Armavi

Armavi
Pronounced:	/armaβi/
Timeline and Universe:	Alamanti
Species:	human
Spoken:	Parizhia, Parsa, Avustrea, Iniwicia, Armaja, Ispirtia, North Ipriqia, Armavi colonies
Total speakers:	90 million native, 125 million total
Writing system:	Armavi script
Genealogy:	Ayartaic  Eryanan   Parizhian    Armavi
Typology
Morphological type:	Agglutinaitve
Morphosyntactic alignment:	Nominative-Accusative
Basic word order:	SOV
Credits
Creator:	Nadeem Ahmad
Created:	May 2006

Armavi is a conlang originally designed as an auxlang for Turkish, hence it shares very many properties with Turkish. Over time, Armavi grew into a fully fledged conlang with its own conworld and conculture

Distribution

Armavi has a total of 90 million native speakers and 35 million speakers who learned the language as a second or third (etc) language.

The majority of speakers are concentrated in and around Parizhia, East Avrupea, and western Aghantia. There are also many speakers in north Ipriquia, however there, the language is inn decline in favour of Ipriquian-Avrupean languages.

Armavi is also spoken in the Armavi colonies, which are scattered throughout the globe, mostly on the Aral continent, just north of Parizhia.

Armavi is being considered as one of the base-languages for the International Language due to its ease of learning.

Phonology

Vowels

Armavi contains the following vowels:

Armavi vowels with Example Words

Vowel sound		Example
IPA	Description	Transliteration	English translation
monophthongs
i	Close front unrounded vowel	dil	'tongue', 'language'
y	Close front rounded vowel	günbet	'dome'
ɯ	Close back unrounded vowel	ımrtasa	'infantry'
ɛ	Close-mid front unrounded vowel	del	'heart'
œ	Open-mid front rounded vowel	sönmeğ	'to play the fiddle / violin'
a	Open front unrounded vowel	halet	'health'
o	Close-mid back rounded vowel	misos	'hate'
u	Close back rounded vowel	uğatar	'large drum'

As well as this, there are some diphthongs:

ei is pronounced /i/, and harmonises like i

ai is pronounced /e/, and harmonises like e

As well as this, any unrounded vowel followed by u, the u is pronounced /ɸ/ before unvoiced consonants, and /β/ everywhere else

In any other cases where two vowels are next to each other (which is very rare), they are pronounced individually.

Consonants

Armavi also contains the following consonants (transliteration as well as IPA is given):

Consonants
	Bilabial		Labiod.		Dental		Alveolar		Post-alv.		Palatal		Velar		Glottal
Nasal		m (m)				n (n)								ŋ (n)
Plosive	p (p)	b (b)			t (t)	d (d)							k (k)	g (g)
Fricative	ɸ (f)	β (v)			θ (ť)	ð (ď)	s (s)	z (z)	ʃ (ş)	ʒ (ž)	ç (x)	ʝ (ğ)	x (x)	ɣ (ğ)	h (h)
Affricate					ts (ts)
Approximants												j (y)
Trill								r (r)
Lateral Approximant								l (l)				ʎ (l)
Lateral Fricative								ɬ (l)

Notes

• The sounds ç and ʝ are allophones of x and ğ respectively if they are followed by any front vowels or the approximant j (y)
• The sound ɬ is an allophone of l when it occurs on the end of words. When suffixes are attached that start with a vowel, it retains its pronounciation. ʎ is an allophone of l before /j/ (y) or /i/ (i) and another vowel.

Vowel harmony

	Front		Back
	Unrounded	Rounded	Unrounded	Rounded
High	i	ü	ı	u
Low	e	ö	a	o

Vowel harmony is a big part of Armavi (and all Ayartaic languages). There are two types of vowel harmony in Armavi:

Front / back distinction

This distinction places the vowels in 2 groups of 4. There are 2 types of vowels here, front vowels, and back vowels. The rules of Armavi state that a (native) word cannot contain both front and back vowels. As a result, suffixes mutate to fit this requirement.

The majority of suffixes that make use of this vowel harmony are of type a / e, however, there are a few others. Any suffix listed as type i, however, takes rounding harmony.

Examples: (using the suffix ver, which makes the plural)

Enüşever - girls

Pesarvar - boys

Rounding disctinction

Using the above table, we can see that there are two classes of vowels here as well, round, and unrounded. There is a secondary rule that i and ı tend to become ü and u respectively after rounded vowels.

Examples: (using the suffix lik, which makes abstract nouns)

Genclik - Youth

Düstlük - Friendship

Duşluk - Openness

Imrlık - Being on foot

Consonant mutation

As well as considering vowel harmony when adding suffixes, there is another factor, called consonant mutation. During consonant mutation, unvoiced consonants change.

Change to stems

This applies when we are adding a suffix beginning with a vowel or the letter v to any word that has the consonants k, p, t, c, f at the end. The changes are as follows:

k --- ğ

p --- b

t --- d

c --- j

f --- v

Examples:

Kitap (book) --- Kitabım (my book)

Toğuc (bone) --- Toğuja (into the bone)

Lefaf (envelope) --- Lefavvar (envelopes)

Change to suffixes

This applies when a word ends in k, p, t, c, f, s, ş, h, x, ť and the suffix begins with d, b, g, ğ, j, z, ž, (or the other way round). In these cases,

ğ --- k

p --- p

d --- t

g --- k

z --- s

ž --- ş

Examples:

Gitmeğ (to go) --- Gittim (I went)

Kitap (book) --- Kitaptan (Away from the book)

Emezmeğ (to buy) --- Emesşer (customer)

The verb "To be"

The verb "to be" has three different ways of formation in Armavi.

Copular "to be"

This is by far the most common form of the verb "to be" and exists as suffixes which are attached onto the noun.

Armavi copula

Tense	Past	Present	Future
1st Person sing	-dim	-im	-ažam
2nd Person sing	-diş	-iş	-ažaş
3rd Person sing	-di		-až
1st Person plur	-dimiz	imiz	-ažız
2nd Person plur	-diniş	iniş	-ažış
3rd Person plur	-diyver	eyver	aavar

Note that this is not as regular as would be expected. Also, any other mood etc must be expressed using the definite verb "to be" (see below)

Verbal "to be"

The verb "to be" is represented by the verb baynmağ. This declines like any other normal verb.

Occasionally, the noun which someone is being can take the accusative case. This is common in eastern dialects, however, it is rare in the west.

In Illinia, einmeğ is used instead. This also declines normally.

No "to be"

When using a pronoun, any form of the verb to be is completely omitted. To indicate tense, time phrases are used, such as deyvarda (in the past), ayartta (in the future), emrüz (today), or ferda (tomorrow).

Morphology

Noun suffixes

There are essentially 6 noun cases in Armavi. They are:

Case endings
Absolute	—
Definite-accusative	-(s)i
Dative	-(n)e
Locative	-(n)de
Ablative	-(n)den
Genitive	-(y)en

They always go at the very end of a noun.

Notes: The absolute case serves the purpose of nominative, vocative, and indefinite-accusative. The accusative is used for definite direct objects.

Examples:

Amfora şekasttım

I broke an amphora

Amforası şekasttım

I broke the amphora

The dative case indicates to where:

Eve gittim

I went home

This case is also used for some objects - objects that are grammatically indirect but English considers direct. There is a slight difference in meaning when any form of accusative is used:

Sorjene divitti

She caught sight of the sun

Sorjesi divitti

She was looking at the sun

In western dialects, the dative case refers to a direct object where the action happened only temporarily whereas in these dialects, the definitive-accusative is used for longer actions (not in standard Armavi):

Epistülesi sene ekrivdim*

I wrote a letter to you

Epistülene sene ekrivdim*

I was writing a letter to you

*Students are discouraged from using this construction as it is only common in the Armavi spoken in western Avustrya Kücük.

The locative indicates the location of something.

Evde cagittim

I ran around within the house

Her perşerden ekolda

All the students are in school

The ablative case indicates from where:

Evden gittim

I left home

The ablative can also be used in comparisons (see later for more detail):

Ondan cabuktar

She is faster than he is

As well as what something is made of:

Xaktan ev

Sandstone house

As well as the cause of something* in passives:

Menden yıkılıyr

It was broken by my

*The suffix -toloo represents "because of." This does not imply that the suffixed noun was the agent of the action, however, may have influenced it indirectly.

The ablative also indicates a sense of "out of". See the following examples for clarification:

Dev pesarvardan

Two of the boys

Aželterin enüşeverden

The prettiest of the girls

Perižye vir ğuyuktarın mülkver Ağantyanda

Parizhia is one of the strongest countries in Aghantia.

Note the use of vir' as an indefinite article marker in the last example. When this happens, vir' goes before all other adjectives, instead of its usual position next to the noun.

The genetive is used to convey possession:

Enüşen ana

The girl's mother

It is also used to modify spatial nouns as postpositions:

Even icinde kedim var

Inside the house, there is my cat

Compare with:

Xunaşinver beden icin var

The blood vessels go through the body

There is also a plural suffix, -ver, which goes directly onto the noun. However, this suffix is not used with numbers unless an approximate amount is stated. Here, the definitive-accusative cannot be used, however, it can on normal plurals:

Examples:

Dev bülbül gözdüm

I saw two songbirds

Dev bülbülü gözdüm

I saw the two songbirds

Dev bülbülver gözdüm

I saw approximately two songbirds

There are other important noun suffixes that are not officially recognised as case endings, however, may serve some purpose there. They are covered later in this article under Armavi Lexicon.

Verb suffixes

Verb tenses

There are 5 basic tenses in Armavi:

Syntax

Simple syntax

The basic word order in Armavi is SOV - the subject goes first, followed by the object, with the verb coming last.

However, with adverbs or time or place, the time phrase always goes to the start. Indirect objects go before the verb. Any nouns that are used as an instrument go after the subject. Any other noun phrases or adverbial phrases can be placed anywhere.

Of course, these rules are loose and change between dialects, or when something is emphasised (it is placed before the verb, or at the start)

Questions

Closed questions

Closed questions take the interrogative mood of the verb. This is formed by taking the personal ending off the verb and putting the suffix me- before it:

• Gidiyrim I am going ---> Gidiyr meyim? Am I going?
• Rüvdüş You went ---> Rüvdü meş? Did you go?
• Koştulažğ S/he has been killed ---> Koştulažğ ma? Has s/he been killed?

Ahmet vazara gitti me, ekmeği xeritteğ?

Did Ahmet go to the shop to buy bread

Ahmet vazara gitti ekmeği xerit medeğ?

Was it to buy bread that Ahmet went to the shop?

This is usually accompanied by a change in intonation.

As well as this, there is the particle ne?, which can be put at the end of sentences, as if to ask for confirmation:

Ahmet vazara gitti ekmeği xeritteğ, ne?

Ahmet has gone to the shop to buy bread, hasn't he?

In more archaic languages, the particle aya, which is placed at the start of the clause, serves both these functions:

Aya Ahmet vazara gitti ekmeği xeritteğ?

Ahmet has gone to the shop to buy bread, hasn't he?

Did Ahmet go to the shop to buy bread

Open questions

Open questions are characterised by question words:

• Ne - What, which
• Neyec - Who
• Neyže - Where
• Ne bera - Why, what for
• Ne vekt - When

These question words simply take the position the answer would in a sentence.

Neyec var?

Who's there

Neyi keriyriş?

What are you doing

Meni neyžene gideniyriş?

Where are you leading me?

Ne bera şuvu kerdiş?

What did you do that for?

Ne vekt sinemana gidiyriş?

When are you going to the cinema?

There are other question words:

• Kodam - How much, how many

The word kodam is borrowed from Aryan, and it always goes at the start of the clause.

Kodam yeyilşer yedi?

How much food did he eat?

Kodam vekt tvaletvere gidiyriş

How many times are you going to the toilets?

Kodam portmoneme var?

How much is in my wallet?

• Ce ... - How ... (an adverbial quantifier)

Used in a similar way to kodam:

Emrüz ferda ce ğuyukuş?

How tall are you nowadays?

• Cera - Why

Like kodam, this word is borrowed from Aryan and also goes at the start of clauses.

Cera osu ketlediş?

Why did you hit her?

• Cetor - How, in what way

Likewise, goes at the start of the sentence:

Cetor haletin?

How are you?

Cetor bužana geliyrimiz?

How did we get here?

Subordinate clauses

Formation of subordinate clauses are generally easy. They take the position of a noun phrase depending on the type of subordinate clause it is (with a few exceptions)

Adverbial time clauses

These are clauses of when X happened, Y happened. For this, the verb in the subordinate clause must be turned into a past participle by adding the suffix -erte / -arta (see further on for more detail on participles).

Examples:

Gelmeğ (to go) --- Gelerte (having gone)

Aklamağ (to clean) --- Aklarta (having cleaned)

As time phrases always go at the start of clauses, likewise this type of subordinate clause goes at the start.

Examples:

Evim gelinertem, annem portu baz kerdi.

My house having been reached by me, my girlfried opened the door

When I reached home, my girlfriend opened the door

Köştülerte, düşmenver eğitti

Having been defeated, the enemies fled

The enemies fled once they had been defeated

Dev pe-orbitalvar hemeşe kererte, siğma-exette saxtılar

When two p-orbitals overlap, a σ-bond is formed

Relative clauses

There are 2 ways of forming relative clauses:

• The most common way is by Participles (see below). This is very simple, especially in simpler relative clauses where the entire clause can be expressed in a participle. The participle clause goes after the noun it is attached to.

Examples:

Enüşesi sužada hören dittim

There sitting the girl I saw

I saw the girl who was sitting there

Note: this is different from "I saw the girl when she was sitting there, which would be: "Şužada hörerte, enüşesi dittim"

Hafte-ye-piş madayesi mene deydeyilerte leğdim

I read the book you lent me last week

• The other way of expressing relative clauses is with relative pronouns and other related words. This is very uncommon and participles should be used wherever possible. The important lexical units for this type of construction are:
  • Ke --- who, what, which
  • Hemciz --- whatever
  • Hemkis --- whoever
  • Hemje --- wherever

Like normal nouns, these decline like normal nouns.

Examples:

Hemjene gider, daşarım.

Wherever she goes, I follow her

Kelem kele yordum emrüz şekaste.

The pen with which I used to write is now broken

Hemcizi istiyriş istiyrim

I like whatever you like

Conjunctions

Conjunctions are rarely used in spoken Armavi, but literary Armavi dating from 1600 - 1800 AI are littered with them. The main ones are:

• aat - then
• ve - and
• tağ - in order that
• ke - that (used for expressing degrees of adjectives)
• ama - but, however
• at - but (switching from positive to negative)
• cünke - because

All these are borrowed from other languages. Out of the above list, only ve, ke, and tağ occur in modern Armavi.

To construct a sentence using conjunctions is easy. The conjunction simply comes between two normal sentences. Often a comma is placed after the preposition.

However, modern Armavi uses a completely different method of indicating conjunctins. Suffixes are added to the end of the verb in the second clause. These suffixes change in accordance with the laws of vowel harmony and consonant mutation. They are:

• -den / -dan / -ten / -tan - and
• -en ğuu / -an ğuu - then
• -eher / -ahar - after
• -ele / -ala - before
• -işle / -ışla / -üşle / -uşla - while, during
• -tağ / -teğ / -dağ / -değ - so that, in order that
• -at / -et - but, however
• -toloo / -tölöö / -doloo / -dölöö - because
• -el / -al - that (used in degrees of adjectives

Examples:

Gittim evim kleftilen ğuu

I went and then my house was robbed

Ahmet vazara gitti ekmegi xeritteğ

Ahmet went to the shop to buy bread

Tvaletvere gitmelidim rekreasyon kerişle

I had to go to the toilet during break

Note that personal endings and tense suffixes are only applied to the second verb if they are different to the main clause independently (as demonstrated in Example 1).

Subordination with verbs

Subordination with verbs happens when you want to say "I want you to go" or "I believe that he is not guilty."

In these constructions, using the infinitive is necessary. The infinitive is formed by the suffix -me (+ possessive endings).

A problem occurs, in that the infinitive is tenseless. In sentences where the main clause is in a different tense from the subordinate, time phrases are used, such as deyvarda (in the past), ayartta (in the future), emrüz (today), or ferda (tomorrow).

Examples

Gelmeni istiyrim.

I want you to go.

Deyvarda Ahmet vazara gitmesi veliyrim

I know that Ahmet went to the shop yesterday.

Ayartta şokoladan baynavalmamı fekr keriyr meyiş?

Do you think that I will be able to keep away from chocolate in the future?

Modal verbs

A similar construction to the above is using modal verbs. However, here, the infinitive does not need possessive endings and has the usual infinitive ending -meğ as found in the dictionary.

Examples:

Bedminton xayrmağı calışıyrım

I am trying to play badminton

Eve gitmeği istiyrim

I want to go home

Subordination in comparisons

These are constructions of the type "I am faster than I was yesterday" or "He is as tall as she is short". Like the above constructions, this is also formed using an infinitive.

Examples:

Hayarda baynmağdan cabuktar

He is faster than he was yesterday.

Kücük baynmasıvı kelli

He is as tall as she is short.

An exception occurs when the verb in the subordinate clause isn't certain - i.e "In someone's opinion" etc. Here, the dubitative mood of the verb is utilised:

Bayna amağıdan coğun ažel

She is much more pretty than she thinks

Bayna amasıdan coğun ažel

She is much more pretty than someone else thinks

Order of Adjectives

There are several factors to be considered when putting adjectives in order before a noun.

Numbers always go immediately before the noun. An exception to this is when the number 1 (vir) is used as an indefinite object marker (in some western dialects), in which case it goes before any other adjectives.

With other adjectives, they are ordered in order of increasing intensity. That is to say, the most intense adjective goes closer to the noun, and the least intense adjective goes furthest from the noun.

Compare the following:

1. Ažel kücük enüşe
2. Kücük ažel enüşe

In Example 1, the girl is very small and slightly pretty, in example 2, the girl is very pretty and only slightly small.