Vilani language: Difference between revisions

From FrathWiki
Jump to navigationJump to search
Line 225: Line 225:
|-
|-
|}
|}
====Phase and Trajectory prefixes====
A verb may have a ''phase'' prefix or a ''trajectory'' prefix, but not both.  There are two phase prefixes, inchoative '''ga-''' and terminative '''ma-'''.
* '''lash''' 'it flies'; '''ga-lash''' 'it starts flying'; '''ma-lash''' 'it stops flying'
Only one trajectory prefix is in common use in Modern Vilani: the ''cooperative/reciprocal'' prefix '''ne-''', which expresses that two or more agents are performing the action jointly or upon each other.
====Aspect====
Verbs in Vilani are either imperfective or perfective.  There are no simple rules how aspect stems are formed; the situation is thus as in [[Proto-Indo-European]], and aspect stems are listed in dictionaries for each verb.
====Tense/Voice suffixes====
There are two tenses in Vilani: future and non-future.  The tenses are expressed together with the voices: active, antipassive and impersonal.  The ''antipassive voice'' is an ergative mirror image of the passive: it demotes the patient and promotes the agent to an (intransitive) subject.  The suffixes are tabulated below.
{|class="wikitable"
|-
!  
! Active
! Antipassive
! Impersonal
|-
! Nonfuture
| -0
| -u
| -i
|-
! Future
| -r/-zu
| -ri/-zi
| -ur
|-
|}
If two forms are listed, the first is used after a vowel, the second after a consonant.
====Applicatives====
Applicative suffixes promote oblique arguments to direct objects (absolutive case).  The following applicatives occur in Modern Vilani:
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! Dative
| -ka
|-
! Locative
| -kan
|-
! Terminative
| -kash
|-
! Benefactive
| -kak
|-
! Instrumental
| -kii
|-
|}
Example:
* '''Kikhurdim''na'' madlag ka Eneri''' 'He grants a fief to Eneri.'


==Syntax==
==Syntax==

Revision as of 11:17, 15 November 2011

Vilani
Bilanidin
Spoken in: The Imperium (Vilani settlements)
Timeline/Universe: Traveller RPG (non-canon)
Total speakers:
Genealogical classification: Dirmani
Kalaan
Vilani
Basic word order: VSO
Morphological type: agglutinating
Morphosyntactic alignment: ergative
Created by:
Kenji Schwarz 1998

The Vilani language is the language of the Vilani, one of the major spacefaring civilizations of the Traveller RPG universe. The Vilani are humans; they descend from human beings who were transported to another planet by aliens in prehistoric times.

The Traveller RPG handbooks contain some material (mostly vocabulary) on the language on which Kenji Schwarz built the language described here.

Vilani is the only surviving language of the Dirmani language family, but contains loanwords from other, extinct languages of that group.

Phonology

Consonants

The Vilani consonant inventory is quite small with only 13 phonemes; its most unusual trait is certainly the lack of the otherwise very common phoneme /t/.

  Labial Alveolar Retroflex Velar
Stops Voiceless p     k
Voiced b d   g
Fricatives Voiceless   s ʂ <sh> x <kh>
Voiced   z    
Nasals m n    
Flap   ɾ <r>    
Lateral   l    

Vowels

Vilani has four short vowels and three long vowels (spelled with double letters).

  Front Central Back
Close i, i:   u, u:
Mid e    
Open   a, a:  

Morphology

Verbs

Vilani verbs are very complex and can be very long. The template of the verb is:

Prefixes Stem Suffixes
[Modal proclitic] & Object/Subject (Agent) [Negative] (Phase; Trajectory) (Aspect) ROOT Tense/Voice (Applicatives) (Subordinator) & [Pluralizer] & [Modal enclitic]

Example:

  • Sheshmanenemnuriini kakarik kameliliish. 'I hope I’m going to stop keeping on finding you in the garden by [listening to] your screaming.'

Subject/Object prefixes

The subject/object prefixes mark the subject in an intransitive clause and the object in a transitive clause.

  Definite-Proximal Indefinite-Distal
Discourse participant se- me-
Sophont Neutral a- le-
Honorific di- zi-
Obviative   maa-
Nonsophont animate 0-,e- ki-
Inanimate i- ni-
Reflexive nii-  
Abstract re-  

Agent prefixes

The agent prefix marks the transitive subject. This prefix distinguishes human agents from non-human agents, and have a direct and an inverse form. The inverse forms are used when a lower-ranked human acts on a higher-ranked human, or a non-human agent on a human.

  Direct Inverse
Human -k- -s-
Non-human -b- -n-
Equal animacy -z- (archaic)

Phase and Trajectory prefixes

A verb may have a phase prefix or a trajectory prefix, but not both. There are two phase prefixes, inchoative ga- and terminative ma-.

  • lash 'it flies'; ga-lash 'it starts flying'; ma-lash 'it stops flying'

Only one trajectory prefix is in common use in Modern Vilani: the cooperative/reciprocal prefix ne-, which expresses that two or more agents are performing the action jointly or upon each other.

Aspect

Verbs in Vilani are either imperfective or perfective. There are no simple rules how aspect stems are formed; the situation is thus as in Proto-Indo-European, and aspect stems are listed in dictionaries for each verb.

Tense/Voice suffixes

There are two tenses in Vilani: future and non-future. The tenses are expressed together with the voices: active, antipassive and impersonal. The antipassive voice is an ergative mirror image of the passive: it demotes the patient and promotes the agent to an (intransitive) subject. The suffixes are tabulated below.

  Active Antipassive Impersonal
Nonfuture -0 -u -i
Future -r/-zu -ri/-zi -ur

If two forms are listed, the first is used after a vowel, the second after a consonant.

Applicatives

Applicative suffixes promote oblique arguments to direct objects (absolutive case). The following applicatives occur in Modern Vilani:

Dative -ka
Locative -kan
Terminative -kash
Benefactive -kak
Instrumental -kii

Example:

  • Kikhurdimna madlag ka Eneri 'He grants a fief to Eneri.'

Syntax

Vilani is a head-initial language. The unmarked word order in the clause is Verb-Subject-Object; however, noun phrases can be fronted for topicalization. Examples:

  • Leskhugash liraamgim Eneri. 'An air raft hit Eneri.'

Topicalizations:

  • Liraamgim leskhugash Eneri. ' An air raft hit Eneri.'
  • Eneri leskhugash liraamgim. ' An air raft hit Eneri.'

In the noun phrase, adjectives follow the noun, then come possessors and relative clauses.

Vilani has an absolutive pivot. Unlike in English, where a sentence like The boy kissed the girl and laughed would mean The boy kissed the girl and the boy laughed, in Vilani such a sentence would mean The boy kissed the girl and the girl laughed. The sentence

  • Akag Eneri in akgirma.

means 'Eneri arrived and s/he (other than Eneri) saw him (Eneri)'.

Vilani has four copulas. The equational copula is used in the sense 'X is a Y'; the existential copula is used in the sense 'X exists'. Both copula have positive and negative ('X is not a Y', 'X does not exist') forms:

  Positive Negative
Equational iru men
Existential khii gig

External links