Aedian

On this page I will give a brief, condensed, and simplified description of basic Aedian grammar.

Phonology

Aedian phonology is characterized by a small set of phonemes and relatively simple syllables: 13 consonant phonemes, 5 vowel phonemes, and a (C)V(C) syllable structure.

Consonants

		Bilabial	Dental	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Velar
Nasal		/m/ m		/n/ n
Stop	Voiceless	/p/ p		/t/ t		/k/ k
	Voiced	/b/ b		/d/ d		/ɡ/ g
Fricative			/θ/ þ	/s/ s	/ɕ/ š
Approximant				/l/ l
Rhotic				/r/ r

Aedian distinguishes voicing in stops only. The fricatives /θ s ɕ/ are voiceless [θ s ɕ] by default, but the sibilants are realized as their voiced counterparts [z ʑ] before voiced consonants, even across word boundaries. The rhotic /r/ is generally realized as a tap [ɾ]; when geminated /rr/, however, it is realized as a long trill [rː]. The alveolar nasal /n/ assimilates its point of articulation to any following non-continuant, giving it the velar allophone [ŋ] before /k ɡ/ and eliminating its contrast with /m/ before bilabial /m p b/.

Vowels

The Aedian vowels form an unremarkable five-vowel system.

	Front	Back
High	/i/ i	/u/ u
Mid	/e/ e	/o/ o
Low	/a/ a

Each Aedian vowel has the potential to be syllabic, but loses its syllabicity in certain phonological contexts. The high front vowel /i/, for example, is realized as its non-syllabic counterpart [j] or [ɪ̯] (depending on context) when adjacent to other vowels. We can see this process in words like itu [ˈitu] ‘path’, which, with the prefix o- (causative), gives us the verb oitu- [ˈoɪ̯tu] ‘to make way; to give space’. These two forms may be analyzed as /itu/ and /oitu/, respectfully.

We may also observe how the prefix i- brings about an initial syllabic [i] in iroškadu [iˈɾoːɕkadu] ‘inheritance’ (from roškadu ‘hand-me-down; heirloom’), but non-syllabic [j] in iariba [ˈjaɾiba] ‘adult population’ (from ariba ‘adult’). Likewise, the other vowels lose their syllabicity in certain contexts.

Morphology

Aedian morphology is primarily suffixing, but contains certain nonconcatenative elements, including a few infixes and a system of ablaut in nouns.

Nouns

Nouns are inflected for number, case, and definiteness. Two grammatical numbers, singular and plural, are distinguished. The indefinite singular is the bare, unmarked form of the noun; the indefinite plural is marked by the prefix ta-; and the definite singular and plural are both marked primarily by ablaut, though occasionally with affixes (usually infixes).

		‘boy’	‘warrior’	‘strawberry’	‘spear’	‘horn’	‘goat’
Singular	Indefinite	uaga	tul	bita	kutu	tiga	keli
	Definite	uaega	tel	beta	koitu	taiga	kegili
Plural	Indefinite	ta-uaga	ta-tul	ta-bita	ta-kutu	ta-tiga	ta-keli
	Definite	uaoga	tol	bota	kautu	teuga	keuili

There are four cases: The oblique, the nominative, the accusative, and the indirect case. Furthermore, the case-marking suffixes come in two sets, encoding an Aedian-specific category that I've chosen to call state (a terribly vague term that I've used for too long to abandon, I'm afraid). Within this category a noun may either be present or absent. The absent state functions the vast majority of the time as negation, but it has a few cases of usage that are not clearly to be understood with a negating function. Furthermore, each noun has a bound form which has a variety of functions in the syntax. The bound form is commonly identical to the uninflected form, but it often involves final vowel epenthesis.

There's a good bit of allomorphy among the case–state suffixes, so I've just given some of the more regular paradigms in the chart below.

		‘person’	‘child’	‘arm warmer’	‘mutton’	‘hand’	‘village’
Present	Oblique	baga	bik	uš	udup	lan	domi
	Nominative	bagas	bikke	uþþe	udukke	lanus	domis
	Accusative	bagaia	bikia	ušuia	udukia	lanuia	domia
	Indirect	bagat	bikti	ušti	udupti	lanut	domti
	Bound	baga-	biki-	ušu-	udupi-	lanu-	domi-
Absent	Oblique	bagap	bikip	uppu	udukpu	lambu	domip
	Nominative	bagal	bikil	ušlu	udupil	lallu	domil
	Accusative	bagata	bikta	ušta	udupta	lanuta	domta
	Indirect	bagappa	bikpa	ušpa	uduppa	lanuppa	domippa
	Bound	bagabu-	bikibu-	uppu-	udukpu-	lambu-	domibu-

Verbs

Aedian verbs can be characterized as suffixing and primarily agglutinative, with some fusional elements. They are inflected for aspect, voice, and mood (this category isn't really mood or modality in the strictest typologically comparable sense, but rather a category that modifies a verb's morphosyntactic properties).

There are two aspects: The perfective and the imperfective. There are four voices: The active, the passive, the indirect passive (which allows otherwise indirect arguments to be promoted to subject), and the oblique passive (which allows otherwise oblique arguments to be promoted to subject). Finally there are four moods (again, not really moods strictly speaking): The indicative, the conditional (not the best term, but coined early in development), the final, and the nominalized form.

Aspect is marked in a few different ways. In most verbs, it is marked by a change in the stem-final vowel. In some stem types, aspect is marked by suffixing. Each aspect marking pattern also corresponds to a pattern of marking nominalization in the perfective active.

	-a-	-i-		-u-		-e-		-o-	-ae-	-ao-
Perfective	-ae	-e	-ai	-e	-oi	-i	-uia	-uia	-aia	-aoia
Imperfective	-ao	-o	-eu	-o	-au	-edu		-odu	-aedu	-aodu
Perfective active nominalized	-a	-a	-e	-a	-o	-ega		-oga	-aega	-aoga

In the greater scheme of verbal morphology, the perfective forms shown in the table above are only used when the verb is unmarked for voice and mood. Otherwise, suffixes are added to the bare stem in the perfective, and to the imperfective form in the imperfective. The only exceptions are the perfective nominalized forms; the perfective active nominalized forms have their own stems which uses the bare stem in the imperfective.

		Active	Passive	Indirect passive	Oblique passive
Perfective	Indicative	katae	kataþ	kataþþi	kataþe
	Conditional	katasae	katasaþ	katasaþþi	katasaþe
	Finalis	katamae	katamaþ	katamaþþi	katamaþe
	Nominalized	kata	kataska	kataþitka	kataþa
Imperfective	Indicative	katao	kataoþ	kataoþþi	kataoþe
	Conditional	kataosae	kataosaþ	kataosaþþi	kataosaþe
	Finalis	kataomae	kataomaþ	kataomaþþi	kataomaþe
	Nominalized	katatka	kataoska	kataoþitka	kataoþa

There exists a somewhat less common class of Aedian verbs called -de verbs. They are denominal verbs whose perfective active nominalized form ends in the suffix -de. Virtually every -de verbs follows the pattern shown below. Note the optional -d- in the imperfective nominalized forms; forms without this -d- are considered somewhat old-fashioned.

		Active	Passive	Indirect passive	Oblique passive
Perfective	Indicative	-di	-diþ	-diþþi	-diþe
	Conditional	-ssae	-ssaþ	-ssaþþi	-ssaþe
	Finalis	-bbae	-bbaþ	-bbaþþi	-bbaþe
	Nominalized	-de	-deþ	-deþþi	-deþe
Imperfective	Indicative	-ddu	-dduþ	-dduþþi	-dduþe
	Conditional	-ddusae	-ddusaþ	-ddusaþþi	-ddusaþe
	Finalis	-ddumae	-ddumaþ	-ddumaþþi	-ddumaþe
	Nominalized	-de(d)u	-de(d)uþ	-de(d)uþþi	-de(d)uþe

Adjectives

Aedian adjectives have two main forms: The bound form and the free form. The bound form is considered unmarked; the free form is marked primarily by ablaut, or by affixing (usually infixing). The free forms frequently also lose final vowels.

	‘cute’	‘old’	‘big’	‘smart’	‘little’	‘evil’	‘mighty’	‘comfortable’
Bound	iaki-	ibu-	kuma-	šili-	suki-	nema-	toktu-	maeþþuru-
Free	iaok	obu	koma	šeuli	sauk	neguma	toguktu	maeguþþur

Pronouns

Aedian pronouns, like nouns, inflect for person, case, number, and state. They also each have a bound form, which is most commonly used for possession. Pronouns inflect for the same cases as nouns. They have three grammatical numbers: Singular, dual, and plural.

		Singular		Dual		Plural
		Present	Absent	Present	Absent	Present	Absent
1st person	Oblique	do	da	kaum	kam	kau	ka
	Nominative	þu	þi	im	nam	i	nao
	Accusative	þe	þet	imia	namta	e	nat
	Indirect	det	dappa	kumti	kama	koit	kappa
	Bound	di-	da-	kumi-	kami-	ku-	ka-
2nd person	Oblique	bo	beu	lim	lam	li	la
	Nominative	mu	mao	rim	ram	ri	rao
	Accusative	me	mat	rimia	ramta	re	rat
	Indirect	bet	bippa	limti	lama	lait	lappa
	Bound	bu-	bi-	limi-	lami-	li-	la-
3rd person	Oblique	so	seu	tom	tem	to	teu
	Nominative	ku	kao	um	am	u	ao
	Accusative	ke	kat	umia	amta	oi	at
	Indirect	set	sippa	tumti	tima	tet	tippa
	Bound	su-	si-	tumi-	timi-	tu-	ti-

Syntax

The following subsections will give a general overview of Aedian syntax.

General word order

With a few exceptions pertaining to information structure, Aedian may broadly be described as having SOV word order.

aekke sideu
aekke	sideu
def\girl.nom	sleep.impfv
‘the girl is sleeping’

uaegas bitaia daikkoi
uaega-s	bita-ia	daikkoi
def\boy-nom	strawberry-acc	pick.pfv
‘the boy picked a strawberry’

Morphosyntactic alignment

Aedian is a nominative–accusative language. Subjects of both transitive and intransitive sentences are marked by the nominative case, whereas direct objects (primarily patients and goals of motion) are marked by the accusative case.

gettas gikpo
getta-s	gikpo
def\shepherd-nom	bathe.impfv
‘the shepherd is bathing’

gettas uattuia naedu
getta-s	uattu-ia	nae-du
def\shepherd-nom	brandy-acc	drink-impfv
‘the shepherd is drinking brandy’

gettas koburmia bapte
getta-s	koburmi-ia	bapte
def\shepherd-nom	def.pl\coast-acc	travel.pfv
‘the shepherd traveled to the ocean’

Recipients, beneficiaries, and a few other semantic roles are treated as indirect objects, which are marked by the indirect case.

gettas aumegit bitaia oia
getta-s	aume-gi-t	bita-ia	nae-du
def\shepherd-nom	lover-def-ind	strawberry-acc	give-pfv
‘the shepherd gave his lover a strawberry’

A wide array of different roles are marked by the oblique case. Most prominently, however, the olbique case marks reported speech/information and the results/products of processes.

aekke paleuia kiggu kine
aekke	paleu-ia	kiggu-∅	kine
def\girl.nom	def.pl\dough-acc	dumpling-obl	press.pfv
‘the girl pressed the dough into a dumpling’

battukaes koit gennoi otigoi
battukae-s	koit	gennoi-∅	otigoi
def\soldier-nom	1pl.ind	def\fight-obl	tell.pfv
‘the soldier told us of the fight’

Sentence types

Like many other languages, Aedian uses different sentence types for different functions. I'll give a few examples of the big ones, declaratives, imperatives, and interrogatives.

Declarative sentences are formed with the indicative form on the main verb of the sentence. This is what all the other sentences so far have done. Imperatives on the other hand, use either the nominalized form or the finalis form (for softer commands).

ektuaia bika
ektua-ia	bika
def\raccoon-acc	catch.pfv.nmlz
‘catch the raccoon’

emmia dapetimae
emmi-ia	dapeti-∅-mae
def\tunic-acc	take_off-pfv-fin
‘please take off your tunic’

Interrogative sentences come in two types depending on the kind of question. First there are polar questions: These are formed by adding the particle bi in the beginning of the sentence, or at the end to form a tag question (tag questions may also use the particle ae).

bi mu gaišat þade
bi	mu	gaiša-t	þade
q	2sg.nom	def\maternal_cousin-ind	meet.pfv
‘did you meet your cousin?’

mu akalakaet maptoia bi
mu	akalakae-t	mapto-ia	bi
2sg.nom	def\prince-ind	know-pfv	q
‘you know the prince, right?’

Content questions are the other main type of question. These are formed by using an appropriate interrogative element, such as lu ‘what’, lugu ‘how’, or lumši ‘which way’, in the place of a lexical element.

lugas koituia bitaoia
luga-s	koitu-ia	bitao-ia
who-nom	def\spear-acc	throw-pfv
‘who threw the spear?’

battukaes luia bitaoia
battukae-s	lu-ia	bitao-ia
def\soldier-nom	what-acc	throw-pfv
‘what did the soldier throw?’

battukaes koituia ludi
battukae-s	koitu-ia	lu-di
def\soldier-nom	what-acc	do_what-pfv
‘what did the soldier do to the spear?’

Subordinate clauses

There's a couple different subordinate clause types in Aedian. All subordinate clauses are formed using non-indicative main verbs within that clause. The two most prominent types of subordinate clauses are relative clauses and adverbial clauses.

A relative clauses is a subordinate clauses whose content modifies a noun. It is formed with a nominalized verb and by placing the relative clause after the modified noun. Relative clauses are furthermore bound to their nouns by a relative particle; either ge (before the modified noun; more common) or aege (between the noun and the relative clause; less common).

taibbus ge ektuaia mogaia iaptio monoia
taibbu-s	ge	ektua-ia	moga-ia	iaptio	mono-ia
def\smith-nom	rel	def\raccoon-acc	def.pl\berry-acc	steal.pfv.nmlz	catch-pfv
‘the smith caught the raccoon that ate the berries’

þeptus aege det esurrakia bilkide danne
þeptu-s	aege	det	esurrak-ia	bilki-de	danne
def\young_woman-nom	rel	1sg.ind	def\necklace-acc	give-pfv.nmlz	leave.pfv
‘the young woman who gave me the necklace left’

An adverbial clause is one that modifies an entire sentence. Adverbial clauses appear in the beginning of a sentence. The main verb of an adverbial clause may be nominalized, conditional, or finalis, each bearing different meanings for the semantics of relationship between the main clause and the adverbial clause. These semantics may further be modified by the presence of a conjugation after the first word of the main clause.

kaes siditka dumaiddis daguddi
kae-s	sidi-tka	dumaiddi-s	dagu-ddi
def\priest-nom	sleep-impfv.nmlz	def\prince-nom	sneak_away-pfv
‘with the priest sleeping, the prince snuck away’

kaes sideusae dumaiddis daguddi
kae-s	sideu-sae	dumaiddi-s	dagu-ddi
def\priest-nom	sleep.impfv-cond	def\prince-nom	sneak_away-pfv
‘since the priest was sleeping, the prince snuck away’

kaes siditka dumaiddis ro daguddi
kae-s	sidi-tka	dumaiddi-s	ro	dagu-ddi
def\priest-nom	sleep-impfv.nmlz	def\prince-nom	when	sneak_away-pfv
‘while the priest was sleeping, the prince snuck away’

kaes siditka dumaiddis apti daguddi
kae-s	sidi-tka	dumaiddi-s	apti	dagu-ddi
def\priest-nom	sleep-impfv.nmlz	def\prince-nom	but	sneak_away-pfv
‘although the priest was sleeping, the prince snuck away’