Dasaro, grammatical metathesis, vowel harmony

[DePaw]

Experimenting with a new language, with grammatical metathesis and vowel harmony. Like to know if this idea is silly or not, here's what I've done so far:

Phonology:
/t d k g ɸ β s z ʃ ʒ m n ɹ l/
<t d k g f v s z sh zh m n r l>
/a i ɑ ɯ/
<a i o u>

Some words:
Simgu/simug - to drink/a drink
Gomsa/gomas - to eat/food
Kosru - to wash or clean
Raski - to be dirty
Rishga - to play
Gushri/gushir - to work/a job
Tusmo - to love
Masto - to hate
Tal - I/me
Lit - You
Zig - He/she (3rd person)
Nad - It (4th person)
Tol - We
Lut - You
Zag - They
Nod - It(plural)
Lumvo/lumov - to wear/clothes
Dasra/dasar - to speak/language
Varos - thing
i - but


Verb conjugation:

Person/Number:
sing plural
1 -Ø -g
2 -n -v
3 -s -l
4 -d -zh
By 4th person I mean 'it' as opposed to 'he/she', I know this is technically still 3rd person but they're separate in this language.

Affixes:
-k - perfect
a- - passive
u- - anti-passive
-o - reflexive
-aC-/-uC- - imperative (very complex affix)


Noun declensions:

Plural - -oC-/-iC- (similar to imperative affix in verbs)

Possessive:
sing plural
1 -an -ag
2 -on -ov
3 -un -ul
4 -in -izh

Negative(verbs/nouns) - C1VC2 --> C2VC1 (this is where the grammatical metathesis comes in, I plan to use others too maybe)

Example negative: "Varos" thing, "Ravos" nothing. (There are more negative examples below)

The vowel harmony rules are very important for the negative and imperative inflexes. If a word for example needs to be plural and uses front or close harmony then 'i' will be used, if back or open harmony is used then 'o' will be used. In imperative if front or open harmony is used then 'a' is used, if back or close harmony then 'u' is used. Then the last consonant is repeated. There are examples below.

I also plan to possibly add in noun gender/class, and multiple verb declensions which will have different affixes.


Word order: verb-absolutive-ergative


Example Sentences:

Gomsa gomas tal
eat food 1S
I eat food

Gomsan gomas lit
gusa.n gumas lit
eat.2S food 2S
You eat food

Gomsal agomas
gumsa.l a.gumas
eat.3P passive.food
Food is eaten

Gomsa agomas tal
eat passive.food 1S
Food is eaten by me

Mogsa gomas tal
eat(negative) food 1S
I don't eat food

Mogsak agomas tal
mugsa.k a.gumas tal
eat(negative).perfect passive.food 1S
The food wasn't eaten by me

Masto gushri tal
hate work 1S
I hate working

Masto tal gushri
hate 1S work
Work hates me

Masto gushiran tal
masto gushir.an tal
hate job.1S-possessive 1S
I hate my job

Sutmo gushirun zig
sutmo gushir.un zig
love(negative) job.3S-possessive 3S
She don't love her job

Lumvo-masto lumomov tal
lumov-masto lum(om)ov tal
wear-hate clothes(plural) 1S
I hate wearing clothes

Kosusru lumomovon (lit)
kos(us)ru lum(om)ov.on [lit]
wash(imp) clothes(plural).2S-possessive (2S)
Wash your clothes

Darsaroo zag, i darsal ravos
darsa.r.oo zag, i darsal ravos
speak.3P.reflexive 3P, but speak.3P thing(negative)
They spoke to each other, but nothing was said

Gomamsa gomason
gom(am)sa gomas.on
eat(imp) food.2S-possessive
Eat your food.

Mogagsa gomason
Mog(ag)sa gomas.on
eat(imp+neg) food.2S-possessive
Don't eat your food



What you think?

[DePaw]

I just realised by possessive suffixes don't work with the vowel harmony so redid them:

Code: Select all

(sing/plural)
	 front	back 	open 	close
1	an/ag	un/ul	on/ov	un/uzh
2	in/ig	on/ol	an/av	un/uzh
3	in/ig	un/ul	an/av	in/izh
4	an/ag	on/ol	on/ov	in/izh

Thus the following phrases have been changed:

Masto gushirun tal
masto gushir.un tal
hate job.1S-possessive 1S
I hate my job

Sutmo gushirin zig
sutmo gushir.in zig
love(negative) job.3S-possessive 3S
She don't love her job

Gomamsa gomasan
gom(am)sa gomas.an
eat(imp) food.2S-possessive
Eat your food.

Mogagsa gomasan
Mog(ag)sa gomas.an
eat(imp+neg) food.2S-possessive
Don't eat your food

[DePaw]

Numbers:
Rug - 0
Dor - 1
Zam - 2
Sir - 3
Gazh - 4
Kamav - 5
Vash - 6
Rag - 7
Rar - 8
Sus - 9
Samof - 10

[DePaw]

Ok removed conjugations by person/number. Verbs conjugate by positive/negative, imperative, reflexive, and perfectness.

Here's an example verb conjugation:
Rishga - to play [front vowel harmony]
Shirga - to not play (negative)
Rishashga - play! (imperative)
Shirarga - don't play! (negative imperative)
Rishgagi - to play with oneself (reflexive)
Rishashgagi - play with yourself! (imperative reflexive) [fyi: this is a totally innocent statement]
Shirgagi - to not play with oneself (negative reflexive)
Shirargagi - don't play with yourself! (negative imperative reflexive)

And of course perfect is just a '-k' suffix still.

You'll notice that reflexive has changed ever so slightly from '-o' to '-(C)o', inserting the last consonant again if the verb ends in a vowel. (Only time this doesn't happen is when it's perfect, atm)

Many verbs have coresponding nouns, and here's an example declension:
Rishag - a game
Rishishga - games


Also added an ergative noun marker, '-a/u'.


Any working on translating the Tower of Babel story, here's the first verse:

Rum, lisrak dasaro dor a dasar shudik muluvu fanot
rum, lisra.k dasar.o dor a dasar shudi.k muluv.u fanot
now, to-have.perfect language one and(nouns) speech same world.erg whole
Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.

[DePaw]

Second verse:

Gad kizhsi dil ovufod, kifshak shogsho ri-Shinar zaga ana suzhkok mud
gad kizhsi dil o.vufod, kifsha.k shogsho ri--shinar zag.a ana suzhko.k mud
during travel east anti-passive.people, find.perfect plain in.Shinar 3P.erg and(conj) settle.pefect there
As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there

[Yaali Annar]

It's pretty weird but using metathesis as grammatical device has been observed in a natlang:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotuman_language

Rotuman only do methatesis in the last two phonemes tho.

[DePaw]

Interesting, thanks.

[DePaw]

Third and fourth verses:

Dasrako zag, “Rishdu, niszi otol, luntu riziznu ana girvi shosh nod.” Gimnik ruzun fur zivum ziga, ana fazir fur vovum.
dasara.k.o zag, “rishdu, niszi o.tol, luntu riz(iz)nu ana girvi shosh nod.” Gimni.k rizun fur zivum zig.a, ana fazir fur vovum.
say.perfect.reflexive 3P, “come, let anti-passive.1P, make brick.plural and(conj) bake thorough 4P.” use.perfect brick instead-of stone 3P.erg, and(conj) tar instead-of mortar.
They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.

Lam dasrak izag, “Rishdu, niszi otol, luntuto sudutol lisra moshar-solulog, nuf luntuto gonag tola; rosh ruvtik kakish a-Arath fanot tol.
lam dasra.k I.zag, “rishdu, niszi o.tol, luntu.to sudut.ol moshar-sol(ul)og, nuf luntu.to goang tol.a; rosh ruvti.k kakish a-arath fanot tol.
then say.perfect anti-passive.3P, “come, let 1P build.reflexive city.2P-possessive, have tower reach—heaven.plural, so-that make.reflexive name 2P.erg; otherwise scatter.perfect face passive.earth whole 2P.
Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

[Sacemd]

I like the way you've used metathesis, I usually don't get any more exotic than reduplication ! Just a question: is it completely a priori or are there loanwords from earthlangs?

[Nortaneous]

natlang metathesis, sort of: http://www.cas.unt.edu/~montler/Saanich ... tm#2.3.5.4.

[DePaw]

I like the way you've used metathesis, I usually don't get any more exotic than reduplication ! Just a question: is it completely a priori or are there loanwords from earthlangs?

A priori.