yet another new lang sketch (sorry)

Hey everybody. I'm procrastinating studying for my exams (the term's almo=
st=20
over!) and I thought I would post a little sketch of something I've been=20
working on on and off (mostly off) for a while. It's called Tanla (haven'=
t=20
figured out what it means yet) and it's spoken in the same region with=20
Asiteya, Asiteya on the mainland and Tanla on the large northern archipel=
ago=20
(it may be on the dialect map on my webpage).  I think I mentioned Tanla =
in=20
passing in part of the description of Asiteya. Anyway:

Phonology

stops           labial  p
                dental  t
                velar   k
                glottal '
fric-           dental  s
atives         alveolar x /S/
                glottal h
nasals          labial  m
                dental  n
                velar   g /N/
liquids        alveolar
             /palatal   l
                 tap    r
semi-        palatal    y
vowels        labial    w

vowels short i    u             long ii    uu
                e
                a                       aa

e is a schwa

syllables (C)V(t/k/l/n)

legal initial clusters: stop/non-glottal fricative/non-velar nasal +=20
liquid/semivowel
non-glottal stop + s
the glottal stop occurs only between vowels

pitch-accent: acute accent on a vowel means high pitch stress, grave acce=
nt=20
means low pitch stress

tentative rules for spplication of accent: final vowels of >/=3D 3 syllab=
le=20
word have low accent
second syllable of >3 syllable word has high accent
final syllable of <3 syllable word has high accent

Any suggestions on this? I think pitch-accent is really nifty but I don't=
=20
have any experience with it.

Verbs

Two types. One has only one stem, the lexical (infinitive). Mostly=20
monosyllables. The other has a present/future stem  ending in a vowel (th=
e=20
lexical form), and a past stem formed by dropping the final vowels.

ex.     one stem-       wa'a to cover
        two stems-      nasinai to be present
                        nasin to have been present

personal prefixes

                sing.           plural
1               a-                      ya-
2               ku-                     ki-
3masc           i-                      u-
3fem            ha-                     hi-

aspect infixes - fall after the initial consonant of the verb

telic           -ix-
repetitive      -ak-
inchoative      -uun-
durative        -us-
perfect         -il-

ex.     it waves - iw=E1ka'a (it covers.repetitive, root wa'a)
        I cover(ed) completely - aw=EDxa'a
        you have appeared - kun=EDlasap=E0'a (root nasap=E0'a   to              appear)
 he was beginning to perform the ceremony - ik=FAunaaty=E0t (root kaa=
ty=E1t :=20
he-inchoative-                  perform.ceremony-past)

Nouns

gender - general rules - masculine ends in high vowel,                  nasal, or liqui=
d;=20
definite article "an"
 feminine ends in low vowel, schwa or stop; definite article "al"

the consonant of the article elides before a noun starting with that=20
consonant
the definite article doesn't decline

nominal stems
final vowel > 0
final l > r
final k > h
final t > s
final n > no change
greater than 3 syllbles, drop final syllable

cases

                sing.           plural

nom.            ----                    -i
acc.            -an                     -in
relative        -ua                     -i
(gen/erg)
dat.            -eta                    -eti
part.           -ia                     -i
loc.            -aa                     -ali


example: an taek-the father

                        sing                            plural


nom.                    an taek                         an taehi
acc.                    an taehan                       an taehin
rel.                    an taehua                       an taehi
dat.                    an taeheta                      an taeheti
part.                   an taehia                       an taehi
loc.                    an taehaa                       an taehali

al amat-the mother

                        sing.                   plural

nom.                    al amat                         al amasi
acc.                    al amasan                       al amasin
rel.                    al amasua                       al amasi
dat.                    al amaseta                      al amaseti
part.                   al amasia                       al amasi
loc.                    al amasaa                       al amasali

accents not included here

Also, there's a very irregular series of personal pronouns that I just do=
n't=20
feel like typing. I really do have to go study.

One of the few sentences in this language thus far:
ani al puyan musinaan ni'i al tisuuyaa
I.rel the woman-acc see.durative-past at the doorway-loc
I used to see the woman in the doorway.

Suggestions? Comments? It's meant to feel sort of Native American,at leas=
t=20
at first glance, so what else can I do it to this end? Does anyone actual=
ly=20
read these all the way through?

Jennifer Barefoot

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