Ulok
Language
Ulok is a native Martian (Nemukik) language spoken on Nesak (Tharsis) in the early 23nd century. It is one of the two major Equatorial Martian languages along with Siye. It is the only extant descendant of Uloukw and has been heavily influenced both linguistically and culturally by Utu Nes, the language of the Emyuk Utu, which is unrelated to Ulok or Siye.
Ulok | |
---|---|
Pronounced: | ['u.lo:k] |
Timeline and Universe: | EJL Universe, Early 23nd century CE |
Species: | Indigenous Martian Humanoid |
Spoken: | Mars |
Total speakers: | 9,000,000 (est.) |
Writing system: | syllabics |
Genealogy: | Ulok |
Typology | |
Morphological type: | Agglutinating |
Morphosyntactic alignment: | Accusative |
Basic word order: | SOV |
Credits | |
Creator: | Linguarum Magister |
Anthropology
The Ulos were a nomadic tribe moving east until they reached the Mountain's western slope. There, in a place called Yuksulse, it is said that they first grew mighty in numbers. Some left Yoksulse and became the Eastern Ulos (Ilus). These swept past the citadel of Nesa, the city of dreams, stopping only briefly. The Eastern Ulos absorbed few words from Utu Nes and even less culture from the Emyuk Utu. They settled in what is now the Far Western Province of the Simakim (see the entry on Siye for more details), and the lower part of the Kingdom of Nesa, The rest of the Ulos, the Western Branch, left Yuksulse and settled around the city of Nesa. There they abandoned their traditional ways and learned civilzation from the Emyuk Utu. Later, the Western Ulos conquered their masters and expanded the Kingdom of Nesa to its current boundaries, absorbing the western portion of the Ilus.
Orthography
Consonants
Ulok contains
two nasals: /m/ [m] and /n/ [n]
three plosives: /p/ [p] /t/ [t] /k/ [k]
one sibilant: /s/ [s]
one lateral: /l/ [l]
two glides: /w/ [w] /y/ [j]
Vowels
Ulok vowels have three heights (high, mid, low), two lengths (short and long), two tones (high and low), and two lengths in the non-high vowels.
/a/ [a] [a:] /e/ [e] [e:] /i/ [i] /o/ [o] [o:] /u/ [u]
/ah/ [à] /Vh/ (where V stands for any vowel) is an orthographic representation of a low tone. It seems to be derived from an earlier combination of a vowel and the archaic phoneme /k/ [q]
Tones
Ulok has two level tones – high and low. An Ulok word that does not contain an /h/ as the syllable coda begins as high tone. If there is a syllable in the word that does contain an /h/ as the syllable coda, that syllable and all following syllables are low tone. If the first syllable of the word contains an /h/ as the syllable coda, the word is entirely low tone. The drop from high tone to low tone can only occur once per word.
Epenthetic Vowels
If a suffix consisting of a single consonant follows another consonant, Ulok inserts a epenthetic vowel. This vowel is almost always based on the closest preceding vowel.
Kehtis kehmeyeses Nesakasas kehti-s kehmeye-s-s Nesa-k-s-s
Nouns
Nominal Suffixes
Ulok nouns have two genders: animate and inanimate. The most peculiar feature of Ulok nouns is this: nouns do not take suffixes for cases, but rather for person and number. Although this feature is more intimately associated with verbs in many languages, it is critical to note that the addition of a person/number suffix to a noun root does not turn it into a verb. The homophony of the nominalizing suffix /-p/ and the third singular animate /-p/ suggests the reverse!
Nominal Suffixes, Animate Gender
Person/Number Suffix
1s -l 2s -w,f 3s -m, /-0/ [ʔ] Pl -s
/-p/ is the most common suffix for the third singular; /-0/ is reserved for the loanwords. The /-0/ suffix is the orthographic form; a study of Ulok phonetics indicates that the suffix is a glottal stop.
Examples:
tàlol I, a king
tàlof you, a king; laffepef you, doing; lefalaf you, living
tàlop he, a king; mes, a god; tepe lady; mosup servant
tàlos they, the kings (you, kings/ we, kings); meses gods; mosus servants; laffop maker, doer
Ulok inanimates, unlike the animates, do not distinguish person or number.
Suffix and Function
-k Most common general inanimate suffix kumuk mudbrick
-0 Second most common general inanimate suffix lem town/land; nam place
-k(u) Forms abstract nouns (geograpnical and and truly abstract) tàloku kingdom; felloku life
-o Inanimate suffix for singulative nouns (These nouns are grammatically inanimate, but may be semantically animate)
-p Nominalizing suffix tokep temple; namap earth
-su Generality nemmosu everthing
The /-0/ suffix for the verbs is, unlike the animate /-0/ suffix, a true zero-marked suffix. The suffixes -k and -k(u), although semantically distinct, often look identical. The proper name of the language is Ulok, and the name of the territory where it is spoken Uloku, but most of the time the term Ulok is used for both concepts. The Ulos (speakers of Ulok) are not the language-obsessives that their Siye-speaking neighbors are.
tokuk temple (-k)
kumuk brick (-k)
lem town/land (-0)
tàloku kingdom/kingship (-ku)
sala children (-o)
motep pesepep greatest of the gods (-p)
Noun Phrases
The noun phrase in Ulok exhibits this feature: the possessor of a possessum-possessor noun phrase acquires the person/number suffix of the possessum as well as its own.
a tàlol Nesakal.
a tàlo-l Nesa-k-l.
1S king-1 Tharsis-INAN-V-1
I, the king of Tharsis.
tàlos Nesakas
tàlo-s Nesakas
king-PL Nesa-INAN-V-PL
the kings of Tharsis
Possessive pronouns use the same construction:
mesep ap
mes-p a-p
god-3 1S-3
my god
This construction can be extended to a three-noun set:
losotok mesep apak
losoto-k mes-p a-p-k
throne-hall-INAN god-3 1S-3-V-INAN
the throne-hall of my god
felloku nala pala-ku
fello-ku nala-0 pala-0-ku
life-ABSTRACT children-INAN 1PL-INAN-ABSTRACT
the life of our children
The same construction is used for apposition:
tàlos amas as
tàlo-s am-s a-s
king-PL predecessor-PL 1S-PL
kings, my predecessors
Adjectives follow the noun they modify; in this case, the person/number suffix affixes to the adjective:
lumsìsop
lumsìso-p
lord-3
lumsìso motep
lumsìso mote-p
lord great-3
great lord
The superlative is treated with the same possessum-possessor construction, but in the case the adjective precedes the noun and requires the nominalizing suffix /-p/.
motep pesesep
mote-p pes-s-p
great-3 god-PL-3
greatest of the gods
Pronouns
Animate pronouns in Ulok display three persons, two numbers, and two cases. Plural number is indicated by forms ending in a glottal stop. The inanimate pronoun has a case but not a number distinction. The relative pronoun has a case but not a number distinction; its nominative and accusative forms are suppletive. The first form is nominative, the second accusative.
1sg a à
2sg po/pa pà
3sgan o/lo o/ò
1pl pole/pala palà
2pl pà/pane panè
3pl es/esso essò
Inan o/ò o/ò
Rel wini oku
Borrowings
Ulok and Siye have borrowed much vocabulary from the other in the last two millennia, providing valuable evidence of diachronic changes. In some cases, this has resulted in opposite meanings of mutual borrowings: for example /yete-/ and /lomo-/ mean 'fruit' and 'jam' respectively in Siye, but the reverse in Ulok! In other cases, the interaction created a new word: the old Siye word for 'to engage in commerce' was /apom/, that of Ulok /itam/, but in the late 22nd century both use /atom/. Siye borrowings from Ulok ignore the difference of high vs. low tone, while Ulok borrowings from Siye convert the first nasal syllable in a Siye word into the first low tone of the new loanword. Thus the Siye title /kumayam/ is borrowed as /Umayah/.
Verbs
Uloti- “to pray”, semo- “to do”
Conjugation I Ulok verbs decline for number and person. The singular forms affix the appropriate suffix. The plural forms use a base suffix -l- (derived from the first singular?). The first plural suffixes -a to the base; the second plural suffixes -s from the second person singular and provides the appropriate epenthetic vowel; the third plural affixes -u or -f to the base. An alternate explanation is the infixation of -l- between the verb root and the singular suffixes for the second and third person plural forms. This theory, however, runs against the generality of suffixation in Ulok.
Conjugation I To pray To do
1s ulotil semol
2s ulotis semos
3s ulotiu semof
1p ulotila semola
2p ulotilis semolos
3p ulotilu semolu
The participles form the stems for the forms in Conjugations II and III. The perfect participle is formed by suffixing -n to the verb root, while the imperfective is forms by suffixing -k to the verb root. Thus the verb roots /uloti-/ and /semo-/ produce perfective /ulotin/ and /semon/ and imperfective /ulotik/ or /semok/.
Conjugations II and III are formed by suffixing the animate nominal endings to the perfective and imperfective participles, respectively, and inserting the appropriate epenthetic vowel.
Conjugation II (Perfective Participle +Nominal Endings)
1s ulotinin semonon
2s ulotinit semonot
3s ulotinip semonop
PL ulotinis semonos
Conjugation III (Imperfective Participle + Nominal Endings)
1s ulotikin semokon
2s ulotikit semokot
3s ulotikip semokop
Pl ulotikis semokos
Other forms of the Ulok verb include the perfective participle followed by the auxiliary verb /ne-/ with nominal suffixes (ulotin nen, net, etc.) and the imperfective participle in a similar construction (ulotik nen, net, etc.). Imperfective + ne- is used in durative, intensive, or volitional statements.
The optative mood is formed by suffixing -li to the Conjugation I verb root or to the Conjugation II (but not Conjugation III!) verb stem (ulotili, ulotinili).
The imperative forms are identical to the Conjugation I second singular forms (ulotis, semos). There is no separate plural form.
The prohibitive mood is formed by second person Conjugation III form preceded by the negative participle /eme/ (eme ulotikit, eme semokot).
The suffix -ipo- nominalizes a verb or verb phrases. The verb of the clause suffixes a gender agreement suffix before the nominalizing suffix if the head noun of the clause is a core constituent, but omits it if it is not.
ulotik kek semolukipo
uloti-k ke-k semo-lu-k-ipo
temple-INAN DEM-INAN do-3PL-INAN-NMLZER
the temple which they built
meyeku kep umou > meyeku kep umouipo
meye-ku ke-p umo-u > meyeku ke-p umo-u-ipo
reign 3S-3 love-3SG > reign 3S-3 love-3sg-NMLZER
he loves the reign > whose reign he loves
Negative Declination
The negative marker /eme-/ declines according to the pattern of the nominal suffixes. It agrees not with the agent, as one might expect from a nominative-accusative language, nor with the patient, as one might expect from an ergative-accusative language, but rather with the topic of the clause.
Ulotik ipena emek semolu. They did not build the temple (they built the shrine).
Ulotik ipena emes semolu. They did not build the temple (someone else did)
Animate 1s emen 2s emet 3s emep 3p emes
Inanimate 3s emek
Syntax
Pronouns
Nom Acc
1sg a à
2sg po/pa pà
3sgan o/lo o/ò
1pl pole/pala palà
2pl pà/pane panè
3pl es/esso essò
Inan o/ò o/ò
Resumptive Prononouns
Ulok uses resumptive pronouns extensively.
Lo a o ilesepel
Lo a o ilesepe-l
3S 1S 3INAN.ACC give-1S
I gave it to them (lit. to-them I it gave)
lop ehsep ap muwetili
lo-p ehsep a-p muweti-li
3S-3 inferior 1S-3 place-OPT
May you be under me (lit. him inferior of-me place-you-may)
Postpositions
Postpositions are rare in Ulok, but the most are:
oh - in
so - of
ih - and