Mors

Sample Text

I. Phonology

I.1 Vowels

Practical Orthography

X-Sampa

	Front	Central	Back
High	i	i	u
Mid	e	Λ	o
Low		a

	Front	Central	Back
High	i	1	u
Mid	e	@	o
Low		a

I.2 Consonants

Practical Orthography

X-Sampa

	Labial	Dental	Apico-Palatal	Lamino-Palatal	Velar
Vcd Plosive	b	d	j	ĵ	g
Vcless Plosive	p	t	c	č	k
Vcd Fricative	v		z	ž
Vcless Fricative	f	þ	s	š	x
Liquid	m	n	l	r

	Labial	Dental	Apico-Palatal	Lamino-Palatal	Velar
Vcd Plosive	b	d_[	J\	d_Z ~ J\_m	g
Vcless Plosive	p	t_[	c	t_S ~ c_m	k
Vcd Fricative	v		z	Z
Vcless Fricative	f	T	s	S	x
Liquid	m	n_[	l	r

I.3 Remarks

Syllable canon is (C)(C)V(F|L)C, where L is any liquid, F is any homorganic fricative.
The following phonetic processes occur exceptionlessly:
- word-final consonants are devoiced
- voicing spreads right-to-left from obstruents to other consonants

I.4 Morphophonology

There are a variety of phonological processes that occur at morpheme boundaries. These only apply across boundaries. For example, the process ti > ci applied to tit+i would give tici (and not cici).

Rules:

{t,d,s,z,k,g}>{c,j,š,ž,č,ĵ} / _ {i,e}
{i,u}>{e,o} / _ {c,j,š,ž,č,ĵ}
V₁>_ / VC_(C)V₁
l>þ / _ C where C is any voiceless obstruent
{i,u}Λ > {e,o}
V₁V₂ > V₂
l>{f,v} / V_C, where voicing is assimilatory
xu>fu
xi>ši
us>uf
is>ic
is>ic
ix>is
in>iš / _ {#,C}
vi>zi
þi>si
þi>si

I.5 Notation

We will use the following notation:

{...} indicates the underlying form before any morphophonemic or phonetic processes have taken place
/.../ indicates the form after morphophonemic processes have occurred but before final phonetic processes have applied. This is the written form.
[...] indicates the final (surface) phonetic form.

For example, we would have

[fšΛkΛt bĵeldvaft gvibnočisa]
/fšΛkΛt bĵeldvavd gvibnočisa/
{fšΛk-Λt bĵeldva-ld gva-ibno-k-isa}
cat-THE.I-(S.ABS) bird-PL.INSTR OVER-eat-PAST.I-REFL
The cat ate its fill of birds.

II. Nominal Morphology

Definite articles are attached to nouns and (modifying) adjectives after case endings.

Definite Article

	Class I	Class II
Sing.	-Λt	-a
Pauc.	-Λta	-i
Plur.	-Λti	-aš

There are two noun classes with differing declensional patters. Adjectives decline differently according to the class of the noun they are modifying.

Nouns, Class I

Adjectives, Class I

	Singular	Paucal	Plural
Ergative	-š	-aš	-iš
Absolutive	--	-a	-i
Dative	-mb	-amb	-imb
Genitive	-i	-ia	-ii
Partitive	-ks	-aks	-iks
Oblique	-o	-os	-io
Ablative	-xa	-xa	-ixa
Allative	-xu	-xa	-ixu
Locative	-x	-xa	-ix
Instrumental	-ž	-až	-iž
Essive	-þ	-aþ	-iþ

	Singular	Paucal	Plural
Ergative	-s	-s	-is
Absolutive	-u	-u	-u
Dative	-m	-m	-im
Genitive	-i	-i	-i
Partitive	-k	-k	-ik
Oblique	-o	-o	-o
Ablative	-x	-x	-ix
Allative	-x	-x	-ix
Locative	-x	-x	-ix
Instrumental	-z	-z	-iz
Essive	-þ	-þ	-þ

Examples:

fšΛk(o) = cat (class I); þaxΛ = big

Indefinite

Definite

	Singular	Paucal	Plural
Ergative	þaxΛs fšΛkoš	þaxΛs fšΛkaš	þaxis fšΛčiš
Absolutive	þaxu fšΛk	þaxu fšΛka	þaxu fšΛči
Dative	þaxΛm fšΛkomb	þaxΛm fšΛkamb	þaxim fšΛčimb
Genitive	þaxi fšΛči	þaxi fšΛča	þaxi fšΛči
Partitive	þaxΛk fšΛkoks	þaxΛk fšΛkaks	þaxik fšΛčiks
Oblique	þaxo fšΛko	þaxo fšΛkos	þaxo fšΛčo
Ablative	þaxΛx fšΛkxa	þaxΛx fšΛkxa	þaxix fšΛčixa
Allative	þaxΛx fšΛkxu	þaxΛx fšΛkxa	þaxix fšΛčixu
Locative	þaxΛx fšΛkox	þaxΛx fšΛkxa	þaxix fšΛčix
Instrumental	þaxΛz fšΛkož	þaxΛz fšΛkaž	þaxiz fšΛčiž
Essive	þaxΛþ fšΛkoþ	þaxΛþ fšΛkaþ	þaxΛþ fšΛčiþ

Singular	Paucal	Plural
þaxsΛt fšΛkšΛt	þaxsΛta fšΛkašΛta	þaxisΛti fšΛčišΛti
þaxot fšΛkΛt	þaxota fšΛkΛta	þaxoti fšΛčΛti
þaxmΛt fšΛkombΛt	þaxmΛta fšΛkambΛta	þaximΛti fšΛčimbΛti
þaxet fšΛčΛt	þaxeta fšΛčΛta	þaxeti fšΛčΛti
þaxkΛt fšΛkoksΛt	þaxkΛta fšΛkaksΛta	þaxikΛtifšΛčiksΛti
þaxΛt fšΛkΛt	þaxΛta fšΛkosΛta	þaxΛti fšΛčΛti
þaxxΛt fšΛkxΛt	þaxxΛta fšΛkoxΛta	þaxixΛti fšΛčixΛti
þaxxΛt fšΛkxΛt	þaxxΛta fšΛkoxΛta	þaxixΛti fšΛčixΛti
þaxxΛt fšΛkxΛt	þaxxΛta fšΛkoxΛta	þaxixΛti fšΛčixΛti
þaxzΛt fšΛkžΛt	þaxzΛta fšΛkažΛta	þaxizΛti fšΛčižΛti
þaxþΛt fšΛkþΛt	þaxþΛta fšΛkaþΛta	þaxþΛti fšΛčiþΛti

Nouns, Class II

Adjectives, Class II

	Singular	Paucal	Plural
Ergative	-f	-þ	-vi
Absolutive	-c	-č	-ĵ
Dative	-mo	-no	-no
Genitive	-Vn	-Λn	-in
Partitive	-n	-n	-n
Oblique	-rΛ	-zΛ	-li
Ablative	-xa	-þa	-þa
Allative	-xu	-þu	-þu
Locative	-x	-þ	-þi
Instrumental	-lt	-Λl	-ld
Essive	-þo	-þo	-þo

	Singular	Paucal	Plural
Ergative	-f	-f	-v
Absolutive	-c	-c	-č
Dative	-n	-n	-n
Genitive	-n	-n	-in
Partitive	-n	-n	-in
Oblique	-r	-z	-l
Ablative	-x	-þ	-þ
Allative	-x	-þ	-þ
Locative	-x	-þ	-iþ
Instrumental	-l	-Λl	-ld
Essive	--	-z	-z

III. Verbal Morphology

Verbs are marked by: ...

	-
-	-?
-	-?
-	-?

IV. Syntax

Basic xxx word order, with a ... order.
A typical declarative sentence would have the form: "SUBJECT_NP OBJECT_NP VERB."

V. Examples

fšΛkšΛt bĵeldgvač jibnok. The cat ate some birds.
fšΛkΛt bĵeldvavd gvibnočisa. The cat ate its fill of birds.
gvibnosisa! / gvibnoþisa!. Stuff yourself! / Stuff yourselves!
bĵeldvaca ibnotuf þni oštitu. The bird was eating when it arrived. {bĵeldva-c-a ibno-tu-s þni os-iti-tu}
þaxΛca bĵeldvaca.... the big bird...
þaxΛfa bĵeldvaþi ibnotu zuxiĵ (zuxiš) þni znititu. The big birds were eating flies when they left.
fšΛkšΛt jibnujit bĵeldvaĵaš. The cat is eating up all the birds.
fšΛkšΛt þem ibnot bĵeldvaĵ. The cat is not eating the birds.
fšΛkšΛt þol ibnot bĵeldvan. The cat isn't/wouldn't eat(ing) the birds.

VI. Sample Lexicon

Nouns

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Apollo Hogan, Berkeley, California, USA