Missa

=Introduction=

Missa is a constructed language that took approximately a year to develop. It is highly agglutinative and, throughout its development, has developed a class-based diglossia; the lower-class version is presented here. The page on this site is highly based on the Wikipedia artcle for Turkish grammar.

Suffixes
A suffix (é) is attached to a stem (ot). This stem may be a root (ot), or it may be further analyzable (e.g., otta(i)-). Missa suffixes, as Turkish suffixes, fall into two main types:


 * constructive suffixes (mónde trel'ěnteza) which are not noun cases or verbal inflections, and
 * inflexional suffixes (pelm trel'ěnteza), which (naturally) are.

Alphabet

 * a b c d e é ě g i j k l m n ń o ó p r s š t u v y z '

These are as in the IPA, with the following exceptions:


 * Consonant Differences : [c] represents /ts/; [ń] is a velar nesal; [š] is a devoiced postalveolar fricative; [-u-] is a labial approximant (or similar); ['] represents palatalization or /j/ after a consonant (e.g. [trel'] ~ [trelj].)
 * Vowel Differences: [e] is /ɛ/, [o] is /ɔ/ (with their accented forms being /e o/, respectively), and [ě]/[y] being representative of schwa.

The differentiation in Missa being orthographic [ě] and [y] is that [y] is used in pure roots; while [ě] is used for the schwa that developed from the developmental simplification of such initial consonant clusters as [tm].

Gender

 * While Missa does not have gender for common nouns, gender is distinguished in 3rd person pronouns (as in English). However, Missa has highly productive suffixes to mark specific genders, being -el (feminine) and -ék (masculine). The genderized epicine pronoun contrasts as an obviate to the (inherently privative) normally gendered third person gendered pronouns, ak (m.) and aš (f.)

Person

 * (Missa has 3 persons (1st, 2nd, and 3rd), and as stated above, the 4th person in some clauses is represented by suffixing a gender-marking suffix to the epicine 3rd person pronoun.

Parts of speech

 * Missa has 8 parts of speech (drepsa gellikvo "parts of talking"):
 * 1) noun (móm "noun");
 * 2) pronoun(móm milvo "noun of person");
 * 3) adjective (mómzavo gapsl'on"Thing that talks about (nouns)");
 * 4) verb (oton "action");
 * 5) adverb ((otonsa) gapsl'on "Thing that talks about (actions))";
 * 6) conjunction (ukliginon "Thing that makes others come together");
 * 7) Grammatical particle (umsepl'on "The (inherently) known");
 * 8) interjection (dóš "Shout" ).


 * Missa does not inflect its adjectives or adverbs; and the majority of these are themselves derived from nouns or verbs, respectively.


 * Because Missa does not use the present tense of the verb "to be", the word de "it" followed by a noun can make a complete sentence:
 * 1) ket "dog";
 * 2) de ket "It's a dog."


 * However, in dictionaries, Missa gives two "cases" of its nouns, Nominative and Vocative; as it is the vocative that shows the true root a noun:
 * 1) štlum "porch, patio";
 * 2) štlubu "Porch! Patio!"


 * Dictionaries give verbs in their simple root form (as the 'infinitive' is highly archaic in all variants of Missa), however, some may give the verb in "root, I (root)" form:
 * 1) mel "(to) run";
 * 2) mel, melé "(to) run; I run".


 * As explained above, adjectives and adverbs are often formed from similar nouns and verbs, respectively:


 * Adjectives are commonly formed from nouns by suffixing a former participial suffix, which with time has worn to become a simple adjective suffix for both nouns and verbs:
 * 1) cel "Rust";
 * 2) celle "rust-colored, rusty."


 * Adverbs, however, are usually only formed from verbs or adjectives with the suffix -pte:
 * 1) tyk "Good";
 * 2) tykpte "well".


 * Other common suffixes include -on, which creates a simple noun from a verb (or even adjective on occasion):
 * 1) ńek "young";
 * 2) ńekon "something or someone who/that is young".


 * Missa quite often in adjectival constructions has the root adjective take the suffix -vo, which follows the noun it modifies; however, an adjective derived via -le does not take -vo and comes before the noun :
 * 1) Dek "cat" and til "red", dek tilvo "red cat" (literally cat of red); but
 * 2) Rénsle dek "smiling cat" (without -vo and preceding.)


 * The suffix that makes an adjective or adverb (or rarely verbal transitive meaning) emphatic is -ke:
 * 1) malk "Green";
 * 2) malkke "very green".

Nouns
Nouns do not have inherent gender(see above, however, for genderizing suffixes), two numbers (single, plural) with the ability to suffix 2-9 for dual-nonal, and many different case suffixes (Nominative, Vocative, Genitive, Dative, Allative, Ablative, Comitative/Instrumental, etc.)

Plurality
Missa nouns have two 'normal' numbers: singular (no marking) and plural (The suffix -za). However, many nouns can take the number two through nine as a direct suffix, meaning "of a group of (NUMBER) (NOUN)", e.g. zón-di "eight mice". A noun suffixed with a number to denote a group of that amount does not take a plural suffix -za.

Numbers

 * I was asked to provide a numerical system for Missa, and thus, here it is. Missa's numerical system is relatively similar to that of Chinese: it is a base ten system which constructs numbers rather efficiently, without requiring agreement with nouns in case, number, or gender:
 * 1) ot "two" ; ontit "twenty (two-ten)" ; ottelntek "two-hundred (two-hundred)"; ottelntehontidot rolmilellesa "two hundred and twenty two princesses".
 * Note that numbers, like most nouns, tend to have different stems (but this is not always the case.)


 * The numbers 0 - 10 are as follows in Missa:


 * 1) ulas, stem ulas- "zero"
 * 2) mej, stem mej- "one"
 * ot, stem od- "two"
 * 1) all, stem ald- "three"
 * 2) lum, stem luv- "four"
 * 3) pem, stem pev- "five"
 * 4) skes, stem skez- "six"
 * 5) empes, stem empez- "seven"
 * di, stem di(j)- "eight"
 * 1) mém, stem mém- "nine"
 * 2) mit, stem mid- "ten"


 * The numbers 10 - 100, by tens, are as follows in Missa:


 * 1) mit, stem mid- "ten"
 * 2) ontit, stem ontid- "twenty"
 * 3) alndit, stem alndid- "thirty"
 * 4) luvvit, stem luvvid- "fourty"
 * 5) pevvit, stem pevvid- "fifty"
 * 6) skensit, stem skensid- "sixty"
 * 7) empensit, stem empensid- "seventy"
 * 8) dimit, stem dimid- "eighty"
 * 9) mémmit, stem mémmid- "ninety"
 * 10) telntek, stem telnte(h)- "one hundred"