Minhast

Overview

= Setting =

= Basic Grammar =

= Phonology =

Syllabic Structure and Phonemic Interactions
Minhast words are subject to complex morphophonemic changes resulting from interactions with other morphemes occuring in the word. The verb is particularly complex in the various sound changes that may occur as a result of noun incorporation as well as the aggluginative processes involved in conjugation or             other inflectional processes. These phonemic changes can be broken down according to the following classifications:
 * 1) Assimilation
 * 2) Metathesis
 * 3) Syncope
 * 4) Epenthesis
 * 5) Voicing/Devoicing

These complex morphophonemic interactions operate according to the general phonological principals outlined below:
 * 1)                     No syllable can have a consonant cluster of more than two consonants.  Syncope can be applied                     only if a biconsonantal cluster is formed, and the vowel is not a part of a heavy syllable (i.e.                     the vowel is long, or it occurs in a VCC sequence).
 * 2) No Minhast word can have an initial consonant cluster. After any initial consonant cluster                      results from one or more of the possible morphophonemic alternations described below, an epenthetic                                            is automatically appended to the head of the word to form the permissible iCC- pattern.
 * 3)                      An epenthetic vowel is always inserted between two syllables if combining the syllables                      results in a triconsonantal cluster.  The default epenthetic vowel is                     ,                      but the other 3 vowels may also be used, depending on multiple factors (e.g. vowel harmony, an                      underlying quiescent initial vowel as part of the attached morpheme, etc.)
 * 4)                      Minhast has a strong tendency to form intermedial clusters, either                       or                     ,                      providing that Rules #1-#3 are observed.  If necessary, an epenthetic vowel may be                      added before or after the syllable to create these syllabic patterns, e.g.
 * 5)                       The tendency to form intermedial consonant clusters creates complex                       assimilation interactions that nevertheless are predictable and almost                       always regular.  These interactions are illustrated in Table X below:


 * 1)                       Vowels are classified according to a "weak-strong" gradient, where the "strong" vowels are                       more resistant to syncope than neighboring "weak(er)" vowels.  All long vowels are by definition                       "strong", so the weak-strong gradient really applies to short vowels.

Table X: Vowel Gradients In Order of Increasing Strength

 * 1)                         The shape of a -CVCVC- syllable may contract either to a -CCVC- or -CVCC- pattern,                          depending on the strength gradients of the vowels with respect to one another.                          The -CaCaC- syllable pattern is the only one that does not contract.  Syllables                          consisting of the same vowels may appear in either -CCVC- or -CVCC- patterns;                          the pattern they resolve to is influenced by interactions from surrounding syllables.                          These contractions are summarized in Table X:
 * 1)                         The shape of a -CVCVC- syllable may contract either to a -CCVC- or -CVCC- pattern,                          depending on the strength gradients of the vowels with respect to one another.                          The -CaCaC- syllable pattern is the only one that does not contract.  Syllables                          consisting of the same vowels may appear in either -CCVC- or -CVCC- patterns;                          the pattern they resolve to is influenced by interactions from surrounding syllables.                          These contractions are summarized in Table X:

Table X: CVCVC Vowel Gradient-Based Contractions

 * 1)                       A verb root or an incorporated noun tends to lose one or more vowels to form at least one                       biconsonant cluster.  The vowel that is lost depends on its strength gradient in relation                       to the noun of the neighboring syllable.
 * 2)                       With the exception of pattern -CaCa-, when two adjoining syllables have vowels within the                       same gradient, vocalic syncope resolves to CVCC.
 * 3)                      The pattern (C)VVCC always resolves to  (C)VCC
 * 4)                      Compared to nominal and verbal roots, inflectional morphemes (e.g. theme, aspect, tense, person,                      etc) are resistant to syncope because this may lead to the inflectional morpheme to be changed                      beyond recognition.  For example,                                            he informed (him)  (lit.  he caused him to know) does not resolve to                     ,                      even though this would prevent the impermissible CCV pattern from occurring.  Instead, an                       epenthetic vowel                                            is added before the causative affix  to prevent this                      impermissible consonant cluster from occurring.
 * 5)                     Although inflectional morphemes do not experience syncope, they still may experience phonological                     changes  in the form of metathesis and devoicing.
 * 6)                      Vowel devoicing occurs in CVC, CVxC, CVsC, or CVC syllables, where C is any of the                      unvoiced consonants listed in Table X.
 * 7)                      Two consecutive syllables with the pattern CVCVC resolves to CVCV'C, due to the                      difficulty of pronouncing the h allophone in two consecutive closed syllables.  The second                      syllable receives compensentory stress (primary or secondary) resulting from the loss of the h                      allophone.  Additionally, the vowel in the previous syllable may be devoiced if its adjacent                      consonants are voiceless, as in Example A, where the verb root vowel                                            which occurs the voiceless consonants                                            and                     ,                      devoices to                      .                      Note also the epenthetic vowel                                            appearing before the verb root and the 1st person incl. pl. affix                      ,                      e.g.:
 * 8) *                                                        "We were (being) annoying" (lit.: annoying-we.and.you-[past]-[ imperf.]-[intrans])
 * 9) *                                                        "I was avoiding..."
 * 10)                      Dissimilation occurs in CVC-patterns involving                      š-Vš, resolving to                      s-Vš.  A prime example                      is the number "twenty", e.g.                        * šan-šentāz                       * san-šentāz                      saššentāz
 * 11)                      Dissimilation occurs in CVC-patterns involving                      mVm, resolving to                      nVm.

= Noun Morphology=

= Verb Morphology =

Overview
The verb is the most complex part of Minhast grammar. Because the noun can only indicate case and deixis, the verb performs additional functions, such as specifying the definiteness, gender and number of the core arguments, whether the core arguments are collective or not, whether an action was carried       out or experienced by individual members of the core arguments, etc. In addition, the verb can indicate the speaker's attitude towards the sentence, including evidentiality, assertion, etc.

The Minhast verb is organized into a template containing eight affix slots (called by traditional Minhast grammarians the šabāye). Verbal affixes, depending on their classification, fall within one of these slots. Multiple affixes may occupy a given slot, but all affixes follow a rigid order, and an affix that is assigned to one slot may not appear in another slot; to do so would result in an unintelligible verb. Many slots are themselves divided into smaller sections. Not all slots are filled at a given time - in fact, some affixes are mutually exclusive with others, whose combination would otherwise create nonsensical meanings. The šabāye are displayed in the table below, in the order of their respective positions within the verbal template:

Verb Structure
The Preverb                                contains two slots. The first               slot is reserved for theme markers, which are used to indicate the quality                or nature of the action or state;  these may include such things as degree or intensity,                potentiality, etc.

The second slot contains affixes used to denote the direction of an action in               relation to the ergative argument in transitive sentences, or the absolutive                argument in intransitive ones.

Directional Affixes
Divided into smaller slots: fossilized classifier, verb root, derivational affix,                incorporated noun, applicative affixes

Applicative Affixes
= Dictionary = ...

= Example text = ...