Antarian

Antarian (wāk antarihas) is an independent branch of the Maverico-Casaterran family of languages, native to Antari and neighbouring regions in Vinya. Its sole surviving member, Antarian, is the native language of most Antarians and is co-official with Anglian in Antari. The family contains other extinct languages such as Marallic, Capeatic, Cadialic, and Meyianic. The language is also spoken by minorities in other Vinyan states, where it is mostly unrecognized.

Antarian has the longest written tradition of any living Maverico-Casaterran language, having been attested more-or-less continuously for about 4,000 years on Antarian syllabary script and then the Alphabet, introduced in the 7th century BCE. Knowledge of the Antarian syllabary having gone extinct after the Alphabet's introduction, the script was rediscovered in 1784 but remained undeciphered due to its small corpus of limited subject matter. Anglian antiquarian Sir Edward Keen led the academic effort towards its decipherment in the 1890s and 1900s and conclusively demonstrated it as an archaic form of the Antarian language in 1910. It is often described as the sister to all other Maverico-Casaterran branches in view of its many archaic features.

The first millennium of the attestation of Antarian consists almost exclusively of personal names, labels, inventories, and transaction accounts. Occasionally, longer texts reflecting directions for craftsmen are found. The written record of Antarian experienced a notable enrichment under the Old Antarian Kingdom, during which literature is first set in writing, it being assumed that an oral tradition was normal both at the royal court and in communities.

History

Under the Maverico-Antarian Hypothesis, first raised by Henry Hatter, the ancestor to all Antarian languages diverged from the Proto-Maverico-Casaterran about 6,000 years ago. Two methods have been accpeted to support this date: firstly, the shared vocabulary between Proto-Antarian and other Proto-Maverico-Casaterran languages reflects a neolithic society without the ability to fashion elaborate objects from metallurgy, and secondly, assuming a constant rate of attrition, the relatively few cognate remains within the core vocabulary.

The Antarian language is customarily divided into the following phases:

• Proto-Antarian, the unattested ancestor to the Antarian family, spoken just after splitting from Proto-Maverico-Casaterran.
• Syllabary Antarian, the language attested from about 2000 BCE to 500 BCE with the syllabary script; later phases of the language reflect many features of earlier Classical Antarian, but also present are archaic set phrases.
• Classical Antarian, the lingua franca of the Old Antarian Kingdom, spoken from about 750 BCE to the start of the Common Era.
• Late Antarian, the lingua franca of the New Antarian Kingdom, spoken from the 3rd centry CE to the 10th century. Late Antarian, though attested on media and forms close to their Classical counterparts, is not a direct evolution of the Classical language and shows influence from Caditic.
• Medieval Antarian, spoken from the 10th century to the 14th century.
• Early Modern Antarian
• Modern Antarian

Grammar

The grammars of the Antarian languages are highly inflected and, owing to the family's early attestation, preserves a number of archaic Proto-Maverico-Casaterran features and correspondingly does not share in certain innovations, though common innovations are also attested. Due to this genetic position, Antarian has been influential in the reconstruction of Proto-Maverico-Casaterran grammar and syntax.

Word structure

Most Antarian words can be analyzed as a root, ending, and optionally a suffix between them. The root provides a basic meaning and can be used in all parts of speech. Endings in verbs provide the person, number, aspect, and voice, and in nouns the case and number. Suffixes modify the meaning of the root The tripartite word structure of Antarian is inherited from the PMC ancestral language and closely correlates to ablaut patterns.

Ablaut

A common feature in all Antarian languages is ablaut or apophony, where the form of the vowel in each syllable differs amongst zero-grade (noted in some texts as Ø), e-grade, and o-grade; ablaut is correlated but not completely determined by the position of accent, where the accented syllable is likely to have a full grade, i.e. e- or o-grade, and both are strongly related to syntax in both substantives and verbs.

The thematic vowel is present in Antarian in limited numbers. Whereas its presence or absence is a fundamental division in the conjugation and declensional paradigms in other MC langauges, the thematic vowel in Antarian is more akin to a suffix and cannot, in principle, be applied to other suffixes.

Nouns

Nouns in Syllabary Antarian decline for three numbers and nine cases, though not all permutations of number and case are morphologically distinct. Nouns are either animate or inanimate in gender, where animate nouns are generally cognate with masculine and feminine nouns in other MC languages, while inanimate nouns correspond to neuter nouns therein. The following sketches the basic semantics of each of the cases:

• Nominative case is used for the animate subject of verbs, e.g. the cat drinks water.
• Absolutive case is used for the inanimate subject of intransitive verbs and inanimate object of transitive verbs, e.g. the water drips, or the cat drinks water.
• Accusative case is used for the animate subject of transitive verbs, e.g. the cat eats the dog.
• Vocative case signifies direct address. In animate nouns, the vocative takes the full-grade stem without endings. In inanimate nouns, the vocative case always takes the singular stem and is identical to the absolutive form. In translation to Anglian, the interjection o is typically used to mark vocative use, e.g. o water, you drip.
• Genitive case marks the possessor.
• Dative case marks the indirect object of transitive verbs or beneficiary in intransitive verbs in some clauses, e.g. the man gave tuna to the cat, or the cat speaks.
• Locative case marks locations, e.g. the cat slept in the bed.
• Ablative case provides a variety of extra information or origin, e.g. the cat ate tuna from Anglia.
• Allative case indicates direction towards, e.g. the cat went to Anglia.

Basic endings

The endings of animate nouns are as follows, with hner "man, male person" as example:

	Singular		Dual		Plural
Nominative	hner	-s/-Ø	hnera	-a/-ʔ	hneres	-es
Vocative	hner	-Ø			hneres	-es
Accusative	hnerm̩	-m			hnerm̩s	-ms
Locative	hneri	-i	hnran	-an	hnəra	-es/-as
Dative	hnrey	-i/-ey			hnərmus	-mas
Genitive	hnras	-s/-as			hnərus	-as
Ablative	hnras	-s/-as
Instrumental	hnra	-h/-a
Allative	hnra	-a

The endings of inanimate nouns are as follows, with wútər "water" as example:

	Singular		Plural
Absolutive	wétr̩	-Ø	wétr̩	-h/a/Ø
Vocative	wátər	-Ø
Locative	uténi	-i	wétūri	-i
Genitive	utēn	-s	utrés	-s
Dative	uténi	-i	utréi	-i
Instrumental	uténta	-ta	utréta	-ta
Ablative	utēn	-s	utrés	-s
Allative	uténa	-a	utréa	-a

-r stem

There are four types of nouns with a stem in -r. These are traditionally named the "father", "mother", "parent", and "hand" types and are all animate nouns. With the exception of the fourth type, kesar "hand", all r-stem nouns are descended from PMC agentive nouns in *-ter and *-tor, the former especially denoting kinship terms. The first two patterns diverge in the place of their accent: the accent is mobile on "father" and shifts to the ending in the oblique cases, while they are static on the root syllable in "mother". The final pattern for kesar is infrequent but attested in a few common nouns.

1. The pattern of ptér "father":

	Sing.	Du.	Pl.
Nom.	ptér piter	ptérʔe piteroe	ptéres piteres
Acc.	ptérm̩ piterom		ptérm̩s piteromos
Loc.	ptéri piteri	ptérʔāw piterooaou	ptérsi pitersi
Dat.	ptréy piterei	ptr̩mā́ pitoromoa	ptr̩más pitoromas
Gen.	ptrás pitras	ptr̩ʔás pitorooas	ptr̩ʔám pitorooam

2. The pattern of mátar "mother":

	Sing.	Du.	Pl.
Nom.	mátar matar	mátr̩ʔe matorooe	mátres matres
Acc.	mátr̩m matorom		mátr̩ms matoroms
Loc.	mátr̩i matoroi	mátr̩ʔāw matorooaou	mátr̩si matorosi
Dat.	mátr̩i matoroi	mátr̩mā matoromoa	mátr̩mas matoromas
Gen.	mátr̩s matoros	mátr̩ʔas matorooas	mátr̩ʔam matorooam

3. The pattern of kennətār "parent":

	Sing.	Du.	Pl.
Nom.	kénnətār kennotoar	kénnəterʔe kennoterooe	kénnəteres kennoteres
Acc.	kénnəterm̩ kennoterom		kénnəterms kennoteroms
Loc.	kennətr̩i kennotri	kénnətr̩ʔāw kennotorooaou	kénnətersi kennotersi
Dat.	kn̩nətrei kononotrei	kn̩nətr̩mā kononotoromoa	kn̩nətr̩más kononotoromas
Gen.	kn̩nətrás kononotras	kn̩nətr̩ʔás kononotorooas	kn̩nətr̩ʔám kononotorooam

4. The pattern of kesar "hand":

	Sing.	Du.	Pl.
Nom.	kesā́r kesaor	kserʔe kserooe	kséres kseres
Acc.	ksérm̩ kserom		ksérm̩s kseromos
Loc.	kséri kseri	kserʔāw kserooau	ksérsi ksersi
Dat.	ksréy kisrei	ksr̩mā́ ksoromoa	ksr̩más ksoromas
Gen.	ksrás kisras	ksr̩ʔás ksorooas	ksr̩ʔám ksorooam

-n stem

tkmman

-s stem

hewsas

-t stem

hnept

-l stem

sal

-m stem

tekm

-i/-u stems

wawis/dyews

-ī/-ū stems

ẉlkis/tenus (2) pléh₁dʰh₁-uh₁-s

-is/-us stems

mentis/suqnus

-ih

kennetrii

-nt stem

tant/tnt/tent qsant/qsnt/qsant

-wā́s stem

perf. act. part.

-h stem

kenh, knahs

-r/n stem

wetr̩

-l/n stem

sawl̩

Verbs

Verbs in Antarian are conjugated for three persons, three numbers, two voices, and four moods, agreeing with the subject of the sentence in person and number.

Unlike most other MC languages, Antarian does not morphologically distinguish tense, with primary endings (associated with the present tense in most languages) conspicuously absent. There are two kinds of roots, present and perfect, which take different endings directly; present roots tend to have transitive meanings, while prefect roots intransitive meanings, but this is by no means universal. Present roots may take personal endings directly or with affixes in derivation, while the perfect roots in general may only take perfect endings. New verbs are always created as presents and never as perfects.

Present roots and perfect roots differ notably by their accentuation patterns. Present roots display mobile accent, which is on the root or suffix syllables in the strong or singular forms and on the endings in the weak or dual and plural forms. Perfect roots display static accent, persisting on the root syllable. It should be noted that the accentuation pattern is a property of the root itself and not of the conjugation: a perfect stem derived from a present root will retain the accentuation pattern derived from the present.

Present

In the active voice of present verbs, there are two sets of endings called primary and secondary. The primary endings follow, with ’et- "to eat" as example:

	Sing.		Du.		Pl.
1st	’édmi	-mi	dwési	-wési	dmési	-mési
2nd	’éši	-s	štəwés	-twés	’éšte	-té
3rd	’édšti	-t	štés	-tés	ténti	-ént

The secondary endings are as follows:

	Sing.		Du.		Pl.
1st	’édəm	-m	dwé	-wé	dmé	-mé
2nd	’ḗts	-s	štúm	-túm	šté	-té
3rd	’ḗtt	-t	štám	-tám	tént	-ént

Present verbs may also take, from the root, the so-called "middle" endings, which are in early Antarian transparent as a synthesis of active and perfect endings:

	Sing.		Du.		Pl.
1st	’édəmə < *’ét-m̩-h	-m-h	dwétə	-wé-th	dmétə	-mé-th
2nd	’étstə* < *’ét-s-th	-s-th	štəmt.hé	-təm-thé < *tm̩-dʰh₂é	’etstawé < *’et-s-tawé štăwé < *’t-s-tawé	-t-təwé < *t-dʰh₂wé
3rd	’étsta	-t-a	štamt.hé	-tam-thé < *th₂m-dʰh₂é	téntər	-nt-r

Optative

The optative endings are as follows:

	Sing.		Du.		Pl.
1st	’étie’əm	-ie’-əm	ti’wé	-i’-wé	ti’mé	-i’-mé
2nd	’ḗtiets	-ie-ts < *-ie’-s	tittúm	-it-túm	titté	-it-té
3rd	’ḗtiet	-ie-t	tittám	-it-tám	ti’ént	-i’-ént

Perfect

The endings of perfect verbs are as follows, with kei- "to lie down (oneself)" as example:

	Sing.		Du.		Pl.
1st	kéih	-h/-ă	kéiwa	-wa	kéitha	-ta
2nd	kéita	-ta	kéita	-ta	kéitawe	-tawe
3rd	kéia	-é	kéita	-ta	kéir	-r

See also

• Antari