Finally. Finally.
Please inform me of any gratuitous spelling mistakes or overall screw-ups, I tried going over this with a fine-toothed comb but it's really late....
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Azenti:
Azenti is a language spoken by the Azen people (the name for the language is formed from their name and suffixing the word “Ti”, meaning “speech, language”) on the island nation of Azen tol Harghretjo, usually shortened to “Azehar”. The full name means “The Two Islands of The Azen”.
(The following can be skipped for those only interested in the language)
Azehar is a set of two islands separated by an large sea (“Adarisam tol Vyaja”--meaning “Sea of the People” and shortened as “Advya”) in the middle. The The two islands encircle it mostly all around, however there are many rivers cutting through to the surrounding ocean. The country is, as expected, a tropical and wet paradise, with massive jungles, rivers, deltas, wetlands, etc. all around. The left island, called “Hôtta Bhjaddhir” (“Seven Suns”---it is mostly composed up of seven islands), is the wettest, being covered in literally hundreds of small rivers, jungles, and forests. A mountain range called the “Amaghan” is on the leftmost portion of the island and supplies the rivers that cut through the islands.
The sheer amount of water there makes boats necessary for getting around, and as such, the Azen are proficient sailors, to the point of nearly deifying sailing. Even after the invention of the airplane, boats are still commonly used since the distances are too small to justify flying, though government is now spending well over 500 billion rugalor (roughly 10 billion USD) in building a military air bases and more civilian airports in the islands. Ironically, the “main” airport of the country, Dorarat Bhjaddhos Tol Stazaccy, is already considered to be one of the best and most beautiful airports in the entire world of Thooselqat due to using canals while inside of it.
The right island, called “Aghjata” (“Two Moons”--two islands make almost the entirety of it) is almost completely composed of a mountain range called the “Zdrubhiv” and is almost the complete opposite of Hôtta as it's a mostly dry, almost-desert-like in the rain shadow, even, and arid place. Several rivers do cut through the mountains and a decent amount of people do live there. There is little else of interest besides the fact that the Azen government for whatever reason loves putting all of their military bases in the mountains.
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Azenti is part of the Asin language family and easily its most spoken member. It is also rather archaic and conservative among the members of the Asin family.
Phonology:
Azenti's phonology is somewhat odd, though not bizarre. The most salient and noticeable feature is its vowel system, with phonemic front rounded AND phonemic back unrounded vowels. The orthography is completely 100% phonemic, as it's merely a representation I use to explain the language (it has its own script).
/m n/
<m n>
/p b bʰ t d dʰ k g gʰ/
<p b bh t d dh c g gh>
/f v s z θ (ʃ) (ʒ) ç ʝ h~x'/
<f v s z th (si) (zi) ç jj h>
/ts dz (tʃ) (dʒ)/
<ć ź (ći) (źi)>
/ɾ r j (ɥ) l (w)/
<r rr j (yV) l (uV)>
/i e u o/
/y ø ɯ ɤ/
/a/
<i e u o
<y ø û ô>
<a>
All stops, fricatives except /ʝ/, and approximants can be geminated (which is phonemic even at the end of a word cf. Hajj, “1DUAL”), indicated by doubling the letter (only the first is doubled if the letter is indicated by a digraph) Geminated /ɾ j/ are pronounced [r ʝ].
/y u/ in front of vowels (more common than you'd think, cf. Vyaja “seas”, Uas- “to go/come”, etc.) are pronounced [ɥ w].
/s z/ before /i/ are pronounced [ʃ ʒ]. /ts dz/ before /i/ are pronounced [tʃ dʒ].
The lack of a voiceless aspirate series, that is, <ph th ch> is explainable—the language did once have them, but they lenited to /f θ x/ (/x/ later backing to /h/, though for some speakers this is not complete, hence the glottalized /x/ in the fricative section). This is important for the purposes of reduplication in some verbs: verbs starting with <p th h> reduplicate with <pef- teth-, ceh-> instead of the expected *<fef- theth- heh->.
Vowels: Umlaut and Ablaut:
Of course, the most striking feature of Azenti is the vowels. They arrange into a neat grid with /a/ resting at the bottom as an outlier (and for the purposes of umlaut and ablaut, as we will see later, it IS an outlier).
The front rounded and back rounded vowels derive from 4 diphthongs: /y ø ɯ ɤ/ correspond to Old Azenti */ui oe iu eo/. Eventually these diphthongs simplified into single vowels, with the first vowel merging into the second one, but keeping the same rounding. In other words, /ui/ simplified to /y/ because the /u/ forced the /i/ to round. Likewise, /iu/ simplified to /ɯ/ because the /i/ forced the /u/ to un-round
The second thing producing these alterations (and it is still relevant today), is that certain combinations of vowels and consonants will force umlaut. The palatal consonants of /ç ʝ j/ and the rounded labial-velar consonant [w] will force any vowel next
to them to be round. Thus, the sequence */çi/ will, under ALL circumstances, be forced to become /çy/.
This can be seen in the suffixing of the relative suffix -jo to them stem rafi-, meaning “to see”. They combine as *<rafijo>, but this is banned, and automatically becomes <rafyjo>.
Another such example is the verbal root <uas>, meaning “to go/come”. This reduplicates in the middle voice to *<ueuas->, but as this is banned, the reduplicated root surfaces as <uøuas->.
The opposite happens with the consonant /h/, which instead forces all vowels to become un-rounded. Thus, the sequence */hy/ will become */hi/.
Finally, two vowels next to each other must agree in rounding. Thus, the sequence /iu/ is impossible. It must be either /yu/ or /iɯ/.
The only vowel that does not undergo these kind of changes is /a/. It can be by both palatals and /h/ without any change and does not alter vowels next to it. This is why it's considered an “outlier”.
These are not mere allophonical changes however. Ablaut is HIGHLY frequent in Azenti.
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Each Azenti vowel can be thought of as having “grades”, somewhat like Proto-Indo-European. These grades are, using /i/ as an example:
Base: The bare vowel itself. The base of /i/ is merely /i/, and so on.
Rounded: The vowel is either rounded or unrounded. The rounded grade of /i/ is /y/.
Weak Fronted/Backed: The vowel is directly backed, roundness is not kept. Not very common. The weak backed grade of /i/ is /u/.
Strong Fronted/Backed: The vowel is directly backed, roundness is kept. More common than above. The strong backed grade of /i/ is /ɯ/
Weakened: The vowel is lowered, roundness kept the same. The weakened grade of /i/ is /e/. Do note that /e o/ both weaken to /a/.
These distinctions are extremely important for morphological purposes. For instance, one particular nominalizing suffix is -AF/-(a)m. This suffixes -(a)m AND forces all vowels in the root to become Strong Front/Backed. For example: the root “bhutu-”, meaning to think, forms the noun “bhytym” , meaning “thought”, this way. Some other examples:
rafi-: to see
rafym: sight
stela-: to love
stølam: love
źosci-: to wash
źøscym: laundry
...And so on.
Some suffixes do not alter the root, but they DO contain archiphonemes that are altered depending on the root. One such example is the suffix F/-rWdh, which suffixes -rVdh onto the root, and is used to create instrument nouns. The V is replaced with the weakened form of the final vowel in the root, like so:
rafi-: to see
rafiredh: eye (lit. “instrument for seeing)
ton-: to talk/speak
tonradh: mouth (lit. “instrument for speaking”)
...And so on.
This type of ablaut is perfectly and 100% productive in modern Azenti.
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Stress:
Stress in Adari is mostly simple: In disyllabic words the final syllable is stressed, while in all words more than 2 syllables the second-to-last syllable is stressed. Vowels do not reduce when unstressed.
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Other things:
Some grammatical facts (to be covered in full later) about Azenti:
-It does not possess case marking in any way whatsoever
-Nouns do inflect for one of three numbers: singular, dual, and plural
-Nouns take definite articles. There are no indefinite articles
-There are 7 noun classes. A noun's class determines what article it takes and how it inflects. It is NOT a gender distinction--nouns don't agree with anything besides their article, and the words for "man" and "woman" are both in the same class.
-There is no verbal person , tense, or number marking in Azenti. However, voice (active, middle, and passive) is marked. There is a massive quantity of participles, however—TWENTY-SEVEN of them, actually, marked for voice, mood (indicative, potential and conditional/subjunctive), and aspect (aorist, imperfect, and perfect).
-Azenti possesses a causative prefix for verbs, as well as a desiderdative one. However, their use is more for deriving new words, not merely putting an modal distinction
-Serial verb constructions are frequently used in order to express temporal relationships.
Some examples of Azenti in action:
Ani tacos ani mulenos ibi rafi.
DEF man-SG DEF woman-SG GOAL see
The man sees the woman.
Ani mulenos sam av'ani tacos rafibhar.
DEF woman-SG be.PASS from=DEF man-SG see-PASS
The woman is seen by the man.
Fer agnitjo dav Yg zen arać uas?
DEF boy-DU Q 1SG DESTINATION be-PTCPL.COND come
Can those two boys come over to me?
Banami bhjaddhos ibi rafi mau cy vyaja cecerror.
fool-PL sun-SG see NEG nor sea MIDDLE-sail
Fools do not see the sun nor do they sail the seas.
Clusya ara dorasya, basya ara darfasya.
help-SUPINE be shine-SUP, be.a.fool-SUP be be.unworthy-SUP
To help (others) is to be great, to be a fool is to be abhorrent.
Ome Aueg muta mur nesjuprovumjotjo zen fit Aueg tol ratrasor stir vav zonip ara.
[now 1PL be.FUT-PTCPL pray survive-MIDD-PTCPL.PERF.COND-REL-DU DESTINATION if 1PL GEN soldier-PL fast more be.PST-PTCPL.PERF.COND be]
We will now pray for the two who would have survived if our soldiers had been faster.
And finally a few examples of Azenti words:
Soçø: day
Adari: person
Lasca: girl
Agni: boy
Tacos: man
Mulenos: woman
Sazdar (IFS): old man
Aguam (IFS): old woman
Pughin (IFS): child (4-9 years of age)
Asasi: young adult (9-14 years of age)
Ua: ship (in general)
Savdav: An class of Azenti ship used as a residence
Molav (IFS): A class of Azenti ship that carries tools/supplies to support/fix/supply other ships
Abhasi: A class of Azenti ship used by governmental officials—usually incredibly lavished
Argos (IFS): water (in general)
Fers: stormy water (that's still safe to travel though caution should probably be exercised)
Tobhalgja: extremely stormy water (that should be avoided at all costs)
Latami (PL.TAN): non-lethal waves
Dorcajjor (PL.TAN): lethal waves
Vyaja: the seas
Aseddhjan: interest
Abhul: ball
Bhjaddhos: sun
Tety: word
Samuos: tree
Mayu: song
Ratras: soldier
Samjujja: winds
Harghre: Island
Aghjos: Moon
And verbs:
(The words in parentheses are the middle and passive voice stems of the verbal root in question)
cerror-: to sail (cecerror-, cerroramir-)
bercerror: to sail through, browse (bebercerror-, bercerroramir-)
stela-: to love (non-sexually) (stolapro-, stelabhar-)
bhutu-: to think (bhitupro-, bhutubhar-)
bebhutu-: to contemplate (bobhutupro-, bebhutubhar-)
memoćbebhutu-: to re-think, try to understand (memoćbobhutupro-, memoćbebhutubhar-)
ton-: to talk (teton-, tonamir-)
tonnen-: to ramble on (tonnenyz-, tonnenamir-)
putton-: to converse with/talk amongst (peputton-, puttonamir-)
moćton-: to re-iterate/restate/make clear (memoćton-, moćtonamir-)
berton-: to guide s.one through something/teach/explain (beberton-, bertonamir-)
gleb-: to have (gegleb-, glebamir-) almost always used in the middle
dygleb: to give (dygegleb-, dyglebamir-) likewise
bjagleb-: to desire/want to have (bjagegleb-, bjaglebamir-) likewise as well
gym-: to think [possibility] (gygym-, gymamir-)
rafi-: to see (rafipro-, rafibhar-)
rerafi: to gawk at (rorafipro-, rerafibhar-)
dyrafi-: to show (dyrafipro-, dyrafibhar-)
cuis-: to assume (cecuis-, cuisamir-)
cuisses-: to predict (cuissesyz-, cuissesamir-)
fent-: to walk (pefent-, fentamir-)
fenttet-: to run (fenttetyz-, fentttetamir-)
su-: to rain (only used in middle)
yrol-: to feel/middle is “X feels Y” (yrol, yrolyz, yrolamir-)
źosci-: to wash, clean (źescipro-, źoscibhar-)
glat-: to eat/learn (geglat-, glatamir-)
glattet-: to stuff onesself/learn ravenously (glattetyz-, glattatamir-)
gre-: to feed/teach (gropro-, grebhar-)
ased-: to take interest in (asedyz-, asedamir-)
moćased-: to rekindle [an interest/etc.] (moćasedyz-, moćasedamir-)
rol-: to travel (rerol-, rolamir-)
maya-: to sing (mayapro-, mayabhar-)
Yes I am well aware that the word for man is unintentionally hilarious. I don't care, I like the word
Azenti
Re: Azenti
Nouns:
Nouns in Azenti are relatively simple. They do not decline for case at all--not even genitive constructions use case (a particle is used instead). However, they DO inflect for number--Singular, Dual, and Plural:
Mulenos: woman
Mulenata: two women
Mulenir: (3+) women
Nouns possess definite articles but not indefinite ones. Usually the lack of an article implies indefiniteness, however:
Fer agni ja lasca rafi.
DEF boy DEF girl see
"The boy sees the girl"
Agni lasca rafi.
boy girl see
"A boy sees a girl"
All nouns are put into one of seven classes. The class of a noun determines what number inflections and articles it takes. It is NOT gender system--the class a noun is in is determined SOLELY by what it ends in. In addition, the words for "man" and "women" are in the same class--"Tacos" and "Mulenos", respectively. Even more, the word for boy ("Agni") is in a separate class than "Tacos" and the word for girl ("Lasca") is in a seperate class from than "Mulenos"!
In any case, there are seven classes of nouns. There are two subtypes--classes with inflected singulars (basically, the singular form possesses an inherent singular inflection added onto the stem), and ones without inflected singulars. The classes are, as follows:
Class 1: Article is "Hû". Ends in a consonant--indeed, any noun that ends in a consonant is in this class. SG -C, DU -ep, PL -or
Hû ratras: the soldier
Hû ratrasep: the two soldiers
Hû ratrasor: the soldiers
Class 2: Article is "Ja". SG -a, DU -on, and PL -ami
Ja lasca: the girl
Ja lascon: the two girls
Ja lascami: the girls
Class 3: Article is "Fer". Any noun that ends in a vowel that ISN'T <a> is in this class. DU -tjo, PL, -sam
Fer agni: the boy
Fer agnitjo: the two boys
Fer agnisam: the boys
Class 4: Article is "Ani". A noun in this class ends in "-os". The class is an IFS (inflected singular) class. SG -os, DU -ata, PL -ir
Ani samuos: the tree
Ani samuata: the two trees
Ani samuyr: the trees
(Note how due to the [w] the plurals -ir inflection ablauts to -yr)
Class 5: Article is "Byr". This class ends in -av. IFS. DU -evi, Pl -azy
Byr molav: the supply ship
Byr molevi: the two supply ships
Byr molazy: the supply ships
Class 6: Article is "Ros". Nouns that end in "-m" are in this class. IFS. SG -m, DU -bha, PL -bun
Ros bhytym: the thought
Ros bhytybha: the two thoughts
Ros bhytybun: the thoughts
Class 7: Article is "Ros" (yes, the same as Class 6). Nouns that end in "-n" are in this class. IFS. SG -n, DU -dha, PL -dun
Ros pughin: the child
Ros pughidha: the two children
Ros pughidun: the children
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Do note that it is not always possible to correctly guess what class a noun is from what it ended in. Take note of these two words:
Savdav: An class of Azenti ship used as a residence
Molav (IFS): A class of Azenti ship that carries tools/supplies to support/fix/supply other ships
You would guess that these would both be Class 5 nouns, right? But they're not. Notice how "Molav" has "IFS" next to it. This indicates that it is Class 5, but Savdav, which does not list "IFS". This indicates that it is actually Class 1.
Therefore, the words inflect differently: Hû Savdav, Byr Molav. Likewise, their duals are "Savdavep" and "Molevi".
However, once these complications are known, nouns are relatively easy.
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Particles
Azenti possesses a small set of special particles used to indicate some relationships. These are distinct from the prepositions, as they usually have more wide-reaching meanings and they occur AFTER the noun they modify. Here are a few of them:
ibi: You have already seen this. It's strict meaning indicates the "goal" of an action (hence why it is glossed GOAL). So it would be used with a verb meaning "to reach" for instance, to indicate what the person was reaching for.
However, it is now used for a much more different purpose: as an accusative marker, to make for the utter lack of case-marking in the lang:
Fer agnitjo ja lasca ibi stela.
DEF boy-DU DEF girl GOAL love
"The two boys (both) love the girl"
zen: A similar marker to "ibi", it indicates the destination of an action. In other words, its used with verbs of motion to indicate the place they're going:
Yg Cron zen cerror.
1SG Kron DESTI sail
"I sail to Kron"
(actually, Kron is a land-locked country in the middle of a desert, so that wouldn't make much sense)
However, like "ibi", it has been extended in its use. Now, it can also be a sort of dative marker:
Yg Asra ibi ua zen dygleb.
1SG 2SG GOAL ship DESTI CAUS-have
"I give a ship to you"
(you can also see the causative prefix "dy-" here, added to "gleb", meaning "to have", forming the word "dygleb", "to mean", literally "to cause to have")
Sometimes it has a benefactive meaning:
Aueg Cygraghenda zen mur.
1PL Cygraghenda DESTI pray
"We pray to Cygraghenda (Azen diety)"
(Using "ibi" instead of "zen" would give the meaning "We pray for Cygraghendha")
tol: Indicates possession, in the form of "Possessor-tol-possessed". This makes it more like Japanese's "no" particle. It is not used like Spanish "de":
Yg tol adaror
1SG GEN person-PL
"My people"
It is also used with some prepositions or adverbs. Frequently, it "combines" with the preposition/adverb:
Asra cyv'ol lan ua gleb.
2SG only=GEN one ship have
"You have only one boat"
Jos pera to'ni Samuos fent
3SGM around GEN=DEF tree walk
"He walks around the tree"
dera: Indicates the cause of an action. Used with the supine of a verb it can mean "By X'ing...":
Surasya dera, Yg sane.
write-SUP CAUSE 1SG relax
"By writing, I relax./I relax by writing."
It also can modify a whole phrase. The main verb of the modified phrase is put in the infinitive:
Torin babhi dera, Aueg argos ibi gleb mau
Torin be.a.fool-INFIN CAUSE, 1PL water GOAL have NEG
"Thanks to Torin being an idiot/Because Torin's an idiot, we don't have (any) water".
These are the main particles. There are a few more, but they act oddly and will be given their own post later down the line.
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Prepositions:
Prepositions are extremely simple in Azenti. They go in front of the noun they modify. And....that's about it, really.
Oh, and sometimes they take "tol" as said above.
Fer agni aź surrodh sur.
DEF boy INSTR write-INSTR.NMLZ write
"The boy is writing with a pencil/pen/stylus/SOMETHING for writing/etc"
Zajj avi Craiset zonis uas.
3SGF from Cryset be.PST-PTCPL come
"She came from Cryset"
That previous one--"avi"--will be important later when forming passive voice sentences, as it is used to indicate the agent.
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I decided to not go over adjectives and adverbs this time as I believe the post would get too long.
Those two are pushed to the side now, next post is when I start talking 'bout verbs....that's gonna be real fun
Nouns in Azenti are relatively simple. They do not decline for case at all--not even genitive constructions use case (a particle is used instead). However, they DO inflect for number--Singular, Dual, and Plural:
Mulenos: woman
Mulenata: two women
Mulenir: (3+) women
Nouns possess definite articles but not indefinite ones. Usually the lack of an article implies indefiniteness, however:
Fer agni ja lasca rafi.
DEF boy DEF girl see
"The boy sees the girl"
Agni lasca rafi.
boy girl see
"A boy sees a girl"
All nouns are put into one of seven classes. The class of a noun determines what number inflections and articles it takes. It is NOT gender system--the class a noun is in is determined SOLELY by what it ends in. In addition, the words for "man" and "women" are in the same class--"Tacos" and "Mulenos", respectively. Even more, the word for boy ("Agni") is in a separate class than "Tacos" and the word for girl ("Lasca") is in a seperate class from than "Mulenos"!
In any case, there are seven classes of nouns. There are two subtypes--classes with inflected singulars (basically, the singular form possesses an inherent singular inflection added onto the stem), and ones without inflected singulars. The classes are, as follows:
Class 1: Article is "Hû". Ends in a consonant--indeed, any noun that ends in a consonant is in this class. SG -C, DU -ep, PL -or
Hû ratras: the soldier
Hû ratrasep: the two soldiers
Hû ratrasor: the soldiers
Class 2: Article is "Ja". SG -a, DU -on, and PL -ami
Ja lasca: the girl
Ja lascon: the two girls
Ja lascami: the girls
Class 3: Article is "Fer". Any noun that ends in a vowel that ISN'T <a> is in this class. DU -tjo, PL, -sam
Fer agni: the boy
Fer agnitjo: the two boys
Fer agnisam: the boys
Class 4: Article is "Ani". A noun in this class ends in "-os". The class is an IFS (inflected singular) class. SG -os, DU -ata, PL -ir
Ani samuos: the tree
Ani samuata: the two trees
Ani samuyr: the trees
(Note how due to the [w] the plurals -ir inflection ablauts to -yr)
Class 5: Article is "Byr". This class ends in -av. IFS. DU -evi, Pl -azy
Byr molav: the supply ship
Byr molevi: the two supply ships
Byr molazy: the supply ships
Class 6: Article is "Ros". Nouns that end in "-m" are in this class. IFS. SG -m, DU -bha, PL -bun
Ros bhytym: the thought
Ros bhytybha: the two thoughts
Ros bhytybun: the thoughts
Class 7: Article is "Ros" (yes, the same as Class 6). Nouns that end in "-n" are in this class. IFS. SG -n, DU -dha, PL -dun
Ros pughin: the child
Ros pughidha: the two children
Ros pughidun: the children
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Do note that it is not always possible to correctly guess what class a noun is from what it ended in. Take note of these two words:
Savdav: An class of Azenti ship used as a residence
Molav (IFS): A class of Azenti ship that carries tools/supplies to support/fix/supply other ships
You would guess that these would both be Class 5 nouns, right? But they're not. Notice how "Molav" has "IFS" next to it. This indicates that it is Class 5, but Savdav, which does not list "IFS". This indicates that it is actually Class 1.
Therefore, the words inflect differently: Hû Savdav, Byr Molav. Likewise, their duals are "Savdavep" and "Molevi".
However, once these complications are known, nouns are relatively easy.
/////////
Particles
Azenti possesses a small set of special particles used to indicate some relationships. These are distinct from the prepositions, as they usually have more wide-reaching meanings and they occur AFTER the noun they modify. Here are a few of them:
ibi: You have already seen this. It's strict meaning indicates the "goal" of an action (hence why it is glossed GOAL). So it would be used with a verb meaning "to reach" for instance, to indicate what the person was reaching for.
However, it is now used for a much more different purpose: as an accusative marker, to make for the utter lack of case-marking in the lang:
Fer agnitjo ja lasca ibi stela.
DEF boy-DU DEF girl GOAL love
"The two boys (both) love the girl"
zen: A similar marker to "ibi", it indicates the destination of an action. In other words, its used with verbs of motion to indicate the place they're going:
Yg Cron zen cerror.
1SG Kron DESTI sail
"I sail to Kron"
(actually, Kron is a land-locked country in the middle of a desert, so that wouldn't make much sense)
However, like "ibi", it has been extended in its use. Now, it can also be a sort of dative marker:
Yg Asra ibi ua zen dygleb.
1SG 2SG GOAL ship DESTI CAUS-have
"I give a ship to you"
(you can also see the causative prefix "dy-" here, added to "gleb", meaning "to have", forming the word "dygleb", "to mean", literally "to cause to have")
Sometimes it has a benefactive meaning:
Aueg Cygraghenda zen mur.
1PL Cygraghenda DESTI pray
"We pray to Cygraghenda (Azen diety)"
(Using "ibi" instead of "zen" would give the meaning "We pray for Cygraghendha")
tol: Indicates possession, in the form of "Possessor-tol-possessed". This makes it more like Japanese's "no" particle. It is not used like Spanish "de":
Yg tol adaror
1SG GEN person-PL
"My people"
It is also used with some prepositions or adverbs. Frequently, it "combines" with the preposition/adverb:
Asra cyv'ol lan ua gleb.
2SG only=GEN one ship have
"You have only one boat"
Jos pera to'ni Samuos fent
3SGM around GEN=DEF tree walk
"He walks around the tree"
dera: Indicates the cause of an action. Used with the supine of a verb it can mean "By X'ing...":
Surasya dera, Yg sane.
write-SUP CAUSE 1SG relax
"By writing, I relax./I relax by writing."
It also can modify a whole phrase. The main verb of the modified phrase is put in the infinitive:
Torin babhi dera, Aueg argos ibi gleb mau
Torin be.a.fool-INFIN CAUSE, 1PL water GOAL have NEG
"Thanks to Torin being an idiot/Because Torin's an idiot, we don't have (any) water".
These are the main particles. There are a few more, but they act oddly and will be given their own post later down the line.
/////
Prepositions:
Prepositions are extremely simple in Azenti. They go in front of the noun they modify. And....that's about it, really.
Oh, and sometimes they take "tol" as said above.
Fer agni aź surrodh sur.
DEF boy INSTR write-INSTR.NMLZ write
"The boy is writing with a pencil/pen/stylus/SOMETHING for writing/etc"
Zajj avi Craiset zonis uas.
3SGF from Cryset be.PST-PTCPL come
"She came from Cryset"
That previous one--"avi"--will be important later when forming passive voice sentences, as it is used to indicate the agent.
/////////
I decided to not go over adjectives and adverbs this time as I believe the post would get too long.
Those two are pushed to the side now, next post is when I start talking 'bout verbs....that's gonna be real fun
Nūdhrēmnāva naraśva, dṛk śraṣrāsit nūdhrēmanīṣṣ iźdatīyyīm woḥīm madhēyyaṣṣi.
satisfaction-DEF.SG-LOC live.PERFECTIVE-1P.INCL but work-DEF.SG-PRIV satisfaction-DEF.PL.NOM weakeness-DEF.PL-DAT only lead-FUT-3P
satisfaction-DEF.SG-LOC live.PERFECTIVE-1P.INCL but work-DEF.SG-PRIV satisfaction-DEF.PL.NOM weakeness-DEF.PL-DAT only lead-FUT-3P
Re: Azenti
Verbs:
Hoo boy. This go'n be fun.
Like many languages, verbs are highly important in Azenti. Indeed, compared to the other classes, verbs are complete outliers in Azenti. They inflect quite heavily and can take an absolutely insane amount of affixes and prefixes. Huge swathes of nouns and adjectives can be derived from them and one root can take more than 5 affixes at once.
However, they also possess some oddities. First of all, despite the extreme amount of inflection, Azenti verbs do not inflect for person at all. The same form is used for all referents, no matter what. However, if the context is obvious, pro-drop can happen sometimes.
Verb Class:
Verbs in Azenti are split into two classes. Which class a verb is in determines how its forms its voice stems (more on those later). The class of a verb is decided by ONE, and ONLY ONE factor: what it ends in:
Class 1: The verbal root ends in a consonant.
Class 2: The verbal root ends in any vowel.
That is it.
Here are two verbs: The Class 1 verb mur- and Class 2 bhutu-:
mur-: to pray (memur-, muramir-)
bhutu-: to think (bhitupro-, bhutubhar-)
The first part is the active voice stem of the verb. It is the bare form and is all that is need in a simple sentence:
Yg mur.
1SG pray
"I pray"
Zajj bhutu.
3SGF think
"She thinks"
Then comes the definition, and then the middle voice and passive voice forms of the verb. Most verbs build the middle and passive from the active--a few only have one or two of the forms, like su-, which means "to rain" and is only used in the middle.
Voice:
Voice is, without a doubt, THE most important part of the Azenti verb. By altering the voice, one can derive tons of new forms from a single root, and express many distinctions. The voices are, as said above, Active, Middle, and Passive.
Active: The active is, for the large majority of verbs, the "base" form. It is used like any other active voice and....that's about it. NEXT!
Middle: The middle is the most nuanced and complex voice. It denotes that the subject is performing an action for their own benefit, or that the subject is wont to do that kind of action (usually from not being animate and having sapience). For instance, the verb
"su-", listed above, is used only the middle because rain doesn't really choose to fall, it just....does. Rain falls because rain just inherently falls.
The "for their own benefit" meaning can be expressed by these sentences. Both would be translated into English as "I'm writing":
Yg sur. (active)
Yg sesur. (middle)
However, there is a subtle distinction here. The first sentence, in the active, has the overtones that you are writing because someone else requires the thing you are writing; for example, you're writing a paper for school, or your boss wants you to type up a business document.
The second sentence, in the middle, have the overtones that you are writing to benefit yourself. So, perhaps you are writing because it's fun, or you're writing a novel, or maybe you're filling out an application (since the possible job acceptance that stems from the application would benefit you).
Here is another example of an even more subtle distinction. Both of the following sentences translate to "I came over to help him."
Yg Jos zen zonis uas clusya. (active)
Yg Jos zen zonis uas cliprosya. (middle)
The first sentence, being in the active, means that you came over to help him, but not for your own benefit. Maybe you did it because you're a good friend, or because someone ordered you to go help him.
The second sentence, being in the middle, means that you helped him because it would benefit you in some way (whether or not it actually benefited you is irrelevant; what merely matters is that you believed, at the time, that you would be benefited). Perhaps you thought that helping him would lead to a better relationship with him later. Or maybe he's your partner in a project, so you helped him because it would help make the project better (which would benefit you).
Excessive use of the middle is often considered to be a mark of a narcissist who only does things when it benefits them. One Azenti idiom, "X can't do something unless there's -pro- [the class 2 middle ending] involved", even jokingly mocks this.
The middle can also possess a sort of reflexive meaning (similar to the Ancient Greek Middle and Classical Sanskrit Atmanepada), and a habitual meaning as well. Therefore, in copular constructions, the middle is frequently used when a subject is inherently a quality, while the active would be used to mean a subject is, as of now but not possibly forever, a quality (cf. AAVE and it's use of habitual "be", or Spanish "ser/estar").
In rare cases it almost seems to possess a conative/antipassive quality to it but that is highly rare and dialectal, though sometimes used in fiction to give a poetic/literary feel.
Some verbs undergo a change in meaning while in the middle:
yrol-: to feel
yrolyz-: to seem like/feel like (as in sentences like "This guy seems/feels odd")
Some verbs are used almost always in the middle:
hars-: to die (almost always as middle "cehars-")
Woo, that's a lot, isn't it?
Passive: Compared to the middle, the passive is relatively simple. Like the standard definition, the passive voice in Azenti reduces the valency of a verb to one. Unlike the active and middle, the passive cannot be used alone--it must be supported by a copular verb in the passive itself:
Asra sam rafibhar.
2SG be.PASS see-PASS
"You are seen."
The copular verb does not have to be a "to-be" verb:
Asra yrolamir rafibhar.
2SG feel-PASS see-PASS
"You feel as if you are being seen"/"You feel like you are being seen".
The passive is not very complex besides this.
Forming Voice Stems:
Those of you gifted with the ability of sight will notice that the middle and passive stems are not the same as the active. Here's how to form them.
Class 1 verbs: If the root begins with a consonant, the middle is formed by reduplicating the initial consonant and putting in -e- (remember to follow ablaut rules!).If the begins with a vowel, suffix -yz- instead. Regardless of what the root begins with, the passive is formed by suffixing -amir.
Roots beginning with <f th h> reduplicate as <pef- teth- ceh->. An explanation for this is provided in the phonology post above. If a rot begins with <ć ź>, it reduplicates as <teć- deź->
Some examples:
fent-: to walk (pefent-, fentamir-)
uas-: to come/go (uøuas-, uasamir-) --an example of umlaut
sur-: to write (sesur-, suramir-)
rol-: to travel (rerol-, rolamir-)
ased-: to take interest in (asedyz-, asedamir-)
ton-: to talk (teton-, tonamir-)
Class 2 verbs: All class 2 verbs form the middle by putting the first vowel in the root into the weak backed/fronted grade (unless that is impossible due to the root beginning with a palatal or /h/, then the vowel stays the same) and suffixing -pro. All of them also form the passive by suffixing -bhar (there is no ablaut here). Some examples:
rafi-: to see (rafipro-, rafibhar-)
bhutu-: to think (bhitupro-, bhutubhar-)
źosci-: to wash, clean (źescipro-, źoscibhar-)
ratre-: to fight/be a soldier (ratrepro-, ratrebhar-)
nosju-: to survive/live (nesjupro-, nosjubhar-)
Finally, there are three special verbs of note. They are the copular verbs. As will be said in the next section, there is no tense marking in Azenti--but there are three verbs with specifically encode tense and are used as copulas and as auxiliaries to allow tense expressions. They also have completely irregular active, middle, and passive stems. They are:
ara-: present copula (os-, sam-)
mu-: future copula (map-, mam-)
zon-: past copula (zap-, gam-)
You'll notice that ara- and mu- change classes depending on voice, being class 2 in the active but class 1 in the middle and passive. This will matter later when adding participles. Speaking of which....
Participles:
Azenti has 27 participles.
They encode aspect (aorist, perfect, and imperfect), mood, (Indicative, Potential, and Conditional/Subjunctive), and finally voice (which is marked on both the passive ending and the stem itself). They are used extremely commonly for the purposes of expressing fine-tuned distinctions.
The simplest construction is to use a particle of a copula combined with a verb. The participle and verb must agree in voice:
Ja lasca arać maya.
DEF girl be-PTCPL.POT sing
"The girl can sing."
Ani tacata gamaći dyharsamir!
DEF man-DU be.PST.PASS-PTCPL.POT.PERRF CAUS-die-PASS
"Those two men could have been killed!"
Yg zapav moćbobhutupro, ić...
1SG be.PST.MIDDLE-PTCPL.COND.PERF re-REDUP-think-MIDDLE, but
"I would tried to understand it, but...."
They can also be used as, well, participles: verbal adjectives. Frequently they can be where simple relative clauses would be used in English, and they can be strung together in a serial verb construction:
Ja surarat-lasca
DEF write-PTCPL.IMPERF girl
"The writing girl/The girl who is writing"
Fer muć-cerrorać-agni
DEF be.FUT-PTCPL.COND=sail-PTCPL.COND=boy
"The boy who will be able to sail"
Ani muć-buć-yrolyzać-stelabharać-tacos
DEF be.FUT-PTCPL-COND=want-PTCPL.COND=feel-MIDDLE-PTCPL.COND=love-PASS-PTCPL.COND=man
"The man who will be able to desire feeling as if he is being loved."
(wierd sentences go!)
In any case, these are the endings:
Pretty simple.
Other Verbal Derivations:
Verbs in Azenti possess an absolutely massive amount of other derivations and inflections they can take. Some of the most important ones:
Gerunds: The term "gerund" may be a bad name for this, but it is what they originally stood for. However, gerunds in modern Azenti have a different role. They indicate that an action is going on at the same as the "main" action of the sentence. They usually can be translated by "while X [VERB]...".
First of all, it is formed one of two ways: if the verb is class 1, suffix -ac to the end of the root. If the verb is class 2, suffix -t to the end:
rol-: (rolac, rerolac, rolamirac)
jahhe-: (jahhet, jahheprot, jahhebhart)
Mogha mayat, Yg ghafasya jahhe.
Mogha sing-GER, 1SG sleep-SUP try
"While Mogha is singing, I'm trying to sleep".
They may also take auxiliaries:
Ja ua gamis moćtebûbhars, ja carrorna zonis sane.
DEF ship be.PST.PASS-PTCPL re-do-PASS-GER, DEG sail-AGT be.PST-PTCPL relax
"While the ship was getting repaired, the sailor relaxed"
clusya jahhet, fer agni cyv'ol zonis ba.
help-SUP try-GER, DEF boy only=GEN be.PST-PTCPL be.a.fool
While trying to help, the boy only acted like an idiot.
Of note is that the future gerund has a sense of "when":
Ja lascon muta jahhe-basya nefac, Yg muć bhyo.
DEF girl-DU be.FUT-PTCPL try=be.a.fool-SUP stop-GER 1SG be.FUT-PTCPL.POT work
"When those two girls stop trying to be idiots, I'll be able to work"
(God, I love that verb "ba-", "to be an idiot")
Infintives: The infinitive is a marked deverbal form that is used mainly in subordinate and conditional clauses. Basically, the main verb of a sub-clause is in the infinitive rather than the main root.
To form the infinitive requires one of three methods: Class 1 verbs simply suffix -an. Class 2 suffixes -bhi in the active, and -s in passive and middle:
rol-: (rola, rerolan, rolamiran)
jahhe-: (jahhebhi, jahhepros, jahhebhars)
Fit zonipa stelabhi Zajj Yg ibi, Yg zen zonipa tetonaći arabhi.
if be.PST-PTCPL.COND.PERF love-INFIN 3SGF 1SG GOAL, 1SG DESTI be.PST-PTCPL.COND.PERF MIDDLE-talk-PTCPL.POT.PERF be.INFIN
"If she had loved me, she would have been able to tell (that) to me."
One can notice here that the verb of the first clause comes in the beginning here. This is because it's a subordinate clause. Please tale note that the infintive is never used where English uses a complementary infinitive, because Azenti uses....
Supine:....this for that. The supine is used with to form complementary infinitives and generally corresponds to the Latin supine. To form it, suffix -(a)sya to the root (the /a/ is used if the root is class 1). It also can indicate purpose.
Yg clusya uas.
1SG help-SUP come
"I come to help."
Zajj mjol surrodh ibi surasya zonis aplo.
3SGF self=GEN write-INTSR GOAL write-SUP be.PST-PTCPL lift
"She picked up her pen to write/for the purpose of writing."
Cerrorasya, jeg ua os nu myo.
sail-SUP, DEM ship be.MID most good
"For sailing, this ship is the best" OR "This ship is best for sailing"
Jos os myo tol mayasya.
3SGM be.MID good GEN sing-SUP
"He is skilled at singing/good at singing"
The future supine can have a sense similar to the gerundive in Latin. Interestingly enough, the future particple used seems to be grammaticalized; the future supine does not have to be in a future sentence:
Asra os muta tebûsya.
2SG be.MID be.FUT-PTCPL do-SUP
"You are to do (this).", better as "You must do (this)".
Carthaga os muta heggiramirasya.
carthage be.MID be.FUT-PTCPL destroy-PASS-SUP
"Carthago est delenda"
///////////
Negation:
Put the word "mau" after the verb.
...That's it, actually.
////////////
I am about to fall asleep here, it's 11:18 and I'm getting tired. Next I'll go over what other derivations can come from verbs (i.e nouns and things like causatives and desiderdatives)
///////
As a side note, I never gave the numbers 1-10 in Azenti, here you go:
lan: one
zebhi: two
epir: three
dhizze: four
gry: five
aćci: six
hôtta: seven
magrim: eight
vyupas: nine
sabbhjas: ten
Hoo boy. This go'n be fun.
Like many languages, verbs are highly important in Azenti. Indeed, compared to the other classes, verbs are complete outliers in Azenti. They inflect quite heavily and can take an absolutely insane amount of affixes and prefixes. Huge swathes of nouns and adjectives can be derived from them and one root can take more than 5 affixes at once.
However, they also possess some oddities. First of all, despite the extreme amount of inflection, Azenti verbs do not inflect for person at all. The same form is used for all referents, no matter what. However, if the context is obvious, pro-drop can happen sometimes.
Verb Class:
Verbs in Azenti are split into two classes. Which class a verb is in determines how its forms its voice stems (more on those later). The class of a verb is decided by ONE, and ONLY ONE factor: what it ends in:
Class 1: The verbal root ends in a consonant.
Class 2: The verbal root ends in any vowel.
That is it.
Here are two verbs: The Class 1 verb mur- and Class 2 bhutu-:
mur-: to pray (memur-, muramir-)
bhutu-: to think (bhitupro-, bhutubhar-)
The first part is the active voice stem of the verb. It is the bare form and is all that is need in a simple sentence:
Yg mur.
1SG pray
"I pray"
Zajj bhutu.
3SGF think
"She thinks"
Then comes the definition, and then the middle voice and passive voice forms of the verb. Most verbs build the middle and passive from the active--a few only have one or two of the forms, like su-, which means "to rain" and is only used in the middle.
Voice:
Voice is, without a doubt, THE most important part of the Azenti verb. By altering the voice, one can derive tons of new forms from a single root, and express many distinctions. The voices are, as said above, Active, Middle, and Passive.
Active: The active is, for the large majority of verbs, the "base" form. It is used like any other active voice and....that's about it. NEXT!
Middle: The middle is the most nuanced and complex voice. It denotes that the subject is performing an action for their own benefit, or that the subject is wont to do that kind of action (usually from not being animate and having sapience). For instance, the verb
"su-", listed above, is used only the middle because rain doesn't really choose to fall, it just....does. Rain falls because rain just inherently falls.
The "for their own benefit" meaning can be expressed by these sentences. Both would be translated into English as "I'm writing":
Yg sur. (active)
Yg sesur. (middle)
However, there is a subtle distinction here. The first sentence, in the active, has the overtones that you are writing because someone else requires the thing you are writing; for example, you're writing a paper for school, or your boss wants you to type up a business document.
The second sentence, in the middle, have the overtones that you are writing to benefit yourself. So, perhaps you are writing because it's fun, or you're writing a novel, or maybe you're filling out an application (since the possible job acceptance that stems from the application would benefit you).
Here is another example of an even more subtle distinction. Both of the following sentences translate to "I came over to help him."
Yg Jos zen zonis uas clusya. (active)
Yg Jos zen zonis uas cliprosya. (middle)
The first sentence, being in the active, means that you came over to help him, but not for your own benefit. Maybe you did it because you're a good friend, or because someone ordered you to go help him.
The second sentence, being in the middle, means that you helped him because it would benefit you in some way (whether or not it actually benefited you is irrelevant; what merely matters is that you believed, at the time, that you would be benefited). Perhaps you thought that helping him would lead to a better relationship with him later. Or maybe he's your partner in a project, so you helped him because it would help make the project better (which would benefit you).
Excessive use of the middle is often considered to be a mark of a narcissist who only does things when it benefits them. One Azenti idiom, "X can't do something unless there's -pro- [the class 2 middle ending] involved", even jokingly mocks this.
The middle can also possess a sort of reflexive meaning (similar to the Ancient Greek Middle and Classical Sanskrit Atmanepada), and a habitual meaning as well. Therefore, in copular constructions, the middle is frequently used when a subject is inherently a quality, while the active would be used to mean a subject is, as of now but not possibly forever, a quality (cf. AAVE and it's use of habitual "be", or Spanish "ser/estar").
In rare cases it almost seems to possess a conative/antipassive quality to it but that is highly rare and dialectal, though sometimes used in fiction to give a poetic/literary feel.
Some verbs undergo a change in meaning while in the middle:
yrol-: to feel
yrolyz-: to seem like/feel like (as in sentences like "This guy seems/feels odd")
Some verbs are used almost always in the middle:
hars-: to die (almost always as middle "cehars-")
Woo, that's a lot, isn't it?
Passive: Compared to the middle, the passive is relatively simple. Like the standard definition, the passive voice in Azenti reduces the valency of a verb to one. Unlike the active and middle, the passive cannot be used alone--it must be supported by a copular verb in the passive itself:
Asra sam rafibhar.
2SG be.PASS see-PASS
"You are seen."
The copular verb does not have to be a "to-be" verb:
Asra yrolamir rafibhar.
2SG feel-PASS see-PASS
"You feel as if you are being seen"/"You feel like you are being seen".
The passive is not very complex besides this.
Forming Voice Stems:
Those of you gifted with the ability of sight will notice that the middle and passive stems are not the same as the active. Here's how to form them.
Class 1 verbs: If the root begins with a consonant, the middle is formed by reduplicating the initial consonant and putting in -e- (remember to follow ablaut rules!).If the begins with a vowel, suffix -yz- instead. Regardless of what the root begins with, the passive is formed by suffixing -amir.
Roots beginning with <f th h> reduplicate as <pef- teth- ceh->. An explanation for this is provided in the phonology post above. If a rot begins with <ć ź>, it reduplicates as <teć- deź->
Some examples:
fent-: to walk (pefent-, fentamir-)
uas-: to come/go (uøuas-, uasamir-) --an example of umlaut
sur-: to write (sesur-, suramir-)
rol-: to travel (rerol-, rolamir-)
ased-: to take interest in (asedyz-, asedamir-)
ton-: to talk (teton-, tonamir-)
Class 2 verbs: All class 2 verbs form the middle by putting the first vowel in the root into the weak backed/fronted grade (unless that is impossible due to the root beginning with a palatal or /h/, then the vowel stays the same) and suffixing -pro. All of them also form the passive by suffixing -bhar (there is no ablaut here). Some examples:
rafi-: to see (rafipro-, rafibhar-)
bhutu-: to think (bhitupro-, bhutubhar-)
źosci-: to wash, clean (źescipro-, źoscibhar-)
ratre-: to fight/be a soldier (ratrepro-, ratrebhar-)
nosju-: to survive/live (nesjupro-, nosjubhar-)
Finally, there are three special verbs of note. They are the copular verbs. As will be said in the next section, there is no tense marking in Azenti--but there are three verbs with specifically encode tense and are used as copulas and as auxiliaries to allow tense expressions. They also have completely irregular active, middle, and passive stems. They are:
ara-: present copula (os-, sam-)
mu-: future copula (map-, mam-)
zon-: past copula (zap-, gam-)
You'll notice that ara- and mu- change classes depending on voice, being class 2 in the active but class 1 in the middle and passive. This will matter later when adding participles. Speaking of which....
Participles:
Azenti has 27 participles.
They encode aspect (aorist, perfect, and imperfect), mood, (Indicative, Potential, and Conditional/Subjunctive), and finally voice (which is marked on both the passive ending and the stem itself). They are used extremely commonly for the purposes of expressing fine-tuned distinctions.
The simplest construction is to use a particle of a copula combined with a verb. The participle and verb must agree in voice:
Ja lasca arać maya.
DEF girl be-PTCPL.POT sing
"The girl can sing."
Ani tacata gamaći dyharsamir!
DEF man-DU be.PST.PASS-PTCPL.POT.PERRF CAUS-die-PASS
"Those two men could have been killed!"
Yg zapav moćbobhutupro, ić...
1SG be.PST.MIDDLE-PTCPL.COND.PERF re-REDUP-think-MIDDLE, but
"I would tried to understand it, but...."
They can also be used as, well, participles: verbal adjectives. Frequently they can be where simple relative clauses would be used in English, and they can be strung together in a serial verb construction:
Ja surarat-lasca
DEF write-PTCPL.IMPERF girl
"The writing girl/The girl who is writing"
Fer muć-cerrorać-agni
DEF be.FUT-PTCPL.COND=sail-PTCPL.COND=boy
"The boy who will be able to sail"
Ani muć-buć-yrolyzać-stelabharać-tacos
DEF be.FUT-PTCPL-COND=want-PTCPL.COND=feel-MIDDLE-PTCPL.COND=love-PASS-PTCPL.COND=man
"The man who will be able to desire feeling as if he is being loved."
(wierd sentences go!)
In any case, these are the endings:
Pretty simple.
Other Verbal Derivations:
Verbs in Azenti possess an absolutely massive amount of other derivations and inflections they can take. Some of the most important ones:
Gerunds: The term "gerund" may be a bad name for this, but it is what they originally stood for. However, gerunds in modern Azenti have a different role. They indicate that an action is going on at the same as the "main" action of the sentence. They usually can be translated by "while X [VERB]...".
First of all, it is formed one of two ways: if the verb is class 1, suffix -ac to the end of the root. If the verb is class 2, suffix -t to the end:
rol-: (rolac, rerolac, rolamirac)
jahhe-: (jahhet, jahheprot, jahhebhart)
Mogha mayat, Yg ghafasya jahhe.
Mogha sing-GER, 1SG sleep-SUP try
"While Mogha is singing, I'm trying to sleep".
They may also take auxiliaries:
Ja ua gamis moćtebûbhars, ja carrorna zonis sane.
DEF ship be.PST.PASS-PTCPL re-do-PASS-GER, DEG sail-AGT be.PST-PTCPL relax
"While the ship was getting repaired, the sailor relaxed"
clusya jahhet, fer agni cyv'ol zonis ba.
help-SUP try-GER, DEF boy only=GEN be.PST-PTCPL be.a.fool
While trying to help, the boy only acted like an idiot.
Of note is that the future gerund has a sense of "when":
Ja lascon muta jahhe-basya nefac, Yg muć bhyo.
DEF girl-DU be.FUT-PTCPL try=be.a.fool-SUP stop-GER 1SG be.FUT-PTCPL.POT work
"When those two girls stop trying to be idiots, I'll be able to work"
(God, I love that verb "ba-", "to be an idiot")
Infintives: The infinitive is a marked deverbal form that is used mainly in subordinate and conditional clauses. Basically, the main verb of a sub-clause is in the infinitive rather than the main root.
To form the infinitive requires one of three methods: Class 1 verbs simply suffix -an. Class 2 suffixes -bhi in the active, and -s in passive and middle:
rol-: (rola, rerolan, rolamiran)
jahhe-: (jahhebhi, jahhepros, jahhebhars)
Fit zonipa stelabhi Zajj Yg ibi, Yg zen zonipa tetonaći arabhi.
if be.PST-PTCPL.COND.PERF love-INFIN 3SGF 1SG GOAL, 1SG DESTI be.PST-PTCPL.COND.PERF MIDDLE-talk-PTCPL.POT.PERF be.INFIN
"If she had loved me, she would have been able to tell (that) to me."
One can notice here that the verb of the first clause comes in the beginning here. This is because it's a subordinate clause. Please tale note that the infintive is never used where English uses a complementary infinitive, because Azenti uses....
Supine:....this for that. The supine is used with to form complementary infinitives and generally corresponds to the Latin supine. To form it, suffix -(a)sya to the root (the /a/ is used if the root is class 1). It also can indicate purpose.
Yg clusya uas.
1SG help-SUP come
"I come to help."
Zajj mjol surrodh ibi surasya zonis aplo.
3SGF self=GEN write-INTSR GOAL write-SUP be.PST-PTCPL lift
"She picked up her pen to write/for the purpose of writing."
Cerrorasya, jeg ua os nu myo.
sail-SUP, DEM ship be.MID most good
"For sailing, this ship is the best" OR "This ship is best for sailing"
Jos os myo tol mayasya.
3SGM be.MID good GEN sing-SUP
"He is skilled at singing/good at singing"
The future supine can have a sense similar to the gerundive in Latin. Interestingly enough, the future particple used seems to be grammaticalized; the future supine does not have to be in a future sentence:
Asra os muta tebûsya.
2SG be.MID be.FUT-PTCPL do-SUP
"You are to do (this).", better as "You must do (this)".
Carthaga os muta heggiramirasya.
carthage be.MID be.FUT-PTCPL destroy-PASS-SUP
"Carthago est delenda"
///////////
Negation:
Put the word "mau" after the verb.
...That's it, actually.
////////////
I am about to fall asleep here, it's 11:18 and I'm getting tired. Next I'll go over what other derivations can come from verbs (i.e nouns and things like causatives and desiderdatives)
///////
As a side note, I never gave the numbers 1-10 in Azenti, here you go:
lan: one
zebhi: two
epir: three
dhizze: four
gry: five
aćci: six
hôtta: seven
magrim: eight
vyupas: nine
sabbhjas: ten
Nūdhrēmnāva naraśva, dṛk śraṣrāsit nūdhrēmanīṣṣ iźdatīyyīm woḥīm madhēyyaṣṣi.
satisfaction-DEF.SG-LOC live.PERFECTIVE-1P.INCL but work-DEF.SG-PRIV satisfaction-DEF.PL.NOM weakeness-DEF.PL-DAT only lead-FUT-3P
satisfaction-DEF.SG-LOC live.PERFECTIVE-1P.INCL but work-DEF.SG-PRIV satisfaction-DEF.PL.NOM weakeness-DEF.PL-DAT only lead-FUT-3P
Re: Azenti
Verbal Derivations:
The amount of derivation that exists in Azenti is massive. Derived forms can derive more forms, leading to what can seem like an endless chain--the amount of ablaut and umlaut can result in derived forms seeming very distanced from each other. See these two examples:
mur-: to pray
myrm: prayer
myrmjo-: to be pious
mørmjana: priest
bhutu-: to think
bhytym: thought
bhytymjo-: to search for knowledge/attempt to gain thoughts (knowledge)
bhøtømjana: scientist
You can see what I mean.
Deriving Verbs From Other Word Classes:
Before we go over verbal derivations, it might be useful to go over how to make other word classes (nouns, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions/etc.) into verbs.
Azenti possesses denominative and factitive verbs (as described above). Denominatives are formed by suffixing -jo (remember that the suffix is directly applied to the stem, therefore "tacos" will derive "tacjo" and NOT "*tacosjo and can have some varying meanings:
tacos: man
tacjo: to sire/be a father (to someone)
mulenos: woman
mulenjo: to be a mother (to someone)
musna: mercy
musnjo: to show mercy
abhul: ball
abhuljo: to be shaped into the form of a ball
aram: thing (itself a derivation from "ara", "to be")
aramjo: to come into existence
mauti: nothing
mautijo: to cease existing
lasca: girl
lascjo: to be the daughter of (thence "lascjana", "daughter")
...And so on. These verbs possess passive and middle stems (note that the middle stem for these verbs does not cause any umlaut in the root like in "normal" verbs):
Jos Yg zen musnjo rôh Yg tol bhomaddhjan dymautijo.
3SG 1SG DEST show.mercy and 1SG GEN happy-less-NOMLZ CAUS-cease.exist
"He shows me mercy and makes my unhappiness disappear."
Facitives are formed from adjectives, adverbs, prepositions...basically anything that isn't a noun or a verb. They are formed with -ja and USUALLY mean something like "cause to be X" (c.f English -en in "brighten", "darken", "enlighten", etc.) with adjectives; meanings when formed from adverbs and prepositions can be somewhat less clear:
lan: one
lanja: to combine ("make one")
pera: around (as in going around something)
peraja: to encircle/ensare/trap
saz: old
sazja: to grow old and decrepit
øt: new
øtja: fix ("make new")/repair/mend
vav: more
vavja: to multiply ("make more")
...You see what I mean.
Deriving Words From Verbs:
One thing must be noted before we rush ahead. The following suffixes will frequently ablaut the vowels in the roots they are applied to. Remember: only the actual root is ablauted. Any derivational affixes will NEVER ablaut unless their phonological environment forces them to.
Now, let's get into the meat of things:
Agentive nouns: Similar to english "-er", these kind of verbal nouns denote professions, or simply people who do the action of the root. To form them, suffix -na directly onto the root and then also weaken ALL the vowels in the root:
ćirg-: to capture
ćergna: capturer
ton: to talk
tanna: talker
bhutu-: to think
bhotona: thinker
ćûrgamjo: to conquer
ćôrgamjana: conquerer/king
Middle and passive voice stems may be used as well:
bhutubhar-: to think (passive)
bhotobharna: character in a piece of fiction ("one who is thought up of")
stelabhar: to love (passive)
stalabharna: lover ("a person who is lived by another")
Moving on...
Causatives: Causatives denote...well, causative constructions. However, usually the causative can also derive an entirely new word--therefore, what is two words in English may simply be expressed by one word with or without the causative prefix. The causative prefix is dy-. It does not ablaut:
gleb: to have
dygleb: to give ("cause to have")
hars: to die
dyhars: to kill ("cause to die")
rafi: to see
dyrafi: to show ("cause to see")
rol: to travel
dyrol: to deport ("force to travel")
ara: to be
dyara: to make s.one become
Yg Jos ibi ratras zen mapis dyara car jahhet Yg mapis cahars.
1SG 3SG GOAL soldier DESTINATION be.FUT.MIDDLE-PTCPL CAUS-be or try-GERUND 1SG be.FUT.MIDDLE-PTCPL die.MIDDLE
I will make him into a soldier or I will die trying.
Moving on once more...
Desiderdative: A rare prefix, the desiderdative, obviously, denotes wanting. However, it is never used to mean "X wants to Y" or something similar (that is the domain of the verb "bu-", meaning "to want" and inherently middle--it is used as an auxillary verb much like the copulae). It is always used to derive new verbs. Formation of it simply requires prefixing bja- onto the verb:
gleb: to have
bjagleb: to desire ("want to have")
mor: to drink
bjamor: to thirst for ("want to drink")
dor: to shine/be great
bjador: to aspire to ("want to be great")
Bhøtømjanami bjador glatasya per'os dhjum.
scientist-PL DESI-shine eat-SUP around=DEF world
"Scientists aspire to learn about the world."
Next....
Concrete Nouns:The first of the two main ways of deriving nouns from verbal roots. These kinds of nouns define "concrete" things--that is, they are actual objects and not states/concepts (there are exceptions, like "bhytym", "thought", but that can also be considered an object, just not a corporeal one). They are formed by suffixing -(a)m to the root and putting ALL vowels in the root in the strong fronted/backed grade:
źosci: to wash
źøscym: laundry
sur: to write
syrm: a piece of writing
syrmjo: to pen (a book/paper)
syrmjom: book
rafi: to see
rafym: sight/vision
maya: to sing
mayam: song (however, the noun "mayu" is more common to mean "song")
It's perfectly possible for other voices to be used as well:
tonamir: to talk (passive)
tønamirm: topic of conversation("a thing that is talked about")
bhutubhar: to think (passive)
bhytybharm: invention ("a thing that is thought up")
And then....
Abstract Nouns: The second of the main types. Nearly all of these correspond to English -tion nouns (or if you prefer, Latin -tio nouns). A lot of more complex terms are formed from these. They tend to denote what will come from the result of the root's action. They are formed by suffixing -dhjan to the root:
putton: to talk with/converse
puttondhjan: conversation
gre: to feed/teach
gredhjan: education
gropro: to feed/teach (middle)
groprodhjan: self-education/autodidactism
stela: to love
steladhjan: adoration
cuys: to assume
cuysdhjan: assumption
heggir: to destroy
heggirdhjan: destruction
moćbebhutu-: to re-think, try to understand
moćbebhutudhjan: deep and contemplative review (of something that one is trying to understand)
dynughaf: to cause to oversleep/euthanize
dynughafdhjan: euthanasia
puzzrov: to put in/incorporate
puzzrovdhjan: incorporation
Not much else to say. They're class 1 nouns, by the way:
Hû puzzrovdhjanep: the two incorporations
Hû puzzrovdhjanor: the incorporations
And thus we go on....
Instruments: A third way of forming nouns from verb roots. Like the name implies these nouns are basically defined as "an instrument for X'ing." They are formed by suffixing -rWdh onto the root; the W is replaced with the weakened grade form of the last vowel in the root:
sur: to write
surrodh: pencil/pen/etc.
ton: to talk
tonradh: mouth ("instrument for talking")
rafi: to see
rafiredh: eye ("instrument for seeing")
Usually, the instrument noun is "generic"--e.g "surrodh" can mean "pencil", "pen", "keyboard", "stylus"...basically, anything that writes. Of course, those "specific" nouns have their own words, but the instrument noun can be useful for generic reference:
Asra ghafradh dhav gegleb?
2SG sleep-INSTR Q MIDDLE-have
"Do you have something for sleeping?" (depending on the context it could be anything from medication to a bed or something similar)
Places: Time to make areas for stuff. This inflection can actually be used on nouns and adjectives and really any kind of word really. But I digress. Anyway, this tends to act similar to the Latin suffix of "-ia". Note that this is never used for place names. Anyway, form these with suffixing "-prah" and putting all the vowels in the Weakened grade. Do note that the suffix tends to assimilate to the ending of the root:
rafipro-: to see (middle)/self-reflect
rafeproprah: place for deep self-reflection
dus-: to study
dossrah: school
bhutu-: to think
bhotoprah: university ("place for thinking")
zedh: to be healed (a verb that's naturally passive)
zaddhrah: hospital ("a place where one is healed")
ara: to be
araprah: reality
nosju: to live/survuve
nasjoprah: home (do note that this is a ridiculously stuffy and overly pretentious name for "home"--you normally want to use "Accy". "Nasjoprah" would probably be translated as "abode" or "residence")
dyrafi: to show
dyrafeprah: theater
bhyo: to work
bhøuprah: workplace
....I assume you see the point.
///////
WOOOOOOOOOO, that took forever, mainly because I was a lazy ass.
As you can see, I took that Ablaut as far as I could conceivably take it. Maybe I went too far? Because, in all honestly...this lang is becoming a Semetic style consonantal root lang. Seriously.
Next will be adjectives and adverbs (finally!)
The amount of derivation that exists in Azenti is massive. Derived forms can derive more forms, leading to what can seem like an endless chain--the amount of ablaut and umlaut can result in derived forms seeming very distanced from each other. See these two examples:
mur-: to pray
myrm: prayer
myrmjo-: to be pious
mørmjana: priest
bhutu-: to think
bhytym: thought
bhytymjo-: to search for knowledge/attempt to gain thoughts (knowledge)
bhøtømjana: scientist
You can see what I mean.
Deriving Verbs From Other Word Classes:
Before we go over verbal derivations, it might be useful to go over how to make other word classes (nouns, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions/etc.) into verbs.
Azenti possesses denominative and factitive verbs (as described above). Denominatives are formed by suffixing -jo (remember that the suffix is directly applied to the stem, therefore "tacos" will derive "tacjo" and NOT "*tacosjo and can have some varying meanings:
tacos: man
tacjo: to sire/be a father (to someone)
mulenos: woman
mulenjo: to be a mother (to someone)
musna: mercy
musnjo: to show mercy
abhul: ball
abhuljo: to be shaped into the form of a ball
aram: thing (itself a derivation from "ara", "to be")
aramjo: to come into existence
mauti: nothing
mautijo: to cease existing
lasca: girl
lascjo: to be the daughter of (thence "lascjana", "daughter")
...And so on. These verbs possess passive and middle stems (note that the middle stem for these verbs does not cause any umlaut in the root like in "normal" verbs):
Jos Yg zen musnjo rôh Yg tol bhomaddhjan dymautijo.
3SG 1SG DEST show.mercy and 1SG GEN happy-less-NOMLZ CAUS-cease.exist
"He shows me mercy and makes my unhappiness disappear."
Facitives are formed from adjectives, adverbs, prepositions...basically anything that isn't a noun or a verb. They are formed with -ja and USUALLY mean something like "cause to be X" (c.f English -en in "brighten", "darken", "enlighten", etc.) with adjectives; meanings when formed from adverbs and prepositions can be somewhat less clear:
lan: one
lanja: to combine ("make one")
pera: around (as in going around something)
peraja: to encircle/ensare/trap
saz: old
sazja: to grow old and decrepit
øt: new
øtja: fix ("make new")/repair/mend
vav: more
vavja: to multiply ("make more")
...You see what I mean.
Deriving Words From Verbs:
One thing must be noted before we rush ahead. The following suffixes will frequently ablaut the vowels in the roots they are applied to. Remember: only the actual root is ablauted. Any derivational affixes will NEVER ablaut unless their phonological environment forces them to.
Now, let's get into the meat of things:
Agentive nouns: Similar to english "-er", these kind of verbal nouns denote professions, or simply people who do the action of the root. To form them, suffix -na directly onto the root and then also weaken ALL the vowels in the root:
ćirg-: to capture
ćergna: capturer
ton: to talk
tanna: talker
bhutu-: to think
bhotona: thinker
ćûrgamjo: to conquer
ćôrgamjana: conquerer/king
Middle and passive voice stems may be used as well:
bhutubhar-: to think (passive)
bhotobharna: character in a piece of fiction ("one who is thought up of")
stelabhar: to love (passive)
stalabharna: lover ("a person who is lived by another")
Moving on...
Causatives: Causatives denote...well, causative constructions. However, usually the causative can also derive an entirely new word--therefore, what is two words in English may simply be expressed by one word with or without the causative prefix. The causative prefix is dy-. It does not ablaut:
gleb: to have
dygleb: to give ("cause to have")
hars: to die
dyhars: to kill ("cause to die")
rafi: to see
dyrafi: to show ("cause to see")
rol: to travel
dyrol: to deport ("force to travel")
ara: to be
dyara: to make s.one become
Yg Jos ibi ratras zen mapis dyara car jahhet Yg mapis cahars.
1SG 3SG GOAL soldier DESTINATION be.FUT.MIDDLE-PTCPL CAUS-be or try-GERUND 1SG be.FUT.MIDDLE-PTCPL die.MIDDLE
I will make him into a soldier or I will die trying.
Moving on once more...
Desiderdative: A rare prefix, the desiderdative, obviously, denotes wanting. However, it is never used to mean "X wants to Y" or something similar (that is the domain of the verb "bu-", meaning "to want" and inherently middle--it is used as an auxillary verb much like the copulae). It is always used to derive new verbs. Formation of it simply requires prefixing bja- onto the verb:
gleb: to have
bjagleb: to desire ("want to have")
mor: to drink
bjamor: to thirst for ("want to drink")
dor: to shine/be great
bjador: to aspire to ("want to be great")
Bhøtømjanami bjador glatasya per'os dhjum.
scientist-PL DESI-shine eat-SUP around=DEF world
"Scientists aspire to learn about the world."
Next....
Concrete Nouns:The first of the two main ways of deriving nouns from verbal roots. These kinds of nouns define "concrete" things--that is, they are actual objects and not states/concepts (there are exceptions, like "bhytym", "thought", but that can also be considered an object, just not a corporeal one). They are formed by suffixing -(a)m to the root and putting ALL vowels in the root in the strong fronted/backed grade:
źosci: to wash
źøscym: laundry
sur: to write
syrm: a piece of writing
syrmjo: to pen (a book/paper)
syrmjom: book
rafi: to see
rafym: sight/vision
maya: to sing
mayam: song (however, the noun "mayu" is more common to mean "song")
It's perfectly possible for other voices to be used as well:
tonamir: to talk (passive)
tønamirm: topic of conversation("a thing that is talked about")
bhutubhar: to think (passive)
bhytybharm: invention ("a thing that is thought up")
And then....
Abstract Nouns: The second of the main types. Nearly all of these correspond to English -tion nouns (or if you prefer, Latin -tio nouns). A lot of more complex terms are formed from these. They tend to denote what will come from the result of the root's action. They are formed by suffixing -dhjan to the root:
putton: to talk with/converse
puttondhjan: conversation
gre: to feed/teach
gredhjan: education
gropro: to feed/teach (middle)
groprodhjan: self-education/autodidactism
stela: to love
steladhjan: adoration
cuys: to assume
cuysdhjan: assumption
heggir: to destroy
heggirdhjan: destruction
moćbebhutu-: to re-think, try to understand
moćbebhutudhjan: deep and contemplative review (of something that one is trying to understand)
dynughaf: to cause to oversleep/euthanize
dynughafdhjan: euthanasia
puzzrov: to put in/incorporate
puzzrovdhjan: incorporation
Not much else to say. They're class 1 nouns, by the way:
Hû puzzrovdhjanep: the two incorporations
Hû puzzrovdhjanor: the incorporations
And thus we go on....
Instruments: A third way of forming nouns from verb roots. Like the name implies these nouns are basically defined as "an instrument for X'ing." They are formed by suffixing -rWdh onto the root; the W is replaced with the weakened grade form of the last vowel in the root:
sur: to write
surrodh: pencil/pen/etc.
ton: to talk
tonradh: mouth ("instrument for talking")
rafi: to see
rafiredh: eye ("instrument for seeing")
Usually, the instrument noun is "generic"--e.g "surrodh" can mean "pencil", "pen", "keyboard", "stylus"...basically, anything that writes. Of course, those "specific" nouns have their own words, but the instrument noun can be useful for generic reference:
Asra ghafradh dhav gegleb?
2SG sleep-INSTR Q MIDDLE-have
"Do you have something for sleeping?" (depending on the context it could be anything from medication to a bed or something similar)
Places: Time to make areas for stuff. This inflection can actually be used on nouns and adjectives and really any kind of word really. But I digress. Anyway, this tends to act similar to the Latin suffix of "-ia". Note that this is never used for place names. Anyway, form these with suffixing "-prah" and putting all the vowels in the Weakened grade. Do note that the suffix tends to assimilate to the ending of the root:
rafipro-: to see (middle)/self-reflect
rafeproprah: place for deep self-reflection
dus-: to study
dossrah: school
bhutu-: to think
bhotoprah: university ("place for thinking")
zedh: to be healed (a verb that's naturally passive)
zaddhrah: hospital ("a place where one is healed")
ara: to be
araprah: reality
nosju: to live/survuve
nasjoprah: home (do note that this is a ridiculously stuffy and overly pretentious name for "home"--you normally want to use "Accy". "Nasjoprah" would probably be translated as "abode" or "residence")
dyrafi: to show
dyrafeprah: theater
bhyo: to work
bhøuprah: workplace
....I assume you see the point.
///////
WOOOOOOOOOO, that took forever, mainly because I was a lazy ass.
As you can see, I took that Ablaut as far as I could conceivably take it. Maybe I went too far? Because, in all honestly...this lang is becoming a Semetic style consonantal root lang. Seriously.
Next will be adjectives and adverbs (finally!)
Nūdhrēmnāva naraśva, dṛk śraṣrāsit nūdhrēmanīṣṣ iźdatīyyīm woḥīm madhēyyaṣṣi.
satisfaction-DEF.SG-LOC live.PERFECTIVE-1P.INCL but work-DEF.SG-PRIV satisfaction-DEF.PL.NOM weakeness-DEF.PL-DAT only lead-FUT-3P
satisfaction-DEF.SG-LOC live.PERFECTIVE-1P.INCL but work-DEF.SG-PRIV satisfaction-DEF.PL.NOM weakeness-DEF.PL-DAT only lead-FUT-3P
-
Linguist Wannabe
- Lebom
- Posts: 91
- Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2007 9:26 pm
Re: Azenti
One thing stands out to me from a brief scan of the phonology. You have plain voiced stops, plain voiceless stops, aspirated voiced stops, but no aspirated voiceless stops. Was this inspired by Proto-European (according to the laryngeal theory)?
If you're ever going to make descendant languages, then it is highly likely that there would be some shifts / mergers in the stops, as happened to all of the descendant languages of Proto-European (according to the laryngeal theory).
If you're ever going to make descendant languages, then it is highly likely that there would be some shifts / mergers in the stops, as happened to all of the descendant languages of Proto-European (according to the laryngeal theory).
-
Herr Dunkel
- Smeric
- Posts: 1088
- Joined: Mon Jun 21, 2010 3:21 pm
- Location: In this multiverse or another
Re: Azenti
That word doesn't mean what you think it means.Linguist Wannabe wrote:laryngeal
sano wrote:To my dearest Darkgamma,
http://www.dazzlejunction.com/greetings/thanks/thank-you-bear.gif
Sincerely,
sano
Re: Azenti
...This was explained literally right below the phoneme list.Linguist Wannabe wrote:One thing stands out to me from a brief scan of the phonology. You have plain voiced stops, plain voiceless stops, aspirated voiced stops, but no aspirated voiceless stops. Was this inspired by Proto-European (according to the laryngeal theory)?
Nūdhrēmnāva naraśva, dṛk śraṣrāsit nūdhrēmanīṣṣ iźdatīyyīm woḥīm madhēyyaṣṣi.
satisfaction-DEF.SG-LOC live.PERFECTIVE-1P.INCL but work-DEF.SG-PRIV satisfaction-DEF.PL.NOM weakeness-DEF.PL-DAT only lead-FUT-3P
satisfaction-DEF.SG-LOC live.PERFECTIVE-1P.INCL but work-DEF.SG-PRIV satisfaction-DEF.PL.NOM weakeness-DEF.PL-DAT only lead-FUT-3P
Re: Azenti
Adjectives:
Adjectives in Azenti...are normal adjectives. They describe nouns and can be formed from a variety of different things. However, there are some interesting karmadharayas and bahuvrihis.
All adjectives precede nouns. They do not inflect for anything--indeed, they don't even have degrees of comparison!
The simplest Azenti adjective is a native one. It possesses no ending and simply acts as an adjective. :
stir: fast
rag: slow
pytri: tall
uomy: short
øt: new/young
saz: old
bho: happy
Saz tacos tura øt mulenata--opasrumy ara ara.
old man COMITATIVE young woman-DU -- scandal-ADJ be be
"An old man with two young women--how scandalous."
Of course, we wish to make adjectives off of other words--say, nouns, and the like. The normal ending for a noun-derived adjective is -my:
Tety: word
Tetymy: lexical
Tacos: man
Tacmy: manly/masculine
Mulenos: woman
Mulenamy: womanly/feminine
Suc-: to be entertained
Sucmy: funny
Lan: one
Lanamy: alone ("being one")
Zebhi: two
Zebhimy: linked (together)
Likewise, the suffix -mac indicates the lack of a trait, making it similar to English un-, but suffixed:
bhomac: unhappy
stirmac: lethargic/annoyingly slow
øtmac: decrepit/weak
These are not the only endings, however. While -my and -mac are the most common, a few adjectives possess other, more archaic endings. The most interesting part of these is that these endings almost always are attached to similar kinds of adjectives. For instance, the suffix -ram is used almost exclusively on adjectives related to physical condition. Some of them have related words...other seem to be formed from words that no longer exist (though some have been remade through back-formation):
druram: spry
aghjuram: strong (cf eghju--"muscle")
çyciram: blind
vabhram: agile (back-formation: vabbhjan--agility and then ANOTHER back-formation of vabh- --to be nimble)
sforram: deaf
...And so on. Another such suffix is -ibho, which seems to mostly exist on words for MENTAL traits:
uojybho: quick-thinking (cf uoj--cunning [noun])
ladibho: smart (back formation: ladi--smarts [in a slangy sense])
ragibho: stupid (cf rag--slow)
There are others, but this isn't an extensive overview.
Adjectival Nouns: Sometimes we wish to make nouns from our adjectives. English has a special suffix or two for this; -ness for native Germanic words and -ity (among some slight variations) for Romance loanwords. Azenti forgoes all of that--our good friend -dhjan is back again, instead of having a new suffix or anything.
bhodhjan: happiness
bhomaddhjan: unhappiness
vabbhjan: agility (the dh assimilated)
mulenamydhjan: femininity
tacmydhjan: manliness/masculinity
pytridhjan: height/tallness
Not that complex, watch out for gemination at the end. One might want to watch out for Pazmat loans, however, that use -gua instead:
Torgua: violence (cf Pazmat Torgwa, same meaning)
Colccua: shame/embarrassment (cf. Pazmat Qolcgwa, embarrassment)
Alright, now we can move on to karmadharayas...
Karmadharayas, or whatever these things are called:
Azenti is rather liberal when it comes to adjectives. An adjective need not be alone, it can be supplanted by nearly any word in the language.
This is best exemplified with participles. In Azenti, one usually does not hear "The boat was bought by Mayu" when speaking. Rather, you'd hear "The boat was mayu-bought". English can do this somewhat--notice how the second sentence is still parse-able though highly marked, but the amount of information Azenti packs into participles allows for more information to be conveyed in fewer words (of course, with the caveat that a speaker must remember more inflections). This also means that a literal translation of many Azenti sentences results in gibberish.
Adaror os vyaja-morać mau, nani fapobun os.
people-PL be.MID sea=drink-PTCPL.POT NEG, but fish-PL be.MID
"People can not drink the seas, but fish can" (I'm well aware that this is probably not the best way to describe fishes' way of respiration but bear with here")
Note that this sentence literally translates to something like "People are not sea-drink-capable, but fish are". More examples, with different kinds of mood:
Fer agni-mayabharis mayu...
DEF buy-sing-PASS-PTCPL song
"The song the boy sings..." or "The song that the boy sings...", literally "The boy-sung song..."
Fer agni-mayabharać mayu...
DEF buy-sing-PASS-PTCPL.POT song
"The song that the boy can sing..."
Fer agni-mayabharath mayu...
DEF buy-sing-PASS-PTCPL.COND song
"The song the boy would sing..."
Fer agni-mayabharatha mayu...
DEF buy-sing-PASS-PTCPL.COND.PErF song
"The song the boy would have sung..."
Relative clauses! Yes, they're the best way to translate these sentences. Note that you can add a copular participle to add some tense, but usually, it's actually left alone. Tense-marking in Azenti is somewhat of a new thing, being common only in the past 400-300 years of its history (hence the utter lack of tense on verbs or participles) and usually the context can help you figure it out. If you're writing a formal paper, though, make sure to use copular participles.
The thing in front of the participle doesn't have to be a noun by the way:
Zajj os myo-grebharis lasca.
3SF be.MID good-teach-PASS-PTCPL girl
"She's a well-taught girl."
-nara: Verbs don't get to have all the fun, though. This can be added onto any noun and expresses a sort of possessive relationship. English has something similar with "-ed"; "black-haired", or white-winged, and so on. Like English, Azenti can add adjectives or other nouns
Aghjata os zebhi-harghrenara zuotys.
aghjata be.MID two-island-POSS.ADJ province
"Aghjata is a two-islanded province" or "Aghjata is a province that has two islands"
Pazzel os mau dua-samunara.
pazmat be.MID NEG many-tree-POSS.ADJ
"Pazmat does not have many trees", literally "Pazmat is not many-tree'ed"
Zecnunara samjujja nu!
ice-POSS.ADJ winds above
"Icy winds ahead!", literally "Iced winds above!"
Do note, however, that this is somewhat formal and literary. You could hear the nara-construction being said in your normal life, but it would almost definitely be during formal occasions, or out of the mouth of some rich and haughty person. If you're a schoolkid and you use it, you're either the resident rich and condescending asshole or a smart kid. Or just a person trying way too hard to look smart. Textbooks use it a lot, though, in order to cram as much info onto the pages as possible, so don't think you won't be seeing it!
Now, then, comparison...:
Degrees of Comparison:
Azenti technically has no degrees of comparison, at least in the sense of inflections on adjectives. Nah, son, there's simply particles added after the adjective in question:
myo vav: better
myo nu: best (note that "nu" actually means "above/over")
myo mas: less good ("mas" means "underneath")
myo bit: least good ("bit" = clipped version of "bjet", meaning "bottom")
Participles can take these as well, the translation being a little more overwrought:
tveramiris vav: particularly soaked/quite soaked
tveramiris nu: absolutely soaked/extremely soaked/ridiculously soaked/etc.
tveramiris mas: not very soaked
tveramiris bit: not soaked at all
Not much more to it than that.
Adverbs....:
Adverbs:
Compared to its adjectives, Azenti adverbs are rather simple. Indeed, there's only one inflection that creates an adverb: "-da".
myoda: well
stirda: quickly/fastly
bhoda: happily
They usually go in front of the verb they modify:
Yg ja ua bhoda zonis vac.
1SG DEF ship happy-ADV be.PST-PTCPL bring
"I happily brought the ship (in)."
But they can also come after, at the end of a sentence:
Zue ome, jos bhyo...moćida.
out now, 3SGM work...usually
"By now, he's working...usually."
Of note is the adverb "zeććida", which means "absolutely" and comes at the end of a sentence ALL THE DAMN TIME and is just used often to add emphasis:
Zeććida mau!
absolutely NEG
"Absolutely not!"
Yg Asra ibi muta dyhars! Muta dyhars zeććida!
1SG 2SG GOAL be.FUT-PTCPL CAUS-die! be.FUT-PTCPL CAUS-die absolutely
"I'll kill you! I'll absolutely/truly kill you!"
Asra dhav jeg ibi arać tebû zeććida?
2SG Q DEM GOAL be-PTCPL.POT do absolutely
"Can you truly do this?" or "Are you absolutely sure you can do this?"
Yg am jeg zen uas mau, zeććida mau!
1SG in DEM GOAL go NEG, absolutely NEG!
"There's no way I'm going in there!"
When yelled to emphasize, it's common to delay the gemination as much as possible and then stress the second syllable a ton (especially since it does get stress naturally), resulting in "ze-(really long pause)-ćći-da!". Many an Azen man has asked a girl out and recieved "Zeććida mau!" as a response.
It also sees use in fiction with "Zecora", an interjection of disbelief, to give that classic phrase of villains everywhere, "This can't be!"/"Impossible!"--"Zecora zeććida!". Combined with the adjective "Aćumy" (which can mean anywhere from "damn", "oh hell", "shit!"...) you get "Aćumy zeććida!", the closest equivalent to "fuck!" Azenti has, though it's so much more elegant, don't you think?
/////////
Holy shit I'm finally done with that. I don't know what to do next...probably relative clauses, or expanding on the previous posts.
Like always, feel free to inform me of any grammar/spelling mistakes.
Adjectives in Azenti...are normal adjectives. They describe nouns and can be formed from a variety of different things. However, there are some interesting karmadharayas and bahuvrihis.
All adjectives precede nouns. They do not inflect for anything--indeed, they don't even have degrees of comparison!
The simplest Azenti adjective is a native one. It possesses no ending and simply acts as an adjective. :
stir: fast
rag: slow
pytri: tall
uomy: short
øt: new/young
saz: old
bho: happy
Saz tacos tura øt mulenata--opasrumy ara ara.
old man COMITATIVE young woman-DU -- scandal-ADJ be be
"An old man with two young women--how scandalous."
Of course, we wish to make adjectives off of other words--say, nouns, and the like. The normal ending for a noun-derived adjective is -my:
Tety: word
Tetymy: lexical
Tacos: man
Tacmy: manly/masculine
Mulenos: woman
Mulenamy: womanly/feminine
Suc-: to be entertained
Sucmy: funny
Lan: one
Lanamy: alone ("being one")
Zebhi: two
Zebhimy: linked (together)
Likewise, the suffix -mac indicates the lack of a trait, making it similar to English un-, but suffixed:
bhomac: unhappy
stirmac: lethargic/annoyingly slow
øtmac: decrepit/weak
These are not the only endings, however. While -my and -mac are the most common, a few adjectives possess other, more archaic endings. The most interesting part of these is that these endings almost always are attached to similar kinds of adjectives. For instance, the suffix -ram is used almost exclusively on adjectives related to physical condition. Some of them have related words...other seem to be formed from words that no longer exist (though some have been remade through back-formation):
druram: spry
aghjuram: strong (cf eghju--"muscle")
çyciram: blind
vabhram: agile (back-formation: vabbhjan--agility and then ANOTHER back-formation of vabh- --to be nimble)
sforram: deaf
...And so on. Another such suffix is -ibho, which seems to mostly exist on words for MENTAL traits:
uojybho: quick-thinking (cf uoj--cunning [noun])
ladibho: smart (back formation: ladi--smarts [in a slangy sense])
ragibho: stupid (cf rag--slow)
There are others, but this isn't an extensive overview.
Adjectival Nouns: Sometimes we wish to make nouns from our adjectives. English has a special suffix or two for this; -ness for native Germanic words and -ity (among some slight variations) for Romance loanwords. Azenti forgoes all of that--our good friend -dhjan is back again, instead of having a new suffix or anything.
bhodhjan: happiness
bhomaddhjan: unhappiness
vabbhjan: agility (the dh assimilated)
mulenamydhjan: femininity
tacmydhjan: manliness/masculinity
pytridhjan: height/tallness
Not that complex, watch out for gemination at the end. One might want to watch out for Pazmat loans, however, that use -gua instead:
Torgua: violence (cf Pazmat Torgwa, same meaning)
Colccua: shame/embarrassment (cf. Pazmat Qolcgwa, embarrassment)
Alright, now we can move on to karmadharayas...
Karmadharayas, or whatever these things are called:
Azenti is rather liberal when it comes to adjectives. An adjective need not be alone, it can be supplanted by nearly any word in the language.
This is best exemplified with participles. In Azenti, one usually does not hear "The boat was bought by Mayu" when speaking. Rather, you'd hear "The boat was mayu-bought". English can do this somewhat--notice how the second sentence is still parse-able though highly marked, but the amount of information Azenti packs into participles allows for more information to be conveyed in fewer words (of course, with the caveat that a speaker must remember more inflections). This also means that a literal translation of many Azenti sentences results in gibberish.
Adaror os vyaja-morać mau, nani fapobun os.
people-PL be.MID sea=drink-PTCPL.POT NEG, but fish-PL be.MID
"People can not drink the seas, but fish can" (I'm well aware that this is probably not the best way to describe fishes' way of respiration but bear with here")
Note that this sentence literally translates to something like "People are not sea-drink-capable, but fish are". More examples, with different kinds of mood:
Fer agni-mayabharis mayu...
DEF buy-sing-PASS-PTCPL song
"The song the boy sings..." or "The song that the boy sings...", literally "The boy-sung song..."
Fer agni-mayabharać mayu...
DEF buy-sing-PASS-PTCPL.POT song
"The song that the boy can sing..."
Fer agni-mayabharath mayu...
DEF buy-sing-PASS-PTCPL.COND song
"The song the boy would sing..."
Fer agni-mayabharatha mayu...
DEF buy-sing-PASS-PTCPL.COND.PErF song
"The song the boy would have sung..."
Relative clauses! Yes, they're the best way to translate these sentences. Note that you can add a copular participle to add some tense, but usually, it's actually left alone. Tense-marking in Azenti is somewhat of a new thing, being common only in the past 400-300 years of its history (hence the utter lack of tense on verbs or participles) and usually the context can help you figure it out. If you're writing a formal paper, though, make sure to use copular participles.
The thing in front of the participle doesn't have to be a noun by the way:
Zajj os myo-grebharis lasca.
3SF be.MID good-teach-PASS-PTCPL girl
"She's a well-taught girl."
-nara: Verbs don't get to have all the fun, though. This can be added onto any noun and expresses a sort of possessive relationship. English has something similar with "-ed"; "black-haired", or white-winged, and so on. Like English, Azenti can add adjectives or other nouns
Aghjata os zebhi-harghrenara zuotys.
aghjata be.MID two-island-POSS.ADJ province
"Aghjata is a two-islanded province" or "Aghjata is a province that has two islands"
Pazzel os mau dua-samunara.
pazmat be.MID NEG many-tree-POSS.ADJ
"Pazmat does not have many trees", literally "Pazmat is not many-tree'ed"
Zecnunara samjujja nu!
ice-POSS.ADJ winds above
"Icy winds ahead!", literally "Iced winds above!"
Do note, however, that this is somewhat formal and literary. You could hear the nara-construction being said in your normal life, but it would almost definitely be during formal occasions, or out of the mouth of some rich and haughty person. If you're a schoolkid and you use it, you're either the resident rich and condescending asshole or a smart kid. Or just a person trying way too hard to look smart. Textbooks use it a lot, though, in order to cram as much info onto the pages as possible, so don't think you won't be seeing it!
Now, then, comparison...:
Degrees of Comparison:
Azenti technically has no degrees of comparison, at least in the sense of inflections on adjectives. Nah, son, there's simply particles added after the adjective in question:
myo vav: better
myo nu: best (note that "nu" actually means "above/over")
myo mas: less good ("mas" means "underneath")
myo bit: least good ("bit" = clipped version of "bjet", meaning "bottom")
Participles can take these as well, the translation being a little more overwrought:
tveramiris vav: particularly soaked/quite soaked
tveramiris nu: absolutely soaked/extremely soaked/ridiculously soaked/etc.
tveramiris mas: not very soaked
tveramiris bit: not soaked at all
Not much more to it than that.
Adverbs....:
Adverbs:
Compared to its adjectives, Azenti adverbs are rather simple. Indeed, there's only one inflection that creates an adverb: "-da".
myoda: well
stirda: quickly/fastly
bhoda: happily
They usually go in front of the verb they modify:
Yg ja ua bhoda zonis vac.
1SG DEF ship happy-ADV be.PST-PTCPL bring
"I happily brought the ship (in)."
But they can also come after, at the end of a sentence:
Zue ome, jos bhyo...moćida.
out now, 3SGM work...usually
"By now, he's working...usually."
Of note is the adverb "zeććida", which means "absolutely" and comes at the end of a sentence ALL THE DAMN TIME and is just used often to add emphasis:
Zeććida mau!
absolutely NEG
"Absolutely not!"
Yg Asra ibi muta dyhars! Muta dyhars zeććida!
1SG 2SG GOAL be.FUT-PTCPL CAUS-die! be.FUT-PTCPL CAUS-die absolutely
"I'll kill you! I'll absolutely/truly kill you!"
Asra dhav jeg ibi arać tebû zeććida?
2SG Q DEM GOAL be-PTCPL.POT do absolutely
"Can you truly do this?" or "Are you absolutely sure you can do this?"
Yg am jeg zen uas mau, zeććida mau!
1SG in DEM GOAL go NEG, absolutely NEG!
"There's no way I'm going in there!"
When yelled to emphasize, it's common to delay the gemination as much as possible and then stress the second syllable a ton (especially since it does get stress naturally), resulting in "ze-(really long pause)-ćći-da!". Many an Azen man has asked a girl out and recieved "Zeććida mau!" as a response.
It also sees use in fiction with "Zecora", an interjection of disbelief, to give that classic phrase of villains everywhere, "This can't be!"/"Impossible!"--"Zecora zeććida!". Combined with the adjective "Aćumy" (which can mean anywhere from "damn", "oh hell", "shit!"...) you get "Aćumy zeććida!", the closest equivalent to "fuck!" Azenti has, though it's so much more elegant, don't you think?
/////////
Holy shit I'm finally done with that. I don't know what to do next...probably relative clauses, or expanding on the previous posts.
Like always, feel free to inform me of any grammar/spelling mistakes.
Nūdhrēmnāva naraśva, dṛk śraṣrāsit nūdhrēmanīṣṣ iźdatīyyīm woḥīm madhēyyaṣṣi.
satisfaction-DEF.SG-LOC live.PERFECTIVE-1P.INCL but work-DEF.SG-PRIV satisfaction-DEF.PL.NOM weakeness-DEF.PL-DAT only lead-FUT-3P
satisfaction-DEF.SG-LOC live.PERFECTIVE-1P.INCL but work-DEF.SG-PRIV satisfaction-DEF.PL.NOM weakeness-DEF.PL-DAT only lead-FUT-3P