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Nahónda
{{Construction}}
 
{{Infobox language
|name          = Nahónda
|nativename    = Nahónda Klóma
|creator      = User:Anyar
|pronunciation = na'honda kə'lo:ma
|setting      = Earth
|states        = Great Plains First Nations Confederation
|speakers      = 60,450
|date          = 2013
|familycolor  = panlaffic
|fam1          = Nahenic
|fam2          = Oharic <!-- Nahenic branches in the Americas -->
|nation        = Nahónda Tsalóte <!-- c.f Minhast "Nāhun min Šarrat", Nankôre "Nahónta si Serac" -->
|scripts        = * [[w:Latin script|Latin]]
}}


== Introduction ==
== Introduction ==
Nahónda, also known as Nónda and referred to by its own speakers as ''Nahónda keloma'' (lit. "Nahónda speak"), is a language centered in Northwestern Montana.  It is bordered by the Lakota Nation to the east, by the Cheyenne to the south, and the Blackfeet and Crow Nations to the north.  Along its western border lies the Nez Percé Nation.  Long considered a language isolate, new analyses has demonstrated it shares a common lineage with [[Minhast]] and [[Nankôre]].  It has now been classified as a member of the Nahenic language family, a small family that includes Minhast and Nankóre, as well as the recently discovered Neina or Na'ena language in northeast Siberia.  Nahónda is the second largest member of this family, around 60,450 members in the First Nations Confederation, with a few expatriate communities the largest of which exists in southern Manitoba at around nine hundred members.  Minhast remains the population juggernaut, at 26 million members in the Minhast homeland, and around 3 million more scattered in expatriate communities throughout the rest of the world.
Nahónda, also known as Nónda and referred to by its own speakers as ''Nahónda klóma'' (lit. "Nahónda speak"), is a language centered in Northwestern Montana.  It is bordered by the Lakota Nation to the east, by the Cheyenne to the south, and the Blackfeet and Crow Nations to the north.  Along its western border lies the Nez Percé Nation.  Long considered a language isolate, new analyses has demonstrated it shares a common lineage with [[Minhast]] and [[Nankôre]].  It has now been classified as a member of the Nahenic language family, a small family that includes Minhast and Nankóre, as well as the recently discovered Neina or Na'ena language in northeast Siberia.  Nahónda is the second largest member of this family, around 60,450 members in the Great Plains First Nations Confederation, with a few expatriate communities the largest of which exists in southern Manitoba at around nine hundred members.  Minhast remains the population juggernaut, at 26 million members in the Minhast homeland, and around 3 million more scattered in expatriate communities throughout the rest of the world.


Nahónda is an agglutinative and fusional language which is most apparent in its complex verb forms.  It is a split-intransitive language of the Fluid-S subtype.  Agents are explicitly marked while patients receive null marking.  Nahónda canonical word order is SOV, as in both Minhast and Nankóre, but word order is quite flexible and may deviate from SOV word order for pragmatics or other discourse considerations.  Like Minhast, it is considered a polysynthetic language as it exhibits polypersonal agreement, noun incorporation, head marking, holophrasis, and adverbial, modal, and evidential markers inside the verb complex.  The evolution of Nahónda polysynthesis is complex, reflecting both developments from its Nahenic ancestry, and influences from outside sources, especially the Siouan languages and a substrate Iroquoian layer.
Nahónda is an agglutinative and fusional language which is most apparent in its complex verb forms.  Its morphosyntactic alignment is split-intransitive of the Fluid-S subtype.  Agents are explicitly marked while patients receive null marking.  Nahónda canonical word order is SOV, as in both Minhast and Nankóre, but word order is quite flexible and may deviate from SOV word order for pragmatics or other discourse considerations.  Like Minhast, it is considered a polysynthetic language as it exhibits polypersonal agreement, noun incorporation, head marking, holophrasis, and the occurrence of adverbial, modal, and evidential markers inside the verb complex.  The evolution of Nahónda polysynthesis is complex, reflecting both developments from its Nahenic ancestry, and influences from outside sources, especially the Siouan languages.


The influence of other Native North American languages cannot be overstated, as many had a major impact on the phonology, morphology, and lexicon of the Nahónda language.  These influences caused it to diverge from it sister languages to the point that earlier linguists considered it to be a member of the Siouan languages, although the Iroquoian language family was also a main contender.
The influence of other Native North American languages cannot be overstated, as many had a major impact on the phonology, morphology, and lexicon of the Nahónda language, especially the Lakota language.  These influences caused it to diverge from it sister languages to the point that earlier linguists considered it to be a member of the Siouan languages, although the Iroquoian language family was also a main contender.


== Phonology ==
== Phonology ==
Nahónda phonology is relatively straightforward.  Except for ejectives acquired from Siouan and other surrounding languages, its phonemic inventory otherwise consists of an average set of consonants, and a five-vowel system.  Its phonemic inventory is considerably larger than Nankóre, which lost most of its voiced consonants, and a slightly larger than Minhast, which lacks affricates.  Unlike both Minhast and Nankóre, Nahónda has an exclusively CV syllabic structure.  Thus, Nahónda cognates always end in a vowel, whereas the former allow consonants in coda position.
Nahónda phonology is relatively straightforward.  Except for ejectives, its phonemic inventory otherwise consists of an average set of consonants, and a five-vowel system.  Its phonemic inventory is considerably larger than Nankóre, which lost most of its voiced consonants, and is slightly larger than Minhast, which lacks affricates.  In syllabic structure, a CV syllabic structure predominates and almost all words end in a vowel, although intermedial biconsonantal clusters do occur, e.g. ''wanko'' /waŋku/ "that one over there".


===Nahónda Consonantal Inventory===
===Consonants===
At first glance, the Nahónda consonantal inventory appears to have preserved Proto-Nahenic's ejective consonants.  However, upon further examination, the ejectives in Nahónda appear in words originally derived from languages falling within the Siouan Sprachbund; none are found in words reconstructed from the protolanguage.  The original laryngeals and pharyngeals were also largely lost with the exception of /h/.  The rhotic /r/ merged with /l/, likely due to Lakota influence.
Nahónda is the only Nahenic language that has preserved the original ejectives reconstructed from the protolanguage.  The velar fricative and pharyngeal fricative were also lost, merging with /h/.  The rhotic /r/ merged with /l/, likely due to Lakota influence.


{| class="bluetable lightbluebg"
{| class="bluetable lightbluebg"
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! Plosive  
! Plosive  
| p b  
| p b  
| p' b'  
| p'  
| t d  
| t d  
| t' d'
| t'
|  
|  
|
|
| k g
| k g
| k' g'
| k'
| ʔ
| ʔ
|
|
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|  
|  
| s z
| s z
| s' z'
| s'
| ʃ ʒ
| ʃ ʒ
|
|
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|  
|  
| t͡s d͡z
| t͡s d͡z
| t͡s' d͡z'
| t͡s'
| t͡ʃ d͡ʒ
| t͡ʃ d͡ʒ
| t͡ʃ' d͡ʒ'
| t͡ʃ'  
|
|
|
|
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|}
|}


=== Nahónda Vowel Inventory ===
=== Vowels ===
{| class="IPA" cellspacing="0px" cellpadding="0" style="text-align:center; background:none;"
{| class="IPA" cellspacing="0px" cellpadding="0" style="text-align:center; background:none;"
|- style="text-align:center; font-size:smaller;"
|- style="text-align:center; font-size:smaller;"
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| style="height: 30px; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;" | '''Open'''
| style="height: 30px; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;" | '''Open'''
|}
|}
=== Phonotactics ===
* Initial voiceless consonants in affixes, or initial voiceless consonants arising from reduplication become voiced when they occur in word-initial position, e.g.:
<div style="margin:10px">
- Reduplication: ''tonka'' "one buffalo" → ''<u>da</u>tonka'' "two or more buffalo".<br/>
- Affixation:
<div style="margin:20px">
1. No affix:
{{Gloss
|phrase = atsané
| IPA =
| morphemes = atsa-né
| gloss = lie.down-CONJ.CL
| translation = He lies down.
}}
2. With affix:
{{Gloss
|phrase = <u>bz</u>atsané
| IPA =
| morphemes = ps-atsa-né
| gloss = CAUS-lie.down-CONJ.CL
| translation = He lays him down.
}}
</div>
</div>


== Grammar ==
== Grammar ==
=== Nouns ===
=== Nouns ===
==== Gender ====
==== Gender ====
Like Minhast, Nahónda has a four-way gender distinction: masculine, feminine, neuter animate, and neuter inanimate.  Just as in Minhast, Nahónda does not attach gender markers on nouns, but rather agreement affixes in the verb complex take up this role, each affix indicating the gender of its cross-indexed nominal argument.  The verb's agreement affixes cross-index core roles only, i.e. the agent and patient; nouns that serve in a peripheral role are unmarked. Regardless, all nouns have inherent gender which must be memorized individually in order to select the proper verbal agreement affixes, or correctly identify the gender of a peripheral noun.
Like Minhast, Nahónda has a four-way gender distinction: masculine, feminine, neuter animate, and neuter inanimate.  Just as in Minhast, Nahónda does not attach gender markers on nouns, but rather agreement affixes in the verb complex take up this role, each affix indicating the gender of its cross-indexed nominal argument.  The verb's agreement affixes cross-index core roles, i.e. the agent and patient.  If non-core nouns have been previously marked with deictic markers, a total of two additional markers can occupy the Extended slot of the [[Nahónda#Verb_Template|verb template]] to cross-index the marked nouns.
 
Regardless, all nouns have inherent gender which must be memorized individually in order to select the proper verbal agreement affixes, or correctly identify the gender of a peripheral noun.


==== Number ====
==== Number ====
Unlike Minhast and Nankôre, Nahónda explicitly marks number on nouns with the affix ''-pi''.  This affix is a borrowing from Lakota.  To indicate collectives, particularly of animals, reduplication is employed, e.g. ''tatselo''<ref>''Tatselo'' is cognate with Minhast ''kaslub'' "dog", and Nankóre ''kospor'' "fox".</ref> "elk" → ''tatatselo'' "a herd of elk". Collectives can be further pluralized, e.g. ''tatatselo'' → ''tatatselo<u>pi</u>'' "elk herds".
==== Case ====
==== Case ====
Nahónda distinguishes two core cases, agent and patient, and one oblique case, the genitive.  The Patient case is unmarked and serves as the direct object of most transitive verbs, and the subject of stative verbs.  The Genitive serves not only to mark possessors, but as the recipient with donor verbs, e.g. ''wíkha Džalo-da nitsátačeyo'' "Give Dzhalo the rope", the hearer of speech verbs, e.g. ''Enane-da kelómatačeyelo'' "Speak to Mother!", as well as the direct or indirect object of transitive verbs belonging to other semantic types, e.g. Goal, Experiencer, etc.   
Nahónda distinguishes two core cases, agent and patient, and one oblique case, the genitive.  The Patient case is unmarked and serves as the direct object of most transitive verbs, and the subject of stative verbs.  The Genitive marks possessors, e.g. ''Džalo-da wíkha'' "Dzhalo's rope.  Additionally, it marks the recipient with donor verbs, e.g. ''wíkha Džalo-da nitsátačeyo'' "Give Dzhalo the rope", the hearer of speech verbs, e.g. ''Enane-da kelómatačeyelo'' "Speak to Mother!", as well as the direct or indirect object of transitive verbs belonging to other semantic types, e.g. Goal, Experiencer, etc.   


{| class="bluetable lightbluebg"
{| class="bluetable lightbluebg"
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==== Pronominal Forms ====
==== Pronominal Forms ====
<br/>
<br/>
{| class="bluetable lightbluebg"
{| class="bluetable lightbluebg mw-collapsible"
|+
|-  
|-  
! rowspan="2" | Number
! rowspan="2" | Number
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|-  
|-  
! 3rd Masc.
! 3rd Masc.
| kune
| kane
| -ka-
| -∅-
| ka
| ka
| -na-
| -∅-
|-
|-
! 3rd Fem.
! 3rd Fem.
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| tsila
| tsila
| -tsi-
| -tsi-
|-
! 4th
| hana
| -ha-
|  wa
|  -wa-
|-
|-
! colspan="6" style="background-color:black" |Plural
! colspan="6" style="background-color:black" |Plural
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| -ma-
| -ma-
|-
|-
! 4th
| aháne
| -ahe-
| ahe
| -he-
|-
|}
Minhast:
{|  class="bluetable lightbluebg mw-collapsible"
|-
! rowspan="2" |Person - Number - Gender
! colspan="2" | Independant Forms
! colspan="2" | Bound Forms
|- 
! Ergative
! Absolutive
! Oblique
! Attributive
|-
!  1st Sg.
|  yakte
|  yak
|  yak-
|  -ek
|-
!  2nd Sg.
|  tahte
|  taħ
|  tah- <br/> taħ-
|  -taħ
|-
!  3rd Masculine - Common Sg.
|  kūde
|  kua
|  kū-
|  -na
|-
!  3rd Feminine Sg.
|  lēde-
|  lea
|  lē- <br/> ley-
|  -lea
|-
!  3rd Neuter Animate Sg.
|  šemet
|  šea
|  šē- <br/> šey-
|  -šea
|-
!  3rd Neuter Inanimate Sg.
|  mēde
|  mea
|  mē- <br/> mey-
|  -mea
|-
! colspan="5" | Plural
|-
!  1st Plural Inclusive
|  hakemt(e)
|  hak
|  hak-
|  -(h)akkem
|-
!  1st Pl Exclusive
|  nemt(e)
|  nem
|  nem-
|  -nem
|-
!  2nd Pl.
|  taħtemt(e) <br/> tahemt(e)
|  taħtem <br/>tahem
|  taħtem- <br/> tahem- <br/> taħm-
|  -taħtem <br/> -tahem <br/> -taħm
|-
!  3rd Masc./Common Pl
|  kemt(e)
|  kem
|  kem-
|  -kem
|-
!  3rd Neut. Anim. Pl.
|  sešt(e)
|  seš
|  sešš(i)-
|  -sseš
|-
!  3rd Neut. Inanim Pl.
|  maħt(e)
|  maħ
|  mah- <br/> maħ-
|  -maħ
|}
Nankôre
{| class="bluetable lightbluebg"
|+ '''Intransitive Pronouns'''
|-
!  rowspan ="2"|
!  colspan="2"|Singular
!  colspan="2"  | Plural
|-
! Independent
! Clitic
! Long Form
! Short Form
|-
! 1S
| style="text-align:center"| ak
| =ák
| akôs
| aóy<br/>yoy
|-
! 2S
| style="text-align:center"| kā<br/> ka
| =ká
| kakôs
| koy
|-
! 3S
| style="text-align:center"| tā <br/> ta
| =tá
| takôs
| toy
|-
|}
|}
 
<!--
<br /><br />


{|
{|
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| acà
| acà
|}
|}
-->


==== Demonstratives ====
==== Demonstratives ====
Like its relatives Minhast and Nankôre, Nahónda makes a four-way distinction in its demonstratives.  Some forms, such as the Proximal and Medio-proximal demonstratives, show in the Agent forms an etymological relationship with Minhast. The Medio-proximal patient and Distal agent forms appear to be derived from the same source as in the corresponding Nankôre form.  A common etymology for the Invisible form among all the sister languages has yet to be found.  The Nahónda demonstratives are listed in the following table:
Like its relatives Minhast and Nankôre, Nahónda makes a four-way distinction in its demonstratives.  With the exception of the Invisible Demonstrative, all of the demonstratives have demonstrable cognates with another Nahenic language, namely Nankôre, and in one of the Minhast dialects<ref>Specifically, the Gull Speaker dialect's verbal local affixes.  This dialect is also remarkable in sharing features with other Nahenic languages not found in any other Minhast dialect</ref>.  The Nahónda demonstratives are listed in the following table:


{| class="bluetable lightbluebg"
{| class="bluetable lightbluebg"
|-  
|-
! rowspan="2" style="width:100px"| &nbsp;
! Type !! Independent !! Translation !! Example || Nahenic Cognates
! colspan="2" | Independent
|-
! colspan="2" | Clitic
! '''Proximal '''
! rowspan="2" style="width:200px"| Meaning
| nótsalo
! rowspan="2"| Nahenic Cognates
| This one, near the speaker
|-  
| ''nahón nótsalo'' <br/> "this man here"
! style="width:70px" |Agent
|
! style="width:70px" |Patient
* Minhast Gull Speaker dialect: <br/>''-nussar-''
! style="width:70px" |Agent
* Nankôre: ''hosiayri'' <br/> /ho'ʃjaɪɾi/
! style="width:70px" |Patient
|-
|-
! Proximal
! '''Medio-Proximal'''
| saka
| iyáyalo
| ko 
| This/that one near the listener "that"
|  =sa
| ''nahón iyáyalo'' <br/>"that man next to you"
|  =ko
|  This one, near the speaker
|  
|  
* Proto-Nahenic:
* Minhast Gull Speaker dialect: <br/>''-eyyar-, -yyar-''
* Neina:
* Nankôre: ''yaiyayri''
* Common Minhast: ''sap'' (ABS)
* Nankôre:
|-  
!  Medio-proximal
|  na
|  ho
|  =na
|  =ho
|  This/that one near the listener "that"
|
* Proto-Nahenic:
* Neina:
* Common Minhast: ''nax'' (ABS)
* Nankôre: ''=hori''
|-
|-
! Distal
! '''Distal'''
| wanko<br/>wanku
| pʼáyalo
|  wo
| Yonder, far from both speaker and listener
| =wa
|''nahón pʼáyalo'' <br/> "yonder man""
|  =wo
|
|  Far from both speaker and listener
* Minhast Gull Speaker dialect: <br/>''-ppeyyar-''
|
* Nankôre: ''paypayri''
* Proto-Nahenic:
* Neina: ''=vaš''
* Common Minhast: ''waššī'' (ABS)
* Nankôre: ''=nko''
|-
|-
! Invisible
! '''Invisible'''
| yanko<br/>yanku
| nando
|  yo
| Used for objects beyond sight or obstructed <br/>by another object. <br/>
|  =ya 
It may also be used for a person or thing being <br/> referred to within a narrative or other discourse, <br/>and sometimes as a decessive.
|  =yo
| ''nahón nando'' <br/> "that man (e.g. on the <br/>other side <br/> of the mountain)"
| Used for objects beyond sight or obstructed by another object. It may also be used for a person or thing being referred to within a narrative or other discourse, and sometimes as a decessive.
|
|
* Minhast Stone Speaker dialect: <br/>''-onda-'' "to conceal"(?)<ref>This remains a highly contested hypothesis.</ref>
* Proto-Nahenic:
* Neina:
* Common Minhast: ''waššī'' (?) (Distal)  
* Nankôre: ''=nko'' (Distal)
|}
|}


The independent forms may serve as attributives, in which case they appear before the noun phrase.  Unlike Minhast, which requires a connective particle to join the demonstrative to its head, in Nahónda the demonstrative is simply juxtaposed before its head, e.g.:


{{Gloss
{{Gloss
|phrase = Wanko šúnkawakaninéhi owožutkopi sukakatsa<sup>1</sup>
|phrase = Šúnkawakaninéhi pʼáyalo owožutkopi kasukakatsané.
| IPA =  
| IPA =  
| morphemes = wanko šúnkawakán-ne-hi owožu-tko-pi suka~ka-tsa
| morphemes = šúnkawakáne-ne-hi pʼáyalo owožu-tko-pi ka-suka~ka-tsa-né
| gloss = DIST horse-DET.cylindrical.object-AGT grass-DET.flat.prone.object-PL run~INT-EVID.VIS
| gloss = horse-DET.cylindrical.object-AGT DIST grass-DET.flat.prone.object-PL 3MS.AGT-run~INT-EVID.VIS-CONJ.CL
| translation = That horse is always racing across the plains.
| translation = That horse is always racing across the plains.
}}
}}


==== Determiners ====
 
Like many languages that fall in the Siouan Sprachbund, Nahónda developed a set of determiners that convey size and shape information of their noun heads. These determiners are descended from postural and motion verbs, reflecting an evolutionary pathway like the non-Siouan languages that developed similar determiners.  The verbs from which these articles developed from come from Nahenic roots.
The demonstratives may also be used as substantives, acquiring full noun status.  Additional suffixes, such as determiners and case markers, may then attach to them, e.g.:
 
{{Gloss
|phrase = Pʼáyalonehi owožutkopi kasukakatsané.
| IPA =
| morphemes = Pʼáyalo-ne-hi owožu-tko-pi ka-suka~ka-tsa-né
| gloss = DIST-DET.cylindrical.object-AGT grass-DET.flat.prone.object-PL 3MS.AGT-run~INT-EVID.VIS-CONJ.CL
| translation = That (cylindrical-shaped) one is always racing across the plains.
}}
 
 
The demonstratives also have verbal clitic forms.  For more information on the verbal clitic forms, refer to the [[Nahónda#Verbs | verb section]].
 
=== Determiners ===
Like many languages that fall in the Siouan Sprachbund, Nahónda uses determiners to mark size and shape information on nouns.  These determiners occur as a set of suffixes that attach to the noun preceding any case markers. These suffixes, descended from postural and motion verbs, reflect an evolutionary pathway similar to the non-Siouan languages.  The verbs from which these suffixes developed originate from Nahenic roots.


{|  class="bluetable lightbluebg mw-collapsible"
{|  class="bluetable lightbluebg mw-collapsible"
! Type
! Shape
! Determiner Suffix
! Motion
! Affix
! Source and Cognates
! Source and Cognates
! Examples
! Examples
|-
|-
! Bulky <br/>object
! Squat/Bulky
| Moving
| -ksa-
| -ksa-
|  
|  
Line 686: Line 583:
|rowspan="2"|
|rowspan="2"|
{{Gloss
{{Gloss
|phrase = Wanku tatonkaksahi owožutkopi sukakatsa.
|phrase = Tatonkaksahi pʼáyalo owožutkopi sesukakatsané.
| IPA =  
| IPA =  
| morphemes = wanku tatonka-ksa-hi owožu-tko-pi suka~ka-tsa.
| morphemes = tatonka-ksa-hi pʼáyalo owožu-tko-pi se-suka~ka-tsan-é.
| gloss = DIST buffalo-DET.squat.object-AGT grass-DET.flat.prone.object-PL run-INT-EVID.VIS
| gloss = buffalo-DET.squat.object-AGT DIST grass-DET.flat.prone.object-PL 3NS.ANIM.AGT-run-INT-EVID.VIS-CONJ.CL
| translation = That buffalo is running across the plain.
| translation = That buffalo is running across the plain.
}}  
}}  
|-  
|-  
! Flat object
! Flat
| Stationary
| -tko-
| -tko-
|  
|  
Line 700: Line 598:
* Common Minhast ''yafkut'' "flatlands, level terrain"  
* Common Minhast ''yafkut'' "flatlands, level terrain"  
* Nankóre ''ekkót'' "to lie down"
* Nankóre ''ekkót'' "to lie down"
* Old Nahónda ''*ikote'' "to sleep"
* Proto-Nahónda ''*ikote'' "to sleep"
|-  
|-  
! Cylindrical object
! Cylindrical
| Moving
| -ne-
| -ne-
|
|
Line 711: Line 610:
|
|
{{Gloss
{{Gloss
|phrase = Wanko šúnkawakaninéhi owožutkopi sukakatsa
|phrase = Šúnkawakaninéhi pʼáyalo owožutkopi kasukakatsané
| IPA =  
| IPA =  
| morphemes = wanko šúnkawakán-ne-hi owožu-tko-pi suka~ka-tsa
| morphemes = wanko šúnkawakáne-ne-hi owožu-tko-pi ka-suka~ka-tsan-é
| gloss = DIST horse-DET.moving.object-AGT grass-DET.flat.prone.object-PL run~INT-EVID.VIS
| gloss = DIST horse-DET.moving.object-AGT grass-DET.flat.prone.object-PL 3MS.AGT-run~INT-EVID.VIS-CONJ.CL
| translation = That horse is always racing across the plains.
| translation = That horse is always racing across the plains.
}}  
}}  
|-
|-
! Thin upright object
! Thin + Upright
| Stationary
| -lo-
| -lo-
|
|
Line 725: Line 625:
* Common Minhast ''ruħyan'' "to starve"
* Common Minhast ''ruħyan'' "to starve"
* Nankóre ''raš'' "to be hungry"
* Nankóre ''raš'' "to be hungry"
* Old Nahónda ''lóya'' "to be skinny"
* Proto-Nahónda *''luya'' "to be skinny"
|
|
{{Gloss
{{Gloss
|phrase = Wanku tayénalo tsožutkopi tsane
|phrase = Tayénalo pʼáyalo tsožutkopi tsan-é
| IPA =  
| IPA =  
| morphemes = Wanku tayena-lo tsa-wožu-tko-pi tsane
| morphemes = tayena-lo pʼáyalo tsa-wožu-tko-pi tsan-é
| gloss = DIST tree-DET.thin.upright.object COLL-grass-DET.flat.object-PL stand
| gloss = tree-DET.thin.upright.object DIST COLL-grass-DET.flat.object-PL stand-CONJ.CL
| translation = That lone tree stands by itself on the prairie.
| translation = That lone tree stands by itself on the prairie.
}}  
}}  
|-
|-
! Sharp or tapering objects
! Sharp or tapering
| Stationary
| -tso-
| -tso-
|
|
Line 753: Line 654:
|}
|}


Determiners may be added to verb complexes to create nominalizations:
{{Gloss
|phrase = Wanku yakitsítsala keklománalo kaynanči
| IPA = /'waŋko jaki't͡sit͡sala kɛklo'manalo ka'jant͡ʃi/
| morphemes = Wanku ya-kitsitsa-lá ke~kloma-ná-lo kay-nan-či
| gloss = DIST 1S.AGT-talk.about-PST REDUP~talk-CONJ.CL-DET.thin.upright.object good-be-NEG
| translation = That one I mentioned earlier, the one chatting there, is not a good person. Lit. "Over there I mentioned, talk-talks the thin one good is not".
}}
<!-- In above sentence, intransitive stative "-ná-" is etymologically related to copula "-nan-" (to be).  Both are cognates to Minhast "-an" intransitive marker and Nankôre "iná" intransitive auxiliary.  I don't know why the regressive stress shift occurs -->
<!-- "-tsa-" = collective marker? -->
<!-- "-tsa-" = collective marker? -->


Line 930: Line 841:


==== Verb Template ====
==== Verb Template ====
The polysynthetic Nohandaráy verb follows a templatic paradigm (c.f. Northern Iroquioan languages).
The polysynthetic Nahónda verb follows a templatic paradigm (c.f. Northern Iroquioan languages).  A comparison of the Nahónda verb template with the [[Minhast#Verb_Template | verb template]] of its Minhast relative reveals major differences in their verbal structures.  Nevertheless, certain components of each language's template reveal a common heritage with their Proto-Nahenic progenitor.


The Nahónda verb is divided into three major segments: the initials, the verb core, and the finals.  These roughly correspond with the Minhast preverb, verb core, and the terminative.  The Nahónda verb template is illustrated in the following table:


{| class="bluetable lightbluebg"
{| class="bluetable lightbluebg"
|+  
|+ '''Nahónda Verb Template'''
!  
! colspan="8" style="text-align:center" |Initials
! colspan="3" |Initials
|-
! rowspan="2" |
| colspan="2" rowspan="2" style="text-align:center" | Conjunctives
| rowspan="2" style="text-align:center" | Scalars
| rowspan="2" style="text-align:center" |Causative
! colspan="3" style="text-align:center;background-color:#E0E0E0" | Pronominals
|-
| style="text-align:center" | Agent
| style="text-align:center" | Patient
| style="text-align:center" | Extensions
|-
! colspan="8" |Verb Core
|-
|-
!
!
| Conjunctives
| style="text-align:center"  | Reflexive/Reciprocal
| Scalar Operators
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center"  | <span style="font-weight:bold;text-align:center">Root</span>
| Reflexive/Reciprocal
| style="text-align:center"  | Incorporated Noun
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center"  | Tense/Aspect
| style="text-align:center"  | Conjugation Class
|-
! colspan="8" | Finals
|-
|-
!
! rowspan="2" |
! colspan="3" |Verb Core
| colspan="3" rowspan="2" style="text-align:center" | Adverbials
| rowspan="2" style="text-align:center" | Locationals
| style="text-align:center"  | Precatives
| colspan="2" rowspan="2" style="text-align:center"  | Finals
|-
|-
!
| style="text-align:center"  | Evidentials
| Pronominals
| Verb Root
| Incorporated Noun
|-
|-
!
|}
! colspan="3" |Medials
 
<br/>
The most noticeable difference between Nahónda and Minhast is the order and number of slots in their respective verb templates.  The position of the pronominal elements particularly stand out; the Nahónda pronominal affixes appear before the verb root, while in Minhast the pronominals appear after the verb root.  Adverbial affixes in Nahónda appear after the verb root, while in Minhast they appear in preverbal position, in the Mood-Tense-Manner slot.  Additionally, the adverbial affixes in Nahónda are circumscribed: only some adverbial affixes may co-occur with each other, and when they do, they appear in rigid order, otherwise only one affix may occur at a time; while in Minhast, any number of adverbial affixes may appear and their ordering is highly variable, based on discourse considerations.  Certain slot categories appear in one language and are absent in the other; Nahónda has a category for Conjunctives which are lacking in Minhast, while in Minhast the Applicatives slot does not appear in the Nahónda verb template.  There are more slot categories in Minhast, which give the appearance that Minhast is more polysynthetic than Nahónda.  For comparison, the Minhast verb template is presented below:
<br/>
{{Minhast_Verb_Template}}
<br/>
Nevertheless, there are certain patterns shared by both languages.  In both languages, the scalar operators appear before the verb root in both languages.  The position of the incorporated noun appears directly after the verb in both languages, an otherwise rare phenomenon in polysynthetic languages.  The causative appears before the verb root in both languages, occupying a single slot within the Nahónda verb template, and Slot 3 of the Preverbal affixes in the Minhast template.  Moreover, the tense/aspect and so-called "Conjugation Class", coinciding with the slot for the Minhast transitivity markers, appear after the verb root, in the same ordinal position in both languages. The placement of these slots relative to the verb root is not coincidental but is the result from a shared ancestry.
 
Interestingly, their non-polysynthetic relative, Nankôre, employs a similar process to noun incorporation called [[Nankôre#Quasi-Noun_Incorporation | Quasi-Incorporation]].  And just as in Nahónda and Minhast, the quasi-incorporated noun appears immediately after the verb root, just before the verbal auxiliary.
 
The postverbal position of the incorporated or quasi-incorporated noun is a shared feature among the three languages, apparently inherited from the Nahenic protolanguage.
 
{| class="bluetable lightbluebg"
|+ '''Comparison of Incorporated Noun Position in Nahenic Languages'''
|-
!  || Nahónda  ||  Minhast || Nankóre
|-
|-
!
! Default
| Adverbials
| m
| Locatives
|
| Evidentials
{{Gloss
|phrase = Bakran kemaran suharak iyyatixrisipsaptarmakabukilmaksaš?
|IPA =
| morphemes = Bakran kem=aran suharak yyat-xr-sipsap-tar-mak-ab-u-kilmakš=aš
| gloss = why 3P=DAT paper NEC-ITER-transport-DISTR-3P.NEUT.INAN.ACC+1S.NOM-IMPF-TRNS-MIR.FRUSTRATION=IRR
| translation = Why must I keep on bringing (these) letters back and forth between them?
}}
| 
{{Gloss
|phrase = Makse rihat tayôreno ta'itá
|IPA = /'makʃɛ̯ ɾi'hat ta'yo:reno taʔɪt'aʔ/
| morphemes = makse rihat ta=yôre=no  ta-itá-ʔ
| gloss = mouse.LA falcon.HA  INV=bite=SEM INV-HS.COP-LS
| translation = The mouse bit the falcon.
}}
|-
|-
!
! Incorporated
! colspan="3" | Finals
|
|
{{Gloss
|phrase = Bakran iyyatixridustipsapsuħraktarkenkabukilmaksaš?
|IPA =
| morphemes = Bakran yyat-xr-dut-sipsab-suharak-tar-kenk-ab-u-kilmaks=aš
| gloss = why NEC-ITER-DAT.APPL-transport-paper.item-DISTR-3P.ACC+1S.NOM-IMPF-TRNS-MIR.FRUSTRATION=IRR
| translation = Why must I keep on bringing (these) letters back and forth between them?
}}
|
{{Gloss
|phrase = Makse yôreno <u>rihat</u> 'itá'
|IPA = /'makʃɛ̯ 'yo:reno ɾi'hat ɪt'aʔ/
| morphemes = makse yôre=no rihat  ∅-itá-ʔ
| gloss = mouse.LA bite=SEM falcon DIR-COP-LS
| translation = The mouse falcon-bit.
}}
|-
|-
!
|}
| Transitivity
 
| Precatives
===== Conjunctives =====
| Clitics
===== Scalars =====
|}  
===== Causative =====
===== Pronominals =====
===== Reflexives and Reciprocals =====
===== Verb Root =====
===== Incorporated Noun=====
 
===== Tense and Aspect =====
Nahónda distinguishes two basic aspects, an imperfect and perfect, and six tenses, remote past, simple past, present, immediate future, simple future, and remote future.
 
===== Conjugation Class =====
The Conjugation Class slot is occupied by one of three suffixes or their allomorphs, ''-no'', ''-né'', and ''-na''.  These suffixes are descended from Proto-Nahenic auxiliaries, transitive ''*ne'nok'' "do", and  intransitive''*ya'na:ʔ'' "be".  <ref>In Classical Minhast and many of the modern northern dialects, these became the transitive ''-un'' and intransitive ''-an'' affixes, and ''-u'' and ''-an'' in all other dialects.  In Nankôre, the Proto-Nahenic auxiliaries survive as the verb ''unna'', "to make", and the stative auxiliary ''iná''.</ref>  While both Minhast and Nankôre preserve the  distinction of transitive-intransitive or active-stative meanings from the protolanguage's auxiliaries, a considerable amount of syncretism has occurred in Nahónda.  So while a slightly higher number of active verbs end with ''-no'' and stative verbs with ''-né'' or ''-na'' in their basic forms, many active verbs have ''-né'' or ''-na'' endings, and ''-no'' for stative verbs. Interestingly, when a third person singular agent acts on a third person singular patient, the verb obligatorily takes the ''-no'' ending, as third person singular agents and third person singular patients both take null marking.<ref>Its Minhast relative shares this null-marking feature</ref> This so-called "''no''-flipping" of ''-né/-na'' endings is the primary way of cross-indexing the agent when it experiences pro-drop. <ref>The Siouan languages also null-mark third person singular agents and patients, but there is no reason to conclude that they contributed to ''no''-flipping.</ref>


<!--
===== Transitivity =====
There are three principal types of transitivity markers in Nahónda, transitive active, intransitive active, and intransitive stative.  A minor fourth type of marker exists, a zero-valent intransitive impersonal marker, which is used principally for describing meteorological and supernatural events.
There are three principal types of transitivity markers in Nahónda, transitive active, intransitive active, and intransitive stative.  A minor fourth type of marker exists, a zero-valent intransitive impersonal marker, which is used principally for describing meteorological and supernatural events.


Line 991: Line 975:
| -ká
| -ká
|
|
|}
-->
===== Adverbials =====
===== Local Affixes =====
{|  class="bluetable lightbluebg"
|-
! Type !! Clitic !! Translation !! Example || Nahenic Cognates
|-
! '''Proximal '''
| -tsaló
| here
| ''nahón=tsaló'' "this man here"
| 
* Minhast Gull Speaker dialect: <br/>''-nussar-''
* Nankôre: ''hosiayri'' <br/> /ho'ʃjaɪɾi/
|-
! '''Medio-Proximal'''
| -eló-, -yelo-
| there, <br/> close to you
| ''Taya-sal-o-yeló'' <br/>"I see it next to you."
|
* Minhast Gull Speaker dialect: <br/>''-eyyar-, -yyar-''
* Nankôre: ''yaiyayri''
|-
! '''Distal'''
| -peló
| yonder
|''nahón=peló'' "yonder man""
|
* Minhast Gull Speaker dialect: <br/>''-ppeyyar-''
* Nankôre: ''paypayri''
|-
! '''Invisible'''
|
-ndo<br/>
-do
| way over there <br/> beyond sight
|
|
* Minhast Stone Speaker dialect: <br/>''-onda-'' "to conceal"(?)<ref>This remains a highly contested hypothesis.</ref>
|}
|}


==== Male/Female Speech Marking ====
===== Precatives =====
Nahónda verbs use special suffixes to differentiate whether the speaker is male or female.  These suffixes have no cognates in any of the Nahenic languages, but were adopted from their immediate Siouan-speaking neighbors, specifically, the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakota_language#Men's_and_women's_speech Lakota].  These suffixes are apparently a recent borrowing, as the forms are exactly the same as in Lakota, having undergone no morphophonotactic changes.
===== Clitics =====


==== Postural and Locomotive Verbs ====
===== Male/Female Speech Clitics =====
Nahónda lacks adpositions and verbal applicative markers to indicate the locational or directional relationship of a noun phrase.  Instead, postural and locomotive verbs are used to indicate oblique case relations:
Nahónda verbs use special clitics to differentiate whether the speaker is male or female.  These clitics have no cognates in any of the Nahenic languages, but were adopted from their immediate Siouan-speaking neighbors, specifically, the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakota_language#Men's_and_women's_speech Lakota].  They are apparently a recent borrowing, as the forms and functions are the same as in Lakota, albeit having undergone a few trivial sound changes to accommodate the Nahónda phonemic inventory.
 
{| class="bluetable lightbluebg"
|+
! 
! Male
! Female
|-
! Mild Assertive
| =yeló
| =ye
|-
! Emphatic Assertive
| n/a
| =kšó
|-
! Request
| =ye
| =na
|-
! Informal Interrogative
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center" | =he
|-
! Formal Interrogative
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center" |=huwo
|-
! Dubitative
| =so
| =se
|}
 
<!--
yeló (men) ye (women) mark mild assertions. Kštó (women only according to most sources) marks strong assertion. Yo (men) and ye (women) mark neutral commands, yetȟó (men) and nitȟó (women) mark familiar, and ye (both men and women) and na mark requests. He is used by both genders to mark direct questions, but men also use hųwó in more formal situations. So (men) and se (women) mark dubitative questions (where the person being asked is not assumed to know the answer).
-->
 
==== Verb Types ====
===== Verb Stacking =====
Nahónda utilizes verb stacking for a variety of purposes.  A clause containing the head verb is followed by one or more modifier verbs for various morphosyntactic processes that would otherwise be handled by verbal inflection as in other polysynthetic languages, case systems, or independent particles.
 
As was mentioned earlier, Nahónda lacks both adpositions and applicatives to indicate grammatical relations<ref>Aka theta-roles</ref>, both of which its relative Minhast possesses.  Nahónda employs verb stacking in lieu of adpositional marking and applicativization to specify grammatical relations.  Verb stacking may also be employed to convey various adverbial meanings.
 
In Nahónda, the clause containing the verb head, i.e. the "main verb", precedes the modifiers<ref>Interestingly, the order of dependent verbs mirrors the placement of verb affixes in the Eskaleut languges.</ref>.  This is an unusual feature, as most(??) languages that employ verb stacking place the modifying verb before its head.  Placement of the dependents appears to be motivated by scopal considerations, with each element having leftward scope over all elements preceding it in the verb phrase.  The dependents are also are unmarked for TAM, and person marking is null, i.e. the dependents take third person singular marking. Instead, the dependents inherit their person and TAM marking from the main verb.
 
An example of verb stacking, with the verbs ''tatʼano'' ("to give") to convey an Allative relation, and ''bana'' ("to be quick") to convey immediacy, are illustrated in the  following gloss:
 
{{Gloss
|phrase = Gokódené yakalódona tatʼano bana.
| IPA = /go'ko:dɛnɛ: jaka'lo:dona 'tatʼano 'bana
| morphemes = gokóde-ne ya-∅-kaló-dona ∅-tatʼa-∅-∅-no ba-∅-∅-na
| gloss = enemy-DET.cylindrical_moving 1S.AGT-3S.PT-throw-spear-PST give.3S-PFCT-PST-CONJ be.swift-PFCT-PST-CONJ
| translation = I immediately threw the spear at the enemy warrior mounted on horseback.
}}
 
The following table contains the most commonly used verbs in serialization constructions. 


{| class="bluetable lightbluebg"
{| class="bluetable lightbluebg"
Line 1,023: Line 1,101:
| to use
| to use
| Minhast ''sespir'' "hand"
| Minhast ''sespir'' "hand"
| yawonkeče, gatso yatsipilače
|  
{{Gloss
|phrase = Yanelowonkeči, gatsatso yatsitsipilače
| IPA = /janelo'wɔ̃ŋkɛt͡ʃi 'gat͡sat͡so jat͡sit͡si'pilat͡ʃɛ/
| morphemes = ya-ne-lo-awonke-če, gatsa-tso ya-ts-tsipila-če
| gloss = 1S.AGT-DET.cylindrical.object.stationary-DET.pointed.object.stationary-kill-TRN arrow-DET.pointed.object.stationary 1S.AGT-DET.pointed.object.stationary-use-TRN
| translation = I killed (the deer) with this arrow, lit. "I killed this one using this arrow."
}}
|-
! Locative
| tsatsené
| to sit down
| Minhast ''saššian'' "to sit"
|
{{Gloss
|phrase = Takasalačé Anyale wanku tiksa tsatsená.
| IPA =
| morphemes = ta-ka-sala-čé anyale wanku ti-ksa tsatse-ná
| gloss = 2S.AGT-3S.PT-see-TRN PN.3S.PT DIST tipi-DET.squat.object sit-STAT
| translation = You will see Anyar inside that tipi.
}}
|-
! Perlative <ref>The words listed as possible cognates for the Perlative from the other Nahenic languages are highly speculative, as most scholars agree that Nahónda preserved Proto-Nahenic */d/. A sound shift from /d/ -> /l/ lacks supporting evidence; the /d/ -> /l/ alternation found in the Lakota dialects is insufficient to explain the phonological realization of the Perlative, as sound changes in Nahenic roots have by and large resulted from internal processes within Nahónda itself.</ref>
| iláyaná
| to ford a river, stream, or other body of water
|
* Neina ''dayan'' "water" (?)
* Minhast ''dannum, dannua'' "water" (?)
* Nankôre ''tanno'' "water" (?)
|
{{Gloss
|phrase = tahomatanélo wakpádze tadzeláyače kádaiga tagatsipilačeyo.
| IPA =
| morphemes = ta-homata-né-lo wakpá-dze ta-dze-iláya-če wanku kádai-ga ta-ga-tsipila-če-yo
| gloss = 2S.AGT-go-AGT.INTR-male.speech river-DET.slow.moving.object 2S.AGT-DET.slow.moving.object-go.across-TRN canoe-DET.stationary.long.object 2S.AGT-DET.stationary.long.object-use-TRN-male.speech
| translation = Go across the river in that canoe.
}}
|}
|}


=== Particles ===
=== Particles ===
=== Reduplication ===
Reduplication is pervasive in Nahónda.  In nouns, they indicate:
#Plurality
In verbs, reduplication is employed for:
#Durative aspect


== Syntax ==
== Syntax ==
==Morphosyntactic Alignment==
==Footnotes==
Nahónda morphosyntactic alignment is classified as the Split Intransitive type, also known as an Active-Stative alignment.  Transitive clauses by definition take two core arguments, an Agent, and a Patient.  Intransitive clauses take only one core argument.  That the verb that core argument takes may denote either a state, e.g. "He is sick", or it may designate an action instigated by the the core argument, e.g. "He jumps".  In the first case, the core argument takes marking which indicates it experiences or is affected by the state, while in the second the argument takes another marker which indicates that it instigates an action or event.
{{reflist}}


Languages of the Split Intransitive type may be further divided into one of two subtype.  One type, the Split-S type, divides its verbs into two lexical division: one division is restricted to states; its NP argument is an experiencer or undergoer of the state, and hence takes one type of case marking.  The other verbal division expresses events which indicate its core argument functions as an agent; the core argument thus takes marking distinct from that of an experiencer or undergoer.  The other Split Intransitive subtype, the Fluid-S type, does not exhibit this verbal distinction: all verbs may serve to indicate state or events; case marking of the core argument depends on its semantic role, it is not preselected based on the verbal class, as Fluid-S type languages do not have distinct verbal classes.
[[Category:Languages]]
 
[[Category:Conlangs]]
Nahónda belongs to the Fluid-S type of languages.  When the core argument of an Intransitive verb functions as a semantic Agent, it takes the marker ''=yo'', whereas it takes the marker ''=ka'' when it is an Experiencer or Undergoer.
 
==Footnotes==
1) The Siouan languages, particularly Lakota, had a major impact on the Nahónda lexicon.  We see this influence in this sample sentence ''Wanko šúnkawakánhi owožupi sukakatsa''.  Nahónda ''šúnkawakán'' "horse" is borrowed directly from Lakota ''šúŋkawakȟáŋ'', as is ''owožu'' "grass".  Even the plural marker ''-pi'' is borrowed from the Lakota plural marker ''-pi''.  The verb ''sukaka-tsa'' comes from Nahenic roots, c.f. Minhast ''sukkan'' "to be quick" and ''saru'' "to see".

Latest revision as of 02:53, 1 January 2024


Nahónda
Nahónda Klóma
Pronunciation[na'honda kə'lo:ma]
Created byAnyar
SettingEarth
Native toGreat Plains First Nations Confederation
Native speakers60,450 (2013)
Nahenic
  • Oharic
    • Nahónda
Official status
Official language in
Nahónda Tsalóte

Introduction

Nahónda, also known as Nónda and referred to by its own speakers as Nahónda klóma (lit. "Nahónda speak"), is a language centered in Northwestern Montana. It is bordered by the Lakota Nation to the east, by the Cheyenne to the south, and the Blackfeet and Crow Nations to the north. Along its western border lies the Nez Percé Nation. Long considered a language isolate, new analyses has demonstrated it shares a common lineage with Minhast and Nankôre. It has now been classified as a member of the Nahenic language family, a small family that includes Minhast and Nankóre, as well as the recently discovered Neina or Na'ena language in northeast Siberia. Nahónda is the second largest member of this family, around 60,450 members in the Great Plains First Nations Confederation, with a few expatriate communities the largest of which exists in southern Manitoba at around nine hundred members. Minhast remains the population juggernaut, at 26 million members in the Minhast homeland, and around 3 million more scattered in expatriate communities throughout the rest of the world.

Nahónda is an agglutinative and fusional language which is most apparent in its complex verb forms. Its morphosyntactic alignment is split-intransitive of the Fluid-S subtype. Agents are explicitly marked while patients receive null marking. Nahónda canonical word order is SOV, as in both Minhast and Nankóre, but word order is quite flexible and may deviate from SOV word order for pragmatics or other discourse considerations. Like Minhast, it is considered a polysynthetic language as it exhibits polypersonal agreement, noun incorporation, head marking, holophrasis, and the occurrence of adverbial, modal, and evidential markers inside the verb complex. The evolution of Nahónda polysynthesis is complex, reflecting both developments from its Nahenic ancestry, and influences from outside sources, especially the Siouan languages.

The influence of other Native North American languages cannot be overstated, as many had a major impact on the phonology, morphology, and lexicon of the Nahónda language, especially the Lakota language. These influences caused it to diverge from it sister languages to the point that earlier linguists considered it to be a member of the Siouan languages, although the Iroquoian language family was also a main contender.

Phonology

Nahónda phonology is relatively straightforward. Except for ejectives, its phonemic inventory otherwise consists of an average set of consonants, and a five-vowel system. Its phonemic inventory is considerably larger than Nankóre, which lost most of its voiced consonants, and is slightly larger than Minhast, which lacks affricates. In syllabic structure, a CV syllabic structure predominates and almost all words end in a vowel, although intermedial biconsonantal clusters do occur, e.g. wanko /waŋku/ "that one over there".

Consonants

Nahónda is the only Nahenic language that has preserved the original ejectives reconstructed from the protolanguage. The velar fricative and pharyngeal fricative were also lost, merging with /h/. The rhotic /r/ merged with /l/, likely due to Lakota influence.

Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal Laryngeal
Plain Ejective Plain Ejective Plain Ejective Plain Ejective
Nasal m n
Plosive p b p' t d t' k g k' ʔ
Fricative s z s' ʃ ʒ h
Affricates t͡s d͡z t͡s' t͡ʃ d͡ʒ t͡ʃ'
Approximants w j
Lateral l

Vowels

  Front Near- front Central Near- back Back
Close
Blank vowel trapezoid.svg
i
u
o
ɛ
a
  Near-close
Close-mid
Mid
Open-mid
Near-open
Open

Phonotactics

  • Initial voiceless consonants in affixes, or initial voiceless consonants arising from reduplication become voiced when they occur in word-initial position, e.g.:

- Reduplication: tonka "one buffalo" → datonka "two or more buffalo".
- Affixation:

1. No affix:

atsané
atsa-né
lie.down-CONJ.CL
He lies down.

2. With affix:

bzatsané
ps-atsa-né
CAUS-lie.down-CONJ.CL
He lays him down.

Grammar

Nouns

Gender

Like Minhast, Nahónda has a four-way gender distinction: masculine, feminine, neuter animate, and neuter inanimate. Just as in Minhast, Nahónda does not attach gender markers on nouns, but rather agreement affixes in the verb complex take up this role, each affix indicating the gender of its cross-indexed nominal argument. The verb's agreement affixes cross-index core roles, i.e. the agent and patient. If non-core nouns have been previously marked with deictic markers, a total of two additional markers can occupy the Extended slot of the verb template to cross-index the marked nouns.

Regardless, all nouns have inherent gender which must be memorized individually in order to select the proper verbal agreement affixes, or correctly identify the gender of a peripheral noun.

Number

Unlike Minhast and Nankôre, Nahónda explicitly marks number on nouns with the affix -pi. This affix is a borrowing from Lakota. To indicate collectives, particularly of animals, reduplication is employed, e.g. tatselo[1] "elk" → tatatselo "a herd of elk". Collectives can be further pluralized, e.g. tatatselo → tatatselopi "elk herds".

Case

Nahónda distinguishes two core cases, agent and patient, and one oblique case, the genitive. The Patient case is unmarked and serves as the direct object of most transitive verbs, and the subject of stative verbs. The Genitive marks possessors, e.g. Džalo-da wíkha "Dzhalo's rope. Additionally, it marks the recipient with donor verbs, e.g. wíkha Džalo-da nitsátačeyo "Give Dzhalo the rope", the hearer of speech verbs, e.g. Enane-da kelómatačeyelo "Speak to Mother!", as well as the direct or indirect object of transitive verbs belonging to other semantic types, e.g. Goal, Experiencer, etc.

Nahónda Case Markers
Suffix Sample Paradigm
Singular Plural Singular Plural
Agent -hi -hipi šúnkawakáne-hi šúnkawakáne-hipi
Patient -∅ -pi šúnkawakáne šúnkawakáne-pi
Genitive -da -dapi šúnkawakáneda šúnkawakáne-dapi

Pronominal Forms


Number Person Agent Patient
Independent Bound Independant Bound
Singular 1st yate -ya- ya -ya-
2nd itá -ta- ta -ta-
3rd Masc. kane -∅- ka -∅-
3rd Fem. kicela -kice- la -la-
3rd Neut. Anim. séha -se- se -se-
3rd Neut. Inanim. ma -ma- tsila -tsi-
Plural
Plural 1st Incl akene -ake- ake -ke-
1st Excl nene -ne- ne -ne-
2nd tahene -tahe- ta -ta-
3rd Common kene -ke- ke -ke-
3rd Neut. Anim. setse -se- se -se-
3rd Neut. Inanim. mate -ma- ma -ma-

Demonstratives

Like its relatives Minhast and Nankôre, Nahónda makes a four-way distinction in its demonstratives. With the exception of the Invisible Demonstrative, all of the demonstratives have demonstrable cognates with another Nahenic language, namely Nankôre, and in one of the Minhast dialects[2]. The Nahónda demonstratives are listed in the following table:

Type Independent Translation Example Nahenic Cognates
Proximal nótsalo This one, near the speaker nahón nótsalo
"this man here"
  • Minhast Gull Speaker dialect:
    -nussar-
  • Nankôre: hosiayri
    /ho'ʃjaɪɾi/
Medio-Proximal iyáyalo This/that one near the listener "that" nahón iyáyalo
"that man next to you"
  • Minhast Gull Speaker dialect:
    -eyyar-, -yyar-
  • Nankôre: yaiyayri
Distal pʼáyalo Yonder, far from both speaker and listener nahón pʼáyalo
"yonder man""
  • Minhast Gull Speaker dialect:
    -ppeyyar-
  • Nankôre: paypayri
Invisible nando Used for objects beyond sight or obstructed
by another object.

It may also be used for a person or thing being
referred to within a narrative or other discourse,
and sometimes as a decessive.

nahón nando
"that man (e.g. on the
other side
of the mountain)"
  • Minhast Stone Speaker dialect:
    -onda- "to conceal"(?)[3]


Šúnkawakaninéhi pʼáyalo owožutkopi kasukakatsané.
šúnkawakáne-ne-hi pʼáyalo owožu-tko-pi ka-suka~ka-tsa-né
horse-DET.cylindrical.object-AGT DIST grass-DET.flat.prone.object-PL 3MS.AGT-run~INT-EVID.VIS-CONJ.CL
That horse is always racing across the plains.


The demonstratives may also be used as substantives, acquiring full noun status. Additional suffixes, such as determiners and case markers, may then attach to them, e.g.:

Pʼáyalonehi owožutkopi kasukakatsané.
Pʼáyalo-ne-hi owožu-tko-pi ka-suka~ka-tsa-né
DIST-DET.cylindrical.object-AGT grass-DET.flat.prone.object-PL 3MS.AGT-run~INT-EVID.VIS-CONJ.CL
That (cylindrical-shaped) one is always racing across the plains.


The demonstratives also have verbal clitic forms. For more information on the verbal clitic forms, refer to the verb section.

Determiners

Like many languages that fall in the Siouan Sprachbund, Nahónda uses determiners to mark size and shape information on nouns. These determiners occur as a set of suffixes that attach to the noun preceding any case markers. These suffixes, descended from postural and motion verbs, reflect an evolutionary pathway similar to the non-Siouan languages. The verbs from which these suffixes developed originate from Nahenic roots.

Shape Motion Affix Source and Cognates Examples
Squat/Bulky Moving -ksa-
  • Proto-Nahenic *peθ- "to be still"
  • Neina bod "tree"
  • Common Minhast puħt- "to stand upright"
  • Stone Speaker Minhast puhuta- "to steady, fix in place"
  • Nankóre ikca "to fall down"
  • Old Nahónda *ketsa "to sit down"
Tatonkaksahi pʼáyalo owožutkopi sesukakatsané.
tatonka-ksa-hi pʼáyalo owožu-tko-pi se-suka~ka-tsan-é.
buffalo-DET.squat.object-AGT DIST grass-DET.flat.prone.object-PL 3NS.ANIM.AGT-run-INT-EVID.VIS-CONJ.CL
That buffalo is running across the plain.
Flat Stationary -tko-
  • Proto-Nahenic *yaphet- "to lie down"
  • Neina yovgod "tundra"
  • Common Minhast yafkut "flatlands, level terrain"
  • Nankóre ekkót "to lie down"
  • Proto-Nahónda *ikote "to sleep"
Cylindrical Moving -ne-
  • Proto-Nahenic *neoy-, nioy- "log"
  • Neina neyoy "snag"
  • Minhast nūy (Salmonic dialects), nuyyi (Horse Speaker dialect) "tree trunk"
  • Nankóre tanottáyta' "obstruction" < *tanayoy ta'itá' "It (INAN) tripped s.o/s.t (ANIM)."
Šúnkawakaninéhi pʼáyalo owožutkopi kasukakatsané
wanko šúnkawakáne-ne-hi owožu-tko-pi ka-suka~ka-tsan-é
DIST horse-DET.moving.object-AGT grass-DET.flat.prone.object-PL 3MS.AGT-run~INT-EVID.VIS-CONJ.CL
That horse is always racing across the plains.
Thin + Upright Stationary -lo-
  • Proto-Nahenic *roθj- "to be thin"
  • Neina rožo "stick; bow drill (for making fire)"
  • Common Minhast ruħyan "to starve"
  • Nankóre raš "to be hungry"
  • Proto-Nahónda *luya "to be skinny"
Tayénalo pʼáyalo tsožutkopi tsan-é
tayena-lo pʼáyalo tsa-wožu-tko-pi tsan-é
tree-DET.thin.upright.object DIST COLL-grass-DET.flat.object-PL stand-CONJ.CL
That lone tree stands by itself on the prairie.
Sharp or tapering Stationary -tso-
  • Proto-Nahenic
  • Neina
  • Common Minhast kassu "tooth"
  • Nankóre
[TBD]
[TBD]
[TBD]
[TBD]

Determiners may be added to verb complexes to create nominalizations:

Wanku yakitsítsala keklománalo kaynanči
/'waŋko jaki't͡sit͡sala kɛklo'manalo ka'jant͡ʃi/
Wanku ya-kitsitsa-lá ke~kloma-ná-lo kay-nan-či
DIST 1S.AGT-talk.about-PST REDUP~talk-CONJ.CL-DET.thin.upright.object good-be-NEG
That one I mentioned earlier, the one chatting there, is not a good person. Lit. "Over there I mentioned, talk-talks the thin one good is not".

Numbers

Nahónda employs a base-10 system, although remnants of a base-20 system exist, as in tsentsatsa "twenty" (c.f. Minhast šentāz "twenty") and tsatsentatse "forty" (c.f. Minhast saššentāz "forty"). Siouan influence manifests again, from the numbers eleven through nineteen in the form of the prefix ak-, e.g. aktsunó "eleven" and aktsané "twelve". The prefix is derived from the Lakota prefix aké- found in the numbers eleven and up, as in the Lakota numbers akéwaŋži "eleven", and akénuŋpa "twelve", both literally meaning "ten and one" and "ten and two", respectively.

The accent shifted to ultimate position in virtually all numbers with the exceptions tsentsatsa and tsatsentatse. These exceptions usually occur where the base-20 system of the proto-language surface. Ironically, in their Minhast cognates the last syllable is stressed due to vowel lengthening of the final closed syllables, i.e. šentāz /ʃɛn'ta:z/ and saššentāz /saʃ:ɛn'ta:z/.

Number Cardinal Ordinal Verbal
one tsunó
two tsané
three dutsá
four maná
five gdané
six tsihá
seven glihá
eight nuná
nine galó
ten tatsnó
eleven aktsunó (ak- is derived from Lakota aké-, used for the 10's unit)
twelve aktsané
thirteen aktutsé
fourteen agmaná
fifteen akatsé
sixteen aktsihé
seventeen aglihé
eighteen agnuné
nineteen agdalé
twenty tsentsatsa
twenty-one tsanke tsunó
twenty-two tsanke tsané
twenty-three šentāz-u-duxt <--
thirty šentāz-u-tazem
forty tsatsentatse
fifty saššentāz-u-tazem
sixty duššentāz
seventy duššentāz-u-tazem
eighty meneštazem
ninety meneštazem-u-tazem
one hundred gādi
one thousand gaggādi

Verbs

Verb Template

The polysynthetic Nahónda verb follows a templatic paradigm (c.f. Northern Iroquioan languages). A comparison of the Nahónda verb template with the verb template of its Minhast relative reveals major differences in their verbal structures. Nevertheless, certain components of each language's template reveal a common heritage with their Proto-Nahenic progenitor.

The Nahónda verb is divided into three major segments: the initials, the verb core, and the finals. These roughly correspond with the Minhast preverb, verb core, and the terminative. The Nahónda verb template is illustrated in the following table:

Nahónda Verb Template
Initials
Conjunctives Scalars Causative Pronominals
Agent Patient Extensions
Verb Core
Reflexive/Reciprocal Root Incorporated Noun Tense/Aspect Conjugation Class
Finals
Adverbials Locationals Precatives Finals
Evidentials


The most noticeable difference between Nahónda and Minhast is the order and number of slots in their respective verb templates. The position of the pronominal elements particularly stand out; the Nahónda pronominal affixes appear before the verb root, while in Minhast the pronominals appear after the verb root. Adverbial affixes in Nahónda appear after the verb root, while in Minhast they appear in preverbal position, in the Mood-Tense-Manner slot. Additionally, the adverbial affixes in Nahónda are circumscribed: only some adverbial affixes may co-occur with each other, and when they do, they appear in rigid order, otherwise only one affix may occur at a time; while in Minhast, any number of adverbial affixes may appear and their ordering is highly variable, based on discourse considerations. Certain slot categories appear in one language and are absent in the other; Nahónda has a category for Conjunctives which are lacking in Minhast, while in Minhast the Applicatives slot does not appear in the Nahónda verb template. There are more slot categories in Minhast, which give the appearance that Minhast is more polysynthetic than Nahónda. For comparison, the Minhast verb template is presented below:

Minhast Verb Template
Preverb
Scalar Operators Locationals I Mood-Aspect-Manner Control Applicatives
Verb Core
Root Incorporated Noun Prepronominals Pronominals Tense-Aspect Participials Transitivity
Terminatives
Evidentials Miratives Locationals II Emphatic Imperative Subordinators Irrealis Nominalizer


Nevertheless, there are certain patterns shared by both languages. In both languages, the scalar operators appear before the verb root in both languages. The position of the incorporated noun appears directly after the verb in both languages, an otherwise rare phenomenon in polysynthetic languages. The causative appears before the verb root in both languages, occupying a single slot within the Nahónda verb template, and Slot 3 of the Preverbal affixes in the Minhast template. Moreover, the tense/aspect and so-called "Conjugation Class", coinciding with the slot for the Minhast transitivity markers, appear after the verb root, in the same ordinal position in both languages. The placement of these slots relative to the verb root is not coincidental but is the result from a shared ancestry.

Interestingly, their non-polysynthetic relative, Nankôre, employs a similar process to noun incorporation called Quasi-Incorporation. And just as in Nahónda and Minhast, the quasi-incorporated noun appears immediately after the verb root, just before the verbal auxiliary.

The postverbal position of the incorporated or quasi-incorporated noun is a shared feature among the three languages, apparently inherited from the Nahenic protolanguage.

Comparison of Incorporated Noun Position in Nahenic Languages
Nahónda Minhast Nankóre
Default m
Bakran kemaran suharak iyyatixrisipsaptarmakabukilmaksaš?
Bakran kem=aran suharak yyat-xr-sipsap-tar-mak-ab-u-kilmakš=aš
why 3P=DAT paper NEC-ITER-transport-DISTR-3P.NEUT.INAN.ACC+1S.NOM-IMPF-TRNS-MIR.FRUSTRATION=IRR
Why must I keep on bringing (these) letters back and forth between them?
Makse rihat tayôreno ta'itá
/'makʃɛ̯ ɾi'hat ta'yo:reno taʔɪt'aʔ/
makse rihat ta=yôre=no ta-itá-ʔ
mouse.LA falcon.HA INV=bite=SEM INV-HS.COP-LS
The mouse bit the falcon.
Incorporated
Bakran iyyatixridustipsapsuħraktarkenkabukilmaksaš?
Bakran yyat-xr-dut-sipsab-suharak-tar-kenk-ab-u-kilmaks=aš
why NEC-ITER-DAT.APPL-transport-paper.item-DISTR-3P.ACC+1S.NOM-IMPF-TRNS-MIR.FRUSTRATION=IRR
Why must I keep on bringing (these) letters back and forth between them?
Makse yôreno rihat 'itá'
/'makʃɛ̯ 'yo:reno ɾi'hat ɪt'aʔ/
makse yôre=no rihat ∅-itá-ʔ
mouse.LA bite=SEM falcon DIR-COP-LS
The mouse falcon-bit.
Conjunctives
Scalars
Causative
Pronominals
Reflexives and Reciprocals
Verb Root
Incorporated Noun
Tense and Aspect

Nahónda distinguishes two basic aspects, an imperfect and perfect, and six tenses, remote past, simple past, present, immediate future, simple future, and remote future.

Conjugation Class

The Conjugation Class slot is occupied by one of three suffixes or their allomorphs, -no, -né, and -na. These suffixes are descended from Proto-Nahenic auxiliaries, transitive *ne'nok "do", and intransitive*ya'na:ʔ "be". [4] While both Minhast and Nankôre preserve the distinction of transitive-intransitive or active-stative meanings from the protolanguage's auxiliaries, a considerable amount of syncretism has occurred in Nahónda. So while a slightly higher number of active verbs end with -no and stative verbs with -né or -na in their basic forms, many active verbs have -né or -na endings, and -no for stative verbs. Interestingly, when a third person singular agent acts on a third person singular patient, the verb obligatorily takes the -no ending, as third person singular agents and third person singular patients both take null marking.[5] This so-called "no-flipping" of -né/-na endings is the primary way of cross-indexing the agent when it experiences pro-drop. [6]


Adverbials
Local Affixes
Type Clitic Translation Example Nahenic Cognates
Proximal -tsaló here nahón=tsaló "this man here"
  • Minhast Gull Speaker dialect:
    -nussar-
  • Nankôre: hosiayri
    /ho'ʃjaɪɾi/
Medio-Proximal -eló-, -yelo- there,
close to you 		Taya-sal-o-yeló
"I see it next to you."
  • Minhast Gull Speaker dialect:
    -eyyar-, -yyar-
  • Nankôre: yaiyayri
Distal -peló yonder nahón=peló "yonder man""
  • Minhast Gull Speaker dialect:
    -ppeyyar-
  • Nankôre: paypayri
Invisible

-ndo
-do

way over there
beyond sight
  • Minhast Stone Speaker dialect:
    -onda- "to conceal"(?)[7]
Precatives
Clitics
Male/Female Speech Clitics

Nahónda verbs use special clitics to differentiate whether the speaker is male or female. These clitics have no cognates in any of the Nahenic languages, but were adopted from their immediate Siouan-speaking neighbors, specifically, the Lakota. They are apparently a recent borrowing, as the forms and functions are the same as in Lakota, albeit having undergone a few trivial sound changes to accommodate the Nahónda phonemic inventory.

Male Female
Mild Assertive =yeló =ye
Emphatic Assertive n/a =kšó
Request =ye =na
Informal Interrogative =he
Formal Interrogative =huwo
Dubitative =so =se


Verb Types

Verb Stacking

Nahónda utilizes verb stacking for a variety of purposes. A clause containing the head verb is followed by one or more modifier verbs for various morphosyntactic processes that would otherwise be handled by verbal inflection as in other polysynthetic languages, case systems, or independent particles.

As was mentioned earlier, Nahónda lacks both adpositions and applicatives to indicate grammatical relations[8], both of which its relative Minhast possesses. Nahónda employs verb stacking in lieu of adpositional marking and applicativization to specify grammatical relations. Verb stacking may also be employed to convey various adverbial meanings.

In Nahónda, the clause containing the verb head, i.e. the "main verb", precedes the modifiers[9]. This is an unusual feature, as most(??) languages that employ verb stacking place the modifying verb before its head. Placement of the dependents appears to be motivated by scopal considerations, with each element having leftward scope over all elements preceding it in the verb phrase. The dependents are also are unmarked for TAM, and person marking is null, i.e. the dependents take third person singular marking. Instead, the dependents inherit their person and TAM marking from the main verb.

An example of verb stacking, with the verbs tatʼano ("to give") to convey an Allative relation, and bana ("to be quick") to convey immediacy, are illustrated in the following gloss:

Gokódené yakalódona tatʼano bana.
/go'ko:dɛnɛ: jaka'lo:dona 'tatʼano 'bana
gokóde-ne ya-∅-kaló-dona ∅-tatʼa-∅-∅-no ba-∅-∅-na
enemy-DET.cylindrical_moving 1S.AGT-3S.PT-throw-spear-PST give.3S-PFCT-PST-CONJ be.swift-PFCT-PST-CONJ
I immediately threw the spear at the enemy warrior mounted on horseback.

The following table contains the most commonly used verbs in serialization constructions.

Verb Meaning Cognates Examples
Ablative amané to approach Minhast hān "to come"
Comitative tsakané to accompany Minhast saħpan "to walk"
Instrumental tsipilače to use Minhast sespir "hand"
Yanelowonkeči, gatsatso yatsitsipilače
/janelo'wɔ̃ŋkɛt͡ʃi 'gat͡sat͡so jat͡sit͡si'pilat͡ʃɛ/
ya-ne-lo-awonke-če, gatsa-tso ya-ts-tsipila-če
1S.AGT-DET.cylindrical.object.stationary-DET.pointed.object.stationary-kill-TRN arrow-DET.pointed.object.stationary 1S.AGT-DET.pointed.object.stationary-use-TRN
I killed (the deer) with this arrow, lit. "I killed this one using this arrow."
Locative tsatsené to sit down Minhast saššian "to sit"
Takasalačé Anyale wanku tiksa tsatsená.
ta-ka-sala-čé anyale wanku ti-ksa tsatse-ná
2S.AGT-3S.PT-see-TRN PN.3S.PT DIST tipi-DET.squat.object sit-STAT
You will see Anyar inside that tipi.
Perlative [10] iláyaná to ford a river, stream, or other body of water
  • Neina dayan "water" (?)
  • Minhast dannum, dannua "water" (?)
  • Nankôre tanno "water" (?)
tahomatanélo wakpádze tadzeláyače kádaiga tagatsipilačeyo.
ta-homata-né-lo wakpá-dze ta-dze-iláya-če wanku kádai-ga ta-ga-tsipila-če-yo
2S.AGT-go-AGT.INTR-male.speech river-DET.slow.moving.object 2S.AGT-DET.slow.moving.object-go.across-TRN canoe-DET.stationary.long.object 2S.AGT-DET.stationary.long.object-use-TRN-male.speech
Go across the river in that canoe.

Particles

Reduplication

Reduplication is pervasive in Nahónda. In nouns, they indicate:

  1. Plurality

In verbs, reduplication is employed for:

  1. Durative aspect

Syntax

Footnotes

  1. ^ Tatselo is cognate with Minhast kaslub "dog", and Nankóre kospor "fox".
  2. ^ Specifically, the Gull Speaker dialect's verbal local affixes. This dialect is also remarkable in sharing features with other Nahenic languages not found in any other Minhast dialect
  3. ^ This remains a highly contested hypothesis.
  4. ^ In Classical Minhast and many of the modern northern dialects, these became the transitive -un and intransitive -an affixes, and -u and -an in all other dialects. In Nankôre, the Proto-Nahenic auxiliaries survive as the verb unna, "to make", and the stative auxiliary iná.
  5. ^ Its Minhast relative shares this null-marking feature
  6. ^ The Siouan languages also null-mark third person singular agents and patients, but there is no reason to conclude that they contributed to no-flipping.
  7. ^ This remains a highly contested hypothesis.
  8. ^ Aka theta-roles
  9. ^ Interestingly, the order of dependent verbs mirrors the placement of verb affixes in the Eskaleut languges.
  10. ^ The words listed as possible cognates for the Perlative from the other Nahenic languages are highly speculative, as most scholars agree that Nahónda preserved Proto-Nahenic */d/. A sound shift from /d/ -> /l/ lacks supporting evidence; the /d/ -> /l/ alternation found in the Lakota dialects is insufficient to explain the phonological realization of the Perlative, as sound changes in Nahenic roots have by and large resulted from internal processes within Nahónda itself.
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