Hemmoian Standard language

Hemmoian Standard is the most widely spoken Hemmoian language. It is the official language of the Hemmoian Federation as well as the Democratic Hemmoian Republic and spoken all around the Galaxy's four quadrants to varying degrees. Hemmoian Standard is mainly written in the traditional non-linear Hemmoian script, but can be represented in various linear transliterations for analytical and educational purposes.

Script

Main article: Hemmoian script

Hemmoian script is the most common writing system for Hemmoian languages. Although read from left to right, the script is highly non-linear and does not consist of "characters" as usually understood. Instead, the multiple symbolic layers are traced from the main script simultaneously by the reader, who navigates the text with the guidance of dot symbols placed at the start and the end of each clause. The dot count at the beginning of each sentence represents the number of starting points.

Articulation

See also: Hemmoian languages: Mechanism

The Hemmoian speech organ is able to produce multiple frequencies and articulations at once. The highly advanced nervous system also permits the cognitive processing of multiple clauses simultaneously. As a result, Hemmoian speech has one baseline pitch and optionally a high and low extra frequency. The extra frequencies are used to utter subordinate clauses, aspects or emotional states pertaining to the message delivered in baseline pitch. Because of this, Hemmoian Standard is a highly non-linear language.

However, Hemmoian Standard can also be spoken linearly, and often is in diplomatic situations where all counterparts are not Hemmoians. The language has very early on borrowed linear syntactic elements such as conjunctions from races Hemmoians have been in contact with, mainly the Orcs.

Phonology

Vowels

The vowels in Hemmoian Standard are:

a, ä, e, i, ï, o, ö, u, y

These Human Standard transcriptions correspond to the following symbols in the Interstellar Phonetic Alphabet, the system used to accurately and uniformly distinguish between all the sounds in all human languages:

a, æ, e, i, ɯ, o, ø, u, y

Look here for example pronunciations.

All of these vowels may occur in both short and long quantity (see below about quantity).

Consonants

The consonants in Hemmoian Standard are those represented by the following symbols in both Human Standard script and IPA, with a few exceptions:

b, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, th, v, w, z, '

The exception is "th", which is a sound comparable to the symbol ð in the IPA system. Note that in Hemmoian Standard this consonant is always voiced, where as in the combination "th" in Human Standard language can also be unvoiced (θ), depending on circumstances.

The apostrophe (') signifies a glottal stop (IPA: ʔ). It is simply a brief stop (silencing) of the baseline frequency, with no particular associated articulatory qualities.

Quantity

Hemmoian Standard distinguishes between short and long vowels and consonants, much like certain indigenous human languages. In Human Standard script, long sounds are written with two letters; e.g. Päähemmo.

Certain restrictions apply to the occurrence of sounds of long quantity. For example, long vowels in the last syllable can only occur immediate before a consonant. For this reason, nouns which have a long vowel in the last syllable end in a consonant in the singular nominative case, but when forming compound words, this consonant is dropped. These are class 1 nouns. This can most readily be observed in the usage of numerals (see below).

Noun declination

Hemmoian Standard has a number of grammatical cases in which its nouns are inflected. The following table lists them all.

Grammatical cases
	Singular	Plural
nominative	varies	-r
accusative	-(i)t	-(i)tir
genitive	-(i)z	-(i)zir
comitative	-(i)thu	-(i)thuur
ablative	-(i)mo	-(i)mor
locative	-(i)m	-(i)mir
illative	-(i)mu	-(i)muur
orbitative	-(i)'um	-(i)'umir

The nominative case is used for the subject of a sentence. It is the base form of a noun and is the form found in dictionaries.
The accusative marks the object of a transitive sentence.
The genitive is used for denoting possession.
The comitative denotes meanings which are best translated as "with", such as "I had a few space whiskeys on the rocks with her" or "I fixed it with my trusty wrench". ("On the rocks" is an idiomatic expression which essentially means "with ice", so a Hemmoian would certainly use the word "ice" in the comitative in this sentence.)
Ablative, locative and illative form the spatial cases. The ablative denotes a meaning of "from something", the locative "in, on or at something", and the illative "to, into or towards something". These can also used metaphorically, especially the illative, which is used to denote the recipient of something being given; "I bought her a shot of space whiskey".
The orbitative case is a relatively recent addition to the case system of Hemmoian Standard and indeed is not present in, for example, the Riletian dialects. It means "in orbit of something".
- For Class 1 nouns (see below), the orbitative is formed by suffixing the singular nominative, not the declension stem like in the other cases.

Noun classes

Nouns are divided into two classes in Hemmoian Standard. Class 1 includes all the nouns which end in a long vowel and a consonant in the singular nominative case, e.g. Ovaap. All other nouns fall in Class 2. Class 1 nouns are slightly more complicated in terms of declination.

The following tables demonstrate the declination of Class 1 and 2 nouns, using Ovaap (propername) and hemmo 'Hemmoian' as examples.

**Class 1** noun declination
	Singular	Plural
nominative	Ovaap	Ovaar
accusative	Ovaat	Ovaatir
genitive	Ovaaz	Ovaazir
comitative	Ovaathu	Ovaathuur
elative	Ovaamo	Ovaamor
locative	Ovaam	Ovaamir
illative	Ovaamu	Ovaamuur
orbitative	Ovaapi'um	Ovaapi'umir

**Class 2** noun declination
	Singular	Plural
nominative	hemmo	hemmor
accusative	hemmot	hemmotir
genitive	hemmoz	hemmozir
comitative	hemmothu	hemmothuur
elative	hemmomo	hemmomor
locative	hemmom	hemmomir
illative	hemmomu	hemmomuur
orbitative	hemmo'um	hemmo'umir

Verb conjugation

Finite forms

In Hemmoian Standard, verb conjugation agrees morphologically with both the subject and the object. This is very different from Human Standard, in which verbs only agree with the subject.

Example: in a sentence such as "I love you", both the I and the you part will place a morpheme on the verb stem: "ko-nyymek-ep" (you-love-I).

Pronouns like I and you do exist but are usually omitted in this kind of sentences, as they would be redundant.

**Present tense verb conjugation**
	Object-relative	Subject-relative
1st sg.	po-	-(e)p
2nd sg.	ko-	-(e)k
3rd sg.	tso-	-(e)ts
1st pl.	por-	-(e)per
2nd pl.	kor-	-(e)ker
3rd pl.	tsor-	-(e)tser

Omitting a conjugative prefix or suffix means the action is being taken with relation to the Collective, no-one in particular or everyone. See Syntax below for examples.

Verb moods

Hemmoian Standard has four moods: indicative, imperative, conditional and quotative.

Indicative mood

All "regular" sentences are in the indicative and require no special morphemes.

Imperative mood

The imperative mood is denoted by the suffix -z-.

Po-r-reeki-z-k-er.

1st_obj-pl-join-imp-2nd_subj-pl.: Join us.

Conditional mood

The conditional mood is denoted by the suffix -wul-.

Nui-po-r-reeki-wul-k-er...?

interr-1st_obj-pl-join-cond-2nd_subj-pl.: Would you join us... (if [condition])?

Quotative mood

The quotative mood attaches a connotation of uncertainty. Sentences uttered with the verb in the quotative are quotations or hear-say: something which is being retold and was not experienced first hand.

The suffix of the quotative mood is -'uu-.

Po-r-jil-reeki-'uu-ts-er.

1st_obj-pl-fut-join-quot-3rd_subj-pl.: I hear they are going to join us.

Tenses

Past tense is denoted by the prefix -jul- and future tense by the prefix -jil- between the object prefix and the stem.

Infinite forms

The infinitive is marked with the suffix -(e)th. The variant -eth is used with stems ending in a consonant. For the example verb 'to love' used above, the infinitive is nyymeketh.

The object prefixes described in the previous section can also be applied to the infinitive: tso-nyymeketh 'to love oneself'.

Suffixal copula

Copula basically means the verb to be in sentences such as "A is B", i.e. sentences where noun phrases A and B are equated, or where the quality B is stated to pertain to the noun phrase A. Example: "this space whiskey is cold" – is is a copula.

In Hemmoian Standard this kind of to be is expressed with a suffix on the B part, as if in Human Standard you would "verb" the B: "this space whiskey colds". The morpheme of the copula is the suffix -(e)voo-. For example, take the adjective knassat 'cold', apply the suffix, and you get the verb knassatevooth 'to be cold'. This verb is then conjugated like all other verbs, as explained in the table above.

Examples:

Knassat-evoo.: knassat-be.; 'It is cold.'

Hemmo-voo-p.: hemmo-be-1st_subj.; 'I am a Hemmoian.'

Ovaap hemmo-voo-ts.: Ovaap hemmo-be-3rd_subj.; 'Ovaap is a Hemmoian.'

It should be noted that an occurrence of "to be" in any other sense, such as "we are in orbit of Aldaain", the verb geeth is to be used, as this kind of "to be" is not a copula. In such a sentence, no noun phrases A and B are equated to each other, nor is a quality B assigned to a noun phrase A. The above example would translate:

Aldaain-i'um gee-p-er.: Aldaain-orb. be-1st_subj-plural.; 'We are in orbit of Aldaain.'

Syntax

Typical word order

The typical word order in a Hemmoian sentence is OSV: Object-Subject-Verb. Only the verb is strictly required, as demonstrated above in Verb conjugation. Konyymekep ('I love you') is a perfectly well-formed sentence, because the affixes attached to the verb stem deliver sufficient information on both the subject and the object.

However, syntax is important when forming multiple-word sentences. Word order is not vital per se for the successful formation of meaningful sentences, but failing to follow convention does tend to make the speaker appear inept. This said, word order does vary quite a bit when conveying subtle aspect changes, especially when dealing with pronouns.

Some examples of typical word order:

Hemmo-t-ir Ovaap tso-r-nyymek-ets.: Hemmo-acc-pl Ovaap 3rd_obj-pl-love-3rd_subj.; 'Ovaap loves Hemmoians.'

Ovaa-t hemmo-r tso-nyymek-ets-er.: Ovaap-acc Hemmoian-pl 3rd_obj-love-3rd_subj-pl.; 'Hemmoians love Ovaap.'

Omitting either the object prefix or subject suffix of the verb causes the reference to shift to non-specificity, usually interpreted as a passive voice, everything, something undisclosed or the Collective.

Ovaa-t tso-nyymek.: Ovaap-acc 3rd_obj-love.; 'Ovaap is loved (by all or in general).'

Modified word order

Word order can be modified quite significantly to, for example, stress a specific word. Normally a pronoun is not needed to express the person committing the action denoted be the verb in a sentences, but the person can be stressed by introducing the pronoun and moving it to the beginning of the sentence. Other words can also be promoted to the beginning of a sentence.

Example:

Ovaap paa-t po-nyymek-ets!: Ovaap I-acc (me) 1st_obj-love-3rd_subj!; 'Ovaap loves me!' ('Ovaap is the one who loves me!')

Attributes

Attributes to noun phrases such as adjectives and genitive attributes occur before their parent phrase. Examples:

Tooled Hemmo: reborn Hemmoian

knassat vi'met: cold planet

hemmozir vi'met: planet of Hemmoians

rippaaz knassat vi'met: our cold planet

Numerals

As Hemmoians have two arms with six fingers each, Hemmoians usually count in base-12. This is also reflected in Hemmoian Standard numerals. However, when transcribed to the scripts of other civilizations, the numerals are converted to their respective numeral systems.

Cardinals

The cardinal numerals are words which simply express quantity. These are used for plain numbers and quantity of things, e.g. one space whiskey, please.

reep, taap, knoop, neek, viik, knuup, jiik, kaap, vyyk, look, knääp, tnekeep

Numbers larger than twelve are expressed as the number of tnekeep plus what remains. When combining numerals, however, the last consonant of all numerals which are in the singular, if they are followed by a consonant. This is because of phonological restrictions on where long vowels can occur (see phonology above for details). For example:

BASE-10 15 = 1 tnekeep + 3 = tnekeeknoop

BASE-10 20 = 1 tnekeep + 8 = tnekeekaap

BASE-10 24 = 2 tnekeep = taatnekeer

BASE-10 25 = 2 tnekeep + 1 = taatnekeerreep

BASE-10 67 = 5 tnekeep + 7 = viitnekeerjiik

BASE-10 100 = 8 tnekeep + 4 = kaatnekeerneek

This same logic is followed with the numerals bulnääk 'hundred base-12', sruknääk 'thousand base-12':

BASE-10 194 = 1 bulnääp + 4 tnekeep + 2 = bulnääneetnekeertaap

BASE-12 40,521 = 4 tnekeep sruknääk + 5 bulnät + 2 tnekeep + 1 = neetnekeersruknäärviibulnäärtaatnekeerreep

Ordinals

Ordinals denote position in order, e.g. first, second, third... These are formed by just taking the first part of the numeral and ending it in an abrupt stop.

re'
ta'
kno'
ne'
vi'
knu'
ji'
ka'
vy'
lo'
knä'
tneke'

Miscellaneous morphemes

Prefixes

di'-

un-, dis-, anti-

di'untleth

untleth 'to exist' > di'untleth 'to annihilate' ("anti-exist")

doh-

not, negative verb prefix (dash is spelled out!)

Doh-beekvup.

I don't know.

nui-

interrogative prefix (dash is spelled out!)

nui-tiemir

how many

Nui-knassatevoo?

Is it cold?

uu-

some, used with pronouns

uu-du

someone

Suffixes

-(e)k

verb deriving suffix:

n. nyym 'love' > v. nyym-ek-eth 'to love'

-(i)n

adjective deriving suffix: n. nyym 'love' > a. nyym-in 'lovely'

v. nyymeketh > n. nyymek-in 'loving'

-(i)k and -eet

noun deriving suffixes:

a. nyymin 'lovely' > n. nyymin-ik 'loveliness'

v. untleth 'to exist' > n. untl-eet 'existence'

-d

This past participle suffix is attached after the verb stem. If the last syllable of the stem has a long vowel, it becomes shortened.

v. nyymeketh 'to love' > v./a. nyymeked 'loved'

v. tooleth 'to be reborn' > v./a. tooled 'reborn'

v. beekvuth 'to know' > v./a. beekvuth 'known'

v. geeth 'to be' > v./a. ged 'been'

-vn

present participle

v. untleth 'to exist' > untlevn 'existing'