Ash: Difference between revisions

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(Fixed up examples to match new reduced converbialising suffixes on reduced locative verbs and some other stuff.)
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===Romanisation===
===Romanisation===


The romanisation strikes a balance between representing phonemes versus surface realisations and uses the following seventeen letters as well as an apostrophe for contractions:
The romanisation strikes a balance between representing phonemes versus surface realisations and uses the following seventeen letters as well as an apostrophe for contractions. Word-initial glottal stop is phonemic but unwritten, as are glides before homorganic vowels.


{| class="wikitable"
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Deixis occurs in the form of isolated nominals ''eyʼ'' and ''owʼ'', shortened forms of ''eyya'' and ''owwa'' that tend to blend into the next word, often as {{IPA|[-e̞(ː)ɪ̯]~[-e̞j-]}} and {{IPA|[-o̞(ː)ʊ̯]~[-o̞w-]}}, but also with the glide assimilating, leading to forms such as {{IPA|[-ɪw-]}} and {{IPA|[-ʊj-]}}.
Deixis occurs in the form of isolated nominals ''eyʼ'' and ''owʼ'', shortened forms of ''eyya'' and ''owwa'' that tend to blend into the next word, often as {{IPA|[-(ʔ)e̞(ː)ɪ̯]~[-(ʔ)e̞j-]}} and {{IPA|[-(ʔ)o̞(ː)ʊ̯]~[-(ʔ)o̞w-]}}, but also with the glide assimilating, leading to forms such as {{IPA|[-(ʔ)ɪw-]}} and {{IPA|[-(ʔ)ʊj-]}}. The full forms do get written out when converbialising suffixes are applied, e.g. ''owwas'' "there".
 
The isolated forms phonetically start with a glottal stop, while the affixed forms may be viewed as vocalised glides, leading to different forms of sandhi intervocalically.


===Conjunct and disjunct verbs===
===Conjunct and disjunct verbs===
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|{{gloss
|{{gloss
|phrase=oadnawo ayʼsããs
|phrase=oadnawo ayesããs
|IPA=[ˈʔɔ̯ɑʔ.ᵈn̠ɐ.wʊ ʔɐɪ̯ˈz̠ɑ̃ːs̠]
|IPA=[ˈʔɔ̯ɑʔ.ᵈn̠ɐ.wʊ ʔɐɪ̯ˈz̠ɑ̃ːs̠]
|gloss=shine.INCH.IND-CVB:DUR REFL.PROX-LOC:LIQ.STAT/ACT.IND-CONJ
|gloss=shine.INCH.IND-CVB:DUR REFL.PROX-LOC:LIQ.STAT/ACT.IND-CONJ
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|{{gloss
|{{gloss
|phrase=oadnawo ao go awʼsãã ma
|phrase=oadnawo ao go awosãã ma
|IPA=[ˈʔɔ̯ɑʔ.ᵈn̠ɐ.wʊ ʔɑːʊ̯‿ɣo̞ ʔɐʊ̯ˈz̠ɑ̃ː‿mɐ]
|IPA=[ˈʔɔ̯ɑʔ.ᵈn̠ɐ.wʊ ʔɑːʊ̯‿ɣo̞ ʔɐʊ̯ˈz̠ɑ̃ː‿mɐ]
|gloss=shine.INCH.IND-CVB:DUR ao TOP:ACT REFL.DIST-LOC:LIQ.STAT/ACT.IND NEG
|gloss=shine.INCH.IND-CVB:DUR ao TOP:ACT REFL.DIST-LOC:LIQ.STAT/ACT.IND NEG
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|{{gloss
|{{gloss
|phrase=emmõõ bo eyʼ ehbadsas
|phrase=emmõõ bo eyʼ ehbadsas
|IPA=[ʔɪmˈmũ̯õ̞ː‿ᵐbʊ ˈje̞j‿je̞ħˈpɑʔ.t̠͡s̠ɐs̠]
|IPA=[ʔɪmˈmũ̯õ̞ː‿ᵐbʊ ˈʔe̞j‿je̞ħˈpɑʔ.t̠͡s̠ɐs̠]
|gloss=PROX-POSS-head TOP:CRESC PROX PROX-TV-hand.FREQ.IND-CONJ
|gloss=PROX-POSS-head TOP:CRESC PROX PROX-TV-hand.FREQ.IND-CONJ
|translation=you are braiding my hair
|translation=you are braiding my hair
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|{{gloss
|{{gloss
|phrase=emmõõ bo eyʼ eyʼbadsas
|phrase=emmõõ bo eyʼ eyebadsas
|IPA=[ʔɪmˈmũ̯õ̞ː‿ᵐbʊ ˈje̞j‿je̞ɪ̯ˈβɑʔ.t̠͡s̠ɐs̠]
|IPA=[ʔɪmˈmũ̯õ̞ː‿ᵐbʊ ˈʔe̞j‿je̞ɪ̯ˈβɑʔ.t̠͡s̠ɐs̠]
|gloss=PROX-POSS-head TOP:CRESC PROX PROX-REFL.PROX-hand.FREQ.IND-CONJ
|gloss=PROX-POSS-head TOP:CRESC PROX PROX-REFL.PROX-hand.FREQ.IND-CONJ
|translation=I am braiding my hair
|translation=I am braiding my hair
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{{gloss
{{gloss
|phrase=[owʼ oahdawo bahba go ossoena]<sub>1</sub> [eyʼ oahdawo esseenas]<sub>2</sub>
|phrase=[owʼ oahdawo bahba go ossoena]<sub>1</sub> [eyʼ oahdawo esseenas]<sub>2</sub>
|IPA=[ˈʔo̞w‿ˈwɔ̯ɑħ.t̠ɐ.wʊ ˈβɑħ.pɐ‿ɣo̞ wʊs̠ˈs̠ʊːɪ̯.n̠ɐ ˈjɪw‿ˈwɔ̯ɑħ.t̠ɐ.wʊ jɪɕˈɕi̯eː.n̠ɐs̠]
|IPA=[ˈʔo̞w‿ˈwɔ̯ɑħ.t̠ɐ.wʊ ˈβɑħ.pɐ‿ɣo̞ wʊs̠ˈs̠ʊːɪ̯.n̠ɐ ˈʔɪw‿ˈwɔ̯ɑħ.t̠ɐ.wʊ jɪɕˈɕi̯eː.n̠ɐs̠]
|gloss=[DIST shine.ACT.IND-CVB:DUR dog DIST-INV-consume.CAUS.INCH.IND]<sub>1</sub> [PROX shine.ACT.IND-CVB:DUR PROX-INV-see.INCH.IND-CONJ]<sub>2</sub>
|gloss=[DIST shine.ACT.IND-CVB:DUR dog DIST-INV-consume.CAUS.INCH.IND]<sub>1</sub> [PROX shine.ACT.IND-CVB:DUR PROX-INV-see.INCH.IND-CONJ]<sub>2</sub>
|translation=[today I saw]<sub>2</sub> [the dog that (you) fed yesterday]<sub>1</sub>
|translation=[today I saw]<sub>2</sub> [the dog that (you) fed yesterday]<sub>1</sub>
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{{gloss
{{gloss
|phrase=ao go bahba go owwas egoo
|phrase=ao go bahba go owwas egoo
|IPA=[ˈʔɑːʊ̯‿ɣʊ ˈβɑħ.pɐ‿ɣo̞ ˈwo̞w.wɐɕ‿ɕɪˈɣu̯oː]
|IPA=[ˈʔɑːʊ̯‿ɣʊ ˈβɑħ.pɐ‿ɣo̞ ˈʔo̞w.wɐɕ‿ɕɪˈɣu̯oː]
|gloss=ao TOP:ACT dog TOP:ACT DIST-CVB:LOC PROX-CVB:LOC:ACT.STAT/ACT.IND
|gloss=ao TOP:ACT dog TOP:ACT DIST-CVB:LOC PROX-CVB:LOC:ACT.STAT/ACT.IND
|translation=Ao and the dog are over there
|translation=Ao and the dog are over there
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|{{gloss
|{{gloss
|phrase=ao sada sãã
|phrase=ao sas sãã
|IPA=[ˈʔɑːʊ̯‿z̠ɐ.ðɐ ˈz̠ɑ̃ː]
|IPA=[ˈʔɑːʊ̯‿z̠ɐz̠ ˈd̠͡z̠ɑ̃ː]
|gloss=sea TOP:LIQ-CVB:LOC LOC:LIQ.STAT/ACT.IND
|gloss=sea TOP:LIQ-CVB:LOC LOC:LIQ.STAT/ACT.IND
|translation=(be) in the ocean; at sea
|translation=(be) in the ocean; at sea
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|{{gloss
|{{gloss
|phrase=ao sada laa
|phrase=ao sas laa
|IPA=[ˈʔɑːʊ̯‿z̠ɐ.ðɐ ˈlɑː]
|IPA=[ˈʔɑːʊ̯‿z̠ɐz̠ ˈd͡ɮɑː]
|gloss=sea TOP:LIQ-CVB:LOC LOC:STAT.STAT/ACT.IND
|gloss=sea TOP:LIQ-CVB:LOC LOC:STAT.STAT/ACT.IND
|translation=(be) by the sea
|translation=(be) by the sea
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{{gloss
{{gloss
|phrase=ahba lada ao go esdsoes
|phrase=ahba las ao go esdsoes
|IPA=[ˈʔɑħ.pɐ‿ˌlɐ.ðɐ ˈʔɑːʊ̯‿ɣo̞ jɪɕˈȶ͡ɕʊːɪ̯ɕ]
|IPA=[ˈʔɑħ.pɐ‿lɐs̠‿ˈs̠ɑːʊ̯‿ɣo̞ jɪɕˈȶ͡ɕʊːɪ̯ɕ]
|gloss=appa TOP:STAT-CVB:LOC ao TOP:ACT PROX-INV-LOC:DOM.STAT/ACT.OPT-CONJ
|gloss=appa TOP:STAT-CVB:LOC ao TOP:ACT PROX-INV-LOC:DOM.STAT/ACT.OPT-CONJ
|translation=I'm on my way to visit Ao in Appa
|translation=I'm on my way to visit Ao in Appa
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{{gloss
{{gloss
|phrase=ahba lada esoonas
|phrase=ahba las esoonas
|IPA=[ˈʔɑħ.pɐ‿ˌlɐ.ðɐ jɪˈz̠u̯oː.n̠ɐs̠]
|IPA=[ˈʔɑħ.pɐ‿lɐɕ‿ɕɪˈz̠u̯oː.n̠ɐs̠]
|gloss=appa TOP:STAT-CVB:LOC PROX-LOC:DOM.INCH.IND-CONJ
|gloss=appa TOP:STAT-CVB:LOC PROX-LOC:DOM.INCH.IND-CONJ
|translation=I've moved to Appa
|translation=I've moved to Appa

Revision as of 05:56, 26 September 2019

Ash
ahgaa
Ahba.svg
Onnawasta emblem of Appa
Pronunciation[[Help:IPA|ˈʔɑħˌqɑː]]
Created byAva Skoog
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  • Ash
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Introduction

Ash (ahgaa, lit. "seaspeak", IPA [ˈʔɑħˌqɑː]) is the anglicised name of a language mostly spoken around coastal areas, notably the town of Appa (ahba). Its speakers are familiar with technological advancements such as nautical vessels and steam locomotives.

The language is synthetic, largely based around agglutination with fusional elements. There is a great focus on verbs, nominals being mostly uninflected, and significant pro-drop tendencies and a general focus around deixis rather than pronominal distinctions. The word order is heavily SOV.

Phonology

Phonemes

Due to the small number of underlying sounds in Ash and their high degree of allophonicity, a simple listing of phonemes according to phonotactic patterning is more suitable than a traditional consonant table and vowel trapezium.

Vocalic /a i~j u~w/
Plosive /p~β t~ð k~ɣ/
Affricate /t͡ɬ~ɬ t͡s~s/
Glottal /ʔ~h/
Nasal /m~˜ n~˜ ŋ~˜/

The reasoning for this rather unusual classification is down to phonotactic patterning: these five groups all behave somewhat differently and serve as a more useful distinction than point of articulation when describing the phonology of Ash. The pair given for each phoneme refers to an alternation between various allophonic realisations despite the relatively low number of underlying sounds, an important feature of the language that makes the variation richer on the surface. For instance, long vowels (romanised by doubling the vowel) and nasal vowels (romanised using a tilde) are not analysed as phonemic.

Romanisation

The romanisation strikes a balance between representing phonemes versus surface realisations and uses the following seventeen letters as well as an apostrophe for contractions. Word-initial glottal stop is phonemic but unwritten, as are glides before homorganic vowels.

a ã e y o õ w b d g m n ŋ l s h ʼ

An example of a word with its archiphonemic, phonemic and surface transcriptions as well as romanisation:

//ˈwat.ʔa.wo// /ˈwaʔ.ta.wo/ [ˈʔɔ̯ɑħ.t̠ɐ.wʊ] oahdawo "during the day"

Syllable structure

A cluster cannot exceed two consonants and must be of one of the following configurations:

CC Both consonants are the same
FP Fricative followed by plosive
NP Nasal followed by plosive
PN~FN Plosive or fricative followed by nasal

Prosody and stress

Prefixes are always unstressed. Following the last stressed syllable an iambic pattern of secondary stress on every other underlyingly light syllable follows unless an underlyingly heavy syllable intervenes, resetting the pattern. In addition, stressed syllables are forced to be heavy either by lengthening of the vowel or reduplication of the next syllable's onset consonant if they are not already underlyingly so.

Phonological processes

Depending on the underlying nature of a cluster, various processes take place either on a phonemic (phoneme alternation) or on a phonetic (surface allophony) level. For example, /t/ merges with /t͡s/ on the phonemic level before /i~j/ or a plosive or an affricate, but alternates with [ð] on the phonetic level between vowels.

  • A nasal or fricative geminates before a glide, assimilating to and eliding it in the process.
  • All plosives alternate phonemically with fricatives or affricates before another plosive or an affricate.
  • /h~ʔ/ is a fricative before vowels/glides and plosives but a glottal stop before nasals (as is the case for plosives) and affricates.
  • Affricates are deäffricated intervocalically, before other plosives or affricates, word-finally and before nasals (which are prestopped).
  • Sibilant palatalisation cascades bidirectionally through clusters; sibilants are also palatalised after /i/ word-finally and cluster-initially.
/-j/ /-w/
//N-// [ɲ.ɲ] [m.m]
//h-// [ç.ç] [ʍ.ʍ]
//t͡s-// [ɕ.ɕ] [s̠.s̠]
//t͡ɬ-// [ʎ.ʎ] [ɫ.ɫ]
//-P//
//p-// /h.P/ [ħ.P]
//k-//
//t-// /t͡s.P/ [s̠.P~ɕ.P]
//-P// //-P͡F// //-N//
//h-// [ħ.P] [ʔ.P͡F] /ʔ.ᴰN/
//-N//
//p-// [ʔ.ᵇm]
//t-// [ʔ.ᵈn̠~ʔ.ᶡɲ]
//k-// [ʔ.ᶢŋ]

Laterals

The lateral affricate /t͡ɬ/ patterns phonotactically just like the sibilant affricate /t͡s/ but is in many deäffricated contexts no longer produced as a fricative, but as an approximant. In contexts where the affrication remains, regardless of voicing, so does the frication, i.e. [t͡ɬ~d͡ɮ]. In leniting contexts the realisation depends on the environment, remaining a fricative [ɬ] in a voiceless environment while defaulting to a pure lateral approximant [l] in a voiced one, but when geminated by the absorption of a following glide it assimilates to it as either [ʎ] or [ɫ].

Morphology

Ash does not mark words for number, person or case. With regards to syntactic patterning, only three significant word classes can be posited: verbs, nominals and converbs. Nonetheless there is a degree of mobility between them.

Verbs

The bulk of all inflection goes on verbs, making them morphemic anchors fundamental to almost any utterance in the language. The general verb template is as follows:

Stem
Deixis TV Preverbs Incorp. Class. Root Deriv. State Mood Involv. Converb.

TV refers to transitive-volitional marking, as the two categories are entwined.

Stems

Each verb has a set of primary stems formed more or less predictably from a combination of affixes. The first stem, the stative (or active, if there is no stative) indicative, is used as the lemma when citing words, such as oada "to shine", also a good example of the versatile morphophonology:

Stative Active Inchoative Terminative
Indicative oada

[ˈʔɔ̯ɑː.ðɐ]

oahda

[ˈʔɔ̯ɑħ.t̠ɐ]

oadna

[ˈʔɔ̯ɑʔ.ᵈn̠ɐ]

oasda

[ˈʔɔ̯ɑs̠.t̠ɐ]

Optative oase

[ˈʔɔ̯ɑː.ʑɪ]

oadse

[ˈʔɔ̯ɑʔ.ȶ͡ɕɪ]

oadne

[ˈʔɔ̯ɑʔ.ᶡɲɪ]

oasdse

[ˈʔɔ̯ɑɕ.ȶ͡ɕɪ]

All of these terms are to an extent ad hoc. Some verbs are inherently stative or active and do not have two distinct stems. The inchoative and terminative are often used in a perfective sense as opposed to the imperfective or habitual active or stative.

Derived verbs

Derivational suffixes can be used to extend the root and create a new set of stems, such as the causative -j- or the frequentative -(d)s-, which can themselves, depending on the word, be stative or active (all derived verbs are inherently one or the other or both and do not display the allomorphy of basic verbs), inchoative, terminative and so on. These are some of the words derived from oo "consume":

Stative Active Inchoative Terminative
Basic
oo "eat"
oona ooda
Causative
oyya "feed"
oena oeda
Frequentative
odsa "gorge"
osdna osda

Sometimes stems appear connected through no longer productive processes, such as mohwa "cook", related also to oo.

Nominals

Nominals are mostly unmarked. A handful of inherited inalienably possessed nominals are however obligatorily marked with a prefix or that disappears during incorporation into a verb. This possessive prefix (a)n- can be preceded by a deictic prefix. Here are the possessed forms of mõõ "head; hair; top", an inalienably possessed nominal:

Neutral Proximal Distal
ammõõ emmõõ ommõõ

Any phrase can be nominalised using a classificatory topic marker (see below).

Converbs

Converbs are used to denote a place, time or manner. Their formation sometimes resembles case marking or conjunctions or adverbs.

Some prominent converbialising suffixes:

Suffix Example
Locative -da (-s) sooda "where they live; by the house"
Durative -wo (-h) oadnawo "when it gets bright; in the morning"
Benefactive -wa (-u) eewa "in order to see"
Semblative -ya (-i) ayya "sea-like; blue; green"

The shorter forms given in parentheses are the historically regular outcomes of these suffixes after vowels; the longer forms have since taken over productively in normal verbs by analogy with the instances where those were always regular, but the shorter forms remain productive in the reduced forms of locative verbs (e.g. ahba las "in Appa"), and are still found in some common fossilised words, such as eyyas "here" and eyyah "now".

Deixis

The language lacks true pronouns and due to its pro-drop tendencies commonly avoids alternatives as well. One thing that does get marked is deixis: whether something is close to or far away from the speaker or a previous referent; unspecified deixis is also possible. On nominals deixis is generally spatial while on verbs it is temporal (proximal working roughly as a present tense and distal as a non-present one); converbial deixis can be either depending on the characteristics of the converb in question.

The deictic stems are as follows:

Neutral Ø- (unmarked)
Proximal e-
Distal o-

Deixis occurs in the form of isolated nominals eyʼ and owʼ, shortened forms of eyya and owwa that tend to blend into the next word, often as [-(ʔ)e̞(ː)ɪ̯]~[-(ʔ)e̞j-] and [-(ʔ)o̞(ː)ʊ̯]~[-(ʔ)o̞w-], but also with the glide assimilating, leading to forms such as [-(ʔ)ɪw-] and [-(ʔ)ʊj-]. The full forms do get written out when converbialising suffixes are applied, e.g. owwas "there".

The isolated forms phonetically start with a glottal stop, while the affixed forms may be viewed as vocalised glides, leading to different forms of sandhi intervocalically.

Conjunct and disjunct verbs

While Ash lacks a set of first, second and third person pronouns, a system of so called conjunct versus disjunct verb forms can be used in combination with transitivity markers and deixis in order to more or less unambiguously cover the same ground. This concept is also known in the literature as assertor's involvement marking, which might give the reader a clearer idea of the concept: verbs are marked for whether the one making an assertion is involved in the action (conjunct) or not (disjunct).

In simple statements the assertor defaults to the speaker (i.e. first person) but in questions to the addressee (second person). In reported speech the assertor defaults to the source of the quote and may therefore also take on a third person role. First and second person roles are associated with proximal deixis while third person is associated with distal deixis or an explicit nominal.

Conjunct is marked by the suffix -s and disjunct is unmarked.

Simple intransitives

In simple statements proximal deixis combined with a conjunct verb denotes a first person, while combined with a disjunct verb it denotes a second person, whereas in questions this is flipped. Distal deixis or an explicit nominal denotes a third person in both cases. Note that there is no number distinction and so for example first person can imply both "I" and "we" but for the sake of space only one translation is given for each example.

Declarative Interrogative
Proximal Distal Proximal Distal
Conjunct (eyʼ go) oadas
"I am pale"
- (eyʼ go) oadas no?
"are you pale?"
-
Disjunct (eyʼ go) oada
"you are pale"
(owʼ go) oada
"they are pale"
(eyʼ go) oada no?
"am I pale?"
(owʼ go) oada no?
"are they pale?"

Simple transitives

Simple transitive clauses work much the same way but the choice between a direct transitive or inverse transitive marker affects the meaning as well and is the only way to differentiate between agent and patient roles when the referents are first and second person.

Declarative
Proximal Distal
Direct Inverse Direct Inverse
Conjunct (eyʼ go) ahhees
"I look at you"
(eyʼ go) assees
"you look at me"
(owʼ go) ahhees
"I look at them"
(owʼ go) assees
"they look at me"
Disjunct (eyʼ go) ahhee
"you look at them"
(eyʼ go) assee
"they look at you"
(owʼ go) ahhee
"they1 look at them2"
(owʼ go) assee
"they2 look at them1"

The interrogative patterns the same way except for the first and second person again being flipped. As the last two examples show, the choice of transitivity marker can also serve as a proximate-obviative distinction.

Reported speech

In quotations the conjunct versus disjunct distinction instead focuses on the source of the quote, but only in the subclause. Again this may serve as a proximate-obviative distinction. This means that it is possible to mark distal referents as conjunct in such subclauses.

 Proximal Distal
Conjunct source Disjunct source Disjunct source
Conjunct target (eyʼ go) oadas (eyʼ go) ogaas
"I said I am pale"
(eyʼ go) oadas (eyʼ go) ogaa
"you said you are pale"
(owʼ go) oadas (owʼ go) ogaa
"they1 said they1 are pale"
Disjunct target (eyʼ go) oada (eyʼ go) ogaas
"I said you are pale"
(eyʼ go) oada (eyʼ go) ogaa
"you said I am pale"
(owʼ go) oada (owʼ go) ogaa
"they1 said they2 are pale"

When the source is proximal the target can also be distal in which case it is always disjunct and refers to a third person.

Indirect involvement

As the conjunct form denotes merely whether the assertor is somehow involved in the action, the assertor need not necessarily be the agent. A conjunct form would still be used to denote first person involvement as a patient in some statements.

emmõõ bo ao ehbadsas
[ʔɪmˈmũ̯õ̞ː‿ᵐbo̞ ˈʔɑːʊ̯ je̞ħˈpɑʔ.t̠͡s̠ɐs̠]
PROX-POSS-head TOP:CRESC ao PROX-TV-hand.FREQ.IND-CONJ
Ao is braiding my hair

Despite a third person being the agent of the action, the focus is on the first person (the assertor) and the verb is therefore conjunct.

Syntax

The word order is fairly strictly SOV, with converbs generally preceding the nominals followed by the verb.

Valency

Transitivity and inversion

Transitivity is explicitly marked and through an inversion marker on the verb the roles of agent and patient can be swapped without a change in word order, the purpose of which is topicalisation, leaving the topic in the subject position. The subject requires a topical marker, the details of which will be explained in detail in the section on locative verbs.

ao go bahba ehhee
[ˈʔɑːʊ̯‿ɣʊ ˈβɑħ.pɐ je̞çˈçi̯eː]
ao TOP:ACT dog PROX-TV-see.ACT.IND
Ao is looking at the dog
ao go bahba essee
[ˈʔɑːʊ̯‿ɣʊ ˈβɑħ.pɐ jɪɕˈɕi̯eː]
ao TOP:ACT dog PROX-INV-see.ACT.IND
Ao is being watched by the dog

Inversion is especially important when the subject is being omitted as person markers do not exist.

ehhees
[ʔe̞çˈçi̯eːɕ]
PROX-TV-see.ACT.IND-CONJ
I am looking at them
essees
[ʔɪɕˈɕi̯eːɕ]
PROX-INV-see.ACT.IND-CONJ
they are looking at me

Reflexivity

A verb can also be made reflexive by using a deictic marker in the transitivity slot, meaning a distinction is made between proximal and distal reflexivity, corresponding to the spatial deixis of nominals rather than the normally temporal deixis of verbs.

oadnawo ayesããs
[ˈʔɔ̯ɑʔ.ᵈn̠ɐ.wʊ ʔɐɪ̯ˈz̠ɑ̃ːs̠]
shine.INCH.IND-CVB:DUR REFL.PROX-LOC:LIQ.STAT/ACT.IND-CONJ
I wash in the morning
oadnawo ao go awosãã ma
[ˈʔɔ̯ɑʔ.ᵈn̠ɐ.wʊ ʔɑːʊ̯‿ɣo̞ ʔɐʊ̯ˈz̠ɑ̃ː‿mɐ]
shine.INCH.IND-CVB:DUR ao TOP:ACT REFL.DIST-LOC:LIQ.STAT/ACT.IND NEG
Ao doesn't wash in the morning

Reflexivity can be used to disambiguate between cases when the first and second person implications of the proximal deixis would otherwise collapse or as a proximate-obviative distinction.

emmõõ bo eyʼ ehbadsas
[ʔɪmˈmũ̯õ̞ː‿ᵐbʊ ˈʔe̞j‿je̞ħˈpɑʔ.t̠͡s̠ɐs̠]
PROX-POSS-head TOP:CRESC PROX PROX-TV-hand.FREQ.IND-CONJ
you are braiding my hair
emmõõ bo eyʼ eyebadsas
[ʔɪmˈmũ̯õ̞ː‿ᵐbʊ ˈʔe̞j‿je̞ɪ̯ˈβɑʔ.t̠͡s̠ɐs̠]
PROX-POSS-head TOP:CRESC PROX PROX-REFL.PROX-hand.FREQ.IND-CONJ
I am braiding my hair

Incorporation

There is a limit on two unmarked nominal arguments of a verb. There are two ways to introduce more arguments, one of which is to incorporate the third nominal into the verb.

ao go bahba odsãmmoyya
[ˈʔɑːʊ̯‿ɣʊ ˈβɑħ.pɐ wo̞ħˈt̠͡s̠ɑ̃mˌmʊj.jɐ]
ao TOP:ACT dog DIST-TV-water-consume.CAUS.IND
Ao was giving the dog water to drink

Converbialisation

The other method is to completely remove the valency of the nominal by turning it into a converb, which is why this process sometimes resembles case marking.

ao go bahba meeda odsãmmoyya
[ˈʔɑːʊ̯‿ɣʊ ˈβɑħ.pɐ ˈmʲi̯eː.ðɐ wo̞ʔˈt̠͡s̠ɑ̃mˌmʊj.jɐ]
ao TOP:ACT dog fire-CVB:LOC DIST-TV-water-consume.CAUS.IND
Ao was giving the dog water to drink by the fire

Animacy

While there is no explicit marking for animacy, an underlying hierarchy ranging roughly from natural forces at the top to people and animals in the middle and inanimates at the bottom governs certain parts of the grammar. The main aspect of this hierarchy is that inanimate referents cannot act as agents which affects how transitive and inverse marking is interpreted in their presence.

Transitive Inverse
Animate bahba go ahhee
"dogs see it"
bahba go assee
"dogs are seen"
Inanimate sãã sa ahhee
"water is seen"
*sãã sa assee
(ungrammatical)

Topicalisation

New non-verbal information is focused by fronting, i.e. introducing the word or phrase earlier in the sentence. This means that the order of subject and object might shift in order to focus on the object. When the object is inanimate inversion is not possible nor necessary, while for an animate object it is. The nominal in focus also receives a topic marker, explained in detail in the section on locative verbs.

Normal Fronted
Animate ao go bahba ohhee
"Ao was looking at the dog"
bahba go ao ossee
"it was the dog Ao was looking at"
Inanimate ao go sãã ohhoo
"Ao was drinking water"
sãã sa ao ohhoo
"it was water Ao was drinking"

Subclauses

Relativisation is done simply by chaining phrases one after another, with no special marking. Subclauses go before main clauses, in which the deictic context is centered around the subject of the subclause.

[owʼ oahdawo bahba go ossoena]1 [eyʼ oahdawo esseenas]2
[ˈʔo̞w‿ˈwɔ̯ɑħ.t̠ɐ.wʊ ˈβɑħ.pɐ‿ɣo̞ wʊs̠ˈs̠ʊːɪ̯.n̠ɐ ˈʔɪw‿ˈwɔ̯ɑħ.t̠ɐ.wʊ jɪɕˈɕi̯eː.n̠ɐs̠]
[DIST shine.ACT.IND-CVB:DUR dog DIST-INV-consume.CAUS.INCH.IND]1 [PROX shine.ACT.IND-CVB:DUR PROX-INV-see.INCH.IND-CONJ]2
[today I saw]2 [the dog that (you) fed yesterday]1

This is also how stative verbs are used to assign qualities to nominals.

bahba go oada esseenas no
[ˈbɑħ.pɐ‿ɣo̞ ˈwɔ̯ɑː.ðɐ jɪɕˈɕi̯eː.n̠ɐz̠‿ᵈn̠ʊ]
dog TOP:ACT shine.STAT.IND PROX-INV-see.INCH.IND-CONJ Q
have you seen the white dog?

Unstressed words

In addition to unstressed locative verbs used as topicalising classifiers (see below) there are a few other words that can be unstressed to serve various purposes, mostly after verbs.

Modality

Perhaps the most grammatically significant are ma for negation and no for interrogation. There is also yo for emphasis.

Declarative Negative Interrogative Emphatic
ebadsa
"weaving"
ebadsa ma
"not weaving"
ebadsa no?
"weaving?"
ebadsa yo
"(really) weaving!"

Evidentiality

Reduced forms of some verbs can function as evidential markers, such as e for observation and ga for hearsay.

Declarative Observational Quotative
ebadsa
"weaving"
ebadsa e
"(evidently) weaving"
ebadsa ga
"(allegedly) weaving"

Locative verbs

An important part of Ash grammar is an extensive set of so called locative verbs which are used almost like a noun classification system and cover location, motion and related concepts while providing specific information about the referent at hand, such as specifying whether liquid is involved. These also have reduced clitic forms used as topic markers. Some locative verbs also retain non-locative meanings, such as the aerial see, which in conjunction with the oral classifier, as osee, means to "blow".

These are some of those verbs:

Locative Topic Gloss Semantic range
laa la :STAT General stative (indefinite or permanent)
goo go :ACT General active (temporary or dynamic)
sãã sa :LIQ Water and other liquids
see se :AER Air and weather
boo bo :CRESC Growth (hair, plants et c.)
doo do :PART Particles (powder, sand, dust, smoke, spores et c.)
mee me :PYR Fire (by extension core or centre)
baa ba :INST Hand and instrumental (things held; implements and tools)

Classificatory topicalisation

An unstressed locative verb is required as a topical marker following a fronted nominal, resembling a particle. The choice of verb functions much like a noun class classifier and can be used to differentiate between various meanings of a single nominal lexeme.

ammõõ bo
[ʔɐmˈmũ̯õ̞ː‿ᵐbʊ]
POSS-head TOP:CRESC
hair (on the head)
ammõõ la
[ʔɐmˈmũ̯õ̞ː‿ⁿd͡ɮɐ]
POSS-head TOP:STAT
head (on the body)

Used this way they nonetheless remain verbs with the accompanying syntactic implications. Since they create subclauses, a nominal specified for category with a locative verb cannot be used in object position and so will always precede any agent. However, since this is in line with the normal rule of topicalisation by fronting, it has no actual implications on the syntax.

emmõõ bo ao ehbadsas
[ʔɪmˈmũ̯õ̞ː‿ᵐbo̞ ˈʔɑːʊ̯ je̞ħˈpɑʔ.t̠͡s̠ɐs̠]
PROX-POSS-head TOP:CRESC ao PROX-TV-hand.FREQ.IND-CONJ
Ao is braiding my hair

Conjunction

In addition to serving as a topical marker, an unstressed locative verb can also be used as a nominal conjunction. As subject and object are never both topically marked, a series of topicalised nominals serves as a single noun phrase in the fronted subject position.

ao go bahba go owwas egoo
[ˈʔɑːʊ̯‿ɣʊ ˈβɑħ.pɐ‿ɣo̞ ˈʔo̞w.wɐɕ‿ɕɪˈɣu̯oː]
ao TOP:ACT dog TOP:ACT DIST-CVB:LOC PROX-CVB:LOC:ACT.STAT/ACT.IND
Ao and the dog are over there

Specification

Prefixes such as mo- "up; forth", ne- "down; away" and go- "around" can be used to specify location, with the translative stem of the locative verb providing a sense of motion.

ao go negoo
[ˈʔɑːʊ̯‿ɣo̞ ɲɪˈɣu̯oː]
ao TOP:ACT SUB-LOC:ACT.STAT/ACT.IND
Ao is at the bottom
ao go negoona
[ˈʔɑːʊ̯‿ɣo̞ ɲɪˈɣu̯oː.n̠ɐ]
ao TOP:ACT SUB-LOC:ACT.INCH.IND
Ao moves down

Use with converbs

Converbial location is generic and locative verbs can be used to specify the meaning.

ao sas sãã
[ˈʔɑːʊ̯‿z̠ɐz̠ ˈd̠͡z̠ɑ̃ː]
sea TOP:LIQ-CVB:LOC LOC:LIQ.STAT/ACT.IND
(be) in the ocean; at sea
ao sas laa
[ˈʔɑːʊ̯‿z̠ɐz̠ ˈd͡ɮɑː]
sea TOP:LIQ-CVB:LOC LOC:STAT.STAT/ACT.IND
(be) by the sea

Pragmatics and conventions

Modality

Wants, needs, desires and possibilities are often just expressed through morphological means in Ash, such as optatives, potentials and interrogatives.

ewoes
[ʔɪˈwʊːɪ̯ɕ]
PROX-consume.ACT.OPT-CONJ
I want/need to eat; I am hungry
ewoe no
[ʔɪˈwʊːɪ̯‿n̠ʊ]
PROX-consume.ACT.OPT Q
perhaps I should eat something
bahba go ewoe no
[ˈbɑħ.pɐ‿ɣʊ jɪˈwʊːɪ̯‿n̠ʊ]
dog TOP:ACT PROX-consume.ACT.OPT Q
maybe the dog is hungry

Domestic vocabulary

The verb soo carries many meanings related to the home. An important part of its usage is the focus on the host rather than the guest when describing a visit.

ahba las ao go esdsoes
[ˈʔɑħ.pɐ‿lɐs̠‿ˈs̠ɑːʊ̯‿ɣo̞ jɪɕˈȶ͡ɕʊːɪ̯ɕ]
appa TOP:STAT-CVB:LOC ao TOP:ACT PROX-INV-LOC:DOM.STAT/ACT.OPT-CONJ
I'm on my way to visit Ao in Appa

Nonetheless it refers to the referent's own home when used intransitively.

ahba las esoonas
[ˈʔɑħ.pɐ‿lɐɕ‿ɕɪˈz̠u̯oː.n̠ɐs̠]
appa TOP:STAT-CVB:LOC PROX-LOC:DOM.INCH.IND-CONJ
I've moved to Appa

Colour terms

Colours are mainly expressed through comparative stative verbs, likening the appearance of the referent to something else, such as mee "fire" → meyya "red; yellow; orange; brown" or ao "sea" → ayya "blue; green".

meyya bahba go
[ˈme̞j.jɐ ˈβɑħ.pɐ‿ɣʊ]
fire.SEMB.STAT.IND dog TOP:ACT
a brown dog

Some are expressed through non-derived verbs like oada.

oada bahba go
[ˈʔɔ̯ɑː.ðɐ ˈβɑħ.pɐ‿ɣo̞]
shine.STAT.IND dog TOP:ACT
a white dog