Conlang
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Name: Qäŕ

Type: Synthetic

Alignment: Transitive

Head Direction: Initial

Number of genders: 4

Declensions: Yes

Conjugations: Yes

Nouns declined
according to
Case Number
Definitiveness Gender
Verbs conjugated
according to
Voice Mood
Person Number
Tense Aspect


Setting[]

A language of a scavenger species that evolved to sentience.

Phonology[]

Consonants[]

Bilabial Labiode. Dental Alveol. Postalve. Retrofl. Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyn. Epiglot. Glottal
Plosives t (ṭ)<br\/>tʰ (ṭh) ʈ (t)<br\/>ʈʰ (th) ɖ (d) c (g) k (k)<br\/>kh (kh) ʔ ( ' )
Affricates
Fricatives ɸ̝ (f) s (s) ʂ (z) x (c) χ (x) ħ (q) h (qh)
Lateral Fricatives ɬ ( l )
Lateral Affricates
Nasals ɳ̥ (n)
Trills r (r) ʀ (ŕ)
Flaps / taps
Glides Approxim.
Lateral Appr.
Co-art. approx.

Vowels[]

Front Center Back
High y ~ u (u)
Mid ɛ (e) ɜ (ä) ɵ (ö) ɔ (o)
Low æ ~ ɒ (a)

Phonotactics[]

Syllable Structure[]

Each syllable has a maximum structure of:

Syllable
(C) (C) (O) (V/S) (C) (C)

C - Consonant
O - Obstruent (plosives and fricatives)
S- Semivowel (trills and nasals)
V - Vowel

Vowel Allophony[]

The vowels "a" and "u" have varied pronouciation.

IPA Preceeding Phoneme
y, æ Bilabial, Alveolar, Palatal, Front Vowel
ɯ, a Retroflex, Velar, Cent. Vowel, Nothing
u, ɒ Uvular, Pharyngeal, Glottal, Back Vowel

Ablaut[]

Qäŕ employs a system of grammatical horizontal ablaut.

Progression of Ablaut
ɛ => ɜ => ɵ => ɔ => ɵ...

Certain grammatical features use ablaut as a marker and instead of phonemes, a -stepx suffix is added, where "x" is the amount of ablaut steps. Note that the progression of ablaut is simmilar to a sine curve, going back and forth, so -step1 is equal -step6

Basic Grammar[]

Standard Verbs[]

Aspect[]

There are 8 aspects:

  • Inchoative - Start of action, inc
  • Gnomic - General truth, gnm
  • Perfective - Action viewed as a simple whole, with an obvious end, prf
  • Imperfective - Action viewed with an internal structure, impr
  • Progressive - Incomplete action in progress, prg
  • Terminative - End of action, trm
  • Experiental - Action done multiple times before, exp
  • Repetitive - Repetition of action, rep

Aspects can be combined.

Mood[]

There are 7 moods:

  • Indicative - Shows something, general mood, ind
  • Generic - Shows attribute, gen
  • Declarative - Presents the states as the truth without evidence, dcl
  • Subjunctive - Discussing hypothetical or unlikely events or the preset situation, "if... then...", sbj
  • Imperative - Expresses commands or requests, imp
  • Dubivative - Expresses doubt or uncertainty about the event, dub
  • Permissive - Indicates that the action is permitted by the speaker, subject or both, per

Moods can sometimes be combined.

Tense[]

There are 8 tenses:

  • Present - General present, prs
    • Propial - Temporally proximate, pro
  • Future - General future, fut
    • Immediate - Near future, idf
    • Remote - Far future, rmf
  • Past - General past, pst
    • Ancestral - Distant past, anc
    • Immediate - Immediate or close past, idp

Tenses cannot be combined.

Voice[]

  • Active/Direct - Generic voice, A=A S=S and O=O , dir
  • Relfexive - Voice where the A=O and/or S=O, rfl
  • Devalent - Voice where A=S and O=O, dev
  • Inverse - Voice where A=O O=A and S=S, inv
    • Inverse Devalent - Voice where O=A and A=S, invdev

The DIR is the default voice.
The RFL is made by adding a reflexive marker on the verb (and sometimes demoting it).
The DEV is the secondary counterpart to the DIR.
The INV is made by adding an inverse marker to the verb.
The INVDEV is made by adding an inverse marker to a DEV verb.

Dual Polarity[]

Where most, if not all, languages have a polar distinction between positive and negative forms, Qäŕ has a dual polarity, a distinction of Positive vs. Negative and Static vs. Dynamic.

While the positive/negative distinction may be obvious, static/dynamic isn't:

The Static form indicates default plan, while the Dynamic form indicates a deviation, a change from the original, default plan. Both Pos/Neg and Stat/Dyn are obligatorily marked.

Evidentiality[]

There are five optional evidentialities:

Evidentiality Description Gloss
Inferential Not personally experienced
but inferred from indirect evidence
inf
Witness Directly witnessed wit
Nonwitness Not directly witnessed nwt
Visual Visually experienced vis
Gustatory Experienced by taste gus

Locative Prefix[]

There are 9 rare locational prefixes:

Gloss Description
pprx Here, near
pdst There, distant
pfar Far off
punk Somewhere
pwat In water
pfrs In the forest/swamp/etc.
pnwh Nowhere
phus Inside
pevr Everywhere

Infinitive[]

There are two infinitives and they can be marked to any extent. They are:

Gloss Description
1inf Inactive form of verb
2inf Expresses a concept simmilar
to the Finnish second infinitive

Agent Marker[]

Agent markers indicate which person is the agent of the verb:

Gloss Name
1st First Person
2nd Second Person
prx Third Person Proximate
obv Third Person Obivate
gen General

These can be replaced with an incorporated word.

Number[]

There are three numbers:

Gloss Name
sg Singular
du Dual
pl Plural

Reflexive[]

There's one reflexive marker:

Gloss Name
rfl Reflexive form

Verb Structure[]

In Qäŕ, each verb is a combination of root, prefixes and suffixes. There's a relatively rigid system of a verb template in Qäŕ:

Verb Template
Position -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6
Gloss ploc ps/ng st/dn inv rfl root evid tma dev agnt num inf
Name Location Prefix Positive/Negative Static/Dynamic Inverse Reflexive Root Evidentiality Tense-Mood-Aspect Devalence Agent Number Infinitive
Obligatory? no yes yes no no yes no no no yes yes no

Affix Forms[]

Each affix has at least one form:

Gloss Form
inc -q-
gnm --
prf -c-
impr -l-
trm -x-
exp -f-
rep -h-
ind --
gen -äs-
dcl -e-
sbj -aq-
imp -es-
dub -na-
per -a-
prs --
pro -k-
fut -q-
idf -th-
rmf -da-
pst -n-
anc -s-
idp -zs-
dir --
rfl -ŕö-
dev -äz-
inv -anaa-
pos --
neg -ac-
sta --
dyn -öz-
inf -eke-
wit -närö-
nwt -cäro-
vis -ṭhöta-
gus -qax-
1st -soa-
2nd -sel-
prx -ska-
obv -neac-
gen -xuac-
sg --
pl -zu-
du -ela-
inf1 -quuk
inf2 -saar
pprx ke-
pdst sa-
pfar af-
punk sö-
pwat hu-
pfrs äq-
pnwh u'-
phus mö-
pevr ro-

Examples[]

Here's an example of a fully inflected verb versus a minimally inflected verb:

1) roacözanaatözaqaxzsefäzskaelasaar

ro-ac-öz-anaa-töza-qax-zsef-äz-ska-ela-saar

PEVR-NEG-DYN-INV-food-GUS-IDP.DCL.EXP-DEV-PRX-DUA-INF2

  • While it could be tasted as the truth that the two of them weren't just being eaten everywhere as though experienced in this by themselves...

The above translation isn't exactly correct, but the approximate translation can be considered good enough. Note the sentence's incompleteness in English which also applies to the original.

2) tözaselela

töza-sel-ela

food-2ND-DU

  • The two of you eat.

Auxilliary Verbs[]

Auxilliary verbs behave different from standard verbs. They are used to mark things left unmarked by standard verbs.

There are seven auxilliary verbs:

  1. deöq - to exist
  2. c'sä - copula
  3. uŕo -
  4. rrsn
  5. zgakh
  6. th'sa
  7. zaxo

Dictionary[]


No. English
1I
2you (singular)
3he
4we
5you (plural)
6they
7this
8that
9here
10there
11who
12what
13where
14when
15how
16not
17all
18many
19some
20few
21other
22one
23two
24three
25four
26five
27big
28long
29wide
30thick
31heavy
32small
33short
34narrow
35thin
36woman
37man (adult male)
38man (human being)
39child
40wife
41husband
42mother
43father
44animal
45fish
46bird
47dog
48louse
49snake
50worm
51tree
52forest
53stick
54fruit
55seed
56leaf
57root
58bark
59flower
60grass
61rope
62skin
63meat
64blood
65bone
66fat
67egg
68horn
69tail
70feather
71hair
72head
73ear
74eye
75nose
76mouth
77tooth
78tongue
79fingernail
80foot
81leg
82knee
83hand
84wing
85belly
86guts
87neck
88back
89breast
90heart
91liver
92drink
93eat
94bite
95suck
96spit
97vomit
98blow
99breathe
100laugh
101see
102hear
103know
104think
105smell
106fear
107sleep
108live
109die
110kill
111fight
112hunt
113hit
114cut
115split
116stab
117scratch
118dig
119swim
120fly
121walk
122come
123lie
124sit
125stand
126turn
127fall
128give
129hold
130squeeze
131rub
132wash
133wipe
134pull
135push
136throw
137tie
138sew
139count
140say
141sing
142play
143float
144flow
145freeze
146swell
147sun
148moon
149star
150water
151rain
152river
153lake
154sea
155salt
156stone
157sand
158dust
159earth
160cloud
161fog
162sky
163wind
164snow
165ice
166smoke
167fire
168ash
169burn
170road
171mountain
172red
173green
174yellow
175white
176black
177night
178day
179year
180warm
181cold
182full
183new
184old
185good
186bad
187rotten
188dirty
189straight
190round
191sharp
192dull
193smooth
194wet
195dry
196correct
197near
198far
199right
200left
201at
202in
203with
204and
205if
206because
207name


Example text[]

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