Kandi/Sandbox

Kandi
Tsan
Kándi tsúyi
Pronunciation	[kaːndɪ t͡suβ̞ʝɪ]
Created by	Waahlis
Setting	Unknown conworld
Native speakers	4 million (2015)
Language family	Jasi-Jivan Tanisi Kandi
Early form	Proto-Kandi
Writing system	Latin
Official status
Regulated by	Aytšin Tatšūkkāndi
Language codes
CLCR	qts

Kāndi, or Tsan (kándi tsúyi or tsani tsúyi) is a language spoken by the Tsan people. It belongs to the Tanisi language family and is thus distantly related to the Ris language. Kandi 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.

Phonology

Consonants

The Kandi inventory of consonants is very symmetrical. In D'Ivoires first model, he was mistaken and realised the velar approximant /ɰ/ as a variation of the long vowels. Comparative studies of the Ris and Jávva languages proved this to be wrong.

d'Ivoire model

		Bilabial	Dental	Alveolar			Dorsal	Glottal
			central	central	lateral	palatal
Nasals		m /m/	n /n/
Stops
	voiceless		t /t/				k /k/
	voiced	b /b/	d /d/				g /g/
Affricates				ts /t͡s/	tl /t͡ɬ/	tš /t͡ɕ/
Fricatives				s /s/		š /ɕ/ · y /ʝ/	x /x/	h /h/
Approximants		w /β̞/			l /l/		ǧ /ɰ/
Trills			r /ʀ~r/

Vowels

D'Ivoire standardised the phonemic inventory of vowels in the language, as per his conclusion that there were four phonemic short vowels, /i/, /a/, /u/, /ɔ/ and three phonemic "long" vowels. The quality of the long vowels is however rarely realised as the same as their short counterparts. It is likely that they once only differed in length, but such is no longer the case.

d'Ivoire model

	short	long
Close front unrounded	i /i/	í /iː/ [iː]
Open back unrounded	a /a/	á /aː/ [æ]
Open-mid back rounded	o /ɔ/	ó /ɔː/
Close back rounded	u /u/	ú /uː/ [u͜β̞]

Noun class specifers

There are 9 noun classes in Kandi. They are distinguished by the specifier they use, which is one of few grammatical number dependent elements in the language.

Class	Singular		Dual		Plural
I	-ma	-im	-nna	-únna	-yme	-imme	people, professions
II	-n	-i					animals, pets, cattle
III	-uš	-waš					predators, pejoratives
IV	wa-	w-					plants, nature
V	ki-	kin-	-únna	-yunna			meat, edibles, bodyparts
VI	-š	-iš	-sse	-issa			small/round/short/curved objects
VII	-teh	-teh	-yittah	-īttah			long/straight objects, instruments
VIII	-kka	-ákka					unclear, abstractions
IX	-ye	-ya			-yeh	-yeh	vast objects, divinity, honorifics

Predicative expressions

The Kāndi language lacks a clear distinction between nouns and verbs, and exhibits a flexibility between the predicate and argument in a clause. Any Kāndi content word is equivalent to a predicative expression, by default to be + noun. That means that a word like šay would mean (it is a) girl.

katsa
[ˈkat͡sa]
katsa-∅
songbird(II)-PRED
It is a songbird.

(1)

agúrri
[agu͜βrɪ]
agúrri-∅
boy(II)-PRED
It is a boy.

(2)

In a similar fashion there is wí, yín (PL), sir; content words for me, you, this, et c., equivalent to English pronouns. In order to create a predicative expression of the type I am + noun/adj, these are fixed to the end of the word. In most circumstances these pronominal predicatives are clitical.

wí
[wɪː]
wí-∅
1SG(I)-PRED
It is I (It is me)

(3)

agúrriwí
[agu͜βrɪwɪː]
katsa-∅=wí
boy(I)-PRED=1SG
I am a boy.

(4)

katsayín
[ˈkat͡sajɪːn]
katsa-∅=yín
songbird(II)-PRED=2PL
You are songbirds.

(5)

This is all fine and dandy, but you may ask yourself, what about predicative expressions with adjectives? How do I describe things? Kandi does not only lack a verb and noun distinction, it does not have adjectives in their own right either. Rather, some content words are more like adjectives than others, confer kirim, something red:

kirim
[kɪˈɾɪm]
kirim-∅
red(IX)-PRED
It is something red (It is red)

(6)

kirimmí
[kɪˈɾɪbmɪː]
kirim-∅=wí
red(IX)-PRED=1SG
I am something red (I am red)

(6)

Specifier

Predicative expressions over more complicated subjects than pronouns and the default are created by means of the specifier (spec). Similarly to Salishan languages, the specifier determines the subject of a clause, amongst other things. The specifier is dependent upon the noun class of the subject, however:

tšanun wušunna
[ˈt͡ʃanun wʊˈʃʊdna]
tšanu-∅-n wušunna-∅
horse(II)-PRED-SPEC sad(IX)-PRED
The horse is sad

(7)

walílak kirim
[waˈlɪːlak kɪˈɾɪm]
wa-lílak-∅ kirim-∅
SPEC.SG.IV-flower(IV)-PRED red(IX)-PRED
The flower is red

(8)

okúnna amik
[okˈʊːdna aˈmɪk]
ok-∅-únna amik-∅
eye(V)-PRED-SPEC.DU.V pebble(VI)-PRED
The eyes are pebbles

(9)

The specifier is difficult to understand, but confer the Salish languages of North America. The specifier is approximated relatively well by the expression that which, which means that tšanun wušunna could be interpreted as That which is a horse, it is sad.

Compound predicative expressions

In a similar manner to the enclitical pronomials previously, the predicate may be incorporated into the subject of the clause, and produce a compound of sorts. The compounds are normally accompanied with a suffix -y- for phonological reasons:

okkamik
[okˈkamɪk]
ok-y-amik-∅
eye(V)-COMP pebble(VI)-PRED
The eyes are pebble/The eye is a pebble

(10)

šayyú
[ˈʃajːʊ͜β]
šay-y-yú-∅
girl(V)-COMP-pretty(VIII)-PRED
The girl is pretty

(11)

These compounds are no longer very common, and they are sometimes used attributively, confer the pretty girl, instead of the girl is pretty. Most of them have become fixed phrases, šayyú is a common way to call for a girl, for example. The word okkamik on the other hand is used for especially unempathetic people. Other examples include omókkánay, God is great, and wánawakáyuma, the sky is endless.

Intransitive clauses

See also: Kandi/Predicative expressions

Intransitive clauses in Kandi are formed in a very similar manner to predicative expressions. In fact, there is no difference at all. Which... Can be tricky. In essence, there is no grammatical difference between I am biking and I am a bike.

síkawí
[ˈsɪːkawɪː]
síka-∅=wí
bike(VI)-PRED=1SG
I am a bike/I am biking

(12)

tíndatšiwí
[ˈtɪːndat͡ʃɪwɪː]
tínda-∅-tši=wí
know(IX)-PRED-DUB=1SG
I am not sure I know

(13)

yúr kánnami
[ˈjʊ͜βɾ ˈkaːdnamɪ]
yúr-∅ kán-∅-yam-i
goat(II)-PRED sight(V)-PRED-INF-II.SPEC
The goat must have seen (been able to see)

(14)

Do note that the specifier is afficed to the predicate-like part of the clause, in the last case kánnam-i. An apt translation would thus be That which is know(-ing), is a goat. Remember that definiteness and tense are not distinguished in the language.

Transitive clauses

Transitive clauses are formed in a few different ways. This is the most common construction,

yúr kingússa kánnami
[ˈjʊ͜βɾ ˈkɪŋgʊ͜βsːa ˈkɔdnamɪ]
yúr-∅ kin-gússa-∅ kán-∅-yam-i
goat(II)-PRED V.SPEC-arse(V)-PRED sight(V)-PRED-INF-II.SPEC
The goat must have seen the arse

(15)

Kšammí štaptih!
[ˈkɕabmɪː ˈɕtap͡ftɪ]
kšan-∅=wí štap-∅-tih
writing(IX)-PRED=1SG book(VII)-PRED-VII.SPEC
I'm writing a book!

(16)

which uses a specifier marking on the verb and on the object of the verb. Less idiomatic translations would be That which sees that which is the arse, it is a goat and I write that which is a book!, respectively.

Išawíy!
[ˈɪʃawɪːʝ]
iša-∅=wí=y
hate(IX)-PRED=1SG=2SG
I hate you!

(17)

winnaš wahšúwí!
[wahˈwɪdnaʃ wahˈʃʊ͜βɪː]
winnaš-∅ wah-šú-∅=wí
moose(II)-PRED SURP-eat(III)-PRED=1SG
Gah, the moose is eating me!

(18)

Possession

There are two main methods of expression possession in the language, utilising either the locative LOC or the possessive POSS affixes. The possessive suffix is by far the most common one, but the locative is more prevalent in certain dialects and in more formal registers. The usage is similar to Irish or Finnish, where for example the phrase The book at him most often translates as His book. It is important to note that the locative possession is restricted to animacy; only possessions of people can take the locative, making the phrase The house at the dog purely positional. It also calls into question your suitability as a pet owner.

síkawíniš
[ˈsɪːkwɪːnɪʃ]
síka=wí-n-iš
bike(VI)=me(I)-POSS-SPEC
my bike

(18)

kiy wanikánikka?
[ˈkɪj ˈwanɪkaːnɪkːa]
kiy wani=ká-n-ikka
what name(VIII)=you(I)-POSS-SPEC
what is your name?

(18)

wušunnay ixán
[ˈwʊʃʊdnaj ˈɪxaːn]
wušunna-y ixá-n
despair(IX)-(IX.SPEC) child(I)-POSS
the despair of a child

(19)

kamúnne wíyun
[ˈkamʊːdnɛ ˈwɪːjʊn]
kamún-ye wí-yun
house(IX)-(IX.SPEC) me(I)-LOC
my house/the house at me

(20)

What's actually inside

• ᎭᎪᏨ:ᏡᎲᏙᏙᏔᏋᎹ ᎪᏫᏢᎭᎹ:ᎰᎱ;
  yáasúweyikukúusima awushuyamátin?
  [ʝaːsuβ̞ɛʝikuˈkuːβ̞sẽʔa aβ̞uɕuʝʌ̃ˈʔaːtẽ]
  
  Is that moose crying herring?

(-)