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Saweli grammar and phonology

In a message dated 5/9/2008 11:20:38 AM Central Daylight Time, abaudry@hidden.email writes:


 I didn't find something that sum up the basic features of Saweli,
like the phonology and the bases of grammar. Is there a website or
documents like this?




Did you find the dictionary in the files section?

I just use Rick Morneau's Latejami grammar at
http://www.eskimo.com/~ram/Latejami/
although I've also used parts of Latejami's oldest ancestor, Katanda:
http://www.eskimo.com/~ram/Katanda/ .

There are some differences now.  They are given in detail in other messages in this list, but here is a summary.

Katanda and Latejami add modifiers before the classifier, followed by any suffixes, then a part-of-speech (POS) marker, if necessary.  There may be prefixes before the modifiers.
In Saweli these elements are rearranged to: classifier + modifiers + ("n" + suffixes) + POS + endings.  The endings correspond to prefixes in Katanda and Latejami.  

Latejami uses a series of suffixes to change the argument structure of a word.  Using Rick's notation,

Katanda
A/P/F-s      nv                    A/P/F-d    mb
A/P-s          nf                      A/P-d        mp
AP/F-s       nz                      AP/F-d      nj
AP-s            ns                      AP-d         nc
P/F-s          nd                     P/F-d        ng
P-s               nt                     P-d             nk

Latejami:
A/P/F-s      anz                  A/P/F-d    amb
A/P-s          as                     A/P-d        ap
AP/F-s       inz                    AP/F-d      imb
AP-s            is                      AP-d          ip
P/F-s          unz                   P/F-d        umb
P-s               us                     P-d            up

In both Katanda and Latejami, classifiers have an inherent argument structure (one of those above), and so most words don't have any of the suffixes above.  These suffixes are used only to change the argument structure.  E.g., Latejami "daziga" (be blue), has argument structure P-s.  To make a P-d form of the word, 'become blue', the suffix "-up-" is added between the classifer "zig" and the verb ending "-a", giving "dazigupa".  

Saweli uses a different strategy.  Although the classifiers still have their own inherent argument structure, just like Latejami, suffixes are added to indicate only the change from the original argument structure.  

The Saweli suffixes are composed of the following components:
x = change "-d" to "-s"
z = change "-s" to "-d"
v = no change (used when only the vowel changes)

w = add F
y = subtract F

a = no change in P, AP, A/P
e = change to P
i = change to AP
o = change to A/P

'Be blue' in Saweli is "xakip".  It's P-s.  The final "p" is a verb ending indicating the classifier takes one argument, and it's "-s".  
Suffixes are separated from roots in Saweli by "n".  The suffix for changing P-s to P-d ( as in 'become blue') is "za".  "z" means that "-s" changes to "-d", and "a" means that the P remains the same.  The word for 'become blue' is thus "xakinzap".  In Saweli, each change in the argument structure is indicated separately.

Katanda has one classifier for all the epistemic modalities and another for the deontic modalities.  Latejami gives each modality its own classifier, not related to the others in any way, thus losing the connection between them.  Saweli combines the two ideas: Each modality has its own classifier, but the classifiers have a common element.  All epistemic modalities in Saweli begin with "yo-" and all deontic modalities begin with "yu-".

There is a lot more order and regularity in Saweli than either Latejami or Katanda, especially in the forms of the various word elements (classifiers, modifiers, prefixes, suffixes, and part-of-speech markers).

I've also changed quite a few of the modifiers of Latejami words so the meaning of the word is more transparent.  E.g., here is the Latejami definition of "kwizovi":

kwizovi [P-s] - cat, domestic cat. "Kwizovi" refers to all breeds of Felis catus. Dasu kwicala kwizovi kumeno zoge kigi xemo = How many cats live at your house? [Etym: building/home/reside/build/construct + carnivore]

"Kwi" is a modifier meaning 'building/home/reside/build/construct', "zov" is a classifier meaning "carnivore", and "-i" indicates the word is a closed noun (it takes no arguments of its own).  
The Saweli word for 'cat' is "bepos".  "Be" is the classifier for 'carnivore', "po" is a modifier meaning 'play/sport/leisure', and "-s" indicates the word is a closed noun.  Saweli "po" is essentially the same as Latejami "dwe", so the Latejami equivalent of "bepos" would be *"dwezovi", which doesn't exist.

These are just some of the main differences between Saweli and Latejami.  For the most part, there is a one-to-one correspondence between the two languages, although Saweli has hundreds more words now.

The phonology of the two languages is different.  Latejami has a built-in quality of self-segmentation, meaning that a stream of sounds can be parsed into words in only one way.  Saweli does not have this quality.

Saweli uses the 26 letters and apostrophe.  The vowels (a, e, i, o, u) are as in "father", "get", "machine", "hope", and "rule".
The consonants b, d, f, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, z are as in English.
"C" is as "ch" in "church".
"G" is always 'hard' as in "get" or "go".  
"Q" is like "zh" or "s" in "vision".
"X" is like "sh" in "ship" or "fish".
The apostrophe (') is pronounced as a glottal stop.  

All questions and comments are welcome.

stevo