Marib

Marib مریب
Pronounced:	/maˈʁib/
Timeline and Universe:	Here & now
Species:	Human
Spoken:	Iran Turkey
Total speakers:	7.5 million
Writing system:	Modified Perso-Arabic script
Genealogy:	Indo-European Mariban Marib
Typology
Morphological type:	Fusional
Morphosyntactic alignment:	Nominative-accusative
Basic word order:	Right-branching VSO
Credits
Creator:	Colonel Cathcart
Created:	2009

Marib (مریب) is an Indo-European language spoken in northwestern Iran and southeastern Turkey. It is the last surviving member of the Mariban subfamily, once spoken across an expanse stretching from Kurdistan to the Caucasus; Marib thus constitutes an isolate within the Indo-European family.

The name "Marib" is an exonym which is derived from Persian زبن مغربی, zabân-e maghrebi, "western language."

Phonology

Phonemes & orthography

Marib is written in a modified Perso-Arabic script, which was introduced when the Seljuks took control of the Mariban states in the mid-11th century. Here, the first orthographic representation is the native orthography; the second is used for phonetic transliteration.

Consonants

Stops /p t k b d g/ <گ د ب ک ت پ>, <p t k b d g>
Affricatives /ts tʃ dz dʒ/ <ج ظ چ ط>, <ts č dz j>
Fricatives /f v s z ʃ ʒ h/ <ه ژ ش ز س و ف>, <f v s z š ž h>
Approximants /j w l ʁ/ <ر ل و ی>, <y w l r>
Nasals /m n/ <ن م>, <m n>

• /s/ has alternate realization <ص>; /h/ has alternate realization <ح>. Many words using these letters are Persian or Arabic loans; others are purely aesthetic.
  
• Marib uses the ligature <لا> for /la/; with a hamzeh above <لأ> this ligature represents /laj/.
• <ع> is often used to indicate a syllable break between vowels and particularly diphthongs, eg. /saj"i:/ <سأعی> <saii> (page-gen.pl).
• <ق غ خ> are found only in Persian and Arabic loans; they are pronounced /h g g/ and transliterated <kh gh q>.

Marib contrasts consonant length. Any consonant except /h j w ʁ/ may be geminated. Geminate consonants, which can occur medially or finally, are written with a tašdid <ّ > above.

Vowels

Marib has a simple five-vowel system, distinctive in that the mid-close vowels /e o/ have shifted to mid-open /ɛ ɔ/.

Vowels /a ɛ i ɔ u/
initial: <او او ای ا ا>, <a e i o u>
medial: <و و ی ا ا> or null, <a e i o u>
final: <و و ی ه ا>, <a e i o u>

Some eastern dialects lack /a/, featuring instead a Persian-influenced /æ ɒ/ opposition, written <آ ا> and transliterated <a â>. These dialects have generally retained the mid-close vowels /e o/.

Modern Marib does not contrast vowel length (at least not phonemically - see Prosody). Marib's Perso-Arabic orthography indicates medially only those vowels which were long in Medieval Marib (eg. MedM /ma"ɾi:b/ > ModM /ma"ʁib/ <مریب>) and in cases where vowel omission would result in a doubled consonant (eg. /tan"nɛn/ <تنّان> rather than *<تنّن>)

Diphthongs
Marib has four semivowel diphthongs:
/aj ɛj ɔj uj/ <ؤ ؤ ۀ أ>, <ay ey oy uy>
These diphthongs are written with a hamzeh <ء> above, a convention possibly derived from Persian's use of <ۀ> for /eje/.

Alphabet

Ta lešen maribi ("the Marib language") in Naskh, Kufic, and Thuluth scripts.

Standard Marib alphabet

الف - ا alef /a"lɛf/	به - ب be /bɛ:/	په - پ pe /pɛ:/	ته - ت te /tɛ:/	جیم - ج jim /dʒim/
چه - چ če /tʃɛ:/	حه شأ جیم - ح he-šay-jim /ˌhɛ:ʃajˈdʒim/	دال - د dal /dal/	ره - ر re /ʁɛ:/	زه - ز ze /zɛ:/
ژه - ژ že /ʒɛ:/	سین - س sin /sin/	شین - ش šin /ʃin/	صاد - ص sad /sad/	طا - ط tsa /tsa:/
ظ - ظا dza /dza:/	أعین - ع aiin /aj"in/	کاف - ک kaf /kaf/	گاف - گ gaf /gaf/	لام - ل lam /lam/
میم - م mim /mim/	نون - ن nun /nun/	واو - و vav /vav/	ها - ه he /hɛ:/	یه - ی ye /jɛ:/

Formerly considered part of the Marib alphabet

خه - خ khe /kɛ:/

غأعین - غ ghaiin /gaj"in/

قوف - ق qof /kof/

Not considered part of the Marib alphabet (though often used as such in vernacular speech)

الف س هامزو - أ alef-s-hamzu /alˌɛfshamˈzu:/ "alef with hamzeh"

ها س هامزو - ۀ he-s-hamzu /ˌhɛ:shamˈzu:/ "he with hamzeh"

واو س هامزو - ؤ vav-s-hamzu /ˌvavshamˈzu:/ "vav with hamzeh"

Prosody

Phoneme length
Marib distinguishes phonemic consonant length: long (geminate) consonants are written with a tašdid above. Vowel length is a prosodic feature: if a stressed syllable is open (CV), then the vowel is pronounced long (CV:).

Timing
Marib prosody is stress-timed. Generally, stressed open syllables with a long vowel are articulated about 1.5 times longer than unstressed or closed syllables, though this varies greatly between dialects and speakers.

Stress
Stress in Marib, as in French, is dependent upon syntax and semantics. Primary stress is placed upon the last syllable of a clause or phrase determined by the speaker. Primary stress may be marked by a slight lengthening of the syllable (more distinctive if the syllable is open, as stated above) and/or a slight rising or falling tone. Secondary stress may be placed upon the last syllable of a verb, noun, or modifier, according to the speaker's semantic discretion. Pronouns, prepositions, and conjunctions are never stressed except for emphasis.

Pronouns

Personal

Nominative
	sg		pl
1	من	men	اش	aš
2	سن	sen	تی	ti
3-m	ایش	iš	نه	ne
3-f	نا	na	نه	ne

Marib's nominative case is actually a nominative-accusative, so the above are used as both subject and object pronouns. When specificity is desired, the Persian borrowing را <-ra> can be used to mark a nominative pronoun as an object: من را <men-ra>, "me."

Genitive
	sg		pl
1	ما	ma	اشا	aša
2	سا	sa	تأعا	taya
3	یو	yo	نی	ni

The genitive pronouns are used for possession, as well as with certain prepositions. Strictly in cases of possession, suffix ه <-e> or ی <-ye> is used to mark the head: اولما ی ما <olma-ye ma> "my dog."

Dative
	sg		pl
1	مو	mu	اشو	ašu
2	سو	su	تأو	tayu
3	أ	ay	أعی	aii

The dative pronouns are used for the indirect object, as well as with certain prepositions.

Demonstrative

تا	ta	this/these
ستا	sta	that/those
هونا٫ سینی	sini, hona	here, there

Indefinite

کمن	komon	everything, everyone
بز کمن	baz-komon	everyone
همن	hemon	something, anything
کولت	kulet	someone, anyone
لاکتات	laktet	nothing, no-one
بز لاکتات	baz-laktet	no-one
ایمنی٫ ایمن	imen, imni	little, few
زأتی٫ رأت	zayt, zayti	much, many

Interrogative & relative

مت	mata	what
میس	mis	which
منه	mine	who
منا	mina	whose
س منو	s-munu	to whom
ملّا	milla	where
لا ملّأ	la-millay	whence
ای ملّو	i-millu	whither
مدی	medi	when
منت	mint	why
موشّ	mušš	how
مأد	mayd	how much
مأدی	maydi	how many

Interrogative pronouns are normally used in situ rather than at the beginning of the clause, and they do not take the copulaic clitic ش <š-> : تا مت <ta mata> "what is this," lit. "this what."
They are placed at the beginning of the clause, however, when they are used as relative pronouns: مدی شودی من ش ایژن٫ <medi šudi men š-ižen, ...> "when I was a boy, ..."

Nouns

Determiners

Marib lacks true articles, employing instead a system of determiners.

Ta (ت), contracted to t- before a vowel, is loosely translated as "the." It indicates "the one we are talking about" or "the one which has been mentioned."

• Idi t-ižen kaydaš - ایدی ت ایژن کأدش - The boy read a book.

Ažin (اژین) shares a similar but more specific meaning with ta, indicating "that same one."

• Tuži men az kaydaša, taš hessi men ažin kaydaš s-keru.
• توژل من از کأدشا٫ تش حسّل من اژین کأدش س کرو.
• I thought about a book, and I saw that same book in town.

Baš (بش) indicates "the present or current one," usually referring to a period of time, geographical location, or a certain mode.

• Baš ker - بش کر - this town, the town we live in
• Baš lešen - بش لشن - this language, the one we are speaking right now
• Baš ayla - بش ألا - today, this very day (colloquially امروز <emruz>)
• Baš šah - بش شاه - this king, the king who is currently reigning

Declension

There are two numbers, singular and plural. The singular is unmarked, though many or most nominative singular nouns end in -[ay]en (أن٫ ن) [masculine] or -[iy]a (یا٫ ا) [feminine]. The plural is usually marked with the plural morpheme ی <-i>. The noun appears in the singular after numerals.

There are two genders, masculine and feminine. Noun gender assignment follows a simple pattern, with masculine nouns ending in a consonant and feminine nouns ending in /a/. Some nouns, ending in /u/, can be masculine or feminine.

There are three cases. The "nominative" is a nominative-accusative, used for both the subject and direct object - where specificity is desired, the Persian-borrowed object marker را <-ra> may be used following the noun. The genitive is used to show possession, relation, or origin, and is used with certain prepositions; it is marked with ا or أ. The dative is used for the indirect object and with certain other prepositions; it is marked with و.

Masculine nouns in the first two declensions (nominative only in the first declension) elide the final vowel, as long as this does not create an illegal consonant cluster or compromise the integrity of the stem.

First declension

Declension 1a: Masculine nouns ending in ن -en

ایژن - ižen - boy
	sg		pl
nom	ایژن	ižen	ایژنی	ižni
gen	ایژا	iža	ایژی	iži
dat	ایژو	ižu	ایژیو	ižiu

مژدن - mežden - world
	sg		pl
nom	مژدن	mežden	مژدنی	meždeni
gen	مژدا	mežda	مژدی	meždi
dat	مژدو	meždu	مژدیو	meždiu

Declension 1b: Masculine nouns ending in أن -ayen

سأن - sayen - page
	sg		pl
nom	سأن	sayen	سأنی	sayni
gen	سأعا	saya	سأعی	saii
dat	سأو	sayu	سأو	sayu

Second declension

Masculine nouns ending in any other consonant

صأفت - sayfet - sand
	sg		pl
nom	صأفت	sayfet	صأفتی	sayfti
gen	صأفتا	sayfta	صأفتیا	sayftiya
dat	صأفتو	sayftu	صأفتأو	sayftayu

کر - ker - town
	sg		pl
nom	کر	ker	کری	keri
gen	کرا	kera	کریا	keriya
dat	کرو	keru	کرأو	kerayu

Third declension

Declension 3a: Feminine nouns ending in ا -a

ویلا - wila - oil
	sg		pl
nom	ویلا	wila	ویلی	wili
gen	ویلأ	wilay	ویلیا	wiliya
dat	ویلو	wilu	ویلأو	wilayu

Declension 3b: Feminine nouns ending in یا -iya

سالیا - saliya - water
	sg		pl
nom	سالیا	saliya	سالیّ	salii
gen	سالأ	salay	سالیّ	salii
dat	سالو	salu	سالآو	salayu

Fourth declension

Declension 4a: Masculine and feminine nouns ending in -u

شونو - šunu (f) - light
	sg		pl
nom	شونو	šunu	شونی	šuni
gen	شونا	šuna	شونیا	šuniya
dat	شونیو	šuniu	شونأو	šunayu

Declension 4b: Masculine and feminine nouns ending in -iu

مزیو - maziu (m) - food
	sg		pl
nom	مزیو	maziu	مزیّ	mazii
gen	مزا	maza	مزیا	maziya
dat	مزو	mazu	مزأو	mazayu