Amal

See also:

• lexicon
  • thematic lexicon
  • verb charts
• phrases & translations

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
• e - /i/ or /ɪ/ without confusion
• j - /ʒ/
• ny - /ɲ/ (rare)
• u - /w/ when followed by another vowel
• y - /j/
• ' - /ʔ/ the glottal stop separates non-diphthonged vowels.
• ai - /a͡ɪ/ (this is the only diphthong in Amal)

Verbal Morphology

The verbal inflection of Amal is quite simple. There are only three tenses (present, past, future), plus the conditional and the imperative, each marked by person and number. There are two aspects (perfective, continuous) and various moods that are also marked on the verb (usually between the verb root and the person).

conjugation

There is only one regular paradigm or conjugation. There are a few irregular verbs, covered later. The personal endings are uniform within each conjugation:

• -an - 1sg - I
• -at - 2sg - you
• -a(l) - 3sg - he / she
• -uk - 1pl - we
• -ut - 2pl - you
• -um - 3pl - they

pronominal constructions

If both subject and object are personal pronouns, both can be marked on the verb. In these constructions, case is dropped and order becomes relevant. The basic word order of SOV assumes that the first pronoun in the string is nominative while the subsequent pronoun is accusative.

• sav-an-at

know-1sg-2sg

I know you.

• ban-iy-an-a

build-PST-1sg-3sg

I built it.

• am-uj-al-um

love-FUT.CONT-3sg-3pl

She will (be) love(ing) them

infinitive

Verbs are listed in the lexicon in the infinitive: tenek, amek, hamak.

The verb root, the basis of most of the tenses, is formed by removing the endings -ek or -mak.

present tense

The present is formed by adding the personal endings to the verb root.

• banek - to build

banan - I build

banat - you build

bana - he / she builds

banuk - we build

banut - you build

banum - they build

past tense

The past is formed by adding the personal endings to the verb root and the infix -i(y)-.

• savek - to know

saviyan - I knew

saviyat - you knew

saviya - he / she knew

saviyuk - we knew

saviyut - you knew

saviyum - they knew

future tense

The future is formed by adding the personal endings to the verb root and the infix -u(y)-.

• kucek - to cook

kucuyan - I will cook

kucuyat - you will cook

kucuya - he / she will cook

kucuyuk - we will cook

kucuyut - you will cook

kucuyum - they will cook

aspect

perfective

The perfective infix -r- indicates that, in the time context of the sentence, the action is completed.

• ugara

occur-PFV-3sg

It has occurred.

continuous

The continuous infix -j- indicates that, in the time context of the sentence, the action is occurring continuously.

• kecajan

breathe-CONT-1sg

I am breathing.

• namujat

sleep-FUT.CONT-2sg

You will be sleeping.

moods

The various moods in Amal tend to be marked by an infix attached to the verb, but can also be expressed by auxiliary verbs.

irrealis

The irrealis mood is used to indicate that something is unreal, or in doubt, or merely possible or desired. It can suggest a future that is more-or-less probable. It can also convey a polite request. It can be used in various situations where many languages would use subjunctive or conditional moods, and it often corresponds to the English word "would":

• icasuk

drink-IRR-1pl

If we drink

The a in the irrealis infix changes to i for past tense and u for future.

• amisa

love-PST.IRR-3sg

If she loved

• kucusumla

cook-FUT.IRR-3pl-NEG

If they will not cook

• cadusan inti bunyusa

be.happy-FUT.IRR-1sg sun shine-IRR-3sg

I would be happy if the sun were shining.

imperative

The imperative is formed by adding -e to the verb root.

• nobe!

give-IMP

Give!

• yemeyuk!

eat-IMP-1pl

Let's eat!

interrogative

The interrogative is formed by adding -em to the verb root.

• inti bunyema?

sun shine-Q-3sg

Is the sun shining?

negative

The negative is formed by adding -la at the end of the verb construction.

• savanla

know-1sg-NEG

I do not know.

Nominal morphology

Nouns in Amal have five cases (nominative, genitive, accusative, dative, instrumental), and two numbers (singular and plural). The two genders (masculine and feminine) can be shown but are usually not indicated.

number

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:

• bet > betim — house > houses
• ajba > ajbam — answer > answers

gender

Gender is typically not indicated. If necessary, nouns may be suffixed with -uj (male) or -en (female):

• kavaluj / kavalen

a stallion / a mare

case

Amal has separate endings for each of the four cases, they are invariable and are always final.

nominative

The basic form of each noun, and the one cited in the lexicon, is the nominative singular. All the other forms can be derived from it.

genitive

The genitive is formed by adding -in the end of the noun.

• bet mujin

house man-GEN

The man's house.

• ketabim mujimin

book-PL man-PL-GEN

The men's books.

accusative

The accusative is formed by adding -un the end of the noun.

• ajbun necan

answer-ACC need-1sg

I need an answer.

• kavalimun ra'iya

horse-PL-ACC see-PST-3sg

She saw horses.

dative

The dative is formed by adding -ye the end of the noun.

• betoye vaua

house-DAT go-fut-3sg

He will go to the house.

• eyemun kavalye nobuk

food-ACC horse-DAT give-1pl

We are giving food to the horse.

instrumental

The instrumental is formed by adding -ec the end of the noun.

• kelemec ketiyum

pen-INS write-PST-3pl

They wrote with a pen.

• kavalec vayan

horse-INS go-1sg

I go by horse.

Other parts of speech

adjectives

Amal does not have adjectives as a distinct part of speech. Instead, many intransitive verbs can be used as adjectives, in which case they follow the noun they modify. (ceket coat, and yacek to be wet)

• ceket yaca

coat be.wet-3sg

The wet coat or The coat is wet

adverbs

Adverbs can be formed from all verbs by adding -ji to the root. (If the verb already ends in j, just add -i.) They are not inflected.

• guzek - be beautiful >> guzoji - beautifully
• tobek - be good >> tobji - well
• genyek - be rich >> genyoji - richly
• yavasek - be slow >> yavasoji - slowly
• fasimak - be fluent >> fasiji - beautifully