Phonology
Puthe has 14 consonants phonemically:
labials /p m f w/
alveolars /t n s/
alveo-palatal /ʃ/
palatals /c ɲ j/
velars /k ŋ/
glottal /h/
appearing in the following series:
stops /p t c k/
nasals /m n ɲ ŋ/
fricatives /f s ʃ h/
approximants /w j/
three consonant clusters are allowed at the beginning of a word, <sp st sk>.
more complex clusters are produced with grammatical prefixes and suffixes, e.g. kspàɯnʼ "pretty (imperfect)"
Puthe has eight vowels
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front mid back
close i u ɯ
mid.c e
mid.o ɛ œ
open a ɒ
<a i ee e œ o ɯ u>
/e/ is somewhat marginal, only appearing in 12 words. some speakers merge /e/ with /ɛ/, as well as moving the mid-open vowels higher (/ɛ œ/ -> /e̞ ø̞/)
and six tones:
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1 - low /pɒ˨c/ pọc "somewhere"
2 - low rising /nœ˩˧f/ nœ̣́f "familiar"
3 - mid /sɒt/ sot "sober"
4 - high falling /fʲɛ˥˧t/ fèɯt "winter"
5 - high rising /ʃœ˧˥p/ śœ́p "mouth"
mɯ̣̃t "dictionary"
ų "market"
and lengthened, indicated by an <h> following the vowel
skàht "sky"
GRAMMAR
Nouns
Nouns in Puthe do not show number, gender, or definiteness. They do show case with a range of prefixes, though the nominative is always unmarked.
kɯ̀k "cloud"
pkɯ̀k "cloud (accusative)"
tkɯ̀k "under a cloud"
xkɯ̀k "over a cloud"
mkɯ̣́k "in a cloud" inessive m- imparts low-rising tone to word
pkɯ̣̀k "to a cloud (dative)" dative p- imparts low-falling tone
òkɯ̀k "of a cloud (genitive)"
Verbs
Verbs have a number of prefixes, of which they can take one to show aspect or mood. Alternative phonemes are to be chosen euphonically.
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f perfective, a completed action
x, k imperfective, an ongoing action whether in the past or present
t habitual
s, p potential
xspàm "see" imperfective
fspàms "just saw" perfective + immediate past
xspàmé "was seeing" imperfective + distant past
tśœ́pe "used to talk" habitual + distant past
pśœ́pś "could have just spoken" potential + immediate past
ssfake "could have caught, back then" potential + distant past
To negate a verb, use the adverb mɯ́t "not"
sspām mɯ́t "can't see"
pśœ́pe mɯ́t "could never talk"
Adjectives
adjectives behave like, and for all intents and purposes, are verbs. unlike verbs, however, they need not take aspect markers. an adjective by itself constitutes a verb phrase, so that
mɯn œ̣s
red flower
means "the flower that is red", or "the red flower."
sem mɯn œ̣s "redder flower" to make an adjective comparative, add the adverb sem "more"
xə̣m mɯn œ̣s "reddest flower" to make it superlative, add the adverb xə̣m "above all"
xɯ́t mɯn œ̣s "strangely red flower" other adverbs can be used, too
Phrases
Out of these three parts of speech, nouns, verbs, and adjectives/adverbs, we create phrases, the basis of the Puthe sentence. The phrase is centered around the verb, to which parts of speech (nouns, adjectives, adverbs) are added to refine its meaning.
œ̣s "a flower"
a flower sold by a little girl
girl small PERF-sell-DIST.PAST flower
háf mǫ̀t fɯ́hte œ̣s
śœ́p kan "five dogs"
five dogs that an old man owns
old man IMPERF-have five dog
pœ ɯ́ht kfɯ́t śœ́p kan
five dogs that own an old man
old ACC-man IMPERF-have five dog
pœ pɯ́ht kfɯ́t śœ́p kan
pronouns
I įf we (incl.) fì
we (excl.) ɯf
you um, wem you ej
he, she, ja they ihm
it
prepositions
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after, ̣sku
in front
before, fu
behind
as ụf
at p
for, to mɯ̣́
off, away s, sa
on k
only hɯ̀
outside ọ
over um
in mɯ
inside mɯ̣́h
through mɯ́f
under t, to
up to hɯ̣ŋ
with f
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firsthand -spo
hearsay -m, -em
conjecture pɯs-
PERF-eat-IMM medicine.man EVH lion
fhamś pkɯ́wɯ́t em jaŋkt
affixes with a consonant and a vowel constitute a word, and so must remain separate:
I ate...before I went to the market
PERF-eat-DIST.PAST ... to market before PERF-go
fhamé...mɯ̣́ ų fu fke
but single letter affixes attach to the word:
breakfast
(at first mealtime)
ɯt hà phɯ̀ŋ
ORD one at-mealtime