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Revision as of 20:21, 6 May 2013
This article is a construction site. This project is currently undergoing significant construction and/or revamp. By all means, take a look around, thank you. |
This article has a similar name to another language. Were you looking for the Asári language? |
Tsan | |
---|---|
Tsán asáari, Tsan | |
Pronunciation | [/t͡sán at͡sáːɣɪ/] |
Created by | – |
Native to | United States of America |
Native speakers | 21,020 (2012) |
Early form | |
Dialects |
|
Official status | |
Regulated by | Tsárapi áyasáari |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-1 | as |
ISO 639-2 | aas |
ISO 639-3 | aas |
Tsán asáari, ꔌꖟꔷ ꕉꕦꔹꗏ , or simply Tsan /t͡sán/, ꔌꖟꔷ, or Asaari /at͡sáːɣɪ/ 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, Tsán asáari /t͡sán at͡sáːɣɪ/ simply means "the ocean blue language", or "the language that is ocean blue".
Asaari 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.
The language is being constructed by Waahlis to represent his fierce love for tones, voiceless consonants, and the voiceless lateral fricative.
I also wish to make it clear that this language has no connexion what so ever to the invented language and species of Asari, in the video game Mass Effect! The name is purely coincidental as Asaari is derived from the word for "blue" in the language (Yes, I'm aware the species of Mass Effect also happen to be blue...), which was propably inspired from the European word "azure". The final "-i" is a relativising suffix. No connexions, okay!?
Phonology
Consonants
Tsan has 23 consonants, called tsínáa /t͡sɪ́ná͜aʔ/, traditionally categorised into the following groups:
- màaráyi /mɑ̀ⁿːʀáʔjɪ/ - "shaking" or voiced consonants.
- mháasi /m̥á͜ɑʔsɪ/ - "smooth" or approximants and voiced nasal consonants.
- tuáaqi /tʼá͜ɑʔcɪ/ - "shocking" or ejective consonants.
- tsamàaráyis /t͡samɑ̀ⁿːʀáʔjɪs/ - "non-shaking" or voiceless consonants.
- yéelhàyi /jɛ́͜əɬɑ̀ⁿjɪ/ - "gliding" or fricatives and voiceless nasal consonants.
- quáasi /qʼá͜ɑʔsɪ/ - "stopping", that is stop consonants.
- sitsàayi /sɪt͡sɑ̀ːⁿjɪ/ - "jumping" or affricates.
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/ | gu /cʼ ~ qʼ/ | ||||
voiceless | p /p/ | t /t/ | g /c ~ q/ | h /ʔ/ | ||||
Affricates | ejective | tsu /t͡sʼ/ | tlu /tɬ'/ | tshu /t͡ɕʼ/ | ||||
voiceless | ts /t͡s/ | tl /t͡ɬ/ | tsh /t͡ɕ/ | |||||
Fricatives | voiceless | ph /ɸ ~ pɸ/ | th /θ ~ tθ/ | s /s ~ ts/ | lh /ɬ/ | sh /ç ~ ɕ/ | h /χ ~ h/ | |
Approximant | l /l/ | y /j/ | r /ʁ ~ ʀ/ |
Vowels
Tsan has four main vowels, /a/, /ɪ/, /ʊ/ and /ɛ/. All the vowels can be tonic. The tones may change the vowels' qualities and articulation; see Tonic register. Vowels may be long or short, with exception for /ʊ/. Long vowels are written twice in the native orthography.
Front | Near-front | Central | Near-back | Back | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Close | |||||
Near-close | i /ɪ/ | u /ʊ/ | |||
Close-mid | |||||
Mid | |||||
Open-mid | e /ɛ/ | ||||
Near-open | |||||
Open | a /a/ |
Diphthongs, or long vowels
There are four so called "diphthongs" in the language. This is however merely a traditional name, as the diphthongs have long since collapsed into long vowels. Originally, these were diphthongs later assimilated by the non-glide element.
Short vowels | |||
---|---|---|---|
i /ɪ/ | e /ɛ/ | a /a/ | u /ʊ/ |
Long vowels | |||
ii /ɪː/ | ee /ɛː/ | aa /aː/ | uu /ʊː/ |
Vowels and pitch accent
- For more information see: Tonic register
There are three phonemic tones in Lha asáari, the high, medium, or default, and the low tone. The tones have immense effects on the qualities of the vowels.
- Short and long vowels with the high tone are pronounced with a glottal closure, that is, a coda glottal stop, /ʔ/. The long vowels are diphthongised - this is the sole trace of the homogeneous diphthongs.
- Low tone vowels are nasalised. This nasalisation is phonetically marked with a superscript minuscule "n", so that the nasalisation marking does not coincide with the tone diacritics.
Phonological processes
Apart from the low tone vowels being nasalised, and the diphthongs collapsing into long vowels, Tsan has a few other compulsory phonological changes.
Emphatic consonants
The term emphatic is a controversial one but refers to a certain form of assimilation in the Tsan language. Following high tone vowels, fricative consonants and /ʁ/ change their pronunciation.
Phonological changes | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ph | th | s | lh | sh | h | r | |
Plain | /ɸ/ | /θ/ | /s/ | /ɬ/ | /ç/ | /ʔ/ | /ʁ ~ ʀ/ |
Emphatic | [p͡ɸ] | [t͡θ] | [t͡s] | [t͡ɬ] | [ɕ] | [χ] | [ɣ] |
Final | - | - | - | - | - | [h] | [r] |
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.
Phonological changes | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
p | t | g | |||||
Plain | /p/ | /t/ | /c ~ q/ | ||||
Unreleased | [p̚] | [t̚] | [c̚ ~ q̚] |
Suprasegmentals
Tonic accent
- See also: Asaari/Sound changes
Tsan uses a a system of tonic accent, or pitch accent. A tonic accent is different to stress accent in that the prominent syllable in the word is distinguished by tone rather than volume. The tonic accent is also different to a purely tonal system in that the number of tonal syllables in a word is limited.
In Tsan , there is at most one tonic syllable in a word. The position of the tonic syllable determines the tonal pattern of the whole word. The distinction is binary, that is, a tonic syllable may be either high or low.
The Proto-Tanisi language, PT, had a moraic stress system, where the first heavy was stressed. In Tsan , this is largely irrelevant. Instead, depending on which syllable had a voiceless plosive or a nasal coda, the syllable became tonic. Syllables with a plosive coda got a high pitch, and nasal codas got a low pitch. The low pitch is marked with a grave accent and the high one with an acute accent.
- For example, the PT word hagiakis */ha.'gjakis/ recieved a high pitch on the second syllable when Tsan developed.
- hagiakis /ha.'gjakis/ > ayáah /ajáːʔ/ - yellow
- The word tiana */'tjan.a/ on the other hand got a low pitch.
- tiana /'tjan.a/ > tsà /tsà/ - hell
In PT words where there were both nasal codas and plosive codas, the high tone gets prominence. The low tone is still marked, however.
- An example is the Proto-Tanisi word satram */'satram/, where the low pitch is omitted.
- satram /'satram/ > sárà /sáɣa/ - hollow
Proto-Tanisi words and syllable structure has deteriorated to become Tsan, thus giving rise to a multitude of minimal pairs. The following table gives an overview over the misunderstandings that could arise if the wrong pitch is chosen.
Without diacritics | High | Low | Accentless | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
First syllable | ||||||
tsa | /tsá/ | language | /tsà/ | hell | /tsa/ | who |
ayaa | /ájaː/ | oyster | /àjaː/ | oh, right! | /ajaː/ | fish |
mati | /máti/ | work | /màti/ | sad | - | - |
Second syllable | ||||||
ayaah | /ajáː/ | yellow | /ajàː/ | lamp | /ajaː/ | fish |
mati | /matí/ | big | /matì/ | morning paper | - | - |
Compunding
A word may have only one tonic syllable per word. This is not the case of compund words or when affixes added, however.
Tonic influence
Syllables adjacent to pitched syllables are not completely accentless. Instead, they are affected by the nearby tonic accent.
Tonic register
The Proto-Tanisi language, had a regular moraic stress system which degenerated as the Tsan system evolved. The Proto-Tanisi language stressed the third mora, but in the Tsan language much of the tonic accent is affected by so called glottal and nasal syllables.
The Tsan tonic accent distinguishes high and low tone. These arose due to nasalised syllables and syllables with a glottal stop coda in the Proto-Tanisi language. Today, these are part of a register, where high pitch syllables get a glottal closure, and low pitch syllables are nasalised.
Simple | Long | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Quality | No pitch | i /ɪ/ | e /ɛ/ | a /a/ | ii /ɪː/ | ee /ɛː/ | aa /aː/ | |
High pitch | í /ɪ́ʔ/ | é /ɛ́ʔ/ | á /áʔ/ | íi /ɪ́͜ɨʔ/ | ée /ɛ́͜əʔ/ | áa /á͜ɑʔ/ | ||
Low pitch | ì /ɨ̀ⁿ/ | è /ɛ̀ⁿ/ | à /ɑ̀ⁿ/ | ìi /ìⁿː/ | èe /ɛ̀ⁿː/ | àa /ɑ̀ⁿː/ |
Prosody
Orthography
The Tsan natively use the Vai syllabary to write amongst themselves. This modified syllabary is called the Tsan abugida.
The abugida symbols are composed of one onset consonant and one vowel. Vowels carrying different tones are perceived as proper vowels and do thus have their own symbols. There are a few gaps in the syllabary, since some combinations are not possible in the language, or have been lost.
The native name for the syllabary is giráas atsàari, ꘒ ꕉꔍꔹꗏ, which means "imperfect script". It is near-homophonous to giráas asáari ꘒ ꕉꕦꔹꗏ, which would mean "Asaari" or "blue script".
There are a few problems with the script; ejective consonants and long vowels are not denoted by symbols of their own. Instead, they are marked with the following symbols:
- ꔷ - which marks ejectivity on a consonant, and also that that the vowel should be elided if final.
- ꔹ - marks long vowels.
Tsan abugida | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Vowel | ||||||||||||
-a | -e | -i | ||||||||||
/a/ | /áʔ/ | /ɑ̀ⁿ/ | /ɛ/ | /ɛ́ʔ/ | /ɛ̀ⁿ/ | /ɪ/ | /ɪ́ʔ/ | /ɨ̀ⁿ/ | ||||
Onset | (none) | ꕉ | ꕱ | ꕊ | ꔀ | ꖺ | ꗢ | ꕪ | ꖷ | ꔧ | ||
p- | ꕐ | ꕑ | ꕒ | ꔅ | ꔆ | ꗩ | ꗨ | ꔇ | ꗪ | |||
t- | ꔎ | ꔐ | ꔒ | ꕚ | ꕜ | ꖁ | ꕽ | ꕾ | ꘅ | |||
q- | ꖏ | ꔫ | ꖐ | ꗛ | ꗜ | ꗝ | ꖴ | ꖵ | ꖶ | |||
'- | ꖋ | ꗘ | ꖍ | ꗗ | ꗘ | ꗙ | ꖰ | ꖱ | ꖲ | |||
ts- | ꔋ | ꔌ | ꔍ | ꕗ | ꕘ | ꕙ | ꗯ | ꗱ | ꗲ | |||
tl- | ꕪ | ꕌ | ꕭ | ꔞ | ꔟ | ꔠ | ꘃ | ꘄ | ꘆ | |||
tsh- | ꖉ | ꗉ | ꗊ | ꗋ | ꗍ | ꖑ | ꖨ | ꖪ | ꖳ | |||
ph- | ꕓ | ꕔ | ꕖ | ꔈ | ꔉ | ꔊ | ꗫ | ꗬ | ꗮ | |||
th- | ꕞ | ꔕ | ꔖ | ꕠ | ꕡ | ꖇ | ꗻ | ꗽ | ꔺ | |||
s- | ꔻ | ꕦ | ꕧ | ꗳ | ꔿ | ꔛ | ꖤ | ꗿ | ꘀ | |||
lh- | - | ꖆ | ꖃ | - | ꔳ | ꔱ | - | ꘇ | ꔦ | |||
sh- | - | ꕨ | ꕩ | - | ꔜ | ꔝ | - | ꘁ | ꘂ | |||
h- | - | ꕬ | ꕍ | - | ꔂ | ꕅ | - | ꗤ | ꗥ | |||
l- | ꕿ | ꖻ | ꖼ | ꔵ | ꗓ | ꗕ | ꕳ | ꖅ | ꕴ | |||
y- | ꖢ | ꖣ | ꖎ | ꔬ | ꔭ | ꕸ | ꖝ | ꖞ | ꗄ | |||
r- | ꕀ | ꕁ | ꕂ | ꖙ | ꕏ | ꖗ | ꗏ | ꖿ | ꖽ | |||
m- | ꕎ | ꕮ | ꕯ | ꔃ | ꕆ | ꕇ | ꗦ | ꘈ | ꘉ | |||
n- | ꕺ | ꕻ | ꗇ | ꗅ | ꗆ | ꕼ | ꖟ | ꔨ | ꖡ | |||
mh- | ꕰ | ꕃ | - | ꕈ | ꕄ | - | ꘊ | ꘋ | - | |||
nh- | ꗁ | ꗂ | - | ꕶ | ꕷ | - | ꖛ | ꖜ | - |
Punctuation
Qiráas atsàari does not use Latin punctuation. It is somewhat more limited, but uses the following symbols:
- ꘎ - Marks a full stop.
- ꘏ - Question or interrogation mark.
- ꘍ - Denotes a comma, separates clauses.
- ꖫ - Has the function of an English colon or semicolon.
Logograms
The Tsan script does also have a number of logograms: Single characters that mark a full word.
These are rather few, and they can all be spelt out with the syllabary. It should be noted however, that whilst the logograms are very comfortable and quick to write, they are never marked for affixes, inflexion or the like. That means they must be pronounced out of context.
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. |
- 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 helps 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
Perfective dynamic | ||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Non-Past | ||||||||||||||||
Mood ↓ | Number → | Singular | Dual | Plural | ||||||||||||
Gender ↓ | Person → | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | ||||||
Indicative | masculine | 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 |
Habitual
Habitual dynamic | ||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Non-Past | ||||||||||||||||
Mood ↓ | Number → | Singular | Dual | Plural | ||||||||||||
Gender ↓ | Person → | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | ||||||
Indicative | masculine | tí- | tsá- | rí-i/n | látí- | látsá- | lárí- | títí- | tlátsá- | rírí- | ||||||
feminine | tí-yih | tsá-yih | rí-yih | |||||||||||||
neuter | é-i/n | |||||||||||||||
Past | ||||||||||||||||
Indicative | masculine | thatí- | thatsá- | tharí-i/n | tlátí- | tlátsá- | tlárí- | thatítí- | thatsátsá- | tharírí- | ||||||
feminine | thatí-yih | thatsá-yih | tharí-yih | |||||||||||||
neuter | thahé-i/n |
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 |