Amal
- See also:
Introduction
Amal is meant to be a personal conlang and despite appearances and structure is not intended as an IAL. Amal is inspired by Semitic languages but incorporates aspects of numerous natural languages in an effort to be euphonious and easy to use/learn.
Phonology
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labiovelar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosives | p b | t d | k g | ʔ (q) | ||
| Nasals | m | n | ||||
| Fricatives | s | ʃ (sh) | ||||
| Approximants | l | j (y) | w | h | ||
| Trill | r |
Note: The glottal stop /ʔ/ q, is used as a "buffer" to keep vowels apart when adding suffixes.
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i~ɪ | u~ʊ | |
| Mid | e~ɛ | o | |
| Open | a~ə |
Vowel length is productive and is marked by an acute accent. á é í ú
- ai - /a͡ɪ/ (this is the only diphthong in Amal)
- o - /o/ is extremely rare and is mostly used in proper names
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).
Nouns
Number
Amal nouns can be singular, dual, or plural.
- kup-á - dog
- kup-ik - (two) dogs
- kup-im - dogs
- kup-ik - (two) dogs
- -ína - collective
Gender
Amal does not have grammatical gender. However, where desired, masculine individuals may be distinguished by the suffix -ul, and feminine ones by -en. For example, dashá or dashin is "sibling", dashul "brother", and dashen "sister". However, gender is not generally used unless there is some reason for distinguishing it.
Case
nominative
The nominative case is the basic uninflected form of the noun.
accusative
The accusative case marks the direct object of a verb.
- -wa
genitive
The genitive case is used to show possession and is placed immediately after the first member of a genitive construction.
- -ai / -ya
dative
The dative for the beneficiary of an action, indirect object, or motion towards. Unlike other case endings, it has morphed to being a prefix and has only one form, used in all instances. The exception to this is the form used with pronouns, ib-.
- bi-
locative
The locative case indicates the place or time at which something happens. Its meaning can be translated by the English prepositions 'to', 'at', 'on', 'in' etc.
- -da
ablative
The ablative case carries the meaning "from, off of" and shows separation away from an object. It is also used in comparisons and in this case translates as "than".
- -sha
comitative / instrumental
The instrumental/comitative case denotes accompaniment. It is translated as "with", "together with", "by", "with" or "through". An important use of the instrumental is as an adverbial, since Amal lacks a morphological adverb.
- -ha / -ak
Pronouns
Pronouns in Amal are marked for number, person, and case. There are three persons. The stand-alone personal pronouns are not used widely as the person is evident from the personal verb ending. They are used for emphasis only in their simple form as the verb form itself already points to the person. This is similar to Spanish where a person will say comprendo - "I understand" instead of Yo comprendo - "I understand".
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | -an | -uk |
| 2 | -ti / -e | -ut / -í |
| 3 | -u / -a / -il | -um |
case
| nominative | accusative | genitive | dative | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1s | -an | eyan | nai | iban |
| 2s | -ti / -e | eti / eye | tai | ibti |
| 3s | -u / -a / -il | eya | ai | ibu |
| 1p | -uk | eyuk | kai | ibuk |
| 2p | -ut / -í | eyut | wai | ibut |
| 3p | -um | eyum | mai | imbu * |
- imbu is a result of metathesis, a not uncommon occurrence in Amal.
direct object incorporation
Direct object pronouns are incorporated to the verb inflection. So, instead of eya aryeshan (I saw her), aryeshana is grammatical. The DO pronouns are not used when the object is specified. So, instead of kawalwa aryeshanu (I saw (it) the horse), kawalwa aryeshan is grammatical.
| verb | tense / aspect / mood | subject | object |
|---|---|---|---|
| ary | -esh | -an | -a |
| see | simple past | 1sg | 3sg.FEM |
| I saw her. | |||
Numbers
Cardinal
| Amal | number | English | Amal | number | English | Amal | number | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| nul | 0 | zero | sha | 6 | six | kishada | 500 | five hundred |
| wa | 1 | one | seb | 7 | seven | hesha | 103 | (one) thousand |
| ni | 2 | two | eta (sometimes pu) |
8 | eight | dahesh | 104 | ten thousand |
| ush | 3 | three | nen | 9 | nine | sadesh | 105 | (one) hundred thousand |
| ha | 4 | four | da | 10 | ten | uhun | 106 | (one) million |
| kish | 5 | five | sada | 100 | (one) hundred | ulun | 109 | (one) billion |
Forming Larger Numbers
- dawa - eleven / 11
- nida - twenty / 20
- sadaseb - one hundred seven / 107
- ushadénidasha - three hundred twenty six / 326
- shaheshnidaha - six thousand and twenty four / 6024
Other Number Forms
| Amal | number | English | ordinal | multiple | fractional |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| wa | 1 | one | émwa first |
gáwa once |
- |
| dani | 12 | twelve | émdani twelfth |
gádani twelve times |
daniya a twelfth |
| kishdaha | 54 | fifty four | émkishdaha fifty fourth |
gákishdaha 54 times |
kishdahaya a fifty fourth |
| sadasha | 106 | one hundred (and) six | émsadasha 106th |
gásadasha 106 times |
sadashaya a 106th |
| sebhesh | 7000 | seven thousand | émsebhesh seven thousandth |
gásebhesh 7000 times |
sebheshai 1/7000 |
