Romoruzian

Romoruzian vocabulary

=Name= Romoruzian is an anglicisation of the native term Rômarulzv [ʁoːmɔʁəz], a shortening of rôv marulzv (“west speech”)

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Phonological History

 * (s)hj >ç
 * t d > Ø/_#
 * a e o > Ø/_$#
 * C1C2C3>C1C3
 * ei>i:
 * m n > p t/#F_
 * VC[+voice]>V:/_$ (spelled with circumflex only medially). Clusters with two voiced consonants lose only the first.
 * V{k t}{v z} > Vː{v z} (spelled with circumflex)
 * {r l} rː lː> Ø r l/_$
 * s l > Ø/#C[+plosive]_
 * z v > Ø/_#
 * VN > Ṽ/_$
 * r > ʁ
 * v>Ø/a_E
 * oi {oiː ioː iːo iːoː}→ ø øː
 * ou > o:
 * o: > ø:
 * {ju ui} {ju: u:i} > y y:
 * ai ae > a:
 * au ao > o:
 * eV > jV
 * kç gʝ → ʃ ʒ
 * ɑ ɑː → ɔ aː
 * e o u→ɛ ɔ ə (u!>ə/_#)

Orthography
 /jV/

 /i:/

 /ɔ/

<ô, au, ao> /o:/

 /i/

 /Ø/

 /Ṽ/

 /V/

 /C/

 /∅/

 /ç/

 /VC/

 /VjV/

 /ø:/

 /ø/

 /a:/

 /y/

<iû, ûi> /y:/

<kshj, khj, kE> /ʃ/

<gE>/ʒ/

=Nouns=


 * When an inanimate stem ends in -e- or -o-, the vowel becomes -i- or -u- in the plural:
 * aezov /aːzɔ/ ("algae") > aezunu /aːzənu/ ("algae-")
 * When the inanimate nominative ends in -v or -pv, the plural forms are -kku and -ppu:
 * bâv /baː/ ("rope") > bakku /bɔkːu/ ("rope-")
 * When the last vowel in a noun is /u/, the vowel will become /o/ in the animate oblique sg/pl cases:
 * opiu /ɔpy/ ("hawk") > opioei /ɔpjø/ ("hawk-")
 * Some feminine inanimate nouns end in -llia or -rria, coming from Proto-Mangeodge inanimate accusative nouns that ended in -lle and -rre:
 * dullia /dəli/ ("boob") > dlûia /dy/ ("boob-") (cf: dull "spot")

O-Nouns
O-Nouns are animate nouns which end in -o in both cases and in both numbers, basically they are uninflected: nro /nɔ/ ("man")

H-Nouns
H-nouns exhibit an alternation where /k/ is dropped in the oblique:
 * turv /tu/ ("spear") > turz /tu/ ("spear-")

D-Nouns
D-nouns exhibit an alternation where /t/ becomes /Ø/ in the oblique:
 * oseâv /ɔsjaː/ ("food") > oseaoz /ɔsjoː/ ("food-")

Ð-Nouns
Ð-nouns exhibit an alternation between /d/ and /Ø/:
 * tirâv /tiʁaː/ ("tail") > tiraoz /tiʁoː/ ("tail-")

P-Nouns
P-nouns exhibit an alternation between /Vp/ and /V:/:
 * azisapv /ɔzisɔp/ ("mouth") > azîoz /ɔzøː/ ("mouth-")

B-Nouns
S-nouns exhibit an alternation where /b/ is dropped throughout the paradigm:
 * iorauv /jɔʁoː/ ("bat") > ioraoz /jɔʁoː/ ("bat-")

Definiteness
Nouns in Romoruzian must always have a demonstrative occompanying them.

Definite
In Romoruzian the definite articles agree to the noun case and gender of the object and always appear before the noun. In some cases of animate nouns the definite article is all that distinguishes number in the nominative case.


 * sonv bâv (“the rope”) > stuz bakku (“the rope-”)

When the noun begins in the same vowel as the one that ends the article, the vowel is lost in the article (regardless of nasality) although the non-contracted forms still exist for emphasis, in this case the nasal vowel of the article becomes /Vn/: Even when the approximant /j/ breaks the hiatus, the article is still contracted: When before nouns begining in <iV> /jV/,the article sti /sti/ contracts to st’iV /sjV/ thanks to a sound change which removed the second consonant in a cluster of three consonants:
 * sti opiu /sti ɔpy/ (“the hawk”) > s’opiu /sɔpy/ (“the hawks”) vs son opiu /sɔn ɔpy/ (“THE hawks”)
 * s’ianv /sjõ/ (“the valley”) vs sonv ianv /sɔ̃ jɔ̃/ (“THE valley”)
 * st’iarusti /sjɔʁəsti/ (“the octopus”) vs sti iarusti /sti jɔʁəsti/ (“THE octopus”)

Indefinite
The indefinite form of nouns descendeds from the Old Mangeodge collective form of nouns which itself goes back to the Proto-Sumro-Naukl method of reduplication to mark collective nouns. Thanks to sound change these collective forms, and in turn their indefinite counterparts in West Middle Mangeodge, have become irregular and must be memorised along with the noun. Indefinite forms do not take on any case or number, such that “an orca” could also mean “some orcas”.


 * apni /ɔpni/ (“orca”) > ainn /aːnː/ (“an orca”)
 * si /si/ (“foreigner”) > â /aː/ (“a foreigner”)
 * ianv /jɔ̃/ (“valley”) > iani /jɔni/ (“a valley”)
 * iarusti /jɔʁəsti/ (“octopus”) > iarust /jɔʁəs/ (“an octopus”)

Possessive Suffixes
The Possessive suffixes are noteworthy in OM because they attach to the older nominative stems which fell out of use elsewhere in the language, as so these stems are referred to as "possessed stems" in an OM context. Because of this it is important to note some "alternations" (although for most nouns the possessed stem is the same as the bare stem). Possessive suffixes are always used in conjunction with definite articles:


 * When an inanimate noun ends in -ll or -rru, the possessive stem ends in -l and -r with an epenthetic /i/ or /u/ (depending on whether the vowel int he stem was back or front") in inserted afterwards:
 * dull /dəl/ ("spot") > sonv dulûv /sɔ̃ dəluː/ ("your spot") - (possessive stem dul-)

Animate


 * balmê /bɔmeː/ ("frog") > sti balmêto /sti bɔmeːt/ ("your frog")

Feminine Animate


 * zuvaeia /zəvɔiː/ ("female seal") > son zuvaemaroia /sɔ̃ zəvaːmɔʁø/ ("its female seal")

Inanimate


 * olv /ɔ/ ("rock") > s’oltov /sɔtɔ/ ("your rock")

Feminine Inanimate


 * aisâlâv /aːsaːlaː/ ("big fire") > sonv aisâlâbouia /sɔ̃ aːsaːlaːbøː/("my big fire")

=Pronouns=

Pronouns in Romuzian agree to the number and gender of the referent even beyond the 3rd person. Such so that a man and a woman use different pronouns for “I” to refer to him or herself and singular “you” has different forms depending on whether you are speaking to a man or woman. The feminine gender is not marked for 2nd.pl and 1.pl pronouns.

Feminine

When before a verb begining in a vowel, subject pronouns ending in non-nasal vowels lose the vowel. The vowel is retained for emphasis. The only pronoun not to do this is the 3rd.pl in order to avoid ambiguity with the 1sg:
 * t’ahî (“you take”) vs ta ahî (“YOU take”)
 * z’êlî (“we see”) vs zâ êlî (“WE see”)
 * mi ahjeir (“they take”) does not become m’ahjeir

When a pronoun ending in a nasal vowel comes before a verb begining in a vowel, the nasal vowel becomes /Vn/:
 * tân ahî /taːn ɔhiː/ (“you. take”)

=Verbs= Verbs in Romoruzian have a very simple morphology in comparison to other Sumro-Letaeric languages, with most of the conjugation being lost due to sound changes, surviving only in the past tense modal verb and in a handful of irregular verbs. Because of this it is mandatory to always include the subject pronoun.

The infinitive is only marked in writing with the spoken form having merged with the finite forms. This is marked with -t in writing, so both â (“take”) and ât (“to take”) are both pronounced the same.

To form the interrogative in the present tense, the interrogative form of the copula is suffixed onto the verb, shown in writing with a hyphen <->:
 * t’ahî (“you take”) > t’ahî-mîtl? (“do you take?”)

The negative present tense is formed by placing a modal before the infinitve verb. This is from the negative form of the West Middle Mangeodge verb nahlt (“to be able, to manage”). When used with the interrogative it asks a question where “yes” is the expected answer.


 * t’ahî (“you take”) > ta nâlîmu ât? (“you don’t take”)
 * t’ahî-mîtl? (“do you take?”) > ta nâlîmu-mîtl ât? (“don’t you take?”)

Past Tense
The past tense is shown via a modal verb which still bears remnants of the older conjugation yet even this must be accompanied by subject pronouns. When a verb is used with this modal verb it takes its infinitive form. The modal verb descends from the inflected forms of the West Middle Mangeodge verb vujaraht (“to pass by” - cf Romoruzian vuirât “to pass by”). The various forms agree to the subject and are as follows:


 * 1) m’â iam (I take it) “I take it”
 * 2) mâ varâ iam ât (I  it take) “I took it”

The interrogative in the past tense is formed by suffixing the past tense interrogative onto the past tense modal, shown in writing with a hyphen: varâ-maesi, vrasî-mûd, vrasâ-meisad, vrasî-musad, vraseizi-musad, vrase-mitsad, vrâjeir-miurd.

The interrogative in the past tense is formed with the suffix -mu on the modal:
 * m’arâmu iam ât (“I didn’t take it”)
 * t’rasî-mûdmu iam ât (“didn’t you take it?”)

Contracted forms

When a pronoun occurs before the mods, verb it will be contracted onto it. This only happens when the pronoun occurs before. The uncontracted forms are used for emphasis only. The contracted forms are as such:


 * m’arâ
 * t’rasî
 * iam’asâ, iamn’asâ (fem anim), iamia’asâ (fem inan’
 * z’asî
 * s’aseizi
 * v’ase
 * m’âeir

Future Tense
The future tense is marked by using the supine form of the verb along with the future form of the verb “to be”:


 * mâ masei iam sâ (I be. it -take) “I will take it”
 * t’izei iam êl (you= it -see) “you will see it”
 * mâ maseimu iam sâ (I be. it -take) “I won’t take it”

The interrogative future is made simply by using the future form of the copula:


 * mâ maseid iam sâ? (I be. it -take) “will I take it?”
 * t’useid iam êl? (you= it -see) “will you see it?”
 * mâ maseidmu iam sâ? (I be. it -take) “won’t I take it?”

Middle Voice
Romoruzian uses the middle voice (marked with the particle iu “self”) when a noun is the subject of an intransitive verb that isn’t inherently intransitive (i.e a verb which is able to take an object) or when the subject is a patient of the verb where the agent is unimportant or unknown.


 * m’arâ iu ât (I self take) “I took (something)”
 * s’oseâ iu viaru (=food self boil) “the food boils”

Imperative
The imperative is formed with the suffix -iu. If the verb infinitive ends in -ut then the “u” vowel is lost:


 * vâlut (“to beat”) > vâliu (“beat!”)
 * êlut (“to see”) > êliu (“see!”)

Irregular Verbs
Contracted forms of “to be”

Some subject pronoun + copula combinations result in the two becoming contracting together.


 * Second person singular animate/feminine animate: t’î, t’îtl, t’ioê, t’izei, t’useid
 * First person plural inclusive: z’î, z’ûl, z’izê, z’usad, z’iz, z’useid
 * First person plural exclusive: s’î, s’ûl, s’izê, s’usad, s’iz, s’useid
 * Second person plural: v’iset, v’itz, v’it, v’itsad, v’itei, v’iteid

Pro-Verbs
Proverbs of an action relating to a noun are made by placing the verb vâlut (“to beat”) after said noun,connected by a hyphen. In this position the noun is uninflectable.


 * bâv-vâlut (“to tie a rope”) < bâv (“rope”)
 * turv-vâlut (“to throw a spear”) < turv (“spear”)
 * oseâv-vâlut (“to munch, to snack”) < oseâv (“food”)
 * tirâv-vâlut (“to get an erection”) < tirâv (“tail”)
 * azisapv-vâlut (“to chat, to gossip”) < azisapv (“mouth”)

Colloquially this is used with pronouns with the meaning “to fuck” e.g mâ-vâlut (“to fuck me”), mâ masei tân-vâlut (“I will fuck you”), iu-vâliu (“fuck off, go fuck yourself” - lit “self-beat”), t’rasî-mûd mâ-vâlut? (“did you fuck me?”).

Optative
The optative in Romoruzian is marked via the particle mâmia. It’s use is rather restricted to phrases of wellwishing and expressions. It is always followed by a subordinate clause due to it coming from the West Middle Mangeodge maahmgja (“may it be” - itself in the optative mood as marked in that language):
 * mâmia sur nâlimu ta danît (“may it be that you not lack”)

=Preposotions= Romoruzian has a set of prepositions that mostly descend from Proto-Mangeodge nouns, adjectives and verbs.


 * iar ("from, of, pertaining to")
 * ab ("in")
 * atub ("just outside off, beyond")
 * ziovk ("side")
 * vak ("on" - cf vot "to wrap around, to cover")
 * skaelk ("inside" - cf skaelt "to know")
 * auik ("above, up")
 * evseik ("halfway")
 * bueok ("beside" - cf buev "wing")
 * sateok ("deep inside, in the middle off, amongst" - cf seissatv "belly")
 * struok ("between (temporal)")
 * malk ("from above" - cf malv "arrow")
 * iuzk ("through" - cf uialîv "doorway")
 * tibeok ("between (spacial)" - cf tib "middle")
 * vaeleok ("by, using, instrumental" - cf vaelv "hand")

The preposition jar is also used to mark possession e.g diarîv jar nro ("the man's nose").