Proto-lajbɦahe Language

1. Phonology

1.1. Syllables

1.1.1. Consonants

Syllables must follow the sonorance hierarchy, with more sonorant elements falling closer to the nucleus than less sonorant elements. There are three categories of consonants as follows, from most to least sonorant:

• Approximants and nasals
• Fricatives
• Plosives and prenasalized stops

Syllables consist of an onset of one or two consonants, followed by a vowel, followed by zero to two consonants. If both a plosive and a fricative are present, they must agree in voice. Nasal consonants cannot come immediately before prenasalized stops in the same syllable.

1.2. Accent

Words in Proto-lajbɦahe can either have a mobile accent, meaning the location of the accent varies throughout the inflectional paradigm, or a static accent, meaning the location of the accent is fixed on a particular syllable. In words with a mobile accent, the accent falls on the last syllable with a vowel other than ə. If no such syllable exists, the word lacks an accent. In words with a static accent, it will be marked with an acute accent (´).

1.3. Vowels

There are four phonemic vowels in Proto-lajbɦahe: ə, e, o, and a. ə can only occur in unaccented syllables; the rest can occur anywhere.

1.4. Orthography

Proto-lajbɦahe was never a written language, so we are free to use whatever transcription scheme we find most convenient. This document will denote consonants as listed on table 1, with the following exceptions:

• g and gʷ instead of ɡ and ɡʷ
• mb nd ŋg ŋgʷ instead of ᵐb ⁿd ᵑɡ ᵑɡʷ

Vowels will be transcribed as in section 1.3..

2. Sentence Structure

Proto-lajbɦahe has a default word order of verb–subject–object. However, since nouns are marked for case, the elements can be rearranged for emphasis.

2.1. Coördination

In Proto-lajbɦahe, multiple nouns, or multiple verbs, can be chained together to form a single element of a sentence, without any connecting words.

2.1.1. Nouns

Nouns in coördination have two possible meanings. In the first meaning, called attributive coördination, the nouns all refer to the same thing, providing additional specification or description. In this case, all the nouns must agree in case and (usually) number. In the second meaning, called comitative coördination, the nouns refer to separate things, which together fill the role in the sentence. In this case, the nouns must agree in case, but not necessarily in number, and may not appear in the dual number.

2.1.2. Verbs

Verbs in coördination also have two possible meanings. When the first verb is imperfective, the verbs typically refer to actions or states which are happening at the same time. This is called concurrent coördination. Some verbs, such as nand ‘to do slowly’, when used this way, have the effect of modifying the following verb. When the first verb is perfective, the verbs typically refer to sequential events, or states which result from actions. This is called sequential coördination.

2.2. Relative Clauses

Relative clauses are marked with the conjunction zəj, which joins a noun to a relative clause. In the relative clause, if the head noun fills the role of subject or direct object, it can be dropped. Otherwise, an appropriate pronoun is used to fill the gap.

3. Verbs

The basic form of a conjugated verb is stem + personal endings, where the stem consists of a root with zero or more derivational endings. The personal ending conveys person, number, and voice, while the derivational endings provide aspect information.

3.1. Aspect

Each root is a associated with a default aspect. To form other aspects, derivational suffixes are added. Some of the most common suffixes are shown in table 2. Because these suffixes are derivational in nature, they might also change the meaning of the verb. For example, the verb jan ‘to see’ becomes jandéh ‘to notice’ in the inchoative aspect.

3.2. Tense

Verbs in Proto-lajbɦahe are not explicitly marked for tense. Instead, aspect plays a much more important role. Perfective aspects, which refer to a single action, event, or point in time, are implicitly past tense, since they can never occur in the exact moment of the present – by the time the speaker has finished, the moment will have passed. Imperfective aspects, on the other hand, are more ambiguous as to tense. Generally, they are assumed to refer to the present. To specify a past tense meaning, context can be given thru adverbs or perfective verbs, or a perfective aspect can be used instead.

3.3. Personal Endings

There are two sets of personal endings, one for the active voice, and one for the passive voice. Inanimate nouns do not have a nominative form, so there are no active endings for third person inanimate. The impersonal ending, -ɦàs, is neither active nor passive in meaning. The personal endings are shown on table 3.

3.4. Mood

Proto-lajbɦahe has two moods, the indicative and the subjunctive. The indicative is unmarked. The subjunctive is marked by the suffix -rə, inserted between the stem and the personal ending.

The indicative mood is used when describing real facts or events in the present or past. The subjunctive is used in conditionals, imperatives, and as a future tense.

3.5. Voice

Proto-lajbɦahe has two voices, active and passive, as well as a third form, the impersonal. The active voice is used when the subject of the verb is the willful agent of the action. Because the active voice requires volition, inanimate nouns can never be the subject of an active verb. In the active voice, the subject takes the nominative case. The passive voice is used when the subject of the verb is the patient, target, or experiencer of the action. In the passive voice, the subject takes the accusative case. The impersonal is used when there is neither a willful agent nor a specific target of the action. It is frequently used in weather expressions. It is also used when there is a non-willful (particularly inanimate) agent. In this usage, the agent takes the instrumental case if it is inamiate, or the genitive case if it is animate. However animate agents in impersonal constructions are rare; instead, they are often replaced with an inanimate equivalent, or the active voice is used.

3.6. Negation

Negation is expressed using the prefix həs.

4. Particles

Particles are roots which are used on their own, without inflectional endings. Unlike verbal and nominal roots, particle roots can exist as stand-alone words.

4.1. Numbers

Numbers one thru four are invariant, and are shown on table 4. sah, acts like a noun, and can be translated as ‘a group of five’. It agrees with the head noun in case, tho in numbers five thru nine, it is singular, while the head noun is plural. This construction is an instance of attributive coördination. Numbers six thru nine are formed with sah, followed by a number one thru four, followed by the noun. The noun agrees in number with the last numeral, so six takes a singular noun, and seven takes a dual noun. When such a noun phrase is the subject of a verb, the verb is still plural.

Numbers greater than nine are formed in various ways at different points in time, and in different areas. There are three systems: the pure quinary system, the pure decimal system, and the mixed system.

4.1.1. Quinary System

In the quinary system, numbers greater than nine are formed with the number of fives, followed by an inflected form of sah, followed by the remainder (one thru four). Ten is ləj sah, with sah in the dual; fifteen is tjeh sah, with sah in the plural; and so on. Twenty five is sah sah, with the first sah in the singular, and the second one in the plural. Exact numbers beyond fifty or so are uncommon, and gʷew (which functions like a noun similarly to sah) can refer to any arbitrarily large number.

4.1.2. Decimal System

In the decimal system, khen, translatable as ‘a group of ten’, acts like sah. Numbers greater than nine are formed with the number of tens, followed by an inflected form of khen, followed by the ones digit, formed identically to one thru nine. gʷew specifically means a hundred.

4.1.3. Mixed System

The mixed system takes elements from both the decimal system and the quinary system. For small numbers (usually less than 30, tho the exact cut-off can vary), the decimal system is used for numbers ending in 0--4, while the quinary system is used for numbers ending in 5--9. For larger numbers, the decimal system is used.

4.2. Prepositions and Adverbs

Prepositions are placed before nouns to form indirect objects as well as temporal and spacial modifiers for verbs. Each preposition governs one or more cases. Prepositions which govern multiple cases generally take on distinct meanings for each case. Adverbs are like prepositions, except they lack an object, and modify the verb on their own.

4.3. Conjunctions

Conjunctions join two elements of a sentence. They generally only join elements of the same type (i.e. two nouns or two verbs). The main exception to this rule is the conjunction zəj, which joins a noun to a relative clause.

5. Nouns

Nouns are generally formed by adding a nominalizing ending to a verbal root, although some roots can be used on their own as nouns. Nouns decline for three numbers: singular, dual, and plural, and five cases: nominative, accusative, instrumental, genitive, and locative. The nominative is only found in animate nouns, and serves as the subject of a verb. The accusative serves as the object of a verb. The instrumental is only found in inanimate nouns, and indicates the means of an action. The genitive can be translated as ‘from’ or ‘of’, and is used for motion away from, and certain types of possession. In the dual, or in comitative coördination, the genitive can also be used to mean ‘between’. The locative can be translated as ‘to’ or ‘at’, and indicates motion towards, location, other types of possession. In addition to their standalone meanings, different cases are used as the objects of prepositions, and verbs may have specific uses for the genitive and locative cases. The endings are given in table 5.

Because inanimate nouns lack a nominative case, they can't be the subject of a sentence. Instead, they are placed in the instrumental case, and the impersonal form of the verb is used:

1. Unlike unlike normal endings, these ending do not start with consonants. If they are added to an ending without a final consonant, their vowels are dropped.
2. The grave accent indicates that this ending cannot be stressed.

5.1. Pronouns

5.1.1. Personal Pronouns

There are first and second person pronouns, as well as several sets of demonstratives that function as third person pronouns. Since subjects are marked on verbs, the nominative case of the pronouns are only used when two subjects appear in comitative coördination (e.g. “You and I …”). The dual number cannot be used in this type of coördination, and therefore the personal pronouns lack a nominative in the dual. The forms of the pronouns are shown on table 6.

5.1.2. Demonstratives

Proto-lajbɦahe has three sets of demonstratives. The first, with a stem of k.-, is an animate anaphoric demonstrative, meaning that it refers to an animate noun (generally a person or animal) that has already been referred to. The second, with a stem of to-, is an inanimate anaphoric demonstrative, referring to a previously mentioned inanimate noun. The third, the indefinite pronoun, has a stem of ɦa-, and can refer to people or things in the abstract (i.e. ‘someone’), or introduce new nouns thru gesturing or relative clauses:

5.1.3. Reflexive Pronouns

In addition to the personal and demonstrative pronouns, Proto-lajbɦahe also has a reflexive pronoun, which is used to refer back to the subject. Because it must refer back to the subject of the sentence, it lacks nominative forms. It is also necessarily animate (since inanimate nouns can't be subjects), so it lacks instrumental forms. It is prototypically third person, although it can refer to first or second person subjects thru coördination with the corresponding personal pronoun. The forms of the reflexive pronouns are shown on table 8.

6. Example Sentences

7. Appendix

7.1. Roots

7.2. Verbal Derivational Endings

7.3. Derived Verbs

7.4. Nominalizers

7.5. Secondary Nominal Endings

7.6. Nouns

7.7. Prepositions

7.8. Quantifiers

7.9. Conjunctions