Inote

Inote
Pronounced:	/InOte/
Timeline and Universe:	????
Species:	Inote
Spoken:	Nenekir
Total speakers:	8 million
Writing system:	Inote Alphabetic Script
Genealogy:	Keru-Inoten  Inotic   Inote
Typology
Morphological type:	Agglutinating
Morphosyntactic alignment:	Nominative-Accusative
Basic word order:	SVO
Credits
Creator:	Sectori
Created:	September 2005

The Inote language is a simple agglutinating language. It was originally Sectori's n00blang, but underwent a major grammar revision in late April 2006.

Phonology/Orthography

Inote should be written with their own alphabet, untypeable. For convenience, this article will be transcribed in the Latin script.

Consonants
	Bilabial		Labiod.		Dental		Alveolar		Post-alv.		Palatal		Velar		Glottal
Nasal								n
Plosive	p						t	d					k
Fricative							s
Approximant								ɹ

Vowels
	Front		Near-front		Central		Near-back		Back
High	(i)									(u)
Near-high		ɪ						ʊ
High-mid			(e)							(o)
Mid					(ə)
Low-mid			ɛ							ɔ
Near-low
Low					a

The vowels enclosed in parentheses occur only word-finally. Inote is (C)V(C). However, as a rule, Inote does not allow two vowels or two consonants to come in contact in the same word. Orthographically, /ə ɛ ɪ ɔ ʊ/ are represented as < a e i o u >, as are /a e i o u/ < a e i o u >.

Nominal Morphology

Nouns agglutinate to show their case: nominative, accusative, genitive, or dative. These cases show a noun's function in a sentence. The nominative case marks the subject of a sentence, the one who completes a verb action. The accusative case marks the direct object of a sentence, the one who is acted upon by the subject. The dative case marks the indirect object of a sentence, the one for whom a verb is done. The genitive case marks possession. In addition to their normal functions, the accusative and dative cases function as the objects of certain prepositions. Which case a preposition causes will be indicated in the preposition's definition.

Noun Declension

All nouns decline the same way: by adding one of seven suffixes to their end to mark case. Those eight suffixes are as follows:

Case	Singular	Plural
Nom	-ø	-(e)n
Acc	-(n)a	-(a)n
Dat	-(n)i	-(i)n
Gen	-(n)o	-(o)n

The vowels and ns enclosed in parentheses are to make sure that a word does not place a vowel next to a vowel or a consonant next to a consonant. Here is the declension of a sample noun: iner (hunt, cf<ineru, to hunt)

Case	Singular	Plural
Nom	iner-ø	iner-en
Acc	iner-a	iner-an
Dat	iner-i	iner-in
Gen	iner-o	iner-on

Here is the declension of a sample noun that ends in a vowel: nina (cloud, cf<niner, far)

Case	Singular	Plural
Nom	nina-ø	nina-n
Acc	nina-na	nina-n
Dat	nina-ni	nina-n
Gen	nina-no	nina-n

This declension pattern is true of pronouns as well. Pronouns will be covered more later.

Verbal Morphology

Inote verbs, like nouns, agglutinate. As with many of Sectori's languages, Inote verbs show three moods: indicative, subjunctive, and imperative. Similar to, for example, 'Ukana'akau, Inote also shows three tenses: past, present, and future. Finally, verbs show person, number, and time of day. Yes, you read that correctly. Time of day. Inote verbs reflect whether their actions occur between sunrise and sunset or between sunset and sunrise. Inote verb infinitives end in -ru. Here is a table of verb affixes, which replace the infinitive ending.

	Ind. Pres.	Ind. Past	Ind. Fut.	Subj. Pres.	Subj. Past.	Subj. Fut.	Imp. Pres.
1Ps Day	-runa	-rana	-rona	-runat	-ranat	-ronat	-runak
1Ps Night	-rune	-rane	-rone	-runet	-ranet	-ronet	-runet
2Ps Day	-ruta	-rata	-rota	-rutat	-ratat	-rotat	-rutak
2Ps Night	-rute	-rate	-rote	-rutet	-ratet	-rotet	-rutek
3Pm Day	-rura	-rara	-rora	-rurat	-rarat	-rorat	-rurak
3Pm Night	-rure	-rare	-rore	-ruret	-raret	-roret	-rurek
3Pf Day	-ruka	-raka	-roka	-rukat	-rakat	-rokat	-rukak
3Pf Night	-ruke	-rake	-roke	-ruket	-raket	-roket	-rukek
3Ps Day	-rupa	-rapa	-ropa	-rupat	-rapat	-ropat	-rupak
3Ps Night	-rupe	-rape	-rope	-rupet	-rapet	-ropet	-rupek
1Pp Day	-runan	-ranan	-ronan	-runanet	-rananet	-ronanet	-runanik
1Pp Night	-runen	-ranen	-ronen	-runenet	-ranenet	-ronenet	-runenik
2Pp Day	-rutan	-ratan	-rotan	-rutanet	-ratanet	-rotanet	-rutanik
2Pp Night	-ruten	-raten	-roten	-rutenet	-ratenet	-rotenet	-rutenik
3Pp Day	-rupan	-rapan	-ropan	-rupanet	-rapanet	-ropanet	-rupanik
3Pp Night	-rupen	-rapen	-ropen	-rupenet	-rapenet	-ropenet	-rupenik

The key to the abbreviations may be found here.

Uses of the Subjunctive

Important to know, always. The subjunctive is used, as in most of Sectori's languages, in relative clauses, or following relative pronouns or conjunctions other than and and or. It also is used in sentences expressing doubt, possibility, and insecurity. So, per inerutat, but you might hunt, but not an inerutat, and you might hunt.

Compound Tenses

There are a number of verb constructions that can be used to make so-called "compound" tenses: perfect, imperfect, progressive. To form the perfect tense, you need to know how to form the past participle (also the adjective form) of a verb. The past participle is made by replacing the final -u in the infinitive with -onu.

• iperu>iperonu
• tireru>tireronu

Then, form the perfect tense by placing the past participle after an appropriately conjugated form of inuru (a verb in and of itself, to live). The perfect is equivalent to such constructions as English I have run, I will have lived, and the like.

• inurana iperonu: I had lived
• inurutat tireronu: you might have burned

To form the imperfect and progressive tenses, you must know how to form the present participle of a verb. The present participle is formed by replacing the final -u in the infinitive with -ot.

• iperu>iperot
• tireru>tirerot

Then, form the imperfect tense by placing the present participle of a verb after an appropriately conjugated form of iperu (to be). The imperfect is similar to such English constructions as I am running, I will be living, and the like. Form the progressive by placing the present participle of a verb after an appropriately conjugated form of tanoru (to go). The progressive is equivalent to English I am going to run, I was going to live, and the like.

• iperuna iperot: I am being
• tanorana tirerot: I was going to burn