Arêndron Morphology
3: Modifiers

Adjectives

Adjectives in Arêndron have no declension for case or number, and do not agree with the nouns they modify.

The comparative is formed with a suffix that has several allomorphs:

• -va after a vowel, sh or ch: zansa, zansava
• -ba after a sonorant (with a preceding nasal assimilating to m): meŋ, memba
• -da after rn (an exception to the above): khurn, khurnda
• -ba replacing a final k or g: targ, tarba
• -xa replacing a final t or d: hunt, hunxa
• -ta after s or x: luitas, luitasta

The superlative, more simply, is formed with the suffix -âbra, which replaces final -a for adjectives ending in that vowel: zansa, zansâbra.

The comparatives of adjectives in -a stress the same vowel as the root (the third-last syllable of the inflected word); so do comparatives of polysyllabic adjectives in -t or -d not preceded by another consonant; other comparatives stress the second-last; the superlative stresses the â of the suffix.

Opposition

The suffix -ur (again replacing final -a) forms an opposite adjective, in a similar manner to English un-. Naturally, many of the most common adjectives have lexical opposites: zansa “happy”, luitas “sad”, coexisting with zansur “unhappy”. The stress remains on the same syllable as in the root.

Adverbs

Many adverbs are formed from adjectives with the suffix -el (replacing final -a where applicable). Adverbs can be formed from comparative or superlative adjectives: zansel, zansavel, zansâbrel.

Adverbs, whether or not formed from adjectives, do not decline and have no other morphology.

Quantifiers

Quantifiers are words that can behave either as nouns or adjectives. When used as nouns, they decline for case like nouns; when used as adjectives, they are invariable like adjectives. The most important quantifiers, with declension numbers given in brackets, are:

Cûth, ghâsh, khôl, mêsha and môra can all be turned into verbs (deleting the -a of the last two to form the verbal stem). As expected, these mean “to do something”, “to do anything”, “to do nothing”, “to do enough” and “to do everything”, although their usage does not correspond exactly to the usage of these phrases in English. Consult the dictionary for further details.

Numbers

Arêndron counts in groups of thirty, not in groups of ten as English does. This originates from an ancient system of finger-counting in which each finger of the right hand was counted as a unit, so that all the digits from 0 to 5 could be shown by showing that many fingers, and the fingers of the left hand counted in sixes from 6 to 30.

(Colloquially, daiu is often shortened to dju when modifying a noun. The full version is always used when reciting the numbers in sequence.)

Numbers beyond 30

Multiples of 30 are formed by prefixing a number to the plural caurran; 60 is djurcaurran, 120 hwarcaurran, and the rest are regular. If the multiplier is 12 or above, it takes a hyphen: 360 is vat-caurran, 390 rûcavat-caurran, and so on.

Numbers containing a multiple of 30 and some units are formed by writing the thirties and then the units, as separate words: caurra rû “31”, djurcaurran daiu “62”, etc.

Higher powers of 30 are as follows: pildar “900”, nœr “27,000”, nœrcaurra “810,000”, nœrpildar “24,300,000”, khôlat “729,000,000”.

Ordinal numbers and reciprocals

Ordinal numbers are formed with the suffix -ra. The ordinals up to “sixth” are ghanta, deŋra, târna, hwarêa, cûra, seitra; the rest are regular.

Ordinal numbers above 30 are formed by putting just the last word, normally the units, into the ordinal form: caurra ghanta, “31st”. For numbers with no units, the -n of caurran is deleted before adding -ra: djurcaurrara, “60th”. The ordinal “900th” is pildra.

Reciprocals are formed from the ordinal numbers by suffixing -k. The only exceptions are shartak for one-half and hwârak for one-quarter. Multiples of fractions are formed in the same way as multiples of 30: djurtârnak “two-thirds”, têhwârak “three-quarters”, etc. (All fraction-names are fourth-declension and so do not change in the plural.)

Determiners

Determiners are like quantifiers in that they can behave either as nouns or adjectives; unlike them in that when they behave as nouns, they inflect for number as well as case. (Ra is the only exception.) As with the quantifiers, each determiner fits into one of the noun declensions:

Ordinal numbers are also treated as determiners, and always fall into the second declension.

Klet, grœn and ghaul

Where English distinguishes two levels of deixis, “this” to refer to objects close to the speaker and “that” to refer to more distant objects, Arêndron distinguishes three: klet for close to the speaker, grœn for close to the listener, and ghaul for in the distance. The same three-way distinction occurs in the locative: klêchen “here”, grœnhen “there”, ghaulyen “over there”. When relating an event that occurred elsewhere, grœn and ghaul can shift their reference to things close to and far from the focus of the narrative; klet may be used to bring something into direct focus by talking about it as though it were present.

Ra

Ra is the definite article, equivalent to English “the”, used to pinpoint a reference to a particular member of a class (ra proth, “the book”). It is used either when the listener already knows which member of the class is meant (ra thaŋ, “the king”; presumably there is only one king at any one time) or when the rest of the sentence makes it clear (ra cazêra d'orzûlê, “the girl that I love”). Unlike “the” in English, ra is also used with possessives: ra shôlsa ghên, “my daughter” – implying that I have only one; shôlsa ghên would mean “one of my daughters”.

Unlike the other determiners, ra is always used with a noun and never replaces one, so it does not take case or number inflections. In pronunciation, ra is usually reduced to [ɾə], and may be elided to r' before an unstressed vowel.

Arêndron has no indefinite article, like English “a” / “an”; the noun on its own can be used to give indefinite reference.