A Grammar of Aeruyo

George Alston Corley 12 December 2011

Preface
The language outlined in this document is one of my own construction known as Aeruyo. This language began its life during my senior year of high school as Aerol. It was initially intended as a language for a race of energy beings living in a gas giant, and as a companion language for Yeltax, then known as Djedyeltakh, which was spoken by an alien race known as the Xala/Khala living on one of the moons orbiting said gas giant. shelved the language for later use. Several revisions and several years later, I decided to repurpose Aeruyo for a fantasy world which I am in the process of creating for the purpose of writing ction. Aeruyo is the language of an ancient race known as the Aeruro who built a grand civilization on one of the continents and then learned to escape their bodies and became part of the air itself. In the timeframe of my (far from nished) book, it is used as a liturgical and magical language for people who worship the Aeruro, who by that time are also known as "the white spirits". This being an artlang, or a language created for artistic purposes, many of the features I used were chosen for aesthetic reasons. The aspiration distinction on plosives, voiceless fricative series, and devoicing of initial glides all serve the phonaesthetic purpose of making the language sound "breathy" and "airy", like the wind itself speaking. I have considered using breathy voicing and voiceless vowels as well, but since a good number of distinctions depend solely on a single vowel sound (and occassionaly very similar vowels like /e/ and /i/), I'm quite hesitant to do so. Certain vocabulary is also meant to reect the culture and point-of-view of the Aeruro, such as calling the undead "false beings" and humans "new beings" (though I still have not decided whether the Aeruro themselves were once human, which would make that an interesting misnomer). I have also made mention in several places of in-world theories about Aeruyo, often citing unnamed "scholars". I owe a great debt to the conlanging community for feedback and support on this language over the years. Without my interactions with that community through the Zompist Bulletin Board and Conlanger Bulletin Board, the CONLANG mailing list, the LCS, and my own podcast, Aeruyo would not be nearly Later I realized that the Aerol did not t into the light science ction world I had constructed for the Xala, and

as complete and interesting as it is. I hope to be active in this community in the future as I create other languages further develop those I have already started, including Aeruyo.

Notes on Terminology and Glossing

I have adopted a number of terminology and glossing conventions in this grammar that readers should be made aware of. Aeruyo uses an unusual uid-S alignment system. Due to the particular uses of the various cases, I have elected to name the cases ergative, for the case normally associated with agents, and nominative, for the case normally associated with patients and experiencers. Though the second is also commonly called the absolutive, I decided that nominative ts best with certain secondary uses I have chosen for it, particularly as pronouns follow a simple nominative-accusative alignment. I have also opted to place the sentence above each gloss formatted normally for readability, and a owing translation below, although notably I have ommited the initial portion in the interlinears of translated texts, as I have already printed normally formatted portions of the entire text. I have opted only to mark negative polarity on verbs, even though they have distinct positive and negative forms. This keeps most glosses from getting unmanageably long. (1)

Ota grasara bohe fyusen. O-t-a fyu-s-en

being-ERG-AN;SG tool-INS-IN;SG "The man hit the animal with a tool."

grasa-r-a
animal-NOM-AN;SG

bo-he
hit-PAST;IND

Below is a list of abbreviations I use in glosses.

Abbreviations
1 2 ACC AN rst person second person accusative animate

be(locative) locative copula (as opposed to the stative copula, which is glossed as 'be') COL ERG collective ergative

FUT(PRE)

predictive future

FUT(VOL) volitional future GEN IN IND INS LOC NEC NEG NOM NPAS OBL OPT PN POT PRH PRM SBJV SG VOC genitive intransitive indicative instrumental locative necessitive negative nominative non-past tense oblique optative Proper Noun potential prohibitive permissive subjunctive singular vocative

Contents
1 Background Information
1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 The Name of the language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . History of the Aeruro Genetic Aliation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

6
6 6 6 7

Language Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2 Phonology
2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Phonotactics Stress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Allophony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Morpho-Phonological Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Variations Among Human Speakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

7
7 8 8 9 9

3 Major Word Classes

3.1 Nouns 3.1.1 3.1.2 3.1.3 3.1.4 3.2 3.2.1 3.2.2 3.3 3.4 Verbs 3.4.1 3.4.2 3.5 3.5.1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Animacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Personal Pronouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Indenite Pronouns

9
9 10 10 11 13 14 14 14 15 15 15 16 17 18

Pronouns

Adjectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mood Tense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Adverbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Adverbs of Time and Location

4 Minor Word Classes

4.1 4.2 Auxiliaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Determiners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.1 4.2.2 4.3 Demonstratives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Numerals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

19
19 21 21 21 23

Postpositions

5 Derivational Morphology
5.1 5.2 Compounding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Derivational Axes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

23
23 23

6 Morphosyntactic Alignment
6.1 6.2 Nouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Personal Pronouns

24
24 27

7 Syntax
7.1 7.2 Noncongurational Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Coordination 7.2.1 7.2.2 7.3 7.3.1 7.3.2 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 7.8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Constituent Coordination

27
28 29 29 29 29 29 30 30 31 31 31 33 33 33 34

Sentence Coordination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Duration and Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Temporal and Locative Clauses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Temporal and Locative Constructions

Relative Clauses

Conditionals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reason and Result Clauses 7.7.1 7.8.1 7.8.2 Complement Clauses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Other uses of the complementizer

tsi

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Questions

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Interrogative Word Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Polar Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

8 Discourse
8.1 8.2 Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Requests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

36
36 36

A Texts
A.1 A.2 Test Translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A.1.1 The North Wind and the Sun / Kreturan Wari tan Rithiri . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . In-World Texts

38
38 38 39

List of Tables
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Consonant Inventory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Vowel Inventory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nominal Case Markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Number Inections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Personal Pronouns Verb Suxes Postpositions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 8 11 13 14 15 23 24

Derivational Axes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Background Information
tsekrora aeruyo,
meaning lan-

1.1 The Name of the language

The term Aeruyo comes from the native term guage of the Aeruro. It is unknown whether the language had any other names in earlier history. Inscriptions found at Aeruro ruins do not mention the name of the language, and those spirits who taught their language directly gave it no other name. Among practitioners of the white magics of the Aeruro, it is often referred to as the language of the spirits or the white tongue. The origin of the demonym

Aeruro

itself is unclear.

While most scholars

agree that it is the term used by the Aeruro themselves, some older texts seem to indicate that it derived from an earlier term that referred to spirits that existed before the Aeruro, or even to the Creator himself. Some have posited that it originated as a compound of

aeran

high and

being, but others have argued that the root

*eron, which may refer to a spirit or god.

aero

oral

spirit, immortal

derives from an older word

1.2 History of the Aeruro

The Aeruro quit their bodies and merged with the breath of the earth long before men walked the earth. Little is known of their physical existence on earth, save sparse ruins scattered on the central continent, concentrated toward in the northern reaches of the Niveran Empire, which span several thousand years of history. Few written records remain, and when the Aeruro speak to us they are vague about their history. As for more recent history, legends state that some ten thousand years ago, when men appeared on the central continent, the Aeruro tried to help mankind achieve immortality as they had. However, one group of spirits felt threatened by the possibility of men taking their place in the air, and attempted to sabotage the eort by instead leading men ways to continue to live in their physical bodies, creating the rst undead. A war broke out between the two groups of spirits, who fought each other with wind and earth and the elements of the world, until nally the Creator forced a peace. Those beings who had created the undead were cursed so that they could only aect the world through the bodies of dead men, and became the Malviz. The others became the spirits of white magic, who were given power to act only through commands of men or through human vessels. (See this story in Aeruyo in Appendix A)

1.3 Genetic Aliation

Aeruyo as it exists today corresponds closely to the speech found in the youngest of the ruins found. Any information on earlier variants of the language is fragmentary as so many of the old texts wore away before men knew to look for them. As far as is known, there is only one other language that is related to it, which is the language of the Malviz, which has changed considerably in the

thousands of years since the Aeruro were split into light and dark, as its use among the dead twisted and mutated it.

1.4 Language Use

Though in the time when the Aeruyo were mortal it appears to have been the lingua franca of a rather large empire, its current use is limited to the liturgical and magical use of practitioners of white magic in the Niveran Empire and several surrounding lands. It is generally not used for everyday communication, even among high functioning practitioners, though some claim that the spirits speak back to them in the language, and a few prophets claim to have conversed uently with the spirits in the language.

Phonology

Introduction
Aeruyo has a relatively small phoneme inventory with seventeen consonants and ve vowels, as well as highly restrictive phonotactics. Plosives are distinguished with aspiration. The consonant inventory is shown in Table 1, with romanizations in parenteses. Bilabial Nasal Aspirated Plosive Unaspirated Plosive Fricative Aricate Tap Lateral Approximant w (w) m (m) p Alveolar Palatal Dental n (n) t s (s) ts (ts) t (d) Velar k Glottal

h (p)
(f )

h (t)
(th)

h (k)
h (h)

p (b)

k (g)

(r)

l (l) j (y)

(r)

Table 1: Consonant Inventory The vowel system for Aeruyo is a typical ve-vowel triangular system /i e a o u/, as shown in Table 2. There are no diphthongs, consecutive vowels are produced separately, with a small hiatus, though they are still counted as a single syllable.

2.1 Phonotactics
Aeruyo syllables follow the pattern is (C)(C)V(V)(C), the following restrictions:

Rounded vowels may not come in contact with other vowels. /i/ and /j/ may not come in contact with each other.

Front High Mid Low i e

Central

Back u o

Table 2: Vowel Inventory

Two consonant onsets are restricted to [plosive]+[approximant (non-lateral)] and [obstruent]+[r] Codas are extremely rare word-intertally, and are almost universally associated with loan words. Sequential vowels, while allowed, are somewhat infrequent.

2.2 Stress
In Aeruyo, stress is regularly placed on the penultimate syllable, except in the case of a few disyllabic inectional suxes, which push stress to the antepenultimate position as shown in (2). In addition, the past negative verb suxes will shift stress to the ultimate syllable. I have opted to use an accute accent to mark these irregular patterns. Where sequential vowels occur whithin a stressed syllable, the rst vowel is stressed. (2)

Aerori /ae.R.Ri/ katare /kh a.th .Re/ oral /.Ral/ > rome /.Rome/ kreyafe /kRe.j.Fe > kreyami /kRe.ja.mi/

2.3 Allophony
There are two important phonological processes that apply to Aeruyo consonants. The rst is devoicing of approximates word-initially. This applies only to /w/ and /j/. Among human speakers of the language, this along with the aspiration distinction is often described as giving the language a "breathy" or "airy" feel. (3)

wedafe /we"ta.Fe/ > [we"ta.Fe] yafe /"ja.fe/ > ["ja.fe]

L S tS]
when followed by the vowel /i/ or the

The second process occurring on consonants is palatalization. The consonants /n h l s ts/ palatalize to [ approximant /j/, and stops will often gain palatalization in the same environment. This process typically leads to disappearance of /j/ after palatalization is applied.

(4)

hyal /'hjal/ > [`al] nyan /'njan/ > [`an]

2.4 Morpho-Phonological Processes

There are several morpho-phonological processes present in Aeruyo. Some of these militate toward preserving restrictions outlined above in 2.1, while others seem to be related to an earlier ablaut system, or perhaps a vowel harmony system.

When morphological processes would bring a rounded vowel in contact with any other vowel, an empenthetic [w] is inserted, splitting the syllable into two.

When morphological processes would bring an /i/ in contact with /j/, the /i/ lowers to /e/. by such. It should be noted that this change occurs after the irregular changes seen in the genetive case (see 3.1.3), and thus is nullied

Suxes whose rst vowel is /o/ will cause nal /o/ in a stem to highten to [u] Suxes whose rst vowel is /a o/ and all past tense negative suxes will cause nal /a/ to highten to [e]. Verb stems ending in -eCa- will undergo metathesis to -aCe-, and for those with -aCa-, both /a/ will highten to [e].

2.5 Variations Among Human Speakers

Practitioners of the white magics often carry over their own phonetic idiosyncrasies, inuenced by their own native languages, particularly among the lower ranks who have not learned the language as well as their older and more practiced peers.

Major Word Classes

Nominal and adjec-

Aeruyo has ve major word classes, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs. Of these ve classes, only adverbs carry no inections. In fact, nouns, adjectives, and verbs have no uninected forms at all. paradigms. tivial paradigms are somewhat more agglutinative than verbal and pronominal

3.1 Nouns
Aeruyo nouns decline for case and number, and fall into three grammatical genders. Four sets of number inections are used depending on whether the noun is a proper or common noun and, if a common noun, what gender it is (with a few notable exceptions). Nouns have no bare forms, they must always

carry a case sux and a number sux. For purposes of this document, I will use the nominative singular as the citation form of the noun.

3.1.1 Gender
Aeruyo nouns fall into three grammatical genders, spirit, animate, and inanimate. These gender categories are marked in the choice of grammatical number suxes, as well as being marked for agreement on adjectives, with an extra set of suxes being reserved for proper nouns, which default to spirit gender. Nouns also decline for case. It has been suggested that the spirit gender originated as a gender assigned to nouns reerring to the Aeruro in whatever physical form they had before they became disembodied spirits, and carried over into their current form. Some evidence can be seen in the agentitive while the patientetive

-ko

sux (see Table

8) creating a spirit noun (rather than an animate noun as one might expect),

-we

creates an animate noun.

Gender is used in derivation in certain instances. For example, the root "being" can mean several things based upon it's gender, as shown below. (5)

o-

oral (spirit) "spirit, immortal being" ora (animate) "mortal being (human or animal)" oren (inanimate) "body, corpse"

Abstract concepts tend to be placed into either spirit or animate gender. Certain religious scholars have taken this for a philosophical distinction, presuming that concepts in spirit gender are "high concepts" held by the Aeruro themselves, while concepts in the animate gender are "low concepts" useful to mortals but unimportant to the Aeruro. However, this theory remains philosophical, as the spirits themselves don't seem to speak much of the distinction, nor has much evidence of this has been found in the ruins left from before their ascention. It seems that without direct inspiration we cannot know the truth about the distinction.

3.1.2 Animacy
The Aeruyo gender system roughly reects the animacy hierarchy. hierarchical structure is as follows: spirits > humans > undead > animals > moving uids and abstract concepts > static objects The position of undead in the chart is not xed. In some cases, lower undead can be considered on the same level with animals or owing water. Their position in the chart above reects their more common position, particularly where the general term The full

tswiwora

is used.

10

Nominative -r-

Ergative -t-

Dative -d-

Locative -k-

Instrumental -s-

Vocative -sy-

Genitive -(l)y-

Table 3: Nominal Case Markers

3.1.3 Case
Aeruyo has three core cases, nominative, ergative, and dative, and four other cases, locative, instrumental, vocative, and genitive. As noted above, Aeruyo nouns must always carry a case marker. The case sux is axed before the number sux. For more information on use of the core cases, see 6. Due to phonological rules, proper nouns have identical instrumental and vocative forms. The distinction is drawn on context, with a heavy bias toward parsing as a vocative. (6) Krita+s+i > Kritasi Krita+sy+i > Kritasi The genitive is highly irregular. If the stem ends in a vowel other than /i/, the base sux

-y-

is used. However, if the stem ends in /i/, and empenthetic /l/

is inserted, making the sux

-ly-.

This insertion occurs before palatalization

is applied. In addition, singular proper nouns take the irregular sux -i, and spirit singular nouns take the sux (i)l. (7)

Maleri > Malilyo Aerori > Aeroi Maleri > Male agyaral > agyail

The locative case is used to indicate locations (as in (8)) or destinations, either by itself or along with a postposition (see 7). In addition to these uses, the locative has a secondary use as a commitative case, as seen in (9). (8)

Ora ekataken kefe. O-r-a

being-NOM-AN;SG

ekata-k-en
building-LOC-IN;SG

ke-fe
be(loc)-NPAS;IND

"The man is in the building." (9)

Aeruro rekatath nefe.

11

The instrumental is used primarily to indicate the instrument role. It can also be used to indicate the use of a language, as seen in (11). Perhaps most interesting is its secondary role marking temporal expressions, which is detailed in 7.3. (10)

Ota grasara bohe fyusen. Aero-r-o

Aerori-NOM-PN;COL

reta-k-an grasa-r-a
all-LOC-AN

ne-fe
go-NPAS;IND

O-t-a

bo-he

being-ERG-AN;SG

fyu-s-en

animal-ERG-AN;SG

hit-PAST;IND

tool-INS-IN;SG "The man hit the animal with a tool." (11)

Tsecrosa Aeruyo tsafe. Tsecro-s-a

language-INS-AN;SG

Aero-y-o
Aerori-GEN-PN;COL

tsa-fe
speak-NPAS;IND

"He speaks the language of the Aeruyo." The vocative is used when addressing another being or group of beings. It is most commonly seen in current usage in prayers and spells. A vocative expression must be placed at the beginning of the sentence, and is usually assumed to be the subject of the sentence. Vocative nouns must be singular or collective number, and inanimate nouns may not take the vocative. (12)

Aerusyo nesye pen. Aero-sy-o

Aerori-VOC-PN;COL "Come, Aeruro."

ne-sye
go-NPAS;OPT

pen
here

The genitive is used to show a relationship of posession or group membership. A genitive preceding the noun usually indicates alienable posession or group membership, while a genitive following the noun usually shows inalienable possession. Inalienable possessions in Aeruyo include body parts, the soul, other inseperal parts of the possessor, and certain abstract qualities. Notably, a mask (

syemaren )

can be considered inalienable if it is used (often guratively) to

refer to the masks worn by the Aeruyo incarnates, as they are considered an inseperable representation of their nature. (13)

tsekrora Aeruyo tsekro-r-a

speech-ERG-AN;SG

Aero-y-o
Aerori-GEN-PN;COL

"the language of the Aeruyo"

12

Proper Noun Singular Plural Collective -i  -o

Spirit -al -ye -o

Animate -a -etha -ome

Inanimate -en -on -on

Table 4: Number Inections

(14)

syemaren Kritai sema-r-en

mask-ERG-AN;SG

Krita-i
Krita-GEN;PN;SG

"Kritari's mask" or "The mask of Kritari" (15)

Kritai kamoren Krita-i

Krita-GEN;PN;SG "Kritari's rock"

kamo-r-en
rock-ERG-IN;SG

3.1.4 Number
Aeruyo has three grammatical numbers: Singular, plural, and collective, which are inected along four dierent paradigms (one for proper nouns and one for each gender for common nouns), as seen in Table 4. The collective is used to indicate all of something taken as a whole, or a pragmatically distinct group of something taken as a single entity. Mass nouns are always inected in the collective. It should be noted that proper nouns have no plural form. As such, when multiple members of a proper noun group are mentioned in discourse, the name is inected in the collective and treated as a mass noun. must be used. (16) When a specic proportion of a mass noun or collective group are taken seperately from the group as a whole, a classifer noun

hopiral

(groups of spirit-gendered beings):

en hyopiral Aeruyo

"a faction

of the Aeruyo"

kataren (a part or piece of a solid, inanimate whole): en kataren kamuron "a piece of stone" kyafuren (a jug or other moderate-sized container for liquid): en kyafuren maren "a jug of water"

13

Singular First Person Second Person Third Person Animate Inanimate na ke re ta

Plural de ki wa he

Collective nu kro wo

Table 5: Personal Pronouns

3.2 Pronouns
Aeruyo has two classes of pronouns, personal pronouns and indenite pronouns. Personal pronouns distinguish person and number lexically and carry their own case markings. Indenite pronouns pattern like adjectives.

3.2.1 Personal Pronouns

The base personal pronoun forms can be seen on Table 5. Personal pronouns pattern along a nominative-accusative alignment, in contrast with the uid-S system used in nouns. The nominative is the bare stem. Both direct and indirect objects are marked with the dative marker are both marked with pronouns.

-th. The locative and instrumental -n, and the genitive with -l. There is no vocative case for

3.2.2 Indenite Pronouns

Indenite pronouns in Aeruyo align as nouns, using the same axes as adjectives (see 3.3). Gender agreement is with the class of the referrent, if that referrent is stated. If the referrent is unstated, the appropriate gender is assigned pragmatically, defaulting to animate gender when the gender of the referrent cannot be determined. It should be noted that while relative and interrogative pronouns are not always listed with indenites, I include they pattern like indenites. (17)

daran

and

hyaran

here because

daran <relative pronoun> hyaran <interrogative pronoun> nagaran "none, no one, nothing" retaran "everyone, everything, all" takaran "everyone, everything, all" sinaran "any, anyone, anything" kenaran "some, someone, something"

14

Positive Indicative Past Non-Past -he -fe Indicative Past Non-Past -ki -ki Potential -ro -re Potential -ri -ri Subjunctive -me -ye Negative Subjunctive -mi -i Optative -syi -si Necissative -kri -kri Optative -sye -sye Necissative -kro -kre

Table 6: Verb Suxes

3.3 Adjectives
Adjectives agree with the case and gender of the noun they modify. markings: Adjectives use the same case inections as nouns, combined with one of three gender

-an -ath

(spirit) (animate) (inanimate)

-emen
(18)

Aeruyo eneran "eternal Aeruyo" agyara byerath "eastern land" rome arath "other (mortal) beings" koren enremen "eternal body"

3.4 Verbs
Aeruyo verbs decline for tense and mood. They also have separate paradigms for positive and negative alignment. As with nouns and adjectives, verbs have no uninected forms. However, verb inections are somewhat more fusional than nominal and adjectivial inections, combining tense, mood, and polarity into a single sux, though some sound resemblances remain, possibly from an earlier agglutinative paradigm.

3.4.1 Mood
Aeruyo verbs are marked for ve moods: indicative, potential, subjunctive, optative, necissative. All of these moods may be used alone to indicate a basic modal meaning. Indicative is used to make a simple statment of fact, the potential to mark something is possible (20) or that someone is capable of an action (19), the subjunctive to indicate an event that may or may not occur or have

15

occured (21), the optative to indicate wishes or hopes (22) and the neccisative to indicate what should or must be (23). (19)

Aeruto keth nenare. Aeru-to

Aerori-ERG-PN;COL

ke-th
2.SG-ACC

nena-re
hear-NPAS;POT

"The spirits can hear you." (20)

Fera prohiri. Fe-r-a

faith-NOM-AN;SG

prohi-ri
teach-NPAS;POT;NEG

"Faith cannot be taught." (21)

Na keye. Na ke-ye
1 be(loc)-NPAS;SBJV "I might have been there."

(22)

Aeruro ken nesye. Aero-r-o

Aerori-NOM-PN;COL

ke-n
2.SG-OBL

ne-sye
go-NPAS;OPT

"May the spirits go with you." (23)

Aeruro ke nenadakre. Aero-r-o

Aerori-NOM-PN;SG

ke nenada-kre
2 listen-NPAS;NEC

"You must listen to the spirits." Aeruyo also has a dedicated imperative mood used for direct commands. An imperative usually gives a command a certain degree of urgency, and is common in spells with immediate eects. The positive form of the imperative is formed by addition of

-ya, while the negative is -ki.

(see 8.2)

3.4.2 Tense
Aeruyo verbs are marked for two tenses: past and non-past. In addition to being used for present and future events, the non-past must be used in stative expressions that are expected to persist eternally or denote an innate property. Mood and tense sometimes interact to form more complex meanings. For instance, the necessitive mood is declined in the non-past to indicate an event that must occur, but so far has not (or is presented as not yet having occurred in

16

a narrative), whereas in the past tense it indicates that not only was the action necessary (or, often, compelled) but it has already been carried out, as seen in (24). Also, a negative sentence using the past optative, as in (25), indicates that the event in fact did happen, but was not desired, while in the non-past, as seen in (26), in an otherwise past-tense narrative the event is dispreferred, but the question of whether it happened is left open. The subjunctive, when declined in the past tense, indicates that the occurrence of an event in the past is uncertain (27), whereas any prediction or supposition of as yet unrealized events takes a present tense subjunctive, whether it is a truly a prediction of the future or an event in a narrative that is being presented as being as yet unresolved. (24)

Ota buren sorikro. O-t-a

being-ERG-AN;SG

bu-r-en
clothes-NOM-IN;SG

sori-kro

"The man was forced to take o his clothes." (25)

Na hatafe komura nesyui pen. Na hata-he

1 hope-PAST;IND

komu-r-a
frog-NOM-AN;SG

ne-syui
go-NPAST;OPT;NEG

pen
here

"I had hoped the frog would not come (but he did)." (26)

Na hatafe komura nesi pen. Na hata-he

1 hope-PAST;IND

komu-r-a
frog-NOM-AN;SG

ne-si
go-NPAST;OPT;NEG

pen
here

"I was hoping that the frog wouldn't come." (27)

Re tukume gasara. Re gasa-r-a

3 animal-NOM-AN;SG

tuku-me
die-PAST;SBJV

"He could have killed the animal."

3.5 Adverbs
Adverbs modify verbs and adjectives directly. Unlike adjectives, they have no agreement paradigms. Adverbs typically precede the verb they modify (and precede any auxiliaries, see 4.1), however those that indicate a temporal or locative meaning must follow the verb.

17

3.5.1 Adverbs of Time and Location

Aeruyo has a number of adverbs that encode information about time, location, and direction of motion. adverbs. (28) As mentioned above, these adverbs must be placed Below is a list of common temporal and locative after the verb they modify.

pen "here, now" tan "there, then" gan "over there, a long time from now, a long time ago" foda "earlier, before" kama "later, after" osa "during, simultaneously, at the same time" fudu "forward" kami "backward" usu "laterally, sideways" tinu "opposite" tsa "up, above" go "down, below" wan "always" men "never" enen "forever, for eternity" pen, tan, and gan
are used for both locative and temporal

As evidenced above, the distinction between time and space is sometimes not evident. The adverbs meanings. This is usually dierentiated by context, either through previous

mentions of time and space, or pragmatically. For instance, the command

nedaye gan
and

ra

take him away is assumed to refer to space, as moving an object

through time is not possible. However, if confusion is possible, the terms (place, location) and

gan.

crera

(time) can be used with the determiners

apera pen, tan,

Aeruyo also uses some adverbs to indicate aspect to compensate for the lack of aspect marking on Aeruyo verbs. Several of these verbs have lost their earlier meanings. (29)

kan perfective (earlier meaning "already") dein terminative (earlier meaning "after") goman continuative (earlier meaning "during"  replaced by expansion of osa )

18

Minor Word Classes

Auxiliaries, determiners, and postpositions carry no inections and mostly serve as function words rather than carrying any content. Auxiliaries could be seen as similar to adverbs, but I have chosen to separate them because of their distinctive syntax and their interaction with verbal moods.

4.1 Auxiliaries
Auxiliaries are defective verbs that serve certain modal and other grammatical purposes. Unlike full verbs, auxiliaries do not inect for tense or mood. Certain syntactic constructions will combine modals with dierent senses of the verb, and many auxiliaries will prefer a certain mood or can change in meaning when paired with dierent moods. These auxiliaries precede the verb that they control.

Wa,

which can be translated as, only, just indicates that the controlled Other mood pairings can change the meaning

verb is the only action associated with the event. It is most commonly paired with the indicative as in (30). (31). Due to its meaning, it could be seen as simply an adverb rather than

an auxiliary, however it should be noted that

wa

does not co-occur with other

auxiliaries, and otherwise shows the same syntax as other auxiliaries. (30)

Ora fyuthaken wa erefe. O-r-a

being-NOM-AN;SG

fyutha-k-en
door-LOC-IN;SG

wa
only

ere-he
stand-PAST;IND

"The man just stood in the doorway." (31)

Ora fyuthaken wa erero. O-r-a

being-NOM-AN;SG

fyutha-k-en
door-LOC-IN;SG

wa
only

ere-r-o
stand-PAST;POT

"The man could only stand in the doorway." The modals

po

and

indicate permission to act.

is allowed to act, while

Po

indicates that someone

indicates that they are prohibited from doing so.

As examples (32) and (33) show, pairing these with the necessitive or potential moods is used when the permission or prohibition derives from an abstract moral or legal requirement, or when the person allowing or prohibiting the action is unnamed. If the person allowing the action is named as in (34), the optative may be used. In addition,

must be paired with a negative verb, a form of

negative concord. (32)

Ora po nere. O-r-a

being-NOM-AN;SG

po
PRM

ne-re
go-PAST;POT

"The man was allowed to leave."

19

(33)

Ora u neri. O-r-a

being-NOM-AN;SG

u
PRH

ne-ri
go-PAST;POT;NEG

"The man was not allowed to leave." (34)

Rathita thokihe ora u nesi gan. Kyath

because

rathi-t-a
king-ERG-AN;SG

thoki-he sya ne-si gan

so being-NOM-AN;SG

o-r-a
PRH

go-PAST;OPT;NEG "The king did not allow the man to leave." The modals

ta

and

fen

indicate future events.

Ta

indicates a prediction of a

future event. It may be paired with the potential (36) or indicative (35) moods, indicative indicating a nearer future, and potential a farther one.

Fen,

seen in

(38), generally indicates an individual's intention to act. It is most commonly paired with the optative, but it may be paired with the necessative to indicate that the action is inspired by a moral imperative. Either may be paired with the subjunctive mood, which indicates a certain degree of uncertainty that the event will occur or in the exact timing, as in (37), (or, in the case of the actor will be successful). (35)

fen,

that

Rithiri ta nefe go. Rithi-r-i

sun-NOM-PN;SG "The sun will set."

ta
FUT(PRE)

ne-fe
go-NPAS;IND

go
down

(36)

Pen tsyehoral ta tukure. Pen tsyeho-r-al

this emperor-NOM-SP;SG "This emperor will die."

ta
FUT(PRE)

tuku-re
die-NPAS;POT

(37)

Aeruto ta sekeye. Aero-t-o

Aerori-ERG-PN;COL

ta
FUT(PRE)

seki-ye
return-NPAS;SBJV

"The Aeruro may one day return to the world." (38)

Na fen tukusye syemara Mitsai. Na fen

1

tuku-sye
die-NPAS;OPT

syema-r-a
mask-NOM-AN;SG

Mitsa-i

FUT(VOL)

secret-GEN;PN;SG "I will slay the Deciever's mask-bearer."

20

4.2 Determiners
Determiners are a minor word class that can precede nouns to dene certain specic relationships or qualities. Aeruyo are the demonstratives. The most commonly used determiners in Determiners, unlike adjectives, do not carry

any form of agreement with nouns, nor can they be detatched from a noun phrase or moved to dierent positions within the phrase. Numerals in Aeruyo also act as determiners.

4.2.1 Demonstratives
As mentioned above, the most commonly used determiners in Aeruyo are demonstratives. Specically the demonstratives

pen, tan,

and

gan,

referring to prox-

imal, medial, and distal relationships, respectively. There is also can carry the meaning "which" as a question word.

hyan,

which

4.2.2 Numerals
Aeruyo uses a hybrid decimal/vegesimal numeral system. The rst twenty numberals are unanalyzable roots, while larger numbers are formed according to predictable rules. The basic terms are listed below: (39)

en "one" fu "two" so "three" isi "four" mi "ve" tso "six" di "seven" kasya "eight" re "nine" kyu "ten" ya "eleven" hi "twelve" ha "thirteen" dae "fourteen" kra "fteen" pan "sixteen" hyu "seventeen" dro "eighteen" fa "nineteen" pyath "twenty"
21

The patterns for forming larger numbers are as follows:

Numerals from 21-39 are fromed by suxing (non-zero) ones-place digit to

pyath.

Numerals 40-99 are formed according to the pattern the tens-place digit, and Y is the ones place digit.

X kyu Y, where X is tai

"hundred"

Numbers greater than one hundred are formed by prexing for one hundred, or hundred or more.

X tai,

where X is the hundreds-place digit, for two

Very large numerals are put into three digit groups,

tsun

byara

"thousand",

"million", etc

These rules can be seen at work in the following examples: (40)

pyath en 21 pyath mi 25 pyath kyu 30 pyath kra 35 isi kyu 40 isi kyu mi 45 mi kyu mi 55 di kyu mi 75 tai 100 tai mi 105 tai pyath mi 125 tai mi kyu mi 155 fu tai 200 fu tai mi kyu mi 255 mi tai mi kyu mi 555 re tai re kyu re 999 byara 1000 byara mi kyu mi 1055 byara tai 1100 byara so tai pyath mi 1325 fu byara 2,000 fu byara mi tai mi kyu mi 2,555 kyu byara 10,000 tai pyath mi byara tai pyath mi 125,125
22

Adposition

ben kan keth meth rath ten tha

Case locative dative/gentitive locative instrumental dative dative/instrumental locative/dative (+ (+ (+

Translation

dat) for, (+gen) from, of

away from, out of like, as for

in, on

dat) for, (+ins) by use of,

through

loc) to, toward (direction), (+dat) toward (feeling)

Table 7: Postpositions

4.3 Postpositions
Aeruyo has a small number of postpositions to serve certain grammatical functions. cases. Postpositions may take the locative, dative, instrumental, or genitive In some cases, the use of dierent cases can change the meaning of a

postposition, as can be seen in Table 7.

Derivational Morphology

Aeruyo uses a number of common derivational strategies in addition to gender shifting mentioned in 3.1.1.

5.1 Compounding
Aeruyo allows adjective-noun, verb-noun, noun-verb, and noun-noun compounding, though adjective-noun is the most common. In all cases, the rst element in a compound loses all morphology, while the second element determines the word-class of the compound (and the gender of nouns). (41) (42) (43)

tsyawora sirora sagoral

"undead" <

tsya- "false" + ora

"being (animate)"

"human" <

sir- "new" + ora

"being (animate)" "spirit"

"invocation" <

saga- "to call" + oral

5.2 Derivational Axes

Aeruyo primarily uses prexes for derivational purposes, though certain derivational suxes exist. Derivational suxes always precede any inectional sufxes. A list of common derivational axes can be seen in Table 8.

23

Ax

Type sux

Modies v

-da a -ne ko(w)anadomekitiharadantu(w)-we -ko -

a Certain

kafe "see" > kadafe "observe" intensive, cf. safe "crack, splinter" > sadafe "separate, disperse, diverge"
increased volition, cf. decreased volition negation negation augmentative diminutive opposite supposed, so-called of or relating to death or the dead patientitive, thing that is X'd agentitive, thing that X {converts a verb to an abstract noun}

Denition

sux prex prex prex prex prex prex prex sux sux sux

v n v n/adj n/adj n/v n n v > na v > ns v > ns

or

v > na

verbs containing -da appear to have undergone historical changes that obscure

its meaning. For instance, wedafe to interfere (< wefe to act) may have originally meant to act with strong intention".

Table 8: Derivational Axes

Morphosyntactic Alignment

Aeruyo has a highly unusual split alignment system which aligns nouns and indenite pronouns along a complex uid-S system, while personal pronouns are aligned according to a fairly typical nominative-accusative system.

6.1 Nouns
Aeruyo nouns use an atypical uid-S alignment. Arguments in intransitive and transitive sentences typically take one of two cases, which I have labeled ergative and nominative. The ergative case is used to mark the agent of a transitive sentence, while the nominative marks the patient. (44)

Ota gasara bohe. O-t-a

being-ERG-AN;SG

gasa-r-a
animal-NOM-AN;SG

bo-he
hit-PAST;IND

"The man hit the animal." Marking on intransitive verbs depends upon the nature of the verb. Active

verbs, which show a specic action taken by the experiencer, take the ergative

24

case. Stative verbs, which note the state or passive quality of the noun, take the nominative case. Copular verbs such as

sefe

are considered stative, and both

subject and predicate will be marked as nominative. (45)

Gasata trusahe. Gasa-t-a

animal-ERG-AN;SG "The animal ran."

trusa-he
move.fast-PAST;IND

(46)

Gasara tukuhe. Gasa-r-a

animal-NOM-AN;SG "The animal died."

tuku-he
die-PAST;IND

(47)

Sirora gasara sefe. Sir-o-r-a

new-being-NOM-AN;SG "Humans are animals."

gasa-r-a
animal-NOM-AN;SG

se-fe
be-NPAS;IND

In some cases, case marking can change the meaning of a verb. instance, the verb

tukufe.

Take, for

In (48) we can say that as an intransitive verb with a

nominative subject, it carries a base meaning of "to die". However, if we decline the subject in the ergative case, as in (49), we see that the verb takes on a more active meaning, in this case "to kill oneself, to commit suicide". An ergative subject plus a nominative object turns it into a transitive meaning, in this case "to kill", as seen in (50). It should be noted while a small number of verbs do behave this way, many more distinguish active and stative meanings lexically. (48)

Ora tukuhe. O-r-a

being-NOM-AN;SG "The man died."

tuku-he
die-PAST;IND

(49)

Ota tukuhe. O-t-a

being-ERG-AN;SG

tuku-he
die-PAST;IND

"The man killed himself." (50)

Ota tukuhe gasara.

25

O-t-a
being-ERG-AN;SG

tuku-he
die-PAST;IND

gasa-r-a
animal-NOM-AN;SG

"The man killed the animal." There are a few transitive verbs that take a dierent alignment from that seen above in (44). than an action. Verbs of perception take a nominative subject and a locative However, verbs indicating active searching or attempting to object, possibly indicating that perception is considered a passive event rather sense things are aligned like normal active verbs. (51)

Ora gasaka kahe. O-r-a

being-NOM-AN;SG

gasa-k-a
animal-LOC-AN;SG

ka-he
see-PAST;IND

"The man saw the animal." (52)

Ota gasara kadahe. O-t-a

being-ERG-AN;SG

gasa-r-a
animal-NOM-AN;SG

ka-da-he
see-VOL-PAST;IND

"The man watched the animal." Verbs of motion take a locative object, usually paired with a postposition. Verbs indicating action toward or for the benet of another take the dative, and also often take postpositional phrases. In both cases, the case of the agent is dependent on animacy. If the subject is of equal or greater animacy than the object, it will take the ergative case. However, a subject of lower animacy will take the nominative case. (53)

Gasara oka trusahe. Gasa-r-a

animal-NOM-AN;SG

o-k-a
being-LOC-AN;SG

trusa-he
move.fast-PAST;IND

"The animal ran to the man." (54)

Ota gasaka trusahe. O-t-a

being-ERG-AN;SG

gasa-k-a
animal-LOC-AN;SG

trusa-he
move.fast-PRES;IND

"The man ran to the animal." (55)

Ota gasada itahe. O-t-a

being-ERG-AN;SG

gasa-d-a
animal-DAT-AN;SG

ita-he
feed-PAST;IND

"The man fed the animal."

26

(56)

Tsyawora siroda sitafe. Tsya-o-r-a

false-being-NOM-AN;SG

sir-o-d-a
new-being-DAT-AN;SG

sita-fe
serve-NPAS;IND

"The undead serve human masters."

6.2 Personal Pronouns

As mentioned in 3.2.1, personal pronouns follow nominative-accusative alignment, a stark contrast to the atypical uid-S system used by nouns. Because the dative is used to mark both direct and indirect objects, occasionally the postposition ten paired with the dative is sometimes used to disambiguate direct and indirect objects, as seen in (60). (57)

Nu Aeruro sefe. Nu
1;COL

Aeru-r-o
Aerori-NOM-COL

se-fe
be-NPAS;IND

"We are the Aeruro." (58)

Kemuren re nath sanahe. Kemu-r-en re

rock 2;AN;SG

na-th
1;SG-DAT

sana-he
give-PAST;IND

"He gave the rock to me." (59)

Re tath nath sanahe. Re

3;AN;SG

ta-th
3;IN;SG-DAT

na-th
1;SG-DAT

sana-he
give-PAST;IND

"He gave it to me." (60)

Re nath ten reth ilyuhe. Re

3;AN;SG

na-th
1;SG-DAT

ten
POST

re-th
3;AN;SG-DAT

ilyu-he
show-PAST;IND

"He showed her to me." However, the above examples are marked, as pronouns are frequently dropped in the subject position, and occasionally in the direct object position as well, when context is sucient to get the meaning accross.

Syntax

Aeruyo word-order is by default largely head-nal and SOV, with a large tendency to construct comment-topic structures. However, it is also highly noncongurational, with word order indicating importance and foreground vs background information about as much is it indicates syntactic roles.

27

7.1 Noncongurational Structures

Extensive case marking allows a great deal of freedom of movement in a clause, including decoupling of adjectives from the noun phrase. Generally the focus is placed at the end of the sentence, after the verb and any temporal and locative expressions. Consider the following examples: (61) is the default word order. In (62) and (63) we can see noun phrases move. This could indicate the topic of the sentence, or it could indicate that the relevant head noun has not been previously mentioned in discourse, or is otherwise notable. Note that, while in (64) we see that it is possible to detach an adjective from its head noun and move it to the nal position, which will foreground the information expressed by that adjective, it is not possible to detach a noun from its attendant modiers and move it, as seen in (65). It should also be noted that determiners, genitives, and relative clauses cannot be moved. In rare cases where detaching an adjective would cause confusion (such as when two nouns are the same gender and share the same case marking). (61)

Gasata pohatath puburen dremen bohe. Gasa-t-a

Animal-ERG-AN;SG

poha-t-ath bo-he
blue-ERG-AN hit-PAST;IND

pubu-r-en
ball-NOM-IN;SG

da-r-emen

yellow-NOM-IN

"The blue animal hit the yellow ball" (62)

Puburen dremen bohe gasata pohatath.

blue-ERG-AN

Pubu-r-en
ball-NOM-IN;SG

da-r-emen
yellow-NOM-IN

bo-he
hit-PAST;IND

gasa-t-a

poha-t-ath

animal-ERG-AN;SG "It was a blue animal that hit the yellow ball." (63)

Gasata pohatath bohe puburen dremen. Gasa-t-a

Animal-ERG-AN;SG

poha-t-ath
blue-ERG-AN

bo-he
hit-PAST;IND

pubu-r-en
ball-NOM-IN;SG

da-r-emen

yellow-NOM-IN "It was a yellow ball that the blue animal hit." (64)

Gasata puburen dremen bohe pohatath. Gasa-t-a bo-he

Animal-ERG-AN;SG hit-PAST;IND

pubu-r-en poha-t-ath
ball-NOM-IN;SG blue-ERG-AN

da-r-emen
yellow-NOM-IN

"The animal, which was blue, hit the yellow ball."

28

(65)

*Gasata pohatath dremen bohe puburen. *Gasa-t-a pubu-r-en

 Animal-ERG-AN;SG ball-NOM-IN;SG

poha-t-ath
blue-ERG-AN

da-r-emen
yellow-NOM-IN

bo-he
hit-PAST;IND

Certain dependant structures will prevent focus relocation, such as temporal/locative clauses and relative clauses  which need to preserve word-order within the larger sentence.

7.2 Coordination
Coordination in Aeruyo follows a fairly straightforward pattern of A CONJ B. There are a few points in both constituent and sentence-level coordinated structures that may need to be addressed.

7.2.1 Constituent Coordination

As mentioned above, coordination follows a pattern of A CONJ B. For nonsentence constituentes, an alternate pattern of CONJ A CONJ B may be used where ambiguities occur, or for poetic purposes (preserving meter). There is some variation how coordination of noun phrases interacts with case. Some speakers require the case of both NPs to agree, while others allow dierent cases to be coordinated so long as the two NPs are serving the same role.

7.2.2 Sentence Coordination

Sentence coordination also follows an A CONJ B pattern. Syntactic pivots only occur on the subject position.

7.3 Temporal and Locative Constructions

As with temporal adverbs, certain phrases denoting time and space which modify the verb must be placed after it.

7.3.1 Duration and Location

Nominal arguments which indicate a duration or a place in time are typically declined in the instrumental case and placed after the verb. These arguments can be placed between the verb and any temporal adverbs. Locative arguments may behave similarly, but take the locative case rather than the instrumental (note, this does not apply to postpositional phrases with locative meaning, which have free placement within the clause).

29

7.3.2 Temporal and Locative Clauses

Temporal and Locative clauses typically occur at the beginning of a sentence. They can be marked with the temporal adverbs be combined with a durative construction. (66)

foda, kama, or osa, which may

Sirrome pen agyakal mehe domefonosa foda rome kehe pen arath. Sir-o-r-ome
new-being-NOM-AN;COL

pen agya-k-al foda

this

me-he
arrive-PAST;IND

dome-fono-s-a ke-he

o-r-ome

world-LOC-SP;SG

AUG-time-INS-AN;SG be(loc)-PAST;IND

pen

before

a-r-ath

being-ERG-AN;COL

here

other-NOM-AN

"Long before men came to this world, there were other beings."

7.4 Relative Clauses

Aeruyo uses two dierent relativization strategies. The rst is to ax

-da

the

verb stem as seen in (67), and the second is to use the relative pronoun daran, as seen in (68) and (69). Where daran is used, it must be declined according to its role in the relative clause, unless the modied noun is deleted in which case it is declined according to its role in the main clause. (67)

thetida rome theti-da

breath-REL

o-r-ome
being-NOM-AN;COL

"Beings that breathe." (68)

Gasara bohe datath ora nehe gan. Gasa-r-a o-r-a

animal-NOM-AN;SG being-NOM-AN;SG

bo-he ne-he
hit-PAST;IND move-PAST;IND

da-t-ath
REL-ERG-AN

gan

away

"The man who hit the animal went away." (69)

Ota bohe darath gasara kefe pen. O-t-a gasa-r-a

being-ERG-AN;SG

bo-he
hit-PAST;IND

da-r-ath
REL-NOM-AN

ke-fe

pen

animal-NOM-AN;SG

be(loc)-NPAS;IND

here

"The animal that the man hit is here."

30

7.5 Conditionals
The prostasis of a conditional statement is marked with the particle the result being marked by

sya, kyasya,

or

kyathda.

kyo,

with

Typically the prostasis

precedes the apostasis. The prostasis must take the subjunctive mood, showing an irrealis statement. The apostasis can take dierent moods depending on the attitude of the speaker. A result that is desirable to the speaker, the optative may be used, results that are highly likely may take the indicative, while results that are less likely, or are far in the future, take the subjunctive. As the usage of these moods overlaps somewhat (for example: a result that is desirable to the speaker may be likely or unlikely), any statement where two dierent moods could be used in the result is left to the speaker to decide what aspect of the result they wish to emphasize. (70)

Kyo ke hyakaye sya tukuye. Kyo ke hyaka-ye

if 2 fail-NPAST;SBJV "If you fail, you will die."

sya
then

tuku-ye
die;NPAST;IND

(71)

Kyo ke gehiye sya na keth byesye. Kyo ke gehi-ye

if 2 succeed-NPAST;SUBJ

sya
then

na ke-th
1 2-ACC

bye-sye
thank-OPT

"If you succeed, I will be grateful."

7.6 Reason and Result Clauses

Reason clauses are marked with the particle

kyath.

A reason clause may precede

kyathda,
(72)

or follow its result.

Resultative clauses are often marked by

sya, syada,

or

though when a construction of the style reason + resultative is used,

the result is obligatoraly marked with

sya.

Ota kritaki kyath sagakal eneil detaki. O-t-a

being-ERG-AN;SG

krita-ki
judge-NPAST;IND;NEG

kyath deta-ki
because have-NPAST;IND;NEG

saga-k-al

ene-il

wisdom-LOC-SP;SG

eternity-GEN;SP;SG

"Mortals cannot judge, because they have not the wisdom of eternity."

7.7 Complement Clauses

Complement clauses are marked with the complementizer subject of the complement clause).

tsi.

The complemen-

tizer may be omitted if there is an intervening noun or pronoun (typically the

31

(73)

Na hatafe tsi nesi pen komura. Na hata-fe komu-r-a

1 hope-NPAST;IND frog-NOM-AN;SG "I hope that the frog does not come."

tsi
CMP

ne-si
go-NPAST;OPT;NEG

pen
here

(74)

Na hatafe komura nesi pen. Na hata-fe

1

komu-r-a
frog-NOM-AN;SG

ne-si
go-NPAST;OPT;NEG

pen
here

hope-NPAST;IND

"I hope that the frog does not come." Note that in the above examples (73) and (74), the verb of the complement clause is in the optative. This is the case when the complement clause is the argument of a verb indicating hopes or wishes. When the complement clause is the argument of a verb indicating that someone or something compels another person or thing of equal or lower animacy to act a certain way, the necessitive is put on the verb of the complement clause as seen in (75) or (76), and the subjunctive must be used when a verb indicating supposition, deduction, or imagination is involved. All of these indicate a near future event or an event that continues onward. auxiliary When declined in the non-past, though adding the For

ta

can move it farther into the future, as can be seen in (77).

more information, refer to 3.4.2. (75)

Na thokihe komura dyakro. Na

1SG

thoki-he
compel-PAST;IND

komu-r-a
frog-NOM-AN;SG

dya-kro
leave-PAST;NEC

"I forced the frog to leave." (76)

Krefati Agyail thorofe tsi sitakre Aeruro. Krefa-t-i

creator-ERG-PN;SG

Agya-il
world-GEN;SP;SG

thoro-fe
compel-NPAS;IND

tsi
CMP

sita-kre

Aero-r-o

Aerori-NOM-PN;COL "The Creator of the World requires the Aeruro to serve." (77)

Na fefe tsi re ta sekiye. Na

1SG

fe-fe
believe-NPAS;IND

tsi
CMP

re
3SG

ta
FUT(PRE)

seki-ye
return-NPAS;SBJV

"I believe he will come back."

32

7.7.1 Other uses of the complementizer tsi

Tsi
has a number of secondary uses that are partly related to complement clauses. One of the more common of those is in the structure V examples below. (78)

tsi

V, which

indicates a number of things depending upon the mood used, as seen in the

trusahe tsi trusaro "he ran as hard as he could" (optative)ganakafe tsi ganakasye "he eats as much as he wants" (tseth + optative)ganakahe tsi tseth ganakasye "he ate far too much (but
(potential) wanted too)" (necessitive)

dakufe tsi dakukre

"he ghts as much as necessary"

The other important secondary use of (79)

tsi

is to introduce appositives.

Aeruro tsi oral waka

"The Aeruro, the spirits in the wind"

7.8 Questions
Interrogative word and polar questions are constructed dierently in Aeruyo. Typically, questions will take the subjunctive mood of the verb, with one exception notable in polar questions (see below). It should be noted that this mood change and will supercede other modal preferences based on semantics.

7.8.1 Interrogative Word Questions

In an interrogative word question, the questioned element is typically brought to the end of the sentence, after the verb. (80)

Ke neye hyan? 1 Ke ne-ye

2 go-NPAST;SBJV

hyan
where/when

"Where did you go?" or "When did you go?" (81)

Syokara nidaye hyarath? Syoka-r-a

knowledge-NOM-AN;SG

nida-ye
seek-NPAST;IND

hya-r-ath
what-NOM-AN

"What knowledge do you seek?" (82)

Gasara bohe datath ora seye hyarath?

adverbial question-word hyan, like many temporal and locative adverbs, does not

1 The

distinguish temporal and spatial meanings, which must be disambiguated by context.

33

Gasa-r-a o-r-a
animal-NOM-AN;SG being-NOM-AN;SG

bo-he se-ye
hit-PAST;IND be-NPAST;SBJV

da-t-ath
REL-ERG-AN

hya-r-ath

what-NOM-AN

"Who is the man who hit the animal?" (83)

Ke tsekrosa tsaye hyasath? Ke tsekro-s-a

2 language-INS-AN;SG

tsa-ye
speak-NPAST;SBJV

hya-s-ath
what-INS-AN

"What language do you speak?"

7.8.2 Polar Questions

There are two ways of forming polar questions in Aeruyo. The rst is to repeat the verb in a negative form, indicating a neutral perspective on the part of the speaker. (84)

Ke tsekrosa Aeruyo tsaye tsai? Ke tsekro-s-a tsa-i

2 language-INS-AN;SG speak-NPAST;SBJV;NEG "Do you speak the language of the spirits?"

Aero-y-o
Aerori-GEN-PN;COL

tsa-ye
speak-NPAST;SBJV

The second is to use the particle this dierence.

ha.

The meaning of a

ha -question

depends

upon both the polarity and mood of the verb. We can rework (84) to examine Below, (85) and (86) are both declined into the subjunctive. These are leading questions, with the polarity of the verb corresponding to the speaker's assumption of the answer. Use of a positive verb, as in (85) indicates that the speaker believes the answer is negative, while use of a negative verb, as in (86) indicates that the speaker believes the answer is armative. That is to say, the suggested answer to these questions is opposite to the verb polarity suggested. (85)

Ka tsekrosa Aeruyo tsaye ha? Ke tsekro-s-a ha

Q "Do you speak the language of the spirits?" 2 language-INS-AN;SG

Aero-y-o
Aerori-GEN-PN;COL

tsa-ye
speak-NPAST;SBJV

(86)

Ke tsekrosa Aeruyo tsai ha?

34

Ke tsekro-s-a tsa-i
2 language-INS-AN;SG speak-NPAST;SBJV;NEG

Aero-y-o
Aerori-GEN-PN;COL

ha
Q

"Do you not speak the language of the spirits?" Use of the optative in a

ha -question

is used to show the hopes or wishes of

the speaker, rather than their assumptions about the answer to the question. Examples (87) and (88) illustrate this structure. In (87) the speaker uses the positive optative form of the verb, indicating that they are hoping that the answer is armative (that is, that the interlocutor speaks Aeruyo), which I have represented in my translation with the construction "Please tell me ...". In (88), however, the negative is used, indicating that the speaker is hoping for a negative answer (that the third party mentioned does not speak Aeruyo). (87)

Ka tsekrosa Aeruyo tsasye ha? Ke tsekro-s-a ha

Q "Please tell me you speak the language of the spirits." 2 language-INS-AN;SG

Aero-y-o
Aerori-GEN-PN;COL

tsa-sye
speak-NPAST;OPT

(88)

Re tsekrosa Aeruyo tsasi ha? Re tsekro-s-a

2

Aero-y-o ha
Q Aerori-GEN-PN;COL

tsa-si

language-INS-AN;SG

speak-NPAST;OPT;NEG

"Please tell me he doesn't speak the language of the spirits." All polar questions are answered by echoing the verb in the positive or negative form. If Aeruyo ever had dedicated terms for "yes" and "no", they have been lost due to their lack of use in formal discourse. One unusual use of the

ha -question

structure is with the auxiliary

po

plus

the optative mood, which indicates a very polite request as seen in (89). This is occasionally used in more complex and formal prayers, and some instances occur in dialogue in a few Aeruyo texts. (89)

Ke tsekrosa Aeruyo po tsasye ha? Ke tsekro-s-a tsa-sye

2 language-INS-AN;SG

Aero-y-o ha
Q Aerori-GEN-PN;COL

po
PRM

speak-NPAST;OPT

"Could you be allowed to speak in the language of the spirits?"

35

Discourse

Little is known about conversational discourse in Aeruyo. Humans who learn the language typically do not use it for oral communication, using only formulaic spells and prayers and reading Aeruyo texts. The Aeruro themselves appear not to speak at all amongst themselves, and though prophets have claimed to hold conversations with the spirits in their own tongue, they rarely try to repeat more than a short quote verbatim.

8.1 Transitions
Aeruyo written and formal discourse uses a number of transitional phrases to guide readers or listeners through a text. A few examples are listed below.

Gentasa ben, fun,

and

syasa ben

are used where a list of three supporting

statements or paragraphs appear in succession, corresponding roughly to "rst", "next", and "nally", respectively. In some cases, points may be numbered

en kataren (sefe), fu kataren, so kataren, etc., but that is less common than use of gentasa ben, fun, and syasa ben. Gentasa ben and syasa ben can also be used
individually apart from the three statement structure

Tan tutife

(lit.

and continue) signals a shift to a dierent, but related,

topic of discourse. Common translations would include: In addition . . . , Also . . . , and By the way . . . 

Fonora nefe kami

(lit.

time moves backward) signals a shift forward in

time. If nefe is in the present or past tense, it signals a time skip within the current narrative. However, if

ta

is used, it signals a prediction of the future Common translations would include:

based on or relating to the narrative.

Eventually . . . , Over time . . . , and One day . . . 

Sya

is commonly used as a transitional device in narratives to move from

one event to another quickly, rather like "then" or "next". It can also be used to mark a concluding remark in a short passage or speech.

8.2 Requests
Being used largely for prayers and spells addressed to the Aeruro, knowledge of how to form a proper request is very important in Aeruyo. There are several levels of request which vary in terms of urgency, politeness, and formality, and their appropriateness to dierent types of requests. forming a request is to use a simple imperative. The simplest method of Negative Imperatives are often seen

in spells, and carry a certain amount of urgency in the command. than positive imperatives, thus an alternate structure using (90)

imperatives are possible, but are often considered more presumptuous or rude

+ optative.

Nedaya gan! Ne-da-ya

move-VOL-IMP

gan
over.there

"Take him away!"

36

(91)

Neki gan! Ne-ki

move-IMP;NEG "Don't leave!"

gan!
over.there

(92)

U nesi gan! U
PRH

ne-si
move-NPAS;OPT;NEG

gan
over.there

"Please don't leave!" (lit. "Do not be allowed to leave!") A somewhat softer request can be made by making a simple statement with the verb in the optative mood, though polite requests will still require (93)

u.

Neka tsasye. Ne-ka

1.SG-LOC

tsa-sye
tsa-NPAS;OPT

"Please speak to me." As noted in 7.8.2, the most polite and deferent way to form a request is to formulate it as a parallel negative form using

ha -question u

using

po

+ plus the optative.

+ optative in a

ha -question,

There is also a

but as with simple

imperatives, it is considered somewhat more presumptuous and less polite to make a negative request than to make a positive one, even in this extremely formal form. In the most humble of prayers, negative requests will be reframed in positive forms by using verbs like (94)

denidafe

"refrain from".

Nath yogara po sanasye ha? Na-th

1.SG-ACC

yoga-r-a
power-NOM-AN;SG

po
PRM

sana-sye
give-NPAS;OPT

ha
Q

"Please give me your strength" (lit. "Would you be allowed to give me your strength?") (95)

Nuth u hyasi ha? Nu-th

1.COL-ACC

u
PRH

hya-si
forsake-NPAS;OPT;NEG

ha
Q

"Please do not forsake us." (lit. "Would you be not allowed to forsake us?") (96)

Ke po denidasye tsi nuth hyaye ha?

37

Ke hya-ye
2.SG

po
PRM

denida-sye
refrain-NPAS;OPT

tsi
CMP

nu-th
1.COL-ACC

ha
Q

forsake-NPAS;SBJV

"Please do not forsake us." (lit. "Would you be allowed to refrain from forsaking us?")

Texts

A.1 Test Translations

A.1.1 The North Wind and the Sun / Kreturan Wari tan Rithiri English The North Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger,
when a traveler came along wrapped in a warm cloak. They agreed that the one who rst succeeded in making the traveler take his cloak o should be considered stronger than the other. Then the North Wind blew as hard as he could, but the more he blew the more closely did the traveler fold his cloak around him; and at last the North Wind gave up the attempt. Then the Sun shined out warmly, and immediately the traveler took o his cloak. And so the North Wind was obliged to confess that the Sun was the stronger of the two.

Aeruyo

Kretutan Wati tan Rithiti thorohe tsi tseth yogaran hyaral sefe osa,

midremen dineren tuda kirakoral nehe kan inu. Wa gayohe kan onyaye kirakoral sorikre dineren datan tseth yogaran sefe. Sya wenahe tsi wenaro Kretutan Wati, keth son wenahe re sya kirakotal trudahe dineren. Syasa ben denihe tsi wenahe. Sya Rithiri huden ratahe, syada kirakoral sorikro kan dineren. Kyasya Kreturan Wari dyesakro tsi tseth yogaran sefe Rithiri.

Interlinear Gloss
Kretu-t-an
north-ERG-SP

Wa-t-i
wind-ERG-PN;SG

tan tseth yoga-r-an

more AND

Rithi-t-i
sun-ERG-PN;SG

thoro-he se-fe

tsi

hya-r-an

argue-PAST;IND be-NPAS;IND

osa

CMP

mida-r-emen ne-he

strong-NOM-SP

dine-r-en

who-NOM-SP

tu-da

kira-ko-r-al

simultaneously

thick-NOM-IN

cloak-NOM-IN;SG

kan

inu

wear-REL

travel-AGT-NOM-SP;SG

go-PAST;IND

PRF

near

"The North Wind and the Sun were arguing over who was stronger, when a traveler who wore a thick cloak came near."

Wa
1.COL

gayo-he
agree-PAST;IND

kan
PRF

onya-ye
cause-NPAS;SBJV

kira-ko-r-al

sori-kre

dine-r-en
cloak-NOM-IN;SG

travel-AGT-NOM-SP;SG

remove-NPAS;NEC

38

da-t-an
REL-ERG-SP;SG

tseth yoga-r-an
more strong-NOM-SP

se-fe
be-NPAS;IND

"They agreed that the one who could make the traveler take his cloak o would be stronger."

Sya wena-he
so

tsi keth son

but CMP

wena-ro
blow-PAST;POT

Kretu-t-an
north-ERG-SP

Wa-t-i

blow-PAST;IND

wena-he

re

sya
so

wind-ERG-PN;SG

kira-ko-t-al

more

tru-da-he

blow-PAST;IND

dine-r-en

3SG

travel-AGT-ERG-SP;SG

hold-VOL-PAST;IND

cloak-NOM-IN;SG

"Then the North Wind blew as hard as he could, but the more he blew the more the traveler held on to his cloak."

Sya-s-a
end-INS-AN;SG

ben deni-he
in stop-PAST;IND

tsi
CMP

wena-he
blow-PAST;IND

"In the end the North Wind gave up."

Sya Rithi-r-i
so

huden rata-he
hot

syada kan
thus

kira-ko-t-al

sun-NOM-AN;SG

sori-kro

shine-PAST;IND

dine-r-en
cloak-NOM-IN;SG

travel-AGT-ERG-SP;SG

remove-PAST;NEC

PRF

"Then the Sun shone warmly, so that the traveler was forced to take o his cloak."

Kyasya Kretu-r-an
thus

Wa-r-i se-fe
wind-NOM-PN;SG be-NPAS;IND

dyesa-kro Rithi-r-i
concede-PAST;NEC sun-NOM-PN;SG

tsi
PRF

tseth yoga-r-an
more

north-NOM-SP

strong-NOM-SP

"Thus the North Wind was forced to concede that the Sun was stronger."

A.2 In-World Texts

The Malviz / Malero Aeruyo Text Sirrome pen agyakal mehe domefonosa foda, rome kehe pen
arath. Fonora nehe kami tan tsokalasa tan syocasa ten dyahe koren tan thetika agyail drubehe thetira woi, sya Aeruro sefe. Sirrome mehe dan, huran Aeruro hatahe woth prohisye syocalara tan sanasye anera enerath. Kun prohiweda kinakui sirrome. Wo wasye kuron enremen. Sirdome tha tsipafe Aeruyo kan en hyopiral, syada kuron enremen gayohe rathdetha siryome. Kun anera enerath darui koren enremen. Thetita henehe dremen koken ben wagari tsadare. Sya kreyahe tsyawrome. Bidahe dometswifura. Agyaral thetsehe tan tsanihe Aeruto, sya wedahe Krefari Agyail. Krefati thotsuhe tsi fu hyopiro gayukro hiworal. Tsyawrome

39

kreyahe datan hyopiral agyakal ben wa wedare kreyawsome ten. Wo sefe Malero. Maledo pu dakuhe datan hyopital agyaral bemiki kyo woth thozui thetida ota. Tan tutife, Aeruro tan Malero dakahe tyahora. syemaron. Hyopidal rea sanahe mi Syematon Aeruyo prugafe pyaro kreyaran tan kayeran: thestaral,

kritaral, uparal, neyaral, gilaral. Syematon Malelyo prugafe pyaro zaniran tan zaheran: mizrome, kara, bimural, tsukora, dekera. Syemaren rea kefe agyakal ben, sya nina hunife tsi sikre datath. Syemaren Aeruyo sikre thetida ora, tan syemaren Malelyo sikre tsyawora. Fonora nefe kami tan syemaron syife datath uto ta dakure dometswifura. Tswifura syaye kama, Aeruto tan Maleto ta heneye enen agyaral.

English Translation
beings. becoming the Aeruro.

Long before man came to this world, there were other

Eventually, through civilization and learning they escaped their bod-

ies, infusing their own mortal breath into the immortal breath of the world, When humanity came, some of these spirits wished to impart their knowledge to them, and give men the gift of immortality. But men did not understand their teachings, and wished to make their bodies immortal. One faction of spirits fell disillusioned with mankind, and gave the kings of men everlasting bodies. But an immortal body is not the same as immortality, for the mind decays in a body whose breath has left it. Thus, the rst undead were created. There was a great war between the spirits that ravaged the land until the Maker of the World himself intervened. The Maker of the World forced the two factions to make a truce. That faction who had created the undead could now only aect the world through their new creations. They became the Malviz. Those who had fought against the dark spirits were denied the ability to aect the world unless commanded to do so by breathing creatures. In addition to this, the spirits lost their individuality. Each side was given ve masks. The Aeruro's masks represented ve creative and protective forces: Truth, Justice, Order, Love and Life. The Malviz' masks represented ve destructive and dangerous forces: Secrets, Vengeance, Chaos, Fear, and Death. One of each mask remains in the physical world, to be found by one who is destined to wear it. The Aeruyo masks must be worn avatars who breathe, and the Malviz masks must be worn by the undead. One day all the bearers of these masks will ght a great war. And when the war is done, the Aeuryo and Malero will leave the world forever.

Interlinear Gloss
Sir-o-r-ome dome-fono-s-a pen a-r-ath
here new-being-NOM-AN;COL AUG-time-INS-AN;SG other-NOM-AN

pen agya-k-al foda

this

me-he
arrive-PAST;IND

o-r-ome

land-LOC-SP;SG

ke-he

before

being-NOM-AN;COL

be(LOC)-PAST;IND

40

"Long before man came to this world, there were other beings."

Fono-r-a
time-NOM-AN;SG

ne-he
go-PAST;IND

kami ten dya-he

backward through

tan
AND

tsokala-s-a ko-r-en
civilization-INS-AN;SG body-NOM-IN;SG

tan

syoca-s-a theti-k-a

AND

tan

learn-INS-AN;SG

agya-il

leave-PAST:IND

drube-he

AND

theti-r-a se-fe

breath-LOC-AN;SG

wo-i

world-GEN;SP;SG so

sya Aeru-r-o

merge-PAST;IND

breath-NOM-AN;SG be-NPAS;IND

3.COL-GEN

Aerori-NOM-SP;COL

"Eventually, through civilization and learning they escaped their bodies, infusing their own mortal breath into the immortal breath of the world, becoming the Aeruro."

Sir-o-r-ome Aero-r-o
new-being-NOM-AN;COL Aerori-NOM-SP;COL

me-he hata-he tan

arrive-PAST;IND

dan wo-th
when 3.COL-DAT

hu-r-an
some-NOM-SP

prohi-sye

syocala-r-a ene-r-ath

wish-PAST;IND AND

sana-sye

ane-r-a

teach-NPAS;OPT

knowledge-NOM-AN;SG eternal-NOM-AN

give-NPAS;OPT

life-NOM-AN;SG

"When humanity came, some of these spirits wished to impart their knowledge to them, and give men the gift of immortality."

Kun
BUT

prohi-we-d-a
learn-PAT-DAT-AN;SG

kina-kui
understand-PAST;IND;NEG

sir-o-r-ome

new-being-NOM-AN;COL "But men did not understand their teachings."

Wo
3.COL

wa-sye
make-NPAS;OPT

ko-r-on
body-NOM-IN;PL

ene-r-emen
eternal-NOM-IN

"They wished to make their bodies immortal."

Sir-o-d-ome
new-being-DAT-AN;COL

tha
toward so

tsipa-fe
dissapoint

Aero-y-o
Aerori-GEN-AN;COL

kan
of

en

hyopi-r-al

syada ko-r-on

ene-r-emen

one

gayo-he

faction-NOM-SP;SG

rathi-d-etha

body-NOM-IN;PL

sir-o-y-ome

eternal-NOM-IN

promise-PAST;IND

king-DAT-AN;PL

new-being-GEN-AN;COL

"One faction of spirits fell disillusioned with mankind, and promised the kings of men everlasting bodies."

41

Kun
BUT

ane-r-a
life-NOM-AN;SG

ene-r-ath ene-r-emen
eternal-NOM-AN eternal-NOM-IN

da-rui
be.PAST-PAST;POT

ko-r-en

body-NOM-IN;SG

"But an immortal body is not the same as immortality."

Theti-t-a
breath-ERG-AN;SG

hene-he
escape-PAST;IND

da-r-emen
REL-NOM-IN

ko-k-en
body-LOC-IN;SG

ben waga-r-i
in

tsada-re

mind-NOM-PN;SG

decay-NPAS;POT

"The mind decays in a body whose breath has left it."

Sya kreya-he
so create-PAST;IND

tsya-o-r-ome
false-being-AN;COL

"So they created the undead."

Bida-he
happen-PAST;IND

dome-tswifu-r-a
AUG-war-NOM-AN;SG

"There was a great war."

Agya-r-al
world-NOM-SP;SG

thetse-he
bend-PAST;IND

tan
AND

tsani-he
destroy-PAST;IND

Aero-t-o Agya-il

sya weda-he
so

Krefa-r-i

Aerori-ERG-SP;COL

interfere-PAST;IND

creator-NOM-PN;SG

world-GEN;SP;SG "The Aeruyo bent and ravaged the world until the Creator of the World intervened"

Krefa-t-i
creator-ERG-AN;SG

thotsu-he gayu-kro
command-PAST;IND promise-PAST;NEC

tsi
CMP

fu
two

hyopi-r-o

hiwo-r-al

faction-NOM-SP;PL

peace-NOM-SP;SG

"The Creator commanded the two factions to make peace."

Tsya-o-r-ome
false-being-NOM-AN;SG

kreya-he agya-k-al
create-PAST;IND

da-t-an ben
REL-ERG-SP

hyopi-r-al weda-re

wa

faction-NOM-SP;SG

world-LOC-SP;SG through

kreya-we-s-ome ten

only

aect-NPAS;POT

create-PAT-INS-AN;SG

"That faction who had created the undead could now only aect the world through their new creations."

Wo
3.COL

se-fe
be-NPAS;IND

Male-r-o
Malviz-NOM-PN;COL

"They became the Malviz."

42

Male-d-o hyopi-t-al kyo

Malviz-DAT-PN;COL faction-ERG-SP;SG

pu agya-r-al
against

daku-he
ght-PAST;IND

da-t-an bemi-ki
REL-ERG-SP aect-NPAS;IND;NEG

wo-th

world-NOM-SP;SG

thotsu-i

3.COL-ACC

theti-da

command-NPAS;SBJV;NEG

o-t-a

breathe-REL

being-ERG-AN;SG "Those who had fought against the dark spirits were denied the ability to aect the world unless commanded to do so by breathing creatures."

Tan
AND

tuti-fe
add-NPAS;IND

Aero-r-o tyaho-r-a
Aerori-NOM-PN;COL individuality-NOM-AN;SG

tan
AND

Male-r-o
Malviz-NOM-PN;COL

daka-he

lose-PAST;IND

"In addition to this, the spirits lost their individuality."

Hyopi-d-al
faction-DAT-SP;SG

rea
each

sana-he
give-PAST;IND

mi
ve

syema-r-on
mask-NOM-IN;PL

"Each side was given ve masks."

Syema-t-on
mask-NOM-IN;PL

Aero-y-o kreya-r-an krita-r-al

Aerori-GEN-PN;COL

pruga-fe tan
represent-NPAS;IND

pya-r-o

kaye-r-an

thesta-r-al neya-r-al

force-NOM-SP;SG

creative-NOM-SP

AND

upa-r-al

protective-NOM-SP

truth-NOM-SP;SG

justice-NOM-SP;SG

gila-r-al

loyalty-NOM-SP;SG

unconditional.love-NOM-SP;SG

life-NOM-SP;SG

"The Aeruro's masks represented ve creative and protective forces: Truth, Justice, Loyalty, Love and Life."

Syema-t-on
mask-NOM-IN;PL

Male-ly-o zani-r-an
Malviz-GEN-PN;COL destructive-NOM-SP

pruga-fe tan
represent-NPAS;IND

pya-r-o

zahe-r-an

force-NOM-SP;SG

miza-r-ome tsuko-r-a ke-fe

ka-r-a

AND

bimu-r-al

dangerous-NOM-SP

secret-NOM-AN;COL fear-NOM-AN;SG

deke-r-a

vengence-NOM-AN;SG

Syema-r-en
in so

chaos-NOM-SP;SG

rea

death-NOM-AN;SG

agya-k-al tsi
CMP

mask-NOM-IN;SG

ben sya ni-ye

each

huni-fe

be(LOC)-NPAS;IND

world-LOC-SP;SG

si-kre

da-t-ath

nd-NPAS;SBJV

be.destined-NPAS;IND

wear-NPAS;NEC

REL-ERG-AN

43

"One of each mask remains in the physical world, to be found by one who is destined to wear it."

Syema-r-en
mask-NOM-IN;SG

Aeru-y-o
Aerori-GEN-PN;COL

si-kre
wear-NPAS;NEC

theti-da
breate-REL

o-r-a

tan

syema-r-en

Male-ly-o

being-NOM-AN;SG

si-kre

tsya-o-r-a

AND

mask-NOM-IN;SG

Malviz-GEN-PN;COL

wear-NPAS;NEC

false-being-NOM-AN;SG

"The Aeruyo masks must be worn avatars who breathe, and the Malviz masks must be worn by the undead."

Fono-r-a
time-NOM-AN;SG

ne-fe da-t-ath
go-NPAS;IND REL-ERG-AN

kami o-t-o
backward

tan
AND

syema-r-on ta
mask-NOM-IN;PL FUT(PRE)

si-fe

wear-NPAS;IND

daku-re

dome-tswifu-r-a

being-ERG-COL

ght-NPAS;POT

AUG-war-NOM-AN;SG

"One day all the bearers of these masks will ght a great war."

Tswifu-r-a
war-NOM-AN;SG

sya-ye
end-NPAS;SBJV

kama Aeru-t-o hene-ye

after Aerori-ERG-PN;COL

tan enen
AND forever

Male-t-o agya-r-al

ta

Malviz-ERG-PN;COL world-NOM-SP;SG

FUT(PRE)

leave-NPAS;SBJV

"And when the war is done, the Aeuryo and Malero will leave the world forever."

44