Kanduadas

Kanduadas Kaduatas
Type
Fusional
Alignment
Tripartite
Head direction
left
Tonal
No
Declensions
Yes
Conjugations
Yes
Genders
No
Nouns decline according to...
Case	Number
Definiteness	Gender
Verbs conjugate according to...
Voice	Mood
Person	Number
Tense	Aspect

General information

Kanduadas (natively, Kaduatas [ˈkäⁿdwɐdɐs]) is the official language and a national language of the country Kanduai on the moon Chesnon. Chesnon is the name in English of the moon as well as the species. They call themselves Tsyesnem [ˈtʃe̞ʃnɐm] (singular: Tsyesnon).

Phonology

• The standard language is based on the dialect of Makyór [mɐˈcɤ̞ɾ] (great-city, the Kanduaians are very literal namers).

Consonants

	Bilabial	Dentialveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	mˠ mʲ	(n)	ɲ	ŋ
Plosive	pˠ pʲ	t d	c ɟ	k	(ʔ)
Prenasal	ᵐbˠ ᵐbʲ	ⁿd	ᶮɟ	ᵑg
Fricative		s	ʃ		h
Affricate		ts	tʃ
Approximant		(ɹ)	j	w
Lateral		ɫ	ʎ
Flap		ɾ

1. [n] is an allophone of /ŋ/ adjacent to an alveolar consonant and is in free variation with the regular pronunciation of /ŋ/ intervocalically.
2. /d/ only contrasts with /t/ intervocalically. Same for /c/ and /ɟ/.
3. /ʔ/ only appears in a few conservative dialects.
4. [ɹ] is an allophone of /r/ when word-initial or adjacent to /m/, /ŋ/, or /s/.
5. /s/ and /ts/ cannot be present in the same word as /ʃ/ and /tʃ/. The first one of these sounds present in a word spreads its place of articulation to any other sibilants in the word.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i (y)	ə̃ (ɵ̞̃)	(ɯ) u
Low	e̞ (ø̞)	ä (ɒ̈)	(ɤ̞) o̞

• The sounds are rounded or unrounded according to the rules of roundness harmony. A vowel, usually the first vowel (that isn't /ə̃/) or the stressed vowel, dictates the roundness of a whole word.
• [ɨ̃] and [ʉ̃] are the allophones of /ə̃/ before the reduced vowel [ɐ].
• The legal diphthongs are /äj/, /äw/, /e̞j/, /e̞w/, /o̞j/, and /ə̃w/.
• /e/ and /a/ are reduced to [ɐ] in the syllable before the stressed one, word-finally in an unstressed syllable, and for /a/, in diphthongs.

Stress

Stress is placed on the antepenultimate syllable unless otherwise indicated by an acute accent in the romanizations.

Writing System

Native script

The Kanduadas orthography, Pakaduasyel, is an abugida.

Writing direction

Pakaduasyel is written right-to-left in rows running top-to-bottom

Native ordering

Consonants: 0, L, S, P, M, B, R, T, D, H, K, N, G, U

Vowel marks: -e, -i, -o, -a, -ǫ, -ą, -į, -ai, -0

Transliteration

This page is written with the Latin transliteration (Spokaduasyel) shown below.

Letter	A	Ą	B	D	E	G	H
Sound	/a/	/ə̃/	/ᵐbˠ/, /ᵐbʲ/	/ⁿd/, /ᶮɟ/	/e/	/ᵑg/, /ᶮɟ/	/h/
Letter	I	Į	K	L	M	N	O
Sound	/(ʲ)i/, /j/	/ʲə̃/	/k/, /c/	/ɫ/, /ʎ/	/mˠ/, /mʲ/	/ŋ/, /ɲ/	/o/
Letter	Ǫ	P	R	S	T	U	Y
Sound	/ə̃/	/pˠ/, /pʲ/	/r/, /j/	/s/, /ʃ/	/t/, /d/, /c/, /ɟ/	/w/	/ʲ/

• Digraphs: <ts> (/ts/, /tʃ/), <ou> (/u/)

Nouns

Nouns decline according to case, gender, and number.

Uol (α)

#	Absolutive	Ergative	Accusative	Dative	Ablative
1	-0	-0	-i	-(i)s	-ibe
2	-on	-0	-i	-(i)s	-ibe
3*	-oun	-ou	-oui	-ous	-oube

• Many nouns are singulare tantum, meaning they have no plural form. The third Uol declension can be used to force a singular reading, usually implying a specific singular object.

ex. Kyor [co̞ɾ], "city" (singulare tantum)

#	Absolutive	Ergative	Accusative	Dative	Ablative
sg	kyor	kyor	kyori	kyoris	kyoribe

ex. Galatton [ᵑgäɫätɤ̞ŋ], "animal/beast"

#	Absolutive	Ergative	Accusative	Dative	Ablative
sg	galatton	galatt	galatti	galattis	galattibe
pl	galattem	galattei	galattesyo	galatteis	galatteibe

Mrapin (β)

#	Absolutive	Ergative	Accusative	Dative	Ablative
1	-o	-om	-o	-os	-obe
2	-ą	-ąm	-ą	-ąs	-ąbe
4	-in	-im	-ya	-yas	-yabe

ex. Paso [pˠäsɤ̞], "sauce"

#	Absolutive	Ergative	Accusative	Dative	Ablative
sg	paso	pasom	paso	pasos	pasobe
pl	pasoum	pasoui	pasousyo	pasouis	pasouibe

ex. Myasą [mʲäsə̃], "sword"

#	Absolutive	Ergative	Accusative	Dative	Ablative
sg	myasą	myasąm	myasą	myasąs	myasąbe
pl	myasem	myasei	myasesyo	myaseis	myaseibe

Drala (γ)

#	Absolutive	Ergative	Accusative	Dative	Ablative
1	-a	-a	-ao	-as	-abe
2	-e	-e	-ea	-es	-ebe

ex. Tsriba [tʃjiᵐbˠǝ], "horn"

#	Absolutive	Ergative	Accusative	Dative	Ablative
sg	tsriba	tsriba	tsribao	tsribas	tsribabe
pl	tsribam	tsribai	tsribasyo	tsribais	tsribaibe

ex. Ryoge [jo̞ᵑgɞ̞], "place"

#	Absolutive	Ergative	Accusative	Dative	Ablative
sg	ryoge	ryoge	ryogea	ryoges	ryogebe
pl	ryogam	ryogai	ryogasyo	ryogais	ryogaibe

Plural

#	Absolutive	Ergative	Accusative	Dative	Ablative
1	-em	-ei	-esyo	-eis	-eibe
2	-am	-ai	-asyo	-ais	-aibe
3	-oum	-oui	-ousyo	-ouis	-ouibe

• In general, the first plural is for Uol and Mrapin, the second for Drala, and the third for some Mrapin; however, this pattern is broken frequently.

ex. Galem [ᵑgäɫɐm], "eyes" (plurale tantum)

#	Absolutive	Ergative	Accusative	Dative	Ablative
pl	galem	galei	galesyo	galeis	galeibe

Noun usage

Case

Absolutive

The absolutive case is primarily used for the sole argument of an intransitive verb. It is also used for the subject of a ditransitive verb.

Ergative

The ergative case is primarily used for the subject of an transitive verb. It is also used for the direct object of a ditransitive verb.

Accusative

The accusative case is primarily used for the object of an transitive verb. It is also used with locative postpositions.

Dative

The dative case is primarily used to force a venitive reading of locative postpositions. It is also used for the indirect object of a ditransitive verb.

Ablative

The ablative case is primarily used to force an andative reading of locative postpositions. It is also used next to other nouns to mark compositional words.

Gender

Gender is an interesting topic when talking about the Chesnon or their languages. They have three genders: alpha, beta, and gamma (Uol, Mrapin, and Drala in Kanduadas). And this is reflected in Kanduadas.

Alphas have large manes, Betas have curled horns, and Gammas have bright spots on their chest.

Chesnon are of course assigned the proper gender. Inanimate nouns are seemingly assigned at random or based on derivational suffixes, and loanwords by form. The gendering features of the Chesnon are not necessarily of the "correct" gender (ex. tsriba "horn").

Number

The Kanduaian grammatical number system has quite a few quirks, most notably:

1. Nouns changing gender between numbers, ex. soulą (m) "a throw" vs. soulam (d) "some throws"
2. Nouns having multiple plural or singular forms (sometimes with slightly different meanings), ex. tsriba "a horn" vs. tsriboun "horn separate from a body"
3. High numbers of singulare and plurale tantum nouns, ex. kior (sg) "city" & galem (pl) "eyes"

Pronouns

	ERG	ABS	ACC	DAT	ABL
1s	ue	ou		ous	uebe
1p	dya	dou		dous	dyabe
2s	tekea	teka		tekas	tekabe
2p	ryekea	ryeka		ryekas	ryekabe
3s.u	be		bei	bes	beibe
3s.m	leum	leu		leus	leube
3s.d	ha		hao	has	habe
3p	apei	apem	apesyo	apeis	apeibe

• ex. Tekea ou pausén!
• [ˈte̞ke̞ɐ ˈu pˠäwˈse̞ŋ]
• 2s.ERG 1s.ACC hit-2s.PRET
• You hit me!

Verbs

Thematic vs. Athematic verbs

There are two conjugation classes in Kanduadas, thematic and athematic verbs. Thematic verbs, like mikuau "eat" are conjugated exclusively by endings which commonly contain the vowel a. Athematic verbs, like tsou "read" are conjugated with vowel changes and endings which do not feature the a so common in thematic endings.

Ablaut

There are two ablauts that athematic verbs go through in circumstances described in the full conjugation section. They are labeled first and second ablaut. Some second ablauts have an alternate form used after a consonant or vowel which can't be palatalized.

• a>eu>ya/a
• ą>ąu>į
• o>a>i
• ǫ>ą>į/ǫ
• ou>a>ye/i
• i>au>i
• į>ąu>į/ą

TMA system

• Nonpast: used for current events.
• Past: used for past events.
• Hypothetical: used for hypothetical events.
• Presumptive: used for events that the speaker supposes/supposed happen(ed). When combined with the nonpast, it forms one of the two future tenses.
• Volitive: used for events that the speaker wants/wanted to happen. When combined with the nonpast, it forms the other future tense.
• Imperative: used for commands and requests.

Nonfinite forms

Gerund	-apa	-ing (noun)
Active participle	-ak	-ing
Passive participle	-aren	-ed/en
Contemporary transgressive	-ats	while -ing
Anterior transgressive	-ausi	having -ed/en
Supine	-atti	for -ing/in order to
Connegative	-au	not

Dictionary forms

The lemma is the connegative form, typically ending in -(a/o)u. Also provided in standard dictionaries are the theme type, stem type, and stem itself.

ex. Souląu (athematic; regular nasal stem soulą-), "throw"

Full conjugation

Thematic

		Nonpast	Preterite	Hypothetical	Imperative
IND	1s	-ane	-éne	-ttane	-aome
	1p	-ao	-éo	-ttao
	2s	-an	-én	-ttan	-ar
	2p	-a	-é	-tta
	3	-as	-és	-ttas
PRSM	1s	-bane	-béne	Gerund	-apa
	1p	-bao	-béo	Active	-ak
	2s	-ban	-bén	Passive	-aren
	2p	-ba	-bé	Contemporary	-ats
	3	-bas	-bés	Anterior	-ausi
VOL	1s	-lane	-léne	Supine	-atti
	1p	-lao	-léo	Connegative	-au
	2s	-lan	-lén
	2p	-la	-lé
	3	-las	-lés

Athematic

		Nonpast	Preterite	Hypothetical	Imperative
IND	1s	-ne	-ne	-tne	-ome
	1p	-o	-o	-tto
	2s	-n	-n	-tten	-r
	2p	0	0	-t
	3	-s	-s	-ts
PRSM	1s	-bne	-bne	Gerund	-pa
	1p	-bo	-bo	Active	-k
	2s	-ben	-ben	Passive	-ren
	2p	-b	-b	Contemporary	-ts
	3	-bes	-bes	Anterior	-(o)usi
VOL	1s	-lne	-lne	Supine	-ti
	1p	-lo	-lo	Connegative	-(o)u
	2s	-ln	-ln
	2p	-l	-l
	3	-ls	-ls

• Vowels in parenthesis appear on consonant final stems.
• Past tense forms, the active participle, and the contemporary transgressive undergo first ablaut.
• Presumptive and volitive future forms, conditional forms, and the 2nd person imperative undergo second ablaut.

Negation

Negation is shown with a connegative plus the negative verb.

Oudou [ˈuⁿdu], "don't" (athematic; irregular stem (h)ou(d)-)

		Nonpast	Preterite	Hypothetical	Imperative
IND	1s	houne	adéne	hitne	oudome
	1p	oudo	adéo	hitto
	2s	houn	adén	hitten	hir
	2p	hou	adé	hit
	3	hous	adés	hits
PRSM	1s	hibne	habne	Gerund	houpa
	1p	hibo	habo	Active	hak
	2s	hiben	haben	Passive	houren
	2p	hib	hab	Contemporary	hats
	3	hibes	habes	Anterior	oudousi
VOL	1s	hilne	halne	Supine	houtti
	1p	hilo	halo	Connegative	oudou
	2s	hiln	haln
	2p	hil	hal
	3	hils	hals

• ex. Nimo mikuau hir!,
• [ˈɲimˠɤ̞ ˈmʲikwɐw ˈhiɾ]
• MPROX-ACC.mra eat-CONNEG NEG-2.IMP
• "Don't eat that!"

Examples

Tsou [ˈtsu], "read" (athematic; natural -ou type stem tso-)

		Nonpast	Preterite	Hypothetical	Imperative
IND	1s	tsone	tsane	tsitne	tsoome
	1p	tsoo	tsao	tsitto
	2s	tson	tsan	tsitten	tsir
	2p	tso	tsa	tsit
	3	tsos	tsas	tsits
PRSM	1s	tsibne	tsabne	Gerund	tsopa
	1p	tsibo	tsabo	Active	tsak
	2s	tsiben	tsaben	Passive	tsoren
	2p	tsib	tsab	Contemporary	tsats
	3	tsibes	tsabes	Anterior	tsousi
VOL	1s	tsilne	tsalne	Supine	tsoti
	1p	tsilo	tsalo	Connegative	tsou
	2s	tsiln	tsaln
	2p	tsil	tsal
	3	tsils	tsals

Mikuau [ˈmʲikwäw], "eat" (thematic; -uau type stem miku-)

		Nonpast	Preterite	Hypothetical	Imperative
IND	1s	mikuane	mikuéne	mikuettane	mikuaome
	1p	mikuao	mikuéo	mikuettao
	2s	mikuan	mikuén	mikuettan	mikuar
	2p	mikua	mikué	mikuetta
	3	mikuas	mikués	mikuettas
PRSM	1s	mikuebane	mikuebéne	Gerund	mikuapa
	1p	mikuebao	mikuebéo	Active	mikuak
	2s	mikueban	mikuebén	Passive	mikuaren
	2p	mikueba	mikuebé	Contemporary	mikuats
	3	mikuebas	mikuebés	Anterior	mikuausi
VOL	1s	mikuelane	mikueléne	Supine	mikuatti
	1p	mikuelao	mikueléo	Connegative	mikuau
	2s	mikuelan	mikuelén
	2p	mikuela	mikuelé
	3	mikuelas	mikuelés

Copula

There are two copulae, also known as linking verbs, in Kanduadas, divided by grammatical aspect into gnomic and episodic.

The gnomic copula is used in descriptions of things or other general statements of truth. All arguments of the gnomic copula are placed in the absolutive case. It is typically dropped in the present tense in the third person or if a pronoun is present as an argument.

The episodic copula is used in descriptions of events and actions or descriptions of a temporary nature (I am sick vs I am sickly). It is more commonly used following a verb in the active participle form to signify the progressive/continuative aspect. The episodic copula is never dropped.

Demonstratives

There are no indefinite or definite articles. Instead, Kanduadas uses demonstratives. The adjective forms decline as regular adjectives and the noun forms decline as class I drala nouns.

The Deictic positions are as follows:

Proximal: Anything that is close to the speaker.

Mesioproximal: Anything close to the listener.

Mesiodistal: Anything away from the speaker and the listener but still close by.

Distal: Anything away from the speaker and the listener and far away.

Adjective	Noun	position
Soum	Souka	proximal
Nim	Nika	mesioproximal
Ryam	Ryaka	mesiodistal
Tem	Teuka	distal

Adjectives

Adjectives typically come before nouns. They decline according to gender and case, not number. They are all regular.

Declension

	abs	erg	acc	dat	abs
Uol	-0	-0	-i	-is	-ibe
Mrabin	-o	-om	-o	-os	-obe
Drala	-a	-a	-ao	-as	-abe

ex. Sels, "joyous, friendly, chummy"

	abs	erg	acc	dat	abs
uol	sels	sels	selsi	selsis	selsibe
mrabin	selso	selsom	selso	selsos	selsobe
ndrala	selsa	selsa	selsao	selsas	selsabe

ex. Mesyour "famous"

	abs	erg	acc	dat	abs
uol	mesyour	mesyour	mesyouri	mesyouris	mesyouribe
mrabin	mesyouro	mesyourom	mesyouro	mesyouros	mesyourobe
ndrala	mesyoura	mesyoura	mesyourao	mesyouras	mesyourabe

Comparison

Adjectives have comparative and superlative forms which also decline for polarity along with the usual gender and case forms.

	Comparative	Superlative
Positive	-ál- "more"	-átel- "most"
Negative	-óus- "less"	-óutes- "least"

ex. Galtson paso mesyourátelo paso Kaduasyo lį. "Galtson's sauce is the most famous sauce in Kanduai."

Adverbs

Adverbs are unusual in Kanduadas as they conjugate to agree with verbs according to mood, tense, and finiteness. The two conjugations differing whether or not the final consonant can be palatalized. If the root ends in a vowel, then an r is added to make it conjugatable.

	palatalizable	unpalatalizable
Present	-y	-i
Preterite	-yé	-ié
Presumptive future	-iby
Presumptive past	-byé
Volitive future	-ily
Volitive past	-lyé
Hypothetical	-it
Imperative	-yor	-ior
Non-finite	-ya	-ia

Syntax

Because of grammatical case and verbs showing person, Kanduadas is a pro-drop language and word order in Kanduadas is nearly completely free. Sentences are usually arranged Topic-Comment, but random ordering is used as a poetic device. Adjectives don't even have to be next to the nouns they modify, though they are generally placed immediately before the noun they modify.

Possession

Possession is shown by simple apposition in the order possessor-possessed, even for pronouns. ex. Ou tsribam! "My horns!"

Postpositions

Postposition	Meaning	Case
lį	"in"	Accusative
	"into"	Dative
	"out of"	Ablative
da	"on"	Accusative
	"onto"	Dative
	"off of"	Ablative

Vocabulary

Conjunctions

or (e), and (rį)

Numerals

Since the Chesnon have six fingers on each hand, it's fitting that most of their languages are base-12 (duodecimal/dozenal) instead of base-10, Kanduadas being no exception.

	#	IPA	12*#	IPA
0	dyǫta	[ˈᶮɟə̃dɐ]
1	sou	[su]	samastą	[ˈsämästə̃]
2	pei	[pˠe̞j]	samapei	[ˈsämäpˠe̞j]
3	go	[ᵑgo̞]	samago	[ˈsämäᵑgɤ̞]
4	tiri	[ˈciji]	samatiri	[sɐˈmäɟiji]
5	tsya	[tʃä]	samatsya	[ˈsämätsɐ]
6	pego	[ˈpˠe̞ᵑgɤ̞]	samapego	[sɐˈmäpˠe̞ᵑgɤ̞]
7	sira	[ˈʃiɾɐ]	samasira	[sɐˈmäsiɾɐ]
8	petiri	[ˈpˠe̞ɟiji]	samapetiri	[sämɐˈpˠe̞ɟiji]
9	satal	[ˈsädäɫ]	samasatal	[sɐˈmäsädäɫ]
10	petsya	[ˈpˠe̞tʃɐ]	samapetsya	[sɐˈmäpˠe̞tsɐ]
11	sohe	[ˈso̞hɞ̞]	samasohe	[sɐˈmäsɤ̞hɐ]
12	samastą	[ˈsämästə̃]	kyebious	[ˈce̞ᵐbʲiɯs]

Combinations of multiples of twelve and a digit are placed in the opposite order of English. ex. pego-samastą "eighteen", literally "six (and a) dozen"