Eridanian

Eridanian, [ɛɹɪdænɪjən] (Natively Rdàanssbeux, [ʁ̩dãːsspeux]), is an Anglic language spoken on Epsilon Eridani III in the year AD 4000, one of many languages that evolved from English. It is a synthetic language with a rich morphology of prefixes derived from English prepositions, articles, axillary verbs, modals, and other grammatical particles and constructions.

=Setting= In 2389 several hundred thousand Americans and Canadians from around the Great Lakes region fled an increasingly totalitarian Terran Federation government to a nearby Earth-like planet that was as yet unsettled, Epsilon Eridani III, about 10 light-years from Earth. When the Federation collapsed in the early 2500's the infrastructure that allowed for interstellar travel collapsed, resulting in a period later generations would call a "dark age" reminiscent of the one following the fall of Rome. The various interstellar colonies, including E. Eridani III, which came to be called Eridanus, later Rdahns, were cut off from the Solar System and on their own. The various dialects of spoken English, which were already quite different from the written language, "Classical English", began thier divergence into separate languages.

=Phonology=

Consonants
Fortis Plosives: /pʰ tʰ kʰ qʰ/ p t k q

Lenis Plosives: /p t k q ʔ/ b d g q '

Nasals: /m n ɲ ŋ/ m n ny ng

Affricates: /ʦʰ ʦ ʧʰ ʧ/ ts dz c j

Unvoiced Fricative: /f s ʃ x h/ f s sh x h

Voiced Fricatives: /v z ʒ/ v z zh

Liquids: /ɫ ɬ r/ l lh rr

Semivowels: /j ʁ w/ y r w

Oral
Front: /e e: i i:/ e ee i ii

Mid: /a: ɐ/ aa a

Back: /o o: u u:/ o oo u uu

Diphthongs: /ai au ei eu oi ou/ ai au ei eu oi ou

Nasal
An "n" following a vowel indicates that it is nasalized.

Allophony
/k/ weakens to a voiced velar fricative ɣ between vowels.

/d/ is realized as a alveolar flap ɾ between vowels.

/ɫ ʁ m n ɲ ŋ/ have syllabic allophones

Phonotactics
Syllable structure is (C)(C)(C)V(C)(C)(t/s)

Stress and Prosody
Eridanian is a stress-timed language with primary stress located on the first syllable of the root. It also has a pitch accent derived from the elision of consonants. Some roots and morphemes are only distinguished by having a rising, falling, or level pitch.

=Basic Grammar=

Noun and Adjective Morphology
Adjectives precede nouns. If a noun has no dependent adjectives the prepositional and article clitics attach to the noun. If the adjective is present the clitics attach to the adjective.

Plural
"-as" after siblants &amp; affricates, "-s" elsewhere.

Articles
Definite


 * "j-" before vowels


 * "da-" before consonants

Indefinite


 * "a-"before consonants -- afaarr "a father"


 * "n-" before vowels -- neur "an aisle"


 * "som-/sm-" when plural -- sombwes/smornjas "some boys/some oranges"

Adjectival Affixes
Adjectival Affixes are derived from common English adjectives.

"-lir-" ("Little")

"-bix-" ("big")

"-xiizh-" ("huge")

Personal Pronouns
The Personal Pronouns inflect for case somewhat irregularly due to fusional tendencies with the object pronouns and the prepositional clitics

Subject
1stS: ei

2ndS: yii

3rdSA: xei

3rdSI: i'

1stP: vei

2ndP: yaa

3rdP: deur

Object
1stS: mei

2ndS: yii

3rdSA: em

3rdSI: i'

1stP: os

2ndP: yaa

3rdP: dem

Genitive
1stS: vmei

2ndS: vii

3rdSA: vem

3rdSI: vi'

1stP: vos

2ndP: vaa

3rdP: vem

Dative
1stS: tmei

2ndS: cii

3rdSA: toom

3rdSI: too'

1stP: twos

2ndP: caa

3rdP: toom

Locative
1stS: emmei

2ndS: nii

3rdSA: nem

3rdSI: ni'

1stP: nos

2ndP: naa

3rdP: nem

Other Pronouns
Singilar/Plural

"dis-/dees-" = Proximate Demonstrative

"de'-/doos-" = Medial Demonstrative

"dedeur-/dorreur-" = Distal Demonstrative

"ou" = Animate Relative

"wo'" = Inanimate Relative

Verbal Morphology
Eridanian verbs are agglutinative in structure and inflect for Tense, Aspect, Mood, Voice, and for the person and number or the subject and direct object. Some affixes have various forms marking for number and person, preserving their origin as English's axillary verbs and modal particles.

Weak vs. Strong Verbs
Eridanian retains many verbs that have the old Germanic vowel ablaut in the Simple Past form and in some cases the Perfect and Past Participle forms.

Personal Endings
The number and person of both the subject and direct object are marked on the verb with affixes derived from pronouns. The 3rd Person Singular distinguishes between animate and inanimate nouns.

Active Indicative
Subject/Object

1stS: e(w)-/-mei

2ndS: yi(w)-/-(y)ii

3rdSA: xe(y)-/-(a)m

3rdSI: i'- (t- before s)/-(i)'

1stP: ve(y)-/-(o)s

2ndP: yaa-/-(y)aa

3rdP: dee-/-(a)m

Active Subjubctive
Subject/Object

1stS: fe(w)-/-mee

2ndS: fi(w)-/-(y)ou

3rdSA: ifxe(y)-/-(a)m

3rdSI: fi'-(fit- before s)/-(i)'

1st: ivi(y)-/-(o)s

2nd: fyaa-/-(y)aa

3rd: irree-/-(a)m

Reflexive Indicative
1stS: meesl-

2ndS: yousl-

3rdSA: imsl-

3rdSI: itsl-

1stP: aarsl-

2ndP: alisl-

3rdP: deusl-

Reflexive Subjunctive
1stS: imeesl-

2ndS: iforsl-

3rdSA: ifemsl-

3rdSI: iftsl-

1stP: ifaarsl-

2ndP: ifalisl-

3rdP: irreusl-

Tense
Eridanian has 3 tenses, Present, Past, and Future; but preserves many elements of the old Germanic Past/Non-Past system, especially in the conjugation of "to be" and the use of the affix "-gan" to mark the future tense, a relic of the modern spoken English periphrastic "be + gonna" Future construction (the old "will/shall" periphrastic Future is gone with little trace).

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Present


 * e-shaaf = I stop


 * e-bei = I buy

Past


 * e-shaaf-t = I stopped


 * e-baa' = I bought

Future


 * e-gan-shaaf = I will stop


 * e-gan-bei = I will buy

Aspect
Eridanian marks for Perfect and Progressive apects and retains the odd semantics of English's Present Progressive and Simple Present in active verbs.

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Progressive: e-m-shaaf-n = I am stopping

Perfect: e-v-shaaft = I have stopped

Perfecto-Progressive: e-v-van-shaafn = I have been stopping

Forms of the Progressive Affix
When with the Perfect affix it is always "-van". Subjunctive forms in parentheses

Non-Past/Past

1stS: -m-/-(w)os- (-vee-/-wr-)

2ndS: -r-/-wr- (-vee-/-wr-)

3rdS: -s-/-(w)os- (-vee-/-wr-)

1stP: -r-/-wr- (-vee-/-wr-)

2ndP: -r-/-wr- (-vee-/-wr-)

3rdP: -r-/-wr- (-vee-/-wr-)

Forms of the Perfect Affix
Non-Past: -v-

Past: -d-

Mood
Eridanian has 7 moods, Indicative, Conditional, Subjunctive, Imperative, Obligative and Interrogative. The old Germanic Subjunctive is preserved only in the verb "to be", the result of it stubborning refusing to disappear in American English. A new Subjunctive formed from "if" becoming attached to the subject inflections. The Interrogative Mood is the result of interrogative pronouns fusing to the verb and occur in the place of the normal subject inflections.

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Conditional: e-ken-shaaf = I can stop/I would stop

Subjunctive: fe-wr-shaaf-n = If I were stopping

Obligative: e-gaan-shaaf = I must stop/I got to stop

Optative: e-waan-shaaf = "I want to stop/I would like to stop

Interrogative (Animate): ou-s-shaaf-n = Who is stopping?

Interrogative (Inanimate): wa'-s-shaaf-n = What is stopping?

Imperative: shahf! = STOP!

Voice
Eridanian has 3 morphological voices, Active, Passive, and Reflexive. The Passive Voice is derived from the English "Be + Past Particple" Passive construction. The Reflexive Voice originated from the fusion of the reflexive pronouns onto the verb.

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Passive: e-wos-shaaf-t = "I was stopped"

Reflexive: meesl-shaaf = "(I) stop myself"

Infinitive, Gerund, and Participle forms
Infinitive: ta(w)-ROOT

Gerund: ROOT-ng

Present Participle: ROOT-n

Past Participle: Identical to the Simple Past form of the verb except for a few strong verbs.

=Dictionary= ...

=Example text=