Amal

See also:

• lexicon
  • thematic lexicon
• phrases

Introduction

Amal is meant to be a personal conlang and despite appearances and structure is not intended as an IAL.

Vocabulary and grammatical features are inspired by or taken directly from:

• Arabic (ara)
• Basque (bas)
• Japanese (jap)
• Quechua (que)
• South Slavic (sla)
• Spanish (spa)
• Turkish (tur)

Phonology

23 of the 26 Latin letters are used, leaving q, w and x unused. All letters are pronounced like their IPA equivalents with a few exceptions.

• c - /ʃ/, /t͡ʃ/ or /t͡s/ without confusion
• e - /e/ or /ɛ/ without confusion
• j - /ʒ/
• ny - /ɲ/ (rare)
• u - /w/ when followed by another vowel
• y - /j/
• ' - /ʔ/ the glottal stop separates non-diphthonged vowels.

Word Order

Amal has a mostly regular word order. The general word order is SVO:

• Ivan haca

Ivan run-3SG

Ivan runs.

• Marya duya Ivan

Maria hear-3SG Ivan

Maria hears John.

A noun phrase has this order:

• (determiners —) noun (—quantifiers) (— stative verb)

• Al muj uc buyum

DEF.ART man three be.large-3PL

The three large men...

A verb phrase has this order:

• (leading verb —) verb(tense/mood) (— adverb)

• ..necra yemek sarelya..

need-PST eat.INF be.quick-ADV

..needed to eat quickly..

• A prepositional phrase generally follows what it modifies, and has this order:

• preposition — noun phrase

See also: case

• ..bada cinya

after midnight

...after midnight

Nouns

The roles of nouns in a sentence are indicated through prepositions (or case) and word order. Amal has seven cases.

cases

Genrally speaking, these case endings are invariable, with a few eceptions. If a noun ends in a vowel, that vowel is replaced by the case ending, unless the case ending begins with a consonant, then all remain. See examples below.

• muj - man; husband

Nominative – muj man > mujim men

Accusative – muji (the) man > mujim (the) men

Genitive – mujin of the man; the man's > mujimin of the men; the men's

Dative / Locative – mujda to the man; at the man > mujimda to the men; at the men

Ablative / Comparative – mujac from the man; than the man > mujimac from the men; than the men

Comitative – mujle with/accompanying the man > mujimle with/accompanying the men

Instrumenal – mujun by; using; through the man > mujimun by; using; through the men

• doma - house; home

Nominative – doma house > domam houses

Accusative – domi (the) house > domim (the) houses

Genitive – domin of the house; the house's > domamin of the houses; the houses’

Dative / Locative – domada to the house; at the house > domamda to the houses; at the houses

Ablative / Comparative – domac from the house; than the house > domamac from the houses; than the houses

Comitative – domale with/accompanying the house > domamle with/accompanying the houses

Instrumental – domun by; using; through the house > domamun by; using; through the houses

plurals

Nouns are commonly preceded by determiners. Plural nouns are formed by appending -m to nouns ending in vowels or -im to nouns ending in consonants. This does not alter the stress:

• doma > domam — house > houses
• muj > mujim — man > men

Mass nouns include liquids, powders, and substances, such as usu (water), ukum (sand), and uzra (wood). They do not normally require determiners or the plural. However, one may add these to indicate specific examples or different types:

• al usu — the water (e.g. in the cup)
• uzram — woods (e.g. various kinds)

gender

Gender is typically not indicated. If necessary, nouns may be modified by -(e)ka (male) or -(e)va (female):

• konyaka / konyava — a stallion / a mare

A few terms for family members and traditional roles do show distinctions of gender. For example:

• am / ab — mother / father
• ban / neska — son / daughter

apposition

Apposition — the use of one noun to modify another — is mostly limited to names and titles:

• kada Yusuf — Prof. Joseph
• ane nai Marya — my sister Mary

Determiners

Determiners in Amal precede the noun they modify. There is one article: al (the), used similar to English:

• al muj, cuma, u ayelim — the man, a woman, and children

Other words function similarly:

• an - that [over there]
• anta - such
• anyi - same
• ayam - whatever, whichever; any
• aza - few, little
• cok - many; much
• hacok - more
• haza - less; fewer
• kon - this [by me]
• kul - all; every; each
• ne - no; zero
• nek - some; several; a few
• son - that [by you]
• ukra - other

Pronouns

Pronouns in Amal are marked for number and case. There are three persons. Gender is not marked unless necessary for disambiguation. The stand-alone personal pronouns are not used widely as the person is evident from the personal verb ending. They are used for emphasis only in their simple form as the verb form itself already points to the person. This is similar to Spanish where a person will say comprendo - I understand instead of Yo comprendo - I understand.

• The irregular declensions should be apparent.

Pronoun Declension

	NOM	ACC	GEN	DAT/LOC	ABL/COMP	COM	INS
1sg	na / -an	ni	nai	naye	nac	nale	nun
2sg	te / -at	ti	tai	taye	tac	tele	tun
3sg	il(a/u) / -a	ili	(i)lai	ilye	ilac	ile	ilun
1pl	nuk / -uk	inuk	nika	danuk	nukac	nukle	nukun
2pl	tum / -ut	itum	tima	tumda	tumac	tumle	tumun
3pl	hum / -um	ihum/ihma	hima	humda	humac	humle	humun

Verbs

tense

The future tense is marked with -as-/-s(a)-. Past tense is marked with -ar-/-r(a)-. The present tense is unmarked. There are two aspects in Amal, progressive/continuous -i(y)-, and perfective -u(y)-. They are marked in the conjugation of the verb.

• yem-an - I eat
• yem-r-an - I did eat
• yem-s-an - I will eat
• yem-iy-an - I am eating
• yem-ir-an - I was eating
• yem-is-an - I will be eating
• yem-uy-an - I ate
• yem-ur-an - I have eaten
• yem-us-an - I will have eaten

Stories often describe events that take place in the past (or an imagined past), or whose location in time is of no concern to the reader. In such cases, the -ar-/-r(a)- may be omitted.