Ulzan

Progress 59%
	Stats Nouns 75% Verbs 67% Adjectives 58% Syntax 50% Words of 1500

Ulzan ulzan razinïg // ulzanïg
Type
Agglutinative
Alignment
Nominative-Accusative
Head direction
Head-Initial
Tonal
No
Declensions
Yes
Conjugations
Yes
Genders
No
Nouns decline according to...
Case	Number
Definiteness	Gender
Verbs conjugate according to...
Voice	Mood
Person	Number
Tense	Aspect

Phonology

Consonants

	Labial	Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m ⟨m⟩	n ⟨n⟩			ŋ ⟨ng⟩
Plosive	p ⟨p⟩ b ⟨b⟩	t ⟨t⟩ d ⟨d⟩			k ⟨k⟩ g ⟨g⟩	ʔ ⟨'⟩
Fricative	f ⟨f⟩ v ⟨v⟩	s ⟨s⟩ z ⟨z⟩	ʂ ⟨sh⟩	ɕ ⟨c⟩ ʑ ⟨cz⟩	x ⟨h⟩	h ⟨h⟩
Affricate			ʈʂ ⟨ch⟩	ʨ ⟨tsh⟩ ʥ ⟨j⟩
Approximant	w ⟨w⟩	ɾ ⟨r⟩ l ⟨l⟩	ɻ ⟨ç⟩	j ⟨y⟩

1. /h/ can be palatalized, while /x/ can be labialized.

2. ⟨'⟩ between two vowels is spoken as /ʔ/, while ⟨'⟩ between two consonants makes the consonant it follows unreleased.

Vowels

	Front	Near-front	Central	Near-back	Back
Close	i ⟨i⟩				u ⟨u⟩
Near-close		ɪ ⟨i⟩
Open-mid	ɛ ⟨e⟩				ɔ ⟨o⟩
Open	a ⟨a⟩

Vowel Clusters and Modified Vowels

		a	ɛ	ɔ	ɪ/i	u
Modified Vowels	Palatalized	ʲa ⟨ä⟩	ʲɛ ⟨ë⟩	ʲɔ ⟨ö⟩	ʲɪ ⟨ï⟩	ʲu ⟨ü⟩
	Labialized	ʷa ⟨wa⟩	ʷɛ ⟨we⟩	ʷɔ ⟨wo⟩	ʷi ⟨wi⟩	--
Vowel Clusters	i -diphthong	aɪ ⟨ai⟩	ɛɪ ⟨ei⟩	ɔɪ ⟨oi⟩	--	uɪ ⟨ui⟩
	u -diphthong	au ⟨au⟩	--	ɔu ⟨ou⟩	iu ⟨iu⟩	--

Phonotactics

1. All syllables must have a nucleus and a consonant, where the consonant is either the onset or the coda.

2. The onset may have at most 3 consonants.

3. Multi-consonantal onsets must contain a fricative or an approximant.

4. Only nasal and plosive consonants may be followed by palatal glides.

5. /ŋ/ and /ɻ/ may not be part of a multi-consonantal onset.

6. Affricate onsets must be mono-consonantal.

7. A nucleus can have at most two vowels.

8. Codas may have at most 3 consonants.

9. Clusters of consonants must have the same voicing.

10. Two vowels of different syllables must be separate.

Hence, the structure of the syllable: C₁[C₂][C₃]V₁[V₂][C₄][C₅][C₆] or [C₁][C₂][C₃]V₁[V₂]C₄[C₅][C₆].

Grammar

Nouns

Personal Pronouns

	1st Person		2nd person		3rd Person
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Root	krim-	köt-	fol-	fal-	vas-	vos-
Nominative	krima	köta	fola	fala	vasä	vosä
Accusative	krimo	köto	folo	falo	vasö	vosö
Dative	krimiv	kötiv	foliv	faliv	vasiv	vosiv
Genitive	krimit	kötit	folit	falit	vasit	vosit

Reflexive Pronouns

	1st Person		2nd Person		3rd Person
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Root	kriv-	kös-	fon-	fan-	vac-	voc-
Accusative	krivo	köso	fono	fano	vacö	vocö
Dative	kriviv	kösiv	foniv	faniv	vaciv	vociv
Genitive	krivit	kösit	fonit	fanit	vacit	vocit

Relative Pronouns

Nominative	Accusative	Dative	Genitive
mira	miro	miriv	mirit

Declensions

Nouns decline to three genders and five cases.

Feminine nouns end in a single vowel, neuter nouns end in a vowel cluster, and masculine nouns end in consonants.

	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine
Nominative	-sa	-da	-a
Accusative	-so	-do	-o
Dative	-siv	-div	-iv
Genitive	-sit	-dit	-it

Pro-forms

Determiners must agree with the case of the noun they modify, and the other pro-forms must decline.

	Interrogative [What]	Proximal [This]	Distal [That]	Existential [Some]	Elective [Any]	Universal [Every]	Alternative [Another]	Negatory [No]
Determiner	zai	du	da	dol	zal	su	sal	mai
Human	zaisky	dusky	dasky	dolsky	zalsky	susky	salsky	maisky
Non-human	zaul	dul (this) dugël (these)	daul (that) dagël (those)	dolul	zalul	sugël	salul	maigël
Out of many	zaigël			dolgël			salgël
Location	zaçt	duçt	daçt	doçt	zaçt	suçt	saçt	maiçt
Time	zaëv	duëv	daëv	dolv	zalëv	suëv	salëv	maiëv
Manner	zaitung	dutung	datung	dla	zaltung	--	--	maitung
Reason	zä	da			--	--	--	maiä

Verbs

Copulas

ulzanïg has three copulas: da'in (to be), dëm'in (to become), and la'in (to be located at). 

For example: The sentence "I am here." would be krima la duçt.

Note that da' (to be) does not conjugate to the future tense.  

Structure and Conjugation

Verbs conjugate to tense, aspect, and voice. General verb structure: Root, Aspect, Tense, Misc.

The infinitive form of verb can be divided into two sections: the root and the ending. The ending is usually -'. To make the verb conjugable, remove the -' ending.

There are three ways to conjugate a verb. The conjugation of a verb will depend on the type of ending the root has.

First Conjugation: The root ends in a single vowel.

Second Conjugation: The root ends in a vowel cluster.

Third Conjugation: The root ends in a consonant.

The word "mait" follows the verb if the verb is to be negated.

		First	Second	Third
Tense	Present	(remove -in)
	Past	-is	-s	-is
	Future	-imn	-mn	-imn
Aspect	Progressive	-ina	-na	-ina
	Perfect	-ira	-ra	-ira
Misc.	Intensive	ëva-
	Inchoative	dë b'〉〈(in)
	Passive Voice	da g'-

Modal Prefixes and Suffixes

Verb Beginning / Ending		Consonant	Vowel
Modality I (Detonic)	Imperative	-ä
	Obligatory	kafa-		kaf-
	Suggestive	ösko-		ösk-
	Permissive	-imi		-shimi
Modality II (Dynamic)	Challenge	-ögom
	Ability	avi-		av-
Modality III (Epistemic)	Potential	aci-		ac-
	Assumptive	-irïv

Detonic modality allows the speaker to express a desire of what should be according to the speaker's perspective.

• The imperative forms commands that the speaker wants to be followed. Ex. to kill --> Kill!

• The obligatory form describes what must be done in a situation. Ex. to stand --> You must stand.

• The suggestive expresses what the speaker wants another person to do. Ex. to sleep --> You should sleep.

• The permissive form expresses what the speaker permits another person to do. Ex. to leave --> You may leave.

Dynamic modality lets the speaker express what the subject is capable of doing.

• The challenge form describes what the speaker is willing to do, which is usually something not normally done. Ex. I dare venture into the wilderness.
• The ability form describes what the speaker is physically or mentally able to accomplish. Ex. I can swim.

Epistemic modality expresses possibility and what could happen in a situation.

• The potential form indicates that the speaker believes a given situation is likely. Ex. You may fail your exams if you don't sleep.

• The assumptive form indicates what the speaker has assumed about a given situation. Usually, this form is used to express a belief that has recently been proven wrong. Ex. (upon seeing someone on the street) I thought he was at home. / He should be at home.

Adjectives and Adverbs

Adjectives come in predicative forms and attributive forms. 

Attributive forms of adjectives precede the nouns they modify, decline identically to the noun declensions, and must match the case of the noun they modify.  

Comparison

There are two types of comparison: the comparative and superlative. The comparative form is used to compare two objects (The apple is bigger than the pear), while the superlative is used to compare a part to a whole (This apple is the biggest fruit in the bowl).

The structure of comparisons is as follows: X comparative〉(adjective) 〈vy Y, where the comparative, the adjective, X, and Y must have matching cases, and Y is the standard for comparison. To distinguish the comparative adjective from other adjectives in the same sentence, a circumposition is used. The circumposition declines to case, but does not decline to gender. Also, only the first half of the circumposition will decline; the second half vy does not. Likewise, the superlative circumposition follows the same concept of declension. 

If Y is omitted, (Ex. My house is bigger.), then the second half vy is also omitted.

	Nominative	Accusative	Dative	Genitive
Comparative	sla〉〈vy	slo〉〈vy	sliv〉〈vy	slin〉〈vy
Superlative	last〉〈vy	lost〉〈vy	list〉〈vy	linst〉〈vy

Adverbs

Adverbs directly precede the verbs they modify.

To form an adverb, the suffix -uç is added to the attributive form of the adjective; the adjective itself does not need to decline. If the adverb is used in a comparative or a superlative, the comparative and superlative adpositions (sluç and luç) are used.

Adpositions

Adpositions indicate a spatial or temporal relation between two words; they do not decline. Adpositions can be broken into three categories: prepositions, postpositions, and circumpositions. Prepositions precede the word modified, postpositions follow the word modified, and circumpositions surround the word modified.   

Any noun modified by an adposition must be in the dative form.   

Conjunctions

Conjunctions connect two words, clauses, or sentences; they do not decline. 

Example Texts

Kaviv la ëva nes. [The sky is so close.]

Köta rointimn sla kralëva vy susky. [We will go farther than all others.]