Overview of Rakeinne

Introduction Rakeinne is the national language of Rakavo. It was established as such and standardised in the 18th and 19th century based on the two major dialects of Rakavo, Kana and Sosuonge, with elements of the smaller dialect, Teigana, which happens to be the dialect spoken in the capital region.

Phonology Rakeinne has a relatively simple phonology and the relation between it and spelling is very regular.

Consonants

bilabial alveolar palatal velar glottal nasal m n ŋ (ng) stop p b t d k g ʔ (-) fricative f* v s z* h approximant j trill r lateral approximant l

Remarks: • ŋ is usually spelled ng; /ŋg/ is spelled ngg, /ŋk/ nk. • ʔ occurs word initially and precedes a vowel if there are no other consonants to precede it. • f and z only occur in loanwords. • j (pronounced as y in you) occurs only rarely.

Vowels and diphthongs Rakeinne has seven vowels and eight diphthongs. Four of the seven vowels can be lengthened, in which case they are spelled as a double vowel: a > aa.

Vowels: a /ɑ/ ae /a/ e /e/ i /i/ iu /y/ o /ɔ/ u /u/ Diphthongs: ai /ɑi̯/ avo /ɑu̯ / ei /ei̯/ oi /ɔi̯/ ui /ui̯/ uo /ou̯ / uva /u̯ ɛ/ uvo /u̯ ɔ/

Morphology

Nouns and adjectives Rakeinne nouns have no genders but ten (or eleven) cases (nominative & accusative (which are almost always identical), genitive, partitive, dative, allative, ablative, locative, comitative, instrumental, and essive), and two numbers (singular and plural). The plural forms are derived mostly regularly from the instrumental and essive cases.

There are several patterns: • nasal stems, the nominative of which ends in a (double) nasal sound + e • single consonant stems, the nominative of which ends in a single consonant • double consonant stems, the nominative of which ends in a single consonant + a • nouns ending in -avo • nouns ending in -een • nouns ending in -i • nouns ending in -uo • nouns ending in -uvat

The nasal and double consonant stems are called that way because of their appearance in the . It is however regularly altered into a nominative stem, a genitive stem, a comitative stem, and an allative stem (nasal stem only).

NASAL STEMS partitive nk nk nk tt pp kk nominative nn mm ng nt mp nk genitive nt nt nt tt pt kt comitative ns ns ns ss ps ks allative n m ng nn mm ng

• partitive stem > partitive case • nominative stem > nominative and accusative cases • genitive stem > genitive, dative, and instrumental cases • comitative stem > • allative stem > allative, ablative, locative, and essive cases

DOUBLE CONSONANT STEMS partitive pp pt tt tt kk kt nd rd ss t nominative b p d t g k n r s s genitive v v s s s h t r h d comitative ps v ss ss ks h tt rr h dd

• partitive stem > partitive, allative, ablative, locative, instrumental, and essive cases • nominative stem > nominative and accusative cases • genitive stem > genitive and dative cases • comitative stem > comitative case

nasal stem single cons. stem double cons. stem -avo nominative singular kanne (eye) root (tree) lota (horse) taksavo (bridge) accusative kanne root lota taksavo partitive kanka rooteka lottika taksaika genitive kanto rooto losavo taksaa dative kanton rooton losavon taksaan allative kanaan rootaan lotten takseen ablative kanai rooti lottei taksei locative kanaista rootista lottista taksasta comitative kanseen rootosseen losseen taksoseen instrumental kantaa rootontaa lotteitaa taksoitaa essive kanee rootee lotte taksa nominative plural kanta rootonta lotteita taksoita accusative kanta rootonta lotteita taksoita partitive kaneettika rooteettika lottettika taksattika genitive kansavo rootonsavo lotteisavo taksoisavo dative kansavon rootonsavon lotteisavon taksoisavon allative kaneetten rooteetten lottetten taksatten ablative kaneettei rooteettei lottettei taksattei locative kaneettista rooteettista lottettista taksattista comitative kaneesseen rooteesseen lottesseen taksasseen instrumental kaneetteitaa rooteetteitaa lottetteitaa taksatteitaa essive kaneette rooteette lottette taksatte

-een -i -uo -uvat nominative singular bardeen (freedom) numi (table) ostuo (state) raakuvat (collection) accusative barda numi ostuo raakut partitive bardaeka numika ostuika raakakta genitive bardavo numuvo ostuu raakuvo dative bardavon numuvon ostuun raakuvon allative bardaan numein ostuven raakun ablative bardai numei ostei raakui locative bardeesta numeista ostusta raakuvasta comitative bardesseen numisseen ostuseen raakuvasseen instrumental bardaitaa numitaa ostuitaa raakustaa essive bardee numi ostu raakaa nominative plural bardaita numita ostuita raakusta accusative bardaita numita ostuita raakusta partitive bardeettika numittika ostuttika raakaattika genitive bardaisavo numisavo ostuisavo raakussavo dative bardaisavon numisavon ostuisavon raakussavon allative bardeetten numitten ostutten raakaatten ablative bardeettei numittei ostuttei raakaattei locative bardeettista numittista ostuttista raakaattista comitative bardeesseen numisseen ostusseen raakaasseen instrumental bardeetteitaa numitteitaa ostutteitaa raakaatteitaa essive bardeette numitte ostutte raakaatte

Some nouns have an irregular nominative singular; in most of those cases these nouns have a regular accusative, which means that nominative and accusative are not identical. Some pronouns also follow this pattern (see below). E.g. : ie (fire), emme, enka, ento, enton, emaan, emai, emaista, enseen, entaa, emee

Adjectives are declined as nouns. They are typically placed after the noun. Although official rules dictate that the number and case of an adjective must always be in agreement with the ones of the noun to which it refers, singular adjective forms are increasingly used in combination with plural nouns, particularly in spoken language but also in informal written language (e.g. in social media, text messages etc.).

The comparative and superlative forms are formed by replacing the comitative ending -een by -at resp. -ontavo and declining the result as a regular single consonant adjective resp. a regular adjective in -avo : teissuo (young) > teissusat (younger) > teissusontavo (youngest).

The adverbial form is identical to the .

Pronouns Pronouns in Rakeinne are mostly regularly declined nouns and adjectives. The personal pronouns of the first and second person as well as the interrogative pronouns have irregular forms in the nominative singular. There are three classes of second person pronouns: • pei = used to children and very close friends • paat = used to adult family members and friends and colleagues • open = used to superiors and other people of importance

The partitive and genitive cases of personal pronouns are generally used to indicate possession. There are the official pronouns ekkaanne (my), eppaanne, papaikana, and onkaanne (your) for the singular pronouns, and engeta (our), emmeta, papata, oneta (your) for the plural pronouns, but these were created from scratch when Rakeinne was standardised in the 18th and 19th century and despite attempts to introduce them are now only used in legal and other formal texts.

kai pei paat open ataa atok nominative singular kai (I) pei (you) paat (you) open (you) ataa? (who?) atok? (what?) accusative enke empe papavo onne taida? taiga? partitive ekka eppa papaika onka taittika? taikkika? genitive ekto epto papaa onto taisavo? taisavo? dative ekton epton papaan onton taisavon? taisavon? allative engaan emmaan papeen onaan taitten? taikken? ablative engai emmai papei onai taittei? taikkei? locative engaista emmaista papasta onaista taittista? taikkista? comitative ekseen epseen paposeen onseen taisseen? taikseen? instrumental ektaa eptaa papoitaa ontaa taitteitaa? taikkeitaa? essive engee emmee papa onee taitte? taikke? nominative plural ekta (we) epta (you) papoita (you) onta (you) taitteita? taikkeita? accusative ekta epta papoita onta taitteita? taikkeita? partitive engeettika emmeettika papattika oneettika taittettika? taikkettika? genitive eksavo epsavo papoisavo onsavo taitteisavo? taikkeisavo? dative eksavon epsavon papoisavon onsavon taitteisavon? taikkeisavon? allative engeetten emmeetten papatten oneetten taittetten? taikketten? ablative engeettei emmeettei papattei oneettei taittettei? taikkettei? locative engeettista emmeettista papattista oneettista taittettista? taikkettista? comitative engeesseen emmeesseen papasseen oneesseen taittesseen? taikkesseen? instrumental engeetteitaa emmeetteitaa papatteitaa oneetteitaa taittetteitaa? taikketteitaa? essive engeette emmeette papatte oneette taittette? taikkette?

Relative pronouns are declined as interrogative pronouns except for the fact that the nominative singular is identical to the (regular) accusative singular.

Numerals Cardinal numbers are indeclinable. Except for ‘1’ they are positioned after the noun that is counted. The noun is the case carrier. Ordinal numbers are declined as double consonant stems; most of them as -ss stems, except for 2nd.

cardinal ordinal cardinal ordinal 1 gai usa (ss) 28 saansolamara 2 paaro kavosa (t) 29 eissolamara 3 simi simisa (ss) 30 sinkko sinkkosa 4 urt urtasa 31 gaisosinkko 5 konde kondesa 32 paarrosinkko 6 huotte huottesa 40 urko urkosa 7 reide reidesa 50 rostikussa rostikuna 8 saang sanasa 60 huottukko huottukkosa 9 eipsu eipsusa 70 reidukko reidukkosa 10 kukko kukkosa 80 saankukko saankukkosa 11 gaikken gaikkeesa 90 kuksenkussa kuksenkuna 12 purken purkeesa 100 kussa kuna 13 sinken sinkeesa 101 kussa-gai kuna-usa 14 urren urreesa 200 paarokussa 15 kokten kokteesa 300 simikussa 16 huokten huokteesa 400 urtakussa 17 reikten reikteesa 500 kondekussa 18 saanken saankeesa 600 huottekussa 19 eissen eisseesa 700 reidekussa 20 lamara larrasa 800 saankussa 21 gaisolamara gaisolarrasa 900 eipsukussa 22 paarrolamara etc. 1000 lundei lunne 23 sinsolamara 2000 paarolundei 24 urssolamara 3000 similundei 25 konsolamara 10000 kukkolundei 26 huossolamara 100000 kussalundei 27 reisolamara 1000000 tavostai tavosa

Verbs

A-class U-class transitive intransitive transitive intransitive infinitive / verbnoun poktai (to enable) pongaa (to be able) arkui (to allow) arru (to be allowed) verbnoun accusative poktisi ponganavo arkuisi arrunuo present participle poktis pongos arkuis arrus past participle poktaada - arkooda - gerundivum poktinida - arkuinida - indicative non-past poktissaik pongomenke arkuissaik arrummenke - I enable poktissaip pongomempe arkuissaip arrummempe - I can poktissai pongome arkuissai arrumme - I allow poktissanti pongoonki arkuissanti arrunki - I may poktissanti pongoompi arkuissanti arrumpi poktissanti pongoommi arkuissanti arrummi indicative past poktaik pongagen arkuik arrogen - I enabled poktaip pongaben arkuip arroben - I could poktai pongaan arkui arruun - I allowed poktanti pongaanke arkunti arrunke - I might poktanti pongaampe arkunti arrumpe poktanti pongaanne arkunti arrunne subjunctive poktaege pongaegen arkoge arravogen - I should enable poktaebe pongaeben arkobe arravoben - I should be able poktaede pongaeden arkode arravoden - I should allow poktaeni pongaenki arkoni arravonke - I should be allowed poktaeni pongaempi arkoni arravompe poktaeni pongaenti arkoni arravonte jussive poktinik pongoik arkuinik arruik - I must enable poktinip pongoip arkuinip arruip - I must be able pokteen pongoi arkoon arrui - I must allow poktini pongoinki arkuini arruinki - I must be allowed poktini pongoimpi arkuini arruimpi poktini pongoinni arkuini arruinni conditional poktakaa pongoong arkukavo arrung - I would enable poktapaa pongoom arkupavo arrum - I would be able poktaa pongo arkude arre - I would allow poktinaa pongananke arkuinavo arrununke - I would be allowed poktinaa ponganampe arkuinavo arrunumpe poktinaa pongananne arkuinavo arrununne potential poktannuk pongankak arkunnuk arrunkuk - I may enable poktannup pongampap arkunnup arrumpup - I may be able poktaan pongat arkuvan arrut - I may allow poktanni pongassanke arkunni arrussunke - I may be allowed poktanni pongassampe arkunni arrussumpe poktanni pongasta arkunni arrusta inferential poktehi ponge arkohi arre - I allegedly enable poktevi pongee arkovi arree - I allegedly can poktesi pongai arkosi arroi - I allegedly allow pokti pongekki arkoi arreikki - I allegedly may pokti pongeppi arkoi arreippi pokti pongetti arkoi arreitti

Regular Rakeinne verbs have two thematic conjugation classes: an a-class and an u-class. Conjugation endings are different for transitive and intransitive verbs. There are two tenses (past, non-past); seven moods (infinitive, indicative, subjunctive, jussive, conditional, potential, and inferential). Non-finite forms include the infinitive, which also serves as the irregular of the verbnoun, two participles (present and past), and a gerundivum, which is in fact a participle corresponding to jussive mood.

Texts Is Rakaan vaeskora (glory to Rakavo; “glory upon Rakavo bestowed”