Kihā́mmic

pá mamūnám ontā́ bán : non nobis solum : not for ourselves alone

General information
The Kihā́mmic language (Kihā́mmic Latin: Lố kihāmatī́zô tárak, [ˈlo kɪɦɑːmaˈtiːzo ˈtaɾak]) is the main language spoken in Kihāmát. It is an inflected fusional nominative-accusative language, which has two numbers, three genders and nine cases. There are over five million native speakers of Kihā́mmic at present; nearly seventy per cent of the country's population, the majority of the remaining thirty per cent speak Kihā́mmic fluently as their second language. The language belongs to the isolated family, which is indigenous to the eight islands that make up Kihāmát. There are six other extant Panlaffic languages, including the closely related Church Kihā́mmic, as well as a few more extinct languages.

Phonology and orthography

 * See also: Kihā́mmic phonology and IPA for Kihā́mmic.

The Kihā́mmic language can be written in either the native Panlaffic script, in which all Panlaffic languages are traditionally written, or in the Standardised Romanised Panlaffic Alphabet used below.

Digraphs and trigraphs
Most of the consonant clusters and diphthongs are self-evident, however, the less obvious of these are shown below:

Alphabet
As previously mentioned, all of the Panlaffic languages have traditionally been written in the Panlaffic alphabet, the chief variant of which is the Kihā́mmic one. However, use of the Romanised alphabet is increasing. This is mainly due to the Internet and other technologies and media, but also due to the fact that it is easier to write in Latin script.

The Panlaffic alphabet is a true alphabet. An example of its use is shown to left, on the Coat of Arms of Kihāmát. The word on the scroll spells "Kihāmát" in its native script.

Although in the past the Panlaffic script had two cases, a majuscule and a minuscule, only the majuscule is now generally used and the minuscule is never used in any official context.

Note that letters do not decline and when used in writing (in the Romanised alphabet) are always capitalised. If declension is necessary the word "léf" [letter (of the alphabet)] is used preceding the letter, e.g. "léf G".

Nota bene

 * 1) Acute accents over vowels indicate primary stress.
 * 2) A is always stressed if it the last letter of a word.
 * 3) Ə is never stressed unless it is the only vowel in the word.
 * 4) Pluralisation moves the stress to the infix, -am-, unless this would violate rule two.

Cases
The Kihā́mmic language has nine cases:
 * 1) Nominative
 * 2) Accusative
 * 3) Genitive
 * 4) Ablative
 * 5) Allative (or dative-allative)
 * 6) Instrumental
 * 7) Prepositional
 * 8) Terminative
 * 9) Comparative (or equative)

Nouns
Nouns have three genders: masculine, feminine and neuter; two numbers: singular and plural; they are also declined according to case.

Diminutives and augmentatives
Diminutives add -ûn(á/û) unless the word ends in a vowel, in which case add -kûn(á/û).

Augmentatives add -at(á/û) but add -mat(á/û) when the word ends in a vowel.

Adjectives do not change according to diminutives or augmentatives.

Articles
Articles appear as both definite (i.e. "the") and indefinite (i.e. "a", "an" or "some") and are declined as nouns. They are used to specify the definiteness of something. They are colloquially dropped if definiteness is clear from context but normally kept in literary or more formal work.

Definite
The definite articles correspond to the English "the" and the French "le", "la", "l'" or "les".

Indefinite
The indefinite articles correspond to the English "a", "an" or "some" and the Portuguese "um", uma", "uns" or "umas". Note that indefinite pronouns drop the vowel in the pluralisation infix (except in the case of anám) used elsewhere.

Adjectives
In Kihā́mmic, an adjectives agrees with the noun it qualifies in gender, number and case.

Type I
Type I adjectives have the standard singular masculine ending -nômô. Note that the pluralisation infix -am- becomes -a- in all cases here due to the presence of n.

Type II
Type II adjectives have the standard singular masculine ending -ôvan.

Type III
Type III adjectives have the standard singular masculine ending -amô or -ômô (but not -nômô). Note that here rather than the usual infix -am- the vowels a and ô mutate to become ā and ō respectively, these infixes are stressed unless the last letter is a.

Type IV
Type IV adjectives have the standard singular masculine ending -atī́zô.

Type V
Type V adjectives have the standard singular masculine ending -ónsô.

More
To say phrases involving comparisons such as "The dog is bigger than the cat", the word "rū́namô" [more] precedes the adjective and the adjective is followed by "kā́" [than]. So the example sentence translates as:

"Lố gốt sói rū́namô ránômô kā́ lá kará"

N.B.: rū́namô declines appropriately as a type III adjective.

Less
To say phrases such as "The cat is smaller than the dog", the word "kónsô" [less] precedes the adjective which is also followed by "kā́". So the example given translates as:

"Lá kará séi kónse ránama kā́ lố gốt"

N.B.: kónsô declines as a type V adjective.

As... as
To say phrases such as "You are as short as me", the word "kán" [also] precedes the adjective which is also followed by "kā́". So the example given translates as:

"Dán sói kán dénômô kā́ ékô"

Most
To use superlatives, for example, "This dog is the biggest, the word "ródamô" [most] is placed before the adjective. Thus the sentence above translates as:

"Lố gốt sói lố ródamô ránômô"

N.B.: ródamô also declines as a type III adjective.

Least
To say superlative phrases such as "The cat is the smallest, the word "katrónsô" [least] is placed before the appropriate adjective. So the sentence above translates as:

"Lá kará séi lá katrónse ranômá"

N.B.: katrónsô declines as a type V adjective.

Personal pronouns
Personal pronouns are declined just as noun, except for the fact that plural personal pronouns do not exactly resemble the pluralised version of the corresponding singular personal pronouns. The plural forms of the second and third person personal pronouns can be used as polite personal pronouns as well, just as in French "vous" can be the plural or polite form of "you" and as "Вы" can also do the same in Russian.

Neuter
The neuter second person singular is used in cases where either gender may apply and plural neuter pronouns are also used for mixed gender groups.

Reflexive
To form reflexive pronouns (i.e. myself/ourselves et cetera) the suffix -ná is added to singular pronouns and -nám added to plural pronouns. For example myself, masculine accusative, in Kihā́mmic is ekôná and ourselves, neuter instrumental, is mamūnám.

Possessives
Possessive adjectives are words such as the English "his", "our" or "their" or the French "mon", "ton" or "son". They behave exactly as normal type I adjectives, that is that they agree in case, number and gender with their counterpart noun. Possessive pronouns are words such as "mine", "yours" or "ours". They behave just as normal nouns would. They also agree in number and gender with the noun to which they refer (by adding "(am)á" for feminine and "(ám)û" for neuter).

Interrogative pronouns
The interrogative pronoun "kétômô" [which] declines as a normal type III adjective.

"Fáztamô" [how many] also declines as a normal type III adjective.

"Kénôm" [whose] declines just as a normal noun and agrees in number and gender with the object to which it refers (by adding "á" for feminine and "û" for neuter).

Relative pronouns
Relative pronouns express relations between the main and dependent clauses of compound sentences.

There are three main relative pronouns in Kihā́mmic "zémû" [that], "kétômô" [which, who, that] and "kénôm" [whose]. "Zémû" is indeclinable but "kétômô" and "kénôm". Examples of the pronouns uses are given below.


 * "She said that she had forgiven him": "Gāná zakrazā́ zémû šôná ayanažā́"
 * "They said that she had forgiven him": "Kānamá zakrazā́m zémû gāná šôná ayanažā́"
 * "Give me the book that is on the table": "Eká stagaþố lû́ ázpī kétômû yón əbráke súi"
 * "Where is the book that we talked about yesterday?": "Umná súi lû́ ázpī krā́g kétômū haiốn əkámô trakázm?"
 * "Those are the men who I saw yesterday": "Etámôvan sóim lámô halámô kétṓmā haiốn ékô bedáž"
 * "He is the man whose wife worked with me": "Dán sói lố hálô kenômá kotá ékû təžazā́"

Note that after "zémû" if the subject of the verb remains the same, the personal pronoun is dropped. "Kétômô" agrees with the object to which it refers in gender and number but not in case as it can be used in conjunction with prepositions.

Demonstrative pronouns
The demonstrative pronoun "étômô" [this] declines as normal type III adjective.

"Étôvan" [that] declines as a normal type II adjective.

"Étnômô" [such, suchlike, such as] declines as a normal type I adjective.

All these pronouns agrees in number, gender and case with the noun(s) to which they refer.

Verbs
Verbs are conjugated according to tense, number, gender and mood. There are three moods; indicative, conditional and imperative, unlike English or French there is no subjunctive mood.

Indicative mood
Kihā́mmic verbs have six tenses in the indicative mood:
 * 1) Present (simple)
 * 2) Past imperfect
 * 3) Past perfect
 * 4) Pluperfect
 * 5) Future imperfect
 * 6) Future perfect

The present indicative is used much as the present tense is in French or Spanish (and also as in English, see also continuous).

The past imperfect describes an action that occurred in the past and that may also still be going on. The past perfect describes an action in the past that has finished or was a momentary action, such as an explosion. The pluperfect is similar to the perfect but is used to convey actions that are more remote to the present than does the past perfect, it is often used in sequences of tenses.

The future imperfect is used to describe an action that will occur in the future but gives no clue as to whether this action will be completed. The future perfect describes an action that will be completed in the future, this also includes momentary actions.

Conditional mood
In the conditional mood Kihā́mmic verbs only have two tenses: present and past. The present conditional is used corresponds to the English use of "would" and the conditional past describes actions that would have happened in the past. It is also used in sequences of tense with the pluperfect.

Imperative mood
The imperative mood is used for commands, as is the imperative in English. It also fulfils a cohortative role, i.e. "Let's...".

First conjugation, -áþ
First conjugation verbs have the ending -áþ in the infinitive. For example garanáþ [to play] is conjugated as follows:

Second conjugation, -ū́t
Second conjugation verbs have the ending -ū́t in the infinitive. For example kasū́t [to drink] is conjugated as follows:

Third conjugation, -óš
Third conjugation verbs have the ending -óš in the infinitive. For example fûrnóš [to stand (up)] is conjugated as follows:

Voices
There are three voices in Kihā́mmic, the active, the dynamic passive and the static passive.

Active voice
The active voice is unmarked in Kihā́mmic.

Dynamic passive voice
Kihā́mmic has two passive voices, the first of which is the dynamic passive. It is formed by placing the particle pṓl before the appropriate verb. For example:

"I burn": Ékô rātố

"I am burnt": Ékô pṓl rātố

"I have burnt": Ékô arātáž

"I have been burnt": Ékô pṓl arātáž

"I will burn": Ékô fûrnót

"I will be burnt": Ékô pṓl fûrnót

The dynamic passive is used in phrases such as "I am burnt every time I go in the sun", more commonly expressed in modern English as "I get burnt every time I go in the sun".

Static passive voice
The second passive is the static passive. It is constructed just as the passive voice in English and French – by using the appropriate tense of "to be" followed by the past participle of the verb that is to be in the passive. E.g.:

"I am burnt": Ékô sói rātážamô

"I have been burnt": Ékô atáz rātážamô

"I will be burnt": Ékô tróp rātážamô

Continuous
Although Kihā́mmic has no aspects per se, there is a continuous particle that indicates that the verb has a continuous "aspect". The particle "aklá" is placed before the verb, for example:

"I play": Ékô garanói

"I am playing": Ékô aklá garanói

"I have played": Ékô agaranáz

"I have been playing": Ékô aklá agaranáz

"I will play": Ékô garantóp

"I will be playing": Ékô aklá garantóp

This continuous particle is normally reserved for more formal usage, such as novels.

Gnomic
The gnomic form of a verb conveys a generic sort of aspect (e.g. "birds fly", "to err is human") is made by simply removing the infinitive ending. When the stressed infinitive ending is removed the stress moves to the final syllable. Thus "yanóš" [to forgive] becomes "yán"; e.g. "Yán, súi dā́žamû" - "To forgive is divine". The gnomic form is invariable.

Reflexives
Reflexive verbs are produced the same way as reflexive pronouns, i.e. the suffix -ná is added to the end of a conjugated verb in the singular pronouns and -nám in the plural. After certain consonant clusters -əná and -ənám are added.

Polarity
Verbs are negated by bán [not] accompanying the verb, normally proceeding it in order to avoid confusion with the conditional mood. For example, "ékô lóbō bán kasū́t vī́nā'' [I don't like to drink wine].

Verbs may be strongly affirmed in the same way, but using kī́ [yes] instead. For example, "ôyán Kû́bé ékô vṓz kī́" [I did indeed go to Cuba].

Irregular verbs
There are only eleven irregular verbs in Kihā́mmic, they are:
 * 1) /sád/: to be
 * 2) /ímat/: to have
 * 3) /venád/: to go
 * 4) /libád/: to like
 * 5) /hotád/: to want
 * 6) /mégač/: to be able
 * 7) /snarát/: to know [something]
 * 8) /námač/: to have to [moral obligation]
 * 9) /koslát/: to need [urgent need]
 * 10) /akáfad/: to kill
 * 11) /šônát/: to run

Adverbs
Adverbs are formed by replacing the adjective in question's ending with a corresponding adverbial ending.


 * Type I adjectives have the standard singular masculine ending -nômô. This ending is replaced by the adverbial ending -nō.
 * Type II adjectives have the standard singular masculine ending -ôvan. This is replaced by -ôvā.
 * Type III adjectives have the standard singular masculine ending -amô or -ômô (but not -nômô). These are replaced by -ā and -ō respectively.
 * Type IV adjectives have the standard singular masculine ending -atī́zô, which is replaced by –átzō.
 * Type V adjectives have the standard singular masculine ending -ónsô, which is replaced by –ónō.

Word order
Kihā́mmic has the basic word order object-subject-verb or subject-verb-object in transitive clauses, but has a freer word order in intransitive clauses. However, word order can also be rather varied in transitive clauses. For example, the intransitive phrase "ôyû́n lố ránômô hótô ékô džố" [I went into the big building] is shown in its default word order (OSV, i.e. [into the big building I went]. This sentence can also be arranged in twelve different ways, whilst still remaining grammatically correct:


 * 1) Ôyû́n lố ránômô hótô ékô džố. (neutral)
 * 2) Ôyû́n lố hótô ránômô ékô džố. (focus on hótô)
 * 3) Ôyû́n lố ránômô hótô džố ékô. (focus on ékô)
 * 4) Ôyû́n lố hótô ránômô džố ékô. (focus on ékô and hótô)
 * 5) Ékô džố ôyû́n lố ránômô hótô. (focus on ékô)
 * 6) Ékô džố ôyû́n lố hótô ránômô. (focus on ékô and ránômô)
 * 7) Ékô ôyû́n lố ránômô hótô džố. (focus on ékô and džố)
 * 8) Ékô ôyû́n lố hótô ránômô džố. (focus on ékô, džố and hótô)
 * 9) Džố ékô ôyû́n lố ránômô hótô. (focus on džố)
 * 10) Džố ékô ôyû́n lố hótô ránômô. (focus on džố and hótô)
 * 11) Džố ôyû́n lố ránômô hótô ékô. (focus on džố and ékô)
 * 12) Džố ôyû́n lố hótô ránômô ékô. (focus on džố, ékô and hótô)

Though word order is variable prepositions are tied to the compliment as adjectives are tied to theirs, however adjectives may be placed before or after the corresponding nouns. Articles are also somewhat restricted; they must always precede the corresponding noun in the phrase, but, depending on the order of other words applying to the noun, may not be directly next to it. The word order varies the focus of the sentence, the primary focus being initial and secondary focus being final.

An example of the standard order of a transitive sentence is shown below:


 * "JosephNOM gave Mary'sGEN bookACC, which he'd read halfACC of at schoolPREP from MondayABL to ThursdayTERM, to StephenALL across the tableINST, which was a brownish colourCOMP."


 * "YôfánNOM stagáz Mā́rīGEN azpīáACC, kétômī šốn aiyahazbáz gûláACC yán əkghálePREP nán zûkláABL yû́nə kû́rklə TERM, ôyán ĪzvánôALL ûkrā́ əbrákûINST, kétômô táz ának dorák kófnômakCOMP."

Cardinal
Cardinal numbers are used to denote quantity, they are counting numbers. Cardinals are treated as nouns and decline as such.

N.B.:
 * After articles the noun is in the nominative case.
 * After zero the genitive plural is used.
 * The genitive singular is used between one and nine.
 * From ten onwards the genitive plural is used again.

E.g.:
 * án knát (a nation)
 * anám knatám (some nations)
 * ikhá knatámī (zero nations)
 * zún knátī (one nation)
 * nóv knátī (nine nations)
 * ezá knatámī (ten nations)
 * khû́l knatámī (a/one hundred nations)

Ordinal
Ordinal numbers expresses the relative position of an item in an ordered sequence. They are used adjectives and decline accordingly. All are type III adjectives with the exception of hundredth, which is type I.

In Kihā́mmic Latin ordinals are abbreviated by following the number with the case ending in super-script, however the pluralisation infix is ignored:
 * Nominative singular: Lố 1ô yégan (The first king)
 * Nominative plural: Lámô 1ô yeganám (The first kings)
 * Accusative singular: Lôá 1ôá yeganá
 * Genitive singular: Lī́ 1ī yéganī
 * Ablative singular: Lá 1á yeganá
 * Allative singular: Lố 1ô yéganô
 * Instrumental singular: Lû́ 1û yéganû
 * Prepositional singular: Lé 1e yégane
 * Terminative singular: Lə́ 1ə yéganə
 * Comparative singular: Lák 1ak yéganak

Adverbial
Adverbial numbers are used to show the repetition of a certain event or to expresses a countable number of times. Since they are (type III) adverbs they do not decline.

Multiplier
A multiplier number indicates the number of times something is to be multiplied. As with ordinal numbers, multiplier numbers are used adjectives and decline accordingly. They are all type II adjectives

Distributive
A distributive number is an adverb that answers "how many times each?" or "how many at a time?".

Collective
Collective numerals are used to emphasise the cohesiveness of a group, cf. English "a quartet of musicians" vs "four musicians". Collective numerals only exist for the numbers two to nine. The collective forms of five to nine are rarely used.

All collective numerals require the genitive plural.

Fractional
Fractional numbers (such as a third, a quarter and a fifth) are formed simply by preceding the numerator as a cardinal number followed by the denominator as an ordinal number in the plural. For example "two fifths" translates as "dočá preikámamô". The only exception to this rule is "half" which is "gû́l" (or the more literary "gát").

Ages
In Kihā́mmic ages are expressed by putting the appropriate pronoun in the allative case, following this by the number of years, as well as "û́tû" [year] (declined appropriately). This is preceded by "sád" [to be] conjugated according to tense and number. For example:

I am 18 years old: Ékōsúim 18 ûtámī

She was 22 years old: Gā́nô tazū́m 22 ûtámī

Months of the year
To say in a certain month the preposition "yû́n" (followed by the prepositional case) comes before the month. For example, "in January" translates as "yû́n kāžánôke".

Days of the week
To say on a particular day the preposition "yû́n" (followed by the prepositional case) comes before the day. For example, "on Monday" translates as "yû́n zû́kle".

"What date is it?"
To simply say what the date is, i.e. to answer the question "What date is it?", the appropriate ordinal number in the nominative is placed before the month in the genitive case. If desired the year is then placed afterwards, which is simply a cardinal number, also in the genitive case. A few examples are given below:

What date is it?: Tómû súi lû́ zóklû?
 * 9th December 2010: Lố nóvamô fávenôkī dočatalezī́ (Lố 9ô fávenôkī 2010)
 * 11th January 1957: Lố ezazúnamô kāžánôkī talanovkhûlpreikezazén (Lố 11ô kāžánôkī 1957)
 * 27th August 1883: Lố dočezazénamô Þélknôk talokdakhûlokdezatṓk (Lố 27ô Þélknôkī 1883)

"When?"
To say "on" a date, that is to answer the question "When?" or "On what date?", the preposition "yû́n" is followed by the desired date in the prepositional case (that is only the article and ordinal number). See the examples below:

On what date?: Yû́n tóme zókle?
 * On 9th December 2010: Yû́n lé nóvame fávenôkī dočatalezī́ (Yû́n lé 9e fávenôkī 2010)
 * On 11th January 1957: Yû́n lé ezazúname kāžánôkī talanovkhûlpreikezazén (Yû́n lé 11e kāžánôkī 1957)
 * On 27th August 1883: Yû́n lé dočezazéname Þélknôk talokdakhûlokdezatṓk (Yû́n lé 27e Þélknôkī 1883)

"What time is it?"
To give the time, answering the question "What time is it?", the number of hours is followed by "é" [and] and the number of minutes. The twenty-four hour clock is always used. The words "ôlá" [hour] and "bə́ts" [minute] following the appropriate numbers are optional. Some examples are shown below:

What time is it?: Tómû sói lố džā́z?
 * One o'clock (01:00): Zún ôlá (1ô)
 * Seven o'clock (07:00): Zén ôlī́ (7ô)
 * Ten o'clock (10:00): Ezá ôlámī (10ô)
 * Half past two (14:30): Ezakûrá ôlámī é tōkezá bətsámī (14ô30b)
 * Quarter to four (15:45): Ezapréik ôlámī é kûrezapréik bətsámī (15ô45b)
 * Twenty-three minutes to eight (19:37): Ezanóv ôlámī é tōkezazén bətsámī (19ô37b)

"Táin" [second] may also be added when desired, in this case rather than using "é" in the first instance "ī́" is used, as in all lists (this is in fact the equivalent of English using a comma in a list).

"When?"
To answer the question "When?" or "What time?" the preposition "yán" is followed by the cardinal numbers in the prepositional case. See below for examples:

What time?: Yán tóme džā́ze?
 * At ten o'clock (At 10:00): Yán ezé ôlámī (Yán 10ô)
 * At half past two (At 14:30): Yán ezakûré ôlámī é tōkezé bətsámī (Yán 14ô30b)
 * At twenty-three minutes to eight (At 19:37): Yán ezanóve ôlámī é tōkezazéne bətsámī (Yán 19ô37b)

Kihā́mmic
Due to the climate in Kihāmát, there are effectively only two seasons, the hot and wet season and the cold and dry season.

N.B.: The terms "kāžnká" and "odnká" are usually Anglicised as "Kazhenka" and "Odenka" respectively (pronounced [ˈkɑːʒəŋkə] and [ˈɒdəŋkə]).

Names
In Kihā́mmic and Panlaffic culture people's names are constructed quite differently from most other forms of naming. There are four parts to a name: two personal names and a "family" name made up of a patronymic and a matronymic.

Personal names conform to normal case requirements. Since patronymics and matronymics are all ready in the genitive case so a hyphen is added then the appropriate case ending is added. The patronymic and matronymic are joined together with a hyphen. Today there is a mixture of names that come from Old Kihā́mmic and as well as adapted newer names from Europe. When foreign names are used in Kihā́mmic the names are either translated if there is an equivalent in Kihā́mmic or simply transliterated. An example name is that of Kihāmát's current Premier:

Īzván Rátkan Yôfánī-Mā́rī

[iːzˈvan ˈɹatkan joˈfaniːˈmɑːɾiː]

This name translates as:

Īzván Rátkan, son of Yôfán, son of Mā́re

For an example of an older pre-European names such as that of the former royal families, who also had a surname, which was the name of the royal house to which they belonged. For example the last King of Kihāmát was named:

Yégan Gázāron Úktef Pátûnī-Kélþī Lanəkámī

[ˈjegan ˈgazɑːɾɒn ˈʊktɛf ˈpatuniː ˈkɛɫðiː lanəˈkamiː]

King Gázāron Úktef, son of Pátûn, son of Kelþá, House of Lánəkû

Vocabulary
Lists of vocabulary can be found below:
 * Ages and names
 * Basic phrases
 * Colours
 * Conjunctions
 * Countries
 * Date and time
 * Family
 * Idioms
 * Months and days
 * Numbers
 * Prepositions
 * Seasons and weather

Example texts

 * Aesop's Fables
 * Featured banner
 * /The Lord's Prayer/
 * Sentences
 * The Tower of Babel
 * The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Featured banner
Kihā́mmic:
 * Étômô tárak kraglošáz zúnā.
 * Šốn atáz spratážamô sád kraglošázamô sûčā́ šốnûmī batī́stûnī kālóī, kaiþástûnī é izbanûnámī méčstûnī.

Gloss:
 * This language was featured [lit: "made important"] once.
 * It has been chosen [or "voted"] to be featured because of [or "thanks to"] its level of quality [lit: "goodness"], plausibility [lit: "truthfulness"] and useful ability [lit: "ableness"].

English:
 * This language was once featured.
 * Thanks to its level of quality, plausibility and usage capabilities, it has been voted as featured.