Daara Sunta

Consonants

 * /ʔ / is an archaic sound that is never pronounced anymore, but is still written, and still counts as a consonant phonotactically
 * /v/ can only be used in loan words
 * consonants can not be geminated
 * ty is pronounced /t ʃ/

Vowels

 * All vowels can be geminated

Diphthongs

 * The only permissible diphthongs are /ei/ and /ai/, written ei and ai, respectively. Diphthongs may not be geminated.

Phonotactics
C(w,y)V(V)(m,n,s,l) are the possible syllables. Words may not start with a consonant cluster, though any consonant may be followed by the approximants w or y. The only codas allowed are m, n, s or l.

Consonant Clusters that are allowed are:  a nasal (m or n) followed by a plosive or a nasal, s followed by a plosive or fricative, and l followed by a plosive or nasal. When a consonant cluster is made of:
 * two nasals, the second nasal's place of articulation will assimilate to that of the first nasal's, and the sound is geminated.
 * a nasal followed by a plosive, the nasal's place of articulation will assimilate to that of the plosive's.
 * a fricative followed by a plosive, the fricative's voicing will assimilate to that of the plosive's.
 * two fricatives, the second fricative's place of articulation will assimilate to that of the first fricative's, and it becomes geminated.
 * When a prefix's coda is attached to a noun beginning with an affricative, the coda is dropped both phonologically and graphically.


 * any vowel preceded by i causes i to change to /j/
 * any vowel preceded by u causes u to change to /w/

Tone
Daara Sunta uses a 3 tone register system in which the three tones are High, Mid and Low. High is marked by an acute accent, Mid is unmarked, and Low is marked by a grave accent. Tone markings are often left out, but generally only the first syllable, excluding any prefixes, is marked for tone.
 * Prefixes are usually High tone.

Nouns
Nouns in Daara Sunta are declined for case and plurality, and number classifiers are used when counting. Certain inflections are added onto nouns through suffixes, but most use prefixes. Aug/Dim stands for Augmentative or Diminutive suffixes. Class stands for classifier, and Num for number.

Cases
There are 13 Cases in Daara Sunta, which are shown through the use of prefixes.

Definiteness
Definiteness is shown with the particle o, which is placed directly after a noun.

Plurality
A noun can be made plural through reduplication of the last syllable.

Diminutives, Augmentatives
Diminutives are formed by either replacing the last vowel with the suffix -yii (if there's no coda), or just adding the suffix -yii (if there is a coda). Augmentatives are formed the same way as diminutives, but the suffix is -weo.

Classifiers
When counting objects in Daara Sunta, classifiers are used in addition to the plural suffix. These particles are placed after a definite particle (if there is one), and before the number.

Negation
Nouns are negated through the prefix Ngwu-, which comes before the Case prefix.

Pronouns
Pronouns are decined for case, number (singular and plural), and 4 persons (1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th). Case particles are added as prefixes to the pronouns just as they would be for regular nouns.

Personal Pronouns
4th person pronouns are indefinite pronouns.

Possessive Pronouns
Possessive pronouns are created by taking the genitive prefix and adding it to the personal pronouns as a suffix.

Interrogative Pronouns
These are made by adding the interrogative prefix Rim- to any pronoun. It can also be added to nouns, to inquire about the state of that word in particular.

Verbs
Verbs' infinitives look like any other word, and they only become functional verbs with the circumfix a> <ni.They conjugate for four tenses (Present, Future, Recent Past, Distant Past), four aspects (Perfect, Imperfect, Inchoative, Cessative), five moods (Optative, Necessative, Subjunctive, Conditional, Imperative). Verbs do not carry any information about person or number.

Tense
Tense is formed by altering the first vowel of the verb's infinitive. The first vowel in a verb's infinitive is always a. Examples will use kame (to go).

Aspects
Aspects are changed by altering the last vowel in the verbal circumfix a> <ni. The tense in the examples will always be Present.

Moods
Moods are formed by adding a particle to the beginning of a verb phrase. The absence of a particle implies the Declarative Mood. Examples will be in the present tense, perfect aspect.

Negation
Any and all verbs can be negated through the addition of ng- to a verb's circumfix.

Sunta ngakameni - I don't want to go.

Supines
Supines in Daara Sunta are formed by adding the particle kkoha after the first, conjugated verb, and before the second verb, which is left in its infinitive.

Gerunds
To make a verb into a noun, a case prefix, whichever one is approprite, is added to the verb's infinitive, and it is treated as a noun in syntax.

Gerundive
To make a verb into an adjective, the adjectival suffix -na is added, and it is then treated as an adjective in syntax.

Adjectives, Adverbs
Adjectives and adverbs both have a root form to which a suffix is added, to determine whether it is an adjective or adverb. The vowels in parentheses are only added when it would be phonotactically incorrect not to do so.

Comparatives, Superlatives
The prefix beo- is added to an adjective after the case prefix to make it comparative. To make it superlative, the prefix is beobeo-.

Syntax
The most common word order by far is VSO, though SOV and OSV are also possible. The last two would likely be used to de-emphasie the verb and topicalize either the subject or object of the sentence.

Voice
Active Voice follows the general rules stated above, as long as it's generic and isn't trying to highlight any other part of the sentence.

Passive Voice is shown through moving the object to the front of the clause, making that clause's word order either OVS or VOS. The Object is kept in the Accusative case, but the Ergative noun is changed to the Absolutive.

Antipassive Voice is shown through moving the subject to the front of the clause, making the word order either SVO or VSO. The Ergative noun is kept, but the Accusative noun changes to the Instrumental case.

Noun and Verb Phrases
Noun phrases are all head-initial without exception. Verb phrases are head initial when they come before the subject or object, but when they come anywhere after the subject or the object, they become head-final.

Relative Clauses and Indirect Statements
Relative clauses and indirect statements are both formed with the subordinating particle 'pika'. Word order in these types of clauses is as free as it would normally be.