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|[dm]}} || {{yes|[ʔn]}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} ||  {{no}} || {{yes|[ʔl]}} || {{yes|[dw]}} || {{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]}}

Nominals - including nouns, pronouns, and adjectives - in Saxuma take one of five cases. For nouns and adjectives, only the construct case requires any declension — all others use the base form along with a preposition or particle. Pronouns, however, have irregular declensions for all five cases.  

* The '''dative-superessive''' case is used both to mark the oblique argument of verbs, as well as to convey the motion of coming upon or landing on the motion's target, but not other forms of motion (which usually use the preposition ''eke'' ("towards"). Outside of pronouns, this is marked with the preposition ''ba'' ("upon").

Number is not required to be marked, but plurality can be explicitly indicated with the suffix ''-sií' (or ''-xú'' in the construct form). Words ending in a nasal instead suffix ''-zí/jú'', and those ending in any other consonant delete that final consonant before appending ''-sí/-xú''.  

The dual can be indicated by suffixing ''-míx'' (construct ''-míxu'') to any nominal, including pronouns. ''-míx'' is attached to the plural forms of non-gendered pronouns, and the singular form of gendered pronouns.  

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

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

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

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

! Dative-Superessive

* ''mazén'' and ''mawís'' do not decline, and instead use prepositions and particles to mark nouns like true nominals.  

====Gender morphology====

: ''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.

Some nouns bear the agentivizing prefixes {{sx-m|''lo-/lew-''}} and {{sx-s|''in(w)-''}}, which function similarly to Latinate "-tor" and "-trix" in conveying gender, with the neutral agentivizer being '''''zi-'''''.

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

* '''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.  

===Gender===