Verse:Tdūrzů/Knench

Tdūrzů/Knench/Lexicon

Tdūrzů/Knench/Swadesh list

Modern Canaanite
Tdūrzů/Knench
Pronunciation	[/knaːniθ/]
Created by	IlL
Setting	Lõis
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic Central Semitic North Semitic Canaanite Hebrew Modern Canaanite

Modern Canaanite (Canaanite: Knánith or sofø Knán, Togarmite: Xnoniþ) is the sole surviving descendant of Biblical Hebrew, spoken by the Knánem people in Lõis's Cyprus, Turkey, Armenia and the Levant. Some Lõisian rabbinical Jewish writings identify this language with the Lost Tribes of Israel, though they lament the "heathen" (i.e. a form of Θāħīdaθ an Hawūθ) religious practices of the Knánem. This is not without cause, as the language preserves quite a few Biblical words and phraseology that fell out of use in Mishnaic Hebrew, though unlike Mishnaic and Israeli Hebrew its grammar was completely restructured to use auxiliaries instead of the older Hebrew tenses, under the influence of Celtic languages.

Like Welsh, Knánith has two registers, literary and colloquial Knánith.

Numbers: 0-10: afs, ódh (inanimate)/áth (animate), šnay, šluš, arbą, homiš, šeš, šewą, šmun, tešą, ngaxør

11-20: ódh/áth ngaxør, šnay ngaxør, šluš ngaxør, arbą ngaxør, homiš ngaxør, šeš ngaxør, šew ngaxør, hmun ngaxør, tešą ngaxør, ngaxrim

40: stay ngaxrim

60: šluš ngaxrim

...

120: merkø

14400: rúø

before: kkorm

Orthography

Knánith is written in an alphabet descended from the Proto-Hebrew script.

Introduction

• Swadesh list
• bel-, ble- is a common prefix (conflation of ben- and ba3al-)
• biuth or šą še... = when...
• Many adverbs are froma infinitive absolute
• likkori = to die (lit. be called)
• šovuą = week
• midhborø = conference
• נא becomes a focus marker =nø
  • question marker a ... [FOCUS]=nø
• Philippi should be weaker: i > e, instead of the TibH i > a (*bint > bett 'daughter'; TibH baṫ)
• Makhin hyo ngalekh likkori? = Why did you have to die?

Phonology

Consonants

/m p b f v n t d θ ð ts s z ʃ ŋ k g x h l w j r/ ⟨m p b f v n t d th dh ts s/x z š ng k g kh h l w y r⟩

Glottal reinforcement (transcribed by tt kk, pronounced /ʔt ʔk/) occurs before historical Biblical Hebrew emphatics /tʼ kʼ tsʼ/, and also analogically in some other cases (cf. Glottalic PIE > RP English).

Biblical Hebrew /l/ became /w/ in some places, especially before C.

Mutations

Words can undergo initial lenition, as in Irish and Tiberian Hebrew:

p- b- t- d- k- g- > f- v- th- dh- kh- Ø-

Vowels

/a ɛ i ɔ u ə a: ɛ: i: ɔ: u: ã:/ = ⟨a e i o u ø á é í ó ú ą⟩

Prosody

Stress

Stress is always penultimate, except with some verbs where the lV- prefix does not have the stress.

Morphology

Knánith has lost the verbal inflections and triconsonantal morphology of Biblical Hebrew.

Nouns and adjectives

Nouns inflect for number and definiteness. Adjectives agree with nouns in number.

Knánith has lost grammatical gender.

• The regular "feminine" singular suffix is -ø or -th.
• The regular "masculine" plural suffix is -em or -e.
• The regular "feminine" plural is -uth.
• However, there are many irregular plurals, especially nouns derived from construct state constructions. e.g. benuš, blenuš = human

køfor, køforem = village, villages

bakkbøkk, bakkbøkkem = bottle, bottles

i, iem = island, islands

kišø, kišuth = cucumber, cucumbers

gøfø, gøfuth = corpse, corpses

takkrith, takkriyuth = incident, incidents

Canaanite has lost the construct state. The only remnant of the construct state is the -th- interfix used in possessive constructions between two nouns that end and begin with a vowel, respectively: e.g.

• hadhør-mittø 'bedroom'
• ngønove-th-anf 'the grapes of wrath'
• nøšomø-th-ahwø 'spirit of brotherhood'

Degree markers:

• Equative: de- = as X as; equally X; X enough
• Excessive: ro- = too (from Celtic)
• Comparative/Superlative: -ter = more X or most X; comparandum takes broth 'than' (from Biblical Hebrew *birʔōṫī ʔeṫ 'when I see ACC')

Verbs

Verbs use only one form, usually the inherited Biblical infinitive construct, prefixed with l-. Even for imperatives: Lathett lo hi! = 'Give it to her!' Some verbs instead are derived from other nouns derived from the triconsonantal root rather than the infinitive of a particular verb.

Regular pa3al verbs

The regular pattern is *liCCuC.

-t verbs

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

• lalakht /laˈlaxt/ = to go
• lakkakht /laʔˈkaxt/ = to take
• lasakht /laˈsaxt/ = to go back
• lašaft /laˈʃaft/ = to sit
• lathett /laˈθeʔt/ = to give
• lalast /laˈlast/ = to be born
• lasett /laˈseʔt/ = to carry
• latsett /laˈtseʔt/ = to go out
• lasątt /laˈsãːʔt/ = to travel
• laghątt /laˈɣãːʔt/ = to hit
• ladhątt /laˈðãːʔt/ = to know
• lattątt /laʔˈtãːʔt/ = to plant

Regular nif3al

The regular pattern is *liCoCiC where the first C is not lenited.

Regular pi3el

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

Regular hif3il

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

Regular hithpa3el

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

Other verbs

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

Any noun can also be verbed by prefixing lø-.

Auxiliaries

Knánith has an auxiliary verb system similar to Colloquial Welsh. In addition, there is a T-V distinction: the 2nd person plural tem is also used as a polite pronoun.

There are also a handful of inflected verbs, such as lalakht 'to go'.

The non-pronominal present auxiliary re (which may cause lenition depending on dialect) may be omitted in subordinate clauses:

• Re Dowedh ngal lišun = David is about to sleep
• Biuth (re) Dowedh ngal lišun = When David is about to sleep

Various auxiliaries in Knánith

→ Person	I	thou (m)	thou (f)	he/it	she	we	blotp	they	Non-pronominal
Present (re, r' is from רְאֵה *rVʔē 'look!')	ni, i	to	te	u	hi	nu	tem	em	re, r' before V
Present emphatic (inflected forms of עוֹד)	ngud i	ngud to	ngud te	nguden u	nguden hi	ngud nu	ngud tem	ngud em	ngud
Interrogative (from הַאִם, -nø must be added to the focused word)	am ni, am i	am to	am te	am u	am hi	am nu	am tem	am em	am
Past (from perfect of עָשָׂה 'to do')	si ni, sit i, sit ni	sit to	sit te	so u	sto hi	sin nu	sit tem	su'm	so/sto
Future/Subjunctive (from imperfect of עָשָׂה 'to do')	ąs i	tąs to	tąs te	yąs u	tąs hi	nąs nu	tąsu tem	yąsu'm	yąs/tąs
Passive present (from imperfect of עָבַר 'to pass')	ur ni, ur i	tur to	tri te	yur u	tur hi	nur nu	tru tem	ru'm	yur/tur
Passive past (from perfect of עָבַר 'to pass')	var ni, var i, vart i	vart to	vart te	var u	vro hi	varn nu	vart tem	vru'm	var/vro
"Go" (future tense)	lekh i	tlekh to	tlekh te	lekh u	tlekh hi	lekh nu	tlekhu tem	lekhu'm	lekh/tlekh
"May" (from imperfect of לָקַח 'to take')	kekh i	tkekh to	tkekh te	kekh u	tkekh hi	kekh nu	tkekhu tem	kekhu'm	kekh/tkekh/kekhu
"Do X more" - present (from imperfect of הוֹסִיף 'to add')	usif i	tusif to	tusif te	yusif u	tusif hi	nusif nu	tusif tem	yusifu'm	usift/tusif/yusifu
"Do X more" - past (from perfect of הוֹסִיף 'to add')	seft i	seft to	seft te	sif u	sifø hi	sef nu	seft tem	sifu'm	sif/sifu
Cautionary (from imperfect of זָמַם 'to scheme')	zum i	tøzum to	tøzum te	zum u	tøzum hi	nøzum nu	tøzmu tem	zmu'm	zum/tøzum/zmu
"X well" - present (from imperfect of הֵיטִיב 'to do well')	attev i	tattev to	tattvi te	yattev u	tattev hi	nattev nu	tattev tem	yattevu'm	yattev/tattev/yattevu
"X well" - past (from perfect of הֵיטִיב 'to do well')	hettevt i	hettevt to	hettevt te	hettev u	hettivø hi	hettev nu	hettevt tem	hettevu'm	hettev

Cautionary future

The auxiliary for the cautionary future comes from the Biblical Hebrew verb *zāmam 'to scheme'. It's used to:

• warn the listener of a future event or contingency:
  • Zum sąraz tha lovu henø kol ngeth. = 'The storm might come here any moment.'
  • Zum tafkestaz mul lith kovuą hettev! = '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: Lakh to mul yedhą ma zum i ląsuth lakh to! = '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 Knánith inflected preposition: lø "for"; bø 'in, at' is inflected similarly

• 1sg: li, li ni
• 2sg.m: lakh to
• 2sg.f: lakh te
• 3sg.m: lomu hu
• 3sg.f: lomi hi
• 1pl. lonu nu
• 2pl. lakhøm tem
• 3pl. lomu'm

Syntax

Constituent order

The order is tense-subject-verb-object.

R'išaz bø lékhul tapuhaz.

The man is eating the apple.

Re beth-u bø dhe-rul kø liyothøn.

His house is as big as a whale.

Sto hi tha ląsuth halkkbetho hi bø rø-múhør.

She did her homework too late.

The negative particle mul (from mə'umâ lo 'not anything') comes after the subject pronoun and before the verb.

Faulty accusative

Knánith has the faulty accusative particle tha (from Biblical Hebrew ʔeṫ ha-). It is not used for all direct objects, but only for constituents that are separated from their heads. Tha may also be used before the verbal noun when using an auxiliary: Hettev hu tha litfus doghem. = She was good at catching fish.

Noun phrase

The definite article is a clitic:

• Singular: -az (after C) or -zu (after V)
• Plural: -iw

Examples:

• hadhør = a room
• hadhraz = the room
• hadhrem = rooms
• hadhriw = the rooms
• hadhør grú = a big room
• hadhør grulaz = the big room (< hah-hadhər hag-gâdhol haz-ze)
• botem grulem = big houses
• botem gruliw = the big houses

There is no construct state, unlike in Biblical Hebrew. Genitives are expressed with concatenation: šem-mawkaz = the king's name.

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

The abstract demonstrative is zuth.

Verb phrase

• re Pam ngal lalakht = Pam is about to go
• re Pam dhøš lalakht = Pam has just went
• re Pam bi lalakht = Pam has not went

Complementizer

There is a complementizer mur (from לאמר lēmōr) or zuth (from זאת) depending on dialect. This is different from relative clauses, which use še (from אשר ʔăšer).

Vocabulary

Many words are formed form earlier construct state combinations, and are sometimes unrecognizable:

• anvinin, anevinin 'brick' from אבני בניין *ʔaḃ(a)nē ḃinyān 'building stones'
• šavgom 'carnage, destruction' from שפך דם *šáṗek̇ dām 'spilling of blood'
• ngemem, ngememuth 'source' from עין מים ʕēn máyem 'spring of water'
• løseppin 'to like' from נשא פני lit. 'lift the face of' meaning 'to favor'
• kulaliv 'conscience' from קול הלב lit. 'voice of the heart'

Although it is attested in late Biblical Hebrew (e.g. Song of Songs), the CăCiCâ verbal noun pattern is not as productive as in Mishnaic Hebrew.

• ben-, pl. ble- = agentive
• beth-, pl. bate- = place noun

Example texts

UDHR, Article 1

Kol blenušiw vru'm lalest kø hofšem; hem šowim ngaw kovdaz ke tsrokkuthiw. Vru'm lifkudh bø vinø ke kulaliv, ke re ngalem lalakht ngem šuthif bø nøšomø-th-ahwø.

all human/PL-DEF.PL.M PASS.PRES-3PL be_born as free-M.PL; 3PL equal-PL on dignity-DEF.SG and right-DEF.F.PL. PASS.PRES-3PL entrust with understanding and conscience, and PRES on-3PL walk with one_another with spirit-EZAFE-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. Var bø khol tevilaz tha zuthø sofø lødhabir ke luthøm miluthiw lešamiš.
2. Wini khi su'm bø lasątt me mikadhøm, su'm litakkiw bø mišuraz Šinngor ke lithyašev šom.
3. Ke su'm lemur: "Enø, butonu ląsuth anevinin ke lattev léfut h em." Ke su anevininiw løšamiš lom em kø avoniw, ke hemør kø mawtt.
4. Ke su'm lemur: "Enø, butonu levnuth kiriø ke mídøl bomi hi, yąs rušu hu lagią ląluth le šomayem, ke nąs nu ląsuth lonu šem, ke klu nąs nu lithpazir pli kol tevilaz!"
5. Wini Eluim so u lovu larest, ki yąs u lávitt bø kiriøzu ke mídølaz še yu blenušiw bø livnuth.
6. Ke Eluim so u lemur: "Šą še su'm hátholø ląsuth zuth kø hódh ngom še bø lødhabir háth sofø, yiye mum mikhšul mul lø madovør še yąsu løzumim ląsuth!
7. "Enø, bu tonu lalakht larest ke løvawbiw sofø-th-em, klu yąsu'm lávin šuthif."
8. Ku Eluim so u løfazir em, ke su'm ládul levnuth kiriøzu.
9. Ke me sibøzu fu še kiriøzu bø lakkakht šemaz "Boviw" -- šom so Eluim løvawbiw sofø kol tevilaz. Me šom so Eluim løfazir em pli kol tevilaz.

Phrasebook

• Šolum! = Hello!
• "please":
  • plíz (from English)
  • in tre kø thuv (to one man, informal)
  • in tri kø thuv (to one woman, informal)
  • in tru kø thuv (to more than one person or formal)