Conlang
Advertisement
Arelian
Arelex
Type Fusional
Alignment Complex Tripartite
Head direction Final
Tonal No
Declensions Yes
Conjugations Yes
Genders 4
Nouns decline according to...
Case Number
Definiteness Gender
Verbs conjugate according to...
Voice Mood
Person Number
Tense Aspect
Meta-information
Progress 0%
Statistics
Nouns 0%
Verbs 0%
Adjectives 0%
Syntax 0%
Words of 1500
Creator Cask Of Armadillo
Gender Cases Numbers Tenses Persons Moods Voices Aspects
Verb No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
Nouns No Yes Yes No No No No No
Adjectives No No Yes No No No No No
Numbers No Yes No No No No No No
Participles No No No No No No Yes No
Adverb No No No No No No No No
Pronouns Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No
Adpositions No No Yes No No No No No
Article No No No No No No No No
Particle No No No No No No No No



Classification and Dialects[]

Arelian (Arelex) is an a priori, tripartite, engineerined language with fluid parts of speech; only one morpheme in a word determines part of speech, and words can be freely converted between nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, participles, and even pronouns.  Prepositions play a large role in the language, and are the only indicator of grammatical case, aside from context.

Phonology[]

Consonants[]

Bilabial Labio-dental Alveolar Post-alveolar Palatal Velar
n ŋ
Plosive p t d k
Fricative ɸ v s z ʃ ç x
Affricate t͡s t͡ʃ
Approximant ʍ ɰ
Trill r
Flap or tap ɾ̃
Lateral app. l

Vowels[]

Front Near-front Back
Close i u
Near-close ɪ
Close-mid e
Open-mid ɛ
Open æ ɑ

In addition to these vowels, there are two diphthongs -- /ai/ and /ʌu/

Phonotactics[]

Writing System[]

Two pronunciations simply indicates allophony to conform to surrounding sounds.  The only diacritic used is ā ē ī ō ū which indicates a long, stressed vowel.

Letter / Digraph Pronunciation Name
A a ɑ æ A
C c t͡s Ic
Cj cj t͡ʃ Icj
D d d De
E e e ɛ E
F f ɸ If
G g ɰ Ega
I i i ɪ I
J j slt. palatalize Ai
K k k Ko
Kj kj Kjo
L l l El
N n n ŋ ɾ̃ (after k) En
O o ʌu O
P p p Po
Q q ʍ Qo
R r r Er
S s ʃ Is
T t t To
U u u U
V v v Vo
X x x Ex
Xj xj ç Ixj
Y y j Yo
Z z s z Iksi

Grammar[]

Nouns[]

Nouns in Arelian decline to case and number, as shown below.  There are only two declension classes of nouns, which are not analogous at all.  There are also few irregular ones.

Class I (-ex)[]

Class one nouns are the ones that exist already as nouns.

Alcjex - dolphin Singular Plural
Obl. Alcjex Alcje
Prep. Alcjēx Alcjē

Class II (-ic)[]

Class two nouns are the ones that originally existed as other parts of speech but were then formed as nouns.  

Sedic - building Singular Plural
Obl. Sedic Sedicj
Prep. Sedice Sedicje

Irregular Nouns[]

The following is a list of irregular nouns and their forms, listed in the following order: OBL singular, OBL plural, PREP singular, PREP plural

  • Lektiz - thing
    • Lektiz
    • Lektici
    • Lektice
    • Lekticje


Verbs[]

There is only one verb conjugation class, with a few irregulars (all common intransitive verbs). In addition to tense and mood, verbs conjugate to the following subjects

  • First person singular
  • First person dual inclusive (you and I)
  • First person plural
  • Second person
  • Third person singular
  • Third person plural

What Do I Conjugate To?[]

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the Arelian language is that it doesn't exhibit a tendency to any specific morphosyntactic alignment.  Instead, one argument to a verb (can be the subject, direct object, or indirect object...doesn't really matter) retains the oblique case, while the other arguments take the prepositional and the preposition that preceedes them determines their role in the sentence. 

When conjugating the main verb of a clause, the verb inflects to the argument in the absolute case, which, as previously mentioned, can be anything.  Therefore, it's important to watch for which noun / pronoun is in the oblique and which are in the prepositional, as it can completely change the direction of the sentence.

Frequently (and this is just by convention rather than a rule of the language), the agent of a transitive verb and the subject of an intransitive verb take the absolute, similarly to nominative-accusative languages.

Infinitive Mood[]

The most basic of any verb form, the infinitives of verbs in Arelian end in either -at or -ov.  Unlike other parts of speech, the -at and -ov endings don't have anything to do with whether or not the verb was derived from another part of speech, and in all other moods the verb forms are identical.

Realis Mood[]

The realis mood is quite broad, and actually includes a few irrealis moods (oops).  It corresponds to the English indicative, subjunctive, and conditional, with the conditional functioning more as a tense in Arelian (since it also exists in the imperative mood).  The present/future subjunctive is conjugated as the Future, and the past subjunctive is conjugated as the Conditional.  In the Realis, 1pi is conjugated as 1p

Faranov - To Eat Past Present Future Conditional
1s / 3s Faraned Faranez Faranirēz Faranekj
1di Faranaīd Faranaīz Faranaīg Faranaīxj
2 Faranu Faranuz Faranug Faranukj
1p / 3p Faranod Faranoz Faranirōz Faranoxj

Imperative Mood[]

There are only two tenses in the imperative mood, and they both conjugate only in the 1di and 2 forms.  In this mood, 1pi is conjugated as 1di (you and I).

Sperat - To Talk Future Conditional
1di Speren Sperev
2 Speraīn Speraīv



Adjectives[]

Arelian adjectives have three inflection classes.  Class A consists of original adjectives and adverbs, Class B consists of adjectives formed from Class I nouns, and Class C consists of adjectives formed from verbs and/or Class II nouns.

Class A[]

Vaigi - good Singular Plural
OBL / PREP Vaigi Vaigī

Class B[]

Xjonarazex - Electricity

Xjonarazel - Electric

Xjonarazel - Electric Singular Plural
OBL / PREP Xjonarazel Xjonarazēl

Class C[]

Knazat - to see

Knazic - vision

Knazal - visual

Knazal - visual Singular Plural
OBL / PREP Knazal Knasil

Pronouns[]

Pronouns in Arelian are quite simple, since they don't have case other than ABS and PREP.  However, there's a [almost] full table of correlatives.  This table is far more complete than English, but significantly more empty than Esperanto.   The following is a list of personal/object pronouns (keep in mind that there's no distinction).

ABS PREP
1s Qeyn Ey
1di Qain Ai
1p Qivin Ivi
2s Qadon Ado
2p Qadōn Adō
3sm Qizin Izi
3sf Qisin Isi
3p Qiskin Iksi

The table of correlatives is located here, nice and color coded. Arelian Correlatives

Adverbs[]

Adverbs in Arelian are quite simple and are created simply by using the -o ending on the base form of the word.  There are no classes to worry about.


Prepositions[]

Prepositions play more of a role in the grammar of Arelian than they do in most other languages, and simple prepositions can be used to convey relatively complex evidentiality clauses, among other things.  The following is a list of prepositions used in the language along with some of the most common prepositional phrases (in bold). Sometimes, prepositional phrases can imply a verb and form a whole sentence where there isn't one.

  • Case
    • Al - Ergative
    • Et - Accusative
    • Zan - Absolutive
    • Rod - Genitive / Posessive / "by"
    • Lan - Dative
    • Cit - Instrumental
    • Rel - Locative
  • Evidentiality
    • Krol ___
      • Krol Zerelicj - Sensory ["As is felt"]
        • Krol gli zerelicj - "As was felt"
        • Krol plari zerelicj - "As will be felt"
      • Krol Knazicj - Visual Sensory / Witness ["As is seen"]
        • Krol gli knazicj - "As was seen"
        • Krol plari knazicj - "As will be seen"
      • Krol Pliforicj - Inferential / Assumed ["As is assumed"]
        • Krol gli pliforicj - "As was assumed"
        • Krol plari pliforicj - "As will be assumed"
      • Krol Spericj - Heresay (verbal) ["As is said"]
        • Krol gli spericj - "As was said"
        • Krol plari spericj - "As will be said"
      • Krol Kjolericj - Heresay (written) ["As is written"]
        • Krol gli kjolericj - "As was written"
        • Krol plari kjolericj - "As will be written"
  • Mirativity
    • Klon ___
      • Klon vaigicj - "Expectedly"
        • ​For instance, Ovorirōz, klon vaigicj, rod Isi "It will happen as she expects it to."
      • Klon dek vaigicj - "Unexpectedly"
        • For instance, Ni Inqusite, klon gli dek vaigicj, rod Ey "I didn't expect The Spanish Inquisition." (though there are simpler, shorter ways to say this)
  • Volition
    • Flad ___
      • Flad vaigicj - "Intentionally"
        • ​For instance, Ovorod, flad gli vaigicj, rod Isi "It happened, like she had intended"
      • Flad dek vaigicj - "Intentionally"
  • ​Comparison
    • Cjid - More than
    • Kjid - Less than
    • Vrid - The Same As


Syntax[]

Conversion[]

Each word, regardless of part of speech, contains a base form with the part of speech ending specific to it.  The following are all the endings for every part of speech.

  • Nouns
    • ex
    • ēx
    • e
    • ē
    • ic
    • ice
    • icj
    • icje
  • Verbs
    • Infinitive
      • at
      • ov
    • Realis
      • Past
        • aīd
      • Present
        • as
        • ais
        • us
        • ez
        • oz
      • Future
        • irag
        • iraīg
        • irug
        • irez
        • iroz
      • Conditional
        • axj
        • aixj
        • uxj
        • exj
        • oxj
    • Imperative
      • Future
        • en
        • aīn
        • ev
        • aīv
  • Adjectives
    • i
    • ī
    • el
    • ēl
    • al
    • il
  • Adverbs
    • o


Alignment and Case[]

Arelian uses a tripartite alignment where ergative, accusative, and absolutive cases are marked with prepositions. In any given clause, one noun will be unmarked while the rest are.  Therefore, the absolutive is rarely marked because it's often the only argument in a phrase.  However, since the unmarked noun can be of any case, there are exceptions.  For instance, in the sentence "I ran to him", one could mark "I" for the absolutive while leaving "him" unmarked.


Negation[]

Arelian's system of negation involves three different negation particles, representing two different functions:

  • Dek - INVERTS a noun, adjective, or adverb.
  • Qaz - NEGATES a verb.
  • Dekzi - INVERTS a verb.

Inversion simply reverses the meaning.  Therefore, "good" becomes "bad", "to like" becomes "to dislike", etc.

Negation, on the other hand, simply expresses that something is not the case.

For instance, INVERTING the sentence "I like her" yields "I dislike her", while NEGATING the sentence gives "I don't like her [but I don't necessarily dislike her]"

Lexicon[]

Example text[]

Advertisement