Late Middle Sumri

Late Middle Sumri vocabulary

Phonological History
ɤ(ː)→u(ː)

j→∅/#_

lmK→→lno

VNC → ṼːC

m→∅/#_

r ɾ→l/i_

EN→∅/_#!#C(C)(C)_#

EN>ə̆N/_#

VT{R,F}→V́{R,F}

Vʔ→Vːʔ/_$

i a →iu aɒ/_{k, g, w}

u o →ui oe/_j

{F R}C→C{F R}/_#

Cʷɪ {ɪ ø} → Cʷ e

∅→ə̆/#_ɾ

ə̆→o

FN→NF

mF nF → mbF ndF

pː tː kː → mp nt ŋk

pʷː tʷː kʷː → ŋp ŋt ŋk

oʊ au→aɒ

=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.
 * aranti "flame" > arantaa "flame-"
 * Before long vowels, /l/ becomes [ɾ]:
 * ìirkʷl [ìːɾkʷl] ("to teach") > ìirkʷraa [mìːɾkʷɾaː] ("I teach")
 * The combinations of nt+j and t+j result in /s/ and /z/ respectively.
 * esnt ("to carry") + -je "imperative suffix" > esse ("carry-")
 * tnot "to think ahead" + -je "imperative suffix" > tnoze ("think ahead-")
 * Between vowels /v/ is [w]:
 * evotaar [èwótaːr] "rewarding"
 * ovos [ówos] "mammoth"
 * zrav [zɾáw] "to remember"

Umlaut
Late 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.

Pre-Syllabic Epenthesis
In Late 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:


 * vŕŕnt "melody" + -i "buzzard nominative plural suffix" > virrnti "melodies"
 * opɫ "eyelash" + -a "genitive suffix" > opla "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:
 * vŕŕnt "melody" + -jom "buzzard delative suffix" > viorrsom "from a melody"

Prosody
Late 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. The high pitch is not marked if it falls on the penultimate syllable or if the stem is a verb, on the final syllable, or if a stem is monosyllabic. 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.

=Nouns= Late Middle Sumri has 9 noun cases which inflect for gender and number. The 9 cases are:


 * Nominative: marks the subject
 * Accusative: marks the direct object
 * Genitive: marks possession
 * Vocative: marks a directly addressed noun
 * Illative: movement into, inside
 * 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

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
 * Genitive
 * has X quality
 * Allative
 * Benefective
 * Change or transition into
 * Patient of experiential verb
 * Until
 * Temporal
 * Comitative
 * Duration
 * Similies"
 * made of X material
 * Composed of or containing X object
 * concerning, about
 * Delative
 * Paritive, some of, a bit of

Common Nouns
Ahen a buzzard noun ending in a nasal takes on the vocative case and epenthetic voiced plosive with the same PoA is insterted after the nasal:
 * ioknam ("guest.") > ioknambzo ("guest.")

Collective and Singulative nouns
Late Middle Sumri nouns can take on collective forms meaning "X in general" or "many X". This is achieved by reduplicating the final CVC(C) 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 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.
 * orakont ("tree") > orakontkont ("tree-")
 * aranti ("flame") > arantintin ("flame-")
 * sipa ("flower") > sipapam ("flower-")
 * erji ("finger, toe") > erjijii ("finger-")
 * neas ("line") > neaznas ("line-")

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)z} (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).
 * orere ("water") > orerẽz ("drop of water")
 * e ("blood") > ẽz ("drop of blood")
 * hrah ("ice") > hrahãz ("block of ice")
 * tauka ("sand") > taukãz ("grain of sand")
 * ouku ("wasp colony") > oukũz ("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 Late Middle Sumri, these nouns may not look like reduplicated stems anymore.


 * tʷmpior ("many bolases") > tʷmpiorãz ("bolas")
 * unʷr ("many snow goggles") > unʷrãz ("a pair of snow goggless")
 * oumpjui ("many hawks") > oupjujãz ("hawk")
 * hiauk ("many oak trees") > hiaukimãz ("oak tree")
 * uviokn ("many ferns") > uvioknãz ("fern")
 * ookauknam ("many boars") > ookauknamãz ("boar")
 * õuzaram ("many bulbs") > õuzaramãz ("bulb")
 * aahnuonum ("many finches") > aahnuomumãz ("finch")
 * ioknam ("many guests") > ióknamãz ("guest")
 * tuáasunnur ("many willow trees") > tuáasunnurãz ("willow tree")
 * nímposmpos ("many newts") > nímposmpozãz ("newt")

=Pronouns=

Personal Pronouns
Singular

Late 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 trer, when formal the pronoun tarzoer is used. When speaking to someone significantly older in an informal situation then trruatr is used, formally it is tarzovatr. When speaking in a derogatory or condescending manner tarjutr is used, or tarzojutr when being downright insulting.

Plural

Interrogative Pronouns
=Demonstrative Pronouns=

Existential Pronouns
=Numbers=

The number system in Late 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:


 * raar to (bear- one-) "one bear's"
 * raara ernama too (bear- big- one-) "one big bear's"
 * raakarp ernãp 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

Numbers 2-3

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

oo ("two")

per ("three")


 * Animate/inanimate nom.sg: oo, per
 * Animate acc.sg, inanimate gen.sg: ou, pru
 * Animate gen.sg: oa, pra
 * Animate dat.sg: oo, pro
 * Inanimate dat.sg: oet, pret
 * Animate nom.pau1/2: oori, pẽzi
 * Inanimate nom.pau1/2: oki, pri
 * Animate/inanimate acc.pau1, animate gen.pau2: ooriă, pẽzia
 * Animate gen.pau1: ooria, pẽzia
 * Inanimate gen.pau1: okia, pria
 * Animate acc.pau2: ooruu, pẽruu
 * Inanimate acc.pau2: oguu, penuu
 * Inanimate gen.pau2: okiă, priă

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

Number 5
 * Animate/inanimate nom.sg: pŕnt
 * Animate nom.pl: pirnti
 * Inanimate nom.pl, inanimate gen.sg/pl, animate/inanimate acc.sg: perntu
 * Animate acc.pl: perntum
 * Inanimate acc.pl: perntunu
 * Animate gen.sg: parnta

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: pnu
 * Inanimate acc.pl: pnum
 * Inanimate acc.pl: pennu
 * Animate/inanimate gen.sg: pna
 * Inanimate gen.pl: pnuu

Number 7
 * Animate/inanimate nom.sg: shũnti
 * Animate nom.sg, inanimate nom.pl: shũntii
 * Animate/inanimate acc/sg, inanimate gen.sg, animate gen.pl: shũntiu
 * Animate gen.sg: shũntia
 * Animate acc.pl: shũntium
 * Inanimate acc.pl: shũntnu
 * Inanimate gen.pl: shũntiuu

Number 8
 * Animate/inanimate nom.sg: piipiit
 * Animate nom.pl: piipii
 * Ianimate nom.pl: piipiioo
 * Animate acc.sg, inanimate gen.sg, animate gen.pl: piipiitu
 * Inanimate acc.sg: piipiiu
 * Animate acc.pl: piipiitum
 * Inanimate acc.pl: piipíinu
 * Animate gen.sg: piipiita
 * Inanimate gen.pl: piipiituu

Number 9
 * Animate/inanimate nom.sg: piih
 * Animate nom.pl: piiuki
 * Inanimate nom.pl: piiuko
 * Animate acc.sg, inanimate gen.sg, animate/inanimate gen.pl: piiu
 * Inanimate acc.sg: piiuku
 * Animate acc.pl: piium
 * Inanimate acc.pl: piinu
 * Animate gen.sg: piia

Number 10
 * Animate/inanimate nom.sg: piuk
 * Animate nom.pl: piukimi
 * Inanimate nom.pl: piukimoo
 * Animate/inanimate acc.sg, inanimate gen.sg, animate gen.pl: piukimu
 * Animate acc.pl: piukimum
 * Inanimate acc.pl: piukimunu
 * Animate gen.sg: piukima
 * Inanimate gen.pl: piukimuu

Numbers 11-19 The Numbers 11-19 are totally uninflectable and are as follows:
 * 11 dopiuk
 * 12 opiuk
 * 13 pẽmpiuk
 * 14 hupiuk
 * 15 pŕmpiuk
 * 16 ẽppiuk
 * 17 shũmpiuk
 * 18 piipiipiuk
 * 19 piipipiuk

The numbers cause the noun to take the delative plural and they always go before the noun:
 * Tomer shũmpiuk kzapjo (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 oíungk
 * 30 pníungk
 * 40 huíungk
 * 50 pŕíungk
 * 60 ẽungk
 * 70 shũntíungk
 * 80 piipiikíungk
 * 90 piiukíungk
 * 100 piukimíungk

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:
 * pŕnt oíungkes (five twenty-) "25"
 * hu shũntíungkes (four seventy-) "74"

To form numbers such as 200 or 300, the number piukimíungk ("100") is made plural as piukimíungki 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":
 * piukimíungki oo, oo piukimíungki (hundred- two) "200"
 * piukimíungki shũnti, shũnti piukimíungki (hundred- seven) "700"
 * piukimíungki piuk (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 -aa ("and"):
 * piukimíungki hu piipiit pníungksaa (hundred- four eight thirty-) "438"
 * piukimíungki pen hu piikíungksaa (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:


 * eron ("big") > aatar eron ("big buzzard")

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

If the adjective ends in a front vowel then it agrees by dropping the vowel:
 * tẽti ("annoying") > aatar tẽt ("annoying buzzard")

Example in the genitive case:
 * aatra tẽta ("annoying buzzard's")

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

Examples in the genitive case:
 * aatra nohama ("weird buzzard's")
 * aatra akjama ("angry buzzard's")

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

Examples in the accusative case:
 * ahuu sariuu ("old word-")
 * ahuu siuu ("holy world-")

If the adjective ends in a consonant then it takes -a to make it agree:
 * eron ("big") > ahu erona ("big world")

Examples in the accusative case:
 * ahuu ernonuu ("big 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.


 * eron ("big") > oramab eronos ("big trapper")
 * saria ("old") > oramab 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.


 * estuo eronpo ("big cobweb")
 * estuo sariavo ("old cobweb")

Comparative and Superlative
The Old Sumrë way of forming the comparative, by placing the compared to noun in the paressive case, had ceased in Middle Sumri with the loss of that case. In the shift to Middle Sumri it became common to place the dummy noun al ("thing") as the object in the paressive case after the adjective becoming alsȯn. In Middle Sumri this became grammaticalised as the suffix -arzon on the adjective itself. The compared to noun is placed in the allative case:

emẽz shŕ shizaarzon nimant

be-3S man old-COMP woman-ALL

"the man is older than the woman"

The superlative is similarly formed with the suffix -arnunez which is from Old Sumrë al nănesȯn ("thing beside all").

emẽz shŕ shizaarnunez

be-3S man old-SUPL

"the man is the oldest"

It is very important to note that the comparative and superlative adjectives can only ever be predicative. If a noun must be modified by a comparative or superlative adjective then rather than being attributive, the adjective is placed in a relative clause:

shŕ kat emẽz shizaarnunez

man what be-3S old-SUPL

"The oldest man"

=Verbs=

Late Middle Sumri's past tense is vastly reduced from Old Sumrė's rich system as four past tenses. Only the near past survived into Middle Sumri as the default past tense, with the yesterday past tense becoming the perfective. The three future tenses of Old Sumrë were all lost in Middle Sumri. Instead of its parents future tenses.

Late Middle Sumri has a set of verb classes, each with their own paradigms. Each will be explained below.

Note that Late Middle Sumri is not pro-drop like it's ancestors, instead the subject pronoun mus be included.

Common Verbs
The 1P suffixes cause the consonant before it to becomes labialised. If the verb ends in a vowel then the suffix is -ur:
 * men [mén] ("to worry") > menʷr aari [ménʷɾ áːɾi] ("we worry")

The 2S past suffixes -ras, -ram becomes -aras,-aram when the verb stem ends in a vowel:
 * pasva ("to hate") > pasvaaras tar ("you hate")

Analytic Verbs
Analytic verbs form a small class of verbs which do not inflect at all, not even having an infinitive form. Instead they take an auxiliary which bears all the inflection. The auxiliary is orer ("to do") which inflects as a common verb. Most analytic verbs are descendants of Widosiuge loanwords in Old Sumrë. The auxiliary always follows the verb.


 * ijunt ("to tame an animal")

ijunt oreraa aruu

tame do-1S bird-ACC

"I tame a bird"

Zero-Grade Verbs
Zero-grade verbs are verbs whose stem contains no vowels, possessing only syllabic consonants. Like zero-grade nouns, the vowels of suffixes are reduplicated before the syllabic consonant, rendering it non-syllabic. Since the now lost infinitive suffix in Middle Sumri contained /e/ so do the infinitive forms of zero-grade verbs.
 * tśp- ("to weave")
 * teps ("to weave")
 * taaspaa aa ("I weave")
 * tispi tri ("you weave")
 * hshpś ("weaving")
 * płt- ("to stray")
 * petr ("to stray")
 * pertus oremer ("it strayed")
 * pirti oremi ("they stray")
 * hptł ("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.

Eas-Verbs
Eas-verbs are verbs which have been derived from nouns and adjectives with the suffix -eas.

To-verbs
To-verbs are verbs which descend from Old Sumrë verbs which were derived with the suffix -two or the suffix -oswu. The Late Middle Sumri forms end in -to or -ozu.

S-Verbs
S-verbs differ only in the first person singular where the endings contain /as/.

S2-Vebs

 * vinp ("to write")
 * vinpas ("I write")
 * viner ("you write")

R Verbs
R-verbs are those which experience a consonant alternation form /s f d v t/ to /ɾ/. The verb endings themselves are the same as in common nouns.
 * tisrut ("to take") > tiserar ("you take")

R2 Verbs
R2 verbs ends in /Vʔ/. In this class the vowel shift /a o/ > /e/happens except in the first person singular which conjugates as a common verb.


 * erh ("to row")
 * erhaa aa ("I row")
 * erar tar ("you row")
 * erhaas aa ("I rowed")
 * eraras tar ("you rowed")
 * eras aari ("we rowed")

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


 * sro ("to relax")
 * sroaa aa ("I relax")
 * srojar tar ("you relax")

H-Verbs
H-verbs end in /Vʔ/ or /Vː/ and outside of the first person singular this sequence is dropped. Otherwise the verb conjugates as a common noun.


 * ertuu ("to get dressed")
 * ertahaa ("I get dressed")
 * ertar ("you get dressed")

Imperative Mood
The imperative is marked with the suffix -je on the verb stem. If the verb stem ends in /t/ or /nt/ then the two fuse into /ze/ and /te/ respectfully.


 * est ("to carry") > esse ("carry!)

The verb emun ("to be") has the irregular imperative form emje.

Interrogative Mood
The interrogative mood is marked with nasalising the vowel in the first syllable. If the following consonant is /j/ however then instead of a nasal vowel the /j/ lengthens into /jː/. If the following consonant is a nasal consonant then it is gemminated instead.


 * aj ("to agree") > ajar ("you agree") > ajjar ("do you agree?")
 * hukeas ("to slice") > hukeazʷr ("you slice") > hũkeazʷr ("do you slice?")

However 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 nasal infix as /Ṽp/ and /Ṽt/. It is not predictable as to which verb experiences this other than etymology.


 * ko ("to trade") > koar ("you trade") > kõpar ("do you trade?")
 * ii ("to entertain") > iiar ("you entertain") > ĩtiar ("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 -mpos, elsewise it is -pos.


 * isaak ("to rest")
 * isaakar ("you rest") > on isaakarpos ("if you rest")
 * isaaki ("you- rest") > on isaakimpos ("if you- rest")

Jussive Mood
The jussive mood ("should, must") is marked with the suffix -veres after any person endings.


 * isaakarveres ("you must rest")
 * isaakarveresmu ("you shouldn't rest")

Conditional Mood
The conditional mood ("would") is marked with the suffix -ariza. This causes the preceding vowel to have the high tone.


 * isaakaráriza ("you would rest")

Evidentiality
Late Middle Sumri 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 -ntuu is applied if it occurs after a vowel.


 * eraras tar ("you rowed") > erarastuu tar ("you rowed - witnessed event")
 * srojaras ("you relax") > srojarirom tar ("you relaxed - heresay, it is said that you relaxed")
 * viner ("it wrote") > vinerihi oremer ("it wrote - deduced from evidence")

Passive Voice
The passive is formed with the suffix -ti (or -nti when after a vowel) which attaches after person endings and the subjunctive if it is used.


 * eroz ("to trust")
 * erozaa ("I trust") > erozaanti ("I am trusted")
 * on erozaampos ("If I trust") > on erozaamponti ("If I was trusted")

Habitual Aspect
The habitual is marked with the suffix -úra. Subjects and objects of habitual verbs tend to be reduplicated collectives unless referring to a specific entity.


 * erozaaúra ("I always trust")

Existentiality
Late Middle Sumri 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").

kapmernas temmurmu irko sip?

why INTERR/EXIST-NEG freckle-NOM.PL more

"Why aren't there more freckles?"

=Adverbs=

Adverb of Purpose
To state that an adverb of purpose such as "so that" or "in order to", the adverb ahisto is used which causes the subject of the verb to be placed in the genitive case.

aher ahisto orona

eat-3S.BUZZ so_that dog-GEN

"so that the dog eats"

mermaaúra aher ahisto orona oromanaum

hunt-1S-HAB eat-3S so_that dog-GEN deer-ACC.PL

"I hunt deer so that the dog eats"

Adverb of Duration
To state that an action occurred for a specific amount of time a noun denoting time such as "day" or "year" is placed in the comitative case and treated as an adverb.

honurs õtazi ovos

graze-3S.PST day-COM.PL mammoth

"The mammoth grazed for days"

To state that an action occurs while another action takes place, then the supine form of the verb is placed in the comitative case to form an adverb and placed after the adverb os ("while"):

fumusturs os hrumes sow

blow-3S.PST while SUP-walk-COM wind

"The wind blew while I walked"

=Conjunctions=

Late Middle Sumri has three words for "and", ahunt ("VP-and"), steerha ("NP-and") and ahemẽztrus ("ADJ-and") respectively. ahunt serves to join two verbs:

vinpas aa ahunt erar

write-1S I VP_and row-2S

"I write and you row"

steerha serves to join two nouns:

shŕ steerha nom

man NP_and woman

"The man and woman"

ahemẽztrus serves to join two adjectives since no two predicate adjectives can appear right next to each other (neither attributively or predicatively):

nom shiza ahemẽztrus akja

woman old AP_and angry

"The old and angry woman"