Gandal Grammar
Gandal is a fusional language. Nouns and pronouns are declined for case and number, and verbs are conjugated for aspect and agree with their arguments.
Nouns
In Gandal, nouns decline for both case and number. Nouns are classified based on animacy into animate (living beings) and inanimate (non-living entities), and further categorized into two classes: Order and Chaos. Each subtype has specific patterns of inflection, with some variations within each subtype based on whether the noun begins or ends in a consonant or a vowel.
Animate nouns
Animate nouns feature two cases: nominative/oblique and accusative. The Order class, exemplified by nouns such as mæk "eagle", angzaw "guard", and irin "duck", inflects in the following way:
| mæk "eagle" | angzaw "guard" | irin "duck" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| Nominative/Oblique | mæk | mækma | angzaw | angzawma | irin | arima |
| Accusative | imæk | imækma | yangzaw | yangzawma | zhirin | yarima |
Chaos nouns have distinct prefixing patterns. Examples, including gol "ghost" and ining "child", illustrate this:
| gol "ghost" | ining "child" | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| Nominative/Oblique | gol | yahol | ining | zhining |
| Accusative | iyol | yahol | zhining | zhining |
Inanimate nouns
Inanimate nouns have a unique nominative form. In effect, they display ergative marking, which uses the ending -an, derived from the Veda word on, meaning "true" or "real." The adoption of the -an ending traces back to historical usage when speakers appended on after an inanimate noun acting as the subject in a transitive sentence, signifying actually. Over time, this evolved into an mandatory ergative ending. This resulted in the creation of an oblique case, which was used in non-accusative, non-ergative contexts, from the previous basic form. Examples within the Order class, such as fiyan "sun", shiman "jewel", and angan "shield", demonstrate this:
| fiyan "sun" | shiman "jewel" | angan "shield" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| Ergative | fiyan | ufiyan | shiman | ushiman | angan | ulangan |
| Oblique | fi | ufi | shem | ushem | ang | ulang |
| Accusative | afi | hufi | ashem | hushem | hang | hulang |
Chaos class inanimate nouns, like jiyan "belly", chaman "cloud", and awdhan "whip", show similar patterns:
| jiyan "belly" | chaman "cloud" | awdhan "whip" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| Ergative | jiyan | yajiyan | chaman | yachaman | awdhan | yudhan |
| Oblique | ji | yaji | cham | yacham | udh | yudh |
| Accusative | iji | iyaji | icham | iyacham | yudh | yudh |
Noun possession
To indicate possession, the possessed noun is put in the oblique case and placed before the possessor.
Pronouns
Personal pronouns in Gandal are similar to those in Veda. They decline like animate order nouns, and are summarized in the following table:
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| First Person | chun “I” | min “we” |
| Second Person | sa “you” | sama “you all” |
| Third Person | lin “she, he, it” | homa “they” |
The -ma suffix, shared with nouns, originates from the Veda word mem, meaning "all."