Bis Burunko

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Bis Burunko (/bɨs bʉˈɾʉnkɔ/, literally 'the Burungian language'), also known as Burunko or Burungian, is a language isolate spoken on the island of Burung in the north Atlantic.

Background

Phonology and Orthography

Bis Burunko has a relatively simple phonology with 21 consonants, 5 pure vowels and 6 true diphthongs. The orthography is almost entirely regular and predictable, based on a 1:1 spelling to pronunciation system.

Consonants

Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m /m/ n /n/ ng /ŋ/
Plosive p /p/
b /b/
t /t/
d /d/
k /k/
g /g/
Sibilant s /s/ sh /ɕ/
z /ʑ/
Fricative f /ɸ/ x /ç/ h /h/
Affricate ch /t͡ɕ/
j /d͡ʑ/
Flap or tap r /ɾ/
Approximant w, u /w/ y /j/
Lateral app. l /l/

Notes:

  • n is realised as /ŋ/ before g, k, ng
  • medial h is often simply hiatus between vowels
  • /w/ is spelled u immediately after a consonant but w elsewhere
  • all consonants except fricatives and glides (w, y) may be doubled word-internally; note the trigraphs ssh, cch, nng

For consonant clusters, see Phonotactics below.

Vowels

Front Back
Close i /ɨ/ u /ʉ/
Open-mid e /ɛ/ o /ɔ/
Open a /a/

Vowels are considered to be short in all environments but may occur consecutively as in biitosh 'gender neutral person' /bɨ:'tɔɕ/.

Note: word-initial sequences of i + i and u + uu are written yi-, wu-.

Diphthongs

There are six diphthongs proper: ai /aɨ/, ei /ɛɨ/, oi /ɔɨ/, au /aʉ/, eu /ɛʉ/ and ou /ɔʉ/, which may be considered sequences of vowels in measuring syllables. In addition, any vowel is permitted to occur following the 'glides' /w/ or /j/.

Phonotactics

Bis Burunko has a relatively restricted syllabic structure, with a maximal form CGVVC, in which C represents a consonant, G a glide and V a vowel or part of a diphthong. Of these, only the central vowel is essential but there are also restrictions on the other elements. The table below shows the rules governing each position in the syllable:

C1 G V1 V2 C2
  • optional
  • any consonant but sh, r word-initially (s and p only occur before u)
  • any consonant word-medially
  • optional
  • only y or w/u
  • mandatory
  • any vowel
  • optional
  • only i, u or the preceding vowel repeated
  • optional
  • only s, sh, ng or z word-finally
  • only n or m before a consonant, except in the case of geminates

The word-final consonants s, sh, ng and z are not permitted to occur before another consonant, so undergo changes in compounds or when consonant-initial endings are added:

  • -s is lost, the preceding vowel is doubled and a following voiced plosive or j is devoiced:
gis 'man' + -do (collective) = giito 'group, band'
  • -sh becomes -i-, forming a diphthong with the preceding vowel, and a following voiced plosive is devoiced:
sush 'empty' + bupung 'person' = suipupung 'vain person'
arash 'night' + -te (time) = araite 'night-time'
  • -ng becomes -m before p, b, f and n before any other consonant:
gyong 'man' + -bu (collective) = gyombu 'warrior class'
yong 'foot' + -ko (adjectival) = yonko 'sock'
  • -z is lost and causes a following consonant to double, except x which becomes s and h which is lost, while z remains:
az 'male' + -chi (adjectival) = acchi 'masculine'
haz 'old' + kora 'bitch' = hakkora 'hag'
buaz 'sun' + xu 'fire' = buasu 'heat of the sun'
fuz 'tree' + HUZ 'lack' = fuzuz 'treeless'

In some cases a word ending in a vowel + -i will alter to vowel + -u when a suffix or the second element of a compound begins with a consonant:

mei 'dark' + kezi 'stone' = meukézi 'obsidian'

Word-final vowels may also be altered or lost when they come into contact with initial vowels in compounds or endings.

Stress

Syllables may be defined as either heavy or light:

  • a heavy syllable being either ends in a consonant (az, gyom-bu, ut-te) or contains a long vowel (bii, gii-to) or diphthong (mei, a-rai-te)
  • a light syllable ends in a single vowel (fa-be, xu).

Monosyllabic words carry stress. In polysyllables, stress is attracted to heavy syllables. In words containing more than one heavy syllable, primary stress is placed on the last such syllable, with secondary stress on the penultimate heavy syllable. In words with no heavy syllables, primary stress falls on the first syllable.

In some instances, stress does not follow these rules and is marked with an acute accent (e.g. béyong "knee", búrus "iriji person", ugáras "breast").

Orthography

Bis Burunko was traditionally written in a semi-syllabary called higomido, which was originally a rune-like system carved into stone, wood and bone but later developed a more calligraphic style used on paper-like sheets of wood.

The higomido consist of five specific vowel graphs, 41 consonant-vowel combinations (plosives, fricatives and affricates) and 7 individual consonant symbols (finals s, sh, ng and the remaining nasals and liquids m, n, l, r).

Other sequences of sounds are formed using these 53 symbols in combination:

  • diphthongs and double vowels are written using either a vowel + vowel combination (e.g. a + i = ai), or the relevant syllabic + vowel combination (ba + i = bai).
  • glide + vowel combinations are written using i/u + vowel (e.g. i + a = ya), or Ci/Cu + vowel (e.g. bi + a = bya).
  • sequences of chV and jV are written with the symbols for chi and ji + the relevant vowel (e.g. chi + a = cha).
  • nasals and liquids are simply followed by the relevant vowel (e.g. m + a = ma).
  • while there is a specific symbol for pu, other combinations of pV - which only occur as a result of devoicing by a preceding (former) sibilant - are formed with the b-syllabics preceded by either s or sh (e.g. )

Roots, Stems and Derivation

The majority of lexical items in Bis Burunko are based on mono- or disyllabic roots that may have verbal, nominal or adjectival meaning - or a combination of these, e.g. DANG 'drink', GI 'meat, flesh', MEI 'dark'. In this article, roots are written in capitals to denote them as such.

Some roots can be used as nouns or adjectives without further modification, e.g. gi 'meat, flesh', uz 'water', mei 'dark'. Verbs require the addition of the prefix e-, i-, y- to create a basic infinitive form (e.g. edang 'drink'), or they can be compounded with other elements (e.g. uddang 'drink water' < UZ + DANG). Primarily verbal roots can be nominalised with the prefix a-, e.g. adang 'a drink'.

The most common way of deriving new words is by compounding.

Grammar

Natural Gender on Burung

Grammatical gender does not occur in Bis Burunko, but natural gender is frequently marked on nominals, either by employing different words (e.g. az 'male', deme 'female', biitosh 'iriji person') or by derivation (e.g. with the honorative suffixes -osh (m.) and -ez (f.), -ai (mid.)). The concept of natural gender differs somewhat from the usual Western concept.

All things are considered to be either animate (bui) or inanimate (nabui), the primary distinction being whether a thing is capable of acting under its own power. This means humans, deities/spirits, most animals and some natural features, such as the sun and the sea, are considered bui while plants, rocks and most abstracts are nabui.

Within the category of animate nouns, all things are then considered to be masculine (acchi), feminine (demechi) or middle (iriji). The relevant gender is based partly on biological sex, partly on particular characteristics and partly on social roles. All children are considered iriji until puberty when they will be assigned one of the three genders.

Each of the four categories has a complex series of associations and is considered an equal part of a harmonious whole.

Case

ba Example Example
Topicaliser marks a subject or object as the focus of the utterance
ze Example Example
Nominative marks the subject of a verb (where it is not the topic)
ke Example Example
Accusative marks the direct object of a verb (where it is not the topic)
na Example Example
Possessive marks the (animate) possessor of an (inanimate) object. Used only for alienable possession.
le Example Example
Genitive marks the possessor of an inalienable object, or marks an object related to another.
i Example Example
Dative marks the indirect object of a verb (where it is not the topic)
la Example Example
Allative marks motion towards 'to'
chi Example Example
Ablative marks movement away 'from, of, through'
ang Example Example
Locative marks location 'in, on, at'
mi Example Example
Instrumental marks use of, 'with, by'.

Nouns

Nouns are non-inflecting and do not mark grammatical gender, number or definiteness, so e.g. puz can mean 'dog/dogs/a dog/(some) dogs/the dog/the dogs' etc. Grammatical case is indicated by the particles above after the noun.

Though grammatical number is not marked, nouns may take the following affixes to show a collective sense:

  • -do indicates a discrete group of things, usually located together, e.g. binjido 'mountain ridge' (binji 'mountain'), fuddo 'copse, small wood' (fuz 'tree'), gyondo 'band' (gyong 'man').
  • -bu indicates a totality of things, a class, and also the absract state of being a member of that class, e.g. binjibu 'mountains; mountain-hood', fubbu 'trees; treehood', gyombu 'men; manhood, masculinity'.
  • i- indicates a mass of things, ibinji 'mountain range', ifuz 'forest', igyong 'population'.

Reduplication is used to indicate intensity and in some cases can take on a collective meaning, e.g. gyongyong 'crowd, throng', yaiyai 'storm' (yai 'wind').

Adjectives

Adjectives are of two types. Verbal adjectives are the participles in -ng/na or -i (e.g. ekonna "growing", ewai "tired, exhausted, spent"). Nominal adjectives are either primary adjectives (e.g. haz "old", ong "good") or derived from a noun, other adjective or a verb (e.g. acchi "masculine", ukko "watery, aquatic", eyiking "pessimistic, defeatist" < exi "despair").

Any of these adjectives may occur attributively by preceding the noun they qualify unmodified, e.g. haz gyong to "that old man", ekonna fuz "a growing tree", eyiking heni chiri "three pessimistic guards".

When used predicatively, both types of adjective follow the entire noun phrase and precede the relevant form of yita "to be". Verbal adjectives are unmodified in this usage and, as often with English, the adjectival function of the participle is indistinguishable from the verbal function, e.g. fuz tong ba ekonna xiniteng "this tree wasn't growing", haz gyong to ba ewai jaite "that old man is tired".

Numerals

Cardinal Numbers
1 su(ng) 11 xassu(ng) 21 hatorunsu
2 hai 12 xazai 22 hatorunhai
3 gi 13 xaggi 30 gyauka
4 xa 14 xasa 40 xauka
5 maka 15 xammaka 50 makauka
6 ute 16 xazute 60 utauka
7 gyeng 17 xaggyeng 70 gyengauka
8 eileng 18 xazeileng 80 eilengauka
9 suneng 19 xassuneng 90 sunengauka
10 haz 20 hatrung 100 inung

Numbers are based on a decimal system, though numbers above 10 are, in reality, rarely used. The word inung, translated here as '100', is generally used for any large number. Higher numbers can be created, somewhat artificially, in the form su le inung '101', xaggyeng le inung '117'.

Ordinal Numbers
1st sus 11th xassus
2nd haus 12th xazaush
3rd gish 13th xaggish
4th xash 14th xasash
5th makachi 15th xamakachi
6th utechi 16th xazutechi
7th gyenchi 17th xaggyenchi
8th eilenchi 18th xazeilenchi
9th sunenchi 19th xassunenchi
10th hacchi 20th hatrunchi

Pronouns

Personal

Standard Emphatic
Singular Plural Singular Plural
1st ni bi (excl.)
bu (incl.)
nibez bibez (excl.)
bubez (incl.)
2nd chi fu chibez fubez
Indefinite yeka yekabez

Personal pronouns only truly exist for the 1st and 2nd persons, the 3rd person pronouns being demonstratives. There is also an indefinite pronoun yeka, often used as a formal 1st singular.

Note that the 1st person plural has both exclusive bi 'us (but not you)' and inclusive bu 'us all'.

No distinctions of gender case are made, the pronouns being followed by the case particles like nouns. To form possessive pronouns, the forms are followed by the possessive particle na (when referring to alienable possession) or the genitive particle le (when inalienable), e.g. ni na hato 'my knife' but ni le ata 'my father'.

Emphatic forms of the personal pronouns are created with the suffix -bez, i.e. nibez, chibez, bibez, bubez, fubez, yekabez. These function as both emphatic pronouns, drawing particular attention to the person, and reflexive pronouns.

There is a tendency to omit pronouns, particularly the subject, where the person referred to is understood from context.

A number of terms of address are used in place of 2nd person pronouns or demonstratives when speaking of high ranking individuals, including: fuchi, furung (for any addressee), burosh, andosh (for masc. addressees), burez, andez (for fem. addressees); burai, andai (for iriji addressees).

Demonstratives

Demonstratives function as both determiners (preceding the noun) and pronouns and distinguish proximal tong 'this (near speaker)', medial to 'that (near listener)' and distal taz 'that (distant from both listener and speaker, or abstract)'. No distinction is made for gender, and case is marked by particles.

Simple Emphatic
Proximal tong tombez
Medial to tobez
Distal taz tabbez

The plural forms tombu, tobu, tabbu occur where number is necessary for clarity or emphasis; otherwise the simple forms are used for both singular and plural referents.

Interrogatives and Indefinites

Burunko has a related series of adjectives, adverbs and pronouns denoting ...

Proximal Medial Distal Interrogative Indefinite
'any, no' 'every' 'some'
An. tong
'this'
to
'that'
taz
'that'
nobuji
'who'
imbuji
'anyone'
aubuji
'everyone'
bujido
'someone'
Inan. nohez
'what'
inhez
'anything'
auhez
'everything'
heddo
'something'
Place tonsuki
'here'
tosuki
'there'
tassuki
'there'
nosuki
'where'
insuki
'anywhere'
ausuki
'everywhere'
sukido 'somewhere'
Manner tombye
'like this'
tobye
'like that'
tabbye
'like that'
nobye
'how'
imbye
'anyhow'
aubye
'every way'
byedo
'somehow'
Time tombeng
'now'
tobeng
'then'
tabbeng
'then'
nobeng
'when'
imbeng
'anytime'
aubeng
'always'
bendo
'sometime(s)'
Cause tongeze
'because'
tazeze
'because'
noze
'why'
ineze
'any reason'
aweze
'all reasons'
ezedo
'some reason'

Verbs

Burunko has no true finite verb forms and does not mark verbs according to person, number or tense. The current verbal system appears to reflect an earlier periphrastic system using participles and other non-finite forms.

All verbs may be described as primary, secondary or compound. The base of every verb is taken from a closed class of verbal roots, which sometimes have broad meanings, such as DANG 'drink; absorb', ZUKI 'hold, have', KASH 'learn', AZ 'take'. This root is the only part of a verb that can take derivational or inflexional affixes.

Primary verbs are composed of a root with the verbalising prefix E-, realised as i- before a high vowel (i, u) in the next syllable, as y- before vowels and as e- elsewhere, .e.g. edang, izuki, yaz, ekash. This is the minimal form a verb can take in use.

Secondary verbs are derived from primary verbs by affixation and include frequentatives, causatives, applicatives, impersonals etc, e.g. edakash 'teach', edanko 'sip', enaz 'steal'.

Compound verbs are derived from a primary or secondary verb by prefixing the verb stem with another part of speech, e.g. izimizuki 'poke, finger', uddang 'drink water'. This is a large and highly productive class, in which new verbs can be formed easily. Reduplicated verbs also fall into this category, e.g. yazaz 'grasp, grab'. Compound verbs don't require the verbal prefix E-, unless the initial element is a verb.

Aspect

Verbs do not show tense, but take suffixes to show aspect:

  • The aorist participle is the unmodified form of the verb e.g. izuki 'touch', ekash 'learn', yommikei 'kick'. It is an aspectless form, referring to an action as an abstract, without any reference to time. It is also used as a verbal noun.
  • The imperfective participle is created by adding -N to the aorist, which is realised as -ng following vowels and -na following consonants in the stem, e.g. izuking 'touching', yanna 'taking', ekaina 'learning'. It refers to an action or state which is either ongoing or habitual.
  • The perfective is created by adding -i to the aorist, e.g. izukii 'touched', yazi 'taken, took', yommikeyi 'kicked'. It is used to denote an action or state in its entirety, without reference to its duration.

The iterative/frequentative aspect can be expressed by the secondary ending -iko (after a vowel) or -ko (after a consonant), which denotes frequent or repeated action, or an action seemingly composed of multiple smaller instances of an action, often where the result is quiet or of limited intensity e.g. ekaiko 'study' < KASH 'learn', edanko 'sip' < DANG 'drink', ebaiko 'babble, chatter' (softly, as of a baby) < BA 'speak', yedeiko 'nibble' < EDE 'bite'.

A reduplicated root may also be used to create a frequentative, but always with an intensive and often a pejorative sense, e.g. edandan 'gulp, quaff' < DANG, yedede 'to chomp' < EDE, ebaba 'yammer, gossip, yak' < BA.

Reduplicated verbs and those in -(i)ko form new aorist participles, to which the imperfective and perfective suffixes may be added, e.g. ekaiko, ekaikong, ekaikoi.

Valency

Verbs may be inherently transitive or intransitive, but are generally marked where they increase or decrease valency.

Valency can be decreased by:

  • Object-incorporation, in which the object noun is added to the front of the verb, replacing E-, e.g. uddang 'drink water' < uz 'water' + edang 'to drink' (compare uz-ke edang 'to drink water').
    • An indirect object can be incorporated with the addition of the applicative suffix -gi, e.g. bupundobagi 'address a council' (< bupundo 'people, council' + BA 'speak' + -gi)
  • The generic object suffix -to is added to transitive verbs where the direct object is not stated, creating an intransitive e.g. ipuito 'see', ekaito 'learn'".
  • The reciprocal/reflexive infix -be- is added to transitive verbs to indicate that the subject(s) and object(s) are the same, e.g. ebekash 'teach oneself/each other", ebepush 'see oneself; see each other, meet'.

Valency is increased by:

  • The causative infix -da-, which comes between the verbaliser E- and the root, e.g. edakash 'teach' < ekash 'learn'. This form of causative is mainly added to intransitive verbs and transitive verbs in which the subject has little or no control over the action (e.g. edapush 'show' < ipush 'see').
  • The applicative suffix -gi, which makes an indirect object the direct object and indicates the beneficiary, recipient, purpose or goal of the action, depending on context and the meaning of the verb, e.g. edakaigi 'teach someone', ebagi 'speak to someone'.

Mood

Mood is primarily denoted by sentence-final particles to express evidentiality, expectation, and other moods. The unmarked verb denotes a general declarative, e.g. taz ze uddang 's/he drinks water'.

bi taz ze uddang bi 's/he drinks water' (because I've seen it)
Evidential indicates that the speaker has direct experience or knowledge of the fact
kou taz ze uddang kou '(I hear) s/he drinks water'
Reportative indicates that the speaker has received the information from another source
teng taz ze uddang teng '(I assume) s/he drinks water'
Inferential the speaker assumes that the information is correct based on other factors
ofu taz ze uddang ofu 'perhaps s/he drinks water'
Dubitative suggests uncertainty, lack of facts or doubt
ite taz ze uddang ite 's/he may drink water'
Hypothetical the event may be true or possible
eiki taz ze uddang eiki 'I wish s/he drank water'
Desiderative the speaker hopes or wishes something to be the case
ai taz ze uddang ai? 'does s/he drink water?'
Interrogative 1 to ask simple, direct yes/no questions
wa taz ze uddang wa? 'does s/he drink water or not?'
Interrogative 2 to ask tentative yes/no questions
bis taz ze uddang wa? 'does s/he drink water or not?'
Interrogative 2 to ask tentative yes/no questions


Secondary Verbs

The main affixes used to create secondary verbs are:

  • The pejorative infix -na-, which takes the same position as -da- and perversity, ill intent or action resulting in unfortunate circumstances, e.g. enakash 'mislearn, learn wrongly', enadang 'drink heavily, get drunk'. When used with the causative, it becomes -dan-, e.g. edankash 'teach wrongly'.
  • The iterative/frequentative suffixes -iko (after a vowel) or -ko (after a consonant), which denotes frequent or repeated action, or an action seemingly composed of multiple smaller instances of an action, often where the result is quiet or of limited intensity e.g. ekaiko 'study' < KASH 'learn', edanko 'sip' < DANG 'drink', ebaiko 'babble, chatter' (softly, as of a baby) < BA 'speak', yedeiko 'nibble' < EDE 'bite'.

A reduplicated root may also be used to create a frequentative, but always with an intensive and often a pejorative sense, e.g. edandan 'gulp, quaff' < DANG, yedede 'to chomp' < EDE, ebaba 'yammer, gossip, yak' < BA.

Compound Verbs

The initial element may be:

  • a noun denoting the direct object of the verb, e.g. xemmang 'to name' < xeng 'name' + MANG 'give', loging 'to sleep' < lo 'sleep' + GING 'do'. These verbs may take a new object, e.g. ...
  • an adjective, denoting various senses of being or becoming a state, or to denote the subject's feelings or opinion, e.g. futtoz 'turn white' < fuz 'white' + TOZ 'come', ongushi 'like, approve of' < ong 'good' and USHI 'consider'.
  • an adverb denoting the method, direction or means of doing the action, e.g. fimiroz 'move quickly' < fimiro 'quickly' + OZ 'move'; yommikei 'kick' < yommi 'with the foot' + KEI 'strike, hit'.

Derivation

Bis Burunko has a highly productive derivational system, primarily based on suffixes.

Suffix Meaning Added To Examples
Nouns
-ai augmentative, honorific (mid.) n, adj
-aro "time, season, right time" n, adj, vn
-ba, -be kinship suffix denoting primary line n
-do collective n
-ez augmentative, honorific (fem.) n, adj
-fo diminutive n
-ji (domesticated) animal n, adj
-jing "period of time, age, era" n, adj, v
-ko1 "thing for, connected with" n
-ko2 diminutive n
-mi diminutive n
-ni, -ng agent v
-o instrument, tool v
-osh augmentative, honorific (masc.) n, adj
-pung "having" n
-taz, -daz* "person/thing from" n
-te, -de* "(short) stretch of time, period" n araite "nighttime"
-teng, -deng* diminutive n
-to1, -do* instrument, tool n, v, adj
-to2 diminutive n
-yo kinship suffix denoting 2 removed from ego n
Adjective
-chi, -ji* "of, like, pertaining to; characteristic of" n demechi "female, feminine"
-king "tending to, fond of" n, v
-ko "related to, characteristic of" n
Adverbs
-mi means, method n yommi "with the foot"
-ro manner adj fimiro "quickly"

Vocabulary

Gender Terms

Gender terms for humans and gods are partly based on the individual's age. Burung society sees life divided into four ages:

  • Childhood (pumebu) from birth to the onset of puberty, in which all individuals are considered iriji.
  • Young Adulthood (garaapu) from the onset of puberty to full initiation into adult life.
  • Adulthood (koziji) encompasses the working life, a time for raising a family.
  • Old Age (hajji) from retirement to death.
Gender Child Young Adult Adult Senior
Acchi
(masc.)
az
goi gis, gyong hoz
Demechi
(fem.)
deme
madash xoz axoz
Iriji
(mid.)
haya
pume poda búrus

Primary Verbs

Root Meanings Infinitive Gerundive Perfective
OZ move yoz yonna yozi
ARANG move back and forth, swing, sway yarang yaranna yarangi
GA go up; ascend, climb; improve ega egang egai
BE go down, descend; fall; deteriorate ebe ebeng ebei
IGI go past, pass; exceed; change state yigi yiging yigii
XAZ go in(to), enter; penetrate exaz exanna exai
ZUKI1 go out, exit, leave izuki izuking izukii
LIPU go ilipu ilipung ilipui
TOZ come etoz etonna etozi
ES approach; press yes yeena yeshi
ZUKI2 touch, come into contact; mention izuki izuking izukii

Swadesh List

No. English Burunko
1 I ni
2 you (sg.) chi
3 he az (m.)
4 we (inc.) bi
5 you (pl.) fu
6 they abbu (m.)
7 this tong
8 that taz
9 here sukitong
10 there sukitaz
11 who (int.) nosha
12 what (int.) nohez
13 when (int.) nobeng
14 where (int.) nusuki
15 how (int.) nubide
16 not -no-
17 all alo
18 many mupu
19 some xama
20 few
21 other ai
22 one
23 two
24 three
25 four
26 five
27 big enji
28 long los
29 wide
30 thick
31 heavy
32 small bing
33 short dobuz
34 narrow

thin woman man (adult male) man (human being) child wife husband mother father animal fish bird dog louse snake worm tree forest stick fruit