Introduction

Naxuutayi (or Sošunaxuutayi) is a language of the Isle family, spoken in Sumarušuxi, a peninsula of islands east of the Aiwia continent.

 

Sound changes from proto-Isles

[d] and [g] became [r] and [ɣ] respectively, in intervocalic position.
[t], [ʦ] and [k] all palatalised to [ʧ] before a front vowel. Likewise [d], [ʣ] and [g] all palatalised to [ʤ].
—A vowel and a following nasal consonant merged as a nasal vowel in coda position.
[ã] and [ĩ] merged as [ć̃], while [ũ] was lowered to [ɔ̃].
[aw] and [aj] monophtonguised to [o] and [e], respectively.
[iw] and [uj] became [ju] and [wi], respectively.
[s] and [ħ] merged as [x].
—Affricates became fricatives, geminated between vowels, and simple elsewhere.
[j] and [w] were elided after a consonant.
—Consonants were ellided in coda position, and geminated consonants became simple, both phenomena being accompanied with compensatory lengthening of the preceding vowel.
[ɣ] became [j] before a front vowel, and [w] elsewhere.
—All consonants became voiced intervocally.
—Voiced obstruent were devoiced word-initially.
—Nasal vowels were denasalised.
[ɔ] and [ɔː] were lowered to [ɑ] and [ɑː].
[a] was fronted to [ć] while [aː] was backed to [ɑː].

 

Phonology

Consonants

With only 12 consonantic phonemes, Naxuutayi has one of the smallest consonant inventory among the Isle languages.

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Occlusive p t k ʔ
Nasal m n
Fricative s ʃ x
Approximant w r j

The glottal stop is written as 7.
The palatal/postalveolar fricative is written as š.
The palatal approximant is written as y.
Other consonants are written as in IPA.

 

Vowels

The vowel inventory is rather large, with 12 distinct vowels (compared to only 3 in proto-Isle).

Front Back
Close i iː u uː
Mid e eː o oː
Open ć ćː ɑ ɑː

There are no diphthongs.

Long vowels are writen double.
Front open vowels are writen as "a/aa", back open vowels as "ĺ/ĺĺ". Other vowels are writen as in IPA.

 

Syllabic structure

Naxuutayi has a very simple syllabic structure, allowing only strict CV syllables, thus prohibiting both consonant clusters and vowel hiatus.

 

Stress

Naxuutayi stress system is extremely simple, notably compared to other Isle languages which often have complex tonal systems. Naxuutayi words are consistantly stressed on the first syllable, but the stress affects pitch, rather than length or intensity: the stressed syllable is rather high in pitch, then, after it, there is a noticible contour drop.

 

Allophony

With the exception of /ʔ/, all voiceless consonants are realised voiced in intervocallic position.

/j/ is sometimes realised as [ʝ], especially before /i/ (short or long). Some speakers further merge this sound with the intervocallic realisation of /ʃ/.

Some other speakers tend to realised /ji/ and /wu/ as, [ʒi] and [vu] when word-initial, and as [j] and [w] when not word-initial.

 

Distribution

While being a frequent phoneme, /ʃ/ occures only before /i/, /u/ or /ć/ (either short or long).

/r/ occures only intervocally, after short /ć/, /i/ or /u/.

Vowels are almost always long before /s/ and /ʃ/. In fact, short vowels occures only before /si/ and /ʃu/ (and even there, long vowels are possible as well).

 

Morphology

Nouns

Naxuutayi nouns inflect for case and number. The 5 cases system is directly inherited from Proto-Isle, through with some reanalysis: the instrumental case has been reanalised as an ablative case, the dative as a genitive, and the beneficiary case as a new dative.

Proto-Isle morphology was mostly agglutinative, but sound changes created a high level of irregularity, most of which was however later nivelled by analogy, resulting in a 3 declensions system, easily predictible, with generally only minor variations across the declensions. The citation form of the noun is the nominative (which always ends in -i, no matter the declension), on which are based the different declensions.

Declension I, nouns with nominative in -yi.

father lion neck
Singular Nominative tarayi xiišiyi šapuyi
Ablative tarama xiišima šapuma
Accusative tarawii xiišiwii šapuwii
Genitive tarana xiišina šapuna
Dative tarĺĺso xiišiiso šapuuso
 
Plural Nominative tarašuxi xiišišuxi šapušuxi
Ablative tarašuuma xiišišuuma šapušuuma
Accusative tarašuwii xiišišuwii šapušuwii
Genitive tarašuuna xiišišuuna šapušuuna
Dative tarašuuso xiišišuuso šapušuuso

The nouns in this declension have their stem ending in short -a, -i, or -u. They come from Proto-Isle nouns whose stem ended in -a, -i, -u, -y or -w.

 

Declension II, nouns with nominative in -mi.

girl ball
Singular Nominative šukami šuwumi
Ablative šukama šuwĺma
Accusative šukawii šuwuwii
Genitive šukana šuwĺna
Dative šukaaso šuwĺĺso
 
Plural Nominative šukašuxi šuwĺšuxi
Ablative šukašuuma šuwĺšuuma
Accusative šukašuwii šuwĺšuwii
Genitive šukašuuna šuwĺšuuna
Dative šukašuuso šuwĺšuuso

The nouns in this declension have their stem ending in short -a or -u (in practice, the later is quite rare, and in fact all the nouns ending in -u in this declension are derivatives of "šuwumi"). They come from Proto-Isle nouns whose stem ended in -m or -n.

 

Declension III, nouns with nominative in -7i.

hand moon chest (group of) three mouth wolf
Singular Nominative kata7i šumi7i xapu7i te7i ko7i wĺxĺ7i
Ablative katĺĺma šumiima xapuuma teema kooma wĺxĺĺma
Accusative katawii šumiwii xapuwii tewii kowii wĺxĺwii
Genitive katĺĺna šumiina xapuuna teena koona wĺxĺna
Dative katĺĺso šumiiso xapuuso teeso kooso wĺxĺĺso
 
Plural Nominative katĺĺšuxi šumiišuxi xapuušuxi teešuxi koošuxi wĺxĺĺšuxi
Ablative katĺĺšuuma šumiišuuma xapuušuuma teešuuma koošuuma wĺxĺĺšuuma
Accusative katĺĺšuwii šumiišuwii xapuušuwii teešuwii koošuwii wĺxĺĺšuwii
Genitive katĺĺšuuna šumiišuuna xapuušuuna teešuuna koošuuna wĺxĺĺšuuna
Dative katĺĺšuuso šumiišuuso xapuušuuso teešuuso koošuuso wĺxĺĺšuuso

Nouns in this declension have their stem ending in any of the six short vowels (though -a, -i and -u are much more common than the other ones). They come from Proto-Isle nouns whose stem ended in -s, -h or -q.

Analogy has mostly affected the final syllable of noun stems, leveling frontier accidents at morpheme boundaries, and uniting nouns with different stems under the same declensions. The case and number endings themselves are generally left untouched, with the exception of the accusative in -wii, once restricted to singular nouns being part of the first declension (and not all of them). It spreaded by analogy to all the first declension, then to all nouns, including the plural number, because other accusative endings were too similar to the nominative.

 

Number usage

As in Proto-Isle, the plural is optional, and in fact not used at all when the context or another word make it obvious that a noun is plural.

 

Case usage

A (p) indicates that a given usage requires the use of post-positions.

Nominative:
-Agent of a transitive verb (nominative).
-Experiencer of a intransitive verb (nominative).
-Calling, naming someone or something (vocative).

Ablative:
-Movement away from something (ablative).
-Instrument, mean of an action (instrumental).
-Companionship (comitative)(p).
-Movement out of something (elative)(p).
-Source, cause of an action (causative)(p).

Accusative:
-Patient of a transitive verb (accusative).
-Location, place (locative)(p).
-Motion through or along something (perlative)(p).

Genitive:
-Possessor, origin, description (genitive).
-Made of, composed of (compositive, partitive).
-Beneficiary of an action (benefactive)(p).

Dative:
-Recipient of an action (dative).
-Movement toward something (allative).
-Movement into something (illative)(p).
-Goal, objective, intention, aim, purpose of an action (benefactive)(p).

 

Adjectives

Adjectives do not agree with the nouns they describe. Most adjectives can be used as adverb. Three common adjectives have an intensive form:
"ta" (big) > "tara" (very big)
"mi" (small) > "mimi" (very small)
"xonĺĺ" (strong) > "xaxonĺĺ" (very strong)

For other adjectives, "tara" (which in combination means "very", "truly", "strongly") is used before the concerned adjective.

 

Determiners

They are treated as adjectives.

xina: this
xana: that
šaxuu: some
pimuu: few
kĺyii: lot of
kĺyiina: many
7uu: no
xaxowoo: all, each, every (often reduced to just woo).

"xaxowoo" is followed by a noun in the plural when meaning "all", and by a noun in the singular when meaning "each" or "every".

 

Pronouns

Unlike Proto-Isle, Naxuutayi has a true class of independant pronouns.

 

Personnal pronouns

They take case and number marking. 1st and 2nd person pronouns makes a distinction between a standalone genetive case (English "mine", "yours") vs an adjectival possessive case (English "my", "your"). The 3rd person opposes proximate and obviative forms ("this" vs "that"). A few irregularities occure.

  1st Person 2nd Person 3rd Person
proximate
3rd Person
obviative
Singular Nominative xayi tu7i xinami xanami
Ablative xema tuuma xinama xanama
Accusative xawii tuwii xinawii xanawii
Genitive xena tuuna xinana xanana
Possessive xe tuu
Dative xeeso tuuso xinaaso xanaaso
 
Plural Nominative xešuxi tuušuxi xinašuxi xanašuxi
Ablative xešuuma tuušuuma xinašuuma xanašuuma
Accusative xešuwii tuušuwii xinašuwii xanašuwii
Genitive xešuuna tuušuuna xinašuuna xanašuuna
Possessive xešuu tuušuu
Dative xešuuso tuušuuso xinašuuso xanašuuso

The third person pronouns are in fact best described as demonstrative pronouns.

 

Anaphoric pronouns

A unique set of pronouns which developed solely in Naxuutayi. They have various functions which will be described later. These pronouns come from nominalised forms of the verbs "to follow" and "to hide".

  Proximate Obviative
Singular Nominative katayi samiyi
Ablative katama samima
Accusative katawii samiwii
Genitive katana samina
Dative katĺĺso samiiso
 
Plural Nominative katašuyi samišuyi
Ablative katašuuma samišuuma
Accusative katašuwii samišuwii
Genitive katašuuna samišuuna
Dative katašuuso samišuuso

Basically, the anaphoric pronouns are pronouns which always refer to a previously mentioned element, as opposed to introducing a new one. They can be used:
-As reflexive pronouns (always in the singular).
-As reciprocal pronouns (always in the plural).
-As possessive pronouns, to indicate that a participant of a verb belong to the other participant, and not to somebody else (in which case ordinary third person pronouns are used).
-In serial verb constructions, to change the agentiveness of a participant of the serial construction - they can refer either to the original agent (when proximate) or to the original patient (when obviative).

 

Other pro-forms

Most of these forms are recent innovations, Proto-Isle didn't have such an elaborated system of pro-forms.

  Interrogative Demonstrative Quantifier
Proximal Distal Existential Free choice Distributive Universal Negative
Determiner xipii xina xana šaxuu mĺĺšii xaxowoo 7uu
Pronoun Human/thing xipiinami xinami xanami šaxuunami mĺĺšiinami woonami woonašuxi 7uunami
Out of several xipiikĺyi7i xikĺyi7i xakĺyi7i šaxuukĺyi7i mĺĺšiikĺyi7i 7uukĺyi7i
Location xipiipaxayi xipaxayi xapaxayi šaxuupaxayi mĺĺšiipaxayi woopaxayi woopaxašuuxi 7uupaxayi
Time xipiiyura7i xiyura7i xayura7i šaxuuyura7i mĺĺšiiyura7i wooyura7i wooyuraašuxi 7uuyura7i
Pro-adverb Manner xipiimišuna ximišuna šaxuumišuna mĺĺšiimišuna 7uumišuna
Reason xipiima

All the forms labeled as pronouns decline.

 

Numbers

Numbers are also treated as adjectives. The base-4 number system of Proto-Isle has evolved into a base-8 system in Năxuutayi.

1: xi
2: xa
3: tee
4: katĺĺ
5: tee xakašu
6: xa xakašu
7: (xi) xakašu
8: xaka(tĺĺ)

9: xaka xi
10: xaka xa
11: xaka tee
12: xaka katĺĺ
13: xaka tee xakašu
14: xaka xa xakašu
15: xaka xakašu
16: xa xaka

24: tee xaka
32: katĺĺ xaka
40: tee xakašu xaka
48: xa xakašu xaka
56: xakašu xaka
64: taxi

4,096: taraxi

16,777,216: taraxa

 

Verbs

Verbs preserve only parts of the original morphology, and with important reanalysis and analogy. New elements have also been incorporated into the verb.

Verbs receive suffixes for tense, mood and evidentiality. Aspect, as we will see, is more problematic.

There are two suffix positions on a verb, the first conveying tense, the second evidentiality and deference, while both carry some modal marks. Both positions must carry a suffix, there are no 0 morphemes.

The first position contrasts an indicative and a subjonctive mood, the indicative being further divised between three tenses, past, present habitual, or non-past (deriving from the non-sensory mood, present tense) and present continuous (deriving from the sensory mood).

There's no single, unitary mark for the past suffix, and this form has to be learned for each verb (and thus is generally used as the citation form of the verb). The present habitual and present continuous are more unitary, but still have some variations related to the past suffix. The subjonctive mood is formed with the past suffix followed by the suffix -poo.

Here are the ten different possible patterns:

to go to float to fly to find to break to die to know to hit to count to eat
Indicative Past xara- wumu- kome- muusi- suumo- ximĺ- toosĺĺ- tĺĺtuu- xĺĺtee- kayoo-
Present hab. xaraa- wumĺĺ- komaa- muusĺĺ- suumaa- ximĺĺ- toosaa- tĺĺtĺĺ- xĺĺtaa- kayaa-
Present cont. xari- wumi- komi- muuši- suumu- xima- toošii- tĺĺšii- xĺĺšii- kayuu-
Subjonctive xarapoo- wumupoo- komepoo- muusipoo- suumopoo- ximĺpoo- toosĺĺpoo- tĺĺtuupoo- xĺĺteepoo- kayoopoo-

Note that the present continous suffix, no matter its form, always cause palatalisation of stem final -t, -k, or -s to -š (for some verbs, this is actually the only way to tell the past from the present continuous).

The second position marks various modal, evidential and deferential distinctions. The suffixes are more numerous than for the first position, but behave in a straighforward agglutinative fashion, without irregularity (these suffixes originally derive from Proto-Isle discourse particles). Just as in the first position, there must be one and only suffix in the second one.

The different suffixes are:
-koo: basic affirmative suffix (used in the citation form).
-šu: same meaning than the suffix above, but more polite and distant, somehow authoritative.
-xii: negative suffix.
-7ii: another affirmative suffix, this time expressing deference and humility.
-muu: the speaker has no direct evidence of what he is saying, but still holds it to be true.
-niwuu: basic interrogative suffix.
-tuxĺĺ: more polite interrogative suffix.
-kuu: the speaker expresses dubt about the actual occurence of the action he's describing. Can also be used as a polite negative.

 

Verbs theorically also contrast a perfective and an imperfective aspect, but there is no unitary way to form it, and aspect is considered a derivational, rather than an inflectional category (and indeed, perfective and imperfective stems are listed as distinct entries in dictionaries).

A first way to make a perfective stem imperfective is reduplication of the first syllable, though often with an irregular outcome due to sound changes. As an example, the imperfective form of "tĺĺtuukoo" (to hit) is "tarĺĺtuukoo".

Another way is to prefix ni- (to make a perfective stem imperfective) or xii- (to make an imperfective stem perfective). There too, irregular outcomes are possible: "komekoo" (to fly) > "niwomekoo". These two prefixes derive from the Proto-Isle verbs meaning "to do" and "to eat", respectively.

The last possible way is suppletion, where the perfective and imperfective stem are from different verbs entirely.

It should also be noted that sometimes, two historically connected perfective and imperfective stem have lexically diverged and no longer cover the same verb.

Verbs may also show suppletion for different degree of deference.

 

Verbs also have a serial form, made by using the past stem, lengthening the last vowel (if short), and suffixing -se.

 

Mood usage

The indicative mood is used for sentences which represent a statement about reality, as opposed to the expression of a wish, desire, or order.

 

The subjonctive is used:
-As an ortative/optative mood, to express a wish or an non-direct order.
-As a more polite form of indicative, when the tense is obvious from the context.
-In most places where English would use an infinitive or a verbal noun.

 

Tense and aspect usage

The past tense descibes an action which happened in the past. In the perfective aspect, the action has been completed and no longer has repercutions in the present. In the imperfective aspect, the action has not been completed, or has been completed but still has repercutions on the present.

In the imperfective aspect, the present habitual describes a general truth or a habitual action. Given enough context, it can also be used as a future tense. In the perfective aspect, it has all these values but the future one, with the additional information that the general truth or habit described is no longer effective.

The present continuous describes, in the imperfective aspect, an action which is occuring when the speaker talks, or an iterative, repeated action. In the perfective aspect, it describes an action that has just been completed, or that has been interrupted by another action.

 

The copula

The copula has only two tenses, past and present, different suppletive forms for different level of deference, and various little irregularities:

  Intimate Informal Humble Formal
Perfective Past ni- toxa- xuxee- xiikomuu-
Present naa- toxaa- xuxaa- xiikomĺĺ-
Imperfective Past yama- tatoxa- nixuxee- kawomuu-
Present yamaa- tatoxaa- nixuxaa- kawomĺĺ-

The intimate form is normally used only between close friends and lovers, its use in other contexts is considered strongly rude.

The informal is used in most daily situation between friends and person of the same family.

The humble form is a polite form which is used only while talking of oneself, while the formal form is a polite form used only when talking of somebody else.