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**** Countables and Uncountables :noexport:
**** Proper Nouns :noexport:
*** Pronouns and Anaphoric Clitics :noexport:
*** Pronouns and Anaphoric Clitics
# - Does the language have free pronouns and/or anaphoric clitics?
# (These are distinct from grammatical agreement.)
# - Give a chart of the free pronouns and/or anaphoric clitics.
**** Personal Pronouns
| | 1s | 2s | 1p | 2s |
|------------+-----+-----+-----+-----|
| Nominative | ek | þú | vér | ér |
| Accusative | mik | þik | oss | yðr |
| Dative | mín | þín | vár | yðr |
| Genitive | mér | þér | oss | yðr |
#+begin_center
First and second person pronouns in Eittlandic
#+end_center
The only notable change in written form from their Early Old Norse
version is the regularization of the genitive plural second person
/yðar/ into /yðr/. Otherwise, most changes only happened regarding their
phonology as explained in [[file:./phonology.md#evolution-from-early-old-norse-to-eittlandic][the evolution from Early Old Norse to
Eittlandic]].
| | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
|---------------------+-----------+----------+--------|
| Singular Nominative | hann | han | þat |
| Singular Accusative | han | han | þat |
| Singular Dative | hans | hennar | þass |
| Singular Genitive | hanum | henn | því |
|---------------------+-----------+----------+--------|
| Plural Nominative | þeir | þér | þau |
| Plural Accusative | þá | þér | þau |
| Plural Dative | þeir | þeir | þeir |
| Plural Genitive | þeim | þeim | þeim |
#+begin_center
Third person pronouns in Eittlandic
#+end_center
Here we also have few changes from the Early Old Norse pronouns for
the third persons, singular and plural.
**** Demonstrative Pronouns
**** Possessive Pronouns
*** Verbs :noexport:
Possessive pronouns in Eittlandic simply are the genitive form of the
personal pronouns shown [[file:./grammar.md#personal-pronouns][above]]. The pronoun agrees with the owner in
person and number, and in gender when the third person is used, as in
English. They have two different usage.
The first and more formal usage, inherited from Old Norse, is to
precede the noun phrase owned by the owner with the genitive pronoun.
For instance, /mín katt/ means /my cat/ while /þeim katt/ means /their cat/
(as shown in [[file:./grammar.md#case-marking][Case Marking]], we have no way to know if /katt/, a strong
common word, is singular or plural accusative).
The second and more casual way to express possession is using the
definite form of a word and placing the possessive pronoun after it.
We can adapt the previous examples of /my cat/ and /their cat/ as /kattin
mín/ and /kattin þeim/.
While these two forms provide a difference in tone, the second form is
more limited as it only allows single word noun phrases to be the
possessed element while the first allows more complex noun phrases.
The sentence /mín kattrinn komand frá heim/ (/my cat coming from home/)
would need to be modified in order to fit the second structure, such
as /kattrinn mín, hvar komr frá heim/ (/my cat, who is coming from home/).
*** Verbs
# - What are the distributional properties of verbs?
# - What are the structural properties of verbs?
# - What are the major subclasses of verbs?
# - Describe the order of various verbal operators within the verbal
# - word or verb phrase.
# - Give charts of th
# - tense/aspect/mode, etc. Indicate major allomorphic variants.
# - Give charts of the tense/aspect/mode, etc. Indicate major
# allomorphic variants.
# - Are directional and/or locational notions expressed in the verb or
# - verb phrase at all?
# - Is this operation obligatory, i.e. does one member of the
@@ -39,10 +98,172 @@
# or lexically? Are there any exceptions to the general case?
# - Where in the verb phrase or verbal word is this operation likely
# to appear? Can it occur in more than one place?
**** Verbal Structure
**** Verbal Derivations
Eittlandic, as most if not all North Germanic language, is a V2
language. This implies that in most cases, the verb in sentences will
come at the second position, possibly moving its subject right between
the verb itself and the rest of the verb phrase. The only exception to
this are questions and the use of imperative. More on that later.
Since Early Old Norse, Eittlandic evolved its verb both towards
simplification on one hand, making the verb endings a lot more regular
and predictable, and complexification with the addition of new moods
and tenses.
**** Verbal Structure :noexport:
**** Verbal Derivations :noexport:
**** Verbal Inflexions
*** Modifiers
Verbs in Eittlandic agree with their subject in person and number,
though it lost a lot of its diversity Old Norse had. It also varies
depending on the tense, mood, and aspect of the verbal sentence. The
examples are given using the verbs /far(a)/ (/to go/, a former strong
verb), and /berja/ (/to beat/, a former weak verb).
| <c> | | | | |
| person | | Indicative Present | Subjunctive Present | Indicative and Subjunctive Past |
|--------+---+--------------------+---------------------+---------------------------------|
| 1s | | -r | -ir | -t |
| 2s | | -r | -ir | -t |
| 3s | | -r | -ir | -t |
| 1p | | -um | -im | -um |
| 2p | | -ið | -ið | -uð |
| 3p | | -ið | -ið | -uð |
#+begin_center
/Typical Verb Inflexion/
#+end_center
| person | | far | berja |
|--------+---+-------+--------|
| 1s | | ferr | berjar |
| 2s | | ferr | berjar |
| 3s | | ferr | berjar |
| 1p | | farum | berjum |
| 2p | | farið | berið |
| 3p | | farið | berið |
#+begin_center
Indicative present inflexion of /far(a)/ and /berja/
#+end_center
Note that the final vowel of /berja/ gets replaced with the vowel from
the inflexion, and the final /j/ also disappears when it is immediately
followed by an /i/.
Present subjunctive has similar declensions to present indicative.
| person | | far | berja |
|--------+---+-------+-------|
| 1s | | ferir | berir |
| 2s | | ferir | berir |
| 3s | | ferir | berir |
| 1p | | farim | berim |
| 2p | | farið | berið |
| 3p | | farið | berið |
#+begin_center
Subjunctive present inflexion of /far(a)/ and /berja/
#+end_center
We can see again how the /ja/ at the end of infinitive /berja/ got
replaced by the ending of subjunctive present verbs.
The past declension is simpler as there is no difference between
indicative and subjunctive past.
| person | | far | berja |
|--------+---+-------+--------|
| 1s | | fert | berjat |
| 2s | | fert | berjat |
| 3s | | fert | berjat |
| 1p | | farum | berjum |
| 2p | | faruð | berjuð |
| 3p | | faruð | berjuð |
#+begin_center
Indicative and subjunctive past inflexion of /far(a)/ and /berja/
#+end_center
The infinitive and imperative merged due to the final vowel loss,
making /far/ and /berja/ not only the infinitive form of /to go/ and /to
beat/, but also their imperative form. Present and past participles are
on the other hand made by appending /-and/ and /-it/ respectively.
| infinitive / imperative | far | berja |
| present participle | farand | berjand |
| past participle | farit | berit |
When it comes to the passive voice, inherited from the /-sk/ form in Old
Norse, its declension is a lot more regular. However, we’ll see the
remaining difference between strong and weak verbs.
| <c> | | | |
| person | | Strong | Weak |
|--------+---+----------+-------------|
| 1s | | -umk | -umk |
| 2s | | -(a/i)sk | -(ð/d/t)isk |
| 3s | | -(a/i)sk | -(ð/d/t)isk |
| 1p | | -umk | -umk |
| 2p | | -(a/i)sk | -(ð/d/t)isk |
| 3p | | -(a/i)sk | -(ð/d/t)isk |
#+begin_center
/Strong and Weak Verb Inflexion for the Indicative Present and Past in Passive Voice/
#+end_center
| person | | far | berja |
|--------+---+--------+-----------|
| 1s | | ferumk | berjumk |
| 2s | | ferisk | berjaðisk |
| 3s | | ferisk | berjaðisk |
| 1p | | farask | berjaðisk |
| 2p | | farask | berjaðisk |
| 3p | | farask | berjaðisk |
There is only one minor difference for the subjunctive mood: both the
first person singular and plural change to /-imk/ instead of /-umk/.
Imperative, on the other hand, only works with the second person in
the present tense by appending an /-sk/ at the end of the infinitive of
the verb.
Due to this uniformisation of the passive voice in Eittlandic,
Eittlanders began using the verbs /ver(a)/ and /hav(a)/ (respectively /to
be/ and /to have/) as auxilliaries preceeding the verb in order to convey
the subject, tense, and mood agreement. The verb /ver(a)/ is most often
used in active verbs, while the verb /hav(a)/ is generally used with
stative verbs. While all verbs have a default auxilliary, such as
/ver(a)/ for a verb like /et(a)/ (/to eat/), the speaker may choose to use
the other auxilliary in order to increase or decrease the agency of
the semantic agent (not the syntactic agent), even if it is not
present in the sentence.
#+html: ::: tip Example
- Ek var brennumk mik
| ek | var | brenn-umk | mik |
| 1s.NOM | be.1s.IND.PST | burn-1s.PAS | 1s.ACC |
/I burnt myself/
- Ek hav brennumk mik
| ek | hav | brenn-umk | mik |
| 1s.NOM | have.1s.IND.PST | burn-1s.PAS | 1s.ACC |
/I got burnt/
#+html: :::
The verbs /var(a)/ and /hav(a)/ are irregular verbs that do not follow the
same inflexion rules. For a list of their inflexion, see their
dictionary entry ([[file:./dictionary.md#ver-a][ver(a)]] and [[file:./dictionary.md#hav-a][hav(a)]]).
The passive voice inherits from the Old Norse mediopassive voice. It
is often used to promote a semantic patient to a syntactic agent and
to demote a semantic agent to a syntactic oblique, sometimes even
completely removing it from the sentence.
#+html: ::: tip Example
- Maðrinn dragt fiskin frá vatnin
| maðr-inn | drag-t | fisk-in | frá | vatn-in |
| man.NOM-DEF.NOM | drag-IND.PST | fish-DEF.ACC | from | water-DEF.DAT |
The man fished the fish from the water
- Fiskinn var dragask frá vatnin
| Fiskr-inn | var | drag-ask | frá | vatn-in |
| fish.NOM-DEF.NOM | be.3s.IND.PST | drag-STG.PAS | from | water-DEF.DAT |
The fish was fished from the water
#+html: :::
*** Modifiers :noexport:
# - If you posit a morphosyntactic category of adjectives, give
# evidence for not grouping theseforms with the verbs or nouns. What
# characterizes a form as being an adjective in this language?
@@ -58,7 +279,7 @@
# class, ...)?
**** Descriptive Adjectives :noexport:
**** Non-Numeral Quantifiers :noexport:
**** Numerals
**** Numerals :noexport:
*** Adverbs :noexport:
# - What characterikes a form as being an adverb in this language? If
@@ -72,26 +293,26 @@
# complement-taking (matrix) verbs?
*** Adpositions :noexport:
*** Grammatical Particules :noexport:
** Constituants Order Typology :noexport:
*** Constituants Order in Main Clauses
** Constituants Order Typology
*** Constituants Order in Main Clauses :noexport:
# - What is the neutral order of free elements in the unit?
# - Are there variations?
# - How do the variant orders function?
# - Specific to the main clause constituent order: What is the
# pragmatically neutral order of constituents (A/S, P, and V) in
# basic clauses of the language?
*** Constituants Order in Nominal Clauses
*** Constituants Order in Nominal Clauses :noexport:
# - Describe the order(s) of elements in the noun phrase.
*** Constituants Order in Verbal Clauses
*** Constituants Order in Verbal Clauses :noexport:
# - Where do auxliari
# verb?
# - Where do verb-phrase adverbs occur with respect to the verb and
# auxiliaries?
*** Adpositional Phrases
*** Adpositional Phrases :noexport:
# - Is the language dominantly prepositional or post-positional? Give
# examples.
# - Do many adpositions come from nouns or verbs?
*** Comparatives
*** Comparatives :noexport:
# - Does the language have one or more grammaticalized comparative
# constructions? If so, what is the order of the standard, the
# marker and the quality by which an item is compared to the
@@ -100,6 +321,100 @@
# - In yes/no questions, if there is a question particle, where does
# it occur?
# - In information qu
Questions in Eittlandic are formed by inverting the syntactic subject
with its verb in a normal sentence. For example, the sentence /han komr
í dag með faðin hans/ (/he’s coming today with his father/) becomes a
question when inverting /han/ and /komr/.
**** Yes/No questions
Yes/no questions are generally answered by /já/ or /nei/ (/yes/ or /no/
respectively), sometimes with a repeat of the core of the sentence to
confirm the anwser.
#+html: ::: tip Example
- Komr han í dag með faðin hans?
Is he coming today with his father?
- Nei, han komr eig
No, he’s not coming
or
- Já, han komr
Yes, he’s coming
#+html: :::
The interjections /já/ and /nei/ are often ambiguous when replying to a
question employing a negative verb and are often avoided; Eittlanders
will prefer to reply with part of or the entirety of the question with
either a negative marker or not to confirm or deny the assumption of
the question.
#+html: ::: tip Example
- Komr han eig í dag?
Is he not coming today?
- Han komr eig
He’s not coming
or
- Han komr
#+html: :::
Another strategy, a lot more common when replying to negative
questions, is to reply using counter-factual interjection /eng/ meaning
/yes/, while speakers will consider a simple /nei/ as an approbation of
the assumption of the question.
#+html: ::: tip Example
- Komr han eig í dag?
Is he not coming today?
- Nei (han komr eig)
No (he’s not coming)
or
- Áng (han komr)
Yes he is coming
#+html: :::
Similarly, when a question with a positive assumption is asked,
Eittlandic speakers can answer with a counter-factual /náng/ to insist
on its erroneous nature.
#+html: ::: tip Example
- Komr han eig í dag?
Is he not coming today?
- Náng (han komr eig)
Of course not (he’s not coming)
#+html: :::
Some yes/no questions are sometimes asked in a very reduced form,
without a full verbal sentence and only consisting of a noun phrase.
Think of questions like /Coffe?/ or /Another cookie?/ in English. Such
questions in Eittlandic require the final word /vit/.
#+html: ::: tip Example
- Té ell kafé vit?
Tea or coffe?
- Té, þakk.
Tea, please/thanks.
#+html: :::
**** General questions
General questions that are not yes/no questions will most of the time
begin with a question word such as /hvar/ (/who/), the equivalent of WH
words in English.
** Structure of a Nominal Group
*** Composed Words :noexport:
# - Is there noun-noun compounding that results in a noun (e.g.
@@ -165,12 +480,12 @@ simplified to the table following it.
|---+------------+------------------+-----------------+---------------+----------------|
| | Sing. Nom. | heim-r | tíð | skip | tím-i |
| | Acc. | heim | tíð | skip | tím-a |
| | Gen. | heim-s | tíð-ar | skip-s | tím-a |
| | Dat. | heim-i | tíð | skip-i | tím-a |
| | Gen. | heim-s | tíð-ar | skip-s | tím-a |
| | Plur. Nom. | heim-ar | tíð-ir | skip | tím-ar |
| | Acc. | heim-a | tíð-ir | skip | tím-a |
| | Gen. | heim-a | tíð-a | skip-a | tím-a |
| | Dat. | heim-um | tíð-um | skip-um | tím-um |
| | Gen. | heim-a | tíð-a | skip-a | tím-a |
#+name: tbl:eittlandic-example-noun-inflexions
#+caption: Declensions for strong and weak nouns in Modern Eittlandic
@@ -179,12 +494,12 @@ simplified to the table following it.
|---+------------+---------------+---------------+------------|
| | Sing. Nom. | heim-r | skip | tím |
| | Acc. | heim | skip | tím |
| | Gen. | heim-ar | skip-s | tím-s |
| | Dat. | heim | skip | tím |
| | Gen. | heim-ar | skip-s | tím-s |
| | Plur. Nom. | heim-r | skip | tím-r |
| | Acc. | heim | skip | tím |
| | Gen. | heim-ar | skip-s | tím-s |
| | Dat. | heim-um | skip-um | tím-um |
| | Gen. | heim-ar | skip-s | tím-s |
As you can see, a good amount of declensions disappeared from nouns,
with only four marked cases for strong common nouns and two for strong
@@ -360,17 +675,14 @@ declensions in this dialect.
In case a strong noun is used with a strong adjective, both will agree
in number and gender.
+ Examples:
- hvítr hund
white.m.sg.acc dog.m.sg.acc
white dog
- langir tungir
long.f.pl.acc tongues.f.pl.acc
long tongues
#+html: ::: tip Example
- hvítr hund
| white.m.sg.acc | dog.m.sg.acc |
white dog
- langir tungir
| long.f.pl.acc | tongues.f.pl.acc |
long tongues
#+html: :::
*** Diminution and Augmentation :noexport:
# - Does the language employ diminutive and/or augmentative operators