Dhellumese
From KneeQuickie
Dhellum /dʰeɫʁʊm/, in English /ˈdɛləm/ or Dhellumese /dɛləmˈiz/, is the language of the Noladhí, a people of the Meuncí race living in the northern taiga of the central continent of the planet Jera /ˈdʒɛɹə/ (sometimes called Jeva, /ˈdʒɛvə/). The name of the planet is an anglicized derivative from Jeran, the planet's ancient lingua franca.
Dhellumese is a somewhat agglutinating language, meaning that many words and morphemes can be bound together to form more complex words and sentences. Despite the presence of case inflection, word order is strictly regulated. Word order is ERGATIVE - VERB - ABSOLUTIVE, meaning VERB - SUBJECT in intransitive sentences, and SUBJECT - VERB - OBJECT in transitive sentences.
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Phonology
Basic Phonological Constraints (Only an Approximation):
((f, s) + (C)) + (v, j, r) + V + (V) + (C) + (dh, r)
Plosives lose their voicing and aspiration distinctions whenever followed by /ʋ/, /j/, or /ɰ/ in a syllable.
An important element of Dhellum phonology is epenthesis, the insertion of consonants to act as vowel boundaries between morphemes. The most common epenthetic consonant is s, though n is also quite common. When absolutive case-marking suffixes beginning in vowels are attached to nouns ending in vowels, as well as when tense/mood suffixes are attached to vowel-final verbs, an epenthetic s is inserted. The letter s is the most commonly used epenthetic consonant in the language. However, ergative pronouns and noun number markers use n. Note: when a vowel-initial suffix appears directly after either of the dual suffixes o or nu, no epenthetic s is inserted.
Stress
Stress is not distinguished within individual words. All syllables in a word are pronounced at the same intensity and intonation.
Words within sentences are complied into separate rhythmic groups. An individual rhythmic group may consists of several words, all pronounced together as though they were only one word. A single group may contain as few as two syllables and as many as ten. Words of an individual group need not be syntactically-related, though words may not be split, modifiers are generally not split from the words which they modify, nor are compounds from their complements. The first syllable of each rhythmic group must be elongated and high-pitched.
Many sentences consist of ten or fewer syllables, thus likely to be pronounced as one single rhythmic group. Generally, if a sentence has more than ten syllables, they will be split up into multiple groups. A rhythmic group may be made entirely of a single word as long as that word is comprised of at least two syllables.
Consonants
Voiceless Plosives: /p=/ /t=/ /k=/ (= indicates lack of aspiration.)
Voiced Plosives: /bʰ/ /dʰ/ /gʰ/
Nasals: /m/ /n/
Trills: /ʙ/
Fricatives: /f/ /s/ /ɕ/
Approximates: /ʋ/ /j/ /ɰ/
Laterals: /l/ /ɫʁ/
Vowels
Close: /i/ /ɪ/ /ʊ/ /u/
Mid: /e/ /o/
Open: /a/
Orthography
Transliteration
| Trans. | Phoneme | Details |
| b | /p=/ /b/ | Must be unaspirated. May be either voiced or unvoiced. |
| d | /t=/ /d/ | Must be unaspirated. May be either voiced or unvoiced. Often pronounced dentally. |
| g | /k=/ /g/ | Must be unaspirated. May be either voiced or unvoiced. |
| bh | /bʰ/ | Both aspirated and voiced. |
| dh | /dʰ/ | Both aspirated and voiced. Often pronounced dentally. |
| gh | /gʰ/ | Both aspirated and voiced. |
| m | /m/ | Articulated as in English. |
| n | /n/ | Often pronounced dentally. |
| bb | /ʙ/ | A powerful but very brief purr of the lips. Often a very emphatic b is heard as opposed to a noticeable trill. |
| f | /f/ | May be voiced to /v/ intervocalically. |
| s | /s/ | May be voiced to /z/ intervocalically. |
| c | /ɕ/ | May be voiced to /ʑ/ intervocalically. |
| v | /ʋ/ | In many dialects may be pronounced as /v/ or /w/, though usually it is something in between. |
| j | /j/ | Articulated as in English. |
| r | /ɰ/ | Typically /ɰ/ prevocalically and /ɣ/ or /ʁ/ otherwise. In the absence of a consecutive vowel, it is pronounced syllabically. |
| l | /l/ | As in English leash. It is never velarized as in Scottish English. |
| ll | /ɫʁ/ | Simultaneous velarized l and voiced uvular fricative. |
| Trans. | Phoneme | Standard Dialect | Bermun Dialect |
| í | /i/ | [iː] | [i] |
| i | / |
[ |
[ |
| ú | /u/ | [uː] | [u] |
| u | / |
Pronounced as [ |
[ɞ] |
| e | /e/ | Pronounced [e], [ɛ] before /ʙ/ or /ɫʁ/. | Pronounced [e̞] unconditionally . |
| a | /a/ | Unconditionally pronounced [ä], a vowel directly between [a] and [ɑ]. | A low, front' vowel, [a] or occasionally [æ] |
| o | /o/ | Pronounced [ɔ] before /ʙ/ or /ɫʁ/. | Pronounced [ɔ] unconditionally . |
| au | /au/ | [äʊ] | [aʉ] |
| eu | /eu/ | [eʊ] | [eʉ] |
| ai | /ai/ | [äɪ] | [ɑɪ] |
Alphabetical Order
Throughout this grammar, phonemes and lexemes are arranged in a phonological order, independent of any natural word order of the native script. There is, however, an alphabetical order in Dhellumese. It is formed as follows.
Writing System
Dhellumese is written in Varum /ʋaɰʊm/, the native script. It is a simple alphabet, which can be written from either left to right, like English, or top to bottom, like Japanese. A handwritten version of Varum, called Varem, exists colloquially, though it is seldom taught in the schools.
Basic Syntax
Word order in Dhellumese is dependent on transitivity. This is because Dhellumese syntax is mostly ergative, carefully distinguishing the experiencer of intransitive sentences from the agent of transitive ones. Objects and intransitive subjects are merged into the absolutive case, whilst transitive subjects fall into the ergative case. Semantically speaking, Dhellumese is unusual because, unlike most ergative languages, it marks the absolutive noun, but leaves the ergative noun uninflected.
Dhellumese syntax is mostly head-first, meaning that words come before the words which describe them (adjectives follow nouns, adverbs and adpositional phrases follow verbs).
Dhellumese uses postpositions instead of prepositions. So, instead of IN-HOUSE for in the house, one would say HOUSE-IN. If multiple postpositional phrases are used to modify a single verb, they must be placed in a particular order. Phrases depicting location, such as in the house, must precede phrases depicting means, such as with a bat. If in a particular sentence a single verb is described by both these kinds of phrases, they may never be separated. If any additional adpositional phrases are included, they must be placed before or after, never between, the phrases describing location and means.
Verbs and Structure
Verb Stems
All verbs as they appear in the lexicon are made up of two stems—the preterit (past) stem and the generic (non-past) stem.
Generic Stem
This verb stem is used in context relevant to the time it is expressed or the future of such time.
Preterit Stem
Used for expressing completed actions. Most of these stems end in -ova or -eva.
If a verb is completely regular (and most of them are), the preterit stem can actually be constructed from the generic stem as follows:
If the generic stem ends in a consonant, the suffix –eva or –ova is attached, the former if the last vowel of the stem is a front vowel—i, í, or e, the latter if a back vowel—u, ú, or o. If the last vowel is a, either of the suffixes may appear depending on the word.
If the stem ends in u, ú, or o, that vowel is dropped and the suffix –ova is added.
If the stem ends in i, í, e, or a, that vowel is dropped and the suffix –eva is added.
Verbal-Nominal Inflection
Verbs are inflected to distinguish tense, aspect, and/or mood. The inflection attached to the verb in a sentence must agree with the suffix attached to the absolutive noun (attached after any morphological or derivational suffixes such as number markers, etc.). Each verbal suffix has a corresponding equivalent absolutive suffix, marking the subject of intransitive sentences and the object of transitive sentences.
| Verb Form | Stem + Suffix | Absolutive Suffix |
| Future | (generic) + an | (stem) + a |
| Future Antiperfect | (generic) + ur | (stem) + o |
| Present Perfect | (generic) + nos | (stem) + o |
| Future Perfect | (generic) + us | (stem) + o |
| Present | (generic) + r | (stem) + r |
| Brevitive | (generic) + í | (stem) + í |
| Present Antiperfect | (generic) + nor | (stem) + a |
| Generic Conditional | (generic) + e | (stem) + a |
| Imperative | (generic) + egh | (stem) + í |
| Preterit (Simple Past) | (preterit) + r | (stem) + o |
| Pluperfect | (preterit) + nos | (stem) + o |
| Past Antiperfect | (preterit) + nor | (stem) + a |
| Preterit Conditional | (preterit) + e | (stem) + a |
Copulas
Copula expressions are formed from one single existing copula verb, eu, the preterit form of which is evo. In copula constructions eu is used as the verb, and the ergative is used to express the 1st argument of the copula, with the absolutive to mark the copula's complement (sort of its object).
There are two different kinds of copulas in Dhellum. The first kind, such as eu-ce, to become, is made up of the copula verb eu plus the suffix –ce, which is attached to the noun in the ergative case. The second kind of copula, such as ge eu, to have or to be with, is made up of a suffix or postposition and the copula verb. The first part, the suffix, is attached to the noun that would be in the absolutive case. Note that when postpositional expressions are used as objects as they are in many copula constructions, they do not receive the absolutive suffix.
Below are a few examples of Dhellum copulas as they would appear in the lexicon. See the lexicon for a complete section on Dhellum copulas.
eu, evo... be
eu-ce, evo-ce... become
eu-vun, evo-vun... be named
ge eu, ge evo... be with, to have (in possession or association)
mai eu, mai evo... be in love with, to love (romantically, sexually)
Some examples:
surom eur elinomr They are mermaids.
elince evor megh The merman became a fish.
elin eur meghge The merman has a fish.
bhineur nimai I love you.
Note: The verb "to be" is not used in Dhellumese when the complement of the ergative noun is just an adjective. In these cases no verb is included in the present tense. Thus, a sentence such as the dog is brown would be expressed emore naríbh. Literally one is saying brown dog (with the adjective coming first as opposed to coming second in a normal sentence). However, the verb to be would be included if needed to express other tenses. Such a sentence is rarely expressed in Dhellumese as usually when a noun is described the speaker has more to say about it. Ordinarily naríbh emore (in the regular order) would merely be one complement of a sentence.
Negation
Verbs are negated by simply attaching the suffix -i directly after the tense/mood/aspect suffix. Thus, the suffixes an, ur, nos, us, r, í, nor, e, and egh become in the negative ani, uri, nosi, usi, ri, íi, nori, ei, and eghi respectively. More specific constructions such as never or hardly are expressed with modifiers (used as adverbs).
Negation
Verbs are negated by simply attaching the suffix -i directly after the tense/mood/aspect suffix. Thus, the suffixes an, ur, nos, us, r, í, nor, e, and egh become in the negative ani, uri, nosi, usi, ri, íi, nori, ei, and eghi respectively. More specific constructions such as never or hardly are expressed with modifiers (used as adverbs).
Voice Suffixes
There are three "voices" in Dhellumese.
The normal construction is the ergative voice, which functions normally as an active voice in transitive sentences and as a passive voice in intransitive sentences, as in the window broke.
Examples include both she walked to the market, and she owns the market. This is the only voice in which the ergative case is used. It is also by far the most often used voice.
The self-causative voice is sort of a combination of the typical active and passive voices—used to describe actions brought up upon the subject resulting from the actions of the subject. A perfect example of the self-causative voice in English is a sentence such as the man got (himself) arrested.
Word order in the causative voice is as usual, and the agent is marked with the absolutive case. The verb adds the suffix –ní.
bhagsovar naríbho, the canine was snapped at.
bhagsovarní naríbho, the canine got itself snapped at.
In addition to these is the reflexive voice. This voice is used when the subject is acting upon himself, herself, or themselves, corresponding to reflexive and reciprocal constructions. English examples include she hurt herself, and they love each other.
Word order in the middle voice is as usual, and the agent is marked with the absolutive case. The verb adds the suffix –susí. Many verbs only exist as reflexives and thus already have the suffix susí in the lexicon. Tense/mood/aspect inflection occurs BEFORE this addition of this suffix.
Because this voice is expressed using verbal inflection, no reflexive ergative-absolutive personal pronouns exist. There do exist, however, reflexive possessive and genitive adjectives, which are formed by the regular adjectives (third person only) directly followed by the suffix -sus. See the section on possessive adjectives for more information.
Nouns
Depending on its role in a sentence, a noun in Dhellumese may be put into any of three cases—the absolutive, the ergative, or the postpositional. The latter two are unmarked, indicated by their position in the sentence. The absolutive, however, is indicated by its position in the sentence as well as suffix, which must agree with the verbal suffix in tense, mood, and apsect. See the section Verbs and Structure for related details.
Most nouns are no longer distinguished by number in Dhellumese. Pronouns and possessive adjectives, however, have a three-way number system distinguishing singularity, duality, and plurality.
A few vowel vowel-final loan words, which can optionally be made plural by the insertion of j before the final vowel. Note that these nouns do not distinguish duality like the pronouns. Foreign orthography is used in these words when writing in Varum script. Thus where one would normally write the symbol for j before the final vowel, the final vowel is instead written with a special diacritic. (For more about the diacritic, see the section on the Writing System.)
Participles (and Participial Phrases)
Participles can be formed from verbs in the future, future antiperfect, present perfect, future perfect, present, present antiperfect, preterit, pluperfect, and past antiperfect tenses. These are expressed with the following suffixes.
| Tense or Aspect | Passive Participles | (Object) |
| Future | (generic) + anvar | (stem) + a |
| Future Antiperfect | (generic) + urvar | (stem) + o |
| Present Perfect | (generic) + nosvar | (stem) + o |
| Future Perfect | (generic) + svaro | (stem) + o |
| Present | (generic) + var | (stem) + r |
| Present Antiperfect | (generic) + norvar | (stem) + a |
| Preterit (Simple Past) | (preterit) + svar | (stem) + o |
| Pluperfect | (preterit) + nosvar | (stem) + o |
| Past Antiperfect | (preterit) + norvar | (stem) + a |
With these participles can be formed participial phrases. Participial phrases in Dhellumese play the role of relative clauses.
vom elúnavar :: the man who sings (singing man)
san edhanavar :: the song being sung
Passive participles are expressed in the exact same way, though with the transitive equivalent of the verb in an intransitive usage. (In these examples, edhana means to sing (intr.), while elúna means to sing something. Since the latter is used as though it were the former, the construction is understood as transitive.)
vom elúnasvar :: the man who sang
san edhanasvar :: the song which was sung
The object of a participial phrase must be placed in the absolutive case directly preceding the participial verb, inflected to agree with the tense and aspect of the participle.
vom sanr edhanavar :: the man who sings the song
vom sano edhanasvar :: the man who sang the song
The Imperative - Giving Requests and Commands
Imperative
The actual imperative mood as expressed with the imperative verb and absolutive suffixes is used strictly for commands. They are strictly impolite and are only used when the speaker has clear authority over the listener or is trying to be vulgar.
The imperative is formed with the verbal suffix –egh and the absolutive suffix –í. The absolutive is used as the object, and the ergative (understood as ni) is typically not included.
(Indicative) ni gvebúr freamomr :: You're chopping down trees.
(Imperative) gvebúsegh freamomí :: Chop down the trees.
Polite Imperative
A more polite equivalent of the imperative can be formed to make a request. To express this Polite Imperative, the ergative pronoun ni is included, and the imperative verb and absolutive noun receive conditional suffixes, forming a clause expressed as the object of the preceding phrase, I ask it, bhinelevíúr du. The consecutive du (it) and ni (you) merge into one word, duni, that you.
bhinelevíúr duni gvebúse freamoma (I ask that you chop down the trees.)
Would you please chop down the trees?
In casual speech, bhinelevíúr may be dropped out (duni is always retained) although this simplification slightly devalues the politeness.
duni gvebúse freamoma :: Chop down the trees, please.
A similar construction can be formed using the verb edhana, to sing or insist, instead of elevíú. This is used to convey polite persistence in persuading another to accept favor or hospitality. Often bhinedhanar is dropped and thus only included for the affect of persistence.
duni mergdhe ghúsnanua bhe :: Take my boots.
bhinedhanar duni mergdhe ghúsnanua bhe :: Take my boots, I insist!
Modifiers (Adjectives and Adverbs)
Dhellumese does not distinguish between adjectives and adverbs, classifying them both as modifiers. They can describe any noun, verb, or modifier and are placed after the word which they describe. If multiple modifier words are used to describe one word, they cannot merely be listed as they are in English. The postposition nau, translated as the conjunction and, must be inserted.
Changing Modifiers into Nouns
Modifiers can be made into nouns with the suffix –aim, equivalent to English –ness. An epenthetic s is inserted when the adjective and suffix meet intervocalically.
labor :: loud
laboraim :: noise, loudness
The Equative
The equative is formed slightly differently in Dhellumese than English. In English one would say that something is as good (as something else). In Dhellumese, one would say that something is in goodness (as something else). This means usage of the prepositions oma, in, and dhem, as.
This man here is as wise as the gods
vom lú eur salemaimoma alíndhem -or-
vom lú eur alíndhem salemaimoma
Note this is NOT a compliment in Dhellumese, as it implies the man is quite unwise, not to mention probably insane. The different postpositional phrases IN THIS CONSTRUCTION may be ordered interchangeably, thus either of the above is quite common.
The Comparative
The comparative is formed similarly to the equative. This construction uses the postpositions cer, from, and ve, with, or by means of. To convey that something is more efficient (than something else), one would say that it is from efficiency (with something else).
His car is more efficien.
bbaghsolo eur sasaimcer (The postpositional phrases must remain in a set order.)
His car is more efficient than my car
bbaghsolo eur sasaimcer bbaghbheve.
The Superlative
The superlative construction uses the same postpositions as the comparative. To convey that something, for example, an automobile, is the most efficient, one would say that it is from sure efficiency. The superlative is distinguished from the comparative by the insertion of la, the emphasis particle, translated here as sure. As another example, the best choice would be a choice that is from sure adequacy.
She picked the best choice
suce evor vendhge la sasaimcer
The Anti-Comparative
The anti-comparative construction uses the postposition ***, to. To convey that something is less efficient (than something else), one would say that it is to efficiency (with something else).
His car is less efficient
bbaghsolo eur sasaimad
His car is less efficient than my car.
bbaghsolo eur sasaimad bbaghbheve.
The Anti-Superlative
The anti-superlative construction uses the same preposition as the anti-comparative. To convey that something, for example, a food, is the least hot, one would say that it is to sure heat. The worst choice would be a choice that is to sure adequacy.
She picked the worst choice
suce evor vendhge la sasaimad
The Many Uses of "la"
Dhellumese has several idiomatic uses of the word la, generally translated as English all. It is an extremely common word in the language, one of the words most often used.
It may be used as a quantifier, as in bhineur jevodge la, I have all the books.
It is used as the standard emphasis particle. In English, where emphasis is marked by stress, intonation, and elongation, in Dhellumese one must emphasize words by adding the word la after them.
It may be used as a plural impersonal pronoun, often translated as someone, anyone, all of us, or we.
It transforms comparative constructions into superlative ones.
When any word that is not a noun is used as a title or appears alone on a sign, such as a "Closed" sign, la must be inserted after it. It may be left off ungrammatically in titles of literature at the author's will.
In some dialects, it is the standard word for yes.
Pronouns and Possessive Modifiers
Personal Pronouns
Pronouns are distinguished by person and number, as well as animacy in the third person. They can be affixed to distinguish syntactic role (see the verb section). Pronouns come in three numbers—singular, dual, and plural.
Note: When pronouns come in two forms separated by commas in the chart below, the first form is used as the present indicative (ergative or absolutive) pronoun. No present absolutive suffix is needed. The second form of the pronoun is used only for the absolutive in other tenses, inflected with the absolutive suffix as would any ordinary noun.
When the personal pronoun is used in the ergative case (uninflected) directly before a vowel initial word, an epenthetic n is inserted.
| Person | Singular | Dual | Plural |
| 1st | bhi(n), bhin- | bhiro(n) | bhirom |
| 2nd | ni(n), n- | nuro(n) | nurom |
| 3rd (a) | su(n), s- | suro(n) | surom |
| 3rd (b) | du(n), dun- | duro(n) | durom |
When distinguishing the two separate third person pronouns, (a) marks the animate and (b) marks the inanimate. There are exceptions to this, however.
Using "su" and "du"
The basic distinction between Dhellumese's two third person pronouns is animacy. This means that as in English, a pronominal distinction is made separating people from things—as in he and she versus it. In Dhellumese, however, this translation can not always be processed literally.
The animate pronoun su is used in reference to people and to animals. Unlike in English, living animals (and insects) are always referred to as su. Deceased people and animals, in reference to their bodies or remains, are however normally referred to as du. The pronoun du may also refer to all abstract nouns, and normally for all inanimate objects as well. With the latter however, su is instead used in only the ergative case.
Other Pronouns
| Pronoun | Singular | Dual | Plural |
| Impersonal | -- | -- | la |
The impersonal pronoun is commonly used in phrases pertaining to weather. For example, it is raining would be expressed laneur vessge, literally we are with rain.
Possessive Modifiers
Possessive modifiers come in three forms. Each of the three different modifiers come in six forms, singular and plural number with three persons. (Animacy and duality are not distinguished in these modifiers.)
The Possessive Implies direct ownership. As in She borrowed his car.
The Genitive Implies association, or the possession of something intangible (including ideologies, groups, and organizations). It is most often used in reference to people, such as one's relatives or acquaintances. As in He saw his brother or Their language is difficult to learn.
The Indefinite Possessive Implies ownership or association, referring to something taken from a group, or a group within a larger group. As in A friend of mine told me to come here or Some books of his are in the box downstairs. The indefinite possessive construction is formed from the possessive modifier plus the postposition -ge, of.
These modifiers may be optionally attached to the word they modify, in which case an epenthetic s is inserted if the modifier is vowel-initial. The possessive modifier must be the first modifier describing a given noun.
| Person | Possessive Singular | Possessive Plural | Indefinite Possessive Singular | Indefinite Possessive Plural | Genitive Singular | Genitive Plural |
| 1st | bhe (my) | bheo (our) | bhege | bheoge | (s)ubh | (s)um |
| 2nd | ne | relo | nege | reloge | (s)un | (s)ugh |
| 3rd | solo | (s)elo | sologe | (s)eloge | (s)us | (s)edh |
The words for the spoken and written language are actually archaic genitive constructions. The word dhellum literally means our words, and varum means our ability (to write).
In order to incorporate a reflexive or reciprocal connotation, any of the third person possessive, indefinite possessive, or genitive modifiers may receive the –sus suffix. For example, solo, his, becomes solosus, his own. This construction must be used when the subject is identical to its possessor.
The Alternative Possessive
Occasionally, the possessive is not indicated by possessive adjective, but by the noun or the regular personal pronoun plus the postposition da, literally meaning in back of, by command of, or as in this case, belonging to. Note that this construction derives from an archaic vulgar construction, and is used only in a few specific idiomatic expressions.
mro vunr nida
What is your name?
vun bhida eur ...r
My name is...
This construction is also used with anything pertaining to the possessions of money, riches, or slaves.
sujeblovar regaso bhida
He/she stole my money.
rrúsce dubhenruada evor medege ghraunje sudhem
The king's slaves died as violently as he.
Postpositions
These are words corresponding to what in English are called prepositions. In Dhellumese, however, they are placed after the words they describe. They may optionally be attached, forming one long word.
To negate postpositions, the suffix -mu may be attached. For example, ír, with; írmu, without; ve, via, with; vemu, without, without means of
Postpositions use the epenthetic n when attaching to a pronoun, s when attaching to anything else. For a list of prepositions, see the Prepositions section of the lexicon.
(Under Construction)
