Olaetyan Grammar
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Introduction

Olaetyan is one of the major languages of the planet Olaeyat (the third planet in the Gamma Pavonis system), and the most common human language used for interplanetary communication around the Kolagian sector of the galaxy. Olaetyan and related languages (Azzyan, Lesk, Neveldrayin, Gwelonawachan) are spoken by more humans than any other non-terrestrial language family. There are a number of different dialects, but only one, the Klisyat dialect, is frequently used outside of Olaeyat.

The Olaetyan Alphabet

The romanization of Olaetyan follows the revised Kolagian Orthography standard with the addition of the letters ç and x, which are laminal versions of s and z. Besides being pronounced with the blade of the tongue instead of the tip, they are also somewhat less sibilant. Other laminal sounds in Olaetyan include tj, nh, and lh, as well as the affricates tç and dx. As in a number of other Kolagian languages, the letter c is used to represent the same sound as English ch, rather than its standard Kolagian Orthography pronunciation (a voiceless palatal stop, as in Jarda). In some transcriptions, the letter y is spelled y and the letter w is spelled w, even when used as a vowel; however, they sound exactly the same as i and u. In this document, the vowel sound [i] is always transcribed as i, and [u] as u.

Olaetyan pronunciation is more or less regular, but there are a number of exceptions to the rules and eccentricities to the system. The letters i, y, u, and w are used as vowels (before consonants) or consonants (before other vowels); in combinations with each other, the first is a consonant unless the second is y or w (except that wy is pronounced wi). The pronunciation of c is influenced by the following letter; it is k before back vowels and ç before front vowels, although there are exceptions (such as the name of the city sepácinyl Sepákinil). Similarly, the pronuncation of C is kh before back vowels and ch (as in German ich) before front vowels. The combination kc can be pronounced either as k or kç; the ligature H is often used for the k pronunciation to distinguish it from kç. Before back vowels, ç is spelled F. The l-l ligature V is pronounced as a voiced lateral fricative (ð), except in the combination Ve, which is a palatal lateral approximant (lh). Some dialects distinguish Q c and dj j, palatal stops, from tS tsh and dZ dzh, post-alveolar affricates (like English ch and j), although the Klisyat dialect pronounces them both as post-alveolar affricates. This page will include the romanized spelling along with the original Olaetyan. For more detailed information on the pronunciation of specific words, see the Olaetyan-English dictionary.

Diacritics

The Olaetyan language has more vowel sounds than the alphabet can represent. Three main diacritics (zéWo zéqùo) are used in Olaetyan: the sed sed (´) or "light" accent, the tev tev (^) or "heavy" accent, and the double sed mark (¨). The double sed mark can also be added to consonants, as in the word zeñek zenhek "leg". The sed and double sed affect the pronunciation of vowels in various ways. The tev marks stress, although it is not always used. If stress is unmarked, the next-to-last syllable is stressed if it ends in a consonant, or if it contains a long vowel or diphthong. In other cases, the preceding syllable is stressed if the word has more than two syllables.

(No diacritics are ever used with E è [«], U õ [P], and I à [Œ]).

When short, unstressed endings are added to words, an accent mark is often added to keep the stress on the right syllable. The effect of stressing that syllable is to alter some vowel sounds. This is due to historical changes in the vowel system. The phonemic change is that normal vowels become long vowels. Short and modified vowels remain unchanged. In the written language, the sed accent is added to the "normal" vowels a a, å å, y i, e e, and w u, and the "modified" vowel O ö (in which case it merely marks stress). The tev accent is added to other vowels. (Although ÷ is more accurate for a long u u sound, û is used to show that it was originally a normal u u. There is no unambiguous way to mark a long /ó/ in the Olaetyan writing system, so ô is used.)

Examples of this phenomenon:

kaleT kaleth [ÈkAlET], nom. pl. káleTan kálethan [ÈkaùlETAn]

izant izant [ÈizAnt], nom. pl. îzantan îzantan [ÈIzAntAn]

Nouns

Nouns have seven cases in general use in the modern language: nominative, possessive, material, genitive, dative, instrumental, and adjectival, in addition to a number of archaic cases. Of these, the first four are the only ones in common use for all nouns. Prepositions have made most of the other cases unnecessary, although the similar form of these prepositions makes it necessary to use the cases once in a while to resolve ambiguities. Specific cases of some nouns have become established as adjectives or adverbs, and given their own place in the dictionary.

Besides case, nouns are also inflected for number: singular, dual, and plural. Dual is normally reserved for those things that come in pairs. It is now considered somewhat archaic.

Other forms of nouns include diminutive and augmentative. Diminutives are very idiosyncratic, but augmentatives are easily formed by adding prefixes and suffixes.

Nominative

The most widely used case, nominative is used as the subject or object of a verb, and as the object of a preposition. It is usually the same as the root of the word, but sometimes this is shortened even further. For example, many nouns ending in -sél -sél drop this ending in the entire singular declension (and change it to -sé -sé in the dual and plural).

Possessive

This case indicates ownership or membership. For example, "a person's hand" (kletra Dani kletra dhani) is in the possessive because the person owns the hand, but "a person's family" (kletra yskaia kletra iskaya) is possessive because the person is a member of the family. Other kinds of relationships which would be possessive in English (brothers, sisters, friends, neighbors, enemies, etc.) are genitive in Olaetyan.

The singular ending is -dra -dra, which assimilates as shown in the examples below. The same ending is used in the dual, after the dual ending. A potential problem, though unlikely to occur, happens when the dual ending is -sp -sp (see below). The awkward -sptra -sptra ending is reduced to -spra -spra. The plural ending, added to the plural form of the noun, is -drit -drit.

 Note the different phenomena which interact to create this situation:

1) A voiceless consonant cannot be followed by a voiced stop. For this reason, d is realized as /t/ after most voiceless consonants.

2) Double consonants are not allowed. For this reason, td > t (not tt), and dd > d.

3) Certain combinations of two or three consonants are not allowed. In this case, the disallowed combinations are tjtr, mdr, bhdr, vdr, and dhdr. The middle consonant is not pronounced.

4) Though the sequence "mdr" is not found in Olaetyan, neither is "mr". The "b" is always inserted between "m" and "r" to ease pronunciation.

Material

This case tells what material something is made of. It is almost always used in the singular, even with nouns such as tonan tonan "mist, fog" which are normally found only in the plural. The ending is -al -al.

Many nouns use a shortened form with the material and genitive endings. Unaccented final vowels are usually dropped. The endings -al, -an, -at, and -ad are also frequently dropped.

Genitive

The genitive case covers most other uses of the English "of" that are not covered by the possessive and material cases, or the preposition y i. The ending is -an -an, which is identical to the plural -(a)n ending for many nouns. The difference is that shortened forms of nouns are often used with this case.

Dative

This case has practically disappeared from the language, replaced by the preposition a a. The ending is -rel -rel (singular), -drel -drel (plural)

Instrumental

Although rarely used, this case is the source of some common adjectives. The preposition en en is equivalent to this case. The ending is -aiVe -ailh. Similar to the genitive and material cases, this case may also use shortened forms of nouns.

Adjectival

This case adds the meaning of the preposition "with", often in a metaphorical sense, as the Italian "con" in "con brio". (Note that if the literal meaning "with fire" is intended, the instrumental case would be more appropriate.) This case is often used to form new adjectives from nouns, and in this sense is similar to the English suffix "-y" in "hairy" or "bumpy". If the literal meaning "together with" or "associated with" is intended, use the preposition ac ak. Compare to en en, which means "using". The ending is -eVe -elh.

Dual

Dual nouns are generally the same as plural, with -m -m added to the plural or taking the place of the plural -n -n ending. Exceptions are noted below.

Plural

The standard plural ending is -(a)n -(a)n. The optional "a" is added after consonants. Many nouns, however, have a short plural form. If a noun of more than one syllable ends in a single consonant, it is common to drop that consonant to form the plural. For historical reasons, th and dh are considered double consonants. Examples: kayat kayat -> kaya kaya, nayaC nayakh -> naya naya, uilaG wilagh -> uila wila. Note the possibility for confusion if two nouns are similar.

Some plurals are nonstandard. All nouns ending in -J -tj change -tj to -s -s in the plural (and -sp -sp in the dual). Nouns ending in -cs -ks change to -Fa -ça in the plural. (The dual, though also nonstandard, follows regularly from the plural in this case: -Fam -çam.) Examples: myQinâJ micinâtj -> myQinâs micinâs, mórcs mõrks -> mórFa mõrça. (The more regular mórcsan mõrksan is becoming more common.)

Some nouns do not have plural forms. Most of these are foreign borrowings such as ryS rish or materials such as ber ber. A very few words (such as tonan tonan) are used primarily in their plural forms.

The plural of xaC xakh is irregular: xann xan.

Pronouns

Pronouns only have three cases: nominative, accusative, and possessive/genitive. The accusative case also has reflexive forms. Nominative pronouns are hardly ever used except for emphasis.

(ga/su/ra/va = "each other".)

The symbol V is a gender-specific vowel. a A is masculine, e e feminine, o o animate, and i i inanimate. u U is indefinite, as in ut ut = "what". The final O of the possessive/genitive pronouns indicates the gender of the thing possessed. All other cases of O here indicate the gender of the entity which the pronoun stands for.

Gender in Olaetyan is natural. Parts of an animate being (hands, eyes, hair, etc.) are considered animate, and of the same gender as their owner. (A man's hand is masculine, a woman's hand is feminine.) The "animate" category is used by default, if the gender of an animate being is not known or unspecified, or if both males and females are represented by the pronoun.

Verbs

Verbs in Olaetyan are conjugated for tense (past, present, future), aspect (perfective, imperfective), mood (indicative, subjunctive, imperative), and voice (active, passive). In each verb paradigm are eight personal endings corresponding to the eight personal pronouns. The subject of a verb is rarely expressed if it is a pronoun, except for emphasis (ar A ar ae, klöy On klòi ön, xei zi xei zi, etc.) Most verbs follow the pattern of the conjugation of the verb y i (to be):

Negative commands are always preceded by C-y khi. Future forms are made by inserting -yr- -ir- before the ending: yrA irae, yrem irem, yroi iroi, yra ira, yräe iraye, yrana irana, yro iro, C-y yrio khi iryo, etc. This is realized as -yz- -iz- before -z -z: yzzi izi, yzzin izîn, etc. There are also two kinds of participles: active and passive. The active participles of the verb y i are lé lé (present) and iFö içò (future); the passive participles are é é (past) and icé içé (future). The missing participles are expressed with the auxiliary verbs y i and cy çi: lé -é lé -é (present passive), Flé -é çlé -é (past active).

The forms of -i verbs (those ending in an unaccented -y -i ending) follow the conjugation of "to be" by simply replacing the -i ending with the appropriate form of y i. The forms of -í verbs (with an accented -ý -í ending) alter some of these endings by adding a sed or tev accent depending on the vowel. (The letters i, o, u, and å take a tev accent; all others take a sed.) Here is the conjugation of the verb sený sení "to give" as an example:

 Note that the future endings are unaffected, but that the suffix -ýr- -ír- is used instead of -yr- -ir-:

 Some verb stems undergo phonological changes before certain endings. Many verbs with a stem ending in a sibilant, for example, add the unaccented short vowel E è before the ending -zi -zi (to avoid a cluster that is impossible to pronounce). As an example, here is the conjugation of cy çi "to have", which also illustrates the rule of spelling the sound "ç" in Olaetyan ("c" before e, E, i, or y; "F" elsewhere).

*or czi(n), which is pronounced xî(n), in some dialects.

Triple consonants are not allowed, so the stem kaz(z)- of kazzý (kazzí) reduces to kaz- before endings beginning with z: kazzî kazî "you say". Verb stems ending in -x optionally assimilate to -z before -z- endings: rexý rexí "to greet", rexzî rexzî or rezzî rezî "you greet".

Due to historical changes in the language, whenever two l sounds come together, they are realized as ð. This happens with the -lé ending of the present active participle, for example: kalý kalí "to write", kaVé kaðé "writing". Other verbs dissimilate a -ð before the -lé ending, for example: ; elaCaVy elakhaði "to help", elaCaDlé elakhadhlé "helping". These historical irregularities were preserved (and spread to new verb forms) because they helped to distinguish the active from the passive participle.

The verbs ey ei "to sense" and oy oi "to see" are slightly irregular: to avoid forms like *eem eem and *ooN oong, they change the vowel of the ending to a neutral è or à: eEm eèm "I was sensing", oIN oàng "you were seeing". Verbs with accented -éi and -ói endings do not have this problem.

Use of the verb tenses:

The present imperfective is used to indicate that something is happening at the present time: kalý ayeklac selán (kalí ayeklak selán) "he/she is writing a letter now". It can also indicate something that is done repeatedly or habitually, or something that is planned for the near future: xalis kalý ayeklac linán ry trytyme (xalîs kalí ayeklak linán ri tritime) "he/she always writes a letter once a week", tA a nysa atpuré (tae a Nisa atpuré) "I am going to the planet Nisa tomorrow".

The past imperfective is used to describe an action already in progress when something else happened: láni olzýr selán tiná CaN (Láni olzír selán tiná khang) "Láni was reading when I entered the room". It is also commonly used to describe things that were done continuously or repeatedly in the past, even if these actions were completed: esconnäed xalis seratásyr nizak ilats (Eskonâyed xalîs seratásir nizak ilats) "Eskonayed always composed excellent music". It also tends to be more frequently used than the past perfective forms of the verb "to be", particularly when the latter would be confusing: em a selitio atíVe nuca (em a selityo atílh nuka) "I was at the theater last night" (not a a selitio a a selityo … )

The future imperfective is used for any action that will happen in the future: tyrA a tAciazên atpuré (tirae a taeçyazên atpuré) "I will go to the library tomorrow". The perfective form is not generally used in the future, even if the action is expected to be completed: cécuisA ánVy olzlé tAcia prex trytyme (çékwisae ánði olzlé taeçya prex tritime) "I want to finish reading the book next week"; ánVyra t-olzlé tAcia prex trytyme (ánðira t-olzlé taeçya prex tritime) "I will finish reading that book by next week".

The present perfective is rarely used, except in a few traditional phrases where it expresses a meaning similar to the subjunctive (but with a sense of completion): yPa xann prennaya un x-ar cyzzii seriC ftisá yil m-adsaFuin (ypha xan prenâya un xar çizîi serikh ftisá yil m-adsaçuin) "there are some dragons who would find you if you had the right crystal"; kórcátyme xann prennaya anó xyyrûin a liene (kõrkátime xan prenaya anõ xyirúin a Lyene) "someday dragons again may live on Earth". Occasionally it is used to express a completed act in the immediate past: ádinast co ánVoi (ádinast ko ánðoi) "I just finished".

The past perfective is used for any completed action in the past, or any past situation that has not continued into the present: ralez zriSek talnaru sein (ralez zrishek talnaru sein) "a hundred Zrishek fell to the ground"; x-ány lez yPá a liene prennaya (x-áni lez iphá a Lyene prenaya) "at a time in the past there were dragons on Earth".

The subjunctive tenses indicate something that may or may not happen. They are usually used with words such as x-ar xar "if", xinxeC xînxekh "maybe", or osiEra osyèrâ "possibly". The subjunctive present tense is also used to express a wish: ÿ ac me nensco (ü ak me Nensko) "may Nensko be with you". The subjunctive future tenses are often used to express conditional or counterfactual statements such as x-ar yräe me (xar iraye me) "if I were you".

Commands are expressed by the imperative, or by a form of the verb ww (wu) with a subjunctive form of the command verb. For example, kali li ayeklac (kali li ayeklak) and w kalëin li ayeklac (u kalöin li ayeklak) both mean "write the letter".

Participles are used as adjectives, or combined with forms of the verb cy (çy) or y (y) to form compound tenses. When a present passive or past active participle is needed, the past passive participle can be used if confusion is unlikely: for example, xalis y seladxa mé (xalîs i seladxa mé) "it is always done that way". Otherwise, a form equivalent to lé mé (lé mé) "being done" or Flé mé (çlé mé) "having done" is necessary. Note the common phrase kaz micé (kaz miçé) "your voice-command shall be done", used by computers and robots to acknowledge receipt of a command.