Aromese language

Aromese is a language of the Jovitic language family and is the native language of the Aromo ethnic group. It is the primary language of the Kingdom of Vircazihm and is one of its four official languages.

Tone and stress
Only the final syllable of a root can have a high tone. This implies that Aromese has a pitch-accent system (in which the tone need be specified only on one syllable, the others being predictable) rather than a tone system (in which each syllable must have its tone specified), although the rules are complex (each morpheme can contribute its own tone pattern to the word), so that one can call Aromese a pitch-accent system in terms of the basic lexical representation of pitch, and a tone system in terms of its surface realization. The stressed syllable is perceived as the first syllable of a word with high pitch.

Gender
Unlike most Jovitic languages, Aromese uses only natural gender. Classical Aromite had two grammatical genders, female and male. Aromese, however, recognizes only natural gender which is indicated by noun suffix that is gendered and functions as a definite article. Articles are otherwise not used in Aromese. The atrophy of gender is likely due to the influence of ancient Heorutite and Ulete.

Number
Aromese displays singular and plural number, but nouns that refer to multiple entities are not obligatorily plural: eshlel 'woman' bàkadnyù 'people', eshlelùta af 'five women' bàkadnyù af 'five people'. Another way of looking at this is to treat the "singular" form as unspecified for number. When it is important to make the plurality of a referent clear, the plural form of a noun is used. Noun plurals are formed through the addition of suffixes. The most common plural suffix is -ùta; a final vowel is dropped before the suffix.

Case
Aromese nouns appear in seven grammatical cases, each indicated by a suffix, the lengthening of the noun's final vowel, or both. For some of the cases, there is a range of forms possible, some covering more than one case, and the differences in meaning among these alternatives may be quite subtle.


 * Absolutive
 * The absolutive case is the citation form or base form that is used when the noun is the object of a verb, the object of a preposition or postposition, or a nominal predicative.
 * yyùh 'house', nuy sane yyùh 'we bought a house'
 * rè 'until', zeb 'end', rè zeb 'until (the) end'
 * yyùh bìl, 'inside (a/the) house'
 * isa 'he', fènnawsoht 'teacher'
 * isa fènnawsoht nìmta 'he is a teacher'


 * Nominative
 * The nominative is used for nouns that are the subjects of clauses.
 * Punglèv (a name), Punglèvni 'Punglèv (nom.)', khayy '(a) car', nìmta 'he has':
 * Punglèvni khayy nìmta 'Punglèv has a car'.


 * Genitive
 * The genitive is used for possession or "belonging"; it corresponds roughly to English of or -'s. The genitive is usually formed by adding -ì to a final consonant, or replacing the final vowel with the same. The possessor noun follows the possessed noun in a genitive phrase.
 * shèl 'sister', ptisha 'the man', shèl ptishì 'the man's sister'
 * nùr 'job', Aktrunyu, woman's name, nùr Aktrunyì, 'Aktrunyu's job'


 * Dative
 * The dative is used for nouns that represent the recipient (to) or the benefactor (for) of an event. The dative form of a verb infinitive (which acts like a noun in Aromese) indicates purpose. Dative is indicated by adding an -f to a final vowel or -ìf to a final consonant.
 * ptisha 'the man', ptishaf 'to the man, of the man'
 * inala 'girl, daughter', inalaf 'to a girl, daughter'
 * shor 'dog', shorìf 'to a dog'


 * Instrumental
 * The instrumental is used for nouns that represent the instrument ("with"), the means ("by"), the agent ("by"), the reason, or the time of an event. The formation of the instrumental parallels that of the dative to some extent:
 * -n following a long vowel or a lengthened short vowel; -ìn following a consonant
 * htìnfà 'hand', htìnfàn 'by hand, with a hand'
 * nù 'night', nùn 'at night'
 * nìrhaw 'time', nìrhawìn 'on time'


 * Locative
 * The locative is used for nouns that represent general locations of events or states, roughly at. For more specific locations, Aromese uses prepositions or may also take the form of a locative suffix. The locative also seems to overlap somewhat with the instrumental, sometimes having a temporal function. The locative is formed with the suffix -ti.
 * Arsiti 'in Arsi'
 * htìnfà 'hand', htìnfàti 'in hand'
 * muti 'day', mutiti 'per day'
 * tushnì, tushnìti 'under'


 * Ablative
 * The ablative is used to represent the source of an event; it corresponds closely to English from. The ablative, applied to prepositions and locative adverbs as well as nouns proper, is formed in adding the dhì suffix to an ending vowel or ì to a final consonant.
 * yyàny 'country', yyànydhì 'from country'
 * bìl 'inside, in', bìlì 'from inside'
 * An alternative to the ablative is the preposition sì 'from':
 * fìvdun 'market', sì fìvdun, fìvdunì 'from market'

Pronouns
With grammar—independent pronouns, possessive adjectives, possessive pronouns, and subject–verb agreement—Aromese distinguishes six combinations of person, number, and gender. For first and second persons, there is a two-way distinction between singular ('I', 'you sg.') and plural ('we', 'you pl.'), whereas for third person, there is a two-way distinction in the singular ('he', 'she') and a single form for the plural ('they').

Aromese is a subject pro-drop language. That is, neutral sentences in which the subject is not emphasized do not require independent subject pronouns: tawyyne hìshvè 'we came yesterday'. The Aromese word that translates 'we' does not appear in this sentence, though the person and number are marked on the verb tawyyne ('we came') by the suffix -ne. When the subject in such sentences needs to be given prominence for some reason, an independent pronoun can be used: nuy tawyyne hìshvè 'we came yesterday'.

The table below gives forms of the personal pronouns in the different cases, as well as the possessive adjectives.

The possessive adjectives, treated as separate words here, are sometimes written as noun suffixes. Possessive adjectives may take the case endings for the nouns they modify: rùnt'i 'to my village' (-t'i: locative case).

The Aromese second person plural is also used as a polite singular form, for reference to people that the speaker wishes to show respect towards. This usage is an example of the so-called T-V distinction that is made in many languages. In addition, the third person plural may be used for polite reference to a single third person (either 'he' or 'she').

For possessive pronouns ('mine', 'yours', etc.), Aromese adds the possessive adjectives to da 'of': kiyya 'mine', kè 'yours', etc.