Wakensi: Difference between revisions
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Wakensi phonology is pretty straughtforward. | Wakensi phonology is pretty straughtforward. | ||
Consonants | === Consonants === | ||
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="width: 660px; text-align:center;" | {| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="width: 660px; text-align:center;" | ||
! style="width: 68px; "| | ! style="width: 68px; "| | ||
! style="width: 68px; " |Bilabial | ! style="width: 68px; " |Bilabial | ||
! style="width: 68px; " |Alveolar | ! style="width: 68px; " |Alveolar | ||
! style="width: 68px; " |Palatal | ! style="width: 68px; " |Palatal | ||
! style="width: 68px; " |Velar | ! style="width: 68px; " |Velar | ||
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! style="" |Nasal Stop | ! style="" |Nasal Stop | ||
| m | | m | ||
| n | |colspan="4" | n~ŋ | ||
|- | |- | ||
! style="" |Oral Stop | ! style="" |Oral Stop | ||
| p b | | p b | ||
| t d | | t d | ||
| | |||
| k g | |||
| ’ [ʔ] | |||
|- | |||
! style="" |Pre-nasal | |||
| <small><sup>m</sup></small>p <small><sup>m</sup></small>b | |||
| <small><sup>n</sup></small>t <small><sup>n</sup></small>d | |||
| | |||
| <small><sup>n</sup></small>k <small><sup>n</sup></small>g | |||
| | | | ||
|- | |- | ||
! style="" |Fricative | ! style="" |Fricative | ||
| f v | | f v~w | ||
| s | | s | ||
| | | | ||
| | | | ||
| h | | h | ||
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| | | | ||
| | | | ||
| j | | j | ||
| | | | ||
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| l r | | l r | ||
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| | | |
Revision as of 17:14, 14 November 2019
Wakensi is a language belonging to the Cramarian family of languages. It has some oddities and peculiarities that set it apart from even more closely related Cramarian languages. One such is the use of an introductory particle at the beginning of sentences which marks whether it is a question or a statement. Also it relies in heavy prefixing rather than suffixing. Apart from this, the Cramarian morphology is pretty transparent.
Phonology
Wakensi phonology is pretty straughtforward.
Consonants
Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal Stop | m | n~ŋ | |||
Oral Stop | p b | t d | k g | ’ [ʔ] | |
Pre-nasal | mp mb | nt nd | nk ng | ||
Fricative | f v~w | s | h | ||
Approximant | j | ||||
Liquid | l r |
Morphosyntax
Nouns
Nouns are indeclinable and are only inflected for number and construct state. The language has only two grammatical numbers: singular and plural, and expresses possession through the use of the construct state. Plurals are handled in a pattern:
Noun | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
Pattern | CVC | C1i-C1VC |
e.g.: "god" | tomb | titomb |
e.g.: "cat" | nau | ninau |
However note that the plural of tman, "man", is titmin, "men".
Possession
Wakensi uses the construct for possessive constructions, which is suffixed to the possessed noun. The construct is <-‘i>.
Example:
- sisei’i nau “the fingers of the cat”
- wau’i hun “eye of the dog”
There are two possession in Wakensi, alienable and inalienable. The construct form makes the alienable possessive, the inalienable possessive is formed prefixing the pronoun to the noun.
Example:
- katomb “your god”
- wotan “my sister”
- mbegaba “our father”
The inalienable possessive means that the object possessed constitutes a part of the person possessing it. While the alienable shows that the object only has some kind of possessive realtionship to the noun.
Example:
- woso “my flesh” (the flesh that constitutes me)
- so’i woh “my flesh” (as in the flesh in my plate)
Pronouns
The prefixed pronouns are as follows:
Singular | Plural | |
---|---|---|
First | wo-, woh- | mbe-, mb- |
Second | ka-, k- | kika-, kik- |
Third | m. wi- f. wa-, w- | m. wiwi- f. wiwa-, wiw- |
The third person neutral takes the femenine “wa-“ pronoun, also it is the default for a group of different genders.
And the independent pronouns:
Singular | Plural | |
---|---|---|
First | woh | mbee |
Second | ka | kika |
Third | m. wi, f. wa | m. wisi, f. wasi |