Amal

See also:

• lexicon
  • thematic lexicon
• phrases

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/
• ny - /ɲ/ (rare)
• 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

Genrally speaking, these case endings are invariable, with a few eceptions. If a noun ends in a vowel, that vowel is replaced by the case ending, unless the case ending begins with a consonant, then all remain. See examples below.

noun ending in consonant

muj
man; husband

	English	Singular	Plural
NOM	man	muj	mujim
ACC	(the) man [OBJ]	muji	mujim
GEN	of the man; the man's	mujin	mujimin
DAT/LOC	to the man; on the man	mujda	mujimda
ABL/COMP	from the man; than the man	mujac	mujimac
COM	with/accompaning the man	mujle	mujimle
INS	by; using; through the man	mujun	mujimun

noun ending in vowel

doma
house; home

	English	Singular	Plural
NOM	house	doma	domam
ACC	(the) house [OBJ]	domi	domim
GEN	of the house; the house's	domin	domamin
DAT/LOC	to the house; at the house	domada	domamda
ABL/COMP	from the house; than the house	domac	domamac
COM	with/accompaning the house	domale	domamle
INS	by; using; through the house	domun	domamun

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 -(e)ka (male) or -(e)va (female):

• konyaka / konyava — 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 / neska — 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 -as-/-s(a)-. Past tenses, including perfect and pluperfect, are marked with -ar-/-r(a)-. The present tense is unmarked:

• Ganan. – I sing / I am singing.

• Gansat. – 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.