User:Ponzai/Sast
A language created for personal practice and potential inclusion in the Conglomera project.
Background
Phonology
Consonants
Consonants | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bilabial | Labio-dental | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
Plosive | p b | t̪ d̪ | t d | k g | ʔ | ||
Fricative | f v | θ ð | s | ç1 ʝ | ɧ2 | h | |
Lateral fri. | ɬ | ||||||
Flap or tap | ⱱ | ɾ |
1. Is in some dialects replaced with the voiceless palato-alveolar sibilant /ʃ/
2. Is in some dialects replaced with the normal velar fricative /x/.
Vowels
Vowels | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Front | Central | Back | |||||
Close | i | ɤ | |||||
Open-mid | ɔ | ||||||
Near-open | e̞ | ||||||
Open | a |
The proto-language contains no diphthongs, though several derived languages do.
Phonotactics
Syllabic Structure
C=Consonant
V=Vowel
F=Fricative
P=Plosive
There are three types of syllables in Sast: precursory, subsequent and amalgam. Generally speaking, precursory and subsequent syllables come in pairs, whereas amalgam syllables come on their own. Note how the amalgam syllable is very similar to a precursory-subsequent syllable pair. The hyphen in the subsequent syllable represents a glottal stop, as all subsequent syllables start with one.
- Precursory: (F)CV
- Subsequent: -V((F)P)
- Amalgam: (F)CV((F)P)
Consonant clusters
Certain consonant clusters never occur, due to their difficulty in pronounciation. Others are rare, but still do occur.
Consonant clusters | |||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
p | b | t̪ | d̪ | t | d | k | g | ʔ | f | v | θ | ð | s | ç | ʝ | ɧ | h | ɬ | ⱱ | ɾ | |
p | - | - | - | - | - | - | pk | - | - | pf | pv | pθ | pð | ps | pç | pʝ | pɧ | - | pɬ | - | pɾ |
b | |||||||||||||||||||||
t̪ | |||||||||||||||||||||
d̪ | |||||||||||||||||||||
t | |||||||||||||||||||||
d | |||||||||||||||||||||
k | |||||||||||||||||||||
g | |||||||||||||||||||||
ʔ | |||||||||||||||||||||
f | |||||||||||||||||||||
v | |||||||||||||||||||||
θ | |||||||||||||||||||||
ð | |||||||||||||||||||||
s | |||||||||||||||||||||
ç | |||||||||||||||||||||
ʝ | |||||||||||||||||||||
ɧ | |||||||||||||||||||||
h | |||||||||||||||||||||
ɬ | |||||||||||||||||||||
ⱱ | |||||||||||||||||||||
ɾ |
Orthography
Orthography | |
---|---|
IPA | Romanized |
p | P p |
b | B b |
t̪ | Tt tt |
d̪ | Dd dd |
t | T t |
d | D d |
k | K k |
g | G g |
ʔ | - (Hyphen) |
f | F f |
v | V v |
θ | Tz tz |
ð | Th th |
s | S s |
ç | Ss ss |
ʝ | Z z |
ɧ | Sj sj |
h | H h |
ɬ | L l |
ⱱ | W w |
ɾ | R r |
i | I i |
ɤ | U u |
ɔ | O o |
e̞ | E e |
a | A a |
Parts of speech
Nouns
Gender
Sast nouns belong to one of four genders:
- Inanimate - Objects that seem to contain no form of life, like stone.
- Feminine - Animate objects that seem feminine in nature, such as women, or doors.
- Masculine - Animate objects that seem masculine in nature, such as men, or lighthouses.
- Spiritual - Both objects that seem to be supernatural in nature and abstract nouns belong to this gender. Examples being love, fire, or deities.
Nouns inflect differently based on gender, and verbs inflect for the gender of the subject.
Case
Sast nouns are written differently in two cases.
- Nominative
- Accusative
Subjects are written in nominative form, whereas both accusative and dative objects are written in accusative form.
The case of a noun affects its suffix in most cases.
Generally, the accusative contains fricatives, while the nominative does not. This is however not always the case.
Number
Noun suffixes | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Gender↓ | Case & Number | |||||
Nominative | Accusative | |||||
Singular | Dual | Plural | Singular | Dual | Plural | |
Inanimate | - | -ad | -at | -a | -ab | -ap |
Feminine | -u | -udd | -usjk | -usst | -ussd | -ilk |
Masculine | -usk | -usg | -isk | -isg | ||
Spiritual | -e | -eg | -ef | -efg |
Pronouns
Personal pronouns
Personal pronouns | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Case | Gender | 1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | ||||||
Singular | Dual | Plural | Singular | Dual | Plural | Singular | Dual | Plural | ||
Subject | Inanimate | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Tte | Di | Ddi |
Feminine | Ssa | Zki | Sku | Za-a | Du-i | Di-i | Vzo-i | Tzssi | Tatt | |
Masculine | ||||||||||
Spiritual | ||||||||||
Object | Inanimate | |||||||||
Feminine | ||||||||||
Masculine | ||||||||||
Spiritual |
Interogative and relative pronouns
Indefinite pronouns
Verbs
Adjectives
Adverbs Particles Derivational morphology
Syntax
Sast is an SOV language, meaning the subject is followed by the object, and last comes the verb.
- Example: I am following him -> I him following
Adverbials are always added after the word that they are modifying.
- Example: I am following him with courage -> I him following with courage.
Sentential arguments are formed using a relative suffix on the verb of the primary clause.
- Example: I thought-that
Relative clauses are formed using a relative suffix on the subject of the clause.
- Example: I am following him with courage in my heart -> I him following with courage-which is in my heart.