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Soptenese Morphology and Syntax.
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This public article was written by [Deactivated User], and last updated on 21 Oct 2022, 22:53.

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So you’re here to learn about Soptenese morphology? Good job. The first thing you will want to know is that Soptenese is usually a SOV language, except for when it is VSO.
Here are a few other basic concepts to note: there are two grammatical genders in Soptenese, and these are animate and inanimate. Uncountable nouns are considered to be plural, except for when they are given the nominal suffixes found in table 1. qả (no) is placed directly before the subject(s) if the verb is negative. It can also be used as an adjective and follows the grammar rules of nouns in that case.
Soptenese has twenty different vowels, but this can be boiled down to five vowels with long/short and weak/strong distinctions. Strong vowels are typically, but not always, a fronted version of its weak counterpart. Diphthongs can be made of a weak vowel followed by a strong vowel only. Additionally, in a diphthong, only the strong vowel may be long, but it does not have to be. If, by following any grammar rule, an illegal diphthong is created, it must be rectified. Firstly, if (ignoring length) there are two or more of the same vowel, or a strong/weak vowel followed by its strong/weak counterpart, those vowels are merged. If either one of them is strong or long, then the resulting vowel ends up strong/long, unless this violates another rule. Secondly, if there are three or more distinct vowels in a row, remove all but the fist and final vowel. If, after doing this, step one may be repeated, repeat step one. Thirdly, if the resulting diphthong does not follow a weak-strong order, change either or both of the vowels into their weak/strong counterpart. Finally, if either of the resulting vowels in the diphthong are long, the length must be moved to the final(strong) vowel only.

Nouns:
In Soptenese, the two main classes of words are nouns and verbs, with nouns acting as adjectives, and some verbs also acting as adjectives. Pronouns act as nouns and can be found in table 5. First things first, to make a noun out of a verb, add the suffix -il found in table 12. Suffixes can be added for several other qualities, also found in table 12. Note that these suffixes become an integral part of the word, and all further grammar rules apply as if the root noun+the affix is one morpheme.
Nouns have three main uses; as subjects, objects and adjectives. This section will cover the former two. If, anywhere else in this section “all nouns” is stated, that means nouns acting as subjects and objects only, unless otherwise stated.
The first thing that subjects and objects need is one of the suffixes found in table 1. Specifically, it will use one of the first three rows, being either Nominative, Accusative, or Partitive. All subjects will be nominative. Objects will be accusative, unless they are the object of a verb without result, or the noun at hand does not have a specific identity. The nouns are given the number and animacy that they are. The plural/collective form is used for uncountable nouns, or for intangible nouns that can be broken into tangible parts, such as ‘community’.
When adding the noun suffixes on, if the last vowel in the noun and the first vowel in the suffix are the same (including the length and strength), they may be combined and the interloping letters deleted. This is not required, but is almost always done, even in formal writing. If either of those things is a diphthong, it works the same. If you are trying to use the first part of a diphthong, delete the now interloping letter (same but other way around in the suffix). If the inner part of the diphthong is to be used, leave the outer part. If a new impossible diphthong is created, follow the diphthonging rules from there laid out in the adjectives part.

Verbs:
Verbs in Soptenese are divided into two classes: Normal and Stative. All verbs are conjugated for the animacy, person and number of their subject. Normal verbs follow the conjugations found in table 2. They can also become participles using the conjugations found in table 3. All normal verbs are placed after the Object, giving the sentence a SOV structure, unless the verb is in the imperfect tense, in which case the verb is placed before the subject, giving the sentence a VSO structure.
Stative verbs follow the conjugations found in table 4. Stative verbs all follow the VSO word order, except for stative verbs in the Aorist tense, which follow the SOV word order. The Aorist tense of a stative verb makes it present/past translative i.e. “to be good” becomes “become/became good”.

Adjectives:
In Soptenese, there are no real adjectives. Rather, nouns and participles take on the roles of adjectives. One of the most notable features in Soptenese is adjectival infixation. When infixing adjectives, use the forms and rules found in table 6. Adjectives infix unless there is either a. more than one or b. the adjective ends in a consonant, if it is purposive or possessor, and the next letter after the vowell replaced is a consonant (this includes the created /x/). If you have the 1st or 3rd singular pronoun possessing, and other adjectives, the pronouns can infix.
When infixing pronouns, whether or not there are other adjectives, use the premade infixes found in table 8. When using pronouns in adjectival forms, do not use the infix head; use only the pronoun infix found in table 8, But do use the prefix from table 6, unless in the third or first person singular possessor forms, in which case the prefix from table 6 is omitted. Infixation on or with proper nouns is optional, however if you choose not to infix, the prefix is also forgone, and the infixing word and nothing else is added as a standalone word after the noun.
If there is a non-infixing adjective, use only the prefix on the noun described, and list the adjectives after the noun. If there is more than one adjective, add the prefixes to their respective adjectives instead of the noun described. adjectives go in the following order after the noun: purpose, possessor, origin, description, all else (generic of).
When using nouns to describe nouns, note that the grammar rules from table 1 only need to be applied to the noun described, and these rules apply outside of the adjectival/infixing rules. The infixing nouns need not use the cases from table 1, unless they are associative, locative or dative.
Participles follow the same rules as nouns when used as adjectives. Using the descriptive form for a participle makes it an active participle. Using the possessor form makes it a passive participle.

Adverbs:
In Soptenese, there are no true adverbs. To describe verbs, a noun that has taken on either the Associative, locative or dative case, (note that the associative case may be used for general description.) from table 1 may be placed immediately following the verb.
If it is desired to further describe a verb beyond what is practical using this method, or to describe a noun that is not acting as a noun, a zero cupola following the sentence is used. To describe a verb in this manner, use the nominalization suffix from table 12.

Demonstratives:
In Soptenese, four demonstratives exist. They are found in table 7. They come immediately before a noun acting as a noun, or as an adverb. They may not be used with numbers.

Numbers:
Soptenese uses a base-ten system of numbers. These can be found in table 9, table 10 and table 11. Numbers do not act as adjectives. They describe any noun not infixing, and they come before that noun. They may not be used with demonstratives.

Questions:
There are no question words. To ask a question, one rephrases the sentence that is an answer so that it is in the opposite word order than it would otherwise be (if SOV go to VOS, if VOS go to SOV). The word that the unknow is omitted entirely. "How many cats do you have?" would be more like "Have cats you?"
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