Plitnakya
| Plitnakya | |
| Spoken in: | Scotland (Skotlanda) |
| Conworld: | League of Lost Languages |
| Total speakers: | ~2,000 |
| Genealogical classification: | Atlantic
|
| Basic word order: | VSO |
| Morphological type: | Polysynthetic |
| Morphosyntactic alignment: | Active, Hierarchical |
| Writing system: | |
| Created by: | |
| Taylor Selseth | 2010 C.E. |
Plitnakya [pʰliʦ̺nakja] is a highly endangered language isolate spoken by about 2,000 people in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. It has a complex, polysythetic morphology that is very unusual for Europe and is likely a relic of the first people to populate Britain after the Pleistocene Glaciation.
Contents
Phonology
Plitnakya is unusual in that it contrasts between Laminal-Dental and Aplical-Alveolar points of articulation and has no rhotic. It has a root structure of (F)(C)(F|L)V(F|L)(C) where C is any consonant, F is a fricative, and L is a liquid or nasal.
IPA
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | |
| Stops, plain | p | t̻ | t̺ | ʧ | k |
| Stops, aspirated | pʰ | t̻ʰ | t̺ʰ | ʧʰ | kʰ |
| Fricatives | f | θ | s | ʃ | x |
| Nasals, voiced | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | |
| Nasals, unvoiced | m̥ | n̥ | ɲ̥ | ŋ̥ | |
| Liquids, voiced | w | l | j | ||
| Liquids unvoiced | ʍ | ɬ | ç |
Plain stops and fricatives are voiced when between two voiced phonemes. /l/ is velarized when it follows a back vowel and is [ɾ] between vowels. /t̻ʰ t̺ʰ/ are realized as [tθ ʦ] between vowels and before nasals.
| Front | Center | Back | |
| High | i iː | u uː | |
| Mid | e eː | ɛw ɔj | o oː |
| Low | aj | a aː | aw |
Orthography
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | |
| Stops, plain | b | dz | d | j | g |
| Stops, aspirated | p | tz | t | c | k |
| Fricatives | f | z | s | x | h |
| Nasals, voiced | m | n | ny | ng | |
| Nasals, unvoiced | mh | nh | nyh | ngh | |
| Liquids, voiced | w | l | y | ||
| Liquids unvoiced | wh | lh | yh |
| Front | Center | Back | |
| High | i ii | u uu | |
| Mid | e ee | eu oi | o oo |
| Low | ai | a aa | au |
Consonant Mutation
Many prefixes cause mutation to the following consonant, there are 3 types of mutation: Hard, Soft, and Nasal.
| Consonant | Hard | Soft | Nasal |
| Plain Stop | Aspirated Stop | Fricative | Voiced Nasal |
| Aspirated Stop | Aspirated Stop | Plain Stop | Unvoiced Nasal |
| Fricative | Plain Stop | Liquid | Voiced Nasal |
| Voiced Nasal | Unvoiced Nasal | Voiced Nasal | Voiced Nasal |
| Unvoiced Nasal | Plain Stop | Voiced Nasal | Voiced Nasal |
| Voiced Liquid | Unvoiced Liquid | Voiced Liquid | Voiced Nasal |
| Unvoiced Liquid | Fricative | Voiced Liquid | Unvoiced Nasal |
In morphological glosses the Hard Mutation is marked as H, the Soft as S, and the Nasal as N.
Nouns
Nouns fall into an Animancy Hierarchy of 2nd Person > 1st Person > people and animate collectives > non-person animates > natural forces > other inanimates and collectives. There is a rich case system. Noun morphological structure is:
1. Number
2. Possessive Prefix
3. Noun Stem
4. Case-Definiteness suffix
Number
Nominal number is marked by a prefix on the noun. There are 3 numbers: Singular, Dual, and Plural. Mass nouns do not inflect for number but are instead required to be compounded with a measure word. Singular is unmarked
| C-Stem | V-Stem | |
| Dual | thaa- | th- |
| Plural | heH- | sh- |
Possessive Affixes
| 1st Person In. | 1st Person Ex. | 2nd Person | 3rd person | 4th Person | Indefinite | |
| Singular | ni- | yaa- | go- | sai- | lu- | |
| Plural | nin- | zan- | yan- | gon- | sen- | lun- |
Case-Definiteness
Syntactic Cases
| Nominative | Accusative | Ergative | Genitive | Dative | Comitative | Benifactive | |
| Indefinite | -Ø | -(o)d | -(f)o | -(a)p | -(e)z | -(w)uu | -lha |
| Definite | -(e)l | -lde | -zo | -lep | -le | -luu | -lalh |
Nominative: Marks the subject of accusative and unergative verbs and the patient of ergative verbs.
Accusative: Marks the patient of accusative verbs.
Ergative: Marks the subject of ergative and unaccusative verbs.
Gentive: Marks the possessor of the modified noun.
Dative: Marks the recipient of a ditransitive verb.
Benifactive:Marks the benifactee of a ditransitive verb
Locative Cases
| Locative | Allative | Ablative | Illative | Ellative | Perlative | Subessive | Superessive | |
| Indefinite | -(h)e | -(u)ksah | -(a)yeh | -(a)nghau | -(a)dzot | -(o)waah | -(i)ke | -(i)kla |
| Definite | -(h)il | -(u)kselh | -(y)eelh | -(a)nghol | -(a)dzud | -(w)oolh | -(i)kel | -(i)klal |
Verbs
Verbs are the most complex part of the language by far. As in many polysynthetic languages a single word can mean a whole English sentence. The morphological structure is thus:
Pronominal Prefixes
Direct-Inverse Prefix
Adverbals
---
Habitual Prefix
Inhcoative Prefix
Continuative Prefix
Cessative Prefix
Defective Prefix
Benifactive Prefix
Desirative (2st & 3rd person wanting)/Optative (1st person wanting) Prefix
Instrumental Prefix
Necessitative Prefix
Frequentative Prefix
Intensive Prefix
Perfect Prefix
---
Evidential Prefixes
Verb Stem
Mood
Tense
Voice
Incorporated Direct Object
---
Negation
Question Suffix
The verb stem can be made out of a single root or 2 or more compounded roots.
Pronominal Inflection
The person and number Subject and Direct Object are marked on the verb in the Direct-Inverse format, each person form has a set spot, starting with 2nd Person and going in order down the animacy hierarchy If the subject has a lower animacy than the direct object the inverse morpheme -maa- must be used.
Yanixpuz. "You know me."
ya-ni-xpuz
2SG-1SG-know
Yanimaaxpuz. "I know you."
ya-ni-maa-xpuz
2SG-1SG-INVERSE-know
The inflections are thus:
| 1st Person In. | 1st Person Ex. | 2nd Person | 3rd person | 4th Person | Indefinite | |
| Singular | ni- | ya- | go- | sa- | lu- | |
| Plural | nii- | za- | yaa- | goo- | sai- | luu- |
When there are two "3rd Persons" in the sentence the less topical one is marked as 4th person.
Goseglaufe. "she has helped him."
go-se-glaufe
3SG-4SG-feed
The Impersonal is used for processes that are perceived as agentless, as well as for general statements. The Impersonal when used without any other marking also functions as an infinitive. Infinitive stative verbs are used as adjectives.
Luzguu "It snows"
lu-zguu
IMPERS-snow
There are also a set of reflexive prefixes
| 1st Person In. | 1st Person Ex. | 2nd Person | 3rd person | 4th Person | Indefinite | |
| Singular | nisp- | yasp- | gosp- | sasp- | lusp- | |
| Plural | niisp- | zasp- | yaasp- | goosp- | saisp- | loosp- |
Tense
There are 4 tenses, Present, Near Past (Past 1), Far Past (Past 2), and Future. Use of the near or far past is determined whether the verb occurs within the last day. The Near Past prefix is -k(a), Far Past is -f(e), Future is -wo.
Niyhokslyai "I ate ham (today)"
ni-yho-k-slyai
1SG-eat-PST1-ham
Niyhofslyai "I ate ham (before today)"
ni-yho-f-slyai
1SG-eat-PST2-ham
Niyhowoslyai "I will eat ham"
ni-yho-wo-slyai
1SG-eat-FUT-ham
Aspect
There are 7 prefixes that mark aspect:
The Perfect prefix -nc- is used to show completed action. Note that it is Perfect, NOT Perfective; Plitnakya does not have a true Perfective-Imperfective distinction
Niksaancyhoslyai "I have eaten ham before"
ni-ksaa-nc-yho-slyai
1SG-previously-PRF-eat-ham
The Habitual prefix -nla- signifies actions that are habitual and usual.
Ninlayhoslyai Notligel "I (usually) eat ham on Christmas"
ni-nla-yho-slyai notlig-el
1SG-HAB-eat-ham Christmas-LOC.DEF
The Inchoative prefix -whaa- indicates the start of an action and can have a hortative meaning in the 1st person plural. There is no verb for "to start", the verbs for "to be" and "to do/make" in the Inchoative aspect are used, instead
Nigowhaayhok slyailii "I started eating the ham"
ni-go-whaa-yho-k slyai-lii
1SG-3SG-INCH-eat-PST1 ham-ACC.DEF
The Cessative prefix -jeul-indicates the end of an action. There is no verb for "to stop", the verbs for "to be" and "to do/make" in the Cessative aspect are used, instead.
Nijeulyho "I am done eating"
ni-jeul-yho
1SG-CESS-eat
The Necessitative prefix -toi-indicates an obligation to do an action.
Yatoiyho "You must eat"
ya-toi-yho
2SG-NEC-eat
The Attenuative prefix -mho- weakens the intensity of the verb.
Nigoomhoyhok hepeskutai "I nibbled on some crackers"
ni-gooN-mho-yho-k heH-beskut-ai
1SG-3PL-ATTEN-eat-PST1 PL-cracker-ACC
The Intensive prefix -z- strengthens the intensity of the verb.
Nigozyhok slyailii "I gorged on the ham"
ni-go-z-yho-k slyai-lii
1SG-3SG-INTEN-eat-PST1 ham-ACC.DEF
Mood
There are 6 mood suffixes:
The Imperative suffix -(y)i
The Subjunctive suffix -(h)ai-
The Optative suffix -(h)e-
The Desirative suffix -(w)eu-
The Conditional suffix -(l)au-
The Potential suffix -(ngh)ee-
Voice
There are 2 mood suffixes:
The Passive suffix -sek
The Antipassive suffix -gzai-
Evidentiality
There are 3 evidential prefixes:
The 1st Hand prefix -s(i)-
The 2nd Hand prefix -yha(n)-
The Inference and Common Knowledge prefix -jwee(h)-
Question-Marking and Negation
The Negative suffix is -(a)zk-
The Question suffix -(y)ii
