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Revision as of 17:28, 30 August 2014
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Shinsali Icëlatam | |||
---|---|---|---|
Type | |||
Agglutinative-Polysynthetic | |||
Alignment | |||
Nominative-Accusative | |||
Head direction | |||
Final | |||
Tonal | |||
No | |||
Declensions | |||
Yes | |||
Conjugations | |||
Yes | |||
Genders | |||
No | |||
Nouns decline according to... | |||
Case | Number | ||
Definiteness | Gender | ||
Verbs conjugate according to... | |||
Voice | Mood | ||
Person | Number | ||
Tense | Aspect |
General information
Shinsali is a non-noun-incorporating polysynthetic-agglutinative language. Despite being head-final, the language uses postpositions. It is generally prefixing, however there are a few odd verbal suffixes. Word order is SOV in normal sentences, but VSO in relative clauses. Verbs decline for 14 aspects and 7 moods, but there is no morphological tense. Verbs can indicate deictal information as well on verbs of motion. Nouns decline as well, for case, number, definiteness, and posession.
Phonology
Consonants
Labial | Central Alveolar | Lateral Alveolar | Post-alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | |||
Plosive | p b | t d | c ɟ | k g | ʔ | ||
Fricative | f v | s z | ɬ | ʃ | x ɣ | h | |
Affricate | t͡s | t͡ʃ | |||||
Approximant | l | j | w | ||||
Trill | r r̥ |
- All consonants can occur as geminates and there are many minimal pairs.
Vowels
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
Close | i | ɨ | u |
Close-mid | e ø | ||
Mid | ə | ||
Open-mid | ɔ | ||
Open | a |
- Vowels can form closing and opening diphthongs with /j/ and /w/.\
- There are no long vowels. Two vowels in a row (other than with i/j or u/w) are pronounced with hiatus, not as a dipthong or with a glottal stop.
Orthography
Most phonemes correspond to their standard IPA symbol. The ones that do not are listed in the table below.
Phoneme | Grapheme |
---|---|
/r̥/ | rh |
/ɬ/ | lh |
/t͡s/ | c |
/t͡ʃ/ | ch |
/ɲ/ | nj |
/c/ | tj |
/ɟ/ | gj |
/ŋ/ | ng |
/x/ | kh |
/ɣ/ | gh |
/ʔ/ | ' |
/ɨ/ | y |
/ø/ | ö |
/ə/ | ë |
/ɔ/ | o |
Phonotactics
The syllable structure is simple (C)(L/A)V(C). There are no consonant clusters other than syllble-initial consonant-liquid/approximant clusters. However, some consonant clusters never occur such as alveolar-retroflex or vice versa and pharyngeal consonants with a liquid or resonant.
Grammar
Verbs
Shinsali verbs are very complex. They are aspect- and mood-heavy, but have no morphological tense. Verbs of motion, as with many languages, are more complex than other verbs. In Shinsali, verbs of motion indicate deictic information as well as indicating the shape of the object in motion. Verbs are almost exlusively prefixing but verbs of motion take on suffixes to indicate other infomation, such as deictal suffixes and a suffix indicating the shape of the object in motion. The deictal prefixes are used to denote the relation of the speaker and the subject.
miscellaneous prefixes | subject | direct object | object | aspect | mood | deictal prefixes | stem | deictal suffixes | shape suffix |
---|
Miscellaneous prefixes
Verbs can take on miscellaneous prefixes, demonstrated in the table below:
Prefix | Meaning |
---|---|
immi | forms relative clauses |
assh | nominalizer |
sanjaj | forms participles |
Pronominal Prefixes
If there is a third-person suffix there must be a deictal prefix that indicates the relation of the speaker and a third-person object unless the object is invisible to the speaker and the adressee(s). There are standalone pronouns but they are only used with prepositions.
Nominative | Dative | Accusative | |
---|---|---|---|
1SG | a | sy | ka |
2SG | o | ja | le |
3SG | uo | ma | cë |
1PL | i | ny | to |
2PL | se | zi | te |
3PL | ö | pa | za |
Aspect prefixes
Infix | Meaning | |
---|---|---|
Imperfective | ∅ | ongoing nature |
Perfective | no | viewed as a simple whole |
Progressive | la | viewed as ongoing and evo/lving |
Stative | ju | viewed as ongoing but not evolving |
Momentaneous | ro | takes place at one point in time |
Inceptive | sanu | beginning of a new action |
Inochiative | lhe | begininng of a new state |
Terminative | wu | end of an action/state |
Repetitive | gi | the action is repeated |
Conative | ta | attempted action |
Defective | my | the action almost happened |
Intentional | najo | the action was intentional |
Accidental | a | the action was an accident |
Imminent | teja | the action will happen for sure |
Mood prefixes
Moods in Shinsali are unique in that every mood has a negative form, for example, the negative indicative translates to "not" in English, the negative imperative translates to "Don't ___!", and so on. However, there is no negative dubitative mood.
Positive | Negative | Meaning | |
---|---|---|---|
Indicative | ∅ | kai | factual statements |
Imperative | nisa | saca | commands |
Conditional | tto | za | event is dependant upon another conditional |
Subjunctive | roi | wau | hypothetical statements, polite requests |
Desiderative | iu | dy | expresses desires or hopes |
Dubitative | siu | - | expresses doubt |
Interrogative | ja | ida | questions |
Deictal prefixes
Deictal prefixes indicate the relation of a third-person subject to the speaker and are only used in the precense of a third-person subject.
Prefix | Meaning |
---|---|
zo | visible to speaker (but not necessarily to adressee) |
pai | invisible to speaker |
wakai | visible to adressee only |
llaf | invisible to both speaker and adressee |
jansa | abstract noun |
Verb stem
The verb stem in the most simple part of a Shinsali verb. Multiple verbs in a list (ex: ____ and ____ and _____) or structures like (verb) to (verb) (such as ask to leave, need to cry, etc) are stacked serially in one verbal construction. Stative verbs also act as adjectives (e.g. to be blue, to be good).
Deictal suffixes
Deictal suffixes are only used on verbs of motion and indicate motion. If any of these suffixes "take" an object, it goes in the prepositional case.
Suffix | Meaning |
---|---|
kra | motion towards speaker |
zuo | motion towards adressee |
njau | motion away from speaker |
tjë | motion away from adressee |
jukosa | motion around the proximal area |
ranta | into water |
naiwa | out of water |
sëri | encircling an object |
tasu | onto a vertical surface |
kha | off of a vertical surface |
kolmë | onto a horizontal surface |
gau | off of a horizontal surface |
zasai | through something |
jaia | across something |
gënla | upward or up something |
kalni | downward or down something |
walhni | from one area to another |
Object shape suffixes
These are used for what is in motion. For example, in the sentence "i run" an animate classifier would be used because the object in motion is a first-person speaker. Sometimes they are used in place of an object if specifying it is unnecessary.
Suffix | Description |
---|---|
sit | human |
(ë)n | animate object other than humans |
altan | cylindrical object |
issa | edible objects |
akua | non-edible plantlife |
wos | liquid (or container of) |
es | weapon |
asok | clothing or covering |
akre | man-made object |
Nouns
case | definiteness-number | posessive prefix | stem |
---|
Nouns in Shinsali are inflected as well as verbs. Nouns decline for 5 cases, definiteness, plurality, and take on prefixes for posession.
Noun cases
Prefix | |
---|---|
Nominative | ∅- |
Accusative | at- |
Genitive | off- |
Dative | is- |
Prepositional | ëm- |
Definiteness and plurality
Definiteness and plurality are indicated fusionally in a single prefix. If a posessive prefix is used alongside a plural prefix, the definite prefix is used.
Prefix | |
---|---|
Indefinite singular | ∅- |
Definite singular | tam- |
Indefinite plural | on- |
Definite plural | ëin- |
Posessive Prefixes
Prefix | |
---|---|
1SG | zam- |
2SG | ais- |
3SG | wër- |
1PL | jal- |
2PL | nnjaz- |
3PL | ap- |
Pronouns
Personal pronouns
Shinsali has standalone pronouns, but they are rarely used outside of the genitive and prepositional cases due to pronominal indication on verbs. However, they are commonly used alongside pronominal prefixes for emphasis. The pronouns below are in the nominative case but can take on case prefixes.
1SG | wova |
---|---|
2SG | avis |
3PL | ëro |
1PL | jalo |
2PL | naza |
3PL | appen |
Reflexive pronoun
The reflexive pronoun in Shinsali is the word "ang" which can be translated as self. It takes on the corresponding posessive prefix to indicate person, such as "zamang" which means "myself".
Modifiers
Adverbs, adjectives, and stative verbs are not distinct in Shinsali. However, they agree with the case of the noun they modify given that a modifier is being used as an adjective and use the same exact case prefix. Case prefixes come before a comparative or superlative prefix, given that one is present. They directly preceed the noun or verb they modify. Comparison is demonstrated on the modifier amatj (fast) below.
Positive | Comparative | Superlative |
---|---|---|
∅- | abba- | segj- |
amakj | abbaamatj | segjamatj |