Revision as of 12:41, 2 March 2007

Terzemian
Pronounced:	tɜ˞ˈzɛj.mjən
Timeline and Universe:	Possible LLL candidate
Writing system:	Latin, Cyrillic, Arabic, UTA
Genealogy:	Unique PIE, influences from Kartvelian, Turkic, Persian, Uralic and Slavic
Typology
Morphological type:	Mixed
Morphosyntactic alignment:	Lexically Split-S
Basic word order:	VSO
Credits
Creator:	Paul.w.bennett

Overview

Terzemian is an IE-derived conlang located along the west coast of the Caspian Sea. It is a satem language (the word for hundred is šündo (шүндо, şyndo, شَِنداَ /šyndo/) that uses the ruki rule, Grassman's law, Slavic-type depalatalization, z/r alternation, r/n alternation, a three-group vowel harmony system, and two phases of lenition (the first word-final, and the second approximately intervocalic).

Phonology

Consonants

p b			t d			k g
	f v		s z	ʃ ʒ		x ɣ	h
			ts	tʃ
		w			j
			l
m			n			ŋ
			ɾ

Vowels

i	y		u
e	ø		o
a		ɑ	ɒ

Writing System

Terzemian has been written in a variety of scripts. In the modern era, a modified Latin alphabet is used. During the Soviet era, Cyrillic was used, and can still be found. Before the Soviet era, a form of the UTA was used alongside Arabic. The latter can still be found in some particularly isolated areas.

Logical Layout

The following tables illustrate the writing systems with a layout that is in accordance with the Phonology tables above.

Modern Latin

p b			t d			k g
	f v		s z	š ž		x ǧ	h
			c	č
		w			y
			l
m			n			ň
			r

i	ü		u
e	ö		o
ä		a	å

UTA

p b			t d			k g
	f v		s z	ş ƶ		x ƣ	h
			c	ç
		w			j
			l
m			n			ŋ
			r

i	y		u
e	ɵ		o
ə		a	ɔ

Cyrillic

п б			т д			к г
	ф в		с з	ш ж		х ғ	һ
			ц	ч
		ў			й
			л
м			н			ң
			р

и	ү		у
э	ө		о
ә		а	ɔ

Arabic

پ ب			ت د			ك گ
	ف ڒ		س ز	ژ ش		خ غ	ه
			څ	چ
		و			ي
			ل
م			ن			ڽ
			ر

هِ	هَِ		هَ
اِ	اَِ		اَ
اٍ		ا	اً

Alphabetical Orders

The tables above approximately follow the IPA layout for the sounds of Terzemian. The correct orders of the writing systems of Terzemian are:

Latin: A Ä Å B C Č D E F G Ǧ H I K L M N Ň O Ö P R S Š T U Ü V W X Y Z Ž
Cyrillic: А Ә Б В Г Ғ Д Е Ж З И Й К Л М Н Ң О Ө П Р С Т У Ў Ү Ф Х Ц Ч Ш Щ Ъ Ы Ь Э Ɔ Ю Я
UTA: A Ə B C Ç D E F G Ƣ H I J K L M N Ŋ O Ɵ Ɔ P R S Ş T U V W X Y Z Ƶ
Arabic: ا ب ت پ ح خ څ چ د ر ز ژ س ش غ ف ك گ ل م ن ڽ ه و ۆ ي هِ هَِ هَ اِ اَِ اَ اٍ اً

Notes:

The Cyrillic letters Щ, Ъ, and Ь are not used in native words.
The Cyrillic letters Е, Ю, and Я are occasionally used in native words.
The Arabic characters هِ هَِ هَ use the letter ه as a base character for illustration. The actual vowels are written as just the diactrics, attached to the preceeding consonant.

Sound Changes

See the Sound Changes subarticle.

Morphosyntax

Vowel Harmony

Root Vowel	Prefix Vowel			Suffix Vowel
Root Vowel	i	u	a	i	ü	e	ö	ä	a
i	i	ü	e	i	ü	e	ö	ä	a
ü	i	ü	e	ü	u	ö	o	ä	a
u	ü	u	o	ü	u	ö	o	a	å
e	i	ö	ä	i	ü	e	ö	ä	a
ö	ü	o	å	ü	u	ö	o	ä	a
o	ö	å	a	ü	u	ö	o	a	å
ä	e	å	a	e	ö	ä	å	ä	a
a	e	o	a	e	ö	ä	å	ä	a
å	ä	åɧ	aɧ	e	ö	ä	å	ä	a

Verbs

Agreement

Terzemain nouns mark two or less of three core cases, notionally representing the semantic roles INITIATOR, UNDERGOER, and TARGET. For ease of reference, these will be marked with the traditional A, P, and O labels used in discussing Ergative/Accusative marking.

Terzemian is Split-S, with Ergative or Accusative style marking determined lexically by the conjugation of the verb.

The conjugations are as follows:

Conj.	Required	Optional	Description
1 a	A		Intransitive Active verbs
1 b	P	A (causitive)	Intransitive Stative verbs
2	AP		Transitive Active verbs

Ablaut Patterns

Conj.	Root Vowel	Present R	Past R	Present Ir	Past Ir
1 a/b	i	i	e	ü	iy
	ü	ü	ö	u	üy
	u	u	o	uw	wo
	e	e	ä	ö	ye
	ö	ö	a	o	yo
	o	o	å	ow	öü
	ä	ä	äh	a	e
	a	a	ah	ay	ey
	å	å	åh	åw	ow
2	i	i	ü	e	ö
	ü	ü	u	ö	o
	u	u	uw	o	ow
	e	e	ö	ä	å
	ö	ö	o	å	a
	o	o	ow	å	a
	ä	ä	a	äɧ	aɧ
	a	a	å	aɧ	åɧ
	å	å	åw	åɧ	åwɧ

The symbol ɧ represents an assimilatory fricative, as follows:

Next Consonant	p,b,m,f,v,w	t,d,n,s,z,l,r	č,š,ž,y	k,g,x,ǧ	h
Outcome	f	s	š	x	∅

If there is no next consonant in the root, ɧ assimilates to the previous consonant.

If there is no next consonant and no previous consonant in the root, ɧ becomes h.

Agreement prefixes

Conj.	Argument	1st Person	2nd	3rd
1	A	ǧ-	z-	i-
1	P	-	yu-	c-
2	A	-	smu-	s-
2	P	m-	yu-	-

Tense and Evidentiality

There are two verb tenses, the past and non-past.

In the past tense, there are three evidentiality/reality markings:
- direct realis, indicating first-hand observational (e.g. "eye witness") knowledge. This is marked by the prefix e-, in addition to ablaut.
- indirect realis, indicating knowledge that is informed, inferred, supposed, or otherwise not personal. This is marked by ablaut alone.
- irrealis, making no overt statement about the reality of the VP, but inferring a lesser degree of certainty than either realis marking.
In the non-past, only the Present Realis and the Irrealis are distinguished.

Aspect, Mood, Intensity, and Attitude

Additional verb characteristics are expressed in suffixes, including the following.

Aspect
- Inceptive
- Abortive
- Imperative (use uninflected verb root)
- Completitive
- Participle -(h)önd (V -> Adj derivation)
- Perfect -gäv
Mood
- Negative -nä
- Optative/Hortative/Jussive -zün
- Causative/Volition (A -> P, Cause -> A)
Intensity
- More Intense -siz
- Less Intense -(d)e (NB: same as nominal diminutive)

Suffixes may be chained in a head-modifier (right-branching) manner.

Compounds

Compounds have the

Nouns

All nominal morphology is accomplished via suffixes, except

the proclitic ey-/ay-/öy-, indicating possession by the subject of the sentence
pluralization, which uses ablaut and/or schwebeablaut and/or suffixing, based on the declension of the noun in question.

Suffixes

Spatial Cases
- Commitative -be
- Locative
- Dative -(h)äz
- 'Ablative -ben
- Perlative
- Circumlocative -invi
- Pertingent
- Orientative'
Relational Cases
- Benefactive/Malefactive
- Instrumental
- Genitive
Derivational Cases
- X-posessing -önz (N -> Adj derivation)
- X-inhabiting/X-using -änž (N -> Adj derivation)