Nwuemer

Nwuemer is another language spoken in my far future Antarctic conworld (after runaway global warming has melted most of the ice but made most of the rest of the world uninhabitable). It is spoken by nomads who inhabit the centre of the continent. The initial apostrophe in the name represents glottalisation, meaning that the name of the language is pronounced [ˈn̰ʷy̏ːmə̄], with the underlying phonemic representation being /ˈʔnʷiːmə/ (with a Low word tone). Because each group of nomads speak their own dialect, Nwuemer is a Pluricentric language. The situation is further complicated by the fact that Nwuemer has become a lingua franca across much of East Antarctica (through other ethnic groups trading with the nomads).

Like many other Antarctican languages (but definitely not all), Nwuemer is descended from English. However, many ancestors of Nwuemer speakers came from the Philippines, Indonesia and the Pacifc (these areas were the first to be severely affected by global warming), and the language is heavily influenced by Austronesian languages, most notably in its split ergative alignment. But it also borrowed heavily from Hindi and various Chinese dialects. This is a similar story to Kämpya, except that speakers of the two languages were largely isolated from each other for two thousand years, meaning that they are no longer mutually intelligible.

Phonology

Vowels

In stressed syllables, most dialects distinguish 5 plain oral vowels /a/, /iː/, /uː/, /e/, /o/ and two nasal vowels /aⁿ/ and /əⁿ/. The difference between /iː/ vs. /e/ is more dependent on length than height. For example, a short [i] is more likely to be heard as /e/ than /iː/, and a long /eː/ is more likely to be heard as /iː/ than /e/. The back vowels /uː/ and /o/ are similar in this regard.

In unstressed syllables, the plain oral vowels /iː/, /uː/, /e/ and /o/ (i.e. all of the plain oral vowels except /a/) merge to /ə/ (which is still distinct from /əⁿ/.

In non-word final syllables, it is very common for nasal vowels to unpackinto a sequence of oral vowel + nasal consonant (which is homorganic with the following consonant). For example, the vowel of the first syllable in the word /ˈxəⁿda/ - "shepherd" is phonemically /əⁿ/, but is almost always heard as [ən].

Consonants

There is considerable variation between dialects here:

	Labial	Pal. Labial	Pharyn. Labial	Laminal	Pharyn. Alveolar	Lab. Dental	Alveolo-Palatal	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Lab. Palatal	Lab. Velar	Lab. Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	m	mʲ	mˤ	n		nʷ		ɳ	ɲ	ŋ		ɲʷ	ŋʷ
Voiced Stop	b	bʲ	bˤ	d	dˤ	dʷ			ɟ	g		ɟʷ	gʷ ~ gw ~ gb
Voiceless Stop	p	pʲ	pˤ	t	tˤ	tʷ			c	k	q	cʷ	kʷ ~ kw ~ kp		ʔ
Voiced Affricate				dz			dʑ	ɖʐ
Voiceless Affricate				ts			tɕ	ʈʂ
Voiced Fricative				z	zˤ	zʷ	ʑ
Voiceless Fricative	f	fʲ	fˤ	s	sˤ	sʷ	ɕ	ʂ	ç ~ ɬ	x ~ ~ ħ ~ h
Flap / Trill							ɾʲ	ɽ			ʀ			ʀʷ ~ ⱱ
Lateral									ʎ		ɫ	ʎʷ		ɫʷ
Semivowel									j			ɥ	w

The uvular trill is most commonly pronounced as an approximant [ʁ].

A few dialects merge the aspirated dental consonant into the voiceless alveolar affricate.

Some dialects merge /ɫʷ/ into /ɫ/. While both of these are strictly speaking coronal laterals with secondary articulation, for the purposes of the phonology they pattern with the uvular consonants (e.g. regarding how they affect the pronunciation of surrounding vowels).

Labialised labial consonants /mʷ/, /bʷ/, /pʷ/ (and sometimes /fʷ/~/ɸ/) occur as separate phonemese in a few dialects. But most dialects have merged these with the plain labials.

Except for flaps, all sonorant consonants have plain and glottalised forms e.g. [m] vs. [m̰], [w] vs. [w̰] etc. However, these can be analysed as sequences of glottal stop + sonorant e.g. /m/ vs. /ʔm/, /w/ vs. /ʔw/ etc.

Velar nasals /ŋ/ and /ŋʷ/ cannot occur word initially.

/x/ is pronounced [χ] word initially. A small number of speakers pronounce it as [ħ] or [h].

Stress and Tone

There is both a stress and a tone system, which interact with each other.

Stress falls on either the last or the second last syllable of a word. The stressed syllable is pronounced louder than unstressed syllables. The pitch depends on the tone.

Tone is assigned at the word level, rather than to individual syllables. There are three phonemic tones, High, Low, and Falling.

Words with High Tone have high pitch on all syllables other the stressed syllable, which is pronounced with even higher pitch e.g. /waˈjəʔma/ (H) - "llama" (genitive) is pronounced [wɞ́ˈjɪ̋m̰á], /tɕaˈbˤaⁿ/ (H) - "Japan" is pronounced [tɕɐ́ˈbˤɑ̋ⁿ].

Words with Low Tone have mid pitch on all syllables other than the stressed syllable, which is pronounced with an extra low pitch e.g. /waˈməwaⁿ/ (L) - "mountain" (genitive) is pronounced [wāˈmʊ̏wāⁿ].

Words with Falling Tone always have stress on the second last syllable. Their pronunciation depends on the vowel length of the stressed vowel. If the vowel is short and non-nasalised, there is high pitch on all syllables up to and including the stressed syllable, and low pitch on the final syllable e.g./tsaˈɲeɳə/ (HL) - "channel", "strait" is pronounced [tsǽˈɲéɳʌ̀]. However, if the stressed vowel is long or nasalised, then it has falling pitch e.g. /waˈbiːdˤə/ (HL) - "boat" (genitive) is pronounced [wáˈbêːdˤʌ̀].

Evolution

This system evolved via the following stages:

1) English stress became entirely regular, being assigned to the heaviest of the final three syllables of a word via the following rules (which are identical to Hindi stress rules):

• A phonemic distiction between long and short vowels emerges. English */æ/ is always lengthened to /æː/. The only places where this distiction is not phonemic are before nasal codas and at the end of words. In both of these cases, vowels are always considered short.

• Diphthongs, coda consonants (including coda /r/, which has survived in stresssed syllables) and long vowels each contribute an additional mora to a syllable. So for example, in the word "bullet", the first syllable has one mora, and the second has two morae.

• The final mora of a word is extrametrical. For the purposes of assigning stress, it doesn't count. So "bullet" effectively has one mora on each syllable now.

• The syllable with the most morae gets assigned stress. So "bullet" is now */buˈlet/. There are some cases where the stress stays the same e.g. "doctor" is */dokta/.

2) Phonotactics become much stricter. The only syllables permitted are CV and CVN (where N is a nasal). Wherever a violation of this rule would occur. So "bullet" is now *[buˈletə], and "doctor" is now *[ˈdokəta].

3) Pitch becomes assigned to syllables via the following rules:

• Word final syllables that end in a nasal are assigned low pitch.

• Word final syllables that ended in schwa, */a/, */i/ or */u/ are assigned low pitch (these vowels all merge to schwa, though often modifying the previous consonant).

• Other word final syllables are assigned high pitch.

• Stressed syllables are always assigned high pitch when not word final.

• Unstressed syllables before the stressed syllable receive high pitch.

• Unstressed syllables after the stress syllable take the same pitch as the final syllable of a word.

So "doctor" is now */ˈdókə̀tà/ HLL, "bullet" is now /búˈlétə̀/ HHL, "llama" is */ˈjə́má/ HH (it begins with an initial /j/ because the word is borrowed from Spanish).

4) If a word has stress on any syllable before the penultimate, the word was truncated so that stress falls on the penultimate syllable. However, this truncation does not delete tone, which is mapped to syllables from right to left. So "doctor" is */ˈdòkà/ HLL, where the initial H tone is a floating tone that only surfaces when the noun takes a prefix.

5) All tones except the final two are lost. So "doctor" now just has a LL melody, without a floating tone. Likewise "bullet" now just has a HL melody, as can be seen from its final form /pəˈʎedˤə/ HL.

Phonotactics

Only CCV syllables are permitted. Furthermore, the range of permissible clusters is extremely restricted, being limited to /ʔ/ + Sonorant (other than flaps), /pf/, /bf/ (heard as [bv], /pɕ/, /bʑ/, /tf/, /df/ (heard as [dv]), /kf/ and /kɕ/.

Voiced obstruents cannot occur word initially, nor can clusters containing /ʔ/.

Vowel Allophony

The vowels of Nwuemer have a number of different allophones depending on what consonants they are adjacent to. These are described in the table below. Note that a "lowering" consonant is defined as a pharyngealised, retroflex or uvular consonant (labialised or non-labialised, including /ɫ/). If two sounds are listed, the first occurs in stressed syllables, and the second in unstressed syllables:

Phoneme	/a/	/iː/	/uː/	/e/	/o/	/aⁿ/	/əⁿ/	/ə/
Default	[a]	[iː]	[uː]	[e]	[o]	[aⁿ]	[əⁿ]	[ə]
Adjacent to a Palatal or Palatalised Consonant	[æ]	[iː]	[ʉː]	[i]	[ɵ]	[ɛⁿ]	[eⁿ]	[ɪ]
Adjacent to a Lowering Consonant (Non-Labialised)	[ɑ]	[eː]	[oː]	[ɛ]	[ɔ]	[ɑⁿ]	[ʌⁿ]	[ʌ]
Adjacent to a Labialised Consonant (Non-Lowering)	[a]	[yː]	[uː]	[ø]	[u]	[aⁿ]	[oⁿ]	[ʊ]
Adjacent to a Labialised Uvular Consonant	[ɒ]	[øː]	[oː]	[œ]	[o]	[ɒⁿ]	[ɔⁿ]	[ɔ]
Between a Lowering Consonant and a Labialised Consonant	[ɒ]	[øː]	[oː]	[œ]	[o]	[ɒⁿ]	[ɔⁿ]	[ɔ]
Between a Palatal / Palatalised Consonant, and a Labialised Consonant (Non-Lowering)	[ɞ]	[yː]	[ʉː]	[y]	[ʉ]	[œⁿ]	[øⁿ]	[ʏ]
Between a Palatal / Palatalised Consonant, and a Labialised Uvular Consonant	[ɐ]	[øː]	[oː]	[ø]	[o]	[ɐⁿ]	[əⁿ]	[ɵ]
Between a Palatal / Palatalised Consonant, and a Lowering Consonant (Non-Labialised)	[ɐ]	[eː]	[oː]	[e]	[o]	[ɐⁿ]	[əⁿ]	[ɘ]

Nouns

Any Nwuemer adjective can be used as a noun, and vice verca, any noun can be used as an adjective (which come before the head noun when used attributively, like English). For example, /ˈsaⁿdə/ (HL) [ˈsandə] can mean either "sand" or "sandy".

Plurals

Additive Plural

This is formed by reduplicating the first syllable of the noun, except that the vowel is changed to schwa e.g. /ˈtʷoʀa/ (L) - [ˈtʷòʀɑ̄] - "shaman" (from English "doctor") -> /tʷəˈtʷoʀa/ (L) - [tʷʊ̄ˈtʷòʀɑ̄] - "shamans". However, in Nwuemer, pluralisation is optional. So /ˈjəʔma/ (HL) could mean either "llama" or "llamas". In general, the plural is only used to emphasise that there is a large number / quantity of something. It can even be used for uncountable nouns e.g. /ˈsaⁿdə/ (HL) [ˈsândə̀] - sand (from a desert, Nwuemer has a different word for beach sand) -> /sə-ˈsaⁿdə/ (HL) [sə́ˈsândə̀] - "large amount of desert sand / dune sea".

Associative Plural

Distinct from the additive plural, this means "X and company", "X and his/her mob" etc. (similar to Japanese -tachi). It is formed by prefixing /ɫʷatə-/ to the noun e.g.

/ˈtʷoʀa/ (L) - [ˈtʷòʀɑ̄] - "shaman" -> /ɫʷatə-ˈtʷoʀa/ (L) - [ɫʷɒ̄tʊ̄ˈtʷòʀɑ̄] - "the shaman and his lot"

Note that this is distinct from the additive plural discussed before. /tʷəˈtʷoʀa/ (L) refers to a group of shamans, while /ɫʷatə-ˈtʷoʀa/ (L) refers to a shaman with a group of other people associated with him (who by no means need to be shamans, and could well be the shaman's assistants or followers).

Case

Nwuemer has three cases, Absolutive (unmarked), Genitive (marked with the prefix /wa-/), and Ergative (marked with the prefix /pə-/).

e.g. /ˈfaɖʐa/ (H) [ˈfɑ̋ɖʐɑ́] - father -> /waˈfaza/ (H) [wáˈfɑ̋ɖʐɑ́] - "of the father" -> /pəˈfaza/ (H) [pə̄ˈfɑ̋ɖʐɑ́] - "father" (ergative)

However, if the noun root begins with a voiceless obstruent, it becomes voiced e.g. /ˈtʷoʀa/ (L) [ˈtʷòʀɑ̄] - "shaman" -> /waˈdʷoʀa/ (L) [wāˈdʷòʀɑ̀] - "of the shaman" (not */waˈtʷoʀa/ (L)) -> /pə-ˈdʷoʀa/ (L) [pə̄ˈdʷòʀɑ̄] - "shaman" (ergative).

Possession

Like most Antarctican languages, Nwuemer uses different constructions for alienable and inalienable possession.

Inalienable Possession

In this case, the word order is Possessed - Possessor, with the Possessor marked with the genitive case e.g.

/ˈpəʔwəⁿ wa-ˈdʷogə/ (HL) (HL)

[ˈpʊ́w̰ʊ̀ⁿ wá-ˈdʷúgə̀]

bone GEN-dog

The dog's bone (in it's body)

Alienable Possession

The construction for alienable possession is the same as that for alienable possession, except that the possessor is marked with the Ergative case e.g.

/ˈpəʔwəⁿ pə-ˈdʷogə/ (HL) (HL)

[ˈpʊ́w̰ʊ̀ⁿ pʊ́ˈdʷùgə̀]

bone ERG-dog

The dog's bone (that it is chewing / burying etc.)

Demonstratives

Like English, Nwuemer makes a two-way distance contrast in demonstratives, and there is no distinction between pronominal demonstratives and adnominal demonstratives (which precede the noun, like in English). Unlike English, there is no singular vs. plural contrast in demonstratives:

This / These: /ˈɕəsə/ (HL) [ˈɕɪ́sə̀]

That / Those: /ˈsazə/ (HL) [ˈsázə̀]

Prepositional Clitics

In Nwuemer, prepositions are clitics that attach phonologically to the following word (whether that is a noun, demonstrative, numeral or adjective). The pronunciation of the last vowel in a preposition is affected by the first consonant in the following word e.g.

/ɲəʀə/ [ɲɘʀʌ] - "near"

/ˈɕəsə/ (HL) [ˈɕɪ́sə̀] - "this one"

/ɲəʀə=ˈɕəsə/ (HL) [ɲɘ́ʀɘ́ˈɕɪ́sə̀] - "near to this one" (not *[ɲɘ́ʀʌ́ˈɕɪ́sə̀]).

Pronouns

Nwuemer borrowed its pronouns from Austronesian languages, and makes a distinction between inclusive and exclusive "we". Unlike the rest of the language which has ergative-absolutive alignment, pronouns have Fluid-S Alignment. In transitive sentences, subjects have the agentive case, while objects have the patientive case e.g.

/ˈʔəkfa ʎə-ˈbedˤə qaˈɲəʔja/ (H) (HL) (H)

[ʔə̋kfá ʎɪ́ˈbɛ́dˤʌ̀ qɐ́ˈɲɪ́j̰æ̀]

1PS.SG.AGT ATEL-bite 3PS.PAT

I was biting him/her/them.

However, in intransitive sentences, pronominal subjects only have the agentive case if they perform the action of their own free will e.g.

/ˈʔəkfa mʲaɲə-ˈpfaɫə/ (H) (HL)

[ʔə̋kfá mʲǽɲɪ́ˈpfɑ́ɫʌ̀]

1PS.SG.AGT TEL-fall

I dropped to the ground (deliberately, e.g. to duck a bullet)

If the action is involitional, pronominal subjects of an intransitive verb take the patientive case e.g.

/ˈʔaɟəⁿ mʲaɲə-ˈpfaɫə/ (H) (HL)

[ˈʔæ̋ɟèⁿ mʲǽɲɪ́ˈpfɑ́ɫʌ̀]

1PS.SG.PAT TEL-fall

I fell to the ground (by accident)

The various pronouns are listed in the table below:

	Agentive	Patientive	Genitive
1PS Singular	/ˈʔəkfa/ (H)/ [ˈʔə̋kfá] (H)]	/ˈʔaɟəⁿ/ (HL) [ˈʔæ̋ɟèⁿ]	/kfo/ (H) [kfő]
1PS Plural Exclusive	/qaˈmʲə/ (L) [qɐ̄ˈmʲɪ̏]	/ˈʔəʔmʲəⁿ/ (L) [ˈʔɪm̰ʲeⁿ]	/ˈnəʔmʲəⁿ/ (L) [ˈnɪm̰ʲeⁿ]
1PS Plural Inclusive	/ˈtˤəɥa/ (H) [ˈtˤø̋ɥɞ́]	/ˈʔətsəⁿ/ (HL) [ˈʔə̋tsə́ⁿ] (HL)	/ˈnətsəⁿ/ (HL) [ˈnə̋tsə́ⁿ]
2PS Singular	/jəˈqo/ (H) [jɘ́ˈqɔ̋]	/jəˈʔɥo/ (H) [jʏ́ˈɥ̰ʉ̋]	/mo/ (H) [mő]
2PS Plural / Polite	/qəˈʔɥo/ (H) [qǿˈɥ̰ʉ̋]	/jəˈʔɲʷo/ (H) [jʏ́ˈɲ̰ʷʉ̋]	/nəˈʔɲʷo/ (H) [nʏ́ˈɲ̰ʷʉ̋]
3PS	/ˈɕəʔja/ (H) [ˈɕɪ́j̰æ̀]	/qaˈɲəʔja/ (H) [qɐ́ˈɲɪ́j̰æ̀]	/ˈɲəʔja/ (H) [ˈɲɪ́j̰æ̀]
Reflexive	N/A	/ˈɕeɳə/ (HL) [ˈɕéɳʌ̀]	/ˈtɕaɽaⁿ/ (HL) - [tɕɐ́ɽɑ̀ⁿ]
Reciprocal	N/A	/ˈɕaⁿkfə/ (HL) [ˈɕǽŋkfə̀]	/ˈtəʔʎə/ (HL) [ˈtɪ́ʎ̰ɪ̀]

The genitive pronouns are used for both alienable and inalienable possession. In both cases, they precede the noun they possess e.g. /kfo ˈpəʔwəⁿ/ (H) (HL) [kfő ˈpʊ́w̰ʊ̀ⁿ] - "my bone" (either in my body, or in my possession).

The second person plural pronouns can also be used to refer to a single person, if the speaker desires to express respect to that person. This is similar to French tu vs. vous.

The reflexive patientive pronoun is used where English would say "myself", "yourself" etc. For example:

/pə-ˈdʷogə ʎə-ˈbedˤə ˈɕeɳə/ (HL) (HL) (HL)

[pʊ́ˈdʷùgə̀ ʎɪ́ˈbɛ́dˤʌ̀ ˈɕéɳʌ̀]

ERG-dog ATEL-bite REFL.PAT

The dog was biting itself.

The reflexive genitive pronoun is used where English would say "my own", "your own" etc. For example:

/pə-ˈdʷogə ʔʎə-ˈbedˤə ˈtɕaɽaⁿ ˈpəʔwəⁿ/ (HL) (HL) (HL) (HL)

[pʊ́ˈdʷùgə̀ ʎ̰ɪ́ˈbɛ́dˤʌ̀ tɕɐ́ɽɑ̀ⁿ ˈpʊ́w̰ʊ̀ⁿ]

ERG-dog ATEL-bite REFL.GEN bone

The dog was biting its own bone.

The reciprocal patientive pronoun is used where English would say "each other" or "one another". For example:

/pə-ˈdʷogə ʎə-ˈbedˤə ˈɕaⁿkfə/ (HL) (HL) (HL)

[pʊ́ˈdʷùgə̀ ʎɪ́ˈbɛ́dˤʌ̀ ˈɕǽŋkfə̀]

ERG-dog ATEL-bite RECP.PAT

The dogs were biting each other.

The reciprocal genitive pronoun is used where English would say "each other's" or "one another's". For example:

/pə-ˈdʷogə ʎə-ˈbedˤə ˈtəʔʎə ˈpəʔwəⁿ/ (HL) (HL) (HL) (HL)

[pʊ́ˈdʷùgə̀ ʎɪ́ˈbɛ́dˤʌ̀ ˈtɪ́ʎ̰ɪ̀ ˈpʊ́w̰ʊ̀ⁿ]

ERG-dog ATEL-bite RECP.PAT bone

The dogs were biting each other's bones.

Verbs

All verb conjugation is done using prefixes. Verbs do not inflect for tense or mood, but Telicity plays a central role in verb conjugation. Verbs can also be inflected into a number of different grammatical voices:

Voice	Telic	Atelic	Negative	Prohibitive
Default	mʲaɲə-	ʎə-	na-	tʷaⁿ-
Antipassive	mʲaⁿma-	ʎama-	nama-	N/A
Benefactive Applicative	mʲaɲəqa-	ʎəka-	naka-	tʷaⁿka-
Instrumental Applicative	mʲaɲəʔpaⁿ-	ʎəpaⁿ-	napaⁿ-	tʷaⁿpaⁿ--

However, for verb roots that begin with voiceless obstruents all the prefixes except the default telic voice prefix /mʲaɲə-/ cause lenition to voiced obstruents e.g.

/ˈpedˤə/ (HL) - "to bite" (root) -> /mʲaɲə-ˈpedˤə/ (HL) - "to bite" (telic), but /ʎə-ˈbedˤə/ (HL) - "to bite" (atelic).

The prohibitive forms are used to give negative commands e.g.

/tʷaⁿ-ˈbedˤə ˈpəʔwəⁿ/ (HL) (HL)

[tʷámˈbɛ́dˤʌ̀ ˈpʊ́w̰ʊ̀ⁿ]

PROH-bite bone.ABS

Don't bite the bone.

Default Voice

Transitive Sentences

For transitive sentences, the most common word order is [Subject] Verb [Direct Object] [Prepositional Objects] e.g.

/pə-ˈdʷogə ʎə-ˈbedˤə ˈpəʔwəⁿ/ (HL) (HL) (HL)

[pʊ́ˈdʷùgə̀ ʎɪ́ˈbɛ́dˤʌ̀ ˈpʊ́w̰ʊ̀ⁿ]

ERG-dog ATEL-bite bone.ABS

The dog was biting a / the bone.

Note that this construction is only used when a) the subject is definite (where English would use "the") and b) the subject is not topicalised (i.e. in cases where Japanese would use "ga" and not "wa"). See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topic_and_comment, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topic-prominent_language and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_grammar#Topic.2C_theme.2C_and_subject:_.E3.81.AF_wa_and_.E3.81.8C_ga.

Subject Topicalisation

In transitive sentences where the subject is definite and is also topicalised (i.e. in a case where English would mark it with "the" , and Japanese would mark it with "wa"), the subject takes the absolutive case e.g.

/ˈtʷogə ʎə-ˈbedˤə ˈpəʔwəⁿ/ (HL) (HL) (HL)

[ˈdʷùgə̀ ʎɪ́ˈbɛ́dˤʌ̀ ˈpʊ́w̰ʊ̀ⁿ]

dog ATEL-bite bone.ABS

The dog was biting a / the bone.

This sentence differs from the previous one (which has the ergative marker pə-) in that, without pə-, it simply describes the dog and what it is doing, whereas with pə-, it is more likely to be an answer to a question (overt or implied) asking something like "Who / What was biting the bone?"

Object Topicalisation

Objects of such transitive sentences can be topicalised by moving them to the front of the sentence (this precludes subject topicalisation, a sentence can only have one topic). This is usually used in situations where English would use the passive voice e.g.

/ˈpəʔwəⁿ pə-ˈdʷogə ʎə-ˈbedˤə/ (HL) (HL) (HL)

[ˈpʊ́w̰ʊ̀ⁿ pʊ́ˈdʷùgə̀ ʎɪ́ˈbɛ́dˤʌ̀]

bone.ABS ERG-dog ATEL-bite

The bone was being bitten by the dog.

Subject Deletion

Nwuemer is a Pro-drop language. In particular, it is common to delete the subject of transitive sentences if it is obvious from the context e.g.

/ʎə-ˈbedˤə ˈpəʔwəⁿ/ (HL) (HL)

[ʎɪ́ˈbɛ́dˤʌ̀ ˈpʊ́w̰ʊ̀ⁿ]

ATEL-bite bone.ABS

It (or he/she/they) was biting a / the bone.

Intransitive Sentences

In intransitive sentences, word order depends on whether the subject is a pronoun, or a full noun phrase

Full Noun Phrases

In this case, subjects come before the verb if they are topicalised e.g.

/ˈtʷoʀa mʲaɲə-ˈpfaɫə/ (L) (HL)

[ˈtʷòʀɑ̄ mʲǽɲɪ́ˈpfɑ́ɫʌ̀]

shaman TEL-fall

The shaman dropped to the ground (where the main point of the sentence is to say what the shaman did)

If the subject is not topicalised, it comes after the verb e.g.

/mʲaɲə-ˈpfaɫə ˈtʷoʀa/ (HL) (L)

[mʲǽɲɪ́ˈpfɑ́ɫʌ̀ ˈtʷòʀɑ̄]

TEL-fall shaman

The shaman dropped to the ground (where the main point of the sentence is to say who dropped to the ground)

Pronouns

In intransitive sentences, subject pronouns always come before the verb e.g.

/ˈʔəkfa mʲaɲə-ˈpfaɫə/ (H) (HL)

[ˈʔə̋kfá mʲǽɲɪ́ˈpfɑ́ɫʌ̀]

1PS.SG.AGT TEL-fall

I dropped to the ground.

This applies even if the subject pronoun is in the patientive case (to indicate that the action was involitional) e.g.

/ˈʔaɟəⁿ mʲaɲə-ˈpfaɫə/ (H) (HL)

[ˈʔæ̋ɟèⁿ mʲǽɲɪ́ˈpfɑ́ɫʌ̀]

1PS.SG.PAT TEL-fall

I fell to the ground (by accident)

Subject Deletion

As with transitive sentences, subjects of intransitive sentences can be freely deleted if they are obvious from context e.g.

/mʲaɲə-ˈpfaɫə/ (HL)

[mʲǽɲɪ́ˈpfɑ́ɫʌ̀]

TEL-fall

I/you/he/... fell to the ground.

Ditransitive Verbs

The subject of a ditranstive verb takes the same case as normal, and both the direct and indirect objects take absolutive case. However, the indirect object is also marked with the prepositional clitic /tə/. Unlike the case prefixes, this does not cause lenition e.g.

/ˈʔəkfa mʲaɲə-ˈtena ˈpəʔwəⁿ tə=ˈtʷogə/ (H) (H) (HL) (HL)

[ˈʔə̋kfá mʲǽɲɪ́ˈte̋ná ˈpʊ́w̰ʊ̀ⁿ tʊ́ˈtʷùgə̀]

1PS.SG.AGT TEL-give bone DAT=dog

I gave a bone to the dog.

Antipassive Voice

This is only applicable to transitive verbs. It deletes the object of the verb, and places the subject of the verb in the absolutive case. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antipassive_voice. The situation when it is used depends on whether the subject of the verb is a full noun phrase or a pronoun.

Full Noun Phrases

There are two specific usages of the antipassive when the subject is a full noun phrase. One is in gnomic utterances, and the other is to indicate that the subject of a transitive sentence is indefinite

Gnomic Utterances

To talk about general truths, the antipassive is used, with the subject occuring before the verb e.g.

/ˈtʷogə ʎama-ˈbedˤə/ (HL) (HL)

[ˈtʷùgə̀ ʎæmaˈbɛ́dˤʌ̀]

dog.ABS ANTIP.ATEL-bite

Dogs bite.

The object of the sentence can resurface after verb, marked with the dative prepositional clitic /tə/ e.g.

/ˈtʷogə ʎama-ˈbedˤə tə=ˈpəʔwəⁿ/ (HL) (HL) (HL)

[ˈtʷùgə̀ ʎæmaˈbɛ́dˤʌ̀ tə́ˈpʊ́w̰ʊ̀ⁿ]

dog.ABS ANTIP.ATEL-bite DAT=bone

Dogs bite bones.

Indefinite Subjects

The default voice can only be used for transitive verbs if the subject is definite. If the subject is indefinite, then the verb is antipassivised, and the subject reappears after the verb e.g.

/ʎama-ˈbedˤə ˈtʷogə/ (HL) (HL)

[ʎæmaˈbɛ́dˤʌ̀ ˈtʷùgə̀]

ANTIP.ATEL-bite dog.ABS

A dog was biting (me / you / him / her / it ...)

As with before, the object of the sentence can be placed at the end, marked with /tə/ e.g.

/ʎama-ˈbedˤə ˈtʷogə tə=ˈpəʔwəⁿ/ (HL) (HL) (HL)

[ʎæmaˈbɛ́dˤʌ̀ ˈtʷùgə̀ tə́ˈpʊ́w̰ʊ̀ⁿ]

ANTIP.ATEL-bite dog.ABS DAT=bone

A dog was biting the bone.

Pronominal Subjects

Transitive verbs with pronomninal subjects are antipassivised in two cases:

Object De-Emphasis

If the subject of a transitive verb is a pronoun, and it is considered to be more integral to the action being performed than the object, then the verb is antipassivised e.g.

/jəˈqo mʲaⁿma-ˈɕuːwə/ (H) (HL)

[jɘ́ˈqɔ̋ mʲǽmmǽ-ˈɕʉ̂ːwʊ̀]

2PS.SG.AGT ANTIP.TEL-rescue

You saved it / him / her (with an feeling that only the listener could have performed the rescue)

If the verb does not take the antipassive i.e. /mʲaɲə-ˈɕuːwə/, there is no nuance that the rescue was only something that the listener could have performed.

Involitional Action

If a transitive verb has a pronominal subject that performs the action involitionally, then the verb is antipassivised and the subject takes the patientive case e.g.

/qaˈɲəʔja ʎama-ˈbedˤə/ (H) (HL)

[qɐ́ˈɲɪ́j̰æ̀ ʎæmaˈbɛ́dˤʌ̀]

3PS.PAT ANTIP.ATEL-bite

He/she/they was/were biting (with a nuance that the biting was uncontrallable, maybe they had rabies or were zombified or in an uncontrollable rage etc.)

Benefactive Applicative Voice

Thi sused to highlight the beneficiary of an action. It can apply to intransitive verbs i.e. changing the sentence "A did something" into "A did something for B". It can also apply to transtive verbs i.e. changing the sentence "A did something to X" into "A did something to X for B". In both cases, the orginial absolutive argument of the verb is shifted to the end of the sentence, and is marked with the prepositional clitic /dəʔ/. For example, if we take the following intransitive sentence:

/mʲaɲə-ˈpfaɫə ˈxəⁿda/ (HL) (H)

[mʲǽɲɪ́ˈpfɑ́ɫʌ̀ ˈχʌ̋ndá]

TEL-fall shepherd.ABS

A shepherd dropped down.

The above sentence can take the applicative voice to become.

/mʲaɲəqa-ˈbvaɫə ˈtʷoʀa tə=ˈxəⁿda/ (HL) (L) (H)

[mʲǽɲɘ́qɑ́-ˈbvɑ́ɫʌ̀ ˈtʷȍʀɑ̄ tʌ́ˈxə̋ndá]

TEL.APPL-fall shaman.ABS DAT=shepherd

A shepherd dropped down for the shaman (maybe prostrating himself).

Either /ˈtʷoʀa/ - "shaman" or /tə=ˈxəⁿda/ - "shepherd" (dative) can be topicalised (moving to before the verb). Both can be deleted if they are obvious from context. So /mʲaɲəqa-ˈbvaɫə/ could stand as a sentence by itself.

Below is an example of applying the applicative voice to a transitive verb:

/pə-ˈdʷogə ʎə-ˈbedˤə ˈtʷoʀa/ (HL) (HL) (L)

[pʊ́ˈdʷùgə̀ ʎɪ́ˈbɛ́dˤʌ̀ ˈtʷȍʀɑ̄/

ERG-dog ATEL-bite shaman.ABS

A dog was biting the shaman.

/pə-ˈdʷogə ʎəka-ˈbedˤə ˈxeⁿda tə=ˈtʷoʀa/

[pʊ́ˈdʷùgə̀ ʎɪ́káˈbɛ́dˤʌ̀ ˈχʌ̋ndá tʊ̄ˈtʷȍʀɑ̄/

ERG-dog ATEL.BEN.APPL-bite shepherd.ABS DAT=shaman

A dog was biting the shaman for the shepherd (maybe the shepherd ordered it to attack the boss).

Instrumental Applicative Voice

This functions in a similar way to the benefactive applicative voice. The noun that would normally take the plain absolutive case (i.e. the subject of an intransitive verb, or the direct object of a transitive verb) goes to the end of the sentence and takes the prepositional clitic /tə/. Whatever the subject used to complete the action takes the absolutive case, and is not marked with a preposition e.g.

/pə-ˈdʷogə ʎə-ˈbedˤə ˈtʷoʀa/ (HL) (HL) (L)

[pʊ́ˈdʷùgə̀ ʎɪ́ˈbɛ́dˤʌ̀ ˈtʷȍʀɑ̄/

ERG-dog ATEL-bite shaman.ABS

A dog was biting the shaman.

becomes

/pə-ˈdʷogə ʎəpaⁿ-ˈbedˤə ˈʔɲəʔja ˈɕəʀə ˈtaⁿtə tə=ˈtʷoʀa/ (HL) (HL) (H) (L) (HL) (L)

[pʊ́ˈdʷùgə̀ ʎɪ́pám-ˈbɛ́dˤʌ̀ ɲ̰ɪ́j̰æ̀ʔ ˈɕɘ̏ʀɘ̄ ˈtântə̀ tʊ̄ˈtʷȍʀɑ̄]

ERG-dog ATEL.INSTR.APPL-bite 3PS.GEN sharp tooth.ABS DAT=shaman

A dog was biting the shaman with its sharp teeth.

Copula

The Nwuemer copula /pʲə/ (L) is a verb that conjugates regularly like all of the others. Note that for it to correspond to English "to be", it must take the atelic aspect, so in the default voice it is /ʎə-ˈbʲə/. If it takes the telic aspect (i.e. becoming /mʲaɲə-ˈpʲə/ in the default voice), it means "to become".

Note that the copula counts as a transitive verb, so the subject generally takes the ergative case e.g.

/pəˈxəⁿda ʎə-ˈbʲə ˈtʷoʀa/ (H) (L) (L)

[pə́ˈxə̋ndá ʎɪ̄ˈbʲɪ̏ ˈtʷȍʀɑ̄]

shepherd-ERG ATEL-be shaman.ABS

The shepherd is the shaman (answering the actual or implied question of "Who is the shaman?")

However, just as with other transitive verbs, the subject can be topicalised, in which case it loses the ergative marker e.g.

/ˈxəⁿda ʎə-ˈbʲə ˈtʷoʀa/ (H) (L) (L)

[ˈχʌ̋ndá ʎɪ̄ˈbʲɪ̏ ˈtʷȍʀɑ̄]

shepherd.TOP ATEL-be shaman.ABS

The shepherd is the shaman (answering the actual or implied question of "What does the shepherd do?")

Predicative Adjectives

However, when an adjective is used as a predicate, the copula verb is not used. Instead, the adjective is verbalised, taking the atelic prefix ʔʎə- and becoming an intranstive verb (so the subject will not take the ergative case) e.g.

/ˈtaⁿtə wa-ˈdʷogə ʎəˈʑəʀə/ (HL) (HL) (L)

[ˈtântə̀ wá-ˈdʷúgə̀ ʎɪ̄ˈʑɘ̏ʀʌ̄]

tooth.TOP GEN-dog ATEL-sharp

The dog's teeth are sharp.

Locative Verb

Unlike English, to express location, Nwuemer speakers use a different verb to the copula. This is /ˈsadˤə/ (HL), which usually takes an atelic prefix to become /ʔʎəˈzadˤə/. For example:

/ʎəˈzadˤə ˈjiːtə ɲəʀə=ˈtʷoʀa/ (HL) (HL) (L)

[ʎɪˈzɑ́dˤʌ̀ ˈjêːdˤʌ̀ ɲɘ̄ʀɔ̄ˈtʷȍʀɑ̄]

ATEL-LOC food.ABS near=shaman

The food is next to the shaman.

As can be seen in the above example, in contrast to the copula verb, the locative verb is intransitive, and the subject takes the absolutive case.

Relative Clauses

These always follow the noun that they modify, which they are separated from by the proclitic /xaⁿ/ e.g.

/ˈtʷogə xaⁿ=ʎə-ˈbedˤə ˈpəʔwəⁿ/ (HL) (HL) (HL)

[ˈtʷúgə̀ χɐ́ɲʎɪ́ˈbɛ́dˤʌ̀ ˈpʊ́w̰ʊ̀ⁿ]

dog.ABS REL=ATEL-bite bone.ABS

The dog that is biting the bone.

Inside a relative clause, subjects must always be marked with the ergative case marker e.g.

/ˈpəʔwəⁿ xaⁿ=pə-ˈdʷogə ʎə-ˈbedˤə/ (HL) (HL) (HL)

[ˈpʊ́w̰ʊ̀ⁿ χɒ́mbʊ́ˈdʷúgə̀ ʎɪ́ˈbɛ́dˤʌ̀]

bone REL=ERG-dog ATEL-bite

The bone that the dog is biting.

Numbers

As in English, numbers precede the noun that they modify e.g.

/tfə ˈtʷogə/ (L) (HL)

[tfə̏ ˈtʷúgə̀]

two dog

Two dogs

To make ordinal numerals, prefix /sə/ to the numeral e.g.

/sə-tfə ˈtʷogə/ (L) (HL)

[sə̀tfə̏ ˈtʷúgə̀]

ORD-two dog

The second dog

However, the Nwuemer word for "first" is irregular. Whilst the numeral for "one" is /waⁿ/ (L), the word for "first" is /ˈfəⁿɽə/ (L)/.

Questions

Polar Questions

A statement is turned into a polar question using the particle /pa/ (H). It comes at the beginning of the sentence, except if a noun is topicalised, in which case it follows that noun e.g.

/ˈtʷoʀa mʲaɲə-ˈpfaɫə/ (L) (HL)

[ˈtʷòʀɑ̄ mʲǽɲɪ́ˈpfɑ́ɫʌ̀]

shaman.TOP TEL-fall

The shaman dropped to the ground (where the main point of the sentence is to say what he did)

/ˈtʷoʀa pa mʲaɲə-ˈpfaɫə/ (L) (H) (HL)

[ˈtʷòʀɑ̄ pa̋ mʲǽɲɪ́ˈpfɑ́ɫʌ̀]

shaman.TOP Q TEL-fall

Did the shaman drop to the ground?

/mʲaɲə-ˈpfaɫə ˈtʷoʀa/ (HL) (L)

[mʲǽɲɪ́ˈpfɑ́ɫʌ̀ ˈtʷòʀɑ̄]

TEL-fall shaman.ABS

The shaman dropped to the ground (where the main point of the sentence is to say who dropped to the ground).

/mʲaɲə-ˈpfaɫə ˈtʷoʀa/ (H) (HL) (L)

[pa̋ mʲǽɲɪ́ˈpfɑ́ɫʌ̀ ˈtʷòʀɑ̄]

Q TEL-fall shaman.ABS

Did the shaman drop to the ground? (or was it somebody else).

/ˈtʷogə ʎə-ˈbedˤə ˈpəʔwəⁿ/ (HL) (HL) (HL)

[ˈtʷúgə̀ ʎɪ́ˈbɛ́dˤʌ̀ ˈpʊ́w̰ʊ̀ⁿ]

dog ATEL-bite bone.ABS

The dog was biting the bone (where the main emphasis of the speaker is to describe what the dog was doing)

/pa ˈtʷogə ʎə-ˈbedˤə ˈpəʔwəⁿ/ (H) (HL) (HL) (HL)

[pa̋ ˈtʷúgə̀ ʎɪ́ˈbɛ́dˤʌ̀ ˈpʊ́w̰ʊ̀ⁿ]

Q dog ATEL-bite bone.ABS

Was the dog biting the bone?

/pə-ˈdʷogə ʎə-ˈbedˤə ˈpəʔwəⁿ/ (HL) (HL) (HL)

[pʊ́ˈdʷúgə̀ ʎɪ́ˈbɛ́dˤʌ̀ ˈpʊ́w̰ʊ̀ⁿ]

ERG-dog ATEL-bite bone.ABS

The dog was biting the bone (where the main emphasis of the speaker is to point out that the dog was biting the bone, and not a cat)

/pa pə-ˈdʷogə ʎə-ˈbedˤə ˈpəʔwəⁿ/ (HL) (HL) (HL)

[pa̋ pʊ́ˈdʷúgə̀ ʎɪ́ˈbɛ́dˤʌ̀ ˈpʊ́w̰ʊ̀ⁿ]

Q ERG-dog ATEL-bite bone.ABS

Was the dog biting the bone? (or was it something else)

/ˈpəʔwəⁿ pə-ˈdʷogə ʎə-ˈbedˤə/ (HL) (HL) (HL)

[ˈpʊ́w̰ʊ̀ⁿ pʊ́ˈdʷúgə̀ ʎɪ́ˈbɛ́dˤʌ̀]

bone.TOP ERG-dog ATEL-bite

The bone was being bitten by the dog.

/pa ˈpəʔwəⁿ pə-ˈdʷogə ʎə-ˈbedˤə/ (H) (HL) (HL) (HL)

[pa̋ ˈpʊ́w̰ʊ̀ⁿ pʊ́ˈdʷúgə̀ ʎɪ́ˈbɛ́dˤʌ̀]

bone.TOP ERG-dog ATEL-bite

Was the bone being bitten by the dog?

Wh-Phrases

Unlike English, Nwuemer is a wh-in-situ language, i.e. it lacks Wh-movement e.g.

/ˈtʷogə ʎə-ˈbedˤə cəⁿ/ (HL) (HL) (L)

[ˈtʷùgə̀ ʎɪ́ˈbɛ́dˤʌ̀ cȅⁿ]

dog-TOP ATEL-bite what

What was the dog biting?

Nwuemer's equivalents of English "wh-words" are all derived from /cəⁿ/ - "what" e.g.

/cəⁿ ˈpuːmʲə/ (L) (HL) [cȅⁿ ˈpʉ̂ːmʲɪ̀] - "where" (literally "what place")

/cəⁿ ˈɕiːdʑaⁿ/ (L) (HL) [cȅⁿ ˈɕîːdʑæ̀ⁿ] - "when" (literally "what time")

/ˈcənaⁿ/ (HL) [ˈcɪ́nàⁿ] - "who" (a contraction of /ceⁿ ʔaⁿ/ - "what person")

/cəⁿ fʲe/ (L) (H) [cȅⁿ fʲi̋] - "how" (literally "what method")

/cəⁿ ʎəfiː/ (L) (H) [cȅⁿ ʎɪ́ˈfʲi̋ː] - "why" (literally "what reason")

Nwuemer has two ways to ask questions where English would use "whose", depending on whether the possession is alienable or inalienable. In the case of inalienable possession, /cəⁿ/ takes the genitive prefix /wa-/, becoming /wa-ˈɟəⁿ/ (L), and coming after the noun it possesses e.g.

/ˈpəʔwəⁿ wa-ˈɟəⁿ/ (HL) (L)

[ˈpʊ́w̰ʊ̀ⁿˈwɞ̄ˈɟȅⁿ]

bone.ABS GEN-what

Whose bone? (in their body)

In the case of alienable possession, /cəⁿ/ takes the ergative prefix /pə-/, becoming /pə-ˈɟaⁿ/ e.g.

/ˈpəʔwəⁿ pə-ˈcəⁿ/ (HL) (L)

[ˈpʊ́w̰ʊ̀ⁿ pɪ̄ˈɟȅⁿ]

bone.ABS GEN-what

Whose bone? (in their body)

Predicative Possession

Standard Intransitive Construction

To say "A has B" in Nwuemer, the standard way is for A (the possessor) to appear at the start of the sentence as a topic (in the absolutive case), followed by the verb /ˈtaʔa/ (H) - "to exist", taking the atelic prefix /ʔʎə-/, becoming /ʔʎə-ˈdaʔa/ (H). Finally, the possessed noun appears, also in the absolutive case. For example:

/ˈtʷogə ʎə-ˈdaʔa ˈpəʔwəⁿ/ (HL) (H) (HL)

[ˈtʷúgə̀ ʎɪ́ˈda̋ʔá ˈpʊ́w̰ʊ̀ⁿ]

dog.TOP ATEL-exist bone.ABS

The dog has a bone.

Transitive Construction

The above is the most common way to express predicative possession in Nwuemer, treating /ˈtaʔa/ as an intransitive verb. However, the language is undergoing a process of "have-drift", due to contact with other languages which have a transitive verb just like English "have". Recently, many speakers have begun to use the above construction interchangeably with a second construction, where the possessor is in the ergative case:

/pə-ˈdʷogə ʎə-ˈdaʔa ˈpəʔwəⁿ/ (HL) (H) (HL)

[pʊ́ˈdʷúgə̀ ʎɪ́ˈda̋ʔá ˈpʊ́w̰ʊ̀ⁿ]

ERG-dog ATEL-have bone.ABS

The dog has a bone.

Speakers tend to use the transitive construction when they wish to put focus on the possessor i.e. in the above case, emphasise that it is the dog that has the bone, and not a cat / human etc. that has the bone. Speakers also use the transitive construction when they wish to topicalise the possessed noun e.g.

/ˈpəʔwəⁿ pə-ˈdʷogə ʎə-ˈdaʔa/ (HL) (HL) (H)

[ˈpʊ́w̰ʊ̀ⁿ pʊ́ˈdʷúgə̀ ʎɪ́ˈda̋ʔá]

bone.TOP ERG-dog ATEL-have

The bone belongs to the dog.

However, /ˈtaʔa/ has not yet become a fully fledged transitive verb. For example, unlike other transitive verbs, it cannot take an antipassive prefix to become */ʔʎama-ˈdaʔa/.

With Pronouns

When a pronoun is the possessor, it takes the agentive case if the possession is alienable, and the patientive case if the possession is inalienable e.g.

/ˈʔəkfa ʎə-ˈdaʔa ˈpəʔwəⁿ/ (H) (H) (HL)

[ˈʔə̋kfá ʎɪ́ˈda̋ʔá ˈpʊ́w̰ʊ̀ⁿ]

1PS.SG.AGT ATEL-have bone

I have a bone (e.g. I'm holding it).

/ˈʔaɟəⁿ ʎə-ˈdaʔa ˈpəʔwəⁿ/ (HL) (H) (HL)

[ˈʔæ̋ɟèⁿ ʎɪ́ˈda̋ʔá ˈpʊ́w̰ʊ̀ⁿ]

1PS.SG.PAT ATEL-have bone

I have a bone (e.g. in my body).

Comparative Constructions

The prepositional clitic /ʔapəⁿ/ literally means "above", but is also used to mean "more than" e.g.

/ˈtaⁿtə wa-ˈdʷogə ʎəˈʑəʀə ʔapəⁿ=ˈʔɲəʔja ˈpəʔwəⁿ/ (HL) (HL) (L) (H) (HL)

[ˈtantəʔ wɔ́ˈdʷúgə̀ ʎɪ̄ˈʑɘ̏ʀʌ̄ ʔápɪ́ɲ=ɲ̰ɪ̋j̰æ̀ ˈpʊ́w̰ʊ̀ⁿ]

tooth.TOP GEN-dog ATEL-sharp above 3PS.GEN bone

The dog's teeth are sharper than its bones.