Qâêr

The author requests that you do not make significant changes to this project without first seeking approval.
By all means, please either help fix spelling, grammar and organization problems or contact the author about them. Thank you.

The author wishes to make it clear this project is currently undergoing significant construction or revamp.
By all means, take a look around. Thank you.

This article or section requires fix up.
It will be done soon.

Note - The author of this article assumes the reader already has basic linguistic knowledge and some terms and systems are explained very briefly (or not at all) because the author assumes that the reader already knows what these terms/systems mean.

Name: Qâêr Type: Fusional Alignment: Ergative/Absolutive Head Direction: Head-First Number of genders: 2 Declensions: Yes Conjugations: Yes Nouns declined according to Case Number Definitiveness Gender Verbs conjugated according to Voice Mood Person Number Tense Aspect

Brief Overview

This is the evolved and modified version of Ancient Qâêr which came about due to the arrival of the 8 Lesser Races seen in the brief history of the Qâêr at Sâfaolehracópâ. This major event resulted in the Qâêr reforming their language for the new peoples, and also this evolved version features some assimilation and dissimilation from Ancient Qâêr which vame about purely due to time.

For a list on the dialects and different variations of Qâêr, please see the Qâêr Language Family

Phonology

Single Letters

Example of Qâêr Script (NB This is the script of the Ancient Qâêr and Qâêr languages, not of the dialects and variations of Ancient Qâêr and Qâêr which are seen at Qâêr Language Family)

	Dental	Alveolar	Postal Alveolar
Plosive	t | d
Nasal	n
Fricative	θ (th) | ð (dh)	s	ʃ (c)
Approximant	ɹ (r)
Lateral Approximant	l

	Bilabial	Labiodental	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Plosive	p | b				k | g	q
Nasal	m			ɲ (ñ)
Fricative		f					h
Lateral Fricative				j

NB - The consonants in parentheses next to the phonemes are the letters used in Qâêr (When using the Latin Alphabet) to write those particular phonemes and when there is no letter in parentheses then the letter which represents the phonemes is simply used.

Other Consonants
Hw	ʍ (Non-Voiced-Labial Approximant)
W	w (Voiced Labial-Velar Approximant)

Diphthongs

Diphthong	English Pronunciation
êo	oɪ
aê	eɪ
âo	aʊ
ei	aɪ
ah	ʌ
ih	i
eh	ɛ
oh	ɵ

Vowels

Vowels	IPA Symbols	Vowel	IPA Symbols
a	æ	o	ɒ
â	ʌ	ô	ɵ
á	æɪ̯	ó	ɔ
e	e	i	ɪ
ê	ɛ	î	i
		í	ɑe̯

Phonotactics

Consonants

Consonant Rules

Syllable and Stress

Syllable Structure - (C)(C) V (A) C

• The (A) means all consonants apart from stops.

The rule for stress placement in Qâêr;

• The stress is always placed on the second last accentuated vowel, and in the case where this is not accentuated then the stress swaps to the nearest accentuated vowel. In the case of two syllable words then the stress is always placed on the accentuated vowel and in the rare case where both vowels are accentuated the first one is favoured.

Grammar

Sentence Structure

The sentence structure in Qâêr follows a simple pattern. To start off the basic structure is - VERB - SUBJECT - OBJECT, and in subclauses it becomes - SUBJECT - OBJECT - VERB.

Example of Qâêr phrase structure using English words;

Is that man, who I him hit yesterday.

English translation - That is the man who I hit yesterday.

The order of phrases is a sentence is;

NP VP (PP)

Where - NP is a Noun Phrase, VP is a Verb Phrase, Adj.P and Adv.P are Adjectival and Adverbial Phrases respectively, and PP is a Prepositional Phrase.

NB The things in (_) above are not olbigatory.

In these phrases the structure is different to that of English;

In Qâêr VPs consist of a verb, adverb, mood particle, and an NP. The mood particle always comes first followed by the verb then the adverb and then the NP with its own structure.

In NPs the noun is always first followed by its determiner(if any) then its adjective(s), or an NP may consist also of just a pronoun.

In PPs the preposition comes first, then the noun, then its determniner and adjectives.

In general these, VP, NP, and PP, structures can be broken down thus;

VP= Mood Particle + Verb + (Adv.) + NP

NP= Noun + (Det.) + (Adj.)

PP+ Preposition + Noun + (Det.) + (Adj.)

NB in the layout above the things in (_) means they are not obligatroy.

Distinctions

Nouns

- Difference between plural and singular

- Un/Defined

- Possessiveness

Personal Pronouns

- Number ( I vs. We)

- Inclusive and Exclusive

- Animacy

- No distinction between he and she

- Case (Erg vs. Abs vs. Poss)

Verbs

- Voice

- Aspect/Tense

- Number & Gender Agreement

Adjectives

- Comparative

- 'Gradable' Prefix

Noun, Verb and Adjective Structure

Nouns Structure

Noun

Case

Derivation

Verbs Structure

Verb

Aspect

Voice

Agreement

Adjective Structure

Adjective

Comparative / Gradable Prefix

• Adjectives cannot be inflected with comparative and the "Gradable" prefix at the same time.

Aspect and Tempus

Aspect Tense	Perfective	Imperfective	Imperfective 2 (Conative)	Habitual	Perfect	Inceptive	Continuative	Terminative
Past	-e	-efe	-efa	-efo	-efi	-pe	-le	-ero
Present	--	-fe	-fa	-fo	-fi	-a	-lo	-ro
Future	-i	-ime	-ima	-imo	-imi	-ipe	-ile	-iro

The Imperfective 2 Aspect here seen in the table is the Conative Imperfect Aspect and is further explained in the Aspect Section.

Correlatives

Table of correlatives

		interrogative	demonstrative		quantifier
			proximal	distal	existential	elective	universal	negative	alternative-positive
determiner		which what	this (sg.) these (pl.)	that (sg.) those (pl.)	some	any whichever whichsoever	every each all	no	another
pronoun	human	who whom	this (one) (sg.) these (ones) (pl.)	that (one) (sg.) those (ones) (pl.)	someone somebody	anyone anybody whoever whomever whosoever whomsoever	everyone everybody all	no one nobody	another someone else somebody else
	nonhuman	what	this (one) (sg.) these (ones) (pl.)	that (one) (sg.) those (ones) (pl.)	something	anything whatever whatsoever	everything all	nothing	something else
	out of two	which	this one (sg.) these (ones) (pl.)	that one (sg.) those (ones) (pl.)	one	either whichever whichsoever	both	neither
	out of many				some one	any whichever whichsoever	each all	none
pro-adverb	location	where	here	there	somewhere	anywhere wherever wheresoever	everywhere	nowhere	elsewhere
	source	whence wherefrom	hence	thence thencefrom		whenceever whencesoever		nowhence
	goal	whither whereto whereinto whereunto	hither	thither	somewhither	anywhither whithersoever		nowhither
	time	when	now	then	sometime	anytime whenever whensoever	always everywhen	never
	manner	how whereby	thus hereby	thereby	somehow	anyhow however howsoever		noway noways nowise nohow (col.)	otherwise
	reason	why wherefore		therefore

Personal Pronouns

First Person
		Not You Inclusive	You Inclusive
Erg.	Ce (I)	Elâ (We)	Lelâ (We)
Abs.	Len (Me)	Erelâ (We)	Lamelâ (We)	Êoso (Objective) (Us)
Poss.	Cem (Mine)	Ohme (Ours)	Áohme (Ours)
Second Person
	Living			Non-Living
	Singular (Exclusive)	Plural (Inclusive)		Singular
Erg.	Dwá (You)	Adwen (You)		Se (It)
Abs.	Adwá (You)	Âdwen (You)		Sóe (It)
Poss.	Odwá (Your[s])	Ódwen (Your[s])		Some (Its)
Third Person Singular
	Living & Non-Gendered		Non-Living & Neutral
Erg.	Bess (He/She)		Dha (It)
Abs.	Ábess (Him/Her)		Ádha (It)
Poss.	Óbess (His/Hers)		Ódha (Its)
Third Person Plural
	Living & Non-Gendered		Non-Living & Neutral
Erg.	Mêron (They)		Adha (It)
Abs.	Ámêron (They)		Aládha (It)
Poss.	Ómêron (They)		Ódha (Its)

Cases

Cases
ERG	Ergative	Agent of Transitive Verbs
ABS	Absolutive	Subject or Direct Object
DAT	Dative	Indirect Object or To Sth./Sbdy
GEN	Genitive	Description - Man of Honour or Origin - Men of Rome
PART	Partitive	Part of a Group of Sth. eg. Wheel of Cheese
POSS	Possessive	Can be both Alienable and Inalienable Objects eg. My Briefcase (Alienable) or John's Nose (Inalienable)
VOC	Vocative	Used when Speaking to Someone and Saying Their Name. eg. Et tu, Brute?
ABES	Abessive	Lack of Sth. '-less' in English
INS	Instrumental	The Instrument of an Action I wrote with a Pen
EQU	Equative	Likeness eg. He is King-Like

Declension Table for Nouns

Singular
Cases	Living		Non-Living
	Defined	Undefined	Defined	Undefined
Ergative	-a	-o	-a	-o
Absolutive	-we	-wo	-(r)en	-(r)on
Genitive	-dwâ	-dwô	-dwê	-dwî
Possessive	-thes	-thos	-thes	-thos
Partitive	-enemâ	-mâ	-enâ	-enâ
Dative	-âbes	-(b)es	-(t)eren	-(t)irin
Abessive	-(s)âso	-(s)âs	-(l)eisos	-(l)esos
Instrumental	-(q)âno	-(q)ene	-(mr)el	-(q)ene
Equative	-(f)enna	-enenn	-(f)enó	-(f)enne
Vocative	Replaces the last syllable with -(t)ó

Plural
Cases	Living		Non-Living
	Defined	Undefined	Defined	Undefined
Ergative	-â	-ô	-â	-ô
Absolutive	-wê	-wó	-râ	-(r)ôn
Genitive	-bl	-bl	-blâ	-blô
Possessive	-dhes	-dhos	-dhes	-dhos
Partitive	-neneb	-nwene	-noneb	-nwenne
-Dative	-abjenâ	-(b)enâ	-(p)âre	-(p)ârene
Abessive	-(r)esâs	-(s)âses	-láóte	-lammó
Instrumental	-(q)êlo	-(q)âle	-nren	-êsen
Equative	-(hw)ês	-wes	-(hw)áte	-(hw)átâl
Vocative	Replaces the last syllable with -(t)ó

Note Example of Vocative Case

Normal Name Uninflected - Brutus

Inflected in Vocative - Brutó

Copulas

There is one Copula in Qâêr and that is Mellon.

Mellon is similar to the English verb to be in the sense that when saying a noun is something then the appropriate form of Mellon is used.. It conjugates thus;

	Mellon		Mellon
I	Mel
He/She	Mên	They	Len
You	Lon	You (Plural)	Ellon
It	Mon	It (Plural)	Men
We (Exclusive)	Lêo	We (Plural)	Lêonon

NB The pronouns used with Mellon take Subject(Absolutive) case.

When referring to a person in general, someone of high authority, and/or personally unknown to the speaker or listener(s), then the conjugated form for They is used.

Verb Agreement

Verb conjugation works as a suffix in Qâêr and is dependant on the Agent, Subject, and Object in the sentence. There are six inflectional suffixes for verb agreement that all attach onto the verb depending on these things;

Intransitive Verbs

	Singular	Plural
Living	-â	-nâ
Non-Living	-en	-won

These suffixes are always accentuated and depending on the location of the other accentuated vowels may or may not change the placement of stress.

Transitive Verbs

			Object
			Singular		Plural
			Living	Non-Living	Living	Non-Living
Agent	Singular	Living	-ní	-eth	-níín	-níeth
		Non-Living	-son	-bá	-sonín	-sobá
	Plural	Living	-níen	-en	-níení	-níethí
		Non-Living	-sonen	-ben	-soneí	-beníth

These suffixes are always accentuated and depending on the location of the other accentuated vowels may or may not change the placement of stress.

Affixes and Their Meanings

There are many affixes in Qâêr however here is a basic list of the ones that won't be mentioned anywhere else on this page.

Negation

Verb negation is done by adding the prefix sâo- to any particular verb one wishes to negate. Double negation is done by adding the prefix sêsâo-to any verbs. Double negation is usually used to convey sarcasm and exaggeration.

The negation of adjectives is done also in a similiar fashion by adding the negation prefix sâo- to the adjective thus obtaining results such as Happy - Unhappy

Derivation

All the following are Prefixes which remove the first vowel (if applicable, i.e is simple added if the word begins with a consonant) when being attached to the host.

Adjective --> Adverb - -(a)ren

Example; ijânei (Quick) > dwejânei (Quickly)

Adjective --> Noun -(o)nêo

Example; Happy > Happiness (This is an abstract noun)

Noun --> Verb -(o)soe

Exmple; Glory > Glorify

Noun --> Adjective dwen

Exmple; Recreation > Recreational

Adjective --> Noun (a)roe

Example; Slow > Slowness

Transitive Verbs --> Intransitive Verbs -- Ablaut o/ô/ó

In English this is not shown, e.g. Give can be both Transitive or Intransitive

E.g.; I give to charity (Intransitive) vs. I give Mary Money (Transitive)

Intransitive Verbs --> Transitive Verbs -- Ablaut i/î/í

Adjectives --> Transitive Verbs -- -(e)bê

Example; Rich > Enrich

Nouns --> Transitive Verbs -- -(í)mo

Example; Rapture > Enrapture

Verb Affixes

In this section the different affixes that relate solely to verbs will be discussed.

The Inchoative Verb (Inceptive Verb)

This article or section requires fix up.
It will be done soon.

This verb conveys the process of beginning or becoming. This verb type is created simply but inflecting a verb in the Inceptive Aspect and this represents the start or beginning of that particular action and therefore negates verbs such as to start or to begin'.

The Catenative Verb

A Catenative Verb is a verb which takes other verbs as objects, Example; We promised to try practicing tennis more often.

Here in the above example the verb promised is Catenative and takes the verbs to try (Infinitive Form) and practicing (Gerund Form) as its objects. In English Catenative verbs are not marked however in Qâêr a verb has to be inflected with the Catenative suffix to become a Catenative Verb.

The suffix to change verbs to Catenative form is - âren

Interrogative Words

The interrogative particle lê will be inflected with prefixes and these will phrase interrogative words such as what, where e.c.t. The interrogative particle without one of these prefixes will just be turned into a normal question.

What = qâ + lê – qâlê

Where = qin + lê – qinlê

When = qêo + lê – qêolê

Who = qenom + lê – qenomlê

Why = qî + lê – qîlê

How = qâfâo + lê – qâfâolê

How Much = sonâ + lê – sonâlê

Sonâ is derived from the Fáriân word Sjinolâme which means ‘to barter’.

Note – when using any of these interrogative words in Subordinate or Relative clauses, just the prefix is used, not the prefix with the particle.