Ulok

Ulok is a native Martian (Nemukik) language spoken on Nesak (Tharsis) in the late 22nd century. It is one of the two major Equatorial Martian languages along with Siye.

Ulok
Pronounced:	['u.rok]
Timeline and Universe:	EJL Universe, Early 23nd century CE
Species:	Indigenous Martian Humanoid
Spoken:	Mars
Total speakers:	9,000,000 (est.)
Writing system:	syllabics
Genealogy:	Ulok
Typology
Morphological type:	Agglutinating
Morphosyntactic alignment:	Accusative
Basic word order:	SOV
Credits
Creator:	Linguarum Magister

Orthography

Consonants

Ulok contains

two nasals: /m/ [m] and /n/ [n]

three plosives: /p/ [p] /t/ [t] /k/ [k]

one sibilant: /s/ [s]

one lateral: /l/ [l]

two glides: /w/ [w] /y/ [j]

Vowels

Ulok vowels have three heights (high, mid, low), two lengths (short and long), and two tones (high and low)

/a/ [a] /e/ [e] /i/ [i] /o/ [o] /u/ [u]

/ah/ [à] /Vh/ (where V stands for any vowel) is an orthographic representation of a low tone. It seems to be derived from an earlier combination of a vowel and the archaic phoneme /k/ [q]

Tones

Ulok has two level tones – high and low. An Ulok word that does not contain an /h/ as the syllable coda begins as high tone. If there is a syllable in the word that does contain an /h/ as the syllable coda, that syllable and all following syllables are low tone. If the first syllable of the word contains an /h/ as the syllable coda, the word is entirely low tone. The drop from high tone to low tone can only occur once per word.

Epenthetic Vowels

If a suffix consisting of a single consonant follows another consonant, Ulok inserts a epenthetic vowel. This vowel is almost always based on the closest preceding vowel.

Kehtis kehmeyeses Nesakasas kehti-s kehmeye-s-s Nesa-k-s-s

Nouns

Nominal Suffixes

Ulok nouns have two genders: animate and inanimate. The most peculiar feature of Ulok nouns is this: nouns do not take suffixes for cases, but rather for person and number. Although this feature is more intimately associated with verbs in many languages, it is critical to note that the addition of a person/number suffix to a noun root does not turn it into a verb. The homophony of the nominalizing suffix /-p/ and the third singular animate /-p/ suggests the reverse!

Nominal Suffixes, Animate Gender

Person/Number Suffix

First Singular -n

Second Singular -t

Third Singular -p, /-0/ [ʔ]

Plural -s

/-p/ is the most common suffix for the third singular; /-0/ is reserved for the loanwords. The /-0/ suffix is the orthographic form; a study of Ulok phonetics indicates that the suffix is a glottal stop.

Examples:

kehmeyen I, a king

kehmeyet you, a king

kehmeyep he, a king

kehmeyes they, the kings (you, kings/ we, kings)

kehtis gods

Ulok inanimates, unlike the animates, do not distinguish person or number.

Suffix and Function

-k Most common general inanimate suffix

-0 Second most common general inanimate suffix

-k(u) Forms abstract nouns (geograpnical and and truly abstract)

-o Inanimate suffix for singulative nouns (These nouns are grammatically inanimate, but may be semantically animate)

-p Nominalizing suffix

The /-0/ suffix for the verbs is, unlike the animate /-0/ suffix, a true zero-marked suffix. The suffixes -k and -k(u), although semantically distinct, often look identical. The proper name of the language is Ulok, and the name of the territory where it is spoken Uloku, but most of the time the term Ulok is used for both concepts. The Ulos (speakers of Ulok) are not the language-obsessives that their Siye-speaking neighbors are.

unutik temple (unuti-k)

loyihnek brick (-k)

nonu town/land (-0)

kemeyeku kingdom/kingship (-ku)

kehmomo children (-o)

wamip kehtisip greatest of the gods (-p)

Noun Phrases

The noun phrase in Ulok exhibits this feature: the possessor of a possessum-possessor noun phrase acquires the person/number suffix of the possessum as well as its own.

no kehmeyen Nesakan.

no kehmeye-n Nesakan

1S king-1 Tharsis-INAN-V-1

I, the king of Tharsis.

kehmeyes Nesakas

kehmeye-s Nesakas

king-PL Nesa-INAN-V-PL

the kings of Tharsis

Possessive pronouns use the same construction:

kehtip nop

kehti-p no-p

god-3 1S-3

my god

This construction can be extended to a three-noun set:

losotok kehtip nopok

losoto-k kehti-p no-p-o-k

throne-hall-INAN god-3 1S-3-V-INAN

the throne-hall of my god

numemeku kehmomo nonaoku

numeme-ku kehmom-o nona-o-ku

life-ABSTRACT children-INAN 1PL-INAN-ABSTRACT

the life of our children

The same construction is used for apposition:

kehmeyes kehsopos nos

kehmeye-s kehsopo-s no-s

king-PL predecessor-PL 1S-PL

kings, my predecessors

Adjectives follow the noun they modify; in this case, the person/number suffix affixes to the adjective:

kehyeyep

kehyeye-p

lord-3

kehyeye wamip

kehyeye wami-p

lord great-3

great lord

The superlative is treated with the same possessum-possessor construction, but in the case the adjective precedes the noun and requires the nominalizing suffix /-p/.

wamip kehtisip

wami-p kehti-s-i-p

great-3 god-PL-V-3

greatest of the gods

Pronouns

Animate pronouns in Ulok display three persons, two numbers, and two cases. Plural number is indicated by forms ending in -na, and accusative case by a prefix /i-/. The inanimate pronoun has a case but not a number distinction. The relative pronoun has a case but not a number distinction; its nominative and accusative forms are suppletive.

1s Nom No Acc Ino

2s Nom To Acc Ito

3s Nom Pe Acc Ipe

1p Nom Nona Acc Inona

2p Nom Tona Acc Itona

3p Nom Pena Acc Ipena

Inanimate Nom Ke Acc Ike

Relative Pronoun Nom Wini Acc Oku

Borrowings

Ulok and Siye have borrowed much vocabulary from the other in the last two millennia, providing valuable evidence of diachronic changes. In some cases, this has resulted in opposite meanings of mutual borrowings: for example /yete-/ and /lomo-/ mean 'fruit' and 'jam' respectively in Siye, but the reverse in Ulok! In other cases, the interaction created a new word: the old Siye word for 'to engage in commerce' was /apom/, that of Ulok /itam/, but in the late 22nd century both use /atom/. Siye borrowings from Ulok ignore the difference of high vs. low tone, while Ulok borrowings from Siye convert the first nasal syllable in a Siye word into the first low tone of the new loanword. Thus the Siye title /kumayam/ is borrowed as /Umayah/.

Verbs

Uloti- “to pray”, semo- “to do”

Conjugation I Ulok verbs decline for number and person. The singular forms affix the appropriate suffix. The plural forms use a base suffix -l- (derived from the first singular?). The first plural suffixes -a to the base; the second plural suffixes -s from the second person singular and provides the appropriate epenthetic vowel; the third plural affixes -u to the base. An alternate explanation is the infixation of -l- between the verb root and the singular suffixes for the second and third person plural forms. This theory, however, runs against the generality of suffixation in Ulok.

Conjugation I To pray To do

1s

Ulotil

Semol

2s

Ulotis

Semos

3s

Ulotiu

Semou

1p

Ulotila

Semola

2p

Ulotilis

Semolos

3p

Ulotilu

Semolu

The participles form the stems for the forms in Conjugations II and III. The perfect participle is formed by suffixing -n to the verb root, while the imperfective is forms by suffixing -k to the verb root. Thus the verb roots /uloti-/ and /semo-/ produce perfective /ulotin/ and /semon/ and imperfective /ulotik/ or /semok/.

Conjugations II and III are formed by suffixing the animate nominal endings to the perfective and imperfective participles, respectively, and inserting the appropriate epenthetic vowel.

Conjugation II (Perfective Participle +Nominal Endings)

1s

Ulotinin

Semonon

2s

Ulotinit

Semonot

3s

Ulotinip

Semonop

PL

Ulotinis

Semonos

Conjugation III (Imperfective Participle + Nominal Endings)

1s

Ulotikin

Semokon

2s

Ulotikit

Semokot

3s

Ulotikip

Semokop

Pl

Ulotikis

Semokos

Other forms of the Ulok verb include the perfective participle followed by the auxiliary verb /ne-/ with nominal suffixes (ulotin nen, net, etc.) and the imperfective participle in a similar construction (ulotik nen, net, etc.). Imperfective + ne- is used in durative, intensive, or volitional statements.

The optative mood is formed by suffixing -li to the Conjugation I verb root or to the Conjugation II (but not Conjugation III!) verb stem (ulotili, ulotinili).

The imperative forms are identical to the Conjugation I second singular forms (ulotis, semos). There is no separate plural form.

The prohibitive mood is formed by second person Conjugation III form preceded by the negative participle /eme/ (eme ulotikit, eme semokot).

The suffix -ipo- nominalizes a verb or verb phrases. The verb of the clause suffixes a gender agreement suffix before the nominalizing suffix if the head noun of the clause is a core constituent, but omits it if it is not.

ulotik kek semolukipo

uloti-k ke-k semo-lu-k-ipo

temple-INAN DEM-INAN do-3PL-INAN-NMLZER

the temple which they built

meyeku kep umou > meyeku kep umouipo

meye-ku ke-p umo-u > meyeku ke-p umo-u-ipo

reign 3S-3 love-3SG > reign 3S-3 love-3sg-NMLZER

he loves the reign > whose reign he loves

Negative Declination

The negative marker /eme-/ declines according to the pattern of the nominal suffixes. It agrees not with the agent, as one might expect from a nominative-accusative language, nor with the patient, as one might expect from an ergative-accusative language, but rather with the topic of the clause.

Ulotik ipena emek semolu. They did not build the temple (they built the shrine).

Ulotik ipena emes semolu. They did not build the temple (someone else did)

Animate Inanimate

1s

Emen

2s

Emet

3s

Emep

Inanimate

Emek

Plural

Emes

Syntax

Resumptive Prononouns

Ulok uses resumptive pronouns extensively.

Pe no ike ilesepel

Pe no ike ilesepe-l

3S 1S 3INAN.ACC give-1S

I gave it to them (lit. to-them I it gave)

pep ehsep nop muwetili

pe-p ehsep no-p muweti-li

3S-3 inferior 1S-3 place-OPT

May you be under me (lit. him inferior of-me place-you-may)

Postpositions

Postpositions are rare in Ulok, but the most are:

oh - in

so - of

ih - and