Mors

Sample Text

I. Phonology

I.1 Vowels

Practical Orthography

X-Sampa

	Front	Central	Back
High	i	y	u
Mid	e	q	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	jh	g
Vcless Plosive	p	t	c	ch	k
Vcd Fricative	v		z	zh
Vcless Fricative	f	th	s	sh	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,sh,zh,ch,jh} / _ {i,e}
{i,u}>{e,o} / _ {c,j,sh,zh,ch,jh}
V₁>_ / VC_(C)V₁
l>th / _ C where C is any voiceless obstruent
{i,u}q > {e,o}
V₁V₂ > V₂
l>{f,v} / V_C, where voicing is assimilatory
xu>fu
xi>shi
us>uf
is>ic
is>ic
ix>is
in>ish / _ {#,C}
vi>zi
thi>si
thi>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

[fshqkqt bjheldvaft gvibnochisa]
/fshqkqt bjheldvavd gvibnochisa/
{fshqk-qt bjheldva-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.	-qt	-a
Pauc.	-qta	-i
Plur.	-qti	-ash

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	-sh	-ash	-ish
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	-zh	-azh	-izh
Essive	-th	-ath	-ith

	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	-th	-th	-th

Examples:

fshqk(o) = cat (class I); thaxq = big

Indefinite

Definite

	Singular	Paucal	Plural
Ergative	thaxqs fshqkosh	thaxqs fshqkash	thaxis fshqchish
Absolutive	thaxu fshqk	thaxu fshqka	thaxu fshqchi
Dative	thaxqm fshqkomb	thaxqm fshqkamb	thaxim fshqchimb
Genitive	thaxi fshqchi	thaxi fshqcha	thaxi fshqchi
Partitive	thaxqk fshqkoks	thaxqk fshqkaks	thaxik fshqchiks
Oblique	thaxo fshqko	thaxo fshqkos	thaxo fshqcho
Ablative	thaxqx fshqkxa	thaxqx fshqkxa	thaxix fshqchixa
Allative	thaxqx fshqkxu	thaxqx fshqkxa	thaxix fshqchixu
Locative	thaxqx fshqkox	thaxqx fshqkxa	thaxix fshqchix
Instrumental	thaxqz fshqkozh	thaxqz fshqkazh	thaxiz fshqchizh
Essive	thaxqth fshqkoth	thaxqth fshqkath	thaxqth fshqchith

Singular	Paucal	Plural
thaxsqt fshqkshqt	thaxsqta fshqkashqta	thaxisqti fshqchishqti
thaxot fshqkqt	thaxota fshqkqta	thaxoti fshqchqti
thaxmqt fshqkombqt	thaxmqta fshqkambqta	thaximqti fshqchimbqti
thaxet fshqchqt	thaxeta fshqchqta	thaxeti fshqchqti
thaxkqt fshqkoksqt	thaxkqta fshqkaksqta	thaxikqtifshqchiksqti
thaxqt fshqkqt	thaxqta fshqkosqta	thaxqti fshqchqti
thaxxqt fshqkxqt	thaxxqta fshqkoxqta	thaxixqti fshqchixqti
thaxxqt fshqkxqt	thaxxqta fshqkoxqta	thaxixqti fshqchixqti
thaxxqt fshqkxqt	thaxxqta fshqkoxqta	thaxixqti fshqchixqti
thaxzqt fshqkzhqt	thaxzqta fshqkazhqta	thaxizqti fshqchizhqti
thaxthqt fshqkthqt	thaxthqta fshqkathqta	thaxthqti fshqchithqti

Nouns, Class II

Adjectives, Class II

	Singular	Paucal	Plural
Ergative	-f	-th	-vi
Absolutive	-c	-ch	-jh
Dative	-mo	-no	-no
Genitive	-Vn	-qn	-in
Partitive	-n	-n	-n
Oblique	-rq	-zq	-li
Ablative	-xa	-tha	-tha
Allative	-xu	-thu	-thu
Locative	-x	-th	-thi
Instrumental	-lt	-ql	-ld
Essive	-tho	-tho	-tho

	Singular	Paucal	Plural
Ergative	-f	-f	-v
Absolutive	-c	-c	-ch
Dative	-n	-n	-n
Genitive	-n	-n	-in
Partitive	-n	-n	-in
Oblique	-r	-z	-l
Ablative	-x	-th	-th
Allative	-x	-th	-th
Locative	-x	-th	-ith
Instrumental	-l	-ql	-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

fshqkshqt bjheldgvach jibnok. The cat ate some birds.
fshqkqt bjheldvavd gvibnochisa. The cat ate its fill of birds.
gvibnosisa! / gvibnothisa!. Stuff yourself! / Stuff yourselves!
bjheldvaca ibnotuf thni oshtitu. The bird was eating when it arrived. {bjheldva-c-a ibno-tu-s thni os-iti-tu}
thaxqca bjheldvaca.... the big bird...
thaxqfa bjheldvathi ibnotu zuxijh (zuxish) thni znititu. The big birds were eating flies when they left.
fshqkshqt jibnujyt bjheldvajhash. The cat is eating up all the birds.
fshqkshqt them ibnot bjheldvajh. The cat is not eating the birds.
fshqkshqt thol ibnot bjheldvan. The cat isn't/wouldn't eat(ing) the birds.

VI. Sample Lexicon

Nouns

Main Conlang Page

Apollo Hogan, Berkeley, California, USA