Language of the North

Phonology
The language of the North has a very simple phonology - it has only 5 vowels and 15 consonants.

Nouns
In the language of the North, nouns are declined for ...


 * ... their number - singular, plural or collective


 * 1) The singular is used when refering to only one thing of a group. Example: A man.


 * 2) The plural is used when refering to several thing of a group. Example: Two (or more) men.


 * 3) The collective is used when refering to all members of a group. Example: All men.


 * ... their case - nominative, accusative, adessive, ablative, oblique and genetive


 * 1) The nominative is the "basic" form of a noun. It is used for the agent in active clauses and the patient in passive clauses.


 * 2) The accusative is used for the patient in active clauses.


 * 3) The traditional meaning of the adessive is the "direction to / towards ...". In the modern language of the North, it is also used as the indirect object in active and passive clauses. Furthermore, it can express future goals.


 * 4) The traditional meaning of the ablative is the "direction away from ...". In the modern language of the North, it is also used as the agent in passive clauses. Furthermore, it can express past reasons.


 * 5) The oblique case has a variety of uses - including (but not limited to) time, place, manner, comparisons ...


 * 6) The genetive is used for possessions and qualities.


 * ... their gender - male, female or neuter


 * 1) The male gender is only given to living beings which are actually male. Example: Boy, man.                                                                                                                                          However, the male gender can also be given to male qualities. Example: Strenght, virtue, honor.


 * 2) The female gender is only given to living beings which are actually female. Example: Girl, woman.                                                                                                                                However, the female gender can also be given to female qualities. Example: Love, compassion.


 * 3) The neuter gender is given to everything that does not qualify for the male or female gender. Example: Book, city, sky, sun.                                                                                       However, the neuter gender is also often used when refering to mixed gender groups, professions or in formal speech.

All noun are declined regularly - without exceptions. As the language of the North is an agglutinating language, declension is realized by adding suffixes / infixes to the nominal stem in the following order:

V = vowel ; C = consonant

The suffixes / infixes are: Please note that for nouns in the singular and nominative, the infixes are dropped - in all other numbers or cases, they have to be used.

All adpositions demand the oblique case.

Pronouns
Pronouns can be used instead of a noun. Just like their function is equal to a noun, their declension is also equal to the declension of nouns (#nouns).

The langauge of the North has ...


 * ... personal pronouns - this group of pronouns replaces agent, patient and indirect object. Example: I, you, him, her.


 * 1) The nominal stem for these pronouns is dha.


 * ... possessive pronouns - this group of pronouns replaces genetives and expresses possession. Example: My, your, his, her.


 * 1) The nominal stem for these pronouns is bu.


 * ... interrogative pronouns - this group of pronouns replaces nouns in questions. Example: Who, what, whom, when, how.


 * 1) The nominal stem for these pronouns is mine.


 * 2) As all "question words" are considered interrogative pronouns, there are many exceptions to the rule above - however, usually only additional adverbs or adpositions are added to the actual pronouns.


 * ... relative pronouns - this group of pronouns is used for relative clauses. Example: Who, which, that.


 * 1) The nominal stem for these pronouns is bas.

Articles
Articles do not exist in the language of the North. Their English function is expressed by Northern numbers or adjectives.

Adjectives
In the language of the North, adjectives are declined for ...


 * ... their number - singular, plural or collective


 * ... their case - nominative, accusative, adessive, ablative, oblique and genetive


 * ... their gender - male, female or neuter


 * ... their grade of comparison - positive, positive comparative, positive superlative, negative comparative and negative superlative


 * 1) The positive is the basic form of an adjective and simple states a quality. Example: Big, blond, stupid.


 * 2) The positive comparative states that something has more of a quality (than something else). Example: Bigger, stronger, more beautiful.


 * 3) The positive superlative states that something has the highest amount of a quality. Example: Biggest, most stupid.


 * 4) The negative comparative states that something has less of a quality (than something else). Example: Less pretty, less intelligent.


 * 5) The negative superlative states that something has the least amount of a quality. Example: Least intelligent.

Positive and negative grades of comparison are perfectly normal in the language of the North - in English, some of these constructions sound rather odd and are therefore avoided. Usually, English uses different adjectives for the negative grades of comparison. Example: Big, bigger, biggest BUT smaller, smallest.

All adjectives are declined regularly - without exceptions. As the language of the North is an agglutinating language, declension is realized by adding suffixes / infixes to the adjectival stem in the following order:

V = vowel ; C = consonant

The number / case / gender infixes are all equal to the infixes / suffixes of noun declension.

The suffixes for the grades of comparison are:

All adjectives have to agree with their noun in number / case / gender. However, if they are placed directly in front of their noun, they either lose all suffixes (in the positive) or only keep the number infix and grade of comparison suffix (in all other grades of comparison).

Adverbs
Adverbs are formed from adjectives in the following way: