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.
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.
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 |