Souk

Souk (phi:sä sou:k) is the native language of the Kai people in Southeast Asia. It is by far the most widely spoken of the Kai-Souk languages, a branch of the larger Song language family. Souk is head-first and primarily isolating, but employs a pattern of infixes and vowel change. It is a mora-timed language with a simplistic pitch-register system.

10 vowels

 * 1[ɑ~ɒ] is usually semi-rounded
 * Long vowels are indicated by a semicolon
 * Long vowels centre towards schwa; eg. /u:/ = [uə]

18 consonants

 * Word-initial clusters are permitted; eg. kmou:n [k.mùən]
 * Coda can be any nasal, as well as /l, h, j, w/
 * Coda plosives are unreleased and have merged with checked tone, except /b/

Pitch-accent
The inherent pitch of any syllable (one or two morae) is phonemic but unambiguous and predictable due to its dependence on surrounding consonants and/or vowel length. For example,

We can see in the example above how vowel length determines whether a syllable receives mid or low pitch. Short vowels with low pitch usually have a low-rising sound. Furthermore,

We can see that a short vowel's pitch is low when open (ba), but mid when checked (bat), low when closed by a nasal (bang). Finally,

Checked syllables are low pitch if long (usually low-rising). The plain a in khä:at would have a quick mid-falling contour after the low-rising long ä:. Notice also that nasal-closed syllables have middle pitch when long.

Verbs
Souk verbs are built on word roots. Following a basic pattern, almost any root word can be made a verb, with an associated relevant meaning.

Verbs conjugate for three main criteria: aspect, mood and deference. Mood is simple; there are three main moods. The indicative and imperative are straightforward, whereas the irrealis mood is very general and depends highly upon context. The table below shows a few verbs and their respective modal conjugations:

So far, we have seen how verb formation and modality rely upon infixes and ablaut - these are the most inflectional features of the language. Below we will demonstrate the more complex aspect and politeness systems, which are very much isolating in their grammar.

Vocab
{| class="article-table" !Word !(origin) !Meaning
 * n. - native lexicon
 * s. - Sino-Kai
 * sans. - Sanskrit
 * ~ mixed elements
 * sambu
 * sans.
 * "adult"
 * chi:
 * n.
 * "aunt"
 * jaeb
 * n.
 * "baby"
 * añ
 * n.
 * "brother"
 * dekun
 * n.
 * "boy"
 * khrot
 * sans.
 * "chief, master"
 * dek
 * n.
 * "child"
 * the:k
 * n.
 * "children"
 * bang
 * n.
 * "city"
 * phorn
 * n.
 * "daughter"
 * bao-youong
 * n.
 * "doctor"
 * thi
 * s.
 * "enemy"
 * kom
 * n.
 * "food"
 * rouñ
 * n.
 * "friend, thief"
 * bao
 * n.
 * "gentleman, sir"
 * song
 * n.
 * "go ahead (I'm listening)"
 * mou:n
 * sans.
 * "hermit"
 * kaison
 * n.
 * "hotel"
 * ra:jä
 * sans.
 * "king"
 * jeaw
 * sans.
 * "life"
 * cheaw
 * sans.
 * "live" (v.)
 * lao
 * n.
 * "man"
 * youong
 * n.
 * "medicine, drug"
 * jey
 * n.
 * "new"
 * jäa-jäaw
 * n.
 * "politician"
 * thaikhrotjey
 * "president"
 * jäa-jey
 * n.
 * "prime minister"
 * chey
 * n.
 * "purchase" (v.)
 * sok
 * n.
 * "say" (v.)
 * präsa
 * sans.
 * "servant"
 * khi
 * n.
 * "sister"
 * khmor
 * n.
 * "slave"
 * jäaw
 * n.
 * "soldier"
 * bae
 * n.
 * "son"
 * youong
 * n.
 * "medicine, drug"
 * jey
 * n.
 * "new"
 * jäa-jäaw
 * n.
 * "politician"
 * thaikhrotjey
 * "president"
 * jäa-jey
 * n.
 * "prime minister"
 * chey
 * n.
 * "purchase" (v.)
 * sok
 * n.
 * "say" (v.)
 * präsa
 * sans.
 * "servant"
 * khi
 * n.
 * "sister"
 * khmor
 * n.
 * "slave"
 * jäaw
 * n.
 * "soldier"
 * bae
 * n.
 * "son"
 * khi
 * n.
 * "sister"
 * khmor
 * n.
 * "slave"
 * jäaw
 * n.
 * "soldier"
 * bae
 * n.
 * "son"
 * bae
 * n.
 * "son"
 * "son"