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the last new project of the year?
Last Edited: 2007.Dec.27 Wed
I think I've started two or three new conlang projects since the last mention; none of them are going well enough. I decided to take a break from polypersonal morphology and construct some sort of Euroclone, with only one person marked on the verb. I'm thinking of calling it Tarazkoa, but I need to do more research about what similar words mean (in Basque?). Here's some notes.
The noun cases are absolutive, ergative, objective, genitive/possessive, ablative/partitive, and instrumental/sociative. Adjectives will have an adverbial form. Personal pronouns will lack the absolutive case, but will have emphatic forms. Nouns will distinguish number (singular and plural) and definiteness as well as case. There may be a vestige of gender (animate and inanimate). I'm not sure if adjectives agree with nouns in case, number, and/or gender.
Locational cases are handled by applying suffixes for "to", "from", and "via" to words for spatial relations. There may be a tangent vs. non-tangent distinction, too. The suffixes may also be applied to adjectives.
Each adjective will have a derived stative verb. There are also verbal adjectives or participles: one progressive participle for each of the verb's core cases, up to three total. There will also be a retrospective participle and an infinitive.
The verb suffix agrees with the Case 1 argument. The tenses are present, past, and future. The moods are indicative, imperative, subjunctive, and contrafactual. The auxiliary verb ix is used with the progressive participles (possibly just P1) to form the progressive aspect, with the retrospective participle to form the retrospective aspect, and with the infinitive to form the prospective aspect. There are additional modal and aspectual auxiliaries (used with the infinitive).
The Antipassive prefix deletes the absolutive subject and promotes the currently ergative argument to subject. The "Other" prefix deletes the absolutive subject and promotes the currently objective argument to subject. The causative prefix adds an ergative argument; if the subject has the Actor role, it becomes absolutive.
I have the preliminary conjugations mostly done; I need to rework the declensions. Using the same case suffixes for both singular and plural makes them too similar.
I think I've started two or three new conlang projects since the last mention; none of them are going well enough. I decided to take a break from polypersonal morphology and construct some sort of Euroclone, with only one person marked on the verb. I'm thinking of calling it Tarazkoa, but I need to do more research about what similar words mean (in Basque?). Here's some notes.
The noun cases are absolutive, ergative, objective, genitive/possessive, ablative/partitive, and instrumental/sociative. Adjectives will have an adverbial form. Personal pronouns will lack the absolutive case, but will have emphatic forms. Nouns will distinguish number (singular and plural) and definiteness as well as case. There may be a vestige of gender (animate and inanimate). I'm not sure if adjectives agree with nouns in case, number, and/or gender.
Locational cases are handled by applying suffixes for "to", "from", and "via" to words for spatial relations. There may be a tangent vs. non-tangent distinction, too. The suffixes may also be applied to adjectives.
Each adjective will have a derived stative verb. There are also verbal adjectives or participles: one progressive participle for each of the verb's core cases, up to three total. There will also be a retrospective participle and an infinitive.
The verb suffix agrees with the Case 1 argument. The tenses are present, past, and future. The moods are indicative, imperative, subjunctive, and contrafactual. The auxiliary verb ix is used with the progressive participles (possibly just P1) to form the progressive aspect, with the retrospective participle to form the retrospective aspect, and with the infinitive to form the prospective aspect. There are additional modal and aspectual auxiliaries (used with the infinitive).
| Case 1 | Case 2 | Case 3 | Participles | Prefixes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abs | Recipient | Erg | Donor | Obj | Theme | P1, P2, P3 | Antipassive, Other |
| Abs | Patient | Erg | Agent | P1, P2 | Antipassive | ||
| Abs | Perceiver | Obj | Image | P1, P3 | Causative, Other | ||
| Abs | Subject | P1 | Causative | ||||
| Erg | Actor | P2 | Causative | ||||
The Antipassive prefix deletes the absolutive subject and promotes the currently ergative argument to subject. The "Other" prefix deletes the absolutive subject and promotes the currently objective argument to subject. The causative prefix adds an ergative argument; if the subject has the Actor role, it becomes absolutive.
I have the preliminary conjugations mostly done; I need to rework the declensions. Using the same case suffixes for both singular and plural makes them too similar.