A Grammar of Ancasanoussā
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A general guide to the mechanics of the Elin language.
This public article was written by [Deactivated User], and last updated on 16 Aug 2023, 13:46.
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This article is a work in progress! Check back later in case any changes have occurred.
Case-marking
Ancasanoussā nouns can be suffixed for one of 28 cases, each of which is part of one of 5 case types, which dictate word order. The various nouns are sorted into one of four declension depending on its vowel harmony (e-i or a-o-u) and whether it ends in a vowel or consonant, with a few exceptions.
First Row : E-I harmony, vowel-ending
Second Row : A-O-U harmony, vowel-ending
Third Row : E-I harmony, consonant-ending
Fourth Row : A-O-U harmony, consonant-ending
| N case class |
| Nominative |
| ~s ~s ~es ~as |
| A case class | ||
| Accusative | Comitative | Illative |
| Ø | ~(y)ir ~(w)ur ~ir ~ul | ~(y)inth ~(w)unth ~inth ~unth |
| D case class | |||||
| Dative | Benefactive | Ornative | Illative (2) | Instrumental | Inverse-causal |
| ~r ~r ~er ~ol | ~rthē ~lthō ~erthē ~ulthō | ~rce ~lco ~irce ~alccos | ~ris ~lus ~eris ~alhus | rhē ~rwā ~irwē ~urlhā | ~rfes ~lfos ~irfes ~oflōs |
| L case class | ||||||||||||||||
| Locative | Temporal postessive | Accusative of duration of time | Temporal antessive | Sinistritive | Dextritive | Postessive | Antessive | Substitutive/Equative | Orientive | Occidentive | Boreative | Australative | Adessive | Inessive | Superessive | Subessive |
| ~th ~th ~ith ~ath | ~thrīn ~thlūn ~ethrīn ~atsrūn | ~threi ~tlhoum ~ithrei ~atrous | ~treci ~tlhōca ~itreci ~atrōcal | ~tepfē ~tapsoum ~iprē ~apsoum | ~tepfil ~taupsūr ~ithepfil ~autsour | ~thēm ~tsān ~ifēm ~usān | ~tīpfeth ~tūpsos ~īpsith ~ūtsos | ~thefē ~tsōpsoum ~ipfē ~ōtsoum | ~thith ~tsuth ~itthe -osth | ~teyeith ~tsōtān ~etssith ~outsān | ~tssētthe ~tsrauptōs ~eisthe ~autsutōs | ~teithē ~toutsā ~etthē ~ouchā | ~thēn ~tsaum ~ithēn ~atsūm | ~ttheyēn ~tsawān ~itheyēn ~utssrān | ~threlēn ~trhaum ~ethrilēn ~otlhaum | ~thretīm ~tsawōtsson ~ethretīm ~ausrwōtsrul |
| G case class |
| Genitive |
| ei(y)~ au(w)~ ei(y)~ au(w)~ |
Illative (2) is an illative case indicating concurrent motion of the subject.
The inverse-causal case indicates an effect or result of the noun or verb it follows.
The sinistritive and dextritive cases indicate the egocentric directions, while the orientive, occidentive, boreative, and australative indicate the cardinal directions.
The genitive case is the only case marked by a prefix.
When an unmarked (accusative) noun is followed by the particle craunth, it represents an ablative phrase. However, it is still part of the A case class.
The default word order of a sentence, according to a noun's case class, is N-D-L-verb-A. Genitives, as well as adjectives, adverbs, and locatives that modify a noun follow the noun or verb which they modify.
Passivity/Imperativity
Nominative nouns are suffixed according to their passivity and imperativity.
First Row : E-I harmony
Second Row : A-O-U harmony
| Not passive | Passive | |
| Not imperative | Ø | ~ssē ~ssā |
| Imperative | ~silē ~sulō | ~sseilē ~ssaulō |
Number(s)
A prefix determines a noun's number. The unmarked number is called the ōlusroth "open ; outside" number, and is used for intangible or philosophical concepts that cannot be assigned a number.
First Row : E-I harmony
Second Row : A-O-U harmony
| Singular | Plural | Superplural | Separate plural | Collective | Mass |
| en~ on~ | nē(y)~ mou(w)~ | thei(y)~ sou(w)~ | sir~ sūlh~ | ein~ oun~ | pfē(rh)~ p(s)ū(rw) |
The separate plural acts as an inverse to the collective : a group of separate or explicitly unrelated objects.
Noun-Verb Derivational Morphology
A noun may be suffixed by any one of these particles to create a verb of a specific meaning.
First Row : E-I harmony, vowel-ending
Second Row : A-O-U harmony, vowel-ending
Third Row : E-I harmony, consonant-ending
Fourth Row : A-O-U harmony, consonant-ending
| to be similar to (n) | to be (n) | to request (n) |
| ~preth ~tlhoth ~epsē ~opthoum | ~rhēn ~rwōn ~erhil ~orwūl | ~rei ~roum ~ēr ~our |
Numbers
The twelve Elin digits are as follows:
0 - crāmō
1 - enē
2 - thouncā
3 - enēse
4 - chanō
5 - athanō
6 - ermē
7 - athounō
8 - ochaunā
9 - anaum
A - chatthōno
B - chethēne
Meanwhile, several orders of magnitude are as follows:
10 - mē
100 - mētthe
1000 - mērhe
10000 - mēcche
There are no irregular numbers or orders of magnitude.
When a noun is modified by a number that follows it, that number must be suffixed depending on the quality of the noun it modifies. In informal speech, the nouns for periods of time may be dropped, in favour of only using the number and its marker.
First Row : E-I harmony
Second Row A-O-U harmony
| Spherical / round shape | Edged shape | Hollow shape | Animal | Plant / Fungus | Long, thin object | Flat object | Location | Soft / malleable object | Machine / tool | Generic object | Year | Month | Day | Hour | Minute | Second |
| ~ilē ~ūl | ~erni ~arnō | ~ēpni ~apnā | ~ecri ~accrō | ~epfē ~apsa | ~irthē ~urwā | ~icchē ~chtsa | ~ēthri ~othar | ~enyī ~anō | ~itthēnyi ~uthnā | ~ifrhē ~afrhōl | ~erti ~urtā | ~ernei ~ournō | ~eril ~urul | ~irtse ~utsrā | ~erce ~urcō | ~irhīl ~urwām |
Numbers may be suffixed with prē to indicate ordinality.
Percentages and fractions may be indicated with the denominator in the genitive case, postceding the numerator.
Pronouns
Pronouns do not inflect for specific cases, but instead inflect for the case classes.
| N | A | D | L | G | |
| 1p singular | thēnesei | thēneyei | thenērhe | thentsē | thānō |
| 1p plural | netthesē | inteyē | thinrei | inthētsre | antō |
| 2p singular | thensē | thēnye | thenrē | thetsrē | thān |
| 2p plural | etssē | thneyī | thnērhi | thnetthī | thnoum |
| 3p singular | thēsle | thēnyi | thēneri | thēnethi | thāno |
| 3p plural | thinsē | thinyē | thirnē | thirtsē | thnō |
| 4p collective | thēse | thēye | thēre | thētsei | thā |
| N/A | D/L | G | |
| 3p inanimate | thna | thnalhā | thnaum |
| Special pronoun | ossa | ourtā | awō ; aussa |
The special pronoun is a pronoun that can refer to any previously mentioned object or concept, no matter person, number, animacy, or any other properties. Aussa, while originally a pronoun, is used as a conjunction roughly equivalent to "as seen below:" or "shown here:"
The particle caum is used to indicate a locative pronoun from a genitive pronoun, e.g. caum thānō "here" caum thān "there" caum thāno "over there."
In informal speech, a different set of pronouns are used.
| N | A | D | L | G | |
| 1p | nessē | enye | nēri | entei | aunō |
| 2p | epse | peyē | piri | ipsē | aupoum |
| 3p | resē | rei | rhi | ertī | arwō |
Verbs
Verbs are conjugated for aspect, mood, tense, and causality on the following table, and are followed by an optional evidential particle. The causal mood indicates that the phrase or sentence is the cause of a following phrase. Unmarked verbs are not used in formal speech unless nominalised, but in informal speech can represent the continuous present tense.
First Row : E-I harmony
Second Row : A-O-U harmony
| Simple | Perfective | Imperfective | Causal | |
| Gnomic | ~yē ~rā | ~yēlei ~rōlos | ||
| Simple | ~lēl ~rwoul | ~lēl ~rwoul | ~yēn ~rhoun | ~yēlei ~rōlos |
| Past | ~yisencē ~lhussānccō | ~yisēcir ~lhūccalār | ~senyīm ~lhawānum | ~yēlei ~rōlos |
| Habitual | ~reni ~rōnal | ~reinlē ~rhoutlhās | ||
| Present | ~rinyē ~wunār | ~linyīr ~funalōr | ~rinim ~faunūl | ~reinlē ~rhoutlhās |
| Near future | ~yinēth ~rhanāth | |||
| Future | ~yēnil ~rwanār |
| Firsthand visual | Firsthand non-visual | Secondhand verbal | Secondhand non-verbal | Inferred | Personally known |
| pur | pir | nur | nil | lhur | ri |
Adjectives, when following a noun, may be used as adverbs.
Conjunctions & Other Particles
| Copulative ; Postessive Temporal | auth | "and ; then ; afterwards ; with" |
| Disjunctive | yēth | "or" |
| Nominalitive (action) | pfē (preceding part.) | "~ing" as in "I like sleeping" |
| Positive ; Reaffirming ; Emphasising | sā (preceding part.) | "really ; actually" as in "Yes, JOHN, I do actually eat corn!" |
| Dubitative | nā (preceding part.) | Marks noun or verb being questioned in an interrogative phrase |
| Negative | chrā (preceding part.) rhi/rha (prefix) | "not ; no ; un~" |
| Interrogative | māthous (word-final part.) | "?" similar to Japanese "か" |
| Requiritive | sēne (1) i (2) | "1 is 2 enough" where 1 is a noun and 2 is an adjective |
| Failed Requiritive | sēne (1) ochrā (2) | "1 is not 2 enough" |
| Interrogative Requiritive | senē (1) en (2) | "is 1 2 enough?" |
| Capability | chaunā (postceding part.) | "can ; able to" |
| Noun-verb polarity | na/ne (suffix) | Indicates noun equivalent to verb and verb equivalent to noun |
| Adjectival ; Adverbial | ca (preceding part.) | "-ly ; -like" |
| Conditional | autthōs | "if" |
| Intensfier | ssā/ssē (suffix) | "-er ; more" as in "better" |
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