Dendana/Vuuyin Zayxa

Vuuyin Zayxa [ʋúujɨ̃ zájʃǝ]
Period	c. 1300-1500 YP
Spoken in	North of Buruya, along the Xontále river valley.
Total speakers	c. 350,000
Writing system	Luyíma alphabet
Classification	Edastean  Eastern Edastean   Naidda    Buruya Nzaysa     Vuuyin Zayxa
Typology
Basic word order	EAV
Morphology	fusional/agglutinative, moderately synthetic
Alignment	ERG-ABS
Credits
Created by	dendana

Phonology

Sound changes from Buruya Nzaysa

1. Continuations of Buruya Nzaysa allophony (c. 400-600)

Consonant changes
p,t,k,kw → ph,th,kw,khw / #_, V_V (kisɛ → khisɛ 'snow')
b,d → p,t / _# (marob → marop 'heavy')
b,d,g,gw → v,ð,ɣ,ɣw (ntada → ntaða 'to stop')
p,t,k,kw → b,d,g,gw / [+nasal]_ (ntaða → ndaða 'to stop')
l → ɫ / _# (thul → thuɫ 'eat')

Vowel changes
ǝ → ɨ / _C#, _CC (nǝh → nɨh 'PFV.1P.INTR')
e,ǝ,o → ɛ,ɛ,ɔ / _j# (steja → stɛja 'CONT.1S>3')
e,o → ɛ,ɔ / unstressed (aɫso → aɫsɔ 'wind')
ɛ,ɔ → æ,ɒ → ɛ,ɔ / stressed (khɛda → khæda → khɛda 'ashes')

Nasal sandhi
V → [+nasal] / _[+nasal] (khənu → khə̃nu 'ask')
Long vowels in loans are treated as double vowels unless they are before a nasal, in which case they are shortened.
[+nasal] → Ø / _[-sonorant] (stops and fricatives), _# (ndaða → daða 'to stop')

2. Transitional period (c. 600-1000)

Strengthening /f/-/v/ distinction
V → Ø / #s_m (sɔmɛ → smɛ 'water')
sm → f (smɛ → fɛ 'water')
khw → f (khwarǝ → farə 'goat')
s → f / p_
w → f / u_V

Consonant lenition
ð,ɣ,ɣw → z,Ø,w (daða → daza 'to stop')
r → Ø (əru → əu 'son')
s → ʃ (when not in a cluster) (sũni → ʃũni 'apple')

Dark l-fortition
ɫ → k (thuɫ → thuk 'eat')

Cluster reduction
s → Ø / #_C (spexətsa → pexətsa 'spring')
ts,dz → s,z / #_ (tselɔ → selɔ 'tooth')
kk,kg → k (akgɔ → akɔ 'sweet')
kw → p / _i,ɨ,u
kw → k
ŋkw → (m)v
nts → (n)z

Stress shifts
ɛ́...V, ɔ́...V, ə́...V, ɨ́...V → ɛ...V́, ɔ...V́, ə...V́, ɨ...V́ / where ... is any number of consonants, including 0 consonants, and V is {a,e,i,o,u} (ɨsta → ɨstá 'family')
Stress is reinterpreted as high tone.

Tonogenesis
V → V̀ / _h,s,ʃ (ɨstá → ɨ̀stá 'family')
h,s,ʃ → Ø / V_#, V_C (ɨ̀stá → ɨ̀tá 'family')

Development of laryngealized vowels
[+plosive] → ʔ / _C, _# (witsu → wiʔsu 'now')
V → [+laryngeal] / _ʔ, ʔ_ (wiʔsu → wḭʔsu 'now')
ʔ → Ø (wḭʔsu → wḭsu 'now')

3. To Vuuyin Zayxa (c. 1000-1300)

Nasal vowel reduction
ã,õ → ɔ̃ (ãmɛ → ɔ̃mɛ 'fly')
ẽ → ɛ̃
ə̃,ĩ,ũ →ɨ̃ (khə̃ɲó → khɨ̃ɲó 'shoe')

Vowel system analogical reduction
ɛ,ɔ,ǝ,ɨ → e,o,a,u / stressed (khɛ → khe 'one')
e,o,a,ɨ → ɛ,ɔ,ǝ,ə / unstressed (ɨ̀tá → ǝ̀tá 'family')

Consonant shifts
ɲ → n (khɨ̃ɲó → khɨ̃nó 'shoe')
w → v (wḭsu → vḭsu 'now')
v → ʋ (vḭsu → ʋḭsu 'now')

Palatalized consonant development
mr,ml → ɛ̃mʲ / #_ (mlu → ɛ̃mʲú 'house')
mr,ml → m
pl,kl,bl,gl → ɛipʲ,itʃ,ibʲ,idʒ
[+coronal] → [+palato-alveolar] / [+front]_ (khɛzá → khɛʒá 'ashes')
ʒ → j (khɛʒá → khɛjá 'ashes')
[+labial] → [+palatalized] / [+front]_ (zɛʋàlu → zɛʋʲàlu 'autumn')

Tone assignment on laryngeal vowels
Single laryngeal vowels get 34ʔ tone/register with high/mid tone.
Double laryngeal vowels get 534ʔ tone/register with high/mid tone.
Single laryngeal vowels get 22ʔ tone/register with low tone.

Stop voicing collapse
[+voiced +plosive] → [-voiced]

Phoneme inventory

Consonants

	labial	dental	alveolar	palatal	velar
nasal	m	n
plain plosive	p	t			k
nasal-trigger plosive	Np	Nt			Nk
aspirated plosive	pʰ	tʰ			kʰ
plain continuant	f		s	ʃ	x
nasal-trigger continuant	Nʋ		Nz
voiced continuant	ʋ	l	z	j

• Nasal-trigger consonants are phonetically identical to their non-nasal-trigger correspondents, but trigger nasalization of a preceding vowel, even if that vowel is part of another word (this does not apply across clause boundaries, however). Additionally, all nasals automatically trigger nasalization of a preceding vowel.
• All labial, dental, and alveolar consonants have palatalized allophones after a front vowel within words.
• Plain and nasal-trigger stops are voiced intervocalically within words.

Orthographically, the consonants will be represented as follows:

	labial	dental	alveolar	palatal	velar
nasal	m	n
plain plosive	p	t			k
nasal-trigger plosive	p	t			k
aspirated plosive	ph	th			kh
plain continuant	f		s	x	h
nasal-trigger continuant	v		z
voiced continuant	v	l	z	y

• In the dictionary and when a word is given alone, nasal-trigger plosives and continuants are notated with a preceding <n> word-initially.

Vowels

	front	central	back
high	i ḭ	ɨ̃ ɨ̰̃	u ṵ
mid	e ḛ		o o̰
low	ɛ̃ ɛ̰̃	a a̰	ɔ̃ ɔ̰̃

• Tense-lax allophony: a,e,i,o,u and their laryngeal counterparts > ǝ,ɛ,ɩ,ɔ,ʊ / unstressed
• Nasalization: before a nasal-trigger consonant or a nasal consonant, a,e,i,o,u and their laryngeal counterparts > ɔ̃,ɛ̃,ɨ̃,ɔ̃,ɨ̃
• Additionally, unstressed /a/ and /a̰/ > ɨ̃ ɨ̰̃ before a nasal-trigger or nasal consonant.

Orthographically, the vowels will be represented as follows:

	front	central	back
high	i iq	in inq	u uq
mid	e eq		o oq
low	en enq	a aq	on onq

However, since the vowels are nasalized by default before a nasal, the <n> will not be written before a nasal.

Tones and Stress

• Low, high? High implies stress, low can imply stress
• how do we indicate all this in the orthography?
• Allophony based on phonation and _V/_C/_#

	high stressed <á>	low stressed <â>	mid unstressed <a>	low unstressed <à>
modal other	44	22	3	21
modal prevocalic	5	1	3	1
laryngeal other	34	23	23	21
laryngeal prevocalic	5	1	3	1

Phonotactics

The maximum syllable is (C)V(C), where the initial consonant can be any consonant, and the final consonant is restricted to /j/ or /ʋ/. Syllables with low tone, nasalization, and/or laryngeal quality seldom have a coda.

Morphology

Nominals

Nouns

• nouns don't really have inflectional morphology

Adpositions

Adpositions in Vuuyin Zayxa may be used either with a noun or a subordinate clause, often with a slight meaning difference. They also decline for the definiteness and number of the following noun- clauses always take the singular plain definite form.

The singular definite form is always formed with <-q>, singular topical with <-qla>, singular indefinite with <-v>, plural definite with <-qnon>, plural topical with <-qnonla>, and plural indefinite with <-nonv>.

Note that the vowels may change before nasals, according to the nasalization changes.

form	meaning
o	locative, until
aza	to, in order to
ni	in (nominal only)
moqzu	from, since, because
opímà	in front of, after
ontavâ	behind, before
ave	while (clausal only)
nvavó	between (nominal only)
olá	under, below (nominal only)
ilu	over, on top of (nominal only)
va	against, despite
mexú	near, about, around the time that
npu	causing, so (clausal only) (becomes a 'because' suffix on prev. clause eventually)
aqfa	without, rather than, unless
nte	with, by
no	like, as if

Articles, case markers, and demonstratives

• DEF/INDEF, ERG/other, singular/plural
• proximate/distal

Note that the absolutive articles have special forms after absolutive pronouns- they fuse into one entity.

	DEF.SG	DEF.PL	INDEF.SG	INDEF.PL
ERG	nzoq	nzonónq	nzov	nzonónv
ABS	l/lo, la	nonq, nonq la	uqse	nonv

The two articles with la is used for topical or backgrounded referents, while l/lo and nonq are used for known but not topical referents. The indefinite articles are used mainly for unspecific referents.

l is used before a word beginning in a vowel, lo otherwise.

The ergative articles descend from topic markers, and plural marking from name 'some'. la is descended from a contraction of lo xǝ 'DEF.NOM PROX.NOM'. uqse is from u tse 'INDEF.NOM DIST.NOM'.

Interrogatives

Nominal:

• what (nominative): heva
• what (accusative): hevá (used with prepositions, except for ala and no)
• what (comitative): fahéva

• who (nominative): yaú
• who (accusative): yau (used with prepositions, except for ala and no)
• who (comitative), whose: fayaú

Adjectival:

• what kind of: eviqsa (from ewitsa)
• how many, how much: emozo (from emodo)

Adverbial:

• how: nteheva (from ntɛ + xɛwǝ)
• how is that okay: nvomuyaú (rhetorical, angry) (from mvomu + yaú)
• how so: nvováeviqsa (used to call into doubt the truth of a statement) (from mvɔwa + ewitsa)
• instead of what: ala heva
• like what: no heva
• when: xola
• where: yalu (must take a preposition, for example o LOC, but note exceptional form with mexu)
• around where: mexu yalú
• instead of who: ala yaú
• like who: no yaú
• why: nzova

Pronouns

• absolutive pronouns are mostly obligatory to the sentence and decline for aspect
• a subset of the absolutive pronouns, the 'partitive pronouns', are used for negative and other irrealis sentences
• other pronouns include ergative, possessive/genitive, comitative-locative, and oblique pronouns
• the possessive/genitive pronouns are also used as genitive markers
• pronominal forms are generally 1s, 1p, 2s, 3s, 2/3p
• the 2/3p distinction is often clarified with coreferential nominals and demonstratives
• absolutive pronouns have special inflectional forms for number, specificity and topicality of a following noun phrase
• in transitive sentences without an overt object, the ergative argument is promoted to an absolutive one (this is kind of like an antipassive)
• example: ne thuq (PERF.1S.ABS eat) 'I ate', zoé nov miq thuq (1S.ERG PERF.3S-INDEF bread eat) 'I ate some bread', ne naza (PERF.1S.ABS sleep) 'I slept', zolenó ne moá (2S.ERG PERF.1S.ABS select) 'you picked me', zo nai ne lui moá (ERG someone PERF.1S.ABS 3S.OBL select) 'someone picked me for it, i was picked for it'

Absolutive pronouns

• stative-habitual, perfect, imperfect, future, progressive, hypothetical, experiential

stative	plain	definite	topic	indefinite
1s	xe
2s	xoqôq
3s	xa	xaq	xaqla	xav
1p	xâ
2/3p	sonà	sonàq	sonàqla	xônonv

• (sonà is from tson-, xônonv from s-ah)

perfect	plain	definite	topic	indefinite
1s	ne
2s	no
3s	na	naq	naqla	nav
1p	nâ
2/3p	nzô	nzôq	nzoqla	nônonv

• (nzô is from n-zoh, nônonv from n-ah)

imperfect	plain	definite	topic	indefinite
1s	te
2s	teqoq
3s	teqaq	teqaq	teqaqla	teqaqv
1p	tâ
2/3p	teyà	teyànq	teyàqla	teyìnonv

future	plain	definite	topic	indefinite
1s	none
2s	nozo
3s	nona	nonaq	nonaqla	nonav
1p	nonà
2/3p	nozò	nozòq	nozòqla	nozònonv

progressive	plain	definite	topic	indefinite
1s	phuyxi
2s	phuyxaqoq
3s	phuyxa	phuyxaq	phuyxaqla	phuyxav
1p	phuyxè
2/3p	phuyxà	phuyxàq	phuyxàqla	phuyxìnonv

hypothetical	plain	definite	topic	indefinite
1s	phe
2s	phoqoq
3s	phova	phovaq	phovaqla	phovav
1p	phà
2/3p	phovà	phovàq	phovàqla	phovìnonv

experiential	plain	definite	topic	indefinite
1s	ozole
2s	ozózo
3s	ozola	ozolaq	ozolaqla	ozolav
1p	ozolà
2/3p	ozózò	ozózòq	ozózòqla	ozolònonv

• (from ɔdɔl-/ɔdol-, ozózò from ɔdo-doh, ozolònonv from ɔdɔl-ah)

Partitive pronouns

• used for negative transitive sentences only, other negative sentences use different negation strategies

experiential	plain	definite	topic	indefinite
1s	mi
2s	maqoq
3s	ma	maq	maqla	mav
1p	mê
2/3p	mâ	mâq	mâqla	mônonv

Ergative pronouns

1s	nzoé
2s	nzolenó
3s	nzolóu
1p	nzoví
2/3p	nzovaú

Genitive pronouns

freestanding
1s	ahe
2s	azo
3s	ayu
1p	ayme
2/3p	â

• used for headless possessive phrases as well as emphatic possession, following the possessed noun

enclitic
1s	=he
2s	=zo
3s	=yu
1p	=(a)yme
2/3p	=à/`

• =ayme is used after a consonant, =yme after a vowel
• =à is used after a consonant, =` is a floating tone that makes a final vowel into the low tone

Comitative-locative pronouns

1s	fené
2s	fazo
3s	falóu
1p	fenévi
2/3p	favaú

• (the 1s and 2s forms are direct from the comitative inflected preposition, others from preposition + nominative pronoun)

Oblique pronouns

1s	a
2s	lenó
3s	luu
1p	ve
2/3p	váu

• (all from BN accusative pronouns)

Quantifiers

Fuzzy quantifiers

Note: first the inanimate form is given, then the animate form. Fuzzy quantifiers follow the nouns they modify, unless otherwise stated.

Large quantities

• all: ehe fiya, eú fiya (from ehe, eú plus fiya 'together')
• almost: vazúa
• even (too): ntehávu (from ntɛxavu)
• many: ova
• more: neve
• most: ixa
• too many: nalixa (from ñalisa, precedes noun)

Medium quantities

• at least: maxa (from masa)
• half of: háalà (from xagala ah 'portion of', precedes noun)

Small quantities

• any: oma (from oma)
• each of: ehe, eú
• few: va
• none of: mahe, mau
• only: seá
• some of: nave, nau
• too few: omáuvaa (from rɔma ubarǝ 'that which is lacking')

For 'one of', 'two of', etc., see the next section on numerical quantifiers.

Numerals

Numbers above 2 and ordinals above 1 have been borrowed c. 500 YP from Southern Fáralo. Due to trade with Kasca, a second set of numbers has been borrowed more recently (c. 1300 YP) from Wippwo, which is used for many weights, times, and other measures.

The Buruya Nzaysa word kɛ'u 'one of' has been extended to the first three numbers.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
unit	khe	ne	voxa	vu	zavá	exa	miyéma	huze	nila	o
x10	(o)	nio	voxo	vuo	zaváo	exo	miyémo	huzeo	nilo	iq
partitive	khequq	nequq	voquq
Kascan unit	khe	ni	voa	poa	tu	ixa	mema	sona	nila	loa
Kascan x10	(loa)	nilo	voalo	poalo	tulo	xulo	menlo	sonlo	nulo	khexa
ordinal	ehe	ini	uvo	upo	utu	hixa	imen	ison	inila	ulo

Numbers higher than ten are formed by saying the multiple of ten, then the unit.

Multiples of hundreds are formed by saying the multiplier in units, then iq.

'Thousand' is expressed as 'ten hundred'.

As in BN, numbers precede nouns. However, the numbers one, two, and three in the non-Kascan set may follow the nouns they modify.

Verbs

• The verb may be described as NEG/MOOD-PROX-ASP-SUBORD-stem, where ASP is aspect, PROX is proximate and SUBORD is subordinate.
• The proximate prefix is ha-, which comes from BN xa 'this.ACC'
• The subordinate prefix takes several forms, depending on the initial consonant of the stem. Often the initial stem consonant changes as well. In a few cases, there may be multiple options, and the correct prefix must be learned with the verb.

initial	prefix	changed initial
Ø	nte-
Ø	nt-
f	nte-
f	nte-	Ø
h,l,v,x,y	nte-
nk	ntin-	Ø
kh	nte-	h
m,n,np	ntin-
nv,nz	nta-
ph	nte-	v
s	nteq-
nt	ntaq-	s
th	nte-	z
z	nteq-	Ø + -q

Note that the forms for nk- verbs are beginning to simplify to just a ntin- prefix.

• verbs usually inflect for plain, inchoative, and cessative aspects, and various irrealis modes
• these inflections take the form of prefixes
• verbs also take a negative prefix (this applies to almost all negative clauses: the exception is negative hortative/imperative sentences)

inchoative: tha-/thon- cessative: avo(va)-/avon- negative: ma-/mon- (precedes other verb prefixes)

• ne thonáza 'I fell asleep' (PERF.1S.ABS INCHO-sleep)
• ne monáza 'I didn't sleep' (PERF.1S.ABS NEG-sleep)
• ne avothúq 'I finished eating' (PERF.1S.ABS CESS-eat)

• mathontináza 'not falling asleep' (NEG-INCHO-SUBORD-sleep)
• mahathontináza 'not falling asleep like this' (NEG-PROX-INCHO-SUBORD-sleep)

Modifiers

• usually created through noun-like constructions with the genitive enclitic =à/`
• xinì ako (apple=GEN.3P sweet) 'sweet apple'

Syntax

Noun phrase

• shift from head-initial to head-final over the years
• case markers and some adpositions precede head (adpositions slowly getting reinterpreted as case markers?)
• other adpositions as well as numbers follow
• what to do with modifiers??

Basic clauses

Intransitive

Positive

• a A V
• ne saqsa PERF.1S.ABS sneeze 'I sneezed'
• naq mozone saqsa PERF.3S.ABS-DEF stranger sneeze 'The stranger sneezed'
• Note: sentences without overtly expressed objects are also treated as intransitive:
• ne thuq PERF.1S.ABS eat 'I ate'
• Additionally, some objects undergo pseudo-incorporation, which basically means that they can't take articles or modifiers, and that the subject is treated as absolutive:
• ne tho se PERF.1S.ABS hand wash 'I washed my hands'

Negative

• a A NEG-V
• ne masáqsa PERF.1S.ABS NEG-sneeze 'I didn't sneeze'
• noq mozone masáqsa PERF.3S.ABS-DEF stranger NEG-sneeze 'The stranger didn't sneeze'
• Again, sentences without overtly expressed objects are also treated as intransitive:
• ne mathúq PERF.1S.ABS NEG-eat 'I didn't eat'
• Note that clauses with pseudo-incorporation are treated as transitive when negated.

Transitive

Positive

• E a A V
• zoé na thuq ERG.1S PERF.3S.ABS eat 'I ate it'
• zoé nov nayu thuq ERG.1S PERF.3S.ABS-INDEF noodles eat 'I ate noodles'
• zoq mozone nov nayu thuq ERG-DEF stranger PERF.3S.ABS-INDEF noodles eat 'The stranger ate noodles'
• It is possible to drop the ergative argument as well, creating a passive-like construction:
• nov nayu thuq PERF.3S.ABS-INDEF noodles eat '(Someone) ate noodles / Noodles were eaten'

Negative

• E part.a A NEG-V
• zoé mo mathuq ERG.1S PART.3S.ABS NEG-eat 'I didn't eat (it)'
• zoé mov nayi mathuq ERG.1S PART.3S.ABS-INDEF noodles NEG-eat 'I didn't eat noodles'
• zoq mozone mov nayi mathuq ERG-DEF stranger PART.3S.ABS-INDEF noodles NEG-eat 'The stranger didn't eat noodles'
• The pseudo-passive construction also works here too:
• mov nayi mathuq PART.3S.ABS-INDEF noodles NEG-eat 'Noodles weren't eaten'
• Again, clauses with pseudo-incorporation are treated as transitive when negated, although the incorporated noun still can't take modifiers or articles:
• zoé ma tho mase ERG.1S PART.3S.ABS hand NEG-wash 'I didn't wash my hands'
• Another alternative is to keep the tense inflection with a construction a E part.a A NEG-V, where the first absolutive pronoun agrees with the ergative argument instead.
• ne mo mathuq PERF.1S.ABS PART.3S.ABS NEG-eat 'I didn't eat (it)'
• ne mov nayi mathuq PERF.1S.ABS PART.3S.ABS-INDEF noodles NEG-eat 'I didn't eat noodles'
• noq mozone mov nayi mathuq PERF.3S.ABS-DEF stranger PART.3S.ABS-INDEF noodles NEG-eat 'The stranger didn't eat noodles'
• This doesn't work for the pseudo-passive construction.
• ne ma tho mase PERF.1S.ABS PART.3S.ABS hand NEG-wash 'I didn't wash my hands'

Copular clauses

Positive

• new copula from demonstrative?
• *tse > se
• use absolutive case for both arguments
• ABS (X) Y se
• sonà khequq aúhe se (STAT.3P.ABS one.PART son-1S.GEN COP) 'one of them is my son'
• xa aúhe se (STAT.3S.ABS son-1S.GEN COP) 'he is my son'
• zero copula with adjectives
• ABS (X) adj
• xa ako (STAT.3S.ABS sweet) 'it is sweet'

Negative

• copula from something or other? (aux + particle fusion?)
• ma- + tson- > maqsona, maqson
• use partitive pronoun if none of some group are ...
• otherwise use non-partitive pronoun
• PART.ABS (X) Y maqson
• ABS (X) Y maqson
• mâ khequq aúhe maqson (PART.3P.ABS one.PART son-1S.GEN NEG.COP) 'none of them are my son'
• xa aúhe maqson (STAT.3S.ABS son-1S.GEN NEG.COM) 'he is not my son'
• adjectives use zero copula + partitive pronoun
• PART.ABS (X) adj
• ma ako (PART.3S.ABS sweet) 'it is not sweet'

Existential clauses

• usually take the stative-habitual absolutive pronouns

Positive

• mpɛ 'sit' has grammaticalized into a generic existential copula npe.
• xav oqínq pe 'there is salt' (STAT.3S.ABS-INDEF salt sit)

Negative

• null copula plus partitive absolutive pronoun?
• often seen with indefinite marking on the noun phrase
• mav oqíq 'there isn't any salt' (PART.3S.ABS-INDEF salt)

Predicative possession

• X stays with Y / X sits with Y? (depends on temporary/more permanent possession) Where X is in the absolutive and 'with' is comitative?
• 'stay' is inó (from ǝno in BN), 'sit' is npe (from mpɛ in BN)
• fené xov minq pe 'I have bread (right now)' (COM.1S STAT.3S.ABS-INDEF bread sit)
• fené xav vazevo inó 'I own a spoon' (COM.1S STAT.3S.ABS-INDEF spoon stay)
• For negative versions, the verb can optionally be omitted.
• fené mov minq monpe 'I don't have bread (right now)' (COM.1S PART.3S.ABS-INDEF bread NEG-sit)
• fené mav vazevo mainó 'I don't own a spoon' (COM.1S PART.3S.ABS-INDEF spoon NEG-stay)
• fené mov miq 'I don't have bread' (COM.1S PART.3S.ABS-INDEF bread)
• The stative-habitual and partitive absolutive pronouns are the only ones licensed in these types of clauses.

Imperative and hortative sentences

• Development from auxiliaries of 'want', 'should' to create a separate declension from absolutive pronouns?

Questions and answers

Polar questions

• the absolutive pronoun moves to the end of the sentence
• no âta (PERF.2S.ABS sweat) 'you sweated'
• âti no? (sweat PERF.2S.ABS) 'did you sweat?'
• In double-absolutive pronoun sentences with negative transitive clauses,

Tag questions

• development of the negative auxiliary into a tag question end-of-sentence particle?
• ma < ma

Wh-questions

• do we want to make this have syntactic movement? wh-pied piping with inversion or something would be fun.

Clausal comparatives

• how do they work in BN again?

Complex clauses

Complement clauses

• Sentences containing complement clauses of verbs of speaking or thinking work differently from basic sentences. What happens is that the agent of the main clause is treated as an absolutive argument, and the complement clause is treated as a separate sentence but nominalized with (probably the word for 'thing') at the very end. The complement clause can be placed at the beginning of the sentence or the end, but is usually at the end due to VZ's preference for placing heavy constituents at the end of a sentence.
• Also e < rɛ is used as the beginning marker for any complement clause.

Syntactic movement

Extraposition and shifting

• tl;dr big things move right

Pragmatic movement

• preverbal focus position, antitopic backing, movement of absolutive pronoun to indicate focus (like the Cushitic selector?)

Derivation

Dendana/Vuuyin Zayxa/Derivation

Sample texts

Dendana/Vuuyin Zayxa/Texts

• more texts...

Lexicon

• Dendana/Vuuyin Zayxa/Lexicon
• Dendana/Vuuyin Zayxa/Thematic dictionary

See also

• Buruya Nzaysa
• Ndak Ta
• Fáralo
• Delta Naidda
• Edastean languages
• Buruya