The ḟ ů ṅ of Sheeyiz and other morphology stuff: view article

CLARIFICATIONS: STEM VERSUS ROOT AND COMPOUND WORD VERSUS HYPHENATED PHRASE

(1) A root (sometimes called a citation form) is a dictionary entry for a particular meaning that is not a compound word nor a hyphenated phrase nor an abbreviation. The purpose of a root is to be the basic form that words are derived from by grammatical change or compounding. Some roots serve only as the citation form for suffixes, some as the citation form for words, but for pronouns and some common determiners one root covers both. Where applicable, the citation form is in nominative case (or nominative case plus silent letters).

(2) A stem is a form of a root that affixes can be added to, with any silent letters dropped. Stem endings (if any) come before suffixes and are of two kinds: inner suffixes and state endings. Either or both may follow the stem. Inner suffixes differ from normal (outer) suffixes because the state ending goes after them (not before), but also in that they don't use linking consonants (see point 8 below) and don't follow vowel harmony (see point 7 below). These suffix roots were imported from Naastnaat in the early days of Sheeyiz and include ϣf and ɵŋ.

(3) Any root has a direct state and most also have an attributive state. 'State' refers to marking a word to indicate a relative clause describing the word will follow. State endings may be additional sound(s) or changed sound(s) and are described further in another article: Declension Tables for Sheeyiz. An example root would be the citation form ḟᶗŋ†Є ("man"), whose direct state stem is ḟᶗŋ and whose attributive state stem is ḟᶗŋọᶕ (with state ending ọᶕ). Roots follow one of 11 general patterns (declensions) with regard to 'attributive state', these are driven by the current and/or historical final sounds of the root.

(4) Compounding a word is the joining of two or more roots into one extended word, where the second (and any subsequent) root is not a pronoun or suffix. Further details are provided in sections below concerning open-form and closed-form compounding, but the key details are that open-form compound words use the ḻőϣҕ punctuation symbol (§) as the joining mechanism and retain typical grammar whilst closed-form compound words use additional letter(s) as the joining mechanism and have minor alterations to grammar.

(5) A hyphenated phrase is one where the § punctuation symbol has been used to join the words of a phrase together in writing. Although the punctuation is grammatically required, the meaning and pronunciation of the included words are not affected (compared to the words when used separated by spaces). This concept is explained further in another article: An Introduction to Sheeyiz Grammar, but the key point is that a compound word retains the grammatical class of the original word, whereas a hyphenated phrase doesn't.

OTHER CHANGES TO A WORD

(6) Because of phonological rules, a word can change from the word root it derives from - simply because of the words surrounding it. The adding of linking consonants at the start of a word to separate adjacent vowels (across words) is an example of this. Another example is the addition of an altered pronunciation marker when the final sound of a word would otherwise match the initial sound of the next word.

VARIATIONS WHEN ADDING A SUFFIX OR CHANGING A STEM

(7) Suffixes can vary in spelling and pronunciation when inserted into a word due to surrounding sounds or grammar rules. One example of this is that a vowel in a suffix can change due to vowel harmony. State endings also show vowel harmony, but "inner" suffixes do not.

(8) Insertion of one or two consonants ahead of the suffix is possible. These may be bridging consonants or a linking consonant (see another article Giving you sound advice about Sheeyiz). Insertion of a vowel ahead of the suffix is possible; but this is the less preferred alternative and is forbidden if the suffix is a pronoun root. Inner suffixes always using spelled out linking consonants (ő and ʎ, not the altered pronunciation marker.

(9) Deletion of a vowel at the end of a suffix is possible in some situations (typically following a vowel).

NASALITY CLASS AGREEMENT IN RELATIVE PRONOUN ENDINGS

(10) Relative pronoun words change the final nasal sound of their stem to match with the following word, a pattern known as nasality class agreement. The nasality class nasal is considered an ending of the stem.

(11) The historical origin of this agreement pattern is a function word with three different phonetic forms (spelled ḟ, ů and ṅ). It was used to introduce a relative clause but became attached to the end of the introducing noun or function word after the Classical Period in the main (Coastal) dialect.

(12) The exact matching rules for relative pronouns are:
ḟ ending if the related word starts with sounds ɐ/b/ɛ/ə/f/i/p/v/w corresponding to spelling ọ f ᶗ Є y ᶕ ᶂ ᶙ ő;
ḟ˛ ending (which represents a v sound) if the related word starts with sound m corresponding to spelling ḟ ;
ů ending (n sound) if the related word starts with ç/d/ð/ʝ/o/ø/r/s/t/ʊ/y/z/ corresponding to spelling ħ υ ⱷ ʎ ҕ O ɵ ε ᶑ ϫ ϣ ɯ d;
˛ů ending^* (nʝ sounds) if the related word starts with ç/d/ð/o/ø/r/s/t/ʊ/y/z/ corresponding to spelling ħ υ ⱷ ʎ ҕ O ɵ ε ᶑ ϫ ϣ ɯ d;
ů˛ ending (which represents a z sound) if the related word starts with sound n corresponding to spelling ů;
˛ů˛ ending^* (nç sounds) if the related word starts with sound ʝ corresponding to spelling ҕ or ʎ;
ṅ ending (ŋ sound) if the related word starts with sounds g/k/w/ʍ corresponding to spelling ŋ ᶀ ḻő ȫ;
˛ṅ ending ^* (ŋgʝ sounds) if the related word starts with sounds g/k/w/ʍ corresponding to spelling ŋ ᶀ ḻő ȫ;
ṅ˛ ending (ʁ sound) if the related word starts with sound ŋ or ʝ corresponding to spelling ṅ or ҕ;

* The ending ˛ů replaces ů and ˛ṅ replaces ṅ after an i, y or ʊ sound. (All words in Sheeyiz that used to end in n or ŋ sound after a high vowel now end in nʝ or ŋgʝ respectively in the Coastal Dialect due to partial palatalization. This ending change matches that pattern.)

(13) This pattern can mostly be rationalized based on how sounds are made in the mouth. The ḟ ending is used with wide-lipped (unrounded) vowels and all other sounds that involve the lips heavily (with 2 exceptions). The ṅ ending is used for all back of the mouth/throaty sounds that can start a word. The ů ending is for vowels that require rounded lips and all other sounds not covered by the other two.

Historical side note
The spelling ḻő reflects a spelling reform to show where a historical ɣ sound (which used to be in the ṅ nasality class) became w but failed to change its nasality class.

(14) Further background detail on the ḟ˛, ů˛ and ṅ˛ endings is available in the CONSONANT SANDHI BETWEEN WORDS/WORD ROOTS sub-section of the article Giving you sound advice about Sheeyiz.

(PRO)NOUN SUFFIXES

(15) Suffixes are the means to change part of speech, to indicate a definite or indefinite noun, and to indicate case. Multiple suffixes can exist in the same noun, but not multiple of the same type. Thus noun conversion suffix + accusative suffix + definiteness suffix is valid, but accusative suffix + dative suffix is invalid.

(16) Case suffixes for objects are required unless there is a preceding subject and all the verb objects that are supplied are in the correct order for their role (equivalent to dative first, then accusative). A suffix is always required for genitive, instrumental or locative case.

(17) Case suffixes are used for genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental and locative cases but nominative case lacks a suffix. These case suffixes come in three genders (male, female/mixed and non-creature). They were that way when adopted from the Naastnaat language. Note that tiny life forms and all plants are considered in the non-creature class in Sheeyiz (along with concepts and inanimate objects). A case suffix can apply for a noun, a personal or topic pronoun, an adjective or a determiner and such a suffixed word is called "declined".

(18) The form of a case suffix can have bridging consonant variations due to phonological rules about connecting suffixes to roots and to each other. More about this in the article Giving you sound advice about Sheeyiz.

VERB INFLECTIONS

(19) Generally, Sheeyiz uses adverbs to convey time and aspect and these usually precede the verb if it is in a hyphenated phrase, but they follow the verb in traditional word order or for emphasis in a hyphenated phrase. The Talan-sourced imperative form ending Od and the Naastnaat-source negative imperative ending ᶂᶕ were traditionally the only inflection (stem ending). However persistent placing of the perfective adverb ɵᶀ immediately following the verb root during the Mutation period has led to it becoming another verb inflection by the Modern Period.

(20) A personal pronoun or the topic pronoun can be joined to a verb as if it was a suffix. This feature is only available if non-compound pronouns are being incorporated into a non-compound verb. It is also unavailable if there is no form of a pronoun that is phonologically valid for the place that incorporation is targeting. The alternative to pronoun incorporation is a hyphenated verb phrase, with the pronoun added after a hyphen (§) character.

(21) As mentioned above, the pronoun(s) in a pronoun-incorporated verb can have the other phonological impacts that apply to suffixes, such as bridging interfix addition and vowel harmony, but not vowel epenthesis. Incorporation of pronouns happens after any verb ending.

CLOSED-FORM COMPOUND WORDS

(22) Compounding a word is the joining of two or more roots into one extended word. There are two forms of this. The first is closed-form compounding. The word always has the grammatical category of the first root

(23) A closed-form noun compound has two word roots (noun + adjective or noun + noun) that are joined with interfix sound(s).

(24) Closed-form verb compounds have two word roots (verb + adjective or verb + verb) that are joined with interfix sound(s).

(25) Closed-form modifier compounds have two word roots (modifier + modifier or case-suffixed noun) that are joined with interfix sound(s).

OPEN-FORM COMPOUND WORDS

(26) Open-form compound words can have a noun, verb, modifier or even pronoun as the first root, followed by modlifiers, each joined by the § symbol. The roots are still pronounced like separate words. The § can be thought of as like a hyphen in English.

(27) A modifier in an open-form compound may be either a modfier root (without a conversion suffix), a root with modlifier suffix, or a pronoun/noun with a case suffix (an "attributive" noun).

(28) A personal or topic pronoun with modifier suffix can be open-form compounded with a simple noun or a compound noun. Its meaning is then to indicate inalienable possession by the pronoun. The concept of inalienable possession means things such as a person's actions, body, life, or blood relatives are considered inherently connected to them, as opposed to other things they could possess or own but could lose or sell. For alienable possession, the preposition ḟᶕy "connected with" or verb ᶙᶕʂ "to own" would be used, or the genitive case of the pronoun could be used.
Examples:
My hand (ŋɵᶙᶗ "hand") would be translated as ŋɵᶙᶗ§ᶀħᶗḟ, because it is inalienably possessed.
My fork (fᶗů "fork") could be translated instead using a prepositional expression: fᶗůọ ḟᶕy ᶀħᶕ.
My fork could also be translated using the genitive case of a pronoun, by fᶗůọ ᶀħᶕħ.
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