Juakrish

Juakrish vocabulary =Phonology=

Vowels
Consonants

Phonotactics

 * Before long vowels, /l/ becomes [ɾ]:
 * úrkwl [uːɾkʷl] ("to teach") > úrkwré [uːɾkʷɾeː] ("I teach")
 * The combinations of nt+g and t+g result in /s/ and /z/ respectively.
 * isnt ("to carry") + -g(i) "imperative suffix" > iss ("carry-")
 * tnat "to think ahead" + -g(i) "imperative suffix" > tnaz ("think ahead-")
 * /t/ is [d] word initially and intervocalically

Phonological History
u, o, a, e, i → o, a, e, i, u

kjV, sjV, tjV, ljV, njV→ çVː, ʃVː, t͡ʃVː, ʎVː, ɲVː

CjV → CVː

Ṽ→: Vː

j→∅/_#

tk →t:

VFR → VːR

RF# → Rː

Cʷ(C)(C)(C)C>C(C)(C)(C)Cʷ

Long vowels marked with acute accent

=Nouns= Juakrish is unusual among the Sumric languages in that it has very little noun stems. In the shift from Late Middle Sumri to Old Juakrish a lot of relexification occurred where the vast majority of noun stems were lost and rather inflected verbs acted as noun in their place, such that in Old Juakrish verbs take a much more prominent role. These "pseudo-nouns" are created with a set of suffixes that attach onto inflected verbs to derive nouns. Most nouns derived this way come from verbs in the 3rd person.


 * seruz ("to rot, to decompose") > seruzar ("it rots") > seruzarne ("human corpse")

Nouns can also be derived from verbs conjugated for the 1st and 2nd person albeit with a more restricted meaning. Typically these serve to emphasize the action being done by the referent and can be translated as "as an X":

Personal Pronouns
Singular

Juakrish 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 ter is used. Speaking to a loved one or someone held dear requires the pronoun trir. When speaking to someone significantly older then trotr is used. When speaking in a derogatory or condescending manner tergtr is used.

Plural

=Verb Phrase=

Person Conjugation
Juakrish retains much of the verbal morphology of Late Middle Sumri although it reanalyzed To-verbs, S-verbs, S2-verbs, R-verbs, R2-verbs and H-verbs as common verbs.

Common Verbs
Juakrish verbs fall into two main categories named "full verbs" and "folded verbs". Full verbs are those with stems that end in CVC and folded verbs are those which do not.

Folded Verbs
Vowel final folded verbs

Zero-Grade Verbs
Zero-grade verbs are those which experience a vowel shift in the verb stem when inflected. This is due to these verbs previously containing syllabic consonants which had vowels of affixed reduplicated before them when inflected. Old Juakrish sound changes turned these syllabic consonants into vowels and vowel+consonant sequences ({r̩ n̩ m̩} l̩ s̩ v̩> i o is iv - funny enough some later sound changes would render some /is iv/ sequences as syllabic consonants again due to dropping the vowel) so rather than reduplication the process has been reanalyzed as a form of ablaut. All zero-grade verbs contain /e/ in the infinitive, a relic of the /e/ in the infinitive suffix -en lost during the Late Middle Sumri period.

The vowel of the stem is usually the same as that in the affix although affixes containing in /u/ trigger the ablaut vowel to become /é/ if the preceding consonant is not alveolar or velar.


 * tusp- ("to weave")
 * tips ("to weave")
 * téspé é ("I weave")
 * tuspu tru ("you weave")
 * hshpus ("weaving")
 * pat- ("to stray")
 * pitr ("to stray")
 * pirtos armr ("it strayed")
 * pértu arm ("they stray")
 * hpt ("straying")

Umlaut Verbs
Umlaut verbs are verbs whose stems contain labialisation in the final syllable. These stems experience vowel shifts in the person endings due to umlaut caused by a now lost vowel. Umlaut verbs are further divided into full and folded verbs.

Eas-Verbs
Eas-verbs are verbs which have been derived from nouns and adjectives with the suffix -(V){s,z}.

Y-Verbs
Y-verbs end in a vowel and experience an epenthetic /g/ outside of the first person. This comes from a /g/ > /j/ alternation in Old Sumrë and that intervocalic /g/ was lost in Middle Sumri and Old Juakrish turned the /j/ into /g/.

Imperative Mood
The imperative is marked with the suffix -g for folded verbs and -gi for full verbs. If the verb stem ends in /t/ or /nt/ then those endings plus the imperative will merge into /z/ and /s/.
 * min ("to cry, to weep") > mingi ("weep!")
 * oz ("to toss, to fling, to throw, to chuck") > ozg ("throw!")
 * seruza ("to rot, to decompose, to wait, to linger") > seruzag ("wait!")
 * seris ("to wither") > serisgi ("wither!")

The verb imn ("to be") has the irregular imperative form img.

Interrogative Mood
The interrogative mood is marked with lengthening the vowel in the first syllable. If the following consonant is /g/ then instead of a nasal vowel the /g/ lengthens into /gː/. If the following consonant is a nasal consonant then it is gemminated instead.
 * eg ("to agree") > egr ter ("you agree") > eggr ter ("do you agree?")
 * hokis ("to slice")> hokírʷ tar ("you slice") > húkírʷ ter ("do you slice?")

There are some verbs which take an irregular interrogative form when the verb in Old Sumrë ended in /Vb/ or /Vd/ (which were lost by Middle Sumri losing intervocalic /b d/) they resurface after the lengthening infix as /V:p/ and /V:t/. It is not predictable as to which verb experiences this other than etymology.
 * ka ("to trade") > kar ter ("you trade") > kápr ter? ("do you trade?")
 * a ("to entertain") > ar ter ("you entertain") > útr ter? ("do you entertain?")

Subjunctive Mood
The subjunctive mood is marked with a suffix after the person suffixes. If the suffix before ends in a vowel then the subjunctive is -mpas for full verbs and -mps for folded verbs, elsewise it is -pas for full verbs and -ps for folded verbs.
 * eg ("to agree") > egr ter ("you agree") > an egrps ter ("if you agree")
 * hokis ("to slice") > hokizirtont arm ("it will slice") > an hakizirtontpas arm ("if it will slice")

Jussive Mood
The jussive mood ("should, must") is marked with the suffix -viris on full verbs and -vrs on folded verbs. In formal speech it acts as an imperative.
 * hokis ("to slice") > hokírʷ ter ("you slice") > hokírvʷiris ter ("you should slice")

Evidentiality
Juakrish marks it verbs for evidentiality to convey if an action is known for sure by the speaker, or heard from heresay or merely deduced. The following suffixes are applied after person endings.

The suffix -ntó/-nto is applied if it occurs after a vowel.


 * sʷidirestó ter ("you bit - witnessed event")
 * hokizpizuhu arm ("they sliced - deduced from evidence")

Passive Voice
The passive is formed with the suffix -tu (with the postvocalic allomorph -ntu) on full verbs or -t/-nt on folded verbs which attaches after any person endings and the subjunctive.
 * irr ("to trust") > irres é ("I trusted") > irrest é ("I was trusted")

Habitual Aspect
The habitual is marked with the suffix -ore on full verbs and -r on folded verbs.
 * irrer é ("I always trust")

Existentiality
́juakrish deals with existentiality by using an existential particle which descends from the various inflected forms of Old Sumrë tomen ("to intend, to mean, to herald").