Umod Morphology & Syntax


Umod uses a system of affixes and particles to delineate the functions of words in sentences. These affixes (with the exception of the particle i which stands before the word, separated by a space) determine whether a word is:

- singular, partitive, or plural
- definite or indefinite

As you can see, this gives us six different possibilities: singular indefinite, singular definite, singular partitive, etc. Singular and plural are well-known. Partitive refers to a "part of something" or "some of something." To place the affixes in a table:
INDEFINITE DEFINITE
Singular Partitive Plural Singular Partitive Plural
i -noe -i u- -nei -u

These affixes (and y) can be used with the word for the Nominative case (the agent of a sentence) or with particles discussed below to determine other cases. Let's look at an example:

Let's take the word:
dum meaning "letter (of an alphabet)"
i dum would be "a letter"
dumnoe* would be "some letters"
dumi would be "letters"
udum would be "the letter"
dumnei* would be "some of the letters"
dumu would be "the letters"

(* when -noe and -nei come directly after another consonant, a "schwa" sound is inserted. For example, dumno is pronounced [DOO-muh-noh], or in X-SAMPA notation ["[email protected]])

Accusative Case

If we want to specify the Accusative case, we use the following particles placed before the word:
- va for singular
- naeg for partitive and plural

Let's see how this works with these words:
ken means "child," therefore...uken is "the child" as subject
flynet means "reads" (verbs will be handled later)

Basic word order in Umod is:
SUBJECT - VERB - DIRECT OBJECT

Therefore, "The child reads the letters" would be:
Uken flynet naeg dumu

But, "The children read some of the letters" would be:
Kenu flynet naeg dumnei

NOTICE that flynet does not change for number. It is used for both uken and kenu. And one more to illustrate our point:
"The child reads a/one letter (of the alphabet)."
Uken flynet va i dum.

Dative Case

Now, let's say we want to give something to someone. We'll need to specify a word in the dative case. The dative case (indirect object) goes between the subject and object in word order:
SUBJECT - VERB - INDIRECT OBJECT - DIRECT OBJECT

The following particles are placed before the word for the dative case:
- evra for singular
- rog for partitive and plural
Adding vocabulary:
mur means "stone"
gar means "guardian, sentry"
taekh means "throws"
"The guard throws the stone to the child."
Ugar taekh mevra uken va umur.

"The children throw stones at the guards."
Kenu taekh rog garu naeg muru.

Genitive, Locative & Causal Case

These three cases again use suffixes, like the Nominative case. To put them in a table:
INDEFINITE DEFINITE
Singular Partitive Plural Singular Partitive Plural
Genitive -aes -na -aesh -om -ong -on
Locative koe- -naekh -aend -okh -aef -moe
Causal ri* -yn ir* -yl -yng -ul
*The Causal ri and ir are separate words, like the Nominative singular indefinite y.
We will examine each of these cases in turn...

Genitive Case

In Umod, the genitive case is used to show possession as well as the source of something or someone:
umur kenom - "The stone of the child"
Ymwold Tylnoraegom - "Ymold from Tylnorak"
Tylnoraegom illustrates a new point in Umod grammar: lenition.

Lenition = "Softening" of Consonants

In attaching the affixes of the Genitive, Locative and Causal, a sound change occurs with some final or initial consonants (depending on whether the affix is a prefix or suffix). For example, take the word for "sea" aekaed. If we want to form the genitive "of the seas," we would add the suffix -on (plural definite) and "lenite" the final d to dh (pronounced as "th" in "this") yielding aekaedhon. A complete listing of the lenition changes is:
k > g g > kh kh > h
t > d d > dh dh > th
p > b b > v v > f
With these changes in mind, let's look at a few more examples using the following vocabular:
kraegaen means "sword"
ailen means "gate"
wold means "wisdom"
ulailen woldhaes* "the gate of wisdom"
i kraegaen kenaes "a sword of a child"
gari ailenon "guardians of the gates"
*ulailen "the gate" - the -l- is inserted between two vowels when an affix is joined to a root word.
An idiosyncrasy of the genitive case is that is can also mean "among," as in the name of the Tylnoran "god" Broegaenumon, which literally means "the one who speaks among the gods." The -aen in the name is a nominalizer which serves almost like a relative pronoun (who, which, etc.). This affix turns a verb into a participle used to modify a noun. -umon in this case could literally be seen as "of the gods;" however, a better translation is "among the gods." Broegaen (from the verb brok) means "one who speaks." The affix -aen will be examined in depth later.

Locative Case

The locative case "locates" something in relation to something else. The locative case can be translated using a number of English prepositions: in, on, at, by, near, under, etc. For example:
ailenokh "at or near the gate"
kenmoe "beside or near the children"
koezol "on, near, or over a mountain"

Using the locative affixes alone is quite correct (grammatically) and is often used to effect in Tylnor poetry. However, for practical reasons, Umod also employs postpositions (like English prepositions except that they come AFTER the noun). For example:
ailenokh aesh "near/beside the gate"
kenmoe aesh "near/beside the children"
koezol groe "on (the surface of) a mountain"

As can be seen, the locative case markers are still employed and these are enhanced by the postpositions.

Causal Case

Also called the Causative Case, this shows that one thing was the cause of something else. For example:
ri dhad "because of/as a result of a council (dad)"
doryng "because of/as a result of some of the battles (dor)"
zolul "because of/as a result of the mountains"

One can also use these cases together:
zolul tylnoraegom "because of the mountains of Tylnoraek"
kenmoe aesh Fylgalom "near/beside the children of Fylga"
As you can see, the complete phrase (keno ash) is concluded before the other case is introduced (Fylgalom). If "Fylga's children" were being referred to (i.e., Fylga's children went to market), the phrase would be "kenu fylgalom."
Let us now turn our attention to...

Verbs

Verbs are classed into the following categories:
Class I Verbs - Those ending in k, t, or p.
Class II Verbs - Those ending in a consonant other than k, t, or p.
Class III Verbs - Those ending in a vowel.
Class IV Verbs - Those ending in a liquid (r,l) + consonant that can be softened.
Class V Verbs - Anomalous verbs that would appear to fall into Class I-IV, but, for various reasons, are governed by different rules.

Let's take a look at some examples of each class:
Class I Verbs - brok (proclaim), kraek (cleave), fenaek (understand)
Class II Verbs - bur (guard), olm (farm), taekh (throw)
Class III Verbs - ersi (to be unwanted, strange)
Class IV Verbs - dolk (to be unredeemable, dead), mork (to be strong, vigorous)
Class V Verbs - krysl (to nourish, sustain), flynet (read), chaluk (steal (something))
Each class can now be examined in detail.

Class I Verbs

Some characteristics of Class I verbs are:
- Always end in k, t, or p (i.e., an unvoiced stop)
- They are always TRANSITIVE: brok - proclaim "something," kraek - cleave "something," fenaek - understand "something." The object may not always be stated, but it is always implied.
- Conjugation involves lenition (of consonants), as well as vowel and nasal mutations.
The paradigm for Class I verbs with -o- is:
brok - brok, braek, brong, skoe vrok
The paradigm for Class I verbs with -a- is:
kraek - kraek, kryk, kraeng, skoe graek
To follow-through with an example:
fenaek, fenyk, fenaeng, skoe fenaek
The nasal mutation manifests itself as:
k > ng
t > n
p > m
The vowel mutation manifests itself as:
o changes to ae
ae changes to y
e and u remain unchanged

Now, let's examine those paradigms a little closer:

There are 3 main tenses in Umod, and 3 auxiliary tenses (using krak):
Simple Present (activity in progress, etc.) krak
Simple Past (completed action or condition) kryk
Present Perfect Progressive (action began in past, continues, and possibly into future) ( krang
Simple Future (action that will take place in the future) sko grak
Past Perfect (action took place BEFORE another event in past; also for reported speech {I saw him doing...}) ta gryk
Future Perfect (action will take place before another event in future) ta sko grak
These tenses also have other uses but this will allow us to continue. Let's try forming some simple sentences:
Remember word order: Subject - Verb -Indirect Obj - Direct Obj...
Ukragan krak va umur "The sword cleaves the stone."
Ukragan kryk va umur "The sword cleft the stone."
Ukragan krang nag muru "The sword is cleaving the stones."
Ukragan sko grak va umur. "The sword will cleave the stones."
Ukragan ta gryk va umur... "The sword cleft the stone..."
Ukragan ta sko grak va umur..."The sword will cleave the stone..."

To further explore the Class I Verbs, we will need to introduce the pronouns. Umod pronouns come in several different forms: singular, partitive, and plural (just like case affixes); and prefix, suffix, and independent:
Singular
Partitive
Plural
Prefix Suffix Independent Prefix Suffix Independent Prefix Suffix Independent
1st person nga- -eng nga nu- -en nuk ku- ek- kof
2nd person tu- -et tu fa- -ef fa lu- -el lu
3rd person shu- -esh shu ne- -un nek kra- -ekr kraf
These suffixes are used in a variety of ways. For the moment, let's examine them as subjects and direct objects...
I am stealing them -- nga-chaluk kraf
He proclaimed it -- shu-vrak shu (notice the elision of b>v)
You will be cleaving some of them -- tu-sko grak nek (k>g; ta prefixed to auxiliary particle "sko")
Some of them are whispering -- ne-vrotek
The guard is cleaving it -- Ugar krak shu
He is whispering it to me -- Shu-vrotekeng shu (literally: "He is whispering to me it.")

These examples illustrate the following points:
- Prefix pronouns are used as subjects.
- Suffix pronouns are used as indirect objects.
- Independent pronouns are used as direct objects and follow the verb.
- Prefix pronouns are affixed to the auxiliary verb (i.e., sko, etc.).
- Prefix pronouns lenite the initial consonant of the word to which they are affixed (if possible).

Class II Verbs

Class II verb characteristics include:
- Ending in a consonant other than k, t, or p.
- Always TRANSITIVE (like Class I) although the object may not explicitly be stated.
- Conjugation involves affixes and auxiliary verbs, no leniting or nasal mutation.
Class II verbs include bur guard "something", olm farm/till (something), and takh "throw" (something).
Let's look at a paradigm for Class II conjugation using takh and bur :
Simple Present (activity in progress, etc.) takh, bur
Simple Past (completed action or condition) takhu, buru
Present Perfect Progressive (action began in past, continues, and possibly into future) ( entakh, embur
Simple Future (action that will take place in the future) sko takh, sko bur
Past Perfect (action took place BEFORE another event in past; also for reported speech {I saw him doing...}) ta takh, ta bur
Future Perfect (action will take place before another event in future) ta sko takh, ta sko bur
As you can see, the stem itself does not change. However, the Present Perfect Progressive prefix changes according to the initial consonant of the stem in the following way:
en- before t, d, n
em- before b, v, f, p
eng- before k, g
Class II verbs beginning with a vowel typically take em- (emolm)

Class III Verbs

Typical characteristics of Class III verbs include:
- Ending in a -y
- Being usually INTRANSITIVE
- Having a conjugation which uses affixes (plus one vowel change in the Simple Past).
Examples of a Class III Verb is ersy "to be foreign, strange, or unwanted" and zoly "to stand at attention, to be steadfast, to be unwavering." The Class III conjugation paradigm with ersy and zoly looks like:
Simple Present (activity in progress, etc.) ersy, zoly
Simple Past (completed action or condition) ersu, zolu
Present Perfect Progressive (action began in past, continues, and possibly into future) ( ersyn, zolyn
Simple Future (action that will take place in the future) sko-lersy, sko-zoly
Past Perfect (action took place BEFORE another event in past; also for reported speech {I saw him doing...}) talersy, tazoly
Future Perfect (action will take place before another event in future) ta sko-lersy, ta sko-zoly
Examples:
ngalersulesh "I was unwanted by her." [nga-l-ersu-l-esh]
[NOTE: the -l- is inserted where two vowels coincide]

shuzoly "He is steadfast."
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