Eindo

Eindo is a highly agglutinating nominative-accusative language.

Setting
Eindo is spoken by the ConCulture in the ConCountry of Eino, which is located at about the latitude of Earth's Scandanavia.

Phonology
This page will use the convention that any character between brackets [ ] refers to the orthographic letter while any character between forward-slashes / / refers to the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) pronunciation.

Consonants
The only consonant which has more than one possible pronunciation is [h]. Its differing pronunciations depend upon its context. When surrounded by vowels or immediately preceded by another consonant, it is pronounced as /h/. The letter [h] can only legally precede another consonant if the following consonant is a [p], [t], or [k]. If it does precede one of these three consonants, there are three additional possible pronunciations. If it is preceded by an [i] or [e], it is pronounced /ç/, by an [a] or [ä] as /ħ/, and by an [o], [ö], [u], or [y] as /ʍ/. Some speakers alternatively pronounce it always as /x/ except when preceded by [i] or [e] in which case they pronounce it as /ç/. This alternate pronunciation is mostly used by inhabitants of large cities, especially members of the lower class. Any time two identical consonants are adjacent, the consonant is geminated, meaning that the length of pronunciation is doubled. Geminated consonants cannot be at the beginning or end of a word, and cannot be a part of a consonant cluster.

Vowels
The only vowel which has more than one possible pronunciation is [e]. Officially it has only the one pronunciation, /e/, but in a syllable which contains a coda, especially in unstressed syllables, it can be pronounced /ɛ/. Nearly all speakers will use this alternate pronunciation.

Eindo contains a system of vowel harmony based on the frontness of vowels. The vowels [a], [o], and [u] are back vowels, and [ä], [ö], and [y] are front vowels. [i] and [e] are transparent neutral vowels, which means that they do not alter the frontness or backness of a word in any way and can be used in both instances. The vowel which determines the frontness of a word is the first non-neutral vowel in the root of the word. This also takes place with the semivowels, such that [j] is a neutral semivowel, [w] is a back semivowel, and [ẅ] is a front semivowel. If the entire root is neutral, the word acts as though it contained back vowels. The only time a word can contain both front and back vowels is when it is a compound word, which happens most often in place names.

When two different vowels are adjacent, in most cases a diphthong will be formed. All diphthongs are falling, which means that even when, for example, an [i] precedes an [a], the [i] is not pronounced as the semivowel /j/ as in English, but is in fact the dominant vowel in the diphthong with the sound falling into the [a] sound. There are 30 possible diphthongs: [ie], [ia], [iä], [io], [iö], [iu], [iy], [ei], [ea], [eä], [eu], [ey], [ai], [au], [äi], [äy], [oi], [oa], [ou], [öi], [öä], [öy], [ui], [ue], [ua], [uo], [yi], [ye], [yä], and [yö]. [eo], [oe], and [öe] are pronounced as two syllables. When three vowels are adjacent, the first two are pronounced as a diphthong (if legal) and the third is pronounced as a second syllable. If the first two cannot be legally pronounced as a diphthong, the second and third are, while the first vowel receives it's own syllable. If neither pair of vowels can be made into a diphthong, they are pronounced as three distinct syllables. In certain circumstances, a vowel pair which would normally be pronounced as a diphthong should not be. The most common example of this is when a root beginning with a vowel is prefixed. In such instances, in the Latin orthography the first vowel of the root should gain an acute accent or a macron if it already contains a diaeresis. Using the Eindo Runes, this is represented by a dot placed above the vowel. An example of this would be with the word naílpo (“colt,” or “young male horse”).

Any time two identical vowels are adjacent, the vowel is geminated, meaning that the length of pronunciation is doubled. A geminated vowel cannot make up any part of a diphthong.

Stress
The first syllable in a root is always stressed. This means that if the root begins the word, the first syllable of the word receives the main stress, while if it is prefixed it does not. The stress is only a light stress, but it is an important distinction which can cause confusion if done incorrectly. After the main stress, every second syllable receives secondary stress. If there are an odd number of syllables excluding prefixes, stress is moved from the third-to-last syllable to the second-to-last syllable and the final syllable is unstressed.

Phonotactics
Eindo phonemes are organized into three distinct categories which divide a syllable: onsets, nuclei, and codi. A syllable must contain a nucleus, but an onset and coda are both optional.

Onsets
[p t k] + [l r s š] + [j w ẅ]

[p t k] + [l r s š]

[b d g] + [l r z ž] + [j w ẅ]

[b d g] + [l r z ž]

[f s š v z ž] + [l r] + [j w ẅ]

[f s š v z ž] + [l r]

[p t k q b d g c f ŧ s š h v đ z ž m n ň l r ř] + [j w ẅ]

[p t k q b d g c f ŧ s š h v đ z ž m n ň l r ř j w ẅ]

Nuclei
Vowels

Diphthongs

Codi
[p t k m n ň l] + [s š]

[b d g m n ň l] + [z ž]

[f ŧ s š m n ň l] + [p t k]

[v đ z ž m n ň l] + [b d g]

[h] + [p t k]

[p t k q b d g c f ŧ s š h v đ z ž m n ň l r ř]

Orthography
The Eindo writing system is a runic alphabet with 34 letters, twelve numerals, and twelve punctuation marks.

Grammar
Eindo is a highly agglutinating language. This means that derivation, conjugation, and declension are all done by the affixation of morphemes to a root. Roots end with specific vowels to denote the part-of-speech of the word. Nouns end with [-o] (from now on, any time an affix is given it will be given as if the root contained back vowels, but it should be understood that should the root contain front vowels, the affix's vowels will also be front vowels), verbs end with [-a], adjectives end with [-i], adverbs end with [-u], and determiners and other parts of speech end either with [-e] or with a consonant.

Nouns
All undeclined nouns end with [-o], which happens to also be identical to two of the possible declensions, the vocative and the nominative. Eindo nouns have four different articles, three numbers, and 27 declensional cases.

The four articles are the definite, indefinite, partitive, and negative articles. The definite article, me, indicates that the noun is a specific one (or ones) identifiable to the listener. The indefinite article, se, indicates the opposite, that the noun either is not specific or identifiable yet, or that its precise identity is irrelevant or hypothetical. The partitive article, swe, expresses the same as the indefinite article but is used in the specific instance of mass nouns. The negative article, kwe, specifies none of its noun. Articles always immediately precede their noun, and in writing they are separated by a hyphen.

The three numbers for which Eindo nouns can be declined apply to verbs and the rest of the language, as well, not just nouns. The three numbers are singular, which is unmarked and specifies one noun, paucal, which is expressed by [-a-] and represents between two and five of the noun, and plural, which is expressed by [-i-] and represents more than five of the noun.

Declensional Cases
The vocative case is used for addressing someone and has no morphological marking.

The nominative case marks the subject of the verb, the agent in active voice constructions. The nominative case has no morphological marking.

The accusative case marks the direct object of the verb, the patient in active voice constructions. It is marked by [-n].

The dative case marks the indirect object of the verb. It is marked by [-t].

The genitive case marks that the noun is modifying another noun in one of various ways. It can show possession, origin, reference, and description. The genitive case is marked by [-s]. In the particular case of possession, if the possessor is known (and thus a pronoun would be used), the possessed noun can instead receive a personal possessive prefix, which is hyphenated like an article, and the personal pronoun is dropped.

The partitive case marks partiality, where a subgroup is selected from a larger group, and following qualifying numbers, in which case the number is marked for grammatical case. The partitive case is marked by [-v].

The instrumental case indicates that the noun is the instrument or means with or by which the subject achieves or accomplishes the verb. It is marked by [-k].

The benefactive case indicates that the noun is that which is intended to be benefited by the verb, or for which the verb is being done. It is marked by [-p].

The causal case indicates that the noun is the cause or reason for the verb. It is also used to denote authorship for literature, art, theater, music, and all other creative subjects. It is denoted by [-ht].

The comitative case indicates companionship or association. It is marked by [-m].

The abessive case expresses the lack or absence of the marked noun. It is marked by [-l].

The illative case is a locative case which expresses movement into a noun. It is marked by [-d].

The inessive case is a locative case which expresses location inside a noun. It is marked by [-ň].

The elative case is a locative case which expresses movement from within a noun. It is marked with [-đ].

The lative case is a locative case which expresses movement to a noun. It is marked by [-ŧ].

The adessive case is a locative case which expresses location at, by, or near a noun. It is marked with [-hk].

The ablative case is a locative case which expresses movement from or away from a noun. It is marked by [-ř].

The allative case is a locative case which expresses movement onto a noun. It is marked by [-q].

The superessive case is a locative case which expresses location on a noun. It is marked by [-r].

The delative case is a locative case which expresses movement from on a noun. It is marked by [-g].

The prolative case is a locative case which expresses movement via, through, or by way of a noun. It is marked by [-š].

The translative case is a stative case which expresses a change of state into another. It is marked with [-h].

The essive case is a stative case which expresses a temporary state of being. It is marked by [-f].

The excessive case is a stative case which expresses a change from a state. It is marked by [-z].

The antessive case is a temporal case which expresses a preceding time. It is marked by [-ž].

The temporal case is a temporal case which expresses a time or during or at a time. It is marked by [-b].

The postessive case is a temporal case which expresses a following time. It is marked by [-hp].

Personal Pronouns
Personal pronouns are treated exactly in the exact same fashion as regular nouns are. Just as with regular nouns they have three numbers: singular, paucal, and plural. There are three persons, two of them having two distinctive types, giving five total separate persons. There are 14 distinctive personal pronouns, and 14 distinctive personal possessive prefixes.

The first distinction is that of clusivity in the first person. This only affects the paucal and plural pronouns, which means that there is only one singular first person pronoun, not two. Inclusive first person pronouns include the one being addressed, while exclusive first person pronouns do not.

The second distinction is that of humanity in the third person. The third person pronouns are different depending on whether the reference is human or not. Human pronouns can additionally receive a gender prefix to denote gender for greater clarity.

Verbs
All unconjugated verbs end with [-ađa], which denotes that the verb is in the infinitive form. When conjugated, the final [-đa] is dropped before the affixation of the conjugational morphemes.

Verbs can be conjugated for polarity, eight modals, seven aspects, three voices, three tenses, seven persons, and three numbers. There are additionally two participles, each of which can additionally be conjugated, and a gerundive form.

Non-participle conjugated verbs take the following form as a template for the order of affixes:

Polarity + Prefixes + Root + Suffixes + Modality + Habituality + Temporal Relevance + Progressivity + Mood + Voice + Tense + Person

Polarity
A morpheme can be affixed to the beginning of a word to denote that it is not happening. This negative polarity is shown with the affixation of the morpheme [ce-].

Habituality
The habitual aspect, [-n(o)-], expresses habitual or repeated action (the use of parentheses signifies that the enclosed phoneme is optional, included only if there would otherwise be an illegal consonant cluster).

Temporal Relevance
The imperfect or current aspect is the default state of a verb and thus has no morpheme. The retrospective aspect, [-t(o)-], expresses a past event which still has relevance. For example, I have eaten instead of I eat. The prospective aspect, [-g(o)-], expresses a future event which already has relevance, or is anticipated. For example, I am about to eat instead of I eat.

Progressivity
Progressive aspect expresses that an action is ongoing, rather than an instantaneous action. Similarly to the modals, this is expressed in English with an auxiliary verb, specifically to be, as well as a suffix on the main verb. In Eindo it is shown with the morpheme [-Vh-] if it is followed only by the personal affix or [-V-] if it is followed by any other conjugational affixes, where [V] represents a repeat of the preceding vowel.

Mood
There are four moods expressible in Eindo. The most commonly used mood is the indicative mood, which expresses factual information and positive beliefs. Any verb which does not contain a morpheme for mood is in the indicative mood. Commands, requests, and prohibitions are given using the imperative mood, which is represented by the morpheme [-k(o)-]. The conditional mood is used to speak of an event whose realization depends upon some other condition. English uses the auxiliary verb “would” for this construction, but Eindo uses the affix [-f(o)-]. The final mood is the subjunctive mood, which expresses hypothetical or unlikely events, or expresses opinions, hopes, or emotions. The subjunctive mood is expressed with [-ň(o)-].

Voice
Eindo verbs can be conjugated for three different voices. The active voice is the standard voice, and thus has no morpheme added if the verb is using it. The active voice means that the agent of the verb is the subject of the sentence. The passive voice, represented by the morpheme [-ŧ-], is when the patient of the verb is the subject. The third voice, the middle voice, is said to be between the active and passive voices. The verb appears syntactically active but semantically passive. The middle voice is shown with the affix [-š-]. Another possible way to look at the difference between the passive and middle voice is that with the passive voice, the agent can be expressed obliquely, but with the middle voice it cannot.

Tense
Eindo conjugates its verbs into three tenses: past, present, and future. The present tense receives no morpheme, and thus a verb with no tense affix is in the present tense. Verbs in the past tense are expressed by [-j-], but it changes to [-i-] when followed by a plural personal affix in all cases except when the past tense marker is the only non-personal conjugational suffix added to the verb. The future tense is shown by [-w-].

Participles
Eindo has a verbal participle, an adjectival participle, and a gerundive form. The gerundive form cannot be conjugated in any way. The adjectival participle can be conjugated for either the active or passive voice, but no other conjugational morphemes are legal. The verbal participle, however, can take many conjugational morphemes. It can be conjugated to show habituality, temporal relevance, mood (though only the indicative or the subjunctive, the subjunctive expressing assumption, supposition, or inference), voice (though only active or passive), and a personal ending. The verbal participle is shown by the morpheme [-uv(e)-], the adjectival by the morpheme [-uk-i] where the space between the [k] and [i] represents the optional passive voice morpheme, and the gerundive is formed by the affixation of [-ulo].

Adjectives
Undeclined adjectives end with [-i]. Adjectives can be declined in the exact same way that nouns can and should always have the same case as the noun it is modifying. Adjectives have a few additional declensions possible. Adjectives can be marked as comparative with [-hi-] or superlative with [-hti-]. Adjectives can also be changed into nouns by adding the comparative suffix and changing the last [i] to an [o]: [-ho-]. This can be demonstrated in English by the following sentence:  The faster he ran, the more he needed water. Adjectives generally follow the noun they modify, but because of the case markings it can be moved anywhere as long as clarity is maintained.

Adverbs
Adverbs end with [-u]. Adverbs can only be declined for comparativity, [-hu], and superlativity, [-htu]. Adverbs generally immediately follow the verb they modify, but can be moved anywhere as long as clarity is maintained.

Questions
To ask a question, the prefix [te-] is used. To ask a normal question, it is affixed to the verb, but it can be affixed to any other word, signifying that that word is what is being asked about. The difference is comparable to the differences in the English questions “Did it snow here?” “Did it snow here?” “Did it snow here?” and “Did it snow here?” all of which require a change in prosody.

Syntax
Because of its extremely high amount of declension and conjugation, the word order in Eindo is very free, especially in poetry, the only limitations being those of clarity. The most neutral syntax is verb-subject- object (VSO) and all other arrangements imply emphasis. Despite the free syntax, there are a few specific words which must be placed in specific locations and a few general guidelines for others. The few adpositions in the language are always prepositional, and modifiers tend to follow their heads. Thus adjectives tend to follow their nouns, adverbs tend to follow their verbs, and genitives tend to follow their heads, but they can be moved assuming clarity is maintained.

Derivation
Eindo relies heavily on a system of agglutinative derivation. This derivation includes both prefixes and suffixes. Suffixes are able to change the part of speech of the word, but prefixes are not. More than one affix can be added to a root, as long as it makes sense, and the affixes are parsed from left to right. Not all derivations are plausible, however. All suffixes have three parts: the beginning, the stem, and the ending. The beginning, which is made up of the first vowel in the given suffix, signifies the part of speech to which the derivational suffix can be affixed. In other words, the suffix can only be affixed to a word which ends with that vowel. The beginning of the suffix is dropped when it is affixed. The stem is what gives the suffix its meaning, made up of any combination of consonants and vowels. The ending is made up of the final vowel in the suffix and it signifies the word's part of speech after the affixation of the suffix. If the beginning and ending of a suffix are identical, then, pending any illegal consonant clusters, all vowels may be dropped between the end of the word and the suffix being added. For example, Eino (the country in which Eindo is spoken) + -odo (the suffix which signifies that the word is referring to the language of the country) = Eindo (the language spoken in the country of Eino).

Dialects
There are only minor dialectical differences in the pronunciation of Eindo. As was mentioned earlier in the article, some who grow up in large cities, especially in the lower classes, tend to pronounce their consonants slightly harsher. This is especially pronounced with the letter [h], which, following an [i] or [e] is pronounced /ç/ while after any other vowel or any consonant it is pronounced /x/.

Politeness
Eindo has a prefix [re-] which can be affixed to words to show respect. Affixing it to a noun shows respect or polite feelings for the noun, and affixing it to a pronoun essentially changes the pronoun's meaning to sir. Affixing the prefix to a verb shows either respect for the action, unless the verb uses the imperative mood. In such cases, it can be translated as the indirect questions of English which show politeness (i.e. Can you pass the salt? instead of Pass the salt).

Idioms and Analogies
The Eindo language can make use of analogies, such as metaphors and similes, euphemisms, and idioms in the same way that other languages, such as English, can. Similes can be formed using the essive noun case, which normally means “in a state of (noun),” “as a (noun),” or “in the form of (noun),” but in this case translates to “like a (noun)” or “as a (noun).” Common idioms can often be shortened to a few words of the idiom and speakers will usually understand.

Poetry
There is much poetry written in the Eindo language. Much is in the form of epics, especially detailing the life of the legendary folk hero Mjelte. Much of the stories have been collected and written in a single volume called Me-Mjelteno, which means The Land of Mjelte, or Me-Einneasnalo, a compound word which means The Tale of the Land of Eino.

Eindo poetry can be metered or unmetered and often includes literary devices such as assonance and consonance (and more specifically alliteration).