Morphology & Syntax of Gi'th

Standard Verbs:

Basic:

For the most part Gi'th is an agglutinating language. Non-inifitive verbs in Gi'th are always conjugated with a prefix that indicates the subject, then the root of the verb. (except in the case of “special verbs” that will be touched on later)

Examples: Qi'veh – I sing: Qi' (I, present) veh (sing), or Qu'TSkhehy – He/She/It kill: Qu' (He/She/It, present) TSkhehy (kill)

Adverbs:

After the root comes the root for an adverb, if there is one, followed by the adverb ending of “a'”.

Examples: Qi'vehti'la' – I sing well: Qi' (I, present) veh (sing) ti'l (good) a' (adverb) or Qe'TSkheyti'yvahsa' – We kill without care: Qe' (We, present) TSkhey (kill) ti'yvahsa' (without care, actually two morphemes that will be broken down later) a' (adverb)

Direction:

When using a pronoun to direct the verb, it is simply tagged on after the verb root and the adverb root. Also, when the pronoun is inflectional, an “i'” is tagged on at the end.

Examples: Qi'vu'la'm – I hear you: Qi' (I, present) vu'l (hear) a'm (you), or similarly Qi'vu'lti'la'm – I hear you well: Qi' (I, present) vu'l (hear) ti'l (good) a'm (you), or Qi'vu'li' – I hear myself: Qi' (I, present) vu'l (hear) i' (inflectional)

Prepositions:

When prepositions are used in a sentence it is an attachment to the object it is applying to, however in less formal speech in Gi'th, the preposition is dropped altogether and the object is attached to the end of the verb.

Examples: Qi'thihn ihna'm – I walk to you (formal): Qi' (I, present) thihn (walk) | ihn (to) a'm (you) OR Qi'thihna'm – I walk to you (informal / common) literally means “I walk you”: Qi' (I, present) thihn (walk) a'm (you)

Infinitives:

When dealing with infinitives in Gi'th, the conjugation prefix is not used and the root of the verb starts it then followed by the infinitive ending of “i'z”

Examples: shihpi'z – to drink: shihp (drink) i'z (infinitive), or pohli'z – to smell: pohl (smell) i'z (infinitive)

If the infinitive has an adverb modifying it, or it is directed, the same rules apply as when the verb is conjugated with the exception that the “i'z” is always attached to the root of the infinitive.

Examples: vu'li'z – to hear: vu'l (hear) i'z (infinitive), or vu'li'zti'la' – to hear well: vu'l (hear) i'z (infinitive) ti'l (good) a' (adverb), or lastly vu'li'zti'la'm – to hear you well: vu'l (hear) i'z (infinitive) ti'l (good) a'm (you)

Reversing Meaning:

To reverse the meaning of a word, the “ti'y-” prefix can be added. This prefix always comes directly before the root of the word it is modifying.

Examples: ti'ygahxehm – un-break / repair: ti'y (reverse/not) gahxehm (break), or Qi'vehti'yvahsa' – I sing carelessly: Qi' (I, present) veh (sing) ti'y (not/reverse) vah (care) a' (adverb)

Special Verbs:

“To Be” Basics:

Now for the exceptions. The major special verb is the “to be” verb. The big difference with the “to be” verb is that the root “Wah” is placed in front of the conjuagtion morpheme. (Note: The “W” in the morpheme is always capitalized even though it is pronounced the same as “w” because the morpheme has its own special symbol in the orthography of Gi'th)

Examples: WahQi' – I am: Wah (to be) Qi' (I, present), or WahQa'a' – you will be: Wah (to be) Qa' (you) a' (future (conjugation will be expanded on later))

After the conjugation morpheme, the noun, adjective, or gerund is attached followed by the corresponding endings of “i'n” for a noun “a'” for an adjective and “i'th” for a gerund.

Examples: WahQi'du'mehli'n – I am (a) human (the “a” is optional, it can mean the same phrase with or without it): Wah (to be) Qi' (I, present) du'mehl (human) i'n (noun), or WahQa'rehma' – you are evil: Wah (to be) Qa' (you, present) rehn (evil) a' (adjective), or in the case of a gerund WahQe'thi'xi'th – we are hurting: Wah (to be) Qe' (us, present) thi'x (pain) i'th (gerund)

Adjectives and Adverbs:

To add adjectives or adverbs to the “to be” word, the root of it is added at the end, however the noun, gerund, or adjective ending is still used at the very end of the word.

Examples: WahQi'du'mehlrehmi'n – I am an evil human: Wah (to be) Qi' (I, present) du'mehl (human) rehm (evil) i'n (noun), or WahQa'chihpti'li'th – You are eating well: Wah (to be) Qa' (you, present) chihp (eat) ti'l (good) i'th (gerund)

Direction:

Similarly, if it is directed to an object then the object is attached at the very end in the same way that it is with verbs that are not “to be” however the pronoun is at the very end after the noun, adverb, or gerund ending.

Examples: WahQi'TSkhehyi'tho'm – I am killing them: Wah (to be) Qi' (I, present) TSkhehy (kill) i'th (gerund) o'm (them), or to add on an adverb as well WahQi'TSkhehychehthi'tho'm – I am hatefully killing them: Wah (to be) Qi' (I, present) TSkhehy (kill) chehth (hate) i'th (gerund) o'm (them)

Pronouns:

Basics:

The object in the sentence, often being a preposition, is frequently dropped and the pronoun for the direction is added onto the verb as described above. In formal speech however the preposition is attached to the noun at the beginning and is a complete separate word.

Examples (same as above): Qi'thihn ihna'm – I walk to you (formal): Qi' (I, present) thihn (walk) | ihn (to) a'm (you) OR Qi'thihna'm – I walk to you (informal / common) literally means “I walk you”: Qi' (I, present) thihn (walk) a'm (you)

Adjectives:

The second word with the preposition, that notes the direction of the verb, can be modified substantially as well with the addition of adjectives that are added in the same way adverbs are in verbs.

Examples: Qi'thihn ehnra'vu'm – I walk from the divine one: Qi' (I, present) thihn (walk) | ehn (from) ra'v (divine) u'm (he/she)

NOTE: This is both the same in the formal and informal versions of speech, and the preposition would not be dropped. The only cases where the preposition is dropped is when a pronoun is used and it is not modified.

Nouns:

All nouns in Gi'th end with the “i'n” ending after the root of the word.

Examples: wehi'n – forest: weh (forest) i'n (noun), or fahmi'n – home: fahm (home) i'n (noun)

To indicate that a noun is plural, the “i'n” ending is doubled at the end of the word

Examples: wehi'ni'n – forests: weh (forest) i'n (noun) i'n (plural), or fahmi'ni'n – homes: fahm (home) i'n (noun) i'n (plural)

If an adjective is added onto the noun, the root of the adjective comes after the root of the noun and at the end it is still finished with the “i'n” ending.

Examples: wehsehli'n – big forests: weh (forest) sehl (big) i'n (noun), or fahmTSuhli'ni'n – dark homes: fahm (home) TSuhl (dark) i'n (noun) i'n (plural)

When referring to the “-er” ending, or rather the noun form of one who does the verb, the “-a'n” ending is used. Also if it is plural, the standard additional “-i'n” ending comes at the very end.

Examples: TSkhehya'n – the killer: TSkhehy (kill) a'n (one who does, “er”), or when the “to be” verb is used: WahQe'TSkhehya'ni'n – we are the killers: Wah (to be) Qe' (we, present) TSkhehy (kill) a'n (“er”) i'n (plural), or lastly: TSkhehychihpa'n – the hungry killer: Tskheh (kill) chihp (hunger) a'n (“er”)

Questions:

In order to turn any word into a question, the “i'l” ending has to be added onto the very end of the word.

Example: WahQa'chihni'l – are you hungry?: Wah (to be) Qa' (you, present) chihn (hunger) i'l (question), or WahQu'kho'TSi'thi'mi'l – Is he/she talking to me?: Wah (to be) Qu' (he/she, present) kho'TS (talk) i'th (gerund) i'm (me) i'l (question)

Furthermore, the basic sets of question words are simply the root for the meaning with the “i'l” ending. When asking the word “who?” however, it is case specific to what “who” it could be, though the standard is the he/she/it version of the word.

Who? (general form / he/she?) - u'mi'l (us?) - e'mi'l

(me?) - i'mi'l (them?) - o'mi'l

(you?) - a'mi'l

What? - i'thi'l Where? - fehri'l

When? - tehli'l Why? - ihxi'l

How? - nahxi'l

Each of these question words is simply the morpheme with the “i'l” ending, for instance in the case of “When?” - “tehli'l”: tehl (time) i'l (interrogative)

Degree:

Adjectives and Adverbs:

To modify any adjective or adverb that can be increased or decreased, an extra unvoiced vowel is thrown in before the “a'” ending. Seeing as the pair of “a” vowels fall in the middle, the standard “a'” ending means the adjective or adverb as is, however an “eh” can be added to increase the degree of the word, similarly an “oh” can be added to decrease the degree. Also the “ih” morpheme can be added to make it most, and the “uh” can be added to make it least.

Examples: sehl (big): sehla' – big: sehl (big) a' (adjective)

sehleha' – bigger: sehl (big) eh (increase) a' (adjective)

sehliha' – biggest: sehl (big) ih (maximize) a' (adjective)

sehloha' – less big / slightly big: sehl (big) oh (decrease) a' (adjective)

sehluha' – least big: sehl (big) uh (minimize) a' (adjective)

Verbs:

To make any verb intensified or decreased, the same concept can be applied.

Examples: sehl (big): sehli'z – to make big (more accurately: to augment size or “biggen”): sehl (big) i'z (verb)

Qi'sehleh – I make very big / I greatly augment: Qi' (I, present) sehl (big) eh (increase)

Qa'a'sehluhi'm – you will make me the least big: Qa' (you) a' (future, this will be expanded on later) sehl (big) uh (minimize) i'm (me)

WahQe'sehlihi'thyu'm – we are making them (non-sentient) the biggest: Wah (to be) Qe' (we, present) sehl (big) ih (maximize) i'th (gerund) yu'm (them, non-sentient)

Nouns (thing):

Nouns can also be modified in the same way when referring to the word “thing”. The standard word for thing is simply the noun ending of “i'n”, however if it is a specific thing, instead of using the word thing and then a descriptive word, the noun ending can be added onto the end of whatever the adjective is. This adjective can also be modified by the degree morphemes. Verbs and gerunds can also be modified to be nouns as either “thing” or that action.

Examples: sehli'n – the big thing: sehl (big) i'n (noun / thing), sehli'thi'n – the biggening (growing) thing: sehl (big) i'th (gerund) i'n (noun)

Conjugation Morphemes:

The conjugation of verbs is done by a specific conjugation prefix, except in the case of “to be” where the prefix is actually used as a suffix. The set of morphemes is as follows:

Present:

Qi' – I form

Qa' – You

Qu' – He/She

Qe' – Us/We

Qo' – Them

Qu'y – It

Qo'y - Them (non sentient)

Past:

            Qi'n – I form

Qa'n – You

Qu'n – He/She

Qe'n – Us/We

            Qo'n – Them

Qu'yn – It

Qo'yn – Them (non sentient)

Future:

            Qi'i' – I form

Qa'a' – You

Qu'u' – He/She

Qe'e' – Us/We

            Qo'o' – Them

            Qu'yu'y – It

Qo'yo'y – Them (non sentient)

The present tense morpheme is used in every tense, though the past and future have an extra morpheme added on. Past being “n” and future being the repeated vowel.

Examples: Qo'thihn – They walk: Qo' (they, present) thihn (walk), Qu'nthihn – he/she walked: Qu' (he/she) n (past) thihn (walk), or WahQe'e'thihni'thyu'm / WahQe'e'thihni'th ihnyu'm– we will be walking to it: Wah (to be) Qe' (we) e' (future) thihn (walk) i'th (gerund) [ihn (to)] yu'm (it)

Syntax:

S-V-O:

The syntax for Gi'th follows a S-V-O structure. The verb of the sentence is always conjugated to the subject and if pronouns are used, the subject is simply implied by the conjugation. Similarly, a pronoun used as the object can be tagged onto the end of the verb. If no pronouns are used the subject comes before the verb and the object after, however the verb is still conjugated to the subject. The pronoun ending of the verb that can be used to denote the object is dropped if a pronoun is not used, though in ancient dialects, this pronoun ending is still included and the object still stated after the verb, however this has long since been abandoned.

Examples: Qi'vu'la'm – I hear you: Qi' (I, present: S) vu'l (hear: V) a'm (you: O),

Gi'thyahnki'n Qu'vu'l Gi'thzehra'i'n – The Githyanki hears the Githzerai: Gi'thyahnki'n (the Githyanki: S) | Qu' (he/she: S) vu'l (hears: V) | Gi'thzehra'i'n (Githzerai: O)

However in ancient dialects this would be:

Gi'thyahnki'n Qu'vu'lu'm Gi'thzehra'i'n – The Githyanki hears the Githzerai: Gi'thyahnki'n (the Githyanki: S) | Qu' (he/she: S) vu'l (hears: V) u'm (he/she: O) | (Gi'thzehra'i'n (Githzerai: O)

Prepositions:

Prepositions come after the word that it is describing. Furthermore, the preposition is attached morphologically to the rest of the prepositional phrase. Also, if two are used as in “The father of the Githyanki and the Githzerai” the “of” preposition would be used twice yielding: “The father of the Githyanki and of the Githzerai”. In phrases such as this another distinction between formal and informal speech is found in the use of the word “and”. In this case “and” would always be used in formal speech, however in informal/common speech the “and” is frequently left out, however this can result in confusion as to what each prepositional phrase modifies but it is often just left to the context of the sentence.

Examples: TSe'mihli'n ehnGi'thyahnki'n'i'n TSa' ehnGi'thzehra'i'ni'n – The father of the githyanki and of the githzerai: Tse'mihl (father) i'n (noun) | ehn (of) Gi'thyahnki'n (Githyanki) i'n (plural) | TSa' (and) | ehn (of) Gi'thzehra'i'n (Githzerai) i'n (plural),

Or in informal/common speech:

TSe'mihli'n ehnGi'thyahnki'n'i'n ehnGi'thzehra'i'ni'n – The father of the githyanki of the githzerai: Tse'mihl (father) i'n (noun) | ehn (of) Gi'thyahnki'n (Githyanki) i'n (plural) | ehn (of) Gi'thzehra'i'n (Githzerai) i'n (plural)

Multiple Verbs:

Whenever multiple verbs are used in Gi'th, both are conjugated and in formal, separated by “and” whereas in informal or common, the “and” is often dropped.

Examples: Qi'i'TSkhehya'm TSa' Qi'i'chihpa'm – I will kill and eat you (Formal, actual translation = I will kill you and I will eat you): Qi' (I) i' (future) TSkhehy (kill) a'm (you) | TSa' (and) | Qi' (I) i' (future) chihp (eat) a'm (you)

Or in informal/common speech:

Qi'i'TSkhehya'm Qi'i'chihpa'm – I will kill and eat you (actual translation = I will kill you I will eat you): Qi' (I) i' (future) TSkhehy (kill) a'm (you) | Qi' (I) i' (future) chihp (eat) a'm (you)

Vocabulary:

Pronouns:

I – i'm us/we – e'm

you – a'm them (sentient beings) – o'm

he/she – u'm

it – yu'm them (non-sentient) – yo'm

Question Words:

(Note: Each of the question words correspond to a noun by replacing the i'l with and i'n. Also “Who” can be specified)

Who (general form / he/she?) - u'mi'l (us?) - e'mi'l

(me?) - i'mi'l (them?) - o'mi'l

(you?) - a'mi'l

What - i'thi'l Where - fehri'l

When - tehli'l Why - ihxi'l

How - nahxi'l

Roots for other words: In no particular order... good luck... i hope to make an organized list soon, but this is just whatever comes to mind first.

far – ohk

near – ihk

mid distance – ehk

not – ti'y

big – sehl

good – ti'l

bad – Kahl

thing – i'th

place – fehr

time (when/ever) – tehl

means of something – nahx

cause – ihx

yes - ti'l (often tî)

no - Kahl (often Kah or Ka')

sight – yeh

want – woh

need – roh

sing – veh

talk – kho'ts

kill – TSkehy

death - bohk

fight – rahk

food/eat – chihp

drink – shihp

forest – weh

feel/texture – e'yohn

hear – vu'l

smell – pohl

from/of – ehn

for – ahn

to - ihn

dark – TSuhl

light – TSahl

walk – thihn

run – thi'ihn

language – mahehl

good (divine) – ra'v

evil – rehm

go – khehl

home – fahm

elf – khehss

orc – bahl

human – du'mehl

make – de'khuhm

up/top – TSi'n

down/bottom – TSo'n

level/middle - TSe'n

break/destroy – gahxehm

find – pehk

try – ro'kh

care – vahss

not care – ti'yvahss

mother – we'mihl

father – TSe'mihl

love – thehth

hate – chehth

have – TSohl

pain – thi'x

hunger – chihn

thirst – shihn

thing – i'n

fall – khe'n

in (inside) – shihl

out – thihl

in (type) – che'v

and – TSa'

at – ge'l

same – shahv

plane – suhl

astral – vi' (Githyanki) ve' (Githzerai)

limbo – vi' (Githzerai) ve' (Githyanki)

prime material – vo'

citadel – ahnkh

monastery – vehluhm

move – thi'z

still - chahle'