Seonmi grammar

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This article details the grammar of the Seonmi language.

Overview

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

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

Standalone morphemes

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

Pronouns

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

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

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

1. Articles

• ㄕㄜㄙㄨ shewu - definite article (the)
• ㄔㄜㄙㄨ sewu - indefinite article (a)
• ㄔㄜㄇㄨ semu - partitive article (e.g. "some")

2. Noun classes

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

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

• aska - dual
• sirka - three or greater

4. Honorifics

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

Demonstratives

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

Clusivity

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

6. Adpositions

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

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

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

1. Verb aspect

• 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

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

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

Conjunctions

Coordinating conjunctions

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

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	ㄚ	ㄏ	ㄕ	ㄅ	ㄆ	ㄨ	ㄉ	ㄎ	ㄘ	ㄋ	ㄑ
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	ㄔ
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	ㄙ	ㄖ	ㄩ	ㄇ	ㄗ	ㄌ	ㄤ	ㄍ	ㄕㄍ
Number	1000	10,000	100,000	1,000,000	10,000,000
Name	Dasu	Kangu-Dasu	Shibu-Dasu	Sapo	Kangu-Sapo
Symbol	ㄓ	ㄑㄓ	ㄍㄓ	ㄓㄓ	ㄑㄓㄓ