Stilio/Morphology
Words in Parseltongue are mostly broadly definable as nouns, verbs, and postpositions. Most adjectives and adverbs are derived from verbs, though a few come from pronouns.
Nouns
Pronouns
'Measure words' can also be used as pronouns, with or without numbers attached.
| Case | Form | Ex. |
|---|---|---|
| N | madd | |
| A | madæ | |
| A | maddi | |
| P | madda | |
| D | madas | |
| P | madvv | |
| P | madad | |
| G | madux | |
| A | maddwa |
| Case | Form | Ex. |
|---|---|---|
| N | gass | |
| Acc | gassæ | |
| Abs | gassi | sayhagassi hœd |
| Pat | gassa | haceagassa cig |
| D | gasas | to you |
| Par | gasoo | |
| Pos | gasad | |
| G | gasax | |
| Abl | gasswa |
Verbs
Verbs divided into four classes. Verbs have no tense, only one of two aspects. Verbs have complicated forms for independent clauses and simple forms for dependent clauses. There are two additional moods: imperative and illocutionary.
As with nouns, Parseltongue verbs do not mark number. Tense is assumed or conveyed via adverbs.
| Class | Prefix |
|---|---|
| Active Volitional | Ø- |
| Passive Volitional | ha'-, /æ'-, /- |
| Active Non-volitional | lv'-, l- |
| Passive Non-volitional | yn'- |
Aspect
Aspect is either imperfective or perfective. The English perfective is focused on the end of an action, while the imperfective is aimed at the middle. The Parseltongue imperfective may be conative, inceptive, progressive, egressive, resultative or gnomic. The Parseltongue perfective may be ingressive, constantive over the entire duration or most of it, perfect, or gnomic.
In translation, context is most important, but a guiding principle may be "perfective is for the past, imperfect for the non-past".
Mood
There are four mood in Parseltongue, two Realis and two Irrealis. The indicative or independent mood is used for factual statements and positive beliefs. The iIllocutionary mood is for magical or pronouncement/promissory clauses (see also Wikipedia:Illocutionary act), actively making true what it says. The subjunctive or dependent mood is for subordinate clauses, especially after modal verbs. The imperative mood is for commands but is also broadly for all deontic moods.
The subjunctive is very plain, conjugating only for aspect, but not person or evidentiality. The imperative conjugates for aspect and person only. The illocutionary is always perfective, conjugates for person, and is said to constitute its own evidentiality.
| -1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1½ | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smell | ||||||||
| IR | ||||||||
| Hear | ||||||||
| Sight | ||||||||
| Imperative | -a | |||||||
| Illocutionary | -\a | |||||||
| -1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1½ | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smell | ||||||||
| IR | ||||||||
| Hear | ||||||||
| Sight | ||||||||
| Imperative | ||||||||
| Illocutionary |
To be at
| -1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1½ | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smell | ||||||||
| IR | ||||||||
| Hear | tsæ | tsv | mæ | mœ | sa | |||
| Sight | ||||||||
| Imperative | saa | |||||||
Adjective
Parseltongue is "verb-centric" language. Adjectives are often expressed via stative verbs in relative clauses. There are a few, common, dedicated adjectives which must match the noun they modify in case and class. These need not be anywhere near the noun they modify. All known examples of this type seem to have evolved from stative verbs that have sense passed out of usage.
Adjectives can be substantive, making a verbal noun. They must still, however, take a noun-class prefix.
Adverbs
There is no dedicated morphology to turn a verb into an adverb. Instead, the relative clause is used in the ablative case. When this matches something in the sentence, there is some ambiguity.
There are many dedicated adverbs in Parseltongue, all of which relate to "person". Since "person" is such broad concept in Parseltongue, this can also mean directional, temporal, respectful or referential.
Postpositions
There are a few prepositions, which seems to have derived from words. There is one circumposition.
