Amal

See also:

• lexicon
  • thematic lexicon

Introduction

Amal is meant to be a personal conlang and despite appearances and structure is not intended as an IAL.

Phonology

23 of the 26 Latin letters are used, leaving q, w and x unused. All letters are pronounced like their IPA equivalents with a few exceptions.

• c - /ʃ/, /t͡ʃ/ or /t͡s/ without confusion
• e - /e/ or /ɛ/ without confusion
• h - /ħ/ when preceded or followed by a front vowel
• ng - /ŋ/
• j - /ʒ/
• u - /w/ when followed by another vowel
• y - /j/
• ' - /ʔ/ the glottal stop separates non-diphthonged vowels.

Sentences

Most sentences in Amal contain a verb phrase, typically denoting the occurrence of an action. A verb phrase consists of a verb plus any modifiers such as adverbs or prepositional phrases.

Most sentences also contain at least one noun phrase, typically denoting a person or thing. A noun phrase consists of a noun plus any modifiers such as determiners, adjectives, and case endings.

The two most important noun phrases are the subject and the object. Their exact meaning depends on the choice of verb, but loosely speaking, the subject is the person or thing that carries out the action, and the object is the person or thing that is directly affected by the action.

simple

• al neska hab-a al ongak-an

the girl like.3SG the music.ACC

The girl likes the music.

Nouns

A noun is typically introduced by determiners, and may be followed by adjectives and prepositional phrases, producing a noun phrase. Typical nouns denote physical objects such as people, places, and things, but nouns can also denote more abstract concepts that are grammatically similar.

plurals

Adding -t to a noun makes it plural. If the singular noun ends in a consonant, -at is added instead. If the last consonant of the noun is an alveolar stop (i.e. /t/ or /d/), -m and -em are used respectively. The plural ending does not affect the word's stress:

• neko > nekot – cat, cats
• muj > mujat – man, men
• ajat > ajatem – fox, foxes

Adjectives modifying a noun do not change when the noun is plural. But when an adjective is used as a noun, it can be pluralized:

• al tamat, al vedam, ma al kabit – the good, the bad, and the ugly

gender

Nouns are neuter or masculine. In order to distinguish the feminine, the suffix -(i)la is added.

• aspa – a male horse, a stallion
• aspala – a female horse, a mare

But there are a few words for family relations that mark females with -a and males with -o:

• oma, oba – grandmother, grandfather
• neska, ulad – daughter, son
• cuma, muj – wife, husband

Determiners

articles

• Amal' has one article – the definite article al. "Definite" here means that the noun's referent is "already defined", as opposed to being something new.

• sayo doman. al doman kuca.

buy.1SG house.ACC ART house.ACC be.small.3SG

I bought a house. The house is small.

Pronouns

A pronoun is a word that replaces a longer noun phrase.

	Nominative	Accusative	Possessive	Reflexive
1sg		na	nai
2sg		te	tai
3sg		il(a/u)	ili/ilai/ilua
1pl		nuk	nuka
2pl		tum	tuma
3pl		hum	huma

Verbs

tense

	Present	Preterit	Imperfect	Conditional	Future
1sg	-o	-eb-o	-ag-o	-ij-o	-ar-o
2sg	-e	-eb-e	-ag-e	-ij-e	-ar-e
3sg	-a	-eb-a	-ag-a	-ij-a	-ar-a
1pl	-im	-eb-im	-ag-im	-ij-im	-ar-im
2pl	-at	-eb-at	-ag-at	-ij-at	-ar-at
3pl	-en	-eb-en	-ag-en	-ij-en	-ar-en

• savaren al ijib

know.FUT.3PL ART answer

They will know the answer.

• saveco ila

know.PST.1SG 3SG.FEM

I knew her..