Conlangs/Dahur

Phonology

Vowels

Dahur vowels are usually short. Double vowels (ex.: aa, ee &c.) may happen, but they are considered as simple vowel sequences.

The diagram below shows the 10 vowels of Dahur.

In practice, the vowel /a/ may actually vary between /a/, /ä/ and /ɑ/.

There are speakers that tend to merge /ø/ and /œ/, especially in more informal contexts.

Consonants

Dahur consonants are as follows:

	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	/m/		/n/
Plosive	/p/ /b/		/t/ /d/			/k/ /g/
Sibilant fricative			/s/ /z/	/ʃ/ /ʒ/
Non-sibilant fricative		/f/ /v/					/h/
Approximant					/j/
Tap/Flap/Trill			/ɾ/ /r/
Lateral Approx.			/l/

The rhotic consonant ("r") is in free variation and may be realised either as a tap, a flap or a trill. The trill pronunciation (/r/) is more common at the beginning of a syllable, and even more so at the beginning of a word. The tap/flap pronunciation (/ɾ/) is more common in consonant clusters, especially after a plosive.

In Dahur phonology, the combinations /tɾ/ and /kʃ/ count as single, independent consonants.

Phonotactics

A syllable in Dahur must contain one vowel, which may be preceded and/or followed by any number of consonants. In practice, consonant clusters don't usually go beyond four consonants. For that account, /kʃ/ and /tɾ/ are always considered as single consonants.

All consonant sequences are possible. However, in practice, some consonant combinations (ex. -hm-, -tɾkʃ- &c.) are rare.

Examples of valid syllables:

a

tɛ

en

wi

koj

gjɔ

pɾujn

kʃtɾa

fʃtlœmbz

Stress

In the literary dialect, considered official, words are stressed on the next-to-last syllable. However, if the last syllable contains the consonant /tɾ/, it will be stressed.

Ex.:

kanar /ˈka.nar/

ostrøndɛl /os.ˈtɾøn.dɛl/

tefʃiv /ˈtef.ʃiv/

dasutɾ /daˈsutɾ/

maʃkintɾod /maʃ.kinˈtɾod/

Morphology

Dahur is a highly flexional language, with a strong presence of irregular forms.

Nouns inflect for number, which is basically singular and plural, but there are also occurrences of dual (for things normally occurring in pairs) and singulative (for individual items of things usually found collectively).

Nouns also inflect for case, usually: nominative, accusative, dative, genitive, locative, instrumental, ergative and ablative. Instances of partitive and vocative are also found. The case called ergative is used basically for the agent of the passive voice.

Adjectives show no agreement to nouns, and inflect for degree (comparatives of superiority, equality, inferiority; relative and absolute superlative).

Nouns

Class

Dahurian nouns are divided in five classes, which can be compared to Latin or Greek declensions, as they consist in different inflection patterns, but may also be seen as a form of gender, as class is usually (but not always necessarily) related to the meaning of a noun.

Class 1	Living beings
Class 2	General objects
Class 3	Natural elements; insects
Class 4	Parts of human body; clothing
Class 5	Abstract nouns; traditional imaginary beings

There are no morphological indications related to noun classes in the nominative singular. The differences appear along the inflection of nouns.

Number

Nouns in Dahur have a singular and a plural. The plural ending varies according to noun class and to case. There is also a dual number, which is valid only for nouns normally occurring in pairs. Mass or collective nouns have a singulative inflection.

So, for example:

Class	Singular	Plural	Dual	Singulative
class 1	grats "boy"	gratsen "boys"	-	-
class 2	kɛʃev "hammer"	kɛʃevlin "hammers"	kɛʃevas "pair of hammers" (traditionally used by blacksmiths)	-
class 3	halajn "water"	halejnn "waters" (i.e. in a flood)	halajns "The Two Waters" (the river Okanuma and the lake Kassanjas)	halajny "a drop of water"
class 4	kanar "eye"	kanarni "many eyes" (mostly figuratively)	kanaris "(two/both) eyes"	-
class 4	kʃalim "hair"	kʃalimni "(types of) hair"	-	kʃalimy "a (single) hair"
class 5	astrønɛl "idea"	astrønɛljan "ideas"	astrønɛls "a couple ideas"	-

The plural in classes 1, 2 and 5 is usually regular, obtained with the respective suffixes (-en, -lin, -jan).

Ex.:

Class	Singular	Plural
class 1	fatlaj "girlfriend"	fatlajen
	dukʃatr "boss"	dukʃatren
	egastɛv "farmer"	egastɛven
class 2	takoj "pin"	takojlin
	upsan "paper"	upsanlin
	dasutr "document, file"	dasutrlin
class 5	pɛktegal "angel"	pɛktegaljan
	ostrøndɛl "interruption"	ostrøndɛljan
	piktaraʃ "problem"	piktaraʃjan

In classes 3 and 4, besides the suffixes (-n, -ni), most nouns suffer some sort of mutation, usually affecting only one vowel but non uncommonly consisting of more significative changes.

Ex.:

Class	Singular	Plural
class 3	pakpaki "louse"	pakpɛkin
	pahalis "leaf"	pahalejn
	tʃeptal "cloud"	tʃaptlin
class 4	kraws "ear"	krojsni
	ɛmblew "hat"	ɛmbalni
	krikter "helmet"	kruktni

Inflection

Noun declension in Dahur is quite regular, in terms of case and the less usual numbers, viz. the dual and the singulative.

• The nominative case is the basic form of nouns.
• The accusative case is indicated by the enging -a.
• The dative case is indicated by the enging -si.
• The genitive case is indicated by the enging -ak for animate intelligent beings, -iʃ for animals, -is for concrete objects and -ɔn for abstract things.
• The locative case is indicated by the enging -us. With animate nouns, the locative can mean "on", or "with", as in "carrying with".
• The instrumental case is indicated by the enging -em for animate intelligent beings, -om for animals, -um for things.
• The ergative case is indicated by the enging -øtr.
• The ablative case is indicated by the enging -ɛjv.

When an ending starting with a vowel is applied, a final -i becomes -j-, and a final -u becomes -w-; otherwise, an -h- is added. Ex.:

• dula "babysitter", dulahen "babysitters"
• agdari "prisoner", agdarjen "prisoners"
• kanarni "eyes", kanarnja "eyes (accus.)", kanarnjus "in the eyes", kanarnjɛjv "from the eyes"
• pakpaki "louse", pakpakja "louse (accus.)", pakpakjiʃ "of a louse", pakpakjom "by a louse"

Case endings are added to the plural ending.

In the following tables, you have some examples of nouns of the various classes, fully inflected for number and case.

Class 1: grats "boy"
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	grats	gratsen
Accusative	gratsa	gratsena
Dative	gratssi	gratsensi
Genitive	gratsak	gratsenak
Locative	gratsus	gratsenus
Instrumental	gratsem	gratsenem
Ergative	gratsøtr	gratsenøtr
Ablative	gratsɛjv	gratsenɛjv

Class 2: kɛʃev "hammer"
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	kɛʃev	kɛʃevlin
Accusative	kɛʃeva	kɛʃevlina
Dative	kɛʃevsi	kɛʃevlinsi
Genitive	kɛʃevis	kɛʃevlinis
Locative	kɛʃevus	kɛʃevlinus
Instrumental	kɛʃevum	kɛʃevlinum
Ergative	kɛʃevøtr	kɛʃevlinøtr
Ablative	kɛʃevɛjv	kɛʃevlinɛjv

Class 3: tʃeptal "cloud"
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	tʃeptal	tʃaptlin
Accusative	tʃeptala	tʃaptlina
Dative	tʃeptalsi	tʃaptlinsi
Genitive	tʃeptalis	tʃaptlinis
Locative	tʃeptalus	tʃaptlinus
Instrumental	tʃeptalum	tʃaptlinum
Ergative	tʃeptaløtr	tʃaptlinøtr
Ablative	tʃeptalɛjv	tʃaptlinɛjv

Class 4: kraws "ear"
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	kraws	krojsni
Accusative	krawsa	krojsnja
Dative	krawssi	krojsnisi
Genitive	krawsis	krojsnjis
Locative	krawsus	krojsnjus
Instrumental	krawsum	krojsnjum
Ergative	krawsøtr	krojsnjøtr
Ablative	krawsɛjv	krojsnjɛjv

Adjectives

Attributive adjectives in Dahur are invariable and come before the noun. Ex.:

• fɛren grats "a smart boy"
• duʃ halajn "clean water"
• selak kanaris "pretty eyes"

Verbs

The personal endings for all verb forms are as follows:

• 1s: -us
• 2s: -im
• 3s: -ej
• 1p: -tron
• 2p: -trib
• 3p: -trɛw

Aorist

The aorist tense corresponds to the bare stem, to which the personal endings are added. It indicates the verbal action as a complete event. In a main clause, it usually refers to the past, and is so translated. Ex.:

kaʃmal "take"

• 1s: kaʃmalus "I took"
• 2s: kaʃmalim "you took"
• 3s: kaʃmalej "he/she took"
• 1p: kaʃmaltron "we took"
• 2p: kaʃmaltrib "you took"
• 3p: kaʃmaltrɛw "they took"