Red Laqi language

The Red Laqi language (RL. Plyžlaqebze) is the variety of Laqi speech most closely associated with the Red Laqs. Red Laqs originate from the Laqi Homeland in the highlands of Brookshire, but split off to migrate west as Ashkenatza fell to ruin.

Phonology

Main Article: Phonology

Character		Phoneme	Examples
A a		/aː/	aban "hole"
B b		/b/	be "a lot (of)"
C	C c	/t͡s/	cage "rib", cy "body hair"
	C° c°	/t͡sʷ/	c°y "ox"
	C' c'	/t͡s'/	c'yfy "person"
	Ć ć	/t͡ʃ/	ćefy "cheerful, pleased"
	Ć' ć'	/t͡ʃ'/	ć'ymafe "winter", ćase "late", ćyg°e "land"
	Ĉ ĉ	/t͡ʂ/	ĉy'e "cold"
	Ĉ' ĉ'	/t͡ʂ'/	ĉyfe "debt"
D	D d	/d/	dedźe "bitter"
	Dz dz	/d͡z/	dzeue "bag", dze "combat, war"
	Dz° dz°	/d͡zʷ/	ḥandz°e "rick, 1.208 m3"
	Dź dź	/d͡ʒ/	dźane "dress, robe, shirt", łamydź "bridge"
E e		/a/	'eneẑ, neneẑ "grandmother"
F f		/f/	fyžy "white"
G	G g	/ɣ/	gyć'yġ "laundry", ge "gonad"
	G° g°	/gʷ/	g°y "heart"
	Ġ ġ	/ʁ/	ġathe "spring", -ġe "-ity, -ness"
	Ġ° ġ°	/ʁʷ/	ġ°yneġ°y "neighbour"
H	H h	/x/	-he "-s (plural marker)"
	Ḥ ḥ	/ħ/	ḥe "dog"
I i		/j/	iai "theirs", iat'e "dirt"
K	K° k°	/kʷ/	k°y "cart"
	K°' k°'	/kʷ'/	k°'akle "strong", -k°'e "-er"
L	L l	/ɮ/	ly "meat"
	Ł ł	/ɬ/	łaše "weak"
	Ł' ł'	/ɬ'/	ł'y "man"
M m		/m/	maze "moon", mepy "sheep"
N n		/n/	ne "eye", ny "mother"
P	P p	/p/	plyžy "red" paie "for, in order to"
	P' p'	/p'/	p'e "bed"
	P°'	/pʷ'/	p°'yr "apprentice"
Q	Q q	/q/	qek°'eḥyn "to stroll, roam" maq "voice"
	Q° q°	/qʷ/	q°yŝe "mountain", q°e "-son (patronymic)"
R r		/r/	rezeġen "to become content"
S	S s	/s/	se "I, me", seśh°e "sabre"
	Ś ś	/ʃ/	śy "horse, brother"
	Ś' ś'	/ʃ'/	ś'yn "to do"
	Ś° ś°	/ʃʷ/	ś°y- "you all (imperative plural marker)"
	Ś°' ś°'	/ʃ'ʷ/	ś°'yc'e "black"
	Š š	/ɕ/	šy "three"
	Ŝ ŝ	/ʂ/	ŝe "hundred", ŝabe "soft, meek"
T	T t	/t/	te "we"
	T' t'	/t'/	nyt'e "yes"
	T°' t°'	/tʷ'/	t°'yrys "old"
U u		/w/	uyben "to tamp, make smooth"
X	X x	/χ/	xyien "to move"
	X° x°	/χʷ/	-x°y "male ___"
Y y	/ə/	zy "one"
Z	Z z	/z/	-bze "female ___, -speech"
	Ź ź	/ʒ/	bźyḥe "autumn"
	Ź° ź°	/ʒʷ/	ź°aġ°e "star"
	Ž ž	/ʑ/	žaua "shadow"
	Ẑ ẑ	/ʐ/	ẑy "old", ẑaẑe "slow"
'	'	/ʔ/	'e "hand"
	'°	/ʔʷ/	'°yćen "to meet"

Grammar

Laqi has a Subject-Object-Verb word order. Its morphosyntactic alignment is Ergative-Absolutive, meaning that the Subject of an intransitive verb is marked with an Absolutive case while the Subject of a transitive verb is marked with an Ergative case.

Verbs

Main Article: Verbs

Laqi verbs are the most highly-inflected part of speech in the language, receiving both prefixes and suffixes to describe things like subject/object agreement, the direction of action, tense and mood, intentionality, and even the English equivalent to conjunctions and adverbs.

These affixes bind to the verb according to a defined sequence according to their type:

Prefix Complex							+	VERB STEM	+	Suffix Complex
Absolutive	Directional	Applicatives	Cislocative	Indirect Object	Ergative	Causative				Tense	Mood	Negation	Epistemic	Conjunctive

Personal Agreement

Laqi has two basic sets of markers to indicate personal agreement: Absolutive and Ergative-Oblique. Whether these endings mark the subject or the object depends on the greater context of the verb phrase. Person markers indicate three persons (1st, 2nd, 3rd), two numbers (singular, plural) as well as a reflexive.

	Abs		Erg-Obj
1s	sy- ~		s- ~
2s	uy- ~		u- ~
3s	0- ~		i- ~
1p	ty- ~		t- ~
2p	ś°y- ~		ś°- ~
3p	~ -x		a- ~

Ergative-Oblique affixes (and all consonant-ending prefixes) may have an epenthetic vowel, e, added to cushion them from forming consonant clusters that violate phonotactic constraints.

e.g.

qysfad "(s)he is like me" versus qysepły "(s)he looks at me"

Reflexive

When two or more arguments represent the same person(s), reflexive prefixes are used instead, under the following circumstances:

• Indirect Object matches Absolutive: Indirect Object = ze-

uyzesġepły "I am making you look at yourself".

• Indirect Object matches Ergative: Indirect Object = zy-

uyzysġepły "I am making you look at myself".

• Ergative matches Absolutive: Absolutive = zy-

zyseuġepły "You are making yourself look at me".

• All three match: Absolutive = zy-, Indirect Object = ze-

zyzeuġepły "You are making yourself look at yourself".

Valency Patterns

Stative

Laqi has a set of stative verbs, which indicate an unchanging condition for the subject. These stative verbs are formed out of augmented positional prefix.

The subject is in the Absolutive Case and marked on the verb with Absolutive affixes, since the subject is taking no action and receives the verb's description.

Cyšys. "I am sitting."

A noun can also be reinterpreted as a stative verb in order to form basic predicative statements.

Dzeł'yh! "They are warriors!"

Monovalent

Monovalent verbs take a single argument, the subject who is performing an action.

The subject is in the Absolutive Case, since the subject's action affects itself. As a quirk in the language, the verb marks agreement in the Absolutive slot but with what appears to be a variant of the Ergative affixes.

Se seśhe. "I eat."

3rd is uniquely marked with a ma- prefix (if the verb has no other prefixes), and the normal Absolutive -h suffix for the 3rd Plural

Tyiuynamć'e maśheh! "They eat in our home!"

Nouns

Main Article: Nouns

	Singular		Plural
Abs	-	ŝ°yze	-he	ŝ°yzehe
Abs	-r	ŝ°yzer	-her	ŝ°yzeher
Erg-Obj	-m	ŝ°yzem	-hem	ŝ°yzehem
Inst-Dir	-(m)ć'e	ŝ°yze(m)ć'e	-he(m)ć'e	ŝ°yzehe(m)ć'e
Adv	-u	ŝ°yzeu	-heu	ŝ°yzeheu
Adj	_	ŝ°yz_

Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

Personal pronouns can be optional, due subject and object markings on finite verbs. On the other hand, their inclusion in sentences add redundancy and can be used for emphasis. The category of "personal" covers only First and Second Person as well as a Reflexive.

		First	Second	Reflexive
Singular	Abs	se	ue	iež
	Erg-Obj	se	ue	iež
	Inst-Dir	serć'e	uerć'e	iežć'e
	Adv	sereu	uereu	iežeu
Plural	Abs	te	ś°e	iežher
	Erg-Obj	te	ś°e	iežhem
	Inst-Dir	terć'e	ś°erć'e	iežhamć'e
	Adv	tereu	ś°ereu	iežhereu

Possessive Pronouns

Possession can be marked as a prefix on the possessed noun. Red Laqi distinguishes according to alienation. An inalienated noun is one which cannot exist without belonging to someone, e.g. a hand is someone's hand, a mother is someone's mother, by default.

Inalienable Possessive

Inalienable possessive prefixes have two forms, for whether or not the ajoined word begins with a vowel or a consonant.

	Prefix	Meaning
1s	s- / sy-	"my"
2s	w- / wy-	"your (s)"
3s	- / y-	"his, her, its"
1p	t- / te-	"our"
2p	ś°- / ś°e-	"your (pl)"
3p	- / a-	"their"

Alienable Possessive

	Prefix	Meaning
1s	syi-	"my"
2s	wyi-	"your (s)"
3s	iyi-	"his, her, its"
1p	tyi-	"our"
2p	ś°yi-	"your (pl)"
3p	iai-	"their"