Archive:Asakan language
| Asakan | |
|---|---|
| Monyo Asakasiafat | |
| Pronunciation | /asakasjasat/ |
| Ethnicity | Monyo |
| Language family | South Qeerlic
|
| Early forms: | Asakic
|
| 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:
- 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. WIP
History
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⟩.
Phonotactics
Orthography
Grammar
Nouns
Monyo nouns are inflected solely for plurality. Several irregular forms exist, especially due to loaned words, consonant shifts and neologisms.
Regular Plurals
| Class 1: -a Plurals | ||
|---|---|---|
| Ending | Plural | Example |
| -i | -a | soki (candle) > soka |
| -ai | karai (cloud) > kara | |
| -oi | kotoi (winter) > kota | |
| -u | -ua | saru (forest) > sarua |
| -tu | -pa | tatu (friend) > tapa |
| -k | -ka | huok (dog) > huoka |
| -h | -ha | otxah (stream) > otxaha |
| Class 2: -i Plurals | ||
| Ending | Plural | Example |
| -Ø | -i | tufian (bird) > tufiani |
| -a | okata (town) > okati | |
| -o | kako (man) > kaki | |
| -á | -ai | sahá (animal) > sahai |
| -ó | -oi | hoxó (lizard) > hoxoi |
| -au | -aui | tau (flower) > taui |
Irregular Plurals
| Class 3: Irregular -na Plurals[1] | ||
|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | Expected plural |
| pakin (foot) | pakina | pakini |
| uan (eye) | uana | uani |
| uon (potato) | uona | uoni |
| kan (hand) | kana | kani |
| Class 4: Irregular -sa Plurals[2] | ||
| Singular | Plural | Expected plural |
| Ekis (Firstday) | Ekisa | Ekisi |
| Rukas (Seconday) | Rukasa | Rukasi |
| Tetsakas (Thirday) | Tetsakasa | Tetsakasi |
| Raxos (Forthday) | Raxosa | Raxosi |
| ahas (snake) | asa | ahasi |
| kos, kohis (sibling) | kosa | kosi, kohisi |
| hanas (autumn) | hanasa | hanasi |
| Class 5: Irregular -ei Plurals[3] | ||
| Singular | Plural | Expected plural |
| eti (worm) | etei | eta |
| naio (land) | naiei | |
| osi (sky) | osei | osa |
| Class 6: Irregular -ri Plurals[4] | ||
| Singular | Plural | Expected plural |
| fiar (millet) | firi | fiari |
| siá (grass) | siri | siai |
| sokoiar (invitation) | sokori | sokoiari |
| kiar (sun) | kuiri | kiari |
| Class 7: Irregular -ta Plurals[5] | ||
| Singular | Plural | Expected plural |
| oin (floor) | ointa | oini |
| otos (rain) | otosta | otosi |
| sokoh (second) | sokota | sokoha |
| kas (mouth) | kasta | kasti |
| Class 8: Irregular -pi Plurals[6] | ||
| nuait (omen) | nuaipi | nuaiti |
| xosat (prayer) | xosapi | xosati |
| Class 9: Other Irregulars | ||
| en (river) | enhi | eni |
| naina (woman) | nainosi | naini |
| kara (head) | karafi | kari |
| koi (egg) | koxa | ka |
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.