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.

Nouns

Nouns are declined by case and number, and belong to one of two main declension classes: 'light' and 'dark'. Furthermore, each class has 3 declension patterns depending on the root's shape: vowel-final, approximant-final and non-approximant-final. 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 nouns and by a circumfix on the others.

The following table contains two examples of nouns from the same, non-approximant-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, approximant-final root eel, the light eelneh (rose) and the dark eelnoh (thorn). Their declension patterns are almost identical to the non-approximant-final roots', the only difference is that n is added between the root and the suffixes. Furthermore, n is added between the vocative forms' prefixes and the root because the root is vowel-initial, this rule applies no matter what a root ends with.

	Light		Dark
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	eelneh	eelni	eelnoh	eelnu
Accusative	eelnæ	eelne	eelna	eelno
Genitive	eelnec	eelnic	eelnoc	eelnuc
Dative	eelnær	eelner	eelnar	eelnor
Locative	eelnes	eelnis	eelnos	eelnus
Ablative	eelnæælæ	eelneele	eelnaala	eelnoolo
Vocative	eneelne	ineelne	oneelno	uneelno

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 roots' in that v is added between the root 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

Pronouns

Pronouns generally have a comparatively regular declension, with the exception of personal pronouns, and much the same features as nouns.

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.