Ashian

Ashian, also known as Ashian, is the native language of the people who live on the central continent of Aterra.

• Ashian words

Phonology

Consonants

Ashian is known for its robust palatal series.

	Labial	Dental	Coronal	Palatal	Dorsal
Stop	p • b p • b	t • d t • d		č • ǯ c • ɟ	k • g k • ɡ
Fricative	f • v ɸ • β	þ • ð θ • ð	s • z s • z	š • ž ɕ • ʑ	ĸ • ɢ x • ɣ
Nasal	m m	n n		ň ɲ	ɴ ŋ
Lateral		l l		ʌ̌ ʎ
Trill			r r	ř r̝	ʀ ʀ
Approximant	w ʋ			ǰ j	ʜ h

Vowels

Ashian vowels may be short or long, and there are a number of diphthongs. Short vowels are generally pronounced lax, while long vowels are tense.

	Short Vowels			Long Vowels
	Front	Back		Front	Back
High				í • ý iː • yː	• ú • uː
	i • y ɪ • ʏ	• u • ʊ
Mid				é • œ́ eː • øː	• ó • oː
	e • œ ɛ • œ	• o • ɔ
Mid	a • a ·				á • ɑː ·

Diphthongs

	Front	Back
High	ui ʊɪ̯	iu ɪʊ̯
Mid-High		eu ɛʊ̯
Low-High	ai aɪ̯	au aʊ̯

Orthography & Romanization

Rom1	Rom2	IPA	Comparison
a	a	a	Like ⟨a⟩ in Spanish allí.
á	á	ɑː	Like ⟨a⟩ in father.
ai	aj	aɪ̯	Like ⟨igh⟩ in sigh.
au	aw	aʊ̯	Like ⟨ou⟩ in loud.
b	b	b	Like ⟨b⟩ in boat.
č	kj	ʨ	Like ⟨ch⟩ in chair.
d	d	d	Like ⟨d⟩ in dog.
ð	dh	ð	Like ⟨th⟩ in these.
e	e	ɛ	Like ⟨e⟩ in empty.
é	é	eː	Like ⟨é⟩ in French allé.
eu	ew	ɛʊ̯	Like ⟨eu⟩ in Spanish neutro.
f	f	ɸ	Like ⟨f⟩ in foot.
g	g	ɡ	Like ⟨g⟩ in goat.
ɢ	gh	ɣ	Like ⟨g⟩ in Spanish amigo.
ʜ	h	h	Like ⟨h⟩ in house.
i	i	ɪ	Like ⟨i⟩ in inch.
í	í	iː	Like ⟨ee⟩ in see.
iu	iw	iʊ̯	Like ⟨ieuw⟩ in Dutch nieuw.
ǰ	j	j	Like ⟨y⟩ in yes.
k	k	k	Like ⟨c⟩ in cape.
ĸ	kh	x	Like ⟨j⟩ in Spanish rojo.
l	l	l	Like ⟨l⟩ in Spanish solo.
ʌ̌	lj	ʎ	Like ⟨gl⟩ in Italian glielo.
m	m	m	Like ⟨m⟩ in man.
n	n	n	Like ⟨n⟩ in no.
ň	nj	ɲ	Like ⟨ñ⟩ in Spanish año.
ɴ	ng	ŋ	Like ⟨ng⟩ in singing.
o	o	ɔ	Like ⟨a⟩ in all.
ó	ó	oː	Like ⟨o⟩ in hope.
œ	ø	œ	Like ⟨eu⟩ in French peu.
œ́	ǿ	øː	Like ⟨eu⟩ in French creuse.
p	p	p	Like ⟨p⟩ in pike.
r	r	r	Like ⟨rr⟩ in Spanish perro.
ř	rj	r̝	Like ⟨ř⟩ in Czech Dvořak.
ʀ	rh	ʀ	Like ⟨r⟩ in French rien.
s	s	s	Like ⟨s⟩ in soap.
š	sj	ɕ	Like ⟨sh⟩ in shoe.
t	t	t	Like ⟨t⟩ in top.
þ	th	θ	Like ⟨th⟩ in think.
u	u	ʊ	Like ⟨oo⟩ in good.
ú	ú	uː	Like ⟨oo⟩ in food.
ui	uj	uɪ̯	Like ⟨uy⟩ in Spanish muy.
v	v	β	Like ⟨b⟩ in Spanish bosca.
w	w	ʋ	Like ⟨w⟩ in Dutch waarom.
y	y	ʏ	Like ⟨ü⟩ in German Hütte.
ý	ý	yː	Like ⟨u⟩ in French lu.
z	z	z	Like ⟨z⟩ in zig-zag.
ž	zj	ʑ	Like ⟨s⟩ in vision.
ǯ	gj	ʥ	Like ⟨j⟩ in joke.

Morphology

Substantives

Gender

Nouns are classified as masculine, feminine, or neuter. Verbs in the third person inflect for animate (masculine and feminine) and inanimate (neuter).

Number

Nouns and pronouns may be singular or plural. Number is marked on nouns and pronouns.

Cases

There are five grammatical cases, and these are reflected in all nouns and pronouns. The cases are: Nominative (subject), Genitive (possessive, ‘of’, ‘from’), Dative (Indirect Object, ‘for’, ‘to’), Instrumental (‘by means of’, ‘using’), and Accusative (direct object). Not every sentence needs to contain all of the cases; indeed, most sentences contain only the nominative and accusative. When prepositions are used, however, a case is required. Most prepositions take the dative or instrumental; some take the genitive or accusative; a select few take the nominative. See Adpositions for guidance on which prepositions are governed by various cases. Below I will describe some of the cases in more detail with the use of glosses.

Nominative

The nominative case is simply the subject of a sentence. It is the “default” form of the word, and the noun in the sentence which is doing the action in the verb. In the sentence “I read the book,” the word “I” is in the nominative.

The nominative case is also used in copular sentences. In the sentence “I am an author,” both “I” and “author” are in the nominative case.

Though nouns and articles no longer have case in English, the pronouns do: The pronouns “I,” “he,” “she,” “it,” “we,” “you,” “they” and “who” are all nominative (though “it” and “you” are the same in other cases as well). The archaic prepositions “thou” and “ye” are also nominative. (Modern “you” is from the accusative form of “ye”.)

Accusative

In the ancient neo-grammarian tradition of describing cases in grammars, the accusative normally comes fourth or fifth in the list of cases, but I mention it here in second place because this is the most direct contrast to the nominative, and sometimes the most difficult to grasp for the student who is new to grammatical cases. The accusative case is used for the noun or pronoun which fills the role of direct object in a sentence. In our previous sentence, “I read the book,” “the book” is the direct element and would be in the accusative case.

As aforementioned, English does retain the accusative case in its pronouns: “me,” “him,” “her,” “it,” “us,” “you,” “them” and “whom” are the accusative pronouns in English, though “whom” is falling out of use now.

Dative

The dative case, again out of the traditional order, is not as frequently used as the accusative, but it is still quite common. The dative describes the indirect object of the sentence, usually in relation to the accusative (direct object), or used with a preposition to establish location or direction. The dative pronouns in English have long since melded with the accusative, but it is often replaced with phrases using the preposition “to” or “for.” In the sentence “I gave the book to him,” “to him” is the dative element – it is the indirect object of “give,” while “the book” is the direct object” – that which is being given. ok rag ʌ̌af feron I gave the book to him. 1SG.NOM give.PST DEF book.ACC PRP 3SG.DAT You might be tempted to ask, “What if I were to say, ‘I gave him the book’?” This changes some syntax rules, but it does not actually change the cases of the objects: “the book” is still what is being given (accusative), and “him” is still what the direct object is being given to (dative). I gave (to) him the book. 1SG.NOM give.PST (∅) 3SG.DAT DEF book.ACC

Dative/Accusative Alternation

Certain prepositions in Ashian, such as suk ‘with’ and íš ‘out of’ are always followed by the dative case, though other prepositions may take different cases depending on other factors such as motion or change of state. Particularly “locative” prepositions which describe where something is tend to take the dative case when something is stationary and the accusative when it is moving. This is a feature that is believed to be inherited from the Orka language, which in turn inherited it from Germanic. For example, in the sentence “The book is on the table,” “on” is your dative preposition and “the table” is in the dative case, because the book (the subject) is not in motion. ʌ̌avel diš koðrai The book is on the table. DEF book-NOM LOC on DEF table.DAT However, in the sentence “Put the book on the table,” the book is no longer stationary; it is the direct object of the imperative verb “put,” and “on the table” slips into the accusative case as well to reflect that there is motion involved. vrá ʌ̌af er koðra Put the book on(to) the table. put-IMP DEF book-ACC on DEF table.ACC There are some subtleties, but generally the rule is: If the subject is moving, accusative; otherwise, dative. As the dative began to vanish from English, we compensated for this by changing some of the actual prepositions themselves, though others just collapsed together. For example, the prepositions in and on got fused with the “accusative to” and became “into” and “onto” to replace the dative/accusative distinction when it was lost.

Genitive

The genitive case is fairly simple but is sometimes hard for English speakers to grasp because we actually have two genitive cases, and only one of them is really still a case. The true genitive case in English is the possessive “–’s” ending which indicates possession, though the secondary genitive is the preposition of. In any case, it is a single case in Ashian: the genitive. In Ashian it also encompasses the possessive pronouns, such as “my” or “their.” Sticking with our examples, in the sentence “Your book is dedicated to the memory of John’s brother,” there are actually three genitive clauses floating around, all different in English: Ʌ̌af sú ??? Your book is dedicated to the memory of John’s brother. 2SG.GEN book dedicate-PSV.3SG to DEF memory.DAT John.GEN brother.GEN Here the possessive adjective “your” is the genitive of “you,” “John’s” is a true genitive retaining it’s “-’s,” and finally “of (the) brother,” though this is broken up by the second genitive. Sometimes it can be helpful in phrases like these to reword sentences using “of” to target the genitives, e.g. “The book [GEN: of yours] is dedicated [DAT: to the memory] [GEN: of the brother] [GEN: of John].

Instrumental

The instrumental is a simple case that is more rarely used than the others, but it simply means “by means of,” “with the use of,” or “via.” ok vrát-aš ʌ̌af er koðra rú flek-in. I put (the) book on(to) (the) table with my hand. 1SG put-PST book.ACC PRP table.ACC 1SG.GEN hand-INS

Possession

Possession is indicated in one of two ways. For inalienable possession such as body parts or family members, the genitive is used (e.g. rú flek ‘my hand’, windu má ‘our mother’). The genitive expression in this case precedes the possessed noun. Alienable possession instead follows the noun, and is constructed from the phrase ek fleki “at hand,” e.g. ʌ̌af ek fleki rú ‘my book’ would literally translate to ‘the book at my hand’. Here the genitive (rú) follows the dative expression.

Pronouns

Personal pronouns in Ashian inflect for number (singular and plural) and gender (masculine, feminine, or neuter). The first and second person pronouns do not inflect for gender. Pronouns do not inflect for clusivity.

Demonstratives, Articles, and Other Determiners

Ashian has two levels of deixis in its demonstratives (this/here versus that/there). The demonstratives are affixed to the nouns they modify. The demonstratives decline as the pronouns.

Adjectives

All generally precede the nouns the modify. Like nouns, all adjectives fall into groups determined by their final vowel (or lack thereof). The –aš stem adjectives are declined very similarly to –aš stem nouns. (Other declensions to be determined.) E.g. šili stofreš ‘the small cloud’

Numerals

The Ashian numerals are duodecimal; that is, base-12, like most other number systems on Aterra. For duodecimal transcription, 〈X〉 is used to represent ‘ten’ and 〈B〉 for ‘eleven’. Decimal equivalents are given in parentheses after the duodecimal. nín ča dlé þer þuž šox šum tax rem gent lesk ǯuk 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 X (10) B (11) 10 (12)

Verbs

Ashian is what is described as a “V2” language. That is, it is normally SVO (subject – verb – object), but when a clause begins with another element, such as an adverb or adverbial phrase, the verb changes place with the subject. In other words, the standard English word order is used in the sentence Ok ekla þibreň “I see the-bird,” but add the word ‘now’ – Far ekla ok þibreň “Now see I the-bird” and the order of subject and verb changes. (This does not happen after conjunctions.)

Negation

Negation is formed by affixing the negative suffix –ank to the conjugated verb, though this may change the conjugation slightly depending on the ending, particularly in the animate third person singular, where the negative assimilates to the palatalized ending.

Syntax

Basic Word Order & Alignments

Typology

The basic order of Arbulian is SVO; that is: Subject, Verb, Object.

Morphosyntactic Alignment

The morphosyntactic alignment is nominative-accusative.

Noun Phrases

1. Adposition
2. Determiner
3. Numeral
4. Adjective (Phrase)
5. NOUN
6. Demonstrative/Article
7. Genitive (Phrase)
8. Relative (Clause)

Genitive and relative clauses tend to follow the rest of the noun phrase, but their order is not set. E.g. ‘…with those three thin men from the village who stole my brother’s dog’ would be translated more literally as ‘with three thin those-men from the-village who stole the-dog of-the-brother of-me.’

…suk dlé širna raznel ís ǰedraɢiex

‘…with those three thin men from the village

nwoří tluɢest xrelex ek fleki gau rú.

who stole my brother’s dog.’

Adjective Phrases

1. ADJECTIVE
2. Degree Adverb

Sakoš ravař hela batis xreleš.

‘That was a very good dog.’

Verb Phrases

1. Subject
2. VERB
3. Negative Marker
4. Standard Adverb
5. Temporal/Spatial Adverb or Phrase
6. Object

OR

1. Adverb(s)
2. VERB
3. Negative Marker
4. Subject
5. Object