Old Swuntsim

Old Swuntsim was the ancient Tsimulh language spoken by the Swutsim people. It is still often used as a liturgical language among religious Swutsim.

Descendants:

• Talman Swutsim
• Naquian Swutsim

Grammar

Noun class system got weird - formal noun classes remain but the words semantically shift as in Sanskrit

Nouns

Noun classes

Sacred Swutsim had a noun class system like the Bantu languages. There were 12 noun classes, which are numbered as follows:

1. ʔə-, pl. cə- = humans, spirits
2. bu-, pl. də- = animals and other things that move on their own
3. p-, pl. əpi- = plants and mushrooms; things that grow
4. s-, pl. dus- = collections or large things: scʼaσ 'forest'
5. ut-, pl. pσə- = roughly round, compact objects
6. ma-, pl. əwə- = long objects; tools, instruments, devices
7. č-, pl. abi- = places, locations, slots
8. gu-, pl. n- = various... including fluids (powder, water, liquids, fire, light, waves, wind, ...)
9. σi-, pl. wi- = time periods; events; things that are temporary (e.g. ice)
10. t- = abstractions, manner, way
11. t’im- = infinitives, verbal nouns
12. pda- = -ness, -hood

In Sacred Swutsim, verbs and determiners agreed with their head nouns in number and noun class. The descendant Tsimulh languages can be divided into 5 types depending on the type of agreement system they have:

• Type A: Traditional, strictly formal (e.g. Sacred Swutsim)
• Type B: Traditional with general animate concords (e.g. Pelhyys)
• Type C: Animacy-based SG/PL-marking (e.g. Talman Swutsim)
• Type D: SG/PL-marking only
• Type E: No concords at all

Cases

• Nominative: -0
• Genitive: -s

Verbs

Noun class prefixes

• I = kʷə-
• you (sg) = xʷə-
• we = wə-
• you (pl) = cu-
• Noun class prefixes:
  1. ʔə-, pl. cə-
  2. bu-, pl. də-
  3. p-, pl. əpi-
  4. s-, pl. dus-
  5. ut-, pl. pσə-
  6. ma-, pl. əwə-
  7. č-, pl. abi-
  8. gu-, pl. n-
  9. σi-, pl. wi-
  10. t-, no plural
  11. t’im-, no plural
  12. pda- (common for abstract nouns), no plural

Tense affixes

-s - past tense

Numbers

The numerals 1-9 inflected for noun class; 10 and higher units did not.

1: *-an

2: *-xʷiš

3: *-ʔiyəm

4: *-udzuq

5: *-t'u

6: *-čaydž

7: *-buč'oh

8: *-gwiməʔ

9: *-anay

10: *-kʷ'in