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| {{Template:Sanama Article}}
| | #REDIRECT [[Sanaman language]] |
| [[Sani language/Vocabulary]] | |
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| The '''{{PAGENAME}}''', ''xele sani'', formerly called ''Lakhesian'' by the colonial power [[Shireroth]], is a [[Cosimo-Benacian language family|Cosimo-Benacian language]] spoken by approximately 35 million people in [[Sanama]] and [[Talenore]]. Sani is an ergative-absolutive agglutinating language. It is closely related to [[Ama language|Ama]] with which it has extensive mutual intelligibility. It is also related to the divergent [[Estarisan language|Estarisan]]. Around 30 million speakers can be found in Sanama, and 5 million in Talenore. It is an official language in Talenore and the main official language in Sanama.
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| ==Official status==
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| Sani is an official language in Sanama and recognised for local official use in Talenore.
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| ==Distribution and usage==
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| Sani is spoken natively in central, southern and southeastern Sanama, in the area traditionally called Sanilla. It has its strongest position outside the large cities. In rural areas and smaller cities and towns, it is by far the majority language. In larger cities, like [[Niyi]], it has a much weaker position, usually in favor of [[Istvanistani language|Istvani]]. In the entire country of Sanama, 37 percent of all people speak Sani as their first language.
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| ==Phonology==
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| ===Consonants===
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| {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
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| ! !! Bilabial !! Labiodental !! Dental !! Alveolar !! Post-alveolar !! Palatal !! Velar !! Uvular !! Glottal
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| |-
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| | style="text-align:left;" | Plosive || p || || || t || || || k || q ||
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| |-
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| | style="text-align:left;" | Nasal || m || || || n || || || ŋ || ||
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| |-
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| | style="text-align:left;" | Trill || || || || r̥ r || || || || ||
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| |-
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| | style="text-align:left;" | Fricative || || f || θ || s || ʃ || || x || || h
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| |-
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| | style="text-align:left;" | Approximant || ʍ w || || || || || j || || ||
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| |-
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| | style="text-align:left;" | Lateral approximant || || || || l̥ l || || || || ||
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| |}
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| Where consonants appear in pairs, the left is unvoiced and the right is voiced.
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| ===Vowels===
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| Sani has six vowel phonemes. They do not contrast for length or nasality. The Sani schwa vowel is transliterated as Ë, while the E vowel varies between /e/ and /ɛ/ depending on environment.
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| [[file:Sanivowel.png]]
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| ===Phonotactics===
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| ===Orthography===
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| {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
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| ! style="text-align:left;" | Orthography
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| || A || E || Ë || F || Ff || H || I || K || L || Ll || M || N || Ng || O || P || Q || R || Rr || S || T || U || W || Wh || X || Y || Sh
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| ! style="text-align:left;" | Phonology
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| || a || ɛ-e || ə || f || θ || h || i || k || l || l̥ || m || n || ŋ || ɔ || p || q || r || r̥ || s || t || u || w || ʍ || x || j || ʃ
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| |}
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| ==Grammar==
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| ===Syntax===
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| Sani is a verb-subject-object language, where the direct object precedes any indirect objects. However, given that the language is highly agglutinating, word order is also quite free. The internal phrase structure is ''right-branching'', meaning that the head of the phrase precedes its determiners. Many determiners are expressed as suffixes instead of as separate words, especially what in Istvanistani would be expressed through adjectives, adverbs and prepositions.
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| {{Template:Sanama nav}}
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| [[Category:Languages]]
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| [[Category:Sanama]]
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| [[Category:Talenore]]
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