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

Cubrite (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 Criadosch (Krírdox /kɹɪəˈdɔɧ/ from karyō ħadasō) 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 Eastern Orthodox; a few are Muslim or Jewish.

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.

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 are froma infinitive absolute
• likkori = to die (lit. be called [by God])
• šavų = week
• mødbár = conference
• נא becomes a focus marker =nr
  • question marker a ... [FOCUS]=nr
• Philippi should be weaker: i > e, instead of the TibH i > a (*bint > peþ 'daughter'; TibH baṫ)
• Makhin fows ta xett likkori? = 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 -ā) becomes silent and lengthens the vowel before it
• ACub ā ō ū > OCub ó ú í
• OCub ó ú í > Modern Cub. aɤ i: əi
• xr > x

Phonology

Consonants

• /m n (Philly L) h l w j ɹ~ʋ 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 ž 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.

Vowels

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

/a e ɪ ɔ ʊ ɛ̃ː iə iː äɤ ɨː ɑ̃ː ɛ̃ː ɪɤ̃ ɔ̃ː æː aw ɛw ɪw ɔw ʊw ɑː(ɹ) ɛː(ɹ) eː(ɹ) oː(ɹ) ɜː(ɹ) ə(ɹ)/ = ⟨a e i o u á é í ó ú ą ę į ų aw ew iw ow uw 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: á é í ó ú
• Nasal vowels: ą ę į ų
• L-colored vowels: aw ew iw ow uw
• 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 A comparative grammar of the Balkan languages.

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.

Tdūrzů/Knench has regularized all plurals to -r (from a merger of Ancient Cubrite -īm > *-ī and -ōδ). It also lost grammatical gender and the construct state, although animates still have natural gender.

Words ending in a nasal vowel or an R-colored vowel add an intrusive R between the final vowel and the plural suffix: plą 'tree', pląrør 'trees'.

Some irregular plurals: penš, plenš = human

Degree markers:

• 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: kkrú 'big', degrú 'as big as'; rogrú 'so big; very big indeed', kkrúðr '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 tem is also used as a polite pronoun.

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 hi! = '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. bnuð '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'
• 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 (polite/plural)	they	Non-pronominal
juð	future	é ni	þé ta	þí te	jé u	þé hi	né nu	þú tem	jú'm	jé/þé
	past	ið i	is ta	is te	jo u	ðo hi	in nu	is tem	ju'm	jo/ðo
fluð	future	ąf i	þąf ta	þąf te	jąf u	þąf hi	nąf nu	þąflu tem	jąflu'm	jąf/þąf
	past	fowð i	fows ta	fows te	fow u	fól hi	fown nu	fows tem	flu'm	fow/fól
luð	future	eð i	þes ta	þes te	jeð u	þeð hi	neð nu	þeðu tem	jeðu'm	jeð/þeð
	past	powð i	pows ta	pows te	pow u	pól hi	pown nu	pows tem	pu'm	pow/pól
laht	future	lej ni	tlej ta	tlej te	len u	tlen hi	lej nu	tlew tem	lew'm	lej/tlej
	past	laht i	laht ta	laht te	law u	lál hi	lajn nu	laht tem	lølu'm	law/lál
kaht	future	kej ni	tkej ta	tkej te	ken u	tken hi	kej nu	tkew tem	kew'm	kej/tkej
	past	kaht i	kaht ta	kaht te	kaw u	kál hi	kajn nu	kaht tem	kalu'm	kaw/kál
ðett	future	nej ni	tnej ta	tnej te	nen u	tnen hi	nej nu	tnew tem	new'm	nen/tnen
	past	naht i	naht ta	naht te	naw u	nál hi	najn nu	naht tem	nølu'm	naw/nál

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.

-t verbs

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

• laht /ˈlaxt/ = to go by foot
• kaht /ˈkaxt/ = to take
• šaht /ʃaxt/ = to go back
• šoft /ʃɔft/ = to sit
• ðett /ðeʔt/ = to give
• lost /lɔst/ = to be born
• rost /ɹɔst/ = to go down
• xett /seʔt/ = to carry, to owe, should
• tsett /tseʔt/ = to go out
• šątt /ʃãːʔt/ = to go by vehicle
• gątt /gãːʔt/ = to hit
• dątt /dãːʔt/ = 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

Re is not used in subordinate clauses:

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

ha/he/hem may be found instead of ta/te/tem in some dialects.

Various auxiliaries in Tdūrzů/Knench

→ Person	I	thou (m)	thou (f)	he	she	we	blotp	they	Non-pronominal
Present (re, r' , from *rVʔē 'look!')	i, ni	ta	te	u	hi	nu	tem	rem	re, r' before V
Present emphatic (inflected forms of עוֹד)	łud i, łud ni	łud ta	łud te	łuden u	łuden hi	łud nu	łud tem	łud em	ngud
Interrogative (from הַאִם, -nø must be added to the focused word)	am ni, am i	am ta	am te	am u	am hi	am nu	am tem	am em	am
Passive present (from imperfect of עָבַר 'to pass')	ur ni, ur i	þur ta	þri te	jur u	þur hi	nur nu	þru tem	ru'm	jur/þur
Passive past (from perfect of עָבַר 'to pass')	bar ni, barð i	bart ta	bart te	bar u	bro hi	barn nu	bart tem	bru'm	bar/bro
"Do X more" - present (from imperfect of הוֹסִיף 'to add')	siv i	tsiv ta	tsiv te	isiv u	tsiv hi	nusiv nu	tsiv tem	isivu'm	isiv/tsiv/isivu
"Do X more" - past (from perfect of הוֹסִיף 'to add')	seft i	seft ta	seft te	sev u	sivø hi	sev nu	seft tem	sivu'm	siv/sivu
Cautionary (from imperfect of זָמַם 'to scheme')	zum i	þøzum ta	þøzum te	zum u	þøzum hi	nøzum nu	þøzmu tem	zmu'm	zum/tøzum/zmu

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', men 'from' are inflected similarly

• 1sg: li, li ni
• 2sg.m: lah ta
• 2sg.f: lah te
• 3sg.m: lomu hu
• 3sg.f: lo hi
• 1pl. lon nu
• 2pl. lahøm tem
• 3pl. low'm

Other prepositions:

• túb lø = for
• ján = because of (also "reason")
• łøj = on, above
• jax, jaxøm = with (both inst. and com.)
• pøłé = inside, within
  • sim. løłé, møłé 'into, out of'
• pølip = amidst
• wén = without
• møné = before, in front of
• kkorrm = before (temporally)
• xár = after
• møłál = above
• møþál = below
• þaht = instead of
• til = like, as
• xakr = until
• gu = up to

Numbers

Danish system?

0-10: zero, xóð (inanimate)/xáð (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/xáð, 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 hi ða fluð halkkbéð hi 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's also used in a ba construction of sorts:

Fow Móše prah ða hél.

PST.3SG.M Moshe meat ÐA eat.INF

It's meat that Moshe ate.

Noun phrase

Both nouns and adjectives inflect for definiteness, as follows:

• Singular: -as (after C) or -sr (after V)
• Plural: -il (replacing the plural suffix -r if any)

Examples:

• xadr = a room
• xadras = the room
• xadrør = rooms
• xadril = the rooms
• xadr grú = a big room
• xadras grú = the big room
• botr grulr = big houses
• botil grulr = the big houses

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

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 is suð.

Words for yes and no

• ens (from *amitt ze "this is truth") = present 'yes'
• aj (from ajjē "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

• re Parm pø laht = Parm is going, goes
• re Parm þax laht = Parm is about to go
• re Parm hár laht = Parm has gone
• re Parm hár juð pø laht = Parm has been going
• re Parm døš laht = Parm just went
• re Parm wén laht = Parm hasn't went
• fól Parm laht = Parm went
• þąf Parm laht = Parm will go
• Laht! = Go! (number neutral)
• Púþnu laht! = Let's go!

Complementizer

There is a complementizer mur /mo/ (from lēmūr) or jið /əð/ (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 ablas 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 'hence', bu 'hither' and kub 'with a person' are also common and may replace pronouns.

Vocabulary

Cubrite has the following vocabulary layers:

1. Most of the common words are inherited from 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 form earlier construct state 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'
• xeppin 'to like' from *śe'θ pin lit. 'lift the face of' meaning 'to favor'
• xettném (el) 'to look at' from *śe'θ 3ēnajim 'lift eyes'
• klalib 'conscience' from *qūl hal-lēbb lit. 'voice of the heart'

Some productive affixes are:

• pen-/ple- = agentive
  • pnar 'wolf' comes from pre-Cubrite *pen har 'son-of mountain'; a euphemism replacing Ancient Cubrite zēb
• peδ- = place noun
• pəd-/pd-/pl- = singulative of a collective noun
  • plą = tree, from *pett ya3r 'daughter of forest'
• -əl = transitivizer or causative of verbs (from a -w ~ -l alternation in some intransitive-transitive verb pairs)

Example texts

UDHR, Article 1

Hol plenšil bru'm lost bø xor e bø šow łøj akšoprepil e ðičomatil. Bru'm fkuð jax režún e glalib, e rem bø xett liðaléh jaxøm šúv pø nøšóm axwr.

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 understanding and conscience, and PRES.3PL PRES should behave with one_another with 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 lúl.
2. Wini pið em bø laht me mikkarrm, flu'm vrikk meštaxas Šinłar e ližešib feni.
3. Flu'm el šúv mur: "Púlé, púþnu fluð ambínr e latteb lévuð em." E fow ambínil low'm til abonr ða lúl, e ørgílas til mawtt.
4. Flu'm mur: "Púlé, púþnu benin krír lon nu e piri pøze, jąf ruš u ląluð laht šmémas, e nąf nu ða nawš nu dųšim! Oz nąf nu mul liðvasir łøj þó law þebwas."
5. Wini fow Kižas rost bu, há jąf u xettném el kríras e pirisr har ju plenšil bø benin.
6. Fow Kižas mur: "Łeðr flu'm laxel fluð suð til xóð ern har bø dapr xóð núm, hé mú mihšul mul el mádovr har jąflu'm zúm fluð!
7. "Púlé, púþnu rost laht e bawbil núm em, oz jąflu'm mul lábin núm šúv."
8. E me feni fow Kižas vasir em łøj þó law þebwas, e flu'm látul benin kríras.
9. Me jánas fu har kríras xár kaht šemas Babel -- šom fow Kižas bawbil núm þó law þebwas. Me šom fow Kižas vasir em łøj þó law þebwas.

Phrasebook

When three forms are given, the forms are respectively for addressing one male informally, one female informally, and multiple people or formal language.

• Šoløm! = Hello! / Goodbye!
• Xakr! = See you!
• Ebí Tem! = Welcome!
• Parg el Tem! = Thank you!
• imtsøhém Tem = Please (etym. if it finds favor in your eyes)
  • also plíz [pli:z] (from English)
• łeð tub [ŋɛθ tub] = have fun
• Ajmen šemas tkej to? = What's your name?
• Kej ni ða šemas [NAME] = My name is [NAME].