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The TAM system depends on the dialect. The dialects use roughly the same set of verb affixes, however different dialects use them to mark different things tense/aspect/evidentiality. | The TAM system depends on the dialect. The dialects use roughly the same set of verb affixes, however different dialects use them to mark different things tense/aspect/evidentiality. | ||
The grammar is fairly typical for the region | The syntax also depends on the dialect. Most dialects have SVO word order, except for the Eastern dialect which is syntactically ergative. In all dialects though, nouns can be brought to the front of the sentence as topics. | ||
The grammar is fairly typical for the region, secundative ditransitive alighment, postpositions, indirect objects coming before the verb, split ergativity (the details of which depend on the dialect), pronouns marked by verbal prefixes, a reciprocal voice marked by a reduplicative prefix, a large number of grammatical moods, and no obligatory plural marking. | |||
The phonology is also fairly typical for the region, with a three way aspirated vs. tenuis vs. voiced contrast in stops, a voicing contrast in sonorants consonants, moderately restrictive phonotactics, and a phonation contrast in vowels. | The phonology is also fairly typical for the region, with a three way aspirated vs. tenuis vs. voiced contrast in stops, a voicing contrast in sonorants consonants, moderately restrictive phonotactics, and a phonation contrast in vowels. | ||
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===Phonotactics=== | ===Phonotactics=== | ||
Syllable structures can be of the form | Syllable structures can be of the form C (C) V (C), where C is a consonant and V is a vowel (monophthong or diphthong). When two consonants form the onset of a syllable, the second must be /j/. Excluding the previously discussed cases, the only permissible clusters consist of a labial consonant + /j/. | ||
In all dialects, /p/, /t/ and / | In all dialects, /p/, /t/, /k/ and /ʔ/ can occur as codas. | ||
Nasals can also occur as codas, but in most dialects they do not contrast phonemically with one another. Before another consonant a nasal is always homorganic with that consonant, and at the end of words the only nasal coda heard is [ɲ] after front vowels and [ŋ] elsewhere (in the SW dialect this is simply nasalisation of the preceding vowel). | Nasals can also occur as codas, but in most dialects they do not contrast phonemically with one another. Before another consonant a nasal is always homorganic with that consonant, and at the end of words the only nasal coda heard is [ɲ] after front vowels and [ŋ] elsewhere (in the SW dialect this is simply nasalisation of the preceding vowel). | ||
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In the Eastern dialect, the flaps /ⱱ/ and /ɾ/ can also occur as codas (in other dialects, the corresponding words end in /ⱱə/ and /ɾə/. | In the Eastern dialect, the flaps /ⱱ/ and /ɾ/ can also occur as codas (in other dialects, the corresponding words end in /ⱱə/ and /ɾə/. | ||
====Grassman's Law==== | |||
=====Eastern Dialect===== | |||
In the Eastern dialect, a sound change analagous to Grassman's Law in Indo-European has occured. In a single word, there can only be a single aspirated consonant. In words that contain more than one, all but the last is deleted e.g. /pʰuˈɾepʰe/ - "to prepare" is /puˈɾepʰe/ in the Eastern dialect. Voiceless nasals, /ʍ/, /ɬ/ and /h/ count as aspirated consonants, and change to voiced nasals, /w/, /l/ and /ʔ/ respectively e.g. /ˈkʰoɬi/ - "coffee" is /ˈkoɬi/ in the Eastern dialect. | |||
=====NW Dialect===== | |||
Grassman's Law also operates in the NW dialect, albeit in the opposite direction. All but the first aspirated consonant is deleted, so /pʰuˈɾepʰe/ - "to prepare" is /pʰuˈɾepe/. Also, /ɬ/ lenites to /ʎ/ rather than /l/ e.g. /ˈkʰoɬi/ - "coffee" becomes /ˈkʰoʎi/. | |||
==Noun Morphology== | |||
===Case=== | |||
[[Category:Languages]] | |||
[[Category:Japonic languages]] | |||
[[Category:Altaic languages]] | |||