Inote
| Inote | |
|---|---|
| Pronounced: | /InOte/ |
| Timeline and Universe: | ???? |
| Species: | Inote |
| Spoken: | Nenekir |
| Total speakers: | 8 million |
| Writing system: | Inote Alphabetic Script |
| Genealogy: | Keru-Inoten Inotic |
| Typology | |
| Morphological type: | Agglutinating |
| Morphosyntactic alignment: | Nominative-Accusative |
| Basic word order: | SVO |
| Credits | |
| Creator: | Sectori |
| Created: | September 2005 |
The Inote language is a simple agglutinating language. It was originally Sectori's n00blang, but underwent a major grammar revision in late April 2006.
Phonology/Orthography
Inote should be written with their own alphabet, untypeable. For convenience, this article will be transcribed in the Latin script.
| Consonants | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilabial | Labiod. | Dental | Alveolar | Post-alv. | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||||||||
| Nasal | n | |||||||||||||||
| Plosive | p | t | d | k | ||||||||||||
| Fricative | s | |||||||||||||||
| Approximant | ɹ | |||||||||||||||
| Vowels | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Front | Near-front | Central | Near-back | Back | ||||||
| High | (i) | (u) | ||||||||
| Near-high | ɪ | ʊ | ||||||||
| High-mid | (e) | (o) | ||||||||
| Mid | (ə) | |||||||||
| Low-mid | ɛ | ɔ | ||||||||
| Near-low | ||||||||||
| Low | a | |||||||||
The vowels enclosed in parentheses occur only word-finally. Inote is (C)V(C). However, as a rule, Inote does not allow two vowels or two consonants to come in contact in the same word. Orthographically, /ə ɛ ɪ ɔ ʊ/ are represented as < a e i o u >, as are /a e i o u/ < a e i o u >.
Nominal Morphology
Nouns agglutinate to show their case: nominative, accusative, genitive, or dative. These cases show a noun's function in a sentence. The nominative case marks the subject of a sentence, the one who completes a verb action. The accusative case marks the direct object of a sentence, the one who is acted upon by the subject. The dative case marks the indirect object of a sentence, the one for whom a verb is done. The genitive case marks possession. In addition to their normal functions, the accusative and dative cases function as the objects of certain prepositions. Which case a preposition causes will be indicated in the preposition's definition.
Noun Declension
All nouns decline the same way: by adding one of seven suffixes to their end to mark case. Those eight suffixes are as follows:
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nom | -ø | -(e)n |
| Acc | -(n)a | -(a)n |
| Dat | -(n)i | -(i)n |
| Gen | -(n)o | -(o)n |
The vowels and ns enclosed in parentheses are to make sure that a word does not place a vowel next to a vowel or a consonant next to a consonant. Here is the declension of a sample noun: iner (hunt, cf<ineru, to hunt)
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nom | iner-ø | iner-en |
| Acc | iner-a | iner-an |
| Dat | iner-i | iner-in |
| Gen | iner-o | iner-on |
Here is the declension of a sample noun that ends in a vowel: nina (cloud, cf<niner, far)
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nom | nina-ø | nina-n |
| Acc | nina-na | nina-n |
| Dat | nina-ni | nina-n |
| Gen | nina-no | nina-n |
This declension pattern is true of pronouns as well. Pronouns will be covered more later.
Verbal Morphology
Inote verbs, like nouns, agglutinate. As with many of Sectori's languages, Inote verbs show three moods: indicative, subjunctive, and imperative. Similar to, for example, 'Ukana'akau, Inote also shows three tenses: past, present, and future. Finally, verbs show person, number, and time of day. Yes, you read that correctly. Time of day. Inote verbs reflect whether their actions occur between sunrise and sunset or between sunset and sunrise. Inote verb infinitives end in -ru. Here is a table of verb affixes, which replace the infinitive ending.
| Ind. Pres. | Ind. Past | Ind. Fut. | Subj. Pres. | Subj. Past. | Subj. Fut. | Imp. Pres. | |
| 1Ps Day | -runa | -rana | -rona | -runat | -ranat | -ronat | -runak |
| 1Ps Night | -rune | -rane | -rone | -runet | -ranet | -ronet | -runet |
| 2Ps Day | -ruta | -rata | -rota | -rutat | -ratat | -rotat | -rutak |
| 2Ps Night | -rute | -rate | -rote | -rutet | -ratet | -rotet | -rutek |
| 3Pm Day | -rura | -rara | -rora | -rurat | -rarat | -rorat | -rurak |
| 3Pm Night | -rure | -rare | -rore | -ruret | -raret | -roret | -rurek |
| 3Pf Day | -ruka | -raka | -roka | -rukat | -rakat | -rokat | -rukak |
| 3Pf Night | -ruke | -rake | -roke | -ruket | -raket | -roket | -rukek |
| 3Ps Day | -rupa | -rapa | -ropa | -rupat | -rapat | -ropat | -rupak |
| 3Ps Night | -rupe | -rape | -rope | -rupet | -rapet | -ropet | -rupek |
| 1Pp Day | -runan | -ranan | -ronan | -runanet | -rananet | -ronanet | -runanik |
| 1Pp Night | -runen | -ranen | -ronen | -runenet | -ranenet | -ronenet | -runenik |
| 2Pp Day | -rutan | -ratan | -rotan | -rutanet | -ratanet | -rotanet | -rutanik |
| 2Pp Night | -ruten | -raten | -roten | -rutenet | -ratenet | -rotenet | -rutenik |
| 3Pp Day | -rupan | -rapan | -ropan | -rupanet | -rapanet | -ropanet | -rupanik |
| 3Pp Night | -rupen | -rapen | -ropen | -rupenet | -rapenet | -ropenet | -rupenik |
The key to the abbreviations may be found here.
Uses of the Subjunctive
Important to know, always. The subjunctive is used, as in most of Sectori's languages, in relative clauses, or following relative pronouns or conjunctions other than and and or. It also is used in sentences expressing doubt, possibility, and insecurity. So, per inerutat, but you might hunt, but not an inerutat, and you might hunt.
Compound Tenses
There are a number of verb constructions that can be used to make so-called "compound" tenses: perfect, imperfect, progressive. To form the perfect tense, you need to know how to form the past participle (also the adjective form) of a verb. The past participle is made by replacing the final -u in the infinitive with -onu.
- iperu>iperonu
- tireru>tireronu
Then, form the perfect tense by placing the past participle after an appropriately conjugated form of inuru (a verb in and of itself, to live). The perfect is equivalent to such constructions as English I have run, I will have lived, and the like.
- inurana iperonu: I had lived
- inurutat tireronu: you might have burned
To form the imperfect and progressive tenses, you must know how to form the present participle of a verb. The present participle is formed by replacing the final -u in the infinitive with -ot.
- iperu>iperot
- tireru>tirerot
Then, form the imperfect tense by placing the present participle of a verb after an appropriately conjugated form of iperu (to be). The imperfect is similar to such English constructions as I am running, I will be living, and the like. Form the progressive by placing the present participle of a verb after an appropriately conjugated form of tanoru (to go). The progressive is equivalent to English I am going to run, I was going to live, and the like.
- iperuna iperot: I am being
- tanorana tirerot: I was going to burn
