The consonantal segments of Dunnek are:
Stops
unvoiced p t k q '
voiced b d g g!
Affricates
u. ts ch
v. dz j
Fricatives
u. f th s sh x h
Nasals m n
Liquids l
r
Glides w y
Most obstruents come in voiced and unvoiced versions; however, note that the glottal stop ' has no voiced equivalent, nor do any of the fricatives. Most of the consonantal sounds are similar to those of English. The glottal stop ', uvular stop q and uvular fricative x (kh) have values similar to their counterparts in Arabic. Only the letter g! is truly foreign to English, being a uvular ingressive. The sound somewhat resembled a gulp.
The vowel system is very symmetrical, at least in print, with three short vowels a, i, o and three long equivalents, aa, ii, oo. In practice, these pure vowel sounds often mutate in various phonetic environments. The name dunnek, for example, is actually spelled doonnik.
Gemination, or "doubling" of consonants is very important in Dunnek. Usually a consonant can be doubled with itself, but some consonants cannot, and must be paired with a different consonant. For example, n geminated is nn, t geminated is tt, but g! geminated is hg!, th geminated is tth, ' geminated is y'.
Dunnek roots are generally designated by capital letters, eg. BTK 'reading'. The schematics of word patterns are indicated by a C for consonants and v or vv for short and long vowels, for example, CvCvvC. When a specific vowel of consonant is required in a pattern, it is explicitly given: kiCCiC. Consonants and vowels may be repeated in a word; this is indicated by a plus sign following the consonant or vowel, and means that the given letter repeats the last occurance of the designated letter. When the plus sign immediately follows a letter, it means that the consonant is geminated or the vowel lengthened. For example, the pattern -C+ik means that the preceding consonant is repeated when this suffix is added to a -vC stem. Similarly, a minus sign following a C or v means that the consonant is reduced or the vowel shortened.
The last three nouns are examples of derived nouns utilizing affixes. Affixes can be prefixes or suffixes, and are of two types: those which make a change in the word pattern and those which do not. An example of the former is the prefix ki-, which makes nouns of place or nouns referring to the products of human labor. It always governs the pattern kiCCiC, for 3-consonant roots, or kiCC+aC, for 2-consonant roots. Thus, kinbin 'lawcourt' (root NBN), kippar 'copper' (PR). Examples of the latter type are the abstract noun prefix a- (arta 'order, harmony', root RT) and sa-, which forms nouns of instrument (sakiwyo 'pump', root KWY; this word also has the suffix -o, referring to objects manipulated by the hands).
An important point to realize is that when a pattern has a choice of vowels, it is impossible to predict beforehand which ones a given root will employ. What rules have been inferred are so complex and full or exceptions that they are of no use to any except the dedicated researcher.
Nouns with suffixes may form the plural simply by modifying the suffix. Some common suffixes and their plurals are:
Sg. Pl.
-ii -iwa
-a -ayaa
-at -aat
-o -oot
A noun may also form its plural by internal changes of vowelling or
consonants. If the noun contains a suffix, it may be dropped or
retained, or may itself take a plural form. Some nouns without
suffixes in the singular form their plural by addition of a suffix;
sometimes this is accompanied by internal changes. Some examples:
3-consonant roots
'iCCvvC
CvCvvyv+C
Cvwv+CC
kiCaaCiC (a common pattern for ki-nouns)
2-consonant roots
'iCC+vvC
Cvvyv+C
CaaCa (for CCa nouns)
kiCaa'iC (for many ki-nouns)
shajoomii 'rye' 'ishjoomii
'apoot 'snow' 'apooyot
jadziira 'island' jadziiyir
daado 'loincloth' 'iddaadoot
targ 'lute' tiwirg
yma 'day' yaamaat
taam 'pig' taamoot
kinbin 'lawcourt' kinaabin
The formation of plural adjectives is considerably simpler. Adjectives only form plurals when used alone as substantives. Those formed from the suffix -k use its plural version -koot. Others form the plural by addition of the suffix -aat: doonnikoot, 'the things of the Dunnek', 'aaporaat 'the red things'.
There are loanwords that have been so completely assimilated into Dunnek that they have become productive lexical units, eg. hinchaar 'iron', borrowed from the Udank. Being similar to the Dunnek pattern kiCCaC, it has been relexified into the purely Dunnek words manchar 'blacksmith' and moonchiir 'horseshoe', and, by back-formation, nachr 'sword'.
Nouns are naturally definite; the word fiiq means 'the man', biloosh means 'the woman', etc. Nouns are made indefinite by addition of the indefinite demonstrative adjective (see below).
The noun has three cases: nominative, construct and oblique. The nominative is used for the subject or object of a sentence and with certain prepositions. The construct is used for possessive and other coordinate relationships, and the oblique is used with prepositions and in adverbial phrases.
The nominative case is the simple form of the noun, singular or plural, without modifications. The construct, singular or plural, is formed in one of four ways:
shajoomii 'rye' shajoomi
yooma 'oats' yooma
biloosh 'woman' bilsho
fiiq 'man' fiiqi
kinbin 'lawcourt' kinbini
targ 'lute' tarx
The oblique case is also formed by modification of the noun ending. Singular or plural, the oblique is formed in one of these ways:
shajoomii shajoomii
yooma yoomaa
biloosh biloox
fiiq fiik
kinbin kinbiy
targ tarx
The consonant reduction referred to above is a process in which a consonant
is replaced by a "lower-grade" consonant. There are, of course, complicated
rules governing which consonant replaces which, but a good rule of thumb
is the next most fricative consonant at the same place of articulation.
Those consonants at the lowest end of the gradation simply disappear.The nominative case indicates the subject or object of a sentence; there is no confusion between them because of the relatively fixed order of the Dunnek sentence. The nominative is also used with certain prepositions; such prepositions genereally govern both nominative and oblique cases, with contrasting meanings.
The construct case is used for all manner of coordinate relationships. Construct nouns come immediately before the noun to which they related. The most common usage is to show possession, with the property in the construct before the owner: bitka fiiq 'the book of the man'.
The construct is also used for a variety of formations that would be considered adjectival or compound in English. Some of these are
The oblique case is used for the object of certain prepositions. Oblique nouns are also used without prepositions to render various adverbial concepts: raassiki yma 'Sunday' -> raassiki ymaa 'on Sunday'.
Construct nouns can modify other construct nouns: raassiki bitka fiiq 'the main book of the man'. If a construct expression is preceded by a preposition governing the oblique case, the last noun of the phrase is cast into the oblique: baa raassiki bitka fiik 'using the main book of the man'.
Adjectives may be compared in two ways. Predicate adjectives have no special form, but use the positive adjective plus preposition yik: thado dzol yik jagoo 'he is bigger than me (lit. he is big from me)'. Attributive adjectives take the general form 'iiCCvvC/'iiCvC for both comparative and superlative degrees: 'iidzli bitaak 'the bigger/biggest book'.
As we noted above, the Dunnek noun is definite by default. It can be made indefinite by adding an indefinite adjective, notably the word 'aag 'one, a certain': 'aaga bitaak 'a (certain) man'. When used with collective nouns, this adjective can also mean 'some': 'aaga mapaar 'some coffee'. Other demonstratives include haalk 'this', tilaak 'that', and pohaak 'every, all'.
The Dunnek preverb has the form subject-tense/aspect-object. Subject and object are not invarient; that is, there is no single element that always designates (for example) a third person plural subject or object. Rather, the subject-object complex consists of a simulfix whose two components jointly determine the person and number of the subject and object. These are given below, together with the independent pronoun to which the subject component of the simulfix relates:
Pronoun Simulfix
jago 'I' ja-...-aa : I...1st & 2nd
ja-...-ii : I...3rd, 0
'amt 'you (sg.)' } ta-...-ii : you...1st
ya'm 'you (pl.)' } 'i-...-aa : you...3rd, 0
tha'i 'he, she' } ma-...-o : 3rd sg...1st, 2nd
tho'i 'it' } tha-...-o : " ...3rd, 0
aagoo 'we' ya-...-ii : we...(anything)
thaa 'they (per.)'} da-...-ii : 3rd pl...(anything)
thoo 'they' }
The independent pronouns are used with prepositions, in equational
sentences without preverbs and for emphasis. The pronouns tha'i and
thaa are used for animate beings, while tho'i and thoo are used for
objects.Most simulfixes map to a subject of unique number and person, however, subjects in 2nd person singular and plural are represented by a single set of simulfixes. In all cases, the specified person of the object portion of the simulfix can be singular or plural in number. The simulfixes relating to 3rd person objects may also refer to objectless verbs (shown by a '0'). Those simulfixes with objects of 'anything' may refer to objects of any or no person or number.
The simulfix is used with the tense/aspect marker to form the preverb. The marker is a consonant inserted between the elements of the simulfix. Aspect is indicated by different consonants. There are only two tenses, imperfect and perfect. Imperfect is the default, indicated by the simple aspect consonant. To express perfect, this consonant is geminated.
Imperfect Perfect
Indicative -d- -dd-
Interrogative -g!- -hg!-
Subjunctive -th- -tth-
Optative -j- -gj-
Conditional -'- -y'-
Imperative -p- -pp-
To show these in use, we will insert them into the phrase batak bitaak
'read the book':
CCC roots CC roots
Active CaCvC CaC
Passive CiiCaC Cii'aC
Reflexive CiiCoC Cii'oC
Intensive/Repetitive CaaCiC Caa'iC
Passive of the above CaaCaC CaayaC
Causative CooCoC Coo'oC
Passive of the above CooCaC CoowaC
Affixes can place the verb in any of the above voices into different
modes:
Initiative sha-
Potentative moo-
Desiderative ka-...-aq
Obligative -olj
Participial
Active maCCvC maCvC (pl. -oot)
Passive mooCCiiC mooCiiC ( " )
Verbal noun tiCCvvC tiCvvC (no plural)
The combination of aspect, voice and mode can result in very nuanced
expressions, although we should note that many of the voices have very
limited use in colloquial Dunnek. To show some of the possible combinations,
we will again consider the root BTK 'reading'. (The verb without preverb is used in grammar, especially, in a
way similar to the English infinitive, although Dunnek really has
no form corresponding to the infinitive and verbs normally cannot be used
without preverbs.)
Prepositions precede the noun and put the noun into the nominative or oblique case. Sometimes the same preposition governs both cases, with different meanings. For example, nominative case may indicate location, and oblique motion. Major prepositions are
Adjective/noun Adverb
pohaak 'all' pohaah 'always'
honiis 'happy' honiish 'happily'
'aakor 'much, many' 'aakow 'very'
qoliim 'little, few' qoliiy 'a little, a bit'
dzod 'good' dzoj 'well'
hanka 'this place' hankaa 'here'
yma 'day' ymaa 'every day, daily'
haag! 'no place' haag 'nowhere'
jall 'sadness' baa jalw 'sadly'
yma baa ymaa 'during the day'
hanka 'iloo hankaa 'to here'
yik hankaa 'from here'
The last examples show adverbs formed from the oblique case plus
preposition. Note that nouns may appear in both formats, with and
without preposition, in different constructions.
The simplest sentence is the imperfect indicative active, which may dispense with all but a subject and object:
Variations on the tense or mood of the sentence require a preverb. The subject can then drop out if it is a pronoun.
In English, when one verb acts as the object of another, the infinitive is used: 'I want you to go.' Dunnek lacks the infinitive and uses instead the conjunction hag! 'that'. This links two independent sentences by turning the second into the equivalent of the object of the first: jadii kar hag! jadii hadi' 'I want to go'. Often the second preverb is omitted if identical to the first: jadii kar hag! hadi'. (This particular sentence could also be rendered in the desiderative mode: jadii kahadi'aq.
This conjunction is a versatile one. Purpose clauses involving other people are a prime usage: jadii kar hag! thado fiiq hadi' 'I want the man to go'. Discourse statements also use this conjunction; note that the verb of the reported speech remains in its original tense: jaddii gavidz hag! jadii batak bitaak safaa 'I said that I would read the book.'
The conjunction hag! is also used with prepositions, with reduction of the final g! when appropriate: yik hag 'from that = because': jaddii raj yik hag thaddo gavidz 'I came because he spoke.' It is not uncommon for such phrases to be written as compounds, with unpredictable changes: yihag.
There are many conjunctions in Dunnek besides these two, but the differences between them are mainly stylistic: all ultimately express some variant of the above two concepts. In speech and colloquial usage, og! and hag! reign supreme.
The clause comes at the end of the sentence regardless of the location of he topic. Since there is no helping word to show the relationship between topic and clause, the relative clause itself must fully show this relationship. For example:
The Dunnek alphabet of today is strikingly similar to the Vogukadane alphabet, since the Kadane adopted it from them. Although the Kadane made many modifications over the centuries after their arrival in Tizanthy, both groups have made more or less intentional efforts to bring their scripts into conformity since the reestablishment of contact between the Old World and the New about a century ago. Simple economics played a part in this: for a long time, until they could build a suitable industrial base, the Kadane bought their printing equipment from the Dunnek. It was simply cheaper to adapt their alphabet to the symbols available on a standard Dunnek press than to pay for the manufacture of custom typefaces.
Dunnek consonants are always spelled out. Complex ligatures were employed in the past to represent consonant clusters. Some of these contained recognizable elements of the consonants involved, while others were wholly new characters, as if we would spell 'combine' co%ine, using the % to represent the cluster 'mb'. In the age of handwritten manuscripts, these forms flourished, but the number of forms is much reduced since the introduction of printing.
Dunnek generally does not include short vowels in words, to more clearly reveal the underlying consonant pattern, although long vowels are always written, using the independent vowel characters. Thus, a word like bitaak would be transcribed btak, plural bitiiyik would be btiyk, and batak would be btk. As is the case with Arabic, once the conventions are understood and a certain level of familarity with the vocabulary attained, reading a text written in this manner is not as difficult as one might imagine.
© 1997, Terrence Donnelly