Kandi/Sandbox
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| Kandi | |
|---|---|
| Tsan | |
| Kándi tsúyi | |
| Pronunciation | [kaːndɪ t͡suβ̞ʝɪ] |
| Created by | Waahlis |
| Setting | Unknown conworld |
| Native speakers | 4 million (2015) |
Jasi-Jivan
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Early form | Proto-Kandi
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| Official status | |
| Regulated by | Aytšin Tatšūkkāndi |
| Language codes | |
| CLCR | qts |
Kāndi, or Tsan (kándi tsúyi or tsani tsúyi) is a language spoken by the Tsan people. It belongs to the Tanisi language family and is thus distantly related to the Ris language. Kandi is a heavily agglutinating with a complex verbal morphology. The language has repeatedly been analysed as lacking nouns and adjectives altogether, in favour of verbs.
Phonology
Consonants
The Kandi inventory of consonants is very symmetrical. In D'Ivoires first model, he was mistaken and realised the velar approximant /ɰ/ as a variation of the long vowels. Comparative studies of the Ris and Jávva languages proved this to be wrong.
| Bilabial | Dental | Alveolar | Dorsal | Glottal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| central | central | lateral | palatal | |||||
| Nasals | m /m/ | n /n/ | ||||||
| Stops | ||||||||
| voiceless | t /t/ | k /k/ | ||||||
| voiced | b /b/ | d /d/ | g /g/ | |||||
| Affricates | ts /t͡s/ | tl /t͡ɬ/ | tš /t͡ɕ/ | |||||
| Fricatives | s /s/ | š /ɕ/ · y /ʝ/ | x /x/ | h /h/ | ||||
| Approximants | w /β̞/ | l /l/ | ǧ /ɰ/ | |||||
| Trills | r /ʀ~r/ | |||||||
Vowels
D'Ivoire standardised the phonemic inventory of vowels in the language, as per his conclusion that there were four phonemic short vowels, /i/, /a/, /u/, /ɔ/ and three phonemic "long" vowels. The quality of the long vowels is however rarely realised as the same as their short counterparts. It is likely that they once only differed in length, but such is no longer the case.
| short | long | |
|---|---|---|
| Close front unrounded | i /i/ | í /iː/ [iː] |
| Open back unrounded | a /a/ | á /aː/ [æ] |
| Open-mid back rounded | o /ɔ/ | ó /ɔː/ |
| Close back rounded | u /u/ | ú /uː/ [u͜β̞] |
Morphophonology
Noun class specifers
There are 9 noun classes in Kandi. They are distinguished by the specifier they use, which is one of few grammatical number dependent elements in the language.
| Class | Singular | Dual | Plural | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | -ma | -im | -nna | -únna | -yme | -imme | people, professions |
| II | -n | -i | animals, pets, cattle | ||||
| III | -uš | -waš | predators, pejoratives | ||||
| IV | wa- | w- | plants, nature | ||||
| V | ki- | kin- | -únna | -yunna | meat, edibles, bodyparts | ||
| VI | -š | -iš | -sse | -issa | small/round/short/curved objects | ||
| VII | -teh | -teh | -yittah | -īttah | long/straight objects, instruments | ||
| VIII | -kka | -ákka | unclear, abstractions | ||||
| IX | -ye | -ya | -yeh | -yeh | vast objects, divinity, honorifics | ||
Simple stuff
Predicative expressions
The Kāndi language lacks a clear distinction between nouns and verbs, and exhibits a flexibility between the predicate and argument in a clause. Any Kāndi content word is equivalent to a predicative expression, by default to be + noun. That means that a word like šay would mean (it is a) girl.
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In a similar fashion there is wí, yín (PL), sir; content words for me, you, this, et c., equivalent to English pronouns. In order to create a predicative expression of the type I am + noun/adj, these are fixed to the end of the word. In most circumstances these pronominal predicatives are clitical.
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This is all fine and dandy, but you may ask yourself, what about predicative expressions with adjectives? How do I describe things? Kandi does not only lack a verb and noun distinction, it does not have adjectives in their own right either. Rather, some content words are more like adjectives than others, confer kirim, something red:
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Specifier
Predicative expressions over more complicated subjects than pronouns and the default are created by means of the specifier (spec). Similarly to Salishan languages, the specifier determines the subject of a clause, amongst other things. The specifier is dependent upon the noun class of the subject, however:
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The specifier is difficult to understand, but confer the Salish languages of North America. The specifier is approximated relatively well by the expression that which, which means that tšanun wušunna could be interpreted as That which is a horse, it is sad.
Compound predicative expressions
In a similar manner to the enclitical pronomials previously, the predicate may be incorporated into the subject of the clause, and produce a compound of sorts. The compounds are normally accompanied with a suffix -y- for phonological reasons:
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These compounds are no longer very common, and they are sometimes used attributively, confer the pretty girl, instead of the girl is pretty. Most of them have become fixed phrases, šayyú is a common way to call for a girl, for example. The word okkamik on the other hand is used for especially unempathetic people. Other examples include omókkánay, God is great, and wánawakáyuma, the sky is endless.
Intransitive clauses
- See also: Kandi/Predicative expressions
Intransitive clauses in Kandi are formed in a very similar manner to predicative expressions. In fact, there is no difference at all. Which... Can be tricky. In essence, there is no grammatical difference between I am biking and I am a bike.
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Do note that the specifier is afficed to the predicate-like part of the clause, in the last case kánnam-i. An apt translation would thus be That which is know(-ing), is a goat. Remember that definiteness and tense are not distinguished in the language.
Transitive clauses
Transitive clauses are formed in a few different ways. This is the most common construction,
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which uses a specifier marking on the verb and on the object of the verb. Less idiomatic translations would be That which sees that which is the arse, it is a goat and I write that which is a book!, respectively.
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Possession
There are two main methods of expression possession in the language, utilising either the locative LOC or the possessive POSS affixes. The possessive suffix is by far the most common one, but the locative is more prevalent in certain dialects and in more formal registers. The usage is similar to Irish or Finnish, where for example the phrase The book at him most often translates as His book. It is important to note that the locative possession is restricted to animacy; only possessions of people can take the locative, making the phrase The house at the dog purely positional. It also calls into question your suitability as a pet owner.
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What's actually inside
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