Tamdouk

[Omzinesý]

Probably a short project again


A lang called Tamdouk (ταμρουκ)
Inspired by Coptic, written with Greek letters, but in practice, I use the Romanization.

Triconsonantal and diconsonantal roots.

ta 'feminine definite article'
m- derivation 'related to'
duk 'the name of the folk'

p t̪ d~ɾ k ʔ <π τ ρ κ (spiritus lenis)> <p t d k '>
f θ ɹ x h <φ θ δ χ (spiritus aspis)> <f th r x h>
s z̙~ʒ <ς ζ> <s j>
m n̪̥ n <μ νν ν> <m nn n>
ɬ̪ l <λλ λ> <ll l>
j w <ι υ> <y w>

There is a voiceless laminodeltal series and a voiced apicoalveolar series. In some roots the dentals are interpreted as geminated alveolars, phonemically.

Vowel phonemes:
i u <ɛι oυ> <i u>
e o <ε ο> <e o>
ɛ ɔ <η ω> <ê ô>
ä <α> <a>

Some varieties also have diphthongs eu and oi, but usually they merge with u and i, respectively.

No real length distinction of either vowels or consonants.

Phonotactics

Syllable structure is simple CV(C)(C).

Phonotactically, vowels can be devided in two groups that I call tense and lax. Tense vowels can be seen as diphthongs and are often longer than the lax ones, but because they aren't always, I use those abstract labels.

Tense: ɛ ɔ i u
Lax: a e o

Word-finally, tense vowels appear as a lax vowel + semivowel.

mitay ['mitəj] 'family'


Stressing

Stress is phonetic.

The following stressing rules do not account on the /a/ above, so what is called ultimate can actually be second to last syllable.
a) Stress falls on the ultimate syllable if it has a tense vowel. " Ca'Cô(C)(a) "
b) Stress falls on the ultimate syllable if the vowel is followed by two consonants. " Ca'CaCC(a) "
c) Stress falls on the penultimate syllable in all other instances. " 'CaCaC "

[Omzinesý]

Word classes

Tamduk (like SAE) has three open word classes: nouns, adjectives and verbs. Furthermore, there are static verbs that can be derived from any of the three.

Nouns
- Can appear as arguments
- Have an intrinsic gender (masculine, feminine, pluralia tantum)

Adjectives
- Can modify nouns without any special case marking
- Agree the gender of their head

Verbs
- Appear as predicates even without Stative derivation
- Agree the person of the subject


Adjectives can though be nominalized very easily, just by adding an article of one gender.

[Omzinesý]

Nouns

There is no indefinite article, and gender/number is neither marked then. There is definite articles for both genders and plural. Usually the article is the only plural marker.

pa- 'Masculine Definite Singular Nominative'
ta- 'Feminine Definite Singular Nominative'
wa- 'Plural Definite Nominative'

There are two cases: Nominative above and a Genitive-Accusative-Dative that is only formed of animate nouns. Inanimate objects are simar to Nominatives. Only alienable possession is expressed with Genitive-Accusative. Alienable possession is expressed with an adjective, whose suffix is usually unstressed -a.

pi- 'Masculine Definite Singular Genitive-Accusative'
ti- 'Feminine Definite Singular Genitive-Accusative'
wi- 'Plural Definite Genitive-Accusative'

The case marker is an exception to the phonemic rules. It is [i when stressed and [ɪ~e] when not stressed.

There will probably be some possessor affixes, but I'm not sure of their form yet.

rôn 'a boy'
parôn 'the boy'
warôn 'the boys'

teith 'a girl'
tateith 'the girl'
wateith 'the girls'

douk 'a Douk person'
padouk 'the Douk man'
tadouk 'the Douk woman'
wadouk 'the Douk'

anda 'a donkey'
panda 'the donkey'
wanda 'the donkeys'
pinda 'the donkey ACC'
winda 'the donkeys ACC'

[Ælfwine]

I like it! Interesting morphology with the a~i

panda 'the donkey'

[Omzinesý]

Verbs have four tense-aspects: Habitual(-Iterative), Non-Habitual, Perfect, and Prospective. Non-habitual is the most used of them. It is formed with a suffix-conjugation while the other tense-aspects are formed with prefix conjugation.

Most verbs have distinct stems for the two sets. They are formed with vowel changes.

Suffix conjugation - Prefix conjugation
a - ô
e - û
o - û

Suffix conjugation/Non-Habitual

sg1 -wa
sg2 -xa
sg3 -∅
pl1 -ya
pl2 -ra
pl3 -∅

pes 'to throw'
sg1 peswa
sg2 pesxa
sg3 pes
pl1 pesya
pl2 pesra
pl3 pes

Prefix conjugation
The marker of prefix conjugations is o-.

sg1 '-o-
sg1+2 '-l-o-
sg2 l-o-
sg3M p-o-
sg3F t-o-
pl1 'a-w-o-
pl1+2 'la-w-o-
pl2 la-w-o-
pl3 w-o-

Habitual is the prefix conjugation without a special marker.
Perfect is formed by adding n- between the o- prefix and the stem.
Prospective is formed by adding l- between the o- prefix and the stem.

[Omzinesý]

Adjectives

Adjectives modifying a noun follow it. They repeat its "article", i.e. agree its gender/number/definiteness/case.

[pə'ɹɔ:n pəz̙epɹə] ~ [pɹɔ:n pz̙epɹə]
parôn pazepra
p-a-rôn p-a-zepra
M.DEF.SG-NOM-boy M.DEF.SG-NOM-youn
'the young boy'

[t̪ɪ't̪i:θ t̪ɪz̙pɹə]
titeith tizepra
t-i-teith t-i-zepra
F.DEF.SG-ACC-girl F.DEF.SG-ACC-young
'the young girl (GEN-ACC-DAT)'

['wändə wə'z̙epɹə]
wanda wazepra
'young donkeys'

douk zepra
'a young Douk person'

Basically, any noun can be made an adjective by adding suffix -a. If the noun already ends in /a/, the noun and the derived adjective a identical.
The adjective usually means 'related to X'. Genitive can be used of animate nouns and separable possession only, so the derived adjective often serves where SAE would need a genitive.

rôna 'boyish'
teitha 'girly'
anda 'related to donkeys'

There will probably be possessor affixes for nouns, so possessive pronouns don't appear.

[Omzinesý]

Statives

The prefix conjugation can be attached to any open-class word.

'orôn 'I am a boy'
'lorôn 'you and me are boys'
lorôn 'you are a boy'
porôn 'he is a boy'
torôn 'she is a boy' (grammatical)
'aworôn 'we (not you) are boys'
'laworôn 'you me and somebody else are boys'
laworôn 'you are boys'
worôn 'they are boys'

wozepra 'they are young'

Perfect and Prospective forms can also be formed:
ponrôn 'he was a boy before'
polrôn 'he will be a boy later'


Statives are modified by other statives:
worôn wozepra 'They are young boys'


Habitual-Iterative form of verbs is actually a stative, as well. Its stem is an actor nominalization: peus 'a thrower ~ the one who throws'

'opeus [ʔo'pu:s̪] 'I used to throw. I normally throw. I am a thrower.'

They can have nominal arguments, though. Perfect and Prospective are a bit more verby, in that they can refer to a single event.

[Omzinesý]

Something on stems

There are four kinds of roots: triconsonantal normal roots, triconsonantal weak root, diconsonantal normal roots, and diconsonantal weak roots.

From a (normal) triconsonantal root, one can form the following non-derived (means there are no derivational affixes) stems:
1a) V́CCVC
1b) VCCV́C
2a) CV́CVC
2b) CVCV́C
3) CV́CC(a)

V́ stands for a stressed vowel.
Stress is not phonemic in Tamdouk, but 1a) and 1b, and 2a) and 2b) differ in that that in the last syllable of b) roots has a fortis vowel (ê, ô, ei, eu, oi, ou). In a) roots, it has a lenis vowel (a, e, o).

Edit: Still have to think about it. Maybe a) roots have a fortis vowel on the penultimate syllable, instead.

Weak triconsonantal roots have either y or w as one of the root radicals.
a+y => ê
a+w => ô
e+y => ei
e+w => eu
o+y => oi
o+w => ou

So the toots of rôn and teith are actually r-w-n and t-y-th.

[more to come]