Memniq morphology

Main article: Memniq

This page gives an extensive description of Memniq morphological features.

Nouns

Nouns in Memniq language can end either in a vowel or in a consonant in their basic form.

Nouns display neither gender nor class distinction. There are, however, two morphological numbers for almost all nouns, singular and plural, and a modest case system.

Cases

Memniq nouns do decline, according to a nominative-accusative system with 4 cases:

Case	Meaning
Nominative	This case marks the subject of a verb. It is regarded as the base form of the noun, and it is used as the vocative form.
Accusative	This case marks the direct object of a verb. It is also used with many prepositions.
Genitive	This case marks primarily possession and belonging, either intentional, unintentional, or indirect.
Dative	This case marks primarily the indirect object.

Other types of clause complements are conveyed using various prepositions, which can select one or more cases.

Noun pluralization

Nouns are declined for number according to two different models:

• Broken plural (or internal plural):

In this process the noun builds its plural by switching its vowels in the root:

sing. tape̥ → plur. utpi̥
father → fathers

sing. mu̥ha → plur. e̥mhu
cow → cows

This pluralization process is very widespread among original roots.

Since many basic nouns do not adhere to a define vowel switching pattern, their plural form is shown in the vocabulary.

This process is also used in many derivative patterns. Since these patterns are quite regular and predictive, their plural form is not shown in the vocabulary.

• Sound plural (or external plural):

In this process the nound builds its plural by adding the ending -jë (to nouns ending in vowel) or -ëj (to nouns ending in vowel), without any root alterations:

sing. me̥rniq → plur. me̥rniqëj
mountain dweller → mountain dwellers

This pluralization process is widespread among loanwords and in some derivative patterns. They are usually shown in the vocabulary

Noun declension

Nouns are also declined in case by adding the following endings to the base form of the noun. Every ending has two different forms, whether it is added to a consonant phoneme or a vocalic phoneme:

	+ consonant	+ vowel
nominative	-	-
accusative	-im	-m
genitive	-aš	-š
dative	-oʔ	-ʔ

Due to the pluralization process, nouns can display a different last phoneme in both forms. In this case the proper endings to the new last phoneme are used.

Some examples are shown below: a noun with a broken plural, tape̥, father, and a noun with a sound plural, me̥rniq, mountain dweller.

	tape̥		me̥rniq
	singular	plural	singular	plural
nominative	tape̥	utpi̥	me̥rniq	me̥rniqëj
accusative	tape̥m	utpi̥m	me̥rniqim	me̥rniqëjim
genitive	tape̥š	utpi̥š	me̥rniqaš	me̥rniqëjaš
dative	tape̥ʔ	utpi̥ʔ	me̥rniqoʔ	me̥rniqëjoʔ

Adjectives and pronouns

Adjectives closely resemble the noun form, showing the same exceptions of nouns. Pronouns, instead, may exhibit different forms in the root form.

Adjectives

Both attributive and predicative adjectives are always placed after the nouns they specify, with a very few exceptions.

ʔinu̥r ure̥hli 
(the) young man

jane̥ne ʔinu̥r ure̥hli
(the) man is young

All adjectives agree in case and number with the noun they specify, being declined with the nominal endings. Adjectives are declined in number by following the same rules as the nouns, often displaying similar irregularities.

Declension of qualifying adjectives

Example: aħli̥to, big, and së̥na, house.

	së̥na aħli̥to
	singular	plural
nominative	së̥na aħli̥to	osu̥n uħli̥to
accusative	së̥nam aħli̥tom	osu̥nim uħli̥tom
genitive	së̥naš aħli̥toš	osu̥naš uħli̥toš
dative	së̥naʔ aħli̥toʔ	osu̥noʔ uħli̥toʔ

Numerals

The numeral system relies on a mixed system of decimal base and a vigesimal base.

Cardinal numerals

The first ten cardinal numbers are noun-like forms on their own:

digit	full form
1:	țe̥ʔu
2:	iʔẙq
3:	emqi̥
4:	anḁ̈ŕ
5:	fḁ̈nu
6:	yťŕḁ̈
7:	iħśü̥
8:	ʔe̥ći
9:	ḁtjö
10:	po̥ʔi

Numerals from 11 to 17 are built with the construction po̥ʔi + NUM:

digit	full form
11:	poʔițe̥ʔu
12:	poʔiʔẙq
13:	poʔemqi̥
14:	poʔanḁ̈ŕ
15:	poʔyťŕḁ̈
16:	poʔifḁ̈nu
16:	poʔiħśü̥

As it can be seen, if the numeral begins with a vowel, the final vowel of po̥ʔi is dropped.

Numerals 18 and 19 are irregularly built from the numeral 20:

digit	full form
18:	iʔquʔḁ̥tru
19:	țeʔuʔḁtru

The numerals for 20 is a noun-like form on their own:

digit	full form
20:	ʔḁtru

Numerals for 30, 50, 70 and 90 are built with the construction i̥pʔa + NUM:

digit	full form
30:	ipʔemqi̥
50:	ipʔafḁ̈nu
70:	ipʔiħśü̥
90:	ipʔḁtjö

As it can be seen, if the numeral begins with a vowel, the final vowel of i̥pʔa is dropped.

Numerals for 40, 60 and 80 are built with the construction ʔtḁr + 2 / 3 / 4:

digit	full form
40:	ʔtariʔẙq
60:	ʔtaremqi̥
80:	ʔtaranḁ̈ŕ

The numerals for (one) hundred and (one) thousand are noun-like forms on their own:

digit	full form
100:	u̥ncu
1000:	ëțnẙt

The numerals for the multiples of hundreds and thousands are built with the construction no̥cu / țnë̥to + NUM:

	hundreds	thousands
2x:	nociʔẙq	țnëtiʔẙq
3x:	nocemqi̥	țnëtemqi̥
4x:	nocanḁ̈ŕ	țnëtanḁ̈ŕ
5x:	nocufḁ̈nu	țnëtofḁ̈nu
6x:	nocyťŕḁ̈	țnëtyťŕḁ̈
7x:	nociħśü̥	țnëtiħśü̥
8x:	nocuʔe̥ći	țnëtoʔe̥ći
9x:	nocḁtjö	țnëtḁtjö

As it can be seen, if the numeral begins with a vowel, the final vowels of no̥cu and țnë̥to are dropped.

Composite numbers are built by linking them with the conjunction ka, and, in descending order:

• 1985: ëțnẙt ka nocḁtjö ka ʔtaranḁ̈ŕ ka fḁ̈nu

All cardinal numerals up to these forms are treated as adjective-like forms. They decline according to their adjoining nouns in case, but they do not agree in number. Numerals do decline only in singular number. However, numeral are placed almost always before their adjoining nouns. In later texts they can be found also after their nouns.

The numeral for “million” is formed from the word ëțnẙt. Numbers above the millions have no name and are specified by the lesser numerals.

digit	noun form
1,000,000:	țë̥nt

This form is treated as a regularly declinable noun, with an external plural:

digit	noun form
3,000,000:	emqi̥ țë̥ntëj
25,000,000:	ʔḁtru fḁ̈nu țë̥ntëj

Nouns adjoining such numerals are not preceded by any preposition and are declined in the case required by their syntactical role in the sentence, as the numerals themselves:

iʔẙqoʔ țë̥ntëjoʔ o̥ćnuhoʔ
to two millions people

Ordinal numerals

Ordinal numerals are formed by adding the ordinal ending -iju/-ju to the cardinal numeral form, with some irregularities:

digit	adjective form
1st:	țe̥ʔiju
2nd:	iʔẙqiju
3rd:	emqi̥ju
4th:	anḁ̈ŕiju
5th:	fḁ̈niju
6th:	yťŕḁ̈ju
7th:	iħśü̥ju
8th:	ʔe̥ćiju
9th:	ḁtjöju
10th:	po̥ʔiju
11th:	poʔițe̥ʔuju
12th:	poʔiʔẙqiju
19th:	iʔquʔḁ̥triju
20th:	ʔḁtriju
30th:	ipʔemqi̥ju
100th:	u̥nciju
600th:	nocyťŕḁ̈ju
1000th:	ëțnẙtiju
9000th:	țnëtḁtjöju

If the numeral form is composite, the ending is added only to the last numeral form:

• 25^th: ʔatru ka fänuju

Verbs

The verbal system of Memniq language make its distinctions through several introflexive vowel switchings and through suffixation and prefixation. It is easily noticeable that introflexive processes distinguish mood, aspect, and tense, while suffixation and prefixation distinguish person, number, and, limitedly, also tense.

The verbal system is based on the fundamental dichotomy between imperfective aspect and perfective aspect. This distinction is conveyed by two different verbal roots for every verbal meaning, the imperfective root (R_imp) and the perfective root (R_prf). In triliteral root, distinction is made through introflexion:

Rimp = CCVC → Rprf = CVCVC

In biliteral roots, similarly, distinction is made through introflexion:

Rimp = CVC → Rprf = VCVC

Examples:

Rimp = qmo̥l- → Rprf = qomo̥l-
Rimp = še̥k- → Rprf = eše̥k-

The verbal system displays the following features:

• aspect:
  • imperfective
  • perfective
• tense:
  • past
  • present
  • future
• mood:
  • definite moods: indicative, subjunctive, conditional, optative, imperative
  • indefinite moods: infinitive, participle
• diathesis:
  • active
  • passive
• valency:
  • declarative
  • inferential

All verbs are divided in two groups, called conjugations. Each conjugation is distinguished by a different vowel pattern and by different prefixation and suffixation. Each vowel pattern is identified by a different thematic vowel: Conjugation I displays -e- as its thematic vowel, while conjugation II displays -o- as its thematic vowel. The general scheme is:

Conjugation I	-e-
Conjugation II	-o-

The thematic vowel is usually the primary vowel of the word, and it does not change in the conjugation when conveying aspect, tense or person. Conversely, it undergoes several change when conjugation conveys mood.

The following personal endings are then added to the various aspectual and temporal forms. In this way, verbs show their agreement with the clause subject in person and number, besided introflexive processes:

1st sing.	-u
2nd sing.	-u / -o
3rd sing.	thematic vowel / Ø
1st plur.	-m
2nd plur.	-š
3rd plur.	-t

Moods are distinguished, conversely, by altering the thematic vowel:

	Indicative	Subjunctive	Conditional	Optative
Conjugation I	-e-	-ä-	-a-	-i-
Conjugation II	-o-	-ü-	-y-	-ö-

The imperative forms are built with the same thematic vowel as the indicative forms.

The non-finite verbal forms are meant as nominal/adjectival forms of the same verbs. They do not add the personal endings, but they are declined as nouns or adjectives with the nominal declension endings.

As verbal forms can, however, be formed on both roots. They can also change the thematic vowel according to mood.

The non-finite endings are:

• infinitive: -el
• active participle: pë- -uś
• passive participle: fë- -oś

All verbal forms can show a valency: declarative valency or inferential valency. Declarative forms are the base forms in conjugation, and they convey information or statements, which the speaker has witnessed or, at least, he has a higher level of confidency about. Declarative forms are also used when the valency of the statement is not regarded as relevant, or for gnomic information. Inferential forms, conversely, refer to information or statements, which the speaker has not witnessed or he has a higher level of distrust about.

Inferential forms are derived from declarative ones through an infix -r-/-l-, which is placed inside the root, right after the primary vowel. The -l- variant is used only when the adjacent consonat is a rhotic one.

A distinction between an active diathesis and a passive diathesis is made.