Ruuk

Ruuk is an a priori language meant to sound "harsh" and "guttural".

Ruuk has the following consonants.

And the vowels are:

Phonemically, the pharyngealization is a feature of a vowel. Phonetically, the consonant behind the vowels gets pharyngealized. Consider the pair:

• <hoŝ'ib> /xoɬˤib/ (something green)
• <hoŝb'i> /xoɬbˤi/ (green)

Further, the velar consonants turns into uvular before the pharyngealizing vowels.

• <ŧok'ol> [θoqol] (something heavy)
• <ŧokl'o> [θoklˤo] (heavy)

After a vowel or at the beginning of a word, emphatic becomes a voiced pharygeal fricative:

• <ra'al> /ɹaʕal/
• <'aral> /ʕaɹal/

Any vowel can vowel any other vowel, a semivowel /j/ or /w/ can replace one of the vowels or appear between two different vowels.

A schwa might appear between two consonants at a syllable boundary if:

• The first syllable ends with a voiced plosive, or
• Both of the consonants are /θ s ɬ ç/

Ruuk is an ergative language with a verb-last syntax.

The postposition "ak" is the ergative case marker.

All intransitive verbs in ruuk are labile verbs (also called ergative verbs). Adding an ergative turns the verb into a causative.

Likewise, without the ergative noun, the sentence is similar to passive voice.

Causative on transitive verb is formed by the causative postposition "gat"

Literally "I caused the dog to eat fruit."

Such causative sentence is still valid without ergative noun.

Literally "I causes (someone) to know about him."

Ruuk has a three-way distinction between nouns, verbs, and modifiers. By default, the root form of a word is a noun. A root must have:

• Two vowels.
• A consonant at the beginning and the end.

It may have a consonant in the middle.

The default form of the root is a noun. Adjectives and modifiers are derived from it through metathesis. The verb form switches the first two phonemes, while the modifier form switches the last two phonemes. For example:

The abstract form of the noun is formed by adding the first consonant to the verb form.

• t'atab > goodness
• šušun > sleep (as a noun)
• kaklob > the state of being a dog

By default, the noun and the modifier form of a root indicates either the core argument of an intransitive verb or the object of a transitive verb.

• kakal > things that are eaten (beverage, food)
• kakla > eaten (as a participle)

The alignment morphemes can become postposition or infix. They are:

The antipassive morpheme shifts the root noun into the causer of an originally intransitive verb or the agent of a transitive verb.

The verb form is derived by switching the first consonant and vowel.

In the antipassive voice, while the noun with an absolute case (null morpheme) becomes the actor of a transitive verb, the patient of a verb, if needed, is marked with a patient case 'il'.

While "kalakob" means "someone who turn other people into dogs" the word for "someone who is turned into a dog" is just "kalob". This distinction can be confered with the dak'a modifier. The phrase <dak'a kalob> means "someone who started being a dog" or "someone who become a dog".

The locative -ot is similar to the preposition in, at.

As a verb modifier it turns the noun in absolute case into location of the verb.

As a noun, the infix means something where the verb is done.

• kakotal > place to eat

The second infix in a root determines modality and/or evidentiality.

It acts like verbal mood.

Likewise, the infix can be used in noun as well.

• kat'ulob > someone who can be a dog.
• kagulob > someone who must be a dog (someone who is definitely a dog).

The noun cases are in form of postpositions.

Core cases:

Spatial cases:

Other cases

As stated in the morpheme section, four of these (Ergative, Patient, Locative, Instrumental) can be used to modify the meaning of a content word.

Spatial nouns are used to convey more specific direction or location, such as "into" or "under". Some of the spatial nouns are.

For example, the preposition "after" and "before" is convered with "at the back of" and "at the front of" even when it's used as temporal marker.

By default two nouns put together are connected in attributive manner. That is to say, they behave as if there's a genitive between them.

• kalob kakla > A dog's food.

This extends to three or more nouns put together.

• kalob kakla kakakos > A dog's food bowl.

There's no ambiguity in ruuk. The attribution is resolved from left to right. So kalob kakla kakakos is parsed as (kalob kakla) kakakos (a bowl of dog food) instead of kalob (kakla kakakos). The genitive marker iš is used to change the default resolution order:

• kalob iš kakla kakakos > The food bowl of a dog.

There's no number distinction in pronouns, just like in nouns.

Like nouns, the pronouns can have numeral or quantifier with them.

• ŧiin nin > the two of us
• sašad kok > many of you

All the nouns can be turned into modifier, in particular the 3rd person and interrogative can be used as a determiner.

• uŧuk kalob > this dog
• aman kalon > what kind of dog

Modifier comes before a noun:

• šunu kalob > sleeping dog

The modified noun takes the position that occupies the absolute noun. That is to say the modifier form of a transitive content word is a passive participle.

• pirih akkal > the fruit is eaten
• kakla pirih > fruit that's eaten

To create active participle, the anti-passive is used.

• kakakla kalob > dog that eat

Modifier can also has their own parameters.

When put side by side, modifier modify each other.

• hugu halka kalob > quickly moving dog.

For more than one of modifier to modify the same noun. A conjunction is used.

• hugu ha halka kalob > quick and moving dog

Inchoative can also be used for a change of state into. For example. The sentence:

• Kalob dak'a kobru

Can mean "The dog started being big" or "The dog became big".