Gwrengax

From Linguifex
Revision as of 14:07, 13 March 2024 by IlL (talk | contribs)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Gwrengax (/gʷrengax/) is a Bjeheondian language isolate inspired by Welsh, (Baxter-Sagart) Old Chinese, Armenian and Khasi. It is grammatically very similar to Modern Naeng and Vernacular Netagin but a bit less strictly head-initial, like Hmong.

Gibberish: Ŋwran tanxwlej be toh ma'aŋ siknagw, sy tu xyzell ham. Byrroŋ tyx kwosra nsoj xyh netsull, namte 'asmad se ykw'arij.

Maxwell = a name

  • takrir = hello
  • erku = town, city; forms city names (can this be justified with Armenian-like sound changes from a proto-language?)
  • Erkwed, Erkwisŋwal = name of cities
  • xwahan = forest
  • dlowŋ = wheel
  • llymboj = horse
  • wok = good
  • 'lats = livestock
  • lats = to sustain, to provide
  • kwa = stone
  • kykwa = boulder
  • wansem = plough
  • pruk = end
  • gemra = to live
  • aknull = paint, color
  • mnep = vase
  • be = past particle

1: pos 2: wyŋ 3: yhew 4: taxwi 5: azep 6: rynoj 7: kwlyŋ 8: tsil 9: masah 10: ŋwet

History

Gwnax is believed to be the only surviving descendant of the pre-Lakovic, pre-Idavic indigenous languages of Bjeheond. It's generally accepted that the language of the Dáiḃeŋal civilization of Bjeheond is an old form of Gwnax and its script is the source for Idavic and Windermere scripts today. Even the name Dáiḃeŋal is a Tigolized form of an Old Gwnax ancestor of the name Erkwisŋwal (*dwa:bu icaŋwa:l), which displays the characteristic sound change dw- -> erk- which shows up among Trician languages only in Gwnax.

Phonology

Vowels

a e i o u y /a e i o u ɨ/

Consonants

m n ŋ ŋw p t ts k kw ' b d z g gw s x xw h l r ll rr w /m n ŋ ŋʷ p t ts k kʷ ʔ b d dz g gʷ s x xʷ h l r ɬ r̥ w/

/s ts dz/ palatalize to [ɕ t͡ɕ d͡ʑ] before /i/

Phonotactics

Allowed initial clusters are:

  • RR: mn ml mr nl nr ŋl ŋr ŋwl ŋwr 'l 'r
  • PR: pl pr tl tr kn kl kr kwn kwl kwr
  • BR: bl br dl dr gn gl gr gwn gwl gwr
  • FR: sm sn sŋ sŋw sl sr xn xl xr xwn xwl xwr

Allowed finals are: -' -p -t -k -kw -b -d -g -gw -m -n -ŋ -l -r -j -w -s -ts

Coda clusters are prohibited.

Syntax

Should be like Hmong

Pronouns

pronouns: (sg du pl) 1: hoj, 'ra, kob

2: yp, ryws, llyj

3: piw, wek, xom'

Possessive pronouns precde nouns: hoj ŋro 'my house'.