Old Aspatese

General Information
Old Aspatese (/ˈæspətiz/, natively Epsöy Arhi [ˈæpsøj ˈaɹ̥i] lit. "Liquid Speech") was spoken by the Chesnon (Stanhhan) in the country of Pesoerg (Besörüg) on the moon Chesnon (Müte).

Vowels

 * Diphthongs can be formed from any two adjacent vowels. They are always falling.

Vowel Harmony
All vowels of a word must be of the same backness except for the neutral vowel /i/. For example, the agentive suffix is -hhan in whalhhan "hunter", and -hhen in keyühhen "worker". These changing vowels in suffixes are represented as uppercase back vowels (so the agentive suffix would be represented -hhAn).

Phonotactics
Word initials: Intervocalic: Word finals: Minimum syllable: i /i/
 * zero initial
 * any C
 * /s/ + /p/, /t/, or /k/
 * /p/, /t/, or /k/ + /s/, /ɹ̥/, /j̊/, or /ʍ/
 * /b/, /d/, or /g/ + /ɹ/, /j/, or /w/
 * /s/ + /p/, /t/, or /k/ + /ɹ̥/, /j̊/, or /ʍ/
 * any C
 * /s/ + /p/, /t/, or /k/
 * /p/, /t/, or /k/ + /s/, /ɹ̥/, /j̊/, or /ʍ/
 * /b/, /d/, or /g/ + /ɹ/, /j/, or /w/
 * /s/ + /p/, /t/, or /k/ + /ɹ̥/, /j̊/, or /ʍ/
 * /ɺ/ + /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, or /g/
 * /ɺ/ + /p/, /t/, or /k/ + /s/, /ɹ̥/, /j̊/, or /ʍ/
 * /ɺ/ + /b/, /d/, or /g/ + /ɹ/, /j/, or /w/
 * /ɹ̥/ + /p/, /t/, or /k/
 * /ɹ/ + /b/, /d/, or /g/
 * /ɹ̥/ + /p/, /t/, or /k/ + /s/
 * /m/ or /n/ + /p/, /t/, or /k/ + /s/, /ɹ̥/, /j̊/, or /ʍ/
 * /m/ or /n/ + /b/, /d/, or /g/ + /ɹ/, /j/, or /w/
 * /m/ or /n/ + /ɹ/
 * any C + /ħ/
 * zero final
 * any C minus /ħ/, /h/, /ʍ/, or /w/
 * /s/ + /p/, /t/, or /k/
 * /p/, /t/, or /k/ + /s/
 * /ɺ/ + /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, or /g/
 * /ɹ̥/ + /p/, /t/, or /k/
 * /ɹ/ + /b/, /d/, or /g/
 * /m/ or /n/ + /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, or /g/

Maximum syllable: strhoalb /stɹ̥oaɺb/

Stress
Stress is consistantly placed on the first syllable of a word, and is never used to differentiate words.

Number
Nouns can be countable with singular, dual, and plural number or they can be mass nouns.

Dual number is expressed via a suffix -(A)t; plural number is expressed via a suffix -(O)r. ex. kseld > kseldet > kseldör

The vowels in parenthesis only appear when the addition of the bare consonant would violate phonotactical rules.

The final consonant of some nouns may be deleted in non-singular numbers, especially if the noun ends in a consonant cluster. Examples include nouns ending in -ast > -asat > -asor including bounast and anhhast and wörhp > wörht > wörhpör.

A small number of short words undergo a process called harmonic inversion in the plural. In harmonic inversion, the backness of the word's vowels flip. ex. pou "spirit" > pout > pöür

Examples of mass nouns would be hhomrau "hatred" and ixilh "defenses".

Gendered pronouns
Gender is an interesting topic when talking about the Chesnon or their languages. They have three genders: alpha, beta, and gamma (ilho, menbi, and hherdü in Old Aspatese). Old Aspatese has no grammatical gender, but it does have gendered third-person singular pronouns.

The most prominent features of each gender are alphas' large manes, betas' curled horns, and gammas' reflective eye rings.

Conjugations
All verb stems end in /A/, /O/, or /i/.

Person/Number suffixes
The person/number suffixes follow the conjugational endings.
 * In the A conjugation, the 1p.ex ending becomes -Us.
 * In the O conjugation, the 2p ending becomes -rAp.

Tense
present (0), persistive, past, future

Negation
Negation of a verb is expressed by adding an suffix -bU to the verb stem, and conjugating the verb using the normal endings. Due to its usage of a differing vowel than all of the other conjugations, the negative is sometimes considered a fourth conjugation. ex. biyetü "to hike" > biyebüte "to not hike"

Nonfinite forms

 * Infinitive: -tA, -tU in the A conjugation
 * Active participle: -yh
 * Passive participle: -lh
 * Contemporary transgressive: -Ag, -Ug in the A conjugation
 * Anterior transgressive: -mbO, -mbA in the O conjugation

Passive
The passive is formed by using the passive participle plus the conjugated copula. ex. Sir lherdi ex ksunolh! "My tongue is burned!"

Modalities
Many differing moods/modalities can be shown by putting the main verb in the infinitive and following it with a conjugated auxiliary verb, such as these:
 * Conditional setü: used to show the truth of the statement depends on certain conditions, ex. I arhita se. "It would speak."
 * Hypothetical oprhota: used to signify a conceptually possible event, ex. I arhita oprho. "It might speak."
 * Desiderative grüite: used to show that the statement is desired by the subject, ex. I arhita grüi. "It wants to speak."
 * Necessative arhkatu: used to signify need by the subject, ex. I arhita arhka. "It needs to speak."

Examples
biyetü "to trek, hike" (biyeyh, biyelh, biyeüg, biyembö) ksunota "to scald, burn" hhaidita "to love"

Irregular verbs
dantu "to have"

Copula
lötö "to be" (löyh, lülh, löeg, lömbe)

Verbal derivational morphology

 * Causative (rA-): prefix, indicates that the subject causes the object to perform the action, ex. Salg rauxaus lhuat. "We fed them"
 * Inceptive (sO-): prefix, indicates the beginning of an action, ex. Sehhe söbiyewit. "Let's start hiking."
 * Terminative (tAl-): prefix, indicates the end of an action, ex. Talarhita arhkap. "Stop talking."
 * Capabilitive (-Um-): suffix immediately after the root, indicates the subject has the ability to perform an action, ex. I ksunumo "It's flammable"

Numbers

 * nai
 * 1) kemk
 * 2) kwharh
 * leg
 * 1) lugal
 * düs
 * 1) krhia
 * 2) dulha
 * 3) whit
 * 4) raso
 * 5) renö
 * 6) wölh

Important phrases
Kyherg! "Bye!"