Dyamakat (Lake People) language

Orthography

-          a - /a/

-          b - /b/

-          c - /t͡ʃ/

-          d - /d/

-          e - /ɛ/

-          f - /f/

-          g - /g/

-          h - /h/

-          i - /i/

-          k - /k/

-          l - /l/

-          m - /m/

-          n - /n/

-          o - /ɔ/

-          p - /p/

-          r - /r/

-          s - /s/

-          š - /ʃ/

-          t - /t/ (at end of word, /t̚/, as in Vietnamese)

-          ṭ - /θ/

-          u - /u/

-          v - /v/

-          x - /x/

-          y - /j/

-          z - /z/

-          ž - /ʒ/

Word order

There is generally no strict sentence order, with a few exceptions – for example, the “topic noun” typically comes first (see Prefixes section for use). In direct statements, it is marked with the topic prefix, but there is none used to indicate a question, as seen in these examples:

Kema me rai son karvu oi-xyek? river topic.pl summer often fish.std spec.mountain

Do I fish in the mountain rivers in the summer?

Mi-xma me rai son karvu oi-xyek – topic.river topic.pl summer often fish.std spec.mountain

I fish in the mountain rivers during the summer

Rai son karvu oi-xyek? summer often fish.std spec.mountain

Where do I fish in the mountains in the summer?

Formality/informality

Those speaking from authority use a grammatically differing form of the language – take, for example, “bit”, the nominative first-person pronoun. Informally, this is not used when the first person carries out the action, and this is gathered from this contextual lack. However, it is used in formal expressions such as these, to multiple effects:

Mya-lu rexopo a še bit – topic.village stay.formal you.nom permit.formal I.nom

I permit you to stay in (my) village

Here, not only is “bit” used as a pronoun, but carries the double meaning of possession. In all formal speech, the sentence-final use of a pronoun carries this double meaning.

Also note the use of formal second-person verb forms, which shall be discussed in the Verb endings section.

Unless necessary, no expressions of time or time-related morphemes are used formally, and neither are plural-indicating particles.

Prefixes

Two prefixes, “mi-“ and “oi-“ are commonly used before words to denote (with “mi-“) the area around which something occurs, physical or otherwise, and (with “-oi”) the thing specifically characterising a previously ambiguous noun, especially (for examples of their use, see the Word order section).

These are subject to the following mutations depending on preceding phonemes:

Vowel = mya-	k = mi-x	š = mya-š-
b = mi-v-	l = mya-l-	t = mi-ṭ-
c = mi-h-	m = mi-b-	ṭ = mi-h-
d = mi-t-	n = mi-d-	v = mya-v-
f = mi-x-	p = mi-f-	x = mi-z-
g = mi-k-	r = mo-r-	z = mi-ž-
h = mi-s-	š = mya-š-	ž = mya-ž-

The same patterns occur for “oi-” with “mya-“ to “oya-“ and “mo-“ to “o-“.

Use of article “va”

Nouns do not exist as such, apart from family members and featural nouns (i.e. village, river, mountain), and in context are described by the verb they carry out, or that is carried out on them. The article “va” precedes the noun to mean “one who –s”, and comes after the noun to mean “one who is -ed”.

The article is shortened to “mya-v” in the topic and “oya-v” in the specific.

“Va” and copulae

“Va” is used especially when a copula (“to be” verb) is required e.g.

Mi-šni va korek bui – topic.skilled one.who bow-hunts sister

My sister is a good/skilled bow hunter

(It should also be noted here that adjectives often take the topic prefix with copulae)

Note also that the possessive “my” is implied – if the sister relates to another party, the equivalent pronoun of this party is placed after the sentence (although “you” has no possessive form, and is just assumed, except when rendered as “these” when absolutely necessary (see Pronominal declension)).

Article “te”

“Te” is often used to create plurals, although “me” is used only to adjoin multiple topic words in a manner similar to English “and” (see the first two examples in the Word order section, where it serves to show the noun for “summer” is in the topic form).

Pronominal use & reciprocity

When main pronouns (“I”, “you”, “up there”, “down there” although most often just “I” and “you”) are used in reciprocity they can cancel out e.g.

Tum va ha (literally “the one who is loved is you”) – I love you (but I don’t know if you love me)

Tum va – I love you (and you love me)

Actions of motion, e.g. giving, are declined like other verbs but take the topic position/prefix.

Informally, accusative pronoun forms can be used to clarify e.g.

Va pumi korek ((I) bow-hunt the bird) v.s. va pumi tib korek (the bird bow-hunts me)

Verb forms & time

-          “once” = standard verb form

-          “often” = “son” before verb

-          “always” or “permanently” = “rekip” (stay) at end of sentence

-          “repeatedly” = “rekpoš” at end of sentence

-          “very often” = “tuc” before verb

-          “yesterday” = “bul” after verb

-          “will indefinitely” = verb coming last in sentence

Verb forms

-          Standard – normal use

-          Formal – used as “you” form when speaking from authority, formed with “-o” on end and “-xo-“ before what was originally the final syllable

o   e.g. “pumi” = “puxomo”, “karvu” = “karxovo”

-          Hodiernal future = “-oš” ending, used to mean “tonight” or “later today” (in cases of ambiguity, the noun for “night” (“uc”) can be used to distinguish the former)

-          Negative = a “palindromic” form of the first syllable, to mean “not”

o   e.g. “rekip” = “kerip”, “karvu” = “rakvu”, “pumi” = “upmi”

Pronominal declension

For the four basic pronouns, the following declensions apply:

	I	You	Up there	Down there
Nom	Bit	A/ha*	Yeku	Yemi
Lat/Acc	Tib	Ta	Toku	Tomi
Ade	Ob	Oma	Ok	Omi
Ine	Be	E/he	Ike	Imye
Sup	Bas	As/has	Yekes	Yemes
Per	Ban	An/han	Yekin	Yemin
Ant	Bota	Ata/Hata	Yekta	Yemta
Abl	Bya	Ya	Yey	Yemey

*Initial “h” applied when the pronoun comes after a vowel.

Nom = nominative (subject)

Lat/Acc = lative/accusative (the object, or directly “towards” a noun)

Ade = adessive (near the noun)

Ine = inessive (in the noun)

Sup = superessive (above the noun)

Per = perlative (through, along the noun)

Ant = antessive (in front of, ahead of the noun)

Abl = ablative (away from the noun)

Verb list (negative forms in brackets)

-          Mren – swim (remen)

-          Gubu – drown, sink (ugbu)

-          Kak – must, need to (akak)

-          Šni – be skilled (neši)

-          Ruh – shift, move oneself (ure)

-          Hob – connect, marry (ebe)

-          Še – permit, give (enš)

-          Šup – help (ušpe)

-          Flod – climb (lefod)

-          Yabat – flower, bloom (bayat) (va yabat = leaf)

-          Rekip – stay, do something for a long time (kerip)

-          ṭok – avoid (oṭek)

-          Karvu – fish (rakvu)

-          Pumi – fly (upmi)

-          Korek – hunt with bow (rokek)

-          Tum – love, empathise (mut)

-          Batit = leaf-coloured green (tabit)

-          Orim = water-coloured green-blue (romi)

Featural noun list

-          Fot = tree

-          Metan = house, dwelling

-          Kema = river

-          Kyek = mountain

-          Lu = village

-          Bal = day, sun

-          Uc = night, moon

-          Dyam = lake

-          Ik = star

Familial terms

Triangles refer to feminine, circles to masculine – note that “kuh” and “bui” also generally refer to friends.