Xindvâ

Xindvâ
Language family	Liyuric
Early form(s)	Proto-Liyuric
Writing system	Lunar (Nuyxo) script Latin script
Official status
Spoken in	Aylongam
Speaker
Technical information
Language code	xdv

Xindvâ (/ˈʃɪn.dwɑː/; natively gûôy Xindvâ [ɡɨə̯j ɕɪn.dwɑ]) is a Liyuric language that spoken in Aylongam, where it is the national and official langauge. The language features a robust phonology with a large vowel inventory, and a highly analytic grammar with productive reduplication and limited affixation, mostly prefixes.

Phonology

Consonants

Xindvâ has 26-27 consonant phonemes:

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar		Palatal	Velar	Guttural
				central	lateral
Nasal		m	n			ɲ/ȵ ⟨nh⟩ 1	ŋ ⟨ng⟩
Plosive	voiceless	p	t			tɕ ⟨ch⟩	k	q ~ ʔ ⟨q⟩ 2
	voiced	b 3	d 3			dʑ ⟨j⟩ 3 4	g 3
Fricative	voiceless	f ⟨ph⟩ 5	θ ⟨th⟩	s		ɕ ⟨x, sh⟩ 6	x ⟨kh⟩	h
	voiced	v ~ w ⟨v⟩ 9		z		ʑ ⟨zh⟩ 4
Liquid	voiced			r 8 9	l 10	j ⟨y⟩
	voiceless			(r̥ ⟨hr⟩) 11	ɬ ⟨hl⟩

1. In the coda, unless followed by a stop, /ɲ/ lenites to [j̃], nasalizing the previous vowel.
2. [q] and [ʔ] are partially conditional allophones of one phoneme, with [q] being preferred word-initially and in coda position almost exclusively, and [ʔ] after obstruents (in some dialects such sequences are realized as ejectives) and intervocalically. In both phonemes, the two allophones alternate when they occur consecutively.
3. /b, d, dʑ, g/ spirantize to [β, ð, ʑ, ɣ] in word-final position. [β] is rather unstable, and merges with /ʋ/ for most speakers.
4. The distinction between /dʑ/ and /ʑ/ largely exists only word-initially; elsewhere, the contrast is neutralized, with [dʑ] occurring after consonants, and [ʑ] occurring after vowels.
5. [ɸ] is an allophone of /f/ when near front vowels.
6. /ɕ/ is romanized as ⟨x⟩ syllable-initially, and as ⟨sh⟩ syllable-finally.
7. [v] and [w] are partially conditional allophones of a single phoneme, sometimes represented as /ʋ/. [v] is preferred word-initially, before /j/ and after long vowels and diphthongs, while [w] is preferred after consonants, even across word boundaries, and after short vowels. Where conditions overlap, an in-between sound [ʋ] or [β] may be heard. Where [w] would occur after a palatal consonant, it fronts to [ɥ ~ ẅ].
8. /r/ is most commonly pronounced [ɾ] intervocalically (and sometimes in clusters) and [r] elsewhere. In many dialects, [ɹ~ɻ] commonly occurs as a word-final allophone; though this is seen as substandard by educated speakers, this realization can be heard even from upper class speakers.
9. In some dialects, the clusters /tr, dr, sr, zr/ are often realized as retroflex affricates and fricatives [ʈʂ, ɖʐ, ʂ, ʐ]. This pulls a following /i/ back into /ɨ/.
10. /l/ is realized as [ɬ] after /t/ and [ɮ] after /d/ in clusters.
11. /r̥/ is not distinct in most dialects, being merged with the cluster /xr/.

All of the voiceless plosives are unaspirated, and generally have no audible release when not followed by a vowel.

Vowels

Xindvâ has 31 vowel phonemes:

Oral vowel phonemes

	Front		Central		Back
	short	long	short	long	short	long
Centering	iə̯ ⟨iê⟩		ɨə̯ ⟨ûô⟩		uə̯ ⟨uô⟩
High	i ⟨i, y⟩ 1	iː ⟨ii⟩	ɨ ⟨û⟩	ɨː ⟨eû⟩	u	uː ⟨uu⟩
Mid-high	e	eː ⟨ē⟩	ə ⟨ô⟩	əː ⟨eô⟩	o	oː ⟨ō⟩
Mid-low		ɛː ⟨ai, ay⟩ 2				ɔː ⟨âu, âo⟩
Low 3	æ ⟨a⟩ 4 5	æː ⟨ae⟩ 2 5			ɑ ⟨â⟩ 6	ɑː ⟨aa⟩

Nasal vowel phonemes

	Front		Central		Back
	short	long	short	long	short	long
High	ɪ̃ ~ ẽ ⟨ĩ⟩	ĩː ⟨ĩy⟩		(ɨ̃ː ~ ɯ̃ː)	ʊ̃ ~ õ ⟨ũ⟩	ũː ⟨ũu⟩
Low	ɛ̃ ⟨ẽ⟩	ɛ̃ː ⟨ẽy⟩	ə̃ ~ ɐ̃ ⟨ã⟩	ɐ̃ː ~ ãː ~ ɑ̃ː ⟨ãa⟩	ɔ̃ ⟨õ⟩	ɔ̃ː ⟨õu⟩

1. /i/ is romanized as ⟨y⟩ in a handful of monosyllables purely as an aesthetic choice.
2. Some dialects merge /ɛː/ and /æː/ into one phoneme; either sound, or an intermediate [ɛ̞ː] can be the merged realization.
3. Some dialects re-merge /æ/ and /ɑ/, both short and long, into one phoneme /a/. This merger is mutually exclusive with the ai-ae merger.
4. Word-final short /æ/ is often realized as [ɐ ~ ə].
5. Long and short /æ(ː)/ are more central [æ̠(ː)] in open syllables and when preceding velar consonants.
6. /ɑ/ is fronted in the diphthong /ɑj/, ranging between [ɑ̟j] to [äj].

The short high and mid vowels are generally slightly more open in closed syllables and before /j/ and /ʋ/: [ɪ, ɨ̞, ʊ, ɛ, ɜ, ɔ]. When adjacent to [q], the high vowels lower to values approaching close-mid [e, ɘ, o]. In the same environment, the mid vowels take on their open-mid values, which avoids neutralization.

Short vowels and the centering diphthongs can form a falling diphthong or triphthong with /j/ or /ʋ/, while long vowels cannot. Front vowels may only be followed by /ʋ/ (except /e/ and /ɛ̃/, which can be followed by /j/ as well), while back vowels may only be followed by /j/.

In general, most nasal vowels correspond to the oral vowel closest in quality; /ə̃/ corresponds to not only /ə/ but /æ ɑ ɨ/ as well, and /ãː/ corresponds to /æː ɑː ɨə əː/.

Phonotactics and morphophonology

The maximal syllable structure in Xindvâ is sC₁C₂VGC₃, where C₁ and C₃ are any consonant, G is an offglide /j/ or /ʋ/, and C₂ is a liquid consonant /j, ʋ, r, l/ or /s ~ z/. C₂ and G cannot be the same sound, hence */joj/ and */ʋæʋ/ are not valid sequences (note the exception in the word viêo /ʋiə̯ʋ/). Stops can be followed by any C₂, nasals and fricatives can be followed by any liquid but not /s/, /r l/ can be followed by /j ʋ/, and /ʋ/ can be followed only by /j/. The prefix /s/ and the C₂ /s/ can only occur adjacent to stops; they cannot co-occur. They assimilate to /z/ next to voiced stops. Clusters of three consonants, such as /str-/, /skr-/ and /spr-/, are rare and considered exceptions to the general phonotactics.

Palatal consonants cannot cluster with any sound, except /ʋ/ in the onset. Therefore a diphthong and a palatal coda cannot co-occur in the same syllable; e.g., */tæwɕ/ is not a valid syllable. /ʋu/ and /ji/ do not occur, except in a handful of loanwords, while /*ʋɨ/ does not occur at all. */sj si zj zi/ do not occur, instead automatically assimilating to /ɕ ʑ/.

Some dialects may have loan clusters in the coda with unusual combinations, such as /lt/ or /mp/, but they will not be pronounced by all speakers. For most speakers, these clusters will only be fully pronounced when they are followed by an initial vowel, else only the first consonant in the cluster is pronounced.

Vowels in hiatus are not allowed except for sequences beginning with /i/ and /u/ (which generally generate epenthetic [j] and [w] anyway); where this would occur it is resolved with any of several methods: elision, metathesis, epenthesis, or a combination thereof.

Stress is not a contrastive feature; most words are phonetically stressed on the first syllable.

When morphemes are combined, several assimilatory processes occur at the boundaries, creating some phonotactical restrictions word-internally:

• Morpheme-final /r/ generally becomes /n/, or sometimes /l/; compare xir and kvir to the derived words xinyâq and kvinme. This alternation occasionally occurs morpheme-initially, as in kerûth and neôth.
• The fricatives /f, θ, x/ at the end of morphemes are replaced by voiceless stops /p, t, k/; compare lauth and lutbe. This is due to a former assimilatory process whereby the aspirated stops lost their aspiration when followed by another consonant.
• Coda /ɕ/ can occur at a morpheme boundary if it derives from palatalization of /s/, but not from that of /x/, and in such words it will be replaced by /tɕ/.
• /r̥/ and /ɬ/ will be replaced with their voiced counterparts, both at the beginning and end of morphemes; compare hlauk and kelku.
• Morphemes ending in /ɑ/ will often cause voicing of the following consonant (or fortition in the case of the fricatives); compare seng and lâzeng.

Loanwords generally are not adapted to these constraints, but on occasion part of a loanword may be reanalyzed as a native morpheme, and the word thus altered.

Some diphthongs and long vowels may alternate with short vowels in related words, or when words are combined with other morphemes, reflecting an earlier process of shortening vowels in these environments:

• /æw/ and /ɑj/ alternate with /u/ and /i/ respectively, as in lauth vs. lutbe.
• /iː/ and /uː/ alternate with /e/ and /o/ respectively.
• /iə/, /ɨə/ and /uə/ alternate with /e/, /ə/ and /o/ respectively, as in muôk and mochû.

Grammar

Morphology

Parts of speech are rather loose in Xindvâ, and many words pull double duty as multiple word classes. Nouns can be used like adjectives and vice versa, and many verbs are also nouns that denote a related concept. There are very few inflecting words; most morphology is derivational. New words are most commonly derived by compounding, such that some words are more common in compounds than on their own, such as sath “shop”. While affixation is no longer as productive, many affixes, primarily prefixes, are still quite functional. Reduplication is highly productive in verbs and adjectives, with the semantic effect varying from word to word based on the pattern used:

• Full reduplication—complete duplication of the entire word. This pattern is primarily used on monosyllabic words, and generally serves as an augmentative, denoting a stronger quality or large amount of something:

dõu “big” > dõudõu “huge”

bon “flower” > bonbon “flowering”

preng “to talk” > preng preng “to blabber”

• V1 lengthening—in this pattern the initial consonant and the following vowel are duplicated, with the vowel lengthened. This is used on adjectives, and generally only in exclamations as an intensifier:

Zeô-zôu kho vâ gyao y choy. = The food here is so good.

• -ip reduplication—the first onset is repeated with -ip added to it, and placed before the word. This serves as a diminutive or endearing affix:

mâujû “bear” > mip-mâujû “little bear, cub”

phyoq “horn, antler” > phip-phyoq “stub, bud”

• n- reduplication—the first syllable is repeated before the word, with the onset changed to /n/. This serves as a generalizer, broadening the semantic scope of the noun in a way that emphasizes the root as a principal member:

rihyoq “sword” > ni-rihyoq “blade”, perhaps better translated as “swords and such”

hruân “wolf” > nu-hruân “canid”, “wolves and such”

Nouns

Xindvâ distinguishes two numbers―singular and plural― and five cases―nominative, accusative, genitive, dative-locative, and instrumental. Both of these, however, are marked on separate particles rather than the nouns themselves, which do not inflect. Grammatical number is marked on the article, and case is marked on particles preceding the noun. Both the nominative and accusative cases are unmarked, indicated by word order instead. There are two genitive particles, y and xo, which indicate inalienable and alienable possession respectively. Consider the difference between:

vâ nixao y thaa = her milk (from her own breasts)

vâ nixao xo thaa = her milk (from an animal or another woman)

The locative case indicates both static location and motion towards something depending on whether the verb itself denotes motion.

The word order for noun phrases is as follows: article, case particle, number, (modifiers), head noun, (modifiers), demonstrative, possessor. Note that modifiers can be placed on either side of the noun (but not on both simultaneously). Certain phrases appear to have preferred orders:

• Colors tend to precede the head noun.
• Temporal phrases are usually head-final, placing the unit of time second.Compound words generally place modifiers first.

All nouns besides proper nouns must be preceded by an article, even those that are uncountable and would not take one in English, such as ryeng (‘life’) or luqtôy (‘employment’). The definite article may sometimes be dropped, however, in contexts where it is clear that a specific thing is being referred to: in a phrase like suôy y’ôn (‘my tail’), there is clearly only one possible referent (one can only have a single tail), and therefore the article can be omitted without creating ambiguity. There are two articles: definite and indefinite, both of which inflect for number (singular and plural).

	Singular	Plural
Definite	vâ	hvâ
Indefinite	nû	pyô

An article indicates whether a noun should be specific/unique and familiar to the addressee, and thus context and the listener’s prior knowledge must be taken into account when marking a noun as definite or indefinite. All nouns that refer to classes of something, or to an abstract concept, are by nature definite.

Demonstratives on their own do not provide the information given by an article. Consider for example:

genh vâ ngolluu chuô = I want this (particular) pen

genh nû ngolluu chuô = I want one of these pens

When a noun can be viewed both as an individual instance and as a general concept (as is especially the case with verbal nouns), a singular definite article will be ambiguous between the two views. For instance, nû myog is always “a hunt”, as in one non-specific trip, but vâ myog can mean both simply “hunting” as a concept, and “the hunt”, referring to a specific occasion. To clear this ambiguity, a demonstrative or possessor can be specified:

vâ myog chuô = this hunt

vâ myog y zhēg = our hunt

With verbal nouns, the word kraad “act” can be used, with the noun as a modifier—

Zôu mōt vâ myog kraad = The hunt went well

The genitive cases are primarily used for indicating possession; other types of relationships are expressed by simply placing one noun after the other like an adjective, with no modification:

hocha tlao = crown of the head

Hlôngdao huyad = Hlengdaonese flag

Because modifiers can go on either side of the head, it can sometimes be ambiguous which of a two-noun phrase is the head and which is the modifier. For example, phuyan nuyxo can mean either "moon peach" (a cultivar of white peach) or "peach moon" (a moon which appears a golden-orange color).

Demonstratives

The demonstratives in Xindvâ follow a set of predictable patterns, each being a combination of an initial indicating the deictic distance, and a rime indicating the type of referent (italicized forms are irregular):

	Proximal ch-	Medial v-	Distal d-	Indeterminate m-
Determiner -uô	chuô “this”	vuô “that”	duô “that, yonder”	muô “which”
Object -os	chos “this thing”	vos “that thing”	dos “that thing over there”	mos “what”
Person -oti	choti “this person”	voti “that person”	doti “that person over there”	moti “who”
Place -oy	choy “here”	voy “there”	dvây/dvôy “over there”	moy “where”
Direction -ogok	chogok “this way”	vogok “that way”		mogok “which way”
Time -ot	chot “now”	vot “then, later”	dot “that day, someday”	mot “when”
Manner -ônna	chônna “like this, thus”	vônna “like that”		mônna “how”
Quantity -akh	chakh “this much”	vakh “that much”		makh “how much”

Related to the distal series is the definite article vâ. The demonstratives of place are nouns, which retain archaic locative-dative forms uchoy, udvây, and umoy.

Verbs

Verbs in Xindvâ do not conjugate; most verb tenses and aspects, as well as the passive voice, are marked by particles. These particles precede the verb, with the passive marker always placed immediately before the main verb. Many of the old inflections verbs formerly had have either been fossilized in set words, or have changed their function to be derivational.

Affix	Modern use	Original use
se-	derives adjectives denoting a state of completion	past perfective
la-/lâ-	derives adjectives denoting an ongoing action	progressive-continuous
dû-	derives adverbs denoting a co-occuring action	gerund
pu-	only found in plôm “if”	conditional (in the sense of “if one does”, not “would do”)
-be/-me	found in many verbs but now fossilized	causative

The word order for verb phrases is as follows: negation, tense marker, adverbs, auxiliaries, passive marker, main verb.

Tense markers are not needed on each individual verb to denote all of them as taking place at the same time; in fact, a tense marker is only used once on the first verb in a clause, sentence, or even paragraph, and this sets the timeframe for the rest of the verbs that follow. If a more specific temporal indicator is used (e.g., semōt khaim “yesterday”), then the tense marker is dispensed with altogether, while if both are used, then the verbs are in that tense relative to the specified time:

Laphor byâvô , ue lauth sum vâ pâhō. = He’ll have left the city by tomorrow morning.

Semōt khaim , ue bem Horu. = I already met with Horu yesterday.

Xindvâ distinguishes three primary aspects: perfective, continuous/progressive and habitual. The perfective is taken to be the unmarked form, while the habitual is marked with the particle kam. The continuous aspect can be constructed in two ways. The more formal construction is formed by using the verb lôm “to be” as the main verb with the content verb in its adverbial form. The more colloquial construction is formed by simply using lôm as an auxiliary:

Dûbeû lôm vâ jûn. OR Lôm beû vâ jûn. = The baby is sleeping.

While the verb lôm is often translated as “to have”, its usage in that sense is identical to the sense of “there is”, simply using a genitive construction as the subject:

Lôm cham-giêr viêo y Ragnith. = Ragnith has eighteen children. (literally, ‘There are eighteen children of Ragnith’s.’ or ‘Ragnith’s eighteen children exist.’)

The locative case can be used in place of the genitive to indicate that something is currently in that person’s possession:

Lôm vâ seyam yao Livân. = Liwan has the book (right now/with her). (literally, ‘The book is at Liwan.’)

Lôm yao Livân vâ ayn. = Liwan is in love.

Its negative counterpart, tem, is used similarly.

In many verbs, full reduplication has a frequentative or continuative effect:

Ue preng preng Pâqxi ngep tem pyô nesh senhaet. = Paqshi talked on and on but he didn’t tell me anything. (literally, “…but there were no things told.”)

Most verbs can be used as verbal nouns without modification, as a preceding article will indicate that the word is a noun and not a verb. In verbs that already have a nominal definition that isn’t the verbal noun, however, the prefix ra- serves as a nominalizer:

gyao “to eat” (nominal meaning: “food”) > ragyao “eating”

Syntax

Basic word order is verb-subject-object (VSO), but a more detailed order of components is as follows:

1. Temporal clause
2. Conditional clause
3. Verb phrase
4. Instrumental
5. Locative/dative
6. Subject
7. Object

Many parts of a sentence can be omitted if they can be ascertained from context or are implicit properties of something. This can create ambiguities in identifying whether a transitive verb’s single argument is the subject or object. For example, without further information, the phrase niêph thaa can mean either “he helped” or “[I/you/they] helped him”.

In negative sentences, the subject may optionally be fronted, with the negative remaining at the beginning of the sentence.

Y’ãa kho chuô. = This is mine.

Tem chuô y’ãa kho. = This is not mine.

The copula kho is not required to connect adjectives to a subject, but they are required to equate one noun with another.

Yekh Khep’rô. = Khepra is tall.

Nû xinyâq kho Khep’rô. = Khepra is a woman.

Further, markers of tense, aspect and mood come before the adjective or noun:

Tem ue nû jûn xas kho Khep’rô. = Khepra was not a small child.

This syntax suggests that adjectives and noun-copula phrases are taken to syntactically be stative verbs with the meaning of “to be X”. If the noun in the predicate has a relative clause, that clause does not precede the verb, and instead is placed at the end of the sentence:

Vâ jûn kho thaa, gi ho driêng deoxâ. = He is the boy who will become king.

No special marking occurs to denote questions; interrogative words are left in their canonical positions in the sentence. In the spoken language a rising pitch at the end of a sentence indicates a question.

Mos kho vâ nesh vuô? = What is that thing? (literally, ‘That thing is what?’)

Sepû thaa mos? = What is he drinking? (literally, ‘He is drinking what?’)

Ue phvâr yao byukher y’ãa moti? = Who came to my house?

In archaic texts the word mûy may be found as a question marker.

Relative clauses

Relative clauses are often reduced in Xindvâ. Except in copular sentences, verbs are rendered into modifiers:

nû yâq lapur byeôt = a girl who loves to read (literally, “a reading-loving girl”)

vâ yâq setō mûr nông = the girl I saw (literally, “the girl seen by me”)

vâ yâq semlek bon mûr nông = the girl I gave flowers to (literally, “the girl given flowers by me”)

The second and third examples can also be phrased without an explicit agent in the relative clause, with the passive marker kehl added to clarify the noun as being the object of the verb:

vâ yâq kehl setō = the girl (I) saw

vâ yâq kehl semlek bon = the girl (I) gave flowers to

Without kehl or a subject/agent, relative clauses are ambiguous as to whether the head is the subject or object of the verb:

vâ setrônh eph = “the man who killed (them)” or “the man who was killed”

Further context, however, can clarify the intended meaning. Like any other modifier, this type of relative clause can be placed on either side of the noun, as demonstrated by the previous example. Note that in all of these examples, the relative pronoun gi “that” is not present, despite being translated as such. In Xindvâ, only subjects and objects, direct or indirect, can be modified in this way. For other arguments, the pronoun gi is required, which is marked for case, and the relative clause is phrased like a normal sentence, but with a gap where the shared noun would be:

vâ xvôysath ugi (ue) zûth = the inn (I) stayed in

vâ luôd mûr gi myog sephin = the bow (I) hunt rabbits with

vâ jûn y gi dayõ vâ khebō = the girl whose father (I) know

The construction with gi is, of course, entirely possible to use with subjects and objects, and is in fact required for the future tense, which lacks a corresponding verbal adjective.

Locatives

Xindvâ has very few adpositions corresponding to English “in”, “over”, “behind”, etc.; to specify a location or direction one uses the locative/dative particle yao (‘at’) with a location noun such as dri (‘inside’), nhũ (‘space above’), or kuôt (‘back’), followed by the main noun in the genitive case:

Kho vâ yao dri nû y veyân. = I am in a garden. (literally, “(I) am at the inside of a garden”)

This phrasing is very formal, however, and sounds quite stilted in vernacular speech. Making use of Xindvâ’s propensity to drop already known information, the genitive marker and the article of the location noun are dispensed with, and the article of the possessor moves to the front of the phrase to mark its boundaries clearly, leading to the shorter construction:

Kho nû yao dri veyân. = I am in a garden.

Also note that although yao dri does mean ‘in’, it is used to specify the interior specifically as opposed to the exterior; for describing the general location of something, yao alone is enough.

Numbers

Xindvâ numerals use the decimal system:

1	ti	6	ol	100	lûyông/lûing
2	zay	7	gvâ	1000	khâo
3	mâh	8	giêr
4	ven	9	phenh
5	ju	10	cham

Number words are formed analytically through additive and multiplicative compounds, with no modification to their:

cham-giêr = eighteen (10 + 8)

ven-cham = forty (4 × 10)

gvâ-cham-gvâ = seventy-seven (7 × 10 + 7)

Spoken in isolation, i.e., when counting or as a lone noun, 100 is ti-lûyông, but the ti element can be dropped when used as a demonstrative. This holds for higher powers of 10 as well.

…phenh-cham-phenh, ti-lûyông, ti-lûyông-ti… = …99, 100, 101…

but

lûyông thôyal = one hundred people