Seonmi grammar

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This article details the grammar of the Seonmi language.

Overview[edit | edit source]

Seonmi is a polysynthetic ergative–absolutive language. Though capable of a free word order, the basic form of Seonmi sentence structure is object-subject-verb, with only the verb being required and immovable. As a highly synthetic language, meaning relies heavily on morphemes, many of which cannot be used as standalone words. As an ergative–absolutive language - like most of the languages of the Central Cymluni language family - the single argument ("subject") of intransitive verbs within expressions behave like the object of a transitive verbs, and differently from the agent ("subject") of transitive verbs. For instance, instead of saying "I moved her, so she moved", speakers of Seonmi would say the equivalent of "I moved her, so her moved". Pronouns change form to denote their role as a subject or object, and for possession; however, they are gender neutral. Other unique structures exist within the language, many shared with neighbouring languages of the Central Cymluni language family, two in particular are its complex systems of honorifics and evidentiality.

Morphemes[edit | edit source]

Seonmi frequently uses dozens of morphemes to signify the class and usage of words.

Standalone morphemes[edit | edit source]

Standalone morphemes comprise of pronoun particles and verb substitute particles, which can function as independent morphemes after sufficient context is established.

Pronouns[edit | edit source]

Seonmi pronouns are used not just to refer to human individuals, but also as placeholder names for any noun that is the topic of discussion, in a similar manner to "it".
Subject (argument)

  • ㄘㄚㄨ yao - first person (Atraelish example: I)
  • ㄘㄜㄏㄜ yehe - second person (She/he)
  • ㄘㄛㄔㄨ yosu - third person (They)
  • ㄘㄜㄑ yeng - first person possessive (Her/his)

Object (agent)

  • ㄘㄩ yiu - first person (Her/him)
  • ㄘㄜㄋㄔㄨ yensu - third person possessive (Them)

Verb substitutes[edit | edit source]

Verb substitutes are morphemes that can be used in the place of a verb, in a similar manner to that of a pronoun, including as an "it" analogue exclusively for verbs. Though rarely used due to the infrequency of recurrent verbs, they do see common usage in literature and poetry when a verb is frequently repeated.

  • ㄗㄚㄑ zang - transitive verb substitute
  • ㄗㄩㄑ zing - intransitive verb substitute

Modifying morphemes[edit | edit source]

Modifying morphemes are used to define the meaning of a noun or verb, their relationships to one another, as well as adding additional meaning such as tense. They are placed after the word they refer to, with their ordering hierarchy - when multiple modifying morphemes are used for one word - listed as below.

Nouns[edit | edit source]

1. Articles[edit | edit source]
  • ㄕㄜㄙㄨ shewu - definite article (the)
  • ㄔㄜㄙㄨ sewu - indefinite article (a)
  • ㄔㄜㄇㄨ semu - partitive article (e.g. "some")
2. Noun classes[edit | edit source]

Noun morphemes are typically used once to establish the class of a particular noun before being omitted. In some instances, such as people's names, they are never used. They can additionally be superseded by articles, typically the definite article for proper nouns.

  • ㄅㄠ bau - proper noun
  • ㄅㄛ bo - common noun
3. Plural[edit | edit source]

Seonmi has two plural forms, with further specific plurals denoted by adjectives.

  • aska - dual
  • sirka - three or greater
4. Honorifics[edit | edit source]

Aside from the various semantically formal and informal nouns of the Seonmi wordstock, honorific morphemes are additionally used to denote the speaker's social status, age, and gender relative to their listener(s). The following list is ordered in what is considered to be the correct hierarchy of status, according to the Seonmi Language Unification Authority.
Higher status

  • ㄓㄛㄨㄏㄚㄋ zhouhan - Older male of highest social status1
  • ㄔㄩㄏㄚㄋ siuhan - Older female of highest social status1
  • ㄗㄚㄛㄏㄚㄋ zaohan - Older male of higher social status2
  • ㄔㄚㄉㄛㄏㄚㄋ salohan - Older female of higher social status2
  • ㄓㄛㄨㄊㄚㄋ zhoutan - Younger/similar-aged male of highest social status1
  • ㄔㄩㄊㄚㄋ siutan - Younger/similar-aged female of highest social status1
  • ㄗㄚㄛㄊㄚㄋ zaotan - Younger/similar-aged male of higher social status2
  • ㄔㄚㄉㄛㄊㄚㄋ salotan - Younger/similar-aged female of higher social status2

Equal status

  • ㄆㄚㄔㄏㄚㄋ pashan - Older male of equal social status1
  • ㄉㄡㄏㄚㄋ louhan - Older female of equal social status1
  • ㄆㄩㄌㄏㄚㄋ pinyhan - Older male of equal social status2
  • ㄉㄚㄌㄏㄚㄋ lanyhan - Older female of equal social status2
  • ㄆㄚㄔㄊㄚㄋ pastan - Younger/similar-aged male of equal social status1
  • ㄉㄡㄊㄚㄋ loutan - Younger/similar-aged female of equal social status1
  • ㄆㄩㄌㄊㄚㄋ pinytan - Younger/similar-aged male of equal social status2
  • ㄉㄚㄌㄊㄚㄋ lanytan - Younger/similar-aged female of equal social status2

Lower status

  • ㄏㄜㄏㄚㄋ xehan - Older male of lower social status2
  • ㄏㄛㄏㄚㄋ xohan - Older female of lower social status2
  • ㄙㄜㄋㄏㄚㄋ wenhan - Older male of lowest social status1
  • ㄙㄛㄋㄏㄚㄋ wonhan - Older female of lowest social status1
  • ㄏㄜㄊㄚㄋ xetan - Younger/similar-aged male of lower social status2
  • ㄏㄛㄊㄚㄋ xotan - Younger/similar-aged female of lower social status2
  • ㄙㄜㄋㄊㄚㄋ wentan - Younger/similar-aged male of lowest social status1
  • ㄙㄛㄋㄊㄚㄋ wontan - Younger/similar-aged female of lowest social status1

Notes:

  • 1 Relative to the group or greater society (dependant on clusivity).
  • 2 Relative to the speaker.
5. Demonstratives and clusivity[edit | edit source]

Demonstratives

  • geiu - Refers to object close to the speaker (e.g. "this")
  • ganu - Refers to object close to the listener(s)
  • gizu - Refers to an object far from both the speaker and listener(s), within viewing range (similar to "that")
  • giziu - Refers to an object beyond the viewing range of the speaker and listener(s).

Clusivity

  • kanta - Including just the speaker (similar to "my")
  • kota - Including the speaker and those they consider with them, and specifically excluding the addressee(s) (similar to exclusive form of "we")
  • kinta - Including the speaker and those that are and may be listening (similar to inclusive form of "we")
  • santa - Including all who may be listening to the speaker, but not the speaker themselves (similar to "you")
  • sota - Includes a group beyond the listener(s) and speaker, who may or may not be listening (similar to "they")
  • sinta - Including the greater society, including the speaker and all who may or may not be listening.
6. Adpositions[edit | edit source]

Directional

  • eruka - Towards
  • sanuka - Away from
  • koika - Near
  • makoka - Into
  • wojaka - Against
  • zajika - Onto
  • loka - Over, across
  • haka - Past, beyond
  • tohuka - Underneath
  • turaka - Along, by way of
  • reika - From

Interacting

  • hazhaka - With
  • nyoka - Without
  • tseiuka - Of
  • kanpaka - Belonging to, in the possession of
7. Direction[edit | edit source]

Seonmi, like other languages of the Central Cymluni language family, perceives directions in cardinal terms - i.e. north, east, south and west - as opposed to relative direction such as left and right. Cardinal direction is typically verified by the position of the Sun, however most native Seonmi speakers have developed an innate ability to perceive direction even in the absence of visual clues.

  • xausi - North
  • leisi - East
  • zansi - South
  • kensi - West
8. Adjectives[edit | edit source]

Seonmi adjectives are added after a noun and its relevant morphemes, where it is followed by the suffix ㄎㄉㄩㄋ (klin) to signify its describer status.

Verbs[edit | edit source]

1. Verb aspect[edit | edit source]
  • ㄒㄚㄋ tsan - tenseless verb (often used as an infinitive or to establish habitual tense)
  • ㄒㄩㄋ tsiun - perfect past tense verb
  • ㄒㄚㄘㄚ tsaja - imperfect past tense verb
  • ㄒㄚㄌㄚ tsanya - present tense verb
  • ㄒㄚㄛ tsao - imperfect future tense verb
  • ㄒㄜㄋㄚ tsena - perfect future tense verb
2. Mood and evidentiality[edit | edit source]

Realis moods indicate that something is actually the case or a certain situation or action is known to have happened.

  • marek - Evidential, committed, e.g. "I did it myself"
  • sorek - Evidential, sight-derived, e.g. "I saw it"
  • barek - Evidential, hearing-derived, e.g. "I heard it"
  • korek - Evidential, smell-derived, e.g. "I smelt it"
  • tsirek - Evidential, touch-derived, e.g. "I touched it"
  • zirek - Evidential, taste-derived, e.g. "I tasted it"
  • pada - Inferential strong, e.g. "I have very strong evidence for it to be true"
  • goda - Inferential medium, e.g. "I have some evidence for it to be true"
  • bida - Inferential weak, e.g. "I assume it to be true"
  • pida - Inferential uncertain, e.g. "It might be true"

Irrealis moods indicate that something is not actually the case or a certain situation or action is not known to have happened.

  • masirek - Evidential, committed, e.g. "I did not do it myself"
  • sosirek - Evidential, sight-derived, e.g. "I did not see it"
  • basirek - Evidential, hearing-derived, e.g. "I did not hear it"
  • kosirek - Evidential, smell-derived, e.g. "I did not smell it"
  • tsisirek - Evidential, touch-derived, e.g. "I did not touch it"
  • zisirek - Evidential, taste-derived, e.g. "I did not taste it"
  • padei - Inferential strong, e.g. "I have very strong evidence for it to be false"
  • godei - Inferential medium, e.g. "I have some evidence for it to be false"
  • bidei - Inferential weak, e.g. "I assume it to be false"
  • pidei - Inferential uncertain, e.g. "It might be false"

Interrogative mood are used for asking questions. Rather than employing a rising tone at the end of sentences, a practice typical of Upcymlu-amleian languages, morphemes are added by speakers of Seonmi to denote a question, with no discernible tone difference.

  • itak - General interrogative.
  • iukan - Realis interrogative, e.g. "is it true that..."
  • aukan - Irrealis interrogative, e.g. "is it false that..."
3. Adverbs[edit | edit source]

Seonmi adverbs function identically to adjectives, save being placed after a verb and its relevant morphemes, and followed by the suffix ㄉㄩ (li).

Conjunctions[edit | edit source]

Coordinating conjunctions[edit | edit source]

Conjunctions are placed before the object they refer to.

  • sho - for (establishes purpose, e.g. "Seeds for the crop")
  • hi - and
  • ga - nor
  • gen - but
  • hai - or
  • we - yet
  • gahu - so

Numbers[edit | edit source]

Seonmi uses both its own system of numerical symbols, as well as Atraelic numbers. Cardinal numbers are indicated by the suffix “pa” (ㄆㄚ). Ordinal numbers are indicated by a the suffix “ba” (ㄅㄚ).

Numbers
Number 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Name A Aba Ababa Ana Anaba Inigu Inobu Inabu Irigu Pangu Kangu
Symbol
 
Number 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Name Kangu-Aba Kangu-Ababa Kangu-Ana Kangu-Anaba Kangu-Inigu Kangu-Inobu Kangu-Inabu Kangu-Irigu Kangu-Pangu Ababa-Kangu
Symbol ㄑㄏ ㄑㄕ ㄑㄅ ㄑㄆ ㄑㄨ ㄑㄉ ㄑㄎ ㄑㄘ ㄑㄋ
 
Number 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 200
Name Ana-Kangu Anaba-Kangu Inigu-Kangu Inobu-Kangu Inabu-Kangu Irigu-Kangu Pangu-Kangu Shibu Ababa-Shibu
Symbol ㄕㄍ
 
Number 1000 10,000 100,000 1,000,000 10,000,000
Name Dasu Kangu-Dasu Shibu-Dasu Sapo Kangu-Sapo
Symbol ㄑㄓ ㄍㄓ ㄓㄓ ㄑㄓㄓ


Languages
Families
Language families Central Cymluni · Ewigic · Lowcymlu-urcinnan · Neiran · Upcymlu-amleian · Yumeran
Languages
Major languages Abata · Amulni · Atraelish · Barva · Cesmelan · Etruarac · Flaigalish · Gakknir · Gashaorhieli · Jovaran · Mahleka · Mainathan · Mordrasi · Mukegani · Pelannician · Ruuvatthan · Seonmi · Tzolkese · Umura · Varlish · Virassian · Wunal · Yashurhieli
Minor languages Šamolai
Misc.
Grammar Amulni · Seonmi · Virassian · Wunal
Word lists List of Seonmi words and phrases · List of Wunal words and phrases