# Mosici

#language

#
Sounds ⁊ Letters

##
Phonology and phonotactics

Mosici has the following phonemes:

| Labials | Coronals | Palatals | Dorsals
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
Nasals | m | n |  |
Stops | p | t |  | k
Fricatives | f v | s z | ɕ ʑ | ʀ
Approximants | w |  | j | ʟ

| Front | Back
--- | --- | ---
Close | i y | u
Close-Mid | e ø | o
Open-Mid | ɛ | ɔ
Open | a |

Vowels can also all be long, nasalised, or both.
There are also the following allophony rules:

- Plosives are realised as voiced next to voiced fricatives and approximants.
- Plosives are realised as non-sibilant fricatives at the end of words
- For the dorsal plosive and approximant:
  - They are realised as palata before /i y e j/ or their long and/or nasalised variants
  - They are realised as uvular before /u o w/ or their long and/or nasalised variants
  - They are realised as palatal after /i e j/ or their long and/or nasalised variants
  - Otherwise they are realised as velar
- The dorsal approximant /ʟ/ is realised as [ẅ] in coda position
- The dorsal approximant /ʀ/ is realised as [ɐ̯] in coda position
- The dorsal fricative /ʀ/ is realised as [ʁ] after consonants
- /n/ nasalises a preceding vowel
- /n/ is silent in coda positions (still nasalising tho)
- /n/ assimilates to [ɲ] after a palatal consonant as well as before /i e j/, and to [ŋ] after a velar consonant

##
Coalescence

Mosici doesn't allow consecutive vowels inside of words. To resolve would-be hiatuses, a coalescence process is used.
This process is historic for all native words, but it still current to resolve diphthongs in loan words and is necessary to understand to read the written language, as the spelling was fixed before that sound change occurred.

The process goes thusly (before applying the allophony):

1. Group all consecutive vowels by pairs, starting at near the start of the word;
2. Combine all pairs of vowels according to the table below (the first vowel indexes the row, and the second vowel indexes the column);
3. If any vowel is long, the resulting vowel is long;
4. Repeat from 1 until all hiatus has been resolved.

| a | ɛ | ɔ | e | ø | o | i | y | u
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
a | ɔ | a | ɔ | ɛ | ɛ | ɔ | e | ø | o
ɛ | ɛ | i | ø | i | e | ø | i | ø | ø
ɔ | ɔ | ø | ɔ | ø | ø | o | ø | ø | o
e | ɛ | i | ø | i | e | ø | i | ø | ø
ø | ø | e | ø | e | y | ø | y | y | y
o | ɔ | ø | o | ø | ø | u | ø | ø | u
i | ja | jɛ | jɔ | je | jø | jo | ji | jy | ju
y | ø | ø | ø | ø | y | ø | i | y | y
u | wa | wɛ | wɔ | we | wø | wo | wi | y | u

##
The Nahan Script

Mosici is written in the nahan alphabet (also named the Polia(h)r alphabet), which has the follwoing letters, digraphs and diacritics. The diacritic on the vowels is called the sitrapaóha [ɕdʁapɔː] (plural sitrapaóhaa [ɕdʁapoː])

Letter | Transliteration | Value (IPA) | Name | Name (IPA)
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
p | p | /p/ | paí | [pe]
o | o | /o/ | ós | [us]
l | l | /ʟ/ | lán | [ʟɔ̃]
i | i | /e/, /j/ | írne | [iɐ̯nɛ]
a | a | /a/ | ánp | [ɔ̃ɸ]
h | h | /∅/[1] | hapfe | [apfɛ]
r | r | /ʀ/ | fastesiec hapfe [2] | [fasteɕɛx apfɛ]
c | c | /k/ | cal | [kaẅ]
n | n | /n/ | naol | [nɔẅ]
e | e | /e/ | éstal | [istaẅ]
s | s | /s/ | sipal | [ɕpaẅ]
z | z | /z/ | fastesiec sipal | [fasteɕɛx ɕpaẅ]
f | f | /f/ | fasoh | [fasoː]
v | v | /v/ | fastesiec fasoh | [fasteɕex fasoː]
m | m | /m/ | milá | [miʎɔ]
t | t | /t/ | tecio | [tɛɟjo]

Spelling | Transliteration | Value (IPA)
--- | --- | ---
ó | ó | /u/
í | í | /i/
á | á | /ɔ/
é | é | /i/
si | si | /ɕ/
zi | zi | /ʑ/

The Nahan script also uses a number of punctuation marks:

Symbols | Transcriptions | Notes
--- | --- | ---
, | , | Comma, indicates a short pause in the sentence
. | . | Period, indicates the end of a sentence
( ) | “ ” or [ ] | Used as quotes, as well as around numerals[3]
- | · or ’ | Middle dot, used to separate clitics
: | : or . depending on use | Introduces lists, or indicates an abbreviation

##
Examples

- tráiheíns tráiheíns “fox”
  〈tʀɔiːɛins〉
- */tʀøːins/ (Coalescence 1)
- /tʀyːns/ (Coalescence 2)
- [dʁỹːs] (Allophony rules)
- moséceec moséceec “of the isles”
  〈mosicɛɛk〉
- /mosikik/ (Coalescence)
- [mosiciç] (Allophony rules)
- an-nielvc an·nielvc "of Nyelaf"
  〈annjɛʟvk〉
- /anjɛʟvk/ (Particle shenanigans)
- [ãnjɛẅvɣ] (Allophony rules)

#
Morphology

##
Nouns

###
Number

Number is marked by a change of the last vowel of the root according to the patter in the following table. in practice the pronunciation of the plural isn't derivable from the pronunciation of the singular.

Singluar | Plurau
--- | ---
o | oo
ó | óo
i | ii
í | íi
a | aa
á | áa
e | ee
é | ée

###
Simple cases

For the main roles, there are 7 patterns: the concatenative pattern and the 6 substitutive patterns: s, z, ts, tz, cs, and cz.

| Concat | Subst s | Subst z | Subst ts | Subst tz | Subst cs | Subst cz
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
Topic | ∅ | -s | -z | -ts | -tz | -cs | -cz
Oblique | -t | -t | -t | -t | -t | -t | -t
Genitive | -c | -c | -c | -c | -c | -c | -c
Dative | -si | -si | -zi | -tsi | -tzi | -csi | -czi
Ablative | -via | -via | -via | -tvia | -tvia | -cvia | -cvia

####
Topic

The topic case (`TOP`) indicates the topic of the clause. it is the agent of active clauses and the patient of passive clauses.

> loarne aint ilálapih.
> loarne aint ilálapih.
> Loarne.TOP DEM.OBL say.PAST.3SA
> Loarne said that

####
Oblique

The oblique case (`OBL`) indicates the less salient arguments of the clause that aren't indicated by another case. It indicates the patient of active clauses and the agent of passive clauses.

> nríht vionreeh
> nríht vionreeh
> seed.PL.OBL eat.PRES.3SA
> TheySG eat seeds.

####
Genitive

The genitive case (`GEN`) indicates a possessive or qualifier.

> ilc ren
> ilc ren
> 1S.GEN house.TOP
> My house

> áhioc isove
> áhioc isove
> fiction.GEN job
> Fictional job

####
Dative

The dative case (`DAT`) indicates the beneficiary of a ditransitive verbs, as well as the qualification direction faced. It however doesn't indicates the destination of verbs of movement towards. For those, use the oblique case, the dative indicates the means of movement instead.

> elsi rent siehíef.
> elsi rent siehíef.
> 2S.DAT house.OBL give.PRES.1S
> I give you a house.

> an-sialmosécet foítztselasi oisailin.
> an·sialmosécet foítztselasi oisailin.
> PPN=Chalmosique.OBL train.DAT go.PAST.2S
> You went to Chalmosique by train.

####
Ablative

The ablative case (`ABL`) indicates the source of ditransitive verbs, as well as indicating the tool of the action.
It however doesn't indicate the source of verbs of movements away from. For those, use the oblique case, the ablative indicates the means of movement instead.

> hoévenvia cirtív
> hoévenvia cirtív
> pen.ABL write.PAST.1PE
> WeEXCL wrote with a pen.

> ie an-cairniasialvia
> ie an·cairniasialvia
> 3SA.TOP PPN=Cairniasial.ABL
> TheySG are from Cairniasial

> sialt fatóirvia hastereón
> sialt fatóirvia hastereón
> city.OBL boat.ABL exit.FUT.2P
> You'll leave the city by boat.

###
Compound cases

Compound cases are extra cased constructed on top of the base 5 cases

####
Spatial Locatives

The spatial locative cases (`LOCSP`) is used to indicate a spacial location. it is marked by expressing the noun in the genitive case, followed by the (la) particle.

> il an-Vansterilc la.
> il an·Vansterilc‿la.
> 1S.TOP PPN=Vansteril.GEN‿LOCSP.
> I’m in Vansteril.

####
Temporal Locatives

There are four temporal locatives: past, present, future and gnomic (`LOCTMP.PAST`, ...`PRES`, ...`FUT` and ...`GNO`). The past case (resp. present and future) is used, as it's name indicates, to locate events that happened in the past (resp. present and future). The gnomic case locates events that are either generally happeneing, happening at an unknown point in time, or happening repeatedly.
The past case (resp. present, future, gnomic) are indicated by expressing the noun in the oblique followed by the particle (anip) (resp (anep), (anop), (anap))
However the present case is rarely used outside of set phrases like (vint anep) “today” or (mpat anep) “now”

> vint anep mareves
> vint‿anep mareves
> day.OBL‿LOCTMP.PRES be_cold.PRES.3SI
> It’s cold today.

> il vionreipt anip cirtin
> il vionreipt‿anip cirtin
> 1S.TOP eat.PAST.PCP.OBL‿LOCTMP.PAST write.PAST.2S
> When I ate, I wrote.

> il vionreopt anop cirton
> il vionreopt‿anop cirton
> 1S.TOP eat.FUT.PCP.OBL‿LOCTMP.FUT write.FUT.2S
> When I’ll eat, I’ll write.

> il vionreapt anap cirtan
> il vionreapt‿anap cirtan
> 1S.TOP eat.GNO.PCP.OBL‿LOCTMP.GNO write.GNO.2S
> Whenever I eat, I write.

###
Proper noun clitic

Proper nouns that aren't personal names always take the proper noun clitic (an) (`PPN`)

###
Pronouns

| 1S | 2S | 3SI | 3SA | 1PE | 1PI | 2P | 3PI | 3PA | Q | DEM | DEM.PL
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
TOP | il | el | ain | ie | íl | iél | él | aín | ié | aóts | mpa | mpá
OBL | ilt | elt | aint | iet | ílt | iélt | élt | aínt | iét | aót | mpat | mpát
GEN | ilc | elc | ainc | iec | ílc | iélc | élc | aínc | iéc | aóc | mpac | mpác
DAT | ílsi | elsi | ainsi | iesi | ílsi | iélsi | élsi | aínsi | iési | aótsi | mpasi | mpási
ABL | ilvia | elvia | ainvia | ievia | ílvia | iélvia | élvia | aínvia | iévia | aótvia | mpavia | mpávia

##
Verbs

Verbs are conjugated according to their tense and the grammatical person of the agent.
Orthographically the pattern is completely regular, however the vowel coalescence (see Coalescence) causes the pronunciation to be quite chaotic. The plural forms of past and present tense are always identical when spoken but distinguished in writing.

| 1S | 2S | 3SI | 3SA | 1PE | 1PI | 2P | 3PI | 3PA | INF | PCP.SG | PCP.PL
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
PAST | -if | -in | -is | -ih | -ív | -ím | -ín | -íz | -ír | -i | -ip | -íp
PRES | -ef | -en | -es | -eh | -év | -ém | -én | -éz | -ér | -e | -ep | -ép
FUT | -of | -on | -os | -oh | -óv | -óm | -ón | -óz | -ór | -o | -op | -óp
GNO | -af | -an | -as | -ah | -áv | -ám | -án | -áz | -ár | -a | -ap | -áp

All other facets of verb morphology are indicated by a great number of prefixes here are the more useful (look for the `#mos/verbmod` tag in the dictionary for a more complete list)

- na- passive voice
- siehi- volontary causation
- sien- involontary causation
- caó- augmentative
- rel- diminutive
- rie- conditional

#
Syntax

#
Numbers

1. Lengthens a preceeding vowel↩︎

2. Literally “sounded h”↩︎

3. in shortend or informal writings as well as for dates, a middle dot either side of the numeral is used instead↩︎