Verse:Tdūrzů/Knench

Tdūrzů/Knench/Lexicon

Tdūrzů/Knench/Swadesh list

דף זה בעברית

Cubrite
Kibrið
Created by	IlL
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic Central Semitic Canaanite Ancient Cubrite Cubrite

Cubriti (Kibrið /kɪbɹɪð/ or núm Kibr /niːm kɪbɐ/) is a Canaanite language spoken in an alt-hist timeline, spoken by the Cubrites, a minority in the Balkans. Standard Cubrite is based on the Kriantoscha (Cubrite Krirdox /kɹeːˈdɔɧ/ from *κarjō ħadasō; Greek Κριαντόσχα) dialect. Genetic studies have shown that the Cubrites are descendants of Celtic speakers who adopted a Canaanite language. The language descends from a close relative of Biblical Hebrew and preserves quite a few quasi-Biblical Hebrew words and phrases, but its grammar is far more analytic than its ancestor: it was completely restructured to use auxiliaries instead of the older prefix and suffix conjugations, and it is the only Lõisian Semitic language that has lost grammatical gender outside of Far East Semitic. Most modern Cubrites are Greek Orthodox; a few are Muslim, Jewish or neopagan.

Cubrite has many Greek, Turkish, Arabic and Romance loanwords.

It's inspired grammatically by Welsh, and aesthetically by Cockney English, Icelandic and Khmer. Linguist Hrafn Leifsson believes that the similarity between English and Cubrite aesthetics is due to similar Celtic substrates influencing both, English by Brythonic and Cubrite by an old Celtic language of Galatia.

Names

Native Cubrite names

• Parm (f.) is from baśam

History

Non-rhoticity and the shift to auxiliaries was complete by the 12th century, and Cubrite has had little change since except in vocabulary, accent, and the loss of grammatical mutation and gender.

TODO

• should be Cypriot? justify the name. Or rename
• Swadesh list
• bel-, ble- is a common prefix (conflation of ben- and ba3al-)
• biuth or šą har... = when...
• Many adverbs from infinitive absolute
• likkori = to die (lit. be called [by God])
• šavų = week
• mødbę = conference
• Philippi should be weaker: i > e, instead of the TibH i > a (*bint > peþ 'daughter'; TibH baṫ)
• Mén fows ta xett kori? = Why did you have to die?

Some sound changes

• non-rhoticity, H-dropping
• ħ > x; *gt, kt, ᴋt, ħt > ht
• ś > usually x, sometimes f or fl
• dt, tt > st
• -ø (mainly from ACub -ō) becomes silent and lengthens the vowel before it
• xr > x

Phonology

Consonants

• /m n (Philly L) h l w j ɹ ɾ/ ⟨m n ł h l w j r rr⟩
• /p ʔpʰ b f v t d ʔtʰ θ ð k g ʔkʰ/ ⟨p b pp f v t d tt þ ð k g kk⟩
• /s z ts ʃ ʒ tʃ (voiceless ɹ) h~x/ ⟨s z ts š ž č x h⟩

Ancient Cubrite /l/ became /w/ in some places, especially before C or pausa.

Stops are unaspirated.

Vowels

Tdūrzů/Knench has the largest vowel inventory of any Semitic language in Lõis:

/a e ɪ ɔ ʊ äe iː äo ɨː ɑ̃ː ɛ̃ː ɪɤ̃ ɔ̃ː æː ɑː(ɹ) ɛː(ɹ) eː(ɹ) oː(ɹ) ɜː(ɹ) ə(ɹ)/ = ⟨a e i o u é í ó ú ą ę į ų ar er ir or ur ø/r⟩

Word-final /ə/ is pronounced [ɐ(ɹ)] and is transcribed as a syllabic r, or ør after r.

The following is Hrafn Leifsson's classification of Cubrite vowels:

• Schwa: ø/r
• Short vowels: a e i o u
• Lengthened vowels: é í ó ú
• Nasal vowels: ą ę į ų
• R-colored vowels: ar er ir or ur

Prosody

Stress

Stress tends penultimate or final.

Orthography

Modern Cubrite is written in a Latin orthography which is an almost exact relex of an earlier Koine Greek-inspired deep orthography. A notable feature is that b d are always fricatives. <sch> for x?

Its orthography is as irregular as English. The orthography used on this page is an academic one devised by Icelandic linguist Hrafn Leifsson, detailed in his work Vergleichende Grammatik der Balkansprachen.

Morphology

Tdūrzů/Knench has lost the verbal inflections and triconsonantal morphology of Ancient Cubrite.

Nouns and adjectives

Nouns inflect for number and definiteness. Adjectives agree with nouns in number. Cubrite has lost grammatical gender and the construct state, although animates still have natural gender.

Number and definiteness

Tdūrzů/Knench has regularized all plurals to -r (from a merger of Ancient Cubrite -īm > *-ī and -ūδ). -u nouns become -lr in the plural: þebu, þeblr 'a world, worlds'.

Words ending in a nasal or R-colored vowel add an intrusive R between the final vowel and the plural suffix. Words ending in a long vowel add -ør.

• pdą 'tree', pdąrør 'trees'
• elú 'god', eluwør 'gods'

Some irregular plurals: penš, plenš = human

Nouns inflect for definiteness, as follows:

• Singular: -as (after C) or -sr (after V)
  • -u nouns become -was: abu, abwas 'an apple, the apple'
• Plural: -il (replacing the plural suffix -r if any)
  • ablr, ablil 'apples, the apples'

Examples:

• xadr = a room
• xadras = the room
• xadrør = rooms
• xadril = the rooms
• xadr kruw = a big room
• xadras kruw = the big room
• botr krulr = big houses
• botil krulr = the big houses

-ma nouns from Greek become -mat nouns: þemat, þematas, þematr, þematil 'topic, theme'.

Predicative adjectives

The predicative/adverbial marker bø + bare form is used for predicative adjectives: Re xadras bø kruw 'The room is big'.

Degree

• Equative: de- = as X as; equally X (~ BH day 'enough')
• Emphatic: ro- = so X, very X indeed (inherited from Ancient Cubrite, which borrowed it from Celtic)
• Comparative/Superlative: -ðr = more X or most X; comparandum takes prið 'than' (from Ancient Cubrite pirūðī 'when I see')

Example: kruw 'big', degruw 'as big as'; rogruw 'so big; very big indeed', kruwðr 'bigger/biggest'

Pronouns

Cubrite has a pronoun system similar to European languages, except that there is no grammatical gender and se "that" is used as an inanimate or gender-neutral pronoun. There is a T-V distinction: the 2nd person plural tim is also used as a polite pronoun. hr/hi/him (from older object/possessive forms) may be found instead of tr/ti/tim (from the older independent form) in some dialects.

I (/i:/ or /ɪ/) is the default form for the 1sg subject pronoun; ni is used after a vowel.

Tu has been proposed as a 2nd person singular neopronoun (inspired by Romance languages). This isn't as common as using the 2nd person plural tim as singular, however.

For 3fs, hi is most often used sentence-initially (for present tense). Otherwise oj is used.

Verbs

Almost all verbs use only one form, the infinitive (usually etymologically the infinitive construct). The infinitive is also used as an imperative: ðett lo oj! = 'Give it to her!' The infinitive form may or may not have a prefixed l-, depending on the verb; however, even verbs without l- display a voicing mutation (e.g. benin 'to build'). Some verbs instead are derived from other nouns derived from the relevant triconsonantal root rather than the infinitive of a particular verb.

Inflected lexical verbs

There are only six inflected lexical verbs (i.e. verbs with inflected past and future forms):

• juð 'to be' (past is cognate to Arabic kāna)
• fluð 'to do' (from √ʕśy, with contamination from √pȝl)
• luð 'to come' (with suppletion of √ʔty and √bʔ); bu is still used as a directional
• laht 'to go'
• kaht 'to take'
• ðett 'to give'

The finite forms have become more similar to each other due to analogy.

Inflected verbs in Tdūrzů/Knench

→ Person		I	thou (m)	thou (f)	he	she	we	you (plural)	they	Non-pronominal
juð	future	é ni	þé tr	þí ti	jé u	þé oj	né nu	þú tim	jú'm	jé/þé
	past	hant i	han tr	han ti	han u	han oj	han nu	han tim	hanu'm	han
fluð	future	ąf i	þąf tr	þąf ti	jąf u	þąf oj	nąf nu	þąflu tim	jąflu'm	jąf/þąf
	past	fowð i	fows tr	fows ti	fow u	fól oj	fown nu	fowðu tim	flu'm	fow/fól
luð	future	eð i	þes tr	þes ti	jeð u	þeð oj	neð nu	þeðu tim	jeðu'm	jeð/þeð
	past	powð i	pows tr	pows ti	pow u	pól oj	pown nu	powðu tim	pu'm	pow/pól
laht	future	lej ni	tlej tr	tlej ti	len u	tlen oj	lej nu	tlew tim	lew'm	lej/tlej
	past	laht i	laht tr	laht ti	law u	lęl oj	lajn nu	laht tim	lølu'm	law/lęl
kaht	future	kej ni	tkej tr	tkej ti	ken u	tken oj	kej nu	tkew tim	kew'm	kej/tkej
	past	kaht i	kaht tr	kaht ti	kaw u	kęl oj	kajn nu	kaht tim	kalu'm	kaw/kęl
ðett	future	nej ni	tnej tr	tnej ti	nen u	tnen oj	nej nu	tnew tim	new'm	nen/tnen
	past	naht i	naht tr	naht ti	naw u	nęl oj	najn nu	naht tim	nølu'm	naw/nęl

Most non-pronominal forms come in non-feminine and feminine, and agree in gender only with a singular subject; the feminine is only used with women and females. With plural nominal subjects the non-feminine form is used.

Regular pa3al verbs

The regular pattern is *(li)CCuC.

When C1 is a guttural, the l- usually resurfaces:

• C1 = ayin: ląbur 'to go past'
• C1 = aleph/he: lévuð 'to bake, to fire', lézuð 'to be on drugs' (or vuð, zuð)
• C1 = heth: lętul 'to cease/stop'

-t verbs

Many of these verbs got the glottally reinforced -tt from -ʔt. The -tt then analogically spread to other verbs.

• laht = to go by foot
• kaht = to take
• žaht = to go back
• žoft = to sit
• lost = to be born
• rost = to go down
• rašt = to receive
• ðett = to give
• xett = to carry, to owe, should
• tsett = to go out
• žątt = to go by vehicle
• gątt = to hit
• dątt = to know
• tątt /tãːʔt/ = to farm, to grow (plants)

Regular nif3al

The regular pattern is *(li)CoCiC where the first C is not voiced. The L appears when the first consonant is a guttural or a semivowel.

Regular pi3el

The regular pattern is *løCaCiC or *løCiCuC where the middle C is not voiced.

Regular hif3il

The regular pattern is *laCCiC, *leCCeC, or *laCCoCø.

Regular hithpa3el

The regular pattern is *liδCaCiC where the middle C is not lenited.

Other verbs

Other verbs come from noun derivation patterns, or from earlier verb + noun collocations.

Auxiliaries

Various auxiliaries in Tdūrzů/Knench

→ Person	I	thou (m)	thou (f)	he	she	we	ye	they	Non-pronominal
Present (ri, r' , from *rVʔē 'look!')	i, ni	tr	ti	u	oj, hi	nu	tim	rim	ri, r' before V
Present emphatic (inflected forms of עוֹד)	łud i	łud tr	łud ti	łuden u	łuden oj	łud nu	łud tim	łud im	ngud
Passive present (from imperfect of עָבַר 'to pass')	ur i	þur tr	þri ti	jur u	þur oj	nur nu	þru tim	juru'm	jur/þur
Passive past (from perfect of עָבַר 'to pass')	barð i	bart tr	bart ti	bar u	bro oj	barn nu	bart tim	bru'm	bar/bro
"Do X more" - present (from imperfect of הוֹסִיף 'to add')	siv i	tsiv tr	tsiv ti	isiv u	tsiv oj	nusiv nu	tsiv tim	isivu'm	isiv/tsiv/isivu
"Do X more" - past (from perfect of הוֹסִיף 'to add')	seft i	seft tr	seft ti	sev u	sev oj	sev nu	seft tim	sivu'm	siv/sivu
Cautionary (from imperfect of זָמַם 'to scheme')	zum i	þøzum tr	þøzum ti	zum u	þøzum oj	nøzum nu	þøzmu tim	zmu'm	zum/tøzum/zmu

Re is not used in subordinate clauses:

• Re Davíð ław žin. = David is about to sleep.
• Pið Davíð ław žin, u mul bø hapuð uras. = When David goes to sleep, he doesn't turn off the lights.

Yes-no questions are marked by a rising intonation, using the focus particle =nr (cognate to Hebrew נא) after the word/phrase whose truth value is asked about, and dropping re in sentences with a nominal subject. In sentences without a specific focused constituent, nr appears sentence-finally in sentences with no finite verb, and after the finite verb if there is one.

• Davíð ław žin nr? = Is David going to bed? (neutral)
• Davíð nr ław žin? = Is it David who's going to bed?
• Fows nr tr [nexú] jax Marijr amž? = Did you marry Maria yesterday?
• Fows ta nr [nexú] jax Marijr amž? = Is it you who married Maria yesterday?

kaht 'to take' is used as an auxiliary meaning 'to go ahead and VERB'.

The auxiliary zum for the cautionary future comes from the Ancient Cubrite verb *zāmam 'to scheme'. It's used to:

• warn the listener of a future event or contingency:
  • Zum sąras ða luð fu hol łeð. = 'The storm might come here any moment.'
  • Zum þafkestas mul juð kabų hetteb! = 'The map might not be well-defined! [in a hypothetical math lecture, cautioning against a tacit assumption the audience might make]'
• often used in a threatening manner, for example: Lah ta mul jedą ma zum i fluð lah ta! = 'You have no idea what I'm gonna do to you!'

Prepositions

Prepositions inflect like in Welsh: for pronominal prepositional objects, usually the preposition is inflected and is followed by the independent pronoun.

example of a Tdūrzů/Knench inflected preposition: lø "for"; bø 'in, at' is inflected similarly

• 1sg: li, li ni
• 2sg.m: lah ta
• 2sg.f: lah te
• 3sg.m: lom u
• 3sg.f: ló oj
• 3sg.n: løze
• 1pl. lon nu
• 2pl. lahøm tem
• 3pl. low'm

Other prepositions:

• men = from
• túb lø = for
• jern = because of (also "reason")
• łej = on, above
• jax, jaxøm = with (both inst. and com.)
• pøłé = inside, within
  • sim. løłé, møłé 'into, out of'
• pølip = amidst
• wen = without
• møné = before, in front of
• kkorrm = before (temporally)
• xer = after
• møłęl = above
• møþęl = below
• þaht = instead of
• til = like, as
• xakr = until
• gu = up to

Numbers

Danish system?

0-10: zero, xóð (inanimate)/xęð (animate), šném/šné (attributive), šluš, arvą, xomi, šeš, šebą, šmún, þeš, łax

11-20: štąx, šnająx, šlušąx, arvąx, xomišąx, šešąx, šebąx, šmúnąx, þešąx, łexi

21-30: łexi xóð, łexi šném, ... łexi łax

31-40: łexi łax štąx, ..., šné łexi

41, 42, ...: šné łexi xóð/xęð, šné łexi šném, ...

60: šluš łexi

...

100: mír

1000: awv

Syntax

Constituent order

The order is tense-subject-verb-object.

R'išas bø hél ablas.

The man is eating the apple.

Re béð u bø degrú til stadi.

His house is as big as a stadium.

Fól oj ða fluð halkkbéð oj bø ro-múxr.

She did her homework too late.

The negative particle mul (from mahumō lū 'not anything') comes after the subject pronoun and before the verb.

Faulty accusative

Tdūrzů/Knench has the faulty accusative particle ða or ð' (from Ancient Cubrite jūδ ha-). It is not used for all direct objects, but only for constituents that are separated from their heads. It also replaces a (TAM-marking) "preposition" in front of a lexical verb, when no preposition is used.

Noun phrase

To say "this X" or "that X", X-as fu and X-as feni (lit. "the X here" and "the X there") are used. To say "this" and "that", you say se fu and se feni (where the se becomes ilø in the plural).

The abstract demonstrative (referring to sentences or facts) is suð.

Words for yes and no

• ens (from *amitt ze "this is truth") = present 'yes'
• haj (from hajjē "where?") = present 'no'
• ríð (from rahīδī "I saw") = past 'yes'
• lu fow (from lū 3aśā inflected) = past 'no'
• jąf (from ja3śē, inflected) = future 'yes'
• lu jąf (inflected) = future 'no'
• aw (from hal "don't!") = imperative 'no'

Verb phrase

VN constructions

• ri Parm bø laht = Parm goes
• ri Parm ław laht = Parm is going
• ri Parm þax laht = Parm is about to go
• ri Parm xar laht = Parm has gone
• ri Parm xar juð bø laht = Parm has been going
• ri Parm døž laht = Parm just went
• ri Parm wen laht = Parm hasn't went
• fól Parm ða laht = Parm went
• þąf Parm ða laht = Parm will go
• Laht! = Go! (number neutral)
• Púþnu laht! = Let's go!

Time clauses

pið-clauses

A pið-clause is in the same tense as the clause it's embedded in. Pið-clauses denote states, things that can be marked with re + tense markers in the present tense), rather than completed actions.

Complementizer

There is a complementizer mur (from lēmūr) or jið (from conflation of hajūδ 'to be' and jūδ accusative marker) depending on dialect.

Relativizer

Relative clauses use the relativizer har (from *χa-ʔašir).

• I bø hél abwas har pø xadr i. = I am eating the apple which is in my room.

Serial verb construction

Serial verbs are very common in Cubrite, it's an extension of how the infinitive construct used to work in Ancient Cubrite (and Biblical Hebrew).

Pow Móše kaht él prah. / Fow Móše luð kaht él prah.

come.PST.3SG.M Moshe take.INF eat.INF meat / PST.3SG.M Moshe come.INF take.INF eat.INF meat

Moshe came, took, and ate the meat.

Directionals derived from verbs, such as laht '(t)hence', bu '(t)hither' and kub 'movement together with another person' are also common and may replace pronouns.

Vocabulary

Cubrite has the following vocabulary layers:

1. Most of the common words are inherited from the Semitic ancestor of Ancient Cubrite, however they often show drastic semantic drift or compounding. Example: šłúd 'a lot' comes from saȝudō 'feast'.
2. Celtic substrates
3. Ancient Greek, Aramaic
4. Latin, Romance, Arabic, Turkic and Modern Greek

Although it is attested in Ancient Cubrite, the *CaCīCō verbal noun pattern is not as productive as the corresponding pattern in Mishnaic and Modern Hebrew.

Many words are formed from earlier construct state or verb + object combinations, and are sometimes unrecognizable as such:

• ambin 'brick' from *ʔabanē binyan 'building stones'
• søvgom 'massacre; (slang) debacle, fiasco; a mess' from *šapk dam 'spilling of blood'
• łénøm 'source' from ʕēn mayim 'spring of water'
• xefin 'to like' from *śe'θ fin lit. 'lift the face of' meaning 'to favor'
• xettném (el) 'to look at' from *śe'θ 3ēnajim 'lift eyes'
• kraleb 'conscience' from *qūl hal-lēbb lit. 'voice of the heart'

Some productive affixes are:

• pen-/ple- = agentive
  • pnar 'wolf' comes from pre-Cubrite *pen harr 'son-of mountain'; a euphemism replacing Ancient Cubrite zēb
• peδ- = place noun
• pød-/pd-/pl- = associated inanimate, esp. singulative of a collective noun (from peθθ 'daughter')
  • pdą = tree (*pett ja3r)
  • pdam = wave (*pett jamm)
  • pdémr = word (*pett himrō)
  • pdeš = flame
  • pled = echo
  • pødner = stream
  • pødmattr = raindrop
  • pødgašøm = (poetic) petrichor (mattr is the normal word for 'rain')
• -l = transitivizer or causative of verbs (from a -w ~ -l alternation in some intransitive-transitive verb pairs)
• -es: -ess (from Celtic)
  • vasiles 'queen' < vasil 'king'
  • męšives 'witch' < męšiv 'mage, wizard'

Example texts

UDHR, Article 1

Hol plenšil bru'm lost bø xor e bø šaw łej hobdas e ðičomatil. Bru'm fkud jax rižún e kraleb, e rim bø xett liðalih jaxøm šúv pø nøšóm axwr.

[hɔl ˈplɛnʃɪl bɹʊm ˌlɔzd bə ˈɧoː‿ɹ.ə bə ˈʃaw ɴɛj hɔbdas ə ðɪˈtʃɔmatɪl ‖ bɹʊm ˌfkʊd jaɧ ɹɪˈʒɨːn ə kɹaˈlɛb, ə ɹɛm bə ɧɛʔt lɪˈðalɪx ˌjaɧəm ˈʃɨːf pə nəˈʃaom ˈaɧwə]

all human/PL-DEF.PL PASS.PRES-3PL be_born PRED free and PRED equal on dignity-DEF.SG and right-DEF.PL. PASS.PRES-3PL entrust with reason and conscience, and PRES.3PL PRES carry behave with one_another LOC spirit brotherhood.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act toward one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Tower of Babel

1. Bar pø þó law þebwas súðu xóv ða dapr e fow súðu núm ða lųl.
2. Wini pið im bø laht me mikkarrm, flu'm ða vrikk meštaxas Šinłar e ližešib feni.
3. Flu'm el šúv mur: "Púlé, púþnu fluð ambínr e latteb vuð im." E fow ambínil low'm til abonr ða lųl, e ørgílas til mawtt.
4. Flu'm mur: "Púlé, púþnu benin krir lon nu e piri pøze, jąf ruž se ða ląluð laht šmémas, e nąf nu ða nawž nu dųžim! Oz nąf nu mul ða liðvasir łej þó law þebwas."
5. Wini fow Kižas ða rost bu, hę jąf u ða xettném el kriras e pirisr har han plenšil ław benin.
6. Fow Kižas mur: "Łeðr flu'm ða laxel fluð suð til xóð ern har bø dapr xóð núm, jé mul mihšul el mędøbr har jąflu'm zúm fluð!
7. "Púlé, púþnu rost laht e bawbil núm im, oz jąflu'm mul lębin núm šúv."
8. E me feni fow Kižas ða vasir im łej þó law þebwas, e flu'm ða lętul benin kriras.
9. Me jernas fu har kriras xar kaht šemas Babel -- feni fow Kižas ða bawbil núm þó law þebwas. Me feni fow Kižas ða vasir im łej þó law þebwas.

Phrasebook

When three forms are given, the forms are respectively for addressing one man (informally), one woman (informally), and politely/gender-neutrally respectively.

• Šoløm! = Hello! / Goodbye!
• Xakr! = See you!
• Ebí tr/ti/tim! = Welcome!
• Parg el tr/ti/tim! = Thank you!
• imtsøhém tr/ti/tim = Please (etym. if it finds favor in your eyes)
  • also plíz [pli:z] (from English)
• łeð tub [ŋɛθ tub] = have fun
• Ajšr šemas tkej tr/ti [tkew tim]? = What's your name?
• Kej ni ða šemas [NAME] = My name is [NAME].
• Powð i men... = I'm from...
• Barð i lost pø... = I was born in...