PROTO-DREM: Language Structure:

Proto-Drem is agglutinating, and almost poly-synthetic in it’s combining of words and affixes in sentence structure. The way the language puts the words together is where the sentence becomes one large word itself. The main thing to look for is the verb root and object root are glued together as the affixes go out in both directions depending on if they are attached to the verb or object. Due to this and other aspects, Proto-Drem has been considered an agglutinating or polysynthetic language. Although most polysynthetic languages emphasize the verb, one area of polysynthetic languages which emphasize the noun is the Australian Poly-languages. Like most polysynthetic languages, noun incorporation is seen in all aspects as is how verbs & nouns compound. The Suffix is found to the left of the verb thereby making the language an SVO type language which is very common to find. Another thing seen is verb incorporation where a verb and its cause are attached together as well. The language looks to be a complex fusion of Amerind polysynthetic languages and some Bantoid languages of Central/West Africa. Also infused into the conlang is a strong feel of Thai syntax for a generally non-complex working found throughout the grammar.

A basic thought found throughout the grammar is simplicity in that one only puts information to convey certain clarity and not mix in un-needed complexities. So the sentences can sound very choppy to non-native speakers, but to a native speaker, the syntax and certain quirks of the language are perfectly clear. So the grammar with its complexities will be seen, yet only when the context is cloudy and uncertain is when all the variable and complexities show itself. With the syntax of Proto-Drem, it has normally a flexible SVO word order but can change to a VOS order in more poetical writings. Note that the verb is always attached to the Object no matter where the Subject is. Unusually, voice as a marker is not used in Proto-Drem, only that word order states which voice it is, in this case, SVO for active voice, and VOS for Passive voice. Also transitivity markers are also sometimes dropped due to word order, in that SVO/VOS are for Transitive sentences, and VS is for Intransitive sentences.

A thing that is difficult for speakers of English to understand is verb serialization, which is common for SVO languages. The language with a simple subject and several verbs in a chain can actually present a long and complex sentence without any of the small “words” that usually form the building blocks in English. So context must be looked at closely when dealing with Proto-Drem. With any sentence, if the sentence has two or more verbs, especially all in a row, then it is a certainty that a serial verb is in front of you. The key with serial verbs is that is usually telling a series of events that happen(ed) in order.

Drem also has two tones, a high, and low to make Drem a tonal language. There are several allotones, including a few contour tones and a mid tone that is seen is actually a downstepped High tone. The tones in Proto-Drem form a large basis on the meaning of the words that are used, as there are only a few tone-less” roots. So with tone, a word might be spelled the same, but due to tone, the meanings are different indeed. The tones and how they work is an important aspect of learning the language. Also important to note are the fixes that are needed when the tone system creates issues. The fixes known as repair strategies are well defined and help most get thru the issues. Also the speaker must be careful of using grammatical tone, as tones can shift as well as spread, so knowing the tonal-rules are critical for proper understanding. All of that will be spoken of in the chapter on tones.

Proto-Drem also uses a common form of vowel harmony, known as [±ATR] vowel harmony. The language though takes it a bit further and uses a form that is known as regressive or anticipatory, which makes it rare indeed. The Vowel harmony works backwards from normal Progressive style VH and there are several aspects that tie-in with tones and aspects of phonology such as vowel coalescence. So with VH, context is critical, as roots might change and the spoken word might sound like a word with a totally differing meaning, so context must be looked at. There are of course certain rules which can be tricky and make people wonder, but the grammar is pretty good about explaining items so as to clear up any uncertainties.

In addition to simplicity, other factors also make the language interesting. The language has a large set of noun classes and Noun concords, and so affixes onto the noun can give a wide variety of information if needed. The Bantu-like feel of the concords, keep nouns a strong player in Proto-Drem syntax. The concords, noun-classes and other noun affixes keep the subject quite productive and important in a Proto-Drem sentence. The object on the other hand does have a seemingly minimal role, which is to be expected in a lot of polysynthetic languages, which Proto-Drem almost seems to be in certain aspects.

With all this being said, one thing must be said of Proto-Drem. In typical speech found in all areas that the scattered clans live in, the speech is different in style comparing informal and formal speech. The informal speech happens to drop a lot off, like affixes, or pronouns, and a whole host of other stuff in that Proto-Drem has the feel of a highly isolating language like Thai which needs to be listened to closely due to the need to read context correctly. The formal speech which is used by travelers, merchants, chiefs and shamans uses the standard Proto-Drem which seems long-winded, yet is more exact and clearly understood in contrast compared to the normal informal speech. So overall, care must be taken to who one speaks to.

Proto-Drem roots are a small thing; most of them are small 1 syllable roots. The normal root of CV is basically used by both verbs and nouns, while most of the CVCV roots are nouns. The roots can easily compound and incorporate, for instance when a verb and noun compound, the term in call noun incorporation, as they combine to form 1 root. The other “base” root is called the reduplicated root, which also contains a final vowel. The root structure there is basically CVC-VC-V with the final vowel usually used for TAM issues and to keep the stem open. So note that the actual root of the reduplicated root is a closed syllable.

(N)

(C)₁

(C)₂

(V)

The base root in Proto-Drem is of course the standard CV and CVCV, yet with affixes; a V syllable is heard and in some ways, like pronouns, can be quite common.

(N)

(C)

The standard single syllable root for nouns and verbs is pretty much the exact same as what affixes use. Although, technically a single vowel will suffice, nouns and verbs will use a (N)CV form.

(N)

(C)

The standard bi-syllable root for nouns and verbs is pretty much the exact same as what most roots seen are. Although, technically a single vowel will suffice for the first syllable, nouns and verbs will use a (N)CV(N)CV form.

(N)

(C)

The roots for reduplication are definitely different. These roots are for verbs only and will have a part of their structure copied and then a final vowel is attached to keep the final “stem” an open syllable. Thus the root for a reduplicated stem is a closed syllable; in this case the core is a vowel and a final consonant, which would of course be copied for the reduplication process. Most roots though like the above bi-syllabic roots will be bigger, in this case a (N)CVC is usually seen.

A normal ‘word’ could be (N)(C)V-(N)CVCV-(N)CV which would be a prefix, root, suffix/aux

In Proto-Drem, the basic root is generally seen as CV with a good number of CVCV roots. Thus Proto-Drem has only open syllables and the root is very common to see in the Dremish languages, even in modern languages such as Vakomo. There are other roots that are accepted, even a simple V, which for most are in reality an affix instead of a real root. The CVC root which in reality is a CVC-VC since the VC copies the final VC of the root, and of course the root has to attach to a final vowel to acquire canon structure. The last notable roots are the compound roots which are really two roots combining into one. These are normally seen as (CV)CV-CVCV.

CV (This is the typical “small” root in Proto-Drem. Used for both verbs and nouns)

CVC-VC (seen due to reduplication, as the final –VC is a copy of the roots VC-)

CVCV (This root is the typical root size for most words, so long as it is not a compound.)

The compound roots in Proto-Drem are fairly easy to acquire as they are just a combination of (usually) two roots, seen in the list above. There is one compound root that cannot be a combination of the above, and that compound is due to syllable compression and vowel coalescence. It is found under certain circumstances and within a restricted set of what vowels can be used, so these roots are very rare indeed.

CV.CVV.NCV (seen thru syllable compression-2^nd and 3^rd syllable compress to form a long vowel due to vowel coalescence)

In Proto-Drem, most affixes seen will be prefixes for verbs and suffixes for nouns. Either way, the vast majority of affixes are a simple CV which thru the various examples, one can see the large variety of affix types that is commonly CV structure. There are some pronouns which are used and some fairly commonly, but are V or (V)C structure. These two groups are thought to be a fossilized relic from a past form of the language. These are very rare, yet due to the common use of mood affixes and pronouns, these are still commonly seen.

V (these are seen as pronouns, final vowels for reduplicated roots and other affixes.)

(V)C (most of these are usually seen as mood affixes – what makes these rare is that their usage depends on a vowel following which leaves a few things possible.)

CV (these are the typical style affixes, for subjects, verbs and objects. This style is used for nearly every application in the language.)

The Proto-Drem stem is a root with any needed affixes attached to it to create a new root or in the case or Proto-Drem, a whole sentence sometimes. Below are the basic structures of the two basic entities in Proto-Drem, a Noun and the Verb.

Here is a typical Proto-Drem noun, with its needed information. What we see below is typical for what we see of Subjects and Objects. Notice that the two are different for some important information, while the rest usually gets “shoved to the side” where placement means little. For the Subject, the Concords go to the left of the slightly more important noun classes, pronouns and possessives that are al to the left, right next to the root. Note that due to the “root” –ndo, the plural creates a noun stem and forms the “macrostem” which is seen by the parenthesis ( ).

CONC

NC/Pro/POSS

(ROOT

PLUR) /INTS

CMP/DEG

LOC/MOT

PEJ

Here is a typical Proto-Drem object. One thing that can be said immediately is the differences between it and the subject. The main thing is that nothing can get in between the object and verb root (except for a very few exceptions). Thus the concords, noun classes, Pronouns and Possessives have to go on the right of the Object. Another slight change is how the Intensifiers which were just to the left of the comparatives & degree markers go in the same place, but for Objects, it shares the same “hole” as the object concords which are just a bit farther away from the root as the noun classes, pronouns and possessives which normally go right next to the root. For objects in Proto-Drem, noun classes are usually dropped, and plurality and possessives can be deduced from context. Note that due to the “root” –ndo, the plural creates a noun stem and forms the “macrostem” which is seen by the parenthesis ( ).

(ROOT

PLUR) /NC/Pro/POSS

CONC/INTS

CMP/DEG

LOC/MOT

PEJ

The chart represents the standard Proto-Drem verb structure, as the descriptions give a basic idea on what is seen and heard in the section. Proto-Drem had a pretty rigid word structure, unlike most polysynthetic languages, and so acts more like an agglutinating language in ways. Below lists the common groupings of what is inside a Proto-Drem verb. We see that surrounding the actual verb root are the TAM markers, tense, aspect and modals. And those become a stem and extend out the verb “root”. Note also that causatives are also a part of the aspect stem extension and so causatives also become part of the “macrostem” which is seen by the parenthesis ( ).

NEG

AUX

TEN

MOD

(Root

VE-C)