Verb
bouti.
Present Tense Conjugation of verb
bouti:
| singular | plural |
Ist person | yesmi | yesmo |
IInd person | yesi | yeste |
IIId person | yesty*, ye | sõty |
* - It's an obsolete or archaic form; in modern language usage is restricted to a philosophical sphere when existentialism is accounted.
In the vernacular of the Roussish dialects which more or less widely use the fully conjugated verb 'bouti' only (but ye and sõty) the so called apheretic forms are attested. Based on this, the standard or received pronunciation of these forms is to be the following:
yesmi [sjmɪ]
yesi [jsɪ, jsɪ, ɩsɪ]
yesmo [sjmɔ, sjmɒ]
yeste [sjtɛ, sjtɜ].
Previously, I considered to make regular several orthographies for these forms: the fully written forms for fully pronounced ones, and the apostrophized orthography for the syncopic ones (i.e. y'si for yesi, y'ste for yeste). Later on I noticed, that this shares in common with the word [ʃʧɛ ~ ʃʧɜ] 'more. also. still; yet', for which - despite various conjectures on its initial form in Old West Roussish (*osce, *yesce, even *isce) - I choose to write yesce with the standardized pronunciation [ʃʧɛ ~ ʃʧɜ ~ ʃʧe]. On these grounds, as a fact of mutual indirect proof, I deal, that syncopation in the bouti conjugated personal forms and in the word yesce is, though widespread and standardized, is not a result of any historical morphological mutation, but a matter of prosody or phonotactics.
The forms yesmi, yesi, besides apheretic normal pronunciation have also an apocopic variant of pronunciation, i.e. [jem], [jesj], and even fully syncopized, i.e. with both apheresis and apocope, like [m], [sj]. So, the phrase like: 'Boula yesi fycyora doma?' can be pronounced as: [bulɑsjuʧɒrɑdɒmɑ?], and the phrase like: 'Boul yesi fycyora doma' can be pronounced as: [buwesjuʧɒrɑdɒmɑ?].
The fully pronounced forms (i.e. [jesmɪ], [jesɪ], [jesmɔ], [jestɛ]) I mean to revive for the sake of formal status, and in terms of prosody for an emphatisized retort. Premised on the prescriptive nature of this grammar I see a good perspective for the use of the fully pronounced forms in predicative sentences of statement. That is, take a question 'Yeste tam?' [sj`tɛtɑm] - in case of a simple positive answer it would suffice to formulate it merely 'Yesmo' [jɛ`smɔ], yet syncopic form [sjmɔ] is normal here as well.
Interestingly, the standard modern Roussish (Ucrainian) doesn't enjoy this advantageous manoeuvre. Now, let's take again the above question 'Ci fui tam?' (purposely without verb 'bouti') and the positive answer as it would sound upon the modern standard - 'Mui tout'. See, an average Ucrainian would barely notice the oddity this question-answer pair instills: from the viewpoint of the other Slavic languages which standardly use the conjugated 'be'-verb, and the neighbouring Hungarian language likewise, the in such a manner stated question and answer will be interpreted as follows: 'Are you there?' - (No,) we are there (the underlining here means emphasis), which looks totally confusing, much less the redundance of such a phrasing in the modern standard.
Examples of bouti conjugated personal forms in complex predicative sentences:
Molod yesmi. - 'I'm young'.
[`mɔlɔd.jem], [`mɔlɔdmɪ]
---
Ouge daleco sõty. - 'They are now far away.'
/ẘʒɛ.dɑ`lɛkɔsutj/
This sentence may be also rendered in a various word order:
Daleco ouge sõty. - 'idem'.
/dɑ`lɛkɔ.ẘʒɛ.sutj/
---
Crasyna yesi. - 'You're beautiful.' (to a female)
[`krɑsnɑsj], or [`krɑsnɑjesj], or [`krɑsnɑjsɪ], or [`krɑsnɑjesɪ].
Praf yesi. - 'You're right.' (to a male)
[`prɑwjesj]
---
Yeste dougye mil. - 'So kind of you.'
/sjtɛˏduʒɜ`mɪl/
Various rendition:
Dougye mil yeste. - 'idem'.
/ˏduʒɜ`mɪl.jesjtɛ/
Verb
dati ('to give').
Present Tense Conjugation of verb
dati:
| singular | plural |
Ist person | damy | damo |
IInd person | dasi | daste |
IIId person | dasty | dadõty |
Verb
fésti ('to know ~command any knowledge, possess a skill').
Present Tense Conjugation of verb
fésti:
| singular | plural |
Ist person | fémy | fémo |
IInd person | fési | féste |
IIId person | fésty | fédẽty |
Verb
yésti ('to eat').
Present Tense Conjugation of verb
yésti:
| singular | plural |
Ist person | yémy | yémo |
IInd person | yési | yéste |
IIId person | yésty | yédẽty |
Verb
ẽti ('to have').
Present Tense Conjugation of verb
ẽti:
| singular | plural |
Ist person | imõ | imemo |
IInd person | imeshy | imete |
IIId person | ime(ty) | imõty |
!: The initial 'i' fades to /j~ɩ/ up to nothing, i.e.
imõ /ɩmu~jmu~mu/, likewise
imeshy /mɛʃ/, imõty /mut
j/ etc.
Verb
iti ('to go, to walk')
Present Tense Conjugation of verb
iti:
| singular | plural |
Ist person | idõ | idemo |
IInd person | ideshy | idete |
IIId person | ide(ty) | idõty |
The firsty 'i' is unstressed which means under Roussish prosody rules its quantitatively reduced pronunciation, i.e. [ɩdu~jdu] etc.
Verb
yéti ('to go by something')
Present Tense Conjugation of verb
yéti:
| singular | plural |
Ist person | yédõ | yédemo |
IInd person | yédeshy | yédete |
IIId person | yéde(ty) | yédõty |
The
a-declension pattern:
| singular | dual | plural |
Nom | -a | -é | -ui |
Gen | -ui | -ou | 0 |
Dat | -é | -ama | -am |
Acc | -õ | -é | -ui |
Instr | -oyõ | -ama | -ami |
Loc | -é | -ou | -ash |
Voc | -o | -é | -ui |
An example of a-declension with word
rõca 'hand':
| singular | dual | plural |
Nom | rõca | rõcé | rõcui |
Gen | rõcui | rõcou | rõc |
Dat | rõcé | rõcama | rõcam |
Acc | rõcõ | rõcé | rõcui |
Instr | rõcoyõ | rõcama | rõcami |
Loc | rõcé | rõcou | rõcash |
Voc | rõco | rõcé | rõcui |
If an a-paradigm word contains 'e' in penultimate syllable in Nom.sing., then in Gen.pl. it shifts to 'œ', i.e.:
lebeda1* [lɛbɛ`dɑ] : lebœd [lebjʉd], lepexa2* [lɛpɛxɑ] : lepœx [le`pjʉx].
This rule, however, doesn't fall upon words of a-paradigm in which the penultimate 'e' is compound in 'ele', 'ere', so no shift in Gen.pl. occur, 'e' remains as the case with scelepa [ʃʧɛ`lɜpɑ] : scelep [ʃʧɛ`lɜp], bereca [bɛ`rɜkɑ] : berec [bɛ`rɜk].
1* – wild marjoram or oregano (Origanum vulgare)
2* – sweet flag or calamus (Acorus calamus)
3* – wild service tree or checker tree (Sorbus torminalis)
4* – jaw
If an a-paradigm word contains 'o' in the penultimate syllable in Nom. sing., then in Gen. pl. it shifts to 'w', i.e.:
suoboda1* [swo`bɒdɑ] : suobwd [swo`bʏd], sofa2* [sɔ`βɑ~so`βɑ] : swf [sʏw], storona3* [storo`nɑ] : storwn [sto`rʏn].
1* - freedom; leisure; unconstraint; easiness, negligence
2* - owl
3* - side; site; page; edge; land, state, native shore, foreign land; part (land, world, mainland)
The masculine declension pattern:
| singular | dual | plural |
Nom | 0 | -a | -i |
Gen | -a/-ou*1 | -ou | 0/-wf*2 |
Dat | -ou/-ofi*3 | -oma | -wm |
Acc | 0/-a*4 | -a | -ui/-wf*2,*5 |
Instr | -wmy | -oma | -ui/-mi*2 |
Loc | -ofi/-é*6 | -ou | -ésh/-wsh*2 |
Voc | -e | -a | -i |
*1 - countable nouns get -
a, uncountable nouns get -
ou in Gen.sg.
*2 - dialect diversity or depending on a particular noun.
*3 - animate nouns usually get -ofi, inanimate nouns usually get -ou. Another distribution is such that the animate objects with a definite subaudition get -ofi, while indefinite ones albeit animate get -ou.
*4 - zero ending for inanimate objects and -a for animate objects. Also, -a ending is added to inanimate objects inferring indefiniteness or so to say ampleness.
*5 - inanimate uncountable objects get -ui, animate countable objects get -wf. With animate indefinite objects where uncountable content is implied with some translitive verbs -ui ending is added, whilst with other transitive verbs -wf ending is added.
*6 - animate objects get -ofi and inanimate objects get -é. Also, inanimate objects with definite countable implication may get -ofi.
Examples:
| singular | dual | plural |
Nom | pan | pana | pani |
Gen | pana/goroshou*1 | panou/goroshou | cyoloféc, gwd/cyolofécwf, panwf*2 |
Dat | panou, goroshou/panofi*3 | panoma, godoma | panwm, godwm |
Acc | gorosh, feresc/pana, cyoloféca, pysa*4 | pana, boba, mésẽca, cyoloféca, pysa | bobui, mésẽcui; panui, cyolofécui/panwf, cyolofécwf*2,*5 |
Instr | panwmy, duzgywmy, goroshwmy | panoma, boboma | mésẽcui, panui, bobui/mesẽcmi, panmi, bwbmi*2 |
Loc | mésẽcé, goroshé/panofi, cyolofécofi, mésẽcofi*6 | panou, nozyou | panésh, cyolofécésh, mésẽcésh, bobésh/bobwsh, nozywsh*2 |
Voc | pane, cyoloféce, bobe, mésẽce, goroshe, nozye | pani, cyoloféci | pani, cyoloféci |
In the nouns which contain 'w' in Nom.sg or Gen.pl. with zero ending these vowels shift to 'o' or 'yo' in other oblique cases with added endings which begin with a vowel, for instance:
Nom.sg/Gen.pl: bwb, nwzyu → boba, bobwf, bobou, bobé, bobwmy, bobwm, bobwsh~bobésh; nozya, nozyé, nozywmy, nozywsh~nozyésh, but bwbmi, nwzyumi etc.
In the nouns which contain 'œ' in other oblique cases with non-front vowel endings 'œ' shifts to or 'yo', and whereas an oblique case contains a high front vowel – but 'w' in case ending – 'œ' shifts to 'e', for instance:
Nom.sg/Gen.pl: fecœr → fecyora, fecyorwf, fecyorwmy, fecyorwm, fecyorui but feceré, fecérésh (~fecyorwsh!), but fecœrmi.
NOTE: There are masculine nouns of soft type [ʃ, ʧ, ʒ] which orthographically end with -yu – those derived from roots ending with -s-, -t-, -z-, for instance:
cwsyu, bityu, nwzyu – [kʏʃ], [bɪʧ], [nʏʒ], resp.
Also, masculine family names like:
Crifanityu [krɪ`βɑnɪʧ], Xodanityu [χo`dɑnɪʧ], Gydanofityu [ʒdɑ`nɒβɪʧ], Stanukofityu [stɑn.`kɒβɪʧ] and the like;
as well as in toponyms and hydronyms, such as:
(Gniluy) Tékityu [(ɰnɪ`lɨj)`cikɪʧ], Byrdityu [`bɜrdɪʧ], Slafõtityu [slɑ`βutɪʧ], Labityu [`lɑbɪʧ], Galityu [`ɰɑlɪʧ] etc.
These nouns are declined by dropping the -u vowel and adding a relevant case ending, for instance:
cwsyu → cosya, Galityu → Galitya etc.
Masculine nouns of consonant paradigm ending with a soft consonant may be pronounced variosly upon a dialect in Instr.sg. and Dat.pl. as follows:
conywmy, conywm: [ko`nɜm] and [ko`ɲym] (Nom.sg. cwny), palycwmy, palycwm: [`pɑλʦɜm] and [`pɑλʨym] (Nom.sg. palyc), duzgywmy, duzgywm [do`ʒʤɜm] and [do`ʒʤym], corabywmy, corabywm [kɔrɑ`blɜm] and [kɔrɑ`bλym] (Nom.sg. corabyly) etc.