Vrkhazhian
Vrkhazhian (Śād Warḫālali) is a language that is spoken by the Vrkhazhians who live in Warḫālu. Another name that Vrkhazhian is known by is Śātti "Our Mouth/Speech".
 | |
|---|---|
| Vrkhazhian Śād Warḫālali, Śātti | |
| Pronounced: | /ˈɬɒːd wɒrˈx̹ɒː.lɒ.li/, /ˈɬɒːt.ti/ |
| Spoken: | Vrkhazh (Warḫālum) |
| Writing system: | Añmānti |
| Genealogy: | ???
|
| Typology | |
| Morphological type: | agglutinative, triconsonantal root-based morphology |
| Morphosyntactic alignment: | nominative-accusative |
| Basic word order: | SOV |
| Credits | |
| Creator: | Malcolm G. Holborne |
𞤹𞤸𞤪
History
Dialects
Vrkhazhian is analyzed as having two major dialects:
- "Uzerian" (Śādu-li Uzruyu-li) is spoken in the south-west of Vrkhazh and named after the city from which it originated, Uzru-li.
- "Mukhbic" (Śādu-li Muḫbuyu-li) is spoken in the north-east of Vrkhazh and named after the city Muḫbu-li.
Despite being considered dialects of the same language, they are somewhat mutually unintelligible to each other.
Phonology
Consonants
The table below shows the consonant phonemes found in the major dialects of Vrkhazhian.
| Bilabial | Coronal | Velar | Glottal | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central | Lateral | ||||||||
| Plain | Ejective | Plain | Ejective | Plain | Ejective | Plain | Ejective | ||
| Nasal Stop | m | n | ŋ ⟨ñ⟩ | ||||||
| Oral Stop | p b | pʼ ⟨ṗ⟩ | t d | tʼ ⟨ṭ⟩ | k g | kʼ ⟨ḳ⟩ | ʔ ⟨ʾ⟩ | ||
| Fricative | s z | ᵗsʼ ⟨ṣ⟩ | ɬ ⟨ś⟩ | ᵗɬʼ ⟨ṣ́⟩ | x ⟨ḫ⟩ ɣ ⟨ğ⟩ | ||||
| Liquid | w | r | l | j ⟨y⟩ | |||||
Vowels
Vrkhazhian possesses the following monophthongs:
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Close | i iː | u uː |
| Open | ɛ ɛː | ɒ ɒː |
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 pʼ b t tʼ d k kʼ 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 waddim "shield": under normal circumstances its bound form is wad; however, when the first person plural possessive suffix -ti is added, it becomes watti "our shield"
- The plosives /t tʼ d/ also assimilate in voice and manner of articulation when they precede the fricatives /s sʼ z ɬ ɬʼ/
Nasals
- ???
Fricatives
- the fricatives /s sʼ z ɬ ɬʼ/ and approximant /l/ assimilate in voice and manner of articulation when they precede another fricative of the same place of articulation.
Other
The velar consonants /ŋ k kʼ g x ɣ/ become partially-rounded [ŋ͗ k̹ k̹ʼ g͗ x̹ ɣ͗] or fully-rounded [ŋʷ kʷ kʷʼ gʷ xʷ ɣʷ] before back vowels.
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 highly predictable as it is based on syllable weight, of which there are three: light (V, CV); heavy (CVC, CV̄, CV̂), and superheavy (CV̄C, CV̂C) and stress is always placed on the last, heaviest syllable of a word.
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 ğimū (singular ğimum). They are declined for case, gender, and number. Specifically there are two cases (nominative and oblique) and two numbers (singular and plural). Additionally, Vrkhazhian has two grammatical genders: masculine and feminine. These genders are not strictly based on sex and the gender of non-human nouns is somewhat unpredictable.
Verbal morphology
- Main article: Verbs in Vrkhazhian
Vrkhazhian verbs are called narībū (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-ǧ-l (to be old) with the meaning of "old":
| Nominative | Oblique | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| Masculine | saǧǧal-im | saǧǧal-ī | saǧǧal-am | saǧǧal-ā |
| Feminine | saǧǧal-um | saǧǧal-ū | ||
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. Additionally, the distal demonstrative adjectives can function as third person pronouns when referring to non-human entities.
| Deixis | Nominative | Oblique | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | ||
| Proximal | masculine | eḫḫ-im | eḫḫ-ī | eḫḫ-am | eḫḫ-ā |
| feminine | eḫḫ-um | eḫḫ-ū | |||
| Distal | masculine | lî-m | lî | lâ-m | lâ |
| feminine | lû-m | lû | |||
Interrogative Adjectives
Vrkhazhian possesses a simple set of interrrogative adjectives:
| Nominative | Oblique | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | ||
| "Who/What" | masculine | yāl-im | yāl-ī | yāl-am | yāl-ā |
| feminine | yāl-um | yāl-ū | |||
| "Which" | masculine | ' | ' | ' | ' |
| feminine | ' | ' | ' | ' | |
| "How Many" | masculine | biğ-im | biğ-ī | biğ-am | biğ-ā |
| feminine | biğ-um | biğ-ū | |||
Pronouns
| Nominative | Oblique | Possessive Suffix | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Person | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| 1st | anu | adu | enēk | edēk | -ni | -ti | |
| 2nd | masculine | mī | mīn | mā | mān | -mi | -min |
| feminine | mū | mūn | -mu | -mun | |||
| 3rd | masculine | kī | kīn | kā | kān | -ki | -kin |
| feminine | kū | kūn | -ku | -kun | |||
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 | tibsum | tabbas- |
|
2 | śiṭṭum | śaddaṭ- |
| 3 | mağālum | mağğal- | |
| 4 | ṣabāsum | ṣabbas- | |
| 5 | ḳudkum | ḳaddak- | |
| 6 | tuğtum | tağğat- | |
| 7 | ??? | ??? | |
| 8 | ??? | ??? | |
| 9 | naḫrum | naḫḫar- | |
| X | yasnum | yassan- | |
| E | ??? | ??? | |
| 10 | ḫarāṭum | ḫarraṭ- |
Syntax
- Main article: Syntax in Vrkhazhian
Nominal phrases
Noun phrases have the following overall order: (demonstratives) noun (numeral)-(adjective)-(relative clause)
| eḫḫum | śimum |
| this-fem.sg | house-fem.sg |
| this house | |
| eḫḫū | śimū | mannabū |
| this-fem.pl | house-fem.pl | beautiful-fem.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.
| eḫḫum | ṣabās | śimā |
| this-fem.sg | four-cons.sg | house-obl.pl |
| these four houses | ||
| eḫḫum | ṣabās | śimā | mannabum |
| this-fem.sg | four-cons.sg | house-obl.pl | beautiful-fem.sg |
| these four beautiful houses | |||
Relative clauses are made by suffixing -ess- to the verb of the relative clause:
| ḳebbim | lañyāmābki | mēḫtessi |
| king-masc.sg | people-cons.sg-3ms.poss | real-put_together-3ms.rel |
| a king who united his people | ||
Relative clauses can also be made by the use of the relative pronouns essûli/essîli "(the one) who" and kâli "(the place) where"
| ḳebbim | essîli | lañyāmābki | māḫti |
| king-masc.sg | who-masc | people-cons.sg-3ms.poss | real-put_together-3ms |
| a king who united his people | |||
| nammağduli | kâli | ribādū | naḳūstun |
| palace-def.nom.fem.sg | where | guards-nom.fem.pl | irr-lie_down-3fp |
| the palace where guards will reside | |||
Sentence syntax
The basic word order of Vrkhazhian is SOV. Vrkhazhian has two voices, active and applicative:
| alādūli | ilgā | āmtun |
| warrior-nom.fem.def.pl | fish-obl.pl | real-eat-3fs |
| The warriors ate some fish | ||
The verb root ʾ-m (to eat), in the first example, is conjugated for active nonfuture masculine singular 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 applicative nonfuture ... plural, agreeing in number and gender with the subject "...".
Writing System
Vocabulary
Example text
