Sona – an auxiliary neutral language
The two following particles have a special use; cf. G. her-, hin-, Pt. ra-, war-:–
in This (here), the latter; Pt. in.
un That (yonder), the former; Pr. un.
We have already noted their use as Indefinite Pronouns and as Indicators of Time, but they have still a more important function. They mark an action or state towards or away from the sense of the radical to which they are joined. From no ‘carry’ we form:– inno bring here (towards the speaker), unno take away; from ru ‘go’ inru come, unru go away. We may also form:– from ibi ‘trade,’ inyibi buy, unyubi sell.
The Interrogative is formed in two ways by -ke- ‘What?’ cf. J. -ka?, I.G. k-, h-, ch-; ke = what? As pf. this radical is a direct interrogative: e.g. keji who? kena (or ke) what? keci which? kesi whose? keya where? keri when? keori at what time? keu how? keua why? keta how much? keye how many? kevi what kind of?
As sf. this radical questions the preceding word e.g. rake a man? tusake ‘do you know?’ It thus automatically isolates a word in a phrase:–
onke ari vadiri ‘is he coming to-morrow?’ (or somebody else)
on arike vadiri ‘is he coming to-morrow?’ (or is he not)
on ari vadirike ‘is he coming to-morrow?’ (or some other day)
There are two useful forms combined with the Negative:– ke na ‘or not?’ na ke ‘is it not so?’ Note keha ‘what a …!’
The negative is distinguished by the radicals na-, non-.
na- not, no, un-; e.g. naci nothing, naught, nayo no, nau in no way, nohow, nadi none (of), naua not at all, naui yet, notwithstanding, naue ought not, nauo must not, nali cannot; minasa ‘I do not know,’ tunasake ‘do you not know?,’ na tu na mi sa ‘neither you nor I know.’
non- (Reversal); e.g. nondinyo non-party.
Exclamations, Vocatives and Imperatives may be formed by -ha ‘name’ (cf. §13); e.g. baha bang! joha O God! ruha go!
The following are the more common exclamations. When required polite o or -ha may be added.
Absurd lun, absolutely asipan, alas vo, behold haua, be off ruhasi, rusi, be quick akisi, be quiet inisi, beware asesi, bah pu, bang ba, bump udu, bis eha, blast baze, ude, bless you xahatu, bother ja, bravo xaba, bring (me) inmi, inno (mi), carry it nohayen, catch te, certainly asa, come back innusi, come here insi, come in min, come out infusi, crack ide, crash coba, crunch con, curse zeha, curse you zehatu, damn zeba, damn you zebatu, down with utiha, don't mention it na po ci, don't speak nalaba, don't trouble najasi, encore eha, excuse (me) fen(mi), forget (it) fime(yen), exactly ika, forgive (me) von(mi), follow (me) hin(mi), forward! vali, get out fusi, get up akasi, get down anisi, go away unsi, ru(ha), go to hell zelisi, go on eru, good day juri, good morning jukiri, good evening juniri, good night juvan, good bye aireseda, ajo, good luck xafatu, God bless you jolatu, God be with you jolitu, O God joha, by God po jo, my God jomi, halt! man, have done itosi, help soka, here! (look) se, (calling a waiter etc.) oha, heave aru, hurrah juha, hurry up akisi, indeed rike, it is forbidden ubani, it is impossible nali, just so ika, asi, just tell (me) laki(mi), keep on iresi, keep quiet sinisi, keep still cesi, let (me) da(mi), leave (it) kaman, left turn zelisi, lie down kusi, look here inse, look out asesi, long live (the King) rinha (ran), march peli, never mind na po ci, never nari, never again naire, no na, no doubt be ken, no chance be fa, no luck be xafa, no smoking na huka, now nu, now then ha nu, of course sameni, of course not naua, open (the door) lo (mindu), out of the way alisi, asesi, pass on torusi, please o cu, o, pull aru, push ruba, put mate, quietly ini, quite so panyasi, quick ihi, rather sui, really rike, right ure, right turn urelisi, save (me) soka (mi), send (me) ruka (mi), send for (it) kayari(en), show (me) xo (mi), shut (the door) cen (mindu), sit down kunsi, slowly azasi, stand still cesi, man, stand aside alisi, stand up ukasi, stop cen, man, take (it) teka (yen), take (it) away unno (yen), take (some) ima (di), take (my) place ama mi, take care aseki, thanks xan, thank (you) very much ta xan, that way unli, this way inli, there you are (I. ecco) haua, (I told you so) asiha, to arms bali, to your places (en voiture) kunyeli, too much uto, too fast utoyaki, too long utori, too slow utoyaza, trust (me) aso (mi), try (it) ibuki (en), try again euke, turn round gosi, turn (it) round goru (en), turn over gonusi, undo this lobain, undress yourself besi, understand sameua, very much ta cu, very well ta xa, wait mansi, wait for (me) mansi (mi), wake (me) kila (mi), welcome juari, well fake, well done xadani, what a pity keha vo, wish (me) luck cu (mi) xafa, with pleasure cu ui, without fail be fi, would that cu ua, would you kindly o cu, yes ui, you are right ureua, you are wrong fen ua, you may, can (do something) si alo, you must tu uo, you are early tu kizi, you are late tu aza (zi).
The following four particles are emphatic. ua for, as for, in order to; cf. J. wa, Gk. mev, R. zhe, F. quant a; e.g.:– tu ua for you, as for you, on ua ci sa it is he who knows. Note: geua and now, ciua about, concerning, asiua da so as to (intention), koua the less, taua the more, ua na (wa-na) lest, unaua only, kin ua therefore; also:– biua by it, diua of it, F. en, liua to it, F. y, soua with it, neua from it, enua for it, aua at it, naua not at all.
AFFIRMATION. Affirmation, Approval, Assent, is expressed by ui yes, assent, F. oui:– ui yes, sameniui of course. It also indicates encouragement, exhortation:– lakamiui tell me now!
OBLIGATION. Obligation is expressed by two Particles:–
ue ought, should, it behoves:– tu ue ari you ought to come.
uo must, it is necessary:– tu uo ari you must come.
The latter also forms the executive word of command:– bazo-uo fire!, ureli-uo right-turn!, ase-uo attention!
Movement towards, direction is indicated by:– li to, toward cf. A. li. As pf. it signifies ‘to’ (Dative):– li mi to me, li kan to the house; As sf. it means ‘towards,’ -wards; e.g. inli hither, unli thither, keli whither? neinli hence, nekeli whence, kanli home-wards. Note the form dili for; cf. R. dlya. The same radical forms adverbs of motion; e.g. akali up, anili down, combined akaliani up and down; fuli out, lifu to and fro.
It also marks the Points of the Compass:–
| N | poli | S | zoli | |
| NNE | popokili | SSW | zozonili | |
| NE | pokili | SW | zonili | |
| ENE | kipokili | WSW | nizonili | |
| E | kili | W | nili | |
| ESE | kizokili | WNW | niponili | |
| SE | zokili | NW | ponili | |
| SSE | zozokili | NNW | poponili |
Note:– polia the north (pole), polima polar regions, polio northern.
Sona has a general preposition po ‘cover;’ on, by, at, in, for; cf. R. po, Pt. pa, Esp. ye. It is extensively used in cases where the prepositional sense is indefinite, as in ‘at last,’ ‘on purpose,’ ‘by day,’ ‘in case’ etc. e.g. po xi diri for six days, po ki at first, po ke at what (price)? = how much?
Each radical used as a Preposition has its Adverbs of Rest and Motion, which are formed as follows– a- at, place (§15):– afu outside, ayeza (§8) in rear, behind. -li Direction (See §29):– -fuli out, zali back, backwards.
[Editor's note: At this point in the book, Searight
presented “a list of the principle PREPOSITIONS, PREFIXES,
ADVERBS, CONJUNCTIONS”— a long wordlist which will be
presented as Appendix C in this electronic edition.]
There are twelve cases formed as follows:–
| Nominative. | n. before v. | misa | I (know). |
| Vocative. | -ha | miha | Ah me! |
| Accusative. | n. after v. | sami | (knows) me. |
| Directive. | -li | mili | for me. |
| Motive. | dili | dili mi | for my sake. |
| Dative. | li | li mi | to me. |
| Locative. | a- | ayemi | at my house. |
| Ablative. | ne | ne mi | from me. |
| Instrumental. | bi | bi mi | by me. |
| Genitive.(1) | vi | vi mi | of me. |
| Partitive. | di | di mi | of me. |
| Posessive. | n. before n. | mi kan | my house |
In cases where ambiguity might arise -si may be suffixed to the Possesor noun; e.g. rasi nin the man's child (ranin means ‘son’).
(1) e.g. dili fo vi mi for fear of me.
Adverbs may be formed by a radical
or radicals alone; e.g. ta very, nari never.
Other adverbial combinations are:–
| -(y)u | Manner | e.g. irau | strongly |
| bi | Means | e.g. bi ira | by force |
| po | (General) | e.g. po ira | in strength |
| a- | Rest | e.g. afu | outside |
| -li | Motion | e.g. fuli | out(wards) |
| -i | Gerund | e.g. fui | while (putting) out |
| -ua | Emphatic | e.g. naua | not at all |
| -ui | Affirmative | e.g. naui | yet |
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this version ©2002 by the Sona Sojigi