Onnatic is a descendant of Nessëran, characterised by the continuing loss of phonemic vowel length, the reduction of close vowels, and the simplification of some consonant clusters.
Phonology[]
Vowels[]
Onnatic has a system of eleven vowels. Unlike in its parent language, none of the vowels are determined phonetically by length.
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Close | i y | u |
| Near-Close | ɪ | ʊ |
| Close-Mid | e | |
| Open-Mid | ɛ œ | ɔ |
| Near-Open | æ | |
| Open | ɑ ɒ |
Consonants[]
The Onnatic language has significantly fewer consonants than its parent language, this is because the language has lost all of its voiced fricatives, meaning that /z/ and /s/ have merged into /s/, and /f/ and /v/ have merged to /f/.
| Bilabial | Labio- Dental |
Alveolar | Post- Alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | |||||
| Ploisive | p b | t d | k g | ||||
| Fricative | f | s | ʃ | ç | h | ||
| Affricate | ts | tʃ | |||||
| Approximant | j | ||||||
| Flap | ɾ | ||||||
| Lateral | l |
Sound Changes from Nessëran[]
The phonemic vowel length found in Nessëran was lost in Onnatic, with /ɑː/ and /eː/ merging with their short counterparts. /ɶː/ was also raised to /œ/.
/jɔ/ and /jɒ/ became /iɔ/ and /iɒ/, which later both became /œ/. The same process also affected /u/, causing /ju/ to become /y/.
Characteristic of Onnatic is the reduction of the Nessëran close vowels /i/ and /u/ to /ɪ/ and /ʊ/ respectively in some occurrences, particularly in single-syllable words and before nasal consonants. For example Nessëran [dup] "down" became Onnatic [dʊp].
/ɾ/ also appears as an allophone of /t/ and /d/ between vowels. This is represented in writing by the letter <r>, as the sound also appears as a phoneme in it's own right.
Another striking feature of Onnatic when compared to it's parent language is the devoicing of fricatives. Nessëran had already devoiced /dz/, /dʒ/. /ʒ/, /ʝ/, but Onnatic went one step further and also devoiced /v/ and /z/ to /f/ and /s/ respectively.
Orthography[]
The language uses a modification of the Latin alphabet, with the addition of the use of the acute accent, caron, dot and umlaut diacritic marks. The letters v, w, x, y and z are not used, and are only seen in words of foreign origin.
| A | Á | B | C | Č | D | E | É | F | G | H | I | Í | J | K | L | M | N | O | Ó | Ö | Ọ | P | Q | R | S | Š | T | U | Ü |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| æ | ɑ | b | ts | tʃ | d | ɛ | e | f | g | h | ɪ | i | j | k | l | m | n | ɒ | ɔ | œ | ʊ | p | ç | ɾ | s | ʃ | t | u | y |
Basic Grammar[]
Nouns[]
Cases[]
Onnatic has an extensive noun-case system. Most of Onnatic cases are descended from it's parent language, however some are derived from collapses of Nesseran words. For example the prolative case suffix -ta is derived from the word otta meaning "road".
| Case | Case Suffix | Example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Genitative | -dán/-rán | sesketfárán | "of the chair" |
| Locative Inessive |
-ben | sesketfáben | "in/inside the chair" |
| Allative | -só | sesketfásó | "to the chair" |
| Dative | -pán | sesketfápán | "for the chair" |
| Illative | -bensó | sesketfábensó | "into the chair" |
| Adessive | -d | sesketfad | "near the chair" |
| Apudessive | -da | sesketfáda | "next to the chair" |
| Subessive | -üncọn | sesketfüncọn | "under/beneath the chair" |
| Superessive | -ösep | sesketfösep | "ontop of the chair" |
| Intrative | -sko | sesketfásko | "between the chairs" |
| Perlative | -tọnas | sesketfátọnas | "through the chair" |
| Prolative | -ta | sesketfáta | "via the chair" |
| Antessive | -prašete | šáda sinelprašete | "before seven o'clock" |
| Temporal | -gon | šáda sinelgon | "at seven o'clock" |
| Instrumental Comitative |
-féq | sesketfáféq | "with the chair" |
| Privative | -né | sesketfáné | "without the chair" |
| Distributive | -šemp | sesketfášemp | "per chair" |
| Equative | keluš | sesketfákeluš | "like the chair" |
Articles[]
There are two articles in Onnatic, indefinite and definite. These are added as suffixes to the noun they are modifying. The indefinite article is -lé, and the definite article is -fá. They can be coupled with the plural suffix -n, as in the following table:
| Basic | Indefinite | Definite Singular |
Definite Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| öm | ömlé | ömfá | ömenfá |
| irše | iršelé | iršefá | iršenfá |
Number[]
There are two numbers in Onnatic, singular and plural. The plural is indicated by adding the suffix -n or -en to the noun. For example sesket (chair) to sesketen (chairs).
Posession[]
Possession is indicated by a suffix added to the end of a noun. For example, in the following table, using the noun "irše" meaning "pear":
| Suffix | Result | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| -an | iršean | my pear |
| -ad | iršead | your pear (referring to one person) |
| -as | iršeas | your pear (referring to several people) |
| -esá | iršeaf | his/her pear |
| -ọnd | iršeọnd | their pear |
| -oq | iršeoq | it's pear |
Adjectives[]
Suffixes are added in Onnatic to indicate intensity and comparison.
| Suffix | Result | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| - | korád | hot |
| -reg/-leg | korádleg | hotter |
| -regenér/-legenér | korádlegenér | hottest |
| -rór/-tór | korádtór | very hot |
| -nas | korádnas | not hot |
Dictionary[]
Onnatic Dictionary
Example text[]
| Onnatic | Nessëran | Pasanian | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| Onéren corel arurinár krunséral enelí eše desten hidnesben eše karatesen. Arurinár mosóral üntevárveq eše konséresveq tolte prog sel váressko feldeslében fenlačdán. | Ţotel sonden krunalatu enely desteneşe hidnesben kallateseneşe. Vääratu mossòral junteväärveq konsëreseşe progtolte sel koţnòr ennòsun feldesleiben fenlaçdän. | Sotel sondane crunaltue libresben dignitas'e idnesben calatesen'e. Väneatue mossoral yuntevävecca consëres'e proctolte cella cossnor ennosune lea espirituvecca fenlachdona. | All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. |