Dangla (language)

Dangla , self- name daŋla , in French called dangaléat , is a language or group of closely related languages spoken in the region around the city of Mongo in southern Chad . The language area is divided into West and East Dangla, or into West, Central and East Dangla. Depending on the view, these are several closely related languages or dialects of a single language. The Dangla belongs to the eastern group of the Chadian language family . It is spoken by around 45,000 people, most of whom also speak Chadian Arabic , which tends to displace Dangla.

The following illustration refers to the Eastern Dangla that is best documented. Little is known about the grammar of West Dangla.

According to the system

Consonants

	Labials	Dental	Palatal	Velare
voiceless plosives	p	t	c	k
voiced plosives	b	d	j	G
Implosive	ɓ	ɗ	ʄ
Nasals	m	n	ɲ	ŋ

Then there are the fricatives s and z, the glides w and y, the sonorants r (trill), ɾ (flap, very rare) and l, and marginally (only in Arabic foreign words) the glottals h and ʔ.

In Shay's grammar, nasal compounds such as mb, nd, ɲj, ŋg are used as separate phonemes. However, no word seems to begin with such a connection.

Vowels

The Dangla distinguishes 7 vowels: u, o, ɔ, a, ɛ, e, i, each of which occurs short or long (then written twice here).

Of these vowels, however, ɔ and ɛ are relatively rare and usually only appear in the long version. A vowel harmonic rule changes the color of o and e to ɔ or ɛ if the word already contains a ɔ or ɛ. This results in short ɔ, ɛ. So gɛ̄ɛ̄mì "people" + cò "their (pl.)" Connects to gɛ̄ɛ̄mcɔ̀ "their people" (with adaptation o> ɔ).

Sounds

The Dangla is a tonal language with three registers, which are represented here by accents on the vowels: á high, ā medium, à low. Combinatorial tones are also less common: â high-low-falling, ǎ low-high-rising; In many such cases it can still be seen that a vowel has dropped out in the following syllable and that the tones of two syllables that were formerly tied together on the only remaining syllable (some examples follow below).

In similar circumstances, final consonants can occasionally have their own tone.

It can be seen as a basic rule that a mid-tone becomes a high tone if a high tone follows in the same word. Therefore, for example, rōŋ "son" + tí "her (fem. Sg.)" Combines to róntí "her son", or sūgīnē "market" + locative ending -írá to súgínírá "on the market". The sequence medium + high consequently hardly occurs within a word. Otherwise all sequences of tones seem to be well documented.

The tones can distinguish grammatical forms as well as different vocabulary (e.g. sīŋ "brother", sìŋ "name").

In grammar there are often complicated tone changes that are not always presented in detail here and not all of them have yet been thoroughly researched.

Pausal and context form

Many words ending in a vowel lose their ending vowel as soon as they are used in the context of a sentence. This creates a contrast between a pausal form and a context form , as can also be found in some other Chadian languages. In some cases the tone of the dropped vowel is transferred to the previous syllable; this seems to be especially the case when a high-pitched vowel is dropped. Some examples:

ɗùbīlè "young man" + ɾákkí "one"> ɗùbīl ɾákkí "one (only) young man"
dààɗí "woman" - dàáɗ kàttíté "the woman went" (through sound transfer the low tone on -aa- becomes a rising tone)
mìcā "girl" - mīc tī āwàllē "the first girl" (the middle tone of the dropped vowel replaces the low tone of the trunk)
gɛ̄ɛ̄mì "people" - gɛ̄ɛ̄m òòkíɲcō "all people"
sámàànē "beautiful" - sámààn sìmàr "very beautiful"
mìcīlè "lion" - mìcīl ŋàs "the lion said"
dììrá "yesterday" - dìír nō kàtē "yesterday I went"

A word with two consonants in front of the final vowel such as bèrkā "cow" does not lose its vowel, otherwise groups of three consonants would result in the context, which is not permissible in Dangla.

This effect is also very important in morphology. Verbal stems usually lose their final vowel as soon as suffixes are added. This is illustrated in more detail below.

noun

gender

The Dangla has two grammatical genders: masculine and feminine. In the case of personal names, this coincides with the natural gender. Otherwise, like in German, the gender can hardly be predicted from the meaning or form of the noun. Gender is evident from the congruence of other words with the noun.

Plural

Nouns form a plural form. Overall, the plural formation is very irregular and can be done by suffixes and / or various changes to the stem. Examples:

Suffix:

ìlgò (fem.) "year" - ìlgày "years"
pìsō (mask.) "horse" - pìsày "horse"
bākō (mask./fem.) "neighbor" - bākìnà "neighbor"

Change of tone:

rōŋ (masc.) "son" - ròmā (fem.) "daughter" - ròŋ "children"
pósíŋ (mask.) "hand" - pòsíŋ "hands"

Suffix + tone change:

kāɲà (mask.) "dog" - káɲí "dogs"
gēmsò (fem.) "girl" - gèmsá "girl (pl.)"

Suffix + inner vowel change:

gēr (mask.) "house" - gēērày "houses"
gēmò (mask.) "human" - gɛ̄ɛ̄mì "people, people"
bérkí (mask.) "cattle" - bārkày "cattle"
étí (mask.) "tree" - ātày "trees"
sērpè (fem.) "page" - sèrápí "pages"

Partial duplication + inner vowel change:

kààlō (mask.) "star" - kàlàlì "star"
ɗúrkúlì (mask.) "donkey" - ɗùrkīlkàl "donkey (pl.)"

Change of tribe:

máákítí (mask.) "thing" - gāmì "things"

Demonstrative suffixes

The German demonstrative pronouns correspond to demonstrative suffixes on the noun in Dangla. A common series is:

-ìkā (masc.), -ìtā (fem.), -àkū (plural):

kāɲà "dog" - kāɲìkā "that dog"
dààɗí "woman" - dàáɗìtā "this woman"
ʄírìyè "day" - ʄīrìtā "this day; today"

The function of the demonstrative suffixes can approximate a certain article. It is not uncommon for them to appear together with a possessive suffix:

sīn-dùùkā "this my brother" (<dù + ìkā)

Genitive

The noun forms a genitive case. Its ending is -dì after a consonant, -rì (also -r̀) after a vowel, sometimes -ó, especially after a palatal stem. Changes in tone can also occur.

The genitive connection consists of three parts: reference word - connector - noun in the genitive. The connector is congruent with the noun and has the forms kā (mask.), Tā (fem.), Kū (pl.), Which are reminiscent of those of the demonstrative suffixes. Examples:

wàjīīn tā kóórì "lack of sorghum" (kóó "sorghum")
būldìg kū ámíyó "jugs of water" (āmày "water")
kūm kā káɲó "dog meat" (kāɲà "dog")
ààr gééró "back of the house" = "behind the house" (gēr "house")

The genitive can also be formed from infinitives. It then ends in -ndì:

gām kū téndì "things to eat" = "things to eat"

locative

Nouns also form a locative form with the suffix -dì (after consonant) / -írá (after vowel):

bótól "street" - bòtōldì "on the street"
sūgīnē "market" - súgínírá "in the market"

adjective

The part of speech of the adjectives is quite limited in Dangla. The adjective follows its reference word. Some adjectives follow the noun directly:

gēmsò sámàànē "a beautiful girl"

Other adjectives must be connected with a connector kī (mask.), Tī (fem.), Kū (pl.) (See the similar syntax for genitive connections):

kòkīr tī pùrtà "a white chicken" (kòkīr is the context form of kòkìrā "chicken")
būw kū ōyyā "the good milk" (the word for "milk" is treated as plural)

Personal and possessive pronouns

Overview

A distinction must be made between the following pronouns:

Independent pronouns that have pausal forms and context forms.
Subject prefixes. These express the subject and must immediately precede the verb.
Subject suffixes. These express the subject and must immediately follow the verb.
Object suffixes. A distinction must be made here between series 1, which is used when the subject is to the left of the verb and the object suffix follows the verb directly, and series 2, which are used after subject suffixes.
Possessive suffixes after nouns; almost identical to these are dative suffixes after the verb.

The Dangla makes two distinctions that are foreign to German, namely a distinction of gender in the 2nd person singular, as well as a distinction of the 1st person plural in an inclusive ("I and you / you") and an exclusive variant (" me and others ").

Here is an overview of the shapes. In the table, forms that are identical or only differ in tone are summarized in one cell as far as possible:

	independent (pause form)	independent (context form)	Subject prefix	Subject suffix	Object suffix 1	Object suffix 2	Possessive suffix
1. sg. "I"	nōōnò	nōōn	nō	-in O		-you
1. pl. incl. "we (with you / you)"	nììrà	nììr	nì	-yen)		-th
1. pl. excl. "we (without you)"	nííníŋ	níín	ní		-níŋ
2. so. mask. "you"	kíníŋ	kín	kí	-īɲē		-jiŋ
2. so. fem. "you"	káníŋ	kán	ká	-kē (n)		-ke
2. pl. "her"	kúnúŋ		kú		-koŋ
3rd sg. mask. "he"	ŋààrà	ŋàà (r)	n / A	-jī	-ga		-jì
3rd sg. fem. "she"	cààrà	càà (r)	cà	-tí	-approx		-tí
3rd pl. "she"	ŋùùra	ŋùù (r)	ŋù	-īyō	-gu		-cò

Sound details

The suffixes -tí (3rd so-called fem.) And -níŋ (1st pl. Excl.) Have an inherent treble in all uses.

Apart from that, the following applies:

Subject suffixes are always in the middle tone (e.g. -kōŋ "you").
Series 2 object suffixes are always low-pitched (e.g. -kòŋ "you").
Series 1 object suffixes are low-tone or medium-tone according to a distribution that is not explained in detail here.
Possessive suffixes are always low-pitched (e.g. -dù "my", -kòŋ "your"). If they are used as dative suffixes, they may also appear in the middle tone.

Possessive suffixes

Possessive suffixes are attached to nouns and correspond to the German possessive pronouns. The following special features must be observed with the possessive suffixes:

"mein", usually -dù, is reduced to -r after a vowel, whereby the vowel is recolored to -o-, provided it is not the only vowel in the root of the word
"dein (mask.)", usually -jìŋ, is reduced to -ɲ after a vowel, whereby the vowel is recolored to -e-
"sein", usually -jì, is reduced to -y after a vowel, whereby the vowel is recolored to -e-
the suffix -tí "you" creates a high tone on the preceding syllable as well

Examples:

pósíŋ "hand" - pósíɲjìn "your (mask.) hand"
sīŋ "brother" - sīɲjì "his brother" - sīŋkòŋ "your brother"
ròmā "daughter" - ròmòr "my daughter" - ròmèy "his daughter"
bɔ̀̀ɔ̀̀ "sister" - bɔ̀̀ɔ̀̀r "my sister" - bɔ̀̀ɔ̀̀ɲ "your sister" - bɔ̀̀ɔ̀̀y "his sister" - bɔ̀̀ɔ̀̀níŋ "our sister"
dààɗí "woman" - dāācòr "my wife" - dāācèɲ "your wife" - dāācèy "his wife" (irregular stem change)
kàà- "head" - kààr "my head" - kààɲ "your (m) head" - kàày "his head" - kààtí or kàát "her (f) head"
bī- "mouth" - bīy "his mouth" - bítí "her (f) mouth"
yàà- "mother" - yààníŋ "our mother" - yààkòŋ "your mother"
ādì "stomach" - ādèy "his stomach"
dìlō "friend" - dìlēy "his friend"
sàdíígà "friend" - sàdiígòr "my friend"
gūrùsnē "money" - gūrùsnōr "my money"
mɛ̀tà "man" - míttí "her (fem.) man"

Some nouns such as kàà- "head", bī- "mouth", tát- "father" and yàà- "mother" are never used without a possessive suffix.

It is uncommon to combine names for the parents with a possessive suffix in the singular. One therefore says tán-níŋ "our father" (better than * "my father") or yàà-kòŋ "your mother" (better than * "your mother").

verb

The verbs can be divided into three classes: Most verbs are either high-pitched verbs or low-pitched verbs. Finally, there are a few, but frequently used, verbs that only have a single root consonant and are used here as the third class of "short verbs".

infinitive

The Dangla has a form which largely corresponds to our infinitive and which can be used as a citation form of the verb. The infinitive basically has an ending -e . The infinitive ending is always retained in the context form. In high-tone verbs, all syllables of the verb and the infinitive ending are high-tone, e.g. B. tál-é "see". In low-tone verbs, all syllables of the verb are low-tone and the infinitive ending is medium-tone, e.g. B. dòr-ē "hear". The short verbs have a fuller infinitive form on -eŋ or -ɛŋ .

preterite

The stem of the past tense, like the infinitive, has an ending -e . Verbs of the low tone class also have the same tone pattern as the infinitive, e.g. B. dòr-ē "heard". Verbs of the high tone class either have a continuous middle tone (e.g. tāl-ē "saw"), but some of the verbs in this class join the low tone class in the past tense, e.g. B. kàt-ē "went".

In contrast to the infinitive, the -e of the past tense, like the final vowels of all other tense forms, is lost in the context form. For example, bèrē "gave" becomes bèr . Sometimes it comes to sound transfer, z. B. àtìkē "hunted" is shortened to àtīk (middle tone moves to the -i-) or further to ǎtk (a- starts in a low tone, but the tone rises).

In certain verbs, a middle vowel is changed to -a- if a syllable is closed by a consonantic suffix. So it is called ìbìnē "knew", but ìbān-títé "and she knew" (here there is also a sound transfer of the mid-tone to the -a- ).

Present

The present tense stem is marked by an a -owel, which is always inserted after the second root consonant. In verbs like dōr-ā "hears" this vowel appears at the end of the stem, but in longer verbs like ìb-ā-nì "knows" the -a- is inserted between the second and third consonants, i.e. in the stem. For longer verbs where the -a- appears as an infix in the stem, an additional suffix -i is added at the end . However, the final vowels -a and -i fall off in the context form, so that the tone patterns are often more essential for recognizing the form. The difference between the context forms in verbs such as dòr "heard" (from dòrē , simple past) - dōr "hears" (from dōrā , present tense) lies in the tone alone .

The pitch distribution in the present tense is quite complicated and cannot be fully represented here. The present tense a has in principle tweeter in verbs of the high tone class, e.g. B. rúgámí "boils", and mid-tone in verbs of the low frequency class, z. B. ìbānì "white". Exceptions:

If the present tense character ends up in shorter verbs of the high tone class, the high tone is lowered to the middle tone: kāt-ā "goes". However, a treble reappears when a subject suffix follows: kát-īyō "and they go".

The present tense is also tweeter in verbs in the low tone class, provided it follows a voiceless consonant: àtákí "hunt".

The present stems of "come" (with a change of consonants) and "give" are quite irregular.

Subjunctive

The form of the subjunctive is similar to that of the present tense and has the same -a-infix, especially with longer verbs. In contrast to the present tense, the subjunctive ends in -u. This is high-tone ( -ú ) for verbs of the high- tone class and, after unvoiced consonants, also for verbs of the low-tone class, otherwise low-tone ( -ù ). The -u ending is not used in front of any other suffixes and is therefore often not visible.

The subjunctive stem alone serves as an imperative for a single person:

àsú "come!"
íyú "bring!" - íy-gà "bring it!"

Endings can be used to create three other forms, namely -oŋ (2nd person plural "you"), -tè ("I + you") and -ontè ("I + you"):

àsú "come!" - àsòŋ "comes!" - ǎstè "let's (= me + you) come!" - àsòntè "let's (= me + you) come!"
sòkú "collect!" - sòkóŋ "collects!" (from sòkē "collect")

Furthermore, the subjunctive can be combined with a subject pronoun of the 1st or 3rd person and then corresponds to a desired form:

cà ób-ɲē "she should get (= marry) you" (from óbé "get")
ɔ̀̀mlɛ̄ "go away" - ɔ̀̀mɔ̄lù "go away!" (with ɔ̄ from ā through assimilation) - ŋà ɔ̀̀mɔ̄lù "he should go away" - ɔ̀̀mɔ̄l-tè "let's go away!"

Form overview

The following is an overview of the root forms of some exemplary verbs:

	infinitive	preterite	Present	Subjunctive
"see"	tálé	tālē	tālā	tálú
"go"	káté	kàtē	kātā	kátú
"Cook"	rúgúmé	rūgūmē	rúgámí	rúgámú
"Listen"	dòrē	dòrē	dōrā	dòrù
"give"	bèrē	bèrē	bírì	bírú
"come"	àsē	àsē	áká	àsú
"knowledge"	ìbìnē	ìbìnē	ìbānì	ìbānù
"to hunt"	àt (ì) kē	àt (ì) kē	àtákí	àtákú
"eat"	téŋ	tea	táá	táá
"drink"	sɛ̄ŋ	sɛ̄ɛ̄	sāā	sàà

Future tense

A future tense is formed with an auxiliary verb āā, sometimes also àk, perhaps derived from the verb for "to come", plus the infinitive:

géédè āā ɔ̀mlɛ̄ "Gede (name) will go out"

Basically, all clitics are added to the auxiliary verb:

kíí tálé "you will see" (kíí <kí + āā)
á-kōŋ àsē "and you will come"
ák-īɲ góyááwé "and you (mask.) will live"
ā-n-jìŋ ɛ̄ymɛ̄ "and I'll eat you"

Object pronouns of the third person, on the other hand, are appended to the infinitive, in the form of a possessive suffix rather than an object suffix:

nōō gìnīɲ-jì "I'll do it (mask.)" (nōō <nō + āā; the infinitive gìnē has the form gìnīn- before the suffix)

Iterative stem

The verbs form an iterative stem using ablaut, which is only briefly addressed here:

téŋ "eat" - tīyààwē "eat again and again"
káté "go" - kātààwē "keep going"
àt (ì) kē "to hunt" - àtààkē "to hunt again and again"

syntax

Subject and predicate

The sentence usually consists of a minimum of a subject and a verb (in that order). The subject can be either a noun or a subject prefix:

īssā dàbsìyē "Issa (name) slaughtered"
cà sāā "she drinks"
áándò àsē "the night came"
ŋù àsē "they came"
ŋù dòs gèr-cò "they went into their house = home"

Dependent sentences

In addition to subject prefixes, the Dangla also has subject suffixes. If you use this, the sentence is dependent and follows a preceding utterance. In the German translation you can introduce such sentences with "and":

tál-jī "and he sees"

In the past tense, the connection of verb plus subject suffix must be extended by a syllable -tè (context form -t), which cannot be further translated. The -tè is omitted if an object suffix follows:

kàt-īy-tè "and they went" (from * kàtē + īyō + tè)
àn-jī-tè "and he said"
tèè-jī-tè "and he ate"

ŋà-s àà kàt-jī-tè
he-said yes went-he
"he said 'yes' and he went" / "he said 'yes' and went"

In the present tense, some verbs take a stem extension -gi- when followed by a subject (or object) suffix:

gààsē "stay" - gàás-gí-tí "and she stays"
bír-gì-n-jìŋ-gà "and I'll give it to you" ("give" + extension + "I" + "you" + "him")

It is also possible to use a noun plus a subject suffix. This again results in an independent sentence:

dàáɗ kàt-tí-té (-tè after tí becomes high-pitched)
woman went-she
"the woman (she) went"

ààl-ìk gāg-jī-tè
snake-this came back-he
"this snake (she) came back"

lìs-ìk òb-jī-t zìml-èy
Lis-this grabbed-he clothes-his
"this Lis (a tribal name) grabbed his clothes"

object

The direct object usually comes after the verb. It is expressed either by a noun or by an object suffix. The verb basically loses its final vowel because it enters the context form. The noun has no special case marking:

ŋù gīdīy bèrkā "they bought a cow"
nō tāl-gā "I saw him"
ŋà kōl-gā "he called him"
ŋà ròóp-gū "he met her (pl.)" (ròóp is the context form of ròòpē; the tone of the dropped vowel is transferred to the stem)

The object suffixes of the 1st and 2nd person are formally (apart from the tone in part) identical to the subject suffixes. For these as well as for the subject suffixes, the suffix -tè must also be added after verb forms in the past tense:

ŋù gàs-íɲ-cè "they found you" (from gàsē "found" + īɲē "you" + tè)

There is no -tè after the third person's object pronoun.

If the subject is expressed by subject suffixes, the verb is followed first by the subject suffixes and then by object suffixes of a second series, some of which differ from the normal object suffixes (see above in the section "Personal and Possessive Pronouns"):

ɗūn-īy-gà "and they tied him"
bèr-jī-gà "and he gave it"
tèè-y-gà "and they ate it"
dèl-tí-gù "and she (fem.) beat her (pl.)"

If the object is a definite noun, the object suffix is usually also used:

íc-cà bàrrē "take the basket!", literally: "take it, the basket!"
yúúnùs dàbsāy-cā bèrkā "Yunus (name) slaughtered (she) the cow"

It is noteworthy that primarily intransitive verbs in Dangla can easily be constructed like transitive verbs to a greater extent than in German:

ŋù kāt-gà "they go him", d. h .: "they let him go"

Adverbial expressions

The following important prepositions should be mentioned:

kū (dative)
āk "in, zu" (local; to what extent there is a functional difference to the noun in the locative form is not known)
īŋ "with", also used between nouns in the sense of "and"

Prepositions usually seem to go with the genitive form of the noun, but the documentation is not entirely clear on this point. Examples:

mìcīlè "lion" - kū mìcīlèl "the lion" (so the genitive form by remote assimilation from expected * mìcīlèr)
yàà-kòŋ "your mother" - kū yàà-kòŋ "your mother (dat.)"
āk wērdì "at the place" (to wēr "place")

The pronominal dative is expressed by suffixes on the verb, which are formally identical to the possessive suffixes, but are often medium instead of low:

cà àn-kē
she said-her
"she told her"

ŋù bèr-dū-cā
they gave-me-they
"they gave them (fem.) to me"

After the subjunctive, the dative suffixes show some abbreviations similar to those known from the possessive suffixes:

īyòr "bring me!" (from íyú "bring! + dù" me ")

Certain verbs such as káté "to go" and gòyē "to sit, to be located, to live" can simply add their location as a direct object, especially if it is a noun that already designates a place:

íísà gōy jàmménà "Isa (name) is / lives in N'Djamena"

Non-verbal sentence

Sentences with a nominal predicate do not need a copula in Dangla:

nō dàŋīlè "I am a Dangla man"
íísà gàrpò "Isa (name) is blacksmith"
sìn-tí géédè "her name is Gede"
géédè bɔ̀̀ɔ̀̀-r "Gede is my sister"

negation

A sentence is negated by placing the negation ɗúúɗé (pausal form) ~ ɗúú (context form) after the verb or the predicate. If this is behind a consonant, it can lead to an assimilation of the ɗ- to the consonant. Apart from the negation, the sentence is largely constructed like the corresponding propositional sentence:

kíí gèdìrē ɗúúɗé
du-FUTUR
won't make it "you won't make it"

géédè bɔ̀ɔ̀-r rúúɗé
Gede sister-my not
"Gede is not my sister"

sín-dù táá ɗúú gām-èy pèɾìndà
brother-my does not eat things-being outside
"my brother does not eat (s) outside"

nō kàd dúú mòŋkítí (kàddúú <kàtē + ɗúú)
I'm not going anywhere
"I'm not going anywhere"

Question sentence

Question sentences show no significant syntactical differences compared to statements. In contrast to German, a question word ("was", "wie" etc.) is not placed at the beginning of the sentence, but is at the point in the sentence where the relevant part of the sentence normally has to be. Sentence questions can show an elongation and a special intonation on the last syllable. All types of questions optionally contain a question particle gà at the end (perhaps roughly comparable with German "denn" in "was denn?" Etc.).

ŋā māā
there was something QUESTION
"what is that?"

sìɲ-jì wàà
name-be who
"what is his name?"

kú mín mòŋ
you from where
"where are you from?"

yàà-kòŋ kàt mòŋ gà
mother-your went where QUESTION
"where did your mother go?"

kí ɓààkíì (question intonation; normal present form is ɓààkí)
du fear-PRÄS.
"are you afraid?"

vocabulary

Some elements from the basic vocabulary:

eye	ùdā
three	súbbà
one	ɾákkí
eat	téŋ
woman	dààɗí
five	bɛ̄ɛ̄ʄì
give	bèrē
go	káté
big	tátá
Well	gǎllà
hand	pósíŋ
Listen	dòrē
man	mɛ̀tà
mouth	bi-
Surname	sìŋ
say	ànē
see	tálé
four	pōōɗì
water	āmāy
knowledge	ìbìnē
two	sɛ́ɛ́rɔ́

literature

Erin Shay 1999: A grammar of East Dangla: the simple sentence. PhD Thesis Ann Arbor

Jacques Fedry 1971: Dictionnaire dangaleat. Lyon

Remarks

↑ The initial vowel sound counts like a consonant, so b is the second and n is the third consonant of the verbal root.

↑ From a present tense stem kātá + the subject suffix īyō , whereby the present tense indicator is elidated and its high tone is shifted to the preceding syllable by sound transfer.

↑ ǎstè from àsú + tè. The failure of the high-pitched -ú- creates a pitch tone on the a.

↑ ŋàs is a special verb form meaning "he says, he said". It consists of the subject prefix ŋà "he" and a verbal root -s.

[1] The initial vowel sound counts like a consonant, so b is the second and n is the third consonant of the verbal root.