Vrkhazhian
Vrkhazhian (Śād Warḫālun) is a language that is spoken by the Vrkhazhians who live in Warḫālum. Another name that Vrkhazhian is known by is Śādata "Our Mouth/Speech".
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| Vrkhazhian Śād Warḫālun, Śādata | |
| Pronounced: | [ˈt͡ɬɑːd wɑrˈxɑː.ɮun], [ˈt͡ɬɑːdɑ.tɑ] |
| Spoken: | Vrkhazh (Warḫālum) |
| Writing system: | Añmānum |
| Genealogy: | ???
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| Typology | |
| Morphological type: | agglutinative, triconsonantal root-based morphology |
| Morphosyntactic alignment: | nominative-accusative |
| Basic word order: | SOV |
| Credits | |
| Creator: | Malcolm G. Holborne |
History
Registers
Vrkhazhian is divided into two primary registers:
- Imperial Vrkhazhian (Ḳebbūyum "The Royal [Speech]") is the written variety of Vrkhazhian based upon a dialect of Old Vrkhazhian spoken by the founder of the Empire, Ezu-Nardin the Great, and his supporters.
- Common Vrkhazhian (Lumbūyum "The Common [Speech]") is the spoken variety based around the dialect of the capital city of Uzur.
Phonology
Consonants
The table below shows the 22 consonant phonemes found in Vrkhazhian. Letters in angle brackets indicate where the romanization of the phoneme differs from its IPA representation.
| Bilabial | Coronal | Velar | Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central | Lateral | |||||
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ ⟨ñ⟩ | |||
| Stop | Voiceless | p | t | k | ʔ ⟨ˀ⟩ | |
| Ejective | pʼ ⟨ṗ⟩ | tʼ ⟨ṭ⟩ | kʼ ⟨ḳ⟩ | |||
| Voiced | b | d | g | |||
| Fricative | Voiceless | f | s | ɬ ⟨ś⟩ | x ⟨ḫ⟩ | |
| Voiced | z | ɮ ⟨l⟩ | ||||
| Semivowel | w | j ⟨y⟩ | ||||
| Rhotic | r | |||||
Vowels
Vrkhazhian possesses the following monophthongs:
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Close | i iː | u uː |
| Open | ɛ ɛː | ɑ ɑː |
All consonants and vowels distinguish length phonemically. Long consonants are represented in writing as double consonants while long vowels are written with a macron (ā, ē, ī, ū) or a circumflex (â, ê, î, û). The usage of a circumflex in writing is mainly to indicate vowel coalescence as a result of the contraction of the weak consonants /ʔ j w/. Phonetically, long vowels are one-and-a-half times as long as short vowels when they are unstressed and twice as long as short vowels when they are stressed.
Allophony
Plosives
- The plosives /p b t d k g/ assimilate in voicing when they precede a plosive of the same place of articulation. An example of this allophony is demonstrated with the noun ḫūdas "wall": under normal circumstances its bound form is ḫūd; however, when the first person plural possessive suffix -ta is added, it becomes ḫūtta "our wall"
- The plosives /t d k g/ also assimilate in voice and manner of articulation when they precede fricatives of the same place of articulation
Nasals
- ???
Fricatives
- the fricatives /s z ɬ ɮ/ assimilate in voice and manner of articulation when they precede another fricative of the same place of articulation.
- the fricatives /s z ɬ ɮ/ become affricates word-initially.
Other
- The velar consonants /ŋ k g x/ become partially-rounded [ŋ͗ k̹ g͗ x̹] or fully-rounded [ŋʷ kʷ gʷ xʷ] before back vowels.
Symmetrical Assimilation
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Asymmetrical Assimilation
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Syllable Structure and Prosody
The basic syllable structure is maximally (C)V(V)(C) whereby any syllable can begin with any consonant except for /ʔ/ and any syllable can end with any consonant except for /ʔ j w/. Vrkhazhian strongly dislikes consonant clusters in the onset or coda of a syllable and typically inserts vowels to break the offending clusters. The epenthetic vowels typically mirror the adjacent vowel.
Stress in Vrkhazhian is based on syllable weight, of which there are three degrees: light (V, CV); heavy (CVC, CV̄, CV̂), and superheavy (CV̄C, CV̂C).
Grammar
Morphology
Overview
Vrkhazhian is a highly inflecting language, and morphologically, it is a triconsonatal root language: a kind of non-concatenative morphology whereby its roots consist of an abstract set of consonants which a pattern of vowels called transfixes are placed between. Most of these roots consist of three consonants (triliteral), though there are many words that consist of two-letter (biliteral) and four-letter (quadriliteral) roots. Very rare, however, are five-letter (pentaliteral) roots, all of which are entirely nouns.
Nominal morphology
- Main article: Nouns in Vrkhazhian
Vrkhazhian nouns are called ğanūm (singular ğanum). They are declined for case, gender, and number. Specifically there are four cases (nominative, vocative, accusative, instrumental, and vocative) and two numbers (singular and plural). Additionally, Vrkhazhian has two grammatical genders: masculine and feminine. When referring to humans, deities, and certain animals, masculine refers to beings and animals of the male sex as well as beings that identify with the male gender while feminine refers to beings and animals of the female sex as well as beings that identify with the female gender. When referring to non-humans, masculine refers to wild or dangerous animals (e.g. sammalim "crocodile") or inanimate non-living things (e.g. adgim "sand") while feminine refers to domesticated or safe animals (e.g. ḫuzum "horse") or more animate non-living things (e.g. mazûm "sea").
Verbal morphology
- Main article: Verbs in Vrkhazhian
Vrkhazhian verbs are called narībūm (singular narībum). Because Vrkhazhian is a triconsonantal root language, the fundamental part of the verb form is the transfix, a discontinuous affix inserted between a root, though they primarily only convey the grammatical voices (active and passive). There are only two tenses (future and non-future) and these are indicated by prefixes attached to the base form. Additionally, there are also two moods (indicative and subjunctive) although the indicative is unmarked. Lastly, verbs are also conjugated for number, singular and plural, with the plural indicated by the suffix -am.
When referring to a particular verb pattern, they are referred to by a derivation of the canonical (exemplary) verb p-r-ḫ (to say, to speak). For example, when referring to the verb pattern of the citation form of a verb, which is the first person singular realis, it is called paruḫna because that is the first person singular realis form of the verb.
Adjectival morphology
Adjectives in Vrkhazhian are marked for gender, case, and number in agreement with the noun they modify.
Most adjectives are derived from verbs and take the form C₁aC₂C₂aC₃. Below is an example adjective derived from the verb s-g-l (to be old) with the meaning of "old":
| Nominative | Accusative | Genitive | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| Masculine | saggal-im | saggal-īm | saggal-is | saggal-īs | saggal-in | saggal-īn |
| Feminine | saggal-um | saggal-ūm | saggal-us | saggal-ūs | saggal-un | saggal-ūn |
| Neuter | saggal-as | saggal-ās | saggal-as | saggal-ās | saggal-aḫ | saggal-āḫ |
Demonstrative Adjectives
Like English, Vrkhazhian makes a two-way distinction between near ('this, these' known as "proximal") and far ('that, those' known as "distal") demonstrative expressions. Besides number, as in English, Vrkhazhian also distinguishes masculine and feminine gender as well as case.
| Deixis | Nominative | Accusative | Genitive | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | ||
| Proximal | masculine | eḫ-im | eḫ-īm | eḫ-is | eḫ-īs | eḫ-in | eḫ-īn |
| feminine | eḫ-um | eḫ-ūm | eḫ-us | eḫ-ūs | eḫ-un | eḫ-ūn | |
| neuter | eḫ-as | eḫ-ās | eḫ-as | eḫ-ās | eḫ-aḫ | eḫ-āḫ | |
| Distal | masculine | el-im | el-īm | el-is | el-īs | el-in | el-īn |
| feminine | el-um | el-ūm | el-us | el-ūs | el-un | el-ūn | |
| neuter | el-as | el-ās | el-as | el-ās | el-aḫ | el-āḫ | |
Interrogative Adjectives
Vrkhazhian possesses a simple set of interrrogative adjectives:
| Nominative | Accusative | Genitive | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | ||||
| "Who/What" | masculine | arr-im | arr-īm | arr-is | arr-īs | arr-in | arr-īn | ||
| feminine | arr-um | arr-ūm | arr-us | arr-ūs | arr-un | arr-ūn | |||
| neuter | arr-as | arr-ās | arr-as | arr-ās | arr-aḫ | arr-āḫ | |||
| "Which" | masculine | amt-im | amt-īm | amt-is | amt-īs | amt-in | amt-īn | ||
| feminine | amt-um | amt-ūm | amt-us | amt-ūs | amt-un | amt-ūn | |||
| neuter | amt-as | amt-ās | amt-as | amt-ās | amt-aḫ | amt-āḫ | |||
| "How Many" | masculine | ??? | ??? | ??? | ??? | ??? | ??? | ||
| feminine | ??? | ??? | ??? | ??? | ??? | ??? | |||
| neuter | ??? | ??? | ??? | ??? | ??? | ??? | |||
Pronouns
| Independent | Bound | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | Oblique | Nominative | Oblique | ||||||
| Person | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| 1st | ānam | ādam | ānas | ādas | -na | -ta | -na | -ta | |
| 2nd | masculine | mimma | mīma | missa | mīsa | -mi | -min | -mi | -min |
| feminine | mumma | mūma | mussa | mūsa | -mu | -mun | -mu | -mun | |
| neuter | massa | māsa | massa | māsa | -mas | -man | -mas | -man | |
| 3rd | masculine | kimma | kīma | kissa | kīsa | -ti | -tin | -ki | -kin |
| feminine | kumma | kūma | kussa | kūsa | -tu | -tun | -ku | -kun | |
| neuter | kassa | kāsa | kassa | kāsa | -tas | -tan | -kas | -kan | |
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 can be written as ⟨X⟩, and the number eleven as ⟨E⟩.
Numerals behave like noun/pronouns.
The table below lists the numbers from 1 to 12.
| Glyph | Numeral | Cardinal | Ordinal |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1 | tibsas | tabbas- |
|
2 | śiṭṭas | śaddaṭ- |
| 3 | miḫlas | maḫḫal- | |
| 4 | ??? | ??? | |
| 5 | ??? | ??? | |
| 6 | tuftas | taffat- | |
| 7 | ??? | ??? | |
| 8 | ??? | ??? | |
| 9 | naḫras | naḫḫar- | |
| X | yasnas | yassan- | |
| E | ??? | ??? | |
| 10 | ḫarṭas | ḫarraṭ- |
Syntax
- Main article: Syntax in Vrkhazhian
Nominal phrases
Noun phrases have the following overall order: (numeral) noun (genitive noun) (adjective/relative clause) (demonstratives)
| śimas | eḫas |
| house-nom/acc.inan.sg | this-nom/acc.inan.sg |
| this house | |
| śimās | mannabās | eḫās |
| house-nom/acc.inan.pl | beautiful-nom/acc.inan.pl | this-nom/acc.inan.pl |
| these beautiful houses | ||
Numerals behave like nouns, thus when they are used to quantify another noun they are placed in the construct state. In turn, determiners and adjectives agree in gender and number with the numeral rather than the possessing noun.
| tufut | śimāḫ | eḫas |
| six\nom/acc.inan.sg | house-gen.inan.pl | this-nom/acc.inan.sg |
| these six houses | ||
| tufut | śimāḫ | mannabas | eḫas |
| six\nom/acc.inan.sg | house-gen.inan.pl | beautiful-nom/acc.fem.sg | this-nom/acc.inan.sg |
| these six beautiful houses | |||
Relative clauses are made by suffixing -ēz- to the verb of the relative clause:
| ḳebbim | azzalmabki | māˀaḫtēzi |
| king-nom.masc.sg | people\cons.inan.sg-3ms.obl | nfut-put_together-3ms.rel |
| a king who united his people | ||
Relative clauses can also be made by the use of the interrogative pronouns arrum/arrim/arras "(the one) who" and kûm/kîm/kâs "(the place) where"
| ḳebbim | arrim | azzalmabki | māˀaḫtikkas |
| king-nom.masc.sg | who-nom.masc.sg | people\cons.inan.sg-3ms.obl | nfut-put_together-3ms |
| a king who united his people | |||
| ummuḫdas | kâs | rabādūm | taḳūstun |
| palace-nom/acc.inan.sg | where-nom/acc.inan.sg | guards-nom.fem.pl | futi-lie_down-3fp |
| the palace where guards might reside | |||
Sentence syntax
The basic word order of Vrkhazhian is SOV. Vrkhazhian has two primary voices, active and applicative:
| alādīm | ilgūs | āmatīkun |
| warrior-nom.masc.pl | fish-acc.fem.pl | nfut-eat\act-3mp>3fp |
| The warriors ate some fish | ||
| alādīm | ḫagrākin | ilgūs | āˀamtīkun |
| warrior-nom.masc.pl | dog-acc.fem.pl-3mp | fish-acc.fem.pl | nfut-eat\appl-3mp>3fp |
| The warriors fed their dogs some fish | |||
The verb root ʾ-m (to eat), in the first example, is conjugated for active nonfuture masculine plural in the active sentence agreeing in number and gender with the subject "warriors", while the same verb root in the second example is conjugated in the passive nonfuture feminine plural, agreeing in number and gender with the subject "fish".
Writing System
Vocabulary
Example text
