Gapauti

Gapauti is the native language of the Tsapeteg, a Kettek culture who live along the shores of the Tekingu Dattunga. Due to the easy trade relations the Tsapeteg have historically enjoyed with other cultures, both local and foreign, Gapauti has been used, and is still used today, as a major language in every country that borders the Tekingu Dattunga, as well as a good number of the cities that line the Kipesheye River.

Phonology

Consonants

Consonant inventory: /b d dz g h j k kʰ l m n p pʰ r s t tsʰ tʰ ts x z ŋ ɾ ʃ/

		Bilabial	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Stop		pʰ p b	tʰ t d			kʰ k g
Nasal		m	n			ŋ
Affricative			tsʰ ts dz
Fricative			s z	ʃ		x	h
Approximant			l		j
Tap			ɾ
Trill			r

Vowels

Vowel inventory: /a e i u/

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Close-mid	e
Open	a

Diphthongs: None

Phonotactics

Syllable structure for is (C)V(C), with no fixed stress pattern.

• /l/ turns into /s/ if before /k/
• /a/ becomes silent if before /i/
• /ŋ/ becomes /n/ before /i/
• /s/ becomes /h/ if between two vowels
• /n/ becomes /ɲ/ if before (consonant)
• /l/ becomes /ʎ/ if before (consonant)

Grammar

Word order is Subject-Object-Verb-Oblique, with adjectives placed before their nouns and postpositions used as adpositions.

• "Mary opened the red door with a key" = "Mary the red door opened with a key"

Nouns

Noun Morphology

		Singular		Plural
Nominative	Animate	child	xirig /xi'rig/	children	Suffix: - /-/ xirig /xi'rig/
	Inanimate	stone	ngeki /'ŋeki/	stones	Suffix: -(a)sh /-(a)ʃ/ ngekish /'ŋekiʃ/
Accusative	Animate	child	Suffix: -(u)ki /-(u)kʰi/ xiriguki /xi'rigukʰi/	chidren	Suffix: -u /-u/ xirigu /xi'rigu/
	Inanimate	stone	Suffix: -(a)g /-(a)g/ ngekig /'ŋekig/	stones	Suffix: -u /-u/ ngekiu /'ŋekiu/
Genitive	Animate	child's	Suffix: -i /-i/ xirigi /xi'rigi/	children's	Suffix: -(a)sh /-(a)ʃ/ xirigash /xi'rigaʃ/
	Inanimate	stone's	Suffix: -(e)sh /-(e)ʃ/ ngekish /'ŋekiʃ/	stones'	Suffix: -(e)r /-(e)ɾ/ ngekish /'ŋekiɾ/

Definitive Article

		Singular		Plural
Nominative	Animate	the [child]	tat /tat/	the [children]	tsap /tsap/
	Inanimate	the [stone]	peg /pʰeg/	the [stones]	peg /pʰeg/
Accusative	Animate	the [child]	tsa /tsa/	the [children]	ngeg /ŋeg/
	Inanimate	the [stone]	xesh /xeʃ/	the [stones]	shug /ʃug/
Genitive	Animate	the [child]	tsi /tsi/	the [children]	ngem /ŋem/
	Inanimate	the [stone]	tsush /tsuʃ/	the [stones]	tus /tʰus/

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Definite article can be omitted: example, ‘I am going to jacuzzi’
• Not used for mass (uncountable) nouns: English's ‘Walking in the mud’ would always translate to ‘Walking in mud’

Indefinite Article

Gapauti does not use an indefinite article.

Personal Pronouns

	Nominative		Accusative		Genitive		Dative
1st. Singular	I	tse /tse/	me	tsang /tsaŋ/	mine	tse gas /tse gas/	to me	tse tat /tse tat/
2nd. Singular	you	ti /ti/	you	tet /tet/	yours	ti gas /ti gas/	to you	ti tat /ti tat/
3rd. Singular	he/she/it	tsi /tsi/	him/her/it	tsu /tsu/	his/hers/its	tsi gas /tsi gas/	to him/her/it	tsi tat /tsi tat/
1st. Plural	we	par /pʰaɾ/	us	ped /pʰed/	ours	par gas /pʰaɾ gas/	to us	par tat /pʰaɾ tat/
2nd. Plural	you	ngesh /ŋeʃ/	you	ngesh /ŋeʃ/	yours	ngesh gas /ŋeʃ gas/	to you	ngesh tat /ŋeʃ tat/
3rd. Plural	they	pig /pig/	them	pir /piɾ/	theirs	'pig gas /pig gas/	to them	pig tat /pig tat/

Verbs

		Past	Present	Future
Perfective		talked	talk	will talk
	1st. Sg	Suffix: -(a)sh /-(a)ʃ/ xash /xaʃ/	Suffix: -(a) /-(a)/ xa /xa/	Suffix: -u /-u/ xau /xa'u/
	2nd. Sg	Suffix: -(e)d /-(e)d/ xad /xad/	Suffix: -e /-e/ xae /xa'e/	Suffix: -i /-i/ xai /xa'i/
	3rd. Sg	Suffix: -u /-u/ xau /xa'u/	Suffix: -(a)xe /-(a)xe/ xaxe /xa'xe/	Suffix: -(a)d /-(a)d/ xad /xad/
	1st. Pl	Suffix: -(a)ng /-(a)ŋ/ xang /xaŋ/	Suffix: -i /-i/ xai /xa'i/	Suffix: -(e)s /-(e)s/ xas /xas/
	2nd. Pl	Suffix: -(e)n /-(e)n/ xan /xan/	Suffix: -(e)ngu /-(e)ngu/ xangu /xa'ŋu/	Suffix: -i /-i/ xai /xa'i/
	3rd. Pl	Suffix: -i /-i/ xai /xa'i/	Suffix: -(e)di /-(e)di/ xadi /xa'di/	Suffix: -i /-i/ xai /xa'i/

• Perfect aspect -- uses the word shiple after the main verb -- "have talked" or xash shiple ("talked finish")
• Progressive aspect -- uses the word dzi after the main verb -- "am talking" or xa dzi ("talk be")
• Imperative -- uses the same conjugation as 2nd-person present-tense -- "talk!" (as a command) or xae
• Negation -- adds the suffix -u /-u/ to the verb -- "do not talk" or xaeu
  • Tense affixes come between the root verb and the negative affix