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Mañi grammar scraps
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This public article was written by [Deactivated User], and last updated on 15 Feb 2022, 22:23.

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Menu 1. Phonology 2. Morphology 3. Syntax
[edit] [top]Phonology

Mañi has relatively free phonotactics. Vowel hiatus is allowed; hiatus between two identical vowels becomes a long vowel. Consonant clusters that do not break nasal harmony rules are also allowed. Due to the phonological history of the language, some clusters, particularly stop-liquid clusters such as pr, are only found in loanwords.

Nasal spreading
Mañi features regressive (right-to-left) nasal spreading and progressive (left-to-right) oral spreading. Here is an example using hypothetical morphemes:

/ha-ma/hąma
/ra-ha-ma/nąhąma
/ta-ha-ma/tahama
/ra-ta-ha-ma/ratahama


(For ease of readability, the Mañi orthography will be used instead of the IPA.)

Example 1: /ha-ma/ hąma: a nasal consonant causes preceding vowels to be nasalized.

Example 2: /ra-ha-ma/ nąhąma: nasal spreading spreads over /h/, and also causes approximants to be nasalized. (When nasalized, liquids become n, j becomes ñ, and w becomes m.)

Example 3: /ta-ha-ma/ tahama: oral stops cause oral spreading rightwards, which is blocked by a nasal stop. This overrides the nasal spreading caused by the nasal stop.

Example 4: /ra-ta-ha-ma/ ratahama: in addition to overriding nasal spreading, oral stops also block any further nasal spreading to the left.

Tone sandhi
Tone sandhi works very similar to Wa Ñi tone sandhi, which I will quote here:

The main patterns are: HL - becomes high falling / low (applies at all levels within a phrase) LH - becomes mid / high rising (within word, no intervening consonants, not at end of phrase) HH# - becomes high / mid (applies at all levels within a phrase) LH# - becomes low / low (within word) #H - becomes mid (applies within phrase) where # indicates a phrase boundary (like the beginning or end of a phrase)


The phrase boundary rules have, in general, been generalized to all word boundaries in Mañi.

[edit] [top]Morphology

Passive
The passive in Mañi is indicated with the affix peł, which takes the place of or precedes the agent marking of a transitive verb.

Ñipełhechiʼ pařmaa iʼichułko.
INFRInferential (mood/evidential)
reports or infers without confirming
-PASSPassive voice (valency)
be verb-ed
-G5Gender 5 (gender/class)-steal basket-1PIFirst person plural inclusive (person)
we (inclusive)
>G5Gender 5 (gender/class).POSSGPossessed (case)
marks being owned
crab-G7Gender 7 (gender/class)
"Our basket of lobsters seems to have been stolen."

Reflexive
The reflexive is indicated by twà, a prefix which precedes the person marking. Person marking on a reflexive transitive verb uses the bare subject marking with no object marking.

Ąndwàŋèzųmą.
ą-twà-ŋè-zųmą
WITWitness (evidential)
speaker witnessed action
-REFLReflexive (valency)
argument acts on itself
-1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I
.SUBJUnknown code-watch
"I'm being careful."

[edit] [top]Syntax

Focus
Noun phrases can be fronted to focus them. For example:

Kamachakuko ąą̀į̀įŋkmąm kmą̀ŋgako.
dragonfly-G7Gender 7 (gender/class) WITWitness (evidential)
speaker witnessed action
-G7Gender 7 (gender/class).SUBJUnknown code-G7Gender 7 (gender/class).OBJObject (argument)-eat frog-G7Gender 7 (gender/class)

Because they both use G7, this is ambiguous between "a frog is eating dragonflies" and "dragonflies" are eating a frog". Hopefully context will clear it up.

Action nominals
Instead of action nominals and infinitive clauses, Mañi uses finite clauses. No explicit nominalizing morpheme is used on these clauses. Clauses referring to a future action, or one which has not happened, use the irrealis instead of the future or negative. Other clauses use the realis, in the present tense. Evidential morphemes are not used.

P`eʼtu ąndòhetłaʼayèʼą̀nįŋ uukheʼe ąhepokuŋo ŗali ich hąą̀ pèʼta ąndòheŗaʼyè zezeŋą ʼu mų̀ñ ŋeheřèxą.
then.DSDifferent subject (switch-reference/ identity)
different subjects used between clauses
WITWitness (evidential)
speaker witnessed action
-G9Gender 9 (gender/class).SUBJUnknown code-G5Gender 5 (gender/class).OBJObject (argument)-pull-PASTPast tense (tense)
action occurred before moment of speech
-out book-G5Gender 5 (gender/class) WITWitness (evidential)
speaker witnessed action
-G5Gender 5 (gender/class)-beautiful and small big then.SSSame subject (switch-reference)
same subject used between clauses
WITWitness (evidential)
speaker witnessed action
-G9Gender 9 (gender/class).SUBJUnknown code-G5Gender 5 (gender/class).OBJObject (argument)-give-PASTPast tense (tense)
action occurred before moment of speech
to-1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I
for 1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I
-G5Gender 5 (gender/class)-read-IRRIrrealis
mood

"Then one of them pulled out a beautiful and very small book and gave it to me to read."

The phrase corresponding to "for me to read" is a finite subordinate clause using the irrealis mood (expressed by low tone on the first non-low tone of the verb).

Ki hàtawupelarri tuchał įma?
QInterrogative
question
GXGender 10 (gender/class)-memory-2SGUnknown code.POSSGPossessed (case)
marks being owned
G9Gender 9 (gender/class)-fight here
"Do you remember the fighting that happened here?"

In this case, "the fighting" is translated using a finite realis subordinate clause.

Ideophones
In many cases, ideophones can stand in for whole phrases. Ideophones are an open class, but they are standardized lexical expressions, not onomatopoeia coined by speakers on the fly. Some examples of ideophones forming whole phrases:

Nąñą̀ ąŋʼą mąñʼą ąnų̀miʼa ŋoŗaʼa zaʼa pañʼą, nųų̀nąą̀.
INFRInferential (mood/evidential)
reports or infers without confirming
-COPCopula
used to link the subject of a sentence with a predicate
sibling.same.gender-G9Gender 9 (gender/class).POSSGPossessed (case)
marks being owned
.INALInalienable (possesson)
thing that can't be gained or lost
mother-G9Gender 9 (gender/class).POSSGPossessed (case)
marks being owned
.INALInalienable (possesson)
thing that can't be gained or lost
wife-G9Gender 9 (gender/class).POSSGPossessed (case)
marks being owned
.INALInalienable (possesson)
thing that can't be gained or lost
husband-G9Gender 9 (gender/class).POSSGPossessed (case)
marks being owned
.INALInalienable (possesson)
thing that can't be gained or lost
sibling.other.gender-G9Gender 9 (gender/class).POSSGPossessed (case)
marks being owned
.INALInalienable (possesson)
thing that can't be gained or lost
father-G9Gender 9 (gender/class).POSSGPossessed (case)
marks being owned
.INALInalienable (possesson)
thing that can't be gained or lost
or.something
"Maybe it was her father's sister's husband's wife's aunt or something."

Zè mųñ. Ąŋį̀nią pwazini nipokuŋo. Pèʼta, pookumpokùm!
that good. WITWitness (evidential)
speaker witnessed action
-1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I
.SUBJUnknown code-G3Gender 3 (gender/class).OBJObject (argument)-see light-G3Gender 3 (gender/class) G3Gender 3 (gender/class)-beautiful. after.SSSame subject (switch-reference)
same subject used between clauses
headache
"It was good. I saw pretty lights. My head hurt afterwards."

Relative clauses
zè is used as a particle that introduces a relative clause. Relative clauses follow the noun.

ąŋèhàkmąm hàyàkmąm ò zè ñirihàʼąmñè
WITWitness (evidential)
speaker witnessed action
-1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I
>G10Unknown code-eat G10Unknown code-bread DEFDefinite
"the"
RELRelative INFRInferential (mood/evidential)
reports or infers without confirming
-2SSecond person singular (person)
addressee (you)
>G10Unknown code-cook-RECRecent past tense (tense)
events which occurred in the recent past

"I am eating the bread that you cooked."

Only core participants (subject and object) can be extracted from a clause. E.g., you can't say "I dug the hole that you fell into." Instead you would invert the order of the clauses, or insert a subordinator:

nąrixąnąʼ nąʼąni pomàła ò zè ąŋètuŋwaʼdaʼ
HSYHearsay evidential (evidential)
'I have heard that...'
-2SSecond person singular (person)
addressee (you)
-fall-REMRemote past (tense)
'a long time ago'
in-G9Gender 9 (gender/class) hole.G9Gender 9 (gender/class) DEFDefinite
"the"
RELRelative WITWitness (evidential)
speaker witnessed action
-1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I
>G9Gender 9 (gender/class)-dig-REMRemote past (tense)
'a long time ago'

"You fell into the hole I dug."

ąŋètuŋwaʼdaʼ pomàła ò, ŋiìřŗu nąrixąnąʼ nąʼąni
WITWitness (evidential)
speaker witnessed action
-1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I
>G9Gender 9 (gender/class)-dig-REMRemote past (tense)
'a long time ago'
hole.G9Gender 9 (gender/class) DEFDefinite
"the"
, so HSYHearsay evidential (evidential)
'I have heard that...'
-2SSecond person singular (person)
addressee (you)
-fall-REMRemote past (tense)
'a long time ago'
in-G9Gender 9 (gender/class)
"I dug the hole, so you fell in it."

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