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 derivational suffix is added to a vowel-final stem, the suffix's initial vowel is deleted, and when a vowel-final derivational prefix is added to a vowel-initial stem, the prefix's final vowel is deleted.

Syntax

Væyne Zaanics is a primarily subject-object-verb language. Wh-words are placed sentence-initially, adjectives and determiners precede nouns, and possessors and relative clauses follow nouns.

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 of a non-imperative verb, and a corresponding enclitic, which may be used instead of the full pronoun to mark a direct object or the subject of an imperative verb:

	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, as Væyne Zaanics lacks a true passive or antipassive. The proclitics' vowels are deleted when they are added to vowel-initial stems.

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.

Some prepositions double as subordinating conjunctions when their complement is an infinitive.

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 distinguishable 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 nominal 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

The pronominal forms of jur serve both as wh-words and relative pronouns.

Adverbs

Væyne Zaanics has few true adverbs, most manner adverbs are actually adjectives nominalized with -v- in the locative or the ablative, for instance "highly" would be capeves or capevæælæ, which are both forms of capeveh.

An important true adverb is cor, which is added at the end of a sentence to negate it:

Soraþenaw (you take it) → soraþenaw cor (you do not take it)

Numerals

Cardinal numerals behave like determiners, while ordinals are obtained simply by adding adjectival endings to the cardinals' stems and behave like adjectives, for instance "one" is sep and "first" is sepe.

Verbs

Verbs do not agree with anything (except with their subjects in the imperative) but can take subject and object clitics and are conjugated for tense, aspect and mood, have finite, infinitive and participle forms, and fall into two main conjugation classes, like the other parts of speech: light and dark.

Tense is marked by suffixes and circumfixes, n is added between a vowel-final stem and the finite forms' suffixes, and the prefixes' vowels are deleted before vowel-initial stems. The following table contains the finite forms of two verbs from the same, consonant-final root raþ, the light raþeneh (take) and the dark raþonoh (steal):

	Light	Dark
Present	raþen	raþon
Past	raþæj	raþaj
Future	raþil	raþul
Present Progressive	neraþen	noraþon
Past Progressive	neraþæj	noraþaj
Future Progressive	neraþil	noraþul
Present Perfect	jæraþen	jaraþon
Pluperfect	jæraþæj	jaraþaj
Future Perfect	jæraþil	jaraþul
Immediate Future	liraþen	luraþon
Conditional	liraþæj	luraþaj
Future Intentional	liraþil	luraþul

Furthermore, imperative forms are obtained by adding a personal enclitic (even if an overt subject is present) to any finite form and stressing it, for instance raþenos translates as the command "take" to one person, while raþenast translates as the wish "let them take".

In the imperative, both the subject and the pronominal object (if there is one) are marked by enclitics, for example "take it" is raþenosaw. Otherwise, the pronominal subject (if there is one) and the pronominal object (if there is one) are marked by proclitics and enclitics respectively, for instance "you take it" is soraþenaw.

Infinitives are obtained by adding nominal endings to any finite form while participles are obtained by adding adjectival ones, it is even possible to include subject and object clitics into an infinitive, the nominal endings follow the object clitics when this happens, for instance soraþenaw (you take it) may be turned into the infinitive soraþenawneh (your taking it). When the stem is vowel-final, the epenthetic n is removed and the tense suffix's first vowel is instead elided before the nonfinite forms' endings are added, so for example, angunæj (flew) is turned into the participle anguje (that flew), not *angunæjeh. Light noun and adjective endings are used for verbs of the light class, and dark noun and adjective endings are used for verbs of the dark class.

As infinitives inflect like nouns, they allow the use of a nonfinite clause as a verb's argument or a preposition's complement.

Derivation

The vowels of some of the verbs' derivational prefixes are deleted before some consonants, such as approximants.

Light fortative verbs are obtained by adding cæ- to the stem, while dark ones are obtained by adding ca-:

Fuuþonoh (argue) → cafuuþonoh (fight)

Light inchoative or inceptive verbs are obtained by adding bi- to the stem, while dark ones are obtained by adding bu-:

Memeneh (know) → bimemeneh (recognize)

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

Jelnonoh (eat) → yojelnonoh (feed)

Light nouns denoting associated objects are obtained by adding -ecs- to the stem, while dark ones are obtained by adding -ocs-:

Tosonoh (see) → tosocsoh (vision)

Light resultative nouns are obtained by adding -iþ- to the stem, while dark ones are obtained by adding -uþ-:

Gocheneh (unite) → gochiþeh (unity)

Light reversive verbs are obtained by adding wæ- to the stem, while dark ones are obtained by adding wa-.

Light repetitive verbs are obtained by adding si- to the stem, while dark ones are obtained by adding su-.

Light nouns denoting associated agents are obtained by adding -æpr- to the stem, while dark ones are obtained by adding -apr-.

Light nouns denoting instruments are obtained by adding -æpræc- to the stem, while dark ones are obtained by adding -aprac-.

Light nouns denoting animate objects are obtained by adding -ecsec- to the stem, while dark ones are obtained by adding -ocsoc-.

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.

Yes-no questions

A statement may be turned into a question by adding jur at the beginning:

Soraþenaw (you take it) → jur soraþenaw? (do you take it?)

Ter is used to give a positive answer to a positive question, izir is used to give a positive answer to a negative question, and cor is used to give a negative answer to a positive or negative question:

Jur soraþenaw? (do you take it?) → ter (yes, I do) / cor (no, I do not)

Jur soraþenaw cor? (do you not take it?) → izir (yes, I do) / cor (no, I do not)

Relative clauses

Væyne Zaanics uses the same relativization strategy as Latin, the pronominal forms of jur serve as a relative pronoun, which agrees in class and number with the noun it relativizes and whose case depends on its role in the embedded clause:

Vaneh tiriva cafuuþon (the eagle fights the pigeon)

→ Vaneh jurneh tiriva cafuuþon (the eagle that fights the pigeon)

→ Tirivoh jurna Vaneh cafuuþon (the pigeon that the eagle fights)

When the relative pronoun is in the genitive and relativizes a possessor, the possessee may either precede or follow the relative pronoun, it is the only case where a possessor may precede a possessee:

Awnoh vanec tiriva cafuuþon (the eagle's father fights the pigeon)

→ Vaneh awnoh jurnec tiriva cafuuþon (the eagle whose father fights the pigeon)

→ Vaneh jurnec awnoh tiriva cafuuþon (the eagle whose father fights the pigeon)