Desanian language family: view article

Menu 1. Languages 2. Main common features 3. Phonological comparison 4. Lexical comparison 5. Sample texts Article created in: January 2020

The Desanian languages are a language family spoken in the western regions of Dawera, among a few other unrelated groups of languages. The total number of speakers is over 40 million – mainly in Kasewaya, Inwez and Nesyania.

[edit] [top]Languages

Old Desani (de-sane-ehi or desa-ne-hi [dɛsanɛhi]) is the oldest attested Desanian language. It evolved from Proto-Desanian and was spoken on the territories of modern day Kasewaya from 5th to 11th century by various nomadic tribes. Later its regional varieties became two separate languages, forming two main branches of the family: northern and southern. Further splits led to the forming of all modern-day Desanian languages.
• Animacy in Old Desani nouns

Kasewayan (casyýu [casɨju]) is the most widely spoken language among the whole family; the number of L1 speakers is about 30 million in total. It is the official language of Kasewaya and Inwez, and a recognized minority language in a few neighboring countries. It forms a separate (Northern) branch of the language family.
• Grammar

Rashintu (raśiinṭu [ɾɑɕiːɳʈu]) is spoken by an ethnic minority (about 50,000 people) in remote, mountainous regions of western Nesyania. It is disputed whether Rashintu is a Northern Desanian language (like Kasewayan) or forms another branch of the family. It shares many grammatical features with Kasewayan, but is mutually unintelligible with any other Desanian language.
• Grammar

Keranian, natively keraniy [k͡xəɾanej], is a continuum of dialects spoken by an ethnic minority – about 3.5 million people in total – in parts of Kasewaya (where about 10% of citizens speak it as their first language), Nesyania and Tazul. It belongs to the Southern branch of the family and has been noticeably influenced by non-Desanian languages like Nesyanian and Northern Tazuro.
• Dialects and grammar
• Phonotactics

Saridzani (salījani [saliːd͡zaɲi]) is a Southern Desanian language with about 150,000 native speakers. It is spoken in northeastern Nesyania, mainly in the province of Fwarad. Its closest relative is Keranian (especially the eastern dialects) and it was heavily influenced by the Nesyanian language both phonologically as well as lexically.

[edit] [top]Main common features

Nominative-accusative alignment
• direct object marked by a case marker
• verbs agree with the subject only

Strongly head-final head-directionality
• the default word order is SOV
• adjectives preceed nouns they describe
• postpositions only (however, among affixes, not all are head-final)

At least two grammatical verb aspects
• IPFVImperfective (aspect)
'interrupted or incomplete' (default, unmarked) and PFVPerfective (aspect)
completed action
• PROGProgressive (aspect)
be verb-ing in Kasewayan, Keranian and Saridzani
• ITERIterative (aspect)
repeated actions within an event and RCURRecurring (aspect)
action reoccurs once (cf. Iterative) in Keranian
• HABHabitual (aspect)
done often or out of habit in Saridzani

One common writing system
• the Zetaha script derived from the Old Desani syllabary

	Old Desani	Kasewayan	Rashintu	Keranian	Saridzani
Morph. typology	mainly analytic	fusional	fusional	fusional	fusional
Animacy	sentient, animate, inanimate	human, non-human	human, non-human	none	none
Nominal cases	none (DODirect object (case/role) marked with an adposition)	3 (NOMNominative (case) TRANS subject, INTR argument, ACCAccusative (case) TRANS direct object; patient, DATDative (case) indirect object; recipient, beneficiary, location)	9 (NOMNominative (case) TRANS subject, INTR argument, ACCAccusative (case) TRANS direct object; patient, GENGenitive (case) possessive, DATDative (case) indirect object; recipient, beneficiary, location, INSTRInstrumental (case) 'with' 'using', LOCLocative (case) 'in, on, at' etc, ABLAblative (case) away from, TRANSLTranslative (case) becoming, COMComitative (case) 'together with')	6 (NOMNominative (case) TRANS subject, INTR argument, ACCAccusative (case) TRANS direct object; patient, GENGenitive (case) possessive, DATDative (case) indirect object; recipient, beneficiary, location, INSTRInstrumental (case) 'with' 'using', ESSEssive (case) 'as, similar')	6 (NOMNominative (case) TRANS subject, INTR argument, ACCAccusative (case) TRANS direct object; patient, GENGenitive (case) possessive, DATDative (case) indirect object; recipient, beneficiary, location, INSTRInstrumental (case) 'with' 'using', ESSEssive (case) 'as, similar')
Noun-noun possession	adpositional	adpositional	genitive case	genitive case	genitive case
1PIFirst person plural inclusive (person) we (inclusive) vs 1PEFirst person plural exclusive (person) we (exclusive) distinction	separate pronouns and verb forms	no distinction	no distinction	separate pronouns (+ verb forms in dialects)	separate pronouns
Noun numbers	singular and plural	singular and plural	singular and plural	singular, plural and collective	singular, plural, dual and collective
Pronoun numbers	singular and plural	singular and plural	singular and plural	singular, plural and collective	singular, plural, dual and collective
Copula dropping	none	none	none	present tense	present tense
Causative	no	no	yes	yes	yes
Double negatives	amplify negative	ungrammatical	amplify negative	remain negative (often obligatory)	remain negative

Old Desani is marked with a paler shade of grey as it is an extinct proto-language.

[edit] [top]Phonological comparison

WIP.

Syllable structure and general phonotactics

Old Desani
• the only allowed syllable structure was CV, no clusters or coarticulation allowed
• no vowel length distinction
• in its descendants, closed syllables and consonant clusters appeared due to vowel deletion

Kasewayan
• the maximum syllable structure is CVC or CVːC
• the only clusters allowed are cross-syllable
• in rapid speech /ə ɨ/ can be deleted, which creates word-initial or word-final clusters, e.g. /xajən/ [xajn]

Rashintu
• the maximum syllable structure is CwVC or CwVːC
• most consonants have palatalized equivalents
• other CC clusters are allowed only cross-syllabically

Keranian
• the maximum syllable structure is CCLVCC (L being an approximant or a trill)
• no vowel length distinctions
• most consonants have palatalized and/or geminated equivalents
• clusters larger than CCC are not allowed even cross-syllabically

Saridzani
• the maximum syllable structure is CCVCC or CCVːCC
• most consonants have geminated equivalents
• clusters larger than CCC are not allowed even cross-syllabically

Nasals

	Old Desani	Kasewayan	Rashintu	Keranian	Saridzani
Bilabial	m	m	m mʲ	m mː [mʲ mʲː]	m mː
Alveolar	n	n	n	n nː	n nː
Retroflex	―	―	[ɳ]	―	―
Palatal	―	[ɲ]	ɲ	ɲ	ɲ
Velar	―	[ŋ]	[ŋ]	[ŋ]	ŋ
Uvular	―	[ɴ]	―	[ɴ]	―

Plosives

	Old Desani	Kasewayan	Rashintu	Keranian	Saridzani
Bilabial	p b	p b	b bʲ	b bː bʲ	b bː
Dental/Alveolar	t d	t̪ d̪	t̪ t̪ʲ d̪ d̪ʲ	t tː d dː tʲ dʲ	t tː d dː
Retroflex	―	―	ʈ ɖ	―	―
Palatal	―	c ɟ	―	―	―
Velar	k g	k	k g	k kː g	k g
Uvular	q	―	―	q	―

Fricatives

	Old Desani	Kasewayan	Rashintu	Keranian	Saridzani
Labiodental	v	―	―	v vʲ	―
Alveolar	s z	s z	s z	s sː z	s sː z zː
Postalveolar	―	ʃ	―	―	ʃ ʒ
Alveolopalatal	―	―	ɕ	ɕ ʑ	―
Velar	―	x	―	―	x
Uvular	χ	―	―	χ χʲ	―

Affricates

	Old Desani	Kasewayan	Rashintu	Keranian	Saridzani
Alveolar	―	―	t͡s d͡z	t͡s d͡z	t͡s d͡z
Alveolopalatal	―	―	t͡ɕ d͡ʑ	t͡ɕ d͡ʑ d͡ʑː	―
Velar	―	―	―	[k͡x ɡ͡ɣ]	―

Approximants, trills and taps

	Old Desani	Kasewayan	Rashintu	Keranian	Saridzani
Alveolar trill/tap	r	r	ɾ ɾʲ	ɾ ɾː ɾʲ	―
Lateral approximant	l	ɫ [l]	l lʲ	l lː lʲ	l
Approximant	j	j w	j w	j jː w wʲ	j w

[edit] [top]Lexical comparison

Numerals from 1 to 10

	Old Desani	Kasewayan	Rashintu	Keranian			Saridzani
	Old Desani	Kasewayan	Rashintu	Standard	Kaswihiliy	Bevaradiy	Saridzani
one	âsi [ˈɑsi]	ate [ˈat̪e]	aty [ɑtʲ]	áśi [ˈɑɕe]	[ˈɒʃi]	[ˈɑʃe]	aś [aʃ]
two	tole [ˈtɔlɛ]	səl [səɫ]	ṭul [ʈul]	tol [tol]	[tuɫ]	[tul]	tul [tul]
three	dezare [dɛˈzarɛ]	zar [zar]	jar [d͡zɑɾ]	dzar [d͡zaɾ]	[d͡zaʁ]	[zaɾ]	jal [d͡zal]
four	soqe [ˈsɔqɛ]	tək [t̪ək]	tug [t̪ug]	soq [sok]	[sok]	[suk]	suk [suk]
five	xoma [ˈχɔma]	humə [ˈxumə]	huma [huˈmɑ]	home [ˈχumə]	[ˈχumə]	[ˈxumə]	huma [ˈxuma]
six	zore [ˈzɔrɛ]	dər [d̪ər]	dur [d̪uɾ]	zor [zoɾ]	[zoʁ]	[zuɾ]	zul [zul]
seven	ikoma [iˈkɔma]	ekumə [eˈkumə]	ekma [ækˈmɑ]	ikome [eˈkumə]	[iˈkumə]	[eˈkumə]	ekuma [eˈkuma]
eight	voye [ˈvɔjɛ]	bəý [bəj]	buy [buj]	vwi [vwe]	[vəj]	[vwe]	bwe [bwe]
nine	duse [ˈdusɛ]	zot [zot̪]	ḍut [ɖut̪]	dwoś [dwoɕ]	[dwoʃ]	[duʃ]	dus [dus]
ten	lâye [ˈlɑjɛ]	láý [ɫɑj]	lay [lɑj]	láy [lɑj]	[ɫɒj]	[lɑj]	laý [laj]

Basic colors

	Old Desani	Kasewayan	Rashintu	Keranian			Saridzani
	Old Desani	Kasewayan	Rashintu	Standard	Kaswihiliy	Bevaradiy	Saridzani
black	laga-hi [laˈgahi]	láxy [ˈɫɑːʀɨ]	laajəś [ˈlɑːd͡zəɕ]	lagay [ˈlagaj]	[ˈɫagaj]	[ˈlaɣəj]	lage [ˈlage]
white	hosa-hi [hɔˈsahi]	oteý [ˈot̪ej]	utaś [uˈt̪ɑɕ]	osay [ˈosaj]	[ˈusaj]	[ˈosəj]	ose [ˈose]
red	oxeva-hi [ɔχɛˈvahi]	ośibeý [oˈʃibej]	uhebaś [uhæˈbɑɕ]	wahvay [ˈwaʁvaj]	[ˈwagvaj]	[ˈwaʔvaj]	wahbe [ˈwaɣbe]
blue	âta-hi [ɑˈtahi]	ásy [ˈɑːsɨ]	aaṭəś [ˈɑːʈəɕ]	átay [ˈɑtaj]	[ˈɑtaj]	[ˈɒtəj]	ate [ˈate]
yellow	xaba-hi [χaˈbahi]	hápy [ˈxɑːpɨ]	haapəś [ˈhɑːpəɕ]	habay [ˈχabaj]	[ˈχabaj]	[ˈxabəj]	habe [ˈxabe]
green	roda-hi [rɔˈdahi]	rozeý [ˈrozej]	ruḍaś [ɾuˈɖæɕ]	dray [dɾaj]	[dɾaj]	[dɾəj]	dle [dle]
brown	zama-hi [zaˈmahi]	dámy [ˈd̪ɑːmɨ]	daaməś [ˈd̪ɑːməɕ]	zamay [ˈzamaj]	[ˈzamaj]	[ˈzaməj]	zame [ˈzame]
grey	âvara-hi [ɑvaˈrahi]	ábreý [ˈɑːbrej]	aabraś [ˈɑːbɾɑɕ]	ávaray [ɑˈvaɾaj]	[ɑˈvaɾaj]	[ɒˈwaɾəj]	abale [aˈbale]
pink/orange	si-hoxeva-hi [sihɔχɛˈvahi]	tewśibeý [t̪ewˈʃibej]	twəhebaś [t̪wəhæˈbɑɕ]	śohvay [ˈɕoʁvaj]	[ˈʃugvaj]	[ˈʃoʔvaj]	śohbe [ˈʃoɣbe]

Basic animal names

	Old Desani	Kasewayan	Rashintu	Keranian			Saridzani
	Old Desani	Kasewayan	Rashintu	Standard	Kaswihiliy	Bevaradiy	Saridzani
cat	simâla [siˈmɑla]	tymal [ˈt̪ɨmaɫ]	timaal [t̪iˈmɑːl]	śimále [ɕeˈmɑlə] *mince* [ˈmʲint͡ɕɤ]	[ʃeˈmɑɫə]	[ʃeˈmɒlə]	*minśe* [ˈminʃe]
dog	zâqa [ˈzɑqa]	dák [d̪ɑːk]	daag [d̪ɑːg]	záqe [ˈzɑqə]	[ˈzɑkə]	[ˈzɒkə]	zaka [ˈzaka]
horse	rige [ˈrigɛ]	rex [reʁ]	riz [ɾiz]	ridz [ɾed͡z]	[ɾed͡z]	[ɾed͡z]	liź [liʒ]
cow	poxa [ˈpɔχa]	pohə [ˈpoxə]	puhe [puˈhæ]	bohe [ˈboχə]	[ˈboxə]	[ˈboxə]	wuha [ˈwuxa]
goat	bure [ˈburɛ]	pur [pur]	pur [pur]	bwor [bwoɾ]	[bwoʁ]	[bwoɾ]	bul [bul]
sheep	kapa [ˈkapa]	háp [xɑːp]	kaap [kɑːp]	kabe [ˈk͡xabə]	[ˈk͡xabə]	[ˈkabə]	hapa [ˈxapa]
wolf	tâlu [ˈtɑlu]	salo [ˈsaɫo]	ṭalu [ʈɑˈlu]	tál [tɑl]	[tɑl]	[tɒl]	tal [tal]
mouse	gana [ˈgana]	xán [ʀɑːn]	kaan [kɑːn]	gane [ˈg͡ɣanə]	[ˈg͡ɣanə]	[ˈganə]	guna [ˈguna]
duck	duga [ˈduga]	zoxə [ˈzoʀə]	ḍuke [ɖuˈkæ]	doge [ˈdogə]	[ˈdogə]	[ˈdogə]	duga [ˈduga]

Everyday verbs

	Old Desani	Kasewayan	Rashintu	Keranian			Saridzani
	Old Desani	Kasewayan	Rashintu	Standard	Kaswihiliy	Bevaradiy	Saridzani
to be	i-ne [inɛ]	ýən [jən]	yen [jæn]	in [en]	[en]	[en]	in [in]
to have	ahi-ne [aˈhinɛ]	aýən [ˈajən]	aśen [ɑˈɕæn]	ayin [ˈajen]	[ˈajen]	[ˈajən]	en [en]
to go	rehi-ne [rɛˈhinɛ] qami-ne [qaˈminɛ]	kamin [ˈkamin]	gamin [gɑˈmin]	rin [ɾen]	[ɾen]	[ɾʲen]	līn [liːn]
to stand	deli-ne [dɛˈlinɛ] agi-ne [aˈginɛ]	zylin [ˈzɨlin]	ajhin [ɑˈd͡ʑin]	dlin [dlen]	[dlen]	[dlen]	aźin [ˈaʒin]
to eat	koti-ne [kɔtinɛ]	kosen [ˈkosen]	kuṭin [kuˈʈin]	kotin [ˈk͡xoten]	[ˈk͡xoten]	[ˈxoten]	hotin [ˈxotin]
to sleep	xâhi-ne [χɑˈhinɛ]	haýən [ˈxajən]	haśen [hɑˈɕæn]	háyin [ˈχɑjen]	[ˈxɑjen]	[ˈχɒjən]	haýen [ˈxajen]
to see	tari-ne [taˈrinɛ]	cemin [ˈcemin]	ṭarin [ʈɑˈɾin]	vlayin [ˈvlajen]	[ˈvlajen]	[ˈvlajən]	*śmin* [ʃmin]
to look	velahi-ne [vɛlaˈhinɛ]	bylin [ˈbɨːlin]	bəlaśen [bəlɑˈɕæn]	cmin [t͡ɕmʲin]	[t͡ʃmʲin]	[t͡ʃmʲin]	blen [blen]
to speak	imihi-ne [imiˈhinɛ]	tepaýən [t̪eˈpajən]	tipaśen [t̪ipɑˈɕæn]	imiyin [eˈmejen]	[eˈmijen]	[eˈmejən]	imīn [ˈimiːn]
to say	sibahi-ne [sibaˈhinɛ]	imin [ˈiːmin]	iimśen [ˈiːmɕæn]	śibayin [ɕeˈbajen]	[ʃiˈbajen]	[ʃeˈbajən]	śiben [ˈʃiben]

Italicized words are borrowed from Nesyanian.

[edit] [top]Sample texts

Simple declarative clauses

#1: I speak [language].

Old Desani
De-sane-hi imihi ika.
[dɛsaˈnɛhi imiˈhi ˈika]
de-sane-hi
Desani imihi
speak ika
1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I.SUBSubject (argument)

Kasewayan
Casyýu te tepaýəc.
[caˈsɨju t̪e t̪eˈpajəc]
casyýu
Kasewayan te
of tepaý-əc
speak-PRESPresent tense (tense)
current.1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I

Rashintu
Raśiinṭuuy tipaśka.
[ɾɑɕiːɳˈʈuːj t̪iˈpɑɕkɑ]
raśiinṭu-uy
Rashintu-ADVZAdverbialiser (syntax)
turns word into adverb tipaś-ka
speak-PRESPresent tense (tense)
current.1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I

Keranian (Standard)
Keran’áni imiyek.
[k͡xəɾaɲɑˈɲi eˈmejɤk]
keran’-oni
Keranian-ADVZAdverbialiser (syntax)
turns word into adverb imii-ke
speak-PRESPresent tense (tense)
current.1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I

Saridzani
Salījańuń imīka.
[saliːd͡zaˈɲuɲ iˈmiːka]
salījań-uń
Saridzani-ADVZAdverbialiser (syntax)
turns word into adverb imī-ka
speak-PRESPresent tense (tense)
current.1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I

Questions
WIP.

Relative clauses
WIP.

Conditionality
WIP.

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Comments

[link] [quote] [move] [edit] [del] 19-Jul-22 10:28 [Deactivated User]

@Excluded
Aww, thanks for the appreciation, makes me want to add even more details (especially to the phonology chapter, it's still WIP) :D and ofc thanks for the heads-up, the wrong IPA transcription must have been some copy-paste error, now it's fixed.

Out of curiosity I wanted to check the typology stats about the noun-adjective order in different conlangs in general, but it has resulted in a timeout. Whoops. Anyway, when it comes to my own conlangs, the proportion is almost 1:1, I think. I have a few strongly head-initial ones as well, ~~they just haven't gotten their detailed grammar articles yet, lol~~

[link] [quote] [move] [edit] [del] 19-Jul-22 03:20 [Deactivated User]

pretty detailed!

Also, speaking of head directionality, Almost all of conlangs have adjectives precede the noun they modify(A major exception is

Egeriac) lol maybe it's time to change

Btw, there might be a mismatch in one part:

you said in the chart that the verb "to say" in Old Desani is sibahi-ne, but the IPA you give is [imiˈhinɛ], there might be a mismatch for this, please check.