Kandi

Tsani
Atsáni tsuyi
Pronunciation	[/t͡sán at͡sáːɣɪ/]
Created by	–
Native to	United States of America
Native speakers	21,020 (2012)
Language family	Tanisi Tsan Tsani
Early form	Proto-Tanisi
Dialects	Tsan standard Virginian Tsan Carolinian Tsan
Official status
Regulated by	Tsárapi áyasáari
Language codes
ISO 639-1	as
ISO 639-2	aas
ISO 639-3	aas

Atsáni tsúyi, or simply Tsani /t͡sáni/ is a language spoken in the eastern United States of America. It is not known to be related to any extant language and is thus a language isolate. The name, Atsáni tsúyi /at͡saːni t͡suːji/ means "crafty speech".

Atsani is a heavily agglutinating with a complex verbal morphology. The language has repeatedly been analysed as lacking nouns and adjectives altogether, in favour of verbs. Asaari is a tonal language with a limited vowel inventory, and an extensive array of consonants.

Phonology

The Tsani inventory has been documented and assessed repeatedly since the 19^th century, the foremost people in the field being the Belgian linguist Émile d'Ivoire and the Scottish linguist John Glenn Crossing, an expert on Jivan languages.

Consonants

The following is a Tsani inventory of consonants, according to Émile d'Ivoire, a model nowadays serving as standard when analysing the language. It mostly differs from others models in terms of orthography, but also in analysing the sequence plosive + labio-velar approximant as phonemic ejectives.

d'Ivoire model

		Bilabial	Dental	Alveolar		Palatal	Uvular	Glottal
			central	central	lateral
Nasals	voiceless	mh /m̥/	nh /n̥/
	voiced	m /m/	n /n/
Stops	ejective	pu /pʼ/	tu /tʼ/			ku /cʼ ~ qʼ/
	voiceless	p /p/	t /t/			k /c ~ q/
Affricates	ejective			tsu /t͡sʼ/	tlu /tɬ'/	tshu /t͡ɕʼ/
	voiceless			ts /t͡s/	tl /t͡ɬ/	tsh /t͡ɕ/
Fricatives	voiceless		th /θ ~ tθ/	s /s ~ ts/	lh /ɬ/	sh /ç ~ ɕ/	kh /χ/	h /h/
Approximants					l /l/	y /j/	r /ʁ ~ ʀ/

Vowels

D'Ivoire also re-analysed and standardised the phonemic inventory of vowels in the language.

Tsan has four main vowels, /a/, /i/, /u/ and /ɛ/. All vowels can be long, in which case they are written with an acute accent.

	Front	Near- front	Central	Near- back	Back
Close	i u ɛ a
Near-close
Close-mid
Mid
Open-mid
Near-open
Open

Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel.

Diphthongs

There are eleven diphthongs according to most analyses. These are /aj/, /ɛj/, /uj/, /ja/, /jɛ/, /ju/, /aw/, /ɛw/, /wa/, /wi/ and /wɛ/.

	Front	Near- front	Central	Near- back	Back
Close	i u ɛ a
Near-close
Close-mid
Mid
Open-mid
Near-open
Open

Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel.

Phonological processes

Emphatic consonants

The term emphatic is a controversial one, introduced by Crossing, but refers to a certain form of assimilation in the Tsani language. Following long vowels, fricative consonants and /r/ change their pronunciation.

Tsani emphatics and finals

Phonological changes
	th	s	lh	sh	kh	r
Plain	/θ/	/s/	/ɬ/	/ç/	/χ/	/r ~ ʁ ~ ʀ/
Emphatic	[t͡θ]	[t͡s]	[t͡ɬ]	[ɕ]	[q͡χ]	[ɣ]
Final	-	-	-	-	-	[r]

Yákusehitsu.
/jaːcusehit͡su↗/ → [jaːqut͡seçʷʰit͡su↗]
yá-kuseh-i-tsu
NFUT.DYN.PRFV.3SG.M-fish-REL-EVID.HEAR
I hear he is out fishing.

(1.1)

Ikhuriyáan thayàáthùmi.
/iχuʀijaːan θajãaːθũmi↗/ → [iq͡χuɣijaːan θajãaːt͡θũmi↗]
i-kuri-yáan thayà-áthùm-i
OBL.3SG.N-here-OBL.3SG.N FUT.DYN.PRFV.3SG.M-stand-REL
I will stand here.

(1.2)

Unreleased consonants

When in coda position of a word, consonants are pronounced with no audible release. This applies to all oral occlusives, or plosives. Ejective plosives are never found in final position and thus never unreleased. D'Ivoir observed a tendency for final occlusive consonants to be fricativised in certain dialects. He did not want to go as far as to call it phonemic, however.

Tsani final occlusives

	p	t	k
Plain	/p/	/t/	/c ~ q/
Unreleased	[p̚]	[t̚]	[c̚ ~ q̚]

Tuéekíhap.
/tʼeːecihap↗/ → [tʼeːeciçʷʰap̚↗], (tʼeːeciçʷʰaɸ)
tuée-kíhap-∅
EVID.SUBJ-random-PRDV
That was random.

(1.3)

Kànayi rak.
/kãnaji ʀaq↗/ → [kãnaji ʀaq̚↗], (kãnaji ʀaχ)
kànay-i rak-∅
long-REL scar-PRDV
Scars are long-lived.

(1.4)

Suprasegmentals

Stress

Tsani does not phonemically distinguish words stress, similar to French. Some linguists have criticised d'Ivoire for this view, claiming it is francocentric. It does, according to d'Ivoir, have a sentence stress; a stress that almost unexclusively falls on the last syllable, just like in the French language. It is not appropriate to call this stress, however; a more fitting description is a universal rise in tone.

Akénin tsúriyuya.
/aceːnin t͡suːrijuja↗/
a-kéni-n tsúriyu-ya
INTF-heat-REL cold-CAUS
Cold makes heat.

(1.5)

Ayéewintàn tú tsehayéetsanin tú, a wintàn yátshùyáan.
/ajeːewintãn tuː t͡sehajeːet͡sanin tuː ↗ | a wintãn jaːt͡ɕũjaːan↗/
ayée-wintà-n tú tseh-ayée-tsani-n tú a wintà-n i-átshù-yáan
INST.3SG.N-ear-REL two and-INST.3SG-hand-REL two alas ear-REL OBL.3SG.N-head-OBL.3SG.N
Two ears and two hands, but the ears are on the head.

(1.6)

Grammar

Tsan has a fairly complex grammar; it lacks the common definition of a noun. Instead, all nouns are so called "nominals" verbs conjugated in a certain pattern.

Syntax

Nominals and verbals

The language differentiates nominal and verbal constructs of finite verbs. A verbal verb acts like a normal verb. A nominal verb on the other hand, has affixes that makes it more similar to a noun or adjective.

In the most basic form, there is no difference between the two. However, through simple personal endings and relativisers, the meaning is altered.

• The main pronominal prefixes, mn.1/2/3, make verbs verbal, indicating a subject.
• The relativising affixes 1/2/3.rel mark a word as nominal. The third person neuter relativiser, -i, is also used to form finite verbs from verbals.

Finite and non-finite verbs

In Tsan , all nouns are verbs, and all verbs are finite. To create a construction similar to the English non finite verbs, a speaker uses the relativising suffix -i.

Árá gáari.					Árá ágáari.						Árá ságáari.
/áɣa cáːɣɪ/					/áɣa acáːɣɪ/						/áɣa sacáːɣɪ/
á-	rá	gáar	-i		á-	rá	á-	gáar	-i		á-	rá	sá-	gáar	-i
mn.pres.perf.1.m.sg.	like	read	.rel.3.n.sg		pres.perf.1.m.sg.	like	pres.perf.1.m.sg.	read	.rel		pres.perf.1.m.sg.	like	pres.perf.2.m.sg.	read	.rel
I like the book.					I like when I read. (I like to read)						I like when you read.

The topic marker

In Tsan, no syntactic argument carries as much weight as the topic. The topic is the argument of the sentence being talked about; the argument that can be inferred.

The topic marker is not compulsory, but a native speaker would probably be confused without it. The marker is a suffixed -s. The suffix is one of few very fusional suffixes, which often blend into preceeding suffix if it does not end in a vowel.

Árás gáari.						Árá gáaris.						Árátsa gáaris
/áɣa cáːɣɪs/						/áɣas cáːɣɪ/						/áɣatsa cáːɣɪs/
á-	rá	-s	gáar	-i		á-	rá	gáar	-i-	-s		á-	rá	-tsa	gáar	-i	-s
pres.perf.1.m.sg.	like	topic	read	.stat.rel.3.n.sg		pres.perf.1.m.sg.	like	read	.rel.3.n.sg	topic		pres.perf.1.m.sg.	like	neg.	read	.rel.3.n.sg	topic
As for me, I like the book.						I like the BOOK.1						I DON'T like the book.

1. In English, one would stress the subject in the second sentence, I, but the book would still be the topic: "I don't like the book, but you do".

The topic marker and passivisation

The Tsan language lacks any distinction in grammatical voice. To express passive phrases, one would use the topic marker on the object of the transitive verb.

Éshis yéenínayih thagátsan.										Éshi yéenínayis thagátsan.
/ɛ́ɕɪs jɛ́ːnɪ́najɪh θaqát͡san/										/ɛ́ɕɪ jɛ́ːnɪ́najɪs θaqát͡san/
esh	-i-	-s	‹yée›	nína	‹yih›	‹tha›	gátsa	‹n›		esh	-i	‹yée›	nína	‹yis›	‹tha›	gátsa	‹n›
bark	.rel.3.n.sg	topic	‹.rel.3.f.s›	be girly	‹.rel.3.f.s›	‹past.perf.3.n.s›	bite	‹past.perf.3.n.s›		bark	.rel.3.n.sg	‹.rel.3.f.s›	be girly	‹.rel.3.f.s + topic›	‹past.perf.3.n.s›	bite	‹past.perf.3.n.s›
The DOG bit the girl.										The dog bit the GIRL. or The GIRL was bitten by the dog

The topic marker, passivisation and incorporation

The passivisation with the topic marker makes it possible to omit the subject nominal, as long as the finite verb is conjugated according to the omitted subject.

Another possibility is to incorporate the subject nominal into the verbal. This is not the most common solution, but still occurs rather frequently.

Yéenínayis tha'éshigátsan.										Yéenínayis thagátsan .
/jɛ́ːnɪ́najɪh θaʔɛ́ɕɪqát͡san/										/jɛ́ːnɪ́najɪs θaqát͡san/
‹tha›	-'-	-esh-	-i-	gátsa	‹n›	‹yée›	nína	‹yis›		‹tha›	gátsa	‹n›	‹yée›	nína	‹yis›
‹past.perf.3.n.s›	con	bark	.rel.3.n.sg.con	bite	‹past.perf.3.n.s›	‹.rel.3.f.s›	be girly	‹.rel.3.f.s›		‹past.perf.3.n.s›	bite	‹past.perf.3.n.s›	‹.rel.3.f.s›	be girly	‹.rel.3.f.s + topic›
The GIRL was dog-bitten.										The GIRL was bitten.

The topic marker and definiteness

Definiteness normally goes unmarked in Tsan, and no official distinction exist. However, using the topic marker, nouns are most often implied to be definite. This also infers that only one argument may be definite in a clause.

Nar éshi yàyáhin.							Naas éshi yàyáhin.
/nar ɛ́ɕɪ jàjáʔɪn/							/naːs ɛ́ɕɪ jàjáʔɪn/
nar	esh	-i	‹yà›	yáhi	‹n›		naas	esh	-i	‹yà›	yáhi	‹n›
be manly.pred.	bark	.rel.3.n.sg	‹pres.perf.3.m.s›	see	‹pres.perf.3.m.s›		be manly.pred. + topic	bark	.rel.3.n.sg	‹pres.perf.3.m.s›	see	‹pres.perf.3.m.s›
Man sees dog.							The man sees the dog.

The topic marker, the relativiser and definiteness

Both the topic marker and the relativiser indicate what would be definiteness in English. There is a slight difference in usage, however. The relativiser indicates a less important focus than the topic marker.

Tsúnanir yàtsúnan.							Tsúnasir yàtsúnan.
/t͡sʊ́nanɪr jat͡sʊ̀nan/							/t͡sʊ́nasɪr jat͡sʊ̀nan/
tsúna	-n	-ir	‹yà›	tsúna	‹n›		tsúna	-s	-ir	‹yà›	tsúna	‹n›
to run.pred.	.rel.3.n.sg	.agent.mn	‹pres.perf.3.mn.s›	run	‹pres.perf.3.mn.s›		to run.pred.	.topic	.agent.mn	‹pres.perf.3.mn.s›	run	‹pres.perf.3.mn.s›
The runner runs. [The runner has previously been mentioned]							The RUNNER runs.

Nína naas yàhúurayih.							Yéenínayih naas yàhúurayih.
/nína naːs jaʔʊ̀ːʀajɪh/							/jɛːnínajɪh naːs jaʔʊ̀ːʀajɪh/
nína	naas	‹yà›	húura	‹yih›		‹jée›	nína	‹yih›	naas	‹yà›	húura	‹yih›
be girly.pred.	be manly.pred.+topic	‹pres.perf.3.f.s›	love	‹pres.perf.3.f.s›		.rel.3.f.sg	be girly.pred.	.rel.3.f.sg	be manly.pred.+topic	‹pres.perf.3.f.s›	love	‹pres.perf.3.f.s›
A girl loves the MAN.							The girl loves the MAN

The topic and reference

The topic marker is used in anaphoric and cataphoric expression, and clears out reference.

Érigi Yúniyas thayàmétin, ni thayàranash.
/ɛ́ɣɪcɪ jʊ́nɪjas θajamɛ̀tɪn | nɪ θajàʁanaɕ/
Érigi	Yún	-i	-ya-	-s	‹thayà›	méti	‹n›	ni	‹thayà›	ra	‹n›	-ash
Eric.pred.	John	-.rel.3.m.sg	and.co.conj.	topic	‹past.perf.3.mn.s›	eat	‹past.perf.3.mn.s›	but.co.conj	‹past.perf.3.mn.s›	like	‹past.perf.3.mn.s›	-obj.3.n.s
Eric and John ate food, but he [John] didn't like it.

In spoken Tsan, a more common word order would be "Érigi thayàmétin Yúniyas, ni thayàranash.", because there is an aversion to stacking proper nouns next to eachother.

Verbs

Number

Tsan verbs are conjugated according to three different numbers; singular, dual, and plural.

Singular

The singular (sg) number is the most basic form of most nouns, and marks individual nouns, counting "one". It is completely corresponding to the English equivalent. The singular third person perfective dynamic is the citation form of all words in the Asaari language. The singular inflects according to three genders: Masculine, feminine and neuter.

The singular is formed with prefixes and suffixes.

Dual

The dual (du) number marks when there are two subjects of a verb, or two of a noun. It is a living number unlike many European equivalents as well as Arabic. It is not inflected according to any gender.

The dual is formed through prefixes.

Plural

The plural (pl) number refers to any objects numbering more than two, that is "several". It corresponds well to the English plurals.

The plural formation differs from that of the other numbers; it uses full reduplication of the word. The reduplication is applied to the predicative form of the word.

• tsá.sg - language > tsátsá.pl - languages
• tíra.sg - letter > tíratíra.pl - letters
• yàatha.sg - emergence > yàathayàatha.pl - emergences

If it ends in a consonant, an epenthic ‹u› is inserted, unless the second segment starts in a vowel.

• nar.sg - man > narunar.pl - men
• gáar.sg - book > gáarugáar.pl - books
• asáar.sg - ocean > asáarasáar.pl - oceans

Gender

Unlike other Native American languages, there are three genders, the masculine (m), feminine (f) and neuter (n). Gender plays important roles in and verbal inflections, since Tsan verbs conjugate according to gender. It is important to note that while verbs agree according to gender, it is the subject's gender that congruates.

There is no gender distinction in the plural dynamic conjugations. In the singular dynamic conjugation, the masculine and neuter collapse into a common, mn, gender.

Statives

Statives are an Tsan conjugation of verbs that function primarily as nouns and adjectives. A stative is most often defined as a predicative verb, nominal or adjective, but may also include other predicates. There are three different applicative forms and two copulative. The applicative in Asaari is parted in three; instrumental, benefactive, malefactive and oblique.

Predicative

The predicative construction of a nominal has a usage most often analogous to an English copula, used in a predicative expression.

• It is a dog. - mées
• Sara is a girl. - Sára lhináan
• The house is crushed.- tláta quirásináayan

Relative

The relative construction of an Asaari nominal is equivalent to a modifying relative clause. In the language, this is used to create objects, subjects, and modifiers.

• That which is a dog - méesi
• The man who is angry kicks the tree. - nar yéeitsán háranilhèqa

Relative
Mood ↓	Number →		Singular			Dual			Plural
	Gender ↓	Person →	1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd
Indicative	masculine		sí-	shá-	yée-i/n	tlí-	thá-	ti-	sísí-	sháshá-	yéeyée-
	feminine		sí-yih	shá-yih	yée-yih
	neuter				-i/n

Instrumental

The Instrumental form has the function to promote an oblique argument of a verb to the core object argument, and indicates the oblique role within the meaning of the verb. When the instrumental applicative is applied to a verb, its valency may be increased by one. The instrumental has mainly comitative and instrumental functions.

• He writes a letter with a pen. - Tìyitlá apuéni ayítlisi.
• He fetches wood with his hands. - Tìhem arási tsáran.
• He fetches it with me. - Tìhemir asími.

Applicative
Mood ↓	Number →		Singular			Dual			Plural
	Gender ↓	Person →	1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd
Indicative	masculine		así-	ashá-	ayée-	atlí-	athá-	ati-	así--	ashá--	ayée--
	feminine		así-yih	ashá-yih	ayée-yih	atlí-yih	athá-yih	ati-yih	así--yih	ashá--yih	ayée--yih
	neuter				a-i/n			ati-i/n

Benefactive

The benefactive form expresses that the referent of the noun it marks receives the benefit of the situation expressed by the clause. It is simply expressed to be done "for" someone, as a favor or with neutral or good intent.

• He wrote a letter to me. - Tìyitlá símiyáa ayítlisi.
• He fetched wood for the fire. - Tìhem tináarayáan tsáran.

Benefactive
Mood ↓	Number →		Singular			Dual			Plural
	Gender ↓	Person →	1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd
Indicative	masculine		sí-yáa	shá-yáa	yée-yáa	tlí-yáa	thá-yáa	ti-yáa	sí--yáa	shá--yáa	yée--yáa
	feminine		sí-yáayih	shá-yáayih	yée-yáayih	tlí-yáayih	thá-yáayih	ti-yáayih	sí--yáayih	shá--yáayih	yée--yáayih
	neuter				-yáan			ti-yáan

Oblique

The oblique applicative often expressed when doing something "against" someone, as a hinder or with neutral or ill intent. It is often used in comparative clauses and as an object of a preposition. It does also have a locative function.

• Don't spit on me! - Ritshápuáta tsamiyáa.
• Please wait for me? - Tshásána tsasèhayáa.
• It is in here. - Itaniyáan.

Oblique
Mood ↓	Number →		Singular			Dual			Plural
	Gender ↓	Person →	1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd
Indicative	masculine		tsa-yáa	tsah-yáa	sha-yáa	tlua-yáa	tsua-yáa	tui-yáa	tsa--yáa	tshá--yáa	sha--yáa
	feminine		tsa-yáayih	tsha-yáayih	sha-yáayih	tlua-yáayih	tsua-yáayih	tui-yáayih	tsa--yáayih	tsha--yáayih	sha--yáayih
	neuter				i-yáan			ti-yáan

Dynamic

Perfective

Non-past and past

Perfective dynamic
Non-Past
Mood ↓	Number →		Singular			Dual			Plural
	Gender ↓	Person →	1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd
Indicative	masculine/neuter		á-	sá-	yà-i/n	láhá-	lásá	láyà-	áha-	sásá-	yàyà-
	feminine		á-yih	sá-yih	yà-yih
Past
Indicative	masculine		thaá-	thasá-	thayà-i/n	tláhá-	tlásá	tláyà-	thaáha-	tlásá-	thayàyà-
	feminine		thaá-yih	thasá-yih	thayà-yih

Irrealis

Perfective dynamic
Irrealis
Mood ↓	Number →		Singular			Dual			Plural
	Gender ↓	Person →	1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd
Indicative	masculine/neuter		páa-	gà-	yì-i/n	lápáa-	làgà-	làyì-	páapáa-	gàgà-	yìyì-
	feminine		páa-yih	gà-yih	yì-yih

Habitual

Non-past and past

Habitual dynamic
Non-Past
Mood ↓	Number →		Singular			Dual			Plural
	Gender ↓	Person →	1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd
Indicative	masculine/neuter		tí-	tsá-	rí-i/n	látí-	látsá-	lárí-	títí-	tlátsá-	rírí-
	feminine		tí-yih	tsá-yih	rí-yih
Past
Indicative	masculine		thatí-	thatsá-	tharí-i/n	tlátí-	tlátsá-	tlárí-	thatítí-	thatsátsá-	tharírí-
	feminine		thatí-yih	thatsá-yih	tharí-yih

Irrealis

Habitual dynamic
Irrealis
Mood ↓	Number →		Singular			Dual			Plural
	Gender ↓	Person →	1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd
Indicative	masculine/neuter		táa-	tà-	tì-i/n	látáa-	látà-	látì-	táatáa-	tàtà-	títí-
	feminine		táa-yih	tà-yih	tì-yih

Retrospective

Restrospective dynamic
Non-past
Mood ↓	Number →		Singular			Dual			Plural
	Gender ↓	Person →	1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd
Indicative	masculine/neuter		ràa-	sàa-	yáshi-i/n	láràa-	lásàa-	láyáshi-	ràaràa-	sàasàa-	yáyáshi-
	feminine		ràa-yih	sàa-yih	yáshi-yih
Past
Indicative	masculine		tharàa-	tshàa-	thayáshi-i/n	tláràa-	tlásàa-	tláyáshi-	tharàaràa-	tshàasàa-	thayáyáshi-
	feminine		tharàa-yih	tshàa-yih	thayáshi-yih

Blah blah

Verb
-			/-/			...
Participles
Non-Past			-áyyah
Past			-áayan
Person		Singular							Plural
		1st		2nd		3rd			1st	2nd	3rd
		masculine	feminine	masculine	feminine	masculine	feminine	neuter
Indicative
	Object enclitics	-yi	-yiis	-shi	-shiis	-ar	-saár	-íir	-'in	-'íih	-'íir
	Past
	Perfective
	Imperfective
	Retrospective
	Non-Past
	Perfective	á-	á-yih	là-	là-yih	àra-	àra-yih	-	na-	ha-	ya-
	Imperfective	tí-	tí-yih	tlá-	tlá- yih	rì-	rì- yih	é-	tí-ʾi-	tlá-ʾi-	-ʾi-
	Retrospective	ràa-	ràa-yih	qà-	qà-yih	yása-	yása-yih	àari-	ràa--	qà--	àari--
Irrealis		páa-	páa-yih	qáa-	qáa-yih	yée-	yée-yih	tháa-yih	páa--	qáa--	tháa--
Imperative		tsí-	tsí-yih	tshá-	tshá-yih	shà-	shà-yih	'í-	t'í-	tl'í-	-'í