Archive:Ame language

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Ame language
Teka Ame
Language family
Writing systemAme script (logographic)
Official status
Official language inKema Mi Amo
CWS codeamx

Ame language is a Hux Kham-Ame language spoken by the Ya Amo people in Kema Mi Amo where it is the official language. Its name is derived from the Ame divers. Ame language is primarily written with the logographic Ame script, created in the 4th century.

Classification

The Ame language doesn't appear to be related to any other known languages in Sahar, therefore, most linguists classify it as an language isolate.

However, some linguists, like Mglo Ta-Klat, argue that the Ame language is distantly related to the Hux Kham language, however, this claim is highly controversial, as there are only few possible cognates between the Hux Kham language and the Ame language, although recent researches have shown that the Hux Kham people are genetically most close to the Ya Amo people, although there's a significant Qonklese genetic influx among Hux Kham people.

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Coronal Dorsal
Nasal m n ŋ
Plosive (p) b t d k
Fricative s z h
Approximant j w
Flap ɺ
  • In the south Ame dialect, voiceless plosives are voiced between vowels, and voiced plosives are prenasalized between vowels.

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close i (u)
Mid e o
Open a

Vowels can be either long or short.

Phonotactics

  • syllable structure: (C)V, loanwords might allow words ending in /n/, and learned readings allow /p/, /t/, /k/, /m/, /n/ and /ŋ/ to appear in syllable-end position, in unlearned speech, however, syllable-final /p/, /t/, /k/, /m/, /n/ become /i/(or makes the preceding vowel a long vowel if it is a font short vowel), /tɕi/, /ki/, /mi/, /ni/ respectively in the speech of most people.
  • the rhotic consonant /ɺ/, the velar nasal /ŋ/ and voiced consonants(/b/, /d/ and /z/) can't be in the word-initial position in native words
  • /t/, /d/, /s/, /z/, /h/ become [t͡ɕ], [ʑ], [ɕ], [ʑ], [ç] before /i/ respectively.(in the south dialect, /t/, /d/, /s/, /z/, /h/ become [t͡ɕ], [ⁿd͡ʑ], [ɕ], [ⁿʑ], [ç] before /i/ respectively)
  • /p/ and /u/ only appear in more recent loanwords, they don't exist in native words or integrated loanwords.
  • in fast speech, word-final short /i/ following a voiceless consonant, or short /i/ between two voiceless consonants that don't have a dropped consonant might be dropped.

Orthography

Grammar

Morphology

Nouns

there's a separate definite article da, the separate article da is invariable, it is used no matter the number of the noun it modifies.

The word e can be used as an indefinite article, when it is used as an indefinite article, it precedes the noun it modifies.

When there is a quantifier, including numerals and other words that indicate the quantity, the plural forms are not used.

The Ame language has no grammatical gender, it uses natural gender, and unlike many languages where there are suffixes indicating the female counterpart of a noun, in the Ame language, there is a suffix for the male counterpart of a noun instead, the females are usually less marked than their male counterparts. In the Ame language, the suffix -to can be used to indicate the male counterpart of a noun indicating a person:

  • hei - girl
    • heito - boy
  • he - child
    • heto - boy
  • ha - mother
    • hato - father
  • ame - ame diver, mermaid
    • ameto - male diver who makes a living by collecting resources underwater, merman
  • yanona - farmer
    • yanonato - male farmer

Verbs

Adjectives

Adjectives are basically intransitive stative verbs.

Attributive adjectives are formed in the same way of relative clauses for intransitive verb, that is, the adjective can optionally be introduced by the relativizer da, and when the noun modified by the adjective is definite, the separate article da is used instead of the definite suffixes -da and -sada. For example:

  • e hei aki - a smart girl
  • e hei da aki - a smart girl
  • da hei aki - the smart girl
  • da hei da aki - the smart girl
  • e neme hami - a long way
  • e neme da hami - a long way
  • da neme hami - the long way
  • da neme da hami - the long way

Syntax

  • Sentential word order: Subject-Verb-Object(SVO)
  • Adpositions are prepositions, conjunctions are placed in the initial position of a sentence.
  • demonstratives, non-affix articles precede the noun they modify; Adjectives, numerals, possessors and relative clauses follow the noun they modify.
  • The negation word ne precedes the word or phrase it negates.

Notes

  1. Soltennan family is an areal language family consisting of isolate families in Soltenna.