Saxuma: Difference between revisions

The folk history of the language states that it was a constructed language developed by the original inhabitants of Sasajos - members of a cruise ship that crashed on the island and decided to settle there. Most scholars find this history preposterous, but it is still taught in schools on Sasajos and considered official history by the municipal government.  

|+ Consonant Inventory

!                                                 Voiceless !! Voiced !! Voiceless !! Voiced !! Voiceless !! Voiced !! Voiceless !! Voiced !! Voiceless

| p || b || t || d || c || || k || g ||ʔ

* Sometimes, in particularly casual speech, unstressed, final /s/ and /ɕ/ are debuccalized to [h].

| {{yes|[ʔp]}}|| {{yes|[ʔt]}} || {{yes|[ʔk]}}||  {{yes|[ʔb]}} || {{yes|[ʔd]}} || {{yes|[ʔg]}} || {{yes|[tm]}} || {{yes|[ʔn]}} || {{yes|[tɸ]}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes|[ʔl]}} || {{yes|[tw]}} || {{yes|[c]}}

| {{yes|[ʔp]}}|| {{yes|[ʔt]}} || {{yes|[ʔk]}}||  {{yes|[ʔb]}} || {{yes|[ʔd]}} || {{yes|[ʔg]}} || {{yes|[ʔm]}} || {{yes|[bn]}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} ||  {{no}} || {{yes|[bl]}} || {{yes|[bw]}} || {{yes|[bj]}}

| {{yes|[ʔp]}}|| {{yes|[ʔt]}} || {{yes|[ʔk]}}||  {{yes|[ʔb]}} || {{yes|[ʔd]}} || {{yes|[ʔg]}} || {{yes|[dm]}} || {{yes|[ʔn]}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} ||  {{no}} || {{yes|[ʔl]}} || {{yes|[dw]}} || {{yes|[d͡ʑ]}}

| {{yes|[ʔp]}}|| {{yes|[ʔt]}} || {{yes|[ʔk]}}||  {{yes|[ʔb]}} || {{yes|[ʔd]}} || {{yes|[ʔg]}} || {{yes|[gm]}} || {{yes|[gn]}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} ||  {{no}} || {{yes|[gl]}}|| {{yes|[gw]}} || {{yes|[d͡ʑ]}}

| {{no}} || {{yes|[nt]}} || {{yes|[ŋk]}} || {{yes|[mb]}} || {{yes|[nd]}} || {{yes|[ŋg]}} || {{yes|[mm]}} || {{yes|[mn]}} || {{yes|[mɸ]}} || {{yes|[mv]}} || {{yes|[nt͡s]}} || {{yes|[nd͡z]}} || {{yes|[ɲɕ]}} || {{yes|[ɲd͡ʑ]}} || {{yes|[nr]}} || {{yes|[nl]}} || {{yes|[nw]}} || {{yes|[ɲ]}}

The '''w-ablaut''' is the more common. It performs the following vowel transformations:  

=====Dative-Superessive=====

 

: ''See: [[Saxuma#Gender|Gender]]''

The {{sx-m|moon}} suffix is {{sx-m|''-(i)lé''}}, epenthesizing -i- whenever a noun ends in a consonant that is not permitted before /l/ (see [[Saxuma#Phonotactics|Phonotactics]]). The {{sx-s|sun}} suffix is {{sx-s|''-(k)ín''}}, epenthesizing -k- whenever a noun ends in any vowel.

====The dual ''-mix''====

====The reflexive ''-kom''====

|+ Saxuma Pronouns

! rowspan=3| !! colspan=4| 1st Person !! colspan=2| 2nd Person !! colspan=4| 3rd Person

! rowspan=2| singular !! colspan=3| plural !! rowspan=2| singular !! rowspan=2| plural !! rowspan=2| neuter singular !! rowspan=2| {{sx-m|moon singular}} !! rowspan=2| {{sx-s|sun singular}} !! rowspan=2| plural

! generic !! inclusive !! exclusive

| me || ma || mazén || mawís || zu || ter || dē || {{sx-m|le}} || {{sx-s|in}} || ca

| mek || colspan=3| maká || zuká || terak || dēka || {{sx-m|lek}} || {{sx-s|inka}} || daqá

| omé || colspan=3| wimá || unú || usér || urê || {{sx-m|olé}} || {{sx-s|ohín}} || urá

| myo || colspan=3| maw || zū || tero || desu || {{sx-m|leyu}} || {{sx-s|inu}} || caw

! Dative-Superessive

| bome || colspan=3| bemá || bay || batér || bade || {{sx-m|bose}} || {{sx-s|bagín}} || bacá

* The '''-H conjugation''' includes most, but not all, verbs ending in a long vowel.  

* '''Hearsay''', information that the speaker has learned from another person but which they do not necessarily personally vouch for, is expressed by the prefix ''la-'' before r-initial verbs, ''lex-'' before other consonant-initial verbs, and ''lar-'' before vowel-initial verbs.  

* '''Intuitive''' information is that which the speaker believes or feels confidently, but based primarily on instinctual leanings rather than any clear evidence or reasoning. It is indicated with the prefix ''eny-'' before vowel-initial verbs, ''nye-'' before initial labial consonants or /r/, and ''en-'' before initial palatal consonants. Before other consonants, the prefix ''en-'' is used, and also a palatalizing mutation occurs on the initial vowel.  

The imperative is formed simply using the stem form of a verb, optionally followed by ''zu/ter/[name] ya!''. The hortative - indicating meanings such as "let us X," "may X happen," etc., is formed by moving the stress to the initial syllable, and elongating the vowel it falls on. Diphthongs elongate the first vowel only. This leads to some verbs seeing no real change.  

Saxuma is primarily ergative/absolutive-aligned, and so instead of S, O, and V, we will use the abbreviations E, A, and O. The basic unmarked sentence structure of Saxuma is EVA for transitive statements, and VA for intransitive statements. In these unmarked structures, the absolutive case is not explicitly marked, and instead the Direct case is used. Word order is very flexible though, allowing for AVE, VAE, and AEV orderings. AVE order requires that the absolutive be explicitly marked, and it is usually marked in VAE and AEV.  

Similarly, AV statements usually explicitly mark the absolutive. However, statements with only an A and V may also drop the absolutive marking if the semantic role of the A is particularly agentic, or when using pronouns or proper nouns.  

Determiners precede the nouns that they modify, and adjectives and prepositional phrases follow them.

There is no copula, and so copular phrases function similar to intransitive verbs, where the V is replaced with the predicate noun or adjective. Thus the default order is Predicate Subject, but it may be swapped to Subject-Absolutive Predicate.