Malelweri

sk→ʃ

∅→a/m_k

VRC→VRəC/_#

C→∅/_#!C=Cː

Cː→C/_#

Cː→Ø/C_, _C

ə→ɤ

C[-voice]→C[+voice]/C[+voice]_

C[+voice]→C[-voice]/C[-voice]_

tst→st

a {e o} u→ e ø y/_...i

p pː tː k kː Vm mː → β ɸ θ ɣ x Ṽv m/V_V

w, r, l→∅/T_V

bd→db

r→∅/_t, t_

iː ɪː eː øː aː→ øi oɪ øe ua /C[+bilabial]_

iː ɪː eː øː aː → wi wɪ ue uø ua/C[+velar]_

eː øː aː→ ei øi ai/C[+alveolar]_

Vz→Vːs

m̩ n̩ r̩ s̩ v̩ l̩ → øm øn ør øs øv øl/C[+bilabial]_

m̩ n̩ r̩ s̩ v̩ l̩ → um un ur us uv ul/C[+velar]_

ɤ(ː)→o(ː)

ɾj ɾʷ→rː

fʷ vʷ → vː

ɪ(ː)→i(ː)

z→s

mʷ→mu

Vʔ→Ṽ!V=Vː

ʔ→Ø

{ĩ ỹ ø̃} ũ→ẽ õ

øː→ey

sɾ→stɾ

j→Ø/_i

=Phonology=

Vowels

Consonants

Phonotactics

 * When a root ends in a vowel and takes a suffix beginning in a vowel then the vowel of the stem will be dropped and the vowel of the suffix will lengthen.
 * aratti "flame" > arattā "flame-"
 * When any plosive comes into contact with /s/, it is lost.
 * aphat "fist" + -so "vocative suffix" > aphāso
 * Before long vowels, /l/ becomes [ɾ]:
 * mīrgʷile [mìːɾgʷíle] "to teach" > mīrgʷirai [mìːɾgʷíɾai] "I teach"
 * The combinations of tt+j and Vt+j result in /s/ and /Vːs/ respectively.
 * estte "to carry" + -je "imperative suffix" > esse "carry-
 * dnothe "to think ahead" + -je "imperative suffix" > dnōse "think ahead-
 * Between vowels /v/ is [w]:
 * mevothai [mèwóθai] "rewarding"
 * movo [mówo] "mammoth"
 * strave [stɾáwe] "to remember"

Umlaut
Middle Sumri's umlaut is inherited from Proto-Sumric's ʉ-umlaut. Thanks to sound changes it is no longer as straightforward as it once was plus some patterns are no longer productive, having become fossilised in some stems. The umlaut is triggered when a syllable containing /ɪ/ follows.

The vowel /ø/ is not affected by umlaut. /i a/ become /i ø/ only when before liquids.

Pre-Syllabic Epenthesis
In Middle Sumri there are a set of syllabic consonants /m̩ n̩ r̩ s̩ v̩ l̩/ spelled as <ḿ ń ŕ ś v́ ɫ>. When a syllabic consonant is word final or in a word final cluster and takes on a suffix beginning in a vowel then the vowel of the suffix will be reduplicated before the sonorant causing it to become non-syllabic. However if there is no consonant after the syllabic consonant and a plosive is before it, the reduplicated vowel is dropped and the syllabic consonant still becomes non-syllabic:


 * vŕŕtt "melody" + -i "buzzard nominative plural suffix" > virrtti "melodies"
 * jopɫ "eyelash" + -a "genitive suffix" > jopla "eyelash's".

If the reduplicated vowel follows /j/, then /j/ is reduplicated also as /i/, even if it is lost in the suffix due to other phonotactics:
 * vŕŕtt "melody" + -jăm "buzzard delative suffix" > viărrsăm "from a melody"

Prosody
Middle Sumri has a fixed pitch accent which it inherited from Old Sumrë's mix of mobile and fixed pitch. Middle Sumri experienced a change where all pitches became fixed to their syllable, albeit from a diachronic perspective as the difference pitch patterns of differently inflected stems was inherited (albeit fossilised) into Middle Sumri. This means that the pitch of an older stem appears mobile but fixed in newer stems (which arose due to derivation or loaning). The high pitch is always marked with an acute accent, or in the case of the letters <ö ü>, with the varients <ő ű>. The high pitch is nor marked if it falls on the penultimate syllable, or if a stem is monosyllabic. The hihgh pitch always follows the low pitch, some words have lost their high pitched syllable leaving only the low pitch. In this case the low pitch is marked with a grave accent, or <ö ü> as <ȍ ű>.

=Nouns= Middle Sumri has 12 noun cases which inflect for gender and number. The 12 cases are:


 * Nominative: marks the subject
 * Accusative: marks the direct object
 * Genitive: marks possesison
 * Vocative: marks a directly addressed noun
 * Illative: movement into, inside
 * Perlative: movement through or along REPLACED WITH COMITATIVE
 * Allative: marks the indirect object, movement to
 * Comitative: in company with, with, beside
 * Delative: movement down from a surface, from
 * Prolative: though something, by way of REPLACED WITH COMITATIVE

Additional use of cases Along with their main uses, several cases are also used for finer constructions. Here is a list of each case and it's alternative uses:


 * Accusative
 * extent of space
 * sumaas movorau (walk- mammoth-) "I walked the length of a mammoth"
 * Genitive
 * has X quality
 * mörere nirara (island grass-) "island of grass"
 * Allative
 * Benfective
 * so mizkatt (for fish-) "for the fish"
 * Change or transition into
 * okauttrau röre partat (freeze- water ice-) "the water freezes into ice"
 * Patient of experiential verb
 * sülaa mizkatt (see- fish-) "I see a fish"
 * jusaa mizkatt (hear- fish-) "I hear a fish"
 * peppaa mizkatt (smell- fish-) "I smell a fish"
 * Until
 * sumaatătt sumarimo hjarjozatt (walk- foot- -hurt-) "I will walk until my feet hurt"
 * Temporal
 * röraa joken niriresshaalatt (like- walk- spring-) "I like to walk in spring"
 * Subessive
 * Cause (because of, therefore, since, as - trigger the passive mood)
 * örvörstti remöram terog Piritănun (take- his sword Pirităn-) "because his sword was taken my Piridăn
 * Comitative
 * Duration
 * sürörs mizk onttazii (swim- fish day-) "the fish swam for days"
 * Similies
 * merips pijöres mör (be- hero- noble) "you are noble like a hero"
 * made of X material
 * karjozeaziompes hukoăi termazii (make- axe- stone-) "they made axes from stone"
 * Composed of or containing X object
 * röreri ippottuzii (stream frog-) "a stream of frogs"
 * concerning, about
 * forh rotozii (story giant- ("a story about giants")
 * Delative
 * Paritive, some of, a bit of
 * tokaas rörejăma ("drink- water=) "I drank some water"

Collective and Singulative nouns
Middle Sumri nouns can take on collective forms meaning "X in general" or "many X". This is achieved by reduplicating the final CVC sequence of a noun. If the noun ends in VCV or CCV, then an epenthetic consonant is inserted at the end of the reduplicated syllable. If the left-most consonant is p or pp then the epenthetic consonant is m. If the left-most consonant is j (or the final vowel is i then the reduplicated syllable is jii) then the epenthetic consonant is j. Elsewise the epenthetic consonant is n. When the noun ends in VVC then the epenthetic consonant goes at the front of the reduplicated syllable. When the noun ends in VCC, only the first VC reduplicates
 * rakătt ("tree") > rakăttătt ("tree-")
 * aratti ("flame") > arattittin ("flame-")
 * sipa ("flower") > sipapam ("flower-")
 * örji ("finger, toe") > örjijii ("finger-")
 * neas ("line") > neaznas ("line-")
 * noort ("handle") > noortoor ("handle-")

Non-reduplicated-collectives
There are, of course, nouns which are inherently collective. These nouns usually refer to liquids (water, saliva, blood), liquid-like solids (mud, sand), gases or gas-like substances (air, steam, clouds), solids which can have smaller chunks carved or sliced from (meat, ice, wax, fat, wood) or insects which live in colonies. These nouns can have singulative nouns derived with the suffix \sco{-(a)nz} (from Old Sumrë -(a)nc, derived from Proto-Sumric *təts- "child" and cognate to Hajec tits "child") (with /a/ only being included when the root ends in a consonant).
 * röre ("water") > rörenz ("drop of water")
 * e ("blood") > enz ("drop of blood")
 * hrah ("ice") > hrahanz ("block of ice")
 * taaka ("sand") > taakanz ("grain of sand")
 * ouku ("wasp colony") > oukunz ("wasp")

There are a handful of inherently collective nouns which don't refer to the above criteria, instead these nouns can mean anything. They descend from Proto-Sumric reduplicated-collective nouns whose singular stems fell out of use, leaving only the collective form to survive into Middle Sumri. Thanks to the sound changes which have occurred between Proto-Sumric and Old Sumrë and middle Sumri, these nouns may not look like reduplicated stems anymore.


 * tüppior ("many bolases") > tüppioranz ("bolas")
 * unür ("many snow goggles") > unüranz ("a pair of snow goggless")
 * ouppjui ("many hawks") > oupjujanz ("hawk")
 * hiakim ("many oak trees") > hiakmanz ("oak tree")
 * uviokn ("many ferns") > uvioknanz ("fern")
 * ăăkauknam ("many boars") > ăăkauknamanz ("boar")
 * ounzaram ("many bulbs") > ounzaramanz ("bulb")
 * ahnuonum ("many finches") > ahnuomumanz ("finch")
 * ioknam ("many guests") > ióknamanz ("guest")
 * tuáhsunnur ("many willow trees") > tuáhsunnuranz ("willow tree")
 * níhpposppos ("many newts") > níhpposppozanz ("newt")

=Pronouns=

Personal Pronouns
Singular

Middle Sumri has various versions of the second person pronoun which vary depending on the social situation. When speaking informally to another of a similar age the pronoun tar is used. When speaking formally to some of a similar age then the vocative form tarzo is preferred. Speaking informally to a loved one or someone held dear requires the pronoun trör, when formal the pronoun tarzoör is used. When speaking to someone significantly older in an informal situation then trruart is used, formally it is tarzovart. When speaking in a derogatory or condescending manner tarjurt is used, or tarzojurt when being downright insulting.

Plural

Interrogative Pronouns
The pronouns kapmörnas ("why") and katottirtin ("how") are both innovations, from Old Sumrë kad mölatš ("what reason") and kad ohtiltbin ("by what method"). Old Sumrë kyl ("why") resulted in *kör which is identical to kör ("where"). To avoid ambiguity a new pronoun was innovated instead.

=Demonstrative Pronouns=

Existential Pronouns
=Numbers= The number system in Middle Sumri is very typical of Sumro-Letaeric languages, with the order being determined by animacy and agreement determined by the use of adjectives. The way that numbers agree with the head noun can be irregular due to the inflection descending directly from those in Proto-Sumro-Naukl and not experiencing analogy like nouns did.

Order
A number may follow or precede its noun. If the noun is semantically (or grammatically if it is an animate noun) animate then the number follows. If the noun is inanimate then the number goes before the noun:


 * Animate: raakar to ("one bear")
 * Inanimate: too sipa ("one flower")

Agreement
Numbers do not agree with the buzzard or deer genders, instead they agree only with animate or inanimate. If a noun has the buzzard or deer gender then the number will agree to the semantic animacy of the noun (i.e if the noun represents a living sentient being). In terms of agreeing with number, the number 1 agrees with no number for obvious reasons. The numbers 2-3 agree with the paucal numbers and the numbers 3-10 agree with the plural. It is important to note that numbers higher than 10 do not agree whatsoever with the noun.

Numbers only agree with the four traditional cases (nominative, accusative, genitive and dative). For any other case the nominative form of the noun is used. Numbers also only agree with the nouns case if an adjective is modifying the noun, if there is no adjective then the numbers takes the nominative case:


 * rahr to (bear- one-) "one bear's"
 * rahra ernama too (bear- big- one-) "one big bear's"
 * raakarpin ernampin to (bear- big- one-) "by one big bear"

Number 1

The number one agrees only with the singular number and takes the following forms:


 * Animate nom: to
 * Inanimate nom, inanimate/animate acc, inanimate/animate gen: too
 * Animate dat: toom
 * Inanimate dat: tooett

Numbers 2-3

The numbers 2 and 3 agree only with the paucal numbers and take the following forms:

oh ("two")

per ("three")


 * Animate/inanimate nom.sg: oh, per
 * Animate acc.sg, inanimate gen.sg: oă, pră
 * Animate gen.sg: oa, pra
 * Animate dat.sg: oo, pro
 * Inanimate dat.sg: oet, pret
 * Animate nom.pau1/2: ohri, penzi
 * Inanimate nom.pau1/2: oki, pri
 * Animate/inanimate acc.pau1, animate gen.pau2: ohriă, penzia
 * Animate gen.pau1: ohria, penzia
 * Inanimate gen.pau1: okia, pria
 * Animate dat.pau1: ohrio, penzio
 * Inanimate dat.pau1: okio, prio
 * Animate acc.pau2: ohruu, penruu
 * Inanimate acc.pau2: oguu, penuu
 * Inanimate gen.pau2: okiă, priă
 * Animate dat.pau2: ohriett, penziett
 * Inanimate dat.pau2: okiett, pruitt

Number 4
 * Animate/inanimate nom.sg: hu
 * Animate nom.pl: hui
 * Inanimate nom.pl, inanimate gen.pl: huuă
 * Animate/inanimate acc.sg, inanimate gen.sg, animate gen.pl: huu
 * Animte accc.pl: huun
 * Inanimate acc.pl: hnu
 * Animate gen.sg: hua
 * Animate dat.sg: huo
 * Innimate.dat, animate.dat.sg: huett
 * Inanimate dat.pl: huetă

Number 5
 * Animate/inanimate nom.sg: pŕtt
 * Animate nom.pl: pirtti
 * Inanimate nom.pl, inanimate gen.sg/pl, animate/inanimate acc.sg: pörttă
 * Animate acc.pl: pörttăm
 * Inanimate acc.pl: pörttănu
 * Animate gen.sg: partta
 * Animate dat.sg: portto
 * Ianimate dat.sg, animate/inanimate dat.pl: perttett

Number 6
 * Animate/inanimate nom.sg: pen
 * Animate nom.pl: pni
 * Inanimate nom.pl: pnoo
 * Animate/inanimate acc.sg, inanimate gen.sg, animate gen.pl: pnă
 * Inanimate acc.pl: pnăm
 * Inanimate acc.pl: pennu
 * Animate/inanimate gen.sg: pna
 * Inanimate gen.pl: pnăă
 * Animate dat.sg: pno
 * Inanimate dat.sg, animate dat.pl: pnett
 * Inanimate dat.pl: pnetă

Number 7
 * Animate/inanimate nom.sg: shumtti
 * Animate nom.sg, inanimate nom.pl: shumttii
 * Animate/inanimate acc/sg, inanimate gen.sg, animate gen.pl: shumttiă
 * Animate gen.sg: shumttia
 * Animate acc.pl: shumttiăm
 * Inanimate acc.pl: shumttnu
 * Inanimate gen.pl: shumttiăă
 * Animate dat.sg: shumttio
 * Inanimate dat.sg, animate dat.pl: shumttiett
 * Inanimate dat.pl: shumttietă

Number 8
 * Animate/inanimate nom.sg: piipiit
 * Animate nom.pl: piipii
 * Ianimate nom.pl: piipiioo
 * Animate acc.sg, inanimate gen.sg, animate gen.pl: piipiită
 * Inanimate acc.sg: piipiiă
 * Animate acc.pl: piipiităm
 * Inanimate acc.pl: piipiitnu
 * Animate gen.sg: piipiita
 * Inanimate gen.pl: piipiităă
 * Animate dat.sg: piipiito
 * Inanimate dat.sg, animate dat.pl: piipiitett
 * Inanimate dat.pl: piipitetă

Number 9
 * Animate/inanimate nom.sg: piih
 * Animate nom.pl: piiki
 * Inanimate nom.pl: piiko
 * Animate acc.sg, inanimate gen.sg, animate/inanimate gen.pl: piiă
 * Inanimate acc.sg: piikă
 * Animate acc.pl: piiăm
 * Inanimate acc.pl: piihnu
 * Animate gen.sg: piia
 * Animate dat.sg: piio
 * Inanimate dat.sg, animate dat.pl: piiett
 * Inanimate dat.pl: piietă

Number 10
 * Animate/inanimate nom.sg: pikim
 * Animate nom.pl: pikimi
 * Inanimate nom.pl: pikimoo
 * Animate/inanimate acc.sg, inanimate gen.sg, animate gen.pl: pikimă
 * Animate acc.pl: pikimăm
 * Inanimate acc.pl: pikimunu
 * Animate gen.sg: pikima
 * Inanimate gen.pl: pikimăă
 * Animate dat.sg: pikimo
 * Inanimate dat.sg, animate dat.pl: pikimett
 * Inanimate dat.pl: pikimetă

Numbers 11-19 The Numbers 11-19 are totally uninflectable and are as follows:
 * 11 dopik
 * 12 opik
 * 13 pemppik
 * 14 hupik
 * 15 pŕppik
 * 16 memppik
 * 17 shumppik
 * 18 piipiipik
 * 19 piipipik

The numbers cause the noun to take the delative plural and they always go before the noun:
 * Tomör shumppik kzapjămi (herald- seventeen badger-) "there are 17 badgers"

Numbers 20+ The numbers 20-100 are also don't agree with nouns and also trigger the delative plural case. The numbers 20-100 are as follows:
 * 20 oíkk
 * 30 pníkk
 * 40 huíkk
 * 50 pŕíkk
 * 60 menkk
 * 70 shumttíkk
 * 80 piipiikíkk
 * 90 piikíkk
 * 100 pikimíkk

To form numbers such as 25 or 74, the smaller number is placed before the larger number, with the larger number taking the comitative suffix -es:
 * pŕtt oíkkes (five twenty-) "25"
 * hu skumttíkkes (four seventy-) "74"

To form numbers such as 200 or 300, the number pikimíkk ("100") is made plural as pikimíkki and modified by another number (which may follow or come before). The words for "1000" or "2000" are simply made in this manner by saying "10 100s" or "20 1000s" up until "10,000" which is "100 100s":
 * pikimíkki oh, oh pikimíkki (hundred- two) "200"
 * pikimíki shumtti, shumti pikimíkki (hundred- seven) "700"
 * pikimíkki pikim (hundred- ten) "1000"

For more specific numbers like "438" or "694" the smaller number is placed before or after the larger number, with the last number taking the conjunctive clitic -ah ("and"):
 * pikimíkki hu piipiit pníkksah (hundred- four eight thirty-) "438"
 * pikimíkki pen hu piikíkksah (hundred- six four ninety-) "694"

=Adjectives=

Agreeing with Buzzard nouns
If an adjective ends in a consonant then no change in needed in order to agree with the noun:


 * ern ("big") > maatar ern ("big buzzard")
 * raah ("strong") > maatar raah ("strong buzzard")

Examples in the genitive case:
 * maatra erna ("big buzzard's")
 * maatra raaha ("strong buzzard's")

If the adjectives end in a vowel then -m is added to make it agree with the noun:
 * noha ("weird") > maatar noham ("weird buzzard")
 * makja ("angry") > maatar makjam ("angry buzzard")

Examples in the genitive case:
 * maatra rohama ("weird buzzard's")
 * maatra makjama ("angry buzzard's")

Agreeing with Deer nouns
If an adjective ends in a vowel then no change is needed to make it agreeÞ
 * saria ("old") > mahu saria ("old world")
 * sia ("holy") > mahu sia ("holy world")

Examples in the accusative case:
 * mahăă sariăă ("old word-")
 * mahăă siăă ("holy world-")

If the adjective ends in a consonant then it takes -a to make it agree:
 * ern ("big") > mahu erna ("big world")
 * raah ("strong") > mahu raaha ("strong world")

Examples in the accusative case:
 * mahăă ernăă ("big world-")
 * mahăă raahăă ("strong world-}")

Agreeing with Animate nouns
Adjectives agree to animate B-nouns by adding the suffix -os onto the adjective. Adjectives agreeing to animate and inanimate nouns don't take on regular case ending like the deer and buzzard nouns do. Rather -os has its own case paradigm shown below, this is true only for the nominative, accusative, genitive and dative cases with the locative cases being the same as as they are on nouns. When the adjective ends in a vowel the final vowel of the stem is deleted, when the stem ends in two vowels only the second vowel is deleted.


 * ern ("big") > ramab ernos ("big trapper")
 * saria ("old") > ramab sarios ("old trapper")

Agreeing with Inanimate nouns
Adjectives agree with inanimate O-nouns by adding the suffix -po or its post-vocalic allomorph -vo. Like the suffix -os, -bo has its own case paradigm.


 * esttăo ernpo ("big cobweb")
 * esttăo sariavo ("old cobweb")

=Verbs=

Future
The three future tenses of Old Sumrë were all lost in Middle Sumri. Instead of its parents future tenses, Middle Dumri uses the suffix -tutt after the person endings. This is from Old Sumrë dut (“then”).
 * miirküraa (“I teach”) > miirküraatutt (“I will teach”)
 * esttaa (“I carry”) > esttaatutt (“I will carry”)