Qasunattuuji

Qasunattuuji
Qasunattuuji
Pronunciation	[qasunatˈtuːʐi]
Created by	GJS
Date	2023 - present
Setting	Alt-history North America
Native to	Tuujiyumix Ilihuu
Language family	Indo-European Qasunattuuji
Writing systems	Latin Cyrillic Braille
Official status
Official language in	Tuujiyumix Ilihuu

Qasunattuuji is an Indo European language (classification pending feedback) spoken in the country of Tuujiyumix Ilihuu (real-life Alaska), where it enjoys an official status. Although its words are derived from PIE, its phonology and most of its morphology show traces related to the Inuit languages, as it's polysynthetic and has only the vowels /a/, /i/, and /u/, with length distinctions. It was created for an alternate history timeline where some PIE-speakers migrated all the way from Eastern Europe to Alaska and where the Russians made Alaska a protectorate instead of a colony.

Etymology

The name Qasunattiiji means real people or true people, while Tuujiyumix Ilihuu means Land of all Peoples. The name of the country was chosen to replace the old 'Greater Alaska' in order to distance the new country from Russia shortly after its independence in 1917.

Phonology

Phonological history

• Clipping en masse
• bʰ → pʰ → ɸ → h → q
• gʰ → dʰ → x → q
• ɣʷ → ɢ
• ɢː → ʁː
• gʲʰ → gʰ → dʰ → x → q
• tʲ → tʃ → ʃ → ʂ
• gʲ → dʒ → tʃ → ʃ → ʂ
• kʲ → tʃ → ʃ → ʂ
• gʷ → w → v
• gʷʰ → gʷ → kʷ → p
• dʰ → tʰ → t
• kʷ → p
• {e,o}j → iː
• {eː,oː}j → aː
• {e,o}w → uː
• {eː,oː}w → uː
• {eː,oː} → {iː,u}
• epenthetic /a/ appears to break invalid consonant clusters, except in words borrowed from Russian and English.
• epenthetic /i/ appears before [l ʐ ɢ] if they occur in the beginning of words.

Consonants

Consonant phonemes

	Labial		Alveolar		Palatal		Retroflex		Velar		Uvular
Nasal		m		n						(ŋ)
Stop	p		t						k		q	ɢ
Fricative	f	v	s				ʂ	ʐ			χ	(ʁ)
Lateral				l
Approximant						j

Notes:

• Before /n/, /ŋ/ /ʁ/ are the allophones of /k/ and /q/, respectively.
• /ŋ/ also appears in Inuit borrowings.
• /ʁ/ is also used in verbal morphemes that are borrowed from Inuit. Its geminated version is equivalent to a /ɢː/.

Vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i(ː)	u(ː)
Open	a(ː)

Prosody

Stress falls always on the penultimate syllable.

Phonotactics

[l ʐ ɢ] can't appear at the beginning of words, but can occur at the beginning of a medial syllable, while [p t k q s j m n v ʂ j f χ] can occur both at the beginning of a word and at the beginning of a medial syllable.
[ŋ] can only come at the beginning of a medial syllable after another [ŋ].
If there is a long and a short vowel in sequence, and vice versa, for example [aːi], an epenthetic [ŋ] appears to break this hiatus, in this case, becoming [aːŋi].
[t] and [b] become [ʐ] and [v], respectively, between vowels (assibilation).
[k], [q] and [t] become [ŋ], [ʁ] and [n], respectively, before [n]
Consonants can be geminated, but in this case, they should be pronounced as if there were two of them.

Orthography

Qasunattuuji alphabets

Latin letter (since the 1920s)	Cyrillic letter (between the XVII century and the 1920s)	IPA
A, a	A, а	/a/
F, f	Ф, ф	/f/
G, g	Г. г	/ɢ/ or /ʁ/ (see consonants)
H, h	Х, х	/χ/
I, i	И, и	/i/
J, j	Ж, ж	/ʐ/
K, k	К, к	/k/
L, l	Л, л	/l/
M, m	М, м	/m/
N, n	Н, н	/n/
Ŋ, ŋ	Нг, нг	/ŋ/
P, p	П, п	/p/
Q, q	Кь, кь	/q/
S, s	С, с	/s/
T, t	Т, т	/t/
U, u	У, y	/u/
V, v	В, в	/v/
X, x	Ш, ш	/ʂ/
Y, y	Й, й	/j/

Notes:

• In both alphabets, long vowels are written as double letters (aa,:ии, уу, aa, ii, uu).
• Double кь and нг were written кькь and нгнг, respectively.

Morphology

Nouns

Nouns decline in eight different cases: absolutive, ergative, instrumental, allative, ablative, locative, perlative and similative, and in number, for singular, dual and plural.

Nouns

	Singular	Dual	Plural
Absolutive	-∅	÷ju²	÷ix¹ / -mix
Ergative	÷huu	÷juh²	÷ixi¹ / -mixi
Instrumental	÷hak / -k	÷kat / tuk	÷kix²
Allative	÷hi	÷hit	÷him
Ablative	÷hahip / -hip	÷huut	÷hum
Locative	÷haqi / -qi	÷haq / qu	÷qix²
Perlative	÷hapi / -pi	÷it¹ / -t	÷pix²
Similative	÷hasi / -si	÷sit²	÷six²

Notes:

• ÷: if the root ends in a consonant, remove it.
• ¹: if the root ends in a consonant, remove both it and the vowel before it, except in monosyllabic words, in which case the suffix goes after the consonant.
• ²: if the root ends with the suffix's first consonant, the suffix is applied in its totality, without removing consonants.
• If there are two forms, the second is used if the root ends in a vowel.

Example: mihat (mother)
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Absolutive	mihat	mihaju	mihix
Ergative	mihahuu	mihajuh	mihixi
Instrumental	mihahak	mihakat	mihakix
Allative	mihahi	mihahit	mihahim
Ablative	mihahahip	mihahuut	mihahum
Locative	mihaqi	mihaqu	mihaqix
Perlative	mihapi	mihit	mihapix
Similative	mihasi	mihasit	mihasix

Example: puulu (son)
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Absolutive	puulu	puuluju	puulumix
Ergative	puuluhuu	puulujuh	puulumixi
Instrumental	puuluk	puulujuk	puulukix
Allative	puuluhi	puuluhit	puuluhim
Ablative	puuluhip	puuluhuut	puuluhum
Locative	puuluqi	puuluqu	puuluqix
Perlative	puulupi	puulut	puulupix
Similative	puulusi	puulusit	puulusix

Ergative

The ergative is used to mark the subject of a transitive sentence and to mark the genitive, specifically, marking the possessor of a possessed entity, except in sentences like "is my X", where the ergative falls in the pronoun.

Instrumental

The instrumental also marks the indefinite "object" of syntactically intransitive verbs.

Allative

The allative also marks objective, beneficiary and destination.

Ablative

The Ablative is also used to mark the comparison's source, with the verb receiving the suffix -lu(k) before the person, number and mood suffix.

muu maalujuq siixipahahi
/muː maːˈluʐuk siːʂipaˈχaχi/
muu	maa	-luk-	-tuq	siixipahaŋ-	-hi
mouse	small-	-comp-	-3s.ind	groundhog-	-abl
A mouse is smaller than a groundhog

Perlative

The perlative indicates the manner or the way of transportation and also marks the path and the subject of the conversation.

vijunipisigik qayipi?
/viʐuniˈsiʁik qaˈjipi/
vip-	-tuni-	-pisigik	qayi-	-pi
talk-	-ger-	-3s.int	winter	-perl
Are you talking about the winter?

Vocative

The vocative shows the addressee, including the subject of an imperative sentence. It doesn't have its own suffix, but is marked by elongating the noun's last vowel (if it's short), and in the case of proper nouns, it's not marked orthographically.

miih—Mihaat!
/miχ/ — /miχaːt/
mihat-	-∅- /	mihaat
mother	-abs.sg /	mother	-voc.sg
Mother/Oh, mother

Derivation and structure

The morpheme ti is suffixed to the verbs in order to indicate the agent: pi (hunt) → piji (hunter).
The suffix -miq transforms a verb into an instrument to do so: sayu (sew) → sayumiq (sewing machine).
The suffix -(ŋ)ilu indicates the diminutive: viin (woman) → vinilu (ggirl).
The suffix -ppak creates a noun that in theory is bigger than the primitive: ixav (caribou) → ixappak (horse).
There are also suffixes for quantities, such as hayaat (many) or payaak (each).

The maximum structure of nouns is:

root-(derivational)-(inflecional)-(number and case)

Derivational can be an adjective or other derivational suffixes, such as the cited above, and inflectional can be an adverb that isn't a free morpheme. There can have several derivational or inflectional suffixes, but, only one nominal root per noun.

Verbs

See also: Qasunattuuji verbs.

Every verb has an obligatory inflection for person, number, and mood (all marked by a single suffix), and can have other inflectional suffixes such as tense, aspect, modality, and various suffixes carrying adverbial functions.

Tense

Tense marking is always optional. The only explicitly marked tense is the future tense. Past and present tense cannot be marked and are always implied. All verbs can be marked through adverbs to show relative time (using words such as "yesterday" or "tomorrow"). If neither of these markings is present, the verb can imply a past, present, or future tense.

Future tense

Tense	Example
Present	Pijavimiq telephone-INSTR vigiipuk. talk-we-1DU.3SG Pijavimiq vigiipuk. telephone-INSTR talk-we-1DU.3SG We (two) talk on the phone.
Future	Pijavimiq telephone-INSTR viniagiipuk. talk-we-DU-FUT Pijavimiq viniagiipuk. telephone-INSTR talk-we-DU-FUT We (two) will talk on the phone.
Future (implied)	Suujuqqanu give birth probably savisuhuu sister's ilaa I kaluuŋiluuk. tomorrow Suujuqqanu savisuhuu ilaa kaluuŋiluuk. {give birth probably} {sister's} {I} tomorrow My sister (will) give(s) birth tomorrow. (the future tense "will" is implied by the word tomorrow)

Aspect

Marking aspect is optional in Qasunattuuji verbs. It has a perfective versus imperfective distinction in aspect, along with other distinctions, such as: frequentative (-ataq; "to repeatedly verb"), habitual (-simavi; "to always, habitual verb"), inchoative (-hiŋaat; "about to verb"), and intentional (-sahuma; "intend to verb"). The aspect suffix can be found after the verb root and before or within the obligatory person-number-mood suffix. number-mood suffix.

Mood

Qasunattuuji has the following moods: Indicative, Interrogative, Imperative (positive, negative), Coordinative, and Conditional. Participles are sometimes classified as a mood.

Adjectives

Generally, adjectives are affixed on the noun, after the root. Sufixos derivacionais:

• -(q)ip- (opposite)
• -(p)ali- (-ful)
• -(f)al- (-phile)
• -(f)up- (-phobe)

noun+adjective declined in the instrumental (able) person+place declined in the ablative (inhabitant) Notes:

• There isn't a derivational method to transform adjectives into manner adverbs, because they are separate words.
• Both -(f)al- and -(f)ub- are borrowed from English.

Numerals

Qasunattuuji numerals are base-20 with a sub-base of 10. They decline (except in the vocative) and can be incorporated to the verbs. The numbers 1 to 20 are:

1	2	3	4	5
qii	tuvu	taji	pija	pinap
6	7	8	9	10
savix	sivat	uxat	qanuun	tixam
11	12	13	14	15
tixaqi	tixajuvu	tixajaji	tixapija	tixapinap
16	17	18	19	20
tixasavix	tixisivat	tixamuxat	tixaqanun	iŋuiŋŋaq

Multiples of 400 are created with -kipiaq and 8000's with -pak.

#	Number	Semantics
20	iŋuiŋŋaq	20
25	iŋuiŋŋaq pinap	20 + 5
30	iŋuiŋŋaq tixam	20 + 10
35	iŋuiŋŋaq tixapinap	20 + 15
40	tuviŋuiŋŋaq	2×20
45	tuviŋuiŋŋaq pinap	2×20 + 5
50	tuviŋuiŋŋaq tixam	2×20 + 10
55	tuviŋuiŋŋaq tixapinap	2×20 + 15
60	tajiiŋuiŋŋaq	3×20
70	tajiŋuiŋŋaq tixam	3×20 + 10
80	pijiŋuiŋŋaq	4×20
90	pijiŋuiŋŋaq tixam	4×20 + 10
100	pinapiŋuiŋŋaq	5×20
110	pinapiŋuiŋŋaq tixam	5×20 + 10
120	savixiŋuiŋŋaq	6x20
140	sivajiŋuiŋŋaq	7x20
160	uxajiŋuiŋŋaq	8×20
180	qanuuniŋuiŋŋaq	9×20
200	tixamiŋuiŋŋaq	10×20
300	tixapinapiŋuiŋŋaq	15×20
400	qiikipiaq	1x400
800	tuvukipiaq	2×400
1200	tajikipiaq	3×400
1600	pijakipiaq	4×400
2000	pinakipiaq	5×400
2400	savikipiaq	6×400
2800	sivakipiaq	7x400
4000	tixakipiaq	10×400
6000	tixapinakipiaq	15×400
8000	qiipak	1x8000

Ordinal numerals are formed by the suffix (a)t to the base number: qii (one) → qiit (first).
Fractions are formed with the numerator being cardinal and decline in the ergative, and the denominator being ordinal: tavujix taji (two thirds).
Frequency numerals are formed adding the particle viik (times): taji vix (three times).
Multiplicative numerals are formed adding the particle pilu (plus): taji pilu (triple).

Mathematical operations

Addition: qajit + number in the ergative + number in the ablative, e.g. qajit tuvujuh tuvuhip pijaujut (2 plus 2 equals 4).
Subtraction: muugit + number no ergative + number in the ablative, e.g. muugit pijamixi tuvuhip tuvuujut (4 minus 4 equals 2).
Multiplication: viimixah + number in the ergative + number in the allative, e.g. viimixah tuvujuh tuvuhip pijaujut (2 multiplied by 2 equals 4).
Division: yaka+ number in the ergative + number in the allative, e.g. yaka tajimixi tuvuhip tuvuujut (4 divided by 2 equals 2).

Demonstrative adverbs

Demonstrative adverbs in the absolutive case

	Visible		Not visible
	Restricted	Extended
Proximal	uvva	majja
Distal (to the speaker), proximal (to the listener)	taaja
Distal (to the speaker and listener)	iŋŋa	avva	amma
Up there	pikka	pagga	paama
Down there	kanna	unna	saana
In there	kivva	qavva	qamma
Out there	qigga	qagga	qaama
Near the door	ugga
Outside the door			saama
Across there	ikka	agga	aama
Back there	piŋŋa	pavva	pamma
Remote past	imma

Declination of some demonstrative adverbs

	Locative	Allative	Ablative	Perlative
qaama out there,not visible	qaama-qi	qaama-hi	qaaama-hip	qaama-pi
paama out there, not visible, distal	paama-qi	paama-hi	paama-hip	paama-pi
kanna down there	kanna-qi	kanna-hi	kanna-hip	kanna-pi
majja around here, visible, extended, distal	majja-qi	majja-hi	majja-hip	majja-pi

Case stacking on demonstrative adverbs

amma 'over there (not visible, distal)'
amma-qi	Locative
amma-qi-aŋa-qi	Locative-aŋa-locative
amma-qi-aŋa-hi	Locative-aŋa-allative
amma-qi-aŋa-hip	Locative-aŋa-ablative
amma-qi-aŋa-pi	Locative-aŋa-perlative
amma-hi	Allative
amma-hi-hi	Allative-allative
amma-hip	Ablative
amma-pi	Perlative

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

	Absolutive	Ergative	Allative	Ablative	Locative	Perlative	Similative
1SG	Uvaŋa	Uvaŋahuu	Uvaŋahi	Uvaŋahip	Uvaŋaqi	Uvaŋapi	Uvaŋasi
2SG	Ilivix	Ilivihuu	Ilivihi	Ilivihahip	Ilivihaqi	Ilivihapi	Ilivihasi
3SG	Ilaa	Ilaahuu	Ilaahi	Ilaahip	Ilaaqi	Ilaapi	Ilaasi
1DU	Uvaŋaju	Uvaŋajuh	Uvaŋahit	Uvaŋahuut	Uvaŋaqu	Uvaŋat	Uvaŋasit
2DU	Iliviju	Ilivijuh	Ilivihit	Ilivihuut	Ilivihaq	Ilivit	Ilivisit
3DU	Ilaaju	Ilaajuh	Ilaahit	Ilaahuut	Ilaaqu	Ilaat	Ilaasit
1PL	Uvaŋamix	Uvaŋamixi	Uvaŋahim	Uvaŋahum	Uvaŋaqix	Uvaŋapix	Uvaŋasix
2PL	Ilivix	Ilivixi	Ilivihim	Ilivihum	Iliviqix	Ilivipix	Ilivisix
3PL	Ilaamix	Ilaamixi	Ilaahim	Ilaahum	Ilaaqix	Ilaapix	Ilaasix
3SG-REFL	Iŋmi	Iŋmihuu	Iŋmihi	Iŋmihip	Iŋmiqi	Iŋmipi	Iŋmisi
3DU-REFL	Iŋmiju	Iŋmijuh	Iŋmihit	Iŋmihuut	Iŋmiqu	Iŋmit	Iŋmisit
3PL-REFL	Iŋmimix	Iŋmimixi	Iŋmihim	Iŋmihum	Iŋmiqix	Iŋmipix	Iŋmisix

Interrogative pronouns

kina (who?)
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Absolutive	kina	kina-ju	kina-mix
Ergative	kina-hu	kina-juh	kina-mixi
Instrumental	kina-k	kina-juk	kina-kix
Allative	kina-hi	kina-hit	kina-him
Ablative	kina-hip	kina-hut	kina-hum
Locative	kina-qi	kina-qu	kina-qix
Perlative	kina-pi	kina-t	kina-pix
Similative	kina-si	kina-sit	kina-six
pit (what?)
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Absolutive	pit	pit-tu	pij-ix
Ergative	pi-hu	pit-tuh	pij-ixi
Instrumental	pi-hak	pi-kat	pi-kix
Allative	pi-hi	pi-hit	pi-him
Ablative	pi-hahip	pi-huut	pi-hum
Locative	pi-haqi	pi-haq	pi-qix
Perlative	pi-hapi	pij-it	pi-pix
Similative	pi-hasi	pi-sit	pi-six

Demonstrative pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns in the absolutive case

	Visible		Not visible
	Restricted	Extended
Proximal	una	manna
Distal (to the speaker), proximal (to the listener)	taamana
Distal (to the speaker and listener)	iŋŋa	aana
Up there	piiŋa	paana	pakiina
Down there	kanna	unna	saana
In there	kiiŋa	qaana
Out there	kiŋŋa	qaŋna	qakiina
Near the door	uuna
Outside the door			sakiina
Across there	iiŋa	aaŋa	akiina
Back there	piŋŋa	paana
Remote past	iima

Declination of the demonstrative pronoun paana

	Singular	Dual	Plural
Absolutive	paana	paana-ju	paana-mix
Ergative	paana-hu	paana-juh	paana-mixi
Instrumental	paana-k	paana-juk	paana-kix
Allative	paana-hi	paana-hit	paana-him
Ablative	paana-hip	paana-hut	paana-hum
Locative	paana-qi	paana-qu	paana-qix
Perlative	paana-pi	paana-t	paana-pix
Similative	paana-si	paana-sit	paana-six
Vocative	paanaa

Case stacking on demonstrative pronouns

aana 'that one over there (not visible, distal)'
aana	Absolutive
aana-hu	Ergative
aana-hu-qu	Ergative-locative
aana-hu-hi	Ergative-allative
aana-hu-hip	Ergative-ablative
aana-hu-pi	Ergative-perlative
aana-hu-si	Ergative-similative
aana-hu-k	Ergative-instrumental

Conjunctions

aaŋa means “but”, asiiŋ and suli mean “and”, but asiiŋ is contrastive (that is, and, in contrast) ===Cross-class morphology and wordhood definition: Nouns cannot be conjugated or negated as verbs, nor verbs, declinated. Quando um substantivo é negado, ele vira um verbo. Apenas verbos podem exibir o sufixo nominalizador -(t)iiŋu.
Assibilation and hiatus breaking don't occur between words.

Syntax

In order to express a phrase that in the Western languages would be with the phrase "big dog", in Qasunattuuji can be expressed in two ways: with a noun with the augmentative suffix or with a verbal phrase with the verb "to be big". If there are verbs with incorporated nouns, the quantifiers come before the verb.

Indirect objects, oblique objects and comparatives' objects cannot be relativized.
An ergative can be promoted (passivized) to an absolutive through an antipassive (suffix -(i)si) before the person-number-mood suffix.
Titles come before nouns, and geographic names, after the noun that characterizes it e.g. Iluuhuusaji Muppak (North Sea).
The verb to be is always conjugated in the dual or plural after a mathematical operation that results in 2 or more.

Constituent order

The basic word order is relatively free due to grammatical cases, but it's generally VSO.

Noun phrase

If present, the possessor should come before the nucleus and if colors, numbers or quantifiers are used, they come before the nucleus.

Dependent clauses

Usually, relative sentences come after the main sentence.

Some other valid transformations

• WH fronting: only one WH can be fronted.
• Quotation inversion: a quotation can be placed before the verbs of saying or thinking, but only if the subject isn't a pronoun.
• Sentence-level prepositional phrases can be reordered, but only one verbal argument can be fronted. For example, the sentence with the lawyer, about money, we talked is invalid.
• Heavy-NP backing: a long noun phrase can be placed at the end of a sentence.
• A sentence with as can be easily deleted. E.g.
  

Kinahu iijuliaŋupisaxanipisa ilaasi upisaxanituaq?

Who can write a story as s/he can write?

can become

Kinahu iijuliaŋupisaxaniggaa ilaa?

Who can write a story as s/he?

• Gapping can also happen with negated verbs. For example:
  

Huuŋihuu qagigaaŋit nuuŋukalija suli Qiqahuu, nuuŋukijimiq

Huuŋi didn't buy a new car, and Qiqaj, a new refrigerator

is perfectly valid.

• Another kind of gapping (stripping) can occur even when the sentences' objects are different. For example:
  

Qiqaaŋa hilippihahuu sajijajilugu suli ilaahuu, sul

I ate some of the leftover breadm and s/he, cheese

is perfectly possible in Qasunattuuji.

• In certain contexts, a sentence that has nothing to do with the main sentence can be inserted. For example:
  

Tisaa (vigamigaa simavihi) qusajiqagijittuq

The king (may he live forever) isn't receiving visitors

is possible.