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

Noun and Adjective Morphology

Plural

"-as" after siblants & 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

Pronouns

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. The imperative marker is derived from "let's
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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: las-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

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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.