The Wede:i language family

Wede:i
Phonology
Grammar * Verbs Pronouns Nouns Adjectives Combinations Negatives, questions Clauses Adpositions Word order Numbers
Samples * 1 2 3
The Wede:i script * Origins The Old Syllabary Axunašin Later developments
Lexicon

Cuolese
Phonology
Sound changes from Wede:i
Morphology

Jeori
Phonology
Sound changes from Wede:i
Morphology

Sample sentences
Wede:i/Jeori/Cuolese Comparative Lexicon

Wede:i [To Index]

Ancient members of this family include the languages spoken in Jeor, Do:ju, Purongeli , and pre-Axunaic Čeiy. All but the latter are well attested.

Starting in -350, the Ezičimi, a branch of the Easterners, conquered the Xengi plain; Wede:i languages gradually disappeared except in Jeor, Purongeli and Do:ju. The invaders' language developed into Axunašin, not without being deeply modified by Wede:i, which affected its phonology and grammar, supplied hundreds of words, and provided the basis for the Axunašin writing system.

The language of Jeor, an offshoot of Wede:i, survived well into classical times. Jeor was finally conquered by the Gurdagor starting in 1950, and by the Xurnese c. 2600. It was replaced by Xurnese over the next few centuries, but survived among the local intellectuals as a badge of difference, somewhat like Irish Gaelic in Ireland; indeed, the official language of independent Tasuc Tei is Jeori.

The other modern representative of the family is Cuolese, spoken in Cuoli, to the northeast of Xurno, and Dowe, spoken in one canton of Belšai.

The Mei family of languages, spoken in Sevisor and Feináe, are usually held to be related to Wede:i, although so remotely that the connection cannot be made with certainty. (Mei and Fei are both cognates of the morpheme de:i 'people' found in Wede:i.)

This grammatical sketch describes the ancient Wede:i language, in particular that of the delta in the centuries between Nanungitera's unification of the Wede:i states (-625) and the Ezičimi conquest of the delta (-250).

Phonology [To Index]

The ś sound is a lamino-prepalatal fricative, as in Kebreni or Polish ś or Mandarin x; ź is simply the voiced equivalent. (To be precise, this is our best reconstruction. Axunašin and Cuolese both have ś --> š; Dowe has ç, which supports a more palatal original; Jeori retained ś and carefully distinguished it from š in Axunašin loanwords.)

The only syllable patterns allowed are CV and CVC (where V includes long vowels and diphthongs); a V syllable can occur at the end of a word, as in liu 'see', and very occasionally at the beginning. Initial consonant clusters are prohibited, and the final consonant, if any, can only be one of l r n ng k. Syllables cannot begin with *yi- or *wu-.

All syllables should be emphatically pronounced, with a slight stress on the first syllable of a word (but on the second, if the word begins with a vowel).

Grammar [To Index]

Verbs [To Index]

VC affixes		CV affixes		Object suffixes
ok	past tense	ro	imperative	no	me
ur	remote	ra	passive	ku	thee
en	reflexive	śi	dative passive	tu	us
ing	I, we	yu	tentative	we	you (pl.)
il	you	sa	causative	i	him
		ta	desiderative	u	her
		ju	abilitative	jau	someone else
		yai	inceptive
		pe	repetitive
		ge	durative
		mi	reportative
		ze	negative
		źu	interrogative
		ki	if
		ka	conjunctive
		ne	contrastive

As can be seen from the examples below, these suffixes can be combined in both simple and highly sophisticated ways.

yonu	speak
yoning	I speak
yonilok	you spoke
yoningyui	I may speak to him
yonokźujau	did he speak to someone else?
yonuril	you had spoken
yonilokśi	you were spoken to
yonrono	speak to me!
yonoksa	made to speak
yonokgei	you were speaking to him
yonenze	they are not speaking to each other
yonpegeka	and he keeps on speaking
pamu	listen
pamingenta	I want us to listen to each other
pamźuku	is he listening to you?
pamilgekino	if you are listening to me
pamgeyuu	he may be listening to her
pamuraro	may it be listened to!
pamokźunewe	but did he listen to you?
ituri	read
ituringju	I can read
iturokpe	he read it many times
iturokge	he was reading
ituryuze	he will not read it
iturgemi	he is said to be reading it
iturilta	I wish you would read it
kudu	break
kudokra	it broke
kuduyai	it's beginning to break
kudingok	I broke it
kudoksano	he made me break it
kudupera	it is broken again

The final vowel of the root disappears, unless this would create an illegal syllable. Thus we see not *kudpera or *pamraru but kudupera and pamuraro.

Again, none of these suffixes is required, particularly when the meaning can be inferred from context. One can say Yoningok pamingokka 'I spoke and I listened', or simply Yoningok pamuka, or even (if the subject and time are obvious from the context) Yonu pamuka.

Notes on verbal affixes

The remote tense -ur is normally used within a past narrative to refer to events from an even earlier time: La:ingok źenilurne 'I came, but you had already gone'. By extension, the remote may be used to emphasize that something is already done: Gu:me kokurne! 'But the man is already dead!'

It's also used when referring to events in the mythical past: ngu:mawo na:n ngeur 'the god raised up the mountain'.

Both subject and object are marked on the verb; however, there is no indication of whether the subject is singular or plural. For convenience I offer a table of all possible combinations.

	self	me	thee	him	her	other	us	you
I, we	yonening		yoningku	yoningi	yoningu	yoningjau		yoningwe
you	yonenil	yonilno		yonili	yonilu	yoniljau	yoniltu
3s/3p	yonen	yonno	yonku	yoni	yonu	yonjau	yontu	yonwe

The self (reflexive) suffix -en should be used whenever the subject and obejct are the same; as a corollary there are some blank cells in the table, and e.g. yoni can only be used for someone speaking to someone else (almost always a previous referent).

The someone else suffix -jau (other in the table) can be used for clarity when introducing a new referent: using yonjau indicates that the object is a different person than whoever would be indicated with yonu or yoni.

There are two passive suffixes: ra is used for promoting direct objects to subjects; śi for indirect objects:

Ngok sela:ini ku:rokra.	The jar was given to the general.
Sela:i ngoko ku:rokśi.	The general was given the jar.

• the tentative -yu indicates that an action is possible or uncertain, or even that it is unsuccessful: nitokyu 'he tried to walk'
• the desiderative -ta expresses that the action is desired by someone-- usually the subject (źeningta 'I want to go'), but sometimes the speaker or a third party (lauku:rilta 'it's desirable that you pay')
• the abilitative -ju expresses that the subject is able to do something (iturilju 'you can read'), or by extension that an action is allowed (źenilju 'you may go')

There is no future morpheme. It's perfectly correct to use the ordinary present for future events:

Tinti paźiwa pamuku.

The king will hear you tomorrow.

There is also a set of aspect suffixes, which give details about the action's placement in time:

• the inceptive -yai signals the beginning of an action (paijingokyai 'we began to fear')
• the repetitive -pe indicates that the action was repeated or habitual (piro nginoksa 'he used to play the lyre'; songpeno 'he keeps hitting me')
• the durative -ge, like our progressive, indicates that the action was in progress (nginokge 'he was playing')

The reportative suffix -mi is an evidential; it indicates that the speaker cannot vouch for the truth of his statement: Leźugu kalmi 'The official is said to be good'. Like all Wede:i suffixes it is optional, but it's very common-- especially in administrative writing, since officials rarely want to assume responsibility.

The conjunctive -ka corresponds to our conjunction and. (There is no class of conjunctions in Wede:i.) It can be used for other parts of speech as well: go:źingok śaguka 'we ate and drank'; gu:men ziminka 'men and women'.

The contrastive -ne correspondes to our but; it has the same meaning as the conjunctive but expresses that the conjunction is unexpected: Yokak ngerenge nerneze 'The two of them live together but do not sleep together.

There is no disjunctive; instead, alternatives are simply concatenated: gu:me zimi 'a man or a woman'; lauku:rok gojok 'he paid for it or he stole it'.

The if affix -ki and the interrogative -źu will be discussed below.

A verb meaning may be intensified by reduplicating the first syllable, with insertion of -l-, -n- or -r- in between: kunkudu 'break into pieces'; ma:ku 'defeat' --> marma:ku 'utterly vanquish'.

Pronouns [To Index]

In court usage circumlocutions are sometimes used to refer to the speaker, e.g. lil gu:me 'this man', śaukraguku 'your subject'.

There are a limited number of deictics and quantifiers:

lil	this
go	that
jok	other, another
ngozi	same, the same
to:l	each, every
paun	some
ra:i	none

There are not, strictly speaking, any indefinite pronouns; but there are indefinite expressions, built from the above modifiers plus words like boka 'thing', bogu 'person', jiro 'hour', tin 'day'. Expressions like to:l bogu 'every person' may be taken as equivalent to 'everyone, everybody', but they are not different in kind from more specific expressions like to:l wa:igu 'every sailor' or more complex ones such as to:l pu:kokgegun 'all of those who kept on sinning'.

Time expressions are no exception: 'now' corresponds to expressions like lil jiro 'this hour'; 'always' to to:l tin 'every day'; 'sometimes' to paun tin, etc.

See also Negatives and questions below.

Nouns [To Index]

un	plural (after vowels, -n)
o	object (after vowels, -wo)
ni	indirect object
a:i	place
ming	substance
gu	person
zi	woman
ak	collection of things
wen	tool
ma	augmentative
a	nominalization (ji and ka are others)
ur	gerundive
śa	which

nu:n	tripod
nu:nun	tripods
turak	bundle of firewood (tur 'stick')
turma	branch
itura:i	scriptorium (ituri 'read')
śabukming	quicksilver (śabuk 'fast')
paźiwaśa	which king
leźu	trust (v.)
leźa	trust, responsibility
leźur	(act or process of) trusting
leźugu	trustee
rukwen	weapon (ruk 'sharp')
neruwen	bed (neru 'lie down']
Wede:i	Wede:i people
Wede:igu	a Wede:i individual
Wede:izi	a Wede:i woman

The object suffixes are generally used, even in unmarked SOV order; but the plural suffix is not at all required: do:n can mean 'horse' or 'horses', as necessary.

Kudokźu nu:no?	Did he break the tripod?
Leźegun dauwo rungu.	The officials rule the city.
Paźiwani yoningok.	I said it to the king.

wa:ino	my boat
melenu	her heart
dautu	our city
komojau	someone else's house

Adjectives [To Index]

ul	past participle (e.g. leźul 'trusted')
no	genitive (do:nno 'horse's)
ung	adjectivization (nanung 'divine')
do	locative (Yeninedo 'in Yenine')
li	possessing; instrumental (do:nli 'having/using a horse')
sir	without (do:nsir 'without a horse')

Adjectives normally precede the noun.

Combinations [To Index]

For instance, the gerundive -ur can be applied to verbs to which other suffixes have already been applied:

yonilnour	your speaking to me
iturokur	his having read it
kudurapeur	its constant breaking

The 'person' nominalization -gu can be used not only with simple verbs (runggu 'governor') but with more complex ones:

yonpegu	one who is always speaking
iturzegu	non-reader
kojokgu	one who has died

pamuzeul	not listened to
takingul	stopped by us
la:ngengul	married to each other
ze:nyuul	possibly known

pamugeung	listening
yongekuung	speaking to you
rungtaung	who should be governing

ma:kmaung	who must be defeated
kudumaun	to be broken

Adjectives can be used substantively-- we:un 'the mighty', kalni 'to the good person'-- or as predicates, there being no verb 'to be':

Paźiwa kal.	The king is good.
Begongitera we:ok.	Begongitera was mighty.

Negatives and questions [To Index]

Liingokze de:iwo daudo.	I didn't see the people in the city.
Liingok de:iwoze daudo.	It wasn't the people that I saw in the city.
Liingok de:iwo daudoze.	It wasn't in the city that I saw the people.

Sela:i paźiwao śubokźu?	Did the general spit on the king?
Sela:iźu paźiwao śubok?	Was it the general who spit on the king?
Sela:i paźiwaźuwo śubok?	The general spit on the king?

Boguśa śebarulnowo iturta?	Who wants to read my book?
Pu:kok bokadośa?	Where did the crime take place?
Nitukśa mo:nzi ti:zige?	Why is the maiden crying?

Clauses [To Index]

śebarulo iturokung gume:n	the men who have read the book
la:ngtaraung na:nni zimi	the woman who is to be married to a god
nerokenung mo:ngun	youngsters who have lain together

Ze:ning [gu:me paźiwano kamugunni ba:ilok gau].
We know [that the man escaped from the king's guards]

In the same way, sentences may serve as adverbials:

[Paźiwa ituri la:uk] ba:ilsamaung śebarul.
Because the king has read it, the book is condemned.

In English grammar we analyze these as conjunctions, but there is no class of conjunctions in Wede:i; the adverbial X lau:k formally occupies the same place as an adverb just as tinti 'tomorrow'.

'If' clauses are expressed using the verbal suffix ki:

Śebarul kalzeki, dowogu ituryu.
If the book is not good, nobody will read it.

Jukilokzeki ba:ilingokyu.
If you had not sneezed, we would have escaped.

As with other constituents, concatenating -ki clauses implies a disjunction:

Kalki yurki, la:ngiltau.
(Lit.) If good, if bad, it's desirable that you marry her.
Whether she is good or bad, you should marry her.

Adpositional phrases [To Index]

The adpositions that do exist (listed below for convenience) are mainly clarifiers, attached to a locative. Thus ngokdo śen 'above the jar', nga:unado ta:i 'on the right side of the street'; daudo go 'away from the city'.

ben	under
śen	above
ra	inside
rok	outside
lil	near
go	away
sai	middle
bu	before
ti	after
ta:i	right
ngir	left
lun	north
sang	south
ju	east
wor	west

Word order [To Index]

Order of noun phrases was fairly free, however. The unmarked order was, as in Axunašin, SOV; but since direct and indirect objects were normally explicitly marked, noun phrases and verbs could appear in almost any order.

Numbers [To Index]

The numbers from 1 to 36 are:

1	bo	13	yokbang boka	25	tausebang boka
2	yok	14	yokbang yokka	26	tausebang yokka
3	śir	15	yokbang śirka	27	tausebang śirka
4	tause	16	yokbang tauseka	28	tausebang tauseka
5	pina	17	yokbang pinaka	29	tausebang pinaka
6	bang	18	śirbang	30	pinabang
7	bang boka	19	śirbang boka	31	pinabang boka
8	bang yokka	20	śirbang yokka	32	pinabang yokka
9	bang śirka	21	śirbang śirka	33	pinabang śirka
10	bang tauseka	22	śirbang tauseka	34	pinabang tauseka
11	bang pinaka	23	śirbang pinaka	35	pinabang pinaka
12	yokbang	24	tausebang	36	tang

Numbers are named digit by digit in base 6: for each digit, one gives the multiple of the power of six, plus the name of the power (bang 6, tang 36, ke:ta 216, eze:r 1296), plus (for all but the first digit) -ka 'and'. Examples:

śirbang tauseka 'three sixes and four' = 22 tausetang pinabangka boka '4 . 36 and 5 . 6 and 1' = 175 eze:r śirke:taka yokbangka pinaka '1296 and 3 . 216 and 1 . 36 and 2 . 6 and 5' = 1997 yokeze:r tauseke:taka tausebangka '2 .1296 and 4 . 216 and 4 . 6' = 3480

There are words for the next powers of six (ja:u 7776, bo:ndo 46656), but these are used only to name orders of magnitude, and not for constructing names of precise quantities. Wede:i arithmetic became cumbersome with such high numbers, and approximations were used instead.

Ordinals can be formed with the genitive -no: śirno gu:me 'the third man'.

A collection of n objects can be named using the collective suffix -ak: yokak 'a pair, a couple'; pinak 'a group of five'.

Samples [To Index]

1. Guśali Sa:unak / The Canons of Respect [To Index]

To:l gu:me źegusir kalzimili pulro ngera:ino komozinlika; jok komono ma:rzimo ni:guno kalzinkawo źeguzero.
each MAN LUST-without WIFE-his-with STAY-imper HOUSEHOLD-gen SERVANT-pl-with-and / another HOUSE-gen FEMALE-acc FARMER-gen WIFE-pl-and-acc LUST-neg-imper

Gu:me lil sa:uno guśuzeki, la:ngulaujiwo lauku:ruro; zimi la:ngokki la:ngzekika; gu:me kalzimili zu:rzeroneu.
MAN this LAW-acc RESPECT-not-if MARRY-MONEY-acc pay-imper / WOMAN MARRY-past-if MARRY-not-if-and / MAN WIFE-his-instr TAKE-neg-imper-but-her

Zimi nga:ila:okkii, gu:me bali lauku:rro.
WOMAN INVITE-past-if-him MAN HALF-instr PAY-imper

Lauku:rujuzeki, koksararo.
PAY-can-not-if DIE-caus-passive-imper

Papaiwo di:niwo śendi:niwo dataino kalzimo zu:rokki, koksararo.
MOTHER-his-acc DAUGHTER-his-acc GRANDDAUGHTER-his-acc FATHER-his-gen WIFE-acc TAKE-past-if DIE-caus-passive-imper

zimijauwo zu:rok nituk joko kokoksaki, koksararo.
WOMAN-other-acc TAKE-past for OTHER-acc DIE-past-caus-if DIE-caus-passive-imper

Gu:me pu:kpeki, lauku:rupero ngosuraroka.
MAN EVIL-repeat-if PAY-repeat-imper FLOG-passive-imper-and

Lil sa:un ma:nguni na:ngguni de:igunika zotingsage.
this LAW NOBLE-dat PRIEST-dat COMMONER-dat-and BELONG-we-caus-durative

Let each man be content with his wife and the servants of his household; let him not lust after a female of another house, or after the wives of the peasants. If any man disrespects this rule, let him pay the bride-price, whether or not the woman is married; but he may not take the woman to be his own. If the woman invited him, he may pay half. If he cannot pay, let him be put to death. If he takes his own mother or daughter or granddaughter or his father's wife, let him be put to death. If he kills a man in order to take his woman, let him be put to death. If an offense is repeated, it may be paid again, but let the man be flogged. This law applies to noble, priest, and commoner.

Notes:

• There is no explicit disjunctive; instead alternatives are simply concatenated. Compare pinggau legauka 'an apple and a pear' vs. pinggau legau 'an apple or a pear', pinggauki legauki 'whether it's an apple or a pear'.
• Most of the sentences have no explicit subject, which means that they have a 3rd person subject. When the code refers to a third party it makes use of the 'other' object suffix -jau. Compare zimijau 'someone else's woman' vs. zimii 'his (own) woman'.
• Let's take apart the most inflected word here: zu:rzeroneu: xu:rze = 'not take'; zu:rzero = 'let him not take'; zu:rzerou = 'let him not take her'; zu:rzeroneu = 'but let him not take her'.

2. Duzulno komogumung ze:nsaji / Parable of the slave's servant [To Index]

The protagonist is a duzulno komogu, the servant of a slave-- obviously a low and poor condition, but perhaps not as low as it sounds. Slavery was a legal condition, and trusted slaves could become powerful and wealthy people.

The Wede:i had skin and hair coloration similar to northern Europeans. Fair skin and blonde hair were valued among them, but came to be disdained by the Ezičimi invaders; it took more than a milennium for this prejudice to die out.

Zimi la:ok muna:ido lumenokka pairadoung źi:a:ido, mo:ngu zu:roktayaikau.
WOMAN COME-past TEMPLE-loc BATHE-refl-past-and POOL-loc-adj GARDEN-loc / YOUTH TAKE-past-want-incept-and-her

Bi: zauungka rilsirguni zu:roktajusa.
FAIR SAND-adj-and EUNUCH-dat TAKE-past-want-can-cause

Da:izeyuno gau mo:ngu yedokne muna:ido duzulno komogumingge la:uk.
VALUE-not-tentative-me that YOUTH THINK-past-but TEMPLE-loc SLAVE-gen SERVANT-I-durative because

Śigamali na:nunni na:nku:runi yebi:liokyai zimini da:iraju nituk.
WORK-augment-instr GOD-pl-dat SACRIFICE-pl-instr RICH-past-incept WOMAN-dat VALUE-passive-can for

Kamugunili la:ok komoudo yonka kalzinoli zu:ringwe gau.
GUARD-pl-his-with COME-past HOUSE-her-loc SAY-and WIFE-my-instr TAKE-I-you that

Wongoksaiung zimi sukwenli melendo ra sukenok.
HORROR-past-cause-him-adj WOMAN DAGGER-instr HEART-loc in STAB-refl-past

Muna:ino na:nggu lioksai, dauudo ma:ngu lila:uru ngozi śojoli.
TEMPLE-gen PRIEST SEE-past-caus-him / CITY-her-loc NOBLE APPROACH-remote-her SAME PRIDE-instr

Muna:ido bamba:ilurung zimi benungo la:ngokta yebi:ligumo paijuryai la:uk.
TEMPLE-loc FLEE-remote-adj WOMAN LOW-acc MARRY-past-want RICH-person-pl-acc FEAR-remote-incept because

A woman came to a temple and bathed in a pool in its garden, and a boy fell in love with her. Fair and blonde, the woman could cause desire in a eunuch. But he thought, she may disdain me, because I am only the servant of a slave of the temple. By means of great work and sacrifices to the gods, however, he became a rich man, in order to be worthy of the woman. He came with his retainers to the house where she lived, and said, I take you as my wife. To his horror, she took a dagger and plunged it into her heart. A priest of the temple had to explain: a nobleman of her city had approached her in the same arrogant way. She had fled to the temple, hoping to marry a base commoner because she had come to fear rich men.

Notes:

• In the double locative pairadoung źi:a:ido, the adjectivizer tells us that the first locative is relative to the second: thus 'in the pool of the garden', as opposed to pairado źi:a:ido 'in the pool or in the garden'.
• Let's take apart some of the complex verbs:
  • zu:roktayaikau: zu:r-ta = want-have = desire; the past tense morpheme is infixed in between: zu:rokta 'desired'. Zu:roktayai = 'began to desire'; zu:roktayaika 'and began to desire'; zu:roktayaikau 'and began to desire her'.
  • ^o yebi:liokyai: yebi: 'water-bright' is the name for gold; yebi:li 'having gold' means 'rich'. This is made into a verb by adding the past morpheme: yebi:liok 'was rich'. Finally we add the inceptive: yebi:liokyai '(he) became rich'.
  • ^o wongoksaiung: wongu = 'feel horror'; wongsa = 'horrify'; wongoksa 'horrified'; wongoksai 'horrified him'; the adjectivizer subordinates it to the following noun: wongoksaiung zimi 'the horrifed-him woman' = 'the woman, horrifying him'.
• The author could have said that the boy became rich zimi da:ijui nituk 'so that the woman could value him'. It's neater to keep the same subject throughout the sentence, however, so it's passivized to zimini da:iraju nituk 'so that he could be valuable to the woman'.

3. Raśak ngununge / The fox and the grapes [To Index]

My translation of Aesop's fable.

Raśakokmi. Nitugeung raśak yumaido śen dolung ngununo la:uliok. Ponok ponpeka, nguno zu:rokzene. Melenokudawoi digugeung raśak yonok, Ngunun zanzaranyuge! Zu:rrataze.
FOX-past-reportative. WALK-progressive-adj FOX HEAD-his-locative ABOVE HANG-adj GRAPE-plural-acc FIND-past. JUMP-past JUMP-repetitive-and, GRAPE-acc TAKE-past-not-contrastive. HEART-BREAK-acc-his HIDE-progressive-adj FOX SPEAK-past, GRAPE-plural SOUR-tentative-progressive. TAKE-passive-desiderative-not.

There was once a fox. While walking, the fox found some grapes hanging above his head. He jumped up again and again, but he could not reach the grapes. Hiding his disappointment, the fox said, "The grapes are probably sour, I don't want them anyway."

Some things to note:

• Raśak 'fox' used as a verb in the first sentence, with an existential meaning: 'A fox existed.'
• The strict modifier-modified order in such a phrase as yumaido śen dolung ngununo 'head above hanging grapes'; the order would be just the opposite in English.
• The avoidance of subordinated clauses in favor of what are formally adjectives. It would be possible to write yumaido śen dolgeok gau ngununo 'the grapes that hung above his head', but Wede:i prefers 'the above-head-hanging grapes' instead.
• The omission of morphemes which would be grammatically required in English; e.g. the pluralizers on the second instance of ngun 'grape(s)', the past tense on the second instance of ponu 'jump'.
• The contrastive -ne, appended here to zu:rokze 'did not take', adding a pragmatic indication of surprise or contrast (compare ponok ponpeka 'he jumped and jumped', where the connective -ka does not connote surprise).
• The logic of word-building: zu:ru 'take', zu:rra 'be taken', zu:rrata 'want to be taken', zu:rrataze '(the grapes) do not want to be taken' = 'I don't want them.'

The Wede:i script [To Top]

Origins

do:n 'horse'

nu:n 'tripod'

mai 'wheat'

Wila:r 'Išira'

śir 'three'

The earliest symbols were all pictographic or ideographic. The symbol for ma:k 'defeat', for instance, showed a sword threatening a stylized human figure: Eventually, however, it occurred to some bright soul that the same symbol could be used to represent mak 'cousin', which was not otherwise easy to represent. Similarly, wada 'stool' was pressed into service to represent wata 'year'.

Proper names composed of two or more words, such as Wila:ri:l 'Išira's eye', had long been in use; with the invention of phonograms it now became evident that polysyllabic words could be represented as a sequence of glyphs: e.g. rungokur 'governing' could be represented , using the signs for ru: 'sun', ngok 'jar', kur 'ram'. (Such usages were facilitated by the simple phonologic structure of Wede:i, in which all syllables have a CV(C) structure, with the number of final consonants being severely limited.)

These discoveries greatly multiplied what could be represented using the script. By perhaps -1100 it had developed to the point where any sound in the language could be represented; it was now a true written language. There were about 1400 glyphs in use at this time.

There was still a wide range of variation in the use of the script. Many syllables could be written in multiple ways, and many glyphs had multiple meanings; there was wide variation in the style of writing and level of stylization; there was still some leeway for the invention of signs; and there were quite a few two- or three-syllable glyphs, names of cities or deities.

The script was written somewhat differently in the three Wede:i kingdoms, Yenine, Na:nyanok, and Saiśi; and this variation was complicated by minor dialectal differences: two words that sounded the same in Yenine, leading to the use of a phonogram, might not sound the same in Na:nyanok, but the phonogram might be borrowed anyway.

The use of the script now extended to the writing of monumental inscriptions, religious poetry, diplomatic correspondence, and books of proverbs.

The Old Syllabary

The Old Syllabary is actually a mixed syllabic and logographic script; it consists of 655 signs corresponding to the possible syllables of Wede:i, plus an additional 440 signs representing particular words of one or more syllables.

Syllabic glyphs

Word glyphs

Actually, rather more than 440 words could be represented using single glyphs: the word-specific glyphs could be used for other words pronounced the same way (and the phonemic ambiguities mentioned above put a little wiggle room into that 'same'); and the majority of the syllabic glyphs also served as logographs for one-syllable words (e.g. lu: 'water').

The scholars were careful to retain the traditional signs for nanung 'divine' and itera 'radiance', in order, it is said, that the king could continue to make use of the only two signs he knew. This story is most likely a calumny; Nanungitera's line was somewhat disrespected among the Wede:i for choosing conquest over culture, but this does not mean he was an illiterate.

Style and structure

The reader should not imagine the scribes struggling to learn 1095 completely distinct glyphs. There were systematic resemblances between glyphs; many of them could be easily recognized as combinations of simpler elements. For instance, la:ngu 'marry' was drawn using the glyphs gu:me 'man' and zimi 'woman'; za:uni 'family' simply incorporated a drawing of a child as well. Similarly, digu 'hide' depicts a man hiding between two trees.

Nanungitera's scholars also disambiguated many of the homonymous glyphs by including another glyph to suggest the meaning. For instance, ko:u 'mouth' was also used for yonu 'speak'; the latter was now designated , incorporating the glyph moga 'ear'.

As most inflections were simply additional syllables, they were easily represented in the script. When the syllabic signs were used, strict syllabic separations were respected: e.g. makun 'cousins' was represented as ma + kun (using glyphs meaning 'star', 'rain'). When word-specific signs were used with suffixes, however, the final consonant of the root could be represented (redundantly) by the suffix syllable, or skipped: do:nun 'horses' was represented do:n + un or do:n + nun.

The adaptation to Axunašin

The Axunašin script was reformed around 650, under the patronage of the kings of Axuna and Gotanel, forming the Classical script. By this time the glyphs had become highly stylized; the Classical script systematized this tendency, writing every glyph as a combination of lines and circles:

old form	new form
		'defeat'
		'Meša'
		'eye'
		ni
		lu

Axunašin had a more complicated syllable structure than Wede:i, with the result that (say) a word like lič 'face' had to be written with two glyphs, <li><či>. The classical reform introduced diacritics representing final consonants; lič could now be written , using the <li> glyph plus a = diacritic representing final -č. This change greatly reduced the number of syllabic glyphs. (However, quite a few of the old syllabic glyphs were still used to represent entire words.)

Modern Xurno and Čeiy have each developed cursive forms of the classical script:

old form	new form
		'Axunai'

Later developments in the Wede:i family

The modern Cuolese have simplified the glyphs still further, and adapted them to an even more developed phonology, including even more consonant clusters and a range of new vowels. Unlike the Axunašin, the Jeori and Cuolese have never moved in the direction of characters representing single phonemes; the Cuolese system relies heavily on two- or three-glyph combinations that represent a single phonologically complex syllable.

Lexicon [To Index]

Cuolese [To Index]

Phonology [To Index]

The consonant system has not greatly changed: the alveolar-palatals śź have fronted a bit to šž; a new affricate c has developed, realized as [ts] in Doju, as [č] in Pronel.

The vowels have changed more dramatically, developing into a pitch-accent system. Very likely the long vowels were already pronounced with a raised pitch. The length was lost, but the high pitch remained; thus Wede:i a: --> Cuolese á, etc. (High tone is represented with an acute accent.) The long diphthongs were evidently pronounced high on the onglide (the main vowel), back to medium on the offglide; this became a falling tone: a:i --> à etc.

Very few Wede:i words had two long syllables; where these did occur, one has shortened so that there is never more than one tone per word.

Moreover, vowels before n nasalized and absorbed the consonant: an --> ã etc. If the vowel was long, it may be both nasalized and high tone: a:n --> á~.

Finally, front rounded vowels ü ö developed from several sources: short au, as well as back vowels after y or before r and l. The nasalized vowels can be rounded as well: ö~.

Sound changes from Wede:i [To Index]

1.	au --> ö a:u --> ò	pauka --> pög sa:u --> sò
2.	ei --> i:, ai --> e: e:i --> è; a:i --> à	Jeiwor --> Jíwör; Źaikye --> Žéc wa:igu --> wàju; Wede:i --> Weè
3.	yu --> ü, yo --> ö	yuma --> üm; yonu --> önu
4.	[+stop] --> [+affric] / (V,#)_(i,u)	kugoli --> Cuoli; tik --> ciw; digu --> juju
5.	[+stop +voice] --> ø / V_V	Wede:i --> Weè; kugoli --> Cuoli; no:biźi --> nóiži
6.	[+stop, +fric] --> [+voice] / V_(V,w)	ngosu --> gozu; papa --> pab; raśak --> ražaw
7.	[+back] --> [+round -long] /_R	ngor --> gör, tur --> cür; to:l --> töl
8.	i --> u / [+sib]_C	sim --> sum --> sũ; zimi --> zumi
9.	a --> o / _ng	bang --> bong
10.	e --> i / _Ri	ngeli --> ngili
11.	k --> w / _#	yonok --> önow
12.	p --> py / _i ky --> c / _i	pina --> pyin Źaikye --> Žéc
13.	[+short] --> ø / VC_CV	yonening --> yonning --> ö~ning; paźiwa --> pažwa; Śelawor --> Śelwör --> Šewör
14.	o --> ou / C(C)_#	bo --> bou
15.	(n,m) --> ~ / _#, _C	jalan --> jalã; Šimka:u --> Šũkò
16.	(a,e) --> ø / VC_#	pauka --> pöga --> pög; gu:me --> gúm
17.	R --> ø / _C	kalzi --> kazi; neruwen --> nerwen --> newe~
18.	[+long] --> [+high]	no: --> nó
19.	ng --> g / #_(a,e,o,u,ö) ng --> m /_[+labial] ng --> n / _[+dental]	ngol --> göl; ngaza --> gaz yoningwe --> önimwe; songming --> somming yoningtu --> önintu; Borungdau --> Börundö
20.	ö --> o / u_	kugoli --> Cuöli --> Cuoli
21.	[+alv-pal] --> [-palatal]	źeku --> žeku; śuk --> šuw

Morphology [To Index]

Present		Past
öning	I speak	ö~cing	I spoke
önil	you speak	ö~cil	you spoke
ön	he speaks	önow	he spoke

The subject-object forms in the present tense also show a good deal of fusion.

1st person subject		2nd person subject
ö~ning	I speak to myself	öninu	you speak to me
öningku	I speak to you (s)	ö~nil	you speak to yourself
ö~ngi	I speak to him	ö~li	you speak to him
ö~ngu	I speak to her	ö~lu	you speak to her
önintu	I speak to us	önitu	you speak to us
önimwe	I speak to you (pl)	öniwe	you speak to yourselves
3rd person subject
ö~no	he speaks to me
ö~ku	he speaks to you (s)
öne~	he speaks to himself
ö~jö	he speaks to someone else
ö~tu	he speaks to us
ö~we	he speaks to you (pl)

Nominal endings, perhaps because they are usually used alone, are more recognizable. Plurals always involve nasalization, but if the root ends in a consonant there is an added vowel, which is synchronically unpredictable though it is almost always that of the Wede:i etymon (for the examples, do:n, gu:me, dau, zimi).

	horse	man	city	woman
s. nom.	dón	gúm	dö	zumi
s. acc.	dónu	gú~wu	döwu	zũwu
s. dat.	dó~ni	gú~ni	döni	zũni
pl.	dónu~	gúme~	dö~	zumĩ

Jeori [To Index]

• Old Jeori, the language of the Jei Union (Z.E. 250-700) and the empire of Jeor (700-930). The structure of the language was little different from the classical Wede:i of a thousand years before, but there were some significant phonological changes.
• New Jeori, the language of modern Jeor, a province of Xurno from the 2600s on, and independent as Tasuc Tei from 3025. The language died out as the everyday language of the region well before independence, but it has retained a good deal of prestige as a badge of nationalism, and it survives as a literary language (and indeed as the official language of Tasuc Tei).

Phonology [To Index]

Where the characteristic development of long vowels in Cuolese was to high pitch, in Jeori it was to tenseness. Roughly speaking the long vowels have become tense vowels i e o u a in Jeori, and remained where they were-- a however backing to [a].

The short vowels must have all been laxed in late Wede:i-- moved toward the center of the vowel space. In Old Jeori, the high short vowels i u merged to a high central vowel î = [i], while the mid short vowels e o merged to schwa ^e. At the same time, short a became fronted [æ].

Some of the short vowels have further shifted in New Jeori. æ raised a bit to become ê = [e]; î fronted to become more or less [I] as in 'bit'. A new back vowel û = [u] as in 'put' arose from certain diphthongs as well as from interconsonantal /w/.

As a further complication, ^e and î are elided-- typically, if they occur in the second syllable of the word. This has created new consonant clusters, which have been simplified by (backward) assimilation.

yonokenil --> yan^ek^enîl --> yank^enîl --> yandûnyîl
De:ijubori --> Deyjîb^er --> Dejb^er
Ngu:made:i --> Nyum^edey --> Nyumdey --> Yumbe

Sound changes from Wede:i [To Index]

B represents any back vowel, including a; X represents any consonant except a nasal.

1.	i --> y / B_	wa:ino --> vayne, Wede:i --> vedey
2.	yg --> j yl --> ly	wa:igu --> vajî ba:ilu --> balyî
3.	wk --> kw / _V k --> p / _w	lauku:ru --> lakwu:ru --> læpwurî rukwen --> rîpwen
4.	a(:)w --> o:	sa:un --> zon, dau --> do, Śelawor --> Śæloer
5.	n --> ng / _[+velar]	na:ngu --> nanggî
6.	z --> dz, ź --> dź / #_ s --> z / #_ w --> v / #_	zimi --> dzîmî, źeku --> dźegî sim --> zîm wen --> ven
7.	t --> č / _u	yoniltu --> yanîlčî
8.	V --> ø / VCVC_#	yonili --> yanîl; dowogu --> daweg
9.	a --> e / VC(C)_	ngu:ma --> nyume; Nakani: --> Næken
10.	e --> æ / #C_ o --> a: / #C_	men --> mæn losu --> lasî
11.	a --> æ (e,o) --> e (u,i) --> î	gala:i --> gælay gu:me --> gume, dowo --> dawe kudu --> kîdî, niz --> nîz
12.	: --> ø	na:n --> nan, no: --> no
13.	î --> e / îC(C)_X	Buruźi --> Bîrîś --> Bîreś
14.	ng --> ny / #_, V_B	ngu:ma --> nyume, runga:i --> rînyay

F represents a front vowel or y. E represents a mid front vowel (e î ê).

1.	æ --> ê	bæng --> bwêng
2.	e --> û / eC(C)_ e --> ø / _CV	yanekenîl --> yanekûnîl --> yankûnîl --> yandûnyîl
3.	î --> ø / VC_C(î,e)	Deyjîber --> Dejber; yanîlîn --> yanlin
4.	[+stop -voice] --> [+fric] / _[+stop], _#	mækne --> mwêxnge, yanek --> yanex
5.	ny --> y	nyone --> yone
6.	ly --> ź	nyalyo --> yaźo
7.	d --> r / V_V	rade --> rare
8.	dź --> j dz --> c	dźenggî --> jenggyî dzonî --> conyî
9.	(m,b) --> w / V_F, F_V	nobîź --> nowîź; vayme --> vawe
10.	ø --> w / (m,b,p)_F	mæk --> mêk --> mwêx, bi --> bwih, pîne --> pwine
11.	k --> gy / V_E, E_V ø --> y / (k,g,n)_E	bîke --> bwîgye, rækî --> rêgyî kete --> kyete, nîz --> nyîz, manggî --> manggyî
12.	y --> ø / (a,e)_	mayn --> man, deyjî --> dejî
13.	ew --> o ey --> ê	gumew --> gumo nîney --> ninê
14.	îw --> û îy --> i	pæźîw --> pwêźû tîyen --> tien --> tin
15.	(i,e,ê) --> [+raised] / _n	mæn --> mwên --> mwen, dzenî --> cînyî, tîn --> tin
16.	e --> ø / V_C	Nyumoer --> Yumor
17.	s --> h, g --> x / V_e	tose --> tohe, kæge --> kyêxe
18.	[+stop, +fric] --> [+voice] / [+voice]_	dzensejî --> cînzjî, pæmekîn --> pwêmkyin --> pwêmgyin --> pwêmbyin
19.	[+stop, +fric] --> [-voice] / [-voice]_	yanekze --> yaneksû
20.	č --> kx / ng_	yanîngčî --> yanyîngkxî
21.	[+stop] --> [+velar] / [+velar]_	Barîngdo --> Barînggo
22.	[+stop] --> [+dental] / [+dental]_	yanekîn --> yankyin --> yandin
23.	[+stop] --> [+labial] / [+labial]_r --> w / [+labial]_	Zæbîngel --> Zêbngel --> Zêbmel Jæyberîng --> Jebrîng --> Jebwîng
24.	ln --> d l assimilates to following č, z, w	yanîlne --> yanyîde yanîlwe --> yanîwwe
25.	w --> û / C_C	zîpwen --> zîpwn --> zîpûn
26.	ê --> y / (a,o)_	taæ --> taê --> tay, voæ --> voê --> voy
27.	ø --> h / #C(C)(a,e,i)_# ø --> w / #C(C)(o,u)_#	ta --> tah, te --> teh, bi --> bwih to --> tow, tu --> tuw
28.	y --> ø / (n,d)_i	donîn --> donyîn --> donyin --> donin yanekîn --> yandyin --> yandin

Morphology [To Index]

The chief cause of the fusion of the past morpheme is vowel syncope-- which generally reduced the -ok to -k and left it adjacent to the root-- plus backward assimilation. So n + k --> nd, m + k --> mb, g + k --> gg.

Classical Wede:i did not have plural subject forms: yoning meant both 'I speak' and 'we speak'. Old Jeori innovated forms using the normal pluralizer (Wede:i -un, Old Jeori -în): yaning 'I speak', yaningîn 'we speak'.

Present		Past
'speak'
yanyîng	I speak	yandyîng	I spoke
yanyîl	you s speak	yandyîl	you s spoke
yanyî	he speaks	yanex	he spoke
yannin	we speak	yandyîngin	we spoke
yanlin	you pl speak	yandyîlin	you pl spoke
yanin	they speak	yandin	they spoke
'hear'
pwaîng	I hear	pwêmbyîng	I heard
pwaîl	you s hear	pwêmbyîl	you s heard
pwaî	he hears	pwax	he heard
pwêmmin	we hear	pwêmbyîngin	we heard
pwêmlin	you pl hear	pwêmbyîlin	you pl heard
pwain	they hear	pwêmbyin	they heard
'work'
śigyîng	I work	śiggyîng	I worked
śîxel	you s work	śiggyîl	you s worked
śigyî	he works	śixex	he worked
śigngin	we work	śîggyîngin	we worked
śiglin	you pl work	śîggyîngil	you pl worked
śigyin	they work	śîggyin	they worked

There are quite a few other verb forms, but there has been a tendency to replace them with independent adverbs or auxiliaries. The incorporated object affixes became increasingly literary; in speech separate object pronouns were developed.

Nominal endings are only somewhat the worse for wear; the accusative ending is almost always -^e, the dative -nyî-- though this is sometimes due to reanalysis. The plural ending is typically -n after vowels, -in after consonants, with the case endings added normally after it.

	horse	man	city	woman
s. nom.	don	gume	dow	cûî
s. acc.	done	gumo	dowe	cûo
s. dat.	donnyî	gummyî	donyî	cûin
pl. nom.	donin	gumen	don	cûîn
pl. acc.	donine	gumene	done	cûîne
pl. dat.	doninnyî	gumennyî	donnyî	cûînnyî

Sample sentences [To Index]

Wede:i	Paźiwa lil śal zimiwo zu:rtau. king this beautiful woman-ACC want-have
Old Jeori	Pæźîw lîl śæl dzîmew dzurto.
New Jeori	Pwêźû lîl śśêl cûo curto.
Cuolese	Pažwa lil šal zu~wu zütö.
English	The king loves this beautiful woman.
Wede:i	Muna:ido na:nunni na:nyoningok. temple-LOC god-PL-DAT god-speak-I-PAST
Old Jeori	Mînayde nanînnî nanyenekîng.
New Jeori	Mwinare naninnyî nanyandyîng.
Cuolese	Munào nánu~ni nánö~cing.
English	I prayed in the temple to the gods.
Wede:i	Ge:nggunno śaukgumo paijilźu? beard-man-GEN rule-man-ACC fear-QUES
Old Jeori	Genggînîng nibewo pæyjîlźî?
New Jeori	Asungri runircyî pwejo źucînyîl? Axunemi ruler-DAT fear-ACC QUES-know-YOU
Cuolese	Lil ezjuzu~ giecu zen wongil? that Ezičimi lord-ACC NEG-QUES fear-YOU
English	Do you fear the lord of the Easterners?
Wede:i	Ringtuka:ido la:uliilokkiu, kalziku śa:usir. tavern-LOC meet-YOU-PAST-IF-HER wife-YOUR shame-WITHOUT
Old Jeori	Kælzîkew rîngčekayde lolîekîlkî, lîlzî śosîr. wife-YOUR-ACC tavern-LOC meet-PAST-YOU-IF she shame-WITHOUT
New Jeori	Kyîź kyîr langzo pwîddozîd ceyûgyîl, vew śosîre dîzî. if your wife-ACC tavern-LOC meet-PAST-YOU, she shameless-ACC have
Cuolese	Še~brio jiracuwu lòliocilü, šōzur lienü. tavern-LOC wife-YOUR-ACC meet-PAST-YOU-IRR shameless be-IRR
English	If you met your wife in the tavern, she is shameless.

Things to note in example 3:

• Different means of asking questions (New Jeori turned the suffix źu into an interrogative prefix; Cuolese has turned a tag question zene 'or not?' into a negative-interrogative particle).
• Three different ways of referring to the Axunaic peoples: native Wede:i Ge:nggun 'bearded men', Xurnese Asungri 'of Axunai', Axunašin Ezičiz (singular of Ezičimi).
• Wede:i referred to a foreign king generically as śaukgu 'ruler'; Old Jeori used the 'proper' word, Axunašin niwe; Jeori and Cuolese use Xurnáš words-- raunirc 'governor' and giec 'lord' respectively.
• New Jeori also replaces the verb paiju 'fear' with pwejo cînyî 'know fear' (a typical way of expressing mental states), while Cuolese replaces it with wongi, originally meaning 'feel disgust'.

• The syntax of if clauses has changed in the modern languages. In Jeori, a new particle kyîź has developed from ki 'if' + źu 'interrogative'. In Cuolese, both conjoints are placed in the irrealis, which derives from the Wede:i tentative aspect -yu.
• The modern languages don't allow adjectives to be used as verbs. Jeori says the woman 'has shameless(ness)', while Cuolese has created a copula from the Wede:i expression lien 'see oneself'.
• Jeori has innovated a system of pronouns-- several, in fact, over time. Old Jeori lîlzî is analyzable as 'that woman', and is one of a large number of similar expressions. New Jeori vew derives from we:u 'her greatness', and is a calque on early Xurnáš toec.
• 'Wife' in Jeori is langzî, from 'marry-woman'; Cuolese jira is from Xurnáš.
• 'Tavern' in Wede:i is ringtuka:i, the place for ringtuka 'rye beer'. Jeori has replaced this with pwîddoz from Axunašin pididouz 'drink-house'; Cuolese še^~bri comes from Tžuro šembri.
• Wede:i la:uliu 'meet' = 'come to see' was replaced in Jeori with a derivative of ze:nyai 'begin to know'.

Wede:i/Jeori/Cuolese Comparative Lexicon [To Index]

 

Wede:i	Old Jeori	New Jeori	Cuolese	Wede:i meaning
Numbers
bo	ba	bah	bou	one
yok	yak	yax	öw	two
śir	śîr	śir	šur	three
tause	tose	tohe	töz	four
pina	pîne	pwine	pyin	five
bang	bæng	bwêng	bong	six
(Ax. šeis)	śæys	śes	šís	seven
(Ax. yugi)	yîgî	yîgyî	üji	eight
(Ax. nebi)	næbî	nyaî	nei	nine
(Ax. deis)	dæys	des	dís	ten
a:inu	aynî	anyî	ànu	help
bai	bæy	bweh	bé	tower
ba:ilu	balyî	baźî	bālu	remove
ba:n	ban	ban	bá~	oats
ba:un	bon	bon	bò~	storm
begong	bægeng	bwêxeng	beong	the moon Iliažë
ben	bæn	bwen	be~	under
bendata	bændetæ	bwenddê	be~dad	grandmother
benpapa	bænpepæ	bwempwê	be~pab	grandfather
bi:	bi	bwih	bí	white, bright
bi:ka	bike	bwike	bíg	silver
birbi:	bîrbi	bwîrbwi	bibí	the moon Iliacáš
biźi	bîźî	bwîźî	biži	grass
bogu	bagî	bagyî	boju	person
boka	bagî	bagyî	bog	thing
bori	barî	barî	böri	island
buka	bîke	bwîgye	bug	deer
bukuro	bîker	bwîgîr	bucüru	owl
da:iu	dayî	daî	dàu	value
data	dæte	dête	dad	father
dau	do	dow	dö	city
dauka	dæpwe	dêpwe	dög	whale
da:wi	doî	doî	dáwi	boy
de:i	dey	deh	dè	people
digu	dîgî	dîgyî	juju	hide
di:n	din	din	dí~	daughter
do:	do	dow	dó	wind
dolu	dalî	dalî	dölu	hang
do:n	don	don	dó~	horse
dowo	dawe	dawe	dowu	no
dowogu	daweg	dawg	dowju	nobody
du:r	dur	dur	dür	mortar
duzul	dîzel	dîzel	juzül	slave
eze:r	ezer	zer	ezér	thousand
gai	gæy	gyeh	gé	log
gala:i	gælay	gyêla	galà	enclosure
galu	gælî	gyêlî	galu	close
gauji	gojî	gojî	göji	fruit
ge:ng	geng	gyeng	géng	beard
goju	gajî	gajî	goju	steal
go:rtu	gorčî	gorčî	götu	ocean
goung	gawng	gawn	goung	far
gu:me	gume	gume	gúm	man
guśa	gîśe	gyîśe	juž	respect
guśu	gîśî	gyîśî	južu