East Middle Moca

East Middle Moca vocabulary

=Phonology=

Consonants

 * When a stem has /s/ initially or finaly and the /s/ is adjacent to the vowel in the stem, the /s/ will become /r/ is an affix is applied that begins/ends in a vowel.
 * Custers with the shape VC+C (here + denotes a morpheme boundary) are not permitted in East Middle Moca. When an affix beginning in a consonant attaches to a stem ending in a consonant, the first consonant is dropped and the preceeding vowel is lengthened.
 * The plosives /k g/ labialize to /kʷ gʷ/ before /u(ː) o(ː)/
 * The plosive /p/ becomes [b] intervocalically
 * The voiced plosive [d] occurs only in one word: dene ("to be")

Phonological History
K{ʷ,w}Eː > kjEː

Eː > jE

ɘː > jɘ

Bː > wB

VN > Ṽ/_#, _C

s > z/V_

ɲ > n

h > Ø

{t k} {d g} > t͡ʃ d͡ʒ/_{i j}

V{v f} > Vː

{w j}V >Ø/_#! V = Vː Ṽ

y ø >i e

l̩ > o

ɘ > e

ɵ(ː) >o

{r̩ n̩} m̩ s̩ v̩ > ol om os ov

b > p!V_V

ç ʝ > t͡ʃ d͡ʒ

Gender
There are three genders which are common, animate and inanimate. the common gender arose when the buzzard gender of Old Moca became unstable due to sound changes interfering with distinguishing its suffixes so all buzzard nouns took on the deer gender whose suffixes remained distinct and so the two genders merged into the "common" gender. Unlike the other two genders, the common gender has nothing to do with semantics. This means that East Middle Moca has both purely grammatical genders (common) plus purely semantic genders (animate and inanimate).

Gender switching
Gender switching occurs when a animate or inanimate noun inflects for a locative case. This is because each declension only differs in the nominative, accusative, genitive and dative cases as those were the cases that existed when the declensions formed in Proto-Sumro-Naukl. However the locative cases are an Old Sumrë innovation and so they are the same for any declension of nouns. The locative cases do however inflect for the common gender. So when an animate or inanimate noun takes on a locative case it must switch gender to become a common noun. This gender switch is evidenced in agreement. For example the Y-noun mjeg ("fish") is animate and ("big fish") is mjeg jenuz (the -uz ending is adjective agreement with animate nouns) and the oblique of that is mjejau jenurau however ("under the big fish") is mjegen jenen (the -en ending is adjective agreement for subessive common nouns).

Common Nouns
The below table demonstrates the most common declension of nouns belonging to the Common gender. The Old Moca plural was dropped to the endings becoming the same as the singular so instead a new plural was formed. The plural demonstrative pronouns sje ("these") and sin ("those") were suffixed to the noun. The proximal vs distal distinction was carried over as a side effect so East Middle Moca developed two new plurals, the Proximal Plural and the Distal Plural. When after a vowel the suffixes are -zje and -zin.

Broken Nouns
Broken nouns are comprised of Common nouns that have lost the word final plosives /b t d kʷ/ in the nominative singular but keep them in all other cases and numbers. It is not predicative as to which plosive will resurface. This declension is thanks to Old Moca experiencing the change /p b t d/ > ∅/_#. broken nouns with word final long vowels do not lose the resurfaced plosive even when the case ending begins in a consonant. East Middle Moca reanalysed many broken nouns as regular nouns so now only a few remain as irregular nouns. The new plurals have been superimposed over the broken noun plurals.

Zero-Grade Nouns
Zero-grade is another declension which has also had its nouns mostly reanalysed as Common nouns, leaving the remaining nouns as mere irregular nouns. Zero-grade nouns in Old Moca had a syllabic consonant in the final syllable, quite often they had no vowels at all. These nouns experienced reduplication where the vowels of any affix were reduplicated before the syllabic sonorant. East Middle Moca then turned these syllabic sonorants into vowel+sonorant sequences. Below are the six nouns left of this once greater declension.

Geo-Nouns
-Geo nouns are nouns that have been derived from verbs with the suffix -ge (from the suffix -geo in Old Sumrë). Nouns formed this way have their own case paradigm. Since -Geo noun endings only differ from buzzard/deer endings in the nominative and oblique cases this table will exclude the locative cases. Geo-nouns can be either animate or inanimate. Since the causes that created each noun class happened before Old Sumrë gained its locative cases only the nominative, accusative, genitive and dative forms differ in each declension, with the locative causes being identical for every declension.-Geo nouns are nouns that have been derived from verbs with the suffix -Geo. Nouns formed this way have their own case paradigm. Since -Geo noun endings only differ from Common endings in the nominative, accusative, genitive and dative cases this table will exclude the locative cases. Geo-nouns can be either animate or inanimate. Since the causes that created each noun class happened before Old Sumrë gained its locative cases only the nominative, accusative, genitive and dative forms differ in each declension, with the locative causes being identical for every declension.

B-Nouns
B-nouns are animate nouns that have been derived from adjectives. There are two patterns of B-nouns which vary depending on whether the derived from stem ends in a consonant or a vowel.

O-Nouns
O-nouns are inanimate nouns derived from any word with no suffix or the suffix -b.

In some rare cases an O-noun may have -ǫ or -ę as the oblique singular: rurel ("bird") > rurelę

R-Nouns
R-nouns are nouns whose Proto-Sumro-Letaeric ancestor ended in /Vs/ or /Vs/. The forms in East Middle Moca tend to end in /Vz/ but rarer forms can end in /V̄ V/. Both animate and inanimate R-nouns decline in the same way.

Topic Marking
Topic marking in East Middle Moca is one area where there is a distinction between how men and women speak. Topicalisation as used by men is called strong topicalisation and topicalisation as used by women is called weak topicalisation. The various roles of nouns that are topicalised are known as shades. Adjectives that follow the copula may also be topicalised in the same manner as nouns. The closest translation to East Middle Moca's topicalisation into English is the definite article "the".

Shade 1
Shade 1 topicalisation emphasizes the subject's role as the agent and is marked with the proclitic d- onto the noun phrase. If the phrase already begins in /d/ then the vowel following the /d/ will be reduplicated after the clitic. If the phrase begins with /i j/ then the clitic is č-.

č-jerų mjem-emjez per-ja

TOP-wolf hunt-3S.CMN sloth-OBL

"The wolf hunts a sloth"

Shade 2
Shade 2 strong topicalisation emphasizes the object's (direct or indirect) role as the patient. If the phrase already begins in /l/ then the vowel following the /l/ is reduplicated after the clitic. If the phrase begins in a plosive followed by a back vowel or /o a/ then the proclitic is u-. If the phrase begins in a back vowel then the proclitic is w-. When the noun begins in any other consonant then the clitic is ol-. Note that a strong topicalised object is placed in the nominative case.

jerų mjem-emjez ol-per

wolf hunt-3S.CMN TOP-sloth.NOM

"A wolf hunts the sloth"

mje nuneg-emez ol-pje

I cut-1S TOP.knife.NOM

"I cut with the knife"

Shade 1
This is marked by the proclitic l- onto the noun phrase. The same allomorphic rules apply to the above mentioned clitic.

ol-jerų mjem-emjes per-ja

TOP-wolf hunt-3S.CMN sloth-OBL

"The wolf hunts a sloth"

ol-jest ñek-merę wuje-da

TOP-mouse eat-3S.CMN.PST bread-OBL

"The mouse eats bread"

le-lerel velerel-emjez

TOP-river flow-3S.CMN

"The river flows"

ol-woc ken-emez ma

TOP-patter_of_rain please-3S.CMN 1S.OBL

"The patter of the rain pleases me"

u-kʷa sop ageonemjec emę kʷē

TOP-head POSS boar be.3S.INAN delicious

"The boar's head is delicious"

Shade 2
This is marked by fronting the object to the beginning of the sentence.

per-ja jerų mjem-emjez

TOP.sloth-OBL wolf hunt-3S.CMN

"A wolf hunts the sloth"

wuje-dau jest ñek-merę

TOP.bread-OBL mouse eat-3S.CMN.PST

"A mouse ate the bread"

ma woc ken-emjez

TOP.1S.OBL patter_of_rain please-3S.CMN

"Patter of the rain pleases me"

kʷē kʷa sope ageonemjec emę

TOP.delicious head POSS boar be.3S.INAN

"A boar's head is delicious"

Shade 3
This is marked by shifting the indirect object to the front of the sentence.

pjet-pę mje nuneg-emez

TOP.knife-PRO I cut-1S

"I cut with the knife"

Adjectives
East Middle Moca adjectives must agree to the noun they modify in gender, case and number. adjectives agreeing with common nouns do this by taking on the same endings as the nouns, the animate/inanimate genders act differently as will be described below. Note that adjectives only agree with the non-locative cases, when modifying with a noun inflected in a locative case the adjective will only agree with the gender and number. Note that adjectives always follow the head noun.

Agreeing with Common nouns
If an adjective ends in a vowel or /l r n/ then no change is needed and can be inflected as is:
 * sje ("holy") > meko sje ("holy world") > mekozje sjezje ("holy worlds")
 * mje ("brave") > pje mje ("brave knife") > ''pjecsje mjezje ("brave knives")
 * jen ("bad") > pje jen ("bad knife") > pjecsje jensje ("bad knives")

If an adjective ends in a nasal vowel then no change is needed and can be inflected as is. The nasal vowel becomes /Vn/ when suffixes beginning in vowels are added:
 * ję ("big") > pje ję ("big knife") > pjetau jenau ("big knife-")
 * nę ("green") > pje nę ("green knife") > pjetau nenau ("green knife-")

If an adjective ends in a consonant however then -e is added onto the adjective. If the adjective ends in Vz then rather than a suffix the z becomes r:
 * sel ("old") > meko sele ("old world") > mekozje selezje ("old worlds")
 * jiljelez ("correct") > meko jiljeler ("nice world") > mekozje ilukekezje ("nice worlds")
 * rjek ("strong") > pje rjek ("strong knife") > pjetau rjekau ("strong knife-")
 * nuk ("broken") > pje nuke ("broken knife") > pjecsje nukezje ("broken knives")

Agreeing with animate nouns
Adjectives agree to animate nouns by adding the suffix -uz 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 -uz has its own case paradigm shown below, this is true only for the nominative and oblique 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. When the adjective ends in a nasal vowel, the nasal vowel becomes /Vn/ when these suffixes are applied.


 * uker ("cold") > lemep ukeruz ("cold trapper")
 * ję ("big") > lemep jenuz ("big trapper")
 * sel ("old") > lemep seluz (old trapper")

Agreeing with inanimate nouns
When the adjective ends in a consonant, the consonant is lost and the preceding vowel broken when these suffixes are applied. When the adjective ends in a nasal vowel the vowel is rendered non-nasal when these suffixes are applied.


 * ję ("big") > jetap jep ("big cobweb")
 * jen ("bad") > jetap jev ("bad cobweb")
 * ter ("hard") > jetap cjep ("hard cobweb")

Adjectives in formal and ritualistic speech
There are a set of adjectives that are reserved for speaking in a divine or holy context which have all been derived with the augmentative suffix -wuk. In Old Moca this suffix used to attach to any adjective describing a divine referent but now in East Middle Moca it is a derivational suffix only. Here is a list of adjectives followed by their derivatives with -wuk.


 * mjar ("wonderful") > mjarwuk ("wonderfully divine, epic, awesome, righteous")
 * ję ("big") > jęwuk ("colossal, of epic and holy importance")
 * sel ("old") > selwuk ("incredibly ancient")
 * jen ("bad") > jenwuk ("demonic, defiled by Bidyro")
 * rjek ("strong") > rjekwuk ("as strong as a god")
 * mje ("brave") > mjewuk ("heroic") - mostly used in storytelling to refer to divine humans

Pronouns and Determiners
Singular Pronouns

Plural Pronouns

Possessive Pronouns
=Verb Phrase= East Middle Moca's verbs are considerably different form those in Old Moca, rather than preserving the verb endings EMM lost them and then innovated new ones by suffixing the copula to the verb to mark person. Since the copula has distinct interrogative forms, so do the verbs. Verbs are negated with the adverb mir placed after the verb. EMM also is no longer pro-drop like it's ancestors.

East Middle Moca has the infinitive suffix -ę.

This is the innovated East Middle Moca verb system:


 * me skugemez ("I pour")
 * ter nunegmerjez ("you cut")
 * lem sjēkered? ("did they dig"?)

Zero-Grade Verbs
Zero-grade verbs are a small class of verbs that experience ablaut in the stem, due to how zero-grade verbs behaved in Old Moca. Some of these verbs can be quite irregular.


 * zoskʷ- ("to weave, to fabricate")
 * zjekʷę ("to weave")
 * mje zjekʷemes ("I weave")
 * ter zjekʷmer ("you- weave")
 * khoskʷ ("weaving")
 * kʷol- ("to stray")
 * cjetę ("to stray")
 * lemer cjetmerę ("it strayed")
 * kkʷo ("straying")

Imperative
The imperative is formed by removing the final consonant of a verb stem plus breaking the preceding vowel. If said vowel is long or already broken then it does not break. If the final consonant is t k or d g then they become c and č respectively.


 * vejarę ("to wake up") > veja! ("wake up!")
 * skugen ("to pour") > skwuč! ("pour!")
 * nunegę ("to cut") > nunječ! ("cut!)
 * sjēkę ("to dig") > sjēc! ("dig"!)
 * somę ("to travel") > swo! ("travel!)

Supine
As well as the infinitives, East Middle Moca has the supine. The supine is a verbal noun used to describe motion and indicates purpose and intention, or as a predicate of another verb. It is formed with the prefix k-. This prefix causes changes to the stem itself. If the verb stem begins in a plosive then the plosive will lenite as shown below. If the verb stem begins in a cluster then when the k- prefix is attached it will place an /e/ between the cluster in the stem (but not in the cluster with the prefix). Some clusters with /v/ may remain, the table below will explain how it is treated in each situation. When in the supine the verb's infinitive suffix will drop.

Some verb stems beginning in sk form an irregular supine with kjer, these verbs descend from Old Sumrë verbs beginning in /gs/:
 * skugę ("to pour") > cjerug
 * skwuzę ("to tame") > cjerwuz

Adjective Participle
Adjective participles are derived from verbs with the suffixes -wų (for agreeing with common nouns), -wunuz (for agreeing with animate nouns) and -wup (for agreeing with inanimate nouns). When the verb stem ends in a consonant, the consonant is dropped and the preceding vowel broken. The negative forms are -wum, -wunwum, -wubum respectively.
 * sjēkę ("to dig") > sjēwų, sjēwunuz, sjēwup
 * cjetšuę ("to vanish") > cjetšuwų, cjetšuwunuz, cjetšuwup
 * nunegę ("to cut") > nunjewų, nunjewunuz, nunjewup

d-pje nunje-wu-m emę nuk''

TOP-knife cut-PART-NEG be.3S.INAN broken

"The non-cutting knife is broken"

Passive Participle
Passive adjective participles are derive from verbs with the suffixes -ek (for agreeing comon nouns), -ekuz (for agreeing with animate nouns) and -jep (for agreeing with inanimate nouns). The negative forms are -jem, -ekem, -ekwum, -jebum.
 * sjēkę ("to dig") > sjēkek, sjēkekuz, sjēcjep
 * cjetšuę ("to dig") > cjetšuek, cjetšuekuz, cjetšujep
 * nunegę ("to cut") > nunegek, nunegekuz, nunečjep

d-pje nuneč-je-m emę nuk''

TOP-knife cut-PP-NEG be.3S.INAN broken

"The uncut knife is broken"

Adverbs
Adverbs in East Middle Moca are freely derived from adjectives and are not morphological distinct from them. Adverbs are placed after the verbs that they modify.

The adverb jed ("barely, hardly, for a small while") denotes an action that occurred for a short time, or an action that was half-assed or barely happened.

d-pje nonegorjep jed

TOP-knife cut-3S.INAN.PST barely

"The knife barely cut"

Adverbs can even be topicalised to place emphasis on them.

č-jed cjer emę mjar

TOP-hardly road be.3S.INAN great

"The road is hardly great"

Jussive mood
The adverb verez ("must, have to") marks an action required by the speaker but also an action or truth that the speaker believes should happen. It has the negative form verjem.

mje mjem-emez verez wumę-ja

I hunt-1S JUS deer-OBL

"I must hunt a deer"

ter ar-merjez verjem wuter-ja

you throw-2S JUS.NEG fruit-OBL

"You shouldn't throw fruit"

Conditional mood
The adverb kʷelir marks the conditional mood. The negative form is kʷeljim.

ñuk-emez kʷelir

walk-1S COND

"I would walk"

Hortative mood
The hortative mood is used to mark encouragement. When negative this acts as a light imperative. This is marked with the adverb taz. The negative form is cjam

ter som-merjez taz ol-mopę

you travel-2S HORT TOP-mountain

"You should travel to the mountain"

ter som-merjez cjam ol-mopę

you travel-2S HORT.NEG TOP-mountain

"You shouldn't travel to the mountain"

=Numbers= The number system in East Middle Moca 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. Each number has a "singular" and "plural" form. The plural is used for the meaning "X number of Y" while the singular just means "X Ys" e.g ko pjecsje ("four knives") vs ku pjecsje ("four of the knives").

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: orjekel du ("one bear")
 * Inanimate: du sikʷ ("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 2-10 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 two traditional cases (nominative and oblique). 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:


 * orjekel du (bear- one-) "with one bear"
 * orjekeler jenemer du (bear- big- one-) "one big bear"
 * orjekelpę jenjepę du (bear- big- one-) "by one big bear"

Numbers 11-19 The Numbers 11-19 are totally uninflectable and are as follows:
 * 11 dukʷeg
 * 12 ukʷeg
 * 13 cjekʷeg
 * 14 kukʷeg
 * 15 bolkʷeg
 * 16 mjekʷeg
 * 17 skwokʷeg
 * 18 pjecjekʷeg
 * 19 cjedikʷeg

The numbers cause the noun to take the delative plural and they always go before the noun:
 * Tumer skwokʷeg gverjejam (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 ujek
 * 30 kʷenjek
 * 40 cjek
 * 50 boljek
 * 60 menjek
 * 70 skwocjek
 * 80 pjecjek
 * 90 cjedecjek
 * 100 kʷegemjek

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 -er:
 * bol ujeker (five twenty-) "25"
 * ko skwocjeker (four seventy-) "74"

To form numbers such as 200 or 300, the number kʷẹgẹmẹ̄k ("100") is 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":
 * kʷegemjek uk, uk kʷegemjek (hundred two) "200"
 * kʷegemjek skwot, skwot kʷegemjek (hundred seven) "700"
 * kʷegemjek kʷegę (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 -ek ("and"):
 * kʷegemjek ko bẹ̄pẹ̄ kʷenjekerek (hundred four eight thirty-) "438"
 * kʷegemjek pę ku cjedecjekerek (hundred six four ninety-) "694"

=Krintham's Poem=

Krintham's poem is a short prosaic text written by the shaman Krintham. It has become used as a popular text to translate among the Sumro-Letaeric languages to compare the different languages side by side.

Si wuzr kʷenerr

this day-COM beautiful-COM

"on this beautiful day"

nersin jec nemsin kʷeloljebez cjerja oljęja

man-DIST.PL and woman-.DIST.PL hew-3PL.PST path-ACC long-ACC

"Men and women have hewn a long path"

sicjet skwuzmerē somę mjeter mekopę

PURP know-1PL.INCL travel-INF 1PL.INCL.POSS.NOM.SG world-PRO

"So that we can travel through our world"

pener stuemę kejedur siępęzin selepęzin

VOL protect-3SG.PL PASS god-PRO.PL old-PRO.PL

"may it be protected by the old gods"

pener erel jec kʷejir skʷokʷren njekera lemerel

VOL sun and moon shine-3PL light-ACC 3SG.SUPER

"may the sun and moon shine light over it"

somelsin sop nezin joc romren

foot-DIST.PL POSS person-DIST.PL while walk-3PL

"as peoples' feet walk"