Study
Emil Perder's 2013 dissertation, ''A Grammatical Description of Dameli'', based on the author's field work, is the first comprehensive description of the Dameli language. Before Perder's work, the main source of information on Dameli was an article byClassification
The language is classified as anPhonology
The following tables set out the phonology of the Dameli Language.Vowels
Vowels are distinguished by quality, length, and nasality. It is possible that and may serve as variants of /u/ and /u:/. Occasionally, the vowels /u/ and /i/ can be reanalyzed as semivowels /w/ and /j/, respectively, in order to fit the syllable structure.Consonants
Tones
Perder distinguishes two tones: rising and falling, but concludes that they require further study.Perder, Emil (2013Syllable structure
Dameli has a limited amount of syllable structures. Consonants clusters are allowed at the onset and coda, but only with a certain set of consonants. Any consonant except // can appear at the start of a syllable. In word final position, only voiceless unaspirated stops can occur.Morphology
Nouns
Nouns can be inflected for number and case and refer to things that are inanimate or animate. They belong either to the masculine or feminine gender. However, the gender system is in decline among speakers. The general plural suffix is ''-nam''. However, some words borrowed fromCases
Dameli is a split ergative language. With past and perfective forms, the system is ergative, and with nonpast and perfective forms, the system is accusative. There are two sets of cases: core and periphery. The 'core' cases include the unmarked/nominative form and the ergative form, and the periphery cases include theKinship
The kinship system of Dameli takes into account relative age, relative generation, gender, and whether the relationship is by-blood or by-marriage. Seven generations are distinguished: the generation of the anchor and the three generations preceding or following them. The third generation preceding the anchor is only used in the term for great-grandfather, ''parbap'' and the term for grandfather, ''bap,'' is used to mean ancestor. All kinship terms are distinguished by gender, and may or may not share the same root. The anchor's gender is also occasionally taken into account; the term used for a woman's mother-in-law is not the same as a man's. For relative age, the anchor is generally considered, but in the case of relatives by marriage, the parent's age is considered. Kinship terms can be inflected in three different ways: an unmarked form, a second person form, and a third person form. Second person is marked with the suffix ''-un/-in'' and third person is marked with ''-es''. The suffix ''-oo'', which only occurs on kinship terms, takes on a vocative role as it is used to address the subject. Unlike other nouns, kinship terms generally take the plural suffix ''-suu'' instead of ''-nam''.Pronouns
Pronouns in Dameli are inflected for five factors: person, number, distance,Possessive pronouns
The possessive reflexive pronoun ''taanu'' is used indicate that something is owned by an already-defined person, much like English 'one's own'. It is inflected for gender agreement with the noun it modifies.Interrogative pronouns
The interrogative and relative pronouns are ''kya'' 'what', ''kii/kuree'' 'who', ''keeraa'' 'which', and ''kasãã'' 'whose'.Adjectives
In Dameli, some adjectives show gender agreement and some do not. Generally, dimensions other than gender are not considered. Generally, ''-a'' marks agreement with a masculine noun, and ''-i'' marks agreement with a feminine noun. The suffixes ''-bana'' and ''-bani'' denote similarity to a noun, somewhat like English '-ish' or 'like'. The suffix ''-baṣ'' denote ability as in ''matrambaṣ'' 'legible' (lit. able to be read). Some more suffixes include -''weela,'' roughly equivalent to 'having x', and ''-pin'' 'full of x'.Numerals
The basic numerals of Dameli are as follows: The numerals are in base ten, but can be analyzed as base 20 in specific cases (ex: ''traa-biši'' 'sixty' lit. three-twenty). Ordinal numerals take on the suffix ''-am''. Collective numerals are expressed with the suffix ''-i.''Verbs
A typical Dameli verb root contains one or two syllables. Roots can be intransitive, transitive, or ditransitive. The main distinction is between transitive and intransitive verbs. Some common verbs use alternative roots when in the perfective aspect. For example, in the verb 'to die', the root ''naṣṭ'' is used in the perfective and the root ''br'' in other contexts. The causative suffix ''-a'' (used in the future and perfective) and ''-aai'' (used in the imperfective and past). Verbs may also use the 'second causative', becoming ditransitive. Verbs are inflected for six finite tense-aspect-mood categories: perfective, imperfective, indirect past, potential past, future, and imperative. There are an additional five non-finite tense-aspect-mood qualities: infinitive, present participle, past participle,Copulas
Two different copula verbs are used: one for animate subjects and one for inanimate subjects.Perfective
TheImperfective
The imperfective form expresses the simple present, the continuous past, and completed actions with currently relevant outcomes. Combining the imperfective with ''taa'' creates the past continuous form.Indirect Past
The indirect past is used to indicate events that the speaker did not directly witness in the past.Potential past
The potential past is used to indicate events that may have happened in the past, but that the speaker is not sure of.Future
Imperative
The imperative is used to indicate commands and requests.Non-finite
An epenthetic vowel is inserted if the suffix would otherwise create a non-compatible cluster. The infinity functions as a 'verbal noun'. The conjunctive participle functions as a converb, mainly serving to mark the adverb. In negative imperatives, the prohibitive marker ''ma'' is used before the imperative verb form.Causative
Verbs can take a causative and 'second causative' suffix. Generally, an intransitive verb will become transitive with a causative suffix, and ditransitive with a second causative suffix. For instance, the verb 'to sit' has three levels of causativity: The first example uses the intransitive verb to refer to the act of sitting; the second example uses the transitive verb to describe the act of making someone else sit, and the third example uses a second causative to describe the action of the subject, I, making the object, the boy, sit through the medium of the uncle.Postpositions
There are two major categories of postpositions: those that require the locative case and those that don't. There are five postpositions that require the preceding noun to have the locative case: ''ki'' 'to', ''ṣaži'' 'in order to', ''ṣawaai'' 'for, by, through', ''mili'' 'with (comitative)', and ''ĩĩ'' 'appropriate place.' ''ṣawaai'' is primarily used to describe the second argument of a ditransitive verb. ''ĩĩ'' is always cliticized to the preceding noun. Other, non-locative pospositions are ''ta'' 'from, of, than', ''ṣaa'' 'on', ''neẉ'' 'under', ''taprei'' 'for', ''bãĩ'' 'towards', ''tagii'' 'from', and ''tali'' 'until.Question words
The basic non-prominal question words are as follows:Syntax
Dameli exhibits typical Indo-Aryan syntax. The default word order for most clause types is Subject-Object-Verb. The basic clause can contain a clause adverbial, the subject, and the predicate, consisting of the object and verb. The clause adverbial provides context for the rest of the clause. The subject, a noun phrase, declares the agent of the verb. Indirect objects are generally placed before direct objects. Locative predicates are generally postnominal. Negation is typically placed before the verb it negates. The basic noun phrase has three sections: a determiner (indicating number or proximity), an attribute (adjective or adverb), and a head (noun). In this phrase, ''ek'' 'one' serves as the determiner, ''lee ɣarib'' 'very poor' serves as an attribute, and ''mač'' 'man' serves as the head. Adverbials can express time (i.e. yesterday, tomorrow), space (i.e. here, far), and intensifiers (i.e. very). Coordination in Dameli is when two qualities which are expected to occur together and form a single unit. They can be formed using the clitic -''o'' or by putting the terms in sequences, such as ''yei bap'' 'grandfather and grandmother' and ''aan-o baraan'' 'inside and outside'. Conjunction coordination is expressed with the coordinator ''ãã.'' Disjunctive coordination is expressed with ''kuu'' or ''ya'' 'or'. Adversative coordination (like English 'but') is expressed with ''leekin'' and ''xu''. The topic particles ''ta'' and ''ba'' denote a previously mentioned topic and a new topic, respectively. The vocative particle ''a'' can be placed in front of any description word to create a vocative clause.See also
*References
Further reading
* Decker, Kendall D. (1992External links