Red Sucumian

=Phonology= Light Sucumian is transcribed using the Nebyetic Phonetic Alphabet.

Phonotactics

 * When in a stressed syllable /ɐ/ becomes [a]
 * When in the environment VC_C, /iː/ /yː/ /uː/ shorten to [i] [y] and [u], and /e/ /ø/ /y/ are dropped
 * Unstressed /æ/ lowers to [a]

X-Grade and G-Grade Vowels
The X-grade and G-grade vowels result from the vocalization of Proto-Sucumian *x *ġ (X-grade) and *ġʷ (G-grade) when following vowels. When a G-grade vowel proceeds a consonant it labializes the consonant.


 * 1) When from Proto-Sucumian /a/

Phonotactic Restrictions

 * /t/ can't occur in onset, nor in a cluster with /j/ or /d͡ʒ/. When /t/ is placed into an onset via suffixation it becomes /s/:
 * valkát- ("useful-") > valkásæ ("useful-")
 * When in a coda /r/ becomes [l]
 * The approximant /ʋ/ becomes [o] when word final and when the next word begins in a vowel. When after front and central vowels it becomes [j]
 * /h/ cannot occur after consonants
 * A fricative may not form the first consonant of a word final cluster

Phonological History
øː>yː>ɨː>ʉː>uː

oː>uː

e>æ

i y u>e ø o

a ə>ɐ

ɵ(ː)>ʉː

ɐo ɐuː æ͡o æ͡uː ʉ͡o eo euː >o u jo ju jo jo ju

ɲ ʎ>n l

w β>v

ʃ>s

c ʒ>t͡ʃ d͡ʒ

rː>r

χ>h

æ>ɐ/unstressed

iː uː {e ø o}>i u Ø/(C)VC_C

h>Ø/C_

ʋ>j/V[+front, +central]_

V>Ø/V_#

ɐ>a/stressed

ɐ>Ø/_#

f>Ø

F>Ø/_C#

sː>s

Cʷ>Cu

ɨ(ː)>ʉ(ː)

æV>jV

=Noun Phrase=

Agreement
Adjectives follow the noun and must agree to the gender of the noun before taking on further case/number suffixes. Agreement to animate nouns is unmarked while agreement to inanimate nouns is marked. Monosyllabic stems do not need to have any suffixes in order to agree but Monosyllabic V stems mark agreement via metathesis of C{F,e,o}# > {F,X}C#. Polysyllabic stems must take on the suffix -o (or -a if the syllable before contains /ɐ/, or -ü if the preceding consonant is /k/). Other adjectives ending in a vowel agree by taking on the X grade form. Some stems ending in consonants take the suffix -u when the Light Sucumian forms ended in a dropped /a/.


 * sale ("true") > sjo sjol ("true sense")
 * sal ("hard") > sjo sal ("hard sense") <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
 * hasr ("heavy") > valt hasru ("heavy weapon")
 * valkát ("useful") > valt valkása ("useful weapon")
 * pak ("green") > valt pakü ("green weapon")

Case
Light Sucumian nouns and adjectives are fusional and inflect for two genders (animate vs inanimate), two numbers (singular and plural) and eight cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, allative I, allative II, elative and ablative).

Nominative
Denotes the subject of the verb.

Accusative
Denotes the direct object of a verb. Also used for expressions of time and distance.

Genitive
Marks possession.

Dative
marks the indirect object of a verb.

Allative I
Marks indirect motion to an object or to nearby an object. Is built from the genitive singular case. Also marks the object of verbs of indirect motion (usually implying a lack of valency by the subject, or implying that the intended action failed):

quæmns suuk-s hav-∅-nü

hunter shoot-3S.ANIM.PST wolf.GEN-ALLI

"the hunter shot at the wolf (and didn't hit/kill it)"

Allative II
Marks direct motion to an object. Is built from the genitive singular case. Also marks the object of verbs of motion ("to shoot, to walk to, to thrust, give"):

quæmns suuk-s mav-∅ hav-∅-nül

hunter shoot-3S.ANIM.PST arrow.ACC wolf-GEN-ALLII

"The hunter shot an arrow at the wolf"

Elative
Marks movement out of, off of or down from. Is built from the genitive singular case. Specifically used to refer to movement out/off of structures (or features of the landscape that surround you like a forest or cave) or raised landscape (such as hills, ridges, slopes):

vo-st mos-a-nl

run-1S.FUT mountain-GEN-ELA

"I will run down from the mountain"

Ablative
Marks movement away from. Is built from the genitive singular case. Specifically used to refer to movement away from locations such as villages or sites but also movement away from an area nearby the object. When attached to a supine it refers movement away from where an action takes place:

vo-s hav∅ k-rak-nüm hako-∅

run-1S.PST wolf SUP-kill-ABL goat-ACC

"I ran away from where the wolf killed the goat"

Monosyllabic Stems I
Monosyllabic stems contain only one syllable and are distinguished by syncope of vowels (or shortening of long vowels) occurring after the stressed syllable of the stem.

Monosyllabic Stems II
This group of nouns contains inanimate monosyllables that end in the consonants /l/ or /w/. In this declension the inanimate accusative plural is marked by turning the final /l/ into /rː/, or by alternating the /w/ to /l/.

Monosyllabic Stems IV
This declension contains nouns that are a mixture of the above, ending in /ɐl/ or /ɐv/. Like MS II nouns the inanimate accusative plural is -r/-l while every suffix beginning in /ɐ/ instead begins with /æ/.

Monosyllabic Stems V
Stems in this declension stem from metethetic stems in Proto-Sucumian and a trace of this can still be seen by how the final C{F,e,o} sequence becomes {∅,X,G}C, where X and G mark the X-grade and G-grade forms of the preceding vowel in the stem when.

Monosyllabic VI Stem
These stems descend from Proto-Sucumian Monosyllabic I Stems that ended in vowels, or stems that came to end in a X-grade or G-grade vowel.

Monosyllabic VII Stem
These stems end in the consonant /t/ which shifts to /s/ in some cases. In the dative cases the endings are *-sá rather than *-vá.

Polysyllabic Stems II
This group of nouns/adjectives contains inanimate polysyllables that end in the consonants /l/ or /v/. In this declension the inanimate accusative plural is marked by turning the final /l/ /v/ to /r/ /l/ respectively followed by the suffix -ü.

Polysyllabic Stems III
This declension contains nouns that contain /ɐ/ or /o/ in the final syllable. In this declension every suffix beginning in /ɐ/ begins with /æ/ instead. This includes adjectives that take on -á to agree with inanimate nouns.

Polysyllabic Stems IV
This declension contains inanimate nouns that are a mixture of the above, ending in /ɐl/ or /ɐv/. Like PS II nouns the inanimate accusative plural is -r/-l while every suffix beginning in /ɐ/ instead begins with /æ/.

Polysyllabic Stems V
This declension may look and inflect like any of the above but nouns in this declension experience metathesis in the stem where a word final fricative after a consonant flips place with the consonant when inflected.

Polysyllabic Stems VI
Polysyllabic stems are distinguished by their word final /k/, causing the acc.sg/pl animate and gen.sg/pl inanimate to contain the vowel ü instead of á.

Polysyllabic VII Stems
These stems are descended from Proto-Sucumian Polysyllabic I Stems that ended in vowels. The final vowel of each stem becomes the X-Grade vowel when inflected.

Adjective Order
Within a noun phrase, attributive adjectives follow a strict order, ranging from more "animate" adjectives appearing closer to the left edge of the clause than "inanimate adjectives". In this specific context an animate adjective is one that describes qualities like "moving, alive" while inanimate adjectives describe qualities like "unmoving, non-living". There are 4 slots in which in adjective may appear which are:


 * 1) Alive, dead
 * 2) Taking, making a sound, silent
 * 3) Moving, still
 * 4) Emotional
 * 5) Good, bad
 * 6) Colour
 * 7) Else

So for example the phrase masvtár jo hal ol ("good calm and bright buzzard" - lit. "buzzard calm good bright") is correct but *masvtár hal jo ol ("buzzard good calm shining") is ungrammatical.

Comparative
Adjectives are made comparative by placing hav before the adjective (from Proto-Sucumian *δaβδaβ "more true", the comparative of *δaβ- "true").
 * heesávač ("unreasonable") > hav heesávač ("more unreasonable")
 * hoaj ("at risk") > hav hoaj ("more at risk")
 * væ ("injured") > hav væ ("more injured")

Some irregular comparatives are:
 * vüj ("big") > hav vüjvü ("bigger")
 * pak ("green") > hav kapkap ("greener")

A noun is compared to by using a construction translating to ("X is as Y but Z-er"):

vak miis valstü sov maj hav vüjvü

bison be.3S squirrel as but COMP big-COMP

"the bison is bigger than the squirrel"

Deriving Adjectives
Adjectives of ability are derived from verbs by attaching the suffix -nás (on monosyllabic stems) or -anás (on polysyllabic stems) to the verb stem. Note that even these adjectives can be zero-derived to become nouns:
 * hjokás ("to die") > hjokásanás ("able to to die, mortal")
 * vus ("to run") > vuanás ("able to run")
 * hats ("to breathe") > hajnás ("able to breathe, alive, creature")

Adjectives to describe that a verb can be performed on an object attach the suffix -anás/-ánás to the past participle form of the verb:
 * hjokás ("to die") > hjokásekanás ("killable, prey")
 * vus ("to run") > vuekanás ("runnable, short distance")
 * hats ("to breathe") > hajkanás ("breathable")

=Pronouns=

=Verb Phrase=

Monosyllabic II Stems
These stems ends in /l/ or /v/ which cause the first person to be marked by turning the /l/ /v/ to /r/ /l/ rather than with -s.

Monosyllabic III Stems
These stems end in a fricative or u̇. The infinitive form is distinguished by how /t/ is infixed before the final fricative. The first singular person is marked by geminating the final fricative rather than with -s.

Polysyllabic II Stems
These stems ends in /l/ or /v/ which cause the first person to be marked by turning the final consonant into /r/ or /l/ respectively rather than with -s.

Polysyllabic III Stems
These stems contain /ɐ/ in the final syllable of the stem, causing the third person singular suffixes to contain /æ/ rather than /ɐ/. If the stem ends in a vowel then it used the X-grade vowel o (which may be elided according to the phonotactics) to replace the first vowel of the suffix.

Polysyllabic IV Stems
Polysyllabic IV Stems end in /k/, causing the third person singular suffixes to contain /ʉ/ instead of /ɐ/. If the verb contains /ɐ/ before the /k/ then it inflects like an IV stem and not a III stem.

Perfect Aspect
The perfect aspect is marked with the suffix *-e (for monosyllabic stems) or *-eá/-ea (for polysyllabic stems), or if the stem ends in a vowel it is marked with a X-Grade vowel. There are some verbs which require more explanation due to irregularities caused by Proto-Sucumian sound changes which will be explained below.

When the verb is polysyllabic the suffix is -eá/-ea or an X-Grade vowel, causing the verb to inflect as a Polysyllabic I stem:
 * hüovis (hüovis- "to approach") > hüoviseás ("to have approached")
 * álaks (álak- "to harass verbally") > álakeás ("to have harassed verbally")

When the verb is a Monosyllabic/Polysyllabic II stem then the perfect form resembles the infinitive form but with the suffix -á, causing the verb to inflect as a Monosyllabic/Polysyllabic I stem:
 * ral (rav- "to run") > ralt ("to have run")
 * čavárál (čaváráv- "to flow") > čavárálás ("to have flowed")

When the verb is monosyllabic the suffix is -e or an X-Grade vowel, causing the verb to inflect as a Monosyllabic III stem:
 * čvæt (čvæ- "To scare fish towards the shore") > čvæte ("to have scared fish towards the shore")

When the verb is a Monosyllabic III stem and had the shape VC in Light Sucumian then the first vowel will drop and the suffix *-ia or an X-Grade vowel is attached, causing the verb to inflect as a Monosyllabic I stem:
 * at (a- "to remove") > eat ("to have removed") - in this case none of the root verb survives, with eat being only the perfect suffix and the infinitive.

When the verb is a Monosyllabic III stem and the Proto-Sumro-Naukl forms began in a long vowel, then the final consonant is geminated and inflected as a Monosyllabic III stem:
 * atv (av- "to be adept") > atvv ("to have been adept")

Interrogative Mood
The interrogative mood is formed by placing the prefix *m- onto the verb. If the verb begins in /Cp/ then the /p/ will drop:
 * hohh ("I make") > mhohh? ("do I make?")
 * spiiküs ("it destroys") > msiiküs? ("does it destroy?")

When the stem begins in h then the x becomes e:
 * hüovis ("you approach") > meüovis? ("do you approach?")

Imperative Mood
The imperative mood is marked with the suffix -e (for monosyllabic stems) or -jü (for polysyllabic stems):
 * čvæt (*čvæ- "to scare fish towards the shore") > čvje ("scare fish towards the shore!")
 * hjOkás ("to die") > hjOkájü ("die!")

If a monosyllabic verb stem has the shape VC then the vowel will drop and the suffix -e is applied:
 * atv (av- "to be adept at") > ve ("be adept!")

If the verb is a Monosyllabic II stem then the imperative suffix is -ü after the final consonant shifting from /l/ /v/ > /r/ /l/.
 * ral (rav- "to rise") > ralü ("rise!")
 * soal (soav- "to bob up and down (of air bladders)") > soalü ("bob up and down!" - Not said as a literal command to the air bladder but it is believed that saying this aids in hunting seals and whaling)

Middle Voice
Unlike other Sucumian languages, Red Sucumian lost the middle voice due to sound changes eroding the suffixes away. Instead it uses a passive construction where other Sucumian languages use the middle voice:

Passive Voice
The passive voice is expressed by combining the past participle of the verb with the verb suukt ("to shoot"). Agents of such verbs are put in the elative case:
 * at ("to remove") > suukt ak ("to be removed")
 * ǰeit ("to heal") > suukt ǰeik ("to be healed")

valt suuk-s hüovis-ek kol-nl

shelter shoot-3S.INAN approach-PP sea_fog-ELA

"The shelter is being approached by sea fog"

Non-finite forms
The infinitive is formed with the suffix -s (hospæs "to weave"). On monosyllabic verb stems the suffix is merely -t (hükt "to drink"). In metathetic verb stems the /t/ is placed before the final fricative of the verb stem when the stem is monosyllabic (*hots "to hide"). On verbs ending in /l/ or /v/ the infinitive is marked by turning the final /l/ or /v/ into /r/ or /l/ and adding -á (added only for polysyllabic stems - mequl "to be able", čavárál "to flow").

The supine is a verbal noun/infinitive used to describe motion and indicates purpose and intention. It is formed with the prefix *k- (kük "to drink"). The supine can be quite irregular when the verb stem begin in a vowel in Proto-Sumro-Naukl. The stress of Proto-Sumro-Naukl and Proto-Sucumian was that it always fell on the first syllable that contained an onset, so stems beginning in vowels would stress the second syllable. When Proto-Sucumian lost word initial vowels and dropped vowels (or shortened long vowels) after stressed syllables this caused the supine forms to become irregular. This was due to the supine prefix k- creating an onset for the initial syllable of such verbs causing stress to fall on the initial syllable rather than the second. As well as shielding the initial vowel from being dropped it also caused different vowels to be dropped due to the shift in stress. Any verbs beginning in /h/ drop the /h/ in the supine:

Adjectival participles are formed with the suffix -ün or -n on monosyllabic stems. The suffix also acts as an agentive suffix to derive nouns (hospeün "weaving, weaver", hükn "drinking, drinker"). The past participle is formed with -ek or -k on monosyllabic stems and can also be used as a noun that is the result of the action (hospeek "woven, blanket", hükk "drank").

Noun-Verb compounds
Noun-Verb compounds denote an action to which the noun is the typical object of. Especially if the noun was derived from a participle then the compound means "to X during Y" but also "to X by doing Y".