Amafjk language: Difference between revisions

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In many analyses, Amafjk vowels are said to have secondary phonemic status due to the fact that the vast majority of roots in the language are vowelless before the application of [[w:Transfix|transfixes]], as well as the fact that sentences can have the vowels of their transfixes freely exchanged without changing the meaning, so long as the relations between transfix vowels (i.e. which ones do and do not match) remain unchanged. However, vowels occasionally do appear in roots and have semantically meaningful minimal pairs, such as ''fjm–kx–'' (sp. of fish) and ''fam–kx–'' ([[w:Promontory|promontory]]).

Amafjk's syllable structure is (C)V(C), with consecutive vowels being prohibited.

=== Allophony ===

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=== Nominals ===

Nominals are typically binodal, with positive-to-negative connections indicating the positive-side nominal modifying the negative-side. This part of speech encompasses the functionalities of both nouns and adjectives in Amafjk, with almost all nominals having both an adjectival and standalone meaning. Usually, these meanings are trivial, with a word meaning "X" as an adjective tending to mean "someone/something which is X" as a noun – for example, as stated above, the root ''s–kk–'' denotes either "four" or "quartet" depending on its context.

Nominals are typically binodal, with positive-to-negative connections indicating the positive-side nominal modifying the negative-side. This part of speech encompasses the functionalities of both nouns and adjectives in Amafjk, with almost all nominals having both an adjectival and standalone meaning. Usually, these meanings are trivial, with a word meaning "X" as an adjective tending to mean "someone/something which is X" as a noun – for example, as stated above, the root ''s–kk–'' denotes either "four" or "quartet" depending on its context. Nonetheless, there are also some lexicalizations such as ''k–mn–'' "gray; seal (i.e. the gray one)" and some apparently irregular correspondences such as ''–ms–'' "glass; crooked". When used to modify a nominal that is itself used adjectivally, it takes on an adverbial meaning of "in an X way".

Some uninodal nominals also exist, which can be either positive or negative. Positive uninodals are typically highly abstract adjectives that do not have a clear meaning for nominal equivalents by virtue of the adjective having different meanings depending on the noun it modifies, such as ''s–x–x'' "cold (of places); holy (of people and things)", as well as various determiners and nominal particles that pattern as adjectives, such as ''t–k'' "of some sort" or the nominal tense marker ''–m'' "-to-be". Negative uninodals are much rarer, consisting of a handful of nouns considered "highly animate", such as kinship terms, pronouns, deities, and a few natural phenomena (such as ''t–ntj'' "wind").

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 In many analyses, Amafjk vowels are said to have secondary phonemic status due to the fact that the vast majority of roots in the language are vowelless before the application of [[w:Transfix|transfixes]], as well as the fact that sentences can have the vowels of their transfixes freely exchanged without changing the meaning, so long as the relations between transfix vowels (i.e. which ones do and do not match) remain unchanged. However, vowels occasionally do appear in roots and have semantically meaningful minimal pairs, such as ''fjm–kx–'' (sp. of fish) and ''fam–kx–'' ([[w:Promontory|promontory]]).
+Amafjk's syllable structure is (C)V(C), with consecutive vowels being prohibited.
 === Allophony ===
@@ Line 210: / Line 212: @@
 === Nominals ===
-Nominals are typically binodal, with positive-to-negative connections indicating the positive-side nominal modifying the negative-side. This part of speech encompasses the functionalities of both nouns and adjectives in Amafjk, with almost all nominals having both an adjectival and standalone meaning. Usually, these meanings are trivial, with a word meaning "X" as an adjective tending to mean "someone/something which is X" as a noun – for example, as stated above, the root ''s–kk–'' denotes either "four" or "quartet" depending on its context.
+Nominals are typically binodal, with positive-to-negative connections indicating the positive-side nominal modifying the negative-side. This part of speech encompasses the functionalities of both nouns and adjectives in Amafjk, with almost all nominals having both an adjectival and standalone meaning. Usually, these meanings are trivial, with a word meaning "X" as an adjective tending to mean "someone/something which is X" as a noun – for example, as stated above, the root ''s–kk–'' denotes either "four" or "quartet" depending on its context. Nonetheless, there are also some lexicalizations such as ''k–mn–'' "gray; seal (i.e. the gray one)" and some apparently irregular correspondences such as ''–ms–'' "glass; crooked". When used to modify a nominal that is itself used adjectivally, it takes on an adverbial meaning of "in an X way".
+Some uninodal nominals also exist, which can be either positive or negative. Positive uninodals are typically highly abstract adjectives that do not have a clear meaning for nominal equivalents by virtue of the adjective having different meanings depending on the noun it modifies, such as ''s–x–x'' "cold (of places); holy (of people and things)", as well as various determiners and nominal particles that pattern as adjectives, such as ''t–k'' "of some sort" or the nominal tense marker ''–m'' "-to-be". Negative uninodals are much rarer, consisting of a handful of nouns considered "highly animate", such as kinship terms, pronouns, deities, and a few natural phenomena (such as ''t–ntj'' "wind").