West Middle Moca

West Middle Moca vocabulary

West Middle Moca is the westernmost variant of Middle Moca, a descendant of Old Moca. West Middle Moca was spoken by the first Moca to expand south and west in the southern steppes of Malomaman due to forests being overpopulated and overused at this time.

=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.
 * Clusters with the shape VC+C (here + denotes a morpheme boundary) are not permitted in West Middle Moca. When an affix beginning in a consonant attaches to a stem ending in a consonant, the first consonant is dropped and the preceding vowel is lengthened.
 * The plosives /k g/ labialize to /kʷ gʷ/ before /u(ː) o(ː) ʉ(ː)/

Phonological History
Eː → jE

ɘː → jɘ

Bː → wB

VN → Ṽ/_#, _C

s → z/V_

ɲ → n

V{v f} → Vː

{w j}V →Ø/_#! V = Vː Ṽ

y ø >i e

l̩ → o

{r̩ n̩} m̩ s̩ v̩ → ol om is iv

V V: → Ø V/_...V[+low]V[+high]

a → o/(K)_(K)

A → w/({p b m w})_({p b m w})

l → r/_#

ɘ(ː) ɵ(ː) → ɨ(ː) ʉ(ː)

r → d/_...r

ç (g)ʝ → t͡ʃ d͡ʒ

t͡ɕ d͡ʑ → t͡ʃ d͡ʒ

Gender
There are four genders which are buzzard, deer, animate and inanimate. The buzzard and deer noun genders have nothing to do with their namesakes. The way to tell which gender a noun belongs to is very simple. If a common noun ends in a vowel or /l r n/ then it is in the deer gender, if it ends in a consonant then it is on the buzzard gender (although broken nouns are buzzard nouns which end in vowels). Nouns that belong to other declensions have animate/inanimate genders which are assigned semantically. Animate/inanimate nouns can be derived from common nouns using derivational suffixes which tended to preserve the animate/inanimate case endings of Proto-Sumric albeit each suffix does it in its own irregular way. Even when these suffixes are applied to new words they will go in the animate/inanimate gender, with the exact gender being assigned semantically based on whether the noun is alive or not.

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 buzzard and deer gender. So when an animate or inanimate noun takes on a locative case it must switch gender to become either a buzzard noun or a deer noun (depending on whether the noun ends in a consonant or vowel). This gender switch is evidenced in agreement.


 * Animate noun ending in a consonant > buzzard noun
 * Inanimate noun ending in a consonant > buzzard noun
 * Animate noun ending in a vowel > deer noun
 * Inanimate noun ending in a vowel > deer noun

Gender switching also occurs with certain vocative cases, more is explained under the vocative cases section under the common nouns section.

Common Nouns
The below table demonstrates the most common declension of nouns. Buzzard nouns that end in a consonant will lose the consonant and lengthen the previous vowel when the case ending begins in a consonant. Buzzard nouns are recognizable by how they end in consonants, and deer gender nouns may end in a vowel or /l r n/. Buzzard nouns ending in /k/ take the oblique suffix -o and the supressive suffix -ok. When a noun ends in /r/ and takes on a suffix containing /r/, the first /r/ becomes /d/. When a noun ends in a nasal vowel, the nasal vowel becomes /Vn/ when suffixes are applied.

The plural forms of common nouns are formed quite differently from other declensions. Sound changes eradicated the plural suffix of Old Moca so West Middle Moca innovated a new way of marking plurals via reduplication. Plurals are formed by reduplicating the first CV of the noun as a prefix. Nouns beginning in vowels just reduplicate the vowel and attach /n/ both before and after the reduplicated vowel.
 * suk ("hand") > susuk ("hands")
 * jiîg ("ermine") > jijiîg ("ermines")
 * etîlegir ("blanket") > nenetîlegir ("blankets")

Broken Nouns
Broken nouns are comprised of buzzard gender 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.

U-Nouns
U-nouns are a class of nouns that end in the vowel û

Zero-Grade Nouns
Buzzard gender zero-grade nouns contain the sequences o, ol, om, is, iv. When suffixes are applied to these nouns the vowel of the stem can change in rather unpredictable ways If there are two adjacent syllables with these sequences then the vowel may be reduplicated in both. If the syllabic consonant was before a consonant then it will be dropped and lengthen the previous reduplicated vowel. Note that zero-grade forms can be quite irregular.


 * vol ("music, song, melody, tune") > virr ("songs")
 * skʷo ("cricket") > skʷela ("cricket-")
 * doljis ("heron") > djerez ("heron-")

Deer gender zero-grade nouns end in vowels or /l r n/.


 * kʷoltol ("hedgehog") > kʷjįdji ("hedgehogs")
 * butom ("minnow") > butji ("minnows")
 * stog ("stalk") > stogûr ("stalk-")

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 buzzard/deer 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
There are two patterns of B-nouns which vary depending on whether the derived from stem ended in a consonant or a vowel in East Middle Moca. If the stem is a broken noun then the lost consonant will resurface when the suffix -a is attached.

O-Nouns
In some rare cases an O-noun may have the vowels ų̂, į̂ or ę in the nominative plural: rurel ("wing, feather") > rurelį̂ ("wings, feathers").

H-Nouns
H-nouns experience an alternation of the consonant /g/, for animate nouns it becomes /h/ in the oblique singular and plural and in the nominative plural while for inanimate nouns it becomes /k/.

R-Nouns
R-nouns are nouns whose Proto-Sumro-Letaeric ancestor ended in /Vs/ or /Vs/. The forms in Old MOca tend to end in /Vs/ but rarer forms can end in /Vf V Vv V/. Both animate and inanimate R-nouns decline in the same way.

Topic Marking
Topic marking in West 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 West 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 follwoing the /d/ will be reduplicated after the clitic.

d-jerų mwem-ęwez bîr-ā

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

"The wolf hunts a sloth"

Shade 2
Shade 2 strong topicalisation emphasizes the object's (direct or indirect) role as the patient and is marked attaching the proclitic l- onto the noun (or o- if the noun begins in a consonant). 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 /ʉ 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 the /l/ becomes syllabic. Note that a strong topicalised object is placed in the nominative case.

jerų mwem-ęwez o-bîr

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

"A wolf hunts the sloth"

nuneg-emez o-bwe

cut-1S TOP.knife.NOM

"I cut with the knife"

Shade 1
This is marked by the proclitic l- onto the noun phrase (or o- if the noun begins in a consonant). 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 /ɵ a/ then the proclitic is u-. If the phrase begins in a back vowel then the proclitic is w-.

o-jerų mwem-ęwez bîr-ā

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

"The wolf hunts a sloth"

o-jezt nek-merį̂ wu-jeda

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

"The mouse eats bread"

le-lerer velerel-ęwez

TOP-river flow-3S.BUZZ

"The river flows"

w-wûcû ken-emę ma

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

"The patter of the rain pleases me"

u-kʷa sob hageûnenemwec 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.

bîr-ā jerų mwem-emę

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

"A wolf hunts the sloth"

wu-jeda jezt ñek-merį̂

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

"A mouse eats the bread"

ma wûcû ken-emę

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

"Patter of the rain pleases me"

kʷē kʷa sob hageûnenemwec 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.

bēt-bẹn nuneg-ē

TOP.knife-PRO cut-1S

"I cut with the knife"

Non-Specificness
Non-specificness is used to refer to objects which do not yet exist, or whose existence is in doubt or hypothetical. This is marked by the prefix i-. This prefix triggers umlaut to occur on the first vowel of the stem which is as follows:


 * bwe ("knife, blade") > ibwi
 * saigh ("book") > iraigh
 * jiẹg ("ermine") > ijuẹg

Adjectives
West Middle Moca adjectives must agree to the noun they modify in gender and case but not number. adjectives agreeing with Buzzard and Deer 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 buzzard nouns
If an adjective ends in a consonant or nasal vowel then no change is needed and can be inflected as is. When a suffix is attached a nasal vowel will become /Vn/:
 * ję ("big") > bwe ję ("big knife") > bweta jena ("big knife-")
 * nį̂ ("green") > bwe nį̂ ("green knife") > bweta nîna ("green knife-")
 * rjek ("strong") > bwe rjek ("strong knife") > bweta rjeka ("strong knife-")

If the adjective ends in a vowel however then it is nasalized. When suffixes are attached then instead of a nasal vowel the suffix -m- is used:
 * mwe ("brave") > bwe mwę ("brave knife") > bweta mwema ("brave knives-")

Agreeing with deer nouns
Adjectives agreeing to deer nouns do not change in any way to agree with deer nouns besides those ending in /z/:
 * sel ("old") > mekû sel ("old world")
 * sje ("holy") > mekû sje ("holy world")

If the adjective ends in z then rather than a suffix the z becomes r:
 * jiljelez ("correct") > mekû jiljeler ("correct world")

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, 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. When the adjective ends in a nasal vowel, the nasal vowel becomes /Vn/ when these suffixes are applied.


 * huker ("cold") > lemeb hukeruz ("cold trapper")
 * ję ("big") > lemeb jenuz ("big trapper")
 * sel ("old") > lemeb seluz (old trapper")

Agreeing with inanimate nouns
When the adjective ends in a consonant, the consonant is lost when the suffix is applied and the preceding vowel broken.


 * ję ("big") > jetab jeb ("big cobweb")
 * jen ("bad") > jetab jeb ("bad cobweb")
 * ter ("hard") > jetab tjeb ("hard cobweb")

Adjectives in formal and ritualistic speech
In heavily formal speech, or when partaking in a ritual, or when in reference to a sacred being, adjectives will take on the suffix -wuk. This goes after any case endings that appear on the adjective. Any adjective with this suffix will appear before the noun rather than after.

d-mār-wuk się veār-a

TOP-wonderful-DIV god wake-3S.DEER

"The wonderful god wakes"

Pronouns and Determiners
Singular Pronouns

Plural Pronouns

Demonstrative Pronouns
=Verb Phrase= West Middle Moca's verbs are considerably different form those in Old Moca, rather than preserving the verb endings WMM 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. WMM also is no longer pro-drop like it's ancestors.

West Middle Moca has the infinitive suffix -ę.

This is the innovated West Middle Moca verb system:

Causative
Causative verbs in West Middle Moca break a general rule among languages that inflections blocks derivation. This is because the causative suffix -jîtę can be placed onto an inflected verb and then itself be further inflected. This implies that the subject of the inflected verb is made to do so by the subject of the inflected causative suffix. In a causative verb the subject that is being caused to perform the action is placed in the oblique case


 * tjîcuę ("to vanish") > ter tjecumerjîz ("you vanish") > tera tjîcumerjîzjîtę ("to make you vanish") > mwe tera tjîcumerjîzjîtemez ("I make you vanish")

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.


 * veārę ("to wake up") > veā! ("wake up!")

Supine
As well as the infinitives, West 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 the imperative with /kjer/, these verbs descend from Old Sumrë verbs beginning in /gs/:
 * skugę ("to pour") > kjerug
 * skwuzę ("to tame") > kjerwuz

Adjective Participle
Adjective participles are derived from verbs with the suffixes -wų (for agreeing with buzzard and deer nouns), -wunuz (for agreeing with animate nouns) and -wub (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, -wųwum, -wubum respectively.
 * sjēkę ("to dig") > sjēwų, sjēwunuz, sjēwub
 * tjîcuę ("to vanish") > tjîcuwų, tjîcuwunuz, tjîcuwub
 * nunegę ("to cut") > nųjewų, nųjewunuz, nųjewub

d-bwe nųje-wum 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 -îk (for agreeing with buzzard and buzzard nouns), -îkuz (for agreeing with animate nouns) and -îb (for agreeing with inanimate nouns). The negative forms are -jîm, -îkem, -îkwum, -jîbum.
 * sjēkę ("to dig") > sjēkîk, sjēkîkuz, sjēkjîb
 * tjîcuę ("to dig") > tjîcuîk, tjîcuîkuz, tjîcujîb
 * nunegę ("to cut") > nunegîk, nunegîkuz, nunegjîb

d-bwe nuneg-jîm emę nuk''

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

"The uncut knife is broken"

Momentary Verbs
The suffix -jehed is applied to verbs (after any other suffixes) to imply that the verb was done for a very short time or in small bursts.

d-bwe nuneg-ęwezjehed

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

"The knife cut for a bit"

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.

mwem-emez verez wumen-a

hunt-1S JUS deer-OBL

"I must hunt a deer"

har-merjîz verjem wûter-a

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.

nuk-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 tām

sûm-merjîz taz o-mûbę

travel-2S HORT TOP-mountain

"You should travel to the mountain"

sûm-merjîz tām o-mûbę

travel-2S HORT.NEG TOP-mountain

"You shouldn't travel to the mountain"

=Numbers= The number system in West 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 kû bwet ("four knives") vs ku bwet ("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: rjeker du ("one bear")
 * Inanimate: dwu 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 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:


 * rjeker du (bear- one-) "with one bear"
 * rjekelez jenez dwu (bear- big- one-) "one big bear"

Numbers 11-19 The Numbers 11-19 are totally uninflectable and are as follows:
 * 11 dukʷîg
 * 12 ukʷîg
 * 13 kʷjekʷîg
 * 14 kukʷîg
 * 15 bolkʷîg
 * 16 mwekʷîg
 * 17 skwûkʷîg
 * 18 bwekʷî̄kʷîg
 * 19 kʷjîdikʷîg

Numbers 20+ The numbers 20-100 are also don't agree with nouns. The numbers 20-100 are as follows:
 * 20 ujîk
 * 30 kʷęjîk
 * 40 kwjǐk
 * 50 boljîk
 * 60 męjîk
 * 70 skwûtjîk
 * 80 bwekʷjîkjîk
 * 90 kʷjîdîkjîk
 * 100 kʷîgį̂wîk

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 -ez:
 * bol ujîkez (five twenty-) "25"
 * kû skwûtjîkez (four seventy-) "74"

To form numbers such as 200 or 300, the number kʷîgîmwîk ("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":
 * kʷîgį̂wîk uk, uk kʷîgį̂wîk (hundred- two) "200"
 * kʷîgį̂wîk skwût, skwût kʷîgį̂wîk (hundred- seven) "700"
 * kʷîgį̂wîk kʷîgį̂ (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"):
 * kʷîgį̂wîk kû bwep kʷęjîkerek (hundred- four eight thirty-) "438"
 * kʷîgį̂wîk bę ku kʷjîdîkjîkerek (hundred- six four ninety-) "694"