Asiteya

the language

Nouns

Articles

In Asiteya, definite articles are prefixes on the noun. Indefinite articles are not used. The three articles are:

  • plain: a-C / ay-V
  • vocative: o-C / oy-V
  • polite: i-C / iy-V,
where C is a noun beginning with a consonant and V is a noun beginning with a vowel

The vocative article is used in address between people of the same age and/or social station. A good example of its use is the word "orusa (said to a male)/ oyita (said to a female," meaning "hey, you/ hey, dude/ hey, mac." The polite article is used as a vocative in only a few limited circumstances, most notably when addressing someone else's elder relatives when that someone else is present or in religious works. More commonly, the polite article replaces the plain article on common nouns when speaking with elders and/or people of higher social station or in literary and religious contexts.

Possession

Possession of a noun is shown by a suffix:

  • my: -mi
  • your (sing.): -si
  • his / its: -ni
  • her: -y@h
  • our: -na
  • your (plural): -se
  • their: -ne

 

example:

  • anami: my mother
  • anasi: your (sing.) mother
  • anani: his / its mother
  • anay@h: her mother
  • anana: our mother
  • anase: your (pl.) mother
  • anane: their mother

Plurals and Genitives

The plural is formed by the addition of a simple suffix:

  • unmarked / default plural: -k@
  • collective plural: -d@
  • distributive plural (glossed as "each" or "every"): -s@

The final vowel of the suffix is dropped when it is followed by the possessive suffix

"-y@h."

The genitive singular is formed by dropping the final vowel of the noun and adding "-u."

The genitive plural suffixes are, respectively:

  • -ku
  • -du
  • -su

With few exceptions, open monosyllables do not inflect for genitive or plural.

examples:

  • nehi: cat
  • nehu: cat's
  • anehu: the cat's
  • nehik@: some cats
  • nehiku: cats'
  • anehik@: the cats
  • nehid@: cats (in general / as a collective catergory)
  • nehidu: cats'
  • nehis@: each/every cat
  • nehisu: every cat's
  • nehimi: my cat
  • nehik@mi: my cats
  • nehikumi: my cats'
  • nehis@mi: each of my cats
  • nehisumi: each of my cats'

The noun phrase and argument tags

The basic production rule for word order in a noun phrase is:

(preposition,) article prefix-, NOUN/PRONOUN, -possessive suffix, light modifier, heavy modifier, argument tag

where a light modifier refers to a genitive noun, determiner, numeral, etc. and a heavy modifier refers to a prepositional phrase, relative clause, etc. An argument tag may precede a prepositional phrase; it may also precede a relative clause, if the resumptive element of the clause makes clear what the head is.

example: ta rusak@mi siu sa na akanyase ko kanyanal inya kah

with brother-pl-my two AGT that the-prize TOP.past won-middle they.resumptive AGT-INS

with my two brothers who won the prize (lit., with my two brothers that the prize was won by them)

An important part of the noun phrase is the argument tag, or case particle. This final particle of the noun phrase marks its role in the sentence, such as agent, topic, direct object, instrument, etc.

 
Particle Meaning
wa / ko topic (present / past)
sa agent / experiencer
hu direct object (accusative)
yo indirect object (dative)
nao instrument (usually inanimate)
kah benefactor / instrumental agent
b@n reason / justification

 
  • Only a topic or agent can be the subject of a sentence.
  • A topic is always fronted.
  • A topic tag can be put after any other argument tag to topicalize that argument.
  • Constituents may be marked for argument even if they are not the main arguments of the sentence.
  • Wa/ko at the beginning of a sentence functions as the existential expletive (There is/are / was/were)
  • The dative tag is often used after prepositions to mean "movement toward." For example, "Wa fyu pun o deibat nep@h ta aho yo..." - You can lead a horse to water... (lit., There's CORP be.able.to o lead horse at water DAT...)
  • A topic and/or justification tag may also be attached to a verb phrase. For example: "Unen in hu b@n wa, a sa xan." - Lit., For to see him, I am going.

Verbs

 

Personal Endings vs. Free pronouns

Only a transitive verb, i.e., a verb with a direct object, can take an ending to show person and number. If there is no direct object, there must be a free pronoun or other explicit nominal subject. An important exception to this rule is the negative existential expletive: "(complement) wa banin."

 

Free pronouns
singular plural
a : I ona : we
si : you, sing. se : you, pl.
in : he, it ine : they
e : she

 

 

Personal endings
singular plural
-a -ike
-is / -@ti -es / -@te
- in -ine
- e -@na

 

Note: the "-is/-es" endings for the second person are used, but are considered slightly formal

A second set of personal pronouns and endings, called resumptive, occur inside relative clauses to show that the antecedent (in the case of the pronouns) / agent (in the case of a personal ending) is outside of the relative clause. More will be said about these in the section on word order.

 

Resumptive pronouns
singular plural
aya onya
siya seya
inya ineya
eya ineya

 

 

 

 

 

Resumptive endings
singular plural
-aya -ona
-asa -esa
-ina -ena
-eya

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moods and Evidentials

Modal and evidential particles are classed together because they behave very much the the same in a sentence and exhibit the same morphological phenomena. Moods are like moods in better known Western languages, such as indicative, imperative, subjunctive, etc.; evidentials show how the speaker came to the information in the sentence.

Modal particles

indicative (optional; for emphasis) p@
imperative (gives a command) to
corporate (makes an impersonal or general statement) fya
illusory (action that appears real but is not) ila
assertive (action that appears false but is not) kwa
metaphoric (happening in a way "outside" the indicative) isa
hypothetical (makes a hypothetical assertion / devil's advocate / sarcasm) xy@

 

 

Evidential particles
perceptive (the speaker saw the event) sye
primary (1st-hand info obtained by some other sense) hai
secondary (hearsay) ute
intuitive (speaker knows through intuition) yua

 

The forms given in the tables are the forms of the particles when they follow the verb they modify. When a particle precedes a verb beginning with a consonant, the final vowel of the particle changes to match exactly the vowel of the first syllable of the verb. However, the imperative "to" is largely invariable in speaking.

Example: A sa taikyan kwa. - I really did take notes. (where the particle "kwa" follows the verb "taikyan") vs. A sa kwai taikyan. - I really am taking notes. (where kwa>kwai precedes taikyan)

If the particle precedes a verb beginning with a vowel, the final vowel of the particle can be elided.

Tenses

Asiteya pragmatically distinguishes three tenses: immediate present, habitual present, and past. A fourth tense, future, is indicated by periphrastic constructions. Tense is marked by word order of the sentence and where the modal/evidential particle falls in relation to the main verb.

  • immediate present - SVO, optional modal immediately before main verb
  • habitual present - SVO, obligatory modal immediately after main verb
  • past, agent as subject - VSO, optional modal immediately after main verb
  • past, topic as subject - SVO, optional modal immediately before main verb, past topic marker "ko" instead of "wa"

The future is indicated by the immediate present plus an adverb or by a periphrastic construction:

  • noiyan o infinitive - immediate future ("to come to...")
  • xan o infinitive - near future ("to go to...")
  • unen o infinitive - remote future (to see to...")

Voice

Two voices are distinguished in verbs: the active, which has no marking for voice, and the mediopassive, which is marked by the suffix "-al" after the verb stem, not the personal ending. Mediopassive is reflexive if its subject is an agent, reciprocal if its subject is an agent and its direct object is the pronoun "eled@" and passive if its subject is a topic. Reflexive verbs may or may not take a personal ending. Both ending and pronoun are included in writing for clarity; usually only the ending is used in speaking.

Examples

  • Abyanatas@ ko pohlunal. - The building was painted.
  • Akanyase wa kanyanal akisaho kah. - The prize is won by the boy.
  • Akia wa pe medanal. - The soup is cooking (being cooked).
  • Deibanalin isa in sa wayi. - It appeared here. (Lit., Find-med-it MET it AGT here. - It found itself here, so to speak.)
  • Tapyanaline eled@ hu. - They searched for each other. (Searched-they each.other ACC.)

Negation; The particle "o"

A verb is negated by a negative auxilliary verb which takes personal endings and is the main verb for purposes of modal particle placement. This verb is joined to the other verbs of the predicate by the particle "o," an all-purpose conjunction that joins subordinate and serial verbs. The negative auxilliaries are:

  • ban - to not do something
  • kan - to never do something
  • sen - to no longer do something

 

  • Pa bana o pun o deiban in hu. - I cannot find it. (IND not-I o be.able.to o find it ACC.)
  • Kana ila o naxan in hu. - I truly never wanted it. (never-I ILL o want it ACC.)
  • E sa ise sen o imahan. - She no longer breathes. (she AGT MET no.longer o breathe.) A formal euphemism for "She is dead." The metaphoric particle serves here to soften the statement.
  • K@ranike p@ o yaixan adoyam@ hu. - We swam across the river. (Swim-we IND o to.cross the-river ACC.)
  • Siten wa to sen@ti. - Stop talking. (to.talk TOP IMP no.longer-you)Very polite, in an ironic sort of way. Common "To sen@ti." - Shut up!/Quit!

Phonology

The segments of Standard Asiteya are:
consonants bilabial labio-dental dental interdental alveolar alveo-palatal alveolar/lateral palatal velar glottal
stop p b * t d * * * * * k g *
fricatives * f * c /T/ s x /S/ ll /l-/ * * h
nasal m * n * * * * * ng *
liquid * * l * r (tap) * * * * *
semi-vowel w * * * * * * y * *

 

  • All fricatives are voiceless, except between vowels, where they become voiced.

 

 

Vowels front central back
high i u
mid e @ o
low a
  • The "@" is a schwa like the indistinct vowel of the English "of."
  • The other vowels are pronounced approximately as in Italian or Spanish. No English off-glides!
  • Back vowels are necessarily round.
  • Stress is regularly on the penult (last less one) syllable.
  • A second series of vowels are "breathy-aspirated" in Standard Asiteya and voiceless in various dialects. They are shown orthographically by "vowel + h". Dipthongs can also be aspirated/voiceless.

 
Dipthongs English exmaple
ai I
oi boy
ei e with off-glide
ao now
iu pure dipthong
@u pure
ui pure

Word Order

The default word order in a clause or sentence is SVO. See the sections on tenses and the noun phrase for more information on constituent word order.

Relative clauses

Resumptive pronouns
singular plural
aya onya
siya seya
inya ineya
eya ineya

 

 

 

 

 

If the head of the clause is the agent of a transitive verb inside the clause, the verb takes a resumptive personal ending.

 

 

Resumptive endings
singular plural
-aya -ona
-asa -esa
-ina -ena
-eya

 

 

 

 

 

 

For example:

the-mouse that eat-it.resumptive IND the-bread ACC : the mouse who ate the bread

the-house blueness-genitive that secondary like-she it.resumptive ACC : the blue house that I heard she likes; Plain personal ending is used here because the head of the clause "ayasi" is not the agent of the transitive verb "renan".

Complement clauses

A complement clause is introduced by the particle "la." In the higher register of good written style ("kyala"), even a complement phrase or single word is preceded by "la." However, the complement of an existential expletive "wa" or "wa banin," does not need this particle. For example:

A y@nan la in wa ta si. I know that it TOP to you. - I know that you have it.

Un@na tehrami hu la Amaixa. See-I friend-my complement Amaixa. - I see my friend Amaixa.

@kotase wa banin. Problem TOP not.do-it. - There's no problem.

Questions

A simple yes/no question is formed as adding the particle "ng@" to the end of a statement, or, more politely, by putting "ma" at the beginning and "ea" at the end of the sentence. For example:

What/who/where/when questions are formed by replacing the word being questioned with "nite" (what/who), "nite laha" (what place), or "nite sunale" (what time). For example:

A how/why is formed with a final particle, "tyat" for "why," and "kama" for "how." For example:

Comparison

The rules of comparison are the same for substantives and verbs. To say something is "as much as" something else, the statement about something and the statement about something else are juxtaposed. For example:

 

The comparitive is marked only by use of the conjunction "@ni," "relative to." For example:

The superlative is marked with "nainda," "first." For example:

1