Mli Vjačgu

Pronunciation

i y u e ø o a

p b t d k g ʧ f v s z ð ʃ ʒ x ɣ h l r ɫ j w m

Yeah, it's not very realistic, is it?

ɣ is a marginal phoneme that has only shown up in one form of one word so far (granted, that word is eɣil, "the Sun").

Grammar

The definite form evolved from an infixed _ek_, originally prefixed _ke_, which used to be a word meaning "this". The indefinite form evolved from an infixed _at_, originally a prefixed _ta_, which once meant "some". It was not necessary to mark definiteness when an object was possessed; having another noun in the genitive associated with it made the possessed noun definite by default. When the old genitive suffix _ha_ withered away and died, the possessed object was left in an unprefixed state, which became the construct form.

As sound changes made the definite and indefinite forms less regular, the resulting confusion of forms came to be analyzed as a number of noun classes, membership in which governed a noun's indefinite/definite/ construct declension.

Examples:

	Indefinite	Definite	Construct (possessed)
language	vatjačgu	vekjačgu	vjačgu
word	vočtigyli	vixtigyli	viðigyli
speaker	vočtikwatsalo	vixtikwatsalo	viðikwatsalo
giver	pedlisjatsalo	piglisjatsalo	bolisjatsalo

In the example above, "language" would be in the vat/vek/v noun class; "speaker" and "word" in the vočt/vixt/við noun class; and "giver" in the ped/pig/bo noun class.

Demonstrative pronouns

The demonstrative pronouns evolved from a very regular, if convoluted, system of prefixes and infixes where the wh-form began with _hi_, the "this" form contained the infix _ek_, "that" contained the infix _uw_, the "some" form contained the infix _ta_, etc. The oldest demonstrative pronouns were all accented on the first syllable, but as the system was expanded other accentual patterns were included, further complicating the matter.

	question	relative	this, here	that, there	yon, yonder	some, any	every	no	whatever	a different
what	hja	u	ix	hwaf	hjaɫvi	oč	ry	sö	pja	hjapti
which	hjar	ru	rix	rwaf	rjaɫve	roč	rwar	sur	pjar	rjapte
who	ilir	malir	lgir	ɫvir	jaɫuvir	laðir	rulir	zlir	plir	jalpaðir
when	hjač	tu	tix	twaf	tjaɫvi	toč	rwač	suč	pjač	tjapti
where	hjad	tem	tig	twam	tjaɫmo	ted	rwad	sud	pjad	tjapdo
how	y	mu	mix	mwaf	mjaɫvi	moč	rwa	su	py	mjapti
how much	idy	tamy	čky	dvy	jačɫuvy	tady	rdy	zdy	fty	jačpady
why	ivo	vamo	vgo	mvo	jafɫuvo	vado	rvo	zvo	pfo	jafpado
using what	ymu	mumu	migmu	mwamu	milwamu	medmu	rwamu	sumu	pymu	ftumu
whence	jalerja	emlerja	ilkerja	waɫverja	ljaɫverja	elterja	warlerja	uzlerja	jaflerja	ljapterja
whither	jamovwa	umovwa	ögovwa	wamovwa	mjaɫmovwa	emdovwa	warmovwa	uzmovwa	jafmovwa	mjapdovwa
along which way	hjalri	melri	lixri	lwafri	lilwafri	ločri	rwalri	sulri	pjalri	ftelri
like what	jaðihwa	otmihwa	ičkihwa	wadvihwa	tjaɫvihwa	očtihwa	wartihwa	uztihwa	jaftihwa	tjaptihwa

Personal pronouns

Where sound changes did not wipe them away, personal pronouns retained the old genitive and accusative cases. Due to inherent definiteness of personal prounouns, they do not have a construct form; if a pronoun is possessed by a noun, neither is marked, and their juxtaposition alone shows the relationship. (If a noun is possessed by a pronoun which has a genitive case form, both are marked.)

	Nominative		Accusative		Genitive
	sing.	pl.	sing.	pl.	sing.	pl.
1st person	vwal	mli	vwalmi	mlö	vwala	mli
2nd person	tuf	dvi	tufmi	dvö	tufa	dvi
3rd person female	ö	emja	ömi	emy	höa	emja
3rd person male/mixed	ru	romja	rumi	romy	rua	romja
3rd person inanimate	sir	serwa	sirmi	serwa	sira	serwa

Verb forms

Originally, verb forms were related to noun forms by differences in the stressed syllable: verbs were stressed on the second syllable, and the resultative nominalization was stressed on the first syllable. Other nominalizations, as well as participles, come from the form stressed on the third syllable, if applicable.

Noun		Verb		Participle		Derived nominal
[vat/vek/v]jačgu	language	vitjag	speak	jaftikwa	spoken	[vočt/vixt/við]ikwatsalo	speaker
[sad/šk/s]ud	thing	zdu	be	udzodu	being	[sez/sig/zo]dorjal	way of being
[pad/fk/p]özi	gift	boljaš	give	ublisja	given	[ped/pig/bo]lisjatsalo	giver
[lad/lg/l]oš	deed	lasja	do	ilasja	done	[lots/liks/laž]ikwar	tool
[kat/kek/k]warti	gratitude	groč	thank	wagratja	valued	[ked/kig/gu]ratjagru	money
[sað/šk/s]erta	greetings	sarjat	hail, call	osrido	known	[sot/sik/sa]riðedmi	meeting

Verbs themselves come in four basic stems plus two imperative forms: the non-past, past, habitual, and hypothetical stems, and the imperative and negative imperative.

	Non-past	Past	Habitual	Hypothetical	Imperative	Negative imperative
speak	vitjage	vitjagmo	vitjaglarwa	vitjagti	vitjag	vitjagzu
be	zdi	zdum	zdulru	zduč	zdu	wadzoduz
give	boljaše	boljašmo	boljašlarwa	boljašti	boljaš	boljačzu
do	lasja	lazuf	lasjalru	lasjač	lasja	wazlasjaz
thank	groče	gročmo	gročlarwa	gročti	groč	gročzu
greet	sarjate	sarjatmo	sarjatlarwa	sarjačti	sarjat	sarjatzu

The imperative is simply the most basic verb form; the negative imperative evolved from a suffixed "su", which may be realized, depending on the verb, as "swa", "zu", or just "z". Verbs whose negative imperative end in "z" only also prefix "waz" for emphasis.

The regular negative particle for other verb forms is a standalone "swaz" which precedes the verb.

Examples

"Our language is a way of being."
"Mli vjačgu zdi sezdorjal."
"A language is a tool!"
"Vatjačgu zdi lotsikwar!"
"Don't speak so. The language is a gift."
"Mwaf vitjagzu. Vekjačgu zdi padöži."

Overall evolution of the language

Stage 1: Begin with a simple Polynesian-esque phonology entirely of CV syllables.

Phonology: ptkmlrswh/aeiuo

Stage 2: Apply derivational use of fixed accents. For example, create 3-syllable roots giving an abstract noun concept when accented on the first syllable, a verb root when accented on the second syllable, and various other nominals based on the root created by accenting the third syllable.

Phonology: ptkmlrswh/aeiuoáéíúó

Stage 3: Apply selected prefixes and affixes which conform to the existing stress pattern - things that were once transparent but will be fossilized by the time the language is done evolving. For example, prefixes to nouns will denote definite, indefinite, or (with no prefix) possessed, with the end results that nouns have definite, indefinite, and possessed root forms, which differ from one noun class to another due to the effects of sound change. Similar use of affixes could create past and non-past, or perfective and imperfective, verb root pairs.

Phonology: still ptkmlrswh/aeiuoáéíúó

Stage 4: Voicing and lenition: voicing in front of back/rounded vowels, lenition in front of front vowels, but the two have different scope as far as whether accented or ultra-short vowels affect them. (See 4.sc in sound changes below)

Phonology: ptksfčxšbdgzmlrɫwh/aeiuoáéíúó

Stage 5: Drop shortest vowels, or H. (See 5.sc in sound changes below)

Phonology: still ptkmlrswhfčxšbdgzɫ/aeiuoáéíúó

Stage 6: Combine double vowels. Maybe prevocalic i->l, u->r. Minimal umlauting occurs. (See 6.sc in sound changes below)

Phonology: ptkmlrswhfčxšbdgzɫjv/aeiuoyöáéíúóÿô

Stage 7: Rotate just the stressed vowels, lose stress. Partial application of sound changes in process at the time Mli Vjačgu is being described: deletion of first-syllable unaccented vowels directly preceding an accented syllable, voicing of intervocalic consonants, h-deletion. (See 7.sc and 7prime.sc in sound changes below)

Phonology: ptkmlrswhfčxšbdgzɫjv/aeiuoyö

Stage 8: Regularize some paradigms by analogy. Add new affixes and clitics using the new phonology. Apply considerable semantic drift to obscure origins of word pairs/triads created in Stage 2. Provide suppletive roots for extremely common words. Create a grammar.

Phonology: still ptkmlrswhfčxšbdgzɫjv/aeiuoyö

Sound changes

Proto-witíčku version	Vjatjačkwa version	Mli Vjačgu version
wítitekú	vjačtikwa	vjačtekwa
witíteku	vjatjačkwa	vitjačgu
wititéku	vjatjatig	viðiðig (or jaftiðig)
wítiku	vjačkwa	vjačgu
witíku	vjatjag	vitjag
witikú	vjatjakwa	viðikwa (or jaftikwa)

The current sound change rules of Mli Vjačgu are captured in the following files (designed for a modified version of Mark Rosenfelder's Sound Change Applier):

• Stage 4 sound change rules - extends dactylic accent to pick up on any unstressed prefixes or suffixes, applies lenition before minimally-stressed front vowels and voicing before unstressed back vowels.
• Stage 4, metathesis dialect - all of the above plus adds a reduplicated, accented vowel before two initial unstressed syllables, effectively metathesizing the first syllable. The unused letter "q" must be prepended to all words to help the Sound Change Applier perform initial vowel reduplication.
• Stage 5 sound change rules - deletes minimally stressed vowels (the unstressed vowel after a stressed vowel), or alternatively deletes "h" where it follows stressed vowels; dissimilates double consonants and awkward sibilant pairs resulting from vowel deletion.
• Stage 5, h-deleting dialect - as above, but deletes all intervocalic "h"s.
• Stage 6 sound change rules - various things happen to vowels, including umlaut and occasional dissimilation into liquids.
• Stage 7 sound change rules - a Great Vowel Shift affects stressed vowels.
• Stage 7' sound change rules - Great Vowel Shift, deletion of initial unaccented vowels before accented syllables, voicing of consonants, deletion of most h's. This sound change, which supplants 7.sc rather than following it, is underway in Mli Vjačgu and is not applied consistently across the board yet.

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Last updated: 11/1/2015