User:Kang1289/sandbox
Note: My language (Manchu) already has an extensive amount of information on the existing Wiki page. As advised by Professor Kalin, I will indicate the portions that I want to add to the existing page, rather than transferring the existing information to my sandbox.
Lead
*Already extensive, so no additional changes needed.
Phonology
Already existing information about Phonology actually contradicts my Phonology section, having different vowels/consonants charts. The author has not cited his source on the different charts/information, yet I cannot just neglect the information as Professor Kalin stated. Therefore, I will add my Phonology section after the existing one to show there are different views on the phonology of Manchu. So, what I have written below would go right after the 'Vowel Harmony' section, with an indication that this phonology information contradicts the former one.
Vowels
Literary Manchu has a total seventeen vowel phonemes, composed of six monophthongs and 11 diphthongs. There is one front vowel, /i/, and two central vowels (/ə, a/), and three back vowels (/u, ʊ, o/).
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | u | |
| ʊ | |||
| Mid | ə | o | |
| Low | a |
Diphthongs: /ai, ei, oi, ui, ia, ie, io, ao, eo, ua, ue/[1]: 84
Consonants
Manchu has total 19 consonant phonemes. There are eleven voiced consonant phonemes, and eight voiceless consonant phonemes. There are five contrastive places of articulation and six contrastive manners of articulation.
| Places of Articulation | Labial | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode of Articulation | Bilabial | Labio-dental | Front | Dorsal | Back | |
| Obstruents | voiceless | p | t | k | ||
| voiced | b | d | g | |||
| Fricatives | voiceless | f | s, š | h | ||
| voiced | v | j | ||||
| Affricates | voiceless | č(c) | ||||
| voiced | čž(cz) | |||||
| Nasals | m | n | ŋ | |||
| Laterals | l | |||||
| Flapped | r | |||||
Syllable Structure
The possible syllabic structures of Manchu are (C)V(C).[1]: 102
| Template | Instantiation | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| V | /a/ | 'male' |
| CV | /bai/ | 'plain' |
| VC | /ab.ka/ | 'sky' |
| CVC | /sar.gan/ | 'wife' |
Stress
The stress of Manchu words has not been examined thoroughly, and scholars have not found any strict rules regarding stress in the language. However, many scholars have stated that the stress usually falls on the last syllable of a word when noun or verb morphology is added with suffixes.[1]: 100
Example: elhe ('slow') → elhe-kèn ('rather slow')[1]: 100
Dropping of Vowels
In the Manchu language, vowels are often left out in the middle part of the words, yet the meaning of the words remains the same.[1]: 99
Example[1]: 99 ) butaha('hunt') → butha
Morphology
The existing Wiki page does not have a separate morphology section, having relevant information under Grammar section. Thus, I would add the following morphology information in the beginning of the Grammar section, right before the Syntax section.
Manchu is one of the most analytical languages in its language family. Manchu has a very weak differentiation between parts of speech, and the language includes various morphological processes including suffixation and reduplication.[1]: 123
Derivational Suffixes
There are many different derivational suffixes. Some derivational suffixes are when nouns are formed by nominalization from a verb, while verbs are formed by verbalizer from a noun.[1]: 234
Example of Nominalizer: berile ('to drill') → berile-ku ('a drill')[1]: 196
Example of Verbalizer: gūnin ('thought') → gūnin-ja ('to think over carefully')[1]: 237
Example of Adverbalizer: nene ('to be first') → nene-me ('previously')[1]: 326
Inflectional Suffixes
Manchu also has some inflectional suffixations, which are often used to express tense of a verb and degree of an adjective.
Example of Present Tense: yobodo ('to joke') → yobodo-mbi ('jokes')[1]: 287
Example of Intensifier: aya ('good') → aya-kakun ('best')[1]: 130
Particles
Manchu has various particles that can be divided into five main groups: predicative, negative, interrogative, exclamatory, and restrictive particles.[1]: 368
Predicative Particles
In Manchu, predicative particles are added after a noun or a functional analogue of nouns to indicate the actual attribute of the subject in a sentence, having a similar function to that of a copula. The most commonly used predicative particle in Manchu is bi.[1]: 368
Example[1]: 368 )
abka
sky
de
DAT
deye-ra
fly-PTCP
gasha
bird
bi,
COP
na
earth
de
DAT
feksi-re
run-PTCP
gurgu
beast
bi
COP
'Those flying in the sky are birds, those running on the earth are animals.'
Negative Particles
Negative particles, which are /akū, waka, ume, unde, umai/, are used after independent words of various grammatical classes to deny the existence of an object or reject a predicate.[1]: 372
Example[1]: 373 )
ubaci
from.here
goro
far
akū
PTCL.NEG
'It is not far from here.'
Interrogative Particles
Interrogative particles, which are /na, o, ni/, could combine with nouns and all verbal forms in order to express interrogation.[1]: 375
Example[1]: 376 )
sue
you(SG)
araki
wine
omi-rakū-na?
drink-PTCL.NEG-PTCL.INT
'Don't you drink some wine?'
Exclamatory Particles
Most widely used exclamatory particles, /na, ne, no nu, jiya, jiye, ya/, are added after autonomous words with various grammatical classes to express exclamation.[1]: 379
Example[1]: 379 )
inu
yes
ya
PTCL.EXCLAM
'exactly!'
Restrictive Particles
Manchu has a small number of restrictive particles, including /tome, dari/, to assign the totality of objects with a same trait while pointing toward one single object within that totality.[1]: 379
Example[1]: 379 )
ilan
three
niyalma
men
tome
every
sargan
wife
gai-ha
take-PTCP
bi
COP
'Each of three man has chosen a wife (for himself)'
Reduplication
Reduplication is commonly used in Manchu. The purposes of this process are expressing plural form of a noun or showing intensity.[1]: 380, 382
Example[1]: 380 ) jalan ('generation') → jalan jalan ('generations')
Pairing Words
Pairing words in Manchu is a morphological process of combing two independent words that are part of the same lexical set of words. Pairing words could be used to express plural forms of a noun or to express a higher degree of certain action or feeling.[1]: 382
Example[1]: 382 ) kata-me ('drying') + kangka-me ('being thirsty') = katame kangkame ('suffering from thirst very much')
Syntax
The existing Wiki page does not have a separate syntax section, having a relevant information under the Grammar section. Thus, I would add the following syntax information under the existing Grammar section. Also, there is a conflicting information on basic word orders, so I would add my sentences about the basic word orders and example of OSV after the following sentence. Thus, adjectives and adjectival phrases always precede the noun they modify, and the arguments to the verb always precede the verb. Also, as I have found that there are two basic word orders, I would delete the following sentence, which is the last sentence of the first paragraph on the existing section. As a result, Manchu sentence structure is subject–object–verb (SOV).
Manchu has two basic word orders. The most common word order is when the direct object stands directly before the predicate (SOV). Another basic word order is when the direct object precedes the subject (OSV).[1]: 393
Example of OSV (less common)[1] : 455 )
tere
that
niyalma
man
be
I
bi
ACC
akda-mbi
trust-IMPERF
'I trust that man.'
Citations
 | This is a user sandbox of Kang1289. You can use it for testing or practicing edits. This is not the sandbox where you should draft your assigned article for a dashboard.wikiedu.org course. To find the right sandbox for your assignment, visit your Dashboard course page and follow the Sandbox Draft link for your assigned article in the My Articles section. |