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Name: Aalmok

Type: Compositionally polysynthetic

Alignment: Nominative-Accusative

Head Direction: Final

Number of genders: None

Declensions: Yes

Conjugations: Yes

Nouns declined
according to
Case Number
Definitiveness Gender
Verbs conjugated
according to
Voice Mood
Person Number
Tense Aspect


General information[]

Aalmok is intended to be an International Auxiliary Language that takes a different route to its creation than most of its counterparts. It's an a priori language with a more complex grammar system. The more complex grammar and phonemic inventory are intended as a tool for introducing learners to concepts and sounds they may be unfamiliar with. With it's extremely high regularity, it is also intended to be relatively easy to learn.

Phonology[]

Consonants[]

Bilabial Dental Alveolar Post-alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m (n̪) n (n̠) ŋ
Plosive p b (t̪) (d̪) t d k g ʔ
Fricative ɸ β θ ð s z ʃ ʒ ç ʝ x ɣ h
Affricate p͡ɸ1 b͡β1 t̪͡θ1 d̪͡ð1 t͡s1 d͡z1 t͡ʃ d͡ʒ k͡x1 g͡ɣ1
Approximant β̞ ɻ j
Trill r
Flap or tap ɾ
Lateral fric. ɬ
Lateral app. l

1. /pɸ, bβ, t̪θ, d̪ð, ts, dz, kx, gɣ/ appear as digraphs in written Aalsen.

[n̪], [n̠], [t̪] and [d̪] are allophones of [n], [t] and [d] when they occur clustered with consonants of those points or articulation.

Vowels[]

Front Near-front Central Near-back Back
Close i iː y11 u uː
Near-close ɪ ɪː ʊ ʊː
Close-mid e11 o oː
Mid ə əː
Open-mid ɛ ɛː œ1 œː1
Near-open æ1 æː1
Open a aː

1. /y, yː, e, eː, œ, œː, æ, æː/ appear as digraphs in written Aalsen

Alphabet[]

The romanization of Aalšik (the Aalsen orthography) is as follows:

a aa â ââ b c d ď e ee f g ǧ h ħ i ii î îî j k ǩ l ľ m n ň o oo p q r ř s š t ť u uu û ûû v w x y z ž
a ə əː b t͡ʃ d ð ɛ ɛː ɸ g ʝ h ʔ i ɪ ɪː d͡ʒ k ç l r m n ŋ o p ɣ ɾ ɻ s ʃ t θ u ʊ ʊː β β̞ x j z ʒ

The digraphs mentioned in the earlier section are as follows:

pf bv ts dz kx gq eu euu ei eii ea eaa eo eoo
p͡ɸ b͡β t̪͡θ d̪͡ð t͡s d͡z k͡x g͡ɣ y e æ æː œ

œː

Finally, there are two "oddball" digraphs: "hl" is pronounced /ɬ/ and "hw" is pronounced /ʍ/.

Phonotactics[]

The phonology of words is equivalent to their spelling, excepting the changes listed below the consonants table. It is recommended that the learner simply learns the words, as the phonotactics are unlikely to be codified.

Grammar[]

Gender Cases Numbers Tenses Persons Moods Voices Aspects
Verb No No Yes No Yes No No No
Nouns No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes
Adjectives No No No No No No No No
Numbers No No No No No No No No
Participles No No No No No No No No
Adverb No No No No No No No No
Pronouns No Yes Yes No No No No No
Adpositions No No No No No No No No
Article No No No No No No No No
Particle No No No No No No No No


General[]

The sentence structure in Aalmok is generally free, with the only exceptions being the location of adjectives, adverbs, and genetive case nouns (These will be discussed in their individual sections).

Primary stress falls on the final syllable of a word, not including case or verb endings, unless there are one or more long vowels; in which case, primary stress would fall on the first long vowel and secondary stress would fall on all subsequent long vowels. Secondary stress radiates out from a fixed stress source to every other syllable in either direction. For example: /hampesak/ (companion) is pronounced [ˌham.pes.ˈak] and /seeišmaguk/ (weekly news) is pronounced [ˈseːʃ.ma.ˌguk]

This overview will begin with nouns.

Nouns[]

For the most part, Aalmok can be said to revolve around the nouns. Verbs, adjectives and adverbs are derived from them. In fact, nouns even function as the primary descriptors, as, as you will later find out, there are an extremely small number of adjectives. The first things a learner should know is, that nouns always end in a consonant and that nouns decline for 7 cases and 2 numbers in a wholly regular pattern. This is shown in the following table:

Nominative Accusative Dative Locative Allative Genetive Adverbial
Singular -i -oi -au -al -âs
Plural -(î)š, -ž -(e)na -(e)sa, -za -(e)ši, -ži -(a)žu,  -šu -el -iř

The plural ending used is determined by whether or not the final consonant of the noun is voiced. If the noun ends with /y, w, h/ then the full ending must be used. /s, z, š, ž/ also require that the full Nominative, Dative, Locative and Orientative endings are used and /n/ requires the full Accusative ending; although, in these situations, in informal speach, the ending's first vowel can be dropped if the word's final consonant is replaced by /ħ/.

Each of these cases has an underlying concept behind them, although it is preferred that the Locative and Orientative not be used without an accompanying preposition. The Nominative is used for nouns taking the subject role in verb constructions. The Accusative marks the direct object of a verb and the Dative, the indirect object. The Locative indicates that the preposition modifying the noun is expressing a location in relation to something else and the Orientative indicates direction in relation to something else.

The Genetive is rather unique among the cases. It takes its position within the other cases and generally functions as the language's adjective. It indicated that the preceding noun possesses the genetive noun's qualities, or that the preceding noun is possessed by the genetive noun. The Genetive does not modify to agree with the case in which it lies. There is, however, one exception to the preceding sentence; if the Genetive is refering back to a noun already in the genetive, then /u/ is added on to the basic genetive ending; if the Genetive is refering back to a word already in the second level of Genetive, then it adds /o/; then /a/; then /e/; and finally /i/; if further levels of the Genetive are used for whatever reason, then the final vowel progression is restarted. In discussion, these Genetive forms are referred to as “levels of Genetive”, and, in glossing, are written as “GEN2”, “GEN3”, “GEN4” and so on.

The Adverbial is used to express modification of the Genetive as well as verbs and other Adverbial nouns in a way that answers the questions “how?”, ”by what means?”, ”in terms of what?”, “what with?”, and “for what?”. It acts the same way as the Genetive. The Adverbial is also used to for the Vocative sense.

Pronouns[]

This section is quite brief. How about a table to sum it up?:

Nominative Accusative Dative Locative Orientative Genetive Adverbial
I to go do jo co twal twâs
You (Singular) we gwe dwe žwe šwe wal wâs
It la ga ze cei cau lal lâs
We (Exclusive) toš gon dos joť coď jel jir
We (Inclusive) teš gen des jeť ceď cel cir
You (Plural) weš gwen dwes žweť šweď šel šir
They laš gan zes ceiť cauď hlel hlir

If the learner doesn't know the difference between “We (Exclusive)” and “We (Inclusive)”, then the learner should check here.

Also, keep in mind that, in Aalmok, it's perfectly alright to refer to humans of either gender as "it".

Adjectives[]

Curiously enough, there are only 18 adjectives in the entire language of Aalmok. Adjectives are placed before what they modify

Here's another table:

Aalmok English
na a (indefinite article)
ta the (definite article)
teta every, all, each
sota no, none of
kepa many, much, a lot of
nata some, a few, several, a couple
gopa few, little, a little bit of
eipa another, the other
fara whole, entire, complete
mima the same
kwoda most, the majority of
mepa the last, the final, the ultimate
iiťa this
aaťa that
uuťa that(over there), yonder
dina half of, half of all of
keta some, the minority of
kapa part of, part of all of

“Mepa” can be modified to “lamepa”, meaning “penultimate, the second to last”, technically meaning that there are 19 adjectives.

Verbs[]

Declension[]

Starting right off with the declension:

Pronoun General Verb Ending Command Forms
to -o -oa
we -e -ea
la -ai
toš -os -oas
teš -eos -as
weš -es -eas
laš -ais

Oh dear! What's this? A first person command form?? What does that even mean?

Well, It's really not that complex. Sometimes the learner may find themself stuck on a school or work assignment, and in English, it's not uncommon for people to try to energize themselves by giving themselves commands. The only difference in Aalmok is, that you use the 1st. person command instead of the 2nd. person command. The 1st. person singular and plural also have another use in conversational speaking. If you or you and you're group are in a confrontation with one or more others, a 1st. person command can be used to call for an action from you and/or your group against the opposition in a fashion that is pretentious or debasing to the opposition.

The “-as” command is essentially the same as the “let's” formation in English.

Tense, Mood and Aspect[]

The tense, mood, aspect and other qualities of verbs can be modified through the use of a pretty good sized list of prefixes and suffixes. The extent to which these affixes are used has an effect on register, but that's a story for another section. Here's a list of the affixes along with the effect they have:

Prefix Meaning Suffix Meaning
aa(y)- causative aspect -iy future tense
mes/mez/meħ- decausative aspect -uw past tense
no(k)- reversive aspect -ar hypothetical tense
klo(t)- reversive causative aspect -ob potential modality
xu(f)- reversive decausative aspect -eň desiderative modality
ne(y)- iterative aspect -ur optative mood
he(r)- perfective aspect -eits amative modality
ho(r)- imperfective aspect -ask pavitative modality
ta(s)- temptative aspect -ol permissive modality
ka(p)- disintegrative aspect -adz jussive mood
fo(r)- reventive aspect -eg necessitative mood
spa(s)- durative aspect -ešt inclinative aspect
ďa(s)- artificial aspect
oo(w)- negative aspect
ki(x)- progressive aspect
la(z)- ingressive aspect
ze(g)- cessative aspect
me(d)- continuative aspect
ľi(y)- frequentative aspect
de(n)- reflexive aspect
hâ(m)- interrogative mood
ee(k)- intensive aspect
uu(g)- attenuative aspect
ťi(y)- scitive aspect
ďu(w)- inscitive aspect
is/iz/iħ- ventive aspect
uň/um/un/uħ- itive aspect

1. these prefixes are determined by the onset consonant of the root word, if there is no onset consonant, then the first form is used. the ventive and itive prefixes can also have any of the other prefixes attached to them without using those prefixes' consonants.

Affixes can be stacked if sensible.

All suffixes are treated as part of the root and the basic verb ending is added to the end of the last suffix.

Polite requests are formed by adding the proper command form onto a hypothetical stem with "myekâs" (please) starting off the sentence. For example: ".myekâs segarea." means "Could you please move?".

If the learner doesn't know the meaning of any of the terms in the above table, they can be found explained in Wikipedia's mood and aspect pages.

The passive voice is formed by switching the cases on the subject and direct object and adding the "-us" suffix to the verb.

Prepositions[]

This is a tough bit here. The prepositions have many meaning and the prevailing one is dependent on which case it is used with. As per their name, prepositions are placed before that which the modify. Prepositions of the same case can be combined into one to combine their meanings. Prepositions can also be used as prefixes. This section will be divided into cases.

Nominative[]

Only one preposition can use this case: "pu". when used with this case, "pu" means "per, for each". It is used in the expressions "pu dumoks" and "pu zamoks" meaning "percent" and " permille".

Accusative[]

A table of the preposition that can be used with this case and their meaning in such a case:

Aalmok English
wi greater than, of a higher order than, to a greater degree than
yu less than, of a lower order than, to a lesser degree than
mi equal to, of the same order as, to the same degree as
kwi about, on the subject of
kwa on a different subject than
ci by, by the hands of

Dative[]

A table of the preposition that can be used with this case and their meaning in such a case:

Aalmok English
ni with, in concourse with, plus, added to, using, including
nimo without, minus, removed from, without using, excluding, other than
ša for, with the intent to give to, having in mind
bu from, gifted by, from the intent of
mi

like, similar to

This case can also use the Locative prepositions, giving them a metaphoricle sense. E.g.: ”go” means “against, opposing” when used with the Dative case.

Locative[]

A table of the preposition that can be used with this case and their meaning in such a case:

Aalmok English
ša facing, facing towards, pointing to
bu facing away from, pointing away from
ku in, inside of, on the inside of, within
ma out of, outside of, on the outside of
wi above, in the space above, over
yu beneath, below, in the space below
fa in front of, before, on the near side of
go behind, on the far side of
tuu near to, close to, nearby, close by, in the vicinity of
gaa far from, far away, nowhere near
kyo on, attached to, attached to the outer side of
ci at, by, in close proximity to, at the position of
so in between, in the space between, between
kwi around, surrounding, all around, in every direction
ge on top of
keu on the underside of, underneath
we left of, on the left of, on the left side of
yo right of, on the right of, on the right side of
yau to the side of, beside, next to
kwa apart from, separate from
jo across from, on the other side of
di along the side of, alongside, stretched across the edge of
kosi north of, to the north of
kozu south of, to the south of
kowe west of, to the west of
koyo east of, to the east of
lu during, within the time of, while
ľe at, at about, at around, around, about (time expressions)
šu before, preceding (time expressions)
la after, afterward
na to, close| to, almost (time expressions
li from, far away| from (time expressions)
pu from ... to, stretched between, reaching between

Allative[]

A table of the preposition that can be used with this case and their meaning in such a case:

Aalmok English
ša to, towards, in the direction of
bu away from, in the direction opposite of
ku into, form the outside to the inside of, from the outside inwards
ma out of, from the inside to the outside of, from the inside outwards
kyo onto, from away from to a position attached to
tsa off of, from a position attached to a position away from
wi up from, upwards from, from above upwards
yu down from, downwards from, from beneath downwards
fa to the front of, to the front side of, from elsewhere to the front of
go behind, to the far side of, from elsewhere to the far side of
tuu nearby, passing near
gaa far away from, passing far from
ci in the same direction and position as
kwa in a different direction from, away from
we to the left side of, from elsewhere to the left side of
yo to the right side of, from elsewhere to the right side of
so through, from one side through to the other side of
jo across, from one side to the other of
pu between, from ... to, across the space between
di along, alongside, along the side of
kwi around, in every direction from, outwards from
yau to the side of, from elsewhere to the side of, from every direction to
kosi northwards from, to the north of
kozu southwards from, to the south of
kowe westwards from, to the west of
koyo eastwards from, to the east of
ge over, from one side above to the other side of
keu below, from one side underneath to the other side of
lu during, throughout the duration of
ľe until
šu into the past before
la since

Genetive[]

Only two prepositions can be used with the Genetive: “ša“ and “bu“. “ša“ means “owned by“ in this case and “bu“ means “made out of“.

Comparisons With Only One item[]

There are 4 suffixes used to make comparisons without that which the object is being compared to: “-ab”, the positive comparative (more); “-af”, the negative comparative (less); “-uat”, the positive superlative (the most); and “-iad”, the negative superlative (the least). These are always used in the Genetive. Example sentence: “.iiňglîsmok aanai ťikal;dooicmok aanai ťikabal;o aalmok aanai ťikuatal.”, meaning “English is good, German is better, but Aalmok is the best.”.

Vocabulary[]


No. English Aalmok
1Ito
2you (singular)we
3hela
4wetoš, teš
5you (plural)weš
6theylaš
7thisiiťa
8thataaťa, uuťa
9hereiiťoi, ci iiťoi, ša iiťau
10thereaaťoi, ci aaťoi, ša aaťau, uuťoi, ci uuťoi, ša uuťau
11whohaď, wa, we
12whathân, hânal
13wherehânoi, ci hânoi, ša hânau
14whenľe hânoi
15howhaikâs
16notmo
17allteta
18manykepa
19somenata
20fewgopa
21othereipa
22onenâ, nâks
23twodu, duks
24threeza, zaks
25fourkoi, koiks
26fivepo, poks
27bigbuwal
28longxunal
29widesposal
30thicksposal
31heavy
32smallpiyal
33shortlinal
34narrowklipal
35thinklipal
36womanaď, aďim
37man (adult male)aď, aďun
38man (human being)
39childpyav
40wifeseif, seifim
41husbandseif, seifun
42motheršud, šudim
43fatheršud, šudun
44animalľož
45fish
46bird
47dogwûf
48louse
49snake
50worm
51treešen
52forestšeniť
53stick
54fruit
55seed
56leaf
57root
58bark
59flowerťfin
60grasssis
61rope
62skin
63meat
64bloodweif
65bone
66fat
67egg
68horn
69taillep
70feather
71hairšiy
72headmas
73earol
74eyepiťk
75noseťniħ
76mouthmaiy
77toothtťet
78tongueťlek
79fingernail
80footwas
81leg
82knee
83handyaoľ
84wing
85bellybad
86guts
87neckgak
88backglaz
89breast
90hearttoodow
91liver
92drinkšiifon, šiif, šiifuek
93eatteepon
94bite
95suck
96spitpťan, pťanon
97vomit
98blow
99breathehâhon
100laughhahon
101seebizon
102hearlunon
103knowkuton, zuton
104thinkglanon, zânon, gaznon, kwazon, skazon
105smellfeunon
106fearsask, saskon
107sleepsiin, siinon
108livewiimon, kyudon, wiimisal
109dieguuzon
110killdubon, aguuzon, caguuzon, gobeiyon
111fightkepon, dekepon, pukepon, pukep
112hunt
113hitbok, bokon
114cutžaaikon, žaaik
115splitftenon, kasiijon, kašadďon
116stab
117scratch
118dig
119swimdazdon, dazd
120flyšuumon
121walkcegon, ceg
122comebyubon
123lieboď, boďon
124sitgwaapon, gauzon
125standkaikon, gaizon, peťikson, umyekon, ewwimon,
126turndenson, dens
127fallyuzon, yuz, šejun
128givediňkson
129hold
130squeeze
131rub
132wash
133wipe
134pull
135pushsaškon, sašk
136throw
137tie
138sew
139countdwezon, dwezed
140saykugon, syamon
141sing
142playhlikson
143float
144flowfsadon, fsad
145freezeciňkon, ciňk
146swell
147sunxam
148moonuuv
149starňip
150waterdďoog
151rainšeuuk
152riverfsad
153lakeklos
154sea
155salt
156stonekoc
157sand
158dust
159earthkof
160cloudstap
161fog
162skyfum
163windšuuw
164snowcook
165icecik
166smoke
167firežaf
168ashhlat
169burnžafon, žafed
170roadradz
171mountainham
172redwilt, wiltal
173greenšelt, šeltal
174yellowxalt, xaltal
175whitetelt, teltal
176blackmolt, moltal
177nightskuv
178dayjam, skam
179yearškaf
180warm
181cold
182full
183newtuuštal
184oldgaaštal, buňkal
185goodťikal, cakal
186badďugal, jugal
187rotten
188dirtysupal
189straight
190round
191sharp
192dull
193smooth
194wetnyûkal, anyûkon, canyûkon
195dryneekal, aneekon, caneekon
196correctpeťal, apeťon, capeťon, impeťon
197neartuu, na
198fargaa, li
199rightyo, yon
200leftwe, wen
201atci, ľe
202inku
203withni
204ande
205ifai
206becausezee
207namejeoon

To be updated

Example text[]

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