Majhi language

Majhi has a total of 13 vowels, five of which are diphthongs.[3]^{:6, 8}

N.B. Diphthongs in Majhi include: eu, əu, au, əi, oi.[3]^:8 The vowels /ɜː, a_cː/ do not occur anywhere except in the word-final position while other vowels can appear in any position in a word.[3]^:7

Majhi has a total of 29 consonants, covering six different areas of articulation and seven different modes of articulation.[3]^:9 In the chart below, symbols to the right are voiced, and those to the left voiceless.

Majhi allows consonant clusters to form in the onset but not the coda. However, researchers believe that further study on syllable structure is necessary to ascertain a fuller understanding of the syllable structure.[3]^:17 When Majhi features two consonants in the onset, the second consonant will be a glide (/j, w/).[3]^:13 Some examples of the syllable structure are included in the chart below.

Majhi uses affixation to derive words through nominalization, verbalization, and negation. For nominalizers and verbalizers, Majhi uses suffixation. For negation, Majhi uses prefixation. Examples are included in the chart below.

Majhi uses morphemes to inflect words (specifically, to decline nouns and to conjugate verbs). Nouns are declined for case, number, and gender. Nouns are also declined for pronominal possessive suffixes, which indicate the possessor of the noun (see example below).[3]^:43 Verbs are conjugated for person, number, tense, aspect, and mood.[3]^:89

Majhi can form new words by combining two roots. In the example below, combining the words for grandfather and grandmother yields the plural grandparents.[3]^:22

Majhi sometimes completely reduplicates a full noun, verb, adjective, or adverb form in order to add extra emphasis. For nouns, Majhi also adds a suffix "-e" to the first instance of the noun. For example, the noun "kapal" means 'head,' and, when it is reduplicated with the suffix as "kapal-e kapal," the combined phrase means 'all heads.'[3]^:20 Verbs do not have such a suffix. For example, the verb "bəl-ni" means 'I said,' but, when reduplicated "bəl-ni bəl-ni," the combined reduplication would mean 'I said it (which I will definitely not change).'[3]^:89 Adjectives can be reduplicated for emphasis in the same manner. For example, the adjective "lamo" means "long," and, when it is reduplicated as "lamo lmao," it means very long.[3]^:54 Adverbs can be reduplicated in the same manner as adjectives. For example, the adverb "tshiṭo" means 'quickly,' and, when it is reduplicated as "tshiṭo tshiṭo," it means 'very quickly.'[3]^:96

Mahji features several particles that perform various functions, including indicating questions, emphasis, and hearsay.[3]^{:73, 97} Mahji also shares some particles with Nepali.[3]^:97 Examples of some Mahji particles are given below.

The particle te comes at the end of a sentence and indicates a question.[3]^:97

Mahji uses the particle ta in order to provide an emphatic contrast.[3]^:97

Mahji uses the hearsay particle ni to indicate an uncertain secondhand knowledge.[3]^:73

The basic word order of Majhi is SOV.[3]^:111 This word order is fairly consistent across the language. Mahji is an in situ language for wh-questions and yes-no questions, meaning that it maintains its standard word order for questions.[3]^:118 The three examples below illustrate this word order:

Declarative sentence[3]^:85

Wh-question[3]^:119

Yes-no question[3]^:120

With the possessee + possessor relationship (genitive modifiers), the possessor precedes the possessee.[3]^:105

Majhi uses adpositions as analytical rather than synthetic markers.[3]^:28 In the example below, the noun phrase also appears with a specific case (the genitive case) with this postposition.[3]^:29

In Mahji, the adverb generally precedes the verb. For example, see below.[3]^:96