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." | |||
: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== | ==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
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.
Bilabial | Alveolar | (Alveolo)-
Palatal |
Velar | Uvular | Glottal | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | Light | hn [ʰn~n̥] | |||||
Plain | m [m] | n [n] | ṉ [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 | ṗ [pʶ~pˤ] ḅ [bʶ~bˤ] | ṭ [tʶ~tˤ] ḍ [dʶ~dˤ] | |||||
Affricate | ḏ [ʦ] | č [ʧ~ʨ] j [ʤ~ʥ] | |||||
Fricative | Plain | f [ɸ] v [β] | s [s] z [z] | š [ʃ~ɕ] ẕ [ʒ~ʑ] | ḵ [x] ğ [ɣ] | ḥ [χ~ħ] | h [h] |
Dark | ṣ [sʶ~sˤ] ẓ [zʶ~zˤ] | ||||||
Approximant | Light | hr [ʰɹ~ʰɾ~ɹ̥̥] | |||||
Plain | r [ɹ~ɾ] | y [j] | w [w] | ||||
Trill | rr [r] | ṟ [ʀ] | |||||
Lateral Approximant | Light | hl [ʰl~l̥] | |||||
Plain | l [l] | ||||||
Dark | ḷ [lʶ~lˤ] | ||||||
Lateral Fricative | ḻ [ɬ~ɬʲ] |
Vowels
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] |
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 (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 (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"
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"
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.
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.