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|name= ''Kirtumur language''
|name= ''Kirtumur language''
|nativename=''Kirtumur''
|nativename=''Kirtumur''
|pronunciation=/ˈkir.tu.mur/
|pronunciation=kir.tu.ˈmur
|-
|-
|creator=[[User:Raistas|Raistas]]
|creator=[[User:Raistas|Raistas]]
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Kirtumur belongs to the eastern branch along with Kērsalur and a few spoken varieties (also called Kirtumur dialects). The most important neighbour outside its close genetic relatives is Cirdamur, which has been in contact with Kirtumur for almost all of its history and both languages influenced each other, this is the most noticeable in their lexical similarity, for example ''supōlum'' "ship", which is a loanword from Cirdamur and has the same root as Kirtumur ''paulim'' "gliding"; or ''cilin'' "healthy" (another Cirdamur loanword) which is a cognate to Kirtumur ''kilin'' "whole, unbroken".  
Kirtumur belongs to the eastern branch along with Kērsalur and a few spoken varieties (also called Kirtumur dialects). The most important neighbour outside its close genetic relatives is Cirdamur, which has been in contact with Kirtumur for almost all of its history and both languages influenced each other, this is the most noticeable in their lexical similarity, for example ''supōlum'' "ship", which is a loanword from Cirdamur and has the same root as Kirtumur ''paulim'' "gliding"; or ''cilin'' "healthy" (another Cirdamur loanword) which is a cognate to Kirtumur ''kilin'' "whole, unbroken".  
There are two standard forms of written Kirtumur, '''Umunesal''' and '''Erepursal'''. Umunesal developed from the central and partially eastern Umu dialects, that replaced Kērsal (and later also Erepursal) as the elite language, while Erepursal developed based upon a north-western dialect group with a strong Kērsalur influence.
==Dialects==
==Dialects==
The two distinct varieties ('''Ilusal''' and '''Ruosal'''), usually called Kirtumur dialects, can be considered separate languages, since both are quite different from Kirtumur and are more similar to each other and extinct Kērsal dialects than to Kirtumur. There is yet another dialect, called ''kirtumur erepurnu'', which has more old loanwords from Kērsal and is more conservative, preserving a distinct [y(ː)] sound which became [i] in other dialects. In the north and northeast of Umu Kirtumur dialects merge [s] and [ʃ], leaving only the latter and also tend to pronounce [x] as [h]. They also use ''zela'' or ''hela'' instead of ''ŋala'' "to live" and ''mi'' instead of ''ma'' "not", which is also common in the west and is shared with Ruosal.
The two distinct varieties ('''Ilusal''' and '''Ruosal'''), usually called Kirtumur dialects, can be considered separate languages, since both are quite different from Kirtumur and are more similar to each other and extinct Kērsal dialects than to Kirtumur. There is yet another dialect, called ''kirtumur erepurnu'', which has more old loanwords from Kērsal and is more conservative, preserving a distinct [y(ː)] sound which became [i] in other dialects. Erepursal was based primarily on this dialect. In the north and northeast of Umu Kirtumur dialects merge [s] and [ʃ], leaving only the latter and also tend to pronounce [x] as [h]. They also use ''zela'' or ''hela'' instead of ''ŋala'' "to live" and ''mi'' instead of ''ma'' "not", which is also common in the west and is shared with Ruosal. Dialects from different groups are in some cases so dissimilar as to be unintelligible to unfamiliar listeners.


There are also various sociolects, that vary in levels of prestige with the high nobility speaking almost completely in Kērsalur with Kirtumur grammar and using longer words, while people of a low social class using less complex grammatical structures and more dialectal words in their speech. The Erepur dialect is the only exception as it is associated with religion, viewed as a link between Kērsalur and common Kirtumur, through which people can understand ancient texts and inscriptions.
There are also various sociolects, that vary in levels of prestige with the high nobility speaking almost completely in Kērsalur with Kirtumur grammar and using longer words, while people of a low social class using less complex grammatical structures and more dialectal words in their speech. The Erepur dialect is the only exception as it is associated with religion, viewed as a link between Kērsalur and common Kirtumur, through which people can understand ancient texts and inscriptions.
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The voiceless aspirated stops were generally lost in syllable-final position, merging with their plain voiceless counterparts or assimilating to the following consonant. In southwestern dialects the /tʰ/ irregularly became /r/ between vowels. This is also true for the standard, but limited to a few verbal prefixes before person markers. The consonants /h/, /w/ and /j/ are rare and can only be found word-initially or between vowels, they disappear when preceded by any consonant.
The voiceless aspirated stops were generally lost in syllable-final position, merging with their plain voiceless counterparts or assimilating to the following consonant. In southwestern dialects the /tʰ/ irregularly became /r/ between vowels. This is also true for the standard, but limited to a few verbal prefixes before person markers. The consonants /h/, /w/ and /j/ are rare and can only be found word-initially or between vowels, they disappear when preceded by any consonant.
===Vowels===
===Vowels===
Here are the vowel phonemes in Umunesal:
{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Vowels
|+ Vowels
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|-
|-
|}
|}
Vowel length was phonemic in East Kyrdan, but in Kirtumur the only vowel that has both a short and a long versions is /e/, which is still differentiated by quality: the short counterpart is noticeably more open. Kirtumur also has two diphthongs: ''"ei"'' [eɪ] and ''"au"'' [aʉ], with the second being pronounced [ɛʏ] in the northeast.
Vowel length was phonemic in East Kyrdan, but in Kirtumur the only vowel that has both a short and a long versions is /e/, which is still differentiated by quality: the short counterpart is noticeably more open. Kirtumur also has two diphthongs: ''"ei"'' [eɪ] and ''"au"'' [aʉ], with the second being pronounced [ɛʏ] in the northeast. Erepursal variety has additional two vowels: ''"y"'' [y] and ''"ȳ"'' [øː], which usually correspond to ''"i"'' in Umunesal. The old East Kyrdan diphthongs *ai and *ei are still distinct in Erepursal with *ai becoming ''"ei"'' [ɛɪ] and *ei becoming ''"ui"'' [ʉɪ]~[ɵɪ], while both merged into [eɪ] in Umunesal.


Early in its history a sound change took place that gave rise to the Kirtumur vowel harmony. According to this rule, a front vowel differs depending on the vowel in the following syllable. When the next syllable contains a high vowel ([i] or [u]) or a diphthong, then the vowel is [i] and in other cases it is [ɛ], for instance: '''''e'''n'''e'''thachē'' "she/he gave it to them", '''''i'''n'''i'''šukē'' "she/he bought it for them". Certain prefixes, like the locative prefix, does not change, however. If the vowel is [ɛ], then both [i] and [ɛ] can appear before it, but the latter appears much more often then the former.
Early in its history a sound change took place that gave rise to the Kirtumur vowel harmony. According to this rule, a front vowel differs depending on the vowel in the following syllable. When the next syllable contains a high vowel ([i] or [u]) or a diphthong, then the vowel is [i] and in other cases it is [ɛ], for instance: '''''e'''n'''e'''thachē'' "she/he gave it to them", '''''i'''n'''i'''šukē'' "she/he bought it for them". Certain prefixes, like the locative prefix, does not change, however. If the vowel is [ɛ], then both [i] and [ɛ] can appear before it, but the latter appears much more often then the former.
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===Stress===
===Stress===
Like other Eastern varieties, Kirtumur does not possess a strong stress and thus it generally does not cause any vowel reduction of unstressed syllables (a feature, shared with Kērsalur, but not with some westernmost dialects, like Ilusal). A stress is generally fixed on the root vowel of a word, but some suffixes can cause the stress shift to the right, like the inanimate locative marker ''-enei'' which receives stress on its first vowel ([ˈlum] "surface" - [lu.ˈmɛ.nɛɪ] "on the surface" ) or the negative active present conjugation, which shifts the stress to the person suffix ([ˈkʰɑ.tʰɑ] "to stop" - [kʰɑ.ˈtʰeɪ.ŋi] "I'm not stopping him/her". In composite words the stress always falls on the second root vowel or a suffix - [nɑm.sɑ.ˈlir] "speech, the manner of speaking".
Like other Eastern varieties, Kirtumur does not possess a strong stress and thus it generally does not cause any vowel reduction of unstressed syllables (a feature, shared with Kērsalur, but not with some westernmost dialects, like Ilusal). A stress is generally fixed on the root vowel of a word, but some suffixes can cause the stress shift to the right, like the inanimate locative marker ''-enei'' which receives stress on its first vowel ([ˈlum] "surface" - [lu.ˈmɛ.nɛɪ] "on the surface" ) or the negative active present conjugation, which shifts the stress to the person suffix ([ˈkʰɑ.tʰɑ] "to stop" - [kʰɑ.ˈtʰeɪ.ŋi] "I'm not stopping him/her". In composite words the stress always falls on the second root vowel or a suffix - [nɑm.sɑ.ˈlir] "speech, the manner of speaking".
==Written standard==
Kirtumur has two written standards: '''Umunesal''' and '''Erepursal'''. Other Kirtumur dialects have are not standardised and the usage of Erepursal was later limited to only religious practices and as a local variety. However, neither of these two are spoken standards, even though both provide rules concerning the proper pronunciation, and most Kirtumur speakers use their native dialect in most or all circumstances, as no attempts at creating a unified spoken standard have been made. Erepursal is based primarily on western mountainous dialects of Kirtumur and thus was difficult to learn for speakers of various eastern dialects. It was later almost completely replaced with Umunesal in most areas, which is based on central lowland dialects instead and is slightly closer to some eastern dialects, than Erepursal, though neither standard was based on or included the eastern dialects. Thus, broadly speaking, Erepursal is widespread in western mountainous parts of Umu, though not in major urban areas, while Umunesal is used everywhere else. Umunesal is generally less conservative and allows a great variety of optional word forms; forms that are closer to its original central dialect and Cirdamur is called ''munulikhir'' ("conservative") and forms that are closer to other local dialects and/or Kērsalur are ''muatauŋir'' ("moderate").
==Morphology==
==Morphology==
The word is perhaps the most basic unit of grammar and morphology deals with the internal structure of words. Kirtumur is consistently classified as an [[w:Agglutinative language|agglutinative]] language. Although it differs from a standard agglutinative language, where each morpheme carries one meaning and they remain unchanged after their unions. Some of its morphemes act similarly to morphemes in a [[w:Fusional language|fusional language]], which tend to use a single morheme to carry multiple meanings. For example, the verb ''misa'' ("to eat") has the first-person singular subject present tense form ''misi'' ("I eat it"); the single suffix ''-i'' represents both the features of the direct agreement between first and third persons and present tense, instead of having a separate affix for each feature (although the present tense morpheme can also be analysed as zero).
The word is perhaps the most basic unit of grammar and morphology deals with the internal structure of words. Kirtumur is consistently classified as an [[w:Agglutinative language|agglutinative]] language. Although it differs from a standard agglutinative language, where each morpheme carries one meaning and they remain unchanged after their unions. Some of its morphemes act similarly to morphemes in a [[w:Fusional language|fusional language]], which tend to use a single morheme to carry multiple meanings. For example, the verb ''misa'' ("to eat") has the first-person singular subject present tense form ''misi'' ("I eat it"); the single suffix ''-i'' represents both the features of the direct agreement between first and third persons and present tense, instead of having a separate affix for each feature (although the present tense morpheme can also be analysed as zero).
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Nouns is an open class in Kirtumur. In principle, the number of nouns is unlimited. Apart from a large number of simple nouns, there are numerous complex nouns, most of them compounds, such as ''wimmuk'' ("basket", from ''wek-''  "cover" and ''muk'' "bundle"), but derivation by means of affixes is also common. Nouns are inflected for three grammatical categories: [[w:Grammatical case|case]], [[w:Possession (linguistics)|possession]] and [[w:Grammatical number|number]]. The category of [[w:Grammatical gender|gender]] (or animacy) is tied to the former categories. Nouns are not marked for definiteness and there is no article.
Nouns is an open class in Kirtumur. In principle, the number of nouns is unlimited. Apart from a large number of simple nouns, there are numerous complex nouns, most of them compounds, such as ''wimmuk'' ("basket", from ''wek-''  "cover" and ''muk'' "bundle"), but derivation by means of affixes is also common. Nouns are inflected for three grammatical categories: [[w:Grammatical case|case]], [[w:Possession (linguistics)|possession]] and [[w:Grammatical number|number]]. The category of [[w:Grammatical gender|gender]] (or animacy) is tied to the former categories. Nouns are not marked for definiteness and there is no article.


Kirtumur has two nouns classes, based on [[w:Animacy|animacy]], which can also be called genders (animate and inanimate). The class of a noun is determined by its meaning. Humans, gods, all living organisms, stars and planets belong to animate gender, while everything else belongs to inanimate gender. Groups living beings are inanimate, even though the singular subjects that comprise them are animate. This animacy distinction is marked on nouns with different case forms, but it also shows itself in pronominal and verbal agreement. There is no sex-based gender in Kirtumur, although several nouns are gender-specific (e.g. masculine or feminine), such as: ''ŋiraŋi/(ŋir)pekhi'' ("woman/man"), or ''calme/alle'' ("masculine/feminine"). The addition of ''pekh'' ("male") or ''eraŋ'' ("female") to the noun usually signifies gender in other terms such as ''ama'''pekhi''''' ("father"), but it is rarely used, unless the speaker needs to specify gender, otherwise gender-neutral words are preferred. This sometimes leads to confusion, when the gender of a historical figure is unknown, because it was never mentioned. A different example of it is how different gods were sometimes portrayed as men and sometimes as women on ancient tablets, and most of the time they are considered androgynous because of this.
Kirtumur has two nouns classes, based on [[w:Animacy|animacy]], which can also be called genders (animate and inanimate). The class of a noun is determined by its meaning. Humans, gods, all living organisms, stars and planets belong to animate gender, while everything else belongs to inanimate gender. Groups living beings are inanimate, even though the singular subjects that comprise them are animate. This animacy distinction is marked on nouns with different case forms, but it also shows itself in pronominal and verbal agreement. There is no sex-based gender in Kirtumur, although several nouns are gender-specific (e.g. masculine or feminine), such as: ''ŋiraŋi/(ŋir)pekhi'' ("woman/man"), or ''calme/alle'' ("feminine/masculine"). The addition of ''pekh'' ("male") or ''eraŋ'' ("female") to the noun usually signifies gender in other terms such as ''ama'''pekhi''''' ("father"), but it is rarely used, unless the speaker needs to specify gender, otherwise gender-neutral words are preferred. This sometimes leads to confusion, when the gender of a historical figure is unknown, because it was never mentioned. A different example of it is how different gods were sometimes portrayed as men and sometimes as women on ancient tablets, and most of the time they are considered androgynous because of this.


===Pronouns===
===Pronouns===
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|}
|}
Here the indirect object is marked on a verb with a prefix ''na-'', while the oblique object ''heim'' ("house") is marked with a prefix ''ci-''.
Here the indirect object is marked on a verb with a prefix ''na-'', while the oblique object ''heim'' ("house") is marked with a prefix ''ci-''.
===Ideophones===
Ideophones are grammatical [[w:Grammatical particle|particles]] that represent a separate class in Kirtumur. The ideophones are onomatopoeic words expressing various kinds of noises or convey an emphasis or a strong feeling about something. They contain sounds that approximate the noises they express, but at the same time they also have a fairly rigid phonemic structure. Morphologically some are more similar to verbs, than to nouns, while others are equally different from both. An example of the first type:
:{|
|nōka
|wōa
|ezatuttate
|tamanei
|-
|nō-ka-∅
|wō-a
|e-za-tut.tat-e
|ta-m-enei
|-
|stone-PL-ABS
|big-INF
|PST-1SG.IO-clatter.RDUP-IPFV
|that-place-LOC
|-
| colspan="2" | "Big stones were clattering near me".
|}
The structure of ''tuttata'' "to clatter" is typical for a verb-like ideophone, which is usually reduplicated.
===Particles===
The second type does not have such a straightforward meaning or structure, unlike the ideophones. For example, one of such particles is ''upa'' "even, also":
*'''''upa''' wamēki'' – "'''even''' he/she doesn’t know it".
Another commonly used particle is ''hē'', which has a broad range of meaning, but typically emphasises verbs:
*'''''hē''' šiyikattei'' – "'''indeed''', this was definitely going to happen";
*'''''hē''' ektei'' – "I have '''barely''' done it".
The particle ''ha'' can be used with both nouns and verbs and acts as a topic marker:
*'''''ha''' ka lileye'' – "'''and now''' the sun sets";
*'''''ha''' araltax'' – "'''well''', it is beautiful".
There are other particles with a similar function: ''nakōl'' "so, therefore" (lit. "for the name of it"), ''taur'' "thus", ''namēn'' "subsequently" (lit. "for the second one"), ''uterke'' "later, afterwards" (Kērsalur borrowing, lit. "on the back"), ''xenaterke'' "since, from now on" (also a Kērsalur borrowing). The particle ''kana'' means "now, already" and is typically used with verbs, mostly with optative:
*''kurōkha '''kana''''' – "do it '''already'''" .
Its reduplicated form can also be used on its own: ''kana-kana!'' "come on!" The particle ''nu/na'' is used as an [[w:Interjection|interjection]], similarly to ''ha'' and can be translated as "oh", "fine" or "okay":
*'''''Nu''' kheisi'' – "'''all right''', I’ll do it".
Finally the particle ''hi'' has a meaning of "so, very" but its usage broadly overlaps with ''ha''. It is very common in Erepursal and its original dialect, while in the standard (Umunesal) it is rarely used, being substituted with ''ha'':
*'''''hi''' upara'' – "it’s '''so''' late";
*'''''hi''' hakua'' – "'''yes''', I want it".
==Syntax==
==Syntax==
In Kirtumur word order plays no role in the marking of syntactic functions and thus Kirtumur has a rather free word order in clauses. Because so many syntactic functions can be realized by verbal affixes, a verbal form alone is sufficient enough to make up a complete clause: ''enekhēkkurtē'' "he/she had made it clear for them" (AOR-3IO.PL-clear.CAUS-PRF-3AG.3PAT). Most clauses contain more words, though. The verbal form is then more likely the last word of the clause, being preceded by noun phrases, although this is not the default order, as the actual default order is not fixed.
In Kirtumur word order plays no role in the marking of syntactic functions and thus Kirtumur has a rather free word order in clauses. Because so many syntactic functions can be realized by verbal affixes, a verbal form alone is sufficient enough to make up a complete clause: ''enekhēkkurtē'' "he/she had made it clear for them" (AOR-3IO.PL-clear.CAUS-PRF-3AG.3PAT). Most clauses contain more words, though. The verbal form is then more likely the last word of the clause, being preceded by noun phrases, although this is not the default order, as the actual default order is not fixed.
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:{|
:{|
|yiŋirak
|yiŋirak
|Thikniri
|Thikentiri
|muritaknues
|muritaknues
|yēl
|yēl
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|-
|-
|yi-ŋir-ak
|yi-ŋir-ak
|Thiknir-i
|Thik-entir-i
|mu-rit-ak-nu-es
|mu-rit-ak-nu-es
|y-ēl
|y-ēl
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|-
|-
|this-person-PL
|this-person-PL
|Green God/Goddess-ABS
|Green-God/Goddess-ABS
|AGT-build-PL-3POSS-ERG
|AGT-build-PL-3POSS-ERG
|this-word
|this-word
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|kar
|kar
|athēl
|athēl
|panaōŋē
|panawaŋē
|-
|-
|Reikentir-ar-ta
|Reikentir-ar-ta
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