Verse:Tdūrzů/Knench

Tdūrzů/Knench/Lexicon

Tdūrzů/Knench/Swadesh list

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

Modern Canaanite (Canaanite: Knánith or sofø Knán, Togarmite: Xnoniþ) is the sole surviving descendant of Biblical Hebrew, spoken by the Knánem people in Lõis's Cyprus, Turkey, Armenia and the Levant. Some Lõisian rabbinical Jewish writings identify this language with the Lost Tribes of Israel, though they disavow the "quasi-pagan" (i.e. a form of Θāħīdaθ an Hawūθ) religious practices of the Knánim. This is not without cause, as the language preserves quite a few Biblical words and phraseology that fell out of use in Mishnaic Hebrew, though its grammar has been greatly simplified and was completely restructured to use auxiliaries instead of the older Hebrew tenses.

Like Welsh, Knánith has two registers, literary and colloquial Knánith.

Numbers: 0-10: afs, ódh (inanimate)/áth (animate), sznay, szlusz, arbą, homisz, szesz, szewą, szmun, teszą, ngaxør

11-20: ódh/áth ngaxør, sznay ngaxør, szlusz ngaxør, arbą ngaxør, homisz ngaxør, szesz ngaxør, szew ngaxør, hmun ngaxør, teszą ngaxør, ngaxrim

40: stay ngaxrim

60: szlusz ngaxrim

...

120: merkø

14400: rúø

before: kkorm

Orthography

Knánith is written in an alphabet descended from the Proto-Hebrew script.

Introduction

• Swadesh list
• bel-, ble- is a common prefix (conflation of ben- and ba3al-)
• bith or szą szer... = when...
• Many adverbs are froma infinitive absolute
• likkori = to die (lit. be called)
• szovuą = week
• midhborø = conference
• נא becomes a focus marker =nø
  • question marker a ... [FOCUS]=nø
• Philippi should be weaker: i > e, instead of the TibH i > a (*bint > bett 'daughter'; TibH baṫ)

Phonology

Consonants

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

Glottal reinforcement (transcribed by tt kk) occurs before historical Biblical Hebrew emphatics /tʼ kʼ tsʼ/, and also analogically in some other cases (cf. Glottalic PIE > RP English).

Biblical Hebrew /l/ became /w/ in some places, especially before C.

Mutations

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

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

Vowels

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

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

Prosody

Stress

Stress is always penultimate, except with some verbs where the lV- prefix does not have the stress.

Morphology

Knánith has lost the verbal inflections and triconsonantal morphology of Biblical Hebrew.

Nouns and adjectives

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

Knánith has lost grammatical gender.

• The regular "feminine" singular suffix is -ø or -th.
• The regular "masculine" plural suffix is -em or -e.
• 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, køforem = village, villages

bakkbøkk, bakkbøkkem = bottle, bottles

i, iem = island, islands

kiszø, kiszuth = cucumber, cucumbers

gøfø, gøfuth = corpse, corpses

takkrith, takkriyuth = incident, incidents

Canaanite has lost 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.

• hadhør-mittø 'bedroom'
• ngønove-th-anf 'the grapes of wrath'
• nøszomø-th-ahwø 'spirit of brotherhood'

Degree markers:

• Equative: de- = as X as; equally X; X enough
• Excessive: ro- = too (from Celtic)
• Comparative/Superlative: -ter = more X or most X; comparandum takes broth 'than' (from Biblical Hebrew *birʔōṫī ʔeṫ 'when I see ACC')

Verbs

Verbs use only one form, usually the inherited Biblical infinitive construct, prefixed with l-. Even for imperatives: Lathett lo hi! = 'Give it to her!' Some verbs instead are derived from other nouns derived from the triconsonantal root rather than the infinitive of a particular verb.

Regular pa3al verbs

The regular pattern is *liCCuC.

-t verbs

Many of these verbs got the glottally reinforced -tt from -ʔt. The -tt then analogically spread to other verbs.

• lalakht /laˈlaxt/ = to go
• lakkakht /laʔˈkaxt/ = to take
• lasakht /laˈsaxt/ = to go back
• laszaft /laˈʃaft/ = to sit
• lathett /laˈθeʔt/ = to give
• larast /laˈrast/ = to go down
• lalast /laˈlast/ = to be born
• lasett /laˈseʔt/ = to carry
• latsett /laˈtseʔt/ = to go out
• lasątt /laˈsãːʔt/ = to travel
• laghątt /laˈɣãːʔt/ = to hit, to smite
• ladhątt /laˈðãːʔt/ = to know
• lattątt /laʔˈtãːʔt/ = to plant

Regular nif3al

The regular pattern is *liCoCiC where the first C is not lenited.

Regular pi3el

The regular pattern is *løCaCiC or *løCiCuC where the middle C is not lenited.

Regular hif3il

The regular pattern is *laCCiC, *leCCeC, or *laCCoCø.

Regular hithpa3el

The regular pattern is *lithCaCiC where the middle C is not lenited.

Other verbs

Other verbs come from noun derivation patterns, or from earlier verb + noun collocations.

Any noun can also be verbed by prefixing lø-.

Auxiliaries

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.

The non-pronominal affirmative auxiliary re is also used in subordinate clauses:

• Re Dhowedh ngal lišun = David is about to sleep
• Bith re Dowedh ngal lišun = When David is about to sleep

Various auxiliaries in Knánith

→ Person ↓ Truth value	1sg	2sg.m	2sg.f	3sg.m	3sg.f	1pl.in	2pl	3pl	Non-pronominal
Affirmative (re, r' is from רְאֵה *ruʔē 'look!')	ni, i	to	te	u	hi	nanu, nu	tem	em	re, r' before V
Present emphatic (inflected forms of עוֹד)	ngud i	ngud to	ngud te	nguden u	nguden hi	ngud nu	ngud tem	ngud em	ngud
Interrogative (from הַאִם)	am ni, am i	am to	am te	am u	am hi	am nu	am tem	am em	am
Negative (from מְאוּמָה לֹא 'not anything')	i mul	to mul	te mul	u mul	hi mul	nu mul	tem mul	em mul	___ mul
Past (from perfect of עָשָׂה 'to do')	si ni, sit i, sit ni	sit to	sit te	so u	sto hi	sin nu	sit tem	su'm	so/sto/su
Future/Subjunctive (from imperfect of עָשָׂה 'to do')	ąs i	tąs to	tąs te	yąs u	tąs hi	nąs nu	tąsu tem	yąsu'm	yąs/tąs/yąsu
Passive present (from imperfect of עָבַר 'to pass')	ur ni, ur i	tur to	tri te	yur u	tur hi	nur nu	tru tem	ru'm	yur/tur/ru
Passive past (from perfect of עָבַר 'to pass')	var ni, var i, vart i	vart to	vart te	var u	vro hi	varn nu	vart tem	vru'm	var/vro/vru
"May" (from imperfect of לָקַח 'to take')	kekh i	tkekh to	tkekh te	kekh u	tkekh hi	kekh nu	tkekhu tem	kekhu'm	kekh/tkekh/kekhu
"Do X more" - present (from imperfect of הוֹסִיף 'to add')	usif i	tusif to	tusif te	yusif u	tusif hi	nusif nu	tusif tem	yusifu'm	usift/tusif/yusifu
"Do X more" - past (from perfect of הוֹסִיף 'to add')	seft i	seft to	seft te	sif u	sif hi	sef nu	seft tem	sifu'm	sif/sifu
Cautionary (from imperfect of זָמַם 'to scheme')	zum i	tøzum to	tøzum te	zum u	tøzum hi	nøzum nu	tøzmu tem	zmu'm	zum/tøzum/zmu
"X well" - present (from imperfect of הֵיטִיב 'to do well')	attev i	tattev to	tattvi te	yattev u	tattev hi	nattev nu	tattev tem	yattevu'm	yattev/tattev/yattevu
"X well" - past (from perfect of הֵיטִיב 'to do well')	hettevt i	hettevt to	hettevt te	hettev u	hettev hi	hettev nu	hettevt tem	hettevu'm	hettev

Cautionary future

The auxiliary for the cautionary future comes from the Biblical Hebrew verb *zāmam 'to scheme'. It's used to:

• warn the listener of a future event or contingency:
  • Zum sąraz tha lovu henø kol ngeth. = 'The storm might come here any moment.'
  • Zum tafkestaz mul lith ngal szom! = 'The function might not be onto! [in a hypothetical math textbook, cautioning against a tacit assumption a reader might make]'
• often used in a threatening manner, for example: Lakh to mul yedhą ma zum i ląsuth lakh to! = 'You have no idea what I'm gonna do to you!'

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"; bø 'in, at' is inflected similarly

• 1sg: li, li ni
• 2sg.m: lakh to
• 2sg.f: lakh te
• 3sg.m: lomu hu
• 3sg.f: lomi hi
• 1pl. lonu nu
• 2pl. lakhøm tem
• 3pl. lomu'm

Syntax

Constituent order

The order is tense-subject-verb-object.

R'iszaz bø lékhul tapuhaz.

The man is eating the apple.

Re beth-u bø dhe-rul kø liyothøn.

His house is as big as a whale.

Sto hi tha ląsuth halkkbetho hi bø muødh múhør.

She did her homework very late.

The negative particle mul (from mə'umâ lo 'not anything') comes after the subject pronoun and before the verb.

Faulty accusative

Knánith has the faulty accusative particle tha (from Biblical Hebrew ʔeṫ ha-). It is not used for all direct objects, but only for constituents that are separated from their heads. Tha may also be used before the verbal noun when using an auxiliary: Hettev hu tha litfus doghem. = She was good at catching fish.

Noun phrase

The definite article is a clitic:

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

Examples:

• hadhør = a room
• hadhraz = the room
• hadhrem = rooms
• hadhriw = the rooms
• hadhør grú = a big room
• hadhør grulaz = the big room (< hah-hadhər hag-gâdhol haz-ze)
• botem grulem = big houses
• botem gruliw = 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 concatenation: szem-mawkaz = 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

• re Pam ngal lalakht = Pam is about to go
• re Pam dhøsz lalakht = Pam has just went
• re Pam bi lalakht = Pam has not went

Complementizer

There is a complementizer mur (from לאמר lēmōr) or zuth (from זאת) depending on dialect. This is different from relative clauses, which use szer (from אשר ʔăšer).

Vocabulary

Many words are formed form earlier construct state combinations, and are sometimes unrecognizable:

• anvinin, anevinin 'brick' from אבני בניין *ʔaḃ(a)nē ḃinyān 'building stones'
• szavgom 'carnage, destruction' from שפך דם *šáṗek̇ dām 'spilling of blood'
• ngemem, ngememuth 'source' from עין מים ʕēn máyem 'spring of water'
• løseppin 'to like' from נשא פני lit. 'lift the face of' meaning 'to favor'
• kulaliv 'conscience' from קול הלב lit. 'voice of the heart'

Although it is attested in late Biblical Hebrew (e.g. Song of Songs), the CăCiCâ verbal noun pattern is not as productive as in Mishnaic Hebrew.

• ben-, pl. ble- = agentive
• beth-, pl. bate- = place noun

Example texts

UDHR, Article 1

Kol blenusziw vru'm lalest kø hofszem; hem szowim ngaw kovdaz ke tsrokkuthiw. Blenusziw vru'm lifkudh bø vinø ke kulaliv, ke re ngawem lalakht ngem szuthif bø nøszomø-th-ahwø.

all human/PL-DEF.PL.M PASS.PRES-3PL be_born as free-M.PL; 3PL equal-PL on dignity-DEF.SG and right-DEF.F.PL. human/PL-DEF.PL.M PASS.PRES-3PL entrust with understanding and conscience, and PRES on-3PL walk with one_another with spirit-EZAFE-brotherhood.

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. Var bø khol tevilaz tha zuthø sofø lødhabir ke vru luthøm miluthiw leszamisz.
2. Wini khi su'm bø lasątt me mizroh, su'm litakkiw bø miszuraz Szinngor ke lithyaszev szom.
3. Ke su'm lemur: "Enø, butonu ląsuth anevinin ke lattev léfuth em." Ke su anevininiw løszamisz lom em kø avoniw, ke hemør kø mawtt.
4. Ke su'm lemur: "Enø, butonu levnuth kiriø ke mídøl bomi hi, yąs ruszu hu lagią le szomayem, ke nąs nu ląsuth lonu szem, ke klu nąs nu lithpazir pli kol tevilaz!"
5. Wini Eluim so u lovu mattø, ki yąs u lávitt bø kiriøzu ke mídølaz szer yu blenusziw bø levnuth.
6. Ke Eluim so u lemur: "Szą szer su'm hátholø ląsuth zuth kø hódh ngom szer bø lødhabir háth sofø, yiye mum mikhszul mul lø madovør szer yąsu løzumim ląsuth!
7. "Enø, bu tonu larest ke løvawbiw sofø-th-em, klu yąsu'm lávin szuthif."
8. Ku Eluim so u løfazir em, ke su'm ládul levnuth kiriøzu.
9. Ke me sibøzu fu szer kiriøzu bø lakkakht szemaz "Boviw" -- szom so Eluim løvawbiw sofø kol tevilaz. Me szom so Eluim løfazir em pli kol tevilaz.