Archive:Asakan language

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Asakan
Monyo Asakasiafat
Pronunciation	/asakasjasat/
Ethnicity	Monyo
Language family	South Qeerlic Asxato-Monic Asakan
Early forms:	Asakic Old Asakan Asakan
Writing system	Coiron Script
Official status
Official language in	Yakormonyo
CWS code	ASKA

Asakan, also known as 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 Asakic language within the Monic language family, and is related to other Monyo languages such as Asxatan and Anakfan.

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:

1. If preceding a vowel, said vowel reduces to a schwa;
2. If preceding a consonant, an intermediary schwa to break the cluster;
3. If at the end of the word, an epenthetic schwa; and
4. 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. WIP

Phonology

Consonants

	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Nasal	n ⟨n⟩		ɣ̃r ⟨nr⟩
Stop	t ⟨t⟩, tʷ ⟨p⟩		k ⟨k ku⟩
Affricate	ts ⟨ts tf⟩	tʃ ⟨tx⟩	xɾ ⟨r⟩
Fricative	s ⟨s⟩, θ ⟨f⟩	ʃ ⟨x⟩	x ⟨h hu⟩
Liquid		j ⟨i⟩	w ⟨u⟩

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i ⟨i⟩		ɯ ⟨u⟩
Mid	e ⟨e⟩		ʌ~ɘ ⟨o⟩
Open	a ⟨a⟩, aː ⟨a⟩

• There are five diphthongs: /aɪ/ ⟨ai⟩, /eɪ/ ⟨ei⟩, /ɘɪ/ ⟨oi⟩, /aɘ/ ⟨au⟩ and /ʌɘ/ ⟨ó⟩.

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	huarai (alcohol) > huara	kai (love) > kaia
-ei	korei (planet) > koria
-oi	mufoi (breeze) > mufa	toikoi (flamingo) > toikoia
Class 2: -i Plurals
Ending	Standard Plural	Irregular Plural
∅	okun (tree) > okuni	kiar (sun) > kiara
-a	iama (jay) > iami	fiuntxa (loft) > fiuntxai
-o	tono (boat) > toni	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
Singular	Dual	Plural (unused)
piki (foot)	pikima	pika
maki (hand)	makima	maka
uan (eye)	uanma	uani
uon (potato)	uonma	uoni

Consonant Mutation

Some irregular plurals evolved from consonant shifts in Old Asakan: at the end of a word, ⟨f⟩ ⟨p⟩ and ⟨tx⟩ become ⟨s⟩ ⟨t⟩ and ⟨t⟩, respectively. Other mutations formed as a result of loanwords. The ⟨rs⟩ digraph universally shifted to ⟨s⟩ in West Asakan, however in East Asakan it remained, and shifted to ⟨r⟩ before consonants and at the end of a word. Some Yaharan loans also retain their origin language's plural form.

Ending	Plural	Example
-s	-f	astos (alcohol) > astofi
-t	-p	xosat (wing) > xosapi
	-tx	kasot (mouth) > kasotxi
-r	-s	mur (bird) > musi
-h	-t	sokohi (minute) > sokota

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.

Case Markers
	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	Ø	si
Accusative/Lative	xa	xasi
Genitive	ut	utsi
Dative	man	mansi
Locative	io	iosi
Ablative	a	asi
	ei	esi
Comitative	o	osi
Abessive	iako	iakosi

ut/utsi are usually contracted to 't/'tsi after other markers.

Markers combined with ut
	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	ut	si't
Accusative/Lative	xa't	xasi't
Genitive	ut ut	utsi't
Dative	man ut	mansi't
Locative	io't	iosi't
Ablative	a't	asi't
	ei't	esi't
Comitative	o't	osi't
Abessive	iako't	iakosi't

a vs ei

In Asakan there are two distinct ablative markers, a/asi and ei/esi, which have different functions.

• a/asi is used before the agent in a passive construction.
  • Si kuarion asa axan a axhoros mari. The letter was sent by an anonymous person.

• a/asi is used in the construction of certain prepositional phrases, which all imply a motion "away from".
  • Riman axi aksia a rasxasi himakoru. A 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.

• ei/esi is used to indicate an action "away from" or "out of".
  • Si txuio axiri iofoka esi Otofu. The train will arrive from Otofu.

io vs xa

As io/iosi and xa/xasi both perform locative functions, some of their roles may overlap.

• io/iosi is used to indicate where an action is taking place.
  • Si muki axi nihat io kisarat. The children are playing in a forest.

• io/iosi is used to indicate the time a certain action takes place.
  • K'axiri piat iosi inhi. I will sleep in the morning.

• xa/xasi is used to indicate an action "towards".
  • Si iofar axiri huxan xasi Itimifara. The ship will be sailing to Itimifara.

• xa/xasi is used to indicate where an action is taking place if io/iosi is already used to indicate time.
  • K'axi axnakia xasi'ka piatfo iosi saxat. I sit on my bed at night.

Pronouns

Like nouns, pronouns have their respective singular and plural forms, and use markers to indicate case. Pronouns have their own possessive form however, which is derived from the genitive marker.

Absolutive Case
	First Person	Second Person	Third Person
Singular	ka	ta	ki
Plural	kata	taiki	hofa
Possessive Case
	First Person	Second Person	Third Person
Singular	uka	uta	uki
Plural	ukata	utaiki	utofa

Like the genitive marker, possessive pronouns generally contract the u- before other markers ending in vowels.

• Si'ka tasuk asi hotutxi iosi moxan. My headdress is being washed in the lake.
• Kat'axiri sisoksu io'ta txama. We will rest in your house.