Æðadĕ

Æðadĕ [ˈæ.ða.də] is, just like Ayasth and Aθáta, a descendant of the earlier Adāta language developed by Deiniol Jones (aka Dewrad). It was created for the "Derivation Relay" in August 2006 at the zompist board.

Grammar

Nominal Morphology

Plural

The Plural is formed by the prefix oph- (< Adāta "opha", many), which becomes ov- before voiced stops or fricatives and of- before voiceless stops, fricatives and nasals. Additionally, long vowels are shortened because stress shifts to the initial syllable. Remember also that aspirated initial consonants are spoken without aspiration as soon as the prefix is added.

Examples:

• thālo moon, ofthalo moons
• ðjesk king, ovðjesk kings
• iþki mistress, ophiþki mistresses
• jādi prisoner, ophjadi prisoners

Possession

Æðadĕ, unlike Adāta but very much like its sister languages Ayasth and Aθáta, marks possession with suffixes rather than independant words.

	Singular	Plural
1	-aj	-ajg
2	-aðo	-alaw
3	-ag	-aga

The following changes occur: wordfinal e and i > j, wordfinal o and u > w and wordfinal a vanishes.

Examples:

• ðjesk king, ðjeskajg our king
• iþki mistress, iþkjaj my mistress
• iðo noble man, iðwaðo your noble man
• aðuna girl, aðunalaw your girl

Adjectives

Adjectives follow the noun they describe (ðjeskaj bira my brave king), but they do not change for number (ovðjeskaj bira my brave kings). A Comparative can be formed by suffixing -nez (or -ez if the adjective ends in a non-syllabic n), a Superlative by suffixing -jal (Adāta "ial", very).

Examples:

• bira, biranez, birajal - brave, braver, bravest
• thērn̩, thērn̩nez, thērn̩jal - beautiful, more beautiful, most beautiful
• ðōdin, ðōdinez, ðōdinjal - holy, holier, holiest

For emphasis it is also possible to add jæl very in front of the Superlative. Remember, though, that jæl is never used before the comparative.

Example: ðjesk (jæl) birajal the bravest king

Personal Pronouns

	Normal	Subjective	Oblique	Vocative
1 sg	je	jero	jen	æxin
2 sg	ðo	ðoro	ðon	æxðon
3 sg	æ	æro	æn	æxan
1 pl	jeg	jexro	īn**	æxi
2 pl	ðog*	ðoxro*	lākhon**	æxlakho
3 pl	æg	æxro	ān**	æxa

(*) The analogically formed 2nd person forms from singular ðo replaced the original "lākhok", "lākhok ro" which would have resulted in lākhog, lākhoxro. (**) The plural oblique forms would originally have developed without the final "n"; it was, however, placed there due to analogy with the singular.

Verbal Morphology

Compared to Adāta's verbal system, Æðadĕ has changed a lot. The habitual aspect was lost, as well as some moods. All in all, Æðadĕ tends to be a tense-language rather than an aspect-language. The following chart shows how the tenses developed from Adāta's aspects:

	Past	Present	Future
Indicative	Ind. Perfective	Ind. Imperfective	Opt. Imperfective
Imperative		Imp. Imperfective
Optative	Opt. Perfective	Opt. Imperfective	Paraphrased
Obligative	Oblig. Perfective	Oblig. Imperfective	Paraphrased

Verbs are usually given in the Indicative Present Pl, which is the least inflected form. E.g. ævi say, zjema live, hæva drink.

Endings

	Past		Present		Future
	Sg	Pl	Sg	Pl	Sg	Pl
Indicative	-n	-v	-si	-	uk-si	uk-
Imperative			ī-si	ī-
Optative	uk-n	uk-v	uk-si	uk-	ūsi VN*	ūs VN*
Obligative	so-n	so-v	so-si	so-	susi VN*	sō VN*

(*) VN = Verbal noun

Verb Stems & Ending Varieties

Verbs whose Indicative Present Plural form ends in an a or an e usually loose this vowel when endings are suffixed (so ævi say with the stem ævi-, opposed to zjema live with the stem zjem-).

The affixed n of the past tense becomes syllabic (n̩) if following another consonant (thus ævin said next to zjemn̩ lived).

The last sound of the Stem is assimlated to the voiced Past Plural suffix v (nuzv died from nusa, die).

Similarly, the last sound of the Stem is assimilated to the voiceless Present Singular suffix si (hæfsi drinks from hæva, drink).

The prefix uk of Optative and Future Indicative only remains in front of h (ukhæfsi will drink). If the Stem begins with a vowel or halfvowel, it is softened to ug (ugævisi will say); if the Stem of the verb begins with another consonant, it becomes ux (uxzjemsi will live).

The Obligative prefix so is shortened to s in front of vowels and halvowels (sævi shall say).

Example Conjugation

ævi	Past		Present		Future
say	Sg	Pl	Sg	Pl	Sg	Pl
Indicative	ævin	æviv	ævisi	ævi	ugævisi	ugævi
Imperative			īævisi	īævi
Optative	ugævin	ugæviv	ugævisi	ugævi	ūsi ævjĕn	ūs ævjĕn
Obligative	sævin	sæviv	sævisi	sævi	susi ævjĕn	sō ævjĕn