| Jéhèvca ' | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Type | |||
| Agglutinative | |||
| Alignment | |||
| Nominative-Accusative | |||
| Head direction | |||
| Initial (SVO) | |||
| Tonal | |||
| No | |||
| Declensions | |||
| No | |||
| Conjugations | |||
| Yes | |||
| Genders | |||
| No | |||
| Nouns decline according to... | |||
| Case | Number | ||
| Definiteness | Gender | ||
| Verbs conjugate according to... | |||
| Voice | Mood | ||
| Person | Number | ||
| Tense | Aspect | ||
Classification and Dialects
Jéhèvcaé is the main native language of the human population of the moon of JeBa.
Because I am completely new at language-building, it heavily relies on known grammars (french and english). Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Writing System
The writting system uses diacritics as vowels. In words beginning with a vowel, the letter ɔ acts as a consonnant with no sound. It is also used if more than 2 vowels follow a consonnant, or in cases of compoud words.
Most of the diacritics can't be used with on consonnants using a keyboard, so the characters between brackets act as replacement.
There are 21 consonnants and 11 vowels.
The vowels are named as they sound and the consonnant are named : x-ès (b-x), x-as (y and z), šma (Δ) and zba (ɔ).
| Letter | b | c | d | ʃ (f) | g | h | ȷ | q | m | n | p | r |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sound | b | k | d | f | g | h | ʒ/ʑ | l | m | n | p | ʁ/r |
| Letter | s | t | v | w | x | ı (y) | z | Δ (š) | ɔ | ˉ(a) | ˘(à) | "(ë) |
| Sound | s | t | v | w | ks/gz | j | z | ʃ | a | ã | ə | |
| Letter | ´(é/e) | `(è) | ·(i) | ˆ(î) | ˚(o) | ̉(ö) | ˇ(u) | ͂ (û) | ||||
| Sound | e | ɛ | i | ɛ̃ | o/ɔ | ɔ̃ | y | u |
For now, there is only one diphtong hr, wich is pronounced like the sound of the first bite out of an apple.
Grammar
Nouns
Nouns decline in :
- definiteness : suffixe -a (/ø if the word ends with an a) for indefinite (a/an, un), -é/è for definite (the, le/la/les), -û for a demonstrative pronoun (this/that, ce/cet/cette/ces).
- number : the plural is indicated by the suffixe -n after the definitness mark. ex : sléti-û-n (those gifts).
- possessive : determiners are build using s+person vowel (see below)- as a prefixe to the noun. Pronouns are made of s-PV-y(+n in the plural form).
Verbs
The infinitive form ends in -ar, but the within a sentence, the root has the same meaning (if the verb is plurisyllabic).
Persons
The person is indicated by a vowel (PV) directly following the root : -a (1st sing;), -o (2nd formal), -é/è (3rd sing.), -û (1st plur.), -i (3rd plur.), -ë (2nd formal).
Tenses
There are 4 past tenses, 2 presents, and 2 futures. The add a consonnant after the PV.
- past : perfect : -s, imperfect : -z, pluperfect : -š, definite (only for the 3rd person) : -ts. ex : tš-û-z (we had been thinking).
- present : perfect : no added consonnant, imperfect : -èl- before the PV. ex : stiam-èl-o (you are talking).
- future : perfect : -m, imperfect : -èl- before the PV. ex : izl-èl-a-m (I will be reading).
To indicate something you are about to do, use -om- before the PV.
Moods
- Conditionnal : -da (/d) after the PV and tense. - Subjunctive : -la after PV and tense.
- Imperative : 2 forms : - simple : -r/w to the PV (-or/ow, -ûr/ûw, -ër/ëw). It is the only form available for monosyllabic verbs. -complex : commands a switch of the final letter of the root following this rule : a=o, b=p, c=q, d=t, é=ë, f=h, g=j, h=ø, i=u, j=c, l=p, m=n, n=r, o=ö, p=pr, r=w, s=š, t=z, u=ø, û=à, v=f, w=m, x=ø, y=à, z=zr, š=tr. The 2nd informal person use only the new root, and the 1st plur. and 2nd formal are made by adding their vowel.
ex : lépr-ë (go (formal)).
Participle
- Past : there are no compound tenses, so the past participle is only used for the passive voice, where it is self-sufficient : -t after the PV. ex : ol-a-t (I am eaten).
- Present : i root-èr makes the gerund. A qualifier ca be made using the suffixe -èrt. ex : tsévayn-èrt (alarming).
Object Pronouns
2 types : -Accusative : s+PV- as a suffixe to the verb. -Dative : š+PV-. ex : ša-sé-bluv-o-s (you gave it to me).
Negation
The negative form is build using the word la- (no) as a prefixe. Other modifiers include : lao- (not anymore), laé- (not yet), laoxa- (/laxa-)(never), sival- (always).
Irregular Verbs
Three verbs have irregular forms : - ajé (to be) : ja/ya, jo/yo, jé/yé,..... - avé (to have) : va, vo, vé, ..... - lépar (to go) : pa, po, pé, .... (this verb has a complex imperative form : lépr).
In the thrid person, those verbs can be used by adding their single-letter root to the subject. ex : sa-maa-j (my mother is), ibas-û-v (this boat has), vi-é-n-p (the men go). For ajè, only the -j root can be used as a suffixe (never the y).