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Akuveth Grammar [wip]
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This private article was written by [Deactivated User], and last updated on 5 Dec 2020, 01:07.

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Menu 1. Verbal morphology 2. — Aspect 3. — Definiteness 4. — Effect 5. — Conjunctive 6. Nominal morphology 7. Pronouns 8. Quantifiers and demonstratives 9. Classifiers/measure words 10. NP order 11. Sentence order 12. Topic 13. Auxiliaries and -ta 14. Relative clauses 15. Phrasal conjunctions 16. Clausal conjunctions and pivots 17. Causative 18. Conditional 19. Postpositions and directional prefixes 20. Questions 21. Imperatives
[edit] [top]Verbal morphology

Verbs carry a majority of the inflectional morphology in  Aisha, marking PFVPerfective (aspect)
completed action
/IPFVImperfective (aspect)
'interrupted or incomplete'
/PROGProgressive (aspect)
be verb-ing
/HABHabitual (aspect)
done often or out of habit
aspect and definiteness, with secondary inflection for BENBenefactive (case)
recipient of benefit
/MALMalefactive (case)
recipient of bad intent
effect and serialization. Other analytic phrases contribute to the verbal system as well, described below in the syntax sections.

[edit] [top]— Aspect

In a tensed language, events are viewed relative to the current time, "now." In a tenseless language like Akuveth, however, events are viewed relative to other events, called the topic time. Perfective forms are used to reference or introduce actions "in their entirety"—that is, not relative to another event—usually to establish a topic time. Imperfective forms are used to reference other events that occur within the topic time.

The citation form of verbs is the imperfective. This form will always ends with -u.
śazu "speak"
źyru "pour"
myzagu "cry; rain"
vicśu "poke, prod"
emu "do"
To form the perfective, verbs undergo metathesis in the final two vowels. Final -y fronts to -i.
-VCu-uCV

śazuśuza
źyruźuri
myzagumyzuga
viuvui
emuume

There are also the secondary aspects, progressive and habitual, which overlap with perfective/imperfective.

The progressive is used for long-term states, especially ones that occur both during and before or after the topic time. Morphologically, it uses an infix -ma- placed after the first consonant. This also triggers metathesis in the first syllable, which changes or deletes certain consonants (and shifts y to u). The infix is additionally placed before the vowel shift of the perfective, meaning the metathesis will often moved the vowel from the infix instead of the stem.
(C)V-V(C)ma-

śazumazu "is speaking"
źyrumaru "is pouring"
myzaguumazagu "is crying"

vicśuimua "is poking"
emuemuma "is doing"
The habitual is used with repeated or iterated actions. It uses partial reduplication of the initial syllable, also voicing any initial consonants. Initial v, z, ś, and ź are reduplicated as b, d, t, and g for historical reasons. Most vowel-initial verbs use an epenthetic -h-, which collapses with a- and u- to form C₁aaC₁- and C₁uuC₁-.
C₁V-C₁e~C₁V-
VC₁-C₁eh~VC₁-

śazuteźazu "often speaks"
źyrugeźyru "often pours"
myzagumemyzagu "often cries"

vucśibevucśi "often pokes"
umemuume "often does"


[edit] [top]— Definiteness

Definiteness in Akuveth refers specifically to verbal definiteness, which can be thought of as referring to a definite action rather than a definite referent. Often this carries implications of a direct evidential or otherwise specifying a particular event.

The indefinite is the unmarked form. The definite uses an infix -ry-, which is placed before the final consonant of the root. It can be infixed to either the perfective or imperfective form. If the final consonant is r, the infix dissimilates to -dy- instead.
śazuśaryzu
źyruźydyru
myzagumyzarygu

vucśivurycśi
umeuryme

[edit] [top]— Effect

Effect refers to whether the action has a beneficial or harmful result.

The benefactive changes final -u to -i, and suffixes -se. This occurs before perfective metathesis.
śazuśazise "speaks for me; speaks on my behalf"
źyruźyrise "pours for me"

vicśuvicśise "poked [someone] for me"
emuimese "did for me"
The malefactive functions similarly, changing final -u to -o and suffixing -ka.
śazuśazoka "speaks against me/at my expense; insults me"
źyruźyroka "pours, harming me"

vicśuvocśika "poked me"
emuomeka "did at my expense"
Benefactive/malefactive prototypically affects only the speaker; to mark that the action affects the listener, the suffix -ci is placed after the effect suffix.
śazuśaziseci "speaks on your behalf"
źyruźyrokaci "pours, harming you"

[edit] [top]— Conjunctive

The last form is the conjunctive or serial. This form removes the final -u and suffixes -ta, which also devoices and assimilates final consonants. (Clusters of three or more consonants are broken up with -e-.) The conjunctive can only co-occur with definiteness; aspect and effect are both unmarked.
śazuśasta
źyruźytta
myzagumyzakta
vicśuvicśeta
emuenta

As a final note, since the inflection can be very difficult to follow at times, there will be hover tags provided for the more complex forms to help with reading.

[edit] [top]Nominal morphology

[edit] [top]Pronouns

SGSingular (number)
one countable entity
PLPlural (number)
more than one/few
NOMNominative (case)
TRANS subject, INTR argument
OBJObject (argument)GENGenitive (case)
possessive
NOMNominative (case)
TRANS subject, INTR argument
OBJObject (argument)GENGenitive (case)
possessive
1First person (person)
speaker, signer, etc; I
śeśimśetamaimanymmaita
2Second person (person)
addressee (you)
cyscysymcystacaaźcaaźymcaaśta
3Third person (person)
neither speaker nor addressee
.PROXProximal (proximity)
close to speaker
nyneurymneutaśumśumymśunta
3Third person (person)
neither speaker nor addressee
.MEDMedial (proximity)
not too far from speaker; close to addressee
śaaśarymśata
3Third person (person)
neither speaker nor addressee
.DISTDistal (proximity)
far from speaker (and addressee)
aaarymata
OBJObject (argument) forms are used for both direct and indirect objects.

[edit] [top]Quantifiers and demonstratives

[edit] [top]Classifiers/measure words

With many nouns, numbers and quantifiers cannot be used directly, but must be used with a classifier. The system is similar to Mandarin, but less pervasive; classifiers are only necessary with what could be roughly considered "sellable items": commodities, tools, livestock, land, etc. This system generally doesn't extend outside this semantic space, though there are exceptions. Some of the most common classifiers:
classifierliteralmeasures
graincereal and crops
bunchgroups of plants or vegetables (leeks, carrots, grapes, etc.)
sticksmall rod-like objects (pens, feathers, arrows, needles, etc.)
framedoors, windows, and pieces of furniture or carpentry
coilbunches of rope or wire
pilestacks of objects
object, thingboxes; box-like objects; generic catch-all
benḣabladebladed weapons (swords, daggers, etc.)
bunabodyitems sold per person; hides (and by extension, clothing)
esamouthopen containers (jars, pots, cups, buckets, etc.)
geźoceleaf.COLCollective (number)
'group or mass entity'
books, collections of writings
huptrunklarge rod-like objects (trees, beams, etc.)
nirynflat thingflat, thin objects (plates, tiles, boards, etc.)
rańigrowthmost plants
śymaheadanimals; large, round vegetables and melons (lettuce, pumpkin, watermelon, etc.)
uźeflowerflowers, fruits
zideberrysmall fruits, nuts, and berries
źocleafleaves, certain flowers; paper, documents

[edit] [top]NP order

Most modifiers—namely adjectives, demonstratives, and quantifiers—precede the nouns they modify. Relative clauses and adpositional expressions, however, follow them, much like English.
[possessor phrase] [demonstrative] [quantifier/numeral] [adjective(s)] noun [relative clause]

śu
PROXProximal (proximity)
close to speaker
gyr
two
vanni
short
voḣ
woman
i vecśytta śymec
RELRelative stab-CNJVConjunctive (mood)
subordinates or serialises verb
lord

"these two short women who stabbed the lord"

[edit] [top]Sentence order

The unmarked word order for Akuveth is SVO. More precisely:

  • Subject
  • Pronominal direct object
  • Pronominal indirect object
  • Adverbs
  • Verb
  • Direct object
  • Indirect object
  • Prepositional phrases


(This color-coding will be used throughout the article, like my other grammars.)
Źyndec
soldier
śim
1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I
.OBJObject (argument)
oźitta
happily
cudyri
give<DEFDefinite
"the"
>.PFVPerfective (aspect)
completed action
sum
sword
pos
under
saaḣ.
tree

"The soldier happily gave the sword to me under a tree."


Akuveth has explicit topic marking via the enclitic =(y)ga, and also allows for free constituent dislocation, even without explicit object marking. The general rule of thumb is that the NP immediately before the verb is always the agent (not counting pronominal objects). Adverbs and modifiers can be moved and topicalized as well, meaning the following are all parseable:
Sumyga
sword=TOPTopic (syntactic)
the topic (key reference point) of a sentence
źyndec
soldier
śim
1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I
.OBJObject (argument)
oźitta
happily
cudyri
give<DEFDefinite
"the"
>.PFVPerfective (aspect)
completed action
pos saaḣ.
under tree


Śimyga
1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I
.OBJObject (argument)=TOPTopic (syntactic)
the topic (key reference point) of a sentence
źyndec
soldier
oźitta
happily
cudyri
give<DEFDefinite
"the"
>.PFVPerfective (aspect)
completed action
sum
sword
pos saaḣ.
under tree


Oźittaga
happily=TOPTopic (syntactic)
the topic (key reference point) of a sentence
źyndec
soldier
śim
1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I
.OBJObject (argument)
cudyri
give<DEFDefinite
"the"
>.PFVPerfective (aspect)
completed action
sum
sword
pos saaḣ.
under tree


Pos saaḣyga
under tree=TOPTopic (syntactic)
the topic (key reference point) of a sentence
źyndec
soldier
śim
1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I
.OBJObject (argument)
oźitta
happily
cudyri
give<DEFDefinite
"the"
>.PFVPerfective (aspect)
completed action
sum.
sword
The topic isn't even necessarily a constituent within the sentence, and can be used like an adverbial to set the scene or otherwise give context.
Ṫesaga
city=TOPTopic (syntactic)
the topic (key reference point) of a sentence
Gonhuunau
Gonhuunau
tus.
quiet

"As far as cities go, Gonhuunau is quiet."

Koźynga
clothing=TOPTopic (syntactic)
the topic (key reference point) of a sentence
aa
3SThird person singular (person)
neither speaker nor addressee
.DISTDistal (proximity)
far from speaker (and addressee)
kugo
wear.PFVPerfective (aspect)
completed action
senma.
dress

"As for clothing, she wore a dress."

[edit] [top]Auxiliaries and -ta

The conjunctive suffix -ta has multiple functions. Its base meaning is to reduce or concatenate a VP. The most common usage is with auxiliaries, notably the negative vaśu and passive grovu.
Śymec
lord
gruvo
PASSPassive voice (valency)
be verb-ed
.PFVPerfective (aspect)
completed action
vecśyrytta
stab<DEFDefinite
"the"
>-CNJVConjunctive (mood)
subordinates or serialises verb

"The lord was stabbed."
The inflections of the original verb migrates to the auxiliary (except definiteness).
Aa
3SThird person singular (person)
neither speaker nor addressee
.DISTDistal (proximity)
far from speaker (and addressee)
cysym
2SSecond person singular (person)
addressee (you)
.OBJObject (argument)
vecśodyrikavecśyrivecśyrokavecśorikavecśodyrika
stab<DEFDefinite
"the"
>.PFVPerfective (aspect)
completed action
-MALMalefactive (case)
recipient of bad intent

Aa
3SThird person singular (person)
neither speaker nor addressee
.DISTDistal (proximity)
far from speaker (and addressee)
cysym
2SSecond person singular (person)
addressee (you)
.OBJObject (argument)
vośaka
NEGNegative (polarity)
not
.PFVPerfective (aspect)
completed action
-MALMalefactive (case)
recipient of bad intent
vecśyrytta.
stab<DEFDefinite
"the"
>-CNJVConjunctive (mood)
subordinates or serialises verb

"She stabbed you." → "She didn't stab you."

Akuveth has an affirmative auxiliary mesu, which can be used to emphasize the truth of a statement:
Aa
3SThird person singular (person)
neither speaker nor addressee
.DISTDistal (proximity)
far from speaker (and addressee)
cysym
2SSecond person singular (person)
addressee (you)
.OBJObject (argument)
moseka
AFFAffirmative (polarity)
positive, opposite of NEG
.PFVPerfective (aspect)
completed action
-MALMalefactive (case)
recipient of bad intent
vecśyrytta!
stab<DEFDefinite
"the"
>-CNJVConjunctive (mood)
subordinates or serialises verb

"She really did stab you!"

[edit] [top]Relative clauses
S V OS i V.CNJVConjunctive (mood)
subordinates or serialises verb
O

S V OO iśym S V.CNJVConjunctive (mood)
subordinates or serialises verb

S V Od OiOi iśym S V.CNJVConjunctive (mood)
subordinates or serialises verb
Od
Relative clauses are introduced with i, which declines to iśym for object phrases.

[edit] [top]Phrasal conjunctions

Nouns and adjectives are concatenated with two methods. The first is the enclitic =se, which can be placed after either constituent: śymecse siga or śymec sigase "lord and wife." The second is the particle tu(n): śymec tu siga. The difference is in the semantics: =se implies that the two (or more) referents are the same, or otherwise doing the same action; tu, on the other hand, refers to each referent as distinct entities. For a descriptive example:
haadse
big=and
cau
strong
hym
man

"the big and strong man"
(one man that is both big and strong)

haad
big
tu
and
cau
strong
hym
man

"the big man and the strong man"
(at least two men, one that is big and one that is strong)
The third option is disjunction ("or"), marked with ḣyga:
haad
big
ḣyga
or
cau
strong
hym
man

"the big or strong man"
(a man that is big or strong, but not both)

Verbs are typically concatenated, unsurprisingly, with the conjunctive (-ta) form, which similarly can be used with either verb: vecśyru nekta or vecśytta negu "stab and kill."

[edit] [top]Clausal conjunctions and pivots

Akuveth has no formal subordination (other than relativization), and no method of forming complex sentences except for concatenation. This surfaces in a large selection of clausal conjunctions (highlighted in cyan in this grammar) to connect phrases:
conj.gloss
sa-and
śi-or
re-OTSPObject-to-subject pivot (syntax, switch-reference, identity)
upper clause object is lower clause subject
; promotes previous object
kuu-STOPSubject-to-object pivot (syntax, switch-reference, identity)
upper clause subject is lower clause object
; demotes previous subject
ṫyn-for (purpose)
bys-because
pan-if
daac(i)-therefore
źeu-then, at that time (introduces new scene)
keź(i)-when, while, during
mur-before
myc(i)-until
greu-after
gryc(i)-since
vaź(i)-then, next (temporal sequence)
śai-there, at that place (introduces new scene)
ńa-as, like
cir-only; (with NEGNegative (polarity)
not
.) except

The simplest sequence is when both verbs share the same arguments. Here we can just concatenate with sa-:
Hym
man
dyru
stand.IPFVImperfective (aspect)
'interrupted or incomplete'
sa-riźu
and=point.IPFVImperfective (aspect)
'interrupted or incomplete'

"The man stood and pointed."

Śe
1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I
cysym
2SSecond person singular (person)
addressee (you)
.OBJObject (argument)
todu
love.IPFVImperfective (aspect)
'interrupted or incomplete'
sa-tivu
and=want.IPFVImperfective (aspect)
'interrupted or incomplete'
tytta.
marry-CNJVConjunctive (mood)
subordinates or serialises verb

"I love you and want to marry [you]."

Most importantly, the subject (or the topic) is maintained between clauses.
Źyndec
soldier
tugi
beat.PFVPerfective (aspect)
completed action
pevinec
thief
sa-bugra
and=leave.PFVPerfective (aspect)
completed action

"The soldieri beat the thief and lefti."
In this instance, the soldier is the one leaving. To mark that the thief leaves instead, the pivot marker re- is used in place of sa-, raising the object of the previous clause to the subject.
Źyndec
soldier
tugi
beat.PFVPerfective (aspect)
completed action
pevinec
thief
re-bugra
OTSPObject-to-subject pivot (syntax, switch-reference, identity)
upper clause object is lower clause subject
=leave.PFVPerfective (aspect)
completed action

"The soldier beat the thiefi and [he] lefti."
Similarly, a subject can be demoted to an object with kuu-:
Źyndec
soldier
bugra
leave.PFVPerfective (aspect)
completed action
kuu-pevinec
STOPSubject-to-object pivot (syntax, switch-reference, identity)
upper clause subject is lower clause object
=thief
tugi
beat.PFVPerfective (aspect)
completed action

"The soldier left and was beaten by the thief."

Both pivot markers can be prefixed to other conjunctions:
Źyndec
soldier
bugra
leave.PFVPerfective (aspect)
completed action
kuuvaźi-pevinec
STOPSubject-to-object pivot (syntax, switch-reference, identity)
upper clause subject is lower clause object
-then=thief
tugi
beat.PFVPerfective (aspect)
completed action

"The soldier left, and then [he] was beaten by the thief."

[edit] [top]Causative

Causation is marked with the verb habru alongside the pivot constructions.
Mara
father
śim
1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I
.OBJObject (argument)
hubra
CAUSCausative (valency/mood)
cause an action to occur, force another argument to act
.PFVPerfective (aspect)
completed action
re-negu
OTSPObject-to-subject pivot (syntax, switch-reference, identity)
upper clause object is lower clause subject
=kill.IPFVImperfective (aspect)
'interrupted or incomplete'
toḣne.
insect

"Father made mei killi the bug."

[edit] [top]Conditional

[edit] [top]Postpositions and directional prefixes

postp.gloss
caiin the manner of (ADVAdverbial
e.g. English '-ly'
)
duuin front of
goinside, into
ińaagainst; compared to
kaarythrough, along
miryḣfor (exchange), in return
myracross, beyond, opposite
naat, in, on; general locative
posunder, below
reświth (COMComitative (case)
'together with'
)
rideḣusing, with, by means of (INSTRInstrumental (case)
'with' 'using'
)
riḣanear, around, close to; beside, next to
rucwithout
syńback to, returning
śecbetween, among
śeuover, above, on top of
teto, toward
voof; out of, from
vorecfar away from
veryḣabout, on (REFReferential (case)
about, regarding, on the topic of
)
yśudbehind, in back of

Possession is marked with vo: Saaḣa vo mad "Saaḣa’s house."

[edit] [top]Questions

Polar questions can be formed in two ways. First, with the particle źai:
Źai
QInterrogative
question
aa
3SThird person singular (person)
neither speaker nor addressee
.DISTDistal (proximity)
far from speaker (and addressee)
cysym
2SSecond person singular (person)
addressee (you)
.OBJObject (argument)
vecśodyrika?
stab<DEFDefinite
"the"
>.PFVPerfective (aspect)
completed action
-MALMalefactive (case)
recipient of bad intent

"Did she stab you?"
Colloquially the tag question ḣyga "or...?" is used:
Aa
3SThird person singular (person)
neither speaker nor addressee
.DISTDistal (proximity)
far from speaker (and addressee)
cysym
2SSecond person singular (person)
addressee (you)
.OBJObject (argument)
vecśodyrika
stab<DEFDefinite
"the"
>.PFVPerfective (aspect)
completed action
-MALMalefactive (case)
recipient of bad intent
ḣyga?
or

"She stabbed you, right?"

Polar questions are answered with mesu "it is" and vaśu "it is not" with the appropriate inflections. Alternatively, you can repeat (or negate) the verb used in the question.

[edit] [top]Imperatives
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Comments
[link] [quote] [move] [edit] [del] 19-Apr-20 13:29 [Deactivated User]
@[Deactivated User] I see your reasoning ...
[link] [quote] [move] [edit] [del] 19-Apr-20 13:26 [Deactivated User]
@[Deactivated User] i would direct you to my srekhil articles if you think this is at all complete
[link] [quote] [move] [edit] [del] 18-Apr-20 23:42 [Deactivated User]
This is a pretty complete (imo) article!
WIP? NOPE!!!
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