Stilio/Concepts
Parseltongue uses a system of grammatical cases similar to Latin or Estonian. Person, in Parseltongue, is conflated with demonstrativity, deixis, and honor. Nouns and verbs are not marked for number or gender, but there are four noun-classes. Independent verbs must be marked for evidentiality, although it is often taken metaphorically.
Cases
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 is 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 Direct Object | Pseudo-Passive Agent | Absolutive Object | 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', 'I saw some of him'.
- 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 for God"
- Genitive
- This can be Epexegetical or Attributive/Descriptive. e.g. "the horcrux of his body", "words of wisdom (i.e. wise words)"
- Ablative
- Objective Genitive, "concerning, against, about, on, from", separation, adverbial
Persons
Parseltongue has an astronomical eight persons:
| # | Name | Person | Demon. | Time | Discourse |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -1 | Negative | No one | None | Never | Nothing |
| 0 | Indefinite | Someone/anyone | Some | Some time | Something |
| ½ | Dim. Proximal | "Royal We" | This (dim) | Any second now | This (already mentioned, dim) |
| 1 | Proximal | I | This | Now | This (already mentioned) |
| 1½ | Mesioproximal | We (you and I) | This* | "Just now" | This (forthcoming) |
| 2 | Mesiodistal | You | That | Then | That |
| 3 | Distal | He/She/It | Yon | "That time" | That (previously mentioned) |
| 4 | Obviative | Him | Other | "That other time" | That (other previously mentioned) |
Notice, however, that "token-reflexive" deixis is not possible in Parseltongue. A snake could not say, "This is my apology," but would have to say, "I apologize (illoc.)" (i.e. \aloqæmadassa)
Classes
Similar to the Bantu language, there are noun-classes in Parseltongue. These labeled non-prey, prey, mass nouns, and parts.
| Class | Prefix |
|---|---|
| Non-prey | Ø- |
| Prey | mb- |
| Mass | wu- |
| Part | ty- |
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".
