Aysuchi Meshi

To Be Continued... Thedukeofnuke is still working on this article. The contents are incomplete and likely to undergo changes.

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

• Aysuchi Meshi lexicon
• Meshi
• Miwan languages
• Ngauro