Væyne Zaanics Grammar

Væyne Zaanics Language Navigation: Home, Phonology, Grammar, Vocabulary, Orthography

Væyne Zaanics is an inflected a priori language, with both fusional and agglutinative features and both head-initial and head-final features. It is a constructed language both in-universe and out-of-universe, and has a fairly regular morphosyntax.

Epenthesis

An important, pervasive rule of Væyne Zaanics is that an epenthetic n is always added before a vowel-initial suffix when it is added to an approximant-final stem. This rule applies to every part of speech that inflects.

Nouns

Inflection

Nouns are declined by case and number, and belong to one of two main declension classes: 'light' and 'dark'. Furthermore, each class has a declension pattern used with consonant-final stems and another used with vowel-final ones. A noun's class can easily be guessed by the final of the nominative singular form, as light nouns always end with eh while dark ones always end with oh.

As the creators of Væyne Zaanics were influenced by Latin, the two languages both distinguish two numbers, singular and plural, and have the same cases, which have similar uses:

1. The nominative co-occurs with subjects,
2. The accusative co-occurs with direct objects and agents of causative verbs,
3. The genitive co-occurs with possessors and objects of causative verbs,
4. The dative co-occurs with indirect objects, goals, beneficiaries and some prepositions,
5. The locative co-occurs with locations and some prepositions,
6. The ablative co-occurs with sources and some prepositions,
7. The vocative is used for direct address. Unlike the other cases, which are marked by suffixes, the vocative is marked by a prefix on vowel-final stems and by a circumfix on the others. Furthermore, n is added between the vocative forms' prefixes and vowel-initial stems.

The following table contains two examples of nouns from the same, consonant-final root van, the light vaneh (eagle) and the dark vanoh (vulture):

	Light		Dark
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	vaneh	vani	vanoh	vanu
Accusative	vanæ	vane	vana	vano
Genitive	vanec	vanic	vanoc	vanuc
Dative	vanær	vaner	vanar	vanor
Locative	vanes	vanis	vanos	vanus
Ablative	vanæælæ	vaneele	vanaala	vanoolo
Vocative	evane	ivane	ovano	uvano

The following table contains two examples of nouns from the same, vowel-final root tiri, the light tiriveh (dove) and the dark tirivoh (pigeon). Their declension patterns differ from the other stems' in that v is added between the stem and the suffixes, the ablative forms have shorter suffixes and the vocative ones lack suffixes.

	Light		Dark
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	tiriveh	tirivi	tirivoh	tirivu
Accusative	tirivæ	tirive	tiriva	tirivo
Genitive	tirivec	tirivic	tirivoc	tirivuc
Dative	tirivær	tiriver	tirivar	tirivor
Locative	tirives	tirivis	tirivos	tirivus
Ablative	tirivæl	tirivel	tirival	tirivol
Vocative	etiri	itiri	otiri	utiri

Derivation

Light diminutive nouns are obtained by adding -itch- to the stem, while dark ones are obtained by adding -utch-.

Light augmentative nouns are obtained by adding -æghr- to the stem, while dark ones are obtained by adding -aghr-.

Light metonymic nouns are obtained by adding -ef- to the stem, while dark ones are obtained by adding -of-.

Light collective nouns are obtained by adding -æmp- to the stem, while dark ones are obtained by adding -amp-.

Light nouns denoting associated places are obtained by adding -dææn- to the stem, while dark ones are obtained by adding -daan-. If adding these suffixes results in a prohibited cluster, the d is deleted.

Light similitive adjectives are obtained by adding -eght- to the stem, while dark ones are obtained by adding -oght-.

Pronouns

Like nouns, personal pronouns distinguish between light and dark, light first-person pronouns are only used to render the words of heavenly beings while light second-person pronouns are only used to address them, plural pronouns are used when God is the speaker or the addressee. To refer to mixed groups of light and dark nouns, dark pronouns are used.

Personal pronouns have their own declension patterns, which are very similar to the ones consonant-final stems use but lack suffixes in the nominative, several pronouns also have irregular stems in the vocative:

		Singular			Plural
		1st Person	2nd Person	3rd Person	1st Person	2nd Person	3rd Person
Nominative	Light	hiþ	sen	væy	vic	cech	ræst
	Dark	huþ	son	vaw	mur	coch	last
Accusative	Light	hiþæ	senæ	væynæ	vice	ceche	ræste
	Dark	huþa	sona	vawna	murno	cocho	lasto
Genitive	Light	hiþec	senec	væynec	vicic	cechic	ræstic
	Dark	huþoc	sonoc	vawnoc	murnuc	cochuc	lastuc
Dative	Light	hiþær	senær	væynær	vicer	cecher	ræster
	Dark	huþar	sonar	vawnar	murnor	cochor	lastor
Locative	Light	hiþes	senes	væynes	vicis	cechis	ræstis
	Dark	huþos	sonos	vawnos	murnus	cochus	lastus
Ablative	Light	hiþæælæ	senæælæ	væynæælæ	viceele	cecheele	ræsteele
	Dark	huþaala	sonaala	vawnaala	murnoolo	cochoolo	lastoolo
Vocative	Light	eeþe	esene	evene	ivice	iceche	iræse
	Dark	ooþo	osono	ovono	umurno	ucocho	ulaso

Furthermore, each pronoun has a corresponding proclitic, which may be used instead of the full pronoun to mark a subject, and a corresponding enclitic, which may be used instead of the full pronoun to mark a direct object:

	Proclitic	Enclitic
hiþ	hi-	-ih
sen	se-	-es
væy	væ-	-æy
vic	vi-	-iv
cech	ce-	-ec
ræst	ræ-	-æst
huþ	hu-	-uh
son	so-	-os
vaw	va-	-aw
mur	mu-	-um
coch	co-	-oc
last	la-	-ast

The full pronouns are usually used to emphasize arguments whereas the clitics are used to deemphasize them. Third-person clitics may be used to refer to nonspecific arguments in order to create the rough equivalent of a passive or antipassive construction.

Prepositions

Væyne Zaanics is exclusively prepositional, prepositions co-occur with the dative, the locative or the ablative, the cases they assign are lexically determined. Some prepositions have different meanings depending on the cases they co-occur with, for instance geen is a comitative "with" when followed by the dative but an instrumental "with" when followed by the ablative.

Adjectives

Adjectives agree with nouns in class, case and number.

Verbs

Verbs are conjugated for tense, and have finite, infinitive and participle forms, and like nouns fall into two main conjugation classes: 'light' and 'dark'. They do not display (mandatory) agreement with their dependents (i.e. the subject and object), but can have marking of them. Pronominal subjects and objects can be marked on verbs by affixing clitic forms of pronouns to the verb when there is no overt, nominal subject/object in the clause.

Object marking on verbs

Væyne Zaanics features head-marking on its verbs, in the form of object marking. Object marking differs from object agreement. In agreement, the morphological markers must appear whether or not the clause contains a standalone object. This is not the case in Væyne Zaanics, where the object is marked on the verb only when the clause lacks a standalone object. An illustration of this can be observed by contrasting the two examples below:

In the example above, there is a direct object present, drega (“book”), and no marking of the object on the verb.

On the contrary, the -aw (“it, her, him”) suffix appears in this second example, and any overt object is absent.