Sangi

=Phonology=

Introduction
The most basic of all words in Sangi are derived from Modern (British) English words, mostly of germanic origin, through a series of phonological changes.

There are also a large number of consonant and vowel mutations which occur at morpheme boundaries and within the words themselves.

Phonological Changes
The changes which a sound is subject to are dependent (usually) on its position in the word and the surrounding sounds.

Initial Consonant Changes
'w' also becomes 'Ø' before o.

Medial Consonant Changes
'w' also becomes 'Ø' before o.
 * See the table of Other Consonant Changes

Final Consonant Changes
¹ The forms of this new vowel complex can be found in th table for Vowel Changes.

Consonant Cluster Changes

 * These also occur in the spoken and written language at the beginning of words when the final sound of the previous word was a vowel, e.g. “an e ssil – and yet still”. It is a kind a sandhi.

Other Consonant Changes
¹ This applies only to plosives, sibilants and nasals in there basic form.

² The j affects the fricative consonants in the following way: f > p; v > b; th > t; dh > d; ch > c; gh > g; l > jj; r > s.

³ This change means that the only Cl combinations are cl, gl and hl. The after all other consonants becomes i but becomes j before i to avoid the creation of a long vowel and causes palatalisation.

Palatalisation
Palatalisastion is a change which occurs after the new word has been made from the original English. It occurs when a word ends in an -i but is then followed by a vowel ending, e.g. -a for female nouns. It also occurs when and l becomes a j. It only affects a small number of consonants and should not be confused with I-affection, which is a morpho-phonological process.

t > ć

d > ǵ

s > ś

z > ź

When the stem undergoes any form of consonant mutation, the original combination of Cj or Ci re-emerges. It is this combination which goes through the mutation, not the palatalised form. The j is, however, ignored under these processes if the new form can be palatalised, if it can not then the j is taken into account and the stem will not mutate. For example -tji- becomes -ć- under palatalisation. When subjected to plural mutation t becomes ð. ð cannot be palatalised so the plural form of -tji- remains -tji- and therfore becomes -ć-, even though -ć- can undergo plural mutation. The t of the same -tji- combination,when subjected to consonant gradation, becomes d, hwich can be palatalised. The new sequence will be -dji- which becomes -ǵ-.

Vowel Changes

 * syllabic m, n, l, and r.

Phonological Processes at Morpheme Boundaries
As part of the nature of the phonology of the language only voiceless consonants and the r, l, n and m can occur at the ends of words. If a voiced consonant or a consonant cluster occurs, then the letter -i is placed after them.

The phonological processes which occur at morpheme boundaries are dependent on several factors, i.e. the two sounds which appear together and their respective effects on the other sound. These are generally processes of gemination, assimilation and epenthesis. None of the consonantal proccesses can occur at conjugation/declension morpheme boundaries unless the original conjugation/declension is retained phonetically. If it cannot be then epenthesis must be used or the consonants go unaffected, e.g a'trîaźan(i)ma "because he did not treat", where the -i- is the part of the original stem. Epenthesis rarely occurs in nouns as the gender marker is inserted instead of the regular phonological sound. In verbs, however, only the conjugational suffixes of slot 11 are immune to consonantal processes like assimilation and epenthesis which would affect that suffix itself.

Gemination: When a sound occurs after or before itself when the first sound is not preceded by another consonant, they merge to form a long consonant, e.g. pat+tę > pattę [pat:ə] “you are bad”. When a voiceless sound is followed by a voiced sound the voiced sound devoices. When the voiced sound comes first the voiceless stop becomes voiced. When an nasal follows or is followed by an unlike consonant it becomes like it and then undergoes assimilation. When it is followed by another nasal, however, the second nasal becomes like the first.

Assimilation: This process only involves stops and nasals. When a voiceless stop follows a similar nasal, it assimilates to that nasal.

Sibilant Assimilation: This is a series of assimilation processes that occur when sibilants are placed next to each other.

Epenthesis: When a vowel follows another vowel and does not form an allowable diphthong, then a consonant is inserted between them. An h [x/ç] is placed before e which becomes ę at the end of a word, and r before a and i and a z before other vowels. When a consonant follows another and cannot be put together in the above to ways, then a vowel is inserted between them. An ę is placed between like consonants, and i is placed after labials, an a is placed after dentals and an e is placed after velars.

Examples of Epethesis:

i+a > ira “I hit”

An exception to these rules occurs when r is followed by another consonant. Instead of placing an epenthetic vowel between the r and the consonant an ę is placed after the combination.

Morpho-Phonology
As said above, there are a large number of consonant and vowel mutations which occur at morpheme boundaries and within the words themselves. There are, in total, four consonant mutations and four vowel mutations.

Consonant Mutations
The four different consonant mutations are I-affection, A-affection, plural mutation and stem gradation. I-affection and A-affection do not affect the meaning of the word and are simply phonological processes which affect the last consonant[s] of the word. Plural mutation and stem gradation, on the other hand, help in changing the meaning of the word.

I-Affection
I-affection occurs when the last consonant of the stem is immediately followed by the vowels i and e (long, short and diphthong forms) and also the consonant j.

A-Affection
Like I-affection, A-affection occurs when the last consonant of the stem is immediately followed by a vowel, in this case a.

Plural Mutation
This mutation occurs when forming the plural of the four noun stems (see below).

Stem Gradation
Stem gradation is a weakening of the final consonant of the stem to form different noun and verb stems which are used to built up the meaning of the noun or verb as well as to derive words from different classes of words.

pp > p > b > v > f > w > h > hi > he

tt > t > d > j > i > e

cc > c > g > j > i > e

m > mb > mm > mp > mi > me

n > nd > nn > ns > nt > ni > ne

nh > ŋ > ng > nc > nct > ŋi > ŋe

l > ld > ll > ls > lt > li > le

r > rd > rr > rs > rt > ri > re

s > t > d > j > i > e

sp > sw > sl > śi > śe

st > ss > ś > si > se

sc > ś > si > se

h > p > b > w > hi > he

Ø > c > g > j > i > e (if the Ø was originally a c)

Ø > t > d > j > i > e (if the Ø was originally a c)

It should be noted that s, tt, cc and Ø all eventually weaken to the same pattern, causing a certain amount of ambiguity if the gradation is carried through enough times. Also, grades of the pattern Ci and Ce can never be the general stem but i and e can be strengthened.

Vowel Mutations
There are two sets of vowel mutation, both with two further subsets. One set is pure mutation which causes a semantic change is the word. The other is affection, which is caused by pure vowel mutation.

Pure Mutation
Pure mutation has two subsets; A-mutation and I-mutation. I-mutation involves the raising of the final vowel of the stem, while a-mutation involves the lowering of the final vowel.

¹ long a becomes œ in a-mutation, but is written as a two circumflexed “a”s.

² long i becomes jai in i-mutation and long u becomes wá, but are both written as a two umlauted letters.

In the orthography the base vowel is written as it is with a diacritic to mark that it is mutated. I-mutation is shown by the use of the umlaut and the letter y for the sound ü. A-mutation is shown by the use of the circumflex. If the word changes semantic class, e.g. a verb becomes a noun, then the vowel with the diacritic is written with the vowel that marks its pronunciation, e.g. ü > au. This is not the, however, when a plural noun is used as a stative verb, the vowel marked with the diacritic is kept to mark the plurality and a special tense infix is added.

Vowel Affection
Affection comes in two subsets; I-affection and A-affection. Under I-affection the vowel is raised and under A-affection the vowel is lowered, just like in pure vowel mutation and they are represented in the orthography in the same way. The difference is that vowel affection has no semantic effect on the word and occurs under different circumstances. I-affection occurs when the last vowel of the stem was raised to either an i, an y or an e. A-affection occurs when the last vowel was lowered to either an o or an a. This means that vowel affection can only occur in disyllabic or polysyllabic words and only on the penultimate syllable of the stem. i and u, though, are not affected by vowel i-affection and a is not affected by a-affection. Affection also occurs when a derivational suffix is added. This changed the root vowel, but it is marked by pronunciation and not by diacritics as with affection caused by pure mutation.

=Morphology=

Verbs
Verbs are possibly the most important class of words in Sangi. Because their conjugation includes different endings for the subject, object and secondary objects, it is possible to drop all pronouns used in a sentence and it will be understood. This means that the verb is the only part of the sentence necessary for the sentence to be complete.

Verb Structure
The verb is built around a structure which contains thirteen “slots”. Into each of these slots can be placed only a certain kind of affix and only a certain number of a type of affix can be used in their given slot.

An overview of the slots would be this:

Slot 1: Negative marker

Slot 2: Modality

Slot 3: Negative marker II

Slot 4: Modality II

Slot 5: Stem

Slot 6: Conditional suffix for Modality II

slot 7: Aspect

Slot 8: Voice

Slot 9: Voice II

Slot 10: Mood

Slot 11: Conjugation suffix

Slot 12: Object-Tense marker

Slot 13: Object II

Each of these slots and there suffixes will be dealt with in detail, slot by slot and examples of verb conjugations will be given at the end to clear things up.

Slot 1 – Negative Marker
There are two negative markers in slot 1; a', m'. These govern the nouns associated with the modality markers in slot 2.

a' – This form is used before all consonants other than w.

m' – This form is used before w.

Apart from their usage, there is no difference between the two prefixes

Slot 2 – Modality
This slot's prefixes are used to represent the mode of the verb in relation to the subject of Slot 8 holding verbs.

There are six prefixes which can be placed in this slot but only one can be used in the verb complex. To build up their true meanings they must be followed by the dynamic conjugation suffixes and then an optional -j which differs the meaning of each prefix. This -j would cause the final r of the 3rd person singular dynamic suffix -ar to become ś.

h' – This is used to show that there is no modality involved.

t' – This means “can” and when followed by -j it means “could”.

ś' – This means “shall” and “should” when followed by -j.

m' – This means “must” and “might” preceding -j.

w' – This means “want to” and when followed by -j it means “may”.

l' – This means “like to” and “would like to” when followed by -j.

Slot 3 – Negative Marker II
In this slot the prefixes used are the same as the first slot but they instead govern the noun associated with the modality II marker. A' is used before all consonants other than w, n' is used before all vowels and m' is used before w.

Slot 4 – Modality II
These have a similar form to the Modality markers of slot 2 but they govern the noun associated with the main verb.

ti' – This means “can”.

śi' – This means “shall”.

mi' – This means “must”.

wi' – This means “want to”.

li' – This means “like to”.

Slot 5 – Stem
The stem has the possibility of undergoing stem gradation and vowel mutation in order to show the different tenses and aspects.

I-mutation - This shows the future tense.

A-mutation – This shows the past tense.

Stem gradation – The weak stem (formed by one step in the weak direction) shows that the action is progressive.

Slot 6 – Conditional Suffix for Modality II
This is invariable -je and changes the meaning of the slot 4 prefixes in the same way as the -j in the slot 2 prefixes. It can cause I-mutation if followed by and i, a or u.

Slot 7 – Aspect
This slot is the only one which accommodates multiple affixes with each suffix adding further meaning to the verb. There are twenty-two suffixes which can accommodate this slot but the usual number used in any single verb complex never exceeds around five, although more extreme complexes are used as examples of the flexibility of this slot.

-sta – This suffix translates roughly as “going to” or “about to”. It shows that the subject intends/intended to perform the action in the immediate future.

-sa – This suffix means “begin (to)”.

-ta – This means “continue (to)”.

-da – This means “for a while”.

-ja – This means “finish”.

-cca – This also means “finish” but carries the implication of “quit” as it is more long term or even permanent.

-ca – This is the third “finish” suffix but carries the implication that you have only stopped for a while and will perform the action again or continue to perform the previous action which is incomplete.

-ga – This means “resume” or continue a previously incomplete action.

-ra – Translates as “on and on” and shows that the action was continued for a long period of time which may be undetermined.

-rda – Shares a similar meaning with -ra but translates as “again an again” showing that the action was not continuous but made up of small segments.

-na – Shows that the performance was intentional.

-ma – Shows that the performance was unintentional or accidental.

-nsa – Shows that the action was performed only once.

-nta – shows that the action was performed many times.

-lt – This means “try to”.

-ia – This means “for a time” and relates to time period longer than that associated with the suffix -da.

-i – This translates as “simply”, “just” or “only” and shows that it was the only only action performed by the speaker.

-ea – This means “again”.

-lla – This means “always” or “forever” and shows that the action is continued uninterrupted for unimaginable amounts of time or even indefinitely, e.g. pillár – he will exist forever.

Three additional suffixes, attached before the others of this slot define the intensity of the action;

-d – This shows that the verb is intensive, performed with force, speed, etc.

-s – This suffix lowers the intensity of an intensive action but it cannot be used with a “moderate” verb.

-t – This suffix marks the lowest of intensities and shows that there was very little force or effort behind the verb.

Slot 8 – Voice
These voice markers of this slot relate to a second actor who has enforced there will upon the actor of the verb or can relate to the actor of the verb itself. The distinction is shown by the use of the modality markers of slot 2, which represent the second actor. When no second actor is mentioned, the verb takes on a somewhat passive or stative meaning, even though dynamic suffixes may be used.

-cs – This suffix marks the causative voice. This shows that the actor caused something or someone to perform the verb.

-nj – This marks the permissive voice. This shows that the actor was allowed to perform the verb in the sense that it was given permission.

-ps – This marks the secondary causative voice. It shows that the main actor was made to perform the verb or that they were caused to become something, this does share a similar meaning with the first causative voice but it implies more force was involved when used with dynamic verbs.

-pi – This suffix is the only one in this slot which cannot represent an actor in slot 2. It means “become” and shows that the subject's state of being or characteristics changed. It is also the only one of the four suffixes to take the stative conjugation suffixes only.

Slot 9 – Voice II
The suffixes of slot 9 show the main, “true” voice of the verb.

-Ø – The lack of a suffix in this slot shows that it is in the indicative voice. This shows that the verb was performed by a subject who, although not necessarily, performed the action on or to some other object or thing.

-ć – This suffix represents the reflexive voice. This means that the actor performed the verb on itself.

-g – This suffix represents the reciprocal voice. This suffix means that the two actors of the verb performed it on each other. This means that it cannot be used with singular conjugation suffixes.

The suffix which shows the passive voice has four forms depending on the number of the subject and the aspect of the verb. The singular forms are -li and -vi in the imperfect and perfect aspect respectively and the plural forms are -lli in the imperfect and -pi in the perfect.

Slot 10 – Mood
The slot 10 suffixes show that the verb has not been performed by the time of speech but that it may be afterwards or what would happen if it was to be performed.

-s – This suffix is translated as “if” and is the first part of “if-then” statements.

-n – This suffix is translated as “then” and is the second part of “if-then” statements.

-m – This suffix marks hypothetical situations.

-tu – This is the imperative suffix. It shows that the speaker is ordering the actor the perform the action. Unlike in English, the imperative can be directed at all persons.

-si – This is the optative suffix and it indicates hope that the action will take place on the part of the speaker. It is, though, usually found in interrogative sentences and is translates as “might ...?” or “please...”.

Slot 11 – Conjugation
This slot contains the largest number of available suffixes but, unlike slot 7, only one suffix can occupy this space. The suffixes of this slot are used to separate stative and dynamic verbs as well as perfect and imperfect aspects. The verb conjugates for four persons; 1st, 2nd, 3rd and a 4th person known as the indefinite, representing an unspecified subject. These suffixes can be divided into four groups; dynamic imperfect, dynamic perfect, stative imperfect and stative perfect.

NOTES:


 * The -[i]- occurs between final consonants and the suffix but cannot cause I-affection or I-mutation.


 * In the Dynamic conjugation, the first suffix is attached to consonantal stems, while the second is attached to vocalic stems.


 * The o/a/i after the indefinite suffixes represent the gender of the subject -o being male, -a being female and -i being the general gender

Although the infinitive suffixes are of slot 11, they must always come at the end of the verb complex, e.g. spijetaren – to speak to someone, where the -tar suffix means to someone and the -n suffix is at the end.
 * The ę after the suffixes is used if the next sound does not begin with a vowel. If the suffix is followed by an object suffix, an epenthetic vowel is inserted instead of the ę.

Slot 12 – Object Suffixes
The object suffixes represent the objects of a verb in the accusative case. They also allow for the representation of tense. The suffixes will be shown in this order; present tense – past tense – future tense;

-m, -mwa, -mi – 1st person

-s, -sa, -ś – 2nd person

-c, -ć, -þ – 3rd person/indefinite

Slot 13 – Secondary Objects
Like slot 2 prefixes, the suffixes of slot 13 must be followed by the dynamic conjugation suffixes to make full sense. They differ from those of slot 13 in that they represent cases that are not the accusative.

-t – The dative case.

-cs – The causal case.

-j – The Vocative case. This is actually the accusative case of highly respected things.

-l – the instrumental case.

-v – The comitative case.

-ct – The sociative case.

-d – The anti-instrumental case.

-s – The anti-comitative case.

-lc – The anti-sociative case.

-g – The search terminative case.

-w – The benefactive case.

Fourteen Slots?
The locative and movement suffixes can be suffixed directly onto the stem, this raises the debate of whether this should be considered an extra slot or a subsection of the stem slot. This debate is as yet unresolved but it does not affect any part of this model.

Examples
This example draws upon affixes from most slots and a mutation of the stem:

a'śu'm'wi'zîltacstuarćętar.

This can mean either "You shouldn't have continued to caused him/her/it to not want to give him'her/it to him/her/it!" or "You shouldn't have caused him/her/it to continued to not want to give him/her/it to him/her/it!". The ambiguity lies in the used of the suffix -ta- (continue). It is attached to the stem but makes no distinction about whether it realtes to Slot 2 or Slot 4 actors.

An analysis of the word would be this:

a-śu-m-wi-zîl-ta-cs-tu-ar-ćę-t-ar

neg1-should-neg2-want-give.past.-continue-caus.-imper.-3rd.sing.subj-3rd.sing.obj.past-dative-3rd.sing.subj.

Examples such as this generally only occur when the nouns are referenced by pronouns. If the nouns were mentioned as nouns then the verb would be much shorter...

a'śu'm'wi'zîltacstu tálso púnon tocot - You shouldn't have continued to cause the boy to not want to give the bone to the dog.

Nominal Structure
Like verbs, nouns have a series of slots into which certain affixes can be placed. They are all suffixes and show case, position, direction, number, definiteness, size, and possession.

An overview of the suffixes would be:

Slot 1: Stem

Slot 2: Measure

Slot 3: Definiteness

Slot 4: Case-Number

Slot 5: Possession

Slot 6: Predicate Cases

Slot 1 – The Stem
The stem may undergo a number of different mutations but only I-mutation makes a semantic difference. I-mutation – This causes the noun to show plurality.

Plural mutation – This also causes the noun the show plurality. It is quite rare that a word will not be able to undergo at least one of these.

Stem weakening I - This creates the genitive stem in the singular.

Stem weakening II – This creates the stative stem.

Stem Strengthening – This creates the locative stem. This strengthening also applies to stem ending in -i and -e but not -j and long plosives. To these an a must be added to the stem which causes a-affection.

To create the genitive stem and stative stem in the plural, the plural stem undergoes the two stem weakening processes above.

The form a noun takes to show the collective form, “a group of...”, “a flock of sheep,” etc. is the plural stem with singular suffixes. This means that the word for cows and a herd of cows are the same in the nominative case and the stative cases, “süü”, but different in all others, e.g. süüma vs. süümbe “because of a herd of cows” vs. “because of cows”.

Slot 2 – Measure
The suffixes of slot 2 give an overview of the size of the object in relation to its general sized counterpart. There are suffixes height, length, width, and a combination of all of these. Two suffixes at the most can be placed in this slot.

-od – This suffix appears after labial consonants and is the suffix meaning “generally larger”, e.g. “lap – laugh > lapodi – hysterical laugh”.

-i – This suffix also appears after labial consonants and means “generally smaller”, e.g. “lap – laugh > lapi – chuckle”.

-uc – This suffix appears after dental consonants and means “generally bigger”, e.g. “pat – bath > patuc – swimming pool”.

-es – This suffix also appears after dental consonants and means “generally small”, e.g. “pat – bath > paćes – wash basin”.

-op – This suffix appears after velar consonants and means “generally big”, e.g. “toc – dog > tocop – big dog (class of dogs, like a Great Dane)”.

-el – This suffix also appears after velar consonants and means “generally small”, e.g. “toc – dog > toćel – puppy”.

-ot – This suffix appears after sibilants and means “generally big”, e.g. “cússi – ghost > cússot - Demon”.

-et - This suffix also appears after sibilants and means “generally small”, e.g. “cússi – ghost > cúśśet –little ghost, spirit”.

-ac – This suffix appears after r and l and means “generally big”, e.g. “úr – house > úźac – mansion”.

-em – This suffix appears after r and l and means “generally small”, e.g. “úr – house > úśem – cottage”.

-rd – This suffix appears after vowels and means “generally big”, e.g. “sa – cat > sardi – big cat”.

-l – This suffix also appears after vowels and means “generally small”, e.g. “sa – cat > sal – kitten”.

The above suffixes can be seen as augmentative and diminutive suffixes.

The other sets of suffixes are not dependent on the final sound of the stem and are limited to a single dimension.

-[o]g – bigger in height, e.g. úrgi – skyscraper.

-[e]s – smaller in height, e.g. úres – bungalow.

-[a]rc – wider, e.g.

-[i]t – thinner, e.g.

-[a]ng – longer, e.g. snejang - dragon

-[i]l – shorter, e.g. snejil - worm

Slot 3 – Definiteness
Unlike English, Sangi only has the definite article, of which there are four, not one.

-o – this suffix is used with singular nouns and appears after consonants, e.g. toco – the dog.

-u – this suffix is used with plural nouns and appears after consonants, e.g. töśu – the dogs.

-lo – this suffix is used with singular nouns and appears after vowels, e.g. súlo – the cow.

-llu – this suffix is used with plural nouns an appears after vowels, e.g. süüllu – the cows.

Slot 4 – Case-Number
The suffixes for case and number are attached to the eight different stems formed in slot 1. Singular suffixes are attached to singular stems and plural suffixes are attached to plural stems so these pairs will be discussed as pairs. The suffixed will be discussed according to their stems.

I Nominative Stem
-i/e, -i/e – These are the nominative suffixes of the general gender and represent the subject of the verb.

-o, -o – These are the male nominative suffixes.

-a, -a – These are the female nominative suffixes.

-n, -ndi – These are the accusative suffixes and represent the (direct) object of the verb.

-t, -ði – These are the dative suffixes and represent the indirect object of the verb.

-ma, -mbe – These are the causal suffixes and represent the cause of the verbs performance.

-mi, -mbi - These are the passive suffixes used with the passive voice. They represent the "by..." construct.

-V, -Vi – These are the vocative suffixes and represent the English “Oh...”. The V is the last vowel of the stem, so this suffix may be the same as the nominative or -u.

II Genitive Stem
-l, -ldi – These are the genitive suffixes and are translated as “of...”.

-s, -st – These are the possessive suffixes and are translated as “__-'s”.

-wa, -le – These are the benefactive suffixes and are translated as “for (the benefit of)...”.

-se, -sti – These are the distributive suffixes and are translated as “per...”.

-u, -au – These are the partitive suffixes and are translated as “a number of ...”. The number can be specified. It can also be used when an object is actually part of the noun in question like “armo poǵium – the arm of my body”, hence the term “partitive”.

-le, -lli – These are the instrumental suffixes and represent the object used in the performance of the verb.

-tu, -ðau – These are the comitative suffixes and they represent the object (usually people) that also participated in the action, e.g. “léru zëëmendi sindetum – I play games with my sibling.”

-cta, -cse – These are the sociative suffixes and show that the verb was performed within the range of a sense or in the company of the noun in question.

-it, -iði – These are the anti-instrumental suffixes and show what was not used in the performance of the verb.

-ssi, -si – These are the anti-comitative suffixes and show what did not participate in the action.

-lca, -lge – These are the anti-sociative suffixes and show that the action was performed outside the senses of the noun.

III Stative Stem
-tta, -te – These show that something is currently in a state of being.

-ta, -ðe – These show that the object's state of being is moving away from its original state.

-ja, -je – These show that the object's state of being is moving towards a new state.

-cca, -ce – These mark the location of the beginning of a journey.

-ca, -śe – These mark the location of the end of a journey.

-ga, -he – These mark the cause of the journey or the object of a search.

IV Locative Stem
The locative, movement and temporal suffixes will be listed in order of position, movement to, movement from and movement along.

-sa/ste, -sta/śte, -ssa/se, -śa/ge – These are the interior suffixes relate to the inside of the noun.

-la/lle, -lda/lte, -lla/le, -lsa/lde – These are the surface suffixes and relate to the noun's surface.

-na/nde, -nda/nte, -nna/ne, -nsa/nde – These are the exterior suffixes and relate to the area around the noun.

-ra, -rda, -rra, -rsa – These are the temporal suffixes and relate to time.

It can be seen that all of the plural suffixes are a result of consonantal and vocalic plural mutations. The difference, though, is not marked on the vowel by means of diacritics. This has been the preferred method because it allows the stem to be clearly defined and identified in writing.

Slot 5 – Possessive Suffixes
The possessive suffixes, when used alone, show possession by an already established noun which has been replaced by a pronoun, therefore they mean “my”, “our”, “your”, “his/her/its” and “their”. When used in combination with the definite article they take the meaning of “... own”.

-[i]m – This means “my”, e.g. toþim – my dog.

-[i]t – This means “your (singular)”, e.g. sat – your cat.

-[i]c – This means “his”, “her” and “its”, as gender is rarely marked in Sangi, e.g. úśic – her house.

-[i]p – This means “our”, e.g. töśip – our dogs.

-[i]s – This means “your (plural)”, e.g. püüllus – your own books.

-[i]j – This means “their”, e.g. lanij – their country.

Slot 6 – Predicate Cases
The predicate cases are attached to the stative stem of the noun and cause the noun to become a stative verb. If another case is already used then it is attached straight onto the complex without the need for stem change. There are four of these suffixes, each of which describe the main noun in a similar way to the English construction “NOUN be NOUN”. They, as above, will be listed in pairs of singular and plural.

-is, -ist – This suffix translates as “to be...” and is the simple predicate case, e.g. mannisel – to be a person.

-iste, -iśti – This suffix translates as “to be like...”, e.g. œjoistel – to be like the Earth.

-ise, -isti – This suffix translates as “to be the same as...”, e.g. pysuistil – to be the same as the birds.

-isse, -isi – This suffix translates as “to be different from...”, e.g. maissel – to be different from me.

The -is- part of each suffix is lost when the verb is conjugated, e.g. œjotece – It is like the Earth, masete – you are different from me, etc. when the -iś- part of -iśti is lost it causes the last consonant of the word to undergo i-affection or the last vowel to undergo i-affection, e.g. määdiśtil – to be like mice > määǵetiśę – they are like mice. When a plural noun is conjugated for tense, an epenthetic vowel is added after the stem on which mutation can occur. The vowel is determined by the epenthesis rules discussed below. For example, “süücę – it will be a cow”, but “süühëcę - they will be cows”.

Adjectival Structure
The structure of the adjective is similar to that of the noun, although there are fewer slots and it does not involve case or number in its structure. An overview of the adjectival complex would be;

Slot 1: Stem

Slot 2: Equative, comparative and superlative suffixes

Slot 3: Demonstrative and indefinite suffixes.

Slot 4: Predicate

Slot 1 – Stem
The stem can only undergo purely phonological changes dependent on the attached suffixes.

Slot 2 – Equative, Comparative and Superlative Suffixes
Unlike in English, all adjectives form there comparative and superlative forms with suffixes. Constructions of comparison like “..-er than” are also formed using suffixes as are the negatives of all forms.

-r – This is the comparative suffix and is used like the English -er and more, e.g. piþer – bigger.

-ss – This is the superlative suffix and is used like the English -est and most, e.g. smorlessi – smallest.

-ise – This is the equative suffix and is used like the English “as” or the sentence “of the same ...-ness”, e.g. toco piáise – the dog of the same blackness.

-m – This is the negative comparative suffix and is used like the English less, e.g. loŋem – less long. It should always be seen as different from the comparative of the negative of the adjective, e.g. loŋem vs. śor (shorter).

-mp – This is the negative superlative suffix and is used like the English least, e.g. sorlempi – least tall.

-era – This is the comparative suffix of comparison and is used like the English more than or -er than, e.g. piþera – bigger than.

-ema – This is the negative comparative suffix of comparison and means “less than”, e.g. Smorwema – less small than.

-essa – This is the superlative suffix of comparison and is used when comparing a noun to a group of nouns to a group with similar characteristics and can be translated as “..-est of them”, e.g. piþessa- the biggest (of them). If another noun is mentioned as the group it must take the partitive suffix.

-eima – This is the negative superlative suffix of comparison, e.g. smorweima – the least small (of them). This suffix follows the same rules as its positive.

-eisa – This is the equative suffix of comparison and is used closer to the similar use of “as...as” in English, e.g. Piþeisa “as big as.”

Slot 3 – Demonstrative and Indefinite Suffixes
The demonstrative suffixes are used in place of the words this, that and that over there and are -te, -ta and -tal respectively. The indefinite suffixes are -ni, -sa and -pe and represent the words any, some and every respectively.

Slot 4 – Predicate Suffix
The predicate suffix is -is (as it is in nouns) and is lost in conjugation. Like in nouns, a conjugated adjective takes the stative suffixes.

Verbs
Verbs have the largest ability to create new words by means of suffixes and mutations. Verbs can create abstract, inanimate, human and occupational nouns as well as adjectives with both active and passive meanings and can also take suffixes which will turn the verbal system into a relative clause.

-an – When this suffix is added to the verbal complex, it forms the gerund, which is equivalent to the -ing forms of verbs in English, expressing something along the lines of “the act of ...-ing”, e.g. tál (to die) > tájan (dying).

-[a]n-inf.-a – This complex suffix creates the second infinitive, which is the infinitive used after another verb as in English “I tried to run” where “to run” would take the form of the second infinitive. This form is rare as many of the verbs that precede an infinitive in English are built into the verbal complex.

-in – When attached to the weak II stem of the verbal complex it creates an abstract noun in the active voice, e.g. lawil (to love) > lahín (love – noun).

-eil – When this suffixes is added to the weak II stem of the verbal complex it creates an abstract noun in the passive voice.

-ave – When attached to the weak stem it creates an inanimate noun with active meaning, e.g. úlsen (to hold) > últsave (from últ-ave – the a causes a-affection).

-or – When attached to the weak stem it creates inanimate nouns with passive meanings, e.g. risen (to read) > ritor (book) and ziwen (to give) > zihor (gift).

-am and -si – These suffixes create human nouns with active and passive meanings respectively, e.g. spijen (to speak) > spijam (speaker) and il (to hear) > isi (one who is heard/listened to).

-ibi and -di – These suffixes create occupational nouns with active and passive meanings respectively, e.g. sarwen (to carve) > sarjibi (carver) and orǵen (to order) > orǵibi (one who is ordered, slave).

-[a]lta and -[a]csa – These suffixes create adjectives with active and passive meanings, e.g. gammen (to jump) > gammwalta (jumping) and picsen (to cause to be, to create) > picsacsa (created). The final a is lost when vocalic suffixes are attached to it.

-ir – This created a relative clause beginning in English with the demonstrative pronoun that, e.g. númę t'itęmir – I know that you can hear me.

-ja/ia- – This creates a relative clause that would begin in English with an interrogative pronoun. The suffixes that would be attached to the suffix to complete it are -w (how), -p (who, what) -a (why), -n (when), -j (where), -t (which (one)). For example, îmę rândujá – I heard why you ran.

It should be noted that no distinction is made between active and stative meanings in verbal derivation.

Nouns and Adjectives
Nouns and adjectives can changed word class without need for suffixes or stem change. When an adverb is created from either a noun or an adjective the suffixes -[i]l is added at the end of the complex. An adjective following a verbal adjective must become adverbs.

Personal Pronouns
There are seven classes of personal pronoun in Sangi; simple, emphatic, honorific, informal, desirative, highly informal (or insultive) and reflexive.

These are all declined according to the rules of nouns. Each one of these pronouns can also be suffixed to a noun to form a level effect similar to the Japanese and Korean systems of honorifics.

Demonstrative Pronouns
There are three demonstrative pronouns; tir (this), ta (that) and tana (that over there). Each one is declined as if it were a noun or an adjective depending on its use.

Temporal Pronouns
There are also three temporal pronouns; nú (now), núrá (then, sometime in the past), núria (then, sometime in the future). The past and future pronouns must be follwed by the definite article to mean “then” specifically because they are indefinite by default)

Spacial Pronouns
The spacial pronouns are i (here), te (there) and tena (over there).

Interrogative Pronouns
The interrogative pronouns are u (how), o (who, what), á (why), ven (when), ve (where), ol (what, what happened), vit (which). There is also a particle, cwa, which is clause final and turns a statement into a question. When pit takes the definite article it means “which one”.

Relative Pronouns
To create relative pronouns from interrogatives, replace the initial v-/Ø- with j-. To create then using demonstrative pronouns replace the initial t- with di-.

Indefinite Pronouns
The indefinite pronouns are formed by suffixing the indefinite suffixes onto the words man- (-body), an- (-one), tin- (-thing), ier- (place), tám- (-time[s]). To create the negative indefinite pronouns the suffix taken is -[i]ne.