Uproimous

General Information
Uproimous (/ʌprɔ́ɪmʊs/, natively Upróiméus) is a language spoken mainly in the Uproisetul (Upróisétúr), a comparatively poor and feudal country in the tropics on the western coast of Chiwar, the largest continent on the planet Patrona (native Árquone). It is also spoken by a minority in the wider area of ethnic Uproi people, called Greater Uproisetul, which includes parts of Manjinga, Belsha, and a few other states.

Classification
Uproimous is a member of the Otsyeupsyup language family, which represents the western edge of the Western language family, who's speakers can be found in a wide belt across southwestern Chiwar. There are few other Otsyeupsyup languages, most of which have a relatively small number of speakers as Chipriwan and Manjingan languages take over from the south and the north, respectively. Uproimous' closest relative is Orepmous. Western languages in general are known for their strict phonotactics and templatic morphology, though some in the east have become much more analytic. Otsyeupsyup languages are known for labialized velars, register tone, small number of phonemes, grammatical case, and noun classifiers.


 * Western languages
 * Otsyeupsyup languages
 * Uproi-Orepmous group
 * Uproimous
 * Orepmous
 * Non-Otsyeupsyup Western languages

Consonants

 * Labialization among the nasals and stops is only distinguished before unrounded vowels.

Vowels

 * There are only two diphthongs: /eu/ and /oi/.

Phonotactics
CV(F), N
 * C can be any lone consonant or a consonant cluster.
 * The allowed syllable-initial clusters are: /pr/, /pj/, /tr/, /tj/, /kr/, /kj/, /sr/, and /sj/.
 * The allowed coda consonants are /n/, /p/, /t/, /k/, /s/, and /r/.
 * Coda /n/ changes to match the place of articulation of any following consonant.
 * Coda stops are dropped before other stops.
 * Diphthongs are reduced before coda /r/, with /oi becoming /a/ and /eu/ becoming either /i/ or /a/.
 * The sequences /ji/ and /wu/ are not allowed, and the semivowel drops if they should arise.
 * Syllabic nasals only occur word-initially. It becomes a coda /n/ no matter its original value if following a prefix. When this occurs, a coda in said prefix is deleted.

Tone
All words must start as low or high tone, and that pitch will carry through the whole word unless the word contains an accent on any non-initial syllable, where the tone of all vowels on and after the accent switch to the opposite tone. There can only be one accent in a word.

For example, LLL /kàlàlò/, HHH /káláló/, and HLL /kálàlò/ are all allowed, but LHL /kàlálò/ is not, as that would require two pitch changes (in bold).

Romanization

 * ⟨‘⟩ is not written at the beginning of a word.
 * High tone is marked on vowels and syllabic nasals with an acute accent ⟨ˊ⟩.
 * The coda /n/ is written as /m/ before ⟨p⟩.

Overview
Verbs are very expressive in all Otsyeupsyup languages, and Uproimous is no exception. Verbs use a templatic morphology of prefixes and suffixes to conjugate for person and number of the subject, primary object, and secondary object, voice, tense, and polarity.

Person markers

 * The final /p/ in the 3p prefixes is dropped before a stop consonant.

Augments
Augments come directly before the verb root. These are applicatives and directionals. ex. guoit-, re-, rat-, srat-.

Derivational suffixes
ex. -riha, -tit, -prak, -‘er

Overview
Nouns are less expressive than verbs. They express plurality, size, and case.

Diminutive and Augmentative
The only nominal prefixes are the diminutive and augmentative.


 * Diminutive: tí-
 * Augmentatives: ár- before a high tone, ar- before a low tone, which becomes high

Grammatical suffixes
Grammatical number is not expressed with an explicit quantifier or numeral, which must be accompanied by a classifier, like all determiners.

The ergative, locative, and comitative cases are used attributively. The ergative case is used with all postpositions.

The vocative is limited to use in titles, kin terms, and archaic speech.

Derivational suffixes
-méus "language"

-setur "nation"

Classifiers
Classifiers come from ancient basic vocabulary, with a couple being borrowings. They are suffixed onto quantifiers and numerals.

kin "foreigners, respected professions"

Syntax
Uproimous is a head-final language with a basic word order of Subject-Object-Verb.

Nouns in Uproimous behave in an ergative manner, while verbs and pronouns are accusative.

Uproimous is a secundative language.

Lexicon
Uproimous has a layered vocabulary, leading to an abundance of synonyms and near-synonyms with slightly different associations and connotations. There are three basic etymological patterns:


 * Ǵso‘u are native Otsyeupsyup words without the formal extension. These are typically very basic words or pejoratives. Ǵso‘u is the Quontéugélé form of ǵso "short, brusque, abrupt, basic, rude".
 * Quontéugélé are native Otsyeupsyup words with the formal extension. This is where the majority of native roots sit. Quontéugélé comes from Echlander quǫrteōkęle "polite person's speech". The extension suffix ‘ú occurs after any derivational morphology and can change the form of or fuse with some endings.
 * Húlá are borrowings from Chipriwa, Echish, and Manjingan languages, without the formal extension. These are typically formal words or technical terminology. Húlá comes from Echlander hōlā "literary, learned", itself from Southern Manjingan hùro /hûːɻɔ̀ː/, a direct calque on Newwang hùeţu "scholarly language". Húlá can be further specified by the origin of the borrowing.
 * Ńseta húlá are from Echlander, some via Southern Manjingan or Newwang. Notable categories include nautical and governmental terms.
 * Mánwanta húlá are from Southern Manjingan or Newwang. Notable categories include mathematical, trade, and public works terms.
 * Sipriwátá húlá are from Chipriwan languages. Notable categories include religious terms.

Vocabulary
Misc roots: ríha, trétéu, kyú‘ú, gue‘ú, yó‘ú