Anthologica Universe Atlas / Forums / Department of Creativity / Exploring Classical Quazian Morphosyntax with Example Sentences
I stumbled earlier today upon Nessari's list of 218 example sentences you can use to help flesh out your conlang's morphosyntax and vocabulary. Great idea, I thought; let's try translating these into Classical Quazian.
This thread, resultingly, is a working grammar of Classical Quazian. After a sketch of the phonology, the sentences will be presented one by one, along with a translation and a gloss, and further elaboration of the construction used. Because it is a working grammar, a more usual grammar will not be written until it is completed and polished up a bit.
Phonology
We will begin with a treatment of Classical Quazian phonology. Classical Quazian has a relatively large inventory, with six vowels and thirty-six consonants (analyzing the prenasalized stops as clusters reduces this to twenty-six). It allows coda consonants only word-finally and permits no consonant clusters.
Here is a table of CQ's consonants:
Since some of these are unwieldy to type on my keyboard, we'll use this working orthography instead. (Classical Quazian's native writing system is a logogram/syllabary mix like that of Japanese).
Classical Quazian also has a six-vowel system /i e æ ɒ o u/. /æ/ will be written <æ> in our orthography, /ɒ/ <a>.
Syllable structure is CV...(t k q m n ń ŋ w y r l lh), with coda consonants permitted only word-finally. There are no consonant clusters.
A further phonological complication is that CQ is pitch-accent, with words having either a rising (acute) tone or a falling (circumflex) tone on their stressed syllable. This stressed syllable is generally the next-to-last in the word, though what counts as "next-to-last" is not always entirely obvious, and there are a number of exceptions to the rule.
Example words may be found in the Classical Quazian dictionary, which can and should be commented on.
From now on I'm going to try and write10 some sentences from the list per day, more if I can find the gumption; by the time classes start a reasonable point in the nearish future I hope to have them all done.
This thread, resultingly, is a working grammar of Classical Quazian. After a sketch of the phonology, the sentences will be presented one by one, along with a translation and a gloss, and further elaboration of the construction used. Because it is a working grammar, a more usual grammar will not be written until it is completed and polished up a bit.
Phonology
We will begin with a treatment of Classical Quazian phonology. Classical Quazian has a relatively large inventory, with six vowels and thirty-six consonants (analyzing the prenasalized stops as clusters reduces this to twenty-six). It allows coda consonants only word-finally and permits no consonant clusters.
Here is a table of CQ's consonants:
| Labial | Dental/Alveolar | Retroflex | (Alveolo-)Palatal | Velar | Uvular | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | p b ᵐp ᵐb | t d ⁿt ⁿd | ʈ ɖ ᶯʈ ᶯɖ | tɕ dʑ ⁿtɕ ⁿdʑ | k g ᵑk ᵑg | q ɢ |
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
| Fricative | s | ʂ | ɕ | χ~h | ||
| Lateral Fricative | ɬ | |||||
| Approximant | w | j | ʀ | |||
| Lateral Approximant | l | ʎ |
Since some of these are unwieldy to type on my keyboard, we'll use this working orthography instead. (Classical Quazian's native writing system is a logogram/syllabary mix like that of Japanese).
| Labial | Dental/Alveolar | Retroflex | (Alveolo-)Palatal | Velar | Uvular | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | p b mp mb | t d nt nd | ṭ ḍ nṭ nḍ | ć j nć nj | k g nk ng | q x |
| Nasal | m | n | ń | ŋ | ||
| Fricative | s | ṣ | ś | h | ||
| Lateral Fricative | ł | |||||
| Approximant | w | y | r | |||
| Lateral Approximant | l | lh |
Classical Quazian also has a six-vowel system /i e æ ɒ o u/. /æ/ will be written <æ> in our orthography, /ɒ/ <a>.
Syllable structure is CV...(t k q m n ń ŋ w y r l lh), with coda consonants permitted only word-finally. There are no consonant clusters.
A further phonological complication is that CQ is pitch-accent, with words having either a rising (acute) tone or a falling (circumflex) tone on their stressed syllable. This stressed syllable is generally the next-to-last in the word, though what counts as "next-to-last" is not always entirely obvious, and there are a number of exceptions to the rule.
Example words may be found in the Classical Quazian dictionary, which can and should be commented on.
From now on I'm going to try and write
[color=#FF0000]As work progresses, it becomes clear that earlier sentences or constructions may need to be redone. Overrides will be shown in red, and when I'm done I'll go back and fix them all.[/color]
1. i=rîŋ-Ø ha-ndéb-e-r.
the=sun-ABS ANTIPASS-shine-NONPAST-3S.DEF
"I rîŋ handéber."
"The sun shines."
There's a fair amount going on here. Let's take it word by word.
rîŋ is the Classical Quazian word for sun; it has animate gender (CQ nouns are either animate or inanimate). It is considered nominative by noun alignment and ergative by verb alignment (despite the lack of an object; this will be explained). Resultingly, it has no postposition marking case, and is marked on the verb by the 3rd singular definite marker -r. It is also in absolute state- that ABS in the gloss does not indicate absolutive case. The absolute state is marked in animates by the null morpheme, but we'll still get in the habit of showing it in our glosses and morpheme analysis.
i- is a definite article clitic attaching as a prefix to rîŋ. It is one of a number of exceptions to the rule that the accent always falls on the second-to-last syllable of a (phonological) word (its inanimate counterpart, as we'll see, acts normally). Like other clitics, it is written as a separate word.
handéber is a conjugated form of the verb ndéb. The prefix ha- marks an antipassive, which may in some verbs be marked by a suppletive stem; in the unactive voice this verb means "to shine on (something) [of intrinsic, rather than reflected light]." There is no accusative in this sentence, so the antipassive must be used.
The stem is -ndéb-, and the thematic vowel -e- indicates nonpast time (it may show up as either -e- or -a- depending on the frontness or backness of the root vowel). Finally, -r is a third person singular definite marker agreeing with rîŋ (for nouns with no article, a different suffix would be used instead). We'd think of it as a subject marker, but a better description may be an agent marker; it agrees with the subject of antipassive verbs, and the agent of transitive verbs in the unactive voice, but not the subject of intransitive sentences in the unactive voice. (Nouns case-marking is accusative-aligned). It seems fair to call it an "ergative" marker, since the voice system of verbs is ergative-aligned, even though this sentence isn't transitive.
A side effect of the ergative verb alignment mixed with the gender system is that only animate nouns may ever be in a syntactic position to take these markers. Later, we'll discuss strategies for translating English sentences that place an inanimate noun in these positions.
Here's a full table of the ergative agreement markers.
Note that the first person plural inclusive ending -yæbak cannot be accented, so any accent that would otherwise appear on it must be on the syllable behind it. (Usually).
2. i=rîŋ-Ø ndeb-e-wáha-t qûw-a
the=sun-ABS shine-nonpast-ANTIPASS.PARTCPL.ANIM-SG progressive.auxiliary-NONPAST
"I rîŋ ndebewáhat qûwa."
"The sun is shining".
In this sentence, we are introduced to auxiliaries and participles. The progressive-aspect auxiliary qûw- forces the main verb into a participle form (as we'll see, CQ's participles are used in a wide variety of constructions, not all of which we'd think of as requiring participles). Note that qûw- is more limited in usage than the English progressive (for example, it is almost always found only in the nonpast tense, with present meaning).
Participles agree with their "head" nouns (as we keep going we'll start elucidating what exactly a participle's head noun is in a given construction) in gender and sometimes number. They have both unaccusative and antipassive versions (antipassive participles do not require the prefix ha-, but they will attach to the suppletive stems of verbs that have them in the antipassive). Here is a chart:
If the head noun is plural (nouns themselves do not have plural forms, but these are consistently marked on certain dependents and in some cases on verbs), the -t of the animate forms will change to a -q. (Participles do not distinguish between singular and plural inanimate heads). Because the participle is antipassive, its head noun is the same as the subject, and so it agrees with rîŋ.
Note that there is a nonpast marker in the participle. We're not generally used to participles having time as well as aspect (which is marked as well); but since participles can be used in a variety of clausal constructions where time remains relevant, CQ participles mark for tense as well. Finally, note that the accent-on-penultimate-syllable rule is in effect.
The auxiliary, qûw-, acts as the main verb and pushes the now-participlized former main verb into a position just before it; where it can, it also forces the now-participlized verb to agree with the patient. (It can't do that in this example, which is an intransitive sentence, so the participle agrees with the subject). It marks progressive time and has no antipassive.
If this sentence were transitive, the agreement markers would switch up; qûw- would now recognize the nominative (remember, nouns are accusative-marked) as its new ergative and acquire an ergative agreement marker, while its participle would agree with the absolutive/accusative in gender and (if animate) number. The underlying mechanism here appears to be that in sentences with an auxiliary, all core arguments (either the experiencer in intransitive sentences or both the agent and patient in transitive ones) must be agreed with by a verb. In an intransitive sentence, the auxiliary has no ergative to work with, so agreement with the subject must be borne by the participle. In a transitive sentence, the auxiliary can agree with its auxiliary and push the participle to agree with the object. (An alternate, and possibly more compelling, analysis is that in participle-auxiliary constructions it's the participle that's really the main verb, and its alignment is fully ergative, so it agrees with either the experiencer or the patient, but never the agent. The auxiliary, which has no antipassive, only agrees with ergatives.)
3. i=rîŋ-Ø ha-ne-ndéb-i-r.
the=sun-ABS ANTIPASS-PERF-shine-PAST-3S.DEF
"I rîŋ hanendébir."
"The sun shone".
In this sentence, we are introduced not only to the past tense but also to the perfective aspect. In lieu of further context for this sentence, I have chosen to interpret it as meaning that the sun shone at a single, given time in the past. This requires the perfective aspect, which is formed by reduplication of the initial root consonant followed by e (if the root vowel is front) or a (if it is back).
This may trigger dissimilation. In particular:
*ⁿD...ⁿD -> N...ⁿD (where ⁿD is any voiced prenasalized plosive; note that *nḍ...nḍ dissimilates to n...nḍ and *nj...nj to ń...nj.)
*ⁿT...ⁿT -> D...ⁿT
*ł...ł -> h...ł
*lh...lh -> y...lh
Finally, note that the a/e of the nonpast tense has become an i. This is uniform for all past tense forms and does not change according to vowel harmony.
4. i=rîŋ-Ø ha-ne-ndéb-e-r.
the=sun-ABS ANTIPASS-PERF-shine-NONPAST-3S.DEF
"I rîŋ hanendéber."
"The sun will shine."
Here we have a sentence with future tense in English. This can lead to ambiguity in CQ, which does not have a true future tense (only a nonpast/past distinction). However, the use of the perfective aspect indicates that the action must take place at a time thought of as a single, closed point; this is a good indication that the time is future. The situation is similar to that of Russian, which combines present endings with the perfective stem to indicate a future perfective.
5. i=rîŋ-Ø ndeb-e-wáha-t ćæ̂mp-e
the=sun-ABS shine-nonpast-ANTIPASS.PARTCPL.ANIM-SG continue.AUX-NONPAST
"I rîŋ ndebewáhat ćæ̂mpe."
"The sun has been shining."
Classical Quazian doesn't really do much with perfects as Western European languages work with them- that's not the same as the perfective; the Western European perfect focuses on the completion, or extension up to a particular point, of the action. The English sentence in this example combines its perfect and continuous aspects. (This is another indication that we can't use the perfective, since mixing the perfective aspect in CQ with the progressive auxiliary qûw- would be nonsensical.) Instead, we'll introduce another auxiliary, the "continuous" auxiliary ćæ̂mp. This is not quite the same as the progressive auxiliary, and is better translated by the English "continue to". Here, we'll take this sentence (which again is devoid of the sort of context we would want to choose a more precise translation) and presume that the sun has been shining for some time in the near past and is still shining now.
6. i=rîŋ-Ø ṭúlh ha-ndéb-e-r.
the=sun-ABS again ANTIPASS-shine-NONPAST-3S.DEF
"I rîŋ ṭúlh handéber."
"The sun is shining again".
Here we're working with our first adverb, ṭúlh "again". It goes before the main verb (and in between a participle and its auxiliary in those sorts of sentences). Note that the Classical Quazian sentence uses the simple nonpast with no auxiliary, while the English sentence is progressive in aspect; the CQ progressive auxiliary is a bit more limited in usage.
7. i=rîŋ-Ø kítan ha-ndéb-er.
the=sun-ABS tomorrow ANTIPASS-shine-NONPAST-3S.DEF
"I rîŋ kítan handéber."
"The sun will shine tomorrow."
Despite the difference in tense and aspect between 6) and 7) in their English versions, CQ doesn't do anything more than change the adverb used. In 7), the reasoning is that the sun will be shining all day tomorrow, for an extended and imperfect period (rather than, say, just at two in the afternoon). Thus we use the imperfective with no progressive auxiliary.
8. i=rîŋ-Ø nću-mǽnæ-t ha-ndéb-er.
the=sun-ABS be.bright-UNACC.PARTCPL.ANIM-SG ANTIPASS-shine-NONPAST-3S.DEF
"I rîŋ nćumǽnæt handéber."
"The sun shines brightly."
Classical Quazian doesn't really have adjectives or adverbs the way we think of them. (It has a small, closed class of adjectives, but "bright" is not among them). Instead, it has a large number of stative verbs, whose participles act fairly close to adjectives.
Adjectives and adverbs are not distinguished morphologically, but they can be distinguished syntactically. Here, nćumǽnæt is placed in adverbial position just before the verb, so it can be seen as modifying the verb- but it agrees in gender and number with its head noun, rîŋ. A more precise translation of the CQ might be "The sun, while being bright, shines."
nćú is a "contract verb" (terminology borrowed from Greek), meaning that its stem ends in a vowel rather than a consonant. Here are the rules for contract verbs:
-No contract verbs ever take the nonpast tense vowel, regardless of whether anything comes after it. They simply drop it; thus nćumǽnæt instead of *nćuamǽnæt.
-In the past tense it's a bit more complicated. Stems ending in u or o insert an epenthetic w between the stem and the past tense morpheme i. Stems ending in i are defective and don't change at all in the past. Stems ending in e or æ raise these to i and e respectively, and stems ending in a insert an epenthetic r, which further lowers the past tense morpheme to e.
-Any ergative or participle markers are attached to this uninflected nonpast or weirdly inflected past stem.
-Special rules come into play when non-indicative moods are used. We'll worry about those later.
9. i=nću-mǽnæ-t rîŋ-Ø ha-ndéb-e-r
the=be.bright-UNACC.PARTCPL.ANIM-SG sun-ABS ANTIPASS-shine-NONPAST-3S.DEF
"I nćumǽnæt rîŋ handéber."
"The bright sun shines".
The first thing we notice about this sentence is that the only difference between it and sentence number 8) is that the participle has moved behind the noun instead of the verb. As I noted, CQ makes no morphological distinction between adjectives and adverbs, but it does make a syntactic distinction: participles acting like adverbs go in an adverbial position before the verb, while those acting like adjectives stick within the noun phrase. (As may be apparent, Classical Quazian is mainly head-final.)
Note also that the definite article clitic has migrated to the participle. Generally speaking, it likes to appear at the start of its noun phrase.
10. i=rîŋ-Ø śéy kûł-a.
the=sun-ABS now rise-NONPAST
"I rîŋ śéy kûła."
"The sun is rising now."
Note that while ndéb was a usually transitive verb which needed to be antipassivized to be used without an object, kûł has no such requirement. Since we have a verb in the usual unactive voice which is intransitive, rîŋ does not act as an ergative, and so no ergative marker appears on the verb.
The use of the adverb śéy precludes the use of the progressive auxiliary qûw.
1. i=rîŋ-Ø ha-ndéb-e-r.
the=sun-ABS ANTIPASS-shine-NONPAST-3S.DEF
"I rîŋ handéber."
"The sun shines."
There's a fair amount going on here. Let's take it word by word.
rîŋ is the Classical Quazian word for sun; it has animate gender (CQ nouns are either animate or inanimate). It is considered nominative by noun alignment and ergative by verb alignment (despite the lack of an object; this will be explained). Resultingly, it has no postposition marking case, and is marked on the verb by the 3rd singular definite marker -r. It is also in absolute state- that ABS in the gloss does not indicate absolutive case. The absolute state is marked in animates by the null morpheme, but we'll still get in the habit of showing it in our glosses and morpheme analysis.
i- is a definite article clitic attaching as a prefix to rîŋ. It is one of a number of exceptions to the rule that the accent always falls on the second-to-last syllable of a (phonological) word (its inanimate counterpart, as we'll see, acts normally). Like other clitics, it is written as a separate word.
handéber is a conjugated form of the verb ndéb. The prefix ha- marks an antipassive, which may in some verbs be marked by a suppletive stem; in the unactive voice this verb means "to shine on (something) [of intrinsic, rather than reflected light]." There is no accusative in this sentence, so the antipassive must be used.
The stem is -ndéb-, and the thematic vowel -e- indicates nonpast time (it may show up as either -e- or -a- depending on the frontness or backness of the root vowel). Finally, -r is a third person singular definite marker agreeing with rîŋ (for nouns with no article, a different suffix would be used instead). We'd think of it as a subject marker, but a better description may be an agent marker; it agrees with the subject of antipassive verbs, and the agent of transitive verbs in the unactive voice, but not the subject of intransitive sentences in the unactive voice. (Nouns case-marking is accusative-aligned). It seems fair to call it an "ergative" marker, since the voice system of verbs is ergative-aligned, even though this sentence isn't transitive.
A side effect of the ergative verb alignment mixed with the gender system is that only animate nouns may ever be in a syntactic position to take these markers. Later, we'll discuss strategies for translating English sentences that place an inanimate noun in these positions.
Here's a full table of the ergative agreement markers.
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st (exclusive) | -ń | -yæk |
| 1st (inclusive) | -yæbak | |
| 2nd | -t | -wa |
| 3rd definite | -r | -m |
| 3rd indefinite | -naq | -nam |
Note that the first person plural inclusive ending -yæbak cannot be accented, so any accent that would otherwise appear on it must be on the syllable behind it. (Usually).
2. i=rîŋ-Ø ndeb-e-wáha-t qûw-a
the=sun-ABS shine-nonpast-ANTIPASS.PARTCPL.ANIM-SG progressive.auxiliary-NONPAST
"I rîŋ ndebewáhat qûwa."
"The sun is shining".
In this sentence, we are introduced to auxiliaries and participles. The progressive-aspect auxiliary qûw- forces the main verb into a participle form (as we'll see, CQ's participles are used in a wide variety of constructions, not all of which we'd think of as requiring participles). Note that qûw- is more limited in usage than the English progressive (for example, it is almost always found only in the nonpast tense, with present meaning).
Participles agree with their "head" nouns (as we keep going we'll start elucidating what exactly a participle's head noun is in a given construction) in gender and sometimes number. They have both unaccusative and antipassive versions (antipassive participles do not require the prefix ha-, but they will attach to the suppletive stems of verbs that have them in the antipassive). Here is a chart:
| Animate | Inanimate | |
|---|---|---|
| Direct | -mænæt | -mæn |
| Antipassive | -wahat | -wak |
If the head noun is plural (nouns themselves do not have plural forms, but these are consistently marked on certain dependents and in some cases on verbs), the -t of the animate forms will change to a -q. (Participles do not distinguish between singular and plural inanimate heads). Because the participle is antipassive, its head noun is the same as the subject, and so it agrees with rîŋ.
Note that there is a nonpast marker in the participle. We're not generally used to participles having time as well as aspect (which is marked as well); but since participles can be used in a variety of clausal constructions where time remains relevant, CQ participles mark for tense as well. Finally, note that the accent-on-penultimate-syllable rule is in effect.
The auxiliary, qûw-, acts as the main verb and pushes the now-participlized former main verb into a position just before it; where it can, it also forces the now-participlized verb to agree with the patient. (It can't do that in this example, which is an intransitive sentence, so the participle agrees with the subject). It marks progressive time and has no antipassive.
If this sentence were transitive, the agreement markers would switch up; qûw- would now recognize the nominative (remember, nouns are accusative-marked) as its new ergative and acquire an ergative agreement marker, while its participle would agree with the absolutive/accusative in gender and (if animate) number. The underlying mechanism here appears to be that in sentences with an auxiliary, all core arguments (either the experiencer in intransitive sentences or both the agent and patient in transitive ones) must be agreed with by a verb. In an intransitive sentence, the auxiliary has no ergative to work with, so agreement with the subject must be borne by the participle. In a transitive sentence, the auxiliary can agree with its auxiliary and push the participle to agree with the object. (An alternate, and possibly more compelling, analysis is that in participle-auxiliary constructions it's the participle that's really the main verb, and its alignment is fully ergative, so it agrees with either the experiencer or the patient, but never the agent. The auxiliary, which has no antipassive, only agrees with ergatives.)
3. i=rîŋ-Ø ha-ne-ndéb-i-r.
the=sun-ABS ANTIPASS-PERF-shine-PAST-3S.DEF
"I rîŋ hanendébir."
"The sun shone".
In this sentence, we are introduced not only to the past tense but also to the perfective aspect. In lieu of further context for this sentence, I have chosen to interpret it as meaning that the sun shone at a single, given time in the past. This requires the perfective aspect, which is formed by reduplication of the initial root consonant followed by e (if the root vowel is front) or a (if it is back).
This may trigger dissimilation. In particular:
*ⁿD...ⁿD -> N...ⁿD (where ⁿD is any voiced prenasalized plosive; note that *nḍ...nḍ dissimilates to n...nḍ and *nj...nj to ń...nj.)
*ⁿT...ⁿT -> D...ⁿT
*ł...ł -> h...ł
*lh...lh -> y...lh
Finally, note that the a/e of the nonpast tense has become an i. This is uniform for all past tense forms and does not change according to vowel harmony.
4. i=rîŋ-Ø ha-ne-ndéb-e-r.
the=sun-ABS ANTIPASS-PERF-shine-NONPAST-3S.DEF
"I rîŋ hanendéber."
"The sun will shine."
Here we have a sentence with future tense in English. This can lead to ambiguity in CQ, which does not have a true future tense (only a nonpast/past distinction). However, the use of the perfective aspect indicates that the action must take place at a time thought of as a single, closed point; this is a good indication that the time is future. The situation is similar to that of Russian, which combines present endings with the perfective stem to indicate a future perfective.
5. i=rîŋ-Ø ndeb-e-wáha-t ćæ̂mp-e
the=sun-ABS shine-nonpast-ANTIPASS.PARTCPL.ANIM-SG continue.AUX-NONPAST
"I rîŋ ndebewáhat ćæ̂mpe."
"The sun has been shining."
Classical Quazian doesn't really do much with perfects as Western European languages work with them- that's not the same as the perfective; the Western European perfect focuses on the completion, or extension up to a particular point, of the action. The English sentence in this example combines its perfect and continuous aspects. (This is another indication that we can't use the perfective, since mixing the perfective aspect in CQ with the progressive auxiliary qûw- would be nonsensical.) Instead, we'll introduce another auxiliary, the "continuous" auxiliary ćæ̂mp. This is not quite the same as the progressive auxiliary, and is better translated by the English "continue to". Here, we'll take this sentence (which again is devoid of the sort of context we would want to choose a more precise translation) and presume that the sun has been shining for some time in the near past and is still shining now.
6. i=rîŋ-Ø ṭúlh ha-ndéb-e-r.
the=sun-ABS again ANTIPASS-shine-NONPAST-3S.DEF
"I rîŋ ṭúlh handéber."
"The sun is shining again".
Here we're working with our first adverb, ṭúlh "again". It goes before the main verb (and in between a participle and its auxiliary in those sorts of sentences). Note that the Classical Quazian sentence uses the simple nonpast with no auxiliary, while the English sentence is progressive in aspect; the CQ progressive auxiliary is a bit more limited in usage.
7. i=rîŋ-Ø kítan ha-ndéb-er.
the=sun-ABS tomorrow ANTIPASS-shine-NONPAST-3S.DEF
"I rîŋ kítan handéber."
"The sun will shine tomorrow."
Despite the difference in tense and aspect between 6) and 7) in their English versions, CQ doesn't do anything more than change the adverb used. In 7), the reasoning is that the sun will be shining all day tomorrow, for an extended and imperfect period (rather than, say, just at two in the afternoon). Thus we use the imperfective with no progressive auxiliary.
8. i=rîŋ-Ø nću-mǽnæ-t ha-ndéb-er.
the=sun-ABS be.bright-UNACC.PARTCPL.ANIM-SG ANTIPASS-shine-NONPAST-3S.DEF
"I rîŋ nćumǽnæt handéber."
"The sun shines brightly."
Classical Quazian doesn't really have adjectives or adverbs the way we think of them. (It has a small, closed class of adjectives, but "bright" is not among them). Instead, it has a large number of stative verbs, whose participles act fairly close to adjectives.
Adjectives and adverbs are not distinguished morphologically, but they can be distinguished syntactically. Here, nćumǽnæt is placed in adverbial position just before the verb, so it can be seen as modifying the verb- but it agrees in gender and number with its head noun, rîŋ. A more precise translation of the CQ might be "The sun, while being bright, shines."
nćú is a "contract verb" (terminology borrowed from Greek), meaning that its stem ends in a vowel rather than a consonant. Here are the rules for contract verbs:
-No contract verbs ever take the nonpast tense vowel, regardless of whether anything comes after it. They simply drop it; thus nćumǽnæt instead of *nćuamǽnæt.
-In the past tense it's a bit more complicated. Stems ending in u or o insert an epenthetic w between the stem and the past tense morpheme i. Stems ending in i are defective and don't change at all in the past. Stems ending in e or æ raise these to i and e respectively, and stems ending in a insert an epenthetic r, which further lowers the past tense morpheme to e.
-Any ergative or participle markers are attached to this uninflected nonpast or weirdly inflected past stem.
-Special rules come into play when non-indicative moods are used. We'll worry about those later.
9. i=nću-mǽnæ-t rîŋ-Ø ha-ndéb-e-r
the=be.bright-UNACC.PARTCPL.ANIM-SG sun-ABS ANTIPASS-shine-NONPAST-3S.DEF
"I nćumǽnæt rîŋ handéber."
"The bright sun shines".
The first thing we notice about this sentence is that the only difference between it and sentence number 8) is that the participle has moved behind the noun instead of the verb. As I noted, CQ makes no morphological distinction between adjectives and adverbs, but it does make a syntactic distinction: participles acting like adverbs go in an adverbial position before the verb, while those acting like adjectives stick within the noun phrase. (As may be apparent, Classical Quazian is mainly head-final.)
Note also that the definite article clitic has migrated to the participle. Generally speaking, it likes to appear at the start of its noun phrase.
10. i=rîŋ-Ø śéy kûł-a.
the=sun-ABS now rise-NONPAST
"I rîŋ śéy kûła."
"The sun is rising now."
Note that while ndéb was a usually transitive verb which needed to be antipassivized to be used without an object, kûł has no such requirement. Since we have a verb in the usual unactive voice which is intransitive, rîŋ does not act as an ergative, and so no ergative marker appears on the verb.
The use of the adverb śéy precludes the use of the progressive auxiliary qûw.
11. di=ṣîn-Ø ma xán ma-mbó-w-i
the.PL=person-ABS PART all PERF-shout-EPENTH-PAST
"Di ṣîn ma xán mambówi."
"All of the people shouted."
Here we are introduced to our first case marker, the partitive ma. It is enclitic and has no accent of its own; like all postpositional phrases modifying nouns, it comes before its head. As we'll see, if in place of ṣîn there were an inanimate noun, the construct state would be required instead. (More on that later). xán "all" is a quantifier and always takes a partitive modifier; it is not considered to have gender, either. Despite this, it may act as the subject of a transitive sentence, which normally must be ergative, but only if its partitive modifier is animate, too. In other words, the verb jumps to the adpositional modifier of xán to decide whether or not the phrase headed by xán can act as an ergative, and if so, how to agree with it.
Also note that the plural version of the definite article, di, has been introduced.
mbó "to shout" is another contract verb, here in the past perfective.
12. di=ṣîn ma dóq ma-mbó-w-i.
the=person-ABS PART some PERF-shout-EPENTH-PAST
"Di ṣîn ma dóq mambówi."
"Some of the people shouted."
This sentence is identical to 11), except that the quantifier has been changed. The syntax works the same way.
A corollary of this formation is that CQ does not make a distinction between "many people shouted" and "many of the people shouted".
13. di=ṣîn ma jây móńaq ma-mbó-w-i.
the=person-ABS PART many two-EPENTH-ADV PERF-shout-EPENTH-PAST
"Di ṣîn ma jây monáyaq mambówi."
"Many of the people shouted twice."
Again, the same construction used for the quantifiers xán and dóq is also used for jây. More interesting is the adverbial monáyaq, formed from the numeral món "two" along with the suffix -yaq. In the case of móńaq, the combination n+y has been reduced to ń; but this is not always the case. This will be elaborated on when we start working with cardinal numbers as well.
14. di=woł-a-mæ̂næ-q ṣîn pólh mbó.
the=be.happy-EPENTH-UNACC.PARTCPL.ANIM-PL person often shout
"Di wołamæ̂næq ṣîn pólh mbó."
"Happy people often shout."
CQ, like the Romance languages but unlike English, uses the definite article clitic when making generalizations.
wôł is a stative verb, like nćú. Its participial ending now takes the plural ending -q instead of the singular -t to agree with its head. (Nouns themselves do not mark plural forms; that's for their dependents to do.)
pólh "often" is really pôlh; here CQ's only rule of true tone sandhi applies: if two words are situated such that two falling tones would be immediately adjacent, the second falling tone must switch to rising.
15. i=pá-pay-Ø sáŋ-u ḍe-ḍîk-i.
the=cat-cat-ABS above-ADV PERF-jump-PAST
"I pápay sáŋu ḍeḍîki."
"The kitten jumped up."
Full reduplication of a word without any coda consonants can be used to form diminutives, such as pápay "kitten" from páy "cat".
sáŋu "upwards" is an adverbial derivation of the locative postposition saŋ "onto a place above".
16. i-pá-pay-Ø ya=ndæq-án saŋ ḍe-ḍîk-i
the=cat-cat-ABS the=table-ABS onto PERF-jump-PAST
"I pápay ya ndæqán saŋ ḍeḍîki."
"The kitten jumped onto the table."
Lots of stuff going on here.
Firstly, ndǽq is the first inanimate noun we've dealt with so far. Inanimates work differently from animates in a couple of ways:
-Their definite article is different, being ya=. (CQ doesn't mark number in inanimates, so there's no plural version). Unlike the animate definite article, ya= is allowed to take the accent.
-We haven't seen any construct-state nouns yet, though we'll see some soon. While animates are default-marked for the absolute state and specially-marked for the construct, in inanimates the opposite applies: the construct is the default state and the absolute takes an inflection. Here, ndǽq is in the absolute state (several postpositions/case markers trigger construct state of inanimates, but saŋ isn't one of them). The absolute-case marker in inanimates is -an; in inanimates which end in a vowel this ending is -yan.
Some inanimates never take the absolute inflection and only have construct forms. Since the construct is used in many possessive constructions, it's thought that these are nouns which were at one point considered obligatorily possessed. (This is reinforced by the fact that, e.g., words for body parts are always found in the construct; ník "arm" is never *níkan.)
saŋ is an enclitic lative postposition meaning, roughly, "onto the top of." I'll explain the locative and lative prepositional system later; for now note that it is included as a syllable in the noun it governs for the purposes of accent placement; thus ya=ndæq-án saŋ, not ya=ndǽq-an saŋ.
17. i=ni-śaŋ-a-mænæ̂-t-i ni-pá-pay-i me-mpéḍ-i.
the=1S-be.small-NONPAST-EPENTH-UNACC.PARTCPL.ANIM-SG 1S-cat-cat-CONST PERF-walk.away-PAST
"I niśaŋamænæ̂ti nipápayi mempéḍi."
"My little kitten walked away."
Here we are introduced to possessive prefixes. These appear not only on their head nouns but also on their adjectival modifiers. Here's a table:
Possessive prefixes also cause alterations to the accent placement. Essentially, they want to pull the accent towards them (to the right/earlier in the word), but their reach is limited. The accent will only move one space to the right, and then only if as a result it would land either on the prefix itself or on the syllable just after the prefix. Thus, pa-páy-i "kitten (construct)" becomes ni-pá-pay-i "my kitten," but the accent on śaŋ-a-mænæ̂-t-i "small (animate singular) (construct)" is three syllables away from the prefix slot, and does not move.
Possessive prefixes cause the noun or adjective they're in to move to the construct state; since pápay "kitten" is animate, it takes the (marked!) animate construct suffix -i (-ye after vowels). We can see further that adjectives (and participles acting as such) also agree in state with their heads.
Finally, note that a possessive prefix appearing on a noun does not rule out its acquiring a definite article. The definite article is not obligatory, and its absence indicates that the item is not the only one belonging to the possessor. Its appearance in this sentence indicates that I have only one kitten; if it had been left out the implication would be that I own at least two. (This is not the only way of indicating "one of my..." or "some of my...", which could also be expressed with a numeral/quantifier and a phrase with ma, as found in sentences 11, 12 and 13. But it is the most common way).
The TAM of the verb form should not present any great difficulties; but we are now dealing with verbs of motion, which require a bit of elaboration. Classical Quazian splits its verbs of motions according to whether they are away from or towards the point in question, by whether they are by foot or vehicle*, and by whether a return trip is implied. A chart is shown below. (Note the infixes used in the verbs for vehicles).
There are other verbs of motion, but these are the basic ones. There's no need in CQ to use anything more specific than "went by foot away from a place" for this sentence.
*Classical Quazia was technologically similar to Mediterranean or Middle Eastern antiquity, and no motor vehicles aside from toy curiosities were ever produced. The Quazians also had no horses, though they did have the mbâw, a domesticated bison which was used as a draft animal. Here, "by vehicle" essentially means by cart or boat.
18. jænj-é-mæn qûw-a.
to.rain-NONPAST-UNACT.PARTCPL.INANIM progress.AUX-NONPAST
"Jænjémæn qûwa."
"It's raining."
Verbs of weather and state, which are nearly all stative verbs, require no explicit subjects (insofar as they have any for the purposes of agreement, these are inanimate). Note also the use of the progressive auxiliary (a simple jǽnje is a state about climate, not weather- ie "it rains a lot in Norway.")
19. ya=jáń-an kát-u náh-i.
the=rain.ABS down-ADV approach-PAST
"Ya jáńan kâtu náhi."
"The rain came down."
jáń is related to the verbal root jǽnj-, although by the time Classical Quazian is attested these processes are quite opaque.
kátu is an adverbial form of the preposition kat "down(wards)".
Although most simple pasts have so far been translated as past perfectives, the English here is virtually synonymous with "the rain was coming down"- ie it's unmarked for aspect but is more imperfective. We'll translate it as imperfective.
20. i=pá-pay ya=jań-án lhek ḍǽnk-e.
the=cat-cat the=rain-CONSTR in play-NONPAST
"I pápay ya jańán lhek ḍǽnke."
"The kitten is playing in the rain."
Note that the accent on jańán is on its last syllable. That's because, like all postpositions, lhek "in, inside" is enclitic and counts as a syllable for the noun's accent placement.
No progressive auxiliary used here. It's essentially only used when there's a define semantic split between the standard imperfective aspect and the progressive peraphrastic. There's such a split for jǽnj- "it rains (a lot, a little)" in reference to the climate vs. "it is raining" (right now)- but not for dǽnk.
the.PL=person-ABS PART all PERF-shout-EPENTH-PAST
"Di ṣîn ma xán mambówi."
"All of the people shouted."
Here we are introduced to our first case marker, the partitive ma. It is enclitic and has no accent of its own; like all postpositional phrases modifying nouns, it comes before its head. As we'll see, if in place of ṣîn there were an inanimate noun, the construct state would be required instead. (More on that later). xán "all" is a quantifier and always takes a partitive modifier; it is not considered to have gender, either. Despite this, it may act as the subject of a transitive sentence, which normally must be ergative, but only if its partitive modifier is animate, too. In other words, the verb jumps to the adpositional modifier of xán to decide whether or not the phrase headed by xán can act as an ergative, and if so, how to agree with it.
Also note that the plural version of the definite article, di, has been introduced.
mbó "to shout" is another contract verb, here in the past perfective.
12. di=ṣîn ma dóq ma-mbó-w-i.
the=person-ABS PART some PERF-shout-EPENTH-PAST
"Di ṣîn ma dóq mambówi."
"Some of the people shouted."
This sentence is identical to 11), except that the quantifier has been changed. The syntax works the same way.
A corollary of this formation is that CQ does not make a distinction between "many people shouted" and "many of the people shouted".
13. di=ṣîn ma jây móńaq ma-mbó-w-i.
the=person-ABS PART many two-EPENTH-ADV PERF-shout-EPENTH-PAST
"Di ṣîn ma jây monáyaq mambówi."
"Many of the people shouted twice."
Again, the same construction used for the quantifiers xán and dóq is also used for jây. More interesting is the adverbial monáyaq, formed from the numeral món "two" along with the suffix -yaq. In the case of móńaq, the combination n+y has been reduced to ń; but this is not always the case. This will be elaborated on when we start working with cardinal numbers as well.
14. di=woł-a-mæ̂næ-q ṣîn pólh mbó.
the=be.happy-EPENTH-UNACC.PARTCPL.ANIM-PL person often shout
"Di wołamæ̂næq ṣîn pólh mbó."
"Happy people often shout."
CQ, like the Romance languages but unlike English, uses the definite article clitic when making generalizations.
wôł is a stative verb, like nćú. Its participial ending now takes the plural ending -q instead of the singular -t to agree with its head. (Nouns themselves do not mark plural forms; that's for their dependents to do.)
pólh "often" is really pôlh; here CQ's only rule of true tone sandhi applies: if two words are situated such that two falling tones would be immediately adjacent, the second falling tone must switch to rising.
15. i=pá-pay-Ø sáŋ-u ḍe-ḍîk-i.
the=cat-cat-ABS above-ADV PERF-jump-PAST
"I pápay sáŋu ḍeḍîki."
"The kitten jumped up."
Full reduplication of a word without any coda consonants can be used to form diminutives, such as pápay "kitten" from páy "cat".
sáŋu "upwards" is an adverbial derivation of the locative postposition saŋ "onto a place above".
16. i-pá-pay-Ø ya=ndæq-án saŋ ḍe-ḍîk-i
the=cat-cat-ABS the=table-ABS onto PERF-jump-PAST
"I pápay ya ndæqán saŋ ḍeḍîki."
"The kitten jumped onto the table."
Lots of stuff going on here.
Firstly, ndǽq is the first inanimate noun we've dealt with so far. Inanimates work differently from animates in a couple of ways:
-Their definite article is different, being ya=. (CQ doesn't mark number in inanimates, so there's no plural version). Unlike the animate definite article, ya= is allowed to take the accent.
-We haven't seen any construct-state nouns yet, though we'll see some soon. While animates are default-marked for the absolute state and specially-marked for the construct, in inanimates the opposite applies: the construct is the default state and the absolute takes an inflection. Here, ndǽq is in the absolute state (several postpositions/case markers trigger construct state of inanimates, but saŋ isn't one of them). The absolute-case marker in inanimates is -an; in inanimates which end in a vowel this ending is -yan.
Some inanimates never take the absolute inflection and only have construct forms. Since the construct is used in many possessive constructions, it's thought that these are nouns which were at one point considered obligatorily possessed. (This is reinforced by the fact that, e.g., words for body parts are always found in the construct; ník "arm" is never *níkan.)
saŋ is an enclitic lative postposition meaning, roughly, "onto the top of." I'll explain the locative and lative prepositional system later; for now note that it is included as a syllable in the noun it governs for the purposes of accent placement; thus ya=ndæq-án saŋ, not ya=ndǽq-an saŋ.
17. i=ni-śaŋ-a-mænæ̂-t-i ni-pá-pay-i me-mpéḍ-i.
the=1S-be.small-NONPAST-EPENTH-UNACC.PARTCPL.ANIM-SG 1S-cat-cat-CONST PERF-walk.away-PAST
"I niśaŋamænæ̂ti nipápayi mempéḍi."
"My little kitten walked away."
Here we are introduced to possessive prefixes. These appear not only on their head nouns but also on their adjectival modifiers. Here's a table:
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st exclusive | ni- | ńo- |
| 1st inclusive | ——— | ńaka- |
| 2nd | gi- | ka- |
| 3rd | a- | ye- |
Possessive prefixes also cause alterations to the accent placement. Essentially, they want to pull the accent towards them (to the right/earlier in the word), but their reach is limited. The accent will only move one space to the right, and then only if as a result it would land either on the prefix itself or on the syllable just after the prefix. Thus, pa-páy-i "kitten (construct)" becomes ni-pá-pay-i "my kitten," but the accent on śaŋ-a-mænæ̂-t-i "small (animate singular) (construct)" is three syllables away from the prefix slot, and does not move.
Possessive prefixes cause the noun or adjective they're in to move to the construct state; since pápay "kitten" is animate, it takes the (marked!) animate construct suffix -i (-ye after vowels). We can see further that adjectives (and participles acting as such) also agree in state with their heads.
Finally, note that a possessive prefix appearing on a noun does not rule out its acquiring a definite article. The definite article is not obligatory, and its absence indicates that the item is not the only one belonging to the possessor. Its appearance in this sentence indicates that I have only one kitten; if it had been left out the implication would be that I own at least two. (This is not the only way of indicating "one of my..." or "some of my...", which could also be expressed with a numeral/quantifier and a phrase with ma, as found in sentences 11, 12 and 13. But it is the most common way).
The TAM of the verb form should not present any great difficulties; but we are now dealing with verbs of motion, which require a bit of elaboration. Classical Quazian splits its verbs of motions according to whether they are away from or towards the point in question, by whether they are by foot or vehicle*, and by whether a return trip is implied. A chart is shown below. (Note the infixes used in the verbs for vehicles).
| By foot | By vehicle | |
|---|---|---|
| Approaching | náh- | nímah- |
| Leaving | mpéḍ- | mpímeḍ- |
| Approaching (and returning) | gǽ̂x- | gîmæx- |
| Leaving (and returning) | ṣér- | ṣímer- |
There are other verbs of motion, but these are the basic ones. There's no need in CQ to use anything more specific than "went by foot away from a place" for this sentence.
*Classical Quazia was technologically similar to Mediterranean or Middle Eastern antiquity, and no motor vehicles aside from toy curiosities were ever produced. The Quazians also had no horses, though they did have the mbâw, a domesticated bison which was used as a draft animal. Here, "by vehicle" essentially means by cart or boat.
18. jænj-é-mæn qûw-a.
to.rain-NONPAST-UNACT.PARTCPL.INANIM progress.AUX-NONPAST
"Jænjémæn qûwa."
"It's raining."
Verbs of weather and state, which are nearly all stative verbs, require no explicit subjects (insofar as they have any for the purposes of agreement, these are inanimate). Note also the use of the progressive auxiliary (a simple jǽnje is a state about climate, not weather- ie "it rains a lot in Norway.")
19. ya=jáń-an kát-u náh-i.
the=rain.ABS down-ADV approach-PAST
"Ya jáńan kâtu náhi."
"The rain came down."
jáń is related to the verbal root jǽnj-, although by the time Classical Quazian is attested these processes are quite opaque.
kátu is an adverbial form of the preposition kat "down(wards)".
Although most simple pasts have so far been translated as past perfectives, the English here is virtually synonymous with "the rain was coming down"- ie it's unmarked for aspect but is more imperfective. We'll translate it as imperfective.
20. i=pá-pay ya=jań-án lhek ḍǽnk-e.
the=cat-cat the=rain-CONSTR in play-NONPAST
"I pápay ya jańán lhek ḍǽnke."
"The kitten is playing in the rain."
Note that the accent on jańán is on its last syllable. That's because, like all postpositions, lhek "in, inside" is enclitic and counts as a syllable for the noun's accent placement.
No progressive auxiliary used here. It's essentially only used when there's a define semantic split between the standard imperfective aspect and the progressive peraphrastic. There's such a split for jǽnj- "it rains (a lot, a little)" in reference to the climate vs. "it is raining" (right now)- but not for dǽnk.
The grammar is starting to come into some sort of coherence by now. Let's continue...
21. ya=jáń-an śéy pa-pánd-a.
the=rain-ABS now PERF-stop-NONPAST
"Ya jáńan śéy papánda."
"The rain has stopped."
Normally a nonpast perfective has a future sense; but a more natural rendering in CQ would use an adverb, such as śéy "now", to limit the scope of the verb to the present. This can be used for actions with perfective aspect which have happened extremely recently.
22. ya=jáń-an áta pa-pánd-a.
the=rain-ABS soon PERF-stop-NONPAST
"Ya jáńan áta papánda."
"Soon the rain will stop."
By switching śéy "now", which indicates a strictly present occurence, for áta "soon", the normal future sense of the nonpast perfective returns.
23. Nǽq ŋak ya=jáń-an áta pand-ań-á-mæn łêx-æ.
1s that the=rain-ABS soon stop-SUBJ-NONPAST-UNACT.PARTCPL.INANIM hope-NONPAST.
"Nǽq ŋak ya jáńan áta pandámæn łéxæ."
"I hope the rain stops soon."
We've discovered our first personal pronoun, nǽq "I." Here's a larger table.
These have no case forms, and take the normal state suffixes.
We have also met our first subordinate clause, and our first non-indicative mood. Let's take a look at what's going on.
ŋak is one of three particles that can introduce a subordinate object clause. It is used with verbs of thinking or thought (nćek is used with verbs of perceiving or sensing, and qæk with verbs of saying; the -k found on all three particles is a reduced form of the accusative case marker ko.)
Because it is unclear that the verb will necessarily happen, the verb must be in the subjunctive/irrealis mood. The marker for this is ań/eń (harmonizing with the root vowel); it is placed between the stem and the tense marker. If it appears, a following nonpast tense marker does not need to agree in vowel frontness with the stem and remains a even for front-vowel stems.
For contract verbs, the subjunctive marker reduces to ń, and the tense marker will have to agree.
Verbs in this sort of subordinate clause are turned into participles (this is why participles can have mood and tense).
The verb clause appears in the normal object position. The main verb is unextraordinary.
24. di=łǽŋ nkómo áḍa wás-i.
the.PL=wild.animal here once live-PAST
"Di łǽŋ nkómo áḍa wási."
"Once, wild animals lived here."
Classical Quazian makes a rigorous distinction between łǽŋ "wild animal" and ćâ "domestic animal". The derived term łúnæŋ "animal" (the -un- infix essentially serves as a derivation meaning "-oid" or "-like") may however be used, especially in technical works related to biology.
áḍa "at one time" comes after nkómp "here"; where a locative and a temporal adverb are both being used, the locative comes first, then the temporal adverb.
25. ćén uhu-mǽnæ-t ngáq-u núm-i
3s.AN be.slow-UNACC.PARTCPL.ANIM-SG around-ADV see-PAST
"Ćén uhumǽnæt ngáqu númi."
"Slowly she looked around."
Classical Quazian makes no gender distinction in pronouns.
The participle of úhu- "to be slow" is in adverbial position (but agrees in animacy and number with ćén).
The verbal root núm "to look, to see" takes an additional adverb, ngáqu (from the postposition ngaq "on both sides, on all sides") to narrow its scope. Classical Quazian does not allow postpositions to compound with verbs (like invenio from venio) or to form set phrases with them (like go under), so it must use adverbs formed from postpositions.
26. me-mpeḍ-é!
PERF-leave.by.foot-IMP
"Mempeḍé!"
"Go away!"
The imperative is not really a full form of its own. If the verb root is allowed by the rules of phonotactics to stand alone, it will do just that: ḍeḍîk! Jump!. Otherwise, it will take the nonpast tense marker and shift its stress onto it, as shown here. The perfective is used; if the imperfective were used here the speaker would specifically be ordering the listener to leave and keep going.
The target of an imperative is considered by the verb to be absolutive. For transitive verbs, it is more useful to use the antipassive, and put the "object" into an postpositional phrase with the postposition wir "against". (This can be used for non-imperatives, too, where the focus is on the agent, not the patient, if an antipassive is used.) This is sort of a flipped version of English "the door was opened by me."
27. xêwam me-mpeḍ-ód-a!
1P.INCL PERF-leave.by.foot-OPT-NONPAST
"Xêwam mempeḍóda!"
"Let's go!"
For "inclusive" commands such as "Let's go!", the optative mood is used. Its marker is -od- placed in the same place as the subjunctive marker. Like the subjunctive marker, because it comes between the root and the tense marker, the tense marker is no longer affected by the stem and is always a in the nonpast.
When contract verbs are in the optative, the optative marker reduces to -d-. As in the subjunctive, the loss of the mood marker vowel allows the verb stem to once again influence the nonpast tense marker.
28. gú me-mpeḍ-e-mǽnæ-t dey-ôd-a.
2S PERF-leave.by.foot-UNACC.PARTCPL.ANIM-SG must-OPT-NONPAST
"Gú mempeḍemǽnæt deyôda."
"You should go."
Unlike in many languages of Europe, the optative, not the subjunctive/irrealis, is used to soften commands, probably by analogy with sentences like 27). Here, the command in question applies to dêy-, an auxiliary verb meaning, essentially, "must".
29. nǽq ni-me-mpeḍ-e-máq-Ø lhek woł-ûṣ-a.
1s my-PERF-leave.by.foot-NONPAST-GERUND-CONST in be.happy-COND-NONPAST
"Nǽq nimempeḍemáq lhek wołûṣa.
"I will be happy to go."
[Adjective] to [Verb] constructions in English can be confusing, as they're a conflation of several different types of semantic relations:
-a description of the head noun as the object of the infinitive (This car is easy to drive);
-a description of the head noun as the subject of the infinitive (He is worthy of leading/worthy to lead);
-an emotional state relating to the verb (I am sad to go).
This sentence is clearly an example of the third type of construction (We will deal with the first two later on). The main verb is the emotional state (I am happy) placed into the conditional mood (ending: -uṣ-, or -ṣ- in contract verbs; the same rules about influencing the tense marker apply in the conditional as applied in the subjunctive and optative), while the English infinitive is transformed into a gerund (ending: -maq), possessed by its absolutive argument, and finally put into a postpositional phrase with lhek.
The conditional is always used in this type of construction, even if it's not in doubt that the speaker will go. If it were hypothetical or uncertain, the participle would be conditional or subjunctive mood as well.
A similar, albeit very stilted-sounding, construction can appear in English, too: I, in my going, would be happy. The Classical Quazian version can do something English can't, too, in that it need not be one's own going that is the cause of happiness. *I am happy you to go makes no sense in English, but changing nimempeḍemáq to gimempeḍemáq in CQ is a perfectly normal construction, and indicates that the cause of joy is the listener's leaving, not the speaker's.
30. ćén áta na-náh-a.
3S soon PERF-arrive.by.foot-NONPAST
"Ćén áta nanáha."
"He will arrive soon."
There is nothing in this sentence that has not been explained prior. (A first!)
21. ya=jáń-an śéy pa-pánd-a.
the=rain-ABS now PERF-stop-NONPAST
"Ya jáńan śéy papánda."
"The rain has stopped."
Normally a nonpast perfective has a future sense; but a more natural rendering in CQ would use an adverb, such as śéy "now", to limit the scope of the verb to the present. This can be used for actions with perfective aspect which have happened extremely recently.
22. ya=jáń-an áta pa-pánd-a.
the=rain-ABS soon PERF-stop-NONPAST
"Ya jáńan áta papánda."
"Soon the rain will stop."
By switching śéy "now", which indicates a strictly present occurence, for áta "soon", the normal future sense of the nonpast perfective returns.
23. Nǽq ŋak ya=jáń-an áta pand-ań-á-mæn łêx-æ.
1s that the=rain-ABS soon stop-SUBJ-NONPAST-UNACT.PARTCPL.INANIM hope-NONPAST.
"Nǽq ŋak ya jáńan áta pandámæn łéxæ."
"I hope the rain stops soon."
We've discovered our first personal pronoun, nǽq "I." Here's a larger table.
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | nǽq | xêm |
| 1st inclusive | ——- | xêwam |
| 2nd | gú | báy |
| 3rd animate | ćén | ṣák |
| 3rd inanimate | wâń | wâń |
These have no case forms, and take the normal state suffixes.
We have also met our first subordinate clause, and our first non-indicative mood. Let's take a look at what's going on.
ŋak is one of three particles that can introduce a subordinate object clause. It is used with verbs of thinking or thought (nćek is used with verbs of perceiving or sensing, and qæk with verbs of saying; the -k found on all three particles is a reduced form of the accusative case marker ko.)
Because it is unclear that the verb will necessarily happen, the verb must be in the subjunctive/irrealis mood. The marker for this is ań/eń (harmonizing with the root vowel); it is placed between the stem and the tense marker. If it appears, a following nonpast tense marker does not need to agree in vowel frontness with the stem and remains a even for front-vowel stems.
For contract verbs, the subjunctive marker reduces to ń, and the tense marker will have to agree.
Verbs in this sort of subordinate clause are turned into participles (this is why participles can have mood and tense).
The verb clause appears in the normal object position. The main verb is unextraordinary.
24. di=łǽŋ nkómo áḍa wás-i.
the.PL=wild.animal here once live-PAST
"Di łǽŋ nkómo áḍa wási."
"Once, wild animals lived here."
Classical Quazian makes a rigorous distinction between łǽŋ "wild animal" and ćâ "domestic animal". The derived term łúnæŋ "animal" (the -un- infix essentially serves as a derivation meaning "-oid" or "-like") may however be used, especially in technical works related to biology.
áḍa "at one time" comes after nkómp "here"; where a locative and a temporal adverb are both being used, the locative comes first, then the temporal adverb.
25. ćén uhu-mǽnæ-t ngáq-u núm-i
3s.AN be.slow-UNACC.PARTCPL.ANIM-SG around-ADV see-PAST
"Ćén uhumǽnæt ngáqu númi."
"Slowly she looked around."
Classical Quazian makes no gender distinction in pronouns.
The participle of úhu- "to be slow" is in adverbial position (but agrees in animacy and number with ćén).
The verbal root núm "to look, to see" takes an additional adverb, ngáqu (from the postposition ngaq "on both sides, on all sides") to narrow its scope. Classical Quazian does not allow postpositions to compound with verbs (like invenio from venio) or to form set phrases with them (like go under), so it must use adverbs formed from postpositions.
26. me-mpeḍ-é!
PERF-leave.by.foot-IMP
"Mempeḍé!"
"Go away!"
The imperative is not really a full form of its own. If the verb root is allowed by the rules of phonotactics to stand alone, it will do just that: ḍeḍîk! Jump!. Otherwise, it will take the nonpast tense marker and shift its stress onto it, as shown here. The perfective is used; if the imperfective were used here the speaker would specifically be ordering the listener to leave and keep going.
The target of an imperative is considered by the verb to be absolutive. For transitive verbs, it is more useful to use the antipassive, and put the "object" into an postpositional phrase with the postposition wir "against". (This can be used for non-imperatives, too, where the focus is on the agent, not the patient, if an antipassive is used.) This is sort of a flipped version of English "the door was opened by me."
27. xêwam me-mpeḍ-ód-a!
1P.INCL PERF-leave.by.foot-OPT-NONPAST
"Xêwam mempeḍóda!"
"Let's go!"
For "inclusive" commands such as "Let's go!", the optative mood is used. Its marker is -od- placed in the same place as the subjunctive marker. Like the subjunctive marker, because it comes between the root and the tense marker, the tense marker is no longer affected by the stem and is always a in the nonpast.
When contract verbs are in the optative, the optative marker reduces to -d-. As in the subjunctive, the loss of the mood marker vowel allows the verb stem to once again influence the nonpast tense marker.
28. gú me-mpeḍ-e-mǽnæ-t dey-ôd-a.
2S PERF-leave.by.foot-UNACC.PARTCPL.ANIM-SG must-OPT-NONPAST
"Gú mempeḍemǽnæt deyôda."
"You should go."
Unlike in many languages of Europe, the optative, not the subjunctive/irrealis, is used to soften commands, probably by analogy with sentences like 27). Here, the command in question applies to dêy-, an auxiliary verb meaning, essentially, "must".
29. nǽq ni-me-mpeḍ-e-máq-Ø lhek woł-ûṣ-a.
1s my-PERF-leave.by.foot-NONPAST-GERUND-CONST in be.happy-COND-NONPAST
"Nǽq nimempeḍemáq lhek wołûṣa.
"I will be happy to go."
[Adjective] to [Verb] constructions in English can be confusing, as they're a conflation of several different types of semantic relations:
-a description of the head noun as the object of the infinitive (This car is easy to drive);
-a description of the head noun as the subject of the infinitive (He is worthy of leading/worthy to lead);
-an emotional state relating to the verb (I am sad to go).
This sentence is clearly an example of the third type of construction (We will deal with the first two later on). The main verb is the emotional state (I am happy) placed into the conditional mood (ending: -uṣ-, or -ṣ- in contract verbs; the same rules about influencing the tense marker apply in the conditional as applied in the subjunctive and optative), while the English infinitive is transformed into a gerund (ending: -maq), possessed by its absolutive argument, and finally put into a postpositional phrase with lhek.
The conditional is always used in this type of construction, even if it's not in doubt that the speaker will go. If it were hypothetical or uncertain, the participle would be conditional or subjunctive mood as well.
A similar, albeit very stilted-sounding, construction can appear in English, too: I, in my going, would be happy. The Classical Quazian version can do something English can't, too, in that it need not be one's own going that is the cause of happiness. *I am happy you to go makes no sense in English, but changing nimempeḍemáq to gimempeḍemáq in CQ is a perfectly normal construction, and indicates that the cause of joy is the listener's leaving, not the speaker's.
30. ćén áta na-náh-a.
3S soon PERF-arrive.by.foot-NONPAST
"Ćén áta nanáha."
"He will arrive soon."
There is nothing in this sentence that has not been explained prior. (A first!)
Apologies for the delay. (I should get the new words entered into the dictionary, too...)
31. ya=máŋa-Ø a-wæ̂ḍ-e me-mp-aś-éḍ-i.
the=baby-ABS 3S-ball-CONST PERF-walk.[inan].away-PAST
"Ya máŋa awæ̂ḍe mempaśéḍi."
"The baby's ball has rolled away."
Possessive constructions are formed by putting the possessor in the absolute state, the possessee in the construct state, and putting a possessive prefix on the possessee. The article, if any, starts the phrase but agrees with the possessee.
Inanimates cannot walk away, so their motion verbs require the infix aś attached to the "by foot" roots.
Some nouns ending in -e are "fleeting vowel" nouns, in which this -e disappears when a suffix is attached. wæ̂ḍe (construct wæ̂ḍan) is such a noun.
32.di=randá-ye da món ŋgába tôd-a.
the=boy-CONST NUM.PART two together work-NONPAST
"Di randáye da món ŋgába tôda."
"The two boys are working together."
First, let's take a look at the cardinal numbers from one to one hundred.
CQ's bases are five and twenty, not ten. There are cardinal numbers from one to five; then six to nine repeat one to four, with a prefix probably derived from móń (ie "second one, second two..."). Ten has its own form, then becomes a prefix itself to form eleven to fourteen; fifteen follows the pattern of ten. (Note that the forms derived from "one" combine oddly with the prefixes.) Twenty rolls everything over; for numbers higher than twenty, the difference appears before a special form of twenty with -æ (probably an "and"-like clitic similar to Latin -que). Forty, sixty and eighty repeat the process with prefixes derived from "two," "three" and "four": "ninety-seven" is ximón xiwæ̂ńæ, or "seventeen and eighty" (with all the prefixes unpacked, it's more like "fifteen and two and the fourth twenty.")
Numbers higher than one hundred are not covered at this time.
When counting, the noun must be put into the construct state regardless of animacy, and made the object of the special "counting partitive" postposition da.
31. ya=máŋa-Ø a-wæ̂ḍ-e me-mp-aś-éḍ-i.
the=baby-ABS 3S-ball-CONST PERF-walk.[inan].away-PAST
"Ya máŋa awæ̂ḍe mempaśéḍi."
"The baby's ball has rolled away."
Possessive constructions are formed by putting the possessor in the absolute state, the possessee in the construct state, and putting a possessive prefix on the possessee. The article, if any, starts the phrase but agrees with the possessee.
Inanimates cannot walk away, so their motion verbs require the infix aś attached to the "by foot" roots.
Some nouns ending in -e are "fleeting vowel" nouns, in which this -e disappears when a suffix is attached. wæ̂ḍe (construct wæ̂ḍan) is such a noun.
32.di=randá-ye da món ŋgába tôd-a.
the=boy-CONST NUM.PART two together work-NONPAST
"Di randáye da món ŋgába tôda."
"The two boys are working together."
First, let's take a look at the cardinal numbers from one to one hundred.
| one | ǽśa |
| two | món |
| three | ńôq |
| four | páń |
| five | ndîw |
| six | mahǽśa |
| seven | mamón |
| eight | mańôq |
| nine | mapáń |
| ten | kéŋ |
| eleven | kǽśa |
| twelve | kæmón |
| fifteen | xílh |
| sixteen | xíśa |
| seventeen | ximón |
| twenty | wæ̂ń |
| twenty-one | ǽśa wæ̂ńæ |
| twenty-two | món wæ̂ńæ |
| forty | mawæ̂ń |
| sixty | ńawæ̂ń |
| eighty | pawæ̂ń |
| one hundred | hám |
CQ's bases are five and twenty, not ten. There are cardinal numbers from one to five; then six to nine repeat one to four, with a prefix probably derived from móń (ie "second one, second two..."). Ten has its own form, then becomes a prefix itself to form eleven to fourteen; fifteen follows the pattern of ten. (Note that the forms derived from "one" combine oddly with the prefixes.) Twenty rolls everything over; for numbers higher than twenty, the difference appears before a special form of twenty with -æ (probably an "and"-like clitic similar to Latin -que). Forty, sixty and eighty repeat the process with prefixes derived from "two," "three" and "four": "ninety-seven" is ximón xiwæ̂ńæ, or "seventeen and eighty" (with all the prefixes unpacked, it's more like "fifteen and two and the fourth twenty.")
Numbers higher than one hundred are not covered at this time.
When counting, the noun must be put into the construct state regardless of animacy, and made the object of the special "counting partitive" postposition da.
The numbers are a little clunky, admittedly, but hey, THEY'RE NOT WORSE THAN SLAPSHIRUCKISH, so you can't exactly be too upset there. Though it does make me wonder how you'd read off a serial number without accidentally mixing the numbers up...
Also, do you have any plans for a word meaning 'zero'?
Also also, I find it curious how five isn't used in the definition of six. (I think I called this "base-eleven thinking in a base-ten system" once when I was younger.)
Also, do you have any plans for a word meaning 'zero'?
Also also, I find it curious how five isn't used in the definition of six. (I think I called this "base-eleven thinking in a base-ten system" once when I was younger.)