Virassian grammar

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This article details the grammar of the Virassian language.

Vocabulary[edit | edit source]

Having evolved away from the synthetic structure typical of Upcylmu-Amleian languages, like that of Amulni or [Mordrasi language|Mordrasi]], the remnants of its collapsed morpheme structure are littered throughout the language's wordstock resulting in a large vocabulary, with various sound changes obscuring the once orderly system of vowel change and harmony. The language also exhibits a degree of influence from Ewigic languages, and features many Visser loanwords and morphemes.

Suffixes[edit | edit source]

Virassian employs suffixes to achieve various grammatical functions, namely implying aspect[1], clusivity[2], tense, as adpositions[3], and as augmentatives[4] or diminutives[5]. When multiple suffixes are used, they are traditionally used in the following order in central Virassian, with some dialects employing different arrangements.

Adpositions[edit | edit source]

Virassian adpositions are added after verbs. Directional

  • թոռավ (torav) - Towards
  • ավւեի (avwei) - Away from
  • նեցավ (nejav) - Near
  • հասդոռ (hasdor) - Into
  • ըթիվսթ (ātivst) - Against
  • ընթե (ānte) - Onto
  • ովեռ (over) - Over
  • էկռս (ēkrs) - Across
  • պաշ (path) - Past, beyond
  • նիեշ (nieth) - Underneath
  • էնռօթ (ēnrut) - Along, by way of
  • փեի (fei) - From

Interacting

  • ւիթ (wit) - With
  • ւիթաժ (witaȥ) - Without
  • ավ (av) - Of

Aspect and Tense[edit | edit source]

Virassian verb aspect and tense is very similar to Atraelish verb aspects, with the exception of an additional habitual tense.

Virassian Simple Perfect Progressive Perfect progressive
Present weid/weides wiedenhis/wiedenhid wiedinihm/wiedines/wiedineis his/hiv ben wiedin
Past wode wodenhid wiedinwaz/wiedinwer hid ben wiedin
Future wel wied wel wiedenhid wel sen wiedin wel sen wiedin
Habitual weidsen wiedensen wiedensen sen ben wiedin
Atraelish equivalent Simple Perfect Progressive Perfect progressive
Present write/writes has/have written am/is/are writing has/have been writing
Past wrote had written was/were writing had been writing
Future will write will have written will be writing will have been writing

Clusivity[edit | edit source]

  • mei - Including just the speaker (similar to "my")
  • as - Including the speaker and those they consider with them, and specifically excluding the addressee(s) (similar to exclusive form of "we")
  • olas - Including the speaker and those that are and may be listening (similar to inclusive form of "we")
  • ue - Including all who may be listening to the speaker, but not the speaker themselves (similar to "you")
  • thēi - Includes a group beyond the listener(s) and speaker, who may or may not be listening (similar to "they")

Augmentatives and diminutives[edit | edit source]

In addition to determining size and/or numerical quantity, Virassian augmentatives and diminutives also preserve aspects of noun gender that were more prevalent in the older Upcymlu-Amleian languages.

  • Nis - none
  • Doshka - tiny
  • Laub - some, a little
  • Lintl - little, small, feminine
  • Larber - medium-sized, average size, neuter
  • Ches - most, a lot
  • Chēz - large, big, masculine
  • Habrd - very large, huge

Articles[edit | edit source]

Articles are added before the words they refer to as unbound morphemes.

  • Դան (Dan) - Definite article (the)
  • Դի (Di) - Indefinite article (a)

Conjunctions[edit | edit source]

Conjunctions, are used, like articles, as independent morphemes. Their arrangement differs depending on emphasis and the type of conjunction used, however their use is generally equivalent to how they are used in Atraelish.

Coordinating conjunctions[edit | edit source]

  • Frd - for,
  • Իհ (Ih) - and
  • Nēr - nor
  • Ut - but
  • Ār - or
  • Jet - yet
  • Sār - so

Subordinating conjunctions[edit | edit source]

Some examples of subordinating conjunctions.

  • Abvrer - after
  • Oltakh - although
  • Aȥ - as
  • Aȥ ēf - as if
  • Aȥ limber aȥ - as long as
  • Aȥ mrs aȥ - as much as
  • Aȥ suna aȥ - as soon as
  • Aȥ thorn - as though
  • Bāon kaus - because
  • Bāon forde - before
  • Bie dan feiten - by the time
  • Avneb ēf - even if
  • Avneb thorn - even though
  • Ēf - if
  • Ig alzett that - in order that
  • Ig kampeg - in case
  • lest
  • once
  • only if
  • provided that
  • since
  • so that
  • than
  • That - that
  • though
  • till
  • unless
  • until
  • when
  • whenever
  • where
  • wherever
  • while

Pronouns[edit | edit source]

Subject Pronoun Object Pronoun Possessive Adjective (Determiner) Possessive Pronoun Reflexive or Intensive Pronoun
1st person singular Ie (I) Mie (Me) Mei (My) Mien (Mine) Mieslev (Myself)
2nd person singular Jue (You) Jae (You) Jaer (Your) Yas (Yours) Yaslev (Yourself)
3rd person singular, male Hie (He) Hem (Him) Hes (His) Hes (His) Hemslev (Himself)
3rd person singular, female Sie (She) Hā (Her) Hās (Her) Hās (Hers) Hāslev (Herself)
3rd person singular, neutral Ie (It) Ie (It) Ies (Its) Ies (Its) Ieslev (Itself)
1st person plural Wie (We) Ijas (Us) Ijau (Our) Ijaus (Ours) Ijauslevs (Ourselves)
2nd person plural Jue (You) Jae (You) Jaer (Your) Yas (Yours) Yaslevs (Yourselves)
3rd person plural Thei (They) Them (Them) Thier (Their) Theirs (Theirs) Themslevs (Themselves)

Demonstratives[edit | edit source]

Demonstratives are used similarly to nouns in regards to their placement within sentences and ability to be modified by suffixes.

  • (ths, thies [plural]) - Refers to object close to the speaker (e.g. "this")
  • (that, thos [plural]) - Refers to an object next to the listener(s), or away from both the speaker and listener(s) (similar to "that")

Adjectives and adverbs[edit | edit source]

Virassian adjectives are added after the words they describe, with many adjectives having homophones with similar or even completely different meanings, all of which is normally supplied by context. Due to Virassian's large and versatile wordstock, describers are typically rare, and are normally used to direct especially nuanced meaning.

Phonology[edit | edit source]

Timing[edit | edit source]

Virassian is a stressed-timed language. Like Atraelish, there are frequent, though not rigid, patterns regarding which sounds are stressed in verbal communication. Petro Evangeline, an influential Atraelish-Virassian linguist, wrote of the stress patterns in his The Upcylmu-Amleian Language:

  • As a general rule, words have their first vowel or diphthong stressed, unless:
    • If a word starts with a vowel, its second vowel is instead stressed. If the starting vowel is the only vowel, then it is stressed normally.
    • If for a word with two syllables, if the second syllable contains a long vowel or a diphthong, then it is stressed.
    • If morphemes added at the end of a word stem contain a diphthong, the first occurring diphthong is stressed.
  • When the letters R or Ȥ are between two consonants in a word, they are treated as vowels and are stressed accordingly.

Sentence structure[edit | edit source]

Virassian expressions are typically ordered as subject-verb-object (SVO), however subject-object-verb (SOV) constructions are often used to emphasise the object in question. The language is littered with a vestigial case structure that implies older forms of Virassian were more inflected, something notable in other languages of the Zemlyumir language family.

References and notes[edit | edit source]

Languages
Families
Language families Central Cymluni · Ewigic · Lowcymlu-urcinnan · Neiran · Upcymlu-amleian · Yumeran
Languages
Major languages Abata · Amulni · Atraelish · Barva · Cesmelan · Etruarac · Flaigalish · Gakknir · Gashaorhieli · Jovaran · Mahleka · Mainathan · Mordrasi · Mukegani · Pelannician · Ruuvatthan · Seonmi · Tzolkese · Umura · Varlish · Virassian · Wunal · Yashurhieli
Minor languages Šamolai
Misc.
Grammar Amulni · Seonmi · Virassian · Wunal
Word lists List of Seonmi words and phrases · List of Wunal words and phrases