Vaktrian language
Vaktrian | |
---|---|
Vaktrıas | |
Region | Terranihil |
Era | 8th century BC - present |
Vaktrian
| |
Vaktrian alphabet (8th c. BC - 6th c. AD), Romanyan script (~6th c. AD - present) | |
Official status | |
Official language in | Terranihil |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | – |
Vaktrian (Vaktrian:Ⲯⲁⲕⲧⲣⲓⲁⲋ, Vaktrias) is a language that emerged in the 8th century BCE as Classical Vaktrian. It is the language of the Vaktrian people and official language of Terranihil. It has six living dialects. Its standardized form, a modernization of Classical Vaktrian, is the lingua franca of Terranihil.
Contents
Etymology
The native name for Vaktrian is Vaktrıas (Ⲯⲁⲕⲧⲣⲓⲁⲋ in Classical Vaktrian). Vaktrıa from Proto-Vaktrian means "road" or "way". The -as suffix in Vaktrian changes a noun into an adjective, thus Vaktrıas is best translated as "[language] of the road".
History
Proto-Vaktrian
Classical Vaktrian
800 BC - 200 AD
Northern and Southern Vaktrian
200-1200 AD
Development of dialects
1200 AD - present
Standardization
19th century
One of the most significant phonological changes from Classical to Standard is the loss of voiced plosives. Voiced plosives had dissappeared from Northern Vaktrian and most of the following dialects. Another major change is the addition of the two affricates in Standard Vaktrian.
The major morphological changes include the grammatical person for verbs becoming prefixes rather than standing alone and the locative noun cases becoming suffixes rather than standing alone.
Classical, Standard, and spoken Vaktrian
Dialects
Geographic distribution
Phonology
Labial | Coronal | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
dental | alveolar | post-alveolar | ||||||
Plosive | /p/ p | /t/ t | /k/ k | |||||
Fricative | voiceless | /f/ f | /θ/ ṭ | /s/ s | /ʃ/ š | /x/ c | /h/ h | |
voiced | /v/ v | /ð/ ḍ | ||||||
Affricate | /ts/ ž | /tʃ/ č | ||||||
Nasal | /m/ m | /n/ n | ||||||
Liquid | /r/ r, /l/ l | |||||||
Semivowel | /j/ ı |
Short | Long | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
High | /i/ i | /u/ u | /iː/ ī | /uː/ ū |
Mid | /ɘ/ e | |||
Low | /a/ a | /aː/ ā |
Diphthong: au, eu
Morphology
Vaktrian is an agglutanative language which utilizes both prefixes and suffixes to denote verb person, tense, mood, and aspect and noun case. The word order is subject-object-verb.
Verbs
Vaktrian has three tenses: past, present, and future; two aspects: perfective and progressive; five moods: interrogative, imperative, conditional, potential, and subjunctive; and nine persons corresponding to the nine pronouns. Grammatical person and negation is expressed by verb prefixes, while tense, aspect, and mood are expressed by suffixes. Negation is denoted with a ne- prefix. Vaktrian verbs tend to have end with -at, -it, or -aı.
Negation comes before person in the prefix. The order for suffixes is tense and aspect then mood. Word structure:
negative + person + verb + tense/aspect + mood Example:
netuhatimeṭ (you might not have been eating) This allows Vaktrian to express whole sentences in single words.
Person is generally only denoted with a suffix if a subject is not given in a sentence.
Tense, aspect, and mood
Aspect | Mood | Case | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Past | Present | Future | ||
Perfective | No mood | -ir | -im | |
Subjunctive | -ira | -a | -ima | |
Conditional | -irin | -in | -imin | |
Potential | -irač | -ač | -imač | |
Imperative | -iruk | -uk | -imuk | |
Interrogative | -iriš | -iš | -imiš | |
Progressive | No mood | -ac | -ap | |
Subjunctive | -aca | -sa | -apa | |
Conditional | -acin | -sin | -apin | |
Potential | -akač | -sač | -apač | |
Imperative | -acu | -suk | -apuk | |
Interrogative | -aciš | -diš | -apiš |
Person
Person | Singular | Dual | Plural |
---|---|---|---|
First | ka- | ta- | ma- |
Second | haı- | ti- | mri- |
Third | saı- | stu- | smu- |
Attributative verbs
Vaktrian allows a verb to modify a noun as an adjective with the suffix -čes.
Nouns
Vaktrian has no grammatical gender; three numbers: singular, dual, plural; and six cases: nominative, accusative, dative, genitive, instrumental, and locative.
Case name | Singular | Dual | Plural |
---|---|---|---|
Nominative | -is | -aṭ | |
Accusative | -aı | -saı | -ṭaı |
Dative | -al | -sal | -ṭal |
Genetive | -ila | -sila | -ṭila |
Instrumental | -uš | -suš | -ṭuš |
At locative | -ant | -sant | -ṭant |
On locative | -arm | -sarm | -ṭarm |
In locative | -až | -saž | -ṭaž |
Genitive case is applied to the possessor noun, and the possessed noun comes before the possessed. When a possessed noun has an additionial case other than the genitive, the genitive suffix is added to the end.
Adjectives and adverbs (which are generally identical) occur after the noun or verb they modify and often end with -as. Nouns are often modified to adjectives with the -as suffix.
Vaktrian has the indefinite article haı, but lacks a definite article. The article agrees with its noun by also adopting the case suffixes.
Pronouns
Vektramic has eight personal pronouns. They are not gendered. All of the noun cases apply to pronouns; however, instrumental case denotes accompaniment rather than usage and the at locative case denotes near or around.
Person | Number | Case | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | Accusative | Dative | Genetive | Instrumental | At locative | On locative | In locative | ||
First | Singular | kama | kamaı | kamal | kamla | kamuš | kamant | kamar | kamaž |
Plural | maıa | amaı | amal | maıla | amuš | maıant | maıarm | maıaž | |
Second | Singular | hama | hamaı | hamal | hamla | hamuš | hamant | hamar | hamaž |
Dual | tila | tilaı | til | tilal | tiluš | tilant | tilarm | tilaž | |
Plural | mraıa | maraı | maral | mraıla | maruš | mraıant | mraıarm | mraıaž | |
Third | Singular | aša | ašaı | ašal | ašla | uš | ašant | ašarm | ašaž |
Dual | stuıam | stumaı | stumal | stumla | stumuš | stumant | stumarm | stumaž | |
Plural | smaṭa | smaṭaı | smaṭal | smaṭla | smaṭuš | smaṭant | smaṭarm | smaṭaž |
Vaktrian uses ava- to denote reflexivity in pronouns (e.g. avamaıa is themselves).
Vaktrian has three classes of demonstratives (proximal, medial, and distal) which also denote number (singular, dual, or plural).
Singular | Dual | Plural | |
---|---|---|---|
Proximal | čaıa | siıa | ṭaıa |
Medial | časin | isan | ṭiıan |
Distal | ačal | isal | iṭan |