Commonthroat
Introduction
Commonthroat is what’s called an exolang or xenolang, which is a language spoken by aliens or other creatures that look, think, or act differently from humans. Xenolangs can get pretty weird, but Commonthroat doesn’t stray so far from how humans think that we can’t comprehend it at all. Its main deviation from human language is how it’s pronounced. Its speakers don’t use their teeth, tongue or lips when speaking, which is why they refer to languages as throats rather than tongues.
Before diving into the language, let’s talk a bit about its speakers and their home. Humans call the aliens that speak Commonthroat Yinrih (pronounced /ˈjin.ri/, /ˈjɪn.rə/, or /ˈjɪn.rɪ/). The word yinrih comes from a Commonthroat word sfqJqg /yip, short high strong whine, huff, long high weak growl, huff, short low weak growl/ meaning a person from the planet Yih. While the yinrih have colonized and terraformed their entire star system and possess a limited capacity for interstellar travel, they are as alone as we are until they meet us, so our First Contact is also their First Contact.
Humans often refer to yinrih as monkey foxes because they appear to have the head of a fox and the body of a new world monkey. Yinrih are quadrupeds with prehensile, six-toed paws and a prehensile tail. Each of the four paws has four fingers flanked by an opposable thumb on either side. They are covered in fur, but their palms, soles and the first joint of each digit are hairless. The head appears canine, with a wet nose, whiskery muzzle, and erect ears. The limbs are primate-like, with plantigrade rear feet, thicker limbs compared to canids, and a broader back and shoulders. Yinrih are capable of rearing up on their hind feet and can even walk bipedally with great effort but must normally walk on all fours. They are arboreal and move through the trees by swinging hand over hand.
Yinrih have a writing claw on each forepaw, located on the finger next to the inner thumb, analogous to a human’s index finger. This claw is connected to an ink sac located near the knuckle. The claw acts like the nib of a fountain pen, allowing them to write with no tools. Their ink is blue-black and smells like petrichor.
The yinrih are not united as a species, and Focus, their home star system, is home to several political powers that speak different languages. Commonthroat is the official language of the Allied Worlds, a political union of most of the inner planets that currently enjoys a degree of cultural and economic hegemony. The language is an international lingua franca filling a similar niche as English does on Earth.
Sounds
The set of all the sounds that are valid in a language is called its phoneme inventory. A language may have a particular sound that another language lacks. English is well known for lacking the guttural ch sound like in German Buch. On the other hand, the th sound in think is absent in German. Some languages, such as Japanese and Hawaiian, have very small inventories. Others, like English, have much larger inventories.
To a human, yinrih speech sounds like the quiet yipping and growling made by a dreaming dog. The range of sounds that a yinrih can produce is very limited compared to a human’s vocal repertoire. All yinrih languages rely heavily on changes in pitch and volume, as well as the subtle timing of these changes, to encode meaning. As such, words cannot be sung since the melody and rhythm would completely obscure the meaning.
Vowels
Vowels carry most of the weight. There are three vowel qualities, or phonations: a whine, a growl, and a grunt. These vowels can either be plain (monophthongs) or contoured (diphthongs). A plain vowel can have one of two lengths (short or long), one of two tones (low or high) and one of two volumes, or strengths as they are called here (weak or strong).
A contour consists of two plain vowels which serve as the endpoints of a gradient. The attributes of each plain vowel determine the shape of the gradient. There are two rules that govern what vowels can form contours. First, two plain vowels that differ only in length cannot form a contour. Second, the two vowels must have the same phonation type. If either of these two rules are broken, a hiatus occurs between the vowels and they form two syllables, like the English word Naive.
The following shows the notation used for vowels. Lowercase letters are short. Uppercase letters are long.
Whines
Weak Strong Low b B c C High d D f F
Growls
Weak Strong Low g G h H High j J k K
Grunts
Weak Strong Low l L m M High n N p P
Since humans can’t utter Commonthroat without using a speech synthesizer, the best way to convey how a vowel is pronounced is to describe its phonetic features one by one. For plain vowels, this is simple enough: give its length, tone, strength, then phonation. b is a short, low, weak whine. P is a long, high, strong grunt.
Describing contours gets a little trickier. If both of the vowels in a contour share a phonetic feature, we use the same description we would for a plain vowel with that feature. If both vowels are long, then the contour is simply described as long. If both vowels are high, the contour as a whole is high, and so on. If there is a gradient between the two vowels, we describe it as follows:
- A vowel that goes from low to high tone is called rising.
- A vowel that goes from high to low tone is called falling.
- A vowel that goes from weak strength to strong is called strengthening (increasing volume).
- A vowel that goes from strong to weak is called weakening. (decreasing volume).
But what about length? If the first vowel is short and the second is long, then the change from one vowel to the other occurs earlier in the syllable, so we call these contours early. If the first vowel is long and the second is short, the change occurs later in the syllable, so these contours are called late.
For a complete list of plain vowels and contours along with their phonetic features, see the Vowel Pronunciation Table in the appendix.
Consonants
Consonants are simple compared to vowels. There are only three: a huff, a chuff, and a yip. A huff is an exhalation through the nose. A chuff sounds somewhat like a short purr, or the prusten sound made by tigers and snow leopards. Yinrih chuff as a form of greeting, like a human smile. A yip is a quiet little bark.
Here are the consonant letters.
Huff q Chuff r Yip s
A language’s phonetactics are the rules that govern where sounds can appear in a word. In English, for example, the ng in words like king and sing cannot occur at the beginning of a word, and the h in hat or hello cannot occur at the end of a word.
In Commonthroat, a syllable can start with a huff, chuff, yip, or it can have no initial consonant. A syllable may end with a huff, a chuff, or no consonant. A yip may not occur at the end of a syllable.
When pronunciations of words are given in this text, they will be set off by forward slashes, and the pronunciations of individual consonants and vowels will be separated by commas like this: CDr /long rising weakening whine, chuff/.
Grammar
Before discussing the grammar, we need to touch on interlinear glosses. A gloss is a word-by-word translation of a language sample. In this document, glosses contain three parts. The first part is a sample of Commonthroat. Prefixes and suffixes may be set off from the rest of their parent word by hyphens. The second part, directly below, is a word-by-word translation of the sample, with the English word left-aligned to its corresponding Commonthroat word above. Abbreviations of linguistic terms are written using capital letters. Simple glosses may not hyphenate prefixes or suffixes to make the example clearer.
Syntax
The basic word order is subject-verb-object, like in English.
- Ex
sfcp lPr HJqp pup climb tree
The pup climbed the tree.
Adjectives follow the nouns they describe.
- Ex
sfcp rpM lPr HJqp rbfq pup small climb tree old
The small pup climbed the old tree.
Adjectives can also act like verbs.
- Ex
sfcp rpM pup small
The pup is small.
- Ex
HJqp rbfq tree old
The tree is old.
Adverbs that modify an entire sentence can come before the subject.
- Ex
spr sfcp lPr HJqp yesterday pup climb tree
The pup climbed the tree yesterday.
Adverbs can also come right after the verb they describe.
- Ex
sfcp lPr rpMr HJqp pup climb happy tree
The pup happily climbed the tree.
Adjectives can act like adverbs simply by moving them to the beginning of the sentence.
- Ex
sfcp rNlr pup good
The pup is good.
- Ex
sfcp rNlr lPr HJqp pup good climb tree
The good pup climbed the tree.
- Ex
rNlr sfcp lPr HJqp good pup climb tree
The pup climbed the tree well.
Prepositional phrases can act like adverbs, modifying an entire sentence. In this case they are placed before the subject just like adverbs.
- Ex
P dqp sfcp lPr HJqp In forest pup climb tree
In the forest, the pup climbed the tree.
Prepositional phrases can also act as adjectives, modifying a noun, and are placed after the noun like an adjective.
- Ex
sfcp lPr HJqp bc qDCp pup climb tree on mountain
On the mountain the pup climbed the tree.
The word for not is rnL /chuff, early falling weak grunt/. It behaves like an adverb.
- Ex
rnL sfcp lPr HJqp not pup climb tree
The pup did not climb the tree.
Nouns
Here’s where Commonthroat gets a little alien. Nouns change their ending depending on where the object the noun refers to is in space relative to the speaker. The technical term for this is deixis. English also indicates deixis, but it uses demonstratives like this and that. Demonstratives are optional in English, but not in Commonthroat.
Let’s start with the ending I’ve been using on most of the nouns you’ve seen so far, -p /short high strong grunt/. It can roughly be translated as that…. So Example 1 is more precisely translated
- Ex
sfc-p lPr HJq-p pup-D climb tree-D
That pup climbed that tree.
The D in the gloss stands for distal which is the technical term for a demonstrative that indicates that something is far away from the speaker.
But what if the tree and the pup were a little closer? We’d use a medial suffix -qN /huff, long high weak grunt/. Which is abbreviated M in glosses.
- Ex
sfc-qN lPr HJq-qN pup-M climb tree-M
This pup climbed this tree.
Normally, a medial suffix is used for something close to the listener but far from the speaker. If we wanted to say that all this was happening right next to the speaker, we’d use a proximal suffix, -Mr /long low strong grunt, chuff/, abbreviated P in glosses.
- Ex
sfc-Mr lPr HJq-Mr pup-P climb tree-P
This pup climbed this tree.
So far, so good, right? But what if we didn’t know or didn’t care where this stuff was happening? Commonthroat uses an indefinite suffix for that: -g /short low weak growl/. It’s abbreviated as I in glosses.
- Ex
sfc-g lPr HJq-g pup-I climb tree-I
A pup climbed a tree.
The indefinite form of a noun is the base form seen in dictionaries. It’s used when the precise nature of the object the noun refers to is not known, not important, or when the word refers to a general class of objects rather than a specific object. Example 16 could also be translated as Pups climb trees. This usage, where a noun refers to a general class of objects, is referred to as gnomic.
Note that Modern English only distinguishes between two levels of demonstratives, proximal this and distal that. Older forms of English had a three-way distinction among proximal this, medial that, and distal yonder.
There’s also no reason why the pup and the tree in these examples must share the same deictic suffix. You could say
- Ex
sfc-Mr lPr HJq-g pup-P climb tree-I
This pup climbs trees.
- Ex
sfc-qN lPr HJq-p pup-M climb tree-D
That pup climbed yonder tree.
To summarize, let’s look at a noun with each of the suffixes we’ve discussed so far. We’ll look at the word sFsFg /yip, long high strong whine, yip, long high strong whine, short low weak growl/ which means friend.
Noun Meaning ----------------- sFsFg a friend sFsFMr this friend sFsFqN that friend sFsFp yonder friend
Personal Deixis
If Commonthroat only used those demonstrative suffixes, it wouldn’t be so alien, but it doesn’t stop there. Demonstratives are part of what’s called spatial deixis, which relates to where an object is relative to the speaker. There’s also personal deixis, which covers how the speaker identifies himself, how he identifies the listener, and how things that are neither the speaker nor the listener is identified. In English, we use personal pronouns like me when referring to yourself, you when referring to the listener, and he, she, or it when referring to someone or something that is neither the speaker nor the listener. You may recognize that I’m talking about first person, second person, and third person.
All the noun endings I’ve introduced are in the third person. From now on, the glosses of third person suffixes will include a 3 as a reminder. Any noun can also be inflected in the first or second person if the noun refers to the speaker or listener. So, if the speaker were the pup in the above examples, he’d say
- Ex
sfc-l lPr HJq-g pup-1 climb tree-3I
I, a pup, climbed a tree.
If the speaker wanted to indicate that the listener was the pup, he’d say
- Ex
sfc-qn lPr HJq-g pup-2 climb tree-3I
You, the pup, climbed a tree.
But it gets weirder. It’s perfectly grammatical for the speaker to indicate that they or the listener are the tree. When a noun that is clearly not a person is given a first- or second-person suffix, it is understood to be metaphorical.
- Ex
sfc-g lPr HJq-qn pup-3I climb tree-2
A pup climbed you as though you were a tree.
Interrogative Nouns
There’s one last noun ending we need to cover. If you don’t know which pup climbed the tree, or which tree the pup climbed, and want the listener to identify the tree or the pup, you’d use the interrogative ending -BD /long rising weak whine/, which is abbreviated INT in glosses
- Ex
sfc-p lPr HJq-BD pup-3D climb tree-INT
What tree did that pup climb?
- Ex
sfc-BD lPr HJq-g pup-INT climb tree-3I
Which pup climbed a tree? What pup climbs trees?
Deictic Suffixes
That’s all the forms a noun can have. Here’s a table of all thelsuffixes along with their gloss abbreviations.
Deixis Suffix Gloss -------------------------------- 1st -l 1 2nd -qn 2 3rd indefinate -g 3I 3rd proximal -Mr 3P 3rd medial -qN 3M 3rd distal -p 3D Interrogative -BD INT
And here’s sFsFg friend again in all its forms.
Deixis** Inflection Translation ------------------------------ ------------------------------------------- 1st sFsFl I, the friend 2nd sFsFqn You, the friend 3rd indefinate sFsFg a friend, some friend, friends in general 3rd proximal sFsFMr This friend 3rd medial sFsFqN that friend 3rd distal sFsFp yonder friend Interrogative sFsFBD What friend?
- All forms of
sFsFgfriend
Possession
There are two ways of indicating possession. One method uses the preposition b /short low weak whine/, translated as of in English, and it behaves identically as well.
- Ex
sfc-g b dcr-p lPr HJq-p pup-3I of dam-3D climb tree-3D
One of the mother’s pups climbed the tree.
The second method uses the possessive particle g /short low weak growl/, which comes before a noun. It shifts the meaning of the noun suffix. Instead of the suffix pointing to the noun itself, it now points to the possessor of the noun. A table best illustrates this.
Regular Noun Meaning Possessed Noun Meaning ----------------------------------------------------------------------- sFsFl I, the friend g sFsFl my friend sFsFqn you, the friend g sFsFqn your friend sFsFg a friend g sFsFg someone's friend sFsFMr this friend g sFsFMr my friend sFsFqN that friend g sFsFqN your friend sFsFp yonder friend g sFsFp his/her/their friend sFsFBD what friend? g sFsFBD whose friend?
- Ex
g sfc-p lPr HJq-p POS pup-3D climb tree-3D
Her pup climbed the tree.
You may notice that there are two ways of saying my friend and your friend. The difference has to do with something called inalienable possession. A possession that’s inalienable is an integral part of the possessor. These include parts of the body, like rnqg paw or slPqg tail; and metaphysical things like sLg soul or sfBg mind.
Things that are inalienable use the first- and second-person noun suffixes, and things that are alienable use the 3rd person proximal suffix for my… and the 3rd person medial suffix for your….
- Ex
bc g rnq-l qgKq-p sMp on POS paw-1 yinrih-3D tread
That yinrih stepped on my paw.
- Ex
bc g sgHq-Mr qgKq-p sMp on POS grass-3P yinrih-3D tread
That yinrih stepped on my grass.
In example 26, the speaker is referring to his paw, which is an integral part of his body. In example 27, the speaker may own the grass being stepped on, but it isn’t an inseparable part of him.
Words that describe a relationship between two people, such as sFsFg friend can take either form, depending on how strong the relationship is according to the speaker. Someone you address as g sFsFMr is likely to be a casual acquaintance, but g sFsFl is someone you can really rely on.
You can also combine the two ways of expressing possession.
- Ex
rGhq-p b g sFsF-l jr house-3D of POS friend-1 big
My friend’s house is big.
What About Pronouns?
Commonthroat does not have any pronouns. There’s no me or she or they or what. You’ve got to use a noun, even when referring to yourself or the listener. The noun you use can be chosen based on a few factors.
How you feel about the situation you’re describing:
- Ex
g qCD-Mr kHr rkHr-l POS brother-3P strike_with_tail angry-1
My brother struck me, the angry one, with his tail.
My brother hit me, and I’m angry about it.
Or what was going on when the event occurred:
- Ex
Plq-qn fCq rDBq-qN digger-2 find money-3M
You, the digger, found money.
You found money while digging.
But the easiest, and most common, strategy is to simply drop the word altogether. If context makes it clear who’s doing what, you can drop the subject or object. This is especially true for first person subjects.
- Ex
qCq g sFsF-l see POS friend-1
[I] saw my friend
You can even do this with both the subject and the object.
- Ex
qCq see
[I] saw [him].
But this would not be done in isolation like this example. It would be used as a response or in the middle of a conversation where context could fill in the blanks.
Compound Words
In English compound words, the first word modifies the second word. A doghouse is a kind of house, and a house dog is a kind of dog. In Commonthroat, the second word modifies the first.
- Ex
rnq-CDq-g paw-hold-3I
holding paw (human hand)
- Ex
rnq-rfbr-g paw-walk-3I
walking paw (human foot)
Both compounds start with rnqg, as both are considered types of paws. Since yinrih use all four paws for both grasping and movement, Commonthroat does not distinguish between the forepaws and rear paws in the same way that English does with hand and foot. Examples 33 and 34 are Commonthroat’s way of telling human extremities apart.
Proper Names
Names in Commonthroat are formed from noun or verb phrases combined into one word, with a name suffix added. The content of the name does not indicate the person’s gender, but the suffix does.
Many names have something to do with light or phenomena that produce light, as light is heavily associated with the divine.
- Ex
qfr-rmK-sk-Mr fire-hearth-MALE.NAME-3P
Hearthfire (male)
- Ex
qfr-rmK-sd-Mr fire-hearth-FEMALE.NAME-3P
Hearthfire (female)
- Ex
qMNr-Mr-BCq-sd-Mr sun-3P-shine-FEMALE.NAME-3P
She shines like the sun.
Sunshine
Direct Address
English uses vocal inflection to indicate that the speaker is directly addressing the listener. This is indicated by commas in writing. Compare Let’s eat, grandma. and Let’s eat grandma.
Commonthroat also uses pauses to indicate direct address.
- Ex
qfrrmKsk-qn, sfc-p lPr HJq-p hearthfire-2, pup-3D climb tree-3D
Hearthfire, the pup climbed the tree.
Don’t confuse this with inflecting the subject or object in the second person.
- Ex
qfrrmKsk-qn lPr HJq-p hearthfire-2 climb tree-3D
You climbed the tree, Hearthfire.
In example 38, Hearthfire is being addressed, but he isn’t climbing the tree, the pup is. In example 39, the speaker is relating that Hearthfire climbed the tree to Hearthfire himself. In English, this expression requires the use of the second person pronoun you as the subject and the name of the listener set off as a direct address, but in Commonthroat, the deictic ending on the noun makes it clear that the noun refers to the listener.
Simple Declaratives
If you want to say That’s a… or I’m a…, you can simply state the noun inflected with the appropriate suffix.
- Ex
sfc-l pup-1
I’m a pup.
- Ex
HJq-Mr tree-3P
This is a tree.
You can include adjectives.
- Ex
sfc-Mr jk pup-3P little
This is a small pup.
This pup is small.
This is also how you introduce yourself.
- Ex
qfrrmKsk-l Hearthfire-1
I’m Hearthfire.
My name is Hearthfire.
Note that example 42 can be interpreted in two different ways in English, even though the overall meaning is the same. There is a pup close to the speaker, and it is small.
Conjunctions
Words like j /short high weak growl/ and, and l /short low weak grunt/ or, work similarly to how they do in English.
- Ex
qCq-0 qMqm-g j qgKq-g see-A human-3I and yinrih-3I
I saw a human and a yinrih.
- Ex
DB-0 rfbr-0 l DB-0 rDB-0 can-A walk.on.4.legs-A or can-A walk.on.2.legs-A
You can walk on four legs or you can walk on two legs.
If you want to say both… and… or either… or… repeat the conjunction at the beginning of the list.
- Ex
qCq-0 j qMqm-g j qgKq-g see-A and human-3I and yinrih-3I
I saw both a human and a yinrih.
- Ex
l rBFr sNLr-g l qBf sNLr-g or four leg-3I or two leg-3I
Either four legs or two legs.
This is a proverb that means something that applies equally to humans and yinrih.
Verbs
Verbs lack a lot of the inflection seen in other languages. They don’t indicate tense. lPr can mean climb, climbed, or will climb, depending on context or clarifying adverbs like yesterday or soon. There are no complicated conjugations to memorize. lPr is always lPr regardless of who’s doing the climbing or how many of them there are.
Moods
Verbs do change based on mood. Mood is a complicated and nuanced topic in Commonthroat, and the same verb form can mean different things in different situations.
The Authoritative and Nonauthoritative Moods
All the examples so far have been in the authoritative mood. It’s considered the default verb form and has no suffix, or in linguistics terms it’s said to have a null suffix. You’ll see this marked as -0 in the top line of glosses, and it has a glossing abbreviation of -A. In general, the authoritative mood indicates that the speaker is confident that the statement is true. Example 1 is presented below with the authoritative mood marked in the gloss.
- Ex
sfc-p lPr-0 HJq-g pup-3D climb-A tree-3I
The pup climbed the tree.
The authoritative mood is contrasted with the nonauthoritative mood, marked with the suffix -b /short low weak whine/. The nonauthoritative mood indicates a hedge on the part of the speaker regarding the truth of the statement. Nonauthoritative verbs are usually translated as I think that… or it seems that… or with words like may or might.
- Ex
sfc-p lPr-b HJq-g pup-3D climb-NA tree-3I
The pup may have climbed a tree.
Egophoricity
When the subject of a sentence is in the first person, the verb ending indicates whether the action was intentional or not. This is referred to as egophoricity. Authoritative verbs indicate the action was done on purpose. Nonauthoritative verbs indicate the action was unintentional.
- Ex
B HJq-p smpr-b from tree-3D fall-NA
I fell from the tree (accidentally).
- Ex
B HJq-p smpr-0 from tree-3D fall-A
I fell from the tree (on purpose).
I dropped down from the tree.
Egophoricity also occurs in questions when the subject is in the second person.
- Ex
mp B HJq-p sFsF-qn smpr-b INT from tree-3D friend-2 fall-NA
Did you fall from the tree?
Evidentiality
If you have a main clause with a verb like see, hear, etc, where the object of the verb is another clause describing what is seen or heard, the verb in the object clause can be in the authoritative form if the speaker directly witnessed the event (not necessarily visually). If the speaker is inferring the event based on indirect evidence, the second verb is in the nonauthoritative form.
Consider the following scenario: A dam is watching one of her pups play outside, and she sees him cut his tail against a thorny plant.
- Ex
0 qCq-0 rdc-qn rlnq-0 g slPq-qn [I] see-A poor-2 cut-A POS tail-2
I saw you cut your tail, poor dear.
A similar situation, but the child comes inside after playing, and one of his dams notices that his tail is bleeding, but didn’t see him cut his tail.
- Ex
0 qCq-0 rdc-qn rlnq-b g slpq-qn [I] see-A poor-2 cut-NA POS tail-2
I see you cut your tail, poor dear.
Example 53 and 54 illustrate another use for first and second person nouns. The word slpqg /yip, short rising strengthening grunt, huff, short low weak growl/ means poor or pitiable, and is a term often used when the speaker wishes to express empathy for the listener’s plight.
The Dogmatic Mood
The dogmatic mood is marked with the suffix -K /long high strong growl/. It is used when the truth of the statement is being emphasized. It may be translated using the emphatic do in English. In glosses it has the abbreviation -DOG.
- Ex
sfc-p lPr-K HJq-p pup-3D climb-DOG tree-3D
The pup did climb a tree.
I swear the pup climbed the tree.
The dogmatic mood is also used when making promises.
- Ex
sjr 0 rGKqsfb-K tomorrow [I] return-DOG
I promise I’ll be back tomorrow.
And when making threats.
- Ex
0 sNMq-K khqkh-qn [I] kill-DOG guy-2
I WILL kill you.
Other uses of the dogmatic mood include proclaming laws, making axiomatic statements, and expressing confidence or trust.
The Mirative Mood
The mirative mood is used to indicate surprise on the part of the speaker. Mirative verbs end in -sfsf /yip, short high strong whine, yip, short high strong whine/. In glosses it has the abbreviation -MIR.
- Ex
sfc-p lPr-sfsf HJq-g pup-3D climb-MIR tree-3I
Wow! The pup climbed a tree!
The mirative mood can be used to express sarcasm. If one speaker makes an assertion using the dogmatic mood:
- Ex
p g rMLcdr-Mr nl-K khqkhfd-g NPr in POS computer-3P is_at-DOG little.guy-3I odd
I swear there’s a funny little guy in my computer.
The responder may repeat the assertion, inflecting the verb in the mirative mood in mock surprise:
- Ex
p g rMLcdr-qN nl-sfsf khqkh-fd-g NPr in POS computer-3M is_at-MIR guy-DIM-3I odd
Really? There’s a funny little guy in your computer?
Modal Particles
The four basic verbal moods can be further narrowed by using modal particles. Modal particles are placed at the beginning of a sentence before the subject or any adverbs.
The Imperative mood
The imperative mood is formed using the modal particle G /long low weak growl/.
- Ex
G qMP-0 g rnq-qn IMP wash-A POS paw-2
Wash your paws.
You can make it more polite by inflecting the verb in the nonauthoritative mood.
- Ex
G qMP-b g rnq-qn IMP wash-NA POS paw-2
Please wash your paws.
You can also use the imperative mood when the subject is in something other than the second person. This is sometimes called the jussive mood.
- Ex
G qMP-0 g rnq-p IMP wash-A POS paw-3D
He must wash his paws.
You can make a negative command by using the adverb rnL not.
- Ex
G rnL P BFr-p 0 sD-0 IMP not in room-3D [you] go-A
Don’t go in there!
The Optative Mood
The optative mood expresses hopes, wishes, and desires. It is formed with the particle L /long low weak grunt/ along with the nonauthoritative form of the verb. The most well-known use of the optative is in the Holy Greeting.
- Ex
L rLPq-p BCq-b sFsF-qn! OPT light-3D illuminate-NA friend-2
Light shine upon you, friend!
The Hortative Mood
The hortative mood expresses encouragement. It is often confused with the polite imperative in some dialects. It uses the particle Ln /late rising weak grunt/. The hortative can act like an imperative, but implies that the listener would benefit from performing the action. It can be translated as you really should… or Let’s… The festive greeting during the winter feast uses the hortative mood.
- Ex
Ln sFsF-qn rpMr-b hgq h MNq-Mr rgj-0 rmn HORT friend-2 happy-NA for PL day-3P become-A long
Take heart, friend, for the days grow longer.
The Necessitative Mood
The necessitative mood expresses need or requirement. It uses the particle pM /early falling strong grunt/. It differs from the imperative in that the speaker isn’t commanding that an action be done, and it differs from the optative mood in that the speaker may not want what he’s describing, but he does need it.
- Ex
pM sG g rGhq-Mr sD-0 NEC to POS home-3P go-A
I need to go home.
I should go to my home.
Verb Serialization and Coverbs
Commonthroat verbs have no infinitive form. Instead, you serialize verbs to indicate things like the purpose or result of a verb of motion, as well as to indicate aspect.
- Ex
rGKq qJq come swim
[I’m] coming to swim.
- Ex
lPr HJq-Mr rCFq qcD-g climb tree-3.PROX eat fruit-3.INDEF
[I’m] climbing this tree to eat some fruit.
Asking Questions
One way to ask questions has already been covered. By inflecting a noun with an interrogative ending, you can ask the listener to identify the noun so inflected.
- Ex
rMLcdr-BD qgJ-0 computer-INT use-A
Which computer do I use?
If you want to ask how many of something there are, you inflect the noun Cbg /late low weakening whine, short low weak growl/ number, amount with the interrogative ending.
- Ex
Cb-BD g qhq-qN j dcr-qN Amount-INT POS sire-3M and dam-3M
What number are your sires and dams?
How many sires and dams do you have?
This is not a trivial question, as yinrih can have anywhere from two to twelve natural parents.
You can ask simple yes/no questions by sticking the word mp /short rising strong grunt/ at the beginning of the sentence.
- Ex
mp rMLcdr-Mr qgJ INT computer-3P use
Do I use this computer?
- Ex
qln-DB 0 qfdr-0 manner-INT [you] stand-A
How do you stand?
This is how you ask someone if they’re OK.
Using the Nonauthoritative Mood When Asking and Answering Questions
When you ask a question with a third person subject, you can mark the verb as nonauthoritative if you think it’s a stupid question.
- Ex
mp BC-K qMqm-g rBD-b INT all-time human-3I walk.on.hind.feet-NA
Stupid question, but do humans walk on their hind feet all the time?
I should really know this already, but do humans walk on their hind feet all the time?
I know you told me before, but I forgot. Do humans walk on their hind feet all the time?
As with normal yes/no questions, the person answers by repeating the main verb. If he inflects it in the dogmatic mood, that indicates he regards the answer as definitive.
- Ex
rBD-K walk.on.hind.feet-DOG
Yes, they do walk on their hind feet [all the time].
If, however, the person answering the question wants you to take his response with a grain of salt, or wants you to trust but verify his answer, he can infelect the verb in the nonauthoritative mood.
- Ex
rBD-b walk.on.hind.feet-NA
Yes, I think they do.
I’m pretty sure they do.
I think so, but don’t take my word for it.
Rhetorical Questions
Just like in English, questions can be rhetorical rather than literal.
- Ex
rnL nq h qnlq-g lNrm-DB rnP-0 not Among PL sick-3I healer-INT live-A
What healer does not abide among the sick?
Indirect Objects
Words like give and show take an indirect object denoting to whom something is being given or shown. In Commonthroat, the preposition rl /chuff, short low weak growl/ indicates an indirect object. In glosses, this is abbreviated DAT for dative, reflecting a similar construction in Latin and Greek.
- Ex
rl g sFsF-Mr 0 dFr-0 HJq-Mr DAT POS friend-3P [I] show-A tree-3P
I showed the tree to my friend.
Voice and Coverbs
The Passive Voice
Most sentences are in the active voice, which is when the subject of the sentence does something to the object. In English, we’d say The dog bit the man. The subject (the dog) is doing something (biting) to the object (the man). Here’s a typical Commonthroat sentence in the active voice.
- Ex
rBFrrnqsk-Mr kHr-0 sPlqBdsk-p four.paw-3P strike-A wet.nose-3D
Fourpaws struck Wetnose.
What if we wanted to put the focus on the object instead of the subject? We’d use the passive voice, in which the subject of the sentence is being acted upon. In English, you form the passive voice by using the verb to be plus the past participle of the main verb. You can indicate who’s doing the acting by using the preposition by. The man was bitten by the dog.
In Commonthroat, we use a coverb. Coverbs are a kind of hybrid between a verb and a preposition. Like prepositions, they can take an object. Like verbs, they are inflected for mood. Example 79 expresses the same event as Example 78, but uses the passive coverb rj /chuff, short high weak growl/. The object of rj is the person performing the action expressed by the main verb, and the subject of the whole sentence is the one being acted upon. In linguistics, this is called the patient, and the person doing the action is called the agent.
- Ex
sPlqBdsk-p rj-0 rBFrrnqsk-Mr kHr-0 wet.nose-3D PAS-A four.paw-3P strike-A
Wetnose was struck by Fourpaws.
Just as in English, you can avoid mentioning who’s performing the action by simply dropping it. The man was bitten. It may not be important who bit the man, or the speaker may wish to avoid saying who bit the man.
In Commonthroat, we can also drop the agent, but we must keep the coverb to indicate the sentence is passive.
- Ex
sPlqBdsk-p rj-0 kHr-0 wet.nose-3D PAS-A strike-A
Wetnose was struck.
The Reciprocal Voice
Many languages have a way of expressing that the subject and the object of a sentence acted upon one another. English uses the reciprocal construction one another. The dog and the man bit one another.
Commonthroat uses another coverb, pr /short high strong grunt, chuff/. If there are two different parties acting on one another, one is placed at the head of the sentence as the subject and the other is the object of the coverb pr.
- Ex
rBFrrnqsk-Mr pr-0 sPlqBdsk-p kHr-0 four.paws-3P RECP-A wet.nose-3D strike-A
Wetnose and Fourpaws struck one another.
If you have a plural noun or a noun that otherwise indicates a group such as LMrg assembly, moot, you can simply place that in the subject position and use the coverb without an object as you would with a passive construction whose agent is missing.
- Ex
LMr-Mr pr-0 rDB-0 moot-3P RECP-A speak-A
The congregation spoke amongst themselves.
The Reflexive Voice
The agent can also be the patient of the same action. This is called the reflexive voice. It’s used when someone does something to himself. English uses reflexive pronouns myself, yourself, herself, etc.
Commonthroat uses another coverb. This time it’s rp /chuff, short high strong grunt/. It’s used in the same manner as the passive voice without an agent.
- Ex
rBFrrnqsk-Mr rp-0 kHr-0 four.paws-3P RFLX-A strike-A
Fourpaws struck himself.
As with the reciprocal voice, you can use a noun referring to more than one person, or to a group. In this case it indicates that each member of the group acted upon himself as an individual.
- Ex
LMr-Mr rp-0 rDB-0 moot-3P RFLX-A speak-A
The members of the congregation spoke each to himself.
Words that Change Meaning Depending on Voice
Aspect
Aspect refers to how the action described by a verb extends over time. That sounds a lot like tense, doesn’t it? However, tense has to do with when in time an action takes place. For example, the sentences I walk and I am walking are both in the present tense, but the first sentence is in the simple aspect, while the second is in the progressive aspect. This distinction also exists in the past tense. I walked and I was walking, as well as the future tense, I will walk and I will be walking. The simple aspect describes actions that are regarded as a complete whole, while the progressive describes actions that are ongoing, and often occur simultaneously with other actions. I was walking and I saw my friend.
While Commonthroat verbs do not indicate tense. You have to use context or time-related adverbs to relate when an action takes place. Verbs by themselves don’t have inherent aspect, either, but Commonthroat has a number of fixed serial verb constructions that indicate aspect, and this can give a different shade of meaning to the verb.
The Prospective Aspect
The prospective aspect indicates that an action is on the verge of occuring, and uses the verb Lmq /late low strengthening grunt, huff/, which means to fix or to repair.
- Ex
0 Lmq-0 lPr-0 HJq-Mr [I] fix-A climb-A tree-3P
I’m about to climb this tree.
The Completative Aspect
The completative aspect indicates that an action has come to a natural end. It uses the verb bf /short rising strengthening whine/, which means to finish, or to complete.
- Ex
0 bf-0 rCFq-0 [I] finish-A eat-A
I’ve finished eating.
Quick word of warning: you might be tempted to say qhgl I’m full if you want to politely decline a second helping of food. This is actually a euphemistic way of saying I have to use the restroom. It still means you’re full, just not your stomach. While we’re on this tangent, don’t say qhgqn you’re full, either. It means you’re full of it!
The Cesative Aspect
The completative aspect contrasts with the cesative aspect. The cesative aspect indicates that an action stopped abruptly, without coming to a natural conclusion. Compare I finished talking and I stopped talking. The first sentence indicates that you were done, while the second does not. The cesative aspect uses the verb fb /short falling weakening whine/ which means to stop or to halt
- Ex
0 fb-0 rCFq-0 [I] stop-A eat-A
I stopped eating.
The Inchoative Aspect
The inchoative aspect indicates that the action described by a verb is just starting. It uses the verb sg /yip, short low weak growl/ to begin.
- Ex
0 sg-0 lPr-0 HJq-p [I] begin-A climb-A tree-3D
I begin climbing the tree.
The Superfective Aspect
The superfective aspect uses the verb GJq /long rising weak growl, huff/ which means to persist or to keep on.
- Ex
rdc-Mr GJq-0 sFb-0 poor-3P persist-A vomit-A
This poor guy keeps vomiting.
Words that change meaning depending on aspect
Why am I making a big deal about these aspects? They just seem like regular serial verb constructions. Well, some verbs have different meanings depending on their aspect.
rn I know becomes sg rn I find out and fb rn I forget.
Important note: sg specifically means to start a task or start doing something. If you want to say start in the sense of turn on, that’s rMNq ignite. Similarly, to say you turned something off, that’s qNMr extinguish.
fCq /early falling strong whine, huff/ means have or possess. sg fCq means begin to have, find or come across. fb fCq stop having means to lose or relinquish.
These aspects are well-established across dialects, but other looser constructions exist as well.
Adverbial phrases expressing time
In English, we think of the past as being behind us and the future as being ahead. In Commonthroat, the past is below and the future is above. When discussing at which point in time an event occurred, you use the adverbial phrase DC`` m /long falling strengthening whine/ below. for events that occurred in the past, and CD`` m /long rising weakening whine/ above for events that will occur in the future. You precede this phrase with time words like sdFr shkqg a few years or KJq MNqg three days and so forth.
- Ex
qBf MNq-p DC m 0 bf-0 GJHG-p two day-3D below ADV [I] finish-A task-3D
I finished that task 2 days ago.
- Ex
sdFr MNq-Mr CD m 0 sBr-0 some day-3P above ADV [I] leave-A
I’m leaving in a few days.
Notice that the word Mnqg day can take deictic suffixes. In general, which suffix is used indicates whether the timespan was long or short in the speaker’s estimation. Using the proximal suffix indicates that the event described happened in the recent past or will happen in the immediate future. The distal suffix is used if the timespan is judged to be very long.
Example 91 may also be translated I’ve been done with that task for two days already. Example 92 could also be translated I’m leaving in just a few days.
Similarly, you can use the interrogative suffix to ask how long ago or how long from now an event will take place.
- Ex
MNr-BD DC m 0 bf-0 GJHG-p day-INT below ADV [you] finish-A task-3D
How many days ago did you finish that task?
Appendix
Vowel Pronunciation Table
Rom. Timing Tone Strength Phonation ------------------ ---------- --------- ---------------- b short low weak whine B long low weak whine c short low strong whine C long low strong whine d short high weak whine D long high weak whine f short high strong whine F long high strong whine g short low weak growl G long low weak growl h short low strong growl H long low strong growl j short high weak growl J long high weak growl k short high strong growl K long high strong growl l short low weak grunt L long low weak grunt m short low strong grunt M long low strong grunt n short high weak grunt N long high weak grunt p short high strong grunt P long high strong grunt bc short low strengthening whine bC early low strengthening whine bd short rising weak whine bD early rising weak whine bf short rising strengthening whine bF early rising strengthening whine Bc late low strengthening whine BC long low strengthening whine Bd late rising weak whine BD long rising weak whine Bf late rising strengthening whine BF long rising strengthening whine cb short low weakening whine cB early low weakening whine cd short rising weakening whine cD early rising weakening whine cf short rising strong whine cF early rising strong whine Cb late low weakening whine CB long low weakening whine Cd late rising weakening whine CD long rising weakening whine Cf late rising strong whine CF long rising strong whine db short falling weak whine dB early falling weak whine dc short falling strengthening whine dC early falling strengthening whine df short high strengthening whine dF early high strengthening whine Db late falling weak whine DB long falling weak whine Dc late falling strengthening whine DC long falling strengthening whine Df late high strengthening whine DF long high strengthening whine fb short falling weakening whine fB early falling weakening whine fc short falling strong whine fC early falling strong whine fd short high weakening whine fD early high weakening whine Fb late falling weakening whine FB long falling weakening whine Fc late falling strong whine FC long falling strong whine Fd late high weakening whine FD long high weakening whine gh short low strengthening growl gH early low strengthening growl gj short rising weak growl gJ early rising weak growl gk short rising strengthening growl gK early rising strengthening growl Gh late low strengthening growl GH long low strengthening growl Gj late rising weak growl GJ long rising weak growl Gk late rising strengthening growl GK long rising strengthening growl hg short low weakening growl hG early low weakening growl hj short rising weakening growl hJ early rising weakening growl hk short rising strong growl hK early rising strong growl Hg late low weakening growl HG long low weakening growl Hj late rising weakening growl HJ long rising weakening growl Hk late rising strong growl HK long rising strong growl jg short falling weak growl jG early falling weak growl jh short falling strengthening growl jH early falling strengthening growl jk short high strengthening growl jK early high strengthening growl Jg late falling weak growl JG long falling weak growl Jh late falling strengthening growl JH long falling strengthening growl Jk late high strengthening growl JK long high strengthening growl kg short falling weakening growl kG early falling weakening growl kh short falling strong growl kH early falling strong growl kj short high weakening growl kJ early high weakening growl Kg late falling weakening growl KG long falling weakening growl Kh late falling strong growl KH long falling strong growl Kj late high weakening growl KJ long high weakening growl lm short low strengthening grunt lM early low strengthening grunt ln short rising weak grunt lN early rising weak grunt lp short rising strengthening grunt lP early rising strengthening grunt Lm late low strengthening grunt LM long low strengthening grunt Ln late rising weak grunt LN long rising weak grunt Lp late rising strengthening grunt LP long rising strengthening grunt ml short low weakening grunt mL early low weakening grunt mn short rising weakening grunt mN early rising weakening grunt mp short rising strong grunt mP early rising strong grunt Ml late low weakening grunt ML long low weakening grunt Mn late rising weakening grunt MN long rising weakening grunt Mp late rising strong grunt MP long rising strong grunt nl short falling weak grunt nL early falling weak grunt nm short falling strengthening grunt nM early falling strengthening grunt np short high strengthening grunt nP early high strengthening grunt Nl late falling weak grunt NL long falling weak grunt Nm late falling strengthening grunt NM long falling strengthening grunt Np late high strengthening grunt NP long high strengthening grunt pl short falling weakening grunt pL early falling weakening grunt pm short falling strong grunt pM early falling strong grunt pn short high weakening grunt pN early high weakening grunt Pl late falling weakening grunt PL long falling weakening grunt Pm late falling strong grunt PM long falling strong grunt Pn late high weakening grunt PN long high weakening grunt
