Difference between revisions of "Mor'osi Language"

Revision as of 20:04, 14 October 2007

Mor'osi (Mor'osvur, IPA: [moɺ.osβɯɺ] is the primary language of the nation of Mor'os, spoken by an overwhelming 94% of the population.

Phonology

Both consonant length and vowel length are phonemic in Mor'osi. The vowels [i] and [ɯ] can be long within a single morpheme or between separate morphemes, while [a], [o] and [ɛ] may only be long between morphemes. Consonants are only long between morphemes, never within a single morpheme.

Consonants

Vowels

Grammar

Mor'osi displays close to no inflection, relying instead heavily on context and particle words to convey meaning alongside subordinate clauses. In this same vein Mor'osi is a pro-drop language, and any assumed element can be dropped from the sentence.

Particles

Particles in Mor'osi serve both to mark the role of a noun within a sentence and as postpositions, identicical to prepostitions in function but placed after the word which they modify, to indicate possession and to form certain grammatical moods.

Postpositional phrases

Postpositional phrases can be used in Mor'osi to indicate the location of objects in space or time with greater precision than with the particles et, i, e and dal. There phrases consists of one of these particles, along with the possessive particle on and a locative morpheme.

Syntax and Topic-prominence

There is not set syntax ruling Mor'osi grammar. Instead, Mor'osi is a topic-prominence language in which the the subject, object, verb other element that the speaker wishes to place emphasis on is placed at the onset of the sentence. Often this is used to introduce new information, or to draw attention to a certain point.

Reduplication

Reduplication, the process or repeating a word, is a common feature of Mor'osi. Reduplication serves three purposes: emphasis or augmentation of the reduplicated morpheme, the pluralization of certain nouns and pronouns, and the indication of the progressive or imperfect aspect. The phenomenon occurs frequently enough that in Mor'osi orthography a special character, a simple dash, exists for the purpose of indicating reduplication.

Orthography

Mor'osi uses its own native writing system, the Satzi alphabet (literally meaning "origin characters"), for the purposes of writing. The alphabet has been modified for the purpose of writing the languages of many of Mor'os's ethnic groups as well.

History

The earliest Mor'osi writing consisted of simple pictograms, pictures representing, objects and ideas, appearing on a significant and regular basis and showing the earliest signs of standardization during the Nour Period. Certain ideas and concepts though inevitably proved difficult to represent as pictures, and as a result the practice of using preexisting characters either beginning or containing the desired phonemes together to write these ideas evolved. With time the preferred method became that of an abugida, modifying a character representing a simple to illustrate idea with diacritics to alter its inherent vowel and final consonant. Eventually the diacritics used to represent these altered vowels and final consonants were for the sake of simplicity made identical to the characters, now greatly simplified over time from the original pictograms, used for initial consonants and their inherent vowel and final consonant. These diacritics subsequently became full fledged letters, the same as the characters from which they had originally been derived, and the initial characters dropped their inherent vowel and final consonant by the early Daral Period. The practice though of writing the letter for the initial consonant, vowel and final consonant of a syllable together in single unit of text persisted.

Despite a set of widely accepted conventions and practices established by trade and commerce between kingdoms during the Daral Period, there still existed significant variations between the orthographies of different regions and kingdoms. Changes in the language which the alphabet was being used to represent and different spelling reforms undertaken by kingdoms only made matters worse. The first major effort directed at standardization across the entirety of Mor'os was undertaken at the onset of the Satdai Period, with the country firmly united under the rule of Andel Dalēn. In addition to setting down rules regarding the construction of units of text, Andel also eliminated the defunct and purposeless character dhath. Dhath had originally represented the phonemes [θ] and [ð], but by the Satdai Period they had merged with the phonemes [s] and [z]. The letter ex, which represented the final consonant cluster [ks], was also eliminated, as the consonant cluster had dropped from the language.

The next significant reform or the writing system occurred during the later Ēpak Period, another time of relative peace and stability for the country. As a result of the passage of time the alphabet once again was not an ideal representation of the Mor'osi language as it stood. The character lor, which had in its weak and strong forms respectively represented the phonemes [l] and [ɺ], became the modern ro, representing [ɺ] alone, and the new character lhol derived from lor was introduced to represent [l̥] and [l] respectively in its weak and strong forms to account for the split of [l] into [l̥] and [l]. The letter hya was also dropped and replaced with yha as a result of the phoneme [ɧ]'s progression to [ç] and for aesthetic reasons.

During the Tenmas Period the letter fov, representing [ɸ] and [β], the letter ang, representing [ŋ], and the letter ya, representing [j], were gradually replaced with the modern fev,eng and yo for aesthetic reasons.

The final and most recent alteration of Mor'osi orthography occurred as part of the Shinchi Restoration. The letter wo, which represented [ɰ], was dropped in favor of using the letter ho, renamed woh, to write both [x] and [ɰ], and the letter yho representing [ç] originally but [j̊] by then was discarded, and instead yo was used to write both [j̊] and [j].

The Alphabet

There are a total of 19 letters in the Satzi alphabet. Of these 19, 15 have distinct weak (Mor'osi: mel) and strong (Mor'osi: rau) forms. The weak form is represented by the character as shown in the basic alphabet. The strong form meanwhile is indicated by flipping the letter across its vertical axis for vowels or by rotating the letter 180 degrees for consonants. The notable exception to this rule is yo, which is instead flipped across its vertical axis as if it were a vowel, as the weak and strong forms would be identical if the standard representation for consonants were used. For vowels, the weak/strong distinction is a matter of vowel length; weak forms are short and strong forms are long. For consonants, whether a letter is weak or strong indicates whether the consonant is voiceless or voiced respectively, with the exception of men. For men the distinction is instead between the nasal phonemes [m] and [n]. Those letters which do not possess distinct weak and strong forms are considered weak by default.

Dialects

Mor'osi appears in a number of dialects across the nation.

Domvur

Spoken in the Capital Districts and in much of the Domlēn Region Domvur is usually regarded as the most proper rendition of Mor'osi and is the dialect which those learning the language are taught.

Nanvur

The Nanvur dialect is perhaps the most famous Mor'osi dialect other than Domvur. Spoken in the south of Mor'os, including in the major urban centers of Gamnah and Daang, the dialect is marked by nasalization, lenition, contraction and a significant degree of relaxed pronunciation which results in the "slurring" of syllables.

• The realization of [g] as [ŋ].
• The realization of [tɬ] as [ɬ].
• The realization of the diphthong [aɯ] as [aː].
  • bau, "front"
    Domvur: [baɯ]
    Nanvur: [baː]
• The realization of [ɺ] as [ɾ] before alveolar consonants.
  • martan, "wooded valley"
    Domvur: [maɺ.tan]
    Nanvur: [maɾ.tan]
• The lenition of initial [x] to [ɰ̊].
  • har, "brave"
    Domvur: [xaɺ]
    Nanvur: [ɰ̊aɺ]
• The realization of final [x] as [ʀ̊].
  • nah, "string"
    Domvur: [nax]
    Nanvur: [nãʀ̊]
• The nasalization of vowels following [n] and [ŋ].
  • na, "name"
    Domvur: [na]
    Nanvur: [nã]
• Significantly relaxed pronunciation, which takes multliple forms:
  • Any nasal followed immediately by another is realized as the first nasal with a germinate consonant length.
    • donmon, "clothing"
      Domvur: [don.mon]
      Nanvur: [do.nːõn]
  • Any fricative followed immediately by another is realized as the second fricative with a germinate consonant length.
    • azzhau, "morning light"
      Domvur: [az.ʑaɯ]
      Nanvur: [a.ʑːaː]
  • The consonants [t] and [d] followed by either [s], [z], [ɕ] or [ʑ] are realized as affricates, withing voicing determined by the initial :
    • satzhī, "first son"
      Domvur: [sat.ʑiː]
      Nanvur: [sa.tɕiː]
  • The loss of final [t] when immediately followed by another consonant other than [s], [z], [ɕ] or [ʑ].
    • katmo, "assistant teacher"
      Domvur: [kat.mo]
      Nanvur: [ka.mo]
  • The loss of [x] when immediately preceded by another consonant.
    • silhai, "forest fire"
      Domvur: [sil.xai]
      Nanvur: [si.lai]