Difference between revisions of "Dushtoo"

Revision as of 12:00, 6 November 2006

The Dushtoo language is is an Indo-European language which has existed for over three thousand years in one form or another. Originally spoken by the Daytar tribes of ancient Daytanistan, it was heavily influenced by the corrupted Greek dialect spoken by the Ashtoo tribes which settled Daytanistan in the second century AD, and subsequently by Farsi and Arabic, brought to Daytanistan a thousand years later by the Zirkshe tribes.

Alphabet

Dushtoo has no native alphabet, although since the Straw Hat Revolution the government of Daytanistan has standardised the use of the Latin alphabet for writing Dushtoo, for the simple expedient that it was cheaper to import typewriters which used the Latin alphabet. Prior to that time, the Greek alphabet and Arabic alphabet were both used almost equally as much for writing in Dushtoo. In these alphabets, Dushtoo is spelt Δυϸτω (Greek), and ذوستو (Arabic).

Grammar

Nouns, adjectives and pronouns

Number and Gender

In Dushtoo nouns have number (i.e. singular or plural) just as English nouns do. They also have gender like English nouns, maculine, feminine and neuter, but whereas most non-personal nouns have a neuter gender in English, in Dushtoo they have two genders - neuter and either masculine or feminine. The only nouns which truly have a neuter gender, as opposed to those which can simply be referred to in the neuter gender, refer to body parts, clothing, intangibles, and inanimate possessions. These nouns can take the gender of their owner in sentences in which their owner is present, but are otherwise neuter.

Cases and Declensions

Dushtoo is a largely uninflected language. There is a base case, and an accusative case (for direct object forms of nouns). The ends of nouns, pronouns, and adjectives vary according to the case they are in as well as according to their number and gender according to a number of declensions. There are four standard singular base case endings which the vast majority of nouns, pronouns and adjectives have - nouns with other endings are called irregular nouns. To decline a noun, this singular base case ending is removed from the stem and replaced with the appropriate ending for the desired case. The tables below show the four regular declensions with an example noun. Adjectives and pronouns are declined according to the same pattern.

First Declension

Second Declension

Third Declension

Fourth Declension

The Definite Article

The form the definite article takes is dependent on the case and gender of the noun in question:

Personal Pronouns

Personal pronouns have the gender of the person being referred to. The personal pronouns for the first and second person are declined accordingly in the appropriate pattern of the fourth declension - the singular base case forms are egoo (I, we) and so (you) respectively. The third person personal pronoun is declined according to the first declension - the singular base case form is autan (self/him/her).

Possessive Pronouns

Possessive pronouns replace the ending for the noun being possessed when it is declined, to that nouns with a possessive pronoun take the form (stem)(pronoun). The table below demonstrates the possessive pronoun. Note that the gender is still the gender of the noun, not of the possessor.

My

Our

Your (singular and plural you)

His / Her / Its / One's

Their