Saxuma

Saxuma /saʃuˈma/ (Saxuma: [sɑ.ɕùˈmá]), also romanized Sasiouma and historically known as Saras Wima ['sʌ.r̥as wi'ma], is a language isolate spoken by approximately 5000 speakers on the Mediterranean island of Sasaois, and an autonomous zone of the Hellenic Republic. It is notable for its split ergative alignment, flexible word order, and dynamic semantic gender.

Almost all residents of Sasaios speak Greek and English, but there is a strong movement to protect the cultural heritage of the language, with poetry, novels, and music produced in Saxuma, as well as dubbings of many foreign movies and television shows into the language.

The folk history of the language states that it was a constructed language developed by the original inhabitants of Sasaios - members of a cruise ship that crashed on the island and decided to settle there. Most scholars find this history preposterous, but it is still taught in schools on Sasaios and considered official history by the town government.

On a meta-level, this language was created by User:Anisette Biscotti, with the original intention of exploring concepts of gender and sexuality. While it has become something of its own beast, still most translations into the language are texts dealing with gender, desire, and romance.

Phonology

Consonants

Consonant Inventory

	Labial		Alveolar		Palatal		Velar		Glottal
	Voiceless	Voiced	Voiceless	Voiced	Voiceless	Voiced	Voiceless	Voiced	Voiceless
Nasals	m		n		ɲ		(ŋ)
Plosives	p	b	t	d	c		k	g	ʔ
Fricatives	(ɸ)	v⁓β	s⁓t͡s	z⁓d͡z	ç ɕ	ʑ⁓d͡ʑ	x⁓h		hʷ
Liquids			r̥	l		(ʎ)
Glides	(ʍ)	w				j

• /n/ is realized as [ɲ] when adjacent to any palatal consonant, and as [ŋ] when preceding a velar plosive.
• Voiceless plosives are typically unaspirated, but are usually aspirated word-finally.
• All plosives are realized as [ʔ] when immediately followed by another plosive or a nasal of the same place of articulation.
• /ɸ/ appears only in loanwords, and may be instead pronounced as [hʷ]
• /s/, /z/, and /ʑ/ may be realized as their associated affricates when not preceded by a vowel, but this is not obligatory.
• /hʷ/ may be realized as [ʍ] and /v/ as [β] intervocalically, but this is not obligatory.
• /x/ is mostly realized as /h/ when preceding a non-front vowel.
• The sequences /tj/ and /kj/ are realized as [c], /dj/ and /gj/ as [d͡ʑ], /sj/ as [ɕ], /zj/ as [ʑ], and /xj/ as [ç].
• When adjacent to any palatal consonant, /l/ may be realized as [ʎ] or [j]

Vowels

Vowel Inventory

	Front	Back
High	i iː	u uː
Mid	ɛ~e eː	o oː
Low	aː a~ɑ

Diphthongs	Front-initial	Back-initial
	ja~i̯a, ju~i̯u, jo~i̯o	aj~ai, oj~oi, ɑw~ɑo

• Both long vowels and diphthongs may be pronounced instead as two vowels in hiatus. This is particularly common in song and when unstressed.
• Short /e/ is typically pronounced [e] when word-final and [ɛ] elsewhere.
• Short /a/ is typically pronounced as [a] when stressed or word-final, and [ɑ] elsewhere.
• /i/ and /u/ are lowered to /e/ and /o/ respectively when followed by /ʔ/

Phonotactics

The maximal syllable structure of Saxuma is (C)V(C). Only voiceless obstruents and nasals are allowed in codas, with the exception of /hw/, which does not.

Adjacent vowels epenthesize a semivowel - /j/ if the former vowel is /e/ or /i/, /w/ if /u/ or /o/. If the former vowel is /a/, then the latter vowel is used to determine the epenthesized semivowel in the same way.

The sequence /nn/ is allowed. One survey of speakers indicated that /mm/, /ss/, /zz/, /ɕɕ/, and /ʑʑ/ are all considered phonotactically licit, but no actual occurrences of any of these are attested, except across word boundaries. Identical plosives in sequence will have the former plosive morph to a glottal stop, e.g. */tt/ > [ʔt].

Pitch Accent

Stress is contrastive in Saxuma. Historically, different parts of speech were produced from the same stem by varying the stress (with verbs having ultimate stress and nouns and adjectives initial), and stress was reinforced by a system of vowel reduction. For example, kobá [kɔˈba] ("to drink") vs. kóba [ˈko.bʌ] ("beverage"). These kinds of verb-noun pairs still exist in modern Saxuma, such as kalán 'to cry' vs. kálan 'tears', but many of them have been made less direct due to sound changes. For example, while 'to drink' is still kobá, is now kō.

Additionally, in place of the stress and vowel reduction system, modern Saxuma uses pitch accent. There are three pitch levels, and all syllables are by default mid tone.

• Almost all monosyllabic words retain their mid tone pitch. For example, kan [ˈkan] ("cold"). This is also true of monosyllabic words with long vowels and diphthongs, such as bō [ˈboː] ("sheep"). Some monosyllabic content words, such as gay [gay] ("why") are stressless, and bear a low tone.
• If a short vowel is accented, it bears a high tone, e.g. émin [ɛ́.min] ("lips"). If it is non-initial and preceded by a short vowel, the preceding syllable bears a low tone. For example, xeyáyem [ɕɛ̀ˈjá.jem] ("friction") and zigará [zi.gɑ̀ˈrá] ("protector").
• If stressed or directly preceding a stressed syllable, long vowels and diphthongs receive contour tones. For stressed vowels, this is a peaking contour of tone MHM, e.g. enâ [ɛ̀ˈna᷈ː] ("passion"). When directly preceding a stressed syllable, the long vowel bears a falling contour ML, e.g. mābá [mâːˈbá] ("various").
  • When long vowels are pronounced as identical vowels in hiatus, each vowel carries its own tone. If stressed, they follow the pattern of HM. If preceding a stressed syllable, then ML. Using the examples above, enâ would be pronounced as [ɛ̀ˈnáˌa] and mābá as [ma.àˈbá].

Orthography

Romanization

Saxuma Romanization

A a	B b	C c	D d	Dy dy	E e	F f	Ff ff	G g	Gy gy	H h	Hy hy
/a/	/b/	/c/	/d/	/d͡ʑ/	/ɛ/	/hʷ/	/ɸ/	/g/	/d͡ʑ/	/x/	/ç/
I i	J j	K k	Ky ky	L l	Ly ly	M m	N n	Ny ny	O o	P p	Q q
/i/	/ʑ/	/k/	/c/	/l/	/ʎ/	/m/	/n/	/ɲ/	/o/	/p/	/ʔ/
R r	S s	Sy sy	T t	Ty ty	U u	V v	W w	X x	Y y	Z z	Zy zy
/r̥/	/s/	/ɕ/	/t/	/c/	/u/	/v/	/w/	/ɕ/	/j/	/z/	/ʑ/

• Accented short vowels are indicated with an acute accent, unaccented long vowels with a macron, and accented long vowels with a carat.

Verbal Morphology

W Ablaut

The W Ablaut is a morpho-phonological process that appears throughout Saxuma verb inflections. It performs the following vowel transformations:

• a → aw if stressed, → o if unstressed
• i → yu
• u → ū
• e → yo
• o → ō

Verb Classes

There are nine verb classes in modern Saxuma, most of which can be immediately determined by looking at the word itself, though some must be learned.

• The regular conjugation includes all verbs not outlined below, and all end in short, monophthong vowels. It is divided into strong and weak conjugations, the strong being any that end in -e, -o, or -CCV, and the weak those that end in a single consonant followed by -a, -i, or -u.
• The -sa conjugation includes all verbs that would be a regular weak conjugation, but the consonant before -a, -i, or -u is <s> or <x>.
• The -fa conjugation includes all verbs that would be a regular weak conjugation, but the consonant before -a, -i, or -u is <f>.
• The -ra conjugation includes all verbs that would be a regular weak conjugation, but the consonant before -a, -i, or -u is <r>.
• The -N conjugation includes all verbs ending in -n or -m.
• The -S conjugation includes all verbs ending in -s or -x.
• The -T conjugation includes all verbs ending in -k, -t, or -p, and some ending in long -ē.
• The -H conjugation includes most, but not all, verbs ending in a long vowel.
• The -aw conjugation includes all verbs ending in -aw.
• The -ay conjugation includes all of verbs ending in -ay.

We will detail below how each verb ending inflects to the different conjugation patterns.

The Negative, -NA

-NA, the negative ending, negates the verb it attaches to.

Sigu palah.

The rabbit runs.

Signa palah.

The rabbit does not run.

-NA may be appended to any of the other endings besides the attributive.

Sigway palah.

run.INCH rabbit

The rabbit starts to run.

Sigwena palah.

run.INCH.NEG rabbit

The rabbit does not start to run.

How to conjugate -NA

The conjugations of -NA for the different classes are as follows:

• Strong regular verbs append -ná to the end of the word. Weak regular verbs delete the final vowel and append -ná.

  lesó → lesoná

  enjí → enjiná

  sigú → signá

• -N, -S, and -H conjugation verbs simply append -ná.

  ekán → ekanná

  rum → rumná

  gix → gixná

  sarás → sarasná

  oxâ → oxāná

• -sa conjugation verbs delete the final vowel and append ná. Note that if the consonant before the final vowel is <x>, then ná will be pronounced as [ɲa].

  myusá → myusná [mjusˈna]

  exí → exná [ɛɕˈɲa]

• -fa conjugation verbs delete the final -fV, apply W-Ablaut to the remaining stem, and append ná.

  safá → saw-ná → soná

• -ra conjugation verbs delete the final -rV, and append xná.

  kurú → kuxná

• -T conjugation verbs remove the final consonant, or change final long ē to short e. Then, they apply W-Ablaut, and finally append ná.

  enák → enaw-ná → enoná

  hē → hyo-ná → hyoná

• -aw verbs morph the final -aw to -o and append -ná.

  aw → oná

  law → loná

• -ay verbs morph the final -ay to -e and append -ná

  way → wená

See the summary in the table below:

Negative -NA conjugation by verb class

Class		Example Stem	Negative -NA
Regular	Strong	lesó	lesoná
	Weak	sigú	signá
-sa		exí	exná
-fa		safá	soná
-ra		kurú	kuxná
-N		ekán	ekanná
-S		gix	gixná
-T		enák	enoná
-H		oxâ	oxāná
-aw		law	loná
-ay		way	wená

The Causative, -BI

-BI, the causative ending, indicates that the subject of the verb causes the object to perform the verb.

In sigbi palah.

He makes the rabbit run.

How to conjugate -BI

-BI adds the suffix -bí to verbs identically to -NA across all verb classes, with one exception:

• -T verbs delete the final consonant (or reduce long ē to short e), and then append -cú

enák → enacú

hē → hecú

See the table below for a summary.

Causative -BI conjugation by verb class

Class		Example Stem	Causative -BI
Regular	Strong	lesó	lesobí
	Weak	sigú	sigbí
-sa		exí	exbí
-fa		safá	sobí
-ra		kurú	kuxbí
-N		ekán	ekanbí
-S		gix	gixbí
-T		enák	enacú
-H		oxâ	oxābí
-aw		law	lobí
-ay		way	webí

Summary

Verb conjugations by classs and inflection

Class		Example Stem	Negative -NA	Causative -BI	Inchoative -WAY	Prospective -KUN	Perfective -W	Habitual -AX	Attributive -LA
Regular	Strong	lesó	lesoná	lesobí	lesowáy	lesokún	lesô	lesowáx	lesolá
	Weak	sigú	signá	sigbí	sigwáy	sigkún	sigû	sigwáx	siglá
-sa		exí	exná	exbí	exfáy	eqún	exyú	exyáx	yosá
-fa		safá	soná	sobí	sofáy	soqún	safô	safáx	sosá
-ra		kurú	kuxná	kuxbí	kuxfáy	kuqún	kûsa	kuxáx	kūsá
-N		ekán	ekanná	ekanbí	ekanwáy	ekankún	ekánla	ekanáx	ekanlá
-S		gix	gixná	gixbí	gixfáy	giqún	gyúsa	gixáx	gyusá
-T		enák	enoná	enacú	enasfáy	enaqún	enatáw	enatáx	enolá
-H		oxâ	oxāná	oxābí	oxafáy	oxaqún	oxáwsa	oxaháx	oxosá
-aw		law	loná	lobí	lowáy	lokún	lála	laláx	lalá
-ay		way	wená	webí	wewáy	wekún	wayú	wayáx	welá

See Also

• Category:Saxuma words