Themsaran

Themsaran themsármā
Spoken in:	Talsem
Timeline/Universe:	Hheergrem
Total speakers:	extinct
Genealogical classification:	Zachydic Raxo-Talsmic Talsmic Themsaran
Basic word order:	VSO/head-initial
Morphological type:	agglutinating and fusional
Morphosyntactic alignment:	accusative
Created by:
IlL	2013-

Themsaran is my first constructed language, for my conworld of Hheergrem. It is intended to be a head-initial, head-marking language with a plausible development from an erstwhile dependent-/double-marking language. The grammar, syntax and morphology has been heavily influenced by Semitic and Celtic languages. Aesthetically it has hints of Baltic, Germanic, Celtic, Semitic, Khmer and Gyeongsang Korean. The main departure from Semitic grammar is that the language has been augmented with new features such as strict head-marking inflection utilizing two types of switch-reference on verbs, the applicative voice and borderline polysynthesis. So I guess it ends up a tad more like some Native American languages. Other purposes of my language include mixing in un-English verb syntax, such as the use of optatives in subordinate clauses, and using principally non-finite subordinate clauses in the indicative.

Background

See also: Themsaran/Sound changes from Proto-Talsmic.

The Themsaran (/ˈθɛmsɑɹən/) language (Themsaran: gávthȁ themsármā [gáʊ̯fθàː θè̞msármàː] "the Themsaran mouth") was traditionally classified into a separate subbranch of the Zachydic language family, along with other para-Themsaran languages which are/were natively spoken in the island of Tálsèm off the northeastern coast of the Zachydi subcontinent. (Since then, Talsmic's close ties to Ractamic languages, such as Raxic, has gained widespread recognition.) Due to its long period of isolation and substrate influence, Themsaran is a typological and lexical outlier in its family, within which it is distinguished by its heavily head-marking inflection in both clauses and possessive NPs as well as its strongly head-initial syntax. It also notably employs a combination of tone changes and affixes to convey grammatical information. The language possesses mixed fusional and agglutinative inflection, and nominative-accusative morphosyntax (mostly). The name of the language comes from the Themsár region, from whose dialect arose the prestige language of the island. This elevated language existed in a state of diglossia with the diverse and often mutually unintelligible vernacular "dialects". Classical Themsaran was used as a living language by the ruling class for a period spanning 600 years until its demise in the year ca. 220 v.K., and was continued to be used as an important literary, academic and religious language on the island and surrounding mainland areas.

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants
		Bilabial	Labio-dental	Dental	Alveolar	Post-alveolar	Palatal	Dorsal	Radical	Glottal
Nasal		m /m/		n /n/				ŋ /ŋ/
Plosive	voiceless	p /p/			t /t/			c /k/	ħ /ħ~ʜ~ʢ~ʡ/	(ʔ)
	voiced	b /b/			d /d/			g /g/
Fricative	voiceless	f /ɸ/		th /θ/	s /s/	š /ʃ/		ch /x/		h /h~ɦ/
	voiced		v /v/		z /z/	ž /ʒ/
Affricate						ŧ /tʃ/
Approximant			([ʋ])				ı /j/
Trill					r /r/
Lateral app.					l /l/		ļ /ʎ/

[v] is in free variation with [ʋ]. [ʔ] may occur only in morpheme boundaries.

Geminate /x/ and /θ/ are represented respectively by cch and tth in the Romanization.

Conditioned allophony

Phoneme	Allophone	Condition(s)
/ħ/	[ħ~ʜ]	#_, C[+voiceless]_
	[ʡ~ʢ]	V_V, C[+voiced]_
/h/	[ɦ]	V_V, C[+voiced]_
C[+obstruent, ±voiced]	C[+obstruent, ∓voiced]	_C[+obstruent, -guttural, ∓voiced]

Vowels

Themsaran has six vowels, short and long. Short vowels have one mora (except for epenthetic e which has zero morae), and long vowels have two morae. Short vowels in open syllables were pronounced approximately 1.5 times as long as short vowels in closed syllables; long vowels in closed syllables, 2.5 times as long; open long vowels, thrice as long.

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i /i/ ī /iː/	y /ʉ̜/ ȳ /ʉ̜ː/	u /u/ ū /uː/
Mid	e /e̞/ ē /e̞ː/		o /o̞/ ō /o̞ː/
Open		a /a/ ā /aː/

y ȳ is a close central half-rounded vowel.

The following are the diphthongs, all falling: ai au ei ie ua /ai au ei ie~ia uo~ua/. All diphthongs are bimoraic.

Pitch accent

Pitch accent, or tone, is phonemic in Themsaran. The following is the notation for tones:

	Short	Long	Diphthong
Unmarked	a	ā	ai
High	á	a̋	ái
Low	à	ȁ	ài
Falling	-	â	âi
Rising	-	ǎ	ǎi

The pitch accent of a word (of more than one mora) consists of two components: the lexical tone, and the position of the downstep (the latter is confined to appear after the 3rd-to-last mora). A low-tone word starts low and has the highest pitch at the tonic mora, which is immediately before the downstep, whereafter the pitch drops sharply. A high-tone word is consistently high until the downstep in theory, but it was probably natural for the pitch to dip to some extent approaching the downstep in longer words.

The following are the rules governing the marking Themsaran pitch accent:

1. High lexical tone is marked in the initial syllable; low tone is not marked, unless necessitated by rule 2.
2. The tonic syllable is always marked:
   1. If the downstep occurs after a long syllable (syllable with a long vowel or diphthong), the syllable is rising in a low-tone word, and high in a high-tone word.
   2. If the downstep occurs between the two morae of a long syllable, the syllable has falling tone.
3. If the first syllable is tonic, the second syllable is marked as low.

If the downstep occurred word-finally, the first syllable of a following high tone word would have slightly lower pitch. In pausa, a word final high short syllable is realized as a falling, short vowel.

Clitics, unmarked, phonologically behave as parts of the following word and inherit the tone of the following word. Preceding a word with high lexical tone, the clitic is marked as high.

Stress

The first syllable is very lightly stressed, and there are no secondary stress phenomena.

Phonotactics

The maximal syllable structure is CCıVCC, where V is any vowel or diphthong, and the second consonant in the complex coda must be an obstruent. /ħ/ and /h/ are disallowed to occur in coda. Up to CCCı medial clusters are permitted. Vowel hiatus is prohibited, as in Balto-Slavic and Semitic languages.

Phonological rules

• coronal obstruent + sibilant_i > sibilant_isibilant_i
• z > r / V_C[-semivowel, +voiced, ~{/z/}]

Orthography

File:Themsaran tone diacritics.png

Tone diacritics in Themsaran script, written under or over a vowel letter.

Morphology

Nouns

Nouns and adjectives have a rich morphology, albeit less ornate than verbs. They inflect for number, definiteness and possessedness, but not for case. Nouns have two genders, masculine and feminine. In third-person possessed forms, Themsaran makes a distinction, realized tonally, between the absolute possessed form, which indicates a noun possessed by a pronoun, and the conjunct possessed form, used to indicate a possessive relationship between two nouns and agreeing with the gender of the possessor.

Definite forms are used as the vocative. Definiteness is used more often than in English, but less than in continental European languages. Names of deities or deifications are primarily indefinite, but take definite agreement.

Proper names are indeclinable, i.e. they are always definite, and cannot be possessed.

First declension

The first declension consists primarily of masculine nouns. Nouns ending in a consonant may contain an epenthetic e to break up a forbidden consonant clusters, particularly those ending in resonants. The ħ-stem nouns always end in -ā, and this mutates to -aħ- before a ending beginning with a vowel, and exhibits the form -aC- before an ending beginning with any consonant. The h-stems have a long vowel ending by default, which shortens in front of a consonant ending, along with gemination of any fricative-onset endings. The ı-stem nouns, ending in -i, display the -i before a possessive suffix beginning with a consonant, and a -ı before one beginning with a vowel. Geminate stems end in a long vowel plus a final consonant in their base forms, which changes to a short vowel + geminate.

First declension
	Singular				Plural
	Indefinite		Definite		Indefinite		Definite
Unpossessed	-Ø		-ē		-ach		-ūt
1sg	-cen		-n		-ūcen		-āst
2sg.m	-gze		-ze		-ūgze		-ūgit
2sg.f	-cvi		-vi		-ūcvi		-ūgis
3sg.m	-cu		-u		-ūcu		-ū
3sg.f	-ci		-i		-ūci		-ī
4sg.m	-cŧu		-ŧu		-ūcŧu		-ŧū
4sg.f	-cŧi		-ŧi		-ūcŧi		-ŧī
inv	-cth		-th		-ūcth		-thū
1ex	-cam		-am		-ūcam		-ūche
1in	-cent		-ent		-ūcent		-ūša
2pl.m	-clys		-lys		-ūcys		-ūsra
2pl.f	-cyth		-yth		-ūcyth		-ūsre
3pl.m	-cech		-eich		-ūcech		-ūch
3pl.f	-cer		-ier		-ūcer		-ūr
4pl.m	-cŧech		-ŧeich		-ūcŧu		-ŧūch
4pl.f	-cŧer		-ŧier		-ūcŧi		-ŧūr

Second declension

The second declension consists primarily of feminine nouns. The reflexes of the old nominative endings of this declension, -a and -ān, survive in proper names, in addition to in predicative adjectives.

Second declension
	Singular				Plural
	Indefinite		Definite		Indefinite		Definite
Unpossessed	-e		-ā		-ir		-enā
1sg	-acen		-an		-āŋcan		-aist
2sg.m	-agze		-za		-āŋze		-aŋgit
2sg.f	-acve		-va		-āŋve		-aŋgis
3sg.m	-acu		-au		-āŋcu		-anū
3sg.f	-aci		-ai		-āŋci		-anī
4sg.m	-acŧu		-ath		-āŋŧu		-anŧu
4sg.f	-acŧi		-eth		-āŋŧi		-anŧi
inv	-acth		-th		-āŋth		-thū
1ex	-acam		-ām		-āŋcam		-aŋche
1in	-acent		-ant		-āŋcent		-anša
2pl.m	-acys		-ais		-āŋcys		-ansra
2pl.f	-acyth		-aith		-āŋcyth		-ansre
3pl.m	-acech		-āch		-āmmech		-anech
3pl.f	-acer		-air		-āŋcer		-aner
4pl.m	-acŧech		-ŧach		-āŋŧech		-anŧech
4pl.f	-acŧer		-ŧair		-āŋŧer		-anŧer

Tonal patterns of nominals

Every noun falls under one of four tonal paradigms.

1. canǔar ('sitting'): The most common paradigm, the downstep remains stationary, except as required by downstep rules or in the presence of the downstep-attracting absolute possession suffixes.
2. šenŧǐel ('shunning/evading'): The downstep is never on the suffix.
3. the̋nák ('standing'): Every suffix, except for conjunct possessive suffixes, bear the downstep.
4. gánħāŋém ('skipping/tumbling'): The downstep is one mora before the boundary of the suffix in the base form, and moves to the desinence upon inflection by a definite suffix.

Fossilized case marking

A descendant of a language with developed noun and adjective cases, Themsaran preserves vestigial case marking. The nominal and adjectival endings are themselves diachronically derived from case markers in the ancestral Proto-Talsmic language:

Irregular definiteness

The definite unpossessed inflection is a generalization from the accusative case, which marked the definite direct object in addition to adverbial uses, certain oblique objects and time expressions. On the other hand, the indefinite base endings diachronically stem from the genitive case (from its partitive meaning and frequency in prepositional phrases); the redicative adjective endings as well as most forms where possessive suffixes are attached, come from the nominative. As such definiteness is required in objects of a small number of prepositions, and some time expressions (e.g. nǐežȁm/minâm/crúamâm (< *nējĵȁ-mī etc., instead of the expected *nǐežètem < **nējĵet-mī) "today"/"tonight"/"tomorrow", nǐežȁŧ ("that day"), crúamâ/ra̋zȁ/ħíŋšȁ/minâ "in the morning/at daytime/at dusk/at night") and adverbial expressions.

Fossilized oblique cases

The frozen oblique cases (ablative, instrumental/locative and allative) are largely found in two lexical classes: adverbs and prepositions. Ablatives, found in causal expressions, end in -ēn, -ān, and -īn for the first, second and third declensions respectively; the instrumental/locative ends in -īl (1) or -ai (2); and the allative, often found in purpose expressions, ends in -šŧ.

Adjectives

Attributive adjectives agree in number, definiteness, gender and possessedness with their heads. Adjectival declension disagrees with nouns in that absolute possessive form of adjectives modifies the conjunct possessive of nouns. Predicate adjectives are declined differently. Adjectives also take degree inflection (positive, "less/least", "more/most", elative, "X enough", "too X"). Adjectives exhibit tonal ablaut like those of nouns.

Declension

Adjectives are either declined in 1st declension in the masculine and the 2nd for feminine, or the 3rd declension for masculine and 2nd for feminine with an extra suffix -m- added between the stem and the ending.

Predicate adjectives

Predicate adjectives
	Singular	Plural
Masculine	-e	-ū
Feminine	-a	-ān

Degree

Degree affixes
comparative	-ên, -enn- (1/2, g)
elative	-rŷn (š)
negative comparative	-ôm (g)
excessive	-thál (c)
suffective	-érs (c)
defective	-őf (c)

Adjectives with degree inflections may be nominalized (e.g. ħēdāthry̌nīd "supreme strength" < ħēdāthrŷn "the very strongest").

Adverb formation

The adverbial suffix is -ar, and it can mean "[adjective]ly", or "like a [noun]" (latter meaning is less productive).

Pronouns

Personal

The independent personal pronouns are used in equational sentences, and for emphasis of what is already marked on the heads, whether the marking is about the subject, direct object, or oblique.

Independent personal pronouns
	Singular	Plural
1.ex	na̋	châm
1.in		táŋên
2.m	zéi	slâs
2.f	véi	srâth
3.m	žá	žû
3.f	žî	žân
4.m	ŧá	ŧû
4.f	ŧî	ŧân

Adding the ħe- (ħè-) prefix creates intensified pronouns.

Demonstrative

The demonstratives have identical endings to personal pronouns in feminine singular and the plural. The adnominal demonstratives are mé (near speaker), ħé (near hearer), and ŧá (distal; identical to 4th person pronoun), and the pronominal demonstratives are ím(é), íž(á), and íŧ(á).

When a demonstrative modifies a noun phrase, the noun and adjective modified take the indefinite form if unpossessed, and the definite form if possessed.

Reflexive

The reflexive pronoun is ctên, identical to the gender and number of the subject.

Reciprocal

The reciprocal pronoun, "each other", is nadnéc. It originated from an adverb that was later reanalyzed as a pronoun.

Table of correlatives

Table of correlatives
	Interrogative	Near speaker	Near hearer	Distal	Existential	Negational	Elective	Collective	Distributive
Adnominal	ıé (who); ıî (fem., rare); ıán (what)	mé	ħé	ŧá	naŋé	ıaıért; la [...] ıé, la [...] ıán		rôg, mýs (adjective)
Pronominal		ímé	ížá	íŧá	mércár (human); mérsát (nonhuman)
Quality (what kind of)	ıért (declined like ímé)	mért	ħért	ŧért	naŋért			rőcšȉl
Place	ıách; émmâ	mách*; dátè*	ħách	ŧách	smárıán
Origin	gléıách; glêm; ıáche̋n	glémách/máche̋n*; glédát/dáte̋n*	gláħách; ħáche̋n	gléŧách; ŧáche̋n	glé smárıán
Destination	vóıách; ıáchàst	vómách/máchàst*; vódát/dátàst*	vóħách; ħáchàst	vóŧách; ŧáchàst	vó smárıán
Time	ıápsè, ıémà	gámà	sónȅŧ		mérrâc			pidħîl
Quantity/Extent	ıávȅš	mévȅš	ħévȅš	ŧévȅš	-	-	-	-	-
Manner	ıêr; díeŋcúl	mêr	ħêr	ŧêr	gîemıêr			rőcšȉl
Cause	ıěn	měn	ħěn	ŧěn	naŋên
Purpose	ıást, ıergâi	mést	ħést	ŧést	naŋést

*The difference between the two words for 'here' is that of clusivity: mách means "where I am/we(exc) are or pointing" whereas dátè means "where we(inc) are".

In highly humble language (roughly equivalent to German Ihr), the "near speaker" and "near hearer" demonstratives are used in epithets for 1st and 2nd person respectively in lieu of grammatical 1st or 2nd person. (e.g. clûdil mé: "this humble subject", áchèr ħé/tīné ħî/slǐerè ħî: Your Majesty/Highness; lit. "that king/hand/throne", dírmár/íra̋them ħé/a̋thmȉd ħî, "that called one/sanctified one/holiness"; used to address a priest, mách/ħách generic humble language, used for locative obliques instead of 1st or 2nd person inflected prepositions)

Verbs

Verbs have elaborate but quite regular inflection. Finite verbs are marked for TAM, mirativity, voice (active and mediopassive), the subject's person, number, and gender and, if the direct object is definite, is obligatorily marked with the (usually direct) object's person, number, and gender in most TAMs, except in the imperative and the prohibitive. For example: Nésài zâr (kill-ACT.PRES.1SG cat.SG.INDEF 'I kill a cat') against Nesāıú zárrȅ (kill-ACT.PRES.1SG>3SG.M cat-SG.DEF 'I kill the cat'). The verb may agree with an indirect object (which is typically animate) instead of with the direct object. Object agreement is often omitted in poetry. Verbs also have several non-finite forms, used with various subordinating conjunctions and relative clauses.

Themsaran finite verb template

−3	−2	−1	0	1	2	3	/Downstep
Applicative prefix	Mood/Evidential/Mirative	Imperfective prefix	STEM	Supplementary aspect	Supplementary voice	Voice-TAM-Subject-Object	Voice-TAM-Subject-Object

An example of a fully inflected verb:

Tense-Aspect-Mood

Basic TAMs

The basic tenses, marked with a combination of tone, suffixes and prefixes, are:

• Imperative
• Present
• Past perfective
• Past imperfective
• Future perfective
• Future imperfective
• Jussive

Imperative

The imperative is used to issue positive, direct orders.

Present

The present is used for events that take/are taking place in the present time, or for gnomic statemnets.

Past perfective

The past perfective, preterite, or aorist is for events that were completed at some point in time in the past.

Past imperfective

The past imperfective indicates a background event or events that happened in the past frequently or over a period of time. Therefore it corresponds to past frequentative, habitual or progressive.

Future perfective

The future perfective denotes actions which will be completed at some point in the future.

Future imperfective

The future imperfective indicates actions which will take place in the future but whose aspectual meaning is similar to past imperfective. Future imperfective is also used as imperatives where the imperfectiveness of the action is emphasized ("[you shall] always/regularly strive!").

Jussive

The jussive bears a wide range of uses:

• optatives (wishes) (Žuadisá áromizé "May your life be long!"), polite requests and hortatives (urging);
• prohibitions, with the prohibitive marker (Hám scőtîr! "Don't walk!");
• imperatives in indirect speech, with the complementizer ne (Kýlês ne stumî. "He ordered me to go back.");
• impersonal instructions, in the passive;
• purpose clauses:
  • with a relativizer (ħéistê rin chenémth "the word to say"/"the word that should be said").
  • after a conditional conjunction nit, ar, or gin, or less commonly after vórêl ne, it expresses "in order that...".

Supplementary aspects

Inceptive

The inceptive expresses the beginning of a imperfective period in time of the action, and is expressed by the suffix -iħ- placed after the stem.

Cessative

The cessative expresses the end of an imperfective period in time of the action, and is expressed by is the suffix -rš-. It can also express perfect in certain circumstances.

Supplementary moods

The mirative, marking information, inference or realization new to the speaker, is marked by a prefix consisting of first consonant of stem + e + last consonant of stem. The subjunctive, used for doubtful statements and for hypothetical outcomes, is marked by a similar prefix, with said consonants in reverse order.

gélga̋lis!

/gélgaːꜜlis/

RDPL[gel]-ga̋lìs

MIR-sing-PRES.3SG.F

(Hey, look,) she's singing!

légga̋lis

/léggaːꜜlis/

RDPL[leg]-ga̋lìs

SBJV-sing-PRES.3SG.F

She supposedly sings/She would sing

Voice

Basic voices

Active

The active voice is the default voice, used when the subject is the agent of the verb.

Mediopassive

The mediopassive marks the subject as a patient of the verb. Apart from passivity, mediopassives may have a derivational function; they may indicate reflexive or involuntary/spontaneous actions with active intransitives, (scőtvìti machıâist "my legs walk by themselves, without my control") or change of state for statives. As such there are quite a few deponent verbs, verbs that are inherently mediopassive, and also mediopassive counterparts of active intransitive verbs.

Supplementary voices

Causative

The causative expresses causation or facilitation of the action. It is indicated by the suffix -nuh- after the masculine singular imperative, where the h assimilates to any fricative.

Applicative

The applicative suffix, placed after the masculine singular imperative, is -t(e)n-. The applicative promotes an oblique object of a verb to the direct object position, for example "fight (a war)" > "fight (someone)" and downgrades the core object argument to an oblique argument. An optional applicative prefix may be used to qualify the relationship of the new object to the base verb (vi- for instrument, ša- for location, lua- for comitation, mi- for goal or benefactive, and ran- for "about, concerning" and other miscellaneous objects). In the passive, the applicative finds much syntactic utility in constructing impersonal statements about an oblique object.

Non-finite forms

The non-finite forms are participles and two infinitives.

The participle, which is available for all verbal categories, is used to construct VOS clauses, where O and S are full noun phrases, or O is a noun and S is a third- or fourth-person pronoun. VOS sentences lend more emphasis to the predicate than the neutral VSO. The tense of a participle is the tense relative to the tense of the main clause.

The possessor of the first infinitive represents the verb's subject. It is used in reason clauses, time clauses, indirect speech (as the first infinitive copula váls + participle) whose truth is believed strongly by the speaker, and more rarely purpose clauses.

The possessor of the second infinitive represents the verb's object. It is used as a complement to certain verbs and in any other situation calling for a verb with no independent subject or TAM, and is used adverbially with prepositions.

Conjugation

The three conjugations of Themsaran verbs are demonstrated below respectively with the verbs mólî - 'let me thank', with no thematic vowel, nesâi - 'let me slay/kill (animate subject)' with a thematic vowel a, tacvêi - 'let me know', with the thematic vowel e of variable length. (The citation form is the 1st person jussive). The first conjugation subsumes:

• ı-stem verbs, whose ı- stays as ı- before a vowel-onset ending (except plain -e), and assumes the form i otherwise;
• ħ-stem verbs, where the ħ assimilates into any consonant that begins an ending, and becomes -â in the 2nd person masculine singular imperative;
• h-stem verbs, for which only fricative-beginning endings are so geminated, and for other consonants, undergoes compensatory lengthening of the vowel preceding the ending, and ends in a bare long vowel with a falling tone in the 2sg.m imperative.

Active subject affixes

Imperative
	Singular	Plural
1.in	-	mólèns! nésàns! tacvêns!
2.m	mól! nésà! tácvè!	mólèls! nésàls! tacvêls!
2.f	mólt! nésàt! tacvêt!	mólèrs! nésàrs! tacvêrs!

Present
	Singular	Plural
1.ex	mólȉ nésài tácvèi	mólmà nésàma tacvêma
1.in	-	mólènse nésànse tacvênse
2.m	mólèr nésàr tácvȅr	mólèlse nésàlse tacvêlse
2.f	mólȅ nésȁ tácvìe	mólèrse nésàrse tacvêrse
3.m	mólè nésà tácvȅ	mólvì nésàvi tacvévi
3.f	mólìs nésàis tácvìes	móltì nésàti tacvéti

Past perfective
	Singular	Plural
1.ex	mólén nesán tacvîen	mólmì nésámi tacvémi
1.in	-	móltȁ nesátā tacvétā
2.m	mólér nesár tacvîer	mólslé nesaslé tacvēslé
2.f	mólé nesa̋ tacvíe	mólsré nesasré tacvēsré
3.m	mólés nesás tacvês
3.f	mólsàr nesásar tacvêsar	mólstí nesastí tacvēstí

Past imperfective
	Singular	Plural
1.ex	hémolêi henesâi hetacvîe	hémólmi henesámi hetacvémi
1.in	-	hémóltā henesátā hetacvétā
2.m	hémolér henesár hetacvêr	hémolslé henesaslé hetacvēslé
2.f	hémole̋ henesa̋ hetacvíe	hémolsré henesasré hetacvēsré
3.m	hémólen henesán hetacvên
3.f	hémólnar henesánar hetacvénar	hémolstí henesastí hetacvēstí

With initial vowels or words beginning with h the he prefix combines thus:

• he+(h)a→hā
• he+(h)e→hē
• he+(h)i→hei
• he+(h)o→hō
• he+(h)u→hū
• he+(h)y→hȳ
• he+long vowel/diphthong = h+long vowel/diphthong

Certain preceding obstruents will also combine with the h-:

• b/p+h→f
• d/t+h→th
• ž/ŧ+h→š
• g/k+h→ch

Future perfective
	Singular	Plural
1.ex	mólchì nésàchì tacvéchì	mólchỳm nésàchym tacvêchym
1.in	-	mólènais nésànais tacvénais
2.m	mólchèr nesácher tacvécher	mólèlais nésàlais tacvélais
2.f	mólchȅ nesáchē tacvéchē	mólèrais nésàrais tacvérais
3.m	mólchè nésàche tacvéche	mólchȅr nesáchēr tacvéchēr
3.f	mólchàs nésàchas tacvéchas	mólchȅt nesáchēt tacvéchēt

Future imperfective
	Singular	Plural
1.ex	kámólin kanésıan katácvıēn	kámólam kanésām katácviem
1.in	-	kámólit kanésait katácviet
2.m	kámólir kanésıar katácvıēr	kámólelais kanésalais katacvélais
2.f	kámólī kanésā katácvie	kámólerais kanésarais katacvérais
3.m	kámóli kanésıa katácvıe	kámólvi kanésavi katacvévi
3.f	kámólis kanésais katácvies	kámólti kanésati katacvéti

The ka- future imperfective prefix is combined the following way:

• ka-+(h)a→kā-
• ka-+(h)e→kai-
• ka-+(h)i→kai-
• ka-+(h)o→kā-
• ka-+(h)u→kau-
• ka-+(h)y→kau-

Jussive
	Singular	Plural
1.ex	mólî nesâi tacvêi	mólémit nesámit tacvêmit
1.in	-	mólédan nesádan tacvědan
2.m	mólîr nesâir tacvêir	mólèlt nésàlt tacvêlt
2.f	mólît nesâit tacvêit	mólèrt nésàrt tacvêrt
3.m	mólìm nesàim tácvèim	mólivá nesavá tacvevá
3.f	mólisá nesasá tacvesá	mólitá nesatá tacvetá

Non-finite forms of the active

The active participle is formed by infixing ⟨en/an/ēn⟩ (respectively for -î/-âi/-êi conjugations) before the nucleus of the first syllable of the stem of the third person masculine form and removing any final vowels.

The first infinitive is formed by suffixing -s to the 2nd person masculine singular imperative.

The second infinitive is formed by -m to the 2nd person masculine singular imperative.

Mediopassive subject affixes

Imperative
	Singular	Plural
1.in	-	mólvàns! nesávans! tacvévans!
2.m	mólvàr! nesávar! tacvévar!	mólvàls! nesávals! tacvévals!
2.f	mólvȁ! nesávā! tacvévā!	mólvàrs! nesávars! tacvévars!

Present
	Singular	Plural
1.ex	mólȉv nésȁv tácvèiv	mólchỳs nésàchỳs tacvêchỳs
1.in	-	mólnìv nesániv takéniv
2.m	mólèrem nésàrem tacvêrem	móllìv nesáliv tacvéliv
2.f		mólrìv nesáriv tacvériv
3.m	mólèv nésàv tácvȅv	mólvìni nesávini tacvévini
3.f	mólvèr nésàver tacvéver	mólvìti nesáviti tacvéviti

Past perfective
	Singular	Plural
1.ex	móldév nesadév tacvēdév	móldâm nesadâm tacvēdâm
1.in	-	móltām nesátām tacvétām
2.m	móldém nesadém tacvēdém	mólvaslé nesavaslé tacvevaslé
2.f		mólvasré nesavasré tacvevasré
3.m	mólvas nesávas tacvévas
3.f	mólvasar nesávasar tacvévasar	mólvastí nesavastí tacvevastí

Past imperfective
	Singular	Plural
1.ex	hémolêiv henesâiv hetacvîev	hémoldâm henesadâm hetacvēdâm
1.in	-	hémóltām henesatām hetacvétām
2.m	hémólvem henésavem hetacvévem	hémólliv henesáliv hetacvéliv
2.f		hémólriv henesáriv hetacvériv
3.m	hémólev henésav hetacvêv	hémólvini henesávini hetacvévini
3.f	hémólver henésaver hetacvéver	hémólviti henesáviti hetacvéviti

Future perfective
	Singular	Plural
1.ex	mólínīv nesainīv tacvienīv	mólíŋchys nesáŋchys tacvîeŋchys
1.in	-	mólínith nesâinith tacvîenith
2.m	mólínēm nesâinēm tacvîenēm	mólílith nesâilith tacvîelith
2.f		mólírith nesâirith tacvîerith
3.m	mólísū nesǎisū tacvǐesū	mólísħū nesǎisħū tacvǐesħū
3.f

Future imperfective
	Singular	Plural
1.ex	kámólīv kanésaiv katácveiv	kámolíŋchys kanesáŋchys katacvîeŋchys
1.in	-	kámólniv kanesániv katacvéniv
2.m	kámólerem kanésarem katacvêrem	kámólliv kanesáliv katacvéliv
2.f		kámólriv kanesáriv katacvériv
3.m	kámolísū kanesâisū katácvîesū	kámolísħū kanésâisħū katácvîesħū
3.f

Jussive
	Singular	Plural
1.ex	mólîv nesâiv tacvêiv	mólchŷ nesachŷ tacvēchŷ
1.in	-	mólvàdan nesávadan tacvévadan
2.m	mólvém nesavém tacvēvém	mólvàlt nesávalt tacvévalt
2.f		mólvàrt nesávart tacvévart
3.m	mólémth nesámth tacvêmth	mólvaħá nesavaħá tacvēvaħá
3.f

Non-finite forms of the passive

The static passive participle is formed through the infix ⟨ir/air/eir⟩ in the bare stem.

The dynamic passive participle is formed with the ⟨(i)s⟩ in the passive 3rd person masculine singular stem minus the final vowel.

Object affixes

Main article: Themsaran bipersonal affixes

The object affixes combine at the end of the verb, sometimes in less predictable ways, to agree with the direct object.

Object affixes
1sg	2sg.m	2sg.f	3sg.m.dir	3sg.f.dir	4sg.m	4sg.f	inv	1ex	1in	2pl.m	2pl.f	3pl.m.dir	3pl.f.dir	4pl.m	4pl.f
-(e)n	-ze	-ve	-(j)u	-(j)i	-ŧ(u)	-ŧi	-th	-am	-(e)nt	-sŋa	-sŋe	-(e)ch, -ū	-(e)r, -īn	-ŧech, -ŧū	-ŧer, -ŧīn

As a general rule the downstep shifts to the end when the objectless form has it on the stem; the downstep stays put when the objectless form has it on the ending.

Prepositions

Prepositions in Themsaran are inflected with pronominal enclitics. If the resulting combination is monosyllabic the syllable takes ´ or ˆ as the accent. If disyllabic (unless 1s, 3mp and 3fp) the second takes the ´ accent.

Inflection of prepositions
1sg	2sg.m	2sg.f	3sg.m	3sg.f	4sg.m	4sg.f	inv	1ex	1in	2pl	3pl.m	3pl.f	4pl.m	4pl.f
-en	-ze	-vi	-(j)u	-(j)i	-ŧu	-ŧi	-th	-am	-(e)nt	-sħe	-(e)ch	-(e)r	-ŧech	-ŧer

Inflection of example preposition
1sg	2sg.m	2sg.f	3sg.m	3sg.f	4sg.m	4sg.f	inv	1ex	1in	2pl	3pl.m	3pl.f	4pl.m	4pl.f
aštén	aštezé	aštví	aštú	aští	ašteŧú	ašteŧí	ášteth	aštám	aštént	aštesħé	aštéch	aštér	ašteŧéch	ašteŧér

The following prepositions have completely regular inflection:

• ašt 'without, except' (negation of comitative)
• chaŋ (! definite object) 'concerning'
• det 'towards, until'
• dienem 'inside, amidst'
• dismar, tŋisfîer 'instead of
• éŋħȅn 'because of'
• glenem 'out of'
• had 'like'
• ħal 'in front of'
• lyr 'agent'
• mel 'agent' (interchangable with lyr)
• oles 'until'
• pram 'unlike'
• rimên 'because of'
• sűnân 'despite'
• tor 'because of (implication)'
• trig 'around'
• ŧaz 'after'
• vórêl 'for, for sake of'
• zom 'between'
• žymai 'without' (negation of instrumental)

The following are inflections of irregular prepositions:

Inflection of ā, āC (comitative)
1sg	2sg.m	2sg.f	3sg.m	3sg.f	4sg.m	4sg.f	inv	1ex	1in	2pl	3pl.m	3pl.f	4pl.m	4pl.f
āħán	āzzé	āvví	āħá	āħé	āŧŧú	āŧŧí	âtthu	âm	ânt	āsħé	āħách	āħár	āŧŧéch	āŧŧér

Inflection of di, d' 'in, at'
1sg	2sg.m	2sg.f	3sg.m	3sg.f	4sg.m	4sg.f	inv	1ex	1in	2pl	3pl.m	3pl.f	4pl.m	4pl.f
dîen	dîeze	dîevi	dîe	dî	dîeŧu	dîeŧi	dîeth	dîem	dîent	dîesħe	dîech	dîer	dîeŧech	dîeŧer

Inflection of vo 'to, for'
1sg	2sg.m	2sg.f	3sg.m	3sg.f	4sg.m	4sg.f	inv	1ex	1in	2pl	3pl.m	3pl.f	4pl.m	4pl.f
vôjen	vôzze	vôvví	vû	vŷ	vôŧu	vôŧi	vôth	vōdám	vônt	vōsħé	vōıéch, vôch	vōıér, vôr	vošŧéch	vošŧér

Inflection of nai' 'with, by means of'
1sg	2sg.m	2sg.f	3sg.m	3sg.f	4sg.m	4sg.f	inv	1ex	1in	2pl	3pl.m	3pl.f	4pl.m	4pl.f
nâin	naizé	naiví	nāıú	nāıí	naiŧú	naiŧí	nâith	nājám	nâint	naisħé	nâich	nâir	naiŧéch	naiŧér

Inflection of la 'also; no matter... (with interrogatives)'
1sg	2sg.m	2sg.f	3sg.m	3sg.f	4sg.m	4sg.f	inv	1ex	1in	2pl	3pl.m	3pl.f	4pl.m	4pl.f
lâin	laizé	laiví	laıú	lâi	laiŧú	laiŧí	lâith	laıám	lâint	laisħé	lâich	lâir	laŧéch	laŧér

Inflection of gle, gl' 'from' (ablative, partitive, substance)
1sg	2sg.m	2sg.f	3sg.m	3sg.f	4sg.m	4sg.f	inv	1ex	1in	2pl	3pl.m	3pl.f	4pl.m	4pl.f
glên	glēzé	glēví	glējú	glî	glēŧú	glēŧí	glêth	glēıám	glênt	glēsħé	glêch	glêr	glēŧéch	glēŧér

Inflection of pī (against)
1sg	2sg.m	2sg.f	3sg.m	3sg.f	4sg.m	4sg.f	inv	1ex	1in	2pl	3pl.m	3pl.f	4pl.m	4pl.f
pîn	pīzé	pīví	pīıú	pīıí	pīŧú	pīŧí	pîth	pîm	pînt	pīsħé	pîch	pîr	pīŧéch	pīŧér

Numerals

Themsaran employs a pure vigesimal numeral system. In transcriptions of Themsaran, if positional numerals are desired, the vigesimal positional numerals should be used.

Themsaran numerals
	n	nth	n times	n each/at a time	1/n	n days	n years
?	ıíes	ıínáš	ıístèr	ıísslè	ıissínde	ıíníež
1	cêm	félàš	ce̋mtèr	cêmslè	-	ce̋míež
2	títhâr	ŷrnàš	tístèr	tístlè	ra̋ħé	títhiež
3	nárgè	palsáš	nártèr	nárslè	nárgínde	náríež
4	mulé	muláš	múltèr	mulslé	mulínde	mulǐež
5	niļŧé	niļŧáš	níļŧèr	niļļé	niļŧínde	nilŧǐež
6	ftāmé	ftāmáš	ftǎmtèr	ftāmslé	ftāmínde	ftāmǐež
7	rūdé	rūdáš	rǔttèr	rūsslé	rūdínde	rūdǐež
8	lozedé	lozedáš	lóster	lorlé	lozínde	lozǐež
9	fárvé	fárváš	fártèr	fárslé	fárvínde	fáríež
10/A20	ħíttè	ħíttàš	ħíttèr	ħístlè	ħíttínde	ħíttíež
11/B20	ħȳné
12/C20
13/D20	chóré
14/E20
15/F20
16/G20	psy̋ré
17/H20
18/J20
19/K20
20/1020	nevsé	nevsáš	nétvèr	nevsré	nevsínde	nevǐež
21/1120
40/2020
60/3020
80/4020
100/5020
120/6020
140/7020
160/8020
180/9020
200/A020
220/B020
240/C020
260/D020
280/E020
300/F020
320/G020
340/H020
360/J020
380/K020
400/10020	ŧaflé	ŧafláš	ŧáflèr	ŧafslé	ŧaflínde	ŧaflǐež
203/100020	idré	idráš	ídrer	idreslé	idrínde	idrǐež
204/1000020	zathné	zathnáš	zástèr	zathneslé	zathrínde	zathnǐež

The numeral is a noun that takes the definiteness inflection on behalf of the noun phrase (as a corollary, with a demonstrative the numeral is "indefinite" as well), whilst the noun is in the form "unmarked" in definiteness (indefinite for unpossessed, definite for possessed). 'Two' has a special definite form, títhîe.

nárgè glűanàch

/nárꜜge glúəꜜnax/

nárg-è glűan-àch

three-INDEF mushroom-PL.INDEF

three mushrooms

nárgȁ glűanàch

/nárꜜgaː glúəꜜnax/

nárg-ȁ glűan-àch

three-DEF mushroom-PL.INDEF

the three mushrooms

nárgȁ glűanûgit

/nárꜜgaː glúənuꜜugit/

nárg-ȁ glűan-ûgit

three-DEF mushroom-2SG.M>PL.DEF

your three mushrooms

nárgè glűanûgit mû

/nárꜜge glúənuꜜugit muꜜu/

nárg-è glűan-ûgit mû

three-INDEF mushroom-2SG.M>PL.DEF this.M.PL

these three mushrooms of yours

The distributive suffix can be appended to the "n times" numeral to express "n times each"; the -ter suffix then becomes -tr-: (Li̋chatâju tínžèr mé névsreslé. "We (inclusive) wrote this sentence 20 times each.")

The numerals can be combined with possessive suffixes to denote "(the) n of us/you/them" mullaŧís "four of you", mullâis "the four of you".

Syntax

Word order and fronting

The default constituent order is (time-place)-verb-subject-pronominal oblique object-direct object-(place-time). Any constituent may be topicalized or focalized by being placed in front of the verb. The syntactic difference between topicalization and focalization is that a topicalized noun phrase is the absolute first constituent of a clause while focalized noun phrases have to follow pre-verbal adjuncts such as negation. New information adverbs such as la (also) tend to topicalize, and restrictive adverbs such as vid (only) tend to focus.

"Emphasis"

Topicalization

The clause begins with the topicalized noun phrase, then a 3rd or 4th person pronoun corresponding to the subject is used in the sentence. If the topic is the object of a finite verb, a 3rd or 4th person object suffix is used on the verb.

Focalization

Themsaran focusing fronts the whole noun phrase (prepositions and all), unlike topicalization in which the topic is appositional and is expressed with a prepositional pronoun in the clause. If the focus is the subject fronting with no pronoun is used. Focusing may alternatively employ a type of cleft construction, with fronting of the focused noun phrase, by using the inverse verbal or prepositional object corresponding to the role of the focus in the sentence. The cleft construction is the one used when the focus is the direct object.

Noun phrases

Numerals precede nouns; possessors follow their possessa (with poetic exceptions); demonstratives occur after attributive adjectives, which follow nouns. Inflected quantifiers (uninflected quantifiers, such as rôg "every/all", precede the numeral) come after the adjective by default, but precede the noun when a demonstrative is used and precede the numeral when a numeral is used. Within these boundaries there is a lot of leeway; an attributive adjective or a demonstrative can occupy any position between its head and the relative clause.

Distributive possession

To express the meaning of "our/your/their respective NP", the last noun of the NP is reduplicated in absolute possessed forms. The plural persons are decomposed as follows:

• 1ex.m: noun-1sg›sg noun-3sg.m›sg or noun-3sg.m›sg noun-1sg›sg
• 1ex.f: noun-1sg›sg noun-3sg.f›sg or noun-3sg.f›sg noun-1sg›sg
• 1in.m: noun-2sg.m›sg noun-1sg›sg or noun-1sg›sg noun-2sg.m›sg
• 1in.f: noun-2sg.f›sg noun-1sg›sg or noun-1sg›sg noun-2sg.f›sg
• 2pl.m: noun-2sg.m›sg noun-2sg.m›sg
• 2pl.f: noun-2sg.f›sg noun-2sg.f›sg
• 3pl.m: noun-3sg.m›sg noun-3sg.m›sg
• 3pl.f: noun-3sg.f›sg noun-3sg.f›sg
• 4pl.m: noun-4sg.m›sg noun-4sg.m›sg
• 4pl.f: noun-4sg.f›sg noun-4sg.f›sg

These exact forms are always used disregarding the finer aspects of gender composition in the group. Thus, for example, if the only male in a group speaks of "our (exclusive) respective villages", he will still say chmásán chmásâu "my village his village".

Equational sentences

The copula va̋cî is rarely used in the present indicative in full (not relative) clauses. Instead, an equational sentence begins with the subject, and a 3rd- or a 4th-person pronoun (cliticized and therefore toneless) agreeing with the subject may be used anywhere in the sentence, or omitted (as is often the case, as the predicate adjectives and the end of each noun phrase are quite transparent). The uncliticized pronoun is used when the subject is pronominal or when the copular pronoun is used at the end of a clause.

Predicative possession

"X has Y" is expressed with the construction "gîe Y vo X", or "gîe-[pronoun affix for pronominal X] Y" if X is animate. If X is inanimate, the construction X ā Y ('X is with Y'), or X ašt Y ('X is without Y') is used.

Coordinating conjunctions

at: or

ie: and (also 'but, while, whereas' with topicalized clauses)

íeláš: however, nevertheless, moreover

nesi: but (rather)

nu: xor/nand

seim: but, yet, however

Subordinating clauses

Themsaran prefers sentences with one independent (tensed realis) clause, with infinitives, jussives or participles in subordinate clauses (except usually in complement clauses). Using a finite verb in a dependent clause instead of an infinitive or participle carries focus, on the verb or another constituent.

Subordinating conjunctions

ach: although

ānne: when (with finite verb)

ar: if (provisional); if the condition takes place in a future time, then use future

eir: because, for

gin: if (metaphorical/counterfactual)

isi: only, only if

ne: that (complementizer)

nit: if (gnomic)

nitrôg/trôg: that (restrictive)

rin: that, which (non-restrictive)

surith: which (sentential relativizer)

Time clauses

Time clauses are constructed with a preposition and the first infinitive with the possessor as subject.

āl lēvasén (lit. with my running)

while I run/was running (imperfective)

dí ta̋ŋrèsi ātmán (lit. at my mother's being-born)

when my mother was born (perfective)

ħal riesseví (lit. before your coming)

before you came/come

Relative clauses

The participial relative clause is introduced with a participle. An active participle's possessor is the object and a passive participle's possessor is the agent. It is the default relative clause formation method.

The finite relative clause is introduced optionally with a relativizer rin (specific) or nitrôg/trôg (non-specific; etymologically "whenever"). When the head is omitted, the relativizer is mandatory. To modify a sentence with a relative clause the relativizer surith is used instead.

Complement clauses

Themsaran uses chiefly finite complement clauses, unlike for other types of subordinate clauses. Using a non-finite complement clause entails using the verb va̋cî with a participle. This expresses a strong conviction that the complement clause is true.

Negation

Finite negation is done with the pre-verbal clitic tir, except in the future imperfective, where the particle vēt is used with the jussive.

The predicate negator is dâ(r).

Imperatives and jussives are negated by using the irrealis negation clitic ham with the jussive. Hám may be used as a standalone exclamation ("do not!"/"may it not happen!").

Infinitives are negated with tíessù.

Coreferentiality

There are several situations where the strictly head-marking language tracks coreferentiality, or which agreeing noun a verb or pronoun taking a given agreement refers to.

Inverse marking

Themsaran has so-called "inverse" verbal affixes that force a particular, marked order of the sentence, rather like the Austronesian trigger system. This marker serves simultaneously to trigger a more focused meaning on the more fronted constituent.

Verbal inverse marking

Constituents	Direct (unless otherwise marked)	Inverse (forced reading)
VN	VS	VO
NV	SV	OV
VNN	VSO	VOS
NVN	SVO	OVS
NNV	OSV	SOV

Proximate/obviative affixes

The 3rd person, or proximate, object marks foreground or central referents, usually the first one or the most animate/possessing one mentioned soon after it. while the 4th person, or obviative, object refers to background or peripheral referents. The third person and the fourth person combine as 3+4=3, and when parts of a proximate plural is taken out, the first noun phrase to be taken out is the new 3rd person.

Comparison

"Than"

The comparative particle 'than' is rā. Themsaran enables one to discriminate "He loved me more than she [loved me]" and "He loved me more than [he loved] her", by focusing the argument in the main clause that is compared. The comparative phrase is by default placed after the subject or verb, and the compared noun phrase is stated, or repeated with a pronoun.

žá hārbenín slá ra̋ ŧî

/ʒá hàːrbeninꜜ sláꜜ ráːt͡ʃíꜜiː/

žá he-arb-nin/ slá rā ŧî

3SG.M PAST.IPFV-teach/PAST.IPFV.3/4SG.M>1SG more.ADV than 4SG.F

He taught me more than she did.}}

na̋ hārbeníth slá ra̋ ŧî

/náː hàːrbeniθꜜ sláꜜ ráːt͡ʃiꜜiː/

na̋ he-arb-nith/ slá rā žî

1SG PAST.IPFV-teach/PAST.IPFV.3/4SG.M>INV.SG.M more.ADV than 4SG.F

He taught me more than he did her.

Note that the fronting does not automatically imply that the fronted noun phrase is compared, but simply that it is given the most focus. The compared argument is the closer argument to the comparative:

na̋ hārbeníth žá slá ra̋ ŧî

/náː hàːrbeniθꜜ ʒáꜜ sláꜜ ráːt͡ʃiꜜiː/

na̋ he-arb-nith/ žá slá rā ŧî

1SG PAST.IPFV-teach/PAST.IPFV.3/4SG.M>1SG 3SG.M more.ADV than 4SG.F

It is I whom he taught more than she did.

"Surpass"

Themsaran also, more succinctly, allows comparison by incorporating the adjective into the verb fcínêi 'surpass'. Unsurprisingly this construction is rather common for predicative comparisons:

Giemofcíneich arbalgâst.

giem(o)-fcin-eich arbâlg-āst

intelligent-surpass-/1SG.PRES>3PL.M teacher.1SG>DEF.PL

I am smarter than my teachers.

Indirect speech

If the complement clause's subject corefers with the subject of the main clause, it is left unstated in the complement clause. Otherwise the third- or fourth-person pronoun is used as the subject as appropriate.

"Impersonal" sentences

Impersonal pronouns do not exist in Themsaran. The verb is put into the mediopassive (or mediopassive of causative or applicative, as appropriate) with the subject as patient/object, or no subject if there is no patient.

skőtèv nárgìež glé chmásán det cazrê

one walks (lit. it is walked) for three days from my village to the coast

Modal constructions

Themsaran is poor in true modal and auxiliary verbs; "adverbial" and "adjectival" modal constructions are more common. Deontic modalities tend to be expressed adjectivally, while situational and epistemic modalities tend to have adverbial expressions. All modal expressions come before the (negation-) lexical verb (e.g. Jêr méŧar ħlomaréch šyrfāmâst! "How dare you betray my brothers!", note that the verb is in the preterite).

Modal adjectives

• lāmérse: "it is sufficient to..."
• ıalúne: "advisable".
• re̋dáme: "necessary", used to express need to do something.
• širŋúre: "required/compulsory"; moral obligation, "ought to".
• tírēné: "permitted", used to express permissibility.

Modal adverbs

• ŋídâ: "ably", used to express ability to do something.
• méŧár: equivalent of "dare".
• ļámȉl: "possibly", used to express epistemic possibility.
• tóssár: "seemingly".
• arzên: "certainly", used to express speaker's certainty (English epistemic "must").
• teizár: "successfully".

Modal verbs

"To want" is sréŋî. It is used (chiefly with an intransitive verb) in the first infinitive, always with a subject possessor (Sréŋȉ mispasén d'insé "I want to travel in a city", lit. "I want my traveling in a city"), or with transitive verbs in the second infinitive (definite direct objects are marked).

Derivational morphology

Affixal

Nouns and Adjectives

• -ákše (f, ‘‘c’’): [noun]-manship, proper way of [verb]ing/being [adjective]
• -álg- (‘‘c’’): semantic agent of [verb]
• -áŋ- (plural, ‘‘c’’): associative plural
• -átte (f, ‘‘c’’): domain, place of [noun/adjective]
• -âth (š): adjectival suffix
• -ber (m, ‘‘c’’): resultative of [verb]
• -d-/-de: nominalizer (less productive)
• -dr- (‘‘c’’): -ful
• -ige (f ‘‘c’’): nominalizer of [verb]
• -in (m g, not very productive): semantic patient of (verb)
• -índ- (‘‘c’’): diminutive
• -īd (f, 2, ‘‘c’’): abstract noun
• kī(v)-: -less
• -m- (‘‘c’’): originating from [noun/adjective]
• -malé (f th): manner of [verb]ing
• -met (m, g): semantic patient
• -ms (m, ‘‘c’’): instrument noun
• -ŋ- (‘‘c’’) [noun]-like
• -ne (‘‘c’’): action of [verb]
• -noš- (‘‘c’’): capable of patienthood, [verb]-able
• -őf- (‘‘c’’): weaker pejorative, "just some"
• -or- (š): pejorative
• -re (f, ‘‘c’’, less productive): patient/resultative
• -rn- (š): capable of/good at agenthood, fit to be a [noun/adjective]
• -se (f, ‘‘c’’): singulative
• -tán (f, ‘‘c’’) "[noun] material"
• tir-: non-, un-
• -ȳr (m, g): place noun
• -y̌the/y̋the (f, ‘‘c’’): state of being [adjective], most often used for mental states

Verbs

• -lî/-ālî/-ēlî dynamic from [adjective/stative verb]
• -ystî or just -âi: cause to be [adjective]
• -trî: intensive
• -dm- iterative
• -alkâi: :see/depict as
• -nach-: [verb] to completion
• -dħâi: un-, dis- (intransitive)
• -prî: un-, dis- (transitive)
• -(i/u)t- (with tone change): transitivizer (not productive)

Compounding

Noun-adjective compounding occurs by removing the ending of the noun (and inserting -o- for first declension, -e- for second declennsion, and -i- for third declension of the noun if phonotactically required). If the compound is a noun with a supplemental meaning by the adjective, the lexical tone is that of the noun; on the contrary, as an adjective with the meaning colored by the noun, the lexical tone is adopted from the adjective.

kólèn (1st decl., high tone) + simáttem (accent paradigm c) = kólnosimáttmē

wind + northern = the north wind

Compounds headed by the final noun are largely 'kind of noun' compounds, whereas more coordinative compounds will be right-branching.

Incorporation

Nouns and adverbs can be incorporated into verbs as they can into adjectives. This is primarily a derivational, rather than grammatical, device.

ħe̋demplaħêıam

strengthen us (flowery)