Revision as of 18:37, 16 September 2007

Eruvite ([ˈɛɾʊvɪˈtɛ]) is one of the primary spoken languages of Eluvatar.

Phonology

Eruvite distinguishes 21 distinct phonemes: 16 consonants and 5 vowels. Both the consonants and the vowels of Eruvite are subject to different degrees of allophony.

Consonants

Consonant length is only distinctive for the alveolar nasal /n/. In rapid or speech and unstressed syllables [ɾ] is a frequently occurring allophone of /r/, while /n/ is realized as [ŋ] when it precedes velar consonants. With the exception of labiodentals voicing is not distinctive for fricatives, and subsequently /s/ and /x/ may be realized as [z] and [ɣ] respectively immediately following voiced consonants while /θ/ may be realized as [ð] immediately preceding a voiced consonant.

Vowels

Eruvite possesses five distinctive vowels, all of which are subject to a significant degree of allophony, much of which is determined by stress. The place of articulation of the consonant that a vowel precedes also affects how a vowel is realized.

When unstressed /i/ is realized instead as [ɪ]. Before velar consonants it is instead realized as [ɨ]. The allophone [ə] of /ɛ/ appears in unstressed syllables. In unstressed syllables /u/ is realized as [ʊ] and preceding alveolar consonants it may also be realized as [ʉ].

Phonotactics

Eruvite lacks any consonant clusters within the same syllable except for /nd/, which appears as a syllable coda. Syllables may begin with any of the language's consonant sounds with the exception of /θ/, which may only appear as a syllable coda. Syllable codas in addition to /θ/ and /nd/ are limited to /s/, /m/, /n/, /l/ and /r/.

Initial Consonant Lenition

The lenition, or "weakening", of the intitial consonants of roots that have been suffixed to another root is a common phonological phenomenon in Eruvite. Lenition in Eruvite takes the form of spirantization, with plosives and nasals mutating to fricates, approximants and trills. Consonants retain their voicing, and voiceless fricatives may be lost completely if the root to which they are being suffixed ends in a consonant.

Grammar

Eruvite is a heavily inflected synthetic language.

Roots and Stems

The language is based on root morphemes which are subsequently modified with stems to create nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. Root morphemes fall into two distinct classes: noun-verb roots and adjective roots.

This system often results in single words which translate poorly into English and other languages, where they are instead expressed with multiple words. For example, where an English speaker would say "I am tall" a speaker of Eruvite would add to the root for tall (bano) the stem necessary to create a verb and properly inflect it, resulting in simply "banuvo". Native speakers will often choose the combination of roots and stems when speaking which will result in the fewest words in everyday conversation (though these words will not necessarily always be short).

Nouns

Number

There are three grammatical numbers in Eruvite:

• The singular is used for any number of objects whose number ends with the digit one.
• The paucal is used for any number of objects whose number ends with the digits two through five.
• The plural is used for any number of objects whose number ends with any digits greater than five.

Gender

There are four grammatical genders in Eruvite. For nouns which can have genders, such as people and animals, gender in most cases will correspond to the actual gender of the noun, and can be altered to reflect this. For other nouns the gender is instead lexically and arbitrarily fixed. The four genders are male, female, common (possessing an indefinite gender) and neuter.

Cases

There are a number of cases in Eruvite which are used to convey information that would in English be presented using prepositions. Some of these cases can be subsequently modified with suffixes to provide a greater level of detail.

• The nominative case denotes the subject of a sentence.
  • Dinar chunubu.
    The man sleeps.
• The accusative case denotes the direct object of a sentence.
  • Dinam esibu.
    He sees the man.
• The genetive case indicates possession.
• The locative case indicates a location. Unmodified, the locative case carries the meaning of at the general location of the object. Additional suffixes provide greater specificity of location.
  • Tien.
    At the house.
  • Tienba.
    In front of the house.
  • Tiensu.
    In back of the house.
  • Tienae.
    Over the house.
  • Tienis.
    Under the house.
  • Tienim.
    Inside of the house.
  • Tieneith.
    Outside of the house.
  • Tiennes.
    Next to the house.
  • Tiende.
    To the left of the house.
  • Tienar.
    To the right of the house.
• The lative case indicates motion towards, from or through a location. The same addition suffixes used to modify the locative can be used to modify the lative, with the same results except that motion rather than a static state through the location is indicated.
• The instrumental case denotes the means by which an action is performed.
  • Corles senibu.
    He writes with a pen.
• The benefactive case indicates the object for which an action is performed.
  • Dinius rusui agorubu.
    He opens the door for the man.
• The comitative case indicates the object in whose company an action is carried out.
• The equative case indicates a comparison or likening. The equative case can be modified with one of two suffixes if desired to indicate that another object is greater or less than in some respect to the modified object. Unmodified it most often represents a likening to the object.
  • Adete.
    Like a bird.
  • Enalema.
    Greater than one.
  • Enalelae.
    Less than one.

Inflection

Verbs

Eruvite verbs are a complex construction of up to six different components. Three of these components, the first, second and fifth components, must always be present in any verb.

Root

The very first component of any verb is the root, which carries the basic meaning.

Transitivity, Voice and the Subjunctive, Conditional and Hypothetical Moods

The second component of a verb marks the transitivity of the verb. A verb may be either intransitive or transitive:

• An intransitive verb does not act upon an object.
• A transitive verb does act upon another object.

The second component also denotes voice. There are three possible voices:

• The active voice denotes that the subject of the sentence is acting.
• The passive voice denotes that the subject is being acted upon.
• The middle voice denotes that the subject is acting upon itself or for an intransitive verb which appears to be active but expresses a passive action or is the result of another agent.

Finally, the second component is used to denote the subjunctive, condition and hypothetical moods.

• The subjunctive mood denotes a condition.
• the conditional mood denotes something which is dependent on a condition.
• the hypothetical mood denotes a statement which is not true but potentially could be so, possibly based on a certain condition.

The Affirmative, Negative and Dubitative Moods

The second component expresses the affirmative, negative or dubitative mood. The same stems used to forum these moods when added by themselves to a root are also used to answer questions affirmatively, negatively or dubitatively, as Eruvite does not have words for "yes", "no" or "maybe" as English does.

• The affirmative, expressed by the lack of a stem, mood indicates that an action does occur.
  • Darlivo.
    I read.
  • Darle.
    Yes, I read.
• The negative, expressed with the stem ni, mood indicates that an action does not occur.
  • Darlinivo.
    I do not read.
  • Darleni.
    No, I do not read.
• The dubitative, expressed with the stem sae, mood indicates that an action may or may not occur.
  • Darlisaevo.
    I might read.
  • Darlesae.
    Maybe I read.

Primary Mood

The third component denotes the primary mood of the verb. There is no predetermined set of conjugations for the primary mood. Instead, any mood can be constructed by simply placing a root morpheme. The mood produced can be translated roughly as "[root] to [verb]" or "[root] [verb]ing". This can result in moods which have equivalents in other languages, but not always.

Aspect

The fourth component denotes the grammatical aspect of the verb. Eruvite displays a number of uncommon aspects.

• The perfective aspect denotes an action which has been completed. There are two types of perfective aspects in Eruvite:
  • The basic perfective aspect denotes that an action has been completed and that the results of that action still hold.
    • Mendude.
      I went.
  • The experiential perfective denotes that an action has been completed, but the results of the action no longer or will no longer hold.
    • Mendumade.
      I went and returned.
• The perfect aspect denotes an action that has been completed with relevance to a certain temporal context.
  • Mendupavo.
    I have gone.
• The imperfective aspect denotes that an action is incomplete. There are three different imperfective aspects in Eruvite:
  • The basic imperfective aspect denotes that an action is incomplete, and will not or may not be completed.
    • Mendufevo.
      I am going.
  • The perfective imperfective denotes that an action is incomplete but will be completed and that the results of the action will hold.
    • Mendurovo.
      I am going and will not return.
  • The experiential perfective imperfective denotes that an action is incomplete but will be completed and that the results of the action will not hold.
    • Mendurivo.
      I am going and will return.
• The habitual aspect denotes that an action is completed repeatedly. There are two different habitual aspects:
  • The basic habitual aspect denotes an action which is completed continuously for an indefinite period.
    • Menduvo.
      I go.
    • Mendugode.
      I used to go.
  • The terminative habitual denotes an action which is completed continuously for only a certain period.
    • Menduwovo.
      I go for a while.
• The inceptive aspect denotes an action which is being initiated.
  • Mendudavo.
    I am beginning to go.
• The terminative aspect denotes an action which is being ended.
  • Menducevo.
    I am ceasing to go.
• The pausative aspect denotes that an action is temporarily suspended.
  • Mendutuvo.
    I am ceasing to go for a while.
• The resumptive aspect denotes an action which is initiated again after a pause.
  • Mendulivo.
    I am starting to go again.

Tense, Person and Number

The fifth component indicates the tense of the verb and the grammatical person and number of the verb's subject,. There are three possible tenses:

• The present tense denotes an action which is occurring currently.
• The past tense denotes an action which occurred at a previous time.
• The future tense denotes an action that will occur at a later time.

There are also three possible persons:

• The first person indicates that the subject is the speaker or includes the speaker. For the paucal and plural numbers, there are two different first persons:
  • The inclusive first person indicates that the one being addressed as well as the speaker is included in the subject. For the paucal number, this is taken to mean "you and I" and for the plural "you, others and I".
  • The exclusive first person indicates that the one being addressed is not included in the subject.
• The second person indicates that the subject is the one or ones being addressed.
• The third person indicates that the subject is neither the speaker or the one being addressed.

Final Mood

The sixth component of any verb construction is the final mood. Unlike the primary mood, there is a set number of final moods with which a verb can be modified.

• The inquisitive mood indicates that the statement is a question.
  • Senivom?
    Do I write?
• The causal mood indicates that the statement is the cause of something.
  • Senivon.
    Because I write.
• The energetic mood indicates that the statement is strongly felt.
  • Senivor!
    I really write!
• The royal mood is used when addressing or referring to royalty of nobility.
  • Senivol.
    I write, your majesty.

Adjectives

Adjectives fall into two distinct groups in Eruvite: those constructed from noun-verb roots and those constructed from adjective roots. The way in which the two are constructed and their placement relative to the verb that they modify

Noun-verb Root Adjectives

Adjective Root Adjectives

Adjectives formed from adjective roots are simply the roots themselves, and are placed before the word which they modify.

Adverbs

Orthography

Eruvite is written with the Eruwar, a featural abugida, and the Sindarin Cirth alphabet for Sindarin loanwords. <math>Insert formula here</math>