Nomai Language Lessons

Bodólfi hleefur madavee

Overview

Nomai, or hleefu madavee "the language from the Vessels" is the spoken and written language of the Nomai, a species of antlered herbivores known for their endless curiosity. Most clans live on the titular spacefaring Vessels.

The variety of the language described here is a middle dialect, spoken from the coming-of-age of xa Hliboir ("Escall") to that of xa Tapihl ("Solanum"). Due to robust traditions of archiving and language revival, this variety remains intelligible long afterward. It is associated with a golden age of scientific progress.

Although Nomai began as a naturally evolved language, it has been consciously engineered, mainly to lessen ambiguity and shorten some logical expressions. Except where otherwise noted, these changes are ancestral to current speakers and are learned in childhood like all other grammar. Nomai brains have better short-term memory capacity and raw processing power than human brains, but training can compensate for the difference. It is possible for a human to become fluent in Nomai.

Due to the particulars of their technology and culture, Nomai tend to write more than they speak. Even then, the written language is faithfully derived from the spoken, and understanding speech is practically necessary for anyone living on a Vessel or one of the many Nomai stopover worlds.

Phrases

Nomai speakers have common and fossilised phrases just like humans do. The most useful for every speaker are listed below.

Pronunciation

Vowels

Nomai vowels differ by height and frontness like in most human languages, and additionally by duration (short / long), rounding (lips in a lax pose / lips rounded into a tube), and nasality (air from mouth / air from nose).

Consonants

Nomai consonants differ by place and manner of articulation like in most human languages, and additionally by voicing (vocal cords relaxed / vocal cords vibrating). Because of the cylindrical shape and forward attachment of a Nomai tongue, velar consonants like /k/ do not occur.

The following sequences are spelled in a simpler way because it can be done without ambiguity:

• /tɬ/ thl → tl
• /ɲc/ nnc → nc
• /cʎ/ cll → cl

Syllables

Every Nomai word consists of some sequence of syllables. A syllable may have an initial onset, always has a vowel, and may have a final coda.

Allowed onsets are the following:

• any single consonant
• ps, bs, ts, ds
• fm, fn, sm, sn
• pr, br, tr, dr, fr, sr
• tw, dw, sw, nw
• pj, bj, fj, mj
• (against the larger pattern) mb, nd, nc, tl, cl

Allowed codas are the following:

• f, s, x, hl, r, l, ll, u, i
• uf, us, uhl, ur, ul
• if, is, ihl, ir, il

Every syllable after the first must have an onset. If two vowels try to meet, h is inserted. In names, the second vowel simply replaces the first.

Within a word, no more than two consonants may come back to back, and no consonant may immediately follow another copy of itself. If there are extras, the first consonant is deleted.

If any of /ji(ː) wy(ː) wø(ː) i(ː)j y(ː)w ø(ː)w/ occur, the consonant disappears and the vowel becomes long: /iː yː øː/.

Stress

Like English, each Nomai word has exactly one syllable carrying the main stress. Unlike English, stress does not distinguish words: one sequence of phonemes always has the same stress. The unit of stress rules is a word, so it does not matter which syllables are prefixes, suffixes, or root.

By default, stress is on the first syllable: cata /'ca.ta/ 'stone', yypaa /'əː.paː/ 'run', haclamaa /'ha.cʎa.maː/ 'unaided'.

If the first syllable has a short vowel and the second syllable has a long vowel, then stress is on the second syllable instead: riraa /ɾi.'ɾaː/ 'sway', nnuvee /ɲy.'ʙeː/ 'from an ear', edsaafrel /e.'dsaːɸ.ɾel/ 'spicy root'.

A stressed syllable is pronounced with higher pitch and more loudness, but not with a longer duration, because duration is already a feature of vowels.

Nouns

Nomai nouns come in two categories: animate and inanimate. Broadly, animate nouns mean living things that can move on their own, but there are exceptions (mada 'Vessel' is animate). The animacy of each noun is recorded in the dictionary.

Nouns are marked for a dimension we call specificity. Nouns in their dictionary form are unspecific, meaning that the speaker cannot uniquely identify the entities or their identity is irrelevant (because the scenario is fully imaginary, for example). The unspecific form is also used for the abstract phenomenon of having that noun: 'friend' for friendship, 'sensor' for sensing capability, and so on.

To refer to some identifiable instance or group of instances, the noun inflects into specific form by gaining a suffix. The form of the suffix depends on the last phoneme of the noun:

• {(C)i, (C)ii} -x : dyri 'sun' → dyrix
• {(C)u, (C)uu} -x : nnu 'ear' → nnux
• any other vowel -i : siwa 'friend' → siwai
• {(V)u} -fu : hleeu 'language' → hleefu
• {(V)i} -ci : eumoi 'poem' → eumoci
• any other consonant -i : ndéex 'Nomai' → ndéexi

Adjectives

Adjectives can modify nouns by simply standing after them. Adjectives inflect to agree with the animacy of the head noun. The unmarked form is animate; to mark inanimate, the last vowel is nasalised. If the last vowel cannot be nasalised (i u ii uu) or is already nasal, the suffix -má is added. (This represents the survival of the older full form.)

An animate adjective is descriptive by default, so the quality is meant as an incidental trait that serves to characterise something already identified. To turn it restrictive (distinguishing members and nonmembers of a group), the suffix -ra is added.

• hlofe 'fluffy' → ndéex hlofe 'fluffy Nomai', ndéex hlofera 'specifically the fluffy Nomai', tecée hlofé 'fluffy bed'
• dax 'small' → ndéex dax 'small Nomai', ndéex daxra 'specifically the small Nomai', tecée dáx 'small bed'
• duu 'new' → ndéex duu 'young Nomai', ndéex duura 'specifically the young Nomai', tecée duumá 'new bed'

Names

Personal names in Nomai are near-universally common nouns, one noun per name. The noun is preceded by the dedicated particle xa, related to an obsolete word for 'friend'.

Attested Nomai names tend to mean plant species or plant parts. Some names are archaic, but all have a known meaning. Translations have passed from Nomai via Hearthian to English and are unrelated to the sound of the originals.

• tapihl 'tuber, edible bulbous growth' → xa Tapihl 'Solanum'
• hliboir 'type of bush with sweet nectar' → xa Hliboir 'Escall'
• lýx 'taproot, central vertical root' → xa Lýx 'Root'
• edsaafrel 'edible spicy root' → xa Edsaafrel 'Capsicum'

Place names take the particle su instead, related to isuuhl 'pasture, plain'. Place names tend to be compounds of two noun roots or a noun-root followed by an adjective-root, a pattern that is otherwise rare in Nomai. If two vowels collide in the middle, the first of the two erodes away.

Natural places like planets, stars and galaxies are likely to have a stable name. Settlements are treated like planets, but smaller or more mobile constructs like buildings or indeed the Vessels themselves usually don't get a name.

• Ndáajox 'famous binary star' + dax 'small' → su Ndáajoxdax 'Hourglass Twins'
• sar 'pass, canyon' + ciláa 'burn' → su Sarciláa 'Ember Twin'
• vynnu 'carry' + ysuci 'pillar' → su Vynnysuci 'Ash Twin'
• isuuhl 'pasture, plain' + nóos 'spring, geyser' → su Isuuhlnóos 'Timber Hearth'
• mui 'husk, crust' + wabii 'symmetric, spherical, attracting' → su Muiwabii 'Brittle Hollow'
• pama 'veil, cloak' + césdar 'spark, flash' → su Pamacésdar 'Giant's Deep'
• hatrajée 'fog, dense atmosphere close to centre of gravity' + ofo 'tie, knot, tangle' → su Hatrajofo 'Dark Bramble'

Clauses

Most clauses in Nomai consist of a verb surrounded by its arguments (the noun phrases that take part in the action). Verbs are grouped by how many noun phrases they can take. The maximum is three, which are usually in this order:

1. observer
2. experiencer
3. agent

The observer answers these questions: What must the speaker notice in order to be able to make the claim? What part of a shared universe preserves the traces of the action? In what context or framework is the meaning relevant? What is the evidence? Impersonal verbs like cofse 'rain' that describe loosely localised states take only an observer. Observers are in the default unmarked case, also called absolutive case, and come before the verb.

The experiencer answers these questions: What changes state as the action happens? What is affected (often involuntarily)? What specific part of a whole is created or destroyed? Intransitive verbs like onda 'sleep' that directly affect only one entity take an observer and an experiencer. Experiencers are in the default unmarked case, and come after the verb.

The agent answers these questions: Who or what initiates the change? Who wants the action? What is the active force? Agents are in the ergative case, marked with the suffix -(y)s.

Agent and experiencer can be swapped. Doing so makes the agent background information and the experiencer newsworthy.

Experiencer, agent, or both can be omitted. This leaves them vague while intentionally not pointing at any entity mentioned in surrounding discourse. Observer is mandatory.

In practice, the experiencer and agent work much like in human languages that have ergativity, and the observer is something like a Japanese topic or a very detailed form of evidentiality.

Tense

Tense (relative scheduling of when things happen) is marked not on verbs, but on the associated nouns. The two directions in time are marked with suffixes: -w(y) for past, -(e)x for future. For convenience, nouns without either suffix are called present.

Tense markings on the three core arguments work together like so:

• Observer: when the speaker receives the information from the observer, relative to when the sentence is produced.
• Experiencer: what time the narrative is set, relative to when the speaker receives the information.
• Agent: the short-term schedule of the action (future for imminently upcoming, past for completed but with lingering effects), relative to when the narrative is set.

Arguments that are omitted or cannot occur with the verb are ambiguous for tense.

Aspect

Aspect is the difference between "I slept" and "I was sleeping". In Nomai, verbs take affixes to mark four aspects:

• imperfective
• perfective
• iterative
• gnomic

Imperfective verbs denote actions as states that have a duration and internal scheduling, so that other actions may happen while they last: "I was sleeping when the door opened". Imperfective is the unmarked default.

Perfective verbs denote actions as singular steps in the sequence, atomic packets whose duration and internal scheduling don't matter: "I slept the night, ate slowly, and left". Perfective is marked with a suffix that has three forms, depending on the vowel of the last syllable:

• -(i)mi, if the vowel is close like i, u
• -(e)ne, if the vowel is mid like e, o, y
• -(a)nna, if the vowel is open like a

Plans and stories are often told in present tense. In that context, perfective verbs are considered tenseless but still fully perfective. In other contexts, a perfective verb requires past or future tense on at least one of its arguments.

Iterative verbs denote actions as reliably repeated habits or personal abilities: "I wear cotton in summer", "my sister can swim". They can also emphasise continuity: "the navigation system keeps crashing". Iterative is marked by taking the first consonant and first vowel of the verb (in their original order), shortening the vowel if it is long, and attaching the result at the start of the verb:

• vynnu 'carry' → vyvynnu
• wéel 'move, pose' → wéwéel
• nduu 'speak' → nunduu
• oide 'understand' → ojoide
• aso 'need' → asaso

Gnomic verbs denote actions as defining properties of the arguments: "two divides six", "stars consume hydrogen", "a good scientist communicates". Gnomic is marked with the suffix -áa if the last vowel is nasal, -aa otherwise. Because of syllable structure rules, these show up with an initial h if the verb ended in a vowel.

What next?

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