Nodaimese language

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The Nodaimese language (Nodaimese: nodaimanena) is a Continental Nodaimic language spoken in the northern region of the continent of Nodaima. It is one of the four official languages of the Kingdom of Cedysna.

Nodaimese is an agglutinative language and is almost exclusively left-branching. Inflections form a major part of Nodaimese grammar.

History

Nodaimese was originally spoken in the area around Nodaima City. It is estimated that it split off from the rest of the Continental Nodaimic languages around 400 BC.

The earliest attested stage of Nodaimese is Old Nodaimese, spoken between AD 100-750. This stage of the language had a number of archaic features that are no longer part of the language, such as grammatical gender and phonemic stress.

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Coronal Dorsal Glottal
Bilabial Labiodental Dental Alveolar Alveolo-palatal Palatal Velar
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Stop p b t d k g
Fricative f v θ ð s z ɕ ʑ x ɣ h
Affricate t͡s d͡z t͡ɕ d͡ʑ
Approximant l j w*
Flap ɾ

*/w/ is labiovelar in articulation.

The following list is the representation of these phonemes in the official Latin orthography:

  • /ɲ/ is represented as <nj>
  • /ŋ/ is represented as <ng> (<ngg> represents /ŋg/, while <nk> represents /ŋk/ due to assimilation)
  • /θ/ is represented as <ť>
  • /ð/ is represented as <ď>
  • /ɕ/ is represented as <š>
  • /ʑ/ is represented as <ž>
  • /ɣ/ is represented as <ġ>
  • /t͡s/ is represented as <c>
  • /d͡z/ is represented as <dz>
  • /t͡ɕ/ is represented as <č>
  • /d͡ʑ/ is represented as <ǧ>
  • /ɾ/ is represented as <r>
  • All other phonemes are represented using their IPA glyphs.

All consonants can be geminated (lengthened), except /h/, /j/ and /w/. A geminated /ɾ/ is realised as [r] (a trill).

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close /i/ <i> /y/ <y> /u/ <u>
Close-mid /e/ <e> /ø/ <ø> /o/ <o>
Open-mid* /ɛ/ <è> /œ/ <ö> /ɔ/ <ò>
Open /a/ <a>

*The open-mid vowels are rare in native Nodaimese words; they are typically found in loanwords (e.g. lynè "Monday" and jòves "Thursday").

Nodaimese distinguishes between short and long vowels. In the orthography, /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/ and /y/ are lengthened by adding a macron; for all other vowels it is simply doubled.

Stress

In Nodaimese, stress always falls on a particular syllable. For nouns, it always occurs on the final syllable of the noun in its nominative form, and for verbs, it falls on the penultimate syllable of the infinitive form. The location of this stress with respect to the beginning of the word does not change when the word is inflected.

Grammar

The Nodaimese language relies heavily on inflections in its grammar. Consequently, it has free word order, although the preferred order is subject-object-verb (SOV).

Nouns

Nouns in Nodaimese decline for number and case. These declensions vary depending on the noun's nominative form.

Noun Declensions

a-stem e-stem i-stem o-stem u-stem ø-stem y-stem Consonant-stem
Case Suffix Example Suffix Example Suffix Example Suffix Example Suffix Example Suffix Example Suffix Example Suffix Example
Nominative -a -e -i -o -u -ø -y -
Accusative -ata -eta -ita -øta -yta -øta -yta -ata
Genitive -ēp -ēp -īp -øp -yp -ep -ip -ip
Dative -af -ef -if -of -uf -øf -yf -opa
Instrumental -as -es -iš -os -us -øs -ys -es
Locative -ado -edo -ido -ødo -ydo -ødo -ydo -ydo
Ablative -an -en -in -øn -yn -øn -yn -yn
Lative -eiť -eiť -īť -oiť -uiť -eiť -īť -uiť
Perlative -ak -ek -ik -øk -yk -øk -yk -yk
Comitative -au -ē -ȳ -ō -ū -ō -ū -o

The dual suffix is -su. The plural suffix is -ge. However, these suffixes are not used if a number is explicitly given (e.g. deige means an unspecified number of persons, while leudei means eight persons).

Pronouns

The following is a table of personal pronouns in Nodaimese. Note that the pronouns decline irregularly.

First person Second person Third person
Case Singular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural
Nominative yka ojusa ojek bypa būsa byk leta lausa lēk
Accusative ykata ojusata ojetta bypata būsata bytta letata lausata lētta
Genitive ykēp ojusēp ojekip bypēp būsēp bykip letēp lausēp lēkip
Dative ykaf ojusaf ojekop bypaf būsaf bykop letaf lausaf lēkop
Instrumental ykas ojusas ojekes bypas būsas bykes letas lausas lēkes
Locative ykado ojusado ojetto bypado būsado bytto letado lausado lētto
Ablative ykan ojusan ojen bypan būsan byn letan lausan lēn
Lative ykeiť ojuseiť ojeť bypeiť būseiť byť leteiť lauseiť lēť
Perlative ykak ojusak ojekyk bypak būsak bykyk letak lausak lēkyk
Comitative ykō ojusō ojeko bypō būsō byko letō lausō lēko
Other Pronouns
Proximal Medial Distal Interrogative
Case Singular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural
Nominative jarka jasurka jarek merka mesurka merek roka rosuka rorek karka korska karek
Accusative jarkata jasurkata jaretta merkata mesurkata meretta rokata rosukata roretta karkata korskata karetta
Genitive jarkēp jasurkēp jarekip merkēp mesurkēp merekip rokēp rosukēp rorekip karkēp korskēp karekip
Dative jarkaf jasurkaf jarekop merkaf mesurkaf merekop rokaf rosukaf rorekop karkaf korskaf karekop
Instrumental jarkas jasurkas jarekes merkas mesurkas merekes rokas rosukas rorekes karkas korskas karekes
Locative jarkado jasurkado jaretto merkado mesurkado meretto rokado rosukado roretto karkado korskado karetto
Ablative jarkan jasurkan jaren merkan mesurkan meren rokan rosukan roren karkan korskan karen
Lative jarkeiť jasurkeiť jareť merkeiť mesurkeiť mereť rokeiť rosukeiť roreť karkeiť korskeiť kareť
Perlative jarkak jasurkak jarekyk merkak mesurkak merekyk rokak rosukak rorekyk karkak korskak karekyk
Comitative jarkō jasurkō jareko merkō mesurkō mereko rokō rosukō roreko karkō korskō kareko

Verbs

Verbs in Nodaimese are conjugated for tense, aspect, mood and voice and also display agreement with the person and number of the subject. Verbs possess a special attributive form which can be used to modify noun phrases (in fact, all "adjectives" in Nodaimese are actually stative verbs).

Verb Conjugations

The example verb used is adapa (to see).

Person
Suffix Example
First -ti adati
Second -pi adapi
Third -li adali
Number
Suffix Example
Singular - adali
Dual -sa adasali
Plural -ga adagali
Tense
Suffix Example
Past -ka adakali
Present - adali
Future -(a)p adapli
Aspect
Suffix Example
Imperfective - adali
Perfective -(a)t adatli
Progressive -ge adageli
Mood
Suffix Example
Indicative - adali
Subjunctive -vi adavili
Conditional -pu adapuli
Optative -han adahanli
Desiderative -hatø adahatøli
Hortative -wø adawøli
Imperative (2nd) -kike adakike
Imperative (3rd) -keke adakeke
Prohibitive (2nd) -nike adanike
Prohibitive (3rd) -neke adaneke
Voice
Suffix Example
Active - adali
Passive -bary adabaryli
Reflexive -tapa adatapali
Reciprocal -tabe adatabeli
Applicative -rabī adarabīli
Causative -mu adamuli
Other
Suffix Example
Negative -ne adaline
Attributive -lo adalo
Infinitive -pa adapa

The second-person imperative suffixes can be omitted, but it is considered impolite to do so.

Each combination of the tense and aspect markers have different meanings:

Currently being revised

The order of suffixes is voice-mood-aspect-tense-agreement markers, with the exception of the imperatives. Additionally, auxillary verbs can be attached to the verb stem. The following sentence shows the level of agglutination a verb can undergo:

letaf ykēp jurawakata adaligamuhatøkagatine.
let-af yk-ēp jurawak-ata ada-liga-mu-hatø-ka-ga-ti-ne
3S-DAT 1S-GEN daughter-ACC see-go-CAUS-DES-PAST-PL-1P-NEG
(We did not want to make him go see my daughter.)

Syntax will be explained in a later section. The verb adapa first has ligapa (to go) attached, forming adaligapa. The resulting verb is conjugated in the causative voice (adaligamupa), desiderative mood (adaligamuhatøpa), past tense (adaligamuhatøkapa) and first person plural and is then negated.

Attributive Form

The attributive form of a verb is the form used when a verb or clause is to modify the noun as an adjective. Verbs in the attributive form can take all verbal suffixes except person suffixes, meaning that the attributive agrees with the noun being modified in number. Additionally, the attributive can itself decline for case, meaning it also displays agreement in case with the noun being modified.

The following are examples of attributives in Nodaimese:

  • ligaløta delata ("the person who is going" in the accusative case)
  • ligatkagalō deigē ("with the people who went", displaying the comitative case)
Irregular Verbs

Nodaimese only has two irregular verbs, the verb erapa (to be, copula), which is highly irregular (it is the only athematic verb in Nodaimese, and also possesses suppletive forms), and the verb igipa (to be, existential), which has a suppletive negative (nāpa, which is always conjugated in the negative, e.g. nāline).

The conjugation of erapa is shown below:

Singular Dual Plural Stem
1st 2nd 3rd 1st 2nd 3rd 1st 2nd 3rd
Present etti erpi elli essati essapi essali engati engapi engali er-
Future erpti erapi erpli erpsati erpsapi erpsati erkati erkapi erkali erp-
Past ikati ikapi ikali ikasati ikasapi ikasali ikagati ikagapi ikagali ika-
Perfective etatti etappi etalli ecati ecapi ecali ekkati ekkapi ekkali et-

Numbers

The numbers in Nodaimese can either stand alone as a noun or be prefixed to a noun to be modified. The cardinal numbers yta (1) and belo (2) are never found attached to a noun, since a noun unmarked for number is assumed to be in the singular for the former, and the dual suffix is used to indicate a pair. Numbers which stand alone as a noun never use dual and plural markers, however, they must agree with the number markers on the verb if used as a subject.

Cardinal Numbers

0 īla
1 yta
2 belo
3 apei
4 kiš
5 ukī
6 šøp
7 tei
8 leu
9 panī
10 ikek
11 ikekyta
12 ikegbelo
13 ikekapei
14 ikekkiš
15 ikekukī
16 ikekšøp
17 ikektei
18 ikekleu
19 ikekpanī
20 bek
30 apeikek
40 kišikek
50 ukīkek
60 šøpikek
70 teikek
80 leukek
90 panīkek
100 giv
200 balogiv
300 apeigiv
400 kišigiv
500 ukīgiv
600 šøpigiv
700 teigiv
800 leugiv
900 panīgiv
1000 ydo
10000 lerun

See Also

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