Northian grammar

Northian grammar is highly synthetic.

Overview

Ablaut is a system of vowel apophony, altering the quality or quantity of vowels but not their lexical meaning, that affects most classes of words in Northian. The system is most prominent in substantives, i.e. nouns, pronouns, and adjectives. Though ablaut was transparent in reconstructed Proto-Erani-Eracuran, it has been obscured by sound change and analogical replacement in the process of its evolution into Proto-Nordic-Northian and subsequently Galic Northian, the oldest attested stage of the Northian language.  In particular, the erosion of consonant clusters and sound change in unaccented and coda vowels in the immediate prehistory of Galic has made many inflectional endings unrecognizable, yet protected by poetic metre and strict tradition, Galic texts retain many archaicisms. These processes have not occurred to the same extent in the Epic language, but there the word forms were subject to more rigorous regularization.

It is generally accepted that there was a fairly rigorous system of derivation in Proto-Erani-Eracuran, extending lexical roots by various affixes, before attaching inflectional endings. In this way, roots representing abstract meanings gave rise to nouns, adjectives, and verbs.

Grammatical tradition

By and large, the first grammatical work that survives as a received text was written in the 1st century BCE, when the Northians have become accustomed to urban living and are under Acrean dominion. It seems that these grammatical treatises were intended by authors to stem linguistic changes considered "erroneous" in ritualistic contexts, suggesting that many of the forms given by the treatises were no longer in living usage and were threatened even in liturgical ones. The Grammarian chastises those who say mēθras menerōs and mēθrō menerō for mētūs menēs "of mothers-minds" and claims that "neither mother nor god, above the heavens and below the earth, will understand what you say, for the ignorance even in the names of family members drives away Good".

Nouns

	Basic endings
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	-Ø, -s	-ē, [-a]	-is
Vocative	-Ø
Accusative	-m		-ns
Genitive	-ō, [-s]	-ōs, [-us]	-õ
Locative	-e	-ō, [-u]	-su
Dative	-ē, [-i]	-mō, [-ma]	-mus
Instrumental	-a

Of nouns, the Grammarian divides them into two kinds based on the position of the accent on the genitive singular form. The oxytone group includes all nouns that have accented endings, and paroxytone group, nouns that have unaccented endings. According to the Grammarian, this knowledge is very predictive of the other forms and accent positions of the nouns. Modern scholars reach the understanding that the oxytone nouns correspond with the hysterodynamic ablaut pattern, and the paroxytone nouns with the proterodynamic and acrostatic patterns.

m-stems

This class is known from only three but important nouns, θéɣõ "earth", žõ "winter", and dõ "house". All m-stem nouns in Northian are feminine in gender, though with only three examples, this may not be an actual rule.

	se θéɣõ, "earth"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	θéɣõ	zθémē	zθémes
Vocative	θéɣom
Accusative	zθémum		zumūŋ
Genitive	zu̯u̯ō	zu̯ōs	zu̯õ
Locative	zθéi̯me	zu̯ō	zumsu
Dative	zu̯ē	zuŋu̯ō	zuŋu̯ō
Instrumental	zoa

θéɣõ is one of the rarer Northian words that reflects all three ablaut grades.

θéɣõ "eath" is from the full-grade stem of Proto-Erani-Eracuran *dʰeǵʰōm "earth", where final -m drops and causes the preceding long vowel to become nasalized. Gen. zu̯u̯ō and dat. zu̯ē are the results of the zero-grade stem *dʰǵʰm̥ > *zm̥- > zw-. Final *-os regularly contracts to -ō, lengthening the vowel, and *-ey monophthongized into -ē. The e-grade stem is visible in the strong cases in singular and dual, sing. loc., as well as plural nom., as zθém < *dʰǵʰem-. In the sing. loc., the lowering of final *-i triggered the regular mutation in the preceding short vowel. The plural acc. unexpectedly displays zero-grade stem; final *-n̥s regularly > *-uns > Galic -ūŋ. The stem ending in -m mutates with the initial m- of the du. and pl. dat.-ins. endings.

The behaviour of žõ "winter" is underlyingly similar to that of θéɣõ, but other phonetic changes have caused the surface forms to be altered in other ways.

	se dõ, "house"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	dõ	doma	domes
Vocative	dom
Accusative	dōm, domum		domūŋ
Genitive	dēŋ	demus	demõ
Locative	déi̯me	demu	deŋsu
Dative		dei̯ma	deŋu̯ō
Instrumental	dema

dõ "house", an extremely common noun, also displays three ablaut grades; however, its stems differ by the quantity and quality of the vowel in the same root syllable, as it has no suffix. In the sing. nom., final vowel is lengthened already in PEE. The regular strong stem is visible in the sing. acc., which has two forms. dōm stands as a poetic or dialectal term in place of expected domum sometimes; its creation is either late, as it does not have vowel nasalization, or reflects compensatory lengthening from dropping the final syllable of domum. dõ displays a paroxytone accentual pattern and has the zero-grade endings: sing. gen. dēŋ < *dems and dat. déi̯me < *demi, the latter showing regular mutation after the lowering of the final *-i.

n-stems

	sē akmō, "stone"			tod dēmuŋ, "house"
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	akmō	akmenē	akmenes	dēmuŋ	dēmunī	dēmnō
Vocative	akmo
Accusative	akmenum		kuŋmūŋ
Genitive	kuŋmō	kuŋmōs	kuŋmõ	damēi̯ŋ	damenus	demõ
Locative	kumeine	kumnō	kumuŋsu		damenu	deŋsu
Dative	kuŋmē	kuŋmō	kuŋmus	damēi̯ne	dameŋma	demnos
Instrumental	kuŋma			damēna

	tod dēmuŋ, "home"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	nomuŋ	nomnī	nomnō
Vocative
Accusative
Genitive	nemuŋ	nemunus	nemnõ
Locative		nemunu	nemsu
Dative	nemne	nemuŋma	nemuŋmos
Instrumental	nemna

r-stems

There are three subtypes within the r-stem group. mētur "mother" represents the group with initial accent, which persists on the root syllable and always takes suffix and ending in zero-grade. βrētur "brother" is inflected in the same manner. This is a small group of nouns recognized by their unaccented endings in both nom. and gen.

	sē mētur, "mother"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	mētur	mētu̯ra	mēθres
Vocative
Accusative	mēθrum		mētu̯ruŋ
Genitive	mētūr, mētūs	mētu̯rus	mēθrõ
Locative	mēθre	mētu̯ru	mētuiru
Dative		mēturma	mēturmus
Instrumental	mēθra

Gen. mētūs < *meHtr̥s, while mētūr appears to be a later regularization, restoring the *r that has been dropped in *-rs. Dat. mētrė < *meHtri, acc. mētrum show regular forms. Loc. mēteire appears with full grade suffix.

su̯éhi̯itur "daughter" represents the oxytone group of the r-stems, which includes many agentive nouns that terminate in -er and -or. They are recognizable by their zero-grade nom. endings and full-grade -ō endings in gen. The behaviour of the word ɣenur "hand" is underlyingly identical.

	sē su̯éhi̯itur, "daughter"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	su̯éhi̯itur	duɣaterē	duɣateres
Vocative	su̯éhi̯itur
Accusative	duɣaterum		duɣateruŋ
Genitive	duɣaθrō	duɣaθrōs	duɣaθrõ
Locative	duɣaθrē	duɣaterō	duɣatuiru
Dative		duɣaturmō	duɣaturmō
Instrumental	duɣaθra

patēr "father" is a variation of the pattern of "daughter", where in the nom. the accent is on the ending instead of the stem; otherwise, it follows the pattern of "daughter" exactly.

	sē patēr, "father"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	patēr	paterē	pateres
Vocative	pater
Accusative	paterum		pateruŋ
Genitive	paθrō	paθrōs	paθrõ
Locative	paθrē	paterō	paθruiru
Dative		patu̯rmō	patu̯rmō
Instrumental	paθra

The paroxytone declension of ster "star" is unique, sg. gen. stēr < *Hsters, dat. steire, etc.

l-stems

The l-stems originally inflect as other ablauting consonant stems, but because intervocalic *-l- regularly > -y-, the resulting paradigm presents certain quirks not seen in the normal consonant-stem paradigm.

sē slō sáyum

s-stems

There are two classes in the s-stem group, one for masculine and feminine nouns, and another for neuter ones. The masculine and feminine nouns are formally indistinct but behave like other consonant-stem nouns, with or without ablaut. The noun mus "mouse" is unique in its preservation of an initial accent. The neuter nouns fall into two groups, those with oxytone or paroxytone accents.

	sē nēs, "nose"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	nēs	narē	nares
Vocative	nes
Accusative	narum		naruŋ
Genitive	narō	narōs	narõ
Locative	naere	narō	nassu
Dative	narē	nasmō	nasmus
Instrumental	nara

	tod kretō, "intellect, power"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	kretō	kretera	kretera
Vocative
Accusative
Genitive	kreterō	kreterus	kreterõ
Locative	kreteire	kreteru	kretessu
Dative		kretesma	kretesmus
Instrumental	kretera

	tod menō, "mind"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	menō	menera	menera
Vocative
Accusative
Genitive	menēs	menerus	menerõ
Locative	meneire	meneru	menessu
Dative		menesma	menesmus
Instrumental	menera

i-stems

The i-stems were a prolific class of nouns in Northian during the Galic period. In PEE, the i-stems were completely parallel to the u-stems in virtually all contexts, but due to sound changes their surface forms in Northian are quite different. Accordingly, they are considered separate classes in Northian tradition.

	sa socis, "ally"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	socis	skoi̯ē	sokoi̯is
Vocative	soci
Accusative	socim		skoin
Genitive	skiō	skiōs	skiõ
Locative	skoi̯e	skiō	skisu
Dative	skiē	skimō	skimus
Instrumental	skī

	sē mentis, "thought"			tod more, "sea"
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	mentis	mentēa	mentēis	more	morēa	morēi̯
Vocative	meinte
Accusative	mentim		mentīn
Genitive	muntēs	muntēus	muntēõ	mrēs	mrēus	mrēõ
Locative	muntēi	muntēu	muntēsu	mrēē	mrēo	mrēsu
Dative		muntēma	muntēmus		mrēma	mrēmus
Instrumental	muntēa			mrē

	sa potis, "master"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	potis	potī	potiis
Vocative	poti
Accusative	potim		potīn
Genitive	petis	petius	petiõ
Locative	peti	petiu	petisu
Dative		petima	petimus
Instrumental	petī

u-stems

	sē genus, "chin"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	genōs	geneu̯ē	geneu̯is
Vocative	genō
Accusative	genōm		geneu̯uŋ
Genitive	genuō	genuōs	genuõ
Locative	geneu̯i	genuō	genuru
Dative	genuē	genumō	genumus
Instrumental	genua

	sa sui̯us, "child" = υἱύς			tod pōi̯o, "flock" = πῶυ
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	sui̯us	sui̯ēu̯	sui̯eu̯is	pōi̯o	pai̯ēu̯	pai̯eu̯is
Vocative	sui̯o
Accusative	sui̯um		sui̯uuŋ
Genitive	sui̯eu̯s	sui̯eu̯us	sui̯eu̯õ	pai̯eu̯s	pai̯eu̯us	pai̯eu̯õ
Locative	sui̯eu̯i	sui̯eu̯o	sui̯eu̯so	pai̯eu̯i	pai̯eu̯o	pai̯eu̯so
Dative		sui̯eu̯ma	sui̯eu̯mus		pai̯eu̯ma	pai̯eu̯mus
Instrumental	sui̯ēu̯			pai̯ēu̯

	sa θeɣus, "fish" = ἰχθύς			tod doru, "wood" = δόρυ
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	θeɣus	θeɣō	θeɣō	doru	dorō	dorō
Vocative
Accusative
Genitive	zus	zuus	zuõ	derus	deruus	deruõ
Locative	zui	zuo	zuru	derō	deruo	denuru
Dative		zuma	zumus		deruma	derumus
Instrumental	zū			derū

ī-stems

The ī-stems in oxytone is rare and contains only a few nouns.

	sē sθerīs, "heifer"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	sθerīs	sθerīa	sθurīis
Vocative	sθerī
Accusative	sθerīum		sθurīuŋ
Genitive	sθurīō	sθurīōs	sθurīõ
Locative	sθurīē	sθurīō	sθunīru
Dative		sθurīmō	sθurīmus
Instrumental	sθurīa

By contrast, the ī-stems in paroxytone has remained productive down to the Epic period as a feminizing suffix for athematic nouns.

	sē genaθrī, "genitrix"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	genaθrī	genaθrīa	genaθrīis
Vocative
Accusative	genaθrīum		genaθrīuŋ
Genitive	ŋaθri̯ēs	ŋaθri̯ēus	ŋaθri̯ēõ
Locative	ŋaθri̯ēi	ŋaθri̯ēo	ŋaθri̯ēru
Dative		ŋaθri̯ēma	ŋaθri̯ēmus
Instrumental	ŋaθri̯ēa

ū-stems

	sē tenūs, "body"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	tenūs	tenōa	tunu̯ēis
Vocative
Accusative	tunu̯ēum		tunu̯ēuŋ
Genitive	tunuō	tunuōs	tunuõ
Locative	tunu̯ēi	tunuō	tunuru
Dative	tunuē	tunumō	tunumus
Instrumental	tunua

The ū-stems also includes one member with paroxytone accent, namely sokrō "mother-in-law".

	sē sokrō, "mother-in-law" = socrus
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	sokrō	sokrēu̯	sokrēu̯is
Vocative
Accusative	sokrēu̯u̯ŋ		sokrēu̯ŋ
Genitive	sokrēu̯s	sokrēu̯us	sokrēu̯õ
Locative	sokrēi̯e	sokrēu̯ō	sokrēu̯ru
Dative		sokrēu̯ma	sokrēu̯mus
Instrumental	sokrēu̯[a?]

r/n-stems

	tod i̯ōr, "year" = ὥρα
	Singular	Dual	Collective
Nominative	i̯ō	i̯ōrī	i̯ēōr
Vocative
Accusative
Genitive	i̯ēi̯ŋ	i̯ēnus	īnō
Locative	i̯ēne	i̯ēno	iei̯ne
Dative		i̯ēi̯ŋma	īnē
Instrumental	i̯ēna		īnā

sāu̯u̯ō

The noun sāu̯u̯ō "sun" continues the PEE heteroclitic stem in *-l/n-. The nominative is due to assimilation of approximants and the regular sound change of *wu > wo. Genitive has χu̯eīŋ, for expected *xʷvēn < *swens.

	sē sāu̯u̯ō, "Sun"
	Singular
Nominative	sāu̯u̯ō
Vocative
Accusative
Genitive	hʷu̯eīŋ
Locative	hʷu̯eine
Dative
Instrumental	hʷu̯ena

d-stems

	tod kerd, "heart" = καρδία
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	kerd	kreda	kordō
Vocative
Accusative
Genitive	krēd	kredus	kurdō
Locative	kerde	kredu	kerde
Dative		kresma	kurdē
Instrumental	kreda

mēŋ

	tod mēŋ, "meat"
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	mēŋ	kreda	kordō
Vocative
Accusative
Genitive	krēd	kredus	kurdō
Locative	kerde	kredu	kerde
Dative		kresma	kurdē
Instrumental	kreda

See also

• Northian language