Tʷain Tānū istʷaunnū
Lāsʷū plʲākrā
Īrʷū mūnʷī kʷaskʷaisʲan
Vʲaisʲ sraikʷālʲis.
'The bright goddess, having made
Our tongues from clay
Then breathed into us
Pure speech.'
Sīmiupliākar is a head-final, double-marking language which was spoken by the Sīmiālis of Taplaistum, an ancient civilisation of astrologers and sun/moon worshippers. It is a double-marking, head-final, agglutinative language with four grammatical numbers, periodic tense, and a consonant system that distinguishes plain, palatalised, and labialised consonants for nearly every place of articulation.
| Front | Central | Back | |
| Close | /i iː/ ⟨i ī⟩ | /u uː/ ⟨u ū⟩ | |
| Mid | |||
| Open | /a aː/ ⟨a ā⟩ | ||
| Diphthongs | /ai̯ au̯/ ⟨ai au⟩ |
||
Sīmiupliākar distinguishes three phonemic monophthongs, each of which comes in a long/short pair, and two diphthongs. The phonetic realisation of the vowel phonemes is heavily influenced by the secondary articulations (or lack thereof) of adjacent consonants, with both onset consonants and coda consonants influencing the phonetic realisation of the vowels.
The open vowels /a aː/ have three main allophones: an open back vowel realisation [ɑ ɑː] when preceded by a plain consonant (or no consonant at all), a near-open front and open-mid front realisation [æ ɛː] when preceded by a palatalised consonant, and an open-mid back rounded realisation [ɔ ɔː] when preceded by a labialised consonant.
When followed by a coda consonant that does not match the secondary articulation of the onset consonant, a range of colouring effects happen, either schwa insertion or fronting:
/CaCʲ/ /CaCʷ/ > [Cɑə̯Cʲ] [CɒCʷ]
/CʲaC/ /CʲaCʷ/ > [Cʲæə̯C] [Cʲæɵ̯Cʷ]
/CʷaC/ /CʷaCʲ/ > [Cʷɔə̯C] [CʷœCʲ]
The close front vowels /i iː/ vary freely between [i iː] and [ɪ ɪː]. Generally, /i iː/ are always preceded by a palatalised consonant (or no consonant), with instances of /i iː/ following plain or labialised consonants mostly occurring across morpheme boundaries. In these cases, /i iː/ either undergoes lowering or is preceded by an epenthetic glide: /Ci/ /Cʷi/ > [Ce] [Cʷwi]. When followed by a non-palatalised coda consonant, a non-syllabic schwa or glide is inserted: /iC/ /iCʷ/ > [iə̯C] [iwCʷ].
The close back rounded vowels /u uː/ vary freely between [u uː] and [ʊ ʊː]. Generally, /u uː/ are always preceded by a labialised consonant (or no consonant), with instances of /u uː/ following plain or palatalised consonants mostly occurring across morpheme boundaries. In these cases /u uː/ undergoes lowering or fronting: /Cu/ /Cʲu/ > [Co] [Cʲy]. When followed by a non-labialised coda consonant, a non-syllabic schwa is inserted: /uC/ /uCʷ/ > [uə̯C] [uə̯Cʲ].
Two diphthongs are distinguished, both with open vowel nuclei. The phonetic realisation of the vowel nuclei of the diphthongs follow similar rules to the monophthongs /a aː/, except that labialised /ai̯/ is realised as [œi̯] and plain /au̯/ is realised as [ɒu̯]. The realisation of the glide is coloured by a following coda consonant, with the following patterns:
/ai̯C/ /au̯C/ > [ɑe̯C] [ɒo̯C]
/ai̯Cʲ/ /au̯Cʲ/ > [ɑi̯Cʲ] [ɒy̯Cʲ]
/ai̯Cʷ/ /au̯Cʷ/ > [ɑi̯ə̯Cʷ] [ɒu̯Cʷ]
Vowels cannot be in hiatus with each other, and epenthetic consonants are inserted to break up any potential hiatus which does form. When the second vowel is /i/ or /u/, /j/ and /β/ are inserted respectively. When the second vowel is /a/, /j/ is inserted when the preceding vowel is /i/ and /β/ when the preceding vowel is /u/, when the preceding vowel is /a/, they contract into a long vowel /aː/. Certain suffixes with a short /a/ elide /a/ complete when suffixed to a stem ending in a vowel, e.g. -(a)r, -(a)n.
Unstressed vowels which are a part of prefixes are ‘weak’—in poetry they can be counted as non-syllabic. Phonetically, they can range from full vowels, [ɑ æ ɔ i u] > [ɑ æ ɔ i u] to highly centralised, highly reduced vowels [ɑ æ ɔ i u] > [ə̆ ə̆ ɵ̆ ɪ̆ ʊ̆], or they can even undergo further reduction, [ɔ i u] becoming non-syllabic consonantal [w̥~ɸ ç~ʃ w̥~ɸ] and [ɑ æ] vanishing entirely. For example, kʷapʲaun 'coming' could be pronounced [kɔ.ˈpʲæo̯n], [kɵ̆.ˈpʲæo̯n] or [ˈcɸʲpʲæo̯n].
| Bilabial | Coronal | Palatal | Velar | |
| Nasal | /m mʲ/ ⟨m mʲ⟩ | /n nʲ n/ ⟨n nʲ⟩ | ||
| Stop | /p pʲ/ ⟨p pʲ⟩ | /t tʲ tʷ/ ⟨t tʲ tʷ⟩ | /k kʲ kʷ/ ⟨k kʲ kʷ⟩ | |
| Fricative | /s sʲ sʷ/ ⟨s sʲ sʷ⟩ | /x xʲ xʷ/ ⟨h hʲ hʷ⟩ | ||
| Approximant | /β βʲ/ ⟨v vʲ⟩ | /ɾ ɾʲ ɾʷ l lʲ lʷ/ ⟨r rʲ rʷ l lʲ lʷ⟩ | /j jʷ/ ⟨y yʷ⟩ |
Unlike other places of articulation, the bilabial consonants only distinguish palatalised and non-palatalised consonants, with the plain bilabials and labialised bilabials merging during some prehistoric stage, or never developing as distinct phonemes in the first place, due to bilabials inherently being [+labial], making the distinction between /p/ and a hypothetic */pʷ/ tenuous, depending only on velarisation and protruded lip rounding to distinguish it.
While /m/ and /p/ colour /a/ and /i/ as plain consonants (and /u/ as a labialised consonant), /β/ colours all vowels as other labialised consonants, e.g. pālʲis 'people, town, settlement' is pronounced [pɑː.lʲiə̯s] and not **[pɔː.lʲiə̯s], but vām is pronounced [βɔːə̯m] and not **[βɑːm].
The plain coronal consonants /n t s ɾ l/ are all realised as alveolar consonants: [n t s ɾ l].
The palatalised coronal consonants /nʲ tʲ lʲ/ are realised as retracted alveolar consonants: [n̠ʲ t̠ʲ l̠ʲ], while the consonants /sʲ ɾʲ/ are realised as palatalised postalveolar and retroflex consonants respectively: [ʃ ʐ]—/ɾʲ/ also becomes a voiceless retroflex sibilant [ʂ] when adjacent to voiceless consonants. Phonetically, the retroflex feature spreads rightwards in the cluster /ɾʲsʲ/, with /sʲ/ also undergoing affrication, [ʂʈʂ].
The labialised coronal consonants /nʷ tʷ sʷ lʷ/ are realised as dental consonants: [n̪ʷ t̪ʷ s̪ʷ l̪ʷ], while the labialised tap /ɾʷ/ is a labialised alveolar consonant [ɾʷ].
The coronal nasals /n nʲ nʷ/, when the final consonant in an onset consonant cluster, are realised as coronal taps [ɾ ɾʲ ɾʷ] with nasalisation on the following vowel, e.g. /Tnʷūtʷ/ > [t̪ʷɾʷũːt̪ʷ].
Both palatal approximants /j jʷ/ are articulated with a certain amount of frication, [ʝ ʝʷ], with some speakers assibilating them into palatalised postalveolar fricatives [ʒ ʒʷ]. The sibilant fricative pronunciation is particularly common before high vowels.
The plain velar consonants /k x/ can freely range between velar realisations [k x] and uvular realisations [q χ]—/x/ can also be realised as a glottal fricative [h].
The palatalised velar consonants /kʲ xʲ/ are realised with no velar element, being purely palatal [c ç].
The labiovelar stop /kʷ/ is consistently realised as a labiovelar stop [kʷ] (except in cases of delabialisation), while the labiovelar fricative /xʷ/ freely varies between a labiovelar fricative realisation [xʷ] and a bilabial fricative realisation [ɸ].
Consonants with secondary articulations sometimes lose their secondary articulations, with vowel colouring effects becoming the primary cue for marking palatalisation and labialisation. This process is far more common for labialised consonants, with labialised consonants usually delabialising while retaining other features (e.g., dental articulation for labialised coronal stops). Delabialisation is very common for coronal and palatal consonants, and quite common for velar consonants.
Depalatalisation is less frequent, occurring more frequently for bilabial consonants and approximant consonants. /tʲ sʲ kʲ xʲ/ have a very strong tendency to retain their palatal feature.
Consonants clustering together must agree in their secondary articulations—sequences such as **CʲCʷ are not permitted. When consonants cluster together, they all take the same secondary articulation (or lack thereof), assimilating to the final consonant of the cluster. For example, lārʲis loses its palatalised /ɾʲ/ when it undergoes weakening, due to the following /s/, giving lārsū, and not **lārʲsū.
There is a preference against repeated instances of /N R L/ in immediately adjacent syllables (or within the same syllable), even in cases with differing secondary articulations. If one of these consonants follows an identical one, either in the same syllable or the next, the preceding consonant undergoes dissimilation, with the following patterns:
L…L > R…L
R…R > L…R
N…N > L…N
E.g. yʷālʲan 'wanting, desiring' is from yʷānʲ- 'want, desire'. An exception to this rule applies to /N/ when followed by a plosive, in which it retains its nasal quality, e.g. yʷālʲantʷan 'wanting (during the day)'.
There is a looser preference against the sequence M…M and V…V, with them often dissimilating to V…M and M…V respectively, with a consonant following the first consonant suppressing this process.
The first root of a word always receives stress, with secondary stress being placed on any additional roots, reduplicants, and every other syllable rightwards from the primary stress. Stress is marked through a raise in pitch, intensity, duration, and volume, but unstressed vowels do not undergo any significant reduction.
(S)(C1)(C2)V(C3)
V is any vowel.
C1 is any consonant.
C2 is /N/, /R/, /L/.
C3 is any consonant except /J/ or /V/.
S is /S/
Sīmiupliākar only permits consonant clusters in the onset of the syllable, not in the coda, with all codas consisting of a single consonant. Complex onsets consist of a single consonant either prefixed with /S/ and/or followed by a coronal nasal or liquid consonant. The prefixal /S/ can occur before any consonant except for /S/, /X/, /J/, or /V/ (in cases where this would occur, /S/ is dropped in front of /S/, while /X/, /J/, and /V/ are fortified to /K/, /T/ and /P/ respectively. Onset /R/ or /L/ cannot be followed by another consonant.
Sīmiupliākar roots can be monosyllabic or disyllabic. Disyllabic roots tend not to have medial clusters, and in cases when they do occur, they are overwhelmingly a homoorganic nasal consonant followed by a stop consonant.
Word-finally and in open syllables, vocalic length contrast is neutralised, with all word-final open syllables having long vowels or diphthongs. However, non-word-final open syllables can have short vowels, for example in the prefixes kʷa- and i-.
When roots receive suffixes, the second vowel of the root typically undergoes reduction, in which the vowel is either deleted or shortened. If the second vowel of the root is a short vowel, it is elided, e.g. tapal-ais > taplais, except in cases where this would result in a consonant cluster which is forbidden by Sīmiupliākar’s phonotactics, e.g. lāran-tʲī > lārantʲī and not **lārntʲī, as the cluster -rntʲ- cannot be legally syllabified (-rn is not a permissible coda, nor is ntʲ- a permissible onset). In cases where the second consonant is /R/ or /L/, the vowel is retained, but the consonant metathesises to form an onset with the preceding consonant, e.g. tapal-tʲī > taplatʲī and not **tapaltʲī. Long vowels in the same position undergo reduction, becoming short vowels, e.g. lʷāyʷū-tʲī > lʷāyʷutʲī.
Verbs are morphologically marked for two deictic tenses, three periodic tenses, transitivity, andativity/venitivity, and pluractionality, and can also be combined with a number of auxiliary verbs to form additional TAM categories.
| Past | Present | |
| Simple | -(a)n | -∅ |
| Diurnal | -(a)ntʷan | -(a)tʷ(an) |
| Nocturnal | -(a)nlʷā | -(a)lʷ(ā) |
Sīmiupliākar morphologically distinguishes the past tense from the present tense, with both distinguishing three periodic tenses, the simple, diurnal, and nocturnal. The diurnal and nocturnal tenses distinguish whether an action occurs during the day or during the night, while the simple marks an action as occurring either irrespective of day and night, across the course of both day and night, or in separate sequences over both the day and night, and often also marks certain processes which occur constantly irrespective of day and night (such as breathing, the heart beating, etc).
| Intransitive | ∅- |
| Transitive | (a)s- |
| Antipassive | (a)n- |
| Applicative | (a)r- |
All transitive verbs receive the prefix (a)s-, even those which are inherently transitive and possess no intransitive forms. The semantics of some verbs change significantly between their intransitive and transitive forms, e.g. yʷānʲ- 'to want' s-yʷānʲ- 'to seek, to request'.
The antipassive prefix (a)n- lowers the valency of the verb and promotes the agent to the core argument of the verb. The patient can be reintroduced by declining it in the oblique case.
The applicative promotes any oblique argument to the patient, being declined for the absolutive case. It is usually accompanied by a postposition functioning as an adverb, e.g.:
kʷamʲ-ū lʲai-yī yā yaumʲ i-s-pʲau-n-tʷan
man-ERG woman-OBL to fruit-ABS VEN-TRS-bring-PST-DRN
'The man gave the fruit to the woman.'
kʷamʲ-ū lʲai y’ i-r-s-pʲau-n-tʷan
man-ERG woman-ABS to VEN-APP-TRS-bring-PST-DRN
'The man gave the woman (something).'
The original patient can be reintroduced through the postposition (a)n:
kʷamʲ-ū yaumʲ-ī ‘n lʲai y’ i-r-s-pʲau-n-tʷan
man-ERG fruit-OBL at woman-ABS to VEN-APP-TRS-bring-PST-DRN
'The man gave the woman the fruit.'
Verbs are usually marked with a venitive or andative prefix, which mark a verb as occurring towards/at the deictic centre or away from the deictic centre. In certain cases, this simply changes where an action is occurring in relation to the deictic centre, while in other cases the fundamental meaning of the verb changes, e.g. i-taplatʲī 'to raise' in contrast to kʷa-taplatʲī 'to throw'.
| Venitive | i-, y- |
| Andative | kʷa-, kʷ- |
Outside of the past/present and periodic tenses, TAM is mostly marked through reduplication or auxiliary verbs combined with verbal nouns declined for the oblique case.
| Stative | verbal noun (OBL) + ipʲau- |
| Perfective | verbal noun (OBL) + kʷapʲau- |
| Imperfective | CV-C(C)VC(VC) |
| Future | verbal noun (OBL) + yʷā-yʷānʲ- |
| Irrealis | verbal noun (OBL) + yʷānʲ- |
Participles function solely as adjectives, receive no inflection (except andative/venitive markers and the S- prefix) and cannot take any additional arguments. They are formed with the suffix -ar.
The suffix -an forms the verbal noun, which in its basic sense forms a noun representing an action in the abstract, e.g. yʷālʲan (from yʷānʲ- 'want', with nasal dissimilation) means 'wanting, the act of wanting'. Verbal nouns can take all the inflection of a finite verb, with the verbal noun suffix coming right at the end, e.g. kʷa-s-yʷālʲ-an-tʷ-an 'the act of having been asked during the day'.
Unlike the participle, the verbal noun can take additional arguments, e.g. kʷamʲ-ū i-stʲāks-an-tʷ-an 'the act of having been cut by the man during the day', yaumʲ i-stʲāks-an-tʷ-an 'the act of cutting fruit during the day', etc. The verbal noun can be given a subject by declining the verbal noun for the ergative/genitive case, with the subject then following: kʷamʲ-ū i-stʲāks-an-t-n-ū yaumʲ 'the fruit which had been cut by the man during the day' (literally: 'the fruit of the act of having been cut by the man'). This process also applies to intransitive verbs, e.g. i-pʲau-n-ū lʲai 'the woman who comes'.
Since the attached subject can be declined for any case, relative clauses can be formed in this way:
Sʲīmʲ-ū pālsī ‘n i-pʲau-n-t-n-ū lʲai i-s-tʷaintʲī-tʷ.
sun-ERG town-OBL at VEN-come-PST-DRN-VRB.N-GEN woman-ABS VEN-TRS-illuminate-DRN
'The sun reveals the woman who had come to the town.'
Verbal nouns without any subject/agent can be used adverbially to form converbs, by being combined with postpositions. For example:
Tan lʷāyʷ-ū kainʲi-vū
I-pʲaul-n-ū kʷā
Kainʲi-vū kʷa-pʲautʷ mā
Skʷask-ar Sʲīmʲ yā.
and.so dark dusk-GEN
VEN-come-PRS-NCT-VRB.N-GEN from
dawn-GEN AND-go-DRN 2s.
shining moon-ABS VOC
And so with the dusk
You had arrived
With dawn you now depart
O shining moon.
Here, i-pʲaul-n-ū kʷā means 'having arrived', being formed from the verbal noun of i-pʲau- 'come, arrive' declined for the genitive case combined with the postposition kʷā 'from', 'from the act of coming' > 'having came, having arrived'. This converb is one of the most common, alongside constructions with 'n, 'at, on', e.g.
Lʲaivū yaumʲ-ūsʷ i-sraikn-ī ‘n i-s-sʲā-stʲāks-an-lʷā.
woman-ERG fruit-PC-ABS VEN-speak-VRB.N-OBL at VEN-TRS-IPFV-cut-PST-NCT
'The woman was chopping some fruit while speaking.'
Here, i-sraikn-ī 'n, means 'while speaking', being formed from the verbal noun of i-sraik- 'speak, talk' declined for the oblique case combined with the postposition 'n, 'at, on', 'at the act of speaking' > 'while speaking'. The verbal noun can be combined with other postpositions to form a wide range of different converbs, e.g. yā 'to, for' forms a converb meaning 'in order to do so', 'rʷā 'over, through' forms a converb meaning 'by doing so', and pārsū 'from, of' forms a converb meaning 'as a result of doing so'.
The kʷā and yā constructions often drop their postpositions, resulting in a bare converb declined for the ergative/genitive and oblique cases respectively.
There are two markers of negation for verbs, the prefix pu-, p’- and the negative verb pā. The negation prefix, which is the older of the two means of negation, is used for negative participles, negative verbal nouns, negative commands and the negative subjunctive mood (with the non-negated subjunctive mood making use of the yʷānʲ auxiliary), usually used to express doubts or prohibitive statements. The negative verb pā is used in all other instances, being combined with a verbal noun in the oblique case as with other auxiliary verbs, e.g.
Lāran p-i-s-lārantʲī-tʷ an.
river-ABS NEG.SUBJ-VEN-TRS-ford-PRS-DRN 3s.
'It is doubtful if they will cross the river.'
Lāran i-s-lārantʲi-n-ī pātʷ an
river-ABS VEN-TRS-ford-VRB.N-OBL NEG-PRS-DRN 3s.
'They are not crossing the river.'
Verbs are marked for plurality for animate agents and subjects (plural inanimate agents receive no verbal marking). Plurality is marked either through suppletion, or through reduplication of the verb root with the pattern CVC(V)-CVC(VC), e.g. stʲākʲis- 'to cut' stʲākʲi-stʲākʲis- 'to cut (plural)'. The three suppletive verbs are pʲau- 'to move, to go, to come, to bring, to take', tʷau- 'to do', and sraikʷ- 'to speak, to say', which have the suppletive plural forms skʷā-, tārʷū-, and hʷāmʲan- respectively. While nouns and pronouns are marked for four distinctions in number, verbs are only marked for singular and plural, or rather, singular and non-singular, with dual, paucal, and plural animate agents/subjects all triggering the same plural marking on the verb.
Nouns are marked for three cases and four grammatical numbers, including the absolutive, ergative/genitive, and oblique cases, and the singular, dual, paucal, and plural numbers. Only the head of the noun phrase receives case marking—adjectives, conjoined nouns, etc are not marked for case, and adjectives are also unmarked for number. All markers except for the absolutive singular trigger vowel weakening.
| Singular | Dual | Paucal | Plural | |
| Absolutive | -(v)ūnʷ | -(v)ūsʷ | -(v)ūrʷ | |
| Ergative/Genitive | -(v)ū | -nʷū | -sʷū | -rʷū |
| Oblique | -(y)ī | -nʲī | -sʲī | -rʲī |
The absolutive case marks a noun as the subject of an intransitive verb and the patient of a transitive verb, and is considered the unmarked case. No postpositions govern the absolutive case.
The ergative/genitive case marks a noun as the agent of a transitive verb or as the possessor of another noun, as well as having a number of adverbial uses, corresponding roughly to meanings such as ‘with’ or ‘from’. Most postpositions govern the ergative/genitive case.
The oblique case marks a noun as the recipient of an action, as well as performing allative and locative functions, marking something as occurring ‘towards’ or ‘at’ a noun. A few postpositions govern the oblique case.
The singular marks a single noun, the dual exactly two nouns, and the paucal a ‘small’ number of a noun and the plural a ‘large’ number of a noun. The paucal simply means more than the singular and the dual, and less than the plural, and so its precise meaning is relative to the noun in question and the wider context of the discourse. In a typical sentence, kʷamʲ-ūs ‘some men’, may refer to less than a dozen or so individuals, but if a topic of wider discourse involves a group of men in the thousands or more, it may mean tens or possibly even hundreds of men.
Adjectives are grammatically identical to nouns, and are marked for no agreement with their head nouns. Noun to adjective and adjective to noun zero derivation is common, e.g. tʷain is a noun meaning ‘diurnal sky, day’ as well as an adjective meaning ‘white, bright, light, clear, visible’.
Shīmiūpliēkar frequently makes use of a zero copula, but the explicit copula is the uninflected san:
Skʷaskar Sʲīmʲ san sʷaistan / Lʷāyʷ-ū lārs-ī ‘n,
shining moon COP crown night-GEN head-OBL at
Bright moon, you are the crown / Atop night’s head,
Nouns can be optionally suffixed with a possessive suffix to mark it as possessed. Possessive suffixes trigger weakening.
| Singular | Dual | Plural | Paucal | |
| First Person | -nā | -nūnʷ | -ūsʷ | -ā |
| Second Person | -mā | -mūnʷ | -ūsʷ | -ā |
| Third Person | -an | -sūnʷ | -sūsʷ | -sūrʷ |
Sīmiupliākar has no dedicated third person pronouns, with demonstrative pronouns being used instead. Like nouns, pronouns are declined for four numbers, the singular, dual, paucal, and plural, and three cases, the absolutive/nominative, ergative/genitive, and oblique. In the first and second persons, Sīmiupliākar makes use of nominative-accusative alignment, with the absolutive first person and second person pronouns having both agentive and patientive meaning.
Absolutive pronouns have independent and clitic forms. Clitic pronouns are placed at the end of a phrase, usually coming directly after an inflected verb.
| Singular | Dual | Paucal | Plural | |
| First Person | inā, -n(ā) | inūnʷ, -nūnʷ | iyʷūs, -yūsʷ | iyā, -yā |
| Second Person | imā, -m(ā) | imūnʷ, -mūnʷ | ivūs, -vūsʷ | ivā, -vā |
| Singular | Dual | Paucal | Plural | |
| First Person | inū | innʷū | īsʷū | īrʷū |
| Second Person | imū | imnʷū | ūsʷū | ūrʷū |
| Singular | Dual | Paucal | Plural | |
| First Person | inī | innʲī | īsʲī | īrʲī |
| Second Person | imī | imnʲī | ūsʲī | ūrʲī |
| Singular | Dual | Paucal | Plural | |
| Proximal | hʲin, -in | hʲinūnʷ, -nūnʷ | hʲinūsʷ, -nūsʷ | hʲinūrʷ, -nūrʷ |
| Medial | san, -an | sanūnʷ, -snūnʷ | sanūsʷ, -snūsʷ | sanūrʷ, -snūrʷ |
| Distal | aulā, -lā | aulūnʷ, -lūnʷ | aulūsʷ, -lūsʷ | aulūrʷ, -lūrʷ |
| Singular | Dual | Paucal | Plural | |
| Proximal | hʲinū | hʲinnʷū | hʲinsʷū | hʲinrʷū |
| Medial | sanū | sannʷū | sansʷū | sanrʷū |
| Distal | aulāvū | aulānʷū | aulāsʷū | aulārʷū |
| Singular | Dual | Paucal | Plural | |
| Proximal | hʲinī | hʲinnʲī | hʲinsʲī | hʲinrʲī |
| Medial | sanī | sannʲī | sansʲī | sanrʲī |
| Distal | aulāyī | aulānʲī | aulāsʲī | aulārʲī |
| Singular | Dual | Paucal | Plural | |
| What/Who/Whom | pā | pūnʷ | pūsʷ | pūrʷ |
| How | pū | panʷū | pasʷū | parʷū |
| Where | pī | panʲī | pasʲī | parʲī |
Sīmiupliākar primarily makes use of postpositions, placing them after the nouns they modify. There are two classes of postpositions, a small, older, closed class which are usually etymologically opaque, and a larger, newer, open class which are usually transparently derived from nouns. For example, kʷā 'from' and (a)n 'on, against, at' are of the former class while lārsī 'above' and pārsū 'of, from' are of the latter class. Postpositions of the former class can govern either the ergative/genitive case or the oblique case, while postpositions of the latter class always govern the ergative/genitive case, as they are derived from genitive phrases (e.g. 'at the head of X' > 'above X'). Postpositions, of either type, can be used adverbially.
There are a small number of circumpositions, e.g. iskʲampanū kʷā 'for the benefit of', ispnʲārnū kʷā 'with (instrumental)', which are derived from verbal nouns and postpositions. Postpositions can also be compounded with other postpositions, e.g. lārsū kʷā 'from above'.
Sīmiupliākar is a predominantly head-final language, with verbs most frequently occurring at the end of a sentence (with optional clitic pronouns following), and with numerals, adjectives, and genitive phrases preceding their head nouns. Auxiliary verbs follow their lexical verbs, and relative clauses precede their heads.
There is a tendency to front the topic, placing it at the beginning of a sentence, as well as to front adverbs, and the immediate preverbal position is generally considered emphatic, with new information often being placed in this position. The postverbal position can be either emphatic or unemphatic depending on the context, with ‘weak’ words, such as clitic pronouns being unemphatic, and ‘strong’ words like nouns being emphatic. Verb-initial word orders are very rare, with most orders ranging between APV, PAV, AVP, and PVA. These rules are primarily tendencies, often being manipulated in poetic speech.
There are three main processes of derivation in Sīmiupliākar: derivational suffixes, compounding, and reduplication.
Derivational suffixes can create a new word of a different part of speech to the original word, turning verbs into nouns/adjectives, e.g. stʲāks-at 'knife, bladed tool or weapon' from stʲākʲis 'cut, divide' and -at a nominalising suffix, or turning nouns/adjectives into verbs, e.g. tapla-tʲī 'to raise' from tapal 'high' and -tʲī an action verb suffix. They can also extend the meaning within the same part of speech, e.g. sʲīm-tʷum 'the sky (as a physical vault above earth)' from sʲīmʲ 'sun, moon' and -tʷum a nominalising suffix for forming nouns of place and location. Most derivational suffixes trigger weakening, and can undergo weakening themselves when additional derivational or inflectional suffixes are added to them.
Compounds are formed by prefixing the weak form of the first root, suffixed with a linking vowel -u-, to the second root, e.g. pārs-u-sʷaitʷ 'wrist' from pāriʲs 'hand' and sʷaitʷ 'neck', and kʷapʲ-u-rʲāsʲan 'beard' from kʷapʲ 'face, cheek' and rʲāsʲan 'hair'.
The main form of derivational reduplication is full reduplication, in which a weakened copy of the root is prefixed to the root. For nouns, this usually has a diminutive meaning, e.g. sʷaistnasʷaistan 'bracelet' from sʷaistan 'band, headband, crown, hat', yaumyaumʲ 'berry, small fruit' from yaumʲ 'fruit', or a collective meaning, e.g. kʷamkʷamʲ ‘gang, group’ from kʷamʲ 'man'. For adjectives, full reduplication marks intensity, e.g. tʷūtlitʷūtʲil 'very strong' from tʷūtʲil 'strong'. For verbs, full reduplication has an inflectional meaning, being used to mark a non-singular agent.
sʲīmʲ - n. sun, moon, year, month, unit of time, eye
tʷain - n. sky, daytime sky, day
lʷāyʷū - n. night, nighttime sky
kainʲī - n. dawn, dusk, twilight, twilit sky, morning, evening
stʲaul - n. rugged terrain
kʷamʲ - n. man
lʲai - n. woman
pālʲis - n. body, mass, collection (of something), people, village, town, settlement
laupus - n. water, body of water
lārʲis - n. head, master, mistress, husband, wife
lāran - n. river
taplais - n. hill, elevated land - From tapal 'high' and -ais noun suffix.
lʷam - n. mountain
yaumʲ - n. fruit
nʷaisʷ - n. star
sʷaistan - n. band, headband, crown, hat - From sʷaisʲit 'to tie' and -an verbal noun suffix.
stʲāksais - n. division of land, region - From stʲākʲis 'cut, divide' and -ais noun suffix.
stʲāksat - n. knife, axe, bladed tool or weapon - From stʲākʲis 'cut, divide' and -at noun suffix.
nʲaupʲis - n. cat
staukʷ - n. back
pārʲis - n. hand, arm
sʷaitʷ - n. neck
pārsusʷaitʷ - n. wrist - From pārʲis 'hand' and sʷaitʷ ‘neck’.
rʲāsʲan - n. hair
krausʷ - n. stone
plʲākar - n. tongue, language, speech, word, flame, fire, energy, force, soul
skʲīsʲ - n. seed, nut
skʲīskʲī - n. seed, nut - From skʲīsʲ 'fruit, seed, nut' and -kʲī diminutive suffix.
lʷamkʲī - n. hill - From lʷam 'mountain' and -kʲī diminutive suffix.
sʲīmtʷum - n. the sky (the physical vault of heaven above the earth) - From sʲīmʲ 'sun, moon, year, month, unit of time, eye' and -tʷum location noun suffix.
kʷapʲ - n. face, cheek, expression, emotion
kʷapʲurʲāsʲan - n. beard, moustache, facial hair - From kʷapʲ ‘face, cheek’ and rʲāsʲan ‘hair’.
sʷaistnasʷaistan - n. bracelet - Reduplicated form of sʷaistan 'band, headband, crown, hat'.
yaumyaumʲ - n. small fruit, berry, fruit stone, testicle - Reduplicated form of yaumʲ 'fruit'.
kʷamkʷamʲ - n. gang, group - Reduplicated form of kʷamʲ 'man, person'.
appā - n. mother, aunt
attā - n. father, uncle
appāttā - n. parents, family - From appā 'mother, aunt' and attā 'father, uncle'.
hʲīyā - n. sister, female cousin, female relative of the same generation
sair - n. brother, male cousin, male relative of the same generation
tlaum - n. son
srau - n. daughter
lārsulʲai - n. married woman, wife, mistress, householding woman - From lārʲis 'head, master mistress' and lʲai 'woman'.
lāsʷ - n. earth, soil, land (plural)
tnʷūtʷ - n. nose, any protruding feature
pau - n. baby, small child
tʷaintʷumʲ - n. plain, field, clearing, glade, any unobstructed, open-air space - From tʷain- 'light, white, visible, clear' and -tʷumʲ noun of location suffix.
yʷānʲālʲis - n. desire, want, longing - From yʷānʲ- 'want' and -ālʲis collective noun suffix.
haihʲīyālʲis - n. song - From haihʲī- 'sing' and -ālʲis collective noun suffix.
sraikʷālʲis - n. speech - From sraikʷ- 'speak' and -ālʲis collective noun suffix.
tān - n. lady, queen, goddess
mūnʷ - n. mouth, lips
yʷukʲan - n. eagle, bird of prey
sānʲī - n. cairn
sarak - n. rock
vʲan - n. fence, enclosure, wall
nāmʲ - n. road, path
lakam - n. hill
prʷākʷā - n. slope, valley, riverbank, furrow
vāhʷal - n. lord, god
lʷurʷ - n. meadow, field, garden, plain
tʷain - adj. light, white, clear, visible
lʷāyʷū - adj. dark, black
kainʲī - adj. red
kʷamʲ - adj. male
lʲai - adj. female
tapal - adj. high
nʷaurʷak - adj. big, great
kʷalʲ - adj. all
tʷūtʲil - adj. strong
kraustʲis - adj. of stone, hard - From krausʷ 'stone' and -tʲis adjective of composition suffix.
nʷaistʲis - adj. starlike, bright, shining - From nʷaisʷ 'star' and -tʲis adjective of composition suffix.
kʷapʲurʲāsʲantʲis - adj. bearded, adult (of men) - From kʷapʲurʲāsʲan 'beard' and -tʲis adjective of composition and relation suffix.
vām - adj. good, beautiful, effective
vʲaisʲ - adj. clean, holy, pure
raivun - adj. quick, fast
vūnʲis - adj. loose, liquid
skʷamū - adj. deep, dark, tall, long
lʷurʷ - adj. flat
hʲim - adj. one
nai - adj. two
sā - adj. three
haulʷ - adj. four
saurʷ - adj. five
tʲakʲ - adj. six
kʲilʷak - adj. seven
hʷārʷam - adj. eight
lʷāk - adj. nine
kʲan - adj. ten
pʲau - v. sup. to go (andative, intransitive), to come (venitive, intransitive), to take (andative, transitive), to bring (venitive, transitive), to give (venitive, transitive, + yā) - Has the suppletive plural skʷā.
lārantʲī - v. to ford, to cross - From lāran 'river' and -tʲī noun to verb suffix.
sʲīmtʲī - v. to see, to look - From sʲīmʲ 'sun, moon, month, year, eye' and -tʲī noun to verb suffix.
tʷaintʲī - v. to illuminate, to reveal, to show, to teach - From tʷain 'light, day' and -tʲī noun to verb suffix. Primarily used in the venitive.
lʷāyʷutʲī - v. to obscure, to shroud, to cover, to conceal, to lie, to hide - From lʷāyʷū 'dark, night' and -tʲī noun to verb suffix. Primarily used in the andative.
taplatʲī - v. to raise (transitive, venitive), to elevate (transitive, venitive), to ascend (intransitive, venitive), to throw (transitive, andative), to leap (intransitive, venitive) - From tapal 'high' and -tʲī noun to verb suffix.
skʷasʲak - v. to shine (intransitive, usually andative)
sʷaisʲit - v. to tie - Usually used in the venitive.
stʲākʲis - v. to cut (venitive, transitive), to interject (andative, intransitive), to reproach (andative, intransitive), to section (andative, transitive), to divide (andative, transitive), to part from (andative, intransitive), to leave (andative, intransitive)
sʷatʲī - v. to touch (venitive), to feel (venitive), to handle (venitive), to stroke (andative), to brush against (andative)
tʷau - v. sup. to do (transitive), to make (transitive) - Has the suppletive plural tārʷū.
krʲākʲ - v. to fall (intransitive), to trip (transitive), to make fall (transitive)
yʷānʲ - v. to want (intransitive, venitive or andative), to seek (transitive, venitive), to find (transitive, venitive, stative), to learn (transitive, venitive), to know (transitive, venitive, stative), to ask for (transitive, andative), to request (transitive, andative) - For meanings of 'want', the venitive seemingly marks a desire more likely to occur, the andative a desire less likely to occur.
pārstʲī - v. to hold (transitive), to support (transitive, venitive), to care for (transitive, venitive) - From pārʲis 'hand' and -tʲī noun to verb suffix.
sraikʷ - v. sup. to speak (intransitive, venitive), to say (intransitive, venitive), to tell (intransitive, andative), to report (intransitive, andative) - Has the suppletive plural hʷāmʲan.
pnʲārʷ - v. to use (transitive)
klarʷ - v. to stand (intransitive), to raise (transitive, venitive)
kʲampā - v. to help (venitive, transitive), to assist (venitive, transitive), to aid (venitive, transitive), to save (andative, transitive)
haihʲī - v. to sing (transitive), to praise (transitive, + yā)
hʷaisʲ - v. to breathe (intransitive), to blow (transitive, andative), to swallow (transitive, venitive)
plʲākar pʲau - v. sup. to talk (venitive, transitive), to silence (andative, transitive), to talk to (venitive, transitive, with yā) - From plʲākar 'tongue, word' and pʲau- 'to go, to come, to take, to bring, to give'. Has the suppletive plural skʷā.
pau pʲau - v. sup. to give birth (venitive, transitive) - From pau ‘baby, child’ and pʲau- 'to go, to come, to take, to bring, to give'. Has the suppletive plural skʷā.
kʷā - post. from - Governs ergative/genitive.
yā - post. to, for - Governs oblique.
(a)n - post. on, against, at - Governs oblique.
(a)rʷā - post. over, across, through, comparative, continuously (adverb) - Governs oblique.
lārsī - post. above - From lārʲis 'head'. Governs ergative/genitive.
staukʷī - post. behind - From staukʷ 'back'. Governs ergative/genitive.
pārsū - post. of, from - From pārʲis 'hand'. Governs ergative/genitive.
mūnʷī - post. into, in - From mūnʷ 'mouth, lips'. Governs ergative/genitive.
iskʲampanū kʷā - circum. for the benefit of, on behalf of - From kʲampā- 'to help, to aid'. Governs the genitive.
ispnʲārnū kʷā - circum. with (instrumental) - From pnʲārʷ- 'to use'. Governs the genitive.
tan - adv. and so, and then, so then
tʷūtlū - adv. emphatic adverb
arʷā ‘rʷā - adv. always, constantly, all the time - Reduplicated form of arʷā 'through, continuously'.
lārʲis - pro. indefinite pronoun, reflexive pronoun, reciprocal pronoun - From lārʲis 'head'.
yā - part. vocative particle
-ais - forms nouns
-tʷumʲ - forms nouns of location
-an - forms verbal nouns
-at - forms nouns
-aut - forms augmentative nouns
-tʲī - forms verbs from nouns
-ar - forms participles
-tʲis - forms adjectives of composition and relation
-kʲī - forms diminutive nouns
-pau - forms diminutive nouns from nouns - From pau 'baby, child'.
-ālʲis - forms collective nouns from nouns - Probably from pālʲis 'body, people'.
The word sʲīmʲ has three primary meanings:
When translating into English, most sentences are unambiguous as to whether sʲīmʲ is referring to the sun or the moon, as mandatory periodic tense marking on the verb clarifies whether it is the tʷainū sʲīmʲ or lʷāyʷū sʲīmʲ being referenced—disambiguation can occur by appending tʷainū 'of the daytime, of the daytime sky' or lʷāyʷū 'of the nighttime, of the nighttime sky' to sʲīmʲ, but very often it is left ambiguous, and the sun and moon are conceptualised as a single entity, e.g. in mythology being personified as two personas of a single goddess.
The meaning of 'eye' might be diachronically the earliest meaning of this root, as the verb sʲīmtʲī, which is transparently derived from sʲīmʲ, means 'to see, to look'—the forms tʷainū sʲīmʲ and lʷāyʷū sʲīmʲ to mean 'sun' and 'moon' respectively may have been earlier than sʲīmʲ alone meaning 'sun, moon', with the explicit marking being dropped as the metaphor of 'day’s eye' and 'night’s eye' meaning 'sun' and 'moon' fully replaced whatever previous words were used to convey these concepts. The term sʲīmʲ is frequently used adverbially in the phrase sʲīmʲ-ū 'by eye, from eye', an optional evidentiality marker that emphasises that the speaker was a direct witness to what they are speaking about.
The meaning 'a period of time, usually a year or month' is transparently derived from the meaning 'sun, moon'. While this meaning is often specific, referring to a time span of multiple days, it can also simply mean a period of time in general, with such this generic meaning giving rise to adverbial phrases such as hʲin sʲīmʲ-ī 'n 'at this time, when', and hʲin sʲīmʲ-ū kʷā 'from this time, then, and so'.
Thus, a timeline can be sketched out for the evolution of sʲīmʲ's polysemy: 'eye, see' > 'large celestial body' ('eye of day', 'eye of night', etc) > 'year, month' > 'period of time, time'.
The word pʲau- has the following meanings:
All of these meanings are derived from the fundamental meaning of pʲau- as 'move', meaning either intransitively ('to move oneself') or transitively ('to move (something)'). These meanings are further split through the use of andative/venitive markers, kʷa- and i-, or, in the case of the intransitive form of pʲau-, the use of the zero marker alongside the andative/venitive markers.
The meaning of 'to give' is derived transparently from 'to bring', with the use of the postposition yā to mark the recipient, giving the semantic evolution of 'to bring to' > 'to give'.
The word yʷānʲ has the following meanings:
These meanings are mostly distinguished by transitivity and venitive/andative marking. The earliest meaning is most likely 'want, desire', with the meaning of 'seek' evolving from the transitive venitive form of yʷānʲ-, which in turn gives the meaning 'find' when combined with the stative auxiliary. The semantic domains of knowledge and learning are likely extensions of the semantic domains of seeking and finding, through the metaphor of knowledge being something obtained and kept as an object.
The meanings of 'ask, request' are formed through the andative form of the verb, in contrast to the venitive form which produces meanings of 'seek, find, learn, know', with the assumed deictic centre most likely being the one being requested from, thus what is being sought is going away from the deictic centre, giving rise to meanings of 'ask for', which easily extend to asking for more abstract things, such as requesting that someone performs an action, etc.
The word plʲākar has the following meanings:
The metaphorical extension of 'tongue' to refer to the abstract semantic domain of speech is relatively straightforward, as the tongue produces speech. The semantic development towards 'flame' is likely based on a perceived shared shape, with 'flame, fire' then undergoing metaphoric extension to refer to motion and liveliness. It is likely that this meaning is reinforced by the shared semantic domain of speech, as speech represents a kind of activity and liveliness of its own, speech becoming conceptualised as a kind of sonic fire. Both the meanings of 'speech' and 'motion, force' extend metaphorically to the semantic domain of life, producing meanings of 'soul, lifeforce', with superstitions among the speakers of Sīmiupliākar seeing the tongue as the seat of the human soul (reflected in a belief in ghosts who have the form of disembodied tongues), and directly connected to life-sustaining organs such as the heart.
The word pālʲis has the following meanings:
The evolution of pālʲis' meaning seems to straightforwardly unfold from the meaning of 'body, torso', with the meaning of the torso extending to the body as a whole, thus gaining a collective meaning. This generic collective meaning, alongside the connection to human beings through its more concrete meaning, naturally extends to a meaning of a group of people, which in turn naturally extends to a meaning of a community, whether in the abstract or in the more concrete sense of the physical location a community inhabits.
The suffix -ālʲis is straightforwardly derived from pālʲis, and can be used to form collective and mass nouns. It is the primary suffix for forming ethnonyms, e.g. Sʲīmʲ-ālʲis 'Shimalis', Tʷaintʷumʲ-ālʲis 'plain-people', etc. It is also suffixed to a few verbal roots to form abstract nouns, e.g. yʷānʲ-ālʲis 'desire, want, longing', haihʲī-y-ālʲis 'song', sraikʷ-ālʲis 'speech'. These abstract formations are limited to a set number of verb roots, and they might have a collective meaning in some sense, in which a collection of instances of an action might in turn be interpreted as said action in the abstract or the prototypical result of said action, e.g. 'ones wants, desires (as a collective)' > 'want, desire', 'ones words, ones statements (as a collective)' > 'speech', etc.
Tapl-ū lʷāyʷ-ū laups-ī 'n
Sʲīmʲ kʷa-skʷask-lʷā mā,
Kʷalʲ nʷaisʷ-ī ‘rʷā nʷaurʷak
Tʷain-ī ‘rʷā tʷain.
Skʷask-ar Sʲīmʲ san sʷaistan
Lʷāyʷ-ū lārs-ī 'n,
San lārn-ū laups-ī ‘rʷā
Lārs-ū lʷam-an.
Tan lʷāyʷ-ū kainʲi-vū
I-pʲaul-n-ū kʷā
Kainʲi-vū kʷa-pʲautʷ mā
Skʷask-ar Sʲīmʲ yā.
high-GEN night-GEN body.of.water-OBL at
moon-ABS AND-shine-PRS-NCT 2s.
all star-OBL over great
day-OBL over bright
shining moon-ABS COP crown-ABS
night-GEN head-OBL on
COP river-GEN water-OBL through
head-GEN mountain-POSS3s.-ABS.
and.so dark dusk-GEN
VEN-come-PRS-NCT-VRB.N-GEN from
dawn-GEN AND-go-DRN 2s.
shining moon-ABS VOC
High against the sea of night
You, moon, are shining
Greater than all the stars
Brighter than day.
Bright moon, you are the crown
Atop night’s head,
You are the mountain peak
Above the river water.
And so with the dusk
You had arrived
With dawn you now depart
O shining moon.
Lārʲis Sʲīmʲ laups-ī rʷā
Kainʲ-ū klar-t-n-ū
lʷam-ūrʷ lʷāyʷū lāsʷ-ūrʷ
I-s-tʷai-tʷaintʲī-tʷ.
Mā san tʷūtʲil tʷain-ū
Pu-k-s-lʷāyʷutʲī-r lʲai
Kainʲ-ū kʷa-skʷask-atʷ-n-ū
Nʷaurʷak nʷaisʷ yā.
San kʷalʲ-ī rʷā skʷask-ar
Vām-vām vʲaisʲ-vʲaisʲ,
Im-ī yā kʷalʲ-ī rʷā
I-s-kai-haihʲī-tʷ yā.
mistress sun body.of.water-OBL through
dawn-GEN VEN-stand-PRS-DRN-VRB.N-GEN
mountain-PL-ABS black earth-PL-ABS
VEN-TRS-IPFV-illuminate-PRS-DRN
2s. COP strong sky-GEN
NEG-AND-TRS-shroud-PTCP woman
dawn-GEN AND-shine-PRS-DRN-VRB.N-GEN
mighty star-ABS VOC
COP all-OBL over shine-PTCP-ABS
beautiful-INTS holy-INTS
2s.-OBL to all-OBL over
VEN-TRS-IPFV-praise-PRS-DRN 1pl.
O mistress sun, arising
Through the lake
You illuminate
The mountains and black earth.
You are the unveiled wife
Of mighty sky,
You are the mighty star
Which shines at dawn.
Shining one, you surpass all
In beauty and holiness,
And above all others
We praise you.
Tʷain Tān-ū i-s-tʷaun-n-ū
Lāsʷ-ū plʲākrā
Īrʷ-ū mūnʷī kʷa-s-kʷaisʲ-an
Vʲaisʲ sraikʷālʲis.
bright goddess-ERG VEN-TRS-make-PST-VRB.N-GEN
earth-GEN tongue-POSS1pl.-ABS
1pl.-GEN into AND-TRS-breathe-PST
pure speech-ABS
The bright goddess, having made
Our tongues from clay
Then breathed into us
Pure speech.
“I stroked the cat on its back.”
Nʲaups-ū staukʷ-an kʷa-s-sʷatʲi-n-lʷā nā.
cat-GEN back-POSS3s.-ABS AND-TRS-stroke-PST-NCT 1s.
“Our wrists were wrapped up with that hair.”
I-s-pnʲār-n-ū aulā rʲāsn-ū kʷā pārsusʷaitʷ-ūsʷ-ūsʷ i-s-sʷaist-an-tʷan.
VEN-TRS-use-VRB.N-GEN dist hair-GEN from wrist-PC-POSS1pc.-ABS VEN-TRS-tie-PST-DRN
“The stone tripped Tiya up”
Krausʷ-ū Tʲiyā i-s-krʲākʲ-an-tʷan an.
stone-ERG Tiya-ABS VEN-TRS-fall-PST-DRN 3s.
“I’m looking for someone who will take care of me.”
Nā i-s-pārstʲi-n-ī yʷā-yʷāl-n-ū lārʲis i-s-yʷā-yʷānʲ nā.
1s.-ABS VEN-TRS-care.for-VRB.N-OBL FUT-VRB.N-GEN ind.pro-ABS VEN-TRS-IPFV-seek-PRS 1s.
“We are always asking each other for betel nut.”
Arʷā ‘rʷā vʲitʲil skʲīskʲi-vūrʷ lārs-ū kʷā kʷa-s-yʷā-yʷānʲ-yʷānʲ yʷūsʷ.
always betel nut-PL-ABS rec.pro-GEN from AND-TRS-IPFV-PL-ask.for-PRS 1pl.