Siye
Siye
| Siye | |
|---|---|
| Pronounced: | ['ʃi.je] |
| Timeline and Universe: | Earth Jungle Lord (EJL) |
| Species: | Martian Hominin |
| Spoken: | Mars |
| Total speakers: | 19,000,000 |
| Writing system: | Native Syllabary |
| Genealogy: | Thide Tide Tiye Siye |
| Typology: | |
| Morphology: | Agglutinative |
| Morphosyntax: | Split Ergative |
| Word order: | SOV |
| Credits | |
| Creator: | Linguarum Magister |
| Created: | 2012 |
Description
Siye is one of the two major languages, along with Ulok, of the Martian Equator, It is spoken by nineteen million people in the Valley of the River. The Guild of Scholars estimates that there are twenty million speakers, but the Terrestrial conservative estimate separates one million speakers whose inclusion within the Simakim is more political than linguistic.
'Simakim', a key concept in linguistic and political thought, means 'area where the Siye language is spoken.' The Simakim is defined by the presence of a Siye-speaker with immovable property. If the Simayam (Siye speaker) is bilingual, the Siye portion is dominant under Siye law.
The Valley is a federation of city states and autonomous regions whose only unifying government is the Guild of Scholars, a body of grammarians based in the Central Province which regulates the grammar of Siye and therefore the validity of contracts. The Valley is divided into provinces, but unless there is need for military action, provinces are more geographical descriptions than political unities. The only permanent militia is maintained by the Far Western Province, which borders the Ulok-speaking Kingdom of Nesa.
Phonology and Orthography
Nasalization and Advanced Tongue Root
In Standard Siye, the nasal vowels share the feature retracted tongue root (RTR), while the oral vowels share the feature advanced tongue root (ATR). In studies of Siye, the feature is defined as +ATR and -ATR. Standard Siye has the typologically rare 10-vowel ATR. The Near and Mid Provinces reduce the ATR system by removing [ə] in favor of a generalized [a].
| Oral Vowels | Front | Center | Back Unrounded | Back Rounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i [i] | u [u] | ||
| High Mid | e [e] | o [o] | ||
| Low Mid | ||||
| Open | a [a] |
| Nasal Vowels | Front | Center | Back Unrounded | Back Rounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close-Mid | im [ɪⁿ] | um [ʊⁿ] | ||
| High Mid | ||||
| Low Mid | em [ɛⁿ] | om [ɔⁿ] | ||
| Open | am [aⁿ] |
The Far Western Province uses a seven-vowel system:
| Oral Vowels | Front | Center | Back Unrounded | Back Rounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i [i] | u [u] | ||
| High Mid | ||||
| Low Mid | ɛ [ɛ] | ɔ [ɔ] | ||
| Open | a [a] |
| Nasal Vowels | Front | Center | Back Unrounded | Back Rounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close-Mid | im [ɪⁿ] | um [ʊⁿ] | ||
| High Mid | ||||
| Low Mid | em [ɛⁿ] | om [ɔⁿ] | ||
| Open | am [aⁿ] |
The Far Eastern Province and the Lake have a slightly different seven-vowel system:
| Oral Vowels | Front | Center | Back Unrounded | Back Rounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i [i] | u [u] | ||
| High Mid | ||||
| Low Mid | ɛ [ɛ] | ɔ [ɔ] | ||
| Open | a [a] |
| Nasal Vowels | Front | Center | Back Unrounded | Back Rounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | im [iⁿ] | |||
| Close-Mid | um [ʊⁿ] | |||
| High Mid | ||||
| Low Mid | em [ɛⁿ] | om [ɔⁿ] | ||
| Open | am [aⁿ] |
Vowel Dominance
Standard Siye vowels have a dominance system whereby one vowel eliminates an adjacent vowel rather than creating a long vowel or diphthong. Early Siye lacked this feature. The impact of vowel dominance in Siye is extensive, but many exceptions exist to avoid ambiguity. The dominance pattern follows a V-shape, starting in the high back, descending to low central, and ascending to high front. Thus the dominance hierarchy is as follows: /u/ > /o/ > /a/ > /e/ > /i/.
Stress Placement
Stress in Siye is is trochaic-dactylic. Polysyllabic affixes can only receive stress on the initial syllable. The combination of the following rules creates a complex primary-secondary stress pattern. Some regularly trisyllabic suffixes have bisyllabic allomorphs to conform to this pattern.
A Siye verb receives primary stress on the first syllable of the verb root; thus the verb /pelekopuyammu/[pe.le.kʰo.ɸu.jæⁿ.mu] and /lekunasonima/ [le.xu.so.ni.ma] receive primary stresses on /ko/ and /ku/.
The secondary stresses are distributed according to the following rules:
1) There is a minimum of one and maximum of two unstressed syllables between stressed syllable
2) Only the first syllable of a root or suffix can be stressed.
3) The sequence of preferred placements of secondary stresses are as follows: directional suffix; causative suffix; converbal suffix; number suffix; PAM (polarity-aspect-mood suffix.
