Sanakak Language

The Sanakak Language was spoken by the Bronze-Age city states around Tavaran and Mnari. Each city in the region spoke their own particular dialect, but there is a very clear division within the dialect continuum of Upper Sanakak (spoken in Sana, Hadrim, Amna, Mnari, and Ghalakak) and Lower Sanakak (spoken in Tavaran, Halwahu, Nagal, Ebarsal, Mukwisj, Lahu, and Tasrak). As well, there are two other minor regions of linguistic separation, one around Sana and Hadrim (influenced by the Duwa language), and one around Lahu and Tasrak (influenced by the Yewe language).

Consonant Inventory
(The following table presents those consonants present in Proto-Sanakak, dialectal mutations are listed below.)


 * In some rural dialects, voiced plosives are realised as voiceless ejectives
 * Sana, Hadrim, and Amna also have the affricate /tʃ/, written {tsj}
 * Lower Sanakak has lost the glottal stop /ʔ/, as well as /l/, which is merged with either /n/ or /r/, depending on the surrounding vowels
 * Ghalakak, Mnari, Ebarsal, and Mukwisj mutate word-final /s/ into /z/ and /t/ into /d/
 * Some dialects of Lower Sanakak (Ebarsal, Nagal, and Lahu) all morph /ɱ/ into /v/, the rest of Lower Sanakak loses /ɱ/ altogether, and {f} is realised as /ɸ/
 * /j/ is lost in the Tavaranic dialect
 * Mukwisj, Lahu, and Mnari also have the labialised consonants /kʷ/, and /t ʷ/

Vowels
Upper Sanakak has a three-vowel system of /i/, /a/, and /u/, and their equivalent long vowels (vowel length indicated with a colon). The Tavaran and Halwahu dialects add an additional two vowels, /o/ and /ø/ along with their long equivalents. Tavaran, due to much contact with the Qalar culture, also employs the vowel /e/. The Sanakak Language employs extensive vowel harmony, where vowels in affixes are altered to match the first long vowel of the word, or the final vowel if there are no long vowels (the vowels to be harmonised are marked in the glossary with brackets).

Phonotactics
The basic syllabic structure of the Sanakak language is (C)V(C)(C). Consonant clusters are only acceptable word-finally (except in the Lahu-Tasrak dialect), and epenthetic vowels are often employed in compounds.

Grammar
The Sanakak language is a moderately inflectional language. As with phonology, there is a definite distinction between the grammar of Upper and Lower Sanakak.

Nouns
Nouns in Upper Sanakak have set vowels, as opposed to consonant roots (as with Sanakak verbs). Nouns inflect for three numbers: singular, dual (with suffix -(a)j), and plural (suffix -(a)m), demonstrated in the table below with three words: daf (woman), duri (sheep), and ujumn (sapphire).

Nouns are often compounded to make new words, for example the name of the city of Ghalakak is a compound of  ḥal (or ghal)  (canal for irrigation) and kak (kingdom). An epenthetic harmonised vowel is added between any potential consonant clusters. In compounds, generally when a larger object is being defined by a smaller component, the larger object is the last in the compound, as with Ghalakak. Non-substantive descriptors (eg colour, number, size, etc) also follow their head-nouns.

Verbs
Verbs in Sanakak conjugate for two main tenses, past and imperfective, the latter of which carries pretty general associations, meaning continuous, habitual, indicative, even referring to the future tense in some instances. Below are the Standard Mnarid conjugation tables, using the verb l-n-m-h, "to walk".

Past

Note that exact conjugation rules vary between dialects, and there are no irregular verbs.

Moods
In Upper Sanakak there are four modal suffixes, -i for the progressive, -umn for the subjunctive, -u for the conditional, and -adi for the jussive. The subjunctive is used in quotative phrases (ie when one wants to make it clear that what is being said is not one's own words).

Passive Voice
In Upper Sanakak, there are two passive voices, the dynamic passive and the stative passive. The dynamic passive is akin to the English language's "to become something". It is expressed with a prefixed b(u)-, for example bumusjurun - they are being collected. The stative passive is more like English's passive voice. It is expressed with t(u)-, for example tumasjaran - it is collected.

Stative Verbs
Stative verb phrases like "X is Y" are constructed with a special copula, b- ʔ-t, the conjugation for which is shown below.

For example:

"Katal abi ʔi:t a:qum"

katm-t(a)l abi ʔi:t a:qu-m

we-three are king-s

Lower Sanakak
to be added