Archive:Asakan language
Asakan | |
---|---|
Standard Monyo, Monyo Asakasiafat | |
Pronunciation | /asakasjasat/ |
Ethnicity | Monyo |
Language family | Proto-Monic
|
Early forms: | Kamano-Monic
|
Dialects | Fokatakian, Ixahimi, Kanioto, Standard North, Standard South, Tatxo |
Writing system | Monyo Script |
Official status | |
Official language in | Yakormonyo |
CWS code | ASKA |
Asakan, also known as Standard Monyo or simply Monyo, is spoken as a native language throughout central and southern Yakormonyo. It is an analytical language, and its morphology is slightly synthetic.
Classification
Asakan is an Kamano-Monic language within the Monic language family. Being Asxato-Monic, it is related to other coastal Monic languages such as Vontáatan and Ańakfan.
Asakan, along with its sister language, Itimian, differs from other Monic languages with its treatment of the rostral stop *m. In most other languages, this sound softened to a velar approximant, and in some cases, assimilated with neighbouring vowels. Asakan does the opposite; *m is further strengthened, causing the following:
- If preceding a vowel, said vowel reduces to a schwa;
- If preceding a consonant, an intermediary schwa to break the cluster;
- If at the end of the word, an epenthetic schwa; and
- If preceding a schwa at the end of the word (due to #1 and #3), an epenthetic nasal *n.
For example, Proto-Monyo *kāham (mountain) is Asakan kaman, Vontáatan ká and Kagassian kahau.
History
Phonology
Consonants
Rostral | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | n ⟨n⟩ | ŋ ⟨n⟩ | ||
Stop | ɓ̥ ⟨m⟩ | t ⟨t⟩, d ⟨r⟩ | k ⟨k⟩ | |
Affricate | ts ⟨p⟩, ⟨ts⟩ | tʃ ⟨tx⟩ | ||
Fricative | s ⟨s⟩, ⟨f⟩ | ʃ ⟨x⟩ | x ⟨h⟩ | |
Liquid | ɾ ⟨r⟩ | j ⟨i⟩ | ʕ ⟨u⟩ |
- ⟨n⟩ is pronounced /ŋ/ before the velars ⟨k⟩, ⟨x⟩; e.g. inhi (morning) /iŋxi/.
- ⟨r⟩ is pronounced /d/ before the nasal ⟨n⟩; e.g. tonri (book) /tʌndi/.
Vowels
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
Close | i ⟨i⟩ | ||
Mid | e ⟨e⟩, ⟨u⟩ | ə ⟨a⟩, ⟨o⟩ | ʌ ⟨o⟩ |
Open | a ⟨a⟩ |
- The three diphthongs are /aɪ/ ⟨ai⟩, /eɪ/ ⟨ei⟩ and /əɪ/ ⟨oi⟩.
- The schwa /ə/ is realised in certain environments, namely ⟨man⟩ /ɓ̥ən/ and ⟨io⟩ /jə/.
Phonotactics
Orthography
Grammar
Nouns
Monyo nouns are inflected solely for plurality. Many irregular forms exist, especially due to loaned words and neologisms.
Plural Classes
Class 1: -a Plurals | ||
---|---|---|
Ending | Standard Plural | Irregular Plural |
-i | asaki (summer) > asaka | osi (sky) > osia |
-e | rake (tinamou meat) > raka | |
-iu | koiu (egg) > koia | |
-ai | ohai (catfish) > oha | kai (love) > kaia |
-ei | korei (planet) > koria | |
-oi | mufoi (breeze) > mufa | toikoi (flamingo) > toiki |
Class 2: -i Plurals | ||
Ending | Standard Plural | Irregular Plural |
∅ | okun (tree) > okuni | kiar (sun) > kiara |
-a | iama (jay) > iami | fiuntxa (loft) > fiuntxai |
-o | asto (bottle) > asti | simo (ground) > simoi |
-u | maku (bone) > maki | otoikoru (river) > otoikora |
-ia | pasia (world) > pasi | nakia (chair) > nakiai |
-io | fumio (peach) > fumi | txuio (train) > txuia |
-ho | riho (book) > rihoi | musho (flock) > mushi |
-fo | piatfo (bed) > piatfoi | kakfo (door) > kakfi |
Class 3: -ma Plurals[1] | ||
Singular | Dual | Plural (unused) |
piki (foot) | pikima | pika |
maki (hand) | makima | maka |
uan (eye) | uanma | uani |
|
Consonant Mutation
Some irregular plurals evolved from consonant shifts in Old Monyo: at the end of a word, ⟨f⟩ ⟨p⟩ and ⟨tx⟩ become ⟨s⟩ ⟨t⟩ and ⟨t⟩, respectively.
The velar nasal ⟨ń⟩ shifted to /g/ and later /k/ before vowels, while remaining the same elsewhere. Orthography reforms reflected this shift, ⟨ń⟩ becoming ⟨kn⟩ before vowels and ⟨nn⟩ at the end of a word, while merging with ⟨n⟩ before consonants. Further reforms eventually removed the second ⟨n⟩, causing ⟨kn⟩ to merge with ⟨k⟩ and ⟨nn⟩ with ⟨n⟩.
Ending | Plural | Example |
---|---|---|
-s | -f | muras (ball) > murafi |
-t | -p | xosat (wing) > xosapi |
-tx | kasot (mouth) > kasotxi | |
-n | -k | karin (branch) > kariki |
Cases
Since nouns are not inflected according to case, they are instead preceded by case-marking particles. These particles have definite and indefinite forms, marked by the affix -si. For the nominative case, which doesn't use a case marker, si is standalone.
Indefinite | Definite | |
---|---|---|
Nominative | Ø | si |
Accusative | xa | xasi |
Genitive | ut | utsi |
Dative | man | mansi |
Locative | io | iosi |
Ablative | a | asi |
ei | esi | |
Comitative | o | osi |
Abessive | iako | iakosi |
a vs ei
In Asakan there are two distinct ablative markers, a/asi and ei/esi, which have different functions.
- a/asi is used mainly before the agent in a passive construction, while ei/esi is used to indicate an action "away from" or "out of".
- Si kuarion asa axan a axhoros mari. The letter was sent by an anonymous person.
- Si kuarion asa axan eisi Otofu. The letter was sent from Otofu.
- a/asi is used in the construction of certain prepositional phrases, which all imply a motion "away from".
- Si riman axi aksia a rasxasi himakoru. The frog jumps over the fence.
- a/asi is used in the comparative and superlative form of adjectives, denoting the receiver of the comparison.
- Kaair axi hotxa kami a ka. Kaair is taller than me.