Meftla Morphology: Difference between revisions
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Although most other determiners either don't inflect at all or inflect with one of the four regular declensions, possessive determiners have an inflection of their own. They're nearly identical to their independent nominative counterparts, except that have their long vowels shortened. | Although most other determiners either don't inflect at all or inflect with one of the four regular declensions, possessive determiners have an inflection of their own. They're nearly identical to their independent nominative counterparts, except that have their long vowels shortened. | ||
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Revision as of 19:26, 13 May 2012
This article relates to the morphology of the Meftla language.
Inflection of nouns
Nouns are inflected for case and number, across four declensions.
-a declension
This declension is mostly comprised by nouns ending in -a and long vowels except for -ɛ̄. The great majority are of feminine gender.
Singular | Plural | Supraplural | |
Nominative | alea | aleai | aleaiām |
Accusative | alear | aleɔr | aleɔiɔ̄r |
Oblique | aleas | aleɔs | aleɔiɔ̄s |
-ɔ declension
This noun class is comprised solely by feminine nouns ending in -ɔ. If a borrowing is created with final -ɔ and it's masculine, it's absorbed into the -i- declension.
Singular | Plural | Supraplural | |
Nominative | zullɔ | zullɔi | zullɔiɔ̄m |
Accusative | zullɔr | zullɔir | zullɔiɔ̄r |
Oblique | zullɔs | zullɔis | zullɔiɔ̄s |
-ɛ declension
The majority of nouns here belong to the masculine gender, and all end in -ɛ.
Singular | Plural | Supraplural | |
Nominative | reitɛ | reitɛi | reitɛiɛ̄m |
Accusative | reitɛr | reitɛil | reitɛiɛ̄r |
Oblique | reitɛs | reitɛis | reitɛiɛ̄s |
-i- declension
Also known as "the consonant declension", the nouns comprising this declension are mostly masculine. The singular nominative can end in everything possible. Various of the inflections can be analyzed as essentially ending in a consonant, though inserting an /i/ if a cluster that is not allowed is produced.
Borrowings, unless they're acquired with a final /a, ɔ/ and are feminine, or with a final /ɛ/ sound, are taken into this declension.
Singular | Plural | Supraplural | |
Nominative | — | -i | -iɛ̄m |
Accusative | -(i)r | -(i)l | -iɛ̄r |
Oblique | -(i)s | -i | -iɛ̄s |
Singular | Plural | Supraplural | |
Nominative | fant | fanti | fantiɛ̄m |
Accusative | fantir | fantil | fantiɛ̄r |
Oblique | fants | fanti | fantiɛ̄s |
Inflection of Adjectives
Adjectives inflect in a similar manner to noun; agreeing in gender, case and number.
There are three declensions for adjectives:
- Those that inflect like -a nouns in the feminine and -ɛ nouns in the masculine.
- Those that inflect like -a nouns in the feminine and -i- nouns in the masculine.
- A small, closed class of adjectives relating to mostly female phenomena (such as menstruation or pregnancy) ending in -ɔ and inflecting like such nouns. In the event of these adjectives agreeing with a male noun (such as pregnant seahorses), they still inflect like -ɔ nouns.
Personal Independent Pronouns
Singular | Plural | ||||||
1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | 1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | ||
Nom Feminine | ʔɔ̄ | lī | kɔ̄ | ʔauāh | lāi | nāi | |
Nom Masculine | ʔɛ̄ | lɛ̄ | kī | ʔū | lɛ̄i | nɛ̄i | |
Acc/Obl Feminine | ʔɔr | lir | kɔr | ʔar | lair | nair | |
Acc/Obl Masculine | ʔɛr | lɛr | kir | ʔur | lɛir | nɛir |
Personal Possessive Determiners
Although most other determiners either don't inflect at all or inflect with one of the four regular declensions, possessive determiners have an inflection of their own. They're nearly identical to their independent nominative counterparts, except that have their long vowels shortened.
Singular Plural 1st person 2nd person 3rd person 1st person 2nd person 3rd person ʔɔ_ li_ kɔ_ ʔa_ lai_ nai_ ʔɛ_ lɛ_ ki_ ʔu_ lɛi_ nɛi_
Correlative pronouns
Question Rel. pron. This That -ever Every- Some- No- Person ref miref rɛnsau bɛlrɛn rɛnoia rɛnzɛ Thing sef tisef rō tō sɛtsau bɛlsɛt setoia sɛtsɛ Place ialef tīasef hou togou niasau bɛlnia nialoia niazɛ Manner karef tikardef unrokar untokar karsau bɛlkar karoia karzɛ Time gaɔnef tigaɔnef darofīlɔis (see below) gaɔsau bɛlgaɔ gaɔnoia gaɔzɛ Reason ʒulnief tiʒulnief kauroʒulni kautoʒulni ʒulnisau bɛlʒulni ʒulnioia ʒulnizɛ
The correlative of time for "that" depends on whether the time is present or past: for the past (from the point of view of the speech) it's datofīlɔis; for the future, kantofīlɔis.
None of the above inflects for case, gender or number except for the question and relative person and thing pronouns, which inflect like -i- nouns. Note that the language doesn't quite have clear means to differentiate "what" and "which", leaving it to context. On the other hand, it distinguishes interrogative determiner-pronouns from relative pronouns.
Inflection of verbs
Verbs inflect for the gender of their subject, aspect, and two moods (indicative and imperative). The imperative essentially the same, but with the vowel of the inflection made long and stress moved to it, except for the pluperfect. There's also a single non-finite form, functioning as a sort of infinitive or gerund.
The following shows the inflection of regular verbs:
Indicative | Imperative | |||
Feminine | Masculine | Feminine | Masculine | |
Perfective | kizila | kizili | kizilā | kizilī |
Pluperfect | kizilad | kizilɛd | miŋkizilād | miŋkizilɛ̄d |
Experiential | kizilat | kizilɛt | ||
Inchoative | kizilɔ | kizilɛ | kizilɔ̄ | kizilɛ̄ |
Imperfective | kizilɔn | kizilɛn | kizilɔ̄n | kizilɛ̄n |
Habitual | kizilɔs | kizilis | kizilɔ̄s | kizilīs |
Gerund | kizilai |
Although we could think of an experiential imperative (do this and gain experience!, or perhaps, you must have had the experience of doing this!), the other imperatives or alternative constructions like with these English examples are used instead.
Verbal Infixing Clitics
Verbs can take up to three infixing clitics, always unstressed: direct object pronouns, indirect object pronouns, and a further clitic used when the verb is in the main clause of certain adverbial clauses.
These clitics have inflections of their own: the pronouns agree in person, gender and number with their antecedents, the adverbial clitic varies depending on the type of adverbial clause it's used with.
Singular | Plural | ||||||
1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | 1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | ||
Direct Feminine | -ɔh- | -ɔl- | -ɔk- | -ai- | -ail- | -ain- | |
Direct Masculine | -ɛh- | -ɛl- | -ɛk- | -ūh- | -ɛil- | -ɛin- | |
Indirect | -ah- | -ik- | -ik- | -āh- | -īn- | -īn- |
Derivations
Word derivations are mostly accomplished by adding suffixes, although a very small number of prefixes exist. Suffixes may be added to a root or to a root that already has other suffixes.
Compounding roots directly, as done with Latin and Greek roots in scientific contexts (e.g. lamino-alveolar), isn't common. Adpositions and possessive constructions are preferred to modify nouns with other nouns instead, and affixes exist to derive adjectives from verbs. There are no affixes that express prepositional notions such as English post- ('after (sth)'), however, and such things always have to expressed with the corresponding preposition.