Middle Sumri

Middle Sumri vocabulary

Phonological History
V→∅/T_{l, n, r, s}! _{l, n, r, s}#, !_ {l, r}C,

V→∅/{l, n, r, s}_T! C{l, n, r, s}_

wV→∅/T_{s, l, r}

ɔʊ→∅/{n,s}_r

∅→u/m_n

∅→i/n_m

b, d→∅/V_V

C[-voice]→C[+voice]/V_V

e→i

ɲ→j

n→j/ɛr_V

h→∅

aːwa→aː

{t͡ʃ t͡ɕ ç ɕ sʰ ʰs sː} {d͡ʒ d͡ʑ ʑ ʝ} → s z

{fʰ ʰf fː} {vʰ ʰv vː} → f v

k→ʔ

pʰ tʰ kʰ → p t k → pː tː kː (p t k → pː tː kː does not happen word initially or in clusters)

bʱ dʱ gʱ → b(ː) d(ː) g(ː) → p t k

ʰp ʰt ʰk → p t k

ʰb ʰd ʰg > p t k

ɛ(ː) œ(ː) ʌ(ː) ɔ(ː) → e(ː) ø(ː) ɤ(ː) o(ː)

ʊ→u

ɜ(ː)→e(ː)

r rː→ ɾ r

ł l lː→ w ɾ l

ʰm ʰn →mː nː

Vː→V/_CC

w→Ø!V_V

v→w/V_V

(C)ʏ(ː)→(Cʷ)ɪ(ː)

=Phonology=

Vowels

Consonants

Phonotactics

 * The consonant clusters /ɾn ɾm/ have a short schwa inserted to break up these clusters.
 * ern /eɾn/ [eɾə̆n]
 * rarm /ɾaɾm/ [ɾaɾə̆m]
 * When a stem that ends in /Cj/ takes on an affix beginning in a consonant, the /j/ vocalises into /i/.
 * örjen "to view" + -hu "delusion suffix" > örihu "delusion"
 * 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" > arattaa "flame-"
 * When in a cluster with nasals or liquids, fricatives are always voiced.
 * jamza [jámza] "fire"
 * zraakar [zɾáːkaɾ] "bear cub"
 * When any plosive comes into contact with /s/, it is lost.
 * apatt "fist" + -si "inanimate paucal suffix" > apasi
 * Before long vowels, /l/ becomes [ɾ]:
 * miirkülen [mìːɾkʷɪ́len] "to teach" > miirküraa [mìːɾkʷɪ́ɾaː] "I teach"
 * The combinations of tt+j and t+j result in /s/ and /z/ respectively.
 * estten "to carry" + -je "imperative suffix" > esse "carry-
 * tnăten "to think ahead" + -je "imperative suffix" > tnăze "think ahead-
 * Between vowels /v/ is [w]:
 * mevotaar [mèwótaːr] "rewarding"
 * movos [mówos] "mammoth"
 * zraven [zɾáwen] "to remember"
 * Consonants are labialised before /ɪ/:
 * miirkülen /mìːɾkɪ́len/ [mìːɾkʷɪ́len] "to teach"

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 vowels /ɪ ø/ are not affected by umlaut. /i a/ become /ɪ 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
 * Superessive: on the surface of, above
 * Subessive: under
 * Illative: movement into, inside
 * Perlative: movement through or along
 * 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
 * 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 Pronoun
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.


 * estăo ernpo ("big cobweb")
 * estăo 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:

emens skŕ shizaarzon nimatt

be-3S man old-COMP woman-ALL

"the man is older than the woman"

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

emens shŕ shizaarnănez

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 emens shizaarnănez

man what be-3S old-SUPL

"The oldest man"

=Verbs=

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, Middle Sumri uses the suffix -tutt after the person endings. This is from Old Sumrë dut (“then”).

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

Common Verbs
The 1P suffixes cause the consonant before it to becomes labialised:
 * menen [ménen] ("to worry") > menür [ménʷɪɾ] ("we worry")

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


 * jijutt ("to tame an animal")

jijutt reraa arăă

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 all infinitive verbs contain a vowel in the infinitive suffix the infinitive forms of zero-grade verbs all have the vowel /e/ in the stem (tśp > tespen).
 * tśp- ("to weave")
 * tespen ("to weave")
 * taaspaa ("I weave")
 * tispi ("you weave")
 * hshśp ("weaving")
 * płt- ("to stray")
 * perten ("to stray")
 * pörtăs ("it strayed")
 * pirtien ("they stray")
 * hpłt ("straying")

Umlaut Verbs
Umlaut verbs are verbs whose stems contain the vowel /ʷɪ/ in the final syllable. Since this vowel triggers umalut on vowels in surrounding syllables it affects verb endings. The suffixes of umlaut verbs are the same as common verbs ableit with the umlaut. An umlaut verb is identifiable by the infinitive ending -ön instead of -en.

Eas-Verbs
Eas-verbs are verbs which have been derived from nouns and adjectives with the suffix -eas. In these verbs the suffix -eas functions as an infinitive.

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

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

S2-Vebs

 * vinpen ("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.
 * tisrăten ("to take") > tisörar ("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.


 * ürhen ("to row")
 * ürhaa ("I row")
 * ürar ("you row")
 * ürhaas ("I rowed")
 * üraras ("you rowed")
 * üras ("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.


 * sroen ("to relax")
 * sroaa ("I relax")
 * srojar ("you relax")

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


 * örtăhen ("to get dressed")
 * örtahaa ("I get dressed")
 * örtar ("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 /ttː/ then the two fuse into /ze/ and /te/ respectfully.


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

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

Interrogative Mood
The interrogative mood is marked with a nasal infix in the first syllable. The nasal is placed in the coda after any vowels. If the following consonant if bilabial then the nasal is /n/. If the following consonant is /j/ then instead of a nasal infix the /j/ lengthens into /jː/. Elsewise the nasal is /n/. If the following consonant is already nasal, then that consonant is lengthened instead.


 * ajen ("to agree") > ajar ("you agree") > ajjar ("do you agree?")
 * hukeas ("to slice") > hukeazür ("you slice") > hunkeazür ("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 /mp/ and /nt/. It is not predictable as to which verb experiences this other than etymology.


 * koen ("to trade") > koar ("you trade") > kompar ("do you trade?")
 * iien ("to entertain") > iiar ("you entertain") > intiar ("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 -ppos, elsewise it is -pos.


 * isaaken ("to rest")
 * isaakar ("you rest") > en isaakarpos ("if you rest")
 * isaaki ("you- rest") > en isaakippos ("if you- rest")

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


 * isaakarvöres ("you must rest")
 * isaakarvöresmu ("you shouldn't rest")

Conditional Mood
The conditional mood ("would") is marked with the suffix -apriza.


 * isaakarapriza ("you would rest")

Evidentiality
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 -ttăh is applied if it occurs after a vowel.


 * üraras ("you rowed") > ürarastăh ("you rowed - witnessed event")
 * srojaras ("you relax") > srojarirm ("you relaxed - heresay, it is said that you relaxed")
 * viner ("it wrote") > vinerihi ("it wrote - deduced from evidence")

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


 * erozen ("to trust")
 * erozaa ("I trust") > erozaatti ("I am trusted")
 * en erozaappos ("If I trust") > en erozaappotti ("If I was trusted")

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


 * erozaaupra ("I always trust")

Existentiality
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").

tommör eratmaröra ron?

INTERR/EXIST hill-SUPER dog

"Is there a dog on the hill?"

kapmörnas tömmurmu mirko 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.

jahör ahisto rona

eat-3S.BUZZ so_that dog-GEN

"so that the dog eats"

mörmaaupra jahör ahisto rona romanaum

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.

honărs ontazi movos

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 jos ("while"):

fumăsturs jos hrumes sow

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

"The wind blew while I walked"

=Conjunctions=

Middle Sumri has three words for "and", ahutt ("VP-and"), stöörha ("NP-and") and ahemenztrus ("ADJ-and") respectively. ahutt serves to join two verbs:

vinpas ahutt ürar

write-1S VP_and row-2S

"I write and you row"

stöörha serves to join two nouns:

shŕ stöörha nim

man NP_and woman

"The man and woman"

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

nim shiza ahemenztrus makja

woman old AP_and angry

"The old and angry woman"