Saxuma: Difference between revisions

| name = Saxuma

| pronunciation = ˈsá.ɕy.ma

| states = Sasajos (autonomous zone of Italian Republic)

| protoname = Saras Wima

| speakers = ~9000

'''Saxuma''' /ˈsaʃɨmə/ (<small>Saxuma:</small> [ˈsá.ɕy.ma]), also romanized '''Sasciuma''' and historically known as '''Saras Wima''' ['sʌ.r̥as wi'ma], is a language isolate spoken by approximately 9000 speakers on the Mediterranean island of Sasajos, and an autonomous zone of Italy. It is notable for its split ergative alignment, highly irregular construct declensions, and dynamic semantic gender.  

Almost all residents of Sasajos speak Italian, as well as Greek and English, but there is a strong movement to protect the cultural heritage of the language, with poetry, novels, and music produced in Saxuma, as well as dubbings of many foreign movies and television shows into the language.

 

On a meta-level, this language was created by [[User:Anisette Biscotti|Anisette Biscotti]] in 2024, with the original intention of exploring concepts of gender and sexuality. While it has become something of its own beast, still most translations into the language are texts dealing with gender, desire, and romance.

|+ Consonant inventory (Marina et. al, 2013)

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

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

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

* Final /r/ is often realized as [ʃ], and in these cases lowers preceding /i/ and /u/ to [ɛ] and [o]  

 

An alternate analysis of the consonants of Saxuma is proposed by some linguists, such as that by Varda below.  

 

* In moderately fast speech, /ay/ and /aw/ are frequently monophthoingized to [eː] and [oː] respectively, and may also be shortened. Potential palatalization from the /ay/ is generally retained.  

! rowspan=2; colspan=2 |  || colspan=18 | Following Onset

!  p || t || k || b || d || g || m || n || ɸ || v || s || z || ɕ || ʑ || r || l || w || j

! rowspan=14| Preceding Coda || p  

| {{yes|[ʔp]}}|| {{yes|[ʔt]}} || {{yes|[ʔk]}}||  {{yes|[ʔb]}} || {{yes|[ʔd]}} || {{yes|[ʔg]}} || {{yes|[ʔm]}} || {{yes|[pn]}} || {{yes|[pɸ]}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} ||  {{no}} || {{yes|[pl]}} || {{yes|[pw]}} || {{yes|[pj]}}

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

| {{yes|[ʔp]}}|| {{yes|[ʔt]}} || {{yes|[ʔk]}}||  {{yes|[ʔb]}} || {{yes|[ʔd]}} || {{yes|[ʔg]}} || {{yes|[km]}} || {{yes|[kn]}} || {{yes|[kɸ]}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} ||  {{no}} || {{yes|[kl]}} || {{yes|[kw]}} || {{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|[ʔl]}} || {{yes|[bw]}} || {{yes|[bj]}}

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

| {{yes|[mp]}} || {{yes|[mt]}} || {{yes|[mk]}} || {{yes|[mb]}} || {{yes|[mp]}} || {{yes|[mg]}} || {{yes|[mm]}} || {{yes|[mn]}} || {{yes|[mɸ]}} || {{yes|[mv]}} || {{yes|[mt͡s]}} || {{yes|[md͡z]}} || {{yes|[mɕ]}} || {{yes|[md͡ʑ]}} || {{yes|[mbr]}} || {{yes|[ml]}} || {{yes|[mw]}} || {{yes|[mj]}}

| {{yes|[mp]}} || {{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]}}

| {{yes|[sp]}} || {{yes|[st]}} || {{yes|[sk]}} || {{yes|[sb]}} || {{yes|[sd]}} || {{yes|[sg]}} || {{yes|[sm]}} || {{yes|[sn]}} || {{yes|[sɸ]}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes|[sr]}} || {{no}} || {{yes|[sw]}} || {{yes|[ɕ]}}

| {{no}}|| {{no}} || {{no}}||  {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}}|| {{yes|[zw]}} || {{yes|[ʑ]}}

| {{yes|[ɕp]}} || {{yes|[ɕt]}} || {{yes|[ɕk]}} || {{yes|[ɕb]}} || {{yes|[ɕd]}} || {{yes|[ɕg]}} || {{yes|[ɕm]}} || {{yes|[ɕɲ]}} || {{yes|[ɕɸ]}} || {{yes|[ɕv]}} || {{yes|[ɕɕ]}} || {{yes|[ɕʑ]}} || {{yes|[ɕɕ]}} || {{yes|[ɕʑ]}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes|[ɕw]}} || {{yes|[ɕ]}}

| {{no}}|| {{no}} ||{{no}}||  {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} ||  {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes|[ʑw]}} || {{yes|[ʑ]}}

|-

| {{no}}|| {{no}} || {{no}}|| {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} ||  {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes|[ɸ]}} || {{yes|[ç]}}

| {{no}}|| {{no}} || {{no}}||  {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes|[rn]}} || {{yes|[rm]}} || {{yes|[rɸ]}} || {{yes|[rv]}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} ||  {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes|[rw]}} || {{yes|[rj]}}

===Ablauts===

 

The '''w-ablaut''' is the more common of the two, appearing in a number of verbal conjugations and in many nouns construct form. It performs the following vowel transformations:  

* a → aw, or → o if word-final and unstressed

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; width: 80%"

| a || b || c || d || d͡ʑ || ɛ || ɸ || g || d͡ʑ || x || ç || i || ʑ || k || c || l || ʎ || m || n || ɲ || o || p || ʔ || r̥ || s || ɕ || t || c || u || v || w || ɕ || j || z || ʑ

* Vowels placed before ⟨q⟩ represent their etymological pronunciation, not necessarily their current realization. Thus, ''niqí'' is pronounced as [nɛˈʔi].

 

====Pronouns====

|+ Saxuma pronouns

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

! rowspan=2| singular !! colspan=3| plural !! rowspan=2| singular !! rowspan=2| plural !! rowspan=2| singular !! rowspan=2| plural !! colspan=2| {{sx-m|lunar}} !! colspan=2| {{sx-s|solar}}

! generic !! inclusive !! exclusive !! {{sx-m|singular}} !! {{sx-m|plural}} !! {{sx-s|singular}} !! {{sx-s|plural}}

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

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

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

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

! Dative-Allative

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

====Gender====

 

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

 

There are eleven verb classes in modern Saxuma, most of which can be immediately determined by looking at the word itself, though some must be learned.  

* The '''-SA conjugation''' includes all verbs that would be a regular weak conjugation, but the consonant before -a, -i, or -u is -s-, -x-, or -r-.  

* The '''-FA conjugation''' includes all verbs that would be a regular weak conjugation, but the consonant before -a, -i, or -u is -f- or -h-.  

* The '''-JA conjugation''' includes all verbs that would be a regular weak conjugation, but the consonant before -a, -i, or -u is -j- or -z-.  

* The '''-LA conjugation''' includes all verbs that would be a regular weak conjugation, but the consonant before -a, -i, or -u is -l- or -v-.  

* The '''-S conjugation''' includes all verbs ending in -s, -x, or -r.  

* The '''-H conjugation''' includes all other verbs ending in a long vowel.  

Besides the stem, there are seven primary verb forms expressed through suffixes: the negative, causative, inchoative, prospective, perfective, habitual, and attributive forms. For more detail on them, see [[Saxuma/Verb Conjugation]]. For a summary of how the different endings conjugate for the different verb classes, see the table below.

|+ Verb conjugations by class and inflection

! colspan=2| Class !! Example Stem !! Negative -NA !! Causative -BI !! Inchoative -WAY !! Prospective -KUN !! Perfective -W !! Habitual -AX !! Attributive -LA

| lesó || lesoná || lesobí || lesowáy || lesokún || lesô || lesowáx || lesolá

| sigú || signá || sigbí || sigwáy || sigkún || sigû || sigwáx || siglá

| exí || exná || exbí || exfáy || eqún || exyú || exyáx || yosá

| safá || sawná || sawbí || sawfáy || sawqún || safáw || safáx || sawsá

! colspan=2 | -JA

| mujú || moyná || moybí||  mujwáy || moykún || mujû || mujwáx || moylá

| ralí || rawná || rawbí || rawáy || rawkún || ralyú || ralyáx || ralá

| ekán || ekanná || ekanbí || ekanwáy || ekankún || ekánla || ekanáx || ekanlá

| sarás || sarasná || sarasbí || sarasfáy || saraqún || saráwsa || sarasáx || sarawsá

| enák || enawná || enacú || enasfáy || enaqún || enatáw || enatáx || enaxá

| oxâ || oxāná || oxābí || oxafáy || oxaqún || oxáwsa || oxaháx  || oxawsá

| law || lawná || lawbí || lawáy || lawkún || lála || laláx || lalá

| way || wayná || waybí || waywáy || waykún || wayú || wayáx || waylá

====Evidentiality====

In Saxuma, evidentiality can be expressed through verbal prefixes. Their morphology is much simpler than the various ending forms, and act with no regard to the verb class of the stem.

* '''Unmarked''' evidentiality indicates something that the speaker feels they can reasonably report as true, with no particular implication one way or another. It is also used for stating things considered to be general truths or common sense.

* '''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 consonant.

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 sentence order is primarily aligned along ergative-absolutive distinctions, so below, instead of S and O for subject and object, we will use E to mark the ergative argument and A to mark the absolutive argument.  

There is no copula, and so copular phrases function similar to VA/AV statements, where the V is replaced with the predicate noun or adjective. These follow the same rules of absolutive marking as sentences with intransitive verbs.

Determiners precede the nouns that they modify, and adjectives and prepositional phrases follow them. Adverbs may be placed anywhere in the sentence, with a preference towards placing them at the beginning or adjacent to the verb. Adverbs modifying adjectives are placed before the adjective.  

===The topic marker ''sa''===

===Complementary Phrases===

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

There is substantial debate over how to categorize and describe gender in Saxuma. It is not a grammatical gender system, but rather semantic. It is largely agreed that historically, the two genders mapped to a traditional masculine-feminine split (evidenced by words such as "man," "woman," and sexed animal terms being derived from the gendered suffixes), but now is used to describe the speaker's attitude toward the referent or their role in a narrative, with the potential to shift mid-discourse.

Because of the history of the gender system, as well as the fact that most of the associations of the two genders line up well with existing stereotypes of men and women, some argue it is most appropriate to describe the Saxuma genders as masculine and feminine. Indeed, direct translations of European languages with gendered pronouns frequently use {{sx-s|''in''}} to translate "he" and {{sx-m|''le''}} for "she." However, others opt against this in an attempt to make it clear that there is only a tenuous link between the semantic gender and a referent's gender identity. Many alternative sets of terms have been proposed, such as yin-yang, passive-active, orange-blue, etc. Classrooms on Sasajos generally use the terms {{sx-m|lunar}} and {{sx-s|solar}}, which are also featured in municipally-sponsored textbooks. For this reason, this page will use these as well.

{| class="wikitable"

|+ Common gender connotations in Saxuma (del Aglio, 2017)

! Tone or Context !! {{sx-m|Lunar}} !! {{sx-s|Solar}}

| Praising || Smart, beautiful, wise, insightful, learned || Funny, strong, impressive, handy, energetic

| Flirtatious || Beautiful, cute, enticing, following, shy || Fit, dominant, seductive, leading, sexy, confident

| Teasing || Sleepy, low energy, lazy, spacy, callous, pathetic || Silly, worked up, easily teased, frazzled, hyperactive

| Aggressive || Airheaded, lazy, inconsiderate || Buffoonish, obnoxious, whiny

| Narrative || Passive, introverted, strange, deceitful, sagacious, nurturing, aloof, anxious, depressed, narcissistic, cold, logical || Active, extroverted, bold, heroic, protective, impressive, foolish, unaware, cruel, angry, brash, hysterical, emotional

===Time===

==Sample Texts==

===Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights===

{| class="itwiki_template_toc" style="width:100%;"

! English !! Saxuma !! IPA !! Gloss

| All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.

| Damáx zénu hip úmano vin gíjo i alá díni i rus nay.

| dɑ̀ˈmáɕ ˈd͡zɛ́.nu ˈxipʰ ˈú.mɑ.no βin ˈgí.ʑo i ɑ̀ˈlá ˈdí.ni i ˈr̥uh ˈnaj

| are-born.{{sc|hab}} all.{{sc|cons}} person human as free and have.{{sc|attr}} dignity and right equal.

| They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

| Aw bacá románu i korásu êma, i sū sirú bacakóm to korásu yúnem.

| ˈɑw bɑ̀ˈcá r̥òˈmá.nu i kòˈrá.su ˈe᷉ː.ma ǀ i ˈsuː sìˈr̥ú bɑ.càˈkóm to kòˈrá.su jú.nɛm

| have {{sc|3p.dat}} reason.{{sc|cons}} and heart.{{sc|cons}} ethics, and should behave {{sc|3p.dat-ref}} with heart.{{sc|cons}} fraternity.