Quiet Words

Last Edited: 2006.Apr.02 Sun
This supercedes the Numbers entry.
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Last edited: 2006.Feb.17 Fri

General Morphology

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last edited: 2006.Feb.17 Fri

• There are interrogative, negative, and affirmative particles.


• The interrogative particle |ar| is used to indicate that the sentence is a yes/no question. It's also used in subordinate clauses for "whether".


• The negative particle |na| indicates negation and can be used wherever needed.


• The affirmative particle |ai (?)| has the basic function of denying a negative statement.


• Normally, when one of these particles appears, it's immediately in front of the verb and begins the clause (ignoring the other uses of |na|).


• However, when a phrase is placed immediately after the particle, that phrase becomes focused.


• Also, when a phrase is placed before the particle, that phrase becomes the topic.

Agreement

• The subject is the argument of the verb which is shared with infinitives and coverbs (i.e. serial verbs with coreference?).


• The inverse voice is used to make sure in each case that the shared argument is the subject or corresponds to the suffixed actant (S-argument?).


• Gender is used in matching the object arguments (P-arguments?) of ditransitive words to their roles.

Word Order

• The order of phrases within a clause is pragmatic, except where syntax requires that the head appear first.


• Adjectives follow the lead noun, but strictly speaking both lead nouns and adjectives are syntactical nouns, even if lead nouns are usually lexical nouns.


• Inalienable possessors are dependents, not adjectives, and immediately follow their heads.



• A quantifier, if any, immediately precedes the lead noun.


• A phrase containing a determiner is called a determined phrase. The determiner immediately precedes the quantifier, if any, or the lead noun.


• The particle |ni| is used if no other determiner appears.


• The partitive construction consists of a quantifier immediately preceding a determined phrase.


• The superlative construction consists of a lexical adjective immediately preceding a partitive construction.


• The distributive construction is similar to the partitive construction. It consists of |kam| followed by a distributive quantifier followed by a determined phrase.


• A distributive quantifier is either |da| (1), which may be omitted along with |ni| if that is the determiner, some other number, or |bisli|, which means "bunch of".


• Fractions also use |kam| to divide the numerator from the denominator.

Conjoined Clauses

A list of conjunctions might be:

• true if all are true


• true if any are true


• true if exactly one is true


• if


• then (needed only when if clause precedes)

Last Edited: 2006.Apr.02 Sun

Pronouns and Determiners

Personal Pronouns

The exact use for these (topic, focus) hasn't been determined yet.

	Sing.	Plur.	Dual
1X	ta	tai	tairo
2X	ha	hai	hairo
2N		lai	lairo
3A	ka	kai	kairo
3I	ma	mai	mairo
3L	wa

The dual forms are limited to matched pairs (inanimate) or couples (the others).

Demonstratives

Each of these corresponds to a personal pronoun and actant set. The stems are:

1X	tú
2X	hú
2N	lú
	yú
3X	kú
	pós

The stem forms occur when used before the noun (as determiners); otherwise, agreement suffixes are added. The suffix -se is added to the stem forms when they're used as verbs.

There's also a distal demonstrative, which isn't associated with a personal pronoun or actant set.

Interrogative Pronouns

These are based on a root *pr.

Sing.	Plur.	Gender
pra	prai	Subject
prók	próci	Animate
próm	prómi	Inanimate
prú		Location
próhto	próhti ?	Time
próz		Information
próse		Copular
próp		ProVerb

Relative Pronouns

These are based on a root *du.

Sing.	Plur.	Gender
dwa	dwai	Subject
duk	duci	Animate
dum	dumi	Inanimate
dú		Location
duhto	duhti	Time
dúse		Copular
dup		ProVerb

Some Time Words

The pronunciation is approximate; not yet time for fine-tuning the sound. Last edited: 2006.Feb.06 Mon

Phonology and Orthography

Vowels

|i| [i]
|í| [i:]
|e| [E]     never stressed
|a| [a(:)]  long and/or stressed
|o| [@]     never stressed
|ó| [Q(:)]  stressed
|u| [u]
|ú| [u:]

|a| and |ó| are long in open syllables.

Diphthongs

|ei|, |ou|  never stressed
|ai|, |au|  stressed whenever possible

Vowel Alternations

Unstressed |e|, |o|, |ei|, and |ou| become |a|, |ó|, |ai|, and |au|, respectively, when they become stressed. Unstressed |i| and |u| in open syllables become |í| and |ú| when stressed. The presence or absence of |o| may vary according to the stress patterns and the adjacent consonants. Note that unstressed |í|, |ú|, |ai|, |au|, and |a| can occur.

Consonants

|p| [p]   |t| [t]   |c| [tS)]   |k| [k]
|b| [b]   |d| [d]   |j| [dZ)]   |g| [g]
|f| [f]   |s| [s]   |x| [S]     |h| [x], [h]
          |z| [z]  
|m| [m]   |n| [n], [N]
          |r| [r]
          |l| [l]   |y| [j]     |w| [w]

|n| is [N] before |k|, |g|, and |w|.

Some peculiarities: |sl| and |sr| are [K:] and [r_0] respectively; |tl| is [tK)], and |ry| is [Z].

Consonants not preceding vowels are moric with the following exceptions:
* stops before /l/ or /r/
* anything before /y/ or /w/
which form onsets.
Moric consonants act as codas after a vowel, but may occur word-initially.

Stress Rules

if ultima is extraheavy, stress it
else if penult is either extraheavy or heavy, stress it
else stress antepenult.

Light: Ki, Ku, Ke, Ko
Heavy: Kí, Kú, Ka, Kei, Kou, KVC
Extraheavy: Kó, KíC, KúC, KaC, KóC, Kai, Kau, KaiC, KauC

KíC and KúC can occur only as ultima.

Possible History

1. The *o's are inserted (and/or fail to be deleted) in order to avoid awkward consonant clusters.


2. Word form stress is determined according to composition rules.


3. Non-light penults attract stress.


4. Extraheavy ultimas attract stress.


5. Stressed short vowels in open syllables lengthen.


6. Vowel qualities shift.

Other Sound Changes

/pw/, /bw/, /hw/, and /mw/ become /kw/, /gw/, /hw/, and /nw/, respectively.
/ky/, /gy/, and /hy/ become /c/, /j/, and /x/, respectively. Also, /k/, /g/, and /h/ become /c/, /j/, and /x/ before /i/.