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.

Vocabulary and grammatical features are inspired by or taken directly from:

• Arabic (ara)
• Basque (bas)
• Japanese (jap)
• Quechua (que)
• South Slavic (sla)
• Spanish (spa)
• Turkish (tur)

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
• j - /ʒ/
• u - /w/ when followed by another vowel
• y - /j/
• ' - /ʔ/ the glottal stop separates non-diphthonged vowels.

Word Order

Amal has a mostly regular word order. The general word order is SVO:

• Ivan haca

Ivan run-3SG

Ivan runs.

• Marya duya Ivan

Maria hear-3SG Ivan

Maria hears John.

A noun phrase has this order:

• (determiners —) noun (—quantifiers) (— stative verb)

• Al muj uc buyum

DEF.ART man three be.large-3PL

The three large men...

A verb phrase has this order:

• (leading verb —) verb(tense/mood) (— adverb)

• ..necra yemek sarelya..

need-PST eat.INF be.quick-ADV

..needed to eat quickly..

• A prepositional phrase generally follows what it modifies, and has this order:

• preposition — noun phrase

See also: case

• ..bada cinya

after midnight

...after midnight

Nouns

The roles of nouns in a sentence are indicated through prepositions (or case) and word order. Amal has seven cases.

cases

• The nominative (and absolutive) case is the basic uninflected form of the noun.

• The accusative case marks the direct object of a verb. It has two forms whose use depends on the final letter of the word it qualifies.

• • -(y)i

• The genitive case is used to show possession and is placed immediately after the first member of a genitive construction. It has two forms whose use depends on the final letter of the word it qualifies.

• • -(y)ai

• The dative-locative case indicates the place or time at which something happens. Its meaning can be translated by the English prepositions 'to', 'at', 'on', 'in' etc.

• • -(y)un

• The ablative case carries the meaning 'from' and shows separation away from an object. It is also used in comparisons and in this case translates as 'than'.

• • -(y)in

• The comitative case denotes accompaniment. It is translated as 'with' or 'together with'.

• • -(y)el

• The instrumental case denotes means. It is translated as 'by', 'with' or 'through'.

• • -(y)er

plurals

Nouns are commonly preceded by determiners. Plural nouns are formed by appending -m to nouns ending in vowels or -im to nouns ending in consonants. This does not alter the stress:

• • doma > domam — house > houses
  • muj > mujim — man > men

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

• • al usu — the water (e.g. in the cup)
  • uzram — woods (e.g. various kinds)

gender

Gender is typically not indicated. If necessary, nouns may be modified by -ka (male) or -ua (female):

• konyaka / konyaua — a stallion / a mare

A few terms for family members and traditional roles do show distinctions of gender. For example:

• am / ab — mother / father
• ban / kiza — son / daughter

apposition

Apposition — the use of one noun to modify another — is mostly limited to names and titles:

• kada Yusuf — Prof. Joseph
• ane nai Marya — my sister Mary

Verbs

tense

The future tense is marked with -ay-/-y(a)-. Past tenses, including perfect and pluperfect, are marked with -ar-/-r(a)-. The present tense is unmarked:

• Ganan. – I sing / I am singing.
• Ganyat. – You will sing / You are about to sing.
• Ganara. – He sang / She was singing / It has sung.

Stories often describe events that take place in the past (or an imagined past), or whose location in time is of no concern to the reader. In such cases, the -ar-/-r(a)- may be omitted.