Weyon: Difference between revisions
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*The phoneme ä [æ] is only found in a few dialects on the Renta-Últaun border. | *The phoneme ä [æ] is only found in a few dialects on the Renta-Últaun border. | ||
===Accentuation=== | ===Accentuation=== | ||
In the Weyon language, stressed syllables may be pronounced in one of two prosodically distinct ways that are determined by accent and pitch, either the acute or rising accent, or the grave or falling accent. Stress is free and can occur on any syllable of the word. However, it usually falls on the first syllable. Most nouns and verbs have a fixed stress, that is, an accent remains on the same syllable in all the inflections, though there are some words (usually with an an initial grave accent) that have a mobile stress. Polysyllabic compound words and prefixed words, usually have one main stress, but can also receive a secondary stress, for example: ''keall-eniéka'' - "to pick blackberries" (imperfective), where only the main word receives stress (acute accent). In dialects, there are cases when words may be differentiated only by the use of accents. One example is where an accent determines the declensional case: ''haí'' "eye" and ''hài'' "with one's eyes"; ''sùuðe'' "he/she lies down" and ''suúðe'' "he/she lies | In the Weyon language, stressed syllables may be pronounced in one of two prosodically distinct ways that are determined by accent and pitch, either the acute or rising accent, or the grave or falling accent. Stress is free and can occur on any syllable of the word. However, it usually falls on the first syllable. Most nouns and verbs have a fixed stress, that is, an accent remains on the same syllable in all the inflections, though there are some words (usually with an an initial grave accent) that have a mobile stress. Polysyllabic compound words and prefixed words, usually have one main stress, but can also receive a secondary stress, for example: ''keall-eniéka'' - "to pick blackberries" (imperfective), where only the main word receives stress (acute accent). In dialects, there are cases when words may be differentiated only by the use of accents. One example is where an accent determines the declensional case: ''haí'' "eye" and ''hài'' "with one's eyes"; ''sùuðe'' "he/she lies down" and ''suúðe'' "he/she lies". The are also words that only differ in accent: ''éla'' "mist" and ''èla'' "language", ''aràš'' "of blood, bloody" and ''aráš'' "saltiness"; however, this may differ significantly among various dialects. Some Renta dialects lost the difference in pitch accent, but instead the stress influenced vowel quality: ''uore'' "salty" - ''areeš'' "saltyness". A similar process occurred in Ultaun, but it kept the original pitch accent intact. | ||
==Grammar== | ==Grammar== | ||
Weyon a moderately inflected language with high levels of nominal and verbal inflection. Most of the fused morphemes are retained in the Northern Weyon dialects, especially in regard to verb conjugation, whereas South Weyon in comparison has moved towards more analytical word structures (mostly in nouns, as verbs tend to preserve better in the Mountains languages). | Weyon a moderately inflected language with high levels of nominal and verbal inflection. Most of the fused morphemes are retained in the Northern Weyon dialects, especially in regard to verb conjugation, whereas South Weyon in comparison has moved towards more analytical word structures (mostly in nouns, as verbs tend to preserve better in the Mountains languages). | ||
Revision as of 12:32, 30 July 2020
| Weyon language | |
|---|---|
| Weyón ela | |
 | |
| Pronunciation | [/we.ˈjɔ́n.ˈè.lɑ/] |
| Created by | Raistas |
| Setting | planet Liifam |
| Ethnicity | Kuoleet |
Settameric languages
| |
Early form | |
Weyon is a group of closely related languages (or dialects of a single language), spoken in the central part of the Kahaaler Mountains to the west of the Northern continent. Weyon forms a dialect continuum from the north to the south, its dialects are divided into four major groups, which are often treated as separate languages, because of a low mutual intelligibility between them. These four groups are: Imára, Wealla, Renta and Últaun. The grammar and the examples used here are from the Wealla group, specifically from a dialect near the town Eraas, but data on other dialects will be given as well. It is spoken by approximately 40,000 people across the central part of the Kahaaler Mountains (Kuola eamet) on their western slopes. Imára and Wealla dialect continuum has no clear geographical boundary between these two groups and many Imára traits can be found in eastern parts of the Wealla territory. A similar situation is with some Wealla and Renta dialects, which can have more common traits between each other than with other neighbouring dialects. Últaun, the more obscure dialectal branch, is sometimes included in the Renta group, but it developed its own unique features not shared other branches. All branches still retain a degree of mutual intelligibility, higher than with the closest Weyon relative - the Yiraan language, spoken to the north.
Phonology
Consonants
| Bilabial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| central | lateral | plain | labialized | |||||||
| Nasal | m | n | ny /ɲ/ | |||||||
| Stop | plain | p | t | ky /c/ | k | kw /kʷ/ | ||||
| aspirated | ph /pʰ/ | th /tʰ/ | kh /kʰ/ | |||||||
| Fricative | f | θ | s | š /ʃ/ | ł /ɬ/ | h | ||||
| Affricate | c /t͡s/ | č /t͡ʃ/ | ||||||||
| Approximant | w | ð | r | l | y /j/ | |||||
All varieties of Weyon have a distinction between aspirated and non-aspirated stops. Imara and Wealla groups retain the phoneme /θ/, which is realized as [ð] between vowels and word-finally and thus these consonants are in the allophonic distribution. In Renta /θ/ disappeared, while /ð/ is a separate phoneme. Most Wealla dialects contrast /l/ with /ɫ/ ("light" and "dark l") and also /n/ with /nˠ/, the "dark" consonants are pronounced longer and are noticeably velarised, compared to their "light" counterparts. Imara dialects merged their sibilants (/t͡ʃ/ and /ʃ/ are the same as /t͡s/ and /s/), which also occured in Renta. Ultaun dialects have the phoneme /ç/ where other dialects have /θ/, which can only appear word-initially. The phoneme /pʰ/ is rare in all dialects, except for Ultaun, other dialects usually have /f/ or /p/ instead.
Vowels
The vowel inventory of Weyon differs significantly from dialect to dialect. The North Weyon dialects underwent vowel mutation, which increased the amount of phonemes, compared to South Weyon, which instead had the southern vowel shift. Thus vowels in cognates can vary greatly between various dialects, for example: the word for "horse" is ilor in Imára, eloor in Wealla, eliir or äliir in Renta and yalin in Ultaun. The Ultaun group differs the most, as it lost the length distinction completely.
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- The phoneme ä [æ] is only found in a few dialects on the Renta-Últaun border.
Accentuation
In the Weyon language, stressed syllables may be pronounced in one of two prosodically distinct ways that are determined by accent and pitch, either the acute or rising accent, or the grave or falling accent. Stress is free and can occur on any syllable of the word. However, it usually falls on the first syllable. Most nouns and verbs have a fixed stress, that is, an accent remains on the same syllable in all the inflections, though there are some words (usually with an an initial grave accent) that have a mobile stress. Polysyllabic compound words and prefixed words, usually have one main stress, but can also receive a secondary stress, for example: keall-eniéka - "to pick blackberries" (imperfective), where only the main word receives stress (acute accent). In dialects, there are cases when words may be differentiated only by the use of accents. One example is where an accent determines the declensional case: haí "eye" and hài "with one's eyes"; sùuðe "he/she lies down" and suúðe "he/she lies". The are also words that only differ in accent: éla "mist" and èla "language", aràš "of blood, bloody" and aráš "saltiness"; however, this may differ significantly among various dialects. Some Renta dialects lost the difference in pitch accent, but instead the stress influenced vowel quality: uore "salty" - areeš "saltyness". A similar process occurred in Ultaun, but it kept the original pitch accent intact.
Grammar
Weyon a moderately inflected language with high levels of nominal and verbal inflection. Most of the fused morphemes are retained in the Northern Weyon dialects, especially in regard to verb conjugation, whereas South Weyon in comparison has moved towards more analytical word structures (mostly in nouns, as verbs tend to preserve better in the Mountains languages).
Nouns
Like in other Settameric languages, there are two noun classes: animate and inanimate. Verbs must agree in animacy with all its arguments. All nouns, are declined for case, number and obviation. Animate nouns are declined in thirteen grammatical cases, while most inanimate nouns have ten or even less cases, depending on a particular noun. The noun cases are represented in the table below:
| "woman" (animate) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Case | Singular | Dual | Plural |
| Absolutive | áakki | áakki | áakket |
| agentive | áakka | áakku | áakkat |
| genitive | áakkaš | aakkáwaš | aakkáhaš |
| dative | óokkur | óokkuor | óokkurur |
| inessive | óokku | óokkuo | óokkut |
| elative | áakkomu | óokkumu | áakkottu |
| illative | áakkaš | áakkawaš | áakkataš |
| adessive | áakkoo | áakkuo | áakkoot |
| ablative | áakkei | áakkewi | áakketi |
| essive | áakkon | áakkawon | áakkaton |
| translative | áakkam | áakkawam | áakkatam |
| comitative | éakkii | éakkewii | éakketii |