Sarim
Sarim is a language spoken in the Sarmanin region in the west of Yandras.
Phonology
Consonants -Plosives /p t d c k/
-Nasals /m n ŋ/
-Fricatives /ð s ç h/
-Affricate: /ts/
-Rhotic/Approximants: /r l j/
Vowels
/i e ɛ a o ɤ u ɯ/
Syllable Structure
Sarm has a basic (C)V(C) syllable structure; the only compulsory element is a vowel. There are few restrictions on which consonants may occur in the onset positions, however there are several caveats with regards to coda consonants:Word internally, the only consonants that may appear in a coda are /n p t k r s j/. Word finally, these consonants as well as /x l m ŋ/ occur
Sequences that do not occur in modern Sarim:
-Palatals and velars are not distinguished before /i/, having merged at an earlier stage.
-/rs rð/ does not occurf, having merged with /s: ð:/.
-The sequences /ji/ and /ij/ do not occur.
-/e/ and /ɛ/ merge to /e/ in closed syllables.
Allophony
-In closed syllables, /e o ɤ a/ are realised as [ɛ ɔ ʌ ɐ].
-Before another consonant, /h/ is realised as [x].
-Coda /n/ assimilates to the point of articulation of the following consonant, thus /'anke/ is realised as ['ɐ:ŋke].
-Vowels in stressed syllables and before /r l/ are realised as longer than other vowels.
-/r/ is realised as a tap [ɾ] before a vowel and word-finally, but [h] before a consonant.
-/ts s/ are realised as [tʃ ʃ] before /i/.
-Before a nasal, /p t k/ are realised as [m n ŋ] respectively. Before another voiced consonant they are realised as [b d g]. Before a palatal, both /t/ and /k/ are realised as [c] ([ɟ] before /ɟ/)
Stress and Pitch Accent
Stress in Sarim is regular, always falling on the antipenultimate syllable for words more than 3 syllable long, and on the penult for bisyllabic words. Monosyllabic lexical words are stressed, but grammatical particles are not.
Pitch accent is not phonemic, but fairly complex. Sarim words can be divided into morae. Open syllables with short vowels are monomoraic, open syllables with long vowels and closed syllables with short vowels are dimoraic, and closed syllables with long vowels are trimoraic . The pitch accent falls on the antipenultimate mora. Pitch accent is realised as a lower tone on the accented syllable. In addition, the syllables immediately preceding and following the accented syllabe are realised as falling and rising, respectively. If the pitch accent is on the initial syllable, it is realised as a falling pitch, with the next syllable rising.
Sandhi
-If two vowels would adjacent over a word boundary, an epenthetic [ʔ] is inserted.
-If a word ends with a fricative, and the proceeding word begins in the different fricative, the coda fricative assimilates to become the geminant of the onset fricative.
-If a word ends in /h/, and the following word begins with a consonant, the /h/ is realised as [x].
Romanisation
The consonants/p t d c k m n ŋ ð s ç h ts r l j/ are generally represented by <p t d ky k m n ng dh s hy h ts r l i, with the exception that when realised [m n ŋ], /p t k/ are written <m n n>, and when before a voiced consonant . When before a palatal, /t/ is written <k>.
The vowels /i e ɛ a o ɤ u ɯ/ are represented with <i e ea a o eo u eu
Sample Sarim Words
/'dun/ ['dŭ:n], dun "man"
/'arkitcɤ/ ['ɐ̀:hkĭc:ɤ́] arkikkyeo "break"
/'xepnar/ ['xɛ̀:mnɐ̆:h]hemnar "Our sister"
Nominal Morphology
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 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: 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.
dona, mazē, sarma,aprā
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
donem, mazen. sarmen, apran
The plural is formed with -t for all stems, with an epenthetic -a- inserted afterconsonant stems:
donat, mazet, sarmat, 'aprahat
Before the oblique and genitive inflections, the -a of the plural morpheme is lost. -h stems lose their -h and lengthen the preceding vowel.
donta dontem; mazeta, mazeten; aprāta, aprāten
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 dŭnel, dŭnăl, dŭnende; mazel, mazel, mazende; sarmel, sarmal, sarmende; apral, aprāl, aprande
Pronouns
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.
1P Singular - Plural:
- NOM:na - nan
- ACC:nām - nem
- OBL:nae - nenta
- GEN:nem - neman
2P singular - plural:
- NOM:ath - āda
- ACC:enda - ādan
- OBL:ath - ādan
- GEN:atham - alyam
3P(animate) singular - plural:
- NOM:ko - kor
- ACC:kam - karon
- OBL:kor - koda
- GEN:kom - koram
4P(animate) singular - plural:
- NOM:ri - rede
- ACC:rem - riden
- OBL:ride - ridat
- 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
These appear on nouns after any case or number inflections:
1PS:-an 1PP:-ane 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.
Verbal Morphology
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.
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:
- 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
Theta-roles in Sarim
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.
Sarim Words
The basic divide in Sarim is between lexical and grammatical words.
- Lexical words are any words referring to an object, state, or action
- Grammatical words show function or position, or modify meaning.
