dominionese scratchpad

[bbbosborne]

hello everyone
this is my rendition of the dominionese language, which got a tiny tidbit in a star trek: DS9 episode. more here. painful ass shit to rework backwards

note: in the audio file there is an extra syllable in the second word that isn't written. i have considered that to be part of the word

the given sample is:
Eee-ja maa'na hoo'va, baa'li jen'ku'rada sen'to. (stupid orthography i know)
On the balance, we give up more than you.

in my rendition, the "corrected" version is
ʔija manano ʔovə bæli jenkʉ ræ dæ sento.
/ʔiʒä mänänɔ ʔɔvə bæli ʒɛnkʉ ɻæ dæ sɛntɔ/
on balance VOL₄ 2p give.up more.than 1s PASS
On the balance, we give up more than you.

mhm yup yup that's a... passive, voice— transitive! mhm

phonology

More: show

conosnants
/b t d ɟ ɖ k g ʔ/ <b t d dy ḍ k g ʔ>
/f v s ʒ~ʐ h/ <f v s j h>
/l j ɻ ɭ/ <l y r ḷ>
/m n ɲ ɳ/ <m n ñ ṇ>

vowels
/i ʉ u/ <i ʉ u>
/ɛ ə ɔ/ <e ə o>
/æ ä ɒ/ <æ a å>

diphthongs: /ai əi ɛi/ <ay əy ey>

phonotactics
syllable strcture is C(j, l)V(C)
no final /ʔ/ or /h/
no /ɲi ji ɟi/

the last syllable receives the stress, unless there's a syllable that begins with a glottal stop, then stress that syllable. if there are multiple instances of that, stress the first one.

morphology

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nouns
nouns inflect for number; they have singular and plural forms
nouns are pluralized by reduplicating the 1st syllable
pronouns
pronouns have 1st, 2nd, and 3rd persons with singular, plural, and polite forms
subjectㅤㅤ sg.ㅤpl.ㅤㅤpolite
ㅤㅤㅤㅤ1ㅤdæㅤdæliㅤㅤdol
ㅤㅤㅤㅤ2ㅤbæㅤbæliㅤㅤbol
ㅤㅤㅤㅤ3ㅤjesㅤjesliㅤㅤ jol

objectㅤㅤㅤsg.ㅤㅤpl.ㅤpolite
ㅤㅤㅤㅤ1ㅤjæㅤㅤdæㅤㅤḷod
ㅤㅤㅤㅤ2ㅤvæㅤㅤbæㅤㅤ ḷob
ㅤㅤㅤㅤ3ㅤjeㅤㅤ jesㅤㅤ ḷoj

demonstratives
there is a 2-way distinction for demonstratives, with plain and emphatic forms. these do not have number distinctions or polite forms
ㅤㅤㅤplainㅤemphatic
this
that

deictics have a 3-way distinction, with plain and emphatic forms
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤplainㅤemphatic
here
there
over there

verbs
verbs inflect for volition and voice, and have aspect and mood (no tense)
aspects: imperfective, perfective, perfect, inchoative, reflexive, gnomic
moods: indicative, potential

voice
there are 3 voices: passive and reflexive
passive: marked with particle sento and using OVS order (standard word order is SOV)
reflexive: marked with reflexive aspect

volitional particles
there are 4 degrees of volition:
1. willingly (denoted as VOL₁): kuha
2. unwillingly (denoted as VOL₂): juha
3. reluctantly (denoted as VOL₃): sʉna
4. readily (denoted as VOL₄): ʔovə

volitions 1 and 2 can combine with 3 and 4.
volitional particles precede the whole sentence and are listed as adverbs in dictionaries

comparative form
verbal comparatives are formed with comparative particles in 4 ways (these particles follow the verb):
more (than): ræ
less (than): le
as much as: se
not as much as: si

some words:
jemhadar n Jem'Hadar
fəkyu n victory
sə v to be
tarflit n life
vorta n Vorta
ʔija prep on
manano n balance
ʔovə adv readily
jenkʉ v to give up
danke v to take back

fəkyu sə tarflit Victory is life.

[Zaarin]

I see what you did there.

[bbbosborne]

stuff i missed
verbs
all verbs are inherently perfective and indicative.

basic syntax

More: show

word order
standard word order is SOV
verbs are negated with the negative particle which precedes the verb.

bæli dyo go maʔan
2p NEG GNO sleep
We do not sleep.

other sentence types
existentials and any sentence with the copula "to be" as a non-auxiliary are in SVO order.
existentials are formed with a singular locative verb there exists ...

dyo pej yukra jemhadar
NEG LOC woman jemhadar
There are no Jem’Hadar women.

vovorta sə juju
PL~vorta be wild
The Vorta were once savage.

NP order
if a NP is the subject, the volitional particle (if any) comes first. prepositions then adjectives come next, and then subclauses. obliques/prepositional phrases can either precede or follow their head, depending on emphasis and relevance. deictic pronouns always follow the head.
VOL / PREP / ADJ / subclause / head / DET

a noun can sometimes act as itself as a verb or even an adjective

ʔija manano goḍ goḍ mik manano
on balance powerful dominion REFL balance
On the balance, the almightly Dominion will balance itself out.
dominion is indeed synonymous with almighty

jemhadar go fəkyu
jemhadar GNO victory
The Jem'Hadar always win.

VP order
the majority of verb modifiers precede the verb.
ASP / MOD / verb / PASS

questions
a basic yes-no question can be formed with the potential mood.

fəkyu dəm sə tarflit
victory POT be life
Is victory life?

content questions are formed by replacing the unknown with the interrogative.

fəkyu sə siko/
victory be what
What is victory? Lit. Victory is what?

[akam chinjir]

Might be worth being explicit what you mean by a "to be" sentence, since languages vary a lot in the uses to which they put their copulas.

[Xwtek]

Correct me if I'm wrong. But isn't a language that cannot express imperfective impossible? A language may form its imperfective solely periphrastically or a language may collapse perfective and imperfective into one. But there is bo language that bans imperfective

[bbbosborne]

probably

[Yalensky]

Any violations of universals can always be retroactively justified with an appeal to the language's literal alienness.

Qapla'!

[Xwtek]

Any violations of universals can always be retroactively justified with an appeal to the language's literal alienness.

Qapla'!

Except for no velar, rover and OVS word order, klingon is not that strange, though. Language that outright bans imperfectives is outright strange.

[Yalensky]

Any violations of universals can always be retroactively justified with an appeal to the language's literal alienness.

Qapla'!

Except for no velar, rover and OVS word order, klingon is not that strange, though. Language that outright bans imperfectives is outright strange.

Unearthliness increases with distance from sector 001, of course