Ñandayi

From AkanaWiki
Jump to: navigation, search

A language family spoken in the northern jungle of South Peilaš. Its languages are mainly spoken by tribal agriculturalists in the deep reaches of the jungle far away from major rivers like the Lené. They are related to the Ritana languages of the southern islands. The name Ñandayi comes for the proto word for people.

Phonology

Consonants Proto Ñandayi had 22 consonant phonemes and 3 vowels.

b d
p t c k q
v z
f s j x h
w l y r
m n ñ ŋ

Syllable structure is CCVC All initial clusters consist of a stop + a glide cluster. Only *y may occur before *c and only *w may occur before the other dorsals. These are chiefly reconstructed to explain reflexes in certain branches for example *pw corresponds to *p in some branches and *f in others.

The only consonants that may occur in codas are *t, *k, *v, *s, *m, *n, *l.

Vowels

i u
a

Most descendants of Ñandayi are tonal but this is not reconstructed in the proto language.

Morphology

Gender

Proto Ñandayi has 4 genders which are usually determined by the ending of a noun. Note there are several irregular nouns which don't have the expected gender endings. Verbs are inflected to agree with the nouns the topic of a sentence which is distinct from the subject.

Masculine (corresponding to *-a endings)

Feminine (corresponding to *-i endings)

Animate (corresponding to *-u endings)

Inanimate (corresponding to consonant endings)


Verbs

Verbs have 3 forms main. Note certain verbs are Perfective (such as *tyana “catch”) are perfective by default and have no imperfective forms.

An unmarked Imperfective (*xus “acquiring, *nami “seeing”)

A Perfective marked by adding *-Vs to end (*xusas “acquire, *namus “see”)

And a Habitual marked by reduplicating the first syllable (*xusxus “own”, *nanami “sees”)


Vowel Triangle: to acquire the Perfective form of the verb use the vowel next to the last vowel of the perfective form. a > i > u > a


Syntax

The default word order is VSO

xusasa sa tama ni ramtwa

acquire-PER-M TOP hunter-M OBJ rock-I

“a hunter picks up a rock” or very literally “acquire hunter rock”


Passive voice is achieved by switching the subject and object, note the topic marker is now in front of the new topic of the sentence.

xusasa sa ramtwa wan tama

acquire-PER-M TOP rock-I SUB hunter-M

“A rock is picked up by a hunter”


Case Clitics

  • sa - marks the topic of a sentence TOP
  • ni - marks the object of a sentence OBJ
  • ŋa - marks the cause of something CAUS
  • wan - marks the secondary subject of a sentence SUB
  • ran - marks who you are talking to or about VOC
  • lam - marks modifiers GEN
  • yin - marks items one possesses POS
  • san - the negative marker NEG


makisi ŋa talyi ni sasas yin ku sa naha tatyu laran

give-PER-F CAUS girl-F OBJ drink-I single TOP 1-M-ACC table N.PAST

“The girl gave a single drink to me, at the table a moment ago”


yaduwi rawa wan talyi ni pwusa sa naha

dance-F nice SUB girl-F OBJ hips-A TOP 1-M-ACC

“The girl dances nicely with her hips for me”


ma sa manva yura lam savan

COP-M TOP word-M some GEN taboo-I

“Certain words are taboo”


namiyu sa tacyu

see-IMP-A TOP fox-A

“A fox exists” literally “a fox sees”

Verb Modifiers

Come directly after verbs and don't inflect for gender or aspect.

  • taŋi - indicates ones speculations, equivalent to english may
  • ñas - indicates statements of fact
  • dyu - indicates a yes or no question question
  • lak - indicates movement away from
  • tav - indicates movement towards
  • yiki - indicates failure to complete an action
  • mulu - indicates undoing something
  • wusa - indicates commands


ma taŋi sa suma lam ruk

COP-M may TOP salmon-M MOD red-I

“The salmon may be red”


ma ñas sa suma lam ruk

COP-M is TOP salmon-M MOD red-I

“The salmon is red”


ma dyu sa suma lam ruk

COP-M QUES TOP salmon-M MOD red-I

“The salmon is/or isn’t? red”


vandyisa lak wan ritana sa cujan hani

walk-PERF-M ABL SUB seafarer-M TOP forest-I PAST

“The seafarer walked away from the forest”


vandyisa tav wan ritana sa havmara hani

walk-PERF-M LAT SUB seafarer-M TOP sea-A PAST

“The seafarer walked towards the sea”


tyana yiki wan ritana sa suma ruk

catch-M fail SUB seafarer-M TOP salmon-M red-I

“The seafarer failed to catch salmon”

Using a standard negative *sus in these situations would imply the subject didn’t attempt the action at all.

Other Information

Place

  • hatwu - at your location
  • nwi - at your location a moment ago
  • ŋaka - near
  • twuran - far
  • janja - above
  • cato - below
  • kiswa - left
  • hadun - right
  • myatsu - high in altitude
  • dyada - low in altitude
  • ñi - inside
  • masa - outside
  • hu - a part off
  • sisa - seperate from


Time

  • nawu - present
  • laran - a moment ago
  • hani - past
  • wus - remote past
  • hara - a moment from now
  • sansa - future
  • dan - today (same as the word for day)
  • hanidan - yesterday
  • sansadan - tomorrow
  • tala - this season
  • hanitala - a season ago
  • sansatala - a season from now


Number

  • ku - singular
  • saga - a few
  • kala - many
  • yura - some off
  • twus - all


Reduplication

When applied to nouns which exist within are world reduplication functions as a plural marker.

  • sumasuma “salmons”

When applied to adjectives it functions as an intensifier or augmentative. It is also functions as a comparative. *ni- the diminutive also functions as a comparative.


ma sa twalak rapirapi wan suma

be-M TOP fish-A tasty-AUG SUB salmon-M

“Salmon is the most tasty fish”


ma wan tasaga nihamu sa majaltas

be-M SUB men-M DIM-exist-A TOP chief-M

“The chief is the least of men”