Svatolian

Svatolian vocabulary

Svatolian names

Svatolian monster names

Svatolian (svatol re /svə́ˈtɔl. rɛ́/ [svə́ˈtɒl rɛ́.]) is a Naumes language spoken in the region Namenazea of Mocaczea. It is a descendant of Middle Naumes and so is a sister language of Naumes (where the language is known as Sövadàul re). The language is spoken by the Svatolians who are a sub-ethnicity of Naumes people with a pro-Moca allegiance and are currently in a civil war against non-Svatolian Naumes people. Due to their close contact with the Moca and their high regard for them, the Svatolian language has been influenced by South Luabian especially in terms of phonology and lexicon.

The name of the language is taken from the Svatol region where it is spoken. The placename itself is from Middle Naumes Svadazalz (from which also comes the Naumes term Sövadàul), from Old Naumes Cvaddazalamzan which is ultimately from Old Sumrë Cvėrrtėsalamsӑn ("where the melodic bulls live") - so named for it is the native homeland of a species of bovine that sings in ways similar to a bird to communicate.

=Phonology=

Consonants

 * 1) /ɲ/ is only present in South Luabian loanwords.

Allophony

 * 1) Before /r,l/, unstressed /ɪ ə ɛ ɔ/ become /ɛ ɔ ə ɒ/.
 * 2) The vowel /u/ may only occur in stressed syllables

Phonological history
{ɑwV,ɑu} {iwV,iu} > æo io

{ɑːwV,ɑːu} {iːwV,iːu} > jæo jeo

ɑ > ə/_j

ɑ > o

e o > i u/_...{i,u}

e o > i u/_N[+stress]

n>∅/ V_{x,ɣ}

i u {e,æ} o> ɛ ɔ ə ɒ/_{r,l}!when stressed

iːɰ > juɰ

{e,æ} o > i u/_{x,ɣ}

ɦ > ʝ/{i,u}_

e o > i u/_{d,z}

ð > j/#_

l > o/ _#

u > ə!when stressed

u: > u

i > ∅/VC_

x ɣ > ə/_C

x ɣ > ∅

əː > o

wə jə > u i

θ ð > s z

z>s

{b bʷ bʷʰ} {d dʷ dʷʰ} {g gʷ ɡʷʰ} > t p k

h ɦ > Ø

ɰ > w

mː nː fː vː sː lː> m n f v s l

ɬ > s

ʝ > j

i e o > ɪ ɛ ɔ

æ>ɛ

iː > eː

eː oː > ɛə ɔə

aʊ > oʊ

Prosody
Svatolian has a phonemic pitch accent where a stem typically has a high pitch on the penultimate syllable with a low pitch on the preceding syllable. When the pitch falls on any other syllable it is marked with the acute accent. If a monosyllabic word has a long vowel in an open syllable then it can be analysed as two adjacent same vowels but with the pitch pattern [V̀V́]. Loanwords from South Luabian (which also has pitch accent) tend to retain the accent placement of the source language.

Due to contact with Tuuric languages, Middle Naumes picked up stress accent where bisyllabic and trisyllabic words stress the second consonant and on longer words the penultimate syllables bear the stress and this remains true for Svatolian.

=Noun Phrase=

Gender
There are two genders which are buzzard and deer. The buzzard and deer noun genders have nothing to do with their namesakes as evidenced by the fact the noun eun ("deer") is a buzzard noun. The way to tell which gender a noun belongs to is very simple. If a common noun ends in a vowel then it is in the deer gender, if it ends in a consonant then it is in the buzzard gender.

Case and Number
Nominal morphology of Svatolian is quite simpler in many ways than that of Middle Naumes. In Late Middle Naumes many of the various groups and subgroups of nouns merged together due to a mass leveling of nominal paradigms, as such these levellings are present also in Naumes. The subgroups 1 2 3 10 of buzzard nouns collapsed into one declension following the pattern of Middle Naumes common noun, although many nouns retain an irregular nom.pl form as a remnant of the Middle Naumes declensions. The subgroups 4 5 6 7 8 9 shifted gender to become deer nouns due to how they ended in vowels (as do typical deer nouns). The subgroups 2 3 4 of deer nouns merged with subgroup 1 although some nouns did retain an irregular nom.pl form. Zero-grade nouns were also leveled as either buzzard or deer nouns based upon their nom.sg forms (those that ended in consonants became inflected as buzzard nouns, those that ended in vowels became inflected as deer nouns. All other declension of nouns such as Geo-nouns, B-nouns, O-nouns etc were leveled as either buzzard or deer nouns depending on whether they ended in a vowel or consonant.

The fairly irregular paucal number of Middle Naumes was also lost.

Buzzard nouns
Nouns that end in /l r/ (or /l/'s allophone /o/) have no word final vowels in the nom.pl or the acc/gen/dat.sg. When the vowel is dropped in this environment the high pitch falls on the final syllable.

Irregular Buzzard nouns

 * majon ("mountain") > majouse
 * kin ("granddaughter") > keate
 * wus ("weapon") > wus

Irregular Deer nouns

 * so ("drum") > soakea
 * wo ("culture") > woapea

Topicalisation
Topic marking in Svatolian is one area where there is a distinction between how men and women speak. Topicalisation as used by men is called strong topicalisation and topicalisation as used by women is called weak topicalisation. The various roles of nouns that are topicalised are known as shades. Adjectives that follow the copula may also be topicalised in the same manner as nouns. The closest translation to Svatolian's topicalisation into English is the definite article "the".

Shade 1
Shade 1 emphasizes the subject's role as subject.

s-iolun meo-eo weo-∅

TOP-wolf hunt-3S.BUZZ sloth-ACC

"The wolf hunts the sloth"

s-ate ina-s as-oa

TOP-rat eat.3S.BUZZ.PST bread-ACC

"The rat ate the bread"

Shade 2
Shade 2 strong topicalisation emphasizes the object's (direct or indirect) role as the patient. Note that a strong topicalised object is placed in the nominative case. It is marked as follows:

jolun meo-eo meo*

wolf hunt-3S.BUZZ TOP/sloth

"A wolf hunts the sloth"

* l- + weo

Shade 3
Shade3 strong topicalisation emphasizes the object’s role and is marked in the same way as a shade 2 strong topicalised noun phrase.

jol-oa siolis-o maliase*

give-1S.FUT rose-ACC TOP-girl

"I will give a rose to the girl"

* l- + waliase

Shade 1
Shade 1 emphasizes the subject's role as the agent. It is marked as follows:

l-iolun meo-eo weo-∅

TOP-wolf hunt-3S.BUZZ sloth-ACC

"the wolf hunt's the sloth"

l-ate ina-s as-o

TOP-rat eat-3S.BUZZ.PST bread-ACC

"the rat ate the bread"

Shade 2
This is marked by fronting the object to the beginning of the sentence.

weo-∅ jolun meo-s

TOP.sloth wolf hunt-3S.BUZZ.PST

"a wolf hunted the sloth"

as-o ate ina-s

TOP.bread-ACC rat eat-3S.BUZZ.PST

"A rat ate the bread"

Shade 3
This is marked by shifting the indirect object to the front of the sentence.

aeo-eos noto-oa

TOP.knife-PRO cut-1S

"I cut with the knife"

Personal Pronouns
Singular Pronouns

Plural Pronouns

Possessive Pronouns
Svatolian possessive pronouns only agree in the four main cases (nominative, accusative, genitive & dative").

1SG
The nominative singular buzzard pronoun m is a syllabic consonant.

Adjective Phrase
Svatolian adjectives must agree to the noun they modify in gender, case and number. Adjectives agreeing with the buzzard and deer genders do this by taking on the same endings as the nouns.

Agreeing with Buzzard nouns
If the adjective ends in a consonant then no change is needed and can be inflected as is:
 * oln ("big") > mjeoro oln ("big buzzard")
 * nin ("green") > mjeoro nin ("green buzzard")

When the final consonant of the adjective is n, {m,in} the consonant becomes s, w when taking on a suffix beginning in a vowel. If the nasal is part of a consonant cluster then an a is inserted, when the nasal is n and eo when the nasal is m/in, when inflected. This is due to Old Naumes a being lost in closed syllables. Also when the nasal is m/in the resulting form is the same in the nom,acc,gen and dat cases.
 * oln ("big") > olase ("big-")
 * rolm ("long") > roleo ("long-")

If the adjective ends in a vowel then it is suffixed with -m which becomes -w- when another suffix beginning in a vowel is attached. The suffix -m causes the preceding vowel to take it's heavy form:
 * soa ("holy, sacred") > soam ("holy-") > soawe ("holy-")
 * mawia ("strong") > mawiam ("strong-") > mawiawe ("strong-")

Agreeing with Deer nouns
If the adjective ends in a vowel then no change is needed:
 * sloa ("old") > na sloa ("old person") > nea slea ("old people")

If the adjective ends in a consonant then the suffix -o is added. If the consonant was n, {m,in} then it becomes z, w.
 * sam ("broken") > sawo ("broken-") > sawea ("broken-")

Subordinate clauses
Svatolian makes use of the adverb jos ("while") as a subordinator for noun phrases. It causes the following verb to take on the supine form in the comitative case (a holdover of how it causes verbs to be supine in adverbs of duration - it's original function), as such these verbs cannot take on any TAM information which is rather just implied by context. Objects of these supine verbs take the dative case.

raó jos komui-sa sloa

tree SUBR SUP-be-COM old

"tree that is/was/will be old"

woaró jos lvasvó-sa wutn-om

fisherman SUBR SUP-hate-COM jellyfish-DAT.PL

"fisherman who hates/hated/will hate jellyfish"

ujeo jos kpo-sa noas-om

hillfoot SUBR SUP-smell-COM lynx-DAT.PL

"hillfoot where a lynx was/is/will be smelled"

=Verb phrase=

Conjugation
Svatolian has three classes of verbs which are Common verbs, Eas-verbs and Two-verbs. All verbs are negated by placing the negative particle irma after the verb. Verbs are made infinitive with the suffix -n.

Unlike Middle Naumes, Svatolian requires that the subject be explicitly marked via a subject pronoun always, even for the third persons when a noun is explicit e.g kin ??? októ ("the granddaughter knew" or "the granddaughter she knew").

Common verbs
Affixes are attached after removing the infinitive suffix -n.

Long vowel stems
Thanks to the Middle Naumes sound change of deleting short vowels around long vowels, verbs that ended in long vowels caused the loss of vowels in the suffixes that attached to them. These are the person suffixes for such verbs.

Eas-verbs
-Eas verbs are verbs that have been derived from nouns and adjectives with the derivation suffix -as (-eas in Old Sumrë) to denote an action that results in the root noun/adjective. In these verbs -as functions as an infinitive.

Two-verbs
Two-verbs are verbs that have been derived with the suffix -tá (-two in Old Sumrë) from any other word form any part of speech. When the root ends in /r l N/ then the suffixes swap their initial /t/'s with /s/.

Copula
The third person singular buzzard/animate is used in existential constructions alongside the indefinite pronoun ai:

Imperative mood
The imperative is marked with the suffix -io on the verb stem. If the verb ends in r, t then it becomes s in the imperative with the suffix being only -o. If the verb stem ends in a vowel then the suffix is -ija. If the verb has a long vowel in the final or penultimate syllable of them stem then the suffix is -a or ja for stems ending in vowels. If the verb stem ends in /l/ then the bare stem alone is the imperative with the /l/ becoming /o/.
 * usn ("to swing a sword") > usio
 * usern ("to ignore") > useso
 * muln ("to show") > muo
 * wusin ("to be similar") > wusijo

Verb stems that end in w/u, s, it may experience an alternation where those sounds become m, n, in.
 * sun ("to travel") > sumio

Some irregular imperatives are:
 * nan ("to protect") > najo

Interrogative mood
The Svatolian interrogative is formed quite irregularly, with each verb having an irregular interrogative verb stem which derives from infixation of nasals in the first syllable in Old Sumrë. Here are some interrogative stems:
 * 1) asn ("to swing a sword") > ans-
 * 2) slun ("to think") > slomw-
 * 3) muln ("to show") > mwul-
 * 4) sasuan ("to invade") > so-
 * 5) siorn ("I go hungry") > sin-
 * 6) oktn ("to know") >  kt-

Passive Voice
The passive voice is marked with a suffix which attaches after any person suffix and the subjunctive if it is used. After vowels it is -r and after consonants it is -ti which causes the consonant to drop.

sasu-oa-r

invade-1S-PASS

"I am being invaded"

Supine
The supine is a verbal noun used to describe motion and indicates purpose and intention, or as a predicate of another verb. It can also be used to derive abstract nouns or nouns relating to an action. The supine form of a verb is ultimately irregular although they always begin with k. Here are some examples:

Adjective Participle
Adjective participles are derived from verbs with the suffixes -an (for agreeing with buzzard noun), -oto (for agreeing with deer nouns). These are made negative by attaching the suffix -ma.
 * sjeoan ("to dig") > sjeoan, sjeoto

s-aeo noto-an-ma ions sam

TOP/knife cut-PART-NEG be.3S.BUZZ broken

"The non-cutting knife is broken"

Past Participle
Past participles are derived from verbs with the suffixes -í (buzzard), -io (deer). The negative forms are ''-ekma, -ieo.
 * sjeoan ("to dig") > ''sjeoí, sjeoio.

s-aeo noto-ekma ions sam

TOP-knife cut-PP-NEG be.3S.BUZZ broken

"The uncut knife is broken"

Verbs of manner vs verbs of motion
In Svatolian there is a morphological distinction between verbs of manner and verbs of motion. There are various prefixes that derive verbs of motion from verbs of manner.

Vowels in the prefixes are lost if the verb has a diphthong in the initial syllable.

vlo-, vl- "direct motion towards" When the subject of the verb is moving directly towards the reference point, the prefix vla- is used on the verb.:

is- "onto, into, at" (ir- when the verb begins in a vowel, i- when the verb begins in a plosive)

wo-, a- "away from, out of"' When the subject is moving away from the reference point, the prefix is wa-.

ospa-, osp- "from out under" When the subject is moving from out under the reference point, the prefix is osba- and the noun is placed in the delative case.

'''i-, e- "from behind" When the subject is moving from behind the reference point, the prefix is i- and the noun is placed in the delative case.

Subordinate clauses
Subordinate clauses in verb phrases are made with the subordinator arsoa.

moa slau-oa arsoa moa noto-us

I think-1S SUB I dig-1S.PST

"I think that I dug"

moa okt-oa arsoa to prasutr-ols pra-sa

I know-1.SG SUB you eat_outside-2.SG.PST pork_rind-COM.SG

"I know that you ate a pork rind outside"

=Conjunctions=
 * a (“and”)


 * nons (“in turn”)


 * raos (“following, according to”)


 * roa (“because”)


 * o (“except”)


 * woa (“or”)


 * an (“if”)


 * mo (“but”)


 * jos (“while”)


 * sotasá (“therefore”)


 * tio (“despite”)


 * eo (“instead, rather”)

Adverb of duration
To state an adverb of duration such as "for X amount of time" you take the noun denoting the time such as "day, hour, year" and place it in the comitative case.

meas usa-sea kaot-ó

mammoth day-COM.PL graze-3.SG.BUZZ/PST

"the mammoth grazed for days" To state that an action was occurring while another action was taking place, the supine form of the verb is placed in the comitative case to form an adverb. This is equivalent to "while" in English. Due to being in the supine, no TAM information can be given for the supine verb, but context plus the tense of the main verb fills in any possibly ambiguity. Before the supine verb the conjunction jos ("while") is placed.

so jos kruw-s fu-s

wind while SUP-walk-COM blow-3.SG.DEER.PST

"the wind blew while (I) walk(ed)"

If the action represented by the supine verb has a patient, then this is expressed by having the object be placed in the dative case as a form of inalienable possession where the object is possessing the supine verb. So a sentence like "while I feed the dog" literally translates as "with dog's feeding". The subject of the supine verb is shown by placing the noun plus a copula before the supine verb and after jos, or just a copula if the subject is a dropped pronoun. Note that the agent of the supine verb is only included when a patient is.

paloa jos ias kpo som

sit-1S while be.1S SUP-smell flower-DAT.PL

"I sit while I smell flowers"

Hortative mood
The hortative mood is used to mark encouragement. When negative this acts as a light imperative. It can also be used in volitive constructions. This is marked with the adverb tas. This has the negative form tasma.


 * vlosuo tas majonó! (-travel- mountain- ("you should travel to the mountain!")
 * vlosuo tasmo majonó (-travel- \mountain- ("you shouldn't travel to the mountain")

=Krintham's Poem=

Krintham's poem is a short prosaic text written by the shaman Krintham. It has become used as a popular text to translate among the Sumro-Letaeric languages to compare the different languages side by side.

se usasa esrása

this day-COM beautiful-COM

"on this beautiful day"

nea a sasó lome paloak umo roleo

man-PL and woman-PL 3PL.NOM hew-3PL.PST path-ACC long-ACC

"Men and women have hewn a long path"

ksoa mur loleo sun murn maueos

so_that 1PL.INCL.NOM can-1PL.INCL travel-INF 1PL.INCL.BUZZ.POSS world-PRO

"So that we can travel through our world"

leo noeor tas susweas sloamweas

3S.BUZZ protect-3SG-PASS HORT god-PRO.DEER.PL old-PRO.DEER.PL

"may it be protected by the old gods"

aseo a pejiló lome urólon tas nouwiso leo worú

sun and moon 3.PL shine-3PL HORT light-ACC 3SG.BUZZ above

"may the sun and moon shine light over it"

naon suea jos kroms

person-GEN.PL foot-PL while SUP.walk-COM

"as peoples' feet walk"