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Rttirri

2019-08-08T20:09:41Z

Frrurtu: /* Orthography */

{{Infobox language
|image = Rttirria.png
|name = Rttirri
|nativename = Rttirriapu
|pronunciation = [ʈʼiɻiɑpu]
|region = Southeast Asia
|states = All of Rttirria, though less prevalent in Sipa, Uya, Rtuha, and Wimichimau
|setting = Rttirria
|speakers = 46.5 million
|date = 2015
|fam1 = Rttirrian
|fam2 = South Rttirrian
|fam3 = Classical Rttirri
|script = [[w:Latin script|Latin]] (unofficially), Rttirri
}}
'''Rttirri''' (English: /ˈtɪəri/, homophonous with "teary") is the official language of [[Verse:Rttirria|Rttirria]], a nation in [[w:Southeast Asia|Southeast Asia]] that forms a peninsula in the [[w:Bay of Bengal|Bay of Bengal]], along the southwestern coast of [[w:Myanmar|Myanmar]]. It is spoken as the native language of 46.5 million Rttirrian citizens, or just under 80% of the nation's total population of 58.2 million. Most other citizens have at least some proficiency in the language.

Rttirri is dialectally diverse, with many different accents found across the nation. It uses the Rttirri script, an abugida that evolved from the [[w:Pallava alphabet|Pallava script]], which is a Brahmic script. Other Pallava scripts include Thai, Lao, Burmese, and Khmer. However, an English transcription system was codified in the late 19th century, and is used on this page for convenience.

Linguistically, Rttirri is classified as an ergative-absolutive, polysynthetic language. It has a phonology consisting of only four vowels (in the standard language) and 25 consonants. It is fascinating to linguists because of its unique method for marking the causative agents of verbs: inflectional particles that encode the person and number of the causative entity, just like the ones used to mark the ergative and absolutive agents.

==History==
:''See also: [[Proto-Rttirrian]]''
Rttirri is a member of the Rttirrian language family, whose languages are spoken across the nation of Rttirria as well as in adjoining areas of Myanmar and Thailand. It is part of the South Rttirrian branch of the family; the dialects of Proto-South-Rttirrian that would become Rttirri split off from those that would become Gaju around the 3rd to 5th century CE, probably in southeastern Rttirria.

The main phonological and grammatical changes from Proto-South-Rttirrian to Rttirri are summarized here:
* The language evolved from a [[w:nominative-accusative language|nominative-accusative]] to an [[w:ergative-absolutive language|ergative-absolutive]] language: intransitive verbs began to use a construction combining the subject/possessive marker with the word ''hi'' ("benefit"), which then simplified into an affix identical to the object markers. For example, ''na-hi-'' ("for my benefit, X happened") became ''ni-'' ("I did X").
* The third-person singular absolutive affix */gʲa/ disappeared.
* A chain shift occurred from voiced stops, to voiceless stops, to voiceless fricatives, much like [[w:Grimm's law|Grimm's law]] in [[w:Proto-Germanic|Proto-Germanic]]. This occurred for the alveolar, bilabial, palatal, and retroflex series, but the palatalization of */gʲ/ kept it from occurring for the velar series—i.e. */gʲ/ did not become /k/ and /k/ did not become /x/. Instead, */gʲ/ shifted to simply /j/.
* Some clusters were broken up with an epenthetic */ə/, which later backed to /ʌ/.
* In onset position, the phoneme */ʟ/ shifted to /ʋ/, later /w/. In coda position, it vocalized to /u̯/, except after /u/—*/uʟ/ > /ʌ/.
* In some "emphatic" and common words, stops were optionally pronounced as ejective consonants. Under the influence of this phenomenon, all stop-stop clusters simplified to an ejective version of the first stop, e.g. */tk/ > /tʼ/.
* /β/+/ʌ/, in either order, simplified to a new vowel, /y/, which later lowered to /ø/ to contrast with /i/.
* The verbal tense system simplified greatly, with only a handful of irregular verbs remaining (see below).
* The freestanding evidential particles ''na'', ''nye'', ''su'', and ''sya'' began to be attached to the verb and take on the preceding vowel.
* Similarly to the formation of the new absolutive prefixes, causative prefixes formed from the ergative/possessive prefixes plus ''efe'' (modern Rttirri: ''ehe'' "command"), which simplified. For example, ''na-ehe'' ("under my command, X happened") became ''ne-'' ("I caused X to happen").
* Because the word order (which is much freer in [[Gaju]], for example) was starting to solidify in an Verb / Absolutive / Ergative pattern, the absolutive noun joined the verb complex, leading to [[w:noun incorporation|noun incorporation]].
* Two more chain shifts occurred: /θ/ > /f/ > /h/, /t͡s/ > /t/ > /ʔ/.
* The phoneme */s/ merged into /ç/ before front and central vowels and /ʃ/ before back vowels.
* In most dialects, */a/ (which had backed to /ä/) merged with /ʌ/ as /ɑ/.

==Phonology==
{{quote box
|width=25%
|quote=The vernacular of the Rttirrian people is a language like no other; aside from the smaller languages of the mountain-peoples and forest-peoples. It is spoken variously with curls of the tongue like the languages of the South Asian subcontinent and of Australia; and with glottalized puffs of air like the Navaho language and the families of the Caucasus Mountains; and a front-rounded vowel thieved from the Scandinavians... I am optimistic that, after proper study, the Rttirrian tongue may one day show an affinity with one of the many ill-understood language families of northern Australia or New Guinea...
|source=Obediah Taylor, author of the first grammar of Rttirri, ''The Rttirrian Language'' (1895)
}}

===Consonants===
Although the specific realizations vary, the dialects of Rttirri generally distinguish the same consonant phonemes.
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! |
! |Labial
! |Alveolar
! |Retroflex
! |Palatal
! |Velar
! |Glottal
|-
! Nasal
| '''m''' /m/
| '''n''' /n/
| '''rn''' /ɳ/
| '''ny''' /ɲ/
|
|
|-
! Plosive
| '''p''' /p/
| '''t''' /t/
| '''rt''' /ʈ/
| '''ty''' /c/
| '''k''' /k/
| '''hh''' /ʔ/
|-
! Ejective
| '''pp''' /pʼ/
| '''tt''' /tʼ/
| '''rtt''' /ʈʼ/
| '''tty''' /cʼ/
| '''kk''' /kʼ/
|
|-
! Fricative
| '''f''' /f/
| '''s''' /ʃ/
| '''rs''' /ʂ/
| '''sy''' /ç/
|
| '''h''' /h/
|-
! Affricate
|
| '''ch''' /t͡ʃ/
|
|
|
|
|-
! Approximant
| '''w''' /w/
|
| '''rr''' /ɻ/
| '''y''' /j/
|
|
|-
! Flap
|
|
| '''r''' /ɽ/
|
|
|
|}

In addition, the consonants '''l''' /l/ and '''kh''' /x/ are used in loanwords.

===Vowels===
Modern Standard Rttirri has a four-vowel inventory.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! |
! Front
! Back
|-
! High
| '''i''' /i/
| '''u''' /u/
|-
! Mid
| '''e''' /ø/
|
|-
! Low
|
| '''a''' /ɑ/
|}

In addition, the mid vowels '''e''' /e/ and '''o''' /o/ are used in loanwords.

===Phonotactics===
Modern Standard Rttirri does not allow final consonants, and the only initial clusters allowable are of the following form: ('''f s sy''') + ('''m n r rr'''). There are no geminate consonants.

No dialects of Rttirri distinguish vowel length, but the following diphthongs are allowed: '''ai au ei eu ui iu'''.

Stress is usually on the first syllable of a word, with secondary stress applied to every subsequent odd-numbered syllable. Loanwords and foreign names typically preserve their original stress, however.

The glottal stop, ''hh'', which is fairly rare in lexical units, is used to separate morphemes to avoid two consecutive identical vowels.
:''Ki-kani-ni.''
:2SG.ABS-listen-DRPAC
:You listen.

:''Ki'''hh'''-isi-ni.''
:2SG.ABS-talk-DRPAC
:You talk.

==Orthography==
[[File:Rttirri script.png|thumb|left|The Rttirri native script in handwritten form. Under each letter is its pronunciation in Classical Rttirri, which may have shifted in modern varieties. Asterisks represent sounds in Sanskrit loanwords - for example, Rttirri has no /bʱ/ phoneme; Sanskrit words containing [bʱ] are pronounced with /pʼ/.]]
The Rttirri script was codified in the mid-14th century. It was based on the [[w:Pallava alphabet|Pallava script]], which is a Brahmic abugida that is also the ancestor of the Thai, Lao, Burmese, and Khmer scripts.

As an [[w:abugida|abugida]], the Rttirri script is written with consonantal letters that are mutated for the different vowels. /i/ is the inherent vowel - for example, the character for /m/ is pronounced /mi/, but when given the diacritic for /u/, it is pronounced /mu/.

The writing system in Rttirri is mostly phonetic, but as it reflects Classical Rttirri pronunciation, various mergers and phonemic splits have corrupted the one-to-one correspondence between sound and letter. In addition, several characters exist that are only used for transliteration of Sanskrit words into Rttirri, having historically represented sounds that do not exist in Rttirri. For example, the letter representing Sanskrit /ɖ/ is distinct from the letter representing /ʈ/, but both are pronounced as [ʈ] in modern Rttirri (or often as [ɖ] intervocalically), because most dialects of the language have no phonemic voicing distinctions. The diacritic representing /ʌ/ could be considered redundant, because few speakers today maintain the phonemic distinction between /ʌ/ and /ɑ/, but using the right diacritic anyway is essential for correct spelling.

In the late 19th century, when Rttirria was a colony of Britain, linguists from England designed a Latin transcription system for Rttirri. There have been periodic movements to switch Rttirri to using the Latin alphabet, but none has ever been successful. However, the Latin system is often favored for textbooks and travel guides for learning Rttirri, since it is almost completely phonetic.

==Vocabulary==
The bulk of Rttirri vocabulary is indigenous. However, a sizable number of words, particularly related to food, seafaring, academia, and religion, are derived from Arabic and Sanskrit; as part of the historical Indosphere, Rttirria was long influenced by Indian and Arab traders and briefly made a colony of India, during which time it was given its native Brahmic script. Rttirrians' attitudes toward loaning words from other languages, such as English, Mandarin, Burmese, and Tamil, vary more.

However, many common "international" words have names coined from native Rttirri roots. This is not primarily a prescriptive process propagated by a nativist language academy, but has more to do with marketing firms' desire to make products accessible and comprehensible, and with Rttirri's limited phonotactic possibilities that make many languages' vocabulary difficult to loan. A few examples follow:

*''makawei'' ("chocolate", lit. "sweet dirt")
*''Pisyikitepe'' ("Internet", lit. "electricity book" - this may be seen as ironic, since ''kitepe'' is itself an obvious Arabic loan)
*''uiuiuni'' ("banana", lit. "crescent")

===Numerals===
Native Rttirri numerals only go up to five, with the words for "four" and "five" being formed through reduplication; there are also native words for various other small quantities, including zero. However, these numerals exist in tandem with numbers loaned from Sanskrit. For numbers where Rttirrian and Sanskrit versions exist, the Sanskrit root tends to be used in compounds and in higher-register terms, similar to prefixes like ''mono-'' and ''bi-'' in English. An example is ''tefettarri'' ("bicycle", lit. "two-wheel").

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Number
! Rttirrian Root (where applicable)
! Sanskrit Root (where applicable)
|-
| 0
| parta
| sunya
|-
| many (traditionally, more than five)
| kuie
|
|-
| a few (traditionally, 2 - 5)
| murri
|
|-
| 1
| e
| ekama
|-
| 2
| tau
| tefe
|-
| 3
| kui
| tereni
|-
| 4
| tauau
| chafari
|-
| 5
| kuiui
| pacha
|-
| 6
|
| sata
|-
| 7
|
| sappa
|-
| 8
|
| asata
|-
| 9
|
| nafa
|-
| 10
|
| tasa
|}

==Dialectology==
[[File:Rttirria provinces no background.png|thumb|right|Simple map of Rttirria, showing the divisions between provinces, major rivers, and mountain ranges. Note the outline of Myanmar on the top right.]]
Rttirri has many regional dialects.

===Modern Standard Rttirri===
The modern standard variant of the language is not spoken natively by many native Rttirrians, except those from highly educated and wealthy families, but it is widely used in news broadcasts and automated recordings such as those on subway systems - in this respect, it occupies a similar niche to that of [[w:Received Pronunciation|Received Pronunication]] in the UK. It is characterized by the following features:

* Because the usual aim of MSR is to "speak clearly", allophony is minimized - for example, consonants are not voiced intervocalically as they are in most dialects, and /w/ remains phonetically [w].
* The vowels /ɑ/ and /ʌ/ are merged to /ɑ/; thus, words like /tɑwi/ "brick" and /tʌwi/ "to survive" are pronounced the same.

===Eastern Rttirri===
Eastern Rttirri is spoken in much of the eastern half of the country, from the border with Myanmar to Fukanucha and eastern Kikai. This area of the country, centered on the capital city of Iharnara, is known for its large immigrant communities, decaying industry, high crime, and shrinking population, comparable to the [[w:Rust Belt|Rust Belt]] of the United States. Eastern Rttirri, which is considered the most innovative dialect, is characterized by the following features:

* Intervocalically within a word, voiceless consonants are voiced.
* /ɑ/ and /ʌ/ are merged to [ä].
:* After palatal consonants and in the last syllable of a word, it is raised as far as [e].
* /ø/ lowers to [œ].
:* After retroflex consonants and in the last syllable of a word, it is instead backed as far as [o].
* /h/ fronts to [x] before phonetically front vowels, or [χ] before back ones.
* /w/ is realized as [b] in all positions. In loanwords and foreign names, /w/ is often rendered as a full [u] instead, while /b/ is increasingly imported as a fully voiced [b] instead of as [p].
* /j/ becomes a fricative sound, [ʝ]. Likewise, diphthongs containing /i/ become /Vʝ/ or /ʝV/ sequences. This pattern is not usually applied to loanwords.
* /i/ is backed to [ɨ~ɘ] after retroflex consonants, and /u/ is fronted and unrounded to the same vowel after palatal consonants - in word roots, but not in affixes, determiners, or certain other function words. Many scholars argue that there has been a phonemic split and that /ɨ/ is a legitimate vowel in Eastern Rttirri.
:* One minimal pair is ''rra-rri'' ("cozy", lit. "home-y") [ɻä'''ɻi'''] vs. ''rrarri'' [ɻä'''ɻɨ'''] ("footprint").
* Eastern Rttirri shows extensive reduction of unstressed vowels, creating clusters that do not exist in other dialects.
* Diphthongs are pronounced more as /VV/ sequences with a hiatus.
* The evidential particles lose their final vowels, instead being pronounced as bare consonants.
* The past-tense affix ''-pu-'' becomes simply ''-p''.

====Fukanucha Rttirri====
The advanced sub-dialect of Fukanucha shows the following additional features:

* The already fronted /ɑ/ is further fronted to [a].
* The already lowered /ø/ is unrounded to [ɛ~æ].
* The ''-n'' evidential particle may be realized simply as nasality on the preceding vowel. Likewise, the ''-ny'' evidential particle may be realized in the same way, with the addition of a final [ʝ].

====Yenesni Rttirri====
Another advanced sub-dialect of Eastern Rttirri is spoken in most of Yenesni and southern Manamuki, showing the following additional features:

* The already lowered /ø/ is unrounded to [ɛ].
* The "Yenesni Shift" is a chain shift of several vowel phonemes after labial consonants, except in most foreign names, affixes, and function words. The shift is considered to be in progress, and it may be spreading to Akkakau and other Eastern provinces; younger speakers in Akkakau appear to be showing the early stages of the Yenesni Shift. It is sporadically found in younger speakers in urban areas of the West.
:*/i/: [i] > [e]
:*/e/: [e] > [ɛ]
:*/ø/: [ɛ] > [ä]
:*/ɑ/: [ä] > [ɒ~o]
:*/o/: [o] > [u]
* By analogy with the past-tense ''-p-'', the future-tense ''-mi-'' becomes ''-m-'', and is pronounced [ŋ] before velar consonants.

===Western Rttirri===
Western Rttirri is used in most of the western half of Rttirria, from western Kikai to the beaches of Hima. This area of the country, centered on Rttirria's largest city, Efunari, is wealthier, more ethnically homogeneous, and increasingly culturally relevant. However, in recent decades the dialect has also begun to creep up to the sparsely populated north of Rttirria. The dialect's high cultural prestige and the rapid growth of the northern city of Tettufane (many of whose residents are from Hima or the Efunari area), are starting to solidify Tettufane as a Western Rttirri-speaking city. Western Rttirri is characterized by the following features:

* Intervocalically within a word, voiceless consonants are voiced.
* Intervocalically within a word, /w/ is fricativized to [v]. In this position, it merges with /f/, which is voiced to [v].
* Most speakers merge /ɑ/ and /ʌ/ to /ɑ/; however, some older and rural speakers maintain the distinction.
* In all positions, /ʔ/ disappears.
* When stressed, /i/ and /u/ diphthongize to [əi] and [əu].
* The diphthongs /ɑi/ and /ɑu/ tense to [oi] and [eu].
:* This tensing does not take place when these diphthongs are formed by elision of /ʔ/. Thus, ''kau'' (/kɑu/) "to want" and ''kahhu'' (/kɑʔu/) "to squeeze" are distinguished not by a glottal stop, but by the vowels: [k'''eu'''] vs. [k'''ɑu'''].
* In all positions, /ø/ raises to [y].
:* The diphthong /øi/ merges with it.
* The past-tense affix ''-pu'' tends to be substituted with the past-perfect affix ''-fe''.

===Kikai Rttirri===
Kikai occupies a transitional zone between the Western and Eastern dialect areas. As a result, its dialect can be considered a mixture of Eastern and Western Rttirri, but younger speakers, especially in the city of Kikai itself, are adopting more Western features.

===Northern Rttirri===
Spoken only by rural and isolated communities in northern Rttirria, and by older people in the Tettufane metropolitan area, this dialect is being crowded out by the influence of Western Rttirri. One of the most conservative dialects, it is characterized by the following features:

* Unlike in other dialects, voiceless consonants remain voiceless between vowels.
* Likewise, /w/ is pronounced clearly as [w] in all positions.
* The distinction between /ɑ/ and /ʌ/ is maintained.
* The value of /ø/ is typically [ø] in all positions.
* After retroflex consonants, /i/ and /u/ lower to [e] and [o].
:* When not stressed, the diphthong /ɑu/ merges with [o]. As a result, some scholars argue that /o/ is its own phoneme in Northern Rttirri.
* The consonants /t͡ʃ/ and /c/ have lost their phonemic contrast and become allophonic: [c] is pronounced after front vowels and [t͡ʃ] after back ones.

===Rseperupu Rttirri===
Localized to the small island province of Rseperupu, off the coast of western Rttirria, Rseperupu Rttirri is characterized by the following features, influenced by the native languages of indigenous, non-ethnically-Rttirri peoples.

* Intervocalically within a word, voiceless consonants are voiced.
* Intervocalically within a word, /w/ is fricativized to [v].
* Stressed vowels tend to be allophonically lengthened.
* /ɑ/ and /ʌ/ are merged to [ä].
* /ø/ is unrounded to [e].
* /u/ is lowered to [o].
* Except for /j/, palatal consonants are shifted to an alveolar articulation.
:* /ç/ is realized as [s], /c/ as [ts], and /cʼ/ as [tsʼ].
:* /ɳ/ is merged into /n/.

==Morphology==
===Verbs===
The Rttirri verb is richly polysynthetic, and contains the following slots for affixes. Slots marked with a '''†''' are required for all verbs.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Verb Slot
! Allowable Inputs
|-
! Causative Agent Person/Number
| ''ne-'' (I) ''ke-'' (you) ''we-'' (he/she/it) ''me-'' (we) ''te-'' (you all) ''rte-'' (they)
|-
! Ergative Agent Person/Number
| ''na-'' (I) ''ke-'' (you) ''wa-'' (he/she/it) ''ma-'' (we) ''ta-'' (you all) ''rta-'' (they)
|-
! Absolutive Agent Person/Number (†)
| ''ni-'' (me) ''ki-'' (you) ''∅-'' (him/her/it) ''mi-'' (us) ''ti-'' (you all) ''hhi-'' (them)
|-
! Mood
| ''-sya-'' (optative) ''-ppa-'' (adhortative) ''-mappa-'' (cohortative) ''-tya-'' (interrogative) ''-nai-'' (subjunctive) ''-kai-'' (conditional) ''-kka-'' (imperative) ''-sma-'' (generic)
|-
! Past Tense
| ''-pu-''
|-
! Verb Root (†) + Question Infix
| any verb
|-
! Auxiliary Verb
| ''-kaki-'' ("to be able to") ''-kau-'' ("to want to") ''-rtika-'' ("to like to") and others
|-
! Future Tense
| ''-mi-''
|-
! Incorporated Noun (for transitive verbs)
| any noun root, without adjectives, determiners, possessive affixes, etc.
|-
! Evidentiality (†)
| ''-nV'' (direct knowledge) ''-nyV'' (hearsay) ''-sV'' (inferential) ''-syV'' (assumptive) (''V'' = the vowel of the preceding syllable)
|}

====Irregular verbs====
Rttirri has 20 irregular verbs, which have special forms for the past and future inflections. However, when used with a modal verb, this irregularity is ignored, so the normal affixes ''-pu-'' and ''-mi-'' are used.

:''Ni-'''tu'''tasa-na.''
:1SG.ABS-walk.PST-DRPAC
:I walked.

:''Ni-'''ni'''tasa-na.''
:1SG.ABS-walk.FUT-DRPAC
:I will walk.

:''Ni-'''pu'''-tasa-kaki-ni.''
:1SG.ABS-PST-walk-can-DRPAC
:I was able to walk.

:''Ni-tasa-kaki-'''mi'''-ni.''
:1SG.ABS-walk-can-FUT-DRPAC
:I will be able to walk.

The following irregular verbs exist:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Verb (Past)
! Verb (Present)
! Verb (Future)
! English translation
|-
| pui
| fei
| mui
| to be
|-
| pisu
| chiu
| misu
| to do
|-
| tyusymu
| symu
| nyisymu
| to make
|-
| ppeu
| kkeu
| mepeu
| to see
|-
| tufnu
| fnu
| nifnu
| to bring
|-
| tuausma
| ausma
| niausma
| to call
|-
| tuttaka
| ttaka
| nittaka
| to feel
|-
| pumi
| mupi
| mumi
| to believe
|-
| tutasa
| tasa
| nitasa
| to walk
|-
| fupaki
| haki
| fumaki
| to stay
|-
| tyusymi
| symi
| nyisymi
| to exist
|-
| tuaihiu
| aihiu
| niaihiu
| to get
|-
| upei
| pei
| umei
| to think
|-
| tuicha
| icha
| nicha
| to come
|-
| rtuertau
| ertau
| rniertau
| to use
|-
| tuaihu
| aihu
| niaihu
| to try
|-
| tyuyana
| yana
| nyiyana
| to cook
|-
| puppi
| ippi
| muppi
| to start
|-
| pafa
| kafa
| mafa
| to return
|-
| puwa
| euwa
| muwa
| to take
|}

====''Wh-'' questions====
Non-binary questions (ones where the answer is not a simple "yes" or "no") are expressed in two different ways.

For "who"/"whom" and "what" questions, an affix is substituted for one of the person/number affixes on the verb:
*''fe-'' (causative)
*''fa-'' (ergative)
*''fi-'' (absolutive)

:''Ke-'''fi'''-pu-chi-nu uhiki?''
:2SG.ERG-what.ABS-PST-eat-DRPAC today
:What did you eat today?

Other non-binary questions are expressed by infixing one of the following particles within the verb root, after the first syllable of the root.

*''-hhifi-'' ("when?")
*''-hhifai-'' ("where?")
*''-hhifau-'' ("why?")
*''-hhifui-'' ("how?")

:''Tihh-isi-ni mumu nu...''
:2PL.ABS-talk-DRPAC IMPF NEG
:You guys aren't talking...

:''Tihh-i'''hhifau'''si-ni mumu nu?''
:2PL.ABS-talk.why-DRPAC IMPF NEG
:Why aren't you guys talking?

====Noun incorporation====
Only the bare stem of a noun can be incorporated into a verb. To add more information about a noun, one must do so outside the verb complex.

:''Yuhhu, ke-∅-pu-chi-'''tufakha'''-sya na-'''tufakha''' anai!''
:hey 2SG.ERG-3SG.ABS-PST-eat-apple-ASS 1SG.GEN-apple sweet
:Hey, you ate my sweet apple!

However, any type of noun stem can be incorporated, even proper names and compounds.

:''Na-hhi-puhh-uffrai-'''waira-rnamu'''-nu.''
:1SG.ERG-3PL.ABS-PST-break-eye-bottle-DRPAC
:I broke the binoculars. (lit. "I broke the eye-bottles".)

:''Na-∅-pu-emei-'''Nuyorroko'''-no uhhu.''
:1SG.ERG-3SG.ABS-PST-hate-New_York-DRPAC always
:I always hated New York.

In informal speech, a lengthy noun may optionally be substituted with a shorter one outside the verb complex - this can be seen as analogous to the classifier systems used in the Oneida language making use of noun incorporation. For instance, the sentence ''Yuhhu, kepuchitufakhasya na'''tufakha''' anai!'' could instead be expressed as ''Yuhhu, kepuchitufakhasya na'''chipu''' anai!'', where ''chipu'' simply means "food". The "alternative" noun used outside the verb complex need not be a literal equivalence or even phonetically shorter at all, so this is technique is frequently used for poetic effect.

However, the technique may be generalizing: studies show that younger speakers are using it in daily conversation more often, and with a smaller variety of "simplified" nouns. It is speculated that it may eventually evolve into a true classifier or grammatical gender system.

====Sequential verbs====
Rttirri allows strings of verb roots to be stacked inside the verb complex, such as when someone is doing multiple things in a row. There are three affixes that can join verb roots: ''ki'' for actions that take place in succession, ''i'' for actions undertaken simultaneously, and ''hu'' (lit. "and") for general sets of actions with no respect to chronology. All three of these affixes can be combined within a string of verb roots as needed.

:''Ni-puhh-uweu-'''i'''-fusi-ni.''
:1SG.ABS-PST-sing-and-bathe-DRPAC
:I sang while I bathed.

To combine an intransitive verb with a transitive verb, which is undertaken by the agent of the intransitive verb, one may use the antipassive suffix ''-tyu'' on the transitive verb, and the suffix ''-kka'' (lit. "to") on the transitive verb's recipient.

:''∅-Pu-nyarra-hu-pikau-'''tyu'''-Wuikiu-nu ma-ttu-'''kka'''.''
:3SG.ABS-PST-yell-and-slap-ANTIPASS-Mother-DRPAC 1PL.GEN-self-DAT
:Mother yelled and slapped us.

Alternatively, the passive suffix ''-rui'' may be applied to the intransitive verb.
:''Wa-mi-pu-pikau-'''rui'''-hu-nyarra-Wuikiu-nu.''
:3SG.ERG-2PL.ABS-PST-slap-PASS-and-yell-Mother-DRPAC
:Mother slapped us and yelled.

====Causatives====
Causative constructions are fairly common in Rttirri, used to express many actions that in other languages would be expressed as regular transitive verbs.

:'''''Ne'''-wa-hhi-pu-chi-nerri-ni synapi pipi.''
:1SG.CAUS-3SG.ERG-3PL.ABS-PST-eat-carrot-DRPAC rabbit a_bit
:I fed my rabbit some carrots.

There is no inherent level of force communicated by a causative, so one can use adverbial particles such as ''kuni'' ("willingly") and ''mika'' ("reluctantly") to specify "to let X do Y" or "to make X do Y".

:''We-na-∅-pu-kkai-wesipi-ni '''mika''' Sawikiu.''
:3SG.CAUS-1SG.ERG-3SG.ABS-PST-write-homework-DRPAC reluctantly Father
:Dad made me do my homework.

:''We-ni-pu-ppa-na '''kuni''' Sawikiu tukai-kka ramui-huppu-nye!''
:3SG.CAUS-1SG.ABS-PST-go-DRPAC Father match-DAT square-ball-GEN
:Dad took me to the baseball game!

====Equative sentences====
The copula, ''fei'' (past: ''pui'', future: ''mei''), is an intransitive verb, and the thing or person that is being equated to is marked with ''-kka''.

:''∅-'''Fei'''-Charartu-nu na-mahai-pu-'''kka'''.''
:''3SG.ABS-be-Charartu-DRPAC 1SG.GEN-call-GER-DAT
:Charartu is my name.

===Nouns===
Compared to verb inflection, noun inflection in Rttirri is fairly simple.

All nouns are pluralized with ''-ma'', and this suffix is maintained when a specific number is used. However, the plural suffix eliminates the need for any inflection on determiners or adjectives.

:''irtu hhike''
:tree that
:that tree

:''irtu-'''ma''' symui kuiui hhike na-fuka-pu''
:tree-PL tall five that 1SG.GEN-yard-LOC
:those five tall trees in my garden

Nouns have no grammatical gender, although the affix ''-kasi'' can be optionally used to explicitly "switch" their natural gender. Typically, masculinity is assumed, but there are exceptions.

:''kkai-urri''
:write-AGENT
:author (male)

:''kkai-urri-'''kasi'''''
:write-AGENT-F
:female author

:''mirna-urri''
:tend-AGENT
:nurse (female)

:''mirna-urri-'''kasi'''''
:tend-AGENT-M
:male nurse

:''rnu-'''kasi'''''
:man-F
:feminine-acting man

:''pune-'''kasi'''''
:woman-M
:masculine-acting woman

====Possession====
Like Arabic, Rttirri nouns may be inflected for possessor, using the ergative prefixes.

:'''''na'''-puki''
:1SG.GEN-dog
:my dog

Rttirri is considered a pro-drop language, but when emphatic pronouns are used, they are formed with ''-ttu'' ("self") in this way.

:''Ke-hhi-pu-enai-syi ke-'''ttu'''!''
:2SG.ERG-3PL.ABS-PST-kill-INFER 2SG.GEN-self
:''You'' killed them!

====Postpositions====
Nouns can take the following postpositions:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Postposition
! English Translation
|-
| ''-pu''
| inside, among
|-
| ''-kka''
| to
|-
| ''-hha''
| from
|-
| ''-ri''
| at, worth
|-
| ''-rta''
| with (comitative)
|-
| ''-rratye''
| with (instrumental)
|-
| ''-nupe''
| above
|-
| ''-pe''
| below
|-
| ''-rnaha''
| in front of
|-
| ''-fani''
| in back of
|-
| ''-ppirsa''
| outside
|-
| ''-nye''
| of, near
|-
| ''-fappe''
| far from
|-
| ''-sya''
| across
|-
| ''-chatta''
| through
|-
| ''-pimi''
| between (2 people/things)
|-
| ''-tyeri''
| among (3+ people/things)
|-
| ''-wenyi''
| except
|-
| ''-fu''
| only
|-
| ''-niwa''
| around
|-
| ''-hara''
| about
|-
| ''-hhui''
| for
|-
| ''-misu''
| like, similar to
|}

The noun affixes are not clitics; all other words modifying the noun come after them both.

:''∅-Pu-wikka-na '''wa'''-rra-'''ma'''-'''kka''' rasi tau.''
:3SG.ABS-PST-run-DRPAC 3SG.GEN-house-PL-DAT red two
:She ran to her two red houses.

===Derivation===
Words can be derived into other parts of speech with the following suffixes:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! rowspan="2" colspan="2"|
! colspan="4"|From...
|-
! Noun
! Verb
! Adjective or Determiner
! Adverb
|-
! rowspan="4"|To...
! Noun
| -
| ''-pu''
| ''-rtu''
| ''-rtu''
|-
! Verb
| ''-ttya'' (to be X, temporarily) ''-ttyu'' (to do an X-like thing)
| -
| ''-rtuttyu'' ''-isattyu'' (to become X)
| ''-rtuttyu''
|-
! Adjective or Determiner
| ''-rri''
| ''-pirri''
| -
| ''-pirri''
|-
! Adverb
| ''-kke''
| ''-pekke''
| ''-rte''
| -
|}

Note that derived verbs can also be made causative.

:''We-ni-pu-mupukku-'''ttya'''-nu mika setuki!''
:3SG.CAUS-1SG.ABS-PST-pig-be-DRPAC unwillingly witch
:The witch turned me into a pig!

==Syntax==
===Word order===
Standard word order is:
:Verb Phrase + Causative Noun Phrase + Ergative Noun Phrase + Absolutive Noun Phrase

Noun phrases are organized thus:
:Frontal Adjectives + Noun + Most Adjectives + Determiners + Relative Clause

The all-purpose negator is ''nu'', which can grammatically be placed anywhere in a sentence, although the standard position is immediately after the verb phrase and any adverbs modifying the verb.

Frontal adjectives are a closed class of 16 adjectives that precede the noun. They tend to relate to unchangeable, essential traits of an object, animal, or person, but they are placed in front of the adjective regardless of context. They are:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Adjective
! English Translation
|-
| ''ari''
| dark
|-
| ''rrai''
| white
|-
| ''sanarra''
| thin
|-
| ''tarti''
| small
|-
| ''ttarai''
| magical
|-
| ''symui''
| tall
|-
| ''akkai''
| flat
|-
| ''smaki''
| curved
|-
| ''ekku''
| folded
|-
| ''marata''
| mortal
|-
| ''rasi''
| red
|-
| ''ityu''
| turquoise
|-
| ''teme''
| round
|-
| ''aratta''
| black
|-
| ''uiui''
| curved
|-
| ''urtuki''
| green
|}

The logic of the assignment of adjectives to the frontal or non-frontal class can seem arbitrary:

:'''''ityu''' rasa''
:turquoise car
:turquoise car

:''rasa '''rsarni'''''
:car blue
:blue car

:''Na-∅-kkeu-kaki-rsirta-na '''rasi''' ke-rsirta.''
:1SG.ERG-3SG.ABS-see-can-face-DRPAC red 2SG.GEN-face
:I can see your red face (even if it is only blushing in the moment).

===Conjunctions===
The following conjunctions are used, and can be applied both to noun phrases and to clauses:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Postposition
! English Translation
|-
| ''hu''
| and
|-
| ''rsi''
| or (inclusive)
|-
| ''rsima''
| or (exclusive)
|-
| ''wa''
| but
|-
| ''rtti''
| because
|-
| ''kinya''
| after
|-
| ''kkawu''
| before
|-
| ''mamu''
| until
|-
| ''rraku''
| although
|-
| ''rnaku''
| when (for events in the past)
|-
| ''chaki''
| when (for events in the future, or in a general sense)
|}

===Relative and independent clauses===
Relative clauses, which are demarcated with the particle ''kku'', are [[w:Internally-headed relative clause|internally headed]] - grammatically capable of standing on their own.

:''Hhi-symi-hhifai-rtima-na rtima-ma '''kku''' na-hhi-pu-hihu-nu?''
:3PL.ABS-exist-where-dumpling-DRPAC dumpling-PL that 1SG.ERG-3PL.ABS-PST-bake-DRPAC
:Where are the dumplings that I baked? (lit. "Where are the dumplings such that I baked them?")

Independent clauses are technically not possible in Rttirri. Instead, a dummy "noun" ''sa'' is incorporated into the main verb complex, and the verb complex in the clause is made into a gerund-like construct using the suffix ''-ppu''. This eliminates the need for evidentiality particles on the clause, since nouns cannot have evidentiality. In the following example, a gerund is made the direct object of the verb "to say":

:''Wa-∅-pu-rtiu-'''sa'''-na ∅-ppa-kau-'''ppu''' rra-kka.''
:3SG.ERG-3SG.ABS-PST-say-dummy-DRPAC 3SG.ABS-go-want-GER house-DAT
:She said that she wanted to go home. (lit. "She spoke her desire to go home.")

Quoted speech, however, requires no such nominalization. However, ''sa'' is still incorporated into the main verb complex.

:''Wa-∅-pu-rtiu-'''sa'''-na, "Ni-ppa-kau-nu rra-kka!"''
:3SG.ERG-3SG.ABS-PST-say-dummy-DRPAC 1SG.ABS-go-want-DRPAC house-DAT
:She said, "I want to go home!"

Normally, relative and independent clauses are grammatically singular, but they can be pluralized to indicate an idea or utterance that is expressed repeatedly.

:''Na-'''hhi'''-pu-nyarra-sa-na ke-ni-kka-kura-kapa-ppu!''
:1SG.ERG-3PL.ABS-PST-yell-dummy-DRPAC 2SG.ERG-1SG.ABS-IMP-kick-stop-GER
:I kept yelling at you to stop kicking me!

==Sample text==
''Pipepi'' ("The Bushlark", 1958), a free-verse piece by the Rttirrian poet Sruwurtu Ukapi, who is credited with helping Rttirrian literature and poetry branch out from its long tradition of cynicism and darkness.

::{|
||'''English'''|| || '''Rttirri'''
|-
||As I strode through the forest,|| || Nitutasaifaityunu sasyakichatta,
|-
||I found a bushlark sitting on the ground.|| || pipepikka kku wukini mursuri.
|-
||She cooed to greet me|| || Puhirnunu sahaipuhhui nakka
|-
||and lifted a limp wing to wave.|| || hu weretumaki afnu michi.
|-
||"So morose is the cry of the birds of this area,"|| || "Ttyasittyahirnupu kelime rreumanye rikeu,"
|-
||I remarked to myself.|| || napukemisana.
|-
||"Nay," she said! "I am happy.|| || "Nu, nimarrattyana!" wapurtiusana.
|-
||"My stomach cries for berries,|| || "Amirsetini fraimahhui,
|-
||but I can answer it with beetles.|| || wa nikinene tyurrumarratye.
|-
||"My lungs cry for exercise of the wings,|| || Hhiamiwamini echauhhui makimanye,
|-
||but I can answer them with a jog.|| || wa nikinene mikikapurratye.
|-
||My heart cries for a man or a friend|| || Amirupana rnuhhui wa nyeppaihhui
|-
||of my own kind,|| || nakesyinye,
|-
||anything for some pleasant conversation,|| || rsi isipuhhui ttima eka,
|-
||but I can answer it with you."|| || wa nikinene kerratye."
|}

==See also==
* [[Gaju]]
* [[Verse:Rttirria|Rttirria]]

==External links==
* [http://conworkshop.info/view_language.php?l=RTP Rttirri] on ConWorkShop

[[Category:A priori]]
[[Category:Agglutinative languages]]
[[Category:Conlangs]]
[[Category:Ergative-absolutive languages]]
[[Category:Languages]]
[[Category:Polysynthetic languages]]
[[Category:Rttirria]]

Rttirri

2019-08-08T20:07:32Z

Frrurtu: /* Vocabulary */

{{Infobox language
|image = Rttirria.png
|name = Rttirri
|nativename = Rttirriapu
|pronunciation = [ʈʼiɻiɑpu]
|region = Southeast Asia
|states = All of Rttirria, though less prevalent in Sipa, Uya, Rtuha, and Wimichimau
|setting = Rttirria
|speakers = 46.5 million
|date = 2015
|fam1 = Rttirrian
|fam2 = South Rttirrian
|fam3 = Classical Rttirri
|script = [[w:Latin script|Latin]] (unofficially), Rttirri
}}
'''Rttirri''' (English: /ˈtɪəri/, homophonous with "teary") is the official language of [[Verse:Rttirria|Rttirria]], a nation in [[w:Southeast Asia|Southeast Asia]] that forms a peninsula in the [[w:Bay of Bengal|Bay of Bengal]], along the southwestern coast of [[w:Myanmar|Myanmar]]. It is spoken as the native language of 46.5 million Rttirrian citizens, or just under 80% of the nation's total population of 58.2 million. Most other citizens have at least some proficiency in the language.

Rttirri is dialectally diverse, with many different accents found across the nation. It uses the Rttirri script, an abugida that evolved from the [[w:Pallava alphabet|Pallava script]], which is a Brahmic script. Other Pallava scripts include Thai, Lao, Burmese, and Khmer. However, an English transcription system was codified in the late 19th century, and is used on this page for convenience.

Linguistically, Rttirri is classified as an ergative-absolutive, polysynthetic language. It has a phonology consisting of only four vowels (in the standard language) and 25 consonants. It is fascinating to linguists because of its unique method for marking the causative agents of verbs: inflectional particles that encode the person and number of the causative entity, just like the ones used to mark the ergative and absolutive agents.

==History==
:''See also: [[Proto-Rttirrian]]''
Rttirri is a member of the Rttirrian language family, whose languages are spoken across the nation of Rttirria as well as in adjoining areas of Myanmar and Thailand. It is part of the South Rttirrian branch of the family; the dialects of Proto-South-Rttirrian that would become Rttirri split off from those that would become Gaju around the 3rd to 5th century CE, probably in southeastern Rttirria.

The main phonological and grammatical changes from Proto-South-Rttirrian to Rttirri are summarized here:
* The language evolved from a [[w:nominative-accusative language|nominative-accusative]] to an [[w:ergative-absolutive language|ergative-absolutive]] language: intransitive verbs began to use a construction combining the subject/possessive marker with the word ''hi'' ("benefit"), which then simplified into an affix identical to the object markers. For example, ''na-hi-'' ("for my benefit, X happened") became ''ni-'' ("I did X").
* The third-person singular absolutive affix */gʲa/ disappeared.
* A chain shift occurred from voiced stops, to voiceless stops, to voiceless fricatives, much like [[w:Grimm's law|Grimm's law]] in [[w:Proto-Germanic|Proto-Germanic]]. This occurred for the alveolar, bilabial, palatal, and retroflex series, but the palatalization of */gʲ/ kept it from occurring for the velar series—i.e. */gʲ/ did not become /k/ and /k/ did not become /x/. Instead, */gʲ/ shifted to simply /j/.
* Some clusters were broken up with an epenthetic */ə/, which later backed to /ʌ/.
* In onset position, the phoneme */ʟ/ shifted to /ʋ/, later /w/. In coda position, it vocalized to /u̯/, except after /u/—*/uʟ/ > /ʌ/.
* In some "emphatic" and common words, stops were optionally pronounced as ejective consonants. Under the influence of this phenomenon, all stop-stop clusters simplified to an ejective version of the first stop, e.g. */tk/ > /tʼ/.
* /β/+/ʌ/, in either order, simplified to a new vowel, /y/, which later lowered to /ø/ to contrast with /i/.
* The verbal tense system simplified greatly, with only a handful of irregular verbs remaining (see below).
* The freestanding evidential particles ''na'', ''nye'', ''su'', and ''sya'' began to be attached to the verb and take on the preceding vowel.
* Similarly to the formation of the new absolutive prefixes, causative prefixes formed from the ergative/possessive prefixes plus ''efe'' (modern Rttirri: ''ehe'' "command"), which simplified. For example, ''na-ehe'' ("under my command, X happened") became ''ne-'' ("I caused X to happen").
* Because the word order (which is much freer in [[Gaju]], for example) was starting to solidify in an Verb / Absolutive / Ergative pattern, the absolutive noun joined the verb complex, leading to [[w:noun incorporation|noun incorporation]].
* Two more chain shifts occurred: /θ/ > /f/ > /h/, /t͡s/ > /t/ > /ʔ/.
* The phoneme */s/ merged into /ç/ before front and central vowels and /ʃ/ before back vowels.
* In most dialects, */a/ (which had backed to /ä/) merged with /ʌ/ as /ɑ/.

==Phonology==
{{quote box
|width=25%
|quote=The vernacular of the Rttirrian people is a language like no other; aside from the smaller languages of the mountain-peoples and forest-peoples. It is spoken variously with curls of the tongue like the languages of the South Asian subcontinent and of Australia; and with glottalized puffs of air like the Navaho language and the families of the Caucasus Mountains; and a front-rounded vowel thieved from the Scandinavians... I am optimistic that, after proper study, the Rttirrian tongue may one day show an affinity with one of the many ill-understood language families of northern Australia or New Guinea...
|source=Obediah Taylor, author of the first grammar of Rttirri, ''The Rttirrian Language'' (1895)
}}

===Consonants===
Although the specific realizations vary, the dialects of Rttirri generally distinguish the same consonant phonemes.
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! |
! |Labial
! |Alveolar
! |Retroflex
! |Palatal
! |Velar
! |Glottal
|-
! Nasal
| '''m''' /m/
| '''n''' /n/
| '''rn''' /ɳ/
| '''ny''' /ɲ/
|
|
|-
! Plosive
| '''p''' /p/
| '''t''' /t/
| '''rt''' /ʈ/
| '''ty''' /c/
| '''k''' /k/
| '''hh''' /ʔ/
|-
! Ejective
| '''pp''' /pʼ/
| '''tt''' /tʼ/
| '''rtt''' /ʈʼ/
| '''tty''' /cʼ/
| '''kk''' /kʼ/
|
|-
! Fricative
| '''f''' /f/
| '''s''' /ʃ/
| '''rs''' /ʂ/
| '''sy''' /ç/
|
| '''h''' /h/
|-
! Affricate
|
| '''ch''' /t͡ʃ/
|
|
|
|
|-
! Approximant
| '''w''' /w/
|
| '''rr''' /ɻ/
| '''y''' /j/
|
|
|-
! Flap
|
|
| '''r''' /ɽ/
|
|
|
|}

In addition, the consonants '''l''' /l/ and '''kh''' /x/ are used in loanwords.

===Vowels===
Modern Standard Rttirri has a four-vowel inventory.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! |
! Front
! Back
|-
! High
| '''i''' /i/
| '''u''' /u/
|-
! Mid
| '''e''' /ø/
|
|-
! Low
|
| '''a''' /ɑ/
|}

In addition, the mid vowels '''e''' /e/ and '''o''' /o/ are used in loanwords.

===Phonotactics===
Modern Standard Rttirri does not allow final consonants, and the only initial clusters allowable are of the following form: ('''f s sy''') + ('''m n r rr'''). There are no geminate consonants.

No dialects of Rttirri distinguish vowel length, but the following diphthongs are allowed: '''ai au ei eu ui iu'''.

Stress is usually on the first syllable of a word, with secondary stress applied to every subsequent odd-numbered syllable. Loanwords and foreign names typically preserve their original stress, however.

The glottal stop, ''hh'', which is fairly rare in lexical units, is used to separate morphemes to avoid two consecutive identical vowels.
:''Ki-kani-ni.''
:2SG.ABS-listen-DRPAC
:You listen.

:''Ki'''hh'''-isi-ni.''
:2SG.ABS-talk-DRPAC
:You talk.

==Orthography==
[[File:Rttirri script.png|thumb|left|The Rttirri native script in handwritten form. Under each letter is its pronunciation in Classical Rttirri, which may have shifted in modern varieties. Asterisks represent sounds in Sanskrit loanwords - for example, Rttirri has no /bʱ/ phoneme; Sanskrit words containing [bʱ] are pronounced with /pʼ/.]]
The Rttirri script was codified in the mid-14th century. It was based on the [[w:Pallava alphabet|Pallava script]], which is a Brahmic abugida that is also the ancestor of the Thai, Lao, Burmese, and Khmer scripts.

As an [[w:abugida|abugida]], the Rttirri script is written with consonantal letters that are mutated for the different vowels. /i/ is the inherent vowel - for example, the character for /m/ is pronounced /mi/, but when given the diacritic for /u/, it is pronounced /mu/.

The writing system in Rttirri is mostly phonetic, but as it reflects Classical Rttirri pronunciation, various mergers and phonemic splits have corrupted the one-to-one correspondence between sound and letter. In addition, several characters exist that are only used for transliteration of Sanskrit words into Rttirri, having historically represented sounds that do not exist in Rttirri. For example, the letter representing Sanskrit /ɖ/ is distinct from the letter representing /ʈ/, but both are pronounced as [ʈ] in modern Rttirri (or often as [ɖ] intervocalically), because most dialects of the language have no phonemic voicing distinctions. The diacritic representing /ʌ/ could be considered redundant, because few speakers today maintain the phonemic distinction between /ʌ/ and /ɑ/, but using the right diacritic anyway is essential for correct spelling.

In the late 19th century, when Rttirria was a colony of Britain, English linguists designed a Latin transcription system for Rttirri. There have been periodic movements to switch Rttirri to using the Latin alphabet, but none has ever been successful. However, the Latin system is often favored for Rttirri textbooks and travel-focused language-learning books, since it is almost completely phonetic.

==Vocabulary==
The bulk of Rttirri vocabulary is indigenous. However, a sizable number of words, particularly related to food, seafaring, academia, and religion, are derived from Arabic and Sanskrit; as part of the historical Indosphere, Rttirria was long influenced by Indian and Arab traders and briefly made a colony of India, during which time it was given its native Brahmic script. Rttirrians' attitudes toward loaning words from other languages, such as English, Mandarin, Burmese, and Tamil, vary more.

However, many common "international" words have names coined from native Rttirri roots. This is not primarily a prescriptive process propagated by a nativist language academy, but has more to do with marketing firms' desire to make products accessible and comprehensible, and with Rttirri's limited phonotactic possibilities that make many languages' vocabulary difficult to loan. A few examples follow:

*''makawei'' ("chocolate", lit. "sweet dirt")
*''Pisyikitepe'' ("Internet", lit. "electricity book" - this may be seen as ironic, since ''kitepe'' is itself an obvious Arabic loan)
*''uiuiuni'' ("banana", lit. "crescent")

===Numerals===
Native Rttirri numerals only go up to five, with the words for "four" and "five" being formed through reduplication; there are also native words for various other small quantities, including zero. However, these numerals exist in tandem with numbers loaned from Sanskrit. For numbers where Rttirrian and Sanskrit versions exist, the Sanskrit root tends to be used in compounds and in higher-register terms, similar to prefixes like ''mono-'' and ''bi-'' in English. An example is ''tefettarri'' ("bicycle", lit. "two-wheel").

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Number
! Rttirrian Root (where applicable)
! Sanskrit Root (where applicable)
|-
| 0
| parta
| sunya
|-
| many (traditionally, more than five)
| kuie
|
|-
| a few (traditionally, 2 - 5)
| murri
|
|-
| 1
| e
| ekama
|-
| 2
| tau
| tefe
|-
| 3
| kui
| tereni
|-
| 4
| tauau
| chafari
|-
| 5
| kuiui
| pacha
|-
| 6
|
| sata
|-
| 7
|
| sappa
|-
| 8
|
| asata
|-
| 9
|
| nafa
|-
| 10
|
| tasa
|}

==Dialectology==
[[File:Rttirria provinces no background.png|thumb|right|Simple map of Rttirria, showing the divisions between provinces, major rivers, and mountain ranges. Note the outline of Myanmar on the top right.]]
Rttirri has many regional dialects.

===Modern Standard Rttirri===
The modern standard variant of the language is not spoken natively by many native Rttirrians, except those from highly educated and wealthy families, but it is widely used in news broadcasts and automated recordings such as those on subway systems - in this respect, it occupies a similar niche to that of [[w:Received Pronunciation|Received Pronunication]] in the UK. It is characterized by the following features:

* Because the usual aim of MSR is to "speak clearly", allophony is minimized - for example, consonants are not voiced intervocalically as they are in most dialects, and /w/ remains phonetically [w].
* The vowels /ɑ/ and /ʌ/ are merged to /ɑ/; thus, words like /tɑwi/ "brick" and /tʌwi/ "to survive" are pronounced the same.

===Eastern Rttirri===
Eastern Rttirri is spoken in much of the eastern half of the country, from the border with Myanmar to Fukanucha and eastern Kikai. This area of the country, centered on the capital city of Iharnara, is known for its large immigrant communities, decaying industry, high crime, and shrinking population, comparable to the [[w:Rust Belt|Rust Belt]] of the United States. Eastern Rttirri, which is considered the most innovative dialect, is characterized by the following features:

* Intervocalically within a word, voiceless consonants are voiced.
* /ɑ/ and /ʌ/ are merged to [ä].
:* After palatal consonants and in the last syllable of a word, it is raised as far as [e].
* /ø/ lowers to [œ].
:* After retroflex consonants and in the last syllable of a word, it is instead backed as far as [o].
* /h/ fronts to [x] before phonetically front vowels, or [χ] before back ones.
* /w/ is realized as [b] in all positions. In loanwords and foreign names, /w/ is often rendered as a full [u] instead, while /b/ is increasingly imported as a fully voiced [b] instead of as [p].
* /j/ becomes a fricative sound, [ʝ]. Likewise, diphthongs containing /i/ become /Vʝ/ or /ʝV/ sequences. This pattern is not usually applied to loanwords.
* /i/ is backed to [ɨ~ɘ] after retroflex consonants, and /u/ is fronted and unrounded to the same vowel after palatal consonants - in word roots, but not in affixes, determiners, or certain other function words. Many scholars argue that there has been a phonemic split and that /ɨ/ is a legitimate vowel in Eastern Rttirri.
:* One minimal pair is ''rra-rri'' ("cozy", lit. "home-y") [ɻä'''ɻi'''] vs. ''rrarri'' [ɻä'''ɻɨ'''] ("footprint").
* Eastern Rttirri shows extensive reduction of unstressed vowels, creating clusters that do not exist in other dialects.
* Diphthongs are pronounced more as /VV/ sequences with a hiatus.
* The evidential particles lose their final vowels, instead being pronounced as bare consonants.
* The past-tense affix ''-pu-'' becomes simply ''-p''.

====Fukanucha Rttirri====
The advanced sub-dialect of Fukanucha shows the following additional features:

* The already fronted /ɑ/ is further fronted to [a].
* The already lowered /ø/ is unrounded to [ɛ~æ].
* The ''-n'' evidential particle may be realized simply as nasality on the preceding vowel. Likewise, the ''-ny'' evidential particle may be realized in the same way, with the addition of a final [ʝ].

====Yenesni Rttirri====
Another advanced sub-dialect of Eastern Rttirri is spoken in most of Yenesni and southern Manamuki, showing the following additional features:

* The already lowered /ø/ is unrounded to [ɛ].
* The "Yenesni Shift" is a chain shift of several vowel phonemes after labial consonants, except in most foreign names, affixes, and function words. The shift is considered to be in progress, and it may be spreading to Akkakau and other Eastern provinces; younger speakers in Akkakau appear to be showing the early stages of the Yenesni Shift. It is sporadically found in younger speakers in urban areas of the West.
:*/i/: [i] > [e]
:*/e/: [e] > [ɛ]
:*/ø/: [ɛ] > [ä]
:*/ɑ/: [ä] > [ɒ~o]
:*/o/: [o] > [u]
* By analogy with the past-tense ''-p-'', the future-tense ''-mi-'' becomes ''-m-'', and is pronounced [ŋ] before velar consonants.

===Western Rttirri===
Western Rttirri is used in most of the western half of Rttirria, from western Kikai to the beaches of Hima. This area of the country, centered on Rttirria's largest city, Efunari, is wealthier, more ethnically homogeneous, and increasingly culturally relevant. However, in recent decades the dialect has also begun to creep up to the sparsely populated north of Rttirria. The dialect's high cultural prestige and the rapid growth of the northern city of Tettufane (many of whose residents are from Hima or the Efunari area), are starting to solidify Tettufane as a Western Rttirri-speaking city. Western Rttirri is characterized by the following features:

* Intervocalically within a word, voiceless consonants are voiced.
* Intervocalically within a word, /w/ is fricativized to [v]. In this position, it merges with /f/, which is voiced to [v].
* Most speakers merge /ɑ/ and /ʌ/ to /ɑ/; however, some older and rural speakers maintain the distinction.
* In all positions, /ʔ/ disappears.
* When stressed, /i/ and /u/ diphthongize to [əi] and [əu].
* The diphthongs /ɑi/ and /ɑu/ tense to [oi] and [eu].
:* This tensing does not take place when these diphthongs are formed by elision of /ʔ/. Thus, ''kau'' (/kɑu/) "to want" and ''kahhu'' (/kɑʔu/) "to squeeze" are distinguished not by a glottal stop, but by the vowels: [k'''eu'''] vs. [k'''ɑu'''].
* In all positions, /ø/ raises to [y].
:* The diphthong /øi/ merges with it.
* The past-tense affix ''-pu'' tends to be substituted with the past-perfect affix ''-fe''.

===Kikai Rttirri===
Kikai occupies a transitional zone between the Western and Eastern dialect areas. As a result, its dialect can be considered a mixture of Eastern and Western Rttirri, but younger speakers, especially in the city of Kikai itself, are adopting more Western features.

===Northern Rttirri===
Spoken only by rural and isolated communities in northern Rttirria, and by older people in the Tettufane metropolitan area, this dialect is being crowded out by the influence of Western Rttirri. One of the most conservative dialects, it is characterized by the following features:

* Unlike in other dialects, voiceless consonants remain voiceless between vowels.
* Likewise, /w/ is pronounced clearly as [w] in all positions.
* The distinction between /ɑ/ and /ʌ/ is maintained.
* The value of /ø/ is typically [ø] in all positions.
* After retroflex consonants, /i/ and /u/ lower to [e] and [o].
:* When not stressed, the diphthong /ɑu/ merges with [o]. As a result, some scholars argue that /o/ is its own phoneme in Northern Rttirri.
* The consonants /t͡ʃ/ and /c/ have lost their phonemic contrast and become allophonic: [c] is pronounced after front vowels and [t͡ʃ] after back ones.

===Rseperupu Rttirri===
Localized to the small island province of Rseperupu, off the coast of western Rttirria, Rseperupu Rttirri is characterized by the following features, influenced by the native languages of indigenous, non-ethnically-Rttirri peoples.

* Intervocalically within a word, voiceless consonants are voiced.
* Intervocalically within a word, /w/ is fricativized to [v].
* Stressed vowels tend to be allophonically lengthened.
* /ɑ/ and /ʌ/ are merged to [ä].
* /ø/ is unrounded to [e].
* /u/ is lowered to [o].
* Except for /j/, palatal consonants are shifted to an alveolar articulation.
:* /ç/ is realized as [s], /c/ as [ts], and /cʼ/ as [tsʼ].
:* /ɳ/ is merged into /n/.

==Morphology==
===Verbs===
The Rttirri verb is richly polysynthetic, and contains the following slots for affixes. Slots marked with a '''†''' are required for all verbs.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Verb Slot
! Allowable Inputs
|-
! Causative Agent Person/Number
| ''ne-'' (I) ''ke-'' (you) ''we-'' (he/she/it) ''me-'' (we) ''te-'' (you all) ''rte-'' (they)
|-
! Ergative Agent Person/Number
| ''na-'' (I) ''ke-'' (you) ''wa-'' (he/she/it) ''ma-'' (we) ''ta-'' (you all) ''rta-'' (they)
|-
! Absolutive Agent Person/Number (†)
| ''ni-'' (me) ''ki-'' (you) ''∅-'' (him/her/it) ''mi-'' (us) ''ti-'' (you all) ''hhi-'' (them)
|-
! Mood
| ''-sya-'' (optative) ''-ppa-'' (adhortative) ''-mappa-'' (cohortative) ''-tya-'' (interrogative) ''-nai-'' (subjunctive) ''-kai-'' (conditional) ''-kka-'' (imperative) ''-sma-'' (generic)
|-
! Past Tense
| ''-pu-''
|-
! Verb Root (†) + Question Infix
| any verb
|-
! Auxiliary Verb
| ''-kaki-'' ("to be able to") ''-kau-'' ("to want to") ''-rtika-'' ("to like to") and others
|-
! Future Tense
| ''-mi-''
|-
! Incorporated Noun (for transitive verbs)
| any noun root, without adjectives, determiners, possessive affixes, etc.
|-
! Evidentiality (†)
| ''-nV'' (direct knowledge) ''-nyV'' (hearsay) ''-sV'' (inferential) ''-syV'' (assumptive) (''V'' = the vowel of the preceding syllable)
|}

====Irregular verbs====
Rttirri has 20 irregular verbs, which have special forms for the past and future inflections. However, when used with a modal verb, this irregularity is ignored, so the normal affixes ''-pu-'' and ''-mi-'' are used.

:''Ni-'''tu'''tasa-na.''
:1SG.ABS-walk.PST-DRPAC
:I walked.

:''Ni-'''ni'''tasa-na.''
:1SG.ABS-walk.FUT-DRPAC
:I will walk.

:''Ni-'''pu'''-tasa-kaki-ni.''
:1SG.ABS-PST-walk-can-DRPAC
:I was able to walk.

:''Ni-tasa-kaki-'''mi'''-ni.''
:1SG.ABS-walk-can-FUT-DRPAC
:I will be able to walk.

The following irregular verbs exist:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Verb (Past)
! Verb (Present)
! Verb (Future)
! English translation
|-
| pui
| fei
| mui
| to be
|-
| pisu
| chiu
| misu
| to do
|-
| tyusymu
| symu
| nyisymu
| to make
|-
| ppeu
| kkeu
| mepeu
| to see
|-
| tufnu
| fnu
| nifnu
| to bring
|-
| tuausma
| ausma
| niausma
| to call
|-
| tuttaka
| ttaka
| nittaka
| to feel
|-
| pumi
| mupi
| mumi
| to believe
|-
| tutasa
| tasa
| nitasa
| to walk
|-
| fupaki
| haki
| fumaki
| to stay
|-
| tyusymi
| symi
| nyisymi
| to exist
|-
| tuaihiu
| aihiu
| niaihiu
| to get
|-
| upei
| pei
| umei
| to think
|-
| tuicha
| icha
| nicha
| to come
|-
| rtuertau
| ertau
| rniertau
| to use
|-
| tuaihu
| aihu
| niaihu
| to try
|-
| tyuyana
| yana
| nyiyana
| to cook
|-
| puppi
| ippi
| muppi
| to start
|-
| pafa
| kafa
| mafa
| to return
|-
| puwa
| euwa
| muwa
| to take
|}

====''Wh-'' questions====
Non-binary questions (ones where the answer is not a simple "yes" or "no") are expressed in two different ways.

For "who"/"whom" and "what" questions, an affix is substituted for one of the person/number affixes on the verb:
*''fe-'' (causative)
*''fa-'' (ergative)
*''fi-'' (absolutive)

:''Ke-'''fi'''-pu-chi-nu uhiki?''
:2SG.ERG-what.ABS-PST-eat-DRPAC today
:What did you eat today?

Other non-binary questions are expressed by infixing one of the following particles within the verb root, after the first syllable of the root.

*''-hhifi-'' ("when?")
*''-hhifai-'' ("where?")
*''-hhifau-'' ("why?")
*''-hhifui-'' ("how?")

:''Tihh-isi-ni mumu nu...''
:2PL.ABS-talk-DRPAC IMPF NEG
:You guys aren't talking...

:''Tihh-i'''hhifau'''si-ni mumu nu?''
:2PL.ABS-talk.why-DRPAC IMPF NEG
:Why aren't you guys talking?

====Noun incorporation====
Only the bare stem of a noun can be incorporated into a verb. To add more information about a noun, one must do so outside the verb complex.

:''Yuhhu, ke-∅-pu-chi-'''tufakha'''-sya na-'''tufakha''' anai!''
:hey 2SG.ERG-3SG.ABS-PST-eat-apple-ASS 1SG.GEN-apple sweet
:Hey, you ate my sweet apple!

However, any type of noun stem can be incorporated, even proper names and compounds.

:''Na-hhi-puhh-uffrai-'''waira-rnamu'''-nu.''
:1SG.ERG-3PL.ABS-PST-break-eye-bottle-DRPAC
:I broke the binoculars. (lit. "I broke the eye-bottles".)

:''Na-∅-pu-emei-'''Nuyorroko'''-no uhhu.''
:1SG.ERG-3SG.ABS-PST-hate-New_York-DRPAC always
:I always hated New York.

In informal speech, a lengthy noun may optionally be substituted with a shorter one outside the verb complex - this can be seen as analogous to the classifier systems used in the Oneida language making use of noun incorporation. For instance, the sentence ''Yuhhu, kepuchitufakhasya na'''tufakha''' anai!'' could instead be expressed as ''Yuhhu, kepuchitufakhasya na'''chipu''' anai!'', where ''chipu'' simply means "food". The "alternative" noun used outside the verb complex need not be a literal equivalence or even phonetically shorter at all, so this is technique is frequently used for poetic effect.

However, the technique may be generalizing: studies show that younger speakers are using it in daily conversation more often, and with a smaller variety of "simplified" nouns. It is speculated that it may eventually evolve into a true classifier or grammatical gender system.

====Sequential verbs====
Rttirri allows strings of verb roots to be stacked inside the verb complex, such as when someone is doing multiple things in a row. There are three affixes that can join verb roots: ''ki'' for actions that take place in succession, ''i'' for actions undertaken simultaneously, and ''hu'' (lit. "and") for general sets of actions with no respect to chronology. All three of these affixes can be combined within a string of verb roots as needed.

:''Ni-puhh-uweu-'''i'''-fusi-ni.''
:1SG.ABS-PST-sing-and-bathe-DRPAC
:I sang while I bathed.

To combine an intransitive verb with a transitive verb, which is undertaken by the agent of the intransitive verb, one may use the antipassive suffix ''-tyu'' on the transitive verb, and the suffix ''-kka'' (lit. "to") on the transitive verb's recipient.

:''∅-Pu-nyarra-hu-pikau-'''tyu'''-Wuikiu-nu ma-ttu-'''kka'''.''
:3SG.ABS-PST-yell-and-slap-ANTIPASS-Mother-DRPAC 1PL.GEN-self-DAT
:Mother yelled and slapped us.

Alternatively, the passive suffix ''-rui'' may be applied to the intransitive verb.
:''Wa-mi-pu-pikau-'''rui'''-hu-nyarra-Wuikiu-nu.''
:3SG.ERG-2PL.ABS-PST-slap-PASS-and-yell-Mother-DRPAC
:Mother slapped us and yelled.

====Causatives====
Causative constructions are fairly common in Rttirri, used to express many actions that in other languages would be expressed as regular transitive verbs.

:'''''Ne'''-wa-hhi-pu-chi-nerri-ni synapi pipi.''
:1SG.CAUS-3SG.ERG-3PL.ABS-PST-eat-carrot-DRPAC rabbit a_bit
:I fed my rabbit some carrots.

There is no inherent level of force communicated by a causative, so one can use adverbial particles such as ''kuni'' ("willingly") and ''mika'' ("reluctantly") to specify "to let X do Y" or "to make X do Y".

:''We-na-∅-pu-kkai-wesipi-ni '''mika''' Sawikiu.''
:3SG.CAUS-1SG.ERG-3SG.ABS-PST-write-homework-DRPAC reluctantly Father
:Dad made me do my homework.

:''We-ni-pu-ppa-na '''kuni''' Sawikiu tukai-kka ramui-huppu-nye!''
:3SG.CAUS-1SG.ABS-PST-go-DRPAC Father match-DAT square-ball-GEN
:Dad took me to the baseball game!

====Equative sentences====
The copula, ''fei'' (past: ''pui'', future: ''mei''), is an intransitive verb, and the thing or person that is being equated to is marked with ''-kka''.

:''∅-'''Fei'''-Charartu-nu na-mahai-pu-'''kka'''.''
:''3SG.ABS-be-Charartu-DRPAC 1SG.GEN-call-GER-DAT
:Charartu is my name.

===Nouns===
Compared to verb inflection, noun inflection in Rttirri is fairly simple.

All nouns are pluralized with ''-ma'', and this suffix is maintained when a specific number is used. However, the plural suffix eliminates the need for any inflection on determiners or adjectives.

:''irtu hhike''
:tree that
:that tree

:''irtu-'''ma''' symui kuiui hhike na-fuka-pu''
:tree-PL tall five that 1SG.GEN-yard-LOC
:those five tall trees in my garden

Nouns have no grammatical gender, although the affix ''-kasi'' can be optionally used to explicitly "switch" their natural gender. Typically, masculinity is assumed, but there are exceptions.

:''kkai-urri''
:write-AGENT
:author (male)

:''kkai-urri-'''kasi'''''
:write-AGENT-F
:female author

:''mirna-urri''
:tend-AGENT
:nurse (female)

:''mirna-urri-'''kasi'''''
:tend-AGENT-M
:male nurse

:''rnu-'''kasi'''''
:man-F
:feminine-acting man

:''pune-'''kasi'''''
:woman-M
:masculine-acting woman

====Possession====
Like Arabic, Rttirri nouns may be inflected for possessor, using the ergative prefixes.

:'''''na'''-puki''
:1SG.GEN-dog
:my dog

Rttirri is considered a pro-drop language, but when emphatic pronouns are used, they are formed with ''-ttu'' ("self") in this way.

:''Ke-hhi-pu-enai-syi ke-'''ttu'''!''
:2SG.ERG-3PL.ABS-PST-kill-INFER 2SG.GEN-self
:''You'' killed them!

====Postpositions====
Nouns can take the following postpositions:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Postposition
! English Translation
|-
| ''-pu''
| inside, among
|-
| ''-kka''
| to
|-
| ''-hha''
| from
|-
| ''-ri''
| at, worth
|-
| ''-rta''
| with (comitative)
|-
| ''-rratye''
| with (instrumental)
|-
| ''-nupe''
| above
|-
| ''-pe''
| below
|-
| ''-rnaha''
| in front of
|-
| ''-fani''
| in back of
|-
| ''-ppirsa''
| outside
|-
| ''-nye''
| of, near
|-
| ''-fappe''
| far from
|-
| ''-sya''
| across
|-
| ''-chatta''
| through
|-
| ''-pimi''
| between (2 people/things)
|-
| ''-tyeri''
| among (3+ people/things)
|-
| ''-wenyi''
| except
|-
| ''-fu''
| only
|-
| ''-niwa''
| around
|-
| ''-hara''
| about
|-
| ''-hhui''
| for
|-
| ''-misu''
| like, similar to
|}

The noun affixes are not clitics; all other words modifying the noun come after them both.

:''∅-Pu-wikka-na '''wa'''-rra-'''ma'''-'''kka''' rasi tau.''
:3SG.ABS-PST-run-DRPAC 3SG.GEN-house-PL-DAT red two
:She ran to her two red houses.

===Derivation===
Words can be derived into other parts of speech with the following suffixes:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! rowspan="2" colspan="2"|
! colspan="4"|From...
|-
! Noun
! Verb
! Adjective or Determiner
! Adverb
|-
! rowspan="4"|To...
! Noun
| -
| ''-pu''
| ''-rtu''
| ''-rtu''
|-
! Verb
| ''-ttya'' (to be X, temporarily) ''-ttyu'' (to do an X-like thing)
| -
| ''-rtuttyu'' ''-isattyu'' (to become X)
| ''-rtuttyu''
|-
! Adjective or Determiner
| ''-rri''
| ''-pirri''
| -
| ''-pirri''
|-
! Adverb
| ''-kke''
| ''-pekke''
| ''-rte''
| -
|}

Note that derived verbs can also be made causative.

:''We-ni-pu-mupukku-'''ttya'''-nu mika setuki!''
:3SG.CAUS-1SG.ABS-PST-pig-be-DRPAC unwillingly witch
:The witch turned me into a pig!

==Syntax==
===Word order===
Standard word order is:
:Verb Phrase + Causative Noun Phrase + Ergative Noun Phrase + Absolutive Noun Phrase

Noun phrases are organized thus:
:Frontal Adjectives + Noun + Most Adjectives + Determiners + Relative Clause

The all-purpose negator is ''nu'', which can grammatically be placed anywhere in a sentence, although the standard position is immediately after the verb phrase and any adverbs modifying the verb.

Frontal adjectives are a closed class of 16 adjectives that precede the noun. They tend to relate to unchangeable, essential traits of an object, animal, or person, but they are placed in front of the adjective regardless of context. They are:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Adjective
! English Translation
|-
| ''ari''
| dark
|-
| ''rrai''
| white
|-
| ''sanarra''
| thin
|-
| ''tarti''
| small
|-
| ''ttarai''
| magical
|-
| ''symui''
| tall
|-
| ''akkai''
| flat
|-
| ''smaki''
| curved
|-
| ''ekku''
| folded
|-
| ''marata''
| mortal
|-
| ''rasi''
| red
|-
| ''ityu''
| turquoise
|-
| ''teme''
| round
|-
| ''aratta''
| black
|-
| ''uiui''
| curved
|-
| ''urtuki''
| green
|}

The logic of the assignment of adjectives to the frontal or non-frontal class can seem arbitrary:

:'''''ityu''' rasa''
:turquoise car
:turquoise car

:''rasa '''rsarni'''''
:car blue
:blue car

:''Na-∅-kkeu-kaki-rsirta-na '''rasi''' ke-rsirta.''
:1SG.ERG-3SG.ABS-see-can-face-DRPAC red 2SG.GEN-face
:I can see your red face (even if it is only blushing in the moment).

===Conjunctions===
The following conjunctions are used, and can be applied both to noun phrases and to clauses:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Postposition
! English Translation
|-
| ''hu''
| and
|-
| ''rsi''
| or (inclusive)
|-
| ''rsima''
| or (exclusive)
|-
| ''wa''
| but
|-
| ''rtti''
| because
|-
| ''kinya''
| after
|-
| ''kkawu''
| before
|-
| ''mamu''
| until
|-
| ''rraku''
| although
|-
| ''rnaku''
| when (for events in the past)
|-
| ''chaki''
| when (for events in the future, or in a general sense)
|}

===Relative and independent clauses===
Relative clauses, which are demarcated with the particle ''kku'', are [[w:Internally-headed relative clause|internally headed]] - grammatically capable of standing on their own.

:''Hhi-symi-hhifai-rtima-na rtima-ma '''kku''' na-hhi-pu-hihu-nu?''
:3PL.ABS-exist-where-dumpling-DRPAC dumpling-PL that 1SG.ERG-3PL.ABS-PST-bake-DRPAC
:Where are the dumplings that I baked? (lit. "Where are the dumplings such that I baked them?")

Independent clauses are technically not possible in Rttirri. Instead, a dummy "noun" ''sa'' is incorporated into the main verb complex, and the verb complex in the clause is made into a gerund-like construct using the suffix ''-ppu''. This eliminates the need for evidentiality particles on the clause, since nouns cannot have evidentiality. In the following example, a gerund is made the direct object of the verb "to say":

:''Wa-∅-pu-rtiu-'''sa'''-na ∅-ppa-kau-'''ppu''' rra-kka.''
:3SG.ERG-3SG.ABS-PST-say-dummy-DRPAC 3SG.ABS-go-want-GER house-DAT
:She said that she wanted to go home. (lit. "She spoke her desire to go home.")

Quoted speech, however, requires no such nominalization. However, ''sa'' is still incorporated into the main verb complex.

:''Wa-∅-pu-rtiu-'''sa'''-na, "Ni-ppa-kau-nu rra-kka!"''
:3SG.ERG-3SG.ABS-PST-say-dummy-DRPAC 1SG.ABS-go-want-DRPAC house-DAT
:She said, "I want to go home!"

Normally, relative and independent clauses are grammatically singular, but they can be pluralized to indicate an idea or utterance that is expressed repeatedly.

:''Na-'''hhi'''-pu-nyarra-sa-na ke-ni-kka-kura-kapa-ppu!''
:1SG.ERG-3PL.ABS-PST-yell-dummy-DRPAC 2SG.ERG-1SG.ABS-IMP-kick-stop-GER
:I kept yelling at you to stop kicking me!

==Sample text==
''Pipepi'' ("The Bushlark", 1958), a free-verse piece by the Rttirrian poet Sruwurtu Ukapi, who is credited with helping Rttirrian literature and poetry branch out from its long tradition of cynicism and darkness.

::{|
||'''English'''|| || '''Rttirri'''
|-
||As I strode through the forest,|| || Nitutasaifaityunu sasyakichatta,
|-
||I found a bushlark sitting on the ground.|| || pipepikka kku wukini mursuri.
|-
||She cooed to greet me|| || Puhirnunu sahaipuhhui nakka
|-
||and lifted a limp wing to wave.|| || hu weretumaki afnu michi.
|-
||"So morose is the cry of the birds of this area,"|| || "Ttyasittyahirnupu kelime rreumanye rikeu,"
|-
||I remarked to myself.|| || napukemisana.
|-
||"Nay," she said! "I am happy.|| || "Nu, nimarrattyana!" wapurtiusana.
|-
||"My stomach cries for berries,|| || "Amirsetini fraimahhui,
|-
||but I can answer it with beetles.|| || wa nikinene tyurrumarratye.
|-
||"My lungs cry for exercise of the wings,|| || Hhiamiwamini echauhhui makimanye,
|-
||but I can answer them with a jog.|| || wa nikinene mikikapurratye.
|-
||My heart cries for a man or a friend|| || Amirupana rnuhhui wa nyeppaihhui
|-
||of my own kind,|| || nakesyinye,
|-
||anything for some pleasant conversation,|| || rsi isipuhhui ttima eka,
|-
||but I can answer it with you."|| || wa nikinene kerratye."
|}

==See also==
* [[Gaju]]
* [[Verse:Rttirria|Rttirria]]

==External links==
* [http://conworkshop.info/view_language.php?l=RTP Rttirri] on ConWorkShop

[[Category:A priori]]
[[Category:Agglutinative languages]]
[[Category:Conlangs]]
[[Category:Ergative-absolutive languages]]
[[Category:Languages]]
[[Category:Polysynthetic languages]]
[[Category:Rttirria]]

Rttirri

2019-08-08T20:01:13Z

Frrurtu: /* Kikai Rttirri */

{{Infobox language
|image = Rttirria.png
|name = Rttirri
|nativename = Rttirriapu
|pronunciation = [ʈʼiɻiɑpu]
|region = Southeast Asia
|states = All of Rttirria, though less prevalent in Sipa, Uya, Rtuha, and Wimichimau
|setting = Rttirria
|speakers = 46.5 million
|date = 2015
|fam1 = Rttirrian
|fam2 = South Rttirrian
|fam3 = Classical Rttirri
|script = [[w:Latin script|Latin]] (unofficially), Rttirri
}}
'''Rttirri''' (English: /ˈtɪəri/, homophonous with "teary") is the official language of [[Verse:Rttirria|Rttirria]], a nation in [[w:Southeast Asia|Southeast Asia]] that forms a peninsula in the [[w:Bay of Bengal|Bay of Bengal]], along the southwestern coast of [[w:Myanmar|Myanmar]]. It is spoken as the native language of 46.5 million Rttirrian citizens, or just under 80% of the nation's total population of 58.2 million. Most other citizens have at least some proficiency in the language.

Rttirri is dialectally diverse, with many different accents found across the nation. It uses the Rttirri script, an abugida that evolved from the [[w:Pallava alphabet|Pallava script]], which is a Brahmic script. Other Pallava scripts include Thai, Lao, Burmese, and Khmer. However, an English transcription system was codified in the late 19th century, and is used on this page for convenience.

Linguistically, Rttirri is classified as an ergative-absolutive, polysynthetic language. It has a phonology consisting of only four vowels (in the standard language) and 25 consonants. It is fascinating to linguists because of its unique method for marking the causative agents of verbs: inflectional particles that encode the person and number of the causative entity, just like the ones used to mark the ergative and absolutive agents.

==History==
:''See also: [[Proto-Rttirrian]]''
Rttirri is a member of the Rttirrian language family, whose languages are spoken across the nation of Rttirria as well as in adjoining areas of Myanmar and Thailand. It is part of the South Rttirrian branch of the family; the dialects of Proto-South-Rttirrian that would become Rttirri split off from those that would become Gaju around the 3rd to 5th century CE, probably in southeastern Rttirria.

The main phonological and grammatical changes from Proto-South-Rttirrian to Rttirri are summarized here:
* The language evolved from a [[w:nominative-accusative language|nominative-accusative]] to an [[w:ergative-absolutive language|ergative-absolutive]] language: intransitive verbs began to use a construction combining the subject/possessive marker with the word ''hi'' ("benefit"), which then simplified into an affix identical to the object markers. For example, ''na-hi-'' ("for my benefit, X happened") became ''ni-'' ("I did X").
* The third-person singular absolutive affix */gʲa/ disappeared.
* A chain shift occurred from voiced stops, to voiceless stops, to voiceless fricatives, much like [[w:Grimm's law|Grimm's law]] in [[w:Proto-Germanic|Proto-Germanic]]. This occurred for the alveolar, bilabial, palatal, and retroflex series, but the palatalization of */gʲ/ kept it from occurring for the velar series—i.e. */gʲ/ did not become /k/ and /k/ did not become /x/. Instead, */gʲ/ shifted to simply /j/.
* Some clusters were broken up with an epenthetic */ə/, which later backed to /ʌ/.
* In onset position, the phoneme */ʟ/ shifted to /ʋ/, later /w/. In coda position, it vocalized to /u̯/, except after /u/—*/uʟ/ > /ʌ/.
* In some "emphatic" and common words, stops were optionally pronounced as ejective consonants. Under the influence of this phenomenon, all stop-stop clusters simplified to an ejective version of the first stop, e.g. */tk/ > /tʼ/.
* /β/+/ʌ/, in either order, simplified to a new vowel, /y/, which later lowered to /ø/ to contrast with /i/.
* The verbal tense system simplified greatly, with only a handful of irregular verbs remaining (see below).
* The freestanding evidential particles ''na'', ''nye'', ''su'', and ''sya'' began to be attached to the verb and take on the preceding vowel.
* Similarly to the formation of the new absolutive prefixes, causative prefixes formed from the ergative/possessive prefixes plus ''efe'' (modern Rttirri: ''ehe'' "command"), which simplified. For example, ''na-ehe'' ("under my command, X happened") became ''ne-'' ("I caused X to happen").
* Because the word order (which is much freer in [[Gaju]], for example) was starting to solidify in an Verb / Absolutive / Ergative pattern, the absolutive noun joined the verb complex, leading to [[w:noun incorporation|noun incorporation]].
* Two more chain shifts occurred: /θ/ > /f/ > /h/, /t͡s/ > /t/ > /ʔ/.
* The phoneme */s/ merged into /ç/ before front and central vowels and /ʃ/ before back vowels.
* In most dialects, */a/ (which had backed to /ä/) merged with /ʌ/ as /ɑ/.

==Phonology==
{{quote box
|width=25%
|quote=The vernacular of the Rttirrian people is a language like no other; aside from the smaller languages of the mountain-peoples and forest-peoples. It is spoken variously with curls of the tongue like the languages of the South Asian subcontinent and of Australia; and with glottalized puffs of air like the Navaho language and the families of the Caucasus Mountains; and a front-rounded vowel thieved from the Scandinavians... I am optimistic that, after proper study, the Rttirrian tongue may one day show an affinity with one of the many ill-understood language families of northern Australia or New Guinea...
|source=Obediah Taylor, author of the first grammar of Rttirri, ''The Rttirrian Language'' (1895)
}}

===Consonants===
Although the specific realizations vary, the dialects of Rttirri generally distinguish the same consonant phonemes.
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! |
! |Labial
! |Alveolar
! |Retroflex
! |Palatal
! |Velar
! |Glottal
|-
! Nasal
| '''m''' /m/
| '''n''' /n/
| '''rn''' /ɳ/
| '''ny''' /ɲ/
|
|
|-
! Plosive
| '''p''' /p/
| '''t''' /t/
| '''rt''' /ʈ/
| '''ty''' /c/
| '''k''' /k/
| '''hh''' /ʔ/
|-
! Ejective
| '''pp''' /pʼ/
| '''tt''' /tʼ/
| '''rtt''' /ʈʼ/
| '''tty''' /cʼ/
| '''kk''' /kʼ/
|
|-
! Fricative
| '''f''' /f/
| '''s''' /ʃ/
| '''rs''' /ʂ/
| '''sy''' /ç/
|
| '''h''' /h/
|-
! Affricate
|
| '''ch''' /t͡ʃ/
|
|
|
|
|-
! Approximant
| '''w''' /w/
|
| '''rr''' /ɻ/
| '''y''' /j/
|
|
|-
! Flap
|
|
| '''r''' /ɽ/
|
|
|
|}

In addition, the consonants '''l''' /l/ and '''kh''' /x/ are used in loanwords.

===Vowels===
Modern Standard Rttirri has a four-vowel inventory.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! |
! Front
! Back
|-
! High
| '''i''' /i/
| '''u''' /u/
|-
! Mid
| '''e''' /ø/
|
|-
! Low
|
| '''a''' /ɑ/
|}

In addition, the mid vowels '''e''' /e/ and '''o''' /o/ are used in loanwords.

===Phonotactics===
Modern Standard Rttirri does not allow final consonants, and the only initial clusters allowable are of the following form: ('''f s sy''') + ('''m n r rr'''). There are no geminate consonants.

No dialects of Rttirri distinguish vowel length, but the following diphthongs are allowed: '''ai au ei eu ui iu'''.

Stress is usually on the first syllable of a word, with secondary stress applied to every subsequent odd-numbered syllable. Loanwords and foreign names typically preserve their original stress, however.

The glottal stop, ''hh'', which is fairly rare in lexical units, is used to separate morphemes to avoid two consecutive identical vowels.
:''Ki-kani-ni.''
:2SG.ABS-listen-DRPAC
:You listen.

:''Ki'''hh'''-isi-ni.''
:2SG.ABS-talk-DRPAC
:You talk.

==Orthography==
[[File:Rttirri script.png|thumb|left|The Rttirri native script in handwritten form. Under each letter is its pronunciation in Classical Rttirri, which may have shifted in modern varieties. Asterisks represent sounds in Sanskrit loanwords - for example, Rttirri has no /bʱ/ phoneme; Sanskrit words containing [bʱ] are pronounced with /pʼ/.]]
The Rttirri script was codified in the mid-14th century. It was based on the [[w:Pallava alphabet|Pallava script]], which is a Brahmic abugida that is also the ancestor of the Thai, Lao, Burmese, and Khmer scripts.

As an [[w:abugida|abugida]], the Rttirri script is written with consonantal letters that are mutated for the different vowels. /i/ is the inherent vowel - for example, the character for /m/ is pronounced /mi/, but when given the diacritic for /u/, it is pronounced /mu/.

The writing system in Rttirri is mostly phonetic, but as it reflects Classical Rttirri pronunciation, various mergers and phonemic splits have corrupted the one-to-one correspondence between sound and letter. In addition, several characters exist that are only used for transliteration of Sanskrit words into Rttirri, having historically represented sounds that do not exist in Rttirri. For example, the letter representing Sanskrit /ɖ/ is distinct from the letter representing /ʈ/, but both are pronounced as [ʈ] in modern Rttirri (or often as [ɖ] intervocalically), because most dialects of the language have no phonemic voicing distinctions. The diacritic representing /ʌ/ could be considered redundant, because few speakers today maintain the phonemic distinction between /ʌ/ and /ɑ/, but using the right diacritic anyway is essential for correct spelling.

In the late 19th century, when Rttirria was a colony of Britain, English linguists designed a Latin transcription system for Rttirri. There have been periodic movements to switch Rttirri to using the Latin alphabet, but none has ever been successful. However, the Latin system is often favored for Rttirri textbooks and travel-focused language-learning books, since it is almost completely phonetic.

==Vocabulary==
The bulk of Rttirri vocabulary is indigenous. However, a sizable number of words, particularly related to food, seafaring, academia, and religion, are derived from Arabic and Sanskrit; as part of the historical Indosphere, Rttirria was long influenced by Indian and Arab traders and briefly made a colony of India, during which time it was given its native Brahmic script.

Rttirrians' attitudes toward loaning words from other languages, such as English, Mandarin, Burmese, and Tamil, vary more. In general, younger, more urban, and more politically liberal people who are less nationalistic are more accepting of loanwords. There is little correlation with gender, socioeconomic status, or the strength of a speaker's regional identity.

However, many common "international" words have names coined from native Rttirri roots. This is not primarily a prescriptive process propagated by a nativist language academy, but has more to do with marketing firms' desire to make products accessible and comprehensible, and with Rttirri's limited phonotactic possibilities that make many languages' vocabulary difficult to loan. A few examples follow:

*''makawei'' ("chocolate", lit. "sweet dirt")
*''Pisyikitepe'' ("Internet", lit. "electricity book" - this may be seen as ironic, since ''kitepe'' is itself an obvious Arabic loan)
*''uiuiuni'' ("banana", lit. "crescent")

===Phonological conventions with loanwords===
Other than /l/, /x/, /e/, and /o/, most speakers will make little attempt to imitate sounds in loanwords that do not occur natively in Rttirri. Gemination, tone, and vowel length are ignored in words from languages that have them. Illegal clusters and final consonants are usually resolved with the nearest vowel being repeated epenthetically, such as ''Sapaiki'' for "Spike". The velar nasal, which does not exist in Rttirri, becomes /ɲ/, and vowels in the mid-central region (such as the English schwa), become /ø/.

Due to Rttirria's past as a British colony, many speakers resent and resist any British influence on their culture or language. As a result, English loanwords are usually pronounced more like in American English than British English:
*[[w:Rhoticity in English|Postvocalic /r/ is intact]], as in ''parra'' ("par", in golf).
*The [[w:father-bother merger|father-bother merger]] means that both /ɑː/ and /ɒ/ become /ɑ/ in Rttirri, although the [[w:cot-caught merger|cot-caught merger]] is not present and English /ɔː/ becomes Rttirri /o/.
*English /æ/ is imported as /e/, as in ''tepe-tusa'' ("tap dance"). There is no [[w:trap-bath split|trap-bath split]].

===Numerals===
Native Rttirri numerals only go up to five, with the words for "four" and "five" being formed through reduplication; there are also native words for various other small quantities, including zero. However, these numerals exist in tandem with numbers loaned from Sanskrit. For numbers where Rttirrian and Sanskrit versions exist, the Sanskrit root tends to be used in compounds and in higher-register terms, similar to prefixes like ''mono-'' and ''bi-'' in English. An example is ''tefettarri'' ("bicycle", lit. "two-wheel").

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Number
! Rttirrian Root (where applicable)
! Sanskrit Root (where applicable)
|-
| 0
| parta
| sunya
|-
| many (traditionally, more than five)
| kuie
|
|-
| a few (traditionally, 2 - 5)
| murri
|
|-
| 1
| e
| ekama
|-
| 2
| tau
| tefe
|-
| 3
| kui
| tereni
|-
| 4
| tauau
| chafari
|-
| 5
| kuiui
| pacha
|-
| 6
|
| sata
|-
| 7
|
| sappa
|-
| 8
|
| asata
|-
| 9
|
| nafa
|-
| 10
|
| tasa
|}

==Dialectology==
[[File:Rttirria provinces no background.png|thumb|right|Simple map of Rttirria, showing the divisions between provinces, major rivers, and mountain ranges. Note the outline of Myanmar on the top right.]]
Rttirri has many regional dialects.

===Modern Standard Rttirri===
The modern standard variant of the language is not spoken natively by many native Rttirrians, except those from highly educated and wealthy families, but it is widely used in news broadcasts and automated recordings such as those on subway systems - in this respect, it occupies a similar niche to that of [[w:Received Pronunciation|Received Pronunication]] in the UK. It is characterized by the following features:

* Because the usual aim of MSR is to "speak clearly", allophony is minimized - for example, consonants are not voiced intervocalically as they are in most dialects, and /w/ remains phonetically [w].
* The vowels /ɑ/ and /ʌ/ are merged to /ɑ/; thus, words like /tɑwi/ "brick" and /tʌwi/ "to survive" are pronounced the same.

===Eastern Rttirri===
Eastern Rttirri is spoken in much of the eastern half of the country, from the border with Myanmar to Fukanucha and eastern Kikai. This area of the country, centered on the capital city of Iharnara, is known for its large immigrant communities, decaying industry, high crime, and shrinking population, comparable to the [[w:Rust Belt|Rust Belt]] of the United States. Eastern Rttirri, which is considered the most innovative dialect, is characterized by the following features:

* Intervocalically within a word, voiceless consonants are voiced.
* /ɑ/ and /ʌ/ are merged to [ä].
:* After palatal consonants and in the last syllable of a word, it is raised as far as [e].
* /ø/ lowers to [œ].
:* After retroflex consonants and in the last syllable of a word, it is instead backed as far as [o].
* /h/ fronts to [x] before phonetically front vowels, or [χ] before back ones.
* /w/ is realized as [b] in all positions. In loanwords and foreign names, /w/ is often rendered as a full [u] instead, while /b/ is increasingly imported as a fully voiced [b] instead of as [p].
* /j/ becomes a fricative sound, [ʝ]. Likewise, diphthongs containing /i/ become /Vʝ/ or /ʝV/ sequences. This pattern is not usually applied to loanwords.
* /i/ is backed to [ɨ~ɘ] after retroflex consonants, and /u/ is fronted and unrounded to the same vowel after palatal consonants - in word roots, but not in affixes, determiners, or certain other function words. Many scholars argue that there has been a phonemic split and that /ɨ/ is a legitimate vowel in Eastern Rttirri.
:* One minimal pair is ''rra-rri'' ("cozy", lit. "home-y") [ɻä'''ɻi'''] vs. ''rrarri'' [ɻä'''ɻɨ'''] ("footprint").
* Eastern Rttirri shows extensive reduction of unstressed vowels, creating clusters that do not exist in other dialects.
* Diphthongs are pronounced more as /VV/ sequences with a hiatus.
* The evidential particles lose their final vowels, instead being pronounced as bare consonants.
* The past-tense affix ''-pu-'' becomes simply ''-p''.

====Fukanucha Rttirri====
The advanced sub-dialect of Fukanucha shows the following additional features:

* The already fronted /ɑ/ is further fronted to [a].
* The already lowered /ø/ is unrounded to [ɛ~æ].
* The ''-n'' evidential particle may be realized simply as nasality on the preceding vowel. Likewise, the ''-ny'' evidential particle may be realized in the same way, with the addition of a final [ʝ].

====Yenesni Rttirri====
Another advanced sub-dialect of Eastern Rttirri is spoken in most of Yenesni and southern Manamuki, showing the following additional features:

* The already lowered /ø/ is unrounded to [ɛ].
* The "Yenesni Shift" is a chain shift of several vowel phonemes after labial consonants, except in most foreign names, affixes, and function words. The shift is considered to be in progress, and it may be spreading to Akkakau and other Eastern provinces; younger speakers in Akkakau appear to be showing the early stages of the Yenesni Shift. It is sporadically found in younger speakers in urban areas of the West.
:*/i/: [i] > [e]
:*/e/: [e] > [ɛ]
:*/ø/: [ɛ] > [ä]
:*/ɑ/: [ä] > [ɒ~o]
:*/o/: [o] > [u]
* By analogy with the past-tense ''-p-'', the future-tense ''-mi-'' becomes ''-m-'', and is pronounced [ŋ] before velar consonants.

===Western Rttirri===
Western Rttirri is used in most of the western half of Rttirria, from western Kikai to the beaches of Hima. This area of the country, centered on Rttirria's largest city, Efunari, is wealthier, more ethnically homogeneous, and increasingly culturally relevant. However, in recent decades the dialect has also begun to creep up to the sparsely populated north of Rttirria. The dialect's high cultural prestige and the rapid growth of the northern city of Tettufane (many of whose residents are from Hima or the Efunari area), are starting to solidify Tettufane as a Western Rttirri-speaking city. Western Rttirri is characterized by the following features:

* Intervocalically within a word, voiceless consonants are voiced.
* Intervocalically within a word, /w/ is fricativized to [v]. In this position, it merges with /f/, which is voiced to [v].
* Most speakers merge /ɑ/ and /ʌ/ to /ɑ/; however, some older and rural speakers maintain the distinction.
* In all positions, /ʔ/ disappears.
* When stressed, /i/ and /u/ diphthongize to [əi] and [əu].
* The diphthongs /ɑi/ and /ɑu/ tense to [oi] and [eu].
:* This tensing does not take place when these diphthongs are formed by elision of /ʔ/. Thus, ''kau'' (/kɑu/) "to want" and ''kahhu'' (/kɑʔu/) "to squeeze" are distinguished not by a glottal stop, but by the vowels: [k'''eu'''] vs. [k'''ɑu'''].
* In all positions, /ø/ raises to [y].
:* The diphthong /øi/ merges with it.
* The past-tense affix ''-pu'' tends to be substituted with the past-perfect affix ''-fe''.

===Kikai Rttirri===
Kikai occupies a transitional zone between the Western and Eastern dialect areas. As a result, its dialect can be considered a mixture of Eastern and Western Rttirri, but younger speakers, especially in the city of Kikai itself, are adopting more Western features.

===Northern Rttirri===
Spoken only by rural and isolated communities in northern Rttirria, and by older people in the Tettufane metropolitan area, this dialect is being crowded out by the influence of Western Rttirri. One of the most conservative dialects, it is characterized by the following features:

* Unlike in other dialects, voiceless consonants remain voiceless between vowels.
* Likewise, /w/ is pronounced clearly as [w] in all positions.
* The distinction between /ɑ/ and /ʌ/ is maintained.
* The value of /ø/ is typically [ø] in all positions.
* After retroflex consonants, /i/ and /u/ lower to [e] and [o].
:* When not stressed, the diphthong /ɑu/ merges with [o]. As a result, some scholars argue that /o/ is its own phoneme in Northern Rttirri.
* The consonants /t͡ʃ/ and /c/ have lost their phonemic contrast and become allophonic: [c] is pronounced after front vowels and [t͡ʃ] after back ones.

===Rseperupu Rttirri===
Localized to the small island province of Rseperupu, off the coast of western Rttirria, Rseperupu Rttirri is characterized by the following features, influenced by the native languages of indigenous, non-ethnically-Rttirri peoples.

* Intervocalically within a word, voiceless consonants are voiced.
* Intervocalically within a word, /w/ is fricativized to [v].
* Stressed vowels tend to be allophonically lengthened.
* /ɑ/ and /ʌ/ are merged to [ä].
* /ø/ is unrounded to [e].
* /u/ is lowered to [o].
* Except for /j/, palatal consonants are shifted to an alveolar articulation.
:* /ç/ is realized as [s], /c/ as [ts], and /cʼ/ as [tsʼ].
:* /ɳ/ is merged into /n/.

==Morphology==
===Verbs===
The Rttirri verb is richly polysynthetic, and contains the following slots for affixes. Slots marked with a '''†''' are required for all verbs.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Verb Slot
! Allowable Inputs
|-
! Causative Agent Person/Number
| ''ne-'' (I) ''ke-'' (you) ''we-'' (he/she/it) ''me-'' (we) ''te-'' (you all) ''rte-'' (they)
|-
! Ergative Agent Person/Number
| ''na-'' (I) ''ke-'' (you) ''wa-'' (he/she/it) ''ma-'' (we) ''ta-'' (you all) ''rta-'' (they)
|-
! Absolutive Agent Person/Number (†)
| ''ni-'' (me) ''ki-'' (you) ''∅-'' (him/her/it) ''mi-'' (us) ''ti-'' (you all) ''hhi-'' (them)
|-
! Mood
| ''-sya-'' (optative) ''-ppa-'' (adhortative) ''-mappa-'' (cohortative) ''-tya-'' (interrogative) ''-nai-'' (subjunctive) ''-kai-'' (conditional) ''-kka-'' (imperative) ''-sma-'' (generic)
|-
! Past Tense
| ''-pu-''
|-
! Verb Root (†) + Question Infix
| any verb
|-
! Auxiliary Verb
| ''-kaki-'' ("to be able to") ''-kau-'' ("to want to") ''-rtika-'' ("to like to") and others
|-
! Future Tense
| ''-mi-''
|-
! Incorporated Noun (for transitive verbs)
| any noun root, without adjectives, determiners, possessive affixes, etc.
|-
! Evidentiality (†)
| ''-nV'' (direct knowledge) ''-nyV'' (hearsay) ''-sV'' (inferential) ''-syV'' (assumptive) (''V'' = the vowel of the preceding syllable)
|}

====Irregular verbs====
Rttirri has 20 irregular verbs, which have special forms for the past and future inflections. However, when used with a modal verb, this irregularity is ignored, so the normal affixes ''-pu-'' and ''-mi-'' are used.

:''Ni-'''tu'''tasa-na.''
:1SG.ABS-walk.PST-DRPAC
:I walked.

:''Ni-'''ni'''tasa-na.''
:1SG.ABS-walk.FUT-DRPAC
:I will walk.

:''Ni-'''pu'''-tasa-kaki-ni.''
:1SG.ABS-PST-walk-can-DRPAC
:I was able to walk.

:''Ni-tasa-kaki-'''mi'''-ni.''
:1SG.ABS-walk-can-FUT-DRPAC
:I will be able to walk.

The following irregular verbs exist:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Verb (Past)
! Verb (Present)
! Verb (Future)
! English translation
|-
| pui
| fei
| mui
| to be
|-
| pisu
| chiu
| misu
| to do
|-
| tyusymu
| symu
| nyisymu
| to make
|-
| ppeu
| kkeu
| mepeu
| to see
|-
| tufnu
| fnu
| nifnu
| to bring
|-
| tuausma
| ausma
| niausma
| to call
|-
| tuttaka
| ttaka
| nittaka
| to feel
|-
| pumi
| mupi
| mumi
| to believe
|-
| tutasa
| tasa
| nitasa
| to walk
|-
| fupaki
| haki
| fumaki
| to stay
|-
| tyusymi
| symi
| nyisymi
| to exist
|-
| tuaihiu
| aihiu
| niaihiu
| to get
|-
| upei
| pei
| umei
| to think
|-
| tuicha
| icha
| nicha
| to come
|-
| rtuertau
| ertau
| rniertau
| to use
|-
| tuaihu
| aihu
| niaihu
| to try
|-
| tyuyana
| yana
| nyiyana
| to cook
|-
| puppi
| ippi
| muppi
| to start
|-
| pafa
| kafa
| mafa
| to return
|-
| puwa
| euwa
| muwa
| to take
|}

====''Wh-'' questions====
Non-binary questions (ones where the answer is not a simple "yes" or "no") are expressed in two different ways.

For "who"/"whom" and "what" questions, an affix is substituted for one of the person/number affixes on the verb:
*''fe-'' (causative)
*''fa-'' (ergative)
*''fi-'' (absolutive)

:''Ke-'''fi'''-pu-chi-nu uhiki?''
:2SG.ERG-what.ABS-PST-eat-DRPAC today
:What did you eat today?

Other non-binary questions are expressed by infixing one of the following particles within the verb root, after the first syllable of the root.

*''-hhifi-'' ("when?")
*''-hhifai-'' ("where?")
*''-hhifau-'' ("why?")
*''-hhifui-'' ("how?")

:''Tihh-isi-ni mumu nu...''
:2PL.ABS-talk-DRPAC IMPF NEG
:You guys aren't talking...

:''Tihh-i'''hhifau'''si-ni mumu nu?''
:2PL.ABS-talk.why-DRPAC IMPF NEG
:Why aren't you guys talking?

====Noun incorporation====
Only the bare stem of a noun can be incorporated into a verb. To add more information about a noun, one must do so outside the verb complex.

:''Yuhhu, ke-∅-pu-chi-'''tufakha'''-sya na-'''tufakha''' anai!''
:hey 2SG.ERG-3SG.ABS-PST-eat-apple-ASS 1SG.GEN-apple sweet
:Hey, you ate my sweet apple!

However, any type of noun stem can be incorporated, even proper names and compounds.

:''Na-hhi-puhh-uffrai-'''waira-rnamu'''-nu.''
:1SG.ERG-3PL.ABS-PST-break-eye-bottle-DRPAC
:I broke the binoculars. (lit. "I broke the eye-bottles".)

:''Na-∅-pu-emei-'''Nuyorroko'''-no uhhu.''
:1SG.ERG-3SG.ABS-PST-hate-New_York-DRPAC always
:I always hated New York.

In informal speech, a lengthy noun may optionally be substituted with a shorter one outside the verb complex - this can be seen as analogous to the classifier systems used in the Oneida language making use of noun incorporation. For instance, the sentence ''Yuhhu, kepuchitufakhasya na'''tufakha''' anai!'' could instead be expressed as ''Yuhhu, kepuchitufakhasya na'''chipu''' anai!'', where ''chipu'' simply means "food". The "alternative" noun used outside the verb complex need not be a literal equivalence or even phonetically shorter at all, so this is technique is frequently used for poetic effect.

However, the technique may be generalizing: studies show that younger speakers are using it in daily conversation more often, and with a smaller variety of "simplified" nouns. It is speculated that it may eventually evolve into a true classifier or grammatical gender system.

====Sequential verbs====
Rttirri allows strings of verb roots to be stacked inside the verb complex, such as when someone is doing multiple things in a row. There are three affixes that can join verb roots: ''ki'' for actions that take place in succession, ''i'' for actions undertaken simultaneously, and ''hu'' (lit. "and") for general sets of actions with no respect to chronology. All three of these affixes can be combined within a string of verb roots as needed.

:''Ni-puhh-uweu-'''i'''-fusi-ni.''
:1SG.ABS-PST-sing-and-bathe-DRPAC
:I sang while I bathed.

To combine an intransitive verb with a transitive verb, which is undertaken by the agent of the intransitive verb, one may use the antipassive suffix ''-tyu'' on the transitive verb, and the suffix ''-kka'' (lit. "to") on the transitive verb's recipient.

:''∅-Pu-nyarra-hu-pikau-'''tyu'''-Wuikiu-nu ma-ttu-'''kka'''.''
:3SG.ABS-PST-yell-and-slap-ANTIPASS-Mother-DRPAC 1PL.GEN-self-DAT
:Mother yelled and slapped us.

Alternatively, the passive suffix ''-rui'' may be applied to the intransitive verb.
:''Wa-mi-pu-pikau-'''rui'''-hu-nyarra-Wuikiu-nu.''
:3SG.ERG-2PL.ABS-PST-slap-PASS-and-yell-Mother-DRPAC
:Mother slapped us and yelled.

====Causatives====
Causative constructions are fairly common in Rttirri, used to express many actions that in other languages would be expressed as regular transitive verbs.

:'''''Ne'''-wa-hhi-pu-chi-nerri-ni synapi pipi.''
:1SG.CAUS-3SG.ERG-3PL.ABS-PST-eat-carrot-DRPAC rabbit a_bit
:I fed my rabbit some carrots.

There is no inherent level of force communicated by a causative, so one can use adverbial particles such as ''kuni'' ("willingly") and ''mika'' ("reluctantly") to specify "to let X do Y" or "to make X do Y".

:''We-na-∅-pu-kkai-wesipi-ni '''mika''' Sawikiu.''
:3SG.CAUS-1SG.ERG-3SG.ABS-PST-write-homework-DRPAC reluctantly Father
:Dad made me do my homework.

:''We-ni-pu-ppa-na '''kuni''' Sawikiu tukai-kka ramui-huppu-nye!''
:3SG.CAUS-1SG.ABS-PST-go-DRPAC Father match-DAT square-ball-GEN
:Dad took me to the baseball game!

====Equative sentences====
The copula, ''fei'' (past: ''pui'', future: ''mei''), is an intransitive verb, and the thing or person that is being equated to is marked with ''-kka''.

:''∅-'''Fei'''-Charartu-nu na-mahai-pu-'''kka'''.''
:''3SG.ABS-be-Charartu-DRPAC 1SG.GEN-call-GER-DAT
:Charartu is my name.

===Nouns===
Compared to verb inflection, noun inflection in Rttirri is fairly simple.

All nouns are pluralized with ''-ma'', and this suffix is maintained when a specific number is used. However, the plural suffix eliminates the need for any inflection on determiners or adjectives.

:''irtu hhike''
:tree that
:that tree

:''irtu-'''ma''' symui kuiui hhike na-fuka-pu''
:tree-PL tall five that 1SG.GEN-yard-LOC
:those five tall trees in my garden

Nouns have no grammatical gender, although the affix ''-kasi'' can be optionally used to explicitly "switch" their natural gender. Typically, masculinity is assumed, but there are exceptions.

:''kkai-urri''
:write-AGENT
:author (male)

:''kkai-urri-'''kasi'''''
:write-AGENT-F
:female author

:''mirna-urri''
:tend-AGENT
:nurse (female)

:''mirna-urri-'''kasi'''''
:tend-AGENT-M
:male nurse

:''rnu-'''kasi'''''
:man-F
:feminine-acting man

:''pune-'''kasi'''''
:woman-M
:masculine-acting woman

====Possession====
Like Arabic, Rttirri nouns may be inflected for possessor, using the ergative prefixes.

:'''''na'''-puki''
:1SG.GEN-dog
:my dog

Rttirri is considered a pro-drop language, but when emphatic pronouns are used, they are formed with ''-ttu'' ("self") in this way.

:''Ke-hhi-pu-enai-syi ke-'''ttu'''!''
:2SG.ERG-3PL.ABS-PST-kill-INFER 2SG.GEN-self
:''You'' killed them!

====Postpositions====
Nouns can take the following postpositions:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Postposition
! English Translation
|-
| ''-pu''
| inside, among
|-
| ''-kka''
| to
|-
| ''-hha''
| from
|-
| ''-ri''
| at, worth
|-
| ''-rta''
| with (comitative)
|-
| ''-rratye''
| with (instrumental)
|-
| ''-nupe''
| above
|-
| ''-pe''
| below
|-
| ''-rnaha''
| in front of
|-
| ''-fani''
| in back of
|-
| ''-ppirsa''
| outside
|-
| ''-nye''
| of, near
|-
| ''-fappe''
| far from
|-
| ''-sya''
| across
|-
| ''-chatta''
| through
|-
| ''-pimi''
| between (2 people/things)
|-
| ''-tyeri''
| among (3+ people/things)
|-
| ''-wenyi''
| except
|-
| ''-fu''
| only
|-
| ''-niwa''
| around
|-
| ''-hara''
| about
|-
| ''-hhui''
| for
|-
| ''-misu''
| like, similar to
|}

The noun affixes are not clitics; all other words modifying the noun come after them both.

:''∅-Pu-wikka-na '''wa'''-rra-'''ma'''-'''kka''' rasi tau.''
:3SG.ABS-PST-run-DRPAC 3SG.GEN-house-PL-DAT red two
:She ran to her two red houses.

===Derivation===
Words can be derived into other parts of speech with the following suffixes:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! rowspan="2" colspan="2"|
! colspan="4"|From...
|-
! Noun
! Verb
! Adjective or Determiner
! Adverb
|-
! rowspan="4"|To...
! Noun
| -
| ''-pu''
| ''-rtu''
| ''-rtu''
|-
! Verb
| ''-ttya'' (to be X, temporarily) ''-ttyu'' (to do an X-like thing)
| -
| ''-rtuttyu'' ''-isattyu'' (to become X)
| ''-rtuttyu''
|-
! Adjective or Determiner
| ''-rri''
| ''-pirri''
| -
| ''-pirri''
|-
! Adverb
| ''-kke''
| ''-pekke''
| ''-rte''
| -
|}

Note that derived verbs can also be made causative.

:''We-ni-pu-mupukku-'''ttya'''-nu mika setuki!''
:3SG.CAUS-1SG.ABS-PST-pig-be-DRPAC unwillingly witch
:The witch turned me into a pig!

==Syntax==
===Word order===
Standard word order is:
:Verb Phrase + Causative Noun Phrase + Ergative Noun Phrase + Absolutive Noun Phrase

Noun phrases are organized thus:
:Frontal Adjectives + Noun + Most Adjectives + Determiners + Relative Clause

The all-purpose negator is ''nu'', which can grammatically be placed anywhere in a sentence, although the standard position is immediately after the verb phrase and any adverbs modifying the verb.

Frontal adjectives are a closed class of 16 adjectives that precede the noun. They tend to relate to unchangeable, essential traits of an object, animal, or person, but they are placed in front of the adjective regardless of context. They are:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Adjective
! English Translation
|-
| ''ari''
| dark
|-
| ''rrai''
| white
|-
| ''sanarra''
| thin
|-
| ''tarti''
| small
|-
| ''ttarai''
| magical
|-
| ''symui''
| tall
|-
| ''akkai''
| flat
|-
| ''smaki''
| curved
|-
| ''ekku''
| folded
|-
| ''marata''
| mortal
|-
| ''rasi''
| red
|-
| ''ityu''
| turquoise
|-
| ''teme''
| round
|-
| ''aratta''
| black
|-
| ''uiui''
| curved
|-
| ''urtuki''
| green
|}

The logic of the assignment of adjectives to the frontal or non-frontal class can seem arbitrary:

:'''''ityu''' rasa''
:turquoise car
:turquoise car

:''rasa '''rsarni'''''
:car blue
:blue car

:''Na-∅-kkeu-kaki-rsirta-na '''rasi''' ke-rsirta.''
:1SG.ERG-3SG.ABS-see-can-face-DRPAC red 2SG.GEN-face
:I can see your red face (even if it is only blushing in the moment).

===Conjunctions===
The following conjunctions are used, and can be applied both to noun phrases and to clauses:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Postposition
! English Translation
|-
| ''hu''
| and
|-
| ''rsi''
| or (inclusive)
|-
| ''rsima''
| or (exclusive)
|-
| ''wa''
| but
|-
| ''rtti''
| because
|-
| ''kinya''
| after
|-
| ''kkawu''
| before
|-
| ''mamu''
| until
|-
| ''rraku''
| although
|-
| ''rnaku''
| when (for events in the past)
|-
| ''chaki''
| when (for events in the future, or in a general sense)
|}

===Relative and independent clauses===
Relative clauses, which are demarcated with the particle ''kku'', are [[w:Internally-headed relative clause|internally headed]] - grammatically capable of standing on their own.

:''Hhi-symi-hhifai-rtima-na rtima-ma '''kku''' na-hhi-pu-hihu-nu?''
:3PL.ABS-exist-where-dumpling-DRPAC dumpling-PL that 1SG.ERG-3PL.ABS-PST-bake-DRPAC
:Where are the dumplings that I baked? (lit. "Where are the dumplings such that I baked them?")

Independent clauses are technically not possible in Rttirri. Instead, a dummy "noun" ''sa'' is incorporated into the main verb complex, and the verb complex in the clause is made into a gerund-like construct using the suffix ''-ppu''. This eliminates the need for evidentiality particles on the clause, since nouns cannot have evidentiality. In the following example, a gerund is made the direct object of the verb "to say":

:''Wa-∅-pu-rtiu-'''sa'''-na ∅-ppa-kau-'''ppu''' rra-kka.''
:3SG.ERG-3SG.ABS-PST-say-dummy-DRPAC 3SG.ABS-go-want-GER house-DAT
:She said that she wanted to go home. (lit. "She spoke her desire to go home.")

Quoted speech, however, requires no such nominalization. However, ''sa'' is still incorporated into the main verb complex.

:''Wa-∅-pu-rtiu-'''sa'''-na, "Ni-ppa-kau-nu rra-kka!"''
:3SG.ERG-3SG.ABS-PST-say-dummy-DRPAC 1SG.ABS-go-want-DRPAC house-DAT
:She said, "I want to go home!"

Normally, relative and independent clauses are grammatically singular, but they can be pluralized to indicate an idea or utterance that is expressed repeatedly.

:''Na-'''hhi'''-pu-nyarra-sa-na ke-ni-kka-kura-kapa-ppu!''
:1SG.ERG-3PL.ABS-PST-yell-dummy-DRPAC 2SG.ERG-1SG.ABS-IMP-kick-stop-GER
:I kept yelling at you to stop kicking me!

==Sample text==
''Pipepi'' ("The Bushlark", 1958), a free-verse piece by the Rttirrian poet Sruwurtu Ukapi, who is credited with helping Rttirrian literature and poetry branch out from its long tradition of cynicism and darkness.

::{|
||'''English'''|| || '''Rttirri'''
|-
||As I strode through the forest,|| || Nitutasaifaityunu sasyakichatta,
|-
||I found a bushlark sitting on the ground.|| || pipepikka kku wukini mursuri.
|-
||She cooed to greet me|| || Puhirnunu sahaipuhhui nakka
|-
||and lifted a limp wing to wave.|| || hu weretumaki afnu michi.
|-
||"So morose is the cry of the birds of this area,"|| || "Ttyasittyahirnupu kelime rreumanye rikeu,"
|-
||I remarked to myself.|| || napukemisana.
|-
||"Nay," she said! "I am happy.|| || "Nu, nimarrattyana!" wapurtiusana.
|-
||"My stomach cries for berries,|| || "Amirsetini fraimahhui,
|-
||but I can answer it with beetles.|| || wa nikinene tyurrumarratye.
|-
||"My lungs cry for exercise of the wings,|| || Hhiamiwamini echauhhui makimanye,
|-
||but I can answer them with a jog.|| || wa nikinene mikikapurratye.
|-
||My heart cries for a man or a friend|| || Amirupana rnuhhui wa nyeppaihhui
|-
||of my own kind,|| || nakesyinye,
|-
||anything for some pleasant conversation,|| || rsi isipuhhui ttima eka,
|-
||but I can answer it with you."|| || wa nikinene kerratye."
|}

==See also==
* [[Gaju]]
* [[Verse:Rttirria|Rttirria]]

==External links==
* [http://conworkshop.info/view_language.php?l=RTP Rttirri] on ConWorkShop

[[Category:A priori]]
[[Category:Agglutinative languages]]
[[Category:Conlangs]]
[[Category:Ergative-absolutive languages]]
[[Category:Languages]]
[[Category:Polysynthetic languages]]
[[Category:Rttirria]]

Rttirri

2019-08-08T20:00:02Z

Frrurtu:

{{Infobox language
|image = Rttirria.png
|name = Rttirri
|nativename = Rttirriapu
|pronunciation = [ʈʼiɻiɑpu]
|region = Southeast Asia
|states = All of Rttirria, though less prevalent in Sipa, Uya, Rtuha, and Wimichimau
|setting = Rttirria
|speakers = 46.5 million
|date = 2015
|fam1 = Rttirrian
|fam2 = South Rttirrian
|fam3 = Classical Rttirri
|script = [[w:Latin script|Latin]] (unofficially), Rttirri
}}
'''Rttirri''' (English: /ˈtɪəri/, homophonous with "teary") is the official language of [[Verse:Rttirria|Rttirria]], a nation in [[w:Southeast Asia|Southeast Asia]] that forms a peninsula in the [[w:Bay of Bengal|Bay of Bengal]], along the southwestern coast of [[w:Myanmar|Myanmar]]. It is spoken as the native language of 46.5 million Rttirrian citizens, or just under 80% of the nation's total population of 58.2 million. Most other citizens have at least some proficiency in the language.

Rttirri is dialectally diverse, with many different accents found across the nation. It uses the Rttirri script, an abugida that evolved from the [[w:Pallava alphabet|Pallava script]], which is a Brahmic script. Other Pallava scripts include Thai, Lao, Burmese, and Khmer. However, an English transcription system was codified in the late 19th century, and is used on this page for convenience.

Linguistically, Rttirri is classified as an ergative-absolutive, polysynthetic language. It has a phonology consisting of only four vowels (in the standard language) and 25 consonants. It is fascinating to linguists because of its unique method for marking the causative agents of verbs: inflectional particles that encode the person and number of the causative entity, just like the ones used to mark the ergative and absolutive agents.

==History==
:''See also: [[Proto-Rttirrian]]''
Rttirri is a member of the Rttirrian language family, whose languages are spoken across the nation of Rttirria as well as in adjoining areas of Myanmar and Thailand. It is part of the South Rttirrian branch of the family; the dialects of Proto-South-Rttirrian that would become Rttirri split off from those that would become Gaju around the 3rd to 5th century CE, probably in southeastern Rttirria.

The main phonological and grammatical changes from Proto-South-Rttirrian to Rttirri are summarized here:
* The language evolved from a [[w:nominative-accusative language|nominative-accusative]] to an [[w:ergative-absolutive language|ergative-absolutive]] language: intransitive verbs began to use a construction combining the subject/possessive marker with the word ''hi'' ("benefit"), which then simplified into an affix identical to the object markers. For example, ''na-hi-'' ("for my benefit, X happened") became ''ni-'' ("I did X").
* The third-person singular absolutive affix */gʲa/ disappeared.
* A chain shift occurred from voiced stops, to voiceless stops, to voiceless fricatives, much like [[w:Grimm's law|Grimm's law]] in [[w:Proto-Germanic|Proto-Germanic]]. This occurred for the alveolar, bilabial, palatal, and retroflex series, but the palatalization of */gʲ/ kept it from occurring for the velar series—i.e. */gʲ/ did not become /k/ and /k/ did not become /x/. Instead, */gʲ/ shifted to simply /j/.
* Some clusters were broken up with an epenthetic */ə/, which later backed to /ʌ/.
* In onset position, the phoneme */ʟ/ shifted to /ʋ/, later /w/. In coda position, it vocalized to /u̯/, except after /u/—*/uʟ/ > /ʌ/.
* In some "emphatic" and common words, stops were optionally pronounced as ejective consonants. Under the influence of this phenomenon, all stop-stop clusters simplified to an ejective version of the first stop, e.g. */tk/ > /tʼ/.
* /β/+/ʌ/, in either order, simplified to a new vowel, /y/, which later lowered to /ø/ to contrast with /i/.
* The verbal tense system simplified greatly, with only a handful of irregular verbs remaining (see below).
* The freestanding evidential particles ''na'', ''nye'', ''su'', and ''sya'' began to be attached to the verb and take on the preceding vowel.
* Similarly to the formation of the new absolutive prefixes, causative prefixes formed from the ergative/possessive prefixes plus ''efe'' (modern Rttirri: ''ehe'' "command"), which simplified. For example, ''na-ehe'' ("under my command, X happened") became ''ne-'' ("I caused X to happen").
* Because the word order (which is much freer in [[Gaju]], for example) was starting to solidify in an Verb / Absolutive / Ergative pattern, the absolutive noun joined the verb complex, leading to [[w:noun incorporation|noun incorporation]].
* Two more chain shifts occurred: /θ/ > /f/ > /h/, /t͡s/ > /t/ > /ʔ/.
* The phoneme */s/ merged into /ç/ before front and central vowels and /ʃ/ before back vowels.
* In most dialects, */a/ (which had backed to /ä/) merged with /ʌ/ as /ɑ/.

==Phonology==
{{quote box
|width=25%
|quote=The vernacular of the Rttirrian people is a language like no other; aside from the smaller languages of the mountain-peoples and forest-peoples. It is spoken variously with curls of the tongue like the languages of the South Asian subcontinent and of Australia; and with glottalized puffs of air like the Navaho language and the families of the Caucasus Mountains; and a front-rounded vowel thieved from the Scandinavians... I am optimistic that, after proper study, the Rttirrian tongue may one day show an affinity with one of the many ill-understood language families of northern Australia or New Guinea...
|source=Obediah Taylor, author of the first grammar of Rttirri, ''The Rttirrian Language'' (1895)
}}

===Consonants===
Although the specific realizations vary, the dialects of Rttirri generally distinguish the same consonant phonemes.
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! |
! |Labial
! |Alveolar
! |Retroflex
! |Palatal
! |Velar
! |Glottal
|-
! Nasal
| '''m''' /m/
| '''n''' /n/
| '''rn''' /ɳ/
| '''ny''' /ɲ/
|
|
|-
! Plosive
| '''p''' /p/
| '''t''' /t/
| '''rt''' /ʈ/
| '''ty''' /c/
| '''k''' /k/
| '''hh''' /ʔ/
|-
! Ejective
| '''pp''' /pʼ/
| '''tt''' /tʼ/
| '''rtt''' /ʈʼ/
| '''tty''' /cʼ/
| '''kk''' /kʼ/
|
|-
! Fricative
| '''f''' /f/
| '''s''' /ʃ/
| '''rs''' /ʂ/
| '''sy''' /ç/
|
| '''h''' /h/
|-
! Affricate
|
| '''ch''' /t͡ʃ/
|
|
|
|
|-
! Approximant
| '''w''' /w/
|
| '''rr''' /ɻ/
| '''y''' /j/
|
|
|-
! Flap
|
|
| '''r''' /ɽ/
|
|
|
|}

In addition, the consonants '''l''' /l/ and '''kh''' /x/ are used in loanwords.

===Vowels===
Modern Standard Rttirri has a four-vowel inventory.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! |
! Front
! Back
|-
! High
| '''i''' /i/
| '''u''' /u/
|-
! Mid
| '''e''' /ø/
|
|-
! Low
|
| '''a''' /ɑ/
|}

In addition, the mid vowels '''e''' /e/ and '''o''' /o/ are used in loanwords.

===Phonotactics===
Modern Standard Rttirri does not allow final consonants, and the only initial clusters allowable are of the following form: ('''f s sy''') + ('''m n r rr'''). There are no geminate consonants.

No dialects of Rttirri distinguish vowel length, but the following diphthongs are allowed: '''ai au ei eu ui iu'''.

Stress is usually on the first syllable of a word, with secondary stress applied to every subsequent odd-numbered syllable. Loanwords and foreign names typically preserve their original stress, however.

The glottal stop, ''hh'', which is fairly rare in lexical units, is used to separate morphemes to avoid two consecutive identical vowels.
:''Ki-kani-ni.''
:2SG.ABS-listen-DRPAC
:You listen.

:''Ki'''hh'''-isi-ni.''
:2SG.ABS-talk-DRPAC
:You talk.

==Orthography==
[[File:Rttirri script.png|thumb|left|The Rttirri native script in handwritten form. Under each letter is its pronunciation in Classical Rttirri, which may have shifted in modern varieties. Asterisks represent sounds in Sanskrit loanwords - for example, Rttirri has no /bʱ/ phoneme; Sanskrit words containing [bʱ] are pronounced with /pʼ/.]]
The Rttirri script was codified in the mid-14th century. It was based on the [[w:Pallava alphabet|Pallava script]], which is a Brahmic abugida that is also the ancestor of the Thai, Lao, Burmese, and Khmer scripts.

As an [[w:abugida|abugida]], the Rttirri script is written with consonantal letters that are mutated for the different vowels. /i/ is the inherent vowel - for example, the character for /m/ is pronounced /mi/, but when given the diacritic for /u/, it is pronounced /mu/.

The writing system in Rttirri is mostly phonetic, but as it reflects Classical Rttirri pronunciation, various mergers and phonemic splits have corrupted the one-to-one correspondence between sound and letter. In addition, several characters exist that are only used for transliteration of Sanskrit words into Rttirri, having historically represented sounds that do not exist in Rttirri. For example, the letter representing Sanskrit /ɖ/ is distinct from the letter representing /ʈ/, but both are pronounced as [ʈ] in modern Rttirri (or often as [ɖ] intervocalically), because most dialects of the language have no phonemic voicing distinctions. The diacritic representing /ʌ/ could be considered redundant, because few speakers today maintain the phonemic distinction between /ʌ/ and /ɑ/, but using the right diacritic anyway is essential for correct spelling.

In the late 19th century, when Rttirria was a colony of Britain, English linguists designed a Latin transcription system for Rttirri. There have been periodic movements to switch Rttirri to using the Latin alphabet, but none has ever been successful. However, the Latin system is often favored for Rttirri textbooks and travel-focused language-learning books, since it is almost completely phonetic.

==Vocabulary==
The bulk of Rttirri vocabulary is indigenous. However, a sizable number of words, particularly related to food, seafaring, academia, and religion, are derived from Arabic and Sanskrit; as part of the historical Indosphere, Rttirria was long influenced by Indian and Arab traders and briefly made a colony of India, during which time it was given its native Brahmic script.

Rttirrians' attitudes toward loaning words from other languages, such as English, Mandarin, Burmese, and Tamil, vary more. In general, younger, more urban, and more politically liberal people who are less nationalistic are more accepting of loanwords. There is little correlation with gender, socioeconomic status, or the strength of a speaker's regional identity.

However, many common "international" words have names coined from native Rttirri roots. This is not primarily a prescriptive process propagated by a nativist language academy, but has more to do with marketing firms' desire to make products accessible and comprehensible, and with Rttirri's limited phonotactic possibilities that make many languages' vocabulary difficult to loan. A few examples follow:

*''makawei'' ("chocolate", lit. "sweet dirt")
*''Pisyikitepe'' ("Internet", lit. "electricity book" - this may be seen as ironic, since ''kitepe'' is itself an obvious Arabic loan)
*''uiuiuni'' ("banana", lit. "crescent")

===Phonological conventions with loanwords===
Other than /l/, /x/, /e/, and /o/, most speakers will make little attempt to imitate sounds in loanwords that do not occur natively in Rttirri. Gemination, tone, and vowel length are ignored in words from languages that have them. Illegal clusters and final consonants are usually resolved with the nearest vowel being repeated epenthetically, such as ''Sapaiki'' for "Spike". The velar nasal, which does not exist in Rttirri, becomes /ɲ/, and vowels in the mid-central region (such as the English schwa), become /ø/.

Due to Rttirria's past as a British colony, many speakers resent and resist any British influence on their culture or language. As a result, English loanwords are usually pronounced more like in American English than British English:
*[[w:Rhoticity in English|Postvocalic /r/ is intact]], as in ''parra'' ("par", in golf).
*The [[w:father-bother merger|father-bother merger]] means that both /ɑː/ and /ɒ/ become /ɑ/ in Rttirri, although the [[w:cot-caught merger|cot-caught merger]] is not present and English /ɔː/ becomes Rttirri /o/.
*English /æ/ is imported as /e/, as in ''tepe-tusa'' ("tap dance"). There is no [[w:trap-bath split|trap-bath split]].

===Numerals===
Native Rttirri numerals only go up to five, with the words for "four" and "five" being formed through reduplication; there are also native words for various other small quantities, including zero. However, these numerals exist in tandem with numbers loaned from Sanskrit. For numbers where Rttirrian and Sanskrit versions exist, the Sanskrit root tends to be used in compounds and in higher-register terms, similar to prefixes like ''mono-'' and ''bi-'' in English. An example is ''tefettarri'' ("bicycle", lit. "two-wheel").

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Number
! Rttirrian Root (where applicable)
! Sanskrit Root (where applicable)
|-
| 0
| parta
| sunya
|-
| many (traditionally, more than five)
| kuie
|
|-
| a few (traditionally, 2 - 5)
| murri
|
|-
| 1
| e
| ekama
|-
| 2
| tau
| tefe
|-
| 3
| kui
| tereni
|-
| 4
| tauau
| chafari
|-
| 5
| kuiui
| pacha
|-
| 6
|
| sata
|-
| 7
|
| sappa
|-
| 8
|
| asata
|-
| 9
|
| nafa
|-
| 10
|
| tasa
|}

==Dialectology==
[[File:Rttirria provinces no background.png|thumb|right|Simple map of Rttirria, showing the divisions between provinces, major rivers, and mountain ranges. Note the outline of Myanmar on the top right.]]
Rttirri has many regional dialects.

===Modern Standard Rttirri===
The modern standard variant of the language is not spoken natively by many native Rttirrians, except those from highly educated and wealthy families, but it is widely used in news broadcasts and automated recordings such as those on subway systems - in this respect, it occupies a similar niche to that of [[w:Received Pronunciation|Received Pronunication]] in the UK. It is characterized by the following features:

* Because the usual aim of MSR is to "speak clearly", allophony is minimized - for example, consonants are not voiced intervocalically as they are in most dialects, and /w/ remains phonetically [w].
* The vowels /ɑ/ and /ʌ/ are merged to /ɑ/; thus, words like /tɑwi/ "brick" and /tʌwi/ "to survive" are pronounced the same.

===Eastern Rttirri===
Eastern Rttirri is spoken in much of the eastern half of the country, from the border with Myanmar to Fukanucha and eastern Kikai. This area of the country, centered on the capital city of Iharnara, is known for its large immigrant communities, decaying industry, high crime, and shrinking population, comparable to the [[w:Rust Belt|Rust Belt]] of the United States. Eastern Rttirri, which is considered the most innovative dialect, is characterized by the following features:

* Intervocalically within a word, voiceless consonants are voiced.
* /ɑ/ and /ʌ/ are merged to [ä].
:* After palatal consonants and in the last syllable of a word, it is raised as far as [e].
* /ø/ lowers to [œ].
:* After retroflex consonants and in the last syllable of a word, it is instead backed as far as [o].
* /h/ fronts to [x] before phonetically front vowels, or [χ] before back ones.
* /w/ is realized as [b] in all positions. In loanwords and foreign names, /w/ is often rendered as a full [u] instead, while /b/ is increasingly imported as a fully voiced [b] instead of as [p].
* /j/ becomes a fricative sound, [ʝ]. Likewise, diphthongs containing /i/ become /Vʝ/ or /ʝV/ sequences. This pattern is not usually applied to loanwords.
* /i/ is backed to [ɨ~ɘ] after retroflex consonants, and /u/ is fronted and unrounded to the same vowel after palatal consonants - in word roots, but not in affixes, determiners, or certain other function words. Many scholars argue that there has been a phonemic split and that /ɨ/ is a legitimate vowel in Eastern Rttirri.
:* One minimal pair is ''rra-rri'' ("cozy", lit. "home-y") [ɻä'''ɻi'''] vs. ''rrarri'' [ɻä'''ɻɨ'''] ("footprint").
* Eastern Rttirri shows extensive reduction of unstressed vowels, creating clusters that do not exist in other dialects.
* Diphthongs are pronounced more as /VV/ sequences with a hiatus.
* The evidential particles lose their final vowels, instead being pronounced as bare consonants.
* The past-tense affix ''-pu-'' becomes simply ''-p''.

====Fukanucha Rttirri====
The advanced sub-dialect of Fukanucha shows the following additional features:

* The already fronted /ɑ/ is further fronted to [a].
* The already lowered /ø/ is unrounded to [ɛ~æ].
* The ''-n'' evidential particle may be realized simply as nasality on the preceding vowel. Likewise, the ''-ny'' evidential particle may be realized in the same way, with the addition of a final [ʝ].

====Yenesni Rttirri====
Another advanced sub-dialect of Eastern Rttirri is spoken in most of Yenesni and southern Manamuki, showing the following additional features:

* The already lowered /ø/ is unrounded to [ɛ].
* The "Yenesni Shift" is a chain shift of several vowel phonemes after labial consonants, except in most foreign names, affixes, and function words. The shift is considered to be in progress, and it may be spreading to Akkakau and other Eastern provinces; younger speakers in Akkakau appear to be showing the early stages of the Yenesni Shift. It is sporadically found in younger speakers in urban areas of the West.
:*/i/: [i] > [e]
:*/e/: [e] > [ɛ]
:*/ø/: [ɛ] > [ä]
:*/ɑ/: [ä] > [ɒ~o]
:*/o/: [o] > [u]
* By analogy with the past-tense ''-p-'', the future-tense ''-mi-'' becomes ''-m-'', and is pronounced [ŋ] before velar consonants.

===Western Rttirri===
Western Rttirri is used in most of the western half of Rttirria, from western Kikai to the beaches of Hima. This area of the country, centered on Rttirria's largest city, Efunari, is wealthier, more ethnically homogeneous, and increasingly culturally relevant. However, in recent decades the dialect has also begun to creep up to the sparsely populated north of Rttirria. The dialect's high cultural prestige and the rapid growth of the northern city of Tettufane (many of whose residents are from Hima or the Efunari area), are starting to solidify Tettufane as a Western Rttirri-speaking city. Western Rttirri is characterized by the following features:

* Intervocalically within a word, voiceless consonants are voiced.
* Intervocalically within a word, /w/ is fricativized to [v]. In this position, it merges with /f/, which is voiced to [v].
* Most speakers merge /ɑ/ and /ʌ/ to /ɑ/; however, some older and rural speakers maintain the distinction.
* In all positions, /ʔ/ disappears.
* When stressed, /i/ and /u/ diphthongize to [əi] and [əu].
* The diphthongs /ɑi/ and /ɑu/ tense to [oi] and [eu].
:* This tensing does not take place when these diphthongs are formed by elision of /ʔ/. Thus, ''kau'' (/kɑu/) "to want" and ''kahhu'' (/kɑʔu/) "to squeeze" are distinguished not by a glottal stop, but by the vowels: [k'''eu'''] vs. [k'''ɑu'''].
* In all positions, /ø/ raises to [y].
:* The diphthong /øi/ merges with it.
* The past-tense affix ''-pu'' tends to be substituted with the past-perfect affix ''-fe''.

===Kikai Rttirri===
Kikai occupies a transitional zone between the Western and Eastern dialect areas. As a result, its dialect can be considered a mixture of Eastern and Western Rttirri, but younger speakers, especially in the city of Kikai itself, are tending to use a more Western pronunciation.

===Northern Rttirri===
Spoken only by rural and isolated communities in northern Rttirria, and by older people in the Tettufane metropolitan area, this dialect is being crowded out by the influence of Western Rttirri. One of the most conservative dialects, it is characterized by the following features:

* Unlike in other dialects, voiceless consonants remain voiceless between vowels.
* Likewise, /w/ is pronounced clearly as [w] in all positions.
* The distinction between /ɑ/ and /ʌ/ is maintained.
* The value of /ø/ is typically [ø] in all positions.
* After retroflex consonants, /i/ and /u/ lower to [e] and [o].
:* When not stressed, the diphthong /ɑu/ merges with [o]. As a result, some scholars argue that /o/ is its own phoneme in Northern Rttirri.
* The consonants /t͡ʃ/ and /c/ have lost their phonemic contrast and become allophonic: [c] is pronounced after front vowels and [t͡ʃ] after back ones.

===Rseperupu Rttirri===
Localized to the small island province of Rseperupu, off the coast of western Rttirria, Rseperupu Rttirri is characterized by the following features, influenced by the native languages of indigenous, non-ethnically-Rttirri peoples.

* Intervocalically within a word, voiceless consonants are voiced.
* Intervocalically within a word, /w/ is fricativized to [v].
* Stressed vowels tend to be allophonically lengthened.
* /ɑ/ and /ʌ/ are merged to [ä].
* /ø/ is unrounded to [e].
* /u/ is lowered to [o].
* Except for /j/, palatal consonants are shifted to an alveolar articulation.
:* /ç/ is realized as [s], /c/ as [ts], and /cʼ/ as [tsʼ].
:* /ɳ/ is merged into /n/.

==Morphology==
===Verbs===
The Rttirri verb is richly polysynthetic, and contains the following slots for affixes. Slots marked with a '''†''' are required for all verbs.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Verb Slot
! Allowable Inputs
|-
! Causative Agent Person/Number
| ''ne-'' (I) ''ke-'' (you) ''we-'' (he/she/it) ''me-'' (we) ''te-'' (you all) ''rte-'' (they)
|-
! Ergative Agent Person/Number
| ''na-'' (I) ''ke-'' (you) ''wa-'' (he/she/it) ''ma-'' (we) ''ta-'' (you all) ''rta-'' (they)
|-
! Absolutive Agent Person/Number (†)
| ''ni-'' (me) ''ki-'' (you) ''∅-'' (him/her/it) ''mi-'' (us) ''ti-'' (you all) ''hhi-'' (them)
|-
! Mood
| ''-sya-'' (optative) ''-ppa-'' (adhortative) ''-mappa-'' (cohortative) ''-tya-'' (interrogative) ''-nai-'' (subjunctive) ''-kai-'' (conditional) ''-kka-'' (imperative) ''-sma-'' (generic)
|-
! Past Tense
| ''-pu-''
|-
! Verb Root (†) + Question Infix
| any verb
|-
! Auxiliary Verb
| ''-kaki-'' ("to be able to") ''-kau-'' ("to want to") ''-rtika-'' ("to like to") and others
|-
! Future Tense
| ''-mi-''
|-
! Incorporated Noun (for transitive verbs)
| any noun root, without adjectives, determiners, possessive affixes, etc.
|-
! Evidentiality (†)
| ''-nV'' (direct knowledge) ''-nyV'' (hearsay) ''-sV'' (inferential) ''-syV'' (assumptive) (''V'' = the vowel of the preceding syllable)
|}

====Irregular verbs====
Rttirri has 20 irregular verbs, which have special forms for the past and future inflections. However, when used with a modal verb, this irregularity is ignored, so the normal affixes ''-pu-'' and ''-mi-'' are used.

:''Ni-'''tu'''tasa-na.''
:1SG.ABS-walk.PST-DRPAC
:I walked.

:''Ni-'''ni'''tasa-na.''
:1SG.ABS-walk.FUT-DRPAC
:I will walk.

:''Ni-'''pu'''-tasa-kaki-ni.''
:1SG.ABS-PST-walk-can-DRPAC
:I was able to walk.

:''Ni-tasa-kaki-'''mi'''-ni.''
:1SG.ABS-walk-can-FUT-DRPAC
:I will be able to walk.

The following irregular verbs exist:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Verb (Past)
! Verb (Present)
! Verb (Future)
! English translation
|-
| pui
| fei
| mui
| to be
|-
| pisu
| chiu
| misu
| to do
|-
| tyusymu
| symu
| nyisymu
| to make
|-
| ppeu
| kkeu
| mepeu
| to see
|-
| tufnu
| fnu
| nifnu
| to bring
|-
| tuausma
| ausma
| niausma
| to call
|-
| tuttaka
| ttaka
| nittaka
| to feel
|-
| pumi
| mupi
| mumi
| to believe
|-
| tutasa
| tasa
| nitasa
| to walk
|-
| fupaki
| haki
| fumaki
| to stay
|-
| tyusymi
| symi
| nyisymi
| to exist
|-
| tuaihiu
| aihiu
| niaihiu
| to get
|-
| upei
| pei
| umei
| to think
|-
| tuicha
| icha
| nicha
| to come
|-
| rtuertau
| ertau
| rniertau
| to use
|-
| tuaihu
| aihu
| niaihu
| to try
|-
| tyuyana
| yana
| nyiyana
| to cook
|-
| puppi
| ippi
| muppi
| to start
|-
| pafa
| kafa
| mafa
| to return
|-
| puwa
| euwa
| muwa
| to take
|}

====''Wh-'' questions====
Non-binary questions (ones where the answer is not a simple "yes" or "no") are expressed in two different ways.

For "who"/"whom" and "what" questions, an affix is substituted for one of the person/number affixes on the verb:
*''fe-'' (causative)
*''fa-'' (ergative)
*''fi-'' (absolutive)

:''Ke-'''fi'''-pu-chi-nu uhiki?''
:2SG.ERG-what.ABS-PST-eat-DRPAC today
:What did you eat today?

Other non-binary questions are expressed by infixing one of the following particles within the verb root, after the first syllable of the root.

*''-hhifi-'' ("when?")
*''-hhifai-'' ("where?")
*''-hhifau-'' ("why?")
*''-hhifui-'' ("how?")

:''Tihh-isi-ni mumu nu...''
:2PL.ABS-talk-DRPAC IMPF NEG
:You guys aren't talking...

:''Tihh-i'''hhifau'''si-ni mumu nu?''
:2PL.ABS-talk.why-DRPAC IMPF NEG
:Why aren't you guys talking?

====Noun incorporation====
Only the bare stem of a noun can be incorporated into a verb. To add more information about a noun, one must do so outside the verb complex.

:''Yuhhu, ke-∅-pu-chi-'''tufakha'''-sya na-'''tufakha''' anai!''
:hey 2SG.ERG-3SG.ABS-PST-eat-apple-ASS 1SG.GEN-apple sweet
:Hey, you ate my sweet apple!

However, any type of noun stem can be incorporated, even proper names and compounds.

:''Na-hhi-puhh-uffrai-'''waira-rnamu'''-nu.''
:1SG.ERG-3PL.ABS-PST-break-eye-bottle-DRPAC
:I broke the binoculars. (lit. "I broke the eye-bottles".)

:''Na-∅-pu-emei-'''Nuyorroko'''-no uhhu.''
:1SG.ERG-3SG.ABS-PST-hate-New_York-DRPAC always
:I always hated New York.

In informal speech, a lengthy noun may optionally be substituted with a shorter one outside the verb complex - this can be seen as analogous to the classifier systems used in the Oneida language making use of noun incorporation. For instance, the sentence ''Yuhhu, kepuchitufakhasya na'''tufakha''' anai!'' could instead be expressed as ''Yuhhu, kepuchitufakhasya na'''chipu''' anai!'', where ''chipu'' simply means "food". The "alternative" noun used outside the verb complex need not be a literal equivalence or even phonetically shorter at all, so this is technique is frequently used for poetic effect.

However, the technique may be generalizing: studies show that younger speakers are using it in daily conversation more often, and with a smaller variety of "simplified" nouns. It is speculated that it may eventually evolve into a true classifier or grammatical gender system.

====Sequential verbs====
Rttirri allows strings of verb roots to be stacked inside the verb complex, such as when someone is doing multiple things in a row. There are three affixes that can join verb roots: ''ki'' for actions that take place in succession, ''i'' for actions undertaken simultaneously, and ''hu'' (lit. "and") for general sets of actions with no respect to chronology. All three of these affixes can be combined within a string of verb roots as needed.

:''Ni-puhh-uweu-'''i'''-fusi-ni.''
:1SG.ABS-PST-sing-and-bathe-DRPAC
:I sang while I bathed.

To combine an intransitive verb with a transitive verb, which is undertaken by the agent of the intransitive verb, one may use the antipassive suffix ''-tyu'' on the transitive verb, and the suffix ''-kka'' (lit. "to") on the transitive verb's recipient.

:''∅-Pu-nyarra-hu-pikau-'''tyu'''-Wuikiu-nu ma-ttu-'''kka'''.''
:3SG.ABS-PST-yell-and-slap-ANTIPASS-Mother-DRPAC 1PL.GEN-self-DAT
:Mother yelled and slapped us.

Alternatively, the passive suffix ''-rui'' may be applied to the intransitive verb.
:''Wa-mi-pu-pikau-'''rui'''-hu-nyarra-Wuikiu-nu.''
:3SG.ERG-2PL.ABS-PST-slap-PASS-and-yell-Mother-DRPAC
:Mother slapped us and yelled.

====Causatives====
Causative constructions are fairly common in Rttirri, used to express many actions that in other languages would be expressed as regular transitive verbs.

:'''''Ne'''-wa-hhi-pu-chi-nerri-ni synapi pipi.''
:1SG.CAUS-3SG.ERG-3PL.ABS-PST-eat-carrot-DRPAC rabbit a_bit
:I fed my rabbit some carrots.

There is no inherent level of force communicated by a causative, so one can use adverbial particles such as ''kuni'' ("willingly") and ''mika'' ("reluctantly") to specify "to let X do Y" or "to make X do Y".

:''We-na-∅-pu-kkai-wesipi-ni '''mika''' Sawikiu.''
:3SG.CAUS-1SG.ERG-3SG.ABS-PST-write-homework-DRPAC reluctantly Father
:Dad made me do my homework.

:''We-ni-pu-ppa-na '''kuni''' Sawikiu tukai-kka ramui-huppu-nye!''
:3SG.CAUS-1SG.ABS-PST-go-DRPAC Father match-DAT square-ball-GEN
:Dad took me to the baseball game!

====Equative sentences====
The copula, ''fei'' (past: ''pui'', future: ''mei''), is an intransitive verb, and the thing or person that is being equated to is marked with ''-kka''.

:''∅-'''Fei'''-Charartu-nu na-mahai-pu-'''kka'''.''
:''3SG.ABS-be-Charartu-DRPAC 1SG.GEN-call-GER-DAT
:Charartu is my name.

===Nouns===
Compared to verb inflection, noun inflection in Rttirri is fairly simple.

All nouns are pluralized with ''-ma'', and this suffix is maintained when a specific number is used. However, the plural suffix eliminates the need for any inflection on determiners or adjectives.

:''irtu hhike''
:tree that
:that tree

:''irtu-'''ma''' symui kuiui hhike na-fuka-pu''
:tree-PL tall five that 1SG.GEN-yard-LOC
:those five tall trees in my garden

Nouns have no grammatical gender, although the affix ''-kasi'' can be optionally used to explicitly "switch" their natural gender. Typically, masculinity is assumed, but there are exceptions.

:''kkai-urri''
:write-AGENT
:author (male)

:''kkai-urri-'''kasi'''''
:write-AGENT-F
:female author

:''mirna-urri''
:tend-AGENT
:nurse (female)

:''mirna-urri-'''kasi'''''
:tend-AGENT-M
:male nurse

:''rnu-'''kasi'''''
:man-F
:feminine-acting man

:''pune-'''kasi'''''
:woman-M
:masculine-acting woman

====Possession====
Like Arabic, Rttirri nouns may be inflected for possessor, using the ergative prefixes.

:'''''na'''-puki''
:1SG.GEN-dog
:my dog

Rttirri is considered a pro-drop language, but when emphatic pronouns are used, they are formed with ''-ttu'' ("self") in this way.

:''Ke-hhi-pu-enai-syi ke-'''ttu'''!''
:2SG.ERG-3PL.ABS-PST-kill-INFER 2SG.GEN-self
:''You'' killed them!

====Postpositions====
Nouns can take the following postpositions:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Postposition
! English Translation
|-
| ''-pu''
| inside, among
|-
| ''-kka''
| to
|-
| ''-hha''
| from
|-
| ''-ri''
| at, worth
|-
| ''-rta''
| with (comitative)
|-
| ''-rratye''
| with (instrumental)
|-
| ''-nupe''
| above
|-
| ''-pe''
| below
|-
| ''-rnaha''
| in front of
|-
| ''-fani''
| in back of
|-
| ''-ppirsa''
| outside
|-
| ''-nye''
| of, near
|-
| ''-fappe''
| far from
|-
| ''-sya''
| across
|-
| ''-chatta''
| through
|-
| ''-pimi''
| between (2 people/things)
|-
| ''-tyeri''
| among (3+ people/things)
|-
| ''-wenyi''
| except
|-
| ''-fu''
| only
|-
| ''-niwa''
| around
|-
| ''-hara''
| about
|-
| ''-hhui''
| for
|-
| ''-misu''
| like, similar to
|}

The noun affixes are not clitics; all other words modifying the noun come after them both.

:''∅-Pu-wikka-na '''wa'''-rra-'''ma'''-'''kka''' rasi tau.''
:3SG.ABS-PST-run-DRPAC 3SG.GEN-house-PL-DAT red two
:She ran to her two red houses.

===Derivation===
Words can be derived into other parts of speech with the following suffixes:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! rowspan="2" colspan="2"|
! colspan="4"|From...
|-
! Noun
! Verb
! Adjective or Determiner
! Adverb
|-
! rowspan="4"|To...
! Noun
| -
| ''-pu''
| ''-rtu''
| ''-rtu''
|-
! Verb
| ''-ttya'' (to be X, temporarily) ''-ttyu'' (to do an X-like thing)
| -
| ''-rtuttyu'' ''-isattyu'' (to become X)
| ''-rtuttyu''
|-
! Adjective or Determiner
| ''-rri''
| ''-pirri''
| -
| ''-pirri''
|-
! Adverb
| ''-kke''
| ''-pekke''
| ''-rte''
| -
|}

Note that derived verbs can also be made causative.

:''We-ni-pu-mupukku-'''ttya'''-nu mika setuki!''
:3SG.CAUS-1SG.ABS-PST-pig-be-DRPAC unwillingly witch
:The witch turned me into a pig!

==Syntax==
===Word order===
Standard word order is:
:Verb Phrase + Causative Noun Phrase + Ergative Noun Phrase + Absolutive Noun Phrase

Noun phrases are organized thus:
:Frontal Adjectives + Noun + Most Adjectives + Determiners + Relative Clause

The all-purpose negator is ''nu'', which can grammatically be placed anywhere in a sentence, although the standard position is immediately after the verb phrase and any adverbs modifying the verb.

Frontal adjectives are a closed class of 16 adjectives that precede the noun. They tend to relate to unchangeable, essential traits of an object, animal, or person, but they are placed in front of the adjective regardless of context. They are:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Adjective
! English Translation
|-
| ''ari''
| dark
|-
| ''rrai''
| white
|-
| ''sanarra''
| thin
|-
| ''tarti''
| small
|-
| ''ttarai''
| magical
|-
| ''symui''
| tall
|-
| ''akkai''
| flat
|-
| ''smaki''
| curved
|-
| ''ekku''
| folded
|-
| ''marata''
| mortal
|-
| ''rasi''
| red
|-
| ''ityu''
| turquoise
|-
| ''teme''
| round
|-
| ''aratta''
| black
|-
| ''uiui''
| curved
|-
| ''urtuki''
| green
|}

The logic of the assignment of adjectives to the frontal or non-frontal class can seem arbitrary:

:'''''ityu''' rasa''
:turquoise car
:turquoise car

:''rasa '''rsarni'''''
:car blue
:blue car

:''Na-∅-kkeu-kaki-rsirta-na '''rasi''' ke-rsirta.''
:1SG.ERG-3SG.ABS-see-can-face-DRPAC red 2SG.GEN-face
:I can see your red face (even if it is only blushing in the moment).

===Conjunctions===
The following conjunctions are used, and can be applied both to noun phrases and to clauses:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Postposition
! English Translation
|-
| ''hu''
| and
|-
| ''rsi''
| or (inclusive)
|-
| ''rsima''
| or (exclusive)
|-
| ''wa''
| but
|-
| ''rtti''
| because
|-
| ''kinya''
| after
|-
| ''kkawu''
| before
|-
| ''mamu''
| until
|-
| ''rraku''
| although
|-
| ''rnaku''
| when (for events in the past)
|-
| ''chaki''
| when (for events in the future, or in a general sense)
|}

===Relative and independent clauses===
Relative clauses, which are demarcated with the particle ''kku'', are [[w:Internally-headed relative clause|internally headed]] - grammatically capable of standing on their own.

:''Hhi-symi-hhifai-rtima-na rtima-ma '''kku''' na-hhi-pu-hihu-nu?''
:3PL.ABS-exist-where-dumpling-DRPAC dumpling-PL that 1SG.ERG-3PL.ABS-PST-bake-DRPAC
:Where are the dumplings that I baked? (lit. "Where are the dumplings such that I baked them?")

Independent clauses are technically not possible in Rttirri. Instead, a dummy "noun" ''sa'' is incorporated into the main verb complex, and the verb complex in the clause is made into a gerund-like construct using the suffix ''-ppu''. This eliminates the need for evidentiality particles on the clause, since nouns cannot have evidentiality. In the following example, a gerund is made the direct object of the verb "to say":

:''Wa-∅-pu-rtiu-'''sa'''-na ∅-ppa-kau-'''ppu''' rra-kka.''
:3SG.ERG-3SG.ABS-PST-say-dummy-DRPAC 3SG.ABS-go-want-GER house-DAT
:She said that she wanted to go home. (lit. "She spoke her desire to go home.")

Quoted speech, however, requires no such nominalization. However, ''sa'' is still incorporated into the main verb complex.

:''Wa-∅-pu-rtiu-'''sa'''-na, "Ni-ppa-kau-nu rra-kka!"''
:3SG.ERG-3SG.ABS-PST-say-dummy-DRPAC 1SG.ABS-go-want-DRPAC house-DAT
:She said, "I want to go home!"

Normally, relative and independent clauses are grammatically singular, but they can be pluralized to indicate an idea or utterance that is expressed repeatedly.

:''Na-'''hhi'''-pu-nyarra-sa-na ke-ni-kka-kura-kapa-ppu!''
:1SG.ERG-3PL.ABS-PST-yell-dummy-DRPAC 2SG.ERG-1SG.ABS-IMP-kick-stop-GER
:I kept yelling at you to stop kicking me!

==Sample text==
''Pipepi'' ("The Bushlark", 1958), a free-verse piece by the Rttirrian poet Sruwurtu Ukapi, who is credited with helping Rttirrian literature and poetry branch out from its long tradition of cynicism and darkness.

::{|
||'''English'''|| || '''Rttirri'''
|-
||As I strode through the forest,|| || Nitutasaifaityunu sasyakichatta,
|-
||I found a bushlark sitting on the ground.|| || pipepikka kku wukini mursuri.
|-
||She cooed to greet me|| || Puhirnunu sahaipuhhui nakka
|-
||and lifted a limp wing to wave.|| || hu weretumaki afnu michi.
|-
||"So morose is the cry of the birds of this area,"|| || "Ttyasittyahirnupu kelime rreumanye rikeu,"
|-
||I remarked to myself.|| || napukemisana.
|-
||"Nay," she said! "I am happy.|| || "Nu, nimarrattyana!" wapurtiusana.
|-
||"My stomach cries for berries,|| || "Amirsetini fraimahhui,
|-
||but I can answer it with beetles.|| || wa nikinene tyurrumarratye.
|-
||"My lungs cry for exercise of the wings,|| || Hhiamiwamini echauhhui makimanye,
|-
||but I can answer them with a jog.|| || wa nikinene mikikapurratye.
|-
||My heart cries for a man or a friend|| || Amirupana rnuhhui wa nyeppaihhui
|-
||of my own kind,|| || nakesyinye,
|-
||anything for some pleasant conversation,|| || rsi isipuhhui ttima eka,
|-
||but I can answer it with you."|| || wa nikinene kerratye."
|}

==See also==
* [[Gaju]]
* [[Verse:Rttirria|Rttirria]]

==External links==
* [http://conworkshop.info/view_language.php?l=RTP Rttirri] on ConWorkShop

[[Category:A priori]]
[[Category:Agglutinative languages]]
[[Category:Conlangs]]
[[Category:Ergative-absolutive languages]]
[[Category:Languages]]
[[Category:Polysynthetic languages]]
[[Category:Rttirria]]

Verse:Rttirria

2019-08-08T19:59:07Z

Frrurtu: /* Music */

{| class="toccolours" align="right" style="border-spacing: 2px; border: 1px solid darkgray; text-align: left; font-size: 85%"
! scope="row" colspan="2"| <div style="text-align: center;"><big>'''Rttirria ''Rttirritteku'''''</big></div>
|
|-
! scope="row" colspan="2"| <div style="text-align: center;">[[File:Rttirria on world.png|250px]]</div>
|
|-
! scope="row" | Capital
| Iharnara
|-
! scope="row" | Largest city
| Efunari
|-
! scope="row" | Official languages
| [[Rttirri]]
|-
! scope="row" | Spoken languages 
| Rttirri, [[w:Burmese language|Burmese]], [[Gaju]], other indigenous languages
|-
! scope="row" | Ethnic groups 
| 77.4% Rttirri 7.4% Burmese 6.9% Other Asian 5.6% White/Black/Latin American 2.7% Other Rttirrians
|-
! scope="row" | Religion 
| 70.1% [[w:Hinduism|Hinduism]] 11.2% [[w:Buddhism|Buddhism]] 4.6% [[w:Christianity|Christianity]] 2.3% [[w:Islam|Islam]] 0.3% [[w:Judaism|Judaism]] 1.8% others 9.9% unaffiliated
|-
! scope="row" | Demonym
| Rttirrian
|-
! scope="row" | Government 
| [[w:liberal democracy|Liberal democratic]] [[w:presidential republic|presidential republic]]
|-
! scope="row" | Area
| 119,595.59 sq mi (309,751 km2)
|-
| scope="row" | '''Population''' • 2015 estimate • 2010 census • Density
| 58,182,131 55,247,900 484.97/sq mi (187.25/km2)
|-
| scope="row" | '''[[w:Gross domestic product|GDP]]''' ([[w:Purchasing power parity|PPP]]) • Total • Per capita
| 2015 estimate US$1.666 trillion US$28,627
|-
| scope="row" | '''[[w:Gini coefficient|Gini]]''' (2010) 
| 35.8 medium
|-
| scope="row" | '''[[w:Human Development Index|HDI]]''' (2014) 
| ▲ 0.863 very high · [[w:List of countries by Human Development Index|30th]]
|-
! scope="row" | Currency
| Nakku (Ṉ) ([[w:ISO 4217|RTN]])
|-
! scope="row" | Time zone
| [[w:UTC+06:00|UTC+6]]
|-
! scope="row" | [[w:Right- and left-hand traffic|Drives on the]]
| [[w:Right- and left-hand traffic|right]]
|-
! scope="row" | [[w:Country code top-level domain|Internet TLD]]
| .rt
|}
'''Rttirria''' (English: /ˈtɪəriə/, [[Rttirri]]: [ʈʼiɻitʼøku] ''Rttirritteku'') is a country in [[w:Southeast Asia|Southeast Asia]]. Covering an area of about 120,000 sq mi (310,000 km2), Rttirria is the [[w:List of sovereign states and dependencies by area|70th largest country]] on Earth, immediately after [[w:Poland|Poland]]. With a population of over 58 million people as of 2015, it is also [[w:List of countries and dependencies by population|the 24th most populous country]], after [[w:Italy|Italy]]. Rttirria's capital is Iharnara, which is its fourth largest city by population at 1.5 million people; its largest city is Efunari, with 4.2 million. It is a [[w:presidential republic|presidential republic]] and [[w:liberal democracy|liberal democracy]] with one of the highest [[w:Human Development Index|Human Development Index]] and [[w:Gross Domestic Product|GDP]] per capita ratings in Southeast Asia.

Sharing a land border with [[w:Myanmar|Myanmar]] on the northeast, Rttirria has a diverse topography. The population is heavily concentrated in metropolitan areas along the southeastern coast; most of the northern part of the country, especially in the Rsewakai mountain range, is very sparsely populated. Most of the population speaks Rttirri, but sizable minority communities speak other indigenous and immigrant languages. The largest religion is [[w:Hinduism|Hinduism]]; other significant minority religions are [[w:Buddhism|Buddhism]], [[w:Islam|Islam]], [[w:Christianity|Christianity]], and [[w:atheism|atheism]].

Rttirria is divided into 27 provinces, each of them—except Martirtu—themselves divided into counties. Rttirria remained a [[w:developing country|developing country]] well into the 20th century, punctuated by waves of political riots—especially in Iharnara—in the 1960s and 1970s. Since then, its economy and political standing have blossomed into those of a [[w:middle power|middle power]], propelled by the government's investment in free education, business, technology, tourism, and free trade.

==Etymology==
The native name for Rttirria is ''Rttirritteku'', which simply means "the Rttirri homeland" or "the Rttirri nation". The suffix ''-tteku'' is also used in various other names for countries in Rttirri, particularly in Southeast Asia. The etymology of ''Rttirri'' is unknown, but is recorded in inscriptions dating back to the 14th century. One commonly purported origin of the name is ''rtti-rri'' (lit. "mongoose-like"), but this is believed to be a [[w:false etymology|false etymology]]—the name ''Rttirri'' predates the adjectival suffix ''-rri'', at least in written text. Originally ''-rrirai'' ("to resemble") was used to derive adjectives from nouns, and only later was it simplified to ''-rri''. In fact, the Eastern dialects of the Rttirri language pronounce the two words differently: ''Rttirri'' [ʈʼɨɻ'''ɨ'''] vs. ''rtti-rri'' [ʈʼɨɻ'''i'''].

==Geography==
[[File:Rttirria provinces no background.png|thumb|right|275px|The 27 Rttirri provinces.]]
===Physical geography===
With an area of 119,595.59 sq mi (309,751 km2), Rttirria is situated on a peninsula in [[w:Southeast Asia|Southeast Asia]], on the [[w:Indian Plate|Indian tectonic plate]]. It borders [[w:Myanmar|Myanmar]] to the southwest and jutting into the [[w:Bay of Bengal|Bay of Bengal]] toward [[w:India|India]] and [[w:Sri Lanka|Sri Lanka]]. The country has a diverse topography, ranging from dense tropical rainforest and swamps—particularly near the border with Myanmar—to the alpine Rsewakai Mountains in the center and north, steep cliffs and meadows in the southwest, and the volcanic island province of Rseperupu.

===Political divisions===
[[File:Rttirria counties.png|thumb|left|275px|The counties of Rttirria, color-coded by population density. Darker shades of red represent higher density, darker shades of blue lower density. Note the clusters of high density around Iharnara (northeast), Efunari (south), and Chukkapati (southwest).]]
Rttirria is divided into 27 provinces; all of them were historically their own kingdoms except for West and East Warakitasa, which were a single kingdom and then a single province. They were divided in the late 19th century by the British for greater ease of governance, along a crude north-south line that separated numerous cities and towns. Although the provinces have distinct regional identities, cultures, and dialects of the Rttirri language, the nation has maintained a fairly consistent identity since the 14th century, when Indian colonists and traders brought the 26 kingdoms into closer contact with one another. The provinces vary widely in population, from West Warakitasa (10.2 million, 17.6% of the national population) to Wimichimau (50,300, 0.09%).

Notably, the capital city of Iharnara does not constitute its own province, instead being located along the southern coast of Akkakau; if it did, it would be ranked 12th in population and first in population density. Its infrastructure, business, education, and other functions are handled by the county and province, just like those of any other city. There is some support for splitting the city off into the 28th province of Rttirria, particularly by westerners who see its positioning in an Eastern province as a form of Eastern privilege, but no organized movement has materialized so far.

Each province is divided into counties—ranging from the 3 counties of Wimichimau to the 44 of Miwikipu—except for Martirtu. The counties have no longform names, being denoted simply with numbers. Many counties are coextensive with city boundaries, such as Akkakau County 12 (Iharnara), West Warakitasa County 5 (Efunari), and Kikai County 10 (Kikai).

In 1975, Martirtu's government consolidated its 8 counties into one per a ballot measure. Arguments presented by proponents of the consolidation measure included greater bureaucratic efficiency, banding together to serve as a check on the power of the federal government in Iharnara, ethnic homogeneity, and little cultural and linguistic diversity compared to other provinces; the resolution passed by a sizable margin. Other county consolidation measures have been placed on ballots in Urtuki, Yenesni, and Wimichimau, but none of these measures has passed.

==Demographics==
{| class="toccolours" align="right" style="border-spacing: 4px; border: 1px solid darkgray; text-align: left"
|+ '''Historical population'''
! scope="col" | Census
! scope="col" | Pop.
!
!
!
! %±
|-
! scope="row" | 1890
| ~9,820,000
|
|
|
| —
|-
! scope="row" | 1930
| 23,977,259
|
|
|
| 244.2%
|-
! scope="row" | 1940
| 28,844,642
|
|
|
| 20.3%
|-
! scope="row" | 1950
| 33,402,095
|
|
|
| 15.8%
|-
! scope="row" | 1960
| 40,683,752
|
|
|
| 21.8%
|-
! scope="row" | 1970
| 41,538,111
|
|
|
| 2.1%
|-
! scope="row" | 1980
| 39,419,668
|
|
|
| −5.1%
|-
! scope="row" | 1990
| 42,336,724
|
|
|
| 7.4%
|-
! scope="row" | 2000
| 49,152,936
|
|
|
| 16.1%
|-
! scope="row" | 2010
| 55,247,900
|
|
|
| 12.4%
|-
! scope="row" | 2015
| 58,182,131
|
|
|
| 5.3%
|}
===Ethnicity===
Rttirria is fairly ethnically homogeneous among Southeast Asian nations. Its dominant ethnic group, the Rttirri people, make up 77.4% of the population as of 2015 population estimates, though this percentage is declining. The remaining 22.6% of the population are considered ethnic minorities, and consist of [[w:Burmese people|Burmese]] ethnic groups (7.4%); other Asian peoples from [[w:East Asia|East]], Southeast, [[w:South Asia|South]], and [[w:West Asia|West Asia]] (6.9%); non-Asian (5.6%); and of other native cultures on the Rttirrian peninsula (2.7%).

Asian people who are neither Rttirri, other native Rttirrian, or Burmese are of diverse origins, primarily from [[w:China|China]], [[w:South Korea|South Korea]], [[w:Thailand|Thailand]], [[w:Philippines|the Philippines]], [[w:India|India]], [[w:Pakistan|Pakistan]], [[w:Syria|Syria]], and [[w:Iraq|Iraq]]. Likewise, non-Asians hail from many other countries around the world, principally [[w:United States|the United States]], [[w:United Kingdom|the United Kingdom]], [[w:Nigeria|Nigeria]], [[w:Egypt|Egypt]], [[w:Somalia|Somalia]], and [[w:Serbia|Serbia]] and other former [[w:Yugoslavia|Yugoslav]] countries.

===Health===
Rttirria has a life expectancy of 76.4 years for males and 77.6 years for females, respectively ranking 35th and 80th [[w:List of countries by life expectancy|in the world]]. Though one of the highest in Southeast Asia, it is moderately low among developed countries, especially considering the Rttirrian people's generally healthy diet. Possible reasons put forth include the general unwillingness of many Rttirrians to seek medical treatment, the prevalence of violent confrontations to resolve conflicts, and relatively high crime in much of the country.

===Urbanization===
The population is heavily concentrated in metropolitan areas along the southeastern coast, such as those surrounding the cities of Efunari, Iharnara, Kikai, and Chukkapati. Most of the northern part of the country, especially in the Rsewakai Mountains, is very sparsely populated, the result of geographical isolation, higher altitudes, and historically lower industrial development.

Rttirria has seen moderate [[w:urbanization|urbanization]] during its history, albeit not to the extent of many other countries. In much of eastern Rttirria, the populations of large urban centers such as Iharnara, Ttyami, and Umairri have been declining for decades due to high crime, protests and riots, deprived post-industrial economies, and political corruption; their inhabitants have been moving to western and northern Rttirria and into rural areas of the east, such as in northern Yenesni, southern Rtuha, and Miwikipu.

The populations of the ten largest cities of Rttirria are as follows:

{| class="toccolours" style="border-spacing: 2px; border: 1px solid darkgray; text-align: left; width: 50%; font-size: 85%"
|+ '''Populations of ten largest cities'''
! scope="col" | Rank
! scope="col" | City
! scope="col" | Province
! scope="col" | Region
! scope="col" | Pop. (2015)
! scope="col" | Pop. (2010)
! scope="col" | %±
|-
| 1
| Efunari
| West Warakitasa
| West
| 4,519,216
| 4,320,071
| 4.6%
|-
| 2
| Chukkapati
| Hima
| West
| 2,100,631
| 1,950,903
| 7.7%
|-
| 3
| Tettufane
| Namihafapu
| North
| 1,604,188
| 1,349,193
| 18.9%
|-
| 4
| Iharnara (capital)
| Akkakau
| East
| 1,592,079
| 1,603,190
| −1.3%
|-
| 5
| Fukanucha
| Fukanucha
| East
| 957,825
| 955,194
| 0.3%
|-
| 6
| Ttyami
| Ttyami
| East
| 661,935
| 724,922
| −8.7%
|-
| 7
| Aiti
| East Warakitasa
| West
| 596,925
| 578,154
| 3.3%
|-
| 8
| Umairri
| Umairri
| East
| 504,559
| 530,615
| −4.9%
|-
| 9
| Kikai
| Kikai
| East
| 451,812
| 423,134
| 6.8%
|-
| 10
| Rraiwafa
| Hima
| West
| 393,046
| 356,490
| 10.3%
|}

==Culture==
===Snenuppais===
[[File:Rttirria.png|thumb|right|250px|Rttirria's flag, the ''Ppawipu''. The unusually sparse design, consisting solely of a dark green background intended to resemble forest, adorned by three white squares intended to resemble a ''snenuppai'', has long been interesting to [[w:vexillology|vexillologists]].]]
Rttirri's trademark art form is the ''snenuppai'', which translates literally as "little family" and consists of a three-panel comic, arranged from top to bottom. Snenuppais are used for many serious and comedic purposes in the present day, such as for [[w:political cartoon|political cartoons]] in newspapers, illustrations in children's books, pamphlets at religious ceremonies and in many Rttirri editions of [[w:Hinduism|Hindu]] sacred texts, and instructions on appliances.

The origins of snenuppais are unknown, but short visual stories have been found in etchings in stone, clay, and petrified wood all over western Rttirria, some of them dating back to at least the 8th century CE. These visual stories vary in length, but usually consist of between one and five "panels", which are usually arranged vertically. They were used for a range of purposes, including recording the histories of families, cities, and kingdoms; keeping track of inventories and debts; predicting the future; and allowing newly married couples to write out their wedding vows.

Perhaps most notably of all, many of these early comics, even those used to tell narratives, used blocks of symbols intended to convey speech and narration. Linguists have analyzed these symbols and found no meaningful correspondence between them and any known stage of the Rttirri language, but because of the non-literal nature of many symbols used (for example, a drawing of a head shaking was sometimes used to signal negation), it is hypothesized that if Rttirria had been isolated from Arab and Indian peoples, these symbols could have eventually evolved into a [[w:logogram|logographic]] writing system like that of [[w:Chinese characters|Chinese]] or [[w:Maya script|the Mayan languages]].

===Cuisine===
Rttirrian cuisine is similar to that of other Southeast Asian nations, with an emphasis on such staples as rice, coconuts, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and fragrant spices and herbs. Herbs and spices such as [[w:lemongrass|lemongrass]], [[w:ginger|ginger]], and [[w:bird's eye chili|bird's eye chili]] are also used as garnishes. [[w:Candlenut|Candlenuts]] are a common source of oil for frying, though the seeds are toxic when eaten raw. Borneo tallow nuts (in the ''[[w:Shorea|Shorea]]'' genus) are an occasional source of protein.

Fruits are used in many dishes, including the [[w:tamarind|tamarind]], [[w:durian|durian]], [[w:banana|banana]], [[w:pomegranate|pomegranate]], [[w:plum|plum]], and [[w:sugar-apple|sugar-apple]]. They are incorporated both in their entirety and for the flavors of their juice, and are used in dishes ranging from ordinary curries and stir-fries to pastries and dumplings, even being combined freely with hot spices such as chilis. As a result, many Rttirrian dishes exhibit the unusual flavor combination of sweet and spicy.

===Music===
The modern Rttirrian music industry is centered in major cities: Efunari is the foremost hub for [[w:pop music|pop music]], while Tettufane is better known for [[w:alternative rock|alternative]] and [[w:indie rock|indie]] music. Solo artists and bands have adopted many Western genres, such as [[w:rock music|rock]], [[w:hip hop music|hip hop]], [[w:electronica|electronica]], [[w:heavy metal music|heavy metal]], [[w:punk rock|punk rock]], [[w:contemporary R&B|R&B]], and [[w:avant-garde music|avant-garde]]. Artists may incorporate heavy compositional and instrumental elements of Rttirrian traditional music or none at all.

[[w:Progressive rock|Progressive rock]] has remained prominent in Rttirria for decades after its decline in popularity in Europe and North America; Rttirria is a top touring destination for Western progressive rock artists, and native artists have continued to evolve the genre stylistically, experimenting with different unconventional song structures, lyrical topics, and instrumentation. [[w:Bluegrass music|Bluegrass]] has also enjoyed popularity in Rttirria due to its complexity and resemblance to the nation's traditional music, and the [[w:banjo|banjo]] has become a reasonably widely used instrument in other genres.

==See also==
* [[Rttirri]]
* [[Gaju]]

[[Category:Countries]]
[[Category:Rttirria]]

Verse:Rttirria

2019-08-08T19:58:17Z

Frrurtu: /* Health */

{| class="toccolours" align="right" style="border-spacing: 2px; border: 1px solid darkgray; text-align: left; font-size: 85%"
! scope="row" colspan="2"| <div style="text-align: center;"><big>'''Rttirria ''Rttirritteku'''''</big></div>
|
|-
! scope="row" colspan="2"| <div style="text-align: center;">[[File:Rttirria on world.png|250px]]</div>
|
|-
! scope="row" | Capital
| Iharnara
|-
! scope="row" | Largest city
| Efunari
|-
! scope="row" | Official languages
| [[Rttirri]]
|-
! scope="row" | Spoken languages 
| Rttirri, [[w:Burmese language|Burmese]], [[Gaju]], other indigenous languages
|-
! scope="row" | Ethnic groups 
| 77.4% Rttirri 7.4% Burmese 6.9% Other Asian 5.6% White/Black/Latin American 2.7% Other Rttirrians
|-
! scope="row" | Religion 
| 70.1% [[w:Hinduism|Hinduism]] 11.2% [[w:Buddhism|Buddhism]] 4.6% [[w:Christianity|Christianity]] 2.3% [[w:Islam|Islam]] 0.3% [[w:Judaism|Judaism]] 1.8% others 9.9% unaffiliated
|-
! scope="row" | Demonym
| Rttirrian
|-
! scope="row" | Government 
| [[w:liberal democracy|Liberal democratic]] [[w:presidential republic|presidential republic]]
|-
! scope="row" | Area
| 119,595.59 sq mi (309,751 km2)
|-
| scope="row" | '''Population''' • 2015 estimate • 2010 census • Density
| 58,182,131 55,247,900 484.97/sq mi (187.25/km2)
|-
| scope="row" | '''[[w:Gross domestic product|GDP]]''' ([[w:Purchasing power parity|PPP]]) • Total • Per capita
| 2015 estimate US$1.666 trillion US$28,627
|-
| scope="row" | '''[[w:Gini coefficient|Gini]]''' (2010) 
| 35.8 medium
|-
| scope="row" | '''[[w:Human Development Index|HDI]]''' (2014) 
| ▲ 0.863 very high · [[w:List of countries by Human Development Index|30th]]
|-
! scope="row" | Currency
| Nakku (Ṉ) ([[w:ISO 4217|RTN]])
|-
! scope="row" | Time zone
| [[w:UTC+06:00|UTC+6]]
|-
! scope="row" | [[w:Right- and left-hand traffic|Drives on the]]
| [[w:Right- and left-hand traffic|right]]
|-
! scope="row" | [[w:Country code top-level domain|Internet TLD]]
| .rt
|}
'''Rttirria''' (English: /ˈtɪəriə/, [[Rttirri]]: [ʈʼiɻitʼøku] ''Rttirritteku'') is a country in [[w:Southeast Asia|Southeast Asia]]. Covering an area of about 120,000 sq mi (310,000 km2), Rttirria is the [[w:List of sovereign states and dependencies by area|70th largest country]] on Earth, immediately after [[w:Poland|Poland]]. With a population of over 58 million people as of 2015, it is also [[w:List of countries and dependencies by population|the 24th most populous country]], after [[w:Italy|Italy]]. Rttirria's capital is Iharnara, which is its fourth largest city by population at 1.5 million people; its largest city is Efunari, with 4.2 million. It is a [[w:presidential republic|presidential republic]] and [[w:liberal democracy|liberal democracy]] with one of the highest [[w:Human Development Index|Human Development Index]] and [[w:Gross Domestic Product|GDP]] per capita ratings in Southeast Asia.

Sharing a land border with [[w:Myanmar|Myanmar]] on the northeast, Rttirria has a diverse topography. The population is heavily concentrated in metropolitan areas along the southeastern coast; most of the northern part of the country, especially in the Rsewakai mountain range, is very sparsely populated. Most of the population speaks Rttirri, but sizable minority communities speak other indigenous and immigrant languages. The largest religion is [[w:Hinduism|Hinduism]]; other significant minority religions are [[w:Buddhism|Buddhism]], [[w:Islam|Islam]], [[w:Christianity|Christianity]], and [[w:atheism|atheism]].

Rttirria is divided into 27 provinces, each of them—except Martirtu—themselves divided into counties. Rttirria remained a [[w:developing country|developing country]] well into the 20th century, punctuated by waves of political riots—especially in Iharnara—in the 1960s and 1970s. Since then, its economy and political standing have blossomed into those of a [[w:middle power|middle power]], propelled by the government's investment in free education, business, technology, tourism, and free trade.

==Etymology==
The native name for Rttirria is ''Rttirritteku'', which simply means "the Rttirri homeland" or "the Rttirri nation". The suffix ''-tteku'' is also used in various other names for countries in Rttirri, particularly in Southeast Asia. The etymology of ''Rttirri'' is unknown, but is recorded in inscriptions dating back to the 14th century. One commonly purported origin of the name is ''rtti-rri'' (lit. "mongoose-like"), but this is believed to be a [[w:false etymology|false etymology]]—the name ''Rttirri'' predates the adjectival suffix ''-rri'', at least in written text. Originally ''-rrirai'' ("to resemble") was used to derive adjectives from nouns, and only later was it simplified to ''-rri''. In fact, the Eastern dialects of the Rttirri language pronounce the two words differently: ''Rttirri'' [ʈʼɨɻ'''ɨ'''] vs. ''rtti-rri'' [ʈʼɨɻ'''i'''].

==Geography==
[[File:Rttirria provinces no background.png|thumb|right|275px|The 27 Rttirri provinces.]]
===Physical geography===
With an area of 119,595.59 sq mi (309,751 km2), Rttirria is situated on a peninsula in [[w:Southeast Asia|Southeast Asia]], on the [[w:Indian Plate|Indian tectonic plate]]. It borders [[w:Myanmar|Myanmar]] to the southwest and jutting into the [[w:Bay of Bengal|Bay of Bengal]] toward [[w:India|India]] and [[w:Sri Lanka|Sri Lanka]]. The country has a diverse topography, ranging from dense tropical rainforest and swamps—particularly near the border with Myanmar—to the alpine Rsewakai Mountains in the center and north, steep cliffs and meadows in the southwest, and the volcanic island province of Rseperupu.

===Political divisions===
[[File:Rttirria counties.png|thumb|left|275px|The counties of Rttirria, color-coded by population density. Darker shades of red represent higher density, darker shades of blue lower density. Note the clusters of high density around Iharnara (northeast), Efunari (south), and Chukkapati (southwest).]]
Rttirria is divided into 27 provinces; all of them were historically their own kingdoms except for West and East Warakitasa, which were a single kingdom and then a single province. They were divided in the late 19th century by the British for greater ease of governance, along a crude north-south line that separated numerous cities and towns. Although the provinces have distinct regional identities, cultures, and dialects of the Rttirri language, the nation has maintained a fairly consistent identity since the 14th century, when Indian colonists and traders brought the 26 kingdoms into closer contact with one another. The provinces vary widely in population, from West Warakitasa (10.2 million, 17.6% of the national population) to Wimichimau (50,300, 0.09%).

Notably, the capital city of Iharnara does not constitute its own province, instead being located along the southern coast of Akkakau; if it did, it would be ranked 12th in population and first in population density. Its infrastructure, business, education, and other functions are handled by the county and province, just like those of any other city. There is some support for splitting the city off into the 28th province of Rttirria, particularly by westerners who see its positioning in an Eastern province as a form of Eastern privilege, but no organized movement has materialized so far.

Each province is divided into counties—ranging from the 3 counties of Wimichimau to the 44 of Miwikipu—except for Martirtu. The counties have no longform names, being denoted simply with numbers. Many counties are coextensive with city boundaries, such as Akkakau County 12 (Iharnara), West Warakitasa County 5 (Efunari), and Kikai County 10 (Kikai).

In 1975, Martirtu's government consolidated its 8 counties into one per a ballot measure. Arguments presented by proponents of the consolidation measure included greater bureaucratic efficiency, banding together to serve as a check on the power of the federal government in Iharnara, ethnic homogeneity, and little cultural and linguistic diversity compared to other provinces; the resolution passed by a sizable margin. Other county consolidation measures have been placed on ballots in Urtuki, Yenesni, and Wimichimau, but none of these measures has passed.

==Demographics==
{| class="toccolours" align="right" style="border-spacing: 4px; border: 1px solid darkgray; text-align: left"
|+ '''Historical population'''
! scope="col" | Census
! scope="col" | Pop.
!
!
!
! %±
|-
! scope="row" | 1890
| ~9,820,000
|
|
|
| —
|-
! scope="row" | 1930
| 23,977,259
|
|
|
| 244.2%
|-
! scope="row" | 1940
| 28,844,642
|
|
|
| 20.3%
|-
! scope="row" | 1950
| 33,402,095
|
|
|
| 15.8%
|-
! scope="row" | 1960
| 40,683,752
|
|
|
| 21.8%
|-
! scope="row" | 1970
| 41,538,111
|
|
|
| 2.1%
|-
! scope="row" | 1980
| 39,419,668
|
|
|
| −5.1%
|-
! scope="row" | 1990
| 42,336,724
|
|
|
| 7.4%
|-
! scope="row" | 2000
| 49,152,936
|
|
|
| 16.1%
|-
! scope="row" | 2010
| 55,247,900
|
|
|
| 12.4%
|-
! scope="row" | 2015
| 58,182,131
|
|
|
| 5.3%
|}
===Ethnicity===
Rttirria is fairly ethnically homogeneous among Southeast Asian nations. Its dominant ethnic group, the Rttirri people, make up 77.4% of the population as of 2015 population estimates, though this percentage is declining. The remaining 22.6% of the population are considered ethnic minorities, and consist of [[w:Burmese people|Burmese]] ethnic groups (7.4%); other Asian peoples from [[w:East Asia|East]], Southeast, [[w:South Asia|South]], and [[w:West Asia|West Asia]] (6.9%); non-Asian (5.6%); and of other native cultures on the Rttirrian peninsula (2.7%).

Asian people who are neither Rttirri, other native Rttirrian, or Burmese are of diverse origins, primarily from [[w:China|China]], [[w:South Korea|South Korea]], [[w:Thailand|Thailand]], [[w:Philippines|the Philippines]], [[w:India|India]], [[w:Pakistan|Pakistan]], [[w:Syria|Syria]], and [[w:Iraq|Iraq]]. Likewise, non-Asians hail from many other countries around the world, principally [[w:United States|the United States]], [[w:United Kingdom|the United Kingdom]], [[w:Nigeria|Nigeria]], [[w:Egypt|Egypt]], [[w:Somalia|Somalia]], and [[w:Serbia|Serbia]] and other former [[w:Yugoslavia|Yugoslav]] countries.

===Health===
Rttirria has a life expectancy of 76.4 years for males and 77.6 years for females, respectively ranking 35th and 80th [[w:List of countries by life expectancy|in the world]]. Though one of the highest in Southeast Asia, it is moderately low among developed countries, especially considering the Rttirrian people's generally healthy diet. Possible reasons put forth include the general unwillingness of many Rttirrians to seek medical treatment, the prevalence of violent confrontations to resolve conflicts, and relatively high crime in much of the country.

===Urbanization===
The population is heavily concentrated in metropolitan areas along the southeastern coast, such as those surrounding the cities of Efunari, Iharnara, Kikai, and Chukkapati. Most of the northern part of the country, especially in the Rsewakai Mountains, is very sparsely populated, the result of geographical isolation, higher altitudes, and historically lower industrial development.

Rttirria has seen moderate [[w:urbanization|urbanization]] during its history, albeit not to the extent of many other countries. In much of eastern Rttirria, the populations of large urban centers such as Iharnara, Ttyami, and Umairri have been declining for decades due to high crime, protests and riots, deprived post-industrial economies, and political corruption; their inhabitants have been moving to western and northern Rttirria and into rural areas of the east, such as in northern Yenesni, southern Rtuha, and Miwikipu.

The populations of the ten largest cities of Rttirria are as follows:

{| class="toccolours" style="border-spacing: 2px; border: 1px solid darkgray; text-align: left; width: 50%; font-size: 85%"
|+ '''Populations of ten largest cities'''
! scope="col" | Rank
! scope="col" | City
! scope="col" | Province
! scope="col" | Region
! scope="col" | Pop. (2015)
! scope="col" | Pop. (2010)
! scope="col" | %±
|-
| 1
| Efunari
| West Warakitasa
| West
| 4,519,216
| 4,320,071
| 4.6%
|-
| 2
| Chukkapati
| Hima
| West
| 2,100,631
| 1,950,903
| 7.7%
|-
| 3
| Tettufane
| Namihafapu
| North
| 1,604,188
| 1,349,193
| 18.9%
|-
| 4
| Iharnara (capital)
| Akkakau
| East
| 1,592,079
| 1,603,190
| −1.3%
|-
| 5
| Fukanucha
| Fukanucha
| East
| 957,825
| 955,194
| 0.3%
|-
| 6
| Ttyami
| Ttyami
| East
| 661,935
| 724,922
| −8.7%
|-
| 7
| Aiti
| East Warakitasa
| West
| 596,925
| 578,154
| 3.3%
|-
| 8
| Umairri
| Umairri
| East
| 504,559
| 530,615
| −4.9%
|-
| 9
| Kikai
| Kikai
| East
| 451,812
| 423,134
| 6.8%
|-
| 10
| Rraiwafa
| Hima
| West
| 393,046
| 356,490
| 10.3%
|}

==Culture==
===Snenuppais===
[[File:Rttirria.png|thumb|right|250px|Rttirria's flag, the ''Ppawipu''. The unusually sparse design, consisting solely of a dark green background intended to resemble forest, adorned by three white squares intended to resemble a ''snenuppai'', has long been interesting to [[w:vexillology|vexillologists]].]]
Rttirri's trademark art form is the ''snenuppai'', which translates literally as "little family" and consists of a three-panel comic, arranged from top to bottom. Snenuppais are used for many serious and comedic purposes in the present day, such as for [[w:political cartoon|political cartoons]] in newspapers, illustrations in children's books, pamphlets at religious ceremonies and in many Rttirri editions of [[w:Hinduism|Hindu]] sacred texts, and instructions on appliances.

The origins of snenuppais are unknown, but short visual stories have been found in etchings in stone, clay, and petrified wood all over western Rttirria, some of them dating back to at least the 8th century CE. These visual stories vary in length, but usually consist of between one and five "panels", which are usually arranged vertically. They were used for a range of purposes, including recording the histories of families, cities, and kingdoms; keeping track of inventories and debts; predicting the future; and allowing newly married couples to write out their wedding vows.

Perhaps most notably of all, many of these early comics, even those used to tell narratives, used blocks of symbols intended to convey speech and narration. Linguists have analyzed these symbols and found no meaningful correspondence between them and any known stage of the Rttirri language, but because of the non-literal nature of many symbols used (for example, a drawing of a head shaking was sometimes used to signal negation), it is hypothesized that if Rttirria had been isolated from Arab and Indian peoples, these symbols could have eventually evolved into a [[w:logogram|logographic]] writing system like that of [[w:Chinese characters|Chinese]] or [[w:Maya script|the Mayan languages]].

===Cuisine===
Rttirrian cuisine is similar to that of other Southeast Asian nations, with an emphasis on such staples as rice, coconuts, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and fragrant spices and herbs. Herbs and spices such as [[w:lemongrass|lemongrass]], [[w:ginger|ginger]], and [[w:bird's eye chili|bird's eye chili]] are also used as garnishes. [[w:Candlenut|Candlenuts]] are a common source of oil for frying, though the seeds are toxic when eaten raw. Borneo tallow nuts (in the ''[[w:Shorea|Shorea]]'' genus) are an occasional source of protein.

Fruits are used in many dishes, including the [[w:tamarind|tamarind]], [[w:durian|durian]], [[w:banana|banana]], [[w:pomegranate|pomegranate]], [[w:plum|plum]], and [[w:sugar-apple|sugar-apple]]. They are incorporated both in their entirety and for the flavors of their juice, and are used in dishes ranging from ordinary curries and stir-fries to pastries and dumplings, even being combined freely with hot spices such as chilis. As a result, many Rttirrian dishes exhibit the unusual flavor combination of sweet and spicy.

===Music===
The modern Rttirrian music industry is centered in major cities; Efunari is the foremost hub for [[w:pop music|pop music]], while Tettufane is better known for [[w:alternative rock|alternative]] and [[w:indie rock|indie]] music. Solo artists and bands perform many different Western genres, such as [[w:rock music|rock]], [[w:hip hop music|hip hop]], [[w:electronica|electronica]], [[w:heavy metal music|heavy metal]], [[w:punk rock|punk rock]], [[w:contemporary R&B|R&B]], and [[w:avant-garde music|avant-garde]]. Artists may incorporate heavy compositional and instrumental elements of Rttirrian traditional music or none at all.

[[w:Progressive rock|Progressive rock]] has remained prominent in Rttirria for decades after its decline in popularity in Europe and North America; Rttirria is a top touring destination for Western progressive rock artists, and native artists have continued to evolve the genre stylistically, experimenting with different unconventional song structures, lyrical topics, and instrumentation. [[w:Bluegrass music|Bluegrass]] has also enjoyed popularity in Rttirria due to its complexity and resemblance to the nation's traditional music, and the [[w:banjo|banjo]] has become a reasonably widely used instrument in other genres.

==See also==
* [[Rttirri]]
* [[Gaju]]

[[Category:Countries]]
[[Category:Rttirria]]

Verse:Rttirria

2019-08-08T19:57:35Z

Frrurtu: /* Snenuppais */

{| class="toccolours" align="right" style="border-spacing: 2px; border: 1px solid darkgray; text-align: left; font-size: 85%"
! scope="row" colspan="2"| <div style="text-align: center;"><big>'''Rttirria ''Rttirritteku'''''</big></div>
|
|-
! scope="row" colspan="2"| <div style="text-align: center;">[[File:Rttirria on world.png|250px]]</div>
|
|-
! scope="row" | Capital
| Iharnara
|-
! scope="row" | Largest city
| Efunari
|-
! scope="row" | Official languages
| [[Rttirri]]
|-
! scope="row" | Spoken languages 
| Rttirri, [[w:Burmese language|Burmese]], [[Gaju]], other indigenous languages
|-
! scope="row" | Ethnic groups 
| 77.4% Rttirri 7.4% Burmese 6.9% Other Asian 5.6% White/Black/Latin American 2.7% Other Rttirrians
|-
! scope="row" | Religion 
| 70.1% [[w:Hinduism|Hinduism]] 11.2% [[w:Buddhism|Buddhism]] 4.6% [[w:Christianity|Christianity]] 2.3% [[w:Islam|Islam]] 0.3% [[w:Judaism|Judaism]] 1.8% others 9.9% unaffiliated
|-
! scope="row" | Demonym
| Rttirrian
|-
! scope="row" | Government 
| [[w:liberal democracy|Liberal democratic]] [[w:presidential republic|presidential republic]]
|-
! scope="row" | Area
| 119,595.59 sq mi (309,751 km2)
|-
| scope="row" | '''Population''' • 2015 estimate • 2010 census • Density
| 58,182,131 55,247,900 484.97/sq mi (187.25/km2)
|-
| scope="row" | '''[[w:Gross domestic product|GDP]]''' ([[w:Purchasing power parity|PPP]]) • Total • Per capita
| 2015 estimate US$1.666 trillion US$28,627
|-
| scope="row" | '''[[w:Gini coefficient|Gini]]''' (2010) 
| 35.8 medium
|-
| scope="row" | '''[[w:Human Development Index|HDI]]''' (2014) 
| ▲ 0.863 very high · [[w:List of countries by Human Development Index|30th]]
|-
! scope="row" | Currency
| Nakku (Ṉ) ([[w:ISO 4217|RTN]])
|-
! scope="row" | Time zone
| [[w:UTC+06:00|UTC+6]]
|-
! scope="row" | [[w:Right- and left-hand traffic|Drives on the]]
| [[w:Right- and left-hand traffic|right]]
|-
! scope="row" | [[w:Country code top-level domain|Internet TLD]]
| .rt
|}
'''Rttirria''' (English: /ˈtɪəriə/, [[Rttirri]]: [ʈʼiɻitʼøku] ''Rttirritteku'') is a country in [[w:Southeast Asia|Southeast Asia]]. Covering an area of about 120,000 sq mi (310,000 km2), Rttirria is the [[w:List of sovereign states and dependencies by area|70th largest country]] on Earth, immediately after [[w:Poland|Poland]]. With a population of over 58 million people as of 2015, it is also [[w:List of countries and dependencies by population|the 24th most populous country]], after [[w:Italy|Italy]]. Rttirria's capital is Iharnara, which is its fourth largest city by population at 1.5 million people; its largest city is Efunari, with 4.2 million. It is a [[w:presidential republic|presidential republic]] and [[w:liberal democracy|liberal democracy]] with one of the highest [[w:Human Development Index|Human Development Index]] and [[w:Gross Domestic Product|GDP]] per capita ratings in Southeast Asia.

Sharing a land border with [[w:Myanmar|Myanmar]] on the northeast, Rttirria has a diverse topography. The population is heavily concentrated in metropolitan areas along the southeastern coast; most of the northern part of the country, especially in the Rsewakai mountain range, is very sparsely populated. Most of the population speaks Rttirri, but sizable minority communities speak other indigenous and immigrant languages. The largest religion is [[w:Hinduism|Hinduism]]; other significant minority religions are [[w:Buddhism|Buddhism]], [[w:Islam|Islam]], [[w:Christianity|Christianity]], and [[w:atheism|atheism]].

Rttirria is divided into 27 provinces, each of them—except Martirtu—themselves divided into counties. Rttirria remained a [[w:developing country|developing country]] well into the 20th century, punctuated by waves of political riots—especially in Iharnara—in the 1960s and 1970s. Since then, its economy and political standing have blossomed into those of a [[w:middle power|middle power]], propelled by the government's investment in free education, business, technology, tourism, and free trade.

==Etymology==
The native name for Rttirria is ''Rttirritteku'', which simply means "the Rttirri homeland" or "the Rttirri nation". The suffix ''-tteku'' is also used in various other names for countries in Rttirri, particularly in Southeast Asia. The etymology of ''Rttirri'' is unknown, but is recorded in inscriptions dating back to the 14th century. One commonly purported origin of the name is ''rtti-rri'' (lit. "mongoose-like"), but this is believed to be a [[w:false etymology|false etymology]]—the name ''Rttirri'' predates the adjectival suffix ''-rri'', at least in written text. Originally ''-rrirai'' ("to resemble") was used to derive adjectives from nouns, and only later was it simplified to ''-rri''. In fact, the Eastern dialects of the Rttirri language pronounce the two words differently: ''Rttirri'' [ʈʼɨɻ'''ɨ'''] vs. ''rtti-rri'' [ʈʼɨɻ'''i'''].

==Geography==
[[File:Rttirria provinces no background.png|thumb|right|275px|The 27 Rttirri provinces.]]
===Physical geography===
With an area of 119,595.59 sq mi (309,751 km2), Rttirria is situated on a peninsula in [[w:Southeast Asia|Southeast Asia]], on the [[w:Indian Plate|Indian tectonic plate]]. It borders [[w:Myanmar|Myanmar]] to the southwest and jutting into the [[w:Bay of Bengal|Bay of Bengal]] toward [[w:India|India]] and [[w:Sri Lanka|Sri Lanka]]. The country has a diverse topography, ranging from dense tropical rainforest and swamps—particularly near the border with Myanmar—to the alpine Rsewakai Mountains in the center and north, steep cliffs and meadows in the southwest, and the volcanic island province of Rseperupu.

===Political divisions===
[[File:Rttirria counties.png|thumb|left|275px|The counties of Rttirria, color-coded by population density. Darker shades of red represent higher density, darker shades of blue lower density. Note the clusters of high density around Iharnara (northeast), Efunari (south), and Chukkapati (southwest).]]
Rttirria is divided into 27 provinces; all of them were historically their own kingdoms except for West and East Warakitasa, which were a single kingdom and then a single province. They were divided in the late 19th century by the British for greater ease of governance, along a crude north-south line that separated numerous cities and towns. Although the provinces have distinct regional identities, cultures, and dialects of the Rttirri language, the nation has maintained a fairly consistent identity since the 14th century, when Indian colonists and traders brought the 26 kingdoms into closer contact with one another. The provinces vary widely in population, from West Warakitasa (10.2 million, 17.6% of the national population) to Wimichimau (50,300, 0.09%).

Notably, the capital city of Iharnara does not constitute its own province, instead being located along the southern coast of Akkakau; if it did, it would be ranked 12th in population and first in population density. Its infrastructure, business, education, and other functions are handled by the county and province, just like those of any other city. There is some support for splitting the city off into the 28th province of Rttirria, particularly by westerners who see its positioning in an Eastern province as a form of Eastern privilege, but no organized movement has materialized so far.

Each province is divided into counties—ranging from the 3 counties of Wimichimau to the 44 of Miwikipu—except for Martirtu. The counties have no longform names, being denoted simply with numbers. Many counties are coextensive with city boundaries, such as Akkakau County 12 (Iharnara), West Warakitasa County 5 (Efunari), and Kikai County 10 (Kikai).

In 1975, Martirtu's government consolidated its 8 counties into one per a ballot measure. Arguments presented by proponents of the consolidation measure included greater bureaucratic efficiency, banding together to serve as a check on the power of the federal government in Iharnara, ethnic homogeneity, and little cultural and linguistic diversity compared to other provinces; the resolution passed by a sizable margin. Other county consolidation measures have been placed on ballots in Urtuki, Yenesni, and Wimichimau, but none of these measures has passed.

==Demographics==
{| class="toccolours" align="right" style="border-spacing: 4px; border: 1px solid darkgray; text-align: left"
|+ '''Historical population'''
! scope="col" | Census
! scope="col" | Pop.
!
!
!
! %±
|-
! scope="row" | 1890
| ~9,820,000
|
|
|
| —
|-
! scope="row" | 1930
| 23,977,259
|
|
|
| 244.2%
|-
! scope="row" | 1940
| 28,844,642
|
|
|
| 20.3%
|-
! scope="row" | 1950
| 33,402,095
|
|
|
| 15.8%
|-
! scope="row" | 1960
| 40,683,752
|
|
|
| 21.8%
|-
! scope="row" | 1970
| 41,538,111
|
|
|
| 2.1%
|-
! scope="row" | 1980
| 39,419,668
|
|
|
| −5.1%
|-
! scope="row" | 1990
| 42,336,724
|
|
|
| 7.4%
|-
! scope="row" | 2000
| 49,152,936
|
|
|
| 16.1%
|-
! scope="row" | 2010
| 55,247,900
|
|
|
| 12.4%
|-
! scope="row" | 2015
| 58,182,131
|
|
|
| 5.3%
|}
===Ethnicity===
Rttirria is fairly ethnically homogeneous among Southeast Asian nations. Its dominant ethnic group, the Rttirri people, make up 77.4% of the population as of 2015 population estimates, though this percentage is declining. The remaining 22.6% of the population are considered ethnic minorities, and consist of [[w:Burmese people|Burmese]] ethnic groups (7.4%); other Asian peoples from [[w:East Asia|East]], Southeast, [[w:South Asia|South]], and [[w:West Asia|West Asia]] (6.9%); non-Asian (5.6%); and of other native cultures on the Rttirrian peninsula (2.7%).

Asian people who are neither Rttirri, other native Rttirrian, or Burmese are of diverse origins, primarily from [[w:China|China]], [[w:South Korea|South Korea]], [[w:Thailand|Thailand]], [[w:Philippines|the Philippines]], [[w:India|India]], [[w:Pakistan|Pakistan]], [[w:Syria|Syria]], and [[w:Iraq|Iraq]]. Likewise, non-Asians hail from many other countries around the world, principally [[w:United States|the United States]], [[w:United Kingdom|the United Kingdom]], [[w:Nigeria|Nigeria]], [[w:Egypt|Egypt]], [[w:Somalia|Somalia]], and [[w:Serbia|Serbia]] and other former [[w:Yugoslavia|Yugoslav]] countries.

===Health===
Rttirria has a life expectancy of 76.4 years for males and 77.6 years for females, respectively ranking 35th and 80th [[w:List of countries by life expectancy|in the world]]. Though one of the highest in Southeast Asia, it is moderately low among developed countries, especially considering the Rttirrian people's generally healthy diet. Possible reasons put forth include the general unwillingness of many Rttirrians to seek medical treatment, the prevalence of violent confrontations to resolve conflicts, and relatively high crime in much of the country.

Rttirria has one of the highest rates of [[w:Drug overdose|drug overdoses]] in the world, particularly from hard, psychoactive drugs such as [[w:cocaine|cocaine]] and [[w:heroin|heroin]]. Health experts and sociologists have hypothesized that the widespread use of marijuana, coupled with the masculine national culture's tolerance of [[w:peer pressure|peer pressure]], compels youth to seek out more dangerous highs. Additionally, [[w:suicide|suicide]] rates, though only somewhat above-average nationally, are especially high in less populated areas of the north and east, particularly the provinces of Rtuha, Manamuki, and Nukima; West Warakitasa, East Warakitasa, and Kikai have the lowest rates.

===Urbanization===
The population is heavily concentrated in metropolitan areas along the southeastern coast, such as those surrounding the cities of Efunari, Iharnara, Kikai, and Chukkapati. Most of the northern part of the country, especially in the Rsewakai Mountains, is very sparsely populated, the result of geographical isolation, higher altitudes, and historically lower industrial development.

Rttirria has seen moderate [[w:urbanization|urbanization]] during its history, albeit not to the extent of many other countries. In much of eastern Rttirria, the populations of large urban centers such as Iharnara, Ttyami, and Umairri have been declining for decades due to high crime, protests and riots, deprived post-industrial economies, and political corruption; their inhabitants have been moving to western and northern Rttirria and into rural areas of the east, such as in northern Yenesni, southern Rtuha, and Miwikipu.

The populations of the ten largest cities of Rttirria are as follows:

{| class="toccolours" style="border-spacing: 2px; border: 1px solid darkgray; text-align: left; width: 50%; font-size: 85%"
|+ '''Populations of ten largest cities'''
! scope="col" | Rank
! scope="col" | City
! scope="col" | Province
! scope="col" | Region
! scope="col" | Pop. (2015)
! scope="col" | Pop. (2010)
! scope="col" | %±
|-
| 1
| Efunari
| West Warakitasa
| West
| 4,519,216
| 4,320,071
| 4.6%
|-
| 2
| Chukkapati
| Hima
| West
| 2,100,631
| 1,950,903
| 7.7%
|-
| 3
| Tettufane
| Namihafapu
| North
| 1,604,188
| 1,349,193
| 18.9%
|-
| 4
| Iharnara (capital)
| Akkakau
| East
| 1,592,079
| 1,603,190
| −1.3%
|-
| 5
| Fukanucha
| Fukanucha
| East
| 957,825
| 955,194
| 0.3%
|-
| 6
| Ttyami
| Ttyami
| East
| 661,935
| 724,922
| −8.7%
|-
| 7
| Aiti
| East Warakitasa
| West
| 596,925
| 578,154
| 3.3%
|-
| 8
| Umairri
| Umairri
| East
| 504,559
| 530,615
| −4.9%
|-
| 9
| Kikai
| Kikai
| East
| 451,812
| 423,134
| 6.8%
|-
| 10
| Rraiwafa
| Hima
| West
| 393,046
| 356,490
| 10.3%
|}

==Culture==
===Snenuppais===
[[File:Rttirria.png|thumb|right|250px|Rttirria's flag, the ''Ppawipu''. The unusually sparse design, consisting solely of a dark green background intended to resemble forest, adorned by three white squares intended to resemble a ''snenuppai'', has long been interesting to [[w:vexillology|vexillologists]].]]
Rttirri's trademark art form is the ''snenuppai'', which translates literally as "little family" and consists of a three-panel comic, arranged from top to bottom. Snenuppais are used for many serious and comedic purposes in the present day, such as for [[w:political cartoon|political cartoons]] in newspapers, illustrations in children's books, pamphlets at religious ceremonies and in many Rttirri editions of [[w:Hinduism|Hindu]] sacred texts, and instructions on appliances.

The origins of snenuppais are unknown, but short visual stories have been found in etchings in stone, clay, and petrified wood all over western Rttirria, some of them dating back to at least the 8th century CE. These visual stories vary in length, but usually consist of between one and five "panels", which are usually arranged vertically. They were used for a range of purposes, including recording the histories of families, cities, and kingdoms; keeping track of inventories and debts; predicting the future; and allowing newly married couples to write out their wedding vows.

Perhaps most notably of all, many of these early comics, even those used to tell narratives, used blocks of symbols intended to convey speech and narration. Linguists have analyzed these symbols and found no meaningful correspondence between them and any known stage of the Rttirri language, but because of the non-literal nature of many symbols used (for example, a drawing of a head shaking was sometimes used to signal negation), it is hypothesized that if Rttirria had been isolated from Arab and Indian peoples, these symbols could have eventually evolved into a [[w:logogram|logographic]] writing system like that of [[w:Chinese characters|Chinese]] or [[w:Maya script|the Mayan languages]].

===Cuisine===
Rttirrian cuisine is similar to that of other Southeast Asian nations, with an emphasis on such staples as rice, coconuts, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and fragrant spices and herbs. Herbs and spices such as [[w:lemongrass|lemongrass]], [[w:ginger|ginger]], and [[w:bird's eye chili|bird's eye chili]] are also used as garnishes. [[w:Candlenut|Candlenuts]] are a common source of oil for frying, though the seeds are toxic when eaten raw. Borneo tallow nuts (in the ''[[w:Shorea|Shorea]]'' genus) are an occasional source of protein.

Fruits are used in many dishes, including the [[w:tamarind|tamarind]], [[w:durian|durian]], [[w:banana|banana]], [[w:pomegranate|pomegranate]], [[w:plum|plum]], and [[w:sugar-apple|sugar-apple]]. They are incorporated both in their entirety and for the flavors of their juice, and are used in dishes ranging from ordinary curries and stir-fries to pastries and dumplings, even being combined freely with hot spices such as chilis. As a result, many Rttirrian dishes exhibit the unusual flavor combination of sweet and spicy.

===Music===
The modern Rttirrian music industry is centered in major cities; Efunari is the foremost hub for [[w:pop music|pop music]], while Tettufane is better known for [[w:alternative rock|alternative]] and [[w:indie rock|indie]] music. Solo artists and bands perform many different Western genres, such as [[w:rock music|rock]], [[w:hip hop music|hip hop]], [[w:electronica|electronica]], [[w:heavy metal music|heavy metal]], [[w:punk rock|punk rock]], [[w:contemporary R&B|R&B]], and [[w:avant-garde music|avant-garde]]. Artists may incorporate heavy compositional and instrumental elements of Rttirrian traditional music or none at all.

[[w:Progressive rock|Progressive rock]] has remained prominent in Rttirria for decades after its decline in popularity in Europe and North America; Rttirria is a top touring destination for Western progressive rock artists, and native artists have continued to evolve the genre stylistically, experimenting with different unconventional song structures, lyrical topics, and instrumentation. [[w:Bluegrass music|Bluegrass]] has also enjoyed popularity in Rttirria due to its complexity and resemblance to the nation's traditional music, and the [[w:banjo|banjo]] has become a reasonably widely used instrument in other genres.

==See also==
* [[Rttirri]]
* [[Gaju]]

[[Category:Countries]]
[[Category:Rttirria]]

Verse:Rttirria

2019-08-08T19:56:08Z

Frrurtu:

{| class="toccolours" align="right" style="border-spacing: 2px; border: 1px solid darkgray; text-align: left; font-size: 85%"
! scope="row" colspan="2"| <div style="text-align: center;"><big>'''Rttirria ''Rttirritteku'''''</big></div>
|
|-
! scope="row" colspan="2"| <div style="text-align: center;">[[File:Rttirria on world.png|250px]]</div>
|
|-
! scope="row" | Capital
| Iharnara
|-
! scope="row" | Largest city
| Efunari
|-
! scope="row" | Official languages
| [[Rttirri]]
|-
! scope="row" | Spoken languages 
| Rttirri, [[w:Burmese language|Burmese]], [[Gaju]], other indigenous languages
|-
! scope="row" | Ethnic groups 
| 77.4% Rttirri 7.4% Burmese 6.9% Other Asian 5.6% White/Black/Latin American 2.7% Other Rttirrians
|-
! scope="row" | Religion 
| 70.1% [[w:Hinduism|Hinduism]] 11.2% [[w:Buddhism|Buddhism]] 4.6% [[w:Christianity|Christianity]] 2.3% [[w:Islam|Islam]] 0.3% [[w:Judaism|Judaism]] 1.8% others 9.9% unaffiliated
|-
! scope="row" | Demonym
| Rttirrian
|-
! scope="row" | Government 
| [[w:liberal democracy|Liberal democratic]] [[w:presidential republic|presidential republic]]
|-
! scope="row" | Area
| 119,595.59 sq mi (309,751 km2)
|-
| scope="row" | '''Population''' • 2015 estimate • 2010 census • Density
| 58,182,131 55,247,900 484.97/sq mi (187.25/km2)
|-
| scope="row" | '''[[w:Gross domestic product|GDP]]''' ([[w:Purchasing power parity|PPP]]) • Total • Per capita
| 2015 estimate US$1.666 trillion US$28,627
|-
| scope="row" | '''[[w:Gini coefficient|Gini]]''' (2010) 
| 35.8 medium
|-
| scope="row" | '''[[w:Human Development Index|HDI]]''' (2014) 
| ▲ 0.863 very high · [[w:List of countries by Human Development Index|30th]]
|-
! scope="row" | Currency
| Nakku (Ṉ) ([[w:ISO 4217|RTN]])
|-
! scope="row" | Time zone
| [[w:UTC+06:00|UTC+6]]
|-
! scope="row" | [[w:Right- and left-hand traffic|Drives on the]]
| [[w:Right- and left-hand traffic|right]]
|-
! scope="row" | [[w:Country code top-level domain|Internet TLD]]
| .rt
|}
'''Rttirria''' (English: /ˈtɪəriə/, [[Rttirri]]: [ʈʼiɻitʼøku] ''Rttirritteku'') is a country in [[w:Southeast Asia|Southeast Asia]]. Covering an area of about 120,000 sq mi (310,000 km2), Rttirria is the [[w:List of sovereign states and dependencies by area|70th largest country]] on Earth, immediately after [[w:Poland|Poland]]. With a population of over 58 million people as of 2015, it is also [[w:List of countries and dependencies by population|the 24th most populous country]], after [[w:Italy|Italy]]. Rttirria's capital is Iharnara, which is its fourth largest city by population at 1.5 million people; its largest city is Efunari, with 4.2 million. It is a [[w:presidential republic|presidential republic]] and [[w:liberal democracy|liberal democracy]] with one of the highest [[w:Human Development Index|Human Development Index]] and [[w:Gross Domestic Product|GDP]] per capita ratings in Southeast Asia.

Sharing a land border with [[w:Myanmar|Myanmar]] on the northeast, Rttirria has a diverse topography. The population is heavily concentrated in metropolitan areas along the southeastern coast; most of the northern part of the country, especially in the Rsewakai mountain range, is very sparsely populated. Most of the population speaks Rttirri, but sizable minority communities speak other indigenous and immigrant languages. The largest religion is [[w:Hinduism|Hinduism]]; other significant minority religions are [[w:Buddhism|Buddhism]], [[w:Islam|Islam]], [[w:Christianity|Christianity]], and [[w:atheism|atheism]].

Rttirria is divided into 27 provinces, each of them—except Martirtu—themselves divided into counties. Rttirria remained a [[w:developing country|developing country]] well into the 20th century, punctuated by waves of political riots—especially in Iharnara—in the 1960s and 1970s. Since then, its economy and political standing have blossomed into those of a [[w:middle power|middle power]], propelled by the government's investment in free education, business, technology, tourism, and free trade.

==Etymology==
The native name for Rttirria is ''Rttirritteku'', which simply means "the Rttirri homeland" or "the Rttirri nation". The suffix ''-tteku'' is also used in various other names for countries in Rttirri, particularly in Southeast Asia. The etymology of ''Rttirri'' is unknown, but is recorded in inscriptions dating back to the 14th century. One commonly purported origin of the name is ''rtti-rri'' (lit. "mongoose-like"), but this is believed to be a [[w:false etymology|false etymology]]—the name ''Rttirri'' predates the adjectival suffix ''-rri'', at least in written text. Originally ''-rrirai'' ("to resemble") was used to derive adjectives from nouns, and only later was it simplified to ''-rri''. In fact, the Eastern dialects of the Rttirri language pronounce the two words differently: ''Rttirri'' [ʈʼɨɻ'''ɨ'''] vs. ''rtti-rri'' [ʈʼɨɻ'''i'''].

==Geography==
[[File:Rttirria provinces no background.png|thumb|right|275px|The 27 Rttirri provinces.]]
===Physical geography===
With an area of 119,595.59 sq mi (309,751 km2), Rttirria is situated on a peninsula in [[w:Southeast Asia|Southeast Asia]], on the [[w:Indian Plate|Indian tectonic plate]]. It borders [[w:Myanmar|Myanmar]] to the southwest and jutting into the [[w:Bay of Bengal|Bay of Bengal]] toward [[w:India|India]] and [[w:Sri Lanka|Sri Lanka]]. The country has a diverse topography, ranging from dense tropical rainforest and swamps—particularly near the border with Myanmar—to the alpine Rsewakai Mountains in the center and north, steep cliffs and meadows in the southwest, and the volcanic island province of Rseperupu.

===Political divisions===
[[File:Rttirria counties.png|thumb|left|275px|The counties of Rttirria, color-coded by population density. Darker shades of red represent higher density, darker shades of blue lower density. Note the clusters of high density around Iharnara (northeast), Efunari (south), and Chukkapati (southwest).]]
Rttirria is divided into 27 provinces; all of them were historically their own kingdoms except for West and East Warakitasa, which were a single kingdom and then a single province. They were divided in the late 19th century by the British for greater ease of governance, along a crude north-south line that separated numerous cities and towns. Although the provinces have distinct regional identities, cultures, and dialects of the Rttirri language, the nation has maintained a fairly consistent identity since the 14th century, when Indian colonists and traders brought the 26 kingdoms into closer contact with one another. The provinces vary widely in population, from West Warakitasa (10.2 million, 17.6% of the national population) to Wimichimau (50,300, 0.09%).

Notably, the capital city of Iharnara does not constitute its own province, instead being located along the southern coast of Akkakau; if it did, it would be ranked 12th in population and first in population density. Its infrastructure, business, education, and other functions are handled by the county and province, just like those of any other city. There is some support for splitting the city off into the 28th province of Rttirria, particularly by westerners who see its positioning in an Eastern province as a form of Eastern privilege, but no organized movement has materialized so far.

Each province is divided into counties—ranging from the 3 counties of Wimichimau to the 44 of Miwikipu—except for Martirtu. The counties have no longform names, being denoted simply with numbers. Many counties are coextensive with city boundaries, such as Akkakau County 12 (Iharnara), West Warakitasa County 5 (Efunari), and Kikai County 10 (Kikai).

In 1975, Martirtu's government consolidated its 8 counties into one per a ballot measure. Arguments presented by proponents of the consolidation measure included greater bureaucratic efficiency, banding together to serve as a check on the power of the federal government in Iharnara, ethnic homogeneity, and little cultural and linguistic diversity compared to other provinces; the resolution passed by a sizable margin. Other county consolidation measures have been placed on ballots in Urtuki, Yenesni, and Wimichimau, but none of these measures has passed.

==Demographics==
{| class="toccolours" align="right" style="border-spacing: 4px; border: 1px solid darkgray; text-align: left"
|+ '''Historical population'''
! scope="col" | Census
! scope="col" | Pop.
!
!
!
! %±
|-
! scope="row" | 1890
| ~9,820,000
|
|
|
| —
|-
! scope="row" | 1930
| 23,977,259
|
|
|
| 244.2%
|-
! scope="row" | 1940
| 28,844,642
|
|
|
| 20.3%
|-
! scope="row" | 1950
| 33,402,095
|
|
|
| 15.8%
|-
! scope="row" | 1960
| 40,683,752
|
|
|
| 21.8%
|-
! scope="row" | 1970
| 41,538,111
|
|
|
| 2.1%
|-
! scope="row" | 1980
| 39,419,668
|
|
|
| −5.1%
|-
! scope="row" | 1990
| 42,336,724
|
|
|
| 7.4%
|-
! scope="row" | 2000
| 49,152,936
|
|
|
| 16.1%
|-
! scope="row" | 2010
| 55,247,900
|
|
|
| 12.4%
|-
! scope="row" | 2015
| 58,182,131
|
|
|
| 5.3%
|}
===Ethnicity===
Rttirria is fairly ethnically homogeneous among Southeast Asian nations. Its dominant ethnic group, the Rttirri people, make up 77.4% of the population as of 2015 population estimates, though this percentage is declining. The remaining 22.6% of the population are considered ethnic minorities, and consist of [[w:Burmese people|Burmese]] ethnic groups (7.4%); other Asian peoples from [[w:East Asia|East]], Southeast, [[w:South Asia|South]], and [[w:West Asia|West Asia]] (6.9%); non-Asian (5.6%); and of other native cultures on the Rttirrian peninsula (2.7%).

Asian people who are neither Rttirri, other native Rttirrian, or Burmese are of diverse origins, primarily from [[w:China|China]], [[w:South Korea|South Korea]], [[w:Thailand|Thailand]], [[w:Philippines|the Philippines]], [[w:India|India]], [[w:Pakistan|Pakistan]], [[w:Syria|Syria]], and [[w:Iraq|Iraq]]. Likewise, non-Asians hail from many other countries around the world, principally [[w:United States|the United States]], [[w:United Kingdom|the United Kingdom]], [[w:Nigeria|Nigeria]], [[w:Egypt|Egypt]], [[w:Somalia|Somalia]], and [[w:Serbia|Serbia]] and other former [[w:Yugoslavia|Yugoslav]] countries.

===Health===
Rttirria has a life expectancy of 76.4 years for males and 77.6 years for females, respectively ranking 35th and 80th [[w:List of countries by life expectancy|in the world]]. Though one of the highest in Southeast Asia, it is moderately low among developed countries, especially considering the Rttirrian people's generally healthy diet. Possible reasons put forth include the general unwillingness of many Rttirrians to seek medical treatment, the prevalence of violent confrontations to resolve conflicts, and relatively high crime in much of the country.

Rttirria has one of the highest rates of [[w:Drug overdose|drug overdoses]] in the world, particularly from hard, psychoactive drugs such as [[w:cocaine|cocaine]] and [[w:heroin|heroin]]. Health experts and sociologists have hypothesized that the widespread use of marijuana, coupled with the masculine national culture's tolerance of [[w:peer pressure|peer pressure]], compels youth to seek out more dangerous highs. Additionally, [[w:suicide|suicide]] rates, though only somewhat above-average nationally, are especially high in less populated areas of the north and east, particularly the provinces of Rtuha, Manamuki, and Nukima; West Warakitasa, East Warakitasa, and Kikai have the lowest rates.

===Urbanization===
The population is heavily concentrated in metropolitan areas along the southeastern coast, such as those surrounding the cities of Efunari, Iharnara, Kikai, and Chukkapati. Most of the northern part of the country, especially in the Rsewakai Mountains, is very sparsely populated, the result of geographical isolation, higher altitudes, and historically lower industrial development.

Rttirria has seen moderate [[w:urbanization|urbanization]] during its history, albeit not to the extent of many other countries. In much of eastern Rttirria, the populations of large urban centers such as Iharnara, Ttyami, and Umairri have been declining for decades due to high crime, protests and riots, deprived post-industrial economies, and political corruption; their inhabitants have been moving to western and northern Rttirria and into rural areas of the east, such as in northern Yenesni, southern Rtuha, and Miwikipu.

The populations of the ten largest cities of Rttirria are as follows:

{| class="toccolours" style="border-spacing: 2px; border: 1px solid darkgray; text-align: left; width: 50%; font-size: 85%"
|+ '''Populations of ten largest cities'''
! scope="col" | Rank
! scope="col" | City
! scope="col" | Province
! scope="col" | Region
! scope="col" | Pop. (2015)
! scope="col" | Pop. (2010)
! scope="col" | %±
|-
| 1
| Efunari
| West Warakitasa
| West
| 4,519,216
| 4,320,071
| 4.6%
|-
| 2
| Chukkapati
| Hima
| West
| 2,100,631
| 1,950,903
| 7.7%
|-
| 3
| Tettufane
| Namihafapu
| North
| 1,604,188
| 1,349,193
| 18.9%
|-
| 4
| Iharnara (capital)
| Akkakau
| East
| 1,592,079
| 1,603,190
| −1.3%
|-
| 5
| Fukanucha
| Fukanucha
| East
| 957,825
| 955,194
| 0.3%
|-
| 6
| Ttyami
| Ttyami
| East
| 661,935
| 724,922
| −8.7%
|-
| 7
| Aiti
| East Warakitasa
| West
| 596,925
| 578,154
| 3.3%
|-
| 8
| Umairri
| Umairri
| East
| 504,559
| 530,615
| −4.9%
|-
| 9
| Kikai
| Kikai
| East
| 451,812
| 423,134
| 6.8%
|-
| 10
| Rraiwafa
| Hima
| West
| 393,046
| 356,490
| 10.3%
|}

==Culture==
===Snenuppais===
[[File:Rttirria.png|thumb|right|250px|Rttirria's flag, the ''Ppawipu''. The unusually sparse design, consisting solely of a dark green background intended to resemble forest, adorned by three white squares intended to resemble a ''snenuppai'', has long been interesting to [[w:vexillology|vexillologists]].]]
Rttirri's trademark art form is the ''snenuppai'', which translates literally as "little family" and consists of a three-panel comic, arranged from top to bottom. Snenuppais are used for many serious and comedic purposes in the present day, such as for [[w:political cartoon|political cartoons]] in newspapers, illustrations in children's books, pamphlets at religious ceremonies and in many Rttirri editions of [[w:Hinduism|Hindu]] sacred texts, and instructions on appliances.

The origins of snenuppais are unknown, but short visual stories have been found in etchings in stone, clay, and petrified wood all over western Rttirria, some of them dating back to at least the 8th century CE. These visual stories are of various lengths, but usually between one and five panels long, and usually arranged vertically. They were used for various purposes including recording the histories of families, cities, and kingdoms; keeping track of inventories and debts; predicting the future; and allowing newly married couples to write out their wedding vows.

Perhaps most notably of all, many of these early comics, even those used to tell narratives, used blocks of symbols intended to convey speech and narration. Linguists have analyzed these symbols and found no meaningful correspondence between them and any known stage of the Rttirri language, but because of the non-literal nature of many symbols used (for example, a drawing of a head shaking was sometimes used to signal negation), it is hypothesized that if Rttirria had been isolated from Arab and Indian peoples, these symbols could have eventually evolved into a [[w:logogram|logographic]] writing system like that of [[w:Chinese characters|Chinese]] or [[w:Maya script|the Mayan languages]].

===Cuisine===
Rttirrian cuisine is similar to that of other Southeast Asian nations, with an emphasis on such staples as rice, coconuts, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and fragrant spices and herbs. Herbs and spices such as [[w:lemongrass|lemongrass]], [[w:ginger|ginger]], and [[w:bird's eye chili|bird's eye chili]] are also used as garnishes. [[w:Candlenut|Candlenuts]] are a common source of oil for frying, though the seeds are toxic when eaten raw. Borneo tallow nuts (in the ''[[w:Shorea|Shorea]]'' genus) are an occasional source of protein.

Fruits are used in many dishes, including the [[w:tamarind|tamarind]], [[w:durian|durian]], [[w:banana|banana]], [[w:pomegranate|pomegranate]], [[w:plum|plum]], and [[w:sugar-apple|sugar-apple]]. They are incorporated both in their entirety and for the flavors of their juice, and are used in dishes ranging from ordinary curries and stir-fries to pastries and dumplings, even being combined freely with hot spices such as chilis. As a result, many Rttirrian dishes exhibit the unusual flavor combination of sweet and spicy.

===Music===
The modern Rttirrian music industry is centered in major cities; Efunari is the foremost hub for [[w:pop music|pop music]], while Tettufane is better known for [[w:alternative rock|alternative]] and [[w:indie rock|indie]] music. Solo artists and bands perform many different Western genres, such as [[w:rock music|rock]], [[w:hip hop music|hip hop]], [[w:electronica|electronica]], [[w:heavy metal music|heavy metal]], [[w:punk rock|punk rock]], [[w:contemporary R&B|R&B]], and [[w:avant-garde music|avant-garde]]. Artists may incorporate heavy compositional and instrumental elements of Rttirrian traditional music or none at all.

[[w:Progressive rock|Progressive rock]] has remained prominent in Rttirria for decades after its decline in popularity in Europe and North America; Rttirria is a top touring destination for Western progressive rock artists, and native artists have continued to evolve the genre stylistically, experimenting with different unconventional song structures, lyrical topics, and instrumentation. [[w:Bluegrass music|Bluegrass]] has also enjoyed popularity in Rttirria due to its complexity and resemblance to the nation's traditional music, and the [[w:banjo|banjo]] has become a reasonably widely used instrument in other genres.

==See also==
* [[Rttirri]]
* [[Gaju]]

[[Category:Countries]]
[[Category:Rttirria]]

User:Frrurtu

2019-08-08T19:55:38Z

Frrurtu:

==My conlangs==
* [[Proto-Rttirrian]]
:* [[Proto-North-Rttirrian]]
::* [[Old Zoki]]
:::* [[Zoki]]
:* Proto-South-Rttirrian (no article yet)
::* [[Old Gaju]]
:::* [[Gaju]]
::* Classical Rttirri (no article yet)
:::* [[Rttirri]]
* [[Pre-Owina]]
:* Proto-Owina (no article yet)
* [[Ewige]]

==My conlands==
* [[Verse:Rttirria]]

==Subpages==
* [[User:Frrurtu/Sandbox]]
* [[User:Frrurtu/Sandbox2]]

Ewige

2017-11-05T20:17:18Z

Frrurtu: couple of typos

'''Ewige''' (/əˈwiːgeɪ/, natively ''néto Éwigéře'' [neto ˈeɹigerɛ], "Ewige language") is a language spoken in central-southern [[w:Siberia|Siberia]], near the borders with Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and China. It is one of several descendants of the Ivugi language, also spoken in Siberia circa 1000 CE, but it is not considered mutually intelligible with the other Ivugean languages, as they are collectively known. The speaker pool of Ewige is estimated at around 200,000 individuals, mostly living in [[w:Kemerovo Oblast|Kemerovo Oblast]], the [[w:Altai Republic|Altai Republic]], and other nearby federal subjects of Russia; significant Ewige communities also exist in Kazakhstan, western Russia, the United States, and Germany. Community leaders have been enthusiastic about keeping the language alive, arranging for many films, comic strips, and books to be translated into the language and publishing newspapers in it.

Ewige is a nominative-accusative, agglutinative language with VOS (verb-object-subject) word order and an animate-inanimate distinction for nouns; as it features polypersonal agreement on verbs and many simpler sentences can express all their information with just a verb, some linguists argue that it is polysynthetic instead. It has two main dialects: ''Jugře'' ("Southern") and ''Třaře'' ("Northern"); the more widely spoken and prestige Jugře dialect is the one covered in this article.

==History==
Ewige is one of many descendants of Ivugi, which was spoken circa 1000 AD in the Eurasian steppe in present-day [[w:Siberia|Siberia]]. It has undergone many phonological and grammatical changes, evolving from a relatively isolating language to a highly agglutinative one with polypersonal inflection and an animate-inanimate distinction. Its syllable structure has grown more restrictive and it has lost its phonemic stress, but its vowel and consonant inventories have grown.

While it has historically been written in [[w:Cyrillic|Cyrillic]], the Ewige people were among the earliest adopters of the [[w:Latin script|Latin script]] among Siberian peoples. However, many of their orthographical conventions, such as extensive use of the [[w:hacek|hacek]], are Slavic in nature.

===Phonological history===
Ewige is characterized by the following phonological innovations from Ivugi:
* Creation of a new /e/ phoneme, formed from historical /i/ and /ɨ/ before voiceless fricatives and /r/, and historical /ɛ/ before alveolar consonants.
* Creation of a new /ʃ/ phoneme from /s/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /t/ also become /ʃ/.
* Creation of a new /ʒ/ phoneme from /z/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /j/ also became /ʒ/.
* The glottal stop /ʔ/ merging with the other three voiceless stops depending on the preceding vowel: /t/ after front vowels, /k/ after central vowels, and /p/ after back vowels.
* Creation of a new /m/ phoneme from intervocalic /b/ in unstressed syllables, plus /n/ and /ŋ/ before labials and unstressed /o/.
* Simplification of various labial-stop clusters: /kp/, /tp/, /rp/, /kb/, and /tb/ all become /p/, and /gb/, /db/, and /rb/ all become /b/.
* Shift of certain vowels' pronunciations when unstressed: /au/ and /o/ become [u], /ai/ merges with /i/, and /ɨ/ and /ɐ/ become [ə].
* Development of aspirated and breathy-voiced allophones of stops in stressed syllables.
* Loss of phonemic stress in favor of universal initial stress—except in some loanwords and compounds—causing /u/, /ə/, and the aspirated and breathy-voiced stops to all become phonemic.
* Merger of /ɸ/ into /β/, which then shifts its pronunciation to [w].
* Merger of /l/ into /ɾ/.
* Merger of /x/ and /ɣ/ into /r/ after stops.
* Chain shifts affecting most vowel monophthongs: /ɨ/ > /i/ > /e/ > /ɛ/ > /a/, and /ɐ/ > /ɑ/ > /ɔ/.
* Raising of the two diphthongs: /ai/ to [ei] and /au/ to [ou].

===Grammatical history===
It has also undergone the following grammatical innovations:
* Drastic simplification of noun pluralization: the majority of nouns now pluralize with ''-e'' or ''-de'', although a few dozen irregular nouns remain as vestiges of Ivugi's complex ablaut-based system. For example, the noun ''ireiždé'' "person" has the suppletive plural ''inarni'', which descends from Ivugi's original plural; this is because ''ireiždé'' is a novel coining that literally means "society-child".
* Generalizing the Ivugi particle ''u'', which was used before animate singular nouns in the accusative, to be a general affix for animate nouns. Explicitly animate pronouns and verb inflections would later develop based on it.
* Repurposing Ivugi's ''yi'' and ''ye'', which were the interrogative forms of "to be" in the past and present, as generic interrogative markers, and the resultant loss of Ivugi's morphological interrogative mood. They are now ''žé'' and ''ža''.
* Obligatory marking of inalienable possession on certain nouns, created from the Ivugi particle ''a'' ("of", inalienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Development of possessive pronouns using the Ivugi particle ''sal'' ("of", semi-alienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Generalization of Ivugi's third genitive particle ''val'' ("of", alienable) as the only genitive particle, now ''va''.
* Expansion of Ivugi's simpler verb paradigm, in which all verbs had infinitives ending in ''-bi'' and inflected basically the same way, into a more complex paradigm with three conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This process came about when clusters of various consonants and /b/ simplified in different ways.
* Polypersonal inflection on the verb: whereas Ivugi verbs did not indicate person in any form, Ewige verbs can inflect for both subject and object, both of which started as forms of the pronouns and then phonologically reduced.
* Simplification of the Ivugi syllable onset alternation process to a basic affix, ''-ro-'' before a consonant and ''-rov-'' before a vowel. This affix was then repurposed to form the subjunctive/conditional mood, which can be used in any of the three tenses: past, present, and future.
* Innovation of a new future tense inflection, ''-sto'', from the Ivugi verb ''sída'' ("goes"/"is going").
* Shift from SVO (subject-object-verb) word order to the rare VOS, after the innovation of person-marking on verbs created less need for an explicit subject at the start of the sentence.

==Phonology==
===Consonants===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" |
! |Labial
! |Alveolar
! |Palato-alveolar
! |Palatal
! |Velar
! |Glottal
|-
! colspan="2" | Nasal
| '''m''' /m/
| '''n''' /n/
|
|
| '''ň''' /ŋ/
|
|-
! rowspan="4" | Plosive
! Voiceless
| '''p''' /p/
| '''t''' /t/
|
|
| '''k''' /k/
|
|-
! Voiced
| '''b''' /b/
| '''d''' /d/
|
|
| '''g''' /g/
|
|-
! Aspirated
| '''pʼ''' /pʰ/
| '''tʼ''' /tʰ/
|
|
| '''kʼ''' /kʰ/
|
|-
! Breathy-voiced
| '''bʼ''' /bʱ/
| '''dʼ''' /dʱ/
|
|
| '''gʼ''' /gʱ/
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | Fricative
! Voiceless
|
| '''s''' /s/
| '''š''' /ʃ/
|
| '''ch''' /x/
| '''h''' /h/
|-
! Voiced
|
| '''z''' /z/
| '''ž''' /ʒ/
|
| '''gh''' /ɣ/
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Approximant
| '''v''' /w~ɹ/
|
|
| '''j''' /j/
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Tap
|
| '''r''' /ɾ/
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Trill
|
| '''ř''' /r/
|
|
|
|
|}
* After back vowels, palato-alveolar /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ are often realized as retroflex [ʂ] and [ʐ].
* The labio-velar approximant /w/ may be realized as alveolar [ɹ], especially intervocalically. By one analysis, this gives Ewige the rare distinction of possessing three rhotic consonants: /ɹ/, /ɾ/, and /r/.

===Vowels===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Monophthongs'''
! |
! |Front
! |Central
! |Back
|-
! High
| '''i''' /i/
|
| '''u''' /u/
|-
! High-mid
| '''é''' /e/
|
| '''ó''' /o/
|-
! Mid
|
| '''y''' /ə/
|
|-
! Low-mid
| '''e''' /ɛ/
|
| '''o''' /ɔ/
|-
! Low
| '''a''' /a/
|
| '''á''' /ɑ/
|}

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Diphthongs'''
! |Front
! |Back
|-
| '''ei''' /ei/
| '''ou''' /ou/
|}
* The mid-central vowel represented here by a schwa, /ə/, can in reality be realized with a wide range of allophones depending on the following consonant. Speakers may possess any or all of these allophones, and younger speakers use them more than older speakers:
:* [ɨ~i], before voiceless stops
:* [əi~oi], before voiceless fricatives
:* [ɜ~ɐ], before /ɾ/ and /r/ and in word-final position
:* syllabification, before nasals, e.g. /ən/ [n̩]

==Vocabulary==
While most of Ewige's vocabulary is indigenous, it has borrowed a large number of terms from nearby languages of the Eurasian steppe, particularly [[w:Russian language|Russian]], [[w:Kazakh language|Kazakh]], and [[w:Mongolian language|Mongolian]]. More recently, English and, to a lesser extent, Mandarin loanwords have entered the language as well.

The numbers one through ten are as follows:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Arabic numeral
! Ewige number
|-
| 1
| ''šy''
|-
| 2
| ''syp''
|-
| 3
| ''de''
|-
| 4
| ''ny''
|-
| 5
| ''ryr''
|-
| 6
| ''gog''
|-
| 7
| ''aku''
|-
| 8
| ''gʼéru''
|-
| 9
| ''nožo''
|-
| 10
| ''žér''
|}

==Dialectology==
The dialect documented in this article is the prestige ''Jugře'' (Southern) dialect, spoken by the majority of the population. The more innovative ''Třaře'' (Northern) dialect is characterized by the following features:
* A lower percentage of loanwords and a tendency to use native coinings instead. When loanwords are imported, they are less likely to use non-native phones such as /l/.
* The mid high vowels /e/ and /o/ are diphthongized to [iə] and [uə].
* The low vowels have not shifted as far: /a/ is more like [æ] and /ɑ/ is more like [ɐ~ä].
* The diphthongs /ei/ and /ou/ are more centralized, especially in their onsets: [əi~əɨ] and [əu~əʉ].
* /t/ and /d/ are often realized as [θ] and [ð], except at the start of a word.
* /w/ becomes [ɹ~ɻ] in all positions, not just intervocalically.
* /h/ disappears initially and merges with /x/ elsewhere; this creates homophones such as ''oš'' ("than") vs. ''hoš'' ("footprint"), and ''og'' ("that", to mark subordinate clauses) vs. ''hog'' ("gust").
* /ə/ is slightly fronted and rounded, often as far as [ø~œ], but does not exhibit nearly the degree of allophony found in Jugřé Ewige.
* The possessive pronouns are suffixed with the adjectival ''-ře'', such as ''sodaře'' ("yours"), equivalent to saying "yours-like" or "yours-ish" in English.
* Double negation is common, with the general negative particle ''ou'' coming immediately before the verb.
* Although Třařé Ewige is also pro-drop and its verbs have polypersonal agreement, subject pronouns are still used with greater frequency than in Jugřé Ewige, but they come at the very end of the sentence, including after any adverbs.
* Various classes of nouns that are generally inanimate in Jugřé Ewige are animate in Třařé Ewige, such as geographical formations, vehicles, and large plants (mainly trees). A handful of nouns have moved in the opposite direction, being animate in Jugřé but inanimate in Třařé, such as ''igʼarut'' ("spider") and ''idé'' ("child").
* The adverb ''gou'' ("now") has expanded in use to signify a sort of narrative past or aorist; it immediately follows the verb when used in this sense.
* The verb ''gʼombé'' ("to help") is used as an auxiliary verb in a benefactive sense, such as in the phrase ''igʼomnor reipé ajoreiko ut'' "he threw the ball for me", which in Jugřé Ewige would mean "he helped me throw the ball".
* Possibly influenced by the above, the verb ''ombé'' ("to wiggle, to oscillate") is used as an auxiliary verb for groups of two or more actors that are performing an action with one another (as opposed to separately). For example, ''néjomo jorimé'' is used to mean "they're arguing with each other", while ''néjorimy'' means "they're arguing separately".
* The future-tense affix is always ''-sto-''; the ''-dzo-'' variant that Jugřé Ewige innovated for ''-me'' verbs does not exist.
* The verbalizing suffix ''-(ó)batpé'' (from the Russian ''-ovat'') is uncommon; it is normally substituted with simply ''-(y)přémé''.

==Grammar==
===Pronouns===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" | Subject/Object
! colspan="2" | Possessive
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| I
| ''ré''
| my/mine
| ''soré''
|-
| you
| ''da''
| your/yours
| ''soda''
|-
| him/her
| ''ut''
| his/hers
| ''soriot''
|-
| it
| ''ot''
| its
| ''sorot''
|-
| we
| ''rin''
| our/ours
| ''sorén''
|-
| you all
| ''dyř''
| all of your
| ''sodař''
|-
| they
| ''ni''
| their/theirs
| ''sonei''
|}

===Nouns===
Ewige nouns are inflected for several grammatical categories:
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Gender/Definiteness
|
''∅-'' (inanimate, indefinite) 
''a-/er-'' (inanimate, definite) 
''i-/ir-'' (animate, indefinite) 
''ja-/jer-'' (animate, definite)
|-
! Noun stem
| (any noun)
|-
! Number
|
''-∅'' (singular) 
''-(d)e'' (plural, for the vast majority of nouns)
|-
! Inalienable possession
|
''-(j)yr'' (my) 
''-(j)yda'' (your) 
''-(j)ei'' (his, her) 
''-(j)yt'' (its) 
''-(j)yré'' (our) 
''-(j)ař'' (all of your) 
''-(j)ynei'' (their)
|}

===Verbs===
Ewige verbs fall into three different conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This table lists the affixes that each form takes to mark subject, object, and tense-aspect-mood.
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" |
! ''-me''
! ''-be''
! ''-pe''
|-
! rowspan="7" | Subject
! "I"
| colspan="3" | ''é(j)-''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="3" | ''dy(j)''
|-
! "he/she"
| colspan="3" | ''i(j)-''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''o(j)-''
|-
! "we"
| colspan="3" | ''éř(é)-''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="3" | ''da(j)-''
|-
! "they"
| colspan="3" | ''né(j)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Negation
| colspan="3" | ''-ó-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Irrealis
| colspan="3" | ''-ro(v)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Passive
| colspan="3" | ''-ké(r)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Verb root
| colspan="3" | (any verb)
|-
! rowspan="5" | Tense, Aspect, Mood
! Infinitive
| ''-mé''
| ''-bé''
| ''-pé''
|-
! Past
| ''-dó''
| ''-nó''
| ''-tó''
|-
! Present
| ''-my''
| ''-(r)o''
| ''-py''
|-
! Future
| ''-dzo''
| colspan="2" | ''-sto''
|-
! Imperative
| colspan="3" | ''-(m/b/p)y'' (if followed by an object suffix), ''-∅'' (otherwise)
|-
! rowspan="7" | Object
! "me"
| colspan="3" | ''-r''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="2" | ''-d''
| ''-t''
|-
! "him/her"
| colspan="3" | ''-š''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''-ti''
|-
! "us"
| colspan="3" | ''-n''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="2" | ''-dař''
| ''-tař''
|-
! "them"
| colspan="3" | ''-ni''
|}
* The irrealis mood, which is used to indicate the subjunctive or conditional, can only be used with the basic tenses: past, present, and future.

An example of a highly inflected Ewige verb:
:''éř-ó-ro-ké-dřor-nó-d''
:1PL.NOM-NEG-SUBJ-guard-PST_bé-2SG.ACC_bé
:If we hadn't been protected by you...

Ewige has only eleven basic irregular verbs, although verbs derived from them follow their conjugations, much as the past tense of "to outdo" in English is "outdid". These verbs are only irregular in the past and present; their other inflections are regular. They are listed below in the infinitive, and in the past and present with no conjugation for person and number. They are all fairly common verbs, some of them relating to motion.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! rowspan="2" | English
! colspan="3" | Ewige
|-
! Infinitive
! Past
! Present
|-
| to be
| ''jómé''
| ''-jón''
| ''-jó''
|-
| to eat
| ''ámé''
| ''-án''
| ''-áró''
|-
| to go
| ''šérbé''
| ''-šédu''
| ''-šédo''
|-
| to need
| ''rimé''
| ''-rimu''
| ''-rimo''
|-
| to say
| ''šémé''
| ''-sonó''
| ''-soko''
|-
| to have
| ''otʼamé''
| ''-otʼou''
| ''-otʼei''
|-
| to see
| ''otʼépé''
| ''-otʼó''
| ''-otʼy''
|-
| to leave
| ''épymé''
| ''-épion''
| ''-épio''
|-
| to run
| ''sonémé''
| ''-sonu''
| ''-sono''
|-
| to walk
| ''esomé''
| ''-estu''
| ''-esto''
|-
| to swim
| ''vobé''
| ''-vobu''
| ''-vobo''
|}

===Adjectives===
Adjective inflection is simple: they are inflected for definiteness, animacy, and number using the same affixes nouns are.

===Derivation===
Ewige makes extensive use of derivation. The following are some common nominalizing prefixes and suffixes, which are attached to the verb root:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Type
! Affix
|-
| Gerund
|
''-zo'' (for verbs of motion) 
''-há'' (for all other verbs)
|-
| Gerund, habitual
|
''-sék''
|-
| Agentive
|
''-gyň'' (from a word for "friend")
|-
| Locational
|
''-ova'' (from a word for "house")
|-
| Patient
|
''žo-''
|-
| Productive
|
''ano-''
|}

The suffix to nominalize adjectives is ''-(ó)bro'', deriving from the word for "color". Conversely, ''-ře'' is used to derive adjectives from other parts of speech. A suffix ''-ry'', from the word for "slice", is attached to some nouns with a diminutive meaning, but it is not very productive in the modern language.

Ewige also possesses several affixes to derive verbs from nouns and adjectives:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Meaning
! Affix
|-
| To perform an action related to X
| ''-(ó)batpé'' (from the Russian ''-ovat'')
|-
| To turn something into X, or to make it more X
| ''-(y)hérbé'' (from an old word meaning "to transform", specifically under a magical curse)
|-
| To be like X, or to evoke X
| ''-(y)přémé'' (from an old word meaning "to agree with" or "to resemble")
|-
| To provide X to someone (usually, but not always, with a benevolent meaning)
| ''-(y)jápé'' (from an old word meaning "to allocate")
|}

====Compounds====
Each noun, verb, or adjective root has a "construct state" that is used to form compounds; this construct state is used for all roots in the compound except the final one. First, any affixes, such as those marking definiteness/animacy or the infinitive, are removed, and then the final consonant of the root is altered according to the following rules:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Final consonant of root...
! is replaced with...
|-
| Voiceless stops
| ''-šé(j)''
|-
| Voiceless fricatives
| ''-t''
|-
| Other final consonants
| ''-ž''
|-
| Root ends in ''-á''
| ''-á'' becomes ''-ež''
|-
| Root ends in a different vowel
| Vowel becomes ''-á(j)''
|}

===Syntax===
Ewige uses the rare [[w:verb–object–subject|verb–object–subject]] word order. Noun phrases are generally right-branching, with adjectives, numerals, and relative clauses all following the head noun (in that order). However, Ewige uses prepositions rather than postpositions, and determiners precede the head noun. Adverbs are formed by suffixing an adjective (or other part of speech) with ''-(j)agh'', or ''-ař'' if the adjective ends in a stop consonant. These adverbs typically come at the end of the sentence.

Other than for verbs, negation is fairly simple. Noun phrases are negated with ''vó'', which precedes the noun phrase. The general negation particle is ''ou'', which is used to negate every part of speech other than verbs and nouns.

===Questions===
Ewige possesses the following words to form questions. When applicable, corresponding non-interrogative words are also given. The interrogative words are simply placed where a non-interrogative word would be; there is no do-support as in English.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" | Interrogative
! colspan="2" | Proximate
! colspan="2" | Distal
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| what?
| ''hei?''
| this
| ''gei''
| that
| ''twei''
|-
| who/whom?
| ''hor?''
| colspan="4" rowspan="2" | —
|-
| which?
| ''hok?''
|-
| where?
| ''heiry?'' (from ''hei iry?'', literally "what place?")
| here
| ''gá''
| there
| ''twá''
|-
| when?
| ''hou?''
| now
| ''gou''
| then
| ''tou''
|-
| why?
| ''ha?''
| thus (for this reason)
| ''ga''
| thus (for that reason)
| ''twa''
|}

To form generic equivalents, ''é-'' is prefixed to the interrogative forms, such as ''éhor'' ("someone").

To turn an entire sentence interrogative, the particle ''žé'' is used in the past indicative, while ''ža'' is used in every other tense and mood. This particle typically precedes the verb, but it can come anywhere in the sentence.

==Sample text==
A speech uttered by Boromir in ''[[w:The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring|The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring]]'':

:'''Original''': It is a gift. A gift to the foes of Mordor. Why not use this Ring? Long has my father, the steward of Gondor, kept the forces of Mordor at bay. By the blood of our people are your lands kept safe. Give Gondor the weapon of the enemy; let us use it against him!

:'''Ewige:''' Ojó jobóno. Jobóno osáň jaboř va Mórdór. Éřóvouro sesbé gei gritʼ ha? Igʼamyni erómode va Mórdór jadřyjyr, é ijó jadřorsék va Góndór, žytař. Nékédřoroni ařyšékʼóre va janarni sorén. Bʼómyti agʼožéde va jaboř osáň Góndór, su ropyn sesbé ot ghog ut!

:'''Gloss:''' 3SG.INAN.NOM-be.PRES gift. // gift to DEF.AN-foe of Mordor. // 1PL.NOM-NEG-be_able-PRES.bé use_INF this ring why? // 3SG.AN.NOM-push-PRES.mé-3PL.ACC DEF.INAN-force-PL of Mordor DEF.AN-father-1SG.POSS REL 3SG.AN.NOM-be.PRES DEF.AN-protect-AGENT of Gondor far-ADV. // 3PL.NOM-PASS-protect-PRES.bé-3PL.ACC DEF.INAN-land-PL of DEF.AN-person.PL 2SG.POSS with DEF.INAN-blood of DEF.AN-person.PL 1PL.POSS. give-IMP-3SG.INAN.ACC DEF.INAN-weapon of DEF.AN-foe to Gondor and allow-IMP-1PL.ACC use-INF 3SG.INAN against 3SG.AN!

[[Category:Agglutinative languages]]
[[Category:Languages]]
[[Category:Polysynthetic languages]]

Ewige

2017-11-04T21:52:59Z

Frrurtu:

'''Ewige''' (/əˈwiːgeɪ/, natively ''néto Éwigéřé'' [neto ˈeɹigerɛ], "Ewige language") is a language spoken in central-southern [[w:Siberia|Siberia]], near the borders with Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and China. It is one of several descendants of the Ivugi language, also spoken in Siberia circa 1000 CE, but it is not considered mutually intelligible with the other Ivugean languages, as they are collectively known. The speaker pool of Ewige is estimated at around 200,000 individuals, mostly living in [[w:Kemerovo Oblast|Kemerovo Oblast]], the [[w:Altai Republic|Altai Republic]], and other nearby federal subjects of Russia; significant Ewige communities also exist in Kazakhstan, western Russia, the United States, and Germany. Community leaders have been enthusiastic about keeping the language alive, arranging for many films, comic strips, and books to be translated into the language and publishing newspapers in it.

Ewige is a nominative-accusative, agglutinative language with VOS (verb-object-subject) word order and an animate-inanimate distinction for nouns; as it features polypersonal agreement on verbs and many simpler sentences can express all their information with just a verb, some linguists argue that it is polysynthetic instead. It has two main dialects: ''Jugřé'' ("Southern") and ''Třařé'' ("Northern"); the more widely spoken and prestige Jugřé dialect is the one covered in this article.

==History==
Ewige is one of many descendants of Ivugi, which was spoken circa 1000 AD in the Eurasian steppe in present-day [[w:Siberia|Siberia]]. It has undergone many phonological and grammatical changes, evolving from a relatively isolating language to a highly agglutinative one with polypersonal inflection and an animate-inanimate distinction. Its syllable structure has grown more restrictive and it has lost its phonemic stress, but its vowel and consonant inventories have grown.

While it has historically been written in [[w:Cyrillic|Cyrillic]], the Ewige people were among the earliest adopters of the [[w:Latin script|Latin script]] among Siberian peoples. However, many of their orthographical conventions, such as extensive use of the [[w:hacek|hacek]], are Slavic in nature.

===Phonological history===
Ewige is characterized by the following phonological innovations from Ivugi:
* Creation of a new /e/ phoneme, formed from historical /i/ and /ɨ/ before voiceless fricatives and /r/, and historical /ɛ/ before alveolar consonants.
* Creation of a new /ʃ/ phoneme from /s/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /t/ also become /ʃ/.
* Creation of a new /ʒ/ phoneme from /z/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /j/ also became /ʒ/.
* The glottal stop /ʔ/ merging with the other three voiceless stops depending on the preceding vowel: /t/ after front vowels, /k/ after central vowels, and /p/ after back vowels.
* Creation of a new /m/ phoneme from intervocalic /b/ in unstressed syllables, plus /n/ and /ŋ/ before labials and unstressed /o/.
* Simplification of various labial-stop clusters: /kp/, /tp/, /rp/, /kb/, and /tb/ all become /p/, and /gb/, /db/, and /rb/ all become /b/.
* Shift of certain vowels' pronunciations when unstressed: /au/ and /o/ become [u], /ai/ merges with /i/, and /ɨ/ and /ɐ/ become [ə].
* Development of aspirated and breathy-voiced allophones of stops in stressed syllables.
* Loss of phonemic stress in favor of universal initial stress—except in some loanwords and compounds—causing /u/, /ə/, and the aspirated and breathy-voiced stops to all become phonemic.
* Merger of /ɸ/ into /β/, which then shifts its pronunciation to [w].
* Merger of /l/ into /ɾ/.
* Merger of /x/ and /ɣ/ into /r/ after stops.
* Chain shifts affecting most vowel monophthongs: /ɨ/ > /i/ > /e/ > /ɛ/ > /a/, and /ɐ/ > /ɑ/ > /ɔ/.
* Raising of the two diphthongs: /ai/ to [ei] and /au/ to [ou].

===Grammatical history===
It has also undergone the following grammatical innovations:
* Drastic simplification of noun pluralization: the majority of nouns now pluralize with ''-e'' or ''-de'', although a few dozen irregular nouns remain as vestiges of Ivugi's complex ablaut-based system. For example, the noun ''ireiždé'' "person" has the suppletive plural ''inarni'', which descends from Ivugi's original plural; this is because ''ireiždé'' is a novel coining that literally means "society-child".
* Generalizing the Ivugi particle ''u'', which was used before animate singular nouns in the accusative, to be a general affix for animate nouns. Explicitly animate pronouns and verb inflections would later develop based on it.
* Repurposing Ivugi's ''yi'' and ''ye'', which were the interrogative forms of "to be" in the past and present, as generic interrogative markers, and the resultant loss of Ivugi's morphological interrogative mood. They are now ''žé'' and ''ža''.
* Obligatory marking of inalienable possession on certain nouns, created from the Ivugi particle ''a'' ("of", inalienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Development of possessive pronouns using the Ivugi particle ''sal'' ("of", semi-alienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Generalization of Ivugi's third genitive particle ''val'' ("of", alienable) as the only genitive particle, now ''va''.
* Expansion of Ivugi's simpler verb paradigm, in which all verbs had infinitives ending in ''-bi'' and inflected basically the same way, into a more complex paradigm with three conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This process came about when clusters of various consonants and /b/ simplified in different ways.
* Polypersonal inflection on the verb: whereas Ivugi verbs did not indicate person in any form, Ewige verbs can inflect for both subject and object, both of which started as forms of the pronouns and then phonologically reduced.
* Simplification of the Ivugi syllable onset alternation process to a basic affix, ''-ro-'' before a consonant and ''-rov-'' before a vowel. This affix was then repurposed to form the subjunctive/conditional mood, which can be used in any of the three tenses: past, present, and future.
* Innovation of a new future tense inflection, ''-sto'', from the Ivugi verb ''sída'' ("goes"/"is going").
* Shift from SVO (subject-object-verb) word order to the rare VOS, after the innovation of person-marking on verbs created less need for an explicit subject at the start of the sentence.

==Phonology==
===Consonants===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" |
! |Labial
! |Alveolar
! |Palato-alveolar
! |Palatal
! |Velar
! |Glottal
|-
! colspan="2" | Nasal
| '''m''' /m/
| '''n''' /n/
|
|
| '''ň''' /ŋ/
|
|-
! rowspan="4" | Plosive
! Voiceless
| '''p''' /p/
| '''t''' /t/
|
|
| '''k''' /k/
|
|-
! Voiced
| '''b''' /b/
| '''d''' /d/
|
|
| '''g''' /g/
|
|-
! Aspirated
| '''pʼ''' /pʰ/
| '''tʼ''' /tʰ/
|
|
| '''kʼ''' /kʰ/
|
|-
! Breathy-voiced
| '''bʼ''' /bʱ/
| '''dʼ''' /dʱ/
|
|
| '''gʼ''' /gʱ/
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | Fricative
! Voiceless
|
| '''s''' /s/
| '''š''' /ʃ/
|
| '''ch''' /x/
| '''h''' /h/
|-
! Voiced
|
| '''z''' /z/
| '''ž''' /ʒ/
|
| '''gh''' /ɣ/
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Approximant
| '''v''' /w~ɹ/
|
|
| '''j''' /j/
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Tap
|
| '''r''' /ɾ/
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Trill
|
| '''ř''' /r/
|
|
|
|
|}
* After back vowels, palato-alveolar /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ are often realized as retroflex [ʂ] and [ʐ].
* The labio-velar approximant /w/ may be realized as alveolar [ɹ], especially intervocalically. By one analysis, this gives Ewige the rare distinction of possessing three rhotic consonants: /ɹ/, /ɾ/, and /r/.

===Vowels===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Monophthongs'''
! |
! |Front
! |Central
! |Back
|-
! High
| '''i''' /i/
|
| '''u''' /u/
|-
! High-mid
| '''é''' /e/
|
| '''ó''' /o/
|-
! Mid
|
| '''y''' /ə/
|
|-
! Low-mid
| '''e''' /ɛ/
|
| '''o''' /ɔ/
|-
! Low
| '''a''' /a/
|
| '''á''' /ɑ/
|}

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Diphthongs'''
! |Front
! |Back
|-
| '''ei''' /ei/
| '''ou''' /ou/
|}
* The mid-central vowel represented here by a schwa, /ə/, can in reality be realized with a wide range of allophones depending on the following consonant. Speakers may possess any or all of these allophones, and younger speakers use them more than older speakers:
:* [ɨ~i], before voiceless stops
:* [əi~oi], before voiceless fricatives
:* [ɜ~ɐ], before /ɾ/ and /r/ and in word-final position
:* syllabification, before nasals, e.g. /ən/ [n̩]

==Vocabulary==
While most of Ewige's vocabulary is indigenous, it has borrowed a large number of terms from nearby languages of the Eurasian steppe, particularly [[w:Russian language|Russian]], [[w:Kazakh language|Kazakh]], and [[w:Mongolian language|Mongolian]]. More recently, English and, to a lesser extent, Mandarin loanwords have entered the language as well.

The numbers one through ten are as follows:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Arabic numeral
! Ewige number
|-
| 1
| ''šy''
|-
| 2
| ''syp''
|-
| 3
| ''de''
|-
| 4
| ''ny''
|-
| 5
| ''ryr''
|-
| 6
| ''gog''
|-
| 7
| ''aku''
|-
| 8
| ''gʼéru''
|-
| 9
| ''nožo''
|-
| 10
| ''žér''
|}

==Dialectology==
The dialect documented in this article is the prestige ''Jugřé'' (Southern) dialect, spoken by the majority of the population. The more innovative ''Třařé'' (Northern) dialect is characterized by the following features:
* A lower percentage of loanwords and a tendency to use native coinings instead. When loanwords are imported, they are less likely to use non-native phones such as /l/.
* The mid high vowels /e/ and /o/ are diphthongized to [iə] and [uə].
* The low vowels have not shifted as far: /a/ is more like [æ] and /ɑ/ is more like [ɐ~ä].
* The diphthongs /ei/ and /ou/ are more centralized, especially in their onsets: [əi~əɨ] and [əu~əʉ].
* /t/ and /d/ are often realized as [θ] and [ð], except at the start of a word.
* /w/ becomes [ɹ~ɻ] in all positions, not just intervocalically.
* /h/ disappears initially and merges with /x/ elsewhere; this creates homophones such as ''oš'' ("than") vs. ''hoš'' ("footprint"), and ''og'' ("that", to mark subordinate clauses) vs. ''hog'' ("gust").
* /ə/ is slightly fronted and rounded, often as far as [ø~œ], but does not exhibit nearly the degree of allophony found in Jugřé Ewige.
* The possessive pronouns are suffixed with the adjectival ''-řé'', such as ''sodařé'' ("yours"), equivalent to saying "yours-like" or "yours-ish" in English.
* Double negation is common, with the general negative particle ''ou'' coming immediately before the verb.
* Although Třařé Ewige is also pro-drop and its verbs have polypersonal agreement, subject pronouns are still used with greater frequency than in Jugřé Ewige, but they come at the very end of the sentence, including after any adverbs.
* Various classes of nouns that are generally inanimate in Jugřé Ewige are animate in Třařé Ewige, such as geographical formations, vehicles, and large plants (mainly trees). A handful of nouns have moved in the opposite direction, being animate in Jugřé but inanimate in Třařé, such as ''igʼarut'' ("spider") and ''idé'' ("child").
* The adverb ''gou'' ("now") has expanded in use to signify a sort of narrative past or aorist; it immediately follows the verb when used in this sense.
* The verb ''gʼombé'' ("to help") is used as an auxiliary verb in a benefactive sense, such as in the phrase ''igʼomnor reipé ajoreiko ut'' "he threw the ball for me", which in Jugřé Ewige would mean "he helped me throw the ball".
* Possibly influenced by the above, the verb ''ombé'' ("to wiggle, to oscillate") is used as an auxiliary verb for groups of two or more actors that are performing an action with one another (as opposed to separately). For example, ''néjomo jorimé'' is used to mean "they're arguing with each other", while ''néjorimy'' means "they're arguing separately".
* The future-tense affix is always ''-sto-''; the ''-dzo-'' variant that Jugřé Ewige innovated for ''-me'' verbs does not exist.
* The verbalizing suffix ''-(ó)batpé'' (from the Russian ''-ovat'') is uncommon; it is normally substituted with simply ''-(y)přémé''.

==Grammar==
===Pronouns===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" | Subject/Object
! colspan="2" | Possessive
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| I
| ''ré''
| my/mine
| ''soré''
|-
| you
| ''da''
| your/yours
| ''soda''
|-
| him/her
| ''ut''
| his/hers
| ''soriot''
|-
| it
| ''ot''
| its
| ''sorot''
|-
| we
| ''rin''
| our/ours
| ''sorén''
|-
| you all
| ''dyř''
| all of your
| ''sodař''
|-
| they
| ''ni''
| their/theirs
| ''sonei''
|}

===Nouns===
Ewige nouns are inflected for several grammatical categories:
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Gender/Definiteness
|
''∅-'' (inanimate, indefinite) 
''a-/er-'' (inanimate, definite) 
''i-/ir-'' (animate, indefinite) 
''ja-/jer-'' (animate, definite)
|-
! Noun stem
| (any noun)
|-
! Number
|
''-∅'' (singular) 
''-(d)e'' (plural, for the vast majority of nouns)
|-
! Inalienable possession
|
''-(j)yr'' (my) 
''-(j)yda'' (your) 
''-(j)ei'' (his, her) 
''-(j)yt'' (its) 
''-(j)yré'' (our) 
''-(j)ař'' (all of your) 
''-(j)ynei'' (their)
|}

===Verbs===
Ewige verbs fall into three different conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This table lists the affixes that each form takes to mark subject, object, and tense-aspect-mood.
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" |
! ''-me''
! ''-be''
! ''-pe''
|-
! rowspan="7" | Subject
! "I"
| colspan="3" | ''é(j)-''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="3" | ''dy(j)''
|-
! "he/she"
| colspan="3" | ''i(j)-''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''o(j)-''
|-
! "we"
| colspan="3" | ''éř(é)-''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="3" | ''da(j)-''
|-
! "they"
| colspan="3" | ''né(j)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Negation
| colspan="3" | ''-ó-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Irrealis
| colspan="3" | ''-ro(v)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Passive
| colspan="3" | ''-ké(r)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Verb root
| colspan="3" | (any verb)
|-
! rowspan="5" | Tense, Aspect, Mood
! Infinitive
| ''-mé''
| ''-bé''
| ''-pé''
|-
! Past
| ''-dó''
| ''-nó''
| ''-tó''
|-
! Present
| ''-my''
| ''-(r)o''
| ''-py''
|-
! Future
| ''-dzo''
| colspan="2" | ''-sto''
|-
! Imperative
| colspan="3" | ''-(m/b/p)y'' (if followed by an object suffix), ''-∅'' (otherwise)
|-
! rowspan="7" | Object
! "me"
| colspan="3" | ''-r''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="2" | ''-d''
| ''-t''
|-
! "him/her"
| colspan="3" | ''-š''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''-ti''
|-
! "us"
| colspan="3" | ''-n''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="2" | ''-dař''
| ''-tař''
|-
! "them"
| colspan="3" | ''-ni''
|}
* The irrealis mood, which is used to indicate the subjunctive or conditional, can only be used with the basic tenses: past, present, and future.

An example of a highly inflected Ewige verb:
:''éř-ó-ro-ké-dřor-nó-d''
:1PL.NOM-NEG-SUBJ-guard-PST_bé-2SG.ACC_bé
:If we hadn't been protected by you...

Ewige has only eleven basic irregular verbs, although verbs derived from them follow their conjugations, much as the past tense of "to outdo" in English is "outdid". These verbs are only irregular in the past and present; their other inflections are regular. They are listed below in the infinitive, and in the past and present with no conjugation for person and number. They are all fairly common verbs, some of them relating to motion.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! rowspan="2" | English
! colspan="3" | Ewige
|-
! Infinitive
! Past
! Present
|-
| to be
| ''jómé''
| ''-jón''
| ''-jó''
|-
| to eat
| ''ámé''
| ''-án''
| ''-áró''
|-
| to go
| ''šérbé''
| ''-šédu''
| ''-šédo''
|-
| to need
| ''rimé''
| ''-rimu''
| ''-rimo''
|-
| to say
| ''šémé''
| ''-sonó''
| ''-soko''
|-
| to have
| ''otʼamé''
| ''-otʼou''
| ''-otʼei''
|-
| to see
| ''otʼépé''
| ''-otʼó''
| ''-otʼy''
|-
| to leave
| ''épymé''
| ''-épion''
| ''-épio''
|-
| to run
| ''sonémé''
| ''-sonu''
| ''-sono''
|-
| to walk
| ''esomé''
| ''-estu''
| ''-esto''
|-
| to swim
| ''vobé''
| ''-vobu''
| ''-vobo''
|}

===Adjectives===
Adjective inflection is simple: they are inflected for definiteness, animacy, and number using the same affixes nouns are.

===Derivation===
Ewige makes extensive use of derivation. The following are some common nominalizing prefixes and suffixes, which are attached to the verb root:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Type
! Affix
|-
| Gerund
|
''-zo'' (for verbs of motion) 
''-há'' (for all other verbs)
|-
| Gerund, habitual
|
''-sék''
|-
| Agentive
|
''-gyň'' (from a word for "friend")
|-
| Locational
|
''-ova'' (from a word for "house")
|-
| Patient
|
''žo-''
|-
| Productive
|
''ano-''
|}

The suffix to nominalize adjectives is ''-(ó)bro'', deriving from the word for "color". Conversely, ''-ře'' is used to derive adjectives from other parts of speech. A suffix ''-ry'', from the word for "slice", is attached to some nouns with a diminutive meaning, but it is not very productive in the modern language.

Ewige also possesses several affixes to derive verbs from nouns and adjectives:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Meaning
! Affix
|-
| To perform an action related to X
| ''-(ó)batpé'' (from the Russian ''-ovat'')
|-
| To turn something into X, or to make it more X
| ''-(y)hérbé'' (from an old word meaning "to transform", specifically under a magical curse)
|-
| To be like X, or to evoke X
| ''-(y)přémé'' (from an old word meaning "to agree with" or "to resemble")
|-
| To provide X to someone (usually, but not always, with a benevolent meaning)
| ''-(y)jápé'' (from an old word meaning "to allocate")
|}

====Compounds====
Each noun, verb, or adjective root has a "construct state" that is used to form compounds; this construct state is used for all roots in the compound except the final one. First, any affixes, such as those marking definiteness/animacy or the infinitive, are removed, and then the final consonant of the root is altered according to the following rules:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Final consonant of root...
! is replaced with...
|-
| Voiceless stops
| ''-šé(j)''
|-
| Voiceless fricatives
| ''-t''
|-
| Other final consonants
| ''-ž''
|-
| Root ends in ''-á''
| ''-á'' becomes ''-ež''
|-
| Root ends in a different vowel
| Vowel becomes ''-á(j)''
|}

===Syntax===
Ewige uses the rare [[w:verb–object–subject|verb–object–subject]] word order. Noun phrases are generally right-branching, with adjectives, numerals, and relative clauses all following the head noun (in that order). However, Ewige uses prepositions rather than postpositions, and determiners precede the head noun. Adverbs are formed by suffixing an adjective (or other part of speech) with ''-(j)agh'', or ''-ař'' if the adjective ends in a stop consonant. These adverbs typically come at the end of the sentence.

Other than for verbs, negation is fairly simple. Noun phrases are negated with ''vó'', which precedes the noun phrase. The general negation particle is ''ou'', which is used to negate every part of speech other than verbs and nouns.

===Questions===
Ewige possesses the following words to form questions. When applicable, corresponding non-interrogative words are also given. The interrogative words are simply placed where a non-interrogative word would be; there is no do-support as in English.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" | Interrogative
! colspan="2" | Proximate
! colspan="2" | Distal
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| what?
| ''hei?''
| this
| ''gei''
| that
| ''twei''
|-
| who/whom?
| ''hor?''
| colspan="4" rowspan="2" | —
|-
| which?
| ''hok?''
|-
| where?
| ''heiry?'' (from ''hei iry?'', literally "what place?")
| here
| ''ga''
| there
| ''twa''
|-
| when?
| ''hou?''
| now
| ''gou''
| then
| ''tou''
|-
| why?
| ''ha?''
| thus (for this reason)
| ''ga''
| thus (for that reason)
| ''twa''
|}

To form generic equivalents, ''é-'' is prefixed to the interrogative forms, such as ''éhor'' ("someone").

To turn an entire sentence interrogative, the particle ''žé'' is used in the past indicative, while ''ža'' is used in every other tense and mood. This particle typically precedes the verb, but it can come anywhere in the sentence.

==Sample text==
A speech uttered by Boromir in ''[[w:The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring|The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring]]'':

:'''Original''': It is a gift. A gift to the foes of Mordor. Why not use this Ring? Long has my father, the steward of Gondor, kept the forces of Mordor at bay. By the blood of our people are your lands kept safe. Give Gondor the weapon of the enemy; let us use it against him!

:'''Ewige:''' Ojó jobóno. Jobóno osáň jaboř va Mórdór. Éřóvouro sesbé gei gritʼ ha? Igʼamyni erómode va Mórdór jadřyjyr, é ijó jadřorsék va Góndór, žytař. Nékédřoroni ařyšékʼóre va janarni sorén. Bʼómyti agʼožéde va jaboř osáň Góndór, su ropyn sesbé ot ghog ut!

:'''Gloss:''' 3SG.INAN.NOM-be.PRES gift. // gift to DEF.AN-foe of Mordor. // 1PL.NOM-NEG-be_able-PRES.bé use_INF this ring why? // 3SG.AN.NOM-push-PRES.mé-3PL.ACC DEF.INAN-force-PL of Mordor DEF.AN-father-1SG.POSS REL 3SG.AN.NOM-be.PRES DEF.AN-protect-AGENT of Gondor far-ADV. // 3PL.NOM-PASS-protect-PRES.bé-3PL.ACC DEF.INAN-land-PL of DEF.AN-person.PL 2SG.POSS with DEF.INAN-blood of DEF.AN-person.PL 1PL.POSS. give-IMP-3SG.INAN.ACC DEF.INAN-weapon of DEF.AN-foe to Gondor and allow-IMP-1PL.ACC use-INF 3SG.INAN against 3SG.AN!

[[Category:Agglutinative languages]]
[[Category:Languages]]
[[Category:Polysynthetic languages]]

User:Frrurtu

2017-11-04T21:52:08Z

Frrurtu: /* My conlangs */

==Me==
* Born: 1994
* From: [[w:Albany Park, Chicago|Albany Park]], [[w:Chicago|Chicago]], [[w:Illinois|Illinois]], United States
* Speaks: [[w:English language|English]] ([[w:Inland North American English|Inland North US]]), [[w:Arabic language|Arabic]] ([[w:Jordanian Arabic|Jordanian]]), [[w:Japanese language|Japanese]]
* Currently learning: [[w:Albanian language|Albanian]]
* Has studied at least semi-seriously at some point: [[w:Spanish language|Spanish]], [[w:Portuguese language|Portuguese]], [[w:French language|French]], [[w:German language|German]], [[w:Czech language|Czech]], [[w:Irish language|Irish]], [[w:Turkish language|Turkish]], [[w:Mandarin Chinese|Mandarin Chinese]], [[w:Mongolian language|Mongolian]], [[w:Quechua language|Quechua]] (Southern), [[w:Nahuatl|Nahuatl]] (Classical), [[w:Navajo language|Navajo]], [[w:Miami-Illinois language|Miami-Illinois]], [[w:Zulu language|Zulu]], [[w:Pitjantjatjara language|Pitjantjatjara]]

==My conlangs==
* [[Proto-Rttirrian]]
:* [[Proto-North-Rttirrian]]
::* [[Old Zoki]]
:::* [[Zoki]]
:* Proto-South-Rttirrian (no article yet)
::* [[Old Gaju]]
:::* [[Gaju]]
::* Classical Rttirri (no article yet)
:::* [[Rttirri]]
* [[Pre-Owina]]
:* Proto-Owina (no article yet)
* [[Ewige]]

==My conlands==
* [[Verse:Rttirria]]

==Subpages==
* [[User:Frrurtu/Sandbox]]
* [[User:Frrurtu/Sandbox2]]

Ewige

2017-11-04T21:51:20Z

Frrurtu: Created page with "'''Ewige''' (/əˈwiːgeɪ/, natively ''néto Éwigéřé'' [neto ˈeɹigerɛ], "Ewige language") is a language spoken in central-southern Siberia, near the bord..."

'''Ewige''' (/əˈwiːgeɪ/, natively ''néto Éwigéřé'' [neto ˈeɹigerɛ], "Ewige language") is a language spoken in central-southern [[w:Siberia|Siberia]], near the borders with Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and China. It is one of several descendants of the Ivugi language, also spoken in Siberia circa 1000 CE, but it is not considered mutually intelligible with the other Ivugean languages, as they are collectively known. The speaker pool of Ewige is estimated at around 200,000 individuals, mostly living in [[w:Kemerovo Oblast|Kemerovo Oblast]], the [[w:Altai Republic|Altai Republic]], and other nearby federal subjects of Russia; significant Ewige communities also exist in Kazakhstan, western Russia, the United States, and Germany. Community leaders have been enthusiastic about keeping the language alive, arranging for many films, comic strips, and books to be translated into the language and publishing newspapers in it.

Ewige is a nominative-accusative, agglutinative language with VOS (verb-object-subject) word order an animate-inanimate distinction for nouns; as it features polypersonal agreement on verbs and many simpler sentences can express all their information with just a verb, some linguists argue that it is polysynthetic instead. It has two main dialects: ''Jugřé'' ("Southern") and ''Třařé'' ("Northern"); the more widely spoken and prestige Jugřé dialect is the one covered in this article.

==History==
Ewige is one of many descendants of Ivugi, which was spoken circa 1000 AD in the Eurasian steppe in present-day [[w:Siberia|Siberia]]. It has undergone many phonological and grammatical changes, evolving from a relatively isolating language to a highly agglutinative one with polypersonal inflection and an animate-inanimate distinction. Its syllable structure has grown more restrictive and it has lost its phonemic stress, but its vowel and consonant inventories have grown.

While it has historically been written in [[w:Cyrillic|Cyrillic]], the Ewige people were among the earliest adopters of the [[w:Latin script|Latin script]] among Siberian peoples. However, many of their orthographical conventions, such as extensive use of the [[w:hacek|hacek]], are Slavic in nature.

===Phonological history===
Ewige is characterized by the following phonological innovations from Ivugi:
* Creation of a new /e/ phoneme, formed from historical /i/ and /ɨ/ before voiceless fricatives and /r/, and historical /ɛ/ before alveolar consonants.
* Creation of a new /ʃ/ phoneme from /s/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /t/ also become /ʃ/.
* Creation of a new /ʒ/ phoneme from /z/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /j/ also became /ʒ/.
* The glottal stop /ʔ/ merging with the other three voiceless stops depending on the preceding vowel: /t/ after front vowels, /k/ after central vowels, and /p/ after back vowels.
* Creation of a new /m/ phoneme from intervocalic /b/ in unstressed syllables, plus /n/ and /ŋ/ before labials and unstressed /o/.
* Simplification of various labial-stop clusters: /kp/, /tp/, /rp/, /kb/, and /tb/ all become /p/, and /gb/, /db/, and /rb/ all become /b/.
* Shift of certain vowels' pronunciations when unstressed: /au/ and /o/ become [u], /ai/ merges with /i/, and /ɨ/ and /ɐ/ become [ə].
* Development of aspirated and breathy-voiced allophones of stops in stressed syllables.
* Loss of phonemic stress in favor of universal initial stress—except in some loanwords and compounds—causing /u/, /ə/, and the aspirated and breathy-voiced stops to all become phonemic.
* Merger of /ɸ/ into /β/, which then shifts its pronunciation to [w].
* Merger of /l/ into /ɾ/.
* Merger of /x/ and /ɣ/ into /r/ after stops.
* Chain shifts affecting most vowel monophthongs: /ɨ/ > /i/ > /e/ > /ɛ/ > /a/, and /ɐ/ > /ɑ/ > /ɔ/.
* Raising of the two diphthongs: /ai/ to [ei] and /au/ to [ou].

===Grammatical history===
It has also undergone the following grammatical innovations:
* Drastic simplification of noun pluralization: the majority of nouns now pluralize with ''-e'' or ''-de'', although a few dozen irregular nouns remain as vestiges of Ivugi's complex ablaut-based system. For example, the noun ''ireiždé'' "person" has the suppletive plural ''inarni'', which descends from Ivugi's original plural; this is because ''ireiždé'' is a novel coining that literally means "society-child".
* Generalizing the Ivugi particle ''u'', which was used before animate singular nouns in the accusative, to be a general affix for animate nouns. Explicitly animate pronouns and verb inflections would later develop based on it.
* Repurposing Ivugi's ''yi'' and ''ye'', which were the interrogative forms of "to be" in the past and present, as generic interrogative markers, and the resultant loss of Ivugi's morphological interrogative mood. They are now ''žé'' and ''ža''.
* Obligatory marking of inalienable possession on certain nouns, created from the Ivugi particle ''a'' ("of", inalienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Development of possessive pronouns using the Ivugi particle ''sal'' ("of", semi-alienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Generalization of Ivugi's third genitive particle ''val'' ("of", alienable) as the only genitive particle, now ''va''.
* Expansion of Ivugi's simpler verb paradigm, in which all verbs had infinitives ending in ''-bi'' and inflected basically the same way, into a more complex paradigm with three conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This process came about when clusters of various consonants and /b/ simplified in different ways.
* Polypersonal inflection on the verb: whereas Ivugi verbs did not indicate person in any form, Ewige verbs can inflect for both subject and object, both of which started as forms of the pronouns and then phonologically reduced.
* Simplification of the Ivugi syllable onset alternation process to a basic affix, ''-ro-'' before a consonant and ''-rov-'' before a vowel. This affix was then repurposed to form the subjunctive/conditional mood, which can be used in any of the three tenses: past, present, and future.
* Innovation of a new future tense inflection, ''-sto'', from the Ivugi verb ''sída'' ("goes"/"is going").
* Shift from SVO (subject-object-verb) word order to the rare VOS, after the innovation of person-marking on verbs created less need for an explicit subject at the start of the sentence.

==Phonology==
===Consonants===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" |
! |Labial
! |Alveolar
! |Palato-alveolar
! |Palatal
! |Velar
! |Glottal
|-
! colspan="2" | Nasal
| '''m''' /m/
| '''n''' /n/
|
|
| '''ň''' /ŋ/
|
|-
! rowspan="4" | Plosive
! Voiceless
| '''p''' /p/
| '''t''' /t/
|
|
| '''k''' /k/
|
|-
! Voiced
| '''b''' /b/
| '''d''' /d/
|
|
| '''g''' /g/
|
|-
! Aspirated
| '''pʼ''' /pʰ/
| '''tʼ''' /tʰ/
|
|
| '''kʼ''' /kʰ/
|
|-
! Breathy-voiced
| '''bʼ''' /bʱ/
| '''dʼ''' /dʱ/
|
|
| '''gʼ''' /gʱ/
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | Fricative
! Voiceless
|
| '''s''' /s/
| '''š''' /ʃ/
|
| '''ch''' /x/
| '''h''' /h/
|-
! Voiced
|
| '''z''' /z/
| '''ž''' /ʒ/
|
| '''gh''' /ɣ/
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Approximant
| '''v''' /w~ɹ/
|
|
| '''j''' /j/
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Tap
|
| '''r''' /ɾ/
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Trill
|
| '''ř''' /r/
|
|
|
|
|}
* After back vowels, palato-alveolar /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ are often realized as retroflex [ʂ] and [ʐ].
* The labio-velar approximant /w/ may be realized as alveolar [ɹ], especially intervocalically. By one analysis, this gives Ewige the rare distinction of possessing three rhotic consonants: /ɹ/, /ɾ/, and /r/.

===Vowels===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Monophthongs'''
! |
! |Front
! |Central
! |Back
|-
! High
| '''i''' /i/
|
| '''u''' /u/
|-
! High-mid
| '''é''' /e/
|
| '''ó''' /o/
|-
! Mid
|
| '''y''' /ə/
|
|-
! Low-mid
| '''e''' /ɛ/
|
| '''o''' /ɔ/
|-
! Low
| '''a''' /a/
|
| '''á''' /ɑ/
|}

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Diphthongs'''
! |Front
! |Back
|-
| '''ei''' /ei/
| '''ou''' /ou/
|}
* The mid-central vowel represented here by a schwa, /ə/, can in reality be realized with a wide range of allophones depending on the following consonant. Speakers may possess any or all of these allophones, and younger speakers use them more than older speakers:
:* [ɨ~i], before voiceless stops
:* [əi~oi], before voiceless fricatives
:* [ɜ~ɐ], before /ɾ/ and /r/ and in word-final position
:* syllabification, before nasals, e.g. /ən/ [n̩]

==Vocabulary==
While most of Ewige's vocabulary is indigenous, it has borrowed a large number of terms from nearby languages of the Eurasian steppe, particularly [[w:Russian language|Russian]], [[w:Kazakh language|Kazakh]], and [[w:Mongolian language|Mongolian]]. More recently, English and, to a lesser extent, Mandarin loanwords have entered the language as well.

The numbers one through ten are as follows:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Arabic numeral
! Ewige number
|-
| 1
| ''šy''
|-
| 2
| ''syp''
|-
| 3
| ''de''
|-
| 4
| ''ny''
|-
| 5
| ''ryr''
|-
| 6
| ''gog''
|-
| 7
| ''aku''
|-
| 8
| ''gʼéru''
|-
| 9
| ''nožo''
|-
| 10
| ''žér''
|}

==Dialectology==
The dialect documented in this article is the prestige ''Jugřé'' (Southern) dialect, spoken by the majority of the population. The more innovative ''Třařé'' (Northern) dialect is characterized by the following features:
* A lower percentage of loanwords and a tendency to use native coinings instead. When loanwords are imported, they are less likely to use non-native phones such as /l/.
* The mid high vowels /e/ and /o/ are diphthongized to [iə] and [uə].
* The low vowels have not shifted as far: /a/ is more like [æ] and /ɑ/ is more like [ɐ~ä].
* The diphthongs /ei/ and /ou/ are more centralized, especially in their onsets: [əi~əɨ] and [əu~əʉ].
* /t/ and /d/ are often realized as [θ] and [ð], except at the start of a word.
* /w/ becomes [ɹ~ɻ] in all positions, not just intervocalically.
* /h/ disappears initially and merges with /x/ elsewhere; this creates homophones such as ''oš'' ("than") vs. ''hoš'' ("footprint"), and ''og'' ("that", to mark subordinate clauses) vs. ''hog'' ("gust").
* /ə/ is slightly fronted and rounded, often as far as [ø~œ], but does not exhibit nearly the degree of allophony found in Jugřé Ewige.
* The possessive pronouns are suffixed with the adjectival ''-řé'', such as ''sodařé'' ("yours"), equivalent to saying "yours-like" or "yours-ish" in English.
* Double negation is common, with the general negative particle ''ou'' coming immediately before the verb.
* Although Třařé Ewige is also pro-drop and its verbs have polypersonal agreement, subject pronouns are still used with greater frequency than in Jugřé Ewige, but they come at the very end of the sentence, including after any adverbs.
* Various classes of nouns that are generally inanimate in Jugřé Ewige are animate in Třařé Ewige, such as geographical formations, vehicles, and large plants (mainly trees). A handful of nouns have moved in the opposite direction, being animate in Jugřé but inanimate in Třařé, such as ''igʼarut'' ("spider") and ''idé'' ("child").
* The adverb ''gou'' ("now") has expanded in use to signify a sort of narrative past or aorist; it immediately follows the verb when used in this sense.
* The verb ''gʼombé'' ("to help") is used as an auxiliary verb in a benefactive sense, such as in the phrase ''igʼomnor reipé ajoreiko ut'' "he threw the ball for me", which in Jugřé Ewige would mean "he helped me throw the ball".
* Possibly influenced by the above, the verb ''ombé'' ("to wiggle, to oscillate") is used as an auxiliary verb for groups of two or more actors that are performing an action with one another (as opposed to separately). For example, ''néjomo jorimé'' is used to mean "they're arguing with each other", while ''néjorimy'' means "they're arguing separately".
* The future-tense affix is always ''-sto-''; the ''-dzo-'' variant that Jugřé Ewige innovated for ''-me'' verbs does not exist.
* The verbalizing suffix ''-(ó)batpé'' (from the Russian ''-ovat'') is uncommon; it is normally substituted with simply ''-(y)přémé''.

==Grammar==
===Pronouns===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" | Subject/Object
! colspan="2" | Possessive
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| I
| ''ré''
| my/mine
| ''soré''
|-
| you
| ''da''
| your/yours
| ''soda''
|-
| him/her
| ''ut''
| his/hers
| ''soriot''
|-
| it
| ''ot''
| its
| ''sorot''
|-
| we
| ''rin''
| our/ours
| ''sorén''
|-
| you all
| ''dyř''
| all of your
| ''sodař''
|-
| they
| ''ni''
| their/theirs
| ''sonei''
|}

===Nouns===
Ewige nouns are inflected for several grammatical categories:
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Gender/Definiteness
|
''∅-'' (inanimate, indefinite) 
''a-/er-'' (inanimate, definite) 
''i-/ir-'' (animate, indefinite) 
''ja-/jer-'' (animate, definite)
|-
! Noun stem
| (any noun)
|-
! Number
|
''-∅'' (singular) 
''-(d)e'' (plural, for the vast majority of nouns)
|-
! Inalienable possession
|
''-(j)yr'' (my) 
''-(j)yda'' (your) 
''-(j)ei'' (his, her) 
''-(j)yt'' (its) 
''-(j)yré'' (our) 
''-(j)ař'' (all of your) 
''-(j)ynei'' (their)
|}

===Verbs===
Ewige verbs fall into three different conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This table lists the affixes that each form takes to mark subject, object, and tense-aspect-mood.
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" |
! ''-me''
! ''-be''
! ''-pe''
|-
! rowspan="7" | Subject
! "I"
| colspan="3" | ''é(j)-''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="3" | ''dy(j)''
|-
! "he/she"
| colspan="3" | ''i(j)-''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''o(j)-''
|-
! "we"
| colspan="3" | ''éř(é)-''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="3" | ''da(j)-''
|-
! "they"
| colspan="3" | ''né(j)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Negation
| colspan="3" | ''-ó-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Irrealis
| colspan="3" | ''-ro(v)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Passive
| colspan="3" | ''-ké(r)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Verb root
| colspan="3" | (any verb)
|-
! rowspan="5" | Tense, Aspect, Mood
! Infinitive
| ''-mé''
| ''-bé''
| ''-pé''
|-
! Past
| ''-dó''
| ''-nó''
| ''-tó''
|-
! Present
| ''-my''
| ''-(r)o''
| ''-py''
|-
! Future
| ''-dzo''
| colspan="2" | ''-sto''
|-
! Imperative
| colspan="3" | ''-(m/b/p)y'' (if followed by an object suffix), ''-∅'' (otherwise)
|-
! rowspan="7" | Object
! "me"
| colspan="3" | ''-r''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="2" | ''-d''
| ''-t''
|-
! "him/her"
| colspan="3" | ''-š''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''-ti''
|-
! "us"
| colspan="3" | ''-n''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="2" | ''-dař''
| ''-tař''
|-
! "them"
| colspan="3" | ''-ni''
|}
* The irrealis mood, which is used to indicate the subjunctive or conditional, can only be used with the basic tenses: past, present, and future.

An example of a highly inflected Ewige verb:
:''éř-ó-ro-ké-dřor-nó-d''
:1PL.NOM-NEG-SUBJ-guard-PST_bé-2SG.ACC_bé
:If we hadn't been protected by you...

Ewige has only eleven basic irregular verbs, although verbs derived from them follow their conjugations, much as the past tense of "to outdo" in English is "outdid". These verbs are only irregular in the past and present; their other inflections are regular. They are listed below in the infinitive, and in the past and present with no conjugation for person and number. They are all fairly common verbs, some of them relating to motion.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! rowspan="2" | English
! colspan="3" | Ewige
|-
! Infinitive
! Past
! Present
|-
| to be
| ''jómé''
| ''-jón''
| ''-jó''
|-
| to eat
| ''ámé''
| ''-án''
| ''-áró''
|-
| to go
| ''šérbé''
| ''-šédu''
| ''-šédo''
|-
| to need
| ''rimé''
| ''-rimu''
| ''-rimo''
|-
| to say
| ''šémé''
| ''-sonó''
| ''-soko''
|-
| to have
| ''otʼamé''
| ''-otʼou''
| ''-otʼei''
|-
| to see
| ''otʼépé''
| ''-otʼó''
| ''-otʼy''
|-
| to leave
| ''épymé''
| ''-épion''
| ''-épio''
|-
| to run
| ''sonémé''
| ''-sonu''
| ''-sono''
|-
| to walk
| ''esomé''
| ''-estu''
| ''-esto''
|-
| to swim
| ''vobé''
| ''-vobu''
| ''-vobo''
|}

===Adjectives===
Adjective inflection is simple: they are inflected for definiteness, animacy, and number using the same affixes nouns are.

===Derivation===
Ewige makes extensive use of derivation. The following are some common nominalizing prefixes and suffixes, which are attached to the verb root:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Type
! Affix
|-
| Gerund
|
''-zo'' (for verbs of motion) 
''-há'' (for all other verbs)
|-
| Gerund, habitual
|
''-sék''
|-
| Agentive
|
''-gyň'' (from a word for "friend")
|-
| Locational
|
''-ova'' (from a word for "house")
|-
| Patient
|
''žo-''
|-
| Productive
|
''ano-''
|}

The suffix to nominalize adjectives is ''-(ó)bro'', deriving from the word for "color". Conversely, ''-ře'' is used to derive adjectives from other parts of speech. A suffix ''-ry'', from the word for "slice", is attached to some nouns with a diminutive meaning, but it is not very productive in the modern language.

Ewige also possesses several affixes to derive verbs from nouns and adjectives:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Meaning
! Affix
|-
| To perform an action related to X
| ''-(ó)batpé'' (from the Russian ''-ovat'')
|-
| To turn something into X, or to make it more X
| ''-(y)hérbé'' (from an old word meaning "to transform", specifically under a magical curse)
|-
| To be like X, or to evoke X
| ''-(y)přémé'' (from an old word meaning "to agree with" or "to resemble")
|-
| To provide X to someone (usually, but not always, with a benevolent meaning)
| ''-(y)jápé'' (from an old word meaning "to allocate")
|}

====Compounds====
Each noun, verb, or adjective root has a "construct state" that is used to form compounds; this construct state is used for all roots in the compound except the final one. First, any affixes, such as those marking definiteness/animacy or the infinitive, are removed, and then the final consonant of the root is altered according to the following rules:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Final consonant of root...
! is replaced with...
|-
| Voiceless stops
| ''-šé(j)''
|-
| Voiceless fricatives
| ''-t''
|-
| Other final consonants
| ''-ž''
|-
| Root ends in ''-á''
| ''-á'' becomes ''-ež''
|-
| Root ends in a different vowel
| Vowel becomes ''-á(j)''
|}

===Syntax===
Ewige uses the rare [[w:verb–object–subject|verb–object–subject]] word order. Noun phrases are generally right-branching, with adjectives, numerals, and relative clauses all following the head noun (in that order). However, Ewige uses prepositions rather than postpositions, and determiners precede the head noun. Adverbs are formed by suffixing an adjective (or other part of speech) with ''-(j)agh'', or ''-ař'' if the adjective ends in a stop consonant. These adverbs typically come at the end of the sentence.

Other than for verbs, negation is fairly simple. Noun phrases are negated with ''vó'', which precedes the noun phrase. The general negation particle is ''ou'', which is used to negate every part of speech other than verbs and nouns.

===Questions===
Ewige possesses the following words to form questions. When applicable, corresponding non-interrogative words are also given. The interrogative words are simply placed where a non-interrogative word would be; there is no do-support as in English.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" | Interrogative
! colspan="2" | Proximate
! colspan="2" | Distal
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| what?
| ''hei?''
| this
| ''gei''
| that
| ''twei''
|-
| who/whom?
| ''hor?''
| colspan="4" rowspan="2" | —
|-
| which?
| ''hok?''
|-
| where?
| ''heiry?'' (from ''hei iry?'', literally "what place?")
| here
| ''ga''
| there
| ''twa''
|-
| when?
| ''hou?''
| now
| ''gou''
| then
| ''tou''
|-
| why?
| ''ha?''
| thus (for this reason)
| ''ga''
| thus (for that reason)
| ''twa''
|}

To form generic equivalents, ''é-'' is prefixed to the interrogative forms, such as ''éhor'' ("someone").

To turn an entire sentence interrogative, the particle ''žé'' is used in the past indicative, while ''ža'' is used in every other tense and mood. This particle typically precedes the verb, but it can come anywhere in the sentence.

==Sample text==
A speech uttered by Boromir in ''[[w:The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring|The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring]]'':

:'''Original''': It is a gift. A gift to the foes of Mordor. Why not use this Ring? Long has my father, the steward of Gondor, kept the forces of Mordor at bay. By the blood of our people are your lands kept safe. Give Gondor the weapon of the enemy; let us use it against him!

:'''Ewige:''' Ojó jobóno. Jobóno osáň jaboř va Mórdór. Éřóvouro sesbé gei gritʼ ha? Igʼamyni erómode va Mórdór jadřyjyr, é ijó jadřorsék va Góndór, žytař. Nékédřoroni ařyšékʼóre va janarni sorén. Bʼómyti agʼožéde va jaboř osáň Góndór, su ropyn sesbé ot ghog ut!

:'''Gloss:''' 3SG.INAN.NOM-be.PRES gift. // gift to DEF.AN-foe of Mordor. // 1PL.NOM-NEG-be_able-PRES.bé use_INF this ring why? // 3SG.AN.NOM-push-PRES.mé-3PL.ACC DEF.INAN-force-PL of Mordor DEF.AN-father-1SG.POSS REL 3SG.AN.NOM-be.PRES DEF.AN-protect-AGENT of Gondor far-ADV. // 3PL.NOM-PASS-protect-PRES.bé-3PL.ACC DEF.INAN-land-PL of DEF.AN-person.PL 2SG.POSS with DEF.INAN-blood of DEF.AN-person.PL 1PL.POSS. give-IMP-3SG.INAN.ACC DEF.INAN-weapon of DEF.AN-foe to Gondor and allow-IMP-1PL.ACC use-INF 3SG.INAN against 3SG.AN!

[[Category:Agglutinative languages]]
[[Category:Languages]]
[[Category:Polysynthetic languages]]

User:Frrurtu/Sandbox5

2017-11-04T21:49:47Z

Frrurtu:

'''Ewige''' (/əˈwiːgeɪ/, natively ''néto Éwigéřé'' [neto ˈeɹigerɛ], "Ewige language") is a language spoken in central-southern [[w:Siberia|Siberia]], near the borders with Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and China. It is one of several descendants of the Ivugi language, also spoken in Siberia circa 1000 CE, but it is not considered mutually intelligible with the other Ivugean languages, as they are collectively known. The speaker pool of Ewige is estimated at around 200,000 individuals, mostly living in [[w:Kemerovo Oblast|Kemerovo Oblast]], the [[w:Altai Republic|Altai Republic]], and other nearby federal subjects of Russia; significant Ewige communities also exist in Kazakhstan, western Russia, the United States, and Germany. Community leaders have been enthusiastic about keeping the language alive, arranging for many films, comic strips, and books to be translated into the language and publishing newspapers in it.

Ewige is a nominative-accusative, agglutinative language with an animate-inanimate distinction for nouns; as it features polypersonal agreement on verbs and many simpler sentences can express all their information with just a verb, some linguists argue that it is polysynthetic instead. It has two main dialects: ''Jugřé'' ("Southern") and ''Třařé'' ("Northern"); the more widely spoken and prestige Jugřé dialect is the one covered in this article.

==History==
Ewige is one of many descendants of Ivugi, which was spoken circa 1000 AD in the Eurasian steppe in present-day [[w:Siberia|Siberia]]. It has undergone many phonological and grammatical changes, evolving from a relatively isolating language to a highly agglutinative one with polypersonal inflection and an animate-inanimate distinction. Its syllable structure has grown more restrictive and it has lost its phonemic stress, but its vowel and consonant inventories have grown.

While it has historically been written in [[w:Cyrillic|Cyrillic]], the Ewige people were among the earliest adopters of the [[w:Latin script|Latin script]] among Siberian peoples. However, many of their orthographical conventions, such as extensive use of the [[w:hacek|hacek]], are Slavic in nature.

===Phonological history===
Ewige is characterized by the following phonological innovations from Ivugi:
* Creation of a new /e/ phoneme, formed from historical /i/ and /ɨ/ before voiceless fricatives and /r/, and historical /ɛ/ before alveolar consonants.
* Creation of a new /ʃ/ phoneme from /s/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /t/ also become /ʃ/.
* Creation of a new /ʒ/ phoneme from /z/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /j/ also became /ʒ/.
* The glottal stop /ʔ/ merging with the other three voiceless stops depending on the preceding vowel: /t/ after front vowels, /k/ after central vowels, and /p/ after back vowels.
* Creation of a new /m/ phoneme from intervocalic /b/ in unstressed syllables, plus /n/ and /ŋ/ before labials and unstressed /o/.
* Simplification of various labial-stop clusters: /kp/, /tp/, /rp/, /kb/, and /tb/ all become /p/, and /gb/, /db/, and /rb/ all become /b/.
* Shift of certain vowels' pronunciations when unstressed: /au/ and /o/ become [u], /ai/ merges with /i/, and /ɨ/ and /ɐ/ become [ə].
* Development of aspirated and breathy-voiced allophones of stops in stressed syllables.
* Loss of phonemic stress in favor of universal initial stress—except in some loanwords and compounds—causing /u/, /ə/, and the aspirated and breathy-voiced stops to all become phonemic.
* Merger of /ɸ/ into /β/, which then shifts its pronunciation to [w].
* Merger of /l/ into /ɾ/.
* Merger of /x/ and /ɣ/ into /r/ after stops.
* Chain shifts affecting most vowel monophthongs: /ɨ/ > /i/ > /e/ > /ɛ/ > /a/, and /ɐ/ > /ɑ/ > /ɔ/.
* Raising of the two diphthongs: /ai/ to [ei] and /au/ to [ou].

===Grammatical history===
It has also undergone the following grammatical innovations:
* Drastic simplification of noun pluralization: the majority of nouns now pluralize with ''-e'' or ''-de'', although a few dozen irregular nouns remain as vestiges of Ivugi's complex ablaut-based system. For example, the noun ''ireiždé'' "person" has the suppletive plural ''inarni'', which descends from Ivugi's original plural; this is because ''ireiždé'' is a novel coining that literally means "society-child".
* Generalizing the Ivugi particle ''u'', which was used before animate singular nouns in the accusative, to be a general affix for animate nouns. Explicitly animate pronouns and verb inflections would later develop based on it.
* Repurposing Ivugi's ''yi'' and ''ye'', which were the interrogative forms of "to be" in the past and present, as generic interrogative markers, and the resultant loss of Ivugi's morphological interrogative mood. They are now ''žé'' and ''ža''.
* Obligatory marking of inalienable possession on certain nouns, created from the Ivugi particle ''a'' ("of", inalienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Development of possessive pronouns using the Ivugi particle ''sal'' ("of", semi-alienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Generalization of Ivugi's third genitive particle ''val'' ("of", alienable) as the only genitive particle, now ''va''.
* Expansion of Ivugi's simpler verb paradigm, in which all verbs had infinitives ending in ''-bi'' and inflected basically the same way, into a more complex paradigm with three conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This process came about when clusters of various consonants and /b/ simplified in different ways.
* Polypersonal inflection on the verb: whereas Ivugi verbs did not indicate person in any form, Ewige verbs can inflect for both subject and object, both of which started as forms of the pronouns and then phonologically reduced.
* Simplification of the Ivugi syllable onset alternation process to a basic affix, ''-ro-'' before a consonant and ''-rov-'' before a vowel. This affix was then repurposed to form the subjunctive/conditional mood, which can be used in any of the three tenses: past, present, and future.
* Innovation of a new future tense inflection, ''-sto'', from the Ivugi verb ''sída'' ("goes"/"is going").
* Shift from SVO (subject-object-verb) word order to the rare VOS, after the innovation of person-marking on verbs created less need for an explicit subject at the start of the sentence.

==Phonology==
===Consonants===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" |
! |Labial
! |Alveolar
! |Palato-alveolar
! |Palatal
! |Velar
! |Glottal
|-
! colspan="2" | Nasal
| '''m''' /m/
| '''n''' /n/
|
|
| '''ň''' /ŋ/
|
|-
! rowspan="4" | Plosive
! Voiceless
| '''p''' /p/
| '''t''' /t/
|
|
| '''k''' /k/
|
|-
! Voiced
| '''b''' /b/
| '''d''' /d/
|
|
| '''g''' /g/
|
|-
! Aspirated
| '''pʼ''' /pʰ/
| '''tʼ''' /tʰ/
|
|
| '''kʼ''' /kʰ/
|
|-
! Breathy-voiced
| '''bʼ''' /bʱ/
| '''dʼ''' /dʱ/
|
|
| '''gʼ''' /gʱ/
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | Fricative
! Voiceless
|
| '''s''' /s/
| '''š''' /ʃ/
|
| '''ch''' /x/
| '''h''' /h/
|-
! Voiced
|
| '''z''' /z/
| '''ž''' /ʒ/
|
| '''gh''' /ɣ/
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Approximant
| '''v''' /w~ɹ/
|
|
| '''j''' /j/
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Tap
|
| '''r''' /ɾ/
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Trill
|
| '''ř''' /r/
|
|
|
|
|}
* After back vowels, palato-alveolar /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ are often realized as retroflex [ʂ] and [ʐ].
* The labio-velar approximant /w/ may be realized as alveolar [ɹ], especially intervocalically. By one analysis, this gives Ewige the rare distinction of possessing three rhotic consonants: /ɹ/, /ɾ/, and /r/.

===Vowels===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Monophthongs'''
! |
! |Front
! |Central
! |Back
|-
! High
| '''i''' /i/
|
| '''u''' /u/
|-
! High-mid
| '''é''' /e/
|
| '''ó''' /o/
|-
! Mid
|
| '''y''' /ə/
|
|-
! Low-mid
| '''e''' /ɛ/
|
| '''o''' /ɔ/
|-
! Low
| '''a''' /a/
|
| '''á''' /ɑ/
|}

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Diphthongs'''
! |Front
! |Back
|-
| '''ei''' /ei/
| '''ou''' /ou/
|}
* The mid-central vowel represented here by a schwa, /ə/, can in reality be realized with a wide range of allophones depending on the following consonant. Speakers may possess any or all of these allophones, and younger speakers use them more than older speakers:
:* [ɨ~i], before voiceless stops
:* [əi~oi], before voiceless fricatives
:* [ɜ~ɐ], before /ɾ/ and /r/ and in word-final position
:* syllabification, before nasals, e.g. /ən/ [n̩]

==Vocabulary==
While most of Ewige's vocabulary is indigenous, it has borrowed a large number of terms from nearby languages of the Eurasian steppe, particularly [[w:Russian language|Russian]], [[w:Kazakh language|Kazakh]], and [[w:Mongolian language|Mongolian]]. More recently, English and, to a lesser extent, Mandarin loanwords have entered the language as well.

The numbers one through ten are as follows:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Arabic numeral
! Ewige number
|-
| 1
| ''šy''
|-
| 2
| ''syp''
|-
| 3
| ''de''
|-
| 4
| ''ny''
|-
| 5
| ''ryr''
|-
| 6
| ''gog''
|-
| 7
| ''aku''
|-
| 8
| ''gʼéru''
|-
| 9
| ''nožo''
|-
| 10
| ''žér''
|}

==Dialectology==
The dialect documented in this article is the prestige ''Jugřé'' (Southern) dialect, spoken by the majority of the population. The more innovative ''Třařé'' (Northern) dialect is characterized by the following features:
* A lower percentage of loanwords and a tendency to use native coinings instead. When loanwords are imported, they are less likely to use non-native phones such as /l/.
* The mid high vowels /e/ and /o/ are diphthongized to [iə] and [uə].
* The low vowels have not shifted as far: /a/ is more like [æ] and /ɑ/ is more like [ɐ~ä].
* The diphthongs /ei/ and /ou/ are more centralized, especially in their onsets: [əi~əɨ] and [əu~əʉ].
* /t/ and /d/ are often realized as [θ] and [ð], except at the start of a word.
* /w/ becomes [ɹ~ɻ] in all positions, not just intervocalically.
* /h/ disappears initially and merges with /x/ elsewhere; this creates homophones such as ''oš'' ("than") vs. ''hoš'' ("footprint"), and ''og'' ("that", to mark subordinate clauses) vs. ''hog'' ("gust").
* /ə/ is slightly fronted and rounded, often as far as [ø~œ], but does not exhibit nearly the degree of allophony found in Jugřé Ewige.
* The possessive pronouns are suffixed with the adjectival ''-řé'', such as ''sodařé'' ("yours"), equivalent to saying "yours-like" or "yours-ish" in English.
* Double negation is common, with the general negative particle ''ou'' coming immediately before the verb.
* Although Třařé Ewige is also pro-drop and its verbs have polypersonal agreement, subject pronouns are still used with greater frequency than in Jugřé Ewige, but they come at the very end of the sentence, including after any adverbs.
* Various classes of nouns that are generally inanimate in Jugřé Ewige are animate in Třařé Ewige, such as geographical formations, vehicles, and large plants (mainly trees). A handful of nouns have moved in the opposite direction, being animate in Jugřé but inanimate in Třařé, such as ''igʼarut'' ("spider") and ''idé'' ("child").
* The adverb ''gou'' ("now") has expanded in use to signify a sort of narrative past or aorist; it immediately follows the verb when used in this sense.
* The verb ''gʼombé'' ("to help") is used as an auxiliary verb in a benefactive sense, such as in the phrase ''igʼomnor reipé ajoreiko ut'' "he threw the ball for me", which in Jugřé Ewige would mean "he helped me throw the ball".
* Possibly influenced by the above, the verb ''ombé'' ("to wiggle, to oscillate") is used as an auxiliary verb for groups of two or more actors that are performing an action with one another (as opposed to separately). For example, ''néjomo jorimé'' is used to mean "they're arguing with each other", while ''néjorimy'' means "they're arguing separately".
* The future-tense affix is always ''-sto-''; the ''-dzo-'' variant that Jugřé Ewige innovated for ''-me'' verbs does not exist.
* The verbalizing suffix ''-(ó)batpé'' (from the Russian ''-ovat'') is uncommon; it is normally substituted with simply ''-(y)přémé''.

==Grammar==
===Pronouns===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" | Subject/Object
! colspan="2" | Possessive
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| I
| ''ré''
| my/mine
| ''soré''
|-
| you
| ''da''
| your/yours
| ''soda''
|-
| him/her
| ''ut''
| his/hers
| ''soriot''
|-
| it
| ''ot''
| its
| ''sorot''
|-
| we
| ''rin''
| our/ours
| ''sorén''
|-
| you all
| ''dyř''
| all of your
| ''sodař''
|-
| they
| ''ni''
| their/theirs
| ''sonei''
|}

===Nouns===
Ewige nouns are inflected for several grammatical categories:
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Gender/Definiteness
|
''∅-'' (inanimate, indefinite) 
''a-/er-'' (inanimate, definite) 
''i-/ir-'' (animate, indefinite) 
''ja-/jer-'' (animate, definite)
|-
! Noun stem
| (any noun)
|-
! Number
|
''-∅'' (singular) 
''-(d)e'' (plural, for the vast majority of nouns)
|-
! Inalienable possession
|
''-(j)yr'' (my) 
''-(j)yda'' (your) 
''-(j)ei'' (his, her) 
''-(j)yt'' (its) 
''-(j)yré'' (our) 
''-(j)ař'' (all of your) 
''-(j)ynei'' (their)
|}

===Verbs===
Ewige verbs fall into three different conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This table lists the affixes that each form takes to mark subject, object, and tense-aspect-mood.
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" |
! ''-me''
! ''-be''
! ''-pe''
|-
! rowspan="7" | Subject
! "I"
| colspan="3" | ''é(j)-''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="3" | ''dy(j)''
|-
! "he/she"
| colspan="3" | ''i(j)-''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''o(j)-''
|-
! "we"
| colspan="3" | ''éř(é)-''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="3" | ''da(j)-''
|-
! "they"
| colspan="3" | ''né(j)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Negation
| colspan="3" | ''-ó-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Irrealis
| colspan="3" | ''-ro(v)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Passive
| colspan="3" | ''-ké(r)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Verb root
| colspan="3" | (any verb)
|-
! rowspan="5" | Tense, Aspect, Mood
! Infinitive
| ''-mé''
| ''-bé''
| ''-pé''
|-
! Past
| ''-dó''
| ''-nó''
| ''-tó''
|-
! Present
| ''-my''
| ''-(r)o''
| ''-py''
|-
! Future
| ''-dzo''
| colspan="2" | ''-sto''
|-
! Imperative
| colspan="3" | ''-(m/b/p)y'' (if followed by an object suffix), ''-∅'' (otherwise)
|-
! rowspan="7" | Object
! "me"
| colspan="3" | ''-r''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="2" | ''-d''
| ''-t''
|-
! "him/her"
| colspan="3" | ''-š''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''-ti''
|-
! "us"
| colspan="3" | ''-n''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="2" | ''-dař''
| ''-tař''
|-
! "them"
| colspan="3" | ''-ni''
|}
* The irrealis mood, which is used to indicate the subjunctive or conditional, can only be used with the basic tenses: past, present, and future.

An example of a highly inflected Ewige verb:
:''éř-ó-ro-ké-dřor-nó-d''
:1PL.NOM-NEG-SUBJ-guard-PST_bé-2SG.ACC_bé
:If we hadn't been protected by you...

Ewige has only eleven basic irregular verbs, although verbs derived from them follow their conjugations, much as the past tense of "to outdo" in English is "outdid". These verbs are only irregular in the past and present; their other inflections are regular. They are listed below in the infinitive, and in the past and present with no conjugation for person and number. They are all fairly common verbs, some of them relating to motion.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! rowspan="2" | English
! colspan="3" | Ewige
|-
! Infinitive
! Past
! Present
|-
| to be
| ''jómé''
| ''-jón''
| ''-jó''
|-
| to eat
| ''ámé''
| ''-án''
| ''-áró''
|-
| to go
| ''šérbé''
| ''-šédu''
| ''-šédo''
|-
| to need
| ''rimé''
| ''-rimu''
| ''-rimo''
|-
| to say
| ''šémé''
| ''-sonó''
| ''-soko''
|-
| to have
| ''otʼamé''
| ''-otʼou''
| ''-otʼei''
|-
| to see
| ''otʼépé''
| ''-otʼó''
| ''-otʼy''
|-
| to leave
| ''épymé''
| ''-épion''
| ''-épio''
|-
| to run
| ''sonémé''
| ''-sonu''
| ''-sono''
|-
| to walk
| ''esomé''
| ''-estu''
| ''-esto''
|-
| to swim
| ''vobé''
| ''-vobu''
| ''-vobo''
|}

===Adjectives===
Adjective inflection is simple: they are inflected for definiteness, animacy, and number using the same affixes nouns are.

===Derivation===
Ewige makes extensive use of derivation. The following are some common nominalizing prefixes and suffixes, which are attached to the verb root:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Type
! Affix
|-
| Gerund
|
''-zo'' (for verbs of motion) 
''-há'' (for all other verbs)
|-
| Gerund, habitual
|
''-sék''
|-
| Agentive
|
''-gyň'' (from a word for "friend")
|-
| Locational
|
''-ova'' (from a word for "house")
|-
| Patient
|
''žo-''
|-
| Productive
|
''ano-''
|}

The suffix to nominalize adjectives is ''-(ó)bro'', deriving from the word for "color". Conversely, ''-ře'' is used to derive adjectives from other parts of speech. A suffix ''-ry'', from the word for "slice", is attached to some nouns with a diminutive meaning, but it is not very productive in the modern language.

Ewige also possesses several affixes to derive verbs from nouns and adjectives:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Meaning
! Affix
|-
| To perform an action related to X
| ''-(ó)batpé'' (from the Russian ''-ovat'')
|-
| To turn something into X, or to make it more X
| ''-(y)hérbé'' (from an old word meaning "to transform", specifically under a magical curse)
|-
| To be like X, or to evoke X
| ''-(y)přémé'' (from an old word meaning "to agree with" or "to resemble")
|-
| To provide X to someone (usually, but not always, with a benevolent meaning)
| ''-(y)jápé'' (from an old word meaning "to allocate")
|}

====Compounds====
Each noun, verb, or adjective root has a "construct state" that is used to form compounds; this construct state is used for all roots in the compound except the final one. First, any affixes, such as those marking definiteness/animacy or the infinitive, are removed, and then the final consonant of the root is altered according to the following rules:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Final consonant of root...
! is replaced with...
|-
| Voiceless stops
| ''-šé(j)''
|-
| Voiceless fricatives
| ''-t''
|-
| Other final consonants
| ''-ž''
|-
| Root ends in ''-á''
| ''-á'' becomes ''-ež''
|-
| Root ends in a different vowel
| Vowel becomes ''-á(j)''
|}

===Syntax===
Ewige uses the rare [[w:verb–object–subject|verb–object–subject]] word order. Noun phrases are generally right-branching, with adjectives, numerals, and relative clauses all following the head noun (in that order). However, Ewige uses prepositions rather than postpositions, and determiners precede the head noun. Adverbs are formed by suffixing an adjective (or other part of speech) with ''-(j)agh'', or ''-ař'' if the adjective ends in a stop consonant. These adverbs typically come at the end of the sentence.

Other than for verbs, negation is fairly simple. Noun phrases are negated with ''vó'', which precedes the noun phrase. The general negation particle is ''ou'', which is used to negate every part of speech other than verbs and nouns.

===Questions===
Ewige possesses the following words to form questions. When applicable, corresponding non-interrogative words are also given. The interrogative words are simply placed where a non-interrogative word would be; there is no do-support as in English.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" | Interrogative
! colspan="2" | Proximate
! colspan="2" | Distal
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| what?
| ''hei?''
| this
| ''gei''
| that
| ''twei''
|-
| who/whom?
| ''hor?''
| colspan="4" rowspan="2" | —
|-
| which?
| ''hok?''
|-
| where?
| ''heiry?'' (from ''hei iry?'', literally "what place?")
| here
| ''ga''
| there
| ''twa''
|-
| when?
| ''hou?''
| now
| ''gou''
| then
| ''tou''
|-
| why?
| ''ha?''
| thus (for this reason)
| ''ga''
| thus (for that reason)
| ''twa''
|}

To form generic equivalents, ''é-'' is prefixed to the interrogative forms, such as ''éhor'' ("someone").

To turn an entire sentence interrogative, the particle ''žé'' is used in the past indicative, while ''ža'' is used in every other tense and mood. This particle typically precedes the verb, but it can come anywhere in the sentence.

==Sample text==
A speech uttered by Boromir in ''[[w:The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring|The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring]]'':

:'''Original''': It is a gift. A gift to the foes of Mordor. Why not use this Ring? Long has my father, the steward of Gondor, kept the forces of Mordor at bay. By the blood of our people are your lands kept safe. Give Gondor the weapon of the enemy; let us use it against him!

:'''Ewige:''' Ojó jobóno. Jobóno osáň jaboř va Mórdór. Éřóvouro sesbé gei gritʼ ha? Igʼamyni erómode va Mórdór jadřyjyr, é ijó jadřorsék va Góndór, žytař. Nékédřoroni ařyšékʼóre va janarni sorén. Bʼómyti agʼožéde va jaboř osáň Góndór, su ropyn sesbé ot ghog ut!

:'''Gloss:''' 3SG.INAN.NOM-be.PRES gift. // gift to DEF.AN-foe of Mordor. // 1PL.NOM-NEG-be_able-PRES.bé use_INF this ring why? // 3SG.AN.NOM-push-PRES.mé-3PL.ACC DEF.INAN-force-PL of Mordor DEF.AN-father-1SG.POSS REL 3SG.AN.NOM-be.PRES DEF.AN-protect-AGENT of Gondor far-ADV. // 3PL.NOM-PASS-protect-PRES.bé-3PL.ACC DEF.INAN-land-PL of DEF.AN-person.PL 2SG.POSS with DEF.INAN-blood of DEF.AN-person.PL 1PL.POSS. give-IMP-3SG.INAN.ACC DEF.INAN-weapon of DEF.AN-foe to Gondor and allow-IMP-1PL.ACC use-INF 3SG.INAN against 3SG.AN!

User:Frrurtu/Sandbox5

2017-11-04T21:32:38Z

Frrurtu: /* Dialectology */

'''Ewige'''

==History==
Ewige is one of many descendants of Ivugi, which was spoken circa 1000 AD in the Eurasian steppe in present-day [[w:Siberia|Siberia]]. It has undergone many phonological and grammatical changes, evolving from a relatively isolating language to a highly agglutinative one with polypersonal inflection and an animate-inanimate distinction. Its syllable structure has grown more restrictive and it has lost its phonemic stress, but its vowel and consonant inventories have grown.

While it has historically been written in [[w:Cyrillic|Cyrillic]], the Ewige people were among the earliest adopters of the [[w:Latin script|Latin script]] among Siberian peoples. However, many of their orthographical conventions, such as extensive use of the [[w:hacek|hacek]], are Slavic in nature.

===Phonological history===
Ewige is characterized by the following phonological innovations from Ivugi:
* Creation of a new /e/ phoneme, formed from historical /i/ and /ɨ/ before voiceless fricatives and /r/, and historical /ɛ/ before alveolar consonants.
* Creation of a new /ʃ/ phoneme from /s/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /t/ also become /ʃ/.
* Creation of a new /ʒ/ phoneme from /z/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /j/ also became /ʒ/.
* The glottal stop /ʔ/ merging with the other three voiceless stops depending on the preceding vowel: /t/ after front vowels, /k/ after central vowels, and /p/ after back vowels.
* Creation of a new /m/ phoneme from intervocalic /b/ in unstressed syllables, plus /n/ and /ŋ/ before labials and unstressed /o/.
* Simplification of various labial-stop clusters: /kp/, /tp/, /rp/, /kb/, and /tb/ all become /p/, and /gb/, /db/, and /rb/ all become /b/.
* Shift of certain vowels' pronunciations when unstressed: /au/ and /o/ become [u], /ai/ merges with /i/, and /ɨ/ and /ɐ/ become [ə].
* Development of aspirated and breathy-voiced allophones of stops in stressed syllables.
* Loss of phonemic stress in favor of universal initial stress—except in some loanwords and compounds—causing /u/, /ə/, and the aspirated and breathy-voiced stops to all become phonemic.
* Merger of /ɸ/ into /β/, which then shifts its pronunciation to [w].
* Merger of /l/ into /ɾ/.
* Merger of /x/ and /ɣ/ into /r/ after stops.
* Chain shifts affecting most vowel monophthongs: /ɨ/ > /i/ > /e/ > /ɛ/ > /a/, and /ɐ/ > /ɑ/ > /ɔ/.
* Raising of the two diphthongs: /ai/ to [ei] and /au/ to [ou].

===Grammatical history===
It has also undergone the following grammatical innovations:
* Drastic simplification of noun pluralization: the majority of nouns now pluralize with ''-e'' or ''-de'', although a few dozen irregular nouns remain as vestiges of Ivugi's complex ablaut-based system. For example, the noun ''ireiždé'' "person" has the suppletive plural ''inarni'', which descends from Ivugi's original plural; this is because ''ireiždé'' is a novel coining that literally means "society-child".
* Generalizing the Ivugi particle ''u'', which was used before animate singular nouns in the accusative, to be a general affix for animate nouns. Explicitly animate pronouns and verb inflections would later develop based on it.
* Repurposing Ivugi's ''yi'' and ''ye'', which were the interrogative forms of "to be" in the past and present, as generic interrogative markers, and the resultant loss of Ivugi's morphological interrogative mood. They are now ''žé'' and ''ža''.
* Obligatory marking of inalienable possession on certain nouns, created from the Ivugi particle ''a'' ("of", inalienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Development of possessive pronouns using the Ivugi particle ''sal'' ("of", semi-alienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Generalization of Ivugi's third genitive particle ''val'' ("of", alienable) as the only genitive particle, now ''va''.
* Expansion of Ivugi's simpler verb paradigm, in which all verbs had infinitives ending in ''-bi'' and inflected basically the same way, into a more complex paradigm with three conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This process came about when clusters of various consonants and /b/ simplified in different ways.
* Polypersonal inflection on the verb: whereas Ivugi verbs did not indicate person in any form, Ewige verbs can inflect for both subject and object, both of which started as forms of the pronouns and then phonologically reduced.
* Simplification of the Ivugi syllable onset alternation process to a basic affix, ''-ro-'' before a consonant and ''-rov-'' before a vowel. This affix was then repurposed to form the subjunctive/conditional mood, which can be used in any of the three tenses: past, present, and future.
* Innovation of a new future tense inflection, ''-sto'', from the Ivugi verb ''sída'' ("goes"/"is going").
* Shift from SVO (subject-object-verb) word order to the rare VOS, after the innovation of person-marking on verbs created less need for an explicit subject at the start of the sentence.

==Phonology==
===Consonants===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" |
! |Labial
! |Alveolar
! |Palato-alveolar
! |Palatal
! |Velar
! |Glottal
|-
! colspan="2" | Nasal
| '''m''' /m/
| '''n''' /n/
|
|
| '''ň''' /ŋ/
|
|-
! rowspan="4" | Plosive
! Voiceless
| '''p''' /p/
| '''t''' /t/
|
|
| '''k''' /k/
|
|-
! Voiced
| '''b''' /b/
| '''d''' /d/
|
|
| '''g''' /g/
|
|-
! Aspirated
| '''pʼ''' /pʰ/
| '''tʼ''' /tʰ/
|
|
| '''kʼ''' /kʰ/
|
|-
! Breathy-voiced
| '''bʼ''' /bʱ/
| '''dʼ''' /dʱ/
|
|
| '''gʼ''' /gʱ/
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | Fricative
! Voiceless
|
| '''s''' /s/
| '''š''' /ʃ/
|
| '''ch''' /x/
| '''h''' /h/
|-
! Voiced
|
| '''z''' /z/
| '''ž''' /ʒ/
|
| '''gh''' /ɣ/
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Approximant
| '''v''' /w~ɹ/
|
|
| '''j''' /j/
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Tap
|
| '''r''' /ɾ/
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Trill
|
| '''ř''' /r/
|
|
|
|
|}
* After back vowels, palato-alveolar /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ are often realized as retroflex [ʂ] and [ʐ].
* The labio-velar approximant /w/ may be realized as alveolar [ɹ], especially intervocalically. By one analysis, this gives Ewige the rare distinction of possessing three rhotic consonants: /ɹ/, /ɾ/, and /r/.

===Vowels===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Monophthongs'''
! |
! |Front
! |Central
! |Back
|-
! High
| '''i''' /i/
|
| '''u''' /u/
|-
! High-mid
| '''é''' /e/
|
| '''ó''' /o/
|-
! Mid
|
| '''y''' /ə/
|
|-
! Low-mid
| '''e''' /ɛ/
|
| '''o''' /ɔ/
|-
! Low
| '''a''' /a/
|
| '''á''' /ɑ/
|}

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Diphthongs'''
! |Front
! |Back
|-
| '''ei''' /ei/
| '''ou''' /ou/
|}
* The mid-central vowel represented here by a schwa, /ə/, can in reality be realized with a wide range of allophones depending on the following consonant. Speakers may possess any or all of these allophones, and younger speakers use them more than older speakers:
:* [ɨ~i], before voiceless stops
:* [əi~oi], before voiceless fricatives
:* [ɜ~ɐ], before /ɾ/ and /r/ and in word-final position
:* syllabification, before nasals, e.g. /ən/ [n̩]

==Vocabulary==
While most of Ewige's vocabulary is indigenous, it has borrowed a large number of terms from nearby languages of the Eurasian steppe, particularly [[w:Russian language|Russian]], [[w:Kazakh language|Kazakh]], and [[w:Mongolian language|Mongolian]]. More recently, English and, to a lesser extent, Mandarin loanwords have entered the language as well.

The numbers one through ten are as follows:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Arabic numeral
! Ewige number
|-
| 1
| ''šy''
|-
| 2
| ''syp''
|-
| 3
| ''de''
|-
| 4
| ''ny''
|-
| 5
| ''ryr''
|-
| 6
| ''gog''
|-
| 7
| ''aku''
|-
| 8
| ''gʼéru''
|-
| 9
| ''nožo''
|-
| 10
| ''žér''
|}

==Dialectology==
The dialect documented in this article is the prestige ''Jugřé'' (Southern) dialect, spoken by the majority of the population. The more innovative ''Třařé'' (Northern) dialect is characterized by the following features:
* A lower percentage of loanwords and a tendency to use native coinings instead. When loanwords are imported, they are less likely to use non-native phones such as /l/.
* The mid high vowels /e/ and /o/ are diphthongized to [iə] and [uə].
* The low vowels have not shifted as far: /a/ is more like [æ] and /ɑ/ is more like [ɐ~ä].
* The diphthongs /ei/ and /ou/ are more centralized, especially in their onsets: [əi~əɨ] and [əu~əʉ].
* /t/ and /d/ are often realized as [θ] and [ð], except at the start of a word.
* /w/ becomes [ɹ~ɻ] in all positions, not just intervocalically.
* /h/ disappears initially and merges with /x/ elsewhere; this creates homophones such as ''oš'' ("than") vs. ''hoš'' ("footprint"), and ''og'' ("that", to mark subordinate clauses) vs. ''hog'' ("gust").
* /ə/ is slightly fronted and rounded, often as far as [ø~œ], but does not exhibit nearly the degree of allophony found in Jugřé Ewige.
* The possessive pronouns are suffixed with the adjectival ''-řé'', such as ''sodařé'' ("yours"), equivalent to saying "yours-like" or "yours-ish" in English.
* Double negation is common, with the general negative particle ''ou'' coming immediately before the verb.
* Although Třařé Ewige is also pro-drop and its verbs have polypersonal agreement, subject pronouns are still used with greater frequency than in Jugřé Ewige, but they come at the very end of the sentence, including after any adverbs.
* Various classes of nouns that are generally inanimate in Jugřé Ewige are animate in Třařé Ewige, such as geographical formations, vehicles, and large plants (mainly trees). A handful of nouns have moved in the opposite direction, being animate in Jugřé but inanimate in Třařé, such as ''igʼarut'' ("spider") and ''idé'' ("child").
* The adverb ''gou'' ("now") has expanded in use to signify a sort of narrative past or aorist; it immediately follows the verb when used in this sense.
* The verb ''gʼombé'' ("to help") is used as an auxiliary verb in a benefactive sense, such as in the phrase ''igʼomnor reipé ajoreiko ut'' "he threw the ball for me", which in Jugřé Ewige would mean "he helped me throw the ball".
* Possibly influenced by the above, the verb ''ombé'' ("to wiggle, to oscillate") is used as an auxiliary verb for groups of two or more actors that are performing an action with one another (as opposed to separately). For example, ''néjomo jorimé'' is used to mean "they're arguing with each other", while ''néjorimy'' means "they're arguing separately".
* The future-tense affix is always ''-sto-''; the ''-dzo-'' variant that Jugřé Ewige innovated for ''-me'' verbs does not exist.
* The verbalizing suffix ''-(ó)batpé'' (from the Russian ''-ovat'') is uncommon; it is normally substituted with simply ''-(y)přémé''.

==Grammar==
===Pronouns===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" | Subject/Object
! colspan="2" | Possessive
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| I
| ''ré''
| my/mine
| ''soré''
|-
| you
| ''da''
| your/yours
| ''soda''
|-
| him/her
| ''ut''
| his/hers
| ''soriot''
|-
| it
| ''ot''
| its
| ''sorot''
|-
| we
| ''rin''
| our/ours
| ''sorén''
|-
| you all
| ''dyř''
| all of your
| ''sodař''
|-
| they
| ''ni''
| their/theirs
| ''sonei''
|}

===Nouns===
Ewige nouns are inflected for several grammatical categories:
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Gender/Definiteness
|
''∅-'' (inanimate, indefinite) 
''a-/er-'' (inanimate, definite) 
''i-/ir-'' (animate, indefinite) 
''ja-/jer-'' (animate, definite)
|-
! Noun stem
| (any noun)
|-
! Number
|
''-∅'' (singular) 
''-(d)e'' (plural, for the vast majority of nouns)
|-
! Inalienable possession
|
''-(j)yr'' (my) 
''-(j)yda'' (your) 
''-(j)ei'' (his, her) 
''-(j)yt'' (its) 
''-(j)yré'' (our) 
''-(j)ař'' (all of your) 
''-(j)ynei'' (their)
|}

===Verbs===
Ewige verbs fall into three different conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This table lists the affixes that each form takes to mark subject, object, and tense-aspect-mood.
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" |
! ''-me''
! ''-be''
! ''-pe''
|-
! rowspan="7" | Subject
! "I"
| colspan="3" | ''é(j)-''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="3" | ''dy(j)''
|-
! "he/she"
| colspan="3" | ''i(j)-''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''o(j)-''
|-
! "we"
| colspan="3" | ''éř(é)-''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="3" | ''da(j)-''
|-
! "they"
| colspan="3" | ''né(j)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Negation
| colspan="3" | ''-ó-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Irrealis
| colspan="3" | ''-ro(v)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Passive
| colspan="3" | ''-ké(r)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Verb root
| colspan="3" | (any verb)
|-
! rowspan="5" | Tense, Aspect, Mood
! Infinitive
| ''-mé''
| ''-bé''
| ''-pé''
|-
! Past
| ''-dó''
| ''-nó''
| ''-tó''
|-
! Present
| ''-my''
| ''-(r)o''
| ''-py''
|-
! Future
| ''-dzo''
| colspan="2" | ''-sto''
|-
! Imperative
| colspan="3" | ''-(m/b/p)y'' (if followed by an object suffix), ''-∅'' (otherwise)
|-
! rowspan="7" | Object
! "me"
| colspan="3" | ''-r''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="2" | ''-d''
| ''-t''
|-
! "him/her"
| colspan="3" | ''-š''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''-ti''
|-
! "us"
| colspan="3" | ''-n''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="2" | ''-dař''
| ''-tař''
|-
! "them"
| colspan="3" | ''-ni''
|}
* The irrealis mood, which is used to indicate the subjunctive or conditional, can only be used with the basic tenses: past, present, and future.

An example of a highly inflected Ewige verb:
:''éř-ó-ro-ké-dřor-nó-d''
:1PL.NOM-NEG-SUBJ-guard-PST_bé-2SG.ACC_bé
:If we hadn't been protected by you...

Ewige has only eleven basic irregular verbs, although verbs derived from them follow their conjugations, much as the past tense of "to outdo" in English is "outdid". These verbs are only irregular in the past and present; their other inflections are regular. They are listed below in the infinitive, and in the past and present with no conjugation for person and number. They are all fairly common verbs, some of them relating to motion.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! rowspan="2" | English
! colspan="3" | Ewige
|-
! Infinitive
! Past
! Present
|-
| to be
| ''jómé''
| ''-jón''
| ''-jó''
|-
| to eat
| ''ámé''
| ''-án''
| ''-áró''
|-
| to go
| ''šérbé''
| ''-šédu''
| ''-šédo''
|-
| to need
| ''rimé''
| ''-rimu''
| ''-rimo''
|-
| to say
| ''šémé''
| ''-sonó''
| ''-soko''
|-
| to have
| ''otʼamé''
| ''-otʼou''
| ''-otʼei''
|-
| to see
| ''otʼépé''
| ''-otʼó''
| ''-otʼy''
|-
| to leave
| ''épymé''
| ''-épion''
| ''-épio''
|-
| to run
| ''sonémé''
| ''-sonu''
| ''-sono''
|-
| to walk
| ''esomé''
| ''-estu''
| ''-esto''
|-
| to swim
| ''vobé''
| ''-vobu''
| ''-vobo''
|}

===Adjectives===
Adjective inflection is simple: they are inflected for definiteness, animacy, and number using the same affixes nouns are.

===Derivation===
Ewige makes extensive use of derivation. The following are some common nominalizing prefixes and suffixes, which are attached to the verb root:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Type
! Affix
|-
| Gerund
|
''-zo'' (for verbs of motion) 
''-há'' (for all other verbs)
|-
| Gerund, habitual
|
''-sék''
|-
| Agentive
|
''-gyň'' (from a word for "friend")
|-
| Locational
|
''-ova'' (from a word for "house")
|-
| Patient
|
''žo-''
|-
| Productive
|
''ano-''
|}

The suffix to nominalize adjectives is ''-(ó)bro'', deriving from the word for "color". Conversely, ''-ře'' is used to derive adjectives from other parts of speech. A suffix ''-ry'', from the word for "slice", is attached to some nouns with a diminutive meaning, but it is not very productive in the modern language.

Ewige also possesses several affixes to derive verbs from nouns and adjectives:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Meaning
! Affix
|-
| To perform an action related to X
| ''-(ó)batpé'' (from the Russian ''-ovat'')
|-
| To turn something into X, or to make it more X
| ''-(y)hérbé'' (from an old word meaning "to transform", specifically under a magical curse)
|-
| To be like X, or to evoke X
| ''-(y)přémé'' (from an old word meaning "to agree with" or "to resemble")
|-
| To provide X to someone (usually, but not always, with a benevolent meaning)
| ''-(y)jápé'' (from an old word meaning "to allocate")
|}

====Compounds====
Each noun, verb, or adjective root has a "construct state" that is used to form compounds; this construct state is used for all roots in the compound except the final one. First, any affixes, such as those marking definiteness/animacy or the infinitive, are removed, and then the final consonant of the root is altered according to the following rules:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Final consonant of root...
! is replaced with...
|-
| Voiceless stops
| ''-šé(j)''
|-
| Voiceless fricatives
| ''-t''
|-
| Other final consonants
| ''-ž''
|-
| Root ends in ''-á''
| ''-á'' becomes ''-ež''
|-
| Root ends in a different vowel
| Vowel becomes ''-á(j)''
|}

===Syntax===
Ewige uses the rare [[w:verb–object–subject|verb–object–subject]] word order. Noun phrases are generally right-branching, with adjectives, numerals, and relative clauses all following the head noun (in that order). However, Ewige uses prepositions rather than postpositions, and determiners precede the head noun. Adverbs are formed by suffixing an adjective (or other part of speech) with ''-(j)agh'', or ''-ař'' if the adjective ends in a stop consonant. These adverbs typically come at the end of the sentence.

Other than for verbs, negation is fairly simple. Noun phrases are negated with ''vó'', which precedes the noun phrase. The general negation particle is ''ou'', which is used to negate every part of speech other than verbs and nouns.

===Questions===
Ewige possesses the following words to form questions. When applicable, corresponding non-interrogative words are also given. The interrogative words are simply placed where a non-interrogative word would be; there is no do-support as in English.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" | Interrogative
! colspan="2" | Proximate
! colspan="2" | Distal
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| what?
| ''hei?''
| this
| ''gei''
| that
| ''twei''
|-
| who/whom?
| ''hor?''
| colspan="4" rowspan="2" | —
|-
| which?
| ''hok?''
|-
| where?
| ''heiry?'' (from ''hei iry?'', literally "what place?")
| here
| ''ga''
| there
| ''twa''
|-
| when?
| ''hou?''
| now
| ''gou''
| then
| ''tou''
|-
| why?
| ''ha?''
| thus (for this reason)
| ''ga''
| thus (for that reason)
| ''twa''
|}

To form generic equivalents, ''é-'' is prefixed to the interrogative forms, such as ''éhor'' ("someone").

To turn an entire sentence interrogative, the particle ''žé'' is used in the past indicative, while ''ža'' is used in every other tense and mood. This particle typically precedes the verb, but it can come anywhere in the sentence.

==Sample text==
A speech uttered by Boromir in ''[[w:The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring|The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring]]'':

:'''Original''': It is a gift. A gift to the foes of Mordor. Why not use this Ring? Long has my father, the steward of Gondor, kept the forces of Mordor at bay. By the blood of our people are your lands kept safe. Give Gondor the weapon of the enemy; let us use it against him!

:'''Ewige:''' Ojó jobóno. Jobóno osáň jaboř va Mórdór. Éřóvouro sesbé gei gritʼ ha? Igʼamyni erómode va Mórdór jadřyjyr, é ijó jadřorsék va Góndór, žytař. Nékédřoroni ařyšékʼóre va janarni sorén. Bʼómyti agʼožéde va jaboř osáň Góndór, su ropyn sesbé ot ghog ut!

:'''Gloss:''' 3SG.INAN.NOM-be.PRES gift. // gift to DEF.AN-foe of Mordor. // 1PL.NOM-NEG-be_able-PRES.bé use_INF this ring why? // 3SG.AN.NOM-push-PRES.mé-3PL.ACC DEF.INAN-force-PL of Mordor DEF.AN-father-1SG.POSS REL 3SG.AN.NOM-be.PRES DEF.AN-protect-AGENT of Gondor far-ADV. // 3PL.NOM-PASS-protect-PRES.bé-3PL.ACC DEF.INAN-land-PL of DEF.AN-person.PL 2SG.POSS with DEF.INAN-blood of DEF.AN-person.PL 1PL.POSS. give-IMP-3SG.INAN.ACC DEF.INAN-weapon of DEF.AN-foe to Gondor and allow-IMP-1PL.ACC use-INF 3SG.INAN against 3SG.AN!

User:Frrurtu/Sandbox5

2017-11-04T21:16:48Z

Frrurtu: /* Vocabulary */

'''Ewige'''

==History==
Ewige is one of many descendants of Ivugi, which was spoken circa 1000 AD in the Eurasian steppe in present-day [[w:Siberia|Siberia]]. It has undergone many phonological and grammatical changes, evolving from a relatively isolating language to a highly agglutinative one with polypersonal inflection and an animate-inanimate distinction. Its syllable structure has grown more restrictive and it has lost its phonemic stress, but its vowel and consonant inventories have grown.

While it has historically been written in [[w:Cyrillic|Cyrillic]], the Ewige people were among the earliest adopters of the [[w:Latin script|Latin script]] among Siberian peoples. However, many of their orthographical conventions, such as extensive use of the [[w:hacek|hacek]], are Slavic in nature.

===Phonological history===
Ewige is characterized by the following phonological innovations from Ivugi:
* Creation of a new /e/ phoneme, formed from historical /i/ and /ɨ/ before voiceless fricatives and /r/, and historical /ɛ/ before alveolar consonants.
* Creation of a new /ʃ/ phoneme from /s/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /t/ also become /ʃ/.
* Creation of a new /ʒ/ phoneme from /z/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /j/ also became /ʒ/.
* The glottal stop /ʔ/ merging with the other three voiceless stops depending on the preceding vowel: /t/ after front vowels, /k/ after central vowels, and /p/ after back vowels.
* Creation of a new /m/ phoneme from intervocalic /b/ in unstressed syllables, plus /n/ and /ŋ/ before labials and unstressed /o/.
* Simplification of various labial-stop clusters: /kp/, /tp/, /rp/, /kb/, and /tb/ all become /p/, and /gb/, /db/, and /rb/ all become /b/.
* Shift of certain vowels' pronunciations when unstressed: /au/ and /o/ become [u], /ai/ merges with /i/, and /ɨ/ and /ɐ/ become [ə].
* Development of aspirated and breathy-voiced allophones of stops in stressed syllables.
* Loss of phonemic stress in favor of universal initial stress—except in some loanwords and compounds—causing /u/, /ə/, and the aspirated and breathy-voiced stops to all become phonemic.
* Merger of /ɸ/ into /β/, which then shifts its pronunciation to [w].
* Merger of /l/ into /ɾ/.
* Merger of /x/ and /ɣ/ into /r/ after stops.
* Chain shifts affecting most vowel monophthongs: /ɨ/ > /i/ > /e/ > /ɛ/ > /a/, and /ɐ/ > /ɑ/ > /ɔ/.
* Raising of the two diphthongs: /ai/ to [ei] and /au/ to [ou].

===Grammatical history===
It has also undergone the following grammatical innovations:
* Drastic simplification of noun pluralization: the majority of nouns now pluralize with ''-e'' or ''-de'', although a few dozen irregular nouns remain as vestiges of Ivugi's complex ablaut-based system. For example, the noun ''ireiždé'' "person" has the suppletive plural ''inarni'', which descends from Ivugi's original plural; this is because ''ireiždé'' is a novel coining that literally means "society-child".
* Generalizing the Ivugi particle ''u'', which was used before animate singular nouns in the accusative, to be a general affix for animate nouns. Explicitly animate pronouns and verb inflections would later develop based on it.
* Repurposing Ivugi's ''yi'' and ''ye'', which were the interrogative forms of "to be" in the past and present, as generic interrogative markers, and the resultant loss of Ivugi's morphological interrogative mood. They are now ''žé'' and ''ža''.
* Obligatory marking of inalienable possession on certain nouns, created from the Ivugi particle ''a'' ("of", inalienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Development of possessive pronouns using the Ivugi particle ''sal'' ("of", semi-alienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Generalization of Ivugi's third genitive particle ''val'' ("of", alienable) as the only genitive particle, now ''va''.
* Expansion of Ivugi's simpler verb paradigm, in which all verbs had infinitives ending in ''-bi'' and inflected basically the same way, into a more complex paradigm with three conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This process came about when clusters of various consonants and /b/ simplified in different ways.
* Polypersonal inflection on the verb: whereas Ivugi verbs did not indicate person in any form, Ewige verbs can inflect for both subject and object, both of which started as forms of the pronouns and then phonologically reduced.
* Simplification of the Ivugi syllable onset alternation process to a basic affix, ''-ro-'' before a consonant and ''-rov-'' before a vowel. This affix was then repurposed to form the subjunctive/conditional mood, which can be used in any of the three tenses: past, present, and future.
* Innovation of a new future tense inflection, ''-sto'', from the Ivugi verb ''sída'' ("goes"/"is going").
* Shift from SVO (subject-object-verb) word order to the rare VOS, after the innovation of person-marking on verbs created less need for an explicit subject at the start of the sentence.

==Phonology==
===Consonants===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" |
! |Labial
! |Alveolar
! |Palato-alveolar
! |Palatal
! |Velar
! |Glottal
|-
! colspan="2" | Nasal
| '''m''' /m/
| '''n''' /n/
|
|
| '''ň''' /ŋ/
|
|-
! rowspan="4" | Plosive
! Voiceless
| '''p''' /p/
| '''t''' /t/
|
|
| '''k''' /k/
|
|-
! Voiced
| '''b''' /b/
| '''d''' /d/
|
|
| '''g''' /g/
|
|-
! Aspirated
| '''pʼ''' /pʰ/
| '''tʼ''' /tʰ/
|
|
| '''kʼ''' /kʰ/
|
|-
! Breathy-voiced
| '''bʼ''' /bʱ/
| '''dʼ''' /dʱ/
|
|
| '''gʼ''' /gʱ/
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | Fricative
! Voiceless
|
| '''s''' /s/
| '''š''' /ʃ/
|
| '''ch''' /x/
| '''h''' /h/
|-
! Voiced
|
| '''z''' /z/
| '''ž''' /ʒ/
|
| '''gh''' /ɣ/
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Approximant
| '''v''' /w~ɹ/
|
|
| '''j''' /j/
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Tap
|
| '''r''' /ɾ/
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Trill
|
| '''ř''' /r/
|
|
|
|
|}
* After back vowels, palato-alveolar /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ are often realized as retroflex [ʂ] and [ʐ].
* The labio-velar approximant /w/ may be realized as alveolar [ɹ], especially intervocalically. By one analysis, this gives Ewige the rare distinction of possessing three rhotic consonants: /ɹ/, /ɾ/, and /r/.

===Vowels===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Monophthongs'''
! |
! |Front
! |Central
! |Back
|-
! High
| '''i''' /i/
|
| '''u''' /u/
|-
! High-mid
| '''é''' /e/
|
| '''ó''' /o/
|-
! Mid
|
| '''y''' /ə/
|
|-
! Low-mid
| '''e''' /ɛ/
|
| '''o''' /ɔ/
|-
! Low
| '''a''' /a/
|
| '''á''' /ɑ/
|}

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Diphthongs'''
! |Front
! |Back
|-
| '''ei''' /ei/
| '''ou''' /ou/
|}
* The mid-central vowel represented here by a schwa, /ə/, can in reality be realized with a wide range of allophones depending on the following consonant. Speakers may possess any or all of these allophones, and younger speakers use them more than older speakers:
:* [ɨ~i], before voiceless stops
:* [əi~oi], before voiceless fricatives
:* [ɜ~ɐ], before /ɾ/ and /r/ and in word-final position
:* syllabification, before nasals, e.g. /ən/ [n̩]

==Vocabulary==
While most of Ewige's vocabulary is indigenous, it has borrowed a large number of terms from nearby languages of the Eurasian steppe, particularly [[w:Russian language|Russian]], [[w:Kazakh language|Kazakh]], and [[w:Mongolian language|Mongolian]]. More recently, English and, to a lesser extent, Mandarin loanwords have entered the language as well.

The numbers one through ten are as follows:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Arabic numeral
! Ewige number
|-
| 1
| ''šy''
|-
| 2
| ''syp''
|-
| 3
| ''de''
|-
| 4
| ''ny''
|-
| 5
| ''ryr''
|-
| 6
| ''gog''
|-
| 7
| ''aku''
|-
| 8
| ''gʼéru''
|-
| 9
| ''nožo''
|-
| 10
| ''žér''
|}

==Dialectology==
The dialect documented in this article is the prestige ''Jugřé'' (Southern) dialect, spoken by the majority of the population. The more innovative ''Třařé'' (Northern) dialect is characterized by the following features:
* A lower percentage of loanwords and a tendency to use native coinings instead. When loanwords are imported, they are less likely to use non-native phones such as /l/.
* The mid high vowels /e/ and /o/ are diphthongized to [iə] and [uə].
* The low vowels have not shifted as far: /a/ is more like [æ] and /ɑ/ is more like [ɐ~ä].
* The diphthongs /ei/ and /ou/ are more centralized, especially in their onsets: [əi~əɨ] and [əu~əʉ].
* /t/ and /d/ are often realized as [θ] and [ð], except at the start of a word.
* /w/ becomes [ɹ~ɻ] in all positions, not just intervocalically.
* /ə/ is slightly fronted and rounded, often as far as [ø~œ], but does not exhibit nearly the degree of allophony found in Jugřé Ewige.
* The possessive pronouns are suffixed with the adjectival ''-řé'', such as ''sodařé'' ("yours"), equivalent to saying "yours-like" or "yours-ish" in English.
* Double negation is common, with the general negative particle ''ou'' coming immediately before the verb.
* Although Třařé Ewige is also pro-drop and its verbs have polypersonal agreement, subject pronouns are still used with greater frequency than in Jugřé Ewige, but they come at the very end of the sentence, including after any adverbs.
* Various classes of nouns that are generally inanimate in Jugřé Ewige are animate in Třařé Ewige, such as geographical formations, vehicles, and large plants (mainly trees). A handful of nouns have moved in the opposite direction, being animate in Jugřé but inanimate in Třařé, such as ''igʼarut'' ("spider") and ''idé'' ("child").
* The adverb ''gou'' ("now") has expanded in use to signify a sort of narrative past or aorist; it immediately follows the verb when used in this sense.
* The verb ''gʼombé'' ("to help") is used as an auxiliary verb in a benefactive sense, such as in the phrase ''igʼomnor reipé ajoreiko ut'' "he threw the ball for me", which in Jugřé Ewige would mean "he helped me throw the ball".
* Possibly influenced by the above, the verb ''ombé'' ("to wiggle, to oscillate") is used as an auxiliary verb for groups of two or more actors that are performing an action with one another (as opposed to separately). For example, ''néjomo jorimé'' is used to mean "they're arguing with each other", while ''néjorimy'' means "they're arguing separately".
* The future-tense affix is always ''-sto-''; the ''-dzo-'' variant that Jugřé Ewige innovated for ''-me'' verbs does not exist.
* The verbalizing suffix ''-(ó)batpé'' (from the Russian ''-ovat'') is uncommon; it is normally substituted with simply ''-(y)přémé''.

==Grammar==
===Pronouns===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" | Subject/Object
! colspan="2" | Possessive
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| I
| ''ré''
| my/mine
| ''soré''
|-
| you
| ''da''
| your/yours
| ''soda''
|-
| him/her
| ''ut''
| his/hers
| ''soriot''
|-
| it
| ''ot''
| its
| ''sorot''
|-
| we
| ''rin''
| our/ours
| ''sorén''
|-
| you all
| ''dyř''
| all of your
| ''sodař''
|-
| they
| ''ni''
| their/theirs
| ''sonei''
|}

===Nouns===
Ewige nouns are inflected for several grammatical categories:
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Gender/Definiteness
|
''∅-'' (inanimate, indefinite) 
''a-/er-'' (inanimate, definite) 
''i-/ir-'' (animate, indefinite) 
''ja-/jer-'' (animate, definite)
|-
! Noun stem
| (any noun)
|-
! Number
|
''-∅'' (singular) 
''-(d)e'' (plural, for the vast majority of nouns)
|-
! Inalienable possession
|
''-(j)yr'' (my) 
''-(j)yda'' (your) 
''-(j)ei'' (his, her) 
''-(j)yt'' (its) 
''-(j)yré'' (our) 
''-(j)ař'' (all of your) 
''-(j)ynei'' (their)
|}

===Verbs===
Ewige verbs fall into three different conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This table lists the affixes that each form takes to mark subject, object, and tense-aspect-mood.
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" |
! ''-me''
! ''-be''
! ''-pe''
|-
! rowspan="7" | Subject
! "I"
| colspan="3" | ''é(j)-''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="3" | ''dy(j)''
|-
! "he/she"
| colspan="3" | ''i(j)-''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''o(j)-''
|-
! "we"
| colspan="3" | ''éř(é)-''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="3" | ''da(j)-''
|-
! "they"
| colspan="3" | ''né(j)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Negation
| colspan="3" | ''-ó-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Irrealis
| colspan="3" | ''-ro(v)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Passive
| colspan="3" | ''-ké(r)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Verb root
| colspan="3" | (any verb)
|-
! rowspan="5" | Tense, Aspect, Mood
! Infinitive
| ''-mé''
| ''-bé''
| ''-pé''
|-
! Past
| ''-dó''
| ''-nó''
| ''-tó''
|-
! Present
| ''-my''
| ''-(r)o''
| ''-py''
|-
! Future
| ''-dzo''
| colspan="2" | ''-sto''
|-
! Imperative
| colspan="3" | ''-(m/b/p)y'' (if followed by an object suffix), ''-∅'' (otherwise)
|-
! rowspan="7" | Object
! "me"
| colspan="3" | ''-r''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="2" | ''-d''
| ''-t''
|-
! "him/her"
| colspan="3" | ''-š''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''-ti''
|-
! "us"
| colspan="3" | ''-n''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="2" | ''-dař''
| ''-tař''
|-
! "them"
| colspan="3" | ''-ni''
|}
* The irrealis mood, which is used to indicate the subjunctive or conditional, can only be used with the basic tenses: past, present, and future.

An example of a highly inflected Ewige verb:
:''éř-ó-ro-ké-dřor-nó-d''
:1PL.NOM-NEG-SUBJ-guard-PST_bé-2SG.ACC_bé
:If we hadn't been protected by you...

Ewige has only eleven basic irregular verbs, although verbs derived from them follow their conjugations, much as the past tense of "to outdo" in English is "outdid". These verbs are only irregular in the past and present; their other inflections are regular. They are listed below in the infinitive, and in the past and present with no conjugation for person and number. They are all fairly common verbs, some of them relating to motion.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! rowspan="2" | English
! colspan="3" | Ewige
|-
! Infinitive
! Past
! Present
|-
| to be
| ''jómé''
| ''-jón''
| ''-jó''
|-
| to eat
| ''ámé''
| ''-án''
| ''-áró''
|-
| to go
| ''šérbé''
| ''-šédu''
| ''-šédo''
|-
| to need
| ''rimé''
| ''-rimu''
| ''-rimo''
|-
| to say
| ''šémé''
| ''-sonó''
| ''-soko''
|-
| to have
| ''otʼamé''
| ''-otʼou''
| ''-otʼei''
|-
| to see
| ''otʼépé''
| ''-otʼó''
| ''-otʼy''
|-
| to leave
| ''épymé''
| ''-épion''
| ''-épio''
|-
| to run
| ''sonémé''
| ''-sonu''
| ''-sono''
|-
| to walk
| ''esomé''
| ''-estu''
| ''-esto''
|-
| to swim
| ''vobé''
| ''-vobu''
| ''-vobo''
|}

===Adjectives===
Adjective inflection is simple: they are inflected for definiteness, animacy, and number using the same affixes nouns are.

===Derivation===
Ewige makes extensive use of derivation. The following are some common nominalizing prefixes and suffixes, which are attached to the verb root:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Type
! Affix
|-
| Gerund
|
''-zo'' (for verbs of motion) 
''-há'' (for all other verbs)
|-
| Gerund, habitual
|
''-sék''
|-
| Agentive
|
''-gyň'' (from a word for "friend")
|-
| Locational
|
''-ova'' (from a word for "house")
|-
| Patient
|
''žo-''
|-
| Productive
|
''ano-''
|}

The suffix to nominalize adjectives is ''-(ó)bro'', deriving from the word for "color". Conversely, ''-ře'' is used to derive adjectives from other parts of speech. A suffix ''-ry'', from the word for "slice", is attached to some nouns with a diminutive meaning, but it is not very productive in the modern language.

Ewige also possesses several affixes to derive verbs from nouns and adjectives:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Meaning
! Affix
|-
| To perform an action related to X
| ''-(ó)batpé'' (from the Russian ''-ovat'')
|-
| To turn something into X, or to make it more X
| ''-(y)hérbé'' (from an old word meaning "to transform", specifically under a magical curse)
|-
| To be like X, or to evoke X
| ''-(y)přémé'' (from an old word meaning "to agree with" or "to resemble")
|-
| To provide X to someone (usually, but not always, with a benevolent meaning)
| ''-(y)jápé'' (from an old word meaning "to allocate")
|}

====Compounds====
Each noun, verb, or adjective root has a "construct state" that is used to form compounds; this construct state is used for all roots in the compound except the final one. First, any affixes, such as those marking definiteness/animacy or the infinitive, are removed, and then the final consonant of the root is altered according to the following rules:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Final consonant of root...
! is replaced with...
|-
| Voiceless stops
| ''-šé(j)''
|-
| Voiceless fricatives
| ''-t''
|-
| Other final consonants
| ''-ž''
|-
| Root ends in ''-á''
| ''-á'' becomes ''-ež''
|-
| Root ends in a different vowel
| Vowel becomes ''-á(j)''
|}

===Syntax===
Ewige uses the rare [[w:verb–object–subject|verb–object–subject]] word order. Noun phrases are generally right-branching, with adjectives, numerals, and relative clauses all following the head noun (in that order). However, Ewige uses prepositions rather than postpositions, and determiners precede the head noun. Adverbs are formed by suffixing an adjective (or other part of speech) with ''-(j)agh'', or ''-ař'' if the adjective ends in a stop consonant. These adverbs typically come at the end of the sentence.

Other than for verbs, negation is fairly simple. Noun phrases are negated with ''vó'', which precedes the noun phrase. The general negation particle is ''ou'', which is used to negate every part of speech other than verbs and nouns.

===Questions===
Ewige possesses the following words to form questions. When applicable, corresponding non-interrogative words are also given. The interrogative words are simply placed where a non-interrogative word would be; there is no do-support as in English.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" | Interrogative
! colspan="2" | Proximate
! colspan="2" | Distal
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| what?
| ''hei?''
| this
| ''gei''
| that
| ''twei''
|-
| who/whom?
| ''hor?''
| colspan="4" rowspan="2" | —
|-
| which?
| ''hok?''
|-
| where?
| ''heiry?'' (from ''hei iry?'', literally "what place?")
| here
| ''ga''
| there
| ''twa''
|-
| when?
| ''hou?''
| now
| ''gou''
| then
| ''tou''
|-
| why?
| ''ha?''
| thus (for this reason)
| ''ga''
| thus (for that reason)
| ''twa''
|}

To form generic equivalents, ''é-'' is prefixed to the interrogative forms, such as ''éhor'' ("someone").

To turn an entire sentence interrogative, the particle ''žé'' is used in the past indicative, while ''ža'' is used in every other tense and mood. This particle typically precedes the verb, but it can come anywhere in the sentence.

==Sample text==
A speech uttered by Boromir in ''[[w:The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring|The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring]]'':

:'''Original''': It is a gift. A gift to the foes of Mordor. Why not use this Ring? Long has my father, the steward of Gondor, kept the forces of Mordor at bay. By the blood of our people are your lands kept safe. Give Gondor the weapon of the enemy; let us use it against him!

:'''Ewige:''' Ojó jobóno. Jobóno osáň jaboř va Mórdór. Éřóvouro sesbé gei gritʼ ha? Igʼamyni erómode va Mórdór jadřyjyr, é ijó jadřorsék va Góndór, žytař. Nékédřoroni ařyšékʼóre va janarni sorén. Bʼómyti agʼožéde va jaboř osáň Góndór, su ropyn sesbé ot ghog ut!

:'''Gloss:''' 3SG.INAN.NOM-be.PRES gift. // gift to DEF.AN-foe of Mordor. // 1PL.NOM-NEG-be_able-PRES.bé use_INF this ring why? // 3SG.AN.NOM-push-PRES.mé-3PL.ACC DEF.INAN-force-PL of Mordor DEF.AN-father-1SG.POSS REL 3SG.AN.NOM-be.PRES DEF.AN-protect-AGENT of Gondor far-ADV. // 3PL.NOM-PASS-protect-PRES.bé-3PL.ACC DEF.INAN-land-PL of DEF.AN-person.PL 2SG.POSS with DEF.INAN-blood of DEF.AN-person.PL 1PL.POSS. give-IMP-3SG.INAN.ACC DEF.INAN-weapon of DEF.AN-foe to Gondor and allow-IMP-1PL.ACC use-INF 3SG.INAN against 3SG.AN!

User:Frrurtu/Sandbox5

2017-11-04T21:13:03Z

Frrurtu: /* Sample text */

'''Ewige'''

==History==
Ewige is one of many descendants of Ivugi, which was spoken circa 1000 AD in the Eurasian steppe in present-day [[w:Siberia|Siberia]]. It has undergone many phonological and grammatical changes, evolving from a relatively isolating language to a highly agglutinative one with polypersonal inflection and an animate-inanimate distinction. Its syllable structure has grown more restrictive and it has lost its phonemic stress, but its vowel and consonant inventories have grown.

While it has historically been written in [[w:Cyrillic|Cyrillic]], the Ewige people were among the earliest adopters of the [[w:Latin script|Latin script]] among Siberian peoples. However, many of their orthographical conventions, such as extensive use of the [[w:hacek|hacek]], are Slavic in nature.

===Phonological history===
Ewige is characterized by the following phonological innovations from Ivugi:
* Creation of a new /e/ phoneme, formed from historical /i/ and /ɨ/ before voiceless fricatives and /r/, and historical /ɛ/ before alveolar consonants.
* Creation of a new /ʃ/ phoneme from /s/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /t/ also become /ʃ/.
* Creation of a new /ʒ/ phoneme from /z/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /j/ also became /ʒ/.
* The glottal stop /ʔ/ merging with the other three voiceless stops depending on the preceding vowel: /t/ after front vowels, /k/ after central vowels, and /p/ after back vowels.
* Creation of a new /m/ phoneme from intervocalic /b/ in unstressed syllables, plus /n/ and /ŋ/ before labials and unstressed /o/.
* Simplification of various labial-stop clusters: /kp/, /tp/, /rp/, /kb/, and /tb/ all become /p/, and /gb/, /db/, and /rb/ all become /b/.
* Shift of certain vowels' pronunciations when unstressed: /au/ and /o/ become [u], /ai/ merges with /i/, and /ɨ/ and /ɐ/ become [ə].
* Development of aspirated and breathy-voiced allophones of stops in stressed syllables.
* Loss of phonemic stress in favor of universal initial stress—except in some loanwords and compounds—causing /u/, /ə/, and the aspirated and breathy-voiced stops to all become phonemic.
* Merger of /ɸ/ into /β/, which then shifts its pronunciation to [w].
* Merger of /l/ into /ɾ/.
* Merger of /x/ and /ɣ/ into /r/ after stops.
* Chain shifts affecting most vowel monophthongs: /ɨ/ > /i/ > /e/ > /ɛ/ > /a/, and /ɐ/ > /ɑ/ > /ɔ/.
* Raising of the two diphthongs: /ai/ to [ei] and /au/ to [ou].

===Grammatical history===
It has also undergone the following grammatical innovations:
* Drastic simplification of noun pluralization: the majority of nouns now pluralize with ''-e'' or ''-de'', although a few dozen irregular nouns remain as vestiges of Ivugi's complex ablaut-based system. For example, the noun ''ireiždé'' "person" has the suppletive plural ''inarni'', which descends from Ivugi's original plural; this is because ''ireiždé'' is a novel coining that literally means "society-child".
* Generalizing the Ivugi particle ''u'', which was used before animate singular nouns in the accusative, to be a general affix for animate nouns. Explicitly animate pronouns and verb inflections would later develop based on it.
* Repurposing Ivugi's ''yi'' and ''ye'', which were the interrogative forms of "to be" in the past and present, as generic interrogative markers, and the resultant loss of Ivugi's morphological interrogative mood. They are now ''žé'' and ''ža''.
* Obligatory marking of inalienable possession on certain nouns, created from the Ivugi particle ''a'' ("of", inalienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Development of possessive pronouns using the Ivugi particle ''sal'' ("of", semi-alienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Generalization of Ivugi's third genitive particle ''val'' ("of", alienable) as the only genitive particle, now ''va''.
* Expansion of Ivugi's simpler verb paradigm, in which all verbs had infinitives ending in ''-bi'' and inflected basically the same way, into a more complex paradigm with three conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This process came about when clusters of various consonants and /b/ simplified in different ways.
* Polypersonal inflection on the verb: whereas Ivugi verbs did not indicate person in any form, Ewige verbs can inflect for both subject and object, both of which started as forms of the pronouns and then phonologically reduced.
* Simplification of the Ivugi syllable onset alternation process to a basic affix, ''-ro-'' before a consonant and ''-rov-'' before a vowel. This affix was then repurposed to form the subjunctive/conditional mood, which can be used in any of the three tenses: past, present, and future.
* Innovation of a new future tense inflection, ''-sto'', from the Ivugi verb ''sída'' ("goes"/"is going").
* Shift from SVO (subject-object-verb) word order to the rare VOS, after the innovation of person-marking on verbs created less need for an explicit subject at the start of the sentence.

==Phonology==
===Consonants===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" |
! |Labial
! |Alveolar
! |Palato-alveolar
! |Palatal
! |Velar
! |Glottal
|-
! colspan="2" | Nasal
| '''m''' /m/
| '''n''' /n/
|
|
| '''ň''' /ŋ/
|
|-
! rowspan="4" | Plosive
! Voiceless
| '''p''' /p/
| '''t''' /t/
|
|
| '''k''' /k/
|
|-
! Voiced
| '''b''' /b/
| '''d''' /d/
|
|
| '''g''' /g/
|
|-
! Aspirated
| '''pʼ''' /pʰ/
| '''tʼ''' /tʰ/
|
|
| '''kʼ''' /kʰ/
|
|-
! Breathy-voiced
| '''bʼ''' /bʱ/
| '''dʼ''' /dʱ/
|
|
| '''gʼ''' /gʱ/
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | Fricative
! Voiceless
|
| '''s''' /s/
| '''š''' /ʃ/
|
| '''ch''' /x/
| '''h''' /h/
|-
! Voiced
|
| '''z''' /z/
| '''ž''' /ʒ/
|
| '''gh''' /ɣ/
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Approximant
| '''v''' /w~ɹ/
|
|
| '''j''' /j/
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Tap
|
| '''r''' /ɾ/
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Trill
|
| '''ř''' /r/
|
|
|
|
|}
* After back vowels, palato-alveolar /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ are often realized as retroflex [ʂ] and [ʐ].
* The labio-velar approximant /w/ may be realized as alveolar [ɹ], especially intervocalically. By one analysis, this gives Ewige the rare distinction of possessing three rhotic consonants: /ɹ/, /ɾ/, and /r/.

===Vowels===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Monophthongs'''
! |
! |Front
! |Central
! |Back
|-
! High
| '''i''' /i/
|
| '''u''' /u/
|-
! High-mid
| '''é''' /e/
|
| '''ó''' /o/
|-
! Mid
|
| '''y''' /ə/
|
|-
! Low-mid
| '''e''' /ɛ/
|
| '''o''' /ɔ/
|-
! Low
| '''a''' /a/
|
| '''á''' /ɑ/
|}

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Diphthongs'''
! |Front
! |Back
|-
| '''ei''' /ei/
| '''ou''' /ou/
|}
* The mid-central vowel represented here by a schwa, /ə/, can in reality be realized with a wide range of allophones depending on the following consonant. Speakers may possess any or all of these allophones, and younger speakers use them more than older speakers:
:* [ɨ~i], before voiceless stops
:* [əi~oi], before voiceless fricatives
:* [ɜ~ɐ], before /ɾ/ and /r/ and in word-final position
:* syllabification, before nasals, e.g. /ən/ [n̩]

==Vocabulary==
While most of Ewige's vocabulary is indigenous, it has borrowed a large number of terms from nearby languages of the Eurasian steppe, particularly [[w:Russian language|Russian]], [[w:Kazakh language|Kazakh]], and [[w:Mongolian language|Mongolian]]. More recently, English and, to a lesser extent, Mandarin loanwords have entered the language as well.

==Dialectology==
The dialect documented in this article is the prestige ''Jugřé'' (Southern) dialect, spoken by the majority of the population. The more innovative ''Třařé'' (Northern) dialect is characterized by the following features:
* A lower percentage of loanwords and a tendency to use native coinings instead. When loanwords are imported, they are less likely to use non-native phones such as /l/.
* The mid high vowels /e/ and /o/ are diphthongized to [iə] and [uə].
* The low vowels have not shifted as far: /a/ is more like [æ] and /ɑ/ is more like [ɐ~ä].
* The diphthongs /ei/ and /ou/ are more centralized, especially in their onsets: [əi~əɨ] and [əu~əʉ].
* /t/ and /d/ are often realized as [θ] and [ð], except at the start of a word.
* /w/ becomes [ɹ~ɻ] in all positions, not just intervocalically.
* /ə/ is slightly fronted and rounded, often as far as [ø~œ], but does not exhibit nearly the degree of allophony found in Jugřé Ewige.
* The possessive pronouns are suffixed with the adjectival ''-řé'', such as ''sodařé'' ("yours"), equivalent to saying "yours-like" or "yours-ish" in English.
* Double negation is common, with the general negative particle ''ou'' coming immediately before the verb.
* Although Třařé Ewige is also pro-drop and its verbs have polypersonal agreement, subject pronouns are still used with greater frequency than in Jugřé Ewige, but they come at the very end of the sentence, including after any adverbs.
* Various classes of nouns that are generally inanimate in Jugřé Ewige are animate in Třařé Ewige, such as geographical formations, vehicles, and large plants (mainly trees). A handful of nouns have moved in the opposite direction, being animate in Jugřé but inanimate in Třařé, such as ''igʼarut'' ("spider") and ''idé'' ("child").
* The adverb ''gou'' ("now") has expanded in use to signify a sort of narrative past or aorist; it immediately follows the verb when used in this sense.
* The verb ''gʼombé'' ("to help") is used as an auxiliary verb in a benefactive sense, such as in the phrase ''igʼomnor reipé ajoreiko ut'' "he threw the ball for me", which in Jugřé Ewige would mean "he helped me throw the ball".
* Possibly influenced by the above, the verb ''ombé'' ("to wiggle, to oscillate") is used as an auxiliary verb for groups of two or more actors that are performing an action with one another (as opposed to separately). For example, ''néjomo jorimé'' is used to mean "they're arguing with each other", while ''néjorimy'' means "they're arguing separately".
* The future-tense affix is always ''-sto-''; the ''-dzo-'' variant that Jugřé Ewige innovated for ''-me'' verbs does not exist.
* The verbalizing suffix ''-(ó)batpé'' (from the Russian ''-ovat'') is uncommon; it is normally substituted with simply ''-(y)přémé''.

==Grammar==
===Pronouns===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" | Subject/Object
! colspan="2" | Possessive
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| I
| ''ré''
| my/mine
| ''soré''
|-
| you
| ''da''
| your/yours
| ''soda''
|-
| him/her
| ''ut''
| his/hers
| ''soriot''
|-
| it
| ''ot''
| its
| ''sorot''
|-
| we
| ''rin''
| our/ours
| ''sorén''
|-
| you all
| ''dyř''
| all of your
| ''sodař''
|-
| they
| ''ni''
| their/theirs
| ''sonei''
|}

===Nouns===
Ewige nouns are inflected for several grammatical categories:
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Gender/Definiteness
|
''∅-'' (inanimate, indefinite) 
''a-/er-'' (inanimate, definite) 
''i-/ir-'' (animate, indefinite) 
''ja-/jer-'' (animate, definite)
|-
! Noun stem
| (any noun)
|-
! Number
|
''-∅'' (singular) 
''-(d)e'' (plural, for the vast majority of nouns)
|-
! Inalienable possession
|
''-(j)yr'' (my) 
''-(j)yda'' (your) 
''-(j)ei'' (his, her) 
''-(j)yt'' (its) 
''-(j)yré'' (our) 
''-(j)ař'' (all of your) 
''-(j)ynei'' (their)
|}

===Verbs===
Ewige verbs fall into three different conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This table lists the affixes that each form takes to mark subject, object, and tense-aspect-mood.
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" |
! ''-me''
! ''-be''
! ''-pe''
|-
! rowspan="7" | Subject
! "I"
| colspan="3" | ''é(j)-''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="3" | ''dy(j)''
|-
! "he/she"
| colspan="3" | ''i(j)-''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''o(j)-''
|-
! "we"
| colspan="3" | ''éř(é)-''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="3" | ''da(j)-''
|-
! "they"
| colspan="3" | ''né(j)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Negation
| colspan="3" | ''-ó-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Irrealis
| colspan="3" | ''-ro(v)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Passive
| colspan="3" | ''-ké(r)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Verb root
| colspan="3" | (any verb)
|-
! rowspan="5" | Tense, Aspect, Mood
! Infinitive
| ''-mé''
| ''-bé''
| ''-pé''
|-
! Past
| ''-dó''
| ''-nó''
| ''-tó''
|-
! Present
| ''-my''
| ''-(r)o''
| ''-py''
|-
! Future
| ''-dzo''
| colspan="2" | ''-sto''
|-
! Imperative
| colspan="3" | ''-(m/b/p)y'' (if followed by an object suffix), ''-∅'' (otherwise)
|-
! rowspan="7" | Object
! "me"
| colspan="3" | ''-r''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="2" | ''-d''
| ''-t''
|-
! "him/her"
| colspan="3" | ''-š''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''-ti''
|-
! "us"
| colspan="3" | ''-n''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="2" | ''-dař''
| ''-tař''
|-
! "them"
| colspan="3" | ''-ni''
|}
* The irrealis mood, which is used to indicate the subjunctive or conditional, can only be used with the basic tenses: past, present, and future.

An example of a highly inflected Ewige verb:
:''éř-ó-ro-ké-dřor-nó-d''
:1PL.NOM-NEG-SUBJ-guard-PST_bé-2SG.ACC_bé
:If we hadn't been protected by you...

Ewige has only eleven basic irregular verbs, although verbs derived from them follow their conjugations, much as the past tense of "to outdo" in English is "outdid". These verbs are only irregular in the past and present; their other inflections are regular. They are listed below in the infinitive, and in the past and present with no conjugation for person and number. They are all fairly common verbs, some of them relating to motion.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! rowspan="2" | English
! colspan="3" | Ewige
|-
! Infinitive
! Past
! Present
|-
| to be
| ''jómé''
| ''-jón''
| ''-jó''
|-
| to eat
| ''ámé''
| ''-án''
| ''-áró''
|-
| to go
| ''šérbé''
| ''-šédu''
| ''-šédo''
|-
| to need
| ''rimé''
| ''-rimu''
| ''-rimo''
|-
| to say
| ''šémé''
| ''-sonó''
| ''-soko''
|-
| to have
| ''otʼamé''
| ''-otʼou''
| ''-otʼei''
|-
| to see
| ''otʼépé''
| ''-otʼó''
| ''-otʼy''
|-
| to leave
| ''épymé''
| ''-épion''
| ''-épio''
|-
| to run
| ''sonémé''
| ''-sonu''
| ''-sono''
|-
| to walk
| ''esomé''
| ''-estu''
| ''-esto''
|-
| to swim
| ''vobé''
| ''-vobu''
| ''-vobo''
|}

===Adjectives===
Adjective inflection is simple: they are inflected for definiteness, animacy, and number using the same affixes nouns are.

===Derivation===
Ewige makes extensive use of derivation. The following are some common nominalizing prefixes and suffixes, which are attached to the verb root:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Type
! Affix
|-
| Gerund
|
''-zo'' (for verbs of motion) 
''-há'' (for all other verbs)
|-
| Gerund, habitual
|
''-sék''
|-
| Agentive
|
''-gyň'' (from a word for "friend")
|-
| Locational
|
''-ova'' (from a word for "house")
|-
| Patient
|
''žo-''
|-
| Productive
|
''ano-''
|}

The suffix to nominalize adjectives is ''-(ó)bro'', deriving from the word for "color". Conversely, ''-ře'' is used to derive adjectives from other parts of speech. A suffix ''-ry'', from the word for "slice", is attached to some nouns with a diminutive meaning, but it is not very productive in the modern language.

Ewige also possesses several affixes to derive verbs from nouns and adjectives:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Meaning
! Affix
|-
| To perform an action related to X
| ''-(ó)batpé'' (from the Russian ''-ovat'')
|-
| To turn something into X, or to make it more X
| ''-(y)hérbé'' (from an old word meaning "to transform", specifically under a magical curse)
|-
| To be like X, or to evoke X
| ''-(y)přémé'' (from an old word meaning "to agree with" or "to resemble")
|-
| To provide X to someone (usually, but not always, with a benevolent meaning)
| ''-(y)jápé'' (from an old word meaning "to allocate")
|}

====Compounds====
Each noun, verb, or adjective root has a "construct state" that is used to form compounds; this construct state is used for all roots in the compound except the final one. First, any affixes, such as those marking definiteness/animacy or the infinitive, are removed, and then the final consonant of the root is altered according to the following rules:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Final consonant of root...
! is replaced with...
|-
| Voiceless stops
| ''-šé(j)''
|-
| Voiceless fricatives
| ''-t''
|-
| Other final consonants
| ''-ž''
|-
| Root ends in ''-á''
| ''-á'' becomes ''-ež''
|-
| Root ends in a different vowel
| Vowel becomes ''-á(j)''
|}

===Syntax===
Ewige uses the rare [[w:verb–object–subject|verb–object–subject]] word order. Noun phrases are generally right-branching, with adjectives, numerals, and relative clauses all following the head noun (in that order). However, Ewige uses prepositions rather than postpositions, and determiners precede the head noun. Adverbs are formed by suffixing an adjective (or other part of speech) with ''-(j)agh'', or ''-ař'' if the adjective ends in a stop consonant. These adverbs typically come at the end of the sentence.

Other than for verbs, negation is fairly simple. Noun phrases are negated with ''vó'', which precedes the noun phrase. The general negation particle is ''ou'', which is used to negate every part of speech other than verbs and nouns.

===Questions===
Ewige possesses the following words to form questions. When applicable, corresponding non-interrogative words are also given. The interrogative words are simply placed where a non-interrogative word would be; there is no do-support as in English.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" | Interrogative
! colspan="2" | Proximate
! colspan="2" | Distal
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| what?
| ''hei?''
| this
| ''gei''
| that
| ''twei''
|-
| who/whom?
| ''hor?''
| colspan="4" rowspan="2" | —
|-
| which?
| ''hok?''
|-
| where?
| ''heiry?'' (from ''hei iry?'', literally "what place?")
| here
| ''ga''
| there
| ''twa''
|-
| when?
| ''hou?''
| now
| ''gou''
| then
| ''tou''
|-
| why?
| ''ha?''
| thus (for this reason)
| ''ga''
| thus (for that reason)
| ''twa''
|}

To form generic equivalents, ''é-'' is prefixed to the interrogative forms, such as ''éhor'' ("someone").

To turn an entire sentence interrogative, the particle ''žé'' is used in the past indicative, while ''ža'' is used in every other tense and mood. This particle typically precedes the verb, but it can come anywhere in the sentence.

==Sample text==
A speech uttered by Boromir in ''[[w:The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring|The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring]]'':

:'''Original''': It is a gift. A gift to the foes of Mordor. Why not use this Ring? Long has my father, the steward of Gondor, kept the forces of Mordor at bay. By the blood of our people are your lands kept safe. Give Gondor the weapon of the enemy; let us use it against him!

:'''Ewige:''' Ojó jobóno. Jobóno osáň jaboř va Mórdór. Éřóvouro sesbé gei gritʼ ha? Igʼamyni erómode va Mórdór jadřyjyr, é ijó jadřorsék va Góndór, žytař. Nékédřoroni ařyšékʼóre va janarni sorén. Bʼómyti agʼožéde va jaboř osáň Góndór, su ropyn sesbé ot ghog ut!

:'''Gloss:''' 3SG.INAN.NOM-be.PRES gift. // gift to DEF.AN-foe of Mordor. // 1PL.NOM-NEG-be_able-PRES.bé use_INF this ring why? // 3SG.AN.NOM-push-PRES.mé-3PL.ACC DEF.INAN-force-PL of Mordor DEF.AN-father-1SG.POSS REL 3SG.AN.NOM-be.PRES DEF.AN-protect-AGENT of Gondor far-ADV. // 3PL.NOM-PASS-protect-PRES.bé-3PL.ACC DEF.INAN-land-PL of DEF.AN-person.PL 2SG.POSS with DEF.INAN-blood of DEF.AN-person.PL 1PL.POSS. give-IMP-3SG.INAN.ACC DEF.INAN-weapon of DEF.AN-foe to Gondor and allow-IMP-1PL.ACC use-INF 3SG.INAN against 3SG.AN!

User:Frrurtu/Sandbox5

2017-11-04T21:12:08Z

Frrurtu: /* Vocabulary */

'''Ewige'''

==History==
Ewige is one of many descendants of Ivugi, which was spoken circa 1000 AD in the Eurasian steppe in present-day [[w:Siberia|Siberia]]. It has undergone many phonological and grammatical changes, evolving from a relatively isolating language to a highly agglutinative one with polypersonal inflection and an animate-inanimate distinction. Its syllable structure has grown more restrictive and it has lost its phonemic stress, but its vowel and consonant inventories have grown.

While it has historically been written in [[w:Cyrillic|Cyrillic]], the Ewige people were among the earliest adopters of the [[w:Latin script|Latin script]] among Siberian peoples. However, many of their orthographical conventions, such as extensive use of the [[w:hacek|hacek]], are Slavic in nature.

===Phonological history===
Ewige is characterized by the following phonological innovations from Ivugi:
* Creation of a new /e/ phoneme, formed from historical /i/ and /ɨ/ before voiceless fricatives and /r/, and historical /ɛ/ before alveolar consonants.
* Creation of a new /ʃ/ phoneme from /s/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /t/ also become /ʃ/.
* Creation of a new /ʒ/ phoneme from /z/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /j/ also became /ʒ/.
* The glottal stop /ʔ/ merging with the other three voiceless stops depending on the preceding vowel: /t/ after front vowels, /k/ after central vowels, and /p/ after back vowels.
* Creation of a new /m/ phoneme from intervocalic /b/ in unstressed syllables, plus /n/ and /ŋ/ before labials and unstressed /o/.
* Simplification of various labial-stop clusters: /kp/, /tp/, /rp/, /kb/, and /tb/ all become /p/, and /gb/, /db/, and /rb/ all become /b/.
* Shift of certain vowels' pronunciations when unstressed: /au/ and /o/ become [u], /ai/ merges with /i/, and /ɨ/ and /ɐ/ become [ə].
* Development of aspirated and breathy-voiced allophones of stops in stressed syllables.
* Loss of phonemic stress in favor of universal initial stress—except in some loanwords and compounds—causing /u/, /ə/, and the aspirated and breathy-voiced stops to all become phonemic.
* Merger of /ɸ/ into /β/, which then shifts its pronunciation to [w].
* Merger of /l/ into /ɾ/.
* Merger of /x/ and /ɣ/ into /r/ after stops.
* Chain shifts affecting most vowel monophthongs: /ɨ/ > /i/ > /e/ > /ɛ/ > /a/, and /ɐ/ > /ɑ/ > /ɔ/.
* Raising of the two diphthongs: /ai/ to [ei] and /au/ to [ou].

===Grammatical history===
It has also undergone the following grammatical innovations:
* Drastic simplification of noun pluralization: the majority of nouns now pluralize with ''-e'' or ''-de'', although a few dozen irregular nouns remain as vestiges of Ivugi's complex ablaut-based system. For example, the noun ''ireiždé'' "person" has the suppletive plural ''inarni'', which descends from Ivugi's original plural; this is because ''ireiždé'' is a novel coining that literally means "society-child".
* Generalizing the Ivugi particle ''u'', which was used before animate singular nouns in the accusative, to be a general affix for animate nouns. Explicitly animate pronouns and verb inflections would later develop based on it.
* Repurposing Ivugi's ''yi'' and ''ye'', which were the interrogative forms of "to be" in the past and present, as generic interrogative markers, and the resultant loss of Ivugi's morphological interrogative mood. They are now ''žé'' and ''ža''.
* Obligatory marking of inalienable possession on certain nouns, created from the Ivugi particle ''a'' ("of", inalienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Development of possessive pronouns using the Ivugi particle ''sal'' ("of", semi-alienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Generalization of Ivugi's third genitive particle ''val'' ("of", alienable) as the only genitive particle, now ''va''.
* Expansion of Ivugi's simpler verb paradigm, in which all verbs had infinitives ending in ''-bi'' and inflected basically the same way, into a more complex paradigm with three conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This process came about when clusters of various consonants and /b/ simplified in different ways.
* Polypersonal inflection on the verb: whereas Ivugi verbs did not indicate person in any form, Ewige verbs can inflect for both subject and object, both of which started as forms of the pronouns and then phonologically reduced.
* Simplification of the Ivugi syllable onset alternation process to a basic affix, ''-ro-'' before a consonant and ''-rov-'' before a vowel. This affix was then repurposed to form the subjunctive/conditional mood, which can be used in any of the three tenses: past, present, and future.
* Innovation of a new future tense inflection, ''-sto'', from the Ivugi verb ''sída'' ("goes"/"is going").
* Shift from SVO (subject-object-verb) word order to the rare VOS, after the innovation of person-marking on verbs created less need for an explicit subject at the start of the sentence.

==Phonology==
===Consonants===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" |
! |Labial
! |Alveolar
! |Palato-alveolar
! |Palatal
! |Velar
! |Glottal
|-
! colspan="2" | Nasal
| '''m''' /m/
| '''n''' /n/
|
|
| '''ň''' /ŋ/
|
|-
! rowspan="4" | Plosive
! Voiceless
| '''p''' /p/
| '''t''' /t/
|
|
| '''k''' /k/
|
|-
! Voiced
| '''b''' /b/
| '''d''' /d/
|
|
| '''g''' /g/
|
|-
! Aspirated
| '''pʼ''' /pʰ/
| '''tʼ''' /tʰ/
|
|
| '''kʼ''' /kʰ/
|
|-
! Breathy-voiced
| '''bʼ''' /bʱ/
| '''dʼ''' /dʱ/
|
|
| '''gʼ''' /gʱ/
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | Fricative
! Voiceless
|
| '''s''' /s/
| '''š''' /ʃ/
|
| '''ch''' /x/
| '''h''' /h/
|-
! Voiced
|
| '''z''' /z/
| '''ž''' /ʒ/
|
| '''gh''' /ɣ/
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Approximant
| '''v''' /w~ɹ/
|
|
| '''j''' /j/
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Tap
|
| '''r''' /ɾ/
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Trill
|
| '''ř''' /r/
|
|
|
|
|}
* After back vowels, palato-alveolar /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ are often realized as retroflex [ʂ] and [ʐ].
* The labio-velar approximant /w/ may be realized as alveolar [ɹ], especially intervocalically. By one analysis, this gives Ewige the rare distinction of possessing three rhotic consonants: /ɹ/, /ɾ/, and /r/.

===Vowels===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Monophthongs'''
! |
! |Front
! |Central
! |Back
|-
! High
| '''i''' /i/
|
| '''u''' /u/
|-
! High-mid
| '''é''' /e/
|
| '''ó''' /o/
|-
! Mid
|
| '''y''' /ə/
|
|-
! Low-mid
| '''e''' /ɛ/
|
| '''o''' /ɔ/
|-
! Low
| '''a''' /a/
|
| '''á''' /ɑ/
|}

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Diphthongs'''
! |Front
! |Back
|-
| '''ei''' /ei/
| '''ou''' /ou/
|}
* The mid-central vowel represented here by a schwa, /ə/, can in reality be realized with a wide range of allophones depending on the following consonant. Speakers may possess any or all of these allophones, and younger speakers use them more than older speakers:
:* [ɨ~i], before voiceless stops
:* [əi~oi], before voiceless fricatives
:* [ɜ~ɐ], before /ɾ/ and /r/ and in word-final position
:* syllabification, before nasals, e.g. /ən/ [n̩]

==Vocabulary==
While most of Ewige's vocabulary is indigenous, it has borrowed a large number of terms from nearby languages of the Eurasian steppe, particularly [[w:Russian language|Russian]], [[w:Kazakh language|Kazakh]], and [[w:Mongolian language|Mongolian]]. More recently, English and, to a lesser extent, Mandarin loanwords have entered the language as well.

==Dialectology==
The dialect documented in this article is the prestige ''Jugřé'' (Southern) dialect, spoken by the majority of the population. The more innovative ''Třařé'' (Northern) dialect is characterized by the following features:
* A lower percentage of loanwords and a tendency to use native coinings instead. When loanwords are imported, they are less likely to use non-native phones such as /l/.
* The mid high vowels /e/ and /o/ are diphthongized to [iə] and [uə].
* The low vowels have not shifted as far: /a/ is more like [æ] and /ɑ/ is more like [ɐ~ä].
* The diphthongs /ei/ and /ou/ are more centralized, especially in their onsets: [əi~əɨ] and [əu~əʉ].
* /t/ and /d/ are often realized as [θ] and [ð], except at the start of a word.
* /w/ becomes [ɹ~ɻ] in all positions, not just intervocalically.
* /ə/ is slightly fronted and rounded, often as far as [ø~œ], but does not exhibit nearly the degree of allophony found in Jugřé Ewige.
* The possessive pronouns are suffixed with the adjectival ''-řé'', such as ''sodařé'' ("yours"), equivalent to saying "yours-like" or "yours-ish" in English.
* Double negation is common, with the general negative particle ''ou'' coming immediately before the verb.
* Although Třařé Ewige is also pro-drop and its verbs have polypersonal agreement, subject pronouns are still used with greater frequency than in Jugřé Ewige, but they come at the very end of the sentence, including after any adverbs.
* Various classes of nouns that are generally inanimate in Jugřé Ewige are animate in Třařé Ewige, such as geographical formations, vehicles, and large plants (mainly trees). A handful of nouns have moved in the opposite direction, being animate in Jugřé but inanimate in Třařé, such as ''igʼarut'' ("spider") and ''idé'' ("child").
* The adverb ''gou'' ("now") has expanded in use to signify a sort of narrative past or aorist; it immediately follows the verb when used in this sense.
* The verb ''gʼombé'' ("to help") is used as an auxiliary verb in a benefactive sense, such as in the phrase ''igʼomnor reipé ajoreiko ut'' "he threw the ball for me", which in Jugřé Ewige would mean "he helped me throw the ball".
* Possibly influenced by the above, the verb ''ombé'' ("to wiggle, to oscillate") is used as an auxiliary verb for groups of two or more actors that are performing an action with one another (as opposed to separately). For example, ''néjomo jorimé'' is used to mean "they're arguing with each other", while ''néjorimy'' means "they're arguing separately".
* The future-tense affix is always ''-sto-''; the ''-dzo-'' variant that Jugřé Ewige innovated for ''-me'' verbs does not exist.
* The verbalizing suffix ''-(ó)batpé'' (from the Russian ''-ovat'') is uncommon; it is normally substituted with simply ''-(y)přémé''.

==Grammar==
===Pronouns===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" | Subject/Object
! colspan="2" | Possessive
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| I
| ''ré''
| my/mine
| ''soré''
|-
| you
| ''da''
| your/yours
| ''soda''
|-
| him/her
| ''ut''
| his/hers
| ''soriot''
|-
| it
| ''ot''
| its
| ''sorot''
|-
| we
| ''rin''
| our/ours
| ''sorén''
|-
| you all
| ''dyř''
| all of your
| ''sodař''
|-
| they
| ''ni''
| their/theirs
| ''sonei''
|}

===Nouns===
Ewige nouns are inflected for several grammatical categories:
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Gender/Definiteness
|
''∅-'' (inanimate, indefinite) 
''a-/er-'' (inanimate, definite) 
''i-/ir-'' (animate, indefinite) 
''ja-/jer-'' (animate, definite)
|-
! Noun stem
| (any noun)
|-
! Number
|
''-∅'' (singular) 
''-(d)e'' (plural, for the vast majority of nouns)
|-
! Inalienable possession
|
''-(j)yr'' (my) 
''-(j)yda'' (your) 
''-(j)ei'' (his, her) 
''-(j)yt'' (its) 
''-(j)yré'' (our) 
''-(j)ař'' (all of your) 
''-(j)ynei'' (their)
|}

===Verbs===
Ewige verbs fall into three different conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This table lists the affixes that each form takes to mark subject, object, and tense-aspect-mood.
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" |
! ''-me''
! ''-be''
! ''-pe''
|-
! rowspan="7" | Subject
! "I"
| colspan="3" | ''é(j)-''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="3" | ''dy(j)''
|-
! "he/she"
| colspan="3" | ''i(j)-''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''o(j)-''
|-
! "we"
| colspan="3" | ''éř(é)-''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="3" | ''da(j)-''
|-
! "they"
| colspan="3" | ''né(j)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Negation
| colspan="3" | ''-ó-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Irrealis
| colspan="3" | ''-ro(v)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Passive
| colspan="3" | ''-ké(r)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Verb root
| colspan="3" | (any verb)
|-
! rowspan="5" | Tense, Aspect, Mood
! Infinitive
| ''-mé''
| ''-bé''
| ''-pé''
|-
! Past
| ''-dó''
| ''-nó''
| ''-tó''
|-
! Present
| ''-my''
| ''-(r)o''
| ''-py''
|-
! Future
| ''-dzo''
| colspan="2" | ''-sto''
|-
! Imperative
| colspan="3" | ''-(m/b/p)y'' (if followed by an object suffix), ''-∅'' (otherwise)
|-
! rowspan="7" | Object
! "me"
| colspan="3" | ''-r''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="2" | ''-d''
| ''-t''
|-
! "him/her"
| colspan="3" | ''-š''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''-ti''
|-
! "us"
| colspan="3" | ''-n''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="2" | ''-dař''
| ''-tař''
|-
! "them"
| colspan="3" | ''-ni''
|}
* The irrealis mood, which is used to indicate the subjunctive or conditional, can only be used with the basic tenses: past, present, and future.

An example of a highly inflected Ewige verb:
:''éř-ó-ro-ké-dřor-nó-d''
:1PL.NOM-NEG-SUBJ-guard-PST_bé-2SG.ACC_bé
:If we hadn't been protected by you...

Ewige has only eleven basic irregular verbs, although verbs derived from them follow their conjugations, much as the past tense of "to outdo" in English is "outdid". These verbs are only irregular in the past and present; their other inflections are regular. They are listed below in the infinitive, and in the past and present with no conjugation for person and number. They are all fairly common verbs, some of them relating to motion.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! rowspan="2" | English
! colspan="3" | Ewige
|-
! Infinitive
! Past
! Present
|-
| to be
| ''jómé''
| ''-jón''
| ''-jó''
|-
| to eat
| ''ámé''
| ''-án''
| ''-áró''
|-
| to go
| ''šérbé''
| ''-šédu''
| ''-šédo''
|-
| to need
| ''rimé''
| ''-rimu''
| ''-rimo''
|-
| to say
| ''šémé''
| ''-sonó''
| ''-soko''
|-
| to have
| ''otʼamé''
| ''-otʼou''
| ''-otʼei''
|-
| to see
| ''otʼépé''
| ''-otʼó''
| ''-otʼy''
|-
| to leave
| ''épymé''
| ''-épion''
| ''-épio''
|-
| to run
| ''sonémé''
| ''-sonu''
| ''-sono''
|-
| to walk
| ''esomé''
| ''-estu''
| ''-esto''
|-
| to swim
| ''vobé''
| ''-vobu''
| ''-vobo''
|}

===Adjectives===
Adjective inflection is simple: they are inflected for definiteness, animacy, and number using the same affixes nouns are.

===Derivation===
Ewige makes extensive use of derivation. The following are some common nominalizing prefixes and suffixes, which are attached to the verb root:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Type
! Affix
|-
| Gerund
|
''-zo'' (for verbs of motion) 
''-há'' (for all other verbs)
|-
| Gerund, habitual
|
''-sék''
|-
| Agentive
|
''-gyň'' (from a word for "friend")
|-
| Locational
|
''-ova'' (from a word for "house")
|-
| Patient
|
''žo-''
|-
| Productive
|
''ano-''
|}

The suffix to nominalize adjectives is ''-(ó)bro'', deriving from the word for "color". Conversely, ''-ře'' is used to derive adjectives from other parts of speech. A suffix ''-ry'', from the word for "slice", is attached to some nouns with a diminutive meaning, but it is not very productive in the modern language.

Ewige also possesses several affixes to derive verbs from nouns and adjectives:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Meaning
! Affix
|-
| To perform an action related to X
| ''-(ó)batpé'' (from the Russian ''-ovat'')
|-
| To turn something into X, or to make it more X
| ''-(y)hérbé'' (from an old word meaning "to transform", specifically under a magical curse)
|-
| To be like X, or to evoke X
| ''-(y)přémé'' (from an old word meaning "to agree with" or "to resemble")
|-
| To provide X to someone (usually, but not always, with a benevolent meaning)
| ''-(y)jápé'' (from an old word meaning "to allocate")
|}

====Compounds====
Each noun, verb, or adjective root has a "construct state" that is used to form compounds; this construct state is used for all roots in the compound except the final one. First, any affixes, such as those marking definiteness/animacy or the infinitive, are removed, and then the final consonant of the root is altered according to the following rules:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Final consonant of root...
! is replaced with...
|-
| Voiceless stops
| ''-šé(j)''
|-
| Voiceless fricatives
| ''-t''
|-
| Other final consonants
| ''-ž''
|-
| Root ends in ''-á''
| ''-á'' becomes ''-ež''
|-
| Root ends in a different vowel
| Vowel becomes ''-á(j)''
|}

===Syntax===
Ewige uses the rare [[w:verb–object–subject|verb–object–subject]] word order. Noun phrases are generally right-branching, with adjectives, numerals, and relative clauses all following the head noun (in that order). However, Ewige uses prepositions rather than postpositions, and determiners precede the head noun. Adverbs are formed by suffixing an adjective (or other part of speech) with ''-(j)agh'', or ''-ař'' if the adjective ends in a stop consonant. These adverbs typically come at the end of the sentence.

Other than for verbs, negation is fairly simple. Noun phrases are negated with ''vó'', which precedes the noun phrase. The general negation particle is ''ou'', which is used to negate every part of speech other than verbs and nouns.

===Questions===
Ewige possesses the following words to form questions. When applicable, corresponding non-interrogative words are also given. The interrogative words are simply placed where a non-interrogative word would be; there is no do-support as in English.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" | Interrogative
! colspan="2" | Proximate
! colspan="2" | Distal
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| what?
| ''hei?''
| this
| ''gei''
| that
| ''twei''
|-
| who/whom?
| ''hor?''
| colspan="4" rowspan="2" | —
|-
| which?
| ''hok?''
|-
| where?
| ''heiry?'' (from ''hei iry?'', literally "what place?")
| here
| ''ga''
| there
| ''twa''
|-
| when?
| ''hou?''
| now
| ''gou''
| then
| ''tou''
|-
| why?
| ''ha?''
| thus (for this reason)
| ''ga''
| thus (for that reason)
| ''twa''
|}

To form generic equivalents, ''é-'' is prefixed to the interrogative forms, such as ''éhor'' ("someone").

To turn an entire sentence interrogative, the particle ''žé'' is used in the past indicative, while ''ža'' is used in every other tense and mood. This particle typically precedes the verb, but it can come anywhere in the sentence.

==Sample text==
A speech uttered by Boromir in ''[[w:The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring|The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring]]'':

:'''Original''': It is a gift. A gift to the foes of Mordor. Why not use this Ring? Long has my father, the steward of Gondor, kept the forces of Mordor at bay. By the blood of our people are your lands kept safe. Give Gondor the weapon of the enemy; let us use it against him!

:'''Ewige:''' Ojó jobóno. Jobóno osáň jaboř va Mórdór. Éřóvouro sesbé gei gritʼ ha? Igʼamyni erómode va Mórdór jadřyjyr, é ijó jadřorsék va Góndór, žytař. Nékédřoroni ařyšékʼóre va janarni sorén. Bʼómyti agʼožéde wa jaboř osáň Góndór, su ropyn sesbé ot ghog ut!

:'''Gloss:''' 3SG.INAN.NOM-be.PRES gift. // gift to DEF.AN-foe of Mordor. // 1PL.NOM-NEG-be_able-PRES.bé use_INF this ring why? // 3SG.AN.NOM-push-PRES.mé-3PL.ACC DEF.INAN-force-PL of Mordor DEF.AN-father-1SG.POSS REL 3SG.AN.NOM-be.PRES DEF.AN-protect-AGENT of Gondor far-ADV. // 3PL.NOM-PASS-protect-PRES.bé-3PL.ACC DEF.INAN-land-PL of DEF.AN-person.PL 2SG.POSS with DEF.INAN-blood of DEF.AN-person.PL 1PL.POSS. give-IMP-3SG.INAN.ACC DEF.INAN-weapon of DEF.AN-foe to Gondor and allow-IMP-1PL.ACC use-INF 3SG.INAN against 3SG.AN!

User:Frrurtu/Sandbox5

2017-11-04T21:11:06Z

Frrurtu: /* Grammatical history */

'''Ewige'''

==History==
Ewige is one of many descendants of Ivugi, which was spoken circa 1000 AD in the Eurasian steppe in present-day [[w:Siberia|Siberia]]. It has undergone many phonological and grammatical changes, evolving from a relatively isolating language to a highly agglutinative one with polypersonal inflection and an animate-inanimate distinction. Its syllable structure has grown more restrictive and it has lost its phonemic stress, but its vowel and consonant inventories have grown.

While it has historically been written in [[w:Cyrillic|Cyrillic]], the Ewige people were among the earliest adopters of the [[w:Latin script|Latin script]] among Siberian peoples. However, many of their orthographical conventions, such as extensive use of the [[w:hacek|hacek]], are Slavic in nature.

===Phonological history===
Ewige is characterized by the following phonological innovations from Ivugi:
* Creation of a new /e/ phoneme, formed from historical /i/ and /ɨ/ before voiceless fricatives and /r/, and historical /ɛ/ before alveolar consonants.
* Creation of a new /ʃ/ phoneme from /s/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /t/ also become /ʃ/.
* Creation of a new /ʒ/ phoneme from /z/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /j/ also became /ʒ/.
* The glottal stop /ʔ/ merging with the other three voiceless stops depending on the preceding vowel: /t/ after front vowels, /k/ after central vowels, and /p/ after back vowels.
* Creation of a new /m/ phoneme from intervocalic /b/ in unstressed syllables, plus /n/ and /ŋ/ before labials and unstressed /o/.
* Simplification of various labial-stop clusters: /kp/, /tp/, /rp/, /kb/, and /tb/ all become /p/, and /gb/, /db/, and /rb/ all become /b/.
* Shift of certain vowels' pronunciations when unstressed: /au/ and /o/ become [u], /ai/ merges with /i/, and /ɨ/ and /ɐ/ become [ə].
* Development of aspirated and breathy-voiced allophones of stops in stressed syllables.
* Loss of phonemic stress in favor of universal initial stress—except in some loanwords and compounds—causing /u/, /ə/, and the aspirated and breathy-voiced stops to all become phonemic.
* Merger of /ɸ/ into /β/, which then shifts its pronunciation to [w].
* Merger of /l/ into /ɾ/.
* Merger of /x/ and /ɣ/ into /r/ after stops.
* Chain shifts affecting most vowel monophthongs: /ɨ/ > /i/ > /e/ > /ɛ/ > /a/, and /ɐ/ > /ɑ/ > /ɔ/.
* Raising of the two diphthongs: /ai/ to [ei] and /au/ to [ou].

===Grammatical history===
It has also undergone the following grammatical innovations:
* Drastic simplification of noun pluralization: the majority of nouns now pluralize with ''-e'' or ''-de'', although a few dozen irregular nouns remain as vestiges of Ivugi's complex ablaut-based system. For example, the noun ''ireiždé'' "person" has the suppletive plural ''inarni'', which descends from Ivugi's original plural; this is because ''ireiždé'' is a novel coining that literally means "society-child".
* Generalizing the Ivugi particle ''u'', which was used before animate singular nouns in the accusative, to be a general affix for animate nouns. Explicitly animate pronouns and verb inflections would later develop based on it.
* Repurposing Ivugi's ''yi'' and ''ye'', which were the interrogative forms of "to be" in the past and present, as generic interrogative markers, and the resultant loss of Ivugi's morphological interrogative mood. They are now ''žé'' and ''ža''.
* Obligatory marking of inalienable possession on certain nouns, created from the Ivugi particle ''a'' ("of", inalienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Development of possessive pronouns using the Ivugi particle ''sal'' ("of", semi-alienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Generalization of Ivugi's third genitive particle ''val'' ("of", alienable) as the only genitive particle, now ''va''.
* Expansion of Ivugi's simpler verb paradigm, in which all verbs had infinitives ending in ''-bi'' and inflected basically the same way, into a more complex paradigm with three conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This process came about when clusters of various consonants and /b/ simplified in different ways.
* Polypersonal inflection on the verb: whereas Ivugi verbs did not indicate person in any form, Ewige verbs can inflect for both subject and object, both of which started as forms of the pronouns and then phonologically reduced.
* Simplification of the Ivugi syllable onset alternation process to a basic affix, ''-ro-'' before a consonant and ''-rov-'' before a vowel. This affix was then repurposed to form the subjunctive/conditional mood, which can be used in any of the three tenses: past, present, and future.
* Innovation of a new future tense inflection, ''-sto'', from the Ivugi verb ''sída'' ("goes"/"is going").
* Shift from SVO (subject-object-verb) word order to the rare VOS, after the innovation of person-marking on verbs created less need for an explicit subject at the start of the sentence.

==Phonology==
===Consonants===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" |
! |Labial
! |Alveolar
! |Palato-alveolar
! |Palatal
! |Velar
! |Glottal
|-
! colspan="2" | Nasal
| '''m''' /m/
| '''n''' /n/
|
|
| '''ň''' /ŋ/
|
|-
! rowspan="4" | Plosive
! Voiceless
| '''p''' /p/
| '''t''' /t/
|
|
| '''k''' /k/
|
|-
! Voiced
| '''b''' /b/
| '''d''' /d/
|
|
| '''g''' /g/
|
|-
! Aspirated
| '''pʼ''' /pʰ/
| '''tʼ''' /tʰ/
|
|
| '''kʼ''' /kʰ/
|
|-
! Breathy-voiced
| '''bʼ''' /bʱ/
| '''dʼ''' /dʱ/
|
|
| '''gʼ''' /gʱ/
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | Fricative
! Voiceless
|
| '''s''' /s/
| '''š''' /ʃ/
|
| '''ch''' /x/
| '''h''' /h/
|-
! Voiced
|
| '''z''' /z/
| '''ž''' /ʒ/
|
| '''gh''' /ɣ/
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Approximant
| '''v''' /w~ɹ/
|
|
| '''j''' /j/
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Tap
|
| '''r''' /ɾ/
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Trill
|
| '''ř''' /r/
|
|
|
|
|}
* After back vowels, palato-alveolar /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ are often realized as retroflex [ʂ] and [ʐ].
* The labio-velar approximant /w/ may be realized as alveolar [ɹ], especially intervocalically. By one analysis, this gives Ewige the rare distinction of possessing three rhotic consonants: /ɹ/, /ɾ/, and /r/.

===Vowels===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Monophthongs'''
! |
! |Front
! |Central
! |Back
|-
! High
| '''i''' /i/
|
| '''u''' /u/
|-
! High-mid
| '''é''' /e/
|
| '''ó''' /o/
|-
! Mid
|
| '''y''' /ə/
|
|-
! Low-mid
| '''e''' /ɛ/
|
| '''o''' /ɔ/
|-
! Low
| '''a''' /a/
|
| '''á''' /ɑ/
|}

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Diphthongs'''
! |Front
! |Back
|-
| '''ei''' /ei/
| '''ou''' /ou/
|}
* The mid-central vowel represented here by a schwa, /ə/, can in reality be realized with a wide range of allophones depending on the following consonant. Speakers may possess any or all of these allophones, and younger speakers use them more than older speakers:
:* [ɨ~i], before voiceless stops
:* [əi~oi], before voiceless fricatives
:* [ɜ~ɐ], before /ɾ/ and /r/ and in word-final position
:* syllabification, before nasals, e.g. /ən/ [n̩]

==Vocabulary==
While most of Ewige's vocabulary is indigenous, it has borrowed a large number of terms from nearby languages of the Eurasian steppe, particularly [[w:Russian language|Russian]], [[w:Kazakh language|Kazakh]], and [[w:Mongolian language|Mongolian]].

==Dialectology==
The dialect documented in this article is the prestige ''Jugřé'' (Southern) dialect, spoken by the majority of the population. The more innovative ''Třařé'' (Northern) dialect is characterized by the following features:
* A lower percentage of loanwords and a tendency to use native coinings instead. When loanwords are imported, they are less likely to use non-native phones such as /l/.
* The mid high vowels /e/ and /o/ are diphthongized to [iə] and [uə].
* The low vowels have not shifted as far: /a/ is more like [æ] and /ɑ/ is more like [ɐ~ä].
* The diphthongs /ei/ and /ou/ are more centralized, especially in their onsets: [əi~əɨ] and [əu~əʉ].
* /t/ and /d/ are often realized as [θ] and [ð], except at the start of a word.
* /w/ becomes [ɹ~ɻ] in all positions, not just intervocalically.
* /ə/ is slightly fronted and rounded, often as far as [ø~œ], but does not exhibit nearly the degree of allophony found in Jugřé Ewige.
* The possessive pronouns are suffixed with the adjectival ''-řé'', such as ''sodařé'' ("yours"), equivalent to saying "yours-like" or "yours-ish" in English.
* Double negation is common, with the general negative particle ''ou'' coming immediately before the verb.
* Although Třařé Ewige is also pro-drop and its verbs have polypersonal agreement, subject pronouns are still used with greater frequency than in Jugřé Ewige, but they come at the very end of the sentence, including after any adverbs.
* Various classes of nouns that are generally inanimate in Jugřé Ewige are animate in Třařé Ewige, such as geographical formations, vehicles, and large plants (mainly trees). A handful of nouns have moved in the opposite direction, being animate in Jugřé but inanimate in Třařé, such as ''igʼarut'' ("spider") and ''idé'' ("child").
* The adverb ''gou'' ("now") has expanded in use to signify a sort of narrative past or aorist; it immediately follows the verb when used in this sense.
* The verb ''gʼombé'' ("to help") is used as an auxiliary verb in a benefactive sense, such as in the phrase ''igʼomnor reipé ajoreiko ut'' "he threw the ball for me", which in Jugřé Ewige would mean "he helped me throw the ball".
* Possibly influenced by the above, the verb ''ombé'' ("to wiggle, to oscillate") is used as an auxiliary verb for groups of two or more actors that are performing an action with one another (as opposed to separately). For example, ''néjomo jorimé'' is used to mean "they're arguing with each other", while ''néjorimy'' means "they're arguing separately".
* The future-tense affix is always ''-sto-''; the ''-dzo-'' variant that Jugřé Ewige innovated for ''-me'' verbs does not exist.
* The verbalizing suffix ''-(ó)batpé'' (from the Russian ''-ovat'') is uncommon; it is normally substituted with simply ''-(y)přémé''.

==Grammar==
===Pronouns===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" | Subject/Object
! colspan="2" | Possessive
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| I
| ''ré''
| my/mine
| ''soré''
|-
| you
| ''da''
| your/yours
| ''soda''
|-
| him/her
| ''ut''
| his/hers
| ''soriot''
|-
| it
| ''ot''
| its
| ''sorot''
|-
| we
| ''rin''
| our/ours
| ''sorén''
|-
| you all
| ''dyř''
| all of your
| ''sodař''
|-
| they
| ''ni''
| their/theirs
| ''sonei''
|}

===Nouns===
Ewige nouns are inflected for several grammatical categories:
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Gender/Definiteness
|
''∅-'' (inanimate, indefinite) 
''a-/er-'' (inanimate, definite) 
''i-/ir-'' (animate, indefinite) 
''ja-/jer-'' (animate, definite)
|-
! Noun stem
| (any noun)
|-
! Number
|
''-∅'' (singular) 
''-(d)e'' (plural, for the vast majority of nouns)
|-
! Inalienable possession
|
''-(j)yr'' (my) 
''-(j)yda'' (your) 
''-(j)ei'' (his, her) 
''-(j)yt'' (its) 
''-(j)yré'' (our) 
''-(j)ař'' (all of your) 
''-(j)ynei'' (their)
|}

===Verbs===
Ewige verbs fall into three different conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This table lists the affixes that each form takes to mark subject, object, and tense-aspect-mood.
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" |
! ''-me''
! ''-be''
! ''-pe''
|-
! rowspan="7" | Subject
! "I"
| colspan="3" | ''é(j)-''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="3" | ''dy(j)''
|-
! "he/she"
| colspan="3" | ''i(j)-''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''o(j)-''
|-
! "we"
| colspan="3" | ''éř(é)-''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="3" | ''da(j)-''
|-
! "they"
| colspan="3" | ''né(j)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Negation
| colspan="3" | ''-ó-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Irrealis
| colspan="3" | ''-ro(v)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Passive
| colspan="3" | ''-ké(r)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Verb root
| colspan="3" | (any verb)
|-
! rowspan="5" | Tense, Aspect, Mood
! Infinitive
| ''-mé''
| ''-bé''
| ''-pé''
|-
! Past
| ''-dó''
| ''-nó''
| ''-tó''
|-
! Present
| ''-my''
| ''-(r)o''
| ''-py''
|-
! Future
| ''-dzo''
| colspan="2" | ''-sto''
|-
! Imperative
| colspan="3" | ''-(m/b/p)y'' (if followed by an object suffix), ''-∅'' (otherwise)
|-
! rowspan="7" | Object
! "me"
| colspan="3" | ''-r''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="2" | ''-d''
| ''-t''
|-
! "him/her"
| colspan="3" | ''-š''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''-ti''
|-
! "us"
| colspan="3" | ''-n''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="2" | ''-dař''
| ''-tař''
|-
! "them"
| colspan="3" | ''-ni''
|}
* The irrealis mood, which is used to indicate the subjunctive or conditional, can only be used with the basic tenses: past, present, and future.

An example of a highly inflected Ewige verb:
:''éř-ó-ro-ké-dřor-nó-d''
:1PL.NOM-NEG-SUBJ-guard-PST_bé-2SG.ACC_bé
:If we hadn't been protected by you...

Ewige has only eleven basic irregular verbs, although verbs derived from them follow their conjugations, much as the past tense of "to outdo" in English is "outdid". These verbs are only irregular in the past and present; their other inflections are regular. They are listed below in the infinitive, and in the past and present with no conjugation for person and number. They are all fairly common verbs, some of them relating to motion.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! rowspan="2" | English
! colspan="3" | Ewige
|-
! Infinitive
! Past
! Present
|-
| to be
| ''jómé''
| ''-jón''
| ''-jó''
|-
| to eat
| ''ámé''
| ''-án''
| ''-áró''
|-
| to go
| ''šérbé''
| ''-šédu''
| ''-šédo''
|-
| to need
| ''rimé''
| ''-rimu''
| ''-rimo''
|-
| to say
| ''šémé''
| ''-sonó''
| ''-soko''
|-
| to have
| ''otʼamé''
| ''-otʼou''
| ''-otʼei''
|-
| to see
| ''otʼépé''
| ''-otʼó''
| ''-otʼy''
|-
| to leave
| ''épymé''
| ''-épion''
| ''-épio''
|-
| to run
| ''sonémé''
| ''-sonu''
| ''-sono''
|-
| to walk
| ''esomé''
| ''-estu''
| ''-esto''
|-
| to swim
| ''vobé''
| ''-vobu''
| ''-vobo''
|}

===Adjectives===
Adjective inflection is simple: they are inflected for definiteness, animacy, and number using the same affixes nouns are.

===Derivation===
Ewige makes extensive use of derivation. The following are some common nominalizing prefixes and suffixes, which are attached to the verb root:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Type
! Affix
|-
| Gerund
|
''-zo'' (for verbs of motion) 
''-há'' (for all other verbs)
|-
| Gerund, habitual
|
''-sék''
|-
| Agentive
|
''-gyň'' (from a word for "friend")
|-
| Locational
|
''-ova'' (from a word for "house")
|-
| Patient
|
''žo-''
|-
| Productive
|
''ano-''
|}

The suffix to nominalize adjectives is ''-(ó)bro'', deriving from the word for "color". Conversely, ''-ře'' is used to derive adjectives from other parts of speech. A suffix ''-ry'', from the word for "slice", is attached to some nouns with a diminutive meaning, but it is not very productive in the modern language.

Ewige also possesses several affixes to derive verbs from nouns and adjectives:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Meaning
! Affix
|-
| To perform an action related to X
| ''-(ó)batpé'' (from the Russian ''-ovat'')
|-
| To turn something into X, or to make it more X
| ''-(y)hérbé'' (from an old word meaning "to transform", specifically under a magical curse)
|-
| To be like X, or to evoke X
| ''-(y)přémé'' (from an old word meaning "to agree with" or "to resemble")
|-
| To provide X to someone (usually, but not always, with a benevolent meaning)
| ''-(y)jápé'' (from an old word meaning "to allocate")
|}

====Compounds====
Each noun, verb, or adjective root has a "construct state" that is used to form compounds; this construct state is used for all roots in the compound except the final one. First, any affixes, such as those marking definiteness/animacy or the infinitive, are removed, and then the final consonant of the root is altered according to the following rules:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Final consonant of root...
! is replaced with...
|-
| Voiceless stops
| ''-šé(j)''
|-
| Voiceless fricatives
| ''-t''
|-
| Other final consonants
| ''-ž''
|-
| Root ends in ''-á''
| ''-á'' becomes ''-ež''
|-
| Root ends in a different vowel
| Vowel becomes ''-á(j)''
|}

===Syntax===
Ewige uses the rare [[w:verb–object–subject|verb–object–subject]] word order. Noun phrases are generally right-branching, with adjectives, numerals, and relative clauses all following the head noun (in that order). However, Ewige uses prepositions rather than postpositions, and determiners precede the head noun. Adverbs are formed by suffixing an adjective (or other part of speech) with ''-(j)agh'', or ''-ař'' if the adjective ends in a stop consonant. These adverbs typically come at the end of the sentence.

Other than for verbs, negation is fairly simple. Noun phrases are negated with ''vó'', which precedes the noun phrase. The general negation particle is ''ou'', which is used to negate every part of speech other than verbs and nouns.

===Questions===
Ewige possesses the following words to form questions. When applicable, corresponding non-interrogative words are also given. The interrogative words are simply placed where a non-interrogative word would be; there is no do-support as in English.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" | Interrogative
! colspan="2" | Proximate
! colspan="2" | Distal
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| what?
| ''hei?''
| this
| ''gei''
| that
| ''twei''
|-
| who/whom?
| ''hor?''
| colspan="4" rowspan="2" | —
|-
| which?
| ''hok?''
|-
| where?
| ''heiry?'' (from ''hei iry?'', literally "what place?")
| here
| ''ga''
| there
| ''twa''
|-
| when?
| ''hou?''
| now
| ''gou''
| then
| ''tou''
|-
| why?
| ''ha?''
| thus (for this reason)
| ''ga''
| thus (for that reason)
| ''twa''
|}

To form generic equivalents, ''é-'' is prefixed to the interrogative forms, such as ''éhor'' ("someone").

To turn an entire sentence interrogative, the particle ''žé'' is used in the past indicative, while ''ža'' is used in every other tense and mood. This particle typically precedes the verb, but it can come anywhere in the sentence.

==Sample text==
A speech uttered by Boromir in ''[[w:The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring|The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring]]'':

:'''Original''': It is a gift. A gift to the foes of Mordor. Why not use this Ring? Long has my father, the steward of Gondor, kept the forces of Mordor at bay. By the blood of our people are your lands kept safe. Give Gondor the weapon of the enemy; let us use it against him!

:'''Ewige:''' Ojó jobóno. Jobóno osáň jaboř va Mórdór. Éřóvouro sesbé gei gritʼ ha? Igʼamyni erómode va Mórdór jadřyjyr, é ijó jadřorsék va Góndór, žytař. Nékédřoroni ařyšékʼóre va janarni sorén. Bʼómyti agʼožéde wa jaboř osáň Góndór, su ropyn sesbé ot ghog ut!

:'''Gloss:''' 3SG.INAN.NOM-be.PRES gift. // gift to DEF.AN-foe of Mordor. // 1PL.NOM-NEG-be_able-PRES.bé use_INF this ring why? // 3SG.AN.NOM-push-PRES.mé-3PL.ACC DEF.INAN-force-PL of Mordor DEF.AN-father-1SG.POSS REL 3SG.AN.NOM-be.PRES DEF.AN-protect-AGENT of Gondor far-ADV. // 3PL.NOM-PASS-protect-PRES.bé-3PL.ACC DEF.INAN-land-PL of DEF.AN-person.PL 2SG.POSS with DEF.INAN-blood of DEF.AN-person.PL 1PL.POSS. give-IMP-3SG.INAN.ACC DEF.INAN-weapon of DEF.AN-foe to Gondor and allow-IMP-1PL.ACC use-INF 3SG.INAN against 3SG.AN!

User:Frrurtu/Sandbox5

2017-11-04T21:08:13Z

Frrurtu:

'''Ewige'''

==History==
Ewige is one of many descendants of Ivugi, which was spoken circa 1000 AD in the Eurasian steppe in present-day [[w:Siberia|Siberia]]. It has undergone many phonological and grammatical changes, evolving from a relatively isolating language to a highly agglutinative one with polypersonal inflection and an animate-inanimate distinction. Its syllable structure has grown more restrictive and it has lost its phonemic stress, but its vowel and consonant inventories have grown.

While it has historically been written in [[w:Cyrillic|Cyrillic]], the Ewige people were among the earliest adopters of the [[w:Latin script|Latin script]] among Siberian peoples. However, many of their orthographical conventions, such as extensive use of the [[w:hacek|hacek]], are Slavic in nature.

===Phonological history===
Ewige is characterized by the following phonological innovations from Ivugi:
* Creation of a new /e/ phoneme, formed from historical /i/ and /ɨ/ before voiceless fricatives and /r/, and historical /ɛ/ before alveolar consonants.
* Creation of a new /ʃ/ phoneme from /s/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /t/ also become /ʃ/.
* Creation of a new /ʒ/ phoneme from /z/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /j/ also became /ʒ/.
* The glottal stop /ʔ/ merging with the other three voiceless stops depending on the preceding vowel: /t/ after front vowels, /k/ after central vowels, and /p/ after back vowels.
* Creation of a new /m/ phoneme from intervocalic /b/ in unstressed syllables, plus /n/ and /ŋ/ before labials and unstressed /o/.
* Simplification of various labial-stop clusters: /kp/, /tp/, /rp/, /kb/, and /tb/ all become /p/, and /gb/, /db/, and /rb/ all become /b/.
* Shift of certain vowels' pronunciations when unstressed: /au/ and /o/ become [u], /ai/ merges with /i/, and /ɨ/ and /ɐ/ become [ə].
* Development of aspirated and breathy-voiced allophones of stops in stressed syllables.
* Loss of phonemic stress in favor of universal initial stress—except in some loanwords and compounds—causing /u/, /ə/, and the aspirated and breathy-voiced stops to all become phonemic.
* Merger of /ɸ/ into /β/, which then shifts its pronunciation to [w].
* Merger of /l/ into /ɾ/.
* Merger of /x/ and /ɣ/ into /r/ after stops.
* Chain shifts affecting most vowel monophthongs: /ɨ/ > /i/ > /e/ > /ɛ/ > /a/, and /ɐ/ > /ɑ/ > /ɔ/.
* Raising of the two diphthongs: /ai/ to [ei] and /au/ to [ou].

===Grammatical history===
It has also undergone the following grammatical innovations:
* Drastic simplification of noun pluralization: the majority of nouns now pluralize with ''-e'' or ''-de'', although a few dozen irregular nouns remain as vestiges of Ivugi's complex ablaut-based system.
* Generalizing the Ivugi particle ''u'', which was used before animate singular nouns in the accusative, to be a general affix for animate nouns. Explicitly animate pronouns and verb inflections would later develop based on it.
* Repurposing Ivugi's ''yi'' and ''ye'', which were the interrogative forms of "to be" in the past and present, as generic interrogative markers, and the resultant loss of Ivugi's morphological interrogative mood. They are now ''žé'' and ''ža''.
* Obligatory marking of inalienable possession on certain nouns, created from the Ivugi particle ''a'' ("of", inalienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Development of possessive pronouns using the Ivugi particle ''sal'' ("of", semi-alienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Generalization of Ivugi's third genitive particle ''val'' ("of", alienable) as the only genitive particle, now ''va''.
* Expansion of Ivugi's simpler verb paradigm, in which all verbs had infinitives ending in ''-bi'' and inflected basically the same way, into a more complex paradigm with three conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This process came about when clusters of various consonants and /b/ simplified in different ways.
* Polypersonal inflection on the verb: whereas Ivugi verbs did not indicate person in any form, Ewige verbs can inflect for both subject and object, both of which started as forms of the pronouns and then phonologically reduced.
* Simplification of the Ivugi syllable onset alternation process to a basic affix, ''-ro-'' before a consonant and ''-rov-'' before a vowel. This affix was then repurposed to form the subjunctive/conditional mood, which can be used in any of the three tenses: past, present, and future.
* Innovation of a new future tense inflection, ''-sto'', from the Ivugi verb ''sída'' ("goes"/"is going").
* Shift from SVO (subject-object-verb) word order to the rare VOS, after the innovation of person-marking on verbs created less need for an explicit subject at the start of the sentence.

==Phonology==
===Consonants===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" |
! |Labial
! |Alveolar
! |Palato-alveolar
! |Palatal
! |Velar
! |Glottal
|-
! colspan="2" | Nasal
| '''m''' /m/
| '''n''' /n/
|
|
| '''ň''' /ŋ/
|
|-
! rowspan="4" | Plosive
! Voiceless
| '''p''' /p/
| '''t''' /t/
|
|
| '''k''' /k/
|
|-
! Voiced
| '''b''' /b/
| '''d''' /d/
|
|
| '''g''' /g/
|
|-
! Aspirated
| '''pʼ''' /pʰ/
| '''tʼ''' /tʰ/
|
|
| '''kʼ''' /kʰ/
|
|-
! Breathy-voiced
| '''bʼ''' /bʱ/
| '''dʼ''' /dʱ/
|
|
| '''gʼ''' /gʱ/
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | Fricative
! Voiceless
|
| '''s''' /s/
| '''š''' /ʃ/
|
| '''ch''' /x/
| '''h''' /h/
|-
! Voiced
|
| '''z''' /z/
| '''ž''' /ʒ/
|
| '''gh''' /ɣ/
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Approximant
| '''v''' /w~ɹ/
|
|
| '''j''' /j/
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Tap
|
| '''r''' /ɾ/
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Trill
|
| '''ř''' /r/
|
|
|
|
|}
* After back vowels, palato-alveolar /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ are often realized as retroflex [ʂ] and [ʐ].
* The labio-velar approximant /w/ may be realized as alveolar [ɹ], especially intervocalically. By one analysis, this gives Ewige the rare distinction of possessing three rhotic consonants: /ɹ/, /ɾ/, and /r/.

===Vowels===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Monophthongs'''
! |
! |Front
! |Central
! |Back
|-
! High
| '''i''' /i/
|
| '''u''' /u/
|-
! High-mid
| '''é''' /e/
|
| '''ó''' /o/
|-
! Mid
|
| '''y''' /ə/
|
|-
! Low-mid
| '''e''' /ɛ/
|
| '''o''' /ɔ/
|-
! Low
| '''a''' /a/
|
| '''á''' /ɑ/
|}

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Diphthongs'''
! |Front
! |Back
|-
| '''ei''' /ei/
| '''ou''' /ou/
|}
* The mid-central vowel represented here by a schwa, /ə/, can in reality be realized with a wide range of allophones depending on the following consonant. Speakers may possess any or all of these allophones, and younger speakers use them more than older speakers:
:* [ɨ~i], before voiceless stops
:* [əi~oi], before voiceless fricatives
:* [ɜ~ɐ], before /ɾ/ and /r/ and in word-final position
:* syllabification, before nasals, e.g. /ən/ [n̩]

==Vocabulary==
While most of Ewige's vocabulary is indigenous, it has borrowed a large number of terms from nearby languages of the Eurasian steppe, particularly [[w:Russian language|Russian]], [[w:Kazakh language|Kazakh]], and [[w:Mongolian language|Mongolian]].

==Dialectology==
The dialect documented in this article is the prestige ''Jugřé'' (Southern) dialect, spoken by the majority of the population. The more innovative ''Třařé'' (Northern) dialect is characterized by the following features:
* A lower percentage of loanwords and a tendency to use native coinings instead. When loanwords are imported, they are less likely to use non-native phones such as /l/.
* The mid high vowels /e/ and /o/ are diphthongized to [iə] and [uə].
* The low vowels have not shifted as far: /a/ is more like [æ] and /ɑ/ is more like [ɐ~ä].
* The diphthongs /ei/ and /ou/ are more centralized, especially in their onsets: [əi~əɨ] and [əu~əʉ].
* /t/ and /d/ are often realized as [θ] and [ð], except at the start of a word.
* /w/ becomes [ɹ~ɻ] in all positions, not just intervocalically.
* /ə/ is slightly fronted and rounded, often as far as [ø~œ], but does not exhibit nearly the degree of allophony found in Jugřé Ewige.
* The possessive pronouns are suffixed with the adjectival ''-řé'', such as ''sodařé'' ("yours"), equivalent to saying "yours-like" or "yours-ish" in English.
* Double negation is common, with the general negative particle ''ou'' coming immediately before the verb.
* Although Třařé Ewige is also pro-drop and its verbs have polypersonal agreement, subject pronouns are still used with greater frequency than in Jugřé Ewige, but they come at the very end of the sentence, including after any adverbs.
* Various classes of nouns that are generally inanimate in Jugřé Ewige are animate in Třařé Ewige, such as geographical formations, vehicles, and large plants (mainly trees). A handful of nouns have moved in the opposite direction, being animate in Jugřé but inanimate in Třařé, such as ''igʼarut'' ("spider") and ''idé'' ("child").
* The adverb ''gou'' ("now") has expanded in use to signify a sort of narrative past or aorist; it immediately follows the verb when used in this sense.
* The verb ''gʼombé'' ("to help") is used as an auxiliary verb in a benefactive sense, such as in the phrase ''igʼomnor reipé ajoreiko ut'' "he threw the ball for me", which in Jugřé Ewige would mean "he helped me throw the ball".
* Possibly influenced by the above, the verb ''ombé'' ("to wiggle, to oscillate") is used as an auxiliary verb for groups of two or more actors that are performing an action with one another (as opposed to separately). For example, ''néjomo jorimé'' is used to mean "they're arguing with each other", while ''néjorimy'' means "they're arguing separately".
* The future-tense affix is always ''-sto-''; the ''-dzo-'' variant that Jugřé Ewige innovated for ''-me'' verbs does not exist.
* The verbalizing suffix ''-(ó)batpé'' (from the Russian ''-ovat'') is uncommon; it is normally substituted with simply ''-(y)přémé''.

==Grammar==
===Pronouns===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" | Subject/Object
! colspan="2" | Possessive
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| I
| ''ré''
| my/mine
| ''soré''
|-
| you
| ''da''
| your/yours
| ''soda''
|-
| him/her
| ''ut''
| his/hers
| ''soriot''
|-
| it
| ''ot''
| its
| ''sorot''
|-
| we
| ''rin''
| our/ours
| ''sorén''
|-
| you all
| ''dyř''
| all of your
| ''sodař''
|-
| they
| ''ni''
| their/theirs
| ''sonei''
|}

===Nouns===
Ewige nouns are inflected for several grammatical categories:
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Gender/Definiteness
|
''∅-'' (inanimate, indefinite) 
''a-/er-'' (inanimate, definite) 
''i-/ir-'' (animate, indefinite) 
''ja-/jer-'' (animate, definite)
|-
! Noun stem
| (any noun)
|-
! Number
|
''-∅'' (singular) 
''-(d)e'' (plural, for the vast majority of nouns)
|-
! Inalienable possession
|
''-(j)yr'' (my) 
''-(j)yda'' (your) 
''-(j)ei'' (his, her) 
''-(j)yt'' (its) 
''-(j)yré'' (our) 
''-(j)ař'' (all of your) 
''-(j)ynei'' (their)
|}

===Verbs===
Ewige verbs fall into three different conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This table lists the affixes that each form takes to mark subject, object, and tense-aspect-mood.
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" |
! ''-me''
! ''-be''
! ''-pe''
|-
! rowspan="7" | Subject
! "I"
| colspan="3" | ''é(j)-''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="3" | ''dy(j)''
|-
! "he/she"
| colspan="3" | ''i(j)-''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''o(j)-''
|-
! "we"
| colspan="3" | ''éř(é)-''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="3" | ''da(j)-''
|-
! "they"
| colspan="3" | ''né(j)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Negation
| colspan="3" | ''-ó-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Irrealis
| colspan="3" | ''-ro(v)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Passive
| colspan="3" | ''-ké(r)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Verb root
| colspan="3" | (any verb)
|-
! rowspan="5" | Tense, Aspect, Mood
! Infinitive
| ''-mé''
| ''-bé''
| ''-pé''
|-
! Past
| ''-dó''
| ''-nó''
| ''-tó''
|-
! Present
| ''-my''
| ''-(r)o''
| ''-py''
|-
! Future
| ''-dzo''
| colspan="2" | ''-sto''
|-
! Imperative
| colspan="3" | ''-(m/b/p)y'' (if followed by an object suffix), ''-∅'' (otherwise)
|-
! rowspan="7" | Object
! "me"
| colspan="3" | ''-r''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="2" | ''-d''
| ''-t''
|-
! "him/her"
| colspan="3" | ''-š''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''-ti''
|-
! "us"
| colspan="3" | ''-n''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="2" | ''-dař''
| ''-tař''
|-
! "them"
| colspan="3" | ''-ni''
|}
* The irrealis mood, which is used to indicate the subjunctive or conditional, can only be used with the basic tenses: past, present, and future.

An example of a highly inflected Ewige verb:
:''éř-ó-ro-ké-dřor-nó-d''
:1PL.NOM-NEG-SUBJ-guard-PST_bé-2SG.ACC_bé
:If we hadn't been protected by you...

Ewige has only eleven basic irregular verbs, although verbs derived from them follow their conjugations, much as the past tense of "to outdo" in English is "outdid". These verbs are only irregular in the past and present; their other inflections are regular. They are listed below in the infinitive, and in the past and present with no conjugation for person and number. They are all fairly common verbs, some of them relating to motion.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! rowspan="2" | English
! colspan="3" | Ewige
|-
! Infinitive
! Past
! Present
|-
| to be
| ''jómé''
| ''-jón''
| ''-jó''
|-
| to eat
| ''ámé''
| ''-án''
| ''-áró''
|-
| to go
| ''šérbé''
| ''-šédu''
| ''-šédo''
|-
| to need
| ''rimé''
| ''-rimu''
| ''-rimo''
|-
| to say
| ''šémé''
| ''-sonó''
| ''-soko''
|-
| to have
| ''otʼamé''
| ''-otʼou''
| ''-otʼei''
|-
| to see
| ''otʼépé''
| ''-otʼó''
| ''-otʼy''
|-
| to leave
| ''épymé''
| ''-épion''
| ''-épio''
|-
| to run
| ''sonémé''
| ''-sonu''
| ''-sono''
|-
| to walk
| ''esomé''
| ''-estu''
| ''-esto''
|-
| to swim
| ''vobé''
| ''-vobu''
| ''-vobo''
|}

===Adjectives===
Adjective inflection is simple: they are inflected for definiteness, animacy, and number using the same affixes nouns are.

===Derivation===
Ewige makes extensive use of derivation. The following are some common nominalizing prefixes and suffixes, which are attached to the verb root:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Type
! Affix
|-
| Gerund
|
''-zo'' (for verbs of motion) 
''-há'' (for all other verbs)
|-
| Gerund, habitual
|
''-sék''
|-
| Agentive
|
''-gyň'' (from a word for "friend")
|-
| Locational
|
''-ova'' (from a word for "house")
|-
| Patient
|
''žo-''
|-
| Productive
|
''ano-''
|}

The suffix to nominalize adjectives is ''-(ó)bro'', deriving from the word for "color". Conversely, ''-ře'' is used to derive adjectives from other parts of speech. A suffix ''-ry'', from the word for "slice", is attached to some nouns with a diminutive meaning, but it is not very productive in the modern language.

Ewige also possesses several affixes to derive verbs from nouns and adjectives:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Meaning
! Affix
|-
| To perform an action related to X
| ''-(ó)batpé'' (from the Russian ''-ovat'')
|-
| To turn something into X, or to make it more X
| ''-(y)hérbé'' (from an old word meaning "to transform", specifically under a magical curse)
|-
| To be like X, or to evoke X
| ''-(y)přémé'' (from an old word meaning "to agree with" or "to resemble")
|-
| To provide X to someone (usually, but not always, with a benevolent meaning)
| ''-(y)jápé'' (from an old word meaning "to allocate")
|}

====Compounds====
Each noun, verb, or adjective root has a "construct state" that is used to form compounds; this construct state is used for all roots in the compound except the final one. First, any affixes, such as those marking definiteness/animacy or the infinitive, are removed, and then the final consonant of the root is altered according to the following rules:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Final consonant of root...
! is replaced with...
|-
| Voiceless stops
| ''-šé(j)''
|-
| Voiceless fricatives
| ''-t''
|-
| Other final consonants
| ''-ž''
|-
| Root ends in ''-á''
| ''-á'' becomes ''-ež''
|-
| Root ends in a different vowel
| Vowel becomes ''-á(j)''
|}

===Syntax===
Ewige uses the rare [[w:verb–object–subject|verb–object–subject]] word order. Noun phrases are generally right-branching, with adjectives, numerals, and relative clauses all following the head noun (in that order). However, Ewige uses prepositions rather than postpositions, and determiners precede the head noun. Adverbs are formed by suffixing an adjective (or other part of speech) with ''-(j)agh'', or ''-ař'' if the adjective ends in a stop consonant. These adverbs typically come at the end of the sentence.

Other than for verbs, negation is fairly simple. Noun phrases are negated with ''vó'', which precedes the noun phrase. The general negation particle is ''ou'', which is used to negate every part of speech other than verbs and nouns.

===Questions===
Ewige possesses the following words to form questions. When applicable, corresponding non-interrogative words are also given. The interrogative words are simply placed where a non-interrogative word would be; there is no do-support as in English.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" | Interrogative
! colspan="2" | Proximate
! colspan="2" | Distal
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| what?
| ''hei?''
| this
| ''gei''
| that
| ''twei''
|-
| who/whom?
| ''hor?''
| colspan="4" rowspan="2" | —
|-
| which?
| ''hok?''
|-
| where?
| ''heiry?'' (from ''hei iry?'', literally "what place?")
| here
| ''ga''
| there
| ''twa''
|-
| when?
| ''hou?''
| now
| ''gou''
| then
| ''tou''
|-
| why?
| ''ha?''
| thus (for this reason)
| ''ga''
| thus (for that reason)
| ''twa''
|}

To form generic equivalents, ''é-'' is prefixed to the interrogative forms, such as ''éhor'' ("someone").

To turn an entire sentence interrogative, the particle ''žé'' is used in the past indicative, while ''ža'' is used in every other tense and mood. This particle typically precedes the verb, but it can come anywhere in the sentence.

==Sample text==
A speech uttered by Boromir in ''[[w:The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring|The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring]]'':

:'''Original''': It is a gift. A gift to the foes of Mordor. Why not use this Ring? Long has my father, the steward of Gondor, kept the forces of Mordor at bay. By the blood of our people are your lands kept safe. Give Gondor the weapon of the enemy; let us use it against him!

:'''Ewige:''' Ojó jobóno. Jobóno osáň jaboř va Mórdór. Éřóvouro sesbé gei gritʼ ha? Igʼamyni erómode va Mórdór jadřyjyr, é ijó jadřorsék va Góndór, žytař. Nékédřoroni ařyšékʼóre va janarni sorén. Bʼómyti agʼožéde wa jaboř osáň Góndór, su ropyn sesbé ot ghog ut!

:'''Gloss:''' 3SG.INAN.NOM-be.PRES gift. // gift to DEF.AN-foe of Mordor. // 1PL.NOM-NEG-be_able-PRES.bé use_INF this ring why? // 3SG.AN.NOM-push-PRES.mé-3PL.ACC DEF.INAN-force-PL of Mordor DEF.AN-father-1SG.POSS REL 3SG.AN.NOM-be.PRES DEF.AN-protect-AGENT of Gondor far-ADV. // 3PL.NOM-PASS-protect-PRES.bé-3PL.ACC DEF.INAN-land-PL of DEF.AN-person.PL 2SG.POSS with DEF.INAN-blood of DEF.AN-person.PL 1PL.POSS. give-IMP-3SG.INAN.ACC DEF.INAN-weapon of DEF.AN-foe to Gondor and allow-IMP-1PL.ACC use-INF 3SG.INAN against 3SG.AN!

User:Frrurtu/Sandbox5

2017-11-04T20:53:22Z

Frrurtu: /* Dialectology */

'''Ewige'''

==History==
Ewige is one of many descendants of Ivugi, which was spoken circa 1000 AD in the Eurasian steppe in present-day [[w:Siberia|Siberia]]. It has undergone many phonological and grammatical changes, evolving from a relatively isolating language to a highly agglutinative one with polypersonal inflection and an animate-inanimate distinction. Its syllable structure has grown more restrictive and it has lost its phonemic stress, but its vowel and consonant inventories have grown.

While it has historically been written in [[w:Cyrillic|Cyrillic]], the Ewige people were among the earliest adopters of the [[w:Latin script|Latin script]] among Siberian peoples. However, many of their orthographical conventions, such as extensive use of the [[w:hacek|hacek]], are Slavic in nature.

===Phonological history===
Ewige is characterized by the following phonological innovations from Ivugi:
* Creation of a new /e/ phoneme, formed from historical /i/ and /ɨ/ before voiceless fricatives and /r/, and historical /ɛ/ before alveolar consonants.
* Creation of a new /ʃ/ phoneme from /s/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /t/ also become /ʃ/.
* Creation of a new /ʒ/ phoneme from /z/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /j/ also became /ʒ/.
* The glottal stop /ʔ/ merging with the other three voiceless stops depending on the preceding vowel: /t/ after front vowels, /k/ after central vowels, and /p/ after back vowels.
* Creation of a new /m/ phoneme from intervocalic /b/ in unstressed syllables, plus /n/ and /ŋ/ before labials and unstressed /o/.
* Simplification of various labial-stop clusters: /kp/, /tp/, /rp/, /kb/, and /tb/ all become /p/, and /gb/, /db/, and /rb/ all become /b/.
* Shift of certain vowels' pronunciations when unstressed: /au/ and /o/ become [u], /ai/ merges with /i/, and /ɨ/ and /ɐ/ become [ə].
* Development of aspirated and breathy-voiced allophones of stops in stressed syllables.
* Loss of phonemic stress in favor of universal initial stress—except in some loanwords and compounds—causing /u/, /ə/, and the aspirated and breathy-voiced stops to all become phonemic.
* Merger of /ɸ/ into /β/, which then shifts its pronunciation to [w].
* Merger of /l/ into /ɾ/.
* Merger of /x/ and /ɣ/ into /r/ after stops.
* Chain shifts affecting most vowel monophthongs: /ɨ/ > /i/ > /e/ > /ɛ/ > /a/, and /ɐ/ > /ɑ/ > /ɔ/.
* Raising of the two diphthongs: /ai/ to [ei] and /au/ to [ou].

===Grammatical history===
It has also undergone the following grammatical innovations:
* Drastic simplification of noun pluralization: the majority of nouns now pluralize with ''-e'' or ''-de'', although a few dozen irregular nouns remain as vestiges of Ivugi's complex ablaut-based system.
* Generalizing the Ivugi particle ''u'', which was used before animate singular nouns in the accusative, to be a general affix for animate nouns. Explicitly animate pronouns and verb inflections would later develop based on it.
* Repurposing Ivugi's ''yi'' and ''ye'', which were the interrogative forms of "to be" in the past and present, as generic interrogative markers, and the resultant loss of Ivugi's morphological interrogative mood. They are now ''žé'' and ''ža''.
* Obligatory marking of inalienable possession on certain nouns, created from the Ivugi particle ''a'' ("of", inalienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Development of possessive pronouns using the Ivugi particle ''sal'' ("of", semi-alienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Generalization of Ivugi's third genitive particle ''val'' ("of", alienable) as the only genitive particle, now ''va''.
* Expansion of Ivugi's simpler verb paradigm, in which all verbs had infinitives ending in ''-bi'' and inflected basically the same way, into a more complex paradigm with three conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This process came about when clusters of various consonants and /b/ simplified in different ways.
* Polypersonal inflection on the verb: whereas Ivugi verbs did not indicate person in any form, Ewige verbs can inflect for both subject and object, both of which started as forms of the pronouns and then phonologically reduced.
* Simplification of the Ivugi syllable onset alternation process to a basic affix, ''-ro-'' before a consonant and ''-rov-'' before a vowel. This affix was then repurposed to form the subjunctive/conditional mood, which can be used in any of the three tenses: past, present, and future.
* Innovation of a new future tense inflection, ''-sto'', from the Ivugi verb ''sída'' ("goes"/"is going").
* Shift from SVO (subject-object-verb) word order to the rare VOS, after the innovation of person-marking on verbs created less need for an explicit subject at the start of the sentence.

==Phonology==
===Consonants===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" |
! |Labial
! |Alveolar
! |Palato-alveolar
! |Palatal
! |Velar
! |Glottal
|-
! colspan="2" | Nasal
| '''m''' /m/
| '''n''' /n/
|
|
| '''ň''' /ŋ/
|
|-
! rowspan="4" | Plosive
! Voiceless
| '''p''' /p/
| '''t''' /t/
|
|
| '''k''' /k/
|
|-
! Voiced
| '''b''' /b/
| '''d''' /d/
|
|
| '''g''' /g/
|
|-
! Aspirated
| '''pʼ''' /pʰ/
| '''tʼ''' /tʰ/
|
|
| '''kʼ''' /kʰ/
|
|-
! Breathy-voiced
| '''bʼ''' /bʱ/
| '''dʼ''' /dʱ/
|
|
| '''gʼ''' /gʱ/
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | Fricative
! Voiceless
|
| '''s''' /s/
| '''š''' /ʃ/
|
| '''ch''' /x/
| '''h''' /h/
|-
! Voiced
|
| '''z''' /z/
| '''ž''' /ʒ/
|
| '''gh''' /ɣ/
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Approximant
| '''v''' /w~ɹ/
|
|
| '''j''' /j/
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Tap
|
| '''r''' /ɾ/
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Trill
|
| '''ř''' /r/
|
|
|
|
|}
* After back vowels, palato-alveolar /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ are often realized as retroflex [ʂ] and [ʐ].
* The labio-velar approximant /w/ may be realized as alveolar [ɹ], especially intervocalically. By one analysis, this gives Ewige the rare distinction of possessing three rhotic consonants: /ɹ/, /ɾ/, and /r/.

===Vowels===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Monophthongs'''
! |
! |Front
! |Central
! |Back
|-
! High
| '''i''' /i/
|
| '''u''' /u/
|-
! High-mid
| '''é''' /e/
|
| '''ó''' /o/
|-
! Mid
|
| '''y''' /ə/
|
|-
! Low-mid
| '''e''' /ɛ/
|
| '''o''' /ɔ/
|-
! Low
| '''a''' /a/
|
| '''á''' /ɑ/
|}

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Diphthongs'''
! |Front
! |Back
|-
| '''ei''' /ei/
| '''ou''' /ou/
|}
* The mid-central vowel represented here by a schwa, /ə/, can in reality be realized with a wide range of allophones depending on the following consonant. Speakers may possess any or all of these allophones, and younger speakers use them more than older speakers:
:* [ɨ~i], before voiceless stops
:* [əi~oi], before voiceless fricatives
:* [ɜ~ɐ], before /ɾ/ and /r/ and in word-final position
:* syllabification, before nasals, e.g. /ən/ [n̩]

==Vocabulary==
While most of Ewige's vocabulary is indigenous, it has borrowed a large number of terms from nearby languages of the Eurasian steppe, particularly [[w:Russian language|Russian]], [[w:Kazakh language|Kazakh]], and [[w:Mongolian language|Mongolian]].

==Dialectology==
The dialect documented in this article is the prestige ''Jugřé'' (Southern) dialect, spoken by the majority of the population. The more innovative ''Třařé'' (Northern) dialect is characterized by the following features:
* A lower percentage of loanwords and a tendency to use native coinings instead. When loanwords are imported, they are less likely to use non-native phones such as /l/.
* The mid high vowels /e/ and /o/ are diphthongized to [iə] and [uə].
* The low vowels have not shifted as far: /a/ is more like [æ] and /ɑ/ is more like [ɐ~ä].
* The diphthongs /ei/ and /ou/ are more centralized, especially in their onsets: [əi~əɨ] and [əu~əʉ].
* /t/ and /d/ are often realized as [θ] and [ð], except at the start of a word.
* /w/ becomes [ɹ~ɻ] in all positions, not just intervocalically.
* /ə/ is slightly fronted and rounded, often as far as [ø~œ], but does not exhibit nearly the degree of allophony found in Jugřé Ewige.
* The possessive pronouns are suffixed with the adjectival ''-řé'', such as ''sodařé'' ("yours"), equivalent to saying "yours-like" or "yours-ish" in English.
* Double negation is common, with the general negative particle ''ou'' coming immediately before the verb.
* Although Třařé Ewige is also pro-drop and its verbs have polypersonal agreement, subject pronouns are still used with greater frequency than in Jugřé Ewige, but they come at the very end of the sentence, including after any adverbs.
* Various classes of nouns that are generally inanimate in Jugřé Ewige are animate in Třařé Ewige, such as geographical formations, vehicles, and large plants (mainly trees). A handful of nouns have moved in the opposite direction, being animate in Jugřé but inanimate in Třařé, such as ''igʼarut'' ("spider") and ''idé'' ("child").
* The adverb ''gou'' ("now") has expanded in use to signify a sort of narrative past or aorist; it immediately follows the verb when used in this sense.
* The verb ''gʼombé'' ("to help") is used as an auxiliary verb in a benefactive sense, such as in the phrase ''igʼomnor reipé ajoreiko ut'' "he threw the ball for me", which in Jugřé Ewige would mean "he helped me throw the ball".
* The future-tense affix is always ''-sto-''; the ''-dzo-'' variant that Jugřé Ewige innovated for ''-me'' verbs does not exist.

==Grammar==
===Pronouns===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" | Subject/Object
! colspan="2" | Possessive
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| I
| ''ré''
| my/mine
| ''soré''
|-
| you
| ''da''
| your/yours
| ''soda''
|-
| him/her
| ''ut''
| his/hers
| ''soriot''
|-
| it
| ''ot''
| its
| ''sorot''
|-
| we
| ''rin''
| our/ours
| ''sorén''
|-
| you all
| ''dyř''
| all of your
| ''sodař''
|-
| they
| ''ni''
| their/theirs
| ''sonei''
|}

===Nouns===
Ewige nouns are inflected for several grammatical categories:
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Gender/Definiteness
|
''∅-'' (inanimate, indefinite) 
''a-/er-'' (inanimate, definite) 
''i-/ir-'' (animate, indefinite) 
''ja-/jer-'' (animate, definite)
|-
! Noun stem
| (any noun)
|-
! Number
|
''-∅'' (singular) 
''-(d)e'' (plural, for the vast majority of nouns)
|-
! Inalienable possession
|
''-(j)yr'' (my) 
''-(j)yda'' (your) 
''-(j)ei'' (his, her) 
''-(j)yt'' (its) 
''-(j)yré'' (our) 
''-(j)ař'' (all of your) 
''-(j)ynei'' (their)
|}

===Verbs===
Ewige verbs fall into three different conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This table lists the affixes that each form takes to mark subject, object, and tense-aspect-mood.
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" |
! ''-me''
! ''-be''
! ''-pe''
|-
! rowspan="7" | Subject
! "I"
| colspan="3" | ''é(j)-''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="3" | ''dy(j)''
|-
! "he/she"
| colspan="3" | ''i(j)-''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''o(j)-''
|-
! "we"
| colspan="3" | ''éř(é)-''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="3" | ''da(j)-''
|-
! "they"
| colspan="3" | ''né(j)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Negation
| colspan="3" | ''-ó-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Irrealis
| colspan="3" | ''-ro(v)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Passive
| colspan="3" | ''-ké(r)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Verb root
| colspan="3" | (any verb)
|-
! rowspan="5" | Tense, Aspect, Mood
! Infinitive
| ''-mé''
| ''-bé''
| ''-pé''
|-
! Past
| ''-dó''
| ''-nó''
| ''-tó''
|-
! Present
| ''-my''
| ''-(r)o''
| ''-py''
|-
! Future
| ''-dzo''
| colspan="2" | ''-sto''
|-
! Imperative
| colspan="3" | ''-(m/b/p)y'' (if followed by an object suffix), ''-∅'' (otherwise)
|-
! rowspan="7" | Object
! "me"
| colspan="3" | ''-r''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="2" | ''-d''
| ''-t''
|-
! "him/her"
| colspan="3" | ''-š''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''-ti''
|-
! "us"
| colspan="3" | ''-n''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="2" | ''-dař''
| ''-tař''
|-
! "them"
| colspan="3" | ''-ni''
|}
* The irrealis mood, which is used to indicate the subjunctive or conditional, can only be used with the basic tenses: past, present, and future.

An example of a highly inflected Ewige verb:
:''éř-ó-ro-ké-dřor-nó-d''
:1PL.NOM-NEG-SUBJ-guard-PST_bé-2SG.ACC_bé
:If we hadn't been protected by you...

Ewige has only eleven basic irregular verbs, although verbs derived from them follow their conjugations, much as the past tense of "to outdo" in English is "outdid". These verbs are only irregular in the past and present; their other inflections are regular. They are listed below in the infinitive, and in the past and present with no conjugation for person and number. They are all fairly common verbs, some of them relating to motion.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! rowspan="2" | English
! colspan="3" | Ewige
|-
! Infinitive
! Past
! Present
|-
| to be
| ''jómé''
| ''-jón''
| ''-jó''
|-
| to eat
| ''ámé''
| ''-án''
| ''-áró''
|-
| to go
| ''šérbé''
| ''-šédu''
| ''-šédo''
|-
| to need
| ''rimé''
| ''-rimu''
| ''-rimo''
|-
| to say
| ''šémé''
| ''-sonó''
| ''-soko''
|-
| to have
| ''otʼamé''
| ''-otʼou''
| ''-otʼei''
|-
| to see
| ''otʼépé''
| ''-otʼó''
| ''-otʼy''
|-
| to leave
| ''épymé''
| ''-épion''
| ''-épio''
|-
| to run
| ''sonémé''
| ''-sonu''
| ''-sono''
|-
| to walk
| ''esomé''
| ''-estu''
| ''-esto''
|-
| to swim
| ''vobé''
| ''-vobu''
| ''-vobo''
|}

===Adjectives===
Adjective inflection is simple: they are inflected for definiteness, animacy, and number using the same affixes nouns are.

===Derivation===
Ewige makes extensive use of derivation. The following are some common nominalizing prefixes and suffixes, which are attached to the verb root:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Type
! Affix
|-
| Gerund
|
''-zo'' (for verbs of motion) 
''-há'' (for all other verbs)
|-
| Gerund, habitual
|
''-sék''
|-
| Agentive
|
''-gyň'' (from a word for "friend")
|-
| Locational
|
''-ova'' (from a word for "house")
|-
| Patient
|
''žo-''
|-
| Productive
|
''ano-''
|}

The suffix to nominalize adjectives is ''-(ó)bro'', deriving from the word for "color". Conversely, ''-ře'' is used to derive adjectives from other parts of speech. A suffix ''-ry'', from the word for "slice", is attached to some nouns with a diminutive meaning, but it is not very productive in the modern language.

Ewige also possesses several affixes to derive verbs from nouns and adjectives:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Meaning
! Affix
|-
| To perform an action related to X
| ''-(ó)batpé'' (from the Russian ''-ovat'')
|-
| To turn something into X, or to make it more X
| ''-(y)hérbé'' (from an old word meaning "to transform", specifically under a magical curse)
|-
| To be like X, or to evoke X
| ''-(y)přémé'' (from an old word meaning "to agree with" or "to resemble")
|-
| To provide X to someone (usually, but not always, with a benevolent meaning)
| ''-(y)jápé'' (from an old word meaning "to allocate")
|}

====Compounds====
Each noun, verb, or adjective root has a "construct state" that is used to form compounds; this construct state is used for all roots in the compound except the final one. First, any affixes, such as those marking definiteness/animacy or the infinitive, are removed, and then the final consonant of the root is altered according to the following rules:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Final consonant of root...
! is replaced with...
|-
| Voiceless stops
| ''-šé(j)''
|-
| Voiceless fricatives
| ''-t''
|-
| Other final consonants
| ''-ž''
|-
| Root ends in ''-á''
| ''-á'' becomes ''-ež''
|-
| Root ends in a different vowel
| Vowel becomes ''-á(j)''
|}

===Syntax===
Ewige uses the rare [[w:verb–object–subject|verb–object–subject]] word order. Noun phrases are generally right-branching, with adjectives, numerals, and relative clauses all following the head noun (in that order). However, Ewige uses prepositions rather than postpositions, and determiners precede the head noun. Adverbs are formed by suffixing an adjective (or other part of speech) with ''-(j)agh'', or ''-ař'' if the adjective ends in a stop consonant. These adverbs typically come at the end of the sentence.

Other than for verbs, negation is fairly simple. Noun phrases are negated with ''vó'', which precedes the noun phrase. The general negation particle is ''ou'', which is used to negate every part of speech other than verbs and nouns.

===Questions===
Ewige possesses the following words to form questions. When applicable, corresponding non-interrogative words are also given. The interrogative words are simply placed where a non-interrogative word would be; there is no do-support as in English.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" | Interrogative
! colspan="2" | Proximate
! colspan="2" | Distal
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| what?
| ''hei?''
| this
| ''gei''
| that
| ''twei''
|-
| who/whom?
| ''hor?''
| colspan="4" rowspan="2" | —
|-
| which?
| ''hok?''
|-
| where?
| ''heiry?'' (from ''hei iry?'', literally "what place?")
| here
| ''ga''
| there
| ''twa''
|-
| when?
| ''hou?''
| now
| ''gou''
| then
| ''tou''
|-
| why?
| ''ha?''
| thus (for this reason)
| ''ga''
| thus (for that reason)
| ''twa''
|}

To form generic equivalents, ''é-'' is prefixed to the interrogative forms, such as ''éhor'' ("someone").

To turn an entire sentence interrogative, the particle ''žé'' is used in the past indicative, while ''ža'' is used in every other tense and mood. This particle typically precedes the verb, but it can come anywhere in the sentence.

==Sample text==
A speech uttered by Boromir in ''[[w:The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring|The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring]]'':

:'''Original''': It is a gift. A gift to the foes of Mordor. Why not use this Ring? Long has my father, the steward of Gondor, kept the forces of Mordor at bay. By the blood of our people are your lands kept safe. Give Gondor the weapon of the enemy; let us use it against him!

:'''Ewige:''' Ojó jobóno. Jobóno osáň jaboř va Mórdór. Éřóvouro sesbé gei gritʼ ha? Igʼamyni erómode va Mórdór jadřyjyr, é ijó jadřorsék va Góndór, žytař. Nékédřoroni ařyšékʼóre va janarni sorén. Bʼómyti agʼožéde wa jaboř osáň Góndór, su ropyn sesbé ot ghog ut!

:'''Gloss:''' 3SG.INAN.NOM-be.PRES gift. // gift to DEF.AN-foe of Mordor. // 1PL.NOM-NEG-be_able-PRES.bé use_INF this ring why? // 3SG.AN.NOM-push-PRES.mé-3PL.ACC DEF.INAN-force-PL of Mordor DEF.AN-father-1SG.POSS REL 3SG.AN.NOM-be.PRES DEF.AN-protect-AGENT of Gondor far-ADV. // 3PL.NOM-PASS-protect-PRES.bé-3PL.ACC DEF.INAN-land-PL of DEF.AN-person.PL 2SG.POSS with DEF.INAN-blood of DEF.AN-person.PL 1PL.POSS. give-IMP-3SG.INAN.ACC DEF.INAN-weapon of DEF.AN-foe to Gondor and allow-IMP-1PL.ACC use-INF 3SG.INAN against 3SG.AN!

User:Frrurtu/Sandbox5

2017-11-04T20:05:34Z

Frrurtu: /* Dialectology */

'''Ewige'''

==History==
Ewige is one of many descendants of Ivugi, which was spoken circa 1000 AD in the Eurasian steppe in present-day [[w:Siberia|Siberia]]. It has undergone many phonological and grammatical changes, evolving from a relatively isolating language to a highly agglutinative one with polypersonal inflection and an animate-inanimate distinction. Its syllable structure has grown more restrictive and it has lost its phonemic stress, but its vowel and consonant inventories have grown.

While it has historically been written in [[w:Cyrillic|Cyrillic]], the Ewige people were among the earliest adopters of the [[w:Latin script|Latin script]] among Siberian peoples. However, many of their orthographical conventions, such as extensive use of the [[w:hacek|hacek]], are Slavic in nature.

===Phonological history===
Ewige is characterized by the following phonological innovations from Ivugi:
* Creation of a new /e/ phoneme, formed from historical /i/ and /ɨ/ before voiceless fricatives and /r/, and historical /ɛ/ before alveolar consonants.
* Creation of a new /ʃ/ phoneme from /s/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /t/ also become /ʃ/.
* Creation of a new /ʒ/ phoneme from /z/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /j/ also became /ʒ/.
* The glottal stop /ʔ/ merging with the other three voiceless stops depending on the preceding vowel: /t/ after front vowels, /k/ after central vowels, and /p/ after back vowels.
* Creation of a new /m/ phoneme from intervocalic /b/ in unstressed syllables, plus /n/ and /ŋ/ before labials and unstressed /o/.
* Simplification of various labial-stop clusters: /kp/, /tp/, /rp/, /kb/, and /tb/ all become /p/, and /gb/, /db/, and /rb/ all become /b/.
* Shift of certain vowels' pronunciations when unstressed: /au/ and /o/ become [u], /ai/ merges with /i/, and /ɨ/ and /ɐ/ become [ə].
* Development of aspirated and breathy-voiced allophones of stops in stressed syllables.
* Loss of phonemic stress in favor of universal initial stress—except in some loanwords and compounds—causing /u/, /ə/, and the aspirated and breathy-voiced stops to all become phonemic.
* Merger of /ɸ/ into /β/, which then shifts its pronunciation to [w].
* Merger of /l/ into /ɾ/.
* Merger of /x/ and /ɣ/ into /r/ after stops.
* Chain shifts affecting most vowel monophthongs: /ɨ/ > /i/ > /e/ > /ɛ/ > /a/, and /ɐ/ > /ɑ/ > /ɔ/.
* Raising of the two diphthongs: /ai/ to [ei] and /au/ to [ou].

===Grammatical history===
It has also undergone the following grammatical innovations:
* Drastic simplification of noun pluralization: the majority of nouns now pluralize with ''-e'' or ''-de'', although a few dozen irregular nouns remain as vestiges of Ivugi's complex ablaut-based system.
* Generalizing the Ivugi particle ''u'', which was used before animate singular nouns in the accusative, to be a general affix for animate nouns. Explicitly animate pronouns and verb inflections would later develop based on it.
* Repurposing Ivugi's ''yi'' and ''ye'', which were the interrogative forms of "to be" in the past and present, as generic interrogative markers, and the resultant loss of Ivugi's morphological interrogative mood. They are now ''žé'' and ''ža''.
* Obligatory marking of inalienable possession on certain nouns, created from the Ivugi particle ''a'' ("of", inalienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Development of possessive pronouns using the Ivugi particle ''sal'' ("of", semi-alienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Generalization of Ivugi's third genitive particle ''val'' ("of", alienable) as the only genitive particle, now ''va''.
* Expansion of Ivugi's simpler verb paradigm, in which all verbs had infinitives ending in ''-bi'' and inflected basically the same way, into a more complex paradigm with three conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This process came about when clusters of various consonants and /b/ simplified in different ways.
* Polypersonal inflection on the verb: whereas Ivugi verbs did not indicate person in any form, Ewige verbs can inflect for both subject and object, both of which started as forms of the pronouns and then phonologically reduced.
* Simplification of the Ivugi syllable onset alternation process to a basic affix, ''-ro-'' before a consonant and ''-rov-'' before a vowel. This affix was then repurposed to form the subjunctive/conditional mood, which can be used in any of the three tenses: past, present, and future.
* Innovation of a new future tense inflection, ''-sto'', from the Ivugi verb ''sída'' ("goes"/"is going").
* Shift from SVO (subject-object-verb) word order to the rare VOS, after the innovation of person-marking on verbs created less need for an explicit subject at the start of the sentence.

==Phonology==
===Consonants===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" |
! |Labial
! |Alveolar
! |Palato-alveolar
! |Palatal
! |Velar
! |Glottal
|-
! colspan="2" | Nasal
| '''m''' /m/
| '''n''' /n/
|
|
| '''ň''' /ŋ/
|
|-
! rowspan="4" | Plosive
! Voiceless
| '''p''' /p/
| '''t''' /t/
|
|
| '''k''' /k/
|
|-
! Voiced
| '''b''' /b/
| '''d''' /d/
|
|
| '''g''' /g/
|
|-
! Aspirated
| '''pʼ''' /pʰ/
| '''tʼ''' /tʰ/
|
|
| '''kʼ''' /kʰ/
|
|-
! Breathy-voiced
| '''bʼ''' /bʱ/
| '''dʼ''' /dʱ/
|
|
| '''gʼ''' /gʱ/
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | Fricative
! Voiceless
|
| '''s''' /s/
| '''š''' /ʃ/
|
| '''ch''' /x/
| '''h''' /h/
|-
! Voiced
|
| '''z''' /z/
| '''ž''' /ʒ/
|
| '''gh''' /ɣ/
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Approximant
| '''v''' /w~ɹ/
|
|
| '''j''' /j/
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Tap
|
| '''r''' /ɾ/
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Trill
|
| '''ř''' /r/
|
|
|
|
|}
* After back vowels, palato-alveolar /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ are often realized as retroflex [ʂ] and [ʐ].
* The labio-velar approximant /w/ may be realized as alveolar [ɹ], especially intervocalically. By one analysis, this gives Ewige the rare distinction of possessing three rhotic consonants: /ɹ/, /ɾ/, and /r/.

===Vowels===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Monophthongs'''
! |
! |Front
! |Central
! |Back
|-
! High
| '''i''' /i/
|
| '''u''' /u/
|-
! High-mid
| '''é''' /e/
|
| '''ó''' /o/
|-
! Mid
|
| '''y''' /ə/
|
|-
! Low-mid
| '''e''' /ɛ/
|
| '''o''' /ɔ/
|-
! Low
| '''a''' /a/
|
| '''á''' /ɑ/
|}

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Diphthongs'''
! |Front
! |Back
|-
| '''ei''' /ei/
| '''ou''' /ou/
|}
* The mid-central vowel represented here by a schwa, /ə/, can in reality be realized with a wide range of allophones depending on the following consonant. Speakers may possess any or all of these allophones, and younger speakers use them more than older speakers:
:* [ɨ~i], before voiceless stops
:* [əi~oi], before voiceless fricatives
:* [ɜ~ɐ], before /ɾ/ and /r/ and in word-final position
:* syllabification, before nasals, e.g. /ən/ [n̩]

==Vocabulary==
While most of Ewige's vocabulary is indigenous, it has borrowed a large number of terms from nearby languages of the Eurasian steppe, particularly [[w:Russian language|Russian]], [[w:Kazakh language|Kazakh]], and [[w:Mongolian language|Mongolian]].

==Dialectology==
The dialect documented in this article is the prestige ''Jugřé'' (Southern) dialect, spoken by the majority of the population. The more innovative ''Třařé'' (Northern) dialect is characterized by the following features:
* A lower percentage of loanwords and a tendency to use native coinings instead. When loanwords are imported, they are less likely to use non-native phones such as /l/.
* The mid high vowels /e/ and /o/ are diphthongized to [iə] and [uə].
* The low vowels have not shifted as far: /a/ is more like [æ] and /ɑ/ is more like [ɐ~ä].
* The diphthongs /ei/ and /ou/ are more centralized, especially in their onsets: [əi~əɨ] and [əu~əʉ].
* /t/ and /d/ are often realized as [θ] and [ð], except at the start of a word.
* /w/ becomes [ɹ~ɻ] in all positions, not just intervocalically.
* /ə/ is slightly fronted and rounded, often as far as [ø~œ], but does not exhibit nearly the degree of allophony found in Jugřé Ewige.
* The possessive pronouns are suffixed with the adjectival ''-řé'', such as ''sodařé'' ("yours"), equivalent to saying "yours-like" or "yours-ish" in English.
* Double negation is common, with the general negative particle ''ou'' coming immediately before the verb.
* Although Třařé Ewige is also pro-drop and its verbs have polypersonal agreement, subject pronouns are still used with greater frequency than in Jugřé Ewige, but they come at the very end of the sentence, including after any adverbs.

==Grammar==
===Pronouns===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" | Subject/Object
! colspan="2" | Possessive
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| I
| ''ré''
| my/mine
| ''soré''
|-
| you
| ''da''
| your/yours
| ''soda''
|-
| him/her
| ''ut''
| his/hers
| ''soriot''
|-
| it
| ''ot''
| its
| ''sorot''
|-
| we
| ''rin''
| our/ours
| ''sorén''
|-
| you all
| ''dyř''
| all of your
| ''sodař''
|-
| they
| ''ni''
| their/theirs
| ''sonei''
|}

===Nouns===
Ewige nouns are inflected for several grammatical categories:
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Gender/Definiteness
|
''∅-'' (inanimate, indefinite) 
''a-/er-'' (inanimate, definite) 
''i-/ir-'' (animate, indefinite) 
''ja-/jer-'' (animate, definite)
|-
! Noun stem
| (any noun)
|-
! Number
|
''-∅'' (singular) 
''-(d)e'' (plural, for the vast majority of nouns)
|-
! Inalienable possession
|
''-(j)yr'' (my) 
''-(j)yda'' (your) 
''-(j)ei'' (his, her) 
''-(j)yt'' (its) 
''-(j)yré'' (our) 
''-(j)ař'' (all of your) 
''-(j)ynei'' (their)
|}

===Verbs===
Ewige verbs fall into three different conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This table lists the affixes that each form takes to mark subject, object, and tense-aspect-mood.
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" |
! ''-me''
! ''-be''
! ''-pe''
|-
! rowspan="7" | Subject
! "I"
| colspan="3" | ''é(j)-''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="3" | ''dy(j)''
|-
! "he/she"
| colspan="3" | ''i(j)-''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''o(j)-''
|-
! "we"
| colspan="3" | ''éř(é)-''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="3" | ''da(j)-''
|-
! "they"
| colspan="3" | ''né(j)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Negation
| colspan="3" | ''-ó-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Irrealis
| colspan="3" | ''-ro(v)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Passive
| colspan="3" | ''-ké(r)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Verb root
| colspan="3" | (any verb)
|-
! rowspan="5" | Tense, Aspect, Mood
! Infinitive
| ''-mé''
| ''-bé''
| ''-pé''
|-
! Past
| ''-dó''
| ''-nó''
| ''-tó''
|-
! Present
| ''-my''
| ''-(r)o''
| ''-py''
|-
! Future
| ''-dzo''
| colspan="2" | ''-sto''
|-
! Imperative
| colspan="3" | ''-(m/b/p)y'' (if followed by an object suffix), ''-∅'' (otherwise)
|-
! rowspan="7" | Object
! "me"
| colspan="3" | ''-r''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="2" | ''-d''
| ''-t''
|-
! "him/her"
| colspan="3" | ''-š''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''-ti''
|-
! "us"
| colspan="3" | ''-n''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="2" | ''-dař''
| ''-tař''
|-
! "them"
| colspan="3" | ''-ni''
|}
* The irrealis mood, which is used to indicate the subjunctive or conditional, can only be used with the basic tenses: past, present, and future.

An example of a highly inflected Ewige verb:
:''éř-ó-ro-ké-dřor-nó-d''
:1PL.NOM-NEG-SUBJ-guard-PST_bé-2SG.ACC_bé
:If we hadn't been protected by you...

Ewige has only eleven basic irregular verbs, although verbs derived from them follow their conjugations, much as the past tense of "to outdo" in English is "outdid". These verbs are only irregular in the past and present; their other inflections are regular. They are listed below in the infinitive, and in the past and present with no conjugation for person and number. They are all fairly common verbs, some of them relating to motion.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! rowspan="2" | English
! colspan="3" | Ewige
|-
! Infinitive
! Past
! Present
|-
| to be
| ''jómé''
| ''-jón''
| ''-jó''
|-
| to eat
| ''ámé''
| ''-án''
| ''-áró''
|-
| to go
| ''šérbé''
| ''-šédu''
| ''-šédo''
|-
| to need
| ''rimé''
| ''-rimu''
| ''-rimo''
|-
| to say
| ''šémé''
| ''-sonó''
| ''-soko''
|-
| to have
| ''otʼamé''
| ''-otʼou''
| ''-otʼei''
|-
| to see
| ''otʼépé''
| ''-otʼó''
| ''-otʼy''
|-
| to leave
| ''épymé''
| ''-épion''
| ''-épio''
|-
| to run
| ''sonémé''
| ''-sonu''
| ''-sono''
|-
| to walk
| ''esomé''
| ''-estu''
| ''-esto''
|-
| to swim
| ''vobé''
| ''-vobu''
| ''-vobo''
|}

===Adjectives===
Adjective inflection is simple: they are inflected for definiteness, animacy, and number using the same affixes nouns are.

===Derivation===
Ewige makes extensive use of derivation. The following are some common nominalizing prefixes and suffixes, which are attached to the verb root:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Type
! Affix
|-
| Gerund
|
''-zo'' (for verbs of motion) 
''-há'' (for all other verbs)
|-
| Gerund, habitual
|
''-sék''
|-
| Agentive
|
''-gyň'' (from a word for "friend")
|-
| Locational
|
''-ova'' (from a word for "house")
|-
| Patient
|
''žo-''
|-
| Productive
|
''ano-''
|}

The suffix to nominalize adjectives is ''-(ó)bro'', deriving from the word for "color". Conversely, ''-ře'' is used to derive adjectives from other parts of speech. A suffix ''-ry'', from the word for "slice", is attached to some nouns with a diminutive meaning, but it is not very productive in the modern language.

Ewige also possesses several affixes to derive verbs from nouns and adjectives:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Meaning
! Affix
|-
| To perform an action related to X
| ''-(ó)batpé'' (from the Russian ''-ovat'')
|-
| To turn something into X, or to make it more X
| ''-(y)hérbé'' (from an old word meaning "to transform", specifically under a magical curse)
|-
| To be like X, or to evoke X
| ''-(y)přémé'' (from an old word meaning "to agree with" or "to resemble")
|-
| To provide X to someone (usually, but not always, with a benevolent meaning)
| ''-(y)jápé'' (from an old word meaning "to allocate")
|}

====Compounds====
Each noun, verb, or adjective root has a "construct state" that is used to form compounds; this construct state is used for all roots in the compound except the final one. First, any affixes, such as those marking definiteness/animacy or the infinitive, are removed, and then the final consonant of the root is altered according to the following rules:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Final consonant of root...
! is replaced with...
|-
| Voiceless stops
| ''-šé(j)''
|-
| Voiceless fricatives
| ''-t''
|-
| Other final consonants
| ''-ž''
|-
| Root ends in ''-á''
| ''-á'' becomes ''-ež''
|-
| Root ends in a different vowel
| Vowel becomes ''-á(j)''
|}

===Syntax===
Ewige uses the rare [[w:verb–object–subject|verb–object–subject]] word order. Noun phrases are generally right-branching, with adjectives, numerals, and relative clauses all following the head noun (in that order). However, Ewige uses prepositions rather than postpositions, and determiners precede the head noun. Adverbs are formed by suffixing an adjective (or other part of speech) with ''-(j)agh'', or ''-ař'' if the adjective ends in a stop consonant. These adverbs typically come at the end of the sentence.

Other than for verbs, negation is fairly simple. Noun phrases are negated with ''vó'', which precedes the noun phrase. The general negation particle is ''ou'', which is used to negate every part of speech other than verbs and nouns.

===Questions===
Ewige possesses the following words to form questions. When applicable, corresponding non-interrogative words are also given. The interrogative words are simply placed where a non-interrogative word would be; there is no do-support as in English.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" | Interrogative
! colspan="2" | Proximate
! colspan="2" | Distal
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| what?
| ''hei?''
| this
| ''gei''
| that
| ''twei''
|-
| who/whom?
| ''hor?''
| colspan="4" rowspan="2" | —
|-
| which?
| ''hok?''
|-
| where?
| ''heiry?'' (from ''hei iry?'', literally "what place?")
| here
| ''ga''
| there
| ''twa''
|-
| when?
| ''hou?''
| now
| ''gou''
| then
| ''tou''
|-
| why?
| ''ha?''
| thus (for this reason)
| ''ga''
| thus (for that reason)
| ''twa''
|}

To form generic equivalents, ''é-'' is prefixed to the interrogative forms, such as ''éhor'' ("someone").

To turn an entire sentence interrogative, the particle ''žé'' is used in the past indicative, while ''ža'' is used in every other tense and mood. This particle typically precedes the verb, but it can come anywhere in the sentence.

==Sample text==
A speech uttered by Boromir in ''[[w:The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring|The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring]]'':

:'''Original''': It is a gift. A gift to the foes of Mordor. Why not use this Ring? Long has my father, the steward of Gondor, kept the forces of Mordor at bay. By the blood of our people are your lands kept safe. Give Gondor the weapon of the enemy; let us use it against him!

:'''Ewige:''' Ojó jobóno. Jobóno osáň jaboř va Mórdór. Éřóvouro sesbé gei gritʼ ha? Igʼamyni erómode va Mórdór jadřyjyr, é ijó jadřorsék va Góndór, žytař. Nékédřoroni ařyšékʼóre va janarni sorén. Bʼómyti agʼožéde wa jaboř osáň Góndór, su ropyn sesbé ot ghog ut!

:'''Gloss:''' 3SG.INAN.NOM-be.PRES gift. // gift to DEF.AN-foe of Mordor. // 1PL.NOM-NEG-be_able-PRES.bé use_INF this ring why? // 3SG.AN.NOM-push-PRES.mé-3PL.ACC DEF.INAN-force-PL of Mordor DEF.AN-father-1SG.POSS REL 3SG.AN.NOM-be.PRES DEF.AN-protect-AGENT of Gondor far-ADV. // 3PL.NOM-PASS-protect-PRES.bé-3PL.ACC DEF.INAN-land-PL of DEF.AN-person.PL 2SG.POSS with DEF.INAN-blood of DEF.AN-person.PL 1PL.POSS. give-IMP-3SG.INAN.ACC DEF.INAN-weapon of DEF.AN-foe to Gondor and allow-IMP-1PL.ACC use-INF 3SG.INAN against 3SG.AN!

User:Frrurtu/Sandbox5

2017-11-04T19:08:26Z

Frrurtu: /* Sample text */

'''Ewige'''

==History==
Ewige is one of many descendants of Ivugi, which was spoken circa 1000 AD in the Eurasian steppe in present-day [[w:Siberia|Siberia]]. It has undergone many phonological and grammatical changes, evolving from a relatively isolating language to a highly agglutinative one with polypersonal inflection and an animate-inanimate distinction. Its syllable structure has grown more restrictive and it has lost its phonemic stress, but its vowel and consonant inventories have grown.

While it has historically been written in [[w:Cyrillic|Cyrillic]], the Ewige people were among the earliest adopters of the [[w:Latin script|Latin script]] among Siberian peoples. However, many of their orthographical conventions, such as extensive use of the [[w:hacek|hacek]], are Slavic in nature.

===Phonological history===
Ewige is characterized by the following phonological innovations from Ivugi:
* Creation of a new /e/ phoneme, formed from historical /i/ and /ɨ/ before voiceless fricatives and /r/, and historical /ɛ/ before alveolar consonants.
* Creation of a new /ʃ/ phoneme from /s/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /t/ also become /ʃ/.
* Creation of a new /ʒ/ phoneme from /z/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /j/ also became /ʒ/.
* The glottal stop /ʔ/ merging with the other three voiceless stops depending on the preceding vowel: /t/ after front vowels, /k/ after central vowels, and /p/ after back vowels.
* Creation of a new /m/ phoneme from intervocalic /b/ in unstressed syllables, plus /n/ and /ŋ/ before labials and unstressed /o/.
* Simplification of various labial-stop clusters: /kp/, /tp/, /rp/, /kb/, and /tb/ all become /p/, and /gb/, /db/, and /rb/ all become /b/.
* Shift of certain vowels' pronunciations when unstressed: /au/ and /o/ become [u], /ai/ merges with /i/, and /ɨ/ and /ɐ/ become [ə].
* Development of aspirated and breathy-voiced allophones of stops in stressed syllables.
* Loss of phonemic stress in favor of universal initial stress—except in some loanwords and compounds—causing /u/, /ə/, and the aspirated and breathy-voiced stops to all become phonemic.
* Merger of /ɸ/ into /β/, which then shifts its pronunciation to [w].
* Merger of /l/ into /ɾ/.
* Merger of /x/ and /ɣ/ into /r/ after stops.
* Chain shifts affecting most vowel monophthongs: /ɨ/ > /i/ > /e/ > /ɛ/ > /a/, and /ɐ/ > /ɑ/ > /ɔ/.
* Raising of the two diphthongs: /ai/ to [ei] and /au/ to [ou].

===Grammatical history===
It has also undergone the following grammatical innovations:
* Drastic simplification of noun pluralization: the majority of nouns now pluralize with ''-e'' or ''-de'', although a few dozen irregular nouns remain as vestiges of Ivugi's complex ablaut-based system.
* Generalizing the Ivugi particle ''u'', which was used before animate singular nouns in the accusative, to be a general affix for animate nouns. Explicitly animate pronouns and verb inflections would later develop based on it.
* Repurposing Ivugi's ''yi'' and ''ye'', which were the interrogative forms of "to be" in the past and present, as generic interrogative markers, and the resultant loss of Ivugi's morphological interrogative mood. They are now ''žé'' and ''ža''.
* Obligatory marking of inalienable possession on certain nouns, created from the Ivugi particle ''a'' ("of", inalienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Development of possessive pronouns using the Ivugi particle ''sal'' ("of", semi-alienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Generalization of Ivugi's third genitive particle ''val'' ("of", alienable) as the only genitive particle, now ''va''.
* Expansion of Ivugi's simpler verb paradigm, in which all verbs had infinitives ending in ''-bi'' and inflected basically the same way, into a more complex paradigm with three conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This process came about when clusters of various consonants and /b/ simplified in different ways.
* Polypersonal inflection on the verb: whereas Ivugi verbs did not indicate person in any form, Ewige verbs can inflect for both subject and object, both of which started as forms of the pronouns and then phonologically reduced.
* Simplification of the Ivugi syllable onset alternation process to a basic affix, ''-ro-'' before a consonant and ''-rov-'' before a vowel. This affix was then repurposed to form the subjunctive/conditional mood, which can be used in any of the three tenses: past, present, and future.
* Innovation of a new future tense inflection, ''-sto'', from the Ivugi verb ''sída'' ("goes"/"is going").
* Shift from SVO (subject-object-verb) word order to the rare VOS, after the innovation of person-marking on verbs created less need for an explicit subject at the start of the sentence.

==Phonology==
===Consonants===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" |
! |Labial
! |Alveolar
! |Palato-alveolar
! |Palatal
! |Velar
! |Glottal
|-
! colspan="2" | Nasal
| '''m''' /m/
| '''n''' /n/
|
|
| '''ň''' /ŋ/
|
|-
! rowspan="4" | Plosive
! Voiceless
| '''p''' /p/
| '''t''' /t/
|
|
| '''k''' /k/
|
|-
! Voiced
| '''b''' /b/
| '''d''' /d/
|
|
| '''g''' /g/
|
|-
! Aspirated
| '''pʼ''' /pʰ/
| '''tʼ''' /tʰ/
|
|
| '''kʼ''' /kʰ/
|
|-
! Breathy-voiced
| '''bʼ''' /bʱ/
| '''dʼ''' /dʱ/
|
|
| '''gʼ''' /gʱ/
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | Fricative
! Voiceless
|
| '''s''' /s/
| '''š''' /ʃ/
|
| '''ch''' /x/
| '''h''' /h/
|-
! Voiced
|
| '''z''' /z/
| '''ž''' /ʒ/
|
| '''gh''' /ɣ/
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Approximant
| '''v''' /w~ɹ/
|
|
| '''j''' /j/
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Tap
|
| '''r''' /ɾ/
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Trill
|
| '''ř''' /r/
|
|
|
|
|}
* After back vowels, palato-alveolar /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ are often realized as retroflex [ʂ] and [ʐ].
* The labio-velar approximant /w/ may be realized as alveolar [ɹ], especially intervocalically. By one analysis, this gives Ewige the rare distinction of possessing three rhotic consonants: /ɹ/, /ɾ/, and /r/.

===Vowels===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Monophthongs'''
! |
! |Front
! |Central
! |Back
|-
! High
| '''i''' /i/
|
| '''u''' /u/
|-
! High-mid
| '''é''' /e/
|
| '''ó''' /o/
|-
! Mid
|
| '''y''' /ə/
|
|-
! Low-mid
| '''e''' /ɛ/
|
| '''o''' /ɔ/
|-
! Low
| '''a''' /a/
|
| '''á''' /ɑ/
|}

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Diphthongs'''
! |Front
! |Back
|-
| '''ei''' /ei/
| '''ou''' /ou/
|}
* The mid-central vowel represented here by a schwa, /ə/, can in reality be realized with a wide range of allophones depending on the following consonant. Speakers may possess any or all of these allophones, and younger speakers use them more than older speakers:
:* [ɨ~i], before voiceless stops
:* [əi~oi], before voiceless fricatives
:* [ɜ~ɐ], before /ɾ/ and /r/ and in word-final position
:* syllabification, before nasals, e.g. /ən/ [n̩]

==Vocabulary==
While most of Ewige's vocabulary is indigenous, it has borrowed a large number of terms from nearby languages of the Eurasian steppe, particularly [[w:Russian language|Russian]], [[w:Kazakh language|Kazakh]], and [[w:Mongolian language|Mongolian]].

==Dialectology==

==Grammar==
===Pronouns===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" | Subject/Object
! colspan="2" | Possessive
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| I
| ''ré''
| my/mine
| ''soré''
|-
| you
| ''da''
| your/yours
| ''soda''
|-
| him/her
| ''ut''
| his/hers
| ''soriot''
|-
| it
| ''ot''
| its
| ''sorot''
|-
| we
| ''rin''
| our/ours
| ''sorén''
|-
| you all
| ''dyř''
| all of your
| ''sodař''
|-
| they
| ''ni''
| their/theirs
| ''sonei''
|}

===Nouns===
Ewige nouns are inflected for several grammatical categories:
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Gender/Definiteness
|
''∅-'' (inanimate, indefinite) 
''a-/er-'' (inanimate, definite) 
''i-/ir-'' (animate, indefinite) 
''ja-/jer-'' (animate, definite)
|-
! Noun stem
| (any noun)
|-
! Number
|
''-∅'' (singular) 
''-(d)e'' (plural, for the vast majority of nouns)
|-
! Inalienable possession
|
''-(j)yr'' (my) 
''-(j)yda'' (your) 
''-(j)ei'' (his, her) 
''-(j)yt'' (its) 
''-(j)yré'' (our) 
''-(j)ař'' (all of your) 
''-(j)ynei'' (their)
|}

===Verbs===
Ewige verbs fall into three different conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This table lists the affixes that each form takes to mark subject, object, and tense-aspect-mood.
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" |
! ''-me''
! ''-be''
! ''-pe''
|-
! rowspan="7" | Subject
! "I"
| colspan="3" | ''é(j)-''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="3" | ''dy(j)''
|-
! "he/she"
| colspan="3" | ''i(j)-''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''o(j)-''
|-
! "we"
| colspan="3" | ''éř(é)-''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="3" | ''da(j)-''
|-
! "they"
| colspan="3" | ''né(j)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Negation
| colspan="3" | ''-ó-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Irrealis
| colspan="3" | ''-ro(v)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Passive
| colspan="3" | ''-ké(r)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Verb root
| colspan="3" | (any verb)
|-
! rowspan="5" | Tense, Aspect, Mood
! Infinitive
| ''-mé''
| ''-bé''
| ''-pé''
|-
! Past
| ''-dó''
| ''-nó''
| ''-tó''
|-
! Present
| ''-my''
| ''-(r)o''
| ''-py''
|-
! Future
| ''-dzo''
| colspan="2" | ''-sto''
|-
! Imperative
| colspan="3" | ''-(m/b/p)y'' (if followed by an object suffix), ''-∅'' (otherwise)
|-
! rowspan="7" | Object
! "me"
| colspan="3" | ''-r''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="2" | ''-d''
| ''-t''
|-
! "him/her"
| colspan="3" | ''-š''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''-ti''
|-
! "us"
| colspan="3" | ''-n''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="2" | ''-dař''
| ''-tař''
|-
! "them"
| colspan="3" | ''-ni''
|}
* The irrealis mood, which is used to indicate the subjunctive or conditional, can only be used with the basic tenses: past, present, and future.

An example of a highly inflected Ewige verb:
:''éř-ó-ro-ké-dřor-nó-d''
:1PL.NOM-NEG-SUBJ-guard-PST_bé-2SG.ACC_bé
:If we hadn't been protected by you...

Ewige has only eleven basic irregular verbs, although verbs derived from them follow their conjugations, much as the past tense of "to outdo" in English is "outdid". These verbs are only irregular in the past and present; their other inflections are regular. They are listed below in the infinitive, and in the past and present with no conjugation for person and number. They are all fairly common verbs, some of them relating to motion.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! rowspan="2" | English
! colspan="3" | Ewige
|-
! Infinitive
! Past
! Present
|-
| to be
| ''jómé''
| ''-jón''
| ''-jó''
|-
| to eat
| ''ámé''
| ''-án''
| ''-áró''
|-
| to go
| ''šérbé''
| ''-šédu''
| ''-šédo''
|-
| to need
| ''rimé''
| ''-rimu''
| ''-rimo''
|-
| to say
| ''šémé''
| ''-sonó''
| ''-soko''
|-
| to have
| ''otʼamé''
| ''-otʼou''
| ''-otʼei''
|-
| to see
| ''otʼépé''
| ''-otʼó''
| ''-otʼy''
|-
| to leave
| ''épymé''
| ''-épion''
| ''-épio''
|-
| to run
| ''sonémé''
| ''-sonu''
| ''-sono''
|-
| to walk
| ''esomé''
| ''-estu''
| ''-esto''
|-
| to swim
| ''vobé''
| ''-vobu''
| ''-vobo''
|}

===Adjectives===
Adjective inflection is simple: they are inflected for definiteness, animacy, and number using the same affixes nouns are.

===Derivation===
Ewige makes extensive use of derivation. The following are some common nominalizing prefixes and suffixes, which are attached to the verb root:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Type
! Affix
|-
| Gerund
|
''-zo'' (for verbs of motion) 
''-há'' (for all other verbs)
|-
| Gerund, habitual
|
''-sék''
|-
| Agentive
|
''-gyň'' (from a word for "friend")
|-
| Locational
|
''-ova'' (from a word for "house")
|-
| Patient
|
''žo-''
|-
| Productive
|
''ano-''
|}

The suffix to nominalize adjectives is ''-(ó)bro'', deriving from the word for "color". Conversely, ''-ře'' is used to derive adjectives from other parts of speech. A suffix ''-ry'', from the word for "slice", is attached to some nouns with a diminutive meaning, but it is not very productive in the modern language.

Ewige also possesses several affixes to derive verbs from nouns and adjectives:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Meaning
! Affix
|-
| To perform an action related to X
| ''-(ó)batpé'' (from the Russian ''-ovat'')
|-
| To turn something into X, or to make it more X
| ''-(y)hérbé'' (from an old word meaning "to transform", specifically under a magical curse)
|-
| To be like X, or to evoke X
| ''-(y)přémé'' (from an old word meaning "to agree with" or "to resemble")
|-
| To provide X to someone (usually, but not always, with a benevolent meaning)
| ''-(y)jápé'' (from an old word meaning "to allocate")
|}

====Compounds====
Each noun, verb, or adjective root has a "construct state" that is used to form compounds; this construct state is used for all roots in the compound except the final one. First, any affixes, such as those marking definiteness/animacy or the infinitive, are removed, and then the final consonant of the root is altered according to the following rules:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Final consonant of root...
! is replaced with...
|-
| Voiceless stops
| ''-šé(j)''
|-
| Voiceless fricatives
| ''-t''
|-
| Other final consonants
| ''-ž''
|-
| Root ends in ''-á''
| ''-á'' becomes ''-ež''
|-
| Root ends in a different vowel
| Vowel becomes ''-á(j)''
|}

===Syntax===
Ewige uses the rare [[w:verb–object–subject|verb–object–subject]] word order. Noun phrases are generally right-branching, with adjectives, numerals, and relative clauses all following the head noun (in that order). However, Ewige uses prepositions rather than postpositions, and determiners precede the head noun. Adverbs are formed by suffixing an adjective (or other part of speech) with ''-(j)agh'', or ''-ař'' if the adjective ends in a stop consonant. These adverbs typically come at the end of the sentence.

Other than for verbs, negation is fairly simple. Noun phrases are negated with ''vó'', which precedes the noun phrase. The general negation particle is ''ou'', which is used to negate every part of speech other than verbs and nouns.

===Questions===
Ewige possesses the following words to form questions. When applicable, corresponding non-interrogative words are also given. The interrogative words are simply placed where a non-interrogative word would be; there is no do-support as in English.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" | Interrogative
! colspan="2" | Proximate
! colspan="2" | Distal
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| what?
| ''hei?''
| this
| ''gei''
| that
| ''twei''
|-
| who/whom?
| ''hor?''
| colspan="4" rowspan="2" | —
|-
| which?
| ''hok?''
|-
| where?
| ''heiry?'' (from ''hei iry?'', literally "what place?")
| here
| ''ga''
| there
| ''twa''
|-
| when?
| ''hou?''
| now
| ''gou''
| then
| ''tou''
|-
| why?
| ''ha?''
| thus (for this reason)
| ''ga''
| thus (for that reason)
| ''twa''
|}

To form generic equivalents, ''é-'' is prefixed to the interrogative forms, such as ''éhor'' ("someone").

To turn an entire sentence interrogative, the particle ''žé'' is used in the past indicative, while ''ža'' is used in every other tense and mood. This particle typically precedes the verb, but it can come anywhere in the sentence.

==Sample text==
A speech uttered by Boromir in ''[[w:The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring|The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring]]'':

:'''Original''': It is a gift. A gift to the foes of Mordor. Why not use this Ring? Long has my father, the steward of Gondor, kept the forces of Mordor at bay. By the blood of our people are your lands kept safe. Give Gondor the weapon of the enemy; let us use it against him!

:'''Ewige:''' Ojó jobóno. Jobóno osáň jaboř va Mórdór. Éřóvouro sesbé gei gritʼ ha? Igʼamyni erómode va Mórdór jadřyjyr, é ijó jadřorsék va Góndór, žytař. Nékédřoroni ařyšékʼóre va janarni sorén. Bʼómyti agʼožéde wa jaboř osáň Góndór, su ropyn sesbé ot ghog ut!

:'''Gloss:''' 3SG.INAN.NOM-be.PRES gift. // gift to DEF.AN-foe of Mordor. // 1PL.NOM-NEG-be_able-PRES.bé use_INF this ring why? // 3SG.AN.NOM-push-PRES.mé-3PL.ACC DEF.INAN-force-PL of Mordor DEF.AN-father-1SG.POSS REL 3SG.AN.NOM-be.PRES DEF.AN-protect-AGENT of Gondor far-ADV. // 3PL.NOM-PASS-protect-PRES.bé-3PL.ACC DEF.INAN-land-PL of DEF.AN-person.PL 2SG.POSS with DEF.INAN-blood of DEF.AN-person.PL 1PL.POSS. give-IMP-3SG.INAN.ACC DEF.INAN-weapon of DEF.AN-foe to Gondor and allow-IMP-1PL.ACC use-INF 3SG.INAN against 3SG.AN!

User:Frrurtu/Sandbox5

2017-11-04T18:58:02Z

Frrurtu: /* Verbs */

'''Ewige'''

==History==
Ewige is one of many descendants of Ivugi, which was spoken circa 1000 AD in the Eurasian steppe in present-day [[w:Siberia|Siberia]]. It has undergone many phonological and grammatical changes, evolving from a relatively isolating language to a highly agglutinative one with polypersonal inflection and an animate-inanimate distinction. Its syllable structure has grown more restrictive and it has lost its phonemic stress, but its vowel and consonant inventories have grown.

While it has historically been written in [[w:Cyrillic|Cyrillic]], the Ewige people were among the earliest adopters of the [[w:Latin script|Latin script]] among Siberian peoples. However, many of their orthographical conventions, such as extensive use of the [[w:hacek|hacek]], are Slavic in nature.

===Phonological history===
Ewige is characterized by the following phonological innovations from Ivugi:
* Creation of a new /e/ phoneme, formed from historical /i/ and /ɨ/ before voiceless fricatives and /r/, and historical /ɛ/ before alveolar consonants.
* Creation of a new /ʃ/ phoneme from /s/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /t/ also become /ʃ/.
* Creation of a new /ʒ/ phoneme from /z/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /j/ also became /ʒ/.
* The glottal stop /ʔ/ merging with the other three voiceless stops depending on the preceding vowel: /t/ after front vowels, /k/ after central vowels, and /p/ after back vowels.
* Creation of a new /m/ phoneme from intervocalic /b/ in unstressed syllables, plus /n/ and /ŋ/ before labials and unstressed /o/.
* Simplification of various labial-stop clusters: /kp/, /tp/, /rp/, /kb/, and /tb/ all become /p/, and /gb/, /db/, and /rb/ all become /b/.
* Shift of certain vowels' pronunciations when unstressed: /au/ and /o/ become [u], /ai/ merges with /i/, and /ɨ/ and /ɐ/ become [ə].
* Development of aspirated and breathy-voiced allophones of stops in stressed syllables.
* Loss of phonemic stress in favor of universal initial stress—except in some loanwords and compounds—causing /u/, /ə/, and the aspirated and breathy-voiced stops to all become phonemic.
* Merger of /ɸ/ into /β/, which then shifts its pronunciation to [w].
* Merger of /l/ into /ɾ/.
* Merger of /x/ and /ɣ/ into /r/ after stops.
* Chain shifts affecting most vowel monophthongs: /ɨ/ > /i/ > /e/ > /ɛ/ > /a/, and /ɐ/ > /ɑ/ > /ɔ/.
* Raising of the two diphthongs: /ai/ to [ei] and /au/ to [ou].

===Grammatical history===
It has also undergone the following grammatical innovations:
* Drastic simplification of noun pluralization: the majority of nouns now pluralize with ''-e'' or ''-de'', although a few dozen irregular nouns remain as vestiges of Ivugi's complex ablaut-based system.
* Generalizing the Ivugi particle ''u'', which was used before animate singular nouns in the accusative, to be a general affix for animate nouns. Explicitly animate pronouns and verb inflections would later develop based on it.
* Repurposing Ivugi's ''yi'' and ''ye'', which were the interrogative forms of "to be" in the past and present, as generic interrogative markers, and the resultant loss of Ivugi's morphological interrogative mood. They are now ''žé'' and ''ža''.
* Obligatory marking of inalienable possession on certain nouns, created from the Ivugi particle ''a'' ("of", inalienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Development of possessive pronouns using the Ivugi particle ''sal'' ("of", semi-alienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Generalization of Ivugi's third genitive particle ''val'' ("of", alienable) as the only genitive particle, now ''va''.
* Expansion of Ivugi's simpler verb paradigm, in which all verbs had infinitives ending in ''-bi'' and inflected basically the same way, into a more complex paradigm with three conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This process came about when clusters of various consonants and /b/ simplified in different ways.
* Polypersonal inflection on the verb: whereas Ivugi verbs did not indicate person in any form, Ewige verbs can inflect for both subject and object, both of which started as forms of the pronouns and then phonologically reduced.
* Simplification of the Ivugi syllable onset alternation process to a basic affix, ''-ro-'' before a consonant and ''-rov-'' before a vowel. This affix was then repurposed to form the subjunctive/conditional mood, which can be used in any of the three tenses: past, present, and future.
* Innovation of a new future tense inflection, ''-sto'', from the Ivugi verb ''sída'' ("goes"/"is going").
* Shift from SVO (subject-object-verb) word order to the rare VOS, after the innovation of person-marking on verbs created less need for an explicit subject at the start of the sentence.

==Phonology==
===Consonants===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" |
! |Labial
! |Alveolar
! |Palato-alveolar
! |Palatal
! |Velar
! |Glottal
|-
! colspan="2" | Nasal
| '''m''' /m/
| '''n''' /n/
|
|
| '''ň''' /ŋ/
|
|-
! rowspan="4" | Plosive
! Voiceless
| '''p''' /p/
| '''t''' /t/
|
|
| '''k''' /k/
|
|-
! Voiced
| '''b''' /b/
| '''d''' /d/
|
|
| '''g''' /g/
|
|-
! Aspirated
| '''pʼ''' /pʰ/
| '''tʼ''' /tʰ/
|
|
| '''kʼ''' /kʰ/
|
|-
! Breathy-voiced
| '''bʼ''' /bʱ/
| '''dʼ''' /dʱ/
|
|
| '''gʼ''' /gʱ/
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | Fricative
! Voiceless
|
| '''s''' /s/
| '''š''' /ʃ/
|
| '''ch''' /x/
| '''h''' /h/
|-
! Voiced
|
| '''z''' /z/
| '''ž''' /ʒ/
|
| '''gh''' /ɣ/
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Approximant
| '''v''' /w~ɹ/
|
|
| '''j''' /j/
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Tap
|
| '''r''' /ɾ/
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Trill
|
| '''ř''' /r/
|
|
|
|
|}
* After back vowels, palato-alveolar /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ are often realized as retroflex [ʂ] and [ʐ].
* The labio-velar approximant /w/ may be realized as alveolar [ɹ], especially intervocalically. By one analysis, this gives Ewige the rare distinction of possessing three rhotic consonants: /ɹ/, /ɾ/, and /r/.

===Vowels===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Monophthongs'''
! |
! |Front
! |Central
! |Back
|-
! High
| '''i''' /i/
|
| '''u''' /u/
|-
! High-mid
| '''é''' /e/
|
| '''ó''' /o/
|-
! Mid
|
| '''y''' /ə/
|
|-
! Low-mid
| '''e''' /ɛ/
|
| '''o''' /ɔ/
|-
! Low
| '''a''' /a/
|
| '''á''' /ɑ/
|}

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Diphthongs'''
! |Front
! |Back
|-
| '''ei''' /ei/
| '''ou''' /ou/
|}
* The mid-central vowel represented here by a schwa, /ə/, can in reality be realized with a wide range of allophones depending on the following consonant. Speakers may possess any or all of these allophones, and younger speakers use them more than older speakers:
:* [ɨ~i], before voiceless stops
:* [əi~oi], before voiceless fricatives
:* [ɜ~ɐ], before /ɾ/ and /r/ and in word-final position
:* syllabification, before nasals, e.g. /ən/ [n̩]

==Vocabulary==
While most of Ewige's vocabulary is indigenous, it has borrowed a large number of terms from nearby languages of the Eurasian steppe, particularly [[w:Russian language|Russian]], [[w:Kazakh language|Kazakh]], and [[w:Mongolian language|Mongolian]].

==Dialectology==

==Grammar==
===Pronouns===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" | Subject/Object
! colspan="2" | Possessive
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| I
| ''ré''
| my/mine
| ''soré''
|-
| you
| ''da''
| your/yours
| ''soda''
|-
| him/her
| ''ut''
| his/hers
| ''soriot''
|-
| it
| ''ot''
| its
| ''sorot''
|-
| we
| ''rin''
| our/ours
| ''sorén''
|-
| you all
| ''dyř''
| all of your
| ''sodař''
|-
| they
| ''ni''
| their/theirs
| ''sonei''
|}

===Nouns===
Ewige nouns are inflected for several grammatical categories:
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Gender/Definiteness
|
''∅-'' (inanimate, indefinite) 
''a-/er-'' (inanimate, definite) 
''i-/ir-'' (animate, indefinite) 
''ja-/jer-'' (animate, definite)
|-
! Noun stem
| (any noun)
|-
! Number
|
''-∅'' (singular) 
''-(d)e'' (plural, for the vast majority of nouns)
|-
! Inalienable possession
|
''-(j)yr'' (my) 
''-(j)yda'' (your) 
''-(j)ei'' (his, her) 
''-(j)yt'' (its) 
''-(j)yré'' (our) 
''-(j)ař'' (all of your) 
''-(j)ynei'' (their)
|}

===Verbs===
Ewige verbs fall into three different conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This table lists the affixes that each form takes to mark subject, object, and tense-aspect-mood.
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" |
! ''-me''
! ''-be''
! ''-pe''
|-
! rowspan="7" | Subject
! "I"
| colspan="3" | ''é(j)-''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="3" | ''dy(j)''
|-
! "he/she"
| colspan="3" | ''i(j)-''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''o(j)-''
|-
! "we"
| colspan="3" | ''éř(é)-''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="3" | ''da(j)-''
|-
! "they"
| colspan="3" | ''né(j)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Negation
| colspan="3" | ''-ó-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Irrealis
| colspan="3" | ''-ro(v)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Passive
| colspan="3" | ''-ké(r)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Verb root
| colspan="3" | (any verb)
|-
! rowspan="5" | Tense, Aspect, Mood
! Infinitive
| ''-mé''
| ''-bé''
| ''-pé''
|-
! Past
| ''-dó''
| ''-nó''
| ''-tó''
|-
! Present
| ''-my''
| ''-(r)o''
| ''-py''
|-
! Future
| ''-dzo''
| colspan="2" | ''-sto''
|-
! Imperative
| colspan="3" | ''-(m/b/p)y'' (if followed by an object suffix), ''-∅'' (otherwise)
|-
! rowspan="7" | Object
! "me"
| colspan="3" | ''-r''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="2" | ''-d''
| ''-t''
|-
! "him/her"
| colspan="3" | ''-š''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''-ti''
|-
! "us"
| colspan="3" | ''-n''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="2" | ''-dař''
| ''-tař''
|-
! "them"
| colspan="3" | ''-ni''
|}
* The irrealis mood, which is used to indicate the subjunctive or conditional, can only be used with the basic tenses: past, present, and future.

An example of a highly inflected Ewige verb:
:''éř-ó-ro-ké-dřor-nó-d''
:1PL.NOM-NEG-SUBJ-guard-PST_bé-2SG.ACC_bé
:If we hadn't been protected by you...

Ewige has only eleven basic irregular verbs, although verbs derived from them follow their conjugations, much as the past tense of "to outdo" in English is "outdid". These verbs are only irregular in the past and present; their other inflections are regular. They are listed below in the infinitive, and in the past and present with no conjugation for person and number. They are all fairly common verbs, some of them relating to motion.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! rowspan="2" | English
! colspan="3" | Ewige
|-
! Infinitive
! Past
! Present
|-
| to be
| ''jómé''
| ''-jón''
| ''-jó''
|-
| to eat
| ''ámé''
| ''-án''
| ''-áró''
|-
| to go
| ''šérbé''
| ''-šédu''
| ''-šédo''
|-
| to need
| ''rimé''
| ''-rimu''
| ''-rimo''
|-
| to say
| ''šémé''
| ''-sonó''
| ''-soko''
|-
| to have
| ''otʼamé''
| ''-otʼou''
| ''-otʼei''
|-
| to see
| ''otʼépé''
| ''-otʼó''
| ''-otʼy''
|-
| to leave
| ''épymé''
| ''-épion''
| ''-épio''
|-
| to run
| ''sonémé''
| ''-sonu''
| ''-sono''
|-
| to walk
| ''esomé''
| ''-estu''
| ''-esto''
|-
| to swim
| ''vobé''
| ''-vobu''
| ''-vobo''
|}

===Adjectives===
Adjective inflection is simple: they are inflected for definiteness, animacy, and number using the same affixes nouns are.

===Derivation===
Ewige makes extensive use of derivation. The following are some common nominalizing prefixes and suffixes, which are attached to the verb root:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Type
! Affix
|-
| Gerund
|
''-zo'' (for verbs of motion) 
''-há'' (for all other verbs)
|-
| Gerund, habitual
|
''-sék''
|-
| Agentive
|
''-gyň'' (from a word for "friend")
|-
| Locational
|
''-ova'' (from a word for "house")
|-
| Patient
|
''žo-''
|-
| Productive
|
''ano-''
|}

The suffix to nominalize adjectives is ''-(ó)bro'', deriving from the word for "color". Conversely, ''-ře'' is used to derive adjectives from other parts of speech. A suffix ''-ry'', from the word for "slice", is attached to some nouns with a diminutive meaning, but it is not very productive in the modern language.

Ewige also possesses several affixes to derive verbs from nouns and adjectives:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Meaning
! Affix
|-
| To perform an action related to X
| ''-(ó)batpé'' (from the Russian ''-ovat'')
|-
| To turn something into X, or to make it more X
| ''-(y)hérbé'' (from an old word meaning "to transform", specifically under a magical curse)
|-
| To be like X, or to evoke X
| ''-(y)přémé'' (from an old word meaning "to agree with" or "to resemble")
|-
| To provide X to someone (usually, but not always, with a benevolent meaning)
| ''-(y)jápé'' (from an old word meaning "to allocate")
|}

====Compounds====
Each noun, verb, or adjective root has a "construct state" that is used to form compounds; this construct state is used for all roots in the compound except the final one. First, any affixes, such as those marking definiteness/animacy or the infinitive, are removed, and then the final consonant of the root is altered according to the following rules:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Final consonant of root...
! is replaced with...
|-
| Voiceless stops
| ''-šé(j)''
|-
| Voiceless fricatives
| ''-t''
|-
| Other final consonants
| ''-ž''
|-
| Root ends in ''-á''
| ''-á'' becomes ''-ež''
|-
| Root ends in a different vowel
| Vowel becomes ''-á(j)''
|}

===Syntax===
Ewige uses the rare [[w:verb–object–subject|verb–object–subject]] word order. Noun phrases are generally right-branching, with adjectives, numerals, and relative clauses all following the head noun (in that order). However, Ewige uses prepositions rather than postpositions, and determiners precede the head noun. Adverbs are formed by suffixing an adjective (or other part of speech) with ''-(j)agh'', or ''-ař'' if the adjective ends in a stop consonant. These adverbs typically come at the end of the sentence.

Other than for verbs, negation is fairly simple. Noun phrases are negated with ''vó'', which precedes the noun phrase. The general negation particle is ''ou'', which is used to negate every part of speech other than verbs and nouns.

===Questions===
Ewige possesses the following words to form questions. When applicable, corresponding non-interrogative words are also given. The interrogative words are simply placed where a non-interrogative word would be; there is no do-support as in English.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" | Interrogative
! colspan="2" | Proximate
! colspan="2" | Distal
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| what?
| ''hei?''
| this
| ''gei''
| that
| ''twei''
|-
| who/whom?
| ''hor?''
| colspan="4" rowspan="2" | —
|-
| which?
| ''hok?''
|-
| where?
| ''heiry?'' (from ''hei iry?'', literally "what place?")
| here
| ''ga''
| there
| ''twa''
|-
| when?
| ''hou?''
| now
| ''gou''
| then
| ''tou''
|-
| why?
| ''ha?''
| thus (for this reason)
| ''ga''
| thus (for that reason)
| ''twa''
|}

To form generic equivalents, ''é-'' is prefixed to the interrogative forms, such as ''éhor'' ("someone").

To turn an entire sentence interrogative, the particle ''žé'' is used in the past indicative, while ''ža'' is used in every other tense and mood. This particle typically precedes the verb, but it can come anywhere in the sentence.

==Sample text==

User:Frrurtu/Sandbox5

2017-11-04T18:56:42Z

Frrurtu: /* Verbs */

'''Ewige'''

==History==
Ewige is one of many descendants of Ivugi, which was spoken circa 1000 AD in the Eurasian steppe in present-day [[w:Siberia|Siberia]]. It has undergone many phonological and grammatical changes, evolving from a relatively isolating language to a highly agglutinative one with polypersonal inflection and an animate-inanimate distinction. Its syllable structure has grown more restrictive and it has lost its phonemic stress, but its vowel and consonant inventories have grown.

While it has historically been written in [[w:Cyrillic|Cyrillic]], the Ewige people were among the earliest adopters of the [[w:Latin script|Latin script]] among Siberian peoples. However, many of their orthographical conventions, such as extensive use of the [[w:hacek|hacek]], are Slavic in nature.

===Phonological history===
Ewige is characterized by the following phonological innovations from Ivugi:
* Creation of a new /e/ phoneme, formed from historical /i/ and /ɨ/ before voiceless fricatives and /r/, and historical /ɛ/ before alveolar consonants.
* Creation of a new /ʃ/ phoneme from /s/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /t/ also become /ʃ/.
* Creation of a new /ʒ/ phoneme from /z/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /j/ also became /ʒ/.
* The glottal stop /ʔ/ merging with the other three voiceless stops depending on the preceding vowel: /t/ after front vowels, /k/ after central vowels, and /p/ after back vowels.
* Creation of a new /m/ phoneme from intervocalic /b/ in unstressed syllables, plus /n/ and /ŋ/ before labials and unstressed /o/.
* Simplification of various labial-stop clusters: /kp/, /tp/, /rp/, /kb/, and /tb/ all become /p/, and /gb/, /db/, and /rb/ all become /b/.
* Shift of certain vowels' pronunciations when unstressed: /au/ and /o/ become [u], /ai/ merges with /i/, and /ɨ/ and /ɐ/ become [ə].
* Development of aspirated and breathy-voiced allophones of stops in stressed syllables.
* Loss of phonemic stress in favor of universal initial stress—except in some loanwords and compounds—causing /u/, /ə/, and the aspirated and breathy-voiced stops to all become phonemic.
* Merger of /ɸ/ into /β/, which then shifts its pronunciation to [w].
* Merger of /l/ into /ɾ/.
* Merger of /x/ and /ɣ/ into /r/ after stops.
* Chain shifts affecting most vowel monophthongs: /ɨ/ > /i/ > /e/ > /ɛ/ > /a/, and /ɐ/ > /ɑ/ > /ɔ/.
* Raising of the two diphthongs: /ai/ to [ei] and /au/ to [ou].

===Grammatical history===
It has also undergone the following grammatical innovations:
* Drastic simplification of noun pluralization: the majority of nouns now pluralize with ''-e'' or ''-de'', although a few dozen irregular nouns remain as vestiges of Ivugi's complex ablaut-based system.
* Generalizing the Ivugi particle ''u'', which was used before animate singular nouns in the accusative, to be a general affix for animate nouns. Explicitly animate pronouns and verb inflections would later develop based on it.
* Repurposing Ivugi's ''yi'' and ''ye'', which were the interrogative forms of "to be" in the past and present, as generic interrogative markers, and the resultant loss of Ivugi's morphological interrogative mood. They are now ''žé'' and ''ža''.
* Obligatory marking of inalienable possession on certain nouns, created from the Ivugi particle ''a'' ("of", inalienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Development of possessive pronouns using the Ivugi particle ''sal'' ("of", semi-alienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Generalization of Ivugi's third genitive particle ''val'' ("of", alienable) as the only genitive particle, now ''va''.
* Expansion of Ivugi's simpler verb paradigm, in which all verbs had infinitives ending in ''-bi'' and inflected basically the same way, into a more complex paradigm with three conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This process came about when clusters of various consonants and /b/ simplified in different ways.
* Polypersonal inflection on the verb: whereas Ivugi verbs did not indicate person in any form, Ewige verbs can inflect for both subject and object, both of which started as forms of the pronouns and then phonologically reduced.
* Simplification of the Ivugi syllable onset alternation process to a basic affix, ''-ro-'' before a consonant and ''-rov-'' before a vowel. This affix was then repurposed to form the subjunctive/conditional mood, which can be used in any of the three tenses: past, present, and future.
* Innovation of a new future tense inflection, ''-sto'', from the Ivugi verb ''sída'' ("goes"/"is going").
* Shift from SVO (subject-object-verb) word order to the rare VOS, after the innovation of person-marking on verbs created less need for an explicit subject at the start of the sentence.

==Phonology==
===Consonants===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" |
! |Labial
! |Alveolar
! |Palato-alveolar
! |Palatal
! |Velar
! |Glottal
|-
! colspan="2" | Nasal
| '''m''' /m/
| '''n''' /n/
|
|
| '''ň''' /ŋ/
|
|-
! rowspan="4" | Plosive
! Voiceless
| '''p''' /p/
| '''t''' /t/
|
|
| '''k''' /k/
|
|-
! Voiced
| '''b''' /b/
| '''d''' /d/
|
|
| '''g''' /g/
|
|-
! Aspirated
| '''pʼ''' /pʰ/
| '''tʼ''' /tʰ/
|
|
| '''kʼ''' /kʰ/
|
|-
! Breathy-voiced
| '''bʼ''' /bʱ/
| '''dʼ''' /dʱ/
|
|
| '''gʼ''' /gʱ/
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | Fricative
! Voiceless
|
| '''s''' /s/
| '''š''' /ʃ/
|
| '''ch''' /x/
| '''h''' /h/
|-
! Voiced
|
| '''z''' /z/
| '''ž''' /ʒ/
|
| '''gh''' /ɣ/
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Approximant
| '''v''' /w~ɹ/
|
|
| '''j''' /j/
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Tap
|
| '''r''' /ɾ/
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Trill
|
| '''ř''' /r/
|
|
|
|
|}
* After back vowels, palato-alveolar /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ are often realized as retroflex [ʂ] and [ʐ].
* The labio-velar approximant /w/ may be realized as alveolar [ɹ], especially intervocalically. By one analysis, this gives Ewige the rare distinction of possessing three rhotic consonants: /ɹ/, /ɾ/, and /r/.

===Vowels===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Monophthongs'''
! |
! |Front
! |Central
! |Back
|-
! High
| '''i''' /i/
|
| '''u''' /u/
|-
! High-mid
| '''é''' /e/
|
| '''ó''' /o/
|-
! Mid
|
| '''y''' /ə/
|
|-
! Low-mid
| '''e''' /ɛ/
|
| '''o''' /ɔ/
|-
! Low
| '''a''' /a/
|
| '''á''' /ɑ/
|}

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Diphthongs'''
! |Front
! |Back
|-
| '''ei''' /ei/
| '''ou''' /ou/
|}
* The mid-central vowel represented here by a schwa, /ə/, can in reality be realized with a wide range of allophones depending on the following consonant. Speakers may possess any or all of these allophones, and younger speakers use them more than older speakers:
:* [ɨ~i], before voiceless stops
:* [əi~oi], before voiceless fricatives
:* [ɜ~ɐ], before /ɾ/ and /r/ and in word-final position
:* syllabification, before nasals, e.g. /ən/ [n̩]

==Vocabulary==
While most of Ewige's vocabulary is indigenous, it has borrowed a large number of terms from nearby languages of the Eurasian steppe, particularly [[w:Russian language|Russian]], [[w:Kazakh language|Kazakh]], and [[w:Mongolian language|Mongolian]].

==Dialectology==

==Grammar==
===Pronouns===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" | Subject/Object
! colspan="2" | Possessive
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| I
| ''ré''
| my/mine
| ''soré''
|-
| you
| ''da''
| your/yours
| ''soda''
|-
| him/her
| ''ut''
| his/hers
| ''soriot''
|-
| it
| ''ot''
| its
| ''sorot''
|-
| we
| ''rin''
| our/ours
| ''sorén''
|-
| you all
| ''dyř''
| all of your
| ''sodař''
|-
| they
| ''ni''
| their/theirs
| ''sonei''
|}

===Nouns===
Ewige nouns are inflected for several grammatical categories:
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Gender/Definiteness
|
''∅-'' (inanimate, indefinite) 
''a-/er-'' (inanimate, definite) 
''i-/ir-'' (animate, indefinite) 
''ja-/jer-'' (animate, definite)
|-
! Noun stem
| (any noun)
|-
! Number
|
''-∅'' (singular) 
''-(d)e'' (plural, for the vast majority of nouns)
|-
! Inalienable possession
|
''-(j)yr'' (my) 
''-(j)yda'' (your) 
''-(j)ei'' (his, her) 
''-(j)yt'' (its) 
''-(j)yré'' (our) 
''-(j)ař'' (all of your) 
''-(j)ynei'' (their)
|}

===Verbs===
Ewige verbs fall into three different conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This table lists the affixes that each form takes to mark subject, object, and tense-aspect-mood.
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" |
! ''-me''
! ''-be''
! ''-pe''
|-
! rowspan="7" | Subject
! "I"
| colspan="3" | ''é(j)-''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="3" | ''dy(j)''
|-
! "he/she"
| colspan="3" | ''i(j)-''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''o(j)-''
|-
! "we"
| colspan="3" | ''éř(é)-''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="3" | ''da(j)-''
|-
! "they"
| colspan="3" | ''né(j)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Negation
| colspan="3" | ''-ó-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Irrealis
| colspan="3" | ''-ro(v)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Passive
| colspan="3" | ''-ké(r)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Verb root
| colspan="3" | (any verb)
|-
! rowspan="5" | Tense, Aspect, Mood
! Infinitive
| ''-mé''
| ''-bé''
| ''-pé''
|-
! Past
| ''-dó''
| ''-nó''
| ''-tó''
|-
! Present
| ''-my''
| ''-(r)o''
| ''-py''
|-
! Future
| ''-dzo''
| colspan="2" | ''-sto''
|-
! Imperative
| colspan="3" | ''-(m)y'' (if followed by an object suffix), ''-∅'' (otherwise)
|-
! rowspan="7" | Object
! "me"
| colspan="3" | ''-r''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="2" | ''-d''
| ''-t''
|-
! "him/her"
| colspan="3" | ''-š''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''-ti''
|-
! "us"
| colspan="3" | ''-n''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="2" | ''-dař''
| ''-tař''
|-
! "them"
| colspan="3" | ''-ni''
|}
* The irrealis mood, which is used to indicate the subjunctive or conditional, can only be used with the basic tenses: past, present, and future.

An example of a highly inflected Ewige verb:
:''éř-ó-ro-ké-dřor-nó-d''
:1PL.NOM-NEG-SUBJ-guard-PST_bé-2SG.ACC_bé
:If we hadn't been protected by you...

Ewige has only eleven basic irregular verbs, although verbs derived from them follow their conjugations, much as the past tense of "to outdo" in English is "outdid". These verbs are only irregular in the past and present; their other inflections are regular. They are listed below in the infinitive, and in the past and present with no conjugation for person and number. They are all fairly common verbs, some of them relating to motion.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! rowspan="2" | English
! colspan="3" | Ewige
|-
! Infinitive
! Past
! Present
|-
| to be
| ''jómé''
| ''-jón''
| ''-jó''
|-
| to eat
| ''ámé''
| ''-án''
| ''-áró''
|-
| to go
| ''šérbé''
| ''-šédu''
| ''-šédo''
|-
| to need
| ''rimé''
| ''-rimu''
| ''-rimo''
|-
| to say
| ''šémé''
| ''-sonó''
| ''-soko''
|-
| to have
| ''otʼamé''
| ''-otʼou''
| ''-otʼei''
|-
| to see
| ''otʼépé''
| ''-otʼó''
| ''-otʼy''
|-
| to leave
| ''épymé''
| ''-épion''
| ''-épio''
|-
| to run
| ''sonémé''
| ''-sonu''
| ''-sono''
|-
| to walk
| ''esomé''
| ''-estu''
| ''-esto''
|-
| to swim
| ''vobé''
| ''-vobu''
| ''-vobo''
|}

===Adjectives===
Adjective inflection is simple: they are inflected for definiteness, animacy, and number using the same affixes nouns are.

===Derivation===
Ewige makes extensive use of derivation. The following are some common nominalizing prefixes and suffixes, which are attached to the verb root:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Type
! Affix
|-
| Gerund
|
''-zo'' (for verbs of motion) 
''-há'' (for all other verbs)
|-
| Gerund, habitual
|
''-sék''
|-
| Agentive
|
''-gyň'' (from a word for "friend")
|-
| Locational
|
''-ova'' (from a word for "house")
|-
| Patient
|
''žo-''
|-
| Productive
|
''ano-''
|}

The suffix to nominalize adjectives is ''-(ó)bro'', deriving from the word for "color". Conversely, ''-ře'' is used to derive adjectives from other parts of speech. A suffix ''-ry'', from the word for "slice", is attached to some nouns with a diminutive meaning, but it is not very productive in the modern language.

Ewige also possesses several affixes to derive verbs from nouns and adjectives:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Meaning
! Affix
|-
| To perform an action related to X
| ''-(ó)batpé'' (from the Russian ''-ovat'')
|-
| To turn something into X, or to make it more X
| ''-(y)hérbé'' (from an old word meaning "to transform", specifically under a magical curse)
|-
| To be like X, or to evoke X
| ''-(y)přémé'' (from an old word meaning "to agree with" or "to resemble")
|-
| To provide X to someone (usually, but not always, with a benevolent meaning)
| ''-(y)jápé'' (from an old word meaning "to allocate")
|}

====Compounds====
Each noun, verb, or adjective root has a "construct state" that is used to form compounds; this construct state is used for all roots in the compound except the final one. First, any affixes, such as those marking definiteness/animacy or the infinitive, are removed, and then the final consonant of the root is altered according to the following rules:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Final consonant of root...
! is replaced with...
|-
| Voiceless stops
| ''-šé(j)''
|-
| Voiceless fricatives
| ''-t''
|-
| Other final consonants
| ''-ž''
|-
| Root ends in ''-á''
| ''-á'' becomes ''-ež''
|-
| Root ends in a different vowel
| Vowel becomes ''-á(j)''
|}

===Syntax===
Ewige uses the rare [[w:verb–object–subject|verb–object–subject]] word order. Noun phrases are generally right-branching, with adjectives, numerals, and relative clauses all following the head noun (in that order). However, Ewige uses prepositions rather than postpositions, and determiners precede the head noun. Adverbs are formed by suffixing an adjective (or other part of speech) with ''-(j)agh'', or ''-ař'' if the adjective ends in a stop consonant. These adverbs typically come at the end of the sentence.

Other than for verbs, negation is fairly simple. Noun phrases are negated with ''vó'', which precedes the noun phrase. The general negation particle is ''ou'', which is used to negate every part of speech other than verbs and nouns.

===Questions===
Ewige possesses the following words to form questions. When applicable, corresponding non-interrogative words are also given. The interrogative words are simply placed where a non-interrogative word would be; there is no do-support as in English.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" | Interrogative
! colspan="2" | Proximate
! colspan="2" | Distal
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| what?
| ''hei?''
| this
| ''gei''
| that
| ''twei''
|-
| who/whom?
| ''hor?''
| colspan="4" rowspan="2" | —
|-
| which?
| ''hok?''
|-
| where?
| ''heiry?'' (from ''hei iry?'', literally "what place?")
| here
| ''ga''
| there
| ''twa''
|-
| when?
| ''hou?''
| now
| ''gou''
| then
| ''tou''
|-
| why?
| ''ha?''
| thus (for this reason)
| ''ga''
| thus (for that reason)
| ''twa''
|}

To form generic equivalents, ''é-'' is prefixed to the interrogative forms, such as ''éhor'' ("someone").

To turn an entire sentence interrogative, the particle ''žé'' is used in the past indicative, while ''ža'' is used in every other tense and mood. This particle typically precedes the verb, but it can come anywhere in the sentence.

==Sample text==

User:Frrurtu/Sandbox5

2017-11-04T18:47:49Z

Frrurtu: /* Verbs */

'''Ewige'''

==History==
Ewige is one of many descendants of Ivugi, which was spoken circa 1000 AD in the Eurasian steppe in present-day [[w:Siberia|Siberia]]. It has undergone many phonological and grammatical changes, evolving from a relatively isolating language to a highly agglutinative one with polypersonal inflection and an animate-inanimate distinction. Its syllable structure has grown more restrictive and it has lost its phonemic stress, but its vowel and consonant inventories have grown.

While it has historically been written in [[w:Cyrillic|Cyrillic]], the Ewige people were among the earliest adopters of the [[w:Latin script|Latin script]] among Siberian peoples. However, many of their orthographical conventions, such as extensive use of the [[w:hacek|hacek]], are Slavic in nature.

===Phonological history===
Ewige is characterized by the following phonological innovations from Ivugi:
* Creation of a new /e/ phoneme, formed from historical /i/ and /ɨ/ before voiceless fricatives and /r/, and historical /ɛ/ before alveolar consonants.
* Creation of a new /ʃ/ phoneme from /s/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /t/ also become /ʃ/.
* Creation of a new /ʒ/ phoneme from /z/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /j/ also became /ʒ/.
* The glottal stop /ʔ/ merging with the other three voiceless stops depending on the preceding vowel: /t/ after front vowels, /k/ after central vowels, and /p/ after back vowels.
* Creation of a new /m/ phoneme from intervocalic /b/ in unstressed syllables, plus /n/ and /ŋ/ before labials and unstressed /o/.
* Simplification of various labial-stop clusters: /kp/, /tp/, /rp/, /kb/, and /tb/ all become /p/, and /gb/, /db/, and /rb/ all become /b/.
* Shift of certain vowels' pronunciations when unstressed: /au/ and /o/ become [u], /ai/ merges with /i/, and /ɨ/ and /ɐ/ become [ə].
* Development of aspirated and breathy-voiced allophones of stops in stressed syllables.
* Loss of phonemic stress in favor of universal initial stress—except in some loanwords and compounds—causing /u/, /ə/, and the aspirated and breathy-voiced stops to all become phonemic.
* Merger of /ɸ/ into /β/, which then shifts its pronunciation to [w].
* Merger of /l/ into /ɾ/.
* Merger of /x/ and /ɣ/ into /r/ after stops.
* Chain shifts affecting most vowel monophthongs: /ɨ/ > /i/ > /e/ > /ɛ/ > /a/, and /ɐ/ > /ɑ/ > /ɔ/.
* Raising of the two diphthongs: /ai/ to [ei] and /au/ to [ou].

===Grammatical history===
It has also undergone the following grammatical innovations:
* Drastic simplification of noun pluralization: the majority of nouns now pluralize with ''-e'' or ''-de'', although a few dozen irregular nouns remain as vestiges of Ivugi's complex ablaut-based system.
* Generalizing the Ivugi particle ''u'', which was used before animate singular nouns in the accusative, to be a general affix for animate nouns. Explicitly animate pronouns and verb inflections would later develop based on it.
* Repurposing Ivugi's ''yi'' and ''ye'', which were the interrogative forms of "to be" in the past and present, as generic interrogative markers, and the resultant loss of Ivugi's morphological interrogative mood. They are now ''žé'' and ''ža''.
* Obligatory marking of inalienable possession on certain nouns, created from the Ivugi particle ''a'' ("of", inalienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Development of possessive pronouns using the Ivugi particle ''sal'' ("of", semi-alienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Generalization of Ivugi's third genitive particle ''val'' ("of", alienable) as the only genitive particle, now ''va''.
* Expansion of Ivugi's simpler verb paradigm, in which all verbs had infinitives ending in ''-bi'' and inflected basically the same way, into a more complex paradigm with three conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This process came about when clusters of various consonants and /b/ simplified in different ways.
* Polypersonal inflection on the verb: whereas Ivugi verbs did not indicate person in any form, Ewige verbs can inflect for both subject and object, both of which started as forms of the pronouns and then phonologically reduced.
* Simplification of the Ivugi syllable onset alternation process to a basic affix, ''-ro-'' before a consonant and ''-rov-'' before a vowel. This affix was then repurposed to form the subjunctive/conditional mood, which can be used in any of the three tenses: past, present, and future.
* Innovation of a new future tense inflection, ''-sto'', from the Ivugi verb ''sída'' ("goes"/"is going").
* Shift from SVO (subject-object-verb) word order to the rare VOS, after the innovation of person-marking on verbs created less need for an explicit subject at the start of the sentence.

==Phonology==
===Consonants===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" |
! |Labial
! |Alveolar
! |Palato-alveolar
! |Palatal
! |Velar
! |Glottal
|-
! colspan="2" | Nasal
| '''m''' /m/
| '''n''' /n/
|
|
| '''ň''' /ŋ/
|
|-
! rowspan="4" | Plosive
! Voiceless
| '''p''' /p/
| '''t''' /t/
|
|
| '''k''' /k/
|
|-
! Voiced
| '''b''' /b/
| '''d''' /d/
|
|
| '''g''' /g/
|
|-
! Aspirated
| '''pʼ''' /pʰ/
| '''tʼ''' /tʰ/
|
|
| '''kʼ''' /kʰ/
|
|-
! Breathy-voiced
| '''bʼ''' /bʱ/
| '''dʼ''' /dʱ/
|
|
| '''gʼ''' /gʱ/
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | Fricative
! Voiceless
|
| '''s''' /s/
| '''š''' /ʃ/
|
| '''ch''' /x/
| '''h''' /h/
|-
! Voiced
|
| '''z''' /z/
| '''ž''' /ʒ/
|
| '''gh''' /ɣ/
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Approximant
| '''v''' /w~ɹ/
|
|
| '''j''' /j/
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Tap
|
| '''r''' /ɾ/
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Trill
|
| '''ř''' /r/
|
|
|
|
|}
* After back vowels, palato-alveolar /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ are often realized as retroflex [ʂ] and [ʐ].
* The labio-velar approximant /w/ may be realized as alveolar [ɹ], especially intervocalically. By one analysis, this gives Ewige the rare distinction of possessing three rhotic consonants: /ɹ/, /ɾ/, and /r/.

===Vowels===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Monophthongs'''
! |
! |Front
! |Central
! |Back
|-
! High
| '''i''' /i/
|
| '''u''' /u/
|-
! High-mid
| '''é''' /e/
|
| '''ó''' /o/
|-
! Mid
|
| '''y''' /ə/
|
|-
! Low-mid
| '''e''' /ɛ/
|
| '''o''' /ɔ/
|-
! Low
| '''a''' /a/
|
| '''á''' /ɑ/
|}

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Diphthongs'''
! |Front
! |Back
|-
| '''ei''' /ei/
| '''ou''' /ou/
|}
* The mid-central vowel represented here by a schwa, /ə/, can in reality be realized with a wide range of allophones depending on the following consonant. Speakers may possess any or all of these allophones, and younger speakers use them more than older speakers:
:* [ɨ~i], before voiceless stops
:* [əi~oi], before voiceless fricatives
:* [ɜ~ɐ], before /ɾ/ and /r/ and in word-final position
:* syllabification, before nasals, e.g. /ən/ [n̩]

==Vocabulary==
While most of Ewige's vocabulary is indigenous, it has borrowed a large number of terms from nearby languages of the Eurasian steppe, particularly [[w:Russian language|Russian]], [[w:Kazakh language|Kazakh]], and [[w:Mongolian language|Mongolian]].

==Dialectology==

==Grammar==
===Pronouns===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" | Subject/Object
! colspan="2" | Possessive
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| I
| ''ré''
| my/mine
| ''soré''
|-
| you
| ''da''
| your/yours
| ''soda''
|-
| him/her
| ''ut''
| his/hers
| ''soriot''
|-
| it
| ''ot''
| its
| ''sorot''
|-
| we
| ''rin''
| our/ours
| ''sorén''
|-
| you all
| ''dyř''
| all of your
| ''sodař''
|-
| they
| ''ni''
| their/theirs
| ''sonei''
|}

===Nouns===
Ewige nouns are inflected for several grammatical categories:
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Gender/Definiteness
|
''∅-'' (inanimate, indefinite) 
''a-/er-'' (inanimate, definite) 
''i-/ir-'' (animate, indefinite) 
''ja-/jer-'' (animate, definite)
|-
! Noun stem
| (any noun)
|-
! Number
|
''-∅'' (singular) 
''-(d)e'' (plural, for the vast majority of nouns)
|-
! Inalienable possession
|
''-(j)yr'' (my) 
''-(j)yda'' (your) 
''-(j)ei'' (his, her) 
''-(j)yt'' (its) 
''-(j)yré'' (our) 
''-(j)ař'' (all of your) 
''-(j)ynei'' (their)
|}

===Verbs===
Ewige verbs fall into three different conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This table lists the affixes that each form takes to mark subject, object, and tense-aspect-mood.
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" |
! ''-me''
! ''-be''
! ''-pe''
|-
! rowspan="7" | Subject
! "I"
| colspan="3" | ''é(j)-''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="3" | ''dy(j)''
|-
! "he/she"
| colspan="3" | ''i(j)-''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''o(j)-''
|-
! "we"
| colspan="3" | ''éř(é)-''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="3" | ''da(j)-''
|-
! "they"
| colspan="3" | ''né(j)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Negation
| colspan="3" | ''-ó-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Irrealis
| colspan="3" | ''-ro(v)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Passive
| colspan="3" | ''-ké(r)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Verb root
| colspan="3" | (any verb)
|-
! rowspan="5" | Tense, Aspect, Mood
! Infinitive
| ''-mé''
| ''-bé''
| ''-pé''
|-
! Past
| ''-dó''
| ''-nó''
| ''-tó''
|-
! Present
| ''-my''
| ''-(r)o''
| ''-py''
|-
! Future
| ''-dzo''
| colspan="2" | ''-sto''
|-
! Imperative
| colspan="3" | ''-my/by/py'' (if followed by an object suffix), ''-∅'' (otherwise)
|-
! rowspan="7" | Object
! "me"
| colspan="3" | ''-r''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="2" | ''-d''
| ''-t''
|-
! "him/her"
| colspan="3" | ''-š''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''-ti''
|-
! "us"
| colspan="3" | ''-n''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="2" | ''-dař''
| ''-tař''
|-
! "them"
| colspan="3" | ''-ni''
|}
* The irrealis mood, which is used to indicate the subjunctive or conditional, can only be used with the basic tenses: past, present, and future.

An example of a highly inflected Ewige verb:
:''éř-ó-ro-ké-dřor-nó-d''
:1PL.NOM-NEG-SUBJ-guard-PST_bé-2SG.ACC_bé
:If we hadn't been protected by you...

Ewige has only eleven basic irregular verbs, although verbs derived from them follow their conjugations, much as the past tense of "to outdo" in English is "outdid". These verbs are only irregular in the past and present; their other inflections are regular. They are listed below in the infinitive, and in the past and present with no conjugation for person and number. They are all fairly common verbs, some of them relating to motion.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! rowspan="2" | English
! colspan="3" | Ewige
|-
! Infinitive
! Past
! Present
|-
| to be
| ''jómé''
| ''-jón''
| ''-jó''
|-
| to eat
| ''ámé''
| ''-án''
| ''-áró''
|-
| to go
| ''šérbé''
| ''-šédu''
| ''-šédo''
|-
| to need
| ''rimé''
| ''-rimu''
| ''-rimo''
|-
| to say
| ''šémé''
| ''-sonó''
| ''-soko''
|-
| to have
| ''otʼamé''
| ''-otʼou''
| ''-otʼei''
|-
| to see
| ''otʼépé''
| ''-otʼó''
| ''-otʼy''
|-
| to leave
| ''épymé''
| ''-épion''
| ''-épio''
|-
| to run
| ''sonémé''
| ''-sonu''
| ''-sono''
|-
| to walk
| ''esomé''
| ''-estu''
| ''-esto''
|-
| to swim
| ''vobé''
| ''-vobu''
| ''-vobo''
|}

===Adjectives===
Adjective inflection is simple: they are inflected for definiteness, animacy, and number using the same affixes nouns are.

===Derivation===
Ewige makes extensive use of derivation. The following are some common nominalizing prefixes and suffixes, which are attached to the verb root:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Type
! Affix
|-
| Gerund
|
''-zo'' (for verbs of motion) 
''-há'' (for all other verbs)
|-
| Gerund, habitual
|
''-sék''
|-
| Agentive
|
''-gyň'' (from a word for "friend")
|-
| Locational
|
''-ova'' (from a word for "house")
|-
| Patient
|
''žo-''
|-
| Productive
|
''ano-''
|}

The suffix to nominalize adjectives is ''-(ó)bro'', deriving from the word for "color". Conversely, ''-ře'' is used to derive adjectives from other parts of speech. A suffix ''-ry'', from the word for "slice", is attached to some nouns with a diminutive meaning, but it is not very productive in the modern language.

Ewige also possesses several affixes to derive verbs from nouns and adjectives:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Meaning
! Affix
|-
| To perform an action related to X
| ''-(ó)batpé'' (from the Russian ''-ovat'')
|-
| To turn something into X, or to make it more X
| ''-(y)hérbé'' (from an old word meaning "to transform", specifically under a magical curse)
|-
| To be like X, or to evoke X
| ''-(y)přémé'' (from an old word meaning "to agree with" or "to resemble")
|-
| To provide X to someone (usually, but not always, with a benevolent meaning)
| ''-(y)jápé'' (from an old word meaning "to allocate")
|}

====Compounds====
Each noun, verb, or adjective root has a "construct state" that is used to form compounds; this construct state is used for all roots in the compound except the final one. First, any affixes, such as those marking definiteness/animacy or the infinitive, are removed, and then the final consonant of the root is altered according to the following rules:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Final consonant of root...
! is replaced with...
|-
| Voiceless stops
| ''-šé(j)''
|-
| Voiceless fricatives
| ''-t''
|-
| Other final consonants
| ''-ž''
|-
| Root ends in ''-á''
| ''-á'' becomes ''-ež''
|-
| Root ends in a different vowel
| Vowel becomes ''-á(j)''
|}

===Syntax===
Ewige uses the rare [[w:verb–object–subject|verb–object–subject]] word order. Noun phrases are generally right-branching, with adjectives, numerals, and relative clauses all following the head noun (in that order). However, Ewige uses prepositions rather than postpositions, and determiners precede the head noun. Adverbs are formed by suffixing an adjective (or other part of speech) with ''-(j)agh'', or ''-ař'' if the adjective ends in a stop consonant. These adverbs typically come at the end of the sentence.

Other than for verbs, negation is fairly simple. Noun phrases are negated with ''vó'', which precedes the noun phrase. The general negation particle is ''ou'', which is used to negate every part of speech other than verbs and nouns.

===Questions===
Ewige possesses the following words to form questions. When applicable, corresponding non-interrogative words are also given. The interrogative words are simply placed where a non-interrogative word would be; there is no do-support as in English.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" | Interrogative
! colspan="2" | Proximate
! colspan="2" | Distal
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| what?
| ''hei?''
| this
| ''gei''
| that
| ''twei''
|-
| who/whom?
| ''hor?''
| colspan="4" rowspan="2" | —
|-
| which?
| ''hok?''
|-
| where?
| ''heiry?'' (from ''hei iry?'', literally "what place?")
| here
| ''ga''
| there
| ''twa''
|-
| when?
| ''hou?''
| now
| ''gou''
| then
| ''tou''
|-
| why?
| ''ha?''
| thus (for this reason)
| ''ga''
| thus (for that reason)
| ''twa''
|}

To form generic equivalents, ''é-'' is prefixed to the interrogative forms, such as ''éhor'' ("someone").

To turn an entire sentence interrogative, the particle ''žé'' is used in the past indicative, while ''ža'' is used in every other tense and mood. This particle typically precedes the verb, but it can come anywhere in the sentence.

==Sample text==

User:Frrurtu/Sandbox5

2017-11-04T18:39:39Z

Frrurtu: /* Syntax */

'''Ewige'''

==History==
Ewige is one of many descendants of Ivugi, which was spoken circa 1000 AD in the Eurasian steppe in present-day [[w:Siberia|Siberia]]. It has undergone many phonological and grammatical changes, evolving from a relatively isolating language to a highly agglutinative one with polypersonal inflection and an animate-inanimate distinction. Its syllable structure has grown more restrictive and it has lost its phonemic stress, but its vowel and consonant inventories have grown.

While it has historically been written in [[w:Cyrillic|Cyrillic]], the Ewige people were among the earliest adopters of the [[w:Latin script|Latin script]] among Siberian peoples. However, many of their orthographical conventions, such as extensive use of the [[w:hacek|hacek]], are Slavic in nature.

===Phonological history===
Ewige is characterized by the following phonological innovations from Ivugi:
* Creation of a new /e/ phoneme, formed from historical /i/ and /ɨ/ before voiceless fricatives and /r/, and historical /ɛ/ before alveolar consonants.
* Creation of a new /ʃ/ phoneme from /s/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /t/ also become /ʃ/.
* Creation of a new /ʒ/ phoneme from /z/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /j/ also became /ʒ/.
* The glottal stop /ʔ/ merging with the other three voiceless stops depending on the preceding vowel: /t/ after front vowels, /k/ after central vowels, and /p/ after back vowels.
* Creation of a new /m/ phoneme from intervocalic /b/ in unstressed syllables, plus /n/ and /ŋ/ before labials and unstressed /o/.
* Simplification of various labial-stop clusters: /kp/, /tp/, /rp/, /kb/, and /tb/ all become /p/, and /gb/, /db/, and /rb/ all become /b/.
* Shift of certain vowels' pronunciations when unstressed: /au/ and /o/ become [u], /ai/ merges with /i/, and /ɨ/ and /ɐ/ become [ə].
* Development of aspirated and breathy-voiced allophones of stops in stressed syllables.
* Loss of phonemic stress in favor of universal initial stress—except in some loanwords and compounds—causing /u/, /ə/, and the aspirated and breathy-voiced stops to all become phonemic.
* Merger of /ɸ/ into /β/, which then shifts its pronunciation to [w].
* Merger of /l/ into /ɾ/.
* Merger of /x/ and /ɣ/ into /r/ after stops.
* Chain shifts affecting most vowel monophthongs: /ɨ/ > /i/ > /e/ > /ɛ/ > /a/, and /ɐ/ > /ɑ/ > /ɔ/.
* Raising of the two diphthongs: /ai/ to [ei] and /au/ to [ou].

===Grammatical history===
It has also undergone the following grammatical innovations:
* Drastic simplification of noun pluralization: the majority of nouns now pluralize with ''-e'' or ''-de'', although a few dozen irregular nouns remain as vestiges of Ivugi's complex ablaut-based system.
* Generalizing the Ivugi particle ''u'', which was used before animate singular nouns in the accusative, to be a general affix for animate nouns. Explicitly animate pronouns and verb inflections would later develop based on it.
* Repurposing Ivugi's ''yi'' and ''ye'', which were the interrogative forms of "to be" in the past and present, as generic interrogative markers, and the resultant loss of Ivugi's morphological interrogative mood. They are now ''žé'' and ''ža''.
* Obligatory marking of inalienable possession on certain nouns, created from the Ivugi particle ''a'' ("of", inalienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Development of possessive pronouns using the Ivugi particle ''sal'' ("of", semi-alienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Generalization of Ivugi's third genitive particle ''val'' ("of", alienable) as the only genitive particle, now ''va''.
* Expansion of Ivugi's simpler verb paradigm, in which all verbs had infinitives ending in ''-bi'' and inflected basically the same way, into a more complex paradigm with three conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This process came about when clusters of various consonants and /b/ simplified in different ways.
* Polypersonal inflection on the verb: whereas Ivugi verbs did not indicate person in any form, Ewige verbs can inflect for both subject and object, both of which started as forms of the pronouns and then phonologically reduced.
* Simplification of the Ivugi syllable onset alternation process to a basic affix, ''-ro-'' before a consonant and ''-rov-'' before a vowel. This affix was then repurposed to form the subjunctive/conditional mood, which can be used in any of the three tenses: past, present, and future.
* Innovation of a new future tense inflection, ''-sto'', from the Ivugi verb ''sída'' ("goes"/"is going").
* Shift from SVO (subject-object-verb) word order to the rare VOS, after the innovation of person-marking on verbs created less need for an explicit subject at the start of the sentence.

==Phonology==
===Consonants===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" |
! |Labial
! |Alveolar
! |Palato-alveolar
! |Palatal
! |Velar
! |Glottal
|-
! colspan="2" | Nasal
| '''m''' /m/
| '''n''' /n/
|
|
| '''ň''' /ŋ/
|
|-
! rowspan="4" | Plosive
! Voiceless
| '''p''' /p/
| '''t''' /t/
|
|
| '''k''' /k/
|
|-
! Voiced
| '''b''' /b/
| '''d''' /d/
|
|
| '''g''' /g/
|
|-
! Aspirated
| '''pʼ''' /pʰ/
| '''tʼ''' /tʰ/
|
|
| '''kʼ''' /kʰ/
|
|-
! Breathy-voiced
| '''bʼ''' /bʱ/
| '''dʼ''' /dʱ/
|
|
| '''gʼ''' /gʱ/
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | Fricative
! Voiceless
|
| '''s''' /s/
| '''š''' /ʃ/
|
| '''ch''' /x/
| '''h''' /h/
|-
! Voiced
|
| '''z''' /z/
| '''ž''' /ʒ/
|
| '''gh''' /ɣ/
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Approximant
| '''v''' /w~ɹ/
|
|
| '''j''' /j/
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Tap
|
| '''r''' /ɾ/
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Trill
|
| '''ř''' /r/
|
|
|
|
|}
* After back vowels, palato-alveolar /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ are often realized as retroflex [ʂ] and [ʐ].
* The labio-velar approximant /w/ may be realized as alveolar [ɹ], especially intervocalically. By one analysis, this gives Ewige the rare distinction of possessing three rhotic consonants: /ɹ/, /ɾ/, and /r/.

===Vowels===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Monophthongs'''
! |
! |Front
! |Central
! |Back
|-
! High
| '''i''' /i/
|
| '''u''' /u/
|-
! High-mid
| '''é''' /e/
|
| '''ó''' /o/
|-
! Mid
|
| '''y''' /ə/
|
|-
! Low-mid
| '''e''' /ɛ/
|
| '''o''' /ɔ/
|-
! Low
| '''a''' /a/
|
| '''á''' /ɑ/
|}

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Diphthongs'''
! |Front
! |Back
|-
| '''ei''' /ei/
| '''ou''' /ou/
|}
* The mid-central vowel represented here by a schwa, /ə/, can in reality be realized with a wide range of allophones depending on the following consonant. Speakers may possess any or all of these allophones, and younger speakers use them more than older speakers:
:* [ɨ~i], before voiceless stops
:* [əi~oi], before voiceless fricatives
:* [ɜ~ɐ], before /ɾ/ and /r/ and in word-final position
:* syllabification, before nasals, e.g. /ən/ [n̩]

==Vocabulary==
While most of Ewige's vocabulary is indigenous, it has borrowed a large number of terms from nearby languages of the Eurasian steppe, particularly [[w:Russian language|Russian]], [[w:Kazakh language|Kazakh]], and [[w:Mongolian language|Mongolian]].

==Dialectology==

==Grammar==
===Pronouns===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" | Subject/Object
! colspan="2" | Possessive
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| I
| ''ré''
| my/mine
| ''soré''
|-
| you
| ''da''
| your/yours
| ''soda''
|-
| him/her
| ''ut''
| his/hers
| ''soriot''
|-
| it
| ''ot''
| its
| ''sorot''
|-
| we
| ''rin''
| our/ours
| ''sorén''
|-
| you all
| ''dyř''
| all of your
| ''sodař''
|-
| they
| ''ni''
| their/theirs
| ''sonei''
|}

===Nouns===
Ewige nouns are inflected for several grammatical categories:
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Gender/Definiteness
|
''∅-'' (inanimate, indefinite) 
''a-/er-'' (inanimate, definite) 
''i-/ir-'' (animate, indefinite) 
''ja-/jer-'' (animate, definite)
|-
! Noun stem
| (any noun)
|-
! Number
|
''-∅'' (singular) 
''-(d)e'' (plural, for the vast majority of nouns)
|-
! Inalienable possession
|
''-(j)yr'' (my) 
''-(j)yda'' (your) 
''-(j)ei'' (his, her) 
''-(j)yt'' (its) 
''-(j)yré'' (our) 
''-(j)ař'' (all of your) 
''-(j)ynei'' (their)
|}

===Verbs===
Ewige verbs fall into three different conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This table lists the affixes that each form takes to mark subject, object, and tense-aspect-mood.
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" |
! ''-me''
! ''-be''
! ''-pe''
|-
! rowspan="7" | Subject
! "I"
| colspan="3" | ''é(j)-''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="3" | ''dy(j)''
|-
! "he/she"
| colspan="3" | ''i(j)-''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''o(j)-''
|-
! "we"
| colspan="3" | ''éř(é)-''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="3" | ''da(j)-''
|-
! "they"
| colspan="3" | ''né(j)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Negation
| colspan="3" | ''-ó-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Irrealis
| colspan="3" | ''-ro(v)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Passive
| colspan="3" | ''-ké(r)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Verb root
| colspan="3" | (any verb)
|-
! rowspan="5" | Tense, Aspect, Mood
! Infinitive
| ''-mé''
| ''-bé''
| ''-pé''
|-
! Past
| ''-dó''
| ''-nó''
| ''-tó''
|-
! Present
| ''-my''
| ''-(r)o''
| ''-py''
|-
! Future
| ''-dzo''
| colspan="2" | ''-sto''
|-
! Imperative
| colspan="3" | ''-y'' (if followed by an object suffix), ''-∅'' (otherwise)
|-
! rowspan="7" | Object
! "me"
| colspan="3" | ''-r''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="2" | ''-d''
| ''-t''
|-
! "him/her"
| colspan="3" | ''-š''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''-ti''
|-
! "us"
| colspan="3" | ''-n''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="2" | ''-dař''
| ''-tař''
|-
! "them"
| colspan="3" | ''-ni''
|}
* The irrealis mood, which is used to indicate the subjunctive or conditional, can only be used with the basic tenses: past, present, and future.

An example of a highly inflected Ewige verb:
:''éř-ó-ro-ké-dřor-nó-d''
:1PL.NOM-NEG-SUBJ-guard-PST_bé-2SG.ACC_bé
:If we hadn't been protected by you...

Ewige has only eleven basic irregular verbs, although verbs derived from them follow their conjugations, much as the past tense of "to outdo" in English is "outdid". These verbs are only irregular in the past and present; their other inflections are regular. They are listed below in the infinitive, and in the past and present with no conjugation for person and number. They are all fairly common verbs, some of them relating to motion.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! rowspan="2" | English
! colspan="3" | Ewige
|-
! Infinitive
! Past
! Present
|-
| to be
| ''jómé''
| ''-jón''
| ''-jó''
|-
| to eat
| ''ámé''
| ''-án''
| ''-áró''
|-
| to go
| ''šérbé''
| ''-šédu''
| ''-šédo''
|-
| to need
| ''rimé''
| ''-rimu''
| ''-rimo''
|-
| to say
| ''šémé''
| ''-sonó''
| ''-soko''
|-
| to have
| ''otʼamé''
| ''-otʼou''
| ''-otʼei''
|-
| to see
| ''otʼépé''
| ''-otʼó''
| ''-otʼy''
|-
| to leave
| ''épymé''
| ''-épion''
| ''-épio''
|-
| to run
| ''sonémé''
| ''-sonu''
| ''-sono''
|-
| to walk
| ''esomé''
| ''-estu''
| ''-esto''
|-
| to swim
| ''vobé''
| ''-vobu''
| ''-vobo''
|}

===Adjectives===
Adjective inflection is simple: they are inflected for definiteness, animacy, and number using the same affixes nouns are.

===Derivation===
Ewige makes extensive use of derivation. The following are some common nominalizing prefixes and suffixes, which are attached to the verb root:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Type
! Affix
|-
| Gerund
|
''-zo'' (for verbs of motion) 
''-há'' (for all other verbs)
|-
| Gerund, habitual
|
''-sék''
|-
| Agentive
|
''-gyň'' (from a word for "friend")
|-
| Locational
|
''-ova'' (from a word for "house")
|-
| Patient
|
''žo-''
|-
| Productive
|
''ano-''
|}

The suffix to nominalize adjectives is ''-(ó)bro'', deriving from the word for "color". Conversely, ''-ře'' is used to derive adjectives from other parts of speech. A suffix ''-ry'', from the word for "slice", is attached to some nouns with a diminutive meaning, but it is not very productive in the modern language.

Ewige also possesses several affixes to derive verbs from nouns and adjectives:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Meaning
! Affix
|-
| To perform an action related to X
| ''-(ó)batpé'' (from the Russian ''-ovat'')
|-
| To turn something into X, or to make it more X
| ''-(y)hérbé'' (from an old word meaning "to transform", specifically under a magical curse)
|-
| To be like X, or to evoke X
| ''-(y)přémé'' (from an old word meaning "to agree with" or "to resemble")
|-
| To provide X to someone (usually, but not always, with a benevolent meaning)
| ''-(y)jápé'' (from an old word meaning "to allocate")
|}

====Compounds====
Each noun, verb, or adjective root has a "construct state" that is used to form compounds; this construct state is used for all roots in the compound except the final one. First, any affixes, such as those marking definiteness/animacy or the infinitive, are removed, and then the final consonant of the root is altered according to the following rules:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Final consonant of root...
! is replaced with...
|-
| Voiceless stops
| ''-šé(j)''
|-
| Voiceless fricatives
| ''-t''
|-
| Other final consonants
| ''-ž''
|-
| Root ends in ''-á''
| ''-á'' becomes ''-ež''
|-
| Root ends in a different vowel
| Vowel becomes ''-á(j)''
|}

===Syntax===
Ewige uses the rare [[w:verb–object–subject|verb–object–subject]] word order. Noun phrases are generally right-branching, with adjectives, numerals, and relative clauses all following the head noun (in that order). However, Ewige uses prepositions rather than postpositions, and determiners precede the head noun. Adverbs are formed by suffixing an adjective (or other part of speech) with ''-(j)agh'', or ''-ař'' if the adjective ends in a stop consonant. These adverbs typically come at the end of the sentence.

Other than for verbs, negation is fairly simple. Noun phrases are negated with ''vó'', which precedes the noun phrase. The general negation particle is ''ou'', which is used to negate every part of speech other than verbs and nouns.

===Questions===
Ewige possesses the following words to form questions. When applicable, corresponding non-interrogative words are also given. The interrogative words are simply placed where a non-interrogative word would be; there is no do-support as in English.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" | Interrogative
! colspan="2" | Proximate
! colspan="2" | Distal
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| what?
| ''hei?''
| this
| ''gei''
| that
| ''twei''
|-
| who/whom?
| ''hor?''
| colspan="4" rowspan="2" | —
|-
| which?
| ''hok?''
|-
| where?
| ''heiry?'' (from ''hei iry?'', literally "what place?")
| here
| ''ga''
| there
| ''twa''
|-
| when?
| ''hou?''
| now
| ''gou''
| then
| ''tou''
|-
| why?
| ''ha?''
| thus (for this reason)
| ''ga''
| thus (for that reason)
| ''twa''
|}

To form generic equivalents, ''é-'' is prefixed to the interrogative forms, such as ''éhor'' ("someone").

To turn an entire sentence interrogative, the particle ''žé'' is used in the past indicative, while ''ža'' is used in every other tense and mood. This particle typically precedes the verb, but it can come anywhere in the sentence.

==Sample text==

User:Frrurtu/Sandbox5

2017-11-04T18:38:52Z

Frrurtu: /* Syntax */

'''Ewige'''

==History==
Ewige is one of many descendants of Ivugi, which was spoken circa 1000 AD in the Eurasian steppe in present-day [[w:Siberia|Siberia]]. It has undergone many phonological and grammatical changes, evolving from a relatively isolating language to a highly agglutinative one with polypersonal inflection and an animate-inanimate distinction. Its syllable structure has grown more restrictive and it has lost its phonemic stress, but its vowel and consonant inventories have grown.

While it has historically been written in [[w:Cyrillic|Cyrillic]], the Ewige people were among the earliest adopters of the [[w:Latin script|Latin script]] among Siberian peoples. However, many of their orthographical conventions, such as extensive use of the [[w:hacek|hacek]], are Slavic in nature.

===Phonological history===
Ewige is characterized by the following phonological innovations from Ivugi:
* Creation of a new /e/ phoneme, formed from historical /i/ and /ɨ/ before voiceless fricatives and /r/, and historical /ɛ/ before alveolar consonants.
* Creation of a new /ʃ/ phoneme from /s/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /t/ also become /ʃ/.
* Creation of a new /ʒ/ phoneme from /z/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /j/ also became /ʒ/.
* The glottal stop /ʔ/ merging with the other three voiceless stops depending on the preceding vowel: /t/ after front vowels, /k/ after central vowels, and /p/ after back vowels.
* Creation of a new /m/ phoneme from intervocalic /b/ in unstressed syllables, plus /n/ and /ŋ/ before labials and unstressed /o/.
* Simplification of various labial-stop clusters: /kp/, /tp/, /rp/, /kb/, and /tb/ all become /p/, and /gb/, /db/, and /rb/ all become /b/.
* Shift of certain vowels' pronunciations when unstressed: /au/ and /o/ become [u], /ai/ merges with /i/, and /ɨ/ and /ɐ/ become [ə].
* Development of aspirated and breathy-voiced allophones of stops in stressed syllables.
* Loss of phonemic stress in favor of universal initial stress—except in some loanwords and compounds—causing /u/, /ə/, and the aspirated and breathy-voiced stops to all become phonemic.
* Merger of /ɸ/ into /β/, which then shifts its pronunciation to [w].
* Merger of /l/ into /ɾ/.
* Merger of /x/ and /ɣ/ into /r/ after stops.
* Chain shifts affecting most vowel monophthongs: /ɨ/ > /i/ > /e/ > /ɛ/ > /a/, and /ɐ/ > /ɑ/ > /ɔ/.
* Raising of the two diphthongs: /ai/ to [ei] and /au/ to [ou].

===Grammatical history===
It has also undergone the following grammatical innovations:
* Drastic simplification of noun pluralization: the majority of nouns now pluralize with ''-e'' or ''-de'', although a few dozen irregular nouns remain as vestiges of Ivugi's complex ablaut-based system.
* Generalizing the Ivugi particle ''u'', which was used before animate singular nouns in the accusative, to be a general affix for animate nouns. Explicitly animate pronouns and verb inflections would later develop based on it.
* Repurposing Ivugi's ''yi'' and ''ye'', which were the interrogative forms of "to be" in the past and present, as generic interrogative markers, and the resultant loss of Ivugi's morphological interrogative mood. They are now ''žé'' and ''ža''.
* Obligatory marking of inalienable possession on certain nouns, created from the Ivugi particle ''a'' ("of", inalienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Development of possessive pronouns using the Ivugi particle ''sal'' ("of", semi-alienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Generalization of Ivugi's third genitive particle ''val'' ("of", alienable) as the only genitive particle, now ''va''.
* Expansion of Ivugi's simpler verb paradigm, in which all verbs had infinitives ending in ''-bi'' and inflected basically the same way, into a more complex paradigm with three conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This process came about when clusters of various consonants and /b/ simplified in different ways.
* Polypersonal inflection on the verb: whereas Ivugi verbs did not indicate person in any form, Ewige verbs can inflect for both subject and object, both of which started as forms of the pronouns and then phonologically reduced.
* Simplification of the Ivugi syllable onset alternation process to a basic affix, ''-ro-'' before a consonant and ''-rov-'' before a vowel. This affix was then repurposed to form the subjunctive/conditional mood, which can be used in any of the three tenses: past, present, and future.
* Innovation of a new future tense inflection, ''-sto'', from the Ivugi verb ''sída'' ("goes"/"is going").
* Shift from SVO (subject-object-verb) word order to the rare VOS, after the innovation of person-marking on verbs created less need for an explicit subject at the start of the sentence.

==Phonology==
===Consonants===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" |
! |Labial
! |Alveolar
! |Palato-alveolar
! |Palatal
! |Velar
! |Glottal
|-
! colspan="2" | Nasal
| '''m''' /m/
| '''n''' /n/
|
|
| '''ň''' /ŋ/
|
|-
! rowspan="4" | Plosive
! Voiceless
| '''p''' /p/
| '''t''' /t/
|
|
| '''k''' /k/
|
|-
! Voiced
| '''b''' /b/
| '''d''' /d/
|
|
| '''g''' /g/
|
|-
! Aspirated
| '''pʼ''' /pʰ/
| '''tʼ''' /tʰ/
|
|
| '''kʼ''' /kʰ/
|
|-
! Breathy-voiced
| '''bʼ''' /bʱ/
| '''dʼ''' /dʱ/
|
|
| '''gʼ''' /gʱ/
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | Fricative
! Voiceless
|
| '''s''' /s/
| '''š''' /ʃ/
|
| '''ch''' /x/
| '''h''' /h/
|-
! Voiced
|
| '''z''' /z/
| '''ž''' /ʒ/
|
| '''gh''' /ɣ/
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Approximant
| '''v''' /w~ɹ/
|
|
| '''j''' /j/
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Tap
|
| '''r''' /ɾ/
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Trill
|
| '''ř''' /r/
|
|
|
|
|}
* After back vowels, palato-alveolar /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ are often realized as retroflex [ʂ] and [ʐ].
* The labio-velar approximant /w/ may be realized as alveolar [ɹ], especially intervocalically. By one analysis, this gives Ewige the rare distinction of possessing three rhotic consonants: /ɹ/, /ɾ/, and /r/.

===Vowels===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Monophthongs'''
! |
! |Front
! |Central
! |Back
|-
! High
| '''i''' /i/
|
| '''u''' /u/
|-
! High-mid
| '''é''' /e/
|
| '''ó''' /o/
|-
! Mid
|
| '''y''' /ə/
|
|-
! Low-mid
| '''e''' /ɛ/
|
| '''o''' /ɔ/
|-
! Low
| '''a''' /a/
|
| '''á''' /ɑ/
|}

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Diphthongs'''
! |Front
! |Back
|-
| '''ei''' /ei/
| '''ou''' /ou/
|}
* The mid-central vowel represented here by a schwa, /ə/, can in reality be realized with a wide range of allophones depending on the following consonant. Speakers may possess any or all of these allophones, and younger speakers use them more than older speakers:
:* [ɨ~i], before voiceless stops
:* [əi~oi], before voiceless fricatives
:* [ɜ~ɐ], before /ɾ/ and /r/ and in word-final position
:* syllabification, before nasals, e.g. /ən/ [n̩]

==Vocabulary==
While most of Ewige's vocabulary is indigenous, it has borrowed a large number of terms from nearby languages of the Eurasian steppe, particularly [[w:Russian language|Russian]], [[w:Kazakh language|Kazakh]], and [[w:Mongolian language|Mongolian]].

==Dialectology==

==Grammar==
===Pronouns===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" | Subject/Object
! colspan="2" | Possessive
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| I
| ''ré''
| my/mine
| ''soré''
|-
| you
| ''da''
| your/yours
| ''soda''
|-
| him/her
| ''ut''
| his/hers
| ''soriot''
|-
| it
| ''ot''
| its
| ''sorot''
|-
| we
| ''rin''
| our/ours
| ''sorén''
|-
| you all
| ''dyř''
| all of your
| ''sodař''
|-
| they
| ''ni''
| their/theirs
| ''sonei''
|}

===Nouns===
Ewige nouns are inflected for several grammatical categories:
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Gender/Definiteness
|
''∅-'' (inanimate, indefinite) 
''a-/er-'' (inanimate, definite) 
''i-/ir-'' (animate, indefinite) 
''ja-/jer-'' (animate, definite)
|-
! Noun stem
| (any noun)
|-
! Number
|
''-∅'' (singular) 
''-(d)e'' (plural, for the vast majority of nouns)
|-
! Inalienable possession
|
''-(j)yr'' (my) 
''-(j)yda'' (your) 
''-(j)ei'' (his, her) 
''-(j)yt'' (its) 
''-(j)yré'' (our) 
''-(j)ař'' (all of your) 
''-(j)ynei'' (their)
|}

===Verbs===
Ewige verbs fall into three different conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This table lists the affixes that each form takes to mark subject, object, and tense-aspect-mood.
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" |
! ''-me''
! ''-be''
! ''-pe''
|-
! rowspan="7" | Subject
! "I"
| colspan="3" | ''é(j)-''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="3" | ''dy(j)''
|-
! "he/she"
| colspan="3" | ''i(j)-''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''o(j)-''
|-
! "we"
| colspan="3" | ''éř(é)-''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="3" | ''da(j)-''
|-
! "they"
| colspan="3" | ''né(j)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Negation
| colspan="3" | ''-ó-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Irrealis
| colspan="3" | ''-ro(v)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Passive
| colspan="3" | ''-ké(r)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Verb root
| colspan="3" | (any verb)
|-
! rowspan="5" | Tense, Aspect, Mood
! Infinitive
| ''-mé''
| ''-bé''
| ''-pé''
|-
! Past
| ''-dó''
| ''-nó''
| ''-tó''
|-
! Present
| ''-my''
| ''-(r)o''
| ''-py''
|-
! Future
| ''-dzo''
| colspan="2" | ''-sto''
|-
! Imperative
| colspan="3" | ''-y'' (if followed by an object suffix), ''-∅'' (otherwise)
|-
! rowspan="7" | Object
! "me"
| colspan="3" | ''-r''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="2" | ''-d''
| ''-t''
|-
! "him/her"
| colspan="3" | ''-š''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''-ti''
|-
! "us"
| colspan="3" | ''-n''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="2" | ''-dař''
| ''-tař''
|-
! "them"
| colspan="3" | ''-ni''
|}
* The irrealis mood, which is used to indicate the subjunctive or conditional, can only be used with the basic tenses: past, present, and future.

An example of a highly inflected Ewige verb:
:''éř-ó-ro-ké-dřor-nó-d''
:1PL.NOM-NEG-SUBJ-guard-PST_bé-2SG.ACC_bé
:If we hadn't been protected by you...

Ewige has only eleven basic irregular verbs, although verbs derived from them follow their conjugations, much as the past tense of "to outdo" in English is "outdid". These verbs are only irregular in the past and present; their other inflections are regular. They are listed below in the infinitive, and in the past and present with no conjugation for person and number. They are all fairly common verbs, some of them relating to motion.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! rowspan="2" | English
! colspan="3" | Ewige
|-
! Infinitive
! Past
! Present
|-
| to be
| ''jómé''
| ''-jón''
| ''-jó''
|-
| to eat
| ''ámé''
| ''-án''
| ''-áró''
|-
| to go
| ''šérbé''
| ''-šédu''
| ''-šédo''
|-
| to need
| ''rimé''
| ''-rimu''
| ''-rimo''
|-
| to say
| ''šémé''
| ''-sonó''
| ''-soko''
|-
| to have
| ''otʼamé''
| ''-otʼou''
| ''-otʼei''
|-
| to see
| ''otʼépé''
| ''-otʼó''
| ''-otʼy''
|-
| to leave
| ''épymé''
| ''-épion''
| ''-épio''
|-
| to run
| ''sonémé''
| ''-sonu''
| ''-sono''
|-
| to walk
| ''esomé''
| ''-estu''
| ''-esto''
|-
| to swim
| ''vobé''
| ''-vobu''
| ''-vobo''
|}

===Adjectives===
Adjective inflection is simple: they are inflected for definiteness, animacy, and number using the same affixes nouns are.

===Derivation===
Ewige makes extensive use of derivation. The following are some common nominalizing prefixes and suffixes, which are attached to the verb root:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Type
! Affix
|-
| Gerund
|
''-zo'' (for verbs of motion) 
''-há'' (for all other verbs)
|-
| Gerund, habitual
|
''-sék''
|-
| Agentive
|
''-gyň'' (from a word for "friend")
|-
| Locational
|
''-ova'' (from a word for "house")
|-
| Patient
|
''žo-''
|-
| Productive
|
''ano-''
|}

The suffix to nominalize adjectives is ''-(ó)bro'', deriving from the word for "color". Conversely, ''-ře'' is used to derive adjectives from other parts of speech. A suffix ''-ry'', from the word for "slice", is attached to some nouns with a diminutive meaning, but it is not very productive in the modern language.

Ewige also possesses several affixes to derive verbs from nouns and adjectives:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Meaning
! Affix
|-
| To perform an action related to X
| ''-(ó)batpé'' (from the Russian ''-ovat'')
|-
| To turn something into X, or to make it more X
| ''-(y)hérbé'' (from an old word meaning "to transform", specifically under a magical curse)
|-
| To be like X, or to evoke X
| ''-(y)přémé'' (from an old word meaning "to agree with" or "to resemble")
|-
| To provide X to someone (usually, but not always, with a benevolent meaning)
| ''-(y)jápé'' (from an old word meaning "to allocate")
|}

====Compounds====
Each noun, verb, or adjective root has a "construct state" that is used to form compounds; this construct state is used for all roots in the compound except the final one. First, any affixes, such as those marking definiteness/animacy or the infinitive, are removed, and then the final consonant of the root is altered according to the following rules:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Final consonant of root...
! is replaced with...
|-
| Voiceless stops
| ''-šé(j)''
|-
| Voiceless fricatives
| ''-t''
|-
| Other final consonants
| ''-ž''
|-
| Root ends in ''-á''
| ''-á'' becomes ''-ež''
|-
| Root ends in a different vowel
| Vowel becomes ''-á(j)''
|}

===Syntax===
Ewige uses the rare [[w:verb–object–subject|verb–object–subject]] word order. Noun phrases are generally right-branching, with adjectives, numerals, and relative clauses all following the head noun (in that order). However, Ewige uses prepositions rather than postpositions, and determiners precede the head noun. Adverbs are formed by suffixing an adjective (or other part of speech) with ''-(j)agh'', or ''-(j)ař'' if the adjective ends in a stop consonant. These adverbs typically come at the end of the sentence.

Other than for verbs, negation is fairly simple. Noun phrases are negated with ''vó'', which precedes the noun phrase. The general negation particle is ''ou'', which is used to negate every part of speech other than verbs and nouns.

===Questions===
Ewige possesses the following words to form questions. When applicable, corresponding non-interrogative words are also given. The interrogative words are simply placed where a non-interrogative word would be; there is no do-support as in English.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" | Interrogative
! colspan="2" | Proximate
! colspan="2" | Distal
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| what?
| ''hei?''
| this
| ''gei''
| that
| ''twei''
|-
| who/whom?
| ''hor?''
| colspan="4" rowspan="2" | —
|-
| which?
| ''hok?''
|-
| where?
| ''heiry?'' (from ''hei iry?'', literally "what place?")
| here
| ''ga''
| there
| ''twa''
|-
| when?
| ''hou?''
| now
| ''gou''
| then
| ''tou''
|-
| why?
| ''ha?''
| thus (for this reason)
| ''ga''
| thus (for that reason)
| ''twa''
|}

To form generic equivalents, ''é-'' is prefixed to the interrogative forms, such as ''éhor'' ("someone").

To turn an entire sentence interrogative, the particle ''žé'' is used in the past indicative, while ''ža'' is used in every other tense and mood. This particle typically precedes the verb, but it can come anywhere in the sentence.

==Sample text==

User:Frrurtu/Sandbox5

2017-11-04T18:18:46Z

Frrurtu: /* Verbs */

'''Ewige'''

==History==
Ewige is one of many descendants of Ivugi, which was spoken circa 1000 AD in the Eurasian steppe in present-day [[w:Siberia|Siberia]]. It has undergone many phonological and grammatical changes, evolving from a relatively isolating language to a highly agglutinative one with polypersonal inflection and an animate-inanimate distinction. Its syllable structure has grown more restrictive and it has lost its phonemic stress, but its vowel and consonant inventories have grown.

While it has historically been written in [[w:Cyrillic|Cyrillic]], the Ewige people were among the earliest adopters of the [[w:Latin script|Latin script]] among Siberian peoples. However, many of their orthographical conventions, such as extensive use of the [[w:hacek|hacek]], are Slavic in nature.

===Phonological history===
Ewige is characterized by the following phonological innovations from Ivugi:
* Creation of a new /e/ phoneme, formed from historical /i/ and /ɨ/ before voiceless fricatives and /r/, and historical /ɛ/ before alveolar consonants.
* Creation of a new /ʃ/ phoneme from /s/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /t/ also become /ʃ/.
* Creation of a new /ʒ/ phoneme from /z/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /j/ also became /ʒ/.
* The glottal stop /ʔ/ merging with the other three voiceless stops depending on the preceding vowel: /t/ after front vowels, /k/ after central vowels, and /p/ after back vowels.
* Creation of a new /m/ phoneme from intervocalic /b/ in unstressed syllables, plus /n/ and /ŋ/ before labials and unstressed /o/.
* Simplification of various labial-stop clusters: /kp/, /tp/, /rp/, /kb/, and /tb/ all become /p/, and /gb/, /db/, and /rb/ all become /b/.
* Shift of certain vowels' pronunciations when unstressed: /au/ and /o/ become [u], /ai/ merges with /i/, and /ɨ/ and /ɐ/ become [ə].
* Development of aspirated and breathy-voiced allophones of stops in stressed syllables.
* Loss of phonemic stress in favor of universal initial stress—except in some loanwords and compounds—causing /u/, /ə/, and the aspirated and breathy-voiced stops to all become phonemic.
* Merger of /ɸ/ into /β/, which then shifts its pronunciation to [w].
* Merger of /l/ into /ɾ/.
* Merger of /x/ and /ɣ/ into /r/ after stops.
* Chain shifts affecting most vowel monophthongs: /ɨ/ > /i/ > /e/ > /ɛ/ > /a/, and /ɐ/ > /ɑ/ > /ɔ/.
* Raising of the two diphthongs: /ai/ to [ei] and /au/ to [ou].

===Grammatical history===
It has also undergone the following grammatical innovations:
* Drastic simplification of noun pluralization: the majority of nouns now pluralize with ''-e'' or ''-de'', although a few dozen irregular nouns remain as vestiges of Ivugi's complex ablaut-based system.
* Generalizing the Ivugi particle ''u'', which was used before animate singular nouns in the accusative, to be a general affix for animate nouns. Explicitly animate pronouns and verb inflections would later develop based on it.
* Repurposing Ivugi's ''yi'' and ''ye'', which were the interrogative forms of "to be" in the past and present, as generic interrogative markers, and the resultant loss of Ivugi's morphological interrogative mood. They are now ''žé'' and ''ža''.
* Obligatory marking of inalienable possession on certain nouns, created from the Ivugi particle ''a'' ("of", inalienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Development of possessive pronouns using the Ivugi particle ''sal'' ("of", semi-alienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Generalization of Ivugi's third genitive particle ''val'' ("of", alienable) as the only genitive particle, now ''va''.
* Expansion of Ivugi's simpler verb paradigm, in which all verbs had infinitives ending in ''-bi'' and inflected basically the same way, into a more complex paradigm with three conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This process came about when clusters of various consonants and /b/ simplified in different ways.
* Polypersonal inflection on the verb: whereas Ivugi verbs did not indicate person in any form, Ewige verbs can inflect for both subject and object, both of which started as forms of the pronouns and then phonologically reduced.
* Simplification of the Ivugi syllable onset alternation process to a basic affix, ''-ro-'' before a consonant and ''-rov-'' before a vowel. This affix was then repurposed to form the subjunctive/conditional mood, which can be used in any of the three tenses: past, present, and future.
* Innovation of a new future tense inflection, ''-sto'', from the Ivugi verb ''sída'' ("goes"/"is going").
* Shift from SVO (subject-object-verb) word order to the rare VOS, after the innovation of person-marking on verbs created less need for an explicit subject at the start of the sentence.

==Phonology==
===Consonants===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" |
! |Labial
! |Alveolar
! |Palato-alveolar
! |Palatal
! |Velar
! |Glottal
|-
! colspan="2" | Nasal
| '''m''' /m/
| '''n''' /n/
|
|
| '''ň''' /ŋ/
|
|-
! rowspan="4" | Plosive
! Voiceless
| '''p''' /p/
| '''t''' /t/
|
|
| '''k''' /k/
|
|-
! Voiced
| '''b''' /b/
| '''d''' /d/
|
|
| '''g''' /g/
|
|-
! Aspirated
| '''pʼ''' /pʰ/
| '''tʼ''' /tʰ/
|
|
| '''kʼ''' /kʰ/
|
|-
! Breathy-voiced
| '''bʼ''' /bʱ/
| '''dʼ''' /dʱ/
|
|
| '''gʼ''' /gʱ/
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | Fricative
! Voiceless
|
| '''s''' /s/
| '''š''' /ʃ/
|
| '''ch''' /x/
| '''h''' /h/
|-
! Voiced
|
| '''z''' /z/
| '''ž''' /ʒ/
|
| '''gh''' /ɣ/
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Approximant
| '''v''' /w~ɹ/
|
|
| '''j''' /j/
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Tap
|
| '''r''' /ɾ/
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Trill
|
| '''ř''' /r/
|
|
|
|
|}
* After back vowels, palato-alveolar /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ are often realized as retroflex [ʂ] and [ʐ].
* The labio-velar approximant /w/ may be realized as alveolar [ɹ], especially intervocalically. By one analysis, this gives Ewige the rare distinction of possessing three rhotic consonants: /ɹ/, /ɾ/, and /r/.

===Vowels===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Monophthongs'''
! |
! |Front
! |Central
! |Back
|-
! High
| '''i''' /i/
|
| '''u''' /u/
|-
! High-mid
| '''é''' /e/
|
| '''ó''' /o/
|-
! Mid
|
| '''y''' /ə/
|
|-
! Low-mid
| '''e''' /ɛ/
|
| '''o''' /ɔ/
|-
! Low
| '''a''' /a/
|
| '''á''' /ɑ/
|}

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Diphthongs'''
! |Front
! |Back
|-
| '''ei''' /ei/
| '''ou''' /ou/
|}
* The mid-central vowel represented here by a schwa, /ə/, can in reality be realized with a wide range of allophones depending on the following consonant. Speakers may possess any or all of these allophones, and younger speakers use them more than older speakers:
:* [ɨ~i], before voiceless stops
:* [əi~oi], before voiceless fricatives
:* [ɜ~ɐ], before /ɾ/ and /r/ and in word-final position
:* syllabification, before nasals, e.g. /ən/ [n̩]

==Vocabulary==
While most of Ewige's vocabulary is indigenous, it has borrowed a large number of terms from nearby languages of the Eurasian steppe, particularly [[w:Russian language|Russian]], [[w:Kazakh language|Kazakh]], and [[w:Mongolian language|Mongolian]].

==Dialectology==

==Grammar==
===Pronouns===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" | Subject/Object
! colspan="2" | Possessive
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| I
| ''ré''
| my/mine
| ''soré''
|-
| you
| ''da''
| your/yours
| ''soda''
|-
| him/her
| ''ut''
| his/hers
| ''soriot''
|-
| it
| ''ot''
| its
| ''sorot''
|-
| we
| ''rin''
| our/ours
| ''sorén''
|-
| you all
| ''dyř''
| all of your
| ''sodař''
|-
| they
| ''ni''
| their/theirs
| ''sonei''
|}

===Nouns===
Ewige nouns are inflected for several grammatical categories:
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Gender/Definiteness
|
''∅-'' (inanimate, indefinite) 
''a-/er-'' (inanimate, definite) 
''i-/ir-'' (animate, indefinite) 
''ja-/jer-'' (animate, definite)
|-
! Noun stem
| (any noun)
|-
! Number
|
''-∅'' (singular) 
''-(d)e'' (plural, for the vast majority of nouns)
|-
! Inalienable possession
|
''-(j)yr'' (my) 
''-(j)yda'' (your) 
''-(j)ei'' (his, her) 
''-(j)yt'' (its) 
''-(j)yré'' (our) 
''-(j)ař'' (all of your) 
''-(j)ynei'' (their)
|}

===Verbs===
Ewige verbs fall into three different conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This table lists the affixes that each form takes to mark subject, object, and tense-aspect-mood.
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" |
! ''-me''
! ''-be''
! ''-pe''
|-
! rowspan="7" | Subject
! "I"
| colspan="3" | ''é(j)-''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="3" | ''dy(j)''
|-
! "he/she"
| colspan="3" | ''i(j)-''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''o(j)-''
|-
! "we"
| colspan="3" | ''éř(é)-''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="3" | ''da(j)-''
|-
! "they"
| colspan="3" | ''né(j)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Negation
| colspan="3" | ''-ó-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Irrealis
| colspan="3" | ''-ro(v)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Passive
| colspan="3" | ''-ké(r)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Verb root
| colspan="3" | (any verb)
|-
! rowspan="5" | Tense, Aspect, Mood
! Infinitive
| ''-mé''
| ''-bé''
| ''-pé''
|-
! Past
| ''-dó''
| ''-nó''
| ''-tó''
|-
! Present
| ''-my''
| ''-(r)o''
| ''-py''
|-
! Future
| ''-dzo''
| colspan="2" | ''-sto''
|-
! Imperative
| colspan="3" | ''-y'' (if followed by an object suffix), ''-∅'' (otherwise)
|-
! rowspan="7" | Object
! "me"
| colspan="3" | ''-r''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="2" | ''-d''
| ''-t''
|-
! "him/her"
| colspan="3" | ''-š''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''-ti''
|-
! "us"
| colspan="3" | ''-n''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="2" | ''-dař''
| ''-tař''
|-
! "them"
| colspan="3" | ''-ni''
|}
* The irrealis mood, which is used to indicate the subjunctive or conditional, can only be used with the basic tenses: past, present, and future.

An example of a highly inflected Ewige verb:
:''éř-ó-ro-ké-dřor-nó-d''
:1PL.NOM-NEG-SUBJ-guard-PST_bé-2SG.ACC_bé
:If we hadn't been protected by you...

Ewige has only eleven basic irregular verbs, although verbs derived from them follow their conjugations, much as the past tense of "to outdo" in English is "outdid". These verbs are only irregular in the past and present; their other inflections are regular. They are listed below in the infinitive, and in the past and present with no conjugation for person and number. They are all fairly common verbs, some of them relating to motion.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! rowspan="2" | English
! colspan="3" | Ewige
|-
! Infinitive
! Past
! Present
|-
| to be
| ''jómé''
| ''-jón''
| ''-jó''
|-
| to eat
| ''ámé''
| ''-án''
| ''-áró''
|-
| to go
| ''šérbé''
| ''-šédu''
| ''-šédo''
|-
| to need
| ''rimé''
| ''-rimu''
| ''-rimo''
|-
| to say
| ''šémé''
| ''-sonó''
| ''-soko''
|-
| to have
| ''otʼamé''
| ''-otʼou''
| ''-otʼei''
|-
| to see
| ''otʼépé''
| ''-otʼó''
| ''-otʼy''
|-
| to leave
| ''épymé''
| ''-épion''
| ''-épio''
|-
| to run
| ''sonémé''
| ''-sonu''
| ''-sono''
|-
| to walk
| ''esomé''
| ''-estu''
| ''-esto''
|-
| to swim
| ''vobé''
| ''-vobu''
| ''-vobo''
|}

===Adjectives===
Adjective inflection is simple: they are inflected for definiteness, animacy, and number using the same affixes nouns are.

===Derivation===
Ewige makes extensive use of derivation. The following are some common nominalizing prefixes and suffixes, which are attached to the verb root:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Type
! Affix
|-
| Gerund
|
''-zo'' (for verbs of motion) 
''-há'' (for all other verbs)
|-
| Gerund, habitual
|
''-sék''
|-
| Agentive
|
''-gyň'' (from a word for "friend")
|-
| Locational
|
''-ova'' (from a word for "house")
|-
| Patient
|
''žo-''
|-
| Productive
|
''ano-''
|}

The suffix to nominalize adjectives is ''-(ó)bro'', deriving from the word for "color". Conversely, ''-ře'' is used to derive adjectives from other parts of speech. A suffix ''-ry'', from the word for "slice", is attached to some nouns with a diminutive meaning, but it is not very productive in the modern language.

Ewige also possesses several affixes to derive verbs from nouns and adjectives:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Meaning
! Affix
|-
| To perform an action related to X
| ''-(ó)batpé'' (from the Russian ''-ovat'')
|-
| To turn something into X, or to make it more X
| ''-(y)hérbé'' (from an old word meaning "to transform", specifically under a magical curse)
|-
| To be like X, or to evoke X
| ''-(y)přémé'' (from an old word meaning "to agree with" or "to resemble")
|-
| To provide X to someone (usually, but not always, with a benevolent meaning)
| ''-(y)jápé'' (from an old word meaning "to allocate")
|}

====Compounds====
Each noun, verb, or adjective root has a "construct state" that is used to form compounds; this construct state is used for all roots in the compound except the final one. First, any affixes, such as those marking definiteness/animacy or the infinitive, are removed, and then the final consonant of the root is altered according to the following rules:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Final consonant of root...
! is replaced with...
|-
| Voiceless stops
| ''-šé(j)''
|-
| Voiceless fricatives
| ''-t''
|-
| Other final consonants
| ''-ž''
|-
| Root ends in ''-á''
| ''-á'' becomes ''-ež''
|-
| Root ends in a different vowel
| Vowel becomes ''-á(j)''
|}

===Syntax===
Ewige uses the rare [[w:verb–object–subject|verb–object–subject]] word order. Noun phrases are generally right-branching, with adjectives, numerals, and relative clauses all following the head noun (in that order). However, Ewige uses prepositions rather than postpositions, and determiners precede the head noun. Adverbs typically come at the end of the sentence.

Other than for verbs, negation is fairly simple. Noun phrases are negated with ''vó'', which precedes the noun phrase. The general negation particle is ''ou'', which is used to negate every part of speech other than verbs and nouns.

===Questions===
Ewige possesses the following words to form questions. When applicable, corresponding non-interrogative words are also given. The interrogative words are simply placed where a non-interrogative word would be; there is no do-support as in English.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" | Interrogative
! colspan="2" | Proximate
! colspan="2" | Distal
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| what?
| ''hei?''
| this
| ''gei''
| that
| ''twei''
|-
| who/whom?
| ''hor?''
| colspan="4" rowspan="2" | —
|-
| which?
| ''hok?''
|-
| where?
| ''heiry?'' (from ''hei iry?'', literally "what place?")
| here
| ''ga''
| there
| ''twa''
|-
| when?
| ''hou?''
| now
| ''gou''
| then
| ''tou''
|-
| why?
| ''ha?''
| thus (for this reason)
| ''ga''
| thus (for that reason)
| ''twa''
|}

To form generic equivalents, ''é-'' is prefixed to the interrogative forms, such as ''éhor'' ("someone").

To turn an entire sentence interrogative, the particle ''žé'' is used in the past indicative, while ''ža'' is used in every other tense and mood. This particle typically precedes the verb, but it can come anywhere in the sentence.

==Sample text==

User:Frrurtu/Sandbox5

2017-11-04T18:18:25Z

Frrurtu: /* Verbs */

'''Ewige'''

==History==
Ewige is one of many descendants of Ivugi, which was spoken circa 1000 AD in the Eurasian steppe in present-day [[w:Siberia|Siberia]]. It has undergone many phonological and grammatical changes, evolving from a relatively isolating language to a highly agglutinative one with polypersonal inflection and an animate-inanimate distinction. Its syllable structure has grown more restrictive and it has lost its phonemic stress, but its vowel and consonant inventories have grown.

While it has historically been written in [[w:Cyrillic|Cyrillic]], the Ewige people were among the earliest adopters of the [[w:Latin script|Latin script]] among Siberian peoples. However, many of their orthographical conventions, such as extensive use of the [[w:hacek|hacek]], are Slavic in nature.

===Phonological history===
Ewige is characterized by the following phonological innovations from Ivugi:
* Creation of a new /e/ phoneme, formed from historical /i/ and /ɨ/ before voiceless fricatives and /r/, and historical /ɛ/ before alveolar consonants.
* Creation of a new /ʃ/ phoneme from /s/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /t/ also become /ʃ/.
* Creation of a new /ʒ/ phoneme from /z/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /j/ also became /ʒ/.
* The glottal stop /ʔ/ merging with the other three voiceless stops depending on the preceding vowel: /t/ after front vowels, /k/ after central vowels, and /p/ after back vowels.
* Creation of a new /m/ phoneme from intervocalic /b/ in unstressed syllables, plus /n/ and /ŋ/ before labials and unstressed /o/.
* Simplification of various labial-stop clusters: /kp/, /tp/, /rp/, /kb/, and /tb/ all become /p/, and /gb/, /db/, and /rb/ all become /b/.
* Shift of certain vowels' pronunciations when unstressed: /au/ and /o/ become [u], /ai/ merges with /i/, and /ɨ/ and /ɐ/ become [ə].
* Development of aspirated and breathy-voiced allophones of stops in stressed syllables.
* Loss of phonemic stress in favor of universal initial stress—except in some loanwords and compounds—causing /u/, /ə/, and the aspirated and breathy-voiced stops to all become phonemic.
* Merger of /ɸ/ into /β/, which then shifts its pronunciation to [w].
* Merger of /l/ into /ɾ/.
* Merger of /x/ and /ɣ/ into /r/ after stops.
* Chain shifts affecting most vowel monophthongs: /ɨ/ > /i/ > /e/ > /ɛ/ > /a/, and /ɐ/ > /ɑ/ > /ɔ/.
* Raising of the two diphthongs: /ai/ to [ei] and /au/ to [ou].

===Grammatical history===
It has also undergone the following grammatical innovations:
* Drastic simplification of noun pluralization: the majority of nouns now pluralize with ''-e'' or ''-de'', although a few dozen irregular nouns remain as vestiges of Ivugi's complex ablaut-based system.
* Generalizing the Ivugi particle ''u'', which was used before animate singular nouns in the accusative, to be a general affix for animate nouns. Explicitly animate pronouns and verb inflections would later develop based on it.
* Repurposing Ivugi's ''yi'' and ''ye'', which were the interrogative forms of "to be" in the past and present, as generic interrogative markers, and the resultant loss of Ivugi's morphological interrogative mood. They are now ''žé'' and ''ža''.
* Obligatory marking of inalienable possession on certain nouns, created from the Ivugi particle ''a'' ("of", inalienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Development of possessive pronouns using the Ivugi particle ''sal'' ("of", semi-alienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Generalization of Ivugi's third genitive particle ''val'' ("of", alienable) as the only genitive particle, now ''va''.
* Expansion of Ivugi's simpler verb paradigm, in which all verbs had infinitives ending in ''-bi'' and inflected basically the same way, into a more complex paradigm with three conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This process came about when clusters of various consonants and /b/ simplified in different ways.
* Polypersonal inflection on the verb: whereas Ivugi verbs did not indicate person in any form, Ewige verbs can inflect for both subject and object, both of which started as forms of the pronouns and then phonologically reduced.
* Simplification of the Ivugi syllable onset alternation process to a basic affix, ''-ro-'' before a consonant and ''-rov-'' before a vowel. This affix was then repurposed to form the subjunctive/conditional mood, which can be used in any of the three tenses: past, present, and future.
* Innovation of a new future tense inflection, ''-sto'', from the Ivugi verb ''sída'' ("goes"/"is going").
* Shift from SVO (subject-object-verb) word order to the rare VOS, after the innovation of person-marking on verbs created less need for an explicit subject at the start of the sentence.

==Phonology==
===Consonants===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" |
! |Labial
! |Alveolar
! |Palato-alveolar
! |Palatal
! |Velar
! |Glottal
|-
! colspan="2" | Nasal
| '''m''' /m/
| '''n''' /n/
|
|
| '''ň''' /ŋ/
|
|-
! rowspan="4" | Plosive
! Voiceless
| '''p''' /p/
| '''t''' /t/
|
|
| '''k''' /k/
|
|-
! Voiced
| '''b''' /b/
| '''d''' /d/
|
|
| '''g''' /g/
|
|-
! Aspirated
| '''pʼ''' /pʰ/
| '''tʼ''' /tʰ/
|
|
| '''kʼ''' /kʰ/
|
|-
! Breathy-voiced
| '''bʼ''' /bʱ/
| '''dʼ''' /dʱ/
|
|
| '''gʼ''' /gʱ/
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | Fricative
! Voiceless
|
| '''s''' /s/
| '''š''' /ʃ/
|
| '''ch''' /x/
| '''h''' /h/
|-
! Voiced
|
| '''z''' /z/
| '''ž''' /ʒ/
|
| '''gh''' /ɣ/
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Approximant
| '''v''' /w~ɹ/
|
|
| '''j''' /j/
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Tap
|
| '''r''' /ɾ/
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Trill
|
| '''ř''' /r/
|
|
|
|
|}
* After back vowels, palato-alveolar /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ are often realized as retroflex [ʂ] and [ʐ].
* The labio-velar approximant /w/ may be realized as alveolar [ɹ], especially intervocalically. By one analysis, this gives Ewige the rare distinction of possessing three rhotic consonants: /ɹ/, /ɾ/, and /r/.

===Vowels===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Monophthongs'''
! |
! |Front
! |Central
! |Back
|-
! High
| '''i''' /i/
|
| '''u''' /u/
|-
! High-mid
| '''é''' /e/
|
| '''ó''' /o/
|-
! Mid
|
| '''y''' /ə/
|
|-
! Low-mid
| '''e''' /ɛ/
|
| '''o''' /ɔ/
|-
! Low
| '''a''' /a/
|
| '''á''' /ɑ/
|}

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Diphthongs'''
! |Front
! |Back
|-
| '''ei''' /ei/
| '''ou''' /ou/
|}
* The mid-central vowel represented here by a schwa, /ə/, can in reality be realized with a wide range of allophones depending on the following consonant. Speakers may possess any or all of these allophones, and younger speakers use them more than older speakers:
:* [ɨ~i], before voiceless stops
:* [əi~oi], before voiceless fricatives
:* [ɜ~ɐ], before /ɾ/ and /r/ and in word-final position
:* syllabification, before nasals, e.g. /ən/ [n̩]

==Vocabulary==
While most of Ewige's vocabulary is indigenous, it has borrowed a large number of terms from nearby languages of the Eurasian steppe, particularly [[w:Russian language|Russian]], [[w:Kazakh language|Kazakh]], and [[w:Mongolian language|Mongolian]].

==Dialectology==

==Grammar==
===Pronouns===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" | Subject/Object
! colspan="2" | Possessive
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| I
| ''ré''
| my/mine
| ''soré''
|-
| you
| ''da''
| your/yours
| ''soda''
|-
| him/her
| ''ut''
| his/hers
| ''soriot''
|-
| it
| ''ot''
| its
| ''sorot''
|-
| we
| ''rin''
| our/ours
| ''sorén''
|-
| you all
| ''dyř''
| all of your
| ''sodař''
|-
| they
| ''ni''
| their/theirs
| ''sonei''
|}

===Nouns===
Ewige nouns are inflected for several grammatical categories:
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Gender/Definiteness
|
''∅-'' (inanimate, indefinite) 
''a-/er-'' (inanimate, definite) 
''i-/ir-'' (animate, indefinite) 
''ja-/jer-'' (animate, definite)
|-
! Noun stem
| (any noun)
|-
! Number
|
''-∅'' (singular) 
''-(d)e'' (plural, for the vast majority of nouns)
|-
! Inalienable possession
|
''-(j)yr'' (my) 
''-(j)yda'' (your) 
''-(j)ei'' (his, her) 
''-(j)yt'' (its) 
''-(j)yré'' (our) 
''-(j)ař'' (all of your) 
''-(j)ynei'' (their)
|}

===Verbs===
Ewige verbs fall into three different conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This table lists the affixes that each form takes to mark subject, object, and tense-aspect-mood.
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" |
! ''-me''
! ''-be''
! ''-pe''
|-
! rowspan="7" | Subject
! "I"
| colspan="3" | ''é(j)-''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="3" | ''dy(j)''
|-
! "he/she"
| colspan="3" | ''i(j)-''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''o(j)-''
|-
! "we"
| colspan="3" | ''éř(é)-''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="3" | ''da(j)-''
|-
! "they"
| colspan="3" | ''né(j)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Negation
| colspan="3" | ''-ó-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Irrealis
| colspan="3" | ''-ro(v)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Passive
| colspan="3" | ''-ké(r)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Verb root
| colspan="3" | (any verb)
|-
! rowspan="5" | Tense, Aspect, Mood
! Infinitive
| ''-mé''
| ''-bé''
| ''-pé''
|-
! Past
| ''-dó''
| ''-nó''
| ''-tó''
|-
! Present
| ''-my''
| ''-(r)o''
| ''-py''
|-
! Future
| ''-dzo''
| colspan="2" | ''-sto''
|-
! Imperative
| colspan="3" | ''-y'' (if followed by an object suffix), ''-∅'' (otherwise)
|-
! rowspan="7" | Object
! "me"
| colspan="3" | ''-r''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="2" | ''-d''
| ''-t''
|-
! "him/her"
| colspan="3" | ''-š''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''-ti''
|-
! "us"
| colspan="3" | ''-n''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="2" | ''-dař''
| ''-tař''
|-
! "them"
| colspan="3" | ''-ni''
|}
* The irrealis mood, which is used to indicate the subjunctive or conditional, can only be used with the basic tenses: past, present, and future.

An example of a highly inflected Ewige verb:
:''éř-ó-ro-ké-dřor-nó-d''
:1PL.NOM-NEG-SUBJ-guard-PST_bé-2SG.ACC_bé
:If we hadn't been protected by you...

Ewige has only a few basic irregular verbs, although verbs derived from them follow their conjugations, much as the past tense of "to outdo" in English is "outdid". These verbs are only irregular in the past and present; their other inflections are regular. They are listed below in the infinitive, and in the past and present with no conjugation for person and number. They are all fairly common verbs, some of them relating to motion.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! rowspan="2" | English
! colspan="3" | Ewige
|-
! Infinitive
! Past
! Present
|-
| to be
| ''jómé''
| ''-jón''
| ''-jó''
|-
| to eat
| ''ámé''
| ''-án''
| ''-áró''
|-
| to go
| ''šérbé''
| ''-šédu''
| ''-šédo''
|-
| to need
| ''rimé''
| ''-rimu''
| ''-rimo''
|-
| to say
| ''šémé''
| ''-sonó''
| ''-soko''
|-
| to have
| ''otʼamé''
| ''-otʼou''
| ''-otʼei''
|-
| to see
| ''otʼépé''
| ''-otʼó''
| ''-otʼy''
|-
| to leave
| ''épymé''
| ''-épion''
| ''-épio''
|-
| to run
| ''sonémé''
| ''-sonu''
| ''-sono''
|-
| to walk
| ''esomé''
| ''-estu''
| ''-esto''
|-
| to swim
| ''vobé''
| ''-vobu''
| ''-vobo''
|}

===Adjectives===
Adjective inflection is simple: they are inflected for definiteness, animacy, and number using the same affixes nouns are.

===Derivation===
Ewige makes extensive use of derivation. The following are some common nominalizing prefixes and suffixes, which are attached to the verb root:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Type
! Affix
|-
| Gerund
|
''-zo'' (for verbs of motion) 
''-há'' (for all other verbs)
|-
| Gerund, habitual
|
''-sék''
|-
| Agentive
|
''-gyň'' (from a word for "friend")
|-
| Locational
|
''-ova'' (from a word for "house")
|-
| Patient
|
''žo-''
|-
| Productive
|
''ano-''
|}

The suffix to nominalize adjectives is ''-(ó)bro'', deriving from the word for "color". Conversely, ''-ře'' is used to derive adjectives from other parts of speech. A suffix ''-ry'', from the word for "slice", is attached to some nouns with a diminutive meaning, but it is not very productive in the modern language.

Ewige also possesses several affixes to derive verbs from nouns and adjectives:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Meaning
! Affix
|-
| To perform an action related to X
| ''-(ó)batpé'' (from the Russian ''-ovat'')
|-
| To turn something into X, or to make it more X
| ''-(y)hérbé'' (from an old word meaning "to transform", specifically under a magical curse)
|-
| To be like X, or to evoke X
| ''-(y)přémé'' (from an old word meaning "to agree with" or "to resemble")
|-
| To provide X to someone (usually, but not always, with a benevolent meaning)
| ''-(y)jápé'' (from an old word meaning "to allocate")
|}

====Compounds====
Each noun, verb, or adjective root has a "construct state" that is used to form compounds; this construct state is used for all roots in the compound except the final one. First, any affixes, such as those marking definiteness/animacy or the infinitive, are removed, and then the final consonant of the root is altered according to the following rules:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Final consonant of root...
! is replaced with...
|-
| Voiceless stops
| ''-šé(j)''
|-
| Voiceless fricatives
| ''-t''
|-
| Other final consonants
| ''-ž''
|-
| Root ends in ''-á''
| ''-á'' becomes ''-ež''
|-
| Root ends in a different vowel
| Vowel becomes ''-á(j)''
|}

===Syntax===
Ewige uses the rare [[w:verb–object–subject|verb–object–subject]] word order. Noun phrases are generally right-branching, with adjectives, numerals, and relative clauses all following the head noun (in that order). However, Ewige uses prepositions rather than postpositions, and determiners precede the head noun. Adverbs typically come at the end of the sentence.

Other than for verbs, negation is fairly simple. Noun phrases are negated with ''vó'', which precedes the noun phrase. The general negation particle is ''ou'', which is used to negate every part of speech other than verbs and nouns.

===Questions===
Ewige possesses the following words to form questions. When applicable, corresponding non-interrogative words are also given. The interrogative words are simply placed where a non-interrogative word would be; there is no do-support as in English.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" | Interrogative
! colspan="2" | Proximate
! colspan="2" | Distal
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| what?
| ''hei?''
| this
| ''gei''
| that
| ''twei''
|-
| who/whom?
| ''hor?''
| colspan="4" rowspan="2" | —
|-
| which?
| ''hok?''
|-
| where?
| ''heiry?'' (from ''hei iry?'', literally "what place?")
| here
| ''ga''
| there
| ''twa''
|-
| when?
| ''hou?''
| now
| ''gou''
| then
| ''tou''
|-
| why?
| ''ha?''
| thus (for this reason)
| ''ga''
| thus (for that reason)
| ''twa''
|}

To form generic equivalents, ''é-'' is prefixed to the interrogative forms, such as ''éhor'' ("someone").

To turn an entire sentence interrogative, the particle ''žé'' is used in the past indicative, while ''ža'' is used in every other tense and mood. This particle typically precedes the verb, but it can come anywhere in the sentence.

==Sample text==

User:Frrurtu/Sandbox5

2017-11-03T01:01:20Z

Frrurtu: /* Verbs */

'''Ewige'''

==History==
Ewige is one of many descendants of Ivugi, which was spoken circa 1000 AD in the Eurasian steppe in present-day [[w:Siberia|Siberia]]. It has undergone many phonological and grammatical changes, evolving from a relatively isolating language to a highly agglutinative one with polypersonal inflection and an animate-inanimate distinction. Its syllable structure has grown more restrictive and it has lost its phonemic stress, but its vowel and consonant inventories have grown.

While it has historically been written in [[w:Cyrillic|Cyrillic]], the Ewige people were among the earliest adopters of the [[w:Latin script|Latin script]] among Siberian peoples. However, many of their orthographical conventions, such as extensive use of the [[w:hacek|hacek]], are Slavic in nature.

===Phonological history===
Ewige is characterized by the following phonological innovations from Ivugi:
* Creation of a new /e/ phoneme, formed from historical /i/ and /ɨ/ before voiceless fricatives and /r/, and historical /ɛ/ before alveolar consonants.
* Creation of a new /ʃ/ phoneme from /s/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /t/ also become /ʃ/.
* Creation of a new /ʒ/ phoneme from /z/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /j/ also became /ʒ/.
* The glottal stop /ʔ/ merging with the other three voiceless stops depending on the preceding vowel: /t/ after front vowels, /k/ after central vowels, and /p/ after back vowels.
* Creation of a new /m/ phoneme from intervocalic /b/ in unstressed syllables, plus /n/ and /ŋ/ before labials and unstressed /o/.
* Simplification of various labial-stop clusters: /kp/, /tp/, /rp/, /kb/, and /tb/ all become /p/, and /gb/, /db/, and /rb/ all become /b/.
* Shift of certain vowels' pronunciations when unstressed: /au/ and /o/ become [u], /ai/ merges with /i/, and /ɨ/ and /ɐ/ become [ə].
* Development of aspirated and breathy-voiced allophones of stops in stressed syllables.
* Loss of phonemic stress in favor of universal initial stress—except in some loanwords and compounds—causing /u/, /ə/, and the aspirated and breathy-voiced stops to all become phonemic.
* Merger of /ɸ/ into /β/, which then shifts its pronunciation to [w].
* Merger of /l/ into /ɾ/.
* Merger of /x/ and /ɣ/ into /r/ after stops.
* Chain shifts affecting most vowel monophthongs: /ɨ/ > /i/ > /e/ > /ɛ/ > /a/, and /ɐ/ > /ɑ/ > /ɔ/.
* Raising of the two diphthongs: /ai/ to [ei] and /au/ to [ou].

===Grammatical history===
It has also undergone the following grammatical innovations:
* Drastic simplification of noun pluralization: the majority of nouns now pluralize with ''-e'' or ''-de'', although a few dozen irregular nouns remain as vestiges of Ivugi's complex ablaut-based system.
* Generalizing the Ivugi particle ''u'', which was used before animate singular nouns in the accusative, to be a general affix for animate nouns. Explicitly animate pronouns and verb inflections would later develop based on it.
* Repurposing Ivugi's ''yi'' and ''ye'', which were the interrogative forms of "to be" in the past and present, as generic interrogative markers, and the resultant loss of Ivugi's morphological interrogative mood. They are now ''žé'' and ''ža''.
* Obligatory marking of inalienable possession on certain nouns, created from the Ivugi particle ''a'' ("of", inalienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Development of possessive pronouns using the Ivugi particle ''sal'' ("of", semi-alienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Generalization of Ivugi's third genitive particle ''val'' ("of", alienable) as the only genitive particle, now ''va''.
* Expansion of Ivugi's simpler verb paradigm, in which all verbs had infinitives ending in ''-bi'' and inflected basically the same way, into a more complex paradigm with three conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This process came about when clusters of various consonants and /b/ simplified in different ways.
* Polypersonal inflection on the verb: whereas Ivugi verbs did not indicate person in any form, Ewige verbs can inflect for both subject and object, both of which started as forms of the pronouns and then phonologically reduced.
* Simplification of the Ivugi syllable onset alternation process to a basic affix, ''-ro-'' before a consonant and ''-rov-'' before a vowel. This affix was then repurposed to form the subjunctive/conditional mood, which can be used in any of the three tenses: past, present, and future.
* Innovation of a new future tense inflection, ''-sto'', from the Ivugi verb ''sída'' ("goes"/"is going").
* Shift from SVO (subject-object-verb) word order to the rare VOS, after the innovation of person-marking on verbs created less need for an explicit subject at the start of the sentence.

==Phonology==
===Consonants===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" |
! |Labial
! |Alveolar
! |Palato-alveolar
! |Palatal
! |Velar
! |Glottal
|-
! colspan="2" | Nasal
| '''m''' /m/
| '''n''' /n/
|
|
| '''ň''' /ŋ/
|
|-
! rowspan="4" | Plosive
! Voiceless
| '''p''' /p/
| '''t''' /t/
|
|
| '''k''' /k/
|
|-
! Voiced
| '''b''' /b/
| '''d''' /d/
|
|
| '''g''' /g/
|
|-
! Aspirated
| '''pʼ''' /pʰ/
| '''tʼ''' /tʰ/
|
|
| '''kʼ''' /kʰ/
|
|-
! Breathy-voiced
| '''bʼ''' /bʱ/
| '''dʼ''' /dʱ/
|
|
| '''gʼ''' /gʱ/
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | Fricative
! Voiceless
|
| '''s''' /s/
| '''š''' /ʃ/
|
| '''ch''' /x/
| '''h''' /h/
|-
! Voiced
|
| '''z''' /z/
| '''ž''' /ʒ/
|
| '''gh''' /ɣ/
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Approximant
| '''v''' /w~ɹ/
|
|
| '''j''' /j/
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Tap
|
| '''r''' /ɾ/
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Trill
|
| '''ř''' /r/
|
|
|
|
|}
* After back vowels, palato-alveolar /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ are often realized as retroflex [ʂ] and [ʐ].
* The labio-velar approximant /w/ may be realized as alveolar [ɹ], especially intervocalically. By one analysis, this gives Ewige the rare distinction of possessing three rhotic consonants: /ɹ/, /ɾ/, and /r/.

===Vowels===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Monophthongs'''
! |
! |Front
! |Central
! |Back
|-
! High
| '''i''' /i/
|
| '''u''' /u/
|-
! High-mid
| '''é''' /e/
|
| '''ó''' /o/
|-
! Mid
|
| '''y''' /ə/
|
|-
! Low-mid
| '''e''' /ɛ/
|
| '''o''' /ɔ/
|-
! Low
| '''a''' /a/
|
| '''á''' /ɑ/
|}

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Diphthongs'''
! |Front
! |Back
|-
| '''ei''' /ei/
| '''ou''' /ou/
|}
* The mid-central vowel represented here by a schwa, /ə/, can in reality be realized with a wide range of allophones depending on the following consonant. Speakers may possess any or all of these allophones, and younger speakers use them more than older speakers:
:* [ɨ~i], before voiceless stops
:* [əi~oi], before voiceless fricatives
:* [ɜ~ɐ], before /ɾ/ and /r/ and in word-final position
:* syllabification, before nasals, e.g. /ən/ [n̩]

==Vocabulary==
While most of Ewige's vocabulary is indigenous, it has borrowed a large number of terms from nearby languages of the Eurasian steppe, particularly [[w:Russian language|Russian]], [[w:Kazakh language|Kazakh]], and [[w:Mongolian language|Mongolian]].

==Dialectology==

==Grammar==
===Pronouns===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" | Subject/Object
! colspan="2" | Possessive
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| I
| ''ré''
| my/mine
| ''soré''
|-
| you
| ''da''
| your/yours
| ''soda''
|-
| him/her
| ''ut''
| his/hers
| ''soriot''
|-
| it
| ''ot''
| its
| ''sorot''
|-
| we
| ''rin''
| our/ours
| ''sorén''
|-
| you all
| ''dyř''
| all of your
| ''sodař''
|-
| they
| ''ni''
| their/theirs
| ''sonei''
|}

===Nouns===
Ewige nouns are inflected for several grammatical categories:
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Gender/Definiteness
|
''∅-'' (inanimate, indefinite) 
''a-/er-'' (inanimate, definite) 
''i-/ir-'' (animate, indefinite) 
''ja-/jer-'' (animate, definite)
|-
! Noun stem
| (any noun)
|-
! Number
|
''-∅'' (singular) 
''-(d)e'' (plural, for the vast majority of nouns)
|-
! Inalienable possession
|
''-(j)yr'' (my) 
''-(j)yda'' (your) 
''-(j)ei'' (his, her) 
''-(j)yt'' (its) 
''-(j)yré'' (our) 
''-(j)ař'' (all of your) 
''-(j)ynei'' (their)
|}

===Verbs===
Ewige verbs fall into three different conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This table lists the affixes that each form takes to mark subject, object, and tense-aspect-mood.
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" |
! ''-me''
! ''-be''
! ''-pe''
|-
! rowspan="7" | Subject
! "I"
| colspan="3" | ''é(j)-''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="3" | ''dy(j)''
|-
! "he/she"
| colspan="3" | ''i(j)-''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''o(j)-''
|-
! "we"
| colspan="3" | ''éř(é)-''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="3" | ''da(j)-''
|-
! "they"
| colspan="3" | ''né(j)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Negation
| colspan="3" | ''-ó-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Irrealis
| colspan="3" | ''-ro(v)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Passive
| colspan="3" | ''-ké(r)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Verb root
| colspan="3" | (any verb)
|-
! rowspan="5" | Tense, Aspect, Mood
! Infinitive
| ''-mé''
| ''-bé''
| ''-pé''
|-
! Past
| ''-dó''
| ''-nó''
| ''-tó''
|-
! Present
| ''-my''
| ''-(r)o''
| ''-py''
|-
! Future
| ''-dzo''
| colspan="2" | ''-sto''
|-
! Imperative
| colspan="3" | ''-y'' (if followed by an object suffix), ''-∅'' (otherwise)
|-
! rowspan="7" | Object
! "me"
| colspan="3" | ''-r''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="2" | ''-d''
| ''-t''
|-
! "him/her"
| colspan="3" | ''-š''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''-ti''
|-
! "us"
| colspan="3" | ''-n''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="2" | ''-dař''
| ''-tař''
|-
! "them"
| colspan="3" | ''-ni''
|}
* The irrealis mood, which is used to indicate the subjunctive or conditional, can only be used with the basic tenses: past, present, and future.

An example of a highly inflected Ewige verb:
:''éř-ó-ro-ké-dřor-nó-d''
:1PL.NOM-NEG-SUBJ-guard-PST_bé-2SG.ACC_bé
:If we hadn't been protected by you...

Ewige has only a few irregular verbs, which are only irregular in the past and present; their other inflections are regular. They are listed below in the infinitive and in the past and present using the third-person animate conjugation.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! rowspan="2" | English
! colspan="3" | Ewige
|-
! Infinitive
! Past
! Present
|-
| to be
| ''jómé''
| ''jon''
| ''jó''
|-
| to eat
| ''ámé''
| ''ijon''
| ''ijoró''
|-
| to go
| ''šérbé''
| ''išédu''
| ''išédo''
|-
| to need
| ''rimé''
| ''irimu''
| ''irimo''
|-
| to say
| ''šémé''
| ''isonó''
| ''isoko''
|}

===Adjectives===
Adjective inflection is simple: they are inflected for definiteness, animacy, and number using the same affixes nouns are.

===Derivation===
Ewige makes extensive use of derivation. The following are some common nominalizing prefixes and suffixes, which are attached to the verb root:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Type
! Affix
|-
| Gerund
|
''-zo'' (for verbs of motion) 
''-há'' (for all other verbs)
|-
| Gerund, habitual
|
''-sék''
|-
| Agentive
|
''-gyň'' (from a word for "friend")
|-
| Locational
|
''-ova'' (from a word for "house")
|-
| Patient
|
''žo-''
|-
| Productive
|
''ano-''
|}

The suffix to nominalize adjectives is ''-(ó)bro'', deriving from the word for "color". Conversely, ''-ře'' is used to derive adjectives from other parts of speech. A suffix ''-ry'', from the word for "slice", is attached to some nouns with a diminutive meaning, but it is not very productive in the modern language.

Ewige also possesses several affixes to derive verbs from nouns and adjectives:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Meaning
! Affix
|-
| To perform an action related to X
| ''-(ó)batpé'' (from the Russian ''-ovat'')
|-
| To turn something into X, or to make it more X
| ''-(y)hérbé'' (from an old word meaning "to transform", specifically under a magical curse)
|-
| To be like X, or to evoke X
| ''-(y)přémé'' (from an old word meaning "to agree with" or "to resemble")
|-
| To provide X to someone (usually, but not always, with a benevolent meaning)
| ''-(y)jápé'' (from an old word meaning "to allocate")
|}

====Compounds====
Each noun, verb, or adjective root has a "construct state" that is used to form compounds; this construct state is used for all roots in the compound except the final one. First, any affixes, such as those marking definiteness/animacy or the infinitive, are removed, and then the final consonant of the root is altered according to the following rules:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Final consonant of root...
! is replaced with...
|-
| Voiceless stops
| ''-šé(j)''
|-
| Voiceless fricatives
| ''-t''
|-
| Other final consonants
| ''-ž''
|-
| Root ends in ''-á''
| ''-á'' becomes ''-ež''
|-
| Root ends in a different vowel
| Vowel becomes ''-á(j)''
|}

===Syntax===
Ewige uses the rare [[w:verb–object–subject|verb–object–subject]] word order. Noun phrases are generally right-branching, with adjectives, numerals, and relative clauses all following the head noun (in that order). However, Ewige uses prepositions rather than postpositions, and determiners precede the head noun. Adverbs typically come at the end of the sentence.

Other than for verbs, negation is fairly simple. Noun phrases are negated with ''vó'', which precedes the noun phrase. The general negation particle is ''ou'', which is used to negate every part of speech other than verbs and nouns.

===Questions===
Ewige possesses the following words to form questions. When applicable, corresponding non-interrogative words are also given. The interrogative words are simply placed where a non-interrogative word would be; there is no do-support as in English.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" | Interrogative
! colspan="2" | Proximate
! colspan="2" | Distal
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| what?
| ''hei?''
| this
| ''gei''
| that
| ''twei''
|-
| who/whom?
| ''hor?''
| colspan="4" rowspan="2" | —
|-
| which?
| ''hok?''
|-
| where?
| ''heiry?'' (from ''hei iry?'', literally "what place?")
| here
| ''ga''
| there
| ''twa''
|-
| when?
| ''hou?''
| now
| ''gou''
| then
| ''tou''
|-
| why?
| ''ha?''
| thus (for this reason)
| ''ga''
| thus (for that reason)
| ''twa''
|}

To form generic equivalents, ''é-'' is prefixed to the interrogative forms, such as ''éhor'' ("someone").

To turn an entire sentence interrogative, the particle ''žé'' is used in the past indicative, while ''ža'' is used in every other tense and mood. This particle typically precedes the verb, but it can come anywhere in the sentence.

==Sample text==

User:Frrurtu/Sandbox5

2017-11-03T00:45:25Z

Frrurtu: /* Pronouns */

User:Frrurtu/Sandbox5

2017-11-03T00:43:06Z

Frrurtu: /* Adjectives */

User:Frrurtu/Sandbox5

2017-11-03T00:41:06Z

Frrurtu: /* Grammatical history */

User:Frrurtu/Sandbox5

2017-11-03T00:40:47Z

Frrurtu: /* Pronouns */

User:Frrurtu/Sandbox5

2017-11-03T00:36:49Z

Frrurtu: /* Pronouns */

User:Frrurtu/Sandbox5

2017-11-03T00:20:50Z

Frrurtu:

'''Ewige'''

==History==
Ewige is one of many descendants of Ivugi, which was spoken circa 1000 AD in the Eurasian steppe in present-day [[w:Siberia|Siberia]]. It has undergone many phonological and grammatical changes, evolving from a relatively isolating language to a highly agglutinative one with polypersonal inflection and an animate-inanimate distinction. Its syllable structure has grown more restrictive and it has lost its phonemic stress, but its vowel and consonant inventories have grown.

While it has historically been written in [[w:Cyrillic|Cyrillic]], the Ewige people were among the earliest adopters of the [[w:Latin script|Latin script]] among Siberian peoples. However, many of their orthographical conventions, such as extensive use of the [[w:hacek|hacek]], are Slavic in nature.

===Phonological history===
Ewige is characterized by the following phonological innovations from Ivugi:
* Creation of a new /e/ phoneme, formed from historical /i/ and /ɨ/ before voiceless fricatives and /r/, and historical /ɛ/ before alveolar consonants.
* Creation of a new /ʃ/ phoneme from /s/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /t/ also become /ʃ/.
* Creation of a new /ʒ/ phoneme from /z/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /j/ also became /ʒ/.
* The glottal stop /ʔ/ merging with the other three voiceless stops depending on the preceding vowel: /t/ after front vowels, /k/ after central vowels, and /p/ after back vowels.
* Creation of a new /m/ phoneme from intervocalic /b/ in unstressed syllables, plus /n/ and /ŋ/ before labials and unstressed /o/.
* Simplification of various labial-stop clusters: /kp/, /tp/, /rp/, /kb/, and /tb/ all become /p/, and /gb/, /db/, and /rb/ all become /b/.
* Shift of certain vowels' pronunciations when unstressed: /au/ and /o/ become [u], /ai/ merges with /i/, and /ɨ/ and /ɐ/ become [ə].
* Development of aspirated and breathy-voiced allophones of stops in stressed syllables.
* Loss of phonemic stress in favor of universal initial stress—except in some loanwords and compounds—causing /u/, /ə/, and the aspirated and breathy-voiced stops to all become phonemic.
* Merger of /ɸ/ into /β/, which then shifts its pronunciation to [w].
* Merger of /l/ into /ɾ/.
* Merger of /x/ and /ɣ/ into /r/ after stops.
* Chain shifts affecting most vowel monophthongs: /ɨ/ > /i/ > /e/ > /ɛ/ > /a/, and /ɐ/ > /ɑ/ > /ɔ/.
* Raising of the two diphthongs: /ai/ to [ei] and /au/ to [ou].

===Grammatical history===
It has also undergone the following grammatical innovations:
* Drastic simplification of noun pluralization: the majority of nouns now pluralize with ''-e'' or ''-de'', although a few dozen irregular nouns remain as vestiges of Ivugi's complex ablaut-based system.
* Generalizing the Ivugi particle ''u'', which was used before animate singular nouns in the accusative, to be a general affix for animate nouns. Explicitly animate pronouns and verb inflections would later develop based on it.
* Repurposing Ivugi's ''yi'' and ''ye'', which were the interrogative forms of "to be" in the past and present, as generic interrogative markers, and the resultant loss of Ivugi's morphological interrogative mood. They are now ''žé'' and ''ža''.
* Obligatory marking of inalienable possession on certain nouns, created from the Ivugi particle ''a'' ("of", inalienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Development of possessive pronouns using the Ivugi particle ''sal'' ("of", semi-alienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Generalization of Ivugi's third genitive particle ''val'' ("of", alienable) as the only genitive particle, now ''va''.
* Expansion of Ivugi's simpler verb paradigm, in which all verbs had infinitives ending in ''-bi'' and inflected basically the same way, into a more complex paradigm with three conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This process came about when clusters of various consonants and /b/ simplified in different ways.
* Polypersonal inflection on the verb: whereas Ivugi verbs did not indicate person in any form, Ewige verbs can inflect for both subject and object, both of which started as forms of the pronouns and then phonologically reduced.
* Development of new emphatic/reflexive pronouns, using the noun ''jech'' ("self") plus an inalienable possession suffix.
* Simplification of the Ivugi syllable onset alternation process to a basic affix, ''-ro-'' before a consonant and ''-rov-'' before a vowel. This affix was then repurposed to form the subjunctive/conditional mood, which can be used in any of the three tenses: past, present, and future.
* Innovation of a new future tense inflection, ''-sto'', from the Ivugi verb ''sída'' ("goes"/"is going").
* Shift from SVO (subject-object-verb) word order to the rare VOS, after the innovation of person-marking on verbs created less need for an explicit subject at the start of the sentence.

==Phonology==
===Consonants===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" |
! |Labial
! |Alveolar
! |Palato-alveolar
! |Palatal
! |Velar
! |Glottal
|-
! colspan="2" | Nasal
| '''m''' /m/
| '''n''' /n/
|
|
| '''ň''' /ŋ/
|
|-
! rowspan="4" | Plosive
! Voiceless
| '''p''' /p/
| '''t''' /t/
|
|
| '''k''' /k/
|
|-
! Voiced
| '''b''' /b/
| '''d''' /d/
|
|
| '''g''' /g/
|
|-
! Aspirated
| '''pʼ''' /pʰ/
| '''tʼ''' /tʰ/
|
|
| '''kʼ''' /kʰ/
|
|-
! Breathy-voiced
| '''bʼ''' /bʱ/
| '''dʼ''' /dʱ/
|
|
| '''gʼ''' /gʱ/
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | Fricative
! Voiceless
|
| '''s''' /s/
| '''š''' /ʃ/
|
| '''ch''' /x/
| '''h''' /h/
|-
! Voiced
|
| '''z''' /z/
| '''ž''' /ʒ/
|
| '''gh''' /ɣ/
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Approximant
| '''v''' /w~ɹ/
|
|
| '''j''' /j/
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Tap
|
| '''r''' /ɾ/
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Trill
|
| '''ř''' /r/
|
|
|
|
|}
* After back vowels, palato-alveolar /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ are often realized as retroflex [ʂ] and [ʐ].
* The labio-velar approximant /w/ may be realized as alveolar [ɹ], especially intervocalically. By one analysis, this gives Ewige the rare distinction of possessing three rhotic consonants: /ɹ/, /ɾ/, and /r/.

===Vowels===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Monophthongs'''
! |
! |Front
! |Central
! |Back
|-
! High
| '''i''' /i/
|
| '''u''' /u/
|-
! High-mid
| '''é''' /e/
|
| '''ó''' /o/
|-
! Mid
|
| '''y''' /ə/
|
|-
! Low-mid
| '''e''' /ɛ/
|
| '''o''' /ɔ/
|-
! Low
| '''a''' /a/
|
| '''á''' /ɑ/
|}

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Diphthongs'''
! |Front
! |Back
|-
| '''ei''' /ei/
| '''ou''' /ou/
|}
* The mid-central vowel represented here by a schwa, /ə/, can in reality be realized with a wide range of allophones depending on the following consonant. Speakers may possess any or all of these allophones, and younger speakers use them more than older speakers:
:* [ɨ~i], before voiceless stops
:* [əi~oi], before voiceless fricatives
:* [ɜ~ɐ], before /ɾ/ and /r/ and in word-final position
:* syllabification, before nasals, e.g. /ən/ [n̩]

==Vocabulary==
While most of Ewige's vocabulary is indigenous, it has borrowed a large number of terms from nearby languages of the Eurasian steppe, particularly [[w:Russian language|Russian]], [[w:Kazakh language|Kazakh]], and [[w:Mongolian language|Mongolian]].

==Dialectology==

==Grammar==
===Pronouns===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" | Subject/Object
! colspan="2" | Possessive
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| I
| ''jechyr''
| my/mine
| ''soré''
|-
| you
| ''jechyda''
| your/yours
| ''soda''
|-
| him/her
| ''jechei''
| his/hers
| ''sorot''
|-
| it
| ''jechyt''
| its
| ''soriot''
|-
| we
| ''jechyré''
| our/ours
| ''sorén''
|-
| you all
| ''jechař''
| all of your
| ''sodař''
|-
| they
| ''jechynei''
| their/theirs
| ''sonei''
|}

===Nouns===
Ewige nouns are inflected for several grammatical categories:
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Gender/Definiteness
|
''∅-'' (inanimate, indefinite) 
''a-/er-'' (inanimate, definite) 
''i-/ir-'' (animate, indefinite) 
''ja-/jer-'' (animate, definite)
|-
! Noun stem
| (any noun)
|-
! Number
|
''-∅'' (singular) 
''-(d)e'' (plural, for the vast majority of nouns)
|-
! Inalienable possession
|
''-(j)yr'' (my) 
''-(j)yda'' (your) 
''-(j)ei'' (his, her) 
''-(j)yt'' (its) 
''-(j)yré'' (our) 
''-(j)ař'' (all of your) 
''-(j)ynei'' (their)
|}

===Verbs===
Ewige verbs fall into three different conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This table lists the affixes that each form takes to mark subject, object, and tense-aspect-mood.
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" |
! ''-me''
! ''-be''
! ''-pe''
|-
! rowspan="7" | Subject
! "I"
| colspan="3" | ''é(j)-''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="3" | ''dy(j)''
|-
! "he/she"
| colspan="3" | ''i(j)-''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''o(j)-''
|-
! "we"
| colspan="3" | ''éř(é)-''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="3" | ''da(j)-''
|-
! "they"
| colspan="3" | ''né(j)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Negation
| colspan="3" | ''-ó-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Irrealis
| colspan="3" | ''-ro(v)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Passive
| colspan="3" | ''-ké(r)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Verb root
| colspan="3" | (any verb)
|-
! rowspan="5" | Tense, Aspect, Mood
! Infinitive
| ''-mé''
| ''-bé''
| ''-pé''
|-
! Past
| ''-dó''
| ''-nó''
| ''-tó''
|-
! Present
| ''-my''
| ''-(r)o''
| ''-py''
|-
! Future
| ''-dzo''
| colspan="2" | ''-sto''
|-
! Imperative
| colspan="3" | ''-y'' (if followed by an object suffix), ''-∅'' (otherwise)
|-
! rowspan="7" | Object
! "me"
| colspan="3" | ''-r''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="2" | ''-d''
| ''-t''
|-
! "him/her"
| colspan="3" | ''-š''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''-ti''
|-
! "us"
| colspan="3" | ''-n''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="2" | ''-dař''
| ''-tař''
|-
! "them"
| colspan="3" | ''-ni''
|}
* The irrealis mood, which is used to indicate the subjunctive or conditional, can only be used with the basic tenses: past, present, and future.

An example of a highly inflected Ewige verb:
:''éř-ó-ro-ké-dřor-nó-d''
:1PL.NOM-NEG-SUBJ-guard-PST_bé-2SG.ACC_bé
:If we hadn't been protected by you...

===Adjectives===

===Derivation===
Ewige makes extensive use of derivation. The following are some common nominalizing prefixes and suffixes, which are attached to the verb root:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Type
! Affix
|-
| Gerund
|
''-zo'' (for verbs of motion) 
''-há'' (for all other verbs)
|-
| Gerund, habitual
|
''-sék''
|-
| Agentive
|
''-gyň'' (from a word for "friend")
|-
| Locational
|
''-ova'' (from a word for "house")
|-
| Patient
|
''žo-''
|-
| Productive
|
''ano-''
|}

The suffix to nominalize adjectives is ''-(ó)bro'', deriving from the word for "color". Conversely, ''-ře'' is used to derive adjectives from other parts of speech. A suffix ''-ry'', from the word for "slice", is attached to some nouns with a diminutive meaning, but it is not very productive in the modern language.

Ewige also possesses several affixes to derive verbs from nouns and adjectives:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Meaning
! Affix
|-
| To perform an action related to X
| ''-(ó)batpé'' (from the Russian ''-ovat'')
|-
| To turn something into X, or to make it more X
| ''-(y)hérbé'' (from an old word meaning "to transform", specifically under a magical curse)
|-
| To be like X, or to evoke X
| ''-(y)přémé'' (from an old word meaning "to agree with" or "to resemble")
|-
| To provide X to someone (usually, but not always, with a benevolent meaning)
| ''-(y)jápé'' (from an old word meaning "to allocate")
|}

====Compounds====
Each noun, verb, or adjective root has a "construct state" that is used to form compounds; this construct state is used for all roots in the compound except the final one. First, any affixes, such as those marking definiteness/animacy or the infinitive, are removed, and then the final consonant of the root is altered according to the following rules:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Final consonant of root...
! is replaced with...
|-
| Voiceless stops
| ''-šé(j)''
|-
| Voiceless fricatives
| ''-t''
|-
| Other final consonants
| ''-ž''
|-
| Root ends in ''-á''
| ''-á'' becomes ''-ež''
|-
| Root ends in a different vowel
| Vowel becomes ''-á(j)''
|}

===Syntax===
Ewige uses the rare [[w:verb–object–subject|verb–object–subject]] word order. Noun phrases are generally right-branching, with adjectives, numerals, and relative clauses all following the head noun (in that order). However, Ewige uses prepositions rather than postpositions, and determiners precede the head noun. Adverbs typically come at the end of the sentence.

Other than for verbs, negation is fairly simple. Noun phrases are negated with ''vó'', which precedes the noun phrase. The general negation particle is ''ou'', which is used to negate every part of speech other than verbs and nouns.

===Questions===
Ewige possesses the following words to form questions. When applicable, corresponding non-interrogative words are also given. The interrogative words are simply placed where a non-interrogative word would be; there is no do-support as in English.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" | Interrogative
! colspan="2" | Proximate
! colspan="2" | Distal
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| what?
| ''hei?''
| this
| ''gei''
| that
| ''twei''
|-
| who/whom?
| ''hor?''
| colspan="4" rowspan="2" | —
|-
| which?
| ''hok?''
|-
| where?
| ''heiry?'' (from ''hei iry?'', literally "what place?")
| here
| ''ga''
| there
| ''twa''
|-
| when?
| ''hou?''
| now
| ''gou''
| then
| ''tou''
|-
| why?
| ''ha?''
| thus (for this reason)
| ''ga''
| thus (for that reason)
| ''twa''
|}

To form generic equivalents, ''é-'' is prefixed to the interrogative forms, such as ''éhor'' ("someone").

To turn an entire sentence interrogative, the particle ''žé'' is used in the past indicative, while ''ža'' is used in every other tense and mood. This particle typically precedes the verb, but it can come anywhere in the sentence.

==Sample text==

User:Frrurtu/Sandbox5

2017-11-03T00:20:09Z

Frrurtu: /* Questions */

'''Ewige'''

==History==
Ewige is one of many descendants of Ivugi, which was spoken circa 1000 AD in the Eurasian steppe in present-day [[w:Siberia|Siberia]]. It has undergone many phonological and grammatical changes, evolving from a relatively isolating language to a highly agglutinative one with polypersonal inflection and an animate-inanimate distinction. Its syllable structure has grown more restrictive and it has lost its phonemic stress, but its vowel and consonant inventories have grown.

While it has historically been written in [[w:Cyrillic|Cyrillic]], the Ewige people were among the earliest adopters of the [[w:Latin script|Latin script]] among Siberian peoples. However, many of their orthographical conventions, such as extensive use of the [[w:hacek|hacek]], are Slavic in nature.

===Phonological history===
Ewige is characterized by the following phonological innovations from Ivugi:
* Creation of a new /e/ phoneme, formed from historical /i/ and /ɨ/ before voiceless fricatives and /r/, and historical /ɛ/ before alveolar consonants.
* Creation of a new /ʃ/ phoneme from /s/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /t/ also become /ʃ/.
* Creation of a new /ʒ/ phoneme from /z/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /j/ also became /ʒ/.
* The glottal stop /ʔ/ merging with the other three voiceless stops depending on the preceding vowel: /t/ after front vowels, /k/ after central vowels, and /p/ after back vowels.
* Creation of a new /m/ phoneme from intervocalic /b/ in unstressed syllables, plus /n/ and /ŋ/ before labials and unstressed /o/.
* Simplification of various labial-stop clusters: /kp/, /tp/, /rp/, /kb/, and /tb/ all become /p/, and /gb/, /db/, and /rb/ all become /b/.
* Shift of certain vowels' pronunciations when unstressed: /au/ and /o/ become [u], /ai/ merges with /i/, and /ɨ/ and /ɐ/ become [ə].
* Development of aspirated and breathy-voiced allophones of stops in stressed syllables.
* Loss of phonemic stress in favor of universal initial stress—except in some loanwords and compounds—causing /u/, /ə/, and the aspirated and breathy-voiced stops to all become phonemic.
* Merger of /ɸ/ into /β/, which then shifts its pronunciation to [w].
* Merger of /l/ into /ɾ/.
* Merger of /x/ and /ɣ/ into /r/ after stops.
* Chain shifts affecting most vowel monophthongs: /ɨ/ > /i/ > /e/ > /ɛ/ > /a/, and /ɐ/ > /ɑ/ > /ɔ/.
* Raising of the two diphthongs: /ai/ to [ei] and /au/ to [ou].

===Grammatical history===
It has also undergone the following grammatical innovations:
* Drastic simplification of noun pluralization: the majority of nouns now pluralize with ''-e'' or ''-de'', although a few dozen irregular nouns remain as vestiges of Ivugi's complex ablaut-based system.
* Generalizing the Ivugi particle ''u'', which was used before animate singular nouns in the accusative, to be a general affix for animate nouns. Explicitly animate pronouns and verb inflections would later develop based on it.
* Repurposing Ivugi's ''yi'' and ''ye'', which were the interrogative forms of "to be" in the past and present, as generic interrogative markers, and the resultant loss of Ivugi's morphological interrogative mood. They are now ''jé'' and ''ja''.
* Obligatory marking of inalienable possession on certain nouns, created from the Ivugi particle ''a'' ("of", inalienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Development of possessive pronouns using the Ivugi particle ''sal'' ("of", semi-alienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Generalization of Ivugi's third genitive particle ''val'' ("of", alienable) as the only genitive particle, now ''va''.
* Expansion of Ivugi's simpler verb paradigm, in which all verbs had infinitives ending in ''-bi'' and inflected basically the same way, into a more complex paradigm with three conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This process came about when clusters of various consonants and /b/ simplified in different ways.
* Polypersonal inflection on the verb: whereas Ivugi verbs did not indicate person in any form, Ewige verbs can inflect for both subject and object, both of which started as forms of the pronouns and then phonologically reduced.
* Development of new emphatic/reflexive pronouns, using the noun ''jech'' ("self") plus an inalienable possession suffix.
* Simplification of the Ivugi syllable onset alternation process to a basic affix, ''-ro-'' before a consonant and ''-rov-'' before a vowel. This affix was then repurposed to form the subjunctive/conditional mood, which can be used in any of the three tenses: past, present, and future.
* Innovation of a new future tense inflection, ''-sto'', from the Ivugi verb ''sída'' ("goes"/"is going").
* Shift from SVO (subject-object-verb) word order to the rare VOS, after the innovation of person-marking on verbs created less need for an explicit subject at the start of the sentence.

==Phonology==
===Consonants===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" |
! |Labial
! |Alveolar
! |Palato-alveolar
! |Palatal
! |Velar
! |Glottal
|-
! colspan="2" | Nasal
| '''m''' /m/
| '''n''' /n/
|
|
| '''ň''' /ŋ/
|
|-
! rowspan="4" | Plosive
! Voiceless
| '''p''' /p/
| '''t''' /t/
|
|
| '''k''' /k/
|
|-
! Voiced
| '''b''' /b/
| '''d''' /d/
|
|
| '''g''' /g/
|
|-
! Aspirated
| '''pʼ''' /pʰ/
| '''tʼ''' /tʰ/
|
|
| '''kʼ''' /kʰ/
|
|-
! Breathy-voiced
| '''bʼ''' /bʱ/
| '''dʼ''' /dʱ/
|
|
| '''gʼ''' /gʱ/
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | Fricative
! Voiceless
|
| '''s''' /s/
| '''š''' /ʃ/
|
| '''ch''' /x/
| '''h''' /h/
|-
! Voiced
|
| '''z''' /z/
| '''ž''' /ʒ/
|
| '''gh''' /ɣ/
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Approximant
| '''v''' /w~ɹ/
|
|
| '''j''' /j/
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Tap
|
| '''r''' /ɾ/
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Trill
|
| '''ř''' /r/
|
|
|
|
|}
* After back vowels, palato-alveolar /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ are often realized as retroflex [ʂ] and [ʐ].
* The labio-velar approximant /w/ may be realized as alveolar [ɹ], especially intervocalically. By one analysis, this gives Ewige the rare distinction of possessing three rhotic consonants: /ɹ/, /ɾ/, and /r/.

===Vowels===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Monophthongs'''
! |
! |Front
! |Central
! |Back
|-
! High
| '''i''' /i/
|
| '''u''' /u/
|-
! High-mid
| '''é''' /e/
|
| '''ó''' /o/
|-
! Mid
|
| '''y''' /ə/
|
|-
! Low-mid
| '''e''' /ɛ/
|
| '''o''' /ɔ/
|-
! Low
| '''a''' /a/
|
| '''á''' /ɑ/
|}

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Diphthongs'''
! |Front
! |Back
|-
| '''ei''' /ei/
| '''ou''' /ou/
|}
* The mid-central vowel represented here by a schwa, /ə/, can in reality be realized with a wide range of allophones depending on the following consonant. Speakers may possess any or all of these allophones, and younger speakers use them more than older speakers:
:* [ɨ~i], before voiceless stops
:* [əi~oi], before voiceless fricatives
:* [ɜ~ɐ], before /ɾ/ and /r/ and in word-final position
:* syllabification, before nasals, e.g. /ən/ [n̩]

==Vocabulary==
While most of Ewige's vocabulary is indigenous, it has borrowed a large number of terms from nearby languages of the Eurasian steppe, particularly [[w:Russian language|Russian]], [[w:Kazakh language|Kazakh]], and [[w:Mongolian language|Mongolian]].

==Dialectology==

==Grammar==
===Pronouns===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" | Subject/Object
! colspan="2" | Possessive
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| I
| ''jechyr''
| my/mine
| ''soré''
|-
| you
| ''jechyda''
| your/yours
| ''soda''
|-
| him/her
| ''jechei''
| his/hers
| ''sorot''
|-
| it
| ''jechyt''
| its
| ''soriot''
|-
| we
| ''jechyré''
| our/ours
| ''sorén''
|-
| you all
| ''jechař''
| all of your
| ''sodař''
|-
| they
| ''jechynei''
| their/theirs
| ''sonei''
|}

===Nouns===
Ewige nouns are inflected for several grammatical categories:
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Gender/Definiteness
|
''∅-'' (inanimate, indefinite) 
''a-/er-'' (inanimate, definite) 
''i-/ir-'' (animate, indefinite) 
''ja-/jer-'' (animate, definite)
|-
! Noun stem
| (any noun)
|-
! Number
|
''-∅'' (singular) 
''-(d)e'' (plural, for the vast majority of nouns)
|-
! Inalienable possession
|
''-(j)yr'' (my) 
''-(j)yda'' (your) 
''-(j)ei'' (his, her) 
''-(j)yt'' (its) 
''-(j)yré'' (our) 
''-(j)ař'' (all of your) 
''-(j)ynei'' (their)
|}

===Verbs===
Ewige verbs fall into three different conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This table lists the affixes that each form takes to mark subject, object, and tense-aspect-mood.
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" |
! ''-me''
! ''-be''
! ''-pe''
|-
! rowspan="7" | Subject
! "I"
| colspan="3" | ''é(j)-''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="3" | ''dy(j)''
|-
! "he/she"
| colspan="3" | ''i(j)-''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''o(j)-''
|-
! "we"
| colspan="3" | ''éř(é)-''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="3" | ''da(j)-''
|-
! "they"
| colspan="3" | ''né(j)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Negation
| colspan="3" | ''-ó-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Irrealis
| colspan="3" | ''-ro(v)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Passive
| colspan="3" | ''-ké(r)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Verb root
| colspan="3" | (any verb)
|-
! rowspan="5" | Tense, Aspect, Mood
! Infinitive
| ''-mé''
| ''-bé''
| ''-pé''
|-
! Past
| ''-dó''
| ''-nó''
| ''-tó''
|-
! Present
| ''-my''
| ''-(r)o''
| ''-py''
|-
! Future
| ''-dzo''
| colspan="2" | ''-sto''
|-
! Imperative
| colspan="3" | ''-y'' (if followed by an object suffix), ''-∅'' (otherwise)
|-
! rowspan="7" | Object
! "me"
| colspan="3" | ''-r''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="2" | ''-d''
| ''-t''
|-
! "him/her"
| colspan="3" | ''-š''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''-ti''
|-
! "us"
| colspan="3" | ''-n''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="2" | ''-dař''
| ''-tař''
|-
! "them"
| colspan="3" | ''-ni''
|}
* The irrealis mood, which is used to indicate the subjunctive or conditional, can only be used with the basic tenses: past, present, and future.

An example of a highly inflected Ewige verb:
:''éř-ó-ro-ké-dřor-nó-d''
:1PL.NOM-NEG-SUBJ-guard-PST_bé-2SG.ACC_bé
:If we hadn't been protected by you...

===Adjectives===

===Derivation===
Ewige makes extensive use of derivation. The following are some common nominalizing prefixes and suffixes, which are attached to the verb root:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Type
! Affix
|-
| Gerund
|
''-zo'' (for verbs of motion) 
''-há'' (for all other verbs)
|-
| Gerund, habitual
|
''-sék''
|-
| Agentive
|
''-gyň'' (from a word for "friend")
|-
| Locational
|
''-ova'' (from a word for "house")
|-
| Patient
|
''žo-''
|-
| Productive
|
''ano-''
|}

The suffix to nominalize adjectives is ''-(ó)bro'', deriving from the word for "color". Conversely, ''-ře'' is used to derive adjectives from other parts of speech. A suffix ''-ry'', from the word for "slice", is attached to some nouns with a diminutive meaning, but it is not very productive in the modern language.

Ewige also possesses several affixes to derive verbs from nouns and adjectives:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Meaning
! Affix
|-
| To perform an action related to X
| ''-(ó)batpé'' (from the Russian ''-ovat'')
|-
| To turn something into X, or to make it more X
| ''-(y)hérbé'' (from an old word meaning "to transform", specifically under a magical curse)
|-
| To be like X, or to evoke X
| ''-(y)přémé'' (from an old word meaning "to agree with" or "to resemble")
|-
| To provide X to someone (usually, but not always, with a benevolent meaning)
| ''-(y)jápé'' (from an old word meaning "to allocate")
|}

====Compounds====
Each noun, verb, or adjective root has a "construct state" that is used to form compounds; this construct state is used for all roots in the compound except the final one. First, any affixes, such as those marking definiteness/animacy or the infinitive, are removed, and then the final consonant of the root is altered according to the following rules:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Final consonant of root...
! is replaced with...
|-
| Voiceless stops
| ''-šé(j)''
|-
| Voiceless fricatives
| ''-t''
|-
| Other final consonants
| ''-ž''
|-
| Root ends in ''-á''
| ''-á'' becomes ''-ež''
|-
| Root ends in a different vowel
| Vowel becomes ''-á(j)''
|}

===Syntax===
Ewige uses the rare [[w:verb–object–subject|verb–object–subject]] word order. Noun phrases are generally right-branching, with adjectives, numerals, and relative clauses all following the head noun (in that order). However, Ewige uses prepositions rather than postpositions, and determiners precede the head noun. Adverbs typically come at the end of the sentence.

Other than for verbs, negation is fairly simple. Noun phrases are negated with ''vó'', which precedes the noun phrase. The general negation particle is ''ou'', which is used to negate every part of speech other than verbs and nouns.

===Questions===
Ewige possesses the following words to form questions. When applicable, corresponding non-interrogative words are also given. The interrogative words are simply placed where a non-interrogative word would be; there is no do-support as in English.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" | Interrogative
! colspan="2" | Proximate
! colspan="2" | Distal
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| what?
| ''hei?''
| this
| ''gei''
| that
| ''twei''
|-
| who/whom?
| ''hor?''
| colspan="4" rowspan="2" | —
|-
| which?
| ''hok?''
|-
| where?
| ''heiry?'' (from ''hei iry?'', literally "what place?")
| here
| ''ga''
| there
| ''twa''
|-
| when?
| ''hou?''
| now
| ''gou''
| then
| ''tou''
|-
| why?
| ''ha?''
| thus (for this reason)
| ''ga''
| thus (for that reason)
| ''twa''
|}

To form generic equivalents, ''é-'' is prefixed to the interrogative forms, such as ''éhor'' ("someone").

To turn an entire sentence interrogative, the particle ''jé'' is used in the past indicative, while ''ja'' is used in every other tense and mood. This particle typically precedes the verb, but it can come anywhere in the sentence.

==Sample text==

User:Frrurtu/Sandbox5

2017-11-03T00:19:40Z

Frrurtu: /* Grammatical history */

'''Ewige'''

==History==
Ewige is one of many descendants of Ivugi, which was spoken circa 1000 AD in the Eurasian steppe in present-day [[w:Siberia|Siberia]]. It has undergone many phonological and grammatical changes, evolving from a relatively isolating language to a highly agglutinative one with polypersonal inflection and an animate-inanimate distinction. Its syllable structure has grown more restrictive and it has lost its phonemic stress, but its vowel and consonant inventories have grown.

While it has historically been written in [[w:Cyrillic|Cyrillic]], the Ewige people were among the earliest adopters of the [[w:Latin script|Latin script]] among Siberian peoples. However, many of their orthographical conventions, such as extensive use of the [[w:hacek|hacek]], are Slavic in nature.

===Phonological history===
Ewige is characterized by the following phonological innovations from Ivugi:
* Creation of a new /e/ phoneme, formed from historical /i/ and /ɨ/ before voiceless fricatives and /r/, and historical /ɛ/ before alveolar consonants.
* Creation of a new /ʃ/ phoneme from /s/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /t/ also become /ʃ/.
* Creation of a new /ʒ/ phoneme from /z/ in various positions: before /i/ or /j/ and after voiceless stops. Some instances of /j/ also became /ʒ/.
* The glottal stop /ʔ/ merging with the other three voiceless stops depending on the preceding vowel: /t/ after front vowels, /k/ after central vowels, and /p/ after back vowels.
* Creation of a new /m/ phoneme from intervocalic /b/ in unstressed syllables, plus /n/ and /ŋ/ before labials and unstressed /o/.
* Simplification of various labial-stop clusters: /kp/, /tp/, /rp/, /kb/, and /tb/ all become /p/, and /gb/, /db/, and /rb/ all become /b/.
* Shift of certain vowels' pronunciations when unstressed: /au/ and /o/ become [u], /ai/ merges with /i/, and /ɨ/ and /ɐ/ become [ə].
* Development of aspirated and breathy-voiced allophones of stops in stressed syllables.
* Loss of phonemic stress in favor of universal initial stress—except in some loanwords and compounds—causing /u/, /ə/, and the aspirated and breathy-voiced stops to all become phonemic.
* Merger of /ɸ/ into /β/, which then shifts its pronunciation to [w].
* Merger of /l/ into /ɾ/.
* Merger of /x/ and /ɣ/ into /r/ after stops.
* Chain shifts affecting most vowel monophthongs: /ɨ/ > /i/ > /e/ > /ɛ/ > /a/, and /ɐ/ > /ɑ/ > /ɔ/.
* Raising of the two diphthongs: /ai/ to [ei] and /au/ to [ou].

===Grammatical history===
It has also undergone the following grammatical innovations:
* Drastic simplification of noun pluralization: the majority of nouns now pluralize with ''-e'' or ''-de'', although a few dozen irregular nouns remain as vestiges of Ivugi's complex ablaut-based system.
* Generalizing the Ivugi particle ''u'', which was used before animate singular nouns in the accusative, to be a general affix for animate nouns. Explicitly animate pronouns and verb inflections would later develop based on it.
* Repurposing Ivugi's ''yi'' and ''ye'', which were the interrogative forms of "to be" in the past and present, as generic interrogative markers, and the resultant loss of Ivugi's morphological interrogative mood. They are now ''jé'' and ''ja''.
* Obligatory marking of inalienable possession on certain nouns, created from the Ivugi particle ''a'' ("of", inalienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Development of possessive pronouns using the Ivugi particle ''sal'' ("of", semi-alienable) fused with a pronoun.
* Generalization of Ivugi's third genitive particle ''val'' ("of", alienable) as the only genitive particle, now ''va''.
* Expansion of Ivugi's simpler verb paradigm, in which all verbs had infinitives ending in ''-bi'' and inflected basically the same way, into a more complex paradigm with three conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This process came about when clusters of various consonants and /b/ simplified in different ways.
* Polypersonal inflection on the verb: whereas Ivugi verbs did not indicate person in any form, Ewige verbs can inflect for both subject and object, both of which started as forms of the pronouns and then phonologically reduced.
* Development of new emphatic/reflexive pronouns, using the noun ''jech'' ("self") plus an inalienable possession suffix.
* Simplification of the Ivugi syllable onset alternation process to a basic affix, ''-ro-'' before a consonant and ''-rov-'' before a vowel. This affix was then repurposed to form the subjunctive/conditional mood, which can be used in any of the three tenses: past, present, and future.
* Innovation of a new future tense inflection, ''-sto'', from the Ivugi verb ''sída'' ("goes"/"is going").
* Shift from SVO (subject-object-verb) word order to the rare VOS, after the innovation of person-marking on verbs created less need for an explicit subject at the start of the sentence.

==Phonology==
===Consonants===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" |
! |Labial
! |Alveolar
! |Palato-alveolar
! |Palatal
! |Velar
! |Glottal
|-
! colspan="2" | Nasal
| '''m''' /m/
| '''n''' /n/
|
|
| '''ň''' /ŋ/
|
|-
! rowspan="4" | Plosive
! Voiceless
| '''p''' /p/
| '''t''' /t/
|
|
| '''k''' /k/
|
|-
! Voiced
| '''b''' /b/
| '''d''' /d/
|
|
| '''g''' /g/
|
|-
! Aspirated
| '''pʼ''' /pʰ/
| '''tʼ''' /tʰ/
|
|
| '''kʼ''' /kʰ/
|
|-
! Breathy-voiced
| '''bʼ''' /bʱ/
| '''dʼ''' /dʱ/
|
|
| '''gʼ''' /gʱ/
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | Fricative
! Voiceless
|
| '''s''' /s/
| '''š''' /ʃ/
|
| '''ch''' /x/
| '''h''' /h/
|-
! Voiced
|
| '''z''' /z/
| '''ž''' /ʒ/
|
| '''gh''' /ɣ/
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Approximant
| '''v''' /w~ɹ/
|
|
| '''j''' /j/
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Tap
|
| '''r''' /ɾ/
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | Trill
|
| '''ř''' /r/
|
|
|
|
|}
* After back vowels, palato-alveolar /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ are often realized as retroflex [ʂ] and [ʐ].
* The labio-velar approximant /w/ may be realized as alveolar [ɹ], especially intervocalically. By one analysis, this gives Ewige the rare distinction of possessing three rhotic consonants: /ɹ/, /ɾ/, and /r/.

===Vowels===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Monophthongs'''
! |
! |Front
! |Central
! |Back
|-
! High
| '''i''' /i/
|
| '''u''' /u/
|-
! High-mid
| '''é''' /e/
|
| '''ó''' /o/
|-
! Mid
|
| '''y''' /ə/
|
|-
! Low-mid
| '''e''' /ɛ/
|
| '''o''' /ɔ/
|-
! Low
| '''a''' /a/
|
| '''á''' /ɑ/
|}

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Diphthongs'''
! |Front
! |Back
|-
| '''ei''' /ei/
| '''ou''' /ou/
|}
* The mid-central vowel represented here by a schwa, /ə/, can in reality be realized with a wide range of allophones depending on the following consonant. Speakers may possess any or all of these allophones, and younger speakers use them more than older speakers:
:* [ɨ~i], before voiceless stops
:* [əi~oi], before voiceless fricatives
:* [ɜ~ɐ], before /ɾ/ and /r/ and in word-final position
:* syllabification, before nasals, e.g. /ən/ [n̩]

==Vocabulary==
While most of Ewige's vocabulary is indigenous, it has borrowed a large number of terms from nearby languages of the Eurasian steppe, particularly [[w:Russian language|Russian]], [[w:Kazakh language|Kazakh]], and [[w:Mongolian language|Mongolian]].

==Dialectology==

==Grammar==
===Pronouns===
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" | Subject/Object
! colspan="2" | Possessive
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| I
| ''jechyr''
| my/mine
| ''soré''
|-
| you
| ''jechyda''
| your/yours
| ''soda''
|-
| him/her
| ''jechei''
| his/hers
| ''sorot''
|-
| it
| ''jechyt''
| its
| ''soriot''
|-
| we
| ''jechyré''
| our/ours
| ''sorén''
|-
| you all
| ''jechař''
| all of your
| ''sodař''
|-
| they
| ''jechynei''
| their/theirs
| ''sonei''
|}

===Nouns===
Ewige nouns are inflected for several grammatical categories:
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Gender/Definiteness
|
''∅-'' (inanimate, indefinite) 
''a-/er-'' (inanimate, definite) 
''i-/ir-'' (animate, indefinite) 
''ja-/jer-'' (animate, definite)
|-
! Noun stem
| (any noun)
|-
! Number
|
''-∅'' (singular) 
''-(d)e'' (plural, for the vast majority of nouns)
|-
! Inalienable possession
|
''-(j)yr'' (my) 
''-(j)yda'' (your) 
''-(j)ei'' (his, her) 
''-(j)yt'' (its) 
''-(j)yré'' (our) 
''-(j)ař'' (all of your) 
''-(j)ynei'' (their)
|}

===Verbs===
Ewige verbs fall into three different conjugation classes: ''-me'' verbs, ''-be'' verbs, and ''-pe'' verbs. This table lists the affixes that each form takes to mark subject, object, and tense-aspect-mood.
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" |
! ''-me''
! ''-be''
! ''-pe''
|-
! rowspan="7" | Subject
! "I"
| colspan="3" | ''é(j)-''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="3" | ''dy(j)''
|-
! "he/she"
| colspan="3" | ''i(j)-''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''o(j)-''
|-
! "we"
| colspan="3" | ''éř(é)-''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="3" | ''da(j)-''
|-
! "they"
| colspan="3" | ''né(j)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Negation
| colspan="3" | ''-ó-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Irrealis
| colspan="3" | ''-ro(v)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Passive
| colspan="3" | ''-ké(r)-''
|-
! colspan="2" | Verb root
| colspan="3" | (any verb)
|-
! rowspan="5" | Tense, Aspect, Mood
! Infinitive
| ''-mé''
| ''-bé''
| ''-pé''
|-
! Past
| ''-dó''
| ''-nó''
| ''-tó''
|-
! Present
| ''-my''
| ''-(r)o''
| ''-py''
|-
! Future
| ''-dzo''
| colspan="2" | ''-sto''
|-
! Imperative
| colspan="3" | ''-y'' (if followed by an object suffix), ''-∅'' (otherwise)
|-
! rowspan="7" | Object
! "me"
| colspan="3" | ''-r''
|-
! "you"
| colspan="2" | ''-d''
| ''-t''
|-
! "him/her"
| colspan="3" | ''-š''
|-
! "it"
| colspan="3" | ''-ti''
|-
! "us"
| colspan="3" | ''-n''
|-
! "you all"
| colspan="2" | ''-dař''
| ''-tař''
|-
! "them"
| colspan="3" | ''-ni''
|}
* The irrealis mood, which is used to indicate the subjunctive or conditional, can only be used with the basic tenses: past, present, and future.

An example of a highly inflected Ewige verb:
:''éř-ó-ro-ké-dřor-nó-d''
:1PL.NOM-NEG-SUBJ-guard-PST_bé-2SG.ACC_bé
:If we hadn't been protected by you...

===Adjectives===

===Derivation===
Ewige makes extensive use of derivation. The following are some common nominalizing prefixes and suffixes, which are attached to the verb root:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Type
! Affix
|-
| Gerund
|
''-zo'' (for verbs of motion) 
''-há'' (for all other verbs)
|-
| Gerund, habitual
|
''-sék''
|-
| Agentive
|
''-gyň'' (from a word for "friend")
|-
| Locational
|
''-ova'' (from a word for "house")
|-
| Patient
|
''žo-''
|-
| Productive
|
''ano-''
|}

The suffix to nominalize adjectives is ''-(ó)bro'', deriving from the word for "color". Conversely, ''-ře'' is used to derive adjectives from other parts of speech. A suffix ''-ry'', from the word for "slice", is attached to some nouns with a diminutive meaning, but it is not very productive in the modern language.

Ewige also possesses several affixes to derive verbs from nouns and adjectives:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Meaning
! Affix
|-
| To perform an action related to X
| ''-(ó)batpé'' (from the Russian ''-ovat'')
|-
| To turn something into X, or to make it more X
| ''-(y)hérbé'' (from an old word meaning "to transform", specifically under a magical curse)
|-
| To be like X, or to evoke X
| ''-(y)přémé'' (from an old word meaning "to agree with" or "to resemble")
|-
| To provide X to someone (usually, but not always, with a benevolent meaning)
| ''-(y)jápé'' (from an old word meaning "to allocate")
|}

====Compounds====
Each noun, verb, or adjective root has a "construct state" that is used to form compounds; this construct state is used for all roots in the compound except the final one. First, any affixes, such as those marking definiteness/animacy or the infinitive, are removed, and then the final consonant of the root is altered according to the following rules:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
! Final consonant of root...
! is replaced with...
|-
| Voiceless stops
| ''-šé(j)''
|-
| Voiceless fricatives
| ''-t''
|-
| Other final consonants
| ''-ž''
|-
| Root ends in ''-á''
| ''-á'' becomes ''-ež''
|-
| Root ends in a different vowel
| Vowel becomes ''-á(j)''
|}

===Syntax===
Ewige uses the rare [[w:verb–object–subject|verb–object–subject]] word order. Noun phrases are generally right-branching, with adjectives, numerals, and relative clauses all following the head noun (in that order). However, Ewige uses prepositions rather than postpositions, and determiners precede the head noun. Adverbs typically come at the end of the sentence.

Other than for verbs, negation is fairly simple. Noun phrases are negated with ''vó'', which precedes the noun phrase. The general negation particle is ''ou'', which is used to negate every part of speech other than verbs and nouns.

===Questions===
Ewige possesses the following words to form questions. When applicable, corresponding non-interrogative words are also given. The interrogative words are simply placed where a non-interrogative word would be; there is no do-support as in English.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="2" | Interrogative
! colspan="2" | Proximate
! colspan="2" | Distal
|-
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
! English
! Ewige
|-
| what?
| ''hei?''
| this
| ''gei''
| that
| ''twei''
|-
| who/whom?
| ''hor?''
| colspan="4" rowspan="2" | —
|-
| which?
| ''hok?''
|-
| where?
| ''heiry?'' (from ''hei iry?'', literally "what place?")
| here
| ''ga''
| there
| ''twa''
|-
| when?
| ''hou?''
| now
| ''gou''
| then
| ''tou''
|-
| why?
| ''ha?''
| thus (for this reason)
| ''ga''
| thus (for that reason)
| ''twa''
|}

To form generic equivalents, ''é-'' is prefixed to the interrogative forms, such as ''éhor'' ("someone").

To turn an entire sentence interrogative, the particle ''jon'' is used in the past indicative, while ''jó'' is used in every other tense and mood. This particle typically precedes the verb, but it can come anywhere in the sentence.

==Sample text==

User:Frrurtu/Sandbox5

2017-11-03T00:15:26Z

Frrurtu: /* Questions */

User:Frrurtu/Sandbox5

2017-11-03T00:12:56Z

Frrurtu: /* Verbs */

User:Frrurtu/Sandbox5

2017-11-03T00:07:10Z

Frrurtu: /* Syntax */

User:Frrurtu/Sandbox5

2017-11-03T00:02:05Z

Frrurtu: /* Questions */

User:Frrurtu/Sandbox5

2017-11-02T23:53:16Z

Frrurtu: /* Questions */

User:Frrurtu/Sandbox5

2017-11-02T23:52:33Z

Frrurtu: /* Syntax */

User:Frrurtu/Sandbox5

2017-11-02T23:41:25Z

Frrurtu: /* Syntax */

User:Frrurtu/Sandbox5

2017-11-02T23:34:33Z

Frrurtu: /* Verbs */

User:Frrurtu/Sandbox5

2017-11-02T23:32:54Z

Frrurtu: /* Verbs */

User:Frrurtu/Sandbox5

2017-11-02T23:27:57Z

Frrurtu: /* Verbs */

User:Frrurtu/Sandbox5

2017-11-02T23:23:07Z

Frrurtu: