Kijeb (Sohlob)

Kijeb (Proto-Sohlob) grammar

Sound system

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Low		a

Consonants

	Labial	Dental or Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labiovelar
Voiceless stops	p py	t ty	ky	k	kw
Voiced stops	b by	d dy	gy	g	gw
Voiceless fricatives	f fy	s sy	xy	x
Nasals	m my	n ny [nʲ]	(ŋy [ɲ])	ŋ	ŋw
Liquid		r ry
Semivowels			y [j]		w wy

The absence of **xw is somewhat remarkable. Some Sohloçan grammarians note that Heleb and Kidilib x was in fact redundantly labialized, and suppose that this was the case also in Kijeb. Others propose a Pre-Kijeb merger with f; there are however no homonyms with f to support this theory.

The cardinal palatal nasal ŋy [ɲ] does not contrast with the dental/alveolar ny [nʲ] in roots, but appears in inflexion and derivation. This is shown by the fact that its reflex in the daughter languages is [j], e.g. tataŋya > CS: taday "my own", while the reflex of ny is [ɲ], brunya > CS: brony [brɒɲ] "hatchet".

Palatalization

An y after a consonant or cluster is realized as palatalization of the consonant, or all consonants throughout the cluster.

Sandhi

There were some assimilatory and dissimilatory changes that probably applied synchronically in Kijeb:

Underlying	Condition	Result	Example(s)
t	before voiced stops and nasals	d	kitbyu > *xidbyu > CS: xefd, K: sijd, L: xirz; yatgi > *yadgi > CS: yæqd, K: yejd, L: ierg; *atmi > *admi > CS: æzam, K: ezany, L: erm; gitnu > *gidnu > CS: gezen, K: dizin, L: girn; fitŋi > *fidŋi > CS: fizen, K: siziny, L: fid.
y	between a vowel and an i	g
y	between an i and an a or u	gy
w	between a vowel and an u	b
w	between an u and an a or i	gw
n	before p, b, f, m	m
n	before k, g, x, ŋ	ŋ
mm	in inflection	mb
nn	in inflection	nd
ŋŋ	in inflection	ŋg
rr	in inflection	dr
m, n, ŋ	between an t, d or s and a consonant other than r, w, y	deletes
tt, dd	in inflection	st, [z]d
r	between an s and a consonant other than r, w, y	ir
s	before voiced stops	[z]	sasbinta > *sazbinta > CS: hæzbænd, K: hejdehn, L: hezbent.

Root structure

A Kijeb nominal or verbal root has the following structure:

(s) (C) (r) (y) V (D) C (r) (y)

where

slots in parentheses are optional

V is any vowel (a, i, u)

C is any consonant

D is any dental (t/d, n, s, r)

There are some restrictions on possible phoneme sequences, including:

• Geminates do not occur. Thus e.g. if there is an s in a C slot there can be no s in the preceding s or D slot, resulting in an *ss, and similarly no *rr, *ww, *yy, *tt. *dd, *nn.
• n + a nasal does not occur (no *nn, *nm, *nŋ).
• Labial + w does not occur.
• None of *yi, *iy, *wu, *uw can occur.
• Palatalization or y may occur either in the consonant(s) before the V or in the consonant(s) after the V or not at all, but not both before and after the V. A cluster is either palatalized throughout or not at all.
• In nominal and verbal roots

the same consonant may not occur twice,

no two stops or fricatives (other than s) at the same point of articulation may occur within a single root,

no two nasals may occur within a single root.

The nominal stems mama "mother" and papa "father" are the only known exceptions to these restrictions among nominal and verbal roots. In pronoun and determiner stems, on the other hand, shapes like tat, kak, nan, sas are allowed and even favored. (There is also the numeral stem sas "one", but this may be a determiner in origin.) It may be that these stems were originally CV stems that became reduplicated.

• Roots consisting only of VC are extremely rare.
• Roots with a heavy cluster both before and after the V are rare.

In order to function as a stem such a root must be followed by a vowel. In nouns (including adjectives) this second vowel is a random extension, while in verbs it is an inflectional morpheme.

Morphology

Unlike the daughter languages, which are split-ergative, Kijeb is entirely nominative-accusative.

Nominal morphology

Core cases

	Singular	Animate plural	Inanimate plural
Nominative	-Ø (unmarked)	-n	-r
Accusative	-s	-ns	-rs
Dative	-t	-nt	-rt

(In the daughter languages the accusative is derived from *-si and the dative from *-tu.)

It is not certain that the inanimate plural accusative and dative were distinguished from the singular. In any case the Kijeb syllabary could not distinguish word-final -rs, -rt from word-final -s, -t, while in the animate plural the diacritic for syllable-final -n could be added to CVs and CVt characters to indicate word-final -ns, -nt.

Other cases

	Singular	Animate plural	Inanimate plural
Locative	-tyu	-ntyu	-rtyu
Allative	-sya	-nsya	-rsya
Ablative	-yu	-nyu	-ryu
Instrumental	-ri	-nri	-dri

The ergative of the daughter languages derives from *-rya and is certainly derived from the instrumental.

Adverbs

Local adverbs

Local adverbs are formed by adding local case endings to the three deictic roots proximal *i "this", medial *a "that" and distal *u "yon".

ityu	"here"	atyu	"there"	utyu	"yonder"
isya	"to here"	asya	"to there"	usya	"to yonder"
igyu	"from here"	ayu	"from there"	uyu	"from yonder"

Pronouns

Kijeb pronouns have several unique morphological characteristics. Most basic pronoun roots have the shape CV. Such a root cannot stand on its own, but attaches clitically to a noun or verb stem. A clitic pronoun functions as a possessive marker when attached to a noun and as a person agreement marker when attached to a verb.

Free standing pronouns are emphatic, and are formed by reduplicating the CV root.

Plural pronouns are formed either suppletively or by infixation of the plural marker -n or -r between the syllables of the reduplicated CV root. For this reason plural emphatic pronouns take simple case markers -s, -t etc., thus the accusative of anda is andas rather than **anans or **andans.

Personal and demonstrative pronouns

First and second person

	Singular			Plural (animate)
	Clitic	Emphatic		Clitic	Emphatic
First person	-ta	tata	"I"	-di	didi	"we (exclusive)"
				-pu	pupu	"we (inclusive)"
Second person	-ba	baba	"thou"	-gi	gigi	"you (pl.)"

Third person clitic pronouns

	Singular	Plural
Masculine	-na	-nda
Feminine	-mi	-mbi
Rational		-ŋka
Irrational	-ŋu	-ŋgu
Inanimate	-ru/-ur	-dru

Third person emphatic pronouns

These are formed by compounding three deictic roots — proximal *i "this", medial *a "that" and distal *u "yon" — with the third person pronominal stems. These deictic roots do not occur independently, although they are also used in local adverbs, and neither are there any non-clitic third person pronouns not including these deictic stems.

	Proximal "this"		Medial "that"		Distal "yon"
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Masculine	ina	inda	ana	anda	una	unda
Feminine	imi	imbi	ami	ambi	umi	umbi
Rational		iŋka		aŋka		uŋka
Irrational	iŋu	iŋgu	aŋu	aŋgu	uŋu	uŋgu
Inanimate	iru	idru	aru	adru	uru	udru

Possessive pronouns

There are no special clitic forms for possessive pronouns. The clitics listed above have a possessive meaning when attached to nouns.

First and second person emphatic

	Singular		Plural (animate)
First person	tatya	"my, mine"	didya	"our (exclusive)"
			pupa	"our (inclusive)"
Second person	babya	"thy, thine"	gigya	"your (pl.)"

Third person emphatic

	Proximal "of this"		Medial "of that"		Distal "of yon"
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Masculine	inya	indya	anya	andya	unya	undya
Feminine	imya	imbya	amya	ambya	umya	umbya
Rational		iŋkya		aŋkya		uŋkya
Irrational	iŋwa	inŋgwa	aŋwa	aŋgwa	uŋwa	uŋgwa
Inanimate	irwa	idrwa	arwa	adrwa	urwa	udrwa

Reflexive pronouns

Reflexive pronouns are formed by adding the clitic -ŋi to the personal and demonstrative pronouns, e.g. tataŋi "myself" anaŋi "himself". There is also a possessive version -ŋya, e.g. tataŋya "my own", anaŋya "his own". These clitics can also be attached to nouns, e.g. snupuŋi "the man himself", snupuŋya "the man's own".

"Each other" is -ŋgi and "each other's" is -ŋgya.

Interrogative pronouns

		Basic			Possessive
		Emphatic	Clitic		Emphatic	Clitic
Animate	singular	gwigwi	-gwi	"who?"	gwigwa	-gwa	"of whom?
	plural	gwiŋgwi	-ŋgwi		gwiŋgwa	-ŋgwa
Inanimate	singular	gugu	-gu	"what?, which?"	gugwa	-gwa	"of what?, of which?"
	plural	gurgu	-rgu		gurgwa	-rgwa

Note that the clitic singular possessive is the same for animate and inanimate. There is no trace of them ever having been differentiated.

Indefinite pronouns

Indefinite pronouns are formed by adding the clitic -fu to the interrogatives: gwigifu "someone" gugufu "something". This clitic can also be attached to nouns, e.g. snupufu "some man".

Verbs

Finite verb forms

Verbs are inflected for aspect, inverseness, tense, mood or mood and person, all of which are expressed as suffixes to the verb root. The buildup of the verb word is:

root - aspect - (inverseness) - (tense/mood/voice) - subject - (direct object) - (indirect object)

Aspect

There are two aspects in Kijeb, viz. perfect, marked by -u-, and imperfect or non-perfect, marked by -i-.

Inverseness

The inverse marker -s-/-z- signals that the subject of the verb is inanimate and the direct object animate. A verb that is not inverse is said to be direct, but there is no overt directness marker in Kijeb.

Tense and mood and voice

There are two tenses, present and past, and three moods, realis and irrealis and imperative. However marking of tense and mood overlap, so that any given verb form is marked either for present tense -n-/-na-, past tense -r-/-ri- or irrealis mood -t-/-s-/-z-.

A verb form marked for tense cannot be marked for mood, but is always realis, and a verb form marked for irrealis mood cannot be marked for tense, but can function as any tense. The irrealis performs such functions as future, subjunctive, optative and hortative.

The only voice distinction in Kijeb is between non-imperative and imperative. The imperative is signalled by the absence of inverseness and tense/mood markers, and that the only person marking is an animate plural marker -n if the injunction is adressed to a group. An imperative can only be addressed to animate adresses. To express a "command" or wish concerning inanimates the irrealis must be used.

Examples:

(1)	sab	-u	-Ø	-r	-na	-ru	-mi
	give	-PERF	-DIR	-PAST	-3.sg.masc.	-3.sg.inan.	-3.sg.fem.
	saburnarumi "He had given it to her"

(2)	sazb	-i	-Ø	-n	-ta	-ŋka
	see	-IMPF	-DIR	-PRES	-1.sg.	-3.pl.rat.
	sazbintaŋka "I see/am seeing them"

(3)	pant	-i	-s	-n	-ur	-ba
	hit	-IMPF	-INV	-PRES	-3.sg.inan.	-2.sg.
	pantisnurba "It hits you"

(4)	dirn	-u	-Ø	-t	-ur
	fall down	-PERF	-DIR	-IRREALIS	-3.sg.inan.
	dirnutur "It will/might/should have fallen down"

(5)	basn	-u	-Ø	-Ø	-n
	go out	-PERF	-DIR	-IMP	-PL
	basnugi "Go out, you all!"

The only constituents that are really "optional" are object markers. The absence of the inversion marker is best seen as the presence of a zero directness marker, and the absence of a tense/mood marker is best seen as the presence of a zero imperative marker.

Note that the third person singular inanimate ending takes the allomorph -ur when in subject position, except before plural agreement markers beginning in two consonants.

Sandhi in verb forms

The sequence of morphemes is often obscured by sandhi, giving rise to portmanteau morphemes, e.g.

Underlying form	Surface form	Gloss
**pant-i-s-r-ru-n-ka	pantizdruŋka	"It hit them"
**pant-i-s-r-r-ru-n-ka	pantisridruŋka	"They (inanimate) hit (past) them"
**pant-i-s-n-r-ru-n-ka	pantizdruŋka	"They (inanimate) hit (present) them"
**sasb-i-Ø-t-n-na-ta	sazbizdata	"the men will see me"
**sasb-i-Ø-t-ta	sazbista	"I will/should/would/might/ see"
sasb-i-n-na	sazbinda	"He sees"
sasb-i-n-n-na	sazbinanda	"The men see"
sasb-i-n-mi	sazbimbi	"She sees"
sasb-i-n-n-mi	sazbinambi	"The women see"
sasb-i-n-ŋu	sazbiŋgu	"It (animate) sees"
sasb-i-n-n-ŋu	sazbinaŋgu	"They (animate) see"
sasb-i-n-n-ka	sazbiŋka	"The men and women see"

The past tense allomorph -ri- arises as a sandhi phenomenon when the past tense morpheme -r- is preceded by the inverseness marker -s- and followed by the inanimate plural subject marker -dru- (itself ultimately a sandhi of *-r-ru-). Apparently the past-tense -r- which had come to stand between the two non-sonorant consonants s and d became realized as a syllabic [r̩] which then in turn resolved into [ri].

The -na- allomorph of the present tense morpheme on the other hand defies a purely phonetic explanation. It is clear however that it arises in order to prevent present forms with animate plural suffixes from becoming identical to present forms with animate singular suffixes.

The irrealis allomorphs -s- and -z- arise when the irrealis marker is followed by a subject marker beginning in a dental stop (**-t-t- > -s-t- and **-t-d- > **-d-d- > -z-d-). It is not really possible to confuse them with the inverseness marker, since the latter always takes inanimate subject markers.

Infinite verb forms

The infinitive or gerund

There is also an infinitive or gerund stem formed by adding -a to the verb root. By taking different case endings this stem can express various infinite functions.

Participles

Participles are verb forms inflected for aspect and tense/mood, but which take nominal number and case endings rather than person suffixes. Pariciples are used chiefly to form relative clauses, as there are no relative pronouns in Kijeb, and each sentence may have only one finite verb. Examples are sabura "Having given", pantina "hitting" and basnura "gone out".

Syntax

(Scattered notes so far)

Word order is SOV, with everything that entails.

The "rational" plural gender is used for mixed masculine/feminine groups. The reason it isn't called "human" is that it is used for gods, ghosts, demons and the like as well as for humans. Besides I'm not sure yet if the Sohloçan are human!

There is no genitive case. The possessive construction is like this:

giwri-t tyadgu-na-n king-DAT elephant-his-PL "The king's elephants".

Negation is made with the auxiliary paxya "not do", e.g. sazba paxintaŋka "I don't see them". This is quite possibly the main use of the infinitive/gerund!

Do predicate nominals/adjectives require a copular verb or not?

If not will the verb una only mean "be" or also "exist", or not exist! ☺ It will probably be needed for other aspects/tenses than imperfective present.

Note the conflict with the pronoun una!

Will ufa "not be" be in complementary or partially alternating distribution with paxya "not do"?

Benct Philip Jonsson