Afata Grammar

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Afata is a fusional language. Nouns are declined for case, pronouns for case and number, and verbs are conjugated for aspect and agree with their arguments.

Pronouns

In Afata, nouns and pronouns are categorized into three distinct types: sentient, inanimate, and animate, the latter mainly comprising animals that lack the capacity of speech and complex thought. This applied to the following personal pronouns:

		Singular	Plural
First Person		künu	mini
Second Person		daa	saa
Third Person	Sentient	zulin	zume
	Inanimate	ranin	rame
	Animate	vün	vüme

Note that these pronouns, like nouns, undergo declension for case.

Nouns

Afata nouns decline for 18 distinct cases, namely nominative, accusative, dative, instrumental, benefactive, malefactive, apudessive, allative, ablative, inessive, illative, elative, superessive, superlative, delative, initiative, perlative, and aversive.

This extensive case system arose from the incorporation of five prepositions from Veda—ag, kho, yu, shun, and ghor—into nouns. The pronouns combined with nouns associated with parts of the structure or body of a typical sentient, inanimate, or animate noun to form the different cases. For instance, the preposition ag (meaning "come" in Veda) combined with a word in the sentient class and a word for a part of the body formed one case. Similar processes occurred for inanimate and animate nouns.

The cases are summarized in the table below:

	Sentient	Inanimate	Animate
	zuu "sentient being"	anga "shield"	maga "eagle"
Nominative	zuu	anga	maga
Accusative	hozuumen	howangidhen	homaazhu
Dative	shudhuumen	shunangidhen	shumaasi
Instrumental	ezuumen	ayangidhen	emaasi
Benefactive	shudhuuzhe	shunangun	shumaale
Malefactive	hozuukon	ürangung	homaamas
Apudessive	hozuulu	howangung	homaapa
Allative	üzuulu	üyangung	ümaapa
Ablative	ezuukon	ayaashudhon	emaamas
Inessive	hozuuzhe	howangun	homaale
Illative	üzuuzhe	üyangun	ümaale
Elative	ezuuzhe	ayangun	emaale
Superessive	hozuudho	howaadho	homaazhu
Superlative	üzuudho	üyaadho	ümaazhu
Delative	ezuudho	ayaadho	emaazhu
Initiative	ezuulu	ayangung	emaapa
Perlative	üzuumen	ürangidhen	ümaasi
Aversive	üzuukon	üraashudhon	ümaamas

Adjectives

Adjectives in Afata follow a relatively straightforward pattern. They have plain, comparative, and superlative forms, and the specific form depends on the final sound of the adjective. Notably, this is a significant reduction of complexity compared to the Veda forms. Examples of adjectives of different endings are displayed in the following table:

	Vowel-Final	Stop-Final	Nasal-Final	Fricative-Final
	zho "large"	thibi "quick"	shongo "strong"	shuvu "quiet"
Plain	zho	thibi	shongo	shuvu
Comparative	zhoyu	thiiyu	shoogu	shuuyu
Superlative	zhoyume	thiiyume	shoogume	shuuyume

Verbs

Verbs in Afata involve two key elements: argument agreement and conjugation. To understand how these work, the system of consonant mutation must first be considered.

Consonant mutation

Consonant mutation in Afata encompasses two distinct types: V-mutation, occurring between vowels or vowel-like elements, and N-mutation, affecting consonants following nasals.

V-mutation involves voiceless stops and fricatives becoming voiced, and voiced stops becoming fricatives, and /v/ becoming /w/. The changes are summarized below:

• Voiceless Stops: p t ts k q ʔ > b d dz g g {j/ɾ}
• Voiced Stops: b d dz g > v ð z ɣ
• Voiceless Fricatives: f s h > v z j
• Voiced Fricatives: v z > w z

Additionally, Afata sound changes, such as the change of /ɣ/ to /j/, /ts/ to /θ/, and /dz/ to /ð/, applied after these changes.

N-mutations present a different set of alterations, involving changes to approximants as well:

• Voiceless Stops: mp nt nts ŋk ɴq nʔ > b d dz g g n
• Voiced Stops: mb nd ndz ŋg > m n n ŋ
• Voiceless Fricatives: mf ns nh > p ts k
• Voiced Fricatives: mv nz > b dz
• Approximants: nɾ nl ŋw nj > d n ŋw ɲ

The Afata sound changes applied after these changes as well.

Agreement

Agreement in Afata verbs occurs with both the subject and the object, when present. This is accomplished through prefixes, based on the involved arguments and following an accusative alignment, which are attached to the beginning of the verb. The shape of the prefix depends on if the verb begins with a consonant or vowel. For vowel-initial verbs, a consonant-final prefix is used, and remains largely unchanged. For consonant-initial verbs, mutation may occur when the prefix is applied, depending on the history of the prefix.

Intransitive verbs

Intransitive verbs have rather straightforward agreement prefixes, which differ in their application to vowel-initial and consonant-initial verbs, respectively. Notably, there is no plural distinction in the third person prefixes. The prefixes for intransitive verbs are summarized as follows:

Intransitive		Vowel-Initial		Consonant-Initial
		Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
First Person		kün-	min-	kü- (+ N-mutation)	mi- (+ N-mutation)
Second Person		d-	s-	da- (+ V-mutation)	sa- (+ V-mutation)
Third Person	Sentient	zuh-		zuu-
	Inanimate	ran-		ra- (+ N-mutation)
	Animate	vw-		vu- (+ V-mutation)

Transitive verbs

Transitive verb prefixes are more complex, necessitating tables to represent the many combinations of subject and object. This table illustrates the forms occuring before vowel-initial verbs (these forms do not cause mutations):

Transitive Vowel-Initial		Object
		1SG	2SG	1PL	2PL	3SN	3IN	3AN
Subject	1SG	kün-	küth-	küm-	küth-	küthw-	kün-	küw-
	2SG	dün-	dün-	dem-	des-	dezw-	dün-	dew-
	1PL	mün-	mith-	mün-	mith-	mithw-	mün-	miw-
	2PL	shun-	sedh-	sem-	shun-	sezw-	shun-	sew-
	3SN	zhun-	zudh-	zum-	zus-	zhun-	zwon-	zuw-
	3IN	rün-	rath-	ram-	rath-	rathw-	r(e/o)n-	rew-
	3AN	vün-	vüdh-	vüm-	vüs-	vüzw-	vün-	vü(n/b)-

Notes:

A table of the prefix forms occuring before consonant-initial verbs is seen below:

Transitive Consonant-Initial		Object
		1SG	2SG	1PL	2PL	3SN	3IN	3AN
Subject	1SG	küko-	kütha-	kümi-	kütha-	küthu-	küro-	kügu-
	2SG	degü-	dego-	demi-	desa-	dezu-	dero-	düü-
	1PL	mikü-	mitha-	miko-	mitha-	mithu-	miro-	migu-
	2PL	segü-	sedha-	semi-	sego-	sezu-	sero-	süü-
	3SN	zugü-	zudha-	zumi-	zusa-	zug(a/o)-	zuro-	zuu-
	3IN	rakü-	ratha-	rami-	ratha-	rathu-	ra(ka/tho)-	ragu-
	3AN	vügü-	vüdha-	vümi-	vüsa-	vüzu-	vüro-	vü(ka/bo)-

Notes:

Conjugation

The verb conjugation in Afata includes imperfective, perfective, imperative, and infinitive forms, along with active and passive voices. Of note are the verbal augments, which supplement the conjugation system.

Active voice

The active voice conjugation of verbs is exemplified as follows:

	pü "to drink"	bana "to live"	adha "to hope"
Imperfective	pü	bana	adha
Perfective	püno	bana	aana
Imperative	püdhí	baní	athí
Infinitive	pübe	bame	aape

Passive voice

For the passive voice, the conjugation is described below:

	übü "to be drunk"	üvana "to be lived"	üyadha "to be hoped"
Imperfective	übü	üvana	üyadha
Perfective	übüno	üvana	üyaana
Imperative	übüdhí	üvaní	üyathí
Infinitive	übübe	üvame	üyaape