ẉalii
Assumptive- the utterance is assumed to be true, because it usually is under similar circumstances, although there may not be any specific evidence that it is true in this particular case: ǧo
Dubitative- for doubting the veracity of the utterance: jiquu
Potential: the veracity is unknown, but is likely to be true: oo
Interrogative: mař

The copula does not exist in proto-Binan; Rather, with nouns the construction X y-Identical case is used.
With adjectives, one simply states the noun as a described by the adjective; This is like if the phrase "the red eye" also meant "the eye is red"; However there is a list of "abstract adjectives" which are derived from a noun that means "to be in a state of X" by adding <yaĺ>, but the statement "X is Y" is used in the noun form to give the statement an Energetic modality.

Numerals:
The numeral system is Octal. They function as adjective with the adjectival particle
Ordinal numbers are formed by adding the suffix ŧŧe to the number.
1: ade
2: śśiiń
3: śaĺoļ
4: řiw
5: amiń
6: śinze
7: źew
8: źim
9 źimade
10: źimśśiiń
11:źimśaĺoļ
16 śśiińźim
17: śśiińźimade
64: maay
ETC.

The great prayer of the Bina:
Insuffa varukaẉaga. Uuśśuul bineeřum massaii yokałanłuśir ńiǹoolcu antin. Źe řuu em ńiǹřumcu antińẉaga řuu nissahe. ẉalii uuřum řassun Źeẉaga řuu ono. ńiǹśśuul Źeii řuu ono ŧikaw.



Insuffa varukaẉaga
Insuffa varuka-ẉaga
Creator praised-IDN
Uuśśuul bineeřum massaii yokałanłuśir ńiǹoolcu antin
Uu-śśuul binee-řum massa-ii yokała-nłuśir ńiǹ-ool-cu antin
3p-ERG knowledge-GEN pursuit-ACC ability-INSTR 1p-DAT-PLR give
Źe řuu em ńiǹřumcu antińẉaga řuu nissahe
Źe řuu em ńiǹ-řum-cu antiń-ẉaga řuu nissahe
DEM.seen.by.us ADJ there 1p-GEN-PLR gift-IDN ADJ eternal
ẉalii uuřum řassun Źeẉaga řuu ono
ẉalii uu-řum řassun Źe-ẉaga řuu ono
OPT 3p-GEN will DEM.seen.by.us-IDN ADJ yonder
ńiǹśśuul Źeii řuu ono ŧikaw
We-ERG DEM.seen.by.us-ACC ADJ yonder hope

“The creator is praised. He has given us the ability to pursue knowledge. This being our eternal gift,we hope it is his will [to help us]. Amen. “

Birdlang
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Re: Proto-Binan

Post by Birdlang »

Why are the long vowels not marked with macrons or colons?
Why are e and o central and not e and o?
Is the unrounded u from Japanese?
Hello there. Chirp chirp chirp.

Shemtov
Lebom
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Posts: 129
Joined: Sun Sep 15, 2013 8:15 pm

Re: Proto-Binan

Post by Shemtov »

Birdlang wrote:Why are the long vowels not marked with macrons or colons?
Why are e and o central and not e and o?
Is the unrounded u from Japanese?
1. Because I prefer to double the vowels.
2. Because I tailored the orthography to the phonology and not vice versa.

Birdlang
Avisaru
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Posts: 427
Joined: Sat Dec 27, 2014 5:34 am
Location: Virginia

Re: Proto-Binan

Post by Birdlang »

Shemtov wrote:
Birdlang wrote:Why are the long vowels not marked with macrons or colons?
Why are e and o central and not e and o?
Is the unrounded u from Japanese?
1. Because I prefer to double the vowels.
2. Because I tailored the orthography to the phonology and not vice versa.
OK. Now I know. That is really interesting.
Hello there. Chirp chirp chirp.

Shemtov
Lebom
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Posts: 129
Joined: Sun Sep 15, 2013 8:15 pm

Re: Proto-Binan

Post by Shemtov »

An inscription on a pillar in Proto-Binan:
ńiǹan amqumoy řuu źeẉaga řuu aa. Insuffaśśuul ińńiǹanii mara. Uu varukawaga



ńiǹan amqumoy řuu źeẉaga řuu aa.
ńiǹan amqum-oy řuu źe-ẉaga řuu aa.
We.INC place-ABL ADJ 12DEM.12VIS-IDN ADJ here
Insuffaśśuul ińńiǹanii mara.
Insuffa-śśuul iń-ńiǹan-ii mara.
Creator-ERG PST- We.INC-ACC make
Uu varukawaga
Uu varuka-waga
3p praised-IDN
“Our original place is here. The creator made us. He is praised.”
Pragmatic note: “Insuffa” never takes the tense markers.

Shemtov
Lebom
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Re: Proto-Binan

Post by Shemtov »

A description of the Binan’s attitude to the verb (General Adjective)

Babarřum suvepuu tamwaga řuu kul. Uupuu saliimaancu targa. Saliimaanśśuulcu uuŧŧuqu leqa

Babarřum suvepuu tamwaga řuu kul.
Babar-řum suve-puu tam-waga řuu kul.
Utterance-GEN end-LOC adjective-IDN ADJ general
Uupuu saliimaancu targa


Uu-puu saliimaan-cu targa
It-LOC Core.Cas-PLR define
Saliimaanśśuulcu uuŧŧuqu leqa
Saliimaan-śśuul-cu uu-ŧŧuqu leqa
Core.Case-ERG-PLR it-PERL move

“At the end of an utterance comes the verb. It defines the core cases. They move through it.”

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