Sona - 4

The definite article is en ‘it’; c.f. Gaelic an. It is used only for emphasis, and not generally as in E., F., G., I., etc., i.e. ra may stand for man, the man, a man; en ra = the (very) man; alternatives are in ‘this,’ ‘the latter,’ un ‘that,’ ‘the former’ (§24). There is no Indefinite Article… enna = ‘one,’ he = ‘any,’ cien = ‘a certain’. Sona has a special form of Article called the Honorific, borrowed from J. This is the vowel o; cf. J. o mimosa san, o kodomo shu. It is used before names, words of address, and verbs as an expression of politeness. Thus we have:– o ra, ‘(honorable) man,’ ‘gentleman,’ o hara ‘sir,’ o tu jiko ‘your (honour's) children,’ o toru ‘please pass,’ o min ‘(please) come in!’ We meet with so many ways of address in national languages, ranging from the flowery honorifics of the East to the laconic “Say bo” of the new West, that we must have some such mechanism to satisfy all tastes.

The Italian has no less than three forms of address– tu, voi, lei; the haughty Pathan but one– ty– whether to prince or pauper. In English we write Mr. to our tailor, but Esq. to our friends– yet neither word can we use in address. We have no happy way of calling the waitress. We hover between a furtive ‘Miss’ or a self conscious cough. In Sona the simple little vowel o solves all our difficulties. The word hara, both in writing and address, means ‘Mister,’ whether tailor or friend, while o hara covers all complications of Sir, Dear Sir, Respected Sir, Your Honour, and so on. Likewise tu ‘you’ is exalted to o tu in polite address, and solves the problem of ‘Yours truly,’ ‘Yours faithfully,’ ‘Your obedient Servant,’ and all the rest.

NAMES. A further Article form is provided by the radical ha- “name” (see also Vocative, Interjection, Imperative). This radical pf. converts another into a name, thus often expressing “The” followed by a capital letter. hara, Mr., Mousieur, Signor, Herr, hari, Time, Kronos, Aleksander hata Alexander The Great, hapi Harpy, hatazu elephant, hama locality.

§14. PERSONS. (GENDER.)

Inanimate objects have no gender. Sex is marked by:

As pf. these radicals distinguish sex; e.g. rako male-child, zanko female child, rapi cock, zanpi hen, rane manhood, zanne womanhood; ra man, zan woman.

AGENT. As sf. the same radicals distinguish the male and female agent; e.g. kora boy, kozan girl, pira bird-man (man who tends birds, keeper), pizan (f.), hara Mr., hazan Mrs.

Relationship is also marked by these radicals, together with:– -nin child of; cf. R. suf. -nin. e.g. nuzapara great-grandfather, nuzauma great-grandmother, zapara grandfather, zauma grandmother, para father, uma mother, gepara father-in-law, geuma mother-in-law, nupara step-father, nuyuma step-mother, nura uncle, nuzan aunt, nubora male cousin, nubozan female cousin, bora brother, bozan sister, boranin nephew, bozannin niece, ranin son, zannin daughter, geranin son-in-law, gezannin daughter-in-law, nuranin step-son, nuzannin step-daughter, varanin grandson, varzannin grand-daughter, nuvaranin g.gr.son; nuvazannin g.gr.daughter, gera husband, gezan wife, gerazan husband and wife, nagera bachelor, nagezan spinster, gekira bridegroom, gekizan bride, kira youth, kizan maid; hara Mr., hazan Mrs., haranin Master, hazannin Miss (The last four words may be abbreviated to h, hz, hn, hzn).

The former is really a Participle:– ruci which (who) goes, a goer, the going one. It therefore implies action; one who does something. The latter merely signifies a person of unspecified sex. The following three words formed with the radical ka ‘leading’ will illustrate the difference between -ra, -ci, -ji :– kara officer, kaci leader, guide, kaji chief(tain); less clear are:– bora brother, boci butcher, boji blood-relative.

In expressing military ranks ra distinguishes a commander, -ci an executive officer.

-a Female; Cf. Italiana, Russkaya. e.g. Fransa, Itala, Irana (Persian woman), Doica (German woman).

These two suffixes are arbitrary and not the radicals i, a. We now pass to nouns that are inanimate and have no gender.

§15. NEUTER NOUNS

The neuter noun may simply be rendered by a radical; e.g. bo flesh, di part (of), mo fruit, te hand, pe foot. But there are occasions when a distinguishing affix is required to mark a noun from a verbal radical. We have then:–

e.g. tena projection, tega arm; cena lock, cega sinew; dina piece, diga limb; bona (cooked) meat, boga flesh.

As pf. the second radical implies physical, of the body:– e.g. gabi a physical organ, gase eye; cf. T. gyüze eye, gace the muscular system.

INSTRUMENT. Nouns denoting instruments, utensils, gadgets:– -bi ‘use‘; cf. A. bi, E. by, G. bei. e.g. rabi male organ, cebi key, tebi handle, gabi organ.

PLACE. Nouns denoting places, shops, areas, buildings.

-a	fixed place; cf. I. -ia, R. -ya, J. -ya.
-ma	locality; cf. A. ma-, mi-.
-ca	area, rectangle, sheet, square (see NUMERALS).
-kan	house, building; cf. Pr. khan.

e.g. dia room, compartment, dima district, dica area, dikan appartament, flat; kaya headquarters, kama point d'appui, kaca Province, kakan or kayokan headquarter building, town hall, pia nest, pima henrun, place where birds are found or kept, pica bird preserve, pikan aviary. The form -cia indicates the place where a business is carried on:– bocia a butcher's shop.

A noun of place in sf. -a cannot be further suffixed by another radical with initial consonant without inserting the isolator -ci- between them. e.g. pia-piga = piacipiga a nest egg. Without this isolating -ci- there would be confusion with pi + api + ga (see also §35).

NAMES OF COUNTRIES. The names of countries are formed by suffixing the vowels -ia, already in use to a great extent throughout the world; e.g. Anglia (An-gli-a), Fransia, Doicia (Germany), Russia, Irania (Persia), Sinia (China).

The Continents remain unchanged:– Europa, Asia, Afrika, Amerika. Geographical names – national spellings:– Praha, Wien, Napoli, Moskva.

§16. ABSTRACT NOUNS

Nouns denoting time, state, action, quality;

-ri	Time; cf. J. ori. (Divisions of Time see §20).
-ne	From (abstraction); cf. R. sf., -nye. Noun of state.
-da	Do; cf. I.G. DHA, E. do, R. dye. Verbal noun.
-vi	Quality; cf. R. -vy, E. -y. Noun of Quality.

e.g. diri day, dine division, dida dividing, divi particularity; kari noon, kane leadership, kada leading, kavi superiority.

Combined with ci the three last named radicals express:–
-cine the theory of, study of, -ism; e.g. jo (God), jocine theology.
-cida the practice of a trade, profession; e.g. jocida evangelism.
-civi the art of, science of, -ism; e.g. jocivi priestcraft.

§17. DEGREE

Augmentives, diminutives, approbation, disapprobation.

-ta-	Augment; cf. C. ta big, Gk. sf. -tatos.
-ko-	Diminutive; cf. J. ko, I.G. -ok, -ik, -kin; T. juk, jik.
-xa	Approbation; R. sf. -sha, -ushka, (I.) -uccio.
-ze	Disapprobation. Arbitrary radical; cf. I. -accio, R. -ichka.

As pf. the first two radicals indicate the Size or Degree of a noun; as sf. importance or unimportance, full grown or undeveloped, much of or little of. As sf. the last two radicals indicate something pleasing or displeasing. -xa may also express beauty, and is used in naming flowers, birds, ornaments. Thus we form:– tara a big man, a great man, rata giant, man of importance, kora boy, rako male child, with the combinations:– tarata a huge giant, korata a well grown boy, kokora a small boy, korako a small male child; raxa a nice, or handsome man, raze an unpleasant, or ugly fellow, takoraxa a fine big boy, takoraze lout. Note also paraxa Para, Daddy, raninxa ‘Sonny boy,’ abexa lily, jexa jewel, daxa a kind act, donxa tip, pourboire, mancia.

§18. NUMBER

The number of a noun is not always distinguished. In English we may speak of sheep, fruit, fish, man, tiger in both singular and plural sense, as ‘man goes after tiger.’ So in Sona– ra uke taxe. Plural number is never marked after a numeral or the radical e ‘number’ = ‘many,’ or when a noun stands as predicate to a plural pronoun: e.g. ti (zi) ra ‘they are men,’ mie (zi) pan kora ‘we are all boys.’ A PLURAL however, may be formed with the sf. e ‘number,’ ‘many’; e.g. mie ‘we,’ (from mi ‘I,’) koraye ‘boys.’ As pf. this radical means quantity, many, frequency, multi-; e.g. ekora ‘many boys,’ eri ‘often,’ ena every, each. (also see §22, Comparison).

COLLECTIVE. A collective noun is formed with gi ‘collect.’ As pf. this radical is similar in value to the German pf. ge- in ‘gebrüder’; as sf. it is the ordinary collective; e.g. gibora ‘Brothers’ (trade), boragi ‘brothers’ (relatives).

§19. NUMERALS

The numeric system is based on the twelve cardinals: 1 enna, 2 do, 3 tin, 4 ca, 5 pen, 6 xi, 7 zun, 8 atu, 9 nun and 10 dici (i.e. ‘the divider’), 100 son, 1000 tan. From 11 to 19 numbers are formed by combining 1 to 9 with dici; e.g. 11 ennadici or endici, 12 dodici etc. ‘Tens’ from 20 to 90 are formed by combining 2 to 9 with edi, (i.e. by their multiplication by 10). e.g. 20 doyedi, 26 doyedixi; ‘Hundreds‘ and ‘thousands‘ are formed similarly; e.g. 442 cason cayedido (which may be written in one word), 1934 tan nunson tinyedica, 10,000 dicitan, 100,000 sontan; a century sontori, a thousand and one nights tanyenna vandi. Zero naci; a million tanta a billion dotanta.

ENUMERATIVE. As in Chinese and Japanese Sona employs an enumerative particle corresponding to ‘pieces of,‘ ‘head of‘; -na; e.g. dodicina a dozen, doyedina a score, xina half a dozen; cana ibo four head of cattle, atuna velen eight sheets of paper, dicina usu ten pieces of silver.

COLLECTIVE. A collective number is formed by the radical -gi; e.g. dodicigi a party of twelve, songi a company of a 100, engina unit, singleton. In adjectival form this radical distinguishes a multiple; e.g. engio single, xigio sixfold, dogio double, tingio treble; both pando, all three pantin. Preceeded by the radical particle po we have:– po engi by ones, one at a time, po dodicigi by twelves, twelve at a time.

DIVISION. Decimals and fractional numbers are expressed by ko ‘small,‘ which as pf. stands for the decimal point with -na- for a ‘nought,’ and as sf. for the fraction; e.g. kotin .3, konatin .03, konanatin .003, etc; tinko one third, tincako three-quarters, zunyatuko seven-eighths. Note do di two parts. A ‘half‘ is diko, one and a half engediko, piece, bit kodi.

ORDINALS. The ordinals are formed from the cardinals by the sf. -o (§22) e.g. enyo first, doyo second, dicio tenth, cayedio fortieth. Their corresponding adverbs are formed by changing -o to -u (§32).

FREQUENCY. ‘Times’ is expressed by the pf. e- ‘many’ (§18); e.g. eyenna or eyen once, edo twice, etin three times.

§20. TIME

Clock hours are named by the cardinals 1 to 24, the word ori (o'clock) being added if required; e.g. enna (ori) 1 a.m., tindici (ori) 1 p.m., ke ori what is the time? An ‘hour’ is hori; one hour enna hori, an hour and a half horigediko, half an hour dikohori or tinyedi kori thirty minutes.

Note– iroki dawn, kiri morning, kari noon, hinkari afternoon, niri evening, irofin sunset, kavan midnight.

Parts of the clock hour are named by using the numerals in two groups– hour – minutes; e.g. dici cayedipen 10.45 a.m., xidici cayedi 4.40 p.m. (16.40). A minute is kori, a ‘second’ riko.

A day is irodi, night vandi, a day of 24 hours diri. Note:– irovandi day and night, indiri to-day, invandi to-night, vadiri to-morrow, vavandi to-morrow night, unvadiri the day after to-morrow, hindiri the following day, zadiri yesterday, zavandi last night, unzadiri the day before yesterday, unzavandi the night before last; odi the day of the week, odiri the date; xi diri six days, po xi diri for six days, va xi diri in six days, pan xi diri all six days, ena xi diri every six days, ena xio diri every sixth day, po e xi diri for another six days, ili xi about six, ili enna diri or ili dirina about a day, pan diri all day, ena diri every day, enu diri every other day.

A week is ridi; day of the week odi, week-day riodi, holiday alodi, this week inridi, next week varidi, last week zaridi.

The days of the week are formed by suffixing -odi to the numbers 1-7; e.g. enyodi Monday, doyodi Tuesday, tinyodi Wednesday, cayodi Thursday, penyodi Friday, xiodi Saturday, xunyodi Sunday.

Note:– Both the Arabs and Persians count Sunday as the first day of the week (A. el ahadd, Pr. yekshamba). The Greeks call Thursday {pempti} fifth day, while the Russians count Friday ‘pyatnitsa’ the fifth day; cf. Hung. pentek, Lith. penktadienis.

A month is mendi. The L. names are used. A season is uri. kiuri spring, kauri summer, niuri autumn, finyuri winter; inkiuri this spring (see Day). A year is tori which also expresses age, how old:– ketori ‘how old?,’ ketoritu ‘how old are you?,’ mi xidici tori ‘I am 16’.

§21. COMPOUND NOUN

All nouns formed by more than one radical are actually compounds. There is no limit to the building up of such compounds, so long as they are logically constituted. In the Introductory I have given examples of how polysyllables may also be split up analytically. The governing radical, or group of radicals, stands first as in English ‘ice-breaker’ and not as in Italian ‘rompighiaccio’. An adjective is frequently compounded with the noun it qualifies:– zorovelo a red flower (zoroyo velo), or a possessive with the possessed:– korakadi a boy's head (but see §31). We may compound two nouns:– parauma father and mother, or two adverbs:– akayani high and low, akaliani up and down. We may form more fanciful compounds such as irovuda dawn– cf. Russian razsviet– the gradual disposal of light, fanvasini fairy-faced, akisamene quickness of understanding, with the adroitness of ancient Greek.

Just as certain radicals assume a fixed value, so certain radical compounds play a similar role:– hama local, hedi civil, kayo principle, basu naval, kaida government, official, haida state, kaisa political, heida civilization, kaidakacia government official's office, kaisadin political party.

§22. ADJECTIVES

One noun placed before another qualifies or defines it; e.g. a big house, a boat house, a country house; S. takan, sucanya, vecaya. But a true adjective is formed by the sf. -(y)o, ‘quality’ (§13); cf. I.G. -o, Franko-Prussian, I. -o, R. -oi; e.g.:- tayo great, big, kanyo domestic, suo of water, watery. Note also the ORDINALS, §19. COMPOUND ADJECTIVES:– -vio of the quality of, ravio virile; -bio useful for, used for, rabio phallic; -dio of, belonging to, radio male, masculine; -lio able to, -able, ralio potent; -sio like, -ish, rasio manly; -kio beginning to, -escent, rakio adolescent; -fio not quite, hardly, -ish, rafio mannish, effeminate; -cio or -ci Participle adjective, raci(o) who acts like a man, brave; -nio or -ni Passive adjective, rani(o) virilized. There are also the forms:– beyo without, less, rabeyo without a man; -noyo bearing, -ferous, ranoyo bearing sons; -panyo full of, -ful, rapanyo manful.

In PREDICATE form, when the radical sense is adjectival, o is omitted; e.g. ra aka the man (is) tall, in raye ta these men (are) big. (§35.).

COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES. In some oriental languages comparison is implicit rather than explicit. For instance a Persian says:– in az un buzurg ast (this than that high is) = This is higher than that; a Japanese:– Fuji ga takai (Fujiyama is high) = higher. So in Sona it may be rendered by using ne ‘from’ = ‘than’; e.g. in ne un aka– exactly like Persian– this (is) higher than that (in this, ne than, un that, aka high), the Superlative being implied by ne pan than all, un aka ne pan that is the highest of all.

Explicit comparison is expressed by:– e- as pf. to the adjective (Comparative); en ‘the’ before the Comparative (Superlative); e.g. eta more, greater, eko less, en eta most, en eko least, eyaka ra a taller man, en eyaka ra the tallest man, en ekoya ra the smallest man, un en eko(ri) that (is) the smallest, inye en eko(ri) ne pan these (are) the smallest of all, Fuji en eta akama di Nihonia Fudji (is) the highest (greatest) mountain in (of) Japan. Note:– ta- very, ko- rather; e.g. tayaka very high, kokoyo rather small, kotayo rather big.

COLOURS. Colours and their shades are formed with the radical ro colour. The simple colours are:– naro black, jero grey, jenaro slate, suro blue, huro azure, usuro silver, viro opal, puro yellow, urro gold, puvero yellow green, vero green, uemuro olive, muro brown, jemuro dun, garo pink, boro carmine, zoro red, umoro cream, bero white.

The use of adjectival -(y)o is optional:– zoro(yo) red. Shades of colour are rendered by:– azi- vivid, ta- bright, -ta deep, -van dark, -ko light, -fi pale, -ki slightly, -nan dull. Compounds are:– suzoro bluish-purple, zosuro reddish purple, suvero bluish green, vesuro greenish blue.

§23. PRONOUNS

The pronouns are as follows:–

	SINGULAR.		PLURAL.
mi	I, me, my.	mie	we, us, our.
tu	you, your.	tue	ye, your.
on	he, him, his.	onye	they, their, (masc.).
an	she, her.	anye	they, their, (fem.).
en	it, its.	enye	they, their, (neut.).
		ti	they, their, (general.).
in	this (latter).	inye	these.
un	that (former).	unye	those.
ena	each, every.	pan	all.
inu	other.	enu	every other.
asi	the same.	isi	one another.
si	one, ones, self, own.	sie	selves.

The pronoun si is also REFLEXIVE and may refer to any person or number; e.g. on abu si para he loves his (own) father, on sa on para he knows his (another's) father, ti sa si uene they know their (own) duty, xoti anye uene show them their duty (where ‘their’ refers to women), si abu pan jiko one loves all children, ti abuisi they love one another, ti abusi they love themselves. For the use of -si as a possessive suffix see §31.

There is no distinctive POSSESSIVE form, but the pronoun may, as in A., Pr., be suffixed to the noun possessed, e.g. mi kadi or kadimi my head, kadieti their heads. Myself, yourself, etc. take the forms:– simi, situ ; simikadi or kadisimi my own head. Mine, yours, etc. take the forms mina, tuna ; plurals as:– tina theirs, anyena theirs (fem.), miena ours. Note:– un sina that is his, un on that is he, en ti it is they.

Pronouns precede, or are prefixed to, and follow, or are suffixed to, a verb according as they are subjective or objective; e.g. mi sa ti or misati I know them; tu sa an or tusayan you know her. As in I. direct and indirect object pronouns follow, or are suffixed to, the verb in this order; e.g. xo en mi or xoyenmi show it to me, ka mi on or kamionlead me to him; but to avoid an ugly sound li ‘to’ may precede indirect on, an, en ; e.g. xo inye li on show these to him.

Sona does not use the personal pronouns so frequently as European languages. In E. we may often dispense with them in telegraphic messages or military reports. In I., C., J. they are sometimes omitted when the sense is clear without them. Thus keli ‘whither?’ is sufficient to express ‘where are you going?’, ke dai (what doing) ‘what are you doing?’

The RELATIVE pronoun is ci ‘which’. As in Pt. it may refer to Person, Thing, Place, Time, Manner, Kind, Quantity; e.g.:– ra ci the man who, ti ci they who, ri ci the time which = when, u ci the manner which = how, taci as much as, e ci as many as. As prefix this radical expresses ‘some,’ ‘so’, e.g. ciji someone, cina something, cia somewhere, ciri sometime(s), ciu somehow, civi some kind of, cita so much, cie so many; cina a thing, (plural) cigi things. Note:– cieta some more, cisi whose, cidi some (of).

IV. THE NOUN

§13. ARTICLE