Old Pelhaforan

Summary
The dialects known as Old Pelhaforan or Ancient Pelhaforan were an early form of the Pelhaforan language spoken in the approximate area of present-day Pelhafor for much of the 1st millenium C.E. Attested in various sources including court documents, religious scriptures, and vernacular literature, Old Pelhaforan is believed to have phased into Middle Pelhaforan by the 11th century.

Phonotactics
Pelhaforan words feature syllables with obligatory mono-consonantal onsets and vowel nuclei. A null onset, i.e. a syllable with no beginning consonant, is forbidden. A palatal medial and coda are optional. Only /n/, /t/, /k/, /s/, and /r/ can be used as codas in Pelhaforan words. Codas in native Pelhaforan words usually only occur at the ends of words; loanwords do not necessarily follow this rule but nonetheless conform to Pelhaforan's phonotactical laws.

The Pelhaforan syllable structure:

C₁(C₂)V₁(C₃)

where C₂ is a palatal medial and C₃ is the coda.

Nouns
Pelhaforan nouns are not marked for grammatical gender, number, or articles. Pelhaforan has a possession marker, “ki” (also the conjunction for comparisons), which is placed after the possessor and before the possessed object. It is omitted in cases of inalienable possession, i.e. “my brother,” “my cousin,” “my arm,” etc.

Personal pronouns
Personal pronouns are marked by person and number. An intensive pronoun can be expressed with the particle “sur” (related to suru, “self; soul, mind”) placed after the personal pronoun. Placed alone after the verb, “sur” may also express the reflexive.

In the second person, Pelhaforan maintains a T-V distinction. The singular han is used to address a person of inferior rank or position in the social hierarchy, whereas the plural kyan is for addressing a superior. Between equals, high-class peers prefer to use kyan, while the lower class uses han. In more formal situations, it is common to discard pronouns altogether and address someone by their rank, office, or honorific.

Classifiers
Noun classifiers (a.k.a. measure words) are required when counting nouns. It is considered ungrammatical to omit the measure word, but omitting the noun (provided the noun is clear from context) and preserving the classifier is acceptable and common. The classifier is placed after the numeral, which is placed after the noun being modified in the format numeral-classifier-noun.

Pro-forms
Pelhaforan makes a two-way distinction for demonstratives. The proximal demonstrative (‘this’) is “zo”; the distal demonstrative (‘that’) is “te.” The demonstrative adjective is placed before the noun as a regular adjective. No distinction is made between interrogative and indefinite (“any”) pro-forms.

Verbs
All verbs comprise of a verb stem, which is subsequently modified by grammatical tense, aspect, and evidentiality. The main copula is “za” (‘to be’), which is used only for noun complements, due to the stative verb nature of Pelhaforan adjectives. Another copula is “rut,” meaning “to be located (in),” and is used alongside adpositional phrases. The causative form of a verb can be formed by appending “-hut” (following a vowel) or “-ut” (following a consonant) immediately after the verb root.

Tense
Pelhaforan verbs are marked with tense prefixes. The tenses are absolute, meaning that the point of reference (deixis) is the moment of narration and not the moment spoken of. Tense markers can be omitted when the context is clear.

 o      “ze-” for past events

 o      “tya-” for the present

 o        “hu-” for future events

Aspect
Pelhaforan verbs are marked for aspect. The neutral aspect is the basic, unmarked form of a verb. Other aspects are marked using aspectual suffixes, which go directly after the verb stem:

 o      “-nat-” – progressive aspect, related to nyat (lit. ‘center, middle’)

 o      “-yut-” – perfect aspect, related to yudu (lit. ‘back, rear; after, behind’)

 o      “-hisa-” – inchoative aspect; related to hisa (lit. “to rise, ascend”); beginning of a state

 o      “-dok-” – frequentative aspect; can be used as a habitual aspect

Evidentiality
Verbs may be attached with additional suffixes to mark information such as evidentiality. Evidential suffixes are attached to verbs and come after any aspectual suffixes.

 o      “-bet” – reportative (hearsay or secondhand information; “it is said…”)

 o      “-mis” – inferential (based on indirect evidence; “must be, probably, would be…”)

 o      “-sye” – visual sensory (based on visual evidence; “seems, looks”)

These affixes may be combined to express multiple levels of evidentiality. For example, a sentence with the meaning of “It seems it must be…” would utilize the combined suffix “-betmis” or an elided “-bemis."

Negation
To negate a sentence or statement, “-ba-” is placed after any aspectual markers and before any evidential markers. For the negation of an imperative, the prefix “ko-” is used instead, where the tense marker would be.

Adjectives
Adjectives have two primary uses: predicative and attributive. The adjective’s predicative form acts as a stative verb (corresponding to English “to be ”), taking on verbal markers for tense, aspect, and so on. For this reason, an adjective in predicative use is also called the “adjectival verb.” The attributive form, meanwhile, requires the ending “-ya” to be attached to the adjective, although this is commonly omitted when attributive usage is clear. The “-ya” suffix is also attached to nominal adjectives or adjectives in substantive use, i.e. “The good, the bad, the ugly.”

Reduplication can be used to change the intensity of an adjective, somewhat akin to the use of the English suffix “-ish” (i.e. red; reddish). The last consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) sequence is reduplicated and attached to the end of the base adjective. Intensity may increase or decrease depending on the kind of adjective. Color adjectives usually decrease in intensity, whereas other adjectives become intensified.

Adverbs
The suffix “-has” (from hasu, lit. “form, shape, manner”) is used to form adverbs out of adjectives.

Comparison
Pelhaforan comparatives and superlatives are syntactically formed with the comparison adverbs “was” (Eng. ‘more’) and “zoha,” (Eng. ‘most’) respectively. When modifying adjectival verbs and other adverbs, the comparison adverb follows the word. However, when modifying an adjective in attributive form, the adverb precedes the adjective.

The comparative conjunction is “ki,” identical to the possessive particle. It indicates with what the comparison is being made and corresponds to the English conjunction “than.” The phrase “is more X than Y” is rendered as “X was ki Y.”

To compare two objects of equal degree, as in the “as X as Y” structure, the format “xak Y te’syen X” (lit. ‘like Y, that much X’) is used, reversing the order of the arguments.

Numerals 

 o      basen – zero (lit. ‘nothing’)

 o      tos– one

 o      dan – two

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      ge – three

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      rus – four

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      wet – five

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      fen – six

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      nin – seven

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      zek – eight

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      tut – nine

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      pyat – ten

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      yan – hundred

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      mik – thousand

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      dyo – million

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      mitto – billion Numerals above pyat (10) are formed by stacking. For example, eleven is pyat tos (‘ten-one’), twelve is pyat dan (‘ten-two’), twenty is danpyat (‘two-ten’), twenty-two is danpyat dan (‘two-ten-two’), eighty is zekpyat (‘eight-ten’), a hundred is tos’yan (‘one-hundred’), and a hundred twenty-one is tos’yan danpyat tos (‘one-hundred-two-ten-one’).

Ordinal numbers are formed by placing “-ka” after the numeral. For example, toska is ‘first’, danka is ‘second’, geka is third, danpyatka is twentieth, and danpyat danka is twenty second.

Adpositions
Most Pelhaforan words that fall under this category are either prepositions (placed before their complement) or postpositions (placed after their complement); Pelhaforan also has a few circumpositions.

To avoid the situation of adjacent nouns, postpositional phrases are usually placed after the verb and before any objects, or in front of the entire sentence. Prepositional phrases usually follow the direct object, if any. Provided no ambiguity arises, however, these rules may be and often are bent, especially poetically. If modifying nouns, adpositional phrases become relative clauses.

Prepositions
Prepositions precede their complements.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      kin – with, alongside; in addition to

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      kinbas – without, lacking; apart from, beside, except, but; lit. kin (‘with’) + bas (‘not’)

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      ni – for, to, directed at; because of, due to, on account of; indirect object marker

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      xak – such as, for example; like, as, reminiscent of; lit. “similar, alike”

Postpositions
Postpositions follow their complements.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      fas – in, at, into; about, concerning, regarding, on

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      se – by means of, using, with, in (language)

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      not – to, at, towards; up to, until, as far as

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      mer – from, out of; since

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      bit – near, around; approximately, about; lit. “near, close”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      zoknot – up, toward the top of; upward

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      garnot – down; downward

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      fassus – during, throughout, in (time); from fas (‘in’) + hus (‘time’)

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      zoxitos – around, surrounding; from zok (‘on’) + hitos (‘circle’)

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      zokbit – about, regarding, concerning; from zok (‘on’) + bit (‘near’)

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      xegarak – along, lengthwise

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      xegatus – throughout, all through, in every part of

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      nossaga – toward, at, for, in the direction of; from not (‘to, at’) + saga (‘front, fore’)

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o        fassahon – among, between, at the center of; from fas (‘in’) + tahon (‘heart, center’)

Relational nouns
To indicate relative position, Pelhaforan makes extensive use of relational nouns. These nouns are used to convey spatial and temporal relations to complements via the complement’s possession of the relational noun; thus, relational nouns are preceded by the possessive particle “ki.” If the adpositional use is clear from context, “ki” can be omitted, turning the relational noun into a true postposition.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      saga – before, in front of; by (a certain time); lit. “fore, front; face”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      yudu – after, behind; later in time; lit. “back, rear, behind”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      zok – above, over; on, on top of

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      gar – beneath, below, under

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      zotton – across, on/to the opposite side; through; from zok (‘on’) + don (‘far’); lit. “opposite side”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      rak – beside, next to; lit. “side, flank”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      tahon – among, between, in the middle of; lit. “heart, center”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      yanik – inside (of), within; during, in (time); lit. “interior, inside”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      zet – outside (of); lit. “outside, exterior”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      dus – against, in contrary direction to; lit. “opposite, contrary”

Circumpositions
Although rare, circumpositions also exist in Pelhaforan:

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      ni… ki nese – because of, for sake of, on account of

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      ni… ki tin – instead of, in place of, rather than, in lieu of

Conjunctions
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      zu – and

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      ban – or

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      dak – if, supposing that

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      xak – as, in the same way that (introduces a basis of comparison); lit. “similar, alike”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      ki – than; same as possessive particle

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      syo – but, however, although (implies the following clause contrasts with or contradicts the previous statement or belief)

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      kinbas – except for, excluding, but

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      nahasu – however, in whatever manner; lit. “how”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      nyanse – because, for the reason that; lit. nyan (‘why’) + se (‘by’)

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      reho – because, for the reason that

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      ninot – so that, in order that; lit. ni (‘for’) + not (‘to, at’)

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      kus, nikus – therefore, so, as a result, consequently; lit. “herefore, for this reason”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      yun, nyun – therefore, so, as a result, consequently; lit. “therefore, for that reason”

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left:.5in;mso-add-space:auto; text-indent:-.25in;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"> o      zu… zu… -- both… and…