Övüsi Grammar

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Övüsi is an inflected or fusional language. The language is strongly head-final and has subject-object-verb (SOV) word order. Nouns and adjectives are inflected for number and case, and verbs for tense, aspect, mode, and subject agreement for person and sometimes number.

The full name of the language is Övüsi Kieru, "Elvish Tongue." It has undergone several changes over the ceenturies, but some ancient words have been preserved in their original form in the context of magic use. The Elves have consciously shielded their language from borrowings to maintain its perceived purity.

Nouns

Nouns inflect for number and case. There are thirteen cases in total. Noun declensions in Övüsi are based on whether their original forms ended in vowels or consonants. At the current stage of the language, words cannot conclude with consonants. The declensions are extensive, but the following example declension provides some insight into the system:

	Singular	Plural	Meaning
Nominative	thuoke	thuoki	bird(s)
Accusative	thuokie	thuokii	bird(s) (direct object)
Genitive	thuoka	thuokai	bird’s/birds’
Instrumental	thuoku	thuokï	with the bird(s)
Locative	thuokö	thuokü	near the bird(s)
Ablative	thuokau	thuokavi	away from the bird(s)
Allative	thuokaalou	thuokaalli	towards the bird(s)
Inessive	thuokannö	thuokannü	inside the bird(s)
Illative	thuokou	thuokoli	into the bird(s)
Elative	thuokannau	thuokannavi	out of the bird(s)
Perlative	thuokausu	thuokausï	by way of the bird(s)
Aversive	thuokasshu	thuokasshï	avoiding the bird(s)
Vocative	thuokuo	thuokorii	O, bird(s)!

Verbs

Verbs in Övüsi exhibit agreement with subjects in person and number in the first person and sometimes in the imperative, and only in person otherwise. Each verb possesses three stems: imperfect, perfect, and future. Verbs can be either dynamic and stative, and they differ their available modes. The modes are indicative, passive, and potential, with the passive being absent for stative verbs. A copula serves emphatic, negating, and equational functions.

The stems for imperfect, perfect, and future are -i, -has, and the bare stem, respectively. Suffixes are added in the three modes, and agreement affixes may further modify the form. Depending on whether or not the agreement suffixes are added the end of the form changes. The first item in each pair are how the form ends if nothing is added. Consider the example of the verb mikaa, meaning "to say," for which the paradigm is shown below:

Vowel-final	Imperfect	Perfect	Future
Indicative	mikaishi(i/m-)	mikahassi(i/m-)	mikasi(i/m-)
Passive	mikaifa(a/s-)	mikahaffa(a/s-)	mikafa(a/s-)
Potential	mikaitho(u/r-)	mikahattho(u/r-)	mikatho(u/r-)
Infinitive	mikaa

The following table illustrates the agreement paradigm:

Subject agreement	Singular	Plural
First person	-ï	-uji
Second person	-au
Third person	-e
Imperative	-uo	-orii

Two examples which highlight the use of agreement markers are shown as follows:

• Kenie mikaithorï. "I can say it." The third-person pronoun kenie is in the accusative, and the verb is in the imperfect potential with a first person singular subject agreement suffix.
• Kenie mikaithou shï! "I must say it!" The emphatic copula is used, expressing what can be interpreted as "must". Here, the form without the subject agreement suffix is used.