Ptila

[Omzinesý]

Ptila is an a-priori lang.
It draws its inspiration from Swahili (some phonotactics and maybe a noun class system), Hausa (some syntax containing an auxiliary), Georgian (harmonic clusters), and Welsh (initial consonant mutations and some syntax containing an auxiliary).

I start with morpho-syntax instead of phonology, this time.

Some Word-Classes:

1. Auxiliary (no lexical meaning)
- evidentiality/egophoricity
- topic agreement
- some focus markers
- appear in finite clauses/sentences

2. Action nominals
- some inverse/irative/ventive marking
- bear the lexical meaning of "verbs"

3. Nouns
- not much morphology
- maybe some noun class marking
- some "adjectives" are coded as derivational grammatical morphemes in nouns
- maybe a genitive case

Some abstract syntax
Basic Topic-Comment Cause:
([topic]) ([auxiliary] [action nominal and the other nouns in a "free" order]comment)

Argument-focus clause:
[focus] ([auxiliary-focus marker] other nouns)

Morphology

Ptila morphology is quite agglutinative

1. Auxiliary

Auxiliary is basically a cluster of grammatical morphemes, most of which are compulsory.

person-egophoricity/evidentiality-focus

d- 'SG1'
pt- 'SG2'
l- 'SG3 (at least some noun class)'
mng- 'PL1INCL'
s- 'PL1EXCL'
pel- 'PL2'
k- 'PL3'

There are four epistemic morphemes:
1. Egophoric -e
2. Sensory -u
3. Fact -a
4. Reportative -o

The basic focus marker is -no. There can be other more specified focus markers.

The auxiliary does not undergo initial consonant mutations.


2. Action nominal

Venitive is formed by changing the last vowel of AN. It marks that i) a movement is directed towards the speaker and can often be translated 'here', ii) autobenefactive, i.e. that the actor is acting for their own benefit, or iii) inversion, i.e. that the topic is a patient instead of an agent.

With Venitive, the example (2) would be interpreted as an autobenefactive:
(5) Past Perfective
G-e a teptu tuga.
SG1-EGO after writing.VEN book
'I wrote a book for myself.'


Normal => ventive
e => i
o => u
a => i (in palatal environment), a => u (in velar/labial environment)




Action Nominal nearly always appears after a preposition that cedes aspect. Those prepositions also trigger initial consonant mutations in the AN.

(1) Progressive
G-e yu septa tuga.
SG1-EGO under/during writing book
'I am writing a book.'

(2) Past Perfective
G-e a tepta tuga.
SG1-EGO after writing book
'I wrote a book.'

(3) Future Perfective
G-e we nepta tuga.
FG1-EGO before writing book
'I will write a book.'

(4) Habitual
G-e i septa tuga.
SG1 in writing book
'I usually write a book.'


3.Nouns

Nouns may have a Swahili-style noun class system. I'm still not sure how it is if it will be there.

There are anyways eight adjectival derivational infixes that appear before the last vowel of the noun.

Small/a little -ix-
Big/much -ap-
Old/same -umh-
Young/new/another -ok-
Light -in-
Dark -upk-
Good -el-
Bad -ot-
male -ul-
female -ew-

tugapa 'big book'
tugixa 'small book'
tugumha 'old book'
tugoka 'new book'
tugina 'white book'
tugupka 'black book'
pugela 'good book'
tugota 'bad book'

[Omzinesý]

Phonology

Vowel inventory:
i u <i u>
e o <e o >
ä <a>

Consonant inventory:

pʰ tʰ cʰ kʰ <p t c k>
b d ɟ g <b d j g>
m̥ʰ n̥ʰ ɲ̥ʰ ŋ̥ʰ <mh nh njh ngh>
m n ɲ ŋ <m n nj ng>
s ɕ h <s x h>
l j w <l y w>

Phonotactics
Only open syllables are allowed.
(C)(C)(y/w)V

Allowed consonant clusters are:

"Harmonic clusters" where both components are of same MOA, specified above. The first of them is never exploded. A palatal and a velar consonant cannot appear in the same "harmonic cluster".
Aspirated plosive + aspirated plosive
Voiced plosive + voiced plosive
nasal + nasal

In some mutations also the "nonharmonic" clusters apear.
sibilant + plosive (in some mutations)

Stress

Stress always lies on the penultimate syllable.
Two vowels in line can be pronounced as one syllable but when it comes to stressing, it's easier to think them different syllables.

Sress realizes mainly as length and strength. Ptila is not a pitch accent language.

Mutations

Initial mutations of aspirated plosives
Basic initial - lenited - nasalized

pʰ - h - m̥ʰ
tʰ - s - n̥ʰ
cʰ - ɕ - ɲ̥ʰ
kʰ - h - ŋ̥ʰ

ptʰ - tʰ - m̥n̥ʰ
pcʰ - cʰ -m̥ɲ̥ʰ
pkʰ - kʰ - m̥ŋ̥ʰ
tpʰ - spʰ -n̥m̥ʰ
tcʰ - ɕcʰ -n̥ɲ̥ʰ
tkʰ - skʰ -n̥ŋ̥ʰ
cpʰ - ɕpʰ ɲ̥m̥ʰ
ctʰ - stʰ - ɲ̥n̥ʰ
kpʰ - pʰ - ŋ̥m̥ʰ
ktʰ - tʰ - ŋ̥n̥ʰ

Initial mutations of voiced plosives
Basic initial - lenited - nasalized

b - w - m
d - l -n
ɟ - j - ɲ
g - w - ŋ

bd - d - mn
bɟ - ɟ - mɲ
bg - g - mŋ
db - zb -nm
dɟ - ʑɟ - nɲ
dg - zg -nŋ
ɟb - ʑb -ɲm
ɟd - zd - ɲn
gb - b -ŋm
gd - d - ŋn

In lenition of "harmonic clusters", only the first component of the cluster is lenited.
/h/ however disappears before a consonant.
The palatal /ɕ/ [ɕ] or [ʑ] assimilates before an alveolar and becomes s] [z], while the alveolar s s] [z] assimilates before a palatal and becomes [ɕ] or [ʑ].

Word-initial vowels and glides get the corresponding voiced stop and nasal before them.
y - jy - nji
w - gw - ngu
i/e/a - ji/e/a - nji/e/a
u/o - wu/o - ngu/o

In "soft mutation" l and nasals are actually fortified by prestopping. They dont have a nasal mutation. Genitive is formed with "soft mutation". Particles usually demanding the nasal mutation demand the basic form.

l - dl
m - dm
n - dn
nj - jnj
ng - gng

[Omzinesý]

Definiteness of objects and corresponding NPs is coded by word order.

Indefinite NPs follow the AN, while definite ones precede it.

(1) Future Perfective
G-e we nepta tuga.
FG1-EGO before writing book
'I will write a book.'

(2) Future Perfective
G-e tuga we nepta.
FG1-EGO book before writing
'I will write the book.'

[DesEsseintes]

I like several things going on here, especially the auxiliaries and the lenitions. Two questions:

1. I believe all your clusters agree in MoA rather than PoA, as you have clusters such as kt mn, but not nt pm. Is that correct? I like limiting clusters to same MoA in languages like Korean.

2. Given the way you form past and future perfectives with prepositional phrases, how do you express concepts such as “I buried the man after I killed him” and “I will finish my food before I go out”?

[Omzinesý]

I like several things going on here, especially the auxiliaries and the lenitions. Two questions:

1. I believe all your clusters agree in MoA rather than PoA, as you have clusters such as kt mn, but not nt pm. Is that correct? I like limiting clusters to same MoA in languages like Korean.

2. Given the way you form past and future perfectives with prepositional phrases, how do you express concepts such as “I buried the man after I killed him” and “I will finish my food before I go out”?

1. My bad. Corrected.

2. I think modern Welsh forms tense/aspects in a similar manner.
I haven't thought about subordinate clauses much yet. What I already know is that they don't have an auxiliary, which makes them less finite.
One option is just to use conjugations. See that English just accidentally has conjunctions "after" and "before" alike the corresponding prepositions. In Ptila they can well be different words.
Another option can be an action nominal construction (ANC). "I buried the man after my killing of him." In it, the same preposition of course appears.
Maybe Ptila will have both.
Word order and stressing can be used for differentiating the main verb form an ANC. There are many other syntactic things to be considered too.

[Omzinesý]

The system of nouns is still in progress.

What I call cases in this thread are actually not cases in the morphosyntactic sense. Case is a word-level phenomenon. So, adding, say, a specifier should not affect the case of the noun. That does not happen in Ptila (or in Celtic languages with mutations). Mutations are a phrase-level phenomenon. A preposition or particle only affects the word following it. "i" 'in' for example governs the soft mutation but of "tuga", in example (1). But if a specifier appears between them like in example (2), only the specifier has the soft mutation and "tuga" has the basic form.

(1) i suga 'in a book', soft mutation: tuga => suga
(2) i yoha tuga, soft mutation: joha => yoha

So the "cases" are thus extremely fusional clitics in Ptila. I think speaking about cases is however useful because they collect the effects of mutations in three groups.

nominative/direct case
genitive case
oblique case

Prepositions and other particles govern one of the three cases.
Genitive is used after a noun it modifies.
Oblique is used after a noun with an adjectival infix to specify the feature. See (1). In a language with ten adjectives, this kind of specification is important.

(3)
bgoxelu hosadge
bgox<el>u NM.kosadke
player<good> OBL.football
'a player good at football"

The exact realizations of the cases, i.e. which mutation codes the particular case, depends on noun class. So one cannot say that a noun modifying the preceding noun has the soft mutation, because the mutation depends on the call of the noun. But one can say that the noun has the genitive "case", which is often coded by soft mutation.

I'm though still not sure if the analyses of the mutations as cases really describes all the mutations of nouns after some prepositions and particles.

[Omzinesý]

Noun phrases

Internal syntax of NPs, as ussuallely in languages, is strictly defined. The word order is: preposition - specifier - the noun - modifier.
All modifiers of nouns are nouns. There are two types of modifiers: genitives and obliques. Oblique modifiers (usually) coappear with an adjectival infix in the noun. Usually, the oblique modifier is an abstract noun of a quality, like "ctale" in (2).

(1)
bgoxelu hosadge
bgox<el>u NM.kosadge
player<good> OBL.football
'a player good at football"

(2)
bdoxapu stale
bgox<ap>u NM.ctale
player<big> OBL.hight
'a player big in lenght/ a tall player'

Genitive modifiers are more "normal" modifiers.

(3)
kusaga ngholoxa
kusaga NM-koloxa
boat GEN-fisherman
'fisherman's boat'

[Omzinesý]

Number of nouns

There are two numbers: singular and plural. It is possible that 1) singular is unmarked and plural is marked, 2) singular is marked and plural is unmarked, 3) both singular and plural are marked and the unmarked stem has some abstract or collective meaning.

The singular marked, when it appears, is infix -y- before the last vowel.
The plural marked, when it appears, is infix -w- before the last vowel.
If there is already a glide before the first vowel in the stem, the singular and plural markers are -ey- and -ow- respectively.

Some nouns, however, add the -i and -u to a consonant stem.

(1) unmarked singular and marked plural
(1a) tuga 'a book'
(2a) tugwa 'books'

[Omzinesý]

I think noun classes will be dropped off at least from this first version of the lang. I just cannot find up how to make them appropriately.

This also makes the system of cases much easier because now every noun forms its genitive with the nasal mutation and oblique with soft mutation.

There are still conjunctions etc. that demand a mutation, so the concepts of mutations and cases don't merge.

[Omzinesý]

Copula clauses

Copula clauses are very simple. No AN is needed. The subject can be dropped.

[auxiliary] [subject] [predicative]

(1) Ge kasula
g-e kasula.
SG1-EGO boy
'I am a boy.'

(2) La Makuno bela.
l-a makuno bela
SG3-FACT M town
'Makuno is a town.'

Copula clauses are always stative, so aspects do not need to be formed.
There is verb "diyo" 'become'.

(3) Ge a swale.
g-e a swale
SG1-EGO PAST.PERFVE happyone
'I became happy.'

[Omzinesý]

(4) Habitual
G-e i septa tuga.
SG1 in writing book
'I usually write a book.'

I'll maybe change the habitual to be an actor noun. The case of the object also changesto the oblique. (4) would be changed to (5)

(5) Ge teptya suga.
g-e tept<y>a LENITION.tuga
SG1 writing<ACTOR.SG> OBL.book
'I (usually) write a book.'

The clause can also be interpreted as 'I'm a writer of a book.', which is also the apparent historical origin of the construction.

[Omzinesý]

Auxiliary

In the first post, the auxiliary only has the subject agreement markers, epistemic markers, and one focus marker.

I think I'll add (direct and indirect) object agreement and markers of question and negation.

[subject agreement][3rd person direct object agreement][epistemic][other object agreements][focus]


Question and negation markers could be part of some other paradigm. I don't know which.

Subject markers from the first post:

d- 'SG1'
pt- 'SG2'
l- 'SG3 (at least some noun class)'
mng- 'PL1INCL'
s- 'PL1EXCL'
pel- 'PL2'
k- 'PL3'

Third person object markers are the well known -y- and -w- for singular and plural objects respectively.

The other object markers, which refer to indirect objects if 3rd person and to direct or indirect objects if some other person, are:

ne- 'SG1'
mne- 'SG2'
le- 'SG3 (at least some noun class)'
mnge- 'PL1INCL'
se- 'PL1EXCL'
mele- 'PL2'
nge- 'PL3'


d-y-u-nge
SG1-PL3-SENSORY-them
'I V it to them.'

[Omzinesý]

The system of nouns is still in progress.

What I call cases in this thread are actually not cases in the morphosyntactic sense. Case is a word-level phenomenon. So, adding, say, a specifier should not affect the case of the noun. That does not happen in Ptila (or in Celtic languages with mutations). Mutations are a phrase-level phenomenon. A preposition or particle only affects the word following it. "i" 'in' for example governs the soft mutation but of "tuga", in example (1). But if a specifier appears between them like in example (2), only the specifier has the soft mutation and "tuga" has the basic form.

(1) i suga 'in a book', soft mutation: tuga => suga
(2) i yoha tuga, soft mutation: joha => yoha

So the "cases" are thus extremely fusional clitics in Ptila. I think speaking about cases is however useful because they collect the effects of mutations in three groups.

nominative/direct case
genitive case
oblique case

Prepositions and other particles govern one of the three cases.
Genitive is used after a noun it modifies.
Oblique is used after a noun with an adjectival infix to specify the feature. See (1). In a language with ten adjectives, this kind of specification is important.

(3)
bgoxelu hosadge
bgox<el>u NM.kosadke
player<good> OBL.football
'a player good at football"

The exact realizations of the cases, i.e. which mutation codes the particular case, depends on noun class. So one cannot say that a noun modifying the preceding noun has the soft mutation, because the mutation depends on the call of the noun. But one can say that the noun has the genitive "case", which is often coded by soft mutation.

I'm though still not sure if the analyses of the mutations as cases really describes all the mutations of nouns after some prepositions and particles.

Cases are usually quite a boring concept.
I think I'll get rid of Genitive and replace it with head-marking, like in Hungarian (4) (I think it's something like that). Though I think the possessive pronoun will precede the noun like in Celtic.

(4)
László hás-ja
L house-his
'László's house'

[Omzinesý]

I tried generating the words listed in The Snow Ball Game. Probably many of them will change, because derivation cannot be taken into account in a word generator. Lexical entries of Ptila don't of course correspond to those of English either. Ptila for example doesn't have the category of adjective but utilizes abstract nouns instead.

Code: Select all

	
			
Adjectives:			
			
bad			jectiko
big, large		mixye
clean			twenyeca
cold			gditwa
cool			dbegu
deep			ctubunja
different		jwektyabwa
dirty			dbimwepi
dry			njyacinga
dull			juswe
empty			lamyo
fast			munjepi
first			tabdanya
flat			make
full			jbunyesa
good			cyebu
hard			ngyoto
heavy			ngumyo
high			xoxwabye
hot			ngasangwo
huge			twapkemwe
last			dwotcunjye
lightweight		xacu
long			xwonjyeji
low			xuga
narrow			xacingyo
new			kpyangelwo
old			xyoktajwe
right, correct		joleme
rough			bogdwacyo
round			djyaptuse
same			bonwo
shallow			mala
sharp			bgamoxe
short			gwebonjye
slow			njubale
smooth			pcubo
soft			dingwo
straight		napenjo
thick			njajdunge
thin			gexwa
tiny			nucweti
warm			lyobwatwa
wet			njyete
wide			jyedixe
wrong			pimyejya
			
Color words:			
			
black			pwapu
blue			kotwopyo
brown			caswe
green			pukwa
grey			ptyele
orange			cagwe
pink			ngati
purple			gimu
red			kwacedyo
white			ngenjulo
yellow			lwepwa
dark			tubuta
light			ganye
striped			cupi
			
Sides:			
			
back			bgujola
bottom			pwonge
corner			dguxo
front			bedgosi
left			ktupu
middle			pyagyolye
right			gdonjwa
top			daxenje
			
Linking verbs:			
			
to be			menu
to become, to get, to turn			pkyene
to feel			tkyotwa
it feels 			pcoxu
to look			kyodo
to seem, to appear to be			dbwodye
to smell			musejya
to sound			dbengetye
to stay, to remain, to keep			lucunjye
to taste			pkijyexa
			
Vaic verbs (some languages make these aspects):			
			
to begin, to start			bjemyo
to continue			dgatya
to finish, to complete			nwengebe
to stop, to end			xacpexa
			
Events:			
			
accident			cusye
birthday			xejyengu
breakfast			dgalye
date			jdyenjexye
dinner, supper			gocu
meeting			xenjule
lunch			lyetwo
party			ctwekye
race			calolwo
shower			gegide
trip			tpyexye
vacation (US)/holiday (UK)			dgwanaxye
war			njyenji
wedding			djyagdejya
			
Entertainment words:			
			
ball			kpulwa
game			jugdeku
to lose			bwasyaki
movie, film			kukweba
to play			bdoxu 
to take (a photo)			kpyaxwe
to watch			cijyo
to win			coswo
			
Money words:			
			
cheap			culya
coin			xubya
to cost			mipi
dollar (or other monetary unit)			ngyodwe
expensive			bibu
money			lweswe
poor			lwobjenjwa
rich			made
to work			kwadwe
			
Thinking verbs:			
			
to agree			bdyani
to believe, to think			tcyaktubo
to decide			jopolye
to dream			ngyakwadu
to know			ctwexe
to learn			njeci
to think			ctuco
to understand, to see			lanjebo
to wonder			bdyanjwo
			
Feeling verbs:			
			
to feel			ngwonjyomo
to hate			dipye
to like (doesn't need to be expressed by a verb)			boga
to love			ktotcweli
to miss			nyojidi
to want, would like			nocuto
			
Speaking verbs:			
			
to apologize			dbuctuxu
to argue			tixuki
to ask			bgukwa
to call			pkadu
to lie			dipikwa
to mean			doswe
to meet			dbeloli
to reply, to answer			njoxyoba
to request, to ask for/that			nweje
to say			dbingyaswo
to speak, to talk			doco
to teach			dboli
to tell			xamwa
to thank			kpedgasa
			
Giving and receiving:			
			
to borrow			cocya
to bring			modbali
to buy			jbuno
to feed			munu
to find			tpyojdupe
to get, to come to have, to obtain			syejbanjwe
to give			bdwonwanye
to go shopping			ngyatcwame
to have, to possess, to own			diti
to lend			tpumwenwe
to lose			ktiko
to need			bdwasu
to pay			jesu
to sell			ngangu
to send			kyoba
to share			dogwopu
to steal			pesi
to take			gyejeju
			
Verbs of physical contact:			
			
to kiss			cyelu
to pick			syabyexa
to play (an instrument)			nodile
to pull			jdatpite
to push			gipkonu
to rub			gwepwoki
to shake			tkinyo
to squeeze			ctanokye
to tap (on the shoulder)			binagwe
to touch			kopu
			
Verbs of position:			
			
to fall			lyagweswa
to lie, to recline			nolyaxo
to sit			gedgwadwe
to stand			byekinjya
			
Verbs of handling matter:			
			
to break			tyanji
to carry			bwejyona
to close			pkasaku
to cut			dwemuda
to dig			kutkyaso
to open			dgwapkyosu
to put			ngikwo
to shatter			megici
to split			xodwexye
to squash, to crush			byongi
to tear			bjona
to throw			xyocongo
to wash			pejbinju
to wipe			sicye
			
Expressions and gestures:			
			
to cry			jonja
to laugh			tpwami
to smile			bdyeptadwa
			
Bodily functions:			
			
to bleed			swomwekwa
to break wind, to fart, to pass gas			ctyakwa
to breathe			kyengyo
to cough			gutwa
to defecate, to take a dump, to do one’s business			swoseno
to drink			njodi
to eat			gdupa
to have sex, to sleep with, to make love, to fornicate			ngama
to live			bjitwa
to smoke			mweja
to sleep			jdoja
to spit			bdoswe
to suck			twojwo
to swallow			ctwokenge
to sweat, to perspire			bgunjwo
to swell			dbwepweca
to urinate, to pee, to piss, to make water, to take a leak			jbisye
to vomit, to throw up, to puke			cimwa
to wake up			dgasoke
to yawn			golwatu
			
The five senses:			
			
color			njingelye
to feel			doja
to hear			cwojdamya
to look			ngwoneje
to paint (a house, etc.)			dwakingyo
picture			bekpusu
to see			tengu
shadow			secomu
to show			jyadjigo
sign			mixe
to smell			jopusyo
sound			bdyepkalyo
to taste			lobjija
			
Verbs of movement:			
			
to climb			dukwoca
to come			tpudi
to crawl			ptinjupi
to dance			jukwo
to drive			dbwoga
to fly			kajwa
to go			dbuba
to go down, to descend			kwesunye
to go up, to ascend			kota
to jump			tcwojbyobyo
to leave			xyego
to move			kobye
to return			nanjungo
to ride (a bicycle, a camel, etc.)			dgogo
to run			tikwaga
to swim			jbanjyenge
to turn			xwodwo
to walk			monixwa
			
Verbs of physical aggression:			
			
to bite			pcinye
to hit			jemyeja
to kick			pikaxo
to kill			ptonjyo
to scratch			ptoce
to shoot			pyocaji
to stab			tyodya
			
Some nature words:			
			
air			dbwesya
ashes			dwanje
beach			lilu
cloud			janasyo
desert			lyenjexe
diamond			tkwamye
dust			pkuxe
earth			lyanjyo
fire			naxidyo
forest			tcongyama
glass			tcedu
gold			ponopyo
ice			jepe
iron			dino
island			pkasyeko
lake			ctyatunju
light			ninjuja
metal			dwacpejo
moon			tpwonwa
mountain			calya
ocean, sea			gungu
rain			dyagyalu
river			dyosubo
rock, stone			pwanga
salt			dgyagya
sand			cojwa
silver			ngyoca
sky			nwanjwo
snow			dgwasu
soil, dirt			jicepo
space			loko
star			tpugekwo
sun			cpene
valley			lwabwogo
water			xinjita
wind			dbengo
wood			njwotkwosya
world			tkokwodo
to burn			gwokungwa
to float			nwega
to flow			tpyanji
to freeze			pcaxwe
to sink			kwomeso
			
Husbandry and farming words:			
			
to fish			kagdyonu
to hunt			njide
to plant			tkupone
			
Time words:			
			
afternoon			pcudotyo
autumn, fall			kipcwanju
day (time it takes a planet to rotate on its axis)			syedwa
day, daytime			jabwogwe
early			pkyaxingya
evening			nyexugyo
hour (or equivalent)			bdwodu
late			guta
month			jyadbwako
morning			dgyojwa
night			twoxya
spring			kpexibe
summer			njutkyanwa
time			pcwaxisyo
week			buna
winter			suci
year			pwanjale
			
Food and drink:			
			
to bake			mwenugo
beef			tpatwake
beer			kolye
bread			njyemya
cake			xinwe
chicken			bdyoxi
chocolate			tcyenogyo
to cook			pinga
cookie, biscuit			twange
egg			gdwepcopwe
fish			ngitwecwa
food			cemi
fruit			xupinwo
ham			poto
honey			patcwanjwa
juice			jdobya
meat			gesagwa
milk			nguni
nut			ngwobjwoba
pie			njemu
pork			nwolu
salad			duka
sauce			cpangi
soup			xadwene
sugar			pkucwoke
vegetable			pyonjwe
fresh			tpesi
rotten			ludbenge
			
Places:			
			
bank			gibjocya
bar			njegi
bridge			miposyo
church/temple			pobjyelye
cinema, movie theater			dbupi
city, town			tokpyoba
country, nation, state, land			jbwesye
garden			cpina
home, house			pkwokya
hospital			ngoko
hotel			tyelo
library			dbwacpyoxwe
park			syocoxi
restaurant			syogiji
restroom			kixwolye
road			ngesesi
school			njumwo
store, shop			ptibjijyo
street			pcugo
tower			ngatyo
to build			lwobweko
			
Music words:			
			
band			jeli
concert			dgwoswe
drum			noximi
guitar			jbengwa
to listen			xemeda
music			ptyaxuja
piano			swani
to sing			kpwokye
song			cadyo
			
Published material words:			
			
book			tuga
card			dbigdima
dictionary			ngwocecya
to draw			pwoto
homework			jdyone
letter (written message)			jbyopace
magazine			jbyacye
newspaper			pyoktali
test, exam			dbyebya
word			njume
to write			ximyo
			
Containers:			
			
bag			ktaco
basket			dwanjyo
bottle			cpweni
box			jdamwa
			
Vehicles:			
			
airplane			todi
bicycle			gwobo
boat			ktipwa
bus			nyemujo
car, automobile			pijo
motorcycle			logo
ship			lengya
skateboard			jagye
taxi			dbitpwesa
train			bgwegya
truck			bjwacotyo
wagon			kpyomwexe
wheel			gonjimu
			
Weapons:			
			
arrow			xoke
gun			bisye
rope			njocwa
spear			ngugya
			
Household objects:			
			
bed			ponju
camera			djuca
CD			tpwetile
cellphone			juma
chair			betpwonyo
computer			jbyatwe
door			kilwe
headphones			ngwenexwe
knife			xalwe
mirror			ctyotu
paper			dbwektemye
pen			ngosyotya
pencil			dbinyo
photograph			donje
radio			sutya
refrigerator			lipwo
room			pkapyete
soap			jebu
table			dbanjyepi
telephone, phone			dbwekpate
television, TV			tkumobu
wall			nasya
window			dbyanga
			
Clothes:			
			
belt			cule
button			njyata
clothes			pangwegu
coat			djugyolyo
glove			tkyadyedwe
hat			njipcugu
jacket			dbyona
pants			swanga
ring, piercing			byeluna
shirt			bonwa
shoe			ngujye
shorts			xyokucye
skirt			tunasi
sock			kposye
sunglasses			pyeku
T-shirt			xite
watch			syobgyadwe
to wear			dgyogiti
			
Plant words:			
			
apple			jalwonjwe
banana			syonge
bark			gyedjatwa
bean			pcwoba
bush			cwepo
cabbage			cweswo
coffee			ctwetwo
corn, maize			dbinga
flower			xyaxanju
grass			tiji
leaf			njwegdedwa
onion			kungwe
orange			gebyalyo
pepper (Capsicum)			situtu
plant			njwejdisa
potato			ctekputwe
rice			ngodyenjya
root			tpose
rose			bdili
seed			nwactiswa
stick			xobyejya
tomato			gdwamwe
tree			nganjojya
			
Animal words:			
			
animal			tyepcujya
ant			jinjulyo
bear			ctasyo
bird			dbeke
camel			kpumunwa
cat			sotocwa
chicken			tutkomo
cow			lwatyome
dog			kacuswo
elephant			nwopkece
feather			mwomwagwo
fish			jilu
fly			gyenjya
goat			dbube
horse			gabwe
human			bwatcetyo
insect			bjyobjada
lamb			cpyotyo
lion			lono
monkey			ctwejdesyo
mouse			sicyote
pig			diguji
rabbit			ngyonunwa
sheep			bibgapa
shell			nomyona
snake			pcapcweme
spider			senyo
tail			ngoxwo
wing			bexa
worm			cobginwe
			
Human body:			
			
abdomen			bducwe
arm			ngodetya
back			ptonje
blood			xacenga
body			bjungya
bone			mwaga
breast			xoda
ear			njyonya
eye			bijike
face			cuxyobu
finger			tkwajbeba
foot			pwecputya
hair			gedjongu
hand			bonjye
head			ngidi
heart			gekepa
knee			capa
leg			kebe
mouth			kixo
nail			dgyobanwo
neck			mweptwatye
nose			ngwektwetyo
shoulder			kwacyocu
skin			bdije
tear			njotosa
toe			tegyonjwo
tongue			tcyogye
tooth			jyemwa
			
Physical description:			
			
beard			ngobgwangye
beautiful, pretty			bwajeki
blind			ptyajejo
blonde			ctyenwajwe
curly			sake
freckles			dbexicwe
glasses			dgwamyo
handsome, attractive			cwongo
hazel			tkodwa
messy (of hair)			gyogyobo
old			djejase
short (height)			pkaco
straight (hair)			lodwo
tall			ktyadgyobye
ugly			dbwexe
wavy			dboktengi
young			tcengyoxo
			
Physical condition:			
			
(to be) cold			cpisi
(to be) hot			gwatyo
(to be) hungry			ngyecyo
(to be) thirsty			bungupe
(to be) tired			manjono
alive			dbide
dead			xuke
			
Events in life:			
			
to be born			xebwabye
to die			neke
to have (a baby)			ngaxo
to marry			xoli
			
Emotions:			
			
afraid			genga
angry			nwemi
bored			njyonjya
excited			tyaga
happy			gdaptwoxwa
interested			dyokpulo
proud			ptyonja
sad			gdyapwe
sorry			xonji
surprised			ptute
			
Kinship terms:			
			
child (reciprocal of parent) djilixwa
parent			ngidwa
sibling			ptwoja	(words for brother or sister can be derived with <ul> and <>. 
spouse 			badukyo
			
People			
			
adult			pcwolu
baby			tpupkyo
boy (young man)			tpulye
child			duco
girl (young woman)			jduca
little boy			sacyebye
little girl			gunge
man			twokponjo
person, people			tekyo
teen, adolescent			ptyebo
woman			bjwomye
actress/actor			djupu
artist			pcolo
doctor			dimya
farmer			twepkwapu
fisherman			ngadbijo
friend			lulwanyo or "lulu"
king			pcwenoco
neighbor			conjale
president or prime minister, whichever your connation has			gunginu
priest			cibgete
prince			koxole
princess			dbonjya
queen			batpinje
sailor			kwele
scientist			jusiji
soldier			pkudwadwe
student			jwokojya
teacher			djopo
waiter/waitress/server			leto
warrior			nyenjyojyo
			
A few very basic verbs:			
			
to be (location)			bute
to change			bgekpwoxye
to do, to perform			syesyeji
to happen			dgwajyo
to help			ptesanwe
to let			mucya
to make (create)			tanasa
to make (cause to be)			xibe
to try, to attempt			cwema
to use			tyopkunge
to wait			pcugu
			
And finally, some general nouns:			
			
class			tcodbyoge
group			segdike
kind, type, sort			nelyedwo
life			pcwapo
name			ngujdalwa
pair, couple			dbijace
place			jyengwe
system			cwabdongo
team			njaxe
thing			cose
way			lonyo

[Omzinesý]

Usages of the mutations:

Basic Form/Hard Mutation (which I don't gloss)

Verbs
- Actor nominal in Habitual aspect.

Nouns
- Topic (or subject) of the sentence (unless there is some conjunction or particle before the clause governing another mutation)
- Direct object of a main clause except in Habitual aspect, i.e. it appears in Past Perfective, Future perfective, and Progressive.


Soft Mutation

Verbs
- After Past Perfective marker /a/
- After Progressive marker /yo/

Nouns
- After preposition /kpeca/ 'similar to/like'


Nasal Mutation

Verbs
- After Future Perfective marker wo

Nouns
- Direct object of clause in Habitual aspect
- Direct object of all subordinate clauses
- After reflexive possessive suffix /a/.
- After preposition /pe/ 'concerning'
- After nouns with adjectival suffix to specify the feature expressed by the suffix.

[Khemehekis]

I tried generating the words listed in The Snow Ball Game. Probably many of them will change, because derivation cannot be taken into account in a word generator. Lexical entries of Ptila don't of course correspond to those of English either. Ptila for example doesn't have the category of adjective but utilizes abstract nouns instead.

Oh my God, that was so awesome! Modbali for "to bring" sounds like "mothball".

[Omzinesý]

I think I'll revive Ptila and change it a bit.

[Omzinesý]

It seems I dig up all my old langs


Revising phonology

Vowels

Ptila still has the five monophthongs:
i, e, ä, o, u

Beside them it has three diphthongs:
wi, wɛ, wɑ

Other glides are omitted.

Phonetic changes

/i/
- is [ɨ] after velars

/wi/
- is [wɨ] after velars
- is [ɥi] after palatals

/u/
- is [ʉ] after palatals

/o/ and /e/
- are mid-closed ([o] and [e]) after palatals and dentals
- are mid-open ([ɔ] and [ɛ]) after bilabials, velars, and /h/

/wɛ/
- is /ɥe/ after palatals

/ä/
- is front /a/ after palatals
- is back [ɑ] after velars
- is central [ä] after other consonants

/wɑ/
- is /ɥa/ after palatals

[Omzinesý]

Just saving Awkwards codes

a/i/u/e/o/a/i/u/e/o/wi/we/wa
p/t/c/k/b/d/j/g/s/x/h/m/n/nj/ng/l/y/w
p/t/c/k/b/d/j/g/s/x/h/m/n/nj/ng/l/y/w/bd/bj/bg/db/dj/dg/jb/jd/gb/gd/mn/mnj/mng/nm/nnj/nng/njm/njn/ngm/ngn

CVCV/CVHV/HVCV/HVHV/VCV/VHV

[Omzinesý]

Ptila could have a voice system borrowed from Somali.

That is, it has a middle coice and an antipassive.

But how are they derived syntactically.

If an active clause for 'I opened the door.' is

Code: Select all

I-am [after opening] the-door. 

'Opening' could be a labile verb, because it is not a verb but a noun.

Code: Select all

The door is after opening.

Could the verb still have an object marker, though it derives from 'to be'? 'I opened it' could be:

Code: Select all

I-am-it [after opening].

Edit: I think the antipassive is simply 'I-do opening.'

It also makes it possible to have another finite verb. It can also be used as a dummy verb 'What do you do.' and 'I'll do it.'

Edit: There could be other stems expressing moods that, at leats historically, are distinct verbs like to seems.

---

Edit: Actually, these after constructions could lead to ergativity.
The book is after writing. 'The book is written.'
The book is after my writing. 'I have written the book.'

The an applicative raises the possessor to something objectlike, but because the possessor is semantically an agent, it actually becomes an ergative subject.

Is-my the book after writing. 'I have written the book.'