PHONOLOGY
Phoneme inventory:
Code: Select all
m n ŋ
pʰ tʰ kʰ kʷʰ qʰ qʷʰ
p t k kʷ q qʷ ʔ
b d g gʷ
s χ h
ɬ
r
l j w
Code: Select all
i: u:
ɪ ʊ
e: o:
ɛ ɛː ɐ ɔ ɔː
a:
Orthography:
Consonants:
/m n ŋ/ <m n ŋ>
/pʰ tʰ kʰ kʷʰ qʰ qʷʰ/ <ph th kh khw qh qhw>
/p t k kʷ q qʷ ʔ/ <p t k kw q qw '>
/b d g gʷ/ <b d g gw>
/s ɬ χ h/ <s ł x h>
/r l j w/ <r l y w>
Vowels:
/ɪ˩ ʊ˩ ɛ˩ ɔ˩ ɐ˩/ <i u e o a>
/iː˩ uː˩ eː˩ oː˩ ɛː˩ ɔː˩ aː˩/ <ii uu ee oo êe ôo aa>
/ɪ˥ ʊ˥ ɛ˥ ɔ˥ ɐ˥/ <í ú é ó á>
/iː˥ uː˥ eː˥ oː˥ ɛː˥ ɔː˥ aː˥/ <íi úu ée óo êé ôó áa>
/îː ûː êː ôː ɛ̂ː ɔ̂ː âː/ <ì ù è ò êè ôò à>
Phonotactics:
The maximal syllable structure is rather horrific. I'm defining it in feature notation for now, will talk about what this all means later.
s[C/[+obs][+son +cont]/[-cont -voi -asp]s/[-cont -cor -glot][[-cont -son +cor]/ts]]V[C/[-cont -voi -asp]s]
This makes for some fairly terrifying consonant clusters, as seen in the name of the language.
/ʔ/ is only contrasted with null intervocalically and syllable-finally. Similarly, /ŋ/ only occurs intervocalically and syllable-finally.
Allophony:
Obstruents within clusters assimilate in laryngeal features to following obstruents. A word like /sdɔ̂ːgʷo/ <sdôògwo> "tree" is thus pronounced [.zdɔ̂ː.ɣʷo˩.]
Labialized consonants completely labialize any cluster they occur in. /sqtseː˥msɛ˩ka˥skʷto˩/ "Sqtséemsekáskwto" is pronounced [.sqtẽː˥m.sɛ˩.ka˥.sʷkʷtʷo˩.]
Word-final consonants are devoiced and undergo fortition: /b d g/ become [p t k], /r l/ become [ʂ ɬ] and /j w/ become [ç xʷ]. The sonorants also undergo these changes preceding or following an aspirated stop.
Intervocalically, voiced stops are lenited to [β ð ɣ ɣʷ].
Immediately preceding or following any of /i: ɪ e: j/, /s/ is realized as [ʃ].
/n/ place-assimilates to any following obstruent. /ŋ/ only assimilates to dorsal obstruents. /m/ only assimilates when the following obstruent is labialized; the rule above that labializes clusters is relevant here.
The high vowels /iː ɪ uː ʊ/ lower to [eː e oː o] before uvular consonants, and /j/ is lowered to [e̯].
Vowels nasalize before syllable-final nasals.
MORPHOSYNTAX
Word order is Topic Focus Verb. This is pretty rigid, and verbs never come in anything but clause-final position. Verbs are marked for aspect and evidentiality.
Sqtséemsekáskwto uses a direct/inverse system based on an animacy hierarchy:
Né sebáaysikaŋał.
/né sebáay-si-k-ŋ-ł-Ø/
TOP.1PS see-IMPERF-EVID-1PS-2PS-DIR
"I see you."
Ło sebáaysikaŋłákh.
/ło sebáay-si-k-ŋ-ł-ákh/
TOP.2PS see-IMPERF-EVID-1PS-2PS-INV
"You see me."
The hierarchy is as follows: 1InclP > 1InclS > 1P > 1S > 2P > 2S > 3P > 3ObvP > 3S > 3ObvS > Inan.
Obliques, when not topicalized, come after all verb arguments and take case marking.
When something is topicalized, it is treated as if it is higher on the animacy hierarchy than non-topics:
Psáalqhwê sqtsoomsìxsikaŋ.
Psáalqhwê sqtsoomsìx-si-k-ŋ-Ø-Ø
Psáalqhwê(.TOP) hit-IMPERF-EVID-1PS-3PS-DIR
"Psáalqhwe is hitting me." (topic = Psáalqhwe)
Né Psáalqhwê sqtsoomsìxsikaŋ.
Né Psáalqhwê sqtsoomsìx-si-k-ŋ-Ø-Ø
1PS.TOP Psáalqhwê hit-IMPERF-EVID-1PS-3PS-DIR
"I am hitting Psáalqhwê." (topic = 1PS)
Psáalqhwê sqtsoomsìxsikaŋákh
Psáalqhwê sqtsoomsìx-si-k-ŋ-Ø-ákh
Psáalqhwê(.TOP) hit-IMPERF-EVID-1PS-3PS-DIR
"I am hitting Psáalqhwe." (topic = Psáalqhwe)
Né Psáalqhwê sqtsoomsìxsikŋákh.
Né Psáalqhwê sqtsoomsìx-si-k-ŋ-Ø-ákh
1PS.TOP Psáalqhwê hit-IMPERF-EVID-1PS-3PS-DIR
"Psáalqhwe is hitting me." (topic = 1PS)
When obliques are topicalized, the animacy hierarchy remains intact:
Gwinskwadisige Psáalqhwê sqtsoomsìxsikaŋ.
gwinskwadisi-ge Psáalqhwê sqtsoomsìx-si-k-ŋ-Ø-Ø
anger-ADV-TOP Psáalqhwê hit-IMPERF-EVID-1PS-3PS-DIR
Angrily, I am hitting Psáalqhwê.
Gwinskwadisige Psáalqhwê sqtsoomsìxsikaŋákh.
gwinskwadisi-ge-Ø Psáalqhwê sqtsoomsìx-si-k-ŋ-Ø-ákh
anger-ADV-TOP Psáalqhwê hit-IMPERF-EVID-1PS-3PS-INV
Angrily, Psáalqhwê is hitting me.
There is always something in the topic position of a clause; when the topic is marked on the verb and not explicitly stated, the topic slot is filled in with a particle that takes the (null) topic marker.
Ge Psáalqhwê sqtsoomsìxsikaŋákh.
ge-Ø Psáalqhwê sqtsoomsìx-si-k-ŋ-Ø-ákh
ADV-TOP Psáalqhwê hit-IMPERF-EVID-1PS-3PS-INV
In that manner Psáalqhwê hit me.
Aŋí sebáaysikaŋ.
aŋí-Ø sebáay-si-k-ŋ-Ø-Ø
3PS-TOP see-IMPERF-EVID-1PS-3PS-DIR
S/he sees me.
Number is expressed by the suffix -hée on animate nouns and -gìi on inanimate nouns. These may attach to topic markers and also may occur alone or with case marking when not topicalized (I have really no idea how to analyze these yet...).
Né hée sebáaysikaŋał.
né-Ø hée sebáay-si-k-ŋ-ł-Ø
1PS-TOP PL see-IMPERF-EVID-1PS-2PS-DIR
I see you(pl).
Béhée hée sebáaysikaqwłákh.
bé-hée-Ø hée sebáay-si-k-qw-ł-ákh
2PS-PL-TOP PL see-IMPERF-EVID-1PP.INCL
You(pl) see us(incl).
Mood and tense are expressed by special tense verbs that subordinate the main verb. These are then marked for aspect and evidentiality rather than the main verb.
Né sebáaysikaŋał.
né sebáay-si-k-ŋ-ł-Ø
TOP.1PS see-IMPERF-EVID-1PS-2PS-DIR
I see you.
Né sebáayaŋał á wêqáasik
né sebáay-ŋ-ł-Ø á wêqáa-si-k
TOP.1PS see-1PS-2PS-DIR TOP.TENSE PAST-IMPERF-EVID
I saw (=was seeing) you.
That's baaaasically what I've got so far. It's obviously still extremely rough and I know I've left a bunch of stuff unexplained, so I'll probably fill that in later. Please give feedback and say what's confusing or what seems weird, and I'll see if I can fill it in.