Sanap Þoi
Sanap Þoi (great speech) is a Leic language.
Contents
Phonology
Consonants
| labial | dental | alveolar | palatal | dorsal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| stop | /p/ | /t/ | /k/ | ||
| fricative | /ɸ/ <f> | /θ/ <þ> | /s/ | /h/ | |
| nasal | /m/ | /n/ | |||
| sonorant | /l/ | /r/ | /j/ <y> | /w/ |
Vowels
| front | back | |
|---|---|---|
| close | /i/, /i:/ | /u/, /u:/ |
| mid | /e/, /e:/ | /o/, /o:/ |
| open | /a/ | /a:/ |
Long vowels are marked with a circumflex (â).
The valid diphthongs are /ai au oi eu/.
Syllable Structure
Syllables are of the form CV(C).
Stress is always root-initial, and is realised with high pitch. All other syllables receive low pitch.
Morphology
Nouns
Nouns in Sanap Þoi decline for patientive, agentive, genitive, dative and locative cases, and singular and plural numbers. All inflections are prefices, and are largely agglutinative. The exception is the genitive plural, which bears no relation to the genitive singular or the other plural prefices. There is also a two-way animacy distinction in the genitive, between animate and inanimate. The patientive is the unmarked form of the noun, and is the citation form. The dictionary form is patientive, genitive.
Nouns also fall into two inflectional types which are identified by the form of the genitive. If the genitive ends in a nasal (which assimilates in place to a following stop, and is n otherwise) then the noun is said to be type N, while if it ends in þ then the noun is said to be type Þ. The distinction also manifests itself in all other caseforms (other than the patientive singular, which has a zero-prefix) as an alternation in the consonant (the second if there are two).
Nouns beginning in a vowel regularly delete the final vowel of a vowel-final prefix.
The various forms of the case prefices are given below.
| Type Þ | Type N | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Patientive | Ø- | Ø- |
| Agentive | wo- | no- | |
| Gen. Anim. | kaþ- | kaN- | |
| Gen. Inanim. | þaþ- | þaN- | |
| Dative | ta- | þa- | |
| Locative | fo- | po- | |
| Plural | Patientive | ra- | na- |
| Agentive | wor- | woN- | |
| Genitive | raþ- | raN- | |
| Dative | tar- | taN- | |
| Locative | for- | foN- | |
Pronouns
Personal Pronouns
Sanap Þoi differentiates 3 persons (1st, 2nd and 3rd) in 2 numbers (singular and plural). It additionally has an honorific 2nd person pronoun, which is also used in a vocative construction, and an animacy distinction in the 3rd singular. The pronouns distinguish 5 cases, similarly to nouns. The pronominal inflection can be compared to nominal inflection, though all the pronouns are irregular to various degrees.
| Singular | Plural | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patientive | Agentive | Genitive | Dative | Locative | Patientive | Agentive | Genitive | Dative | Locative | |
| 1st | tê | ner | fenir | þar | per | katir | wanhatir | hanir | tanhatir | fanhatir |
| 2nd | won | wowon | faþwon | tawon | fowon | kaþwon | wanhaþwon | haþwon | tanhaþwon | fanhaþwon |
| Hon | nat | wanat | faþnat | tanat | fanat | kaþnat | wanhaþnat | haþnat | tanhaþnat | fanhaþnat |
| 3a | kô | nô | kan | þô | pô | nau | wan | ran | tan | fan |
| 3i | þam | nuþam | þan | taþam | puþam | |||||
Correlatives
The first three columns contain pronouns (whose inflection I've not worked out yet), and the second three contain adverbs. The semantics of each column are illustrated by the interrogatives given as headings.
| who | what | who/what (pl) | where | when | how | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| who | hamaf | koi | ham | yim | þau | ham |
| some | pas | kis | nas | yinis | þas | hamif |
| other | þamaf | tai | þam | þayim | taþ | þanham |
| every | tanhaþ | taram | tim | him | þafam | |
| none | wanhaþ | fam | merim | mihim | marfam |
Verbs
Verbs inflect for voice (active and mediopassive), and the number (singular and plural) and animacy (animate and inanimate) of their subject. Animacy, however, is only distinguished in the active singular, and not all verbs make the distinction. Verbs optionally inflect for person, but only ever when their subject is a personal pronoun, and these inflections replace the independent pronoun. Furthermore, verbs belong to 4 lexical classes, which determines the form of the affices. Verbal inflection is also characterised by a complex system of vowel apophony (which I'm nowhere near close to figuring out) and mutations.
Inflection
Disregarding apophony, mutation, and syncope, verbal inflection can be summarised as follows (V represents a stem-final vowel) (note that the class assignment is fairly arbitrary, and liable to change): (WIP)
| Active | Mediopassive | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sg Anim | Sg Inan | Plural | Singular | Plural | ||
| Class 1 | a i | -Ø | -aþ | -am | -(a)maþ | |
| a ii | -Ø | -aþ | -em | -(e)maþ | ||
| b i | -i- | -aþ | -am | -(a)maþ | ||
| b ii | -i- | -aþ | -em | -(e)maþ | ||
| Class 2 | a i | -Ø | -Vu | -Vþ | -Vm | -(V)maþ |
| a ii | -Ø | -Vf | -Vþ | -Vm | -(V)maþ | |
| b i | -V- | -Vu | -Vþ | -Vm | -(V)maþ | |
| b ii | -V- | -Vf | -Vþ | -Vm | -(V)maþ | |
| Class 3 | a i | -Ø | -aþ | -am | -(a)maþ | |
| a ii | -Ø | -aþ | -em | -(e)maþ | ||
| b i | -i- | -aþ | -am | -(a)maþ | ||
| b ii | -i- | -aþ | -em | -(e)maþ | ||
| Class 4 | a i | -Ø | -Vu | -Vþ | -Vm | -(V)maþ |
| a ii | -Ø | -Vf | -Vþ | -Vm | -(V)maþ | |
| b i | -V- | -Vu | -Vþ | -Vm | -(V)maþ | |
| b ii | -V- | -Vf | -Vþ | -Vm | -(V)maþ | |
Person Marking
When their subject is a personal pronoun, verbs can be marked for the person with a series of prefices. However, final vowels can sometimes mutate in certain phonological environments. A couple of prefices also have variants for the agentive and patientive cases. Additionally, the normal form of the pronoun is not given in the subject slot. Instead, if the subject is in the agentive case, a special particle is employed to fill the slot (but, if the person prefix does have a patientive variant, the particle need not be given). If the subject is in the patientive case, the subject slot is left empty.
The particles and prefices are given below.
| Particle | Agentive | Patientive | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | nô | rV- | tV- |
| 2nd | wô | won- | |
| Hon | wô | nat- | |
| 3a | nô | kV- | wV- |
| 3i | nô | þam- | |
| 3pl | wô | na- | |
Before m and n, and most instances of r, y, and w, the V in the first person is e, and in the third animate, it's o. Otherwise, they are both u before all front vowels, and some instances of a, and i otherwise. When a prefix ending in a vowel is attached to a vowel-initial verb, the vowel of the prefix is lost.
Numerals
Cardinal Numerals
| 0 wam | 10 hemef | ||
| 1 mas | 11 hefam | 10 hemef | 100 þeyem |
| 2 sê | 12 hemfê | 20 sehemef | 200 hereyem |
| 3 fam | 13 hemfefam | 30 fehemef | 300 fereyem |
| 4 tas | 14 hefanaþ | 40 tahemef | 400 tareyem |
| 5 þam | 15 hefþam | 50 þamhemef | 500 þamþeyem |
| 6 toi | 16 hefenþoi | 60 toihemef | 600 toiþeyem |
| 7 tafam | 17 hefanþafam | 70 tafhemef | 700 tafþeyem |
| 8 sanaþ | 18 hemfeyanaþ | 80 senþahemef | 800 senþareyem |
| 9 saþam | 19 hemfêþam | 90 saþamhemef | 900 saþamþeyem |
The other numbers 21-99 are formed by replacing the -hemef element with the appropriate teen. Thus, 42 tahemfê. Numbers greater than 100 are formed by compounding the hundreds with the tens+units. Thus, 429 tareyem sehemfeþam.
Ordinal Numerals
| 10 heremef | |||
| 1 fanis | 11 hefram | 10 heremef | 100 þêrem |
| 2 sim | 12 hefnê | 20 seheremef | 200 herêrem |
| 3 ferem | 13 hemfefrem | 30 feheremef | 300 ferêrem |
| 4 þanis | 14 hefranaþ | 40 taheremef | 400 tarêrem |
| 5 þaram | 15 hefþaram | 50 þamheremef | 500 þamþêrem |
| 6 þanê | 16 hefeþanê | 60 toiheremef | 600 toiþêrem |
| 7 tafrem | 17 hefanþafrem | 70 tafheremef | 700 tafþêrem |
| 8 seranaþ | 18 hemfêranaþ | 80 senþaheremef | 800 senþarêrem |
| 9 saþaram | 19 hemfêþaram | 90 saþamheremef | 900 saþamþêrem |
The other ordinals are formed in the same way as the corresponding cardinals, but with the ordinal forms.
Fractional Numerals
| 10 tuhemef | |||
| 11 tuhefam | 10 tuhemef | 100 þureyem | |
| 2 þê | 12 tuhemfê | 20 þêhemef | 200 þûþeyem |
| 3 tufam | 13 tuhemfefam | 30 tufhemef | 300 tufþeyem |
| 4 þanþas | 14 tuhefanaþ | 40 þenþahemef | 400 þanþareyem |
| 5 þeþam | 15 tuhefþam | 50 þeþamhemef | 500 þeþamþeyem |
| 6 þenþoi | 16 tuhefenþoi | 60 þenþoihemef | 600 þanþoiþeyem |
| 7 þanþafam | 17 tuhefanþafam | 70 þanþafhemef | 700 þanþafþeyem |
| 8 þeyanaþ | 18 tuhemfeyanaþ | 80 þeyenþahemef | 800 þeyanþareyem |
| 9 þeyaþam | 19 tuhemfêþam | 90 þeyaþamhemef | 900 þeyaþamþeyem |
The other fractional numerals are formed in the same way as the cardinal and ordinal numerals, using fractional forms.
Derivation
Syntax
Noun Phrases
Noun phrases in Sanap Þoi consist of an inflected noun, zero or more adjectives, an optional demonstrative, and zero or more oblique phrases. The adjectives and demonstrative must follow the noun in that order, while oblique phrases may go on both sides of the phrase. However, they must always be the outermost element.
Clauses
The default word order is A(=agent)P(=patient)V, with indirect objects and modifiers following the verb. However, when the agent is a pronoun, a particle with several allomorphs with complex distribution is placed in the agent slot. This can be replaced by the full agentive pronoun for emphasis. When an intransitive verb takes a patientive argument, and that argument is a pronoun, no particle is placed in the sole argument slot, and the patientive pronoun can be used for emphasis. Negation is done by placing the particle mô immediately before the verb, and interrogation by placing the particle kô immediately after.
Conjunctions
Coordinate conjunction simply conjoin two clauses with no changes to each. Subordinate conjunctions, on the other hand, change the word order of their head clause. The relative conjunction moves its head noun to the very end of the parent clause, and moves indirect objects and modifiers before the verb. The complement conjunction takes the place of the patient of a transitive verb, and also moves indirect objects and modifiers before the verb.
Lexicon
See the Lexicon.
