Stilio/Morphology
Parseltongue uses a system of grammatical cases similar to Latin or Estonian. Person, in Parseltongue, is conflated with special and temporal deixis, demonstratives, and honorifics. Nouns and verbs are not marked for number or gender. There are four noun-classes as well as four verb-classes. Verbs have no tense, only one of two aspects. Verbs have complicated forms for independent clauses and simple forms for dependent clauses. Independent verbs must be marked for evidentiality, though that can be used metaphorically often. There are two additional moods: imperative and illocutionary.
Case
There are four "core" cases - Nominative, Accusative, Agentive and Patientive - and five "oblique" cases - Dative, Possessive, Partitive, Genitive, and Ablative. The core cases interact with lexical aspects of the verb to distinguish the subject and object. A few verbs take Dative, Partitive, or Ablative objects.
Core
All verbs have a lexically contained expectation for which case the subject will be in. Hence, all verbs are active or passive and volitional or non-volitional by default, which will also indicate which paradigm it follows. When given an unexpected case, intentionality or casuality will be signified:
| Active Non-Volitional | Passive Non-Volitional | Active Volitional | Passive Volitional | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | Involuntary Agent | Involuntary Cause | Unintentional Agent | Unintentional Cause |
| Accusative | Direct Object | Descriptive | Unintentional Patient | Pseudo-Passive Object |
| Agentive | Agent! | Cause! | Ergative Subject | Intentional Cause |
| Patientive | Intentional D.O. | Pseudo-Passive Agent | Absolutive Obj | Stative |
Oblique
The oblique cases function generally like Indo-European cases, but with some notable exceptions.
- Dative
- Some linguistics prefer to call this the "topico-dative" because it can function similarly to the Japanese は/wa, or the Korean 는/은. These instances are typically best translated as "in regards to" or "as for". Otherwise, the Dative is often equivalent to the English prepositions "to, for, by, with, from" and/or indicates the Indirect Object.
The other four cases fall under the 'genitive' rubric in many languages
- Partitive
- Like the Uralic languages, the partitive means "some of" or "part of" or "any". It can also be used for the object of an atelic actions or sensing/perceiving verbs. 'Half of my possessions’; ‘some of the branches’; ‘the poor among of the people’, 'partake of my meal'.
- Possessor
- Like the English 's. This is the subjective genitive. "Love of God" would have to mean (in this case) "God's love", not "my love of God"
- Genitive
- This can be Epexegetical or Attributive/Descriptive.
- Ablative
- Objective Genitive, "concerning, against, about, on, from", separation, adverbial
Person
Verbs inflect for an astronomical eight persons:
| # | Name | Person | Demon. | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| -1 | Negative | No one | None | Never |
| 0 | Indefinite | Someone/anyone | Some | Some time |
| ½ | Dim. Proximal | My mid-section | This poor | "These days" |
| 1 | Proximal | I | This | Now |
| 1½ | Mesioproximal | We (you and I) | This* | "Just now" |
| 2 | Mesiodistal | You | That | Then |
| 3 | Distal | He/She/It | Yon | "That time" |
| 4 | Obviative | Him | Other | "That other time" |
Nouns
The definite article is a prefixed /s/, while indefiniteness is marked in the verb.
Pronouns
'Measure words' can also be used as pronouns, with or without numbers attached.
| Case | Form | Ex. |
|---|---|---|
| N | ||
| A | ||
| A | ||
| P | ||
| D | madas | |
| P | ||
| P | ||
| G | ||
| A |
| Case | Form | Ex. |
|---|---|---|
| N | gasas | tzoægasas // You fell. |
| Acc | gasgg | kxvgasgg // You are green. |
| Abs | gassi | sayhagassi hœd / You (will) Leave him (alone)! |
| Pat | gassa | haceagassa cig / You (will) go away! |
| D | gassaas | to you |
| Par | gashh | |
| Pos | gasy | |
| G | gas | /She is longer than you |
| Abl | gasswa | |
| V | gass | / You who rattle, rattle! |
Verbs
As with nouns, Parseltongue verbs do not mark number. Tense is assumed or conveyed via adverbs.
Aspect is either imperfective or perfective. There are four mood: Indicative - for independent clauses; Subjunctive - for dependent clauses; Imperative - for commands; and Illocutionary - for magical or pronouncement/promissory clauses. The subjunctive is very plain, conjugating only for aspect, but not person or evidentiality. The imperative conjugates for aspect and person only.
Evidentiality
All indicative/independent verbs in Parseltongue must be marked for evidentiality. Snakes senses are (in decreasing order of assuredness):
- Taste/Smell
- Snakes extend their tongues into the air/water and pull "smells" into their mouths, where their "noses" (Jacobsen's organs) are. This gives them a very refined and directional sense. Knowledge obtained this way is the most certain and so is most analogous to human's "I see" or "I know".
- Heat/IR
- Snakes have special sensors where other animals' "noses" would be which detect heat or Infra-red radiation. Snakes report not "seeing" a field - as humans do with sight - but "feeling" the nearness and/or warmth of things. This is most akin to a human saying "I feel like you are ..." or "I sense not everyone in the room agrees with ...".
- Hear/Vibration
- A snake's entire body functions like an "ear", sensing vibrations. This knowledge is very accurate, but because it comes from their whole body (not just their head) it is more like "gut knowledge". Magic causes snakes internal ear to hear external speech. Only a Parselmouth magician may speak to a snake and be heard. For the rest of us (Muggles and non-Parselmouth magicians) Parseltongue may be learned and spoken amongst ourselves only.
- Sight
- Most snakes have poor vision, with a majority not being binocular. This mood is used metaphorically as a person would say, "I suppose" or "I guess".
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.
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.
Adpositions
Most adpositions in Parseltongue are enclitic, that is, prepositional. A minority are postclitic, that is, postpositional. Two are circumpositions.
