Sarim

Sarim (Sarim: Sarim vār) is a language spoken by most of the population of Sarimis, as well as several its satellite nations.

Phonology

Consonants

-Plosives /p t c k kʷ/ <p t ch c cu>

-Nasals /m n/ <m n>

-Fricatives /v θ s h xʷ/ <v th s h hu>

-Rhotic/Approximants: /r l j/ <r l y>

Vowels

/i e a o i: e: a: o:/ <i e a o ī ē ā ō>

Syllable Structure

The basic syllable structure in Sarim is (C)V(C), with the vowel nucleus being the only compulsory component, with the following caveats:

The only geminate consonants that can occur are /m: n: s: j: r: l:/.

/h/ and /xʷ/ do not occur after after other consonants.

Labio-velar consonants do not occur before other consonants, nor do they occur word-finally.

/np/ does not occur, having merged with /mp/ at an earlier stage.

Allophony

-/r/ is realised as an approximant [ɻ] before a vowel or word-finally, but [ɮ] before a consonant.

-/h/ is often realised [x] before a consonant.

- All stops are voiceless and unaspirated, except immediately following a voiceless consonant, where they tend to become voiced.

- /n/ is realised at the same point of articulation as a following consonant: /nk/ = [ŋg]

-/c/ is realised as either palatal affricates [cç] or[ʨ], or even the postalveolar affricate [ʧ], especially among younger speakers.

-Before /s/, nasals tend to be realised as a sequence nasal+voiceless stop, e.g. /ms/ = [mps].

-Short vowels tend to be realised as lax [ɪ ɛ ɐ ɔ ] in all positions except word finally.

-Long /o:/ tends to be realised as [u:], especially in open syllables and word-finally. Other long vowels tend to be pronounced close to their cardinal values.

Stress

Stress in Sarim is non-phonemic ,always falling on the antepenultimate syllable of a word with more than three syllables, and the first syllable of bisyllabic words. Monosyllabic lexical words are stressed, but grammatical particles are not.

Nominal Morphology

Sarim nouns are declined for three numbers, absolutive, ergative and construct, and singular and plural numbers. Nouns come in three declensions. The first declension consists of stems ending in a single consonant, the second of stems ending in a short vowel, the third of those ending in a long vowel, and the fourth of stems ending in two consonants.

First Declension

yat - woman

	Singular	Plural
Absolutive	yat	yato
Oblique	yata	yatama
Construct	yato	yatō

Second Declension:

tano - heart

	Singular	Plural
Absolutive	tano	tanon
Oblique	tanō	tanoma
Construct	tanō	tanō

Third Declension:

huansā - house, fort

	Singular	Plural
Absolutive	huansā	huansan
Oblique	huansā	huansāma
Construct	huansāyo	huansāmo

Fourth Declension:

inte - the Sun

	Singular	Plural
Absolutive	inte	into
Oblique	intā	intama
Construct	into	intō

Possessive Pronoun Clitics:

These are suffixed to the construct state form of the noun (the form of which does come from the third person singular pronoun -on

	Singular	Plural
1P	-n	-nca
2P	-li	-yca
3P	-	'-