Verse:Tdūrzů/Knench

Ngiwrith/Lexicon

Ngiwrith/Swadesh list

Tdūrzů/Knench
Knánith
Pronunciation	[/knaːniθ/]
Created by	IlL
Setting	Lõis
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic Central Semitic North Semitic Tdūrzů/Knench

Knánith is a North Semitic language spoken in Lõis's Crete. (It is also meant to be consistent with being a descendant of Biblical Hebrew, but that is not its in-universe history.)

Numbers: 0-10: afs, ódh (m)/áth (f), hnay, hlusz, arbøng, homisz, szesz, szew, hmun, teszøng, ngaxør

11-20: ódh/áth ngaxør, hnay ngaxør, hlusz ngaxør, arbøng ngaxør, homisz ngaxør, szesz ngaxør, szew ngaxør, hmun ngaxør, teszøŋ ngaxør, ngaxre

40: stay ngaxre

60: hlusz ngaxre

...

120: merkø

14400: rúø

before: kkurm

Introduction

• Swadesh list
• bel-, ble- is a common prefix (conflation of ben- and ba3al-)
• Ni bø løhabiw ngiwrith, khozuth ni bø lødhabir akh ttipøth ngiwrith.
  • I like Hebrew, but I only know a little Hebrew.
• tiwdith = Thedish
• Am yagį li... = May I...
• szą sze... = when...
• Many adverbs are from infinitive absolute
• likkori = to die (lit. be called)
• midhborø = conference

Phonology

Consonants

/m pʰ b f v w n tʰ t˭ d θ ð ts s z ʂ j ŋ kʰ k˭ g x h l r/ ⟨m p b f v w n t tt d th dh ts s/x z sz y ng k kk g kh h l r⟩

Allophonic palatalization occurs before /ɛ/, /i/ or /j/. /ŋ kʰ k˭ g x/ palatalize to alveolopalatals /ɲ tɕʰ tɕ˭ dʑ ɕ/.

Mutations

Words can undergo initial lenition, as in Irish and Tiberian Hebrew:

p- b- t- d- k- g- > f- w- th- dh- kh- Ø-

"Already lenited" consonants lenite as follows: f w th dh kh Ø > nf, nw, nth, ndh, nkh, n

Vowels

/a ɛ i ɔ u ə a: ɛ: i: ɔ: u: ə:/ = ⟨a e i o u ø á é í ó ú ǿ⟩

Word-final /i/ is silent and palatalizes the preceding consonant.

Prosody

Stress

Stress is always penultimate.

Morphology

Nouns and adjectives

Nouns inflect for number and definiteness. Adjectives agree with nouns in number.

Cretan has lost grammatical gender.

• The regular "feminine" singular suffix is -ø or -th.
• The regular "masculine" plural suffix is -yø.
• The regular "feminine" plural is -uth.
• However, there are many irregular plurals, especially nouns derived from construct state constructions. e.g. benusz, blenusz = human

køfor, køforyø (m) = village, villages

bagbøg, bagbøgyø (m) = bottle, bottles

i, iyø (m) = island, islands

kkiszø, kkiszøyø (m) = squash, squashes

gøfø, gøfuth (f) = corpse, corpses

tagrith, tagriyuth (f) = incident, incidents

Cretan has lost grammatical gender and the construct state. The only remnant of the construct state is the -th- interfix used in possessive constructions between two nouns that end and begin with a vowel, respectively: e.g.

• ngønowiyø-th-anf 'the grapes of wrath'
• nøszomø-th-ahwø 'spirit of brotherhood'

Degree markers:

• de- = equative
• ro- = too (from IE pro-)
• ther- = comparative
• khi- = superlative

Pronouns

Knánith has an auxiliary verb system similar to Colloquial Welsh. In addition, there is a T-V distinction: the 2nd person plural tem is also used as a polite pronoun.

Auxiliaries

Inflection of the present active auxiliary

→ Person ↓ Truth value	1sg	2sg.m	2sg.f	3sg.m	3sg.f	1pl.in	2pl	3pl	Non-pronominal
Affirmative	ni, i	to	te	u	hi	nanu, onu, nu	tem	em	re, r'
Interrogative	am ni, am i	am to	am te	am u	am hi	am nu	am tem	am em	am
Negative	en ni, en i	en to	en te	en u	en hi	en nu	en tem	en em	en
Past	si ni, sit i, sit ni	sit to	sit te	so u	sto hi	sin nu	sit tem	su'm	so/sto/su
Passive present	ur ni, ur i	tur to	tri te	yur u	tur hi	nur nu	tru tem	ru'm	yur/tur/ru
Passive past	var ni, var i, vart i	vart to	vart te	var u	vro hi	var nu	vart tem	vru'm	var/vro/vru
Subjunctive	és ni, és i	tás to	tás te	yás u	tás hi	nás nu	tásu tem	yásu'm	yás/tás/yásu
Future	lekh ni, lekh i	tlekh to	tlekh te	lekh u	tlekh hi	lekh nu	tlekhu tem	lekhu'm	lekh/tlekh/lekhu
"May"	kkekh i	tkkekh to	tkkekh te	kkekh u	tkkekh hi	kkekh nu	tkekhu tem	kkekhu'm	kkekh/tkkekh/kkekhu

Prepositions

Prepositions inflect like in Welsh: for pronominal prepositional objects, usually the preposition is inflected and is followed by the independent pronoun.

example of a knánith inflected preposition: lø "for"

• 1sg: li, li ni
• 2sg.m: lakh to
• 2sg.f: lakh te
• 3sg.m: lu hu, lú hu
• 3sg.f: lo hi, loy hi
• 1pl. lon nu, lonu
• 2pl. lém tem
• 3pl. lam em

Syntax

Constituent order

The order is tense-subject-verb-object.

R'iszaz bø lékhul tapuhaz.

The man is eating the apple.

Re bethi ni bø dhe-rul kø liyothøn.

My house is as big as a whale.

Sto i lásuth halgbethø i bø muødh múhør.

She did her homework very late.

Noun phrase

The definite article is a clitic:

• Singular: -az (after C) or -zu (after V)
• Plural: -il

Examples:

• hadhør = a room
• hadhraz = the room
• hadhri = rooms
• hadhril = the rooms
• hadhør grul = a big room
• hadhør grulaz = the big room (< hah-hadhər hag-gâdhol haz-ze)
• boti gruli = big houses
• boti grulil = the big houses

• tøpuaz r' iszaz bø lékhul u = The apple, the man eats it

There is no construct state, unlike in Biblical Hebrew. Genitives are expressed with concatentation: szem malkaz = the king's name.

To say "this X" or "that X", X-az fu and X-az szom (lit. "the X here" and "the X there") are used. To say "this" and "that", you say ze fu and ze szom (where the ze becomes ilø in the plural).

The abstract demonstrative is zuth.

Verb phrase

Isz li rangu "I'm hungry"

Vocabulary

Construct state combinations grammaticalize

• bel, ble- = agentive
• beth- = place noun

Example texts

UDHR, Article 1

Vru kol blenuszil ledhø kø vlehuri, hem szowi ngal kúdhaz ke skhøyuthil. Vru'm lehánig bø thvønø ke matspøn, ke re ngalem lithnágh ódh lø hni bø nøszomø-th-ahwø.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act toward one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Tower of Babel

1. Bø khol ngulømaz sto áth sofø bø kkáth ledhabir ke uthøm miluthil bø kkáth lisztamisz.
2. Wini ksze su'm bø losangøth me mizroh, su'm litakkil bø miszuraz Szinngor ke lithyaszew szom.
3. Ke su'm lemur: "Enø, butonu lásuth lwenuth ke léfuth em ettew." Ke su lwenuthil leszamisz lom em kø awnebniyø, ke hemør kø mald.
4. Ke su'm lemur: "Enø, butonu lewnuth kkiriø ke mídøl bo hi, yás ruszu u lagiø le szomayim, ki nás nu lásuth lonu szem, ke klu nás nu lithpazir pli kol ngulømaz!"
5. Wini so Eluim lowu mattø, ki wayás u láwid bø kkiriøzu ke mídølaz sze yu blenuszil bø lewnuth.
6. Ke so Eluim lemur: "Szą sze su'm hatholø lásuth zuth kø ódh ngom sze bø ledhabir áth sofø, lu yiye szum mikhszul ngal ma u ma sze yásu'm lithkawin lásuth!
7. "Enø, bu tonu lalakht mattø ke løwalbil soføthom em, klu wøyásu'm láwin szuthif."
8. Kokh so Eluim løfazir em, ke su'm lahdul lewnuth kkiriøzu.
9. Ke mi sibøzu fu sze kkiriøzu bø lakko szemaz "Bovil" -- szom so Eluim løwalbil sofø kol ngulømaz. Me szom so Eluim løfazir em pli kol ngulømaz.