Irathient Grammar

As part of the design brief for the show Defiance, Irathient was intended to be maximally different from the Castithan language. In addition to the phonotactic constraints, the grammars were quite different, with Irathient having these typological features:

• Verb Object Subject word order
• Noun Adjective
• Noun Genitive
• Noun Relative
• Preposition Noun
• head-marking

In addition, a complete verbal sense, including all of person-marking, valency, tense, aspect, and mood, usually requires two parts, a kernel (an auxiliary) and shell (the lexical verb). For example:

Zahon ekesə haridi zlawe.

z-ah-on

I-II-TR.PERF

e-kes-ə

ACT-notice-ACT

ha-rid-i

II-saboteur-II.SG

z-lo-e

I-singer-I.SG

z-ah-on e-kes-ə ha-rid-i z-lo-e

I-II-TR.PERF ACT-notice-ACT II-saboteur-II.SG I-singer-I.SG

'The singer noticed the saboteur.'

In this example the transitive auxiliary shon is in the perfect, which together with the active form of shekesu to notice completes the sense. This extensive cross-indexing means that different parts of the sentence can be dropped without losing much of the sense, especially in context. This flexibility was useful for show dialog.

Vowel Quadrangle

An important organizing feature of Irathient grammar is the vowel quadrangle:

i		u
	ə
e		a

Several grammatical patterns are organized around alternating pairs of vowels, i ~ a and e ~ u. For example, the plural of nouns is formed by switching the final vowel with its opposite on the quadrangle:

• harathi alien, haratha aliens
• ugyure necklace, ugyuru necklaces
• tishuma human, tishumi humans

If a noun ends in a consonant, then the center of the quadrangle, ə, is used:

• nugyith tower, nugyithə towers
• undur rock, undurə rocks

The present, zaha, and imperfect, zahi, of the auxiliary verbs have this vowel exchange, as do the active, etu, and passive, utu, of non-auxiliary verbs.

The quadrangle is inspired by the conlang Afrihili.

Noun Classes

The other central feature of Irathient grammar is the 18 noun classes. All nouns, except multisyllabic words in the very large classes XVII and XVIII, take class prefixes. Verbs and adjectives take class marking for agreement.

Noun Class	Noun	Modifier	Agent	Patient
Class I (Irathi)	z(u)- -(e)	zw-/zu-	z-	-{e/u}z
Class II (Non-Irathi Sentient)	h(a)- -(i)	h(a)-	h-	-{a/i}h
Class III (Harmless Beasts)	t(i)- -(a)	t(i)-	t-	-{a/i}t
Class IV (Dangerous Beasts)	k(a)- -(i)	k(a)-	k-	-{a/i}k
Class V (Harmless Plants)	d(i)- -(a)	d(i)-	d-	-{a/i}d
Class VI (Dangerous Plants)	g(e)- -(u)	g(e)-	g-	-{e/u}g
Class VII (Harmless Instruments)	u(t)- -(e)	tw-/tu-	tw-	-{e/u}t
Class VIII (Dangerous Instruments)	e(k)- -(u)	k(e)-	k-	-{e/u}k
Class IX (Harmless Substances)	r(i)- -(a)	r(i)-	r-	-{a/i}r
Class X (Dangerous Substances)	s(a)- -(i)	s(a)-	s-	-{a/i}s
Class XI (Places, Passive Objects)	nu(n)- -(e)	n(u)-	n-	-{e/u}n
Class XII (Abstractions, Actions)	th(e)- -(u)	th(e)-	th-	-{e/u}th
Class XIII (Groups)	i(n)- -(a)	ny-/ni-	n-	-{a/i}n
Class XIV (Infinitives)	sh(e)- -(u)	sh(e)-	sh-	-{e/u}sh
Class XV (Diminutive Sentients)	t(i)- -(a)	h(a)-	h-	-{a/i}h
Class XVI (Diminutive Non-sentients)	t(i)- -(e)	n(u)-	n-	-{e/u}n
Class XVII (Augmentative Sentients)	gya(n)/Ø- -(a)	h(a)-	h-	-{a/i}h
Class XVIII (Augmentative Non-sentients)	gya(n)/Ø- -(e)	n(u)-	n-	-{e/u}n

Notice that XV and XVII share the same modifier, agent, and patient affixes as II, and that XVI and XVIII share the same modifier, agent, and patient affixes of XI.

The XVII and XVIII prefix gya(n)- is only attached to monosyllabic roots.

The class suffix vowels are optional. If a noun ends in a consonant, the plural takes a suffixed -ə: undur rock > undurə. If the noun ends in a vowel other than a class suffix vowel, the copy consonant is suffixed, and then -ə is suffixed: zwinya daughter > zwinyazə.

Class I: Tvung Nǝzrathe (The Irathient Class)

Nominal class prefix: z-/zu-	Agentive prefix: z-
Nominal class suffix (sg/pl): -e/-u	Patientive Prefix (dir/caus): ez-/uz-
Copy consonant: z	Intransitive prefix: z-
Agreement prefix: zu-/zw-	Adjectival modifier: ə-
3sg Pronoun: iza	3pl Pronoun: uze
3sg Possessive suffix (sg/pl): -za/-zi	3pl Possessive suffix (sg/pl): -ze/-zu
3sg Possessive adjective (sg/pl): paza/pazi	3pl Possessive adjective (sg/pl): paze/pazu

This class is reserved for Irathients. Terms for family members, for example, will be in this class for Irathient members, with class II used for aliens (including humans): zwinya (Irathient) daughter vs. hwinya (alien) daughter. Agent nouns are also in this class, such as zingma traveler (shingma to travel).

Examples(sg/pl): zrathe/zrathu Irathient, zmaine/zmainu Irathient woman, zushone/zushonu Irathient man, skir/skirə Irathient boy (note voicing assimilation of z- to s-), zwinya/zwinyazə Irathient daughter.

Class II: Tvung Nǝhazuhe (The Alien Class)

Nominal class prefix: h-/ha-	Agentive prefix: h-
Nominal class suffix (sg/pl): -i/-a	Patientive Prefix (dir/caus): ah-/ih-
Copy consonant: h	Intransitive prefix: h-
Agreement prefix: h-/ha-	Adjectival modifier: ə-
3sg Pronoun: iha	3pl Pronoun: uhe
3sg Possessive suffix (sg/pl): -ha/-hi	3pl Possessive suffix (sg/pl): -he/-hu
3sg Possessive adjective (sg/pl): paha/pahi	3pl Possessive adjective (sg/pl): pahe/pahu

Class II is used for non-Irathient sentient beings. It can also be used for Irathients to indicate they are dangerous in some way, or in a pejorative sense.

Examples(sg/pl): harathi/haratha Earth-born Irathient, hamaini/hamaina alien woman, hashoni/hashona alien man, hakir/hakirə alien boy, hwinya/hwinyahə alien daughter.

Class III: Tvung Nǝtignome (The Harmless Beast Class)

Nominal class prefix: t/ti-	Agentive prefix: t-
Nominal class suffix (sg/pl): -a/-i	Patientive Prefix (dir/caus): at-/it-
Copy consonant: t	Intransitive prefix: t-
Agreement prefix: t-/ti-	Adjectival modifier: ə-
3sg Pronoun: ita	3pl Pronoun: ute
3sg Possessive suffix (sg/pl): -ta/-ti	3pl Possessive suffix (sg/pl): -te/-tu
3sg Possessive adjective (sg/pl): lita/liti	3pl Possessive adjective (sg/pl): lite/litu

Class III is for animals that pose no harm to Irathients. We know little about the Irathient home world, but earth animals that fit the general description will gradually work their way into this class as borrowings.

Examples(sg/pl): tignoma/tignomi harmless beast, tihurthra/tihuthri Irathient animal, twimbla/twimbli Irathient animal, tlanəs/tlanəsə Irathient animal, tirwa/tirwatə Irathient animal.

Class IV: Tvung Nǝkagnome (The Dangerous Beast Class)

Nominal class prefix: k/ka-	Agentive prefix: k-
Nominal class suffix (sg/pl): -i/-a	Patientive Prefix (dir/caus): ak-/ik-
Copy consonant: k	Intransitive prefix: k-
Agreement prefix: k-/ka-	Adjectival modifier: ə-
3sg Pronoun: ika	3pl Pronoun: uke
3sg Possessive suffix (sg/pl): -ka/-ki	3pl Possessive suffix (sg/pl): -ke/-ku
3sg Possessive adjective (sg/pl): lika/liki	3pl Possessive adjective (sg/pl): like/liku

Class IV is for animals that are carnivores or are otherwise dangerous to Irathients.

Examples(sg/pl): kagnomi/kagnoma dangerous beast, kadumbri/kadumbra Irathient animal, kagyonggi/kagyongga Irathient animal, klim/klimə Irathient animal, kabule/kabulekə Irathient animal.