Kuyugwazian

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Kuyugwazian
kŭyŭgwažen toohlŭžŭn
kŭyŭgwažennŭ
Pronunciation[kɯjɯɡˈwaʒɛn ˈtoːxlɯʒɯn]
[kɯjɯɡˈwaʒɛnnɯ]
Created byLili21
DateJun 2018
SettingCalémere
Native toKŭyŭgwažtow
EthnicityKŭyŭgwaž (kŭyŭgwažüülŭn)
Native speakers22,300,000 (6424)
Kenengyry languages
  • Northern Central Kenengyry
    • Kuyugwazian
Chlouvānem script for Kuyugwazian
Official status
Official language in
Kŭyŭgwažtow

Kuyugwazian, natively kŭyŭgwažen toohlŭžŭn or simply kŭyŭgwažennŭ, is a Calémerian language spoken on Márusúturon. It belongs to the Northern Central branch of the Kenengyry languages (kenengŭri toohlŭžüül), and is the ethnic language of the Kŭyŭgwaž people (kŭyŭgwažen haalyŭn or kŭyŭgwažüülŭn), being the majority language in their country, Kŭyŭgwažtow, as well as being spoken in the sizable ethnic Kŭyŭgwaž community in the Chlouvānem Inquisition (amounting to about 45% of all Kuyugwazian speakers).

It is closely related to the most widespread of the Kenengyry languages, Soenjoan (soyŭnyaan toohlŭžŭn in Kuyugwazian), however it is more conservative in its morphology.

External History

Phonology

Orthography

Kuyugwazian, like many languages of that area of Vīṭadælteh in the former Kaiṣamā, has been natively written in the last 60 years in an adapted version of the Chlouvānem abugida, with a few adapted glyphs to better accomodate the phonemes of Kuyugwazian not found in Chlouvānem. Chlouvānem loanwords are, in the most formal registers, written etymologically, as they are in Chlouvānem, while in less informal styles they are written according to Kuyugwazian pronunciation.

Consonants

Kuyugwazian has an average consonant inventory consisting of 23 phonemes, none of them particularly rare cross-linguistically:

→ PoA
↓ Manner
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar
Nasals m m n n
Plosives Voiceless p p t t k k
Voiced b b d d g g
Affricates Voiceless c ts č
Voiced dz dz
Fricatives Voiceless f f s s
š ʃ
h x
Voiced v v z z
ž ʒ
Laterals l l
Trill r r
Approximants y j w w

Vowels

The Kuyugwazian vowel inventory consists of 15 monophthongs (7 long-short pairs and one lone quality) and three diphthongs, one of them only found in loanwords. All vocalic phonemes are oral.

Front Central Back
High i ü ii üü i y iː yː ŭ ɯ u uu u uː
Mid e ee ö öö ɛ eː œ øː o oo ɔ oː
Low a aa a aː
Diphthongs ay ai̯
ey ei̯1
aw au̯
  1. In Chlouvānem loanwords only.

Prosody

Stress

Intonation

Phonotactics

Morphology

Consonant reduction

A common morphophonological feature in many Kenengyry languages is consonant reduction after long vowels, quite similar to the phenomenon of consonant gradation in Uralic languages. In Northern Central Kenengyry languages, such as Kuyugwazian and Soenjoan, this process happened after long vowels (not short ones nor diphthongs, but after a short high vowel and a resonant) and only if followed by a vowel. While many of these triggering circumstances were later lost or modified, some inflections require a stem with a reduced consonant.
Two common examples of inflections using a reduced consonant are the accusative singular of most nouns and the definite suffix (article) -ŭn:

  • "milk (NOM), milk (ACC), the milk" – *leet, *leetɯr, *leet-indɯ > leet, leewŭr, leewŭn (long vowel)
  • "jug(NOM), jug (ACC), the jug" – *lata, *latar, *lata-indɯ > lat, latŭr, latŭn (short vowel, therefore no consonant reduction)
  • "friend (NOM), friend (ACC), the friend" – *jurk, *jurkɯr, *jurk-indɯ > žurg, žužŭr, žužŭn (high short vowel plus resonant)

Nouns

Kuyugwazian nouns are inflected, mostly agglutinatively, for seven cases and two numbers (singular and plural):

Case (singular) form consonant stem, no reduction
bolŭn, -m "house"
consonant stem with reduction
leet "milk"
-a vowel stem
žaagla "horse"
Other vowel stem
miži, -re "woman"
Nominative (lemma form) bolŭn leet žaagla miži
Accusative -ŭr/-ːr bolŭmŭr leewŭr žaaglaar mireer
Genitive -ŭne/-ne bolŭmŭne leewŭne žaaglane mirene
Partitive -(y)o bolŭmo leewo žaaglayo mireyo
Dative -tüh bolŭmtüh leettüh žaaglatüh miretüh
Prolative -or/-r bolŭmor leewor žaaglar mirer
Ablative -(ː)šŭl bolŭmšŭl leetšŭl žaaglaašŭl mireešŭl

The nominative-accusative plural is formed by adding -üül (consonant stems) or -yül (vowel stems), e.g. bolŭmüül, žužüül "friends", žaaglayül, mireyül.

The partitive plural is formed by adding -(y)ulaa/-wlaa, e.g. bolŭmulaa, žužulaa, žaaglawlaa, mireyulaa.

The plural forms of other cases are formed by adding -wŭ- and then the singular ending, e.g. bolŭmwŭne, žurgwŭtüh, žaaglawŭr, mirewŭšŭl.

Syntax

Constituent order

Noun phrase

Verb phrase

Sentence phrase

Dependent clauses

Example texts

Other resources

Notes