ʾAšdu Yat-Vṛḵaž: Difference between revisions

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There are two sentence orders in Vrkhazhian that are used depending on the grammatical voice of the sentence. In sentences with active voice, the basic word order is Subject-Object-Verb (SOV), while in sentences with passive voice, the basic word order is Verb-Subject-Object (VSO).
There are two sentence orders in Vrkhazhian that are used depending on the grammatical voice of the sentence. In sentences with active voice, the basic word order is Subject-Object-Verb (SOV), while in sentences with passive voice, the basic word order is Verb-Subject-Object (VSO).
The sentence "Hiqal built the mercury golems" will be used as an example to show the change in word order in different voices:
The sentence "Hiqal built the mercury golems" will be used as an example to show the change in word order in different voices:
|In an sentence with active voice, the sentence would be translated as "Hīqal ṛ-havrī ṛ-mašarad nōšṉom."  
:In an sentence with active voice, the sentence would be translated as "Hīqal ṛ-havrī ṛ-mašarad nōšṉom."  
|Compare this with a sentence with passive voice where the sentence would be translated as "Nīšṉamam ṛ-havrī ṛ-mašarad ʾīm Hīqal"
:Compare this with a sentence with passive voice where the sentence would be translated as "Nīšṉamam ṛ-havrī ṛ-mašarad ʾīm Hīqal"
|The verb root š-ṉ-m (to build) is conjugated for active past singular in the active sentence because the subject is Hiqal, while in the passive sentence, the root is conjugated for passve past plural because the subjects are the mercury golems.
:The verb root š-ṉ-m (to build) is conjugated for active past singular in the active sentence because the subject is Hiqal, while in the passive sentence, the root is conjugated for passve past plural because the subjects are the mercury golems.


==Writing System==
==Writing System==

Revision as of 21:12, 8 July 2014

Vrkhazhian (YŠDD YT-VṚḴẔKM, Yašdad Yat-Vṛḵaẕīkam) is a Northern Hašakaṃ language that is spoken in the region known as Vṛḵaẕ. The earliest form of this language, known as Ancient Vrkhazhi, was spoken around 10 000 years ago.

History

Dialects

Vrkhazhian has at least two major dialects and at least ten other minor dialects. The table below lists two of the major dialects

Dialects of Vrkhazhian
Dialect Location
Ḵadačīkam Centered around the city of Tam-Ḵadač
ʾAlšardīkam To the south of the city of Tam-Šamašet

Ḵadačīkam is recognized as the standard dialect of writing and communication.

Phonetics and phonology

Consonants

Vrkhazhian has a phonemic inventory of 45 consonants and 9 vowels. Some consonants in Vrkhazhian can be light (pre-aspirated), plain or dark (uvular-pharyngealized); most stops have both light, plain and dark variations, while some fricatives have only plain and dark variations and some approximants and one nasal have only light and plain variations.

Vrkhazhian Consonantal Phonemes
Bilabial Alveolar (Alveolo)-

Palatal

Velar Uvular Glottal
Nasal Light hn [ʰn~n̥]
Plain m [m] n [n] [ɴ]
Stop Light hp [ʰp] ht [ʰt] hk [ʰk] hq [ʰq]
Plain p [p] b [b] t [t] d [d] k [k] g [g] q [q] ʾ [ʔ]
Dark [pʶ~pˤ] [bʶ~bˤ] [tʶ~tˤ] [dʶ~dˤ]
Affricate [ʦ] č [ʧ~ʨ] j [ʤ~ʥ]
Fricative Plain f [ɸ] v [β] s [s] z [z] š [ʃ~ɕ] [ʒ~ʑ] [x] ğ [ɣ] [χ~ħ] h [h]
Dark [sʶ~sˤ] [zʶ~zˤ]
Approximant Light hr [ʰɹ~ʰɾ~ɹ̥̥]
Plain r [ɹ~ɾ] y [j] w [w]
Trill rr [r] [ʀ]
Lateral Approximant Light hl [ʰl~l̥]
Plain l [l]
Dark [lʶ~lˤ]
Lateral Fricative [ɬ~ɬʲ]

Vowels

Vrkhazhian Vowel Phonemes
Front Central Back
Close ī [i] i [ɨ] ū [u]
Close-mid ē [e] ō [o]
Mid u [ə]
Open-mid e [ɛ] o [ɔ]
Open a [a]
Vrkhazhian Diphthongs
IPA Letter Example
ae̯ aẏ like eye
ao̯ aẇ like cow

Allophony

In Vrkhazhian, the stop consonants /t d/ become [θ ð] in word-final positions if they occur before front vowels /ɛ e i/ and sometimes /a/ if it is part of an affix. The stop consonants /t d/ also become retroflexed [ʈ ɖ] if they occur before a labial approximant /w/. The consonant /h/ becomes [ç] before a palatal approximant /j/ and becomes [χ] when it is geminated.

Stress

Stress in Vrkhazhian is generally placed on the last or second-to-last syllable.

Grammar

Morphology

Overview

Vrkhazhian is a highly inflecting triconsonantal root language. Most roots consist of three consonants (triliteral), though there are many words that consist of two letter (biliteral) roots. Vrkhazhian does not recognize four- and five-letter roots. Between and around these roots various infixes, suffixes, and prefixes are used to carry grammatical functions or derived words.

The consonants <y>/j/ and <w>/w/ are considered weak roots, and roots containng these consonants caue irregular verb forms to appear.

Nominal morphology

Vrkhazhian has three grammatical genders, masculine, feminine and neuter. Grammatical gender in Vrkhazhian is strictly semantic, thus most nouns, such as inanimate objects, fall into the category of neuter.

Vrkhazhian has two numbers (singular and plural) and five cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, lative, and ablative). The table below shows the noun vīkīm (ruler) in the various cases.

Noun paradigm
Noun (masc.) Noun (fem.) Noun (neut.)
Nominative/Accusative singular vīkīm-a vīkīm-ē vīkīm
Genitive singular vīkīm-īl vīkīm-an vīkīm-ūn
Lative singular vīkīm-aj-a vīkīm-aj-ē vīkīm-ajī
Ablative singular vīkīm-īh-a vīkīm-īh-ē vīkīm-īhī
Nominative/Accusative plural vīkīm-al vīkīm-ēn vīkīm-ad
Genitive plural vīkīm-īlū vīkīm-anū vīkīm-īr
Lative plural vīkīm-ēj-al vīkīm-ēj-ēn vīkīm-ēj-ad
Ablative plural vīkīm-ūh-al vīkīm-ūh-ēn vīkīm-ūh-ad
Construct state

Nouns in Vrkhazhian can also be placed in the construct state, which is used for genitive constructions and denotes that the noun is the possessed object. Using the noun ʾalkad (soldier, guard), the conjugations of the construct state are shown below:

Noun paradigm
Noun (masc.) Noun (fem.) Noun (neut.)
Singular ʾalkad-ī ʾalkad-a ʾalkad-ū
Plural ʾalkad-īt ʾalkad-at ʾalkad-ūm

Verbal morphology

Verbs in Vrkhazhian are conjugated for number (singular and plural), tense (infinitive, past, past participle, present, present participle, and future) and voice (active and passive)

Verb patterns

The table below shows the conjugation of the root DNJ - "crush"

Verb Conjugations
Active Singular Active Plural Translation Passive Singular Passive Plural Translation
Infinitive dannaja ʾadnīyaj to crush dūnnēja ʾadnūšīj to be crushed
Past nōdnoj nadnūjam crushed nūdnūj nīdnajam was crushed
Past Participle yūdnoj yūdnējam was crushing yīdnaj yīdnūjam was being crushed
Present dūnaj dūnjam crush danēj danjam is crushed
Present Participle hūdnaj hūdnījam is crushing hadnēj hadnojam is being crushed
Future ʾadnej ʾadnejam will crush ʾīdnīj ʾīdnījam will be crushed
Verb moods

Vrkhazhian has three moods, jussive, potential and conditional. The table below shows the conjugation of the root ṖMT - "walk"

Verb Mood
Singular Plural Translation
Jussive šīṗmūt šīṗmatam must/shall/should walk
Potential kaṗmet kaṗmatam can walk
Conditional ʾīmaṗmat ʾīmaṗmūtam would walk

The jussive mood in Vrkhazhian is mainly used for expressing obligation or duty, but when there are no pronouns or nouns in the nominative case, it can also act like an imperative, expressing direct commands to the adressee(s). While a verb in the jussive mood can be used in this way, the particle "ʾīs", is more common.

Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

Personal pronouns in Vrkhazhian are as follows:

Nominative Accusative Genitive Lative Ablative
Person Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
1st inclusive ẕaẏ "I" yeš "we" šadīb ʾaẏyīb šadīkī ʾaẏyīkī šadīš ʾaẏyīš šadīt ʾaẏyat
exclusive ṉal "we" ṉalīb ṉalīkī ṉalīš ṉalat
2nd masculine ʾīšī "you" qar "you" ʾīšīb qarīb ʾīšakī qarakī ʾīdeš qareš ʾīdat qarat
feminine ʾatī "you" šūn "you" ʾatīb šūnīb ʾatakī šūnakī ʾateš šūneš ʾatat šūnat
3rd masculine haf "he" baʾ "they" hafīb baʾīb hafakī baʾakī hapeš baʾeš hapat baʾat
feminine šaf "she" tav "they" šafīb tavīb šafakī tavakī šapeš tabeš šapat tabat
neuter ḥol "they" ṗal "they" ḥajīm ṗajīm ḥajakī ṗajakī ḥaješ ṗaješ ḥajat ṗajat

Demonstrative Pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns in Vrkhazhian are as follows:

Deixis
Number Proximal Medial Distal
Singular ʾīšar "this" ʾanī "that" maẏ "that"
Plural ʾīšrūhīt "these" ʾanīhīt "those" maẏyīt "those"

Interrogative Pronouns

Table below lists the interrogative pronouns in Vrkhazhian:

English Vrkhazhian
who? ʾalīm
what? hamat
where? sūhal
when? hna
why? ʾīčam
how? taja
which? ṛmar

Numerals

Vrkhazhian uses a base-12 system of numerals, which is a positional notation numeral system using twelve as its base. In this system, the number ten is written as "X", and the number eleven as "E". Numerals precede the nouns they modify and are placed in the construct state; they also agree in gender with the noun they modify. An example of this are the nouns vīkīm and ʾalkad (which becomes ʾalīkdad in plural); when a numeral is placed before them they become ʾaẏnī vīkīma (one king) and apetū ʾalīkdad (six soldiers). Both of these words would literally translate to "one-of king" and "six-of soldiers", respectively. The table below lists the numbers from 1 to 12.

Numerals
Numbers Cardinal numeral

(masc.)

Cardinal numeral

(fem.)

Cardinal numeral

(neut.)

1 ʾaẏnī ʾaẏna ʾaẏnū
2 nīmī nīma nīmū
3 dajī daja dajū
4 hatī hata hatū
5 ʾaẕahī ʾaẕaha ʾaẕahū
6 ʾapetī ʾapeta ʾapetū
7 ʾaramī ʾarama ʾaramū
8 šabbī šabba šabbū
9 ʾadīkī ʾadīka ʾadīkū
X (10) yamī yama yamū
E (11) ʾījītī ʾījīta ʾījītū
10 (12) ʾīlaẏkī ʾīlaẏka ʾīlaẏkū

Syntax

Nominal phrases

Adjectives, relative clauses and appositions follow the noun while numerals precede the counted noun.

Sentence syntax

There are two sentence orders in Vrkhazhian that are used depending on the grammatical voice of the sentence. In sentences with active voice, the basic word order is Subject-Object-Verb (SOV), while in sentences with passive voice, the basic word order is Verb-Subject-Object (VSO). The sentence "Hiqal built the mercury golems" will be used as an example to show the change in word order in different voices:

In an sentence with active voice, the sentence would be translated as "Hīqal ṛ-havrī ṛ-mašarad nōšṉom."
Compare this with a sentence with passive voice where the sentence would be translated as "Nīšṉamam ṛ-havrī ṛ-mašarad ʾīm Hīqal"
The verb root š-ṉ-m (to build) is conjugated for active past singular in the active sentence because the subject is Hiqal, while in the passive sentence, the root is conjugated for passve past plural because the subjects are the mercury golems.

Writing System

The Vrkhazhian Alkhavat (ʾAlḵavaht Yat-Vṛḵaẕīkam [ˈʔalxaβaʰt ˈjat-βɹ̩ˈxaʑikam]) is the official writing script of Vrkhazhian. The script consists of 30 letters, their names being asssigned by actual words in the language through acrophony. The writing direction of the script is boustrephedon, and can start in any horizontal direction preferred, though the most common starting direction is Right-to-Left.

History

The script has been around for at least 7,500 years, with few changes and alterations to the letter forms since it's inception. The true origins of the writing system is unknown, however, the glyphs are based partially off of the logographic script of a sister language known as Husroth Qhadithcha, while, as noted above, the numerals are borrowed from the script.

Letter names

ʾAlḵavaht Yat-Vṛḵaẕīkam
Letter Name Meaning Phoneme
ʾAl ʾAl wind ʾ [ʔ]
Ḵav Ḵav human [x]
Vav Vav cane v [β]
Hīt Hīt lock h [h]
Dat Dat skull d [d]
Ḏīm Ḏīm fruit (also blood) [t͡s]
Bal Bal path b [b]
Sūm Sūm tunnel s [s]
Ẕat Ẕat helmet (also child) [ʒ~ʑ]
Yav Yav scythe y [j]
Ka Ka water k [k]
Gē wing g [g]
Lam Lam hand l [l]
Maʾ Maʾ bowl or cup m [m]
Neš Neš peace n [n]
Ǧaẏm Ǧaẏm name ǧ [ɣ]
Pak Pak head p [p]
Jīm Jīm pillar j [d͡ʒ~d͡ʑ]
Rū snake r [ɹ~ɾ]
Faš Faš vulture f [ɸ]
Šīm Šīm house š [ʃ~ɕ]
Waj Waj shield w [w]
Tal Tal gate t [t]
Čī Čī hook č [t͡ʃ~t͡ɕ]
Zab Zab branch z [z]
Ḻam Ḻam tree [ɬ~ɬʲ]
Ḫak Ḫak roof [χ~ħ]
Qar Qar you (2nd person masc. pl.) q [q]
Ṟat Ṟat fear [ʀ]
Ṉod Ṉod ear [ɴ]

Vocabulary

Example text