kryptonian.info
kryptan

• Intro
  • Viewing the Site
  • Project Background
• Krypton
  • Language History
  • The Flag & Virtues
• Writing
  • Vowels
  • Additional Consonants
  • Ideography
  • Punctuation
  • Numbers
• Vocab
  • Gendered Nouns
  • Pronouns
  • Colors
• Grammar
  • Sentence Structure
  • Articles
  • Plurals
  • Quantifiers
  • Possessives
• Extras
  • Translations
• Links
  • Amazon

in this section:

• Grammar
  • Sentence Structure
  • Articles
  • Plurals
  • Quantifiers
  • Possessives
    • Alienable
    • Inalienable
    • Kin

Alienable Possessives

The (arguably) broadest category of possession is "Alienable". This category is used for items that are considered to be distinct from the possessor, transferrable, and/or impermanent in nature (practically speaking). This includes:

• Objects - my chair, my book, my phone, etc.
• Clothing - my hat, my cape, my shoes, etc.
• Stuctures - my house, my workplace, my barn, etc.
• Vehicles - my car, my plane, my spaceship, etc.
• Jobs & Elected Positions - my tenure, my appointment, my position, etc.
• Animals - my dog, my cattle, my pet, etc.
• Etc.

The Possessive Articles

This possessive is formed by using the appropriate possessive article. These articles are a combination of pronoun and definite article. As such, they share traits of each harmonizing with the gender of the possessor and the plurality of the possession. These articles cannot be used simultaneously with each other or with the definite article.

• hU}V /khuhtiv/ - 1st Person (my)
• kry}V /krytiv/ - 1st Person Plural (our)
• RO}V /rraotiv/ - 2nd Person (your)
• Ze}V /zhehdiv/ - 3rd Person Sentient (his / her / their)
• GO}V /ghaodiv/ - 3rd Person Non-Sentient (its)
• geV /gehdiv/ - 3rd Person Inanimate (its)

Examples

Note that inanimate objects do not carry gender, and thus do not effect formality of speech.

Named Possessors

These same articles (not including the 1st and 2nd person singular) are used to connect a possessor directly to possession.

Note in the following example that formal vs. familiar cannot be determined. This is due to the nature of the vowel y.

Gender Harmonization with Familiar Speech

The possessive article must harmonize with the gender of the possessor. Gender for the possessive articles functions the same as gendered nouns. Because formal speech in Kryptonian uses the neutral gender, most often the neutral form of the posessive article is preferred (as above). It is when using familiar speech that harmonization can become tricky for non-native speakers.

Examples

Plural Harmonization

The possessive article must harmonize with the plurality of the possession. The second vowel in the possessive article follows the same plural harmonization rules as the definite article.

Note that the pronunciation of the character V changes depending on context.

Examples

Putting It All Together

Here are a few full sentences that display all the features of possessive gender and plural harmonization.

Formal vs. Familiar

Multiple Possessives

Note that there can be linguistic ambiguity in the following sentence. Because there are two feminine agents in the sentence, you cannot determine the owner of the table outside of context. However, pragmatics would dictate that the daughters would be the most likely possessors.