Saxuma

Introduction

Saxuma ([sa.ɕùˈmá], also romanized Sasiouma, historically known as Saras Wima ['sʌ.r̥as wi'ma]) is a language isolate spoken by approximately 5000 speakers on the western 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.

Phonology

Consonants

Consonant Inventory

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasals		m	n	(ɲ)	(ŋ)
Plosives	Voiceless	p	t	c	k	<q> ʔ
	Voiced	b	d		g
Fricatives	Voiceless	<ff> (ɸ)	s⁓t͡s	<x> ɕ	<h> x⁓h	<f> hʷ
	Voiced	v⁓β	z⁓d͡z	<j> ʑ⁓d͡ʑ
Approximant and Trills	Voiceless	(ʍ)	r̥
	Voiced	w	l	<y> j

• /n/ is realized as [ɲ] when adjacent to any palatal consonant, and as [ŋ] when preceding a velar plosive.
• Voiceless plosives are typically unaspirated, but are usually aspirated word-finally.
• All plosives are realized as [ʔ] when immediately followed by another plosive or a nasal of the same place of articulation.
• /ɸ/ appears only in loanwords, and may be instead pronounced as [hʷ]
• /s/, /z/, and /ʑ/ may be realized as their associated affricates when not intervocalic, 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.

Vowels

Vowel Inventory

	Front	Central	Back
High	i iː		u uː
Mid	ɛ~e eː		o oː
Low		ä äː
Diphthongs	ai, oi, eo, ɑo

Other resources

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