Wikilret Morphology

Nouns

Gender

Gender is divided into loquent vs. non-loquent (ie. Is it capable of language or not?). Loquent is further divided into formal vs. informal. Gender is indicated by an article placed before the noun. All nouns have articles, except proper nouns and pronouns.
For a complete explanation of articles see the commentary on determiners.

Add the suffix -a to the article to indicate an indefinite article.

Formal:

Used when talking to someone of a higher station or as a form of respect. It is also used for dreams and religious or arcane concepts. Use the article asem before the noun.

Informal:

Used when talking to someone of the same or a lower station. It is also used for abstract concepts. Use the article ipen before the noun.

Non-loquent:

Used for non-intelligent creatures and inanimate objects. Use the article ümen before the noun.

Number

Nouns are generally considered singular. To indicate more than one (plural) add the suffix -da; -eda (before a final stop). The suffix is not obligatory. It is generally ommitted when a number or a partitive suffix is present on the determiner.

Possessive

Possessives are divided into three classes: relationships, alienable, and inalienable. Marking the possessive eliminates the requirement for a determiner on the possessed object -- although one can be included.

Relationships

Indicating relationships between people; add the prefix si- to the possessed object, which comes after the possessor

Alienable

Things that are in your possession, but can be given or taken away; add the prefix sa- to the possessed object, which comes after the possessor

Inalienable

Things that cannot be given or taken away--they will always belong to, or be a part of, the possessor; add the prefix se- to the possessed object, which comes after the possessor

Sex

To indicate whether a noun is male or female (this is generally used only for specificity; for example: titles, animals)
male: add the suffix -eh
female: add the suffix -es
the last syllable of the base word is often left off

Morphology

To indicate a person that "uses" the thing, add the suffix -ë, - before a vowel

To indicate a person that makes the thing, add the suffix -an, -nan before a vowel

Pronouns

No distinction is made between nominative (I, he, they), genitive (my, his, their), and accusative (me, his, them) forms.

* if there are individuals together that you would refer to individually using different levels of formality, do not include them together, but refer to them separately, or only refer to the highest level of formality
ex. an aristocrat and some peasants are leaving; the aristocrat would never say to someone (who is staying), "we are leaving", instead he would say, "I and they (informal) are leaving" or simply "I am leaving"
** used for non-loquents and inanimates; or used very (c)rudely, often when referring to non-oramyani
  Singular Plural *
First Person: ä kulä (inclusive), wokä (exclusive)
Formal: second person kul kulda
third person - male pak pakeda
third person - female mek mekeda
third person - unknown/mixed gender wok wokeda
Informal: second person kur kurda
third person wor wor
Non-loquent: ** um umda

Possessive Pronouns

Indicating possession works the same as with nouns (see above)

Independent Possessive Pronouns

Add the suffix -sal to the pronoun

Reflexive Pronouns

Add the suffix - to the pronoun

Fourth Person

Multiple same pronouns in the same sentence. When there are two distinct, but same, pronouns in a sentence, decline the object's (or second person's) pronoun by changing the vowel from low to high (add diaeresis ¨).

He1(pak) sat while he2 (päk) stood.
Fred gave Barney his dog.
pak sakanas (Fred's dog) ie. Fred gave his (own) dog to Barney.
päk sakanas (Barney's dog) ie. Fred gave his (Barney's) dog (back?) to Barney.

Pronoun Drop

Because the possessive prefix is attached to the thing possessed, the pronoun before the possessive can be eliminated if it is the same as the subject of the sentence.

Verbs

Tense

Indicated by preceding the verb with the auxilary verb zel for future, jas for past.

Immediacy, certainty, modality, and negation are indicated by adding affixes to the auxilary. For a complete explanation of the auxilary, see the commentary.

Aspect

Whether the verb is dynamic (expresses an action, movement, or change): regular case
or stative (expresses a state): decline the dynamic by changing the first vowel from long to short or vice versa and change the initial consonant from voiced to voiceless (if applicable) or vice versa.
Stative Dynamic
tïse know dise learn
egwa mount ëkwa ride
zaha search/seek säha find
möre dead more die
okyölnag see ögyölnag watch/look
Whether the action is completed (perfect): regular case
or not (imperfect): add the suffix -ap, -nap before a vowel

To cause someone to do an action (causative): add the prefix -

To indicate doing an action again: add the prefix sen-

To indicate undoing an action (conversive): add the prefix ü-, ün-

Multiple aspects can be applied as necessary. They are generally applied in the order listed. Although this is not a set rule.

Augmentative & Diminutive

The augmentative strengthens a verb, while the diminutive weakens.

Apply the infix after the first syllable:

Base Augmentative
-asë
Diminutive
-ip- / -ipe-
talk shout whisper
look examine glance
laugh guffaw giggle
love lust like
hate despise dislike

Morphology

To indicate someone who does an action: add suffix -ë (changes verb to a noun)

Modifiers: Adjectives and Adverbs

Wikilret makes no real distinction between adjectives and adverbs. Both follow the same general rules.

Restrictive and Attributive Modifiers

All modifiers are classed as restrictive or attributive:

Opposites

Adjectives and adverbs are often "binary" in nature. The main words are generally those that imply positive, larger, "better" things: such as tall, big, strong, fast, rich, etc. Exceptions to this of course are numbers and colours.

The opposite is formed by adding the prefix kre-

Comparative

Add the suffix: -aj or -haj

Superlative

Add the suffix: -

Morphology

To change an adjective to a verb add the suffix -en or -den (after a vowel)

Conjunctions

There are six main conjunctions:

  1. en and : used to join words in a clause
    ex. The boy ran and jumped. The man and woman walked on the road.
  2. ed and : (1) used to join clauses in a sentence or to (2) indicate separate "entities" within a clause
    ex. 1. ipen pah gwedap ed pak sakanas olgwedap the man walks and his dog runs
    ex. 2. ümenda kanas palrä ed aztruh the brown dogs and the black dogs
    • To indicate that the dogs were coloured both brown and black ümenda kanas palrä en aztruh
  3. owte or, one only
  4. fel and/or, one or both
  5. dol if
  6. häet but