Suwáá/Classical
Classical Sowaár refers to an archaic literary standard of Sowaár, partly based on Late Old Sowaár.
Phonology
Consonants
Identical to Modern Sjowaázh except it had syllabic resonants: m mm n nn nr nnr l ll r rr (ḿ ń ĺ ŕ m̀ ǹ l̀ r̀)
Vowels
| Front | Back | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| short | long | short | long | |
| Close | i /ɪ/ | ii /iː/ | o /o/ | oo /oː/ |
| Open | e /ɛ/ | ee /ɛː/ | a /ɑ/ | aa /ɑː/ |
Tone
Classical Sjowaázh had three level tones: high (á), mid (a), low (à). Conservative Modern High Sjowaázh has vestiges of the 3-tone system in its intonation.
7 possible pitch accent patterns:
- short: á, a, à
- long: áa, aà, àa, aa
The mid tone and low tone later merged, hence why high tone is the marked tone in High Sjowaazh.
Grammar
Classical Sowaár was optimized for poetic meters (like Marathi) – word order was relatively free and affixes used both long and short syllables. Vowel length was relatively free in affixes (obeying some constraints) and fixed in roots. As a corollary tones were also flexible and there were also fewer (phonemic) tonal distinctions in affixes than in roots. [TODO: rules]
Nouns
Like Modern Sowaár, Classical Sowaár had singular, dual and plural numbers.
Number prefixes for nouns existed but were optional. Some nouns had marked singulars instead of marked plurals.
Verbs
Verbs had more complex ablaut patterns than in modern Sowaár varieties. Affixes, on the other hand, were less fused with each other than in Modern High Sowaár.