Amal: Difference between revisions

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= Introduction =
= Introduction =


'''Amal''' is meant to be a personal conlang and despite appearances and structure is not intended as an [[Wikipedia:International_auxiliary_language|'''IAL''']].
Vocabulary and grammatical features are inspired by or taken directly from:
* [[Wiktionary:Category:Arabic language|Arabic]] ('''ara''')
* [[Wiktionary:Category:Basque language|Basque]] ('''bas''')
* [[Wiktionary:Category:Japanese language|Japanese]] ('''jap''')
* [[Wiktionary:Category:Quechua language|Quechua]] ('''que''')
* [[Wiktionary:Category:South Slavic languages|South Slavic]] ('''sla''')
* [[Wiktionary:Category:Spanish language|Spanish]] ('''spa''')
* [[Wiktionary:Category:Turkish language|Turkish]] ('''tur''')


= Phonology =
= Phonology =
Line 32: Line 22:
= Verbal Morphology =
= Verbal Morphology =


The verbal inflection of Amal is quite simple. There are only three tenses (present, past, future), plus the conditional and the imperative, each marked by person and number. There are two aspects (perfective, continuous) and various moods that are also marked on the verb (usually between the verb root and the person).  
The verbal inflection of Amal is quite simple. There are only three tenses (present, past, future), plus the conditional and the imperative, each marked by person and number.  


== conjugation ==
== conjugation ==
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| '''icum'''<br>they drink || '''iciyum'''<br>they drank || '''icuyum'''<br>they will drink
| '''icum'''<br>they drink || '''iciyum'''<br>they drank || '''icuyum'''<br>they will drink
|}
|}
== aspect ==
=== perfective ===
The perfective infix [[Amal/affix#e|-eb-, -er-]] indicates that, in the time context of the sentence, the action is completed.
* '''iceba'''
: drink-PFV-3sg
: ''She has drunk.''
The tense of ''-eb'' can be changed:
* '''ediban ilya'''
: make-PST.PFV-1sg 3sg-OBL
: ''I had made it.''
* '''ucahuban ilya'''
: study-FUT.PFV-1sg 3sg-OBL
: ''I will have studied it.''
=== continuous ===
The continuous infix [[Amal/affix#e|-ej-]] indicates that, in the time context of the sentence, the action is occurring continuously.
* '''kecejan'''
: breathe-CONT-1sg
: ''I am breathing.''
* '''namuje'''
: sleep-FUT.CONT-2sg
: ''You will be sleeping.''
== moods ==
The various moods in Amal tend to be marked by an infix attached to the verb, but can also be expressed by auxiliary verbs.
=== irrealis ===
The irrealis mood is used to indicate that something is unreal, or in doubt, or merely possible or desired.  It can suggest a future that is more-or-less probable. It can also convey a polite request. It can be used in various situations where many languages would use subjunctive or conditional moods, and it often corresponds to the English word "would":
* '''icesuk'''
: drink-IRR-1pl
: ''If we drink''
The '''e''' in the irrealis infix changes to '''i''' for past tense and '''u''' for future.
* '''amisa'''
: love-PST.IRR-3sg
: ''If she loved''
* '''kucusumla'''
: cook-FUT.IRR-3pl-NEG
: ''If they will not cook''
* '''cadusan inti bunyusa'''
: be.happy-FUT.IRR-1sg sun shine-FUT.IRR-3sg
: ''I would be happy if the sun were shining.''
=== imperative ===
The imperative is formed by adding [[Amal/affix#e|-e]] to the verb root.
* '''nobe!'''
: give-IMP
: ''Give!''
* '''yemeyuk!'''
: eat-IMP-1pl
: ''Let's eat!''


=== interrogative ===
=== interrogative ===
Line 176: Line 94:
== gender ==
== gender ==


Gender is typically not indicated. If necessary, nouns may be suffixed with '''-ú''' (male) or '''-á''' (female):


* '''kavalú / kavalá'''
: a stallion / a mare


== case ==
== case ==


'''Amal''' has separate endings for each of the five cases, they are invariable and are always final.
=== nominative ===
The basic form of each noun, and the one cited in the [[Amal/lexicon|lexicon]], is the nominative singular. All the other forms can be derived from it.
=== oblique ===
The oblique is formed by adding '''$$$''' the end of the noun.
=== instrumental ===
The instrumental is formed by adding '''$$$''' the end of the noun.
=== genitive ===
The genitive is formed by adding '''$$$''' the end of the noun.
=== locative ===


The locative is formed by adding '''$$$''' the end of the noun.


= Other parts of speech =
= Other parts of speech =
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== adverbs ==
== adverbs ==


Adverbs can be formed from all verbs by adding [[Amal/affix#j|-ji]] to the root. (If the verb already ends in '''j''', just add -'''ad'''.) They are not inflected.
* '''guzek''' - be beautiful >> '''guzuji''' - beautifully
* '''tobek''' - be good >> '''tobji''' - well
* '''genyek''' - be rich >> '''genyeji''' - richly
* '''yavek''' - be slow >> '''yavaji''' - slowly
* '''fasek''' - be fluent >> '''fasaji''' - beautifully


== personal pronouns ==
== personal pronouns ==
Line 231: Line 119:
Like nouns, pronouns are inflected by case, but are very irregular:
Like nouns, pronouns are inflected by case, but are very irregular:


{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; width:400px; height:200px;"
|-
!
! ''nomative''
! ''genitive''
! ''accusative''
! ''dative''
! ''instrumental''
|-
! ''1sg''
| '''na'''
| '''nai'''
| '''nun'''
| '''eyan'''
| '''anec'''
|-
! ''2sg''
| '''te'''
| '''tai'''
| '''tun'''
| '''eyat'''
| '''atec'''
|-
! ''3sg''
| '''il'''
| '''ilai'''
| '''ilun'''
| '''eyil'''
| '''ilec'''
|-
! ''1pl''
| '''nuk'''
| '''ukai'''
| '''ukun'''
| '''eyuk'''
| '''ukec'''
|-
! ''2pl''
| '''tum'''
| '''utai'''
| '''utun'''
| '''eyut'''
| '''utec'''
|-
! ''3pl''
| '''hum'''
| '''umai'''
| '''umun'''
| '''eyum'''
| '''umec'''
|}


== relative and interrogative pronouns ==
== relative and interrogative pronouns ==


The demonstratives are fairly straightforward.
* '''bu''' - this
* '''su''' - that
* '''yu''' - that (over there)
The plural is prefixed:
* '''imbu''' - these
* '''imsu''' - those
* '''imyu''' - those (over there)


The interrogative a relative pronouns are the same:
The interrogative a relative pronouns are the same:

Revision as of 09:38, 26 February 2016

See also:

Introduction

Phonology

24 of the 26 Latin letters are used, leaving w and x unused. All letters are pronounced like their IPA equivalents with a few exceptions.

  • c - /ʃ/, /t͡ʃ/ or /t͡s/ without confusion
  • e - /e/ or /ɛ/ without confusion
  • i - /i/ or /ɪ/ without confusion
  • j - /ʒ/
  • u - /w/ when followed by another vowel
  • y - /j/
  • ai - /a͡ɪ/ (this is the only diphthong in Amal)

Verbal Morphology

The verbal inflection of Amal is quite simple. There are only three tenses (present, past, future), plus the conditional and the imperative, each marked by person and number.

conjugation

There is only one regular paradigm or conjugation. There are a few irregular verbs, covered later. The personal endings are uniform within each conjugation:

  • -an - 1sg - I
  • -e - 2sg - you
  • -a - 3sg - he / she
  • -uk - 1pl - we
  • -ut - 2pl - you
  • -um - 3pl - they

tense

Verbs are listed in the lexicon in the infinitive: tenek, amek, hamak. The verb root, the basis of most of the tenses, is formed by removing the endings -ek or -mak. The past tense is indicated by -i(y)-, and the future tense by -u(y)-.

icek
to drink
Present Past Future
1sg ican
I drink		 iciyan
I drank		 icuyan
I will drink
2sg ice
you drink		 iciye
you drank		 icuye
you will drink
3sg ica
she/he/it drinks		 iciya
she/he/it drank		 icuya
she/he/it will drink
1pl icuk
we drink		 iciyuk
we drank		 icuyuk
we will drink
2pl icut
you (pl) drink		 iciyut
you (pl) drank		 icuyut
you (pl)will drink
3pl icum
they drink		 iciyum
they drank		 icuyum
they will drink

interrogative

The interrogative is formed by adding -em to the verb root.

  • inti bunyema?
sun shine-Q-3sg
Is the sun shining?

negative

The negative is formed by adding -la at the end of the verb construction.

  • savanla
know-1sg-NEG
I do not know.

Nominal morphology

Nouns in Amal have five cases (nominative, genitive, accusative, dative, instrumental), and two numbers (singular and plural). The two genders (masculine and feminine) can be shown but are usually not indicated.

number

Plural nouns are formed by appending -m to nouns ending in vowels or -im to nouns ending in consonants. This does not alter the stress:

  • bet > betim — house > houses
  • ajba > ajbam — answer > answers

gender

case

Other parts of speech

adjectives

Amal does not have adjectives as a distinct part of speech. Instead, many intransitive verbs can be used as adjectives, in which case they follow the noun they modify. (ceket coat, and yacek to be wet)

  • ceket yaca
coat be.wet-3sg
The wet coat or The coat is wet

adverbs

personal pronouns

Pronouns in Amal are marked for number, person, and case. There are three persons. The stand-alone personal pronouns are not used widely as the person is evident from the personal verb ending. They are used for emphasis only in their simple form as the verb form itself already points to the person. This is similar to Spanish where a person will say comprendo - "I understand" instead of Yo comprendo - "I understand".

Like nouns, pronouns are inflected by case, but are very irregular:


relative and interrogative pronouns

The interrogative a relative pronouns are the same:

  • cika - q - how
  • kam - q - how much/many
  • ma - q - what
  • imta - q - when
  • narye - q - where
  • mada - q - which
  • man - q - who
  • miyin - q - whose
  • ce/ra - q - why
  • hada - pro - everything
  • hara - pro - everyone
  • nul - pro - nothing

Derivational morphology

nominalization

verbalization

prepositions

compound words

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