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Searixina vowel alternations

From:Andreas Johansson <andjo@...>
Date:Monday, March 24, 2003, 11:15
I've recently worked on a document (which may one day become available on the
'net - just don't hold your breath) in which Klaishic roots are listed with
their derivatives. In working on this I've realized just how much vocalic mayhem
occurs between the almost perfectly regular phonetic changes and the similarly
bland adding of suffixes in Searixina. One gets declension charts like this (all
circumflexes should be going on top of the preceeding vowel - they mark a long
stressed vowel; words without one have initial stress):


_miev-_ "day"
-       sg     pl
nom     mieve  mievine
acc     mevz   mievins
poss    miva^  mivina^

_deak-_ "sorrow"
-       sg     pl
nom     deake  deakine
acc     daks   deakins
poss    daka^  dakina^

_zdér-_ "death"
-       sg     pl
nom     zdére  zdérine
acc     zdés   zdérins
poss    zdira^ zdirina^

_drieku-_ "boy"
-       sg        pl
nom     driekuve  driekune
acc     driekus   driekuns
poss    drikuva^  drikuna^

_zóx-_ "star"
-       sg     pl
nom     zóxe   zóxine
acc     zóxis  zóxins
poss    zuxa^  zuxina^

On closer inspection, it's seen to be very regular, but the initial impression
on the uninitiated must be pretty randomesque. Notice that final _-e_ indicates
an unrounded vowel somewhere on the line from [@] to [1] - essentially X-SAMPA
[I\].

                                               Andreas

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Christophe Grandsire <christophe.grandsire@...>