Segments 03 (October 2021) Nouns - Rconlangs v1.1

Segments.
A Journal of
Constructed Languages
Noun Constructions
Issue 03
October 2021
Preface
Welcome to Segments, A Journal of Constructed Languages, and the official publication of
the /r/conlangs subreddit team. Within this journal, you will find articles produced by
members of our community.
This Issue is focused on Noun Constructions. Conlangers were invited to submit articles
about their conlangs and how nouns function in them. They were encouraged to write about
nominal systems, noun phrases, gender and class systems, non‐canonical uses for nouns,
and more!
We hope you enjoy this Issue, and we hope you will add your voice and perspective to future
Issues in order to make Segments an even more wonderful and comprehensive resource!
Please email [email protected] if you would like to contribute.

Acknowledgements
We would like to send a heartfelt thank you to our wonderful community for supporting this
creative endeavor. To our contributors, without whom Segments would never be the
success that it has been! To our team of editors, who spent countless hours reading through
submissions and giving feedback and suggestions to our contributors. To our formatters,
who worked tirelessly to LATEXify documents and troubleshoot the publication. To our
readers, for their support and encouragement. To all involved with Segments, thank you for
making it the amazing community resource it is!
Lastly, a special thanks to Akam Chinjir, who helped clean up our LATEX code for this Issue!
Peace, Love, & Conlanging
‐ Segments Team
Segments.
Noun
Constructions
r/conlangs
A Journal of
Constructed Languages
Showcases
01 | Stripping in gan Minhó . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
02 | The Mwanelẹ Noun Phrase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
03 | On Feeling Things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
04 | Nouns in Ŋarâþ Crîþ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
05 | Of Nouns in Òzém . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
06 | Noun Phrases in Wochanisep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
07 | Nominal morphosyntax in Pigáxio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
08 | Akiatu's definite article . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
09 | Africana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
10 | Izlodian noun cases and their uses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
11 | Pronouns in Laidzín . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
12 | More than Five: Grammatical Number in Wistanian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
13 | Aedian Definiteness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
14 | Honorifics in Osana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
15 | Class and Case in Bjark'ümii . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Challenges
16 | Maryannic Oblique Noun Phrases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

17 | Nonverbal Predication in Seoina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
18 | Patterns of Reduplication in Mā Sip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Abbreviations
CEL Celestial gender

1 First person
CHOICE Choice question
2 Second person
CL Classifier
3 Third person
CMP Comparative
ABL Ablative
COL Collective
ABS Absolutive
COLL.O Collective O of postposition
ACC Accusative
COM Comitative
ACT Active
COND Conditional
ADESS Adessive
CONJ Conjunction
ADJ Adjective
COP Copula
ADV Adverb
DAT Dative
AGN Agentive
DEF Definite
ALL Allative
DEM Demonstrative
AN Animate
DET Determiner
AND Andative
DIM Diminutive
AOR Aorist
DIS Distal/Distant
APV Antipassive
DP Discourse particle
ATTR Attributive
DS Different-subject
AUG Augmentative
DU Dual
AUX Auxiliary
ERG Ergative
C Complementizer
EXCL Exclusive
CAUS Causative
EXCM Exclamative
CDARG Retained argument in compara-
tive F Feminine
FAM Familiar MED Medial
FOR Formal MID Middle voice
FUT Future N Neuter
GC Generic number NAME Personal Name
GEN Genitive NEG Negative
GER Gerund NMLZ Nominalizer
H Human NOM Nominative
HUM Human gender NOM.FUT Nominal future
IDEO Ideophone NOM.PST Nominal past
IMP Imperative NONSP Nonspecific
INAN Inanimate NPST Nonpast
INCL Inclusive NTR Intransitive
IND Indicative NVL Nonvolitional
INDEF Indefinite OBL Oblique
INE Inessive OBV Obviative
INF Infinitive OPT Optative
INS Instantive ORD Ordinal
INSTR Instrumental ORG Origin
INT Intermediate tense ORN Ornative
INV Inverse PA Paucal
IPFV Imperfective PCP Participle
IRR Irrealis PFV Perfective
JUSS Jussive PL Plural
LCN Location Agreement PN Pronoun, Proper noun
LK Linker prefix POS Possessive
LNK Linker POSR Possessor
LOC Locative POSS Possession
LONG Long numeral POSSD Possessed
M Masculine POT Potential

PP Preposition Phrase REL Relative
PRET Preterite RLS Realis
PRF Perfect R/R Reflexive/reciprocal
PRIV Privative RVS Reversative
PROG Progressive S Subject
PROX Proximal SBJV Subjunctive
PRS Present SEMBLII Semblative II
PST Past SG Singular
PSV Passive SHORT Short numeral
PTV Partitive SS Same-subject
PV Preverb TER Terrestrial gender
Q Interrogative TERM Terminative
QUOT Quotative TOP Topic
RDP Reduplication TRNS Translative
REC Recent/Near tense V Verb
RECIP Reciprocal VEN Venitive
REFL Reflexive VOC Vocative

Showcases
01 Stripping in gan Minhó
by mareck
No, not like that
Since the last article was on roots in gan Minhó, which are the most noun-verby thing
in the language, this article is about a specific process that roots undergo and its various
applications.
Introduction
Object stripping is a phenomenon in some Oceanic languages that is similar to canonical
noun incorporation in many regards, in which the object of a verb is “stripped” of some
normally-occurring element. Much of my research is taken from Kenneth L. Miner’s Ob-
ject stripping in some Oceanic languages, in which he primarily discusses stripping in Ulithian
(although he also has one on Zuni, which apparently exhibits both stripping and noun in-
corporation proper).
In Ulithian, a noun normally occurs with one or more “definiteness elements”: demon-
stratives, possessive classifiers, and so on. Stripping removes such element(s), the noun
mandatorily occurring bare, and takes on some broader, “indefinite” semantics. It is, how-
ever, still separate from the verb.
In gan Minhó, a similar process occurs: arguments (the most noun-like usage of roots)
almost always occur with a determiner (DET), which instantiates the root as a count rather
than a mass entity. The removal of the determiner has a handful of functions which, to be
honest, I feel like I haven’t used to the fullest extent (not that I conlang much anyways…).
Anyways, the following sections are basically copied verbatim from the full grammar of
gan Minhó, with small edits for the sake of Segments.
Page 1
gan Minhó
Stripping
Stripping is a syntactic process by which an argument root is “stripped” of its determiner
and any inflection it may have, and is juxtaposed against its predicate; however, the two
roots still behave as independent roots phonologically and prosodically. Generally, only
object arguments and obliques may be stripped; and among these, it is most often patient-
like arguments.
When an argument is stripped, it decreases the transitivity of the predicate against which it
is juxtaposed: transitive predicates become intransitive, and intransitive predicates (some-
times) become impersonal, taking no arguments. In the former, the strippee (i.e., the
stripped argument) is placed directly after the predicate; in the latter, it is placed directly
before the predicate (when impersonal).
Stripping has four main uses: derivational, non-specific, raising, and backgrounding.
Derivational stripping is lexical; non-specific and raising stripping are syntactic; and back-
grounding stripping is pragmatic. Generally, stripping is used more in natural speech rather
than elicited speech and writing.
Derivational
Derivational stripping consists of lexicalized predicate-strippee pairs, called bipartite roots.
Bipartite roots are often used to form habitual, job-like events, or impersonal weather-like
roots. They may also be used to form entities, often collective or generic in nature. They
are similar in function in compounds proper, but are composed of independent roots.
There are also a few set bipartite roots that are composed of two roots that are synonymous
or near-synonymous; weather-type roots are usually of this kind. They may be a pair of a
native root and a loaned root with similar meanings, or even the same root reduplicated;
such roots are often of the collective entity type.
Compare:
(1) no dv́ppvdi gan màsa (2) no dv́bvdi màsa

no túppuk kan màsa no túpuk màsa
1 preserve DET bear meat 1 preserve bear meat
“I am drying some bear meat” “I am making bear jerky”
“I am bearmeat-drying”
The latter expresses a more job-like activity (e.g., producing bear jerky as a job or hobby),
and may also put more emphasis on the product of the event rather than the event itself.
For weather-like events:
(3) mùhmidi ssassas

mùhmiti ssassas
be raining heavy rain
“(there is) heavy rain”
“heavy rain is occurring”
Page 2
Wherein the stripped ideophonic root ssassas ‘sound of heavy rain’ serves to narrow the
meaning of the predicate mùhmi ‘precipitate’. Either root could also be used independently
to express the same or a broader meaning.
And collective entities:
(4) sa thìma gan
sa thìma kan
DET deity deity
“gods; deities; natural forces”
Collective entity bipartite roots are generally non-productive, or only marginally so, being
produced primarily with native-loan pairs. Forming such roots via bipartite reduplication
is a bit more productive, especially among younger speakers; however, these also tend to
become compounds proper.
Weather-like bipartite roots are more lexicalized, consisting of a weather root (often mùhmi)
and an ideophone describing the weather more narrowly.
Job-like bipartite roots are more productive, consisting of some activity associated with
a profession and the typical patient of such activity. Even more general event roots may
be formed as bipartite roots using a general predicate such as gen or nmsa. As a general
rule, gen ‘be done, made’ is used to form more dynamic predicates, while nmsa ‘be in a more
prominent position’ forms more state-like predicates.
(5) genga mange (6) nmsak szgí

kenka manke nusak
do writing be in a more prominent position
“write; be a writer; write (as a job sɯkí
or hobby)” flower crown
“wear a flower crown; routinely
wear a flower crown”
Job-like bipartite roots often have some overlap with other habitual constructions, such
as auxiliary posture roots. They may often be derived freely, especially using the general
bipartite root constructions (using gen or nmsa).
Nonspecific
Non-specific stripping strips and juxtaposes patients and obliques that are not unique in
a given context; they may be semantically count or mass (hence why the stripping of the
determiner is significant), and are unspecified for such categories as number and state. Com-
pare:
Page 3
gan Minhó
(7) no erinadi sa gammo (8) no erindi gammo

no eninati sa kammo no eninti kammo
1 search for DET priest 1 search for priest
“I’m looking for the priest (a spe- “I’m looking for the priest (who-
cific priest)” ever that may be)”
“I’m priest-looking”
Raising
Raising stripping is used to promote possessors and obliques by stripping the possessee
and object (respectively). Unlike other forms of stripping, raising does not decrease the
transitivity of the predicate (rather, it stays the same; the raised argument takes the place
of the stripped argument).
Raising functions similarly to applicatives, in that it allows the raised argument to be oper-
ated on by such phenomena as pivot, topicalization, and so on. It differs from applicatives in
that it has a broader usage (in raising possessors), and that it retains the demoted argument
as the stripped argument (instead of having to reintroduce it as an oblique).
Possessor-raising most often occurs with possessed body parts, and is used to indicate a
closer relationship between the predicate and the body part. Compare the following:
(9) gúska nos móhz (10) nos gúska móhz

kúska nos móhɯ nos kúska móhɯ
hurt 1 head 1 hurt head
“my head hurts” “I head-hurt”
“I have a headache”
Wherein the former might be used for incidental head-hurting, while the latter may be
used for a common ailment.
In transitive clauses, the possessor of the strippee may be ambiguous, although it is gen-
erally interpreted as the patient argument unless context dictates otherwise.
(11) no gúsak móhz dz

no kúsak móhɯ tɯ
1 hurt head 2
“I hurt your head; I caused your headache”
“my head hurts you”
Wherein the first interpretation would be the most likely.
Page 4
It may also be used for possessed locations:
(12) nos hették hos sunbesz hz (13) nos hették sunpes hɯ @man-
@mangon gon
nos hették hos sunpes hɯ nos hették sunpes hɯ
1 stand DET field DET 1 stand field DET
@mankon @manko
Mango Mango
“I am standing in Mango’s field” “I am standing in Mango’s field”
“I am field-standing in Mango’s”
Oblique-raising promotes an oblique to the role of a core argument by incorporating the

object. Compare:
(14) no eskak sa gomo hos insunbes (15) no eskak gomo sz sunbes

no eskak sa komo hos no eskak komo sɯ sunpes
1 carry DET corn DET 1 carry corn DET field
insunpes “I brought corn from the field”
field “I corn-brought (from) the field”
“I brought corn from the field”
Backgrounding
Backgrounding stripping is used to background information, making it less prominent. An
argument is introduced into the universe of discourse, and then in later references it occurs
as a stripped argument. Take the following:
(16) go nàrenhi sa úga / úga mobódi / eringa úga

ko nànenhi sa úka
DET see DET whale
úka mopóti
whale go away
eninka úka
pursue whale
“they spotted a whale / it went away (from them) / (they) pursued it”
Wherein úga ‘whale’ is introduced as an independent argument in the first sentence, and
then backgrounded following sentences. This also demonstrates the placement of the stripped
root: in the second sentence, it is placed before the predicate, as it made the intransitive
predicate impersonal; in the third sentence, it is placed after the predicate, because it made
the transitive predicate intransitive (the pronominal determiner go is dropped).
Page 5
gan Minhó
Conclusion
This is a relatively new feature in gan Minhó, and I sometimes feel like I only added it
because I read about it and it sounded cool. Which isn’t a bad thing, but I want to use
it more. I do think it fits the language, which is why I’m keeping it, but I should really
explore it more; it probably just needs more time to feel more a part of the language. I hope
this article gives some insight and/or inspiration regarding noun incorporation and similar
processes.
Thank you for reading!
Page 6
02 The Mwanelẹ Noun Phrase
by Miacomet a.k.a. u/roipoiboy
I prefer verbs but here we are
The simplest Mwaneḷe noun phrase consists of a bare noun or pronoun. Nouns can be
followed by determiners, numerals, and modifiers like adjectives, possessors, and relative
clauses.
(1) a. bwo
fish
“fish”
b. bwo jenome we em le ṣam je
fish young LNK friend 2 three PROX
“these three fresh fish of your friend’s”
Compared to its verbal morphology, Mwaneḷe’s nominal morphology is pretty sparse.

There are no inflectional affixes and the only fully productive derivational affixes are the
augmentative and diminutive, discussed in section.
In the romanization I use of Mwaneḷe, I conventionally write the clitics =we and ge= to-
gether with the words before and after them respectively. I write all other clitics as separate
words. In the glosses, they’re all the same, separated from the host with an equals sign ‘=’.
Modifiers
Mwaneḷe noun phrases are mostly head-initial. Modifiers always follow the noun that
they’re modifying.
(2) xwejo mek gama

constellation bright beautiful
“a beautiful, bright constellation”
Page 7
Mwanelẹ
Modifiers can include words from the fairly large but closed adjective class, other nouns,
possessors, modifying nouns joined with either the linking or ornative clitic, and relative
clauses. Here I will discuss all of these except for relative clauses.
Compounding
Mwaneḷe allows compounding of multiple nouns. The head noun is first, followed by
modified nouns.
I know these exist but all the examples I can think of off the top of my head use the
possessive or ornative, or are coordinate compounds. So...
Coordinate Compounds
Mwaneḷe makes use of coordinate compounds: noun compounds where, rather than hav-
ing one noun act as a modifier to the other, two nouns stand together to make a compound
having to do with both components equally. Coordinate compounds don’t have clear head-
edness, and despite the name, they’re never connected by coordinators like xo ‘and.’
They usually refer to either a larger category that includes both of the nouns or to some-
thing associated with the two nouns. They can be coined spontaneously, but there’s also a
fair number of standard, somewhat lexicalized ones.
Compound Literal Meaning Figurative Meaning

mwa bwa mother + father ‘parents’
koḷa aŋa aunt/uncle + cousin ‘close family’
bwo xwego fish + mollusc ‘seafood’
lale kema bedding + table ‘furniture, the home’
lale ṣami bedding + house shoes ‘comfort, the home’
bili ŋwo leafy greens + tuber
‘produce, edible plants’
bili bes leafy greens + fruit
ṭa ḷak sand + sky ‘the world, everywhere’
Possession and the Linking Clitic

The clitic =we serves to link nouns to their modifiers. It’s glossed as LNK for ‘linker’
or ‘linking.’ The linking clitic most often links a noun with a possessor. In addition to a
possessee-possessor relationship, the head and modifier linked with =we can have a part-
whole relationship, a product-source relationship, a relationship of association, or a relation-
ship of purpose. Mwaneḷe doesn’t distinguish between alienable and inalienable possession.
(3) Taṣukoḷ kasawe Sowaŋ bulen.

ta- ṣuko -ḷ kasa =we Sowaŋ bulen
PSV- burn -PFV house =LNK NAME hinder
“Sowaŋ’s house burnt down on him.” (5MOYD #1396)
(4) Taḷek wame ḷewe kaṣa de kwu moŋ.

ta- ḷe -k =wame ḷe =we kaṣa =de kwu moŋ
PSV- cover -IPFV =soon roof =LNK house =1 use metal
“The roof of our house will soon be covered with metal.” (5MOYD #1218)
Page 8
The linking clitic is used to link nominalized verbs to their primary argument. Nominal-
izations marked with ta- have their absolutive argument as their primary argument, and
others have their nominative argument as their primary argument.
(5) Le ṭem tapweŋowe takwe ŋalek.

le ṭem ta- pweŋo =we tak =we ŋalek
2 need C- buy =LNK card =LNK choice
“You should buy lottery tickets.” (5MOYD #1363a)
The linking clitic isn’t used with unstressed personal pronouns, such as de in example 4,
but it can be used with stressed pronouns or pronouns joined together with xo ‘and.’ In
example 6, it’s used with gwa to distinguish that gwa is being used as a pronoun ‘someone’
as opposed to as a quantifier ‘some.’ This use is similar with the words lot ‘what, who, which’
and ole ‘all, everyone, everything.’
(6) Ekwuf ̣alakwuḷ ke ṇi xi gimwewe gwa.

e- kwu- f̣alakwu -ḷ =ke ṇi xi gimwe =we gwa
APV- VEN- steal -PFV =3 two be.at farm =LNK some
“The two of them went off stealing at someone’s farm.” (5MOYD #1356)
Compare these phrases with the linking clitic:
• kote gwa ‘someone’s boat’

• kasawe ole ‘everyone’s house’
• emwe lot ‘whose friend’
and these phrases without it:
• kot gwa ‘some boat’

• kasa ole ‘every house’
• em lot ‘which friend’
Possessors are often omitted when they’re clear from context, especially when the possessor
is the subject of the sentence or a participant in the conversation. The sentence below shows
an example of both, where em ‘friend’ is understood as referring to the speaker’s friend, even
without a possessive pronoun.
(7) De mwateŋwe meḍefa takweme ki Fila ṭeṣe em.

de mwat -ŋwe meḍefa ta- kwu- eme ki Fila ṭeṣe em
1 depend.on -PFV yesterday C- VEN- go ORG NAME see friend
“If I had gone to Fila yesterday, I would have seen my friend.” (5MOYD #1375)
Ornative
The ornative clitic ge= is used to link a noun phrase with a modifier indicating a material
something is made of, an item something is temporarily bearing, or a notable characteristic
of something.
Page 9
Mwanelẹ
(8) Takwumejoḷ kema gegobi ki Ḍijak.

ta- kwu- mejo -ḷ kema ge= gobi ki Ḍijak
PSV- VEN- give.as.gift -PFV table ORN= wood ORG NAME
“Ḍijak was given a wooden table as a gift.” (5MOYD #1244)
(9) Taṭeṣeḷ to geḷedefa xo ti geṣiwek.
ta- ṭeṣe -ḷ to ge= ḷedefa xo ti ge= ṣiwek
PSV- see -PFV man ORN= hat and woman ORN= braid
“I saw the man with the hat and the woman with braids.”
It’s also used in the names of a lot of dishes to show a topping or characteristic ingredient.
(10) Takwi tajimwe nomek gebiwet.

takwi ta- im =we nomek ge= biwet
PSV- want C- eat =LNK congee ORN= egg
“I want to eat congee with an egg on top.”
At first I thought the ornative marker was a prefix (and you’ll often still see it that way
in older documents or in things I’ve written when I’m tired) but now I think it’s better to
describe it as a clitic, since it can scope over whole phrases, not just the word it attaches to.
This means that it can have ambiguous scope when there are multiple adjectives after ge’s
host that could modify either the host or the whole phrase’s head.
(11) a. sun geṣiwek taḷa owowu

sun ge= [ ṣiwek taḷa owowu ]
woman ORN= braid dark long
“the woman with long, dark braids”
b. sun ge= [ ṣiwek taḷa ] owowu
“the tall woman with dark braids”
c. sun ge= [ ṣiwek ] taḷa owowu
“the tall, dark-skinned woman with braids”
It’s more common for adjectives modifying the head of whole noun phrase to come after
the noun, but before any ornative or possessive phrases, like this:
(12) sun owowu geṣiwek taḷa

sun owowu ge= ṣiwek taḷa
woman long ORN= braid dark
“the tall woman with dark braids”
The ornative marker ge= ends up with the same phrasal structure as the linker =we. The
only difference is that ge= attaches to whatever comes after it and =we attaches to what-
ever comes before it. Since the grammar is otherwise the same, I figure they’re operating
with the same mechanics under the hood, just with different prosody on the surface.
Page 10
Augmentative and Diminutive
Mwaneḷe has an augmentative suffix, which marks things as being larger in some way than
usual as well as a diminutive suffix, which marks things as being smaller than usual in some
way.
The augmentative suffix has the form -de after vowels and -et or -ede after consonants,
and the diminutive suffix has the form -pe after vowels and -ep or -epe after consonants.
(13) a. f ̣ekep
man-DIM
“boy”
b. bwode
fish-AUG
“a big fish, a macker”
c. Ḷoḷep
NAME-DIM
“little Ṭaḷoḷ (nickname)”
Both are commonly used to make nicknames. The diminutive is associated with being
cute, small, or young, and the augmentative is associated with being big, well-known or
important, but also with clumsiness or oafishness (in an affectionate way though).
Personal Pronouns
Mwaneḷe has a fairly small pronoun system. Personal pronouns in all dialects have a
three-way person distinction between first person de, second person le, and third person
ke.
Standard and Dialectal Pronouns:
Pronoun Meaning
de 1st person
le 2nd person
ke 3rd person
dele 1st person inclusive
keŋwu 3rd person obviative
keje 3rd person proximal
kejo 3rd person distal
Like nouns, there’s no distinction of other categories like number or case.
Dialectal Pronouns
While these three pronouns are widespread among all Mwaneḷe speakers, there are several
pronouns in use within smaller dialect areas.
In Southern dialects, especially among speakers bilingual in Mekaḷe and Kiraga, the pro-
noun dele is used for first person plural inclusive, where other dialects would just use de or
a conjunct de xo le.
Page 11
Mwanelẹ
More widespread in Southern dialects is the pronoun keŋwu (from a shortening of ke

ŋawu ‘other them’), used to refer to third-person referents that aren’t topical.
(14) Ke teguḷ keŋwu xi kasa keŋwu.

ke tegu -ḷ =keŋwu xi kasa =keŋwu
3 find -PFV =3OBV be.in house =3OBV
“Hei ran into himj at hisj house.”
For speakers of dialects that have keŋwu, when ke is used as a possessor, it must corefer
with the subject of the sentence. In sentence 15, speakers with keŋwu would say that ke
has to refer back to Sowaŋ, but speakers without it would say it could refer back to him but
doesn’t have to.
(15) Sowaŋ loṭo bif ̣o ke.

Sowaŋ lot -lo bif̣o =ke
NAME search -IPFV scissors =3
“Sowaŋi is looking for hisi/%j scissors.”
In Northern dialects, there are pronouns keje and kejo which come from combining ke with
the proximal and distal demonstratives je and jo. They can be used as normal third-person
pronouns while emphasizing a location close to or far from the speaker.
(16) Keje ole kwolu de mu.

keje =ole kwolu =de =mu
3PROX =all help =1 =DP
“All these guys really helped me.”
They can also be used to track different referents, especially when talking about events with
multiple participants. They often show up as contrastive topics or focuses. Usually keje
refers back to the most recently mentioned participant and kejo to the one before that, but
in running speech, often one participant will be referred to with keje and another with kejo
as a reference tracking strategy.
(17) Mwana kwumejoḷ pwexabwo ki Oluna, ŋe pijelumejol keje, ŋe lo exesotoḷ kejo.

Mwana kwumejo -ḷ pwexabwo ki Oluna
NAME VEN- give.gift -PFV bracelet ORG NAME
ŋe pi- e- lu- mejo -l =keje
DS NEG- APV- RVS- give.gift -PFV =3PROX
ŋe =lo e- xe- soto -ḷ =kejo
DS =so APV- AND- be.angry -PFV =3DIS
“Mwanai gave Olunaj a bracelet as a gift, but shej didn’t give (heri ) anything back,
so shei got angry.”
Page 12
When unstressed personal pronouns are used as possessors, they cliticize to the previous
word and don’t take the possessive clitic we, like in kola aŋa=de from example 18. When
they’re the subject of an intransitive verb or the object of a transitive verb, they cliticize
to the verb. Unlike stressed pronouns or nouns, unstressed absolutive pronoun clitics come
before any adverb or other clitics.
(18) Koḷa aŋa de xiti gawo, be elotobwolo de ole gijo eṇome.

koḷa aŋa =de xiti gawo be e- lotobwo -lo =de =ole gijo e-
aunt/uncle cousin =1 be.in island SS APV- catch.fish -IPFV =1 =all there APV-
ṇome.
wade
“My family lives on an island, and we would all wade in the water and catch fish.”
Focused pronouns, pronouns with modifiers, and pronouns in conjuncts are stressed and
use we to link them to noun phrases when used as possessors. Exceptions are the quantifiers
ole ‘all’ and epi ‘PL’ as well as the number ṇi ‘two,’ which can occur with clitic pronouns
like in example 18, but don’t have to. Stressed absolutive pronouns appear after adverbs, in
the same place as regular noun phrases.
(19) De gwonoḷ, ‘Lo ŋewo, ḷegwonok mekeŋi de ṇi.’

de gwon -ḷ lo ŋewo ḷe- gwon -k mekeŋi de ṇi
1 say -PFV DP good R/R- say -IPFV tomorrow 1 two
“I said, ‘Well good, the two of us will talk tomorrow.”’ (5MOYD #1291)
(20) Ḷeṭeṣeŋwe mwon le xo de.

ḷe- ṭeṣe -ŋwe mwon le xo de
R/R- see -PFV tomorrow 2 and 1
“You and I will see each other tomorrow.” (5MOYD #1253)
Demonstratives
Mwaneḷe demonstratives distinguish between two degrees of distance: proximal je for
things that are close to the speaker or listener or recently mentioned and distal jo for things
that are far from the speaker and listener or mentioned earlier in the conversation. The
demonstratives can be enclitics on noun phrases they modify or stand alone as pronouns.
Je and jo by themselves tend to refer to objects, but not to places or times. You can refer to
places with the words gije ‘here’ and gijo ‘there’ (from gi ‘place’) and to times with the words
ŋeke ‘now, immediately’ and ŋeko ‘then, at that time’ (from ŋek ‘to be at a time’). Unlike noun
phrases with demonstratives, these words can be used as adverbs.
(21) Enaka tapijeximiḷe gebe je wo.

e- naka ta- pi- e- xe- im -ḷ =we gebe =je =wo
APV- be.far C- NEG- APV- AND- sleep -PFV =LNK child =PROX =not.yet
“It’s odd that this kid hasn’t gone to sleep yet.” (5MOYD #1245)
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Mwanelẹ
(22) Ŋin ŋalek pakwuje taf ̣alakwuwe ḍibiso jo e ke

ŋin ŋalek pa- kwu- je ta- f̣alakwu =we ḍibiso =jo e ke
person choose CAUS- VEN- put C- steal =LNK pig =DIS ERG 3
“The judge claims that he stole that pig.” (5MOYD #1239)
Demonstratives can be used to mark noun phrases as definite. They’re only used with
anaphoric definites, where the noun phrase is referring back to something that was men-
tioned before. They aren’t used with uniqueness definites (things like ‘the sun’ or ‘the pres-
ident,’ where there’s only one of them in a context, so you don’t need extra information to
pick which one).
In example 23, the first clause mentions a particular cloud and the sun. In English, both ‘the
cloud’ and ‘the sun’ are marked as definite: ‘the cloud’ is identifiable because it refers to the
specific cloud mentioned in the clause before, and ‘the sun’ is definite because there’s only
one sun, so it’s unique in context. In Mwaneḷe, you can mark ‘the cloud’ with a demonstrative
to show that it refers back to something mentioned previously. ‘The sun’ on the other hand
doesn’t get marked with a demonstrative because its definiteness comes from uniqueness.
It doesn’t take a demonstrative even if it’s also referring back to an expression in an earlier
clause.
(23) Fune pasiṇo megwa patakwu ḷak, be...

“A cloud covered the sun and darkened the sky, but...”
a. fune je jekisi ŋeke megwa

cloud PROX pass.by right.away sun
“the cloud passed by the sun soon after.”
b. #fune jekisi ŋeke megwa je
cloud pass.by right.away sun PROX
Intended: “the cloud passed by the sun soon after.”
Idioms with a Fossilized Article
Even though Modern Mwaneḷe doesn’t have a definite article, past Mwaneḷe did. It was
a proclitic that was u= before consonants and w= before vowels, and it labialized initial
consonants whenever possible. Even though it’s not used anymore, it stuck around in a
few expressions, including pale wamwo ‘to hold your breath’ (from pale ‘stop’ and amwo
‘breath’) and Umweṇok Te, a name for Mwane New Year (also called by the article-less form
Meṇok Te).
There’s also an idiom used to express gratitude, da i tak u __ literally ‘__ is so sweet’ but
in a fairly archaic expression. Speakers who use this will change u to w before vowels, but
many don’t labialize initial consonants.
(24) Da i tak u ṇoḍe.

da i =tak u= ṇoḍe
sweet COP =certainly DEF= ocean
“The ocean is so sweet.”
Page 14
Mwaneḷe also has a determiner lu ‘such’ which refers to things of a type similar to others
in context.
(25) Pitaṭeṣe gwu lu min egiṣe.

pita- ṭeṣe gwu =lu min e- giṣe
NEG- PSV- see problem =such know APV- glide
“Such problems aren’t easily recognized.”
Or: “Problems like these aren’t easily recognized.” (5MOYD #1403)
Number and Quantifiers

Mwaneḷe doesn’t require number marking for number. There’s also no grammatical dis-
tinction between count nouns and mass nouns. Unless they’re explicitly marked for number,
most nouns can refer to individual things, groups of things, or masses. The bare noun ṣaluk
‘coconut’ can refer to an individual coconut, a group of several coconuts, the material or sub-
stance of coconut considered as a mass, or all coconuts in general. When necessary, there
are ways to mark number explicitly.
Inherent Number
Some nouns refer to multiple things by default. The largest group of these are inherently
dual nouns, which refer to pairs of things when unmarked. Most of these are nouns referring
to body parts which naturally come in pairs, such as ṭeṣel ‘eyes,’ ŋukwol ‘nostrils,’ and
kanan ‘lungs.’ Others refer to other naturally paired things such as pamwu ‘riverbank’ and
iwamwaŋ ‘couple, members of a couple.’
There are also words that refer to sets of more than two by default, for example dis ‘teeth’
refers to someone’s full mouth of teeth by default rather than an individual tooth.
To refer to an individual thing whose lexical entry is plural by default, speakers will quan-
tify it with the word ṣat ‘one, single.’ In sentence 26a below, many or all of the speaker’s
teeth are hurting them, but in sentence 26b, just one particular tooth is.
(26) a. Dis xoḍulo de.

dis xoḍu -lo =de
teeth bite -IPFV =1
“My teeth hurt.”
b. Dis ṣat xoḍulo de.
dis =ṣat xoḍu -lo =de
teeth =one bite -IPFV =1
“My tooth hurts.”
Numerals
Mwaneḷe uses a pretty standard base-ten counting system. Here are the basic numerals.
Page 15
Mwanelẹ
ṣa(t) one xa seven

ṇi two po eight
sam three wam nine
lon four tal ten
ge five lese hundred
luk six ṭine thousand
When counting, ‘one’ is said as ṣa, but when quantifying something, it is said as ṣat.
Multiples of powers of ten are formed by compounding the power of ten with the multiplier.
These are put together from largest to smallest multiple to build numbers. The word xo can
be added between number groups. Numerals follow the nouns they quantify.
(27) bwo ṣam ṭine (xo) ge lese (xo) po tal (xo) ṣat
fish three thousand and five hundred and eight ten and one
“three thousand five hundred and eighty one fish”
Words describing groups of a particular size can be formed from numerals with the suffix
-ala, for example, samala ‘trio’ or ṭinela ‘group of a thousand.’
There is a word bwu ‘half’ which patterns like a numeral. It refers to half of an individual,
rather than to half of a group, so beṭalu bwu means ‘half a sapote’ and never *‘half of the
sapotes.’ Bwu can be used with other numerals, for example ŋolu ṇi bwu ‘two and a half
cups of tea’ or ŋin bwu ṭine ‘half a thousand people, five hundred people.’
There are two ways to construct fractions or proportions. Unitary fractions other than one
half are made using the particle kwo followed by the denominator of the fraction. I gloss
kwo as ‘part’ even though it’s not used as a standalone word.
(28) Ekwugwon de lepe ki kwo tal ge.

e- kwu- gwon =de lepe ki kwo tal ge
APV- VEN- speak =1 barely ORG part ten five
“I’ve barely talked to a fifteenth (of them).”
Non-unitary fractions are said as numerator-ki-denominator. I’m analyzing (and glossing)

this as being the same ki used to mark sources and goals of associated motion.
(29) Ṇi ki tal xo sam ki tal kwun bwu.

ṇi ki tal xo sam ki tal kwu- n bwu
two ORG ten and three ORG ten VEN- give half
“Two tenths plus three tenths is one half.”
The use of fractions to quantify over groups is discussed in the section below including
example 38.
Page 16
Quantification
Quantifiers describe how many of something a noun phrase refers to. Several Mwaneḷe
quantifiers occur as noun phrase enclitics, including ṣat ‘one,’ gwa ‘some,’ epi ‘PL,’ and ole
‘all.’
The word ṣat ‘one’ is used to specify reference to a single thing.
(30) Xemeŋwe Kamel esotu mwat piṭeṣe ke ṭaḷoḷ ṣat.

x- eme -ŋwe Kamel e- sotu mwat pi- ṭeṣe =ke ṭaḷoḷ ṣat
AND- go -PFV NAME APV- be.angry depend.on NEG- see =3 k.o.bird one
“Kamel will leave angry if she doesn’t see (at least) one bird.” (5MOYD #1271)
(31) Di gebe, be pakwakwu pwagope luk ki ŋukwoḷ ṣat.
di gebe be pa - kw - akwu pwagope luk ki
1.COP child SS CAUS - VEN - fit.imperfectly marble do.unexpectedly ORG
ŋukwoḷ =ṣat
nostrils =one
“When I was a child, I accidentally got a marble stuck in my nostril.”
(5MOYD #1289)
The word gwa ‘some’ is used to make statements about more than one, but not all of
something. Using gwa carries the implication that your statement does not apply to all of
something. Phrases with gwa are rarely referential.
Under negation, gwa can also act like a negative quantifier. Some speakers will use pigwa
under negation.
(32) De pigwo ŋin Xakat (pi)gwa.

de pigwo ŋin Xakat =(pi)gwa
1 NEG- like Maruvian =some
“I don’t like any Maruvians.”
Or: “I like no Maruvians.”
Since gwa is only used this way under negation, it isn’t idiomatic to use it as a negative
quantifier for the subject of a transitive verb. Instead, speakers use periphrasis with negative
existential verbs.
(33) Epiti ŋin (pi)gwa ligwo ŋin Xakat.

e- piti ŋin =(pi)gwa ligwo ŋin Xakat
APV- be.in.NEG person =some REL- like Maruvian
“Nobody likes Maruvians.”
Or: “There is no person who likes Maruvians.”
The word epi more or less marks plurality. Like gwa, it is used with noun phrases describ-
ing more than one of something. Unlike gwa, it doesn’t imply that a statement is not true
of all of something.
Page 17
Mwanelẹ
(34) a. Kwemeḷ em de gwa, #be mu kwemeḷ em de ole!

kwu- eme -ḷ em =de =gwa be mu kwu -eme -ḷ em =de =ole
VEN- go -PFV friend =1 =some SS really VEN -go -PFV friend =1 =all
“Some of my friends came, in fact all of my friends came!”
b. Kwemeḷ em de epi, be mu kwemeḷ em de ole!
kwu- eme -ḷ em =de =epi be mu kwu -eme -ḷ em =de =ole
VEN- go -PFV friend =1 =PL SS really VEN -go -PFV friend =1 =all
“Some of my friends came, in fact all of my friends came!”
The word ole ‘all’ is a universal quantifier, used to make a statement that applies to all
members of a group. When used as a clitic on a noun phrase, it often has a distributive
meaning, like ‘each’ or ‘every.’
(35) Ŋin ole gwolo tatasiwe gwuxe memekil.

ŋin =ole gwo -lo ta- tasi =we gwuxe memekil
person =all like -IPFV C- write =LNK letter every.day
“Everyone liked that I wrote letters every day.” (5MOYD #1274)
Quantifiers that follow the noun phrase as clitics are non-proportional quantifiers, meaning
that the amount they describe does not depend on the total amount of members of the group
they’re quantifying over. Numerals pattern the same way as non-proportional quantifiers.
Since postnominal ole is distributive rather than collective, it is an exception.
Proportional quantifiers on the other hand, come before the noun and are linked with
the linking clitic =we. Ole can be used this way with a collective rather than distributive
meaning or to quantify over the whole of a definite group of things.
(36) De paxejeḷ ŋwoma ole litaṭeṣe.

de pa- xe- je -ḷ ŋwoma =ole lita- ṭeṣe
1 CAUS- AND- take -PFV mango =all REL- PSV- see
“I took each mango I saw.”
(37) De paxejeḷ olewe ŋwoma litaṭeṣe.

de pa- xe- je -ḷ ole =we ŋwoma lita- ṭeṣe
1 CAUS- AND- take -PFV all =LNK mango REL- PSV- see
“I took all of the mangoes I saw.”
Other sorts of proportional quantifiers that come before nouns and are linked with =we
include fractions built with kwo and ki, the words bwu and kwobwa both meaning ‘half,’
and deŋ ‘most.’
(38) kwo ṣamwe balo

kwo ṣam =we balo
part three =LNK class
“a third of the students”
Page 18
The word bwu ‘half’ has a different meaning if it is used before or after a noun. Before a
noun with the linking clitic, it means ‘half of a group,’ the same as kwobwa. After the noun,
it refers to half of an individual object. Compare bwuwe widupe ‘half of the bananas’ with
widupe bwu ‘half of a banana.’
Like in other places, =we is not used to link quantifiers to clitic pronouns. The pronouns
can cliticize directly onto the last word in the quantifier phrase, for example deŋ ke ‘most
of them’ or kwobwa de ‘half of us.’ Unlike with nouns, ole can have a collective meaning
when following pronouns in addition to a distributive one.
Conclusion
Since Mwaneḷe doesn’t have marking for some of the classic nouny things like case, noun
class/gender, or number, people often say that its noun constructions aren’t complicated.
Although it’s a verb-heavy language, Mwaneḷe nouns and noun-adjacent words have a lot of
complexity to them. This article will probably be the seed that grows into the nouns chapter
of the upcoming Mwaneḷe grammar, so I’m on the lookout for ways to expand it. If you have
any questions, comments, or suggestions, reach out to me on Reddit at u/roipoiboy or on
Discord at mi comet#5147! (That’s right...new discord name...I got locked out of my old
account since the last issue was published!)
Di ḍule ḷaxe le!

Thanks for reading!
Page 19
03 On Feeling Things
by Christian Evans
Emotion in Modern Gallaecian
The ability to express what you are feeling is one of the most basic and important aspects
of speaking a language. It allows you to easily express how you’re feeling in the moment
about someone or something, which can either spur a conversation on or end it. For learn-
ers of Gallaecian whose first language is English, being able to express emotions can be a
challenging affair. Between sometimes dramatically different words used to assign differ-
ent feelings and unusual syntax that completes what Irish Gaelic partially employs, talking
about feeling some type of way can really make you feel some type of way.
This article explores the expression of emotions in Modern Gallaecian when they describe
nouns, stand in for quantities of people, are used to describe the state someone is in, and
when they are used to describe the manner of some action. It explores speaker preference
when more than one option is available, as well as the distinct way in which superlatives
are formed for adjectives of emotion.
Feelings as labels
Gallaecian’s adjectives of emotion perform a two-fold duty. They are used with nouns as
regular descriptors, sometimes metaphorically (akin to how a speaker of English might say
something like That’s an angry wound.) and can be used as substantives in their own right
to distinguish one noun from a set or to refer to a collection of people who experience the
emotion used.
Qualifying a noun
As adjectives, emotions are no different in their use than any other descriptive word. They
follow the noun that they modify and take on the gender, number and case marking of their
head.
Page 21
Modern Gallaecian
(1) Bea launa var en tareito lei.

Bea laun -a var en tareit -o le -i
woman happy -F.SG on DEF beach -M.SG.DAT lay -3SG.PRS
“A happy woman lays on the beach.”
(2) Veros launos in tascavo coscun.

Ver -os laun -os in tasc -avo cosc -un
man -M.PL happy -M.PL in bar -F.PL.DAT sleep -3PL.PRS
“Happy men fall asleep in bars.”
None of the adjectives related to emotion can be preposed, so they pose less of a problem
to learn than adjectives like sen ‘old, aged’ or maro ‘grand, great,’ of which the latter also can
appear after the noun. Learners will, however, need to contend with multiple words that
express what might feel like the same emotion. For example, English afraid can be translated
with ounagh, medagh, temoragh, escalagh or amenimo, depending on the shade of fear
being described.
The one way that these adjectives do differ from other adjectives is the way that they
can form superlatives. Like others, they can use the strategy of pairing a definite article
with a comparative adverb and an adjective: em mair verragh ‘the angriest.’ They can also
take the uncommon superlative suffix: verrasso ‘angriest.’ Lastly, there is almost always a
semi-superlative form derived from the noun that represents the emotion: verroso ‘wrathful,
angriest.’ This last form can also be further intensified by using a comparative adverb and
definite article before it: em mair verroso ‘the most wrathful, angriest.’
An emotional being
As with other adjectives, emotions can be used as nouns that represent either a singleton
in a set being described by the word or as a group that embody it, similar to English or
Galician. The latter is common in every-day speech, but is also encountered in poetic or
religious contexts frequently.
(3) En ruzo dousu!

En ruzo dous -u
DEF red want -1SG.PRS
“I want the red one!”
(4) Sin em broñagos enn oinos a zeruñe do.

Sin em broñag -os enn oino -s a zer -uñe do
be.3SG.PRS DEF sad -M.PL DEF one -M.PL to look -INF for
“It’s the sad ones to watch for.”
(5) Eito’nn aviños ere o’n Zouno gabisun.

Eito’nn aviñ -os ere o’n Zoun -o gab -isun
but.DEF meek -M.PL inheritance of .DEF Earth -M.SG.DAT take -3.PL.FUT
“But the meek shall inherit the Earth.”
Page 22
Feelings things
Widely used in Gallaecian are nouns that refer to emotions. Not only do these function
as abstract references to different feelings, many of them are also personified and spoken of
as though companions when actions are performed. Both uses of nouns of emotion will be
discussed in more detail in this section.
In the throes of emotion

To say that you’re experiencing an emotion in Gallaecian requires the use of the specific
syntactic arrangement also used to express likes, preferences, etc. In these sentences, the
feeling (or thing causing the feeling) is treated as the subject of the sentence and the expe-
riencer is put into a prepositional phrase. The preposition differs depending on the feeling
being experienced, for example likes and dislikes require the use of co ‘with’ and emotions
usually require the use of are ‘before, in front of, at.’ This same strategy can be seen in Irish
Gaelic, but is more widespread in Gallaecian.
(6) Tá áthas orm. Irish

Tá áthas orm
be.PRS joy on.1SG
“Joy is on me.”
Or: “I am happy.”
(7) Ta laviña are mi Gallaecian
Ta laviña are mi
be.3SG.PRS joy before me
“Joy is on me.”
Or: “I am happy.”
(8) Tá mé brónach. Irish
Tá mé brónach
be.PRS 1SG sad
“I am sad.”
(9) Ta broña are mi Gallaecian
Ta broña are mi
be.3SG.PRS sadness before me
“Sadness is on me.”
Or: “I am sad.”
The verb tañe ‘to be’ can be inflected differently to express different tense, mood and
aspect differences to do with the emotion. No other part of the sentence needs to change
besides the verb. Note that it is only the temporary copula tañe ‘to be’ that is used for this
construction as the permanent copula budañe ‘to be’ requires the used of adjectives and
would imply that the emotion is part of the described person’s nature or is something that
doesn’t change.
(10) Tasa verra are mi in em bare so, eito bisu laviña are mi enoite.
Ta -sa verra are mi in em bare so eito bi
be -1.SG.PST anger before me in DEF morning.DAT this.M.SG.DAT but be
Page 23
Modern Gallaecian
-su laviña are mi enoite

-1.SG.FUT joy before me tonight
“I was angry this morning, but I’ll be happy tonight.”
(11) Cobru a bue laviña are du.

Cobr -u a bue laviña are du
wish -1.SG.PRS C be.2.SG.SBJV.PRS joy before you
“I wish you were happy.”
(12) E meine a es tu amenimo.

E mein -e a es tu amenimo
he think -3.SG.PRS C be.2.SG.PRS you anxious
“He thinks you’re anxious [as a person].”
(13) En dua suesur medagh o’n tovo adre es.

en dua suesur medagh o’n tov -o adre es
DEF your.F.SG sister afraid of .DEF your -M.SG.DAT father.DAT be.3.SG.PRS
“Your sister is afraid of your father.”
Doing while feeling

Apart from adverbs of time, place and a few other specific outliers, Gallaecian forms ad-
verbs by using a specific form of the definite article and the corresponding adjective in the
locative case—one of the few remaining uses for it. For example, the adjective maro ‘big,
great’ can be used to form the adverb ene mare ‘greatly, dramatically.’ Adjectives of emotion
are no different and can be used in exactly the same way.
(14) En concho ene laviñe lintez.

En concho en -e laviñ -e lin -tez
DEF rabbit DEF -LOC happy -LOC jump -3.SG.PST
“The rabbit jumped happily.”
(15) En calga en doro ene verrai drudisez

En calga en doro en -e verrai drudi -sez
DEF girl DEF door DEF -LOC angry.LOC close -3.SG.PST
“The girl closed the door angrily.”
Alongside this construction are workarounds for emotions that instead rely on prepositions.
The most commonly encountered preposition for this is co ‘with,’ but speakers may use other
prepositions in different dialects. This is akin to the adverbial use of the noun ‘pride’ in
English in the sentence ‘She stood with pride.’ The same sentence can be rendered in a nearly
identical manner or with the adjective-to-adverb construction.
(16) Si co useile sistasa.

Si co useil -e sista -sa
she with pride -F.SG.DAT stand -3.SG.PST
“She stood with pride.”
Page 24
(17) Si ine baile sistasa.
Si in -e bail -e sista -sa
she DEF -LOC proud -F.SG.LOC stand -3.SG.PST
“She stood with pride.”
Despite the ability to use both, native speakers show a strong preference for nouns over
adjectives when possible. This is, perhaps, because of the restricted use of the locative case,
as the dative has become the standard for use with prepositions.
Expressing yourself
To close this journey of heart and tongue, it seems only appropriate to offer a full lesson
in self-expression—at least in terms of emotions. This will cover asking how someone is
feeling, telling someone what it is you’re feeling, and a selection of noun-adjective pairs to
describe just what it is you might be feeling.
How are you doing?

To ask how someone is doing or recognize when someone asks this of you, it’s important
to commit to memory three very common questions. The first two of these are more com-
mon, because they’re also used as a general ‘how are you.’ The third is structured with the
expectation that the person being asked will respond using the ‘Y is before X’ syntax explored
previously.
(18) Quanza tais?

Quanza ta -is
how be -2.SG.PRS
“How are you?”
(19) Quanza ei?

Quanza ei
how go.3.SG.PRS
“How goes it?”
Or: “How are you?”
(20) Qui are tu ta?

Qui are tu ta
what before you be.2.SG.PRS
“What’s before you?”
Or: “How are you?”
Note that Gallaecian has a typical Indo-European T-V distinction, so if you don’t know
the person you’re asking or want to include a level of formality, you would used the plural
pronoun sue ‘you [all]’ and its corresponding inflection of the verb taide ‘you [all] are.’
I'm doing...
The questions above are both answered using the strategy mentioned above, where the
emotion is treated as the subject of the sentence and the experiencer is included after the
Page 25
Modern Gallaecian
preposition are ‘before, in front of.’ Another option available to the person answering one of
the latter two questions is to simply respond with either the adjective-to-adverb construction
for the first or by just stating the noun of emotion for the second.
(21) Ta escala are mi

Ta escala are mi
be.3SG.PRS cowardice before me
“Cowardice is before me.”
Or: “I am scared / nervous.”
(22) Ine ounai.

in -e ouna -i
DEF -LOC afraid -LOC
“Frightenedly.”
Or: “I am afraid.”
(23) Gride
Gride
yearning
“Yearning.”
Or: “I am yearnful.”
Though not recorded yet, there does seem to be some restriction on which nouns and
adjectives can be used in this way. It would make for a suitable topic of future research.
A crop of feelings
Below is a table of related nouns and adjectives that refer to the same emotion. They can
be used in phrases such as those in the previous example. There are obviously significantly
more terms, both adjectives and nouns, that capture other shades of emotion, but this is just
meant as a simple introduction to get a person speaking.
Noun Adjective
Happy laviño launo
Sad broño broñagh
Angry verra verragh
Proud useila balgo
Yearnful gride gridagh
Anxious amenimaso amenimo
Nostalgic sireito sireitagh
Table 1: Nouns and adjectives of emotion
Page 26
04 Nouns in Ŋarâþ Crîþ
by +merlan #flirora
A historical perspective
As a constructed language with a history of over eight years, Ŋarâþ Crîþ has changed
significantly during its existence. Nouns are no exception to this rule. In this article, we
review the development and current state of nouns and their related topics in Ŋarâþ Crîþ.
The stages of Ŋarâþ Crîþ

The lineage of Ŋarâþ Crîþ begins with Necarasso Cryssesa, a conlang meant to have an
elvish aesthetic1 . The initial version (VE1 ENCS) started being codified into a grammar on
April 13, 2013. Later revisions of the grammar (VE2 ENCS – VE4 ENCS) added more revi-
sions. The versions of Necarasso Cryssesa up to and including VE4 ENCS compose the early
Necarasso Cryssesa era.
Due to a growing antipathy against Spanish, I decided to steer the language’s grammar
away from Romance-like tendencies, making it more like Japanese. This change of direction
began the late Necarasso Cryssesa era, which includes NCS5 and NCS6.
After NCS6 and a failed attempt to retrofit diachronic evolution into Necarasso Cryssesa,
I focused my efforts on other languages, such as Ḋraħýl Rase and Varta Avina, seeing
Necarasso Cryssesa as a dead end. At the end of 2018, however, I somehow had the idea
of creating version 7 of the language, with significant departures from previous versions of
the language. The conlang was now called Ŋarâþ Crîþ2 .
After working on version 7 of Ŋarâþ Crîþ for a while, I felt that not only was it growing
stale, but that it also had major flaws. Therefore, I started working on Ŋarâþ Crîþ version
93 . Currently, this version is quite recent; as a result, it is less complete than earlier versions.
1
After all, necarasso cryssesa literally meant “forest language”.
2
Which also means “forest language”.
3
This version also moves from PDF- to HTML-based documentation.
Page 27
Nouns in Ŋarâþ Crîþ
Era Revision Start date End date

Early Necarasso Cryssesa VE1 ENCS 2013-04-13 2013-05-15
VE2 ENCS 2013-05-16 2013-05-29
VE3 ENCS 2013-05-31 2013-07-09
VE4 ENCS 2013-07-19 2014-07-04
Late Necarasso Cryssesa NCS5 2014-09-02 2014-12-26
NCS6 2015-10-05 2016-02-19
Ŋarâþ Crîþ ŊCv7 2018-12-30 2021-05-31
ŊCv9 2021-06-01
Table 1: The stages of Ŋarâþ Crîþ.
Labial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar

Plosive p /p/ t d /t d/ (ti → č [t͡ʃ]) c g /k ɡ/
Fricative f v /ɸ β/ ss /θ/ s /s/ (si → š [ʃ]) h /x/
(css [x͡θ])
Approximant r /ɹ/ i → j /j/ ([ɰ])
Lateral approximant l /l/
Lateral fricative ll /ɬ/
Nasal m /m/ n /n/ ([ŋ])
Front Back
High y i /i iː/
Mid e /e ɛː/ o /o ɔː/
Low a /a/
Table 2: The phoneme inventory of Necarasso Cryssesa; the romanization is followed by the
IPA. If the romanization is shown as X → Y, then the phoneme was romanized as X in early
Necarasso Cryssesa and Y in late Necarasso Cryssesa.
Phonology and orthography through the ages

Although this is not an article about the phonology or orthography of Ŋarâþ Crîþ, a basic
understanding of these topics is invaluable for reading this article.
The phoneme inventory of Necarasso Cryssesa is shown in Table 2.
f and v were labiodental until VE3 ENCS. The status of /j/ was complicated. In early
Necarasso Cryssesa, i followed by a vowel (without a diaeresis) was understood to be /j/. In
addition, it was required to follow a consonant in that case, such that /j/ would otherwise
have to be written as ri, such as in rialad ‘to lead’ or nesmeria ‘star’.
NCS5 made a minor revision the orthography, such that /j/ was now written as j in all
cases, so that the two words above would be written as jalad and nesmeja. In addition,
/t/ and /s/ became [t͡ʃ] and [ʃ] before /i/ or /j/, and these changes were reflected in the
romanization.
The phonology of Necarasso Cryssesa prescribed a fixed set of permitted endings. Here,
the ending of a word is the rime of its final syllable. Otherwise, the syllable structure was
(C(r|l|j)|cv|css)V((r|l)C). For instance, navgonerlla ‘interface’ has a v coda in the first syl-
lable but was still phonotactically valid in Necarasso Cryssesa.
We now look at the phonology of Ŋarâþ Crîþ. The phoneme inventory (Table 3) is isomor-
phic between versions 7 and 9, although some phonemes are realized differently between
Page 28
Labial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Phar.
Plosive p /p/ t d /t d/ č /t͡ʃ/ → /t͡ʂ/ c g /k ɡ/
Fricative f v /f v/þ ð /θ ð/ s /s/ š /ʃ/ → /ʂ/ h /x/ ħ /ʕ/
(cþ [x͡θ])
Approximant r /ɹ/ j /j/ ([w])
Lateral approx. l /l/
Lateral fricative ł /ɬ/
Nasal m /m/ n /n/ ([ɲ]) ŋ /ŋ/
Front Back
High i î /i ḭ/ → /i ì/ u /u̜/
Mid e ê /e ɛ̰/ → /e è/ o ô /o ɔ̰/ → /o ò/
Low a â /a a̰/ → /a à/
Table 3: The phoneme inventory of Ŋarâþ Crîþ. If the IPA is shown as ‘/X/ → /Y/’, then
the phoneme is realized as X in ŊCv7 and as Y in ŊCv9.
the versions.
Some sounds that were allophones in Necarasso Cryssesa were promoted to phonemes.
Additionally, the vowel inventory was expanded: the existing four vowel qualities received
creaky-voiced variants (low tone in ŊCv9), and a high back vowel u was added. u was intro-
duced to transcribe foreign words more accurately, but it became used for some inflections
in ŊCv9.
Ŋarâþ Crîþ does away with an ending list, instead subjecting all syllables to the same coda
restrictions. In addition, the list of allowed codas is independent of the nucleus.
Initial consonant mutations are a major part of Ŋarâþ Crîþ phonology. Lenition tends to
turn plosives into fricatives, and makes some phonemes silent. It is written using a mid-
dle dot, after the lenited consonant. Eclipsis tends to add voice to voiceless consonants
and change voiced stops into nasals. It is written by prefixing the eclipsed consonant with
another letter representing the new sound:
(1) tando Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7

/tando/
“rope”
(2) darnos t ando

/daɹnos θando/
“a long rope”
(3) lê dtano
/lɛ̰ dano/
“this bird”
In this article, lenition that will be triggered in a neighboring context is marked with a
superscript H, H , and eclipsis is marked with a superscript N, N .4
4
Usually, these mutations are marked with an empty circle and a filled circle, respectively, but the font in
this document doesn’t have these characters.
Page 29
Both Necarasso Cryssesa and Ŋarâþ Crîþ have their own scripts, but we use their romaniza-
tions throughout this article. Traditionally, Necarasso Cryssesa romanization is bicameral,
with capital letters being used at the starts of sentences and proper nouns.
On the contrary, Ŋarâþ Crîþ romanization tries to be isomorphic to the native script, Cen-
vos. Because Cenvos is unicameral, the romanization does not use capital letters in the same
way as in English.5
Cenvos also uses special letters called markers to indicate special treatment of certain words
(Table 4). To avoid confusion with markers, we prefix ungrammatical expressions in exam-
ples with two asterisks instead of one.
Marker Name (ŊCv7) (ŊCv9) Use

# carþ carþ Given names
+ taŋ tor Surnames with native inheritance convention
+* neŋ njor Surnames with non-native inheritance convention
@ es es Place names
* nem nef Foreign words
& sen sen Reduplication of an unspecified prefix
Table 4: Markers in Ŋarâþ Crîþ.
Grammatical categories
This section covers the history of which grammatical categories have been expressed in
nouns.
Case
In the beginning, Necarasso Cryssesa had no case marking in general – in fact, not in
the personal pronouns. Oddly enough, however, even VE1 ENCS had a case distinction in
the interrogative pronouns: one set was used for the nominative case and also served as
determiners, and the other was used for oblique cases.
VE3 ENCS added a set of possessive pronouns, introducing another precursor to a case
system. VE4 ENCS went further and added genitive forms for nouns (although the existing
constructions using the preposition eas or the descriptive affixes -esa or -eva remained).
Inanimate nouns were declined differently from animate nouns, and a separate system of
‘honorific’ genitives existed. Furthermore, an adjective modifying a genitive noun would
receive a special prefix.
NCS5, in line with moving toward Japanese, added a binary case system between the nom-
inative and the oblique, although forms for these cases were not always distinct for a given
word and number. In addition, it had a set of ‘constructs’ that could replace a postposi-
tional phrase. This system expanded on the genitive forms of VE4 ENCS and the descriptive
affixes that existed since the beginning. A given postposition did not necessarily map to
only one construct; for instance, NCS5 had separate comitative and instrumental constructs
for a single postposition cynsso. In practice, constructs were rarely used compared to their
postpositional equivalents.
Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7 has twelve cases (Table 5). Although ŊCv7 has postpositions, none of its
cases can be replaced with a postpositional phrase.
5
The capital letters A to F are used for the digits 10 to 15. It’s #flirora, not “fifteen-lirora”, damn it!
Page 30
Case Use
Nominative The subject of a clause; also the citation form.
Accusative The direct object of a clause.
Dative The indirect object of a clause; also the most dominant case to use with
postpositions. Also used as a vocative.
Genitive Shows such things as possession, composition, description or apposition.
Locative Shows location or time: ‘at, on’.
Ablative Shows a cause or origin: ‘from, since’.
Allative Shows a destination: ‘to, toward, until’.
Prolative ‘through, during’
Instrumental Used with a comitative or instrumental meaning: ‘with’. Not generally
used with an ornative meaning.
Abessive The negation of the instrumental case: ‘without’.
Semblative I Shows resemblance in appearance.
Semblative II Shows resemblance in behavior. On a nominalized verb, ‘such that’, ‘as
though’, or ‘to the point that’.
Table 5: The cases of Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7.
Figure 1: Locational cases in Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7, visualized.
The first four cases comprise the core cases. These cases are the most commonly used. The
nominative, accusative, and dative cases are used for the arguments of a verb (as elaborated
in a later section).
The next four cases are the locational cases. They form an aesthetically pleasing group
(Figure 1) and can be used both spatially and temporally.
The last four cases are the sundry cases, forming two pairs of related cases.
The major flaw of Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7’s case system is that some cases are rarely used – in
particular, the ablative, allative, prolative, and semblative I cases. Because Ŋarâþ Crîþ tries
to fit in common participants of an action into the core arguments of verbs, non-core cases
are used less often than anticipated. In nelsit ‘(S) goes to (I)’, for instance, the destination
is the dative argument of the verb. As a result, the allative case is not necessary to specify
the destination of nelsit. The semblative I case is rarely used for another reason: having to
express its meaning is rare in the first place.
With this information, Ŋarâþ Crîþ v9 trims the case system down to eight cases: nominative,
accusative, dative, genitive, locative, instrumental, abessive, and semblative (semblative II in
ŊCv7).
Page 31
Figure 2: The history of cases. Parentheses in the NCS5 column indicate constructs.
Number
VE1 ENCS had only two numbers: singular and plural. By VE2 ENCS, the dual number
was added. Being exempt from the NCS5 witch-hunts, this three-way number distinction
survived to ŊCv7. Note that the dual can be used even when the objects in question are not
paired.
ŊCv9 adds an additional number, the generic. A noun phrase in the generic number refers
to something in general or as a concept. It is used on noun phrases that do not refer to a
specific referent or referents.
(4) telu tovrafen mênču. Ŋarâþ Crîþ v9

tel -u tovr -afen mênč -u.
fish -NOM.GC flower -ACC.GC eat -3GC
“Fish eat flowers.”
(5) el telos tovrer nefan mênče.

el tel -os tovr -er nefan mênč -e.
this.TER fish -NOM.SG flower -ACC.PL two.ACC.CEL eat -3SG
“This fish is eating two flowers.”
Gender
Early Necarasso Cryssesa had masculine and feminine genders. The gender of a noun was
determined by its form: any nouns with the ending -os, -on, -or, -ios, -ion, -ior, or later -el
were masculine, and all others were feminine. Adjectives, articles, and long numerals agreed
in gender with nouns. Gender also determined which affix was used to form a descriptive
adjective from a noun (namely, -esa for masculine nouns and -eva for feminine nouns).
Lastly, third-person personal pronouns were split according to gender.
Page 32
Unlike number, gender was not immune from the NCS5 witch-hunts and was absent from
late Necarasso Cryssesa6 . Its expulsion from the language involved choosing one form where
there was a gender distinction:
• The feminine form was chosen for existing adjectives. (Adjectives now had number
agreement instead.)
• Articles and long numerals were conveniently banished from NCS5 with gender.
• Third-person pronouns used the masculine forms.
• The descriptive construct used -esa for all nouns.
• Inanimate genitive nouns were inflected as if they were feminine.
Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7 reintroduced gender, but because having a sex-based system was considered
unacceptable, it instead has three genders: the celestial and terrestrial genders correspond
formally to the old feminine and masculine, and the human gender is used for humans. In
ŊCv7, gender is not entirely predictable from the word ending, even when ignoring the
human: socon ‘angle’ is celestial (coming from Necarasso Cryssesa oscona) and respe ‘fog’
is terrestrial (from resvel).
Verbal participles, the closest equivalent to adjectives in Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7, agree with the
noun they modify in case and gender. In Ŋarâþ Crîþ v9, the situation is more complicated:
genus 2 verb participles agree with their heads in case and number instead.7
Demonstrative determiners gained gender agreement in Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7. Ŋarâþ Crîþ v9
separates basic personal pronouns and possessive clitics by gender in the third person, and
the long numerals from 1 to 6 agree in gender as well as case.
Definiteness
Early Necarasso Cryssesa had the definite articles iss and issos. The lack of a definite
article implied that a noun phrase was indefinite.
These articles were removed in NCS5, although in Late Necarasso Cryssesa, iss was repur-
posed into a superlative adverb. It survives today in the word iþalar ‘god of a monotheistic
religion’.
Noun declensions
In the beginning, noun declension was almost as trivial as in Japanese:
• The singular is the citation form.

• The plural is derived by removing the final consonant (if any) and appending -rys for
feminine nouns and -ros for masculine nouns.
• The descriptive form is derived by removing the ending and appending -eva for femi-
nine nouns and -esa for masculine nouns.
VE2 ENCS brought the dual number. The dual of a consonant-final noun was formed by
appending its final vowel plus -n; the dual of a vowel-final noun involved reduplicating the
initial syllable with more complex rules.
The dual and plural forms were seen as too verbose; they added one syllable to the singular
forms. For that reason, VE4 ENCS overhauled the dual- and pluralization rules (Table 6), with
6
In fact, Late Necarasso Cryssesa lacked any way to say ‘male’ or ‘female’!
7
In Ŋarâþ Crîþ v9, each verb is assigned to a species, which governs how its relative forms are derived.
Species that work in a similar way are grouped into genera.
Page 33
some minor tweaks in NCS6 (Table 7).
Ending Dual Plural

All with a Change to -ar Change to -o
-el Change to -or Change to -ion
All others with e Append or substitute r e to i/y
-o Change to yn Change to -an
-or Change to osor Change to -el
All others with o Change to -or Change to -el
All with i/y Change to er Change to -illyr
Drop palatalization? Always When required
Table 6: The declension rules for VE4 ENCS.
Ending Dual Plural

All with a Change to -ar Change to -o
-el Change to -or Change to -jon
-e Change to -ir Change to -i
-erss Change to -yr Change to -yss
All others with e Change to -yr e to y
-o Change to yn Change to -an
-or Change to osor Change to -el
All others with o Change to -or Change to -el
All with i/y Change to er Change to -es
Drop palatalization? Always When required
Table 7: The declension rules for NCS6.
In late Necarasso Cryssesa, nouns are also inflected for case. The oblique forms are derived
from the nominative forms with the same number by appending -n (replacing any existing
final consonant).
Genitive forms were added in VE4 ENCS. Inanimate genitives were formed by replacing
the ending with a suffix depending on the type of ending (categorized roughly by their coda
consonant), the number of the noun being genitivized, and the ‘gender’ (Table 8). It is not
clear whether the ‘gender’ category in the VE4 ENCS documentation refers to gender of the
head noun or the genitive, but given that it specifies that the number is of the latter, and
that categories that contain words of only one gender nevertheless have suffixes specified
for both, the latter case is more likely. Late Necaraso Cryssesa adopted only the feminine
forms of inanimate genitives.
Animate genitives in VE4 ENCS appended -el or -yl (depending on the gender of the noun
being genitivized) to a number-inflected noun, changing any existing final -l to -r-. In NCS5,
the ending is -el for noun forms ending in -s or -ss, -ryl for those ending with vowels, and
-yl to all others.
In VE4 ENCS, honorific genitives append -os or -ar to animate genitives ending with -el or
with -yl; in NCS5, the former suffix is -or instead.
The inessive construct (more accurately described as a locative) in NCS5 uses a paradigm
similar to the inanimate genitive. Other constructs are derived by various prefixes and
suffixes, but they are beyond the scope of this article.
Page 34
Masculine Feminine
Ending Singular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural
-a, -e, -i, -o -eson -esnos -esnor -asa -asar -asan
-as, -es, -is, -ys -esos -esosor -esoson -asas -asnas -asnan
-an, -en, -yn -inos -inon -inor -ica -icen -irnena
-ass, -ess, -yss, -erss -essos -esson -essoros -essa -essno -essenar
-el, -yl -el -el -el -yl -yl -yl
-os -on -osros -osroson -osroros -esra -esran -esrena
-or -oros -ororon -ororos -era -eran -erena
-ar, -er, -yr, -ir -yros -yron -yronor -yra -yrar -yro
Table 8: The genitive suffixes for VE4 ENCS.
Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7 overhauls the declension system; instead of applying number and case inflec-
tions independently, it declines nouns for both categories together paradigmatically. Nouns
are divided into 11 paradigms by the ending of the lemma form. There are seven ‘celestial’
paradigms: -V, -Vs, -VN, -Vr, -Vþ, -Vrþ, and -Vl. Celestial paradigms require three princi-
pal parts: the nominative singular, the locative singular, and the semblative I singular. In
addition, a noun in one of these paradigms has a thematic nucleus (namely, the V, with an
optional j before it), which is notated in the documentation as 0. Other nuclei are derived
from the thematic nucleus; the exact details vary by paradigm, but to summarize:
• 1 is a backed version of 0, and 1’, if it exists, replaces o with e and jo with ja.
• Nuclei that are some kind of 2 are raised or fronted (but u is lowered to o). 2’, if it
exists, is a depalatalized version of 2.
• 3 turns a into o and all other vowels into i.
Case \ Number Singular Dual Plural
Nominative N-0C N-0c N-1(C)
Accusative N-0n, -aC0n N-0ŋ N-1n, -aC1n
Dative N-0s, -0þa, -0Cas N-0(C)ci, -0(C)c(C)i N-1(C)s, -1Cas
Genitive N-2n, -2r N-2c(i(r)), -2ri N-3n, -3r
Locative L-0s, -0þ0 -0Cas L-[02]sac, -0C0c, -0saŋ, 0Cac L-1(C(a))s
Ablative L-[02](C)sa, -0þ0, -0Cas L-[02]Csac, -0s0, -0cCas L-2sta, -2s0, -1Csa, -1Cas
Allative L-[02](C)(l)a, -0ł0, -0[rl]þa L-[02](C)(l)ac, -0ł0c, -0[rl]þac L-2lta, -2ł0, -1(C)(l)a, -2[rl]þa
Prolative L-[02](C)na, -0sn0, -0nþa L-[02](C)nac, -0sn0c, -0nþac L-1(C)na, -1sn0, -2nþa
Instrumental L-[02]ca, -0c(r)þ[0a], -0ŋa L-[02][hc]ac, -0(r)cþ[0a]c, -0ŋac L-2cta, -1(r)cþ[0a], -1ŋa, -1ca
Abessive L-2(C)þa, -2ð0 L-2(C)þac, -2ð0c L-3(C)þa, -3ða
Semblative I S-ic, -iŋ S-ic S-icþi
Semblative II S-it, -i[rsl], -i(r)þ S-i[csŋ]t0, -i[rl]c(þ)o S-2t, -2[rl]
Table 9: A rough overview of celestial paradigms in Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7. This table is not ex-
haustive; in particular, thematic vowels are mentioned only by the base number, without
any modifiers. (For a detailed guide, consult the Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7 grammar.)
The remaining four paradigms are ‘terrestrial’ paradigms. Three of them (-os, -or, and -on)
have four principal parts: the nominative singular, the locative singular, the instrumental
singular, and the semblative I singular. These paradigms do have a ‘thematic vowel’, but it
is used solely to account for both o and ô, which differ in the presence of creaky voicing.
Here, 0 is the thematic vowel, and 1 is e or ê, matching 0 in creaky voicing.
Unlike in celestial paradigms, the instrumental and abessive forms of nouns in terrestrial
paradigms are circumfixed. In the abessive forms, the root is lenited:
(6) cenčon Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7

name-NOM.SG
Page 35

Nominative N-0C N-0c N-0C’
Accusative N-0n N-0ŋ N-0n0r
Dative N-as0C, -0s N-as0c N-as0C’
Genitive N-1l N-ac1l N-i1l
Locative L-0s L-[01]sac L-0r
Ablative L-[01][sr]a L-[01]sac L-0ra, -1sa
Allative L-[10]la L-[10]lac L-0rla, -1lsa
Prolative L-0na L-0na L-0rna, -0nsa
Instrumental cja-I-0C cja-I-0c cja-I-0C’
Abessive þja- I-0C
H
þja- I-0c
H
þja-H I-0C’
Semblative I S-oc S-oc S-ocþe
Semblative II S-ot S-oct0s S-0t
Table 10: A rough overview of terrestrial paradigms in Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7, excluding -el. This
table is not exhaustive. (For a detailed guide, consult the Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7 grammar.)
(7) cjagenčon
INSTR-name-INSTR.SG
(8) þjag enčon

PRIV-name-PRIV.SG
The last paradigm mentioned is the -el paradigm. This paradigm uses six principal parts:
the nominative, accusative, genitive, locative, instrumental, and semblative I singulars. We
use 0 to denote the thematic vowel (e or ê), and 1 is o or ô, matching 0 in creaky voicing.

Nominative N-0l N-1c N-i0l
Accusative A-0n A-1c A-1n
Dative A-1s A-1ci N-1s
Genitive G-0l N-ac0l G-1l
Locative L-1s L-1sac L-1r
Ablative L-0sa L-0sac L-0rþa
Allative L-0la L-0lac L-0rla
Prolative L-1na L-1na L-1rna
Instrumental cja-I-0l cja-I-0c cja-I-0r
Abessive þja-H I-0l þja-H I-0c þja-H I-0r
Semblative I S-oc S-oc S-ocþe
Semblative II S-ot S-oct1s S-1t
Table 11: A rough overview of the -el paradigm in Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7.
There are additional rules for nouns whose lemmas are monosyllabic (Table 12).8 The
accusative singular suffix for non-terrestrial nouns depends on the letter sum9 of the nomi-
native singular form.
8
In the grammar, the entries of the genitive and dative rows were switched from how they are shown in the
table, but the table in this article shows actual usage. This switch happened because of a bug in an automatic
declension tool for ŊCv7.
9
Each letter is assigned a value, and the letter sum of a word is the sum of the values of each letter.
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Nominative -∅ -∅ -ar / -or
Accusative -en, -an, -in / -on -as / -os -as / -os
Dative -i -ic -ir
Genitive -a -ac -o
Table 12: Special declensions for monosyllabic nouns in Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7. When a cell has
two entries separated by a slash, the suffix or suffixes on the left are for celestial and human
nouns and the suffix on the right is for terrestrial nouns.
In addition, all dual or plural genitives that are multisyllabic or ambiguous with the geni-
tive singular are eclipsed.
While Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7 noun declension is a textbook example of table hell, it is possible to
discern some patterns:
• Dual forms tend to add a c somewhere, possibly fusing with a nasal into ŋ.
• Accusative forms tend to add a n.
• Dative forms tend to add a s, possibly fusing with another s into þ.10
• The ablative case is associated with s, the allative with l, the prolative with n, the
instrumental with c, and the abessive with þ.
• The semblative I singular ends with -c, and the semblative II singular ends with -t.
Ŋarâþ Crîþ v9 retains the paradigmatic approach to noun declension with multiple princi-
pal parts. Although each paradigm has constraints on what kinds of lemmas are allowed, it
is no longer possible to infer the paradigm of a given noun from its lemma alone. Table 13
gives a summary of these paradigms. Note that the list is still incomplete and new paradigms
might be added. At the minimum, a paradigm for quality nouns derived from verbs (ending
in -erþ) is planned.
Paradigm # Gender Pattern Principal parts V₀? Letter sum?

Paradigm 0 Celestial -[aeo] N, L, S From N Not used
Paradigm 1 Celestial -[ae]s N, L, S From N Not used
Paradigm 2 Celestial -[aeoi]þ N, L, S From N Not used
Paradigm 3 Celestial -[aei]r N, L, S From N Not used
Paradigm 4 Celestial -i[ns] N, G, L, S From L Not used
Paradigm 5 Celestial -C N, L, S From L mod 6
Paradigm 6 Celestial -[aio]l N, L, S From N Not used
Paradigm 7 Terrestrial -os N, L, S No Not used
Paradigm 8 Terrestrial -or N, L, S No Not used
Paradigm 9 Terrestrial -on N, L, S No Not used
Paradigm 10 Terrestrial -el N, A, G, L, S No Not used
Paradigm 11 Any -C N, L, S By gender mod 5 or 4
Paradigm 12 Any -C N, S From N Not used
Paradigm 13 Celestial -[ei]n N, L, I, I′, S From N mod 7
Table 13: A summary of paradigms in Ŋarâþ Crîþ v9, as of August 21, 2021.
Paradigms 5, 11, and 12 are meant to be used for monosyllabic nouns, although multisyl-
labic nouns are also allowed in these paradigms.
10
This happens because the phoneme θ was written as ss in Necarasso Cryssesa.
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Some lemma forms that were valid in ŊCv7 are not valid in ŊCv9 (even if they are phono-
logically valid), most notably those ending in creaky (or low-tone in ŊCv9) vowels such as
nemsâ (in ŊCv7, ‘star’). As another example, -an nouns no longer have their own paradigm
and must either use paradigm 5, 11, or 12 or change their forms.
We do not attempt to list the endings of each paradigm here, even in abridged form. The
curious reader may consult the relevant section of the grammar11 .
Nominal modifiers
The nominal modifiers of Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7 include:
• ‘Det’:
– Determiners, including demonstrative determiners, interrogative determiners, and
quantifiers
– Ordinal numerals
• ‘Num’:
– Cardinal numerals, as well as the interrogative numeral met
• ‘A’:
– Noun phrases in the genitive or a non-core case
– Pronomial possessive clitics, with an optional possessor in a possessive construc-
tion
– Relative clauses
As mentioned earlier, articles were lost in NCS5 and adjectives in ŊCv7.
Analysis in Theoretical Ŋarâþ Crîþ Syntax indicates that the structure of the noun phrase
is most likely [Det [[A [N]] Num]] (or [Det [Num [A [N]]]] in the case of an ordinal or
indefinite numeral). A prosodically heavy A, however, is moved before a Det:
(9) cermjôr goraþa lê lâri. Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7

cermj -ôr gor -aþa lê lâr -i.
dog -NOM.SG avoid -REL.ACC,NOM.CEL this.CEL cat -NOM.SG
“This cat that the dog avoids [is here].”
(10) šinen contos mjołes sêna vidot rilþa lê lâri.

šin - en cont - os mjoł - es sêna vid - ot rilþ
all - GEN morning - LOC.SG grass - LOC.SG above stone - SEMBLII.SG rest
-a lê lâr -i.
-REL.NOM,NOM.CEL this.CEL cat -NOM.SG
“This cat that sleeps on top of the grass every morning like a rock [is here].”
(11) ??lê šinen contos mjołes sêna vidot rilþa lâri.

lê šin -en cont -os mjoł -es sêna vid -ot rilþ
this.CEL all -GEN morning -LOC.SG grass -LOC.SG above stone -SEMBLII.SG rest
-a lâr -i.
-REL.NOM,NOM.CEL cat -NOM.SG
“This cat that sleeps on top of the grass every morning like a rock [is here].”
(ŊCv7 grammar)
11
https://ncv9.flirora.xyz/grammar/nouns.html#declensions
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Moving prosodically lighter As before Dets sometimes reduces ambiguity:
(12) lê mîþen vrômas «ercjel melirner» nel cenčon veła. Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7
lê mîþ - en vrôm - as «ercj - el melirn - er»
this.CEL/HUM ruler - GEN.SG book - LOC.SG shield - GEN.SG legacy - NOM.SG
nel cenč -on veł-a.
QUOT.GEN name -NOM.SG exist -3SG
“This book that belongs to the ruler is entitled ‘The Legacy of the Shield’.”
Or: “This ruler’s book is entitled ‘The Legacy of the Shield’.”
(13) mîþen lê vrômas «ercjel melirner» nel cenčon veła.

mîþ - en lê vrôm - as «ercj - el melirn - er»
ruler - GEN.SG this.CEL/HUM book - LOC.SG shield - GEN.SG legacy - NOM.SG
nel cenč -on veł-a.
QUOT.GEN name -NOM.SG exist -3SG
“This book that belongs to the ruler is entitled ‘The Legacy of the Shield’.”
Not: “This ruler’s book is entitled ‘The Legacy of the Shield’.”
Some modifiers are separable – they can be moved away from their heads. Modifiers that
show rich agreement, such as relative clauses and long numerals, tend to be separable,
while modifiers with less agreement, such as demonstrative determiners or short numerals,
are not. Hyperbaton – taking advantage of modifier separability – can be used to dramatic
effect:
(14) ceras aranten circþimînsa mîr anljaþaŋ noršidir šinos censaþ. Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7
cer - as arant - en circþim - însa mîr anlj
survive - REL.NOM,DAT.CEL long_time - GEN.SG battle - ABL.SG after hurt
-aþaŋ noršid -ir šin -os cens -a -þ.
-REL.ACC,NOM.HUM warrior -NOM.SG all -DAT.SG equal -3SG -PST
“After the long battle, only the injured warrior remained.” (ŊCv7 grammar)
Figure 3: Dependency graph of (14).
REL
PPH ROOT
SBJ
ATT PPC REL
IND
ceras aranten circþimînsa mîr anljaþaŋ noršidir šinos censaþ
Sentences such as (14) do not imply that syntactic discontinuities are rare in everyday
speech.
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The nearest head rule states that if a modifier could modify more than one word based
on agreement and direction, then it generally modifies the nearest one. Exceptions to the
nearest head rule exist, such as in a double crossing structure on a coordinated noun phrase:
(15) nosres erces onraþa coþas’ce Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7

nosr -es erc -es onr -aþa coþ -as =’ce
deep -REL.NOM,LOC.CEL cold -REL.NOM,LOC.CEL cave -LOC lake -LOC =and
“in the deep cave and the cold lake” (ŊCv7 grammar)
A naïve interpretation of the nearest head rule would interpret (15) as “in the deep, cold
cave and the lake”. Theoretical Ŋarâþ Crîþ Syntax posits a “best head rule” that generalizes the
nearest head rule, assigning scores to each possible modifier-head relationship. The score of
a relationship is initially the distance between the modifier and the head but can be leveled
with another relationship to give them the same score.
Proforms and determiners

Syntax
In early Necarasso Cryssesa, pronouns were syntactically different from nouns because the
former could not occur with definite articles. In late Necarasso Cryssesa, pronouns were
considered to be syntactically identical to nouns, although to what degree this was true is
unknown.
In Ŋarâþ Crîþ, pronouns are understood to be distinct from nouns syntactically. Table 14
compares the behavior of different types of pronouns in Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7 to that of nouns.
Head type Dem Num A (Restr) Has number?

Noun ✓ ✓ ✓ Both Any
Emphatic pronoun ✓ ✓ (1) NR Any
Proper noun ✓ ✓? (1) NR Usually singular
Demonstrative pronoun * ✓ ✓ Both Any
Interrogative pronoun * ✓ ✓ R Always singular
Quantifier * ✓ ✓ R Always singular
Ordinary personal pronoun * ✓ (1) NR Any
Clusive pronoun * ✓ (1) NR Dual or plural
Reflexive pronoun (2) * (1) NR Any
Table 14: Summary of noun phrase heads and acceptable dependents in Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7.
Dem: demonstratives, as well as the interrogative determiner mê ‘which’
Num: numerals
A: adnominal noun phrases, relative clauses
(Restr): R = restrictive, NR = non-restrictive, Both = both restrictive and non-restrictive
A are grammatical
✓ grammatical
✓? grammatical but rare
* ungrammatical
(1) only for those not denoting ownership or association
(2) not valid for mê ‘which’
Source: Theoretical Ŋarâþ Crîþ Syntax
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Some types of pronouns can take an A, but only if the A do not denote ownership or
association:
(16) fovesa pelsa cþîm gcarvełaþ. Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7

fov -esa pelsa cþîm -∅ g\ car- veł -a -þ
not_want -REL.NOM,ABL.CEL 1SG.ABL sword -NOM.SG PFV\ TERM- exist -3SG -PST
“I, not wanting it [anyway], lost the sword.”
(17) nemir #saþen pelas veła.

nem -ir #saþ -en pelas veł -a.
apple -NOM.SG NAME -GEN.SG 1SG.LOC exist -3SG
“I, #saþo, have an apple.”
Not: “I, belonging to #saþo, have an apple.” (Theoretical Ŋarâþ Crîþ Syntax)
This property is marked as (1) in the A column in Table 14.
Personal pronouns
VE1 ENCS had nine personal pronouns, and VE2 ENCS added four more for the dual. VE3 ENCS
changed the first-person plural pronoun to avoid homophony with the third-person feminine
plural, as well as adding possessive forms.
Singular Dual Plural

1st e ento eras
2nd eo eoro eos
3rd masc. os oson oros
3rd fem. er eren erys
Impersonal an
Table 15: The personal pronoun system of VE3 ENCS.
Singular Dual Plural

1st enas entas entras
2nd evas evras eftras
3rd masc. ores oten oras
3rd fem. eres eten eris
Table 16: Possessive personal pronouns in VE3 ENCS.
NCS5 removed not only the feminine pronouns but also the impersonal pronoun. NCS6
introduced a set of obviate pronouns used when multiple third-person referents are present.
The first two, ela and emta, were the demonstrative pronouns, followed by three suppletive
pronouns enros, ton, and senca, then pronouns formed with re- plus a short numeral: redo,
remja, relen &c. This system did not survive into Ŋarâþ Crîþ.
In Ŋarâþ Crîþ, ordinary personal pronouns are defective and lack forms for the core cases.
ŊCv7 introduced forms for three persons, the remaining eight cases, and the three numbers.
ŊCv9 divides the third-person pronouns by gender. In terms of agreement, first- and second-
person pronouns are treated as celestial.
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Ordinary personal pronouns are considered to be in their own category, p, and avoid
manifesting as free morphemes. That is, they would rather hide inside an affix or clitic.
When an ordinary personal pronoun is forced to manifest in a core case (for instance, when
it is modified by a relative clause), it is homophonous with the corresponding emphatic
pronoun.
Instead of possessive pronouns, Ŋarâþ Crîþ uses possessive postclitics. ŊCv7 has three
different clitics: =’pe, =’ve, and =’(a)c for first-, second-, and third-person possessors,
respectively, without any number marking. Again, ŊCv9 divides the third-person clitic into
three separate forms by gender: =’(a)c, =’oc, and =’(o)r for celestial, terrestrial, and
human possessors.
The possessive construction
The third-person possessive clitic is also used in Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7 in the double-marked pos-
sessive construction, in which the possessee takes the =’(a)c clitic and the possessor takes
the ’=(e)þ clitic:
(18) nava’þ cenčon’ac Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7

nav -a =’þ cenč -on =’ac
person -NOM.SG =POSR name -NOM.SG =POS.3
“the person’s name” (Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7 grammar)
The possessor and the possessee agree in case. This construction is obligatory when using
the noun aliþ ‘something other than’ to negate a noun phrase:
(19) ener’eþ aliþ’ac. Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7

en -er =’eþ al -iþ =’ac.
tree -NOM.SG =POSR other_than -NOM.SG =POS.3
“There is something other than a tree.” (Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7 grammar)
(20) **enin aliþ.

en -in al -iþ.
tree -GEN.SG other_than -NOM.SG
Intended: “There is something other than a tree.” (Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7 grammar)
In one case, aliþ has taken the role of the possessor instead:
(21) **alin’eþ ceven’ac šinen naven narva. Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7

al - in = ’eþ cev - en = ’ac šin - en nav - en
other_than - GEN.SG = POSR 1.EXCL - GEN.SG = POS.3 all - GEN.SG person - GEN.SG
narv -a.
voice -NOM.SG
Intended: “The voice, not ours, but rather of all people.”
(Translation of Six Trillion Years and an Overnight Story)
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This sentence contains another error anyway (the clusive pronoun ceva should be in the
dual number instead), so it’s probably best not to trust it.
The possessive construction permits discontinuities:
(22) tê navo’þ calas’pe pecaþit’ac caraþ. Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7

tê nav - o = ’þ cal - as = ’pe pe- caþ - it = ’ac
that.CEL person - NOM.PL = POSR body - DAT.SG = POS.1 1SG- punish - INF = POS.3
car -a -þ.
be_excessive -3SG -PST
“Their punishing of my body was too much for me.”
(Translation of Six Trillion Years and an Overnight Story)
However, the use of a possessive to indicate the subject of a nominalized verb phrase is
now limited to pronominal subjects; as a result, this sentence would now be translated as
such:
(23) tê navo calas’pe pecaþit caraþ. Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7

tê nav -o cal -as =’pe pe- caþ -it car -a
that.CEL person -NOM.PL body -DAT.SG =POS.1 1SG- punish -INF be_excessive -3SG
-þ.
-PST
“Their punishing of my body was too much for me.”
In any case, the possessive construction was often more verbose than the alternative using
genitives, so it fell out of use unless necessary. For instance, the song cerecaþa artfaþo
(“Forgotten City”) does not use the possessive construction at all.
Ŋarâþ Crîþ v9 inherits the mechanics wholesale from v7, but admits that its use other than
with aliþ is rare. aliþ could be replaced with the nominalized form of the relational ema
‘(S) is different from (O)’, but the latter end up longer than forms of aliþ (although genitives
can be used for the ema-nouns, reducing this advantage).
Clusive pronouns
In Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7, ceva acts as a first-person inclusive pronoun, and cela as a first-person
exclusive pronoun. Both are used only in the dual or plural; as a result, they never appear as
their lemma forms in the wild. Unlike ordinary personal pronouns, clusive pronouns have
forms for all cases.
Emphatic pronouns
Emphatic pronouns are used to mark focus on a pronominal referent. In Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7,
they are formed using the reflexive pronoun cem plus the appropriate possessive clitic.
Unlike ordinary personal pronouns, emphatic pronouns have forms for all cases.
Page 43
Reflexive and reciprocal pronouns
Necarasso Cryssesa had nemesa as the reflexive pronoun and cypra as the reciprocal.
Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7, on the other hand, has cem for both. The grammar lists these rules for how
it is bound:
• If there is a quantifier in the clause, cem refers to the innermost one.

• In a relative clause, cem refers to the head of the clause.
• In other clauses, it can refer to an argument mentioned earlier in the clause:
(24) lâri cemen cînta. Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7
lâr -i cem -en cînt -a
cat -NOM.SG REFL -ACC.SG hit -3SG
“The cat hits itself.”
(25) lârin cem cînta.
lâr -in cem -∅ cînt -a
cat -ACC.SG REFL -NOM.SG hit -3SG
“The cat is hit by itself.”
(26) **cemen lâri cînta.
cem -en lâr -i cînt -a
REFL -ACC.SG cat -NOM.SG hit -3SG
(27) **cem lârin cînta.
cem -∅ lâr -in cînt -a
REFL -NOM.SG cat -ACC.SG hit -3SG
The reflexive pronoun most commonly refers to the nominative argument, with ref-
erences to accusative or dative arguments being rarer. Referring to adjuncts is unat-
tested.
• If no suitable argument exists (including when the clause is imperative), then the ref-
erent defaults to the subject of the clause:
(28) cemen cînta. Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7
cem -en cînt -a
REFL -ACC.SG hit -3SG
“It hits itself.”
.
Ŋarâþ Crîþ v9 added the possibility of marking a reflexive or reciprocal object (distinctly)
on a verb or a relational (the closest equivalent to an adposition). An independent reflexive
or reciprocal pronoun is not yet decided.
Object affixes on verbs and adpositions
In Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7, a pronominal accusative or dative argument of a verb may be reflected
in an object affix. Object affixes depend on the person and the number of the argument in
question, and they may not be redundant with an explicit object:
(29) #saþo elteþa vraþjeleþ. Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7

#saþ -o elt -eþa vraþj -e -le -þ.
NAME -NOM.SG river -DAT.SG lead -3SG -3SG -PST
“#saþo led it to the river.”
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(30) **#saþo cêpon’pe elteþa vraþjeleþ.
#saþ -o cêp -on =’pe elt -eþa vraþj -e -le -þ.
NAME -NOM.SG cattle -ACC.SG =POS.1 river -DAT.SG lead -3SG -3SG -PST
Intended: “#saþo led my cattle to the river.”
Object affixes fall between the subject suffix and the tense suffix in finite forms (as seen
in (29)), but before the stem in relative forms (as in (22)).
Similarly, a pronominal complement of a postposition that governs either a core case or

the locative manifests as a prefix to the postposition. In this case, there are distinct prefixes
for each gender in the singular, and a human vs. epicene contrast in the other numbers.
(31) anetor cjana jorniła. Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7

anetor cjan -a jornił -a.
3SG.HUM- in_front_of turtle -NOM.SG stand -3SG
“In front of that person stands a turtle.”
In Ŋarâþ Crîþ v9, object affixes for verbs and those for relationals both mark for gender
in the same way as postpositional prefixes in ŊCv7. (There is no gender distinction in the
generic number.) ŊCv9 also has object affixes for reflexive and reciprocal objects:
(32) le morcþêmeca anljat pečascin. Ŋarâþ Crîþ v9

le morcþêm -eca anlj -at peč -as -cin.
IMP knife -INSTR.SG injure -INF avoid -2SG -REFL
“Don’t hurt yourself with the knife.”
(33) riþecljac galas cþerit racfit łanu.
riþ- eclj -ac gal -as cþer -it racf -it łan
RECIP- far -REL.NOM,NOM.HUM friend -NOM.GC write -INF know_how_to -INF must
-u.
-3GC
“Friends far away from each other must know how to write.”
(Demonstrative, interrogative, and indefinite) (proforms and de

terminers)
These are all in the same heading because Necarasso Cryssesa documentation put them
all into one category, listing them tabelvortoj-style. The full table is omitted here because I
don’t want to have to put another table in tiny text, but the following categories were used:
• Axis I:
– interrogative or relative, nominative (‘what’)
– interrogative or relative, oblique
– proximal demonstrative (‘this’)
– distal demonstrative (‘that’)
– universal (‘all’)
– assertive existential (‘some’)
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– elective existential (‘any’)

– negatory (‘no’)
– alternative (‘other’)
– ‘most’
– ‘little’
• Axis II:
– determiner (not listed in the table itself)
– thing, inanimate object
– person
– place
– time
– reason
– method
– quantity
– ‘thing (which)’
Not all cells were full. Some of the tabelvortoj had separate adverbial forms; the rest could
be used as adverbs as-is (where it made sense to do so).
VE3 ENCS removed the ‘thing (which)’ row from axis II, and VE4 ENCS added ‘action’ and
‘order’ rows to axis II; the former held pro-verbs and the latter held the interrogative deter-
miner venan ‘which-th?’
NCS5 used the same categories as VE4 ENCS but with different words; additionally, some
cells that were empty in VE4 ENCS were filled in NCS5. The interrogative pronouns no longer
functioned as relative pronouns because the method of creating relative clauses changed.
In Necarasso Cryssesa, multiple negation was not used with the negatory pro-forms:
(34) Cynmerto crysavan inveči metellon invete. NCS6

Cynmert -o crysav -an inveč -i metell -on invet -e.
no_one -NOM.SG spider -NOM.PL walk -3PL path -OBL.SG walk -3SG
“No one walks in the path where the spiders walk.” (NCS6 grammar)
Ŋarâþ Crîþ treats demonstrative, interrogative, and indefinite pro-forms and determiners
separately. We mainly discuss ŊCv7 because it is better documented in this regard.
The demonstrative determiners and pro-forms of Ŋarâþ Crîþ are listed in Table 17. The
pronouns elgren and emgren are always singular and have irregular forms for six cases.
The animate pronouns ełan and emtan are generally used only in formal language; the
inanimate pronouns are colloquially used for all referents. Furthermore, endir is more
formal than ina.
The interrogative words in Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7 include:
• the determiner mê ‘which?’

• the pronoun pen ‘what, who’ but also ‘something’ or ‘someone’
• the pronoun penna, covering only the animate senses of pen
• the pro-verb nepit
Ŋarâþ Crîþ has two quantifiers: the universal šino and the existential nema. They are
pronouns by default, but their genitive forms can be used as determiners. It lacks any
Page 46
Proximal Distal
Determiner (celestial or human) lê N tê N
Determiner (terrestrial) el om
Pronoun (inanimate) ela emta
Pronoun (animate) ełan emtan
Pronoun (place) elgren emgren
→ locative eši eči
→ ablative esa eta
→ prolative ensa enta
→ instrumental esaŋ etaŋ
→ abessive eþa eða
→ semblative I elsic eltic
Pronoun (time) endir, ina
Pro-verb ħelit
Table 17: Demonstrative words in Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7.
negatory or non-universal quantifier, as clauses that desire them can negate the verb, using
a universal or existential quantifier instead.
Nested quantifier scopes are ordered by linear order, such that the quantifier appearing
the earliest in a clause corresponds to the outermost layer of quantification:
(35) šino neman racra. Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7

šin -o nem -an racr -a.
all -NOM.SG some -ACC.SG know -3SG
“@xDy : x knows y; everyone has someone they know, and the person known can be
different for each person”
(36) neman šino racra.
nem -an šin -o racr -a.
some -ACC.SG all -NOM.SG know -3SG
“Dy@x : x knows y; there is someone whom everyone knows, and the person being
known is the same for all people” (ŊCv7 grammar)
In other words, (35) fixes a possibly different value for nema for each member of šino,
while (36) fixes the value of nema before considering each member of šino.
Ŋarâþ Crîþ has the pronouns pas for ‘something or someone else’ and paða ‘another member
of the same class as GEN’:
(37) le vesaneþa šino paðan ŋgenin ve os m irm arit menes. Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7
le ve - san - eþa šin - o pað - an ŋ\
IMP 2SG - be_satisfied - REL.DAT,NOM.CEL all - NOM.SG other - ACC.SG CDARG\
gen -in =’ve os m ir- m ar -it men -es.
skill -ACC.SG =POS.2 INF.DAT (INF.DAT)\CMP- say -INF see -2SG
“Make sure that everything that you are satisfied with is said to show more skill than
other things of the same class.”
Or: “Be satisfied with nothing but your best.” (CSTC #165)
Page 47
Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7 has words for quantities: mel for ‘many, much’ and dân for ‘few, little’.
These can act both as determiners (without inflection) and as pronouns. In version 9, the
determiner and pronoun forms are distinct: mel vs. denfo and dân vs. danen.
Version 7 lacks a way to express a majority or minority of something. Version 9 has the
nouns &denfo and resa for those respective concepts.
Coordination
VE1 ENCS had a single set of coordinating conjunctions (Table 18).
Conjunction Gloss
ner ... ner ... ‘... and ...’
ner ... ena ... ‘... but ...’
... ci aro ... ‘not ... but rather ...’
ce ... ce ... ‘... or ...’
ce ... cssar ... ‘... xor ...’
Table 18: Coordinating conjunctions in VE1 ENCS.
Since the negation particle ci after a coordinated phrase was assumed to apply only to the
last coordinand, cynto was used before one to negate the whole phrase.
VE4 ENCS added the option to replace the first coordinating particle with me (except in ...
ci aro ...) to specify that the coordinands were non-exhaustive. This extension was limited
to VE4 ENCS.
NCS5 distinguished between noun phrase coordination, verb phrase coordination, and
clausal coordination. Noun phrases were coordinated by adding a coordinating affix to
all except the first coordinand: -ce for ‘and’ or ‘but’ (the latter meaning optionally disam-
biguated by ena in NCS6), -te for ‘or’, and -re for ‘xor’. The accusative -n was attached to
the coordinating affix in this case.
Verb phrases were coordinated by conjugating the verbs of all but the last coordinand in
a converbal form, replacing the infinitive ending with -yme, -yge, or -yre.
Clauses were coordinated in the same way as in VE4 ENCS. NCS5 also introduced additive
clausal conjunctions, which extend a previous sentence. They are ša for ‘and’, cen for ‘or’,
and cssen for ‘xor’.
NCS6 specified that choice questions used disjunction but added geto before the second
option:
(38) Šan eran cynsso dešyre geto ydyr martas? NCS6

Šan era -n cynsso deš -yre geto ydyr mart -as?
INT 1PL -OBL with go -or CHOICE here.ADV wait -2SG
“Will you go with us or wait here?” (NCS6 grammar)
In Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7, noun phrases are conjoined by placing a clitic on all but the first coordi-
nand. If the first coordinand (or any before the last) is pronominal, then a fused coordinator-
pronoun clitic is placed on the last coordinand.12
12
In ‘but not’ phrases, only one such clitic can exist.
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Operation Basic X=1 X=2 X=3 Number from
X and Y =’ce =’cjo =’gjo =’cil X+Y
X or Y =’te =’čo =’djo =’čil Y
X xor Y =’re =’pre =’vre =’ril Y
X but not Y =’ne =’njo =’mjo =’nil X
Table 19: Clitics for nominal coordination in Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7.
Figure 4: The structure of nominal coordination in Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7.
Note that coordinator-pronoun fusion occurs discontinuously over the last coordinand:
(39) malin tisa’ne Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7

mal -in tis -a =’ne
squirrel -NOM.SG mouse -NOM.SG =but_not
“a squirrel but not a mouse”
(40) tisa’nil
tis -a =’nil
mouse -NOM.SG =but_not.3
“it but not a mouse”
In (40), the underlying structure can be seen as (p:3SG) tisa’ne. This example suggests
the structure shown in Figure 4.
Verbal coordination has two types: reduced coordination and emergent coordination. Re-
duced coordination indicates that the component actions are separate without forming a
coherent whole; emergent coordination indicates that they are considered to form a larger
coherent action. That is, emergent coordination can be used to form a kind of serial verb
construction.
Reduced coordination is done similarly to verbal coordination in NCS5; the verbs of all
coordinands before the last are placed into a converbal form (with affixes in 20, but the
affixes are now variant over the infinitive ending.
In emergent coordination, the final -t of the infinitive is replaced with -rþ if the next word
starts with a vowel or a plosive followed by a vowel, and with -þ otherwise.
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Operation \ Infinitive ending -at -it Variants

X and Y -ame -ime -ase, -ise after m
X but Y -ameca -imeca
X or Y -age -ige -ahe, -ihe after a voiced obstruent
X xor Y -are -ire
X to some and Y to others -amec -imec -asec, -isec after m
Table 20: Reduced coordination in Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7.
Object affixes attached to a converb are prefixed.
In any case, Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7 does not distinguish between verbal and clausal coordination.
NCS5’s additive clausal conjunctions were inherited into ŊCv7 as the head particles ea
‘and, therefore’, veŋ ‘or, alternatively’, and ai ‘but, however’.
Coordination is not yet completely specified for Ŋarâþ Crîþ version 9.
Numerals
Since its inception as Necarasso Cryssesa, Ŋarâþ Crîþ has had a base-16 numeral system.13
VE1 ENCS came with only one set of numerals (later called the long numerals), which came
after the noun and declined for gender. Ordinal numerals were formed with erse plus the
corresponding cardinal; they started at one14 :
(41) A iss navgonerlla erse myn! VE3 ENCS

A iss navgonerlla erse myn!
hah DEF.F interface ORD 1.LONG.F
“Hah, the original interface.” (Translation of The End Poem)
From VE3 ENCS, it was possible to use numerals adverbially:
(42) Er enara menead e genlemamyn. VE3 ENCS

Er enar -a mene -ad e genlem -amyn.
3SG.F PST -3SG see -INF 1SG five -ADV
“She saw me five times.”
VE4 ENCS introduced a parallel set of short numerals, which were not declined. They were
used when a numeral was used as a noun. When used as determiners, both the VE4 ENCS
grammar and the tutorial15 specified that the last term was expressed as a long numeral and
the preceding terms as a short numeral:
13
The long numerals in Early Necarasso Cryssesa had a mixed base-16–32 system: ermessa = 16, allasma
= 32, allasmarmessa = 48 &c.
14
Hence why Necarasso Cryssesa versions started at VE1 ENCS.
15
https://github.com/bluebear94/necarasso-cryssesa-tutorial
Page 50
(43) enyr senflenlensradepremo VE4 ENCS
en -yr sen- flen- len- srad- eprem -o
tree -PL 2.SHORT- 256.SHORT- 7.SHORT- 16.SHORT- 3.LONG -F
“627 trees”
but it is unknown whether this was done in practice.
In VE4 ENCS ordinal numbers were expressed by putting their short forms before the noun.
They became zero-indexed, with negative ordinals expressing items from the end à la Python:
(44) iss en nervema VE4 ENCS

iss en nervem -a
DEF.F 3.SHORT book -SG
“the fourth book”
(45) es iss regrys vyl elsse

es iss regrys vyl elss -e
in DEF.F negative 1.SHORT day -SG
“on the second-to-last day”
Short numerals supplanted long numerals and were used as determiners in NCS5:
(46) nesmerio afssalia VE4 ENCS

nesmeri -o afssali -a
star -PL 13.LONG -F
“thirteen stars”
(47) nesmejo as NCS5

nesmej -o as
star -PL 13.SHORT
“thirteen stars”
While NCS5 switched from a dominantly head-initial order to a head-final one, cardinal
numerals remained head-initial. NCS5 had an optional counter system, but it saw little use
because of its optionality.
NCS5 was also the first version to specify that vyl ‘one’ and ces ‘zero’ also meant ‘yes’ and
‘no’.
Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7 reintroduces the long numerals from 1 to 16, declined for case, while re-
taining the short numerals. Counters are now required for short numerals, except when the
noun is a unit of measurement or is sar ‘thing, something, someone’ or ðên ‘occurrence, event,
time’.
As in late Necarasso Cryssesa, ordinal numerals start from zero and precede the noun. The
first four are suppletive, agreeing in a subset of cases, but the rest are homophonic to the
short numerals.
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Because long numerals agree with their heads, they are separable; however, the short
numerals and the ordinal numerals (even for 0 – 3) are inseparable.
Ŋarâþ Crîþ v9 distinguishes long numerals from 1 to 6 by gender. In addition, it fuses the
word for sixteen, sraþ, with the unit digit in some cases.
We omit discussions of negative numerals and non-integral numerals in this paper.
Word formation
Ŋarâþ Crîþ has two primary means of word formation: compounding and derivation.
Noun-noun compounding existed since VE1 ENCS. This kind of compounding was head-
final. NCS5 did not mention any type of compounding, but NCS6 did. In addition, NCS6
specified other forms of compounding, such as adjective-noun and verb-noun compounding.
In Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7, noun-noun compounding is head-final; in addition, the head noun is
lenited if it is plural or not terrestrial but not any form of vês ‘system’. Verb-noun com-
pounding is also specified: the infinitive form of the verb minus -t is used for this situation.
In v9, the head is lenited if it is neither terrestrial nor any form of vês. The v9 grammar
also specifies that principal parts of compound nouns are derived from the head, with the
dependent part being invariant.
VE1 ENCS specified agent (inanimate vs. animate, with the latter further distinguished by
gender), action, product, patient, and location derivations of verbs. For adjectives, it speci-
fied a derived noun for “the quality of being ...”, with VE4 ENCS adding a derivation for “the
measure of how ... something is”. VE1 ENCS also had a negative prefix that applied not only
to nouns but also to adjectives and prepositions. From nouns, VE1 ENCS had the descriptive
affixes -esa and -eva, forming adjectives.
NCS5 retained these derivational strategies but removed any gender distinctions, while
NCS6 added new derivations such as the agent derivation for adjectives and the co-agent
derivation for verbs.
Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7 has the following verb-to-noun derivations:
• Inanimate agent or instrument: -łir

• Animate agent; -dir, or occasionally -êr or -îr
• Patient: -er
• Location: -łes
• Quality: -erþ
It has the following noun-to-noun derivations:
• “one from ...”: -ol

• Augmentative: ar-
• Diminuitive: -n, -tin, -čin, e- (with voicing on the next consonant)
• “quality of being ...”: -erþ
Ŋarâþ Crîþ also adds a set of calculus affixes (shown in Table 21). For nouns describing
a measurable quantity, these affixes derive the derivative or integral of that quantity with
respect to some variable:
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With respect to... Derivative Integral
Time -mitra- -arcja-
Space (1D) -cþivo- -jando-
Space (2D) -relen- -senna-
Space (3D) -marša- -ganto-
Population -gille- -grija-
Table 21: Calculus affixes in Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7.
(48) a. ariga Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7

“warmth”
b. arigamitra
“rate of temperature change”
c. arigamarša
“gradient of temperature in 3D space”
d. ecljerþ
“distance”
e. ecljerþmitra
“speed”
f. ecljerþarcja
“absement”
Nouns describing measurable objects can take the -gille- affix to describe the amount of
that object per person.
Of course, these affixes can also be applied to other words such as gradable stative verbs
(where they become infixed).
Rolemarking in verbs
Necarasso Cryssesa largely conformed to English-like role-marking, but at least in its late
stages, I was linguistically conscious enough to keep verbs from being labile. The NCS6
dictionary, for instance, lists two entries for ‘to burn’: senad as a transitive verb and šyncryd
as an intransitive verb. Other verbs such as vesscyd ‘to close’ needed the causative prefix
do- to make them transitive.
In Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7, verbs are categorized into five valencies:
• Intransitive verbs take only a nominative argument.

• Semitransitive verbs take a nominative and a dative argument.
• Transitive verbs take a nominative and an accusative argument.
• Ditransitive verbs take a nominative, an accusative, and a dative argument.
• Auxiliary verbs take another verb, inheriting its valency.
In the ŊCv7 dictionary, 175 verbs were listed as intransitive, 165 as transitive, 128 as
semitransitive, 66 as ditransitive, and 46 as auxiliary16 .
16
The large number of auxiliary verbs stems from the lack of adverbs (shifting some of their function to
auxiliary verbs), as well as the lack of a single means of negation (requiring suppletive negative forms). Indeed,
NCS6 had only 14 auxiliary verbs in its lexicon.
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The case frame of a verb is somewhat arbitrary, and the labels nominative, accusative, and
dative do not always line up with their conventional definitions, instead having to do more
with the literal meaning of ‘direct’ and ‘indirect’ objects. Namely, accusative arguments
are often perceived as having an action forced upon them, while dative arguments lack
such a connotation. In fact, dative arguments are often used in verbs describing states or
relationships.
An agent or force of an action, if expressed in the case frame, tends to be in the nominative.
A theme or a patient of an action tends to be in the accusative or dative case.
Verbs of experience usually have either the experiencer in the nominative and the stimulus
in the dative, or the stimulus in the nominative and the experiencer in the dative.
Locational or temporal roles, if marked as a core case, overwhelmingly tend to be dative.
Verbs tend to assign core cases to salient participants of an action (hence the large number
of ditransitive verbs). However, some verbs have entries listing participants assigned to non-
core cases such as asnat ‘(S) rises to (ALL)‘, nagrit ‘(S) coats (O) with (INSTR)’, or vescit ‘(S)
is needed by (ABL)’. The most notable of these is eþit ‘(S) exists; (LOC) has (S)’ and its
negative telit, which are used for predicative possession.
Nevertheless, some verbs do not follow this rule. Table 22 shows pairs of semantically
similar verbs that mark roles in different ways.
In some pairs, one of the verbs was coined early in the development of Ŋarâþ Crîþ. For
instance, anagrat was coined on July 26, 2019, while the more thematically typical ilrit was
coined on April 21, 2020. varit came into being within a month of the language’s creation,
on January 10, 2019; in contrast, while caršonłat was coined on July 21, 2020. (However,
censit is even older than varit.) Not all pairs can be explained this way: ecljat was coined
on August 28, 2019, but cþîšat, the syntactic outcast, only existed since January 15, 2020.
In other pairs, the action described by one of the verbs can be seen as being more forceful
toward the patient than the other action. oreþmat and cencrit form such a pair, as do
aimit and maldit. Among ditransitive verbs, cimrit marks the recipient of the message in
the accusative, while cimþrit does so in the dative, because lying is seen as more hurtful to
the one being lied to than telling the truth.
Yet other verb pairs, such as marit and cemat, have no special reason for having different
role assignments other than for asymmetry.
In Ŋarâþ Crîþ, the concept of asymmetry (fliþe in ŊCv7) refers to the presence of a prop-
erty in some members of a grammatical category and its absence in other members thereof
that one might hence expect to have it17 . Asymmetry, which is related to the concept of ir-
regularity, is one of the guiding principles of Ŋarâþ Crîþ that distinguishes it from Necarasso
Cryssesa.
Pointed and pointfree glossing

The practice of pointed glossing is responsible for Ŋarâþ Crîþ’s erratic role-marking story.
Some conlang dictionaries list verbs without any explicit arguments, such as that for Ver-
durian18 :
17
I have first discussed this concept in my essay “The reason of Ŋarâþ Crîþ’s existence” (https://flirora.
xyz/langdocs/reason4v7.html).
18
https://www.zompist.com/verdict.htm
Page 54
Semitransitive Transitive
censit ‘(S) equals (I)’; caršonłat ‘(S) is not varit ‘(S) is one of (O)’
one of (I)’
menat ‘(S) sees (I)’ crešit ‘(S) hears (O)’; calit ‘(S) smells (O)’
ecljat ‘(S) is far from (I)’ cþîšat ‘(S) is near (O)’
nelsit ‘(S) goes to (I)’ ninłit ‘(S) goes to (O) habitually’, cehit ‘(S)
reaches, arrives at, comes to (O)’
vinašit ‘(S) excites or angers (I)’, anhit ‘(S) nacšit ‘(S) bores (O)’
is pleasing to (I)’
naclidit ‘(S) trips over (I), cjašit ‘(S) falls selgit ‘(S) slips on (O)’
into (I)’
cerjat ‘(S) implies (I)’ lepit ‘(S) is uncorrelated with (O)
cencrit ‘(S) complies to (I)’s orders’ oreþmat ‘(S) commands (O)’
tfałat ‘(S) teaches (I)’ sarat ‘(S) learns (O)’
ročit ‘(S) imagines (I)’ racrit ‘(S) knows (O)’, asmelrit ‘(S) dreams
about (O)’, orit ‘(S) thinks, believes, opines
(O)’
naðat ‘(S) finds (I) valuable’ veŋcat ‘(S) calculates or computes (O)’, lem-
rat ‘(S) evaluates the worth of (O)’
maldit ‘(I) is important to (S)’ aimit ‘(O) is unimportant to (S)’
vardrit ‘(S) leaves (I) alone, (S) ignores (I), cerecit ‘(S) does not know about, ignores, for-
(S) refrains from bothering (I)’ gets (O)’, derðat ‘(S) disturbs, distracts, both-
ers (O)’
ilrit ‘(S) does not fit well with (I)’ anagrat ‘(S) hides from, fits in with, belongs
to (O)’
Dative Secundative
cimþrit ‘(S) tells (O) to (I)’ cimrit ‘(S) tells a lie (I) to (O)’
marit ‘(S) says (O) to (I)’ cemat ‘(S) gives, offers (I) to (O)’
Table 22: Examples of semantically similar verbs with different case frames in Ŋarâþ Crîþ
v7.
(49) baďir - vt - hit [BAŤIR]

Verdurian
This style, named pointfree glossing by analogy with pointfree programming, was also
adopted by Necarasso Cryssesa.
Ŋarâþ Crîþ, on the other hand, adopts pointed glossing – in the dictionary, all participants
of a verb are marked:
(50) cîntit vt (S) hits, strikes, collides with (O)

Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7
In (50), (S) is a placeholder for the nominative argument of the verb and (O) is a place-
holder for the accusative argument.
Ŋarâþ Crîþ is not the only language to adopted pointed glossing; among my conlangs, this
practice was done with some verbs in the Ḋraħýl Rase dictionary and with all verbs for Lek-
Tsaro. Well-known conlangs with a convention of pointed glossing include Lojban19 and
19
https://la-lojban.github.io/sutysisku/en/
Page 55
Okuna20 . This practice is particularly prevalent in the Japanese conlanging sphere: Arka21
and Shaleian22 mark verb participants, although the former often leaves the subject implicit.
The primary advantage of pointed glossing is that it gives precise information about how
each verb marks its participants with less reliance on the metalanguage. Nevertheless, it
also has some downsides: it can obscure patterns of role marking between different verbs.
Moreover, it fails to show constraints on things such as the agency of the subject of transitive
verbs: are the sentences in (51) idiomatic, or do you have to say (52) instead?23
(51) a. The hammer broke the window.

b. The medicine will cure you.
(52) a. Someone broke the window with the hammer.

b. You will be cured because of the medicine.
Although the choice of pointed or pointfree glossing is a property of a language’s docu-

mentation and not of a language itself, it can have a drastic influence on how a language is
developed.
The influence of tools on Ŋarâþ Crîþ

An early problem with Ŋarâþ Crîþ’s morphology was the tedium of manually declining
nouns, given the use of at least three principal parts and, for most paradigms, thematic
vowels with derivatives. In order to alleviate the problem, I developed a script in Raku,
decline.pl6, that would automatically decline nouns.
When there are programs, there are bugs, and bugs there were in decline.pl6. Notably,
when special declensions for monosyllabic nouns were added, the dative and genitive rows
were specified in the wrong order in the program. This error went unnoticed and ultimately
became the correct usage.
The inflection program for Ŋarâþ Crîþ v9 is f9i, which is written in Rust. Unlike decline.pl6,
f9i can also inflect verbs and relationals. The program is used primarily in batch mode to
generate HTML that will be displayed in the dictionary page.
Automating inflection allows more complexity in that area, but it also discourages changes
to inflection that would require heavy code refactoring. It can also encourage an ‘embar-
rassingly tabular’ style of describing inflection.
In terms of documentation, the grammar for early Necarasso Cryssesa used Microsoft Word,
but late Necarasso Cryssesa was documented using LATEX, as was Ŋarâþ Crîþ v7. The Ŋarâþ
Crîþ v7 dictionary was stored in a separate file, from which a script called dict-to-tex.pl6
generated LATEX output.
Realizing that web pages were a better option for screen reading, I decided to use Pollen24
to document Ŋarâþ Crîþ v9. The dictionary is stored in a Racket module written in a custom
language, and it is rendered to HTML output with the help of f9i.
20
http://pearson.conlang.org/download/okuna_dict_cur.pdf
21
http://mindsc.ape.jp/klel/
22
https://dic.ziphil.com/
23
It is unlikely that a single answer is possible for all transitive verbs in Ŋarâþ Crîþ.
24
https://github.com/mbutterick/pollen
Page 56
In conclusion, Ŋarâþ Crîþ has turned from a conlanging project into a conlanging and
programming project.
Conclusion
After months of planning, Ŋarâþ Crîþ v9 began development on June 1, 2021, succeeding
ŊCv7 over two years after its inception. Because it is quite new, ŊCv9 is not yet as mature as
ŊCv7. The current goal for ŊCv9 is to fill these gaps, using translations of example sentences
as an aid to do so. That is, features are added as these example sentences demand them.
One of the sentences in the Conlang Syntax Test Cases25 , for instance, highlighted the need
for trivalent relationals such as one for ‘across ... from ...’ and prompted their creation.
25
https://cofl.github.io/conlang/resources/mirror/conlang-syntax-test-cases.html
Page 57
05 Of Nouns in Òzém
by cyxpanek
A Bantuinspired conlang
Intro
Òzém is spoken by a relatively small group of people, dispersed across a large inland delta
in an otherwise arid desert environment, being rather isolated except for the occasional
traders, minimizing contact with others. The language is known for its distinctive prefixes on
nouns, which indicate membership in a group of nouns which are loosely based on themes,
however these have been mostly eradicated. Other features are the existence of labial-velar
and pre-nasalised stops.
The present article will give an overview of the noun classes that are used in Òzém to
classify nouns and as agreement markers for verbs and other word types. Furthermore, it
will discuss what strategies exist to derive nouns, be it from verb stems or elsewhere.
Phonological Notes
It’s not particularly necessary to discuss the phonology of the language in great detail. For
all examples and tables, the practical orthography will be used, which does not differ from
the phonemic values very much. The main differences are the use of <y> for /j/, <j>
for /dʒ/, and <c> for /tʃ/. Òzém is tonal, and all tones are written, including on syllabic
nasals. Furthermore, next to the phonemic and phonetic levels, a third morphophonemic
level is used to describe tone patterns and to have better analyses of some phonemic pro-
cesses. This is notated with vertical pipes like so |Ǹ|, here a homorganic nasal with inherent
low tone.
Regular Nouns
Nouns are almost always made up of two main parts:
(1) Prefix + Root
Page 59
Òzém
For example, a word like àtwáŋ, ‘stick’, can be broken up like so:
(2) à- + -twáŋ
In most nouns, the root gives almost all the meaning, with the prefix only signifying num-
ber and what agreement prefix needs to be used.
There exist some edge cases in which the prefix is no longer visible at first glance, but it
is still possible to notice it in certain contexts. In yet other cases the regular class paradigm
presented hereafter in this section is broken partially or completely. First however, the way
most nouns work is presented.
The prefixes are organized into 13 historically grounded noun classes. One noun class
does not equal one prefix though, for most there are two sometimes very different prefixes
depending on the initial phoneme. The 13 classes are then grouped to form 7 pairs of
singular/plural prefixes, with one plural class corresponding to two distinct singular classes.
The roots themselves do not inflect, instead simply the prefix is changed to switch from
singular to plural or vice versa. There are also no cases.
Number C Prefix V Prefix Relations

1 ì- z- Sg to 2
2 Ǹ-/ə̀- mw- Pl to 1
3 ò- L+ Sg to 4
4 bì- b- Pl to 3
5 à- v- Sg to 7
6 mà- m- Sg to 7
7 ì- j- Pl to 5,6
8 à- L+ Sg to 9
9 ɛ̀- d- Pl to 8
10 Ǹ-/ə̀- m- Sg to 11
11 lù- l- Pl to 10
12 mè- m- Sg to 13
13 è- z- Pl to 12
Table 1: Noun Classes in Òzém
This table is, at first, quite confusing. Let’s start from the top. A “C Prefix” is used in front
of roots that begin with a consonant. This is the case for most noun roots. Predictably, the
“V Prefix” is used in environments with a vowel at the beginning of a root. All consonant
prefixes carry tone, while the tone has disappeared in almost all vowel prefixes, save for the
two classes that are marked as having |L+| in the table. I’ll get back to this and explain it
and |Ǹ-| in a moment. In the right-most column the classes’ gender relations are described,
which describes the singular/plural pairs that noun classes form.
Some of the classes have a broad semantic theme, with the most clear one being human
nouns in classes 1 and 2. The numbering and order of all classes is arbitrary, with the
exception of “Humans” there seems to be no cultural significance given to any of the classes.
The Weird Prefixes

Before giving examples for all the classes, it might be fruitful to first make sure that all
the prefixes are understood. Luckily, most are simple vowels, consonants, or a combination
Page 60
thereof, but four prefix cases are special. First, |Ǹ-| and /ə̀-/, from the consonant prefixes
of classes 2 and 10.
The simple part is when |Ǹ-| and /ə̀-/ are used. This rule is simple, in front of stops it
is the so-called “homorganic Nasal” |Ǹ-|, while in front of liquids it is always /ə̀-/. The
homorganic nasal conforms to the place of articulation of the following consonant, while
keeping syllabicity and tone. So if the first consonant is /p/, the prefix would take the form
/m̀ -/. Before I said that the roots do not inflect, however, this does not mean that they do not
change form. In conjunction with this nasal prefix, root-initial |s| and |z| change to /tʃ/ and
/dʒ/ respectively. This does not however happen with the other fricative |v|, which stays
as is. The result of the application of this prefix is also that some nasal-nasal word-initial
clusters happen, with the first nasal being syllabic and carrying tone, just as with stops.
The other part is |L+|. This is a floating low tone. I could make some table with tone
patterns, and I did in a previous draft, but tone patterns are neither the topic of this issue,
nor did I myself understand them after a few days. Instead, four simple rules. Each rule is
accompanied by an example showing just the changed tone pattern, from the morphophono-
logical level to the phonological level, and an example with nonsense words.
(3) High tone spreads from a high tone syllable to a following low tone, replacing it (but
not spreading further), also across words.
a. LH LH → LH HH
b. |bàbá bàbá| → /bàbá bábá/
(4) Floating low tones in front of other low tones block the spread, essentially absorbing
the high tone spread.
a. LH L+LH → LH LH
b. |bàdá L+dàbá| → /bàdá dàbá/
(5) If the floating low tone appears in between two high tones, the second high tone gets
downstepped. It’s still a high tone, but with a slightly lower tone than the previous
high tone.
a. LH L+HH → LH ꜜHH
b. |tàbá L+gágá| → /tàbá ꜜgágá/
(6) If a floating low tone follows a low tone, nothing happens and it essentially disap-
pears.
a. LL L+LH → LL LH
b. |zàzà L+dàbá| → /zàzà dàbá/
Overview of the Noun Classes

Now that I have explained the weirder prefixes, instead of giving a lengthy explanation
of every single class or class pair, instead, have a table with examples. For better legibility,
the prefixes are separated from the roots, if applicable.
Phonological processes cause |ɔ| to turn into /wa/ between consonants. Thus the example
for classes 5/7 -wámán does not count as a consonant-initial root.
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Òzém
NCl.No. C Prefix Transl. V Prefix Transl.

1 ì-líndjà chief z-àdé father
2 ə̀-líndjà chiefs mw-àdé fathers
3 ò-bày mule ìwààn predator
4 bì-bày mules b-ìwààn predators
5 à-twáŋ stick v-wámán tree bark
7(5) ì-twáŋ sticks j-wámán tree barks
6 mà-sìd night m-ávɛ̀dè feather
7(6) ì-sìd nights j-ávɛ̀dè feathers
8 à-tìvá drink èŋmwád shadow
9 ɛ̀-tìvá drinks d-èŋmwád shadows
10 ŋ̀-gúmə̀ canoe m-ùbɛ́ɛ ́ bonfire
11 lù-gúmə̀ canoes l-ùbɛ́ɛ ́ bonfires
12 mè-táb dough m-àmwál bone
13 è-táb doughs z-àmwál bones
Table 2: Examples for all Noun classes
Especially insidious are classes 4, 6, 11 and 12, since here the C and V prefixes only
differ by the existence of a vowel, and vowel-initial roots may be indistinguishable in those
classes from consonant-initial ones, with their plural (in class 11’s case the singular) totally
unpredictable.
Additional Classes
So far the classes I have discussed were pretty simple. Each singular got its plural, and all
roots got two separate forms for both. And now, for the other bits, those where the system
gets more complicated again. First, there are those nouns that are only either singular or
plural. For example, a plural-only noun:
(7) ɛ̀-bívɛ̀ ”milk” (NCL9)
This noun describes a liquid, it has the class 9 prefix, which is a plural class, but the regular
singular equivalent does not exist.
(8) *à-bívɛ̀ “drop of milk” (NCL8)
Instead, if such an amount is desired to be described, another prefix is applied instead.

This prefix works different from others though, in more than one way.
(9) mà bívɛ̀ “drop of milk” (NCLSG)
First off, the morpheme mà is invariant in contact with vowels or consonants, and does not
change form. Furthermore, while it itself is low tone, it carries a floating high tone after it,
causing the first tone in the root to become high. In the above example this doesn’t surface,
since it is already high tone, but in general, this morpheme is notated as màH.
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Then there is the reverse, a noun that ordinarily only exists in the singular, like many
abstracts such as emotions:
(10) v-ɛ̀lɛ́dà “fear” (NCL5)
Of course, sometimes a speaker does desire to speak of many fears, but the plural is not
j-ɛ̀lɛ́dà. For these nouns, no special morpheme exists to differentiate between the singular
and plural, so the meaning is up to interpretation. Of course, numerals and other quantifiers
exist to assist in this.
So far I mentioned the “regulars”, those nouns that simply work with a singular and a plural
prefix, then those that only use one of the two, and have special rules for the other. Now
the best ones, those that fall out of the regular roster of noun classes completely. These are
customarily called “genderless nouns”, henceforth NCL0 in examples. Interestingly, some
very different types of nouns fall into this category. For one, there are many common nouns
such as kinship terms, such as ámà ‘my mother’ and ɛ́tà ’my father.’1 For another, they
include many loanwords, especially those where it is not possible to fit them into the class
prefix System easily. As expected, genderless nouns don’t really share any features, except
of course being outside the standard class paradigm. As stated before, genderless nouns may
also be either inherently singular or plural.
First, let’s talk about singular genderless nouns. These are words like the aforementioned
ámà ‘my mother’ and ɛ́tà ‘my father’, but also loans from other languages, although due to
the relative isolation of Modern Òzém in the past centuries, these are rather rare. There
are also other words that fall into this category, rather randomly, see ŋmàz ‘solar eclipse’.
Whatever the origin and type of word, they all share a way to create a plural, which is done
by the prefix tɛ́H, which works the same as the earlier màH.
(11) ŋmàz “solar eclipse”2 (NCL0)
(12) tɛ̀ ŋmáz “solar eclipses” (NCLPL)
Note the changed tone in this example. Now, there are also some genderless nouns that
are already in the plural as a base. The same is done as for the singularized plural nouns,
and màH is prefixed with the same rules.
(13) nìgìzómɛ̀ “the Nìgìzómɛ̀” (NCL0)
(14) mà nìgìzómɛ̀ “One Nìgìzómɛ̀” (NCLSG)
Unlike the single-gender nouns in the paragraphs above, which always have a base class
and thus a corresponding agreement pattern, the genderless nouns are different again, in
that there are several agreement patterns. First, genderless nouns in their base form always
follow the NCL1 ì-/j- pattern, no matter the animacy. Those taking tɛ̀H as their plural follow
the NCL9 ɛ̀-/d- pattern. If they use the singular màH instead, they follow the NCL6 mà-/m-
pattern.
1
As opposed to the example from a previous section, z-àdé, ‘father’, which refers to other peoples fathers.
The same with ‘mother’.
2
Thanks Luy!
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Òzém
Moving Roots
I ought to very briefly mention that not all roots, but certainly how they have been pre-
sented until now, have at most two classes assigned to them, commonly a singular and a
plural class. Some get by with just one or none of the regular classes, but they still have
strategies for defining a plural or part of it, as well as what agreement patterns for verbs
and adjectives are used. However, the world is not as simple and rigid as this, and there are
some roots that may take more than two. These are called “moving roots for their ability to
move between prefixes and to take on different meanings. This is especially used for agent
nouns that are directly or indirectly derived from meanings in other classes, for example:
(15) à-pùzɛ́ “grain” (NCL5)
(16) ì-pùzɛ́ “farmer” (NCL1)
These derivations also sometimes include a change of tone or vowels, or additional suffixes,
but as there are too many strategies and not one clear path these won’t get included in this
article.
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Noun Phrases in
06 Wochanisep
by Lysimachiakis
Nouns! Nouns Everywhere!
Wochanisep is a language that I developed as part of the 8½ Speedlang Challenge. I got so

into its development that I never actually got to submit it for the challenge, as the deadline
had long since passed. The language is spoken by a group of people called the Panishot. They
are indigenous to geothermally-warmed caves in the Transantarctic Mountains who survive
mainly by raising penguins as livestock. It is an ergative-absolutive, SOV, agglutinating
language with minimal marking on verbs. The nouns, on the other hand, are quite heavily
marked. Additionally, many things that English-speakers might think of as very ‘verby,’ like
wants and desires, are expressed primarily through nouns.
This article will focus on describing the noun phrase in Wochanisep and will delve into
nominal morphosyntax. There will be discussions of noun class, case and role marking, va-
rieties of modifiers, diminutive structures, derivational affixes, and compounding strategies.
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Wochanisep
Absolute Marking
All nouns in Wochanisep can take a suffix known as the absolute, a term adapted from the
‘absolutive’ seen in languages such as Nahuatl. The absolute is a required element of any
bare, ‘unmarked’ noun; a noun is ungrammatical if it does not have some suffixed marking,
and the absolute fulfills that role in certain contexts. The absolute could be considered by
some analyses to be an absolutive case marker, as these forms appear for absolutive nouns,
though this analysis is not without its problems. In another analysis, the absolute markers
are seen as remnants of an archaic, defective noun class system. There are some tendencies
in which nouns take which absolute marker that lend some credence to this idea, but if it
is indeed true, then the system has long since degraded past the point of being meaningful.
In its current form, the absolutes are indicative of a class system that is almost entirely
phonological in nature.
-t -p -h
-ts -ch
The suffixes seen above attach directly to a noun root; they are not interchangeable.
(1) a. powasa-t ‘priest’ b. iwi-p ‘baby; infant’

c. chacho-h ‘domesticated penguin’ d. wa-ts ‘son; nephew’
e. kiko-ch ‘rock; stone’ f. wasatha-p ‘joy; playfulness’
These forms are used as-is in when they are used in an absolutive role in a sentence.
Because these forms are so routine, they are not typically indicated as separate morphemes
when glossing.
(2) a. Temponkan chankach misakomet.

tempoh -an chankach misakom -et
Tempok -ERG liquor ferment -AN.INAN
“Tempok is fermenting chankach liquor.”
b. Chankach misakomin.
chankach misakom -in
liquor ferment -INAN
“The chankach liquor is fermenting.”
(3) a. Wasani shampaset tsowetanchi.
wats -an -i shampaset tsow -et -anchi
son -ERG -DIM shampaset make -AN.INAN -PST.REC
“My son carved a shampaset.”
b. Shampaset tsowinchi.
shampaset tsow -in -anchi
shampaset make -INAN -PST.REC
“A shampaset was made.”
Derivational affixes carry with them their own inherent absolute marker, and thus change
the absolute that would be used with the root noun. In (4a) below, the addition of another
morpheme changes the word’s absolute form from -ts to -t, while in (4b) there is no original
absolute, though the nominalizer brings its own -p.
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(4) a. wats ‘son’ + -wako ‘elder’ Ñ was-wako-t ‘eldest son’
b. tachikomew ‘to listen’ + -tsa ‘NMLZ’ Ñ tachikome-tsa-p ‘listening’
Case and RoleMarking

Nouns in Wochanisep are marked for four cases: absolutive, ergative, locative, and pos-
sessed. The case markers typically attach onto the absolute markers, usually changing them
in the process. The absolutive marking was already discussed previously, and so will not be
discussed much in this section.
Ergative
The ergative case is used to mark the agent of a transitive clause. It is marked by the
morpheme -an. With the plosive absolutes -p -t -h1 , this additionally adds a coda nasal
preceding the absolute. With the affricate absolutes -ts -ch, they lenit to -s -sh respectively.
Any noun receiving ergative marking is always unambiguously definite.
Absolute -t -p -h -ts -ch

Ergative -ntat2 -mpan -nkan -san -shan
Table 1: Ergative Marking by Absolute
(5) -t Stem Nouns
a. nantokat ‘family’ Ñ nantokantat

b. motsit ‘baby seal’ Ñ motsintat
(6) -p Stem Nouns
a. towip ‘dress’ Ñ towimpan

b. shop ‘cup’ Ñ shompan
(7) -h Stem Nouns
a. tah ‘thing’ Ñ tankan

b. mosoh ‘rug’ Ñ mosonkan
(8) -ts Stem Nouns
a. panchakets ‘hunter’ Ñ panchakesan

b. shompits ‘seal meat’ Ñ shompisan
(9) -ch Stem Nouns
a. wiskach ‘glow worm’ Ñ wiskashan

1
Despite often surfacing as a coda [h], this is in fact an allophone of /k/ in that environment and thus
patterns similarly to the other plosive absolutes; it surfaces as [k] in other contexts
2
It is thought that the ergative was once a type of agentifier; given that -t absolutes are much more common
with human nouns, and given that any agentive would then itself be additionally marked for case, it may be
why this form resists the trend in ergatives for an -an ending and retains the -t. There is evidence, however,
that this is going away due to analogical flattening
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Wochanisep
b. misiwich ‘leafy veggie’ Ñ misiwishan
The ergative is used as a fossilized agentifier in some nouns. While these forms are not
productive, they do not decline differently for ergative or absolutive case. Perhaps the most
common example of this is wintat ‘partner; spouse’, from the verb win ‘to wed.’
(10) a. Wintathi sintots okowet.

wintat -i sintots okow -et
spouse -DIM penguin.meat cook -AN.INAN
“My wife is cooking the penguin meat.”
b. Wintathi omathithamap.
wintat -i oma- thitham -apa
spouse -DIM within- clean -AN.AN
“My wife is bathing.”
Locative
The locative is a generalized case that indicates a location or directional source/target. It
is often paired with postpositions to refine their intended meaning. Table (2) below shows
the basic paradigms for locative marking on nouns. Generally speaking, the morpheme is
considered to be -wot, but its surface forms are varied depending upon the absolute of the
stem.
Locative -tsot -wot -wot -swi -shawi
Table 2: Locative Marking by Absolute
(11) -t Stem Nouns

a. thetsot ‘bird’ Ñ thetsotsot
b. tathit ‘guide’ Ñ tathitsot
(12) -p Stem Nouns

a. ochap ‘knee’ Ñ ochawot
b. amankap ‘glow-worm silk’ Ñ amankawot
(13) -h Stem Nouns

a. athah ‘snow’ Ñ athawot
b. shenoh ‘sauce’ Ñ shenowot
(14) -ts Stem Nouns

a. pisats ‘wart; boil’ Ñ pisaswi
b. niskats ‘lie’ Ñ niskaswi
(15) -ch Stem Nouns
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a. moch ‘hair’ Ñ moshawi
b. kapach ‘beak’ Ñ kapashawi
To show that a subject performs an action accidentally or otherwise outside the control of
the speaker, you can use the locative plus the postposition naw. The postposition naw ‘at,’
is derived from nah ‘feet.’
(16) Poswi naw kosat tsakiwapathet.

pots -wot naw kosat tsakiw -apa -thet
person -LOC at son kill -AN.AN -PST.DIS
“The man accidentally killed his son.”
(17) Tawi naw ikatsawot sim chenkathet.
tawi naw ikan -tsa -p -wot sim chen -ka -thet
1.SG.LOC at go.down -NMLZ -ABS -LOC under slide -AN -PST.DIS
“I slipped and fell.”
lit. “I slipped until falling.”
Possessed
The possessed case is marked on the head noun in a possessive construction. The possessor
is typically unmarked. The morpheme is thought to be -waw, which typically causes lenition
of the absolute marker.
Possessed -saw -haw -waw -chaw -shaw
Table 3: Possessed Marking by Absolute
(18) -t Stem Nouns

a. mentatet ‘type of mushroom’ Ñ mentatesaw
b. kosot ‘darkness’ Ñ kososaw
(19) -p Stem Nouns

a. ewop ‘table; bed’ Ñ ewohaw
b. asep ‘ear’ Ñ asehaw
(20) -h Stem Nouns

a. tiksih ‘upper arm’ Ñ tiksiwaw
b. mat ‘mother’ Ñ masaw
(21) -ts Stem Nouns

a. tsots ‘back’ Ñ tsochaw
b. chikots ‘root’ Ñ chikochaw
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Wochanisep
(22) -ch Stem Nouns
a. antich ‘spirit’ Ñ antishaw

b. soshoch ‘wind; breath’ Ñ soshoshaw
This case stacks with other cases, an example of Suffixaufnahme in the language. The
possessed case will occur first before any other cases.
(23) Misat kosasawan shenoh okowetanki.

Misa -t kosa -t -waw -an sheno -h okow -et -anki
NAME -ABS brother -ABS -POSS -ERG sauce -ABS cook -AN.INAN -PST.REC
“Misat’s brother made a sauce.”
The possessed case has one particularly interesting usage, functioning as a sort of copular
identity expression. It can be thought of as the two arguments ‘possessing’ each other. This
can result in statements that are seemingly ambiguous, as with (25), where there may be
multiple layers of possession; in practice, though, the possessed marker can stack multiple
times. There is one major syntactic difference, though: in non-copular clauses, nouns act
attributively on other nouns by preceding them and agreeing in case with the head noun; in
copular clauses, on the other hand, an attributive noun does not partake in case agreement.
(24) Pochaw powasasaw.

pots -waw powasat -waw
man -POSS priest -POSS
“The man is a priest.”
(25) Pisachaw thakochohowathet.

pisats -waw thako -choho -h -waw -thet
boil -POSS pain -much -ABS -POSS -PST.DIS
“The boil was very painful.”
(26) a. Athah soshoshaw shesasaw.

athah soshoch -waw shesat -waw
snow wind -POSS coldness -POSS
“The snowy wind is cold.”
b. Athah soshoshawaw shesasaw.
athah soshoch -waw -waw shesat -waw
snow wind -POSS -POSS coldness -POSS
“The snow’s wind is cold.”
As can be seen by (25), in some ways the possessed form carries some verbal qualities,
in that it can be marked for tense; no other case arrangements are able to be marked in
that way, it is something unique to the possessed case. This occurs outside of the copular
construction, and can occur on the possessed marked noun to mark former possession, as in
(27) below.
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(27) Kiset wintasawathet
Kise -t wintat -waw -thet
Kise -ABS partner -POSS -PST.DIS
“Kiset’s ex-husband”
Modifiers
A noun may be modified by other nouns used attributively, by scalar affixes on the noun
root, by demonstratives and numerals, and by relative clauses (which won’t be discussed
much here).
Attributives
Adjectives do not exist as a distinct class in Wochanisep. Any noun can function as an
attributive for another noun, describing it and narrowing its meaning. When a noun is used
this way, it can interpreted as having the meaning ‘being characterized by X’ or ‘X-like.’
(28) Tisontat shompits tsiwip panchapanchi.

Tisot -an shompits tsiwip pancha -apa -anchi
Tisot -ERG seal.meat seal hunt -AN.AN -PST.REC
“Tisot hunted the meaty seal.”
(29) Wiskintat onet towip inet.

Wiskit -an onet towip in -et
Wiskit -ERG root.veggie dress carry -AN.INAN
“Wiskit is wearing a white dress.3 ”
Pluralization & Numerals

There are four explicit plural markers in Wochanisep: animate paucal, animate plural,
inanimate paucal, and inanimate plural. The paucal expresses a plural whose range is within
expectations, while the plural indicates a number higher than what might be expected.
Animate Inanimate
Paucal na- wo-
Plural isi- kewi-
Table 4: Plural Prefixes
In addition to these prefix forms, when a noun takes animate paucal marking, there is an
additional -n suffix; this suffix typically replaces the absolute marker, but if there are other
suffixes on the noun, the -n suffix will apply to the rightmost affix, as can be seen with
na-pots-ime-n in example (30) below.
The way in which paucal and plural are used is always specific to the context.
3
The onet root veggie is white and is used in this context to refer to that color.
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Wochanisep
(30) Tsontsip maka himpe napotsimen piwi, nantokat chewe isipots pa.
tsontsip maka himpe na - pots - ime -n pa - iwi nantokat
village hundred three AN.PA- person - THREE - PL there.is - CONJ family
chewe isipots pa
eight AN.PL- person there.is
“There are 303 people in the village, and eight people in my family.”
In (30) above, a village having 303 people is not out of the norm, and so pots ‘person’ takes
the animate paucal prefix na-. On the other hand, a family of eight is quite large, more than
would be expected for a typical Panishot family, and so here pots takes the animate plural
prefix isi- instead.
Numerals
1 ta / -mata 6 wana
2 ko / -kse 7 opse
3 himpe / -ime 8 chewe
4 anta / -nta 9 paw
5 tsat / -sat 10 mono
100 maka 1000 inka

Table 5: Wochanisep Numerals
Wochanisep uses a simple base-10 system, with what looks to be some remnants of an
older base-5 system in place in some aspects of the system. Typically, numerals precede
the noun they modify and follow a smaller-to-bigger ordering. If the ones-place number is
five or less, it is instead suffixed directly onto the noun. In these cases, the number occurs
between the root noun and the absolute.
(31) mono opse nashiskahimen

mono opse na- shiska -hime -t -n
ten seven AN.PA- child -THREE -ABS -PL
“seventy-three children”
(32) mono chewe maka ko kewiwipanopontap

mono chewe maka ko kewi- wipanopo -nta -p
ten eight hundred two INAN.PL- purple.root -FOUR -ABS
“two hundred and eighty four purple root vegetables”
The word tah ‘thing; place,’ a kind of generic ‘catch-all’ noun, can be used with counting
and for referencing numbers for which the noun has already been stated. For animate nouns,
ket ‘kid; bud’ is used instead.
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(33) Na, kikoch monothawa pa wa?
na kikoch mono -thawa pa wa
hey stone ten -Q there.is Q
“Hey, how many stones are there?”
Mono taksat (pa)
mono tah -sat (pa)
ten thing -FIVE (there.is)
“Fifteen.”
Numerals are also key in ‘part-of-the-whole’ constructions, where a group is announced

and then a piece of that group is singled out. This was already shown in (29), where there
were two such relationships: village to person, and family to person. As may be hinted at
from that example, the way these partitive senses are built is by first stating the whole, then
a number, and then the part.
This partitive construction is used preferentially over the possessed construction for talking
about body parts. When used this way, the numeral suffixes cannot be used.
(34) a. motsit ta esich b. #motsit esimatach

motsit ta esich motsit esi -mata -ch
baby.seal one fur baby.seal fur -ONE -ABS
“baby seal’s fur” Intended: “baby seal’s fur”
“one fur (pelt) that is baby-seal-
like”
This construction then got extended further to be used with ordinals.
(35) a. panat tamatat b. ichoh ta wana tah

pana -t ta -mata -t icho -h ta wana ta -h
friend -ABS one -ONE -ABS day -ABS one six thing -ABS
“(my) first friend” “the sixth day”
And then this use itself seems to have extended further to be used with descriptive nouns
to form superlatives.
(36) a. panat ta mokep b. ichoh ta shesat

pana -t ta moke -p icho -h ta shesa -t
friend -ABS one goodness -ABS day -ABS one coldness -ABS
“best friend” “the coldest day”
Scalar Affixes & Quantifiers

There are a small series of affixes that indicate degrees of quantity or intensity that interact
with the plural markers and have restrictions on use
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Wochanisep
choho High Degree
The suffix -choho occurs between the root and the absolute and indicates a large quantity
or high degree. The exact interpretation depends upon the type of noun to which it is affixed.
If the noun is a concrete one, referring to a physical entity within the world, then it is an
expression of quantity. Then, if the noun is singular, it refers to a group; if it is paucal, it
refers to a large number; if it is plural, it refers to an extremely large number. If it is an
abstraction or otherwise non-tangible, then it refers to degree.
(37) atsithit ‘fish’
a. watsithit ‘fishes’
b. atsithichohot ‘a school of fish’
c. watsithichohot ‘many fish; a lot of fish’
d. kewatsithit ‘a lot of fish’
e. kewatsithichohot ‘a huge number of fish’
(38) tisawonap ‘anxiety; anxiousness’
a. wotisawonap ‘anxieties; worries; concerns’

b. tisawonachohop ‘very anxious; a lot of anxiety’
c. wotisawonachohop ‘a lot of major concerns; many worries’
d. kewitisawonap ‘very anxious; a lot of anxiety’
e. kewitisawonachohop ‘extremely anxious; crippling anxiety’
(39) chosot ‘friend’
a. nachosot ‘friends’
b. chosochohot ‘a group of friends; very friendly’
c. nachosochohot ‘many friends; a lot of friends’
Examples (37b and (39b) show how the suffix can be used as a type of collective derivation.
They also show, along with (38b), that when they are used attributively, they indicate a high
degree akin to ‘very.’
(40) Cha tonichohoch nots inet.

cha tonich -choho nots in -et
1.SG.ERG hunger -much stomach carry -AN.INAN
“I am very hungry.”
lit. “I carry a very hungry stomach.”
To a large degree, the use of choho- and the use of isi-/kewi- are interchangeable. The
plural markers are much less frequently seen in attributive position, and choho- seems
strongly preferred there, but beyond that distinction, the difference between the two seems
largely decorative, with speakers defaulting to one or another perhaps for phonaesthetic
reasons.
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(41) chosochohot pots (42) #isichosot pots
choso -choho -t po -ts isi- choso -t po -ts
friend -much -ABS person -ABS AN.PL- friend -ABS person -ABS
“very friendly person” Intended: “very friendly person”
piko Moderate Degree
The moderate degree suffix -piko is used to indicate that there is enough of something,
given the larger context. Example (43) shows it in a case where the larger context is under-
stood (how much food is needed), while (44) sets the context using the partitive construction
described in example (34a); in this usage, the noun is repeated as the whole, with the -piko
piece being the ‘part.’
(43) Akipikots ithawanet wa?

aki -piko -ts i -thawa -n -et wa
food -enough -ABS carry -Q -V -AN.INAN Q
“Do we have enough food?”
lit. “Is enough food being carried?”
(44) Kiwa chosot ta chosopikosawthawa?

kiwa choso -t ta choso -piko -t -waw -thawa
3.SG.POSS friend -ABS one friend -enough -ABS -POSS -Q
“Is he enough of a friend?”
This form appears often in attributives as a qualifier for the modifying noun.
(45) thakopikoh tsenkah (46) tsichapikot nantap

thako -piko -h tsenka -h tsicha -piko -t nanta -p
pain -enough -ABS wound -ABS warmth -enough -ABS home -ABS
“a tolerably-painful wound” “a warm-enough home”
Like with -choho above, -piko can co-occur with plurality marking, though once again,
plural marking is quite uncommon in attributive position. Because the marker itself limits
many number interpretations, the use of the paucal vs. plural is entirely about expectations.
In that way, in this context they function like a nominal mirative.
(47) wothachapikoh (48) kesishopikop

wo- thacha -piko -h kesi- sho -piko -p
PA.INAN- starchy.root -enough -ABS PL.INAN- clay.cup -enough -ABS
“enough potato-like starchy roots “enough clay-baked cups (surpris-
(as expected!)” ingly!)”
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Wochanisep
nkimi Low Degree
The low degree scalar affix -nkimi is used to indicate a low degree or low quantity. As
with the other degree markers, this has no implication on expectations, which are handled
via the paucal-plural distinction.
(49) towinkimip (50) tashankankimit

towi -nkimi -p tashanka -nkimi -t
dress -few -ABS ice.crystal -few -ABS
“a few dresses” “a few ice crystals”
Quantifiers
In Wochanisep, universal quantifiers (and some existential quantifiers) are directly related
to conjunctions. Conjunctions are free morphemes, while their quantifier uses are used in
attributive position and agree in absolute marker.
Conjunction Quantifier Partitive

ki ‘and’ ki- ‘all’ ‘every’
niko ‘also, even’ niko- ‘any’ ‘each’
tos ‘or’ tose- ‘some4 ’ ‘some5 ’
Table 6: Conjunctions & Quantifiers
The noun modified by these quantifiers does not take any marking for number.
4
Referring to a subset (multiple entities) from a larger grouping
5
Referring to an indefinite entity from a larger grouping
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(51) a. kip tomap b. nikop tomap
ki -p toma -p niko -p toma -p
all -ABS farmer -ABS any -ABS farmer -ABS
“all farmers” “any farmer”
c. tosep tomap d. kip ta tomap
tose -p toma -p ki -p ta toma -p
some -ABS farmer -ABS all -ABS one farmer -ABS
“some farmers” “every farmer”
e. nikop ta tomap f. tosep ta tomap
niko -p ta toma -p tose -p ta toma -p
any -ABS one farmer -ABS some -ABS one farmer -ABS
“each farmer” “some farmer”
When used without the absolute marker (or any other case marker relevant to the clause),
they act simply as conjunctions.
(52) a. Pishasaw imakechaw niko katsawaw.

Pishat -waw ima -kets -waw niko katsah -waw
Pishat -POSS tell -AGN -POSS also guardian -POSS
“Pishat is a teacher and even a warrior.”
b. Enkap ki tos chankach ki tos shehawet wa?
enkap ki tos chankach ki tos she -p -waw -t wa
water and or liquor and or desire -ABS -POSS -ABS Q
“Do (you) want water, liquor, both, and/or something else?”
Demonstratives
Wochanisep makes a three-way distinction in distance with demonstratives, as well as a
obligatory affix indicating whether the location is above ground or below ground that occurs
only with the distal.
This That Yon

Above ma te woshi
Below ma te wose
Table 7: Wochanisep Demonstratives
(53) a. ma ponot ‘this phone’ b. te ketaketach ‘that echo’

c. wose nantap ‘that home’ d. woshi pots ‘that above-ground
guy’
The demonstratives can act as a type of nominalizer. The choice of demonstrative de-
pends on whose action is being nominalized; ma is used when the nominalized action is
one performed by the speaker, te when it is the 2nd person, and woshi/wose when it is
someone/something that is not a speech-act participant. So, in (54) below, the 2nd person
referrent is assumed by the use of te as part of the nominalizing strategy, and in (55), the
1st person would be assumed due from using ma.
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Wochanisep
(54) Cha [te kesichankach chatsap] osiwawet inet kon.

cha te kesi- chanka -ch chaw -tsa -p osi -h -waw -t
1.SG.ERG DEM.MED PL.INAN- liquor -ABS eat -NMLZ -ABS like -ABS -POSS -ABS
in -et kon
carry -AN.INAN NEG
“I don’t like that you drink so much chankach.”
lit. “I don’t like that drinking a lot chankach.”
(55) Cha [ma kesichankach chatsap] osiwawet inet kon.
cha ma kesi- chanka - ch chaw - tsa - p osi - h - waw
1.SG.ERG DEM.PROX PL.INAN- liquor - ABS eat - NMLZ - ABS like - ABS - POSS
-t in -et kon
-ABS carry -AN.INAN NEG
“I don’t like that I drink so much chankach.”
lit. “I don’t like this drinking a lot chankach.”
Diminutives
Wochanisep makes use of three productive diminutives on nouns. One is more used to
indicate affection and somewhat about size, while the other is mostly about size but can
also be used for affection. The third is one which demonstrates respect and closeness. Most
diminutive patterns cause lenition of the absolute, following the pattern in table (8) below.
The pattern is largely similar to the one seen in the forms of the possessed marker seen in
(3) earlier. Additionally, these suffixes occur last, after case marking and any other suffixes
the noun root might take.
Absolute -t -p -k -ts -ch

Lenited Form -th -h -w -s -sh
Table 8: Diminutive Lenition of Absolutes
i Affectionate Diminutive
The affectionate diminutive -i is almost exclusively used on nouns for family members
and friends, as well as on their names. It applies to the absolute form of a noun and lenites
the absolute. Nouns marked with this almost always demonstrate an inalienable possession
relationship between the speaker and the referrent, making possessive marking largely irrel-
evant with these words. When used this way, it is almost exclusively used for relationships
within the speaker’s generation or lower; otherwise, the respect diminutive -isha is used.
With inanimates, it is typically restricted to culturally significant items.
(56) a. wats ‘son’ Ñ wasi ‘(my) son’

b. minchap ‘daughter’ Ñ minchahi ‘(my) daughter’
c. kosat ‘brother’ Ñ kosathi ‘(my) brother’
d. panat ‘friend’ Ñ panathi ‘(my) friend’
e. chosot ‘friend’ Ñ chosothi ‘(my) friend’
(57) a. shampaset ‘shamapset’ Ñ shampasethi ‘(my) shampaset’
b. mawit ‘geothermal spring Ñ mawithi ‘(our) geothermal spring
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isha Respect Diminutive
To indicate respect to an older relative, mentor, or other person with whom someone is
very close, the respect diminutive -isha is used. This is often affixed to names and is used
to refer to those people even when they are a speech-act participant (used preferentially
over the 2nd person pronouns). On names, this often replaces the last syllable, and can
be used in ways that are not overtly predictable, as in (58) below. It can also be used
to refer to an individual from a larger group or institution, as in (59), in effect acting as
a respectful singulative. Because these forms are less predictable, it seems that within the
Panishot-speaking community, their exact usage differs between idiolects, sometimes within
a single idiolect, in which some will treat this suffix the same as -i and apply it after any
other morphology, while others will attach additional morphology to the -isha form as if
it were a root. It is likely that the latter of these two surface forms is due to the irregular
forms it creates; the morphology is slapped onto the irregularized root rather than the basic
root. In this way, this suffix may be better thought of as a respectful derivation marker than
anything. The -isha suffix forces primary stress to be placed on that /i/, overriding other
stress placement rules.
(58) a. Tasos Ñ Tasisha

b. Misat Ñ Misisha
c. Nisit Ñ Nisisha
d. Tashankat Ñ Tashankisha
(59) a. Satsat ‘group responsible for child-rearing and education
Ñ satsisha ‘Mr./Ms. Teacher’
b. Shoshanta ‘group of leaders who guide a Panishot village’
Ñ shoshantisha ‘councilman/woman’
c. okoncheh ‘outsiders; non-Panishot
Ñ okonchisha ‘Mr./Ms. Outsider’
pothi Small Diminutive

The diminutive -pothi is more clearly related to size than the others, and as such some of
its uses have been lexicalized. Unlike the other two diminutives, this one occurs between
the root and the absolute.
(60) a. shesat ‘cold’ Ñ shesapothit ‘chill’

b. samach ‘heart’ Ñ samapothich ‘small heart’6
c. tekeh ‘flu’ Ñ tekepothih ‘a cold’
d. kosat ‘brother’ Ñ kosapothit ‘little brother’
Derivations
There are many derivational affixes in Wochanisep. This is just a few of the more common
ones and is not meant to be an exhaustive description of all possible derivations in the
language.
6
Used to refer to someone who does not contribute, pull their weight, or put in as much effort as they
should
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Wochanisep
kets Agentifier
Verbs can be nominalized into an agentive via the suffix -kets. This suffixes directly to
the verb, often resulting in -nkets. If the verb ends in /w/, though, it takes the form -wets.
In the case of some verbs, it is not an active agent, but rather one who has entered into a
permanent resulting state, as in (61d).
(61) a. shan ‘to sleep’ Ñ shankets ‘sleeper’

b. tsakiw ‘to kill’ Ñ tsakiwets ‘killer’
c. mechen ‘to change’ Ñ mechenkets ‘changer’
d. owon ‘to die’ Ñ owonkets ‘dead person’
This affix can also be affixed to a possessed noun to indicate ‘owner of X’ or, when used
with a location noun or a group noun, ‘leader of X.’
(62) chachoh ‘penguin’
a. chachowaw ‘penguin-POSS’
b. chachowawets ‘penguin-owner’
(63) Tsimakep ‘Tsimakep village’
a. Tsimakehaw ‘Tsimakep-POSS’
b. Tsimakehawets ‘leader of Tsimakep’
ontoh Scent
The derivational suffix -ontoh indicates the scent or smell of the head noun. It is affixed
directly onto the absolute.
(64) mokanach ‘spores’ Ñ mokanachontoh ‘musty smell’
(65) chankach ‘liquor’ Ñ chankachontoh ‘alcohol scent’
With non-physical nouns, this suffix is quite productive in creating words meaning ‘(what)
seems like.’ Using nouns like this is preferred to using verbal expressions.
(66) niskats ‘lie’ Ñ niskatsontoh ‘seems like a lie’
(67) ketaketach ‘echo’ Ñ ketaketachontoh ‘seems like an echo’
(68) Cha ketaketachontoh tachiwetanchi.

cha ketaketa -ch -onto -h tachiw -et -anchi
1.SG.ERG echo -ABS -scent -ABS hear -AN.INAN -PST.REC
“I thought I heard an echo; I heard what seemed like an echo.”
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If this is attached to a nominalized verb, then the meaning is closer to ‘style’ or ‘manner.’
Often, this is used to mean ‘how to X.’
(69) Cha pentsapontoh inet kon.

cha pen -tsa -p -onto -h in -et kon
1.SG.ERG swim -NMLZ -ABS -scent -ABS carry -AN.INAN NEG
“I don’t know how to swim.”
lit. “I do not carry the swimming scent.”
If one wished to convey a sense like ‘the scent of swimmimg,’ as in ‘It smells like you were
swimming,’ then the agentive noun is used.
(70) Ko penketsontoh inet.

ko pen -ke -ts -onto -h in -et
2.SG.ERG swim -AGN -ABS -scent -ABS carry -AN.INAN
“You smell like you were swimming.”
lit. “You carry the scent of a swimmer.”
Compounding
Nouns can be compounded with other nouns by dropping the absolute of the first noun
and cliticizing the second onto it. Wochanisep compounds are left-headed.
(71) wosima-kosot (72) mo-kikoch

wosima =koso -t mo =kiko -ch
room =dark -ABS hair =stone -ABS
“darkroom” “stalactite”
lit. “stone-hair”
Compounded merisms, where two things associated are stated to mean a larger concept,
are also quite common. These make use of an affixed -ki ‘and’ after the first element of the
compound. These are mostly examples of decorative speech, but some are fully lexicalized
and do not have a non-merism equivalent.
(73) ikeki-thokosep (74) towiki-pochots

ike -ki =thokose -p towi -ki =pocho -ts
floor -and =ceiling -ABS dress -and =shoes -ABS
“home” “clothing”
(75) chakaki-echop (76) mokamaki-kawompech

chaka -ki =echo -p mokama -ki =kawompe -ch
nose -and =eyes -ABS spores -and =mushroom -ABS
“face” “cycle; something repeating”
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Wochanisep
These compounds and merisms can take case marking just like any other noun. They are
treated as a single phonological word for purposes of stress assignment.
(77) ichoh mokamaki-kawompeshawan shakashawi atotsonet.

icho - h mokama - ki = kawompe - ch - waw - an shaka - ch - wot a-
day - ABS spores - and = mushroom - ABS - POSS - ERG boredom - ABS - LOC INV-
totson -et
give -AN.INAN
“Day-to-day life is boring.”
lit. “The day’s cycle gives (me) boredom.”
WrapUp
Wochanisep is a new language for me, but I’m really enjoying playing around with it,
fleshing it out, developing little features, and giving it its own unique character. This is
just an introduction to Wochanisep’s nouns and I hope to continue expanding upon this as
I progress with the language’s development. This article will likely become the foundation
for the chapter on nouns in the full language documentation. Special thanks to Miacomet
for his help with proofreading and providing feedback! If you have any questions or com-
ments, please feel free to reach out to me on Reddit at /u/Lysimachiakis or via email at
[email protected]. Thank you for reading!
Pacha, sa nachosot!
Adios, amigos!
Page 82
Nominal morphosyntax in
07 Pigáxio
by tryddle
A synchronic perspective
(1) karookkoowo enəərma ahəəgəng

“[And the fish said:] ‘You all will eat all of our scales!”’
Hey y’all, my name is tryddle and in this article I will talk about the different facets of
nominal morphosyntax in Pigáxio from a synchronic standpoint.1 Pigáxio is a Cariban a
posteriori set on the banks of the Culuene river in the Upper Xingu national park of Mato
Grosso, Brazil. The Pigáxio moved to this region in the late 1800s, and were forced into
diaspora by an unknown cause in the 20th century. Since then, the majority of Pigáxio
people have assimilated both culturally and linguistically with the tribes they live with. As
of 2021, there are only two dozen speakers of Pigáxio left, all of which are living among
the Kuikúro, another Carib-speaking people. Due to the extreme proximity, the newest
generation of Pigáxio almost exclusively speaks Kuikúro among themselves, only talking in
their mother language when speaking with their parents or grandparents.
In this article I will consider several aspects of nominal morphosyntax in this language.
I will primarily focus on possession, but I’ll also talk about number, postpositional phrases
and nominal tense. Now, let’s get started!
Possession in Pigáxio2
In this section I will consider possessive constructions in Pigáxio, while also giving some
insight on how other Cariban languages handle them.
Possessive constructions in Cariban languages can be characterized by a few simple pa-

rameters: the word order within the possessive construction is possessor-possessed, the con-
struction is head-marking (i.e. the possessed is marked instead of the possessor), and in most
1
I will however deliver examples from related languages to illustrate the topic at hand more precisely.
2
This section is heavily inspired by a reddit post of mine I made on the same topic.
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Pigáxio
cases, there is a suffix which marks the noun as being possessed. Two basic examples are
given below; (2) from Akuriyó and (3) from Pigáxio.
(2) Akuriyo possessive constructions

i- pana -rɨ
3 ear POSSD
“his ear” (Gildea, 1998, p105 (gloss added by me))
(3) Pigáxio possessive constructions

kɨ- kaʃ -rɨ
1.INCL dog.DIM POSSD
“our doggo”
The possessive prefixes

As I mentioned above, and as can be inferred from example 3, Pigáxio uses possessive
prefixes to encode the possessor’s person. Table 07 presents these prefixes.
Form
_V _C
1 j- u-
2 aw- a-
3 ∅- i-
3R t- tɨ-
1.INCL k- kɨ-
1.EXCL tʃih- tʃi-
LK j-/∅- –
Table 1: Pigáxio possessive prefixes
The first column represents the abbreviation of the marker. I will go into detail about that
later. The second column presents the respective forms when attached to a vowel-initial
noun, while the final column depicts the allomorphs that are used when the noun begins with
a consonant. The 1, 2 and 3 forms trigger vowel change so that an stem-initial ə turns into
e, which may have severe morphophonological consequences, and causes irregularities in
some noun paradigms. The 1.EXCL marker tʃi(h)- is a recent innovation caused by proximity
to Kuikúro, where a similar marker ti(s)- exists (dos Santos, 2007, p76 and Franchetto, 1986,
p158). Now onto the first column: from top to bottom those represent the a) first person,
b) second person, c) third person, d) third person reflexive, e) first person inclusive and
f) first person exclusive. The form glossed as LK is a special marker in its own right. It
appears if and only if the possessed noun starts with a vowel and the possessor immediately
precedes it; its realizations vary from ablaut (like the one described above) to j- before
other vowels. In literature this prefix has been called “neutral y-formative” (Payne & Payne,
1999), “relator” (Gildea, 1998) and “relational prefix” (Rodrigues, 1994, Meira et al., 2012),
but I follow Meira & Gildea (2009) in calling it a linker prefix. These prefixes are cognates
to the absolutive prefixes found on verbs, as can be seen in example (4).
(4) Pigáxio possessive and absolutive prefixes
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a. k- ənəə -rɨ b. k- əŋ -ru
1.INCL eat NONSP 1.INCL eye POSSD
“[they] bite us” “our eye(s)”
Now let’s move onto the usage of these prefixes. Morphosyntactically, there is a split
between SAP (i.e. first and second person) and third person possession.3 While third person
possessive prefixes appear in complementary distribution with the respective free possessor,
SAP prefixes and free possessors may optionally co-occur. This can be summarized in table
2:
I. Complementary distribution between prefix and free possessor (3rd person):

POSSESSOR POSSESSED
prefix- POSSESSED
*POSSESSOR prefix- POSSESSED
II. Optional co-occurrence of prefix and free possessor (SAP):
POSSESSOR POSSESSED
prefix- POSSESSED
POSSESSOR prefix- POSSESSED
Table 2: The distribution of possessive prefixes
As we can see, in third person possessive constructions, the combination POSSESSOR prefix-
POSSESSED is ungrammatical. This rule does not include the linker prefix j-, which always
occurs in the environment mentioned above. Since it does not possess any semantic content
and is purely morphophonological, it is exempt from this rule. These two patterns are not
the only ones that can be observed in other Cariban languages. According to Gildea (1998),
the first pattern was the original one, having been preserved in Apalaí, Karihona, Katxúyana,
Makushi and Pemón etc. The second pattern, which we find in SAP possessive constructions
in Pigáxio, can also be found in Hixkaryana, Deʼkwana and Yukpa etc. In addition to these
two types, there is another third innovation that is not present in Pigáxio, but in other
Cariban languages: in some languages (viz. Akuriyo, Tiriyo), the personal prefix became
obligatory, and the construction POSSESSOR POSSESSED therefore became ungrammatical.
I will now present some proper examples for these patterns. First, let’s take a look at
Pigáxio, and afterwards I’ll give some examples from related languages. Example (5) show-
cases the complementary distribution between prefix and free possessor in third person pos-
sessive constructions, as well as the functioning of the linker prefix j-. In (5a), the possessee
simply follows the possessor without any morphology. Since tʃiliigə does not begin with a
vowel, the linker prefix is not needed. In (5b), the personal possessive prefix i- is employed,
and the possessed case marker -rɨ appears. In (5c), an ungrammatical sentence is presented.
The prefix cannot co-occur with a free NP possessor.
(5) Pigáxio 3rd person possession
a. João tʃiliigə
John star
“John’s star”
3
The latter also includes the newly borrowed first person exclusive marker. More research has to be
conducted on the nature of this prefix.
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Pigáxio
b. i- ʒiilgəə -rɨ
3 star POSSD
“his star”
c. *João i- ʒiilgəə -rɨ
John 3 star POSSD
In example (6) we can observe the functioning of the linker prefix j-. In (6a), the possessee
a: begins with a vowel, and thus the linker prefix is obligatory; leaving it out would result
in an ungrammatical sentence (cf. (6b)).
(6) The linker prefix j- in Pigáxio

a. João j- a: -rɨ
John LK seed POSSD
“John’s seed(s)”
b. *João arɨ
John seed
Note that a: and arɨ both are forms of the same noun. They are both derived from Proto-
Carib *arɨ, but whereas the latter is in its morphophonologically independent form, the
former has undergone syllable reduction preceding a CV suffix. In this case, this suffix is -rɨ
POSSD.
Before I continue with SAP possession, let’s take a look at how other Cariban languages
handle third person possession.4 In Hixkaryana–which you might have heard of, as it is
claimed to be the first language to be described as having OVS word order–third-person
possessive prefixes alternate with free (pro)noun possessors. When a free possessor pre-
cedes a vowel-initial possessee, the prefix y- occurs between the possessor and the possessee
(Derbyshire, 1985). Some examples of the Hixkaryana possession construction are given in
(7).
(7) Hixkaryana 3rd person possession

a. ɨ-kanawa-rɨ ‘his canoe’
b. Waraka kanawa-rɨ ‘Waraka’s canoe’
c. ewa-nɨ ‘his chest’
d. Waraka y-owa-nɨ ‘Waraka’s chest’ (Derbyshire, 1985, p. 200)
Whereas in Hixkaryana prefix and free possessor are in complementary distribution, in

Akuriyo, the third-person prefix co-occurs with the free noun possessor, as can be seen
in example (8). Gildea infers from this that “the other persons of the possessor would show
the same behaviour.”
4
The following data is all taken from Gildea, 1998, pp. 104-112, which he has collected from several
primary sources. I will list these primary sources in the bibliography at the end of this article, as well as
on each example respectively, so that the interested reader may check them out. Gildea did not include any
glosses in his examples, and while I have added a gloss in example (2), I will not do that for each of the
examples here; the morphosyntax of possession in these languages is very similar to Pigáxio’s, thus the alert
reader should be able to follow me without any problems.
Page 86
(8) Akuriyo 3rd person possession
a. i-pana-rɨ ‘his ear’

b. mure i-pana-rɨ ‘the boy’s ear’ (Gildea, 1998, p. 105)
Now that we’ve taken a look at two other Cariban languages, let’s go back to Pigáxio and
consider SAP possession. In (10) we can observe the optional co-occurrence of free pronoun
and possessive prefix. Using a free pronoun instead of the personal prefix is often done to
contrast between various possessors, e.g. in a conversation such as the following: A: “Did
he steal Kɨʒiilgəərɨ’s manioc?”, B: “No, he stole my manioc”.
(9) Pigáxio SAP possession
a. kɨ:wə ẽ: -ru
1.INCL LK:eye POSSD
“our eyes (emph.)”
b. k- əŋ -ru
1.INCL eye POSSD
“our eyes”
c. kɨ:wə k- əŋ -ru
1.INCL 1.INCL eye POSSD
“our eyes (emph.)”
Let’s take a last look at how a related language handles SAP possession. In (10) from Apalaí,
the SAP free pronoun replaces the possessive prefix; there is no optional co-occurrence.
(10) Apalaí SAP possession
a. ɨ-kɨrɨ-rɨ ‘my thing’

b. ɨwɨ tapɨi-nɨ ‘my house’ (emphatic) (Koehn & Koehn, 1986, pp. 96-7)
This concludes my presentation of Pigáxio possessive prefixes. I have considered the forms
of these prefixes, the syntactic pattern in which they appear, and have given examples of
the functioning of possessive constructions in Pigáxio, as well as related Cariban languages.
Now that we have discussed the basics of possession, I shall talk about a recent change
regarding the linker prefix j-.
Kuikúro influence
In recent years, the influence of Kuikúro on the Pigáxio language has increased immensely.
Since their arrival at the Upper Xingu in the late 1800s, the Pigáxio have lived in various
places, and it was only recently in the 20th century that due to unknown reasons, they moved
to live among other tribes. One of these tribes was the Kuikúro, which nowadays hold the
remainder of Pigáxio people in their village. Because of this vicinity, not only lexical items
but also grammatical constructions have been borrowed from the Kuikúro language. An
example of such a grammatical influence is given in the j- LK construction. As I described
above, this marker appears when the possessed noun starts with a vowel and is immediately
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Pigáxio
preceded by its possessor. Among the newer generations however, the usage of this marker
has become deprecated due to the influence of Kuikúro, which does not employ such a
linker prefix. Let us compare (11) from Kuikúro with (12 from Pigáxio. In (11) we can
observe the lack of the linker prefix. This is an idiosyncracy among Cariban languages,
as most other related languages do employ the linker prefix. (12a) showcases the Pigáxio
construction involving j-, which is considered outdated and archaic by younger members
of the community. (12b) presents the same meaning as (12a), but using the innovative
construction. This phrase was uttered in the context of a conversation between mother and
daughter, in which the daughter corrected her mother, uttering (12b) and commenting that
wording it the way her mother did was annoying and old-fashioned.
(11) Absence of linker prefix in Kuikúro
a. Kanatú limo
children
“Kanatu’s children”
b. Aharâtâ ótomo
people
“Aharâtâ’s people” (Franchetto, 1986, p.160-61)
(12) Innovated absence of linker prefix in Pigáxio
a. nõrõ ewɨɨʒ -ɨ
earth LK:daughter POSSD?
“the earth’s daughter”
b. nõrõ əwɨʃ
earth daughter
“the earth’s daughter”
This concludes the discussion of possessive constructions in Pigáxio. I will now talk about
a few minor topics. First off, number!
Number
While plurality is not a grammatical category in most Cariban languages, and is not obli-
gatorily marked in the languages that ostensibly do mark the plural, the common distinction
is between all (collective) and fewer than all (noncollective). Thus an unmarked noun may
be singular or plural, but is definitely not all of a perceived group, whereas a noun marked
for number will certainly be plural, and is perceived to constitute the entirety of a group. In
Pigáxio–as in most other Cariban languages–only animate nouns take the collective number
marker. This plural marker is -gowo in Pigáxio, and its cognates vary from -koŋ̃ in Kariʼnja
to -kom/-ŋmo in Ikpéng. Some examples for the basic usage of the collective marker can
be found in (13) for Pigáxio and in (14) for Katxúyana.
(13) Pigáxio collective number suffix
a. pərɨʃ
woman
“woman (NCOL)”
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b. pərɨɨʃ -gwoo
woman COL
“(all of the) women (COL)”
c. *təh -goowo
stone COL
(14) Katxúyana collective number suffix
a. mɨnayi ‘my sister’

b. mɨnayi-tomo ‘my sisters’ (Gildea, 1998, p.117)
Now that we’ve considered the basics of number marking, let’s take a look at the interaction
between number and possession. When combined with possessive constructions, the number
suffix -gowo indicates the number of the possesee, as can be seen in (14) for Katxúyana and
in (15) for Pigáxio. Note that when the number suffix attaches to the possessee, the possessed
marker does not occur.
(15) Pigáxio possesee number marking

k- arook -koowo
1.INCL feather COL
“all of our(du) feathers5 ”
Not: “the feathers of all of us”
To mark the number of the possessor, the collective number particle is employed. This
particle–komo in Pigáxio–follows the possessed noun and is cognate to its bound variant.
Example (16) showcases its usage in Pigáxio, while (17) does so for Katxúyana.
(16) Pigáxio collective number particle
a. k- əgaarwu komo
1.INCL snake.POSSD COL
“the snake of all of us (the one used for our village’s ritual)”
b. k- əgaaw -gwoo komo
1.INCL snake COL COL
“the snakes of all of us”
(17) Katxúyana collective number particle
a. kɨ-mnayi kumu ‘the sister of all of us’

b. kɨ-mnayi-nomo ‘the sisters of we two’
c. kɨ-mnayi-nomo kumu ‘the sisters of all of us’ (Gildea, 1998, p.117)
This concludes the discussion of number in Pigáxio. Next up, postpositions!

5
Even though arook ‘feather’ is inanimate, it can take the collective number marker. This irregularity may
be based on cultural customs; I encourage anthropologists reading this to conduct research on this sociolin-
guistic phenomenon.
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Pigáxio
Postpositions
While European languages almost exclusively use prepositions, Cariban languages feature
postpositions. In this short section I will consider the morphosyntax of postpositional phrases
on the basis of the ergative postposition -həgə. This postposition is related to Kuikúro
and Kalapalo -heke/-feke, and is not cognate to the northern Cariban ergative markers -ya
(Tiriyo), a (Apalai) or wya (Hixkaryana). Postpositions in Pigáxio may be attached to any
noun, and can also take the personal prefixes depicted in table 07. Some examples for the
usage of postpositions in Pigáxio are given in (18) and (19) below.
(18) Pigáxio postpositions with free NPs

panəə -hgəə [...]
bee ERG
“The bee [had stung him in the knee]”
(19) ...with personal prefixes
[...] kɨ- həəgə
1.INCL ERG
“We [did indeed hunt the jaguar]”
As can be seen above, the allomorphs of -həgə vary. Some possible forms are -hgəə and -
həəgə, but also -:gə(ə) and the irregular -bəgə. In Kalapálo, the ergative postposition works
similarly. In (20), a free NP is marked by -feke, whereas in (21), a personal prefix is used.
An example from Kuikúro is given in (22).
(20) Kalapalo postpositions with free NPs

katote ago -feke [...]
all 2.people ERG
“Everyone [knows about it]” (Basso, 2019, p.56)
(21) ...with personal prefixes
[...] i- feke:
3 ERG
“He [pierced it]” (Basso, 2019, p.56)
(22) Kuikúro postpositions with free NPs
tugá -héke [...]
water ERG
“The water [encircled them]” (Franchetto, 1990, p.410)
To mark a personal postpositional phrase for number, in Pigáxio the collective marker -ŋ
is used. This corresponds to Kuikúro -ne. The usage of this marker (called ‘collective O of
postposition’ by Gildea 1998) is exemplified in (23) from Pigáxio and (24) from Kuikúro.
(23) Pigáxio collective postpositions

[...] a- həəgə -ŋ
2 ERG COLL.O
“You all [ate the fish that we hunted for ourselves]”
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(24) Kuikúro collective postpositions
[...] e- heké -ni [...]
2 ERG PL
“You [will bring the water that you will take]” (Franchetto, 1990, p.413)
This concludes the discussion of postpositional phrases in this article. Now onto the last
section, in which I will briefly consider nominal tense in Pigáxio and related languages.
Nominal tense
Several Cariban languages feature nominal tense as one of their morphosyntactic charac-
teristics, and Pigáxio is no exception. While traditional linguistics teaches us that tense is a
property of verbs, such as cases are of nouns, in a number of the world’s languages, nouns
can also be specified for tense. To illustrate this, let’s take a look at a basic example from
Makushi, a North Cariban language.
(25) Makushi nominal past
a. u- ye
1.SG tooth
“my tooth”
b. u- ye -rî’pi
1.SG tooth NOM.PST
“my former tooth” (Aikhenvald, 2012, p.162)
Here, the nominal past suffix -rî’pi indicates that the possessee is no longer property of the
possessor. Even though Cariban languages only feature past possession, the range of possible
nominal TAM is endless. Not only can nominal future be marked (cf. (26) from Guaraní),
but some languages like Iatê even allow nouns to be marked for irrealis (cf. (27)).
(26) Guaraní nominal future

h- emiapò -rã
his work NOM.FUT
“his future work” (Gregores & Suarez, 1967, p.127, as cited in Aikhenvald, 2012)
(27) Iatê nominal TAM
a. seti ‘house’
b. se’ti-sê ‘ex-house, former house’
c. se’t-këá ‘possible house; what could be a house’
(Lapenda, 1968, p.78-9, as cited in Aikhenvald, 2012)
Now that we’ve clarified what nominal tense is, let’s take a look at Pigáxio. Similarly to
Makushi, Pigáxio also has a nominal past suffix that can be used in possessive construction.
This suffix is highly irregular morphophonologically, however a sufficient approximation
would be -Cu:ru. Some examples for the basic usage of this marker are given in (28).
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Pigáxio
(28) Pigáxio nominal past in possessive constructions
a. t- əŋ -gu:ru
3.REFL eye NOM.PST
“his own former eye”
b. u- hɨ ́r -dú:ru
1 arrow NOM.PST
“my former arrow”
Having considered that, I need to mention something else related to nominal tense in Pigáxio.
Recently, a new innovation has been observed among younger speakers, which the older
generations hesitatingly accepted. The nominal past tense suffix began to appear without
any possessive prefix, as showcased in (29). This development is parallel to a phenomenon
that was observed in the 1940s by a linguist in another village,6 in which the possessed case
marker -rɨ would appear without any possessive prefixes, denoting the definiteness of the
marked noun.
(29) Pigáxio nominal past spreads into non-possessive contexts

ədɨ: -druu
bone NOM.PST
“a former bone; what used to be a bone”
This concludes the discussion of nominal tense.
Coda
You’ve now reached the end of this article, namely, its coda. In the preceding nine pages I
have given a brief overview of the different aspects of nominal morphosyntax in Pigáxio, and
I hope you enjoyed it. Hence I primarily want to thank you, the reader, for taking the time
to read this article. I hope I’ve given you some ideas by giving insights into the morphosyn-
tax of Cariban languages, and I do hope you enjoyed it. I’d like to thank Lysimachiakis for
proofreading the preliminary version of this article. Furthermore I’d like to thank mareck
and miacomet for proofreading the original “Possession in Pigáxio” reddit post, which the
first section of this article is heavily based on. I’d also like to thank the Segments organi-
zation team for providing a platform for conlangers to share their work. Thank you all! If
you have any questions regarding this article’s topic, you can reach out to me on Discord
at tryddle#9377 or on reddit, where my username is u/tryddle. And even just feedback is
also greatly appreciated!
Sources7
• Aikhenvald, A. Y. (2012). The Languages of the Amazon. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
• Basso, E. B. (2019). A Grammar of Kalapalo, A Southern Carib Language. MS.
• Derbyshire, D. C. (1985). Hixkaryana and Linguistic Typology. Arlington: Summer
Institute of Linguistics and the University of Texas at Arlington
6
Said village does not house any Pigáxio speakers anymore. They must either have been assimilated or
moved out at some point in the 60s.
7
I have once again included primary sources, in case you want to look them up yourself.
Page 92
• dos Santos, G. M. F. (2007). Morfologia Kuikuro: Gerando nomes e verbos. (Doctoral
dissertation, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro).
• Franchetto, B. (1986). Falar Kuikúru: Estudo Etnolinguistico de um grupo Karíbe do
Alto Xingu. Volume III: Fonologia e Textos. (Doctoral dissertation, Museu Nacional
da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro).
• Franchetto, B. (1990). Ergativity and Nominativity in Kuikúro and Other Carib Lan-
guages. Amazonian Linguistics: Studies in Lowland South American Languages. 407-27.
• Gildea, S. (1998). On reconstructing grammar: Comparative Cariban morphosyntax. Ox-
ford: Oxford University Press.
• Gildea, S. (2012). Linguistic studies in the Cariban family. In Campbell, Lyle and Gron-
dona, Verónica (eds.), 441 494. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter
• Gregores, E. & Suarez, J. (1967). A description of colloquial Guarani. The Hague: Mou-
ton.
• Koehn, E. & Koehn, S. S. (1994). Apalai. Handbook of Amazonian Languages, 1, 33-127.
• Lapenda, G. (1968). Estrutura da língua Iatê. Recife: Imprensa Universitária da univer-
sidade Federal do Pernambuco.
• Meira, S. & Gildea, S. (2009). Property concepts in the Cariban family: adjectives, adverbs,
and/or nouns. In Wetzels, W. Leo (ed.), 95 133. Utrecht: LOT.
• Meira, S., Gildea, S. & Hoff, B. J. (2010). On the Origin of Ablaut in the Cariban
Family. International Journal of American Linguistics 76. 477 515.
• Payne, T. E. & Payne, D. L. (1999). Panare: A Cariban language of central Venezuela.
Ms., La Trobe University.
• Rodrigues, A. D. (1994). Grammatical affinity among Tupi, Karib, and Macro-Je. Ms.,
Universidade de Brasília.
Page 93
08 Akiatu's definite article
by Akam Chinjir
My conlang Akiatu has a definite article, =ki, let me tell you about it.
Simple cases
Here’s a simple case, with just enough context to talk about how it works:
(1) sarai kuti hjá itu kwamuri sati itu isunai

yester day arrive INDEF hunter COM INDEF healer
ki kwamuri anicuta jiti =wamu =ma
DEF hunter boar bring come and
ki isunai isau jiti =wamu
DEF healer medicine bring come
“Yesterday a hunter and a healer arrived; the hunter brought boar and the healer
brought medicine”
This contains two noun phrases with ki: ki kwamuri ‘the hunter’ and ki isunai ‘the healer.’1
ki marks the noun phrases as definite, which means that it should be possible to identify
who or what they are referring to.
Or at least that should be possible in a real situation in which someone uttered (1) seriously.
In an article like this, of course it’s just an example sentence and isn’t actually referring to
anyone.
Luckily it’s not too hard to pretend. Even considering the sentence abstractly, there’s an
obvious answer to the question who ki kwamuri ‘the hunter’ refers to: it refers to the same
hunter that’s mentioned in the first clause. And even if we were hearing this sentence uttered
in a concrete context, it’s quite likely that’s all we’d be able to figure out. Still, it’s enough:
1
Both noun phrases could actually be plural: number is not marked on Akiatu nouns. (I’ll often ignore this
issue.)
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Akiatu
if you figure out that ki kwamuri refers to the same hunter that was mentioned in the first
clause, then you count as identifying its referent, and the fact that it’s possible for you to do
so is what warrants the use of a definite article here.
So far, that sounds just like English. But there’s a detail here that matters for Akiatu ki
but not for English the: we’re able to identify the referents of ki kwamuri and ki isunai
specifically on the basis of the preceding linguistic context. That’s the normal pattern. With
the possible exception of some particular constructions (which I discuss below), you only
use ki when it’s the linguistic context that makes the noun phrase’s referent identifiable. In
its core uses, ki is what’s been called an anaphoric definite pronoun, always referring back
to what has already been said.
Consider a somewhat different context. The hunter and the healer have just arrived, and I
nod towards the hunter while saying, “The hunter has brought boar.” Or maybe I don’t even
nod, trusting the context to make it clear who I’m talking about. In English, the definite
article is perfectly natural in cases like this, but in Akiatu you would not use ki. That’s
because, even though you can figure out who I’m talking about, you won’t rely on the
linguistic context to do so; my use of the English definite article here is not anaphoric.
Naturally, Akiatu provides other ways to signal that it should be possible to identify the
referent of a noun phrase. An important one is that the subject of a finite clause must
always be interpreted as definite, which means you could just say this (with or without an
accompanying gesture):
(2) kwamuri anicuta jiti =wamu

hunter boar bring come
“The hunter brought boar”
Or you could just use a demonstrative. But in simple cases, you only use ki if it’s the linguistic
context that makes it possible to identify the noun phrase’s referent.2
The fact that ki is an anaphoric definite article means that there are several contexts in
which other languages require or allow a definite article, but where you won’t find ki. I’ve
already mentioned referents that are contextually unique or are identified with a gesture.
There are also some nouns—Akiatu examples include ikwakatai ‘sun’ and ikjamí ‘river’—
which normally have the same referent (ikjamí ‘river’ normally refers to the Akiatu River
in particular); these can take ki only in contexts in which their uniqueness is somehow in
question. About the same is true of proper names, though in this case English works about
the same as Akiatu, not normally requiring a definite article. Finally, when a noun is used
generically, as in (3), you won’t normally find ki:
(3) ijaisa aku a kwai kaiwa

bat live LOC place dark
“Bats live in dark places”
I don’t know if you’d consider ijaisa ‘bat’ definite in this sentence, but there are languages
that would require a definite article here, and English allows “the” in at least some generics.
2
A complication: demonstrative constructions actually include ki: ‘that hunter’ would be ki kwamuri watí;
the watí is a deictic element. I’ll come back to this.
Page 96
ki is also not generally used with continuing discourse topics, even when those are rep-
resented by lexical nouns.3 You’ll use ki more often when picking out one of a number of
available topics, like in (1), or when returning to a previous topic.
Indirection
One feature of (1) makes it especially straightforward: the definite noun phrases in the
second and third clauses refer back to the very same people who were introduced in the first
clause. The following example is less direct:
(4) sarai kuti piwawi hajji hajji tikwa

yester day feast fun RDP face
janakí cai ara urati hu ki papí papí
person all still tired ABL DET dance RDP
“The feast yesterday was lots of fun. Everybody is still tired from the dancing”
Here we have ki papí papí ‘the dancing,’ and (supposedly) we can figure out what dancing
it’s referring to, but no dancing has been mentioned in the supplied context.
There’s nothing especially puzzling here. Even though dancing hasn’t been mentioned, a
feast has, and Akiatu feasts typically feature dancing. Clearly, the dancing in question is the
dancing that took place at that feast. The use of ki here is still anaphoric, though indirectly
so, since it’s the prior reference to the feast that lets us identify the referent of ki papí papí
‘the dancing.’
Here’s another Akiatu example:
(5) kiwa sí i ikjamí, sama,

go down DAT river 2SG
kja a ki tamwipaku watiwi arai
and LOC DET canoe around wait
“Go down to the river and wait by the canoes”
Here, it can’t be obvious from the non-linguistic context which canoes the addressee is
supposed to wait by—it can’t be the case that there’s just one locally salient place with
canoes, and the speaker can’t be indicating which canoes to wait by simply with a gesture.
The use of ki signals that it’s the linguistic context that specifices which canoes the speaker
is talking about. Of course it’s the reference to the river that’s important: the addressee is
to wait by the canoes that are down by the river. (Presumably it’s clear from context what
spot by the river the speaker intends.)
There’s a nuance here that’s worth mentioning. There’s a clear sense in which the ad-
dressee doesn’t have to know what canoes the speaker is referring to at the moment when
the sentence is uttered. What’s important is that upon arrival at the river, it be possible to
identify those canoes.4
3
Akiatu has no pronoun for third-person inanimates, and lexical nouns are often preferred to the animate
pronouns. Consequently, Akiatu speakers quite often use lexical nouns in contexts where English speakers
would prefer a pronoun (though many topical arguments can simply be dropped, a countervailing tendency).
4
Or that canoe: recall that Akiatu nouns are not marked for number.
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Akiatu
In the examples so far, the referents of the noun phrases in ki has been made identifiable
by something in the immediately preceding clause. This isn’t necessary. ki can reach further
back into the conversation; for example, the references to the hunter and the healer in (1)
could be separated by a few comments about the hunter and the boar.
The relevant bit of context can also be even closer than a preceding clause. Akiatu allows
what I’m going to call adjoined topics. These are phrases that occur at the start of a clause,
followed by the topic particle wai and then a pause (or at least pitch reset). They can, but
need not, correspond to a pronoun or dropped argument in the subsequent clause; they can
also provide the necessary context for a use of ki. Here’s a variant of (4) to show what that
looks like:
(6) sarai kuti piwawi wai, ki papí papí hajji hajji tikwa
yester day feast TOP DEF dance RDP lively RDP face
“(As for) the feast yesterday, the dancing was very lively”
That concludes my discussion of what I take to be the core uses of ki. The key idea is that
in these core uses ki is anaphoric: it signals that the noun phrase’s referent is identifiable
specifically on the basis of the recent linguistic context.
Naturally there are complications, which is why this article doesn’t end here. These com-
plications arise because there are several constructions in which ki does not quite behave
like the anaphoric definite article that I’ve been describing. Let’s take a look.
Possession
Alienable possession is normally expressed using ki:
(7) itamu ki apatu ‘Itamu’s spear’

hjaci ki pau ‘Hjaci’s pau shirt’
kipaja ki isau ‘Kipaja’s medicine’
These look like simple definite noun phrases—ki apatu ‘the spear,’ ki pau ‘the pau shirt,’ and
ki isau ‘the medicine’—to which possessors have been attached at the left. But these apparent
definite noun phrases work somewhat differently from the ones I’ve been discussing so far.
For one thing, they need not be strictly definite. For example, you could use itamu ki
apatu ‘Itamu’s spear’ to refer to a specific spear even if in context it is not Itamu’s only
spear. For example, this is fine, regardless of how many spears Itamu owns:
(8) suwi itamu ki apatu

here Itamu DET spear
“This is Itamu’s spear”
By contrast, suwi ki apatu ‘this is the spear’ would have to refer to a specific spear (or group
of spears), and the linguistic context would have to make it clear what spear (or spears) that
is.
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This, I think, is a common pattern, cross-linguistically: possessive constructions that are
not strictly definite but are still in some ways treated as if they were. In English the best ex-
amples involve what in Akiatu would be inalienable possession. We might mention Itamu’s
sisters, for example, without necessarily referring to all of them, or say that Itamu hurt her
hand, even though, before the utterance, neither of her two hands was more salient than
the other. Still, we tend to think of these expressions as somehow definite. (I’ll be talking
about inalienable possession in Akiatu shortly.)
One way in which Akiatu treats possessive phrases as definite, even when strictly they are
not, is that it allows them to occupy the subject position in a finite clause. It’s a general rule
that Akiatu subjects be definite, but when the subject is a possessive phrase, the rule applies
to the possessor and not to the noun phrase as a whole. So something like this is fine even
if no particular spear or spears of Itamu’s is already uniquely salient:
(9) itamu ki apatu kariku =kahu

Itamu DEF spear snap broken
“Itamu’s spear broke”
By contrast, a simple apatu kariku=kahu ‘the spear broke’ would purport to refer to a defi-
nite, identifiable spear (or spears).
This may simply be a different use of ki from the one I discussed in the preceding two
sections. However, it’s still possible to think of it as anaphoric if we think of the possessor
not as part of the noun phrase rendered (somewhat) definite by ki but rather as that part of
the linguistic context that helps us sort out the phrase’s referent.
This may be easier to accept when the possessor is adjoined as a topic:
(10) itamu wai, ki apatu kariku =kahu

Itamu TOP DEF spear snap broken
“Itamu’s spear broke”
Here the possessor surfaces outside of the noun phrase whose referent is at issue, so it’s
easier to think of it as part of the reference-fixing linguistic context.
Now I need to open a can of worms.
Akiatu lets many topical arguments be dropped, and this includes possessors. ki apatu
‘the spear’ could then be a possessive noun phrase with a null pronoun taking the place of
the possessor. The topic would let us identify the referent of that null pronoun, but not
otherwise enter into the interpretation of ki apatu. We’d interpret that noun phrase more
or less exactly as if it were actually itamu ki apatu ‘Itamu’s spear.’ A key consequence is that
the noun phrase need not be fully definite. Just like (9), with an overt possessor, use (10)
need not be about all of Itamu’s contextually salient spears. (Compare the English: “Itamu’s
sister arrived.” Her only sister? Not necessarily.)
The alternative is that this is just the sort of indirect definite reference I discussed in the
last section. Understood this way, itamu is the bit of linguistic context that makes it possible
to identify the referent of ki apatu: the spear in question is the one that in the context is
saliently associated with Itamu. In this case, the association would derive from possession,
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Akiatu
the spear being associated with Itamu simply because Itamu possesses it, but the noun phrase
would not contain a covert reference to a possessor and thus would not specifically encode
possession. It follows that on this interpretation, the noun phrase must be fully definite: the
sentence must be about all the spears that are saliently related to Itamu.
One of the difficulties in deciding between these two interpretations is that Akiatu, like
many languages, allows a wide range of relations to be encoded as possession. In principle,
even an example like (6) (about the dancing that took place at a feast) could be interpreted
in terms of abstract possession (the feast’s dancing), even though I tried to choose an ex-
ample that would resist that sort of interpretation. Ultimately, if even an example like that
one could be interpreted as involving a covert possessor, unambiguous cases of indirect
anaphoric definite reference might be very rare indeed.
But they’re not rare, so something must be restricting the distribution of covert possessors.
One possibility, to which I’m currently inclined, is that a possessor can be dropped only in
the context of fairly concrete or immediate possession—like if Itamu were actually carrying
her spear. But I’m not yet ready to say in any detail how this will work.
The same issues arise with inalienable possession, even though it does not normally require
ki:
(11) itamu cucu ‘Itamu’s children’

hjaci mawasawi ‘Hjaci’s hair’
kipaja amiwi ‘Kipaja’s hands’
ki surfaces whenever the possessor is dropped: ki cucu ‘her children,’ ki mawasawi ‘their
hair,’ and ki amiwi ‘his hands.’
There’s one important class of cases in which a covert possessor is ruled out. This is when
the covert possessor would corefer with the sentence’s subject:
(12) itamu ki amiwi ɲí =wika

Itamu DET hands wash clean
“Itamuᵢ washed herᵢ hands”
There cannot be a covert possessor here because of a general rule that to refer back to the
subject of the clause you must use a reflexive pronoun. Here that pronoun would normally
be mwi:
(13) itamu mwi amiwi ɲí =wika

Itamu REFL.POS hands wash clean
“Itamuᵢ washed herᵢ hands”
(As you can see, mwi replaces ki.)
There’s a clear semantic difference between (12) and (13). In (12), ki amiwi ‘the hands’
must refer to all of the hands saliently associated with Itamu, which is probably both of
them. But in (13) mwi amiwi ‘her hands’ need not be fully definite, and the sentence could
Page 100
be appropriately used even if Itamu washed only one of them. (The significance of this
difference might be easier to appreciate with a verb meaning ‘hurt.’)
One more thing. I’ve said that the referent of a noun phrase in ki can’t be identifiable be-
cause it is contextually unique or because the speaker gestured towards it. These restrictions
do not apply to covert possessors, which I suppose have the semantics of pronouns. Suppose
we’re sitting out, and Itamu walks by carrying a broken spear. Then one of us might say
this:
(14) ki apatu kariku =kahu

DEF spear snap broken
“Her spear broke”
This must involve Itamu as a covert possessor, because in the context described ki apatu
‘the spear’ has an identifiable referent in virtue of the spear’s association with Itamu, and
Itamu hasn’t been mentioned. Unlike with the spear, though, the sentence can refer to Itamu
simply because she’s the only other person present, or because the statement is accompanied
by (for example) a nod in her direction.
Partitives
Partitive constructions pick out some members of a group or some part of a whole. Here’s
how it looks with a plain number:
(15) janakí ki pai ijau tatitami

person DET three PROG chat
“Three of the people were chatting”
A great deal falls into place if we think of janakí ki pai ‘three of the people’ as a possessive
construction, with pai ‘three’ as its head noun.
First, the requirement that a sentence’s subject be definite applies not to the noun phrase
as a whole but to the apparent possessor, here janakí ‘person.’ That’s how an intrinsically
indefinite expression like janakí ki pai ‘three of the people’ can be subject, and also why the
janakí ‘person’ must be interpreted as definite.
Second, it’s possible to indicate the containing group with just a gesture. For example,
noticing that some goomfruit is missing, you might nod towards a group of dubious charac-
ters and say this:
(16) ki itu ní kúmu piwa =haja

DEF one certainly goomfruit eat away
“One of them must have eaten the goomfruit”
Third, the containing group or whole is not mentioned explicitly in the noun phrase, we
must suppose that it is represented by a covert pronoun of some sort. That’s the easiest way
to explain how, for example, ki itu ‘one of them’ can be subject in (16): the requirement
that the subject be definite is satisfied by the covert pronoun. But also, you have to use the
reflexive pronoun mwi when the containing group or whole is also the subject of the clause:
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Akiatu
(17) akjanai mwi itu jai aru wamu i sawi

enemy REFL.POS one CAUS go_along come DAT 1PL
“The enemiesi sent onejPi of them over to us”
On the intended interpretation, this says that there was a group of enemies that sent a
member of that very group over to us; I’m not sure how to say this nicely in English, but
there it is in Akiatu. The important point is that you need reflexive mwi here; with ki itu,
the person sent would have to come from some other salient group. This restriction is easiest
to understand if ki itu must contain a covert reference to the containing group, which (by
a general rule of Akiatu grammar) could not corefer with the subject of the sentence.
Despite these analogies, there’s one powerful reason for thinking that these are not really
possessive constructions. Outside of the partitive construction, Akiatu numbers can only be
used adnominally or when actually counting. Thus, you can’t think of pai ‘three’ in janakí
ki pai ‘three of the people’ as a noun that’s getting used in a possessive construction, because
it becomes nounlike only in the context of the construction. It doesn’t even work with
possession more narrowly construed; for example, *itamu ki pai can’t be used to refer to
three things owned by Itamu.
Numbers aren’t the only quantifiers that work this way. Some of the others are actually
made out of numbers:
(18) janakí ki ami pai hiki

person DEF two three leave
“Two or three of the people left”
Another example is hamu ‘some, a portion.’ Unlike numbers, this frequently occurs with
what you might think of as mass nouns:
(19) miku ki hamu mikwa mihja =haja

water DET portion already drink away
“Some of the water has been drunk”
There’s also a question word sari ‘how many’ that I’m pretty sure can also occur in this
construction. Maybe that would look like this:
(20) kwamuri wai, ki sari ara suwi

hunter TOP DEF how_many still here
“How many of the hunters are still here?”
Honestly, though, I’m currently very confused about pied piping, and I’m not sure what
should happen here.
Some of Akiatu’s ‘true’ (postnominal) adjectives can also be used similarly, with partitive
semantics. Here’s an example:
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(21) kúmu ki mwimu jiti i hau, sama
goomfruit DET new bring DAT 1SG 2SG
“Bring me the fresh goomfruit”
This picks out the fresh ones among some salient group of goomfruit; the relation between
kúmu ‘goomfruit’ and mwimu ‘fresh’ can only be understood in partitive terms, and mwimu
‘fresh’ cannot otherwise head a noun phrase.
The construction with adjectives differs from the one with quantifiers in one key respect:
despite being partitive, kúmu ki mwimu ‘the fresh goomfruit’ is most naturally taken to be
definite.
There’s one special case, the postnominal adjective ahiwa ‘one.’ Normally, you’d use it
rather than the counting number itu ‘one’ to pick out one of something. For example, you’d
say kúmu ahiwa to refer to one goomfruit, rather than itu kúmu (which would instead
refer to some specific goomfruit, possibly more than one). But in partitive constructions,
you use itu for ‘one (of),’ and ahiwa means ‘whole’ or ‘all’:
(22) sawi kúmu ki ahiwa piwwa =haja, sawi

1PL goomfruit DEF all eat away 1PL
“We ate all the goomfruit…”
This will refer to as many goomfruit as are contextually salient, not necessarily just to one
of them.
You might expect partitive semantics to be available with other (prenominal) modifiers.
However, most of these can also be used as regular nouns, and that complicates things. For
example, there’s a kind of ritual object called a tamwi kapau ‘wooden doll’; tamwi ‘wood,
tree’ occurs adnominally in this expression. You might expect that kapau ki tamwi could be
used to refer to the wooden ones in some salient group of kapau ‘dolls.’ But I think kapau
ki tamwi would more naturally be taken to refer to the wooden parts of some doll or dolls,
in large part because tamwi is basically a noun, and I’m not sure that the expected partitive
interpretation is even available here.
Identifying modifiers
There are some cases in which a noun phrase takes ki even though its referent is identifiable
in virtue of a modifier that occurs within the noun phrase itself. Modifiers like this, like
possessors, behave as if they were part of the linguistic context, not part of the noun phrase
itself, at least in relation to ki.
This happens most consistently with relative clauses. When a noun phrase contains a
relative clause, and the relative clause makes the referent of the noun phrase identifiable,
then you’ll normally get ki. Here’s an example:
(23) ki janakí na sama ki ipa nú

DET person REL 2SG DET mention out
“the person who you mentioned”
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Akiatu
(The second ki here is necessary because Akiatu nominalises adnominal relative clauses and
encodes their subjects as possessors.)
I don’t want to go too far into the syntax and semantics of relative clauses here. Suffice it to
say that if they adjoin to a constituent that already includes determiners like ki, this makes it
harder to understand the semantics of certain quantifiers, like “every” in English, but makes
it easier to understand why it’s possible in many languages to displace relative clauses to
a clause-final position. As it happens, the latter issue is more pressing in Akiatu, where
displaced relative clauses are common, but there’s no quantifier relevantly like “every.”5
Here’s an example with a displaced relative clause:
(24) ki janakí suwi na sama ki ipa nú

DET person here REL 2SG DET mention out
“The person is here who you mentioned”
You might find the English translation somewhat awkward, but the Akiatu is perfectly fine.
Intonationally, the displaced relative clause is fully integrated into the sentence: there’s
no pause or pitch reset, and it likely includes the nuclear pitch accent; certainly you don’t
get the flat intonation characteristic of afterthoughts. (In these respects, intonation works
similarly in Akiatu and English.) I take this to mean that the grammar here is perfectly
standard.
You can get a similar pattern with adjectives, though this involves overt displacement of
the adjective to the front of the noun phrase, before ki. For example, you might get mwimu
ki kúmu ‘the fresh goomfruit,’ and this is appropriate even if it’s the adjective mwimu ‘fresh’
that makes the referent identifiable: again, the modifier seems to be getting treated as part of
the linguistic context, not exactly part of the noun phrase. Pragmatically, a fronted modifier
is focused, likely for contrast.
At least some prenominal modifiers can also be fronted. Maybe the most common such
modifier is auki ‘other, remainder’:
(25) auki ki kúmu hikuti kamiwapi piwwa =haja

rest DEF goomfruit today night eat away
“The rest of the goomfruit will be eaten tonight”
(A partitive construction—kúmu ki auki—would also work here, and would be more appro-
priate in a context that didn’t directly contrast the rest of the goomfruit with, presumably,
the goomfruit that’s already been eaten.)
Demonstratives
I said earlier that if you’re specifying what a noun phrase refers to by gesturing to the
referent, you don’t use ki. This was only partially true: you certainly don’t have to use
5
If you’re interested in the issue with “every,” it works something like this. The sentence “every person
that you mentioned was there” doesn’t say that everyone was there, and you mentioned all of them, it says
that of the people you mentioned, all of them were there. Put a bit more technically, the relative clause here
constitutes part of the restriction of the quantifier. Given standard ways of analysing quantifier semantics, this
strongly implies that “person that you mentioned” is a constituent, to which “every” attaches.
Page 104
ki, but you might use a demonstrative construction, and demonstrative constructions do
include ki.
Akiatu adnominal demonstratives consist of two parts. There’s a deictic particle, which
normally occurs at the end of a noun phrase (though it can be followed by a heavy relative
clause), and there’s also ki. It can look like this:
(26) mwimu mamu sai ki kúmu =su

fresh IDEO:very_fresh EXCM DET goomfruit PROX
“This goomfruit is really fresh!”
There are three deictic particles that can be used this way. Proximal =su and distal watí
are common. So far addressee-proximal =ku is not, though that might be because I still
haven’t composed many conversations in Akiatu.
You might wonder if this is an instance of the sort of structure I talked about in the previous
section, with the deictic particles getting treated as elements the linguistic context that make
the noun phrase’s referent identifiable. I don’t think that’s actually correct, though to be
honest none of the arguments I’ve come up with so far are very convincing. For instance, it
may be relevant that these deictic particles are not (and cannot be used as) nouns, and cannot
be focused by being moved to the front of the noun phrase. That makes them different from
other adnominal modifiers, but not obviously in a way that’s relevant here.
Summation
I want to take stock by considering the various ways in which the referent of ki cucu might
be made identifiable in the following sentence.
(27) ki cucu hajji hajji tikwa

DET child fun RDP face
“The children seem to be having fun”
Let’s first rule out one thought: you couldn’t utter this out of the blue, as a comment about
all the children present in the speech context. This reflects the fundamental difference
between ki and non-anaphoric definite articles like English “the.”
You also couldn’t make the referent identifiable by uttering (27) while nodding towards
the children in question; a gesture cannot by itself warrant the use of ki.
In both of those cases, you could fix things by saying instead ki cucu watí ‘those children.’
However, if we’ve already been discussing some children, you could use (27) to refer to
just the children we’ve been talking about.
Or maybe we haven’t mentioned any children but have been talking about Itamu, and
know that she has a child. Then the prior references to Itamu would allow us to suppose
that ki cucu includes a covert reference to her, and refers to her child (or children).
Or maybe we haven’t even mentioned Itamu, but she’s present in the speech context. Then
it would be possible to utter (27) while nodding towards Itamu and be understood to be
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Akiatu
referring to Itamu’s child. On this interpretation, Itamu is represented in the sentence only
by a null pronoun, and there’s nothing wrong with using a gesture to identify the referent
of a pronoun.
Another possibility is that we’ve been talking about a group of people including both
children and adults. ki cucu could then be interpreted as an implicit partitive construction,
something like ‘the children among them.’
Or maybe we haven’t been talking about those people, but (27) is uttered along with a
nod towards them; that could also work.
Finally, we could expand (27) to include an identifying relative clause, and in that case
we’d continue to use ki:
(28) ki cucu hajji hajji tikwa na watiwi papu

DEF child fun RDP face REL there play
“The children playing there seem to be having fun”
I hope all that makes sense.
Envoi
So that’s more or less how things go with Akiatu’s definite article ki.
ki isn’t the result of a great deal of research into real-world definite articles. I know enough
to know that definite articles can be anaphoric in something like the way I’ve described, and
over the years I’ve done a great deal of reading about noun phrase syntax. But with ki my
approach has mostly been to draw together some unrelated ideas and inspirations (including
from classical Chinese “ ” and Turkish “bir,” neither of which is a definite article), and just
let those ideas play both with each other and with other bits of Akiatu grammar. I hope the
result is naturalistic and coherent, but couldn’t tell you to what extent it resembles anything
you find in actual human languages.
Page 106
09 Africana
by Primalpikachu
An Old World's Last Stand
Language has a tendency to innovate as it changes, recycling or losing old structures and
coining new ones to replace the old. However, like the relative who “grew up in a different
time, most language families have one or two languages which are much less different from
the mother tongue. As you can probably tell from the title, Africana1 is a Romance language
descended from the Vulgar Latin spoken in northern Africa. However, unlike most Romance
languages, Africana is much more archaic in terms of grammar and inflection. This is most
noticeable in its nouns which sport a robust case system and gender system. In this article
I will explain the intricacies of the Africana case system by revealing its history as well as
showing how interactions between prepositions and nouns change case. In tandem, I will
reveal the differences and irregularities between real Romance genders and Africana’s. I will
also compare the pure neuter nouns and neuter-like nouns within the language. I hope you
will find this article enjoyable and possibly inspirational for anyone who may be thinking
about making a similar language.
Keeping it clean: The journey of Africana cases

To begin our adventure in grammatical case, we must start with Classical Latin. The end-
ings that would become the regular declensions for Africana nouns looked like this. (See fig.
1) These would later simplify to the ones seen in fig. 2. In African Vulgar Latin. This would
cause the loss of the dative and ablative, causing them to fuse into a dative-genitive and
an accusative-ablative case. However, unlike most other Romance languages the accusative
did not overtake the nominative in meaning in African Vulgar Latin, remaining distinct from
each other. In what would become Africana, only the first and second declensions would
survive nearly intact, while the other declension patterns would either sway to one or the
other or survive as an irregularity in the nominative. Instead, the genitive would overtake
the dative’s meaning. This foundation, in addition to later sound changes, would then go
1
Africana is based on the concept of an African Romance language. Although there is strong evidence in
support of its existence, no documents in the actual language exist, so creative liberty was taken to fill in the
gaps.
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Africana
on to create the modern case system seen today. (see fig. 3) The following phrases will help
illustrate the evolution of Africana’s cases.
(1) a. Canis catto dedit granvm Classical Latin

can -is catt -o dedit gran -vm
dog -NOM cat -DAT gave grain -ACC
“The dog gave the cat grain.”
b. Ille canis illi catti dit granu African Vulgar Latin
ill -e can -is ill -i catt -i dit gran -u
the -NOM dog -NOM the -DAT cat -DAT gave grain -ACC
“The dog gave the cat grain.”
c. Il cani li gati dit gragno Africana
il can -i l -i gat -i dit gragn -o
the dog -NOM the -DAT cat -DAT gave crop -ACC
“The dog gave the cat crop.”
A mixup here and there: Prepositional declensions of

Africana nouns
Due to the loss of most Latin cases, Africana would begin to rely on prepositions to fill their
roles. However, Latin’s prepositions still caused nouns to decline for them. In combination
with the smaller declension system, this would cause a few prepositions to shift cases, and
in some cases, meaning. For example, the preposition pro, which used to take accusative or
ablative endings in Classical Latin, would shift to the dative and later the genitive-dative in
African Vulgar Latin. This shift would cause pro to lose most of its other meanings that were
not dative. These roles would instead be played by other prepositions like ante, adfascada,
and quomo. A more extreme example would be the prepositions of location. After the
merging of the ablative with the accusative, all prepositions aside from pro would decline
towards the accusative; however, many prepositions concerning motion began taking the
genitive-dative case instead of the accusative. This has led to many prepositions having an
“active or “stationary meaning. For example, the preposition en can have the meaning
of in, at, or on when its object is declined for the accusative, while also meaning into or
onto when in the genitive-dative. This active/stationary split also has given new meaning
to formerly stationary verbs. For example, the prepositions, super and sub which originally
mean above or below, when used in the genitive dative, give the meaning of upward and
downward. The evolution of these phrases will help illustrate the evolution of Africana
prepositional cases and active/stationary prepositions.
(2) The evolution of pro

a. Carnis pro canem/e est Classical Latin
carn -is pro can -em/-e est
meat -NOM for dog -ACC/-ABL is
“The meat is for the dog.”
b. Ille carne est pro illi cani African Vulgar Latin
ill -e carn -e est pro ill -i can -i
the -NOM meat -NOM is for the -DAT dog -DAT
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c. Il carne est pro li cani Africana
il carn -e est pro l -i can -i
the meat -NOM is for the -DAT dog -DAT
(3) The evolution of active/stationary prepositions
a. Ego svm ex Roma Classical Latin

ego svm ex Rom -a
1.SG am from Rome -ABL
“I am from Rome.”
b. Eo su ex Roma, il it ex ille case African Vulgar Latin
eo su ex Rom -a il it ex ill -e cas -e
1.SG am from Rome -ACC he went out the -DAT house -DAT
“I am from Rome, he went out of the house.”
c. Eo so esc Roma, il it esc le case Africana
eo so esc Rom -a il it esc l -e cas -e
1.SG am from Rome -ACC, he went out the -DAT house -DAT
“I am from Rome, he went out of the house.”
Keeping it neutral: The story of Africana gender

Gender is a part of all Romance languages, but most of them leave out the third gender
called “neuter when they descended from Latin. Romanian, although classifying some
words as neuter, isn’t a true neuter, as it lacks distinct forms from the masculine and femi-
nine. Asturian is similar in that it has masculine like neuters and feminine like neuters, but
what sets it apart are the pure neuter nominals which have a unique ending. Africana has
a gender system nearly lifted directly from Vulgar Latin, and unlike Romanian, these nouns
have their own distinct paradigms. The Africana neuter is very similar to the masculine,
differing in declension only in the nominative, but these few differences have allowed the
neuter to survive into the present.
Imposters among us: Exploring Africana true neuters and irregu

lar nouns
Africana, like most if not all languages, has irregularities. In nouns, these manifest as the
remnants of past declension paradigms. The most common irregularity in nouns are mis-
leadingly known as neutral nouns. Unlike true neuters, which were descended from the class
2 paradigm, neutral nouns were formerly part of the class 3 and 5 declension paradigms.
These nouns are differentiated from other nouns usually by having an “i or “e ending in
the nominative singular case. These nouns follow a unique declension pattern based on the
3rd declension from Vulgar Latin (see fig. 4). An irregular noun found throughout most
Romance languages is the word for hand, rendered in Africana as magnu. Despite having
masculine endings, it takes feminine agreement. It is the last remnant of the Latin 4th de-
clension which was able to hold onto its odd declension due to its high usage. The following
illustration will show the evolution of a regular neuter noun’s declension, and an irregular
neutral noun’s declension.
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Africana
Classical Latin
egg fox
Case Singular Plural Singular Plural
NOM ovvm ova vvlpes vvlpes
ACC ovvm ova vvlpem vvlpes
DAT ovo ovis vvlpi vvlpibvs
GEN ovi ovorvm vvlpis vvlpivm
ABL ovo ovis vvlpe vvlpibvs
VOC ovvm ova vvlpes vvlpes
African Vulgar Latin
egg fox
NOM obu oba bolpe bolpe
ACC obu oba bolpe bolpe
GEN-DAT obi oboro bolpi bolpiu
Africana
egg wild canine
NOM obo oba bolpe bolpe
ACC obo oba bolpe bolpe
GEN-DAT obi oboro bolpi bolpio
Table 1: Case Changes in Africana
Fig. 1 1st Decl. 2nd Decl. M. 2nd Decl. N.

Sg. Pl. Sg. Pl. Sg. Pl.
NOM -a -ae -us -ī -um -a
GEN -ae -ārum -ī -ōrum -ī -ōrum
ACC -am -ās -um -ōs -um -a
DAT -ae -īs -ō -īs -ō -īs
ABL -ā -īs -ō -īs -ō -īs
VOC -ae -ae -e -ī -um -a
Figure 1: Classical Latin Declensions
Fig. 2 1st Decl. 2nd Decl. M. 2nd Decl. N.

Sg. Pl. Sg. Pl. Sg. Pl.
NOM -a -e -us -i -u -i
GEN/DAT -e -aru -i -oru -i -oru
ACC -a -as -u -os -u -os
Figure 2: African Vulgar Latin Declensions
Fig. 3 M. Sg. M. Pl. F. Sg. F. Pl. N. Sg. N. Pl.

NOM -u -i -a -e -o -i
ACC -o -os -a -as -o -os
GEN/DAT -i -oro -e -aro -i -oro
Figure 3: Africana Declensions
Page 110
Fig. 4 Irr. N. Sg. Irr. N. Pl.
NOM -i/-e -e
ACC -e -e
GEN/DAT -i -io
Figure 4: Irregular Neutral Declensions
Page 111
Izlodian noun cases and
10 their uses
by rordan
Introduction
Izlodian, which I began developing in January 2019, is my primary conlang. It has gone
through several iterations to the point that the original draft of the language now serves as
the proto-language; Modern Izlodian is the current iteration and is the focus of this article.
In this article, I have provided a quick glance at the noun cases in the language and their
forms, as well as a table showing the verb forms. The verbs are not the focus of this paper,
but providing a brief overview of the verb paradigm will be helpful in understanding the
morphosyntactic split and subsequent noun marking in sentences. Next, I provide several
examples of how the core grammatical noun cases function in sentences. Basic IPA symbols
are used.
Nouns
Nouns are a word class that denote people, places, and things (inanimate or animate). By
default, nouns are definite, but can take an indefinite prefix. This prefix is becoming less
common in everyday spoken language, however. When it is used, it prefixes directly to the
noun stem.
The vast majority of common nouns end in -é or -ó (a remnant of the old vowel harmony
system); proper nouns, such as personal names and place names, can end in any vowel or
consonant. The plural suffix, -m, attaches directly to the noun stem. Case suffixes attach to
the plural marker when present, which can alter their form (see Table 1 below). Without
the plural suffix, cases attach directly to the final vowel of the noun stem.
There are 17 noun cases in Izlodian, though most of these can be thought of as post-
positions. Below is the list of cases and their syntactic role or meaning. 15 noun cases
are marked by suffixes, the other two by prefixes. Grammatical cases can have multiple
functions.
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Izlodian
Case Affix Role/Meaning

Core Grammatical Cases
Nominative ∅
1. The subject/agent of a verb
2. The direct object of verbs whose subject lacks
volition or is experiencing feelings, emotions, or
sensations
3. Most common case for direct objects of verbs in
Subjunctive I and Subjunctive II forms
Ergative -s
1. The subject of verbs when the agent lacks volition
2. The subject of verbs of feeling, emotion, sensation,
or experience
3. The subject of verbs in the Subjunctive I and
Subjunctive II forms
Dative -la The recipient of an action, the benefactor, the indirect

object
Accusative -sja /ʃa/ The direct object of verbs whose subject is in the
nominative
Partitive -da A portion of a direct object of verbs
Genitive -tha Marks possession of the preceding noun
Instrumental -n (SG), -b (PL)
1. Marks nouns used to complete an action
2. Functions as a comitative
3. The direct object of verbs in the passive voice
Translative mó /mo/-
1. Marks a change in state
2. Marks a temporary state
3. Marks the direct object of copula in the optative
form
Locative Cases (Post-positions)

Inessive -sal Subject is in/inside the noun
Illative nù- /nu˨/ Subject moves into, through the noun
Elative -l Subject moves out of/from the noun
Adessive -va Subject is at, near, by, along the noun
Superessive -cja /tʃa/ Subject is on or at the top of the noun
Ablative -tì /ti˦/ Subject moves away from the noun
Subessive -za Subject is underneath/below the noun
Allative -pa Subject moves to/onto the noun
Abessive -sak Subject is without the noun
Table 1: Noun cases
Verb forms
Before diving into the grammatical cases, it is necessary to first provide a brief overview of
verb forms in Izlodian. In the language, there are two series: 1) perfective 2) imperfective.
Within these, there are several moods and tenses that, when combined, form particular verb
forms. Below are two tables that break down these verb series. Also marked are the default
noun markers for each mood.
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Mood Time
(Alignment) Past Present Future
Indicative Aorist Perfect Future
(Nom-Acc) “I walked” “I had walked” “I will walk”
“I just walked”
“I had walked to the...”
Subjunctive I Past Conditional Conditional Potential
(Erg-Nom) “I would have gone” “I would go, if...” “I could go”
Imperative Imperative Past1 Imperative Present Imperative Future
Nom-Acc “You walked “You, walk!” “You will walk!”
(Pres.-Fut.) (because you
Erg-Abs were told to)”
(Past)
Table 2: Perfective Series
Mood Time
(Alignment) Past Present Future
Indicative Imperfect Present Future
(Nom-Acc) “I was walking” “I am walking” ∅
“I was walking “I walk
(as a habit)” (as a habit)”
Subjunctive II Past Optative Optative Future Optative
(Erg-Nom “I was wanting to walk” “I want/desire to walk” “I hope to go walking”
Trans)
Inchoative Past Inchoative Inchoative Future Inchoative
(Nom-Acc) “I started walking” “I am starting walking” “I will start walking”
Table 3: Imperfective Series
Preverbs
One final thing to note for verbs to ease understanding of the main article is the use of
preverbs (glossed as PV in this article). There are many preverbs in Izlodian that slightly
change the meaning of the verb (e.g. k- attached to the perfect verb form implies a polite
command) or denote the direct and indirect objects. The use of preverbs in Izlodian is too
complicated and extensive to adequately cover in this article, so I will instead clarify the
specific preverbs used in the examples in the main body of this article.
Preverb Prefix- Function

Obligation -k- Implies the subject had to, should,
or must complete or attempt the
action
Polypersonal marker -ts- Further preverbs attach to either
side of this marker to denote the
direct and indirect objects
Inanimate object -e- When prefixed to ts-, it denotes
the inanimate direct object of the
verb
1
The imperative past is used specifically to denote actions that the subject completed because of a command
or request and requires the Erg-Nom alignment.
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Izlodian
Core grammatical cases

Nominative case
The nominative case is the citation form of Izlodian nouns. It was previously the only
subject/agent marker, but myriad grammatical changes and influences from other conlangs
(which neighbor Izlodia in-universe) have changed this. Still, beginners learning or explor-
ing the language will rest easy knowing that most verb forms and sentence structures are
built with nominative-accusative alignments. Some examples of basic sentences are:
(1) Tozók Dovì

toz -ó -k Dovì
run -AOR -3 Dovì.NOM
“Dovì ran.”
(2) Amùdak Dovì khothva

amùd -a -k Dovì khoth -va
walk -FUT -3 Dovì.NOM snow -ADESS
“Dovì will walk along the snow.”
(3) Cjósuk Dovì sócjósja

cjós -u -k Dovì sócjó -sja
eat.IPFV -PRS -3SG Dovì.NOM fish -ACC
“Dovì eats/is eating fish.”
The nominative case can be paired with direct objects in the translative case. This con-
struction denotes a temporary state. For example:
(4) Uduk Dovì mókhizé

ud -u -k Dovì mó- khizé
work.IPFV -PRS -3SG Dovì.NOM TRNS- house
“Dovì works/is working at/from home (temporarily).”
Ergative
The ergative is the second core case to mark subjects in Izlodian sentences. Essentially,
whenever the subject experiences an action or sensation, commits an action involuntarily, or
feels an emotion, the subject is marked in the ergative case and the direct object is marked
with the nominative. This construction can occur with any verb in any form. Below are
some examples of this ergative construction and how the case’s use can change the meaning
of the original verb.
(5) Tozók Dovìs

toz -ó -k Dovì -s
run -AOR -3SG Dovì -ERG
“Dovì fled (in terror, panic).”
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(6) Dovìs úman
Dovì -s úman
Dovì -ERG happy.ADJ
“Dovì (is) happy, Dovì (is) feeling happy.2 ”
(7) Ghigzak Dovìs khothva

ghigz -a -k Dovì -s khoth -va
slide -FUT -3SG Dovì -ERG snow -ADESS
“Dovì will slip along the snow”
All verbs in the Subjunctive I and Subjunctive II forms have their subject marked with the
ergative. In Subjunctive II (optative) forms, the translative case marks the copula comple-
ment of mósú ‘to be.’ The ergative also marks the subject of verbs in the past imperative
form.
(8) bùthakt Dovìs sócjó

bùth -a -k -t Dovì -s sócjó
cook -FUT -3SG -POT Dovì -ERG fish.NOM
“Dovì could cook fish.”
(9) Tozóń Dovìs

toz -ó -ń Dovì -s
run -PST -IMP.3SG Dovì -ERG
“Dovì ran (he was commanded to).”
(10) Skbathik Dovìs sócjó évla

s- k- bath -i -k Dovì -s sócjó é -v -la
OPT- PV- cook.IPFV -PRS -3SG Dovì -ERG fish.NOM 1 -PL -DAT
“Dovì should be wanting to cook fish for us.”
(11) Svak Dovìs móúman

s- va -k Dovì -s mó- úman
OPT- be.IPFV.FUT -3SG Dovì -ERG TRNS- happy.ADJ
“Dovì wants to become happy”
The translative case can also be used to mark adjectives or nouns to express changes in
state. For example:
(12) Dovìs móúman

Dovì -s mó- úman
Dovì -ERG TRNS-- happy.ADJ
“Dovì became happy”
2
Note: the copula is dropped in realis ergative constructions expressing emotional states in the present
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Izlodian
Dative
The primary role of the dative case is to mark the benefactor of an action or the indirect
object of an action. Nouns marked in the dative are generally located at the end of phrases.
For example:
(13) Setsnìkus Navala

s- e- ts- nìkus Nava -la
OPT- PV- PV- give.IPFV-PRS.1SG Nava -DAT
“I want to give (it/this) to Nava.”
(14) Bùthé cjala

bùth -é cja -la
cook -AOR.1SG 2SG -DAT
“I cooked for you.”
The dative is additionally used to form the passive voice. The noun that would be the
patient in active voice constructions is promoted to the agent and marked with the dative.
The previous agent is demoted and marked with the instrumental. In these constructions,
the dative noun creates an inseparable unit to the verb; no other words can come between
the verb and the dative noun in the passive voice. In this construction, the instrumental
noun can be omitted. In more casual speech, the dative suffix is affixed directly to the verb
and the noun is entirely omitted.
(15) Bùthék sócjóla én

bùth -é -k sócjó -la é -n
cook -AOR -3SG fish -DAT 1SG -INSTR
“The fish was cooked by me.”
(16) Bùthék sócjóla

bùth -é -k sócjó -la
cook -AOR -3SG fish -DAT
“The fish was cooked (by someone).”
(17) Bùthékla
bùth -é -k -la
cook -AOR -3SG -DAT
“It/something was cooked (by someone).”
(18) Bùthék sócjóla cjala

bùth -é -k sócjó -la cja -la
cook -AOR -3SG fish -DAT 2SG -DAT
“The fish was cooked for you (by someone else).”
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Accusative
Of the grammatical cases, the accusative has the least number of separate uses. In con-
structions in which the subject/agent is marked with the nominative case, the direct object is
marked in the accusative. In realis verb forms denoting past events (Aorist, Imperfect, Past
Inchoative), the marking the direct object with the accusative marks a resultive or successful
action.
(19) Jútró usósja

jútr -ó usó -sja
hunt -AOR.1SG bear -ACC
“I hunted the bear (I succeeded).”
(20) Vómúsag Dovì nat Gezja khizésja

vómús -a -g Dovì nat Gezja khizé -sja
build -FUT -3PL Dovì.NOM and Gezja.NOM house -ACC
“Dovì and Gezja will build the house.”
Partitive
The partitive case indicates the action targeted a portion of the object, a portion of a group
of objects, or did not fully impact a target. For clarity, speakers will sometimes use a cardinal
number prior to the noun when referring to a specific number of objects from a group. The
result is not clearly indicated in the latter construction (see example (22) below). Some
examples:
(21) Jútró usóda

jútr -ó usó -da
hunt -AOR.1SG bear -PTV
“I hunted the bear (but did not kill it/failed).”
(22) Jútró var usóda

jútr-ó var usó-da
hunt -AOR.1SG one bear -PTV
“I hunted one bear (of many).”
(23) Bestrisem betréda

bestris -e -m betré -da
sing.IPFV -PST.1 -PL song -PTV
“We were singing part of a song.”
Genitive
The genitive case has a singular function: mark possession. Possesses follow possessions
and form an inseparable unit.
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Izlodian
(24) Kmúgh bildzóms étha khizésal

k- mú -gh bildzó -m -s é -tha khizé -sal
PV- be.PRS -3PL.COND dog -PL -ERG 1SG -GEN house -INE
“My dogs should be in the house.”
(25) Bélis amdzésja sómtha
bélis amdzé -sja só -m -tha
talk.IPFV.1SG mother -ACC 3 -PL -GEN
“I am talking to their mother.”
(26) Gultók ódjó étha
gult -ó -k ódjó é -tha
return -AOR -3SG brother.NOM 1SG -GEN
“My brother returned.”
Instrumental
The instrumental case has two main functions: marks nouns used to complete an action and
works as a comitative. It additionally functions as the direct objects of passive constructions.
A final interesting note about the instrumental case is that it is the only case with allomorphs
that change based on the number of the noun. For singular nouns, the instrumental suffix
is -n, while for plural nouns, the suffix is -b.
(27) Tozó són

toz -ó só -n
run -AOR.1SG 3SG -INSTR
“I ran with him/her.”
(28) Vómus khizémsja ganzén
vómus khizé -m -sja ganzé -n
build.IPFV.1SG house -PL -ACC hammer -INSTR
“I am building/build the houses with the hammer.”
(29) Bùthékla cjab
bùth -é -k -la cja -b
cook -AOR -3SG -DAT 2 -INSTR.PL
“It was cooked by you all.”
Translative
The translative case marks goal states, temporary states, and, occasionally, direct objects
of verbs in the optative form.
(30) Mósk móvrótózó

mós -k mó- vrótózó
be.IPFV -3SG TRNS- butcher
“S/he became a butcher.”
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As shown in the nominative section above:
(31) Uduk Dovì mókhizé

ud -u -k Dovì mó- khizé
work.IPFV -PRS -3SG Dovì.NOM TRNS- house
“Dovì works/is working at/from home (temporarily).”
Finally, the optative form of the copula will have objects marked by the translative case.
(32) Svag móbestrísír

s- va -g mó- bestrísí -r
OPT- be.IPFV.FUT -3PL TRNS- sing -NMLZ
“They hope (will want) to become singers.”
Conclusion
Izlodian nouns have been, for most of the language’s existence, the simplest part of the
grammar. Nine of the noun cases, the locative post-positions, continue this trend and have
regular and predictable uses. The eight core grammatical cases, discussed in detail in this
article, have grown in complexity since the original proto-lang (Arosi Ardasj); this complex-
ity is mainly found in the shifting morphosyntactic alignment and subject marking and is a
direct byproduct of the increasingly complex verb system.
To summarize the complexity of the core grammatical arguments, three noun cases can
mark the subject of the verb depending upon the grammatical form (see Table 2 and Table 3)
of the verb, the type of verb (e.g. non-volitionality, feelings, emotions, etc.), and voice. The
most common case to mark the subject is the nominative, followed next by the ergative.
The dative case is the third most common subject marker and has become increasingly
used as such due to the emergence of the passive voice. The noun cases to mark direct
objects similarly varies depending upon the subject case, but the most common case is the
accusative/partitive, followed by the nominative, and then by the instrumental.
While the noun system can seem complicated and difficult to master, understanding the
contexts required for which cases is the most challenging part. Thankfully, Izlodian nouns
are extremely regular and decline in predictable patterns. When a learner understands when
to use the ergative rather than nominative and the difference between the accusative and
partitive, mastery of the Izlodian noun system is at hand.
Pésjk zéka kaéséb! Thank you all for reading!
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11 Pronouns in Laidzín
by Floof
Introduction
Hello and greetings to all! My name is Floof, and in this article I will be talking about
the way in which pronouns, especially personal pronouns, work in my conlang Laidzín.
Laidzín [lɛˈdzĩ] is an a posteriori constructed language, specifically being a Romance language
derived from Latin. It is what I consider to be my first real conlang, in that it is the only
one I have ever truly fleshed out. For those of you who know a Romance language or know
a good bit about them, Laidzín may seem a bit strange to you—and that is very much to
be expected. While I have tried to keep the language at least somewhat realistic, the fact
of the matter is that when I first started this project, my knowledge of Romance languages
and their linguistics was not nearly as great as it is today, and so I have come to consider it
also somewhat of a personal language, allowing its unique and divergent characteristics to
be feature of the language that make it what it is.
Laidzín, like its mother Latin, is a rather synthetic language with both complex verbal and
nominal systems. Its phonoaesthetic is somewhat like that of Gallo-Italic, though very differ-
ent in many cases; it is filled with nasal vowels, front-rounded vowels, palatal consonants,
and allomorphy of many kinds. In order to better understand its pronouns, I’m going to give
you an overview of its nominal system, looking at it both synchronically and diachronically.
Laidzín is an inflecting language, and its nominal system inflects for two numbers, seven
cases, and three genders. Latin had three genders as well—the masculine, the feminine,
and the neuter—but most Romance Languages lost the neuter gender, merging it into the
feminine and the masculine; although some, such as Romanian, keep it around to this day.
Cases were similarly lost in almost all the Romance languages, except for Romanian which
preserves three—the nominative-accusative, the genitive-dative, and the vocative, reduced
from the six Latin cases (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, ablative, vocative). These
features make Laidzín a typologically unusual Romance language, but they are key features
of its nominal system that will be important when we take a look at its pronouns.
One last note before we get into the article itself—phonology. Laidzín has a rather large
phonological inventory, and thus it would not be convenient to include even a short descrip-
tion of its phonology and its orthography. To compensate for this fact, I will try and provide
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Laidzín
an IPA transcription of all example sentences and words that appear in the article.
Pronouns The Basics

In this article, I’ll be taking a look at many different aspects and sides of the pronoun
system of Laidzín, specifically the personal and possessive pronouns; but to start, I’ll give
an overview of what it all looks like.
First, we need to go over the cases. They are the nominative (NOM), genitive (GEN),
dative (DAT), accusative (ACC), locative (LOC), ablative (ABL), and instrumental/comitative
(INSTR). Each case generally has its prototypical uses, so I will not give an explanation here
as to what each case’s function is. One thing I will note, however, is that the 7th case is
usually simply referred to as the instrumental; however, its comitative meaning is much
more common in pronouns, so it’s likely that many of the examples given in this article will
have that function.
If we look at the history of Laidzín, one may be somewhat surprised to see that, despite
there being seven cases as compared to Latin’s six, only four of them are actually inherited
from Latin—the nominative, genitive, dative, and accusative. The other three—the ablative,
locative, and instrumental—are innovations unique to Laidzín. Due to this fact, one does
not often see much variation in these case endings, save for some differences in gender and
number. There are not unique endings for both numbers in all 5 declensions. Additionally,
pronouns have some case endings, both inherited and innovated, that are unique to the
pronominal class—that is, they are not found in other kinds of nominals.
In this article, I will be talking about the basic personal pronouns as well as possessive
pronouns. These two groups share many similarities, but also many differences. What these
exact differences and similarities are will be touched on in their respective sections.
Personal Pronouns
Personal pronouns are declined much like other nominals—they decline for number, gen-
der, and case. However, they also distinguish person (1st, 2nd, 3rd) as well politeness in the
2nd and 3rd persons (formal vs informal). Furthermore, there is a set of reflexive pronouns
that only distinguishes number and case, nothing more. In the following section, I will
discuss each set of personal pronouns, splitting them up by person, number, and formality
where relevant.
An important thing to touch upon is when and where personal pronouns are used, and are
not used. Laidzín is a pro-drop language, it has pretty richly inflected verbs that are almost
always clearly marked for person and number. However, just because Laidzín is pro-drop,
that does not mean the pronoun may be dropped in all cases. One case where pronouns
are necessary is when dealing with third person pronouns, and sometimes for second person
pronouns. This comes about as a result of ambiguity related to marking—2nd and 3rd person
pronouns mark formality, and 3rd person pronouns also mark gender, whereas verbs mark
none of these whatsoever. Oftentimes one needn’t make it clear whether they are using
formal or informal language when speaking to someone, so the second person pronoun may
simply be left out. In these cases, the default is to assume informality. As a general rule,
once the formality level is established by the usage of a specific pronoun at the start of a
sentence, that pronoun may be dropped thence on as long as the subject of the verb doesn’t
change, and it is clear that the referent is still the same. This is illustrated in example (1)
below.
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(1) Și ntsæljeu drëtamǽnt, vie voseùr irés marcadus, hi ciljenc irés duom.
[ʃɪ ˈntsæː.ʎø drɐ.taˈmæ̃ t vje vuˈsøyr̯ ɪˈres marˈka.dys hɪ ˈtʃi.ʎẽk ɪˈres dwõ]
și ntsælj - eu drëtamǽnt vie voseùr ir -és marcad
if understand -1SG right.ADV today PN.NOM.2SG.FOR go -FUT.2SG market
-us hi ciljenc ir -és duom
-ACC.SG and thence go -FUT.2SG home.ADV
“If I understand correctly, today you will go to the market and thence go home.”
For the third person, the pronouns are usually not dropped, as it is the only thing that can
convey formality and gender, which a verb cannot. Therefore, they are only likely to be
dropped in the same environments that 2nd person pronouns are, as discussed before, when
the referent is clear from context.
(2) Ô, voseùr bis binir co meg? Cèrts ci pôis!

[o, vuˈsøyr̯ bis bɪˈnir ku meg tʃɛɾts tʃɪ pojs]
ô voseùr bis bin - ir co m - eg
oh 2SG.NOM.FOR want.2SG come - INF.PRS.ACT.IND with PN.1SG - INSTR
cèrts ci pôis
certainly REL can.2SG
“Oh, you want to come with me? Of course you can!”
There are of course some environments where a pronoun can never be dropped, as it is
syntactically illegal. When it comes to first person pronouns, the person marking on the verb
is almost always enough to make things clear, and so the pronoun may be dropped. It is
somewhat arbitrary whether one drops the first person pronoun or not, often depending on
factors of formality, emphasis, clarity, enunciation, or even things like meter and syllable-
count in poetry and verse. An example of this dropping is given below in example (3).
(3) (Jœu) aimái mos mairidus.

[(jœ) ɛˈmaj mus mɛˈri.dys]
(jœu) aimá -i m -os mairid -us
(1SG.NOM) love.PRET -1SG POS.1SG -ACC.M.SG.DET husband -ACC.SG
“I loved my husband.”
Many other Romance languages change the form of the verb they are using when they are
using the formal register, as in French where the formal 2nd person pronouns is grammat-
ically plural, and thus indistinguishable from the 2nd person plural. Others, like Spanish,
make the formal pronoun grammatically third person (4). This is not the case in Laidzín—
formal 2nd person singular pronouns are grammatically singular, and thus take the 2nd
person singular form of the verb, and so on. There are distinct 2nd and 3rd person singular
and plural formal pronouns, corresponding to the informal forms.
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Laidzín
(4) French: Voulez-vous danser?

Spanish: ¿Usted quiere bailar?
Italian: Lei vuole ballare?
Laidzín: Voseúr bis bëlòr?
English: Would ye like to dance? (2SG)
French: Voulez-vous danser?

Spanish: ¿Ustedes quieren bailar?
Italian: Voi volete ballare?
Laidzín: Veusǽir boutses bëlòr?
English: Would ye like to dance? (2PL)
We can see in the above comparison of some Romance languages the different strategies
of marking formality. French, like Early Modern English, uses the same form for both the
second person singular formal as well as the second person plural. Spanish and Italian on
the other hand both use a third person singular form for the formal 2SG; Spanish continues
to use the third person form for the formal 2PL, however Italian reverts back to the 2PL form
voi for the 2PL, except in possessives, where it uses a third person form loro. Laidzín behaves
like French in that its 2nd person formal pronouns are still grammatically second person,
but it does not use the second person plural as the formal second person singular as French
does.
The Tables
In order to condense things a bit, I’m presenting the personal pronouns here all together
in tables. Then I shall discuss details of different pronouns, persons, and so on.
Singular Plural
1st 2nd Inf. 2nd For. 1st 2nd Inf. 2nd For.
Nominative jœu tu voseùr nos bos veusǽir
Genitive mie tsæ veusǽir nuotur, nuitri bvôtur, buitri votruór
Dative mi tui vosèr nuis buis veusæiris
Accusative mi tsi voseùrs nos bos voseôros
Locative meum tseum voseôreum nuic buic voseôruim
Ablative miș tsæș voseôres noșter boșter vosæșter
Instrumental meg tsæg voseùrc nuoc bvôc veusǽirc
Table 1: First and Second Person Pronouns
The first person singular is one of the only sets in which there are more than two stems,
namely that of the nominative jœ and that of the oblique cases m-.
As discussed above, the nominative form may often be dropped when it is the subject of a
verb, as shown in (5).
(5) Anda co meg.

[ˈãda ku meg]
anda co m -eg
walk.IMP.2SG with PN.1SG -INSTR
“Walk with me.”
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There’s a neat etymology thing going on in this example that I’d like to touch upon. Earlier
when talking about Laidzín’s cases I mentioned how the locative, ablative, and instrumental
are innovated as opposed to the others which are inherited; well this isn’t fully true, I lied
to you guys a bit. One form of the endings is actually somewhat inherited from Latin, and
that is the instrumental endings in -g and -c (which are technically variants of one another).
These endings are first found in the pronouns, coming from the Latin formations/pronouns
mecum, tecum, secum and so on, with the formation of -cum being suffixed on being extended
to function as an instrumental singular ending for stems that end in vowels. It is still most
commonly found in pronouns, such as in example (4) above.
(6) Cilj ghir miș vôtot lu sacus meus.

[tʃiʎ gir miʃ ˈvo.tut ly ˈsa.kys møs]
cilj ghir - ∅ m - iș vôtot lu
DEM.DIS.NOM.M.SG man - NOM.SG PN.1SG - ABL steal.PRET.3SG DEF.ACC.M.SG
sac -us m -eus
bag -ACC.SG POS.1SG -PN.ACC.M.SG
“That man stole my bag from me.”
Example (6) shows a good usage of an ablative pronoun, marking some form of motion
away; in this case it tells the listener who the bag is being taken from.
As you may have noticed, the genitive 1st and 2nd(FAM) person plurals both have two
different forms in the table above. The former of each is what is known as the partitive
genitive—which shows that the head is a part of a whole in some way. The other is the
objective genitive, that is used for most other cases that do not have a partitive meaning.
(7) Un ze nuotur jèt unus fòsus.

[ỹ ze ˈnwotyr jɛt ˈy.nys ˈfɔsys]
un -∅ ze nuotur jèt un -us fòs -us
one -NOM.M.SG of PN.1PL.GEN.PTV be.3SG one -ACC.M.SG fake -ACC.SG
“One of us is an impostor (literally “a fake”).”
Num Singular Plural

For Informal Formal Informal Formal
Gen M F N M F N M F N M F N
Nom ilj eila jeu i(s) isa su, is ilji ilja lor și, iș së ais
Gen lui sui luor lòr luor suor sòr suor
Dat ilji iș iljis șis
Acc lu la lu son sa, sòn su ilos ilas lor sos sòs sa
Loc iljeum iljit iljin seum șit șin iljuim ljuvë iljë isuim suvë isë
Abl aiș lòș luș ses sòv ses ljișter isui
Instr seg ic seg șic
Table 2: Third Person Pronouns
When there are two forms of a pronoun listed or part of it is in parentheses (), this means
that there are two different forms used depending on what comes after them—if a word
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Laidzín
comes after one of these pronouns and it starts with a vowel, the form ending in a consonant
is used. If the word coming after starts with a consonant, the form ending in a vowel is used.
As one can see here, there is a lot going on with the personal pronouns, though it’s not
the most difficult thing to understand once you start to look at it, and when you understand
more of how the system works. First, I’d like to get a few basic concepts explained, such as
gender and formality.
Gender
Gender is an important part of Laidzín’s nominal system, and this certainly holds for per-
sonal pronouns. When it comes to pronouns, gender works somewhat differently than it
does for other nominals. Instead of being almost all grammatical gender–that is, a way of
sorting nouns into categories with corresponding agreement systems—gendered personal
pronouns are usually chosen according to a person’s gender. The three genders of Laidzín
are masculine, feminine, and neuter.
Masculine Masculine pronouns are used to refer to someone, or some people that are
masculine in gender.
(8) Ilj spèt lòs andzes in pòrceum.

[iʎ spɛt lɔs ˈã.dzes ɪ ̃ ˈpɔɾ.tʃø̃]
ilj spèt lòs andz -es in pòrc -eum
PN.3SG.NOM.M.FAM watch.3SG DEF.ACC.F.PL duck -ACC.PL in park -LOC.SG
“He watches ducks in the park.”
Feminine Like the masculine, the usage of the feminine is rather straightforward—feminine
pronouns are used to refer to one or more individuals that are female or otherwise feminine
in their gender.
(9) Eila zëclju-t la for-es co gròndz-ô ondr-ô suou.

[ˈej.la zɐˈkʎyt la ˈfur.es ku ˈɡɾɔ̃.d͡zo ˈũ.dɾo swow]
eila zëclju -t la for - es co gròndz - ô
3SG.F.NOM open.PRET - 3SG DEF.ACC.F.SG door - ACC with great - INSTR.SG
ondr -ô suou
burden -INSTR.SG only
“She opened the door only with great difficulty.” (5MOYD #1417)
Neuter The neuter gender is a bit more complex in its uses than the former two. As in many
other languages with a neuter gender (at least in the pronouns) like Spanish and English,
neuter pronouns in Laidzín can be used to refer to inanimate objects or undefined things
whose grammatical gender is unknown or not important. However, it can also be used for
humans as well. For example, wherever referring to a group of people that is not all made
up of one gender, the neuter plural is used to refer to this group; an example of this is shown
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in (10). Furthermore, when talking of someone of an unknown or unspecified gender, the
neuter is also used in this case; this is also done when talking of a group of people whose
genders you do not know. Increasingly in today’s times, with growing acceptance of LGBT+
folks, neuter pronouns have been adopted by many as the only pronouns that they use, much
like the usage of the English pronouns they/them/theirs.
(10) Omnes fraires hi surores m-ía bënieront a ma fèta ze zinadaljes; lor am muout.
[ˈũnes ˈfrajres hɪ syˈrures ˈmia bɐˈnjerũt a ma ˈfɛta ze zɪnaˈdaʎes lur ã mwowt]
omn -es frair -es hi suror -es m -ía
all -NOM.M/F.PL brother -NOM.PL and sister -NOM.PL POS.1SG -PN.NOM.N.PL
bënieront a m -a fèta ze zinadaljes
come.PRET.3PL to POS.1SG - DET.ACC.F.SG party.ACC.SG of birthday
lor am -∅ muout
PN.ACC.NOM.PL.FAM love -1SG much.ADV
“All my brothers and sisters came to my birthday party; I love them very much.”
Formality Formality and politeness makes for a very interesting topic when it comes to
Laidzín’s pronouns, as unlike all other Romance languages (and, to my knowledge, European
languages as a whole), Laidzín differentiates formality vs. informality on the third person
pronouns as well as the second person, but not the first.
One important exception to all the rules of formality relating to status and other such
things is when talking either to or of God. God is, like in Early Modern English and other
European languages, always talked to and about informally, never with formal pronouns.
(11) Ès-tu lá, Dzeus? Som jœu, Fiona.

[ɛs ty la dzøs sũ jœ ˈfjoː.na]
ès =tu lá dzeus som jœu Fiona
be.2SG ==PN.2SG.NOM.FAM DEM.DIS god be.1SG PN.1SG.NOM NAME
“Are you there, God? It’s me, Fiona.”
The Second Person Within the cultural context of the speech, there are a few different
factors when it comes to deciding whether to use a formal pronoun or an informal one
when speaking to someone. The core of it all is the social relationship between the speaker
and the listener, which in itself is no simple thing. One of the most important factors is
the familiarity between the two—is the person you’re talking to someone you know? A
stranger? An acquaintance? This distinction will make the rest much easier.
If you do not know the person you are talking to, it is most polite to address them formally,
rather than risk disrespecting them. Other factors come into play here, but if someone that
you don’t know that seems to be around your age addresses you informally, it’s generally
safe to address them informally too. Some people don’t care too strongly about formality,
and so, if addressed formally, may either return the same respect, or either directly or subtly
ask you to address them informally (such as by addressing you informally, even when you
address them formally).
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Laidzín
If you do know the person to whom you speak, there are another set of factors that are more
often relevant here than when considering how to address a stranger. It is also important
to note that when dealing with relations with those that you are closer to, individuals may
choose to be addressed informally, even if factors merit you addressing them formally; per-
sonal opinion must always be kept in mind, and it should be reiterated that these are general
guidelines and may not always hold up. The main factors at play are ones of status—age,
seniority, position in a hierarchy such as in the workplace or at school, and any other factors
of social status that one may think important when judging the relationship between them-
selves and another. Age is relatively straightforward—if you are younger than someone¸ you
will likely address them formally; if you are older than them, you will likely address them
informally. For example, children are normally allowed to address their parents informally,
but expected to change to formal when in a more formal or “proper” setting, such as in
the presence of company, with less-close family, or in any other setting where politeness,
decorum, and formality are expected to some degree. However, age may be outranked by
other factors, such as seniority and or position. Your boss may be younger than you, but
because of their ranking above you, formal address would normally be expected. When
talking to your grandmother, you would normally be expected to address her formally, and
she to address you informally.
As I touched on briefly when talking about interactions with strangers, there are cases
where you would be expected to address someone informally. The key example of this is
when you are talking to someone you don’t know who is (much) younger than you, such
as a child. To address them formally here would be odd, and may elicit confused and or
amused reactions.
The Third Person Formality with the third person is less straightforward than with the
second person, although it shares many similarities.
Usually, if you would refer directly to someone informally, you would refer to them as a
third person informally as well and vice-versa. However, this is not always actually the case.
All it really takes is not even a minute to think about the real-life usage, and you realize that
that will certainly not always be true. You may address someone formally, but talk about
them informally, or vice-versa. This can be done out of respect or in an insulting manner
(like speaking to someone formally, but speaking of them informally).
Another interesting place to look at the usage of third person pronouns and formality is
in the public sphere, with things like media. For example, some newspapers may almost
always use formal third person pronouns, whereas others don’t. There is an age divide
when it comes to the usage of formalities in media; older generations may feel as though
it’s impolite for a news program to use informal pronouns, whereas younger generations
may find it clunky and over-polite and over-formal for a publication to (almost) never use
informal pronouns. Other style guides recommend only using formal pronouns for those of
importance and/or high social status, like a head-of-state, a politician, a respected elder,
and so on. In cases where a referent’s social status and other important factors are unknown
or irrelevant, as in a simple sentence like “he picked apples on Sunday,” informal pronouns
are defaulted to. Examples (12) and (14) below show this phenomenon very well.
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(12) Isa jèt ja Regina Angljatseôrë.
[ˈi.sa jɛt ja rɪˈdʒiː.na ã.gʎaˈtseo̯.rɐ]
isa jèt ja regina angljatseôr -ë
PN.3SG.NOM.F.FOR be.3SG DEF.NOM.F.SG queen.NOM.SG England -GEN.SG
“She is the Queen of England.”
(13) Iș dzæidzi lu ljivur.

[ɪʃ ˈdzæj.dzɪ ly ˈlji.vyr]
iș dzæidzi lu ljivur
PN.3SG.DAT.M.FOR give.PRET.1SG DEF.ACC.M.SG book.ACC.SG
“I gave him the book.”
(14) Ilj eut i pô aigæindzi lëvuor ëgruor.

[iʎ øt ɪ po ɛˈd͡ʒæ̃ ĩ.d͡zɪ lɐˈvwor ɐˈɡrwor]
ilj eut i -∅ pô aigæindz - i
PN.3SG.NOM.M.FAM have.3SG.AUX go.PP - NOM.M.SG for do.GER - GEN
lëvuor ëgruor
work.GEN.PL farm.GEN.PL
“He has gone to do farm work.” (5MOYD #1504)
This sentence (14) is a good example of one where nothing is known about the person
being referred to, and nor is it important. Thus you have to use informal pronouns.
Reflexives The reflexive is formed with one pronoun for all numbers, genders, and per-
sons. It does decline for case, but only for the genitive, dative, and accusative. In cases
(situations) where other cases would normally be required, another pronoun must be sub-
stituted, such as the respective pronoun form + midzím “same, -self, emphatic.”
Reflexive
Gen sui
Dat și
Acc se
Table 3: Reflexive Pronouns
(15) Ghidzes lu bòs ruoto, i ghir s’iròt.

[ˈgidzes ly bɔs ˈrwotu ɪ gir s‿ɪˈrɔt]
ghidzes lu bòs ruot -o
see.PCP.PRS.NOM.SG DEF.ACC.N.SG vase.ACC.SG broken - ACC.N.SG
i ghir -∅ se= ir -òt
DEF.NOM.M.SG man -NOM.SG REFL= get_angry.PRET -3SG
“Upon seeing the vase broken, the man got angry.”
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Laidzín
Possessive Pronouns
Possessive pronouns as an umbrella category in Laidzín work much like personal pro-
nouns do, with some important differences. As with the personal pronouns, possessives
decline much like other nominals, declining for case, number, person, and gender. Unlike
the personal pronouns, there is no formality distinction in either the 2nd or the 3rd persons.
There are two important features of possessive pronouns in Laidzín: firstly, the possessive’s
gender agrees what the possessed not the possessor (16); secondly, there are actually two
forms of each possessive—a possessive pronoun, and a possessive determiner. In the rest of
this section when I’m talking about possessive pronouns, I mean possessives that function
as pronouns, as opposed to those that function as determiners. These may also be called
strong vs weak or stressed vs unstressed. However, it is important to note that there is only
a visible distinction between the pronouns and determiners in the 1st and 2nd singular, and
the 3rd SG/PL; there is no such morphological distinction in the 1st and 2nd plural.
As is implied by the names, possessive determiners function like other kinds of determiners,
coming (normally) before the thing they are possessing; and possessive pronouns may, like
other pronouns, stand more on their own, and thus normally come after the thing they are
possessing.
(16) Ja caimișa jèt sóa.

[ja kɛˈmiː.ʃa jɛt ˈsu.a]
ja caimișa jèt s -óa
DEF.NOM.F.SG shirt.NOM.SG be.3SG POS.3 -PN.NOM.F.SG
“The shirt is his.”
As you can see in the example above, the possessive is feminine even though the possessor
is a man. A side effect of this is that the gender of the possessor is not known, and nor is it
known whether it is one person or more possessing the thing in question. With no context,
this sentence could mean any of “the shirt is his,” “the shirt is hers,” “the shirt is theirs,” and so
on.
This sentence also makes use of a possessive pronoun, in contrast to a possessive determiner.
The sentence below (17) shows an example of the latter.
(17) Mon ljeùt jèt ghirdz.

[mũ ʎøyt̯ jɛt giɾdz]
m -on ljeùt -∅ jèt ghirdz -∅
POS.1SG -PN.NOM.M.SG bed -NOM.SG be.3SG green -NOM.M.SG
“My bed is green.”
In this sentence we can see that the possessive, as expected, agrees with the possessed
rather than the possessor, but does clearly mark who the possessor is—it is the speaker, the
first person singular.
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The Tables
In this section, the tables are actually going to be much more extensive, as each per-
son/number form (excluding the 3rd person, which combines both 3rd SG and 3rd PL) has
in itself a singular and plural, as they agree with the possessed and not the possessor. The
form on the left will be the possessive pronoun, and the form on the right will be the posses-
sive determiner. I will not be including the IPA this time, as it would honestly take too much
work and take up much more room.
First Person Singular First Person Plural

Masculine Feminine Neuter Masculine Feminine Neuter
Singular Singular
Nom meu/mon mía/mòn meu/mon noșter notra nuotur
Gen mæi/mi me/më mæi/mi nuitri notrë nuitri
Dat mœu/mo me/më mœu/mo notur notrë notur
Acc meus/mos mía/ma meu/mon nuotur notra nuotur
Loc mom/meum miaza/mit meuc/min notreum nuitrit nuitrin
Abl meuș/mes míaș/mòv meuș/mes notres notrav notres
Inst meug/mô míag/mô meug/mô nuoc
Plural Plural
Nom mæi/mi me/më mía/ma nuitri notrë notra
Gen miôr/muor miòr/mòr miôr/muor nutruór nutròr nutruór
Dat mæis/mis nuitris
Acc mœus/mos mías/mòs mía/ma notros notras notra
Loc meumeus/ muim miala/muvë meutsur/më notruim nutruvë notrë
Abl meușter/mui miòșter/mui meușter/mui notrui
Inst meufir/mints miòfra/mints meufra/mints nuitrints
Table 4: First Person Pronoun Forms
(18) Noșter còn cort pèr los còmpos.

[ˈnuʃ.ter kɔ̃ kuɾt pɛr lus ˈkɔ̃.pus]
noșter còn - ∅ cor - t pèr los còmp
POS.1PL.PN.NOM.M.SG dog - NOM.SG run - 3SG through DEF.ACC.M.PL field
-os
-ACC.PL
“Our dog runs through the fields.”
(19) Tòn mair jèt tòn grasa…

[tɔ̃ majr jɛt tɔ̃ ˈgrasa]
Tòn mair jèt tòn gras -a
POS.2SG.PN.NOM.F.SG mother.NOM.SG be.3SG so fat -NOM.F.SG
“Yo mamma so fat…”
(20) Cuand së ncurônaront voseúr hi ta usór?

[kwãd sɐŋ‿kyroˈnarũt vuˈsøyr̯ hɪ ta yˈsur]
cuand së = ncurôn - aront voseúr hi ta
when REFL = wed - PRET.3PL PN.NOM.2SG.FOR and POS.2SG.PN.ACC.F.SG
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Laidzín
usór -∅
wife -ACC.SG
“When did you and your wife wed?”
Second Person Singular Second Person Plural

Masculine Feminine Neuter Masculine Feminine Neuter
Singular Plural
Nom tou/ton tóa/tòn tou/ton boșter botra bvôtur
Gen tui/tsi toë/tsë tui/tsi bveutri botrë bveutri
Dat to toë/tsë to botur botrë botur
Acc tous/tos tóa/ta tou/ton bvôtur botra bvôtur
Loc tom/tseum toza toc/tsin botreum bveutrit bveutrin
Abl toș/tses toș/tòv toș botres botrav botres
Inst tog/tô bvôc
Plural Plural
Nom tui/tsi toë/tsë tóa/ta bveutri botrë botra
Gen tuor tuar/tòr tuor butruór butròr butruór
Dat tuis/tsis bveutris
Acc tos tóas/tòs tóa/ta botros botras botra
Loc tomeus/tuim tola/tuvë tuotsur/tsë botruim butruvë botrë
Abl toșter/tui bodrui
Inst teufir/tsints tofra/tsints tofra/tsints bveutrints
Table 5: Second Person Pronoun Forms
Third Person
Masculine Feminine Neuter
Singular
Nom sou/son sóa/sòn sou/son
Gen sui/și soë/së sui/și
Dat so soë/së so
Acc sous/sos sóa/sa sou/son
Loc som/seum soza soc/șin
Abl soș/ses soș/sòv soș
Inst seg/sô
Plural
Nom sui/și soë/së sóa/sa
Gen suor suar/sòr suor
Dat suis/sis
Acc sos sóas/sòs sóa/sa
Loc someus/suim sola/suvë suotsur/së
Abl soșter/sui
Inst seufir/șints sofra/șints sofra/șints
Table 6: Third Person Pronoun Forms
(21) Domna Notra dòt bëntsones omneus șis ainjis.

[ˈdũ.na ˈnu.tra dɔt bɐ̃ˈtsu.nes ˈũ.nøs ʃis ˈaj.ɲis]
domna notra dò - t bëntson - es omn - eus
lady.NOM.SG POS.1PL.PN.NOM.F.SG give - 3SG blessing - ACC.PL all - DAT.PL
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șis ainj -is
POS.3PL.PN.DAT.M.PL lamb -DAT.PL
“Our Lady gives blessings to all her lambs.”
The above example shows how one of the other cases besides the nominative and ac-
cusative may be used, as those two are often the most commonly used or prototypical.
One feature I’d like to point out that is shown very well throughout all of the possessives
is the fact that there are two sets of endings for the locative, ablative, and instrumental
cases. These three cases, being innovations (though as mentioned before, some parts of
the instrumental are extensions of existing Latin formations), are very odd within the scope
of the whole nominal system. They basically transcend the declension system, and what
changes one will find are only based on gender and the shape of the root of the nominal.
There are, at the most basic level, two sets of endings- one that is used when a root ends
in a vowel (thus, they start with consonants themselves) and one that is used when a root
ends in a consonant (thus, they start with vowels themselves). Each subset of endings is
further divided by gender, though not every single one actually has different endings. For
example, the instrumental singular suffix used after consonants is always -ô, never changing
depending on gender; whereas the locative singular (for consonant roots) on the other hand
is -eum in the masculine, -it in the feminine, and -in in the neuter.
The vowel root set of endings is not found very commonly, as most roots end in a conso-
nant. Because of this, in modern-day Laidzín this set of endings may be argued as unpro-
ductive and/or fossilized, still being very well preserved in pronouns, but less so on more
uncommon nominals.
To the point I wanted to make at the start, the possessives generally show this distinc-
tion between endings very well, as the possessive pronouns are vowel roots, whereas the
possessive determiners are consonant roots. Because of this, each form takes a different set
of endings. However, this does not apply to the first and second person plural possessives,
which make no morphological distinction between possessive pronouns and determiners.
Conclusion
To end this article, I would simply like to give my thanks to you, the reader, for reading
this article. This is my first time participating in Segments and I’m very excited to finally
be writing an article for it. Lastly I’d like to give my thanks to my friends who encouraged
me to do this and who helped me out with it along the way, y’all know who you are!
Page 135
12 More than Five
by upallday_allen
Grammatical Number in Wistanian
Introduction
One of Wistanian’s most unique features is its paucal/plural grammatical number system.
Marking grammatical number on a nominal is a fairly new development, coming from the
grammticalization of the Taliv numeral an (‘more than five’). The general rule is that when
an item exceeds five in number, a Wistanian speaker would attach the -an suffix to the root,
however there are a handful of exceptions, such as with mass nouns and natural pairs. This
article will outline the history of Wistanian’s grammatical number system, the rules for its
application, and the exceptions to those rules.
The History of Wistanian's Grammatical Number

Wistanian is, at its core, a language of the Talivian family, however it has gained and lost
much from contact with other languages such as Bwolotil, Uzin, and especially the Nati-
Katapu languages (NK). A few hundred years ago, before contact with these languages, the
Taliv only had terms to count up to five with an additional quantifier that meant ‘more than
five’ and another that meant ‘many.’ In today’s Wistanian, the word for ‘many’ has evolved
into madzi and continues to this day as the preferred term for large quantities of countable
things. The word madzi, along with the Taliv numerals for one to five, are nominals able
to stand on their own, take attributives, and be attributives. On the other hand, the Taliv
word an followed a slightly different path. Rather than taking a life as a Wistanian nominal
like the rest of its quantifier siblings, it became a bound morpheme requiring a head and
unable to stand on its own.
(1) *hayi an *‘there are more than five’ hayi madzi ‘there are many’
*an bi *‘more than five good things’ madzi bi ‘many good things’
*bbiji an *‘more than five balls’ bbiji madzi ‘many balls’
bbijin ‘more than five balls’
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Wistanian
Rules of Grammatical Number

These changes developed a cross-linguistically uncommon but simple grammatical number
system in which nominals are only marked if there are more than five of an item. This marker
has two allomorphs depending on the root’s final phoneme. If it ends with a consonant, it
is marked with -an as seen in (2), but when ending with a vowel it is marked with only -n
(3).
(2) aram ‘one bowl’ or ‘two to five bowls’

aram-an ‘more than five bowls’
(3) gaunu ‘one fish’ or ‘two to five fish’
gaunu-n ‘more than five fish’
However, as with all rules, there are exceptions. The first exception is fairly easy to grasp.
When the Taliv were in contact with the NK languages, they borrowed their much more
extensive number system and adapted it, keeping their original words for 1-5 and adopting
the NK terms for anything above that. Because they now had specialized terms for quantities
above five, they dropped the word an whenever they used those terms. Therefore, the
Wistanian plural marker is not included on the nominal if it has a numeral attributed to it.
(4) *aram-an jaa ‘six bowls’

aram jaa ‘six bowls’
The plural marker is always used for two or more natural pairs, objects that usually come
in twos. For example, the singular angi refers to a person’s two eyes, but if a speaker wants
to refer to two people’s eyes (four eyes in total), they would use angin even though there
are fewer than five eyes. The same applies for pairs of feet, shoes, ears, partners, etc.
(5) a. dazjyaij lu aa da il zanju lid.

dazji -aij lu aa da il zanju lid
give -PFV.IRR 2SG.NOM ACC 1SG.NOM INS shoes MED
“Give me that pair of shoes.”
b. dazjyaij lu aa da il zanjun lid.
dazji-aij lu aa da il zanju-n lid
give-PFV.IRR 2SG.NOM ACC 1SG.NOM INS shoes-PL MED
“Give me those pairs of shoes. (pointing at two pairs)”
The final important exception are with mass nouns, which are nominals that refer some-
thing “uncountable.” In Wistanian, these typically refer to materials, liquids, colors, quanti-
fiers, temporals, people groups, foods, crops, and some abstracts. Some lexical items change
translations into English when they are pluralized. Examples include:
sg. translation pl. translation

ani word language
bayihau battle war
garauda food meal
ruz idea, plan belief, view
yidji path, way, manner culture
In some areas of the Wistanian-speaking world, speakers will flourish some words in the
plural, notably words with /r/. Typically, the /r/ phoneme is pronounced as a tapped [ɾ̻],
but in pluralized form, it is realized as a trilled [r̻].
Page 138
13 Aedian Definiteness
by Cawlo
What keeps me going
When I create a language, I like to think of ways to make sure that certain grammatical
features would be hellish for a potential learner to memorize. Verbs, I find–in natural lan-
guages as well as in the realm of conlangs–are the ones that tend to be more likely to end up
with complex morphology; it seems like there’s simply many times more information that
might be tied to an action than to a thing, whether concrete or abstract. (Partly) for this
reason, I wanted the morphological complexity of Aedian, not to lie in verbs alone, but in
the nouns first and foremost. My goal with Aedian, however, wasn’t to create a big, ag-
glutinative system of nominal affixes and end up with these huge nouns that would inflect
for a myriad of different things. I wanted it to be a bit more subtle than that, but complex
nonetheless. In this article I will take you through part of what what makes Aedian nominal
morphology tricky, focusing on how definiteness is marked.
History
Proto-Kotekko-Pakan (PKP), the ancestor of Aedian, had a set of classifiers that were at-
tached to some nouns, sometimes as part of deriving new vocabulary. They specified infor-
mation about the noun and its qualities. Below are a few examples:
Classifier Class
*ka humans
*tl o animals
*pi shells, domes, membranes, means of protection
*cu abstract nouns, feelings
*h qe places
These classifiers hung out around their nouns but didn’t seem to have become fully inte-
grated into one phonological word until late PKP. A lot of early derivation and compounding
of nouns involved the noun itself while the classifier was left out of the equation.
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Aedian
PKP root PKP Proto-Aedian Old Aedian Aedian Meaning

*h pa ka
*əpaka vaga baga ‘person’
*h pa person CL
(‘person’) *ŋe-h pa ka
*γepka efka ipka ‘population’
COL-person CL
*tei la ‘leaf’ (large,
*teila teila tela
leaf CL of a plant)
*tei (‘leaf’)
*tei-h ki tl a ‘leaf’ (of a
*teiktl a teikṛa tekša
leaf-DIM CL tree)
*tl u ku
*tluku ṛugu šugu ‘roof’
*tl u dryness CL
(‘dryness’) *tl u-h ki h qe
*tlukkiqqe ṛukikwe šukpi ‘burrow’
dryness-DIM CL
Two derivational suffixes became grammaticalized in the Aedian branch of PKP. These
were *-ki and *-ŋe. The first one, *-ki, originally derived nouns denoting individuals, while
*-ŋe derived collective nouns. In the Aedian branch, however, they began to be used differ-
ently, instead coming to mark definiteness, singular and plural respectively.
Now, because of the nature of PKP classifiers, these two suffixes had, at the time of Proto-
Aedian, become infixes on nouns that originally had a PKP classifier while remaining as
suffixes on nouns without.
PKP Proto-Aedian Old Aedian Meaning

*ŋaʰqa *γaqqa akwa “needle”
*ŋaʰqa-ki *γaqqaki akwagi “the needle”
*ŋaʰqa-ŋe *γaqqaγe akwawe “the needles”
*ʰke ʰpa *əkeppa gefa “body”
*ʰke-ki ʰpa *əkekippa gegifa “the body”
*ʰke-ŋe ʰpa *əkeγeppa gewefa “the bodies”
*lui ka *luika luiga “woman”
*lui-ki ka *luikika luigiga “the woman”
*lui-ŋe ka *luiγeka luiwega “the women”
So to briefly summarize, Old Aedian effectively had two affixes, -gi(-) for the definite
singular and -we(-) for the plural, and they both appear as either suffixes or infixes depending
on the individual noun.
In Middle Aedian, i.e. a series of stages between Old Aedian and (“modern”) Aedian, two
important changes took place that would affect how definiteness is marked. First, the affixes
-gi(-) and -we(-) were reduced to off-glides or additional vowel length after monophthongs.
Page 140
Old Aedian Early Middle Aedian Meaning
gwevi *gwevi “pot”
gwegivi *gweivi “the pot”
gwewevi *gweuvi “the pots”
nomo *nomo “pole”
nomogi *nomoi “the pole”
nomowe *nomou “the poles”
vaga *vaga “person”
vagiga *vaiga “the person”
vawega *vauga “the people”
ṛugu *šugu “roof”
ṛugigu *šuigu “the roof”
ṛuwegu *šūgu “the roofs”
kavi *kavi “husband”
kavigi *kavī “the husband”
kaviwe *kaviu “the husbands”
After diphthongs, however, these affixes remained as such, though -we(-) interacted dif-
ferently with diphthongs ending in -u.
Old Aedian Early Middle Aedian Meaning

luiga *luiga “woman”
luigiga *luigiga “the woman”
luiwega *luiwega “the women”
kokau *kokau “opening”
kokaugi *kokaugi “the opening”
kokauwe *kokawe “the openings”
loudi *loudi “bed”
lougidi *lougidi “the bed”
louwedi *lowedi “the beds”
fiu *fiu “shield”
fiugi *fiugi “the shield”
fiuwe *fiwe “the shields”
Definiteness in 'modern' Aedian

So how is this system continued in Aedian? Most importantly, the vowels changed a lot:
Short mid vowels merged with short high vowels. Some long vowels broke into diphthongs,
while the original diphthongs either became monophthongs or changed in quality. Finally,
length distinction was lost.
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Aedian
Old Aedian Early MA Late MA Aedian Meaning

vaga *vaga *baga baga “person”
vagiga *vaiga *baega baega “the person”
vawega *vauga *baoga baoga “the people”
gwevi *gwevi *bebi bibi “pot”
gwegivi *gweivi *bēbi bebi “the pot”
gwewevi *gweuvi *bōbi bobi “the pots”
vogu *vogu *bogu bugu “ear”
vogigu *voigu *bēgu begu “the ear”
vowegu *vougu *bōgu bogu “the ears”
kavi *kavi *kabi kabi “husband”
kavigi *kavī *kabī kabai “the husband”
kaviwe *kaviu *kabeu kabeu “the husbands”
ṛugu *šugu *šugu šugu “roof”
ṛugigu *šuigu *šoigu šoigu “the roof”
ṛuwegu *šūgu *šūgu šaugu “the roofs”
luiga *luiga *loiga loiga “woman”
luigiga *luigiga *loigiga loigiga “the woman”
luiwega *luiwega *loiwega loiuiga “the women”
kokau *kokau *kokao kukao “opening”
kokaugi *kokaugi *kokaogi kukaogi “the opening”
kokauwe *kokawe *kokawe kukaui “the openings”
fiu *fiu *heu eu “shield”
fiugi *fiugi *heugi eugi “the shield”
fiuwe *fiwe *hiwe iui “the shields”
loudi *loudi *lōdi lodi “bed”
lougidi *lougidi *lōgidi logidi “the bed”
louwedi *lowedi *lowedi luidi “the beds”
All in all, what we’ve ended up with is a mixed system of ablaut and infixing/suffixing, the
placement of both of which is unpredictable and must be learned for each individual noun.
Stop gemination and alternation in the nominative

Although this article primarily focuses on the marking of definiteness, I thought I’d briefly
go over another quirk of Aedian nominal morphology, that is the gemination and occasional
alternation of voiceless stops near the end of stems.
PKP had a nominative particle *ca /ca/, which ended up as a suffix on nouns in later
stages. In Proto-Aedian, a vowel would be deleted between a preaspirated stop and a plain
stop, in that order. This caused vowels to be deleted before the nominative suffix *-ca in
certain words.
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PKP Proto-Aedian Meaning
*kaʰte *katte
“event; situation”
*kaʰte ca *katca
*ʰpeaʰqe *əpeaqqe
“pocket”
*ʰpeaʰqe ca *əpeaqce
*paʰka *pakka
“system; rhythm”
*paʰka ca *pakca
*kuʰpe *kuppe
“drum”
*kuʰpe ca *kupca
In Old Aedian, the geminated consonants of Proto-Aedian had been reduced to single stops,
and certain consonants had changed in quality. Mainly, *q had become /kʷ/, and *p had
become /f/.
Proto-Aedian Old Aedian

*katte kate
*katca katca
*əpeaqqe veakwe
*əpeaqce veakce
*pakka faka
*pakca fakca
*kuppe kufe
*kupca kufca
As can be seen in the Old Aedian noun veakwe, the *q of Proto-Aedian did not survive
preconsonantally as /kʷ/ but merged with /k/. As Old Aedian evolved into ‘modern’ Aedian,
several important sound changes took place, the most relevant of which I will go over here.
Coda /f/ hardened into /p/. Postconsonantal /c/ would merge into the preceding conso-
nant, leaving behind gemination and an /i/, which would then form a diphthong with the
following vowel. This diphthong would later be smoothed out into a long monophthong.
Old Aedian /kʷ/ would change into /p/. Finally, Old Aedian /f/ would be completely lost.
Old Aedian Early Middle Aedian Late Middle Aedian Aedian

kate *kate *kate kati
katca *kattia *kattē katte
veakwe *veakwe *bēpe bepi
veakce *veakkia *bēkkē bekke
faka *faka *haka aka
fakca *fakkia *hakkē akke
kufe *kufe *kuhe kui
kufca *kuppia *kuppē kuppe
Summa summarum
To sum up, the sound changes and morphological quirks of the Aedian language through
its different stages have given us an unpredictable system of ablaut for marking definiteness
and plurality as well, as a regular set of system of stops geminating (and in some cases
alternating between /p/ and /kː/ or /∅/ and /pː/) in the nominative case. Adding it all
together, it leaves us with with declension tables like that of the noun up:
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Aedian
up “care, love” Sg. indefinite Sg. definite Pl. definite

Oblique up ep op
Nominative ukke ekke okke
This table with up is just one example of the unpredictability of Aedian nouns, and the
reader should be reminded that while up is definitely unpredictable, it’s entirely regular.
Correct, ekke is a completely regular definite singular nominative of up.
I hope this short article was able to provide some insight into the wondrous world of
Aedian nominal morphology and perhaps even give you, the reader, some inspiration for
interesting ways to develop unpredictable and complex morphological systems.
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14 Honorifics in Osana
by Chosen_By_A_Friend
Origin and Development
Introduction
This article addresses the origin and development of honorifics in the Osana language.
Honorifics are grammatical elements used to convey the relative status between speakers.
The Osana language is a conlang spoken by a culture in my Tékumel-inspired conworld
Elapetrea.
The Osana people lived in five desert city-states, forming a political union based on shared
access to ancient irrigation technology predating their culture. Their society was complex,
with hierarchy and status being paramount to anything else.
This article mimics my design process for the honorifics in its structure. I began with a
loose outline of the layers of society, which I used to determine what those layers corre-
sponded to in the past, so I had context for how they should function in the present.
From that, I created a simple collection of honorifics for the relationships found within a
clan, for each relationship between the layers of society, and for situations where someone’s
status could not be accurately inferred from context.
Then I looked at the uses of the honorifics, and found ways for them to develop, filling
various grammatical roles. Honorifics in Osana expanded to become opinion, adjective and
pronoun markers. I also looked at ways this system might develop further to become a
full-fledged collection of status-based registers.
It should be noted that this article makes use of its own notation for years, based on the
Elapetrean calendar. Years take the format ‘digits BE,’ where BE stands for ‘Before Elapetar,’
referring to the world-conquest of the sorcerer Ayred Elapetar.
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Osana
Osana Society
In order to understand status and hierarchy in Osana culture, it helps to know what came
before. The Osana were not always so stratified as the rest of the article describes.
The ancestors of the Osana were farmers living in a hot steppe climate north of the desert
they would later call their home. They were loosely organised in clans, headed by a Tsapri
clan-elder. Clans were by and large equal. The steppe-farmers had a primitive democracy.
In the month Kayi, during the night of the full moon, the Osana clans would meet one-
another and settle disputes. Land rights, divorces and other legal matters were brought
before the Kayi-moot, and clan elders would vote on resolutions.
At dawn, they would elect one clan to be the Kayivakson, tasked with the responsibility
to ensure that the agreements of the Kayi would be honored by all the clans, and given the
deciding vote in any ties in the next Kayi.
Their religion was equally unhierarchical and democratic. Any clansperson, regardless of
who they were, was free to petition gods and demons alike for bountiful harvests or any
other thing they desired.
This resulted in disaster, however. Clans on the losing end of a vote petitioned Gr̩dozīm,
a great demon lord, to reverse a decision of the kayi in 3100 BE. Their ritual allowed him to
enter the mortal plane, and he conquered the steppes, forcing the steppe-farmers to abandon
their homes and flee southward into the desert.
Social Stratification in the Five Cities

Soon after fleeing the demon lord Gr̩dozīm, the Osana discovered ancient cities seem-
ingly abandoned in the desert. They had working irrigation systems, allowing for vast food
production in this seemingly inhospitable area. It was not before long that they became a
formidable force in the desert, and this is why the southern desert is still referred to as the
Osana Desert.
This new environment caused change in the societal structure of the Osana. When all
your people are cramped together between thick walls of stone, and the outside world is
inhospitable, it suddenly becomes much more important to have clear and codified ways of
getting along than it was in the steppes where any disgruntled farmer could with some hard
work start their own farm and be self-reliant.
The first thing that changed is that the petitioner clans who summoned Gr̩dozīm were
made into pariahs. They were cast out of the cities, and were forced to become nomads
traveling from oasis to oasis through the help of native lizard people. The pariah clans, the
clanless and anyone else who did not have a clear role in society formed the absolute bottom
rung of the ladder.
The second thing that changed were the relative positions of power between clans. Every
clan began to fulfill specific roles in the cities. Some clans were gravediggers, others crafts-
men and yet others fulfilled administrative tasks like ensuring the irrigation system worked
properly. It should not be surprising then, that the latter clans began to amass more stature
and power than the other ones.
The tradition of Kayi was continued, but the noble clans began having more power and say
within it. Eventually, the clan elders of the most influential noble clans became equivalent
to petty kings ruling over the cities.
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That older role of a kayivakson clan, in charge of administration and oversight over other
clans, remained separate from the petty kings, and slowly became a hereditary position with
the creation of the role of high king, kayiride, who was able to create laws that superseded
any local ones.
The unrestricted nature of religion was the next thing to change. Access to magic and
religious rituals was restricted to a handful of priests selected from each clan, supervised by
the clan of the kayiride, the royal clan. Status within the priesthood reflected one’s clan’s
status in normal society, and having a charismatic and powerful priest was often one of the
most reliable ways for a clan to advance in status.
The actual stratification of Osana society was obviously more complex than this. This is
a simplified overview for the purposes of this article. In each stratum of society, there was
its own hierarchy of status, and the interaction between the strata was often much more
nebulous than it is made out to be in this article.
Among the lower clans, craftsmen might have similar status to noble clans, whereas clans
of gravediggers or spelunkers were considered unclean and low status. Likewise, cities
might have varying status at certain points in time which reflects on the relative status
of kings among themselves and of members of the royal clan depending on where they were
stationed.
The origin of honorifics

The petty kings and the royal clan considered themselves to be parts of a larger whole.
They had more in common with each other than with the rabble over which they ruled.
There was competition between them to be sure, they were peer polities after all, but kings
generally recognized that it was for the best that the other petty kings were not overthrown
by the lower clans or disposed of by the lizard people and pariah clans.
The Osana used the model of the family for this. A good father oversees his sons and makes
sure they do the right things, in the same way the high king imposes good judgement and
responsibility on the petty kings.
Over time, it became customary for petty kings to refer to the high king as tatyana, ‘father,’
and for the high king to call them dzayana ‘son,’ as in example (1).
(1) Tatyana tashaq ko, vīshek alyoq dzayana Tojit sa.

tatyana tashaq ko vīshek alyoq dzayana Tojit sa
father 1SG.POS to 2SG POS son Tojit from
“To my father, from your son Tojit.”
Atash vīshek cēpuvyipeshek.
Atash vīshek cēp -uvyipe -shek
1SG 2SG ask.favor -PRF.NPST -1.2.SG
“I ask of you a favor.”
This metaphor was then extended onto the courts, where the petty kings were referred
to as valyoxtati, ‘city-father.’ Manners of address in the courts became more codified over
time, as the speech of kings gained ritualistic significance.
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Osana
These codes, varying between cities, eventually were chiseled into stone by priest Tavulyr̩
in 2650 BE, as a gift to high king Dovavīra. The high king decreed Tavulyr̩’s system to be a
new standard, and this small top-down language reform created the first honorifics system
in Osana.
The basic honorifics system

While the system described by Tavulyr̩ for the royal courts is very complex, the one
adopted by most of society is much simpler. Table 1 provides an overview of this sys-
tem, though it must be said that even this overview is incomplete as there are many highly
specific honorifics one might use in certain contexts that do not fit in the scope of this article.
Honorific Gloss Usage

-tēdo HON1 When speaking to someone from your
clan who has higher status than you.
(Lower status is the unmarked form in
this case.)
-tsapri HON2 When speaking to the clan elder.
-tati HON3 From a lower king to the high king.
-dzan HON4 From the high king to a lower king.
-kayikayivakson HON5 From a low clan to a high clan.
-kayirīdakson HON6 From a high clan to the royal clan.
-yivakson HON7 From the royal clan to a high clan.
-samesā HON8 To anyone who is definitely of lower sta-
tus than you (but the exact degree is un-
known).
-mēdi HON9 To someone of known equal status.
-adzekson HON10 To someone of higher status (but the ex-
act status is unknown).
-adzet HON11 To someone whose status relative to
yours is unknown.
-raʔ HON12 To an outcast, someone whose status is
neglible and is met with contempt.
Table 1: Osana Honorifics
The unknown status honorifics, -samesā, -adzekson, and -adzet have a complex function
in terms of politeness, as they allow for grey areas in how you refer to someone.
For instance, if someone is hogging a status that is not theirs to have, one might use
the honorific of unknown lower status -samesā to knock them down a peg. Especially the
reduplicated form, same-samesā, as the reduplication makes the low status more certain
and more demeaning.
Yet when someone of high status wants to honor someone from a lower status, due to an
act of exceptional heroism or skill, they might exclusively refer to them with -adzet, to mark
them as someone whose unfortunate lower status is undeserved (and will soon be remedied
by a marriage proposal into a higher clan if the clan’s scribes can scramble one together fast
enough).
An interesting note is that due to the closely contained life in cities, the older tradition
of patrilocal marriage that was practiced on the steppes is no longer the sole norm. This
means that both the bride and the groom can enter a period of uncertain status until they
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are officially married, where they are referred to as -adzet. Marriage contracts are often
kept secret by the elders of the involved clans until the marriage ceremony, so this status-
avoidance is meant to prevent anyone from referring to a bride or a groom as lower status
than they would be after the wedding, as this can be considered insulting.
Development 1: Honorifics as Desiderative Markers

The basic honorifics system described above did not remain stagnant, despite being writ-
ten in stone. People will always play with language, and as such language will always be
stretched to accommodate new ways of delivering meaning. Osana dialects underwent sev-
eral grammatical developments that all stem from the use of honorifics in one theatrical
play…
In 2400 BE a comedic play is written where a dirty old chair comments on the folly of peo-
ple based on the things he witnesses in the guest room of a rather dysfunctional household.
Being the oldest speaking thing in the home, he considers himself the clan elder, though
none of the people there listen to him. Clan Elder Chair (Saje-tsapri in Osana), becomes a
popular figure parodied throughout the five cities. As such, referring to inanimate objects
as ‘clan elder’ (obviously out of earshot from the real clan elder), is considered affectionate.
This use can be seen in example (2).
(2) Ksapal ksaredzatsapri vīshu!

ksapal ksaredza -tsapri vīshu
DEM.PROX door -HON2 be
“This door is amazing!”
lit. “This is Clan-Elder Door!”
But, likewise, if one is not particularly chambered by an object, a different honorific might
be used.
(3) Atash ziti tashaq osajeraʔ ko niyakuvyishwō!

atash ziti tashaq o- saje -raʔ ko niyak -uvyi -shwō
1SG toe 1SG.POS OBL- chair -HON12 at kick -PRF.PST -1.3SG
“I stubbed my toe on this damn chair!”
lit. “I kicked my toe at this contemptible chair!”
Development 2a: Honorifics as Adjective Markers

Over time, the attitude marking function of honorifics shifted in some dialects, eventually
becoming adjective markers. It began with using ‘clan elder’ to describe inanimate objects
that have desired qualities, see example (4).
(4) Ksapal sajetsapri vīshu.

ksapal saje -tsapri vīshu
DEM.PROX chair -HON2 be
“This is the most chair-like chair.”
lit. “This is Clan-Elder Chair.”
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Osana
Then, the construction N-tsapri started being used to refer to items as resembling some-
thing else, as in example (5).
(5) Ksapal toga alyoq sajetsapri vīshu.

ksapal toga alyoq saje-tsapri vīshu
DEM.PROX stool GEN chair -HON2 be
“This is the most chair-like stool.”
lit. “This is the Clan-Elder-Chair of stools.”
Over time, the possessive was left out of the construction, and it was reanalysed as an
adjective marker. This can be seen in example (6).
(6) Toga sajetsaprik īcat vīshu.

toga saje -tsapri -k īcat vīshu
stool chair -HON2 -ADJ pleasant be
“This chair-like stool is nice.”
lit. “The Clan-Elder-Chair stool is pleasant.”
Development 2b: Honorifics as Pronoun Markers

In other dialects, the development of honorifics as adjective markers described above does
not take hold. This is mostly in the dialects of clans with really low status, who do the dirty
work nobody else wants to do and form a small community of the lower classes.
These are mainly the clans responsible for grave digging, and those responsible for spelunk-
ing and dungeoneering: professions considered unclean by the elites.
In these dialects, the development of using honorifics to indicate qualities still holds true,
as in example (4), but it goes a different route over time, becoming a marker of category.
See example (7).
(7) a. Vīshek sajetsapri visavyeksa, nē?

vīshek saje -tsapri visa -uvyi -eksa nē
2SG chair -HON2 bring -PRF.PST -2.3 Q
“Did you bring the piece of furniture?”
lit. “Did you bring Clan-Elder-Chair?”
Toga, nē?
toga nē
stool Q
“A stool, right?”
Over time, this category marking creates a system where any noun can be replaced with
some kind of category marker, and this system is very productive (as it functions as a specific
register for the lower clans allowing them to speak their mind more freely without the higher
clans understanding).
The system is extended to pronouns, with people playing around with different words to
refer to themselves. This results in pronouns becoming functionally an open class in these
dialects.
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PostOsana Development
Roughly around 1200 BE the Osana disperse again, abandoning their cities for reasons
still unclear. The languages of the five cities diverge, and form the basis for an entirely new
language family that would grow to dominate the southern subcontinent below the desert.
The most important change related to honorifics that will happen in these languages is the
creation of new status-based registers.
For instance, the pronouns from the dialect of the gravedigger and spelunker clans will
likely spread throughout the Osana dialects, being integrated within the registers. High sta-
tus registers would mostly retain the older pronouns, but lower registers would incorporate
new pronouns to differentiate status.
Likewise, the adjective endings discussed in P7 could start being applied to nominalized
verbs, and then reanalysed as status-indicating verb endings. Pair that with status-based
suppletion of verb roots, and a system that began as a purely nominal thing has become
something that affects all word classes.
Conclusion
In this article, I discussed the way honorifics developed in the Osana language, and how
they impacted other areas of the language. The honorifics developed as a means of codifying
complex social relationships in a court setting, but spread to all registers and dialects of the
language.
From there, it became associated with desirable qualities on inanimate nouns, paving the
way for it to over time become both an adjective marker and a marker of pronouns. There
are several further routes for expanding the honorific system, but only time will tell what
that will result in.
The most important take-away from this article, in my opinion, is that it does not matter
whether your language directly parallels developments in natural languages. The only thing
that matters, is that the development of features makes sense to you, and that you take
grammatical features and see what happens if you applied them creatively.
Page 151
Class and Case
15 in Bjark'ümii
by Lichen
DEPARTMENT: CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE

OPERATION: ALPINE NEPTUNE
SUPERVISING OFFICER: [REDACTED]
REPORT AUTHOR: [REDACTED]
TAG: FOXGLOVE
Intro
What follows is a brief account of some of the features of nouns in the language Bjark’ümii,
as spoken by the [REDACTED] people living in the [REDACTED] region of [REDACTED].
My observations are drawn from data collected in the period of my fieldwork from [DATES
REDACTED], and while they are meant for the eyes of linguists, I have simplified and ex-
plained certain features to make it easier for the non-linguists at the expedition base-site. In
this report I will be looking at the noun classes and cases in Bjark’ümii, with discussion of
nominal predication, shape classifiers, the interaction of prepositions with the case system,
and possession reserved for future reports.
Class
What is a noun class? Nouns can be said to belong to different classes–say, Class A and
Class B–if they cause different agreement structures. Class A nouns will cause A-type agree-
ments while Class B nouns will cause B-type agreements, and these agreements manifest in
the parts of speech associated with these nouns, whether adpositions, adjectives, articles,
verbs, or anything else. In Bjark’ümii a noun from a given class will cause verbs that have
that noun as an argument to take a particular prefix for that class. Note that verbs exhibit
polypersonal agreement limited to two arguments, and thus a verb can have a maximum of
two agreement prefixes, and adjectives function identically to–and are considered a sub-
type of–intransitive verbs. The table below shows the ten classes, listed by number, name,
gloss, and associated verbal prefix.
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Bjark'ümii
Class Gloss Prefix

I Human singular H.SG ki-, je-
II Human dual H.DU t’ń-
III Human plural H.PL ri-, vjam-
IV Animate singular AN.SG u-
V Animate dual AN.DU ‘i-
VI Animate plural AN.PL k’a-
VII Inanimate singular INAN.SG ta-
VIII Inanimate plural INAN.PL lu-
IX Locations LCN so-
X Abstractions ABST bu-
The human singular and human plural (I and III) classes have two verbal prefixes associ-
ated with each due to a proximative obviative distinction. For more information about this,
please refer to my other reports.
What entities fall into what class is governed semantically, but before explaining the se-
mantic boundaries of the classes in detail, I think the following examples will give a prelim-
inary sense.
I: player, singer, leader, dancer, friend

II: lovers, twins, duo, dancers, dyadic kinship terms
III: team, choir, committee, dance ensemble, company, country
IV: tiger, adolescent male wolf, infant, sun, fire, heart, wind, river, boiling water
V: mated pairs of animals, storm
VI: wolves, deer, ants, flock, swarm, rain
VII: pen, table, tree, stone
VIII: leaves, marbles, teeth, rice, abacus, mop, book
IX: forest, mountain, house, boulder, city, chair, country
X: speed, sound, water, singing, dancing, anger
The singular classes (I, IV, VII) refer to things that act on their own or are found as singular
entities, while the plural classes refer to things that act together or as one (choir), or are
composed of many near-identical elements (abacus, mop), or are typically found with their
like kind (leaves, deer). The dual classes (II, V) refer to things found in pairs (twins, mated
pairs of animals), or two pairs of things that act as one (dancers, lovers). Classes IX and X
have no inherent plurality.
All nouns in the singular classes can be pluralised with the suffix -le (believed to be derived
from a truncated relative clause in Old Bjark’ümii with the adjective *lajii ‘many’), and nouns
in the plural or dual classes can be singularised with various prefixes to refer to one of the
group or pair. Indeed, the plural classes can also be pluralised with -le to refer to multiple
groups. See the following examples:
(1) Ńjaro
singer
“A singer”
(2) Ńjarole
Ńjaro -le
singer -PL
“Singers”
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(3) Ńjarul
choir
“A choir”
(4) Ińńjarul
in- ńjarul
SG- choir
“A choir member”
(5) Ńjarulle
ńjarul -le
choir -PL
“Choirs”
After a noun from a singular class has been pluralised, it may take singular or plural agree-
ment on the verb it is an argument of, depending on whether a distributive or collective
meaning is intended (for detail, see the section on Numerical Disagreement of my previ-
ous report). However, singularised nouns originally from a plural class must take singular
agreement on the verb.
(6) Ńjaro kiśaata

ńjaro ki- śaata
singer H.SG- eat
“The singer is eating.”
(7) Ńjarole riiśaata
ńjaro -le rii- śaata
singer -PL H.PL- eat
“The singers are eating (together).”
(8) Ńjarole riiśaata
ńjaro -le ki- śaata
singer -PL H.SG- eat
“The singers are eating (separately).”
(9) Ńjarul riiśaata
ńjarul rii- śaata
choir H.PL- eat
“The choir is eating (together).”
(10) Ińńjarul kiśaata
in- ńjarul ki- śaata
SG- choir H.SG- eat
“The choir member is eating.”
(11) *Ińńjarul riiśaata
in- ńjarul rii- śaata
SG- choir PL- eat
Intended: “The choir member is eating”
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Bjark'ümii
Moving on from plurality, the inherent qualities of a noun will determine what class it falls
into. Classes I, II, and III are for human beings, or entities that behave like human beings
such as talking animals in stories, gods and spirits, and androids.
Classes IV, V, and VI are for animals and natural forces–anything that is capable of affecting
other things, or which appears to exhibit volition (at least through the lens of Bjark’ümii
culture), and which is not human. Infants fall into class IV because they do not walk upright
nor talk–essential human traits–but around the age of three they move into class I, and it
is worth noting here that the Bjark’ümii are reasonably lenient about infanticide provided
that it occurs before the infant is, by their reckoning, ‘fully human’. I was surprised to find
‘storms’ in class V, a dual class, and I asked an informant who said it was because storms
are a mixture of rain and wind. However, another informant told me it was because storms
were a mixture of lightning and rain.
Classes VII and VIII are for inanimate objects, typically things that cannot affect another
entity without the aid of something from classes I-VI: pens cannot write without the hand of
a human guiding them, and trees cannot topple unless the wind pushes them. This class also
includes dead animals, and body parts except the heart which belongs to class IV because,
unlike most of the rest of our bodies, we have no conscious control over it.
Class IX refers to locations primarily, or objects so large that they cannot be easily affected
by a person or which are effectively immobile, such as a large boulder. Smaller items can
fall into this class too if they are items commonly occurring as locative adjuncts, like chairs.
Lastly, Class X refers to abstractions: qualities, emotions, verbal nouns, and intangible natu-
ral phenomena like light and sound. What we would recognise as mass nouns often fall into
this category as well, like water or stone, but it is highly dependent on a particular context.
One notable example from the above list of an English mass noun not occurring as a Class X
Bjark’ümii noun is ‘rice’ which belongs to Class VIII because it is many small items together,
as opposed to an indivisible substance.
If you look at the list closely, you can see that certain nouns can belong to several classes at
once. This simply depends on how the item is behaving in a particular utterance. Countries,
for instance, might be Class IX for locations when they are being described in a physical
sense, and thus refer to the landscape, but fall into Class III when their actions are described,
because then they appear to be functioning like a group of people.
(12) Altźairija sot’ivii
altźairija so- t’ivii

Algeria LCN- hot.and.dry
“Algeria is hot and dry.”
(13) Altźairija riiraat’a ni...
altźairija riiraat’a ni

Algeria H.PL- decide C
“Algeria has decided to...”
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Case
Overview
Bjark’ümii nouns can be marked as any of one of five cases: intransitive, ergative, ac-
cusative, locative, and instrumental. I have chosen to describe the cases with these names,
as they are understood by most readers, and they get across the main functions of those
cases; though, naturally, the cases have uses beyond what their labels would suggest. The
following gives a rough idea of the cases and their uses.
Case Use
Intransitive S-arguments, possessors
Ergative A-arguments
Accusative telic or ‘affected’ P-arguments
Locative location at/towards a place or time; goals;
recipients; atelic or ‘unaffected’ P-arguments
Instrumental adverbial constructions; instruments; means; topics
The different noun classes are marked for different cases like so:
NTR ERG ACC LOC INSTR

I (H.SG) =Ø =Ø =t =s =b
II (H.DU) =Ø =Ø =t, =l =s =b
III (H.PL) =Ø =Ø =l =s =b
IV (AN.SG) =Ø =Ø =t =s =b
V (AN.DU) =Ø =Ø =t, =l =s =b
VI (AN.PL) =Ø =Ø =l =s =b
VII (INAN.SG) =Ø C= =r =Ø =s =b
VIII (INAN.PL) =Ø C= =r =Ø =s =b
IX (LCN) =Ø C= =r =t =Ø =b
X (ABST) =Ø C= =r =t =s =Ø
Strictly speaking, the case markers are actually clitics that attach to the end (or surround,
as in the case of the ergative) a whole noun phrase, which is why they are described in the
table with ‘=’ instead of ‘-’, to better align it with glossing convention.
While it might be simpler to analyse this system as not having an intransitive case at all
given that it is zero-marked for all noun classes, for those who are interested in discussions
about morphosyntactic alignment it is useful. Following from this analysis, we can say that
classes I-VI (humans and animates, collectively referred to as the ‘common’ class) appear to
be nominative-accusative, whereby S- and A-arguments are marked the same (zero-marked),
leaving P-arguments marked with the =t clitic. Classes VII and VIII appear to be ergative-
absolutive, with S- and P-arguments marked the same (zero-marked), leaving A-arguments
marked with the circumclitic C= =r (further explanation of C= to follow). Classes IX and
X seem to be tripartite, with all of S-, A-, and P-arguments marked in different ways: S is
zero-marked, A has the ergative circumclitic C= =r, and P has the clitic =t. We could
describe this system using the table below, where a tick means a case is marked, and a ‘Ø’
means unmarked.
I do not, however, believe that discussion of morphosyntactic alignment will be fruitful

here, so let us look at each case in detail with some example sentences to illustrate.
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Bjark'ümii
Class INTR ERG ACC LOC ABS Alignment

Common Ø Ø ✓ ✓ ✓ Nom-Acc
Inanimates Ø ✓ Ø ✓ ✓ Erg-Abs
Locations Ø ✓ ✓ Ø ✓ Tripartite
Abstractions Ø ✓ ✓ ✓ Ø Tripartite
The intransitive case is used for S-arguments, or more plainly for the subjects of intransitive
verbs and adjectives.
(14) Bííter kimááse

Bííter =Ø ki- mááse
Peter =NTR H.SG- walk
“Peter is wandering around”
(15) Bííter kihltíí

Bííter =Ø ki- hltíí
Peter =NTR H.SG- tall
“Peter is tall”
The ergative case is used for agent-like arguments of transitive clauses (which is why I
choose to describe it as ‘ergative’ instead of ‘nominative’) in (16), while the accusative case
is used for the patient-like arguments of transitive clauses (16). The locative case is used
for locative adjuncts denoting where an action happens (16), but also implies an allative
quality for motion towards an entity, and thereby is also used for goals and intentions. Some
verbs require a locative case for their P-argument where the action leaves the P-argument
unaffected (17), or is atelic (18), and the accusative is for P-arguments where the P-argument
is affected, or where the action is distinctly telic (19).
(16) Bííter Tźont kjaitrááka Róoma

Bííter=Ø Tźon=t ki- je- trááka Róoma=Ø
Peter =ERG John=ACC H.SG- H.SG.OBV- hit Rome=LOC
“Peter hits John in Rome.”
(17) Bííter Tźons kjaiskáá

Bííter =Ø Tźon =s ki- je- skáá
Peter =ERG John =LOC H.SG- H.SG.OBV- see
“Peter sees John.”
(18) Bííter Kamtśatka kimááse

Bííter =Ø kamtśatka =Ø ki- mááse
Peter =NTR Kamchatka =LOC H.SG- walk
“Peter is walking to Kamchatka.”
(19) Bííter Kamtśatkat kisomáása

Bííter =Ø kamtśatka =t ki- so- máása
Peter =ERG Kamchatka =ACC H.SG- LCN- arrive
“Peter arrived in Kamchatka.”
Page 158
The instrumental case is used for tools and instruments, though applicative constructions
and incorporated nouns can fulfil this role, and more often describes the way in which an
action is performed (20, 21), and can also mark discourse topics when utterance-initial (22).
(20) Bííter kimááse zŕzŕu

bííter=Ø ki- mááse zŕzŕu=Ø
Peter =NTR H.SG- walk speed =INSTR
“Peter walks quickly.”
(21) Bííter kimááse ‘iinźub

bííter =Ø ki- mááse ‘iinźu =b
Peter =NTR H.SG- walk dog =INSTR
“Peter walks like a dog.”
(22) Bííterb kihltíí

bííter =b ki- hltíí
Peter =INSTR H.SG- tall
“As for Peter, he is tall.”
What strikes me about this system is that nouns appear to be unmarked where they per-
form the role expected of a noun belonging to that class, and are marked otherwise. One
would expect animate entities to be doing actions and as such are unmarked when agents
of transitive clauses, and conversely we expect inanimate entities to have actions done to
them and therefore are unmarked when patients of transitive clauses. Locations we expect
neither to do things, nor be materially affected by much, and so are marked in either case,
but are unmarked as where things occur or as destinations of other actions because that is
their expected role. Abstractions likewise we do not expect to affect anything or be affected
by anything, but may describe states in which an action is done.
Case Evolution
Reconstructions from old texts suggest that Old Bjark’ümii had a slew of post-nominal
classifiers that agreed with their head noun’s class. These then became dissociated from
their nouns and fused with the verb to form the verbal agreement prefixes. At the point
just prior to this fusion, word order was–so far as we can tell–strictly SOV, but after the
fusion, word order became freer because the verbal prefixes indicated the central syntactic
roles played by the nouns. However, hereafter certain nouns began to re-acquire the post-
nominal classifiers from other classes in circumstances where they were behaving more like
nouns prototypically from the class of that classifier: direct objects acquired the inanimate
classifiers; indirect objects acquired the location classifier; and other roles oblique roles
acquired the abstraction classifier. The examples below outline my hypothesised evolution
of this system.
t0 : Strict SOV.
*pi:tair ki ʔulauk jai tra:ka:

piitair ki ʔulauk jai tra:ka:
Peter CL man CL strike
“Peter strikes the man.”
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Bjark'ümii
*pi:tair ki jai tra:ka:

piitair ki jai tra:ka:
Peter CL CL strike
“Peter strikes him.”
t1 : Classifiers fuse with verb when not interrupted.
*pi:tair ki ʔulauk jai tra:ka:

piitair ki ʔulauk jai tra:ka:
Peter CL man CL strike
*pi:tair kijaitra:ka:
piitair ki- jai- tra:ka:
Peter CL- CL- strike
t2 : Fused classifiers analogise across all verbs, creating freer word order.
*pi:tair kijaitra:ka: ʔulauk

piitair ki- jai- tra:ka: ʔulauk
Peter CL- CL- strike man
t3 : (Animate) direct object acquires the inanimate classifier as a suffix.
*pi:tair kijaitra:ka: ʔulauk-ta

piitair ki- jai- tra:ka: ʔulauk -ta
Peter CL- CL- strike man -CL
t4 : Sound changes yielding modern Bjark’ümii.
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Bííter kjaitrááka ulokt
Bííter =Ø ki- je- trááka ulok =t
Peter =ERG H.SG- H.SG.OBV- strike man =ACC
Bííter kjaitrááka
Bííter =Ø ki- je- trááka
Peter =ERG H.SG- H.SG.OBV- strike
The evolution of ergative circumclitic is somewhat different. In Old Bjark’ümii, it appeared

that only ‘common’ nouns (humans and animates) could be the A-argument of a transitive
clause, so if an inanimate, location, or abstraction appeared to be doing an action, a dud
animate entity had to be added to the sentence, usually the obviative human classifiers or
animate classifiers. A sentence like “A rock hit Peter” would have to be literally rendered as
“Someone with a rock hit Peter.” The following table sets out how this is believed to have
occurred.
t0 : Dummy human classifier to stand in as A-agent, with reduced form of v-r root meaning
‘use.’
*jai q’aim vr pi:tair ki tra:ka:

jai q’aim vr pi:tair ki tra:ka:
CL stone use Peter CL strike
“Someone using a stone strikes Peter”
t1 : Dummy human classifier and reduced verb fuse onto inanimate noun. Inanimate clas-
sifier reintroduced now that the inanimate noun is a non-oblique argument.
*iq’aimur ta pi:tair ki tra:ka:

i= q’aim =ur ta pi:tair ki tra:ka:
ERG= stone =ERG CL Peter CL strike
“A stone strikes Peter.”
t2 : Classifiers fuse onto the verb.
*iq’aimur takitra:ka: pi:tair

i= q’aim=ur ta- ki-tra:ka: pi:tair
ERG= stone=ERG CL-CL-strike Peter
t3 : Animate direct object acquires inanimate classifier as suffix. Verb changes to nonvoli-
tional form to match the semantics of its A-argument.
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Bjark'ümii
*iq’aimur takitrka: pi:tair-ta

i= q’aim=ur ta- ki-trka: pi:tair-ta
ERG= stone=ERG CL-CL-strike.NVL Peter -CL
t4 : Sound changes yielding modern Bjark’ümii.
ik’emr takitrkáá Bíítert

i= k’em =r ta- ki- trkáá Bííter=t
ERG= stone =ERG INAN.S- H.SG- strike.NVL Peter =ACC
DEPARTMENT: CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE

OPERATION: ALPINE NEPTUNE
SUPERVISING OFFICER: [REDACTED]
REPORT AUTHOR: [REDACTED]
TAG: FOXGLOVE
Page 162
Challenges
Maryannic Oblique Noun
16 Phrases
by Formor Immington
Or, Doing Without Adpositions in Māryanyā
Maryannic (formerly known as Mitanni-Aryan) is the modern name given to an Indo-

Iranian language known from a few dozen cuneiform texts found at Tell Fakhariyah (TF), as
well as from loanwords, theonyms, and personal names found in texts from nearby polities.
Unique among Indo-European languages of the time, Maryannic does not seem to make
use of an independent class of prepositions. The exact process of this development is not
fully understood, but it has been attributed to influence from Hurrian, the language of the
people of Mitanni, which similarly lacks morphological adpositions, often using relational
nouns instead (Bush, pp. 96-102). This study will examine three phenomena in Maryannic
that serve the same purpose as prepositions in other Indo-European languages: preverbs,
relational nouns, and enclitic particles.
Preverbs
Preverbs are a category known in Indo-European studies. They are morphemes prefixed
to verbs to convey some kind of adverbial meaning or otherwise modify the verb (Booij and
Van Kemenade). Unlike in many other older Indo-European languages, Maryannic preverbs
are completely inseparable from their verbs; they do not undergo the process of tmesis nor
can they double as adpositions directly governing nouns.
Maryannic preverbs have three broad categories of use: expressing direction of movement,
demotion, and general change of verb meaning. The latter of these three does not add a new
oblique noun, often being used for simple transitives. For example, the verb bhar- ‘bear’
means ‘to hire’ when prefixed with pra- ‘fore-’:
(1) gardhāt astrīnām, 10 prabhartās…

gardha -āt astrī -nām 10 pra- bhar -ta -ās
house -M.SG.ABL woman -F.PL.GEN 10 PV- bear -PCP.PSV -F.PL.NOM
“from the house of women, 10 [sic] hired maidservants…” (TF 36)
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Māryanyā
Among these are two known instances of noun-incorporation reanalyzed as preverbs, šrad-
dhat ‘believes’ (< PIE *ḱréd-dʰh₁eti, ‘heart-gives’) and pšupyat shepherds’ (< PIE *pḱu-
ph₂-yé-ti ‘livestock-guards’). Like other preverbs, they replace the placeholder i- prefix on
perfective verbs, and they do not reflect the forms inherited for the nouns they are related
to; compare žhardayam ‘heart’ and pašuš ‘small cattle.’
(2) avīn pšupiyantās bādhišanta

avi -īn pšu- piy -anta -ās bādh -iš -anta
sheep -M.PL.ACC livestock- guard -PCP.ACT -M.PL.NOM press -IPFV -3PL.MID
“while keeping watch over the sheep, [they] were continually harassed…” (TF 89)
The most common use of preverbs is to express direction of motion, often of simple intran-
sitives:
(3) andhunāt darghāt pratigmat

andhuna -āt dargha -āt prati- gm -at
journey -M.SG.ABL long -M.SG.ABL back- come.PFV -3SG.ACT
“he returned from a long journey” (TF 112)
However, when an adjunct in the locative case is used in tandem with a directional preverb,
the preverb indicates the relationship between the locative adjunct and the subject:
(4) Dyaušpitā kisḫyām uparisādišat

dyauš -pitā kisḫi -yām upari- sād -iš -at
sky -father.M.SG.NOM throne -F.SG.LOC on- sit -IPFV -3SG.ACT
“Dyauspitar was sitting on the throne”
lit. “Dyauspitar at the throne was on-sitting” (TF 71)
Preverbs can also act like applicatives, promoting adjunct nouns to a morphological ac-
cusative. The specific relationship between the adjunct and the arguments is determined
by the meaning of the preverb. If the sentence is transitive, both the direct object and the
adjunct will be marked as accusative.
(5) sas tarnam aršyān sankhdat

sas tarna -m aršya -ān sam- khd -at
M.3SG.NOM grass -N.SG.ACC gazelle -M.PL.ACC with- eat.PFV -3SG.ACT
“he ate grass with gazelles”
lit. “he grass gazelles with-ate” (TF 112)
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Relational Nouns
Relational nouns are morphological nominals that form complex preposition-like phrases.
These are common to many languages, including English, which features phrases like ‘at
hand’, ‘on top of’, etc. Unlike English, which connects relational nouns to their heads with
adpositions, Maryannic, like its neighbour Hurrian, only uses cases to connect the two.
Many relational nouns are of native Indo-Iranian origin, such as darghatā ‘length,’ c.f.
Sanskrit dīrghatā. These can be used as canonical nouns as well as pseudo-adpositions.
(6) darghatāyām yarinām sattānām, Dyaušpitā dyavām rājišat

darghtatā - yām yari - nam satta - ānām dyauš - pitā
length - F.SG.LOC year - N.GEN.PL seven - N.GEN.PL sky - father.M.SG.NOM
dyau -vām rāj -iš -at
heaven -M.SG.LOC rule -IPFV -3SG.ACT
“for seven years, Dyauspitar was ruling in heaven”
lit. “along the length of seven years...” (TF 71)
(7) darghatā prathas-ca tasyās samās bhauyātan

darghatā prathas =ca tasyās sama -ās bhau -yā
length.F.SG.NOM width.N.SG.NOM =and F.3SG.GEN same -M.PL.NOM be -JUSS
-atan
-3PL.ACT
“may its length and width be equal” (TF 120)
Relational nouns loaned from other languages can only be used as relational nouns, not in
their original meanings. For example, pāni (< Akkadian pānu) is only used to mean ‘in the
presence of, in front of’, not ‘face’, as in Akkadian.
(8) sas pānaiš Anauš vidartat

sas pāni -aiš anu -auš vi- dart -at
M.3SG.NOM presence -M.SG.ABL Anu -M.SG.GEN away - flee.PFV -3SG.ACT
“he fled from before Anu” (TF 71)
(9) kim mā žhanū karšai pratīkam-ca mana niyancam

kim mā žhanu - ū karša - ai pratīka - m = ca
why NEG.IRR cheek - F.DU.NOM thin - F.DU.NOM face - N.SG.NOM = and
mana niyanca -m
1SG.GEN downcast -N.SG.NOM
“why wouldn’t my cheeks be thin and my face downcast?” (TF 117)
Enclitic Particles
The class of enclitic particles in Māryanyā consists mostly of loans from Hurrian, as well as
native vocabulary such as ca ‘and’. They serve various syntactic functions, often connecting
clauses, and are appended directly onto their heads.
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Māryanyā
The enclitic particle reconstructed as iv has been connected to the Sanskrit particle iva. It
usually conveys the meaning of ‘as if’ when attached to a verbal clause.
(10) khumbham raujišat-iv, bhūmim igžhinat

khumbha -m rauj -iš -at =iv bhūmi -m i- gžhin
jar -M.SG.ACC smash -IPFV -3SG.ACT =like ground -F.SG.ACC ∅- destroy.PFV
-at
-3SG.ACT
“as if smashing a jar, he destroyed the land” (TF 120)
However, iv is also attested appended to a noun, often in accusative case, with the meaning
‘like’ or ‘as.’ It is still analyzed as a general enclitic particle, not a postposition, because it
can also attach to verbal clauses.
(11) dužhitām tau janim-iv mavyam dadyās-iti

dužhitā -m tau jani -m =iv mavyam dad -yā -as
daughter -F.SG.ACC 2SG.GEN wife -F.SG.ACC =like 1SG.DAT give -JUSS -2SG.ACT
=iti
=QUOT
“[you said,] ‘give me your daughter as a wife”’ (TF 51)
References
Booij, Geert and Ans Van Kemenande. ‘Preverbs: an introduction.’ Yearbook of Morphol-
ogy 2003, 2003. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-1513-7_1.
Bush, Frederic William. A Grammar of the Hurrian Language. University Microfilms,

1964, Ann Arbor.
Page 168
Nonverbal Predication in
17 Seoina
by Miacomet a.k.a. u/roipoiboy
From me not H verbs
My main conlang Mwaneḷe is fairly verb-heavy, so when I set out to create Seoina, one
of my goals was to make it noun-heavy instead. Adjectives are more or less the same word
class as nouns: words whose primary meaning refers to an entity can be used as modifiers
and words whose primary meaning refers to a property can be used to refer to an entity with
that property. So kala ‘happy’ can mean ‘a happy person’ and isto ‘friend’ can mean ‘friendly’
without any overt derivation. Manner, time, and location are more often expressed using
prepositional phrases than using adverbs. Verbal nouns are prominent in the grammar, and
there are a lot of periphrastic tense and aspect constructions made with prepositions plus
verbal nouns. As part of this tendency towards nouniness over verbiness, Seoina uses several
constructions with clauses whose predicates are not verbs.
For Segments #03, the challenge is to describe non-canonical uses of nouns. Classically,
verbs are predicates and nouns are arguments. For the challenge, I’m submitting a descrip-
tion of some constructions where nouns are used as predicates. This article is expanded
from a response to u/tryddle’s Typological Paper of the Week #25 activity on r/conlangs.
Nonverbal Predicates
Seoina uses nonverbal predication fairly broadly. The most common use is to link a noun
subject to a noun or adjective complement (since adjectives are very nouny, this is the
same construction). Adjective and noun predicates are constructed with the subject in the
nominative case juxtaposed with the complement in the absolutive case. I think of this (and
maybe all of the other nonverbal predicates) as constructions with a null copula, but I’m not
sure what evidence there is to say a null copula is really present.
Noun predicates can be used for stating that two noun phrases refer to the same thing
(e.g. ‘The doctor is Anna’) and for stating that one noun phrase is a member of the category
denoted by the other noun phrase (e.g. ‘Anna is a doctor.’) Adjective predicates are used
to state that the subject noun has a particular property. Usually these refer to long-term
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Seoina
properties rather than temporary states. Sentence 2 says that Loima has a happy disposition
overall. To say that she’s happy right now, you’d use a prepositional phrase like deo kalau
‘in happiness.’
(1) S’ia istoura tos.

si= ia isto -ra tos
3S= CL friend -NOM teacher
“His friend is a teacher.”
(2) Lomaura kala.

loima -ra kala
NAME -NOM happy
“Loima is happy.”
Or: “Loima is a happy person.”
Nonverbal predication is also possible with quantifiers. Quantifiers don’t agree with the
noun when they’re used as predicates. Some non-agreeing quantifiers require classifiers,
and I’m not sure whether or not quantifiers with classifiers are allowed as predicates.
(3) Nola lua hana.

nou -ra =lua hana
person -NOM =there many
“There are many people there.”
lit. “The people there are many.”
Adverbial predicates, including locative expressions, are expressed the same way, with
the subject in the nominative case juxtaposed to the complement. Negation in nonverbal
predicates shows up as the second-position clitic =meo only, without the usual negative
concord on the verb (since there’s no verb to have negative concord on).
(4) Tsaura meo hisiara d’oura.

tsau -ra =meo hisi -ra deo= oura
mischievous -NOM =NEG child -NOM in= house
“The mischievous children are not at home.”
NonNominative Subjects
In addition to the subject+complement constructions above, there are several types of
nonverbal predicates with subjects in cases other than the nominative.
A noun alone in the absolutive case can be used to state identity or as an existential clause.
Locative clitics fo ‘here’ and lua ‘there’ are common in existential clauses, but they aren’t
required.
Page 170
(5) Hisi fo tig.
hisi =fo tig
small =here tree
“It’s this small tree.”
Or: “Here’s a small tree.”
Predicative possession of indefinites is expressed using a verbless clause with the possessor
in the dative case and the possessee in the absolutive case. Possession of definite nouns is
usually expressed using a locative expression with the preposition sa ‘with’ instead of with
the dative possessor construction.
(6) Kalau hisia isto.

kala -u hisi -i isto
happy -DAT child -DAT friend
“The happy child has friends.”
Wants and needs can also be expressed using a verbless clause with the subject in the
ablative case and the complement in the absolutive. Since there’s no verb ‘to want,’ this
construction is used with infinitives to say that someone wants to perform an action.
(7) Anda tsusiara oura.

aun -da tsusiara oura
1SG -ABL familiar house
“I want a familiar home.”
(8) Salauda peu a fo uo teoi.
saula -da peu a fo uo teoi
NAME -ABL INF eat this CL fruit
“Saula wants to eat this piece of fruit.”
Nonverbal Predication with...Verbs?

There are a few periphrastic constructions which use nonverbal clauses with verbal nouns
to express modal and aspectual things. These verbal nouns still have the argument structure
of regular verbs: they can take objects, contain adverbs or prepositional phrases, combine
with other verbs, etc. However, they act as noun phrase heads, can take case marking, and
appear as objects of prepositions. Syntactically they’re definitely nouns, but they have the
meaning and anatomy of verbs, so I’m not sure if they officially count as ‘nonverbal.’
Three common aspectual constructions use prepositions plus verbal nouns: the perfect
with uan ‘after,’ the progressive or imperfective with deo ‘in, at,’ and the progressive with
haura ‘to, for.’
(9) Tsaura tomu uan sou loi teo.

tsau -ra =tomu uan sou loi teo
mischievous.boy -NOM =not.yet after read CL book
“The mischievous boy hasn’t read the book yet.”
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Seoina
(10) Maksiara d’es diaqeo ela.

maksi -ra deo= es diaqeo ela
NAME -NOM in= drink pomegranate wine
“Maksi is drinking pomegranate wine.”
(11) Anra haura lesta suaneu.

aun -ra haura lesta suaneu
1SG -NOM for boil oatmeal
“I’m about to cook oatmeal.”
In my quest to make a language in the opposite vein to verb-heavy Mwaneḷe, I ended up

making Seoina, a language where sometimes even the verbs can be nouns!
Page 172
Patterns of Reduplication
18 in Mā Sip
by Lysimachiakis
Forms & Functions
Vōha-va ni vōha usi se

‘Conlangers gonna conlang’
Mā Sip is a language that I started to work on during the 8th Speedlang Challenge in March
2021. I have written about the language previously for Segments. In Issue #01: Phonology,
I wrote a phonology sketch for the language as part of the challenge posed in that issue. The
process was fun, and in particular I enjoyed developing what I’ve termed a euphony system
for Mā Sip, in which certain vowels pair together based on some phonaesthetic ideas. In
Issue #02: Verb Constructions, I returned to Mā Sip and focused on noun incorporation
processes in the language. I developed more clearly what the verbal paradigm was, and
how nouns (and other verbs) could enter into the paradigm for syntactic, semantic, and
discourse reasons.
This time, my attention turns to another pervasive feature of the language: reduplication.
There are at least ten different reduplication patterns actively in play in Mā Sip, applying
variably to nouns, verbs, and grammatical particles to impart a wide variety of meanings.
While certain patterns may apply equally to nouns and to verbs, their meanings differ slightly
when used with one compared to another, though the meanings are usually quite clearly
connected. Because the language is otherwise so isolating, reduplication gives me license
to be a bit more playful with the language and how words are constructed. It allows me to
get a great deal out of a single lexeme, and allows me to delve deeper into fleshing out the
semantic space of each word.
This article will present features grouped by reduplication pattern. Patterns may make
reference to euphony, which is a feature of the language in which vowels will shift to be
more ‘euphonious’. In the euphony system, a vowel is liable to shift to its paired vowel when
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Mā Sip
reduplicated.1 Typically, this is a change in height: a high vowel will go to a mid vowel, a
mid vowel will go to a low vowel. Low vowels, in turn, can cycle back to mid. This is best
illustrated by Table 1 below.
i u
e•ẽ o•õ
ɑ•ɑ̃
Table 1: Vowel Euphony Amongst Paired & Lonely Vowels
Because the high vowels /i u/ do not have any partner vowels themselves, euphony can
be a bit unpredictable. Typically, euphony applies rightward; however, some of the redupli-
cation patterns here involve leftward reduplication. Variant forms can then emerge, either
treating the reduplicated element as the source, and therefore applying euphony to the root,
or the root remains unchanged, and ‘reverse’ euphony may occur. (e.g. tek Ñ *tetek Ñ
titek OR tetak)
In the sections below, ‘P’ is used as a shorthand for ‘pattern,’ so that ‘P1’ is ‘Pattern #1.’
P1: InitialtoFinal CV Reduplication with Euphony

In Pattern #1, the initial CV of a word is reduplicated at the end of the word, with the
V euphonizing to its partner form. When writing this pattern, a hyphen is typically used
between the root and the reduplicated element, though in some more lexicalized uses, the
hyphen is omitted.
With Nouns
Animate
Nouns that have human entities or living being as their referents utilize this pattern to
make a diminutive. For common forms, the first syllable (that which was reduplicated) is
sometimes dropped to add an additional layer of affection.
(1) kuwah ‘child’ Ñ kuwah-ko ‘little one’

(2) to ‘man’ Ñ to-ta ‘bud; pal’
(3) fukumo ‘duck’ Ñ fukumo-fo, kumofo ‘ducky; duckling’
(4) ikpi ‘dog’ Ñ ikpi-he, pihe ‘doggy; puppy; pup’
This type of diminutive use is particularly common when used in vocative constructions,
where the entity is being directly addressed.
1
High vowels ‘pair’ with mid vowels, but nothing pairs with high vowels, and so they are often called
‘lonely vowels’ in Mā Sip’s documentation
Page 174
(5) Pihe la! Da mina la!
pihe la da mina la
puppy VOC IMP go.2.1 PSV
“Come here, puppy!”
Inanimate
With inanimate nouns, this pattern instead derives a term that means the ‘creator’ or
‘maker’ of the root. Some of these meanings can be idiosyncratic, as in (9).
(6) kom ‘bread’ Ñ kom-ka ‘baker; bread-maker’

(7) hisu ‘cheese’ Ñ hisu-he ‘cheese-maker’
(8) nihu ‘book’ Ñ nihu-ne ‘author; book-writer’
(9) nul ‘yesterday’ Ñ nul-no ‘somebody who is part of one’s past’
(often used to refer to an ex, for example)
With Verbs
Active Verbs
With active verbs, this pattern is used to derive an agent noun from the verb. These forms
are often lexicalized in such a way that the connection to the root can be less clear in some
cases, or abstract, as in (12) below.
(10) lowa ‘to speak’ Ñ lowa-la ‘speaker (one who is talking)’

(11) bomi ‘to support (s.o.)’ Ñ bomi-ba, bomba ‘caretaker; counselor’
(12) etōk ‘to sit on’ Ñ etōk-ha, etōcha2 ‘one who sits on it; monarch; ruler’
(13) fēna ‘to drink alcohol’ Ñ fēna-fā ‘drinker; alcoholic’
Stative Verbs
Stative verbs behave a bit different from active verbs; this pattern still expresses nominal-
ization, but rather than expressing an agent, it instead nominalizes the concept, or a noun
closely related to the concept. This can sometimes be a patient of an unaccusative verb, as
in (16).
(14) apha ‘to be red’ Ñ aphago3 ‘redness; blood’

(15) nuknoi ‘to be afraid’ Ñ nuknoino ‘fear’
(16) makmi ‘to be killed’ Ñ makmime ‘victim (of a murder)’
(17) ludō ‘to be sad’ Ñ ludōlo ‘sadness’
2
When a vowel-initial syllable is reduplicated, an epenthetic consonant is inserted for the reduplicated
element, depending upon what the vowel is: /a/ gains a /g/, /i e/ gain /h/, and /u o/ gain /w/. Note that
this is dependent upon the vowel quality of the reduplicated vowel, not the root vowel that it is copying. This
distinction is important as it means that the epenthetic consonant is dependent upon euphony.
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Mā Sip
P2: Full Reduplication with Euphony

In Pattern #2, when a full word is reduplicated with euphony, the word is intensified in
some way. For nouns, this tends to express a large quantity; for verbs, it strengthens the
meaning. While this pattern is referred to as “full” reduplication, it maximally reduplicates
the initial CVCCVC of a word. Words with more than two syllables are uncommon, and those
with more than three are quite rare. Euphony typically applies only to the final reduplicated
syllable, though there are exceptions.
With Nouns
Unlike with the previous reduplication pattern, there is no distinction here between ani-
mate and inanimate nouns in their treatment. This pattern expresses the sense of ‘a large
quantity of.’
(18) nam ‘food’ Ñ name nem ‘a whole lot of food; a feast’

(19) kuwah ‘child’ Ñ kuwah kuwoh ‘a lot of children’
(20) pelan ‘bear’ Ñ pelan pelen ‘an awful lot of bears’
(21) wega ‘wheel’ Ñ wega wego ‘a lot of wheels; 18-wheeler; tractor-trailer’
With Verbs
Active Verbs
With active verbs, this construction typically leads to an intensification or strengthening

of the verbal meaning. This is often akin to lexical differences in English.
(22) lowa ‘to speak to’ Ñ lowa lowo ‘to scold’

(23) bomi ‘to support (s.o.)’ Ñ bomi bome ‘to support completely,’ source of
bomi bome la si ‘to be completely dependent upon’
(24) gulu ‘to grab’ Ñ gulu gulo ‘to grip firmly’
(25) halko ‘to ask for’ Ñ halko halka ‘to demand’
Stative Verbs
With stative verbs, this pattern leads to more figurative interpretations of the state in
question.
(26) apha ‘to be red’ Ñ apha aphe ‘to be ripe’

(27) hogaf ‘to be bright’ Ñ hogaf hogof ‘to be hopeful; to be optimistic’
(28) fasan ‘to be boiling’ Ñ fasan fasen ‘to sweat from heat’
(29) āski ‘to be burning’ Ñ āski āske ‘to have a fever’
P3: Full Reduplication without Euphony

Pattern #3 is the same as the previous, except that the reduplicated element is not eu-
phonized in any way. This pattern has much more limited uses than the form with euphony.
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Unlike the other full reduplication pattern, it’s the final CVCCVC rather than the initial that
is reduplicated.
With Verbs
This can only occur with active verbs. In these cases, the verb takes on an iterative reading.
(30) lowa ‘to speak’ Ñ lowa lowa ‘to speak at length’

(31) dohu ‘to ask about’ Ñ dohu dohu ‘to pester about’
(32) deknapai ‘to slice’ Ñ deknapai napai ‘to dice up’
(33) duk ‘to bake’ Ñ duk duk ‘to reheat’
With Particles
This reduplication can occur with grammatical particles. When it happens in this context,
it marks contrastive focus; the phrase is typically fronted as well. This is most common with
objects, and is not often used for other elements of a phrase.
(34) a. Sai ni uma a kom.

sai ni uma a kom
1.SG.NOM RLS eat ACC bread
“I ate the bread.”
b. A ga kom sai ni uma.

a ga kom sai ni uma
ACC ACC.RDP bread 1.SG.NOM RLS eat
“I only ate the bread.”
P4: Initial CV Reduplication with Euphony & Lengthening

Pattern #4 is a bit less consistent in its applications across word classes, but carries a
general sense of strengthening, augmenting, or highlighting. This pattern is bit inconsistent
in its application: because euphony patterns typically progress rightwards, there is pressure
for euphony to behave that way when the reduplication is leftwards. This has led to two
forms of words to be in usage: one with the reduplicated element euphonized regressively,
and one with the root vowel euphonized progressively.
With Nouns
With nouns, this pattern functions as an augmentative, with typically lexicalized meanings.
(35) kom ‘bread’ Ñ kūkom, kōkam ‘loaf (of bread)’

(36) kuwah ‘child’ Ñ kūkuwah, kūkowah ‘adult child’ (from a parent’s perspective)
(37) fukumo ‘duck’ Ñ fūfuku(mo) ‘goose, swan’
(38) bikni ‘garden’ Ñ bībikni, bībekni ‘park’
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Mā Sip
With Verbs
With verbs, this pattern is used to express a durative or an inchoative, dependent on the
verb type.
Active Verbs
With active verbs, this pattern causes a durative reading. These readings are occasionally
lexicalized.
(39) pāi ‘to sleep’ Ñ pēpai, pāpei ‘to sleep for a while; to oversleep’
(40) ābat ‘to walk’ Ñ ēgābat, āgōbat ‘to go for a walk’
(41) alē ‘to write’ Ñ ēgalē, āgelē ‘to write for a while; to journal’
(42) wit ‘to leave’ Ñ wīwit, wīwet ‘to leave for a while (and then return); to move away’
Stative Verbs
With stative verbs, this pattern causes an inchoative reading: to enter into the state in
question.
(43) wah ‘to fall asleep’ Ñ wōwah, wāwoh ‘to start falling asleep’
(44) xos ‘to be dry’ Ñ xūxos, xōxas ‘to start to dry’
(45) sahah ‘to be comfortable’ Ñ sēsahah, sāsehah ‘to start to feel comfortable’
(46) ōnoi de ‘to be a burden’ Ñ ōwānoi de ‘to start to be a burden or bother’
P5: Final CV(C) Reduplication

In Pattern #5, reduplication of the final CV(C) syllable of a root is used with both nouns
and verbs, though for different meanings. If the root is monosyllabic, the syllable ta is
inserted between the root and the reduplicated element. If the reduplicated element is a
long vowel with a coda, the coda is typically not reduplicated (and the long vowel then
undergoes euphonic breaking).
With Nouns
With nouns, this construction creates another noun that is loosely associated with the root
noun. This is a highly lexicalized pattern, in that the resulting meaning cannot always be
known with certainty, though once it is known, the connection is clear. With a kinship
term, the associated noun typically refers to their spouse. With some nouns, the meaning is
euphemistic.
(47) kom ‘bread’ Ñ komtakom ‘sandwitch’

(48) satvi ‘sister’ Ñ satvivi ‘sister’s spouse’
(49) helē ‘woman’ Ñ helēnē ‘female genitalia’ (avoidance register)
(50) zuh ‘eye’ Ñ zuhtazuh ‘glasses’
With names, this construction is used to discuss a person’s character or personality.
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(51) Mhina ‘Mhina’ Ñ Mhinana ‘Mhina’s character’
(52) Pēs ‘Pes’ Ñ Pēstapē ‘Pes’s personality’
This construction with names has led to some forms being entirely lexicalized when applied
to specific historical names.
(53) Takōs ‘Takos’ Ñ takōskō ‘loyalty’

(54) Khē ‘Khe’ Ñ khētakhē ‘revolutionary’
With Verbs
With verbs, this pattern also creates a noun that is associated with the verb. However, in
this case, it acts as a simple action nominalizer.
(55) kal ‘to meditate’ Ñ kaltakal ‘meditating; meditation’

(56) hami ‘to love’ Ñ hamimi ‘loving; love’
(57) fēna ‘to drink alcohol’ Ñ fēnana ‘drinking; drunkenness’
(58) bā ‘to express disapproval’ Ñ bātabā ‘showing disapproval’
P6: Initial CV+i Reduplication

In Pattern #6, reduplication of the initial CV element of a root at the end with an /i/ added
is used to indicate a location that is associated with the root. This pattern applies equally
to nouns and to verbs. If the root syllable being reduplicated has an /i/ nucleus, then the
reduplicated element uses its euphony partner /e/.
With Nouns
(59) phal ‘neighbor’ Ñ phal pai ‘neighborhood’

(60) kom ‘bread’ Ñ kom koi ‘bakery’
(61) aphao ‘blood’ Ñ aphao gai ‘bloodstream; vein’
(62) tokha ‘pig’ Ñ tokha toi ‘pigpen’
(63) madi ‘caring person’ Ñ madi mai ‘home’ (affectionate)
With Numerals
This pattern, when applied to numerals, is used to express age. It is thought that is an
extension of a common conceptual metaphor, TIME IS A LOCATION.
(64) bevi ‘nine’ Ñ bevi bei ‘nine years old’

(65) ku-vha-the ‘twenty-one’ Ñ vu-vha-the kui ‘twenty-one years old’
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Mā Sip
With Verbs
(66) dohu ‘to ask about’ Ñ dohu doi ‘school’

(67) wit ‘to leave’ Ñ wit wei ‘exit’
(68) vanda ‘to go up; ascend’ Ñ vanda vai ‘stairs’
(69) tan ‘to do repeatedly’ Ñ tan tai ‘workplace; job’
(70) siwat ‘there is’ Ñ siwat sei ‘existence; the universe’
P7: Initial CV(C) Reduplication with afis Infix

Pattern #7 is used to indicate default states and past habitual actions. It is only used with
verbs. Its origins are unclear, but ni afis or nafis can be used on its own as a response to a
question to indicate that whatever the speaker had said is no longer true. In this case, (C)
refers only to a coda consonant within that syllable.
With Active Verbs
(71) enga lowa ‘to speak English’ Ñ enga lowa lafiso ‘used to speak English’
(72) sagil ‘to come back’ Ñ sagil safisa ‘used to come back’
With Stative Verbs
(73) sahah ‘to be comfortable’ Ñ sahah safisa ‘to usually be comfortable’ (but not now)
(74) xos ‘to be dry’ Ñ xos xafisos ‘to usually be dry’
P8: Final CV(C) with intervening si

Pattern #8 makes use of a plural marker si to indicate plural nouns. This pattern can
only be used with animate nouns; some inanimate nouns can be marked plural via another
construction, though those are limited, as plurality is based upon an animacy hierarchy.
(75) to ‘man’ Ñ to si to ‘men’

(76) fukumo ‘duck’ Ñ fukumo si mo ‘ducks’
This pattern can co-occur with a particle mak to indicate a single entity from a larger
grouping, collection, or unit. It may seem counter to logic for a pluralization pattern to
select a single individual, but the idea is that the pattern emphasizes the plurality of the
group to contrast it with the individual. One might imagine (79), for example, being used
by a parent telling their kid that they may invite one of their friends, with this construction
indicating that they will have to choose one from the larger group.
(77) kom mak ‘loaf of bread’ Ñ kom mak si ma ‘slice of bread’

(78) to mak ‘group of men’ Ñ to mak si ma ‘(just) one guy’
(79) tana mak ‘friend group’ Ñ tana mak si ma ‘(just) one friend’
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P9: Rhyming Reduplications
P9.1: Full bw Reduplication
bw- reduplication is a pattern in which the word is reduplicated in full, but with the onset
replaced with bw. This is a bit unusual in that /bw/ itself is not normally a valid sequence
in Mā Sip words. This pattern is only used with nouns and indicates ‘(all) different kinds
of.’
(80) hisu ‘cheese’ Ñ hisu bwisu ‘kinds of cheese’

(81) fasande ‘soup’ Ñ fasande bwasande ‘kinds of soups’
P9.2: Full s Reduplication

This pattern, similar to the previous, is used to indicate ‘all/every.’ When used with the
mak si ma construction in (77-79), it means ‘each.’
(82) tana ‘friend’ Ñ tana sana ‘every friend’

(83) tana mak si ma ‘one friend’ Ñ tana mak si ma sa ‘each one of (X’s) friends’
P9.3: Full bal Reduplication

This construction is used to indicate that something is one’s favorite.
(84) tana ‘friend’ Ñ tana balana ‘best friend’

(85) fok ‘song’ Ñ fok balok ‘favorite song’
P9.4: Full nam Reduplication

This reduplication is a pattern used on verbs to indicate a state or action done a little bit,
and is only used attributively.
(86) apha ‘to be red’ Ñ apha namapha ‘reddish’

(87) but ‘to be funny’ Ñ but namut ‘kinda funny’
Pattern Stacking
There are certain instances where multiple reduplication patterns can be applied to a sin-
gle root, resulting in a complex reduplicated form. There are many such examples of this
occurring, so this list here should not be taken as exhaustive, but more as examples of how
such processes might interact.
P2 + P5
Pattern #5, being more abstract in its meaning, lends itself well to stacking with other
patterns. Pattern #2, which indicates a large amount of something, combined with Pattern
#5, which indicates something associated with the base form, produces lexical items that
are differentiated from a simple P5 application in that they typically indicate something
larger than what would be expressed by P5 alone.
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Mā Sip
(88) a. hisu ‘cheese’ Ñ hisu hiso ‘a lot of cheese’

b. hisu ‘cheese’ Ñ hisusu ‘cheese sandwich’
c. hisu hiso ‘a lot of cheese’ Ñ hisu hisoso ‘pizza’
(89) a. pikop ‘sand’ Ñ pikop pikap ‘a lot of sand’

b. pikop ‘sand’ Ñ pikopkop ‘beach’
c. pikop pikap ‘a lot of sand’ Ñ pikop pikapap ‘desert; dunes’
Any Noun Pattern + P8

Any noun pattern can coexist with the pluralization pattern of P8.
(90) a. pikop pikapap ‘desert’ Ñ pikop pikapkap si kap ‘deserts’

b. dohu doi ‘school’ Ñ dohu doi si doi ‘schools’
c. phal pai ‘neighborhood’ Ñ phal pai si pai ‘neighborhoods’
Any Verb Pattern + P9.4

Any verb pattern can also be paired with the rhyming nam- reduplication to form a
moderate-scaled attributive. Of note, (91c) showcases how patterns might apply with cer-
tain grammatical particles. In the case of (91c), the particle is ignored by the reduplication
patterns. However, this is not universal (though that may depend on arguments about what
is and is not a ‘particle’). (82) and (83), for example, show the opposite, with the redupli-
cated noun/particle element ma being the target of the phrase’s s- reduplication.
(91) a. ãski ãske ‘to have a fever’ Ñ ãski ãske namãske ‘having a slight fever’
Sai fe ãski ãske namãske ni pai pho.
sai fe ãski ãske namãske ni pai pho
1.SG ATTR have a slight fever RLS sleep PFV
“Having a slight fever, I went to bed.”
b. wōwah ‘start to fall asleep’ Ñ wōwah namōwah ‘kinda starting to fall asleep’
Sai to fe wōwah namōwah ni xan pho.
sai to fe wōwah namōwah ni xan pho
1.SG man ATTR kinda starting to sleep RLS shake PFV
“I shook the guy who was kinda starting to fall asleep.”
c. duk duk la ‘to be reheated’ Ñ duk duk la namuk ‘reheated a bit’
Otkiba ni uma a kūna fe duk duk la namuk.
otkiba ni uma a kūna fe duk duk la nam- duk
1.SG- brother RLS eat ACC chicken ATTR bake RDP PSV NAM - RDP
“My brother ate the partially-reheated chicken.”
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Final Thoughts
Reduplication is everywhere in Mā Sip, and this article serves as an introduction to its
many and varied uses in the language, but this should be considered a work-in-progress.
For starters, many of these patterns are productive, but some of their uses many be seen
as more ‘decorative’ than functionally grammatical/lexical; other, more ‘regular’ pieces of
grammar can often be used to achieve the same meanings. In that way, I have not yet
made larger design decisions about how these reduplicated forms may differ semantically
from more routine constructions. For example, I am still unsure what the specific difference
between tana balana ‘best friend’ using bal- reduplication, and sūsō tana ‘best friend’ using
the superlative sūsō ‘best’ might be. So, there is a lot of work yet to be done specifically
regarding the semantic intricacies of these reduplication systems. I do hope, however, that
in presenting these uses I might inspire you to consider using reduplication in your own
languages. Mā Sip is obviously an extreme example of reduplication gone wild, but I would
love to see it used creatively in your projects as well!
Thank you for reading! Peace, Love, & Conlanging
- Lys
Page 183
Coming Attractions
Thank you for reading Segments! We hope you will join us again for Issue #04:
Lexicon
The submission period will open in November 2021!
Keep your eyes out for announcements in different conlang communities with more details
on content guides, submission guidelines, deadlines, and more!
In the meantime, start thinking up interesting vocabulary‐related things! Conceptual

metaphors, funky derivations, words with multiple meanings! This is meant to coincide with
Lexember to help develop and inspire unique lexicons!
Attribution
If you wish to cite the contents of this publication, please use the following format:
| Author, (YYYY). "Article Title," Segments (Issue##‐Article##), Month YYYY.
For instance, using Miacomet's article about Mwaneḷe in Issue #01:
| Miacomet, (2021). "Mwaneḷe Phonology," Segments (01‐02), April 2021.
All contents of this journal made available

under CC BY‐NC‐ND license
Authors retain any and all rights to their own work
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by‐nc‐nd/4.0/
Segments.
PROJECT MANAGER Lysimachiakis
EDITORS Lysimachiakis
Miacomet
LAYOUT ARTIST Slorany
INITIAL REVIEWERS Lysimachiakis

Miacomet
PROOFREADERS Lysimachiakis
Miacomet
Chrsevs
Intended as both an educational resource and a way to showcase the
best work the r/conlangs community had to offer, Segments. was
started in 2020 on an initiative by u/Lysimachiakis and u/Slorany,
with great amounts of help from the rest of the subreddit s moder‐
ation team.

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Peace, Love, & Conlanging

01 | Stripping in gan Minhó . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

02 | The Mwanelẹ Noun Phrase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

04 | Nouns in Ŋarâþ Crîþ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

06 | Noun Phrases in Wochanisep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

07 | Nominal morphosyntax in Pigáxio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

08 | Akiatu's definite article . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

10 | Izlodian noun cases and their uses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

11 | Pronouns in Laidzín . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

12 | More than Five: Grammatical Number in Wistanian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

13 | Aedian Definiteness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

14 | Honorifics in Osana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

15 | Class and Case in Bjark'ümii . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

16 | Maryannic Oblique Noun Phrases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

18 | Patterns of Reduplication in Mā Sip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

CEL Celestial gender

FOR Formal MID Middle voice

FUT Future N Neuter

GC Generic number NAME Personal Name

GEN Genitive NEG Negative

GER Gerund NMLZ Nominalizer

H Human NOM Nominative

HUM Human gender NOM.FUT Nominal future

IDEO Ideophone NOM.PST Nominal past

IMP Imperative NONSP Nonspecific

INAN Inanimate NPST Nonpast

INCL Inclusive NTR Intransitive

IND Indicative NVL Nonvolitional

INDEF Indefinite OBL Oblique

INE Inessive OBV Obviative

INF Infinitive OPT Optative

INS Instantive ORD Ordinal

INSTR Instrumental ORG Origin

INT Intermediate tense ORN Ornative

INV Inverse PA Paucal

IPFV Imperfective PCP Participle

IRR Irrealis PFV Perfective

JUSS Jussive PL Plural

LCN Location Agreement PN Pronoun, Proper noun

LK Linker prefix POS Possessive

LNK Linker POSR Possessor

LOC Locative POSS Possession

LONG Long numeral POSSD Possessed

M Masculine POT Potential

PRET Preterite RLS Realis

PRF Perfect R/R Reflexive/reciprocal

PRIV Privative RVS Reversative

PROG Progressive S Subject

PROX Proximal SBJV Subjunctive

PRS Present SEMBLII Semblative II

PST Past SG Singular

PSV Passive SHORT Short numeral

PTV Partitive SS Same-subject

PV Preverb TER Terrestrial gender

Q Interrogative TERM Terminative

QUOT Quotative TOP Topic

RDP Reduplication TRNS Translative