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Dtar is a fusionally synthetic language spoken by the Northern Aliandr Centaurs.


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Name: Dtar

Type: Fusional

Alignment: Accusative

Head Direction: Final

Number of genders: no

Declensions: Yes

Conjugations: Yes

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


Setting[]

Dtar is derived from the extinct language Dmara, which was first seen spoken in the northeast by the Northern Boln Centaurs. Dmara was a very inconvenient language, not easily spoken — or learned — so scholars watered it down to a slightly less complicated and intricate dialect, now known as Dtar.

Phonology[]

The Dtarian words comprise of the following letters: A, ð, þ, ë, ä, s, t, i, o, c, r, d, y, k, sh, e, n, p, m, l, u, w, æ, h

Consonants[]
Bilabial Labiodental Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Postalveolar Glottal
Fricative ð s (c) ʃ ɦ
Plosive p þ t k
Trill r
Approximant l j (y) ʍ (w)
Nasal m n


Vowels[]
Front Mid Near-back
Open a
Close eː (æ) ʊ
Open-mind

Please note that even though ë and ä are included as part of the Dtarian alphabet, they are not placed on the chart. This is so because vowels with accents are not considered separate vowels. These two vowels are simply most commonly seen with the umlauts, which is why they are included in the alphabet.

Diphthongs[]
As found in Dtar IPA equivalents
ai aɪ̯
ae eɪ̯
ao a-əʊ̯ (pronounced separately)
au aʊ̯
ea eiya
ei ei-iː (pronounced separately)
ia iːya
Triphthongs[]
As found in Dtar IPA equivalents
aia ayə
aea eiyə


Phonotactics[]

[work in progress]

Basic Grammar[]

Word Order[]

Dtar is an Object-Verb-Subject language, where the object takes on the accusative case, the verb conjugates as needed, and the subject takes on the nominative. Adjectives always come before the noun they modify, but adverbs follow their governing verbs.


Pronouns[]

Dtarian pronouns are almost never used, unless there is a great need for them, such as in the scenario when it is unclear who the subject is. However, they are treated as regular nouns when it comes to the accusative case. They have slightly irregular genitive cases, though.


Nominative Case[]
Singular Plural Clustivity
1st person ik - ði, ðei*
2nd person þu þud
3rd person si le
4th person þa** ða**

*Note: "ði" signifies inclusive clustivity, where the speaker (you) is talking about him/herself and the person s/he is talking to. "ðei" signifies exclusive clustivity, where you are talking about yourself and someone else not the person you are talking to.


**Note: "þa" can either mean "this" or "that", and it is up to the listener/reader to determine what is being referenced. If it is unclear, it is always safer to use a noun in its place. Similarly, "ða" means either "these" or "those".


Genitive Case[]
Singular Plural Clustivity
1st person hmi - une, une*
2nd person geð geyha
3rd person kishn þeya

*Une is used for both inclusive and exclusive "we".

Accusative Case[]
Singular Plural Clustivity
1st person emhi - nasu, ny*
2nd person otan oman
3rd person nu þnu

*Unlike the genitive case, inclusive and exclusive "we" is specified, and the correct accusative forms must be used.

Personal Pronouns[]
Singular Plural Clustivity
1st person em - ehn, ehl
2nd person tav tal
3rd person þe þed

Nouns[]

Nouns are used to describe objects, beings, places, events, etc. While Dtarian nouns do not have a gender, they do have four declensions. Nouns are declined according to their ending letter.

There are three noun cases: the nominative, genitive, and accusative. These three cases must be respected in both the singular and plural tenses and cannot be omitted in any situation, because their omission destroys the original meaning of the sentence, leading to an undesired (and possible insulting) meaning.

1st Declension: -a, -o, -u (ð)[]

Nouns in the first declension end in the letters "a", "o", or "u". The domain, in parentheses, is "ð". Let's look at the example "noma", which means "water" in Dtarian.

The root of this words is "nom-".

Singular Plural
Nominative noma nomðr
Genitive nomð nomða
Accusative nomðs nomðsa

Dissecting the above example, we see:

Noma is in the nominative case, meaning, "water" as a subject of a sentence.

Nomð is in the genitive case, and means "water's", or "of water", or "from water".

Nomðs is in the accusative case, and denotes "water" as an object of either a verb or a preposition.

Please note that these are not the only noun cases in Dtar. These are only the basic cases; there are several more, which I will introduce after we have gone through the first four declensions.


2nd Declension: -e, -i, -æ (þ)[]

Nouns belonging to the second declension end in the letters "e", "i" or "æ". The domain is þ. I will use the example "hejre", meaning "table".

The root of the word is "hejr-".

Singular Plural
Nominative hejre hejrþr
Genitive hejrþ hejrþresa
Accusative hejrþeya hejrþea

Dissecting the above example, we see:

Hejre is in the nominative case, and means "table" as a subject.

Hejrþ is in the genitive case, and means "table's", "of the table", "from the table", or "belonging to the table".

Hejrþeya is in the accusative case, and denotes "table" being the object of either a verb or a preposition.


3rd Declension: -l, -m, -p, -s (ë)[]

Nouns in the third declension end in the letters "l", "m", "p", or "s". The domain is ë. I will use the word "sätos", meaning "hunger" in Dtarian, as an example.

The root is "säto-".

Singular Plural
Nominative sätos sätoëwsa
Genitive sätoëwa sätoëwsy
Accusative sätoëa sätoëws

Dissecting the above example, we see:

Sätos is in the nominative case, meaning "hunger" as a subject.

Sätoëwa is in the genitive case, meaning "of hunger", "because of hunger", "from hunger", etc.

Sätoëa is in the accusative case, and means "hunger" when it is used as an object of a verb or a preposition.


4th Declension: all other letters (ä)[]

Nouns in the fourth and last declension end in the remaining letters. The domain is ä. I will use the word "siten", which means "eye" in Dtarian, as an example.

"Site-" is the root of the word.

Singular Plural
Nominative siten siteäwi
Genitive siteäwy siteäwie
Accusative siteäwa siteäwai

Dissecting the above example, we see:

Siten is in the nominative case, and means "eye" as a subject.

Siteäway is in the genitive case and means "eye's" or "from the eye".

Siteäwa is in the accusative case and means "eye" when it is the object of a verb or a preposition.


Complex Declensions[]

Now we are headed into the complex declensions. As stated before, the nominative, genitive, and accusative cases are only the basic declensions. In this section we will be going over the complex declensions, i.e. the adessive, apudessive, inessive, intrative, locative, subessive, superessive, ablative, elative, allative, perlative, prosecutive, and antessive cases. To make things easier, we will split them into two groups, Group I and Group II.


There is only one declension for the complex declensions, called "Declension V" instead of "the fifth declension". I will decline the four previously used nouns with the given cases, and more discussion will resume later.


Noma[]
Singular Plural
Adessive nomaya nomashi
Apudessive nomatr nomaðr
Inessive nomalía nomalíae*
Intrative nomaþetra nomadehea
Locative nomaðl nomaðeshi
Subessive nomaþagë nomaþesha
Superessive nomaðahe nomaðehi
Ablative nomaía* nomeíe*
Elative nomaþa nomaþsea
Allative nomaðege nomiðege**
Perlative nomawyshe nomawysha
Prosecutive nomawyha nomawyhea
Antessive -*** -***

*These are three examples of when a triphthong is seen with an accented letter in the center.

**This is irregular. There is no quick tip on how to know when it will be irregular. You must just memorize the few irregular ones like those.

***Since it does not make sense to say "before the water" or "before the waters", while it would make sense to say "before the concert" or "before the concerts", the antessive case - singular and plural - is ommitted from the example.


Hejre[]
Singular Plural
Adessive hejreya hejreshi
Apudessive hejretr hejreðr
Inessive hejrelía hejrelíae
Intrative hejreþetra hejredehea
Locative hejreðl hejreðeshi
Subessive hejreþagë hejreþesha
Superessive hejreðahe hejreðehi
Ablative hejre(y)ía* hejre(y)íe*
Elative hejreþa hejreþsea
Allative hejreðege héjreðege
Perlative hejrewyshe hejrewysha
Prosecutive hejrewyha hejrewyhea
Antessive hejreþra hejreþrae

*These are two examples of when a triphthong is seen with an accented letter in the center. However, a "y" can be placed between the first and second letters of the triphthong, making it actuallt a diphthong and destroying the special triphthong.


Sätos[]
Singular Plural
Adessive sätoya sätoshi
Apudessive sätotr sätoðr
Inessive sätolía sätolíae
Intrative sätoþetra sätodehea
Locative sätoðl sätoðeshi
Subessive sätoþagë sätoþesha
Superessive sätoðahe sätoðehi
Ablative säto(y)ía säto(y)íe
Elative sätoþa sätoþsea
Allative sätoðege sätóðege
Perlative sätowyshe sätowysha
Prosecutive sätowyha sätowyhea
Antessive sätoþra sätoþrae


Key[]

The following is key, which can be referred to for easy translation purposes. If you have not caught the secrets to all noun declensions by looking at the tables above, don't worry; you have them right below, in the simplest explainable way.


Key English Translation
Nominative I [anything]
Nominative II [anything]
Nominative III [anything]
Nominative IV [anything]
Genitive I -ð, -ða of, from, belonging to
Genitive II -þ, -þresa of, from, belonging to
Genitive III -ëwa, -ëwsy of, from, belonging to
Genitive IV -äwy, -äwie of, from, belonging to
Accusative I -ðs, -ðsa object use
Accusative II -þeya, -þea object use
Accusative III -ëa, -ëws object use
Accusative IV -äwa, -äwai object use
Adessive -ya, -shi near
Apudessive -tr, -ðr next to
Inessive -lía, -líae in(side)
Intrative -þetra, dehea between*
Locative -ðl, -ðeshi at
Subessive -þagë, -þesha under/below
Superessive -ðahe, -ðehi on (top of)
Ablative -(y)ía, -(y)íe** (away) from
Elative -þa, -þsea out of
Allative -ðege, -ðege + accent over first vowel to
Perlative -wyshe, -wysha through/along
Prosecutive -wyha, -wyhea across
Antessive -þra, -þrae before

*The intrative case singular signifies there are two objects specified, where the intrative plural case signifies there are three or more objects.

**The "y" can be inserted if the noun ends in an "o". This is not mandatory, but cannot be used after vowels ending in a consonant.

Adjectives[]

Adjectives are used to describe characteristics of nouns. Adjectives, along with verbs, are the only parts of speech in Dtar which morph according to gender. There are two main genders for Dtarian: lifelike and animalistic. The lifelike gender is split into three separate sub-genders: masculine (used for describing male persons), feminine (used for describing female persons), and neuter (used for describing anything else that lives, i.e. plants, trees, etc.) The animalistic gender is a misnomer as it is used to describe un-animated, or "dead" objects, or objects which don't live. However, adjectives do not take on a plural form, as the plural will be obvious through the noun.

I will use the adjective stor, meaning "big", for an example.

Forms
Masculine stor
Feminine stiór
Neuter setiór
Animalistic sitiór

The masculine form is the root form of the adjective. The feminine is formed by placing an "i" before the first vowel of the adjective and then placing a forward accent on that original vowel. The neuter is formed by placing an "e" between the first two consonants of an adjective. If there is already an "e" present, put an accent above the original "e". The animalistic gender is formed by placing an "i" between the first two consonants of an adjective.


Degrees[]

There are three degrees for adjectives in Dtarian: the positive, comparative, and absolute superlative. The positive degree is the lowest and most basic degree. It is the adjective itself. The comparative degree denotes an adjactive more well-defined than the positive degree; i.e. "bigger" versus "big". The absoluate superlative degree is even more well-defined than the comparative; i.e. "biggest" versus "bigger" and "big".

There is no gender attributed to adjectival degrees.

Again, I will use the adjective stor, meaning "big" in Dtarian, as an example.

Adjective Forms English Translations
Positive stor big
Comparative storior bigger
Absolute Superlative storiet biggest

The positive degree is, as mentioned above, the adjective itself. The comparative degree is formed by adding "-ior" as a suffix to the adjective, and the absolute superlative is formed by adding "-iet" as a suffix.

Adverbs[]

Adverbs modify verbs. In English, they usually end in "-ly". In Dtarian, adverbs are modified by a "í" placed before the adjective. Let's take, for instance, the adjective for "fast", "stum":


English Dtarian
Adjective fast stum
Adverb quickly ístum

Verbs[]

Verbs are the part of speech that conveys action or a state of being. Dtarian verbs are conjugated, have tenses, moods, etc. Personal pronouns are usually not used in front of or after their mother verbs, as the conjugations themselves are sufficient to provide the reader/listener enough information as to determine who (or what!) is speaking. As another note, Dtarian verbs are the only other part of speech (the other being adjectives) which have three gender forms in the 3rd person singular conjugations of the verb.

There are three main verb tenses: the present, past, and future. Every other tense or mood is usually derived from the given three. In the following let's examine three verbs, and then let's take a look at the "key" that shows us actually how to apply the conjugations:

khav - to eat[]
Present Singular Singular Masculine Singular Feminine Singular Neutral Plural
1st person khash khasha
2nd person khas khashva
3rd person khana khan' khanæ khashvan

saran- to sleep

Present Singular Singular Masculine Singular Feminine Singular Neutral Plural
1st person sarash sarasha
2nd person saras sarashna
3rd person sarana saran' saranæ sarashnan

ras- to run, to gallop, to race

Present Singular Singular Masculine Singular Feminine Singular Neutral Plural
1st person rash rasha
2nd person raś* rashsa
3rd person rana ran' ranæ rashnan
  • This is a slight irregularity. Because the conjugation would end up being ras - and therefore no different than the original mother verb - the conjugation is changed slightly to its present form.

Before we continue further on with verbs, I would like to digress to a separate section for a few paragraphs:


Clauses[]

A clause is an expression including a subject and predicate but not constituting a complete sentence. In order to express clauses in Dtar, an independent prefix, ux, must be used before the clause and the conjunction is found directly after. For example:

I run and I




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Dictionary[]

Example text[]

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