Rajat
Rajat is spoken in much of the Measceineafh, as it is rapidly becoming a local lingua franca, largely because of indigenous political control.
Phonology
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | p b | t d | ɖ | ɟ | k | |
| Fricative | f | s | ç | h | ||
| Nasal | m | n | ||||
| Approximant | l | ɻ ɭ |
- Vowels: /a e i o u/
- Consonantal Allophony:
- /ti te di de si se ni ne/ > [tʲi tʲe dʲi dʲe sʲi sʲe nʲi nʲe]
- /ɖi ɖe ɻi ɻe ɭi ɭe li le/ > [ɖʲi ɖʲe ɻʲi ɻʲe ɭʲi ɭʲe lʲi lʲe]
- Vowel Allophony:
- /en em in im/ > [en em en em]
- /on om un um/ > [on om on om]
- /i u e o a/ > [ə ɵ ɛ ɔ ɐ]
- /i u e o a/ and [ə ɵ ɛ ɔ ɐ] > [i: u: e: o: a: ə: ɵ: ɛ: ɔ: ɐ:] when in an open syllable
Morphology
Nominal Morphology
Five major cases are distinguished morphologically - nominative, accusative, genitive, instrumental, and dative. Nominative is the base form, while the suffix -i is added to regular nouns to form the accusative. Meanwhile, the other cases are formed by what were prepositions (and now are prefixes), those being fi- (genitive), di- (instrumental), and ni- (dative).
uteɻ fia uteɻ eoon difanot uteɻ fi-a uteɻ e-o-on di-fanot dog GEN-man dog PROG-3-see INSTR-field (The) man's dog sees (the) dog across the field.
Or, to give a proper example of the declension:
uteɻ --- fiuteɻ -- diuteɻ ---- niuteɻ uteɻ --- fi-uteɻ - di-uteɻ --- ni-uteɻ dog-OBL GEN-dog INSTR-dog DAT-dog
Or, for certain nouns:
kam kem fikam dikam ni-kam kam kem fi-kam di-kam ni-kam promise promise/ACC GEN-promise INSTR-promise DAT-promise
The Accusative
This presentation of the accusative is dangerously deceptive, however, as a secondary declension exists which differs in its form. Nouns which end in /p b f m k ç h/ in the nominative experience a form of i-mutation. For instance:
daun dein uoon daun dein u- o-on 3.S.ANI 3.S.ANI/ACC PAST-3-see (S)He sees him/her.
Daun (*/dæun/ > /daun/) mutates (in this case, fronts and unrounds) to deini because of the terminal i. This process affects all vowels or vowel clusters prior to an /i/ if they are in the same morpheme or the morpheme prior. Word boundaries are not crossed by this affect. The pattern is exceedingly regular, all of the vowels from that time have their specific pattern- /æ a e i o u ə/ became /e æ i i e i ɛ/.
Mutations also occur when the noun ends in a vowel, here a second set of problems evolved, as when the /i/ is actually in contact with another vowel, it disappeared. For example:
ækænæ + i > ækænei > *ækæne (ACC), *ækænæ (NOM) > (modern acc /akane/, nom /akana/) bæunə + i > bæunɛi > *bæunɛ (ACC), *bæunə (NOM) > (modern /bauna/) æmɑu + i > æmæii > *æmæi (ACC), *æmɑu (NOM) > (modern acc /amai/, nom /amau/)
The paradigm is precisely the same.
The greatest complications emerge later because /æ a ɛ/ all merged to /a/ following this event, producing pairs like kam (promise, from *kæm) and kam (breath, from *kam), which are homophones except in the accusative. For example:
a kem eefad ninoɻ a kem e-e-fad ni- noɻ 1.S.NOM promise/ACC PROG-1-give DAT-2.INF I'm giving you my promise/word.
is distinct from
a kam eefad ninoɻ a kam e-e-fad ni- noɻ 1.S.NOM breath/ACC PROG-1-give DAT-2.INF I'm giving you my breath (performing CPR).
Yet,
kam zeti eobeli kam zet- i e- o-beli ??? nothing-ACC PROG-3-mean ??? means nothing.
This could mean either "breath/breathing means nothing" or "promise(s)/promising means nothing". Naturally, there are ways around such ambiguity, but this basic confusion still exists.
Similarly, nouns which previously ended in ə continue to make no distinction between the accusative and nominative (outside of syntactical markings). For example:
bauna amai eonibad bauna amai- e- o-nibad eat strength/ACC- PROG-3-make Eating produces strength.
While, in the accusitive, bauna changes not at all:
daun bauna eove daun bauna- e- o-ve 3.S.ANI.NOM eat PROG-3-enjoy (S)He enjoys eating.
"Oblique" Cases
Regarding the other cases, the terms "instrumental", "genitive", and "dative" only partially capture the uses of the various cases, however. Dative is strictly reserved for andative complements and most indirect objects.
a uepa niuteɻ a u- e-pa ni- uteɻ 1.S.NOM PAST-1-go DAT-dog I went to the dog.
The genitive meanwhile has a broader meaning than is typically used. For instance, it is used where many other languages would use a locative case:
a iebauna fifanot a i- e-bauna fi- fanot 1.S.NOM FUT-1-eat GEN-field I will eat in the field.
Naturally, the genitive is also used to denote ownership or composition.
a iebauna fifanot fiapudi fiar a i- e-bauna fi- fanot fi- apudi fi-ar 1.S.NOM FUT-1-eat GEN-field GEN-root GEN-woman I will eat in (the) field of root(s) of (the) woman. I will eat in the woman's root-field.
The instrumental case is also somewhat expanded from conventional definitions. It is used in the context of not only something used to achieve something, but also for movement through something (combining the meanings of what are often called perlative, prolative, prosecutive, and vialis cases).
a aiepa difanot a ai- e-pa di- fanot 1.S.NOM IMP-1-go INSTR-field I was going along/through (the) field
Verbal Morphology
Verbs conjugate for tense, mood, person, and number in a somewhat agglutinative fashion.
a deim aiebauna a deim ai-e-bauna 1.S.NOM 3.S.INANI.STR/ACC IMP-1-eat I was eating that.
This is roughly one of the most simple conjugations, as the mood is realis and the subject's number is singular (although, even if it was plural it would be marked without that because the subject is not in first person). For a more complex example:
ti deim inababauna ti deim i-n-a-ba-bauna 3.P.NOM 3.S.INANI.STR/AC FUT-IRR-2-P-eat They might go and eat that.
To begin, the tense and aspect section proceeds all others, then the mood-encoding morphemes (or a null), then the obligatory person marker, and then the plural marker, if necessary, and finally the root noun-verb.
Starting with tense, four major distinctions are made - perfect, past imperfect, present progressive, and future. Each has its own marker on regular verbs, and these are virtually always distinct on irregulars as well. For example:
a uebauna a u-e-bauna 1.S.NOM PRF-1-eat I ate.
a aiebauna a ai-e-bauna 1.S.NOM IMP-1-eat I was eating.
a eebauna a e-e-bauna 1.S.NOM PROG-1-eat I'm eating.
a iebauna a i-e-bauna 1.S.NOM FUT-1-eat I will/shall eat.
Moving on to mood, four moods are distinguished. These are the realis (null), irrealis (-n-), negative (-z-), and emphatic (-t-). Realis functions similarly to the indicative of other languages, but is used for statements that are known to be true or would be true given the correct changes (the then clause in and if-then construction). Irrealis mirrors this, being used for statements that may be true, could be true, or are unknown as to their validity, as well as in the if-clause in said constructions. Negative is used obviously to mark a statement as false. Meanwhile, the emphatic has a more convoluted meaning. Used for all imperatives (even negatives, which mark their negativity in a different manner), it is associated with things that should or must or otherwise have some requirement to be true.
a aiebauna a ai-0-e-bauna 1.S.NOM IMP-REAL-1-eat I was eating.
a ainebauna a ai-n-e-bauna 1.S.NOM IMP-IRR-1-eat I may have been eating.
a aizebauna a ai-z-e-bauna 1.S.NOM IMP-NEG-1-eat I wasn't eating.
a aitebauna a ai-t-e-bauna 1.S.NOM IMP-EMPH-1-eat I needed to eat.
As for person, it's relatively simple, as there are only three versions: -e- for first person, -a- for second, and -o- for third.
a eebauna a e-e-bauna 1.S.NOM PROG-1-eat I'm eating.
noɻ eabauna noɻ e-a-bauna 1.S.NOM PROG-2-eat You're eating.
daun eobauna daun e-o-bauna 3.S.ANI.NOM PROG-3-eat (S)He's eating.
The plurality of the subject is only encoded for third person (and then the singular is marked with a null, so marking in total is very limited). For example:
daun eobauna daun e-o-bauna 3.S.ANI.NOM PROG-3-eat (S)He's eating.
ti eobabauna ti e-o-ba-bauna 3.P.NOM PROG-3-P-eat They're eating.
Syntax
Lexicon
Changes from Central Measceineafh
- p > f word terminally
- f v ʒ x > DELETE
- z > ɻ
- θ > f
- ei ou > e o when unstressed
- f# v# s# z# > DELETE
- ɟʝ) > ɟ
- æi ɑi ei oi ui əi > e æ i ø y ɛ > e æ i e i ɛ
- æCi ɑCi eCi oCi uCi > eCi æCi iCi eCi iCi
- Where C is /p b f m k h ɟ ç/
- æ ɑ > a
- e [-stress|+closed syllable] > ɛ > ə > a
- ʃ > ç
- q > h
- i > DELETES when word final and proceeded by a front vowel
- l ɭ ɻ > DELETE when syllable final
- Stress regularizes to intial where there are three or fewer syllables; penultimate where there are more.
- Fusion of fi (genitive), di (instrumental), and ni (dative) to beginning of nouns produces further cases and pushes stress back to second syllable, when it then regularizes again to penultimate in all words (except nouns, where it is initial for nominative and accusative (prior to the adding of the prefixes).
