Gaju: Difference between revisions

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 ==Vocabulary==
 Gaju has historically featured very few of the [[w:Sanskrit|Sanskrit]] and [[w:Arabic language|Arabic]] loanwords that abound in [[Rttirri]]. However, the Gaju community's close proximity to [[w:Myanmar|Myanmar]] has given their language numerous loanwords from local languages, such as [[w:Burmese language|Burmese]], [[w:Thai language|Thai]], and the [[w:Karen languages|Karen]] languages. It has also taken on some loans from Rttirri.
+==Dialectology==
+Being spoken over a smaller area and by far fewer people, Gaju is considered less dialectally diverse than Rttirri. However, differences exist in pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar.
+===Urban Gaju===
+:''See also: [[Rttirri#Eastern Rttirri|Eastern Rttirri]]''
+Spoken by most Gajus closer to Rttirria's southern coast, such as in the far-eastern suburbs of Iharnara, Urban Gaju is characterized most notably by significant influence of [[Rttirri#Eastern Rttirri|the Eastern dialects of Rttirri]]. It is identified by the following features:
+* Mergers between the voiceless consonants /m̥/ and /n̥/ and their voiced counterparts. Similarly, /ʍ/ may be merged into either /w/ or /f/, and /l̥/ into either /l/ or /t/. Younger speakers, women, and Gajus with weaker ethnic identification are more likely to show these mergers.
+* Lowering of /ɛ/ to [æ], possibly with some rounding to [œ~ɶ̝].
+* Raising of /ə/ to [ɘ~ɨ].
+* Reversal of the original voiced stop > voiceless stop > aspirated stop chain shift, such that (for example) /t/ and /tʰ/ are now pronounced [d] and [t].
+* Merger of /h/ into /x/.
+* Significant flattening of the tone system, especially the higher tones; the high and rising tones, and the low and falling tones, may be merged altogether. Younger speakers, men, and Gajus with weaker ethnic identification show more deteriorated tone systems.
+* Greater use of the female third-person singular pronoun ''hni'', including its inflected forms, which are often realized as ''hning'' (accusative) and ''hnim'' (genitive) instead of ''hni ke'' and ''hni fóm''. Younger speakers will often suffix noun phrases referring to women or girls with these pronouns, which has convinced some Gaju scholars that Urban Gaju is taking on a [[w:grammatical gender|grammatical gender]] system.
+:Na nam emshang-e bo-bạkạ.
+:1SG.NOM PERF chicken-ACC PST-shoot
+:I shot the rooster.
+:Na nam emshang '''hning''' bo-bạkạ.
+:1SG.NOM PERF chicken F.ACC PST-shoot
+:I shot the hen.
+===Jungle Gaju===
+This dialect is spoken in the more remote and sparsely populated regions farther north, as well as in the mid-sized Rtuha city of Ppisinurtu. It is identified by the following features:
+* Optional pronunciation of /l̥/ as the [[w:lateral fricative|lateral fricative]] [ɬ], and by analogy, /l/ as its voiced counterpart [ɮ]. This fricativization is generally avoided in loanwords, but especially common when preceding a syllable containing a voiceless consonant (only within the same lexical unit). As such, Gaju scholars believe the lateral approximants and lateral fricatives may be undergoing a [[w:phonemic split|phonemic split]].
+* Downglides of front vowels to [a~ɐ~ə] before coda /m/, e.g. ''nim'' "around" [nia̯m˥]. Male speakers (of all ages) show higher and backer offglides than female speakers.
+* Chain shift of back vowels downward before coda /n/ and /ŋ/:
+:* /u/ > [o]
+:* /o/ > [ɔ]
+:* /ɔ/ > [ɑ~ɒ]
+* Pronunciation of high back vowels (when not preceding a coda nasal) with a more unrounded articulation: /u/ as [ɯ] and /o/ as [ɤ].
 ==Grammar==