Suwáá

Suwáá is a language isolate of Hmøøh, spoken on the island country and archipelago of Suwáábíq. It is mainly inspired aesthetically by Burmese, Japanese, and Ancient Greek, and its grammar is meant to be "Navajo-lite" (strongly head-final and head-marking, though not fully polysynthetic; noun incorporation is limited to certain formal styles).

Lexicon

• su- = good
• wáá = person
• chhwen = water

Phonology

Initials

• k kh g ng ch chh j ny kw khw gw ngw chw chhw jw nyw
• t th d n s sh z ny tw thw dw nw sw zw nyw
• p ph b m py phy by my pw phw bw mw
• y r w h ry hy rw hw ryw yw hyw (r is [l] before /i j/)

Rimes

• Monomoraic: i e ɛ a ɔ o u n /i e ɛ a ɔ o u ɯ̃/
• Bimoraic, but q cannot bear tone: iq eq ɛq aq ɔq oq uq /ɪʔ eɪ̯ʔ aɪ̯ʔ aʔ aʊ̯ʔ oʊ̯ʔ ʊʔ/
• Bimoraic, both morae tone-bearing: ii ee ɛɛ aa ɔɔ oo uu in en ɛn an ɔn on un /iː eː ɛː aː ɔː oː uː ɪɰ̃ eɪ̯ɰ̃ aɪ̯ɰ̃ aɰ̃ aʊ̯ɰ̃ oʊ̯ɰ̃ uɰ̃/

Tone

High (acute) and low (unmarked)

Morphology

Nouns

mɔ́ 'blood'

• namɔ́ = my blood
• simɔ́ = thy blood
• amɔ́ = his/her/their blood (Navajo yi-)
• damɔ́ = his/her/their blood (Navajo bi-)
• mamɔ́ = our blood
• erimɔ́ = your blood

Vocabulary

Purist