User:Sophiersg/sandbox

Semelai is a language spoken in Peninsular Malaysia. It belongs to the Mon-Khmer division of the Austroasiatic language family.  Additionally, i t is a member of the Southern branch of the Aslian language subgrouping.  Semelai is spoken by approximately 4,103 people and is classified by Ethnologue as a 6b (threatened) language. The 6b classification means that it is currently used for in-person interactions between people of all ages, but is losing speakers. All users also speak Malay, which has influenced Semelai heavily, giving the language its Austronesian qualities. Semelai has no written tradition or recorded history, a trait which is typical of Aslian languages. However, Semelai is unique phonetically; there are 32 consonants, including several nasal sounds which have not been found in other Aslian languages. Semelai morphology relies both on affixation and clitics, along with some reduplication. Semelai has no basic word order, though it predominantly uses SVO, VSO and VOS.

 * Note for graders: table from existing Wiki article

Phonology


Vowels
Semelai 20 vowel phenomes: ten basic vowels along with their nasalized counterparts. The front vowel qualities represented are /i/, /e/, /ɛ/, and /a/. The central are /ʉ/ and /ə/. The back vowel qualities are /u/, /o/, /ɔ/, and /ɒ/. Semelai includes rounded and unrounded vowels. In spoken Semelai, the close-mid, mid-central, and open-mid vowels are difficult to discern from one another.

Consonants
Semelai contains thirty-two consonants, spanning five places of articulation and six manners of articulation.  * Note to graders: table from existing Wiki article, changed ɟ to j[ɟ], j to y[j] and ʔj to ʔy[ʔj].

Syllabic Structure
There are only two possible syllable structures in Semelai: CV and CVC. See examples below, with the highlighted syllable bolded: Although these are the only two syllables that can be spoken in Semelai, roots can break syllabic structure rules. Vowels get added in the pronunciation of these words so that they align with the CV, CVC constraints.

Syllabic Stress
In Semelai, primary stress lands on the final syllable. There is no secondary stress. In the case of words with suffixes, stress moves from the root to the suffix. For example:

p.'dɒr

to follow

When the suffix -iʔ is added, the word becomes p.dɒ.'riʔ.

Morphology
Semelai utilizes affixation as well as clitics. Semelai has borrowed several types of affixation from Malay, including its use of suffixes. Semelai also relies on the morphological process of reduplication.

Affixation
Affixes can take the form of prefixes, suffixes, infixes or circumfixes, though there are only two suffixes (an iterative and a nominalizer).

Some examples of affixes include:

the happenstance prefix t-, and the causative prefix pan-:

t pan  ca

HAPP-CAUS-to eat

to happen to feed'

the iterative suffix -ʔiʔ:

ca ʔiʔ

to eat-ITER

'to gobble up'

the imperfect infix <ŋ >:

cə ŋ  ʔɔŋ

to roast-IMPERF-to roast

'to be roasting'

Clitics
Semelai includes various types of clitics. Most are proclitics, with the exception of the absolutive =hn=, which can attach to either side of its host, and the two enclitics =ʔen (augmented) and =hɔ̃ʔ (attention).

Pronominal Proclitics
In Semelai, the pronominal proclitic is attached to the verb, yet corresponds to the noun phrase. For example:

ki=tikam la=knlək

3A=stab A=husband

The husband stabbed (it).

"A" indicates the "agent-like argument of a transitive verb."

Irrealis Clitic
The irrealis clitic (IRR) is ma= in Semelai. It is mutually exclusive with pronominal proclitics, and suppresses the "A." For example:

bɔy ma=yɔk!

NEG:IMP IRR=fetch

Don't fetch (it)!

NEG indicates negator and IMP indicates imperative.

Clitics to Free Pronouns
There are multiple variations of this type of clitic, including augmented (AUG), possessive (OF), and focus (PFOC and DET).

Augmented clitics are used to indicate plurality in first and second person free pronouns (e.g. yɛ=ʔen, 1=AUG). Augmented clitics are enclitics.

There are two possessive proclitics, də= and ddə=. The clitic ddə= can only attach to monosyllabic constituents.

Focus proclitics come in multiple forms, broken up into two categories. The possessor focus clitic, pə= (PFOC), can only attach to second and third person free pronouns. The third person absolutive focus clitic, ʔa= (DET), can only attach to third person pronouns. They both clarify who the sentence regards. For example:

mandehmɔh pə=kəh=hɔ̃hʔ

WHAT PFOC=3=ATTN

What is his (one)?

PFOC indicates the possessor focus, while ATTN indicates attention.

sampay ʔleʔleʔ=hn, sar  hũm  ʔa=deh

until eventually=CONN  descend  bathe  DET=3pl

So eventually, them, they went down to bathe.

CONN indicates connective and DET indicates determiner.

Reduplication
Semelai uses light syllable reduplication in order to emphasize or expand a concept. The process consists of copying both the consonant and vowel segments of the case up to, but not including, the final syllable in the coda. For example, the word 'draʔpɛ̃draʔpɛs:'

d -   raʔ -    pɛ̃ -  d -   raʔ -  pɛs̃

root(beginning) COMP  root(ending minus last syllable)   root(beginning)  COMP    root(ending)

‘to be really lower’

COMP indicates comparative.

Syntax
Semelai has no basic word order: “Constituent order is determined by the transitivity of the clause and the internal temporal structure of the event, in conjunction with factors motivated by discourse organization, e.g. the tendency for new information to precede old.” Though there is no dominant word order, there are three which are most common. These are SVO, VSO and VOS. SVO is used for generic clauses, such as:

S            V       O

pɔdɔŋ     ca      smaʔ

tiger       eat     people

Tigers eat people.

VSO and VOS are used interchangeably; there are clitics which indicate word type, so clarity is less contingent on word order. For example:

V                S                  O

ki=bukɒʔ    la=knlək      hn=pintuʔ

3S=open    S=husband  O=door

The husband opened the door.

V               O                 S

ki=bukɒʔ  hn=pintuʔ    la=knlək

3S=open    O=door      S=husband

The husband opened the door.

Though one example uses VSO word order, and the other VOS, these two sentences have the exact same translation. The clitics hn= (to indicate object) and la= (to indicate subject) allow for this flexibility.