'Ináwah

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'Ináwah
Ináwah
Pronunciation[ʔi.ˈná.wah]
Created byIancgil
  • Tlatá Logography
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Introduction

'Ináwah [ʔi.ˈná.wah] is the language spoken by the people of 'Iná, the 'Inábe. It is an agglutinative tonal language inspired largely by the indigenous languages of the Americas such as Sioux, Navajo, Cherokee, Mohowk, Apache, and Mayan.

Phonology

Consonants

Bilabial Dental Alveolar Post Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive voicless p /p/ t /t/ k /k/ ' /ʔ/
voiced b /b/ d /d/ g /g/
Nasal m /m/ n /n/
Fricative voiceless s /s/ sh /ʃ/ h /h/
voiced z /z/ gh /ɣ/
Lateral Fricative lh /ɬ/
Approximant y /j/
Lateral Approximant l /l/
Affricate voiceless tl /tɬ/
voiced dl /dɮ/

Vowels

Front Back Diphthongs
Close i /i/ u /u/ uy /uj/
Close-Mid e /e/ ey /ej/
Open a /a/ ay /aj/

Tones

'Ináwah technically only has two tones (high and neutral), but adjacent, identical vowels with contrasting tones may produce rising or falling tones with long vowel length in lax speech. A high tone is the marked tone and is denoted in romanization by an acute acent.

Examples:
niʔí > nǐː
nasúʔubá > nasûːubá

Phonotactics

Allowed Syllables

  • CV(h,j)
  • ʔ(syllabic nasal)

Phonological Rules

  • nasal > ʔ + syllabic / $_$
  • j > i / V_$
  • g > ɣ / V$_

Stress

  • High tones always get primary stress.
  • If there is a word with all identical tones, the ultimate syllable receives primary stress.
  • In the event that there are varying tones, the last high tone receives the primary stress.

Orthography

The main orthography of 'Ináwah is the Tlatá logography, but later 'Inábe created and used the Súdu syllabary often along with Tlatá.

Tlatá Logography

The Tlatá Logography is the primary writing system used for 'Ináwah.

Súdu Syllabary

Morphology

Verbs

Verbs play a large role in 'Ináwah and can often compose the entire sentence.They are marked for negation, person, number, tense, and mood/mode.

Structure of the Verb

(negation) + (nominal prefix) + [stem] + (tense) + (mood)

Pronominal Prefixes

Pronominal prefixes are required for all verbs that are not infinitives. First Person

Number Prefix 'Ináwah Example English
Singular pe- pemu I walk.
Dual Inclusive peyé- peyému We both walk.
Dual Exclusive ipeyé- ipeyému We both walk, but not you.
Plural Inclusive té- mu We all walk.
Plural Exclusive ité- itému We all walk, but not you

Second Person

Number Prefix 'Ináwah Example English
Singular wa- wamu You walk.
Dual wayé- wayému You both walk.
Plural 'iwa- iwamu You all walk.

Third Person

Number Prefix 'Ináwah Example English
Singular ma- mamu He, she, it walks.
Dual mayé- mayému They both walk.
Plural 'ima- imamu They all walk.

Tense

Tense Suffix 'Ináwah Example English
Present n/a pemu I walk.
Imperfect -shú pemushú I was walking/I would walk (before).
Simple Past -she pemushe I walked/I had walked.
Progressive -weh pemuweh I am walking.
Near Future -hu pemuhu I am about to walk.
Future -tlí pemutlí I will walk.

Negation

Negation Prefix 'Ináwah Example English
Simple Negation ba- bakemu I don't walk.
Double Negation 'úba-, ba'úba-, 'úba'úba-, … 'úbakemu I don't not walk.
Reduplication Negation ba+ba-, … babakemu I definitely don't walk.

Mood and Mode

Mood/Mode Suffix 'Ináwah Example English
Indicative n/a wamu You walk.
Interrogative -su wamushesu Did you walk?
Imperative -'alé wamu'alé You must/should walk. (command)
Jussive -sú'é 'imamusú'é They must/should walk. (command)
Potential -bu pemubu I could walk.
Hypothetical -wi wamushewi If you could have walked...
Possibility -ga wamuga You might walk.
Opative -'ubá wamu'ubá You want/wish to walk.

Nouns

Structure of the Noun

(nominal prefix) + [stem] + (derivational morpheme) + (case suffix)

Case

'Ináwah noun case is designated solely by syntax. The prenominal prefix attached to the verb is often used as a way to help designate the subject and so there can be some flexibility in word order, but usually only in verse and poetry.

Pronouns

'Ináwah pronouns are formed by using pronominal prefixes attached to the noun "be" meaning "person" or "self". If the subject is a pronoun it is omitted since the prenominal prefix attached to the verb is required. In the case that the verb is reflexive, a pronoun will be used and will be understood as the object and not the subject of the sentence.


Number Prefix 'Ináwah Example English
Singlular pe- pebe I
Dual Inclusive peyé- peyébe We both
Dual Exclusive ipeyé- ipeyébe We both, but not you
Plural Inclusive té- be We all
Plural Exclusive ité- itébe We all, but not you

Second Person

Number Prefix 'Ináwah Example English
Singular wa- wabe You
Dual wayé- wayébe You both
Plural iwa- iwabe You all

Third Person

Number Prefix 'Ináwah Example English
Singular ma- mabe He, she, it
Dual mayé- mayébe They both
Plural ima- imabe They all

Postpositions

Postposition 'Ináwah Example English
sa'á shali sa'á in the dwelling
'uni shali 'uni outside the dwelling
shali of the dwelling
lhú wabe lhú with you
se shali se at the dwelling
'éwa with a hand, by means of a hand
la suné la as/like a cat
shali to the dwelling

Conjunctions

  • nasha - that, so, in order to
  • su'í - and

Interfixes

Syntax

Word Order

SOV

Noun Phrase

  • Noun + Postposition
  • Noun + Adjective Phrase

Verb Phrase

Sentence Phrase

Dependent Clauses

Sample Texts

Ídu yáwah té masi lahás ma'ú té.
The knowledge of the Creator is the most noble.

Shéna wayadú'í'alé nasha kikí wayadú'í.
You must receive pain to receive benefit.