Swopsoch

Swópsótš [swópsóːtʃ]
Period	c. 0 YP
Spoken in	Rposh island
Total speakers	c. 10,000
Writing system	none
Classification	Dumic languages   Swopsoch
Typology
Basic word order	SOV
Morphology	fusional
Alignment	ERG-ABS
Credits
Created by	Serafín

Swópsótš (IPA: [swópsóːtʃ], 'Island speech', anglified as Swopsoch) is a language spoken by the Swop culture on the island of Rpoš [rpoːʃ] (anglified as "Rposh" /ɑɚ.ˈpɑʃ/, known as Prousoun [ˈproʊ.zõʊ̃] in Jouki Stəy) off the southeastern tip of Tuysáfa, especially in the eastern part of the island. The language is endangered as more and more speakers, specially younger ones, turn to speak Jouki Stəy instead, due to the Swop culture's inferior production and technological advancement, plus constant contact with Jouki for trade.

It belongs to the family of Dumic languages, and is thus related to Wokatasuto, Potonsuti, Kataputi, Trinesian and Jouki Stəy.

Phonology

Consonants

	Labial	Coronal	Palatal	Dorsal
Plosive	p · b	t̪ · d̪		k · ɡ
Affricate			tš · dž
Fricative	f · v	s · z	š · ž
Nasal	m	n̪
Trill		r
Approximant	w	l	y	(w)

Vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i	u
Mid	e	o
Open	a

All vowels can occur in the three tones: high, mid or low. They're always long if they receive stress and they're not part of a diphthong (rising or falling).

Phonotactics

Syllable structure is (C)(C)(G)V(C)(C).

Dialectal variation

As Rposh is a small island and there's constant contact among the speakers concerned, there isn't much dialectal variation. There is some variation according to age, gender and economic status, however. Generally, younger speakers of better socioeconomic status, especially if female, tend to diphthongize /eː, oː/ as [eɪ, oʊ], due to the influence of "standard" Jouki Stəy, perceiving their own [eː, oː] as well as eastern Jouki Stəy speakers' [eː, oː] as "rustic".

/v/ also tends to be pronounced as [b] among older speakers. It's stigmatized among less old generations though. A stigmatized innovation exists, where final /j , w/ are pronounced [ʃ, f] by mostly younger speakers of lower socioeconomic status.

Stressed vowels in a rising diphthong are lengthened among a minority of speakers. This is largely unperceived by the community.

Inflectional Morphology

Nouns

Countable nouns inflect for two numbers: singular and plural. The plural marker for most nouns is -(V)r, though some, especially things that come in pairs, take -da. Nouns are cited in two forms. The first is the singular, and the second is the plural. Uncountable nouns, often ending in -m, don't inflect at all.

	Singular	Plural	Gloss
Countable common noun	bowtš	bo'tšoyr	'ribbon(s)'
Countable pair noun	yétš	yé'tšéda	'eye(s)'
Uncountable noun	yi'yùm		'water'

Pronouns

Personal pronouns inflect for three persons, singular and plural, with a further gender distinction in the third person (masculine and feminine in the singular, masculine/mixed and feminine in the plural).

There are two types of pronouns: independent and bound. Independent pronouns further inflect for case: direct and oblique.

Independent pronouns

	Direct		Oblique
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
1st	dže	dži	džey	dwòy
2nd	wà	mò	nòy	wòy
3rd m.	gwà	gwàm	gà'nòy	gà'wòy
3rd f.	dò	dòwm	dò'nòy	dò'wòy

Bound pronouns

	Singular	Plural
1st	dže-	džu-
2nd	wà-	mò-
3rd m.	gà-	gàmò-
3rd f.	dò-	dòmò-

Verbs

Verbs inflect for five time-aspect-moods: imperative -tš, (indicative) non-past -'gótš, (indicative) past -'mò, subjunctive non-past -š, and subjunctive past -za. All five TAMs inflect for both the active voice (unmarked) and the antipassive voice -á in transitive verbs.

Verbs are cited with two stems, a stressed stem and an unstressed stem. The stressed stem is used in the imperative and the subjunctive, the unstressed stem is used in the indicative. The following fully-inflected verb, dá'tó- dátá- 'to decide sth', shows this relationship.

	Active	Antipassive
Imperative	dá'tótš	dá'tótšá
Non-past	dátá'gótš	dátá'gótšá
Past	dátá'mò	dátá'má
Subj. non-p.	dá'tóš	dá'tóšá
Subj. past	dá'tóza	dá'tózá

Numbers

The numeral system is base-10, and uses an additive-exclusive construction to create all numbers. Here are the first ten numbers:

• 'gwara one
• wòtš two
• 'boyra three
• 'lada four
• boy five
• že six
• dol seven
• fowk eight
• nótš nine
• 'gwawà ten

Cardinal numbers always go after the nouns. There are no separate ordinal forms, instead, the number uses the possessive construction, becoming the possessor of the noun so to speak.

bwar 'gwara

field=one

one field

'gwara yì bwar

one=GEN field

the first field

Sample Text

[zoˈroːr jì ˈzwoːr | zbawujeˈmòː ʒi maˈroː rdʒeˈmòː gàwàˈtʃojr dà | mò aˈmòjr ò ˈdʒeːz ror jì ˈwóypá dʒíp jì ʒiˈjuːba ro | wójpáwujeˈgwaːʃ ror gwà gúˈtáːʃ dar]
Zo'ror yì zwor, zbawuye'mò ži ma'ro rdže'mò gàwà'tšoyr dà, mò a'mòyr ò džez ror yì wóypá džíp yì ži'yuba ro, wóypáwuye'gwaš ror gwà gú'táš dar.
zo'ro-r yì zwor | zbawuye'mò ži ma'ro rdže-'mò gà-wà'tš-oyr dà | mò a'mòyr ò džez ror yì wóypá džíp yì ži'yuba ro | wóypáwuye'gwaš ror gwà gú'tá-š dar
time-PL GEN time | be.famous-PAST SUB chief to.close-PAST his-enemy-PL by | where door or roof in GEN hole without GEN hut in | hunger because.of he die-SUBJ.NONP in.order.to
A famous chief was once imprisoned by his enemies in a hut without any door or roof-opening, and left to die of starvation.