Classical Diūn

Classical Diūn
Spoken in:	Diūn City-States
Time Period:	200 YBK - 200 YSK(200 CE - 600 CE)
Total speakers:	extinct
Genealogical classification:	Proto-Diūn   Classical Diūn
Basic word order:	SOV
Morphological type:	semi-fusional
Morphosyntactic alignment:	Ergative-Absolutive
Created by:
Samuel Hopping	February 8, 2007-

Classical Diūn was born on Thursday February 08, 2007 at 8:08:35 PM as Djún. It has also been known as Djūn and Djun.

I. Phonology:

A. Phoneme Inventory:

a. Consonants

	Bilabial	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar
Plosive	p, b	t, d		t`, d`		k, g
Nasal	m	n		n`
Fricative	p\, B	s, z		s`, z`	C
Affricate		ts	tS
Approximant		r\			j
Lateral		l

b. Consonant Orthography

	Bilabial	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar
Plosive	p, b	t, d		th, dh		c, g
Nasal	m	n		nh
Fricative	ph/f, bh/v	s, z		sh, zh	h
Affricate		ċ/cc	ch
Approximant		r			i
Lateral		l

c. Vowels

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

d. Vowel Orthography

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i, ī		u, ū
Close Mid	e, ē		o, ō
Open	a, ā

d. Diphthongs:

/ai au oi/ <ai au oi>

B. Allophones:

a. [J] occurs intervocalic as an allophone of /n/

b. [N] occurs in the coda of a syllable as an allophone of /n/

c. [tts] occurs intervocalic as an allophone of /ts/

d. [ttS] occurs intervocalic as an allophone of /tS/

e. [dZ] occurs intervocalic as an allophone of /g/

C. Phonotactics

a. No consonant clusters consisting of only fricatives,plosives or approximants

b. The coda and onset cannot consist of more than two consonant sounds

c. Approximants cannot begin a word. Approximants also have to have a Plosive or only the following fricatives infront of them /f v s z h/.

d. /r\/ cannot come after /p b k s z g/

e. retroflex consonants can only come at the end of a word

D. Syllable Structure

a. CV(C)

II.Grammar:

A. Nominal Morphology

a. Classical Diūn nouns are inflected for the Ergative Case or if definiteness needs to be distinguished.

b.Classical Diūn is an Ergative-Absolutive Language. The Ergative case marks the subject of a transative verb.

c. the suffix -(o)m is added to the noun to mark the Ergative case while no suffix is needed to mark the Absolutive case.

d. the suffix -(i)d marks the plural. It comes before the Ergative suffix and after the root.

e. -(o)n marks a noun as definite. The Definite from is only used when stressing the noun to be of a specific kind and is only used in the singular. i.e the function of the word "this" in English.

f. Examples:

i. Vinidom toi bhine nīven

ii. [BiJidom toi BiJe ni:BeN]

iii. (The) Boys want to kill me

iv. Boy.plur.erg me.abs kill.PP want.inf

v. Vinonom toi bhini nīven

vi. [BiJoJom toi BiJi ni:BeN]

vii. This boy wants to kill me

viii. Boy.def.erg me.abs kill.3P want.inf

ix. Tia vinidon gin sīho sōnen

x. [tja BiJidoN giN si:Co soJeN]

xi. I can not find the boys

xii. I.erg boy.plur.def negator find.1P can.inf

B. Verbal Morphology

a. Diūn Verbs are inflected for person. The Diūn tenses (past and future) are expressed by separate particles. The Present does not need a separate particle. <mo> is the past particle and <mu> is the future morpheme. <mi> is also used to emphasize the present. The tense particles follow the verb. Adverbs can be placed between the verb and the tense particle

b. Verb Inflections for Person

i. 1st Person: root + -o

ii. 2nd Person: root + -a

iii. 3rd Person: root + -i

iv. All-Persons Plural: root + -e

c. Examples:

i. No dinid va he cephe mu

ii. [no diJid_h Ba Ce kep\e mu]

iii. We will seize your things(possessions)

iv. We.ERG thing.plur you.abs of seize.plur future-particle

v. Tia ga hado cīvi mo (or) Tia ga hado mo cīvi

vi. [tja ga Cado ki:Bi mo][tja ga Cado mo ki:Bi]

vii. I did that easily

viii. I.erg it/him.abs do.1P easy past-particle (or) I.erg it/him.abs do.1P past-particle easy

d. The Gerund:

e. The gerund functions as a verbs adjectival and adverbial forms. It is marked with the -endi suffix.

f. Examples:

i. Ci vinid humendi zadi mo

ii. [ki BiJid_h CumeNdi zadi mo]

iii. He saw the playing boys

iv. Ci vinid vōmi humendi mo

v. [ki BiJid_h Bo:mi CumeNdi mo]

vi. He jokingly hit the boys

g. The Gerundative

h. The Gerundative states an action that should or is to be done. It is marked with the -endas suffix. It functions as a noun when the copula nomen "to be" is introduced.

i. Examples:

i. Ci vinendas

ii. [BiJeNdas]

iii. He {who} should be killed

iv. He.erg kill.grndt

v. Toidam vinendas nomi

vi. [toidam BiJeNdas nomi]

vii. The man is to be killed

viii. Man.Erg kill.grndt to-be.3P

ix. Toida vinendas

x. [toida BiJeNdas]

xi. The man to be killed/ {who} should be killed

xii. Man.abs kill.grndt

j. The Supine

k. The Supine states the purpose of an action. It is marked with the -oim suffix.

l.Examples:

i. Vatim vinid ga he vīcci vōmoim

ii. [Batim BiJid_h ga Ce Bi:ttsi Bo:moim]

iii. Father comes to hit his boys

iv. Father.erg boy.plur him.erg of comes.3P hit.sup

v. Toida vōmi vīnoim mo

vi. [toida Bo:mi Bi:Joim mo]

vii. The man hit to kill

viii. Man.abs hit.3P kill.sup Pst

m. The Infinitive:

n.

C. Adjectival and Adverbial Morphology

a. Classical Diūn has four adverbial and adjectival degrees: The bare root is considered the first degree. The second degree, like the English -er suffix, is marked by the -(e)t suffix. The third degree, like the English -est suffix, is marked by the -(e)c suffix. The third degree, meaning "ultimate" or "extremely" is marked by the -(i)dh suffix. If the suffix begins a new syllable /C/ <h> is added before the vowel to conform to Diūn Syllable Structure. Adjectives and Adverbs could arguably not be considered separate word types because the only factor distinguishing the two is purely syntactical.

b. Examples:

i. Ci neptiūn nomi

ii. [ki neptju:N nomi]

iii. It/He is blue

iv. It/he.erg blue is.3P

v. Ci neptiūnec nomi

vi. [ki neptju:Jek_h nomi]

vii. It/He is (the) bluest

viii. It/he.erg blue.3rd is.3P

D. Syntax

a. Classical Diūn is an SOV language.

b. Verbal moods are distinguished by word order and, with a few moods, by morphology.

i. The Diūn verbal moods are:

ii. Subject-Object-Verb - indictive

iii. Verb-Object-Subject-Complement_Verb - interrogative

iv. Subject-Verb-Object-Complement_Verb - subjunctive, -ne suffix is added to the infinitive form of the verb

v. Verb-Object-Subject - imperative, -im suffix is added to the infinitive form of the verb

vi. Subject-Object-Verb- conditional, -ta suffix is added to the infinitive form of the verb. te "if" is used between the condition and the event.

c. The indicative mood is the default mood. It is used when the speaker wants to convey a fact. The interrogative mood is used when the speaker is asking a question. The subjunctive is used when the speaker is speaking about a hypothetical event or expressing a wish. The imperative is used to state a command. The conditional mood is used to state a condition of another event.

d. Examples:

i. The Indicative: Tia gīmos toi he phīho

ii. [tja gi:mos toi Ce p\i:Co]

iii. I love my family

iv. I.erg family me.abs of love.1P

v. The Interrogative: Phīha gīmos va he vo?

vi. [p\i:Ca gi:mos Ba Ce Bo]

vii. Do you love your family?

viii. Love.2P family you.abs of you.erg

ix. The Subjunctive: Tia phīhenne gīmos toi he sūmnen.

x. [tja p\i:CeNne gi:mos toi Ce su:mneN]

xi. I should love my family

xii. I.erg love.subj family me.abs of shall.inf

xiii. The Imperative: Phīhenim gīmos vo he!

xiv. [p\i:CeJim gi:mos Bo Ce]

xv. Love your family!

xvi. Love.inf.imp family you.erg of

xvii. The Conditional: Gīmosom toi he toi phīhenta te tia ni phīhenta.

xviii. [tja gi:mos toi Ce p\i:CeNta te pe toi p\i:CeNta CaBi mu]

xix. My family would love me if I loved them

xx. Family.erg me.abs of me.abs love.con if I.erg them.abs love.con

e. Adjectives and Adverbs follow the noun or verb they modify. The adverbs can come after the verb or after the tense particle(if there is one).

f. Classical Diūn uses postpositions rather than prepositions

g. Modals always come at the end of the phrase in infinitive form when another verb is present.

h. Examples:

i. Tia vecia ga he vivi vōmo nīven mo

ii. [tja Bekja ga Ce BiBi Bo:mo ni:veN mo]

iii. I wanted to hit him in the face

iv. I.erg face.abs him.abs of on hit.1P want.inf past-particle

i. The Relative clause:

j. The relative clause functions much the same as it does in English. Unlike in English however <vis> "that" must be used in between the first sentence and its complement.

k. Examples:

i. Toi dōcco vis no ga hade sōnen

ii. [toi do:ttso Bis no ga Cade so:JeN]

iii. I think that we can do it

iv. I.ABS think.1p that we.ERG it.ABS do.1p can.inf

v. Ca vīni vis tia pōv nomi mo

vi. [ka Bi:Ji Bis tja po:B nomi mo]

vii. She knows that I was there

viii. She.ABS knows.3p that I.Erg there be was