Lugnian Language

Grammar

Phonology

Phonemes

There are a total of 25 consonant phonemes in Lugnian:

Consonant phonemes of Lugnian

Labial Alveolar Alveolo-

palatal Palatal Velar Labio-

velar Pharyngeal Nasal m n ɲ ( ŋ ) Plosive voiceless p t t͡ɕ k kʷ voiced b d d͡ʑ ɡ ɡʷ ejective p’ t’ t͡ɕ’ k’ Fricative voiceless f s ħ ~ h voiced v ~ ʋ z ɣ ʕ Sonorant plain j r ~ ʐ ~ ʁ ~ l

labialised ɥ w

*Actual phoneme varies between /r ~ ʐ ~ ʁ ~ l/, depending on the background of the speaker.

Consonants inside parentheses are allophones. See below for more in-detail descriptions of allophonic variation.

/s z/ is [ɕ ʑ] before /j ɪ iː i˥/, [ʃ t͡s] before or after a voiceless obstruent, and [t͡s d͡z] before /i˥ y˥ u˥ e˥ o˥ a˥/.

/p t t͡ɕ k kʷ/ is [pʰ tʰ t͡ɕʰ kʰ kʷʰ] in the onset of stressed syllables.

kʷ/ is [pʰ tʰ t͡ɕʰ kʰ kʷʰ] in the onset of stressed syllables. /ħ/ is [ç] before /j ɪ iː i˥/, [x] when not followed by a vowel, [h] before the vowels /ä ɔ oː o˥ ɛ̃ ɑ̃ ɑ̃ː ɑ̃˥ ɔ̃ː/, and [ʍ] before the vowels /ʊ uː u˥/.

/ɡ/ is [ŋ] before a nasal.

/f v/ is [ɸ β] before /ʊ uː u˥ ɔ oː o˥ ʏ yː y˥ øː ɔ̃ː/, which becomes [ɯ̽ᵝ ɯᵝː ɯᵝ˥ ʌᵝ ɤᵝː ɤᵝ˥ ɪᵝ iᵝː iᵝ˥ eᵝː ʌ̃ᵝː]. /v/ is [ʋ] intervocalically.

/r ~ ʐ ~ ʁ ~ l/ is [l] after /u/, /i/, and /y/, [r ~ ɹ ~ χ ~ l] before or after a voiceless obstruent, [ɾ ~ ɽ ~ ɾ ~ ɺ] intervocalically, and [r ~ ʁ ~ ʀ ~ ɫ] before or after a velar or pharyngeal consonant.

/ʕ/ is [ʔ] intervocalically and before /ä/, [ʝ] before the vowels /ɪ iː i˥/, and [ʁ] when not followed by a vowel.

Vowel phonemes of Lugnian

Front Central Back Close Oral ɪ iː iː˥

ʏ yː yː˥ ʊ uː uː˥ Mid ɛ eː eː˥

øː ə ɔ oː oː˥ Open (æ) a aː aː˥ Nasal ɛ̃ ɑ̃ ɑ̃ː ɔ̃ː Diphthongs i̯o au̯ oi̯ ai̯

Vowels inside parentheses are allophones. See below for more in-detail descriptions of allophonic variation.

/ə/ is [æ] in more formal registers and in sylables whose coda contains an obstruent.

/aː a˥/ is [ɒː ɒ˥] adjacent to labial consonants, and [ɑː ɑ˥] adjacent to /ħ/ and /ʕ/.

/˥/ is [˩˥] after another syllable with high tone.

Phonotactics

The basic syllable structure of Lugnian is C[C]V[C][C]. As such, null onset is not permitted in Lugnian. In loanwords, a sonorant that is homorganic with the vowel is added to prevent this problem. The following consonant clusters are permitted in Lugnian:

mm mn mp mt mk mb md mp’ mt’ mc mk’ mf mv mr mz mw mẅ nm nn np nt nk nb nd np’ nt’ nc nk’ ns nv nr nz mw mẅ pm pp pt pb pp’ pt’ pf ps pr py pw pẅ tm tn tt td tt’ ts tz tr tw tẅ km kn kt kk kd kt’ kk’ kf ks kr ky bm bn bp bk bb bd bz bv br by bw bẅ dm dn dt dk dd dz dv dr dw dẅ gm gn gk gb gd gz gv gr gy k’m k'n k’t k’d k’s k'f fm fn fp ft fk fp’ ft’ fk’ ff fr fy fw fẅ sm sn sp st sk sp’ st’ sk’ sf sr shy sw sẅ hm hn hp ht hk hb hd hp’ ht’ hc hk’ hf hv hr hy hw hẅ vm vn vt vb vd vz vv vr vy zm zn zp zt zk zb zd zf zr zhy zw zẅ

In addition, any consonant clusters containing /ʕ/ are allowed.

Morphology

Ablaut

Virtually all of the different word classes, save for particles and adverbs, use this pattern for many or all of its vowels, depending on the type of vowel required by the root and the form of the word.

Plain Vowel Long Vowel High Vowel Diphthong1 i-grade i ī í io ü-grade ü ǖ ǘ ö u-grade u ū ú au e-grade e ē é ä o-grade o ō ó oi a-grade a ā á ai ą-grade ą ą̄ ę ǫ



1note that many forms are not actually true diphthongs

Verbs

Verbs are conjugated for mood, person, number (to a limited extent), gender, tense, and aspect.

The verbs take the following endings based on gender, person, number, and mood:

first person second person third person singular plural (not inflected for number) indicative masculine -us -is -if -ut feminine -os -es -ef -ot androgynous -üs -ąs -ąf -üt neuter -as -af -ät subjunctive masculine -um -im -in -ui feminine -om -em -en -oh androgynous -üm -ąm -ąn -üi neuter -am -an -äh jussive masculine -ul -il -ul feminine -or -er -or androgynous -ül -ąr -ül neuter -ar -är conditional masculine -ut -it -id -uz feminine -ot -et -ed -oz androgynous -üt -ąt -ąd -üz neuter -at -ad -äz optative masculine -uz -iz -it -us feminine -oz -ez -et -os androgynous -üz -ąz -ąt -üs neuter -az -at -äs tentative masculine -uf -if -ik -ug feminine -of -ef -ek -og androgynous -üf -ąf -ąk -üg neuter -af -ak -äg

Note that the vowels in these endings, with the exception of ä, indicate which grade of vowel is to be used, and not the precise vowel.

Verbs also take a suffix that expresses tense and number:

Singular Dual Plural Present Tense ∅ -ait -am Past Tense -o -oi -om Future Tense -e -ē -em Habitual -an -añat -aną

The last vowel in the stem also alternates in the following pattern, depending on person and number:

First Person Singular i-grade First Person Plural ü-grade Second Person e-grade Third Person a-grade Impersonal o-grade

Verbs also take a prefix to express voice. The passive voice uses the prefix ta-, the middle voice uses the prefix ke-, and the adjutative voice uses the prefix jo-

Finally, verbs take an infix placed between the first consonant and vowel of the root to express aspect:

Plain ∅ Perfect -ast- Imperfect -atr-

Nouns

Nouns are declined for case, number, gender, and state. The vowels in every noun undergo ablaut to indicate case and gender:

Masculine Feminine Androgynous Neuter ergative i-u i-o i-ü i-a absolutive u-i u-e u-ą u-a vocative o-i o-e o-ą o-a locative e-u e-o e-ü e-a dative a-i a-e a-ą a-a instrumental ü-i ü-e ü-ą ü-a ablative ari-u ari-o ari-ü ari-a genitive ą-u ą-o ą-a a-a

Note that these vowels indicate which grade of vowel is to be used, and not the precise vowel.

Nouns also take an ending based on state and number:

Singular Dual Plural indefinite ∅ -ch -m definite -t -chit -tam construct -s -chas -sam

Adjectives

Adjectives follow a similar pattern to nouns, taking an ending inflected for gender, number, and state:

masculine feminine androgynous neuter indefinite singular -i -e -ą -a dual -uch -och -üch -ach plural -im -om -üm -am definite singular -it -et -ąt -at dual -uchit -ochit -üchit -achit plural -itam -otam -ütam -atam construct singular -us -os -ąs -as dual -uchas -ochas -üchas -achas plural -usam -osam -üsam -asam

Statives

Statives are inflected for gender and tense. They take endings to express tense:

Present -ak Future -ek Past -ok

Note that these vowels indicate which grade of vowel is to be used, and not the precise vowel.

In addition, the root’s first vowel alternates depending on gender:

Masculine i-grade Feminine o-grade Androgynous ü-grade Neuter a-grade

Pronouns

Lugnian has the following personal pronouns:

first person second person third person singular

dual plural singular

dual plural singular

dual plural absolutive masculine pǖ pūm būshi būm tǖ tūm feminine pūle būte tūḥe androgynous pūn būna tūn neuter pū būs tū instrumental masculine pōri pōm bōshī bīm tōy tīm feminine pōre bōse tōḥe androgynous pōrn bōn tōn neuter pō bō tō locative masculine pö pem bēsū bem tö tem feminine pērō bētōs tēho androgynous pēn bēna tēn neuter pē bēs tē dative masculine pāri pām bāshi bām tāi tām feminine pāre bāse tāḥe androgynous pān bāna tān neuter pā bās tā comitative masculine pǖli pǖm bǖshi bǖm tǖhi tǖm feminine pǖle bǖte tǖḥe androgynous pǖn bǖna tǖn neuter pǖ bǖs tǖ ablative masculine parītū parīm barīsū barīm tarītū tarīm feminine parītō barīsō tarīhō androgynous parīn barīna tarīn neuter parī barīs tarī genitive masculine pą̄ri pą̄m bą̄shi bą̄m tą̄ni tą̄m feminine pą̄re bą̄se tą̄ne androgynous pą̄na bą̄na tą̄na neuter pą̄ bą̄s tą̄

Lugnian also has a set of non-personal pronouns:

interrogative

“what, which” proximal

“this”

(close to the speaker) medial

“that”

(close to the listener) distal

“that over there”

(far from both) universal

“every, all” existential

“some, any” negative

“no, none” determiner natē suwē dūzē túwē ʿotē kwotē pītē object nutī suwī dūzī túwī ʿutī kwutī pūtī person nutū suwū dūzū túwū ʿutū kwutū pūtū animal nutio suwio dūzio túwio ʿutio kwutio pūtio place nutera suwera dūzera túwera ʿutera kwutera pūtera time nutā suwā dūzā túwā ʿutā kwutā pūtā manner

direction nutō suwō dūzō túwō ʿutō kwutō pūtō kind nutona suwona dūzona túwona ʿutona kwutona pūtona state nutę suwę dūzę túwę ʿutę kwutę pūtę amount nutai suwai dūzai túwai ʿutai kwutai pūtai cause nutoi suwoi dūzoi túwoi ʿutoi kwutoi pūtoi

All of the non-personal pronouns undergo ablaut to express case, with the exception of the determiners:

ergative i-grade absolutive u-grade instrumental o-grade locative e-grade dative a-grade comitative ü-grade ablative -ar- + i-grade genitive ą-grade

Numbers

Lugnian uses an octal number system. The vowel in the beginning of each numberal alternates depending on the type of numeral:

number cardinal ordinal distributive multiplier additive zero noitō - nätō niotō - one pogna pagna pegna pigna pugna two tomē tamē temē timē tumē three koiʿnó kaiʿnó käʿnó kioʿnó kauʿnó four koidra kaidra kädra kiodra kaudra five zondá zandá zendá zindá zundá six soiña saiña säña shioña sauña seven nodzī nadzī nedzī nidzī nudzī eight rōwé rāwé rēwé rīwé rūwé sixty-four nodro nadro nedro nidro nudro

Compound numbers are formed using numeral types called Additives and Multipliers. Additives express a value in additional to the base number, and are always placed after their base. For example, see the following compound numbers:

rōwé kauʿnó

eight and three

eleven



nodro rūwé tumē

sixty-four and eight plus two

seventy-four

In the first example, rōwé is the base numeral, and kauʿnó specifies an addition of three. As demonstrated in the second example, multiple additives can be used at once.

Multipliers express the number of times the base number is to be multipled, and are always placed before their base. For example:

zindá rōwé

five eights

fourty

Syntax

Lugnian word order is classified as subject–object–verb. Unlike many Indo-European languages, the only strict rule of word order is that the verb must be placed at the end of a sentence. This is due to the fact that all sentence elements in Lugnian are marked to indicate their grammatical functions.

In Lugnian, the subject or object of a sentence need not be stated if it is obvious from context. As a result of this grammatical permissiveness, there is a tendency to gravitate towards brevity; Speakers tend to omit pronouns on the theory they are inferred from the previous sentence, and are therefore understood. In addition, pronouns are always dropped in cases where they would normally be used as the subject of a sentence unless they take adjectives or other modifiers. This is because all verbs are already marked for person, which makes the usage of such pronouns redundant.

Statives

In Lugnian, words are usually viewed as belonging to one of six classes: particles, verbs, statives, adjectives, adverbs, and nouns. Statives are a class of modifiers expressing a state of being, whose properties fall in between those of verbs and adjectives in Indo-European languages. Like verbs, statives are inflected for tense and person but normally lack inflections for person, aspect and other purely verbal categories. Every stative also has a corresponding stative verb, to be used to form the predicate of a sentence. For example:

Hak’dak Tinkat kohą Budą sámät.

The burning tree makes a big cloud of smoke.



Tunkat hak’dät.

The tree is burning.



Rugni ʿóbrak dōzū tamastānsot.

Those sleeping girls have killed a man.



ʿábrotam.

(Those girls) are asleep.



Suwē p'āskak Grūdaim ghēmaramapē.

You guys shouldn’t eat these rotten fish.



P'āskät!!

It stinks!!

Pronouns

Lugnian pronouns function differently from most modern Indo-European pronouns (and more like nouns) in that they can take modifiers as any other noun may. For instance, one does not say in English:

*The amazed he ran down the street. (grammatically incorrect insertion of a pronoun)

But one can grammatically say essentially the same thing in Lugnian:

Ząski tǖ p’óht Nerǘt dastāgnut. (grammatically correct)

Morphosyntactic alignment

Lugnian is an ergative-absolutive language, which means that the single argument (“subject”) of an intransitive verb behaves like the object of a transitive verb, and differently from the agent (“subject”) of a transitive verb. For instance, in English, one can say:

She ate the apple. (transitive)

He is sleeping. (intransitive)

However, in English, one does not say:

*Him moved.

*Moved him.

In contrast, in an ergative-absolutive language, this is not the case. Compare the way the noun wuʿre “apple” is used in the following sentences:

Rignot Wuʿre ghastāmot.

The girl ate an apple.



Wuʿre Darilfut zastachot.

An apple fell from the [apple] tree.



Wiʿro Rugni Stentét ʿakwot.

An apple hits a man in the head.



*Wiʿro p'aŵot (grammatically incorrect)

An apple is rotten.

Genitive constructions

In Lugnian, similar to in many Afro-Asiatic languages, especially in Semitic languages, there is a third morphological state which contrasts with the indefinite and definite states. This state is called the construct state, and it is primarily used in genitive constructions. A genitive construction is a series of words used to express a relation between two nouns such as the possession of one by another (e.g. “John’s jacket”), or some other type of connection (e.g. “John’s father” or “the father of John”). In Lugnian, the head noun (i.e. the noun being possessed) is placed in the construct state, while the dependent noun (i.e. the owner) is placed in the genitive case. For example:

Gregorī di pą̄re ʿowúhpʼisam ghastāmut.

Gregory has eaten all of my cookies.

In this sentence, the head noun of the genitive construction, ʿowúhpʼisam “all of the cookies” is placed in the construct state, indicating that it is possessed by some other noun. The dependent noun, in this case the pronoun pą̄re “my, of me (feminine)”, is placed in the genitive case, indicating that the head noun is related to it in some fashion (i.e. it’s the owner).

Sample Text

Schleicher’s fable

English

The Sheep and the Horses



On a hill, a sheep that had no wool saw horses:

One of them pulling a heavy wagon,

One carrying a big load,

And one carrying a man quickly.

The sheep said to the horses:

“My heart pains me, seeing a man driving horses.”

The horses said:

“Listen, sheep. Our hearts pain us when we see this:

A man, the master, makes the wool of the sheep into a warm garment for himself.

And the sheep has no wool.”

Having heard this, the sheep fled into the plain.

Lugnian

Lugnian Script

Romanization

Chǫnút mō Trąjütam Guras



Medū natē Kautme satramutopē Chionú Trująm taẅuto:

Dröna Kwuksa chatrāfäto,

Kohi Ghulfi chatrāfäto,

Mō Rugni dēgn chatrāfäto.

Chaunít Trajątam sastainfut:

«Natē Rignam Trująm wánkwäh tuẅah, sowī pą̄ri Kwaudras taḥaknät.»

Trujątam sastainfütam:

«Choiní pūm yenil! Suwī tuẅah, sowī pą̄m Kwaudrasam tahaknätam:

Natē Wánkwat hanät Rigna chǫnút Kautmes drāndi Charfí kesámät.

Mō suwī teẅil: Chionút Kautme samutapē!»

Netā túwī yastanuto, Chaunít Ḥarzat dastāgnut.

IPA

[ˈt͡ɕʰɔ̃ː.ˌnu˥t ˈmoː ˈtʰχɑ̃.d͡ʑʏ.tm̩ ˈgʊ.ɾas]

[mɛ.ˈduː na.ˈtʰeː ˈkʰau̯t.mɛ sat.ˈχa.mʊ.tɔ.ˌpʰeː ˈt͡ɕʰi̯o.ˌnu˥ tχʊ.ˈd͡ʑɑ̃m ta.ɥʊ.ˈtʰɔ][ˈdʁøː.na kʷʊk.ˈsa t͡ɕat.ˈχaː.fə.ˌtʰɔ]

[kɔ.ˈçɪ ɣʊl.ˈfɪ t͡ɕat.ˈχaː.fə.ˌtʰɔ]

[ˈmoː ˈʁʊŋ.nɪ ˈdeːŋ t͡ɕat.ˈχaː.fə.ˌtʰɔ]

[ˈt͡ɕʰau̯.ˌni˥t tχa.ˈd͡ʑɑ̃.tm̩ sas.ˈtʰai̯n.ɸɯ̽ᵝt]

[na.ˈtʰeː ʁɪŋ.ˈnam ˈtʰχʊ.d͡ʑɑ̃m ˈwa˥n.kʷæx tʊ.ˈɥax | sɔ.ˈwiː ˈpʰɑ̃ː.ɾɪ ˈkʷʰau̯d.ʁas ta.ˈħɑk.næt]

[ˈtʰχʊ.d͡ʑɑ̃.tm̩ sas.ˈtʰai̯n.ɸɪᵝ.ˌtʰam]

[ˈt͡ɕoi̯.ˌni˥ ˈpʰuːm jɛ.nɪl ‖ sʊ.ˈwiː tʊ.ˈɥax | sɔ.ˈwiː ˈpʰɑ̃ːm ˈkʷʰau̯d.ʁa.sam ˈtʰa.ʜɑk.nə.ˈtʰam]

[na.ˈtʰeː ˈwa˥n.kʷat ʜɑ.ˈnæt χɪŋ.na ˈt͡ɕʰɔ̃ː.ˌnu˥t ˈkʰau̯t.mɛs ˈdʁaːn.dɪ t͡ɕaχ.ˈfi˥ kɛ.ˈsa˥.mæt]

[ˈmoː sʊ.ˈwiː tɛ.ˈɥɪl | ˈt͡ɕi̯o.ˌnu˥t ˈkʰau̯t.mɛ sa.ˈmʊ.ta.ˌpʰeː]

[nɛ.ˈtʰaː ˈtʰu˥.ˌwiː jas.ˈtʰa.nʊ.ˌtʰɔ | ˈt͡ɕau̯.ˌni˥t ʜɑʁ.ˈzat das.ˈtʰaːŋ.nʊt]

The North Wind and the Sun

English

The North Wind and the Sun

The North Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger, when a traveler came along wrapped in a warm cloak.

They agreed that the one who first succeeded in making the traveler take his cloak off should be considered stronger than the other.

Then the North Wind blew as hard as he could, but the more he blew the more closely did the traveler fold his cloak around him;

and at last the North Wind gave up the attempt. Then the Sun shined out warmly, and immediately the traveler took off his cloak.

And so the North Wind was obliged to confess that the Sun was the stronger of the two.

Lugnian

Lugnian Script

Romanization

Narisfoi T’aubras mō Vūpset

Narisfoi T’aubras mō Vūpset nutī namosánöt kewatráchütoi, téwā natē drānda zúnt’a chatrarfäto yaʾūbmá kastarsät.

Natē kwitū tą̄ zúnt’as pagna jokaicharfäz, yanamosúnat takātmäh p’astanvütait.

Narisfoi T’aubras ʿád namozastāndät, kwí vóns sástén zatrāndäto yaʾūbmát tą̄ zúnt’as sástén skatrattäto;

mō pastardät. ʕetz Vūpset drānd kastāyot, mōmō vawa kekaichastarfät.

Sowō Narisfoi T’iobras Vāpset yanamosúnat kātmäro.

IPA

[na.ˈɾɪʃ.ˌɸɤᵝi̯ ˈtʼau̯b.ʁat moː ˈβɯᵝːp.ʃɛt]

[na.ˈɾɪʃ.ˌɸɤᵝi̯ ˈtʼau̯b.ʁat moː ˈβɯᵝːp.ʃɛt nʊ.ˈtʰiː na.mɔ.ˈt͡saː˥.ˌnøːt kɛ.wat.ˈχaː˥.t͡ɕʏ.ˌtʰoi̯ | ˈtʰeː˥.ˌwaː na.ˈtʰeː ˈdʁaːn.da ˈd͡zuːn˥.tʼa t͡ɕat.ˈχaχ.fə.ˌtʰɔ ja.ˈʔuːb.ˌmaː˥ kaʃ.taχ.ˈʃæt]

[ na.ˈtʰeː kʷɪ.ˈtʰuː ˈtʰɑ̃ː ˈd͡zuːn˥.tʼaʃ paŋ.ˈna d͡͡ʑɔ.ˈkʰai̯.t͡ɕaχ.ˌfæz | ja.ˈna.mɔ.ˌt͡suː˥.nat ta.ˈkʰaːt.mæx pʼaʃ.ˈtʰan.βɪᵝ.ˌtʰai̯t ]

[ na.ˈɾɪʃ.ˌɸɤᵝi̯ ˈtʼau̯b.ʁat ˈʕɑːd˥ na.ˈmɔ.zaʃ.ˌtaːn.dæt | ˈkʷʰiː˥ ˈβɤᵝːnʃ˥ ˈʃaːʃ˥.ˌtʰeːn˩˥ zat.ˈχaːn.də.ˈtʰɔ ja.ˈʔuːb.ˌmaːt˥ ˈtʰɑ̃ː d͡zuːn˥.tʼaʃ ˈʃaːʃ˥.ˌtʰeːn˩˥ ˈʃkʰat.χat.tə.ˌtʰɔ | moː paʃ.tʰaʁ.dæt ]

[ʕɛt͡s ˈβɯᵝːp.ʃɛt ˈdʁaːnd kaʃ.ˈtaː.jɔt | moː.moː va.ˈwa kɛ.ˈkʰai̯.t͡ɕaʃ.taχ.ˌfæt]

[sɔ.ˈwoː na.ˈɾɪʃ.ˌɸɤᵝi̯ ˈtʼi̯ob.ʁat ˈvaːp.ʃɛt ja.ˈna.mɔ.ˌt͡suː˥.nat ˈkʰaːt.ma.ɾɔ]