Songulda language

Songulda Songulda
Spoken in:
Conworld:
Total speakers:
Genealogical classification:	Songulda
Basic word order:
Morphological type:	agglutinative
Morphosyntactic alignment:	ergative
Writing system:
Created by:
Qwynegold

Phonology and phonotactics

Consonants
	Bilabial		Labiod.		Dental		Alveolar		Post-alv.		Palatal		Velar		Glottal
Nasals		m						n						ŋ
Plosives	p	b					t	d					k	g
Fricatives							s		ʃ	ʒ			x		h
Affricates					ts		tʃ	dʒ
Approximants				ʋ								j
Trill								r
Lateral Approximant								l

Vowels
	Front		Near-front		Central		Near-back		Back
High	i	y			ɨ					u
Near-high
High-mid
Mid	e	ø								o
Low-mid
Near-low
Low										ɑ

All the vowels and the consonants /p t k m n s x h l/ can have phonemic length.

Vowel harmony

Songulda has progressive vowel harmony, with vowels belonging to one of the three groups front, back or neutral.

Front	Back	Neutral
y	u	i
ø̽	o̽	e̽
ɨ	ɑ

If a word root has only neutral vowels in it, then affixes belonging to the front group will be used with it.

Syllable structure

The syllable structure for non-final syllables is (O)V(ː)((C)D(ː)), and for final syllables (O)V(ː)((C)D). For both syllable types, V can be any vowel. For non-final syllables O can be any consonant except /p/ or/ŋ/, and for final syllables any consonant except /ŋ/. The C and D have certain constraints. For non-final syllables, the coda can be any of the following consonants or clusters:

m

n

nd

ns

nʒ

nx

nh

nts

ndʒ

p

b

t

d

k

g

s

st

sk

ʃ

ʒ

x

h

tʃ

dʒ

ʋ

ʋd

ʋs

j

jt

jd

jk

jm

jn

jr

js

jx

jts

jdʒ

jl

r

rt

rd

rk

rm

rs

rx

rts

rj

l

lt

ld

lk

lm

ls

lʒ

lx

lts

ldʒ

lj

For final syllables, the coda can be any of the following consonants or clusters:

m

mp

mt

mts

mtʃ

n

nt

nd

ns

nʒ

nts

ndʒ

ŋk

b

t

d

g

gt

gd

gs

s

sp

st

sk

ʒ

x

h

tʃ

dʒ

ʋ

ʋt

ʋd

ʋs

j

jt

jd

jk

jm

jn

jr

js

jx

jts

jdʒ

jl

r

rt

rd

rk

rm

rts

rj

rx

l

lp

lt

ld

lk

lm

ls

lʃ

lʒ

lx

lts

ltʃ

ldʒ

lj

A list of phonemes that can actually appear next to each other in a word, regardless of whether they are in the same syllable or not is here (long consonants are counted here as sequences of two consonants):

1st phoneme	2nd ph.	2nd ph.	2nd ph.	2nd ph.	2nd ph.	2nd ph.	2nd ph.	2nd ph.	2nd ph.	2nd ph.	2nd ph.	2nd ph.	2nd ph.	2nd ph.	2nd ph.	2nd ph.	2nd ph.	2nd ph.	2nd ph.	2nd ph.	2nd ph.
p	p		t								s									j	l
b				d				n						x				dʒ		j
t			t		k		m			r					h	ts	tʃ		ʋ	j	l
d		b				g	m	n		r	s	ʃ		x	h				ʋ	j	l
k			t		k						s									j	l
g				d			m				s		ʒ	x				dʒ	ʋ	j	l
m	p	b	t	d			m	n		r	s	ʃ	ʒ	x	h	ts	tʃ	dʒ		j	l
n			t	d				n			s	ʃ	ʒ	x	h	ts	tʃ	dʒ	ʋ	j
ŋ					k	g	m		ŋ	r											l
r	p	b	t	d	k	g	m			r	s	ʃ		x	h	ts	tʃ	dʒ	ʋ	j
s	p	b	t	d	k	g	m	n		r	s			x				dʒ	ʋ	j	l
ʃ	p		t		k		m												ʋ	j	l
ʒ		b		d		g
x		b		d		g	m							x				dʒ	ʋ	j	l
h	p	b	t	d	k	g	m	n		r	s			x	h	ts	tʃ	dʒ	ʋ	j	l
tʃ	p				k		m					ʃ								j
dʒ		b				g		n					ʒ
ʋ				d		g				r			ʒ	x				dʒ			l
j	p	b	t	d	k	g	m	n		r	s	ʃ	ʒ	x	h	ts	tʃ	dʒ	ʋ		l
l	p	b	t	d	k	g	m	n			s	ʃ	ʒ	x	h	ts	tʃ	dʒ	ʋ	j	l

Other phonotactic rules are:

• Whenever a word has a voiced stop, no unvoiced stops can follow after it in the whole word, unless it is the last phoneme in a coda cluster, and there is no voiced version of the cluster.
• A syllable with a cluster or affricate in coda position can not have a long vowel, unless the onset is missing.
• There are no diphtongs.

Stress

Songulda has primary stress on the first syllable. Words that are four syllables or longer also have secondary stress. The secondary stress is located on the penultimate syllable, with some exceptions regarding weight. If the ultimate or antepenultimate syllable is heavier than the penultimate, then the secondary stress will be located on that syllable instead. The secondary can not come directly after the primary stress though. If the penultimate syllable is light and of the surrounding two syllables one is heavy and the other super-heavy, then the secondary stress will go to the heaviest one. If both syllables have equal weigth, then the stress is added to the ultimate syllable if the word is only four syllables long, in other cases it is added to the antepenultimate.

Open syllables are considered to be light. Syllables with a coda cluster, a long vowel, or the "first half" of a long consonant are considered to be super-heavy. All other syllables are heavy.

Writing

The romanized version of Songulda, which will be used from here on, is as follows:

Romanization and pronunciation

A a, B b, C c, D d, E e, F f, G g, H h, I i, Ĭ ĭ, J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, O o, Ö ö, P p, R r, S s, T t, U u, Ü ü, V v, Y y

Letter	Pronunciation
A a	ɑ
B b	b
CH ch	tʃ
D d	d
DZ dz	dʒ
E e	e̽
F f	f
G g	g
H h	h
I i	i
Ĭ ĭ	ɨ
J j	ʒ
K k	k
KH kh	x
L l	l
M m	m
N n	n
NG ng	ŋ
O o	o̽
Ö ö	ø̽
P p	p
R r	r
S s	s
SH sh	ʃ
T t	t
TS ts	ts
U u	u
Ü ü	y
V v	ʋ
Y y	j

Grammars

Songulda is an ergative, agglutinative language.

Nouns

Cases

There are several cases in Songulda, which are represented here, even though they are also used on pronouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs:

Case	Affix	Examples
Absolutive	No marking
Ergative	-s (if word ends with vowel, g, n, v, y or l), -us/-üs (in other cases)
Partitive	-v (if the word ends with a vowel), -ov/-öv (if the word ends with a consonant)
Genitive	-l (if word ends with vowel or y), -ul/-ül (in other cases)
Inessive	-ga/-gĭ (if word ends with vowel), -uga/-ügĭ (if word ends with consonant
Illative	-ees (if the word ends with a vowel, it is deleted)
Elative	-ulm/-ülm (if word ends with a high or rounded vowel; that vowel is deleted), -olm (in other cases; if the the word ends with a vowel, it is deleted)
Perlative	-mas/-mĭs (if the word ends with vowel), -umas/-ümĭs (if the word ends with a consonant)
Lative	-mmeen (if the word ends with vowel; the vowel is lengthened), -ummeen/-ümmeen (if the word ends with a consonant; unless the word ends with a cluster, the last consonant is lengthened if possible)
Comitative	-haan/-hĭĭn (if the word ends with vowel), -aan/-ĭĭn (if the word ends with a consonant)
Translative	-nnu/-nnü (if the word ends with vowel), -nu/-nü (if the word ends with a consonant)
Distributive	-chintsu/-chintsü
Instrumental	-mi
Benefactive	-eva/-evĭ (if the word ends with a consonant or short e), -veva/-vevĭ (in other cases)
Abessive	-ngur/-ngür (if the word ends with vowel), -nongur/-nöngür (if the word ends with a consonant)
Desirative	-si
Vocative	ne-

The inessive case is also used for expressing adessive meanings. Similarily, the illative case can function as an allative case, and the elative as ablative.

The lative case, when used without any locative case, is used for expressing that something is moving to the speaker. The lative may be used together with illative, elative and translative. When used with illative it means that something is moving closer towards something else. Together with elative it means that something is moving further away. With translative it means that something is becoming more like something else.

The perlative case can have the same meaning as prolative case; that is, that something moves through, across, along or by the way of something.

The abessive case has the meaning of "without <noun>". It can be also used for deriving a caritive adjective from a noun, like the English suffix -less.

The desirative case is used for indicating that an object or an action is desirable, or something that should be done for one's own benefit.

The order in which the cases and the plural number are affixed to the word stem is this (when several options are on the same line, it means that only one of them can be used in the same word):

1. Vocative
2. Ergative/Absolutive/Partitive
3. Comitative
4. Inessive/Illative/Elative/Perlative/Translative
5. Distributive/Lative
6. Instrumental
7. Benefactive
8. Abessive
9. Desirative
10. Plural
11. Genitive

Number

Number	Affix	Examples
Singular	No marking
Plural	-r (if word ends with vowel or y), -er (in other cases)

This plural suffix is used for nouns and adjectives without person. There are also suffixes which has number and person sort of fusioned (see below).

Fusioned person/number

Person/number	Affix	Examples
1st person singular	-m (if word ends with vowel), -um/-üm (if word ends with consonant)
1st person plural	-o/-ö (if word ends with s), -zo (if word ends with d (making the affricate <dz>), -so/-sö (in other cases)
2nd person singular	-t (if word ends with l, s, d or vowel; long vowels in last syllable are shortened, last d is deleted), -tĭ (if word ends with t)
2nd person plural	-to/-tö (final d is deleted)
3rd person singular	-ta (if word ends with back vowel), -t (if word ends with üü), -üt (if word ends with ü or üs), -üsüt (if word ends with üüs; the üüs is deleted), -ülüt (if word ends with ült; the ült is deleted), -ata (in other cases)
3rd person plural	-to (if word ends with back vowel), -tö (if word has ü in it), -ato (in other cases)

The above suffixes are used for marking to whom something belongs to. They are not used to get with the -r suffix which is only used for simple plural without person.

Verbs

Stems of all verbs in Songulda end with either -ü, -ba, -da, -ga or -khu. Verbs agree with the subject of the sentence in number, person and case. The fusioned person/number is obligatory for all verbs except for those that have any of the following forms: passive voice, imperative mood, subjunctive mood. Together with the inifinitive it is never used. In some forms, person/number can be dropped, which makes the verb impersonal. This is especially common with the passive voice, producing impersonal passive voice.

The order according to which the affixes are tacked on to the verb is this:

1. (Conditional mood)
2. (Causative voice)
3. stem
4. (Past tense)
5. (Stative tense)
6. (Perfect aspect)
7. (Continuous aspect)
8. (Imperative mood)
9. (Defective aspect)
10. (Intentional aspect)
11. Person/number
12. (Passive voice)
13. (Subjunctive mood)
14. (Generic aspect)
15. (Infinitive)
16. (Conditional mood)
17. (Reportative aspect)
18. (Cases - see Cases for the order of the cases)

Voice

Voice	Affix	Examples
Active	No marking
Passive	-nu/-nü (if word ends with consonant), -nnu/-nnü (if word ends with vowel)
Causative	ban-/bĭn-
Stative	-ga (if the word ends with khu), -iga (if the word ends with a, l or khuld; the previous a is deleted), -yü (if the word ends with ü or ült)

The stative voice is used to indicate a change of state. The word for marry for example, would mean that someone is married if used with this voice. Without the stative, the word would mean that someone is at the wedding ceremony right now. The stative differs from the continuous aspect in that the continuous aspect has the meaning that someone is actively doing something for the action to go on, while the stative means that a certain state is true, without anyone actively doing anything right now to keep it that way. For example, "to be asleep" is something that would be expressed with stative voice. To be asleep is a state of being, that once it has been entered does not require any further action from the sleeper to be maintained.

Tense

Tense	Affix	Examples
Past	-lt (if word ends with ü), -l (if word ends with a), -ld (if word ends with u)
Present	No marking

Songulda has no future tense, instead the present tense is used. It is understood from context which tense is actually meant. For example, if someone says "I go to the store", but doesn't move at all from the spot, it is understood to have been meaning "in the future". Using words like "then", "later" and "after" in a sentence also indicate that something will take place in the future.

Aspect

Aspect	Affix	Examples
Continuous	-üs (if word ends with ü or ült), -as (if word ends with a), -us (if word ends with u or khuld), lengthening of the last vowel (if the word ends with al)
Perfect	-ü (if word ends with ü or ült), -ga (if word ends with ba or dal), -ba (if word ends with da or bal), -da (if word ends with ga or gal), -hukhu (if the word ends with khu; the first khu is deleted), -a (if the word ends with khuld)
Defective	-eba/-ebü (if word ends with a vowel, it is deleted)
Intentional	-eru/-erü (if word ends with vowel, it is deleted)
Generic	-ngeen (if word ends with vowel), -een (if word ends with a consonant; that consonant is lengthened if possible)
Reportative	-haka/-hĭkĭ

The defective aspect is always used with the present tense form of the verb, even though it actually carries the meaning of past tense.

Mood

Aspect	Affix	Examples
Conditional	Circumfixing i- (if word begins with a consonant) or in- (if word begins with a vowel) and -ki.
Imperative	-nnuy/-nnüy (if word ends with vowel), -innuy/-innüy (if word end with consonant)
Subjunctive	-ogo/-ögö (if word ends with vowel, it is deleted)

The imperative form can be used when talking to a non-living object, for example, out of frustration one can shout "get open already!" to a jar that is hard to open. When used like this, person/number is usually dropped.

Adjectives

Stems of all adjectives end with either -a, -gd, -nt, -rk, -ro, -s or -yC (C stands for any consonant).

Comparison	Affix	Examples
Positive	No marking
Comparative	-yd (if word ends with a or ro), -el (if word ends with gd or yC), -d (if word ends with nt or rk; the last t or k is deleted), -t (if word ends with s)
Superlative	-ydz (if word ends with a or ro), -dzi (if word ends with gd or rk; the last d or k is deleted), -dz (if word ends with nt; the last t is deleted), -j (if word ends with s or yC, where C is a consonant that cannot be followed by neither sh or j; the s or C is deleted), -je (if word ends with yC and C is a consonant that can be followed by j), -she (if word ends with yC and C is a consonant that can be followed by sh but not j)

Adverbs

Stems of all adverbs end with either -la, -ma, -chi, -dzi, -vur, -sde, -sbe, -ser or -der.

Comparison	Affix	Examples
Positive	No marking
Comparative	-yd (if word ends with la or ma), -yel (if the word ends with chi or dzi), -d (if the word ends with vur, ser or der), -st (if the word ends with sde or sbe)
Superlative	-ydz (if word ends with la or ma), -che (if the word ends with chi), -dze (if the word ends with dzi), -dzi (if the word ends with vur, ser or der), -j (if the word ends with sde or sbe)

Derivational morphology

From noun, resulting in noun

Derivation	Affix	Examples
-hood	-saa/-sĭĭ (the same as infinitive form of verbs)
Co-	sündü-
Place with lots of NOUN (resulting word is a noun)	-dava/-döö
Thing NOUN is used on	-ok/-ök (if word ends with consonant), -lok/-lök (if word ends with vowel)

From noun, resulting in adjective

Derivation	Affix	Examples
Place with lots of NOUN	-doo/-döö
Derivation from NOUN (-al, -en)	-gd (if word ends with vowel), -ogd/-ögd (if word ends with consonant)
Supplied with NOUN	-rnent (if word ends with vowel), -ernent (if word ends with consonant)
Lacking NOUN	See abessive case

From verb, resulting in noun

Derivation	Affix	Examples
Infinitive (-ing)	-saa/-sĭĭ
Does VERB right now (-er)	-dzin (if word ends with ü), -edzin (if word ends with ba, da or ga; the last a is deleted), -idzin (if word ends with khu, nu or nü; the last u or ü is deleted)
Does VERB professionally (-er, -or, -ist)	-ula/-ülĭ (the last vowel from the verb is deleted)
Place where VERB is typically done	-iyo/-iyö (the last vowel from the verb is deleted)
Time when VERB is typically done	-uu/-üü (the last vowel from the verb is deleted)
Tool used for doing VERB	-neva/-nevĭ
Result from MOVEMENT VERB	-ema/-emĭ (the last vowel from the verb is deleted)

From verb, resulting in verb

Derivation	Affix	Examples
Out-	tüü-

From verb, resulting in adjective

Derivation	Affix	Examples
Derivation from VERB	-neyn (the ü, ba, da, ga or khu ending of the verb is deleted)

From adjective, resulting in verb

Derivation	Affix	Examples
Derivation from ADJECTIVE	-khu (if word ends with a; if the word is a front vowel word, all the front vowels are changed to their back counterparts), -ga/-gü (if the word ends with gd or rk; the last gd or k is deleted), -da/-dü (if the word ends with nt; the last t is deleted), -ü (if the word ends with ro; the last o is deleted and all the back vowels are changed to their front counterparts), -khu/-khü (if the word ends with s; the last s is deleted), -a (if the word ends with yb, yd or yg), -u (if the word ends with ykh), -yü (if word ends with yC (but not yb, yd, yg or ykh); the last consonant is deleted)

From adjective, resulting in adjective

Derivation	Affix	Examples
Opposite (un-)	ma-/mĭ-
Intensifier (very, mega-, super-)	suur-

From adjective, resulting in adverb

Derivation	Affix	Examples
Derivation from ADJECTIVE (-ly)	-m-/-l- (if word ends with a; the consonant before a is replaced with m if possible, otherwise with l), -zi (if word ends with gd (making it -gdzi)), -der (if the word ends with nt; the last t is deleted), -la (if the word ends with rk, ro or yl; the last rk, ro or yl is deleted, rro becomes lla), -sbe (if the word ends with yp or yb; the last yp or yb is deleted), -sde (if the word ends with yt or yd; the last yt or yd is deleted), -chi (if the word ends with yk, ykh, yh, yts or ych; the last yk, ykh, yh, yts or ych is deleted), -dzi (if the word ends with yg or ydz; the last yg or ydz is deleted), -ma (if the word ends with ym or yn; the last ym or yn is deleted), -vur (if word ends with yr or yv; the last yr or yv is deleted), -ser (if the word ends with s, ys, ysh or yj; the last s, ys, ysh or yj is deleted)

Vocabulary

Survival phrases

Here are some common words and phrases:

Songulda	English
Chimi	Hello
Dongka hat?	How are you?
Tayeem	Good/fine
Chimi sumumas	Good morning
Chimi hikorsimimas	Good afternoon
Chimi ündümĭs	Good evening
Altya umukhusaa	Good night
Sargaa	Good bye
Tay	Yes
Yöö	No
Timi (endes)	Thank you (very much)
Kantogo	Don't mention it/You're welcome
Eteg	Excuse me/Sorry
Ramt Inglish?	Do you speak English?
Umus ya samaaldam endes Songulda.	I don't speak much Songulda.
Humulayd avagannuyt doyoska?	Could you speak more slowly?
On sundannuyt doyoska?	Could you repeat that?
Gindmülsüyüm.	I understand.
Ya gindmülsüyüm.	I don't understand.
Chi?	What?
Assambi!	Help!
Happigam.	I'm lost.
Ham töhös.	I'm ill.
Um assambannuyt doyoska?	Can you help me?

Pronouns

	1st person	2nd person	3rd person	Interrogative	No one	Everyone
Singular	um	tĭ	ata	kabu	ya kim
Plural	uso	to	ato	kabu		kim

Numerals

1.	yom
2.	mul
3.	den
4.	sam
5.	loovi
6.	sok
7.	shingk
8.	langk
9.	vihil
10.	sham
100.	chen
1000.	tsun

Larger numbers are formed in the same way as in English, i.e. 27 for example is mul (two) × sham (ten) + shingk (seven) = mulshamshingk (twenty seven). All the numerals have been borrowed from Xǔngpìng so there are quite a few irregular ones.

11.	mil
13.	shek
17.	chun
19.	gog
23.	mulshek
29.	mulgog
31.	demmil
37.	denchun
41.	sammil
43.	samshek
47.	samchun
53.	vilooshek
59.	viloogog
61.	sokmil
67.	sokchun
71.	shingkmil
73.	shingkshek
79.	shinggog
83.	langkshek
97.	vihilchun