Velyan: Difference between revisions

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===Pronouns===
===Pronouns===
===Personal Pronouns===
Personal pronouns in English show distinctive forms for 1st, 2nd and 3rd person, singular and plural, with separate forms in the 3rd person singular for male, female, and inanimate referents (with some exceptions - animals, particularly pets, can be referred to either as "it" or with reference to their gender - "he" or "she" - whilst ships are conventionally referred to as "she", celestial bodies can be referred to as "he" or "she", and humans can be [contemptuously] referred to as "it"). There are also separate forms for nominative ("I, they", etc.) and accusative or objective ("me, them").
In Vielan, on the other hand, there are no forms for 3rd person pronouns (the demonstratives taking their place, instead), whilst in addition to gender-specific and polite forms of the 1st and 2nd person pronouns ("I, a male", "you, my superior", etc.), there are also inclusive ("we, with you") and exclusive ("we, without you") forms of the first person pronoun in the dual (which is another category which is not used in English) and plural.
The forms of the personal pronouns are:
<div style="text-align: left;">
{| style="text-align: center; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1pt solid #c0c0c0;"
!colspan=50 style="text-align:center; background: #efefef;"| Personal Pronouns (Singular)
|- style="vertical-align: center; font-size: x-small; height: 2em"
|-
|| || || Nom. || Acc.
|-
|style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| Female 1st Person || || '''mava''' || '''mavut'''
|-
|style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| Male 1st Person || || '''miva''' || '''mivut'''
|-
|style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| Female 2nd Person (Familiar) || || '''tava''' || '''tavut'''
|-
|style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| Male 2nd Person (Familiar) || || '''tiva''' || '''tivut'''
|-
|style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| Female 2nd Person (Polite) || || '''vänä''' || '''vänyt'''
|-
|style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| Male 2nd Person (Polite) || || '''vinä''' || '''vinyt'''
|}
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
{| style="text-align: center; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1pt solid #c0c0c0;"
!colspan=50 style="text-align:center; background: #efefef;"| Personal Pronouns (Dual)
|- style="vertical-align: center; font-size: x-small; height: 2em"
|-
|| || || Nom. || Acc.
|-
|style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| Female 1st Person (Inclusive) || || '''arra''' || '''arut'''
|-
|style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| Female 1st Person (Exclusive) || || '''mara''' || '''marut'''
|-
|style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| Male 1st Person (Inclusive) || || '''irra''' || '''irut'''
|-
|style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| Male 1st Person (Exclusive || || '''mira''' || '''mirut'''
|-
|style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| Female 2nd Person (Familiar) || || '''tara''' || '''tarut'''
|-
|style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| Male 2nd Person (Familiar) || || '''tira''' || '''tirut'''
|-
|style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| Female 2nd Person (Polite) || || '''värä''' || '''väryt'''
|-
|style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| Male 2nd Person (Polite) || || '''virä''' || '''viryt'''
|}
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
{| style="text-align: center; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1pt solid #c0c0c0;"
!colspan=50 style="text-align:center; background: #efefef;"| Personal Pronouns (Plural)
|- style="vertical-align: center; font-size: x-small; height: 2em"
|-
|| || || Nom. || Acc.
|-
|style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| Female 1st Person (Inclusive) || || '''anti''' || '''annit'''
|-
|style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| Female 1st Person (Exclusive) || || '''mauta''' || '''maurut'''
|-
|style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| Male 1st Person (Inclusive) || || '''inti''' || '''innit'''
|-
|style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| Male 1st Person (Exclusive || || '''miuta''' || '''miurut'''
|-
|style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| Female 2nd Person (Familiar) || || '''tauta''' || '''taurut'''
|-
|style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| Male 2nd Person (Familiar) || || '''tiuta''' || '''tiurut'''
|-
|style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| Female 2nd Person (Polite) || || '''väntä''' || '''vännyt'''
|-
|style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| Male 2nd Person (Polite) || || '''vintä''' || '''vinnyt'''
|}
</div>

Revision as of 12:33, 9 June 2008

Vielan is one of the two main classical languages of the continent Pellargos, on the planet Máa. Máa is an alternate Earth planet.

Phonology

Vowels

There are 12 vowels, each of which can be short or long.


Vowels
Front Near-front Central Near-back Back
High i y u
Near-high
High-mid e ø o
Mid
Low-mid
Near-low æ
Low a

Consonants


Consonants
Bilabial Labiod. Dental Alveolar Post-alv. Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Nasal m n ŋ
Plosive p t k q
Fricative s ʃ (x) h χ
Approximant ʋ j
Trill
Flap ɾ
Lateral Approximant l

Vowel harmony

Consonant Gradation

The phenomenon of consonant gradation arises due to a restriction in Vielan words, that prohibits a "strong" syllable from ending in a consonant. A strong syllable is a syllable that begins with a consonant and is preceded by another ending in (at least) one consonant. When this happens, the consonant or cluster at the beginning of the final syllable undergoes lenition or softening (although it can be historically explained as a process of fortition or hardening).

The following changes occur as a result of consonant gradation:

  1. Geminate phonemes change to simplex ones, e.g. tt -> t, rr -> r, ss -> s.

The remaining changes only affect plosives and clusters containing plosives: Clusters change as follows:

  1. Nasals:
    1. Nasal + voiceless plosive changes to geminate nasal, e.g. mp -> mm, nt -> nn
  2. Liquids:
    1. lt -> ll
    2. lp -> lv
    3. lkU -> lvU
    4. rkU -> rvU
    5. lkI -> lji
    6. rkI -> rji
  3. Consonant clusters beginning with s:
    1. sp -> sv
    2. st -> *sr -> rs
    3. sk -> ss
  4. Consonant clusters ending with s:
    1. ps -> *vs -> sv
    2. ts -> rs
    3. ks -> s
  5. Simplex consonants
    1. t -> r
    2. p -> v
    3. k -> Ø
    4. iki -> iji
    5. -UkU -> UvU
    6. v -> w

Transcription

Below is a table of the IPA sounds of Vielan, with transcription.

IPA Letter
a a
æ ä
e e
h h
i i
j j
k k
l l
m m
n n
ŋ ŋ
o o
ö ö
p p
q q
ɾː r
r rr
s s
ʃ š
t t
u u
y y
ʋ v

Notes:

  1. Long vowels and geminate consonants are written double, e.g. aa, kk. Note that /ɾː/ is the geminate counterpart of /r/.

Morphology

Nouns

Nouns in Vielan are divided into noun classes and inflect for number, case, possessor, destination and deixis. Suffixes (there are no prefixes or infixes in Vielan) are added to the noun, or (more often) to the oblique stem.

Noun Classes

There are several noun classes in Vielan, reflecting the division of nouns into several semantic categories. The noun classes are added to a notional form of the noun known as the base. In some cases, the base of a noun ends in one of the letters l, n, r, s, or t, and the noun is in Class IX, which has no suffix; in these cases the base form does surface.

The class suffixes are as follows:

Class Meaning Suffix
I Divine Female -tAri
II Divine Male -tAri
III Female Human -O
IV Masculine Human -A
V Male Professional -ri
VI Female Professional -jA
VII Animate (Non-Human) -e
VIII Inanimate I -i
IX Inanimate II -i
X Abstract -U
XI Small Place -lA
XII Large Place -mA
XIII Instrument -in

Stems

Number

The singular is unmarked, as in English: kótti cat. The plural is formed in three ways:

  • When not followed by another suffix, it is marked by the addition of -t to the oblique stem: kóttit cats;
  • When followed by another suffix beginning with a consonant, it is marked by the addition of -i- to the oblique stem:
  • When followed by another suffix beginning with a vowel, it is marked by the addition of -j- to the oblique stem:

Possession

Nouns take suffixes to show possession. The suffixes are:

Possessive Suffixes
Singular Dual Plural
Female 1st Person (Inclusive) -mAt -mAtti
Female 1st Person (Exclusive) -nA -rmA -mmA
Male 1st Person (Inclusive) -mit -mitti
Male 1st Person (Exclusive) -ni -rme -mme
Female 2nd Person (Familiar) -sA -rtA -ttA
Male 2nd Person (Familiar) -si -rte -tte
Female 2nd Person (Polite) -vA -tpa -ppA
Male 2nd Person (Polite) -vi -tpe -ppe

Pronouns