Lësha Bek
Welcome to
Lësha Bek, otherwise known as
All the bits and pieces that have been floating around in my head lately It's split-ergative. It has height-based vowel harmony. Verbs change their harmonic group as a form of gender agreement. Fossilized instrumentals are treated as adverbs. It's new. It's now.
I was going to add a sample text, but I was so tired that I accidentally deleted half my translation. It'll have to wait until sometime tomorrow. I look forward to seeing what everyone else has come up with, too … once I've gotten some sleep.
EDIT: I just finished the translation. You can check it out at the end of the post.
Restraints
Phonology
Phoneme Inventory and Romanization:
/m̥ m n̥ n ŋ/ <mh m nh n g>
/p b t d k/ <p b t d k>
/f v s z ʃ ʒ/ <f v s z sh zh>
/l/ <l>
/j w/ <y w>
/i ɨ u/ <i ï u>
/e ə o/ <e ë o>
/a/ <a>
/eː oː/ <ee oo>
/aː/ <aa>
/i̯iː i̯uː/ <ii iuu>
/i̯a(ː) u̯a(ː)/ <ia(a) ua(a)>
/i̯iː/ surfaces as [iː].
Syllable Structure and Prosody:
(C)V(C)
Where V is any of the vowel segments listed above.
A string of two consonants is permitted word-medially, with the first consonant assimilating to the voicing of the second one. A consonant cluster is always preceded by a long vowel. Voiced plosives and fricatives devoice word-finally. Voiceless nasals voice word-finally.
/ɨ ə/ are the only vowels that can precede a voiceless nasal. /e o/ never appear in the first syllable of a word that is not a noun or verb (/eː oː/ can, though).
Stress is weight-based and non-phonemic. It falls on the first heavy syllable in a word or, if there are no heavy syllables, the final syllable. When a word with final stress precedes a single-syllable word, the monosyllable loses stress.
Vowel Harmony:
Lësha Bek has a system of height-based vowel harmony. A word can only contain vowels from the high group /i ɨ u/ or the mid group /e ə o/. /a/ can appear with vowels of either group, but when it is the first vowel in a word it triggers mid harmony. Most vowels and diphthongs form alternating pairs that are relevant to the grammar. When citing a form where the alternation is relevant (usually a verb or a suffix), I refer to the pairs with capital letters: I = i/e, Ï = ɨ/ə, U = u/o, IA = i̯a/a, II = i̯iː/eː, IUU = i̯uː/oː.
For example, the vowels in verbs are underspecified for height, so I cite the verb meaning "fall" as
bÏnhUk. It can surface as
bïnhuk /bɨ.n̥uk/ or
bënhok /bə.n̥ok/.
Syntax
The basic word order is VOS. Adverbs and predicative adjectives go before the verb or adjective they modify. Attributive adjectives and relative clauses follow the noun. Tense particles go after the subject of a transitive clause, or the agent of an intrasitive clause. The language uses prepositions, and prepositional phrases by default go after the core arguments.
Nouns
Nouns are largely invariable. They have two genders: animate and inanimate. While gender assignment correlates strongly with the meaning of a noun, the noun's form is the most consistent gender indicator. Animate nouns have high harmonic vowels (e.g.
miuula /muː.la/ "woman",
sidi /si.di/ "cow"), while inanimate nouns have mid harmonic vowels (e.g.
lësha /lə.ʃa/ "language",
bot /bot/ "mouth").
Definiteness is not marked, but the direct object can be moved after the subject to indicate it is new to the discourse, which often corresponds to indefinite.
Verbs
Verbs display ergative-absolutive alignment; they agree in gender with the object of a transitive clause or the agent of an intransitive clause. They do this by matching the harmonic group of the object/agent. I respresent this change in glosses with a backslash followed by
H for high harmony and
M for mid harmony.
Many verbs, as in these examples, are understood to be past tense, in the absence of explicit tense marking.
Examples:
bÏnhUk "to fall"
1a)
Bïnhuk shiap.
/bɨ.n̥uk ʃi̯ap/
bÏnhUk\H shiap
fall\AN man
The man fell.
1b)
Bënhok tooza.
/bə.n̥ok toː.za/
bÏnhUk\M tooza
fall\INAN book
The book fell.
In 1a,
shiap "man" is an animate noun with high harmony. Since it is the agent of the clause, the verb
bÏnhUk agrees by also taking high harmony. In 1b, the verb takes mid harmony because
tooza "book" is an inanimate noun with mid harmony.
kIUUdmI "to see"
2a)
Kiuudmi shiap miuula.
/ki̯uːd.mi ʃi̯ap mi̯uː.la/
kIUUdmI\H shiap miuula
see\AN man woman
The woman saw the man.
2b)
Koodme tooza miuula.
/koːd.me toː.za mi̯uː.la/
kIUUdmI\M tooza miuula
see\INAN book woman
The woman saw the book.
Here, the sentences are transitive, so the verb
kIUUdmI agrees with the object. In 2a, that's animate/high
shiap "man", and in 2b it's inanimate/mid
tooza "book".
Marking Tense:
Dynamic verbs, as well as verbs of perception, are usually understood to be past tense, unless explicitly indicated otherwise. Lësha Bek uses a particle after the subject/agent to specify tense. The most common is
sa, which is non-past.
3)
Bïnhuk shiap sa.
/bɨ.n̥uk ʃi̯ap sa/
bÏnhUk\H shiap sa
fall\AN man NPST
Sentence 3 is a slightly modified version of 1a. It can be translated in multiple ways, including "The man falls", "The man is falling" and "The man will fall".
Stative verbs are understood to be non-past without the particle. The most common is
sIAf, which means "stand" and is also used as a locative copula.
4)
Siaf shiap la zëvot.
/si̯af ʃi̯ap la zə.vot/
sIAf\H shiap la zëvot
be\AN man LOC house
The man is at the house.
Voice Marking and Valency:
Lësha Bek has a few strategies for changing a verb's valency. There are some etymological pairs, like
kUdIm "see (intransitive)" and
KIUUdmI "see (transitive)". The most systematic method is through the antipassive voice, which is represented with the particle
mhee. Voice particles directly follow any tense particle. The former object is either deleted or demoted to a prepositional phrase headed by the instrumental preposition
maakshe. The subject becomes absolutive if it was formerly ergative; no change if it was nominative. The verb now agrees with the subject.
The antipassive is most used for de-emphasizing the object of a verb, especially if its identity isn't known or it's considered unimportant. It doesn't have much use in relativization, since the constraints on this are nominative-accusative. It also isn't particularly used for coordinating clauses; it's typically just quicker to restate shared arguments.
Compare the following active and antipassive sentences:
5a)
Shebok tooza miuula.
/ʃe.bok toː.za mi̯uː.la/
shIbUk\M tooza miuula
read\INAN book woman
The woman read the book.
5b)
Shibuk miuula mhee (maakshe tooza).
/ʃi.buk mi̯uː.la m̥eː (maːk.ʃe toː.za)/
shIbUk\H miuula mhee (maakshe tooza)
read\AN woman ANTIP (INS book)
The woman read (the book).
This also works in an analogous nominative-accusative sentence:
5c)
Shebok tooza oot.
/ʃe.bok toː.za oːt/
shIbUk\M tooza oot
read\INAN book 1S.NOM
I read the book.
5d)
Shibuk oot mhee (maakshe tooza).
/ʃi.buk oːt m̥eː (maːk.ʃe toː.za)/
shIbUk\H oot mhee (maakshe tooza)
read\AN 1S.NOM ANTIP (INS book)
I read (the book).
There is also the passive voice, which is mainly of use for relativizing the object of a clause (see "Adjectives and Relative Clauses" for details on relativization). It is represented by the particle
sha. The old subject is deleted or demoted to a
maakshe phrase. The object becomes nominative if it was formerly accusative; no change if it was absolutive. The verb agreement doesn't change.
6a)
Shebok tooza oot.
/ʃe.bok toː.za oːt/
shIbUk\M book oot
read\INAN book 1S.NOM
I read the book.
6b)
tooza shebok sha (maakshe ka)
/toː.za ʃe.bok ʃa (maːk.ʃe ka)/
tooza shIbUk\M sha (maakshe ka)
book read\INAN PAS (INS 1S.OBL)
the book that was read (by me) (or: the book that I read)
Pronouns
Pronouns display ergative-absolutive alignment, except when one of the core arguments is a speech participant, when they switch to nominative-accusative. There are dedicated nominative and accusative pronouns; and the ergative is indicated with multipurpose "oblique" pronouns. The absolutive has no corresponding pronouns because their function is performed by verbal agreement. As such, Lësha Bek could be called non-pro-drop, because it doesn't omit any pronouns it does have.
Nominative:
1S - oot
2S - meet
3S.AN - eet
3S.INAN - aat
Accusative:
1S - ik
2S - im
3S.AN - fuya
3S.INAN - foya
The third-person singular accusatives are often dropped.
Oblique/Ergative
1S - ka
2S - mee
3S.AN - is
3S.INAN - as
As stated above, oblique pronouns replace ergative arguments. They also are used after prepositions.
Examples:
Compare the following sentence to 1a:
7)
Bïnhuk.
/bɨ.n̥uk/
bÏnhUk\H
fall\AN
He [the man] fell.
Shiap "man" is an absolutive argument in 1a, so to replace it, all one needs to do is drop the noun.
Consider these variations on 2a:
8a)
Kiuudmi miuula.
/ki̯uːd.mi mi̯uː.la/
kIUUdmI\H miuula
see\AN woman
The woman saw him [the man].
8b)
Kiuudmi shiap is.
/ki̯uːd.mi ʃi̯ap is/
kIUUdmI\H shiap is
see\AN man 3S.AN.ERG
She [the woman] saw the man.
8c)
Kiuudmi is.
/ki̯uːd.mi is/
kIUUdmI\H is
see\AN 3S.AN.ERG
She saw him.
In 8a, one knows that there is an implied pronominal object because
kIUUdmI "see" is obligatorily transitive and Lësha Bek is not pro-drop. So the pronominal interpretation is the only grammatical choice. 6b sees
miuula "woman" replaced by the ergative pronoun
is. Finally, 6c combines both changes.
Finally, here are examples of the nominative-accusative alignment triggered when at least one core argument is a speech participant:
9a)
Kiuudmi ik miuula.
/ki̯uːd.mi ik mi̯uː.la/
kIUUdmI\H ik miuula
see\AN 1S.ACC woman
The woman saw me.
9b)
Kiuudmi ik eet.
/ki̯uːd.mi ik eːt/
kIUUdmI\H ik eet
see\AN 1S.ACC 3S.AN.NOM
She saw me.
9c)
Kiuudmi miuula oot.
/ki̯uːd.mi muː.la oːt/
kIUUdmI\H miuula oot
see\AN woman 1S.NOM
I saw the woman.
9d)
Kiuudmi (fuya) oot
/ki̯uːd.mi (fu.ja) oːt/
kIUUdmI\H (fuya) oot
see\AN (3S.AN.ACC) 1S.NOM
I saw her.
Combining Nominatives With
Sa:
The nominative pronouns combine with
sa, when it follows them in the same clause:
oot + sa =
oozva
meet + sa =
meezva
eet + sa =
eezva
aat + sa =
aazva
For example:
10)
Kiuudmi ik eezva.
/ki̯uːd.mi ik eːz.va/
kIUUdmI\H ik eet-sa
see\AN 1S.ACC 3S.AN.NOM-PRS
She sees me.
Adjectives and Relative Clauses
Adjectives:
Adjectival meanings are typically expressed with verb phrases. There is a small set of true adjectives describing qualities like size, age and goodness. When attributive, true adjectives go directly after the noun and don't agree with it in gender. When predicative, they are put into a construction with the copula
shUn and agree in gender by adding suffixes.
Examples:
pan "big"
AN:
pana, INAN:
pëto
11a)
tooza pan
/toː.za pan/
tooza pan
book big
big book
11b)
sidi pan
/si.di pan/
sidi pan
cow big
big cow
11c)
Pëto shon tooza.
/pə.to ʃon toː.za/
pan-tU shUn\M tooza
big-INAN be\INAN book
The book is big.
11d)
Pana shun sidi.
/pa.na ʃun si.di/
pan-a shUn\H tooza
big-AN be\AN cow
The cow is big.
Relative Clauses:
Only the subject/agent of a clause can be relativized. A relative clause is marked syntactically by placing the clause after its antecedent, following any true adjectives. The clause looks like a normal independent clause, except for the lack of the relativized subject.
12a)
tooza pan [bënhok]
/toː.za pan bə.n̥ok/
tooza pan [bÏnhUk\M]
book big [fall\INAN]
the big book [that fell]
12b)
Koodme tooza [bënhok] miuula.
/koːd.me toː.za bə.n̥ok mi̯uː.la/
kIUUdmI\M tooza [bÏnhUk\M] woman
see\INAN book fall\INAN woman
The woman saw the book [that fell].
If an object is modified by a long or complex relative clause, it tends to be moved after the subject, giving VSO word order.
12b)
Koodme miuula tooza [bënhok la zëvot pan].
/koːd.me mi̯uː.la toː.za bə.n̥ok la zə.vot pan/
kIUUdmI\M woman tooza [bÏnhUk\M la zëvot pan]
see\INAN woman book [fall\INAN in house big]
The woman saw the book that fell in the big house.
The working title of the language,
Lësha Bek is an example of using relative clauses to express adjectival meanings:
13)
lësha bek
/lə.ʃa bek/
lësha bIk\M
language be_fast\INAN
fast language (i.e. speedlang)
Adverbs and Subordination
True adverbs are a closed class. Many of them are relatively transparent reduplicated forms of nouns, though sound changes and semantic shift have made them somewhat harder to predict (e.g.
bot "mouth" vs.
bëbot "with the mouth; forward; in front"). These reduplicated adverbs appear to be what's left of an old instrumental/locative construction. They serve a derivational purpose and are sometimes used to differentiate verbs made ambiguous by sound changes (
mÏtUk "eat" or "throw" ->
bëbot mÏtUk "eat [with the mouth]" and
dënhëme mÏtUk "throw [with the hand]").
14a)
Bëbot mëtok nheda oot.
/bə.bot mə.tok n̥e.da oːt/
bëbot mÏtUk\M nheda oot
mouth eat\INAN food 1S.NOM
I ate the food.
14b)
Dënhëme mëtok nheda oot.
/də.n̥ə.me mə.tok n̥e.da oːt/
dënhëme mÏtUk\M nheda oot
hand throw\INAN food 1S.NOM
I threw the food.
Other adverbial functions are performed by prepositional phrases, or by putting a verb phrase followed by the subordinating particle
maa at the beginning of the clause, before true adverbs. The verbs in this case often agree with the subject of the main clause.
14c)
Bik maa bëbot mëtok nheda oot.
/bik maː bə.bot mə.tok n̥e.da oːt/
bIk\H maa bëbot mÏtUk\M nheda oot
be_fast\AN ADVZ mouth eat\INAN food 1S.NOM
I ate the food quickly. / I ate the food while I was being quick.
Possession
Possession is expressed using a few of the reduplicated adverbs in an abbreviation of a locative phrase. Lësha Bek distinguishes inalienable possession from two types of alienable possession: permanent (current possession not inherent to the possessor but which they expect to have for a long time) and temporary (current possession which the possessor won't have for long, or a past possession).
Temporary alienable possession is particularly used for things
associated with a particular person. If you're painting Tom Sawyer's aunt's fence with your friends, and Tom hands out paintbrushes, you could talk about "your" paintbrush with the temporary alienable. It is associated with you, but once the task at hand is done, you will give it back to Tom.
The same category is also used for past possessions. For example, your dwelling place normally gets the permanent alienable, but once you move out, it gets referred to with temporary alienable.
Predicative Possession:
One of the adverbs
këkop "inalienable",
sësako "permanent alienable" or
dënhëme "temporary alienable" is used to introduce the clause. Next comes the possessum, which is treated as the absolutive agent of an intransitive verb; because possessives are abbreviated, this isn't obvious on the surface level. The possessor comes last in its oblique form.
15a)
Dënhëme tooza ka.
/də.n̥ə.me toː.za ka/
dënhëme tooza ka
ALIEN.TEMP book 1S.ERG
The book is mine (for the moment).
15b)
Sësako tooza ka.
/sə.sa.ko toː.za ka/
sësako tooza ka
ALIEN.PERM book 1S.ERG
The book is mine.
15c)
This one sounds weird, but for the sake of completeness:
Këkop bot ka.
/kə.kop bot ka/
këkop bot ka
INAL mouth 1S.ERG
The mouth is mine.
Attributive Possession:
Attributive possession is formed by simply relativizing the predicative clause. Compare the following phrases to sentences 15a-c above.
16a)
tooza dënhëme ka
/toː.za də.n̥ə.me ka/
tooza dënhëme ka
book ALIEN.TEMP 1S.ERG
my book (temporarily)
16b)
tooza sësako ka
/toː.za sə.sa.ko ka/
tooza sësako ka
book ALIEN.PERM 1S.ERG
my book
16c)
bot këkop ka.
/bot kə.kop ka/
bot këkop ka
mouth INAL 1S.ERG
my mouth
EDIT:
Sample Text
Here's a translation of
The Cat and the Fish.
Miuu lua Zidi
Siaf miuu lo. Gitia shun da bidim. Bëmhan vuk maa dënhëme koo lan is! Zup kaavme is nheda maa bëmhan shisaf. Kaavme is uga dolo da koodme is bëlot. Ash bëbot shi mëtok bëlot miuu sa! Kaavme nheda is taam fede da kiuudmi is bishukiis. Ash bëbot shi mïtuk bishukiis miuu sa! Kaavme nheda is la zëvot da koodme is maam lan zhoosko da saf la paga. Shon zidi! Da bëbot mïtuk zidi maa iavam! Zup gus bo paga da zhil zidi is. Aa! Zhil zidi is maa kiuudmi zïvut. Gus miuu git la nedëko da bëmhan shïmuk is koodla. Iavam maa bëbot mïtuk zidi is. Ash voo dënhëme son is.