Aysuchi Meshi

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Aysuchi Meshi
[ˈaj.su.ʧi ˈme.ʃi]
Period c. -1000 YP
Spoken in Mexi valley
Total speakers unknown
Writing system adopted Ndak script
Classification Eigə-Isthmus languages
  Eigə Valley
Typology
Basic word order SVO, head-initial
Morphology fusional, isolating
Alignment NOM-ACC
Credits
Created by Thedukeofnuke

Aysuchi Meshi is the native name for the language of the Meshi people. In this article it is simply referred to as Meshi.

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar
Nasal m n
Plosive p · b t · d ʧ · ʤ k · ɡ
Fricative f · v s · z ʃ · ʒ
Approximant w ɹ · l j

/ʧ ʤ ʃ ʒ ɹ j/ are transcribed ch j sh zh r y. All other consonants are transcribed as in IPA or the Latin-text equivalent.

/f v/ are very marginal: in native words, /f/ only appears before /w/, and /v/ is only distinguished from /w/ initially and intervocalically.

Vowels

 front   back 
diphthong aj aw
high i u
mid e
low a

/e/ has a broad range of realisations; it is usually [ɛ] in closed syllables, and reduces to [ə] when adjacent to a stressed syllable.

The diphthongs /aj aw/ are transcribed ay aw. In some respects these behave as vowels (they can be followed by a coda consonant) and in others they behave as vowel-consonant sequences (they can be followed by a vowel).

Phonotactics

Syllable structure is (C)(G)V(C), where C is a consonant, V is a vowel or phonemic diphthong, and G is a glide (y or w).

Clusters of two obstruents or nasals in any combination or order are forbidden.

Vowel hiatus is broken up by an epenthetic glide or, in some cases, v.

The clusters ty dy sy zy always simplify to post-alveolar ch j sh zh.

Sound changes from Proto-Eigə Valley

  • *a̤j *a̤w > *əj *əw
  • phonation contrast becomes non-phonemic
  • *aj *aw → e o
  • *ʔ → Ø / (if this is still present in PEV)
  • *ts *dz → t d / in onsets
  • *ts *dz → s z / elsewhere
  • *w → v / #_ , V_V
  • *a *e *o → Ø / _#
  • *m̩ → *am / _[+obstruent]
  • nasals assimilate in place to a following obstruent
  • C → Ø / _# in most polysyllabic words; some clusters are simplified rather than deleted
  • C → Ø / C_#
  • *e *o → i u / including diphthongs
  • *kw *gw → fw zw
  • [+obstruent] → Ø / [+nasal]_, [+obstruent]_
  • t d s z → ʧ ʤ ʃ ʒ / _i
  • *iw *uj → *ø → e / _C, _#
  • *uj → *øj → ej / _V
  • *ij *uw → *əj *əw
  • *əj *əw → aj aw
  • *θ *ð → s z
  • *ŋ → g / V_V
  • *ŋ → j / u_, a_
  • *ŋ → Ø (elsewhere)
  • *r *l → j w / C_
  • tj dj sj zj → ʧ ʤ ʃ ʒ (persistent)

Morphology

Extensive apocope between PEV and Meshi has resulted in the loss of most of PEV's suffixes, with the result that Meshi is largely isolating, with little inflectional morphology.

Nominal morphology

Number

Nouns inflect for number by partial or full reduplication. For count nouns, this forms plurals, while for mass nouns it indicates a large quantity. It is always optional, and rarely used with a quantifier.
The reduplicated form of a noun can be formed in one of three ways:

  • Monosyllabic nouns reduplicate the full syllable if they end in a vowel or approximant, or the last (G)V(G)C if they end in an obstruent or nasal. Hence twa "gold" → twatwa "lots of gold"; tes "lake" → teses "lakes".
  • Polysyllabic nouns reduplicate the first C(G)V (or the first VC if they begin in a vowel). Hence sanu "village" → sasanu "villages", aku "source" → akaku "sources".
  • A number of common nouns are irregular, usually combining one of the above processes with a consonant change; this is most common for nouns ending in a nasal consonant. Hence bwi "worm" → bwimi "worms", tum "story" → tunum "stories; tradition".

Pronouns

Meshi personal pronoun inflections derive transparently from case prepositions. The former dative has taken on an accusative role.

nominative accusative genitive
1st person sg. ta zat ana
pl. kur zaku agu
2nd person sg. sen zase ane
pl. ve zave mwe
3rd person sg. wu zawu mwu
pl. luz zalu mwuz

Some correlatives are also known for Meshi:

interrogative demonstrative
proximal distal
determiner gi in mi
pronoun human sg. gipwi imwi miswi
pl. gipwin imwin miswin
non-human sg. gen ine mise
pl. inen misen
pro-adverb place gimu imu misu
manner gire inye mishe


Verbal morphology

Telicity

The only verbal inflection in Meshi that can clearly be described as such is the atelic, deriving from the PEI J-grade. This is formed either by ablaut or infixing, depending on the last vowel of the root:

  • All verbs in a, and most in i and u, undergo ablaut.
  • All verbs in e ay aw, and some in i and u, undergo infixing. The form of infix is not predictable for verbs in u or e, and must be learned.
Radical Ablauted Infixed
a i
i ay ayi
u e avi
uvi
e eyi
ivi
ay ayi
aw uvi

Stem suffixes

Meshi retains reflexes of the stem vowels, although apocope has worn away the active suffix *-ʔa. These are somewhere between inflectional and derivational, creating "families" of related verbs.

After a
consonant 		After a
vowel
Causative -i -yi
Anticausative -u -vu
Middle of
causative 		-e -ye
  • The causative usually increases valency by one, while the anticausative decreases it by one.
  • The causative suffix -i palatalises word-final t d s z to ch j sh zh.
  • Some verbs have a slightly different form when taking stem suffixes, typically adding an intrusive consonant; this is noted in the lexicon.

Examples of stem suffixes:

  • Root (active) ays "talk to"
  • Causative ayshi "introduce"
  • Anticausative aysu "speak"
  • Middle of causative ayse "answer"

Other verbal forms

Nominalisation

The highly productive suffix -chi nominalises verbs. It always follows a stem suffix - if there is none, an epenthetic -a- is added (a remnant of the old active suffix). For example, ays "talk to" becomes aysachi "talking, conversation"; the anticausative aysu "speak" becomes aysuchi "speech, language", as in the name of the language.

The suffix -yu forms agentive nouns. For example, deb "marry" has the agentive debyu "bride or groom".

Either of these particles can be combined with the atelic: for example ayisachi, the nominalised active atelic of ays, means "address, invocation".

Verbal particles

The particle ga before the verb negates it.
The particle git forms reflexives (a single subject affecting themself) and saz forms reciprocals (each subject affecting the other), both of which follow the verb.

Luz
luz
3PL.NOM
ga
ga
NEG
gid
gid
strike
zawu.
zawu
3SG.ACC
They didn't strike him.
Wu
wu
3SG.NOM
ke
ke
kill
git.
git
REFL
He killed himself.
Luz
luz
3PL.NOM
nyiz
nyiz
kill\ATEL
saz.
saz
RECP
They are fighting each other.

Adjectives

Adjectives behave similarly to verbs. They can take the same nominaliser -chi and can form predicative expressions without a copula.

Mi
mi
that
fwina
fwina
bird
siz.
siz
large
That bird is big. or That's a big bird.


Syntax

Basic constituent order

The default word order is SVO:

Met
met
woman
gayb
gayb
eat
tep.
tep
cheese
The woman ate some cheese.

Direct objects precede indirect objects:

Met
met
woman
bwur
bwur
take
tep
tep
cheese
ji
ji
from
nakes.
nakes
slave
The woman took the cheese from the slave.

OSV order can be used to emphasise the object as long as the meaning remains clear:

Tep
tep
cheese
met
met
woman
gayb.
gayb
eat
It was cheese that the woman ate.

Noun phrases

Determiners (demonstratives and quantifiers) precede the noun, while adjectives and genitives follow it.

mi
mi
that
sanu
sanu
village
that village
tanan
tan~an
custom~PL
mwuz
mwuz
3PL.GEN
their customs
tur
tur
two
sar
sar
sister
ane
ane
2SG.GEN
your two sisters
in
in
this
tur
tur
two
sar
sar
sister
fwuse
fwuse
beautiful
ane
ane
2SG.GEN
these two beautiful sisters of yours

Appositives immediately follow the head noun, as do ethnonyms.

jil
jil
chief
Kayri
Kayri
Kayri
Chief Kayri
zwazwama
zwa~zwama
PL~city
Dak
Dak
Ndak
ki
ki
great
the mighty Ndak cities
aysuchi
ays-u-chi
talk-ANTIC-NZ
Meshi
Meshi
Meshi
the Meshi language


Sample

Zaryuches pishi in awkwai chi zus il pad mwu Kaswun.
 Mus Kasad Kaswun nyaz zwip gwun Dak, am wu bwur chima nakes ji zalu. Nakak zan ni wu zasa chi Meshi.

Zaryuches
Zaryuches
Zaryuches
pishi
pis-i
shape-caus
in
in
this
awkwai
awkwai
monument
chi
chi
BEN
zus
zus
honour
il
il
GEN
pad
pad
father
mwu
mwu
3SG.GEN
Kaswun.
Kaswun
Kaswun
Zaryuches commissioned this monument in honour of her father Kaswun.
Mus
mus
LOC
Kasad
Kasad
Kasca
Kaswun
Kaswun
Kaswun
nyaz
nyaz
fight
zwip
zwip
INS
gwun
gwun
fierce
Dak,
Dak
Ndak
am
am
and
wu
wu
3SG.NOM
bwur
bwur
take
chima
chima
many
nakes
nakes
slave
ji
ji
from
zalu.
zalu
3PL.ACC
He fiercely fought the Ndak in Kasadgad, and he captured many slaves from them.
Nakak
nak~ak
god~PL
zan
zan
decide
ni
ni
COMP
wu
wu
3SG.NOM
zasa
zasa
worthy
chi
chi
BEN
Meshi.
Meshi
Meshi
The gods will judge him worthy of the Meshi.

source

See also

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