Table of Contents

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The Naretvei Language
a. Conventions used
b. Glossary of Abbreviations
1 Introduction
2 Phonology and Phonetics
2.1 Vowels
2.2 Consonants
2.3 E-mutation
2.4 Phonotactics and Syllable Structure
2.5 Stress and Timing
3 Basic Syntax
3.1 Structure of the Verb and Adverbs
Examples
3.2 Structure of the Noun Phrase
4 Verbs
4.1 Verb Affixes
4.1.1 Tense
4.1.2 Reduplication
4.2 Verb Subordination
Examples
4.2.1 The VO de nije S Form
4.3 The Progressive Aspect
5 Nouns
5.1 Pluralization
5.2 Noun Affixes
5.2.1 Possession
Examples
5.3 Pronouns and Demonstratives
6 Adjectives and Adverbs
7 Other affixes and Word-building
8 Particles and Prepositions
Appendix
Futher Reading

See also: Graded Sentences for Analysis Text Samples

The Naretvei Language

C. LaCourt
4 April 2015

a. Conventions used

Some prior knowledge is required before reading this document for full comprehension, and certain conventions are used in compliance with field standards.

Please forgive the lack of proper usage of small-caps for abbreviations found in code blocks. There is no current workaround. Number markers may also be found in lowercase instead of small-caps, this is a bad habit formed over months of improper practices.

Some further conventions are used to label affixes:

Lastly, the abbreviation "f.r." may be used to refer the reader to the Further Reading section, noting that additional material is available. Example:

The cat is in may cultures considered to be divine in nature, and the subject of worship (f.r. cats, cat worship).

For readers of the web version of this document, no link will be provided in these circumstances, and the Further Reading section must be navigated to manually with the Table of Contents on the left.

b. Glossary of Abbreviations

A more complete list may be found on Wikipedia. These abbreviations are the ones used in this document.

Abbreviation Meaning
1 first person
2 second person
3 third person
adj adjectivizer
a animate gender[1]
circ circumfix
con conative
dim diminutive
fut future tense
imp imperative
i inanimate gender[2]
inf infinitive
int intensive
neg negation ("not")
nmz nominalizer
obj object ("the object marker")
pass passive voice
pl plural
poss possessive case
pot potential
pst past tense
prog progressive aspect
prs / pres present tense
q interrogative
quot quotative
s singular
subr / sr subordinationalizer

1 Introduction

The Naretvei language was begun in February 2015, as another re-imagining of the Saadan language that I’d been concocting for over a year. It’s intended to be spoken by a fictional race known as the Oran for a series of stories that have been around longer than the idea for the language itself.

The language features a VSO sentence order, with little distinction between subject and object. It also incorporates ideas and features from multiple previous language sketches going back about two years.

Naretvei is agglutinative and semi-analytic, with each morpheme having only a single meaning, and tending to keep the number of affixes to a minimum. It does however feature some elements of fusional languages, namely the plural nominalizer -nen and a technicality resulting from vowel harmony.

2 Phonology and Phonetics

2.1 Vowels

Phonemes Front Center Back
High /i/ /y/ /u/
Middle /e̞/ /ø̞/ /o/
Low /æ/ /a/*
Orthography Front Center Back
High <i> <ü> <u>
Middle <e> <ö> <o>
Low <ä> <a>

Note *: Technically /ɐ̞/, but displayed as /a/ here for simplicity.

2.2 Consonants

Phonemes Bilabial Dental~Palatal Velar Uvular
Plosive /p/ /b/ /t/ /d/ /k~q/
Nasal /m/ /n/ [ɳ] /ŋ~ɴ/
Fricative /v/ /s/ /z/ /x/ /χ/
Affricate /t͡s/ /d͡z/
Other /w/ /l/ /r~ɾ/ /j/ [ɥ] /ʁ/
Orthography Bilabial Dental~Palatal Velar Uvular
Plosive <p> <b> <t> <d> <k>
Nasal <m> <n> <nq>
Fricative <v> <s> <z> <h> <x>
Affricate <c> <j>
Other <w> <l> <r> <y> <rr>
c cc j jj s z
et͡ʃɛd͡ʒɛʃe̞ʒʲe̞
üt͡ʃyd͡ʒyʃyʒy
it͡ʃiʒiʃizi
öt͡ʃøʒøʃøzø
at͡sad͡zɛsaza
ot͡sɛd͡zɛsozo
ut͡s̻ɛd͡z̻us̻uz̻u
ät͡s̻æd͡z̻æs̻æz̻æ

Note: <z j> are currently undergoing a shift, become purely /z/ and /ʒ/ respectively. The standard pronunciation remains /ʑ d͡ʑ/, however, so for this document they will be written as such.

2.3 E-mutation

E-mutation is the process by which the sound /e̞/ mutates or palatalizes the previous consonant. The effect only occurs with the /e̞/, not the long /e̞ː/ (which becomes [eː]), and only after single consonants, not consonant clusters or long consonants, where it becomes /ɛ/. It does not alter the consonants <v r rr x nq>. Lastly, it does not apply to <s>, which has its own rules. This rule does operate across morpheme and word boundaries.

In all applicable cases, the existence of /e̞/ causes palatalization, effectively becoming /ʲe̞/, so, for example:

The special cases for this are as follows:

Note *: /ɥ/ is functionally equivalent to /jʷ/, which I treat as functionally equivalent to /wʲ/.

2.4 Phonotactics and Syllable Structure

The syllable structure of Naretvei is a fairly loose (h)(C)(R|F)V(V)(R)(C(C)). A final <y> may appear after long consonants to separate them from adjacent identical consonants, i.e. *<nnn>→<nnyn>.

C, consonants: <p b t d k m n nq v s z h x c j l>
R, glides: <rr r l y w>
F, fricatives: <s h> V, vowels: <i e o ö u ü a ä>

Note: For all intents and purposes, affricates are treated as single consonants.

2.5 Stress and Timing

Stress almost always falls on the first syllable of the word, regardless of affixes, though if affixes are present then a secondary stress tends to fall on the first syllable of the root.

Naretvei is also mora-timed (f.r. morae, mora timing). Plain consonants, single-consonant clusters, affricates, and approximates have no morae, single vowels, dipthongs, and long consonants make one, and long vowels constitute two. The theoretical highest number of morae any syllable can have is three, a plain onset with a long vowel and long consonant in the coda.

Perhaps more plainly, onsets never constitute a mora, nuclei may constitute one or two morae by length of the vowel, and codas may constitute zero or one morae depending on the existence of a long consonant. The three kinds of syllables, therefore, are monomoraic, bimoraic, and trimoraic, or more friendily "light," "heavy," and "superheavy."

3 Basic Syntax

As stated in the Introduction, Naretvei is a VSO language, meaning that verb precedes subject, both of which proceed any objects the verb may take. By there being little difference between subject and objects, it was meant that other than its position directly after the verb and the lack of an object marker. Objects may in fact also appear in that same position, also without the marker, so the fact that they aren't the subject of the verb must be distinguished with context, or assumption if context is unavailable.

Do note that while VSO is the dominant word order, by no means is it fixed. Any subject or object can be fronted off into a separate clause, and the subject may appear at the end of the sentence when following the (§4.2.1) VO de nije S form.

3.1 Structure of the Verb and Adverbs

Naretvei is primarily head-final for all parts below the level of sentence. That is to say, any adverbs on the verb or adjectives on a noun precede the word they describe. Adverbs have less restrictions on them than adjectives, with no required order beyond their location between aspect particles and the negation particle. Times such as "tomorrow" or "last weekend" always come before the aspect particles, however, and are the only exception to the rule. The negation particle always appears directly before the thing it is negating, so both adverb and verb may be negated without confusion.

Examples

  1. Dussi miie hanu de hämäyne.
    The animal quickly learns to survive.

    dussi   mii-e     hanu   de  hä-mäy-ne
quickly learn-PRS animal OBJ INF-survive-CIRC

  2. Es mot ooce zal.
    The sun is not rising.

    es       mot ooc-e     zal
PRS_PROG NEG bloom-PRS sun

  3. Dussi mot ooce zal.
    The sun does not rise quickly.

    dussi   mot ooc-e     zal
quickly NEG bloom-PRS sun

  4. Mot dussi ooce zal.
    The sun rises unquickly.

    mot dussi   ooc-e    zal
NEG quickly rise-PRS sun

3.2 Structure of the Noun Phrase

In Noun phrases, similar to Verb phrases, descriptors precede the noun, except for (§4.2) subordinated verb constructs. Also like Verb phrases, negation may be used on any noun or adjective, the negation particle appearing immediately before the term to which it applies. In contrast to them, in Noun phrases adjectives have heavier restrictions put on them compared to the adverbs in Verb phrases. Like English and many other languages, Naretvei features an adjective order. Adjectives fall into categories based on what they describe, be it shape, or colour, or age, etc. The adjective order is something not well understood, and hard to define, but appears to be the following (in order said):

Adjectives of the same category may be placed in any sub-order within their respective zones, but may not leave it.

Relative and subordinate clauses always come after the noun they describe. More on verb subordination can be found in section §4.2.

4 Verbs

Verbs can be considered the most important part of the Naretvei language, and the most important part of that is tense. Tense is a core to how the language functions, appearing in conjugation, prepositions, the progressive aspect particles, and other places. No sentence is complete without some description of tense, save when the verb is dropped. The three tenses are:

This contrasts with English, which technically has only past and non-past tenses. It isn't as complex as some systems, lacking things like hodiernal or crastinal tense, but for I feel this system best matches the culture: it's done, being done, or will be done shortly. The same action-oriented ideology is why I placed the verb at the start of sentences, as it's the most important part. Earlier iterations of the language also featured a non-future tense, but this was dropped after it was found to be more or less useless and confusing.

4.1 Verb Affixes

To begin, the infinitive forms of verbs is a circumfix, beginning with ha- and ending with -ne, written for ease as ha-ne. A number of prefixes can also be placed on the verb. They are:

The imperative xo- always proceeds the others, which may switch, and all lie with the infinitive ha-ne if the infinitive is present. Always outside, though, are the prefixes for the evidentiality-like system, of which only one can be used at a time. They are:

And as for the suffixes, they are:

4.1.1 Tense

On tense: there are technically two classes of verbs in Naretvei: those that conjugate tense with a suffix, and those that conjugate tense with a suffix, and those that conjugate it with an infix. Suffixing verbs are far more common. The suffixes are:

Infixes work a bit differently. The default is -e-, which also marks the present tense. The other two are:

4.1.2 Reduplication

Though not technically an affix, when the first syllable of a verb stem is reduplicated, the reduplicated segment marks an int (intensive) upon the verb.

Compare:

In the case of an infixing verb where the first syllable contains the tense infix, the default infix is instead used in the reduplication.

Compare:

4.2 Verb Subordination

Subordination of a verb to a noun is a common way to make complex sentences. It functions by adding the infix -j- between the stem and the tense suffix, or the suffix -je to infixing verbs. Neither the suffixes -n or -ci would work here, as these verbs still take objects (usually only one) and can function as either adjectives or complete noun phrases.

Subordination is almost never found in the Subject.

Examples

  1. niie de nije tama.
    "I know what you do."
nii-e    de  ni-j-e      tama
know-PRS OBJ do-SUBR-PRS 2[s]
  1. rrae de neko veijo acanq.
    "I like the cat she saw."
rra-e    de  neko vei-j-o      acanq
like-PRS OBJ cat  see-SUBR-PST 3[s]
  1. mot konne de ol anealletaoja
    "There is nothing that I will want to try to sell."
mot konn-e       de  ol   ane-alle-tao-j-a
NEG there_is-PRS OBJ zero POT-CON-sell-SUBR-FUT

4.2.1 The VO de nije S Form

The VO de nije S form is fairly simple despite its name. It makes use of the subordination of verbs to noun phrases to transform the Subject into an active Object. Only active subjects may be moved in such a manner; passive subjects must remain immediately after the verb. It works by subordinating the verb hanine (to do) and grouping the subject with it.

An example like zanqe ponna de nije haci would translate to "Eat an apple do I."

zanq-e  ponna de  ni-j-e      haci
eat-PRS apple OBJ do-SUBR-PRS 1[s]

This example also demonstrates the earlier note about how objects may be confused with subjects by relocation and dropping of the object marker. The object marker could of course been inserted here (zanqe de ponna...), but it remains optional.

4.3 The Progressive Aspect

The above examples demonstrated one of the more interesting of the Verbal features, the aspect system. The particles are:

When combined with tense on the verb, these particles form a time span during which action occurs. For example, the phrase "I am eating" would be translated as es zanqe haci, with the present progressive and present tense on the verb combining to form a time span in the present, a current ongoing action. By changing the es to and os, however, the sentence would translate to "I have been eating", the os being in the past tense drawing the start of the action into the past. An as instead would describe the action, eating, as happening now and going to be happening in the future as well, a far easier way of saying "am and will be doing."

PST Tense PRS Tense FUT Tense
os had been have been then had and will be
es was and am now am am and will then be
as had and will be am and will be will be

As a final note, aspect particles may not be negated.

5 Nouns

The nouns come in two genders: animate and inanimate. The gender system is almost vestigial as in English, but retains importance beyond the realm of pronouns, where it's actually disappeared entirely. Things like animals, people, machines, non-static things like fire or rain, and actions tend to be animate, whereas things like trees, rocks, waiting and other non-moving, passive things and actions tend to be inanimate.

5.1 Pluralization

Pluralization functions through an affix placed after the first consonant(s) in a word. The affixes are:

Both are often marked as only pl, as gender is not terribly important and the usual glosser can be lazy.

5.2 Noun Affixes

Unlike verbs, most affixes on nouns come after the stem. It is not known why they are there rather than before the stem.

5.2.1 Possession

Possession functions with the suffix -(o)v, with the <o> present if there is no available consonant slot the <v> can fit in, or if the previous consonant was <v>. It's used, however, for far more than just simple possession. Any time English would use "-'s" or "of", -(o)v will be found. There is no complex possession system like in English, with a clitic; see the examples.

-(o)v is glossed as -poss.

Examples

  1. Enqlandov derratyan.
    The King of England.

    Enqland-ov   derrat-yan
England-POSS direct-person

  2. Prransov derratyanov yoppo.
    The child of the King of France.

    Prrans-ov   derratyan-ov  yoppo
France-POSS director-POSS child

5.3 Pronouns and Demonstratives

It is safe to say that no spoken language can effectively get away without pronouns or demonstratives of any sort for long, and Naretvei is no exception.

6 Adjectives and Adverbs

7 Other affixes and Word-building

These affixes came around following grammaticalization of previously separate words joined with possession, though they now apply to all types of words, be it verb or noun or adjective, etc. Most of these terms replace nominalization affixes if present.

8 Particles and Prepositions

Appendix

Futher Reading

Morae and Mora Timing:

  1. By the list on Wikipedia, a marks the agent, but due to the lack of agent-marking in this document, the animate gender gloss an has been shortened to it. ↩︎

  2. Again, i means something different, but for ease the inanimate gender gloss inan has been shortened to it. ↩︎