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| '''Classical Sowaár''' refers to an archaic literary standard of Sowaár, partly based on Late Old Sowaár.
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| ==Phonology==
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| ===Consonants===
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| Identical to Modern Sjowaázh except it had syllabic resonants: '''m mm n nn nr nnr l ll r rr''' (ḿ ń ĺ ŕ m̀ ǹ l̀ r̀)
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| ===Vowels===
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| {| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"
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| |+ '''Oral vowels'''
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| ! rowspan="2" style=""|
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| ! colspan="2" style="" |Front
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| ! colspan="2" style="" |Back
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| |-
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| !style="width: 45px; "|<small>short</small>
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| !style="width: 45px; "|<small>long</small>
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| !style="width: 45px; "|<small>short</small>
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| !style="width: 45px; "|<small>long</small>
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| |-
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| ! style="" |Close
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| | {{spell-nv|'''i'''}} /ɪ/
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| | {{spell-nv|'''ii'''}} /iː/
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| | {{spell-nv|'''o'''}} /o/
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| | {{spell-nv|'''oo'''}} /oː/
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| |-
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| ! style="" |Open
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| | {{spell-nv|'''e'''}} /ɛ/
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| | {{spell-nv|'''ee'''}} /ɛː/
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| | {{spell-nv|'''a'''}} /ɑ/
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| | {{spell-nv|'''aa'''}} /ɑː/
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| |}
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| ===Tone===
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| Classical Sjowaázh had three level tones: high (''á''), mid (''a''), low (''à''). Conservative Modern High Sjowaázh has vestiges of the 3-tone system in its intonation.
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| 7 possible pitch accent patterns:
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| *short: ''á, a, à''
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| *long: ''áa, aà, àa, aa''
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| The mid tone and low tone later merged, hence why high tone is the marked tone in High Sjowaazh.
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| ==Grammar==
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| Classical Sowaár was optimized for poetic meters (like Marathi) – word order was relatively free and affixes used both long and short syllables. Vowel length was relatively free in affixes (obeying some constraints) and fixed in roots. As a corollary tones were also flexible and there were also fewer (phonemic) tonal distinctions in affixes than in roots. [TODO: rules]
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| ===Nouns===
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| Like Modern Sowaár, Classical Sowaár had singular, dual and plural numbers.
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| Number prefixes for nouns existed but were optional.
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| ===Verbs===
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| Verbs had more complex ablaut patterns than in modern Sowaár varieties. Affixes, on the other hand, were less fused with each other than in Modern High Sowaár.
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