Afata Grammar
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 aree 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 as well.
Agreement
Agreement in Afata verbs occurs with both the subject and the object, when present. This is accomplished through prefixes, with variations dependent on whether the verb begins with a consonant or vowel. Verbs begin with an agreement prefix based on the involved arguments, following an accusative alignment.
Intransitive verbs have straightforward agreement prefixes, which differ in their application to V-initial or C-initial verbs. For instance, the first person singular takes the prefixes kün- or kü- with N-mutation, while the second person singular features d- or da- with V-mutation.
Transitive verbs involve more complexity, necessitating tables to represent the combinations of subject and object agreement prefixes. These tables illustrate the forms before vowels, without mutations. The variability in the third inanimate subject/object prefix hinges on the following vowel's frontness, resulting in forms like ren- for front vowels and ron- otherwise.
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 |