User:Król/Sydvetlish

Sydvetlish grammar is the study of grammar in the Sydvetlish language. Grammars of Sydvetlish can be either prescriptive or descriptive. Prescription sets rules for language, while description simply describes the way a language is spoken; this article attempts to be primarily descriptive. It is important to understand that experts disagree about many parts of Sydvetlish grammar: what follows is just one analysis among many.

The grammar of Sydvetlish is in some ways relatively simple, and in others quite complex. For example, word order is relatively fixed because Sydvetlish is an analytic language and this aspect of grammar is therefore relatively simple. The verbal system, on the other hand, is quite large and complex, like those of many other Indo-European languages.

This article is organized in sections, addressing word order, nouns, verbs, and other areas as they become relevant in the course of discussion.

Word Order

Structurally, Sydvetlish is a subject verb object (SVO) language, meaning that it prefers a sequence of subject, verb, object in its simplest (declarative) statements with end punctuation. Thus:

Tom [subject] øtes [verb] chyse [object].
Mary sys de cat.

In general, Sydvetlish is a head-initial language, meaning that the "anchor" of a phrase (segment of a sentence) occurs at the beginning of the phrase. For example:

rån kickly (verb phrase)
at store (prepositional phrase)

The main exception is in noun phrases, which are head-final:

vlü haus (adjective + noun)
Fred'ys cat (possessive + noun)

This leads to a sentence like: "Fred'ys sistår rån kickly at store". As can be inferred from this example, the sequence of a basic sentence (ignoring articles and other determiners) is: Adjective1 - Subject - Verb - Adverb - Adjective2 - Direct.Object - Adjective3 - Indirect.Object.

Changes in word order are used in interrogative sentences ("Vel du gål at store?"), changes from active to passive voice ("Car vas bougt væ John"), and lexical or grammatical emphasis (topicalization).

Nouns

In Sydvetlish, nouns generally describe persons, places, things, and abstract ideas, and are treated as grammatically distinct from verbs. Sydvetlish nouns, in general, are not marked for case. Nouns are, however, marked for number and definiteness. For example:

de (definite article):de haus refers to a specific house (e.g. "De haus Je vas børn i")
a/ån (indefinite article): a haus can refer to a generic house ("A hous er a bilving fø lævink i").
singular: de haus refers to one house
plural: de hause refers to more than one house

Sydvetlish does not have dual or trial numbers for nouns.

The two primary exceptions to case marking are the possessive clitic (which used to be called the saxon genitive) and the pronominal system. In Sydvetlish, the possessive is marked by a clitic at the end of the possessing noun phrase. This can be illustrated in the following manner:

De koning'ys dauhter'ys haus felt.

The first <'s> clitic on koning indicates that the daughter in question is the king's. The second <'s> clitic does not attach to "daughter", as many people mistakenly believe, but in fact to the entire noun phrase De koning'ys dauhter.

On the other hand, Sydvetlish preserves relics of the old Germanic noun case system in its pronouns. The full set of cases are listed below; note that modern use of the second person singular du¹ is rare, and is confined to dialects and religious and poetic functions. In everyday speech, the second person plural you is almost always used instead.

Person:	1st singular	2nd singular¹	3rd singular	1st plural	3rd plural	2nd plural
Nominative	Je	Du	er, ste, es	vi	dey	yø
Accusative	me	thy	hüm, ster, is	ves	dém	yø
Genitive	min²	yørs²	ers, sters, ets	vist	ders	yørs	hüse

A remnant of grammatical gender is also preserved in the third person pronouns. Gender is assigned to animate objects based on biological gender (where known), and to personified objects based on social conventions (ships, for example, are often regarded as feminine in Sydvetlish). "Er" is used for masculine nouns; "ste" is used for feminine nouns; and "es" is used for nouns of indeterminate gender and inanimate objects. It is generally considered both ungrammatical and impolite to refer to humans (other than babies) as "es".

Traditionally, the masculine "er" was used to refer to a person in the 3rd. person when their gender was unknown or irrelevant to the context; recently, this usage has come under criticism for supporting gender-based stereotypes and is increasingly considered inappropriate (see Gender-neutral language). There is no consensus on a replacement. This situation rarely leads to confusion, since the intended meaning can be inferred from context. Spivak pronouns have also been proposed which are basically formed by dropping the leading "th" from the plural counterpart, but their use is relatively rare compared to other solutions. For comparison, speakers of German distinguish between the homophonous "sie" ("ste"), "sie ("dey"), and "Sie" ("du", polite) with little difficulty.

Verbs

In Sydvetlish, verbs generally describe actions, and can also be used to describe certain states of being. In contrast to the relative simplicity of English nouns, verbs come in a large array of tenses, some moods, two voices, and are marked for person.

Person in verbs

Verbs in Sydvetlish are marked in limited fashion for person. Unlike some other European languages, person cannot generally be inferred from the conjugation attached to the verb. As a result, subject nouns and pronouns are generally required elements in Sydvetlish sentences for clarity's sake. Most regular verbs in Sydvetlish follow the paradigm exemplified below for the simple present:

Stem: listen
1st. sing.: Je ist
2nd. sing.: Du ist
3rd. sing.: Er, ste, es er
1st. plur.: Vi ist
2nd. Plur.: Yø ist
3rd. Plur.: Dey ist

Voice in verbs

Sydvetlish has two voices for verbs: the active and the passive. The basic form is the active verb, and follows the SVO pattern discussed above. The passive voice is derived from the active by changing the form of the verb, inverting of subject and direct object, and marking the subject with "væ". For example:

active: John herd muzik.
passive: Muzik vas herd væ John.

The semantic effect of the change from active to passive is the depersonalization of an action. It is also occasionally used to topicalize the direct object of a sentence.

Verbal moods

Sydvetlish has three primary moods of verb. These are the infinitive, the imperative and the subjunctive. Again, the infinitive is the simplest, and most basic form.

The imperative mood is used in issuing commands. It is formed by using the verb in its simplest, unconjugated form: "Listen!", "Sit!", "Øt!". The imperative mood in Sydvetlish occurs only in the second person, and the subject ("du") is generally not expressly stated, because it is implied. When the speaker gives a command to anyone else, it is still directed at the second person as though it were a request for permission, although it may be a rhetorical statement.