Anerian

**Anerian** is the official language spoken in the Kingdom of Gvinlind.

## Etymology

The native name of the language, **Aneresa**, is derived from *anere* meaning 'treasure' and *esa* meaning 'dream, fantasy, miracle, wonder', because legend says that the language was gifted to the Anerians by the deities in the form of a dream.

## History

**Anerian** is special among the Lanian languages, because it's the only one of them that began with a written language instead of a spoken one that was later written down. The first version of the langauge were runic symbols called the Melecelmas (*Crystalline Runes, lit. "crystal words" because they used to be carved on crystals*) who were used to communicate with the deities. Each symbol was later assigned a name and a phoneme. The first few new words created with the new spoken language were carefully chosen based on each symbol's meaning and how they related to the desired new word, but this system was deemed too exhausting and scrapped completely, except for names.

The sacred written language is usually referred to as Melerian while the first version of the spoken language is known as **Proto-Anerian**, with the current version of the language just being called Anerian.

## Phonology

### Vowels

All vowels also have long equivalents, in which case they are written with a macron: Āā, Ǣǣ, Ēē, Īī and Ōō. The only vowel that does not have a long form is /y/ as it merely came to exist due to a sound change after combining the consonants /j/ and /h/

 **Near-low** | æ

#### Diphthongs

Sometimes, it may be hard to differentiate between diphthongs and regular double vowels. To avoid this there is following rule: Any diphthong must not have any diacritics, while a pair of double vowels must always include at least one long vowel and be written with a macron.

## Orthography

### Spelling changes

At the end of an aquatic noun, /i/ is written as ‹y›, but changes back into ‹i› if the plural suffix -s is added. If the /i/ occurs after /j/ or if it’s pronounced as /i:/ it’s simply written as ‹i› or as ‹ī›, depending on the pronunciation.

### Sound changes

If /v/ stands at the end of a word or a syllable, it is still written as a v but pronounced as an /f/ instead.

#### Changes before /h/

In Proto-Anerian it was possible to have /h/ after another consonant, but after many centuries, sound changes occurred and resulted in many new consonants being included in the language due to a combination of /h/ and whatever consonant comes before it. The only consonants who do not have a changed form are /p/ and /h/ itself.

### Syllables

#### Syllable structure

Every syllable must include at least one vowel but vowels can also not stand alone, so possible syllable structures include:

* (C)(C)VV
* (C)(C)VC
* (C)(C)VVC

#### Restrictions

Certain sounds cannot appear at the end of a word: /b/, /β/, /x/, /ð/, /f/, /ʍ/, /g/, /h/, /j/, /ʎ/, /ɱ/, /ɲ/, /w/ and /ʤ/. /ɾ/ may only be used at the end of a word if the word is a verb.

## Morphology

### Derivational morphology

Anerian uses affixes for derivational morphology. The most important affixes are:

#### Parts of speech

##### Adjective to noun

To turn an adjective into a noun, you usually either remove the last consonant of the adjective or add a fitting vowel at the end that agrees with the element class system.

**Example:** yinesom (“happy, merry”) → Yineso (“happiness, merriment)

##### Adjective to verb

If an adjective is turned into a verb, you usually remove the last consonant of the adjective and add an ‘r’ or in some cases, add a fitting vowel that agrees with the element class system and then add an ‘r’.

**Example:** yhmil (“slow”) → yhmiler (“reduce speed, decelerate”)

##### Noun to adjective

To turn a noun into an adjective, you usually add or remove a consonant. There is no particular rule that states which consonant is added, though the most common endings of adjectives are -c, -n, -m and -s.

**Example:** Dalina (“beauty”) → dalin (“beautiful”)

##### Noun to verb

To turn a noun into a verb, one simply adds an ‘r’ at the end of the word.

**Example:** Eseræ (“eye, look, glance”) → eserær (“to see, to look, to watch”)

##### Verb to adjective

If you want to turn a verb into an adjective, you usually replace the ‘r’ at the end of a sentence with another consonant. Sometimes, the vowel is also changed. Adjectives that come about this way often end with a ‘d’.

**Example:** inanhor (“to scatter, to divide, to dissolve”) → inanhad (“scattered, divided”)

##### Verb to noun

To turn a verb into a noun, one simply removes the ‘r’ at the end of the word.

**Example:** vhanher (“to have, to possess”) → Vhanhe (“possession”)

#### Miscellaneous

##### Agentive

The agentive is someone who does a specific thing or is a specific thing. To form the agentive, you usually bring the original word into a form where it ends with a vowel and then add on the suffix *-ne*. Nouns may also stay in their original form. To differentiate agentives from other nouns that simply end in -ne, there is a rule that says that only agentives may end with -Vne, while other words need to end at least with a -nne.

**Example:**

**(1)** *Adj:* væshon (“wild, untamed”) → Væshone (“a savage”)

**(2)** *N:* Sonelia (“song, melody”) → Soneline (“singer”)

**(3)** *V:* hævgor (“to fight, to battle, to attack”) → Hævgone (“warrior, attacker”)

##### Locative

To turn any part of speech into a place or location related to it, one simply brings it into a form ending with a vowel and then adds the suffix -ma.

**Example:** Nohalha (“ancestry, heritage, family”) → Nohalhama (“ancestral home”)

##### Negation

To show that an action is reversed, negated or something is the opposite, one uses the prefix *gat-*. Often times, the ‘t’ is silent or only pronounced very softly if the word it modifies starts with a consonant.

**Example:**

**(1)** do = pavador, undo = gatpavador

**(2)** be = lizar, not be = gatlizar

## Parts of speech

### Pronouns

Anerian differentiates between personal, possessive and reflexive pronouns. Pronouns exist in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd person singular and plural, with the 1st plural being further separated into inclusive (including the person being spoken to) and exclusive (excluding the person being spoken to) pronouns. In some cases, pronouns may be left out of a sentence, but only if the conjugation makes it clear who is being referred to and if the pronoun/person isn’t somehow important to understand the context of the sentence.

#### Gendered pronouns

Every personal pronoun also comes in three gendered versions: feminine, masculine and neutral, though these are only used when a distinction is important to the context of a sentence. Often if a sentence already includes a gendered personal pronoun or other terms indicating the gender of the relevant person, any consecutive possessive or reflexive pronouns are used in their ungendered form, unless it would confuse the reader on who was being referred to.

#### Demonstratives

To demonstrate that a certain item is referred to, there are two pronouns: *pin* (“this”, “these”) to refer to any number of items that are closer to the speaker and *pal* (“that”, “those) to refer to any number of items further away from the speaker.

#### Interrogatives

The most common form of asking questions is to use interrogative pronouns, which are put at the beginning of a sentence. They also function to refer to unknown or afore-mentioned particles in a sentence.

* **Haloc** – how
* **Hanæm** – what
* **Hæsan** – when
* **Hemos** – who
* **Hies** – why
* **Hiles** – which
* **Holim** – where
* **Honom** – how many, how much
* **Hoeth** – general question word

#### Reciprocals

To show reciprocal like the English ‘each other’, one would use the reciprocal pronoun ‘shan’.

### Nouns

When using the new writing system, nouns are always capitalized and are the only part of speech where this is done except at the beginning of a sentence and for names, places etc.

#### Classes

Anerian has five different noun classes, each one based on one of the five elements recognized by the Anerian culture.

·     Divine
·     Pure
·     Eternal,
·     Infinite
·     Spiritual
·     Creative
·     Innocent
·     Unknown
·     Sophisticated
·     Social
·     Expressive
·     Truthful
·     Imaginative
·     Perceptive
·     Grounding
·     Fertile
·     Material
·     Still
·     Alive
·     Abundant
·     Secure
·     Balanced
·     Active
·     Transformative
·     Lively
·     Powerful
·     Lustful
·     Determined
·     Passionate
·     Free
·     Brave
·     Intuitive
·     Wise
·     Healing
·     Harmonious
·     Dreamy
·     Cleansing
·     Empathetic
·     Clear
·     Peaceful

##### Suffixes

Each noun class has a different ending, though the plural is always formed by adding -s.

 **Plural** | -as

#### Descriptors

Descriptors, in most cases adjectives, are put directly in front of the noun and their ending needs to agree with the ending of the noun. This grammatical feature is considerably young and to avoid confusion, it was originally the reason why the capitalization of nouns was implanted, to prevent people from confusing adjectives and nouns with each other. Descriptors must also agree with the related noun or verb if it is part of a modal object, even though that means that they stand somewhere behind the related word.

#### Compounds

When combining words to create compounds there are three different types: Lexical, nominal and descriptive. If a nominal or descriptive compound is further described through adjectives standing in front of the compound word and especially if the nominal compound consists of two nouns with different endings, the adjectives must always agree with the first noun.

##### Lexical compounds

Lexical compounds are words that were first combined many years ago and have become an ingrained part of the language to the point that they can be found in lexicons. Oftentimes, these words are not only putting together two words, but the spelling may have been altered, letters may have been added or removed to fit the new compound better, etc. The words have essentially melted together over time to the point that they may even be considered new root words.

##### Nominal compounds

Nominal compounds are a combination of at least two nouns. To do so, you put the ‘heavier’ or ‘more dominant’ noun first, put an apostrophe and add the second noun which is usually descriptive, specifying, etc. Both nouns are capitalized.

##### Descriptive compounds

Descriptive compounds function similarly to nominal compounds, with the main difference being that only one word is a noun, while the other is an adjective. Just like nominal compounds, the noun stands first, followed by an apostrophe and then the adjective. Only the noun is capitalized. Just like any other case where a noun and a descriptor stand together, the descriptor must agree with the noun.

### Verbs

#### Conjugation

Just like nouns, verbs are sorted into five different elemental classes and based on their class, they have different endings and their conjugation works slightly different. To conjugate any verbs, you remove the -ar/-ær/-er/-or/-ir ending and instead replace it with the ending you need for a specific person/tense. Any irregular verb forms that existed up to few hundred years ago were overridden by the Gvinlindian Ministry of Language and the continued usage of the irregular forms was prohibited, which is why it is only found in certain dialects today.

#### Aspects

There are three aspects in Anerian, that are formed by putting a corresponding particle in front of a verb. If a sentence has both an aspect and a mood, the mood is put first.

 have/had/will have
+ past participle
+ gerund
 rosh-

#### Moods

There are several moods that can be expressed through verbs, just like verb aspects they are formed by adding particles in front of a verb. In some cases, they may alter the stress of the vowels of the sentence which is indicated by adding a macron above the vowel. Moods are dominant over aspects, so the mood particle would come before an aspect particle should there be a need for both in a sentence. Here a quick overview of the moods, what they roughly translate to and the corresponding particles:

##### Causative

The causative mood is used to indicate that something causes something else or that something influences something else. It is formed using the particle *zit*.

##### Commissive

The commissive mood is used to show a personal commitment to something and is used to express promises, vows or threats. It is formed using the particle *ōpon*.

##### Conditional

The conditional mood is used in conditional clauses to show that one condition is dependent on another. It is usually accompanied by a second clause featuring the subjunctive mood. It is formed using the particle *sæl*.

Note: If-sentences may also be formed with the conjunction ‘fit’, which is usually used for conditional statements where an accompanying ‘would’-phrase is not needed.

##### Desiderative

The desiderative mood is similar to the volitive in that is expresses wants and desires, but the desiderative indicates a deeper kind of want, such as for lifelong wishes, hopes and aspirations. It is formed using the particle *ran*.

##### Divine

The divine mood is unique among the moods and expresses that one is doing something because they were guided to do so by the gods. It is also translated as such, by using phrases like ‘The gods guided me to…’. It is formed using the particle *silan*.

##### Imperative

The imperative mood is a grammatical mood that forms a command or request. The imperative mood is used to demand or require that an action be performed. It is formed using the particle *paol*.

##### Necessitative

The necessitative mood is used to express the need to do something, for example in the form of plea, insistence, intent, purpose or encouragement. It is formed using the particle *ēlo.*

##### Negative

The negative mood automatically negates any verb and whatever it’s supposed to express. It is the only mood that is stackable, meaning that it can be added in front of another mood to negate the original verb. It is formed using the particle *gat*.

##### Permissive

The permissive mood indicates that somebody is allowed to do a certain thing or to give someone the permission to do something. It is formed using the particle *dhen.*

##### Potential

The potential mood is used to indicate that somebody is able to do something or that something is possible, though it is differentiated from the subjunctive because it is usually translated using ‘can’ or ‘be able to’, which are also used interchangeable with this mood, though using both simultaneously is grammatically incorrect. It is formed using the particle *lim*.

##### Subjunctive

The subjunctive mood is the verb form used to explore a hypothetical situation and possibilities. A notable difference to the English subjunctive is that it is only used for hypotheticals and potentials that are formed with ‘could’, ‘would’, ‘should’ or to form the second clause in a conditional sentence. Whether ‘could’, ‘would’ or ‘should’ is meant is often unclear and must be understood through the context of a conversation. It is formed using the particle *vhi*.

##### Volitive

The volitive mood indicated wants and needs, but to a lower degree than the desiderative mood, which is used to express deeper wishes and desires. The volitive mood is instead used to express current wants, such as wanting to eat a specific food etc. It is formed using the particle *bin*.

##### Vulgar

The vulgar mood is used to express a negativity such as a negative reaction. This mood is also commonly used when cursing or when one is talking about a topic that frustrates them. It is often translated using words like ‘fucking’ or other vulgar expressions. It is formed using the particle *fac*.

#### Descriptors

Like with noun-descriptors, adverbs are put directly in front of the verb and their ending needs to agree with the grammatical class of the verb, though you only add the vowel, not the -r. There are some words that are not put in agreement, eg. ‘just’, ‘probaby’, ‘usually’ etc., which is simply a result of irregularities in the Proto-Language.

### Adjectives

In Anerian, there is no distinction between adverbs and adjectives. The only way to differentiate between what would be considered an adverb vs. what would be considered an adjective, is the placement of the word, which is usually in front of the word it’s describing, usually either a noun or subject (making it an adjective) or a verb (making it an adverb).

#### Comparatives

To compare adjectives with one another, there are four comparative levels, each one denoted by a specific prefix. Some verbs also have an increased version formed with the prefix ‘ro(l)-‘, which is derived from the word ‘rolem’ meaning very. However, compared to the normal comparatives, these words usually slightly or completely change the meaning of the original word.

### Prepositions

Prepositions are usually put in front of the related word without any morphemes or extra symbols being added, however there is one exception, which is the usage of prepositions in expressions that have become idioms over time, where they are connected to the word they relate to with an apostrophe.

**Example:**

Da’Shadema,…

At’day.end,…

“At the end of the day,…” “At (long) last,…”

## Syntax

Anerian has an S(O)V(O) word order. The subject of the sentence is named first, followed by any direct objects and then the verb. Any locations, times, etc. are put at the end of a sentence.

### Basic word order

A detailed version of the basic syntax of Anerian:

* (Question word)
* (Adjective/s) Subject
* (Adjective/s) (Direct/Indirect Object)
* (Adverb) Verb
* (Preposition)-(Modal Object)
* (Preposition)-(Local Object)
* (Preposition)-(Temporal Object)
* (Preposition) (Causal Object)

### Questions

#### General questions

General questions, meaning questions that can usually be answered with a simple yes or no, are formed with the interrogative pronoun *hoeth*, which is put at the beginning of a normal sentence to turn it into a question.

**Example:**

Hoeth Tenho vhanh-ei?

GEN.Q dog have-2SG.PRS?

“Do you have a dog?”

#### Specific questions

Specific questions are used to ask after a specific thing. You form them by using interrogative pronouns.

**Example:**

*Holim naarh-movhod-oi?*

Where PROG-go-2SG.PRS?

“Where are you going?”

### Possessiveness

There are two ways to show possession in Gvinlind, either by using possessive pronouns or by using the preposition ‘fath’.

**Example (1):**

*Ænan Lhætæ liz-ha.*

1SG.POSS ball be-3SG.PRS.

“It is my ball.”

**Example (2):**

*Lhætæ fath Vobba liz-ha.*

Ball of baby be-3SG.PRS.

“It is the baby’s ball.”

### Time-telling

To tell the time in Anerian, you need to know two things: the current hour of the day (0-25) and the day of the week, though the day itself  isn’t named when telling the time, it can always be recognized anyway. To form the time you first use *tia* which means ‘hour’, when writing you would then put an apostrophe, then the number of the current hour with the suffix of the day’s element and then you simply say *se … gaeas* meaning ‘and … minutes’. Should you not know the day (for example if you’re talking about the future or the past) then you may leave out the elemental suffix.

**Example:**

*Tia’tiv-a se derhzhet gaeas*

Hour’two-AETHER and thirty minutes

“It’s 2:30 on an Ethdema.”