The Language of

OŽÔŁOTOR
A Sketch

Ronald C. Trew

——
1923
Introduction

Ožôłotor is a conlang for the CDN's relay 8½, held by Anhilare. The
rest of this document is written a from the point of view of a Ronald
C. Trew, a fictional early 20th century linguist.

Foreword

On 12th March, a few days into a hiking trip in Cashmeer, I came

across a small village a ways off from the path. As it was late, I went
to try and procre a place to sleep for the night; but I was confounded
to find that the villagers spoke not Cashmeerie but some language I
could not recognise. Fortunately, I was saved by a young man who
spoke Hindi and some English, and did me the kindness of translating
the local language.

I decided to abort my hiking trip and prepare a sketch of the

language. The villagers have no name for the language, as they have
next to no interaction with other languages and simply call it “our
language” when they must specify. I will therefore refer to it by the
village name, Ožôłotor. Unfortunately, previous obligations limited my
time to a mere two weeks. Although I was able to document the basic
phonology, morphology, and grammar, the lexicon is woefully incomplete,
as I list only the words I use in examples and some other basic terms.

I hope to some day return so as to compile a more exhaustive work,

but for now this shall have to suffice.

I thank the people of Ožôłotor, for letting me stay in their village

for these two weeks and document their language, and in particular
the young man (who wishes to remain anonymous) for acting as a
translator. I also thank Manny LeRay of the Central Delaware Network
University (CDNU), who suggested that I go on this trip, and my cat, Mary.

ii
Contents

Introduction ii

Foreword ii

Abbreviations v

I Grammar 1

1 Phonemes and pronunciation 3

1.1 Vowels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2 Consonants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.3 Pitch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.4 Restrictions on consonant occurrence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.5 Phonological processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

2 Morphology 5
2.1 Nouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.2 Verbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.2.1 Voice and Aspect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.2.2 Person and Gender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.2.3 Mood and Deixis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.3 Copula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.4 Adjectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

3 Morphosyntax 8
3.1 Noun Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.1.1 Postpositions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.1.2 Subject marking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.1.3 Object marking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.2 Auxiliary Verbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.3 Negation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

4 Syntax 12
4.1 Relative clauses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

iii
II Lexicon 13

III Examples 17

iv
Abbreviations

Abbreviations are as follows:

1. first person INAN. inanimate

2. second person INS. instrumental
3. third person INV. invertive
ABS. absolute IPFV. imperfective
ACT. active LOC. locative
AN. animate PASS. passive
AUG. augmentive PFV. perfective
CAUS. causative PL. plural
COMPL. completive PRV. privative
COP. copula PTCP. participle
DIS. disjunctive PURP. purposive
DUR. durative Q. question particle
EXP. experiential SG. singular
IMP. imperative

v
vi
Part I

Grammar

1
Chapter 1

Phonemes and pronunciation

Ožôłotor has 32 phonemes (24 consonants and 8 vowels). Consonants

appear at three different places of articulation (labial, coronal, and dorsal),
as obstruents (stops and fricatives), and rhotics; the former two have a
contrast in voicing. There are also unvoiced grooved obstruents. Vowels
occur at three different heights and have a labiality contrast (and a
secondary frontness contrast — all illabial vowels are front). Vowel pitch
is phonemic — one unit in a word is accented i.e. marked as high
tone (a long vowel behaves as two separate units). The accent also affects
surrounding vowel pitch.
The phonemic inventory is given in table 1.1.

Labial Coronal Dorsal

Flat Grooved Flat Grooved
Nasal m n Illabial Labial
Surd p t ť k ǩ High i ī (u) ū
Sonant b d g Mid ē o
Fricative f c č h s Low a ā ō
Glide v đ y
Rhotic ł z ř l r ž

Table 1.1: Phonemes of Ožôłotor

1.1 Vowels

The vowels are fairly unremarkable. The system of three short vowels
and five long vowels is quite usual for the area. I is somewhat lower
than ī. O is almost like that in English but. It should be noted that
in Ožôłotor, this sound has a peculiar colour akin to o or per-haps
the Kashmiri a. Ā is very front, in contrast to the usual back vowel; a
is almost the same, like the English cat sound. Ō is also low, closer
to Hindi au than o. Ī, ē, and ū are cardinal. Ū is shortened in
diphthongs.

3
1.2 Consonants

The surds are lightly aspirated. Ť is pronounced like the German z as

in Zeit, and ǩ almost like English ch, but with the back of the tongue.
C and đ are like the two th sounds in English, differing mainly in
voice; the latter, however, is weaker and sounds almost like l to the
untrained ear. V is weaker than in English. Č is a dental s sound,
as in Spanish. S is pronounced as a spirantised ǩ, between English sh
and German ch as in ich.
The rhotics are more complicated. Ł is very close to English w, but
there is some peculiar quality I cannot discern — perhaps a weak dental
gesture. Z is a fricated trill, not unsimilar to Bohemian ř. Ožôłotor ř,
on the other hand, is like English r, its cerebrality notwithstanding. L
is a cerebral as well, reminiscent of Punjabi ਲ਼. R is pronounced as
the French r. Ž is similar to French j, but tends to be cerebral. N
becomes m before labial consonants, and m becomes n before illabial
ones.

1.3 Pitch

Pitch is mostly level up until the accent. The accented unit is higher,
and the immediate next vowel unit is sharply falling. After this, the
pitch increases gradually until the next accent. I will mark accent with
an acute ´ on a short vowel; and with a circumflex ^ when on the
first unit of a long vowel and a tilde ~ when on the second.

1.4 Restrictions on consonant occurrence

The only clusters allowed are those of a rhotic or grooved consonant

followed by a coronal surd, a nasal followed by a flat stop, a flat
stop followed by a rhotic, any non-rhotic followed by s, and geminates;
the last, only after the accented vowel. To resolve problematic clusters,
consonants are usually lenited — see 1.5. If a fricative is dropped, it will
leave falling tone; if a glide is dropped, it leaves rising tone. Nasals are
unaffected. Epenthetic o is inserted after clusters, and before a rhotic,
except after a surd. Grooved surds become flat before a rhotic.

4
1.5 Phonological processes

Consonants are palatalised in certain phonological and morphological

contexts. T ť c become č; d đ, z; p k, ǩ; b g, y; h, ž; and r ł z, ř
l ž. Rhotics at the same place of articulation (r/ř, ł/l, and z/ž are one
place each) cannot appear in consecutive syllables — r ř dissimilate to ł
l if the next syllable has r or ř; and ł l and z ž dissimilate to r ř.
Consonant voicing occurs in certain verb morphology. S voices to z;
other grooved consonants usually do not voice as they have no voiced
counterparts, but some dialects voice ǩ to ž. Ť č are never voiced.
Consonant lenition is a separate process, whereïn labials become u, dorsals
i, and coronals are dropped, leaving length; palatal rhotics i.e. ř l ž,
become i, and non-palatal ones u.
Vowels are lengthened or shortened in some morphological contexts.
O a i become ō ā ī and vice versa; ū ē are never shortened. The
accent can shift, usually between the root and the suffix.
Most processes on consonants apply to the coda i.e. the root-final
consonant.

Chapter 2

Morphology

There are four inflected word classes — nouns, verbs, the copula, and
adjectives.

2.1 Nouns

Nouns are marked for four cases: the absolute (ABS.) in -r(o) (the o is
dropped if the suffix comes after a vowel), the locative (LOC.) in -zi, the
instrumental (INS.) in -(i)si, and the disjunctive (DIS.) in -či.
There are two noun classes — barytone and oxytone. In barytone
nouns, the accent does not move, remaining on the root vowel; in
oxytone nouns, the disjunctive has fronting of the accent onto the suffix,
with shortening of the root vowel if possible and lengthening of the
suffix vowel.

5
 The disjunctive also has lenition of root-final consonants, unless the
root ends in a nasal in which case there is shortening of the vowel, or
a geminate in which case the ending is -i.
Some example nouns are given in table 2.1.

Barytone Oxytone
ABS. hõnor čódro
LOC. hõnozi čódzi
INS. hõnisi čódisi
DIS. hónči čōčî

Table 2.1: Noun declensions

2.2 Verbs

Verbs are marked for person, aspect, mood, voice, deixis, and display
agreement in gender with the subject or object.

2.2.1 Voice and Aspect

There are three voices — passive (PASS.), active (ACT.), and causative (CAUS.).
The PASS. stem has a short vowel, the ACT. stem a long vowel and voicing
in the coda, and the CAUS. stem a long vowel and palatalisation in the
same. Thus, for the PASS. stem ǩátt- “be struck”, the ACT. stem is ǩâd-,
and the CAUS. ǩâč-. The imperfective (IPFV.) aspect is marked with -al
after the stem (e.g. ǩáttal- “being struck”), while the perfective (PFV.) is
marked by the circumfix o-)…(-zi with lenition of the first (e.g. oyâdz-
“having struck”).
Semelfactive verbs — those which occur instantly (from a given point of
view) — are always in the perfective; stative and iterative verbs, conversely,
are always in the imperfective.
The imperfective stem is also used as an action noun, and the
perfective as an object noun. Unmarked verbs act as imperatives.

2.2.2 Person and Gender

Person and gender are marked using affixes. Three persons — first person
(1.), second person (2.), and third person (3.); and two genders — animate
(AN.) and inanimate (INAN.). The animate endings are 1. -sū, 2. -si, 3. -a;
and the inanimate 1. -om, 2. -os, 3. -o.

6
2.2.3 Mood and Deixis

There are several auxiliaries which impart varying senses of mood and
manner. They inflect much the same as normal verbs, although they
tend to have irregular stems. When there is an auxiliary, the lexical
verb is found in a conjunctive form — -zi for the durative (DUR.), -î for
the completive (COMPL.) (accented), and -or for the purposive (PURP.).

2.3 Copula

The copula proper is not a verb per se — rather, it simply asserts that
an entity or several entities exist/s. It inflects for person and number:
singular (SG.) 1. hõ, 2. sî, 3. čî; and plural (PL.) 1. saû, 2. aĩč, 3. ořán.
The disjunctive case is also used in a copular manner, as it were. The
usage of each is illustrated below.

(2.1) hõnor vors čî

dog.ABS. big.AN. COP.3.SG.
“There is a big dog.”

(2.2) hónči vors

dog.DIS. big.AN.
“The dog is big.”

The first and second person forms also serve as pronouns:

(2.3) hõ móks
COP.1.SG. tired.AN.
“I am tired.”

2.4 Adjectives

There are two types of adjectives — verbal and nominal. As their names
suggest, the former are syntactically verbs (specifically stative verbs) and
the latter nominals; however, nominal adjectives do still agree in gender
(-s- for animate and -o- for inanimate, both before the case ending).

7
They agree in case except if the noun is in the disjunctive, and with
pronominals — in which cases the adjective has no case ending.

Chapter 3

Morphosyntax

3.1 Noun Cases

The Absolute — This case is the citation form. It is used for an

inanimate subject of a passive verb, an inanimate object of an active
verb, with the copula, and with conjuncted with another noun (in which
case only the last noun is marked for a different case if needed). It is
also used with postpositions.

(3.1) čódro na mítisi orítokro čîřala

boy.ABS. and friend.INS. wolf .ABS. see.IPFV.AN.3.SG.
“The boy and his friend saw a wolf.”

The Instrumental — This case is used for instruments, manner, and

times or locations in the sense of a route, path, destination, timeline, or
deadline. It also marks the subject of a perfective active verb.

(3.2) ťîłisi ovõdzisū

knife.INS. cut.PFV.AN.1.SG.
“I cut it with a knife.”

(3.3) sâsi čōkî ťôkkalsi

that.INS. move.COMPL. stand.IPFV.2.SG.
“Reach there by that time/route.”

(3.4) čódro na mítisi orítokro čîřala

boy.ABS. and friend.INS. wolf .ABS. see.IPFV.AN.3.SG.
“The boy and his friend saw a wolf.”

8
The Locative — This case is used for specific points or areas in space
or time.

(3.5) sâsi êzi čõkor kálsū

that.INS. this.LOC. move.PURP. go.IPFV.AN.1.SG.
“I will go there now.”

(3.6) ũrzi hõ
house.LOC. COP.1.SG.

“I am at home.”

The Disjunctive — This case is used for an animate subject of a passive

verb, and any subject of an imperfective active verb. As mentioned in
2.3, it is also used in a somewhat copular manner. The first and second
person copula forms also behave as if in the disjunctive case when used
as pronouns.

(3.7) sî ovámozisi ga
COP.2.SG. sleep.PFV.AN.2.SG. Q.

“Did you sleep?”

(3.8) čōčî kôdala

boy.DIS. eat.IPFV.AN.3.SG.
“The boy is eating.”

(3.9) sâzi mórsor čî

that.LOC. man.DIS. COP.3.SG.

“There is a man there.”

3.1.1 Postpositions

These are used much as English uses prepositions. The noun is always
in the absolute case. There are only a handful of commonly used ones:

• Ra — marks recipients, animate objects, destinations.

• Hoč — marks animate causes and origins.

• Var — marks inanimate causes and origins.

• Vozū — marks the next in a sequence, the thing in front, a companion.

• Nauz — marks the previous in a sequence, the thing behind, a former

companion, an absentee, an exclusion.

9
 • (A)t — marks the thing below or surrounded; it is oft used in the
reverse sense: čâr at ũrozi “the place outside the house”; lit. “the
place above/surrounding the house”. The second noun is in the
locative.

• Ři — marks the thing above or surrounding; again, used in the

reverse sense: čâr ři ũrisi “the place inside the house”; lit. “the
place below/surrounded by the house”. The second noun is in the
instrumental.

• La — marks possession, origin, that of which something is part, that

to which something pertains.

3.1.2 Subject marking

As seen above, what is understood as the subject can take any of three
cases — absolute, instrumental, and disjunctive — depending on verb voice,
aspect, and animacy.
For passive verbs, the subject is in the absolute if inanimate and the
disjunctive if animate.
For active verbs the subject must be animate; it is in the instrumental
if the verb is perfective, and the disjunctive if imperfective. In the case
of inanimate “subjects”, a passive verb is used and the subject is marked
by the postposition var. The same postposition marks instruments of a
perfective active verb (otherwise the instrument is in the instrumental).
For causative verbs, the causer is marked like the subject of an
active verb, while the causee i.e. the actual doër of the verb is in the
instrumental and is always animate.
Certain active verbs, called experiential (EXP.) verbs, have the subject
marked the same as a passive verb. As the name suggests, they are
verbs of experience or feelings.

3.1.3 Object marking

Object marking also differs based on animacy and semantics, albeït with
less variation than subjects. Animate objects are essentially always marked
by the postposition la; to not do so is dehumanising and occurs almost
solely in contemptuous speech towards another. Inanimate objects are
also marked the same if the action has a specific endpoint, and in the
absolute otherwise; thus, fálloro la kôdal “to eat a (certain) fruit” vs.
fállor kôdal “to eat fruits”.

10
3.2 Auxiliary Verbs

There are several auxiliary verbs. In the two weeks I have spent here
I have only been able to study a few, which I detail below:

Kál “to go” — This has a sense of desire, intent, or purpose. It is also
used with directional verbs to indicate movement away from the subject.
With some verbs like bríyal “to die”, it has a force of suddenness or
unexpectedness. The lexical verb can be in any of the conjunctive forms,
but they obviously must match in meaning. Thus, kôdor kál “to intend
to eat”, čîřozi kál “to want to see”, briyî kál “to die suddenly”.

Ťôkkal “to stand, stick out” — This imparts finality or completeness to

a verb in the completive, and continuation with the durative. With
directional verbs, it indicates reaching some end-point in the first sense.
Thus, caĩzi ťôkkal “to be opening”, orōdî ťôkkal “to hit with a projectile”.

Óttal “to turn, change” — This is used with imperfective participles for
a future sense1 , and perfective participles for a perfect sense. Semelfactive
verbs always occur in the perfective, and stative verbs the imperfective, so
the meaning is somewhat ambiguous. This verb can also be used with
compound verbs, in which case only the auxiliary is marked for aspect.
Thus, kôdal óttal “to be going to eat”, ovôdzi óttal “to have eaten”, orōdî
oyôkzi óttal “to have hit/be going to hit with a projectile”, čîřal óttal “to
have seen/be going to see”.

3.3 Negation

There are two types of negation — privative and invertive.

Privative negation is marked with the prefix l(o)-. It indicates
the absence of some quality for adjectives — lovór. With nouns (and
nominalised adjectives) it forms what is called a bahuvrihi — a compound
where the referent is denoten by specifying a characteristic, quality, or
entity it possesses (or rather, does not possess, in this case2 ).
Invertive negation, on the other hand, is used to form the inverse or
antithesis of an adjective or a noun. It is marked with the prefix bi(y)-
1
Óttal implies certainty or obligation, and kál intent or desire.
2
There exists a prefix h(o)- which is used as the opposite of l(o)- i.e. for bahuvrihis
where the quality etc. is possessed.

11
and lenition of the first consonant. The exact meaning is not trivial to
predict — for example, the opposite of čũt “small” i.e. biyũt is not “big”
but rather “tall”.
In verbs there are the same two types, with privative negation used
to indicate an event not happening, and invertive the opposite thereof.
They merge with the past prefix o- to lo- and bē-.
(3.10) lofámozisi bivámozisi
PRV.sleep.IMP. INV.sleep.IMP.

“Don't sleep, wake up!”

Chapter 4

Syntax

Adjectives usually appear before nouns, but in spontaneous speech they

seem to sometimes come after. The verb usually appears at the end of a
clause, but it may be put at the front for emphasis. Otherwise, the word
before the verb is usually stressed and emphasised. Word order appears
to be more or less free in other regards, but much more research is
required on this.
(4.1) saû kôd - zi ťôkk - al - sū
COP.1.PL. eat - DUR. stand - IPFV. - AN.1.SG.
“We are all eating it (the meat).”
(4.2) kôd - zi ťôkk - al - sū saû
eat - DUR. stand - IPFV. - AN.1.SG. COP.1.PL.
“We are all eating it (the meat).”

4.1 Relative clauses

The relative clause is headed by a noun in the disjunctive, and followed

by the word ê “this” marked with the appropriate case.
(4.3) teûnči orînno êr čōkî oyôkziya
egg.DIS. white this.ABS. move.COMPL. stand.PFV.3.SG.
“The egg which is white is gone.”

12
Part II

Lexicon

13
čîřal PFV. oîřozi 1 see ťókkal PFV. oyókzi 1 to stand 2 to
stick out 3 to be in a place for
čódro DIS. čōčî 1 boy 2 servant an extended period of time 4 with
3 fool a COMPL. verb to finish 5 with a
biyódro DIS. biyōčî 1 scholar DUR. verb to continue

biyókkal PFV. bēyókzi 1 to fall 2

čõkal PFV. oyõkzi 1 move, go, come
to leave 3 with a DUR. verb to fail
Direction is specified by the auxiliary
to do
čũt 1 small 2 short (in height) ũrro DIS. ūčî 1 house 2 table

biũt 1 tall vór 1 big 2 long

bivór 1 short (in length)
čũtor DIS. čūčî 1 desire, greed
vólor DIS. voũči 1 size 2 length
biũtor DIS. biūčî 1 height, stature
2 moral goodness, rightness óttal PFV. õtzi 1 to turn 2 to wan-
der, meander 3 to change 4 to
fállor DIS. fálli 1 fruit become 5 to come into being 6
Appears to be loaned from an Indo- EXP. to seem 7 with an IPFV. PTCP.
Aryan tongue to be going to, have to 8 with a
PFV. PTCP. to have done
hõnor DIS. hõnči 1 dog
biyóttal PFV. biyõtzi 1 to get de-
mítro DIS. mĩči 1 friend 2 sibling stroyed
Appears to be loaned from an Indo- ôdal PFV. ôdzi 1 to turn something
Aryan tongue 2 to change something 3 to make
something 4 with an IPFV. PTCP. to
bivítro DIS. bivĩči 1 enemy force someone/something to
mít 1 happy 2 calm biyôdal PFV. biyôdzi 1 to destroy
something 2 with an IPFV. PTCP. to
bivít 1 angry
force someone/something not to
mók 1 tired 2 weak gõdal PFV. ovõdzi 1 cut
bivók 1 energetic 2 lively, excited kóttal PFV. ovótzi 1 to be eaten
mórsor DIS. morsočî 1 man 2 hu- kôdal PFV. ovôdzi 1 to eat some-
man thing

bivórsor DIS. bivorsočî 1 monster bivôdal PFV. bēvôdzi 1 to vomit

orítokro DIS. orítouči 1 wolf

ťîłoro DIS. ťiûči 1 knife 2 dagger
ťôgal PFV. oyôgzi 1 to erect someth
haveing 2 to stick out 3 to be in
a place for an extended period of
time 4 with a COMPL. verb to finish
5 with a DUR. verb to continue
biyôgal PFV. bēyôgzi 1 to fall 2 to
leave 3 with a DUR. verb to fail to
do 4 with a PURP. verb to intend
not to do 15
16
Part III

Examples

17
(4.4) Bóčro ťôkzi kálo. — Zephyrus #23.
bóč - r ťôk - zi ká - al -o
rain - ABS. stand - DUR. go - IPFV. - INAN.3.SG.
“I hope the rain stops soon.”

(4.5) Hõnołoři ũrisi ťôkala. — 5MOYD #1512

Hõn - r = ři ũr - isi ťôkk - al -a
dog - ABS. = covered table - INS. stand - IPFV. - AN.3.SG.
“The dog lies below the table.”

(4.6) Móks hõ, mítmít hõ. — Zephyrus #118.

mók - s hõ mít ~mít hõ
tired - AN. COP.1.SG. happy AUG. COP.1.SG.
“I am tired, but very happy.”

(4.7) Oyîřoziya čokî kázi ťôkkalsū. — 5MOYD #1508.

o - čîř - zi - a čõk - î ká - zi ťôkk - al - sū
PFV. - see - PFV. - AN.3.SG. move - PURP. go - DUR. stand - IPFV. - AN.1.SG.

“He saw me as he was going.”

(4.8) Čũts žiũłoři hũbisi rĩps ísłora ťokî oyôkziya. — Zephyrus #67.
čũts žiûro ři hũbisi rĩps ísro ra ťokkî oiťôkziya
small seed covered snow.INS. summer sun to stay.COMPL. stay.PFV.
“The little seeds waited patiently under the snow for the warm
spring sun.”

19