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Saxuma: Difference between revisions
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==Introduction== | ==Introduction== | ||
'''Saxuma''' ([sa. | '''Saxuma''' ([sa.ɕu̠ˈmā], also romanized '''Sasiouma''', historically known as '''Saras Wima''' ['sʌ.r̥as wi'ma]) is a language isolate spoken by approximately 5000 speakers on the Mediterranean island of Sasaois. It is notable for its split ergative alignment, flexible word order, and dynamic semantic gender. | ||
Almost all residents of Sasaios speak Greek and English, but there is a strong movement to protect the cultural heritage of the language, with poetry, novels, and music produced in Saxuma, as well as dubbings of many foreign movies and television into the language. | Almost all residents of Sasaios speak Greek and English, but there is a strong movement to protect the cultural heritage of the language, with poetry, novels, and music produced in Saxuma, as well as dubbings of many foreign movies and television into the language. | ||
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|- | |- | ||
! Voiced | ! Voiced | ||
|| b || d || || g || | || b || d || (ɟ) || g || | ||
|- | |- | ||
! rowspan=2 | Fricatives || Voiceless | ! rowspan=2 | Fricatives || Voiceless | ||
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* /hʷ/ may be realized as [ʍ] and /v/ as [β] intervocalically, but this is not obligatory. | * /hʷ/ may be realized as [ʍ] and /v/ as [β] intervocalically, but this is not obligatory. | ||
* /x/ is mostly realized as /h/ when preceding a non-front vowel. | * /x/ is mostly realized as /h/ when preceding a non-front vowel. | ||
* The sequences /tj/ and /kj/ are realized as [c], /dj/ and /gj/ as [ɟ], /sj/ and /xj/ as [ɕ], and /zj/ as [ʑ]. | |||
===Vowels=== | ===Vowels=== | ||
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|+ Vowel Inventory | |+ Vowel Inventory | ||
|- | |- | ||
! !! Front | ! !! Front !! Back | ||
|- | |- | ||
! High | ! High | ||
| i iː | | i iː || u uː | ||
|- | |- | ||
! Mid | ! Mid | ||
| ɛ~e eː | | ɛ~e eː || o oː | ||
|- | |- | ||
! Low | ! Low | ||
| || | | aː || a~ɑ | ||
|- | |- | ||
! Diphthongs | ! Diphthongs | ||
| colspan= | | colspan=2 | <ay> ai, <oy> oi, <ew> eo, <aw> ɑo | ||
|- | |- | ||
|} | |} | ||
Stressed short vowels are indicated by an acute accent, unstressed long vowels are indicated by a macron, and stressed long vowels are indicated by a carat. Both long vowels and diphthongs may be pronounced instead as two vowels in hiatus. This is particularly common in song and when unstressed. | * Stressed short vowels are indicated by an acute accent, unstressed long vowels are indicated by a macron, and stressed long vowels are indicated by a carat. Both long vowels and diphthongs may be pronounced instead as two vowels in hiatus. This is particularly common in song and when unstressed. | ||
* Short /e/ is typically pronounced [e] when word-final and [ɛ] elsewhere. | |||
* Short /a/ is typically pronounced as [a] when stressed and word-final, and [ɑ] elsewhere. | |||
===Phonotactics=== | ===Phonotactics=== | ||
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Stress is contrastive in Saxuma. Historically, different parts of speech were produced from the same stem by varying the stress (with verbs having ultimate stress and nouns and adjectives initial), and stress was reinforced by a system of vowel reduction. For example, ''kobá'' [kɔˈba] 'to drink' vs. ''kóba'' [ˈko.bʌ] 'beverage'. These kinds of verb-noun pairs still exist in modern Saxuma, such as ''kalán'' 'to cry' vs. ''kálan'' 'tears', but many of them have been made less direct due to sound changes. For example, while 'to drink' is still ''kobá'', 'beverage' is now ''kō''. | Stress is contrastive in Saxuma. Historically, different parts of speech were produced from the same stem by varying the stress (with verbs having ultimate stress and nouns and adjectives initial), and stress was reinforced by a system of vowel reduction. For example, ''kobá'' [kɔˈba] 'to drink' vs. ''kóba'' [ˈko.bʌ] 'beverage'. These kinds of verb-noun pairs still exist in modern Saxuma, such as ''kalán'' 'to cry' vs. ''kálan'' 'tears', but many of them have been made less direct due to sound changes. For example, while 'to drink' is still ''kobá'', 'beverage' is now ''kō''. | ||
Additionally, in place of the stress and vowel reduction system, modern Saxuma uses pitch accent. There are three pitch levels, and all syllables are by default mid tone. | |||
* Monosyllabic words retain their mid tone pitch. For example, 'cold' ''kan'' [kan]. This is also true of monosyllabic words with long vowels and diphthongs, such as 'sheep' ''bō'' [boː] and 'why' ''gay'' [gai]. | |||
* If a short vowel is accented, it bears a high tone, e.g. 'lips' ''émin'' [ˈɛ̄.min]. If it is non-initial and preceded by a short vowel, the preceding syllable bears a low tone. For example, 'protector' ''xeyáyem'' [ɕɛ̠ˈjā.jem] and 'protector' ''zigará'' [zi.gɑ̠ˈrā]. | |||
==Other resources== | ==Other resources== | ||