Veytharian - Morphology

Morphological profile

• Significantly less regular than Veyrathi, but can still be described systematically.
• Mixed type of analytical grammar and more visible inflection.
• Nouns do not carry full case paradigms, but pronouns distinguish direct and oblique forms.
• Verbs form finite and non-finite forms more clearly than in Veyrathi.
• Non-verbal predicates almost always need a copula in standard language.

Personal pronouns

Reflexive

• sem = yourself
• Example: Nor seir sem. = The Enor sees itself.

Pronominal plural

• Commonly formed with -r:
• nair
• neler
• norer
• thaer
• isher
• saer

Nominal morphology

Articles

• ae = specific article
• en = indefinite article
• aes = close demonstrative
• our = distant demonstrative

Plural formation

• -ei for busy or socially tagged groups
• -en for collective, material or object-related plural
• some common inherited words show shortened or shifted plural forms

Examples:

• thal -> thalei
• enar -> enarei
• drun -> drunen
• tor -> toren

Possession

• Possession is marked with the particle na and usually oblique possessor:
• ae drun na naim = my house
• ae thal na saem = the person's advice
• Possessive pronouns can also appear attributively before a noun, but appear denser and more formal:
• nain drun
• saen kevar

Adjective morphology

• Adjectives usually come before the noun:
• ae draes nor = the strong Enor
• en zei thal = a new advice
• They are predicative after the copula:
• Ae nor is draes. = The Enor is strong.
• Intensification: shei
• ae shei draes nor
• Mitigation: len
• ae len zei kevar
• Comparison:
• Comparative -ir: draes -> draesir
• Superlative with aem: aem draes

Verb morphology

Basic shape

• Lexicon entries are on -en.
• The finite present form is usually the bare stem.

Examples:

• veiren -> veir
• seiren -> seir
• talen -> tal
• naven -> nav

Tense and aspect

Participle

• The regular resultant participle ends in -or.
• Examples:
• veiror = spoken
• thelor = open
• weror = written

Negation

• ne is immediately before the finite form or auxiliary:
• Nai ne veir.
• Nai ne sha veiren.
• Ae tor ne is torim.

Imperative

• Singular: bare trunk
• Veir!
• Tal!
• Plural/polite: stem + -eth
• Veireth!
• Taleth!

Copula

• Lexicon compliant: isen
• Present tense: is
• Past: ised
• Non-verbal predication is almost always supported by copulation in standard language:
• Ae thal is zei.
• Ae tor ised torim.

Word formation

Nominalization

• Verb -> abstract with -eth
• veiren -> veireth
• seiren -> seireth
• naven -> naveth

Agent formation

• Verb -> agent with -ar
• veiren -> veirar
• naven -> navar
• weren -> werar### Adjective formation
• Noun -> relational adjective with -in
• veth -> vethin
• kevar -> kevarin
• verun -> verunin

Inherited prefixes

• Older directional and derivational prefixes continue to exist, but are less productive than in Veyrathi:
• ret- = reverse direction
• il- = in
• uth- = beyond
• sai- = over