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How to describe nouns and verbs
This public article was written by [Deactivated User], and last updated on 12 Aug 2023, 15:22.
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1. Painting a picture
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The not-so-much-adjectives adjectives
Adjectives have, throughout the development of the Myshyn language family, been relatively left behind. So left behind in fact, that
Forest Myshyn lacks them entirely. This does not, however, mean that Forest Myshyn is not able to express nuanced ideas and specific descriptions for people, objects, actions and other concepts. For this, the language employs principally two strategies: stative verbs, and what I like to call 'descriptive cases'.Descriptive cases are essentially case inflects of nouns with the meanings 'with', 'full of' and '-less' to name a few. Because the descriptions are derived from case inflections, there is no agreement with the description's target. All countable nouns become uncountable or generic when inflected, unless a determinative or numeral specifies otherwise. The 'descriptive cases' are as follows:
Ornative animate
The ornative animate is used when the possessor or target of the description is animate, and the trait is alienable, i.e. can be lost, held or touched. Consequently, the type of nouns that may take the ornative animate case are restricted to attributes which living things can have. The ornative animate was originally formed via a preposition which later merged with the main noun in the form of а(л)-. E.g:
кону [wound] → іпіл акону [a wounded man], literally [a man with wound(s)].
- іпіл аліс кону [a man with one wound]
мѩв [hair] → бԝс амѩв [a hairy spider], literally [a spider with hair].
уля [mask] → охч алуля [a masked child], literally [a child with (a) mask].
Ornative inanimate
The ornative inanimate is used when the possessor or target of the description is inanimate, and the trait is alienable, i.e. can be lost, held or touched. Often, the ornative describes material and ingredients with which something is made, decorations and heaps of things, something containing something or something supplied/endowed with something. As The ornative originally descended from a preposition meaning 'with', it is formed via a prefix сѣ'-. E.g:
кава [fence] → ар сѣкава [a fenced house], literally [a house with fence(s)].
апса [flower] → айна сѣ'апса [a flowery meadow], literally [a meadow (full) of flower(s)].
айс [salt] → вԝт сѣ'айс [salted bread], literally [bread with salt].
Associative
The associative case is used for all things inalienable. This includes colours, height, hazards, temperature, brightness, steepness and then some. The case ending is -ч for vowel stems, and -Vч or -та for consonant stems. E.g:
ніко [orange] → пīт нікоч [an orange berry], literally [a berry with orange_colour].
χікун [humidity] → ка̅я χікунуч [a humid day], literally [a day with humidity].
каш [bigness] → у̅рум каща [large trees], literally [trees with bigness].
Privative
The privative does not distinguish animacy, but can only be used for inalienable traits. Alienable traits require the preposition мо̅ / моχ ('without'). The case is a very recent invention, and descends from the preposition ел ('not'). In takes the form ев'- as a product of l-vocalisation, though some dialects retain the prepositional usage. E.g:
туχ [odour] → ґел евтуχ [an odourless snail], literally [a snail without odour(s)].
шей [spice] → мѥлд евшей [a bland beverage], literally [a drink without spice].
реχѥт [fear] → ю евреχѥт [a fearless girl], literally [a girl without fear].
Besides the 'descriptive cases', stative verbs are also available. Seeing that Forest Myshyn lacks participles, one must instead use relative clauses. The most frequent relative pronoun for descriptive relative clauses are χюс 'who' for animate nouns and χюχ 'which' for inanimate nouns, though many others are available.
ме̅ґѵн [to be blind] → іпіл χюс ме̅ґнас [the blind man], literally [man who is_blind]
χасїн [to be stuck] → торус χюχ χасїнас [the trapped car], literally [car which is_stuck]
ӄовѭн [to be patient] → сѣ̲шаꙗм χюсам ковѭна̨ч' [the patient users], literally [users who are_patient]
Adverbs
Due to the lack of adjectives, one might think adverbs are hard to come by. This is fortunately (almost) not the case. To form adverbs from nouns, one must simply use the preposition як, which can be translated as 'through' and 'with' but also 'thoroughly with'. E.g:
ковюс [silence]
ка̅в ковюста - a silent woman
ка̅в ґеренац як ковюс - the woman walks silently
токс [haste]
кīмет ток̊ѵч - a quick dog
кīмет ме̨це̨на̨ткѣт як токс - the dog was running quickly
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