Inna language (WIP)

Inna is a minority language, spoken in eastern Kuerma as a first language by around 8 000 of the 21 600 ethnic Innar. In a survey from 2018, an additional 7 300 Inna reported to have basic speaking proficiency in the language. Inna has been a mandatory subject in primary schools in three municipalities in eastern Kuerma since 1996, and child aquisition has been on the increase ever since. 93 % of ethnic Inna reports to be proud of their language and their culture in 2018, compared to only 41 % in a similar survey conducted in 1972.

Inna phonology

Vowels:

Consonants:

Inna nominal morphosyntax.
Number
Inna has three nominal numbers: singular, paucal (two, three or four) and plural. Sg is unmarked, while pc and pl are marked by articles that might either precede or follow their head noun; im for pc and i for pl.
Definiteness is not a mandatory category, but may be shown by the article a for singular, and either by the article a in front of and the pc/pl article following the head noun, or by the number article both in front and following:
tə - (a/the) woman, a tə - the woman, im tə / tə im - (the) few (two, three or four) women, a tə im / im tə im - the few women, i tə / tə i - (the) women (five or more) , a tə i / i tə i - the women (five or more)

Pronouns
There are three basic personal pronouns, which can be distinguished numerically by the standard nominal numeral articles im and i.
Unnə - 1p. - I, im unnə / unnə im - we (two, three or four), i unnə / unnə i - we (five or more)
Dinə - 2p. - you sg, im dinə / dinə im - you pc, i dinə / dinə i - you pl
Atta - 3p. human - (s)he, im atta / atta im - they pc, i atta / atta i - they pl
Irə - 3p. non-human - it, im irə / irə im - they (n-h) pc, i irə / irə i - they (n-h) pl

The 3p pronouns double as demonstrative articles (this, that) when directly following a noun. The this/that distinction can be clarified by a locational modifier (o - next to me, ete - next to you, ide - over there, uδδe - unseen) :
era - (a/the) head, era irə - this head, era irə o - this head here, era irə ete - that head next to you, im era irə ide - those (pc) heads over there, i era irə uδδe - those (pl) heads which we can't see.

Nominal case
There are two classes of noun cases: core cases and locational cases. The core cases are prefixed (apart from absolutive which is unmarked), while the locational cases are suffixed. A noun can only have one core case at a time, while the locational cases can stack.

Numbers

The numeral system of Inna is decimal, with the ordinal numbers being the basic forms from which cardinal, distributive and fractional numbers are derived. When counting (with or without referent) the ordinal numbers are also used.

Ordinal numbers:
1st - alə
2nd - ətti
3rd - neni
4th - manəs
5th - mana
6th - əδen
7th - punu
8th - iδu
9th - kəkəs
10th - kəku

Cardinal numbers, with the exception of 1 are derived by suffixing -mə up to and including 4, and -(n)i for numbers above 4:
1 - ma
2 - əttimə
3 - nenimə
4 - manəsmə
5 - manani
6 - əδeni
7 - pununi
8 - iδuni
9 - kəkəsi
10 - kəkuni

Inna verbs
Inna verbs come in two classes, motive and stative. Motive verbs involve movement from one place to another (walking, throwing, giving etc.), while stative verbs does not (thinking, sleeping, sitting, standing etc.). Verbs of motion not (necessarily) leading to a change of location (eating, working, waving etc.) are stative.

Past auxiliaries
əba (motive past) is used with:

• motive verbs: əba rii unnə - [PST.MOT walk 1P] - I walked

• stative verbs, giving a reflexive meaning: əba ippə atta im əkattamən - [PST.MOT speak 3P PC ERG-3P-COM] - they spoke to/with themselves

ətə (stative past) is used with:

• stative verbs: ətə eɣ dinə kəpupetən - [PST.STT sit 2P ERG-chair-LOC] - you were sitting(/sat) in the/a chair

Future auxiliaries
tii (motive future) is used with motive verbs: tii buu irə əkunnə i - [FUT.MOT chase 3P.IH ERG-1P PL] - it will chase us
δon (involitional stative future) is used for things that will happen regardless of intent: δon gurə - [FUT.INV rain] - It will rain. δon ɣu ga δədinə - [INV.FUT sleep child 2P-GEN] - your child will (fall a)sleep (not implying s/he did so by by choice)
he (volitional stative future) is used when the action described is due to choice: he ɣu ga δədinə - [FUT.VOL sleep child 2P-GEN] - your child will (go to) sleep (s/he will chose to do so)

Copular clitics
Clauses may be composed of two noun phrases or a noun phrase and a predicative adjective or adjectival verb followed by a copular clitic. The copula agrees in person with the copula complement. An ephenthetic ə is inserted before the clitic if the word it attaches to ends in a consonant. The clitics distinguish between nominal and adjectival, as well as negative forms of both.

	nominal	adjectival	negative nominal	Negative adjectival
1.p	-nii	-bii	-nəδii	-bəδii
2.p	-dii	-sii	-dəδii	-səδii
3.p human	-təə	-tii	-δəə	-δii
3.p inhuman	-rəə	-tii	-ɣəə	-δii

Unnə ɣubii - [1P sleep-COP.ADJ] - I am sleepy
Im əkatta kotətəə - [PC ERG-3P.HUM mother-COP.NOM] - They are mothers
Kədinə xamədəδii unnəδə - [ERG-2P friend-COP.NOM.NEG 1P-GEN] - you are not my friend
Kəxot pasoδii - [ERG-house yellow-COP.ADJ.NEG] - The house is not yellow