User:Xrania/Ketrel

Ketrel is a linguistics experiment in creating an extremely easy to learn auxiliary language. The experiment itself has two goals. The first goal of the Ketrel language experiment is the creation of a language drawing upon not only European but also Asian languages. Indeed, while the phonology of the language is almost entirely European, the grammar and vocabulary draws heavily on Chinese as well as European languages. The second goal of the language experiment is to merge these Asian and European language elements in such a way that the language itself becomes extremely easy to learn and speak.

Three major components of the language allow for its ease of learning and ease of use. The first is the use of word order to imply syntax - unlike most European languages, how a word functions in a sentence is not determined by case endings but rather by its place in the sentence. The second component is the use of particles to replace the verbal inflections used in European languages. This makes it possible to express all verb tenses, voices, and moods using only a handful of particles instead of the myriad of verb forms needed in most European languages. Finally, Ketrel uses a constructive suffix system, which allows the speaker to generate several different vocabulary words using just one root word and a handful of suffixes. Thus, a speaker with a small command of the language can easily communicate with a vocabulary several times larger than the amount of words he or she has learned.

=Alphabet and Pronunciation=

Ketrel uses a modified version of the Russian Cyrillic alphabet. This allows a greater degree of phonetic precision, and the spelling of every Ketrel thus corresponds exactly with its pronunciation. Several letters of the Cyrillic alphabet were changed, and in addition most of the letters are referred to by the standard English names. For example the letter for “F” (Ф) is named “F”, as in “EFFect.” Finally, most letters also have a secondary pronunciation which normally corresponds to the name of the letter (the secondary pronunciation of "A" is "A" as in "crAzy"). The secondary pronunciation of consonants is used only when the letter "ь" (not "ы") immediately follows it. Most vowels have only a primary pronunciation, but "a" and "o" become "ӑ" and "ŏ" respectively when the secondary pronunciation is intended.

Below is the full Ketrel alphabet. Note that there are no alternate pronunciations other than those supplied for each letter.

Examples
Here are some English words written using the Ketrel alphabet.

=Grammar: The Three Elements=

How a word functions in a sentence is based on three factors. First, the relative positioning of a word in a sentence: An adjective immediately preceding a verb functions as an adverb, for example. Second, any particles that modify the word: Verb tenses, for example, are determined by particles. Finally, constructive suffixes attached to a word: One constructive suffix, for example, turns a verb into a noun. These three grammatical elements are explained in further depth below.

Ketrel Word Order
The word order of Ketrel will always be Subject - Verb - (Indirect Object) - Object. For example: Агрӑзтŏ Вьднь Фŏржтŏ means "the farmer sees the factory worker.


 * 1) Агрӑзтŏ means "Farmer," Вьднь is the verb "to see," and Фŏржтŏ means factory worker.
 * 2) Агрӑзтŏ must be the subject because it precedes the verb, while Фŏржтŏ must be the object (or what is seen) because it follows the verb.
 * 3) On the other hand, Фŏржтŏ Вьднь Агрӑзтŏ means "the factory worker sees the farmer" because Фŏржтŏ, preceding the verb, must now be the subject while Агрӑзтŏ, now following the verb, must be the object.

Any word that describes, limits, or modifies another word (adjectives, adverbs, etc.) immediately precedes the word(s) they modify. With this in mind, Ketrel word order can be described as (Description of Subject) - Subject - (Adverbs) - Verb - ((Description of Indirect Object)) - (Indirect Object) - (Description of Object) - Object. For example: Агрӑзтŏ Вост Вьднь Фŏржтŏ means "the farmer quickly sees the factory worker."


 * 1) Вост means "fast" or "quick"
 * 2) Unlike English, no ending needs to be added to the adjective Вост to make it an adverb: one knows that Вост functions as an adverb in the above sentence because it immediately precedes the verb.
 * 3) On the other hand, Вост Агрӑзтŏ Вьднь Фŏржтŏ means "the quick farmer sees the factory worker" because Вост now precedes Агрӑзтŏ, and thus must modify the subject Агрӑзтŏ rather than the verb Вьднь.

Observation:

An Indirect Object is the indirect recipient of the action of the verb. Consider the English sentence I give the book to Richard. In this sentence, Richard is not the direct object of the verb (he is not what is being given) but he does recieve the action of the verb indirectly. Thus, Richard is the Indirect Object. Some verbs that take Indirect Objects include give, tell, show, and happen.

Ketrel Verb Particles
In many European languages, a myriad of verb forms are used to express different verbal ideas. In Ketrel, most verbal ideas can be expressed instead using a preceding particle. Consider the following example: Агрӑзтŏ вьднь means "the farmer sees" while Агрӑзтŏ нул вьднь means "the farmer saw"


 * 1) нул is the past time particle, which makes the verb following it past-tense
 * 2) Thus while вьднь means "see," нул вьднь means "saw"
 * 3) The past form of every verb is нул + Verb
 * 4) Only four particles (Зŏ, Нул, Я, Ла) are needed to fully master all the verb tenses - a mastery which can take months to acquire in the study of most European languages.

By combining these particles together, more complicated expressions of verbal time can be constructed.


 * Агрӑзтŏ я нул вьднь means "the farmer will have seen." The first particle always indicates what time the action is taking place in - since я is the first particle, the action of farmer seeing must take place in the future. But the нул following the я indicates that the action is taking place in a time prior to the base time - so prior in respect to the future. Thus Future + Past = Past relative to the Future, or Future Perfect.


 * Агрӑзтŏ нул нул вьднь is translated "the farmer had seen" because the action is taking place prior in respect to the past - Pluperfect.

To see all the possible arrangements of these particles of verb tense, see The Full Synopsis of Ketrel Verb Tenses (below).

Full Synopsis of Ketrel Verb Tenses
In the below table is the full synopsis of the tenses of the Ketrel verb Вьднь, to see. Note that the change of status particle may be used with any of the below tenses - its use is never mandatory. Also note that Зев is the 1st person plural pronoun "us, we."

Person and Number: 1st person, plural.

Observation: the form of the verb is always constant - regardless as to the subject or the tense, the verb form will always remain the same.

Constructive Suffix System
In Ketrel, one can add endings (Constructive Suffixes) to all verbs, nouns, and adjectives to form new words. You might have noticed, for example, that both "farmer" (Агрӑзтŏ) and "factory worker" (Фŏржтŏ) both end with "-тŏ." This is no coincidence. -тŏ is the Agent Suffix, which transforms the verb it is attached to into the agent of the verb, or whoever does the action of the verb.


 * 1) Агрӑз is the verb "to farm," so the noun Агрӑзтŏ (Агрӑз+тŏ) is the agent of the verbal action - who does the farming. And in this case, a person who farms is a farmer, thus Агрӑзтŏ means farmer.
 * 2) Similarly, Фŏрж is the verb "to work (in a factory)," thus Фŏржтŏ is a factory worker.

A table of all the constructive suffixes for verbs and their functions is listed below. The root verb used in all examples is Агрӑз, meaning "to farm"

Note: Агрӑзне (full of farming) is not a very useful adjective. But consider the following example: Вьдньне lit. "full of seeing" or "full of sight" Observant

Constructive Suffixes for Nouns
Шатбож means 'hat' from шат (head) and бож: literally 'clothing for the head.'"
 * 1) -нь is a Descriptive Suffix, which transforms any noun it is attached to into an adjective. Using the noun Агрӑзтŏ (farmer) and adding the suffix results in Агрӑзтŏнь, which means "like a farmer."
 * 2) -вка is the Verbal Suffix, which transforms any noun it is attached to into a verb. Тлькьтябэр is the Ketrel word for "internet." Thus, Тлькьтябэрэвка is the verb "to use the internet," and functions as a full verb (Агрӑзтŏ Я Тлькьтябэрэвка - The farmer will use the internet.)
 * 3) -ност is the Composition Suffix, which transforms any noun it is attached to into an adjective meaning "made of ________." The word "steel" in Ketrel is стал, so сталност is the adjective "made of steel."
 * 4) -ла is the Causal Suffix, which transforms the noun it is attached to into the verb "to make ______." Thus the verb "to write a book" can be written as лизёдла, literally "to make a book."
 * 5) -лит is the Public Suffix, which is used to describe the noun it is attached to as "a public ______." Thus the Ketrel word for "bus" is клакбцжлит, literally "public vehicle."
 * 6) -й is the Female Suffix of Gender. Any noun this suffix is attached to is understood as being "a female _____." This particle is used only for clarification. Те is the pronoun for both he and she, thus тей can be used to clarify which of the two pronouns was intended (she).
 * 7) -ус is the Male Suffix of Gender. Any noun this suffix is attached is attached to is understood as being "a male ______." This particle is only used for clarification. Те is the pronoun for both he and she, thus теус can be used to clarify which of the two pronouns was intended (he).
 * 8) -про is the Product Suffix, which changes the definition of the attached noun to "the product of a ________." Ърускапро is the Ketrel word for "pear," stemming from Ъруска (pear tree) and -про: literally "the product of a pear tree." All fruits and crops use this construction (the name of the plant + -про).
 * 9) -ст changes the definition of the attached noun to "the maker of _________." Thus the Ketrel word for "Sun" is вьдньст which literally means "Maker of seeing."
 * 10) -бож changes the definition of the attached noun to "the container in which ________ is placed" or "the clothing for ________." Consider the following examples:"Прибож means 'vase' from при (flower) and the constructive suffix бож: literally 'flower container.'
 * 1) нож connotes the meaning "portable." Thus тльадстратснож means "laptop," literally "portable computer". Similarly, тикспрачнож means "cellphone", from the literal translation "mobile phone" or "portable phone".
 * 2) -новconnotes "small" or "little", and is used often with family members just as English refers to "little sisters" and "little brothers." Often it is attached to names to imply affection. Finally, it is often attached to objects to imply that they are toys. A Клакбцжнов is a toy car, for example, from "car" (Клакбцж)and нов.

Constructive Suffixes for Adjectives

 * 1) The Causal Suffix -ла can also be used with adjectives to turn an adjective into the verb "to make _____." Thus щалрияла is the verb "to make better" or "to better" since щария is the adjective "better."
 * 2) The Verbal Suffix of Feeling - -и changes the attached adjective into the verb "to feel_______." Thus the verb отŏ-и means "to feel bad," from the adjective отŏ (bad, evil) and --и. The verb щал-и means "to feel good," or "to feel happy" from the adjective "щал" (good, happy) and --и.

Observations: Note that to avoid confusion with word endings or other suffixes (such as -лит), a dash (-) is used between the Verbal Suffix of Feeling (и) and the adjective it is paired with.

=Ketrel Grammar in Depth= Of course, there are many more gramatical and syntactical elements in the Ketrel language than these three cornerstones. A full mastery of the Ketrel language thus requires a command of a much larger range of grammar and syntax than the above three elements. Below is a full list of the remaining elements of Ketrel grammar and syntax.

Negation
There are two ways to negate something in Ketrel. The first is with the word кол. кол functions like the negatives of most other languages, and simply negates what follows. Consider the following examples: кол щал - not good зе кол я вьднь - I will not see.

There is, however, another flavor of negation in Ketrel. The prefix ил- can be used to generate the direct opposite of the root it is attached to. Thus while кол щал means "not good," илщал means "evil" - the opposite of good.

Like English, however, Ketrel also has an oppositional prefix that has a flavor of negation to it. In English, the prefix anti can be used to imply opposition: an anti-aircraft gun is understood to be used in opposition to aircraft. Ketrel too has an opposition prefix: аь-. Consider the following example: аьклаквŏл стрик anti-aircraft gun

List of Prefixes
Certain prefixes can be added onto nouns and verbs to form other words. These prefixes can be divided into verbal and noun prefixes. These prefixes work in tangent with the constructive suffixes to greatly expand a speaker's command of the language. Some prefixes are attached to verbs to generate new verbs in the manner that "re-" can be added onto the verb "to do" to generate a new verb "redo." Noun prefixes generate new words in the manner that "e-" can be added onto the noun "mail" to create the word "electronic mail," or "e-mail."

Verb Prefixes
There are two types of Verb prefixes. The first type, called Verbal Prefixes, change the definition of the attached verb. The second type, called Verb-to-Noun Prefixes, changes the attached verb into a noun whose definition is based on the prefix and the original definition of the verb.

Verbal Prefixes

 * 1) дос- is the Repeated Action Prefix, which transforms the meaning of the attached verb to "to _____ again." Thus досбцж means "to go again" or "to return," from the verb бцж (to go) and the repeated action prefix.
 * 2) ил- is a negation prefix which changes the definition of the attached verb to mean the opposite of its original meaning. Be very clear - this particle truly does make the complete opposite definition. The Ketrel word for eat is чŏз, so илчŏз means to vomit - the total opposite of eating.

Verb-to-Noun Prefixes

 * 1) клак- changes the attached verb into the noun automated _________. Клакбцж is the Ketrel word for "car," from the verb бцж (to move) and клак: literally automated movement.
 * 2) ток- changes the attached verb into the noun steam-powered ________. Токбцжча is the Ketrel word for steam engine, from from the verb бцж (to move),the utility suffix -ча (see Constructive Suffix System),  and ток: literally steam-powered movement utility.
 * 3) тик- changes the attached verb into the noun electric ________. Тикспрач is the Ketrel word for telephone, from the verb спрач (to talk) and тик: literally electric speech.
 * 4) тль- changes the attached verb into the noun digital ________. тлькьтяабэр means "internet" from the verb кьтябэр, "to connect," and тль: literally digital connection.

Noun Prefixes

 * 1) The prefix аь- implies opposition, and changes the definition of any noun it is attached to into an adjective meaning anti-_______. The Ketrel word for aircraft is клаквŏл and the word for gun is стрил. Thus, аьклаквŏл стрил means anti- aircraft gun.
 * 2) The prefix ша- implies that the following noun has military affiliations. While a civilian plane is клаквŏл, a military fighter plane is шаклаквŏл.

Auxiliary Verbs

 * In English, an auxiliary verb is a verb paired with another verb in a sentence."To begin" is an example, since the verb "to begin" can be paired with other verbs in sentences: "The farmer began to work" (the verb "to begin" is paired with "to work.")


 * Ketrel auxiliary verbs are placed immediately before the verb they are paired with.
 * Бранич is the verb "to begin" in Ketrel and ив is the verb "love." Thus Зе ла бранич ив тей means "I am beginning to love her."

Some other auxiliary verbs include флот (to be able) бют (to finish), and стŏ (to like).

Observation: Many auxiliary verbs can be used as full verbs. Зе стŏ тей, for example, means "I like her."

Plurals
To make any noun in Ketrel plural, add -в if the word ends in a vowel or add -эв if the verb ends with a consonant.


 * Агрӑзтŏв means "farmers"


 * Тŏврьэв means "people" (Тŏврь means "person")

Pronouns
There are six basic Ketrel pronouns.


 * Зе, Зев - I, We
 * Ве, Вев - You, you (plural)
 * Те, Тев - He, she

Note that the plurals are just the singular pronouns with the addition of the plural ending -в. These pronouns, without any modification, can be used as both subjects and direct objects.


 * Зе вьднь ве means "I see you." Зе preceeds the verb and thus must be the subject, ве follows the verb and thus must be the direct object.


 * Ве вьднь зе means "You see me." Ве preceeds the verb and thus must be the subject, зе follows the verb and thus must be the direct object.

Possessives
To make a noun possessive, add -ков.


 * Зеков агрӑзная means "my farm"
 * Агрӑзтŏков агрӑзная means "the farmer's farm"
 * Зе вьднь агрӑзтŏков агрӑзная means "I see the farmer's farm."

Location Particle
Зй is used either as the verb "to be located at/to be at" or as a particle with the meaning "at" or "in." Зе зй агрӑзная means "I am located at the farm" or "I am at the farm." In this case, зй is used as a verb. In the following example, however, зй is instead used as a particle of location. Зе я зй агрӑзная вьднь ве means "I will see you at the farm." Notably, since зй агрӑзная modifies the verb вьднь by describing where the action of seeing will occur, it precedes the verb in accordance with Ketrel word order.

Particles of Directionality
Дац and жэт are the two particles of directionality, meaning "to" and "from" respectively. Дац, like зй, can be used either as a full verb (to go to) or as a particle meaning "to" or "towards." Thus, зе дац агрӑзная means "I go to the farm," where дац is functioning as a full verb. Зе дац зеков агрӑзная бцж means "I to my farm go," where дац functions as a particle. Жэт can only be used as the particle meaning "from." Зе жэт зеков агрӑзная дац веков агрӑзная я бцж thus means "I from my farm to your farm will move."

Both particles can be used not only with verbs of motion, but also with time phrases. Consider the following example: Зе жэт нулднья дац яднья агӑз in English means "I from yesterday to tomorrow farm" (нулднья: yesterday; яднья: tomorrow).

Subsequent or Prior Time Particles
The particles янод and нулнод are equivalent to the English words "after" and "before" respectively. Unlike in English, however, these words come after the subordinate clause. Thus, while in English one would say "After I work, I will relax," in Ketrel one would say "I work янод, I will relax."

Examples:
 * 1) Зе нул вьднь фŏржтŏв нулнод, зе нул вьднь фŏржная. "Before I saw the factory workers, I saw the factory."
 * 2) Зе вьднь фŏржтŏв янод, зе я фя вьднь фŏржная. "After I see the factory workers, I will be able to see the factory."

Potential and Hortatory Particles
Most European languages include a Subjunctive Mood for verbs. The verbal ideas that can be expressed by the subjunctive mood varies from language to language, but the most central theme of the subjunctive mood is the uncertainty of the action actually occuring. In Ketrel there are two flavors of the subjunctive idea: Potential and Hortatory. Note that both, however, use particles instead of verb forms.

Potential Particle

An action that might, could, or would happen is a Potential action. To express this, the particle от is used. Thus while Зе я вьднь ве means "I will see you," Зе я от вьднь ве means "I might see you." In the past tense, the translations "might have, could have, would have" are used. Thus Зе нул от вьднь ве means "I might have seen you."

Hortatory Particle

The Hortatory Particle руст signifies that the speaker wishes for the action of the verb to come about, and is translated "let. . .," or "if only. . ." Thus while тей ив зе means "she loves me," тей руст ив зе means "let her love me," or "if only she loves me." In the past tense, only the "if only" translation can be used. Thus тей нул руст ив зе means "if only she loved me."

Particle of Characteristic
The phrase or clause that precedes the particle Гŏ describes or limits the noun or noun phrase that follows. Note the following example: Зе нул вьднь гŏ агрӑзная. In this sentence, the гŏ signals that the clause Зе нул вьднь (I saw) modifies the noun агрӑзная (farm). The crudest English translation would be "the farm of I saw." But this can be refined further into "The farm that I saw."

Another way to look at the use of гŏ is as follows: Whenever English uses the relative pronoun (who, whom, whose, that, which, etc.), Ketrel uses гŏ, but the order of clauses is reversed. Thus "I like the farm that I saw" in Ketrel would be "I like the I saw гŏ farm."

In the table below, гŏ uses the clause in italics to describe the noun following the гŏ.

Comparative Constructions
A comparative is an adjective or adverb that explains a degree of difference between two or more subjects of interest. In the sentence "He is better.", better is a comparative adjective which describes that the subject (he) is comparatively "more good" than before. In Ketrel, such a generic comparative construction is created by adding the ending -рия. Since the word for "good" is Щал， the sentence "He is better" in Ketrel would be Те щалрия.

Assorted Prepositions
Remember that any prepositional phrase that modifies the verb (with, because, etc.) must precede the verb. Thus the English sentence I went to the farm with her in Ketrel word order would be I went with her to the farm (зе нул щык те дац агрӑзная).

Any prepositional phrase that modifies the direct object (about etc.), however, must precede the direct object.

Observation: Фе cannot be used as a preposition when the prepositional phrase includes a verbal idea. See Subordinate Clause of Factual Purpose.

Conjunctions
Certain words can be used to join two separate sentences into one - these words are called conjunctions. Below is a table of the Ketrel conjunctions:

Observations: I am going to the farm because I want to see you."Note that since the subject in both clauses was "I," the subject "зе" in the subordinate clause is dropped.
 * 1) The subordinate clause introduced by ут is called a Purppose Clause. The action in the Purpose Clause is understood to be sometime subsequent to the main clause, and thus no verbal time particles need to be used inside the Purpose Clause.
 * 2) If the subject in a subordinate clause introduced by ут, фе, or илфе is the same as the subject in the main clause, it may be omitted. Refer to the following example, in which the subordinate clause is boldfaced:"Зе зŏ дац агрăзная бцж фе вь вьднь ве.

Conditional Sentences
A conditional sentence contains an "if" clause: if this, then that. In Ketrel, such conditional sentences are expressed using the Ketrel word for "if": лет. Thus Лет зе дац агрӑзная, зе я зй агрӑзная ликт means "If I go to the farm, I will at the farm work."

Table of Correlatives and Interrogatives
Observation
 * 1) The associative correlatives are formed using both the individual and the associative endings (тŏ + ков) because the idea of association contains within it the individual to whom there is association.

NOTE: The interrogative correlatives can only be used interrogatively. Thus if there is neither a verb of asking nor a question mark, no interrogative correlative can be used.
 * Example: The English sentence "I saw where the farmer had gone" would have to be understood in Ketrel as "I saw the place that the farmer had gone (to)."
 * Thus, "I saw where the farmer had gone to" can be translated into "Зе нул вьднь агрӑзтŏ вцж гŏ южгая." (Бцж - To go, Южгая - location or place)

Direct Object Clauses
A direct object clause is a clause that functions as the direct object of a verb. Consider the following English example: I saw that the farmer was about to begin working. In this example, the direct object of the verb "saw" is not a single word, but rather the whole clause "that the farmer was about to begin working." In English, the word "that" is used to introduce a Direct Object clause. In Ketrel, however, no "that" equivalent is used. In the following example, the words of the direct object clause are boldfaced. Зе нул вьднь агрăзтŏ нул я бранич ликт. This means literally "I saw the farmer was about to work," which can be more smoothly translated to "I saw that the farmer was about to work."

Subject Clauses
A subject clause functions as the subject of the verb that follows. In English, the word "that" is used to introduce subject clauses just as Object Clauses. Consider the following English example: That I will go home is a good thing. The subject of the verb "is" is "That I will go home." In Ketrel, the same construction is used without the word "that." In the following example, the boldfaced words form a subject clause: Зе зй агрăзная ликт катŏвь. Катŏвь is the verb "to happen" (see below), thus the above sentence can be translated literally as "I at the farm work happens" or more correctly as "That I work at the farm happens."

Uses of the Verbs Катŏвь and Ъаз
The verbs катŏвь (to happen) and the verb ъаз (to have, to exist) are very common in the Ketrel language, and both have special uses that must be learned.

Ъаз
ъаз can function as any other verb in Ketrel: зе ъаз агрăзная means "I have a farm." But when the verb is used without a subject, the verb means "there exists." For example: Нул Ъаз агрăзтŏ means "there existed a farmer," or "there was a farmer."

Катŏвь
Катŏвь (to happen) is one of the few intransitive verbs in Ketrel: the verb cannot take a direct object. The subject of the verb is what is understood to be happening. ивкая катŏвь means "love happens." But the verb can also take a clause as a subject. In the following sentence, the subject clause is boldfaced: зе нул вьднь агрăзная нул катŏвь. This means literally "I saw the farm happened," which in English would be written "It happened that I saw the farm"

Катŏвь can also take an indirect object, which per the rules of Ketrel word order immediately follows the verb. Consider, те илфлот трцж зŏр ивёд катŏвь таров Робэрт: in this example, the fact that he could not find a love (те илфлот трцж зŏр ивёд) happens to Robert.