'Arborese: Difference between revisions
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The syllable structure is (C)V(V)(C). Any consonant phoneme may start a syllable, but only /n/, /g/, /ʒ/, /d~ʔ/, /f/ and /z/ can appear in coda. | The syllable structure is (C)V(V)(C). Any consonant phoneme may start a syllable, but only /n/, /g/, /ʒ/, /d~ʔ/, /f/ and /z/ can appear in coda. | ||
There are estimated to be | There are estimated to be 252 total possible syllables; properly including long monophthongs and diphthongs, up to 1,008. (Although there may be nearly twice as many including stress and position of the syllable within a word.) | ||
=== Consonants === | === Consonants === | ||
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- [ʔ] is frequently lowered to a creaky stop or coloring of a lengthened vowel or liquid [ ̰ ]/[ʔ̆] as a word-medial onset and utterance-finally. | - [ʔ] is frequently lowered to a creaky stop or coloring of a lengthened vowel or liquid [ ̰ ]/[ʔ̆] as a word-medial onset and utterance-finally. | ||
- Coda /d~ʔ/ is hard to describe, since it's ''usually'' [ʔ] word-medially, but is believed to have come from /d/, for which [d] still exists in some environments, predominantly word-finally. Most linguists tend to use both phonemes depending on the context, though some use an archiphonemic /D/. Others still propose using /t/. It is always represented with <d> in romanization. | - Coda /d~ʔ/ is hard to describe, since it's ''usually'' [ʔ] word-medially, but is believed to have come from /d/, for which [d] still exists in some environments, predominantly word-finally. Most linguists tend to use both phonemes depending on the context, though some use an archiphonemic /D/. Others still propose using /t/, in part because of utterance-final [|ˀ]. It is always represented with <d> in romanization. | ||
- Conversely, coda [n] is widely analyzed as simply /n/, even thought allophonically it can appear as [m]. | - Conversely, coda [n] is widely analyzed as simply /n/, even thought allophonically it can appear as [m]. | ||
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- - Many prefer to use [ʇ] for /ǀ/ in phonetic descriptions to avoid confusion with word-initial /d/ [l]. | - - Many prefer to use [ʇ] for /ǀ/ in phonetic descriptions to avoid confusion with word-initial /d/ [l]. | ||
- /o/ frequently is voiceless or disappears between /z/ and before /z/ | - /o/ frequently is voiceless or disappears between /z/ and before /z/ /ʒ/ and /g/, most often being realized as something akin to [s͡s͜ʷs] [ʃ͡ʃ͜ʷʃ] and x͡xʷ͜x respectively. Double consonants also become this word-medially. | ||
- - A similar process happens between two /f/s, although in this case the realization is more likely [fɵ̥f]. | - - A similar process happens between two /f/s, although in this case the realization is more likely [fɵ̥f]. | ||
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|- | |- | ||
!n + O | !n + O | ||
|nm | |nm~m: | ||
| | |n~n: | ||
|ᵑǀ~,nᶢǀ | |ᵑǀ~,nᶢǀ | ||
|nβ̞ ~, nb~mb | |nβ̞ ~, nb~mb | ||
| Line 158: | Line 158: | ||
|fd͡ʒ | |fd͡ʒ | ||
|fj, fg~fk | |fj, fg~fk | ||
|fʷf | |fʷf~f: | ||
|fs~fz | |fs~fz | ||
|fɦ~vh | |fɦ~vh | ||
| Line 175: | Line 175: | ||
|zj, zg~sk | |zj, zg~sk | ||
|zf~sf | |zf~sf | ||
|zʷz~sʷs | |zʷz~sʷs, s: | ||
|zh~sɦ | |zh~sɦ | ||
|zʔ̆, zʔ~sʔ | |zʔ̆, zʔ~sʔ | ||
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|ʒβ̞ , d͡ʒb | |ʒβ̞ , d͡ʒb | ||
|(d͡)ʒd, ʃɺ | |(d͡)ʒd, ʃɺ | ||
|d͡ʒd͡ʒ~ʃt͡ʃ~ | |d͡ʒd͡ʒ~ʃt͡ʃ~ʒʷʒ | ||
|ʒj, d͡ʒ~t͡ʃk | |ʒj, d͡ʒ~t͡ʃk | ||
|ʒf~,t͡ʃf | |ʒf~,t͡ʃf | ||
|ʒʷʒ~ʃʷʃ | |ʒʷʒ~ʃʷʃ, d͡ʒs | ||
|ʒh, d͡ʒɦ | |ʒh, d͡ʒɦ | ||
|ʒʔ̆~d͡ʒʔ̆, t͡ʃʔ | |ʒʔ̆~d͡ʒʔ̆, t͡ʃʔ | ||
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|gd~ʁd, ɣɺ | |gd~ʁd, ɣɺ | ||
|gʒ~ɣd͡ʒ~,ɣd͡ʒ~ʃt͡ʃ | |gʒ~ɣd͡ʒ~,ɣd͡ʒ~ʃt͡ʃ | ||
|ʔj~ʔɣ, çk | |ʔj~ʔɣ~ɠ, çk | ||
|gf~ʁf, ɣf | |gf~ʁf, ɣf | ||
|d͡z, ɣz~ʁz | |d͡z, ɣz~ʁz | ||
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|ʔd~ɗ, dɺ | |ʔd~ɗ, dɺ | ||
|ʔʒ~ʔt͡ʃ, ɾ.d͡ʒ | |ʔʒ~ʔt͡ʃ, ɾ.d͡ʒ | ||
| | |ɣ͡ɣ͜ʷɣ~x͡xʷ͜x, dg | ||
|ʔf, df | |ʔf, df | ||
|ʔz~t͡s~,d.z | |ʔz~t͡s~,d.z | ||
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|ʔd~ɗ | |ʔd~ɗ | ||
|ɾ | |ɾ | ||
|<nowiki>|ˀ</nowiki> | |||
|} | |||
This phonetically creates a somewhat distinct [ᵑǀ], [ǀˀ], [sʷs], [ʃʷʃ], [xʷx], [fʷf~fɵ̥f~f:], [β̞], [d͡ʒ], [ɣ], [j], [ʁ], and [ʔ̆], and non- or semi-distinct [n:] [m:] [s:] [ɓ], [ɗ], [ʔʲ~ɠ], [ǀ͡ɠ], [ɸ], [t͡s], [w] and [ʕ̞]. None of these are considered phonemic. | |||
==== List of plausible consonant phones: ==== | |||
{| class="wikitable" | |||
|+ | |||
! colspan="2" |'''Phones''' | |||
!Labial | |||
!Alveolar | |||
!Postalveolar | |||
!Velar~Uvular | |||
!Co-Velar | |||
!Laryngeal | |||
|- | |||
| rowspan="3" |'''Stop''' | |||
|'''Plosive/Aff''' | |||
|'''b̥''' | |||
|'''d̥''', ''d̥͡z'' | |||
|d̥͡ʒ | |||
|'''g̊''' | |||
|'''ᶢ̥ǀ''' | |||
|'''ʔ''' | |||
|- | |||
|'''Glottal''' | |||
|''ɓ'' | |||
|''ɗ'' | |||
| colspan="2" |''ʔʲ~ɠ'' | |||
|ᵏǀˀ, ''ǀ͡ɠ*'' | |||
|̰ ~ʔ̆ | |̰ ~ʔ̆ | ||
|- | |- | ||
|'''Nasal''' | |||
| | |'''m''', ''m:''* | ||
| | |'''n''', ''n:*'' | ||
| | | | ||
| | | | ||
| | |ᵑǀ | ||
| | | | ||
| | |- | ||
| | | rowspan="3" |'''Continuant''' | ||
| | |'''Fricative''' | ||
| | | rowspan="2" |'''v̥''', ''v̥:~'' | ||
| | ''fɵ̥f*,'' | ||
| | |'''z̥''', ''z̥:*'' | ||
| | |'''ʒ̊''' | ||
| | |ɣ̟̊ | ||
|β̥~ů | |||
|'''ɦ̥''' | |||
|- | |||
|''swish'' | |||
|z̥͡z̥ʷ͜z̥ | |||
|ʒ̊͡ʒ̊ʷ͜ʒ̊ | |||
|ɣ̟̊͡ɣ̟̊͜ʷɣ̟̊ | |||
| | |||
| | |||
|- | |||
|'''Liquid''' | |||
|β̞ | |||
|ɺ (l~ɾ) | |||
|j | |||
|ʁ~ʀ | |||
|w | |||
|ʕ̞ | |||
|} | |} | ||
=== Vowels === | === Vowels === | ||
Latest revision as of 15:20, 6 August 2026
| 'Arborese | |
|---|---|
| Language family | Unknown |
| Era | today |
| Writing system | None (Latin) |
| Official status | |
| Spoken in | 'Arbor 'Iland |
| Speaker | |
| Demonym | 'Arborese |
| Number of speakers | only a couple dozen; critically endangered |
| Technical information | |
| Usage | rare; in private, chiefly among elders |
| Language code | arb |
'Arborese (sometimes spelled Arborese; no endonym documented) is a critically endangered language seldom spoken in the volcanic island territory of 'Arbor 'Iland. It is believed to be weakly agglutinative, although not much is known about its grammar at this time.
Phonetics
Arborese features a fairly minimalist phonemic inventory, with only three vowels and 11 consonants, though there is a degree of free variation and allophony depending on where a sound appears in a word, syllable or utterance, as well as 12 "combined vowels" that appear as diphthongs or long monophthongs.
Phonotactics
The syllable structure is (C)V(V)(C). Any consonant phoneme may start a syllable, but only /n/, /g/, /ʒ/, /d~ʔ/, /f/ and /z/ can appear in coda.
There are estimated to be 252 total possible syllables; properly including long monophthongs and diphthongs, up to 1,008. (Although there may be nearly twice as many including stress and position of the syllable within a word.)
Consonants
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Postalveolar | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal / Click | /m/ Mm | /n/ Nn | /ǀ/ [ᶢʇ~ᵏǂ] Tt | ∅ ∅/- | |
| Stop | /b/ [β̞] Bb | /d/ [t̺~l~ɾ] Dd | /ʒ/ [d͡ʒ] Cc | /g/ [ɣ~ç~j~ʀ] Gg | /ʔ/ ' |
| Fricative | /f/ Ff | /z/ [z̪] Zz | /h/ [ɦ] Hh |
- /d/ is usually [ɾ] or sometimes [d̺], but is [l~ɾ] (Ll not [ǀ]) invervocally and word-initially, making "adua" and "a lua" usually phonetically distinct, although speakers sometimes pronounce them interchangeably.
- Similarly, /b/ is [ɓ~p] word-initially, [β̞] word-medially, [b̚] in word-medial codas, [b] word-finally, and [(b̚)m̩] utterance-finally.
- /g/ appears as [g] word-initially, [j] in word-medial onsets in clusters, [g~ç] in word-medial codas in clusters, [ɣ~ç] in intervocal word-medial codas, and [ʁ~ʀ] in intervocal word-medial onsets, and [
- /ʒ/ is really [d͡ʒ] in most environments, only surfacing as [ʒ] wordmedially in some clusters and intervocally. /ʒ/ was chosen because it's simpler to write and sometimes more accurate than /d͡ʒ/.
- /f/ becomes [ɸ] before /ɔ/, including diphthongs, as well as utterance-finally, where it may be considered somewhat syllabic in nature, as with /z/ and /ʒ/.
- [ʔ] is frequently lowered to a creaky stop or coloring of a lengthened vowel or liquid [ ̰ ]/[ʔ̆] as a word-medial onset and utterance-finally.
- Coda /d~ʔ/ is hard to describe, since it's usually [ʔ] word-medially, but is believed to have come from /d/, for which [d] still exists in some environments, predominantly word-finally. Most linguists tend to use both phonemes depending on the context, though some use an archiphonemic /D/. Others still propose using /t/, in part because of utterance-final [|ˀ]. It is always represented with <d> in romanization.
- Conversely, coda [n] is widely analyzed as simply /n/, even thought allophonically it can appear as [m].
- /ǀ/ is a general click and while usually dental may appear as a palatal or alveolar click. It is tenuis, with a velar release, by default, but can become glottalized (or implosive) or nasalized in several environments.
- - It is generally a relatively weak click, with the velar component in tenuis clicks sometimes being just as audible as the click itself.
- - Many prefer to use [ʇ] for /ǀ/ in phonetic descriptions to avoid confusion with word-initial /d/ [l].
- /o/ frequently is voiceless or disappears between /z/ and before /z/ /ʒ/ and /g/, most often being realized as something akin to [s͡s͜ʷs] [ʃ͡ʃ͜ʷʃ] and x͡xʷ͜x respectively. Double consonants also become this word-medially.
- - A similar process happens between two /f/s, although in this case the realization is more likely [fɵ̥f].
- Voicing is non-contrastive, although /m/, /n/, and word-medial intervocalic /b/ and /d/ tend to be voiced, while other phonemes are most likely slack voice, sometimes pronounced voiced or voiceless in free variation, with utterance-final sounds generally being fully voiceless (and glottal stops being their own thing). A more narrow transcription of these sounds would be /b̥ d̥ v̥ z̥ ʒ̊ g̊ ɦ̥ ᶢ̥ǀ/.
Below is a table of some of the more common realizations of morphological syllable clusters, although some sounds and especially voicing are fairly loose. Sounds separated by ~ indicate common free variation, while sounds after a comma indicate interactions across word boundaries. (~, indicates it's more common in the latter environment but there's some free variation.)
| Coda + Onset | C + /m/ | C + /n/ | C + /ǀ/ | C + /b/ | C + /d/ | C + /ʒ/ | C + /g/ | C + /f/ | C + /z/ | C + /h/ | C + /ʔ/ | (C +) Vowel | Word-Final C | Utterance-Final C |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Utterance-initial O | m | n | ᵏǀ~ᵑǀ | p~ɓ | l~t | t͡ʃ~d͡ʒ | g~k | f~ɸ | z~s | h:~ɦ | ʔ | ∅ (j/w/ʕ̞) | N/A | N/A |
| Word-Initial O | m | n | ᶢǀ~ᵏǀ | b | l | d͡ʒ | g~k | f~ɸ | z~s | h~ɦ | ʔ | ∅ | N/A | N/A |
| Vowel (+ O) | m | n | ᶢǀ~ᵏǀ | β̞ | l~ɾ~d | ʒ | ʁ~ʀ | f~ɸ | z~s | ɦ | ̰ ~ʔ̆ | see: vowels | ∅ | ∅~h~ʔ |
| n + O | nm~m: | n~n: | ᵑǀ~,nᶢǀ | nβ̞ ~, nb~mb | nd, nɺ | nd͡ʒ | nj~nç, ng | mv~nf | nz~nd͡z | nɦ | nʔ̆, nʔ | n | n | n |
| f + O | fm | fn | fᵑǀ~,fᶢǀ | fβ̞ ~, fp~ɓ | fd~ft, fɺ | fd͡ʒ | fj, fg~fk | fʷf~f: | fs~fz | fɦ~vh | fʔ̆, fʔ | f~ɸ | f | ɸ~ů |
| z + O | zm | zn | zᵑǀ~,zᶢǀ | zβ̞ , zb | zd, zɺ | zd͡ʒ | zj, zg~sk | zf~sf | zʷz~sʷs, s: | zh~sɦ | zʔ̆, zʔ~sʔ | z~s | z~s | s |
| c + O | ʒm, d͡ʒm | ʒn, d͡ʒn | ʒᵑǀ~,d͡ʒᶢǀ | ʒβ̞ , d͡ʒb | (d͡)ʒd, ʃɺ | d͡ʒd͡ʒ~ʃt͡ʃ~ʒʷʒ | ʒj, d͡ʒ~t͡ʃk | ʒf~,t͡ʃf | ʒʷʒ~ʃʷʃ, d͡ʒs | ʒh, d͡ʒɦ | ʒʔ̆~d͡ʒʔ̆, t͡ʃʔ | t͡ʃ~d͡ʒ | d͡ʒ | t͡ʃ~ʃ |
| g + O | gm~ʁm, ɣm | gn~ʁn, ɣn | ᵏǀˀ~,ǀ͡ɠ | gβ̞~ʁw ~, ɣb | gd~ʁd, ɣɺ | gʒ~ɣd͡ʒ~,ɣd͡ʒ~ʃt͡ʃ | ʔj~ʔɣ~ɠ, çk | gf~ʁf, ɣf | d͡z, ɣz~ʁz | kh~ʁh, ç | gʔ~ʁʔ, ɣʔ | ɣ~ç | ɣ~ç | ɣ~ç |
| d/' + O | ʔm, dm | ʔn, dn | ᵏǀˀ~,ǀ͡ɠ | ʔβ̞~ɓ, db | ʔd~ɗ, dɺ | ʔʒ~ʔt͡ʃ, ɾ.d͡ʒ | ɣ͡ɣ͜ʷɣ~x͡xʷ͜x, dg | ʔf, df | ʔz~t͡s~,d.z | dh~ʔh | dʔ~ɾʔ | ʔd~ɗ | ɾ | |ˀ |
This phonetically creates a somewhat distinct [ᵑǀ], [ǀˀ], [sʷs], [ʃʷʃ], [xʷx], [fʷf~fɵ̥f~f:], [β̞], [d͡ʒ], [ɣ], [j], [ʁ], and [ʔ̆], and non- or semi-distinct [n:] [m:] [s:] [ɓ], [ɗ], [ʔʲ~ɠ], [ǀ͡ɠ], [ɸ], [t͡s], [w] and [ʕ̞]. None of these are considered phonemic.
List of plausible consonant phones:
| Phones | Labial | Alveolar | Postalveolar | Velar~Uvular | Co-Velar | Laryngeal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | Plosive/Aff | b̥ | d̥, d̥͡z | d̥͡ʒ | g̊ | ᶢ̥ǀ | ʔ |
| Glottal | ɓ | ɗ | ʔʲ~ɠ | ᵏǀˀ, ǀ͡ɠ* | ̰ ~ʔ̆ | ||
| Nasal | m, m:* | n, n:* | ᵑǀ | ||||
| Continuant | Fricative | v̥, v̥:~
fɵ̥f*, |
z̥, z̥:* | ʒ̊ | ɣ̟̊ | β̥~ů | ɦ̥ |
| swish | z̥͡z̥ʷ͜z̥ | ʒ̊͡ʒ̊ʷ͜ʒ̊ | ɣ̟̊͡ɣ̟̊͜ʷɣ̟̊ | ||||
| Liquid | β̞ | ɺ (l~ɾ) | j | ʁ~ʀ | w | ʕ̞ | |
Vowels
'Arborese features four vowels: /a/ Aa, /e/ Ee, and /o/ Oo. Each of these may combine into a different diphthong or lengthened monophthongs, as shown in the below table.
| Front | Open | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unstressed Short | /e/ [ɪ~ɨ] e | /a/ [ɐ] a | /o/ [ɔ] o |
| Stressed Short | [i:] (iə̆~ɨ:) e | [ɜ:] a | [ɔ:~ɒ:] o |
| V + ɪ | [ɪ:] (e:~i:) ee | [aɛ̆] ae | [ʊɪ̆~ɘɪ̆] oi |
| V + ɐ | [ɛă] ea | [a:~ɛ:] aa | [ɔa~oɑ̆) oa |
| V + ɔ | [ɪʊ̆~ɨɔ̆] eo | [aɔ̆] ao | [o:~ʊə̆] oo |
| Utterance-initially | ([j] +) V | ([ʕ̞] +) V | ([w] +) V |
In addition, some argue that these can further combine into triphthongs or glides with lengthened monophthongs, although most agree they are realizations of vowel or diphthong hiatus. Additionally, two monophthongs across word boundaries are believed to have a true vowel hiatus and not become a diphthong.
Stress
The first syllable of a polysyllabic words is generally stressed, unless the second syllable is heavier. (C)V is lighter than CVV / CVC, which are both lighter than CVVC; i.e. eno, eenon, and faongaed would be stress-initial, but anoa, zomed, gaomead, and hazfeen would be second-syllable stress. For words that are three syllables or longer, the third syllable may be stressed if it is heavier than both of the prior two syllables.
Words that are four or five syllables long have secondary stress on the penultimate syllable, and have stressed syllables every even number of syllables beforehand up until (and including) the second syllable after the initial stressed syllable: i.e. Mafoanaazameegananoen would be [ma'foa.na:.zɐˌme:gɐˌnɐ:.nɔɪn]. Note that two stressed syllables cannot appear next to one another within the same word.
For single-syllable words, CV and CVC words are generally unstressed, while CVV and CVVC words are generally stressed. Mae gae zau ne bo fe meneo would be ['mae.'gae.'zau.ne.bo.fe.me.'nɪʊ̆]
Short monophthongs (/e/ /a/ /o/) that are stressed become long vowels. These are different from both double vowels (/ee/ /aa/ /oo/), which are long and have a different vowel quality, and two vowels across word boundaries (/e e/ /a a/ /o o/), which are technically two short vowels which can both be independently stressed or unstressed. Long vowels and diphthongs retain the same length, but are pronounced with an "unstressed" pitch.
Aside from lengthening short vowels in open syllables, stressed syllables can also see a change in pitch relative to unstressed syllables, depending on intonation.
Intonation
Across a whole sentence, if the general tone is flat, it's probably an indicative. If, however, across a whole sentence, the stressed syllables are (most often) falling tones - starting at a higher pitch and ending on a lower pitch, it can indicates narration, poetry, or answer to an affirmative question. Exaggerated pitch falling across the sentence may indicate a strong affirmation or emotional state. Unless exaggerated, the final stressed syllable is generally a level low tone, and indeed the second-final stressed syllable is also often a level low tone.
Conversely, a raise in pitch across the whole sentence - that is, unstressed syllables are a level high pitch while stressed syllables start lower and rise to the unstressed pitch - may indicate as a polite correction or an answer to a no question, although can otherwise act as a way of highlighting important information or as a form of excitement or anxiety. When exaggerated, it can indicate surprise, a dubitative, disbelief, or persuasion of an outcome that is counterintuitive. When only the final stressed syllable in a clause is rising - and any unstressed vowels afterward are high tone - it indicates a form of incompleteness, and can function as a pause between clauses, while exaggerated can indicate a question. (similar to a comma in French). Unlike with falling tone intonation, every stressed syllable features the rising tone.
Emphasis on an individual pitch can indicate emphasis on a single word, somewhat similar to English, although it's generally only used for surprise or otherwise act to highlight the topic when answering or asking a yes/no interrogative, the latter of which may also end in a high pitch specifically on the final unstressed syllable (or rising if the final syllable is stressed).
Romanization
'Arborese does not feature its own alphabet, and the Latin script has been adopted to cover it, although in day-to-day use things are rarely written down in Arborese and linguists tend to use the IPA.
| Letter | Aa | Bb | Cc | Dd | Ee | Ff | Gg | Hh | Mm | Nn | Oo | Tt | Zz | ' | - |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ipa | /a/ | /b/ | /ʒ/ | /d/, -/ʔ/* | /e/ | /f/ | /g/ | /h/ | /m/ | /n/ | /o/ | /ǀ/ | /z/ | /ʔ/ | Null Onset after Codas |
In romanization, , . ? and ! are frequently used, since they also affect intonation. ! is sometimes put before the first word to indicate a negative answer/correction, while italicization may be used for emphasized words. !? is also fairly commonplace, while ‽ may be used by interrobang purists. (example: !No, he eatn't the bread!?)
Grammar
'Arborese is a fairly analytical, head-initial SVO language with weak agglutination. It has two noun cases, five verb tenses, and a host of auxiliary and compound verbs used to indicate a rich host of additional aspects, moods, and more specific meanings.
Nouns
Nouns in 'Arborese are fairly straightforward, since there is no grammatical gender, and only three noun cases. The two non-disputed cases are the nominative and prepositional.
Nominative nouns are not marked, and are utilized for both the nominative and accusative in a sentence, as the language has a strict SVO word order.
Prepositional nouns are usually created by adding a vowel (usually e) after the final onset, although if this syllable is either a diphthong or is open and would come after a stressed syllable if applied, usually ends in -e after a vowel (replacing diphthongs) and -a after a consonant. (fe -> fee, mofo -> mofeo, mofoo -> mofoe, mendeg -> mendeeg, faaso -> faasoe, moan -> moana). There are some exceptions however (gema -> gemae). Proper nouns simply end in an additional -a, as is the case with some loan words and some other words. The prepositional noun is used in prepositional phrases, and is used for locative, genitive, dative, and instrumental constructions. When present without a preposition, it can be used as a vocative or as a disjunctive used for emphasis.
Another way of creating emphasis is through reduplication of the final onset and its proceeding vowel, which surfaces as a separate word (dagan -> dagan ga). It is also affected by prepositional markers and plural marking (dagean ge, daganon gooan); note that the reduplication is CooVn. This emphatic word can also be used as a reflexive pronoun when it used for a subject and appears after a verb, effectively turning it into a reflexive object marker. (i.e. dagean ge ofab is emphatic while dagean ofab ge is reflexive). Reduplication of the entire first syllable of a plural noun is instead reciprocal in nature, acting as a simple third-person pronoun (i.e. dageanon ofab dag vs. dageanon ofab gooan). The emphatic can also be used to differentiate homophones being used together in a sentence, with emphasis often placed on a more animate one; some linguists argue this could already be analyzed as a form of grammatical gender, as though it is generally not used except when multiple homophones are used in a sentence, it has been documented in regular speech by at least one individual.
Pronouns
Pronouns in 'Arborese are fairly complex, since there is no simple third person definitive pronoun. Instead, pronouns are constructed by taking the first syllable of a word. For example, dagean would be dag. These pronouns act as a simple third-person pronoun as well as a reciprocal pronoun (i.e. an action is performed among other individuals of the same thing), but can be used as a reciprocal pronoun for plurals. There are indeed some instances where these pronouns may be confused with a separate, monosyllabic noun, in which case the emphatic is used for clarification if it is, in fact, a new noun.
Other pronouns include "I/me", "You"(pl), "Us/We", "You"(pl), and a generic "it/they/them" for when a third person pronoun is unknown. There are also prepositional and distinct emphatic constructions for these pronouns.; note that third person pronouns take the root and add -ne or -e to the end of the word.
There are also interrogative pronouns which are also used for relative clauses, including "what (inanimate)", "what/who (animate)", "who", "which/what (adjectival)", "where" - which can combine with prepositions to mean "how / whence", and "why / whither", and "when / how many/much", which is used with prepositions to indicate "how long from now / ago" or "how much more was there / is needed".
Verbs
Verbs come in many varieties of tense, aspect, and mood. The default realis/stative verb may be in a present or past progressive or perfective, as well as a distant past. The past progressive can also be used as an experiential. The present perfective indicates that an action was just completed, or is about to be completed, and may be thought of as a recent-past or near-future. It also can be used as a momentative or instant action.
Verbs may also appear in subordinate mood, which is just a realis mood that appears in subordinate clauses (especially relative clauses), as well as when in auxiliary constructions, and can appear in all tense/aspect distinctions. They also may be irrealis going into independent clauses to indicate a hypothetical, abilitative, desiderative, conditional "then" clause, or in some cases an implied "should", and can also appear in all tenses except for the remote past; on its own it can also be utilized in the non-past as a hortative or imperative. The subjunctive, then, is the subordinate version of the hypothetical mood, being an irrealis verb in dependent clauses and after auxiliary verbs, as well as going into conditional "if" clauses.
There are also a large number of other constructions that further specify moods, aspect, and evidentiality. For example, the word "be" (which is also "have") can be tacked onto the end of a present or past verb to indicate either a jussive, emphatic deductive, or, for progressive verbs, gnomic, while in the far past it implies a super remote, likely untenable past. This is relatively analogous to "must" in English. When irrealis, it implies an obligation that is not being carried out, acting as a sort of simultaneous jussive and dubitative, or as an unfulfilled obligative or optative, thus often being called a "counterfactual", while in the far past it can also imply ancient fables or myths. This often corresponds to "should (but isn't/didn't)" in English.
While both the core verb and the auxiliary are both marked the same for realis vs. irrealis and surbordination, as well as tense, both may be coded for aspect separately. This can drastically change the basic meaning of the verb, and in fact allows for only a small handful of auxiliary verbs to perform numerous functions. Note that auxiliary verbs modifying a verb in the remote past are in either the past perfective or past progressive aspect.
For example, the while the above paragraph provided information on "be" in the progressive, "be" in the perfective means something entirely different, functioning as a valency decreasing operation, much like English, acting as either a passive (I was hit) or an antipassive (I hit [it]), depending on if the subject is nominative or absolutive, being a logical extension that a one-off action was ordained by something else, implying low volition.
Another common auxiliary verb that creates a rich set of aspectual distinctions is "hold", which can, depending on its tense pairings, be used to indicate a habitual (progressive progressive), frequentative (progressive perfective), transitional [inchoative/cessative] (perfective progressive), or iterative (perfective perfective), along with turning a far past into a far past progressive, habitual, or gnomic.
Another common verb is "go", which has further has a lot of nuance. In the progressive, it acts as an conative (with no results) when paired with a past verb, or as a quasi-future with a present verb. It similarly acts as a broader a mindset to try to do something repeatedly or for a long time when paired with a progressive verb - functioning somewhat as an atelic verb (i.e. "search" or "look for" instead of "find"). Meanwhile, in the perfective, it is used as an assumptive, which in the irrealis mood indicates a dubitative. In the distant past, this instead indicates a previously held assumption about a past event.
The last verb that is commonly used as an auxiliary is "wear". In the perfective it indicates know-how, an experiential, or abilitative - specifically abilitative with good skill. This only exists in the realis modality. In the imperfective, it functions more as an evidential marker, indicating that it's quite apparent if not obvious that someone did something. This functions as something of an inferential, and is different from a realis or irrealis stative mood. It should be noted in both of these cases that in the irrealis, they can be used to indicate suspicion and further function as an assumptive based on appearance or actions, rather than truly knowing someone. . Uniquely, the remote past of the deductive/assumptive acts as a habitual marker, similar to has been in English, indicating the verb is and has long been the case; it more indicates that it's quite apparent now based on something that must've been going on for some time. It should be noted that wear can serve similar functions when used as a full verb instead of an auxiliary, indicating something is obvious or someone knows something with great detail, in addition to simply wearing clothes.
Other common auxiliaries include need (irrealis only: perfective indicates absolute necessity, progressive indicates strong desiderative), emotional verbs such as fear (i.e. afraid of an action that hasn't happened yet, or "of Xing"; for actions that have occurred, see coverbs and causals below, or otherwise it'll appear in a subordinate clause. Irrealis only), fall (progressive or perfective act of failing to do something, turning it negative; irrealis indicates probablistic or assumptive failure), start (progressive/perfective inchoative), stop (cessative progressive/perfective with the intention of not returning), lay ([short-term and long-term process] cessative with the intention of returning; no inchoative counterpart), see (learning how to do something), lose (forgetting how to or losing the ability to do something, or ceasing long-term against one's will), obtain/achieve (do well in perfective, trying hard and likely succeeding in progressive; realis with perfective, irrealis with progressive), and a pair of auxiliaries that don't map onto another verb that essentially act as a confirmative or negative (perfective only).
Below is a table of the primary verbal conjugations accompanied by auxiliaries:
| Verbs | Aux. Aspect | Realis/Irrealis | Non-Past Progressive | Past Progressive | Non-Past Perfective | Past Perfective | Remote Past |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Verb | Independent | Realis (Stative) | present progressive/continuous | past progressive/imperfective | (near-)present perfective | past perfective | remote past simple/perfective |
| Irrealis (Hypothetical) | hypothetical, abilitative, weak deontic, desiderative, hortative, conditional, permissive, or (in present) imperative versions of the above | ||||||
| Dependent | Realis (Subordinate) | Same as above but for dependent clauses; conditional "if" clauses | |||||
| Irrealis (Subjunctive) | |||||||
| Be/Have + Verb | Progressive | Realis | jussive/deductive NP.PROG; gnomic | Jus/Ded. P.PROG; past gnomic | Jus/Ded NP.PFV | Jus/Ded P.PFV | distant past jussive / deductive |
| Irrealis | optative imperfective | unfulfilled progressive | optative perffective | unfulfilled PFV | ancient fable or legend | ||
| Perfective | Realis | Low-Volitition Detransitiviser (Passive / Antipassive) of normal verbs | |||||
| Irrealis | |||||||
| Hold + Verb | Progressive | Realis | present habitual | past habitual | present frequentative | past frequentative | remote past continuous/habitual |
| Irrealis | irrealis versions of above | ||||||
| Perfective | Realis | present durative (long continuous) | past durative | (near-)present iterative | past iterative | remote past transitional | |
| Irrealis* | irrealis versions of above, although never really used | ||||||
| Go + Verb | Progressive | Realis | present atelic / prog. conative/future | past atelic / cont. conative | present perf.con/fut. | past perf.conative | remote past conative |
| Irrealis (uncommon) | dubitative versions of the above; uncommon | ancient hypothetical (rare) | |||||
| Perfective | Realis | evidential or knowledge-based assumptive versions of the realis stative verbs | |||||
| Irrealis | dubitative versions of the realis stative verbs | ||||||
| Wear + Verb | Progressive | Realis | emphatic deductive of the realis stative verbs | EMPH+.DED/INFR NP.HAB | |||
| Irrealis | non-evidential weak assumptive of the realis stative verb | weak assumptive pres. habitual | |||||
| Perfective | Realis (exclusive) | emphatic abilitative/experiential of the realis stative verb | |||||
| Need + Verb | Progressive | Irrealis (exclusive) | necessitative of the realis stative verb | ||||
| Perfective | emphatic desiderative of the realis stative verb | ||||||
| Fall + Verb | Progressive | Realis | imperfective failing at doing something | ||||
| Irrealis | imperfective probable or assumptive failure at doing something; dubitative with the assumption that an attempt was made | ||||||
| Perfective | Realis | perfective failure to do something | |||||
| Irrealis | perfective probable or assumptive failure at doing something; dubitative with the assumption that an attempt was made | ||||||
| Start + Verb | Progressive | Both | progressive/durational inchoative version realis and irrealis stative verbs; present can indicate a near future | ||||
| Perfective | Both | perfective inchoative version realis and irrealis stative verbs | |||||
| Stop + Verb | Both | Both | cessative versions of the above inchoative with the intention of stopping permanently | ||||
| Lay + Verb | Both | Both | cessative versions of the above inchoative with the intention of stopping temporarily | ||||
| See + Verb | Both | Both | progressive or perfective, realis or irrealis, act of learning how to do a verb | ||||
| Lose + Verb | Both | Both | progressive or perfective, realis or irrealis, act of forgetting how or losing the ability to do a verb, or otherwise stopping long-term against one's will | ||||
| Obtain/Achieve
+ Verb |
Progressive | Irrealis (exclusive) | likely near-future successful attemptative of the realis stative verbs | ||||
| Perfective | Realis (exclusive) | excellent version of the realis stative verbs | |||||
| Grab + Verb | Progressive | Realis | voluntarily in the process of switching to doing something or becoming apparent that one was responsible for an action | ||||
| Irrealis | involuntarily in the process of switching to doing something or becoming apparent that one was responsible for an action | ||||||
| Perfective | Realis | voluntarily doing or done an action in place of something else | |||||
| Irrealis | involuntarily doing or done an action in place of something else | ||||||
| Release + Verb | Both | Both | same as above, but for the process or no longer doing an action | ||||
| Change + Verb | Progressive | Realis (exclusive) | switching from an old task to a new task | ||||
| Perfective | altering how a task is being performed | ||||||
| Is/Didn't + Verb
(Origin Unclear) |
Perfective
(exclusive) |
Realis-Affirmative | affirmative positive when put before a verb when answering a question; affirmative negative when before a negative verb | ||||
| Irrealis-Negative | anti-affirmative when put before a verb, with the positive or negative of the verb reflecting what actually happened | ||||||
In addition, the auxiliary be may appear before both wear and hold, although this only acts as a detransitiviser, and agrees with the aspect of the following auxiliary verb. The affirmative/negative auxiliaries may also appear before any other auxiliary verb, including be; this allows affirmatives and negatives that are uncertain or unlikely. Start, Stop, Lay, Take Over, Rest, and Change may also be used before some other auxiliary verbs (including be + another auxiliary) and can appear with independent aspect markers.
Several adverbs may also be used, as well as number to indicate number of times something has been done (in the nominative; the absolutive it implies for the nth time).
Then there are some suffixes that are adverbial in nature but tack onto the verb, including the dependent verb. These can include "surprisingly", "suddenly", "quickly", "slowly", "again" or "re", and "not". The irrealis modifier may also be thought of as a "maybe" or "could" adverb, but given its versatility in modifying moods and aspects, and its ability to be placed on auxiliaries, it is generally considered an inherent verb modality. There also exist coverbial functions, such as "while", "after", and "before", which can be combined with a causative paraphrastic phrase to mean "and", "thus", and "in order to".
It should be noted there are no infinitive or gerundive forms of verbs. Adjectivized verbs need to be placed in relative clauses using relative pronouns, with the nominative or absolutive being used to mark the directionality of a verb. Nominalized verbs do exist, but must be formed paraphrastically, i.e. it must be put into a content clause with a dummy word meaning something along the lines of "action", or otherwise a word corresponding roughly with the verb in question. The same is not true of nouns becoming verbs, which can be done through a simpler morphological process.