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Agglutinative Structure

2 min read · 307 words

Complex words are formed by adding a chain of affixes to a root word, each representing a distinct grammatical function. For example, to say "rule them all," you would use durb (rule), -ul (the affix meaning them), -ûk (the affix meaning all) and combine them into durb-ul-ûk. To say "to rule them all" you add -at (to) after durb to create durbatulûk. Pronominal suffixes are typically attached to the verb stem (e.g., -at for a participial ending, -ulûk for "them all"). You can keep aggluginating until a definite article like "the" or indefinite articles like "an" present themselves. An exception to this is "is." The word bûr functions as both and affix and a clitic. Therefore, it is added to the end of the nearest verb or noun. The pattern for a simple sentence (like "the man is red") is as follows: definite-article subject-ABS-verb noun-verb (something like "the man-ABS-is red-is). Here are some examples:

1. "The green hill over there must be made level" > "The green hill level must be made" (or "Level the green hill must be made") > "The green-hill-ABS level must-be make-past tense prefix" (or "Level the green-hill-ABS must-be-make-past tense prefix") > "kan uzullûkhârt-Ø khûmûr bolkbakhuruz" (or "khûmûr kan uzullûkhârt-Ø bolkbakhuruz")

2. "The man's city was his pride" > "The man's city his pride was" (or "His pride the man's city was") > "The man-GEN-ABS city-GEN₂-ABS-is-pasttense his-GEN₂-ABS pride" (or "His-GEN₂-ABS pride the man-GEN-ABS city-GEN₂-ABS-ACC-is-pasttense") > "kan oghôz-Ø goi-ob-Ø-bûruz oghz-ob-Ø hûrk" (or "oghz-ob-Ø hûrk kan oghôz-Ø goi-ob-Ø-ish-bûn"). Also, numbers are considered separate words and are not used in agglugination. These include:

3. All numbers from 1 to 1,000,000

4. First, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, etc

5. Firstly, secondly, thirdly, etc

When creating names however, you follow a hyper-polysynthetic agglugination. For example, a literal translation of the Greek "Mesopotamia" would be Shinulûdrûnnodhrûrzdaghıj (Lit. Two-water-river-middle-fertile-land-ıj).