Sarim: Difference between revisions

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

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-'''Sarim''' (Sarim: '''Sarim bār''') is a language spoken by most of the population of Sarimis, as well as several its satellite nations. It is a largely isolating, accusative, head-final language of the Kambaic language family.
+'''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 ==
-'''Consonants'''
+===Phoneme Inventory===
+{| 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/
+|
+|}
--Plosives <nowiki>/p t d c k g kʷ/ <p t d ch c g cu> </nowiki>
--Nasals <nowiki>/m n ŋʷ/ <m n ŋ ŋu> </nowiki>
--Fricatives <nowiki> /β θ s sʷ ç xʷ h/ <v th s su hy hu h> </nowiki>
+'''Vowels'''
--Rhotic/Approximants: <nowiki> /r l j w/ <r l y u> </nowiki>
+<table><tr><td>'''i''' /i/ '''ī''' /i:/ </td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>'''u''' /u/ '''ū''' /u:/</td></tr>
+<tr><td>'''e''' /ɛ/ '''ē''' /e:/ </td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>'''o''' /ɒ/ '''ō'''/o:/</td></tr>
+<tr><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>'''a''' /ɐ/ '''ā''' /ɐ:/</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></table>
+Sarim also has the dipthongs '''ai au ei eu oi ou''' /ai au ei eu oi ou/, all falling.
-'''Vowels'''
+===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.
-<nowiki>
+- /h/ often strengthens to [x] between vowels.
-/i e a o i: e: a: o:/ <i e a o ī ē ā ō> </nowiki>
+- /r/ is realised as a tap [ɾ] word-initially and in onset clusters, and as an approximant [ɻ] between vowels.
-'''Syllable Structure'''
+- Unstressed short /i ɐ u/ are realised as [ɪ ə ʊ].
-The basic syllable structure in Sarim is (C)V(C), with the caveat that only /m n ŋ t th s h r l i u/ may occur word-finally.
+===Stress and Prosody===
-'''Morphophonological processes'''
+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.
-A number of word-internal clusters do not occur, having been lost in earlier sound changes. Note that the processes described here apply to roots aswell:
+Stress falls on the syllable containing the antepenultimate mora, or leftmost mora in words with less than three morae.
-- |n| assimilates to the point of articulation of a following consonant, and sequences of */nr nl/ become /rr ll/: */np/ > /mp/, */nr/ > /rr/.
-- |k| becomes /ŋ/ before /ŋ ŋʷ/. Similarly, |p| becomes /m/ before another /m/.
+== Nominal Morphology ==
-- |t d| are lost before a second stop, with the lengthening of the previous vowel (if short), except before nasals and /r l/, where they act like |n| : */tk/ > /:k/, */tŋ/ > /ŋŋ/, */dl/ > /ll/
+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.
-- |h| is lost following a second consonant: */mh/ > /mm/
+===The Plural===
-- Clusters of one of /p t k kʷ/ + /s/ become /s/ + /p t k kʷ/: */ks/ > /sk/.
+The plural is marked with '''-ma''': '''yadma, arima, nasuma, sauma, prasnā'''.  The oblique plural is marked irregularly by '''-mē'''.
-- Consonants following word-final labio-velars are lost: */kʷr/ > /kʷ/.
+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.
-- Only /m n ŋ ŋʷ r l s/ can be geminated. With other consonants, no gemination occurs, e.g */dd/ > /d/.
+===Absolutive Case===
-- |j| is lost immediately following /c ç/. Sequences of |tj/kj dj/gj sj/θj/hj| become /c j ç/, respectively.
+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.
-- Two adjacent short vowels of the same quality become a single long vowel. If a long vowel is adjacent to a short vowel of the same quality, an epenthetic /j/ is insterted between the two vowels: */a.a/ > /a:/ */e:.e/ > /e:je/
+===Oblique Case===
-'''Allophony'''
+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.
--/r/ is realised as a tap [ɾ] before a vowel  but [ɻ] before a consonant or word-finally.
+- Nouns ending in short '''a, e''' or '''o''' lose the final vowel and add -i: '''kari''' - sorghum-OBL
--/c/ is realised as either palatal affricates  [cç] or[ʨ], or even the postalveolar affricate [ʧ] especially among younger speakers.
+- 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.
--Before /s/, nasals tend to be realised as a sequence nasal+voiceless stop, e.g. /ms/ = [mps].
+- 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'.
--/o/ is realised as [ʊ]or [u] word finally ,and /o:/ is often realised [u:], especially amongst younger speakers.
+- 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'.
--/a a:/ are realised [ɐ ɐ:] in unstressed syllables.
+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.
-'''Stress'''
+===Aspect===
+Sarim verbs are marked for three aspects: perfective, imperfective, and habitual.
-Stress in Sarim is non-phonemic ,always falling on the penultimate syllable of a word, unless a vowel penultimate syllable is short andin an adjacent syllable is long, in which case the stress shifts to the long vowel. If both adjacent vowels are long then the leftmost long vowel receives tress. Monosyllabic lexical words are stressed, but grammatical particles are not.
+- 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'.
-==Nominal Morphology==
+- 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
-Sarim nouns are declined for three '''cases''': absolutive, ergative, and oblique; two '''numbers''', singular and plural; as well as for absolute and construct '''states'''. Nouns can be one of any five 'conjugations' depending on the final consonant of the stem. The first conjugation consists of stems ending in a single consonant, the second of those ending in a short vowel, the third of those ending in a long vowel, the fourth of those ending in two consonants, the the fifth of stems ending in -n. Sarim grammarians, when providing the citation of a noun, tend to give the absolute and construct absolutive singulars of the noun, and we will do the same here.
+[[Category: Conlangs]]