Mutesz

A documentation for the Mutesz language (relay version, less specifics).

This document will detail only the East dialect of the language.

Context

Mutesz is a language spoken by people in a land self declared Maat, Maat became a center of trade between different peoples and spread some influence across the area.

The language was spoken for a very long time, the version shown here is an earlier moment of the language and focuses on the East dialect that retains more conservative features, while the West dialect had more influence in other languages.

Mutesz invented the first writing system in Evea, and that is the main reason the conlang exist.

Maat is a savanna besides a small mountain range, the people developed into large areas of agriculture and formation of cities, the place is also a good source of copper and copper mining made it very influential in the economy of nearby peoples.

Phonology

Phoneme inventory

Syllables

The maximal syllable is CVC with the following restrictions:

• /r/ is not allowed on codas
• /r/ /l/ are not allowed to cluster with other consonants
• /θ/ can cluster, but not on coda position: ak3a OK, *a3ka NO
• the consonant pairs /s t/ and /ʃ ʈ/ agree with each other in clusters: asta OK, asztza OK, *astza NO
• nasals assimilate before fricatives becoming geminates: an + sa = assa
  • except 3 where the nasal is deleted: an + 3a = a3a
• only low vowels /a ɛ ɔ/ form hiatus, the high vowels colapse in unpredictable ways
• the consonant /t/ on the coda assimilates with the next consonant as long as it can be doubled

Romanization

Some consonants may appear geminated when they agree on the coda and onset, then the digraphs tz sz are written ttz ssz but their sounds are /ʈʈ ʃʃ/ respectively. This kind of orthographical elision is not allowed on the clusters tzsz and sztz.

Vowels can use some special diacritics:

⟨ė ȧ ȯ⟩ marks a low vowel that resulted from the assimilation of a high vowel.

A breve ⟨ĕ ă ŏ ŭ ĭ⟩ marks a vowel that can be elided when close to another vowel.

These diacritics will help with comprehension of some word formations.

Parts of Speech

The lexical words of Mutesz are divided by nouns and verbs. Only verbs are predicable, nouns may modify other nouns directly while verbs are modified by postpositional phrases.

While verbs display agglutinative morphology, nouns phrases are formed analytically terminated in a sequence of clitics.

The verbs of Mutesz form a closed class, that means that new verbs cannot be derived from other words, derivational morphology is very limited in Mutesz and is made mostly by compounding.

Verb morphology

Verbs inflect for polarity, mood, tense, person and number, and can index pronominal, locative and dative objects. Using the following template:

Tense

There are only two tenses: the non-future that is unmarked and the future that is marked with -s(i)-. The tense is the closest to the verb stem, and may be rarely subject to suppletive forms.

The choice of -si- or -s- depends on the stem ending, if it ends with a consonant -si- is used, otherwise -s-. Because of the phonotactic rules the final form of the verb might be obscured, the examples below illustrate such cases.

After the subject inflection is added the vowel i might also be obscured, so in the end the presence of -s- is the best marker of future tense.

Subject

Subject marking is very regular, all of them start with a vowel ĕ that can be elided in the presence of another vowel, with the exception of the second person singular, that must always remain e, in that case it may overwrite a high vowel in its place, the table below has two verb examples.

To illustrate the effects of tense marking in conjunction with person marking the table below show the full inflection of two verbs.

Objects

The verb can be indexed for the object that may be dative or not. The table below shows the prefixes for each person and number.

The object prefixes show a lot of allomorphy, the dative marker is characterized by the n. The V in the first person singular copies the initial vowel of the stem, the vowel of another prefix or defaults to being the indicative vowel i-.

† Before a fricative the prefix im- becomes me-

Some example sentences:

Dative objects are indexed with the other set of prefixes.

Some example sentences:

Locative

The locative indexing prefix is the consonant s-, it can be used together with the object indexing, it can be roughly translated as there and is always used when the verb has a location. The locative marker will metathesize with the indicative vowel i forming the prefix si- before a consonant.

The locative marker may be used without an explicit locative argument, in that case it is roughly translatable as "there".

Mood

There are two base moods: the indicative marked by the vowel i- and the irrealis marked by a-, but the i- is often elided unless needed for keeping syllable structure, on the other hand the irrealis a- continues there unless in the imperative mood, where it is preceded by p- and is reduced in case it has assimilated a high vowel.

Imperative

The imperative form is uninflected for subject.

Prohibitives have different way to be made but they do not use the imperative mood.

Jussive

The jussive mood tĕ- has a similar function to the imperative, but it can be conjugated by tense, person and number, its function is to make an appeal to the addressee. When its used with the first person it expresses the wishes of the speaker.

The negative jussive is a way to express prohibition.

Polarity

A clause is negated with the negative prefix ka-.

There is also an affirmative prefix tza- it works as an emphasis marker, it can be used to confirm something that was said, the same way the negative marker can be used to negate something that was said. It can be used to declare the speaker is sure of what they are talking.

Preverbs

Many verbs can take a noun complement that is not an object, but instead form a light verb where the noun contributes with meaning. These are a very productive way of deriving more verbs from the closed class in Mutesz.

They are very arbitrary and sometimes might not be on the dictionary. Here is a list of some of them:

Sentence Structure

The basic word order of Mutesz is SOV, the verb and object are always close of each other and the verb might optionally have a preverb. The morphosyntactic alignment is nominative-accusative, there are no case markers.

Adverbial phrases precede the object in any position, usually the subject comes first so they go in between the S and O.

Pronouns, both subject and object are often dropped in favor of verb indexing and possessive marking.

Mutesz lacks any conjunction words and relies on clause chaining instead.

Animacy

In Mutesz inanimate nouns are prohibited from being the agent of a verb, instead the verb is nominalized without subject. Note that this does not prevent it from being the patient of certain intransitive verbs.

Noun Phrase

The noun phrase starts with the head noun and ends at a head postposition, some modifiers are clitics that all attach to the last word in the noun phrase.

Adjectives

Mutesz doesn't have a class of adjective words, instead nouns modify other nouns directly, so some nouns can be read in a adjectival form.

These nouns indicate properties as size, age, shape, color and material. Other kinds of adjective meaning are made with genitive or relative phrases, they will be detailed later.

Some examples sentences:

There is no preferred order of adjectives in Mutesz.

Demonstratives and Possessives

Demonstratives, possessives and the obviate marker share the same slot in the verb phrase and then cannot coocurr. All of these words are clitics, so they attach to the closest left word like a suffix.

The possessives don't have number except for the first person, possession affects obviation, as possessed nouns are always obviate and obviates can never be possessors.

The demonstratives do not encode a distance distinction like in most languages, but the possessive =sza implies the possessed is not present or visible and can also be used as a demonstrative, but its only for inanimate nouns.

The obviate demonstrative marks a third person that is less important to the discourse than another third person, called the proximate. The obviate marker is a means to distinguishing multiple third persons in a sentence or discourse.

The example below illustrates the usage in discourse.

Inanimate things are always obviate, therefore they can not possess things, they also can't be agents. Possessed things are also always obviate and so the marker is not necessary for them.

Plural

The plural of nouns is marked with the clitic =ŭt, this clitic might be far away from the noun if there are many modifiers. The plural marker may imply multiple possession when used with possessors, the interpretation depends on context.

Numeral nouns are not marked with the plural. Examples below:

Some words that are singular in English are collective in Mutesz.

A complex noun phrase can have the plural far away.

Adpositions

Mutesz only has three adpositions: locative =a, ablative =ŏ3, and genitive =kı. This section will cover some usages of the locative and ablative, other uses are explained in adverbial phrases.

An overview of the functions of the adpositions for different types of nouns is given below:

The place meaning of the adpositions is reinforced with the locative marker in verbs.

For expressions of time the verb does not take a locative.

The locative postposition is also used to denote things that are the recipient or destination of an action, like the verb szom "to give" and nee "to see"

The locative =a is not used so much with objects, objects with the ablative =ŏ3 have an instrumental meaning.

The ablative can be used to indicate causer of a non-finite verb phrase.

Genitive

The genitive phrase is marked by the postposition =kı, the genitives are found before relative clauses and there may be multiple of them.

The complement of the genitive is a full noun phrase that can have its own postpositions, this results on some stacking of them as shown next:

The genitive is used to express not only possession but also composition, description, purpose and specifying location or time.

Numerals

Numerals are base 24 with a subbase of 4.

After 24 the numbers can be added by concatenation. A multiple of 24 is represented by szu X=ŭt Y = 24×X + Y.

Partitive

Numerals can be the head noun as long as they are possessed by a pronoun or have a genitive phrase, in that case they have a partitive meaning. These do not take the plural marker.

Relative clauses

Relative clauses are last before the nominal clitics, the relative clauses can embed a verb phrase in a noun phrase and are used for more complex descriptions similar to adjectives.

The relative clauses are formed by nominalized verb phrases, a verb can be nominalized by the suffix -a at the very end, check the next examples.

The relative clause is gapped, so there is no complementizer or relative pronoun.

Pronouns

Personal pronouns are rarely used in Mutesz due to the great preference to pro-dropping. The oblique set of pronouns is used for both accusative or dative pronouns.

Demonstrative

Mutesz has a single demonstrative pronoun 3u that has no distance distinction like most most languages. In that case 3u is used to refer to something that is known in the discourse.

Here are some examples showing its anaphoric function:

Copula

The copula verb at is used to perform nominal predication and locative predication. The first one is used for definite complements and social roles, indefinite complements and adjectival meaning are made by other verbs.

Locative predication uses the locative prefix on the copula. The same is used for existential predication that lacks a location complement.

Adjectives

Adjectival predication is done with other verbs (there are exceptions), this part of the language isn't fully developed by now. Color nouns still use at.

One of such verbs is eek, used for words conveying emotion or value.

Other is par, used for dimensions.

Questions

Mutesz has no particular morphology for questions, they depend only on intonation.

Polar Questions

Polar questions simply change the intonation of a regular assertive sentence.

The language lacks any speech acts at the moment, those would be sentence initial words that shows speaker attitude, hopefully that wont be a problem.

Content Questions

Mutesz doesn't have question words, instead it will nouns with the sza demonstrative to ask questions. The word raa "thing" is often used for inanimates and the partitive te=kı "one of" for animates.

The demonstrative with locative 3ȧa is used to ask for place.

The word itz is used for quantity.

Subordinate Clauses

Subordinate clauses are all made by nominalization in similar fashion to the relative clauses, the subordinates may then be marked by a postposition to make adverbial clauses.

The locative =a is used to make several kinds of adverbials. Sometimes this can be translated as "while" but it can have various meaning.

The ablative =o3 is used to make adverbs of manner or cause.

Causative Constructions

Causative constructions are made by using the verb mo "to place" and a subordinate clause.

Passive Constructions

Passive constructions allow the omission of the subject of a verb, they are formed by a nominalized clause as the complement of the copula, the copula takes a 3sg marking by default in that case, even thought it has no real subject.

Reference

Verb Reference Table

Noun Reference Table

Dictionary

At the moment this includes only words used in the examples.

A

aa n water
aas v to raise, to lift, to hoist • (intransitive) to rise
akkam n large area • (adjectively) wide, broad • a garden or yard (of a house)
ar v to cross, to move across or through something
at v copula
attal n man • body
attasoo n weaver, tailor
a3al v to hold, to grasp • to possess, to own

E

eek v to become, to turn into • to feel, copula for emotions and values • to do
ek v to move straight to a place
enur v to glow
egga n height, altitude • (adjectively) tall
eska v to begin, to commence, to initiate, to start • to give birth
essı v to laugh
eteg v to slide, to move without friction • to leak, to escape enclosure • to let something happen by accident
etz v to eat

O

o n hand, arm
oo3 v to know
oram n female adult fox
os v to cut • to pass by • to stop moving • to interrupt, to debate, to criticize
ottzı n red, orange

K

kaag n health, well being
katam n land, terrain • farmland
kem v to ask • to want, to desire
kooro n taste, tasty • interesting
kop v to aim, to target, to direct an intention • to face, to confront
kol v to blow, to inflate • to make a fire
koro n black, dark
kosz v to drink, to eat soft food • to consume, to feed on
kot n king
kup n thickness, density, depth • (adjectively) thick, dense • (adjectively) deep, profound
kuril n rabbit
kısta v to be simple, to be easy
kıtta n male adult fox

M

ma n mother
maa n great, excelent
me n stone, rock
mo v to place • to pull • to shoot a weapon or stone with a device • to tell, to talk about something • to paint • to row (a boat) • to grind, to thresh (of grains) • to cause, makes causative constructions
mu v to go along, to contour, to move along a path
mıkkası n oldest son
mik n food
mitz v to smooth, to polish • to rub clean, to wipe

N

narıg v to be equal, to be the same • to be square (of a shape)
nee v to see, perceive with the eyes • to meet with someone • to read
neero n table, desk, bench
no n opposite side
no v to withdraw, to remove, to reduce

G

gat n river
gel v to step, to put the feet on • to press with feet
gura n wood • wooden floor, wood planks
gı3a n storage pot • crate, box, chest

P

par v to take, to seize • to capture, to catch • to measure • copula verb for dimensions
pat v to turn, to bend • to take a turn, to change direction
pa3 n day
pele n fire
po n garnment, cloth
po v to release • to prepare, to get done, to organize • to occur, to happen at a place
pıre n (adjectively) small, little, short • a thing of such size
piras n broom • brush • plumage, plume, a decorative feather, bird's crest

L

lamas n young man, boy • masculine, male
lap n both eyes • sight, view, vision
latzu n bowl, dish, plate
lek v to extract, to suck • to stretch, to pull
lemma v to rule, to govern
lu3 v to fly
lu3esza n a pair of wings

R

raa n thing, stuff, object • fact, matter • (usually plural) someone's property, possessions
ru n aspect, likeness, appearance
rık n shiny, golden

S

sak n house, building
saneekesza n bedroom • a small room
sag n fence, low wall • stalk (of a plant)
see n tree
sep n milk
sog n flower
suke n path, way, road
surık n gold
sutzal n copper
sı n head • main, principal
sı v to help
szan v to speak, to say
sze n father
szek n sour, acid • spoiled, rotten • sad, moody
szom v to give something for someone (ditransitive) • to finish doing something for someone else's sake • to organize an event (with locative) • to allow, to grant, to permit (with genitive)
szıp n light wind, breeze • cold air • ventilation

T

te v to come, to move closer to a place

TZ

tzaro v to work
tzı v to go, to move away to a place

3

3aru n name
3ee n quietness, silence • stall, break
3eg v to use (a tool), to employ • (intransitive) to be made, to be achieved
3ok n goat
3u pro demonstrative pronoun, this, that

U

usı v to get down, to fall in place, to move to an horizontal position on the ground • to go to sleep • to hit the floor
usz n word, story

I

ıke n knife • blade, razor
ım v to run
ılat n lake, pond, pool
ıs v to follow
ısse n vicinity, closeness, side • a half part of a long object
ıteem v to swim
ıttza v to be right, to be correct

İ

ikko v (intransitive) to break, to be damaged, to tear, to pop
ipu n middle, center • interior, inside
itto n fish
itz n multitude of objects, a large number • mass of material • (adjectively) many, much