Raxic

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Raxic
raximi
Spoken in: Ractam Empire
Timeline/Universe: Hheergrem
Total speakers: extinct
Genealogical classification: Zachydic
Raxo-Talsmic
Ractamic
Raxic
Basic word order: SOV
Morphological type: agglutinating and fusional
Morphosyntactic alignment: accusative
Created by:
IlL 2013-


Raxic (/ˈræk.sɨk/) is a Zachydic language spoken in the Ractam empire in antiquity. It is a fusional language with a Nāhuatl, Navajo, and Latin flavor. It is intended to be "anti-Themsaran" in many respects, particularly in phonology and grammar (and also to guide me in putting Themsaran and the rest of Talsmic on a firm diachronic foundation).

Background

See also: sound changes from Proto-Raxo-Talsmic.

Phonology

Consonants

Raxic preserves (with some alterations) the original Zachydic three-way distinction of voiced, tenuis (realized with light aspiration) and ejective stops and affricates. Raxic merges the ancestral velar series with the uvular series, unlike Talsmic which loses the labialization distinction in ancestral dorsal stops.

Two vowels that come in hiatus with each other may be separated by [ɦ].

Consonants
Labial Coronal Palatal Velar Glottal
central lateral plain labialized
Nasal m /m/ n /n/ [ŋ]
Plosive tenuis p /p/ t /t/ c /k/ qu /kʷ/ h /ʔ/
voiced b /b/ d /d/ g /g/ gu /gʷ/
ejective ph /pʼ/ th /tʼ/ ch /kʼ/
Fricative voiceless s /s/ ł /ɬ/
voiced z /z~dz/ [ɦ]
Affricate tenuis tz /ts/ /tɬ/
ejective tzh /tsʼ/ xłh /tɬʼ/
Approximant l /l/ y /j/ u /w/
Trill r /r/

/kʷ gʷ ʔw/ is written uc ug uh syllable finally.

/z~dz/ is always pronounced [z] at the end of words.

Phonotactics

A word may not end in a consonant cluster; usually an epenthetic vowel i is inserted to resolve a consonant cluster.

A word may not begin with p or ph - in word initial position these phonemes were converted respectively to u /w/ and hu /ʔw/.

Phonological rules

c/g/ch/qu/gu + s = x /ks/

qu/gu + h = hu /ʔw/

m > n [ŋ] / _c/g/ch/qu/gu, n > m / _C[labial]

m > n / _#

non-labial plosive/x + ł/łh = xł/xłh

m/n > [ː~] / _C[sibilant/liquid]

m/n > [~ː] / V_C#

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close i /ɪ/ ī /iː/ u /ʊ/ ū /uː/
Mid e /e~ɛ/ ē /eː/ o /o~ɔ/ ō /oː/
Open a /ɐ/ ā /aː/

Iff there are no long ē or ō in the word e and o are pronounced open.

Stress

Raxic follows the same Dreimorengesetz as Latin: the syllable containing the third-to-last mora is stressed, disregarding word-final consonants.

Orthography

Raxic is written in an adapted Antidi script. The letters of the Romanization (up to capitalization) are one-to-one counterparts of the Raxic graphemes.

Grammar

Nouns and adjectives

Genders: masculine/feminine (strictly for animates), inanimate

Numbers: singular, plural (distinction only in animates?)

Cases:

  • Nominative: Subject and predicate nominals
  • Accusative: Direct object, time expressions (duration, time of day), measured quantities
  • Genitive: Possessor, partitive
  • Dative: Indirect/benefactive object, spatial destination, purpose
  • Locative: Spatial location
  • Ablative-comitative: Source in space, cause, animate agent of passive, comparison, companion, predicative possession
  • Instrumental: Instrument, method, adjutative (with help of someone)
  • Adverbial: Manner, similarity/identity
Classifiers

Classifiers can be used with numerals (tełōz tzuz miquoh 'two houses'; whenever using a classifier in a numeral phrase the noun is in the genitive case and the numeral is case-inflected.), or alienable possession. Classifiers with possessive suffixes must be declined to agree with the noun phrase.

Classifiers must be used with headless modifiers.

Pronouns and correlatives

Declension of personal pronouns
1 1+2 2
Number → Singular Plural Plural Singular Plural
Case ↓ Masculine Feminine
Nominative hin āmi quīt ziuī lītz
Accusative hinał āmāt quāt zīł ziuīł tzāt
Genitive hinoh āmih quihuah ziyōh ziuīh tzihuah
Dative hinoz āmīz quihuāz ziyōz ziuīz tzihuāz
Locative hinaxī āmixī quihuaxī ziyōxī ziuīxī tzihuaxī
Ablative-Comitative hinān āmīn quihuān ziyōn ziuīn tzihuān
Allative hinatzti āmitzti quītzti ziyotzti ziuitzti tzītzti
Instrumental hinīlli āmīlli quīlli ziyōlli ziuīlli tzīlli
Adverbial hināri āmāri quīri ziyōri ziuīri tzīri

Verbs

Verbs are conjugated for 5 categories:

  • Subject agreement
  • Voices: active, passive, reflexive (causative is no longer productive)
  • Aspects: progressive, habitual, perfective
  • Moods: indicative, subjunctive, imperative/hortative, optative, volitional
  • Evidentiality: witnessed, hearsay, common knowledge?

The indicative mood is negated with hiri (~ Thm. tír < *ʔeti-ʔiri), while all other moods take the negation particle an (~ Thm. hám).

Subject/TAM affixes
Indicative mood
Habitual/gnomic
Singular Plural
1.ex -īn -mē
1.in - *-ntzi > -~ːtzi
2.m -iz *-ltzi > -utzi
3/4.m *-m > -in -guī
3/4.f -itzin
3/4.n -i
Progressive
Singular Plural
1.ex *-īn-xłi > -īxłi *-mē-xłi > -mēxłi
1.in - *-ntzi-xłi > -~ːtzixłi
2.m *-z-xłi > -sxłi *-ltzi-xłi > -utzxłi
3/4.m *-m-xłi > -(n)xłi *-guī-xł > -guīxłi
3/4.f *-itzin-xłi > -itzīxłi
3/4.n *-i-xłi > -ixłi
Perfective
Singular Plural
1.ex *-īn-hin > -īhin *-mē-hin > -mēhin
1.in - *-ntzi-hin > -~ːtzhin
2.m *-z-hin > -zhin *-ltzi-hin > -utzhin
3/4.m *-m-hin > -īhin *-guī-hin > -guīhin
3/4.f *-itzi-hin > -itzhin
3/4.n *-i-hin > -ihin, -hin

The mood suffixes combine thus:

Subjunctive -(i)s: the vowel is inserted after a consonant.

Imperative -ti:

Imperative mood
Habitual/gnomic
Singular Plural
1.ex *-īn-ti > -īti *-mē-ti > -mēti
1.in - *-ntzi-ti > -~ːtzti
2.m *-iz-ti > -isti *-ltzi-ti > -utzti
3/4.m *-m-ti > -~ːti *-guī-ti > -guīti
3/4.f *-itzin-ti > -itzīti
3/4.n -iti
Progressive
Singular Plural
1.ex -īxłti -mēxłti
1.in - -~ːtzixłti
2.m -zixłti -utzixłti
3/4.m -~ːxłti -guīxłti
3/4.f -itzīxłi
3/4.n -ixłti
Perfective
Singular Plural
1.ex -īhīti -mēhīti
1.in - -~ːtzhīti
2.m -zhīti -utzhīti
3/4.m -~ːhīti -guīhiti
3/4.f -itzhīti
3/4.n -ihīti, -hīti

Optative -oh:

Optative mood
Habitual/gnomic
Singular Plural
1.ex -īnoh -mēh
1.in - -~ːtzoh
2.m -izoh -utzoh
3/4.m -moh -guīyoh
3/4.f -itzoh
3/4.n -iyoh
Progressive
Singular Plural
1.ex -īxłoh -mēxłoh
1.in - -~ːtzixłoh
2.m -sxłoh -utzixłoh
3/4.m -~ːxłoh -guīxłoh
3/4.f -itzīxłoh
3/4.n -ixłoh
Perfective
Singular Plural
1.ex -īhinoh -mēhinoh
1.in - -~ːtzhinoh
2.m -zhinoh -utzhinoh
3/4.m -~ːhinoh -guīhinoh
3/4.f -itzhinoh
3/4.n -ihinoh, -hinoh

Volitional -he:

Volitional mood
Habitual/gnomic
Singular Plural
1.ex -īhe -mēhe
1.in - -~ːtzhe
2.m -izhe -utzhe
3/4.m -~ːhe -guīhe
3/4.f -itzīhe
3/4.n -ihe
Progressive
Singular Plural
1.ex -īxłhe -mēxłhe
1.in - -~ːtzixłhe
2.m -zixłhe -utzixłhe
3/4.m -~ːxłhe -guīxłhe
3/4.f -itzīxłhe
3/4.n -ixłhe
Perfective
Singular Plural
1.ex -īhyē -mēhyē
1.in - -~ːtzhyē
2.m -zhyē -utzhyē
3/4.m -~ːhyē -guīhyē
3/4.f -itzhyē
3/4.n -ihyē, -hyē


Syntax

Basic word order

SOV, VO in relative clauses with head as subject

Both pre- and postpositions (serving as pseudo-cases), adjective-noun, genitive-noun, noun-relative clause

Constructions using verbal moods

Subjunctive

Imperative

Optative

Volitional