User:Billyjb/Shelved/Khaz Malanāz

Overview

Err...meow.

=Background=

An a priori language created just for fun, inspired partly by Tolkien's Valarin/Black Speech and Khuzdul and the Romance languages.

=Phonology=

Consonants
Most words are of the pattern (V)CVC(V)... with the consonant clusters: rb, bhr, lg, khn, lkh, nr, š, šk, šd, šn, d, rk, šj (rare) attested so far.

Consonant clusters:

aspirated plosive + nasal, š + nasal, plosive and palatal approximant, nasal + rhotic, rhotic + voiced plosive and k,

Plosives

 * Unvoiced: p, t, k.


 * Aspirated: ph, kh


 * ph can only be followed by the vowels a ,ā, o, ō and u or by a rhotic consonant. kh has the vowels a, ā, e, ē, u and ū following.


 * Voiced: b, d, g.


 * Aspirated: bh, gh.


 * bh can only have o following.

Fricatives

 * Unvoiced: f [f], s [s], š  [ʃ]


 * Voiced: z [z]

Other consonants

 * Nasals: m, n.
 * Laterals: l
 * Rhotic: R (both uvular and trilled depending on speakers preference.)
 * Glottal: h
 * Semi-vowel: y
 * Palatal approximant: (archaic) [j], only used in pronouns and old words. Elsewhere merged into /y/.

Vowels
a, e, i, o, u and their long counterparts ā, ē, ī, ō, ū.

/a/, /e/ with the allophones [e] and [ɛ], /i/, /o/, /u/

=Alphabet=

Vowels: A, E, I, O, U. Consonants: B,D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, R, S, Š, T, Y, Z and the digraphs Ph, Kh, Bh and Gh.

The macron is used to denote a long vowel (as seen in ašnāg) and the acute accent to mark unusual stress (as seen in the present tense marker -ún, e.g. azfêrún).

=Basic Grammar=

Malanāz is a pro-drop language. Normally uses SVO word order with adjectives following the nouns they modify. Adjectives agree with nouns in number but not in gender or case. Malanāz has three cases: nominative, accusative and the genitive.

Verbs
Verbs in Malanāz are conjugated in three tenses past, present, future. The three moods: indicative, optative, imperative and the voices active/passive are also distinguished in the infinitive.

The persons of the tenses are formed by prefixing markers to the stem and the stem is procured from suffixing tense markers to the infinitive. The neutral infinitive is formed by suffixing ín to the root and is used when discussing the non-conjugated verb.

The optative mood is used to express a hope or wish.

The example verb used in this article is bakín (to see).

Imperative
Is formed by prefixing dar to the root for sing. and kar for plr. and aspirating the last consonant.

Example: darbakh- (See!), karbakh- (See! plr.) The passive is formed by changing the vowel in the imperative prefixes to u. Example: durbakh- (Be seen!), kurbakh-(Be seen! plr.).

Indicative
The indicative active infinitive stem is formed by lengthening the vowel in the root.

Example: bak -> bāk

The passive is formed by prefixing a(b) to the root and then lengthening the main root vowel.

Example: bak -> abak -> abāk.

Optative
The optative mood is used for a variety of purposes, such as:
 * Potential Optative, in which the possibility of an action taking place is indicated. "I would be gladdened to visit you."
 * Optative of Wish, which, as the name indicates, is used to express wishes such as those beginning, "If only..." or "Would that...".

The optative active infinitive stem is formed by aspirating the last consonant.

Example: bak -> bakh

NB: Notice how the vowel isn't lengthened.

The passive is once again formed by prefixing a(b) to the root, lengthening the main root vowel but this time also aspirating the last consonant.

Example: bak -> bakh -> abakh -> abākh.

Past Tense
The past tense stem is formed by adding -an to the infinitive.

Indicative:

Active voice example: bāk (to see) + an = bākan.

Passive voice example: abāk (to be seen) + an = abākan

Optative:

Active voice example: bakh (wishing/wanting + to see) + an = bakhan.

Then the grammatical persons are prefixed with the following markers:

1st person sing. : az

2nd person sing. : uz

3rd person sing. : iz

The plurals are formed by prefixing the plural marker kar to the singular equiv. example: 3rd person plural indicative active is karizbākan i.e. they saw.

Present tense
The present tense stem is formed from the infinitive root + the present tense suffix ún.

Indicative:

Active voice example: bāk (to see) + un = bākún.

Passive voice example: abāk (to be seen) + un = abākún

Optative: Active voice example: bakh (wishing/wanting + to see) + un = bakhún.

Passive voice example: abākh (wishing/wanting + to be seen) + un = abākhún.

The persons are the same as in the past tense.

E.g. azbākún I see, azabākhún I want to be seen, karizbākún they see, karizabākhún they want to be seen, darbakhún! ''See! (sing.)''

Future Tense
The future tense stem is formed by adding -at to the infinitive.

Indicative:

Active voice example: bāk (to see) + at = bākat.

Passive voice example: abāk (to be seen) + at = abākat

Optative:

Active voice example: bakh (wishing/wanting + to see) + at = bakhat.

Passive voice exmaple: abākh (wishing/wanting + to be seen) + at = abākhat.

The persons are the same as in the other tenses.

E.g. karizbākat they will see, karizabākat they will be seen, azbakhat I want to see (future), darbakhat ''See! (future sing.), darzakhat Become!''

=Numbers=

The ordinal numbers 1-3 are inflected in number: -nāg for singular and -nagī.

=Dictionary=

Nouns
khaz Malanāz - Malanāz language

khaz - language

Prepositions
aya, ayim - to, towards

bakhaz (takes gen.) - out of, bakhaz tahkhūl darbašún! Go out of the house!

bakhayim - out to, bakhayim tahkhūr darbašún! Go out to the house!

az - from

dal - under, below

dalayim - towards shadow

Other
uk - and

Regular
bakín - to see, azbākún I see

barín - to eat, azbārún  I eat

bikín - to build, azbîkún I build

bukín - to read, azbūkún I read

farín - to travel, azfārún I travel

ferín - to transport, azfêrún I transport

furín - to destroy, azfūrún I destroy

khazín - to speak, azkhāzún I speak

khuzín - to shout, azkhūzún I shout

kibín - to want, azkîbún I want

mahín - to know, azmāhún  I know

rakín - to find, azrākún I find

zakín - to be, a(z)zākún I am

zirakín - to explore, a(z)zirākún I explore

Category 1
zín (root for inf. act. baz, root for inf. opt. bar) - to go, walk, azbāzún I go, uzbarún (Opt.) You walk + desire

gazín (root for inf. act. gaz, root for inf. opt. gar)- to die, azgāzún I die, uzgarún (Opt.) You die + desire

=Example text= Malanāz izakún khaz. Malanāz is a language.

Azbūkún malanāzum. I read Malanāz.

Iškhūr darbakhún! See them (mask.) !

Karazākún ašnagī. We are first.

Karuzākún gašnagī. You (plr.) are second.

Karizākún kašnagī. They are third.