Roshterian
| Roshterian | |
|---|---|
| oṟbiros̱ṯerim | |
| Pronunciation | [/ɔɻbɪɾɔʂʈɛˈɾɪm/] |
| Created by | IlL |
| Setting | Hussmauch |
| Native speakers | 5.1 million (about as much as Finnish) (fT 7E0dd) |
| Official status | |
Official language in | Roshteria |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | qrh |
Introduction
Roshterian /rɒʃˈtɛriən/ (native name: oṟbiros̱ṯerim /ɔɻbɪɾɔʂʈɛˈɾɪm/ 'The Roshterian language', ros̱ṯer from older *rosker- 'front, east') is a Talmic language spoken in Northeastern Cuadhlabh. It is an official language of Roshteria (Qaaros̱ṯerim) and is the native language of 5.1 million people, most of which live in Roshteria. Among Cuadhlabhians, it is known for its unusual (for a Cuadhlabhian language) grammar: it is a head-initial, polysynthetic language in which verbs use polypersonal agreement, evidentials, applicative constructions and noun incorporation.
Todo
Affix fusion rules!!!
Add more diphthongs?
- Qateidoos̱an fan qamixuuperen. = 'I want to go with you but I can't.'
- doon = go
- func = page
- caamu = 'wife'
- ooxus = 'wave'
- roṉḏ, roṉḏo- /rɔɳɖ/ = man (male) (*rondwom?)
- breit, breity- /brɛɪt/ (< boni-teit 'AGT-child') = woman
- bo- = profession
- bopenicili-, bopenicili /bopɛnikiˈli/ = penicillin player
- nys̱-, henys̱ /hɛˈnəʂ/ = water, liquid
- nys̱ṉoq = sauce (noqa-, noq = 'top')
- nys̱oox̱i = fruit juice
- viip = eye
- nys̱viip = tears
- qeqeqeqeqe... = (laughter or snickering)
- hox̱i-, hoox̱i = fruit
- qaaṟan = laugh
Numbers
TODO: Combining forms, ordinals, distributives
- 1: peem, peemy-
- 2: tixu, tixu-
- 3: naṟg, naṟ-
- 4: loob, loo-
- 5: helix, lix- (regular reflex *holix)
- 6: ṯiam
- 7: ruad
- 8: loṟ
- 9: baṟ
- 10: ḡiṟ
- 11: hunai
- 12: nai
Phonology
Among Talmic languages, Roshterian phonology is notable for its retroflex consonants, lateral fricatives and multiple liquids.
Consonants
| Labial | Dental/Alveolar | Retroflex | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| central | lateral | central | lateral | ||||||
| Nasal | m /m/ | n /n̪/ | ṉ /ɳ/ | [ŋ] | [ɴ] | ||||
| Stop | voiceless | p /p/ | t /t̪/ | ṯ /ʈ/ | c /k/ | q /q/ | |||
| voiced | b /b/ | d /d̪/ | ḏ /ɖ/ | g /g/ | |||||
| Continuant | voiceless | f /f/ | s /s̪/ | x /ɬ̪/ | s̱ /ʂ/ | x̱ /ɬʵ/ | h /h/ | ||
| voiced | v /v/ | r /ɾ/ | l /l/ | ṟ /ɻ/ | ḻ /ɭ/ | ḡ /ʁ/ | |||
j /j/ and z /z/ are used in loanwords.
Northeastern dialects of Roshterian fail to distinguish /ɬ̪/ from /ɬʵ/.
- Notes
- The voiceless stops /p t̪ ʈ k q/ are normally aspirated to the same degree as Japanese voiceless stops; however, they are unaspirated after fricatives. (In this article /t̪/ will be transcribed /t/ for sake of convenience.)
- [ŋ] and [ɴ] are allophones of /n̪/ before velar and uvular consonants, respectively.
- /ɾ/ can be an alveolar flap [ɾ], an apical retroflex flap [ɽ], or trilled [r].
- /ɳ ʈ ɖ ɭ ɬʵ/ can be realized as apical (like Hindi retroflexes) or subapical (like Tamil retroflexes). The apical realization dominates in casual speech, while the subapical realization occurs more in careful speech. After /ʂ/, /ʈ/ is always apical.
- /ʂ/ is laminal post-alveolar [s̠].
- /ɻ/ can be post-alveolar [ɹ̠] or truly retroflex [ɻ].
- /ʁ/ is a voiced uvular fricative [ʁ] or a trill [ʀ].
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| short | long | short | long | short | long | |
| Close | i /ɪ/ | ii /iː/ | u /ʊ/ | uu /uː/ | ||
| Mid | e /ɛ/ | ee /eː/ | y /ə/ | yy /əː/ | o /ɔ/ | oo /oː/ |
| Open | a /a/ | aa /aː/ | ||||
In addition, the following diphthongs are used: ⟨ai ei ia au ua oi iu⟩ /aɪ ɛɪ iə ɛʊ uə ɔɪ ɪʊ/
- Notes
- /ɪ, iː/ are centralized after retroflex consonants to [ɪ̈, ɨː]; for example, ṉii 'big' is pronounced [ɳɨː]
Stress
There is no phonemic stress or tone; however, all words are pronounced with word-final stress.
Phonotactics
Roshterian allows relatively few clusters compared to e.g. Thensarian, but more clusters than Nurian.
Allowed clusters:
- Not allowed initially: mp, mb, nt, nd, ṉṯ, ṉḏ, nc, ng, nq, nḡ, lp, lt, lc, ḻq, lb, ld, lg, ḻḡ, rp, rt, ṟṯ, rc, rq, rb, rd, rg, rḡ, rm, rn, st, s̱ṯ, sc, s̱q, ṟb, ṟḏ, ṟg, ts, tx, ṟm, ṟḏ, ṟḻ
- Allowed initially: pl, pr, bl, br, fl, fr, vl, vr, tr, ṯṟ, dr, ḏṟ, cl, cr, gl, gr
Sandhi
Sound changes
The most significant changes characterizing Roshterian are coalescing and altering of consonant clusters, often creating retroflex consonants.
- kw, gw > p, b
- *ā > ia (*nā > nia 'I'); *ō > ua; *au > ô; *ou > û; *ū > ii
- *qʷ > /χʷ/ > /ɧ/ > s̱; *ʁʷ > /ζ/ > ṟ
- ʁʷelinə ("6 parts [of 12]") > ṟelin 'half'
- *nw, tw, dw, sw, łw, lw, rw > ṉ, ṯ, ḏ, s̱, x̱, ḻ, ṟ /ɳ, ʈ, ɖ, ʂ, ɬ̠, ʐ~ɻ~ɭ, ʐ~ɻ~ɭ/
- gʷałwā > bax̱i 'neck, throat' ~ Thn. gaθuā 'throat (also language)'
- *sl-, sm-, sn- > ḻ-, m-, ṉ-
- *sɸ-, sr-, sw- > s̱-, ṟ-, s̱-
- *st, sk, skʷ, sq > t-/st, ṯ-/s̱ṯ-, v-/sv-, q-/s̱q
- stas- > tetsil 'gathering' (~ Thn. Stasnyssōs)
- skəttā > ṯyyti 'body' ~ Thn. scyttā
- *bastom > bast 'king' ~ Thn. bastom 'head'
- *sb, sd, sg > ṟb, ṟḏ, ṟg
- *nasg- > naṟg '3'
- *φn, tn, φl, tl > /ːn, s-/ts, ːɬ, kl/
- łnāgin > xiagin 'I believe' ~ Thn. θnāginis
- oφlutsus > ooxus 'wave'
- *kt, qt > /jt, ːʈ/
- *tektə > teit /teit/ 'child'
- *neqtə > neeṯ /neːʈ/ 'cloud'
- *ks, qs > /js, ːʂ/
- *kn, gn, kʷn, gʷn, qn, ql, qr > /jn, jn, :m, :m, :ɳ, :ɻ, :ɻ/ (with **/uj/ > /uː/ )
- sφugnus > s̱uun 'root' ~ Thn. sφugnus
- leqnos > leeṉ 'river' ~ Thn. leānos?
- qrīdis > ṟiid 'knife' ~ Thn. ȝrīdis 'edge'
- gʷnūnum > miin 'scar' ~ Thn. gnūnum 'scar', Tíogall gnúinte 'remains'
- *φj, tj, kj, qj > pt s s-/ts ḡ
- *φ-, j-, s- > h-
- *skj, stj > ṯ-/s̱ṯ, s-/ːs
- final short vowels lost; final -m, -r, -s, -t lost; final long vowels shorten (ia, ua > i, u)
- i-affection: The following changes affect V1 in sequences of the form V1 + consonant cluster + ultimate (*i/*ī/*j) unless the consonant cluster after V1 contains a retroflex consonant.
- a > e
- e > i
- Stress shifts to final
- Some combining forms and combined forms are altered due to the stress shift - conjunct forms for verbs arise when there is an antepenultimate syllable
Morphology
Verbs
Each verb has 3 principal parts: the progressive stem, the habitual stem and the preterite stem.
Object incorporation
Verb stems have a combining form, also called the incorporating form, which is used with object markers, negation or incorporated objects. Any noun stem can be incorporated, including proper nouns.
hoox̱iis̱yn 'eat fruit' < hoox̱i 'fruit' + caasyn 'eat'
Verb template
The Roshterian verb has 8 slots which mark a variety of grammatical information. Slots that must be filled are in bold.
- discourse
- evidentiality
- negation/focus
- causative person marker
- object person marker
- incorporated noun
- ROOT
- passive marker
- auxiliary
- subject+aspect
Discourse markers
Evidentiality affixes
Evidentials mark the source of the speaker's information; a lack of evidential marking signals that the verb is an imperative or a purpose clause. Other discourse affixes also go into this slot.
- qa-: I witnessed or otherwise directly experienced this
- pyn-: information I obtained from hearsay or am quoting
- dre-: a third-party source I consider credible
- mei-: my own inference, assumption or subjective opinion
- hy- (< PTal *səni stə... 'tell me that...'): interrogative (used for both wh-questions and yes-no questions)
Negative/focus affixes
Negation is marked with the negative affix mis- or mi-, which may alter the verb stem to its incorporating form.
There's also focused affirmative ("yes, X is true") and focused negative ("no, X isn't true") affixes, used e.g. when answering questions.
- Negative: mi(s)-
- Focused affirmative: be-
- Focused negative: tir-
Causative person markers
The causative prefixes are used in causative verbs to index the agent causing the action of the object-ROOT-subject complex. The causative person marker comes from forms of the verb oona 'to do/make' (*oonan sy 'I make it that' > oony- > ony-).
For example:
- Qonypicaasym.
- /qonəpikaːˈsəm/
- qa-ony-pi-caasy-m
- DIR-CAUS.1SG-OBJ.4-eat-PROG.SUBJ.3SG.M
- I'm feeding it to him.
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ony- | ome- |
| 1 + 2 | - | onty- |
| 2 | ory- | ofy- |
| 3 (male) | omy- | oty- |
| 3 (female) | osy- | |
| 3 (inanimate) | oo- | |
| 4 (obviative) | opy- | |
| Who? | ote- | |
| What? | ota- | |
Object person markers
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ni- | mee- |
| 1 + 2 | - | xee- |
| 2 | ti- | hee- |
| 3 (proximate) | bi- | nee- |
| 4 (obviative) | pi- | |
| Whom?/Someone | tei- | |
| What?/Something | taa- | |
Subject+TAM markers
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Habitual indicative: Reduplicate the progressive indicative with Ce-. (the reduplicant can be irregular) |
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Voice affixes
- -ron = passive suffix
Auxiliaries
- -dunqan: 'I must/have to' (negated: 'I don't have to')
- -peren: 'I can/I'm able to'
- -ṯysin: 'I may/I have permission to' (negated: 'I must not')
- -s̱an: 'I want to/intend to'
Copula
To express "is a [NOUN]" or "is [ADJ]", the copula -(l)uan is suffixed to the bare stem of X; X plus the copula then goes to the normal stem slot for purposes of verb inflection. The noun itself doesn't go into the plural even when the subject is plural.
- Lameiteitutu.
- la-mei-teit-utu
- merely-INFERRED-child-COP.PRES.3PL
- In my opinion, they are mere children.
- Hyroṉḏuar, hybreituar?
- Hy-roṉḏ-uar, hy-breit-uar
- Q-man-COP.2SG, Q-woman-COP.PRES.2SG
- Are you a man or a woman?
When the copula is added on nouns without an evidential, it emphasizes the noun or simply indicates the tense of an action (either past or non-past).
- Meixuumi bastaim.
- mei-xuu-mi bast-aim
- INFERRED-do-3SG.M.PFV king-COP.PST.3SG.M
- It was apparently the king who did it. / The king apparently did it.
Inflection
The copula is suppletive; it also has only non-past indicative and past indicative forms.
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Nouns
Nouns are marked with a singular-plural distinction, and may also take possessive suffixes. However, the lemma form of a noun is typically its combining form, which is the incorporated form of a noun and is also used to form possessed forms and compounds. Unlike in Thensarian and its descendants, the Proto-Talmic grammatical gender was lost; gendered pronouns and verb affixes no longer mark grammatical gender, but natural gender (as in Naquian). There is no article.
The plural form is inherited from the Proto-Talmic reduplicated collective; some irregularities may be present due to the retention of the original single consonant in the reduplicant, as opposed to the stem-initial cluster where the consonants interacted to produce new consonants and clusters.
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Demonstrative suffixes
Deixis or demonstratives (such as 'this' or 'that') are marked with a suffix added to the combining form of the noun.
- this: -ma
- that: -pa
Adjectives
Predicative adjectives work the same way as predicative nouns in that they must take the copula. Attributive adjectives, on the other hand, are compounded after the noun.
- bryn 'red': Brynua hoged. 'The apple is red.'; hoodibryn 'red apple'
- ṉii 'big': Ṉiilua huaryn. 'My house is big.'; huaryṉii 'big house'
- ros̱ṯerim 'Roshterian': Ros̱ṯerimutu. 'They're Roshterian.'; Qaaros̱ṯerim 'Roshteria' (lit. 'Roshterian country')
Prepositions
Prepositions are inflected for person similarly to nouns; when a preposition is followed by a noun, the preposition must take the corresponding 3rd or 4th person suffix.
- di- = 'in'
- le- = 'towards, to'
Pronouns
Personal pronouns
Independent pronouns are not used except for emphasis.
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | nia | iam |
| 1 + 2 | pyd | |
| 2 | veer | cyvi |
| 3 (masculine) | hiim | sia |
| 3 (feminine) | hii | |
| 3 (inanimate) | ha | |
| 4 (obviative) | pii | |
Demonstrative pronouns
Independent demonstratives look like:
- this: amac
- that: apac
Interrogatives
Syntax
Roshterian is a verb-initial, head-marking polysynthetic language. Verbs take both subject and object affixes, and complex morphophonemic alternations are common. Where Roshterian deviates from typical Cuadhlabh (or even Talmic) typology are features such as obviation, noun incorporation and evidential marking, making Roshterian resemble Native American languages such as Blackfoot or Ojibwe.
- Qatiraḏan.
- /qat̪ɪraˈɖan/
- qa-ti-raḏa-n
- EVID_DIR-2SG.OBJ-love-1SG.SUBJ
- I love you.
Possession
"X of Y" = X-3SG Y or X-Y (e.g. veinyti clofabim 'the Clofabian's brother' or xafut huar = 'the color of the house')