Fjerdan Grammar
Fjerdan is a fusional language with some non-concatenative morphology in the form of umlaut. The word order is generally verb-second (V2) in independent clauses and subject-object-verb (SOV) in dependent clauses, though independent clauses also contain some instances of SOV order, for instance pronominal objects tend to precede verbs.
Nouns
Nouns decline for case and definiteness, according to their grammatical gender (noun class). The genders are wolf class, hare class, and tooth class.
Case
There are four cases: nominative, accusative, oblique, and genitive. The nominative is the unmarked form of the noun. The different case forms are formed through suffixation and the diachronic process of umlaut, that is, vowel assimilation in the root to a following (historic) vowel or semivowel (in a suffix). For wolf class nouns, which distinguish all eight combinations of case and definiteness, the following applies:
- The accusative is associated with i-umlaut and an -(i)r suffix (historic *-yer).
- The oblique is associated with u-umlaut and an -u suffix (historic *-wol).
- The genitive is associated with an -(e)n suffix, which does not cause umlaut.
Definiteness
Nouns have indefinite and definite forms. The indefinite is the unmarked form, with the definite being associated with the suffix -(e)n (historic *-hen).
Gender
There are three grammatical genders:
- Wolf class: People, dangerous or spirited beings or things (typically agent role)
- Hare class: Harmless animals, passive objects (typically patient role)
- Tooth class: Merger of two earlier classes comprising tools and places, respectively (typically oblique role)
Wolf class nouns distinguish all eight combinations of case and definiteness. Hare class nouns merge the nominative with the accusative, and the oblique with the genitive. Tooth class nouns merge the nominative, oblique and genitive, but have a separate accusative form in -(i)r.
Adjectives
Adjectives precede the nouns they modify. When used attributively on nouns, adjectives carry marking for definiteness, instead of the noun they modify.
Verbs
Finite forms
Finite verbs conjugate for tense. They agree with their subjects in person and number. The tenses are present (unmarked) and preterite (associated with u-umlaut and in most cases a -(w)e or -o suffix). Transitive verbs have active and passive voice forms. The active is the unmarked form, and the passive form generally is associated with a -le suffix. For intransitive verbs, this form corresponds to the inceptive. The third-person singular ending is -en (archaic -um).
Non-finite forms
Verbs have an infinitive form typically ending in -et, which doubles as the imperative. Verbs also have a participle form, which is associated with an -ih suffix and i-umlaut.
Negation
Negation is carried out with the particle ne "not", which precedes the verb in most cases, except in the imperative where it follows.