# Shatt language

The Shatt language is a Daju language of the Eastern Daju family spoken by the Shatt people in the Shatt Hills (part of the Nuba Mountains) southwest of Kaduqli in South Kordofan province in southern Sudan.
Villages are Shatt Daman, Shatt Safia, and Shatt Tebeldia (Ethnologue, 22nd edition).

## Names

The designation "Shatt" is an Arabic word meaning "dispersed" and is applied to several distinct groups in the Nuba Mountains. "Caning" is their own name for themselves, linguistically referred to as endonym, whereas "Shatt" is considered an exonym due to its external ascription. Speakers refer to their language as ìkkɨ̀ cánnìñ ('mouth, language').

## Phonology
### Consonants

| | | Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal |
| Nasal | Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | |
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | c | k | (ʔ) |
| Plosive | voiced | b | d | ɟ | g | |
| Plosive | implosive | ɓ | ɗ | ʄ | | |
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | | x | h |
| Fricative | voiced | | z | | | |
| Rhotic | Rhotic | | r | | | |
| Approximant | Approximant | w | l | j | | |
* /x/ may vary between velar [x] or uvular [χ] fricative sounds.
* A glottal stop [ʔ] may also occur, only in intervocalic positions.

### Vowels

| | Front | Central | Back |
| Close | i | | u |
| Mid | e | ə | o |
| Open | | a | |
* /ə/ is phonetically raised as [ə̝].
* Sounds /e, o/ may also be heard as [ɛ, ɔ].

## Alphabet

The alphabet consists of 27 letters, which are shown in the table below with the corresponding letter from the International Phonetic Alphabet chart.
| IPA | [a] | | | [c] | [d] | | | [f] | [g] | [i] | | [k] | [l] | [m] | [n] | | | | [p] | [r] | [s] | [t] | [u] | [w] | [x] | [y] | [z] |
| Upper Case | A | Ä | B | C | D | ꞌD | E | F | G | I | J | K | L | M | N | Ng | Ny | O | P | R | S | T | U | W | X | Y | Z |
| Lower Case | a | ä | b | c | d | ꞌd | e | f | g | i | j | k | l | m | n | ng | ny | o | p | r | s | t | u | w | x | y | z |

## Grammar

The grammar in this section is primarily based on the Caning Grammar Book (Second Edition 2017).

### Types of Words

Types of Caning Words :
| Type | Example | Translation |
| Noun | Kig kasiy ya. | Person ate meat. |
| Verb | Kig kasiy ya. | Person ate meat. |
| Preposition | Kig kasiy ya tä pumpung. | Person ate meat in bush. |
| Location | Kig kasiy ya tagä pa. | Person ate meat in front of house. |
| Pronoun | Ma masiy ya. | He ate meat. |
| Adjective | Kig kasiy yana apo. | Person ate good meat. |
| Quantity | Kig kasiy ya käꞌday. | Person ate all the meat. |
| Number | Kig kasiy aska kodos. | Person ate three fishes. |
| Adverb | Kig kasiy ya tetex. | Person ate meat quickly. |
| Question Word | Xänang kasiy ya? | Who ate meat? |
| Connector | Ndä kig kasiy ya. | Then person ate meat. |

### Nouns

A noun in Caning "can be a person, animal, place, thing, or idea."

#### Singular and Plural

Plurals in Caning are built in three different ways:
* By adding a suffix to the singular.
* By adding a suffix to the plural.
* By adding a suffix to both, the singular and the plural form.
Suffixes: Singular and Plural :
| Suffix S/P | Root | Singular | Plural | Translation |
| -ic / - | ux | uxic | ux | worm(s) |
| - / -iny | ax | ax | axiny | hut(s) |
| -ic / -iny | win- | winic | wininy | vulture(s) |
When adding a singular suffix only as described in form one, the plural form remains unchanged.
Most common Singular Suffixes :
| Suffix | Singular | Plural | Translation |
| -c / | bebec | bebe | gourd |
| -dic, -tic/ | gäldic | gäl | egg |
| -wec / | ngaluwec | ngalu | bell |
| -wic / | kadasuwic | kadasu | foundation |
For the second for, when adding the plural suffix only, the singular form remains unchanged.
Some common Plural Suffxes :
| Suffix | Singular | Plural | Translation |
| / -u | ux | uxu | women |
| / -da, -ta | oxay | oxayda | animals |
| / -di, -ti | bul | buldi | drums |
| / -de, -te | jen | jende | years |
Certain patterns occur in pairs for the respective singular and plural forms, as described in form three.
Suffix pairs :
| Pair | Singular | Plural | Translation |
| -ic / -iny | winic | wininy | vulture(s) |
| -ic / -u | banyic | banyu | light(s) |
| -wan/-wan | penäwan | penggäwan | son(s) |
| -x/-ny | osox | osony | lion(s) |
| -d/ -nu | 'dawud | 'dawunu | type of fish |

##### Plural-only nouns

There are exceptions to the rule, e.g. words that change form, having a shorter plural than singular form or no singular or plural form at all.
Some nouns only occur as plurals, e.g. noncountable nouns that refer to masses or liquids:
Example: Plural-only nouns :
| Singular | Singular | Plural | Plural |
| / | / | mem/mmem | milk |
| / | / | Ma/mma | water |
| / | / | zäg/zik | earth, ground |

### Pronouns

Subject and Object Pronouns :
| | Singular | Singular | Plural | Plural |
| 1st Person | agä | I | Was | We (not you) |
| 1st Person | agä | I | Kog | We (and you) |
| 2nd Person | gi | You | Anggo | You |
| 3rd Person | ma | He | Sa | They |
| 3rd Person | ce | She | Sa | They |
| 3rd Person | nya | It | Sa | They |
It is noteworthy that Caning has two forms of the pronoun "we" (1st person plural) that could be distinguished by calling them inclusive and exclusive versions. One being -was (we - not you) and the other one being -kog (we - and you).
This difference is also made with the possessor and possessive pronouns us/our(s).

#### Possessor Pronouns

Possessor pronouns can replace the possessor (apang = man) in the sentence below.
"Kig kasax axä apang. Person refused hut of man.
Kig kasax axang. Person refused my hut." (ax = hut)
Possessor Pronouns :
| Possessor | Caning | Singular | Plural | Translation |
| my | -ang | axang | axinygang | my hut |
| your (sg) | -ägi | axägi | axinygägi | your (sg) hut |
| his | -äma | axäma | axinygäma | his hut |
| her | -äce | axäce | axinygäce | her hut |
| its | -änya | axgänya | axinygänya | its hut |
| our (not your) | -äsko | axäsko | axinygäsko | our (not your) hut |
| our (and your) | -og | axog | axinygog | our (and your) hut |
| your (pl) | -ägo | axägo | axinygägo | your (pl) hut |
| their | -äsa | axäsa | axinygäsa | their hut |

#### Possessive Pronouns

Possessive Pronouns can also replace nouns.
By using the same example, the difference between possessor and possessive pronouns become more clear.
"Kig kasax axä apang. Person refused hut of man.
Kig kasax nämanggo. Person refused his." (ax = hut)
All of the possessive pronouns below can therefore take the place of nämanggo in the above sentence.
Possessive Pronouns :
| Caning | Pronoun |
| nanggä | mine |
| nänggi | yours (sg) |
| nämanggo | his |
| näcengga | hers |
| nänyanggo | its |
| näskonga | ours (us, not you) |
| nänokanga | ours (us and you) |
| nänggonga | yours (pl) |
| näsanga | theirs |

### Numbers
#### Cardinal numbers

Cardinal numbers in Caning :
| N | Text in Caning | N | Text in Caning | N | Text in Caning | N | Text in Caning |
| 1 | nuxu | 11 | asiny wang nuxu | 21 | ud wang nuxu | 110 | udiny mädäg wang asiny |
| 2 | pädax | 12 | asiny wang pädax | 30 | ud wang asiny | 200 | udiny mädäginy pädax |
| 3 | kodos | 13 | asiny wang kodos | 31 | ud wang asiny wang nuxu | 300 | udiny mädäginy kudos |
| 4 | tesped | 14 | asiny wang tesped | 40 | udiny pädax | 400 | udiny mädäginy tesped |
| 5 | mädäg | 15 | asiny wang mädäg | 50 | udiny pädax wang asiny | 500 | udiny mädäginy mädäg |
| 6 | aran | 16 | asiny wang aran | 60 | udiny kodos | 600 | udiny mädäginy aran |
| 7 | paxtänding | 17 | asiny wang paxtänding | 70 | udiny kudos wang asiny | 700 | udiny mädäginy paxtänding |
| 8 | tespetespe | 18 | asiny wang tespetespe | 80 | udiny tesped | 800 | udiny mädäginy tesped |
| 9 | paye nuxu | 19 | asiny wang paye nuxu | 90 | udiny tesped wang asiny | 900 | udiny mädäginy paye nuxu |
| 10 | asiny | 20 | ud | 100 | udiny mädäg | 1000 | päsic nuxu |
Intermediate numbers, e.g. 785 are built similar to English, from front to end: udiny mädäginy paxtänding (700) wang (and) udiny tesped (80) wang (and) mädäg (5).

#### Ordinal numbers

The following table shows how ordinal numbers are built.
Ordinal numbers in Caning - Days :
| Caning | Translation | Caning | Translation |
| xongi näs nuxuzeneng | first day | xongondi näs paxtändingzeneng | seventh day |
| xongondi näs pätaxeneng | second day | xongondi näs tespetespedeneng | eighth day |
| xongondi näs kodoseneng | third day | xongondi näs paye nuxuzeneng | ninth day |
| xongondi näs tespedeneng | fourth day | xongondi näs asinygeneng | tenth day |
| xongondi näs mädägkeneng | fifth day | xongondi näs asiny wang nuxuzeneng | eleventh day |
| xongondi näs arandeneng | sixth day | xongondi näs asiny wang pätaxeneng | twelfth day |
Numbers usually come after the noun with a modifier suffix, in this case -eneng.
Example of cardinal and ordinal numbers in the same sentence :
| Caning | English |
| Edekeny sawuno sasog täsa mänang tä sängga kodos, na xongondi näs kodoseneng cäläpede ta atänäce ka, | For the next three days, they came and did the same, and on the third day she said to her grandchild, |