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'''Sarim''' (Sarim: Sarim Sovat) is a language spoken in the Sarmanin region in the west of Yandras.  
'''Sarim''' (Sarim: '''sarimengo''' 'our language', '''sarime Kansū''' 'Language of Kansu') is one of the larger languages of the Ke:tic family. It is a strongly head-initial, largely agglutinating ergative language.  
 
 


== Phonology ==
== Phonology ==


Sarim has a fairly simple phonology, as detailed below:
===Phoneme Inventory===


'''Consonants''':
{| border="1" cellpadding="2"
|-
|
|'''Labial'''
|'''Dental'''
|'''Alveolar'''
|'''Palatal'''
|'''Velar'''
|'''Glottal'''
|-
|'''Plosive/Affricate'''
|'''b''' /p/ '''p''' /pʰ/
|'''d''' /t/ '''t''' /tʰ/
|
|
|'''g''' /k/ '''k''' /kʰ/
|-
|'''Fricative'''
|
|'''th''' /θ/
|'''s''' /s/
|'''hy''' /ç/
|
|'''h''' /h/
|-
|'''Nasal'''
|'''m''' /m/
|
|'''n''' /n/
|'''ny''' /ɲ/
|'''ŋ''' /ŋ/
|
|-
|'''Liquid'''
|
|
|'''r''' /ɾ/ '''l''' /l/
|'''y''' /j/
|'''w''' /w/
|
|}


*labal: /p b m ɸ β/ <p b m ph v>
*alveolar: /t d n s z ɬ ts) r l/ <t d n s z ł tz r l>
*Retroflex: /ʈ ɖ ɻ/ <th dh rh>
*Palatal: /j/ <y>
*velar: /k g ŋ x/ <k g ŋ h>




'''Vowels'''


'''Vowels''':
<table><tr><td>'''i''' /i/ '''ī''' /i:/ </td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>'''u''' /u/ '''ū''' /u:/</td></tr>
/i e æ ɑ o u/ <i e a ā o u>
<tr><td>'''e''' /ɛ/ '''ē''' /e:/ </td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>'''o''' /ɒ/ '''ō'''/o:/</td></tr> 
/ai au ae ao eu oi/ <ai au ae ao eu oi>
<tr><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>'''a''' /ɐ/ '''ā''' /ɐ:/</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></table>


'''Allophony'''
Sarim also has the dipthongs '''ai au ei eu oi ou''' /ai au ei eu oi ou/, all falling.


===Syllable Structure===


-The voiceless stops and affricates are realised as aspirated in all positions
Sarim has a (C)(C)V(C) syllable structure. Onset clusters are made up of one of /p t k pʰ tʰ kʰ θ s h/ + /r/. Only /p t k m n θ s h l/ can occur in coda position. Note that word-internally coda /θ/ merges with /s/. Note that long vowels do not occur in long syllables.


-The rhotic /r/ is always realised as a trill before a vowel. Before labial or alveolar consonants it is realised as a tap [ɾ]. Before retroflex and velar consonants it is realised as [ɻ].
===Allophony===
- /n/ assimilates to the point of articulation of any following consonant, e.g. /np/ [mp]. Note that /m ŋ/ do not assimilate to the same point of articulation as the following consonant. (Note that /ŋ/ is written as '''n''' before a velar consonant, since ambiguity is not an issue).


-The alveolar stops /t d/ are realised as dental when not adjacent to another consonant.
- Coda stops are realised as unreleased.  


-/j/ is realised as the voiced palatal fricative [ʝ] word-initially.
- /k kʰ/ may be realised as [ʧ ʧʰ] before front vowels.  


-/ɑ/ is realised as [ɒ] when adjacent to a sonorant.  
- /h/ often strengthens to [x] between vowels.
 
-/n/ is realised as [ŋ] before a velar, or [ɲ] before a retroflex.
- /r/ is realised as a tap [ɾ] word-initially and in onset clusters, and as an approximant [ɻ] between vowels.
 
-The mid vowels /o e/ tend to lower to [ɔ ɛ] in closed syllables.
 
-Unstressed /i u/ are realised as [ɨ]
 
'''Phonotactics'''


Sarim syllables follow a C(j)V(C), with the caveat that only /s r l m n ŋ/ may occur in coda position, and that /j/ may not occur after a retroflex. In addition, /s/ may not occur before a retroflex, and the clusters /lr rɻ lɻ/ do not occur.  
- Unstressed short /i ɐ u/ are realised as [ɪ ə ʊ].


===Stress and Prosody===


'''Stress'''
Sarim is a mora-timed language: syllables take up a certain amount of time based on their nucleus. Open syllables with a short vowel take up one mora; closed syllables with a short vowel, and open syllables with a long vowel or diphthong, take up two morae, whilst closed syllables with a diphthong take up three morae.


Stress in Sarim is regularly on the antepenultimate syllable in words of three or more syllables, and the penultimate syllable in disyllabic words. Monosyllabic lexical words are stressed, but grammatical words are not.  
Stress falls on the syllable containing the antepenultimate mora, or leftmost mora in words with less than three morae.




----
== Nominal Morphology ==


==Nominal Morphology==
Sarim nouns are marked for Absolutive and Oblique cases, as well as singular and plural number. The unmarked form of the noun is the absolutive singular: '''yad''' - man, '''kare''' - sorghum '''ari''' - town, '''nasu''' - child, '''sau''' - dog, '''prasnā''' - number.


===The Plural===


Sarim nouns are declined for three cases and three numbers. To show how examples of allomorphy and how the various suffixes are formed, four sample noun stems shall be used: '''don''' ; ''man'' '''maze'''; ''house'' ; '''Sarm'''; ''Sarim'' '''aprah'''; ''child''
The plural is marked with '''-ma''': '''yadma, arima, nasuma, sauma, prasnā'''.  The oblique plural is marked irregularly by '''-mē'''.


The Absolutive form is the same as the stem, with the exception  that consonant stems ending in two consonants have an additional epenthetic /i/ inserted between the two consonants in this form, and stems ending in -h lose their final consonant:
Plural marking is mandatory with animate nouns; with inanimate nouns marking plurality is option, and inanimate nouns are never marked as plural if followed by a number or an adjective marking number such as '''hou''' - many.
'''don''', '''maze''', '''sarim''', '''apra'''.


The  Oblique is identical to the Absolutive if the noun ends in a vowel or -'''h'''. Otherwise, the final vowel is lengthened.
===Absolutive Case===


'''dona''', '''mazē''', '''sarma''','''aprā'''
The absolutive case is the unmarked form of the noun. The absolutive marks the subject of an intransitive verb and the patient of a transitive verb. It is also used with certain prepositions, as noted in the syntax section.


The Genitive is formed with -'''n''' if a noun ends in a vowel and -'''en''' if it ends in a consonant. -h stem nouns lose their vowel and take -n. If the last syllable of the stem contains /n/, then the genitive morpheme dissimilates to -'''m'''
===Oblique Case===


'''donem''', '''mazen'''. '''sarmen''', '''apran'''
The underlying marker of the Oblique case is *'''-i''', which manifests itself in several ways:


- After a monosyllabic word ending in a vowel, and after long vowels, it is marked with -yi: '''sauyi''' - dog-OBL; '''prasnāyi''' - number-OBL.


The plural is formed with -t for all stems, with an epenthetic -a- inserted afterconsonant stems:
- Nouns ending in short '''a, e''' or '''o''' lose the final vowel and add -i: '''kari''' - sorghum-OBL


'''donat''', '''mazet''', '''sarmat''', ''''aprahat'''
- Nouns ending in a consonant add -i: '''yadi''' - man-OBL


Before the oblique and genitive inflections, the -a of the plural morpheme is lost. -h stems lose their -h and lengthen the preceding vowel.
- Final -u and -i become -ī: '''arī''' - man-OBL;; '''nasī''' child-OBL


'''donta dontem'''; '''mazeta, mazeten'''; ''' aprāta, aprāten'''
The oblique is used with the majority of Sarim's prepositions. Its other main use is to mark the agent of transitive verbs in most circumstances. However, in the follow circumstances the agent of a transitive verb is marked as absolutive, primarily:


The nullar is a more recent innovation; it is formed with '''-(e)l''' after the case inflection. The nullar genitive is '''-nde'''. -h stems have a nullar objective in -:l, where -: is the lengthening of the final vowel
- If the agent is indefinite: '''kithīne sau arimē''' ''see-IMPF-TRANS DOG-0 MAN-PLUR-OBL'' 'the men saw the dog', but: '''kithīne sau arima''' ''see-IMPF-TRANS DOG-0 MAN-PLUR'' '(some) men saw the dog'.
'''dŭnel, dŭnăl, dŭnende; mazel, mazel, mazende; sarmel, sarmal, sarmende; apral, aprāl, aprande'''


- If the agent is nullar in number: '''makithīne sau ari mau''' ''NEG-see-IMPF-TRANS dog-0 man-0 NEG''  'no men saw the dog'.


'''Pronouns'''
- If the agent is significantly more animate than the patient: '''ramnagin kare ari''' ''harvest-PERF-TRANS sorghum-0 man-0'' 'the man harvested the sorghum', but '''nawēne hrath arī''' ''love-IMPF-TRANS woman-0 man-ERG'' 'the man loves the woman'.


Sarim 1P, 2P, 3P and 4P animate pronouns are inflected for nominative, accusative, oblique and genitive cases. The 3P and 4P inanimate pronouns are inflected for absolutive, oblique, and genitive cases.
===Possession Marking===


1P Singular - Plural:
Sarim has a range of possessive suffixes, from previously cliticised pronouns. Vowels in brackets are used if the clitics follow a consonants, whilst the third person possessive marker has three allomorphs: it lengthens final short vowels, is '''-a''' after consonants, and '''-ya''' after long vowels and dipthongs. Long vowels before '''-n''' and '''-th''' become short.
*NOM:'''na - nan'''
*ACC:'''nām - nem'''
*OBL:'''nae - nenta'''
*GEN:'''nem - neman'''


2P singular - plural:
{|
*NOM:'''ath - āda'''
| | Singular || Plural
*ACC:'''enda - ādan'''
|-
*OBL:'''ath - ādan'''
||1st Person || '''-(e)n''' ||'''-(e)ngo
*GEN:'''atham - alyam'''
|-
||2nd Person ||'''-(e)th''' ||'''-(e)sgo'''
|-
||3rd Person ||'''-(y)a/:''' ||'''-(y)a/:'''
|}


3P(animate) singular - plural:
The possessive suffixes follow case and plural marking:
*NOM:'''ko - kor'''
*ACC:'''kam - karon'''
*OBL:'''kor - koda'''
*GEN:'''kom - koram'''


4P(animate) singular - plural:
'''hrathen''' 'my wife'
*NOM:'''ri - rede'''
'''nasumango''' 'our children'
*ACC:'''rem - riden'''
'''karē''' 'his sorghum'
*OBL:'''ride - ridat'''
'''ti saumeth''' 'from your dogs (OBL)'
*GEN:'''rem - riyem'''


The third and fourth person inanimate pronouns are '''ka''' and '''ri''' respectively. They are inflected like normal nouns, with the exception that their oblique singular forms are '''kai''' and '''rŭ''' respectively.


'''Possessive Clitics'''
==Verbal Morphology==


These appear on nouns after any case or number inflections:
The citation form of Sarim verbs is the root, which may end in a vowel, a consonant, or a permissible medial cluster: '''kithi-''' 'look at, see'; '''edn-''' 'go'; '''aut-''' 'eat', '''mo-''' 'break'.


1PS:-'''an''' 1PP:-'''ane'''
===The Infinitive===
2PS:-'''alh''' 2PP:-'''eda'''
3PS:-'''a''' 3PP:-'''ar'''
4PS:-'''ar''' 4PP:-'''ara'''


If the noun in question ends in a vowel, the vowel of the possessive affix is elided, except for -'''a''', which becomes -'''ya''' e.g. '''mazene''' ''our house'', '''otaya''' ''his father'', '''yatrenamane''' ''of our town''.
The infinitive is the only non-finite form a Sarim verb has. The infinitive always ends in '''-ni''', and has three allomorphs:


== Verbal Morphology ==
-After a monosyllabic root ending in a vowel, -'''yini''': '''moyini''' - to break.


Compared to nouns, Sarim verbs are more richly inflected.  The bare form of the verb is the stem. There are two verb classes in Sarim, stems ending in vowels, e.g. '''kara-''' ''use,make,do'' and consonant stems, e.g. '''sov-''' ''speak''.
- After a consonant, '''-ini''': '''autini''' - to eat; '''ednini''' - to go.


- After a vowel, '''-ni''': '''kithini''' - to look at, to see.




===Voice===


As well as the unmarked active voice, Sarim has antipassive and a reflexive voices marked on the verb. Voice marking always immediately follows the verb stem.


There is one infinite verb form in Sarim, the verbal noun. If the verbal noun morpheme appears following a consonant, it is -'''o'''. If it appears after a vowel then it has the allomorph /0/. Any potential verb form may be made into a verbal noun, e.g. '''mathido''' play-IRR-PERF-VRB.NOUN ''maybe having played''. The possessive clitics may be used on a verbal noun construction, but not the person verbal clitics, e.g. '''sovon''' ''my speaking'', not *'''sovano'''. The verbal noun may also receive case inflections:
- The '''antipassive''' is marked by '''-ū'''', which displaces any stem-final short vowel. Monosyllabic stems ending in a vowel and stems ending in diphthongs or long vowels have '''-yū''' instead: '''kithū-''' 'see something', '''ednū-''' - make someone go, '''autū-''' 'eat something, '''moyū''' 'break something'.
*''' ''ya nidonane tos yatrena'' phŭrjan karyo'''
*''at be-PERF-VRB.NOUN-GEN-1PP to town-OBL '' have-INC-1PS hunger''
*I started to get hungry when we arrived in town


== Syntax ==
- The '''reflexive''' is marked by '''-(a)s-''', with an epenthetic '''-a-''' only occuring if the stem ends in a cluster or a consonant that does not occur in coda position: '''kithis-''' 'see oneself', '''ednas-''' 'go', '''autas-''' 'eat oneself', '''mos-''' 'break oneself'.


'''Theta-roles in Sarim'''
Because verbs marked for a voice other than active can take the infinitive too (e.g. '''kithūni''' - to see something), it has been argued that voice is really more of a feature of derivational morphology.


Sarim shows Ergative alignment. This means that Sarim treats the sole argument of an intransitive verb (S) and the patient of a transitive verb (P) the same, and marks the agent of a transitive verb (A) differently. However, the animate pronouns show nominative alignment, as found in English and most other European languages. Sarim is therefore a split-ergative language. 


Sarim ditransitive verbs show dative alignment; the theme (what is given) is marked as absolutive, whilst the receiver is marked as Dative.
===Aspect===


Sarim verbs are marked for three aspects: perfective, imperfective, and habitual.


- The imperfective is marked by '''-a'''. Stem final short vowels are lengthened, and the imperfective is zero-marked after stems ending in a long vowel or diphthong: '''kithī''' 'it is seen'; '''edna''' 'it goes'; '''auta''' 'it is eaten'; '''mō''' 'it breaks'.


'''Sarim Words'''
- The perfective is marked by '''-(i)gi''': '''kithigi''' 'it was looked at'; '''ednigi''' 'it went'; '''autigi''' 'all of it is eaten'; '''mogi''' 'it broke completely'.


The basic divide in Sarim is between lexical and grammatical words.
- The habitual


* Lexical words are any words referring to an object, state, or action
[[Category: Conlangs]]
* Grammatical words show function or position, or modify meaning.

Latest revision as of 13:24, 17 July 2011

Sarim (Sarim: sarimengo 'our language', sarime Kansū 'Language of Kansu') is one of the larger languages of the Ke:tic family. It is a strongly head-initial, largely agglutinating ergative language.

Phonology

Phoneme Inventory

Labial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive/Affricate b /p/ p /pʰ/ d /t/ t /tʰ/ g /k/ k /kʰ/
Fricative th /θ/ s /s/ hy /ç/ h /h/
Nasal m /m/ n /n/ ny /ɲ/ ŋ /ŋ/
Liquid r /ɾ/ l /l/ y /j/ w /w/


Vowels

i /i/ ī /i:/ u /u/ ū /u:/
e /ɛ/ ē /e:/ o /ɒ/ ō/o:/
a /ɐ/ ā /ɐ:/

Sarim also has the dipthongs ai au ei eu oi ou /ai au ei eu oi ou/, all falling.

Syllable Structure

Sarim has a (C)(C)V(C) syllable structure. Onset clusters are made up of one of /p t k pʰ tʰ kʰ θ s h/ + /r/. Only /p t k m n θ s h l/ can occur in coda position. Note that word-internally coda /θ/ merges with /s/. Note that long vowels do not occur in long syllables.

Allophony

- /n/ assimilates to the point of articulation of any following consonant, e.g. /np/ [mp]. Note that /m ŋ/ do not assimilate to the same point of articulation as the following consonant. (Note that /ŋ/ is written as n before a velar consonant, since ambiguity is not an issue).

- Coda stops are realised as unreleased.

- /k kʰ/ may be realised as [ʧ ʧʰ] before front vowels.

- /h/ often strengthens to [x] between vowels.

- /r/ is realised as a tap [ɾ] word-initially and in onset clusters, and as an approximant [ɻ] between vowels.

- Unstressed short /i ɐ u/ are realised as [ɪ ə ʊ].

Stress and Prosody

Sarim is a mora-timed language: syllables take up a certain amount of time based on their nucleus. Open syllables with a short vowel take up one mora; closed syllables with a short vowel, and open syllables with a long vowel or diphthong, take up two morae, whilst closed syllables with a diphthong take up three morae.

Stress falls on the syllable containing the antepenultimate mora, or leftmost mora in words with less than three morae.


Nominal Morphology

Sarim nouns are marked for Absolutive and Oblique cases, as well as singular and plural number. The unmarked form of the noun is the absolutive singular: yad - man, kare - sorghum ari - town, nasu - child, sau - dog, prasnā - number.

The Plural

The plural is marked with -ma: yadma, arima, nasuma, sauma, prasnā. The oblique plural is marked irregularly by -mē.

Plural marking is mandatory with animate nouns; with inanimate nouns marking plurality is option, and inanimate nouns are never marked as plural if followed by a number or an adjective marking number such as hou - many.

Absolutive Case

The absolutive case is the unmarked form of the noun. The absolutive marks the subject of an intransitive verb and the patient of a transitive verb. It is also used with certain prepositions, as noted in the syntax section.

Oblique Case

The underlying marker of the Oblique case is *-i, which manifests itself in several ways:

- After a monosyllabic word ending in a vowel, and after long vowels, it is marked with -yi: sauyi - dog-OBL; prasnāyi - number-OBL.

- Nouns ending in short a, e or o lose the final vowel and add -i: kari - sorghum-OBL

- Nouns ending in a consonant add -i: yadi - man-OBL

- Final -u and -i become -ī: arī - man-OBL;; nasī child-OBL

The oblique is used with the majority of Sarim's prepositions. Its other main use is to mark the agent of transitive verbs in most circumstances. However, in the follow circumstances the agent of a transitive verb is marked as absolutive, primarily:

- If the agent is indefinite: kithīne sau arimē see-IMPF-TRANS DOG-0 MAN-PLUR-OBL 'the men saw the dog', but: kithīne sau arima see-IMPF-TRANS DOG-0 MAN-PLUR '(some) men saw the dog'.

- If the agent is nullar in number: makithīne sau ari mau NEG-see-IMPF-TRANS dog-0 man-0 NEG 'no men saw the dog'.

- If the agent is significantly more animate than the patient: ramnagin kare ari harvest-PERF-TRANS sorghum-0 man-0 'the man harvested the sorghum', but nawēne hrath arī love-IMPF-TRANS woman-0 man-ERG 'the man loves the woman'.

Possession Marking

Sarim has a range of possessive suffixes, from previously cliticised pronouns. Vowels in brackets are used if the clitics follow a consonants, whilst the third person possessive marker has three allomorphs: it lengthens final short vowels, is -a after consonants, and -ya after long vowels and dipthongs. Long vowels before -n and -th become short.

Singular Plural
1st Person -(e)n -(e)ngo
2nd Person -(e)th -(e)sgo
3rd Person -(y)a/: -(y)a/:

The possessive suffixes follow case and plural marking:

hrathen 'my wife' nasumango 'our children' karē 'his sorghum' ti saumeth 'from your dogs (OBL)'


Verbal Morphology

The citation form of Sarim verbs is the root, which may end in a vowel, a consonant, or a permissible medial cluster: kithi- 'look at, see'; edn- 'go'; aut- 'eat', mo- 'break'.

The Infinitive

The infinitive is the only non-finite form a Sarim verb has. The infinitive always ends in -ni, and has three allomorphs:

-After a monosyllabic root ending in a vowel, -yini: moyini - to break.

- After a consonant, -ini: autini - to eat; ednini - to go.

- After a vowel, -ni: kithini - to look at, to see.


Voice

As well as the unmarked active voice, Sarim has antipassive and a reflexive voices marked on the verb. Voice marking always immediately follows the verb stem.

- The antipassive is marked by -ū', which displaces any stem-final short vowel. Monosyllabic stems ending in a vowel and stems ending in diphthongs or long vowels have -yū instead: kithū- 'see something', ednū- - make someone go, autū- 'eat something, moyū 'break something'.

- The reflexive is marked by -(a)s-, with an epenthetic -a- only occuring if the stem ends in a cluster or a consonant that does not occur in coda position: kithis- 'see oneself', ednas- 'go', autas- 'eat oneself', mos- 'break oneself'.

Because verbs marked for a voice other than active can take the infinitive too (e.g. kithūni - to see something), it has been argued that voice is really more of a feature of derivational morphology.


Aspect

Sarim verbs are marked for three aspects: perfective, imperfective, and habitual.

- The imperfective is marked by -a. Stem final short vowels are lengthened, and the imperfective is zero-marked after stems ending in a long vowel or diphthong: kithī 'it is seen'; edna 'it goes'; auta 'it is eaten'; mō 'it breaks'.

- The perfective is marked by -(i)gi: kithigi 'it was looked at'; ednigi 'it went'; autigi 'all of it is eaten'; mogi 'it broke completely'.

- The habitual

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