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 and elision

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.

Another important rule is that when a vowel-initial suffix is added to a vowel-final stem, the suffix's initial vowel is deleted, and when a vowel-final prefix is added to a vowel-initial stem, the prefix's final vowel is deleted.

Nouns

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 from 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-:

Dregoh (book) → dregutchoh (little book)

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

Rifoh (poison) → rifaghroh (virus)

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

Yesuþoh (Yesuþoh script) → yesuþofoh (Yesuþoh letter)

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

Celineh (intimidation) → celineghte (proud)

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.

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 have a short form and a long one, the short forms are used attributively and agree in case and number with the nouns, while the long forms are used predicatively and agree in case, number and class with the nouns. The long forms may also be used as nouns referring to entities having the relevant quality.

The short forms have a limited set of inflections, which is the same for consonant-final and vowel-final stems apart from the n which is added between a vowel-final stem and its suffix. The following table contains two examples of adjectives from the same, consonant-final root cap, the light cape (high) and the dark capo (low).

	Light		Dark
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative/Genitive/Locative/Vocative	cape	capi	capo	capu
Accusative/Dative/Ablative	capæ	cape	capa	capo

Interestingly, because of the pervasive vowel reduction of Væyne Zaanics, most of the forms are homophonous and only distinguished in writing, for instance cape and capo are both pronounced /ˈkɑpə/ even though they are antonyms, only context can help tell them apart when they are spoken aloud.

The long forms are obtained by adding h to the short forms and using a declension pattern nearly identical to the consonant-final noun stems', the only difference is that the shorter ablative suffix from the vowel-final noun stems' pattern is used. However, the short forms' inflections are also kept, so the plural of capeheh is capihi, not just capehi. Here is the full paradigm of the long form of cape:

	Light		Dark
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	capeheh	capihi	capehoh	capihu
Accusative	capæhæ	capehe	capæha	capeho
Genitive	capehec	capihic	capehoc	capihuc
Dative	capæhær	capeher	capæhar	capehor
Locative	capehes	capihis	capehos	capihus
Ablative	capæhæl	capehel	capæhal	capehol
Vocative	ecapehe	icapehe	ocapeho	ucapeho

Derivation

Possessive adjectives may be obtained simply by adding adjectival endings to the personal pronouns' stems, they inflect exactly like regular adjectives:

Hiþ (I) → hiþe (my)

Adjectives may be turned into nouns denoting qualities by adding -v- to the short form. The resulting stem is invariant, unlike the long forms' stems, so the plural of capeveh is capevi, not capivi:

Cape (high) → capeveh (highness)

Light causative verbs are obtained by adding ye- to the stem, while dark ones are obtained by adding yo-.

Cape (high) → yecapeneh (raise)

Light comparative adjectives are obtained by adding -irs- to the stem, while dark ones are obtained by adding -urs-.

Light superlative adjectives are obtained by adding -ædz- to the stem, while dark ones are obtained by adding -adz-.

Light intensive adjectives are obtained by adding -ij- to the stem, while dark ones are obtained by adding -uj-.

Negative adjectives are obtained by adding -ocr- to the stem.

Comparison

In equative constructions, the adjective's standard form is used and the comparand is in the locative:

Cape lastus : as high as them

When comparative and superlative adjectives take a comparand, it takes the ablative:

Capirse lastoolo : higher than them

Capædze lastoolo : highest of them

Determiners

Determiners do not agree with nouns. They may be turned into pronouns simply by adding noun endings to their stems, although the stems of ægher and izir are shortened into æghr- and izr- when this happens.

	Attributive	Pronominal
		Light	Dark
Proximal	ter	terneh	ternoh
Medial	for	forneh	fornoh
Distal	ægher	æghreh	æghroh
Question/Relative	jur	jurneh	jurnoh
Universal	izir	izreh	izroh
Negative	cor	corneh	cornoh

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.