Eridanian

Eridanian, [ɛɹɪdænɪjən] (Natively Rdaanssboox, [ʁdaːnsspoːx]), is an Anglic language spoken on Epsilon Eridani III in the year AD 4000, one of many languages that evolved from English. It is a synthetic language with a rich morphology of prefixes derived from English prepositions, articles, axillary verbs, modals, and other grammatical particles and constructions.

=Setting= In 2389 several hundred thousand Americans and Canadians from around the Great Lakes region fled an increasingly totalitarian Terran Federation government to a nearby Earth-like planet that was as yet unsettled, Epsilon Eridani III, about 10 light-years from Earth. When the Federation collapsed in the early 2500's the infrastructure that allowed for interstellar travel collapsed, resulting in a period later generations would call a "dark age" reminiscent of the one following the fall of Rome. The various interstellar colonies, including E. Eridani III, which came to be called Eridanus, later Rdaans, were cut off from the Solar System and on their own. The various dialects of spoken English, which were already quite different from the written language, "Classical English", began thier divergence into separate languages.

=Phonology=

Consonants
Fortis Plosives: /pʰ tʰ kʰ qʰ/ p t k q

Lenis Plosives: /p t k q ʔ/ b d g q '

Nasals: /m n ɲ ŋ/ m n ny ng

Affricates: /ʧʰ ʧ/ c j

Unvoiced Fricative: /f s ɕ ʃ x h/ f s sy sh x h

Voiced Fricatives: /v z ʑ ʒ ʁ/ v z zy zh r

Liquids: /ɫ ɬ r/ l lh rr

Semivowels: /j w/ y w

Vowels
Front: /e e: i i:/ e ee i ii

Mid: /a: ɐ/ aa a

Back: /o o: u u:/ o oo u uu

Short Diphthongs: /ai au ei eu oi ou iu/ ai au ei eu oi ou iu

Long Diphthongs: /a:j e:w i:w o:w/ aaw eew iiw oow

Allophony
/k/ weakens to a voiced velar fricative ɣ between vowels.

/d ʔ/ are realized as a alveolar flap ɾ between vowels.

/ɫ ʁ m n ɲ ŋ/ have syllabic allophones

/a: ɐ e e: i i:/ are [ɑ: ʌ ɘ ɘ: ɯ ɯ:] when adjacent to /q qʰ ʁ/

Phonotactics
Syllable structure is (C)(C)(C)V(C)(C)(d/s)

Stress and Prosody
Eridanian is a stress-timed language with primary stress located on the first syllable of the root. It also has a pitch accent derived from the elision of consonants. Some roots and morphemes are only distinguished by having a rising, falling, or level pitch.

=Basic Grammar=

Plural
"-as" after siblants &amp; affricates, "-s" elsewhere.

Articles
Definite


 * "j-" before vowels


 * "da-" before consonants

Indefinite


 * "a-"before consonants


 * "n-" before vowels


 * "som-/sm-" when plural -- sombwes/smornjas

Adjectival Affixes
Adjectival Affixes are derived from common English adjectives.

"-liu-" ("Little")

"-bix-" ("big")

"-xiizh-" ("huge")

Case Affixes
Impersonal Ergative: boo-

Impersonal Absolutive: no affix

Personal Nominative: no affix

Personal Accusative: ta-

Genitive: ov-

Dative: eto-

Benefactive: foo-

Prepositions
en = in

e' = at

aan = on

aaf = off

fraa = from

vit = with

irrou = into

aarrou = onto

ooda = out of

aafa =off of

deen = than

ndiu = until

of = up

doon = down

baan = upon

taud = toward

viden = within

vidoo' = without

nyudo = by/near to

Personal Pronouns
The Personal Pronouns inflect for case somewhat irregularly

Nominative-Absolutive
1stS: ou

2ndS: jii

3rdSA: xei

3rdSI: i'

1stP: vei

2ndP: jau

3rdP: deu

Accusative
1stS: mou

2ndS: jii

3rdSA: xem

3rdSI: i'

1stP: os

2ndP: jau

3rdP: dem

Ergative
1stS: bou

2ndS: bii

3rdSA: bom

3rdSI: boi'

1stP: boos

2ndP: bau

3rdP: bom

Genitive
1stS: vmou

2ndS: vii

3rdSA: vem

3rdSI: vi'

1stP: vos

2ndP: vyau

3rdP: vem

Dative
1stS: etmou

2ndS: eecii

3rdSA: tom

3rdSI: eto'

1stP: etwos

2ndP: ecau

3rdP: etom

Benefactive
1stS: fomou

2ndS: fii

3rdSA: fom

3rdSI: fo'

1stP: fos

2ndP: fyau

3rdP: fom

Other Pronouns
Singilar/Plural

"dis-/dees-" = Proximate Demonstrative

"de'-/daus-" = Medial Demonstrative

"dedeu-/dorreu-" = Distal Demonstrative

Verbal Morphology
Eridanian verbs are agglutinative in structure and inflect for Tense, Aspect, Mood, Voice, and for the person and number or the subject and direct object. Some affixes have various forms marking for number and person, preserving their origin as English's axillary verbs and modal particles.

Personal Endings
The number and person of both the subject and direct object are marked on the verb with affixes derived from pronouns. The 3rd Person Singular distinguishes between animate and inanimate nouns.

Active Indicative
Nomminative-Absolutive/Accusative/Ergative

1stS: ou(w)-/-mou-/-bou-

2ndS: ji(y)-/yii-/-bii-

3rdSA: xei(y)-/-am-/-bam-

3rdSI: ti-/-ti-/-boid-

1stP: vei(y)-/-os-/-bos-

2ndP: jau-/-yau-/-bau-

3rdP: dei-/-am-/-bam-

Reflexive Indicative
1stS: moosu-

2ndS: joosu-

3rdSA: xemsu-

3rdSI: itsu-

1stP: auso-

2ndP: alsu-

3rdP: deisu-

Active Subjunctive
Nomminative-Absolutive/Accusative/Ergative

1stS: shwou(w)-/-mou-/-shbou-

2ndS: shuji(y)-/-yii-/-shbii-

3rdSA: shwei(y)-/-am-/-shbom-

3rdSI: shti-/-ti-/-shboid-

1stP: shvei(y)-/-os-/-shbos-

2ndP: shujau-/-yau-/-shbau-

3rdP: shdei-/-am/-shbam-

Reflexive Subjunctive
1stS: shmoosu-

2ndS: shujoosu-

3rdSA: shwemsu-

3rdSI: shwitsu-

1stP: shwauso-

2ndP: shwalsu-

3rdP: shdeisu-

Tense and Aspect
Eridanian has 5 tenses, Present, Past, Future, Present Conditional and Past Conditional; but preserves many elements of the old Germanic Past/Non-Past system, especially in the conjugation of "to be" and the use of the affix "-on" to mark the future tense, a relic of the modern spoken English periphrastic "be + gonna" Future construction (the old "will/shall" periphrastic Future is gone with little trace).The Present conditional is derived from "can". The Past Conditional is formed from the English "was gonna" Future-in-the-Past.

Eridanian marks for Perfect and Progressive aspects and retains the odd semantics of English's Present Progressive and Simple Present in active verbs.

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Stative Present/Active Habitual


 * ou-syaaf = I stop


 * ou-bou = I buy

Active Present/Stative Progressive


 * ou-m-syaabn = I am stopping


 * ou-m-boun = I am buying

Perfect


 * ou-v-syaaf = I have stopped


 * ou-v-bou = I have bought

Perfect Progressive


 * ou-v-ve-syaabn = I have been stopping


 * ou-v-ve-boun = I have been buying

Past Aorist


 * ou-di-syaaf = I stopped


 * ou-di-bou = I bought

Past Progressive


 * ou-vo-syaabn = I was stopping


 * ou-vo-boun = I was buying

Past Perfect


 * ou-d-syaaf = I had stopped


 * ou-d-bou = I had bought

Past Perfect Progressive


 * ou-d-ve-syaabn = I had been stopping


 * ou-d-ve-boun = I had been buying

Future


 * ow-on-syaaf = I will stop


 * ow-on-bou = I will buy

Future Progressive


 * ow-on-bi-syaabn = I will be stopping


 * ow-on-bi-boun = I will be buying

Future Perfect


 * ow-on-av-syaaf = I will have stopped


 * ow-on-av-bou = I will have bought

Future Perfect Progressive


 * ow-on-av-ve-syaabn = I will have been stopping


 * ow-on-av-ve-boun = I will have been buying

Conditional


 * ou-ke-syaaf = I can stop


 * ou-ke-bou = I can buy

Conditional Progressive


 * ou-ke-bi-syaabn = I can be stopping


 * ou-ke-bi-boun = I can be buying

Conditional Perfect


 * ou-ke-v-syaaf = I can have stopped


 * ou-ke-v-bou = I can have bought

Conditional Perfect Progressive


 * ou-ke-v-ve-syaabn = I can have been stopping


 * ou-ke-v-ve-boun = I can have been buying

Past Conditional


 * ou-rro-syaaf = I could stop


 * ou-rro-bou = I could buy

Past Conditional Progressive


 * ou-rro-bi-syaabn = I could be stopping


 * ou-rro-bi-boun = I could be buying

Past Conditional Perfect


 * ou-ke-v-syaaf = I could have stopped


 * ou-ke-v-bou = I could have bought

Past Conditional Perfect Progressive


 * ou-rro-v-ve-syaabn = I could have been stopping


 * ou-rro-v-ve-boun = I could have been buying

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Progressive: ou-m-syaabn = I am stopping

Perfect: ou-v-syaaf = I have stopped

Progressive Perfect: ou-v-ve-syaabn = I have been stopping

Forms of the Progressive Affix
When with the Perfect affix it is always "-ve".

Non-Past Simple Aspect/Non-Past Subjunctive and aspectual forms/Past

1st Singlular: -m-/-bi-/-vo-

2nd Singlular: -r-/-bi-/-vo-

3rd Singlular: -s-/-bi-/-vo-

All Plural: -r-/-bi-/-vo-

Forms of the Perfect Affix
Non-Past: -v-

Past: -d-

Mood
Eridanian has 6 moods, Indicative, Subjunctive, Optative, Imperative, Obligative and Interrogative. The old Germanic Subjunctive is preserved only in the verb "to be", the result of it stubbornly refusing to disappear in American English. A new Subjunctive formed from "should" becoming attached to the subject inflections. The Interrogative Mood is the result of interrogative pronouns fusing to the verb and occur in the place of the normal subject inflections.

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Subjunctive: shwou-vo-syaabn = If I were stopping

Obligative: ou-gaa-syaaf = I must stop/I got to stop

Optative: ou-waan-syaaf = "I want to stop/I would like to stop

Interrogative (Animate): hou-s-syaabn = Who is stopping?

Interrogative (Inanimate): wa'-s-syaabn = What is stopping?

Imperative: dou-syahf! = STOP!

Voice
Eridanian has 3 morphological voices, Active, Passive, and Reflexive. The Passive Voice is derived from the English "got + Past Particple" construction. The Reflexive Voice originated from the fusion of the reflexive pronouns onto the verb.

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Passive: e-go'-shaaft = "I was stopped"

Reflexive: mousu-shaaf = "(I) stop myself"

Verbal derivation
Verbal derivational affixes are placed before the verb root.

Inchoative: -syau'-

Causative: -mea-

Continuative: -syiu-

Cessative: -ki'-

Resumptive: -kyon-

Infinitive, Gerund, and Participle forms
Infinitive: t(a)-ROOT

Gerund: ROOT-ag

Present Participle: ROOT-n

Past Participle: Identical to the Simple Past form of the verb except for a few strong verbs.

Syntax
Eridanian is nominally a SVO language, but has many VSO elements as well. Informal conversations tends more towards verb-first placement. The verb is always at the start of the sentence in polar ("Yes-No") questions, but the Subject is always first when it is the emphasized or topical point of the sentence. Adpositions are always prepositional, located at the start of the adpositional noun phrase. Adjectives follow nouns.

=Dictionary= ...

=Example text=

The Lord's Prayer
O Faarr Vos en Habn,

boNeem Vii boid haali.

BoRoow Vii boidonkom,

BoViu Vii boidonbedon,

en davoud loox en Habn.

Shujiheupos tsovoof tadadei,

shujifogivos tsens vos,

n veifogivam tadoos

de' deisen etwos.

Shujiin'leedos irrou raagdoon,

bo' shujiiseevos fraa eevu.

Kos bodarou, pawo, n qoorei

bomo au Vii, fravo n avo.

Amen.