Paiodd

Virestia is the ancient capital of the Virestian empire, but one among nine nations by the time of Holas the Shardhealer. The language of the empire was know as Paiodd, the High Speech, and remained a language of wider communication in Holas' time. This page explains the grammar of the High Speech. Phonology

Vowels

In Paiodd, all vowels exist in a hierarchy according to strength. The farther forward and high a vowel is, the weaker it is. The farther back and high it is, the stronger it is. The following is a list of the vowels, in order from weakest to strongest.

  /ə/ /i/ /e/ /a/     /o/ /u/
                  /ɔ/
    /ɪ/ /ɛ/ /æ/

The vowels in each row only interact with each other when vowels change, as they often do in Paiodd. A change in vowel to a stronger or weaker vowel can occur in both nouns and verbs to indicate whether an inflected noun is related to a verb or another noun, and to indicate which tense a verb carries. For more on these specific cases, see the sections on Nouns and Verbs below.

To explain the relationship of the vowels, however, what I mean is that depending on the word, /o/ may become either /ɔ/ or /a/, and /ɔ/ may become either /a/ or /æ/. However, /æ/ will always strengthen to /ɔ/, and weaken to /ɛ/. /ɛ/ will always strengthen to /æ/ and weaken to /ɪ/, and so on.

Similarly, both /i/ and /ɪ/ weaken to /ə/. However, /ə/ never occurs as a root vowel, so one need not worry about whether it strengthens to /i/ or /ɪ/.

Diphthongs often occur in Paiodd stem words. These are the vowel changes in diphthongs:

ai - é (weakened), ó (strengthened)
ea - é (weak), eo (strong)
ei - í (weak), é (strong)
eo - ea (weak), eu (strong) [no surprises here!]
ia - ie, io
ie - í, ia
io - ie, iu
oa - oe, ou
oe - oi, oa
oi - ó, oe
ou - ó, ou (no change when strengthened)

Consonants

The consonants in Paiodd also interact with each other, but only in nouns, so these interactions will be explained in the section on Nouns. The consonants are:

/p/ /t/ /k/ /f/ /θ/ /x/ /b/ /d/ /g/ /v/ /ð/ /ɣ/ /m/ /n/ /ŋ/ /ŋ̥//w/ /j/ /ɹ/ /l/ /h/ /s/ /ʃ/ /ʧ/ /z/  /ʒ/ /ʤ/

There are a few possible consonant clusters, most of which are the same or similar to English.

In word-initial position, the stops /p/ /t/ /k/ /b/ /d/ /g/ as well as the fricative /f/ can be combined with the approximants /ɹ/ and /l/. In addition, /m/, /v/ and /θ/ can also combine with /ɹ/ in word-initial position.

Likewise, /s/ can combine with any of the voiceless stops, as well as /θ/, /ɹ/ and /l/ in word-initial position.

Any of the consonants may occur with the semi-vowels /j/ and /w/, which mark aspect in verbs.

Any consonants may occur in any combination word-medially, though voicing assimilation may result, and approximants /ɹ/ and /l/ assimilate to a preceding /s/ /ʃ/ /z/ /ʒ/ /m/ /n/ /t/ /d/ /l/ or /ɹ/. The resulting double consonants are pronounced doubled.

In word-final position, any consonant may occur singly and voiced stops may occur doubled (though they are usually pronounced as a single consonant in this case). The permissible clusters in word-final position are:

/m/ before labials
/n/ before alveolars
/s/ before voiceless stops
/ɹ/ before stops and fricatives
/l/ before stops and fricatives

Pronouns

There are three personal pronouns in Paiodd, which can be made plural by adding the prefix æ-:

gué /gʷeː/ I
nir /nɪɹ/  you
sem /sɛm/  he, she, it

The plurals are:

ægué /ægʷeː/ we
ænir /ænɪɹ/  you (pl)
æsem /æsɛm/  they

These pronouns do not change form, as Paiodd does not have cases. To show possession and other relationships between pronouns and other nouns, the noun suffixes are attached to the pronouns as prefixes. In this case, there may not be any difference between the singular and plural forms of the prefixed pronouns. In other words, íagué can mean either 'my' or 'our'. Sometimes, however, the plural prefix may co-occur with other prefixes, giving for example, íægué, 'our'. For a complete list of the prefixes, see Noun Suffixes below.

Paiodd word order demands that the subject be directly attached to the verb, so the only difference between subject pronouns and object pronouns is where they occur in the sentence.

Gué nir dur.  You love me.
BUT Nir gué dur. I love you.

There is also no copula in Paiodd, so to express the sense of 'to be' one has only to place the noun or adjective that describes the pronoun after it in the sentence.

Gué piver. I am the king.
Nir shopía. You are beautiful.

Nouns

Nouns are perhaps the most interesting feature in Paiodd. Although there is no gender or case, they do inflect to indicate whether they are related to other nouns, or to the verb in their clause. To indicate these inflections, changes occur on the root vowel and in the final consonant of the root. When a noun is related to a verb, this is called the Verbal Inflection. When it is related to another noun, it is in the Nominal Inflection. The Verbal inflection means that the noun in some way modifies the verb, while Nominal inflection means that the noun in some way modifies another noun. The specific modifications are indicated by the suffixes discussed below.

Nouns that end in stops end in the voiced stop, written double:

sabb war
lodd man
ashigg death

This uninflected form is used when the noun is the subject or direct object of the verb. The plural is formed simply by changing the final consonant into a fricative:

/b/ to /v/ sav wars
/d/ to /ð/ lodh men
/g/ to /ɣ/ ashigh deaths

The Verbal inflection is formed by weakening the final vowel of the root word according to the vowel hierarchy described above, and taking the voiced form of the final consonant. The plural is the voiced fricative in the same place of articulation.

seb-, sev-
lad-, ladh-
ash'g /aʃəg/ or ashg- /aʃk/, ash'gh- or ashgh-

The Nominal inflection involves no change to the root vowel, but the final consonant is devoiced. The plural is simply the voiceless fricative:

sap-, saf-
lat-, lath-
ashic-, ashich-

Nouns ending in –ss are different from those ending in stops in the uninflected form, where they take –ss, which is unvoiced (whereas –bb, -­dd, and –gg are all voiced). The plural of the uninflected form, then is –sh, thus:

athress a crown, athresh crowns

In the verbal and nominal forms, however, the same rules that apply to stops apply to -ss, except that z becomes zh and s becomes sh (affricates, not fricatives).

athriz- athrizh-	
athres- athresh-

When the nouns ends in /m/ or /n/, the verbal inflection still weakens the root vowel and takes /m/ as the final consonant, while the nominal inflection retains the root vowel and takes /n/. There is no difference in the plural forms.

thum flower thom-  thun- nominal
chum water  chom-  khun- nominal

Nouns ending in /ɹ/ and /l/ are similar, with a weakened vowel and /ɹ/ in the verbal inflection, and the unchanged vowel and /l/ in the nominal.

tshondar beast tshonder- tshondal- nominal
iul god ior- iul- 

Finally, some nouns end in vowels, especially when they are derived from verbs ending in vowels. The verbal inflection of such nouns weakens the vowel and adds /ɹ/, while the nominal inflection adds /l/.

suró father surar- suról-
tika a pass tiker- tikal-

Noun Suffixes

-ía has a general meaning of 'with' and can be used to express instrument in the verbal, and possession in the nominal. It probably comes from the verb ía 'to know'
-uí is a negative suffix, usually meaning something like 'without'. This probably comes from the verb uí 'to ignore'
-ir indicates a location in, on, or at the noun suffixed.
-é is a temporal suffix.

Here are the example words we've seen so far with the suffixes attached. For simplicity's sake, I have only used the singular form in these paradigms. The plural is of course equally possible.

sebía of war, with war; sebuí without war; sebir in war, at war; sebé if (there is) war, in wartime
sapía of war, war's; sapuí without war, warless; sapir in war, at war; sapé in wartime, (one who might be) at war

ladía with a man, of a man; laduí without a man; ladir on a man, in a man, to a man; ladé if (there is) a man
lotía a man's, of a man; lotuí without a man, manless; lotir (something) on a man, in a man, to/for a man loté if (someone is) a man, in manhood

ashgía of death, with death; ashguí without death; ashgir in death; ashgé in time of death
ashicía of death, death's; ashicuí without death, deathless, immortal; ashicir in, at, on, to death; ashicé (someone or something at) time of death

Verbs

Verbs are inflected for tense and aspect. There are three tenses: present, past, and potential, and three aspects: perfect, simple, and initiate

The tenses are indicated by vowel changes in the verb stems. The present tense is the default form, and does not undergo any vowel change. The past tense has a strengthened stem vowel and the potential tense has a weakened stem vowel. To illustrate, here is the verb ot 'to say, speak' in all three tenses:

Sem ot. She speaks.
Sem ut. She spoke.
Sem at. She may speak, will speak, can speak.

Aspect is marked by the insertion of the semi-vowels /ʷ/ and /ʲ/. The simple aspect undergoes no change, as you can see by the example above. The perfect aspect is indicated by /ʷ/ inserted before the stem vowel. The initiate aspect inserts /ʲ/ before the stem vowel. Thus, in the simple tense, ot would become:

Sem ot. She speaks.
Sem uot/wot. She has spoken.
Sem iot/jot. She begins to speak.

The other tenses would simply change the vowel, then insert the appropriate semi-vowel.

Sem wut. She had spoken.
Sem jut. She began to speak.

Meaning of the Tenses

The present tense indicates that the action is taking place now, or takes place on a regular basis. It corresponds to the simple present or the present progressive in English.

Sem ot. She speaks. She is speaking.

The past tense indicates that an action took place before the present. It usually corresponds to the simple past tense in English.

Sem ut. She spoke.

The potential tense is more unusual for English speakers. It indicates that the action has not already taken place, and is not taking place now. Therefore, it can correspond to the future tense in English, or to expressions with the modals 'might' and 'may', or even to expressions with 'can'.

Sem at. She will speak. She might speak. She can speak.

Meaning of the Aspects

The simple aspect indicates merely the occurrence (or potential occurrence in the potential tense) of an action.

Sem ot. She is speaking.
Sem at. She can speak.

The perfect aspect indicates that an action was or is complete before the time specified by the tense. In the potential case, it indicates more certainty than usual, like emphatic 'will' in English, as in: I WILL do my homework!

Sem uot. She has spoken.
Sem wut. She had spoken.
Sem uat. She will speak.

The initiate aspect indicates that an action begins or began relative to the time specified by the tense, but does not indicate that the action is complete. Thus, it can sometimes correspond to the imperfect tense in some languages. It would certainly be used if the action is interrupted by something else.

Sem jot. She begins to speak.
Sem jut. She began to speak. OR She was speaking.
Sem jat. She may begin to speak. OR She may speak.

Verb Suffixes

The same suffixes that attach to nouns can be attached to verbs in any tense as well. Below is a summary of their meanings.

-ía has a general meaning of 'with' and can be used to form subordinate clauses or relative clauses.
-uí is the negative marker in Paiodd.
-ir indicates the location where an action took place, thus it corresponds to English clauses with 'where', like 'where they ate'
-é marks temporal and conditional clauses.

Here are some examples to illustrate:

Sem ot zoralsía rim. She speaks that people might hear.
Gué utuí. I didn't speak.
Nir ashidmré felosir nir. You sleep where you live.
Gué ashidmra eiusé nir. I was sleeping when you came.

Adjectives and Adverbs

Because of the nature of the Verbal and Nominal declension system, most adjectival and adverbial meanings are expressed by inflected nouns with appropriate suffixes. Thus, to say 'big', one uses the noun for 'size' in the nominal inflection with the suffix -ía.

Íagué suró hapía. My father is big. 

To say that someone spoke loudly, we use the noun for sound, with the prefix æ-, 'more, much' in verbal inflection with the suffix -ía.

Ǽtézía piver ut. The king spoke loudly.

Comparative and Superlative

Comparatives of both adjectives and adverbs are formed by the prefixes a- 'more' and pai- 'most, great, high'.

hapía big ahapía bigger paihapía biggest, very big
evamía quietly aevamía more quietly paievamía most quietly

When the noun already begins in a or æ, or pai-, the comparative prefixes can be attached to the pronoun sem to form a separate word modifying the inflected noun.

Ǽtézía piver ot. Asem ætézía tuoss ot. Paitézía jul ot.
The king speaks loudly. The poet speaks louder. The gods speak loudest.