Kirmitite
Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2017 2:41 pm
Kirmitite (native name C̣haalu Kirmit) is the language of a civilization in a river delta on the other side of the desert that borders the
Chóonak'íit-speakers savannah to the northeast.
Phonology:
/p b pˤ t d tˤ ts dz tsˤ t͡ʃ d͡ʒ t͡ʃˤ k g q ʔ/ <p b ṗ t d ṭ c z c̣ ch j c̣h k g q '>
/m n/ <m n>
/f s ʃ x ħ ʕ h/ <f s š h̠ ḥ 3 h>
/r/ <r>
/l j w/ <l y w>
/i i: u u: (ə) a a:/ <i ī u ū e a ā>
/ai/
Schwa is marginally phonemic, occuring only in some forms of the verb and some broken plurals.
Phonotactics: CV(C)(C)
Nouns:
Nouns have two genders: Masculine and feminine. Except in a few words like 'īm, which refer to natural feminines, feminines end in post-alveolars and /j i i: ai/. All other nouns are masculine.
The definite article:
The singular definite article is <Fa> while the plural is <3u>. They are prefixes, and in definite nouns are the only way of showing singulars from plurals:
Farūj "The star"
3urūj "The stars"
Regular Indefinite nouns take plurals based on gender:
Masculine plural ending is (a)l, while the feminine is (i)n:
Ṗirut "an Obelisk"
Ṗirutal "Obelisks"
Rūj "a star"
Rūjin "stars"
Nouns have construct states, which means they are possessed by the noun the follows. The masculine form ending is (w)u, while feminine ending is (y)i.
Rūji faḥūnai
"A star of the moon"
The plural of the masculine contruct form is lu, while the feminine is (i)ni:
Rūjini faḥūnai
"Stars of the moon"
Pronouns:
1P sing: Nī
1P Plr: Na3u
2P sing masc: Cū
2p plr masc: Zū
2p sing fem.: Chī
2p plr fem: Jī
3p Sing Masc: 'as
3p plr masc: 'asal
3p sing Fem: 'aš
3p plr Fem: 'ašī
The possessive suffixes, shown with Rūj "star":
My star: Rūjan
Our star: Rūju3
Your (masc) star: Rūjac
You all's (masc )star: Rūjaz
Your (Fem) star:Rūjach
You all's (Fem)star: Rūjaj
His star: Rūjas
Her star: Rūjaš
Their (masc) star: Rūjal
Their (Fem) star: Rūjin
Because there is a null copula in the present tense, simple sentences can now be formed.
The rule is that the head noun comes first if it is the first or second person, or possessed by first and second person and last if third person:
Nī firu Kirmit
Nī fir-u Kirmit
1P person-CON Kirmit
"I am a Kirmitite"
Firu Kirmit 'as
"He is a Kirmitite"
The negative is formed by the particle h̠ā before the subordinate noun noun:
Baquban h̠ā fir
"My slave is not a person"
Broken Plurals:
Broken plurals are usually used for animals and body parts. There are 5 classes enumerated by Kirmitite Grammarians:
1. Monosyllabic nouns with a long vowel. The vowel is shortened:
Ṗār "Dog" Ṗar "dogs"
2. Monosyyllabic nouns with short vowels, the vowel is elided, and the prefix 'a is put in front. sometimes the vowel is replaced by a schwa, depending on euphonic rules:
Rim "Hand" 'arm "Hands"
3. Polysyllabic nouns with final long vowel. the long vowel is shortened. Mac̣ūh "stallion" Mac̣uh "Stallions"
3. Polysyllabic nouns with short final vowel. The short vowel is elided and sometimes the vowel is replaced by a schwa, depending on euphonic rules:
Qariš "tooth" Qarš "Teeth"
5. Polysyllabic nouns ending in a vowel. the vowel is elided or shortened:
Risā "Ram" Risa "Rams"
The grades of the transitive verb:
The transitive verb has three grades, that effect how they interact with the object.
The first grade is the absolute grade. It is the basic form of the verb, and is used with the object marker 'ak or 'aki (depending on gender) before the object:
Farain jaisit 'ak baquban
"The King is killing my slave"
The second grade is the Nominal Grade. It is formed from bisyllabic verbs the same way broken plurals are formed before nouns. As monosyllabic verbs are really rare, I will not consider the formation of their nominal grade in this post. It is used to emphasize the object, and does not require the object marker:
Farain jaist baquban
"It is my slave the king is killing"
It is also used when two verbs come in contact with each other, the verb in the nominal state being like a conjugated verb, and the absolute grade being like an infinitive in IRL IE languages.
Verb Gaṗat "To desire"
Farain gaṗet jaisit 'ak baquban
"The king desires to kill my slave"
The third grade is the pronominal grade, which takes an object marker, when the object has alraedy been referred to. It is formed like the Nominal grade, but with the vowel ū attached to the end. The pronominal suffixes are the same as the possessive suffixes:
Farain jaistūs
"The king is killing him"
Tense and aspect are formed by proclitics on the verb:
Plain present tense: ∅
Habitual present: Mu
Plain past: ri
Perfective past: h̠ī
Habitual past: Bi
Future: 3ā
Thus:
Farain h̠ījaist baquban
"It was my slave the king had been killing"
Farain muqapūṭ 'ak yin
"The king habitually drinks wine"
Farain 3āqapūṭ 'ak yin
"The king will drink wine"
THE DATIVE PROCLITIC:
The dative proclitic is rū.
It can become a dative pronoun like this:
My star: Rūn
Our star: Rū3
Your (masc) star: Rūc
You all's (masc )star: Rūz
Your (Fem) star:Rūch
You all's (Fem)star: Rūj
His star: Rūs
Her star: Rūš
Their (masc) star: Rūl
Their (Fem) star: Rūn
Thus
Farain rūn šakec̣ faṗirut
"It is an obelisk the king is giving me"
Some verbs require a dative dubject, most notably the verb 3ūput "to like"
Rūn 3ūput 'ak ṗirutal
"I like obelisks"
The locative Clitics:
The locative clitics are divided into two categories, the locative clitic (at the location) on one hand, and the ablative and allative clitic on the other.
The locative clitic has three forms, all proclitics: The indefinite proclitic, the definite singular proclitic, and the the definite plural proclitic, which are Li-, La- and Lu-
Farain muqapūṭ 'ak yin luṗirut
"The king habitually drinks wine at the obelisks"
The ablative and allative clitics each have two forms an indefinite proclitic, and a definite enclitic:
maṗirut- To an obelisk.
Faṗirutam- to the obelisk
Būṗirut-From an obelisk
Faṗirutub- From the obelisk:
Nī matāṭ maṗirut
"I go to an obelisk"
'as dūbaj taru faqasīlub
"He rides from the trade route"
Relative clauses are formed by speacial relative proclictics:
Past tense: Da
Present tense: Hū
Future: ḥī
Fafir damatāṭ maṗirut, 3ājaisit 'ak baquban
"The man who went to the obelisk, will kill my slave"
To form an actor noun from the verb one adds the prefix mā to the plain form of the verb.
mājaisit
"A murderer"
Mīrat
"To plow"
māmīrat
"A farmer"
To form a noun of place the same prefix is added with the suffix -ā
māmīratā
"A farm"
To form the noun of instrument, the suffix -ī is added; all such nouns are thus feminine.
māmīratī
"A Plow"
Atributive Adjectives inflect for gender, number and definiteness. they come before the noun
The declension of the adjective ṭūl "Bad"
Masculine singular: ṭūl
Masculine plural: ṭūlal
Feminine singular: ṭūli
Femninine plural: ṭūlīy
Masculine definite singular: Faṭūl
Masculine definite plural: Haṭūl
Fem. definite singular: Faṭūli
Fem. definite plural: Haṭūli
Predicative adjectives put the masculine singular form of the adjective after the noun:
Farūj ṭūl
"The star is bad"
Comparision is formed by NOUN A ša NOUN B ADJECTIVE:
Ṗar ša risa ṭūl
"Dogs are worse then rams"
h̠ā is used before the verb to negate it.
Farain h̠ā hū3ākt rūjin, 'as zaq
"The king who doesn't listen to the stars is cursed"
Chóonak'íit-speakers savannah to the northeast.
Phonology:
/p b pˤ t d tˤ ts dz tsˤ t͡ʃ d͡ʒ t͡ʃˤ k g q ʔ/ <p b ṗ t d ṭ c z c̣ ch j c̣h k g q '>
/m n/ <m n>
/f s ʃ x ħ ʕ h/ <f s š h̠ ḥ 3 h>
/r/ <r>
/l j w/ <l y w>
/i i: u u: (ə) a a:/ <i ī u ū e a ā>
/ai/
Schwa is marginally phonemic, occuring only in some forms of the verb and some broken plurals.
Phonotactics: CV(C)(C)
Nouns:
Nouns have two genders: Masculine and feminine. Except in a few words like 'īm, which refer to natural feminines, feminines end in post-alveolars and /j i i: ai/. All other nouns are masculine.
The definite article:
The singular definite article is <Fa> while the plural is <3u>. They are prefixes, and in definite nouns are the only way of showing singulars from plurals:
Farūj "The star"
3urūj "The stars"
Regular Indefinite nouns take plurals based on gender:
Masculine plural ending is (a)l, while the feminine is (i)n:
Ṗirut "an Obelisk"
Ṗirutal "Obelisks"
Rūj "a star"
Rūjin "stars"
Nouns have construct states, which means they are possessed by the noun the follows. The masculine form ending is (w)u, while feminine ending is (y)i.
Rūji faḥūnai
"A star of the moon"
The plural of the masculine contruct form is lu, while the feminine is (i)ni:
Rūjini faḥūnai
"Stars of the moon"
Pronouns:
1P sing: Nī
1P Plr: Na3u
2P sing masc: Cū
2p plr masc: Zū
2p sing fem.: Chī
2p plr fem: Jī
3p Sing Masc: 'as
3p plr masc: 'asal
3p sing Fem: 'aš
3p plr Fem: 'ašī
The possessive suffixes, shown with Rūj "star":
My star: Rūjan
Our star: Rūju3
Your (masc) star: Rūjac
You all's (masc )star: Rūjaz
Your (Fem) star:Rūjach
You all's (Fem)star: Rūjaj
His star: Rūjas
Her star: Rūjaš
Their (masc) star: Rūjal
Their (Fem) star: Rūjin
Because there is a null copula in the present tense, simple sentences can now be formed.
The rule is that the head noun comes first if it is the first or second person, or possessed by first and second person and last if third person:
Nī firu Kirmit
Nī fir-u Kirmit
1P person-CON Kirmit
"I am a Kirmitite"
Firu Kirmit 'as
"He is a Kirmitite"
The negative is formed by the particle h̠ā before the subordinate noun noun:
Baquban h̠ā fir
"My slave is not a person"
Broken Plurals:
Broken plurals are usually used for animals and body parts. There are 5 classes enumerated by Kirmitite Grammarians:
1. Monosyllabic nouns with a long vowel. The vowel is shortened:
Ṗār "Dog" Ṗar "dogs"
2. Monosyyllabic nouns with short vowels, the vowel is elided, and the prefix 'a is put in front. sometimes the vowel is replaced by a schwa, depending on euphonic rules:
Rim "Hand" 'arm "Hands"
3. Polysyllabic nouns with final long vowel. the long vowel is shortened. Mac̣ūh "stallion" Mac̣uh "Stallions"
3. Polysyllabic nouns with short final vowel. The short vowel is elided and sometimes the vowel is replaced by a schwa, depending on euphonic rules:
Qariš "tooth" Qarš "Teeth"
5. Polysyllabic nouns ending in a vowel. the vowel is elided or shortened:
Risā "Ram" Risa "Rams"
The grades of the transitive verb:
The transitive verb has three grades, that effect how they interact with the object.
The first grade is the absolute grade. It is the basic form of the verb, and is used with the object marker 'ak or 'aki (depending on gender) before the object:
Farain jaisit 'ak baquban
"The King is killing my slave"
The second grade is the Nominal Grade. It is formed from bisyllabic verbs the same way broken plurals are formed before nouns. As monosyllabic verbs are really rare, I will not consider the formation of their nominal grade in this post. It is used to emphasize the object, and does not require the object marker:
Farain jaist baquban
"It is my slave the king is killing"
It is also used when two verbs come in contact with each other, the verb in the nominal state being like a conjugated verb, and the absolute grade being like an infinitive in IRL IE languages.
Verb Gaṗat "To desire"
Farain gaṗet jaisit 'ak baquban
"The king desires to kill my slave"
The third grade is the pronominal grade, which takes an object marker, when the object has alraedy been referred to. It is formed like the Nominal grade, but with the vowel ū attached to the end. The pronominal suffixes are the same as the possessive suffixes:
Farain jaistūs
"The king is killing him"
Tense and aspect are formed by proclitics on the verb:
Plain present tense: ∅
Habitual present: Mu
Plain past: ri
Perfective past: h̠ī
Habitual past: Bi
Future: 3ā
Thus:
Farain h̠ījaist baquban
"It was my slave the king had been killing"
Farain muqapūṭ 'ak yin
"The king habitually drinks wine"
Farain 3āqapūṭ 'ak yin
"The king will drink wine"
THE DATIVE PROCLITIC:
The dative proclitic is rū.
It can become a dative pronoun like this:
My star: Rūn
Our star: Rū3
Your (masc) star: Rūc
You all's (masc )star: Rūz
Your (Fem) star:Rūch
You all's (Fem)star: Rūj
His star: Rūs
Her star: Rūš
Their (masc) star: Rūl
Their (Fem) star: Rūn
Thus
Farain rūn šakec̣ faṗirut
"It is an obelisk the king is giving me"
Some verbs require a dative dubject, most notably the verb 3ūput "to like"
Rūn 3ūput 'ak ṗirutal
"I like obelisks"
The locative Clitics:
The locative clitics are divided into two categories, the locative clitic (at the location) on one hand, and the ablative and allative clitic on the other.
The locative clitic has three forms, all proclitics: The indefinite proclitic, the definite singular proclitic, and the the definite plural proclitic, which are Li-, La- and Lu-
Farain muqapūṭ 'ak yin luṗirut
"The king habitually drinks wine at the obelisks"
The ablative and allative clitics each have two forms an indefinite proclitic, and a definite enclitic:
maṗirut- To an obelisk.
Faṗirutam- to the obelisk
Būṗirut-From an obelisk
Faṗirutub- From the obelisk:
Nī matāṭ maṗirut
"I go to an obelisk"
'as dūbaj taru faqasīlub
"He rides from the trade route"
Relative clauses are formed by speacial relative proclictics:
Past tense: Da
Present tense: Hū
Future: ḥī
Fafir damatāṭ maṗirut, 3ājaisit 'ak baquban
"The man who went to the obelisk, will kill my slave"
To form an actor noun from the verb one adds the prefix mā to the plain form of the verb.
mājaisit
"A murderer"
Mīrat
"To plow"
māmīrat
"A farmer"
To form a noun of place the same prefix is added with the suffix -ā
māmīratā
"A farm"
To form the noun of instrument, the suffix -ī is added; all such nouns are thus feminine.
māmīratī
"A Plow"
Atributive Adjectives inflect for gender, number and definiteness. they come before the noun
The declension of the adjective ṭūl "Bad"
Masculine singular: ṭūl
Masculine plural: ṭūlal
Feminine singular: ṭūli
Femninine plural: ṭūlīy
Masculine definite singular: Faṭūl
Masculine definite plural: Haṭūl
Fem. definite singular: Faṭūli
Fem. definite plural: Haṭūli
Predicative adjectives put the masculine singular form of the adjective after the noun:
Farūj ṭūl
"The star is bad"
Comparision is formed by NOUN A ša NOUN B ADJECTIVE:
Ṗar ša risa ṭūl
"Dogs are worse then rams"
h̠ā is used before the verb to negate it.
Farain h̠ā hū3ākt rūjin, 'as zaq
"The king who doesn't listen to the stars is cursed"