Amal

See also:

• lexicon
  • affixes
  • thematic lexicon
  • verb charts
• phrases & translations

Introduction

Amal is meant to be a personal (or artistic) conlang and despite appearances and structure is not intended as an IAL. Amal is phonologically inspired by Semitic languages but incorporates aspects and lemma of numerous natural languages, in an effort to be euphonious and easy to use/learn.

Amal is an agglutinative language. Its vocabulary consists of basic roots which can be extended into different parts of speech, their meaning changed or modified, with various suffixes. Most of the suffixes are optional, so that there is a choice of what sort of information to convey with a given word.

• shab - related to knowledge and awareness

shabra - v - to know; to be aware (of)

shabedek - v - to teach; instruct (to cause to know)

ashab - n - knowledge; awareness

shabda - n - library; school

Phonology

consonants

	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labiovelar	Glottal
Plosives	p   b	t   d		k   g		ʔ (q)
Nasals	m	n
Fricatives		s	ʃ (sh)
Approximants		l	j (y)		w	h
Trill		r

Note: The glottal stop /ʔ/ q, is used as a "buffer" to keep vowels apart when adding suffixes.

vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i~ɪ		u~ʊ
Mid	e~ɛ		o
Open		a~ə

The vowels can be marked with an acute accent — á, é, í, ó, ú — for two purposes: to mark stress if it does not follow the most common pattern, or to differentiate words that are otherwise spelled identically.

• ai - /a͡ɪ/ (this is the only diphthong in Amal)
• o - /o/ is rare

Phonotactics

The only syllable pattern allowed is CVC (where V includes long vowels and diphthongs), however, the q /ʔ/ is dropped unless buffering between non-diphthongized vowels. This means that the de facto syllable structure is (C)V(C) .

Initial consonant clusters are prohibited, and the final consonant, if any, cannot be p, g, q, w, or y. Syllables cannot begin with wu or wo.

Clusters do occur medially, but are most often separated by /ɛ/.

All syllables should be emphatically pronounced, with a slight stress on the first syllable of a word (but on the second, if the word begins with a vowel).

Writing

This adaptation of the Hebrew alphabet can be used to write Amal. This is subject to change. Note: The letters named in red appear rarely, if at all.

Nouns

Forming nouns from roots follows a sort of vowel harmony.

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Number

Amal nouns can be singular, dual, or plural.

• kop-a - dog >> kop-ik - (two) dogs >> kop-im - dogs

• na- - collection of things
  • heti (tree) >> nahet (forest)
  • kopa (dog) >> nakopa (dog pack)

Mass nouns include liquids, powders, and substances, such as ura (water), ugum (sand), and heti (wood). They do not normally require determiners or the plural. However, one may add these to indicate specific examples or different types:

• buqura — this water (e.g. in the cup)
• hetim — woods (e.g. various kinds)

Gender

Amal does not have grammatical gender. However, where desired, masculine individuals may be distinguished by the suffix -ul, and feminine ones by -en.

• dashin - "sibling" >> dashul - "brother" >> dashen "sister"

Case

The basic form of each noun, and the one cited in dictionaries, is the nominative singular. All the other forms can be derived from it. Most nouns are formed from a basic root along with one of several nominalizer affixes.

• The accusative case (-wa / -u) marks the direct object of a verb. When marked as accusative, nouns will often drop the nominalizer affix.
  • mulwa - (the man) / mulikwa - (the (two) men) / mulimwa - (the men)

• The genitive case (-ya / -ai) is used to show possession and is placed immediately after the first member of a genitive construction.
  • mulya - (the man's) / mulikai - (the (two) men's) / mulimya - (the men's)

• The dative (bi-) for the beneficiary of an action, indirect object, or motion towards. Unlike other case endings, it has morphed to being a prefix and has only one form, used in all instances. The exception to this is the form used with pronouns, ib-.
  • bimul - (to the man) / bimulik - (to (the) (two) men) / bimulim - (to (the) men)

• The locative case (-da) indicates the place or time at which something happens. Its meaning can be translated by the English prepositions 'to', 'at', 'on', 'in' etc.
  • muleda - (in/at/by [the/a] man) / mulikeda - (in/at/by [the] (two) men) / mulimda - (in/at/by [the] men)

• The ablative case (-sha) carries the meaning "from, off of" and shows separation away from an object. It is also used in comparisons and in this case translates as "than".
  • mulesha - (from/off of [the/a] man) / muliksha - (from/off of [the] (two) men) / mulimsha - (from/off of [the] men)

• The instrumental/comitative case (-ha / -ak) denotes accompaniment. It is translated as "with", "together with", "by", "with" or "through". An important use of the instrumental is as an adverbial, since Amal lacks a morphological adverb.
  • mulha - (with/by/through/using [the/a] man) / mulikha - (with/by/through/using [the] (two) men) / mulimak - (with/by/through/using [the] men)

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".

	singular	plural
1	-an [ana]	-uk [nuk]
2	-ti / -e [ti]	-ut / -í [tum]
3	-u / -a / -il [il]	-um [hum]

case

	nominative	accusative	genitive	dative	locative	ablative	comitative
1s	-an	eyan	nai	iban	anda	ansha	anak
2s	-ti / -e	eti / eye	tai	ibti	tida	tisha	akti
3s	-u / -a / -il	eya	lai	ilib *	uda	usha	ilak
1p	-uk	eyuk	kai	ibuk	ukeda	uksha	ukha
2p	-ut / -í	eyut	ai	ibut	uteda (udda)	utsha	utak
3p	-um	eyum	mai	imbu *	umda	umsha	umak

• imbu and ilib are results of metathesis, a common occurrence in Amal.

direct object incorporation

Direct object pronouns are incorporated to the verb inflection. So, instead of eya aryeshan (I saw her), aryeshana is grammatical. The DO pronouns are not used when the object is specified. So, instead of kawalu aryeshanu (I saw (it) the horse), kawalu aryeshan is grammatical.

verb	tense / aspect / mood	subject	object
ary	-esh	-an	-a
see	simple past	1sg	3sg.FEM
I saw her.

pronominal suffixes

These are suffixes that cannot stand alone but are attached to the end of a verb, used to identify subject and object.

S/O	none	me	you	him/her/it	us	you (pl)	them
I	-an	-	-anti	-anu / -ana	-anuk *	-anut	-anum
you	-ti / -e	-eyan	-	-eya	-eyuk	-eyut *	-eyum
he/she/it	-u / -a / -il	-ilan	-ile / -uti	-ilu / -ila	-iluk	-ilut	-ilum
we	-uk	-	-ukti	-uku / -uka	-	-ukut	-ukum
you (pl)	-ut / -í	-utan	-	-uta	-utuk	-	-utum
they	-um	-uman	-umti	-umu	-umuk	-umut	-

If no subject suffix is given anywhere in the sentence, third person can be assumed.

Determiners

There are a limited number of deictics and quantifiers:

• bu- / be- - this (these)
• shu- / she- - that (those)
• daha - more
• hiwa - less; fewer
• irha - every; each
• iyin - same

• kesh - few; a little
• mu- – other; another
• ne - none
• shok - many; much
• tum - all
• we- – some; any

Unlike most modifiers, these appear before the noun: bumul (this man); irha tashida (at each city).

There are not, strictly speaking, any indefinite pronouns; but there are indefinite expressions, built from the above modifiers plus words like na (thing), eqin (person), eren (hour), guna (day). Expressions like irha eqin (every person) may be taken as equivalent to “everyone, everybody”. Time expressions are no exception: ‘now’ corresponds to expressions like bara (this time); or beren (this hour); irha guna (every day; always); wera (sometimes) etc. Choose the time period according to the meaning: you may swat flies away “every minute”, but kingdoms rise and fall “every age”.

Prepositions

Amal lacks a morphological preposition. To express locative concepts in Amal one mostly make use of one of the following case suffixes:

• -da - locative (in, at, on)

• kayan eshda nai

COP-1s house-LOC 1s.GEN

I'm in my house. / I'm at home.

• -sha - ablative (from, away from)

• halum essha mai

walk-3pl house-ABL 3pl.GEN

They're going away from their home.

Amal uses nouns to express more complex spatial relationships (these words are adverbs in English) this means that for example the word tumda should be interpreted as something like the everwhere place or all places. And a phase like tumda aryanti (meaning I see you everywhere) is literally I see you in all places. Likewise aryanti uyushda nai (meaning I see you to my left) is literally I see you in my left area.

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.

• dishkata yasha

/dɪʃkata jaʃa/

coat be.wet-3s

The coat is wet. [The wet coat.]

• pila kita

/pila kita/

elephant be.old-3s

The elephant is old. [The old elephant.]

A few adjectivizing suffixes:

• -eshb(a) - past participle (e.g. biseshba ‘trusted’)
• -ya / -ai - genitive (kawalya ‘horse’s)
• -xxx - adjectivization (xxx ‘xxx’)
• -da - locative (bagada ‘in the garden’)
• -ha / -ak - possessing; instrumental (kawalha ‘having/using a horse’)
• -úl - without (eshúl ‘without a house’, ‘homeless’) [abessive]
• ne- - negative (nebiseshba ‘untrustworthy’)

The causative -ed can be applied to attributive verbs: niwed ‘whiten’, sared ‘quicken’.

Adjectives normally follow the noun.

Numbers

Cardinal

Amal	number	English	Amal	number	English	Amal	number	English
nul	0	zero	sha	6	six	kishada	500	five hundred
wa	1	one	seb	7	seven	hesha	103	(one) thousand
ni	2	two	eta (sometimes pu)	8	eight	dahesh	104	ten thousand
ush	3	three	nen	9	nine	sadesh	105	(one) hundred thousand
ha	4	four	da	10	ten	uhun	106	(one) million
kish	5	five	sada	100	(one) hundred	ulun	109	(one) billion

Forming Larger Numbers

• dawa - eleven / 11
• nida - twenty / 20
• sadaseb - one hundred seven / 107
• ushadanidasha - three hundred twenty six / 326
• shaheshnidaha - six thousand and twenty four / 6024

Other Number Forms

Amal	number	English	ordinal	multiple	fractional
wa	1	one	émwa first	gáwa once	-
dani	12	twelve	émdani twelfth	gádani twelve times	daniya a twelfth
kishdaha	54	fifty four	émkishdaha fifty fourth	gákishdaha 54 times	kishdahaya a fifty fourth
sadasha	106	one hundred (and) six	émsadasha 106th	gásadasha 106 times	sadashaya a 106th
sebhesh	7000	seven thousand	émsebhesh seven thousandth	gásebhesh 7000 times	sebheshai 1/7000

Questions

There are a number of interrogative words that are used to introduce questions:

• ma - what; which
• man - who; whom
• manai - whose; of whom
• mara - when

• mada - where
• mawa - how
• mabak - how much/many
• shum(a) - why

• mara yemuruk? - when eat-TENT-1pl - When might we eat?

• shum kaye buda? - why be-2s here - Why are you here?

Any statement can become a polar question by adding the interrogative suffix -em to the verb construction.

• yashemu? - be.wet-INT-3s - Is it wet?

• shabemumti? - know-INT-3pl-2s - Do they know you?

Verbal Morphology

The verbal inflection of Amal is quite simple. There are only two tenses, non-past, and past (past tense could also be analyzed as the perfective aspect), each marked for person and number. There is a remote tense, rarely used other than for historical narratives, or occasional emphasis. There are three aspects (inceptive, repetitive, and durative) and various moods that are also marked on the verb (usually between the verb root and the person).

tense

• The past tense morpheme, -esh always precedes the subject (or subject-object construction).

• aryemeshilan?

/aɾʲemɛʃɪlan/

see-INT-PST-3s-1s

Did she see me?

• The remote tense -id is normally used within a past narrative to refer to events from an even earlier time. By extension, the remote may be used to emphasize that something is already done.

• geleshan íla mashide

come-PST-1s but go-REM-2s

I came, but you had already gone.

other verb modifiers

• The self (reflexive) suffix -eg should be used whenever the subject and object are the same.

• ne shabegum - NEG know-REFL-3pl - They don't know themselves.

Passive

• The usual way of negating a sentence is to negate the verb using the -la suffix. With the second and third person pronouns, the negative word ne is used.

• yemuranla - eat-TENT-1s-NEG - I might not eat.

• ne masha - no go-3s - She is not going.

Tentative

The Tentative mood (sometimes called suggestive, future, probable future, or presumptive) is used when an action is not quite definite.

Syntax

Conlang