The Arēsæd Language: a
short grammar
The Arēsæds are now masters of the Steppe (raskalbhas in Salanjan) which
formerly was part of the Drydic Kingdom.
Sounds[1]
Bilabial alveolar palato-alveolar velar labio-velar
Stop p b8 t d8 č
ǰ
k g* kw
g*w
Stop
Aspirated ph b8h th d8h -
- kh g*h kwh g*wh
Nasal - m - n
Fricative - - s z
Lateral - hl l
Approximant - hr r
Vowels:
Semivowels:
w and j
Morphology
Sg Pl
Nominative -s -aǰas
Genitive -εn -ī
Accusative -ōzεn -ōz
Dative (lacking) -«n
Adjectives
Adjectives take the suffixial articles for the noun, and agree in case and declension class with their head noun, and proceed the noun in all instances. Comparative and Superlative are carried out analytically, with εnak-'more' and ihrεhl-'most'.
Pronouns
Sg Pl Sg. Pl.
1st Person Suffixial Definite Article
Nom. malə nōs -ələ -ənə
Gen. maεn nōī -mai -ənī
Acc. mōzən nōz -ōz -ənən
Dat. mələn nōə_n -ələn -ənōz
2nd Person Sg. Pl. Sg. Pl.
Suffixial Definite Article
Nom. sās kās -əsə -əkə
Gen. sāεn kāī -sεn -əkī
Acc. sāŭzən kāz -sōz -əkāz
Dat. sāən kāə_n -əsān -əkən
3rd Person
Sg Pl Sg. Pl.
Nom. tās tāŭ -ətə -ətəŭ
Gen. tāεn tāī -ətεn -ətī
Acc. tāŭzən tāz -ətōzn -ətōz
Dat. tən tāə_n -ətən -ətəin
Verbal Conjugation
Moods:
1.a.-ū- indicative
b.-ī- indicative
2.a.-ō- subjunctive
b.-ō- subjunctive (originally the 2nd conjugation subjunctive ending was *ē, but was reformed to ō when ē began to merge with ī.)
3. a.-ā-conditional
b.-ε-conditional
Tenses:
1. Present -V-
2. Past -zV-
3. Future -εkV-
Personal Endings:
Sg Pl
1st -n (<*m) -san
2nd -s -hlaz
3rd -t -nči (<*nti<*nte1)
4th -č -ōĵŏ
The 4th personal ending is for the impersonal construction; if number is not known, the plural is used.
Infinitive:
-Vd8h
Moods:
1.Subjunctive: (may) used when expressing doubt, exhortation (Hortatory, or a lesser force than the imperative, the Arabic & Salanjan Jussive), or futurity.
2. Conditional: (might, could,
should, would) used when expressing a wish or desire; also in result clauses.
Present
Participle:
1.
stem + -s.
Past Participle:
1.stem+-zV-+-s.
Gerund:
(based on a Drydo-Kerinid Aorist *-e1l-)
1.
stem +-el-+-V-+-s.
Verb Affixes:
Syntax
The
unmarked word order is V(S)O, but relative clauses show extremely large
occurrences of VOS, SVO, and OVS (the last being the most common of these).
Dative
b8hēīg*-zūs phέt«rōz-ətən
<strike(pret.
2nd sg) Peter(Acc.
sg.-Dat. sg. 3rd encl.)>
You
struck at Peter.
The
above example shows one example of the Dative case's uses: Dative of direction.
A verb which requires an object that is to be hit (strike, hit, slash, launch
an attack, etc.); they generally tend to be intransitive.
Subjunctive
rεrέg*-jut sjεnáiăs čalo rεg*-ísk-ēōzεn-ətōzn
<rule(pret
subj. 3rd sg.) Šεnai
(Nom. sg.) if king (Acc. sg- 3rd
sg. Acc)
ohr ápl-zεt
not kill(pret. cond. 3rd sg.)>
Šenai might
have ruled if he had not killed the king.
The first
clause of this phrase is an example of the Subjunctive's use in an independent
sentence.
Conditional
rεrέg*-jut sjεnáiăs čalo rεg*-isk-ēōzεn-ətōzn
<rule(pret
subj. 3rd sg.) Šεnai
(Nom. sg.) if king (Acc. sg- 3rd
sg. Acc)
ohr ápl-zεt
not kill(pret. cond. 3rd sg.)>
Šenai might
have ruled had he not killed the king.
The wording
used in the English translation is not possible in Arēsæd, because any
subordinate clause, be it relative, result, an indirect discourse clause, or
the subordinate clause within a conditional sentence must have some antacedent
in the preceeding clause.
Lexicon
The citation form is the Nominative
form and the Genitive form. The placement of stress is fairly regular, on the
final non-inflectional syllable for nouns and verbs; for polysyllables, the
second syllable is stressed unless a voiceless lenis consonant is present, in
which case stress is placed on the initial syllable. Where stress is irregular,
it is indicated by an acute accent.
Note::- k represents a voiceless fortis velar stop [k], g a voiceless lenis velar stop [g*], etc.
ámn-ă-s-tree (ă-stem)
b8hēīg*-ūd8h-to strike
b8hīb8hr-ō-s-beaver (o-stem)
čalo-if (+ cond.)
g* whεrd8-ă-s-needle (ă-stem)
g* whεrd8ī-ámn-ă-s-pine tree
mīm-īd8h-to sleep
phεtər-ō-s-Peter (o-stem)
rεg*-ísk-ē-s-king (/rule/+ -isk- agentive)
rεg*-īd8h-to rule (forms preterit with reduplication)
sjalímar-s-paradise (r-stem) {from Šalimar,
the legendary paradise of Šaol.}
sjεnáī-ă-s- Šεnai, a personal
name, and a certain chief, who was so ambitious as to attempt to unite the
Arēsæd tribes, in which he failed, and he also killed the cerimonial king.