The New Peto Grammar

The New Peto Grammar

Phonology and Orthography

Front	Center		Back
i			u
e	y		o
æ	y		[y (= ^)]
		a

The vowels are based roughly on the standard European vowels (i = /ee/ in tree, e = /a/ in mate, u = /oo/ in soon), with a few exceptions. /æ/ sounds as the /e/ in English get does. /a/ is rounded (more like the /aw/ in paw than the /a/ in father). /y/ is usually a schwa, but before double letters it sounds as the /u/ in hump and before /l, m, n, r/ it serves merely to signal the autosyllabacy of following consonant.

And I've assigned each one of these vowels an attribute.

Monophthongs
i - masculinity [i]
e - death [e]
æ¹ - nothingness [E]
y - unity, synchronity, harmony, one [@]
a - femininty [a]
o - life [o]
u - neuterness [u]

Diphthongs
æy - trouble
ai - progress
au - sinister, dark
ey - undoing, negation
iu - weakness
oy - agentive (one who ... , -er)
ua - dexterity
ui - power

^{1 In HTML this character, called "ash," is coded as æ and it's capital form [Æ] is Æ - note the capitalization
And as for the conosonants, in an attempt to free up the word-structure a little bit (I was tempted to make the word for "good" in old style Peto be dtle), I've decided that individual letters won't contain a meaning, but letter combinations will. Like the Semetic languages, different clusters of consonants will carry a basic meaning and nuance will be implied through vowels.}

	Blb	Lbd	Den	Alv	Pav	Plt	Vlr	Glt
Pl	p b			t d			k g
Fr		f v	-dd-	s z	c q			h
Ns	m	m	n	n	n		ng
Tr				r
Ax	u-					i-
LA				l

Fairly close to English, save that c and q take the place sh and the "zh" sound, respectively and that j is in place of English y. Unvoiced letters are aspirated (as in English). You will also notice that /r/ is trilled. /dd/ is a voiced dental fricative, the /th/ sound in this.

Stress tends to fall on the penultimate syllable.

(Æ)L-O life
ælo Being
ælaio life
ælaioc to live, to be alive
æloyoc to live, to dwell, to inhabit
meyolaion unborn
olaio birth
olaio ruidotualyin caulbirth
olaioc to be born
olaioyc to give birth
olaioyr to give birth to OBLQ
olmaii son
olmaia daughter
qauduate ælaion rite of passage (lit., "trial of life")

B-T- fathers
baitailom father's side of the family
baitlom fatherhood
baitoyi father
baitui rôle of a father
baituioyi father-figure
baituli step-father
baitymi uncle
korbaitoyi foster-father
ulbaitoyi grandfather (ululbaitoyi great-grandfather, ulululbaitoyi great-great-grandfather, etc.)
ulmubaitoyi father-in-law

C-L-T cold
cadlatuc to be freezing
cadlatuncun freezing
cadlatullun frozen
cadlatur to freeze OBLQ
cailta the moon, Luna
celte iceburn, snowburn
ciultun cold
ciulta coldness
ciulta uv salan water that for one reason or another is below 32° F but not ice
coltun cool
colte coolness

D-T-L appearance
audotuala omen, bad omen
daytly eye
dotoly appearance
dotuala sight, the ability to see
dotualoy viewer
dotualoy yolænun VCR ( :) )
dotualur to see
dotailuc to look
dotailur to look at
dotuily flag
dutuloy mark, marker, boundary
eydotualanun clandestine
ruidotuala good omen
yodotualanun clairvoyant

L- there
loe there
lolun that/those
loynun (abstract realizer)
lole then

-L-D- small, little
elddun thin, slight
lædun least
-ld- diminutive infix
lodun less, fewer
ludun small, little

M- contradiction
maumus however
maus sondern (but instead, but rather)
me no
mey not
mey- non-, un-
meyc not to ~ (negative auxiliary)
meyr to argue
meystalom opposition
mo instead of
moe in spite of, despite
mus but
musmal vielmehr (rather)
musmo instead

-M(Æ)N-R- see
mændrovua book
mændrur to read
mændruvu reading assignment
mnurur to believe
paicmænddrialur to love
pamniruc to think
poqmnordur to feel
ymnyri understanding
ymnyriur to understand

M-T- mothers
maitailom mother's side of the family
maitlom motherhood
maitoya mother
maitua rôle of a mother
maituioya mother-figure
maitula step-mother
maityma aunt
kormaitoya foster-mother
ulmaitoya grandmother (ululbaitoy great-grandmother, ulululbaitoy great-great-grandmother, etc.)
ulmumaitoya mother-in-law

N- here
noe here
nonun this/these
noynun the
none now

N-S death
ænso Non-Being (not death, just not Being)
dutuloy nesin tombstone
foqailat nesin dying words
lorau nesin death rattle
nairra (from *naisra) loss of virginity
nes death
nesda grave
neskluna fear of death
neslun dying
nesna deathbed
nesuc to die
nesun dead
nesur to kill
nso orgasm
olaio nesin stillbirth
oneslom reincarnation
onesluc to reincarnate
skaulune nesin deathblow

Q-T(E)- hot, heat
qaiti the sun, Sol
qauduate trial, obstacle, challenge, turning point
qauteun hot
qaute heat
qaziti fire
qaziti uv salan S^t Elmo's Fire
qazitilarn lava
qazitilarnoy volcano
qazotoc to be burning
qazotoncun burning
qazotollun burned
qazotor to burn OBLQ
qete burn (the noun)
qoteun warm
qote warmth

(V)Y- beginning, starting
myn none, nothing, zero
va woman
vai mankind, humanity (Gen. = vain)
valda girl
vi man
vildi boy
Voynseæs January
voylom beginning
vuo (habitual adverb)
vyf egg
vynli root
vyvai womb
ydd all
yl gene
yllom genetics
ylt raising, upbrining
yn one
ynydd the universe
yolænun automatic
yole the physical self (gen. = yolæn)
yone the Self, that which realizes the I (gen. yoynn)

Declension of Nouns and Adjectives

All nouns, regardless of gender, declined in the following manner:

Case	Singular	Plural
N	-	-(u)t
G	-(y)n	-(y)nut
O	-(u)s	-(u)st

If the noun ends in a vowel, the letter in the parentheses is ignored. If it ends in a consonant, the letter in the parentheses is placed between the end of the stem and the declensional ending to aid in pronunciation.

Adjectives decline in a similar fashion; gender is not an issue.

Case	Singular	Plural
N	-un	-unet
G	-unyn	-unet
O	-uns	-unest

Adverbs

Adverbs are non-declining particles which are generally placed before the word they modify, though they may be placed after it for emphasis.

Comparison of Adjectives and Adverbs

luknun "light blue"
luknunyl "ligher blue"
luknunylyn "lightest blue"

ildoe "quickly"
ildoeyl * "more quickly"
ildoeylyn * "most quickly"
* In the case of ildoe and all other adverbs which end in a vowel, the schwa may be contracted to aid in prouniciation, giving the forms ildoe'l and ildoe'lyn. Numerals

Peto handles numerals in the same manner as Russian. The numeral itself is treated as a noun (so, zobym literally means "a set of seven things") and the things, are then placed in a partive genetive construction. So, seven seas would be zobym sas ane, literally seven of sea. Note how the word sa, "sea," is singular and in the oblique case.

Adpositions

Adpositions are preposed to denote movement, but postposed to denote stasis. They all take the oblique case.

Preposition	Preposed	Postposed
ade	facing	through
ane	out of, aus	of (partive genetive)
bade	by means of	with
bane	under	moving under
belan	near	before
blade	-	without
dane	indirect object	at
de	onto	on
di *	during, while, während	-
mo	instead of, statt	because of, wegen
moe	-	in spite of, trotz
na	into	in
ne	terminative	against
nelan	near	after
oe	around	concerning, about
stane	to	next to, neben
zal	moving out of	from, von

* di may also be used as a conjunction.

Conjunctions

æle therefore, so
ba and
ba . . . ba both . . . and
belan before
bu or
bu . . . bu either . . . or
bunbu even though
bunelan although
dele because
di while
elan that, daß
eldi when
elelan in order to
lo . . . lu as . . . as
lu than
lun . . . bun not only . . . but also
maumus however
maus sondern (but instead, but rather)
melan for, indeed
mus but
musmal vielmehr (rather)
musmo instead
nefy if, whether
nefy . . . ba if . . . then
nefy . . . nefy whether . . . or
nelan after

Conjugation of Verbs

Verbs are a very tricky matter. They conjugate for five persons and there are nine words for I.

The first three persons are the same as in most languages: I and we, thee and you, s/he/it and they. The fourth, though, is a person without number - the "all-man" person. Everyone is included in the fourth person - I, you, and he, and she, and everybody else. The fifth person is reserved for higher beings. Beings who may not be or act according to the rules of nature.

Present Active Indicative
Person	Singular	Plural
1^st	olaioyvo	olaioyvos
2^nd	olaioyod	olaioyot
3^rd	olaioyno	olaioynos
4^th	olaioy
5^th	olaioyto	olaioytos
Perfect Active Indicative
Person	Singular	Plural
1^st	olaioyvole	olaioyvosle
2^nd	olaioyodle	olaioyotle
3^rd	olaioynole	olaioynosle
4^th	olaioyle
5^th	olaioytole	olaioytosle
Aoro-Imperfect Active Indicative
Person	Singular	Plural
1^st	olaioyvode	olaioyvosde
2^nd	olaioyodde	olaioyotde
3^rd	olaioynode	olaioynosde
4^th	olaioyde
5^th	olaioytode	olaioytosde

Present Passive Indicative
Person	Singular	Plural
1^st	olaioyvon	olaioyvosyn
2^nd	olaioyodyn	olaioyotyn
3^rd	olaioynon	olaioynosyn
4^th	olaioyn
5^th	olaioyton	olaioytosyn
Perfect Passive Indicative
Person	Singular	Plural
1^st	olaioyvolen	olaioyvoslen
2^nd	olaioyodlen	olaioyotlen
3^rd	olaioynolen	olaioynoslen
4^th	olaioylen
5^th	olaioytolen	olaioytoslen
Aoro-Imperfect Passive Indicative
Person	Singular	Plural
1^st	olaioyvoden	olaioyvosden
2^nd	olaioyodden	olaioyotden
3^rd	olaioynoden	olaioynosden
4^th	olaioyden
5^th	olaioytoden	olaioytosden

Present Active Subjunctive
Person	Singular	Plural
1^st	olaioyve	olaioyves
2^nd	olaioyed	olaioyet
3^rd	olaioyne	olaioynes
4^th	olaioye
5^th	olaioyte	olaioytes
Perfect Active Subjunctive
Person	Singular	Plural
1^st	olaioyvele	olaioyvesle
2^nd	olaioyedle	olaioyetle
3^rd	olaioynele	olaioynesle
4^th	olaioyele
5^th	olaioytele	olaioytesle
Aoro-Imperfect Active Subjunctive
Person	Singular	Plural
1^st	olaioyvede	olaioyvesde
2^nd	olaioyedde	olaioyetde
3^rd	olaioynede	olaioynesde
4^th	olaioyede
5^th	olaioytede	olaioytesde

Present Passive Subjunctive
Person	Singular	Plural
1^st	olaioyven	olaioyvesyn
2^nd	olaioyedyn	olaioyetyn
3^rd	olaioynen	olaioynesyn
4^th	olaioyen
5^th	olaioyten	olaioytesyn
Perfect Passive Subjunctive
Person	Singular	Plural
1^st	olaioyvelen	olaioyveslen
2^nd	olaioyedlen	olaioyetlen
3^rd	olaioynelen	olaioyneslen
4^th	olaioyelen
5^th	olaioytelen	olaioyteslen
Aoro-Imperfect Passive Subjunctive
Person	Singular	Plural
1^st	olaioyveden	olaioyvesden
2^nd	olaioyedden	olaioyetden
3^rd	olaioyneden	olaioynesden
4^th	olaioyeden
5^th	olaioyteden	olaioytesden

Present Active Imperative
Person	Singular	Plural
1^st	-	olaioyvoav
2^nd	olaioyada	olaioyata
3^rd	-	-
4^th	olaioya
5^th	-	-

Present Passive Imperative
Person	Singular	Plural
1^st	-	olaioyvoavyn
2^nd	olaioyadan	olaioyatan
3^rd	-	-
4^th	olaioyan
5^th	-	-

The Peto personal pronouns are incredibly important, especially in the first person. Peto has different words for I depending upon gender (there is a neuter "I" which could be used to make sociological statements and whatnot) and how the speaker performs an action. i, a, or u (depending upon gender) are used when performing a non-person-specific action. Things like eating, sleeping, walking, laughing, or non-person-specific actions. fil, fal, or ful are used when one is performing an action that would be noticeably affected by that person's personality - having emotions, senses, feelings, thoughts, and ideas are glossed as person-specific. The final series of pronouns are used when one is intentionally acting out of character - they are nil, nal, and nul.

Perosonal Pronouns
Nominative
Person/Number	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
1^st Singular	i, fil, nil	a, fal, nal	u, ful, nul¹
1^st Plural	-	-	ut
2^nd Singular	di	da	du¹
2^nd Plural	-	-	dut
3^rd Singular	ni	na	nu
3^rd Plural	-	-	nut
4^st	-	-	avi
5^th Singular	Ti	Ta	Te
5^th Plural			Tet
Genetive
Person/Number	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
1^st Singular	in	an	un¹
1^st Plural	-	-	unut
2^nd Singular	din	dan	dun¹
2^nd Plural	-	-	dunut
3^rd Singular	nin	nan	nun
3^rd Plural	-	-	nunut
4^st	-	-	avin
5^th Singular	Tin	Tan	Ten
5^th Plural			Tenet
Oblique
Person/Number	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
1^st Singular	is	as	us¹
1^st Plural	-	-	usut
2^nd Singular	dis	das	dus¹
2^nd Plural	-	-	dusut
3^rd Singular	nis	nas	nus
3^rd Plural	-	-	nusut
4^st	-	-	avis
5^th Singular	Tis	Tas	Tes
5^th Plural			Teset

Animate Demonstratives
Nominative
Person/Number	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
3^rd Singular	li	la	lu
3^rd Plural	-	-	lut
5^th Singular	Til	Tal	Tel
5^th Plural	-	-	Telet
Genetive
Person/Number	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
3^rd Singular	lin	lan	lun
3^rd Plural	-	-	lunut
5^th Singular	Tilin	Talan	Telen
5^th Plural	-	-	Telenet
Oblique
Person/Number	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
3^rd Singular	lis	las	lus
3^rd Plural	-	-	lusut
5^th Singular	Tilis	Talas	Teles
5^th Plural	-	-	Teleset

Nominative
falu someone		balu anyone		ulu one
Person/Number	Masculine		Feminine		Neuter
3^rd Singular	-		-		falu balu ulu
3^rd Plural	-		-		falut balut ulut
5^th Singular	-		-		Tefalu Tebalu Teulu
5^th Plural	-		-		Tefalut Tebalut Teulut
Genetive
Person/Number	Masculine		Feminine		Neuter
3^rd Singular	-		-		falun balun ulun
3^rd Plural	-		-		falunut balunut ulunut
5^th Singular	-		-		Tefalun Tebalun Teulun
5^th Plural	-		-		Tefalunut Tebalunut Teulunut
Oblique
Person/Number	Masculine		Feminine		Neuter
3^rd Singular	-		-		falus balus ulus
3^rd Plural	-		-		falusut balusut ulusut
5^th Singular	-		-		Tefalus Tebalus Teulus
5^th Plural	-		-		Tefalusut Tebalusut Teulusut

^{1 There may come a time when refering to oneself or another as a neuter object may be helpful in order to make a point.

Relatives, Interrogatives, and Inanimate Demonstratives

Petoun

English

interrogatives and relatives

mell

what (that which)

mella, -i, -e

who, which (that)

mello

why

mellu

how

mellut

where

mellutan

to where, whither

mone

when

demonstratives (1)

nell

this thing

nella, -i, -e

this

nello

for this reason

nellu

in this way/manner

nellut

here

nellutan

hither

none

now

demonstratives (2)

lell

that thing

lella, -i, -e

that

lello

for that reason

lellu

in that way/manner

lellut

there

lellutan

thither

lone

then

Reflexives

Genetive

Person/Number

Masculine

Feminine

Neuter

1^st Singular

ison

ason

uson¹

1^st Plural

-

-

usonut

2^nd Singular

dison

dason

duson¹

2^nd Plural

-

-

dusonut

3^rd Singular

nison

nason

nuson

3^rd Plural

-

-

nusonut

4^st

-

-

avison

5^th Singular

Tison

Tason

Teson

5^th Plural

Tesonut

Oblique

Person/Number

Masculine

Feminine

Neuter

1^st Singular

isos

asos

usos¹

1^st Plural

-

-

usosut

2^nd Singular

disos

dasos

dusos¹

2^nd Plural

-

-

dusosut

3^rd Singular

nisos

nasos

nusos

3^rd Plural

-

-

nusosut

4^st

-

-

avisos

5^th Singular

Tisos

Tasos

Tesos

5^th Plural

Tesosut

^{1 Again, there may come a time when refering to oneself or another as a neuter object may be helpful in order to make a point.
Peto also employees the use of personal endings which solve of the problem of discussing nouns which might not exist. Non-Being, by definition, does not exist. Therefore, it cannot be the subject of a sentence, but it's nearly impossible to discuss without making it the subject. The Peto personal endings turn nouns into verbs with the subject of the verb included. To demonstrate, an old and controversial statement shall be used:

"...pockets of non-being are floating around..."

"...vepcust na ænso-nan, oe fassuncun..."

lit. "pockets in Non-Being_do_non-being, around floating"

You will also notice in the example sentence that na "in" is postposed and the prepositional phrase, "in pockets," proceeds the noun marked with a personal ending, modifying it the way an adverb would, not in the way an adjective would.
Determiners
There's only one more topic to cover before the grammar is finished - Determiners. Determiners act in a way very similar to articles in English. They decline like adjectives do.

Peto

English

determiners

S

P

ænnun

any

all

annun

my, of mine (fem.)

donnun

yours, of yours (singular)

dontun

yours, of yours (plural)

innun

my, of mine (masc.)

lolun

that

those

loynun

(abstract realizer)

matun

much

many

nannun

her, of hers

ninnun

his, of his

nontun

their, of theirs

nonun

this

these

noynun

the

nunnun

its, of its

ollun

a certain

some

olutun

every/each

unnun

my, of mine (neut.)

untun

our, of ours

vennun

(human concept realizer)

zoynun

(indefinite existence determiner)}}

Relatives, Interrogatives, and Inanimate Demonstratives
Petoun	English
interrogatives and relatives
mell	what (that which)
mella, -i, -e	who, which (that)
mello	why
mellu	how
mellut	where
mellutan	to where, whither
mone	when
demonstratives (1)
nell	this thing
nella, -i, -e	this
nello	for this reason
nellu	in this way/manner
nellut	here
nellutan	hither
none	now
demonstratives (2)
lell	that thing
lella, -i, -e	that
lello	for that reason
lellu	in that way/manner
lellut	there
lellutan	thither
lone	then

Reflexives
Genetive
Person/Number	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
1^st Singular	ison	ason	uson¹
1^st Plural	-	-	usonut
2^nd Singular	dison	dason	duson¹
2^nd Plural	-	-	dusonut
3^rd Singular	nison	nason	nuson
3^rd Plural	-	-	nusonut
4^st	-	-	avison
5^th Singular	Tison	Tason	Teson
5^th Plural			Tesonut
Oblique
Person/Number	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
1^st Singular	isos	asos	usos¹
1^st Plural	-	-	usosut
2^nd Singular	disos	dasos	dusos¹
2^nd Plural	-	-	dusosut
3^rd Singular	nisos	nasos	nusos
3^rd Plural	-	-	nusosut
4^st	-	-	avisos
5^th Singular	Tisos	Tasos	Tesos
5^th Plural			Tesosut

Peto	English
determiners
	S	P
ænnun	any	all
annun	my, of mine (fem.)
donnun	yours, of yours (singular)
dontun	yours, of yours (plural)
innun	my, of mine (masc.)
lolun	that	those
loynun	(abstract realizer)
matun	much	many
nannun	her, of hers
ninnun	his, of his
nontun	their, of theirs
nonun	this	these
noynun	the
nunnun	its, of its
ollun	a certain	some
olutun	every/each
unnun	my, of mine (neut.)
untun	our, of ours
vennun	(human concept realizer)
zoynun	(indefinite existence determiner)