Togarmite

Togarmite/Lexicon

Togarmite
Dėgamit
Pronunciation	[/degamit/]
Created by	IlL
Setting	Lõis
Language family	Afro-Asiatic North Semitic (Togarmo-Canaanite) Old Togarmite Togarmite

Togarmite (dėgamit /degamit/ or lysėnyn dėgamijyn /ˈləsenən tegamijən/) is a Semitic language closely related to Hebrew. It is inspired by Lithuanian, Germanic languages (particularly Icelandic) and the Semitic conlang Alashian.

Modern Togarmite retains the Semitic root-and-pattern morphology of Old Togarmite, but has undergone some phonological and grammatical restructuring, taking features of the Turkey-Northern Levant-Iranian sprachbund, in common with L-Persian, Padmanábha and English:

• Grimm's law: The Old Togarmite aspirated stops φ θ χ (from Proto-Semitic *p t k) generally become spirants /f θ x/. In Togarmite the dental stop series has cyclically shifted similarly to the High German consonant shift: t > þ > d > t.
• loss of grammatical gender
• loss of the passive binyanim
• loss of the suffix conjugation except in a few verbs
• the use of the w-form (inherited from the Old Togarmite waw-consecutive future) for the present progressive, mirroring English -ing < PIE *-nd-kwe
• the development of a productive concatenative verb paradigm used to form new verbs, analogous to Germanic weak verbs

Todo

• Gzarot
• Syntax
• Declensions

History

The Old Togarmite name for the language, Θėgammīθ, is thought to have been borrowed from a pre-Togarmite source *Tāgarma. The name Togarmah from the same source is also attested in the Hebrew Bible. (The Greeks and the Romans called the Togarmite people Θηγαρμικοί and Thegarmici respectively.) The name of the language shows the Togarmite shift of Proto-Semitic ā to ė /e:/, mirroring the Canaanite shift ā > ō occuring in its close relative Hebrew.

Phonology

Consonants

Togarmite has 23 consonants, 22 of them inherited from Proto-Semitic. It gained /p/ during the Old Togarmite stage from adapting loans from Greek, Aramaic and Persian, e.g. parkes 'to act', from Ancient Greek praxis. It also merged Old Togarmite ħ /χ/ and h /h/ into h /h/.

• m n /m n/
• p t c k ' /p t ts k ʔ/
• b d g /b d g/
• f þ s š x h /f θ s ʃ x h/
• w z ž ȝ /v z ʒ ɣ/
• l r j /l r j/

Vowels

Modern Togarmite has 9 vowels in stressed syllables, possibly the largest vowel inventory of any Semitic language.

a e ė i o ø u y /ɑ ɛ e i o ø u (ə)/

ei au /ai øy/

ei and au are often merged to /e ø/. Some dialects pronounce au as /y/.

Stress

Stress is always penultimate.

Orthography

Togarmite uses an abugida based on the Phoenician alphabet, called albėþyn (after the first 2 letters).

The abjadi letter names: al, bėd, gam, tal, hė, wau, zėn, žėn, þėd, jėd, xaf, lam, mėm, nun, ȝėn, fė, pė, cad, køf, rėš, sin, šin, dau

Pronouns

Personal

Modern Togarmite pronouns work very similarly to English pronouns. The accusative pronouns derive from inflected foms of Old Togarmite ʔiθ (emphasis particle and accusative, related to Hebrew et and Arabic iyya-). The possessive pronouns are derived from inflected forms of Old Togarmite la-. Other inflected prepositions don't survive, except in fixed expressions such as slėm ȝalėxøm 'hello (formal)' (lit. peace be upon you).

	I	thou (m.)	thou (f.)	he	she	it	we	you (pl.)	they
Nominative/Conjunctive	nėx	ad	ed	hu	hi	že	nan	adøm	høm
Objective/Disjunctive	di	dax	dex	dau	da	dež	danė	daxøm	daum
Possessive	li	lax	lex	lau	la	lež	lanė	laxøm	laum
Reflexive/Intensive	afi	afax	afex	afau	afa	afež	afnė	afxøm	afaum

The plural pronouns adøm and høm can be used as gender-neutral pronouns in the singular, like English they.

Demonstrative

	who?	what?	which?	where?	whither?	whence?	when?	how?	why?	how much?
this	žini (sg); elini (pl)			hen	heno	me hen	ȝedo	xė; xamxė	šøm; me hen	xėrab
that	ži (sg); eli (pl)			šam	šamo	me šam	ež
what	mi	ma	ėjo	ein	eino	men ein	møran	xeix	lama	xma, marby
all; every	xøl bašar; xølhat	xøl tbar	xøl	xølein	xøleino	me xølein	xølam	xølat tarxy	-	-
any	nux bašar	nux tbar	nux	nuxein	nuxeino	me nuxein	xølam	nux tarxy	my nux sebt	-
some	bil bašar	bil tbar	bil	bilein	bileino	me bilein	ly zman; bil zman	bil tarxy	my bil sebt	-
none	lėm bašar	lėm tbar	lėm	lėmein	lėmeino	me lėmein	lėfȝam	lėm tarxy	my lėm sebt	-

Demonstratives come before nouns as in Arabic. The demonstratives "this" and "that" take the definite form.

• žini beidyn 'this house'
• eli beidil 'those houses'

Nouns

In some ways declension has simplified: Like Knánith, Modern Togarmite has lost grammatical gender. Nouns and adjectives still have indefinite and definite states, but the construct state has been lost.

However, declension has become more complicated in other ways. For example, Modern Togarmite has innovated more declension paradigms.

Regular declension

Most nouns have a regular plural in -i, definite -il.

Example: ȝėlam 'world'

ȝėlam 'world'

	singular	plural
indefinite	ȝėlam	ȝėlami
definite	ȝėlamyn	ȝėlamil

Segolates

These nouns come from CVCC nouns in Proto-Semitic and thus are related to segolates in Hebrew.

xalby 'dog'

	singular	plural
indefinite	xalby	xlabi
definite	xalbyn	xlabil

Nisba nouns

An important declension class is comprised of nouns or adjectives with the nisba suffix -i:

dėgami 'Togarmite'

	singular	plural
indefinite	dėgami	dėgamije
definite	dėgamijyn	dėgamijel

Singulative-collective nouns

These nouns have a marked singular in -t.

šeȝart '(strand of) hair'

	singular	plural
indefinite	šeȝart	šeȝar
definite	šeȝartyn	šeȝaril

Former feminines/body parts

This class consists of a small number of nouns that were feminine in Old Togarmite, such as many body parts, which take a plural in -ėt:

øžny 'ear'

	singular	plural
indefinite	øžny	øžnė
definite	øžnyn	øžnėtil

lysėn 'tongue; language'

	singular	plural
indefinite	lysėn	lysėnėt
definite	lysėnyn	lysėnėtil

-a nouns

These are mainly Greek words:

apoloža 'excuse (pretext)'

	singular	plural
indefinite	apoloža	apoložes
definite	apoložan	apoložėtil

Greek ending in -ma can have a plural in -mata:

þėma 'topic'

	singular	plural
indefinite	þėma	þėmes / þėmata
definite	þėman	þėmėtil / þėmatatil

By analogy, even some native words are declined this way:

heþa 'sin'

	singular	plural
indefinite	heþa	heþes
definite	heþan	heþėtil

Adjectives

Adjectives have the same declension patterns as nouns.

Degree

Adjectives do not have separate degree forms, unlike in Indo-European languages. A dedicated particle šøm is used for 'than'.

Verbs

TODO: an n-stem binyan?

• Past = (eroded) suffix conjugation that became analogized with the prefix present
  • The y- prefix is not used when the verb is negated: nėx yxėdøb 'I write', nėx lė xėdøb 'I don't write'.
• Present = from the Proto-Semitic L-stem, via analogy
• Imperative
  • The imperative is negated with alt: Xødøb! 'write!', Alt xødøb! 'don't write!'
• w-form = w + stem from the 3ms suffix conjugation in the f3øl binyan, past tense but with w- for the prefix in other binyanim
• Infinitive
• Participles

The suffix conjugation does not survive unlike in most other Semitic languages, except in certain irregular verbs like hwė 'to be'.

The citation form is the 2nd person singular imperative.

Binyanim

Modern Togarmite inherits all 7 binyanim of Old Togarmite. The dy- of Binyan 6 (dyfaȝel) verbs has become a productive derivational prefix, however, so some analyze Binyan 6 as a result of dy- added to faȝel verbs, rather than as a binyan in its own right.

Binyan 1: føȝøl

This binyan can take -ø- (e.g. xøþøb 'to write'), -e- (sen 'to sleep') or -a- (tøȝam 'to choose') as the theme vowel.

Binyan 1 conjugation: xødøb 'write'

→ Person ↓ Tense	1sg	2sg	3sg	1pl	2pl	3pl
past; conditional	nėx yxdøb	ad/ed yxdøb	hu/hi xdøb	nan xdøb	adøm xdøb	høm xdøb
past progressive; past subjunctive	fidi wyxdab	fid wyxdab	fė wyxdab	finė wyxdab	fidøm wyxdab	fu wyxdab
present	nėx yxėdøb	ad/ed yxėdøb	hu/hi xėdøb	nan xėdøb	adøm xėdøb	høm xėdøb
present progressive	nėx še wyxdab	ad/ed še wyxdab	hu/hi še wyxdab	nan še wyxdab	adøm šu wyxdab	høm šu wyxdab
present subjunctive	nėx yxdøban	ad/ed yxdøban	hu/hi xdøban	nan xdøban	adøm xdøban	høm xdøban
future	ėbe xdėb	tėbe xdėb	jėbe xdėb	nėbe xdėb	tėbu xdėb	jėbu xdėb
perfect	li myxdub	lax/lex myxdub	lau/la myxdub	lanė myxdub	laxøm myxdub	laum myxdub
imperative	xødøb!
active participle	xėdeb
passive participle	myxdub
w-form	wyxdab
infinitive	xdėb

Binyan 2: faȝel

This binyan comes from the Proto-Semitic D-stem (related to Hebrew pi33el and Arabic fa33ala)

Binyan 2 conjugation: saxen 'inhabit'

→ Person ↓ Tense	1sg	2sg	3sg	1pl	2pl	3pl
past; conditional	nėx ysaxen	ad/ed ysaxen	hu/hi saxen	nan saxen	adøm saxen	høm saxen
past progressive; past subjunctive	fidi wysaxen	fid wysaxen	fė wysaxen	finė wysaxen	fidøm wysaxen	fu wysaxen
present	nėx ysxėxen	ad/ed ysxėxen	hu/hi sxėxen	nan sxėxen	adøm sxėxen	høm sxėxen
present progressive	nėx še wysaxen	ad/ed še wysaxen	hu/hi še wysaxen	nan še wysaxen	adøm šu wysaxen	høm šu wysaxen
present subjunctive	ani ysaxenan	ad/ed ysaxenan	hu/hi saxenan	nan saxenan	adøm saxenan	høm saxenan
future	ėbe saxun	tėbe saxun	jėbe saxun	nėbe saxun	tėbu saxun	jėbu saxun
perfect	li møsaxan	lax/lex møsaxan	lau/la møsaxan	lanė møsaxan	laxøm møsaxan	laum møsaxan
imperative	saxen!
active participle	møsaxen
passive participle	møsaxan
w-form	wysaxen
infinitive	saxun

For 4-letter verbs such as parkes 'to act', the present tense is formed with the stem -C₁C₂ėC₃eC₄, like nėx yprėkes 'I act'.

Binyan 3: afȝel

This binyan comes from the Proto-Semitic Š-stems thus corresponds to Hebrew hif3il and Arabic ʔaf3ala.

Binyan 3 conjugation: ažxer 'remind'

→ Person ↓ Tense	1sg	2sg	3sg	1pl	2pl	3pl
past; conditional	nėx ažxer	ad/ed ažxer	hu/hi ažxer	nan ažxer	adøm ažxer	høm ažxer
past progressive; past subjunctive	fidi wažxer	fid wažxer	fė wažxer	finė wažxer	fidøm wažxer	fu wažxer
present	nėx ažėxer	ad/ed ažėxer	hu/hi ažėxer	nan ažėxer	aþøm ažėxeru	høm ažėxeru
present progressive	nėx še wažxer	ad/ed še wažxer	hu/hi še wažxer	nan še wažxer	aþøm šu wažxer	høm šu wažxer
present subjunctive	nėx ažxeran	ad/ed ažxeran	hu/hi ažxeran	nan ažxeran	aþøm ažxeran	høm ažxeran
future	ėbe hažxur	tėbe hažxur	jėbe hažxur	nėbe hažxur	tėbu hažxur	jėbu hažxur
perfect	li mažxar	lax/lex mažxar	lau/la mažxar	lanė mažxar	laxøm mažxar	laum mažxar
imperative	ažxer!
active participle	mažxer
passive participle	mažxar
w-form	wažxer
infinitive	ažxur

Binyan 4: yftyȝel

This binyan comes from the Proto-Semitic t-stem and shares similarities with the Hebrew binyan hitpa33el and Arabic ifta3ala. It is characterized by the t- prefix that comes from the *t infix.

Meanings:

• reflexive
• reciprocal

The prefix t metathesizes with C1 when

• C1 = f x s š c h z ž ȝ: tf tx ts tš th tz tž tȝ > ft xt st št ct ht zd žd ȝd
• C1 = d t þ: td tt tþ > d t þ

Binyan 4 conjugation: hytlymed 'find one's way around'

→ Person ↓ Tense	1sg	2sg	3sg	1pl	2pl	3pl
past; conditional	nėx ytlymed	ad/ed ytlymed	hu/hi tlymed	nan tlymed	adøm tlymed	høm tlymed
past progressive; past subjunctive	fidi wytlymed	fid wytlymed	fė wytlymed	finė wytlymed	fidøm wytlymed	fu wytlymed
present	nėx ytlėmed	ad/ed ytlėmed	hu/hi tlėmed	nan tlėmed	adøm tlėmed	høm tlėmed
present progressive	nėx še wytlymed	ad/ed še wytlymed	hu/hi še wytlymed	nan še wytlymed	adøm šu wytlymed	høm šu wytlymed
present subjunctive	nėx ytlymedan	ad/ed ytlymedan	hu/hi tlymedan	nan tlymedan	adøm tlymedun	høm tlymedun
future	ėbe hytlymud	tėbe hytlymud	jėbe hytlymud	nėbe hytlymud	tėbu hytlymud	jėbu hytlymud
perfect	li møtlymad	lax/lex møtlymad	lau/la møtlymad	lanė møtlymad	laxøm møtlymad	laum møtlymad
imperative	ytlymed!
active participle	møtlymed
passive participle	møtlymad
w-form	wytlymėd
infinitive	hytlymud

Binyan 5: eþyfȝel

This binyan comes from the Nt-stem, with the mediopassive n- marker and the reflexive/reciprocal t-marker: the stem comes from *intap3il. cf. Hebrew nitpa33el, a variant of the hitpa33el binyan and the Arabic infa3ala binyan.

Binyan 5 conjugation: edygtel 'grow up'

→ Person ↓ Tense	1sg	2sg	3sg	1pl	2pl	3pl
past; conditional	nėx edygtel	ad/ed edygtel	hu/hi edygtel	nan edygtel	adøm edygtel	høm edygtel
past progressive; past subjunctive	fidi wedygtel	fid wetygtel	fė wetygtel	finė wetygtel	fidøm wetygtel	fu wedygtel
present	nėx eþygėtel	ad/ed edygėtel	hu/hi edygėtel	nan edygėtel	adøm edygėtelu	høm edygėtelu
present progressive	nėx še weþygdel	ad/ed še weþygdel	hu/hi še weþygdel	nan še weþygdel	adøm šu weþygdel	høm šu weþygdel
present subjunctive	nėx eþygdelan	ad/ed eþygdelan	hu/hi eþygdelan	nan eþygdelan	adøm eþygdelun	høm eþygdelun
future	ėbe hedygtul	tėbe hedygtul	jėbe hedygtul	nėbe hedygtul	tėbu hedygtul	jėbu hedygtul
perfect	li medygtal	lax/lex medygtal	lau/la medygtal	lanė medygtal	laxøm medygtal	laum medygtal
imperative	hedygtel!
active participle	meþygdel
passive participle	meþygdal
w-form	waþygdel
infinitive	heþygdul

Binyan 6: dyfaȝel

This binyan comes from the tD-stem (t- with geminate stem) and corresponds directly to the Arabic binyan tafa33ala.

The main meanings of this binyan are:

• reciprocal or back-and-forth action
• reaction/back, re-: the most productive modern meaning
  • dy'awer 'to reflect', from aur 'light'
  • dyparkes 'to react', from parkis 'action'
  • dysalem 'to repay', from √s-l-m 'peace, whole'
  • dyȝanė 'to satisfy', from √ȝ-n-j 'distress, need'; probably influenced by a now obsolete meaning 'to answer' of the same root
• unpredictable change in meaning

The resemblance of this binyan to the very common faȝel binyan has led to the dy- prefix becoming productive, with some semantic overlap with the prefix re- in English.

Binyan 6 conjugation: dytares 'teach'

→ Person ↓ Tense	1sg	2sg	3sg	1pl	2pl	3pl
past; conditional	nėx yþydares	aþ/eþ yþydares	hu/hi þydares	nan þydares	aþøm þydares	høm þydares
past progressive; past subjunctive	fiti wyþydares	fit wyþydares	fė wyþydares	finė wyþydares	fitøm wyþydares	fu wyþydares
present	nėx yþydrėres	aþ/eþ yþydrėres	hu/hi þydrėres	nan þydrėres	aþøm þydrėres	høm þydrėres
present progressive	nėx še wyþydares	aþ/eþ še wyþydares	hu/hi še wyþydares	nan še wyþydares	aþøm šu wyþydares	høm šu wyþydares
present subjunctive	nėx yþydaresan	aþ/eþ yþydaresan	hu/hi þydaresan	nan þydaresan	aþøm þydaresun	høm þydaresun
future	ėbe þydarus	tėbe þydarus	jėbe þydarus	nėbe þydarus	tėbu þydarus	jėbu þydarus
perfect	li møþydaras	lax/lex møþydaras	lau/la møþydaras	lanė møþydaras	laxøm møþydaras	laum møþydaras
imperative	þydares!
active participle	møþydares
passive participle	møþydaras
w-form	wyþydares
infinitive	þydarus

Binyan 7: styfȝel

This binyan comes from the Št-stem and is directly related to the binyan istaf3ala in Arabic and the very rare binyan hishtaf3el in Biblical Hebrew.

Binyan 7 conjugation: stytȝem 'try out'

→ Person ↓ Tense	1sg	2sg	3sg	1pl	2pl	3pl
past; conditional	nėx ystytȝem	aþ/eþ ystytȝem	hu/hi stytȝem	nan stytȝem	aþøm stytȝem	høm stytȝem
past progressive; past subjunctive	fiti wystytȝem	fit wystytȝem	fė wystytȝem	finė wystytȝem	fitøm wystytȝem	fu wystytȝem
present	nėx ystytėȝem	aþ/eþ ystytėȝem	hu/hi stytėȝem	nan stytėȝem	aþøm stytėȝem	høm stytėȝem
present progressive	nėx še wystytȝem	aþ/eþ še wystytȝem	hu/hi še wystytȝem	nan še wystytȝem	aþøm šu wystytȝem	høm šu wystytȝem
present subjunctive	nėx ystytȝeman	aþ/eþ ystytȝeman	hu/hi stytȝeman	nan stytȝeman	aþøm stytȝemun	jystytȝemun
future	ėbe stytȝum	tėbe stytȝum	jėbe stytȝum	nėbe stytȝum	tėbu stytȝum	jėbu stytȝum
perfect	li møstytȝam	lax/lex møstytȝam	lau/la møstytȝam	lanė møstytȝam	laxøm møstytȝam	laum møstytȝam
imperative	-	stytȝem!	-	-	stytȝemu!	-
active participle	møstytȝem
passive participle	møstytȝam
w-form	wystytȝem
infinitive	stytȝum

Concatenative verbs

The concatenative paradigm, analogous to Germanic weak verbs, is formed by adding prefixes and suffixes, without changing the stem. The past and imperative forms are formed by adding -i or -ji to the noun, when no other suffix is added.

It is used for recent loan verbs like maksimezi 'to maximize', but can also be used to derive verbs from native nouns:

• mydrasi 'to school' (from mydras 'school')
• þaxili 'to consume' (from þaxil 'consumption', itself from the root √ʔ-x-l 'to eat')
• žaxoji 'to entitle, to allow' (from žaxo 'right')
• ȝeini 'to eye' (from ȝein 'eye')

The endings are mainly derived from Middle Togarmite forms of 3-y verbs.

• [STEM]-i = active
• þy-[STEM]-i = re-
• mø- = active participle
• -ėþ = infinitive

Weak verb conjugation: mydrasi 'to school'

→ Person ↓ Tense	1sg	2sg	3sg	1pl	2pl	3pl
past; conditional	nėx ymydrasi	aþ/eþ ymydrasi	hu/hi mydrasi	nan mydrasi	aþøm mydrasi	høm mydrasi
past progressive; past subjunctive	fiti wymydrasi	fit wymydrasi	fė wymydrasi	finė wymydrasi	fitøm wymydrasi	fu wymydrasi
present	nėx ymydrasė	aþ/eþ ymydrasė	hu/hi mydrasė	nan mydrasė	aþøm mydrasė	høm mydrasė
present progressive	yše wymydrasi	tyše wymydrasi	jyše wymydrasi	nyše wymydrasi	tyšu wymydrasi	jyšu wymydrasi
present subjunctive	nėx ymydrasan	aþ/eþ ymydrasan	hu/hi mydrasan	nan mydrasan	aþøm mydrasun	høm mydrasun
future	ėbe mydrasėþ	tėbe mydrasėþ	jėbe mydrasėþ	nėbe mydrasėþ	tėbu mydrasėþ	jėbu mydrasėþ
perfect	li mømydrasa	lax/lex mømydrasa	lau/la mømydrasa	lanė mømydrasa	laxøm mømydrasa	laum mømydrasa
imperative	mydrasi!
active participle	mømydrasė
passive participle	mømydrasa
w-form	wymydrasi
infinitive	mydrasėþ

fe 'to be'

The verb fė 'to be' is perhaps the most irregular verb of the language; it displays suppletion and it uses the Proto-Semitic suffix conjugation in the past tense.

fe 'to be'

→ Person ↓ Tense	1sg	2sg	3sg	1pl	2pl	3pl
past; conditional	fiti	fit	fė	finė	fitøm	fu
past progressive; past subjunctive	fiti wyfė	fit wyfė	fė wyfė	finė wyfė	fitøm wyfė	fu wyfė
present	nėx še (or nėx)	aþ/eþ še (or aþ/eþ)	hu/hi še (or hu/hi)	nan še (or nan)	aþøm šu (or aþøm)	høm šu (or høm)
present progressive	yše wyfė	tyše wyfė	jyše wyfė	nyše wyfė	tyšu wyfė	jyšu wyfė
present subjunctive	yfijan	tyfijan	jyfijan	nyfijan	tyfijun	jyfijun
future	ėbe fėþ	tėbe fėþ	jėbe fėþ	nėbe fėþ	tėbu fėþ	jėbu fėþ
imperative	fe!
active participle	hėwi
passive participle	fuj
w-form	wyfė
infinitive	fėþ

xėl 'can'

xėl 'can'

→ Person ↓ Tense	1sg	2sg	3sg	1pl	2pl	3pl
past; conditional	nex yxel	aþ/eþ yxel	hu/hi xel	nan xel	aþøm xel	høm xel
past subjunctive	fiti wėxel	fit wėxel	fė wėxel	finė wėxel	fitøm wėxel	fu wėxel
present	wyxėlti	wyxėlt	wyxėl	wyxėlnė	wyxėltøm	wyxėlu
present subjunctive	nėx yxelan	aþ/eþ yxelan	hu/hi xelan	nan xelan	aþøm xelun	høm xelun
future	ėbe xėl	tėbe xėl	jėbe xėl	nėbe xėl	tėbu xėl	jėbu xėl
active participle	-
passive participle	fuj wėxel
w-form	wėxel
infinitive	xėl

høbė 'should; ought'

høba 'should; ought'

→ Person ↓ Tense	1sg	2sg	3sg	1pl	2pl	3pl
present	nėx høbė	aþ/eþ høbė	hu/hi høbė	nan høbu	aþøm høbu	høm høbu

ryšė 'to want'

ryšė 'to want'

→ Person ↓ Tense	1sg	2sg	3sg	1pl	2pl	3pl
past; conditional	yrši	tyrši	jyrši	nyršu	tyršu	jyršu
past subjunctive	hwiti wyrši	hwit wyrši	hwė wyrši	hwinė wyrši	hwitøm wyrši	hwu wyrši
present	nėx ryšė	aþ/eþ ryšė	hu/hi ryšė	nan ryšu	aþøm ryšu	høm ryšu
future	ėbe ryšėþ	tėbe ryšėþ	jėbe ryšėþ	nėbe ryšėþ	tėbu ryšėþ	jėbu ryšėþ
w-form	wyrši
active participle	rėši
passive participle	myršuj
infinitive	ryšėþ

Gzarot

Main article: Togarmite/Gzarot

In Semitic languages, gzarot (Hebrew גְּזָרוֹת‎, sg. gizra גִּזְרָה 'figure, form, pattern') are variations of an inflectional (especially verbal) paradigm that are determined by the choice of consonants in the consonantal root. Thus, a paradigm has not only a regular gizra but various irregular ones, which occur most commonly when

• the consonantal root contains a "guttural" (ʔ ȝ h) or a semivowel (j w);
• the consonantal root contains a n, since nC tends to assimilate into CC
• the consonantal root has 2 letters.

Because Togarmite only uses the prefix conjugation, modern Togarmite gzarot are in some ways less bad than Hebrew gzarot; most of the irregularities occur in binyan fȝøl. However, there are often so many irregularities even within each gizra, and cases of analogy between verbs of different gzarot, that the concept of gzarot in Modern Togarmite has been questioned: in Togarmite, a "gizra" just describes general tendencies of verbs with a certain root consonant.

Prepositions

Some prepositions:

• in 'in' [from PSem *ina]
• ly (l before V) 'to'
• by (b before V) 'by, at'
• šydo 'out of' (from *śadiy-ah 'to the field')
• me (men before V) 'from'
• ȝem 'with'
• ȝal 'on'
• lid 'of (possessive)'
• ȝbar 'over'
• þaþ 'under'
• arþo 'down' (from *ʔarþ-ah "earthward")
• darxan 'along'

Numerals

Cardinal

0: cefry 1: yhad 2: šnein / attributive šnė 3: šlėš (animate šlėšt) 4: yrbaȝ (animate yrbaȝt) 5: hymes (animate hymest) 6: setš (animate setšt) 7: sabȝy (animate sabȝyt) 8: šmėni (animate šmėnt) 9: þesȝy (animate tesȝyt) 10: ȝašry (animate ȝašryt) 11: ȝašry yhad 12: ȝašry šnein 20: ȝešrin 30: šlėšin 40: yrbȝin 50: hymsin 60: setšin 70: sybȝin 80: šmėnin 90: þesȝin 100: me'yþ 101: me'yþ yhad 200: meþein 300: šlėš me'yþ 400: yrbaȝ me'yþ 1000: alfy 2000: alfein 3000: šlėš alf 1000000: alfun 10^9: bėþfun 10^12: gamfun etc.

Plural numerals usually take plural nouns. They used to take singular nouns, however this is considered archaic.

Numbers ending in digits "3" through "9" (thus ending in šlėš through tesȝy), or "10" (thus ending in ȝašry), have two forms depending on the animacy of the noun: hymes myrþemi 'five abacuses', but hymest ahėþ 'five sisters'. The animate forms come from the masculine forms (reverse polarity) marked with *-t in Proto-Semitic.

Ordinal

Ordinals are formed using the pattern CCuC; as in English, "1st" and "2nd" are irregular, from elatives *ʔaʕlay- 'topmost' and *ʔaʕqab- 'the immediately following' respectively. In compound numerals, the last number word is inflected to the ordinal form.

• 1st = yȝlė
• 2nd = yȝkab
• 3rd = šluš
• 4th = rbuȝ
• 5th = hmus
• 6th = stuš
• 7th = sbuȝ
• 8th = šmun
• 9th = þsuȝ
• 10th = ȝšur
• 11th = ȝašry-yȝlė
• 12th = ȝašry-yȝkab
• 13th = ȝašry-šluš

etc.

Fractional

Fractional numerals are formed with the segolate pattern CøCCy (pl. CøCaCi). Compound numerals can be inflected as well, like in the case of ordinal numerals. The analogized form øhdy is used for numerals ending in "1".

• half = gøb (from *gunb- 'side')
• 3rd = šølšy
• 4th = røbȝy
• 11th = ȝašry-øhdy

To express "m/n", Togarmite uses "m nths": "2/3" is šnė šølaši.

Syntax

Faulty accusative marker

The faulty accusative marker iþ is used. It behaves like MSA accusative case and Welsh soft mutation: when there is a constituent separating the verb or predicate from a second constituent, iþ comes between the two constituents regardless of whether the second constituent is actually a direct object. Example:

• Halex wyfė li iþ šlėšt xlabi, wy ȝeþo lėš li iþ nux. = I used to have three dogs, and now I don't have any.
• Dėrestyn li ryšė li iþ ȝyšėþ rab þamuni beiþ. = My teacher wants me to do a lot of homework.

Questions

Yes-no questions require the question marker ha to be placed at the beginning of the sentence.

What-questions have a syntax similar to English.

Existentials

The word iš is used to indicate existence. It is also used with the preposition ly 'to' or the possessive pronouns to indicate possession. The negative of iš is lėš.

• Lėš mykėm ėn xøl bašar šaš. = There is no place where everyone is happy.
• Ha iš lex zman? = Do you (f. sg.) have time?

The particle iš uses the accusative marker iþ when the "object" is animate.

Conditional clauses

• "if" = em
• "then" = ež

Relative clauses

The relative pronoun xi or žė is used for both relative and complement clauses. It may takes prepositional cases, just like English relative pronouns. The word žė is from PSem *ðā, a form of the demonstrative *ðū; cf. Biblical Hebrew זו zu, Aramaic די dī.

For relative clauses whose heads are prepositional objects in the relative clause, there are two strategies like in English:

• In informal Togarmite, the relativizer is treated as a resumptive pronoun which takes the preposition, like English which: gabryn ly xi nėx yþen maþanyn, lit. 'the man to which I gave the gift'. This syntax arose from the influence of surrounding languages like English.
• In formal Togarmite, the preposition goes to the end of the clause: gabryn xi nėx yþen maþanyn ly lit. 'the man which I gave the gift to'. This syntax arose from the native Semitic construction which used a resumptive pronoun on the preposition: after the resumptive pronoun lost the stress, the preposition lost its pronominal suffix and moved to the end of the clause.
• A combination of both strategies can be used: gabryn ly xi nėx yþen maþanyn ly, lit. 'The man to which I gave the gift to'.

Derivation

Noun and adjective patterns

• CaCCy(þ), CeCCy(þ), CøCCy(þ) = segolates
• CyCiC = adjective; -able
• CyCuC = adjective; color
• CyCaCt, CyCeCt, CyCøCt
• CaCøCt = describes a condition
• CyCeCCaC = diminutive
• myCCaC(t), meCCaC(t), myCCėC: noun, often denoting place
• maCCaCt = causative version of myCCaC(t)
• myCCeC(t) = instrument
• maCCeCt = causative version of myCCeC(t)
• þyCCuC, þyCCiC, þyCCėC = action or process
• þyCCøCt = (hypothetical cognate of Hebrew tiCCóCet) = system of things
• CaCėC = agentive
  • CaCaCt = feminine agentive (not always used)
  • or CaCėC?
• CaCCan = agentive; -an is an agentive
• CaCCėn, CeCCėn, and CeCaCėn = nouns, often an augmentative

Affixes

• -an = forms agentives and adjectives
• -in = collectives
  • lamusin 'charity'
• -uþ = abstract noun
• -i = forms adjectives
• -iþ = forms adverbs
• i- = non-, un-
  • ibašari 'incorporeal'
  • iwøxli 'impossible'
• tarmy- = pre-, not yet
  • tarmy-mynaša 'never married'
• -yr = someone who is characterized by X (from English)
  • wduȝyr 'know-it-all', from wduȝ 'knowledgeable'
• -ri = -ry (from English)
  • kdėsri = excessive piousness or asceticism, from kdės 'holy'
  • xyl'anri = double standard or hypocrisy, from the agentive xyl'an 'hypocrite' of √x-l-ʔ 'double'
• auto- = self-
• e- = a- (from ʔiC-, an assimilated form of the OTog preposition ʔin 'in'); these adjectives can usually only be predicative
  • e'est 'ablaze'
  • edarxy 'away'
  • eþal 'galore' (lit. a-mound)
  • emein 'drowned, lost forever', lit. awater
• -byl = -able (from English -able and native abȝel 'to be able to')

Sample texts

Newton's laws of motion

I: Dbar šėbøþ by dymi, o by ȝyþėk enomorfy, lulė ydraȝ prėkes ȝal þež.

I: An object stays at rest, or at a constant speed, unless a force acts on it.

II: Šanujyn in þyȝþikyn lid gaf še myþxøni l' øþisin møþyfacaryn ȝal gafyn; wy šanujyn kėrė darxan kauyn þykinyn žė ži øþisin še møþyfacar ȝal.

II: The change in the momentum of a body is proportional to the force applied to the body; and the change occurs along the straight line on which that force is applied.

III: Iš ly xøl parkis iþ þyparkis is w' anteþet.

III: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

O how quickly the sculpture of life

O! Xma myhiriþ myklaȝyn lid hein
Šaber in temaša zȝarȝeri!
Mygiluþyn lid malxyn ȝal þrønyn lau
Še xliliþ mygruf edarxy by gali jam.
Aþøm xi jėþ heno mømancabta hen,
Ȝabry hen Elėh aþøm lawani ȝal arþyn.
Xøl lanė mødajan ȝal parkisi lanė;
Þnenė þėþ ly ȝnijyn, wy agaþeržijėþ had ly wdud.

O how quickly the sculpture of life
Shattered into tiny fragments!
The splendor of the king on his throne
Is completely swept away by sea-waves.
Ye who come hither stationed here,
By the grace of God ye are guests on earth.
All of us are judged according to our actions;
Let us give to the needy, and do charity towards one another.

Stairway To Heaven

Maȝlyþ ly Symeiniþyn
Iš gabryþ xi še šur
Xøl xi nėher še žahab
Wy hi še wykna maȝlyþ ly symeiniþyn

UDHR

Xøl ynėsi še mewøladi hyruri w' isi in akšoprepjan wy žyxawil laum. Høm še møþyhanani ȝym ložeki wy synidisi wy høbu ly parkus l' odšni in ruh lid ahwuþ.

all human-PL COP be.born/PASS.PART-PL free-PL and equal-PL in dignity-DEF.SG and right/PL-DEF.PL 3PL.POSS. 3PL COP grant/PASS.PART-PL with reason and conscience and ought-3PL to act.VN to one_another in spirit of brotherhood

/xøl ə'nesi ʃɛ mɛvø'ladi hə'ruri 'visi in akʃo'prepjan v ʒə'xavil løym || høm ʃɛ møθəha'nani ɣəm lo'ʒɛki fsəni'disi və 'høbu lə 'parkus 'lotʃni in ruh lid 'ahvuθ/