February 2019 CDN Speedlang

This is my entry in miacomet#5194's speedlang challenge on the CDN. I heard about it kind of late and was busy so I did it in a day.

Tentative name: Kadu.

Phonology
/ø/ is quite uncommon and carries a low functional load.

The symbols given in the table are also used for the orthography. Note that ɫ is IPA /ʎ/ i.e. it is not a velarized alveolar lateral. /c/ and /k/ are not distinguished after /i/, but it's always written /k/ due to time constraints when writing this.

Syllable and word structure
Syllables are CV(C), with the exception of word-initial syllables which may be V(C). Word-internally the coda may be a nasal (notated |N|) or lateral (notated |L|) that acquires the place of articulation of the following consonant. Word-finally the coda may be a nasal or lateral (usually realized [ŋ] or [ʟ]), a voiceless stop, or /r/. The vowel /ɨ/ does not occur word-finally except in single-syllable pronouns. The sequences /lɨ/, /ɫɨ/, /ɫi/, /yi/, and /wu/ do not occur. |L| does not occur before laterals. |L| is /l/ before labials.

The half-voiced plosives only occur word-internally.

Verbs
Kadu has a small closed class of verbs, between around 60 and 200. The trouble is that Kadu verb morphology is complex and essentially unanalyzable. Many verbs appear to have similar meanings and differ only in person or aspectual categories. There is somewhat regular suppletion for subject agreement and most verbs occur in "locutor" versus "non-locutor" forms. Some verbs do not make this distinction.

There is also a general distinction between punctual and durative verbs. ‘Punctual’ generally includes perfectives, instantaneous events, and a sort of aorist; ‘durative’ subsumes imperfectives, habituals, states, and experiential perfects. This is more easily demonstrated:

When accounting for suppletion of locutor/non-locutor and punctual/durative, the number of verbs comes down from around 200 verb forms to closer to 60 distinct meanings.

Causatives are formed by partial reduplication of the first syllable of the word + the vowel o. Their use is quite productive. Semantically they encompass both making something happen and allowing it to happen.

There is a reflexive infix -ɨn- that applies to transitive verbs. Full reduplication of a reflexive verb produces a reciprocal: timin ‘to follow, to go alongside, to track (an animal), to move with one's course determined by someone or something else’ → tɨnimin ‘to go one's own way (to follow oneself)’ → tɨnimin tɨnimin ‘to pursue each other, to compete’.

Adjectives
Adjectives are a small closed class with four members: tɨn ‘good’, tandan ‘big’, man ‘other’, and tañi ‘true’. tɨn and tandan can be reduplicated, meaning ‘really good’ or ‘really big’.

Pronouns
Pronouns occur in 5 roles: agent, pegent, recipient, theme/location/benefactive, and patient. Not all noun classes distinguish all roles.

The choice of agent/pegent and theme/patient/recipient is largely determined by verb semantics. Verbs implying a lesser degree of effectedness of the patient tend to assign pegent and theme, while verbs implying a greater degree of effectedness or a change of state tend to assign agent and patient. Recipient pronouns are usually assigned by verbs that imply some effectedness but to a lesser degree than patient pronouns, usually implying some sort of impermanence. They can occur with either agent or pegent pronouns depending on the verb.

Nouns
Nouns constitute the bulk of the Kadu lexicon and are organized into at 5 mostly posture/shape-based classes. Noun class is indicated predominantly by agreement with pronouns. The noun classes with their associated theme pronouns are given below:


 * I kɨp Standing adult male humans.
 * II bar Standing female humans, standing children, trees, things that are significantly taller than they are long.
 * III ke Sitting humans, bushes, things approximately bush-shaped or otherwise of more or less equal dimensions in both length and height, celestial objects.
 * IV pɨ Laying humans, things that are significantly longer than they are tall.
 * V tɨ Things that are usually handled with the hand, typically small.

Humans are typically assigned based on their posture, however, agent and pegent pronouns only exist for standing humans, so a human in an actor role is always assigned a standing noun class regardless of posture.

Some verbs do agree with their noun class via suppletion, mostly verbs of existence (being polysemous with standing/sitting/laying).

Morphosyntax
Roles are divided into two macroroles, actor (subsuming agent and pegent) and undergoer (subsuming theme, recipient, and patient), henceforth A and U. Morphosyntactic alignment is flexible, roughly of the split-S type with a subset of fluid-S verbs.

Adjuncts and indirect objects
Kadu does not distinguish adjuncts and indirect objects. Each clause may have a single oblique constituent, marked by the preposition ap. ap marks obliques regardless of thematic role.

ne jem

1PL.AGN increase_in_elevation.1.PUNC

‘We stood up.’

ne jem ap dul

1PL.AGN increase_in_elevation.1.PUNC OBL night

‘We stood up at night.’

Examples
nani ke dɨm ap ɫirik san tagkim semet

house 3III.THM be_in_a_location.3III.DUR OBL road three join.DUR place

‘The house stands (lit. sits) where three roads meet.’

na tɨ cik il tɨ mu buk sak

1SG.AGN 3V.THM hit 2SG.PEG 3V.THM 1SG.REC book untie

‘I lost the book that you gave me.’